Newspaper 2006 Abstracts
Newspaper Division
Reaching Out: Newspaper Credibility Among Younger Readers • Cory Armstrong, University of Florida and Steve Collins, Central Florida • The researchers examined student perceptions of campus and community newspaper credibility at a large Southeastern university using a web survey (n = 1,906) of those enrolled in a general education class. A moderate correlation (r = .28) existed between college newspaper credibility and community newspaper credibility. Using hierarchical linear regression, the researchers found interest in news content to be a statistically significant predictor of credibility for both local newspapers and college newspapers.
Taking Action on Credibility: Does APME’s Credibility Roundtable Program Have Measurable Effects? • Carrie Brown, Esther Thorson and Ken Fleming, Missouri-Columbia • This study evaluated the impact of the Associated Press Managing Editors’ National Credibility Roundtable program on the reported frequency of credibility-building activities at daily newspapers. Data from a survey of managing editors at Roundtable newspapers as compared to other newspapers shows that the Roundtable program appears to be having an impact on promoting credibility actions in two areas: increasing transparency and allowing readers to participate in the decision-making process.
Rating the Completeness of Newspaper Corrections in 2005 as Compiled by ‘Regret the Error’ • Michael Bugeja, Jane Peterson, Rut Rey and Fernando Anton, Iowa State • This study codifies components of corrections and uses them to rate the scope of newspaper corrections as compiled in 2005 by Regret the Error (http://www.regrettheerror.com). Some 631 entries were analyzed according to publication date of error, identification and/or explanation of error, apologies and other factors. Findings illustrate the degree of completeness of correction, noting how well or poorly the newspapers upheld standards. Final recommendations enhance trust and credibility.
Following the Setting Sun • Steve Collins, Central Florida and Cory Armstrong, University of Florida • Utilizing a Web survey of students enrolled in a general education class at the University of Florida (n = 1,906), the researchers examined the response to a unique newspaper marketing program. Although a number of newspapers over the years have attempted to attract new readers by offering students free or discounted papers, the Gainesville Sun became among the first to attempt to compete directly with the student newspaper by creating its own campus-focused edition.
One Product, Two Markets: How Geography Differentiates Online Newspaper Audiences • H. Iris Chyi, Arizona and George Sylvie, Texas-Austin • A secondary data analysis of 136 U.S. online newspapers’ usage reports investigates how geography differentiates online newspaper audiences in terms of market size and usage patterns. Results showed that the local market accounts for 38% of visitors, 55% of page views, and 54% of minutes of the overall U.S. market. Local Internet users tend to read more pages and spend more time on the news site.
The Internet and the Future of Journalism: Comparing News Producers’ and Users’ Preferences on the Y • Patricia Curtin, Oregon and Elizabeth Dougall and Rachel Davis Mersey, North Carolina • This paper presents preliminary data from the first phase of a multi-method study designed to determine if an online news platform can be both commercially viable and socially responsible, providing the news coverage necessary to support a flourishing democracy while garnering user numbers and demographics attractive to advertisers. Applying content analysis to the most frequented online news site, Yahoo!
Newsroom’s Normal Accident? An Exploratory Study of 10 Cases of News Fabrications • Jia Dai and Dominic Lasorsa, Texas-Austin • This study examines 10 high-profile recent cases of fabrication at major American news organizations. Applying disaster incubation theory and normal accident theory to newsrooms, it supports the argument that organizational characteristics of newsrooms contribute to fabrication scandals. The study also identifies certain patterns in fabricated news stories that distinguish them from authentic news stories. It is suggested that editors might use these distinguishing patterns to help recognize and prevent news story fabrication.
The Convergence Conundrum: Choosing Between The Strength of Weak Ties and Jacks of All Trades • Larry Dailey and Donica Mensing, Nevada-Reno • When journalism schools and news organizations use cross-training to implement convergence, they are operating under the assumption that sharing certain technical skills will enable journalists to understand and produce media on a variety of platforms. These efforts reward those who are able to think more like their counterparts in print or broadcast.
Washington Bureau Chiefs Assess Changing Policies, Attitudes On Using Anonymous Sources • Peggie Evans, Texas-Austin • Damaging blows have struck journalists’ use of anonymous sources since 2003. Reporters have fabricated sources and prosecutors have pressed top national reporters to name confidential sources or face jail. This study uses in-depth interviews with Washington bureau chiefs, including at The New York Times, to discuss policy changes on anonymous sources. The study found bureau chiefs believe anonymous sources essential to reporting, policies have tightened and not all anonymous sources are identified to editors.
