Mass Communication and Society Division

2022 Abstracts

Research Paper • Student • Moeller Student Paper Competition • Purpose vs. Mission vs. Vision: Persuasive Appeals and Components in Corporate Statements • Alexis Fitzsimmons, University of Florida; Yufan “Sunny” Qin, University of Florida; Eve Heffron, University of Florida • Purpose statements persuade stakeholders of companies’ reasons for being. However, there is a lack of distinction among purpose, mission, and vision statements. This quantitative content analysis explored the differences among Fortune Global companies’ purpose, mission, and vision statements, adding to a much-needed body of literature on corporate purpose. Results provide implications for communicators who write these statements as well as theoretical implications related to rhetorical and social identification theories and organizational identification.

Research Paper • Student • Moeller Student Paper Competition • The New Media Normal: Survey-based study of COVID-19 Effects on Motivations to Consume Non-News Media • Kate Stewart, University of South Carolina • This large-scale, self-administered Qualtrics survey, based on a representative sample from 2020 United States Census Data, study specifically investigates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, in a mediating role, on motivations to consume non-news media by having an impact on social escapism, social presence, and coping mechanisms. The scope of this analysis has relevance as a current on-going global pandemic and could be replicated to study how disasters or other pandemics affect non-news media consumption.

Research Paper • • Open Competition • News in the Time of Corona: Institutional trust, collective narcissism, and the role of individual experiences in perceptions of COVID-19 coverage • Ivy Ashe; Ryan Wallace, The University of Texas at Austin; Ivan Lacasa-Mas, Universitat Internacional de Catalunya; Q. Elyse Huang, The University of Texas at Austin • All public health crises have an element of uncertainty to them; however, even in this context, COVID-19 stands out. Trust heuristics such as institutional trust, and trust in media in particular, become more important for people seeking information. In this study, we use a cross-sectional nationally representative study of the American online population to better understand factors impacting overall perceptions of and trust in COVID-19 news. We focus on a subset of people exhibiting traits of collective narcissism, the emotional investment in an in-group such as the nation-state. We show that for core values like institutional trust and perceptions of news media in general, indices for collective narcissism may prove valuable in understanding relationships between audience perceptions and core ideological beliefs. However, in the case of individual news events where uncertainty may be high, individual components of collective narcissism (i.e. anti-elitism, general conspiracy belief, and xenophobia) remain better perception indicators.”

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • News literacy, conspiratorial thinking, and political orientation in the 2020 U.S. election • Seth Ashley, Boise State University; Stephanie Craft, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign; Adam Maksl, Indiana University Southeast; Melissa Tully, University of Iowa; Emily Vraga, University of Minnesota • The rapid spread of misinformation in the digital age has increased calls for news literacy to help mitigate endorsement of conspiracy theories and other falsehoods. This study conducted in the week before the 2020 U.S. presidential election shows that individuals with higher levels of news literacy were more likely to reject conspiratorial thinking, but also that news literacy is unevenly distributed across the population and matters more for individuals with liberal views than conservative views.

Research Paper • Student • Open Competition • Change is the only constant: Young adults as platform architects and the consequences for news • Kjerstin Thorson, Michigan State University; Ava Francesca Battocchio, Michigan State University • We examine digital platform repertoires for news among young adults. Through the lens of “digital labor,” we explore the work that young adults’ undertake to design and maintain their personal media systems, and the consequences of those practices for news use. Drawing on 30 in-depth interviews with 18-34-year-olds, including a shared reading of participants’ newsfeeds in their top three social media platforms, we develop the theoretical concept of personal platform architecture. Our findings suggest that young adults architect and maintain platform repertoires for sociality, personal interests, and emotional well-being rather than for information—but with substantial consequences for news.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • The interplay of narrative versus statistics messages and misperceptions on COVID-19 vaccine intention • Porismita Borah; Xizhu Xiao; Yan Su • Drawing on exemplification theory, we used a moderated moderated mediation model to test the relationships among message manipulation, perceived expectancies, perceived susceptibility, COVID-19 misperceptions and intention to vaccinate. Findings show that perceived expectancies mediate the relationship between message manipulation and vaccine intention. Findings indicate that among individuals with high misperceptions about COVID-19, statistical messages are more persuasive for individuals with high perceived susceptibility, while narrative messages are more influential for individuals with low perceived susceptibility.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • New Cuban-American narratives about the homeland: Moving away from traditional storylines shared by “hardliners” via Twitter • Maria DeMoya, DePaul University; Vanessa Bravo, Elon University • This study analyzed Twitter conversations about Cuba, posted between June 1, 2017, and July 31, 2020, to discover the main themes that “hardliners” and the “new Cuban diaspora” communicated about in relation to Cuba and its future. This is a relevant and timely topic because, without a Castro as the head of the Cuban government for the first time in over six decades, the international community is getting to know a different image of Cuba. In this context, the Cuban diaspora in Florida has also changed and divided into two contrasting groups: the “hardliners,” who completely oppose the Cuban government and do not want any softening in the U.S.-Cuba relationship; and a newer generation whose members do not support the government on the island but prioritize their support for the Cuban people and are in favor of building new relationships on the island. The younger community approves the travel to the island, supporting their relatives at home through remittances, and potentially ending the U.S. embargo imposed on Cuba since 1960. As the analysis of their Tweets showed, this second group is a “new Cuban diaspora” that is changing the way in which the Cuban diaspora performs its public diplomacy roles in the United States.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Misinformation and News Verification: Why Users Fact Check Suspect Content • Erik Bucy, Texas Tech University; Duncan Prettyman, Colorado Technical University • The rise of misinformation has led to a corresponding call for more investigation into the antecedents of news verification, and for improved understanding about who verifies and why. In this study we conduct a thematic analysis of participants’ open-ended responses (N = 2,938 individual thoughts, volunteered by N = 715 participants) to an online questionnaire to explore the factors that may influence individuals’ decisions to verify or not verify information they have reason to believe might be false when they are given the opportunity to do so. We investigate what themes are associated with information verification broadly, then examine the prevalence of themes when associated with several individual difference variables that previous research suggests may be impactful. Specifically, we examine the association of themes with news knowledge (high vs low), news skepticism (high vs low), and individuals’ motivations for media use (surveillance vs entertainment). Descriptive results show significant differences in the characteristics of searchers compared to non-searchers. In addition, news knowledge is a particularly potent individual difference: individuals with high news knowledge had more thoughts about the need to verify information, concerns about manipulative intent, and were far less entertained by the idea of fake news than those with low news knowledge.

Research Paper • Postdoc • Open Competition • Media Mistrust and the Meta-Frame: Collective Framing of Police Brutality Evidence Reporting on YouTube • Richard Canevez, University of Hawaii at Manoa; Moshe Karabelnik, University of Hawaii at Manoa; Jenifer Sunrise Winter, University of Hawaii at Manoa • Social media impacts the news media’s role in police accountability. This convergence produces collective framings of police violence-related evidence that requires further attention. Using a frame analysis of news outlets and content analysis of comments on YouTube, we identify frames, responses, and the collective framing that results from this converging environment. Our findings suggest a triumvirate of competing frames around police brutality, with mistrust of media complicating the role news media plays in accountability.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Who Conducts Fact Checking and Does It Matter?: Examining the Antecedents and Consequences of Fact-checking Behavior in Hong Kong. • Stella Chia, City University of Hong Kong; Fangcao Lu; Al Gunther • This study utilizes a representative survey to examine multiple ways in which people engage in fact checking in a highly divided Hong Kong. The findings showed that stronger partisans who had greater news consumption were more likely to engage in fact-checking behavior. However, frequent fact-checking behavior enhanced, rather than reduced, their beliefs in pro-attitudinal misinformation. A warning of the backfire effects of fact-checking on exacerbating opinion polarization and social division is issued.

Extended Abstract • Research Fellow • Open Competition • Extended Abstract: Exploring the Information Authentication Acts of Experts, Environmentalists, and the Public in Southeast Asia • Agnes Chuah; Shirley Ho; Edson Tandoc Jr; Peihan Yu • Drawing on the Audiences’ Acts of Authentication framework, this study explores how the public, energy experts, and environmentalists in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore authenticate energy related information in a period of energy-related misinformation. The findings showed that the authentication behaviors across the three countries were consistent with the two-step process proposed by the framework. Individuals would turn to external forms of authentication when they were internally unconvinced of the authentication of the information.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • What Remains? The Relationship between Counterfactual Thinking, Story Outcome, Enjoyment, and Emotion in Narratives • Di Cui • Counterfactual thinking is a psychological concept. It explains the phenomenon that occurs when individuals reflectively imagine different outcomes for events that have already happened. This paper examines the application of counterfactual thinking in the field of media psychology. It examines if readers can generate counterfactual thinking in a fictional context. It also looks at the relationship between counterfactual thinking, enjoyment, and negative emotions. By conducting two experiments, the author finds readers can generate counterfactual thinking toward narrative pieces. Different story outcomes play an essential role in influencing the generation of counterfactuals. These findings indicate that counterfactual thinking can be a critical factor that impacts audiences’ understanding and reimaging stories in the long-term.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Fit Bodies that Inspire? A Qualitative study exploring perceptions of and motivations for interacting with Fitspiration content on social media • Roxanne Vos, Radboud University Nijmegen; Serena Daalmans, Radboud University, Behavioural Science Institute • The purpose of this qualitative study (N = 34 interviews) was to gain insight into the motives that underlie the interaction with Fitspiration content on social media and the personal meaning making processes surrounding this interactions. Based on the data four motives to post ‘fitspirational’ content and eight to follow the trend on social media were constructed. These give insight into the positive and negative ways participants believe Fitspiration affects them and others.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Political news personalization and the third-person effect: Examining support for restrictions on audience data collection • Lisa Farman, Ithaca College • An online survey (N=561) tested perceptions of the personalization of online political news. A third-person effect emerged: respondents believed others would be more affected by personalized political news than themselves. Those who thought others would be more affected by news personalization were also more likely to support restrictions on websites’ use of audience data to personalize news. Narcissism was a significant moderator of the relationship between perceived effect on self and support for regulation.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • The Labeling Experiment: Examining the Differential Effects of Equivalent Labels on Individuals’ Associations toward Immigrants • Juliana Fernandes, University of Florida; Moritz Cleve, University of Florida • Using a mix-methods approach, this study examines the differential effects of equivalent labels (i.e., authorized, documented, legal vs. unauthorized, undocumented, illegal) and the impact of these labels on individuals’ associations toward immigrants. Results of three studies show that those exposed to positive valenced labels produce more favorably associations of immigrants than those exposed to negative valenced labels (Study 1a), that associations tend to be quicker for labels such as illegal and slower for labels such as authorized (Study 1b), and that the interaction of association type (warmth/morality vs. competence) with association valence accounts for more variance in evaluations than labels, especially for negatively valenced associations (Study 2). Overall, the series of studies suggests a stronger influence of associations about warmth and morality compared to associations about an immigrant’s competence.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Pornography Addiction and Social Media: An exploratory study on the impact of social media on the road to porn abstinence. • Débora Martini, University of Colorado Boulder; Harsha Gangadharbatla, University of Colorado Boulder • Pornography addiction is on the rise in our society and excessive use often leads to negative life consequences. Just as other addictions, porn addiction can also be triggered by a number of factors. Of these factors, the role of social media has not been fully studied or understood. The current exploratory study uses a survey method to investigate the role of social media in porn addiction among Brazilian porn addicts. Results suggest that social media content is seen as a trigger by self-identified porn addicts and the factors that influence such perception include age of the addict, gender, and the number of times they have relapsed. And changes in behavior on social media are influenced by individuals’ perceptions of social media as a trigger.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • The Growing Influence of Political Ideology in Shaping Health Behavior in the United States • Mugur Geana, University of Kansas; Nathaniel Rabb, The Policy Lab, Brown University; Steven Sloman, The Policy Lab, Brown University • Political polarization is a growing concern in many parts of the world and is particularly acute in the US. This study reinforces previous research on long-term health consequences driven by partisanship by showing that these ideologically-driven differences manifest even more acutely in situations where the possibility of severe illness or death is immediate, and the potential societal impact is significant. The substantial implications for public health research and practice are both methodological and conceptual.

Research Paper • Student • Open Competition • Public buying behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic: Presumed media influence and the spillover effects of SARS • Tong Jee Goh, Nanyang Technological University; Shirley Ho • Testing for a historical spillover effect, this study examined how the influence of presumed media influence (IPMI) processes differed between people with low and high perceived severity of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), when it comes to predicting Singaporeans’ purchasing intention during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results showed that people’s presumptions of media influence on others predicted their intention to buy more. The study also found a historical spillover effect of pre-existing attitude towards SARS.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Unprecedented Times: How Journalists Coped with the Emotional Impact of Covering the COVID-19 Pandemic • Gretchen Hoak • This study explored the stress of covering the COVID-19 pandemic on journalists in the United States. A survey of 222 journalists revealed covering the story was both stressful and emotionally difficult. Females and those who were younger and less experienced perceived higher levels of stress and felt the story was more emotionally difficult than their counterparts. The repetitive nature of the coverage, interacting with victims, and public backlash for their reporting were among the top stressors. Supervisor support was associated with higher levels of work commitment and lower levels of stress. Nearly 60% of participants indicated they received no stress management or coping resources from their news organizations. Of those that did receive support options, most did not take advantage noting the resources were either not feasible or not helpful. Implications for organizational support and its impact on journalist stress are discussed.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Social Media Use Intensity and Privacy Concerns: The Implications for Social Capital • Iveta Imre, U Mississippi; Jason Cain • This study examines how SNS use intensity, specifically social routine integration and social integration and emotional routine, correlate with social capital, as well as how privacy concerns impact the relationship between SNS use intensity and social capital. Findings support that social capital correlates with both factors on the use intensity scale. Only the accuracy factor was a significant predictor of bridging capital while both accuracy and control, and collection proved significant for bonding capital.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Determination of the Factors Influencing the Third-Person Effects in Health and Environmental Concerns • Jessica Shaw, Louisiana State University; Soojin Kim, Louisiana State University; Yongick Jeong, Louisiana State University • This study examines how three personal factors (issue involvement, behavior change intention, and consumption amount) influences the third-person effect in different public issues of health and environment. By employing two measures of the third-person effect (perceived threat of public issues and perceived likelihood of participating in risky behavior), this study found that the influence of the three personal factors vary across issues and measures. Practical implications and suggestions are also discussed.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Science Podcasters and Centering Fairness in Content Creation • Shaheen Kanthawala, University of Alabama; Shupei Yuan, Northern Illinois University; Tanya Ott-Fulmore • “The podcast industry has steadily grown over the last decade and keeps showing promise for further growth. Science and science-related podcasts are a popular genre of podcasts that seem to play a role in science communication. Fundamentally, information provided through science communication is a resource, and there is often disparity in the allocation of most resources. As creators of content that could not only help, but also possibly add to this disparity, science podcasters need to be aware of their audience when developing podcasts.

Therefore, we use the fairness and justice literature to explore how science podcasters think about their audiences when creating content. We further explore how science podcasters view themselves and the role of their podcasts within the science communication space. To do this, we conducted a survey with 147 of the top science podcasters (identified from Apple Podcasts’ top rankings). Our results indicated podcasters view themselves in a connecting role between scientific information lay audiences. They hold ethical values and are mindful of principles of fairness. These findings indicate that they view themselves in the role of science communicators – a role of vital importance today. Their resources should, therefore, be harness in the future to spread science and scientific information to the general public.”

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Media Consumption, Attitudes, and #BlackLivesMatter on the Ground, Court and Field • Danielle Kilgo, University of Minnesota; Rachel Mourao, Michigan State University; Tania Ganguli, University of Minnesota • This work utilizes a nationally representative survey to explore how news media consumption of mainstream, partisan and sports news organizations and the attitudes held by audiences affect recall, negative attitudes towards protest utility, and support for Black Lives Matter. We include considerations for celebrity advocacy efforts in the NBA and NFL. We found ideological and political barriers to support for BLM, indicating conservatism has a stronger impact on protest attitudes, regardless of the tactics employed.

Research Paper • Student • Open Competition • When does the Past Colonial Memory Plug into Nationalism? Information and Media’s Priming of Anti-Japan Nationalism in South Korea and China • Jisoo Kim, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Gaofei Li, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Xining Liao, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Hernando Rojas • Underlining the importance of the respective context of nationalism, this study focuses on anti-Japan nationalism in South Korea and China, which share a similar history of being colonized by Japan. Anti-Japan nationalism has always been alive but explicitly appears in people’s attitudes and behaviors only at certain times. Our study is centered on how information regarding a painful memory of the colonial past may prime individuals to express stronger anti-Japan attitudes and behaviors. Our results suggest that our prime contextually interacts with different types of media in unique ways: in South Korea, those that use social media more often are primed to express increased anti-Japanese nationalism, while in China it is those that consume more mainstream media. Implications of our findings are discussed.

Research Paper • Student • Open Competition • Politically Contested Beliefs: Why Do Conservatives Tend to Have More Inaccurate Beliefs About COVID-19? • Tom Johnson; Taeyoung Lee; Chenyan Jia, The University of Texas at Austin • A fair amount of research showed that politically conservative people are susceptible to false claims about COVID-19. Based on the belief gap hypothesis, this study examines why conservatives have more false beliefs about COVID-19. A representative survey showed that institutional trust was associated with people’s beliefs around COVID-19. Meanwhile, conservative identity indirectly influenced having false beliefs through institutional trust. Also, support for Trump, education, and the use of conservative media predicted having false beliefs.

Research Paper • Student • Open Competition • The new yellow peril: Priming news context on attitudes towards Asian models, and brands • Lincoln Lu, University of Florida; T. Franklin Waddell, College of Journalism and Communications, University of Florida • Recent increase in incidents of violence towards Asian Americans are indicative of underlying animosity often overlooked in discussions of race. Within a news story advertising context, an online experiment (N = 372) found some evidence that consumer ethnocentrism may moderate perceptions of attractiveness for male Asian models, consumer attitudes towards the ad, brand, and purchase intention. These results provide insight into race-based stereotyping at a time of flux surrounding race in America.

