Author Index A, 61-70

Journalism Quarterly Index Vol. 61-70 •  1984 to 1993

ABEL, JOHN D., See COLLINS.

ABELMAN, ROBERT, Motivations for Viewing the “700 Club,” 65:112-18.

ABELMAN, ROBERT and GARRY PETTEY, How Political is Religious Television? 65:313-19.

ABELMAN, ROBERT, News on the “700 Club” After Pat RobertsonÕs Political Fall, 67:157-62.

ABELMAN, ROBERT, Influence of News Coverage of the “Scandal” on PTL Viewers, 68:101-110.

ABBOTT, ERIC A., and LYNN T. BRASSFIELD, Comparing Decisions on Releases by TV and Newspaper Gatekeepers, 66:853-56.

ACHARYA, LALIT, Public Relations Environments, 62:577-84.

ACKER, TAWNEY, See RAYBURN.

ADAMS, DOUGLAS B., See BERKOWITZ.

ADAMS, R. C. and GAIL M. WEBBER, The Audience for, and Male vs. Female Reaction to, ÔThe Day After,Õ 61:812-16.

ADAMS, R.C. and MARIORIE J. FISH, TV News DirectorsÕ Perception of Station Management Style, 64:154-62.

ADLER, KEITH, See VANDEN BERGH.

ADLER, KEITH E., See VANDEN BERGH.

ADRIAN, MARY A., See VANDEN BERGH.

AKHAVAN-MAJID, ROYA, The Press as an Elite Power Group in Japan, 67:1006-1014.

AKHAVAN-MAJID, ROYA ANITA RIFE and SHEILA GOPINATH, Chain Ownership and Editorial Independence: A Case Study of Gannett Newspapers, 68:59-66.

ALBAUM, GERALD, See PETERSON. AL-ENAD, ABDULRAHMAN H., Counting Items Versus Measuring Space in Content Analysis, 68:657-62.

ALGRAAWI, MBARK A. and HUGH M. CULBERTSON, Relation Between Attribution Specificity and Accessibility to News Sources, 64:799-804.

ALLDRIDGE, TIM, See GAMST. ALLEN, CHRIS T., See WEINBERGER. ALLEN, CRAIG, Our First “Television” Candidate: Eisenhower over Stevenson in 1956, 65:352-60.

ALLEN, CRAIG, News Conferences on TV: Ike Age Politics Revisited, 70:13-25.

ALLEN, DAVID S., See GLASSER.

ALLEN, MYRIA WATKINS, JOY HART SEIBERT, JOHN W. HAAS and STEPHANIE ZIMMERMAN, Broadcasting Departmental Impact on Employee Perceptions and Conflict, 65:668-77.

ALLEYNE, MARK D. and JANET WAGNER, Stability and Change At The “Big Five” News Agencies, 70:40-50.

ALTHEIDE, DAVID L., Impact of Format and Ideology on TV News Coverage of Iran, 62:346-51.

ANDERSON, DAVID A., Presumed Harm: An Item for the Unfinished Agenda of Times v. Sullivan, 62:24-30.

ANDERSON, DOUGLAS, How Managing Editors View and Deal with Newspaper Ethical Issues, 64:341-45.

ANDERSON DOUGLAS A. and CLAUDIA J. ANDERSON, Weather Coverage in Dailies, 63:382-85.

ANDERSON, DOUGLAS A., JOE W. MILNER and MARY-LOU GALICIAN, How Editors View Legal Issues and the Rehnquist Court, 65:294-98.

ANDERSON, JAMES, See FURNO-LAMUDE.

ANDERSON, RONALD and JOEY REAGAN, Practitioner Roles and Uses of New Technologies, 69:156-65. ANDERSON, RONALD, See REAGAN.

ANDERSON, RONALD B., See ATWATER.

ANDREASEN, MARGARET, Attentional Penchants and Recall of Information from Background Radio, 63:24-30, 37.

ANDSAGER, JULIE L., Perceptions of Credibility of Male and Female Syndicated Political Columnists, 67:485-91.

ANDSAGER, JULIE, See WHITE.

ANDSAGER, JULIE L., See WHITE.

ARANT, MORGAN DAVID, JR., Press Identification of Victims of Sexual Assault: Weighing Privacy and Constitutional Concerns, 68:238-52.

ARANT, MORGAN DAVID, See MEYER.

ARICO, SANTO L., Breaking the Ice: An In-Depth Look at Oriana FallaciÕs Interview Techniques, 63:587-93.

ARLUKE, ARNOLD, See LEVIN.

ARMSTRONG, CAMERON, See RUBIN.

ASHDOWN, PAUL, See CAUDILL.

ASI, MORAD, See BOYD.

ATKIN, DAVID, CARRIE HEETER, and THOMAS BALDWIN, How Presence of Cable Affects Parental Mediation Of TV Viewing, 66:557-63.

ATKIN, DAVID and ROBERT LAROSE, Cable Access: Market Concerns Amidst the Marketplace of Ideas, 68:354-62.

ATKIN, DAVID, See LAROSE.

ATKIN, DAVID, See SIEMICKI.

ATKINS, CHARLES K., See BURGOON.

ATWATER, TONY, Product Differentiation in Local TV News, 61:757-62.

ATWATER, TONY, MICHAEL B. SALWEN and RONALD B. ANDERSON, Media Agenda-Setting With Environmental Issues, 62:393-97.

ATWATER, TONY, CARRIE HEETER and NATALIE BROWN, Foreshadowing the Electronic Publishing Age: First Exposures to Viewtron, 62:807-15.

ATWATER, TONY, Network Evening News Coverage of the TWA Hostage Crisis, 64:520-25.

ATWATER, TONY and NORMA F. GREEN, News Sources in Network Coverage of International Terrorism, 65:967-71.

ATWATER, TONY, See BROWN.

ATWATER, TONY, See LACY.

ATWOOD, ERWIN L., See BADII.

ATWOOD, L. ERWIN and ANN MARIE MAJOR, Applying Situational Communication Theory to an International Political Problem: Two Studies, 68:200-210.

AUST, CHARLES F., See RIFFE.

AUSTIN, ERICA WEINTRAUB, The Importance of Perspective in Parent-Child Interpretations of Family Communication Patterns, 70:558-68.

AUTER, PHILIP J. and DONALD M. DAVIS, When Characters Speak Directly to Viewers: Breaking the Fourth Wall in Television, 68:165-71.

AUTER, PHILIP J. and ROY L. MOORE, Buying From a Friend: A Content Analysis of Two Teleshopping Programs, 70:425-36.

AVERY, DONALD R., American Over European Community? Newspaper Content Changes, 1808-1812, 63:311-14.

AVERY, PHILLIS ANN and JOHN D. STEVENS, Effects of Gertz Decision in One Circuit, 61:889-92.

<< Back

Journalism Quarterly Author Index-Volumes 61 to 70

The following is an index of articles by author that appeared in Journalism Quarterly from 1984 to 1993. (In 1995 Journalism Quarterly changed its name to Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly.)

Indexed by author’s last name.

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I, J | K | L

M | N | O, P, Q | R | S | T | U, V | W | X, Y, Z

 

<< J&MC Quarterly Cumulative Index

JMC Quarterly Cumulative Index

Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly Index, Vol. 71 to 80

Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly Index featuring articles from Volumes 71 to 80, which were published from 1994 to 2003. (Journalism Quarterly changed its name to Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly in 1995.)

Journalism Quarterly Index, Vol. 61 to 70

Journalism Quarterly Index featuring articles from Volumes 61 to 70, which were published from 1984 to 1993. (Journalism Quarterly changed its name to Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly in 1995.)

 

<< J&MC Quarterly

JMC Quarterly Contributors

Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly is the flagship journal of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. The journal provides leadership in developing theory, disseminating empirical research, and introducing new concepts to its readership. Because communication is a diverse field, articles address a broad range of questions using a variety of methods and theoretical perspectives. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly challenges the boundaries of communication research, guiding its readers to new questions, new evidence, and new conclusions. While we welcome submissions focusing on particular areas or specialties, articles should be written in a style that is accessible to all communication scholars.

1. Submissions. Submit an electronic copy of your manuscript, whether on a computer disk or CD-ROM, or as an e-mail attachment. The text format should be double-spaced, with endnotes, tables, and figures at the end of the manuscript. Word or WordPerfect documents are preferred. Author identification should not appear anywhere on the main text pages or in the main text file (if possible, remove identifying information from the “Properties” information under “File”). Manuscripts should be no longer than 5,000 words “of main text,” but manuscripts  that do not employ tables, figures, or appendices of up to 6,000 words of main text will be reviewed and their length evaluated as part of the review process. Only original manuscripts not under review elsewhere should be submitted. We try to make decisions within three months.
2. Abstract and author information. An abstract of no more than 100 words should be included as a separate electronic file, and the abstract should indicate all author identification and contact information, institutional affiliation, and any funding sources. Authors should provide four or fewer key words or terms on the abstract that identify the content of the submission. Author identification should not appear anywhere except on the abstract page.
3. Style. For final acceptance, use Chicago Manual of Style (15th. ed.) guidelines. For law manuscripts, Chicago refers you elsewhere for certain citations. Do not use in-text references, i.e., (Weston, 1972). Do not use op. cit., ibid., or loc. cit. In ordinary text, whole numbers from one through ninety-nine are spelled out. However, when normally spelled numbers cluster in a sentence or paragraph, use figures. Use % instead of percent. Underline or italicize names of cities when using newspaper names, i.e., New York Times. In endnotes and in book review headings, use postal code abbreviations for states; in regular copy, use traditional abbreviations.
4. Heading Styles. First-level headings are typed in bold italic and justified left. Second-level headings are indented and typed in bold italic. Third-level headings are indented and typed in italic. Note example:
Method
Sample. A random sample …
Sampling Techniques. These techniques are useful when …
5. Tables. When creating tables, use the WordPerfect table feature, MacIntosh Word using the “Insert Table“ command, or PageMaker with tabs. Do not duplicate material in text and tables. Tables and figures should be used only when they substantially aid the reader, not merely because computers make tables easy to create.
Basic Endnote Style:
1. Todd Gitlin, Inside Prime Time (NY: Pantheon, 1985), 82. [Note that page numbers do not carry the pp. or p. prefix.]
2. Joseph R. Dominick, “Children’s Viewing of Crime Shows and Attitudes on Law Enforcement,” Journalism Quarterly 51 (spring 1974): 5-12.
3. Leon V. Sigal, “Sources Make the News,” in Reading the News, ed. Robert Karl Manoff and Michael Schudson (NY: Pantheon Books, 1986), 9-37.
4. Ruthann Weaver Lariscy, Spencer F. Tinkham, Heidi Hatfield Edwards, and Karyn Ogata Jones, “The ‘Ground War’ of Political Campaigns: Nonpaid Activities in U.S. State Legislative Races,” Journalism & Mass Communi-cation Quarterly 81 (autumn 2004): 477-97.
5. Robert K. Manoff and Michael Schudson, eds., Reading the News (NY: Pantheon Books, 1986), 8.
6. “Nicaragua’s Bitter Harvest,” New York Times, December 23, 1983, sec. A, p. 2, col. 4.
7. E. W. Caspari and R. E. Marshak, “The Rise and Fall of Lysenko,” Science, July 16, 1965, 275-78.
8. George A. Donohue, Clarice N. Olien, and Phillip J. Tichenor, “Knowledge Gaps and Smoking Behavior” (paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for Public Opinion Research, Lancaster, PA, 1990). [When association is AEJMC, use initials only.]
Shortened, or Second References:
1. Gitlin, Inside Prime Time, 2.
2. Dominick, “Children’s Viewing,” 8.
3. Sigal, “Sources Make the News,” 22.
4. Lariscy et al., “The ‘Ground War’ of Political Campaigns,” 481.
5. Donohue, Olien, and Tichenor, “Knowledge Gaps and Smoking Behavior.”

