Tips from the AEJMC Teaching Committee
AEJMC Plenary — Grade inflation: Does ‘B’ stand for ‘Bad’?
(Article courtesy of AEJMC News, July 2011 issue)
Grade inflation. Now that’s a prickly subject.
Some cite the Vietnam War as the beginning of grade inflation. Students – and professors – were rebelling against the war, and grades were raised so young men could avoid the draft by maintaining their student deferment. Others point to graduate programs where a “C” is a failing grade, a standard which may have passed down to undergraduates.
Every faculty member has a story. There’s the “My parents paid for an A” saga. Really, I had a student say that. My response: “I think you owe your parents a refund.” I was new to teaching and, perhaps, too honest. But that was the mentality at the private university where I was teaching at the time. Now I realize it was a push for grade inflation.
Grade inflation – that upward shift in GPAs without a similar shift in what was learned – seems to be systemic. And wherever the grade inflation debate surfaces, many questions bubble up.
Why are grades inflated? Do we, as faculty, fear poor student evaluations? Or do we have so many spinning plates that we can’t spend the time grading – and giving detailed feedback – to justify lower grades?
Is an “A” the trophy entitled millennials expect for showing up, similar to the trophies they received in elementary school for being on the team, no matter the record?
Is the earned grade worth the harassment from students – and sometimes their helicopter parents? Do you wait until the last minute to post your grades, then bolt from campus before anyone can find you?
Even more basic, does grade inflation exist? Or are reports of grade inflation inflated?
The Standing Committee on Teaching has been kicking the grade inflation topic around and realizes this is an issue for all of us – whether you’re in a public or a private school, a big or a small program. We plan to tackle the grade inflation quagmire in our plenary session titled The Lake Woebegone effect: Are all our students above average?
The session will kick off with Stuart Rojstaczer, a Ph.D. from Stanford and former Duke University professor who is the founder of GradeInflation.com, a website that publishes research on grading. Dr. Rojstaczer has written extensively about higher education, including articles in The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Chronicle of Higher Education.
In addition, a panel also will share perspectives on grade inflation – as junior and senior faculty, as an administrator and as a student. Then we’ll open the floor for Q&A so you can join in the discussion.
We hope you’ll learn both the myths and facts associated with grade inflation. For example, do tough teachers receive bad student evaluations? Or higher? Is rigorous grading related to how much our students learn? If students work, and have less time to study, are their grades higher or lower?
And we’ll address other concerns: What will my chair and dean think of me if I’m tough? Will they support me, or cave to student demands? Should we expect more of our students? Should our classes be more rigorous? Will they meet the challenge?
This is especially relevant to those of us in journalism and mass communication programs. What do we teach in journalism? Writing. Above all else, we are writers. And to be a writer you have to be a critical thinker that requires complex reasoning. So we, professors of journalism, have a tough job.
You’ll hear solid advice gleaned from other experts that will point the way to possible solutions. Don’t miss this thought-provoking plenary session at 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, August 11. We anticipate a packed house and hope you’ll join the conversation.
Now for a bit of wisdom from a cartoon that’s taped to the wall of our copy room. The name of the strip is missing, but the message is clear. The setting is the exchange between a young student and a person sweeping the floor.
Student: “Isn’t the customer always right?”
Reply: “Right.”
Student: “So Mrs. Olsen is always wrong and I’m always right.”
Reply: “Wrong.”
Student: “I’m the student! I’m the customer!”
Reply: “Wrong.”
Student: “I’m the product, aren’t I?”
Reply: “Right.”
We want our students – the products of our programs – to be the writers and thinkers for the next generation. We hope this plenary strengthens your understanding of why “tough is good” – leading to stronger “products” for a better future.
By Sheri Broyles, Chair
University of North Texas
AEJMC Teaching Committee
Commission on the Status of Women 2011 Abstracts
The Male Gaze and Online Sports Punditry: A Case Study of the Ines Sainz Controversy • Aidan Bryant, Syracuse University; Kenneth Merrill, Syracuse University; Emily Dolan, Syracuse University; Siying Chang, Syracuse University • On September 11th, 2010 Ines Sainz, a sports reporter for TV Azteca (a Spanish language Mexican network), was allegedly harassed by members of the New York Jets. Controversy erupted around the role of women in sports broadcasting and the myriad attendant dimensions involved, including issues of credibility, dominant beauty ideals, and the male gaze, among others. This case study assesses how sports blogs covered the controversy, using a combination of in-depth interviewing and textual analysis of four popular sports blogs. This study examines themes of the male gaze, credibility, the role of women in sports broadcasting, and the political/sexual economy of sports blogs.
Sexual Messages in Black and White: A case study of Essence and Cosmo • Carolyn Byerly, Howard University; Rebecca Reviere, Howard University • The study examined the discourse on women’s sexual freedom as it appeared in the advice columns of two popular American magazines, Essence and Cosmopolitan — the first oriented toward Black women, the second to White women. The study situated its concerns historically by asking whether the discourse in these columns reflected the tenets of second wave feminism, which advanced new tenets of women’s sexual liberation. Next, it sought to learn whether the discourse engaged sexual themes of transgression, pleasing the other and go-getting, as posed by Machin and Thornborrow. Black feminist theory and critical discourse analysis provided the theoretical framework and methodology. Findings revealed that readers of Essence are more likely to see tenets of sexual liberation embedded in advice columns, which give women a wider range of sexual choices than are those of Cosmo. Cosmo readers are more likely to be advised to excite and keep their men and to be more flexible if they stray.
Don’t Call Me That: Examining the Discourse the Precedes the Term “Mommy Blogger” • Gina Masullo Chen, S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, Syracuse University • A textual analysis of 29 women’s blog posts and 653 blog comments debating the meaning of the term mommy blogger reveals that these women feel the term reinforces women’s hegemonic normative role as nurturers, thrusting women into a virtual private sphere in the blogosphere. The use of mommy, versus mother, highlights this subjective norm, although some women pointed out the term was useful for marketing and creating a sense of community with other women online.
An Analysis of Attributes Students Use to Describe Good Male and Female Instructors • Katie Clune, Rockhurst University • The purpose of this study was to analyze ways students describe those instructors they consider to be “good” instructors and to assess how well male and female instructors meet the expectations for a good instructor. Male instructors were more frequently described as engaging, focused on student learning, knowledgeable, and ethical. Female instructors were more frequently described as caring, helpful, and friendly than their male counterparts. Results indicate students may have gendered expectations for their instructors.
“Vicious assault shakes Texas town:” The politics of gender violence in The New York Times’ coverage of a schoolgirl’s gang rape • Meenakshi Durham, University of Iowa • This paper analyzes public discourse around The New York Times coverage of the gang rape of a schoolgirl in Cleveland, Texas. After the story broke, bloggers, commentators and editorial writers launched searing critiques of the story’s victim-blaming and sexist perspective. Using critical textual analysis, this study analyzes the ways in which feminist media scholarship formed an implicit framework for the response. The analysis revealed that lay critics examined sourcing, language use, and racial stereotyping to dissect and dissent with The Times’ reportage. The paper reflects on feminist praxis as it is articulated in online media to bring about changes to a rape culture.
Women to Watch speak out: Looking behind the curtain of mentoring, networking and gender • Kali Flewellen, University of North Texas; Sheri Broyles, University of North Texas; Jean Grow, Marquette University • Senior women in advertising from Advertising Age’s 1997 to 2009 Women to Watch lists were asked open-ended questions about the award. A content analysis of responses identified thematic categories pointing to the importance of mentors and networks for women. Parity in the workplace and whether the “Plexiglas” ceiling is still firmly in place are also discussed. Rich verbatim comments give insights to both the past and hope for the future for women in advertising.
Paying Her Dues: The Early Career of Pioneering Broadcaster Pauline Frederick • Marilyn Greenwald, Ohio University • By the time she died in 1990 at 84, Pauline Frederick had been the first women to broadcast news from overseas and the first women to cover the United Nations as a fulltime beat. By the time she was 39, Frederick had extensive newspaper, syndicate and radio experience, but she was still hired only as a stringer in an era and an industry that marginalized women. This paper examines her early career and outlines how she persevered and navigated a male-dominated industry to become a pioneering journalist.
“Ronald Reagan in Heels”: How Tea Party “Mama Grizzlies” Framed Gender and Public Issues in the 2010 U.S. Mid-Term Election • Jaesik Ha, Indiana University • This study examined how, in the 2010 election, female Tea Party candidates frequently attacked both the “femininity” of male candidates and some of President Obama’s policies, such as immigration and health care. It used a discourse analysis of news media interviews with female Tea Party candidates, as well as the candidates’ television debates, campaign advertisements and web-site content during the course of the mid-term election of 2010. One salient tactic by female Tea party candidates was to attack the manhood of their opponents. A second, recurring strategy favored by female tea partiers was to construct a public persona linked to widely known conservative luminaries in order to appeal to voters. They purposefully tried to depict themselves as disciples of Ronald Reagan and of Sarah Palin. By doing so, they framed themselves as determined, strong, and courageous politicians. The tactical choice to align their public personas with Reagan and to become Palinesque “mama grizzlies” came from their judgment that such personas could be advantageous to their campaigns. Also, even though female Tea Party candidates expressed strong opposition to government intervention, they nonetheless advocated the state’s involvement in individuals’ private lives in moral and cultural issues such as abortion and gay rights. This study shows that the campaign by female Tea Party candidates in the 2010 election was driven by not “women’s” issues, but by the economic distress felt by the American public.
The Symbolic Annihilation of Women in Globalization Discourse: The Same Old Story in U.S. Newsmagazines • Dustin Harp, University of Texas at Austin; Summer Harlow, University of Texas at Austin; Jaime Loke, University of Oklahoma • This quantitative and qualitative analysis of Time and Newsweek explores how women are incorporated into a globalization discourse that often is seen as a masculinized public sphere. Results indicate that while female journalists integrate women into the news more than their male counterparts, females are invisible in globalization coverage. When discussing female empowerment via globalization, it is through an economic lens with an eye to the impact on women’s traditional roles as wives and mothers.
What’s the Problem? Newspapers Explain Global Sex Trafficking • Anne Johnston, School of Journalism & Mass Communication, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Barbara Friedman, School of Journalism & Mass Communication, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Autumn Shafer, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • This study content analyzed all sex trafficking-related stories appearing in major U.S. print news sources in 2009. A total of 281 news articles were analyzed for the differences occurring in stories that focused on the domestic aspect of sex trafficking from those that focused on transnational dimensions of trafficking. Findings indicated that transnational stories were more likely to cover a range of solutions, causes and consequences to sex trafficking than did domestic focused stories.
Feminist pornography as cultural variation: Using Judith Butler to analyze its potential for resistance • Rachael Liberman, University of Colorado at Boulder • The following paper takes up an analysis using the work of feminist philosopher Judith Butler—specifically Gender Trouble (1990), Bodies That Matter (1993), and The Psychic Life of Power (1997)—as a point of entry for analyzing the work of feminist pornography as resistance. Butler’s commitment to the deconstruction of normative assumptions concerning gender and sexuality, as well as her related conceptualizations of subjectivity, performance, and cultural intelligibility offer an alternative to the long-standing argument that feminist pornography is either a “good” or “bad” project for feminism. As feminists have begun to embrace the postmodernist ideas, a trend easily identified in third wave feminism and navigations though identity politics, it should follow that feminist praxis, such as feminist pornography, should be analyzed in a similar fashion. Butler (1993) points out that gender and sexuality as not static conditions of the body, but are rather processes of materialization or intelligibility that are informed by changing cultural conditions (p. 2). The questions therefore become: Where does feminist pornography fit within the “matrix of gender relations?” (p. 7). To what extent does feminist pornography disrupt the process of sexual norm stabilization? And finally, why does feminist pornography matter for feminism? In order to answer these questions as well as provide a general analysis of feminist pornography vis-à-vis Judith Butler’s theories on performance, subjectivity, and materialization, this paper will analyze the work of three feminist pornographers: Candida Royalle, Tristan Taormino, and Joanna Angel.
