Religion and Media 2000 Abstracts
Religion and Media Interest Group
God and Mammon: The Effects of Secular Takeovers of Religious Media Outlets • William M. Alnor, Temple • Not often examined in reports of media buy-outs and takeovers is the fact that many profit-making secular (nonreligious) companies are acquiring religious publishing companies and religious television stations and entire networks. This has resulted often in the watering down of traditional religious messages, according to this study that was based on content analysis and a survey of evangelical publishing executives. But it has strengthened the financial bottom line.
Rev. Dr. J.C. White, South Carolina’s Black (Baptist) Bishop and Religion Editor of The Palmetto Leader, 1925-1926 • Kenneth Campbell, South Carolina • Black newspapers and black religious life have always had a close connection. Thus, any research documenting the life of preacher/editors has potential value of offering a fuller understanding of black press history as well as black community life. This is an account of the religious, political, and journalistic life and times of the Rev. Dr. J.C. White, called South Carolina’s Black Bishop, during the two-year period he was religion of the Columbia, South Carolina, Palmetto Leader, a black weekly.
Religion, Spirituality, and Uses and Gratifications Theory • Paul A. Creasman, Regent • Spirituality as a dimension of religiousness has been virtually ignored in media research despite an exponential increase in the presence of spiritually-themed media content. This paper proposes new variables/typologies for inclusion into future uses and gratifications studies that explore the intersection of religion and media. Through a critical examination, it is proposed that transcendence, irrationality, and community are vital to true spirituality. Using these three proposed variables/typologies, uses and gratifications theory might be well suited to examine questions of the spiritual dimensions of media content.
Testing Theoretical Constructs of Framing • Kyle Huckins, Regent • Entman’s fourfold definition of frames has made a strong impact on discussion of the topic. This paper used statistical measures to test both the definition and ways of measuring frames. A content analysis of news articles on two religio-political leaders for each of 10 years provided a long-term assessment of the strength of framing mechanisms. Results gave support for the definition and measures with statistically significant links to the affective domain applicable to other subjects.
The Rise of the Early Christian Church: A Triumph of Public Relations? • David Martinson, Florida International University • In discussing the historic evolution of public relations, public relations textbooks frequently suggest that the triumph of the early Church in bringing its message to the world can be equated with a successful contemporary public relations campaign. The author argues that such analogies must be challenged and rejected • unless all the appropriate nuances are included. He contends that it would be more efficacious to consider if and how a person like St. Paul might make use of a contemporary public relations practitioner.
Environmental Reporting, Religion Reporting, and the Question of Advocacy • Rick C. Moore, Boise State • Though both religion reporting and environmental reporting have been the subject of serious academic research, the connections between the two have received little attention. This study proposes to examine the similarities and differences between the two beats. Historically, environmental journalists appear to be more willing to practice advocacy reporting than are religion journalists. Yet, current challenges to the dominant modes of practice in journalism could alter the foundations on which these distinctions rest.
Spiritual Movement or Fanatic Cult: Chinese and U.S. Coverage of Falun Gong • Ren Li, Ohio • This study focuses on the diversity of Chinese and US coverage of Falun Gong, a quasi-religious group banned by the Chinese government in July 1999. A total of 120 news items from China Daily and the New York Times between April 1st, 1999 and December 31, 1999 were content analyzed. The findings indicated the dominance of government/Party affiliated sources and the restriction of dissident voices in China Daily. The New York Times carried a relatively more balanced and diversified coverage of the group and the ban.
The Effect of Age and Background of Religious Broadcasting Executives on Digital Television Implementation • Brad Schultz, South Illinois • This study sought to investigate whether the personal backgrounds of religious broadcasting executives would affect the timetable for digital implementation at Christian television stations. Results of the study showed a significant difference between religious and secular broadcasters in terms of background and digital implementation. A significant gulf between older and younger religious broadcasters was also discovered, which played an important role in this process.
Media Ministries and the Spirit of Capitalism • Jeffery A. Smith, Iowa • One of the paradoxes of American cultural studies is how the United States can be both one of the most religious and most market-driven of nations. Perhaps the “magic of the market,” long touted by free enterprise advocates, applies to the success of creeds. For centuries Americans have been largely free to choose the faith that suits them and to reward the media ministries that both try to persuade them and cater to their needs.
Mormons in Las Vegas: A Study of Entertainment Media and Secularization Defense Strategies • Daniel A. Stout and Mary Beth McMurray, Brigham Young • The Mormon Church is the third largest denomination in Las Vegas with 70,000 members. With official doctrines opposing gambling and strong admonitions to avoid unsavory media content such as R-rated movies, a number of tensions have emerged. Focus groups and non-participant observations reveal how Mormons experience entertainment media. Five ways of defining conflicts or “secularization defense strategies” are identified. These findings raise new issues for future research about the ways religiosity is applied in media use.
Advocacy, Objectivity, editorial freedom and Journalistic Quality: A Study of Issues in the Protestant Press • Ken Waters, Pepperdine • The reporting of religion by daily newspapers and the nation’s news magazines is an area of increasing interest among communication scholars. Much less research has focused on periodicals written by and for religious believers. Estimates of the number of religious publications in America runs as high as 3,000. The two Protestant press associations claim their member publications reach approximately 47 million readers each year. Millions more people read Catholic, Jewish and other religious magazines.
Religion News and “Values”: A Study of the Dallas Morning News’ Religion Section • Susan Willey, Florida Atlantic • This study explores how well religion news is able to meet the Hutchins Commission’s fourth requirement for a free and responsible press – to present and clarify the goals and values of society. An analysis of The Dallas Morning News’ religion section reveals that religion news presents a mosaic of values, but is severely challenged by a lack of diverse sources and depth, failing to fully examine the competing values that are operating in the stories.
Media and Disability 2000 Abstracts
Media and Disability Interest Group
The Disabled and Promoting Census 2000: A Key Target or Lost in the Crowd? • Louella Benson-Garcia, Pepperdine • A successful Census 2000 could raise the number of disabled counted from 20 percent of the population to 25 percent or more. This study aimed to determine to what extent, if any, did the United States Bureau of the Census targeted the disabled population in its media relations efforts for Census 2000. None of the 136 press releases, 29 media advisories, 10 webcasts, or six public service announcements — and only one of the 25 fact sheets — referred to the disabled.
Hoddle’s Twaddle: Defining Disability through British Sports Coverage • Beth Haller, Towson and Sue Ralph, University of Manchester • In this study of British news media, we undertook a qualitative assessment of the discourse surrounding negative comments about disabled people made by the English national soccer coach in 1999. These comments by Coach Glenn Hoddle led to a five-day media frenzy and his subsequent resignation as national soccer coach. This analysis investigates the news narratives about disabled people that arise in British society when these narratives intersect with the British national sport, soccer.
Missing in Action? Images of Disability in Sports Illustrated for Kids • Marie Hardin, Florida Southern College, Brent Hardin and Susan Lynn, Florida State and Kristi Walsdorf, Valdosta State • ABSTRACT NOT AVAILABLE.