Send JMCQ submissions to: Dan Riffe, Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, School of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, 117 Carroll Hall, Chapel Hill, NC 27514.

<< JMC Quarterly

Small Programs Interest Group 2010 Abstracts

How Facebook Influences Students’ Motivation to Learn, Affective Learning, Classroom Climate and Engagement • YoungAh Lee, Missouri School of Journalism; Saleem Alhabash, University of Missouri, School of Journalism; Cynthia Frisby, University of Missouri • Using theories on CMC integration in education, a cross-sectional survey (N=129) examined the relationship between using Facebook for student-teacher communication and dimensions related to student learning. Results indicated that using Facebook to communicate with the instructor significantly predicted higher student motivation, affective learning, classroom climate and engagement. Results also showed that high use of both Facebook and email for student-teacher communication positively affected the four learning dimensions. Results are discussed within the framework of educational use of communication technologies, along with practical implications for journalism and mass communication educators.

Teaching Journalism as a Liberal Art: Social Justice, Empathy, and Community Decision-Making • Mary Beth Callie, Regis University • This essay relates what I have discovered in teaching community-based learning journalism courses (Introduction to Media Writing and In Depth Reporting and Writing) that are co-listed between Communication (home department) and the Peace and Justice Studies program (major and minor). Both of these courses introduce students to a values-centered approach, grounded in civic and peace journalism, that focuses on how their reporting and writing can serve the college and surrounding community, and inspire their own growth and development. The essay details the structure and assignments that I have developed in those courses to meet students where they are and then guide them through a process of discovery in their reporting, writing, and reflection. I have found that students’ motivation to engage their stories greatly depends on their attitudes, habits, and beliefs about community, service, and the purpose of college. Understanding the decision and policy-making context, values, and multiple perspectives can help with that engagement. As teachers, the challenge is to find ways to understand where students are, to meet them there, and to move them toward deeper engagement.

A Pedagogical Response to the Coverage of Islam: A Wiki-Based Best Practices Document for Reporting on Muslims and Islam • Jennifer Hoewe, Michigan State University; Brian Bowe, Michigan State University; Geri Alumit Zeldes, Michigan State University • A Michigan State University course titled Reporting on Islam utilized a Wiki-based tool that allowed students to engage in a virtual discussion of how to best report on Muslims and Islam. The contents of this discussion were compiled and edited into a best practices document. This article presents an argument for closer examination of the coverage of Muslims and Islam and then discusses the educational importance of the document resulting from of the Wiki interactions.

Reading to Learn: Engaging University Students in Meaningful Reading and Classroom Discussion • Jan Larson, UW-Eau Claire; Amy Young, UW-Eau Claire; Mary Beth Leibham, UW-Eau Claire • Reading to Learn is an ongoing interdisciplinary research effort designed to understand university students’ reading practices and classroom discussions within the context of reading communities. The goal is to contribute to best practices for engaging students in reading course texts and in meaningful classroom discussion that promotes critical thinking and enhances learning. Preliminary data indicate that students perceive reading communities as being helpful in clarifying their thinking, increasing learning, and improving class discussion.

Analyzing Student Writing Proficiency and Assessment Measures in Programs of Journalism and Mass Communication • Andrew Lingwall, Clarion University • This study explores respondents’ perceptions of the writing proficiency of students entering programs of journalism and mass communication, and measures used to assess and improve student writing. Key findings are that regardless of institutional attributes, faculty members are dealing with many new students who are only moderately proficient in writing. This study also established that among respondents, there is no clear pattern in measures used or in the degree of success achieved with those measures.

The Gumshoe Project: A model for collaboration between a small college program and large newspaper • Donna Shaw, The College of New Jersey; Sarah Monisha Pulimood, The College of New Jersey; Emilie Lounsberry, The College of New Jersey • Journalism and computer science students and professors at our small, primarily undergraduate college collaborated to analyze data involving suspects arrested for gun-related crimes. The project helped lay the groundwork for a four-part series in which The Philadelphia Inquirer concluded, as did our analysis, that more than half of all gun-crime prosecutions in Philadelphia were dropped or discharged before trial. The newspaper’s series has led to an ongoing investigation by local, state and federal officials.

I shot a prescriptivist in my pajamas last night: A grammatical disarmament proposal for editors and educators • Fred Vultee, Wayne State University • In an economic atmosphere in which do more with less means fewer and fewer people do more with less, would a new look at how journalism schools teach grammar help editors – and instructors – do their jobs more effectively? This paper seeks to find out whether the profession and the academy can agree on what sorts of language basics new editors need to know – and, by extension, which old ones we can discard.

How 2 rite Gr8 leeds: A study of the impact of text messaging on basic news writing skills • Myleea Hill, Arkansas State University; Jack Zibluk, Arkansas State University • Despite of, or perhaps because of, the increased opportunities and outlets for communication, educators and journalists often bemoan the quality of student work. Student deficits in spelling and grammar were found to be especially problematic in a 2004 study of journalism faculty published in Journalism and Mass Communication Educator. According to a 2001 study published in Journalism, new technologies should be used to shape up rather than dumb down journalism education. The reliance on century’s-old techniques, metaphors and explanations – such as the effects of cutting of telegraph wires during the Civil War – may be interesting, but the relevance of such examples are fading in the wireless era. Few aphorisms, old or new, help students acquire the desired writing skills in a news writing class. The following study cuts the wires and explores student responses to using a newer and widely available medium and form of expression – the cell-phone text message and applies it to a standard exercise: writing a news lead. This study examines the effects of using text messaging to teach news writing fundamentals to college students. Early in the spring 2010 semester, researchers at an ACEJMC-accredited university in the Mid-South compared news leads written by students in a traditional method with those written as text messages. Findings suggest that text messaging does not impede students’ ability to write leads. The approach might in fact enhance it – especially in terms of news judgment.

<< 2010 Abstracts

Visual Communication Division 2010 Abstracts

Strike a Pose: Comparing Associated Press and UNICEF Visual Representations • Sadaf Ali, Wayne State University; Debbie James, Wayne State University; Fred Vultee, Wayne State University • When images of children in conflict situations are selected and published for a Western audience, what roles do the images fulfill for the audience? A content analysis of photographs provided by the Associated Press and the United Nations Children’s Fund suggests that news agencies and aid agencies frame children of conflicts differently, as passive agents or success stories, in accordance with ideological and organizational guidelines.

You just have to be there: Video Journalism as a Social and Material Construction • Mary Bock, Kutztown University of Pennsylvania • News organizations are increasingly turning to video journalism as a strategy for survival in the era of convergence.  Video journalism, or the process by which one person shoots, writes and edits video stories for exhibition on television or the internet, represents both a socially and materially constructed form of news. While photojournalism has long represented both material and social practice, the adoption of video journalism, particularly by formerly text-based journalists, presents a new dimension to daily work practices. This qualitative project examines the daily work practices of video journalists in a variety of organizational settings.  Data was collected in the U.S. and the U.K.  in 2007 and 2008 and includes a variety of site visits, participant observation opportunities, and more than 75 long-form interviews with video journalists, photojournalists, newsroom managers, and public relations representatives who work with video journalists as part of their organizational responsibilities. The project found that the material dimension of video journalism constricts the newsgathering process in ways that can alter not only the way stories are told but which stories are chosen to be told. The material requirements of video journalism have the potential to shift control of some aspects of news narrative away from journalists toward their supporting sources.

Remembering 9/11 through Photos in Anniversary Editions of Impact Site Newspapers • Bob Britten, West Virginia University • This research examines the memorialization of the September 11 attacks in newspaper photography. The cultural concepts of place and collective memory are employed in this analysis. Content analysis is conducted on photographs in the major newspapers serving each of the impact sites and in a neutral, non-site newspaper. The results suggest a journalism of we at play, with media tending to focus only on the memorialization activities of their own areas even in this example of a national catastrophe. The implication is that place limits, both individual and institutional, may keep journalists and audiences from understanding the parallel memorial work of others.

College Student Preferences for Trendy Versus Classic Typefaces: A Q-Study • Tara Buehner, University of Oklahoma • This study discerns groups of college students based on their opinions about the trendy typography in textbooks. Q methodology was used to collect and analyze the data about typeface preference. This methodology is especially suited to preliminary research used to obtain a deeper understanding about under-explored concepts like subjective typographic preference. The researcher was able to identify four distinct groups of students based upon individual subjective typeface visual preferences.

Do You See What I See?:  A Comparative Content Analysis of Iraq War Photographs Published in The New York Times and the Tehran Times • Garen Cansler, University of South Carolina; Erik Collins, University of South Carolina; Cecile Holmes, University of South Carolina • In expansion of research analyzing framing of photographic content in national and international newspapers, the present study uses comparative content analysis to examine the similarities and differences in the framing of the 2003 Iraq War.  The portrayal of Coalition forces, Iraqi soldiers and Iraqi civilians were examined in 2003 editions of The New York Times and the Tehran Times.  Overall, the depiction of these groups was strikingly similar, with a few notable differences. Recommendations for future research in this fertile area of visual communication studies includes the expanded analysis of newspaper photographs published in countries with varying cultural and geographic distances to the Iraq War.

Four years later: A longitudinal study of emerging visual icons of Hurricane Katrina • Andrea Miller, Louisiana State University; Nicole S Dahmen, Louisiana State University • Iconicity continues to be a topic of importance to visual communication scholars. This research uses longitudinal data from the same cohort—a cohort who experienced the storm firsthand—to study the iconicity of Hurricane Katrina images. Researchers found a striking similarity between recalled images from Time 1 to Time 2. These images represent the vastness of the disaster and have endured in our collective memory. The research also shows that emerging technologies have complicated the formation of a visual collective consciousness and thus the scholarly study of iconic images.

Interactive Graphics Development (IDG):  A framework for studying innovative visual story forms • Jennifer George-Palilonis, Ball State University; Mary Spillman, Ball State University • There is considerable scholarship defining unique features of digital storytelling and on interactive content for online newspapers. However, little scholarship exists that provides theoretical and practical analysis of the creation of interactive graphics. This paper establishes the Interactive Graphics Development framework, a theoretical model for researchers studying the effectiveness of interactive graphics and their potential in storytelling. The IGD also standardizes definitions for interactive graphics and provides a touch point for journalists refining nonlinear storytelling.

How a multimedia course design affects differing learning styles  in the visual communication classroom • Jennifer George-Palilonis, Ball State University; Vincent Filak, UW-Oshkosh • A study of 117 students enrolled in a visual communication course that employs a multimedia course design revealed students gravitated toward tools that accentuated their learning needs. Students reported strong levels of agreement with statements regarding their overall sense of learning, enjoyment of the course and overall effort. Additionally, no significant differences existed among the four learning styles identified here, indicating the course satisfied all four groups equally. Implications for pedagogy and theory are discussed.

Why We Travel: Enduring and Emergent Representations in a New York Times Travel Text • Katherine Good, Northwestern University • Travel journalism draws upon socially-constructed ideas of the foreign, making it a unique window for observing the formation and circulation of global discourses. This paper analyzes an unorthodox The New York Times online travel feature called Why We Travel, a collection of over 2,000 reader-submitted photos and captions describing personal travel experiences. To make sense of this polysemic, multi-authored text, I refer to the theories of tourism scholars MacCannell (1976) and Urry (2002) to locate within the images a series of enduring and emergent travel representations. The former include an unequal distribution of certain subject matter across regions, emphasis on authentic touristic experiences, and methods for minimizing signs of Western culture through visual representation. Within the same collection, however, emergent representations feature new tourisms and itineraries, highly re&#64258;exive or ironic portraits of tourists, and conscious confrontation of interconnectivity. In conclusion, I consider the cultural functions that Why We Travel performs as it coheres under the Times&#700; authoritative presentational aesthetic. More than a travel feature, it may be considered a prominent part of the Times&#700; multifaceted coverage on the globalization of American middlebrow culture.

