Visual Communication 2012 Abstracts

The icon of the Egyptian revolution: Using social media in the toppling of a Mideast government • Sadaf Ali, Wayne State University; Shahira Fahmy, University of Arizona • On June 6, 2010, policemen beat 28-year old Khaled Said to death on a public street in Alexandria, Egypt. In less than one week a Facebook page ‘We Are All Khaled Said’ was created. The page became the most popular Facebook entry in Egypt, attracting almost half a million users. It posted images of him smiling juxtaposed with graphic battered pictures of his face. These images made available in social media make the studying of such visuals of interest to both professional and citizen journalists.

Hot Metal, Cold Reality: Photographers’ access to steel mills • Howard Bossen, Eric Freedman, & Julie Mianecki, Michigan State University • Hot Metal, Cold Reality explores how photographers gained access to steel mills and how the type of access gained influenced their image-making. It explains legal and ethical issues associated with gaining access to industrial sites, as well as how the right to publish or exhibit may be restricted even after access is granted. It incorporates extensive face-to-face interviews and uses archival documents and images to illuminate challenges facing photographers of steel and industrial facilities.

Richard as Waking Nightmare: Barthesian Dream, Myth, and Memory in Shakespeare’s Richard III • Brian Carroll, Berry College • This paper applies French semiologist Roland Barthes’s conceptions of sign, symbol, metaphor, and myth to Shakespeare’s Richard III, focusing in particular on the playwright’s use of dreams and dream worlds in the creation of a national memory. The fascination with dreams and dream worlds by Elizabethans, a more than passing interest reflected in the era’s drama, is well documented and extensively researched, and by or from many different disciplinary perspectives.

Images of Injustice: A Visual-Rhetorical Analysis of Inside Job • Anthony Collebrusco, University of Colorado – Boulder • Since media in the United States are increasingly visual, the field of rhetoric must consider images and text when addressing persuasive media. The 2010 documentary film Inside Job argues for political reform in the United States through explicit logical appeals, but also visual symbolism. This paper uses a visual-rhetorical analysis, Barthes’ three message analytical tool, to deconstruct three different sequences in the film and explicate the anti-inequality messages within them.

Seeing the world through a different lens: Examining visual gatekeeping via East African photojournalists’ experiences with news organizations • Steve Collins, University of Central Florida; Kimberly Bissell, Gyro Newman, University of Alabama • The present study used in-depth interviews with four Western photographers working in East Africa to examine visual gatekeeping in the context of new media and in the context of news flow outside of the United States. Using gatekeeping and media sociology theories to guide the study framework, four photographers were interviewed to discuss their views on the way news content is produced and distributed from the East African countries of Uganda and Kenya.

A story of a somber remembrance: Visual framing and iconicity in the 10-year commemorative coverage of 9/11 • Nicole Dahmen & Britt Christensen, Louisiana State University • The goal of this study is to understand how the news media—specifically newspapers—visually told the story of 9/11 ten years later, and in doing so, how they visually “framed” our collective remembrance of that significant day. In addition, this study considers the tenants of iconicity in studying news photographs. Through analysis of 170 photographs, researchers found that visual frames of the physical site of the attack and the people affected dominated coverage.

She Poses, He Performs: A Visual Content Analysis of Male and Female Professional Athlete Facebook Profile Photos • Betsy Emmons, Samford University & Richard Mocarski, University of Alabama • Using branding theory and a content analysis of the visual components of male and female professional athlete Facebook profile photos, this study suggests that hegemonic gender portrayals persist in visual representations of athletes. Female athletes were more likely to pose for the photos and smile while male athletes were more likely to look away from the camera and be in motion. Athletes most often were visually represented in their uniforms, while sexualized visual portrayals of athletes of either gender were not affirmed in this study.

Picture This: Employing Social Proof To Identify Media Bias • Michael Friedman, Michigan State University • The research presented in this study will compare photographic news coverage on Twitter of the Occupy Wall Street Protests from two competing New York City tabloid newspapers on opposite sides of the political spectrum, the New York Post (conservative) and New York Daily News (liberal). The study applies the principles of social proof to determine if photographic coverage of the protest by both tabloids can be used to show support or rejection of the movement.

A tale of two icons: Photographic representations of reconciliation In Peru and Guatemala • Robin Hoecker, Northwestern University • This paper examines the photographic icons used by the Peruvian and Guatemalan Truth and Reconciliation Commissions. By examining the symbolic elements embedded in the photographs and the conditions in which they were produced, this project explores how the images could be understood to represent the commissions’ different approaches towards reconciliation. Of special interest are how the images address the concepts of “truth” and “justice.”

Picturing the World • Hwalbin Kim & Soo Yun Kim, University of South Carolina • Through a quantitative content analysis, this study examines how the international news photographs are presented in three major U.S. newspapers – The New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times – from 1984 to 2005. With time, the whole amount of international news photographs considerably increased. The study found that three major U.S. newspapers conveyed world images as an unbalanced way in showing regions and topics.

Adopting Situational Ethics in Photojournalism • Yung Soo Kim, University of Kentucky • Photojournalists frequently face serious ethical dilemmas in choosing between acting as dispassionate observers and “Good Samaritans” while documenting human tragedy. Using an online experimental design with multiple stimuli, five situational characteristics were tested. Results showed that ordinary citizens (N=100) generally adopted a situational ethics rationale rather than insisting on an absolutist or utilitarian rationale. It is clear that certain, if not all, distinguishable situational characteristics are indeed important in assessing photojournalistic behavior.

The iconic Situation Room image and its appropriations: A study of Internet memes and their rhetorical messages • Natalia Mielczarek, University of Iowa • A day after the Osama bin Laden mission in May, 2011, the White House released the now iconic Situation Room image, which became an Internet meme. This study set out to find out why people appropriated the icon, what rhetorical messages they wanted to convey and how social media helped in the meme replication process. The central finding was that some of the intended rhetorical messages of selected memes were not always communicated. The study relied on three qualitative methods, including interviews with meme producers, to answer posed research questions.

How the Visual Fits into the Framing Process • Sarah Merritt, American University • As visual communication as a discipline is new, this literature review serves as a comprehensive review of visual framing literature in order to develop and combine visual framing concepts and theoretical approaches into a more unified paradigm. Within the fractured paradigm of framing theory itself, visual framing is distinguished apart from conventional framing through a concept explication in this paper. Visual framing is then positioned back in the appropriate location in the framing process.

Storytelling with Interactive Graphics: An Analysis of Editors’ Attitudes and Practices • Jennifer Palilonis & Mary Spillman, Ball State University • Are interactive graphics an important storytelling tool? Are they cost effective in this digital age? This study finds that while editors value interactive graphics, few newspapers devote prime website real estate to graphics, making it difficult to assess their worth. The authors also use the results of a national survey, a content analysis and personal interviews to determine the frequency with which graphics are produced and to identify the barriers to their production.

A Poker Face: Rhetorical Analysis of Prototypical Images of Luxury Brand Advertising • E. Soo Rhee, University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire & Wan Seop Jung • By analyzing advertising visuals in visual rhetorical perspective, this study aimed to reveal how luxury brands advertising creates aspirations and fantasies for purchasing these luxury brands. Commonalities found from analyzing the luxury brand ads in visual rhetoric perspective were that ads were either highlighting its brand image or the users’ image. Ads either arrange the product or the user in the center of the ads with ample blank spaces, or position in the middle of disorder.