Research Paper • Student • Open Competition • Informational, Infrastructural and Emotional Labor: The Extra Work in a News and Broadband Desert • Nick Mathews, University of Minnesota; Christopher Ali • This study offers a systematic qualitative investigation inside a combined news and broadband desert. Despite popular attention to both news and broadband deserts, most recently and acutely during the coronavirus pandemic, there has been no scholarly research into communities where these two deserts intersect. This article confronts this knowledge gap. Built on 19 in-depth interviews with residents of Surry County, Va., we argue that life in a news and broadband desert requires a substantial amount of labor to obtain the information and connectivity so many Americans take for granted. Our findings demonstrate three areas of increased labor for residents: (1) informational, (2) infrastructural and (3) emotional. We conclude with a discussion of life and labor in this desert, specifically, and how it may apply to similar communities across the United States.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Jessica Jones: Exploring Marvel’s Dark Anti-Hero and the Portrayal of Complex Women Characters • Newly Paul, University of North Texas; Gwendelyn Nisbett, University of North Texas • This project uses social construction of gender theory to explore transmedia narratives of Jessica Jones in the graphic novel Alias, and the Netflix television shows Jessica Jones and The Defenders. Transmedia narratives often ascribe new dimensions to characters and narratives, and we aim to compare and contrast the narratives that emerge in these spaces. Using thematic analysis, we find that Jones breaks the sexist tropes often associated with female superheroes, and exemplifies the qualities of a strong, independent woman.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Why and How People Avoid News during the Coronavirus Pandemic: An Analysis of News Repertoire • Chang Sup Park; Barbara Kaye • This study explored how the coronavirus pandemic as a large-scale news event functioned as a catalyst for news avoidance. In-depth interviews with 50 adults in South Korea in May and June 2020 revealed three reasons reconfiguring their media repertoire to ‘coronablock’ news about the pandemic: to tune out, to control information flow, and to seek positive news. The findings contribute to the understanding of news avoidance during a time of global crisis.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • The media affect them, but not me: Veteran and civilian perceptions of news coverage about U.S. military veterans • Scott Parrott; David L. Albright; Nicholas Eckhart; Kirsten Laha-Walsh • Informed by theory of the third-person effect, the present study examined civilian and veteran perceptions of news content concerning veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces, including the perceived quality and effects of news content. A national survey of adults in the United States, including veterans and civilians, documented the presence of a third-person effect in which individuals estimate that media exposure affects others more so than themselves. The effect occurred among both civilians and veterans. In addition, when asked to recall news stories about veterans, respondents often recalled stereotypical stories related to victimization/harm, heroism, charity/social support, mental illness, and violence. The results are important for veterans because the third-person effect may lead veterans to assume media content affects public perceptions of veterans, which could in turn affect veterans’ perceptions of interactions with civilians in social, employment, educational, and other settings. Put simply, veterans could act differently when they assume others are thinking they are traumatized heroes, the predominant image conveyed by U.S. news outlets.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Swapping Insults, Neglecting Policy: How U.S. Presidential Candidates Communicate About Mental Health • Scott Parrott; Hailey Grace Allen • Background. Candidates for high office in the United States of America play an important role in determining the political agenda and shaping public and mass media understanding of which issues should receive attention. Critics contend politicians rarely address mental health, despite the importance of the federal government in ensuring Americans access to quality care. Aims. Two studies sought to understand how candidates for the highest office in the U.S. — the presidency — communicated about mental health using formal (mental, depress, anxiety) and informal (crazy, insane) terminology in social media posts and debates. Methods. Two coders examined 1,807 tweets from 41 politicians who competed in the 2016 and 2020 races, plus transcripts from 47 debates during the primaries and General Elections. Results. Politicians often stigmatized mental illness, using mental health-related slang terms to insult opponents. They afforded less attention to policy and calls for action related to mental health. Conclusions. The authors offer recommendations for mental health professionals and advocates to encourage politicians to address mental health policy while avoiding stigmatizing language.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • My Pandemic News is Better Than Yours: Audience Perceptions of Early News Coverage About Covid-19 • Mallory Perryman, Virginia Commonwealth • This study focuses on how American audiences perceived news coverage during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic in the United States. Through a survey-experiment of American news consumers (N=767) over a three-day period in mid-March 2020, we show that news consumers had positive attitudes toward their own Covid-19 news sources, but were critical about the news sources others were using to get information about the virus. Our data reveal evidence of presumed media influence, where audiences’ evaluations of pandemic news were linked to their perceptions of how news content was impacting others’ health behaviors.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • When In Doubt, Blame China: A Qualitative Analysis of Conservative Coronavirus Content on Reddit • Jeffrey Riley, Georgia Southern University • This is a qualitative content analysis examining the top content posted to the conservative, /r/The_Donald-affiliated subreddit /r/Wuhan_Flu from February 2020 until August 2020. The expectations of health misinformation and widespread downplaying of the virus were not met. Instead, /r/Wuhan_Flu deviated from Donald Trump’s public statements about the pandemic and tended to be far more alarmist than calming. Instead of health misinformation, the subreddit tended to encourage masks and social distancing. However, the results also indicate that geopolitical issues with China were the primary topic, with 217 posts containing negative language or visual images directed at China. Based on literature about radicalized digital spaces, /r/Wuhan_Flu represents the potential for dangerous real-world consequences, especially considering the increase in hate crimes against Asians and Pacific Islanders in the United States since the beginning of the pandemic.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Identity for Sale: Authenticity, Commodification, and Agency in YouTube Influencers • Aysha Vear, University of Maine; Judith Rosenbaum, University of Maine • Focusing on YouTube influencers, this study extends structuration theory into the realm of social media. Interviews, observations, and content analysis were used to explore the relationship between agency, commodification, and authenticity in influencers’ performances. Results show a need to reconceptualize structures as emergent and embodied; that authenticity and agency are inexorably linked and constrained by the commodification inherent in influencers’ performances; and that influencers face a hierarchy of choices that enable and constrain their agency.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Influencing the agenda: The role of conservative figures in melding media agendas for social media communities • Burton Speakman, Kennesaw State University; Marcus Funk • Historically, mainstream news media held significant agenda setting authority. As news and social media evolve, individual actors and digital communities have to meld and filter diverse media agendas into one curated, personal space for their followers. This article examines attempts at far right agendamelding by fringe and conspiracy-affiliated Reps. Lauren Boebert and Majorie Taylor Greene during and after their respective runs for Congress. Results suggest far right politicians can meld agendas from friendly media and their own campaigns, while rejecting mainstream agendas, to influence their Twitter community.

Research Paper • Student • Open Competition • “Infodemic” amid the pandemic: Social media news use, homogeneous discussions, self-perceived media literacy, and misperceptions • Yan Su; Porismita Borah; Xizhu Xiao • Heeding the call to address the “infodemic” in the COVID-19 crisis, this research investigates the associations among social media news use, homogeneous online discussion, self-perceived media literacy, and misinformation perceptions about the COVID-19. We use an online survey and a moderated mediation model. Results show that social media news use is positively associated with misinformation perceptions. Moreover, homogeneous online discussion was a significant mediator, such that social media news use is positively associated with homogeneous discussion, and the latter, in turn, is associated with increased misinformation perceptions. Further, self-perceived media literacy is a significant moderator for both the main and the indirect effects, such that the associations became weaker among those with higher self-perceived media literacy. Findings provide insights into the significance of information sources, discussion network heterogeneity, and media literacy education.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Attention Convergence and Narrative Coalescence: The Impact of the US Presidential Election on the Generational Gap in Online News Use • Chris Chao Su, Boston University • This study revisits the contentious role of the 2016 US presidential election in shaping news and disinformation use by contrasting usage networks of millennials and boomers, two groups with disparate preferences. Theoretically, through bringing the literature on selective exposure thesis into media events, this study advances an analytical framework to approach increased divergence and intensified polarization in the election through a sociological perspective. Empirically, this study compares the generational gap in online news usage in a typical month (Apirl-2015) and the month just before Elections (October-2016), by conducting relational analyses of shared usage for each cohort comprising all major news outlets. The analyses reveal that during the election boomers moved toward a collection of digital-native outlets that produce and disseminate political disinformation – the fake fringe – as well as more toward conservative partisan side of the news landscape. Investigating audience convergence during Donald Trump’s election, this study demonstrates that although the public tends to converge their attention in the event, the systematic divergence in consuming various narratives of the event forcefully steers to audience divergence compared to uneventful periods.

Research Paper • Student • Open Competition • Getting Inspired by Fitspiration Posts: Effects of Picture Type, Numbers of Likes and Inspiration Emotions on Workout Intentions • Yuan Sun; Nicholas Eng, Penn State University; Jessica Myrick, Penn State University • The study investigated the potential positive effects of fitspiration posts for inspiring physical exercises through a 2 (Numbers of likes: High vs. Low) x 2 (Picture type: Body transformation vs. After-only) between-subject experiment. Numbers of likes cued subjective norm, while body transformation posts elicited inspirational emotion, which mediated the effects of picture type on workout intention. Picture type and numbers of likes jointly affected descriptive norm and inspiration emotion, which led to workout intention.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Avoiding real news, believing in fake news? Investigating pathways from fake news exposure to misbelief • Edson Tandoc Jr; Hye Kyung Kim, Nanyang Technological U • This study sought to examine the potential role of news avoidance in the link between exposure to and belief in misinformation. Using two-wave panel survey data in Singapore, we found that exposure to misinformation contributes to information overload, which is subsequently associated with news fatigue as well as with difficulty in analyzing information. News fatigue and analysis paralysis also subsequently led to news avoidance, which made individuals more likely to believe in misinformation.

Extended Abstract • Student • Open Competition • Effective Health Risk Communications: Lessons Learned about COVID-19 Pandemic through the Lens of Practitioners • Taylor Voges, UGA; LaShonda Eaddy, Southern Methodist University; Shelley Spector, Museum of Public Relations; Yan Jin, University of Georgia • The study utilizes semi-structured interviews of health risk communication practitioners in the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic. The contingency theory of strategic conflict management is the guide to understanding the challenges and nuances. Insights gained from interviewing practitioners (projected, n=40) from different sectors with diverse professional backgrounds will help advance the contingency theory’s application in understanding the dynamics observed in times of health risks and crises threatening societal wellbeing.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Fake News in the Family: How Family Communication Patterns and Conflict History Affect the Intent to Correct Misinformation among Family Members • T. Franklin Waddell, College of Journalism and Communications, University of Florida; Chelsea Moss • Do family communication patterns or family conflict history affect the intention to correct fake news shared by family members? A pre-registered online survey (N = 595) was conducted to answer this question. Results revealed that conversation orientation and conformity orientation positively predicted the intention to correct family members, while family history was negatively related with corrective action intention. Presumed influence, by comparison, was not significantly related to corrective action. Theoretical implications are discussed.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • How do NPOs effectively engage with publics on social media? Examining the effects of interactivity and emotion on Twitter • Chuqing Dong, Michigan State University; Yuan (Daniel) Cheng, University of Minnesota – Twin Cities • “Nonprofit organizations (NPOs) are increasingly using social media to engage with publics. However, communication factors associated with effective social media use remain unclear in the nonprofit literature. Drawing from literature on public engagement, interactivity, and emotions, this study employs a computational approach to examine the effects of communication strategies on NPOs’ public engagement on Twitter (i.e., likes and retweets). By analyzing functional interactivity, contingency interactivity, and emotion elements of tweets from the 100 largest U.S. NPOs (n= 301,559), this study finds negative effects of functional interactivity on likes, negative effects of contingency interactivity on likes and retweets, but a positive effect of functional interactivity on retweets. The findings also show negative effects of emotion valence on likes and retweets but positive effects of emotion strength on likes and retweets. Using NPO type as a moderator suggests that there are varying effects of interactivity and emotion on public engagement for service-oriented and other types of NPOs. Practical implications regarding strategic social media use in the nonprofit sector are discussed.

Research Paper • Student • Open Competition • Do All Types of Warning Labels Work on Flagging Misinformation? The Effects of Warning Labels on Share Intention of COVID-19 Vaccine Misinformation • Alexander Moe, SUNY Brockport • Using a survey experiment (N = 403), this study tested the effectiveness of Twitter warning labels flagging misinformation pertaining to COVID-19 vaccines. Results showed that all types of warning labels decreased perceived credibility and share intention compared to no label condition. Moderated mediation analysis showed that vaccine hesitancy moderated the relationship between exposure to warning labels and perceived credibility while perceived credibility served as a mediator on the effects of warning labels on share intention.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Linguistic Attribution Framing: A Linguistic Category Approach to Framing Crisis • Xiaochen Zhang, University of Oklahoma; Jonathan Borden • Based on Attribution Theory, this study proposes a linguistic category approach to framing. A 2 (language: concrete/abstract) x 3 (social identity: out-group/in-group/control) experiment in a political crisis context was used to understand linguistic framing’s effects on attribution. Main effects a) of abstract (vs. concrete) language and b) of out-group (vs. in-group) on higher attribution, future crisis occurrence and unethical perceptions of the politician were found. Implications for framing research are discussed.

Research Paper • Student • Student Competition • The Effects of Nudges on Social Media Users in the Context of COVID-19 Fake News • Wen Xuan Hor, Nanyang Technological University; Rui Yan Leo, Nanyang Technological University; Xin Jie Tan, Nanyang Technological University; Agnes Yeong Shuan Chai, Nanyang Technological University • This study examines the applicability of nudging on reducing sharing of fake news. Using a 2 (Nudge Frame – Gain vs. Loss) x 2 (Nudge Frequency – Single vs. Repeated) between-subject experiment (n = 238), results showed gain-frame nudge will lower the likelihood of sharing and confidence of news. We also examined individual-level traits, need for cognition and reactance, but found no evidence to support moderation. Theoretical and practical implications for nudging theory were discussed.

Extended Abstract • Student • Student Competition • Media Parenting Styles: A Typology of Parental Guidance of Electronic Media Use • Sarah Fisher, University of Florida • Parental guidance for children’s electronic media use varies greatly. From parents who carefully limit the content set before their children’s eyes, to parents who allow freedom for their children to explore on electronic devices. This typology provides a useful definition of a range of parental oversight styles of their children’s use of electronic media. The typology categories emerged from in-depth interviews (N=20) with parents regarding their oversight of their children’s use of electronic media.

Research Paper • Student • Student Competition • Porn and Consent: The relationship between college students’ pornography consumption, perception of realism, and sexual consent intentions • Niki Fritz • Despite sexual assault prevention education (SAPE) on college campuses, sexual assault remains a persistent issue on campuses. Student may be learning non-consensual sexual activity scripts from other sources, such as pornography. Additionally, perceived pornography realism may mediate the relationship between pornography consumption and non-consensual behavioral intentions. This national survey of 500 undergraduate students suggests pornography consumption has a strong positive relationship with non-consensual behavioral intentions and perceived pornography realism was found to mediate the relationship.

Research Paper • Student • Student Competition • From “OK Boomer” to “Boomer Remover”: A Critical Examination of Ageist Memes by Meme Factories • Si Yu Lee, Nanyang Technological University Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information (WKWSCI); Jasmon Wan Ting Hoh, National University of Singapore • Memes and meme factories are increasingly the new fronts for ageism online. Guided by the tripartite model of ageism and third and fourth age concepts, this study employed multimodal discourse analysis to analyze 98 memes from five meme factories in Singapore. An ageist portrayal of older adults in memes was found and tropes like fetishization and denigration of the old were identified. The intersectionality of ageism with gender, race, and class was also emphasized.

Research Paper • Student • Student Competition • Predictors of IS Professionals’ Information Security Protective Behaviors in Chinese IT Organizations: The Application of the Organizational Antecedents, Theory of Planned Behavior and Protection Motivation Theory Abstract • Xiaofen Ma, National University of Singapore • “Securing organizational information systems (IS) as pivotal information assets is central to achieving a strategic advantage; this is an organization-wide concern. Recognition by practitioners and researchers of the positive impact of inside work-driven protective behaviors on IS security at the organizational level has led to the establishment of a research stream focused on IS experts’ performance of protective behaviors. To contribute to the research stream, this study employs two theories: protection motivation theory (PMT) and the theory of planned behavior (TPB), and a set of work-related organizational antecedents: organizational commitment and job satisfaction, often cited in information security literature. Therefore, given the varied facets central to work-motivated information security resources, determining the relationships of each distinct PMT, TPB, and organizational aspect with IS experts’ protective behaviors is a significant contribution. Using a survey of 804 representative IS professionals in the Chinese information technology (IT) industry, we find support for several associations: (a) information security attitude and subjective norms as constituents of TPB significantly influenced the information security protective behaviors performed by IS experts; (b) the coping appraisals (self-efficacy and response cost) and threat appraisals (threat susceptibility and threat severity) of PMT were significantly predictive of IS experts’ protective behaviors toward information security; and (c) organizational factors involving organizational commitment positively impacted the protective behaviors. However, job satisfaction, and perceived behavioral control as a construct of the TPB were not associated with information security behaviors. Contributions to theory and implications for practice are discussed.

Research Paper • Student • Student Competition • The Mediated Classroom: A Grounded Theory Analysis of Live Streaming Media Affordance and Teaching Context Remodeling from The Perspective of Actor-Network-Theory • Yefu Qian, School of Media and Communication, Shanghai Jiao Tong University; Chen Li; Ruimin He • The massive and popular application of emerging media technology (such as live streaming, virtual meeting-Zoom & Google Meet) in releasing the tensions of suspended classes during the global pandemic (COVID-19) provides an entry point to visualize the role of mediatization in shaping the traditional human social practice. As the online form of teaching penetrates in college education, it is of practical significance to comprehend the mediated teaching contexts and visualize the optimization of online teaching by exploring the affordance of live streaming media which serving as an “actor” in social networks. In this paper, we apply a qualitative analysis according to the grounded theory, based on detailed interviews with 45 college students in Shanghai, to elaborate on the affordance of live streaming in shaping the online teaching in Actor-Network-Theory. Besides, we target to explore the transformation of the teaching context between media technology and social practice so that we can offer insights for the ongoing or future researches of mediatization.

Extended Abstract • Student • Student Competition • Learning by doing: The potential effect of interactivity on health literacy • Natasha Strydhorst; Sava Kolev; Philippe Chauveau, Texas Tech University; Eric Milman, Texas Tech University • This experimental study investigates the relationship between message interactivity and message comprehension, absorption, and self-reported elaboration of health information as contributors to increased health literacy about COVID-19 and the opioid epidemic. A representative population will be exposed to a stimulus of factsheets, followed by tests measuring perceived comprehension, absorption, elaboration, message processing bias, and political ideology and interest. The authors anticipate a positive correlation between interactivity level and comprehension, absorption, and elaboration scores of participants.

Research Paper • Student • Student Competition • Cancel Culture and Its Underlying Motivations in Singapore • Beverly Tan, Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University; Gabrielle Lee, Nanyang Technological University; Rachel Angeline Chua, Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University; Charlyn Ng, Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University • This mixed-methods study explores Singaporeans’ understanding of cancel culture and motivators of participation. Interviews defined cancel culture as public shaming on a social media platform, carried out or supported by a group of people, which aims to hold people accountable for socially unacceptable behaviour. Our survey found attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control, outcome expectancy, and general Belief in a Just World as significant predictors behaviour through intention, contextualising cancel culture in Singapore’s context.

Research Paper • Student • Student Competition • A content analysis of alcohol posts from adolescents, brands, influencers, and celebrities in Facebook and Instagram’s persistent and ephemeral messages • Sofie Vranken, School for Mass Communication Research, KU Leuven; Sebastian Kurten, Leuven School for Mass Communication Research • “This content analysis examines how peers, celebrities, influencers and brands refer to  alcohol in Facebook and Instagram’s persistent and ephemeral messages. The results show  that: (1) all agents frequently portray alcohol posts, (2) adolescents are the sole agent to  refer to moderate and extreme forms of alcohol use as opposed to celebrities, influencers  and brands whom solely display moderate alcohol posts and (3) some agents  (celebrities/influencers) may have a commercial motive to share alcohol posts.”

Extended Abstract • Student • Student Competition • Extended Abstract: In AI we trust: The interplay of media attention, trust, and partisanship in shaping emerging attitudes toward artificial intelligence • Shiyu Yang; Nicole Krause; Luye Bao, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Mikhaila Calice, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Todd Newman; Michael Xenos; Dietram A. Scheufele, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Dominique Brossard • Artificial intelligence (AI) has changed the way scientists make genetic edits; it has infiltrated our daily lives through the internet of things; and it is being used by law enforcement agencies to fight crime. Many of the societal questions raised in its wake cannot be answered by science. Who or what will govern this technology? How do we prevent inevitable biases in how the technology is developed and applied? In this extended abstract, we report analysis of nationally representative public opinion data and examine what factors, including attention to mass and social media, shape U.S. publics’ trust in various institutions regulating AI development, as well as how trust and political ideology interact to shape public support for AI technology.

Research Paper • Student • Student Competition • Women on-screen: Exploring the relationship between consumption of female talent shows and sexism, internalization of beauty ideals, and self-objectification in China • Yi Yang, The Chinese University of Hong Kong; Yunyi Hu, The Chinese University of Hong Kong • Will consumption of female talent shows influence Chinese women’s self-body relationship? With the framework of objectification theory, this study provides empirical evidence to this question. Using data collected from a sample of 584 females in China, this study found that female talent shows consumption indirectly promoted body-surveillance through the mediation effects of benevolent sexism, internalization of beauty ideals, and self-objectification. Implications of the findings for the reflection on female talent shows in China are discussed.

2022 Abstracts

International Communication Division

2022 Abstracts

Research Paper • Student • James W. Markham Student Paper Competition • The Concept of “New Media” among Jordanian News Producers • Shlash Alzyoud, Student • Journalists and directors of major media have documented doubts about blogging and social media. Difficult questions must be asked to know how new technologies are affecting journalism, along with what is actually achieved for the news organization in the presence of these technologies. The purpose of the this study is to understand and explain how Jordanian news-story producers perceive social media networks as related to making news and the extent to which they rely on these networks in producing news, in addition to knowing their opinions of the pros and cons of these networks. The study uses the qualitative approach by conducting personal interviews with the study sample.