The visual rhetoric of consumer journalism • Grant Hannis, Massey University • Supra-textual design theory is used to identify the visual rhetoric of leading magazine Consumer Reports. Various visual devices help convince the reader that Consumer Reports indeed is a magazine and can be read and enjoyed as such. But its visual emphasis on products and product testing, frequent use of technical tables, and recurrent image of the wise, fatherly figure seek to convince the reader Consumer Reports is more trustworthy and reliable than its competitors.

Consuming the West: A Semiotic Analysis of Western Models and Symbols in Chinese Magazine Advertising • Ying Huang, Southern Illinois University Carbondale            • Using semiotic analysis, this study examines the representations of Western models, landmarks, architecture, and other Western symbols in ten Chinese magazine advertisements. It shows Western models are integrated into both erotic/sex appeal and status appeal. Though sometimes objectified, the West is still constructed as superior and more advanced ‘other’ in relation to China, which is a reflection of China’s economic relationship with the West and the official discourse for economic development.

A critical look at the Internet’s influence on logo design • Debra Kelley, University of Minnesota • The advent of digital media has prompted a change in the design of logos. Clear, simple lines and solid colors have morphed into an array of squiggles, swirls, 3D and transparent images, drop-shadows, manipulated photos, illustrations and cut up letter forms.  Computer-mediated logo design opened a floodgate of graphic possibilities to designers; however, the availability of increased technical capabilities has not necessarily brought about better designed logos. Before the idea of creating eye candy on the computer screen became possible, technical limitations had a positive influence on the aesthetic look, memorability and functionality of logo designs. A brief look at the history of trends in graphic design and a comparative study of logos, suggests how technical advances influence design trends. Many logos produced today don’t meet classic principles of design, nor fulfill all the requirements of a complete corporate identity system.

The non-fiction hides, while the fiction seeks:  Waltz with Bashir and the truth of animated documentary • Robert Peaslee, Texas Tech University • Waltz with Bashir (WWB), Israel’s first animated feature film, premiered at Cannes in May of 2008 and became Israel’s official entry for consideration for the 2009 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, for which it was eventually nominated. It was the first animated film in history to be so appointed by the Academy. Awarded prizes at several festivals, WWB was described in critical circles with the unlikely moniker of animated documentary (Ansen, 2008) or documentary cartoon (Corliss, 2008). Traditionally, these constructions are seen as contradictory. The goal of this paper is to show the ways in which the formal choices made by director Ari Folman and his team have perhaps precipitated the creation of a truer document – have sought rather than hidden. Moreover, I suggest that while Folman’s public statements about the film suggest that his goal was to interrogate the nature of memory via his own reflexive journey, the film simultaneously delivers a convincing critique of the photographic image in the context of 21st-century information production and consumption.

Doing more with less: How the jobs of newspaper photojournalists have changed • Arthur Santana, University of Oregon; John Russial, University of Oregon • The era of the interactive newsroom has required that journalists learn a host of new technical skills at newspapers across the country. A national survey shows how photojournalists have taken on much of the new responsibilities at newspapers while continuing to fulfill their old ones as well. Results show that workload is high and job satisfaction is somewhat low and that satisfaction is related to a number of intrinsic aspects of the job.

Online Communities’ Impact on the Profession of Newspaper Design • Steve Urbanski, West Virginia University; Amanda Miller • The importance of the Internet to visual journalism is increasing with every technological progression. Within the past several years, online communities have formed and flourished, creating a cyber design haven for creative professionals to meet and share their visual work. This paper focuses on the possible impact of these emerging online communities on the profession of newspaper design as a whole. Qualitative interviews of newspaper designers who participate in online communities specifically focused on the profession unveil current and important transformations occurring within the newspaper design profession. Additionally, this paper expands on both offline and online community theory, offering qualitative insight into future studies that may focus on the Internet’s effects on various professions.

Graphical Depictions of Quantitative Data: Can Interactivity Affect Recall and Attitudes? • Bartosz Wojdynski, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • Quantitative information is often an important element of mediated messages, used to convey financial information, risk likelihoods of various hazards, and to express changes over time in social factors ranging from unemployment to cell-phone use.  This between-subjects experiment (n=72) examined the effects of three levels of interactivity (low, medium, and high) on subjects ability to recall quantitative information from a news story containing graphics.  The results suggest that allowing users to interact with information displayed in graphics may have beneficial effects on how they view the information. No support is found here for a relationship between interactivity and recall of numerical information in graphs.  However, there is evidence that interactivity in information presentation leads to more positive attitudes toward the content for users who were not highly involved with the content.

Show Me a Story: The Synergy of Photo Stories and Words • Carolyn Yaschur, University of Texas • An experiment comparing three journalistic stories by format – photos only, words only, and a combination of the two – found text and photos together were preferred with regard to three criteria. The text-photo combination resulted in improved recall, enhanced assessment of credibility and greater enjoyment of stories. Based on the mental model theory and dual coding hypothesis, the study extends the literature to include photo stories, which is relevant given the current emphasis on multimedia storytelling.

Photojournalists’ Job Responsibilities and Satisfaction: The Impact of Range of Affect and Changes in Contract • Carolyn Yaschur, University of Texas • A nationwide survey was conducted among daily newspaper photojournalists and photo editors about their evolving roles and job satisfaction. Staff decreases and workload shifts were found, resulting in alternate sources and variance in quality of photographs. Enjoyment of traditional job facets, such as shooting still photos, creativity, and autonomy, were related to job satisfaction, but newer responsibilities, like producing videos and audio slideshows, which constitute a change of psychological contract, were not.

<< 2010 Abstracts

Scholastic Journalism Division 2010 Abstracts

Let’s Go Crazy: Teaching Cultural Literacy Through Remix • xtine burrough, cal state fullerton; Emily Erickson, cal state fullerton • This paper suggests how educators can guide coordination norms for creating user-generated content (UGC) with a rich knowledge of fair use. An outline of UGC challenges to fair use, and a history of the technology that paved the way for a participatory culture provide background information for this activity. Students study the fair use doctrine as applied to the Lenz v. Universal case, and create a remix of Lenz’s original video for YouTube.

Disruption and Innovation: Online Learning and Degrees at Accredited Journalism Schools and Programs • Laura Castaneda, USC — Annenberg • This study examined online journalism courses and degrees at the 113 ACEJMC-accredited programs in 2008-09. A Web survey, which garnered a 72 percent response rate, and interviews with faculty members and administrators, found that 13 percent of programs now offer or plan to offer online degrees. Viewed through innovation theories, these and other results suggest that online journalism programs and courses are growing, and early innovators could carve out new markets of non-traditional students.

Tinkering with Student Expression: The Schoolhouse Gate Becomes a Revolving Door • Thomas Eveslage, Temple University • Technology is changing the learning landscape and blurring the boundaries of public schools. One worrisome result is that the ease with which students communicate with one another inside and outside of school is tempting school officials to flex their administrative muscles beyond school boundaries with the same authority they believe courts have given them within the schools. This paper examines the four U.S. Supreme Court decisions of the past 40 years that provide the legal framework for regulation of student expression and identifies the parameters established there for off-campus punishment of online expression. A review of recent cases concludes that lower courts are still trying to find a comfortable way to fit Supreme Court precedence into an educational environment populated by techno-savvy students armed with new ways to challenge administrative authority.

Editor Toast: A study of burnout and job satisfaction among college newspaper editors • Vincent Filak, UW-Oshkosh; Scott Reinardy, University of Kansas • Using the Maslach Burnout Inventory, a study of 185 college newspaper editors revealed that participants were experiencing moderate levels of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization, two key factors in clinical burnout. Emotional exhaustion and depersonalization were significant negative predictors of editors’ job satisfaction while personal accomplishment was a significant positive predictor. When compared to the advisers for these editors (n=217), student editors had significantly higher scores on the emotional exhaustion and depersonalization scales. However, there were no differences between advisers and editors on job satisfaction.

Scholastic Millennials and the Media: News consumption habits of young journalism students • Geoffrey Graybeal, University of Georgia; Joe Dennis, University of Georgia; Amy Sindik, University of Georgia • This study examines the media patterns of high school journalism students, and what factors motivate them into consuming news media. This study conducted a survey and focus groups at a weeklong 2009 summer scholastic journalism camp at a university in the southeastern United Sates. The study found that parents and classes are primary factors that influence the news and media consumption of teenagers interested in journalism

High School and Collegiate Journalism: The Ties That Bind (Through an AEJMC Division, and Beyond) Bruce Konkle, University of South Carolina- Columbia • Connections between high school and collegiate journalism programs run deep, perhaps because of AEJMC’s approval of a Secondary Education Division in 1965-1966, the inclusion of nearly 80 scholastic journalism-related research articles published in the association’s research publications, education journal articles highlighting the link, and the sponsoring of scholastic media associations and summer journalism workshops by journalism and mass communications schools. How important were the links between high school and college journalism programs to the growth and prospering of high school journalism?

Toothless Tinker: The Continued Erosion of Student Speech Rights • Dan Kozlowski, Saint Louis University • This paper analyzes four primary ways in which federal courts have weakened Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark student speech case. The study particularly focuses on recent lower court interpretations of Tinker. Analysis shows that even when Tinker provides the applicable precedent in a case, students are increasingly losing their First Amendment claims with alarming frequency, leaving student speech advocates to wonder what rights students actually have left.

Authoritarians in the front office? Personality and support for expression rights among high school principals • Brian Schraum, University of Missouri; Adam Maksl, University of Missouri • This study applies authoritarian personality theory to the context of free expression in schools through a survey of Missouri high school principals (N=86). Support for the First Amendment in society, in-school student speech rights and off-campus digital expression rights are measured. The results show no significant relationship between level of authoritarianism and level of support for student expression rights, contradicting the notion that administrators are quick-to-censor authoritarians. Alternative predictor variables are also discussed.

Protecting the ‘impressionable minds’ from the ‘impressionable minds’: The third-person effect and student speech • Adam Maksl, University of Missouri; Brian Schraum, University of Missouri • We examined support for student expression and First Amendment attitudes among Missouri high school principals (n=86) using the third-person effect as a possible predictor. We found the greater principals perceived mass media to affect others over themselves, the less supportive they were for student free expression rights, particularly online. In addition to applying a theoretical framework to this area of research, we present several significant covariates to free expression attitudes other than the third-person effect.

Teen attitudes towards journalism and the news media: a study of inner city youth • Regina Marchi, Rutgers University • Based on formal one-on-one interviews with 20 (of an eventual 30) high school aged journalists, this paper discusses young people’s attitudes towards the profession of journalism and towards the news media, in general. While most existing research on teen journalists has focused on suburban, predominantly White and middle class youth, this work in progress seeks to illuminate how racially diverse, predominantly working class teens get their news; which news stories they feel are most important, and what role they feel journalism plays in the larger society. The paper also explores these young people’s notions of the public good and their frustrations regarding the mainstream news media, offering clues to how news organizations might better appeal to the younger demographic they so desperately seek to engage.

Squelching Student Speech?: The Impact of Florida’s Anti-Cyberbullying Law on Public School Student Expression Policies • Kara Murrhee, University of Flordia • A survey of ten Florida school district anti-cyberbullying policies revealed that all had amended their policies in light of the Florida’ anti-cyberbullying law. Of the ten school district policies surveyed as part of this thesis, the large school districts tended to include additional provisions that amplified the restrictions placed on student expression, whereas the small school districts appeared to stick more closely to the language adopted by the Florida Department of Education. Although the districts’ efforts are admirable, it is doubtful they would pass constitutional muster if challenged in court on First Amendment grounds. Such over-proscriptions would stand in the way of offering protection when public school children would need it most.