The Influence of Mood and Symbolic Value on the Evaluation of Destination Logos • Sela Sar, Lulu Rodriguez, Suman Lee, & Supathida Kulpavaropas, Iowa State University • This study examines the effects of mood and symbolic value on the evaluation of destination logos. It hypothesized that mood differences activate either holistic or analytic cognitive processing styles that, in turn, influence country logo evaluations. The results show that people in a positive mood engaged in holistic elaboration and consequently evaluated country logos more favorably than those in a negative mood. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Visual Exploration of Environmental Issues • Michelle Seelig, University of Miami • Though controversy regarding the scientific data continues, the focus of this research pertains to the overwhelming visual proof of global warming. Many photographers have taken to visually document environmental concerns to raise public awareness of environmental issues concerning endangered cultures, threatened environments, global warming, and other social issues relevant to conserving and protecting our natural resources.

The Visual Representation of Campaign Communication: Candidate Images in Partisan Blogs • Shuo Tang, Indiana University • Through a framing analysis of 546 candidate images published on 10 partisan blogs during the early stage of the 2012 presidential campaign, the present study discussed how partisan bloggers visually framing the presidential candidates. The results suggested that partisan blogs did not represent their preference fully by framing image structures or showing certain candidate traits. They did, however, illustrated certain facial displays of candidates to show which party they supported and which they disapproved of.

Framing the Bureau: Legitimacy and the Public Relations Photographs of Hoover’s FBI • Jennifer Tiernan & Matthew Cecil, South Dakota State University • This study asserts that the public relations photographs created by the FBI were selected specifically to communicate legitimizing themes of science and responsibility along with the steady leadership of Director J. Edgar Hoover. Those themes, evident throughout the body of photographs reviewed for this study were public relations messages intended to portray the FBI as a dispassionate, useful and careful agency, publicly countering critics who frequently charged the Bureau was too powerful, an “American Gestapo.”

Multimedia Use on News Websites: A Look at Photo Slideshows and Videos Through the Uses and Gratifications Theory • Jin Yang, Rachelle Pavelko, & Sandy Utt, University of Memphis • Undergraduate students were surveyed about their motivations to view photo slideshows and videos and to identify which variables might predict the use of them. Employing the uses and gratifications theory, salient motivations identified were the multimedia elements’ “realistic content” features and the “physical” and “mental relaxation” functions. Demographic variables didn’t predict multimedia use, but the frequency of visits to news websites and perception of innovativeness had the greatest impact on predicting use.

Does Negativity Prevail? A Content Analysis of Award-Winning News Photos • Carolyn Yaschur, University of Texas – Austin • Photojournalists understand the impact of emotion in their images, in particular negative emotion. Adding to the evidence of a negativity bias, a content analysis of winning photos from the Pictures of the Year International contest revealed winners were more likely to depict negativity. Adults and international subjects exhibited more negative emotions than youth or those in the United States. Visual stereotyping was also found with regard to age and international subjects.

<< 2012 Abstracts

Public Relations 2012 Abstracts

Open Papers

Trust me, trust me not: An experimental analysis of the effect of transparency on trust and behavioral intentions in organizations • Giselle A. Auger, Duquesne University • Since the early 1990s calls for increased transparency have risen in all sectors of society. Seen as a solution to lapses of organizational ethics and misdeeds, transparency can help to restore trust, curtail employee dissatisfaction, and diminish reputational risk or damage (Bandsuch et al., 2008; Rawlins, 2009).  Research has identified transparency as a two part construct highlighting either an organization’s reputation for transparency or its efforts to communicate transparently (Auger, 2010; Rawlins, 2009).

Political Public Relations and the Promotion of Participatory, Transparent Government through Social Media • Elizabeth Avery, & Melissa Graham, University of Tennessee • Using data collected from over 450 local government officials from municipalities across the United States, this study examines the impact that various community features have on local government social media use.  It specifically addresses citizen expectations and how social media are being used as a public relations function to promote participatory and transparent government.  Results indicated that citizen expectations and perceived social media effectiveness by government officials was a strong predictor of social media use.

Empowered & Engaged: A Phenomenological Study Exploring Social Media Best Practices for Nonprofit Organizations • Tessa Breneman, Alexis Abel, & Frauke Hachtmann, University of Nebraska-Lincoln • Although nonprofits see value and potential in social media, many have not yet mastered social media and harnessed its full potential. This phenomenological study sought to discover what the best social media strategies and tactics are for effectively engaging existing and potential donors, volunteers, and stakeholders, according to social media nonprofit professionals. Six themes emerged, including the following: listen to know and understand your audience; and focus on engagement and not fundraising.

Defining And Measuring Organization-Public Dialogue • Heewon Cha, Ewah Womans University, Sung-Un Yang, Indiana University at Bloomington; Minjeong Kang, Ball State University • The purpose of this research was to define and measure the quality of dialogue between an organization and its publics. Reviewing the literature from multiple disciplines, the researchers identified mutuality and openness in explicating dialogue in the context of organization-public relationships. To develop the scale of organization-public dialogue, this study used multiple methods, including in-depth interviews with experts, professional audit, and a survey. This research found the proposed two-factor model had tenable measurement reliability.

Speaking Out:  An Exploratory Analysis of Public Relations Professionals  And their Willingness to Self-Censor • Vincent Filak, University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh & Melissa Dodd, University of Miami • Research using the Willingness to Self-Censor (WTSC) scale has shown the desire to withhold one’s opinion is an internal, as opposed to situational trait. This exploratory examination of public relations practitioners and educators (n=121) revealed that participants who scored higher on the WTSC scale were less likely to express their opinions on managing a crisis in a direct environment. These findings held even when controlling for key demographic variables and varying the opinion climate from hostile to friendly.

Navigating Anger in Happy Valley: Using Facebook for crisis response and image repair in the wake of the Sandusky scandal • Melanie Formentin, Denise Bortree, Julia Daisy Fraustino, Pennsylvania State University • Social media are important channels of communication during a crisis. This study examined the use of Facebook as a crisis management tool for Penn State University during the first month of the Sandusky scandal. A content analysis of all 129 posts made by the university during that time period and 2060 comments to the posts suggested that audience reaction to crisis information varies based on crisis response strategy, sources cited, and topics shared.

What Do Blog Readers Think? A Survey to Assess Ghost Blogging and Commenting • Tiffany Gallicano, Yoon Cho, & Thomas Bivins, University of Oregon • In a survey of practitioners, most respondents expressed approval of ghost blogging, provided that the stated author provides the content ideas and gives content approval (Doe, 2012). To investigate the ethics of ghost blogging and ghost commenting and the permissibility of these practices from readers’ perspectives, we conducted surveys with three groups. The groups included 507 readers of corporate blogs, 510 readers of politicians’ blogs, and 501 readers of nonprofit blogs.

Exploring Complex Organizational Communities: Identity as Emergent Perceptions, Boundaries, and Relationships • Dawn Gilpin, & Nina Miller, Arizona State University • Increasing numbers of scholars have been approaching organizations as complex systems. The present study extends this framework to view some organizations as complex communities, or multilevel aggregations of members with a relatively stable core and fluid boundaries, emergent through interactions between individuals, groups, and organizations.

