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2008 PROCEEDINGS - Public Relations Society of America

2008 PROCEEDINGS - Public Relations Society of America

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Causing Our Own Problems? Women as Sources in News Releases<br />

Hilary Fussell Sisco<br />

Quinnipiac University<br />

Hilary.FussellSisco@quinnipiac.edu<br />

Lynn M. Zoch<br />

Radford University<br />

lzoch@radford.edu<br />

Erik Collins<br />

University <strong>of</strong> South Carolina<br />

ecollins@mailbox.sc.edu<br />

Abstract<br />

The impetus for this study came from research indicating that reporters, even today,<br />

seem more likely to quote male sources than female sources. The question for the<br />

researchers then became whether we, as public relations practitioners, are causing some <strong>of</strong> our<br />

own problems by providing reporters with a disproportionate number <strong>of</strong> male sources. The<br />

purpose <strong>of</strong> the research presented in this article was to turn the tables on the previously published<br />

research by looking at the sources provided to reporters through the subsidy <strong>of</strong> corporate news<br />

releases. In addition, the researchers investigated how releases from the top corporations<br />

compared to those from top corporations headed by female chief executive <strong>of</strong>ficers to determine<br />

if releases from these female-headed companies would be more likely to quote female sources.<br />

107

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