Understanding the Role of Structural Correlates, Functional Considerations, and Modality Evaluations on Interest in Campus Newspapers • Fernando Paragas, Nanyang Technological University • Using data from a survey of 1,064 respondents from nine universities in the Philippines, this research finds it is the students’ course domains, among five structural correlates, which differentiate level of interest in the content of campus newspapers (CN). It discovers interest is determined by the use of the CN to address cognitive and integrative needs, and the evaluation of how the CN fulfills its purpose. It reveals readership and interest are significantly, but weakly, correlated.

Computational journalism in the middle school • Kim Pearson, The College of New Jersey; Ursula Wolz, The College of New Jersey; Monisha Pulimood, College of New Jersey; Meredith Stone, The College of New Jersey; Mary Switzer, college of New Jersey • This paper presents a model of scholastic journalism that is designed to introduce students to computer science concepts that will be essential not only for the next generation of journalists, but also for the professionals across a range of computing-dependent fields. The model was created as part of a three-year demonstration project funded by the National Science Foundation. Results suggest that the study has succeeded in spreading awareness about the range of computing careers.

Journalism Teacher Assessment of Education Inhibitors • Bruce Plopper, University of Arkansas at Little rock; Taylon Cook, University of Arklansas at Little Rock • Combining cultural-historical theory of human development with research pinpointing education inhibitors, a survey was developed to investigate how journalism teachers evaluated the effects of five education inhibitors on their students’ learning. Results showed that use of electronic gadgets and lack of parental education were perceived as having the most negative influence on learning, while students’ subcultures were perceived as having the smallest effect. Respondents knew the least about their students’ nutritional intake. Implications are discussed.

The underprivileged: Journalism students seeking the shield • Erica Salkin, Graduate Student • Undergraduate and master’s-level journalism students tackle a variety of newsgathering and writing assignments, with the expectation they perform at or near a professional level. Despite this expectation of quality, journalism students are not afforded the journalistic privilege given to their professional counterparts, even those working on student newspapers. This paper examines the potential for journalism students to claim privilege under state statutory and common law, federal common law and the concept of a researcher’s privilege.

<< 2010 Abstracts

Radio-Television Journalism Division 2010 Abstracts

Interdependence and adoption: The application of critical mass theory to diffusion of non-linear editing • Tim Brown, University of Central Florida; Heidi D. Campbell, University of South Carolina; August E. Grant, University of South Carolina; Harvie Nachlinger, University of South Carolina • This paper applies critical-mass and collective-action theory to the adoption of non-linear video editing by communications programs and television stations. The results of two surveys provide evidence of an accelerating production function of adoption by television stations while the adoption pattern in academia exhibits a decelerating production function. Post-hoc hypotheses suggested by collective action theory suggest that the external forces and interdependence between stations and communications programs (stations hire communications programs graduates) inhibited later-stage adoption by colleges preventing the academy from being a true innovator. Finally, the implications of these interdependent processes suggested by collective action theory are discussed.

Third-person perception and myths about crime and victims of crime • John Chapin, Pennsylvania State University • The study extends the third-person perception (TPP) literature by documenting the phenomenon within the context of news coverage of crime, and by establishing a relationship between TPP and myths or misperceptions about crime. Results of a community sample (N = 340) indicate that TPP is predicted by perceived importance of the topic and belief in myths, but not by experience with crime, age, race, or gender.

What Was the Murrow Tradition? A Case for Supplementing Historical Research with Content Analysis • Raluca Cozma, Iowa State University • This study content analyzes a representative sample of world news roundups from the golden age of foreign correspondence at CBS Radio in order to better understand what the so-called Murrow tradition was in quantitative terms. As the results don’t seem to match the glorified image we have about that era, this study makes a case for supplementing historical research with content analysis in order to better understand the history and evolution of foreign news.

New Media Skills Competency Expected of TV Reporters and Producers: A Survey • Michael Cremedas, S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, Syracuse University; Suzanne Lysak, S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, Syracuse University This study examined the current state of online news production at local television stations—what is being produced and who is producing it—and what emphasis news directors place on new media skills when making hiring decisions. Armed with a picture of how today’s TV newsrooms are attempting to meet the demand for Web content, broadcast journalism educators can more efficiently establish a proper balance between traditional classroom instruction and training in new media.

Domestic Terrorism on the Nightly News • Ruth DeFoster, University of Minnesota • This study examines coverage of domestic terror attacks in the United States on evening network news broadcasts, analyzing both the extent of coverage and differences in coverage—including the presence of the term terrorism—between attacks perpetrated by culprits identified by different ethnic, racial, and religious descriptors. Analysis of 394 stories (42 events) found a significant association between the use of the word terrorism and the identification of culprits as Muslim (x2 = 25.026, df = 1, p < .0001).

Audience Preferences in Determining Quality News Production of Backpack Journalism • Charlie Gee, Duquesne University • This study explores preferences by younger news audiences of backpack journalism in local television news. Local television news has to compete with Internet and other media to attract viewers. The focus of the study centered around technology’s influence on television newsgathering techniques and if the techniques delineated the quality of journalistic presentation and is theoretically based on uses and gratifications.

News Source Perceptions of Accuracy for Newspaper & Television Websites • Darrell Blair, University of Tennessee; Mark Harmon, University of Tennessee • In a pilot study, researchers tested perceptions of accuracy by news sources utilizing a conventional research methodology adapted to sample online news websites. Findings mirror several aspects of existing accuracy research. In general reporter error is often cited as a reason for factual inconsistencies or misrepresentations of facts within news stories and subjective errors are more prevalent than are objective errors. Researchers provide recommendations for future accuracy research.

Bridging the Gap between Students and Veteran Journalists: Promising Practices for Journalism Educators • Sarah Holtan, Concordia University Wisconsin • This study examined television journalists regarding their perceptions of on-the-job success and the role of prior education. The findings show success is in all levels, it is relative to age, and is never-ending. Success means moving forward, being factually accurate, having a positive impact as a professional, and avoiding preventable on-air mistakes. The informants found value in learning about ethics and news judgment in college but felt overwhelmed by the practical aspects of their jobs.

Social Identity and Convergence: News Faculty and Student Perspectives on Web, Print, and Broadcast Skills • Glenn Hubbard, The University of Texas at Arlington; Elizabeth Crawford, NDSU; Vincent Filak, UW-Oshkosh • National survey of 342 mass communication students and faculty (n=342) assessed the relationship between social identity with given mass communication disciplines (print, broadcast, advertising, and public relations) and preferences for the teaching of broadcast, print, or web-oriented skills. Findings indicate that broadcasting students and faculty who identify highly as broadcasters are less open to the teaching of cross-platform skills than others in the sample. Also, among all mass communication student and faculty participants, there was a negative relationship between the strength of preference for the teaching of traditional print or broadcast skills and the teaching of web-related skills. This negative relationship was strongest among those in broadcasting, indicating that intergroup bias is stronger among broadcasters than others in mass media programs, and possibly suggesting that broadcasters are less open to convergence than other mass communication students and faculty. There were no significant differences between students and faculty in terms of print or broadcast skills preferences, but students ranked the teaching of all mass communication skills more highly than faculty.

Motivations and Attitudes toward Crime News as Predictors of Risk Perception • Eun Hwa Jung, University of Florida • This study investigated the factors influencing risk perception through crime news on television. To gain insights into the issue, the study considered motivations for watching television news and attitudes toward crime news as predictors of risk perception. However, only frequency of watching crime news was found to positively influence risk perception. The findings contribute to greater understanding of television news audiences and the effect that crime news on television has on audiences’ perceptions of risk.

Operationalizing the dimensions of current events: Two pilot studies • Jack Karlis, University of South Carolina; August E. Grant, University of South Carolina • Journalism faculty has long used current events tests as a tool to help journalism students develop the habit of consuming news. A number of previous studies have examined the relationship between consumption of specific media and college students’ current events knowledge. However, the literature on current events knowledge is limited compared to other aspects of mass communication curriculum, and a notable weakness in most of these studies is a failure to provide a specific, operational definition of current events. This paper explores the use and previous operationalizations of current events tests and reports the results from two exploratory studies designed to investigate the perceived importance of current events subject matter and move towards an operational definition of current events testing in mass communications curriculum. Ten dimensions of current events are operationalized, and differences in knowledge and importance of these dimensions by sex are investigated.

Differing Uses of YouTube During the 2008 U.S. Presidential Primary Election • Gary Hanson, Kent State University; Paul Haridakis, Kent State University; Rekha Sharma, Kent State University • In this study we explored YouTube use during the 2008 U.S. presidential primaries. Specifically, we identified people’s motives for using the site and described the types of videos people viewed and shared. Results indicated participants used YouTube predominantly for habitual entertainment and information seeking purposes. But there was a strong relationship between political surveillance motivation and watching news, political ads, direct-to-camera videos, and campaign ads, suggesting YouTube could be a significant medium in future elections.

Tweeting the news: Broadcast stations’ use of Twitter • Jessica Smith, Texas Tech University; Stephanie Miles, Texas Tech University; Jillian Lellis, Texas Tech University • This pilot study offers a picture of basic characteristics of Twitter posts by television broadcast stations. A content analysis examined a sample of 8,566 tweets selected from 117 stations in one month. Most tweets included hyperlinks to additional content, and most lacked source attribution for the information they offered. Tweets about crime and law enforcement, miscellaneous content, government and politics, and accidents or disasters were the most common topics, composing more than 56% of the sample. Finally, few tweets included Twitter-specific functions that link topics and users in online conversation.

The Evolving Frame: NBC’s Coverage of The U.S. Presidents’ Visits to China, 1989-2009 • Boya Xu, West Virginia University • This study analyzes NBC’s coverage of the U.S. President’s visits to China from 1989 through 2009, and investigates the evolving characteristics of media framing over time. By examining the changes of primary target, content orientation, and tone in news reporting in different time periods, using quantitative content analysis, it is concluded that journalistic ideology in the newsroom played an important role in news making, while the media interpretation of international communication is applied within the context of foreign policies and bilateral relations.

Marketing Sensationalism: A Comparison of Television News in Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan • Shuhua Zhou, University of Alabama; Trisha Lin, Nanyang Technological University; Cui Zhang, the University of Alabama • Examining the prominence of sensational content, features and storytelling in news reports, this comparative study investigated news sensationalism in commercial and state-owned Chinese television news. For the selected cases (CCTV from mainland China, TVB Hong Kong, TTV and TVBS from Taiwan), 1,132 news stories from 56 main evening newscasts in the fall of 2007 were content analyzed. Three sets of variables, sensational topics, tabloid packaging and vivid story-telling techniques, were used to measure dramatic elements in news stories. The findings partially supported the contention that the more competitive TV newscasters (Hong Kong’s TVB and Taiwan’s TVBS) have more sensational topics, tabloid packaging, and vivid storytelling techniques than the state-owned CCTV of China and Taiwan’s TTV. Implications of these findings on Chinese television news were discussed.

<< 2010 Abstracts

Religion and Media Interest Group 2010 Abstracts

An Inquiry into the Alleged Plagiarism of a Former NBA All-Star • William Alnor, California State University, East Bay • Did evangelical radio talk show host Hendrick Hank Hanegraaff plagiarized text and images from former National Basketball Hall of Fame player Jerry Lucas’s work in the late 1980s? The works in question are Lucas’ book Ready, Set, Remember (White’s Creek, TN: Memory Press, 1978) and Hanegraaff’s later book States and Capitals (Atlanta: Memory Dynamics, 1987). This paper put the question of plagiarism to a panel of plagiarism experts who were shown eleven examples of text and images from the books. The results were inconclusive as four respondents said no, three said yes, and three were not sure. This case shows the difficulties with detecting plagiarism using limited text and images.