Whistleblowing in public relations: Ethical dilemma or role responsibility • Cary Greenwood, Middle Tennessee State University • This paper responds to the call for a research agenda to address whistleblowing in public relations. Using resource dependence perspective, public relations role theory, and relationship management theory, this study surveys public relations executives in the Fortune 1000 corporations to identify their knowledge of wrongdoing, their reporting of wrongdoing, and their relationships with their employers.

On Publicity: Ivy Lee’s 1924 Address to the American Association of Teachers of Journalism • Kirk Hallahan, and Stephen Cory Robinson, Colorado State University • The presentation at one of AEJMC’s earliest conventions was a historically important event where the pioneer public relations practitioner articulated most fully his views about publicity. Lee’s remarks and the lively Q&A that followed were AEJMC’s first major discussion of public relations. This review examines Lee’s views about the nature of publicity; objectivity, facticity and disclosure; publicity versus advertising; the market-driven nature of news; the deluge of publicity materials and editors’ responsibilities; and publicists’ professional ethics.

Company executive vs. customer testimonial:  Examining credibility of quoted spokespersons in business-to-business communication • Pauline Howes, Kennesaw State University, & Lynne Sallot, University of Georgia • Through the framework of source credibility, this study examines the impact of quoting a company executive versus a customer testimonial in a business communication context.  A 2 x 7 full factorial experiment (N= 514) showed partial support for enhanced perceived credibility of information conveyed by a customer testimonial compared to a company spokesperson in independent and controlled media formats online.

Analyzing the Relationships among Website Interactivity and Organization Impression, Trust and Purchase intention for a Product Recall Crisis • Jooyun Hwang & Spiro Kiousis, University of Florida • Though there has been an array of research on crisis communication, relatively little attention has been paid to the attitudinal and behavioral consequences of public perceptions of web site interactivity as a communication channel during a crisis. In order to fill the gap in scholarship, this study examined the effect of different levels of web site interactivity to address a crisis response on respondents’ organization impression, trust, and purchase intention.

Examining the Relationship between International Public Relations Efforts, Media Coverage, Country Reputation and Performance using Agenda Building & Agenda Setting • Rajul Jain & Lawrence Winner, University of Florida • Using first and second level agenda building and agenda setting as the theoretical framework, this study examines the bottom-line impact of public relations efforts by operationalizing and quantifying the relationship between international public relations efforts, U.S. news media coverage of countries, country reputation, and indicators of economic performance. The study analyzed public relations messages and media coverage of the top 30 countries ranked by Anholt’s Nations Brands Index in 2009.

Enacting Best Practices in Risk Communication: Analysis of an Expert Panel • Melissa Janoske, Brooke Liu, Stephanie Madden, University of Maryland • A two-day workshop and follow-up interviews with risk communication practitioners and researchers were conducted to expand understanding and enactment of risk communication best practices, the obstacles to enacting them, and the gaps in knowledge that could aid in improving upon these best practices. Key findings include the importance of avoiding the myth of preparedness messages instilling public fear, methods for identifying and building key community relationships and partnerships, and suggestions for translating academic research.

Social campaigns help our image, right?: Using the situational theory to explore  effects on attitudes toward a brand and its issues • Elizabeth Johnson-Young, North Carolina State University, & Robert Magee, Virginia Tech • Using the situational theory of publics as a guide, the effects of Dove’s online campaign videos on attitudes toward the campaign issues and Dove’s brand are examined. Participants viewed one of four campaign videos with a different regulatory frame and were asked to respond to several scales that measured their levels of involvement with the issues, collective efficacy, concern for the issues, and attitudes toward Dove as the brand.

Usage and Effectiveness of Facebook for Organizational Crisis Management • Eyun-Jung Ki & Elmie Nekmat, University of Alabama • Through the lens of situational crisis communication theory (SCCT) and interactivity, this study examined the Facebook usage of Fortune 500 companies and the effectiveness with which these companies employed this platform for crisis management. Findings indicated that ‘justification’ and ‘full apology’ were the most commonly used crisis response strategies. The results also show that companies inappropriately match their responses to crisis situations.

“Because the Subaltern Cannot Speak”: An Introduction to the Culture-Centered Approach to Public Relations • Induk Kim, Northern Illinois • This study begins with the contention that current public relations scholarship, including the literature on activist public relations, is not fully equipped with a theoretical foundation to study public relations efforts organized in subaltern spaces. The study introduces the culture-centered approach as a theoretical framework to address this gap in literature and presents a case study of South Korean peasants’ anti-FTA activism to illustrate how the culture-centered approach can be adopted in public relations research.

Relational expectancy, expectancy violations, and post-crisis communication: BP oil spill Crisis • Sora Kim, University of Florida • Adopting the 2010 BP oil spill crisis, this study empirically tests (a) expectancy violation theory’s applicability into the setting of organization-public relationships and explores (b) the effectiveness of post-crisis communication strategies in the post-crisis stage. The findings suggest consumers’ relational satisfaction and predictive and prescriptive expectancies are significant predictors determining their responses toward the organization in the post-crisis stage.

Predictors of organizations’ crisis communication approaches: Full versus limited disclosure • Sora Kim & Emma Wertz, University of Florida • This study investigates the public relations (full disclosure) versus legal (limited disclosure) approaches that may be used by organizations during a preventable crisis, including factors that may predict decisions related to information disclosure. Both tangible and intangible aspects of an organization were explored. The results revealed that degree of crisis preparation, public relations influences, and crisis perception as an opportunity were significant predictors that determine full versus limited disclosure.

Exploring the Role of Senate Majority Leader Political Public Relations Efforts: Comparing Agenda-Building Effectiveness across Information Subsidies • Spiro Kiousis, Ji Young Kim, Ashley Carnifax & Sarabdeep Kochhar, University of Florida • Grounded in first- and second-level agenda building, this study explored the role of the Senate Majority Leader in shaping the salience of issues and issue attributes in news media coverage and policymaking in 2011. A total of 358 public relations messages, 164 newspaper articles, and 83 policy making documents were analyzed. Significant correlations were found supporting agenda-building linkages at both levels among Senate Majority Leader communications, media coverage, and congressional policymaking activities.

Corporate social responsibility communication on the Internet: A content analysis of Fortune 100 companies • Seul Lee, Eunju Kang, Mary Ann Ferguson, University of Florida • The main goals of this quantitative content analysis were to better understand CSR message presentation on corporate websites and the current state of CSR subjects. This study investigated which CSR issues were prominently presented on The Fortune 100 companies’ websites according to ISO 26000 guidelines. The content of websites was also analyzed to see how it presented CSR information.

Uncertainty Reduction Strategies via Twitter: The 2011 Wildfire Threat to Los Alamos National Laboratory • Nicole Merrifield & Michael Palenchar, University of Tennessee • This study applies Berger and Calabrese’s (1975) uncertainty reduction theory as a theoretical framework to describe how participatory publics use Twitter to reduce uncertainty during a crisis. Using the 2011 Las Conchas Wildfire as the event of study, this study adapted Berger’s (1987) three information-seeking typologies—passive, active and interactive—and used a content analysis to examine messages posted to Twitter during the eight-day, mandatory evacuation of 12,000 Los Alamos residents in the summer of 2011.