Research Paper • Student • James W. Markham Student Paper Competition • Responsibility Framing of Health Issues in Ghanaian Newspapers: A Comparative Study of Ebola and Cholera • Augustine Botwe, University of Colorado Boulder; Selorm Adogla • The media in Ghana can play a significant role in shaping narratives associated with public health problems, especially endemic health challenges. The results of a bivariate analysis of the contents of two most widely circulated Ghanaian newspapers show that experts, who dominate media conversations about public health issues, discriminate in their apportioning of responsibility. While they called on the government to tackle Ebola, they shamed individuals for the outbreak of cholera. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Extended Abstract • Student • James W. Markham Student Paper Competition • The Geopolitics Game: A Comparatively Frame Analysis between the US and Chinese Coverage of “The TikTok Divestiture Event” in the Perspective of Media Diplomacy • Chen Chen • TikTok was considered to be banned by American government after July 2020, this commercial dispute was “politicized”. This study compared the news coverage of “The TikTok Divestiture Event” by two comparable mainstream media groups in China and the US. By employing multi-layer frame analysis of two News Frames, this study aimed at uncovering how and why the dispute was constructed in the Media Diplomacy of the two states under the geopolitics game vision.

Research Paper • Student • James W. Markham Student Paper Competition • Conspiracy about COVID-19 Pandemic in Contemporary China: What is the Authority’s Role on Weibo • Calvin Cheng, the Chinese University of Hong Kong; Wanjiang Zhang; Qiyue ZHANG • By illustrating how Chinese authorities narrate and spread conspiracy theories (CTs) on Weibo, this study argues that authority-led CTs are strategic rhetoric in political discourse in authoritarian systems. We found authority-led CTs are significantly different from individual-led CTs in terms of topics, narratives, and diffusion patterns. Particularly Chinese authorities applied denial, rivalrous and connotative rhetoric on controversial topics to signify conspiratorial claims, contributing to the widespread of misleading CTs from vast individuals on social media.

Research Paper • Student • James W. Markham Student Paper Competition • News use, partisanship and political attitudes in Africa: A cross-national analysis of four African societies using the communication mediation approach • Abdul Wahab Gibrilu, The Chinese University of Hong Kong • Drawing from Afrobarometer survey respondents in four African democracies (N=5997), we explored news uses effects on citizens’ political attitudes and how such relationships are affected by partisanship. Findings showed that only online news uses predicted all levels of citizens’ political attitudes across the samples whilst mediation results further affirmed different pathways to political attitudes through political discussion. Partisan differences exhibited consistent indirect effects for ruling and no party support across large portion of the sample.

Research Paper • Student • James W. Markham Student Paper Competition • How twitter becomes the battlefield for China’s public diplomacy? • Jing GUO, Chinese Univeristy of Hong Kong • I applied grounded theory in social media research to explore how twitter became the battlefield for China’s public diplomacy campaign. By manual coding and simultaneous analysis on Chinese current foreign spokesperson Zhao Lijian’s Twitter postings and comments he received in three stages, I conceptualized China’s recent diplomatic move on twitter as ‘war of words’ model with features like ‘leadership’, ‘polarization’ and ‘aggressiveness’, while the effects in global community including ‘resistance’, ‘hatred’, and ‘sarcasm’.

Research Paper • Student • James W. Markham Student Paper Competition • Examining the media coverage of early COVID19 responses in the online version of Bangladeshi newspapers. • Sima Bhowmik • This study analyzes Bangladeshi news coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic to examine attention cycle patterns, cited sources, and news frames. A quantitative content analysis was conducted on 729 articles from three newspapers (The Daily Star, The Daily Sun, and The Daily Prothom-Alo) published from March 1 to May 30, 2020. It was found that attention cycle patterns, news frames, and sources varied across the three newspapers. The study shows that these three newspapers gave more attention after the pandemic announcement. This study revealed that these three-newspapers emphasized mostly on attribution on government responsibility and reassurance frame. Regarding the news sources, these three newspapers equally used more sources from government. Apart from govt. sources The Daily Star and The Daily Sun also used international experts’ comments, while The Daily Prothom-Alo frequently used Bangladeshi health experts’ comments. This study will be helpful for researchers to understand third world country’s pandemic coverage.

Research Paper • Student • James W. Markham Student Paper Competition • Print as Digital Gateway: Hong Kong’s Yellow Economy and Bimodal Communications • milan ismangil • Print is not dead. Machine readable communications and smartphones as the means to read them has given print new wings. Print is rearticulated as bimodal communication, standing between the physical and the digital realm. By analysing the yellow economic circle in Hong Kong, a pro democracy protest, this article argues that the new possibilities of paper as digital gateway to the digital has made it a vital part of the protest movement.

Research Paper • Student • James W. Markham Student Paper Competition • What does the Korean Embassy’s Facebook page show us? • Solyee Kim, University of Georgia • This study explores the discourse on the Facebook page of the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in the United States and how the Embassy constructs its roles and the US-ROK relationship. The study analyzes the posts that were published on the Embassy’s Facebook page between October 25, 2019 and October 25, 2020 and discusses how its findings help constructing the ideologies of the Embassy and dynamics of the US-ROK relations.

Extended Abstract • Student • James W. Markham Student Paper Competition • Extended Abstract: [It’s a small world after all] • Wei-ping Li, College of Journalism • During the Covid-19 pandemic, people in different countries have shared not only the fear of the virus but also false information. Based on international information flow theory and by examing Covid-19 false information in the Chinese language, this research studies the characters of the similar or identical false information that circulates in various countries. The research finds that cultural and geographical proximity are important factors in deciding where the information traverses.

Extended Abstract • Student • James W. Markham Student Paper Competition • The Charm of Culture: An Empirical Research on Intangible Cultural Heritage Short Videos • Qiaozhi Liang; Yifei Li; Ke XUE • With the prosperity of Internet techniques in digital age, culture-related short videos have sprung up to attract overseas audience to adopt information of exotic culture. The study is an empirical research to investigate the factors affecting the viewers’ adoption towards the intangible cultural heritage short video and thus influencing their cultural identity. The Information Adoption Model (IAM) was extended and verified to adapt to the context of culture dissemination by adding the moderating variables of visual aesthetics and personal involvement. Questionnaire was conducted online comprised of the short videos’ clips and psychological scales. In conclusion, 471 people took part in the survey and 433 were validated. With the regression results, we found the establishment of the positive effects of source credibility and information quality on information adoption, the dual-moderating effect of involvement, and the negative moderating effect of visual aesthetics to the relationship between source credibility and information adoption. The study provides insights into guidance for making attractive short videos and innovative strategies to spread culture efficiently.

Extended Abstract • Student • James W. Markham Student Paper Competition • Extended Abstract: Framing Terrorism in a Global Media Conduit: Comparing Muslim-Majority and Muslim-Minority Countries • V Michelle Michael; Satrajit Ghosh Chowdhury • This study compared the news coverage of three terrorist attacks in Britain in the summer of 2017. As terrorism and Islam are often erroneously correlated in news coverage, 510 articles from three Muslim-majority and three Muslim-minority countries were analyzed for any differences based on national religious identity. Our study showed that the three Muslim-minority countries used more terrorism frames for Muslim perpetrators than a White perpetrator compared to the three Muslim-majority countries.

Extended Abstract • Student • James W. Markham Student Paper Competition • #desi: Self-Representation on TikTok among the South Asian Diasporic Youth in the U.S. • Nabila Mushtarin, University of South Alabama • With 2 billion downloads and 69% users under the age of 24 across 150 countries, TikTok has become a popular social media platform preferred by the youth for sharing unique interactive contents. The virtual space offered by TikTok motivates its users to participate in short performative videos reflecting socio-cultural practices. This paper explores the use of TikTok by the South Asian Diasporic youth and analyzes its role in offering a virtual space for self-representation of the group.

Research Paper • Student • James W. Markham Student Paper Competition • Journalistic role perceptions and barriers to role fulfilment in post-communist Bulgaria: A preliminary assessment • Mladen Petkov • This preliminary study explores role perception among journalists in Bulgaria, who work in a media landscape where political pressure and dissemination of false information create barriers to role fulfillment. The findings reported in this paper summarize semi-structured interviews with established Bulgarian journalists who discuss their work and reflect on professional values in an era of incomplete political transition and abundant disinformation. The findings make a contribution to scholarly studies about post-communist media systems.

Research Paper • Student • James W. Markham Student Paper Competition • Media coverage of trade war between China and United States by Russian media outlets • Viktor Tuzov, City University of Hong Kong • During the recent years the trade war between China and United States became one of the most important crisis not only in the global economic relations, but also in the international political agenda. The current research is focused on Russian media coverage of trade war between China and United States based on the content analysis and implication of structural differences existing in the current Russian media system into war and peace journalism paradigm.

Extended Abstract • Student • James W. Markham Student Paper Competition • In “Other” news: A media framing analysis of COVID-19 emergence in Croatia • Gea Ujčić • By qualitatively analyzing Croatian coverage of COVID-19 outbreaks in China and Croatia, this paper explored framing and the construction of “Otherness” in three Croatian digital news outlets. Findings indicate stereotyping, dehumanization and Orientalism were present in framing China as a threat, while with the domestic outbreak, empathy, resilience, and personalization prevailed. This paper contributes to the existing literature by exploring Croatian coverage of the pandemic and adding to the research of portrayals of pestilences worldwide.

Research Paper • Student • James W. Markham Student Paper Competition • What’s in a name? Imagined Territories and Sea Names in the South China Sea Conflict • Lupita Wijaya, Monash University • This study compares three disputants in the South China Sea conflict, namely Vietnam, Philippines and Indonesia (2013-2018). This study marks the preferred names as a turning point of maritime territorial imagination, transitioning names from merely geographical references to names bearing territorial and geopolitical implications, exemplified by Philippines’ West Philippine Sea, Vietnam’s East Sea, and Indonesia’s (North) Natuna Sea. Geographic name is not simply a geographic reference of passages anymore but invokes an imagination of boundary and identity. The process of turning the SCS into a conflict has been signified by the practice of name change and this process is imbued with collective memories from past conflict experiences. Content analysis and exploratory topic model show three disputants revolve around contested names in their associated topics and frames.

Extended Abstract • Student • James W. Markham Student Paper Competition • Extended Abstract: [Imagining Behind the Wall: Representation of Israel on Chinese Online Video Platform Bilibili] • Xin XIN • Taking Israel on Chinese online video platform Bilibili as a case, this research adopts qualitative content analysis to investigate how people shape the imagination of distant others through digital media representations. Drawing Orgad’s (2012) global imagination, the researcher discusses three findings including parochial stranger-relationality, otherness in censored digital platform, and self-representation as alternative. Revisiting the work of representation help reveal new challenges and potentials for change in the symbolic production of others.

Extended Abstract • Student • James W. Markham Student Paper Competition • Advocating International Cooperation and Confirming International Status: Metaphors Used by WHO in COVID-19 Briefing Speeches • Jiahui Dai, Communication University of China; Yangyue Xiong, Communication University of China • In COVID-19 epidemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) conducts international communication through three forms: regular media briefings, delegation briefings and attendance of the Director General at other meetings. In this study, a total of 50 speeches from 22 January 2020 to 9 April 2020 of Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of the WHO were selected for critical metaphor analysis. It is found that team metaphor, war metaphor, moral metaphor, journey metaphor and fire metaphor run through the metaphor use of WHO. WHO constructs the response to the COVID-19 epidemic as team work, war, moral responsibility or journey, and the COVID-19 epidemic as fire. In the in-depth analysis of its metaphorical interpretation and explanation, it can be found that WHO has expanded the connotation of these five types of metaphors through different metaphorical carriers, but its metaphorical intention is consistent in two aspects, namely, advocating international cooperation and confirming international status.

Research Paper • doctoral candidate • James W. Markham Student Paper Competition • Key Players in International Opinions on the U.S.-China Trade War • Weiwen Yu, Arizona State University • “Based on relevant theories and using the methods of thematic analysis and social network analysis, this study analyzes the roles of relevant countries and classes in international opinions on the U.S.-China trade war through measuring and comparing the sources and attitudes of related opinions in the mainstream press of some countries. The findings show that the United States and China are the main sources of relevant international opinion in other countries, while the traditional powers Britain and Russia had more opinions mentioned than Vietnam and Iran—even though the latter ones were more affected by the trade war. Meanwhile, elites and decision makers are the main sources of relevant opinions in the United States and China respectively, but there are also some substantial differences between these two countries. The national interests clearly dominated the attitudes of other countries toward the United States and China. At the domestic level, the U.S. government seems to unusually gain the agreement of various classes, while Chinese government is questioned by certain classes in China. All of these could strengthen the U.S. claims and weakened China’s voice in the international opinion. Furthermore, the opinions of relevant international organizations did not gain the attention they deserve from various countries, American and Chinese public opinions also were not expressed adequately in the press dominated by their elites and decision-makers. Their real roles in the international opinion still need to be further investigated.

Key words: The U.S.-China trade war, international opinion, key players”

Research Paper • Faculty • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • Perception and deception: Examining third- and first-person perceptual gaps about deepfakes in US and Singapore • Saifuddin Ahmed • This study is one of the first attempts in understanding public perceptions of deepfakes. Findings from three studies across US and Singapore support third-person perception (TPP about influence) and first-person perception (FPP about recognizing) about deepfakes. A detection test suggests that the TPP and FPP are not predictive of real ability to distinguish deepfakes. Moreover, the perceptual gaps are more intensified among those with higher cognitive ability. The findings contribute to the growing disinformation literature.

Research Paper • Faculty • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • The Influence of Personality on Motivations: Comparing Uses and Gratifications of Social Media Users in the US and Kuwait • Deb Aikat, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Mariam Alkazemi; Faten Alamri,, Princess, Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, Saudi Arabia; Cathy Zimmer, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • “Social media platforms dominate popular communication. However, few studies have examined how the media ecosystem impacts Kuwaiti students’ use of social media, and even fewer have matched it with students in the United States in a comparative context. Based on the uses and gratification approach, this study to compares students from the United States and Kuwait to understand social media use across cultures. This study offers insight to use of social media by students in these two cultural contexts.

This study examines how personality may impact their motivations. This study offers insight to use of social media by students in US and Kuwait contexts, and examines how personality may impact their motivations.”

Research Paper • Student • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • What is ethical in entrepreneurial journalism? • Fitria Andayani, University of Missouri • In-depth and semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with Indonesian entrepreneurial journalists to understand their perception of the ethical dilemma due to their double role as journalists and entrepreneurs and how they implement journalism boundaries. The findings informed by the boundary work theory suggested the ethical dilemma is inevitable in varying degrees and contexts. Simultaneously, how entrepreneurial journalists deal with normative issues and implement journalism boundaries depends on their business objectives, journalistic experience, and perceived identity.

Research Paper • Faculty • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • American Stereotypes of Chinese: Traits, Values and Media Use • John Beatty, La Salle University • “This national study examines Americans’ perceptions of Chinese character traits and related cultural values, in addition to media use, communication and demographic items. Recent coverage of China in The New York Times was examined.

Respondents perceived Chinese as “career types,” as overly religious and prudish, and generally as “good people.” Correlations with media use, communication patterns and demographics were weak, although there is a relationship between media use and a perception that Chinese are antisocial.”

Extended Abstract • Faculty • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • Tunisian and U.S. Journalism Students: A Comparison of Journalism Degree Motivations and Role Conceptions • Brian J. Bowe, American Univ. in Cairo / Western Washington Univ.; Robin Blom, Ball State University; Carolyn Nielsen, Western Washington University; Arwa Kooli, l’Institut de Presse et des Sciences de l’Information • This study assesses journalism student motivations and role conceptions among Tunisian and U.S. students to compare aspiring journalists in a country with well-established free-press norms to those in a transitional democracy with a recent history of authoritarianism. Preliminary results suggest that Tunisian journalism students are more interested than U.S. journalism students in covering public affairs and using their work to fight social injustice. A Tunisian drive toward public-service journalism is consistent with these activist inclinations.

Research Paper • Faculty • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • The politics of contextualization in communication research: Examining the discursive strategies of non-US research in JCR journals from 2000 to 2020 • Michael Chan, Chinese University of Hong Kong; Jingjing Yi, School of Journalism and Communication, Chinese University of Hong Kong; Panfeng Hu, The Chinese University of Hong Kong; Dmitry Kuznetsov, Chinese University of Hong Kong • Non-US authors are often held to a different standard to US authors when contextualizing the findings and contributions of their research. We examined the discursive strategies they used in 605 articles across eight JCR-listed communication journals from 2000 to 2020. The findings showed a substantive amount of contextualization in relation to US concerns and literature; and demonstrated the ideological hegemony and omnipresence of the US-dominated academic culture that permeates the academic writing of non-US authors.

Research Paper • Faculty • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • Indian Journalists’ Perceptions About Social Media’s Usefulness, Trustworthiness and Value As a Breaking News Platform • Dhiman Chattopadhyay, Shippensburg University • This study examines Indian journalists’ perceptions about (a) social media’s usefulness and (b) trustworthiness, as well as (c) why they believe their colleagues choose social media as a breaking news platform. Results from an online survey of 274 multi-platform journalists across 14 cities, indicated a dichotomy – journalists rated social media as extremely useful, yet not-so-trustworthy professional tool. Further, breaking from hierarchies of influences that have traditionally shaped mainstream media’s gatekeeping decisions, journalists reported that more than professional routines, or organizational diktats, ‘usefulness’ of the platform was the primary reason journalists shared breaking news on social media. Other perceived influences on gatekeeping decisions, included a need for higher page views, and inter-media competition to showcase trending news first. Results indicate emerging challenges for journalism practice in one of the largest non-Western media markets, and offer insights into newer ‘hierarchy of influences’ affecting gatekeeping decisions.

Extended Abstract • Faculty • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • How Does Ethical Ideology Affect Behavioral Intention to Wear a Mask in Pandemic? • Surin Chung, Ohio University; Eunjin Kim, University of Southern California; Suman Lee, UNC-Chapel Hill; Euirang Lee, Ohio University • The present study examined how ethical ideologies (i.e., relativism, and idealism) moderated the relationship between two variables (i.e., attitude, and subjective norm) and behavioral intention to wear a mask during the COVID-19 pandemic. A cross-national survey was conducted in the U.S. and South Korea. The study found that relativism weakens the relationship between the two variables and behavioral intention in the U.S. whereas idealism weakens the relationship between the two variables and behavioral intention in South Korea.

Research Paper • Student • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • Riot on the Hill: International Coverage of a U.S. Insurrection Attempt • Dinfin Mulupi, University of Maryland, College Park; Keegan Clements-Housser, University of Maryland, College Park; Jodi Friedman, University of Maryland, Philip Merrill School of Journalism; Nataliya Rostova; Gea Ujčić; Matt Wilson, University of Maryland; Frankie Ho Chun Wong; Linda Steiner, University of Maryland • A thematic analysis of strategic narratives was employed on media texts from 20 different locales on five continents to determine how the January 6 insurrection was covered in places accustomed to being reprimanded by the United States about governance and human rights. Four overarching themes emerged: reputation of the U.S., depictions of the event, underlying causes of the event, and the political implications of the event marked the worldwide coverage.

Extended Abstract • Member • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • Extended Abstract: Fighting the Infodemic War on COVID-19 Vaccine: An international comparative analysis of factchecking organizations’ impact on Facebook and dialogic engagement • Ioana Coman, Texas Tech University • The COVID-19 pandemic devastated the world. An effective vaccine is deemed as the best solution to overcome this pandemic, but while vaccines have been approved and currently distributed, mis/dis-information contributing to vaccine hesitancy and refusal. Fact-checker organizations are trying to combat the infodemic through posting their fact-checks on social media, especially Facebook. This paper explores the way fact-checkers in four countries are acting on Facebook, their impact, and how their audiences are responding/reacting.