Contemporary Christian Radio Web Sites: A Uses and Gratifications Study • Joshua Bentley, Oklahoma State University • This study explored the uses and gratifications of Contemporary Christian radio station Web sites using an online survey of 351 people. The most frequently used Web site features related to seeking information, or listening online. Factor analysis revealed three underlying gratification factors: Christian Entertainment, Lifestyle Management, and Information Seeking. The Information Seeking factor had the highest level of agreement from respondents.

The Role of the Church in the Political Process: The Saddleback Civil Forum of 2008 • Andrew Carlson, Ohio University • Religion and the church have a new role in the American political process, illustrated by the influence of the evangelical mega church in the 2008 presidential elections. In August 2008, Rick Warren interviewed the presumptive presidential nominees from the Democratic and Republican parties in the Saddleback Civil Forum. Connecting to issues of liberal pragmatic discourse suggested by DePalma, Ringer, and Webber (2008) this paper analyzes questions posed by Warren and answers of the candidates, suggesting that while the stated purpose of the event was to change the tone of dialogue in American political discourse, Warren’s focus on religious and moral issues at the expense of issues of broader social topics suggests that the event served to elevate the position of the church in political discourse. The corresponding marginalization of other (non)faiths ultimately constricts dialogue and weakens the democratic process.

Searching for Connectedness, Belonging, and Economic Security: New Media and Islamic Identity in the Lives of Central Asian Youth • Hans Ibold, Indiana University • This paper explores the role of the Internet in the development of Islamic beliefs and practices in the everyday lives of a group of Muslim youth in Central Asia. The discussion is based on findings from a five-week rapid ethnography conducted in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan in spring 2008. The study was designed to explore connections between identity, media use, and citizenship in the lives of Kyrgyz youth. Findings show how new cultural identities are being structured with, in, and around these networked media, indicating that Islam in Kyrgyzstan is dynamic and not closed off to cross cultural flows of information and ideas. Tapping online resources, Kyrgyz youth seem to be seeking some of the same things that they and their families have sought from Islam over time—community, connectedness, belonging, and economic security.

An Interactive and Hermeneutic Exploration of American Public Media’s Speaking of Faith Program • Dennis Jeffers, Central Michigan University • American Public Media’s weekly radio program Speaking of Faith provides audiences with conversations about religion, meaning, ethics, and ideas. This paper reports on a study using NVivo qualitative content analytic software to examine the program’s content, context and outcomes. In addition to drawing descriptive conclusions about these variables, this paper concludes that it is reasonable to assume that Speaking of Faith contributes to an authentic discussion of religion in the 21st century.

Progressive Culture?: The Portrayal of Women in Contemporary Christian Magazines • Davis Kimberly, University of Maryland • This study examined the portrayal of women in a modern, faith-based publication, Relevant magazine. Through a comparison of recent issues of Relevant to issues of Christianity Today from roughly 20 years ago using a feminist and culturalist theoretical lens, the study found that women appeared in both magazines in terms of their sexuality, promiscuity, relationships with men and children, and rarely as spiritual leaders.

Media Representation of Shiite Muslim Mourning Rituals • Aisha Mohammed, Ohio University; Yusuf Kalyango, Ohio University • This study compares how two international news agencies, the Associated Press and Reuters, visually portray Shii Muslim mourning rituals in five countries: Afghanistan, India, Iraq, Lebanon and Pakistan. The portrayal of unfamiliar cultures and religions to global audiences by those two major news sources remains an understudied area, especially as audiences increasingly turn to online news websites for news and other international events. Using critical discourse analysis, the study is based on 204 photographs taken between January 1, 2001 and December 31, 2009. The study found that coverage by the two news agencies overlooked nuanced readings of the rituals, and contributed to the misconception of Ashura as male-only rituals centered on penitence. The AP and Reuters also ignored how Ashura has evolved in response to specific sociopolitical and economic conditions in various countries like Afghanistan, Iraq and India. The significance and implications of this analysis are discussed in detail.

One of the Most Crying Needs of the Present Time: The Call for a Christian Daily Newspaper • Ronald Rodgers, University of Florida • The study is a historical examination of the decades-long call for a Christian daily newspaper. In explicating this broadly felt desire, this study unpacks the tension between the sacred and the secular, revealing the efforts of religion – as it recognized the growing power of the press – to confirm journalists as moral agents who would reconnect facts with values and to hinge the notion of social responsibility to the news ethic of daily journalism.

Virtual Angels, Temples, and Religious Worship: A Journey with the Mormons in Second Life • David Scott, Utah Valley University • In this paper, I examine the role of religious iconography and images in a Mormon neighborhood in Second Life—a user-created virtual world. I find that this location encourages an authentic Mormon experience by recreating a sense of locale through the use of iconic LDS buildings and art. Furthermore, the persuasiveness of religious images is enhanced by their association with particular Mormon doctrines. Howeversometimes these virtual images appear merely as window dressing accompanying a particular doctrinal statement. When this happens, they detract, rather than enhance, the religious message.

Popular Music Genre and Accessibility of Listeners’ Self-Concept of Religiosity • Mark Shevy, Northern Michigan University • This study investigates the effect of popular music genre, an element in many religious and non-religious messages, on the activation of religion-based selective perception. An online experiment showed that exposure to country music (no lyrics) causes evaluations to become correlated with listeners’ level of religiosity, whereas exposure to hip-hop does not. Religious self-construct priming and concept relevance are discussed.

The Effects of Media Use on Religious People’s Perceptions of Politics and Science • Billy Collins, Baylor University; Zhenge Zhang, Baylor University; Amanda Sturgill, Baylor University • Although the relationship between religion and politics is an oft-researched phenomenon by communication and political scientists alike, the relationship between religion and the scientific community has drawn less interest from scholars. While these relationships appear to be the questions of separate studies, the mass media have been shown to play a mediating role between religion and the other two enterprises. Using data gained from the 2006 wave of the NORC General Social Survey (GSS), this study discusses the relationships between religion and science when media are introduced as a mediating factor. Analysis suggests that in some cases, the media does moderate the view of science for audience members with strong religious beliefs.

Watching Movies in the Name of the Lord: Thoughts on Analyzing Christian Film Criticism • Jim Trammell, High Point University • Religious faith plays a key role in how we use and interpret media. For instance, some Christians believe that their faith compels them to avoid mainstream media, while others eagerly embrace mainstream media in their worship. Such examples of how persons of different Christian beliefs use and interpret media differently are legion, but exploring the common dominant themes among them can reveal much about how religion influences how we use and interpret media. Christian film criticism is uniquely suited to address these similarities among these otherwise diverse, ideologically competing viewers. Relying on a textual analysis of the film reviews of two ideologically opposing Christian movie critics–Movieguide and Jeffrey Overstreet–this manuscript analyzes the similarities in their approaches to Christian film criticism in order to better understand how religious faith in general, and Christian faiths in particular, influence the use and interpretation of media. It identifies three main themes of Christian criticism—that is, affirming the affective power of movies, exploring movie going as an exercise in understanding worldviews, and addressing the standards of production excellence—and posits that Christian media criticism in general acknowledges movie-going as a transformative experience.

Do denominations talk with us or at us?: A content analysis of U.S. denominational websites • John Wirtz, Texas Tech University; Philip Poe, Texas Tech University; Prisca Ngondo, Texas Tech University • This study analyzes religious denominations’ Web sites using two-way symmetrical communication and dialogic theory. A census of 83 denominations, all of which are affiliated with the National Council of Churches or the National Association of Evangelicals, were included in the study. The main Web site for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was also included. Results indicated considerable evidence of dialogue, usefulness, attempts to drive return traffic, and examples of relationship building. However, many denominations’ Web sites lacked truly interactive feedback mechanisms, such as allowing visitors to comment directly on blogs or discussion forums, and therefore failed to complete the dialogic loop.

<< 2010 Abstracts

Public Relations Division 2010 Abstracts

Open Competition
Effect of Message Type in Strategic Advocacy Communication: Investigating Strategies to Combat Ageism • Terri Bailey, Florida Gulf Coast University • This experimental research study investigated the effects that message type in mass media messages have on attitudes toward older adults among undergraduate college students. The purpose of the study was to investigate strategic communication message strategies that could be employed to combat negative stereotypes that stigmatize a social group, in this case older adults. Due to the large population of aging baby boomers, efforts to combat prejudice and discrimination against older adults—termed ageism—is both timely and salient. Theoretical bases for the study included social identity theory and the elaboration likelihood model. Three types of message appeal conditions (cognitive, affective, and mixed cognitive/affective) were presented in simulated Yahoo.com online news articles that combated two negative stereotypes of adults over age 65. The simulated news article was designed to reflect a published press release disseminated to the media by an age organization. The results showed that presenting fact-based cognitive arguments supported by research evidence was a more effective message strategy for producing positive attitude change toward older adults among the 200 undergraduate students participating in this experiment than were affective messages based on emotional appeals, subjective personal evaluations, and compassionate arguments or a combination of cognitive and affective appeals. Furthermore, results indicated the importance of mass media messages in terms of producing positive attitude change toward a stigmatized social group, older adults. There was significant positive attitude change toward older adults after exposure to the stimulus materials in both the immediate and time-delayed (one week) conditions.

Eclipsing Message Meaning: Exploring the Role of Source Identity and Cynicism in Publics’ Perceptions of Health Care Reform Issue Ads • Abbey Blake Levenshus, University of Maryland; Mara Hobler, University of Maryland; Beth Sundstrom, University of Maryland, College Park; Linda Aldoory, univ of Md • Using the circuit of culture to analyze interviews and focus groups, researchers found sponsor identity represented in health care reform ads overlapped with cynicism in critical, complementary ways. Researchers identified two themes, ongoing and eclipsing, regarding source identity’s meaning-making role and three themes regarding source cynicism’s regulating influence, including questioning sponsor motives, regulating sponsor identity, and regulating message. Findings add depth to the circuit of culture’s articulation between identity, regulation, and consumption of issue advertisements.

Mediating the power of relationship antecedents: The role of involvement and relationship quality in the adolescent-organization relationship • Denise Bortree, Penn State University • This study presents one of the first examinations of the influence of antecedents of relationships on the organization-public relationship. Results from a survey of adolescent volunteers suggest that reason for volunteering with a nonprofit organization was a significant predictor of the teens’ future intentions toward the organization. Two variables partially mediated the relationship between antecedents and future intended behavior, involvement and relationship quality. Findings suggest that while reasons for relationship initiation play a powerful role in the organization-public relationship, organizations can minimize the impact through relationship management.

Grounding Organizational Legitimacy in Societal Values • John Brummette, Radford University; Lynn Zoch, Radford University • The purpose of this exploratory study is to utilize grounded theory to create a better understanding of the values and standards that constitute organizational legitimacy from the public’s perspective. Values identified are: honesty, fairness, accountability, competence, innovation, efficiency, trustworthiness, accessibility, personalization, quality, accreditation, corporate social responsibility and longevity. In addition, the study found that different values are linked to each of the six types of organizations (retail, manufacturing, service, educational, nonprofit and government) discussed by the study’s participants.

Influence of Public Relations Communication Strategies and Training on Perceptions of Hospital Crisis Readiness • Emily Buck, Texas Tech University; Coy Callison, Texas Tech University; Trent Seltzer, Texas Tech University • To better understand organization-wide perception of crisis readiness and crisis communication effectiveness, 731 hospital employees were surveyed. Employees participating in crisis training perceived themselves and their hospital as more crisis ready than those who had not. Awareness of the crisis plan leads to higher levels of perceived crisis readiness; training, two-way communication, and face-to-face communication lead to greater perceived crisis readiness. Participants reported hospitals presented crisis plans through oral presentation more frequently than other methods.