Theorizing the Global-Local Paradox: Comparative Research on Information Subsidies’ Localization by U.S.-based Multinational Corporations • Juan-Carlos Molleda, Sarabdeep Kochhar & Christopher Wilson, University of Florida • Informed from a multidisciplinary perspective, this study theorizes localization by exploring the extent of local-focus of information subsidies by U.S.-based Multinational Corporations. A total of 150 MNC subsidiary online newsrooms in China, India, and United Kingdom were analyzed in the subsidiary location using quantitative content analysis. The sample was drawn from the 2011 Forbes 500 List.

A Study on Exploring Antecedents of Relationship Dissolution in Organization-Public Relationships • Bitt Moon, Syracuse University & Sung-Un Yang, Indiana University at Bloomington • The purpose of this study was to explore antecedents of relationship dissolution in the context of organization-public relationships. Particularly, the researchers focused on antecedents to lead the relationship termination. A survey with 1,111 respondents was conducted to test the proposed hypotheses. The results suggested that distrust and dissatisfaction had significant effects on relationships either directly or indirectly. Furthermore, our findings indicated that there were differential impact of dissatisfaction and distrust on the relationship termination.

Locating image management in public relations research: A content analysis of image-related studies published in the last two decades, 1991-2011 • Elmie Nekmat, Karla Gower & Lan Ye, University of Alabama • This study reviews the status of image management research in public relations and extrapolates important trends for future research and theory-building. A content analysis of research published in public relations (n=90), organization and business studies (n=122), and communication (n=49) from 1991 to 2011 was conducted. Findings reveal an increasing trend of image-related research in public relations. However, no specific image management public relations theories or concepts were utilized in the studies.

“We’re Not the Only One with the Crisis”: Exploring Situational Variables in an Extension of Situational Crisis Communication Theory • Hyun Jee Oh, Nanyang Technological University & Hyojung Park, San Diego State University • This study examined how crisis consistency and consensus in product-harm crises affect post-crisis outcomes, such as crisis responsibility attribution, corporate reputation, and behavioral intentions. An experiment revealed that lower crisis consensus led to more responsibility attribution to the organization, while higher crisis consistency increased anger, trust, perceived reputation, purchase intention, and negative word-of-mouth intention toward the organization. In this attribution process, anger was an effective mediator between consistency and other post-crisis outcomes.

Keeping It Real: Exploring the Roles of Conversational Human Voice and Source Credibility in Crisis Communication via Social Media • Hyojung Park, San Diego State University & Glen Cameron, University of Missouri • This study examined the effects of conversational human voice and source on crisis communication outcomes, using a 2 (tone of voice: human/organizational) _ 2 (source: public relations executive/private citizen) _ 2 (crisis response: defensive/accommodative) mixed experimental design. Results of path analysis and ANOVA indicate that first-person voice and personal narratives increased perceptions of social presence and interactivity in online communication. These perceptions subsequently resulted in positive post-crisis outcomes, such as reputation and behavioral intentions.

Hegemony, self-disciplining, and stigma among public relations professionals: Exploring Foucault’s concept of bio-power • Katie Place, Saint Louis University & Jennifer Vardeman-Winter, University of Houston • This qualitative study of 20 public relations practitioners examines power in public relations through the lens of bio-power – the control and management of human life through regulatory and discursive forces (Foucault, 1978; Macey, 2009; Vogelaar, 2007). Results suggest that bio-power exists as a) hegemonic knowledges of “brokering information,” “shaping public opinion,” “adding value,” and “pleasing people;” b) disciplining forces of a workaholic culture and self-censorship, and c) stigmas illustrating public relations as “spin” or “fluff.”

Developers’ Views about Public Meetings in the Context Public Relations Theory • Geah Pressgrove & John Besley, University of South Carolina • This study uses qualitative interviews (n = 25) to explore the mental models that real estate developers hold for public meetings, including their goals for such engagement and their views about participants. Developers were the focus because past research has failed to address views about engagement from the private-sector perspective and developers are often involved in public meetings.

Explicating and Investigating Stewardship Strategies on Nonprofit Website • Geah Pressgrove, Brooke Weberling & Erik Collins, University of South Carolina • Stewardship has been called the critical fifth step in the public relations process nonprofit organizations employ to develop relationships with various publics (Kelly, 2001). The purposes of this study are to explicate the meanings of the four stewardship strategies (responsibility, reporting, reciprocity and relationship nurturing) and, employing a quantitative content analysis of nonprofit websites, to further understand how top nonprofits deploy these strategies online. Findings indicate differences based on organization type and web page.

Beyond Reactive Public Relations:  How a Delphi Study of New Technology Informs Professional Practice • Adam Saffer, Michael Kent, Pop Rebeca, University of Oklahoma • This Delphi study assembled a panel of communication scholars and experts to identify trends and issues of online communication technologies. Since the current research has narrowly focused on specific tools, the broader issues of social media and technology have been overlooked. The findings from the study support the power of social media and suggest a mobile future for public relations practice. The essay provides recommendations for practitioners.

What Contributes to Public Relations Professionals’ Own Conflict: Life Affecting Work • Hongmei Shen, San Diego State University & Hua Jiang, Towson University • Based a national random sample (N = 820) of PRSA members, we studied three types of family responsibilities and salaries of professionals as stressors of their life-work conflict experiences. Results found the three types of life-work conflict subject to varied impact of family responsibilities while levels of behavior-based life-work conflict dependent on practitioners’ salary level. The story of life-work conflict is not as simple as a choice between “career vs. life.”

Seeking an Updated Understanding of the Public Relations – Journalist Relationship in the Age of Social Media • Dustin Supa, Boston University & Lynn Zoch, Radford University • Understanding how to effectively practice media relations is of utmost importance to public relations practitioners.  Part of that practice is an understanding of the relationship between journalists and public relations practitioners, and another part is deciding what to present to the media in terms of newsworthiness. Using survey research, this study found great agreement about newsworthiness, but a significant difference in how the two professions view each other.

Predicting Digital and Social Media Adoption Based on Organizational and Practitioner Characteristics • Kjerstin Thorson, Burghardt Tenderich, Jerry Swerling, Niku Ward & Brenna Clairr O’Tierney, University of Southern California • This paper draws on a survey of senior-level public relations and communications practitioners to provide a new empirical look at the adoption of digital and social practices across a diverse set of organizations and to model adoption as a function of practitioner attitudes and organizational variables. We also offer a test of the relationship between digital/social media use and perceived value of the PR function in the organization.

Motivations and Antecedents of Public Engagement on Corporate Social Networking Sites • Sunny Wan-Hsiu Tsai & Rita Linjuan Men, University of Miami • Corporate pages on social networking sites (SNSs) have become the key platform where online stakeholders interact with companies. This study explored the motivations and antecedents that drive publics’ engagement with corporate SNS pages. A conceptual model explicating the effects of social relationship factors on public-organization engagement on SNSs was tested through an on-line survey of 280 Facebook users across various age groups.

Public Relations and Public Diplomacy:  A Divided Past, a Shared Future • Antoaneta Vanc & Kathy Fitzpatrick, Quinnipiac University • This paper assesses the status and scope of public diplomacy research by public relations scholars, revealing substantial theoretical and practical links between the two fields. The results indicate growing interest among public relations scholars in public diplomacy and tremendous potential for public relations to contribute to the intellectual and practical development of public diplomacy as a critical resource for protecting and advancing national and global interests.

