LOUISIANA MASS MEDIA PERCEPTIONS OF THE LSU AGCENTER COMMUNICATIONS EFFORT

Abstract

The LSU Agricultural Center communications group sends news stories and materials to all three major mass media for news - newspaper, radio and television – in Louisiana. These news releases are designed to educate and inform the general public about LSU Agricultural Center (LSU AgCenter) programs and research. LSU AgCenter Communications wanted to know the effectiveness of its news effort in terms of usage by the media, and the media’s perception of the LSU AgCenter’s news topics. Three researcher-designed surveys were developed, one for each medium (newspaper, radio, television). Each questionnaire was designed to determine how effective, in terms of usage, news materials are being incorporated by each medium. Each survey contained a list of the topics used by LSU AgCenter Communications in their news materials. AgCenter Communications wanted to determine the level of awareness and importance of its topics among the newsroom leaders of each medium: newspaper editors, radio news directors or general managers, and television news directors. According to the results the LSU AgCenter Communications effort has been effective in terms of usage of the news materials delivered to each medium. The newspaper and television efforts were found to be more effective than the radio service.