Radio Television Journalism 2009 Abstracts
Radio Television Journalism Division
Two Parts “Old Media,” One Part “New:” Integrating Social Media and Television News • Thomas Baggerman, Capital University; Cheryl Harrison, Capital University; Brent Small, Capital University; Andrew Newman, Capital University; Stefan Smetanko, Capital University; Jason Kaplan, Capital University; Andrea Klinker, Capital University; Michael Ferko, Capital University; Ruben Fernandez, Capital University; Blaire Ramey, Capital University • This paper examines the academic and industry views on the benefits and challenges of integrating “new” social media like Facebook and Twitter with “old” mainstream news media, particularly television news. The paper reviews national and local exemplar newscasts to assess current levels of integration, and compares these to the stated goals of the newscasts. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of the benefits of possible future melding of social media and television news.
As it Plays Out: Network and local news coverage of two Canadian elections • Marsha Barber, Ryerson University • This research paper addresses the issue of media bias on Canadian television during coverage of the 2006 federal election and the 2007 Ontario provincial election. A content analysis suggests network news coverage is balanced for the most part. Findings further suggest that local coverage was usually balanced, but did not always meet the scrupulous standards set by the networks. However, a more subtle and systemic bias was apparent at both the network and local levels.
The Daily Show as Scapegoat: Examining Cynicism Toward Politics and the News Media • Lauren Bratslavsky, University of Oregon • Drawing on survey data and past studies about The Daily Show, this paper seeks to understand the relationship between the “fake news” TV program and cynicism. Some have applauded the program for its satirical perspectives about politics and the news media.
A tale of two sites: Comparing new media use at television news operations and newspapers • Tim Brown, University of Central Florida; Steve Collins, University of Central Florida • This national survey examined the differences between television news operations and newspapers in their use of multimedia to disseminate content. It appears that the “legacy” attitudes of traditional media are carrying over into new media, and that newspapers appear to be falling behind television stations in some key aspects of delivering content over new media.
New Media, Enduring Values: How Three News Organizations Managed Change In An Age Of Uncertainty • Carrie Brown, University of Memphis; Jonathan Groves, Drury University • This study uses theory on organizational culture and leadership to identify factors affecting the implementation of an initiative by three news organizations to bring the core principles of journalism to life on the Web. A newspaper, a local television station, a producer and distributor of public radio, and an academic institution participated in this effort.
Public vs. Commercial Broadcasting News Use: Does News Consumption Orientation Matter? • Q. Lisa Bu, University of Wisconsin-Madison • Can news consumption orientation, defined as people’s general tendency to prefer certain news medium and content, predict public vs. commercial broadcasting news use? The results suggest that (1) news consumption orientation is a 4-factor concept independent of media use gratification; (2) it predicts public and commercial broadcasting news use but cannot predict which source will be used more; and (3) regular use of online news has no effect on either broadcasting news use.
Gonna take you higher! News Blogging in the 21st Century: A quantitative study • Janice Collins, Ohio University • Mainstream journalists and media outlets have not done an effective job in keeping in touch with the needs, concerns and values of the audience. The internet is changing all of that. Cyberjournalism and blogging is forcing main stream journalists to stand up and pay attention to not only the public, but to their craft, as well.
Considering the Source and Messenger in Local TV News • William R. Davie, University of Louisiana at Lafayette • This content analysis of local television news compared hard and soft news variables of gender and ethnicity by anchors and reporters. There was relative balance in gender and racial representation for hard news and soft news story assignments in contrast to the literature. Findings also compared gender and ethnicity with source type (expert/non-expert) and found white male expert sources overrepresented when compared to female and minority expert sources.
Issue Salience Along Party Lines And TV Network News in the 2008 US Presidential Campaign • David Free, University of Texas at Austin • This study examines whether the issues that are recognized as the most important to voter’s who self-identify with either the Republican or Democratic parties and/or the candidates representing those parties and ideologies are reflected in network television news and the stories the networks identify as salient between January 2008 and Election Day on November 4, 2008.
Is AMBER more effective on the air or online? Priming and source effects in missing children alerts • Jennifer Greer, University of Alabama; Po-Lin Pan, University of Alabama; David Flores, University of Nevada • This study examined the effects of the AMBER Alert system, which has become a staple on broadcast outlets nationwide. Using an experimental design, researchers examined priming effects (AMBER label/generic missing child alert) and source credibility (local television news station/social networking site) on citizen responses to alerts. Regardless of source, the AMBER label prompted higher subject involvement with a case and higher ratings of message importance. The source cue only affected message quality ratings.