Extended Abstract • Faculty • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • The Anti-Execution Movement of Iranians on Social Media • Shugofa Dastgeer; Fatemeh Shayesteh, University of Kansas • “This study explores the structure and content of the anti-execution movement of Iranians on Twitter. The findings indicate that the networks’ activity depends on cases of executions in Iran and that the networks shrink as an execution case becomes older. While the participants largely used the anti-execution hashtags to discuss their personal (irrelevant topics), most of the relevant tweets were had passive tones and relied on self-sourcing.

Keyword: Iran, execution, anti-execution, Twitter, social movements”

Extended Abstract • Student • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • Two side of the same coin: How violent incidents have opposing media coverages • Carlos Davalos, UW-Madison • Summary: Using bilingual content analysis and comparative strategies, the purpose of this study is to observe how American and Mexican mainstream newspapers cover a violent attack on an American Mormon working family on Mexican territory. Results show that the American coverage lacked social and historical context, while the Mexican newspaper coverage used a holistic frame to explain the family’s attack in a national context.

Research Paper • Faculty • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • Testing the protest paradigm on TV and newspapers’ social media coverage of Chilean and Colombian social unrest • Victor Garcia-Perdomo, Universidad de La Sabana; Jose Augusto Ventin, Universidad de La Sabana; Juan Camilo Hernández Rodríguez, La Sabana University; Maria Isabel Magaña, Universidad de La Sabana • This research utilizes the protest paradigm as theory to analyze how TV channels and newspapers in Chile and Colombia covered —on their social media— the historical 2019 protests. According to the paradigm, mainstream media frame stories in a way that focuses on the violence and spectacle, delegitimizing protesters. This paper mixed automatic/manual content analyses to fully explore the adherence to the paradigm in digital environments. Results show key difference among countries, media type and organizations.

Extended Abstract • Student • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • Extended Abstract: Digital Public Diplomacy and Social Media: A Content Analysis of Foreign Embassy Tweets • Imran Hasnat, University of Oklahoma; Elanie Steyn, University of Oklahoma • Digitalization has changed public diplomacy (PD). Literature suggests that the new PD is dialogic and collaborative. Additionally, the presence of embassies online indicates the adoption of new communication platforms. Using Cull’s (2008) taxonomy of PD, this study analyzes tweets from 27 embassies, finding that they still use a broadcast model of communication rather than audience dialogue. It shows that images are the most commonly used media and mentions are more frequently used than hashtags.

Research Paper • Faculty • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • Information Verification and Discussion Networks as Pandemic Coping Mechanisms: A Cross-Country Study • Tang Tang, Kent State University • Emerging infectious disease threats such as COVID-19 have caused profound impact on the human societies worldwide. In coping with the threat, individuals engage in a series of psychological, affective, communicative, and behavioral coping processes. But there is a lack of systematic examination of the roles of information verification and discussion networks in the coping processes. To address these gaps, this study tests and expands the existing IDT appraisal model by including these two factors. A cross-county online survey was conducted in the U.S. and Taiwan, which represent different levels of COVID-19 disease control. The results showed that different types of threat appraisals predicted both negative and positive emotions associated with the pandemic, which in turn predicted information behaviors, including information seeking, sharing, and sharing without verification. Information seeking was positively associated with engagement in protective action taking, whereas information sharing without verification was negatively related to protective responses. Information sharing was associated with protective responses only indirectly through discussion with strong and latent ties. Moreover, discussion with social contacts also mediated the relationships between threat appraisals/emotions and protective responses, but the patterns were different in the U.S. and Taiwan.

Extended Abstract • Faculty • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • Assessing the Role Performance of Solutions Journalism in a Global Pandemic • You Li, Eastern Michigan U • This research compares and contrasts the role performance of journalism in reporting prominent solutions to cope with the COVID-19 global pandemic in 25 countries. It found that solutions journalism performed more civic and loyal facilitator roles overall. The coverage in the U.S. demonstrated less tendency to be an interventionist or loyal facilitator than the coverage in East Asia, Europe, and the Pacific, and the COVID-19 infection number negatively predicted those two roles.

Research Paper • Faculty • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • From Ritual to Strategy: Li Ziqi as a Cultural Icon and the Political Economic Appropriation of Micro-Celebrity Fame • Limin Liang • This paper uses Jeffrey Alexander’s (2004) cultural pragmatics theory in studying the media phenomenon of Li Ziqi, a Chinese vlogger who achieved stardom in major social media platforms with her cinematic videos celebrating the bucolic life of rural China, from preparing local delicacies to making traditional handicraft. The paper zeroes in on the narrative strategies of Li in crafting the image of an authentic pastoral life in China via short videos, which resonates well with an international audience. It moves on to examine how a cultural icon of the social media era maybe coopted by the Chinese state for its strategic soft power initiatives. The success of Li triggered a media debate whether she constitutes a successful form of “Chinese cultural export”, which remains an elusive goal for official media despite the resources channeled into the endeavor each year. As key opinion leaders debate China’s “cultural essence” and how it may create greater influence overseas, the commercialized videos with a cultural theme eventually get caught up in the more grandiose narrative about China’s soft power. The article dwells on the interaction between the authoritarian logic of the state, the proprietary logic of the media market, as well as the logic of network technology in its ever-shifting alliance with the other more established institutions, all within and through the making of a micro-celebrity.

Extended Abstract • Student • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • Networked Framing and the Role of Elite Gatekeeping During the #TaiwanCanHelp Hashtag Activism Campaign • Anita Kueichun Liu, University at Buffalo; Yotam Ophir; Dror Walter; Itai Himelboim, University of Georgia • We examine a Twitter hashtag campaign criticizing the political exclusion of Taiwan from the WHO’s efforts to combat COVID-19. We employed the Analysis of Topic Model Network (ANTMN) to analyze frames used in the #TaiwanCanHelp / #TWforWHO campaign in 2020 (N = 25,992 tweets) and network analysis to study the diffusion of messages and interactions between users. We identify three frames, and demonstrate message diffusion was dominated by Taiwanese and Western politicians and officials.

Extended Abstract • Student • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • Exploring the Mediating Role of Perceived Credibility of Creative Chinese Propaganda Media on Political Participation • Yuanyuan Liu; Liu Yining; Xiaojing Li • Inspired by priming theory, steeping stepping stone effect and spillover effect, this study fully examined the mediating role of Creative Chinese Propaganda Media (CCPM), a new social media platform of China’s party media, in the relationship of media use and political participation among young people in Chinese political contexts. A cross-sectional national survey was conducted in China, including the whole 31 provincial regions in Chinese Mainland, by a random cluster sampling among Chinese college students (N = 3,011). Results proved the whole research model of Chinese youth’s media use, general trust, perceived credibility of CCPM, and their online / offline political participation. It provided theoretical and practical significance for present politics alienation among youngsters, as well as for future studies on political participation, media practice, and political propaganda.

Research Paper • Faculty • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • A “Regional Halo Effect”? Media Use and Evaluations of America’s Relationships with Middle East Countries • Justin Martin; Mariam Alkazemi; Krishna Sharma • This study examined news use and social media use as predictors of diplomacy evaluations of five Middle East countries among a representative survey of U.S. adults (N=2,059) conducted in September 2020. Respondents were asked if they deem each Saudi Arabia, Israel, Palestine, Qatar, and the UAE an ally, neutral, or enemy of the United States. The study utilized media and political socialization and public diplomacy scholarship as the theoretical framework. News use and social media use were mostly uncorrelated with diplomacy ratings of the countries, with the exception of Palestine, regarding which newspaper use and hard news consumption were associated with positive ratings and use of Fox News was associated with negative evaluations. The strongest and most consistent, positive predictors of diplomacy ratings were positive ratings of other countries. For example, rating each Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE as allies of the U.S. was strongly associated with similar evaluations of Israel. We may be observing a kind of “regional halo effect,” whereby people in the U.S. who view one country in a foreign region favorably, or negatively, tend to hold most, or all, other countries in that region in similar regard. The authors recommend that the current survey be replicated in the U.S. for ratings of groups of South Asian and sub-Saharan African countries, to test whether this halo effect applies elsewhere. Implications for research on media use and political socialization and on public diplomacy are discussed.

Research Paper • Faculty • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • Who is a Less Dangerous Foe? Comparing U.S. Media Portrayal of Taliban and ISIS • Abhijit Mazumdar, Park University; Zahra Mansoursharifloo, Park University • “This quantitative research used Indexing theory to study U.S. press portrayal of Taliban and ISIS between 2014 and 2019. There was significant difference on eight frames. The U.S. press portrayed Taliban as a less dangerous foe with which the U.S. could broker a peace deal. However, ISIS was portrayed as a terrorist outfit that had to be crushed. Indexing theory found support from findings of the research.

Keywords: ISIS, Taliban, international news, U.S., Indexing”

Research Paper • • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • Trade War, or A War of Fake News?: An Exploration of Factors Influencing the Perceived Realism of Falsehood News on International Disputes • Mingxiao Sui, Ferrum College; Yunjuan Luo, South China University of Technology; Newly Paul, University of North Texas • The rise of misinformation in recent years has re-boosted scholarly effort in investigating the origins, consequences, and remedies for the circulation of falsehood news, which primarily scrutinizes this phenomenon in one single nation. This scholarship has not yet considered how this phenomenon evolves in the context of international disputes where dissents, debates and rhetorical attacks often exist. Through a survey experiment, this study examines how Chinese readers’ perceptions about falsehood news is affected by a set of factors including news source, the presence of visual elements, general trust in mainstream Chinese media and trust in mainstream U.S. media, as well as general media literacy. Results suggest that falsehood stories reported by homeland media are perceived to better represent the reality of covered issue than those by foreign counterpart. This relationship is also moderated by readers’ general trust in U.S. media and general media literacy, which thus suggests media literacy training as a possible resolution to counter-effect news source.

Research Paper • Faculty • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • Decolonizing Methodologies in Media Studies • Wunpini Fatimata Mohammed, University of Georgia • Drawing on an African feminist autoethnography framework grounded in a decolonial philosophy of Bilchiinsi, I present critical reflections on my experiences as an African scholar conducting research on media studies in Ghana. I argue that although canonical theories can be useful in theorizing African media systems, it is imperative to decolonize research by first looking to Indigenous African epistemologies and knowledge systems to support knowledge production in media studies and communication(s).

Extended Abstract • Faculty • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • Covering COVID-19 in the Global South: Digital news values in the Ugandan journalism field • Ruth Moon, Louisiana State University; Tryfon Boukouvidis, Louisiana State University; Fanny Ramirez, Louisiana State University • This study examines the differences between online homepage content and print front page content in a Ugandan newspaper (the Daily Monitor) to assess the extent to which current knowledge about homepage news selection applies to the Ugandan and by extension East African and sub-Saharan African contexts. The data comes from spring and summer 2020, in the height of the COVID-19 crisis, allowing the study to also draw conclusions about how the crisis was covered across platforms.

Research Paper • Faculty • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • Boycotting Behavior in Journalism • Bahtiyar Kurambayev, KIMEP University; karlyga myssayeva, al-Farabi Kazakh National University • “A plethora of studies about boycotting exist in political sciences, marketing, business and other areas of scholarship, but this theme has been largely overlooked in journalism. This study contributes to scholarship on this unexplored aspect of journalism by examining boycotting behavior in an Asian context of Kazakhstan.

Although this study may have somewhat limited generalizability, this article interviewed journalists and editors from October 2020-February 2021 to examine their professional motivations in boycotting. The study identified that some journalists and news outlets in this politically constrained environment employ somewhat hidden, non-confrontational or undeclared tactics to boycott some selected news sources and certain policies in response to what they view as injustices in society, even when they see boycotting as ineffective. Accumulated professional tensions in an economically and politically constrained context lead to various forms of resistance and protests.

The findings also suggest that financially independent journalists are more likely to boycott certain sources of information, challenge authorities and protest or show resistance, while less financially secure journalists tend to be reluctant to challenge external forces affecting their own journalistic practice. This study discusses the findings in relation to Bourdieu’s field theory.

Keywords: boycott, conflicts, Central Asia, journalism, Kazakhstan.”

Extended Abstract • Faculty • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • Digital Natives, Nascent Democracy: Tunisian Pre-Professional Journalists’ Uses and Perceptions of Social Media • Carolyn Nielsen, Western Washington University; Brian J. Bowe, American Univ. in Cairo / Western Washington Univ.; Arwa Kooli, l’Institut de Presse et des Sciences de l’Information • “Summary

This study assesses Tunisian journalism students’ uses and perceptions of social media in their work. This survey, conducted almost a decade after the country’s Jasmine Revolution saw an authoritarian regime and its state-run news media replaced with democratic elections and laws protecting a free press, shows Tunisian journalism students are using social media largely to connect with the audience, to monitor competitors, and to conduct research. Respondents were divided about impacts on the field.”

Extended Abstract • Faculty • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • The Use of Sources in News Stories about 2020 American Elections on Croatian Television: Who Dominates the Narrative? • Ivanka Pjesivac, U of Georgia; Iveta Imre, U Mississippi; Ana Petrov, University of Toronto • This study examined the coverage of 2020 American elections on Croatian Public Service Television’s website. The results of the content analysis showed that Croatian television used significantly more international than domestic sources, more official than unofficial sources, more male than female sources, more named than unnamed sources, and more real people accounts than documents. The results are interpreted in the context of primary definer theories of news sources use applied to South/East European media model.

Research Paper • Faculty • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • To say or not to say: Examining online self-censorship of political opinions in India • Enakshi Roy, Towson University • This study examines how self-censorship by social media users in India may be contributing to the limitations of media freedom. While right to free speech to all Indian citizens is assured by the Indian Constitution, a climate of repressive media freedom can have an impact on individual expressions. It can lead to a chilling effect in the public discourse of controversial issues. This study examines self-censorship on Facebook and Twitter with regards to government criticism. Survey (N=141) results suggest respondents with liberal attitudes were unwilling criticize the government on social media. However, respondents with pro-censorship attitudes, even if they deemed the opinion climate as hostile, were willing to support Prime Minister Narendra Modi on social media. Findings from this study expand understandings of online opinion expression and self-censorship in India.

Research Paper • Faculty • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • Decade of Internet Censorship in India Examining Google Transparency Reports and Content Takedowns from 2010-2020 • Enakshi Roy, Towson University • Drawing on the literature on internet censorship this study investigates the practice of content takedowns carried out by the Indian governments. To that end this research employs two studies. Study 1 examines the transparency reports of Google from 2010- 2020 to find out what content is removed from Google platforms. Study 2 through in-depth interviews with technology lawyers and authors of transparency reports finds out about the content removal process and its complexities. The findings show “defamation,” “privacy and security,” “religious offense” and “national security” as the most frequently cited reasons for content removal initiated by the Indian government. Findings reveal a disturbing trend where defamation notices were misused to request takedown of content that was critical of the governments, politicians, public figures, law enforcement officials, and police. The findings of this study are important, they demonstrate several ways in which the internet is being censored even in democratic countries without the knowledge of the users. Such censorship maybe eroding the freedom of speech guaranteed by the Constitutions of India.

Research Paper • Faculty • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • International Migrants and COVID-19 Vaccinations: Social Media, Motivated Information Management & Vaccination Willingness • Hyunjin Seo, University of Kansas; Yuchen Liu; Muhammad Ittefaq, University of Kansas; Fatemeh Shayesteh, University of Kansas; Ursula Kamanga; Annalise Baines • Using a mixed-methods approach combining an online survey with in-depth interviews, this study examines how international migrants in the United States used online resources in dealing with uncertainties surrounding COVID-19 vaccinations and how it is related to their vaccine willingness. Our results show that international migrants’ perceived uncertainty, positive and negative emotions, efficacy, and outcome expectancy affect their information seeking related to the vaccination and that issue salience moderates the effect between information seeking and vaccine willingness.

Research Paper • Faculty • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • A Dark Continent? Meta-analysis of communication scholarship focused on African nations • Meghan Sobel Cohen, Regis University • Using meta-analytic work, this study examines communication research methods, geographic focus, and lead author affiliation in research articles published in four leading communication journals over the course of a decade (2010 – 2019). Results point to scholarship by authors from North American and European institutions being dominant throughout the decade of analysis alongside an overwhelming research focus on North American and European populations and content, and a continued reliance on a small number of research methods.

Research Paper • Faculty • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • Media genre dissonance and ambivalent sexism: How American and Korean television consumption shapes Chinese audiences’ gender-role values • Xiao Zhang, Macau University of Science and Technology; Chris Chao Su, Boston University • Driven by globalization, modernity and the development of media technology, transnational media consumption is increasingly prevalent. Together with indigenous media genres, exotic media genres constitute the fragmentation and diversification of individuals’ media consumption. Yet research concerning the hybrid media effects generated by indigenous and exotic media genres is still underdeveloped. Using a sample of 556 Chinese Internet users, this exploratory study proposes a concept of media genre dissonance to compare the effects of hybrid media consumption on sexism and gender-role norms in marriage (GRIM) in China. The findings suggest that individuals’ perceptions of gender-role norms are not only affected by indigenous media usage but also altered through exotic media usage. We illustrate how genre dissonance can affect Chinese audiences’ perception of GRIM through the mediating roles of culturally specific sexism and general sexism found in American and Korean television dramas.

Research Paper • Student • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • Election Interference Strategies Among Foreign News Outlets on Social Media During the U.S. 2020 Election • Louisa Ha • This study investigates foreign interference in the 2020 U.S. election news coverage of BBC World News, RT America and CGTN America across social media platforms from August 28, 2020, to November 2, 2020. We employed a content analysis of 420 randomly selected posts from Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter accounts of these three state-controlled international news outlets. We found content and political relationship factors affected engagement differently in each social media platform. Adversaries of the U.S. were more likely to employ election interference strategies than were allies, although the occurrences were low overall.

Research Paper • Student • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • Russian Bots’ Narrative During Donald J. Trump’s 2020 Senate Impeachment Trial: A Text Mining Analysis • Jo Lukito • An analysis of Russian-language tweets (n1 = 465,329) collected during the 2020 U.S. Senate impeachment trial reveals that bots accounted for nearly 58% of users (n2 = 39,580) that generated 55% of overall content in a data set. LDA topic modeling method was employed to identify and quantify the differences in topic engagement between bots and nonbots. These findings offer empirical support for the theory of reflexive control, providing insights into Russia’s domestic information operations.

Research Paper • Faculty • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • Effects of Individualism and Race On Visual Processing: An Eye-Tracking Experiment • Tamara Welter; Jason Brunt • Previous research suggests that East Asians tend to look at the context of an image while Westerners look more at the area of interest. Other research suggests that people might examine photos of same-race and other-race faces differently. Here, we tested for a same v. other race effect for looking at pictures of people in front of naturalistic backgrounds. Across two studies, for measures of number of fixations and for mean length of fixation to AOI and background, we found different effects for race of participant, same race and for number of people in the photograph.

Extended Abstract • Student • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • Normative Expectations for Social Media Platforms • Natalie Jomini Stroud; Tamar Wilner, University of Texas at Austin • Critiques of social media hint at normative expectations, such as the ideas that information should be reliable and people should feel safe. It is unclear how these expectations vary, however, and whether they are better predicted by where one lives or one’s most-used platform. Our survey of over 20,000 people across 20 countries finds that expectations vary more based on respondents’ country of residence than most-used platform, revealing a challenge for social media’s homogenized products.

Research Paper • Student • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • Communicating Nation Branding: Pandas as Ambassadors for Wildlife Conservation and International Diplomacy • Dongdong Yang, The University of Connecticut; Carolyn Lin • The current study investigated whether watching panda videos could influence attitudes toward the “brand” of China. Results showed that nature relatedness and wildlife-conservation attitude positively predicted emotional response to the video and attitude toward Chinese culture. Wildlife-conservation attitude positively influenced attitude toward the Chinese government. Political conservativism negatively impacted attitude toward Chinese culture; the latter was positively linked to attitude toward Chinese people. Attitude toward Chinese people were positively connected to attitude toward their government.