Gender Stereotypes and Citizen Journalism: Exploring what effect, if any, gender match has on story credibility for citizen journalism and staff written news • Hans Meyer, Ohio University • Researchers have suggested that gender stereotypes help determine the credibility of news stories, but the Internet may help mitigate that effect, especially for citizen journalism. Through an online experiment that manipulates story authorship – either staff or audience – and the author’s gender, this study suggest other cues on the Web have more of an effect than gender for staff written stories. Audience written stories appeal and are more credible to women if they are written by other women. This reflects that citizen journalism sites work as an alternative to traditional media online.
Feminist Media Literacy and Underserved Girls • Micah Carpender; Leigh Moscowitz, College of Charleston • This project reports on the results of a semester-long feminist critical media literacy initiative targeting underserved fourth- and fifth-grade girls at a Title I school in South Carolina. The goal of this project – an after-school club for girls- was to help students think critically about their relationships with and responses to media messages, particularly in terms of race, gender, and class. Specifically, this club aimed to privilege girls’ voices, experiences, and agency by culminating with the girls’ own media production, zines (hand-made, hand-distributed booklets based around the girls’ own interests and experiences). This study assesses this initiative using the scholarly frameworks of media studies, girls’ studies and feminist critical media literacy. Through examining before and after focus group interviews conducted with participants and analyzing the content of their zines, we ascertain what effect the initiative had on girls’ self-image, critical thinking skills, and media relationships. This study thus provides media educators, scholars, and activists with a case study of the effects of feminist media literacy and cultural production on underserved girls of color. Ultimately, our findings both emphasize the need for feminist critical media literacy education and cultural production and articulate its pedagogical challenges. It is our hope that our assessment of this project will function as a starting point, encouraging educators and activists to continue creating and practicing relevant and meaningful forms of critical media pedagogy with girls.
Anorexia on the Internet: A Look at the Pro-Ana Community Through Feminist, Social Comparison, and Uses and Gratifications Theories • Rachelle Pavelko, University of Memphis • “Pro-ana” refers to those who view anorexia nervosa as a “lifestyle choice” rather than a disease, and is a community rooted within social networking. A thorough review of feminist, social comparison, and uses and gratifications theories was conducted and applied to both pro-ana participants and websites. A content analysis was then executed to determine which females are more prone to join the pro-ana community, and what types of information are available through the websites.
Gender and power at the crossroads: Examining the nexus of gender and power in public relations • Katie Place, Saint Louis University • This qualitative study of 45 women public relations practitioners in the United States examined how gender and power intersect in the public relations industry. One research question was posed: What are the intersections of gender and power in public relations for women practitioners? Results suggest that gender and power intersect through gendered appearances, management style, women’s bonding together for power, expectations and stereotypes, and women’s self-realization and choices. This study contributes to the body of public relations and gender scholarship by illustrating that gender and power are inherently intersectional and forged through discourse, socialization and resulting solidified stereotypes, expectations and workplace standards. Ultimately, gender and power exist in a push-pull system of simultaneous empowerment and oppression.
The Gendering of Weight-Loss Advertisements in the Beginning of the Obesity Age • Deanna Pogorelc, Ohio University • A content analysis of more than 400 weight-loss advertisements published in men’s and women’s magazines between 2001 and 2005 revealed that weight-loss advertising demonstrated patterns of gendered stereotypes and may contribute to weight problems in the United States by driving a preoccupation with food and flaunting idealized male and female bodies.
Coverage of Domestic Violence: A Pilot Study • Megan Ward, Therese Lueck and Heather Walter, The University of Akron • Mediated reality that draws on cultural myths for gendered narratives reinforces patriarchy. This study explores the coverage of domestic violence as a culturally constructed journalistic narrative. A research team assessed journalism students’ understanding of domestic violence before and after presentations and workshops. Overall, the students showed a heightened awareness of domestic violence and an ability to discern the quality of journalistic practices in its coverage.
A False Start, a Heavy Burden and Hugs: A Study of the Female “Firsts” in Newspaper Management • Kimberly Voss, University of Central Florida; Lance Speere, University of Central Florida • This is an examination of the promotions and the aftermath for three significant women in newspaper management: Gloria Biggs, Carol Sutton and Janet Chusmir. Their stories are important to understand how progress was made and how it was slowed. It also provides perspectives about the different paths to management for women. To truly understand the time period, this study will also address the intersection of these women’s careers with feminism. Material was drawn from interviews with former colleagues and family members, media coverage of their promotions, archival materials for Biggs and an oral history for Sutton.
From Inept Intruders to Suspicious Sex Vixens: The Problem of Heterosexuality in Sports Information • Erin Whiteside, University of Tennessee • This research expands on the ways sexuality as a discourse can be understood as an expression of power with a specific effect on women through the exploration of what I call the problem of heterosexuality. As deviants in the space of sports, women stand before a constant “panoptical gaze” (Bartky, 1988). Their presence is questioned and their motives are framed as suspect, two concepts explored in this research. In escaping the lesbian stigma, women may earn acceptance from men and freedom from suspicion regarding their sexuality. Yet, that acceptance may result in a cost to their professional credibility in the form of sexual harassment and suspicion regarding their ethics and virtue as SIDs. Ultimately, in proving their heterosexuality, women must also manage it in a way as to not invite unwanted advances or the perception that their presence in sports information is the product of unethical motives in the form of a desire to meet men. I conclude this article by arguing that sexuality discourses are problematic for women in that female SIDs find themselves in a kind of maze with no way out: Their presence raises constant questions about their sexuality that forces women into a constant state of angst about their appearance and public presentation.
Culture Changes as Reflected in Portrayals of Women in Chinese Magazines Published in Three Eras • Yue Yin, Iowa State University • This study examines how women’s roles and gender were portrayed in magazines published during three epochs of Chinese history: before, during, and after the Cultural Revolution. A content analysis and discourse analysis of articles that discussed the role of women and gender were conducted to determine and describe the most commonly occurring frames applied over time. The findings suggest more attention to the combined impact of the mainstream culture and sub-cultures on media content.
Sports Communication 2011 Abstracts
Expressed, Written Consent: The Broadcast Industry and Sports Anti-Trust Legislation, 1953-1961 • Thomas Corrigan, Penn State • Though NFL Commissioner Rozelle undoubtedly facilitated the Sports Broadcasting Act’s quick passage and signing, these accounts tend to remove the bill from nearly a decade of relevant Congressional, legal and industry context. This paper attempts to shore up some of these gaps by closely examining the interests of and actions by broadcasters in the lead-up to and debate over the legislation. In light of the SBA’s long-term industry implications, the view of broadcasters and the NAB is an important side of the act that—up to this point—has received scant interest.
Can Visual Complexity Impede Appreciation of Mediated Sports? • Glenn Cummins, Texas Tech University College of Mass Communications • Sports telecasts are frequently the showcase and testing ground for innovative broadcast technologies. One particularly novel example of this is ESPN’s coverage of college athletics via its multiscreen or mosaic format. This experiment demonstrates that although this format does not impede appreciation of game play, viewers nonetheless reported a more negative evaluation of this technique compared to a traditional broadcast. However, tentative evidence hints that appreciation of dull game play is enhanced by this format.
The Ochocinco Brand: Social Media’s Impact on the NFL’s Institutional Control • Jacob Dittmer • The National Football League is mockingly dubbed the “No Fun League” by sports fans and critics who view the league’s hyper-regulatory nature as prohibiting expression and limiting player and fan choice. Chad Ochocinco has broken free of the league’s controls by developing a brand persona and identity that embraces his NFL player status and deploys social media in its construction. This paper examines the emergence of the “Ochocinco brand,” its development through mediated platforms (Twitter, Facebook, Reality TV), and its commodity forms (t-shirts, smart phone apps, cereal). By examining the political economy of the NFL institution and aspects of digital culture exemplified in social media, this paper explores the conflicts between old institutions of control and individual brands developed through social media.
“They never do this to men”: College women athletes’ responses to sexualized images of professional female athletes • Tracy Everbach, University of North Texas; Jenny Mumah, University of North Texas • This study examined the reactions of college women athletes to mass media images of nude and scantily clad professional female athletes. Employing a qualitative process, the study sought to find how 18- to 22-year-old female athletes felt about the pressure on women to pose for sexualized photographs. This research is important because of the lack of media coverage of women’s sports and the mass media’s sexualization of women’s bodies. Using a feminist framework, the study found that such photos revealed athletes’ impressions of their own and others’ femininity, sexuality, gender differences and body image. The study found that college female athletes are well aware of the notion that “sex sells” and the commodification of women’s bodies in American society. Many were uncomfortable with this phenomenon and said it is unfair and perpetuates double standards for men and women. Others said sexualized images lead to negative body image and, perhaps, eating disorders. Some college athletes embraced the nude photos, maintaining they empowered women and showed off their femininity.
An Everyday Issue: Examining race in baseball journalism • Patrick Ferrucci, U of Missouri; Melanie Buford, University of Missouri; Ashley Douglas; David Herrera, University of Missouri • Philomena Essed’s theory of everyday racism suggests that racism in America occurs subtly, even unnoticeably, but still affects our society in the same way overt racism does. This experiment examined whether everyday racism exists in baseball journalism. The findings suggest that everyday racism lurks in baseball journalism and that news consumers may not detect its presence or effects.
Gender and Racial Source Bias in Sports Illustrated Kids, 2000-2009 • Ashley Furrow, Ohio University • Most studies of daily news reports have found evidence of substantial source bias, especially in the form of heavy reliance on European male societal elites for information (Brown, Bybee, Wearden, & Straughan, 1987; Hackett, 1985; Lasorsa & Reese, 1990). Source bias refers to the extent that journalists seek information from particular groups, which results in a limited range of perspectives and opinions about the news item or event. Such bias exists when people holding different points of view have limited or no opportunity to express those views or become part of the news process (Gans, 1979; Lee & Solomon, 1990; Sigal, 1973). This study conducted a content analysis of sources in feature articles (N=315) in Sports Illustrated Kids to determine whether the sources reflect actual participation rates in athletic competition based on gender and race. This study found that women continue to be vastly underrepresented within the magazine’s pages as dominant subjects and sources. Articles using men as sources vastly outnumber those using women as sources by a ratio of more than 5 to 1 (84.1% to 15.9%). Only 21.1% of feature articles were stories for which the dominant subject(s) were female athletes or female-specific sports teams, whereas men accounted for 78.9%. As far as a racial difference, only 30.9% of articles featured racial minority athletes as the dominant subject.
Framing the concussion issue in the NFL: A content analysis of New York Times Coverage from 2001 to 2010 • Vernon Harrison, University of Alabama; Kenon A. Brown, The University of Alabama • The increase of concussions in the NFL has become a serious issue for not only the league, but for college and youth football programs as well. Using framing theory as the theoretical lens, this paper will examine the framing of the concussion issue in NFL. A content analysis was conducted of New York Times coverage of the issue from May 2001 until October 2010. Results show that the increase of concussions in the NFL has been identified, and possible causes and solutions have been given in the last two years. Results also show that the issue is being framed increasingly more as an organizational issue that needs to be addressed.
