Graduate Student 2013 Abstracts
The Role of Differing Host Styles in Fox News’ Prime-Time Coverage of Health Care Reform in August 2009 • Mitchell Bard • Much research has looked at individual Fox News programs to ascertain how the network operates in a variety of contexts, but nearly no attention has been paid to the role of individual hosts. The host plays an important role in branding news programs and thus directly affects a network’s credibility. This study examines how the three Fox News prime-time hosts employed differing approaches to furthering the network’s themes opposing health care reform in August 2009.
Engaging Information: How Targeting Creates More Comments but Less Likes on Facebook • Jan Boehmer, Michigan State University • In the present study, I investigate the effects of targeted Facebook posts on audience engagement. Conducting a content analysis of 1536 Facebook status updates, I find that targeting is related to an increase in the amount of comments, but affects the number of likes negatively. To better understand this result, I also explore two variables that potentially affect the likelihood of a newspaper using targeted Facebook posts: Circulation and social media use in the newspaper’s print community. Based on the results, I discuss implications for the future measurement of engagement, stimulating contributions to online communities, and targeting information to specific user groups.
A Content Analysis of The Deseret News Before and After Move to Converged Newsroom • Brendon Butler, Scripps School of Journalism • At the end of August 2010, one of Utah’s two flagship newspapers announced a radical change in its business operations. The Deseret News, with a weekday circulation of nearly 80,000 subscribers, would move to an integrated newsroom, sharing editorial and production staff with its sister media outlets, KSL television and radio. To this end, 57 full-time and 28 part-time employees were fired, reducing the paper’s editorial staff by 43 percent. In total, the paper lost 85 employees. In the aftermath, the paper was criticized for a perceived reduction in coverage of local issues in communities surrounding the capital city where the paper was located. This study examines local coverage by the paper before and after the move to determine if coverage of local issues such as city council meetings declined after the move.
Did #NBCFail? Twitter and User-Generated Critiques of 2012 Olympic Coverage in a Post-Broadcast World • Daniel Sipocz, University of Southern Mississippi; Robert Byrd, The University of Southern Mississippi • The purpose of this paper was to critically examine the viewer/user critiques of NBC’s coverage through the #NBCfail hashtag, via Twitter, over the course of the Olympic fortnight. The hashtag provided viewers/users with a tool to directly address NBC and like-minded Twitters users to express their dissatisfaction with NBC’s Olympic coverage, to create their own discourse, and to demand better coverage that included more accurately capturing the diverse spirit of the games.
Textual Analysis of the Portrayals of the Roma • Sabrina Deaton, University of Central Florida • This paper examines media representations of Roma (Gypsies), a marginalized and socially disadvantaged ethnic group in the U.S. Most members of the U.S. dominant culture have had little-to-no interpersonal interaction with Roma, so much public perception of them is likely shaped by media. This case-study analysis of “Gypsy crime” articles describes how these texts stigmatize Roma through negative coverage that has the power to reify and propagate the spoiled identity of this ethnic minority.
Credibility and Recall Effects of Source Documents in News • Megan Duncan, University of Wisconsin • News organizations use PDFs of source documents such as criminal complaints to supplement news coverage about those documents. Employing the heuristic-systematic processing model, this study examined how those documents affected readers’ recall and perception of credibility of the news. The results of an experiment that included 158 university student participants found little effect on recall or the perception of credibility. However, several factors influencing recall and perception of credibility were found. Implications and future research are discussed.
When Goffman, Soja and Lefebve Talk on Mobile Phones — An Interpretation from Two Perspectives: Postmodern Geography and Symbolic Interactionism • Chia-I Hou, National Taiwan University • This paper explores how different modes and patterns of human communication have emerged or are emerging with the adoption and development of mobile media. The paper considers literature in microsociology (i.e., Goffman) and cultural/postmodern geography (i.e., Lefebvre and Soja) to discuss how individuals use mobile media as means and resources to manage their social interactions. In addition, mobile media act to configure or reconfigure individual socio-geographical spaces in individuals’ everyday lives. The paper examines these two theoretical frameworks, focusing in particular on how time and space might be compressed or expanded via mobile media.
“Cushion for the Pushin’ ”: How Racial Identity Shapes the Way Black Women Interpret Obesity and Weight- Loss Messages • Christal Johnson • The purpose of this study is to take a public relations approach to determine how Black women’s racial identity shapes the way they understand obesity and weight loss messages. According to Helm (1990), racial identity, refers to “a sense of group or collective identity based on one’s perception that he or she shares a common racial heritage with a particular racial group” (p. 3). This study combines the use of situational theory of publics, racial identity, and the centrality and private regard measures of the Multidimensional Inventory of Black Identity (MIBI) scale to qualitatively explore how Black women understand obesity-related messages. This study extends the body of public relations literature by: (1) using a qualitative, audience-centered methodology to examine racial identity and to determine how this contributes to Black women’s meaning-making process relative to obesity and weight loss messages, and (2) introducing the Multidimensional Inventory of Black Identity (MIBI) scale to the public relations field as a tool to examine racial identity. Traditional public relations scholarship utilizes quantitative methods that include race as a static variable for demographic-reporting reasons. However, this study, consisting of focus groups with 21 women, ages 18-60 who reside in Oklahoma, uses racial identity to help examine social factors that shape how Black women understand obesity and weight-loss messages. Results revealed five themes that emerged from the data.