2022 Abstracts

Mass Communication and Society Division

2021 Abstracts

Research Paper • Student • Moeller Student Paper Competition • Alexis Fitzsimmons, University of Florida; Yufan “Sunny” Qin, University of Florida; Eve Heffron, University of Florida • Purpose vs. Mission vs. Vision: Persuasive Appeals and Components in Corporate Statements • Purpose statements persuade stakeholders of companies’ reasons for being. However, there is a lack of distinction among purpose, mission, and vision statements. This quantitative content analysis explored the differences among Fortune Global companies’ purpose, mission, and vision statements, adding to a much-needed body of literature on corporate purpose. Results provide implications for communicators who write these statements as well as theoretical implications related to rhetorical and social identification theories and organizational identification.

Research Paper • Student • Moeller Student Paper Competition • Kate Stewart, University of South Carolina • The New Media Normal: Survey-based study of COVID-19 Effects on Motivations to Consume Non-News Media • This large-scale, self-administered Qualtrics survey, based on a representative sample from 2020 United States Census Data, study specifically investigates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, in a mediating role, on motivations to consume non-news media by having an impact on social escapism, social presence, and coping mechanisms. The scope of this analysis has relevance as a current on-going global pandemic and could be replicated to study how disasters or other pandemics affect non-news media consumption.

Research Paper • • Open Competition • Ivy Ashe; Ryan Wallace, The University of Texas at Austin; Ivan Lacasa-Mas, Universitat Internacional de Catalunya; Q. Elyse Huang, The University of Texas at Austin • News in the Time of Corona: Institutional trust, collective narcissism, and the role of individual experiences in perceptions of COVID-19 coverage • All public health crises have an element of uncertainty to them; however, even in this context, COVID-19 stands out. Trust heuristics such as institutional trust, and trust in media in particular, become more important for people seeking information. In this study, we use a cross-sectional nationally representative study of the American online population to better understand factors impacting overall perceptions of and trust in COVID-19 news. We focus on a subset of people exhibiting traits of collective narcissism, the emotional investment in an in-group such as the nation-state. We show that for core values like institutional trust and perceptions of news media in general, indices for collective narcissism may prove valuable in understanding relationships between audience perceptions and core ideological beliefs. However, in the case of individual news events where uncertainty may be high, individual components of collective narcissism (i.e. anti-elitism, general conspiracy belief, and xenophobia) remain better perception indicators.”

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Seth Ashley, Boise State University; Stephanie Craft, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign; Adam Maksl, Indiana University Southeast; Melissa Tully, University of Iowa; Emily Vraga, University of Minnesota • News literacy, conspiratorial thinking, and political orientation in the 2020 U.S. election • The rapid spread of misinformation in the digital age has increased calls for news literacy to help mitigate endorsement of conspiracy theories and other falsehoods. This study conducted in the week before the 2020 U.S. presidential election shows that individuals with higher levels of news literacy were more likely to reject conspiratorial thinking, but also that news literacy is unevenly distributed across the population and matters more for individuals with liberal views than conservative views.

Research Paper • Student • Open Competition • Kjerstin Thorson, Michigan State University; Ava Francesca Battocchio, Michigan State University • Change is the only constant: Young adults as platform architects and the consequences for news • We examine digital platform repertoires for news among young adults. Through the lens of “digital labor,” we explore the work that young adults’ undertake to design and maintain their personal media systems, and the consequences of those practices for news use. Drawing on 30 in-depth interviews with 18-34-year-olds, including a shared reading of participants’ newsfeeds in their top three social media platforms, we develop the theoretical concept of personal platform architecture. Our findings suggest that young adults architect and maintain platform repertoires for sociality, personal interests, and emotional well-being rather than for information—but with substantial consequences for news.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Porismita Borah; Xizhu Xiao; Yan Su • The interplay of narrative versus statistics messages and misperceptions on COVID-19 vaccine intention • Drawing on exemplification theory, we used a moderated moderated mediation model to test the relationships among message manipulation, perceived expectancies, perceived susceptibility, COVID-19 misperceptions and intention to vaccinate. Findings show that perceived expectancies mediate the relationship between message manipulation and vaccine intention. Findings indicate that among individuals with high misperceptions about COVID-19, statistical messages are more persuasive for individuals with high perceived susceptibility, while narrative messages are more influential for individuals with low perceived susceptibility.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Maria DeMoya, DePaul University; Vanessa Bravo, Elon University • New Cuban-American narratives about the homeland: Moving away from traditional storylines shared by “hardliners” via Twitter • This study analyzed Twitter conversations about Cuba, posted between June 1, 2017, and July 31, 2020, to discover the main themes that “hardliners” and the “new Cuban diaspora” communicated about in relation to Cuba and its future. This is a relevant and timely topic because, without a Castro as the head of the Cuban government for the first time in over six decades, the international community is getting to know a different image of Cuba. In this context, the Cuban diaspora in Florida has also changed and divided into two contrasting groups: the “hardliners,” who completely oppose the Cuban government and do not want any softening in the U.S.-Cuba relationship; and a newer generation whose members do not support the government on the island but prioritize their support for the Cuban people and are in favor of building new relationships on the island. The younger community approves the travel to the island, supporting their relatives at home through remittances, and potentially ending the U.S. embargo imposed on Cuba since 1960. As the analysis of their Tweets showed, this second group is a “new Cuban diaspora” that is changing the way in which the Cuban diaspora performs its public diplomacy roles in the United States.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Erik Bucy, Texas Tech University; Duncan Prettyman, Colorado Technical University • Misinformation and News Verification: Why Users Fact Check Suspect Content • The rise of misinformation has led to a corresponding call for more investigation into the antecedents of news verification, and for improved understanding about who verifies and why. In this study we conduct a thematic analysis of participants’ open-ended responses (N = 2,938 individual thoughts, volunteered by N = 715 participants) to an online questionnaire to explore the factors that may influence individuals’ decisions to verify or not verify information they have reason to believe might be false when they are given the opportunity to do so. We investigate what themes are associated with information verification broadly, then examine the prevalence of themes when associated with several individual difference variables that previous research suggests may be impactful. Specifically, we examine the association of themes with news knowledge (high vs low), news skepticism (high vs low), and individuals’ motivations for media use (surveillance vs entertainment). Descriptive results show significant differences in the characteristics of searchers compared to non-searchers. In addition, news knowledge is a particularly potent individual difference: individuals with high news knowledge had more thoughts about the need to verify information, concerns about manipulative intent, and were far less entertained by the idea of fake news than those with low news knowledge.

Research Paper • Postdoc • Open Competition • Richard Canevez, University of Hawaii at Manoa; Moshe Karabelnik, University of Hawaii at Manoa; Jenifer Sunrise Winter, University of Hawaii at Manoa • Media Mistrust and the Meta-Frame: Collective Framing of Police Brutality Evidence Reporting on YouTube • Social media impacts the news media’s role in police accountability. This convergence produces collective framings of police violence-related evidence that requires further attention. Using a frame analysis of news outlets and content analysis of comments on YouTube, we identify frames, responses, and the collective framing that results from this converging environment. Our findings suggest a triumvirate of competing frames around police brutality, with mistrust of media complicating the role news media plays in accountability.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Stella Chia, City University of Hong Kong; Fangcao Lu; Al Gunther • Who Conducts Fact Checking and Does It Matter?: Examining the Antecedents and Consequences of Fact-checking Behavior in Hong Kong. • This study utilizes a representative survey to examine multiple ways in which people engage in fact checking in a highly divided Hong Kong. The findings showed that stronger partisans who had greater news consumption were more likely to engage in fact-checking behavior. However, frequent fact-checking behavior enhanced, rather than reduced, their beliefs in pro-attitudinal misinformation. A warning of the backfire effects of fact-checking on exacerbating opinion polarization and social division is issued.

Extended Abstract • Research Fellow • Open Competition • Agnes Chuah; Shirley Ho; Edson Tandoc Jr; Peihan Yu • Extended Abstract: Exploring the Information Authentication Acts of Experts, Environmentalists, and the Public in Southeast Asia • Drawing on the Audiences’ Acts of Authentication framework, this study explores how the public, energy experts, and environmentalists in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore authenticate energy related information in a period of energy-related misinformation. The findings showed that the authentication behaviors across the three countries were consistent with the two-step process proposed by the framework. Individuals would turn to external forms of authentication when they were internally unconvinced of the authentication of the information.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Di Cui • What Remains? The Relationship between Counterfactual Thinking, Story Outcome, Enjoyment, and Emotion in Narratives • Counterfactual thinking is a psychological concept. It explains the phenomenon that occurs when individuals reflectively imagine different outcomes for events that have already happened. This paper examines the application of counterfactual thinking in the field of media psychology. It examines if readers can generate counterfactual thinking in a fictional context. It also looks at the relationship between counterfactual thinking, enjoyment, and negative emotions. By conducting two experiments, the author finds readers can generate counterfactual thinking toward narrative pieces. Different story outcomes play an essential role in influencing the generation of counterfactuals. These findings indicate that counterfactual thinking can be a critical factor that impacts audiences’ understanding and reimaging stories in the long-term.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Roxanne Vos, Radboud University Nijmegen; Serena Daalmans, Radboud University, Behavioural Science Institute • Fit Bodies that Inspire? A Qualitative study exploring perceptions of and motivations for interacting with Fitspiration content on social media • The purpose of this qualitative study (N = 34 interviews) was to gain insight into the motives that underlie the interaction with Fitspiration content on social media and the personal meaning making processes surrounding this interactions. Based on the data four motives to post ‘fitspirational’ content and eight to follow the trend on social media were constructed. These give insight into the positive and negative ways participants believe Fitspiration affects them and others.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Lisa Farman, Ithaca College • Political news personalization and the third-person effect: Examining support for restrictions on audience data collection • An online survey (N=561) tested perceptions of the personalization of online political news. A third-person effect emerged: respondents believed others would be more affected by personalized political news than themselves. Those who thought others would be more affected by news personalization were also more likely to support restrictions on websites’ use of audience data to personalize news. Narcissism was a significant moderator of the relationship between perceived effect on self and support for regulation.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Juliana Fernandes, University of Florida; Moritz Cleve, University of Florida • The Labeling Experiment: Examining the Differential Effects of Equivalent Labels on Individuals’ Associations toward Immigrants • Using a mix-methods approach, this study examines the differential effects of equivalent labels (i.e., authorized, documented, legal vs. unauthorized, undocumented, illegal) and the impact of these labels on individuals’ associations toward immigrants. Results of three studies show that those exposed to positive valenced labels produce more favorably associations of immigrants than those exposed to negative valenced labels (Study 1a), that associations tend to be quicker for labels such as illegal and slower for labels such as authorized (Study 1b), and that the interaction of association type (warmth/morality vs. competence) with association valence accounts for more variance in evaluations than labels, especially for negatively valenced associations (Study 2). Overall, the series of studies suggests a stronger influence of associations about warmth and morality compared to associations about an immigrant’s competence.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Débora Martini, University of Colorado Boulder; Harsha Gangadharbatla, University of Colorado Boulder • Pornography Addiction and Social Media: An exploratory study on the impact of social media on the road to porn abstinence. • Pornography addiction is on the rise in our society and excessive use often leads to negative life consequences. Just as other addictions, porn addiction can also be triggered by a number of factors. Of these factors, the role of social media has not been fully studied or understood. The current exploratory study uses a survey method to investigate the role of social media in porn addiction among Brazilian porn addicts. Results suggest that social media content is seen as a trigger by self-identified porn addicts and the factors that influence such perception include age of the addict, gender, and the number of times they have relapsed. And changes in behavior on social media are influenced by individuals’ perceptions of social media as a trigger.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Mugur Geana, University of Kansas; Nathaniel Rabb, The Policy Lab, Brown University; Steven Sloman, The Policy Lab, Brown University • The Growing Influence of Political Ideology in Shaping Health Behavior in the United States • Political polarization is a growing concern in many parts of the world and is particularly acute in the US. This study reinforces previous research on long-term health consequences driven by partisanship by showing that these ideologically-driven differences manifest even more acutely in situations where the possibility of severe illness or death is immediate, and the potential societal impact is significant. The substantial implications for public health research and practice are both methodological and conceptual.

Research Paper • Student • Open Competition • Tong Jee Goh, Nanyang Technological University; Shirley Ho • Public buying behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic: Presumed media influence and the spillover effects of SARS • Testing for a historical spillover effect, this study examined how the influence of presumed media influence (IPMI) processes differed between people with low and high perceived severity of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), when it comes to predicting Singaporeans’ purchasing intention during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results showed that people’s presumptions of media influence on others predicted their intention to buy more. The study also found a historical spillover effect of pre-existing attitude towards SARS.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Gretchen Hoak • Unprecedented Times: How Journalists Coped with the Emotional Impact of Covering the COVID-19 Pandemic • This study explored the stress of covering the COVID-19 pandemic on journalists in the United States. A survey of 222 journalists revealed covering the story was both stressful and emotionally difficult. Females and those who were younger and less experienced perceived higher levels of stress and felt the story was more emotionally difficult than their counterparts. The repetitive nature of the coverage, interacting with victims, and public backlash for their reporting were among the top stressors. Supervisor support was associated with higher levels of work commitment and lower levels of stress. Nearly 60% of participants indicated they received no stress management or coping resources from their news organizations. Of those that did receive support options, most did not take advantage noting the resources were either not feasible or not helpful. Implications for organizational support and its impact on journalist stress are discussed.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Iveta Imre, U Mississippi; Jason Cain • Social Media Use Intensity and Privacy Concerns: The Implications for Social Capital • This study examines how SNS use intensity, specifically social routine integration and social integration and emotional routine, correlate with social capital, as well as how privacy concerns impact the relationship between SNS use intensity and social capital. Findings support that social capital correlates with both factors on the use intensity scale. Only the accuracy factor was a significant predictor of bridging capital while both accuracy and control, and collection proved significant for bonding capital.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Jessica Shaw, Louisiana State University; Soojin Kim, Louisiana State University; Yongick Jeong, Louisiana State University • Determination of the Factors Influencing the Third-Person Effects in Health and Environmental Concerns • This study examines how three personal factors (issue involvement, behavior change intention, and consumption amount) influences the third-person effect in different public issues of health and environment. By employing two measures of the third-person effect (perceived threat of public issues and perceived likelihood of participating in risky behavior), this study found that the influence of the three personal factors vary across issues and measures. Practical implications and suggestions are also discussed.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Shaheen Kanthawala, University of Alabama; Shupei Yuan, Northern Illinois University; Tanya Ott-Fulmore • Science Podcasters and Centering Fairness in Content Creation • “The podcast industry has steadily grown over the last decade and keeps showing promise for further growth. Science and science-related podcasts are a popular genre of podcasts that seem to play a role in science communication. Fundamentally, information provided through science communication is a resource, and there is often disparity in the allocation of most resources. As creators of content that could not only help, but also possibly add to this disparity, science podcasters need to be aware of their audience when developing podcasts.

Therefore, we use the fairness and justice literature to explore how science podcasters think about their audiences when creating content. We further explore how science podcasters view themselves and the role of their podcasts within the science communication space. To do this, we conducted a survey with 147 of the top science podcasters (identified from Apple Podcasts’ top rankings). Our results indicated podcasters view themselves in a connecting role between scientific information lay audiences. They hold ethical values and are mindful of principles of fairness. These findings indicate that they view themselves in the role of science communicators – a role of vital importance today. Their resources should, therefore, be harness in the future to spread science and scientific information to the general public.”

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Danielle Kilgo, University of Minnesota; Rachel Mourao, Michigan State University; Tania Ganguli, University of Minnesota • Media Consumption, Attitudes, and #BlackLivesMatter on the Ground, Court and Field • This work utilizes a nationally representative survey to explore how news media consumption of mainstream, partisan and sports news organizations and the attitudes held by audiences affect recall, negative attitudes towards protest utility, and support for Black Lives Matter. We include considerations for celebrity advocacy efforts in the NBA and NFL. We found ideological and political barriers to support for BLM, indicating conservatism has a stronger impact on protest attitudes, regardless of the tactics employed.

Research Paper • Student • Open Competition • Jisoo Kim, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Gaofei Li, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Xining Liao, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Hernando Rojas • When does the Past Colonial Memory Plug into Nationalism? Information and Media’s Priming of Anti-Japan Nationalism in South Korea and China • Underlining the importance of the respective context of nationalism, this study focuses on anti-Japan nationalism in South Korea and China, which share a similar history of being colonized by Japan. Anti-Japan nationalism has always been alive but explicitly appears in people’s attitudes and behaviors only at certain times. Our study is centered on how information regarding a painful memory of the colonial past may prime individuals to express stronger anti-Japan attitudes and behaviors. Our results suggest that our prime contextually interacts with different types of media in unique ways: in South Korea, those that use social media more often are primed to express increased anti-Japanese nationalism, while in China it is those that consume more mainstream media. Implications of our findings are discussed.

Research Paper • Student • Open Competition • Tom Johnson; Taeyoung Lee; Chenyan Jia, The University of Texas at Austin • Politically Contested Beliefs: Why Do Conservatives Tend to Have More Inaccurate Beliefs About COVID-19? • A fair amount of research showed that politically conservative people are susceptible to false claims about COVID-19. Based on the belief gap hypothesis, this study examines why conservatives have more false beliefs about COVID-19. A representative survey showed that institutional trust was associated with people’s beliefs around COVID-19. Meanwhile, conservative identity indirectly influenced having false beliefs through institutional trust. Also, support for Trump, education, and the use of conservative media predicted having false beliefs.

Research Paper • Student • Open Competition • Lincoln Lu, University of Florida; T. Franklin Waddell, College of Journalism and Communications, University of Florida • The new yellow peril: Priming news context on attitudes towards Asian models, and brands • Recent increase in incidents of violence towards Asian Americans are indicative of underlying animosity often overlooked in discussions of race. Within a news story advertising context, an online experiment (N = 372) found some evidence that consumer ethnocentrism may moderate perceptions of attractiveness for male Asian models, consumer attitudes towards the ad, brand, and purchase intention. These results provide insight into race-based stereotyping at a time of flux surrounding race in America.