Reporters’ Conflicting Attitudes And Struggle To Unionize • Fred Fedler, Central Florida • Little seems to have changed since the 1880s and ‘90s, not reporters’ reasons for organizing — or opposing — unions. Reporters’ culture emphasized independence, service, and sacrifice, not organization. Reporters were loyal to paternalistic owners and feared that, rather than helping them, unions would protect the incompetent. Unions’ advocates complained about their longs hours, low salaries, insecurity, and difficult editors. Increasingly during the 1930s, reporters also became disillusioned with the newspaper industry.
Concern, Frustration and Guarded Optimism: Newspaper Editors Assess Their Changing Organizational Roles • Peter Gade and Jacqueline Eckstein, Oklahoma • This study asked a probably sample of top newspaper editors three open-ended questions about how changes in the industry are impacting their organizational roles, the skills needed to perform their jobs and to assess the changes in the industry and their jobs.
New Media, Familiar Standards: How Online News People Rate 38 Criteria of Quality for News Web Sites • George Gladney, Wyoming and Ivor Shapiro, Ryerson and Joseph Castaldo • The researchers abstracted from the literature 38 criteria of quality of online news Web sites, then conducted an online survey in which 143 online news people rated the importance of each criterion. The study’s purpose was to (1) identify criteria deemed most important in judging the quality of online news sites, and (2) determine how standards unique to the Web compare in importance with traditional print standards.
Editorials and Public Policy: Illinois legislators read and heed newspaper editorials • Steven Hallock, Southern Illinois-Carbondale • A survey of Illinois legislators found high levels of readership for editorials of their hometown newspapers and also suggested that legislators seriously consider the recommendations of these editorials, including sometimes following their advice when it comes to voting on legislation. Legislators paid less attention to editorials of the state capital newspaper, but the levels of respect for and consideration of these editorials suggests general overall legislative attention to newspaper editorials by elected policy-makers.
Non-Presidential Newspaper Endorsements, 2002 and 2004 • Mark Harmon, Tennessee • The author sampled twenty newspapers from the top-100 in circulation, tallying all candidate endorsements in the month preceding the 2002 and 2004 general elections. The newspapers in 2002 endorsed more Republicans than Democrats, but the reverse was true in 2004. The same “flip” occurred in conservative and liberal scores of endorsed incumbents.
A nation at war versus a culture of restraint • Lori Herber and Vince Filak, Ball State • This study explores examines differences in source usage, tone and amount of coverage employed by a United States newspaper (The Washington Post) and a German Newspaper (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung) regarding the conflict in Iraq. A content analysis of these papers reveals that both papers relied primarily on official sources for their information, but that FaZ gave far less coverage to the conflict than did the Washington Post.
Happy Journalists: Good for Business? A Survey of Business Journalists’ Job Satisfaction and Plans • Qingmiao Hu and Jennifer Greer, Nevada-Reno • This survey of 665 U.S. business journalists about job satisfaction found business journalists moderately satisfied with their jobs. While they are most satisfied with their beats, stories they cover, their autonomy, and their schedules, they are unhappy with advancement opportunities and training. Inadequate on-the-job training was highly related to job dissatisfaction, a novel finding.
How the New York Times covered the 2004 Presidential Campaign: A Case of New York Times Coverage • Abhiyan Humane, Carly Yuenger, Xiao Yu Wang, Daniel Gartenberg and Porismita Borah, Wisconsin-Madison • The purpose of the study is to analyze the composition and variation in various characteristics of media coverage of the 2004 presidential election by the New York Times within the campaign period of July 26, 2004 (DNC) and November 5, 2004 (day after election). Most studies analyzing media coverage generalize their results to the period of the entire campaign, thus assuming the invariance of a campaign and the static nature of media coverage.
Framing a Terrorist Event on Neutral Soil: A Comparative Analysis of US and Chinese Newspaper Coverage • Liwen Jiang, Jeff Sheets and Javier Camaño, Brigham Young • This study examined the prevalence of five news frames identified in earlier studies on international news report: responsibility, conflict, human interest, morality, and national interest. As the first empirical study on testing the five news frames in international news coverage over terrorism, we content analyzed 2 U.S. newspapers and 2 Chinese newspapers on the coverage over the terrorism train bombing in Madrid, Spain, 2004, with a 2-month lifecycle of news stories.