The Dual-Continuum Approach: An Extension of the Contingency Theory of Conflict Management Cindy T. Christen, Colorado State University; Steven Lovaas, Colorado State University • This paper examines the limitations of using a single advocacy-accommodation continuum when depicting organizational stance and movement in conflict situations. The authors argue that advocacy and accommodation vary independently in response to a variety of contingent factors. To comprehensively capture the locations and motions that are possible in intergroup conflicts, a two-continuum approach is proposed. Separate assessment of the effects of contingent factors on advocacy and accommodation can be used to locate organizational stance along advocacy and accommodation continua. Situations that are problematic for a single continuum can be captured if separate continua are employed. By depicting initial stance and desired direction of movement for both the organization and external group, the dual-continuum approach can also provide practical guidance to public relations practitioners in selecting strategies for achieving preferred outcomes. By suggesting the application of different models of public relations practice based on differences in organization-external group stances and movement, the dual-continuum approach also lays the foundation for eventual synthesis of excellence and contingency perspectives.

Delusions vs. Data: Longitudinal Analysis of Research on Gendered Income Disparities in Public Relations • David Dozier, San Diego State University, School of Journalism and Media Studies; Bey-Ling Sha, San Diego State University • Gendered income disparities are well documented: men earn higher salaries than women. Less clear are the reasons why. This study analyzed four surveys of PRSA members (1979, 1991, 2004, and 2006). Men earned significantly higher salaries than women practitioners, men had more years of professional experience, and greater professional experience was correlated with higher salaries. In three of four surveys, men earned significantly higher salaries than women, after controlling for professional experience.

Factors Contributing to Anti-Americanism Among People Abroad: The Frontlines Perspective of U.S. Public Diplomats • Kathy Fitzpatrick, Quinnipiac University; alice kendrick, Southern Methodist University; Jami Fullerton, Oklahoma State University • This study examined the views of U.S. public diplomats on factors that contribute to anti- American attitudes among people abroad. The purpose was to gain a better understanding of the most significant causes of anti-Americanism through the first-hand experiences of the men and women who have served on the front lines of U.S. public diplomacy and to consider the implications for U.S. public diplomacy going forward. A factor analysis revealed four underlying dimensions of anti-Americanism, which were labeled Information, Culture, Policy and Values. The public diplomats rated the Policy factor as the most significant, followed by the Information factor, the Culture factor and the Values factor.

Understanding Made in China: Valence framing, product-country image, and international public relations • Gang (Kevin) Han, Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication/Iowa State University; Xiuli (Charlene) Wang, School of Journalism and Communication/Peking University • This study employed an experiment to examine the effects of valenced news frames, in terms of risks and benefits, on people’s perceptions of and attitudes towards the product-country image (PCI) of Made in China. Findings suggested that participants in the risks-frame condition gave significantly negative evaluation on this product-country image, whereas the participants in the benefits-frame condition offered more positive evaluation. Personal relevance, shopping experience, and shopping habit jointly affected this relationship as covariates. The concept of product-country image, as well as the implications of valence framing for international public relations, was also discussed.

Disaster on the Web? A Qualitative Analysis of Disaster Preparedness Websites for Children • Karen Hilyard, University of Tennessee; Tatjana M. Hocke, University of Tennessee; Erin Ryan, The University of Alabama • In a qualitative analysis using stakeholder theory, child development research and website usability criteria, the authors examine three disaster preparedness websites created for children by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The sites were characterized by outdated content and technology, low levels of two-way communication and poor usability compared to other offerings for kids on the Web, and may therefore fail to effectively accomplish the mission of preparing children for disasters.

Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure of Media Companies • Jiran Hou, The University of Georgia; Bryan Reber, University of Georgia • Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives have become increasingly common among corporations in the United States. However, there has been very limited research studying media companies’ CSR initiatives and disclosure. In this study, we examined the CSR initiatives and disclosure of major media companies in the United States. Specifically, we conducted content analysis to analyze five major dimensions of CSR disclosure: environment, community relations, diversity, employee relations and human rights. We also analyzed the disclosure of companies’ media specific CSR activities. Our findings showed that nine of the ten companies have engaged in different types of CSR activities. These companies’ CSR initiatives differ by the types of the company, and the size of the company also has influence on the reporting of CSR initiatives.
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he effects of crisis response strategies on attribution of crisis responsibility and relationship quality outcomes • Eyun-Jung Ki, The University of Alabama; Kenon Brown, The University of Alabama • This study investigated the effects of crisis response strategies on the attribution of an organization’s crisis responsibilities and relationship quality outcomes and determined the linkages among relationship quality outcome indicators. This study found that none of the tested crisis response strategies were helpful in reducing public blame surrounding the featured organization’s responsibility in the crisis. This study did not discover any significant impact of the crisis response strategies on the relationship quality outcomes.

Content analysis on CSR Reporting of Companies’ Web sites: Signaling Theory Perspective • Hyuk Soo Kim, The University of Alabama; Joe Phelps, University of Alabama; Jee Young Chung, University of Alabama • The current study introduced the signaling theory in the domain of CSR reporting and content-analyzed how companies report their CSR activities on their corporate web sites. Top 100 advertising-spending companies were selected as a sample frame. From the perspective of signaling theory, the current study investigated how companies are reporting their CSR activities by employing the concept of benefit salience and congruency. Additionally, this study explored the relationship between CSR activities and branding. The results showed that companies are not effectively reporting their CSR activities and did not find any relationship between CSR activities and branding.

Exploring ethics codes of national public relations professional associations across countries • Soo-Yeon Kim, University of Florida; Eyun-Jung Ki, The University of Alabama • This study explored ethics codes present on Web sites of national public relations professional associations across countries. Of a total of 107 countries examined, 66 (61.7%) countries were found to have one or more professional associations. Among the 45 Web sites accessible in English, 38 (84.4%) provided ethics codes, the most frequently presented values in which were ‘fairness,’ ‘safeguarding confidences,’ and ‘honesty.’ This study was an exploratory attempt to provide a descriptive picture of public relations professional associations and their ethics codes across countries.

Corporate Social Responsibility and Organization-Public Relationships: Public Relations and Marketing Educators’ Perspectives • Daewook Kim, University of Florida; Mary Ann Ferguson, University of Florida • This study examines how public relations educator’s perceptions differ from marketing educators with regard to corporate social responsibility (CSR) dimensions. It further explores the association between CSR and the organization-public relationship (OPR) dimensions. This research found that marketing educators showed more value for the economic dimension, while public relations educators showed a relatively higher value for the ethical & legal and discretionary dimensions of CSR. The perceptual differences are also embedded in the association between the CSR and OPR dimensions.

When Cousins Feud: Advancing Threat Appraisal and Contingency Theory in Situations That Question the Essential Identity of Activist Groups • Jeesun Kim, Grand Valley State University; Glen Cameron, University of Missouri – Columbia • This experiment applied the concepts of avowed and ascribed identities to situations when similar activist organizations clash. Based on the threat appraisal model (Jin & Cameron, 2007) and contingency theory (Cancel, Mitrook, & Cameron, 1999), analysis of effects of an attack on a group’s essential identity due to hypocritical behavior advances theory and practice of strategic conflict management. The distinction between internal and external threat and the linear perspective in stance predictions on the contingency continuum are both revised and extended by current findings.

Reputation Repair at the Expense of Providing Instructing and Adjusting Information Following Crises:Examining 18 Years of Crisis Responses Strategy Research • Sora Kim, University of Florida; Elizabeth Avery, University of Tennessee; Ruthann Lariscy, University of Georgia • Quantitative content analysis of 51 articles published in crisis communication literature in public relations indicates both a prevalent focus on image restoration or reputation management in the crisis responses analyzed in more than 18 years of research and a relative neglect of instructing and adjusting information in subsequent recommendations. This research makes insightful crisis response recommendations regarding consideration of organizational type involved in a crisis (government, corporation, or individual) and targeting active publics when selecting crisis responses.

Face to Face: How the Cleveland Clinic Managed Media Relations for the First U.S. Face Transplant • Marjorie Kruvand, Loyola University Chicago • When the first U.S. face transplant was performed at the Cleveland Clinic in late 2008, public relations practitioners at the non-profit academic medical center in Ohio played an essential role in helping to establish whether the risky and controversial surgery would be judged successful by the medical community, the news media, and the public. This descriptive case study uses agenda building theory and the related concept of information subsidies to examine how practitioners planned and handled media relations for one of the year’s top medical stories – a story accompanied by challenging ethical issues. Strongly influenced by what they believed was a media relations fiasco involving the world’s first face transplant, which had been performed three years earlier in France, Clinic practitioners effectively used information subsidies while tightly controlling information about and access to the patient. The study finds that the Clinic’s media relations activities resulted in highly positive media coverage that enhanced the Clinic’s reputation while also helping to reshape the U.S. media agenda on face transplants.

Social Media And Strategic Communications: Attitudes And Perceptions Among College Students • Bobbi Kay Lewis, Oklahoma State University • Social media have been adopted from its inception by public relations, advertising and marketing practitioners as tools for communicating with strategic publics. Wright and Hinson (2009) have established that public relations professionals perceive social media positively with respect to strategic communication. Given that social media are having an impact on professionals in the industry, the current study examined if social media are having a similar impact on college students in general and students studying in the area of public relations and advertising. The attitudes and perceptions of social media among college students were explored by modifying the survey instrument used by Wright & Hinson to explore the attitudes and perceptions of social media among PR professionals. It is important for educators and curriculum leaders to have an appreciation of students’ knowledge base of social media and how they employ it in their construction of knowledge and reality. It is also valuable for professionals in the industry, who are hiring recent college graduates, to gain insight into how students perceive social media in their own lives and as strategic tools. Findings suggest that college students majoring advertising and public relations view social media more positively than other majors because they understand how it fits in to the industry in which they are being educated. Because of these findings, social media should be incorporated into strategic communications curriculum to better prepare students for the current media climate.

Bureaucrats, Politicians, and Communication Practices: Toward a New Model of Government Communication • Brooke Liu, University of Maryland; Abbey Blake Levenshus, University of Maryland; J. Suzanne Horsley, University of Alabama • The success of any government policy or program hinges on effective internal and external communication. Despite the critical importance of communication in the public sector, very little research focuses specifically on government communication. Through a survey of 781 government communicators in the U.S., this study builds on a model – the government communication decision wheel – by adding a previously untested variable: political versus bureaucratic employer. Specifically, the study identifies four significant differences and five similarities in how the public sector environment affects bureaucrats’ and elected officials’ communicators’ public relations practices. The findings provide valuable insights for practitioners and contribute to public relations theory development for the under-researched public sector.

Twitter me this, Twitter me that: A quantitative content analysis of the 40 Best Twitter Brands • Tina McCorkindale, Appalachian State University • In February 2010, Twitter, a microblogging website, had more than 21 million unique visitors, and continues today to be an increasingly important social media tool for public relations. Most public relations research about Twitter has focused on case studies—few quantitative analyses have been conducted. Therefore, the purpose of this paper was to conduct a content analysis to determine how Mashable’s 40 Best Twitter Brands were using Twitter, and what makes these the best brands. From October 2009 to January 2010, a constructed month of tweets were analyzed to determine an organization’s usage and authenticity/transparency on Twitter. While some organizations only used Twitter to disseminate information or for customer service, other organizations used the microblog to engage with various publics. Results also found organizations who named the individual who tweeted on behalf of the organization engaged in more dialogue with various publics compared to those that did not. The researcher also provided a list of 11 gold standard Twitter accounts, as well as suggestions for future research.

