Entertainment Studies 2011 Abstracts

Growing Up Biased: Character Body Shape and Attractiveness Assessments in Popular Children’s Entertainment Programming • Mary Katherine Alsip, University of Alabama; Kim Bissell, University of Alabama • Anti-fat bias is a pervasive attitude found in the population at all ages.  This bias can result in poor healthcare and a lower quality of life for those who are overweight.  One potential explanation for this bias is the amount of anti-fat messages found in the media.  Until recently, most anti-fat bias studies focused on adult television programming, but very little is known about the characters in programs that children watch.  Additionally, most of the research done on children’s programming focuses only on pre-school and elementary-school age children, ignoring the visual messages that older children receive.  A content analysis of twenty-seven programs and 130 characters by a group of thirteen coders indicated that even at an early age, children are exposed to characters who are average to underweight with little to no representation of overweight characters.  This analysis also indicated that as target age increased, the average size of characters decreased, demonstrating that as children develop, they are exposed to thinner characters.

Film Families: The Portrayal of the Family in Teen Films from 1980 to 2009 • Mark Callister, Brigham Young University; Caroline Clark, Brigham Young University; Sarah M. Coyne, Brigham Young University • Adolescents as group watch more movies than any other group of the population, yet little research has been done on what is shown in teen movies. Media portrayals of the family serve an important socializing function for young viewers. While there has been a vast amount of research looking at the family as portrayed on television shows, there has been little research done on film families. More specifically, there has not been an examination of the family as seen in movies targeted towards the teen audience. This study reviews three decades of families as depicted in teen films, focusing specifically on family structure and parent portrayals. Ninety of the top-grossing teen movies made during the 1980s, 1990s, and the 2000s were analyzed, for a total of 151 different film families. Results indicate increased diversification in family structure and occupational roles over the three decades. In addition, parents are portrayed in a relatively positive light in terms of parenting style and competency. The results of this study are compared to findings of past studies regarding television families and U.S. census data. The implications of the results of this study are discussed through the lens of cultivation theory.

Ryan Choi is Dead:  Ideological Representations of Asians and Asian Americans in American Superhero Comics • Bryan Carr, The University of Oklahoma • This paper uses the theory of ideology to explore the portrayal of Asians and Asian Americans in superhero comics. The paper places these comics in the context of other media to explore how stereotypes and images of Asians and Asian Americans perpetuate distorted perceptions. A historical overview of Asian portrayals in superhero comics and examples of modern characters and depictions is included to provide comparative context. A content analysis of the best-selling comics over a three-month period found that Asian characters comprised 3.8% of the prominent character appearances surveyed, and were more likely to play a supporting or non-superpowered role than a lead role. This data is used to illustrate that certain ideological structures do exist in the portrayal of Asian and Asian American characters. Specifically, the sample shows that Asian characters were underrepresented and generally played supporting roles, and that attempts to diversify character lineups have not extended to the best-selling titles. However, at a qualitative level, the sample showed more positive portrayals of Asian characters and focused less on their ethnicity as a sole source of identification.

What Are We Laughing At? A Phenomenological Study of Tyler Perry Fans • Teddy Champion, University of Alabama • This study involves a phenomenological look at fans of Tyler Perry, one of the most successful black filmmakers and television producers in history.  A focus group consisting of young African Americans from the South who considered themselves fans of Perry was selected to give opinions about both his content and his success.  They also addressed potential controversial issues, such as criticism that Perry uses stereotypes in his portrayals of black characters.  Analysis demonstrates that fans embrace the overt moral agenda that Perry includes in most of his work, they believe the humor works on several levels, and they dismiss criticism that old stereotypes apply to Perry’s characters.

Mood Management and Highly Interactive Video Games: Examining Emotion Change in Relation to Arousal, Involvement and Enjoyment • Yen-Shen Chen, Florida State University • The purposes of this study were to examine the role of interactivity within video games on the emotion change process, and the association among enjoyment, arousal, involvement and emotion change.  The researcher predicted that highly interactive video game players would experience more arousal, involvement and enjoyment than low interactive video game players, and thus a greater emotion management effect would be found with the highly interactive video game than the low interactive video game. Furthermore, enjoyment would be associated with involvement and arousal in the highly interactive video game condition. Gaming performance was assumed to be correlated with enjoyment and emotion change. The 165 participants were recruited and randomly assigned to one of the three interactivity conditions (Wii gaming, Flash gaming, and DVD watching).  The results demonstrated that 1) interactivity within video games influences the overall emotion management effect, 2) only highly interactive video gamers can simultaneously increase positive affects and decrease negative affects, 3) highly interactive video games produce the greatest arousal, involvement and enjoyment out of the three conditions, 4) two affect-related components, arousal and involvement are correlated with an increase in positive affect, 5) enjoyment is correlated with an increase in positive affect.

Violent Words, Violent Acts, and Weapons: A Content Analysis of Print Advertisements and Internet Trailers for Video Games • Sarah Beth Combs, University of Alabama; Erin Ryan, Kennesaw State University • This analysis examined violent content in video game advertisements and trailers. Whereas video games are difficult to analyze due to their fluid nature, ads and trailers provide insight into key game content. Print ads were selected from two popular video game magazines between 2007 and 2010, and the trailer for each game was downloaded.  The sample included 347 print ads and 260 trailers (N = 607).  Content was broken into four categories: violent words, violent acts, presence of weapons, and overall violence. Results indicated violence is prevalent; 78.9% of games included violent content.  Game genre and rating were significantly related to weapons, violent acts, violent words, and total violent content. Trailers contained significantly more weapons, violent acts, and violent content than print ads, but there was no significant difference in violent words used. Results are discussed in the context of the General Aggression Model, Social Learning Theory, and Cultivation Theory.

The Learning Environment Provided by a Successful, Violent Video Game: The Roles of Story, Sexism, Collaboration, and Immersion in Resident Evil 5 • J.J. De Simone, University of Wisconsin – Madison • This case study analyzes a dyadic play experience of a survival-horror, cooperative video game in order to discern the qualities that foster or inhibit a learning environment from which effects can be generated. Using education/literacy scholars’ language (video games as inherent learning mechanisms) as my base, I discovered cut scenes, immersive elements, and collaboration contributed to the game’s learning environment. Existing sexist feelings by the players inhibited the game from providing a great learning atmosphere.

Does Cooperation Decrease State Hostility? An Exploration of Cooperative Play in a Violent, War-Themed Video Game • J.J. De Simone, University of Wisconsin – Madison; Karyn Riddle, University of Wisconsin – Madison • Although the effects of violent video games on aggression are well documented, researchers have only recently begun to explore the social nature of violent video game play. The present research adds to this growing literature by examining the role of cooperative violent video game play on state hostility, enjoyment, and presence. An experiment was conducted in which male college students played a violent video game either alone or in a cooperative dyad. The results show that cooperative dyads exhibited lower state hostility after playing compared to solo players. Furthermore, the data suggest that enjoyment and presence are not responsible for the decreases in state hostility. The role of player motivation is discussed in the context of the General Aggression Model.

Pixar’s “New Man”: A Textual and Thematic Analysis of Masculinity in the “Toy Story” Trilogy • Bruce Finklea, University of Alabama • This textual analysis of Pixar’s Toy Story trilogy examined messages presented about masculinity. Themes that emerged are: (a) alpha males have difficulty expressing non-violent emotions before their “New Man” transformation; (b) the emotions expressed most often are anger and frustration; (c) “New Men” ask for help, (d) are natural leaders, (e) want love, (f) and cannot control their sexuality; (g) females value males’ strength and physicality; (h) effeminate males are ridiculed by other males.

Narrowly Scripted: A Content Analysis of the Sexual Scripts Present in Popular R&B and Hip-Hop Songs • Stacey Hust, Washington State University; Kathleen Rodgers, Washington State University; Weina Ran, Washington State University • Listening to music, specifically popular genres like Rap and Hip-Hop, is the second most popular media activity among youth.  There is growing concern about the sexual and violent content present in this music, however. This study includes a content analysis of the sexual content present in 100 R&B and Hip-Hop songs.  Overall, results indicate the lyrics provide a limited traditional sexual script, which is hegemonic and manipulative, for both young men and women to follow.

The Author on YouTube: Confronting a Crisis of Authorship Through the Amateur Documentary • Mark Lashley, University of Georgia • This paper looks at user-produced YouTube video through the lens of Michel Foucault and his detailed analysis of the “author function.” Using a textual study of popular YouTube documentary series “The Shaytards,” along with a consideration of the “produser” (as popularized by Axel Bruns), this paper examines the way in which the author functions as a new and novel kind of subject in the YouTube environment, and probes Foucault’s question, resituated for the contemporary mediascape: “What is an author?”

“But You Don’t Make Games!”: Conflict and Crisis Between Core Game Developers and Casual Gamers • Kristin Lindsley, Indiana University • The incredible success of social games on the cluttered new media market has created an uneasy conflict within the world of game development. Independent game developers, long accustomed to making games for a core gaming audience, resent and disdain casual game developers for diluting the pool of games with unimaginative, simplistic gameplay designed for new gamers rather than an experienced audience. This paper examines the economic and social forces at play in the recent success of social games, and critiques the resistance to the social game model by many in the gaming industry.

The New Celebrity: Kim Kardashian and Twitter • Amanda McClain, Holy Family University • This paper explores the contemporary interaction of celebrity and new media through a discourse analysis of Kim Kardashian’s Twitter usage.  Since 2007, Kardashian has skyrocketed to fame and is now a ubiquitous media presence.  Moreover, her embrace of new media, particularly the social media outlet Twitter, has helped sustain her fame and fortune.  On Twitter, Kardashian is immensely popular; according to The New York Times, she is ranked sixth in popularity and ninth in influence.  As of April 1, 2011 Kardashian had over 6.9 million Twitter followers.  From January 1, 2011 to March 31, 2011, Kardashian generated 921 individual tweets.  This discourse analysis determined each tweet fit into one of six categories: personal tidbits, lifestyle, fan interaction, celebrity interaction, traffic, and promotional/publicity.  Personal tidbits and fan interaction convey supposed normality and authenticity, while lifestyle and celebrity interaction affirm and legitimize her celebrity status.  The traffic and promotional tweets urge followers to consume sundry products and engage followers.  In fact, as evidenced throughout all six categories her followers are more than active or interactive—they are a part of Kardashian’s brand.  On Twitter, followers collaborate with her and advocate for her.  Each audience member is an individual consumer/producer/distributor and noticeably an endorser, approving her product ventures, working in tandem with Kardashian to bolster her celebrity, brand, and economic interests. By smart, interactive media use and “being herself,” Kim Kardashian revamps banal social media use into character-constructing building blocks of celebrity, brand, and profits.

“As long as you live under my ocean, you’ll obey my rules”: A Content Analysis of the Portrayal of Authority Figures in Disney Animated Films • Tina McCorkindale, Appalachian State University • While most research concerning Disney animated films has investigated gender inequality, little research has examined interpersonal communication between authority figures and “others.” Results from a quantitative analysis of 72 interactions in six animated Disney films indicated the power of most authority figures was legitimate, indicating few actually earned their positions. Typically, when women were authority figures they were often portrayed as villainesses. Also, most characters complied with the authority figure’s requests whether they agreed with them or not, and more than half of the interactions were negative. Based on social learning theory, these findings may affect modeling behaviors in children. Suggestions for future research are included.

“Fatties Get a Room!” An Examination of Humor and Stereotyping in Mike & Molly • Cynthia Nichols, Oklahoma State University; Bobbikay Lewis, Oklahoma State University; Mary Katherine Alsip, University of Alabama • The purpose of this study is to examine the use of humor and stereotyping—both traditional and non-traditional—in the CBS program Mike & Molly. The sample for this study was determined by examining jokes in five randomly selected episodes of the first season of the CBS sitcom Mike & Molly (n = 646). To serve as a control for a typical sitcom, jokes in four episodes of Mad Love (n= 499)—a sitcom with similar characteristics, but without obese main characters—were also coded. A total of 1144 jokes were coded for the character that made the joke, who the joke was targeting, the tone, the topic of the joke, the type of joke, and whether the joke was self-deprecating. The findings showed that Mike & Molly was more likely to have jokes relating to weight issues and food than the typical sitcom. Results also indicated that obese characters—specifically the obese male lead—are targeted for jokes more often than non-obese characters, and were more likely to use self-deprecating humor.

Fake Forensics, Real Effects?: Testing the Cultivating Power of Crime Drama • Emily Ogilvie, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill • On one channel, the forensic heroes of CSI gallantly pour silicone into a victim’s fatal knife wound to create a perfect, inculpatory cast of the blade. On the next, politicians exchange heated words in endless debates over stem cell research, climate change, and the teaching of evolution in schools. But what are viewers taking away from such media messages? Central to cultivation theory is the premise that television’s recurrent narrative, visual, and ideological patterns cultivate viewers’ (mis)constructions of the real world in a manner positively correlated with the amount and types of exposure. This study tested that premise by examining the relationships between and among crime drama viewing, perceptions of the effectiveness of the U.S. criminal justice system, and scientific literacy via an analytical web-based survey of 1365 undergraduate students. Contrary to the cultivation thesis, few significant and no strong associations emerged between or among any of the study’s main variables; in other words, little evidence of cultivation effects or processes was manifest in the data.

Prisoners and Guards: Bob Dylan’s Contribution to the Popular Memory of George Jackson • Theodore Petersen, Florida Institute of Technology • After hearing of the death of black revolutionary George Jackson in 1971, folksinger Bob Dylan wrote and released a musical tribute to the man. The song’s thesis was clear: George Jackson was assassinated for his political beliefs. In this case, Dylan’s song was more than entertainment; it contributes to the way we remember these events. This paper analyzes the coverage of Jackson’s death by four sources: the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Defender, and Bob Dylan. The result is that Dylan’s version didn’t stray dramatically from what the others said, but his version has a longer shelf life, and therefore contributes more to the public memory of Jackson’s death.

Message Board Use and the Fantasy Sport Experience • Brody Ruihley, University of Southern Indiana; Rob Hardin, University of Tennessee • Fantasy sport joins competition, sport knowledge, and socialization into one interactive activity. The purpose of this study is to analyze socialization, and specifically, message board use in fantasy sport. Under Uses and Gratifications framework, this analysis addresses overall satisfaction in fantasy sport, return intentions, and reasons why FSUs use message boards. The results further empirical research in the areas of sport communication, fantasy sport, and message boards in sport.

GLEE: Masculinity in the Sub-Basement • Jennifer Safreno, Washington State University • This study investigated the first season of the show GLEE. Framing of masculinity through male student interactions was researched. Research questions examined the context of these interactions and how they framed or emphasized/overlooked specific masculinities. Framing literature and Social Cognitive Theory were used to understand the results.  Results followed Connell and Messerschmidt’s (2005) hegemonic, complicit, subordinate, and marginalized masculinity types. Themes were bullying, equating Glee club to gayness, and exerting hypermasculinity to reinforce hegemonic masculinity.

The Sound of Hate: Exploring the Use of Hatecore Song Lyrics as a Recruiting Strategy by the White Power Movement • Andrew Selepak, The University of Florida; Belio Martinez, University of Florida • This study examines “hatecore” song lyrics that spread white supremacist ideology. Results point to the portrayal of ethnic and religious minorities, and homosexuals as inferior. Lyrics describe Jews, the government and liberals as responsible for eroding white power. Lyrics recruit poor whites by highlighting their disenfranchisement and by promoting white racial pride. Power is a central organizing concept in “hatecore” song lyrics, defining the problem, identifying the causes, and prescribing solutions for white America.

“I Play The Road” Reexperience: Phenomenology of the Zac Brown Band • Sarita Stewart, The University of Alabama • The Zac Brown Band (ZBB) is one of the hottest country bands in the U.S.  This study explores how consumption factors figure into the phenomenon of musical stardom.  The three-revenue stream model provides an understanding of elements key in the band’s success.  A textual analysis data collection technique was used to pull fan commentary from the band’s Facebook and fan club.  A phenomenological approach identified top consumption themes prevalent in both social media arenas.

Beverly Hills Bullies and Gossiping Girls: The Portrayal of Bullying on Teen Television Dramas • Kimberly Walsh, University of Massachusetts, Amherst • This content analysis examines how the portrayal of bullying on teen television dramas has changed from the 1990s to the 2000s. Results based on a sample of 40 episodes and 305 characters suggest that recent teen dramas depict more emotional and physical bullying, show more female involvement in bullying, and demonstrate less harm to bullying victims than older teen dramas. Drawing from media effects literature, the possible problematic implications of these findings are discussed.

“Everybody’s Doing It”: Framing Analysis of “Rehab” on Celebrity News Blog • Erin Willis, University of Missouri School of Journalism; Margaret Duffy, University of Missouri School of Journalism • This study used framing analysis to explore “rehab” in relation to excessive drug and alcohol use by celebrities as depicted on celebrity news blog, PerezHilton.com. In recent years, the word “rehab” has become Hollywood’s mea culpa. No matter the behavior, entering a rehabilitation facility is thought to be a “fix” to the problem but also offers public repentance for celebrities gone wrong. PerezHilton.com mocks celebrities’ repeated attempts at sobriety and misuse of rehabilitation programs; although rehab is to be taken seriously, as most of these stars have serious addictions. Three themes were found including warning, mockery, and cheerleading as ways of communicating “rehab.” Although celebrity bad behavior means big business to PerezHilton.com, the blogger uses celebrity bad behavior as lessons for his Generation X audience members.

Bad Pleasure and/or Good Comedy?: A Textual Analysis of Television Stand-up Comedies in South Korea • Kyung Han You, The Pennsylvania State University • By offering the concept “sociality of laughter,” the present study explores the power relationships between dominance and resistance, as they intervene in pleasure and the sociality of laughter in television comedies. From a textual analysis of television stand-up comedies in South Korea, the present study found that stand-up comedies represented a dominant structure that weakens resistance inherent within the texts and limits the audience’s ability to deviate from cultural norms which was structurally involved in reinforcing existing value systems. The implications of the study were discussed.

2D or 3D? The Effects on Viewers’ Sense of Presence and Enjoyment • Cui Zhang, University of Alabama; Shuhua Zhou, University of Alabama; Charles Meadows, University of Alabama • This study investigates the effects of depth of field cues in movies and dimensionality on viewers’ sense of presence and enjoyment. Participants were shown 4 movie clips in either 2-dimensional or 3 dimensional viewing conditions. The findings indicate that depth of field cues and dimensionality have effects on viewers’ presence and enjoyment. Moreover, individual’s transportability influenced sense of presence and enjoyment. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed.

<< 2011 Abstracts

Community Journalism 2011 Abstracts

At the Community Level: Culturally Competent News Coverage of a City Neighborhood • Dianne Garyantes, Rider University • This study represents the second phase of a larger study that examined the cultural competence of journalists reporting on inner-city communities. This phase explored journalists’ reporting and news texts, and found support for the importance of “micro” knowledge to interpret cultural cues and the need for “insider” news sources to negotiate one’s “outsider” status. However, reporters also need to go beyond “insider” news sources to provide culturally competent coverage of the community.

Community News along the Rural-Urban Continuum: Looking for News in All the Wrong Places? • Gary Hansen, University of Kentucky; Elizabeth Hansen, Eastern Kentucky University • Access to news on local politics and community issues is critical to community life. Using data from 1,154 respondents to a mail survey sent to a random sample of Kentucky households, both sources of local news and ratings of them are examined at various locations along the rural-urban continuum. Results demonstrate different media and information environments along the continuum and suggest many people may be looking for news in all the wrong places.

A new community journalism? The Deseret News’ shift toward Gemeinschaft and a values-centered audience • Richard G. Johnson, Brigham Young University; Quint Randle, BYU • In August 2010, the Deseret News, a daily newspaper in Salt Lake City, announced a significant change in direction. It would begin to produce content based on core values that were consistent with teachings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which owns the newspaper. This article examines whether the Deseret News has shifted from traditional metropolitan journalism to a more community-oriented focus. In an exploratory constant comparative analysis, it examines two months front-page content in 2011 and compares them with the same dates from 2010. It explores the sociological construct of Gemeinschaft and the principle of community journalism. The data from 2011 show a substantial difference in coverage, providing far more content directed toward a values-oriented community.

Yes We Censor: The Impact of Commenting Policies on Two Nonprofit Community Journalism Websites • Rebecca Nee, San Diego State University • This qualitative, multiple case study looks at the impact of commenting policies on public engagement with two of the oldest U.S. digitally native nonprofit community journalism sites, Voice of San Diego and the New Haven Independent. Findings suggest an effective commenting community can be created by requiring registration, providing appropriate technical supports, and having journalists monitor and enforce strict guidelines. Human resource demands and other attempts at community engagement by these news sites are also addressed.

Community News as Collective Action • Mark Poepsel, University of Missouri • Online news is a collective good. It is difficult, at times impossible, to exclude people from access to information once it is made available digitally. One’s consumption of news does not subtract from the ability of another to use the same information. This basic economic theory helps explain the difficulty of establishing a working business model for online news. This theoretical approach also lays the groundwork for a discussion of alternative approaches to funding community news in a digital environment. This study examines a community news website in the American South. The website is supported in equal parts by advertising and by voluntary contributions. Theories of collective behavior are applied to a textual analysis of notes included with voluntary contributions to the news website in relation to the journalistic and social ideals of the site’s publisher/editor. What results is a case study of a conversation between a community news publisher and that publisher’s audience in the context of the moral imperatives underlying collective action. Social responsibility, altruism and an appreciation for the ideals of news in democratic society are examined as factors influencing decisions to contribute to community news. Identifying key elements of voluntary contribution can help with future funding efforts. The extension of theories of collective behavior has both theoretical and practical implications for community news if it is to survive in an economically challenging media ecosphere.