The Reality of Graphics Editing in the Newsroom: A Study of Practices at 6 Newspapers in the Carolinas • Staci Jordan and Douglas Fisher, South Carolina • While textbooks call for thorough editing of newspaper graphics by both copy editors and graphics staff, a close examination of six newspapers in the Carolinas shows clear differences by size. Even within some newsrooms, perceptions differ on how well graphics are edited at a time when graphics have become central to American newspapers. The presumed accuracy of wire-service graphics means they often are edited less.
An Examination of Portrayals of Race in Hurricane Katrina Coverage • Shannon Kahle, Nan Yu and Erin Whiteside, Penn State • This study uses a content analysis to explore portrayals of race in newspaper photographs from four national newspapers covering Hurricane Katrina. The study found that the photographic coverage of Katrina, while ostensibly sympathetic, reinforced negative stereotypes about African-Americans, while conversely depicting Caucasians in powerful roles. The findings support previous findings in literature on stereotyping and modern racism in news coverage.
Newspaper Plagiarism Trends Since Jayson Blair • Norman Lewis, Maryland • Analysis of all thirty-seven known cases of daily newspaper plagiarism in the nearly three years since Jayson Blair rocked the New York Times revealed 89 percent of offenders were men. Although two-thirds of the journalists lost their jobs, larger newspapers were much less likely than smaller ones to dismiss offenders. Some newspapers avoided using the word “plagiarism” and instead employed euphemisms such as “borrowing.” Historical reluctance to define plagiarism affected cases of visual and self-plagiarism.
Activist Group Attributes and Their Influences on News Portrayal • Michael McCluskey, California State-Fresno • Scholars have identified numerous influences on news coverage, but paid little attention to the influence of attributes of news seekers on the tone of news coverage. Study examined surveys from 37 environmental groups and 831 newspaper articles mentioning groups. Multivariate analysis showed that several group resources (external revenue, broad membership) and group goals (recreational improvements) predicted positive news portrayals, and communicating with government predicted negative portrayals. Analysis suggests expanding theory detailing influences on news content.
Somebody’s Got to Do It: How Three Editors Explain to the Public • Neil Nemeth, Purdue – Calumet • This paper explores how editors of three metropolitan daily newspapers explain their publications’ activities to the public. The paper features an examination of the public columns written by the editors of the Rocky Mountain News, the Seattle Times and the San Antonio Express-News from 2003-2005 and one editor’s blogs. The findings suggest that editors may have to assume an additional role of aggressively promoting their newspapers in the turbulent media landscape of the 21st century.
Walkin’ the Walk; Talkin’ the Talk: Reporters’ Online Interaction with Readers • Randle Quint, Brigham Young and Lucinda Davenport, Michigan State and Scott Lunt, Brigham Young • In the spirit of transparent journalism and increasing competition from non-traditional online media and communities, are online newspapers offering readers more and different types of interactivity and feedback features than they have in the past? And, if so, are reporters interacting with readers? This study sought to update and improve earlier research through a content analysis of a proportional sample of 308 online newspapers and a survey to reporters.
Newspaper Coverage of Trans Fats: An Agenda for Policy Change? • Paula Rausch, Florida • This analysis sought to determine how two “conservative” and two “liberal” national newspapers framed the issue of heart-harmful trans fat in the years leading up to the FDA’s policy decision requiring its disclosure on food nutrition labels. Overall, these newspapers largely did not function in their usual agenda-setting and surveillance roles, and they provided relatively little information to their readers about these policy discussions, and nutritional information regarding the ill health effects of trans fat.
Whose View Is It? Gatekeeping Theory and the Selection and Publication of Letters to the Editor • Steve Scauzillo and Tony Rimmer, California State-Fullerton • This study reports on a 2005 online survey of editors (N=206) of letters to the editor sections from small, medium and larger newspapers across the U.S. Research questions considered the influences of personal opinions, political viewpoints, newsroom resources and routines, newspaper circulation, staff size, and technology on publishing behaviors by these editors. Respondents answered questions about influences on their selection and editing of letters to the editor.
