https://www.samgrazianoportfolio.com/blog-1-1 daily 0.75 2026-10-13 https://www.samgrazianoportfolio.com/blog-1-1/fake-news-and-disinformation monthly 0.5 2026-10-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/690e627c713fbb32d4381f5e/1791927658263-J0LQ8ETGPIIYKLR71F3K/unsplash-image-UEQvUtRs224.jpg Blog - Fake News and Disinformation: Comparison - Introduction of Fake News The concept of fake news has become an important topic in the modern media landscape. However, it lacks a universally accepted definition and definitions vary across scholarship. Molina et al. (2021) suggest that the concept of fake news is not the same as false news and that we must look deeper to find its specific, distinguishing features. They go on to identify seven types of content that are often associated with the concept of fake news. Those categories are false news, polarized content, satire, misreporting, commentary, persuasive information, and citizen journalism. They also use real news as a comparison. These types of content are often associated with fake news, but this does not mean that all content of each type falls into the realm of fake news. Egelhofer and Lecheler (2019) identified three characteristics of the “fake news genre” and those are low facticity, journalistic format, and intention to deceive (p. 99). They go on to say that a message should only be classified as fake news when it meets all three of those characteristics. A related concept that is often confused with or spoken about with fake news is disinformation. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/690e627c713fbb32d4381f5e/1791927720260-R11VCX8XUVTFDTYBMMJZ/unsplash-image-c5QdMcuFlgY.jpg Blog - Fake News and Disinformation: Comparison - Conclusion From our discussion of the concepts of fake news and disinformation above, we can see that they are closely related. Both concepts include an intent to deceive and false or misleading information. However, fake news specifically represents a narrower form of disinformation. The key distinction between them is the format in which they are presented. Fake news must be presented in a journalistic format, while disinformation can take place in many forms. This distinction is important because the better we understand these concepts, the more useful they become for operationalization in later research. This comparison exercise helped me better understand these concepts by clarifying what characteristics are required for a message to qualify as fake news or disinformation. https://www.samgrazianoportfolio.com/blog-1-1/comparing-organization-public-relationships-and-interorganizational-relationships monthly 0.5 2026-10-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/690e627c713fbb32d4381f5e/1791306734335-DD3R4JL6311P5HLSQQH0/unsplash-image-cA4JoSyY8VM.jpg Blog - Comparing Organization-Public Relationships and Inter-Organizational Relationships - Introduction The concept of organization-public relationships is important to the field of public relations and understanding the connection between organizations and its publics. The field itself can be understood as an organization maintaining its relationship with the public. As vital as this concept is, there is still a distinct lack of a precise conceptual definition (Broom et al., 1997). Broom et al. (1997) argue that further explication on this concept is needed and that the lack of a fully explicated definition hinders the development of operationalizations and theory building in public relations (p. 83). Ledingham and Bruning (1998) later offer a “tentative definition” and describe organization-public relationships as “the state which exists between an organization and its key publics in which the actions of either entity impact the economic, social, political, and/or cultural well-being of the other entity” (p. 62). Using this definition, we can look at a neighboring concept and find overlaps and differences between them. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/690e627c713fbb32d4381f5e/1791306860008-2BDHOLG4289RCH1O7ZSS/unsplash-image-MOO6k3RaiwE.jpg Blog - Comparing Organization-Public Relationships and Inter-Organizational Relationships - Conclusion As we’ve just discussed above, the concepts of organization-public relationships and inter-organizational relationships are related and have both similarities and differences. This comparison exercise helped me better understand the concept of organization-public relationships by clarifying the parties involved and what is being exchanged by those parties. It’s easier to discern between the two after having a better understanding of what is emphasized in both concepts. Distinguishing between them is important to the field of PR because furthering the understanding of both concepts will only strengthen later research using these concepts. https://www.samgrazianoportfolio.com/blog-1-1/news-literacy-blog-post monthly 0.5 2026-09-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/690e627c713fbb32d4381f5e/1790714577859-22I7XK7HN71DWKVLLLQK/unsplash-image-Mwuod2cm8g4.jpg Blog - Understanding News and Media Literacy - Introduction Today, news literacy is becoming increasingly important with the overwhelming amount of sources and platforms available to consumers. Tully et al. (2021) define news literacy as “knowledge of the personal and social processes by which news is produced, distributed, and consumed, and skills that allow users some control over these processes” (p. 1593). They go on to say that the concept of news literacy needs more precise scholarly treatment and that there is still work to be done before it can become a distinct concept with reliable and valid measures (Tully et al., 2021). Specifically, there is much overlap with other related concepts, such as media literacy. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/690e627c713fbb32d4381f5e/1790714656590-NXRRL1BWCCA2N0MVRA79/unsplash-image-bbxuJcqC6m0.jpg Blog - Understanding News and Media Literacy - Conclusion The concepts of news literacy and media literacy are closely related. As we established above, the scope of media literacy encompasses much more than that of news literacy. Further, news literacy actually fits within the broader concept of media literacy. We have seen that media literacy often includes an emphasis on media creation, which is not present in news literacy, which focuses more on the knowledge and skills surrounding news. Precise conceptualization of these concepts is important. Inconsistency in definitions and conceptualizations has the risk of taking away the efficacy of the research that uses these concepts. Therefore, further developing these into distinct concepts remains important. This comparison helped improve my understanding of these concepts immensely. After reviewing the literature, the similarities and differences are much more clear. Particularly, it helped in seeing that news literacy is much narrower than media literacy. Once I came to the realization that news literacy is a distinct part of media literacy, it made comparing and thinking about the two concepts much easier. https://www.samgrazianoportfolio.com/blog-1-1/engagement-vs-participation-in-public-relations monthly 0.5 2026-09-28 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/690e627c713fbb32d4381f5e/1790109923598-R891JCOBUFX05VL4HV18/unsplash-image-Q1gfvrMZ2Vc.jpg Blog - Engagement vs Participation in Public Relations - Introduction The concept of engagement is important to the field of Public Relations. Commonly, engagement can be defined as “the fact of being involved with something” (Cambridge Dictionary, n.d.). However, this definition is limiting, because a person can be engaged with something without being directly involved. Dhanesh (2017) argues that researchers in PR have used the concept of engagement “rather loosely” and that engagement in PR is often seen as any form of interaction between an organization and the public (p. 925). She goes on to define the concept of engagement as “an affective, cognitive, and behavioral state wherein publics and organizations who share mutual interests in salient topics interact along continua that range from passive to active and from control to collaboration, and is aimed at goal attainment, adjustment, and adaptation for both publics and organizations” (p. 931). This conceptualization widens the scope of engagement. It brings forward that engagement can be passive and that people may be engaged without direct communication. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/690e627c713fbb32d4381f5e/1790110022870-F8PKW8D5ARK83AHOCT3B/unsplash-image-0RDBOAdnbWM.jpg Blog - Engagement vs Participation in Public Relations - Conclusion The concepts of engagement and participation are very similar, but as we just discussed, there are several key differences between the two when looking at the literature. Engagement describes a state of being with a much broader scope, while participation describes a direct process or activity of interaction with a narrower scope. Nonetheless, participation and behavioral engagement heavily overlap. Understanding these distinctions between the two concepts is important because using them interchangeably can make it harder to identify differences in how publics interact with organizations. Therefore, more precise conceptualizations of these concepts can help future researchers better understand and study the interactions between publics and organizations. https://www.samgrazianoportfolio.com/blog-1-1/synergy-and-media-convergence monthly 0.5 2026-09-07 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/690e627c713fbb32d4381f5e/1788819847642-LN8ELEC11XJOUXRCSIMC/unsplash-image-qSv1gwYEfa8.jpg Blog - A Look into Synergy and Media Convergence - Introduction The concept of synergy is widely explored in many industries. In general, the definition of synergy can be understood using this phrase: the whole is greater than the sum of its parts (Goodwin, 2016, p. 2). It can be commonly defined as “the combined power of a group of things when they are working together that is greater than the total power achieved by each working separately” (Cambridge Dictionary, n.d.). When it comes to the media industry, “synergy is defined as ‘the practice among media conglomerates of using one medium to promote products in another, using each to sell the other’” (Olson, 2004, as cited in Goodwin, 2016, p. 3). https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/690e627c713fbb32d4381f5e/1788820058848-IVAPX64WP5KUCK6DYJ3J/unsplash-image-wD1LRb9OeEo.jpg Blog - A Look into Synergy and Media Convergence - Conclusion Synergy and media convergence are very similar concepts that describe different things in the same relationship. This blog post helped my understanding of the two concepts immensely. My initial understanding of the concept of “synergy” was more along the lines of two or more components working together, which is more along the lines of media convergence. After this blog post, I now understand that convergence does not equal synergy and that synergy looks, specifically, at how those components interact and reinforce each other. https://www.samgrazianoportfolio.com/blog-1-1/concept-explication monthly 0.5 2026-09-07 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/690e627c713fbb32d4381f5e/1788373212247-JCQUOO2P1ZOJHKZ8NLKH/unsplash-image-eeSdJfLfx1A.jpg Blog - Why does Concept Explication Matter in Research? - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/690e627c713fbb32d4381f5e/41980476-4376-450d-a81e-0adeeb527e0c/Screenshot+2026-09-02+at+2.00.42%E2%80%AFPM.png Blog - Why does Concept Explication Matter in Research? - Miller (2023) presents their “Concept explication framework for evaluating and creating conceptual definitions.” This framework is a seven-step process for sorting through and creating conceptual definitions. According to the framework, researchers should start by collecting and recording existing interpretations. This means to find existing interpretations and definitions of that concept that are relevant to the research being conducted. The next step in the framework is to map those definitions that the researcher collected. In mapping the definitions, the researcher should put them in chronological order, record their key terms, identify patterns in them, and note observations. Step three then takes in “neighboring concepts.” This means to find and record similar and opposite concepts and concepts within the nomological framework in order to find boundaries in the definitions. Step four is to then evaluate those definitions. In evaluation, researchers are looking for ambiguity, vagueness, and circular definitions, among other things. After evaluation, step five is to then decide on and present the conceptual definition, whether it be existing already, modified from an existing definition, or an entirely new definition. Step six is to then content-validate that definition. To do so, the researcher will look to see if their conceptual definition captures the intended meaning of the concept and is usable for their research. Step seven is then the refinement and presentation of the chosen conceptual definition. 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