Considering familial, sociopolitical, technological, and other factors in a cultural approach to risk communication • Jennifer Vardeman-Winter, University of Houston • Culture is an essential but difficult context within which to situate risk campaigns. This study employed a cultural study with 39 teen girls to learn what personal, familial, education, sociopolitical, and technological/media factors influence their decision-making about the Gardasil vaccine. Findings suggest that girls largely make risk decisions based on their social identities as expressions of their culture. Propositions are made about how to re-consider risk communication using cultural studies.

From Awareness to Advocacy: Understanding Nonprofit Communication, Participation, and Support • Brooke Weberling, University of South Carolina • This paper explores public support for nonprofit organizations by studying a specific fundraising event, Relay For Life, benefiting the American Cancer Society. Using an online survey of undergraduates (N=514), this research employs the situational theory of publics and the theory of reasoned action to explore communication and participation behaviors related to the health issue and organization. Multiple analyses show how the variables combine to represent a continuum that might help explain nonprofit support.

The influence of Confucianism on the Legitimacy of Chinese Organizations • Shuo Yao & John Brummette, Radford University, & Luo Yi, Montclair State University • The literature on organizational legitimacy makes the argument that organizations must adhere to the value-driven standards inherent in the cultures in which they operate.  Using a quantitative content analysis of Chinese Fortune 500 companies’ websites, this study examines the strategic legitimation efforts of Chinese organizations.  Twenty-nine value clusters were identified in the analysis, some of which strongly demonstrate the influence of Confucianism on Chinese organizations (e.g., harmony, national-interests oriented, and self-regulation).

Student Papers

Crisis Attribution in News Articles: A Study of the Effect of Labeling on Corporate Reputation • Alyssa Appelman & Michelle Asmara, Pennsylvania State University • This experiment explores the relationship between labeling of a corporate crisis and corporate reputation. Participants read a news article about a corporate crisis and answered questions about perceived organizational responsibility, intent, locus, negative impression of the organization, degree of trust in the organization, and corporate reputation. The results do not show a relationship between labeling and corporate reputation. Explanations, directions for future research, and implications for public relations practitioners are explored.

Are Public Radio Stations Creating Opportunities for Dialogue on Their Web Sites? • Joshua Bentley, University of Oklahoma • Public radio stations serve their communities and rely on those communities for financial support. Both academic and practitioner literature has recognized the importance of relationship building in effective fundraising. One tool for building relationships is an organization’s Web site. This study applied Kent and Taylor’s (1998) five principles of dialogic Web design to the Web sites of 200 public radio stations. A content analysis revealed that public radio site score high on two of the five dialogic principles. However, there is room for radio stations to improve their sites. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed.

Winning Hearts and Building Community:  An Analysis of Basic Rights Oregon’s “Love. Commitment. Marriage.” Campaign • Erica Ciszek, University of Oregon • This case study of Basic Rights Oregon, a state-based LGBT advocacy organization, considers the strategies and tactics employed by a local advocacy organization within the context of the national marriage debate. This research demonstrates how an advocacy organization, through political public relations, uses multiple media platforms to communicate particular emotionally and socially framed messages in hopes of gathering public support for political policies.

How to minimize corporate social responsibility (CSR) cynicism in younger generations: Exploring trickle effects of social partnerships • Daewook Kim, Texas Tech University • This study was primarily aimed at exploring trickle effects of social partnerships on CSR cynicism in younger generations. Overall, the results of this study indicated that CSR cynicism was differently associated with attitude toward CSR campaign and perceived CSR efficacy, according to types of social partnerships. In addition, attitude toward CSR campaign and perceived CSR efficacy was differently associated with either communal relationships or organizational identification, according to social partnership conditions.

Social Media as a Relationship Strategy: Twitter’s Impact on Enhancing Brand Loyalty • Zongchao Li, University of Miami • This study examined the relationship strategies on Twitter as represented by U.S. retail corporations. A content analysis was conducted comparing the tweets of two groups of retailers — a brand loyalty leader group and a Fortune 500 group. Findings indicate the brand loyalty retailers used Twitter more in a two-way communication manner, while the Fortune 500 group were more one-way oriented. Two relationship maintenance strategies, positivity and assurance, were found significantly different between the groups.

A Fight for Legitimacy:  A Case Study of the 2011 Education Union Crisis • Paquette, Michael, University of Maryland • This case study furthers the understanding of the post-crisis/learning phase of a crisis by examining the Wisconsin Education Association Council’s response to a legitimacy crisis in February 2011.  Using the theoretical frameworks of reflective management and the discourse of renewal, the study found that the education union demonstrated organizational learning through: increased engagement with stakeholders, an organic response to the crisis, and rearticulating its core values.

CSR-crisis relevance on the public’s blame attributions • Hanna Park • This study examined the main effects and interaction effects of type of crisis (victim or preventable crisis), severity of damage (minor or severe crisis), and CSR-crisis relevance (relevant CSR, irrelevant CSR, or no CSR) on the public’s blame attributions and its perceptions of attitude, trust, reputation, and supportive behavior intention toward a company. A total of 360 general consumers were recruited for an online experiment based on a fictitious company brand.

Strategic Partnership with Nonprofits in Practicing CSR: The Mediating Role of Perceived Altruism and Organizational Identification on Supportive CSR Outcomes • Hyejoon Rim & Jaejin Lee, University of Florida • To provide insight for a company determining ideal nonprofit partners, this study investigates how prior company reputation, nonprofit brand familiarity, and fit between the company and nonprofit influence supportive CSR outcomes. The study also examines the critical mediation role of perceived altruism and public-organizational identification in such associations. The results show the significant direct effects of company reputation, nonprofit familiarity, and cause-brand fit on supportive CSR outcomes.

The Role of the Organization in Networked Social Capital: A Political Public Relations Model of Social Capital Building • Adam Saffer, University of Oklahoma • Social capital is an emerging buzzword in many social science disciplines and the field of public relations (Ihlen, 2005) that explains the significance of social relations in our communication. The emerging literature of political public relations has yet to consider the concept of social capital. This essay introduces social capital to political public relations scholarship and builds a theoretical model that explains how organizations use their relationships with publics to achieve political objectives through mediated channels.

E-mobilization and empowered health activism: How social media changes the mutuality between Korean health activism and its external counterparts • KyuJin Shim, Syracuse University • This case study explores how the Korea Leukemia Patient Group (KLPG) uses social media in its internal communication strategy and how that empowers its relationship with external counterparts. The findings of this study indicate that the local health NGO’s communication strategy is changing in response to the increased effectiveness and impact of social media. With the use of social media like Twitter, the KLPG can construct an issue-based advocacy group quickly and effectively.

Identifying Social Media Influencers: Using Network Mapping to Track Information Flows in Online Interest-Based Publics • Kathleen Stansberry, University of Oregon • This research examines the use of online network analysis methods to identify and map the communication patterns of influencers in interest-based publics. Using the network analysis program IssueCrawler, this paper maps the link pattern among members of the online young adult cancer community. The results of this study show that online network analysis can be a highly effective tool to identify influencers and provide valuable information for public relations practitioners working with online publics.

Examining the Effect of Organizations’ Interpersonal Approach in Social Networking Sites • Kang Hoon Sung, University of Florida • People use social networking sites mainly for interpersonal communication. Thus, corporate communication focusing on promotional activities might create negative sentiments toward the company on those platforms. This experimental study examined the effect of organizations’ interpersonal approaches (e.g., non-promotional messages, interaction) in social networking sites using real and fictitious companies. The results revealed that people evaluated a company more positively when the company was highly interactive with customers.