Baseball’s digital disconnect: Trust, media credentialing, and the independent blogger • Avery Holton, University of Texas-Austin • Non-media affiliated sports blogs represent the largest contingent of sports blogs today, yet bloggers continue to face accessibility problems when it comes to coverage. Most professional sports teams employ media relations personnel who serve as gatekeepers, deciding who receives access and who does not. Such choices are often based on the abstract concept of trust, which this study focused on. The survey results from 126 professional baseball gatekeepers reinforce the fact that accessibility is most likely to restricted for bloggers, especially those not connected with a media outlet. However, this study sought to determine the differences, if any, between the levels of trust gatekeepers place in traditional news media and bloggers as well as how such disparities might impact accessibility.
Antapologia on Steroids: How Newspapers Covered Andy Pettitte’s Apology and Roger Clemens’ Denials, 2007-2008 • Paul Husselbee, Southern Utah University; Kyle B. Heuett • This paper analyzes newspaper antapologia and valence in response to Andy Pettitte’s apology and Roger Clemens’ denials after both New York Yankees pitchers were accused of using performance-enhancing drugs in the 2007 Mitchell Report. Findings suggest that newspapers were more favorable or neutral toward Pettitte after his apology, but they were more unfavorable toward Clemens throughout his repeated denials. Thus, Pettitte’s strategy of mortification was more successful than Clemens’ strategy of defeasibility and blame-shifting.
“What’s Wrong With Baseball?”: The Press and the Beginning of the Campaign to Desegregate Baseball” • Chris Lamb, College of Charleston • On February 5, 1933, columnist Heywood Broun of the New York World-Telegram called for the end of baseball’s color line in a speech at the annual meeting of the all-white New York Baseball Writers’ Association. This article examines newspaper coverage of Broun’s speech in black and white newspapers. The response to Broun in the black press is significant because it provides what is perhaps the beginning of the campaign to desegregate baseball. The Pittsburgh Courier, which published a series of articles on the issue of the color line in the weeks following Broun’s speech, became ground zero in the campaign to desegregate baseball. The newspaper’s interest in baseball was part of a larger crusade for racial equality in America. Behind the leadership of editor Robert L. Vann, the newspaper achieved prominence by condeming racial discrimination and reporting hate crimes against blacks. Vann’s formula, according to historian Roland Wolseley, was to confront racial discrimination whenever and wherever it appeared. “These campaigns were against Jim Crowism and discrimination against blacks in major league baseball,” Wolseley wrote, “two of the classic targets of papers out to fight for black rights.” Between 1933 and 1945, the newspaper’s circulation increased from 46,000 to more than 260,000–more than a hundred thousand over its nearest rival, the Chicago Defender”
Marion Jones and Michael Vick: Press Coverage on Their Journey of Redemption and Renewal • Pamela Laucella, IU School of Journalism; Kathryn Shea • Michael Vick and Marion Jones were elite football and track athletes at the pinnacles of their sports. Both lost reputations and respect and served prison time, before restoring their tarnished images and athletic careers. This research studies press coverage of both, beginning with Vick’s dogfighting charges and Jones’ charges for lying to federal prosecutors about doping and knowledge of a check-fraud scheme. It offers a longitudinal and comparative analysis with their comebacks in the NFL and WNBA, and elucidates the scandals and the intersecting worlds of sport, media, race, and gender. This research adds to work on the cultural impact of media and sport, reinforces the criminal-athlete discourse, and examines journalists’ use of master myths in describing athletes and events.
Selling Sports Culture: A Narrative Analysis of Nike’s “Just Do It” Campaigns in the United States and China • Bethany Ray, University of Alaska Anchorage; Joy Chavez Mapaye, University of Alaska Anchorage • The advent of globalization, advancements in technology and mass communication, and an influx of consumerism have revolutionized strategic marketing and corporate communications. Consequentially, corporations face the challenge of adapting general branding messages to specific cultures and societies. This study explores elements of consumer psychology by applying a comparative narrative analysis to selected advertisements from Nike’s “Just Do It” campaign that aired in the United States and China during the last 5 years. Nike’s campaign employed hybridization tactics to integrate its corporate brand with cultural traits. The study found that by altering narrative structure and components, Nike was able to successfully market the “Just Do It” to both audiences, thus selling sports culture.
I’m a Big Fan: Studying Media Dependency Among Fantasy Football, Baseball, and Basketball Owners • Greg Armfield, New Mexico State University; John McGuire, Oklahoma State University • This research study examined media dependency among fantasy sports owners (n=333) involving three popular U.S. professional sports (football, basketball and baseball). Results showed that fantasy football and fantasy baseball owners that desired to be successful (i.e., win their league) were found to have a high level of media dependency. Another finding showed that media dependency was high among fantasy football owners who wanted their own team to win even more than their favorite NFL team.
Sports Department vs. News Department: Editorial Control in Television Newsrooms • Ray Murray, Oklahoma State University; Stan Ketterer; Mike Sowell, Oklahoma State University • This exploratory research study examined the attitudes of television sports directors (n=108) concerning editorial judgments made in covering local sports and how such judgments are supported by or come into conflict with other newsroom personnel. Findings included sports directors (a) believed their editorial judgments on stories were frequently questioned, and (b) had sports stories regularly reassigned to news personnel.
John L. Griffith and the Commercialization of College Football Broadcasts in the Depression Era • Kathleen O’Toole, Pennsylvania State University • This study found that John L. Griffith, the first full-time commissioner of the Big Ten Conference, played a pivotal role in the expansion, commercialization and commodification of intercollegiate athletics in the Depression era. Echoing the “American Way” rhetoric of the radio industry in its battle to control broadcasting, Griffith positioned college football as a bulwark of capitalism and the antithesis of the emerging social welfare policies of the New Deal. Once the commercial radio industry successfully squeezed from the airwaves the educational broadcasters that had carried their own sports coverage, Griffith sought to forge a lucrative partnership between his conference and a national network. In aligning football’s interests and ideals with the competitive corporate ethos rather than the public service mission of public universities, Griffith helped to justify the commercialization of college football into the television age. In doing so, he also sowed the seeds for 21st century corporate/academic partnerships such as the Big Ten Network.
Exploring Perception of Online Sport Commentary: An Affective Disposition Approach • Po-Lin Pan, Arkansas State University • This study aimed at examining whether exposure to the positive/negative comments on the win/loss of their favorite team would activate readers’ dispositions toward their favorite team and whether such disposition effects would dominate reader’s perceptions of online sport commentary. A two (the win of favorite team versus the loss of favorite team) by two (the positive commentary versus the negative commentary) within-subjects repeated measures experiment was designed to examine readers’ perceptions in terms of quality, credibility, representativeness. Results showed that the positive/negative commentaries on readers’ favorite team would be a stronger factor that impacted readers’ quality and credibility perceptions than the win/loss of readers’ favorite team. However, the positive/negative commentaries and the win/loss of the favorite team both did not lead readers’ representativeness perceptions.
Public Relations Responsibility within NCAA Division I Athletics Departments: Understandings of Athletics Directors • Angela Pratt, Bradley University • The purpose of this paper is to address intercollegiate athletics directors’ understandings of responsibility for public relations within their departments. For this study, a qualitative approach was used: Twelve NCAA Division I ADs were interviewed, and their transcripts were analyzed using comparative analysis procedures. The findings show that the overall understanding of public relations to the participants is integrated impression management. Their overall understanding of public relations translated into a range of responsibility within their organizations for public relations.
American News Magazine Framing of China and the 2008 Beijing Olympics • Sean Sadri, University of Florida • A content analysis was conducted to examine the coverage and framing of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games in two news magazines, Time and Newsweek. Athlete/team profiles and the impact on China were the most common story topics. However, articles about the impact on China or its government were much more negative in tone. Additionally, articles with an American agenda frame were predominantly positive in tone, while articles that framed China were primarily negative.
Ambivalence on the front lines? Attitudes toward Title IX and women’s sports among Division I sports information directors • Marie Hardin, Penn State University; Erin Whiteside, University of Tennessee; Erin Ash, Penn State University • In light of the continued research assessing how dominant ideology is communicated via mediated sport, this study assess the attitudes of sports information directors (SIDs), arguably initial “gatekeepers” and thus critical players in shaping sports media messages. A random sample of Division I SIDs was surveyed on questions clustered around gender and sexuality issues. The results showed that Division I SIDs are likely to help gay athletes stay in the closet, although they express more progressive attitudes toward sexuality than sports journalists, who were similarly surveyed in 2009. The results also showed mixed support for women’s sports and Title IX, and strong support for a gendered division of labor that could be problematic for the future prospects of women in the profession. The authors use the survey to question assumptions that female SIDs will advocate on behalf of women’s sports, Title IX and other related issues.
Small Programs 2011 Abstracts
Assessing Outcomes Using E-portfolios in Communication Courses: What Student Reflections in a Pilot Program Teach Us About Teaching • Steve Hill; Chang Wan Woo, University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point; Rhonda Sprague; Mark Tolstedt • This study investigated whether student reflections that were part of an e-portfolio pilot project could help assess deeper learning. Qualitative analysis of 56 reflection papers from two communication courses revealed that students did appear to meet learning outcomes, but were unable to indicate learning in sufficiently detailed, articulate ways. The authors were able to use data from these reflections to reassess their own teaching and suggest instructional improvements that would lead to better long-term assessment of learning outcomes.
Assessing the Teaching of Media Ethics in Small Programs • John Williams, Principia College • Higher education in American is under attack and one of the forms of the attack is the growing threat of the federal government to participate more fully in institutional accreditation. In response to the threat, regional accrediting bodies have been pushing for institutional self-assessment for the purpose of institutional improvement. The assessment movement, including outcomes-based assessment and performance assessment, is filtering down to the individual instructor and course level. This paper is an exploration of one instructor’s attempt to design an assessment process, by which he can assess student change using an experimental method. The subject of the assessment is a course in media ethics. Assessing students over a seven year period, using his other classes as control groups, the instructor found that the course does cause changes in his students. However, the study raises troubling questions for the instructor, including, “Are these the changes that should happen?” Finally, the paper argues that journalism and mass communication educators must be prepared for assessment, both because it will be required and because it is integral to good teaching.
Blogs as learning tools in journalism education • Amy DeVault, Wichita State University; Les Anderson, Wichita State University • This exploratory study looks at the use of class blogs in two college journalism classes. Attitudes on the use of the blog and usefulness of the blog from both instructors’ perspectives and students’ perspectives are discussed. Qualitative assessment of the data suggests the instructors and students found the blogs useful for collaboration, extending discussions beyond the classroom and improving the quality of work.
Twitter’s effects on student learning and social presence perceptions • Lakshmi N Tirumala, Texas Tech University; Jessica Smith, Texas Tech University • Social presence, the concept that individuals have a sense of others as “real people” in mediated communication, is a pivotal concept in online interaction and learning. Social presence theory suggests that social media tools, such as Twitter, should build community among groups such as students. This could affect how much students learn. In this study, participants in a quasi-experiment (N=76) completed supplemental class exercises either by conversing with classmates on Twitter or by individually writing essays. Participants who used Twitter had more positive perceptions of Twitter as a classroom tool, and these students had greater social comfort with their classmates. Twitter use for class discussion did not correlate with higher scores on objective questions testing students’ memory of class content.