Research Paper • Student • Open Competition • Nick Mathews, University of Minnesota; Christopher Ali • Informational, Infrastructural and Emotional Labor: The Extra Work in a News and Broadband Desert • This study offers a systematic qualitative investigation inside a combined news and broadband desert. Despite popular attention to both news and broadband deserts, most recently and acutely during the coronavirus pandemic, there has been no scholarly research into communities where these two deserts intersect. This article confronts this knowledge gap. Built on 19 in-depth interviews with residents of Surry County, Va., we argue that life in a news and broadband desert requires a substantial amount of labor to obtain the information and connectivity so many Americans take for granted. Our findings demonstrate three areas of increased labor for residents: (1) informational, (2) infrastructural and (3) emotional. We conclude with a discussion of life and labor in this desert, specifically, and how it may apply to similar communities across the United States.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Newly Paul, University of North Texas; Gwendelyn Nisbett, University of North Texas • Jessica Jones: Exploring Marvel’s Dark Anti-Hero and the Portrayal of Complex Women Characters • This project uses social construction of gender theory to explore transmedia narratives of Jessica Jones in the graphic novel Alias, and the Netflix television shows Jessica Jones and The Defenders. Transmedia narratives often ascribe new dimensions to characters and narratives, and we aim to compare and contrast the narratives that emerge in these spaces. Using thematic analysis, we find that Jones breaks the sexist tropes often associated with female superheroes, and exemplifies the qualities of a strong, independent woman.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Chang Sup Park; Barbara Kaye • Why and How People Avoid News during the Coronavirus Pandemic: An Analysis of News Repertoire • This study explored how the coronavirus pandemic as a large-scale news event functioned as a catalyst for news avoidance. In-depth interviews with 50 adults in South Korea in May and June 2020 revealed three reasons reconfiguring their media repertoire to ‘coronablock’ news about the pandemic: to tune out, to control information flow, and to seek positive news. The findings contribute to the understanding of news avoidance during a time of global crisis.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Scott Parrott; David L. Albright; Nicholas Eckhart; Kirsten Laha-Walsh • The media affect them, but not me: Veteran and civilian perceptions of news coverage about U.S. military veterans • Informed by theory of the third-person effect, the present study examined civilian and veteran perceptions of news content concerning veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces, including the perceived quality and effects of news content. A national survey of adults in the United States, including veterans and civilians, documented the presence of a third-person effect in which individuals estimate that media exposure affects others more so than themselves. The effect occurred among both civilians and veterans. In addition, when asked to recall news stories about veterans, respondents often recalled stereotypical stories related to victimization/harm, heroism, charity/social support, mental illness, and violence. The results are important for veterans because the third-person effect may lead veterans to assume media content affects public perceptions of veterans, which could in turn affect veterans’ perceptions of interactions with civilians in social, employment, educational, and other settings. Put simply, veterans could act differently when they assume others are thinking they are traumatized heroes, the predominant image conveyed by U.S. news outlets.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Scott Parrott; Hailey Grace Allen • Swapping Insults, Neglecting Policy: How U.S. Presidential Candidates Communicate About Mental Health • Background. Candidates for high office in the United States of America play an important role in determining the political agenda and shaping public and mass media understanding of which issues should receive attention. Critics contend politicians rarely address mental health, despite the importance of the federal government in ensuring Americans access to quality care. Aims. Two studies sought to understand how candidates for the highest office in the U.S. — the presidency — communicated about mental health using formal (mental, depress, anxiety) and informal (crazy, insane) terminology in social media posts and debates. Methods. Two coders examined 1,807 tweets from 41 politicians who competed in the 2016 and 2020 races, plus transcripts from 47 debates during the primaries and General Elections. Results. Politicians often stigmatized mental illness, using mental health-related slang terms to insult opponents. They afforded less attention to policy and calls for action related to mental health. Conclusions. The authors offer recommendations for mental health professionals and advocates to encourage politicians to address mental health policy while avoiding stigmatizing language.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Mallory Perryman, Virginia Commonwealth • My Pandemic News is Better Than Yours: Audience Perceptions of Early News Coverage About Covid-19 • This study focuses on how American audiences perceived news coverage during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic in the United States. Through a survey-experiment of American news consumers (N=767) over a three-day period in mid-March 2020, we show that news consumers had positive attitudes toward their own Covid-19 news sources, but were critical about the news sources others were using to get information about the virus. Our data reveal evidence of presumed media influence, where audiences’ evaluations of pandemic news were linked to their perceptions of how news content was impacting others’ health behaviors.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Jeffrey Riley, Georgia Southern University • When In Doubt, Blame China: A Qualitative Analysis of Conservative Coronavirus Content on Reddit • This is a qualitative content analysis examining the top content posted to the conservative, /r/The_Donald-affiliated subreddit /r/Wuhan_Flu from February 2020 until August 2020. The expectations of health misinformation and widespread downplaying of the virus were not met. Instead, /r/Wuhan_Flu deviated from Donald Trump’s public statements about the pandemic and tended to be far more alarmist than calming. Instead of health misinformation, the subreddit tended to encourage masks and social distancing. However, the results also indicate that geopolitical issues with China were the primary topic, with 217 posts containing negative language or visual images directed at China. Based on literature about radicalized digital spaces, /r/Wuhan_Flu represents the potential for dangerous real-world consequences, especially considering the increase in hate crimes against Asians and Pacific Islanders in the United States since the beginning of the pandemic.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Aysha Vear, University of Maine; Judith Rosenbaum, University of Maine • Identity for Sale: Authenticity, Commodification, and Agency in YouTube Influencers • Focusing on YouTube influencers, this study extends structuration theory into the realm of social media. Interviews, observations, and content analysis were used to explore the relationship between agency, commodification, and authenticity in influencers’ performances. Results show a need to reconceptualize structures as emergent and embodied; that authenticity and agency are inexorably linked and constrained by the commodification inherent in influencers’ performances; and that influencers face a hierarchy of choices that enable and constrain their agency.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Burton Speakman, Kennesaw State University; Marcus Funk • Influencing the agenda: The role of conservative figures in melding media agendas for social media communities • Historically, mainstream news media held significant agenda setting authority. As news and social media evolve, individual actors and digital communities have to meld and filter diverse media agendas into one curated, personal space for their followers. This article examines attempts at far right agendamelding by fringe and conspiracy-affiliated Reps. Lauren Boebert and Majorie Taylor Greene during and after their respective runs for Congress. Results suggest far right politicians can meld agendas from friendly media and their own campaigns, while rejecting mainstream agendas, to influence their Twitter community.

Research Paper • Student • Open Competition • Yan Su; Porismita Borah; Xizhu Xiao • “Infodemic” amid the pandemic: Social media news use, homogeneous discussions, self-perceived media literacy, and misperceptions • Heeding the call to address the “infodemic” in the COVID-19 crisis, this research investigates the associations among social media news use, homogeneous online discussion, self-perceived media literacy, and misinformation perceptions about the COVID-19. We use an online survey and a moderated mediation model. Results show that social media news use is positively associated with misinformation perceptions. Moreover, homogeneous online discussion was a significant mediator, such that social media news use is positively associated with homogeneous discussion, and the latter, in turn, is associated with increased misinformation perceptions. Further, self-perceived media literacy is a significant moderator for both the main and the indirect effects, such that the associations became weaker among those with higher self-perceived media literacy. Findings provide insights into the significance of information sources, discussion network heterogeneity, and media literacy education.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Chris Chao Su, Boston University • Attention Convergence and Narrative Coalescence: The Impact of the US Presidential Election on the Generational Gap in Online News Use • This study revisits the contentious role of the 2016 US presidential election in shaping news and disinformation use by contrasting usage networks of millennials and boomers, two groups with disparate preferences. Theoretically, through bringing the literature on selective exposure thesis into media events, this study advances an analytical framework to approach increased divergence and intensified polarization in the election through a sociological perspective. Empirically, this study compares the generational gap in online news usage in a typical month (Apirl-2015) and the month just before Elections (October-2016), by conducting relational analyses of shared usage for each cohort comprising all major news outlets. The analyses reveal that during the election boomers moved toward a collection of digital-native outlets that produce and disseminate political disinformation – the fake fringe – as well as more toward conservative partisan side of the news landscape. Investigating audience convergence during Donald Trump’s election, this study demonstrates that although the public tends to converge their attention in the event, the systematic divergence in consuming various narratives of the event forcefully steers to audience divergence compared to uneventful periods.

Research Paper • Student • Open Competition • Yuan Sun; Nicholas Eng, Penn State University; Jessica Myrick, Penn State University • Getting Inspired by Fitspiration Posts: Effects of Picture Type, Numbers of Likes and Inspiration Emotions on Workout Intentions • The study investigated the potential positive effects of fitspiration posts for inspiring physical exercises through a 2 (Numbers of likes: High vs. Low) x 2 (Picture type: Body transformation vs. After-only) between-subject experiment. Numbers of likes cued subjective norm, while body transformation posts elicited inspirational emotion, which mediated the effects of picture type on workout intention. Picture type and numbers of likes jointly affected descriptive norm and inspiration emotion, which led to workout intention.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Edson Tandoc Jr; Hye Kyung Kim, Nanyang Technological U • Avoiding real news, believing in fake news? Investigating pathways from fake news exposure to misbelief • This study sought to examine the potential role of news avoidance in the link between exposure to and belief in misinformation. Using two-wave panel survey data in Singapore, we found that exposure to misinformation contributes to information overload, which is subsequently associated with news fatigue as well as with difficulty in analyzing information. News fatigue and analysis paralysis also subsequently led to news avoidance, which made individuals more likely to believe in misinformation.

Extended Abstract • Student • Open Competition • Taylor Voges, UGA; LaShonda Eaddy, Southern Methodist University; Shelley Spector, Museum of Public Relations; Yan Jin, University of Georgia • Effective Health Risk Communications: Lessons Learned about COVID-19 Pandemic through the Lens of Practitioners • The study utilizes semi-structured interviews of health risk communication practitioners in the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic. The contingency theory of strategic conflict management is the guide to understanding the challenges and nuances. Insights gained from interviewing practitioners (projected, n=40) from different sectors with diverse professional backgrounds will help advance the contingency theory’s application in understanding the dynamics observed in times of health risks and crises threatening societal wellbeing.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • T. Franklin Waddell, College of Journalism and Communications, University of Florida; Chelsea Moss • Fake News in the Family: How Family Communication Patterns and Conflict History Affect the Intent to Correct Misinformation among Family Members • Do family communication patterns or family conflict history affect the intention to correct fake news shared by family members? A pre-registered online survey (N = 595) was conducted to answer this question. Results revealed that conversation orientation and conformity orientation positively predicted the intention to correct family members, while family history was negatively related with corrective action intention. Presumed influence, by comparison, was not significantly related to corrective action. Theoretical implications are discussed.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Chuqing Dong, Michigan State University; Yuan (Daniel) Cheng, University of Minnesota – Twin Cities • How do NPOs effectively engage with publics on social media? Examining the effects of interactivity and emotion on Twitter • “Nonprofit organizations (NPOs) are increasingly using social media to engage with publics. However, communication factors associated with effective social media use remain unclear in the nonprofit literature. Drawing from literature on public engagement, interactivity, and emotions, this study employs a computational approach to examine the effects of communication strategies on NPOs’ public engagement on Twitter (i.e., likes and retweets). By analyzing functional interactivity, contingency interactivity, and emotion elements of tweets from the 100 largest U.S. NPOs (n= 301,559), this study finds negative effects of functional interactivity on likes, negative effects of contingency interactivity on likes and retweets, but a positive effect of functional interactivity on retweets. The findings also show negative effects of emotion valence on likes and retweets but positive effects of emotion strength on likes and retweets. Using NPO type as a moderator suggests that there are varying effects of interactivity and emotion on public engagement for service-oriented and other types of NPOs. Practical implications regarding strategic social media use in the nonprofit sector are discussed.

Research Paper • Student • Open Competition • Alexander Moe, SUNY Brockport • Do All Types of Warning Labels Work on Flagging Misinformation? The Effects of Warning Labels on Share Intention of COVID-19 Vaccine Misinformation • Using a survey experiment (N = 403), this study tested the effectiveness of Twitter warning labels flagging misinformation pertaining to COVID-19 vaccines. Results showed that all types of warning labels decreased perceived credibility and share intention compared to no label condition. Moderated mediation analysis showed that vaccine hesitancy moderated the relationship between exposure to warning labels and perceived credibility while perceived credibility served as a mediator on the effects of warning labels on share intention.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Xiaochen Zhang, University of Oklahoma; Jonathan Borden • Linguistic Attribution Framing: A Linguistic Category Approach to Framing Crisis • Based on Attribution Theory, this study proposes a linguistic category approach to framing. A 2 (language: concrete/abstract) x 3 (social identity: out-group/in-group/control) experiment in a political crisis context was used to understand linguistic framing’s effects on attribution. Main effects a) of abstract (vs. concrete) language and b) of out-group (vs. in-group) on higher attribution, future crisis occurrence and unethical perceptions of the politician were found. Implications for framing research are discussed.

Research Paper • Student • Student Competition • Wen Xuan Hor, Nanyang Technological University; Rui Yan Leo, Nanyang Technological University; Xin Jie Tan, Nanyang Technological University; Agnes Yeong Shuan Chai, Nanyang Technological University • The Effects of Nudges on Social Media Users in the Context of COVID-19 Fake News • This study examines the applicability of nudging on reducing sharing of fake news. Using a 2 (Nudge Frame – Gain vs. Loss) x 2 (Nudge Frequency – Single vs. Repeated) between-subject experiment (n = 238), results showed gain-frame nudge will lower the likelihood of sharing and confidence of news. We also examined individual-level traits, need for cognition and reactance, but found no evidence to support moderation. Theoretical and practical implications for nudging theory were discussed.

Extended Abstract • Student • Student Competition • Sarah Fisher, University of Florida • Media Parenting Styles: A Typology of Parental Guidance of Electronic Media Use • Parental guidance for children’s electronic media use varies greatly. From parents who carefully limit the content set before their children’s eyes, to parents who allow freedom for their children to explore on electronic devices. This typology provides a useful definition of a range of parental oversight styles of their children’s use of electronic media. The typology categories emerged from in-depth interviews (N=20) with parents regarding their oversight of their children’s use of electronic media.

Research Paper • Student • Student Competition • Niki Fritz • Porn and Consent: The relationship between college students’ pornography consumption, perception of realism, and sexual consent intentions • Despite sexual assault prevention education (SAPE) on college campuses, sexual assault remains a persistent issue on campuses. Student may be learning non-consensual sexual activity scripts from other sources, such as pornography. Additionally, perceived pornography realism may mediate the relationship between pornography consumption and non-consensual behavioral intentions. This national survey of 500 undergraduate students suggests pornography consumption has a strong positive relationship with non-consensual behavioral intentions and perceived pornography realism was found to mediate the relationship.

Research Paper • Student • Student Competition • Si Yu Lee, Nanyang Technological University Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information (WKWSCI); Jasmon Wan Ting Hoh, National University of Singapore • From “OK Boomer” to “Boomer Remover”: A Critical Examination of Ageist Memes by Meme Factories • Memes and meme factories are increasingly the new fronts for ageism online. Guided by the tripartite model of ageism and third and fourth age concepts, this study employed multimodal discourse analysis to analyze 98 memes from five meme factories in Singapore. An ageist portrayal of older adults in memes was found and tropes like fetishization and denigration of the old were identified. The intersectionality of ageism with gender, race, and class was also emphasized.

Research Paper • Student • Student Competition • Xiaofen Ma, National University of Singapore • Predictors of IS Professionals’ Information Security Protective Behaviors in Chinese IT Organizations: The Application of the Organizational Antecedents, Theory of Planned Behavior and Protection Motivation Theory Abstract • “Securing organizational information systems (IS) as pivotal information assets is central to achieving a strategic advantage; this is an organization-wide concern. Recognition by practitioners and researchers of the positive impact of inside work-driven protective behaviors on IS security at the organizational level has led to the establishment of a research stream focused on IS experts’ performance of protective behaviors. To contribute to the research stream, this study employs two theories: protection motivation theory (PMT) and the theory of planned behavior (TPB), and a set of work-related organizational antecedents: organizational commitment and job satisfaction, often cited in information security literature. Therefore, given the varied facets central to work-motivated information security resources, determining the relationships of each distinct PMT, TPB, and organizational aspect with IS experts’ protective behaviors is a significant contribution. Using a survey of 804 representative IS professionals in the Chinese information technology (IT) industry, we find support for several associations: (a) information security attitude and subjective norms as constituents of TPB significantly influenced the information security protective behaviors performed by IS experts; (b) the coping appraisals (self-efficacy and response cost) and threat appraisals (threat susceptibility and threat severity) of PMT were significantly predictive of IS experts’ protective behaviors toward information security; and (c) organizational factors involving organizational commitment positively impacted the protective behaviors. However, job satisfaction, and perceived behavioral control as a construct of the TPB were not associated with information security behaviors. Contributions to theory and implications for practice are discussed.

Research Paper • Student • Student Competition • Yefu Qian, School of Media and Communication, Shanghai Jiao Tong University; Chen Li; Ruimin He • The Mediated Classroom: A Grounded Theory Analysis of Live Streaming Media Affordance and Teaching Context Remodeling from The Perspective of Actor-Network-Theory • The massive and popular application of emerging media technology (such as live streaming, virtual meeting-Zoom & Google Meet) in releasing the tensions of suspended classes during the global pandemic (COVID-19) provides an entry point to visualize the role of mediatization in shaping the traditional human social practice. As the online form of teaching penetrates in college education, it is of practical significance to comprehend the mediated teaching contexts and visualize the optimization of online teaching by exploring the affordance of live streaming media which serving as an “actor” in social networks. In this paper, we apply a qualitative analysis according to the grounded theory, based on detailed interviews with 45 college students in Shanghai, to elaborate on the affordance of live streaming in shaping the online teaching in Actor-Network-Theory. Besides, we target to explore the transformation of the teaching context between media technology and social practice so that we can offer insights for the ongoing or future researches of mediatization.

Extended Abstract • Student • Student Competition • Natasha Strydhorst; Sava Kolev; Philippe Chauveau, Texas Tech University; Eric Milman, Texas Tech University • Learning by doing: The potential effect of interactivity on health literacy • This experimental study investigates the relationship between message interactivity and message comprehension, absorption, and self-reported elaboration of health information as contributors to increased health literacy about COVID-19 and the opioid epidemic. A representative population will be exposed to a stimulus of factsheets, followed by tests measuring perceived comprehension, absorption, elaboration, message processing bias, and political ideology and interest. The authors anticipate a positive correlation between interactivity level and comprehension, absorption, and elaboration scores of participants.

Research Paper • Student • Student Competition • Beverly Tan, Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University; Gabrielle Lee, Nanyang Technological University; Rachel Angeline Chua, Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University; Charlyn Ng, Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University • Cancel Culture and Its Underlying Motivations in Singapore • This mixed-methods study explores Singaporeans’ understanding of cancel culture and motivators of participation. Interviews defined cancel culture as public shaming on a social media platform, carried out or supported by a group of people, which aims to hold people accountable for socially unacceptable behaviour. Our survey found attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control, outcome expectancy, and general Belief in a Just World as significant predictors behaviour through intention, contextualising cancel culture in Singapore’s context.

Research Paper • Student • Student Competition • Sofie Vranken, School for Mass Communication Research, KU Leuven; Sebastian Kurten, Leuven School for Mass Communication Research • A content analysis of alcohol posts from adolescents, brands, influencers, and celebrities in Facebook and Instagram’s persistent and ephemeral messages • “This content analysis examines how peers, celebrities, influencers and brands refer to  alcohol in Facebook and Instagram’s persistent and ephemeral messages. The results show  that: (1) all agents frequently portray alcohol posts, (2) adolescents are the sole agent to  refer to moderate and extreme forms of alcohol use as opposed to celebrities, influencers  and brands whom solely display moderate alcohol posts and (3) some agents  (celebrities/influencers) may have a commercial motive to share alcohol posts.”

Extended Abstract • Student • Student Competition • Shiyu Yang; Nicole Krause; Luye Bao, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Mikhaila Calice, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Todd Newman; Michael Xenos; Dietram A. Scheufele, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Dominique Brossard • Extended Abstract: In AI we trust: The interplay of media attention, trust, and partisanship in shaping emerging attitudes toward artificial intelligence • Artificial intelligence (AI) has changed the way scientists make genetic edits; it has infiltrated our daily lives through the internet of things; and it is being used by law enforcement agencies to fight crime. Many of the societal questions raised in its wake cannot be answered by science. Who or what will govern this technology? How do we prevent inevitable biases in how the technology is developed and applied? In this extended abstract, we report analysis of nationally representative public opinion data and examine what factors, including attention to mass and social media, shape U.S. publics’ trust in various institutions regulating AI development, as well as how trust and political ideology interact to shape public support for AI technology.

Research Paper • Student • Student Competition • Yi Yang, The Chinese University of Hong Kong; Yunyi Hu, The Chinese University of Hong Kong • Women on-screen: Exploring the relationship between consumption of female talent shows and sexism, internalization of beauty ideals, and self-objectification in China • Will consumption of female talent shows influence Chinese women’s self-body relationship? With the framework of objectification theory, this study provides empirical evidence to this question. Using data collected from a sample of 584 females in China, this study found that female talent shows consumption indirectly promoted body-surveillance through the mediation effects of benevolent sexism, internalization of beauty ideals, and self-objectification. Implications of the findings for the reflection on female talent shows in China are discussed.