Technology and the Knowledge Gap: Two Barriers to Distance Education for the Person with a Disability • Jeffrey A. John, Wright State • This paper discusses two accessibility problems for the student with a disability in utilizing distance education: First, technical problems related to course design create barriers or negate assistive technology used by persons with disabilities. Second, problems related to the social environment from which the student with a disability encounters distance education programs create a social barrier. This paper argues that access to distance education programs will be in fact more affected by issues of social rights than by issues of technical access, and that the Knowledge Gap Hypothesis offers a framework for analysis of this issue.
Expanding Journalism Students” Notions of “Diversity”: Inclusion of Disability Issues in News Reporting Textbooks • Ann E. Preston, Quincy and Marie Hardin Florida Southern • This exploratory content analysis seeks to discover where and how disability issues are addressed in top selling reporting textbooks. These texts devote less than a tenth of their length to instruction on covering multiple cultures. Only half of the books included people with disabilities within their units on multicultural reporting and writing. Two texts offered fairly comprehensive advice on multicultural coverage consistent with guidelines developed by or with disability advocates.
Internship and Careers 2000 Abstracts
Internship and Careers Interest Group
Emotional Intelligence at Work: Three Internship Stories • Michael L. Maynard, Temple • The paper discusses the thesis of emotional intelligence (EI), applying its principles to the internship work site. Three internship stories are presented, problem situations are described and EI solutions are offered. It is proposed that the internship advisor’s knowledge of EI can lead toward successful internship outcomes. Appendix includes brief EI self-quiz, characteristics of persons with high/low EI, and list of EI web sites.
Mid-Career Interning: Faculty Going From Classroom to Newsroom • Dana Rosengard, North Carolina-Chapel Hill • Every year, thousands of college students head to television newsrooms to work as interns to learn from the professionals. Back on campus, they sit in classes and listen to professors who, many times, have not been in a television newsroom themselves for years and years. This research looks at faculty internships. In this pilot-study, the television news directors in North Carolina were surveyed to learn if they would welcome such interns into their newsroom, what they would allow them to do, how they see the college or university faculty intern as both a challenge and a risk.
Graduate Education 2000 Abstracts
Graduate Education Interest Group
Malaysia’s Broadcasting Industry in Transition: Effect of New Competitions on Traditional Television Channels • Tee-Tuan Foo, Ohio • Between July 1995 and December 1996, three new competitors • Metrovision, a private television station; Mega TV, a cable television; and ASTRO, a satellite television • entered the Malaysian television scene. This study seeks to answer the question how would the emergence of these new competition change (1) the total airtime, (2) the language of broadcast, (3) and types of program during the peak hour slots of the three traditional television channels: RTM 1, 2 and TV 3.
The Emergence and Transformation of Alternative Radio in Taiwan: from Underground Radio to Community Radio • Shun-Chih Ke, University of Birmingham, UK • This paper provides an example of how an alternative radio section emerged from a society Taiwan in this case, and the impact which it has. This paper uses four community radio stations which were underground radio station as a case study to examine the processes of transformation of alternative radio, and argues that the state, economic market and station identity are the key factors in determining the development of alternative radio.
Convergence of the Internet Websites by Newspaper, Broadcast, and Internet Organizations? • Sang Hee Kweon, Southern Illinois-Carbondale • This paper examines nine news websites, including those of three different media organizations, which have converged into Internet websites. The websites of the news organizations are compared with newspaper, TV broadcasting, and Internet only websites. The compared units are frame factors: pictures, news contributors, and interactivity. Newspaper websites presented more news items than both TV broadcasting and Internet organization websites, whereas TV websites made greater use of both photos and graphics.
The Press, President, and Presidential Popularity during Ronald Reagan’s War on Drugs • Hyo-Seong Lee, Southern Illinois • This study tested a path model of agenda-building examining the relationships among the press, president, and presidential popularity rating during the Reagan administration in the 1980s. This study found that as presidential emphasis on the drug issue increased, so did the press coverage of the drug issue. Also, as the press coverage of the drug issue increased, so did presidential emphasis about the drug issue.
The Transparency of Culture and Politics in Economic Discourse • Jennie Rupertus, Texas-Austin • Global expansion and the interconnection of commercial markets have made it increasingly difficult to contest that economic structure influence our social realities. Likewise, it is equally problematic to discuss economics without also referencing issues of culture and politics. Yet an overwhelming proportion of today’s popular media mask the cultural and political values embedded in economic discourse as value-free ‘common sense.’
The Impact and Relationship of Policy and Competition on the Program Diversity in Cable TV • Seung Kwan Ryu, Southern Illinois • This study explores the impact of deregulation on program diversity in U.S. cable television, and the relationship of governmental policy and competition on program diversity. It examines whether there was more program diversity before or after the passage of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, by comparing two time periods: 1992-1995 (from the enactment of the Cable Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 1992 to the Telecommunications Act of 1996) and 1996-to the present (after the enactment of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 up to now).
Does Graduate Work Matter? Characteristics of Journalists Who Went to Grad School • Tanjev Schultz, University of Bremen, Germany • This paper reports a secondary analysis which compares characteristics of graduate school-trained journalists to those with only college-education. It also considers differences between studies in and outside the communication field. Besides demographics and job characteristics, assumed differences in perceived influences of education, in and to support an interpretative role, journalistic role concepts and audience perceptions were tested. Overall, the analysis revealed few differences. But journalists with graduate education were found to be more likely than college-educated journalists to work for larger news organizations.
Civic Journalism 2000 Abstracts
Civic Journalism Interest Group
Engaging the Literature: A Civic Approach • Kathryn B. Campbell, Southern Oregon • Traditional civic journalism literature reviews are static, laced with separations that divorce issues from one another, divide theorists from researchers, sever academic writing from the popular press, or break publications into categories based on their bindings. These divisions simply don’t capture the unique dialogue of civic journalism. A more intriguing concept is a new model, envisioned as clusters of work through which the movement of ideas can be traced as a dialogue among academics, journalists, and other citizens.
Resolving Public Conflict Civic Journalism and Civil Society • Kathryn B. Campbell, Southern Oregon • Practitioners in civic journalism and public conflict resolution are independently experimenting with ways to facilitate communication and mediate conflict. Civic journalism can provide the public sphere in which conflict resolution can move from individual rights-based models toward public judgment models, where “the good life” might be realized. For journalists, public conflict resolution models offer a complementary philosophy and practical guides to mediation processes. Together, these transformative models of professional practice have great potential for enriching civil society.
Civic Journalism on the Right Side of the Brain: How Photographers and Graphic Designers Visually Communicate the Principles of Civic Journalism • Renita Coleman, Missouri • As the most hotly debated subject of the decade within the field of journalism, there has been an enormous amount written about civic or public journalism. Yet, the focus of that discussion has invariably left out an entire side of the newsroom – the visual. Nearly all the debate centers around the “verbal” with the “visual” – represented by the work of graphic designers and photographers – excluded from the conversation. This study aims to address this void by giving voice to visual journalists practicing civic journalism.