Patched in: Corporately owned online community news sites pursue different news topics than independent ones • Jack Rosenberry, St. John Fisher College • A content analysis found differences in news topics covered by independent online community news sites and ones that are part of the Patch.com network owned by AOL. Patch sites tended to have a greater emphasis on social ritual coverage while the independent operators favored coverage related to community structure.

<< 2011 Abstracts

Communicating Science, Health, Environment and Risk 2011 Abstracts

How to Resolve Contradictory Health Messages? : An Alternative Message Framework for Public Service Announcement Developers • Ho-Young (Anthony) Ahn, U of Tennessee; Lei Wu; Eric Haley • A qualitative study was designed to explore college students’ interpretations of and responses toward conflicting tanning health messages, as well as understanding college students’ knowledge, experience, and perceptions toward the popular health issues. Practical implications were provided in terms of developing effective skin cancer prevention messages as well as tanning-promotion messages to help people build correct attitudes toward tanning.

Predicting Scientists’ Participation in Public Life • John Besley, University of South Carolina; Sang Hwa Oh, University of South Carolina • This manuscript provides secondary data analysis of two large-scale surveys of scientists, including a 2009 survey by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press conducted in cooperation with the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), as well as a 2006 survey by the United Kingdom’s Royal Society. The data is used to develop multivariate models explaining scientists’ involvement in communication activities such as engagement with the public and the news media. Demographic factors and scientific sub-field has little impact on engagement, but views about the public and the value of engagement predict scientists’ engagement behavior and willingness to engage. Future survey work, however, should use a more theory-driven variable selection process.

Branding Health Communication Strategies Aimed at Healthcare Professionals • Patrick Merle; Robin Haislett; Dane Kiambi, Texas Tech University; Shannon Bichard, Texas Tech; Kat Livingston; Shankar Borua, Texas Tech University; Spencer Sorensen; Stephanie Kang; Trent Seltzer, Texas Tech University; Elizabeth Gardner, Texas Tech University; Coy Callison • The current study addresses the effort to brand new communication strategies among healthcare professionals. In-depth interviews and focus groups were conducted for the analysis of current communication barriers, message channels and sustainability tactics, and their influence on the patient experience. Strategies are offered to address effective communication training tactics and sustainability in an effort to maximize patient care and satisfaction.

Not in my backyard or yours: Communicative influences of opinion leadership on perceptions of risks and benefits of a bioresearch facility • Andrew Binder, North Carolina State University; Dietram Scheufele; Dominique BROSSARD, LSC, University of Wisconsin-Madison • This study builds on past research in the communication of science and risk by integrating models of attitude formation and learning with an important social factor: opinion leadership. We consider the role that opinion leadership can play in the flow of mass media and interpersonal communication to influence how individual-level risk and benefit perceptions of a potentially high-risk research facility evolve. In order to do so, we rely on primary data from a longitudinal study of the communication and public opinion dynamics surrounding the establishment of the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF) in five candidate communities. The models tested in this study suggest a very flexible influence of opinion leadership in these different communities, in part moderated by the overarching social network—of supporters or opponents—within which they are embedded. Implications for future work on the public communication of science and technology are discussed.

How Global Warming Websites Frame Science Information • Lisa Parcell, Wichita State University; Michael Boyle, West Chester University • The global warming “debate” began as a pure science story, later framed by the media as a heated conflict. No longer solely reliant on the news media to present their “side” of the issue, special interests on both sides launched websites to inform and persuade visitors to their sites. However, these sites vary greatly in the extent to which they use science information, opinion, and other devices in framing global warming arguments. This study builds on science communication literature to examine 21 global warming websites and the specific nature and prominence of scientific information within the sites through a qualitative content analysis.

The impact of social context, warning components, and receiver characteristics on evacuation decisions of African Americans • Vankita Brown, Howard University • This study explores the situational influences found in the Protective Action Decision Model: family involvement (social context), source, channel, message components, (warning components), and fatalism and place attachment (receiver characteristics) on the protective action of African Americans in New Orleans during a hurricane. Additionally, the role of social networks among this community during these times was also assessed. Statistical analyses indicate that social context did not reveal a relationship with evacuation decisions. Public and governmental officials were found to be sources relied on during a hurricane. Both mass mediated and interpersonal communication channels were utilized among respondents, and all message components tested were important to participants. While fatalism was not correlated with evacuation decisions, place attachment was found to have an inverse relationship with willingness to evacuate. Thematic analysis reveals that social networks function as: a source of information and resources, confirmation of warnings, and catalyst to incite action. Results have implications for risk communicators utilizing PAMD as a framework to aid in devising outreach and educational campaigns.

Regulatory trust, risk information processing and support for an emerging technology • Michael Cacciatore, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Dietram Scheufele; Elizabeth Corley, Arizona St. University • Research investigating public attitudes toward nanotechnology has been primarily concerned with assessing the types of risks that the public perceives, as well as how these risks influence larger evaluations of the technology. Recently, however, there have been calls for a more complete understanding of the relationship between risk perceptions and support (Kahan, 2009). This analysis seeks to provide such an understanding by exploring the moderating effects of trust on the risk perception-attitude link. Our findings reveal that while risk perceptions are negatively related to support, the influence of specific risk perceptions on support can vary depending on an individual’s level of trust in the regulators of science. Specifically, our findings suggest two groups of people. The first group (those low in trust) are much more likely to base their decisions about support for nanotechnology on their perceptions of risks. That is, as their risk perceptions increase, their support decreases. The second group of people (those high in trust) are less likely to base their evaluations of nanotechnology on risk perceptions. While many of these individuals may agree that risks are high, their trust appears to override such beliefs and leads to a significantly smaller drop in support for the technology. Possible explanations for these findings are discussed.

Investigating the Role of Identities and Opinion Leadership on Risk Information Seeking and Sharing about Proposed Natural Gas Drilling in New York’s Marcellus Shale • Chris Clarke, Cornell University • This study investigates how identities motivate risk information seeking and sharing about risk controversies, using natural gas drilling in New York State’s Marcellus Shale as a case study. Thirty-six interviews explore the novel premise that an opinion leader identity and the contexts in which it emerges (including group membership and social roles) helps people negotiate a complex risk message environment and shapes communication behavior over time. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Examining Metaphors in Biopolitical Discourse • Cynthia-Lou Coleman, Portland State University; L. David Ritchie • This essay argues that common metaphors and metaphoric phrases used in biopolitical discourse limit how meanings are constructed by framing messages narrowly: so much so, that alternate readings are delimited, resulting in less opportunity for cognitive scrutiny of such messages. We moor our discussion of metaphors in cognitive linguistics, building on three decades of research by scholars including Sam Glucksberg (2008), George Lakoff and Mark Johnson (1980, 1999), and Ray Gibbs, Jr. (2006, 2008), demonstrating how research in framing effects bolsters our claims of limited entailments resulting from message construction. By situating our discussion of framing in biopolitics we make a case that metaphors including Frankenfood, Designer Baby, Vegetative State and Death Tax address how life and death are “managed” in discourse (Foucault, 1980). In this essay we demonstrate ways in which the framing of some metaphors in social discourse slip under readers’ and viewers’ cognitive radars, and thus become “under-the-radar metaphors.”

Impacts of Generalized Interpersonal and Institutional Trust on Environmental Health and Safety Risk Information-Seeking • Christopher Cummings, North Carolina State University • Traditional models of risk communication need elaboration as the media landscape has fundamentally changed. Researchers should investigate not only how messages are disseminated, but also how the public seeks-out risk information within the increasingly complex media landscape. This paper investigates preliminary questions about citizens’ information-seeking behavior and the impacts of generalized interpersonal and institutional trust on media channel selection. Data are populated from a national survey study treating traditional broadcast media and Internet-based media.

The Goldilocks Zone of Science Communication: An analysis of how media depicted Gliese 581g • Michael Dahlstrom, Iowa State University; Michael Bugeja, Iowa State University • This study examines how the pre-existing meaning stored within “Goldilocks” was used in coverage of the discovery of a potentially habitable planet. Results of content analysis revealed that while “Goldilocks” was present in half of the articles, its use was rarely attributed. When compared to the technical name of the planetary system, “Goldilocks” was more clustered near the top of the story and its use remained constant over time while the technical term declined.

Following the leader: Using opinion leaders in environmental strategic communication • Kajsa Dalrymple; Bret Shaw; Dominique BROSSARD, LSC, University of Wisconsin-Madison • This study explores the role that opinion leaders play in encouraging more positive environmental behaviors regarding an issue of growing concern. Results indicate that media can have mixed effects on levels of self-efficacy, and that opinion leaders with higher levels of self-efficacy are more likely to participate in behaviors that could influence their social network(s). These findings offer insights as to how future campaigns can utilize these groups in order to promote prevention activities.

Consensus and Controversy: Climate Change Frames in Two Australian Newspapers • Jamie Nolan, University of Miami; Michel Dupagne, University of Miami • This content analysis evaluated the salience of climate change frames in news and opinion articles of two influential Australian newspapers with different editorial stances between 1997 and 2007. Results revealed that the scientific uncertainty frame appeared more frequently in the more conservative Australian than in the more liberal Age. But the scientific background, policy background, political strategy, and public engagement frames related to climate change were less prevalent in that newspaper than in The Age. The Australian’s climate change articles also relied less on the Australian government and environmental groups as news sources and were more negative in tone than those published in The Age.

Can eWOM Help Smokers Quit? Effects of Online Consumer Reviews of Smoking Cessation Products • Petya Eckler, University of Iowa • This study examines the psychological effects of electronic word of mouth (eWOM) about smoking cessation products on smokers through the Theory of Planned Behavior. The effects of three message features (valence, extremity, appeal) are tested on attitude toward quitting smoking and perceived behavioral control. Valence affected both dependent variables; extremity and appeal interacted to affect perceived behavioral control. Theoretical and practical implications for the study of eWOM in a health context are discussed.

Richard Dawkins: A critical case study of the celebrity scientist • Declan Fahy, School of Communication, American University, Washington, D.C • Celebrity is a pervasive cultural phenomenon, but compared to other professions, scientific fame has remained under-examined. This paper uses zoologist and writer Richard Dawkins as a critical case study to explore scientific celebrity, tracing the historical development and meanings of Dawkins’s fame, through his writing on evolution, his defense of scientific rationality and his current position as emblem of positivist, rational atheism. Celebrity offers a novel framework for analyzing the media representation of science.

Mediated Messages and Self-Efficacy: An Examination of Entertainment-Education, Junk Food commercials and Healthy Eating Habits • Anthony Galvez • According to the National Center for Health Statistics, the rate of obesity in the U.S. has doubled from 1980 to 2004. Because of the pervasiveness of television viewing in American households, it seems logical to implement healthy eating initiatives through television programming. The existing literature demonstrates the effectiveness of the entertainment-education model of message creation to educate audiences about a long list of prosocial issues. One question that remains unanswered is the following: Can the entertainment-education model succeed in industrialized nations where media choices are so varied that reaching target audiences becomes problematic? The purpose of the study was to test if a) exposure to a prosocial message would affect individual self-efficacy toward controlling eating and b) if exposure to junk food commercials would negate any effect of the prosocial message. A convenience sample of 139 college students from Mass Communications courses at a large southwestern university participated in a 2X2 factorial design experiment. Participants were randomly assigned to one of four treatment groups and asked to watch a 30-minute sitcom with half of the participants watching an entertainment-education type message about diet and exercise. Participants were also exposed to junk food advertisements in two of the treatment groups. Results indicated no difference in levels of self-efficacy between those groups exposed to the entertainment-education messages and junk food messages when compared to the control group, thus indicating a need to further evaluate how to develop a better strategy for entertainment-education in media saturated countries.

Exploring the effects of Anti-Alcohol Abuse Message Types on Rebellious College Students • Eun Go, Pennsylvania State University; Moon Lee, University of Florida • The purpose of this study was to examine the responses of college students who were exposed to anti-alcohol abuse messages (fear vs. humor) aimed at discouraging heavy drinking. Particularly, this study explores how college students process humorous and fear-arousing messages differently based on their rebellious tendency. A total of 302 people participated in this study. Results indicated that rebellious college students who watched the fear ads reported lower levels of intention to change their drinking behaviors than those who watched the humor ads. Theoretical as well as practical implications are discussed in the paper.

Message Framing and Vaccination Outcomes: A Within-messages Framing Manipulation Experiment • Rustam Haydarov, UNICEF; Joye Gordon, Kansas State University • This experimental research tested what combination of attribute and goal frames within messages produces the strongest effect on vaccination behavior. Participants (N=476) were exposed online to four experimental framing manipulations and a control condition. A combination of the positive attribute and the negative goal frame was the only condition significantly more persuasive than the control condition. This study contributes to the evidenced-based applicability of framing theory within the context of health communication activities.

Understanding H1N1 influenza with PIM model: A comparison on risk perceptions between the U.S. and China using structural equation modeling • Gang (Kevin) Han, Iowa State University; Kejun Chu; Guolin Shen • This study proposes a “personal-interpersonal-mass mediated” influence (PIM) model, aiming to understand how H1N1 flu risk at four reference levels (personal, group, societal and global) are perceived by college students living in the U.S. and China. The structural equation modeling is tested with the data collected from 1895 and 1441 completed online questionnaires. Findings suggest that the PIM model fits the data well, three dimensions of which are positively associated with respondents’ H1N1 risk perceptions at all levels. Personal disease history is the most powerful factor, showing relatively stronger influence on Chinese respondents than on U.S. respondents. Interpersonal communication exerts stronger influence at group and societal levels, and is a more powerful predictor to U.S. respondents. Mass communication illustrates ubiquitously significant effects on risk perceptions at all reference levels, which plays a more important role for Chinese respondents than for U.S. respondents. Mass-mediated experience has also been more influential than interpersonal communication for Chinese respondents to understand health risk in remote area at global level.

Motivated Reasoning, Identity Cues, and Support for Climate Mitigation Policies a Moderated-Mediation Model • Philip Hart, American University; Erik Nisbet, Ohio State University • This study draws from theories of motivated reasoning, social identity, and persuasion to examine how science-based messages may increase public polarization on controversial science issues such as climate change. Exposing 240 adults to simulated news stories about possible climate change health impacts on different groups, we find that political affiliation interacts with social distance cues to influence identification with victims, which in turn impacts support for climate mitigation policies. Implications for science communication are discussed.

Newspaper coverage of Shaken Baby Syndrome, 1992-2008 • Heidi Hennink-Kaminski, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Elizabeth Dougall • This longitudinal content analysis examines whether news media coverage of shaken baby syndrome aligns with contemporary scientific knowledge about its context, incidence and consequences. A quantitative content analysis of 1,167 newspaper articles about shaken baby syndrome from 1992 to 2008 published in top U.S. newspapers was conducted. Variables of interest included mention of “infant crying” or “colic” in relation to shaking, mention of early infant crying as normal, the consequences of shaking, victim/perpetrator portrayals, and types of sources. SBS is typified in ways that are at odds with contemporary scientific knowledge of its context and consequences. Most newspaper coverage provides no explanation of triggers such as crying, and positions the abuse as unpredictable and unpreventable.

Understanding Recycling Behaviors: A Theoretical Expansion of the Influence of Presumed Media Influence Model • Youqing Liao; Yanyi Yang; Titus J. Yong; Shirley S. Ho • This paper presents a theoretical framework to explain the influence of individuals’ attention to pro-environmental media messages on their recycling intentions. Building on the influence of presumed media influence (IPMI) model, we examine both direct and indirect media effects on recycling intentions and integrate the constructs of attitudes, descriptive, subjective, and injunctive norms into the model. We tested this framework on a random sample of 1,144 Singaporeans using computer-assisted telephone interviewing. Using structural equation modeling, we found evidence of IPMI on recycling intentions, in addition to direct media effects on attitudes, norms and recycling intentions. As expected, perceived media influence on others affected one’s recycling intentions. This relationship was further accounted for by three mediating constructs: attitudes, descriptive, and subjective norms. Injunctive norms, however, did not serve as a mediator. Implications and limitations of the findings were discussed.

The Blame Frame: Media attribution of blame during the MMR-autism vaccination scare • Avery Holton, University of Texas-Austin; Brooke Weberling, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Chris Clarke, Cornell University; Michael Smith, University of Louisville • Scholars have examined how news media frame events, including responsibility for causing and fixing problems and how these frames inform public judgment. This study analyzed the content of 281 newspaper articles about a controversial study linking the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccination with autism. Given criticism of the study as well as its negative impact on vaccination rates across multiple countries, this study examined the actors to whom news media attributed blame for the association between the MMR vaccination and autism, what sources were employed to support those attributions, and what solutions, if any, were offered. This study provides unique insight by examining the evolution of these attributions over the lifetime of the MMR-autism controversy. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

News Coverage of Psychological Trauma and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): Trauma Causes, Reactions, and Treatment • J. Brian Houston, University of Missouri • In order to understand how psychological trauma and PTSD are depicted in the news media, a content analysis of television news and newspapers was conducted. Results found that news depictions of psychological trauma were more likely to focus on “trauma” in general than on “PTSD.” Almost all trauma news stories (98.2%) described the cause of the trauma. The most common cause of trauma in news stories was military service, which was mostly related to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Most trauma news stories did not mention a trauma reaction (64%) or a type of trauma treatment (69%). Committing murder/homicide was the most frequent trauma reaction overall. On average, trauma news stories were more episodic than thematic and there were significant differences in the episodic and thematic framing of different trauma causes.

The Role of Unequal Information Resources Distribution on Health Information Seeking • Heewon Im, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities; Jaeho Cho • The relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and individuals’ health information seeking has been tested in previous studies, but not many explanations for the relationship have been suggested. In this study, the role of unequal resources distribution is proposed as a possible mechanism underlying both the relationship between SES and health information seeking and the relationship between social engagement and health information seeking. The information resources, which are time, money, and information skills, are not equally distributed across different SES groups and individuals’ levels of social engagement; the unequal distribution of resources results from individuals’ different abilities and motivations in seeking health information. In addition, the unequal resources distribution is predicted to moderate the effect of personal relevance of health issues on health information seeking, by varying motivation and ability level. The secondary data analysis was conducted using the 2007 ANHCS. The results show partial support for the positive relationship between social engagement and health information seeking. The study contributes to the theoretical understanding of the effect of social capital on individuals’ health.

Examination of message features in DTC ads and its impact on disclosure recall • Narayanan Iyer, Southern Illinois University Carbondale • Typically disclosures about risks and side effects are communicated via the audio modality in televised pharmaceutical drug commercials. A recent directive from the FDA advises prescription drug advertisers to concurrently convey disclosure information through both audio and video modality (congruence). The FDA also directs drug commercials to not have any elements that could potentially distract viewers from paying attention to disclosures (dominance). There is little research on DTC advertising that tests the impact of modality congruence and visual dominance on recall. An experiment was conducted (N = 98) to investigate this further and the results showed significant effects for visual dominance and its interaction with modality congruence.

Leading and Following in Medical Pack Journalism • Vincent Kiernan, Georgetown University • This study applies the concept of opinion leadership to the phenomenon of pack journalism among medical journalists at daily newspapers. Journalists were surveyed about stress and autonomy in their work. Respondents also were asked to identify other journalists whose work influences them. Regression analysis showed no relationship between autonomy or stress and the propensity of respondents to follow other journalists. Journalists at elite media outlets exerted significant influence over other journalists’ news coverage.

Potential for Cancer Care or Health Threats Producer?: Interaction Effects of News Frame and Information Processing Style on Further Information Seeking About Nanotechnology • Sojung (Claire) Kim, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Timothy Fung, Department of Communication Studies, Hong Kong Baptist University; Dominique BROSSARD, LSC, University of Wisconsin-Madison • This investigation explored main and interactive effects of different news frame and information processing style on further information seeking about nanotechnology and its effects on health treatment. With a total of 378 participants, a 2 (gain vs. loss frame) X 2 (systematic vs. heuristic information processing) between-subjects experimental design was used to test the proposed hypotheses. The study revealed that individuals who were exposed to a positively framed story about the use of nanotechnology in cancer care were more willing to seek out further information about the topic than those who in a negatively framed news. Moreover, individuals sought out information about the topic most when they systematically processed the information in a positively framed story, whereas they sought out the least amount of information when they systematically thought about the topic but in a negatively framed article. Theoretical insights and practical implications of the study findings are further discussed.

Online Information and Self-Reported Learning About Health Care Quality and Costs • Ashley Kirzinger, Louisiana State University; Margaret DeFleur, Louisiana State University; Kirby Goidel • According to a 2009 Pew Research Center study, 61 percent of Americans report going online for health-related information. Described as “e-patients,” this group of health consumers is frequently looking for very specific, tailored information with 60 percent of “e-patients” reporting that the information they found online related to the treatment of an illness or a condition. While we are beginning to understand the online behavior of individuals searching for information about a specific illness, considerably less is known about individuals’ reliance on the Internet for other aspects of health care information, especially information about health care quality and costs. A telephone survey of a random sample of Louisiana residents examined the factors associated with self-reported learning about health care quality and costs. We explore whether using online health information affects individuals’ intent to use a website that posts information about health care quality and costs. Results indicate that since online health information seeking is generally directed at specific diseases, there is little relationship between the use of online sources for medical and health-related information and self-reported learning about health care quality and costs. Yet, individual choice in health care providers is a strong predictor of increased levels of learning about health care quality and costs and increased levels of online health information seeking. We conclude by demonstrating that while there is ample interest among health consumers for information about health care quality and costs, there is a strong disconnect between consumer needs and the information that is available.