Picturing the Scientists: A Content Analysis of the Scientists’ Photographs in The New York Times, 2000 to 2009 • Hwalbin Kim, University of South Carolina; Christopher Frear, University of South Carolina • By analyzing the scientists’ photographs in the weekly science section of The New York Times, this study shows how an influential newspaper visually portrayed scientists from 2000 to 2009. Using visual framing theory, this study considers how the scientists are represented and significantly finds that most scientists shown were white males. By comparing the photographs with American workforce statistics, the study concludes that the Times reinforced stereotypes rather than portrayed the diverse field.
Popular Mobile Games in Contemporary Society: As Based on Mobile Media Users • Hyungmin Kim, Temple University • With the advent of smartphones, the global mobile applications market has increased exponentially. In particular, mobile games have become extremely popular. As such, this study explores which mobile technologies have been used in mobile games, and their relation to contemporary mobile gamers’ download choices. Apple’s App Store chart was utilized to analyze the common technological and gaming design features of the contemporary mobile games that are most popular with the gamers, and also to examine similarities and differences between the most popular smartphone and tablet computer games. The results show that popular mobile games maximize players’ touch-based enjoyment (i.e., swiping, sliding or drawing). In addition, the popular games have at least two of the following features: simple rules, social interactions, and no enemies or a lack of the need to fight an enemy to accomplish a mission. Games that require careful controls, such as tilting the screen or fast and unpredictable moves, tended to be more downloaded on the iPad than on the iPhone. In terms of ranking fluctuations, the paid game charts were statistically more stable than the free game charts.
The News Media’s Framing of Labor Unions Over Time • Sadie Kliner, The George Washington University • For nearly a century, scholars have explored how news media frame labor unions in the United States. A review of this literature reveals a dominant negative frame and a methodological focus on particular outlets, strikes, case studies and private sector unions. The rise of public sector union membership and the various ways in which news media are now consumed suggest that this approach fails to account for factors critical in understanding how labor unions are framed today.
Sports Agenda in the News Media in Late Communist Poland Claudia Kozman, Indiana University • This study is a textual analysis of the sports agenda in Polish news media between 1974 and the fall of communism in 1989. Analyzing print articles and television broadcasts from a convenience sample of news media, this study identified themes consistent with literature about the relationship between politics and sport. Under communism, the Polish news media presented sport as part of the larger political context. This theme was mostly evident in the period surrounding the withdrawal of Poland from the 1984 Summer Olympic Games. Media discussions that dominated sports news stressed the ongoing ideological battle between socialism and capitalism. The news reports also mirrored the Communist Party agenda, mainly through the leaders’ speeches, official statements, and editorials. Throughout this period, Party leaders emphasized the importance of developing sport locally and internationally. The findings also point to the relative autonomy of Polish journalists who expressed their opinions with or without cues from the Party.
Communicating Beach Safety in a Big Surf Culture: Health implications of risk-free Hawaiian newspaper coverage • Amanda Miller • In 2011, drowning fatalities reached the highest rate Hawai’i has experienced since 1993 (IPAC & IPSC, 2012). A quantitative content analysis of newspaper articles published from 2009 to 2012 by the Honolulu Star-Advertiser highlights message patterns which may interfere with effective ocean drowning prevention in Hawai’i. Health implications of cultural attraction to “big surf” combined with messages of high personal responsibility, while lacking perceived risk severity, susceptibility, and contextual prevention tactics are discussed.
You Can Make This Stuff Up: Intersection Between Fiction and News in the Eighteenth Century • Jean Norman, University of Nevada, Las Vegas • In the eighteenth century, it was difficult to tell prose fiction from non-fiction. Both made claims to truthfulness, and often both, especially the newspapers, included fabrication. Using Jürgen Habermas’ theory of communicative acts as a guide, deep textual analysis of eighteenth century British newspapers shows the beginnings of modern journalistic standards by the end of the century: accuracy, honest, and credibility.
Sharpening the 5 W’s with Pentadic Analysis: Toward a Burkean Pedagogy • Nathan Rodriguez, University of Kansas • The digital era challenges journalism instructors to incorporate strategies that recognize a reconfigured mediascape. This essay argues a premium ought be placed upon techniques that promote awareness of language use, appreciation of complexity and an inclination toward patience. It is suggested that Kenneth Burke’s pentad, which elaborates upon the “W’s” of journalism, offers a concise yet sophisticated approach to apprehending interaction that would benefit both practitioners and students of journalism.