Public Journalism and Criticism of the Press • Guido Frantzen and William F. Griswold, Georgia • This paper suggests that in order to help revive public discourse and political participation • among the main tenets of civic journalism • the media should engage in thoughtful evaluative criticism of each other and of themselves. Analysis of the content of the Charlotte Observer in 1989, before the newspaper publicly embraced civic journalism, and 1993, after its adoption, finds the amount of media criticism virtually unchanged. The authors argue that these findings suggest an important opportunity is being missed.
Educating For A More Public Journalism: Public Journalism and Its Challenges to Journalism Education • Tanni Haas, Brooklyn College and Christopher J. Schroll, Wayne State • Given the increasing influence of public journalism on the daily routines of newspapers across the United States, students need to be taught how to find a workable balance between consulting and reporting on conventional information sources and consulting and reporting on the perspectives provided by ordinary citizens. In this paper we discuss ways in which one of the most widely celebrated public journalism campaigns, the Akron (Ohio) Beacon Journal’s Pulitzer Prize winning race-relations project “A Question of Color,” can serve as inspiration for actual journalism pedagogy.
A Tale of Two Cities: Do Small-Town Dailies Practice Public Journalism Without Knowing It? • David Loomis, North Carolina-Chapel Hill • Yes, this case study of two small-town North Carolina dailies concludes. But in one case, the variant of public journalism should more accurately be labeled civic journalism, because of an institutionalized and professionalized emphasis on the community’s civic life and a de-emphasis of its public, or political, life. In the case of the other less-vigorous paper, the civic journalism variant is personalized but not institutionalized or professionalized.
The Making and Unmaking of Civic Journalists: Influences of Classroom and Newsroom Socialization • Michael McDevitt, Bob Gassaway, and Frank Perez, New Mexico • This study explores the origins of civic journalism values as a function of professional socialization. Findings are derived from a survey of college students and professional journalists. Results suggest a progression of socialization that begins with students supporting civic journalism. However, in leaving the classroom for the newsroom, the unmaking of civic journalists might occur as journalists develop a stronger sense of autonomy. Findings highlight the need for instruction to encourage a broader conception of autonomy.
Citizen-Based Journalism: A Study of Attitudes toward Audience Interaction in Journalism • John L. Morris, Adams State College • The growth of the Internet, the publicÕs preoccupation with interactivity, social construction of meaning theories and convergence of media raise questions that the traditional mass communications paradigm cannot answer. This paper focuses on the following: l) What are the attitudes of reporters toward audience interaction? 2) What are the attitudes of news consumers toward audience interaction? 3) What are the news values of reporters and news consumers? 4) Are there any significant demographic attributes of reporters and news consumers?
Civic Journalism: One Possible Tool for Building New Democracies and Civil Society • Janice Windborne, Ohio • Some U.S. journalists have embraced public journalism as a tool that can reinforce citizen participation in the democratic process. In many countries where the national media system is in the process of evolution to a more independent, stable, privatized media, media’s participation in the building of civil society and democracy would seem the more important. However, although the principles of public journalism make sense for these societies, certain practical constraints interfere.
Visual Communication 2000 Abstracts
Visual Communication Division
Breach of Confidentiality: When Photographers Do Not Keep Their Promises to News Subjects • Laurence B. Alexander, Florida • This paper examines the issues of legal liability for breaking promises and violating assurances that are made by photojournalists to the subjects they photograph. By presenting and analyzing the case law in this area, the paper synthesizes the most significant bases for recovery for the news photographer’s failure to honor his or her word. It discusses how these photographers can avoid or limit their exposure on the various theories of recovery.
Visual “Super Quotes”: The Effects of Extracted Quotation in News Stories on Issue Perception • Rhonda Gibson, Joe Bob Hester and Shannon Stewart, Texas Tech • In a study designed to measure the persuasive influence of extracted quotations, four versions of a two-sided news story were created. One version contained no extracted quotes, one contained an extracted quote favoring one side of the issue, one contained an extracted quote favoring the other side of the issue, and one contained balanced extracted quotes. After reading the news report, respondents were asked their opinion about the news issue.
Reporting the World to America: Pulitzer Photographs 1942-1999 • Hun Shik Kim, Missouri-Columbia • News photographs of international events serve as a visual medium for Americans to understand the peoples and diverse cultures. However, a content analysis of the Pulitzer Prize photographs between 1942 and 1999 reveals that the major visual themes of prize-winning photographs depicting international news events are predominantly about war, coup, political upheaval whereas the award-winning photographs describing American scenes represent more diverse themes and subjects. As in other news media, the most important news determinants of international news photography are violence and conflict.
Digital Photography and its Impact on Photojournalists’ Job Satisfaction • Janet E. Roehl and Carlos Moreno, Eastern New Mexico • This study explores the relationship between digita1 photography and newspaper photojournalists’ job satisfaction A questionnaire using a multi-dimensional evaluation and general affective questions to gauge job satisfaction levels was employed. Respondents were divided into three categories: non-digital photojournalists, digital photojournalists, and photojournalists who use digital cameras for 80% to 100% of their work. Results indicted that overall satisfaction levels of both groups of digital photojournalists are more satisfied in their jobs than their film-based counterparts.
John-John’s Salute: How a Photographic Icon Influenced Journalistic Construction of Reality • Meg Spratt, Washington • Medium theory research has often focused on electronic media, ignoring the significant role still photography plays in constructing journalistic discourse. In a case study of photographic imagery and breaking news, this study analyzes how journalists used the 1963 iconic image of John F. Kennedy Jr. saluting his father’s coffin in telling the story of “John-John’s” death in 1999. Analysis shows that the photograph was used not just to relay factual information during a breaking news story, but to activate collective memories, construct a story of an American child-hero, and to perpetuate symbols of American social ideals.
The Rock and Roll Hall of fame and the Three-Dimensional Trademark • Jack Zibluk, Arkansas State • In 1996, North Olmstead, Ohio, commercial photographer Charles Gentile shot and distributed a poster of Cleveland’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and the museum sought • and was granted • a preliminary injunction halting the sale of the poster. The museum claimed the image on the poster, an exterior picture of the building framed by a sunset taken from a public place, represented trademark infringement. The following paper traces the development of the case and discusses the implications for a new limit on commercial speech.
Scholastic Journalism 2000 Abstracts
Scholastic Journalism Division
What I Know, What I Think, and How I Feel: High School Journalism Experience, High School G.P.A. and Self-Efficacy as Predictors of Success in Newswriting Courses • Kimberly L. Bissell, Southern Illinois and Steve J. Collins, Texas-Arlington • This study identified variables that predicted achievement among students enrolled in introductory media writing courses at two universities (SIU and UTA). Self-efficacy was significantly correlated with writing ability at SIU and with performance on a grammar pretest at UTA. UTA students who wrote for a high school yearbook performed significantly better on the writing and grammar tests than did their counterparts. High school g.p.a. predicted success on the writing test at UTA and on the grammar test at both schools.
