Journalists on the “dark side”? Self-perception study on the relationship between journalists and corporate communication practitioners in Barcelona

This empirical study explores the self-perception that over a hundred Barcelona journalists have of their relationship with corporate communication professionals. The data stems from forty in-depth interviews and one hundred and thirteen surveys carried out by fifty students of Journalism and Corporate Communication. The study assesses the effectiveness of different corporate and public relations (PR) tools, from classic press conferences to exclusive interviews, and the worst time slots for contacting journalists, according to the experience of interviewees. The study establishes rules for corporate communication from the perspective of journalism and sheds some light on the realities of the “dark side”. One conclusion is that for journalists nowadays the other side is not that dark after all.