What is needed vs. what is taught: A national survey of online journalism course instructors • Ying Roselyn Du, Hong Kong Baptist University; Ryan Thornburg • This study is a national survey of online journalism course instructors. It reports an overview of what is taught in online journalism classrooms and what instructors perceive important for students to prepare for online newsrooms. Attention was paid to journalism skills, duties, and concepts. Results show an online journalism education that is tied to traditional journalism in many ways, but is not merely a more technologically focused version of traditional journalism. Overall, the current online journalism education is training future journalists who must be well-versed in multi aspects of journalism and technology, rather than being specialized in one or two types of tasks. For online journalism educators and journalism program administrators, this report may help in developing the appropriate curriculum to prepare students to work in the field. For future online journalists, it will give an idea of which skills are most needed, which duties are most performed, and which concepts are most valued in the current online journalism profession.
Religion and Media 2011 Abstracts
A Bigger Footprint: Religion Coverage by Another Name • Jesse Holcomb, Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism • A content analysis of significant religion stories in recent years suggests that the presence of religion in the news is broader than previously thought. However, in some cases, events with religious significance were primarily covered by journalists as politics, crime, or terrorism stories. The findings point to a journalistic landscape in which religion and other beats are not neatly segregated, but reflect the connectivity of the 21st century public sphere in which we all live.
As Predicted: Fact and Improbability in News Coverage of Astrology • Rick Moore, Boise State University • This study examines a recent eruption of news about astrology. It uses as a lens research on how traditional news values might allow “mystical” ideas to maintain public acceptance in spite of scientific evidence against them. Contrasting that approach with a lens provided by Neil Postman, the current study finds reporting about astrology did not provide significant scientific basis for dismissal of the belief. The two lenses for discussing this provide very different insights, however.
Assuaging Death and Assigning Blame: A Lyric Analysis of Mormon Murder Ballads • Clark Callahan, Brigham Young University; Quint Randle, BYU • This paper uses Fisher’s narrative approach as a theoretical foundation for deconstructing 19th century Mormon culture through the use of its ballads. Specifically, this paper investigates Mormon and non-Mormon lyrical representations of murder (killing), “Mormon Murder Ballads.” This mode of cultural expression was especially relevant during the first 20 or so years of the church which was marked by both individual and group killings and persecution. Using narrative criticism, each of the selected songs was coded for themes—four main themes were identified in the analysis. These themes are blood and gore, broken promises of America, heavenly justice and vengeance, and rational perspective. These four theme offer insights into the social structures in which violent acts were contextually situated and how persecution was symbolized by 19th-century Mormons.
Coverage of Islam in the Egyptian Press • Gregory Perreault, Washington Journalism Center • This study investigates how Islam is covered by English-language Egyptian media. In past research, Arab media scholars have noted that Arab media, examined as a whole, is problematic to draw conclusions from because of it’s complex, varied nature. It is more effective to look at the environment with a more localized, media-specific approach. And existing English-language research on the coverage of Islam is mainly centered on Western media coverage of Islam. Little or no English research exists which examines how Egyptian media professionals and bloggers cover Islam, the major religion of Egypt. In this study, data will be gathered to help fill in this important gap in research with a very specific medium, country and language. In this study, conducted the year before Mubarak resigned, a news framing content analysis examines articles related to Islam in English-language Egyptian news sources Al Ahram Weekly, Daily News Egypt and Al-Masry Al-Youm over a three month period to determine how discussions of Islam are framed in coverage. Interviews performed with journalists who work in Egyptian English news media help discern the motivations and influences that affect coverage of Islam.
Cultivating, or alleviating, fear? How religion and media influence feelings about terrorism • Rosemary Pennington, Indiana University; Ammina Kothari, School of Journalism – Indiana University; Stacie Meihaus Jankowski; Jae Kook Lee • It has been almost ten years since the September 11th terrorist attacks. Religion played a pivotal role in the recovery of many people who witnesses the attacks; news media covered the event thoroughly and has been covering terrorism-related stories since. This study examined how both religiosity and media use influence feelings about terrorism. It found only a positive relationship between newspaper readership and fear of terrorism.
Marketing Religion Online: The LDS Church’s SEO Efforts • Chiung Hwang Chen, Brigham Young University Hawaii • This paper examines the relationship between new media technologies and religious marketing. Specifically, it looks at how the LDS/Mormon Church employs Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques to influence online search results. The paper acknowledges the reasonable motivations behind and the ethical practice of the LDS Church’s SEO efforts; however, it also brings up philosophical questions about religions applying proactive/aggressive business marketing strategies.
Perceptions of Media Trust and Credibility amongst Mormon College Students • Guy J. Golan, Syracuse University; Sherry Baker, Brigham Young University • Based on a wide body of media credibility research, the current study explores media credibility perceptions amongst a highly conservative and religious sample. A survey of Brigham Young University students reveals low assessments of media credibility across platform and specific news sources. The study point to higher assessments of traditional news sources over broadcast news sources. In addition, the study identifies participants concern over the potential of the mainstream news media to mislead individual from within and without the Mormon community. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our study and call for future research to further investigate the complex relationship between media credibility and religion.
Religion, Affect and Cognition in Listener Contributions to NPR’s Talk of the Nation: Before, During and After 9/11. • Anna Turner; William Kinnally, University of Central Florida • Broadcast media often provide forums for public expression. This exploratory study sought to examine broadcast content to find support for Marx’s notion that religion is used as a tool to reduce suffering during a time of public crisis. Additionally, the project looked beyond the notion of religion to examine how affective and cognitive expressions evident in broadcasts of public’s voices differ in times of crisis. Public contributions to Talk of the Nation, a nationally broadcast, call-in talk show were analyzed using linguistic inquiry and word count software (LIWC). This longitudinal analysis included three week-long periods in the years before, during, and after 9/11. No differences were observed for expressions of religion or expressions of positivity. However, differences in expressions of negativity and cognitive processes were observed.
Secular and Religious Press Framing of the Uganda Anti-Homosexuality Bill • Dave Ferman, University of Oklahoma • This study examines the differences in frames used by major American secular and religious publications in describing the controversy over the role American evangelists played in a bill introduced in the Ugandan parliament in October 2009 that would include the death penalty for some homosexuals. Fame analysis is also applied to study how the publications employed the hypocrisy topos, one of seven topoi descried by Silk as used by journalists in writing about religion and religious leaders. The findings indicate extensive differences between secular and religious publications, both in how they framed the evangelists’ influence on the bill and homosexuality in Africa, and how they employed the hypocrisy topos when looking at the messages that the evangelists used both before and after the bill was introduced and became a major topic of news reports and public debate in America and around the world.
Seeking to understand interactivity in church websites • Matthew Broaddus • When people seek to express their faith it is now often online in a cyber faith setting. This quantitative study provides a brief summary of the trends facing modern churches in the U.S., presents literature on cyber interactivity and Diffusion of Innovation Theory, reviews previous academic research in the area of innovation adopted by churches, and presents the results of a content analysis conducted on church websites to understand what interactive features churches have adopted.
State and national media coverage of Oklahoma’s proposed constitutional amendment outlawing the consideration of Sharia law in court decisions • Joel Kendall, Southwestern Oklahoma State University • This study analyzes state and national media coverage during Oklahoma’s November 2010 election season on a state constitutional amendment designed to ban the use of Sharia law in state courts. This study analyzes the way the media handled coverage of the issue before and immediately following the election. It analyzes six months of print and broadcast coverage of the debate surrounding the state question leading up to the November election and the 10 days following the election. It studies to what extent state and national news organizations educated potential voters and framed the debate in terms of level of attention to the debate, favorable or unfavorable opinion of the amendment, and explanation of issues involved. The researcher concluded that the proposed amendment received sparse coverage by both state and national newspapers, and that reader-submitted opinions comprised most of the state coverage. Furthermore, state or national media offered little discussion or explanation on the concept of sharia law in any articles leading up to the election.
The Impact of Responsiveness and Conflict on Millennials’ Relationship with Religious Institutions • Richard Waters, North Carolina State University; Denise Bortree, Penn State University • Research continues to document a decline in the number of young adults affiliated to a religious institution; however, most measures of spiritual behavior indicate that Millennials reflect similar beliefs of previous generations. This study examines how institutional responsiveness and personal conflict with the religious institutions impact the relationship that Millennials have with organized religion. Through a survey of 284 young adults, this study found that Millennials evaluate their relationship with their religious institution favorably and that their involvement with religion can be predicted by how they evaluate this relationship. Additionally, structural equation modeling revealed that perceived personal conflict had a detrimental impact to the relationship while institutional responsiveness to Millennials helped restore the relationship.
The Second Level Agenda Setting Effect of News Coverage of Islam in American Newspapers • Brian J. Bowe, Michigan State University; Shahira Fahmy, University of Arizona; Wayne Wanta, Oklahoma State University • Second level agenda setting offers a way of demonstrating the effects of news content by providing evidence that the attributes emphasized in news coverage become more salient in the minds of media consumers and more influential in terms of actual effects on opinions and attitudes. This study examines the substantive and affective attributes of the religion of Islam in coverage of 18 U.S newspapers and compares those attributes with results of a Gallup Center for Muslim Studies’ poll to determine whether the coverage of Islam in the media influences perception, as second-level of agenda-setting suggests. Two hypotheses were tested, and the analysis of media coverage of attributes linked to the “object” of Islam and public perceptions of Islam suggests little support for attribute agenda-setting.
Political Communication 2011 Abstracts
Ad Claim Accountability: Examining News Coverage of Political Advertising in the 2008 Presidential Election • Michelle Amazeen, Temple University • In a media environment where candidate ads are increasingly influencing U.S. news coverage, how do news organizations hold politicians accountable for their ad claims? Using semantic network analysis, four clusters emerged among the 18 sampled press organizations covering candidate advertising during the 2008 presidential election. Horserace reporting predominated among a plurality of newspapers. Other clusters were identified by partisan-style and pluralist-style reporting conventions. One cluster was notable for its hallmarks of consistently holding politicians accountable for their ad claims. This “adwatching” group focused more than anything else on verifying the accuracy of candidate claims as they relate to the policy and governance matters facing the electorate. Additionally, this research demonstrates that influential factors such as candidate endorsement and political ideology can be conditionally independent from ad watching.
Viewer Ideology and the Effect of Argument Flow on Guest Evaluations in Political Talk Shows • Mitchell Bard, University of Wisconsin School of Journalism and Mass Communication; Melissa R. Gotlieb, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Bryan McLaughlin, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Keith J. Zukas, University of Wisconsin – Madison; Jackson Foote, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Young Mie Kim, University of Wisconsin-Madison • Contested political issues are inevitably debated on political talk shows, with two guests on ideologically opposite sides of the issue. Using an experimental design, we test the impact of viewers’ ideology and argument flow (i.e. the number of arguments offered by each guest) on guest evaluations. We find a significant impact for moderate viewers, who rate the guests lower when they make fewer arguments. This finding has normative implications for television news and democracy.
Examining news frames in the new media landscape: Moderating effects of incivility in the political blogosphere • Porismita Borah, Maryville University • Increasingly researchers are being faced with questions about new theoretical perspectives to investigate the contemporary media landscape. The anonymity and flexibility of the online world allows the free expression of views. This same anonymity and unconstrained expression can initiate uncivil debate. The political blogosphere is thus replete with uncivil discussions and becomes an apt context to examine the influence of incivility on news frames. Moreover, although there is an increasingly growing literature on framing, few have examined framing effects in the new media landscape. Thus, the present study brings in literature from incivility and framing effects and uses an experiment embedded in a web survey to examine the influence of incivility on news frames for democratic outcomes such as willingness to participate, openmindedness, and attitude certainty. Findings indicate the detrimental effects of incivility causing less openmindedness and more attitude certainty. At the same time, incivility causes more willingness to participate. The findings also demonstrate how incivility interacts with news frames. For instance, incivility effects are primarily prominent in the value-framed condition. Implications for news framing effects in the new media landscape are discussed.