Teaching Interviewing Skills Through Multimedia Modules: A Case Study from an Undergraduate Mass Media Writing Course • Julie E. Dodd, Judy L. Robinson and Judy H. Tipton, Florida • The process of planning, designing, and developing a CD-ROM for teaching in an introductory course in writing for mass communication can be a daunting process. The case study shows the stages involved in planning, designing and developing one module on interviewing for the CD. The needed elements for success involve time, technological resources, funding, and teamwork as illustrated by the case study that chronicles the evolution from conception to development.
Nation’s High School Newspapers: Still Widely Censored • Lillian Lodge Kopenhaver, Florida International University and J. William Click, Winthrop • It has been slightly more than a decade since the 1988 Supreme Court Hazelwood decision which reaffirmed the right of high school principals to censor stories in the student newspaper. That ruling caused advisers, principals and students to reevaluate the operation of those publications. This study investigates press freedom in high school newspapers at the end of the century. The findings paint a clear picture of a high school student press that is not free, that is controlled mostly by advisers, but also by principals, and that views editing of the paper by the faculty adviser as the norm.
Student Publications Experience of Journalism and Mass Communication Educators • Lyle D. Olson, South Dakota State • This paper presents the results of a random e-mail survey of college and university journalism and mass communication educators about their high school and college student publications experience. The study found that 61.5 percent of the educators had high school experience and 72.4 percent had college experience. In addition, 40.9 percent of the respondents decided to pursue journalism and mass communication as a career before or during high school.
Freedom of Expression Laws and the College Press: Lessons Learned from the High Schools • Mark Paxton, Southwest Missouri State • This paper examines two recent attempts to enact state freedom of expression laws for public college and university students and discusses the prospects for such laws in the context of state scholastic freedom of expression laws in six states. Based on research questioning the effectiveness of those state scholastic freedom of expression laws, it appears to be unlikely that similar laws protecting the First Amendment rights of college students will be as effective as proponents might expect.
Twenty-Five Years of the Fuzzy Factor: Fuzzy Logic, the Courts, and Student Press Law • Bruce L. Plopper and Lauralee McCool, Arkansas-Little Rock • This study applies the science of fuzzy logic, a fairly modern development in mathematical set theory, to court opinions concerning non-university, public school student publications, from 1975-1999. It examines case outcomes as a function of fuzzy logic, and it evaluates interactions between fuzzy logic and the following factors: court level materials involved, administrative action taken, and chronology of decision. Findings show that in general, courts using fuzzy logic favor administrators, while courts avoiding fuzzy logic favor students.
Radio-TV Journalism 2000 Abstracts
Radio-TV Journalism Division
Local Television News and Viewer Empowerment: Why the Public’s Main Source of News Falls Short • Denise Barkis-Richter, Palo Alto College • A content analysis of local television news revealed that only one out of four stories contained empowering information. Through participant observation at a local television news station and in-depth interviews with local television newsworkers, three principal reasons emerged why empowering information was excluded: l) the absence of the station’s commitment to provide empowering information; 2) newsworkers’ lack of enterprise; and 3) the newsworkers’ perception of viewers and what their viewers want.
A Tale of Two Cities: How National Network Television Framed Hate Crimes in Jasper, Texas, and Laramie, Wyoming • Larry Elliott, L. Paul Husselbee, O’Brien Stanley and Mary Alice Baker, Lamar University • Sensational hate crimes in the small cities of Jasper, Texas and Laramie, Wyoming, drew the blinding spotlight of network television in 1998. Television journalists “framed” national images of Jasper and Laramie after an African-American was dragged to death behind a pickup truck in Texas and a homosexual man was beaten, tied to a fence and left to die in Wyoming. Despite residents’ fears that they would be tarred by the national media, the most dominant network television “frame” was favorableÑan emphasis on healing after the crimes.
Learning Ethics: On the Job or In the Classroom? • Gary Hanson, Kent State • Training in ethics is an important component of journalism education. Students are taught to think critically when confronted with ethical dilemmas and to follow an accepted set of professional journalism standards. This preliminary study suggests there are significant differences in the way television news directors and students in journalism classes view ethics instruction and in the possible topics that may raise ethical questions once a student enters the journalism workforce.
Constructing Class & Race in Local TV News • Don Heider, Texas at Austin and Koji Fuse, Pittsburg State • Using participant observation and content analysis, the researchers looked at one local television newsroom to examine what role class and race played in news decision making. Because of journalists’ own position, inhabiting positions in the middle- and upper-middle classes, and because of phenomena such as targeted story selection and story avoidance, the authors’ found that news coverage of the poor specifically and of the lower classes in general was significantly lacking.
Going Digital: An Exploratory Study of Nonlinear Editing Technology in Southeastern Television Newsrooms • Seok Kang, George L. Daniels, Tanya Auguston and Alyson Belatti, Georgia • The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has mandated that all broadcasters convert to a digital standard by 2006. This exploratory study of a stratified sample of large, medium and small market television newsrooms in the southeastern U.S. examined the progress toward converting to nonlinear editing. The findings show conventional wisdom may not apply to the way stations are making the shift to the digital standard. Instead, cost is probably a bigger indicator who will be the “innovators” and “laggards” in going digital.
Symbolic Racism in Television News • David Kurpius, Louisiana State • This research project examines the construction of symbolic racism in television news. Symbolic racism in television news is the combination of two non-racist elements that creates a negative racial stereotype. The researcher assumes these creations are unintended, but still extremely damaging. The purpose of this study is to see if symbolic racism exists in local television news and whether minority hiring and a formal race policy including dialogue about race helps diminish symbolic racist constructions.
Deregulation and Commercial Radio Network News: A Qualitative Analysis • Richard Landesberg, North Carolina-Chapel Hill • The once vibrant and vital business of commercial radio network news is now a declining industry controlled by just two companies. Yet, radio remains a main source of information for many Americans. This study analyzes the consolidation and decline in commercial radio network news and the role of regulation in that decline. It approaches the subject using qualitative methodology to explore the views of network news radio professionals, both journalists and managers.
Stealing the Show: How Individual Issues Dominate the Nightly Network News • Brad Love, Florida • As major stories develop, the media often overwhelm the audience with coverage. Certain issues can dominate and force other stories out of sight all together. This paper examines nightly network newscasts to see exactly what topics lose air time when a non-routine story takes over, as well as looking at the common contention that all three networks cover the same issues in the same proportions.
For the Ear to Hear: Conversational Writing on the Network Television News Magazines • C.A. Tuggle, Suzanne Huffman and Dana Rosengard, North Carolina-Chapel Hill • This study examines the level of adherence to conversational writing style and the rules of grammar by correspondents and producers for network television news magazines on the three primary over-the-air networks. The researchers document differences between networks, but point out that writers for all shows in the sample could do a better job of writing short sentences, using common words, and following the rules of grammar. The researchers employ the Flesch readability scale and devised a second scale to measure additional elements of conversational writing.