“Dr. Soundbite”: The Making of an Expert Source in Science and Medical Stories • Marjorie Kruvand, Loyola University Chicago • Bioethicists have been increasingly used as expert sources in science and medical stories involving ethical issues. This descriptive case study examines how and why a single bioethicist, Dr. Arthur L. Caplan, has become such a ubiquitous source on an extremely broad range of topics. Organizational news routines provide the theoretical framework for a content analysis of coverage in six newspapers over a 19-year period and interviews with Caplan and six science and medical journalists. The study finds that as part of the small, trusted roster of sources that journalists turn to again and again, Caplan has been the de facto representative of the bioethics profession in the news for the last two decades and has helped shape media discourse on bioethical issues. Findings show that Caplan is quoted so extensively because he understands and follows news routines, likes talking with reporters, provides pithy quotes, and is committed to public engagement. Critics are concerned, however, that Caplan’s personal opinions, values, and biases may be viewed by news consumers as “the” ethical position on issues.

The Influence of a Spin-off of a Health Division on the Content of Health News:A Comparison of Two Leading Korean Newspapers • Na Yeon Lee • This study examines how the establishment of a spin-off, a subsidiary of a parent company that was created as a strategy to increase profits for news organizations, affects the content of the health news. A content analysis of two leading Korean newspapers showed that the main frames of health news changed from promotion of a healthy lifestyle to medical treatments related to potential advertisers, such as private hospitals and pharmaceutical companies. Results also demonstrated that reporters relied more upon health news sources from potential advertisers. These findings suggest that a spin-off may influence the frames of news in ways that give more emphasis to advertisers. This study can contribute to framing research about the hierarchy of influence on news content by identifying the new factor of spin-offs.

The Role of Social Capital in Public Health Communication Campaigns: The Case of the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign • Chul-joo Lee, The Ohio State University • In this paper, we explored how media health campaigns exert their effects through audience’s social capital. Using the National Survey of Parents and Youth (NSPY) dataset, we examined the interactive effects of parents’ campaign exposure and antidrug-specific social capital at both individual- and geographically-aggregated levels on parents’ drug-related talk with their child. We found main effects of parents’ campaign exposure and parents’ antidrug-specific community activities on their talk about drugs with their child. More interestingly, there was a negative interactive effect between campaign exposure and antidrug-specific community activities on the parent talking behavior. In contrast, there was neither a contextual effect of aggregate-level antidrug-specific social capital nor a cross-level interaction involving aggregate-level social capital. The implications of these findings for communication research and public health intervention were discussed.

Resources Aren’t Everything, But They Do Help! Assessing Local TV Health News to Deliver Substantive and Useful Information for Smart Health Decisions • Young Ah Lee, University of Missouri; Erin Willis, University of Missouri School of Journalism; Sun A Park; Hyunmin Lee • Gatekeeping theory informed this comparative analysis of local TV health news stories (N=416) from two different local television stations. Station characteristics such as available resources and network affiliation influenced length (Cramer’s V= .517), location (V= .369), health topics (V= .410), number and quality of news sources, and imputed target audience (V= .173) of local TV health newscasts.

Third-Person Effect and Rectifying Behaviors: Studying Antisocial and Prosocial Online Messages of Youth Drug Abuse • Wan Chi Leung, The Chinese University of Hong Kong • This study examined third-person perceptions for two types of online messages, the antisocial drug-encouraging messages and the prosocial anti-youth drug abuse messages, and their relationship with three types of rectifying behaviors, restrictive, corrective and promotional. While the perceptual gap of antisocial online messages significantly predicted three types of rectifying behaviors, that of prosocial messages failed. Instead, perceived effect of prosocial messages on the self significantly predicted higher likelihood of rectifying behaviors. Perceived effects of antisocial messages on the self and on others were also significant in predicting rectifying behaviors. This study thus calls for more investigation on perceived effects on the self, especially for prosocial messages. Examination of the target corollary was contrary to previous findings, showing that perceived exposure of others to prosocial messages was a significant predictor to behaviors. This points to more explorations on the role of perceived exposure to prosocial messages in the behavioral component.

An Examination of the Indirect Effects of Media on Intentions to Avoid Unprotected Sun Exposure • Jennette Lovejoy, University of Portland; Daniel Riffe, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill • A regional online survey (N=1, 251) of students enrolled at institutions of higher education examined whether internal psychological states, such as attitudes, social norms, perceived behavioral control, and perceived risk mediated the relationship between individual media environments and the likelihood of engaging in a health-adverse behavior such as unprotected sun exposure. Direct effects showed that general and health media use were significant predictors of tanning intentions. All psychological states, except perceived susceptibility, were positively related to intentions to avoid unprotected sun exposure. Indirect effects revealed that general news use was associated with a greater perception of one’s peers and important others engaging in sun protective behaviors, which in turn increased one’s own intentions to engage in sun protection behaviors. A single case of suppression was also evident and showed that individuals’ decreased perceptions of the severity of cancer enhanced the relationship between general newspaper use and sun protection intentions.

Effects of Proximity on the Cognitive Processing of Environmental News • Charles Meadows, University of Alabama; Cui Zhang, University of Alabama; Shuhua Zhou, University of Alabama • To investigate the influence of physical proximity on the cognitive and affective processing of environmental news stories, this study examined the physiological responses and cued recall to environmental news stories on four different environmental issues. The results showed that high-proximity environmental news stories elicited greater heart rate deceleration than low-proximity ones. No significant effects were found for proximity on electrodermal activity. Additionally, no significant effects were found for cued recall, suggesting only limited proximity effects on arousal and retrieval of environmental news stories. These findings present a complex role for proximity in the cognitive processing of news stories. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed.

Computer Mediated Social Support and the Effects of Expression: The Mediating Role of Perceived Bonding on Cancer Patients’ Coping Strategies • Kang Namkoong, University of Wisconsin – Madison; Dhavan Shah; Bryan McLaughlin, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Woohyun Yoo, University of Wisconsin – Madison; Sojung (Claire) Kim, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Shawnika Hull, University of Wisconsin; Tae Joon Moon; Courtney Johnson; Robert Hawkins; David Gustafson • This study examines the mechanism underlying the effects of computer-mediated social support (CMSS) on cancer patients’ coping strategies, distinguishing between the effects of the expression and the reception of emotionally supportive messages. 237 breast cancer patients participating in CMSS groups were included in the analysis. Findings show that the effects of (a) CMSS group use and (b) emotionally supportive expression on patients’ positive coping strategies are mediated by perceived bonding among breast cancer patients.

Acceptability of the H1N1 Vaccine among Older Adults: The Interplay of Message Framing and Perceived Vaccine Safety and Efficacy • Xiaoli Nan, University of Maryland; Bo Xie; Kelly Madden • This study examines the relative effectiveness of using gain- vs. loss-framed messages to promote H1N1 vaccination among older adults, focusing on the moderating role of the message recipients’ perceived vaccine safety and efficacy. An experiment was conducted with older adults recruited from senior centers in the state of Maryland. Results show that older adults who were presented with a loss-framed H1N1 vaccination message developed more favorable attitudes toward H1N1 vaccination and greater intentions to receive the vaccine. But these findings are only limited to older adults who perceived low vaccine efficacy. For those who perceived high vaccine efficacy, message framing didn’t make a difference in post-exposure attitudes and intentions. Overall, framing had no systematic main effects and perceived vaccine safety did not moderate framing effects.

Multilevel Analysis of the Impact of School-Level Tobacco Policies on Adolescent Smoking: Implications for Health Communication • Hye-Jin Paek, Michigan State University; Thomas Hove, Michigan State University; Hyun Jung Oh • This study explores what degrees and types of tobacco-free school policy (TFSP) enforcement are associated with adolescent smoking. A multilevel analysis using 1082 individual students who are nested in 14 schools indicates that a greater punishment of TFSP violation and more tobacco control communication efforts are associated with lower adolescent smoking. But designation of a tobacco-free school zone and school-level smoking are associated with higher adolescent smoking. Implications for effective communication efforts on TFSP are discussed.

(Conditional) Support, Permission, and Misconceptions: Considering Workplace Support for Breastfeeding • Sheila Peuchaud • This paper analyses the responses of 123 business owners and managers when asked about their current practices and attitudes concerning workplace support for breastfeeding mothers. The responses indicate that breastfeeding is largely considered a behavior that employers may or may not permit, placing the practice and womens’ bodies under the control of the employer. Space and time accommodations vary widely, and several responses indicated misconceptions which, if rectified, could extend support for breastfeeding to women in a wider variety of industries and socio-economic levels.

How does Doctor-Patient Communication Differ Based on the Gender of Doctor and the Gender of Patient? An Analysis of Entertainment-Education Based Network Medical Drama Grey’s Anatomy. • Lok Pokhrel, Washington State University • This study content analyzed the total of 12 episodes of Grey’s Anatomy of season six. Total of twenty four episodes of the season six, in which total of sixty eight (N= 68) units of doctor-patient (characters) interactions were coded. This study aimed to find whether there is any significant difference in the communication between doctor and patient due to their gender difference. This study didn’t find a significant difference in terms of doctor-patient communication influenced by the gender of the doctor. The study found that the patients have interacted more to the female doctor characters than to the male doctor characters; however, the difference is not significant except in two categories: patient providing information on past medical diagnosis, and patient seeking information on adjustment/coping (p<.05). In average, patients have communicated more with the female doctor characters than the male counterparts (Male: n=28, Female: n= 40).

The Role of Family Communication Style, Coviewing and Mediation in Family Nutrition Efficacy and Behavior • Erica Austin; Pinkleton Bruce; Marie Louise Radanielina-Hita; Weina Ran, Washington State University • An internet-based survey of 150 parents investigated parental communication styles, mediation and coviewing behaviors regarding media and family nutrition. The results indicated that concept-oriented parental communication predicted negative mediation and parental efficacy for making healthy changes in family nutrition behaviors, while socio orientation predicted the tendency to watch TV during dinner. Coviewing negatively predicted efficacy and positively predicted eating dinner while watching TV. The results suggest that interventions aimed at reducing obesity may benefit from targeting parental mediation strategies and encouraging concept-oriented approaches to family communication practices.

HIV Stigmatization and Stereotyping in Chinese News Coverage: From a Framing Perspective • Chunbo Ren, Washington State University; Stacey Hust, Washington State University; Peng Zhang, The University of Georgia; Yunze Zhao, Renmin University of China • A recent study revealed serious HIV/AIDS stigmatization is prevalent in Chinese media discourse. The current study extends this research by exploring how people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) are portrayed in Chinese media, and how these media frame HIV transmission and responsibility attribution for PLWHA. The result suggests that the newspaper articles promote two different views of people living with HIV/AIDS that is dependent on the manner with which the contracted the disease. Individuals who contract the disease through socially acceptable means are worthy of being featured. In contrast, individuals who contract the disease through socially unacceptable means are less likely to be identified as individuals, and instead are devalued as a nondescript member of a highly dangerous group. This juxtaposition reinforces stigmatization the will mitigate China’s HIV/AIDS anti-stigma efforts.

Mind or Body? A Qualitative Framing Analysis of Fibromyalgia in Newspapers Versus Health Websites • Joy Rodgers, University of Florida; Mari Luz Zapata Ramos, University of Florida • This qualitative framing analysis examined stories and articles in newspapers and health websites to identify frames in the ongoing debate about whether fibromyalgia is a medical or mental affliction. A total of 95 articles retrieved from online archives of elite newspapers and top health information websites were analyzed. The study found that newspapers more frequently framed fibromyalgia in terms of a medical condition, while health websites leaned more toward a mental frame.

Self-identity and past behavior in risk information seeking intention: An augmented PRISM • Sonny Rosenthal, The University of Texas at Austin • This study augmented Kahlor’s (2010) planned risk information seeking model (PRISM). The augmented PRISM depicts risk information seeking intention as the product of attitudes toward seeking, seeking-related subjective norms, perceived control over seeking, affective response, information-seeking self-identity, and past seeking. This study used an online survey of Americans (N = 602) in order to assess the fit of the augmented model, with specific attention to the novel model components—information-seeking self-identity and past seeking. Results supported the proposed model (R2 = .62) and five stated hypotheses related to information-seeking self-identity. In addition, I explored a research question related to past seeking. A notable, but unanticipated finding was that—at least with the current sample—perceived behavioral control did not predict seeking intention significantly.

Inoculating against confusion and restoring confidence in vaccinations: A mental models approach to risk communication • Valarie Bell Wright, The College of Charleston; Heather Woolwine; Amanda Ruth-McSwain, College of Charleston; Margaret White, College of Charleston; Jennifer Lockhart, College of Charleston • Child vaccinations are considered a necessary precaution in safeguarding society by eliminating or reducing the occurrence of several potentially deadly diseases. While there is clear consensus amongst the medical community that vaccinations are critical, there exists some discrepancy in the importance and effects associated with vaccinations throughout the parent community. A parent’s decision to vaccinate is often complicated by fear or apprehension. As such, a mental models approach was used to guide the present study in an attempt to identify the gaps between expert knowledge and nonexpert (parents) understanding of the risks associated with child vaccinations. The results provide the framework for an informed message strategy to assuage fears as well as to provide research-based risk information regarding childhood vaccinations.

News Media’s Treatment of HPV Vaccination in Males: Analysis of U.S. Newspapers and Health Websites • Kang Hoon Sung, University of Florida; Kathryn Gerlach, University of Florida • In October 2009, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Gardasil, a vaccine for the prevention of four types of human papillomavirus (HPV), for use in boys and men. No studies to date have been conducted to determine the manner in which mainstream media outlets frame vaccination of this particular segment of the population. The current study explores how the media have, thus far, presented this controversial issue. Analyses revealed a total of three dominant frames, which the media employed to present the issue of male HPV vaccination. These frames were: 1) Uncertainty, 2) Unreasonable cost and Vaccines as revenue creators, and 3) Opposition and Controversy.

“There would be no peace for me if I kept silent:” A discourse analysis of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring • Melissa Thompson • Rachel Carson’s novel Silent Spring is often singled out as beginning the modern environmental movement. This paper explores the discourse of the novel itself, the sociocultural environment of the U.S. in the early 1960s, and the institution of literary journalism to draw conclusions about why the novel left such an impression on readers and lawmakers. The paper concludes that the manner in which Carson was able to frame the issue of pesticide use left a lasting impression on the upper middle-class readers who were likely to have read the work and taken up the book’s call to action.

News Valence and Attribution of Responsibility in a Cross-National Study of TV News Coverage of the 2009 UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen • Jiun-Yi Tsai, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Xuan Liang, Department of Life Science Communication; Magda Konieczna; Kristine Mattis, Environment and Resources Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies • This research examines how valence of media frames reflects cross-country differences in journalistic norms and national stakes on attribution of responsibility for climate change for alleviating global climate change. By analyzing prime-time television news in three major countries-the United States, China and Canada during the 2009 climate change conference in Copenhagen, we capture the media presentation of the overall valence toward the conference negotiation, home country’s performance, and foreign countries’ performance. The results indicate that the news media of the three countries commonly presented negative assessments throughout the Copenhagen conference. The news media valued their home country’s performance and foreign countries’ performance differently. The relationship between treatment responsibility in the home country and its country performance significantly differed cross the three countries. Reporters and anchors demonstrated national differences in overall tone of messages.

Competing with the conventional wisdom: Newspaper coverage of medical overtreatment • Kim Walsh-Childers, University of Florida College of Journalism & Communications; Jennifer Braddock, University of Florida • Overtesting and overtreatment in health care has had serious consequences, economically and physically, for an American public constantly in search of ways to maintain or regain good health. This qualitative content analysis considered examined the framing of overtreatment in four elite U.S. newspapers. Three frames emerged from the analysis: uncertainty on the part of physicians and patients, the costs of unnecessary medical tests and procedures, including their causes, and legal issues, including malpractice and fraud.

How will College Newspapers Frame a Pandemic? • Allison Weidhaas, University of South Florida • This paper explores how student reporters frame the risk of an infectious disease in their student newspapers. The researcher conducted a content analysis of 12 student newspapers selected from a multi-stage sample in the fall of 2009 to determine if students accurately present the level of risk. The findings indicate that as the potential personal risk of H1N1 increased, the students attempted to reduce anxiety by offering reassuring messages.

On-line Environmental Engagement among Youth: Influences of Parents, Attitudes and Demographics • Rob Wicks, University of Arkansas; Myria Allen; Stephanie Schulte, University of Arkansas • A national stratified quota sample of 1,096 parents and their children between the ages of 12 and 17 was conducted to investigate the factors that may be related to young people’s efforts to persuade members of their on-line social networks to be more environmental. Hierarchical regression analysis revealed that, while parents seem to influence youth behavior, the greatest variance in behavior was not explained by parents but by, among others, environmental self-efficacy, environmental news consumption, political interest, time spent online, and environmental consumerism. The regression model explained more of the variance in the girls’ online environmental advocacy than the boys’.

Construing health message framing: Motivational systems, valence of framing and event tendency of framing • Changmin Yan, Washington State University • Through a 2 (motivational systems: approach/avoidance) by 4 (framing: gain, no loss, loss and no gain) mixed design, this study tested two competing views on health message framing, i.e., the valence perspective and the event tendency view and their interactions with approach or avoidance motivational systems. Although empirical data favored both views when motivational systems were not considered, after adding motivational systems as a moderating variable, only the event tendency mediation model was supported.

Applying the Theory of Planned Behavior to Examine Preventive Behaviors against H1N1: A US-Singapore Comparison • Zheng Yang, SUNY at Buffalo; Jennifer Allen Catellier; Shirley S. Ho; May O. Lwin • This study applies the Theory of Planned Behavior to examine individuals’ intention to adopt preventive behaviors against the H1N1 influenza in the United States and in Singapore. Given the potential risks involved, an alternative measurement strategy is employed to assess attitude. Results suggest that past behavior, news deliberation, and favorable attitude were significant predictors of behavioral intention in both samples. However, societal-level risk perception and subjective norm had different influence between the two samples.

Framing HBV — Newspaper Coverage of HBV in China in 2009 • Chun Yang; Chunbo Ren, Washington State University • This paper focuses on newspapers’ coverage of hepatitis B in general and hepatitis B stigmatization during 2009 in mainland China. Medical treatment, HBV stigma, and anti-stigma efforts were the three main aspects highlighted by newspapers. Although Chinese newspaper coverage was positive with regards to anti-stigma efforts, newspapers placed responsibility on the individual to initiate anti-stigma activities. Additionally, newspapers contributed to the construction of HBV stigma by adopting stigmatizing terms among articles that supported anti-stigma efforts.

Toward A Theoretical Understanding of Using Online Health Communities: Motivation, Ability, and Doctor-Patient Communication Satisfaction • Yinjiao Ye • Drawing on the elaboration likelihood model and the behavioral of health services use, this study explores various correlates of participation in online health groups, including health-involvement variables, ability to use online health support groups, and consumer satisfaction with communication with health professionals and with health care received. The 2007 Health Information National Trend Survey data were analyzed. Results showed that controlling for demographics, health involvement variables, such as family cancer history and psychological health were significant. Also, consumer satisfaction with doctor-patient communication was marginally significant. This study adds to the literature by offering a conceptual understanding of use of online peer-to-peer health support; that is, motivation and ability to use online health information are important, and communication with online peers is pursued when communication with health professionals is less satisfactory.

Effects of Communication on Colorectal Cancer Screening: Revisited Health Belief Model • Woohyun Yoo, University of Wisconsin – Madison; MinWoo Kwon, University of Wisconsin at Madison • The Health Belief Model (HBM) has been the most commonly used in predicting individuals’ cancer screening behaviors. Numerous studies have investigated the role of communication as cue to behavior of Colorectal Cancer (CRC) screening in the HBM, but there is still a lack of research of the effect of communication in the HBM to predict CRC screening behaviors. Communication has a strong potential to play more influential and various roles in influencing CRC screening behaviors. Thus, this study explores how communication influences the behavior-making process of CRC screening on the basis of the HBM. Our findings suggest that communication has an impact on the components inherent in the HBM as well as the effect on CRC screening exert via the mechanism of the HBM.

Effects of Negative Exemplars of Celebrity Smoking on College Students’ Smoking • Woohyun Yoo, University of Wisconsin – Madison; Albert Gunther, University of Wisconsin – Madison • Most anti-smoking efforts have focused on adolescent smoking, and relatively little attention has been paid specifically to prevent college students’ smoking. Negative news stories on celebrity smoking increase the risk perception of smoking and they attract people’s attention to the problem inherent in smoking. From the point of view of the exemplification theory, this kind of news can be considered as an exemplar that influences individual assessment of smoking risk as well as contingent apprehension that motivates smoking avoidance and anti-smoking behavior. This study examines the effect of the negative exemplars of celebrity smoking in health news on college students’ perceived risk of smoking and smoking intentions. Our findings supported that negative exemplars of celebrity smoking have a strong impact on college students’ smoking. In addition, the effects are moderated by smoking status. Ever-smokers who read smoking news with negative exemplars of celebrity smoking are more likely to report higher levels of perceived risk of smoking and lower levels of smoking intentions, but never-smokers do not show the patterns

<< 2011 Abstracts

Civic and Citizen Journalism 2011 Abstracts

Interactions of news frames and incivility in the political blogosphere: Examining news credibility and political trust • Porismita Borah, Maryville University • 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 perceptual outcomes such as news credibility and political trust. Findings show that incivility increases the credibility of a news article while decreasing political trust. Further, results demonstrate the interactions of incivility and news frames. For instance, news credibility is increased only in the value-framed condition. Implications are discussed.

Exposing the digital news photo hound: A study on the normative structure and routines of citizen photojournalists • Tara Buehner and Julie Jones, University of Oklahoma • A growing trend in journalism is the rise of the citizen-captured images. However, no study has examined the common traits, values, and influences upon citizen photojournalists – photographers who post images on news-sharing sites. This paper sought to do exactly that through in-depth interviews with Yahoo! You-Witness-News members. Findings suggest that citizen photojournalists are savvy with regard to news values and conventions but have the freedom to be creative, consistent with creators of user-generated content.