A Comparative Content Analysis of Fortune 1000 Corporate Communication Strategy on Facebook and Twitter • Weiting Tao & Christopher Wilson, University of Florida • This quantitative content analysis of corporate Facebook and Twitter sites examined: 1) the extent to which Fortune 1000 corporations used Facebook and Twitter to communicate with stakeholders; 2) the communication strategies these corporations adopted for Facebook and Twitter; and 3) the consistency of communication strategies used on both social media sites. The results have practical application for leveraging multiple social media platforms and theoretical implications for the use of social media for public relations.

Corporate Web Site Communication with Investors: The Relationship among Employee Size, Profitability, and Web Site Communication • Nur Uysal, University of Oklahoma • This study examined S&P 500 petro-chemical corporations’ use of Web sites to communicate with investors—shareholders, potential investors, and analysts. The findings of a Web site content analysis suggested that Web site public relations efforts facilitate dialogic communication with investors. Using data from Compustat and CRSP datasets, a pair-wise correlation analysis and a multiple regression analysis revealed that companies with more employees and larger profits tended to provide more dialogic features on their Web sites.

Measuring BP Media Relations Outcomes Post Spill: An Illustration of How Public Relations’ Effects May Be Overestimated • Brendan Watson, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill • A survey examined whether journalists’ (N=126) assessments of BP media relations predict public relations outcomes following the BP oil spill. The study found that the BP-journalist relationship predicted journalists’ attitudes toward the industry’s degree of corporate responsibility. Current research methods advanced in the professional and scholarly public relations literature, however, overestimated this relationship. The importance in public relations research of using multivariate models to control for variables outside of the organization-public relationship is discussed.

<< 2012 Abstracts

Media Ethics 2012 Abstracts

Open Papers

How Social Cognition Can Be Used in Journalism Training to Reinforce Ethical Standards of Practice • Sue Ellen Christian, Western Michigan University • Errors and biases in human cognition in part explain the need for professional standards and ethical codes in journalism. Reciprocally, these standards and codes can help deter some common cognitive distortions. This article argues that incorporating an interdisciplinary approach to teaching standards of practice can enrich journalism training and education by exploring the origins of thinking habits that require corrective action on the part of journalists.

Anthropological Realism for Global Ethics • Clifford Christians, University of Illinois • Anthropological realism is an important tool in constructing a global media ethics.  Realism and anti-realism are debated philosophically without resolution. Believing that a global ethics requires realism, none of the mainstream theories of realism provide a proper foundation for universals.  Anthropological realism acknowledges the role of human interpretation in ethics more explicitly than do epistemological or metaphyhsical theories.”

Consumers’ Ethical Evaluation of Greenwashing Ads • Harsha Gangadharbatla; Kim Sheehan • The current exploratory study examines consumers’ evaluation of the ethicality of greenwashing practices in advertising. Subjects were shown an ad with “green” messages and asked to rate it on a greenwashing index scale. Findings suggest that the higher the level of perceived greenwashing in an ad, the lower the ethical evaluation of the ad. Consumers’ ethical evaluation in turn determined their attitude toward the ad and brand, which in turn influenced their purchase intentions.

Idea Plagiarism: Journalism’s Ultimate Heist • Norman Lewis, University of Florida • A national survey (n = 953) and interviews with eight journalists reveal widespread acceptance of idea plagiarism. About three-fourths of survey respondents said ideas did not require attribution, a belief more likely to be held by those in competitive markets and by broadcasters. Concealing the sources of ideas misleads the public about the origins of news and sometimes results in withholding information, violations of journalism’s public-service norms and truth-telling mission.

Ethics in the digital age: A comparison of moving images and photographs on moral reasoning • Aimee Meader, University of Texas at Austin; Lewis Knight, University of Texas at Austin; Renita Coleman, University of Texas – Austin; Lee Wilkins, School of Journalism/University of Missouri • The purpose of this study is to see if visual information such as the moving images found on television and the Internet have the same ability to improve moral judgment as still photographs. Results indicate that moving images degrade moral reasoning because viewers experience cognitive overload.  We suggest that altering the journalistic product in ways that minimize overload may encourage reasoning at higher ethical levels.

The Moral Psychology of Journalism Exemplars • Patrick Lee Plaisance, Colorado State University; Elizabeth Skewes, University of Colorado; Joanna Larez, Colorado State University • Drawing on moral psychology research and moral exemplar literature, this pilot study of selected journalism exemplars examines life-story narratives, moral reasoning skills, personality traits and ethical ideologies, point to an emergent profile of exemplary journalists in which personality traits and idealism are linked with concerns of justice, harm and professional autonomy. Thematic patterns in exemplar narratives also appear to emphasize notions of moral courage, humility and the ideological and professional implications of pivotal life experiences.

“Spike the football”:  Truth-telling, the press and the Bin Laden photos • Fred Vultee, Wayne State University • This paper looks at press interpretations of the role of images – specifically, images of national enemies in death – in constructing various duties of media truth-telling. Discourse about the need, or duty, to publish photos of the Nazi leaders hanged at Nuremberg in 1946 provides a context for examining discourse surrounding a similar decision that the White House faced after the raid that killed Osama bin Laden in May 2011.

Covering White ‘Just-Us’:  What did journalists ‘really’ say about Ipperwash? • Romayne Fullerton, Western Ontario University; Maggie Patterson, Duquesne Unviersity; Ginny Whitehouse, Eastern Kentucky University • The Canadian courts appeared to fail the Chippewa Stoney Band following the Ipperwash Provincial Park land dispute that left one member dead, but journalists also failed in ethical responsibilities and effectively killed the tribe’s identity through coverage that alternated between being one-sided and comparatively non-existent. Covering two sides in a trial is insufficient to fulfill the journalistic obligation to fairness when the reporting ignores cultural assumptions built on a White worldview.

Will write for food. The ethics of collaboration: Justice as reciprocity and capabilities • Lee Wilkins, School of Journalism/University of Missouri • Journalism’s search for a new business model has raised a number of issues among them the impact of specific choices on the ability to “do” journalism. This paper examines the ethics of financial collaboration, based on the concepts of reciprocity, capabilities and promise keeping. These concepts, in turn, inform a particular conceptualization of justice and connect justice to the goals of professional work.

‘Mind the CSR Communication Gap’: The Role of Authenticity in the Communication of CSR • Christopher Wilson, University of Florida; Weiting Tao, University of Florida; Sarabdeep Kochhar; Mary Ann Ferguson, University of Flordia • Scholars have noted a lack of research about public relations communication strategies for CSR initiatives even though communication is an integral part of the public relations function. This was the first study to explore the relationship between CSR communication, authenticity, and public relations communication strategy, offering a new approach for future studies about effective CSR communication.

Comparing Chinese and U.S. Journalism Students  on their Perceptions of the Roles and Ethics of Journalism • Jin Yang, University of Memphis; David Arant, University of Memphis • This study compares how American and Chinese journalism students perceive the difficulties of ethical dilemmas faced by journalists and the importance of various journalistic roles. Chinese students perceive greater difficulty in resolving conflicts of interests while American students find greater difficulty in upholding community standards. They are more in agreement on the importance of journalists’ adversarial and populist mobilizer roles but less in agreement on journalists’ interpretive and disseminator roles.