Synergy Bias: Conglomerates and News Content • Dmitri Williams, Michigan • The “church-state” division between the editorial and business departments of a news organization is threatened by corporations who promote cooperation between and among divisions (“synergy”). A content analysis tested the hypotheses that the influence of parent companies on news content produces an increase in the quantity and quality of company related materials mentioned on the news. The results showed that such biases did occur, but not evenly and more often in the vertically integrated corporations.
Public Relations 2000 Abstracts
Public Relations Division
Research
“Check Out Our Web Site at … “ The Public Relations Content Characteristics of Fortune 500 Companies • Debashis (Deb) Aikat, North Carolina-Chapel Hill • This study content analyzed 264 randomly selected Web sites from the 1999 Fortune 500 list of companies to identify eight public relations content characteristics of Fortune 500 companies. They are: (a) effective promotion with widespread reach at low cost, (b) reliable product information and customer support round-the-clock, (c) graphically rich content with significant shift from text to visuals, (d) failure to project corporate identity on the Web, (e) little interactivity, few features for information exchange, evaluation and feedback.
Making Health Communications Meaningful for Women: Factors that Influence Involvement and the Situational Theory of Publics • Linda Aldoory, Maryland • Focus groups and interviews were held with women from various ethnic, class, education and sexual backgrounds to explore antecedent factors that may characterize involvement, a key variable in the situational theory of publics. Findings revealed that a consciousness of everyday life, media source credibility, self-identity, a consciousness of personal health, and cognitive analyses of message content influenced involvement with health messages. Public relations practitioners can use findings to better tailor health messages to specific needs and lifestyles of different women.
Using Grunig’s PR Models to Evaluate Strategic Philanthropy: An Exploratory Study • Joel Andren, Washington State • An investigation of strategic philanthropy campaigns and their evaluation yielded insight into the perceived public relations value of philanthropy. In a survey of philanthropy programs in a Northwest city, it was found that corporations are more likely to operate their philanthropy efforts based on a one-way, rather than two-way, model. If public relations departments were involved more in the selection, implementation, and evaluation of philanthropy campaigns, they could quantify the value of such philanthropic efforts.
Private Issues and Public Policy: Locating the Corporate Agenda in Agenda-Setting Theory • Bruce K. Berger, Alabama • This research examines attempts by The Business Roundtable (BRT) to influence policy agendas regarding four private issues, i.e., policy issues not salient on media and public agendas. BRT’s information subsidies are studied, along with media coverage, public opinion, and policy agenda developments. Results suggest BRT uses information subsidies to control the scope of issue conflict, and these subsidies influenced the policy agenda for study issues. Corporate influence on private issues alters the traditional agenda-setting process, and an alternative, elitist model is proposed.
Do PRT Practitioners Have a PR Problem?: The Effect of Associating a Source with Public Relations and Client-Negative News on Audience Perception of Credibility • Coy Callison, Alabama • Through a 2 X 2 factorial experiment (N=141), information source type (PR Spokesperson or Generic Spokesperson) and message topic (Client-Neukal and Client-Negative) were varied to determine how both affect audience perception of source credibility. Results suggest public relations and the organizations they represent are perceived as less credible than unidentified sources and their employers. Also, sources and their sponsors communicating organization negative news are perceived as less credible than those communicating client-neutral information.
Talk the Talk, Walk the Walk: Advancing Measurement in Public Relations • Yuhmiin Chang, Fritz Cropp and Glen T. Cameron, Missouri • Lindenmann found that public relations research is talked about much more than it is done. To help assess why this might be hold true, we track the steps in an extensive evaluation of a public relations campaign. Following Grunig’s exemplification of the use of focus group research in public relations (1992), this case study offers a guide to the use of a quasi-experimental design with control group for evaluating public relations efforts.
Examining Factors that Influence Pharmacists’ Willingness to Participate in a National Health Campaign • Cynthia-Lou Coleman-Sillars, Georgia • A national study of pharmacists asked whether they would feel equipped to participate in a health campaign aimed at reducing antimicrobial resistance. While most pharmacists agreed that their role in educating patients is important, several barriers to communication were noted. The volume of prescriptions filled, constraints of time, worry over relationships with physicians and unfamiliarity with judicious antibiotic use were some of the barriers.
A National Survey of Public Relations Internship Programs at Mass Communication Programs Accredited by the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (ACEJMC) • Janice Davis and Mary-Lou Galician, Arizona State • To compile a national profile of public relations internship programs • thereby filling a research gap, the researchers conducted a national mail survey of all 108 ACEJMC-accredited colleges and universities in the United States in February and March, 2000. To-date (3/22/00), the response rate was 54%, with additional returns expected before the 4/1/00 cut-off. In addition to statistical summaries and survey verbatims, exemplary collateral materials provided by respondents will be available for examination at this session.
Viva la Vacation: An Examination of Personal Values, Information Sources, and Pleasure Travel • Lisa T. Fall, Michigan State • Public relations researchers continually strive to advance methods for predicting consumer behavior as related to successful message consumption. Of noted importance is the increased worth consumers are placing on “individualism.” The overarching question, “What • personally • is in it for me?” must be answered every time an organization develops a message for its intended audiences. One successful way to personalize the message is by tapping into a consumer’s core values system.
“Integrated Relationship Management” as a Reforming Paradigm of Thai Corporations during the Post-Crisis: The Case Study and the [Re]construction of Social Values • Peeraya (Pepe) Hanpongp and, Iowa • In order to cope with the problems related to globalization, this paper advocates an integration of integrated marketing communications (IMC) and relationship management (RM). For that purpose, the notion of integrated relationship management (IRM) is developed in this paper. In this paper, the case of the Lemon Farm Cooperative, a corporation of Thailand is explored to show how the notion of global/local relationship was played out in the Thai culture and how a Thai value-based approach to relationship building has cultivated the concept of IRM as proposed in this paper.
Advertising and the News: Does Advertising Campaign Information in News Stories Improve the Memory of Subsequent Advertisement • Hyun Seung Jin, North Carolina-Chapel Hill • The purpose of this study is to examine whether previous exposure to advertising campaign information presented in news stories (publicity) boosts the audience’s memory for the subsequent advertisements. In the experiment, subjects in the experimental group were exposed to a print version of newspaper article about the Super Bowl ads on Friday before the Sunday night Super Bowl game, whereas subjects in the control group read a news article with no mention of the Super Bowl ads.
Ego-Involvement and Practitioners’ Attitudes Toward Integrated Marketing Communication • Amanda Jones and Amy Sanders, Truman State • This survey of Public Relations Society of America practitioners uses the Ordered Alternatives Questionnaire to analyze practitioners’ attitudes toward integrated marketing communication and the impact of professional ego-involvement on those attitudes. Results indicated communication professionals strongly support the integrated marketing communication concept, but differ as to the appropriate degree of integration. Those who identified with the public relations profession were more likely to prefer maintaining distinctions among the various communication professions.
Public Relations Roles and Media Choice • Tom Kelleher, Hawaii at Manoa • A national survey of PRSA members (n = 267) was conducted to examine the relationship between public relations roles and media choice based on the integration of PR theory and media richness theory. Respondents were identified as either PR managers or technicians using confirmatory factor analysis, corroborating previous research. Managers reported spending more time in oral communication than technicians, while technicians spend more time using written communication. E-mail use in PR and related communities is also discussed.