The Refrigerator as a Megaphone: Addressing the Motivations of Citizen Photojournalists, Tara Buehner, University of Oklahoma • Journalists are losing their gatekeeping role, as citizens create and disseminate their own material. Some have a news-making intent, while others simply find themselves at the scene of breaking news. Due to the pervasiveness of digital cameras, much of this content is photographic in nature. Because little research exists regarding the motivations of citizen photojournalists, in-depth interviews with photographers on a citizen journalism site were conducted. Motivations include validation, self-expression, affinity, entertainment, altruism, and community-seeking.

Not paid to play: A case study of online community participants and the effects of non-monetary motivation upon public journalism • Robert Gutsche Jr and Rauf Arif, The University of Iowa • This paper is based upon interviews with six non-paid community members who write columns and blogs for a local U.S. newspaper. It provides insight into the continued evolution of public journalism. Our major finding concerns the issue of compensation and its influence upon the standards of community participants in their collaboration with the newspaper. We also provide attempt to stretch the normative approach of media production from traditional media to a new media environment.

Case of the #UTShooter: Citizens working around, with, and for traditional news media • Avery Holton, University of Texas-Austin • Scholars have examined what motivates people to seek out news and information through various platforms, most recently analyzing how and why citizens use social networking platforms such as Twitter to engage in the news process. Using open-ended questionnaires and content analysis, this study identified previously unrecognized motivations for citizen engagement in the news process via Twitter, using the recent case of the shooting at the University of Texas at Austin as a backdrop. The findings encourage new avenues of research and suggest updates to current definitions of journalism.

Exploring Contexts in Citizen Journalism: A Conceptual Framework • Nakho Kim, University of Wisconsin-Madison • The purpose of this paper is to propose a theoretical framework for qualitatively exploring contexts in citizen journalism case studies. Specifically, dimensions of purpose, external conditions and internal dynamics will be discussed. Based on arguments on the normative directions of community and communication, historical research of media and social action elements of citizen journalism, this paper explains why they matter and what needs to be explored.

News Innovation and the Negotiation of Participation • Seth Lewis, University of Minnesota • This paper examines the Knight News Challenge and its winning proposals as a way of exploring intersecting concerns about innovation and participation in journalism. A qualitative analysis finds that innovators negotiated issues of professional control and open participation in three ways: (1) embracing the idea of participation as a taken-for-granted assumption; (2) envisioning a symbiotic relationship between professionals and citizen collaborators; and (3) acknowledging that yielding control, in some cases, could result in better journalism.

No Experience Necessary: The Perceived Credibility of Citizen Journalism • Sara Netzley and Mark Hemmer, Bradley University • The news credibility crisis and the rise of citizen journalism have created new questions regarding the usefulness of citizen-generated content, particularly when compared to content created by professional journalists. This article explores the results of an experiment asking college students at a private Midwestern university to assess the credibility of an article that they either were told was written by a professional journalist or by a citizen. The perceived credibility the articles received based on their authors has key implications for news credibility research in a landscape where online media and citizen journalism are on the rise.

#Forward!: Twitter as Citizen Journalism in the Wisconsin Labor Protests • Aaron Veenstra, Narayanan Iyer, Namrata Bansal, Mohammad Hossain, Jiwoo Park and Jiachun Hong, Southern Illinois University – Carbondale • Recently, Twitter has become a prominent part of social protest movement communication. This study examines Twitter as a new kind of citizen journalism platform emerging at the aggregate in the context of such “crisis” situations. Specifically, we undertake a case study of the use of Twitter in the 2011 Wisconsin labor protests. Our findings suggest that Twitter and the use of mobile phones allow individuals to become conveyors of existing news and new information producers.

<< 2011 Abstracts

Visual Communication 2011 Abstracts

Developing and testing self-administered computer tutorials using Photoshop as the model • William Adams, Kansas State University • The study used focus groups to evaluate how effective commercial and tutorials provided with computer software were in teaching students with no previous experience. Students did not consider any of them affective for those totally unfamiliar with the software. We then tested our own 11-step Photoshop tutorial for beginners, designed to be self taught using a manual and Photoshop, with success. A second set of tutorials for more advanced work was then also created.

Oil-soaked Images of Disaster: Identifying the National vs. Local Television Visuals • Victoria Bemker LaPoe, LSU; Andrea Miller, Louisiana State University • This study seeks to identify the television visual imagery of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill across national and local news outlets as it unfolded over time. The study compared a content analysis of the visuals from week one of the disaster to week six of the disaster. The visuals of the first week represent a media trying to come to terms with the loss of life, the enormity of the disaster, and the difficulties in covering it. The visuals of week six represent consequences and containment. National versus local differences in visual coverage are discussed in terms of their individual missions and responsibilities to their publics.

The Use and Abuse of Financial Graphs in American and British Annual Reports • Zhilian Deng, Iowa State University • This study examines the use of graphs in the 2009 annual reports of 30 leading American and British companies in terms of selectivity and the extent to which companies manipulate these infographics to serve managerial interests. The results indicate that selectivity occurs in both countries, but the U.S. annual reports demonstrated more measurement distortions. The U.K. companies were more likely to use new types of graphs with a greater tendency to blur data.

The aesthetics of cosmetic surgery: How websites visualize the fountain of youth • Robyn Goodman, U. of Florida • The present study investigated the visuals on cosmetic surgery websites including photographs, gender, hair color, eye color, color choices, and typography. The content analysis of 90 cosmetic surgery websites showed more women than men in general photographs and on commercially sponsored sites but men and women appeared in the proportions expected in before-and-after photographs. Brunette men and women significantly outnumbered blondes. However, there more significantly more men with dark colored eyes, while women were significantly more likely to have light colored eyes. Cool colors were used significantly more than warm colors. Sans serif was the most used type classification. These findings are important because previous research has found that website visuals, colors, and typography have been found to produce greater recall, persuasion, learning, positive attitudes, and behavioral intentions (e.g., Leong et al., 1996; Hall & Hanna, 2004; Tractinsky et al., 2006; Robins & Holmes, 2008).

Picturing defiance: Visions of Democracy in Iran • Keith Greenwood, University of Missouri • This study examines the visual framing in photographs related to Iran’s 2009 presidential election, comparing images photographers identified as their best work to those considered the Pictures of the Year. The analysis shows photographers primarily covered events leading up to the election and the violence that followed through a variety of frames while the award-winning photographs framed the election primarily through the violence, presenting a much narrower interpretation to outside observers”

Narratives and Television News Editing • Keren Henderson, LSU • This study offers a method for analyzing the narrative content of television news videos. Very few scholars approach the study of visual narratives in television news because the technique is highly specialized and not commonly articulated by practitioners. However, cognitive experiments are supporting the importance of understanding the way the brain processes video messages; in particular, those coming from television news. Based in norms and routines theory, this study combines an unprecedented method of content analysis and in-depth interviews with award-winning local news editors in order to reveal the contemporary state of narrative production in television news.

Building a Case for Visual Communication Curriculum • Yung Soo Kim, University of Kentucky; Deborah Chung, University of Kentucky • A Web-based survey of administrators (N =59) and visual instructors (N = 60) was employed to examine the state of visual communication curricula among U.S. journalism and mass communication programs. Findings indicate courses were smaller, skills-based and required by a limited number of students. Instructors had strong professional backgrounds, had stronger opinions for expanding visual communication education and indicated having less confidence in their students’ competence when landing a job than administrators.

From Pictorialism to Visual Cliché: Tracing the Historical Developments of Scenic Photography in China • Shi Li • This paper traces the historical developments of scenic photography, a highly popular and amateurish art form in China, from its initial pictorial style to the current debate about its banality. Through an examination of major scenic photographs throughout China’s modern and contemporary history, it argues that scenic photography was born from pictorialism as a means for Chinese photographers to reclaim their Chinese cultural identity by appropriating a western medium against the backdrop of imperialism and colonialism.

Framing Franco: Editorializing Time Newsmagazine Cover Art Through Switching to Illustration • Sarah Merritt, North Carolina State University • Visual media used in mass communication serve as unique and powerful components in the framing used by mainstream media outlets to guide perception and interpretation of foreign events. Still powerful and influential today, Time newsmagazine is one of the oldest mainstream news outlets in the U.S. that has consistently guided public perception of foreign events through editorialized illustration of foreign leaders. During the Spanish Civil War, the late dictator Franco became the first foreign leader to be portrayed through editorialized illustration on Time cover art, and this qualitative case study aimed to identify and interpret historical presence and utility of visual framing components in Time’s coverage of Franco from 1936 to 1966. The six solo portraitures of Franco appearing on Time cover art were analyzed across a four-tier methodology, beginning with the identification of manifest content and visual metaphor and ending with ideological interpretation. Utilizing framing theory to predict, identify and explain the use of visual frame components, the analysis extends from identifying these components towards the interpretation of ideological implications. Ideological implications included portrayal of Franco’s inner character in terms of interactivity with the viewer and his imposition and threat to the U.S. Through qualitatively interpreting how illustrated foreground and background content in each image were used to convey specific messages, findings revealed that the potential use of visual framing based on components necessary for visual framing coincided with ideological messages that influence public perception of foreign events.

Developing News Photography: The Post-WWII Rise of Normative Photojournalism Instruction in Liberal Arts Journalism Education • Stanton Paddock, University of Maryland • This paper seeks to explain the development of normative photojournalism education practice in the fifteen years following WWII. Drawing on historical evidence preserved in contemporary scholarly writings and the archival records the Department of Journalism and Public Relations at the University of Maryland, this paper finds photojournalism education was gradually included and a normative form of liberal arts-based journalism education developed. Strong echoes of this are found in journalism education today. As modern journalism education seeks to include new forms of multimedia journalism, many of the same issues raised 60 years ago are encountered.

Framing Kim Jong-Il in American Political Cartoons • Sangwon Park • This study investigated how American political cartoons visually represented the North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il from 2001 to 2009. To assist the primary analysis, this study also examined how President George W. Bush was portrayed, as compared to Kim Jong-Il, to determine whether the media (cartoons) supported the American foreign policy and its values. Based on media framing analysis, 85 political cartoons in the American news media (primarily newspapers) were analyzed. The study found that issues related to nuclear weapons and missiles appeared to be the dominant frame used to portray North Korea in American political cartoons during the Bush administration. Furthermore, Kim Jong-Il was mainly depicted as a criminal, immature and childish being, and aggressor, which also supported that American political cartoons published during the Bush administration did advocate American foreign policy toward North Korea.

Visual representations of genetic engineering and genetically modified organisms in the online media • Lulu Rodriguez, Iowa State University; Ruby Lynn Asoro, Iowa State University • Do images of biotechnology that saturate the media accurately portray the science and the process? A content analysis of web images collected over a seven-day period was conducted. The results show an abundance of visuals in personal and special interest group sites, stock photo and cartoon banks. Images with a negative valence trounced those with a positive tone. The visuals presented a range of perspectives on genetic engineering, but many failed the accuracy test.

Meaning of Democracy Around the World: A Thematic and Structural Analysis of Videos Defining Democracy • Hyunjin Seo, University of Kansas; Dennis Kinsey • This study examines thematic and structural features of short films submitted to a worldwide video competition defining democracy. A total of 120 videos are analyzed to examine prominent themes of democracy such as popular participation and diversity as well as audio/visual elements of the videos from around the world. Authors investigate whether and how thematic and structural aspects of videos are different based on geographical region and measure of democracy of the country.

Still “Live at the Scene”: A quantitative analysis of timeliness in local television broadcast hard news stories re-published as online content • Jennifer Ware, North Carolina State University • This study assessed grounding elements present in broadcast news stories re-purposed as online content and investigated the presence or absence of temporal fixity. A content analysis of 266 online news videos from NBC, CBS, ABC, and FOX affiliate stations was conducted. The videos (n=209) were found to have high levels of timeliness and no temporal fixity. There are three objectives of this research (1) to contribute a new theoretical concept, temporal fixity, (2) to provide news media with ways of thinking about repurposed online materials (3) outline a new method of studying online materials with the screen capture software Camtasia®.

Shooting the Shooter: How experience level affects photojournalistic coverage of a breaking news event • Carolyn Yaschur, University of Texas at Austin • Interviews were conducted with professional, student, and citizen photojournalists to determine how experience level and training affect the photojournalistic coverage of a breaking news event. Building upon the Hierarchy of Influences approach, influences on the individual and routines levels were examined. Four themes emerged – emotional attachment to the story, teamwork and competition, risk taking, and intent and approach – which varied by level of experience and were complicated by role as a student or employee.

<< 2011 Abstracts

Scholastic Journalism 2011 Abstracts

Law Textbooks for School Administrators: Do They Present the Same Tinker and Hazelwood We Know? • Candace Perkins Bowen, Kent State University; Trevor Ivan, Kent State University • Textbooks that future secondary school administrators use in their educational law classes cover student media and related legal issues. These books explain the challenge of balancing students’ First Amendment rights and principals’ concern for control. Comparing how these texts and the only scholastic media text on the subject, Law of the Student Press, cover two landmark Supreme Court cases — Tinker and Hazelwood  — could be a clue to disagreements and misunderstandings between principals and journalism teachers.

Technology, Self-Efficacy, and Job Satisfaction: A Study of Predictors of Burnout Among High-School Journalism Educators • Gretchen Sparling, University of North Texas; Koji Fuse, University of North Texas • This research investigated high-school journalism educators’ use and teaching of convergence technology, as well as their self-efficacy, job satisfaction, job dissatisfaction, and burnout. In general, instructions and uses of multimedia tools were not as prevalent as traditional-journalism instructions and tools. One-third of the teachers expressed moderate or strong levels of burnout in terms of their emotional exhaustion. Although both job satisfaction and job dissatisfaction were strong predictors of burnout, self-efficacy was not.

Journalism students and civic engagement: Is there still a connection? • Geoffrey Graybeal, University of Georgia; Amy Sindik, University of Georgia; Jen Ingles, University of Georgia • This study examines the civic engagement levels of high school journalism students.  Through a pilot study and focus groups, this paper examines the way high school journalism students feel about civic engagement, and if the students connect civic engagement to their works as young journalists.  The focus group findings indicate that being involved in journalism does increase an interest in the world around them, and creates a group of students that believe that they know more about current affairs than their peers.  Cyclically, the students believe that civic engagement also develops their journalism skills.

Digital Natives, Journalism and Civic Engagement:  Cultivating Citizenship with Technology • Ed Madison, University or Oregon • Scholarly literature reveals a troubling truth: younger generations show declining levels of interest in civic affairs. Simultaneously, new technology, in the form of smartphones, electronic tablets and other mobile devices that were once considered optional accessories are quickly becoming essential communicating and learning devices.  This qualitative study looks at two schools where digital cameras, laptops and smart mobile devices are being used to catalyze civic engagement in and outside of the classroom.

The student journalist: Roles of the scholastic press in the 21st Century • Adam Maksl, University of Missouri • This paper examines normative roles of high school journalism in general, and the high school newspaper in particular, over the course of the history of the scholastic press. More importantly, through a survey of high school newspaper advisers (N=365), it answers the question of what school newspaper roles are most dominant today, as well as what factors influence an adviser’s role perceptions. Implications for future study of scholastic press freedom are discussed.

Just Hit Reply: How Student Journalists Use Email in the Newsroom • Sara Netzley, Bradley University • This article examines the way in which student journalists use email on the job. College students working at campus newspapers across the country participated in an online survey asking them how often they use email to conduct certain newsgathering tasks, including using email to conduct interviews with sources. It also asked about their perceptions of the quality of such interviews and their use of social media such as Facebook and Twitter. The findings could have implications for how these students will conduct themselves in professional settings upon graduation and for how journalism educators should approach this topic in the classroom.

Journalism as a viable career choice: What guidance counselors are telling students • Terry Rentner, Bowling Green State University; Seth Oyer, Bowling Green State University; Mark Flynn, Bowling Green State University • Media portrayals of journalism careers paint a dismal picture of its future.  Of concern is how these portrayals may influence high school guidance counselors’ recommendations of a journalism career.  This study surveyed U.S. high school guidance counselors to gauge their knowledge of the journalism field.  Results show that while roughly half of the guidance counselors surveyed would recommend a journalism career, they think that fewer students are likely to pursue journalism as a career path.

Student Journalists v. School Administrators: A More Structured Way To Resolve Disputes • Jonathan Peters, University of Missouri • Public schools have wrestled for decades with the boundaries of free expression.  Although students do not enjoy the same First Amendment rights as adults, they do not shed those rights at the schoolhouse gate.  Disputes between student journalists and school administrators are common, and because they take place in the school environment, they have the potential to be disruptive.  Student journalists and school administrators need a structured way to address and resolve those disputes.

Perils and Recommendations for Student Publications After Christian Legal Society v. Martinez • Andrew Pritchard, North Dakota State University • The Supreme Court’s 2010 ruling in Christian Legal Society v. Martinez, that a public university’s student organizations may be required to accept a “”take all comers”” policy as a condition of recognition, jeopardizes the ability of student publications to maintain their quality, distinctiveness, and independence. Close examination of the court’s opinion, however, reveals several avenues by which student publications can limit the decision’s consequences for them.

<< 2011 Abstracts

Radio-TV Journalism 2011 Abstracts

Sourcing in national vs. local television news coverage of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: A study of experts, victims, roles and race • Andrea Miller, Louisiana State University; Victoria Bemker LaPoe, LSU • The purpose of this study is to identify the sources used by national and local television news outlets in the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill coverage and how those sources contributed to the frames and functions of the media in crisis. The study consisted of a content analysis of the sourcing from weeks one and six of the disaster. Findings show national press did a better job of serving the management role, but also operated in a responsibility frame and relied heavily on political analysts. Local outlets relied more on state officials and scientists. National versus local differences in sourcing (experts, victims, race) and frames are discussed in terms of their individual missions and responsibilities to their publics during a crisis situation.

Who says news can’t be imaginative? A quasi-experiment testing perceived credibility of animated news, news organization, media use and dependency. • Ka Lun Benjamin Cheng, School of Communication, Hong Kong Baptist University; Wai Han Lo, Hong Kong Baptist University • Animated news is a news reporting technique emerging in Hong Kong, Taiwan and mainland China. Online news media using such technique has yielded very considerable size of viewership to their news videos. Animated news is a format of using digital animation to reenact the detail course of a news event as part of a news report. Often times animated news video mixes the facts gathered by journalists with their own imaginations to fill missing links of an event. A quasi-experiment with 153 college students as participants was done to compare the perceived credibility of news using and without using animation. Results showed that participants indicated sound effects of animated news would reduce its credibility. Perceived news credibility was also found related to its news organization and medium dependency. Implications to animated news media and future research direction in animated news were discussed.

Are Advertisers Potential (and Effective) Influencers on News Content? An Examination of TV Reporters’ Perceptions of Possible Extramedia Pressures on Media Content & Coverage Decisions • Rita Colistra • This study examined reporter perceptions of extramedial-level influence on news content based on an original data from a national Web-based survey of TV reporters. More specifically, this study asks how, how often, and under what conditions do organizational forces attempt to influence television media and their coverage, and to what effect are they successful at doing so? The project also attempts to develop the little-studied area of agenda cutting.

Golden-age Foreign Correspondence, Sourcing, and Propaganda • Raluca Cozma, Iowa State University • This study uses content analysis to complement existing historical research on the use of propaganda by CBS foreign correspondents during World War II. Using the propaganda definition and typology proposed by the Institute of Propaganda Analysis during the time that this research captures, the analysis could not find support for the thesis that Edward Murrow and the reporters he recruited to cover World War II used blatant propaganda in their foreign news reporting. While many of their reports were biased and relied heavily on foreign officials and local media, they also used more peace journalism than war journalism and steered away from employing fear appeals. The study also lends support to the literature on the relationship between sourcing and framing.

Making Noise in the New Public Sphere: How Small Market Television Stations Find Their Mouth on Facebook • Shawn Harmsen, University of Iowa • For decades, Jurgen Habermas and other scholars and critics have worried that mass media in general and television in particular would stunt or destroy the public sphere necessary for a health democracy. This study examines the experience of several television news departments and finds some evidence that television news might be helping recreate a new public sphere online using social media, particularly Facebook.

Across Town or Across the Country? Remote Delivery of Local TV News • Lee Hood, Loyola University Chicago • The practice of outsourced local news, a trend for several years in radio, is also appearing in local television markets. This study employs a content analysis to compare locally- and remotely-produced newscasts in one market served by both, examining newscasts recorded over several weeks in fall 2010. Newscasts are compared on measures of story type, including the use of video, and on whether the stories cover local, state, or national news. Statistical measures of the comparisons yielded highly significant results on several measures.

Thirty Years of Broadcasting Africa on the U.S. Network Television News • Yusuf Kalyango, Ohio University; Uche Onyebadi, Southern Illinois University Carbondale • The study examines how ABC, CBS, and NBC covered news topics about Africa. It also assessed whether coverage featured stories with a specific U.S. strategic interests and whether coverage changed over time. A content analysis of news items about Africa from 1980 to 2010 indicated that the networks disproportionately focused primarily on southern Africa (mainly South Africa) and northern Africa (mainly Egypt and Libya) regions. Coverage of natural disasters and conflicts featured more stories on the aftermath than during the event itself. Coverage declined in the 1980s and 1990s and during the U.S. wars with Iraq and Afghanistan.

Skill Set: A Measurement of Journalistic Skills, Accuracy, and Objectivity in Television Journalists • David Keith, University of Central Arkansas • This study suggests that people perceive broadcast journalists who they see as having a higher level of journalistic skill also provide information that is more accurate and objective. It is indicated that positive perceptions of a journalist are possible even if the individuals have a low opinion of the journalist’s network. It also appears that individuals’ personal political beliefs are not a strong factor in measuring the journalistic skill, accuracy, and objectivity of specific journalists.