What do they want us to do? Global warming Web sites use of mobilizing information • Michael Boyle, West Chester University; Lisa Parcell, Wichita State University • Information is key to the democratic process. For individuals to be involved in political and social change they must know what to do as well as where and how to do it. Yet, the literature suggests that mainstream news media typically lack the so-called mobilizing information individuals need to act on their beliefs and interests. News media are not the only sources individuals can use to gain information – Web sites for activist and political groups can potentially fill that void. However, little research has explored the extent to which these sites provide mobilizing information. This paper analyzes global warming Web sites for how well they present mobilizing information. The findings show that mobilizing information tends to be incomplete and typically centers on online actions as opposed to “real world” actions. In addition, pro-global warming sites provides more thorough mobilizing information than sites that deny global-warming is a problem.
Poaching from the Male Preserve? The Influence of Gender and Political Connectedness on Contacting Government Officials Online and Offline • Jennifer Brundidge, University of Texas, Austin; Kanghui Baek, University of Texas at Austin; Larissa Williams • This study employs a secondary analysis of data from the Pew Internet 2008 civic engagement study to examine whether people are more likely to contact government officials online than offline as well as the degree to which both ways of contacting public officials is explained by gender. Results suggest that people are more likely to contact government officials online than offline. While women are somewhat less likely to contact government officials through direct means, such as emailing a congress person, they are more likely to sign petitions. Furthermore, after controlling for political connectedness and demographic variables, women are actually somewhat more likely than men to contact government officials online, while there are no gender differences in contacting government officials offline.
Damsel in Electoral Distress: Gendered framing in cable news coverage of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign • Kathryn Cassidy, University of Massachusetts, Amherst • Voter consumption of partisan new media, specifically cable news programming, soared in the midst of the 2008 Presidential election, and so too did questions regarding the nature of reporting and its influence on citizens in the 21st century. As voters continue to choose the construction of news that is best in-line with their political leanings, rather than that which challenges their value systems, it arguably becomes easier for new media outlets to perpetuate stereotypes, as they go unquestioned by viewers; they simply appear as “facts” of the news. The historic Presidential bid of Hillary Rodham Clinton provides a meaningful opportunity to assess how these partisan outlets relied on gender stereotypes as a means to frame her character and campaign in an attempt to affect the electoral outcome. If Clinton, as one of the most popular female candidates for President to date, was the target of such framing, the outlook for success for future female candidates appears grim, as they too will have to navigate this complex new media landscape. Further, the results of this study may serve as the basis for consciousness-raising among cable news program viewers, as well as an impetus for a media reform movement that rejects outlets that unjustly frame issues or individuals in the name of the political and corporate goals that they hold in higher esteem than their audiences.
The impact of political identity, efficacy, and selective media exposure on political participation. A comparative study of young adults in the United States and Hong Kong • Michael Chan, Chinese University of Hong Kong; Jing Guo, University of Maryland • This comparative study between an established democracy (US) and transitional democracy (Hong Kong) analyzed the interrelationships among political identification, self efficacy, collective efficacy and selective exposure; and subsequent effects on political participation among young adults. Regression analyses showed that self efficacy and selective exposure were significant predictors of political participation for both countries while collective efficacy was significant only for the Hong Kong sample. There were also significant interaction effects between efficacy and selective exposure in the US sample and between political identity and collective efficacy in the Hong Kong sample. The findings support the cross-contextual validity of self efficacy and selective exposure as general predictors applicable to democracies at different stages of development. Implications of the findings for youth participation in politics are discussed.
Political Talk Shows in Taiwan: Multiple Issue Publics, Political Efficacy and Their Relationships to Political Knowledge, Participation and Attitude • Hsuan-Ting Chen; Yonghwan Kim • This study examines political talk shows in Taiwan by understanding the factors and the influence of exposure to political talk shows. Using data from Taiwan’s 2008 Social Change Survey, the findings showed that multiple issue public membership, as a construct of individuals as members of multi-issue publics, was positively associated with exposure to political talk shows. Individuals’ internal and external political efficacy turned out to have different relationships with exposure to political talk shows, and an interactive effect was found to be significant between internal political efficacy and multiple issue public membership. In addition, exposure to political talk shows contributed to increases in political knowledge and online political participation; however, it leads to negative attitude towards the politics. In this sense, although the viewers tend to have negative attitude towards the politics, they are more likely to be well-informed, and open to political mobilization. Therefore, the role of political talk shows needs to be reconsidered.
Psychological Needs and Talk Show Host Style: News Effects in the Post-Broadcast Age • Stephanie Edgerly, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Melissa R. Gotlieb, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Emily Vraga, University of Wisconsin-Madison • We use an experimental design to test the effects of talk shows hosts who promote critical thought, conflict, or humor through their hosting styles. Specifically, we examine how host style interacts with the psychological needs for cognition, conflict, and humor to produce greater recall of information and valuing of open debate. Our results support this compatibility argument and suggest that post-broadcast news may engage a new audience who were left behind in the broadcast era.
Press Coverage of Nigerian President Yar’Adua’s Pre-Election Campaign: A Case Study on Agenda-setting • Nnamdi Ekeanyanwu, Department of Mass Communication, Covenant University, Ota, Nigeria • The issue of whether our opinions are formed based on information we get from the media remains controversial as scholars maintain divergent views on the actual nature of media influence. This paper therefore examines if newspapers pre-election coverage of candidate Yar’Adua, influenced people’s perception of him. The result shows that Yar’Adua had biased coverage in his favour. The paper therefore recommends that the media take political reporting to the next level of responsible journalism.
Learning about Politics from The Daily Show: The Role of Processing Motivations • Lauren Feldman, American University • Although late-night comedy and satirical news programs like The Daily Show have been recognized as an important source of political information, prior research suggests that viewers gain only a limited amount of political knowledge from watching these programs. Drawing from uses and gratification theory and studies of political information processing, this study examines whether learning from The Daily Show depends on whether viewers orient to the message as news or as entertainment. Results from an online experiment suggest that viewers who naturally orient to The Daily Show as news or as a mix of news and entertainment invest more mental effort and subsequently learn more than viewers who have a purely entertainment processing orientation. Further, among viewers who orient to The Daily Show as purely entertainment, providing them with an explicit informational processing goal increases the amount of invested mental effort and learning relative to viewers who are given no explicit viewing objective.
Understanding Support for Internet Censorship in China: An Elaboration of the Theory of Reasoned Action • Charles Feng • This study investigates young people’s support for Internet censorship in China within the broad conceptual approach of the theory of reasoned action (TRA). Two concepts, authoritarian personality and third-person perception, were added as part of our elaboration of the TRA model. We closely examined dimensions pertinent to the unique social context of China such as party membership, Confucianism tradition, and one-child policy. A sample of 266 college students in a large metropolitan was surveyed and Structural Equation Modeling was employed in data analyses. Support for censorship based on TRA received general empirical evidence. So did the submissive dimension of authoritarian personality. Mixed findings were discussed and future research directions were suggested.
Framing the Rise and Fall of Sonia Gandhi during the 2004 General Elections in India • Rajul Jain; Maria De Moya, University of Florida; Juliana Fernandes, Florida International University • Informed by framing theory and critical and cultural perspectives, this study examines how newspapers in India framed the leading female Prime Minister candidate and her male counterpart during the 2004 general elections. An analysis of the frames each candidate was associated with, as well as the differences in the scope and focus of news coverage accorded to the two candidates is provided. Results and implications are discussed in comparison to similar framing of political candidates in the U.S. and in the context of gender roles in Indian culture.
Audience frames elicited by political advertising: Reconsidering the audience • Elizabeth Housholder, University of Minnesota • This study used audience analysis to examine the audience frames elicited by political advertising. Participants between the ages of 25-60 discussed their individual responses to political advertising in in-depth interviews. Overall, this study found that three common frames were elicited: political cynicism frame, issue frame, and gender frame. Overall, the study concluded that furture research in the area of political advertising must begin to consider more individual level difference variables beyond the usual demographic controls (age, gender, race, political party and education) such as personality, values and other psychographic variables. This study also advances the literature on audience framing, a relatively under-studied area of framing theory research.
Ideology and the Interactive Relationship Between Self-Efficacy and Anxiety Predicting Discussion • Myiah Hutchens, Texas Tech University • The study aims to examine theoretical predictors of engaging in discussion with dissimilar discussion partners, which would be considered beneficial from a Democratic standpoint. Process models used in a variety of contexts suggest that both self-efficacy and anxiety are important variables to consider when examining communicative behaviors, yet the interaction appears to not have been adequately studied in a political communication context. Using data the American National Election Survey, and supporting theoretical predictions, it was found that political moderates who have high levels of self-efficacy and anxiety are more likely to have diverse discussion networks; however, effects were not found when examining all individuals.
Marginalized Critical News Content, Spiked Stories and Series • Andrew Kennis • This paper focuses on all major and reported post-Cold War instances of anti-democratic phenomena occurring within the U.S. news media industry: the “spiking” of news stories and investigations with critical inclinations; demotions to enterprising journalists or editors; cancellations of TV programs due to critical content and forced resignations of journalists; independent and wire-based stories overlooked by mainstream media; and investigative series whose follow-ups are either marginalized out of existence or simply spiked altogether. The reported occurrences are based on a plethora of damning evidence and documentation: testimony by journalists and/or their newsroom colleagues; audio-recorded conversations between editors and journalists; documented pressure by advertisers and/or powerful public officials; and documented meetings between editors and high powered officials, with subsequent decisions to spike stories and/or follow-up reporting. This underlying evidence shows a clear pattern of institutional constraints resulting in varying forms of censorship. The focus on these occurrences, which is not only an attack on journalists but an attack on democracy as a whole, is of significant theoretical importance. The most important theoretical tension between two models of media analysis – the indexing and propaganda models (IM and PM) – is a conflicting attribution of culpability for poor media performance and the subsequent lack of news media independence. This paper represents an attempt to resolve this underlying theoretical tension by criticizing the disproportionate fault attributed to journalists themselves, as well as the underestimation by the PM of the role of “crude intervention” resulting from institutional constraints.
Campaign Agenda-Building Online: Emotions, Evaluations, and Important Perceptions • Ji Young Kim; David Painter; Maridith Miles • This experimental investigation explored 311 participants’ emotional and evaluative responses to online campaign information during Florida’s 2010 gubernatorial election using a two (campaign website vs. social network sites) by three (interactivity levels) between-subjects factorial design. Interaction effects in one campaign notwithstanding, the emotions and evaluations elicited by the other campaign were positively associated with public agenda-building. Thus, those responding favourably to the winner’s campaign were likely to consider the election more important and to vote.
Humor Works in Funny Ways: Examining Humorous Tone as a Key Determinant in Political Humor Message Processing • Heather LaMarre, University of Minnesota; Kristen Landreville, University of Wyoming • The purpose of this study was to re-conceptualize two competing political humor message processing theories as complementary models under a higher order theoretical framework. Using data from an online experimental survey (N = 115), message discounting (Nabi, Moyer-Guse, & Byrne, 2007) and reduced cognitive capacity to scrutinize (Young, 2008; Baumgartner 2007) were examined as potentially co-existing (rather than competing) message processes, which occur as a function of humorous tone. Results indicate that political cartoon viewing directly influences individual-level political attitudes, and that affective disposition toward the cartoon moderates the effect. More importantly, evidence was found to support the development of a political humor process model that encompasses competing frameworks and makes sense of seemingly disparate findings in extant literature. Specifically, light-hearted political humor led to message discounting while serious-toned political humor suppressed argument scrutiny.