Virtual Image Repair – Why Twitter Enables Athletes More Effective Image Restoration than Traditional Crisis Management Techniques • Annelie Schmittel, University of Florida • This study proposes a conceptual model that illustrates why Twitter is a more effective vehicle for image restoration of professional athletes than mainstream media. Athletes involved in scandals are quick to employ traditional crisis management techniques. However, as illustrated in this study, several underlying factors contribute to a more effective form of image restoration and are better achieved through the use of Twitter. Antecedent conditions that affect the validity of the model are outlined within.
Covering Mental Illness: Challenges and Solutions • Roma Subramanian, University of Missouri, School of Journalism • U.S.-based print journalists who had won awards for stories on mental illness were interviewed to determine how reporting on mental illness can be improved. Respondents indicated that a mixture of organizational and personal factors such as editorial support, considerable journalism experience, personal exposure to mental illness, and empathy helped them produce quality stories. Also noteworthy were respondents’ opinions on suggestions in reporting guides about imitation suicides, sensitive language, and positive mental illness news.
The Roles of the Game: The influence of news consumption patterns on the role conceptions of journalism students • Edson Tandoc, University of Missouri-Columbia • This study is based on a survey of 364 undergraduate journalism students and looks at how news consumption patterns influence the journalistic role conceptions that students hold. Guided by social identity theory, this study finds that students rated the interpreter role as most important. Students who prioritized the interpreter role also tend to get their news from online sources and social media. The implications of these findings on college instruction are also discussed.
The Latent Growth Curve of Alcohol Ads Exposure: Adolescents’ Media Use, Drinking Patterns, and Association with Alcohol Using Peers in Identity Development • Jared Tu, City University of Hong Kong • This study examines prospective associations between exposure to alcohol advertising and changes over time in drinking and association with alcohol-using peers. Theoretically, this study is an application of the Reinforcing Model in adolescents’ identity development. With a four-wave panel design in the Latent Growth Curve, the data showed partial support to the Reinforcing Model, suggesting that members with a given social identity select media content corresponding to the existing or developing social identity. Use of the media content, in turn, will reinforce such identities, followed by continuing selection of identity-consistent media. Alcohol advertising exposure, positively or passively selected by adolescents, serves as mediated socialization experience and bridges adolescents’ earlier, family-approved associations to later social activities with peers-centered norms such as drinking. Results identified that baseline exposure to the alcohol ads robustly predicted increasing trajectories of drinking and of associating with alcohol-using peers.
The Activist Network: How Wikipedia Used Facebook Posts and Shares to Gain Support for the SOPA/PIPA Blackout • Amanda J. Weed, Ohio University • One of Facebook’s many features is its capability to share posts among “friend” networks. This capability allows messages to be shared quickly and broadly. Each time a post is shared, it is presented to a new network of “friends”, who then have the option to share the post with their own network of friends, and so on. Successful framing has the potential to create enough support from message receivers that the message will continue to be passed on, in a snowball effect, throughout the social network. The purpose of this paper is to explore the theoretical framework of agenda-building to examine how framed messages from Wikipedia disseminated through Facebook during the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA)/Protect IP Act (PIPA) Blackout campaign. This study utilized a content analysis of Facebook shares of Wikipedia posts from the sample time period January 16 through 19, 2012. This research examined three aspects of framing in Facebook shares to determine: (a) if framed messages affect the likelihood of sharing with comments among 1st level responders; (b) what types of user-generated content 1st level respondents will attach in their comments; and (c) does the 1st level share lead to significant 2nd level sharing. Results of this study may guide future use of framing levels and devices to encourage message dissemination throughout the Facebook network.
Data Privacy in the Newsroom: The Conflict between Privacy Policies and Ethics Policies • David Wolfgang, University of Missouri • This study analyzes website privacy policies used by major news corporations and attempts to understand the newsroom ethics policies as applied to protecting personal information collected about readers. The confluence of the legal and ethical questions revealed a conflicting relationship that possibly exposes news organizations that publish user information to liability while still practicing within the accepted limitations of traditional journalism ethics. Journalists tend to be indignant about the protections they afford to personal information collected on their site, unless the user is a public official using their pseudonym to discuss public issues behind a veil of secrecy. In this situation, journalists not only justify their actions under their ethics policies, but are possibly unknowingly breaching a contract made with each and every reader. In order to protect against liability, news organizations should change their newsroom practices to allow for the disclosure of user information in a very narrowly-constructed situation and amend their privacy policy to align with traditional journalism ethics as applied to privacy situations.
Health-related Reality TV on Social Media: Opportunity for Social Marketing or TV Program Promotion? • Xiaochen Zhang, University of Florida • This paper employed content analysis and thematic analysis to examine what information health-related reality TV (i.e., The Biggest Loser) viewers seek and respond to when interacting with the show’s social networking component. Analysis of posts and comments on The Biggest Loser official Facebook page showed that the most common postings were those promoting the program itself, and the most common user comments were those giving social support.
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