Exploring the Roles of Organization-Public Relationships in the Strategic Management Process: Towards an Integrated Framework • Rita Linjuan Men, University of Miami; Chun-ju Flora Hung, Hong Kong Baptist University • By combining the growing body of knowledge on organization-public relationships with insights from strategic management in the management literature, the purpose of this study is to demonstrate, from the relational approach, the value of public relations at the organizational level. Specifically, it intends to examine the roles of organization-public relationships (OPRs) in each stage of the strategic management process, namely, strategic analysis, strategy formulation, strategy implementation and strategic control. Seventeen in-depth interviews were conducted with public relations directors, vice presidents, and general managers from Fortune 500 and Forbes’ China 100 Top companies in China to explore the issues. The findings show that OPRs can contribute to strategic analysis by being the source of information, channel of information, active information detector and foundation for internal analysis. It contributes to strategy formulation by providing broad information, incorporating intelligence, perspectives and insights and engaging employees in decision-making. In strategy implementation, OPRs can generate support from parties involved and facilitate the strategy execution process. In strategic control, OPRs can provide feedback and updated information for strategy adjustments and strategy review, engage employee in self-management and facilitate organizational control through relational trust, commitment and satisfaction. Through playing multiple roles in each strategic management stage, OPRs can eventually contribute to sustainable competitive advantage, achievement of organizational goals and organizational effectiveness. An integrated framework of OPRs and strategic management is developed in this study based on the empirical data. Theoretical and practical implications are also discussed.

Crisis Preparedness versus Paranoia: Testing the Crisis Message Processing Model on the Effects of Over Communication of Crisis Preparedness Messages by Governments • Kester Tay, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore; Rasiah Raslyn Agatha, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore; May O. Lwin, Nanyang Technological University; Augustine Pang, Nanyang Technological University • The literature has constantly emphasized consistent messaging and reinforcement of messages by organizations managing crisis. What remains unclear is the effects of over-emphasis and over-exposure of messages to the audience. The authors have developed a model called the Crisis Message Processing Model to understand how audience process crisis messages. This study, the first of a series of empirical tests, examines the interactions among message intensity, repetition and threat perceptions. Findings showed rigor of the model (75 words, as requested by PR division).

Exploring Citizen-Government Relationships: A Study of Effective Relationship Strategies with South Korean Citizens during a crisis • Hanna Park, University of Florida; Linda Hon, University of Florida • This study explored the citizen-government relationships (CGRs) in South Korea during a crisis, mass protests in 2008 against the U.S. beef import. Associations among relationship maintenance strategies (RMSs), CGRs and publics’ support for the government and president were investigated. For this study, 200 online community users participated in online survey. Results showed that respondents perceived the government’s RMSs as asymmetrical and CGRs as negative. RMSs were positively correlated with CGRs and support for the government.

Identifying the Synergy Between Corporate Social Responsibility • Hyojung Park, University of Missouri, School of Journalism; Bryan Reber, University of Georgia • Using a two-step approach to structural equation modeling, this study examined how different types of corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives are associated with relational satisfaction, trust, company evaluation, and behavioral intentions. The results revealed that trust was positively influenced by economic, ethical, and philanthropic responsibilities, while satisfaction was positively influenced only by economic responsibilities. Additionally, CSR performances appeared to positively affect company evaluation and behavioral intentions (purchase, employment, and investment) through trust and satisfaction.

Talking Health Care Reform: The Influence of Issue-Specific Communication on Political Organization-Public Relationships and Attitudes • Trent Seltzer, Texas Tech University; Weiwu Zhang, Texas Tech University • A survey of US citizens (n = 420) was conducted to examine the influence of strategic communication regarding health care reform on perceptions of organization-public relationships (OPRs) with political parties. Results indicate that issue-specific strategic communication – and dialogic communication in particular – not only enhanced perceptions of the OPR with the sponsoring political party, but also destabilized relationships with the opposition party. Positive perceptions of political OPRs resulted in favorable attitudes toward parties and the issue.

Organization-Employee Relationship Maintenance Strategies: A New Measuring Instrument • Hongmei Shen, San Diego State University • The purpose of this study was twofold: 1) to develop a valid and reliable new instrument to measure relationship maintenance strategies in the context of organization-employee relationships, and 2) to explore how organizations build relationships with internal publics. A focus group (N = 10) and an online survey were administered (N = 583). Statistical tests established the validity and reliability of a six-factor 20-item instrument for relationship maintenance strategies. It was also found that organizations utilized openness, assurances of legitimacy, networking, and compromising to a larger extent than distributive negotiation and avoiding to build relationships with their employees. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Hope for Haiti: An Analysis of Facebook and Twitter Usage during the Earthquake Relief Efforts • Sidharth Muralidharan, Univ. of Southern Mississippi; Leslie Rasmussen, Univ. of Southern Mississippi; Daniel Patterson, Univ. of Southern Mississippi; Jae-Hwa Shin, Univ. of Southern Mississippi
• The Haitian earthquake devastated the small island of Hispaniola, leaving thousands dead and billions of dollars of property damage. The earthquake also represented a watershed in the use of social media usage by nonprofit and media organizations to inform, communicate and mobilize support from the general public and orchestrate disaster relief efforts. By implementing applying the theory of framing to posts and tweets of nonprofits and media organizations, the authors found that morality and responsibility were the dominant message frames for nonprofits and conflict was the dominate frame for media; both used frames that were episodic in nature; and positive emotions were the dominant frame for nonprofits while media focused on negative emotions. Nonprofits and media used information dissemination and disclosure effectively but were not as effective with involvement strategies, implying a less interactive and more of a one-way communication.

Has the use of online media rooms to create a dialogue with journalists changed in global corporations? Comparing 2004 to 2009. • Dustin Supa, Ball State University; Lynn Zoch, Radford University • This study examines whether the top 50 global corporations in 2004 established dialogic communication with the media through their use of online media rooms and, using the same methods, compares those findings to the same corporations in 2009. The authors have determined that while progress toward increased dialogic communication was realized in some areas, in other ways, there was little or no improvement. In fact the online media room in 2009 was less likely to contain some of the features that were found in 2004.

How Emergencies Have Affected the Interaction of Journalists/Sources: Message Development in the Terror Age • Christopher Swindell, Marshall University • In a terror attack or other emergency, journalists and sources (often public relations practitioners) may bring the misperceptions they hold about the other group to bear in the interaction. This study uses survey research to highlight differences in message strategy and importance that the two groups have about a hypothetical terror attack. The researcher questioned 150 working journalists and official sources using coorientation to assess subtle differences in their beliefs about the work of the other. Using ANOVA and post hoc t-tests, the researcher found journalists and sources disagree, are incongruent, and most importantly, are inaccurate in their perceptions about message speed, accuracy and panic potential. Public relations best practices advocate forthrightness and candor with the news media. The current study found many journalists suspicious of practitioners and vice versa regarding the most critical elements of emergency messages. The paper suggests both groups should better appreciate the role of the other, especially in an emergency or terror attack where life and limb may be at stake.

The Possibilities and Realities of Studying Intersectionality in Public Relations Jennifer Vardeman-Winter, University of Houston; Natalie Tindall, Georgia State University; Hua Jiang, Towson University • Intersectionality refers to multiple, interdependent identities that simultaneously impact groups. This paper introduces intersectionality to public relations so researchers and practitioners can to better understand the contexts of organizational-public communication relationships. Theories of power, identity, and intersectionality in public relations are reviewed. Emphasis is put on dissecting the complications of studying intersectionality and ways previous researchers have explored it. The study design for an intersectional analysis of publics is discussed.

Indeed, It Does Depend: Examining Public Relations Leaders through the Lens of the Contingency Theory of Leadership • Richard Waters, North Carolina State University • Contrary to other leadership theories, the contingency theory of leadership argues that anyone has the potential to lead depending on situational variables. Through a survey of 11 PRSA chapters and 9 state/local public relations associations (n = 539), this study found that the contingency theory of leadership describes and predicts public relations behavior (role enactment and relationship cultivation behaviors) satisfactorily. Implications for practice and theory development are discussed.

It’s Not a Small World After All: Using Stewardship in a Theme Park’s Daily Operations Richard Waters, North Carolina State University • Through the use of participant-observation research, this manuscript attempts to encourage relationship management scholars to explore Kelly’s (2001) conceptualization of stewardship as viable strategies for creating relationships centered on trusting behaviors. Though often equated with fundraising, the four stewardship strategies—reciprocity, responsibility, reporting, and relationship nurturing—were found to play a significant role in how managers and human resources officials strengthened relationships with employees at Disney’s Hollywood Studios theme park. With numerous examples of their utilization in a specialization far removed from fundraising, the study challenges the traditional approach scholars have taken to understand cultivation activities in the organization-public relationship.

Ethical Considerations in Social Media Usage — a Content Analysis of Silver Anvil Winners Patricia Whalen, Faculty; Sylwia Makarewicz, recently graduated master’s student Focusing on ethical practices in social media and relationship theory, this descriptive study uses content analysis to document usage of social media and ethical/reputational terms among recent PRSA Silver Anvil winners. The study found that a slim majority used social media, but, especially in consumer goods firms, the technology was more likely to be used as a message dissemination tool than an intent to build trust and develop more credible relationships with key constituencies.

Translating Science for the Public: Predictors of PIOs’ Roles in the Knowledge Transfer Process • Judith White, University of New Mexico • Public information officers (PIOs) link knowledge transfer between researchers and journalists. Orientation toward science/health/technology knowledge is important to PIOs’ choices of education, training, and occupational experience. This study constructs an index to measure science/health/technology orientation (SHTO) from an Internet survey of a random sample of PIOs. This study shows SHTO index to be a statistically significant predictor for variety of story topics covered but not of number of scientist sources used in information subsidies.

A study of PR practitioners’ use of social media in crisis planning • Shelley Wigley, University of Texas at Arlington; Weiwu Zhang, Texas Tech University • A survey exploring social media and crisis planning was conducted with 251 members of the Public Relations Society of America. Nearly half of respondents (48%) said they have incorporated social media into their crisis plans. Of these respondents, most indicated they have incorporated Twitter as a tool in their crisis planning, primarily for distribution purposes. Additionally, the study found that public relations professionals whose organizations rely more heavily on social media tools in their crisis planning correlated positively with practitioners’ greater confidence in their organization’s ability to handle a crisis. As for practitioners’ use of social media in their every day practice, results revealed that a large percentage use social media on a personal level; however, results also indicated that a large percentage of respondents’ organizations (82%) use social media. Survey respondents indicated that the stakeholders they communicate with most via social media are potential customers and clients (71%), followed by news media (61%).

Telling your own bad news: A test of the stealing thunder strategy • Shelley Wigley, University of Texas at Arlington • This study explored the concept of stealing thunder, or telling your own bad news, by conducting a content analysis of newspaper coverage following two political scandals – one in which a source stole thunder from reporters and one in which the source engaged in silence and allowed the media to break the story. Results showed no association between stealing thunder and the number of articles or length of article. However, stealing thunder was associated with more positively framed stories and fewer negative media frames.

A Longitudinal Analysis of Changes in New Communications Media Use by Public Relations Practitioners: A Two-Year Trend Study • Don Wright, Boston University; Michelle Hinson, Institute for Public Relations, University of Florida • This two-year trend study of a large number of public relations practitioners (n=1,137; n=574 in 2009; n=563 in 2010) found new communications media have a huge impact on public relations practice. This study found social networking site Facebook to be ranked as the most important of these new media for public relations messages in 2010, replacing search engine marketing that ranked first in 2009. Micro-blogging site Twitter was the next most frequently used new media site in 2010 followed by social networking site LinkedIn and video sharing outlet YouTube. The overall use of social networking, micro-blogging and video sharing websites in public relations practice increased dramatically between 2009 and 2010. The use of blogs, search engine marketing and electronic forums or message boards remained relatively constant while the importance of podcasts decreased slightly. This study found huge some large gaps existed between how new communications media actually are being used and how much public relations people think they should be used. This study also measured the frequency of personal use by public relations practitioners of traditional news media and new communications media and found that although most who practice public relations get their news from newspapers followed by magazines, television news and radio news, the use of micro-blogging sites such as Twitter, social networks such as Facebook and video sharing sites such as YouTube made dramatic increases between 2009 and 2010.