Political Transition, Freedom of the Press, and the Iraqi Broadcasting Industry • Hun Shik Kim, University of Colorado at Boulder • This study examined how Iraqi broadcasters perceive the concept of press freedom in their newly emerging media environment since 2003. Based on the survey of 122 Iraqi broadcasters, this study found that individual, attitudinal, and organizational factors determine Iraqi broadcasters’ perceptions of press freedom. Specifically, their perceptions are shaped by their individual characteristics such as education, and income; their attitudinal characteristics such as job satisfaction, interest in adopting Western-style reporting skills, and their views on the future of Iraqi broadcast media; and their organizational characteristics such as type of broadcast media ownership, the expansion of their broadcast operations, and beat reporting. Three groups—Shiite militias, religious sects, and Sunni insurgents—were identified as the groups that are most influential on press freedom in Iraq. Departing from the conventional press freedom indices on Iraq compiled by Western freedom advocate organizations, this study suggests that the Iraqi broadcasters’ perceptions on the press freedom are relative, not absolute or uniform as depicted through numerical indices or qualitative labels.

The Real “Sunshine” State: An Oral History of Cameras in the Courtroom During the 2000 Recount in Florida” • Christina Locke • The debate over cameras in the courtroom pits fair trial rights against the guarantee of a free press. Florida has long been a leader in bringing “sunshine” into the courts. This paper draws on oral history interviews to illustrate how the 2000 election recount proceedings in Florida once again allowed the state’s openness to spur better access in other courts.

From State Controlled to Public Broadcasting: Signs of Change in Serbia’s RTS Television Newscasts from 1989-2009 • Ivanka Radovic, University of Tennessee; Catherine Luther • This study examined the newscasts produced by Serbia’s main television broadcaster, Radio-Television of Serbia (RTS), from 1989 to 2009. Its goal was to reveal possible changes that had been made in the newscasts as a shift took place in Serbia’s political system, from one of authoritarian control to that of democratic governance. The findings showed the newscasts had changed, making them appear Western in style. Elements of Serbia’s older news practices, however, were also apparent.

Facebook and Twitter: How and Why Local Television News is Getting Social with Viewers • Suzanne Lysak, Syracuse University; Michael Cremedas, Syracuse University; John Wolf • This paper examines the role social media is playing in local television newsrooms. The authors used a Web-based national survey of news managers at network affiliated stations to look at what forms of social media are being used in the newsroom, who is using it and how it is being applied. The results show stations are embracing social media as a means of connecting with news consumers and raising their newsrooms’ profile in the community, and are encouraging their news staff members to have an individual social media presence. Stations also report their news staff are using social media as a newsgathering tool, but the value and reliability of information gathered through this means is up for debate.

Perceived Media Bias and Cable News Branding: The Effects of Diversification in the Marketplace of Information • Dylan McLemore, Southern Arkansas University • This study measured perceptions of bias in differentiated news outlets CNN, MSNBC, and the Fox News Channel. An experiment was conducted utilizing an unbiased news article and the cable network logos, serving as cues for potential perceptions of bias. Participants had distinct perceptions of each of the networks, which often differed among partisans. However, neither personal ideology nor perceptions of the cued networks affected perceptions of the experimental article, which was overwhelmingly perceived as unbiased.

Modern Arab Uprisings and Social Media: An Historical Perspective on Media and Revolution • Roger Mellen, New Mexico State University • New social media are given credit for helping to organize and even causing the wave of current popular uprisings in the Middle East. Using primary sources from social media sites, news reports, and state department documents, this paper examines—within the media theories of historians—the idea of new media causing revolution. It concludes that new media are an important factor in inspiring and implementing these recent revolts, but that they do not cause revolution.

The Tyler Perry Effect:            George Musambira; Nicole Jackson • This paper examined the relationship between Tyler Perry’s two highly rated shows, House of Payne and Meet the Browns and the cultivation of the black identity. Only House of Payne was found to have some positive links with African American identity.

Measuring the Messenger: Analyzing Bias in Presidential Election Return Coverage • Kathleen Ryan, University of Colorado, Boulder; Lane Clegg • Media bias has long been discussed in relation to the presentation of politics to media consumers and is defined as “a concept used to account for perceived inaccuracies to be found within media representations” (Hartley 2002, 17). It is a concept that has gained traction with the general public, with the assumption that some news outlets skew more conservatively and others more liberal. But it has frequently been difficult to quantify, with the perception of bias often being in the eye of the beholder (and his or her own world view). This study used methodology developed by Zeldes et al (2008) to measure if bias was present in 2008 national election return coverage by the American broadcast and cable news networks. Partisan and structural bias were differentiated as a measurement of favoritism shown to candidates on each of the news channels. The study found that while the coverage was skewed in favor of the winners on election night and the day after, networks and news channel were distributed over a fairly narrow spectrum of difference, presenting partisans from both sides for analysis and commentary. It argues that hostile media perception, rather than news outlet bias, may be responsible for accusations of bias by outlets.

Multimedia Effects on News Story Credibility, Newsworthiness, and Recall • Zhi Wen Ho, University of Missouri; Alice Marie Roach, University of Missouri; Youn-Joo Park, University of Missouri; Yue Sun, University of Missouri • The purpose of this experiment was to investigate whether multiple multimedia elements presented on an online news story influence people’s perceptions of credibility, perceptions of newsworthiness, and recall of story information. Sixty participants were presented with six online news stories; three of the stories contained three multimedia elements plus a text story, and three of the stories were text-only. Findings indicated that exposure to a text story plus multiple multimedia elements—a video, photo, and illustrative graphic—in online news stories significantly enhances the story’s perceived message credibility, the story’s perceived newsworthiness, and respondents’ recall of the story.

Broadcast journalism education and the capstone experience • Andrea Tanner, University of South Carolina; Kathy Forde; John Besley, University of South Carolina; Tom Weir, University of South Carolina • This study assesses the current state of the television news capstone experience in accredited journalism and mass communication programs. Specifically, the authors employed a mixed-methods approach, interviewing 20 television news capstone instructors and conducting an analysis of broadcast journalism curriculum information obtained from 113 schools. More than 90% of accredited schools offer a television news capstone, and faculty had similar insights about television news instruction and how best to teach the television news capstone course.

<< 2011 Abstracts

Public Relations 2011 Abstracts

Open Competition

Quiet, Creeping, and Sudden?!: Exploring Public Information Officers’ Definitions of Health Crisis • Elizabeth Avery and Tatjana Hocke, University of Tennessee • Practitioners’ responses to crises and academic theory construction are guided by how crises are conceptualized; yet, research informing how we define and discuss crisis is limited contextually. Depth interviews with 17 public information officers (PIOs) provide new insights into public health crisis. Interview analysis reveals unique crisis characteristics as a foundation for future research and theory construction in public relations, specifically crisis communication: resources, organizational partnerships, nature of crisis and publics, and internal management.

Developing a Valid and Reliable Measure of Crisis Responsibility • Kenon A. Brown and Eyun-Jung Ki, University of Alabama • This study attempted to develop a reliable and valid measure of a crisis responsibility that could be uniquely applied to public relations research. The four dimensional measure of crisis responsibility was initially tested and refined using Netemeyer’s (2003) four-step process for scale construction. Specifically, this study conducted rigorous two-step pilot tests and a nationwide panel full administration survey. The constructed measures were further refined using exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis. The factor analysis resulted in including 11-items in the final crisis responsibility scales, consisting of two items for intentionality, three items for locality and six items for accountability. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to test the hypothesized factor structure and confirmed the three dimensions of crisis responsibility scale had reliable and valid factor structure.

Twittering to the Top: A Proposed Model for Using and Measuring Twitter as a Communication Tool • Haley Edman and Nicole Dahmen, Louisiana State University • The microblogging site, Twitter, has become a communication channel where interpersonal conversations between millions of users thrive. This study examines how 47 corporations use Twitter as a communication and relationship-building tool. Grounded in Grunig’s four models of public relations, the research concludes with implications of using Twitter and how public relations practitioners can effectively use Twitter for developing and maintaining long-term, mutually beneficial relationships with publics.

Relationship Management With the Millennial Generation of Public Relations Agency Employees • Tiffany Gallicano, University of Oregon • The purpose of this study is to achieve a deep understanding of the Millennial generation of practitioners who work at public relations agencies and to understand the best ways of building effective relationships with them. Data was gathered through five asynchronous focus groups with a total of 51 participants. The data resulted in implications for Millennial practitioners, for the teachers who work with them, and for the bosses who manage them.

Strategize – Implement – Measure – Repeat: Are We Evaluating Our Way to PR Accountability • Susan Grantham, University of Hartford; Edward Vieira, Simmons College • This study examines attitudes toward PR measurement, if evaluation is a standard part of the planning process, and who is driving this demand. Through the assistance of PRSA, 256 PR professionals participated (66% = women and 34% = men). Findings revealed that although encouraged by senior management, respondents were evenly split on the need to evaluate. Senior management and those involved with strategic planning perceived value to PR measurement”

What Information is Available For Stakeholders on Facebook and How Does This Information Impact Them? • Michel Haigh and Pamela Brubaker, Pennsylvania State University; Erin Whiteside, University of Tennessee • This two-part study examines organizations’ Facebook pages. First a content analysis was conducted of 114 organizations’ Facebook pages. Results indicate organizations update their Facebook pages about every 15 days. Coding results indicate Facebook pages major purpose is public relations, and organizations post similar types of information as nonprofit Facebook pages. Facebook does promote two-way communication, and offers some general information about corporate social responsibility. After the content analysis was conducted, a two-phase experiment was employed (N = 275) to see how the Facebook pages impact stakeholders. Results indicate Facebook pages bolster stakeholders’ attitudes toward the organization, perceptions of the organization – public relationship, and purchase intent. Experimental results indicate if an organization discusses CSR efforts on its Facebook page, it leads to more favorable perceptions of the organization – public relationship, perceptions of CSR, and purchase intent than when an organization uses Facebook to discuss products and services.

Communication and the D.C. Sniper: Toward a response typology for public safety crises • J Suzanne Horsley and Kenon A. Brown, University of Alabama • The D.C. Sniper case of 2002 provides an opportunity to explore crisis communication responses by law enforcement and government sources during the three-week shooting spree. The authors generated a list of 32 possible crisis communication responses from image repair theory, situational crisis communication theory, best practices in crisis communication, and best practices in emergency management communication. The results showed that image repair theory and SCCT did not provide an adequate explanation of the communication choices made during this event. The authors propose a public safety crisis communication typology that fills a gap in the existing crisis communication literature that does not take into account organization type or goals.

Toward A Theory of Public Relations Practitioners’ Own Conflict: Work vs. Life • Hua Jiang, Towson University; Hongmei Shen, San Diego State University • This study took a first step to build a theory understanding public relations practitioners’ work-life balance. Specifically, through a national sample of PRSA members, we examined what factors give rise to public relations practitioners’ perceptions of work-life conflict and what kind of impact such perceived work-life conflict may have on their income and career path. Analysis of online survey data of 820 public relations practitioners found that a more family-supportive organizational work environment overall would minimize practitioners’ reported work-life conflict. Gender did matter, especially in explaining strain-based conflict perceived by practitioners. Lastly, regardless of gender, practitioners generally received lower salaries if their career was ever interrupted. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

The Impact of Organizational Social Capital on Transparency and Trust: Communication Adequacy and Accuracy • Bumsub Jin, State University of New York at Oswego; Moonhee Cho, University of Florida; Maria De Moya, University of Florida • The purpose of this research was twofold: First, based on social capital, the study examined whether adequacy and accuracy of communication are empirically different as indicators of organizational social capital. Second, it tested the impact of these indicators on three measurable outcomes (transparency, trust in corporations, and behavioral intent), which are related to effectiveness of public relations. The study was conducted in two phases. The first included a statewide mail survey and the second a 2 x 2 between-group experiment. Results of CFA analysis showed evidence of empirical difference between adequacy and accuracy. A two-way MANCOVA test found effects of the two indicators on organizational transparency, trust, and behavioral intent. These results suggest theoretical and practical implications of how social capital indicators can contribute to organizational effectiveness in the perspective of public relations.

Determinants of Ethical Practices of Public Relations Practitioners • Eyun-Jung Ki and William Gonzenbach, University of Alabama; Hong-Lim Choi, Sun Moon University; Junghyuk Lee, Kwangwoon University • The present study was designed to examine various determinant variables influencing public relations practitioners’ ethical practices. Six variables, consisting of idealism, relativism, age, gender, education, and awareness of ethics code existence, were utilized for this study. Results indicate that relativism and awareness of ethics code existence directly impact ethical practices, whereas age influenced ethical practices though relativism.

Relative effectiveness of prior corporate ability vs. corporate social responsibility associations on public responses in corporate crises • Sora Kim, University of Florida • This experimental study employing both victim and preventable crises supports strong transferring effects of corporate ability (CAb) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) associations on the public’s responses in corporate crises. In addition, CSR associations are found to be more effective than CAb associations in offsetting detrimental damage created by corporate crises. The study argues that the reason for more enduring and salient transferring effects of prior CSR associations in crisis situations is because CSR associations are positioned on a company’s virtue-related dimensions, whereas CAb associations are positioned on its skill-focused dimensions.

Revisiting the effectiveness of base crisis response strategies in comparison of reputation management crisis responses • Sora Kim and Kang Hoon Sung, University of Florida • This experimental study found that employing reputation management crisis-response strategies was no better than adopting only the base crisis-response strategy (i.e., instructing and adjusting information) in terms of generating positive responses from the public. Two-sided messages (i.e., sharing both positive and negative information) in crisis communication were found to be more effective than one-sided messages in a victim crisis. In addition, even in a preventable crisis, one-sided messages (i.e., sharing only positive information) were not more effective than two-sided messages. Finally, the study found little support for Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT)’s recommendations for the best crisis response strategy selections.

Presidential apology and level of acceptance: The U.S.Beef import negotiation upheaval in South Korea • Yungwook Kim and Yujin Lim, Ewha Womans University • The purpose of this paper is to analyze apology strategies used by South Korean President Myung-bak Lee during the U.S. beef import negotiation upheaval in South Korea in 2008, and to investigate how these apologies were perceived by the South Korean public. The role of party identification as an audience-related variable in the perception of political apologies in the South Korean context was then examined. A content analysis of President Lee’s speeches and related daily newspaper coverage was conducted, and experimental work assessing the level of acceptance of the President’s apology strategies as well as the effects of party identification on the level of acceptance was also carried out. As a result, two new strategies, ambiguous corrective action and fear mongering, were identified and added to the existing apology classification of Benoit (1995). According to the results of the experimental work, President Lee’s apology strategies were generally ineffective, with the exception of the clear corrective action strategy. The impact of party identification on the level of acceptance of the major apology strategies was then confirmed.

Influencing forces or mere interview sources? What media coverage about health care means for key constituencies • Cheryl Ann Lambert and Denis Wu, Boston University • This study aimed to discover the strategies and actions of those involved in the mediated communication process of health care reform during 2009-10. The researchers conduct in-depth telephone interviews of twelve identified sources that appeared in print and broadcast media coverage. The semi-structured questions of the interview centered on the sources’ activities and their interaction with media professionals and policy makers during that time frame. The results of the interviews revealed that sources were keenly aware of media’s tendencies and practices. Given the complexity of this issue, the sources stressed the importance of expertise, knowledge, and ability to explain the matter in a lucid fashion to the general public. They also agreed on the anxiety of the American people toward the issue and the important role media played in the policy-making process.

Finding antecedents of CSR perceptions and Relationship Outcomes: Individual-Level Collectivist Orientation and CSR Genuineness • Hyunmin Lee, Ye Wang, Glen Cameron and Shelly Rodgers, University of Missouri • The purpose of this study was to identify and test individual-level collectivist orientation and CSR genuineness as antecedent factors of CSR activity perceptions and organization-public relationship (OPR) outcomes. Based on multidisciplinary literature, this study proposed a model that individual-level collectivist orientation is positively associated with positive perceptions of CSR activates, perceptions of the CSR activities as being genuine, and positive organization- public relationship management outcome of satisfaction and commitment. The model also projected that CSR genuineness is positively associated with positive perceptions of CSR activities. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was conducted to test seven hypotheses, and the analyses concluded that individual-level collectivist orientation and CSR genuineness are significant antecedents to CSR perceptions and OPR outcomes.

Legitimacy Disputes and Social Amplification of Perceived Risk • Joon Soo Lim and Kwansik Mun, Middle Tennessee State University; Sung-Un Yang, Syracuse University • This article examined how the legitimacy disputes for government’s risk communication affected online publics’ perceived risk in the case of the 2008 U.S. beef import controversy in South Korea. A content analysis of the Korean blogosphere revealed that there have been notable changes in types of legitimacy disputes and perceptions of risk among bloggers, across four phases of issued development. Results of the content analysis produced significant two-way interaction effects between legitimacy and such risk communication phases, as well as between perceived risk and risk communication phases. As the key finding of the study suggests, failures to establish a legitimate and credible public relations program during the risk situation caused inflated public fear and created enormous damage to involving constituencies, followed by huge protests from disgruntled publics.

Effective Public Relations Leadership in Organizational Transformation: A Case Study of Multinationals in Mainland China • Yi Luo, Montclair State University • This study explores the role of public relations leadership during organizational transformation in four multinational organizations in mainland China. The results are based on 40 in-depth interviews. Particularly, the findings suggest that organization-wide public relations leadership during change was shown through managing employee emotions, providing training to middle management, resolving conflicts, and reinforcing shared visions. Individually, the senior public relations directors exhibit leadership during change through advising top management’s communication styles, fostering participatory management, and challenging management decisions. The senior public relations participants also demonstrated popular leadership types (e.g., transformational, pluralistic, and interactive leadership). This findings support existing research on leadership in public relations and also shed light on some unique dimensions about public relations leadership during organizational transformation.

“Like” or “Unlike”: How Millennials Are Engaging and Building Relationships with Organizations on Facebook • Tina McCorkindale, Appalachian State University; Marcia DiStaso, Pennsylvania State University • More than half of Facebook’s 500 million active users in the U.S. consist of the Millennial generation (ages 13 to 29). With more organizations taking advantage of the site’s high consumer ratings, determining how organizations are interacting with Millennials on Facebook is important. Thirty Millennials participated in one of three focus groups. Results indicate participants were not opposed to interacting with organizations on Facebook, but were very specific in terms of how and why they wanted to engage. Suggestions for future research are included.

How Companies Cultivate Relationships with Publics on Social Network Sites in China and the United States: A Cross-Cultural Content Analysis • Linjuan Rita Men and Wanhsiu Tsai, University of Miami • This study extends the investigation of relationship cultivation on social media from a cross-culture perspective by examining how companies use popular social network sites (SNSs) to facilitate dialogues with publics in two culturally distinct countries: China and the United States. In order to understand dialogic relationships on SNSs, we incorporate both the messages of the organizations and the voices of the publics. Through an exploratory content analysis of fifty corporate pages with 500 corporate posts and 500 user posts from each country, findings suggest that overall, companies in both countries have employed the relationship-cultivation strategies proposed by scholars but the specific tactics vary across the two markets. Furthermore, this study finds cross-cultural differences among the types of corporate posts and public posts on SNSs, indicating that cultural differences play a significant role in shaping the dialogue between organizations and publics in different countries. This analysis provides implications and suggestions for future research.

Testing the Theory of Cross-National Conflict Shifting: A Quantitative Content Analysis and a Case Study of the Chiquita Brands’ Transnational Crisis Originated in Colombia • Juan-Carlos Molleda and Vanessa Bravo, University of Florida; Andrés Felipe Giraldo Dávila and Luis Horacio Botero, Universidad de Medellín • This study uses the Cross-National Conflict Shifting theory to analyze Chiquita Brands’ transnational crisis originated in Colombia with consequences in the United States. The research includes a content analysis and a case study conducted by U.S. and Colombian scholars. This research contributes to the global public relations’ body of knowledge by supporting nine out of 10 theoretical propositions, and further supporting the theory with three research questions and eight hypotheses (two partially supported, six supported).

Exploring Negative Organization-Public Relationships (OPR) in Public Relations: Toward the Development of an Integrated Measurement Model of OPR • Bitt Beach Moon and Yunna Rhee, Hankuk University of Foregin Studies • Although several organization-public relationship measurements have been developed in public relations, negative characteristics of organization-public relationship (OPR) have not been researched extensively. As much as it is important to understand how public relations can contribute to the development of positive OPR, it is also important to know how negative OPR can hamper or damage public relations efforts. In this regard, the study focuses on exploring the negative dimensions OPR, and attempt to develop an integrated measurement model of OPR. In order to develop the model, this study implemented a thorough literature review, expert surveys, pretests, and two surveys. The study identified four negative OPR dimensions including dissatisfaction, distrust, control dominance, and dissolution. The study results revealed that the 32-item, integrated OPR scale including the negative and the positive dimensions is reliable and valid. Theoretical and practical implications of the study results are also discussed.

Students’ Motivations and Expectations for Service Learning in Public Relations • Nancy Muturi, and Samuel Mwangi, Kansas State University; Soontae An, Ewha Womans University • The paper is a survey of public relations students (N=96) on their motivations to engage in service learning projects and their expectations from that engagement over two year period. It reports their understanding of service learning, prior engagement in service learning projects and how this influences their attitudes and expectations for participating in the project. Results show no significant association between prior engagement and attitudes or motivation but motivation and attitude are significantly associated. Motivation is also significantly associated with expectations from the project.