An Exploration of Integration of the Public Relations Function in International Business Operations • Juan Carlos Molleda, South Carolina • The paper introduces three cases that describe the types of coordination (formalization, centralization, and socialization) and communication tools (e.g., annual report, corporate intranet, and web sites) used by the public relations function in international businesses to achieve normative integration. That is, global efficiency, worldwide learning, and national responsiveness through enhancing interdependence and inter-unit communication. The cases are put into context by summarizing relevant literature from international management. Recommendations for theory building and research are provided.
Determining Message Objectives: An Analysis of Public Relations Strategy Use in Press Releases • Kelly Garnette Page, Florida • This study attempts to identify public relations strategies used in the press releases distributed by organizations. A content analysis of 100 press releases randomly selected from the PRNewswire web site was performed. Results indicate that the taxonomy of public relations strategies proposed by Hazleton (1992) is a valid conceptualization of public relations strategy use in organizations and that these strategies can be identified in the press releases distributed by organizations.
Mythic Battles: Examining the Lawyer-Public Relations Counselor Dynamic • Bryan H. Reber and Glenn T. Cameron, Missouri-Columbia • Long considered adversarial, relationships between public relations practitioners and lawyers were analyzed via Q methodology and depth interviews. Subjective attitudes were measured regarding strategies in dealing with publics in times of organizational crisis and how the subjects viewed their professional counterparts. Analysis employed concepts central to coorientation theory. Lawyers more accurately projected the PR response than vice versa. Relationships seem to be all-important. And, the proverbial law/PR conflict may have taken on nearly mythic proportions.
Comparative Approaches to Segmenting Publics in Agricultural Information Campaigns • Robin Shepard and Garrett ‘ÕKeefe, Wisconsin • Governmental agencies, educational institutions, not-for-profit environmental interest groups, and corporations regularly conduct public information campaigns aimed at promoting their own special interests and needs with respect to the natural environment. In this analysis we will compare approaches to segmenting and targeting agricultural producers • for informational campaigns. Results suggests that informational campaigns based on single medium delivery will not be effective at changing behavior in the studied watershed.
Employee Communications and Community: An Exploratory Study • Andi Stein, Oregon • This paper explores the relationship between employee communications and the process of community building within an organization. Using a survey approach, the paper focuses on PeaceHealth, a healthcare system in the Pacific Northwest with locations in six different regions in three different states. The paper evaluates PeaceHealth employees’ perceptions of the effectiveness of various communication tools in helping to establish a sense of community at three different levels of the organization • departmental, regional, and organizational.
Loyalty in Public Relations: When Is It Raw Material for Virtue and when is it Raw Material for Some Vices? • Kevin Stoker, Brigham Young and Curtis Carter, Georgia Pacific Corporation • This paper addresses the practical and moral ramifications of organizational deterioration on public relations professionals. First, the concepts of exit and voice and their relationship to public relations practice will be explained. Next, the paper will consider loyalty, its definition, its limits, and its effect on public relations practice. The paper will then delineate between loyalty as a raw material for virtue or vice before proposing a model to guide public relations practice.
Use of World Wide Web Sites Marketing and Promotions Tools: A Pilot Study of University Journalism/Mass Communication Programs in Texas • Thirty-one Texas college and university journalism/ mass communication World Wide Web sites were analyzed, and faculty/ administrator interviews were conducted to address five research questions about the use of Web sites as marketing and promotions tools. Sites were scored for visual, operational, and informational enhancements. Site administrators discussed site launch, design, maintenance, management and future trends issues. Sizeable differences were found in levels of site visual, operational, and informational enhancement.
Teaching
Preparing Public Relations and Advertising Students for the 21st Century: A Case Study • Robert Carroll, Southern Indiana • In 1993, the Task Force on Integrated Communications reported that public relations and advertising students would better be prepared to enter a changing communications industry through an “integrated” curriculum. This paper is a case study of how one university has attempted to meet that challenge. The work has resulted in the development of an “Integrated Marketing Communications” class for advertising, public relations, and marketing seniors.
The Internet and Public Relations Curricula: Fitting “a jet engine to a horse-drawn carriage” • Karla Gower and Jung-Yul Cho, Alabama • The Internet is changing the way business does business. It is also changing public relations, opening new opportunities for the field. This study presents the findings from an email survey of public relations agencies that attempted to determine how agencies are using the Internet for public relations and what skills they consider important. The purpose of the survey was to discovery how public relations educators could best prepare graduates for the demands of the profession.
Using Private Consulting as a Teaching Tool • Candace White, Tennessee • This paper explains how private consulting was used to provide on-going instruction and examples of public relations strategies and tactics in a public relations writing course. Students were able to see immediate, real-time implementation and how problems were addressed in a real life context. A survey of the students showed the teaching method was well received, increased understanding and knowledge of how public relations tactics are implemented, and proved relevant to the course material.
Newspaper 2000 Abstracts
Newspaper Division
Reliance and Science Knowledge: Do People Learn Science Information from the Media the Same Way they Learn Political Information • Raymond N. Ankney, North Carolina-Chapel Hill • This paper examines how reliance on newspapers and television news affects science knowledge. The newspaper-reliant group averaged 41.1 on the science knowledge test, compared with 38.5 for the television-news reliant group (t = -4.48, df = 346.75, p = .001). Moreover, the higher the respondents’ newspaper use, the higher their science knowledge (Std. beta = .104, p < .001). Gender and education also played important roles in predicting the respondents’ science knowledge.
Online Media Ethics: A Survey of U.S. Daily Newspaper Editors • M. David Arant, Memphis and Janna Quitney Anderson, Elon College • In this paper, 203 online editors at U.S. daily newspapers report their practices, problems and ethics in doing online journalism. All but four percent are publishing news online at least daily, with nearly a third updating more than once a day. Among their concerns about publishing online are the immediacy of Web publication, corrections procedures, linking to other sites, monitoring reader chat rooms and online news staff size.
Influences on a Daily Newspaper’s Market Orientation • Randal A. Beam, Indiana • A national study involving 183 daily newspapers found that organizational goals and ownership characteristics were the most significant influences on the degree to which a newspaper newsroom was “market oriented” or “market driven.” Newspapers that emphasized high profitability or that emphasized editorial excellence tended to have a strong market orientation, as did newspapers that belonged to large groups or that were part of a privately owned company.
Internet Use and Media Preferences of College Students • Bonnie Bressers and Lori Bergen, Kansas State • A survey of 400 at a midwest university shows students are frequent readers of their campus newspaper, but are unlikely to access any online newspaper. Students are likely to use the Internet for e-mail, information searches or reference and research materials, and spend an average of 92 minutes per day online. They seek information and use the Internet as replacement for the library, postal service and telephone. Recommendations for online newspapers include enhancing their local franchise online, bringing greater interactivity to their editorial and advertising content, and providing seamless access to their archives.