Student
When did transparency appear in PR and what does it mean? A historical analysis of the word and its contexts. • Giselle A. Auger, University of Florida • Since 1990 the word transparency has increasingly been found in discussions of financial accountability, government culpability, crisis communication, and corporate social responsibility. The purpose of this study was to examine the adoption of transparency into the public relations literature, its contexts and meanings. Through a historical review of the use of the word transparency, and a content analysis of the word within the public relations literature, the adequacy of existing definitions are evaluated.

The Impact of Industy on the Crisis Situation: Applying Consensus to the SCCT Model • Kenon Brown, The University of Alabama
• The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of an industry’s crisis history on a member organization’s crisis situation by exploring the concept of consensus and its impact on the Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT) model. The study uses a 2 x 2 x 2 factorial experiment to test the impact of industry crisis history and its interaction effects with crisis history and relationship history during the reporting of a fictitious product recall. Results found that industry crisis history had no effect on crisis responsibility or organizational reputation.

Roles of nonprofit organizations as social oil: How local nonprofit organizations help multinational corporations build social capital in host countries • Moonhee Cho, University of Florida • Emphasizing the importance of social capital, the purpose of the paper is threefold: 1) to explicate social capital as the resources that determine the business success or failure of multinational corporations (MNCs), 2) to discuss the role of nonprofit organizations as boundary spanners in the relationship between MNCs and community members, and 3) to propose a model that demonstrates how local nonprofit organizations build social capital of MNCs vis-à-vis community members as well as provide propositions in formation of social capital. In doing so, the paper provides a framework of the relationships among three sectors of society: private, nonprofit, and community, for developing democracy in a pluralist society.

When tourists are your friends: An exploratory examination of brand personality in discussions about Mexico and Brazil on Facebook • Maria DeMoya, University of Florida; Rajul Jain, University of Florida • Using Aaker’s (1997) brand personality framework, this study explores how two top international tourist destinations -Mexico and Brazil— communicate their brand personalities on their Facebook pages and which personalities their followers associate with them. Specifically, this research explores if these destinations’ public relations efforts are succeeding in communicating the brand image of their countries by promoting them online on one of the most popular social media outlets.

Text Haiti to 90999: The future of relationship fundraising for a nonprofit organization. • Terri Denard, University of Alabama • The relief campaign following the 2010 Haiti earthquake yielded unprecedented text-message donations. This study examines the relief campaign to learn whether its initial success can yield deeper relationships or provide a blueprint for similar campaigns. The study found the text channel reached younger and first-time donors, 10% of whom opted-in to receive future communications. However, donations dissipated after the initial rush, underscoring the importance of cultivating new relationships through traditional and emerging channels.

The Situational Theory of Publics: Youth Civic Engagement • Jarim Kim, University of Maryland • This study addresses how the youth become active in the political processes. Research question guiding this study is why and how did youth come to be an active public in the 2008 Obama campaign? Using ten in-depth qualitative interviews with college students this study looked at how and why they became actively engaged in the political process. The situational theory of publics was employed as a framework to examine their active participation. Findings indicate that an active public engaged in Obama campaign satisfied all of the three variables of the theory. This study also found the antecedent factors of the STP that influenced their communicative behaviors. This study advances the understanding of the active publics in the political communication context as well as elaborating independent variables of the STP.

Does going green really matter to publics? The effects of environmental corporate social responsibility (CSR), price, and firm size in the food service industry on public responses • Yeonsoo Kim, University of Florida • This study examined the different effects of pro-active environmental CSR and passive CSR practices on attitudes toward the company, intent to seek information on and communicate the company’s CSR to others, and intent to pay incentives. How price of products/service, consumers’ environmental concern, and corporate size interact with those effects was tested. Proactive environmental programs led to more positive publics’ responses. Subjects wanted to find information on and talk about CSR programs the most when companies with proactive CSR provided cheap products. When small companies had proactive environmental CSR programs, participants showed favorable attitudes and stronger intent to pay more regardless of price. Conversely, in the case of passive CSR, participants showed better reactions only when the price was cheap. Environmentally conscious consumers showed more sensitive reactions toward the CSR practices in general.

Return to Public Diplomacy: A Review of the Published Work • Anna Klyueva, University of Oklahoma • Reinvigorated interest toward public diplomacy in the aftermath of 9/11 facilitated the growth of research in the field. This study analyzes peer-reviewed articles published from 1989 to 2010 from two relevant disciplines: communication and political science. The objectives of the study were to determine the concepts that have emerged, grown, or diminished within the past two decades in the field of public diplomacy; to report the types of research methods that have been most commonly employed; and to compare and contrast the similarities and differences in scholarly discussions on public diplomacy between communication and political science.

Power-control or empowerment? How women public relations practitioners make meaning of power. • Katie Place, University of Maryland • The purpose of this study was to examine qualitatively how women public relations practitioners make meaning power. Literature regarding power-control theory, gender and power and empowerment contributed to this study. From the literature, one research questions was posed: How do women public relations practitioners make meaning of power? To best illustrate and describe how women public relations practitioners experience the phenomena of power, the researcher incorporated a qualitative research method which utilized 45 in-depth, semi-structured, face-to-face interviews with women public relations practitioners guided by an interview protocol. A grounded theory approach (Glaser & Strauss, 1967) was used to analyze the data. From the data arose several themes regarding gender and power. Results suggested that women practitioners made meaning of power as a function of influence, a function of relationships, knowledge and information, access, results-based credibility and empowerment. The data extend our understanding of practitioner power, power-control theory and empowerment in public relations. Power in public relations exists in various forms and empowerment serves as an alternative meaning making model of power.

Explicating Cynicism toward Corporate Social Responsibility: Causes and Communication Approaches • Hyejoon Rim, University of Florida • This study attempts to explicate the concept of cynicism in the context of corporate social responsibility, focusing more on the causes rather than its consequences. As corporate social responsibility has become increasingly popular in business, it has become more important to determine how to best communicate such initiatives with the public in this cynical age. Grounded on psychology, marketing, and business literature, this research intends to outline potential antecedents of cynicism on the situational and individual levels. At the situational factors, industry environment, organizational reputation, salience of promotion, and goodness of fit are identified. At the individual level, external locus of control and ethical ideologies are suggested as dominant sources of cynicism. Implications for strategic corporate social responsibility management and communication, as well as further research are discussed.

Legitimacy 2.0: Possible Research Avenues for Corporate Reputation in the Digital Age • Joy Rodgers, University of Florida • Among the challenges facing public relations practitioners in the new collaborative, interactive, and non-hierarchical digital arena is the management of corporate identity and reputation. This study examines the concept of legitimacy as it relates to reputation in order to contribute to the term’s theoretical foundation in the online realm and suggests some potential avenues for research to inform the practice of public relations reputation management in a digital information society.

Legitimation in Activist Issues Management: Congressional Testimony of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) • Erich Sommerfeldt, University of Oklahoma • This study investigated the rhetorical legitimation efforts of ACT UP, an activist group whose extreme tactics have been characterized as illegitimate. Through rhetorical analysis of the Congressional testimony of five ACT UP representatives from 1988 to 1992, the study determined how ACT UP representatives attempted to bolster legitimacy for themselves as issue managers, for their issues, and policy recommendations as they attempted to participate in shaping public policy on AIDS issues.

The Role of Social Capital in Public Relations’ Efficacy: How Internal Networks Influence External Practice • Erich Sommerfeldt, University of Oklahoma • This paper argues that public relations can be used as a force to enhance collective social capital, but only when a public relations unit has access to or reserves of social capital themselves. The paper introduces a case of a government agency in Jordan, and presents findings from a network analysis study that shows the public relations unit(s) to be deficient in social capital and thereby unable to affect its creation within or without the organization.

The impact of online comments on attitude toward an organization based on individual’s prior attitude • Kang Hoon Sung, University of Florida • This study is a 3 (Prior attitude) by 4 (Type of online comments) factorial design experiment that tests effects of online comments on attitude toward an organization based on individual’s prior attitude. The results showed that online comments have a significant effect on people’s attitude. Especially, people with prior neutral attitude were affected the most. For people with prior negative attitude, two-sided comments were most effective. Usability was the most influential factor in changing attitude.

Framing Breast Cancer: Building an Agenda through Online Advocacy and Fundraising • Brooke Weberling, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• Using qualitative content analysis, this study employs agenda building and framing to examine e-mail messages from Susan G. Komen for the Cure and Komen Advocacy Alliance to determine strategies for communicating about breast cancer and inspiring involvement in the nonprofit organizations’ advocacy and fundraising efforts. Three types of messages, nine frames and various tactics emerged among the 50 messages (sent during one year). Theoretical implications and applications for public relations and fundraising professionals are discussed.

Teaching
Meeting the needs of the practice: An evaluation of the public relations curricula • Moonhee Cho, University of Florida; Giselle A. Auger, University of Florida • Considering that much of the academic literature focused on the practice of public relations, and that there appeared to be consensus between educators and practitioners about the skills necessary for entry to the field, the researchers questioned whether in fact public relations courses and programs within higher education were adequately preparing students for placement in an entry-level position or providing skills that would aid in advancing to higher level positions. To this end, researchers conducted two content analyses, first on courses offered at the college or university level, and secondly, on current job descriptions for public relations positions. Results indicated that the public relations curricula is generally meeting the needs of the practice; however the demand for knowledge and skills in social and emerging or new media by potential employers far exceeds the frequency with which such subjects are addressed in the public relations curricula.

Big Chief Tablets and Sharpened Pencils: Helping PR Practitioners Transition from Practice to Classroom • Barbara DeSanto, Maryville University of Saint Louis; Susan Gonders, Southeast Missouri State University • The first stage of Super’s (1990) theory of adult career development, exploration, combined with Tierney’s (1997) analysis of universities’ culture and socialization processes provides two perspectives to apply to a current information workshop offered as an educational tool to public relations practitioners thinking about becoming involved in academia. Using this theoretical framework allows workshop participants and workshop providers ways of understanding the process and stresses of career change decisions from each other’s perspective.

The RFP Solution: One Response to Client/Service Learner Issues • Cathy Rogers, Loyola University New Orleans; Valerie Andrews, Loyola University New Orleans • Public relations programs have adopted service learning as standard practice, particularly by incorporating real client work to maximize student learning. While the literature documents the widespread use of real clients and service learning as an exemplary teaching method, little has been written about the instructor/client relationship, other than to note the difficulties of dealing with clients, including unrealistic expectations, inadequate communication, lack of respect for students as professionals, and commitment to the project. This paper reviews one university’s creation and implementation of a formal request-for-proposal (RFP) process to match community partners with mass communication course projects. The paper reviews the process and results of focus groups conducted to create the RFP process and examines two phases of the RFP implementation. This case study shows how an RFP disseminated to local nonprofits can minimize unrealistic professor and client expectations and maximize student learning and client satisfaction.

Pre-Professional Attitudes and Identities: The Socialization of Journalism and Public Relations Majors • Bey-Ling Sha, San Diego State University; Amy Weiss, San Diego State University • Relationships between journalists and public relations practitioners tend to be uneasy, if not antagonistic. The purpose of this study was to explore the possible origins of this complex relationship by examining the socialization of journalism and public relations college majors. The findings indicate that, although pre-professional journalists and public relations practitioners have some diverging perspectives on both their counterparts and their respective professional identities, these differences may not be as significant as they first seem.

Service-Learning in the Public Relations Classroom: An Experiential Approach to Improving Students’ Critical-Thinking and Problem-Solving Skills • Brenda Wilson, Tennessee Technological University • A study of students in a public relations course showed support for a service-learning instructional model enhancing critical thinking and problem solving and reducing rote memorization. Data were collected from 40 undergraduates in a pretest/posttest design and showed significance on 11 of 19 critical-thinking and problem-solving items. Students said they would recommend the course to others, worked harder in it than in most courses, and were satisfied with their expected grade.

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