Crisis and kairos: Activists use social media to support political protests • Jacqueline Lambiase, Texas Christian University • Moldova, Iran, Tunisia, Egypt, and Sudan: These nations and their citizens engaged in political dialogues during 2009-2011, resulting in government accommodations of demands, regime change, hard-line responses, or civil war. Frequently, these dialogues occurred in computer-mediated spaces, especially blogs and social media. Some online activism burst into protests in public squares, resulting in violence and showdowns for power. This qualitative case study traces social media efforts, both crisis communication strategies and tactics, in five nations that raised awareness of revolutionary ideas, garnered support for these efforts, and transformed this spirit from digital expression to flesh-and-blood resistance.
Mass-Mediated Political Messages, Uncertainty Arousal, and Interpersonal Political Discussion • Kristen Landreville, University of Wyoming • Constructive interpersonal political discussion among citizens is traditionally regarded as an indicator of a healthy democracy (e.g., Fishkin, 1991, 1995; Habermas, 1962/1989; Tarde, 1901/1989). At the same time, politics bears an inherent complexity, ambiguity, and intricacy (Delli Carpini & Williams, 1996) that makes it a topic ripe for uncertainty arousal. Considering that uncertainty arousal is more likely when situations are ambiguous, complex, and unpredictable (Babrow, Hines, & Kasch, 2000; Babrow, Kasch, & Ford, 1998), Uncertainty Reduction Theory (Berger, 1979; Berger & Bradac, 1982; Berger & Calabrese, 1975) is applied to study the crossroads of interpersonal political discussion and the consumption of a variety of mass-mediated messages about politics. The overarching research question that guides this work is: What is the extent to which people interpersonally communicate their uncertainty about mass-mediated political messages? A computer-mediated discussion experiment was conducted to answer the study’s hypotheses, which concern the amount and type of uncertainty expressions in response to several kinds of mass-mediated political messages.
Investigating media’s agenda-setting effects on different generations in the new media environment, 1976-2004 • Jae Kook Lee; Renita Coleman, University of Texas • This study tests two competing hypotheses of media’s agenda-setting effects on different generations in the new media environment. Using ANES surveys and the New York Times Index data from 1976 to 2004, this study found that different generations perceived similar issues as important for society. The public agenda is fairly stable across generations despite increasing signs of media diversification and audience specialization over the time period. More importantly, the three generations’ agendas were highly correlated with the agenda of the New York Times in each year, indicating robust agenda-setting effects of the media on the public regardless of generations differential media use. Implications of the findings are discussed.
Burned by the Spark: Tea Party Identity and News Media • Colin Lingle, University of Washington; Damon Di Cicco, University of Washington • News media have covered the Tea Party intensively since 2009. Behind the scenes, members have responded by reframing political identities and adapting strategies. We examine attitudes and opinions of individuals within the movement, culled from 12 semi-structured interviews across eight states. Data suggest that disaffectation with news media can be an inciting factor leading people to political action, and that an oppositional posture toward news media drives important decisions about movement-building and alternative information networks.
Citizens’ Perceptions of Online Political Information Credibility • Hsiao-Ying Liu, University of Florida; Spiro Kiousis, University of Florida • This investigation explored citizens’ perceptions of online political information credibility, their attitudes towards candidates, and their intentions for political participation. A 2 (high vs. low Facebook site interactivity) X 2 (high vs. low involvement) factorial experiment was completed to examine these relationships. The results indicate that both involvement and interactivity affect perceived information credibility, citizens’ attitudes towards candidates, and their intentions to participate politically. The implications of the findings are discussed.
Mixing Strategy and Issues: Campaign Coverage and Candidate Communications in the 2010 U.S. Senate Midterm Election • Jason A. Martin, Indiana University School of Journalism • There is much disagreement and a lack of precise knowledge about the framing and public affairs issue content of campaign coverage and candidate press releases. One of the few points of consensus is that news coverage consistently focuses on candidate strategy and the outcome of elections. Yet it remains unclear to what extent this emphasis on strategy obscures, eliminates, or prohibits coverage of substantive public affairs issues. Most empirical research on non-presidential election content suggests substantial variation in the media’s coverage and candidate communications based on factors such as the office contested and the news appeal of the campaign. To address this research problem, a quantitative content analysis was conducted on election information available in a 2010 U.S. Senate midterm campaign in a top-20 media market. Using the media sources most popularly identified by a survey of registered voters, all newspaper articles, television stories, and candidate press releases in a two-month period preceding the election were systematically and comparatively analyzed. By accounting for the possibility of simultaneous or overlapping frames, a deeper and better-rounded understanding of the issue content was produced. Among the key findings was that while media campaign coverage mostly used the strategy frame, public affairs issues were well represented on a daily basis, especially in newspaper coverage. Candidates focused mostly on issues but also indulged in strategy framing. These data support related research that has suggested that attention to methodology is needed to better understand the sophisticated ways that issues are embedded within strategy-framed election coverage.
Creating, Sustaining, or Dispelling Misconceptions: A Discourse Analysis of Coverage of Obama’s Religious Identity • Laura Meadows, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill • Since Barack Obama announced his candidacy for president in 2007, his Christian religious identity has been called into question. At present, a plurality of Americans do not know what religion he follows. In light of the increased relevance of religion in today’s political landscape, such confusion poses a serious threat to his continued political viability. This qualitative discourse analysis examined coverage of President Obama’s religious identity in the mainstream print media from the time he announced his candidacy for president in January 2007 through his first two years in office. The study found six themes that have potentially shaped both understandings and misinterpretations of Obama’s religious beliefs, including current faith practices, connections to history, blame game, otherness, politicization, and Muslim connections. The study considers the ways in which the mainstream print media’s use of these themes created, sustained, or dispelled misconceptions of Obama’s religious identity.
Registered voters on the web: Looking for information, looking for confirmation, not looking at all • Ericka Menchen-Trevino, Northwestern University • There are several theories about how the internet may impact democratic politics. Some heralded the internet as inherently democratizing, claiming that it would help citizens become more informed about a broader array of issues, and help them organize for political action. Others warned that partisans would use online technologies to screen out opposing views and thus increase political polarization. Recently some have cautioned that with all of the entertainment options available in today’s media environment, more citizens may opt out of political information altogether. This study examines these claims using real-world web data collected from forty-one carefully selected adult participants during the 2010 mid-term campaign in Illinois using software created for this project. The full text content of the web pages participants accessed was analyzed for information pertaining to the Illinois U.S. Senate race. The participants also completed ten online surveys and an in-person interview. The web data is interpreted in the context of participants’ interviews and survey responses. Although this small-scale study cannot provide generalizable results, it does offer in-depth cases that reveal the mechanisms that underlie the broader effects seen in larger but less contextual studies. Some cases illustrate how online political information can inform voters, while one case shows how partisan information helped to polarize a participant. Other cases show that it is possible to ignore political information online, although it is not clear that it is easier to do so online than in other media. Avenues for future research are discussed.
U.S. presidential election: International assessment of U.S. media coverage of male and female candidates • Uche Onyebadi, Southern Illinois University Carbondale; Yusuf Kalyango, Ohio University • Several studies have addressed how United States media cover candidates in U.S. elections. Some of the findings show that female contestants are poorly covered and stereotypically portrayed in the media, impeding their chances of victory. In this study, the focus was on how foreigners resident in the U.S. assessed media coverage of candidates in the 2008 presidential election. Results support previous research findings on negative coverage of female candidates, and suggest further investigation into candidates’ issues and personal characteristics as factors that may also impact the type of media reports a candidate gets, irrespective of his or her gender. The survey instrument was used in this study.
Political Window: Analyzing Newspapers’ Images of Candidates in 2010 California gubernatorial election • Kyung-Gook Park, University of Florida; Enjung Kang, University of Florida • The goal of this study is to explore how candidates in the 2010 California gubernatorial election were covered by the news media. This study uses visual frames as a significant determinant of how the media differently portrayed these candidates. In particular, this study places emphasis on four major newspapers, USA Today, New York Times, LA Times, and the San Francisco Chronicle, since these are currently the primary California regional and nationwide newspapers. Furthermore, past researches associated with agenda-setting theory and visual framing are widely reviewed in order to verify the topic question. Taken together, this study provides evidence that USA Today and the New York Times tried to create a balance in their image coverage of the gubernatorial candidates in the 2010 campaign, whereas the LA Times and San Francisco Chronicle were not trying to balance the images used. Furthermore, this study shows that a significant difference occurred in the frequency, prominence and behavioral of the frames chosen by the media in the candidates. Regardless of its limitations, this study provides a basis on which future studies regarding political communication and visual framing can follow..
Cite of The Times: How 2008 Presidential Campaign Advertisements Used News-Mediated Information As Evidence • Chris Roberts, University of Alabama • This paper uses the functional theory of campaign discourse to discover how candidates and political parties used news-mediated information as evidence in broadcast advertising during the 2008 presidential election cycle. More than a third of video ads included more than 340 pieces of evidence originally produced by news organizations. Hypotheses showing types of news items, and purpose of use in ads, based on previous election cycles are supported.
Parenting Styles in Political Socialization: How the Path to Political Participation Begins at Home • Esther Thorson, University of Missouri; Edson Jr. Tandoc, University of Missouri-Columbia; Mi Jahng, University of Missouri-Columbia • Political socialization research suggests that parent-child relationships exert strong influences on political outcomes among children like interest in politics, political knowledge, and participation in community and politics, both in the real world and online. In a survey of 399 parents and their children in a Midwest city right after the off-term Fall 2010 elections, this study found that evaluative parental mediation of children’s news use directly predicted only political interest among children. The effects of parental news mediation on political knowledge and participation appear to be absorbed by children’s media use and engagement in political talk, variables that parental styles also predict. It is often taken for granted, if not overlooked, but parents’ mediation of their adolescents’ news access has significant effects on adolescents’ political awakening and development that goes through a complex pathway from the home to the political arena. The role of parents is central in their adolescents’ political socialization that starts with encouraging their children to be interested in politics.
Knowing is half the battle: Youth, civic norms and the informed citizen in late modern society • Kjerstin Thorson, University of Southern California • This paper draws on theorizing concerning late modern society to synthesize findings from a multi-methodological investigation into how young citizens are negotiating and acting (or not acting) on civic norms related to political knowledge acquisition. Using evidence from in-depth interviews and national survey data, the paper argues that our current era of information abundance and institutional decline has paradoxical consequences for young citizens’ relationships political knowledge, at the same time providing magnificent opportunities for the motivated and disempowering the less interested. As a result, the link between endorsing norms related to getting informed and actual, demonstrated political knowledge is eroding for younger cohorts of American citizens.
Deliberation or Small Talk? Motivations for Public Discussion and their Effects on Civic Engagement • Sebastian Valenzuela, University of Texas at Austin; Sun Ho Jeong, University of Texas at Austin; Homero Gil de Zuniga, University of Texas – Austin • We use original survey data to examine (1) the motivations people have for engaging in online and interpersonal discussions, and (2) the influence of instrumental and relational goals on civic participation. Using structural equation modeling, we find that both goals trigger discussions online and offline, which in turn lead to civic engagement. These results cast citizen-to-citizen communication on a different perspective than deliberative theory and point to social motivations as an alternative path to civic life.
Can I Support That Candidate’s Party? Implications of Disagreement with Party Candidates for Political Attitudes • Emily Vraga, University of Wisconsin-Madison • Candidates are heralded as the standard-bearers for their party, but how do a party candidate’s issue positions impact political attitudes more generally? This study uses an experimental manipulation to test response to issue disagreement, which is corroborated through analysis of a panel dataset during the 2008 presidential election. The results support expectations: individuals who see greater distance between themselves and candidates adjust their political attitudes, and emotions play a key part in this process.