The 2008 Presidential Campaign: Political cynicism in the age of Facebook, MySpace and YouTube • Gary Hanson, Kent State University; Paul Haridakis, Kent State University; Audrey Wagstaff, Kent State University; Rekha Sharma, Kent State University; J.D. Ponder, Kent State University • We examined the impact of social network media use during the 2008 presidential campaign on political cynicism. Drawing on uses and gratifications theory, we also considered the contribution of user background characteristics and motives. Results suggest males low in self efficacy who elaborated on political information, but tended not to use social networking sites for political information and whose family and friends did not provide strong political socialization influence, were more cynical than their counterparts.
Television News Frames over the Street Girls • Seong Choul Hong, Indiana University • If prostitution is the world’s oldest profession, it is also, arguably, one of the oldest topics in news media coverage. The U.S. media have sensitized, amplified, and constructed prostitutes and their clients as public nuisances and immoral beings. Nonetheless, the question of how news media present the images of prostitutes and their clients has rarely been explored. Even when this is the case, the research has been confined to content analyses of printing media.
User Generated Content and the 2008 Presidential Election: A Content Analysis of Citizens’ Stories on CNN’s iReport • Kirsten Johnson, Elizabethtown College • The 2008 presidential election saw a shift from people as passive consumers of media to active content creators. People went online to post stories using text, pictures, video, and audio. One site that supports user created content is CNN’s iReport.com. A content analysis was performed on 278 stories written about the 2008 presidential election and posted by citizens to iReport.com.
Selective Exposure of American News Consumers to Polarized Cable News Channels • Yung Soo Kim, University of Kentucky; Mina Tsay, University of Kentucky; Deborah Chung, University of Kentucky • Employing a cross-sectional online survey (N = 135), this study examined patterns of selective exposure to two polarized 24-hour cables news channels, Fox and CNN. Specifically, this study investigated the relationship of political orientation and perceived news bias to channel selection (frequency of viewing intention, frequency of reliance on viewing, amount of attention paid, and frequency of actual exposure).
Teasing Out the Promos: An Analysis of Self-Promotion Strategies in Network Newscasts • Joy Chavez Mapaye, University of Oregon, University of Alaska Anchorage; Kathleen M. Ryan, Miami University-Ohio • This study investigates the self-promotion practices of ABC, CBS, and NBC. Using content analysis and categories grounded in vertical integration strategies, this study examines the management and marketing of the network brand identity through teases and various self-promotion strategies. The research found the three major television networks used self-promotion frequently. In all, 1,063 instances of self-promotion were recorded from the sample. For every 30 minutes of news content, there were approximately 4 minutes of self-promotion.
The Community Affiliation Model: The Effects of Ideological Congruency and Community Affiliation on Audiences’ Perceptions of Cable News Outlets • Tayo Oyedeji and Jiran Hou, University of Georgia • This study proposes and tests the community affiliation model—a model that predicts that community affiliation, a measure of the extent to which media audiences believe that a news media outlet cares about their community, will be the key mediating variable in the relationships among ideological congruency, media believability, media use, and audience loyalty to cable news outlets.
The uses, gratifications and political knowledge young adults obtain from watching network newscasts and late night comedy shows • Susu Qin, Iowa State University, Greenlee School of Journalism and Mass Communication • This study examines how college students use and obtain gratifications from two TV news program genres (regular network news and late-night comedy shows), which of these two program types contribute more to political knowledge, and what is the influence of exposure and attention to late-night comedy shows.
EARwitness Testimony: Applying Listener Perspectives to Developing a Working Concept of “Localism” in Broadcast Radio • Gayane Torosyan, SUNY Oneonta • Ever since the introduction of new technologies such as satellite, Internet and cable radio, the concept of “local” has been at the center of a debate in the radio industry. Ownership consolidation has led to concerns about the loss of “local identity.” Broadcast radio news providers are operating under the assumption that the geographical location of the origin of news plays an increasingly smaller role.
Recreatin’ Sarah Palin: Journalists, Tina Fey and the Construction of a Political Persona • Dannagal Young, University of Delaware • Rarely has an impersonation received as much press coverage as Tina Fey’s impersonation of Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin. Journalists referred to the young comedian as Palin’s “doppelganger,” and her send-up of the Alaska governor as “dead-on” (Wiser, 2008, Chicago Sun-Times). More importantly, perhaps, journalists appear to have embraced Fey’s Palin and integrated this folksy, dim-witted-but-charming version of the governor into their campaign stories.
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