The purpose of this study was to explore what corporations with good reputations communicate on social media. Based on a content analysis of 46 corporate Facebook pages from Fortune’s “World’s Most Admired Companies,” this study found that corporations communicate noncorporate social responsibility messages more frequently than corporate social responsibility (CSR) messages. When communicating CSR activities, corporations employed an informing strategy more often than an interacting strategy and included internal publics’ activities more than external publics. This study also found that publics engage more with noncorporate social responsibility messages than CSR messages, which may reflect public cynicism of CSR communication.

This study seeks to give a timely perspective on understanding how business news covers corporate social responsibility in light of heavy criticism financial journalists have faced since the latest economic depression in the United States. Building upon previous research and using agenda setting, framing, and agenda building as a theoretical base, a content analysis was conducted to examine how business news portrays corporate social responsibility and the tone used in coverage both before and after the economic crisis. Results indicated that business journalists are now taking a more neutral approach. Additionally, corporate sources did not lead to an increased use of a positive tone in post-crisis coverage, which could mean they are less likely to have an agenda-building influence over business news since the economic downturn.

The 2020 primaries featured the most diverse candidates seeking the U.S. presidency to date; however, news media preoccupied with the novelty of a candidate’s social identity may result in less policy coverage for those underrepresented in electoral politics. Utilizing content analysis, this study explores the prevalence of novelty news frames that emphasize candidate identity across three national news outlets and examines whether these frames diminish the volume of policy coverage for minority candidates.

This study tested the three levels of agenda building using an experimental design to identify possible causal relationships. This research contributes to the study and practice of political public relations by examining the process by which an issue is created and transferred to the public. Results indicate various support for agenda building including overall issue salience and issue attribute salience. The study also tested the compelling arguments hypothesis and found strong support for attribute salience contributing to overall issue salience. These findings are important for political public relations practitioners as it demonstrates that contextual issue attributes increase issue salience for the public.