<2021 Abstracts

International Communication Division

2021 Abstracts

Research Paper • Student • James W. Markham Student Paper Competition • Shlash Alzyoud, Student • The Concept of “New Media” among Jordanian News Producers • Journalists and directors of major media have documented doubts about blogging and social media. Difficult questions must be asked to know how new technologies are affecting journalism, along with what is actually achieved for the news organization in the presence of these technologies. The purpose of the this study is to understand and explain how Jordanian news-story producers perceive social media networks as related to making news and the extent to which they rely on these networks in producing news, in addition to knowing their opinions of the pros and cons of these networks. The study uses the qualitative approach by conducting personal interviews with the study sample.

Research Paper • Student • James W. Markham Student Paper Competition • Augustine Botwe, University of Colorado Boulder; Selorm Adogla • Responsibility Framing of Health Issues in Ghanaian Newspapers: A Comparative Study of Ebola and Cholera • The media in Ghana can play a significant role in shaping narratives associated with public health problems, especially endemic health challenges. The results of a bivariate analysis of the contents of two most widely circulated Ghanaian newspapers show that experts, who dominate media conversations about public health issues, discriminate in their apportioning of responsibility. While they called on the government to tackle Ebola, they shamed individuals for the outbreak of cholera. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Extended Abstract • Student • James W. Markham Student Paper Competition • Chen Chen • The Geopolitics Game: A Comparatively Frame Analysis between the US and Chinese Coverage of “The TikTok Divestiture Event” in the Perspective of Media Diplomacy • TikTok was considered to be banned by American government after July 2020, this commercial dispute was “politicized”. This study compared the news coverage of “The TikTok Divestiture Event” by two comparable mainstream media groups in China and the US. By employing multi-layer frame analysis of two News Frames, this study aimed at uncovering how and why the dispute was constructed in the Media Diplomacy of the two states under the geopolitics game vision.

Research Paper • Student • James W. Markham Student Paper Competition • Calvin Cheng, the Chinese University of Hong Kong; Wanjiang Zhang; Qiyue ZHANG • Conspiracy about COVID-19 Pandemic in Contemporary China: What is the Authority’s Role on Weibo • By illustrating how Chinese authorities narrate and spread conspiracy theories (CTs) on Weibo, this study argues that authority-led CTs are strategic rhetoric in political discourse in authoritarian systems. We found authority-led CTs are significantly different from individual-led CTs in terms of topics, narratives, and diffusion patterns. Particularly Chinese authorities applied denial, rivalrous and connotative rhetoric on controversial topics to signify conspiratorial claims, contributing to the widespread of misleading CTs from vast individuals on social media.

Research Paper • Student • James W. Markham Student Paper Competition • Abdul Wahab Gibrilu, The Chinese University of Hong Kong • News use, partisanship and political attitudes in Africa: A cross-national analysis of four African societies using the communication mediation approach • Drawing from Afrobarometer survey respondents in four African democracies (N=5997), we explored news uses effects on citizens’ political attitudes and how such relationships are affected by partisanship. Findings showed that only online news uses predicted all levels of citizens’ political attitudes across the samples whilst mediation results further affirmed different pathways to political attitudes through political discussion. Partisan differences exhibited consistent indirect effects for ruling and no party support across large portion of the sample.

Research Paper • Student • James W. Markham Student Paper Competition • Jing GUO, Chinese Univeristy of Hong Kong • How twitter becomes the battlefield for China’s public diplomacy? • I applied grounded theory in social media research to explore how twitter became the battlefield for China’s public diplomacy campaign. By manual coding and simultaneous analysis on Chinese current foreign spokesperson Zhao Lijian’s Twitter postings and comments he received in three stages, I conceptualized China’s recent diplomatic move on twitter as ‘war of words’ model with features like ‘leadership’, ‘polarization’ and ‘aggressiveness’, while the effects in global community including ‘resistance’, ‘hatred’, and ‘sarcasm’.

Research Paper • Student • James W. Markham Student Paper Competition • Sima Bhowmik • Examining the media coverage of early COVID19 responses in the online version of Bangladeshi newspapers. • This study analyzes Bangladeshi news coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic to examine attention cycle patterns, cited sources, and news frames. A quantitative content analysis was conducted on 729 articles from three newspapers (The Daily Star, The Daily Sun, and The Daily Prothom-Alo) published from March 1 to May 30, 2020. It was found that attention cycle patterns, news frames, and sources varied across the three newspapers. The study shows that these three newspapers gave more attention after the pandemic announcement. This study revealed that these three-newspapers emphasized mostly on attribution on government responsibility and reassurance frame. Regarding the news sources, these three newspapers equally used more sources from government. Apart from govt. sources The Daily Star and The Daily Sun also used international experts’ comments, while The Daily Prothom-Alo frequently used Bangladeshi health experts’ comments. This study will be helpful for researchers to understand third world country’s pandemic coverage.

Research Paper • Student • James W. Markham Student Paper Competition • milan ismangil • Print as Digital Gateway: Hong Kong’s Yellow Economy and Bimodal Communications • Print is not dead. Machine readable communications and smartphones as the means to read them has given print new wings. Print is rearticulated as bimodal communication, standing between the physical and the digital realm. By analysing the yellow economic circle in Hong Kong, a pro democracy protest, this article argues that the new possibilities of paper as digital gateway to the digital has made it a vital part of the protest movement.

Research Paper • Student • James W. Markham Student Paper Competition • Solyee Kim, University of Georgia • What does the Korean Embassy’s Facebook page show us? • This study explores the discourse on the Facebook page of the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in the United States and how the Embassy constructs its roles and the US-ROK relationship. The study analyzes the posts that were published on the Embassy’s Facebook page between October 25, 2019 and October 25, 2020 and discusses how its findings help constructing the ideologies of the Embassy and dynamics of the US-ROK relations.

Extended Abstract • Student • James W. Markham Student Paper Competition • Wei-ping Li, College of Journalism • Extended Abstract: [It’s a small world after all] • During the Covid-19 pandemic, people in different countries have shared not only the fear of the virus but also false information. Based on international information flow theory and by examing Covid-19 false information in the Chinese language, this research studies the characters of the similar or identical false information that circulates in various countries. The research finds that cultural and geographical proximity are important factors in deciding where the information traverses.

Extended Abstract • Student • James W. Markham Student Paper Competition • Qiaozhi Liang; Yifei Li; Ke XUE • The Charm of Culture: An Empirical Research on Intangible Cultural Heritage Short Videos • With the prosperity of Internet techniques in digital age, culture-related short videos have sprung up to attract overseas audience to adopt information of exotic culture. The study is an empirical research to investigate the factors affecting the viewers’ adoption towards the intangible cultural heritage short video and thus influencing their cultural identity. The Information Adoption Model (IAM) was extended and verified to adapt to the context of culture dissemination by adding the moderating variables of visual aesthetics and personal involvement. Questionnaire was conducted online comprised of the short videos’ clips and psychological scales. In conclusion, 471 people took part in the survey and 433 were validated. With the regression results, we found the establishment of the positive effects of source credibility and information quality on information adoption, the dual-moderating effect of involvement, and the negative moderating effect of visual aesthetics to the relationship between source credibility and information adoption. The study provides insights into guidance for making attractive short videos and innovative strategies to spread culture efficiently.

Extended Abstract • Student • James W. Markham Student Paper Competition • V Michelle Michael; Satrajit Ghosh Chowdhury • Extended Abstract: Framing Terrorism in a Global Media Conduit: Comparing Muslim-Majority and Muslim-Minority Countries • This study compared the news coverage of three terrorist attacks in Britain in the summer of 2017. As terrorism and Islam are often erroneously correlated in news coverage, 510 articles from three Muslim-majority and three Muslim-minority countries were analyzed for any differences based on national religious identity. Our study showed that the three Muslim-minority countries used more terrorism frames for Muslim perpetrators than a White perpetrator compared to the three Muslim-majority countries.

Extended Abstract • Student • James W. Markham Student Paper Competition • Nabila Mushtarin, University of South Alabama • #desi: Self-Representation on TikTok among the South Asian Diasporic Youth in the U.S. • With 2 billion downloads and 69% users under the age of 24 across 150 countries, TikTok has become a popular social media platform preferred by the youth for sharing unique interactive contents. The virtual space offered by TikTok motivates its users to participate in short performative videos reflecting socio-cultural practices. This paper explores the use of TikTok by the South Asian Diasporic youth and analyzes its role in offering a virtual space for self-representation of the group.

Research Paper • Student • James W. Markham Student Paper Competition • Mladen Petkov • Journalistic role perceptions and barriers to role fulfilment in post-communist Bulgaria: A preliminary assessment • This preliminary study explores role perception among journalists in Bulgaria, who work in a media landscape where political pressure and dissemination of false information create barriers to role fulfillment. The findings reported in this paper summarize semi-structured interviews with established Bulgarian journalists who discuss their work and reflect on professional values in an era of incomplete political transition and abundant disinformation. The findings make a contribution to scholarly studies about post-communist media systems.

Research Paper • Student • James W. Markham Student Paper Competition • Viktor Tuzov, City University of Hong Kong • Media coverage of trade war between China and United States by Russian media outlets • During the recent years the trade war between China and United States became one of the most important crisis not only in the global economic relations, but also in the international political agenda. The current research is focused on Russian media coverage of trade war between China and United States based on the content analysis and implication of structural differences existing in the current Russian media system into war and peace journalism paradigm.

Extended Abstract • Student • James W. Markham Student Paper Competition • Gea Ujčić • In “Other” news: A media framing analysis of COVID-19 emergence in Croatia • By qualitatively analyzing Croatian coverage of COVID-19 outbreaks in China and Croatia, this paper explored framing and the construction of “Otherness” in three Croatian digital news outlets. Findings indicate stereotyping, dehumanization and Orientalism were present in framing China as a threat, while with the domestic outbreak, empathy, resilience, and personalization prevailed. This paper contributes to the existing literature by exploring Croatian coverage of the pandemic and adding to the research of portrayals of pestilences worldwide.

Research Paper • Student • James W. Markham Student Paper Competition • Lupita Wijaya, Monash University • What’s in a name? Imagined Territories and Sea Names in the South China Sea Conflict • This study compares three disputants in the South China Sea conflict, namely Vietnam, Philippines and Indonesia (2013-2018). This study marks the preferred names as a turning point of maritime territorial imagination, transitioning names from merely geographical references to names bearing territorial and geopolitical implications, exemplified by Philippines’ West Philippine Sea, Vietnam’s East Sea, and Indonesia’s (North) Natuna Sea. Geographic name is not simply a geographic reference of passages anymore but invokes an imagination of boundary and identity. The process of turning the SCS into a conflict has been signified by the practice of name change and this process is imbued with collective memories from past conflict experiences. Content analysis and exploratory topic model show three disputants revolve around contested names in their associated topics and frames.

Extended Abstract • Student • James W. Markham Student Paper Competition • Xin XIN • Extended Abstract: [Imagining Behind the Wall: Representation of Israel on Chinese Online Video Platform Bilibili] • Taking Israel on Chinese online video platform Bilibili as a case, this research adopts qualitative content analysis to investigate how people shape the imagination of distant others through digital media representations. Drawing Orgad’s (2012) global imagination, the researcher discusses three findings including parochial stranger-relationality, otherness in censored digital platform, and self-representation as alternative. Revisiting the work of representation help reveal new challenges and potentials for change in the symbolic production of others.

Extended Abstract • Student • James W. Markham Student Paper Competition • Jiahui Dai, Communication University of China; Yangyue Xiong, Communication University of China • Advocating International Cooperation and Confirming International Status: Metaphors Used by WHO in COVID-19 Briefing Speeches • In COVID-19 epidemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) conducts international communication through three forms: regular media briefings, delegation briefings and attendance of the Director General at other meetings. In this study, a total of 50 speeches from 22 January 2020 to 9 April 2020 of Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of the WHO were selected for critical metaphor analysis. It is found that team metaphor, war metaphor, moral metaphor, journey metaphor and fire metaphor run through the metaphor use of WHO. WHO constructs the response to the COVID-19 epidemic as team work, war, moral responsibility or journey, and the COVID-19 epidemic as fire. In the in-depth analysis of its metaphorical interpretation and explanation, it can be found that WHO has expanded the connotation of these five types of metaphors through different metaphorical carriers, but its metaphorical intention is consistent in two aspects, namely, advocating international cooperation and confirming international status.

Research Paper • doctoral candidate • James W. Markham Student Paper Competition • Weiwen Yu, Arizona State University • Key Players in International Opinions on the U.S.-China Trade War • “Based on relevant theories and using the methods of thematic analysis and social network analysis, this study analyzes the roles of relevant countries and classes in international opinions on the U.S.-China trade war through measuring and comparing the sources and attitudes of related opinions in the mainstream press of some countries. The findings show that the United States and China are the main sources of relevant international opinion in other countries, while the traditional powers Britain and Russia had more opinions mentioned than Vietnam and Iran—even though the latter ones were more affected by the trade war. Meanwhile, elites and decision makers are the main sources of relevant opinions in the United States and China respectively, but there are also some substantial differences between these two countries. The national interests clearly dominated the attitudes of other countries toward the United States and China. At the domestic level, the U.S. government seems to unusually gain the agreement of various classes, while Chinese government is questioned by certain classes in China. All of these could strengthen the U.S. claims and weakened China’s voice in the international opinion. Furthermore, the opinions of relevant international organizations did not gain the attention they deserve from various countries, American and Chinese public opinions also were not expressed adequately in the press dominated by their elites and decision-makers. Their real roles in the international opinion still need to be further investigated.

Research Paper • Faculty • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • Saifuddin Ahmed • Perception and deception: Examining third- and first-person perceptual gaps about deepfakes in US and Singapore • This study is one of the first attempts in understanding public perceptions of deepfakes. Findings from three studies across US and Singapore support third-person perception (TPP about influence) and first-person perception (FPP about recognizing) about deepfakes. A detection test suggests that the TPP and FPP are not predictive of real ability to distinguish deepfakes. Moreover, the perceptual gaps are more intensified among those with higher cognitive ability. The findings contribute to the growing disinformation literature.

Research Paper • Faculty • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • Deb Aikat, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Mariam Alkazemi; Faten Alamri,, Princess, Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, Saudi Arabia; Cathy Zimmer, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • The Influence of Personality on Motivations: Comparing Uses and Gratifications of Social Media Users in the US and Kuwait • “Social media platforms dominate popular communication. However, few studies have examined how the media ecosystem impacts Kuwaiti students’ use of social media, and even fewer have matched it with students in the United States in a comparative context. Based on the uses and gratification approach, this study to compares students from the United States and Kuwait to understand social media use across cultures. This study offers insight to use of social media by students in these two cultural contexts. This study examines how personality may impact their motivations. This study offers insight to use of social media by students in US and Kuwait contexts, and examines how personality may impact their motivations.”

Research Paper • Student • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • Fitria Andayani, University of Missouri • What is ethical in entrepreneurial journalism? • In-depth and semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with Indonesian entrepreneurial journalists to understand their perception of the ethical dilemma due to their double role as journalists and entrepreneurs and how they implement journalism boundaries. The findings informed by the boundary work theory suggested the ethical dilemma is inevitable in varying degrees and contexts. Simultaneously, how entrepreneurial journalists deal with normative issues and implement journalism boundaries depends on their business objectives, journalistic experience, and perceived identity.

Research Paper • Faculty • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • John Beatty, La Salle University • American Stereotypes of Chinese: Traits, Values and Media Use • “This national study examines Americans’ perceptions of Chinese character traits and related cultural values, in addition to media use, communication and demographic items. Recent coverage of China in The New York Times was examined. Respondents perceived Chinese as “career types,” as overly religious and prudish, and generally as “good people.” Correlations with media use, communication patterns and demographics were weak, although there is a relationship between media use and a perception that Chinese are antisocial.”

Extended Abstract • Faculty • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • Brian J. Bowe, American Univ. in Cairo / Western Washington Univ.; Robin Blom, Ball State University; Carolyn Nielsen, Western Washington University; Arwa Kooli, l’Institut de Presse et des Sciences de l’Information • Tunisian and U.S. Journalism Students: A Comparison of Journalism Degree Motivations and Role Conceptions • This study assesses journalism student motivations and role conceptions among Tunisian and U.S. students to compare aspiring journalists in a country with well-established free-press norms to those in a transitional democracy with a recent history of authoritarianism. Preliminary results suggest that Tunisian journalism students are more interested than U.S. journalism students in covering public affairs and using their work to fight social injustice. A Tunisian drive toward public-service journalism is consistent with these activist inclinations.

Research Paper • Faculty • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • Michael Chan, Chinese University of Hong Kong; Jingjing Yi, School of Journalism and Communication, Chinese University of Hong Kong; Panfeng Hu, The Chinese University of Hong Kong; Dmitry Kuznetsov, Chinese University of Hong Kong • The politics of contextualization in communication research: Examining the discursive strategies of non-US research in JCR journals from 2000 to 2020 • Non-US authors are often held to a different standard to US authors when contextualizing the findings and contributions of their research. We examined the discursive strategies they used in 605 articles across eight JCR-listed communication journals from 2000 to 2020. The findings showed a substantive amount of contextualization in relation to US concerns and literature; and demonstrated the ideological hegemony and omnipresence of the US-dominated academic culture that permeates the academic writing of non-US authors.

Research Paper • Faculty • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • Dhiman Chattopadhyay, Shippensburg University • Indian Journalists’ Perceptions About Social Media’s Usefulness, Trustworthiness and Value As a Breaking News Platform • This study examines Indian journalists’ perceptions about (a) social media’s usefulness and (b) trustworthiness, as well as (c) why they believe their colleagues choose social media as a breaking news platform. Results from an online survey of 274 multi-platform journalists across 14 cities, indicated a dichotomy – journalists rated social media as extremely useful, yet not-so-trustworthy professional tool. Further, breaking from hierarchies of influences that have traditionally shaped mainstream media’s gatekeeping decisions, journalists reported that more than professional routines, or organizational diktats, ‘usefulness’ of the platform was the primary reason journalists shared breaking news on social media. Other perceived influences on gatekeeping decisions, included a need for higher page views, and inter-media competition to showcase trending news first. Results indicate emerging challenges for journalism practice in one of the largest non-Western media markets, and offer insights into newer ‘hierarchy of influences’ affecting gatekeeping decisions.

Extended Abstract • Faculty • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • Surin Chung, Ohio University; Eunjin Kim, University of Southern California; Suman Lee, UNC-Chapel Hill; Euirang Lee, Ohio University • How Does Ethical Ideology Affect Behavioral Intention to Wear a Mask in Pandemic? • The present study examined how ethical ideologies (i.e., relativism, and idealism) moderated the relationship between two variables (i.e., attitude, and subjective norm) and behavioral intention to wear a mask during the COVID-19 pandemic. A cross-national survey was conducted in the U.S. and South Korea. The study found that relativism weakens the relationship between the two variables and behavioral intention in the U.S. whereas idealism weakens the relationship between the two variables and behavioral intention in South Korea.

Research Paper • Student • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • Dinfin Mulupi, University of Maryland, College Park; Keegan Clements-Housser, University of Maryland, College Park; Jodi Friedman, University of Maryland, Philip Merrill School of Journalism; Nataliya Rostova; Gea Ujčić; Matt Wilson, University of Maryland; Frankie Ho Chun Wong; Linda Steiner, University of Maryland • Riot on the Hill: International Coverage of a U.S. Insurrection Attempt • A thematic analysis of strategic narratives was employed on media texts from 20 different locales on five continents to determine how the January 6 insurrection was covered in places accustomed to being reprimanded by the United States about governance and human rights. Four overarching themes emerged: reputation of the U.S., depictions of the event, underlying causes of the event, and the political implications of the event marked the worldwide coverage.

Extended Abstract • Member • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • Ioana Coman, Texas Tech University • Extended Abstract: Fighting the Infodemic War on COVID-19 Vaccine: An international comparative analysis of factchecking organizations’ impact on Facebook and dialogic engagement • The COVID-19 pandemic devastated the world. An effective vaccine is deemed as the best solution to overcome this pandemic, but while vaccines have been approved and currently distributed, mis/dis-information contributing to vaccine hesitancy and refusal. Fact-checker organizations are trying to combat the infodemic through posting their fact-checks on social media, especially Facebook. This paper explores the way fact-checkers in four countries are acting on Facebook, their impact, and how their audiences are responding/reacting.

