Blackwell Reference Online

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The intereffication model focuses on the relationship between →  Public Relations (PR) and →  Journalism ( Bentele et al. 1997 ). It was designed in a research project in 1996–1997 that focused on the PR activities of two East German cities, Leipzig and Halle. Unlike the determination hypothesis , the intereffication model stresses the interconnectedness of PR and journalism (→  Determination Theory in Public Relations ). The authors describe the model as a complex relationship of mutual influence, mutual orientation, and mutual dependence. Intereffication means that neither PR nor journalism would be able to function properly without the existence of the other (Latin efficare = to make possible). The authors invented the word intereffication in order to create a neutral term, one free of the connotations associated with more metaphorical terms like symbiosis and Siamese twins. The model describes the mutual processes going on between PR and journalism as “adaptation” and “induction.” Adaptation , on the one hand, means that one system orients its activities and routines toward the other system in order to successfully place its messages. Adaptation can be defined as “communicative and organizational processes of adjustment” ( Bentele & Nothhaft 2007 ). In order to be more successful in placing topics, actors like PR practitioners or entire PR departments adapt themselves ... log in or subscribe to read full text