Consumer Knowledge of News Making: How Increased Persuasion Knowledge of Video News Releases Influences Beliefs and Trust in a News Story • Michelle Nelson and Sangdo Oh, University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign; Jiwoo Park, Southern Illinois University • News stories offer valuable information to consumers and drive sales for featured companies. Many stories are inspired by video news releases (VNRs), which are short video segments created and provided by a public relations agency to the news organization for free. Across two studies, we show how viewers’ beliefs about and perceptions of credibility in a news story “change” as their persuasion knowledge about VNRs and the featured story increases.

The Effective of Dialogic Relationship on the Military Public Relationship • Sejin Park, Lisa Fall and Michael Kotowski, University of Tennessee; • This research investigates the influence of dialogic relationship and organizational cultures on the military-public relationship. College students (N=218) participated in a 2 x 2 (levels of dialogic relationship: high vs. low x organizational cultures: military vs. civilian) factorial design experiment. The results reveal that dialogic relationship exerts a strong effect on the military-public relationship by improving the degree of control mutuality, trust, commitment and communal relationship and that organizational culture has a partial influence on the military-public relationship. The results of this study have both theoretical important practical implications for military public affairs. Implications and recommendations are discussed.

Integrated Impression Management: How NCAA Division I Athletics Directors Understand Public Relations • Angela Pratt, Bradley University • The purpose of this study is to learn how intercollegiate athletics directors (ADs) understand public relations. 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 participants understand public relations as integrated impression management: a combination of image, message, and action/interaction. The results imply that executives do not necessarily separate public relations from other disciplines, such as marketing.

Issue Salience Formation among Information Subsidies and Business Media Coverage during Corporate Proxy Contests • Matt Ragas, DePaul University • This study tests for issue agenda-building between corporate-controlled information subsidies (news releases and shareholder letters) and business media coverage during contested corporate elections, known as proxy contests. Detailed content analyses of subsidies and media coverage in the 25 largest proxy fights over a five-year period (2005-2009) support the agenda-building proposition and suggest issue salience formation may be a contributing factor in a successful contest outcome. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Internal Relationship Building: A Chinese Story • Hongmei Shen, San Diego State University • This study was one of the first to empirically test a relationship-building model within organizations in an international context, in the hopes of developing an international theory of internal relationship management, to add to the extant strategic management paradigm of public relations. It tested a model that included symmetrical relationship maintenance strategies as antecedents, quality relationships between organizations and their employees as the mediator, and subsequent behavioral outcomes, i.e., employees’ turnover intention and contextual performance behavior. Data were collected from an online survey of 568 Chinese employees working in a variety of types of organizations. Structural equation modeling results supported all the hypothesized linkages.

The overlooked sector: An analysis of nonprofit public relations literature • Hilary Fussell Sisco, Quinnipiac University; Erik Collins and Geah Pressgrove, University of South Carolina • Using a content analysis, this study identified the number of articles about nonprofit public relations published in the Journal of Public Relations Research and Public Relations Review from their inceptions through 2010. Various aspects of the journal articles were examined, including types of nonprofit organizations studied, theoretical frameworks and research methodologies. A key finding is evidence of a recent growth in the number of articles published, but an overall paucity of research specifically about nonprofit public relations. Also, there was a noticeable lack of theory-based research in the journal articles studied, in contrast to the number of introspective articles published about nonprofit public relations.

Women as Public Relations Managers: Show Me the Money • Bey-Ling Sha and David Dozier, San Diego State University • Using probability sampling, a 2010 survey of Public Relations Society of America members confirmed hypotheses that women earn significantly lower salaries than men, have less professional experience, and enact the technician role more frequently than men. Counter to hypotheses, women enacted the manager role as frequently as did men. Men and women did not differ significantly in the role (manager or technician) they enacted predominantly. Income differences were reduced but remained statistically significant after controlling for role enactment and professional experience.

Corporate Social Performance and Reputation: Effects of Industry and Corporate Communication • Weiting Tao and Mary Ann Ferguson, University of Florida • Corporate social performance (CSP) and corporate reputation have become two concepts of strategic significance to corporations. By conducting secondary data analysis, this study attempted: (1) to explore relationships between seven CSP dimensions (i.e., community, environment, employee relations, diversity, product, human rights, and corporate governance) and corporate reputation, and (2) to discover whether industry type and corporate communication efforts moderate the relationship between CSP and corporate reputation.

A network approach to public diplomacy: A case study of U.S. public diplomacy in Romania • Antoneta Vanc, Quinnipiac • Few studies have attempted to explore public diplomacy practices around the world and the scholarship that investigates public diplomacy practices in the newly democratic countries now members of the European Union is even scarcer. Hence, this exploratory case study looks at U.S. public diplomacy practices in Romania and aims to explore in more detail diplomats’ functions abroad. By employing the relationship management theory of public relations, this case study seeks to explore diplomats’ roles of facilitators of relationships between people of the two countries and their role of catalysts of relationships within the Romanian civil society. Data collected through in-depth interviews with former U.S. diplomats who served in Romania during 2001-2009, reveal diplomats’ new roles of creators and managers of networks of relationships, which ultimately aim to establish the embassy as a social, cultural, professional, and business network hub in the host society.

Representational, structural, and political intersectionality of public relations’ publics • Jennifer Vardeman-Winter, University of Houston; Hua Jiang, Towson University; Natalie Tindall, Georgia State University • We interviewed 31 women of different racial, socioeconomic, age, and relationship backgrounds to explore the extent to which they perceived their multiple, overlapping identities impact their health decision-making. This study is an effort to provide evidence to a proposed publics’ theory of intersectionality. We suggest that publics experience co-occurring oppression and privilege in varying contexts: in representations of them, in policies that impact them, and in structures that enable or hinder their ability to do something about their health. The topic we explored with participants was how their identities impacted their perceptions of the new recommendations for breast cancer screening. Findings suggest that gendered roles are the most salient identity for these women; furthermore, the data demonstrate that age, race, and class alter how women perceive their roles have been recognized by policy-makers. The findings expand current theory of segmentation of publics and policy-making as well as practical suggestions for how to understand publics’ unique situations more comprehensively.

Motivating Publics to Act: An Analysis of the Influence of Message Strategy and Involvement on Relational Outcomes and Communication Behavior • Kelly Werder and Michael Mitrook, University of South Florida • This study tested the main and interaction effects of public relations message strategies and issue involvement on relational outcomes and communication behavior. The results of a 2 x 6 factorial design (N = 333) indicate that issue involvement influences trust, control mutuality, and commitment in publics. Message strategies and issue involvement significantly influence communication behavior. Cooperative problem solving strategies were the most effective in motivating publics to act in both high and low issue involvement conditions.

Private labeling, crisis communication and media influence: The Menu Foods pet food recall • Worapron Worawongs and Colleen Connolly-Ahern, Pennsylvania State University • In 2007, Menu Foods Inc. issued a voluntary recall of more than 60 million cans and pouches of pet food, becoming the largest recall recorded in the United States. The current study investigates the complexities of crisis communication in the current private label manufacturing environment through an examination of information subsidies distributed and news accounts written during the Menu Foods crisis. Analysis of the press releases disseminated during the pet food recall revealed organizations predominantly adopted excuses and defense of innocence strategies to protect their images. The findings indicated organizations were not effective in getting journalists to adopt their image restoration strategies.

Localization of Public Health News Releases for Publication in Community Newspapers • Rachel Young, Erin Willis, Jon Stemmle and Shelly Rodgers, University of Missouri • Although localization is linked to publication of news releases, no study analyzes localized news releases in their published form. This study uses content analysis to compare the rate and form of health news releases (n = 378) published in urban and suburban vs. rural newspaper. Localization of content spurred publication in community newspapers and retention of localized data and resources referrals. Our findings indicate that localization assists in disseminating public health messages to rural audiences.

Teaching

Missing citations, bulking biographies and unethical collaboration: Types of cheating among public relations’ majors • Giselle Auger, Duquesne University • Educators know and research has shown that students cheat (McCabe and Trevino (1993; 1996). It would stand to reason then that students of public relations are not immune from such practice. For a field such as public relations that has had a continual struggle for credibility, the issue of student cheating should be paramount, for the unethical students of today become tomorrow’s practitioners. Therefore, the purpose of this exploratory study was to examine the extent to which public relations majors cheat, and the types of academically dishonest behaviors in which they participate. Results of the study indicated cause for concern as more than 79% of students admitted to cheating and the average number of times students participated in any given cheating behavior ranged from a low of 1.9 times to a high of 3.5 times.

Perceptions of public relations students’ empowerment, faculty interaction, and perceived relationship investment as determinants of relationship quality with their academic department • Moonhee Cho, University of Florida; Giselle Auger, Duquesne University • Scholars of public relations stress that the role of public relations is to help organizations manage their relationships with publics (Broom, 2010); however, studies of the relationship between students (as publics) and their academic departments (as organizations) has been neglected. This oversight is surprising as the on-going recession, economic uncertainty, and increased costs of post-secondary education (Cotton & Wilson, 2006; Pryor, Hurtado, DeAngelo, Palucki, Blake, & Tran, 2010) have placed increased scrutiny on colleges and universities not only by parents but also by government such as, state legislatures (Tinto, 2006-07; Rockwell, 2011). Research indicates that part of a quality post-secondary educational experience should involve student-faculty interaction (Kuh & Hu, 2001; Tinto, 2006-07). Given the increasing need for retention of satisfied and successful students, and given the demonstrated importance of faculty-student interaction to retention of students, the purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between student empowerment, faculty-student interaction, students’ perceived relationship investment of department and the perceived quality of relationships formed with students’ departments. Results of the study demonstrate the significance in relationship between student-faculty interaction, empowerment, and perceived relationship investment to quality of student-departmental relationships.

Are we teaching them to be CSR managers? Examining students’ expectations of practitioner roles in CSR • Rajul Jain; Lawrence Winner • This study examines the roles that public relations students expect to play in corporate social responsibility (CSR) and how these perceptions are influenced by their public relations education and professional training, as well as their personal and professional values. A survey of 198 college students reveals that students most strongly identify with a managerial role in CSR and that their attitudes have a significant association with their values and an insignificant association with their training.

Service-Learning for Branding Success: A Case of Student-Client Engagement in Oklahoma State University’s $1 Billion Capital Campaign • Lori McKinnon, Oklahoma State University; Jacob Longan; Bill Handy • This paper offers a case analysis of student-client service learning in OSU’s $1 billion, capital campaign, Branding Success. Capstone campaign students joined with the OSU Foundation to develop and implement strategic plans for the campaign and its OSUccess scholarship contest component. The service-learning arrangement succeeded in engaging the University community in an online conversation about “success,” in securing media coverage, in generating attendance at the campaign launch event, and in stressing the importance of giving.

U.S. Student-Run Communication Agencies: Enhancing Students’ Understanding of Business Protocols and Professionalism • Lee Bush, Elon University; Barbara Miller, Elon University • Student-run communications agencies mimic professional public relations and advertising agencies by providing students with a professional environment in which to work on real projects for real clients. This study involved a survey of agency advisors at AEJMC universities and ACEJMC-accredited universities to evaluate the attributes, structure, and perceived student learning outcomes of agencies in the U.S. Additionally, this study examined how agency structure, workspace and advisor commitment impact agency protocols and student learning outcomes.

College vs. Credential: What Do Entry-Level Practitioners in Public Relations Need? • Bey-Ling Sha, San Diego State University; John Forde; Jay Rayburn • Using an online survey (response rate=16.4%; n=1,634), this study examined the attitudes of members of the Public Relations Society of America regarding entry-level qualifications in public relations in general, as well as their views on an entry-level credential in particular. In short, association members generally felt positively toward both public relations-specific curriculum and toward the concept of an entry-level certification. The manuscript also examines the history of both public relations curriculum and the effort to establish an entry-level certification in public relations.

Student

A Process Evaluation of the Carolina Covenant’s Communication Strategy • Joseph Erba, Stephanie Silverman and Luisa Ryan, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • Low-income high school students are most in need of financial aid programs to attend college. Concomitantly, they are also the least informed about scholarship opportunities. A process evaluation assessed the communication strategy of the Carolina Covenant, the first loan-free financial aid package offered by an American public university. Best practices and recommendations are discussed. Findings could help other programs hone their communication efforts and conduct their own process evaluations.

Forty Years of Award-Winning Campaigns: What PRSA’s Silver Anvil-Winning Campaigns Say about the Public Relations Industry • Eva Hardy, North Carolina State University • Public relations textbooks prescribe a common approach to the campaign development process: Conduct research to understand the situation and publics, develop goals and objectives prior to planning and implementing the campaign, evaluating the efforts and finally carrying out stewardship elements to further the relationship with the campaign’s targeted audiences. This process has become the norm for the public relations industry. This project seeks to provide a more sound description of professional norms in the public relations industry by analyzing Silver Anvil-winning public relations campaigns from 1969 to 2010 (n = 420). A content analysis of the award-winning campaigns from the Public Relations Society of America database reveals trends in how the five phases of the campaign process have been carried out over the past 42 years as well as striking differences in how public relations agencies and non-agency campaign sources carry out the campaign development process.

Public Diplomacy at Arab Embassies: Fighting an Uphill Battle • Leysan Khakimova, University of Maryland • Following the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, the practice and study of public diplomacy gained increased attention. However, three major gaps are evident in public diplomacy literature: weak theoretical background, the lack of empirical research, and limited scope of many studies. This study seeks to address some of the gaps in the literature by using Benoit’s image repair theory to explore Arab governments’ public diplomacy efforts in the United States. Analysis of 16 interviews with Embassy employees and 84 documents retrieved from Embassies’ websites revealed that Arab embassies face opportunities and constraints relating to culture, power, strategic planning, interpersonal and online communication. In addition to theoretical implications, the study offers practical suggestions to government employees on building a positive relationship with foreign publics such as giving more power and independence to embassies as well as using embassies’ cultural and communication expertise to engage with foreign audiences.

How a Public Evaluate an Organization’s Official Statement to pursue Organizational Transparency: An Impact of Organizational Claims to Truth on the Public’s Perception of Credibility toward the Content • Bo Kyung Kim and Seoyeon Hong, University of Missouri • Guided by previous research in transparency (Allen, 2008; Craft & Heim, 2009; Mitchelle & Steele, 2005; Plaisance, 2007; Sweetser, 2010) and the empirical study regarding two types of organizational claims to pursue transparency (Kim, Hong, & Cameron, 2011), this study explores the lay public’s estimation of the initial measure for organizational transparency (Rawlins, 2009) and a relationship between an organization’s claim to pursue transparency, perceived credibility of the claim, and organizational reputation. Factor analyses and bootstrapping analysis are used.

Youth Political Engagement: Factors That Influence Involvement • Jarim Kim, University of Maryland, College Park • This study employed qualitative, in-depth interviews with college students to look at how and why they became actively engaged in the political process. The situational theory of publics was employed as a guideline to examine their active participation. Specific attention was given to the antecedent factors of involvement. Findings indicate that a set of factors, including issue relevance, source characteristics, communication strategies, significant others, general interests about the world, and emotional satisfaction, influenced an active public’s level of involvement. Lastly, this paper discusses theoretical elaborations of the situational theory of publics and practical implications for political campaign practitioners.

Exploring the Impact of CEO Credibility on Perceived Organizational Reputation and Employee Engagement • Linjuan Rita Men, University of Miami • The purpose of this study is to explore how corporate leadership influence internal public relations effectiveness by examining the relationships between CEO credibility, employees’ evaluation of organizational reputation and employee engagement. To that end, an on-line survey was conducted with 157 employees at different levels of position from a Fortune 500 company. Key findings include that CEO credibility is positively associated with perceived organizational reputation and employee engagement. Organizational reputation in the eyes of employees has a large and positive impact on employee engagement. In addition, employees’ perception of organizational reputation fully mediates the impact of CEO credibility on employee engagement. Important theoretical and practical implications of this study are discussed.

The Impact of Dialogue on Blog Traffic: An Analysis of the Blogs of the Philanthropy 400 • Sarah Merritt, Dale Mackey and Lauren Lawson, North Carolina State University • The five principles of dialogue, as described and measured according to the methodology of Kent and Taylor (1998), were used to identify and measure the use of dialogic principle on blogs hosted by nonprofit organizations. Using every blog available from organizations on the Philanthropy 400 list, 124 blogs were coded using a 32-item coding schema, measuring ease of interface, conservation of visitors, useful information, generation of return visitors, and the dialogic loop. Most nonprofit blogs used the five principles, however to varying degrees, and few similarities of dialogue principle use was found across all nonprofit subsectors. Our results also showed that blogs frequently utilizing the dialogic principles frequently had higher traffic rankings, although traffic ranking was not affected by the number of sites that linked to individual blogs. The number of sites linking in to a blog was higher for nonprofits with a top ranking on the Philanthropy 400 list.

Impact of corporate social responsibility on consumers’ attribution of a crisis responsibility: A buffer against reputation withdrawal or a backfire • Hanna Park, University of Florida • This study aimed to examine how CSR-crisis congruency interacted with the severity of crisis on subjects’ attribution of the crisis, attitude, trust, and supportive behavior intention toward a company. Specifically, 2 (severe crisis vs. minor crisis) _ 3 (high CSR-crisis congruency vs. low CSR-crisis vs. no CSR information) factorial designs were used to investigate main effects of two independent variables and their interaction. Six experiment booklets were developed for the study. Results showed that subjects in the severe and high CSR-crisis congruency condition indicated (1) more negative attitudes, (2) less trust, and (3) less supportive behavior intention toward the company than people in the low CSR-crisis congruency condition. Despite the negative effects that occur when CSR programs are congruent with severe crises, this study provides evidence that implementing CSR programs is preferable to not making any CSR efforts at all.

The affect of receiver expertise on perceptions of source credibility and message believability • Austin Sims, Texas Tech University • From a public relations perspective, credibility is one of the most powerful tools possessed by a practitioner or organization. Whether it deals with one or multiple publics, broad or niche, the perception of credibility lends itself to greater persuasiveness and more effective communications (Conger, 1998; Hart, Friedrich, & Brummett, 1983). However, throughout such research, the focus has been almost exclusively on defining attributes of the source that increase credibility and make messages more persuasive, ignoring the possibility that expertise held by the receiver could influence the perception of the message. The question becomes: Can an expert set aside his or her expertise and/or trustworthiness of the source based upon the merits of the information provided? Legislative aides in a large, southwestern state capitol and students from a large southwestern university were surveyed using an experiment embedded within a survey to ascertain if public policy experts perceive sources and persuasive messages differently than non-experts. The experiment measured perceived message and source credibility based upon the expertise of the receiver (expert, non-expert) and sources (lobbyist, citizen, industry executive, and economist/professor) typical of those sources most likely to testify before a committee or speak to legislators and/or staff. The results showed experts’ perceptions were significantly different than non-experts in reviewing message content. Expert receivers were effectively able to separate the message from low-trust, low-expert sources.

Expecting the unexpected: Nonprofit media responses to anti-abortion terrorism • Beth Sundstrom, Rowena Briones and Melissa Janoske, University of Maryland, College Park • This study explored crisis management through the lens of complexity theory to understand six nonprofit organizations’ communication responses to anti-abortion terrorism. Through a qualitative content analysis of 277 press releases, news articles and tweets, findings suggest practical implications for anti-abortion counterterrorism and crisis management, provide opportunities to develop communication counter measures, and further develop complexity theory.

Is Interactivity always worth it? The Effect of Interactivity and Message Tone on Attitude toward Organization • Kang Hoon Sung, University of Florida • This study examined the effect of three independent variables (i.e., Perceived interactivity, Message valence, and Tone of the organization) on people’s attitude toward an organization and their purchase intention, specifically on a social media setting. The findings confirmed that public’s exposure to negative comments about the organization can do harm to the attitude toward organization. However, the findings suggest that increasing interactivity with customers by responding to their opinions can minimize the negative effects of the online comments. In addition, when responding to customer’s opinions, the response should be done in a human voice, (i.e., personal and caring approach) rather than in an organizational voice (i.e., mechanical and routine approach).

The Impact of Corporate Social Performance on Customer Satisfaction: A Cross-Industrial Analysis • Weiting Tao, University of Florida • Corporate social performance (CSP) and customer satisfaction have become two critical areas of focus for corporations. However, their relationship has not yet been explored. Therefore, by analyzing a comprehensive secondary data set obtained from three different databases, this study attempted (1) to explore the relationship between CSP and customer satisfaction, and (2) to discover whether industry type moderates the impact of CSP on customer satisfaction. Furthermore, its contributions to the public relations arena were briefed.

<< 2011 Abstracts

Newspaper 2011 Abstracts

Open Competition

Mainstream Newspaper Coverage of Native Americans: A content analysis of newspaper coverage of Native American issues in circulation areas with high concentrations of Native Americans • Cristina Azocar • A content analysis examined coverage of Native Americans in newspapers in circulation areas that have the highest percent of Native Americans. The three most common topics were Arts/Entertainment, Casinos/Gaming and Tribal Politics. The majority of the stories were neutral in tone, however most stories used non-Native sources. The theory of in-group bias is posited as a possible explanation to the findings.

Bias, Slant and Frame Selection in Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal • Sid Bedingfield, University of South Carolina • When Rupert Murdoch purchased the Wall Street Journal, critics feared he would slant the news to fit his political views. This study used content analysis to compare coverage in Murdoch’s Journal with New York Times coverage of President Obama’s health care plan. It then compared coverage in Murdoch’s Journal with Wall Street Journal coverage of the Clinton health care plan in 1994, when the Bancroft family owed the paper. Findings suggest Murdoch’s Journal was no more negative in its coverage than either the Times or the Bancroft family’s Journal.