Frame-mapping Analysis of Newspaper Coverage of Mountaintop Removal Mining in Appalachia: 1985-2004 • Marc Seamon, Marshall • This study is a computer-assisted analysis of how newspapers frame mountaintop removal mining and how their framing has changed over time in reaction to developments related to the issue. The frames employed by journalists and the words that comprise those frames are identified. Abstract patterns of usage and association among the frames are documented and made visual through 3-D interactive graphs. Interpretation is provided of the frames and their associative patterns.
Unnamed Sources in the Washington Post, 1970-2000 • Michael Sheehy, Cincinnati • This study focuses on unnamed sources in Washington Post news stories from 1970 to 2000. A content analysis of 1,730 front-page stories identified unnamed sources with some functional and no functional identification in five story categories. The study found that unnamed sources were most common in foreign news stories; foreign and U.S. government stories had different ratios of unnamed/no identification and unnamed/some identification sources; and unnamed sources were most common during the Reagan era.
Content Differences Between Print and Online Newspapers • Jessica Smith, Abilene Christian • This study applies gatekeeping theory and uses content analysis to compare the content of 635 stories in five newspapers with their Web counterparts. It examines whether reporter affiliation or a story’s geographic emphasis has a relationship with the story’s contextual elements. Nearly all stories in the sample appeared on the newspapers’ Web sites, and story content was the same 96% of the time likely to publish additional contextual elements with local stories than more global ones.
Are Readers Really Suspicious of Unnamed Sources? • Ron Smith, Central Florida • Many editors contend that anonymous sourcing damages credibility. Research suggests otherwise. This study concludes neither view is completely correct. Respondents gave similar credibility ratings to named and unnamed versions of a whistle-blowing story, regardless of attitudes toward anonymous sourcing or the trustworthiness of reporters. However, they found personal attacks less credible with anonymous sourcing. Banning unnamed sources may be an overreaction. Readers may recognize unnamed sources are useful in some stories but reject them in others.
30 Years after, Friend or Foe? A Narrative Analysis of U.S. Newspaper Coverage of Vietnam in 2005 • Hai Tran, North Carolina-Chapel Hill • This narrative analysis examines U.S. newspaper coverage of Vietnam in 2005. Articles from the New York Times, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times were analyzed to identify dominant themes, and then contrasted to Vietnam’s newspaper content to reveal frames employed to depict those themes. Findings indicate the U.S. coverage reinforced Vietnam’s “otherness” and exoticism by perpetuating images of Vietnam as “former enemy,” one of the last “Communist” states struggling to survive in the “capitalist” world.
Newspapers as Launching Pads for Literary Careers • Douglas Underwood and Dana Bagwell, Washington • Many journalist-turned-literary figures of the past have complained about the constraints in commercial journalism against honest and creative expression. Today’s journalists with literary ambitions are more positive about daily newspapers as a place to develop literary talent. But a national study shows that they respect novelists more than they do journalists; they feel novelists better reflect the human condition than daily journalists; and those who have published their literary work often plan to exit journalism.
Giving a Voice to the Silenced: A Journalism Project in Benin, West Africa • Steve Urbanski, Duquesne, and Andre Quenum • Benin, West Africa, has been a democracy since 1990 and is still learning the parameters of a free press. The authors utilize ethnographic fieldwork to ascertain how the print media in Cotonou – Benin’s largest city – simultaneously informs and silences key segments of the population. Educated elites often use the print media as a hegemonic tool for political purposes, leaving the many uneducated, as well those living in rural areas, as a silenced majority.
Representing the Total Community: Relationships between Asian-American Staff and Asian-American Coverage • Denis Wu and Ralph Izard, Louisiana State • This research paper sought to verify conventional wisdom that the presence of ethnic journalists – Asian Americans – results in more and better coverage of ethnic groups to a given community. Eight newspapers were analyzed, including representatives of communities with varying numbers of Asian-American populations and geographic regions across the nation. The study found that newspapers with larger numbers of Asian-American staff members provide more stories – thus broader community coverage – about Asian Americans.
Physical News: Why Some Young Adults Don’t Read Newspapers • Amy Zerba, Texas – Austin • This exploratory study examines the reasons why some young adults do not read newspapers. Using previous literature and open-ended responses from a 2006 Web-based survey, a list is compiled of non-use reasons. An alternative reason, called Physical News, is introduced and explored as a prominent reason for not reading newspapers. Young adults’ suggestions on how newspapers can improve, including a list of news topics that interest them, are also examined.
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