Televised Debates Matter…Sort Of • John Williams, Principia College • A vast and expanding literature on the effects of presidential debates finds ample evidence that “debates matter.” Debates have the capacity to influence individual vote choice and provide voters with more information about candidates and public policy issues. In a presidential election not involving a sitting president or vice president, two U.S. senators as the major party candidates, the first African-American to head a major party ticket and only the second female to be on a major party ticket, the 2008 Election seemed like a prime opportunity to test some of the expectations about the impact of presidential debates. Taking advantage of scheduled debate-watching events on our campus for the three presidential and one vice-presidential debate, we conducted a repeated field experiment under controlled conditions. Collectively, we found evidence that the debates did result in some shifts in expressed vote intentions but relative stability in the assessment of candidate leadership traits and perceived capacity to address pressing domestic and foreign policies. We also see evidence of the ability to separate partisan leanings and pre-debate vote intentions from the evaluation of candidate debate performance.
The Power of Local Political Debates to Influence Voters: An Experiment at the Congressional Level • John Williams, Principia College • We know a lot about presidential debates and there is a large body of literature on the impact and effects of such debates. But, there is very little literature on the impact and influence of local political debates. This study uses a debate between an incumbent and a challenger for a seat in the US House of Representatives as its treatment. In addition to measuring the shift of position of the audience from pre-test to post-test, the study examines impact of partisanship and influence on likely voters. Because of the nature of the audience–a combination of college students and local constituents, the treatment group was capable of subdivision into “likely voters” and non-voters (those students registered in other jurisdictions). This and other dimensions helped refine the research.
How blog use affects voter behavior: Engagement, expressiveness and voting • W. Joann Wong, Indiana University • This survey study investigates the effects of political blogs on voters during the 2008 presidential election. Blogs have been an increasingly popular and important means of communication, helping voters obtain campaign information and exchange political opinions as well as helping candidates motivate and mobilize their supporters. The relationship between political blogs and voter behavior has not been thoroughly understood through empirical evidence. This research sheds some light on how blog users behave politically. The findings suggest that political blogs significantly contributed to both campaign engagement and political expressiveness. Political expressiveness also strongly predicted voter turnout. With the vanishing mobilizing function of traditional media, political blogs appeared to be an effective media format in 2008 to energize voters to participate in politics.
Does Internet News Contribute to Make More Efficacious Citizens?: Role of Efficacy in Communication Mediation Model of Political Socialization • JungHwan Yang, University of Wisconsin-Madison • This paper examines political socialization process of the youth based on communication mediation model, and elaborates the model by providing a link between news media use and political discussion. I suggest that political efficacy and discussion efficacy would mediate the impact of news media use on political discussion and further political socialization. For this investigation, this study analyzed online survey data for 300 college students from Metropolitan area of Seoul, South Korea (N = 300). The results suggest that (a) news media use (i.e. Internet news and television news), efficacy (i.e. political efficacy and discussion efficacy), and political discussion (i.e. interpersonal discussion, family conversation, online opinion exchange) are meaningful predictor of political participation of the youth; (b) only political efficacy, however, is a meaningful predictor of political knowledge; and (c) efficacy mediates impact of Internet news use and newspaper use on interpersonal discussion and online opinion exchange. Implications for communication mediation model and future political socialization research are discussed.
A Free Bonus in the Internet: Incidental News-Exposure Effects on Political Knowledge, Online and Offline Participation • Sung Woo Yoo, University of Texas at Austin; Yonghwan Kim; Homero Gil de Zuniga, University of Texas – Austin • This study examines the effect of the incidental new exposures of the Internet and television on political knowledge and participation. Using US national data from an online survey, this study found incidental news exposure of the Internet to be positively and significantly associated with political knowledge, and online and offline political participation. This effect is fully mediated by political discussion. In contrast, incidental news exposure of television was not associated with knowledge or participation.
Twenty years of the internet and civic engagement: A review beyond hypes and hopes • Inzhi Zhang • This paper provided a theoretical review of the research tradition on the internet use (and other internet-based media) and civic and political engagement in the past twenty years. Based on 130 pieces of referred journal articles retrieved from Web of Sciences Database, I identified five “camps of research” based on the scholars’ explanation on the mechanism of internet’s political impact, namely, 1) the internet has direct mobilization effects on civic participation; 2) the impact from internet is conditional and indirect on individual’s psychological traits; 3) both the internet use pattern and civic engagement are multi-dimensional and differential; 4) demystifying the reciprocal relationship and causality of internet use and politics; and 5) extending the research in nondemocratic or transitional societies with comparative research design. Chaffee and Berger’s (1987) and Whetten’s (1987) criteria for theory evaluation were addressed during the critical of the above literature. Suggestions to future research along this line followed, including, a) to address established theories or hypotheses in political science or sociology to catch the essential process of media-society relationship; b) to conduct longitudinal research design even panel study to confirm the causal relationship between media use and political engagement; and c) to take context background with comparison study across societies with different political nature, and use multi-level perspective, integrating macro-, meso-, and micro- levels of constructs.
Internship and Careers 2011 Abstracts
Internships in Public Relations: Using narrative to examine the nature of intern’s experience. • Catherine Gugerty, University of South Florida • This narrative analysis examines the nature of the experience of public relations interns. Three decades of scholarly inquiry into the internship experience has provided little insight into the actual experience of the interns themselves. Yet what we learn directly from their individual experience can provide both educators and professionals valuable insight for enhancing the learning process. The following study is an analysis of the journals and reflective essays written by 11 undergraduate students as they participated in a public relations internship. The interns’ experience follows four themes: (1) positive interpretation of duties, (2) influence of site supervisors, (3) lessons learned, and (4) the overwhelming endorsement of the experience.
Hyperlocal News Internships and Digital Practicums: Blurring the Distinction Between Students and Professionals • Ed Madison, University or Oregon • News internships have long been a way for college students to gain practical experience before entering professional careers in journalism. However, the definition and dynamics of what constitutes an internship are changing, in pace with the technological and economic changes presently facing media organizations. This qualitative research study looks at three university journalism schools are actively partnering with mainstream media organizations to create digital practicums. These programs often center on “hyperlocal” news web sites.
International service-learning as a mechanism for building skills in mass communication: enhancing ability through authentic experiences • Amanda Sturgill, Elon University; Sang Nam, Elon University; Phillip Motley, Elon University • This paper uses a qualitatively analyzed case study to examine the value of service-learning overseas in developing communication skills that are difficult to teach in the regular classroom. Does the immersive environment of international travel, combined with the application of communication skills for a real-world client, create an authentic setting in which to develop skills essential to career success? Such skills include client management, analysis and application of visual culture, working in an autonomous group and determining the appropriate use of technology to gather and present content. Four different group projects in Latin America were studied. Journals, researcher memos, public blogs, focus groups and final project artifacts were analyzed, and support was found for skill acquisition in such a setting.
Graduate Education 2011 Abstracts
Educational Crusade or Product Masquerade? Exploring the Commercialization of Social Responsibility in America’s Healthcare Industry • Laura Crosswell, Louisiana State University • Aiming to uncover the societal implications of Merck Pharmaceutical’s recently launched, multi-phased social marketing health campaign, and intending to reveal the underlying variables of affective and conative consumer processing, this investigation leans on group discussion to more deeply examine the company’s HPV/GARDASIL campaign. By utilizing social trust theory, and reinforcing the philosophical model with contemporary social marketing research, this exploratory study employs focus group methodology to gauge the ways in which specific branding techniques influence viewers in their perceptions of and reactions to Merck’s health awareness messages. The analysis explores Merck’s HPV social marketing effort and the methods by which the health messages created demand for, and ultimately launched, the company’s HPV vaccination, GARDASIL. This study questions the ethical foundation of Merck’s campaign strategy, and in a broader sense, encourages a movement towards modernizing marketing research.
Industry Change and Programming Choice: Public Television in a Shifting Marketplace • Kelly Davis, UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication • This study conducted a survey of programmers to examine the relationship between perceived organizational threat, organizational identity, workplace satisfaction and the perception of threat to the organization to determine which considerations may influence programming decisions for public television programmers. Results indicated that six main factors contribute to programming decisions, and that these are related to perceived threat to the organization, time spent in the organization, and perceived organizational prestige.
Freedom of the Press and the Pursuit of Happiness • Edson Jr. Tandoc, University of Missouri-Columbia; Heather Shoenberger • The press enjoys freedom in democratic societies in recognition of its important functions in democracy. A free press, however, also plays other roles that have not been sufficiently explored. The pursuit of happiness is a universal motivation and by looking across different countries, our current study seeks to answer this general question: Can press freedom bring happiness? This study used indices from various organizations that rate countries and territories based on levels of democracy, press freedom, corruption, global competitiveness, and life satisfaction. Countries that were excluded in at least three of the five indices were not included. Thus, a total of 177 countries were included in the analysis that found press freedom and corruption control as significant predictors of life satisfaction, a measure of happiness. The effects of press freedom on life satisfaction, however, are absorbed by its effects on deterring corruption.
Far from Home: How and why transnational audiences use mass media to visit homeland • Emily Ehmer, Indiana University • Transnationals use media to connect to home, but media also promote migrants’ assimilation into the host country’s culture. This study follows the media habits of adults who are ether international students or their spouses studying at a university. Availability and ease of connecting to the Internet are major factors in connecting with home. An interesting finding is the tension about a sense of belonging – a gray area that is not static but constantly changing.
Portrayal of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region in U.S. Newspapers • Goran Ghafour, Master student • The Iraqi Kurdistan region considers itself the closest ally of the United States in the Middle East. Therefore, to know how the U.S. newspapers portray the region is essential and more important is whether the portrayal reflects the U.S. foreign policies or not. A content analysis of articles in three U.S. newspapers from 2009 is conducted. Findings show that that news coverage reflected U.S. positions and policies about Iraq.
The Effects of Message Framing and Evidence in Anti-Binge Drinking Messages • Eun Go, Pennsylvania State University; Keun Yeong Kim • This study investigates the influence of framing (gain- and loss-framing), message evidence format (narrative evidence and statistical evidence), and their interaction effects on perceptual, attitudinal, and behavioral responses to binge drinking. The results show that gain-framed message increased message persuasiveness and consequently behavioral intention to responsible drinking. It also demonstrated the benefits of narrative evidence format in reducing undesirable drinking behaviors. In particular, the interaction effect of gain-loss and narrative-statistical conditions in the perceived persuasiveness of the message was found, showing that match of loss frame and narrative evidence maximized the persuasiveness of the message. This findings will help public health practitioners construct more sophisticated message to decrease college students’ alcohol consumption level.
Applications and Gratifications: Games and Genres in Apple’s App. Store • Kelly Cochran, University of Kansas; James Field, University of Kansas; Thomas Hardy, University of Kansas; Mark Shonka, University of Kansas; Laura A. Thomas, University of Kansas; Jia-Wei Tu, University of Kansas • Americans are increasingly exposed to gaming applications on their smart phones. The authors of this study investigated games in Apple’s App Store: its most popular games, their associated genres, and the factors that predict ranking. A content analysis showed that the ‘arcade’ genre dominated and that popularity correlates with the rating and number of reviews received. The uses and gratifications identified were competition, fantasy, and arousal. Findings will interest Internet researchers and application developers.
Just the facts, ma’am: A study of literary journalism courses in journalism and mass communications curricula • Jack Karlis, University of South Carolina • This study investigates the prevalence of literary journalism courses in undergraduate journalism and mass communication programs in the United States; to investigate the rationales for offering or not offering such courses in journalism programs; and to document and to explore the content and learning objectives of literary journalism courses already being taught. An electronic survey of ACEJMC schools and in-depth interviews of literary journalism scholars around the country for their best practices was used.