Extended Abstract • Faculty • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • Shugofa Dastgeer; Fatemeh Shayesteh, University of Kansas • The Anti-Execution Movement of Iranians on Social Media • “This study explores the structure and content of the anti-execution movement of Iranians on Twitter. The findings indicate that the networks’ activity depends on cases of executions in Iran and that the networks shrink as an execution case becomes older. While the participants largely used the anti-execution hashtags to discuss their personal (irrelevant topics), most of the relevant tweets were had passive tones and relied on self-sourcing.

Extended Abstract • Student • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • Carlos Davalos, UW-Madison • Two side of the same coin: How violent incidents have opposing media coverages • Summary: Using bilingual content analysis and comparative strategies, the purpose of this study is to observe how American and Mexican mainstream newspapers cover a violent attack on an American Mormon working family on Mexican territory. Results show that the American coverage lacked social and historical context, while the Mexican newspaper coverage used a holistic frame to explain the family’s attack in a national context.

Research Paper • Faculty • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • Victor Garcia-Perdomo, Universidad de La Sabana; Jose Augusto Ventin, Universidad de La Sabana; Juan Camilo Hernández Rodríguez, La Sabana University; Maria Isabel Magaña, Universidad de La Sabana • Testing the protest paradigm on TV and newspapers’ social media coverage of Chilean and Colombian social unrest • This research utilizes the protest paradigm as theory to analyze how TV channels and newspapers in Chile and Colombia covered —on their social media— the historical 2019 protests. According to the paradigm, mainstream media frame stories in a way that focuses on the violence and spectacle, delegitimizing protesters. This paper mixed automatic/manual content analyses to fully explore the adherence to the paradigm in digital environments. Results show key difference among countries, media type and organizations.

Extended Abstract • Student • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • Imran Hasnat, University of Oklahoma; Elanie Steyn, University of Oklahoma • Extended Abstract: Digital Public Diplomacy and Social Media: A Content Analysis of Foreign Embassy Tweets • Digitalization has changed public diplomacy (PD). Literature suggests that the new PD is dialogic and collaborative. Additionally, the presence of embassies online indicates the adoption of new communication platforms. Using Cull’s (2008) taxonomy of PD, this study analyzes tweets from 27 embassies, finding that they still use a broadcast model of communication rather than audience dialogue. It shows that images are the most commonly used media and mentions are more frequently used than hashtags.

Research Paper • Faculty • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • Tang Tang, Kent State University • Information Verification and Discussion Networks as Pandemic Coping Mechanisms: A Cross-Country Study • Emerging infectious disease threats such as COVID-19 have caused profound impact on the human societies worldwide. In coping with the threat, individuals engage in a series of psychological, affective, communicative, and behavioral coping processes. But there is a lack of systematic examination of the roles of information verification and discussion networks in the coping processes. To address these gaps, this study tests and expands the existing IDT appraisal model by including these two factors. A cross-county online survey was conducted in the U.S. and Taiwan, which represent different levels of COVID-19 disease control. The results showed that different types of threat appraisals predicted both negative and positive emotions associated with the pandemic, which in turn predicted information behaviors, including information seeking, sharing, and sharing without verification. Information seeking was positively associated with engagement in protective action taking, whereas information sharing without verification was negatively related to protective responses. Information sharing was associated with protective responses only indirectly through discussion with strong and latent ties. Moreover, discussion with social contacts also mediated the relationships between threat appraisals/emotions and protective responses, but the patterns were different in the U.S. and Taiwan.

Extended Abstract • Faculty • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • You Li, Eastern Michigan U • Assessing the Role Performance of Solutions Journalism in a Global Pandemic • This research compares and contrasts the role performance of journalism in reporting prominent solutions to cope with the COVID-19 global pandemic in 25 countries. It found that solutions journalism performed more civic and loyal facilitator roles overall. The coverage in the U.S. demonstrated less tendency to be an interventionist or loyal facilitator than the coverage in East Asia, Europe, and the Pacific, and the COVID-19 infection number negatively predicted those two roles.

Research Paper • Faculty • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • Limin Liang • From Ritual to Strategy: Li Ziqi as a Cultural Icon and the Political Economic Appropriation of Micro-Celebrity Fame • This paper uses Jeffrey Alexander’s (2004) cultural pragmatics theory in studying the media phenomenon of Li Ziqi, a Chinese vlogger who achieved stardom in major social media platforms with her cinematic videos celebrating the bucolic life of rural China, from preparing local delicacies to making traditional handicraft. The paper zeroes in on the narrative strategies of Li in crafting the image of an authentic pastoral life in China via short videos, which resonates well with an international audience. It moves on to examine how a cultural icon of the social media era maybe coopted by the Chinese state for its strategic soft power initiatives. The success of Li triggered a media debate whether she constitutes a successful form of “Chinese cultural export”, which remains an elusive goal for official media despite the resources channeled into the endeavor each year. As key opinion leaders debate China’s “cultural essence” and how it may create greater influence overseas, the commercialized videos with a cultural theme eventually get caught up in the more grandiose narrative about China’s soft power. The article dwells on the interaction between the authoritarian logic of the state, the proprietary logic of the media market, as well as the logic of network technology in its ever-shifting alliance with the other more established institutions, all within and through the making of a micro-celebrity.

Extended Abstract • Student • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • Anita Kueichun Liu, University at Buffalo; Yotam Ophir; Dror Walter; Itai Himelboim, University of Georgia • Networked Framing and the Role of Elite Gatekeeping During the #TaiwanCanHelp Hashtag Activism Campaign • We examine a Twitter hashtag campaign criticizing the political exclusion of Taiwan from the WHO’s efforts to combat COVID-19. We employed the Analysis of Topic Model Network (ANTMN) to analyze frames used in the #TaiwanCanHelp / #TWforWHO campaign in 2020 (N = 25,992 tweets) and network analysis to study the diffusion of messages and interactions between users. We identify three frames, and demonstrate message diffusion was dominated by Taiwanese and Western politicians and officials.

Extended Abstract • Student • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • Yuanyuan Liu; Liu Yining; Xiaojing Li • Exploring the Mediating Role of Perceived Credibility of Creative Chinese Propaganda Media on Political Participation • Inspired by priming theory, steeping stepping stone effect and spillover effect, this study fully examined the mediating role of Creative Chinese Propaganda Media (CCPM), a new social media platform of China’s party media, in the relationship of media use and political participation among young people in Chinese political contexts. A cross-sectional national survey was conducted in China, including the whole 31 provincial regions in Chinese Mainland, by a random cluster sampling among Chinese college students (N = 3,011). Results proved the whole research model of Chinese youth’s media use, general trust, perceived credibility of CCPM, and their online / offline political participation. It provided theoretical and practical significance for present politics alienation among youngsters, as well as for future studies on political participation, media practice, and political propaganda.

Research Paper • Faculty • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • Justin Martin; Mariam Alkazemi; Krishna Sharma • A “Regional Halo Effect”? Media Use and Evaluations of America’s Relationships with Middle East Countries • This study examined news use and social media use as predictors of diplomacy evaluations of five Middle East countries among a representative survey of U.S. adults (N=2,059) conducted in September 2020. Respondents were asked if they deem each Saudi Arabia, Israel, Palestine, Qatar, and the UAE an ally, neutral, or enemy of the United States. The study utilized media and political socialization and public diplomacy scholarship as the theoretical framework. News use and social media use were mostly uncorrelated with diplomacy ratings of the countries, with the exception of Palestine, regarding which newspaper use and hard news consumption were associated with positive ratings and use of Fox News was associated with negative evaluations. The strongest and most consistent, positive predictors of diplomacy ratings were positive ratings of other countries. For example, rating each Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE as allies of the U.S. was strongly associated with similar evaluations of Israel. We may be observing a kind of “regional halo effect,” whereby people in the U.S. who view one country in a foreign region favorably, or negatively, tend to hold most, or all, other countries in that region in similar regard. The authors recommend that the current survey be replicated in the U.S. for ratings of groups of South Asian and sub-Saharan African countries, to test whether this halo effect applies elsewhere. Implications for research on media use and political socialization and on public diplomacy are discussed.

Research Paper • Faculty • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • Abhijit Mazumdar, Park University; Zahra Mansoursharifloo, Park University • Who is a Less Dangerous Foe? Comparing U.S. Media Portrayal of Taliban and ISIS • “This quantitative research used Indexing theory to study U.S. press portrayal of Taliban and ISIS between 2014 and 2019. There was significant difference on eight frames. The U.S. press portrayed Taliban as a less dangerous foe with which the U.S. could broker a peace deal. However, ISIS was portrayed as a terrorist outfit that had to be crushed. Indexing theory found support from findings of the research.

Research Paper • • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • Mingxiao Sui, Ferrum College; Yunjuan Luo, South China University of Technology; Newly Paul, University of North Texas • Trade War, or A War of Fake News?: An Exploration of Factors Influencing the Perceived Realism of Falsehood News on International Disputes • The rise of misinformation in recent years has re-boosted scholarly effort in investigating the origins, consequences, and remedies for the circulation of falsehood news, which primarily scrutinizes this phenomenon in one single nation. This scholarship has not yet considered how this phenomenon evolves in the context of international disputes where dissents, debates and rhetorical attacks often exist. Through a survey experiment, this study examines how Chinese readers’ perceptions about falsehood news is affected by a set of factors including news source, the presence of visual elements, general trust in mainstream Chinese media and trust in mainstream U.S. media, as well as general media literacy. Results suggest that falsehood stories reported by homeland media are perceived to better represent the reality of covered issue than those by foreign counterpart. This relationship is also moderated by readers’ general trust in U.S. media and general media literacy, which thus suggests media literacy training as a possible resolution to counter-effect news source.

Research Paper • Faculty • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • Wunpini Fatimata Mohammed, University of Georgia • Decolonizing Methodologies in Media Studies • Drawing on an African feminist autoethnography framework grounded in a decolonial philosophy of Bilchiinsi, I present critical reflections on my experiences as an African scholar conducting research on media studies in Ghana. I argue that although canonical theories can be useful in theorizing African media systems, it is imperative to decolonize research by first looking to Indigenous African epistemologies and knowledge systems to support knowledge production in media studies and communication(s).

Extended Abstract • Faculty • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • Ruth Moon, Louisiana State University; Tryfon Boukouvidis, Louisiana State University; Fanny Ramirez, Louisiana State University • Covering COVID-19 in the Global South: Digital news values in the Ugandan journalism field • This study examines the differences between online homepage content and print front page content in a Ugandan newspaper (the Daily Monitor) to assess the extent to which current knowledge about homepage news selection applies to the Ugandan and by extension East African and sub-Saharan African contexts. The data comes from spring and summer 2020, in the height of the COVID-19 crisis, allowing the study to also draw conclusions about how the crisis was covered across platforms.

Research Paper • Faculty • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • Bahtiyar Kurambayev, KIMEP University; karlyga myssayeva, al-Farabi Kazakh National University • Boycotting Behavior in Journalism • “A plethora of studies about boycotting exist in political sciences, marketing, business and other areas of scholarship, but this theme has been largely overlooked in journalism. This study contributes to scholarship on this unexplored aspect of journalism by examining boycotting behavior in an Asian context of Kazakhstan.

Although this study may have somewhat limited generalizability, this article interviewed journalists and editors from October 2020-February 2021 to examine their professional motivations in boycotting. The study identified that some journalists and news outlets in this politically constrained environment employ somewhat hidden, non-confrontational or undeclared tactics to boycott some selected news sources and certain policies in response to what they view as injustices in society, even when they see boycotting as ineffective. Accumulated professional tensions in an economically and politically constrained context lead to various forms of resistance and protests.

The findings also suggest that financially independent journalists are more likely to boycott certain sources of information, challenge authorities and protest or show resistance, while less financially secure journalists tend to be reluctant to challenge external forces affecting their own journalistic practice. This study discusses the findings in relation to Bourdieu’s field theory.

Extended Abstract • Faculty • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • Carolyn Nielsen, Western Washington University; Brian J. Bowe, American Univ. in Cairo / Western Washington Univ.; Arwa Kooli, l’Institut de Presse et des Sciences de l’Information • Digital Natives, Nascent Democracy: Tunisian Pre-Professional Journalists’ Uses and Perceptions of Social Media • This study assesses Tunisian journalism students’ uses and perceptions of social media in their work. This survey, conducted almost a decade after the country’s Jasmine Revolution saw an authoritarian regime and its state-run news media replaced with democratic elections and laws protecting a free press, shows Tunisian journalism students are using social media largely to connect with the audience, to monitor competitors, and to conduct research. Respondents were divided about impacts on the field.”

Extended Abstract • Faculty • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • Ivanka Pjesivac, U of Georgia; Iveta Imre, U Mississippi; Ana Petrov, University of Toronto • The Use of Sources in News Stories about 2020 American Elections on Croatian Television: Who Dominates the Narrative? • This study examined the coverage of 2020 American elections on Croatian Public Service Television’s website. The results of the content analysis showed that Croatian television used significantly more international than domestic sources, more official than unofficial sources, more male than female sources, more named than unnamed sources, and more real people accounts than documents. The results are interpreted in the context of primary definer theories of news sources use applied to South/East European media model.

Research Paper • Faculty • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • Enakshi Roy, Towson University • To say or not to say: Examining online self-censorship of political opinions in India • This study examines how self-censorship by social media users in India may be contributing to the limitations of media freedom. While right to free speech to all Indian citizens is assured by the Indian Constitution, a climate of repressive media freedom can have an impact on individual expressions. It can lead to a chilling effect in the public discourse of controversial issues. This study examines self-censorship on Facebook and Twitter with regards to government criticism. Survey (N=141) results suggest respondents with liberal attitudes were unwilling criticize the government on social media. However, respondents with pro-censorship attitudes, even if they deemed the opinion climate as hostile, were willing to support Prime Minister Narendra Modi on social media. Findings from this study expand understandings of online opinion expression and self-censorship in India.

Research Paper • Faculty • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • Enakshi Roy, Towson University • Decade of Internet Censorship in India Examining Google Transparency Reports and Content Takedowns from 2010-2020 • Drawing on the literature on internet censorship this study investigates the practice of content takedowns carried out by the Indian governments. To that end this research employs two studies. Study 1 examines the transparency reports of Google from 2010- 2020 to find out what content is removed from Google platforms. Study 2 through in-depth interviews with technology lawyers and authors of transparency reports finds out about the content removal process and its complexities. The findings show “defamation,” “privacy and security,” “religious offense” and “national security” as the most frequently cited reasons for content removal initiated by the Indian government. Findings reveal a disturbing trend where defamation notices were misused to request takedown of content that was critical of the governments, politicians, public figures, law enforcement officials, and police. The findings of this study are important, they demonstrate several ways in which the internet is being censored even in democratic countries without the knowledge of the users. Such censorship maybe eroding the freedom of speech guaranteed by the Constitutions of India.

Research Paper • Faculty • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • Hyunjin Seo, University of Kansas; Yuchen Liu; Muhammad Ittefaq, University of Kansas; Fatemeh Shayesteh, University of Kansas; Ursula Kamanga; Annalise Baines • International Migrants and COVID-19 Vaccinations: Social Media, Motivated Information Management & Vaccination Willingness • Using a mixed-methods approach combining an online survey with in-depth interviews, this study examines how international migrants in the United States used online resources in dealing with uncertainties surrounding COVID-19 vaccinations and how it is related to their vaccine willingness. Our results show that international migrants’ perceived uncertainty, positive and negative emotions, efficacy, and outcome expectancy affect their information seeking related to the vaccination and that issue salience moderates the effect between information seeking and vaccine willingness.

Research Paper • Faculty • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • Meghan Sobel Cohen, Regis University • A Dark Continent? Meta-analysis of communication scholarship focused on African nations • Using meta-analytic work, this study examines communication research methods, geographic focus, and lead author affiliation in research articles published in four leading communication journals over the course of a decade (2010 – 2019). Results point to scholarship by authors from North American and European institutions being dominant throughout the decade of analysis alongside an overwhelming research focus on North American and European populations and content, and a continued reliance on a small number of research methods.

Research Paper • Faculty • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • Xiao Zhang, Macau University of Science and Technology; Chris Chao Su, Boston University • Media genre dissonance and ambivalent sexism: How American and Korean television consumption shapes Chinese audiences’ gender-role values • Driven by globalization, modernity and the development of media technology, transnational media consumption is increasingly prevalent. Together with indigenous media genres, exotic media genres constitute the fragmentation and diversification of individuals’ media consumption. Yet research concerning the hybrid media effects generated by indigenous and exotic media genres is still underdeveloped. Using a sample of 556 Chinese Internet users, this exploratory study proposes a concept of media genre dissonance to compare the effects of hybrid media consumption on sexism and gender-role norms in marriage (GRIM) in China. The findings suggest that individuals’ perceptions of gender-role norms are not only affected by indigenous media usage but also altered through exotic media usage. We illustrate how genre dissonance can affect Chinese audiences’ perception of GRIM through the mediating roles of culturally specific sexism and general sexism found in American and Korean television dramas.

Research Paper • Student • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • Louisa Ha • Election Interference Strategies Among Foreign News Outlets on Social Media During the U.S. 2020 Election • This study investigates foreign interference in the 2020 U.S. election news coverage of BBC World News, RT America and CGTN America across social media platforms from August 28, 2020, to November 2, 2020. We employed a content analysis of 420 randomly selected posts from Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter accounts of these three state-controlled international news outlets. We found content and political relationship factors affected engagement differently in each social media platform. Adversaries of the U.S. were more likely to employ election interference strategies than were allies, although the occurrences were low overall.

Research Paper • Student • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • Jo Lukito • Russian Bots’ Narrative During Donald J. Trump’s 2020 Senate Impeachment Trial: A Text Mining Analysis • An analysis of Russian-language tweets (n1 = 465,329) collected during the 2020 U.S. Senate impeachment trial reveals that bots accounted for nearly 58% of users (n2 = 39,580) that generated 55% of overall content in a data set. LDA topic modeling method was employed to identify and quantify the differences in topic engagement between bots and nonbots. These findings offer empirical support for the theory of reflexive control, providing insights into Russia’s domestic information operations.

Research Paper • Faculty • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • Tamara Welter; Jason Brunt • Effects of Individualism and Race On Visual Processing: An Eye-Tracking Experiment • Previous research suggests that East Asians tend to look at the context of an image while Westerners look more at the area of interest. Other research suggests that people might examine photos of same-race and other-race faces differently. Here, we tested for a same v. other race effect for looking at pictures of people in front of naturalistic backgrounds. Across two studies, for measures of number of fixations and for mean length of fixation to AOI and background, we found different effects for race of participant, same race and for number of people in the photograph.

Extended Abstract • Student • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • Natalie Jomini Stroud; Tamar Wilner, University of Texas at Austin • Normative Expectations for Social Media Platforms • Critiques of social media hint at normative expectations, such as the ideas that information should be reliable and people should feel safe. It is unclear how these expectations vary, however, and whether they are better predicted by where one lives or one’s most-used platform. Our survey of over 20,000 people across 20 countries finds that expectations vary more based on respondents’ country of residence than most-used platform, revealing a challenge for social media’s homogenized products.

Research Paper • Student • Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition • Dongdong Yang, The University of Connecticut; Carolyn Lin • Communicating Nation Branding: Pandas as Ambassadors for Wildlife Conservation and International Diplomacy • The current study investigated whether watching panda videos could influence attitudes toward the “brand” of China. Results showed that nature relatedness and wildlife-conservation attitude positively predicted emotional response to the video and attitude toward Chinese culture. Wildlife-conservation attitude positively influenced attitude toward the Chinese government. Political conservativism negatively impacted attitude toward Chinese culture; the latter was positively linked to attitude toward Chinese people. Attitude toward Chinese people were positively connected to attitude toward their government.

<2021 Abstracts