Reputation Cycles: the Value of Accreditation for Undergraduate Journalism Programs • Robin Blom, Michigan State University; Lucinda Davenport; Brian J. Bowe, Michigan State University • Many faculty members feel constrained by various outside influences when developing an ideal journalism curriculum. Accreditation is one of these. The value of journalism accreditation standards for undergraduate programs has been the focus of prior studies and continues to be debated among educators. This study adds to discussion by finding out the views of opinion leaders in journalism programs across the country. Almost 130 administrators responded to a survey on the reasons for being accredited or not being accredited. Results show that for schools with accreditation, or those in the certification process, the most important reason is reputation enhancement. However, many directors question the value of accreditation. In particular, some perceive the cap on the number of journalism credits a student can take as a limitation of student development and a hindrance of the ability to respond to the growing convergence in the professional marketplace.

Morality of News Issues and Public Contributions in Comment Forums on U.S. Daily Newspaper Websites • Serena Carpenter, Arizona State University; Robin Blom, Michigan State University; Stephen Lacy, Michigan State University; Ryan Lange • The media shapes individual attitudes and beliefs. Communication research has found the morality of an issue can affect human behavior in experimental and survey settings. Comment forums present an opportunity for researchers to examine behavior in naturally occurring settings. Through a quantitative content analysis of individual comments (n=2,103), this research examines human behavior in comment forums to determine whether there are significant differences between morally laden and nonmoral articles in adjacent forums on 14 U.S. newspaper websites. The results show that morally laden articles do have a greater proportion of negative emotional responses from participants.

Consumer Adoption of Mobile News: An Examination of Motivation Predictors • Sylvia Chan-Olmsted; Hyejoon Rim, University of Florida; Amy Zerba • Applying the uses and gratification approach, this study identifies the motivation predictors of mobile news adoption among young adults. The survey findings suggest that content related motives, in particular surveillance, are significant in predicting most adoption behaviors for mobile news. This finding suggests informational needs continue to be important with this emerging medium. From the perspective of platform related and integrated motives, this study found instrumentality to be the most significant predictor for adoption.

A Matter of Life and Death? Examining the Quality of Newspaper Coverage on the Newspaper Crisis • H. Iris Chyi, University of Texas at Austin; Seth Lewis, University of Minnesota; Nan Zheng, University of Texas at Austin • During 2008-2010, U.S. newspapers covered the crisis of their own industry extensively. Such coverage raised questions about whether journalists misunderstood or over-reacted to this newspaper crisis. This study examines how the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and the New York Times framed the crisis. Results showed that the coverage focused on short-term drama, lacked sufficient context, shifted blame away from newspapers themselves, invoked “death” imagery, and altogether struggled to capture a holistic portrayal of newspapers’ troubles.

Framing Airline Mergers in Newspapers: A Crash Course • Clay Craig, Texas Tech University; Shannon Bichard, Texas Tech • The merger and acquisition (M&A) process tends to be examined through the lens of those directly involved in the merger (employees or shareholders), with little attention paid to how the media portrays the situation. The blending of organizational and communication theories provides the theoretical background for examining the newspapers’ coverage of M&A. This study evaluates the application of a subset of social identity theory (SIT) and tenor framing in local newspapers either directly or indirectly affected by the 2008 Delta and NWA merger. A content analysis of 614 articles pertaining to the Delta Airlines and NWA merger from four local newspapers over two 10-month periods was utilized in order to examine the variation of tone, space, and prominence framing between the newspapers. The findings indicate a significant difference between tone, space, and prominence used by directly and indirectly affected local newspapers over the time frame investigated.

Contrary to Scholarly Opinion: Sourcing Trends in New York Times Drug-War Reports Before and After 9/11 • Bryan Denham, Clemson University • Extending the analytic approach used in previous research on anonymous attribution, the current study focused on how the New York Times, through its sourcing, covered the US war on drugs before and after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Data were gathered from 135 news reports and 3,541 news paragraphs published across an eight-year period, September 1997 to September 2005. Results revealed that while anonymous sources and public officials from certain agencies were plentiful in drug-war coverage, especially following the terrorist attacks, person-on-the-street sources were not as rare as journalism scholars may have assumed and in fact appeared in higher numbers than did many in the 21-source coding scheme. Implications of the findings and suggestions for future research are offered.

Traditional Newspapers and Their Web-based Counterparts: A Longitudinal Analysis of Relative Credibility • Gregg Payne; David Dozier, San Diego State University • This study provides a longitudinal extension of a 2001 study of newspaper credibility. That study showed that familiarity with a media type enhances perceived credibility. Subjects rated conventional (paper) newspapers as more credible than web-based counterparts. This study, sampling from the same population, shows that statistically significant differences in channel credibility have disappeared. This change is attributed to growing familiarity with web-based newspapers, due to passage of time and increased exposure to web-based newspapers.

Longitudinal review finds decline in unnamed source use, rise in transparency • Matt Duffy, Zayed University; Ann Williams, Georgia State University • Some have argued that the use of unnamed sourcing has increased in recent years. This longitudinal content analysis finds that anonymous sourcing peaked in the 1960s and 1970s, an era some call journalism’s “Golden Age.” The analysis also finds that contemporary journalists are more likely to explain the reason for anonymity and offer details about the identity of the source. No change was detected in the use of information from a single, unnamed source. &#8195;”

Use of print & online news media for local news: A uses & dependency perspective • Kenneth Fleming, University of Missouri-Columbia • This study examines the effects of uses and dependency model of mass communication on use of both print and online news media for local news. The data of the study came from a telephone survey of 605 residents of a college town in the Midwest of the United States in 2010. Results show that print media dependency was significantly and positively associated with readership of the print community newspaper; online media dependency was significantly and positively associated with use of the newspaper’s website, and with use of the Internet for local news, after demographics were statistically controlled. In addition, age was significantly and negatively associated with online media dependency, and positively associated with legacy media dependency.

Game Over? Male and female sportswriters’ attitudes toward their jobs and plans to leave journalism • Jessie Jones; Jennifer Greer, University of Alabama • Through a survey of 200 sports journalists at the 100 largest U.S. newspapers, this study examined gender differences in demographics, job characteristics, job satisfaction, feelings of empowerment, and outlook toward the profession. Male and female sportswriters were fairly satisfied with their jobs and did not differ on any attitudinal measure. However, controlling for all factors, female sportswriters were still significantly more likely than men to say they planned to leave the field before retirement.

National Unity and Memory: Discursive Construction of War Memories • Choonghee Han, Hope College • Presentations of collective and cultural memory in newspapers are based upon the construction of the past, which enables nation states to remind the public of national unity. This paper explores the discursive constructions of the past and collective/cultural memories of the Asia-Pacific War that appeared in three East Asian newspapers from China, South Korea, and Japan. A critical discourse analysis was employed to examine the ways in which national unity was constructed through war memories.

Follow the Leaders: Newspaper Journalists’ Networks of Association on Twitter • Kyle Heim, Seton Hall University • This study examined newspaper journalists’ patterns of following users on Twitter. Results showed that the distribution of users conformed to a power-law relationship, although the distribution did not display as much concentration or inequality as has been found in other online contexts. The Twitter user followed most frequently by journalists was Poynter Institute blogger Jim Romenesko. Generally, the users followed most frequently tended to be other journalists from elite news organizations, particularly The New York Times.

Missing the Metro: Can an E-Reader Replace the Print Newspaper? • Barry Hollander, University of Georgia; Dean Krugman, University of Georgia; Tom Reichert, University of Georgia; J. Adam Avant, University of Georgia • As major metropolitan newspapers have withdrawn from outer circulation areas, many are left without access to a primary source of state news. In just such a real-world situation, we explore whether an e-reader (Kindle DX) preoloaded with a digital subscription to a major metro paper was seen by former readers of the print edition as an adequate substitute. While most liked the Kindle, reviews of the e-reader as a replacement were mixed.

Covering a world in conflict: The New York Times and peace journalism • Elizabeth Lance, University of Missouri School of Journalism; Beverly Horvit, University of Missouri; Amy Youngblood, Texas Christian University • This study examines New York Times coverage of four conflicts for the characteristics of peace journalism advocated by Galtung. A content analysis of stories about Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia-Ethiopia and Chad-Sudan finds the majority were framed as peace journalism. This study contradicts findings that Western news organizations primarily report from a war journalism perspective. More than half the stories explained the causes and consequences of conflict and were careful to avoid victimizing, demonizing and emotive language.

The Diffusion of an Online Community Newspaper Among College Students • Daniel Hunt; David Atkin; Chris Kowal • As more news consumers are turning to online news instead of traditional news sources, the diffusion of online newspapers within communities needs further empirical investigation. This study tested a diffusion model for an online newspaper among a community of college students (N = 428). Community attachment was shown to be a predictor of one’s level of interactive feature use and ratings of credibility for an online newspaper. An individual’s level of use for interactive features on the online community newspaper website was shown to predict satisfaction with the online newspaper. Higher credibility ratings positively predicted satisfaction with the online newspaper, although there were gender differences in ratings of credibility. The application of this research to future studies is also addressed.

Turning a Blind Eye: Why Reporters Ignore Third-Party Candidates • John Kirch, Towson University • This paper examines why political reporters ignore third-party gubernatorial candidates. Using in-depth interviews with eight reporters in California and Wisconsin, this study identified five criteria journalists use to determine when to provide a minor-party candidate with substantial coverage. In addition, this paper found both practical and ideological reasons to explain why candidates who challenge the establishment are often relegated to the sidelines, where their voices are rarely heard.

Sources of Evaluative Information in Election News: The Role of Reporters                  Dominic Lasorsa • This study tested and found lacking long-held assumptions about the use of sources in news coverage. It examined evaluative information (either positive or negative themes toward a candidate) included in the news pages of the New York Times in the final weeks of the 2008 U.S. presidential election, focusing upon the sources of that information, including the candidates, their spokespersons, other supporters, those unaffiliated with the campaigns, and reporters themselves. Surprisingly, the reporters accounted for most of the evaluative coverage, followed by the unaffiliated sources. While the partisan sources tended to talk more about the opponent than about their own candidate, the two ostensibly nonpartisan sources (reporters and unaffiliated) shared their coverage more equitably between the two major candidates. Although the overall evaluative coverage was more negative than positive, the reporters’ evaluations surprisingly were more positive than negative, and more positive than any of the other sources. Compared to the partisan sources, which predictably gave mostly positive coverage to their own candidate and negative coverage to opponents, the reporters were more equitable in their coverage. Still, the reporters gave more positive coverage to Obama and more negative coverage to McCain, and were less equitable in their coverage than the unaffiliated sources. Thus, while reporters were more impartial than the partisan sources, they appeared to be less impartial than the other ostensibly nonpartisan sources, those not affiliated with either campaign. Implications of these surprising findings are discussed.

Distinctions in Covering BP Oil Spill Suggest a Maturing Press • Norman Lewis, University of Florida; Walter Starr, University of Florida; Yukari Takata, University of Florida; Qinwei (Vivi) Xie, University of Florida • Newspapers in the five Gulf states (n = 777) covered the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill as an environmental story that morphed into an economic one while the three national dailies (n = 238) treated it as an event story. Each state treated the story differently, affirming Bennett’s indexing hypothesis. Overall, nuances in how the story was covered suggest the press has matured in its handling of environmental disaster stories.

Newspaper Financial Performance: Content Really Does Make a Difference • You Li, University of Missouri; Esther Thorson, University of Missouri; Shrihari Sridhar • This study explores the relationship between newspaper content and financial performance using a rare monthly data spanning10 years. The study assesses amount and type of newspaper content by measuring the number of words produced along three dimensions: topic category, geographic focus, and origin of contents (wire or staff-produced). Each dimension is regressed upon the newspaper financial indicators, which include online and print revenues, advertising revenue, and circulation. The study finds that the content measures, especially the topic categories of contents, significantly predict newspaper financial performance. Both linear and nonlinear relationships between newspaper content quality and financial performance appear to be present, indicating diminishing returns to content. The three types of content have varying patterns and magnitudes of influence, suggesting implications for newspaper theory and management.

Online Disagreement Expression and Reasoned Opinions: An Exploratory Study of Political Discussion Threads on Online Newspapers • xudong liu, Southern Illinois University Carbondale; Xigen Li • This study content analyzes the comments posted immediately after the stories published on two online newspapers and investigates political discussion involvement reflected in the comments posted in online newspaper forums. More than one-third of the comments on the online newspapers involve disagreement expressions towards others’ opinions, and the comments provide fewer reasons for others’ opinions than for one’s own opinions. Online disagreement expression is positively related to opinion reasoning and discussion involvement. The finding’s implication for online newspaper’s role in deliberative democracy is discussed.

News Framing of the 1984 Bhopal Gas Leak and the 2010 BP Oil Spill • Chen Lou, Ohio University; Hong Cheng, Ohio University; Carson Wagner, Ohio University • Focusing on news framing and nationalism, this study examines how The New York Times and The Washington Post framed the Bhopal gas leak in India in 1984 and the British Petroleum (BP) oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. The findings show that the frame for the Bhopal incident-caused by Union Carbide, de-emphasized the U.S. corporation’s role. Conversely, the framing of the BP spill focused on the faults of the BP.

Constructing an Image of the U.S.: An Analysis of British and French WikiLeaks News Coverage • Ivanka Radovic, University of Tennessee; Catherine Luther; Iveta Imre • The main objective of this study was to explore how newspapers can convey images of nations through news framing. With a focus on the image of the United States in Britain and France, coverage of the WikiLeaks disclosure of classified U.S. diplomatic cables by Britain’s The Guardian and France’s Le Monde was analyzed. Remarkably similar news frames were revealed from these newspapers. As a result, an analogous image of the United States came to light.

Local News Coverage in the Digital Age: Comparing Online News with Newspapers in Two Metropolitan Markets • Scott Maier, University of Oregon; Staci Tucker • A content analysis of digital and print newspapers in Seattle and Minneapolis indicates that a fundamentally different mix of top news stories is provided online than in print. Online newspapers focused on old-style news – crime, disaster and sports – while print offered more on politics, environment and education. But the digital divide all but disappeared when major news occurred. Applying news consonance as a theoretical framework, the study explores the implications for the newspaper industry and the reading public.

Conflict in the news: Influences of proximity, importance and newspaper size • Michael McCluskey, Ohio State University; Young Mie Kim, University of Wisconsin-Madison • News values help explain why newspaper stories are published and the way stories were written. Few studies, however, evaluate the way values and other characteristics interact in news decisions. This study examined 952 non-opinion stories about advocacy organizations to examine how conflict with government was portrayed, considering proximity, story location and newspaper size. Proximity (with federal government) and story location (with state and local government) were important factors both in group-government engagement and the tone of conflict. Analysis suggests that interaction of values and context are important factors in understanding how conflict and other values are portrayed”

The Engagement Effect: The Relationships Among Engagement, Satisfaction, and Readership and What Can be Done to Stop the Death of the Print Newspaper • Rachel Davis Mersey, Northwestern University; Edward Malthouse, Northwestern University • Satisfaction is commonly measured by newspapers to monitor consumer responses because satisfaction is an antecedent to readership. In fact, countless studies have shown that satisfaction is associated with usage. Still an essential, open question remains: How do you get to satisfaction? This paper explores how to produce satisfaction that newspapers so desperately want by focusing on readers’ experiences with newspapers.

Newspaper Headlines on Human Trafficking in the United States from 2000 to 2010 • Brandon Burnette; Lyle Olson • Human trafficking has spurred increasing international media attention. Previous research, limited to two United States newspapers, focused on the framing of stories and differing opinions on the issue. This investigation randomly sampled 54 U.S. newspapers, examining the extent and frequency of human trafficking headlines. It concluded that higher circulation newspapers had statistically significant heavier coverage, accounting for three-fourths of the total number of headlines found. This study also examined how regions of the country, border versus non-border states, and type of ownership affected coverage of human trafficking. Data from this study is useful to organizations attempting to increase public awareness of human trafficking, a first step toward prevention. The results also revealed that continued media research on this socially important topic is needed.

Hard News Still Attracts Readers: A comparison of online and pre-Internet community newspaper readership • Carol Schlagheck, Eastern Michigan University • This study looks at readership of a 20,000-circulation Midwest community daily newspaper, comparing online page views throughout 2010 with reader choices reported in an unpublished 1992 survey of print subscribers of the same newspaper. The original study, conducted before the Internet was widely available and years before this newspaper had an online presence, asked 400 print newspaper subscribers about their readership choices. It identified several types of traditionally “hard” news among the top news sought. The current investigation identified specific stories that received the most page views during 2010. Again, hard news articles emerged as the most-read stories.

Social Construction, Influence, and News Work: A Study of the ‘Reality’ of Newspaper Journalism Today • Bill Schulte, Ohio University; Joseph Bernt • Informed by the social construction of reality and the hierarchy of influence model, this exploratory study examined 25 interviews with newspaper journalists to study the culture of the modern newsroom as newsworkers adjust to the paradigm shift between digital and traditional news platforms. The analysis revealed that many newsworkers are struggling with digital tasks which were not prevalent when the entered the workforce, and concern with ever downsizing organizations which can not seem to find a business model that will keep them employed in the future. It also finds that with management constantly looking upward for answers, newworkers are finding new opportunities to exert autonomy.

Blogging Wall Street on DealBook: A Content Analysis (2006-2010) • Michael Sheehy, University of Cincinnati; Hong Ji, The Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism • Examining the content of DealBook, a business and finance news blog on nytimes.com, this study found that from 2006 through 2010, DealBook produced an increasing amount of original content over time and began to rely less on reprocessed news from other information sources; that coverage topics changed over time; that most content contained named sources; that linkage to New York Times content increased over time; and that most content was oriented to fact reporting.

Crowd Control: Collaborative Gatekeeping in a Shared Media Space • Jane Singer, University of Iowa • This paper explores the implications of a significant but generally unheralded transition to an environment in which users have become gatekeepers of the content published on media websites. This expanded user role involves assessment of contributions by other users; assessment and communication of the perceived value or quality of user- and journalist-produced content; and selective re-dissemination of that content. Preliminary empirical evidence indicates these user gatekeeping capabilities have become pervasive on U.S. newspaper sites.

Redefining 21st Century Partnerships: Who’s Sharing What With Whom and Why? • Larry Dailey; Mary Spillman, Ball State University • This exploratory study, based on data from a 2010 national survey of editors at daily newspapers in the United States, examines the types of partnerships that exist between newspapers and both traditional (newspapers, radio, television) and non-traditional (web sites, blogs, universities) news organizations. Results suggest that newspapers are open to partnerships, but that organizational culture affects their propensity to innovate and successfully develop new routines and storytelling models.

Framing Capital Crimes in Two Newspapers • Jakob Berr, University of Missouri School of Journalism; Tim Vos, University of Missouri School of Journalism • This study examines how two newspapers framed capital punishment in two different parts of the U.S. – an area with high public support and an area with low public support for the death penalty. The framing analysis uses Bandura’s mechanisms of moral disengagement to explore how stories are framed. The analysis shows distinct differences in framing in the two locations, with a morally engaged frame in Maryland and a morally disengaged frame in Texas.

Audience perceptions of editing quality: An experimental study of the effects of news processing • Fred Vultee, Wayne State University • This study uses a controlled experiment to begin addressing whether and how much traditional markers of editing quality affect audience perceptions of the quality and professionalism of news articles. Articles were presented in a mixed design in which participants saw four articles in the edited condition and four in the unedited condition. Results indicate that standard newsroom editing practices have a significant positive effect on a diverse audience’s perception of news quality.

Local Newspaper Coverage Influences Support of the U.S. Military Buildup on Guam • Francis Dalisay, Cleveland State University; Masahiro Yamamoto, Washington State University • Roughly 8,600 U.S. Marines and about 10,000 of their dependents will be relocated to Guam. A content analysis revealed that the Pacific Daily News (PDN), a newspaper on Guam, reported more frequently on this military buildup’s economic benefits, and less on its environmental risks. A community survey showed that reading the PDN influenced residents’ endorsement of the buildup’s economic benefits, but not endorsement of its environmental risks. Findings support the system-maintenance role of local newspapers.

Changing News Frames as a Pandemic Develops: Coverage of the 2009 H1N1 Flu in the Washington Post • Lily Zeng, Arkansas State Univ.; Zhiwen Xiao, University of Houston • This study examines the coverage of the H1N1 flu pandemic in the Washington Post from a dynamic perspective. According to the CDC definition of two peaks of flu activity in the U.S. (May and October 2009), this study identifies four stages of the crisis: Peak I, Valley, Peak II, and Post-Peak II. The findings reveal that the amount of media attention across time reflected the dynamics of flu activity. During the lifespan of the pandemic (April 2009 to February 2010), the capital-based newspaper maintained a consistent emphasis on the event as a “nationwide health emergency” as announced by the government, with an apparent focus on current updates of the situation of the disease, especially during the two peak stages of the pandemic. When the crisis entered a new stage, however, the frame-changing strategy was usually employed to maintain the salience of the event on the news agenda.

Man, woman, or child: The portrayal of young adults in the news media • Amy Zerba; Cory Armstrong, University of Florida • The term “young adults” is often used loosely in conversation and research. This can leave audiences to interpret whom young adults are, possibly reinforcing stereotypes. Using the theoretical framework of social construction of reality, this content analysis study examines how media describe young adults and related terms in news stories. The findings showed few definitions and use of young adults as sources; and negative portrayals by city officials and of young adults’ behavior and health.

MacDougall Student Paper Competition

Analyzing News about the Veil: Examining Racist Discourses in Europe • Katie Blevins, The Pennsylvania State University • This paper examines newspaper coverage concerning the 2010 legislation in France that bans the wearing of the full-face Muslim veil, or niqab, in public places. This paper is concerned with the representation of French-Muslim women who lie at the intersection of competing interests in this: media, political, and individual. Methodologically, this paper employs a feminist critical discourse analysis of the newspaper coverage and Joan Wallach Scott’s four categories of discourse from The Politics of the Veil (racism, secularism, sexuality, and individualism) to frame the discourse.