Framing the Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Testing Issue in the U.S. and British Print Media • Jihye Kim, Univ. of Florida • The purpose of this study was to examine the different frames within the news print media regarding DTC genetic testing, while comparing the different news frames in the United States and Great Britain. The study analyzed the differences of opinion concerning DTC genetic testing abilities. The comprehensive media framing analysis of newspaper reports was undertaken using the qualitative and quantitative analysis method. Six distinct frames were identified: legitimate, financial, political, ethical, health, and consequential.
Defamation on Today’s Internet: A Critical Assessment of Law and Self-Regulation on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube • Mark Lashley, University of Georgia • Through a critical engagement with legislation, relevant case law, and legal literature on the subject of online defamation, as well as a critical appraisal of the procedures used by three major social networking platforms (Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube) to regulate defamatory and harassing speech, this paper seeks to unpack the ways courts and site administrators have handled defamatory speech online. By examining the social media apparatus from the inside out, this paper argues for a procedure that will protect the interest of personal reputation, clarify the potential liability of social networking sites, and outline the best practices for effective jurisprudence of defamation law in our online world.
Lights, Camera, Lesson: Teaching Literacy Through Film • Michael Lipiner • The in-depth case study explores a modern approach to education: the benefits of using film, technology, and other creative, non-conventional pedagogical methods in the classroom to enhance students’ understanding of literature. The study explores the positive effects of introducing a variety of visual (and auditory)-based teaching methods to learners within an urban high school English Language Arts inclusion classroom. The study group reads literature, analyzes films, and works on various creative assignments, such as incorporating music lyrics, using computer technology, and creating art. The study outlines supplemental assignments designed to have students respond critically to literature within a creative learning environment. As a result, the students’ grades improve, and they are able to stay connected with the readings. The case study also references similar professional case studies, authors, and educational theorists.
HIV/AIDS coverage in Chinese media: A case study of the ‘Girl with AIDS’ • Chen Lou, Ohio University • This case study considers the story of Zhu Liya, who went public as the alleged “”first”” HIV-positive college student in 2005 in China. First, Zhu’s exposure provided a rare example of Chinese media coverage and public discourse about HIV/AIDS patients. Second, this study builds upon the intergroup discrimination hypothesis from social identity theory to explain the prevalent discrimination against HIV/AIDS patients in China. The study also explored how Zhu used narratives to influence the public.
Making Sense of a Left-Field Success Story: Five Frames in Rolling Stone Coverage of Phish • Jordan McClain, Temple University • This paper uses framing research to examine all Rolling Stone magazine coverage of the band Phish. Through textual analysis, the aim is to enhance understanding of how media make sense of something that embodies an unconventional combination of features. The analysis revealed five frames: Phish as superlatively successful; Phish as an unconventional band; Phish as the subject of mockery; Phish in relation to various peers and/or successors; and Phish in relation to the Grateful Dead.
Exploring Surveilland and Socializing Gratifications from Streaming Network Television Shows in an On-demand age • Stephen McCreery, University of Georgia, The Grady College • This study applies a Uses and Gratifications conceptual framework to streaming network TV shows online, whereby how people use the Internet for gratifying certain needs are evolving. A survey of 274 students on their TV-streaming habits was conducted. Results suggest that both surveillance and social utility are gratified through interactive processes related to streaming entertainment programs. Implications for the television industry on interactive viewing, and directions for future studies, are discussed.
Media Portrayals of Mental Illness and the Third-Person Effect • Robert McKeever, UNC Chapel Hill • A survey was conducted to examine student views on mental illness, portrayals of mental illnesses in media and estimated effects of media depictions. Third-person perceptions were predictably strong when other students were the comparison group; however, perceived effects on self were larger than respondent estimations of media effects on their parents. The unexpected findings offer a unique contribution to third- and first-person research examining the influence of message desirability and comparison groups on perceived effects.
Contrasting For-profit and Nonprofit College Home Pages from a Political Economist Perspective • Nisa Schmitz, Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville • The oligopoly that nonprofit colleges once enjoyed is now over due to competition from for-profit colleges. Using a political economist perspective, this study contrasts the new for-profit college home pages to that of the veteran nonprofit colleges. A content analysis of 35 for-profit college home pages and 35 nonprofit college home pages reveals a range of significant differences in the areas of academics, target audience, campus information, financials, home page organization, imagery, and student life.
Newspaper hubris: Did hubris impact the industry’s’ decision not to charge for online news? • Amy Sindik, University of Georgia • This study examines if organizational hubris had a role in newspaper organizations’ decisions not to charge for online editions of the newspaper and belier that the online edition would not compete with, and cannibalize, the print newspaper product. By drawing on Hayward and Hambrick’s measures of hubris (1997) (organizational success, media praise, a measure of organizational importance and board vigilance), this study tested for hubris among the top one hundred newspapers at the advent of online newspapers editions. The study finds that organizational success, media praise and board vigilance indicated hubris and contributed to the decision not to charge for the online editions of newspapers, while a measure of organizational importance does not indicate hubris.
What do You Want from Corporate Blogs?: Motivations for Using Corporate Blogs • Doori Song, University of Florida; Joonghwa Lee, University of Missouri • Two studies were conducted to explore blog users’ motivations and their consequences. The factor analysis revealed five reasons that people visit and use corporate blogs. Additionally, this study compares the people’s initial motivations when they visit corporate blogs and users’ motivations for their corporate blog usages. Finally, the findings demonstrate that the motivations predict users’ attitudes toward the blog, usefulness of the blog, perceived interactivity (PI), and expected interactivity (EI).
An Empirical Study on How IPTV Affects Chinese Peasants’ Attitudinal Modernity • Nan Wu, Missouri School of Journalism; Hongbo Gao • The paper is designated to find out how IPTV use in rural China enhances peasants’ attitudinal modernity. With statistical analysis of survey data collected from rural IPTV users in a fourth-tier municipality of China, five hypotheses of the causal relationships between major factors in IPTV use and users’ attitudinal modernity are tested. The researchers identify that three factors, pragmatic function, remote technology performance and interactive application, play significant roles in promoting Chinese peasants’ attitudinal modernity.
Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender 2011 Abstracts
Femme, Butch, or Other: A Study of LGBT Characters in Television • R. Serena Aubrey, University of South Florida • This study discusses the visibility and stereotypes present in lead and supporting LGBT characters in network prime-time television. Previous research is updated by analyzing the most current LGBT characters on 12 shows. Television has become a significant presence in the lives of Americans. This topic is worthy of examination because the public’s opinions could be influenced by the media’s representations, or misrepresentations, of LGBT people.
Body, My Gender, My Story: A Qualitative Analysis of Transgender Narratives and the It Gets Better Project • Erica Ciszek, University of Oregon • In response to a series of gay teen suicides, in September 2010, columnist and author Dan Savage and his partner Terry Miller created a YouTube video to reach out to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) youth. The video became the foundation for the It Gets Better Project, which has nearly 10,000 user-generated videos and over 30 million views. The purpose of this qualitative study is to examine the dominant narrative elements in the stories told by transgender members of the LGBTQ community in user-generated YouTube submissions to the It Gets Better Project. The first person narrative structure provides the framework for trans people to speak for themselves in a public forum, in their own voice, truthfully and openly. The It Gets Better Project provides a repository of personal narratives that present not only messages of hope, but also provide a roadmap of how to navigate one’s individual and social identity, particularly as it relates to the transgender community. While the main objective of this project is to present the notion that in the future things do get better, the narratives highlight the importance of physical and psychological transitioning which is dependent on access to economic and social capital. This study illustrates how existing theoretical concepts may be used to understand the response of transgender members of the LGBTQ community to the recent gay teen suicides. Analyses suggest the importance of community, both on and offline, in the construction of personal and social identity of transgender people.
Selling Community: Uses of History in Philadelphia’s LGBT Tourism • Byron Lee, Temple University • This paper will examine the use of history as a method of promoting LGBT community in tourism advertising. Through a case study of Philadelphia’s LGBT tourism campaigns, this paper will examine how notions of history are used anchor and legitimize images of LGBT individuals and community in advertising. LGBT history is used both to locate LGBT individuals in history, as well as locate them in the present as a historical past.
Back to the Future: Uses of History in Newspapers and Judicial Records on Marriage Equality • Anqi Li, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill • In 2008, California voters amended the state constitution to limit marriage to heterosexual couples by passing Proposition 8. Federal district Judge Vaughn Walker declared the marriage ban unconstitutional on August 4, 2010, in Perry v. Schwarzenegger. The Perry case helped foreground the issue of marriage equality. Research suggests newspapers and courts sometimes draw on history to explain issues and bolster arguments. This paper assesses some of the ways in which three newspapers and three judicial records marshaled history to discuss marriage equality during and after the Perry trial (Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2010); how those uses reflected or challenged notions of marriage; and whether judicial uses of history were contradictory to or consistent with newspapers’ uses. The history marshaled by the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Bay Area Reporter, and by the Perry decision, Plaintiff-Intervenor-Appellee Response Brief, and Defendant-Intervenors’ Trial Memorandum, typically favored same-sex couples’ inclusion in marriage. During the trial, newspapers used history to highlight the social significance of marriage and to explore same-sex couples’ qualifications to participate in marriage. Coverage thus focused on “marriage.” After the trial, newspapers used history to construct how society has grappled with marriage in the public forum. Coverage after the trial, then, dealt with “marriage discourse.” The narratives of marriage history in the newspaper coverage and judicial records challenged accepted memories of what marriage has been. Historical comparisons of public opinion and of political events and climate suggested what marriage could or should be in the future.
Moving Beyond Vodka, Vacations, and Viaticals: How The Advocate’s 1992 Redesign Solidified a New LGBT Marketing Segment • Laurie Phillips, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill • In 1992, gay newsmagazine The Advocate’s editorial staff decided to banish the most profitable advertising – sexually explicit ads – from the magazine altogether in an attempt to secure ad dollars from national corporations. The banishment had been tried nearly 20 years earlier and failed. Through a historical study using narrative analysis of magazine advertisements and media coverage of the event, the purpose of this study is to explain why the timing of the second redesign made it successful and how the The Advocate’s 1992 redesign solidified today’s gay market segment. Guided by sociologist Gaye Tuchman’s expansion of the concept of symbolic annihilation and the cultural-historical method, this study argues that The Advocate’s redesign, which was prompted by competition from new market entrants, had far-reaching implications for the overall gay market.
Documenting a De Facto Same-Sex Marriage: Tennessee Williams and Frank Merlo • Rodger Streitmatter, American University • One aspect of the same-sex marriage issue that scholars have not explored in depth is documenting case studies of significant de facto same-sex marriages from the past. This paper illuminates the relationship between Tennessee Williams and Frank Merlo. Biographies of Williams include only brief references to Merlo, but this study shows that Merlo made major contributions to the legendary playwright’s career.
Gender: The Next Generation (Representations of Transgender Teens in Fictional Media) • Jenny Porter Tilley, Indiana University • This paper offers a textual analysis of fictional representations of transgendered youth, including a teen television series (Degrassi, which recently won a 2010 Peabody Award for its two-part episode about a transgender teen), a television crime drama for an adult audience (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit) and three young adult fiction novels. The analysis of characters and plot in this sample focuses on relationship with friends and family; instability and self-harm; and the high school setting, showing ways in which recent mainstream media represent transgendered teens with more empathy than many past representations of transgendered adults.
Members: Log in to Your Community
AEJMC Online Job Ads-