Journalistic Ethics at the Border: How El Paso Times Journalists Balance Reporting the News and Protecting their Sources • El Paso Times journalists routinely face ethical dilemmas as they cover difficult stories amid all of the violence in neighboring Ciudad Juarez. This ethnographic study, which utilizes participant-observation and in-depth interviews, examines how journalists deal with tough ethical choices. It reveals how reporters and editors at the El Paso Times consider the needs of the public and the ramifications of their stories. The journalists strive to be accurate and fair while protecting their sources and themselves. They weigh the importance of each story with its potential for risk.

Journalists’ Engagement with Facebook: A Theoretical Analysis • Journalists are among the many audiences using social media tools, such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and LinkedIn, to actively connect with networked communities. With social media interactions come a host of ethical concerns for the journalist, ranging from separating personal and professional online networks to understanding the informationally porous nature of online spaces.

Carol Burnett Award Papers

Journalism enhanced by argumentation, informal logic, and critical thinking • David Herrera, University of Missouri • This paper introduces some ideas from the fields of argumentation, informal logic, and critical thinking, and argues that those ideas can stimulate the practice and study of journalism. It first offers a general case for why the four fields can agreeable mingle. It then shows how argumentation, informal logic, and critical thinking are relevant to discussions about journalistic objectivity, about how journalists can build trust with their audiences online by building relationships, and other topics.

<< 2012 Abstracts

Electronic News 2012 Abstracts

Faculty

Connecting with Audience through Social Media: An Analysis of Social Media Use in Broadcast News Stations in the U.S. • Victoria Zeal; Eunseong Kim, Eastern Illinois University • Online social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter have gained an alarming popularity in the past few years. As news organizations recognize the increasing popularity of these sites, and as they seek out ways to attract younger audiences, news organizations began to incorporate social networking sites in their practice (Baggerman et al., 2009; Gazze, 2009; Lowery, 2009). Previous studies identified that news stations may use social media for various reasons, including delivering news, developing social ties, seeking sources, and promoting stations.

Partisan and Structural Bias: Broadcast, Cable and Public Networks’ Coverage of the 2008 Presidential Election • Arvind Diddi, State University of New York at Oswego; Frederick Fico; Geri Alumit Zeldes, Michigan State University • Broadcast, cable and public network evening news shows gave more prominence, time, and attention to Republican John McCain than to Democrat Barack Obama in their 2008 presidential election coverage. Public network (PBS) was more balanced in its aggregate attention to the candidates than were the cable and broadcast networks. Partisan balance of broadcast networks favored McCain more when compared to cable and PBS networks.

How Journalists Perceive Influence: A Qualitative Assessment of Local Television Reporters’ Ethical Decision-Making • Beth Concepcion, SCAD • This study examines television journalists’ perceptions of situational challenges and the factors that influence their ethical decision-making processes. Specifically, qualitative, in-depth interviews, conducted with individual journalists at small market television stations, offered insight into the sources that influence the stories that the journalists decide to cover and the manner in which they cover them.

Analyzing Story Tone in the Network TV News Coverage of Bush vs. Obama • Dennis Lowry, Southern Illinois University; Ben Eng, Southern Illinois University; Bob Katende, Southern Illinois University; Rajvee Subramanian, Southern Illinois University • Network TV presidential opinion poll stories dealing with Republican George W. Bush (N = 85 stories) and Democrat Barack Obama (N = 82 stories) were analyzed with two lexical analysis software programs (Diction 6.0 and Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count 2007) to look for relative news bias in the treatment of the two presidents. Even though Bush had significantly higher public approval scores, the verbal framing of the news stories was exactly the opposite.

Ideology Trumps Meteorology: Why Many Television Weathercasters Remain Unconvinced of Human-Caused Global Warming • Kris Wilson, University of Texas-Austin • TV weathercasters are a potentially important source of climate change information: they are a widely trusted source; they have frequent access to large audiences; and most have discussed climate change as part of their duties. Previous research, however, has shown that a significant minority of TV weathercasters disagree with the consensus science.

The Effect of Kuwaiti Online Readers’ Comments On Sectarian & Tribal Issues: Case Study Alaan Online Newspaper • Ali Dashti, Gulf University for Science and Technology • One of the dilemmas of online newspapers is reader’s comments. The interactive character of the Internet encouraged many online users to express their ideas, feelings and opinions freely without any fear of negative outcomes crossing the freedom’s boundaries that set either by the government or online editors. Arab online editors do encourage their readers to comment on their news contents, but censoring what they may consider offensive, anti-nationalism or Blasphemy Islam.

New Perspectives from the Sky: Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and Journalism • Mark Tremayne, University of Texas at Arlington; Andrew Clark • Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are a technology now impacting many fields, including journalism and mass communication. Also referred to as “drones” these small remotely-guided aircraft are now being purchased and put to use by commercial organizations and private citizens. Traditional journalists and citizen journalists alike are using drones to obtain aerial footage in a variety of locations around the world.

Twitter: Journalism Chases the Greased Pig • Desiree Hill, University of Central Oklahoma • Summing up Twitter is like trying to catch a greased pig. Research becomes outdated as the social network evolves in a viral-like fashion. For journalism the shapeshifting of social media has now become an endless pursuit for the industry. This study seeks to find a benchmark of Twitter usage within the traditional media. A study targeting a medium-sized media market (Tulsa) is the backbone of the research.

The Use of Online Innovations by Large-Market Television and News Radio Stations: A Content Analysis of Station Homepages • Tim Wulfemeyer, San Diego State University; Amy Schmitz Weiss, San Diego State University • Online news consumption and the viewing of online video are increasing dramatically (ComScore, 2010). In fact, as of May, 2011, the Pew Internet and American Life Project found that 71% of online adults often watch online videos (Moore, 2011). It seems clear that there is a developing “screen generation” where users of digital media are now spending multiple hours a day in front of a screen—whether it be a computer screen, a mobile device screen or a tablet.

Agenda Trending: Reciprocity and the Predictive Capacity of Social Network Sites in Intermedia Agenda Setting across Issues over Time • Jacob Groshek, Erasmus University; Megan Clough Groshek, sosmedialab • In the contemporary converged media environment, agenda setting is being transformed by the dramatic growth of audiences that are simultaneous media users and producers. Indeed, the rise of the media “produser” has altered conceptions of where media agendas begin and end in relation to the public agenda.

Tweeting in the dark: A comparative analysis of journalists’ usages of Twitter during a crisis • Rebecca Nee, San Diego State University; Judith Fusco, SRI International, Center for Technology in Learning • In a new media world, social networks may provide journalists with an immediate platform to disseminate and obtain content, particularly in breaking news situations. This study analyzed the differing roles broadcast, print, and nonprofit journalists played through their use of Twitter during a widespread power outage. Findings show the majority of journalists normalized traditional, top-down practices onto the platform; males and television journalists were the least likely to adapt to the more participatory nature of Twitter.

Sex and Violence in Billboard’s Most Popular Songs: A Content Analysis of Sexual and Violent Content in Mainstream Music Lyrics • Stacey Hust; Weina Ran, Washington State University; Kathleen Rodgers, Department of Human Development • Listening to music continues to be a popular activity among young people. Research has identified that music content contains more sexual content than other medium. Portrayals of sexual activity, violence and derisive terms against women are prevalent in music media. Most previous research, however, has focused on the prevalence of sexual and violent content in rap/Hip-hop music.