A Study of the Urbanization of News Content • Michael Clay Carey, Ohio University • This research analyzes geographic coverage trends in two American metropolitan newspapers, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and The Columbus Dispatch, to understand how frequently those newspapers included news about places and people far from their urban coverage areas. A content analysis found a trend away from rural coverage and an increase in coverage in and around urban cores during the five-year time period studies.

Deceptive Reality: Using Media to Implant False Memories and Internet Source Credibility • Jenna Carolan, Iowa State University; Faye Gilbert , Iowa State University• People are constantly bombarded with media messages that affect the way they think, but can it also affect their memories? This study measures the extent to which false memories can be implanted using media. It also looks at the effect of perceived source credibility in false memory formation. Surveys were used to compare memories before and after stimuli exposure and showed that a large number of participants had, in fact, created false memories regarding the news events. The perceived credibility of all four sources was nearly identical, although some sources were fabricated.

Witnessing Executions: How Journalists Prepare for and Respond to Planned Trauma Exposure • Kenna Griffin • This series of interviews with journalists who witnessed executions explains how these journalists prepared for and emotionally responded to witnessing the traumatic events. The journalists fulfilled their professional obligation to report the newsworthy happenings to the public, while putting themselves at risk of suffering emotional trauma. The emotional impact can be mediated if addressed through organizational support and training. The journalists who were interviewed, however, rarely were offered support and denied experiencing negative emotions.

Press Independence in the Guantanamo Controversy: Effects of The New York Times’ Coverage on Public Opinion During the Bush and Obama Administrations • Jaesik Ha, Indiana University • This study analyzes the relationship between the U.S. government and the media after the events of 9/11. It investigates two aspects of the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba: (1) How The New York Times covered the controversy over the closing of the Guantanamo prison during the Bush and the Obama administrations; and (2) How The New York Times’ choice of frames affected public opinion. This study analyzed the content of 2,216 news paragraphs which dealt with the Guantanamo prison issue between 2004 and 2010. One of the issues that this study explores is whether the American news media played an independent role as a watchdog of the government’s issue-framing by challenging the Bush government’s anti-terrorism frame or if it acted as the government’s guard dog and consistently reinforced its frames. 57.4% of the content-analyzed news stories published during the Bush administration used a “torture frame” which described the Guantanamo prison as violating the human rights of prisoners and lacking due process. On the other hand, the “anti-terrorism frame,” which emphasized the positive aspects of the Guantanamo prison – such as its role in reinforcing national security and protecting Americans from possible future terrorist attacks – was found in 21.3% of the news stories published during the period of the Bush presidency. By contrast, during the Obama administration, 40.3% of news reports used the torture frame, while 28.3% used the anti-terrorism frame. The New York Times showed itself to be a powerful and consistent challenger to the Bush administration on the Guantanamo issue. However, the findings also show that The New York Times’ coverage did not have a significant impact on public support for the closing of the Guantanamo prison.

Experiencing error: How journalists describe what it’s like when the press fails • Kirstie Hettinga, Penn State • Corrections are a way for newspapers to amend the record when errors occur. However, while the process of correcting a mistake is dealt with through industry norms, how error is experienced is personal to each journalist who makes an error that gets printed. This research, which borrows ethnographic techniques and draws upon gatekeeping theory, explores how journalists in one newsroom experience error and their recommendations for how errors and their corrections should be handled.

Typing corrections: Examining corrections and their role in democratic theory • Kirstie Hettinga, Penn State • Newspaper errors typically fall in subjective and objective categories. In this qualitative content analysis of corrections from The New York Times in 2010, the kinds of articles that typically yielded errors are documented. Other themes including attribution of error are also noted. The author suggests that in terms of democratic theory, corrections fall along a continuum of significance, where not all corrections are necessary for people to function within society.

Media Agenda Setting Concerning the 2009 Health Care Reform Debate • Jihye Kim, Univ. of Florida • The purpose of this study is to evaluate the newspapers agendas concerning the United States healthcare program by applying the agenda-setting process to identify varying agendas. The study also applied intermedia agenda-setting in order to correlate the relationship between the newspaper media and the press releases. The results expressed unidirectional and directional trends paired with interesting results of the relationship between the two agendas, while attempting to identify an “elite” newspaper source.

Examining the Local Sections of Three South Florida Newspapers Before and After a Content-Sharing Agreement. • Jeffrey Riley, Ohio University • This study examined the effects of a content-sharing agreement on the local news sections of three South Florida metropolitan newspapers: The Miami Herald, the Sun Sentinel, and The Palm Beach Post. The content analysis found that only nine articles out of 971 examined were borrowed through the sharing agreement. Additionally, the study found that the number of published local articles per year dropped 28.95% from 2006 to 2009.

Medium Matters: Newsreaders’ Recall and Engagement with Online and Print Newspapers • Arthur Santana, University of Oregon; Randall Livingstone, University of Oregon; Yoon Yong Cho, University of Oregon • Increasingly, newsreaders are abandoning the print newspaper in favor of online news. This experimental research asks: Do reader engagements towards news stories vary by media? Half of a subject pool (N = 45) perused The New York Times and half browsed its accompanying Web site. Both groups answered questions on the extent to which the news stories made an impression. The results reflect prior research that shows print subjects remembered more news stories than online subjects and suggest that the development of dynamic online story forms in the past decade have had little effect toward making them more impressionable than print stories.

Does competition make a difference? An examination of the impact of the Apple Daily on three major newspapers in Taiwan • Chien-Yun Song, University of Kansas; Jia-Wei Tu, University of Kansas • This content analysis study examined the effects of the Apply Daily on three leading Taiwanese newspapers after its publication in 2003. Findings show that these newspapers have added more “soft news” on their front pages in 2004 in order to compete. It can be argued that the Apple Daily has forced its rivals to become more sensational. Competition does not improve news quality in this case.

Bloggers’ Reliance on Newspaper, Online, and Original Sources in Reporting on Local Subjects Ignored by the Press • Brendan Watson, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, School of Journalism & Mass Communication • This study of 100 blogs found that contrary to media assertions and prior research, local public affairs bloggers do not rely on newspapers for a majority of their sources. Bloggers in this study were more likely to use original sources and original reporting than rely on media sources, particularly when writing about local topics (e.g. historic preservation) the news media frequently ignore.

<< 2011 Abstracts

Minorities and Communication 2011 Abstracts

African-American Students’ Perceptions of Public Relations Education and Practice: Implications for Minority Recruitment • Kenon A. Brown, The University of Alabama; Candace White, University of Tennessee; Damion Waymer, Virginia Tech University • In-depth interviews were conducted with African-American public relations students to explore their perceptions of public relations and the role race may play in their career success. The motivations for pursuing public relations and perceptions of the field are not different than those of other groups of students found in previous studies. However, the findings provide insights that are helpful in recruiting African-American students, and also in retaining them in the major. Central themes that emerged from the data are that it is important to have African-American role models, and that students’ view race as a fact of life that can be both a barrier and an asset.

What Y’all Laughin’ At? Humor Theory in Tyler Perry’s Sitcoms • Teddy Champion, University of Alabama • This paper examines a sample of content from Tyler Perry’s two television shows, House of Payne and Meet the Browns, in order to scrutinize specific joke types from a creative voice that has dominated film and television for the past five years. Analysis incorporates both cultural and psychological aspects of the characters and of the audience using two major theories of humor: misattribution and superiority. References to other sitcoms give a context for Perry’s comedy, noting comparisons to other black and non-black artists or characters, with the goal of defining how Perry’s agenda may affect audiences.

Expanding the Parameters of Research on the News Media & the Other: The Faisal Shahzad Case Study and ‘Homegrown’ Terrorism • Angie Chuang, American University School of Communication; Robin Chin Roemer, American University Library • Research on news media representations of the Other has generally addressed racial minorities, immigrants, and Muslims as often-disparate areas of study with some similarities but few overlaps. In particular, since the September 11 terrorist attacks, the question of Muslim Americans as an identity group has at times been viewed through the scholarly lens of race and, more often, through assessments of coverage patterns of terrorism. This case study focuses on the Pakistani American perpetrator of the 2010 attempted Times Square bombing. It contextualizes newspaper coverage of Faisal Shahzad with existing research on Orientalism and Other identity, as well as on media representations of black, immigrant, and Muslim Americans. The findings include that in constructing Shahzad as a new kind of “homegrown terrorist,” newspapers deviated from historical representational patterns of immigrant Americans observed in previous scholarship on the general topic. The papers gave near equal emphasis to Shahzad’s “normal American” characteristics as they did to his alien, foreign, Other ones.

Sources of health information for American Indians in the Midwest United States • Mugur Geana, School of Journalism and Mass Communications, University of Kansas; Allen Greiner, Department of Family Medicine, University of Kansas; Angelia Cully; Myrietta Talawyma, Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health KUMC; Christine Makosky Daley, Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health KUMC • American Indians and Alaska Natives (AIAN) have significantly higher rates of tuberculosis, alcoholism, diabetes, death by traffic accidents and suicide compared to the general population; American Indians show poor results on other health outcomes and are near the top of the list for unhealthy behaviors, such as obesity and smoking. Providing target audiences with accurate and culturally tailored health information has been shown to influence health attitudes and behaviors. The present study explores sources of health information for American Indians from the Midwest United States, their preferences for information presentation, and their use of health information during the medical encounter. We conclude that campaigns targeting Natives should be narrow focused and be community driven or employing community resources. American Indians use a diversity of media sources to obtain health information, with Internet being an underutilized, but highly regarded source. Partnership with the IHS providers and pharmacists may offer the “expert” advice needed to enforce attitude or behavioral change.

“To Plead Our Own Cause”: How Citizen Journalism Served as a Vehicle for Racial Equality in Austin, Texas, Post 1968 • Dean Graber, University of Texas – Austin • Sociologist Anthony M. Orum (1987) has described the history of Austin, Texas, as a series of struggles between capitalism and democracy, and a set of conflicting visions over the city’s growth. Early in the 20th century, a core group of Austin leaders envisioned a metropolis built on industry, wealth, and private property. However, other Austinites—many concentrated in the East Side, home to large Black and Mexican American neighborhoods—imagined a city in which greater numbers of people share the benefits of growth and take part in defining the city’s future. Orum identifies Austin’s daily newspapers as key promoters of the capitalist vision. In contrast, this paper presents the trajectories of three East Austin publications produced outside traditional settings in 1968–1982, the period when the civil rights movement turned to focus on matters of desegregation. I use a comparative-historical method described by sociologist Mounira M. Charrad as “examining how long-term trajectories combine with short-term developments at critical historical moments to lead to different political outcomes.” The publications are presented as emerging at crucial moments in Austin’s history and combining with long-term legacies of inequality and discrimination. The resulting media demonstrated a varied mix of ideologies, objectives, and practices toward achieving equal citizenship. I argue that the small-scale newspapers form a history of citizen journalism that pre-dated the Internet by several decades, and that journalism discussions that emphasize Internet-based media as catalysts for “citizen media” should

Covering Immigration: Journalists’ Perceptions of Geo-Ethnic Storytelling • Josh Grimm, Texas Tech University • In 2006, millions of immigrants protested in cities around the nation against H.R. 4437, a new bill in Congress that threatened to treat undocumented immigrants as felons. I interviewed editors and reporters at California newspapers about the debate surrounding this bill to determine the presence and/or prevalence of geo-ethnic storytelling, which posits that racial and geographic location of a particular community creates a unique network for telling and understanding stories. These results suggest that editors acknowledge the importance of race and community, but that these factors do not influence news coverage of immigration issues.

Story-Chatterers Stirring Up Hate: Racist Discourse in Reader Comments on U.S. Newspaper Websites • Summer Harlow, University of Texas – Austin • This content analysis of online comments explores how readers discuss race in online newspaper forums, and provides insight for editors struggling to meet the Kerner Commission’s objectives. Results show that reader comments included racial terms, even when the article did not. Further, reader comments that mentioned race tended to reiterate stereotypes. This study suggests newspapers eliminate anonymous comments and “color-blind” policies that ignore race, and make a concerted effort to publish more race-related articles.

Tarred With the Same Brush? African-American Journalists and Memories of Janet Cooke and Jayson Blair • Mary Hill-Wagner, member at large (University of Southern California) • This study examines how African-American reporters view the workplace narratives of Janet Cooke and Jayson Blair. This analysis, based on interviews, employs the theory of narrative inquiry from the field of communications. In the study, African-American reporters believe the scandals created by two black reporters, Blair and Cooke, had an adverse impact on the careers of other African-American journalists.

The Little Smith Act: Application of the Smith Act to the Pro-Independence Movement in Puerto Rico • Myrna Lebron, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville • This historical analysis compares use of the Smith Act by the Puerto Rican authorities to its application by the American legal system. Ley 53 trials are also examined, including Pueblo v. Pedro Albizu Campos (1951), the case against the leader of the PRNP. Specifically, the study contributes to the literature of First Amendment rights in the understudied context of Puerto Rico’s struggle for independence during the first half of the twentieth century.

Latino Youth as Information Leaders: Implications for Family Interaction and Civic Engagement in Immigrant Communities            Mike McDevitt, University of Colorado; Mary Butler, University of Colorado • This study contemplates implications of Latino adolescents acting as information leaders in immigrant families. We highlight the heuristic value of thinking about the family as a venue for information exchanges that engender civic inclinations. This framework is refined by insights obtained from a survey and focus groups conducted in northern Colorado. We find that assimilation is both embraced and resisted in family communication, as parents and children work out tensions between Latino and Anglo values.

To Protest a Cause but Dismantle a Company: Newspaper Framing of the Montgomery Bus Boycott • Felicia McGhee-Hilt, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga • The Montgomery Bus Boycott is seen as a catalyst in the Civil Rights Movement. The success of this 381-day boycott forced the city to integrate the Montgomery bus system. The purpose of this study is to show how the bus company, The Montgomery City Bus Lines, was framed during the course of the boycott thus becoming the voice “caught in the middle.” The method used was a content analysis of 311 articles from the Montgomery Advertiser to determine how the bus company was framed in the local newspaper, along with an analysis of the bus boycott trial transcript. Findings indicate that the bus company suffered a severe loss of revenue, and as a result the company was forced to discontinue routes, lay off employees, and double the cost of fares. This study is important because it demonstrates how the company suffered a financial quandary by no fault of its own. The company could not change the segregation laws, but nevertheless, was the focus of a widespread boycott. Also, for contemporary scholarship, the results of this study could be applicable in regards to current boycotts of businesses. Lastly, this analysis provides a deeper understanding of the historic boycott and its reach into the business community.

Differences in Editorial Coverage of Jeremiah Wright in the Minority and Mainstream Presses • Mia Moody, Baylor University; Amanda Sturgill, Elon University • This article looks at how the black and mainstream press’s editorials framed the Rev. Jeremiah Wright scandal during the 2008 presidential primaries. Findings indicate the two presses differed significantly in most areas, except sources. Regarding media frames, the presses were particularly different on religious issues, with the black press significantly more likely to include a frame of Wright’s comments being appropriate within the church with the idea that his quotes were taken out of context. This fits within Blinder’s (2006) idea of the black press representing a ‘separate public sphere,’ wherein the religious issues might be discussed as a part of the process of educating audiences. It also suggests that while both newspaper types remained true to their missions, black press was more steadfast in its aim to provide the black perspective for its readers.

Online Social Networking and Socialization Among Hispanic College Students • David Park; Homero Gil de Zuniga, University of Texas – Austin; Oleg Mironchikov; Maria Cedeno • This study examines relationships between socialization and online social network (SNS) use among Hispanics. Respondents were placed in “high” and “low” groups based on the number of online friends within their SNS networks. Our results indicate that among Hispanics, the larger the SNS network, the more likely the user is to report having fewer “real” friends, the more likely he or she will be younger, and the more likely he or she will prefer to communicate through mediated methods rather than in person. In this context, our study confirms and adds to previous studies by indicating heightened participation with online social networking appears to hamper face-to-face socialization among Hispanic SNS users.

Pushed to the Periphery: Incivility in Online Newspaper Readers’ Comments • Arthur Santana, University of Oregon • Reader comment forums in online newspapers have been called spaces of public deliberation, but the forums are also widely seen as sites of pervasive incivility. Analyzing reader comments from three border state newspapers, this paper aims to quantify and contextualize anecdotal evidence from reporters around the country that Latinos are regularly debased, stereotyped and cast as subhuman in the forums by anonymous commenters, especially following immigration stories.

“What Are You Talking About?” Differences in Twitter Uses and Gratification Between Black and White Twitter Users • Christopher Saunders, University of Missouri, School; Saleem Alhabash, University of Missouri; Cynthia Frisby, University of Missouri • A survey of Black and White Americans (N = 223) explored the differences in their motivations to use Twitter and patterns of using this site. Results showed that compared to Whites, Black users significantly spend more time on Twitter, reported having more followers, higher intensity of use, and higher likelihood of using Twitter to communicate with their offline friends. When it comes to motivations of using Twitter, both Black and White participants were equally motivated to use Twitter to express themselves. However, White participants rated the motivation to us the site for information sharing higher than Black participants, who in turn reported higher levels of motivation to use the site for social interaction and entertainment motivations. Results are discussed in light of the uses and gratifications theory and other sociological approaches to racial and ethnic differences in media use.

African American Cartoon Characters: An Analysis of The Proud Family • Adrienne Smith, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville • The purpose of this research is to examine the portrayals of the African American cartoon characters in the Disney Channel series The Proud Family (2001) and demonstrate the implications of those portrayals concerning race and representation. A textual analysis was used to address the following research question: How do the African American cartoon characters in The Proud Family television series relate to Stuart Hall’s three tropes of blackness (the slave, the native, the clown/entertainer)?

Charting the future of journalism education at HBCUs: Finding a place for convergence in the curriculum • Kim Smith, North Carolina A&T State University • A survey of 240 journalism educators and their department chairs at 51 Historically Black Colleges and Universities was taken to learn how they were coping with possible changes in their journalism curriculum as a result of the growing popularity of convergence journalism. Ninety seven percent of respondents agreed that all students in a journalism program should be required to take convergence courses. But they disagreed over who should take the lead for making curriculum changes. Other obstacles included (a) lack of faculty training in convergence (multimedia) techniques, and (b) lack of financial resources to buy and maintain the equipment needed to teach convergence. The study also compared obstacles HBCUs face in adding convergence to the curriculum to studies that examined the stumbling blocks predominately white colleges and universities (PWCUs) have faced in adding convergence to their journalism curriculum.

Reporting Health to Minority Populations: A Content Analysis of Localized News Reporting • Ye Wang, University of Missouri; Shelly Rodgers, University of Missouri • The purpose of this study is to examine localized news reporting in minority newspapers and compare localized news reporting in minority newspapers and local general readership newspapers. Localized news reporting is based on the news value of proximity and targeted messages, which can potentially improve health communication through media channels targeting minority populations. To inform health journalists about the practice of localized news reporting in health reporting targeting minority populations, a content analysis was conducted to examine local news, local sources, localized information, and localized statistics in health news sampled from Hispanic, Black, and general readership newspapers in five areas in California. The results showed that local sources were most frequently used while localized statistics was least used in health reporting. Hispanic newspapers were most likely to use localized information in health news reporting, and Black newspapers were least likely to report local health news. The results suggest that Hispanic newspapers better serve the health informational needs of the local Hispanic communities. The discussion suggests that which tactics of localized news reporting will be used in health reporting depends upon a number of factors including newsroom resources.

Mass Media and Perceived and Objective Environmental Risk: Race and Place of Residence • Brendan Watson, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Lynsy Smithson-Stanley, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Daniel Riffe, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Emily Ogilvie, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • Framed in an environmental justice context, this study using statewide telephone survey data (N=406) shows that nonwhite residents of North Carolina perceive greater environmental risk where they live than do whites, but the hypothesized additional effect of rural residence was generally not supported. Perceptions, however, may not reflect objective health risks. Race (being nonwhite), residence (urban), and watching local and national TV news predicted overall environmental risk perceptions, but county-level health measures did not.

Headline Hawai`i: Racial Aloha in Kama`aina News • Cory Weaver, S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, Syracuse University • The front page of Hawai`i’s largest-circulated newspaper – The Honolulu Star-Bulletin – was reviewed for a three-month period: March 1, 2008 – June 1, 2008, to examine representations of race in a media market where Caucasian individuals are the minority. Analysis of the data collected determined that there is an extremely large gap between quality of coverage for different ethnic groupings, with Caucasian individuals shown much more positively than people of color.

Quality of minority health communication: An analysis of Hispanic-targeted health websites • Emma Wertz, Kennesaw State University; Sora Kim, University of Florida • The Internet has become one of the most used forms of health communication media. Using the Health on the Net code of conduct, this study examined the quality of health information available on the Internet for one of the United State’s fastest growing minorities, Hispanics. When comparing Hispanic-targeted websites with those that target the majority population, this study found significant differences with respect to quality. Specifically, sites targeting Hispanics had a lower level of quality than those that targeted the majority population.

Americans Misbehaving: Anti and prosocial behaviors on minority vs. mainstream television networks • Sherri Williams, S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, Syracuse University; Cory Weaver, S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, Syracuse University; Lynessa Williams, S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, Syracuse University • Researchers conducted a content analysis of prosocial and antisocial behavior on three networks: CBS, the number one mainstream television network; Black Entertainment Television, geared toward African-Americans and LOGO targeted toward gays. Results show antisocial behavior occurred most prevalently on CBS. BET had the most prosocial acts coded. Niche networks that showcase marginalized communities exhibited more prosocial behavior, which goes against traditional stereotypical television portrayals of socially maligned groups.

<< 2011 Abstracts