How Yellow Journalism Lives On: An Analysis of Newspaper Content Across 100 Years • W. Joseph Campbell, American University • Woven subtly into the literature of American journalism history is a thread that maintains that yellow journalism lives on, that defining features of the nineteenth century genre endure through widespread adoption and adaptation. The literature, however, reveals no systematic attempt to test such claims. This paper discusses such a study, a systematic content analysis of the front pages of seven leading U.S. newspapers, examined at ten-year intervals from 1899 to 1999.
Computer-Assisted Reporting in Michigan Daily Newspapers: More than a Decade of Adoption • Lucida D. Davenport, Fred Fico and Mary Detwiler, Michigan State • This study is a follow-up to previous studies, conducted in 1986 and 1994, and surveys all Michigan daily newspapers on their adoption and use of seven different computerized information sources. It also acts as a part of a longitudinal study on the adoption rate of computer-assisted reporting. Particularly important findings are that 47 of the 48 state dailies now use one or more computerized sources to obtain information for news stories.
Journalism Education: Weathering the Storm • Tom Dickson, Southwest Missouri State • The author surveyed members of the Newspaper Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication and a random sample of daily newspaper editors to determine whether they agreed about the emphases and practices of college journalism programs and the types of knowledge and skills that were important for beginning newspaper journalists at the end of the 20th century.
Setting the News story Agenda: candidates and commentators in News coverage of a Governor’s Race • Frederick Fico and Eric Freedman, Michigan State • In coverage of the 1998 Michigan gubernatorial campaign, candidates and their supporters dominated coverage in the state’s nine largest dailies more than did “horse race” experts and issue experts who might have competed with those partisans to define the election. However, to a significant degree, reporters’ subjective leads competed with the candidates for such election-defining power.
Small Town Murder, Big Time Headlines: The Jasper Newsboy and the Texas Dragging Death • Barbara Friedman, Missouri • Jasper, Texas, became the focus of worldwide attention in June 1998, when a black man was dragged to his death behind a truck driven by three white men. Reporters, from as far away as Tokyo and Germany, called it a modern-day lynching and Jasper “more Deep South than Lone Star.” This study is the first to examine the role of the local newspaper, The Jasper Newsboy. Using textual analysis and personal interviews, this project considers editors’ perceived responsibilities to the community and how that was manifested in newspaper content.
Leadership, Values and Cultural Change: A Three-Year Case Study of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch • Peter Gade and Earnest L. Perry, Oklahoma • When Cole C. Campbell was introduced as the editor of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in August 1996 it signaled a change in direction for a newspaper steeped in the Pulitzer tradition and long considered a member of this country’s “prestige press”. This three-year case study has measured newsroom employees’ perceptions of Campbell and the changes he has brought to the Post-Dispatch. Surveys were administered to employees in the autumns of 1996-98.
Online Information Use in Newsrooms: A Longitudinal Diffusion Study • Bruce Garrison, Miami • This study examined adoption of online information resources in newsrooms at U.S. daily newspapers from 1994 to 1999. Since the general public and news media began to embrace the Internet and World Wide Web in 1994, a process of adoption of this new interactive innovation by newspapers has occurred. The longitudinal survey data reveal that use of interactive information-gathering technologies in newsrooms has reached a critical mass for (a) general computer use, (b) online research in newsrooms, (c) non-specialist content searching, and (d) daily frequency of online use.
Second-Level Agenda-Setting in the New Hampshire Primary: A Comparison of Coverage in Three Newspapers and Public Perceptions of Candidates • Guy Golan and Wayne Wanta, Florida • Second-level agenda-setting was examined during the New Hampshire primary through a comparison of Gallup poll responses and coverage in three newspapers in the region. Results show that John McCain was covered much more positively than George W. Bush. The findings also show that respondents linked four of six cognitive attributes (issues, personal characteristics) to candidates in direct proportion to media coverage. The results show less support for media influence on the affective (positive) attributes individuals linked to candidates.
Diversity Efforts at the Los Angeles Times: Are Journalists and the Community on the Same Page? • Richard Gross, Stephanie Craft and Glen T. Cameron, Missouri and Michael Antecol, Stanord Center for Research in Disease Prevention • Survey data from Los Angeles Times editorial employees and residents of Los Angeles County were gathered to determine respondents’ views of the newspaper’s efforts to increase minority coverage, specifically with regard to the “market-driven” nature of those efforts. How respondents perceive market-driven journalism and the extent to which newsroom and community perceptions of it are similar were specifically addressed. Results suggest that people, whether journalists or readers, neither dismiss nor embrace market-driven journalism outright.
Reader Mindset and Bias: A Closer Look at the People Who Say We Skew the News • Deborah Gump, North Carolina-Chapel Hill • Reader perception of media bias has been found in several studies going back many years. A reader has at least two routes to reach a perception of bias: the actual existence of bias, or a reinforcing predisposition within himself to believe bias exists. This study is a secondary analysis of the raw data in the American Society of Newspaper Editors 1999 survey to consider the second route. Do readers who think daily newspapers are biased have a particular mindset that helps them arrive at that opinion?
Looking Beyond Hate: How National and Regional Newspapers Framed Hate Crimes in Jasper, Texas, and Laramie, Wyoming • L. Paul Husselbee, Larry Elliott, ‘ÕBrien Stanley and Mary Alice Baker, Lamar • Journalists frame issues by choosing to emphasize some issues over others, affecting news consumers’ awareness and perception of public problems and concerns. Journalistic credibility suffers from public perception that reporters do not show respect for the communities they cover and that they chase “sensational” stories because they sell newspapers or grab the attention of viewers. This study analyzes national and regional newspaper coverage of two “sensational” hate crimes to determine how reporters framed the communities of Jasper, Texas, and Laramie, Wyoming, in the wake of two brutal murders.
Talking the Talk: Expressions of Social Responsibility in Public Newspaper Groups • Diana Knott, North Carolina and Ginny Carroll, Northwestern and Philip Meyer, North Carolina • This study examines the ratio of social responsibility and profit-oriented language in publicly owned newspaper groups’ annual report letters to shareholders through the use of content analysis software. In addition, the educational and professional backgrounds of these companies’ CEOs are compared, and the corporate cultures of the companies scoring the highest and lowest on social responsibility language are discussed.
Public Journalism and the Use of Nonelite Sources and Actors • Seow Ting Lee, Missouri • This study focuses on the impact of public journalism as a practice on a paper’s use of nonelite sources and actors. In a content analysis, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, a public journalism paper, is compared to the traditional, non-public journalism Washington Post The findings revealed that contrary to belief, public journalism has a limited impact on nonelite sourcing and the use of ordinary citizens as actors in news. Although more nonelite actors were used than elite actors, the coverage devoted to nonelite actors was dominated by crime victims and criminals • voiceless, passive ordinary citizens.
Web Design and Efficiency of News Retrieval: A Content Analysis of Five U.S. Internet Newspapers • Xigen Li, Louisiana State • A content analysis of five U.S. Internet newspapers found that the newspaper that earned the highest efficiency score provides a high level of immediate access to news information, and a smooth news flow. The findings regarding efficiency of information retrieval of Internet newspapers confirm that news readers are gaining more control in the hypermedia environment as the concern with user-centered efficiency of news retrieval is integrated into the Web design of the Internet newspapers.
When The Shooting Stops: A Comparison Of Local, Regional And National Newspaper Coverage Of 1990s School Shootings • Michael McCluskey, Washington • Newspapers in smaller communities have been shown to focus less on conflict than the press in larger communities, but this research looked primarily at events of local interest. This study examined frames employed by local, regional and national newspapers in coverage of five small-town school shootings in the 1990s, events of broader interest. Results showed the local newspapers focused the least and national newspapers the most on blaming societal ills, especially guns, for the shooting.
A Functional Analysis of New Hampshire Presidential Primary Debates and Accompanying Newspaper Coverage • Bryan Reber, Missouri • Texts from one Republican and one Democratic 2000 presidential primary debate were analyzed using functional theory. Acclaims, attacks, defenses, policy and character issues, and defense strategies were coded. Candidates offered acclaims over attacks during the debates. Policy issues were dominant. Fifty-one newspaper articles about the debates were coded using the same categories Coverage focused on attacks more than acclaims, policy more than character. Newspapers focused on conflict in debates and gave unproportional coverage to pithy statements
Changing Faces: Diversity of Local News Sources in the Los Angeles Times • Shelly Rodgers and Esther Thorson, Missouri • Editors and publishers across the country are attempting fundamental changes in the news process. At the Times, reporters are being asked to seek out more local women and minority sources. Whether this effort has resulted in a greater diversity of local news sources is the topic of the current study. Overall, our findings revealed a disparity between local demographics and the demographics of local news sources among most subgroups examined. In addition, some stereotyping patterns were found, but not always in the way we expected.
Pagination and the Copyeditor: Have Things Changed? • John Russial, Oregon • This study, based on a national random sample of copyeditors and supervisors, reexamines the impact of pagination on copyeditors to see whether conditions found in several earlier studies have changed. Workload, largely the result of the shifting or production tasks into newsrooms, is perceived as higher after pagination, and length of experience with pagination does not appear to diminish the impact. The ambivalence noted in earlier studies was confirmed, but it appears that individuals tend to be either positive or negative about pagination’s impact, not both, as an earlier study suggested.
Information and Interaction: Online Newspaper Coverage of the 2000 Iowa Caucus • Jane B. Singer, Iowa • By the time of the 2000 Iowa caucus, there were an estimated 70 million active Internet users in the United States alone, at least 5,000 Web sites devoted to U.S. politics • and five Iowa newspapers willing to tackle the challenges of providing online coverage of an event that, in a more traditional media world, had always been “their” big story. This exploratory study examines these papers’ efforts to use the attributes of the online medium to go beyond “shovelware.”
Reporting of Public Opinion Polls in American Newspapers: The Case of the 1998 U.S. Senate Race • Young Jun Son and Rasha Kamhawi, Indiana • Published poll results can be misleading if they are not accompanied by methodological information that explains how the results were obtained. This study investigates whether metropolitan daily newspapers provide their readers with sufficient information to evaluate poll stories. Using the guidelines of the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) for reporting surveys and polls, a content analysis was conducted. The amount of information disclosed is still far from accurate. National newspapers did worse than state newspapers.
Kincaid v. Gibson: Turning Back a Page to Harsher Times for the Collegiate Press? • Sigman L. Splichal and Lynn D. Carrillo, Miami • For more than 30 years, since Dickey v. Alabama State Board of Education, courts have afforded journalists at state colleges and universities broad First Amendment rights. Collegiate editors enjoyed virtually unfettered freedoms so long as they did not materially disrupt their institutions. In 1999, the 6th Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals upheld a decision by a federal district court in Kentucky that called into question those rights, applying to college publications legal reasoning previously limited to high school expression.
To Quell The Quarrels • Examining The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Israeli/Palestinian Coverage • Judith Sylvester and J. Denis Wu, Louisiana State • The Philadelphia Inquirer has been receiving criticism from both the Jewish and Palestinian communities concerning the paper’s Mideast coverage. In response, a content analysis was conducted to examine the coverage. Results revealed that the Inquirer provided its audience with a great deal of information about the conflict. This study found that the paper provided a balanced coverage of both political entities. Weakness in coverage rested mainly in heavy reliance on Israeli sources compared with Palestinian sources.
Online Newspapers: Collating Banner Advertising with Editorial Content • David R. Thompson, ON-TRAC Consulting • More and more online newspapers are becoming self-sustaining profit centers. Effective online advertising is one element in the success of online ventures. This paper reports a content analysis of online newspaper practice regarding delivering appropriate advertising messages to an audience by collating editorial content and banner ads. For example, a banner ad for ordering tickets to St. Louis Cardinals games may appear on the same “page” as a sports story about Mark McGwire’s latest home run streak.
Truth, Moral Force, and Public Service: What Newspaper Letters to the Editor and Editorials Said About Journalistic Ethics in 1835 • Brian Thornton, Northern Illinois • This research examines published editorials and letters to the editor at the time of one of the first and most bizarre newspaper frauds in this country – the infamous moon hoax of 1835, perpetuated by the New York Sun and reporter Richard Adams Locke. The purpose is not simply to recount details of this colorful journalistic lie with its quasi-scientific revelations of man-like creatures living on the moon.
Two Topic Teams and how They Grew: Education and Public Life at The Virginian-Pilot • Leslie-Jean Thornton, North Carolina-Chapel Hill • It was projected in 1999 that by 2000 forty-two percent of U.S. daily newspapers with circulation above 25,000 would be using teams in their newsroom as part of a management structure that has grown in popularity since the early 1990s. The largest of the few papers to inaugurate teams in 1991 was The Virginian-Pilot. This paper explores the growth of the Pilot’s first two successful topic teams, which cover education and public life.
Daily Newspaper Use of Web Addresses: Longitudinal Analysis of New Content Form • Jean M. Trumbo and Craig W. Trumbo, Wisconsin • This analysis assesses the frequency and characteristics of URLs featured in newspapers. Using a sample from 35 daily newspapers, we show that attention to the Web has grown steadily since 1994, as has the inclusion of URLs in such content. Most URLs are in the .com domain, and almost all are external to the newspaper. Other results examine where in the newspaper Web addresses appear, and look at the rate of dead URLs across time.
Weekly Newspapers and Problems with Attracting Young Journalists: A Survey of South Carolina Newspaper Management and Journalism Students • Jennifer Wood, South Carolina • The problems South Carolina weekly newspaper management was having in attracting and retaining young journalists was this paper’s focus. Through a mail survey with a 65 percent response rate, much was learned about newsroom managers’ attitudes in regards to hiring journalism students and whether hiring and retention was a problem at South Carolina weekly newspapers. Through the journalism students’ survey results, editors were able to get a glimpse of what these students expect from future employers.
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