Story, Music, and Disposition Theory • Mark Shevy, Northern Michigan University; Lauren Larsen; Carolyn Tobin; Aubrey Kall • Disposition theory states that moral evaluation of characters and perceived justice are central factors in determining enjoyment of media. Music psychology provides evidence that music can influence evaluation of characters. This is the first study to empirically investigate the role of music in disposition theory. Initial results from an experiment suggest that music does influence variables central to disposition theory. The effects of the music can vary based on the ending presented in the story.

De-spiritualization, de-contextualization, and the “politics of repression”: Comparing The/Whale Rider’s competing texts • Robert Peaslee, Texas Tech University • This paper seeks to couch Niki Caro’s film Whale Rider (2002), especially in comparison with the novel from which it was adapted (The Whale Rider, published in 1987 by Witi Ihimaera), in an ongoing tradition in New Zealand film which Martin Blythe (1994) terms the “politics of repression.”

The Kardashian Phenomenon: News Interpretation • Amanda McClain, Holy Family University • The name “Kardashian” is a contemporary cultural touchstone, regularly connoting warrantless celebrity, voluptuous beauty, and a flash-in-the-pan marriage. The appellation is scattered throughout mainstream press, recurring in seminal newspapers and tabloid magazines alike. Regardless of this apparent popularity, media coverage of the family is often adverse. Through a discourse analysis, this paper explores the ostensible media backlash and paradoxical popularity, seeking to understand how the mainstream press interprets the Kardashian cultural phenomenon.

What Happens to the “Cream of the Crop”? The Representative Anecdote in AMC’s Mad Men • Erika Engstrom, UNLV • The author employs the representative anecdote to examine how disparate narratives of highly capable women in the period drama “Mad Men” combine to tell the story of gendered relationships, particularly marriage. Although the experiences of these characters are not exactly identical, the “variations on a theme” contained in their experiences return their disparate texts form a common story tells us of the negative consequences for women who choose to make their careers life priorities.

I know you are, but what am I? Adolescents’ third-person perception regarding dating violence • John Chapin, Penn State • A survey of adolescents (N = 1,646) documented third-person perception regarding media depictions of dating/relationship violence. It also contributes to the growing literature documenting optimistic bias as a strong predictor of third-person perception and draws from the optimistic bias literature considering new variables including self-esteem, self-efficacy, and experience with violence.

From Heroic Hawkeye to the Morgue Playboy: Shifting Representations of Health Professionals and Patients in 1970s and 1980s Television • Katie Foss, Middle Tennessee State University • From the 1930s until the 1960s, film and television consistently depicted doctors as infallible heroes who almost always cured their patients. By the 1970s, the cultural climate had begun to shift, as people moved from celebrating to criticizing modern medicine and the healthcare industry. This research explored how Marcus Welby, M.D., M*A*S*H, Emergency!, and St. Elsewhere constructed medicine in the midst of this changing environment.

The Kardashians made me want it: The effects of privileged television on emerging adults’ materialism • Emily Acosta Lewis, Western New England University • A survey was given to 18-29 year olds (N = 733) to examine the relationship between privileged TV (shows that glamorize wealthy lifestyles) and materialism in young adults by looking at mediating processes of this relationship. The results show that there is a positive relationship between privileged television exposure and materialism and that the there are many complementary mediating processes that can help to explain this relationship (e.g. upward comparison and materialistic learning).

Scripted Sexual Violence: The Association between Soap Opera Viewing and College Students’ Intentions to Negotiate Sexual Consent • Stacey Hust; Ming Lei, Washington State University; Weina Ran, Washington State University; Chunbo Ren, Washington State University; Emily Marett, Mississippi State University • Sexual assaults are frequently portrayed on soap operas in ways that reinforce rape myths and may perpetuate sexual assault. Research has identified that viewing soap operas is associated with sexual behaviors in general. However, little research has investigated the association between viewing soap operas and the sexual consent negotiation behaviors that play a crucial role in reducing sexual assault.

“Get Rich or Die Buying:” The Travails of the Working Class Auction Bidder • Mark Rademacher, Butler University • By documenting working class bidders consuming used goods circulated through an alternative marketing system during an economic downturn, this essay argues the reality program “Storage Wars” represents a “potentially disruptive” cultural text. However, its emphasis on the formal and economic aspects of auction bidding, the economic value rather than use or aesthetic value of used goods, and the limitations of working class cultural capital the program ultimately reinforces rather than disrupts the dominant consumption ideology.

Is Fat the New Black?: The Impact of Multiple Exposures of Mike & Molly on College Students Attitudes Toward Obesity and Body Image • Cynthia Nichols, Oklahoma State University; Bobbi Kay Lewis, Oklahoma State University • The study examines on college students’ opinions about obesity and body image based on the after watching the CBC program, Mike & Molly. Using a quasi-experimental design, college students’ attitudes toward obesity and body image were measured through pre- and post-testing. Participants (N=135) were either in a single-exposure or a multiple-exposure group.

The Greatest Entertainment Ever Sold: Branded Entertainment and Public Relation Agencies’ Role in Product Placement • Kathy Richardson, Berry College; Carol Pardun • The use of product placement as a publicity tactic has exploded, as Spurlock’s 2011 documentary “The Greatest Movie Every Sold”—and its lead sponsor POM Wonderful demonstrated. But brands have moved from their satirized and now almost routine appearances in feature films into genres including television shows, video games, books, plays, music recordings, music videos, blogs and social media networks such as Twitter and Facebook, even in “advergames” that may be accessed online, creating a strategy Jean-Marc Lehu (2007) has called “branded entertainment, …entertainment by or in conjunction with a brand” (p. 1).

Student

New Media in the Newsroom • Eric White • The findings suggest that TV and newspaper reporters were adopting social media at high rates; however, TV reporters were heavier social media users. In addition, journalists primarily used social media as promotional tools. Furthermore, perceptions of the “competition’s” use of social media followed by the news manager’s social media expectations successfully predicted journalists’ overall social media use. Additionally, news managers’ perceptions of their reporters social media uses did not align with reporters’ actual uses.

Man-on-the-Street or Man-on-the-Tweet? Using Social Network Site Comments as Vox Pop in Television News • Sherice Gearhart, Texas Tech University • Meaning voice of the people, vox pop consists of presenting the commentary of ordinary citizens in the news and has typically been embodied in man-on-the-street (MOS) interviews. The present study explores the effects of replacing MOS interviews with Twitter and Facebook comments to assess how viewers perceive this new information source.

A Digital Juggling Act: New Media’s Impact on the Responsibilities of Local Television Reporters • Anthony Adornato, Missouri School of Journalism • This case study explores the dramatic transformation new media—from a station’s website to social networking platforms—is having on local television journalists’ job responsibilities. Through in-depth interviews with reporters and participant observation at a television station in the northeast US, this research details how reporters’ tasks are evolving in three areas: dissemination, newsgathering, and the relationship with the public. Lessons learned from this research are helpful to others in the industry and journalism educators.

Fueling the debate: Predictive relationships among personality characteristics, motives and effects of animated news viewing • Wai Han Lo; Benjamin Ka Lun Cheng, School of Communication, Hong Kong Baptist University • Melodramatic animated news is a new news reporting format by some media organizations that have drawn huge viewership online. This study adopts uses and gratifications theory and surveys 312 college students to investigate their viewing of animated-news. Seven motives were identified, through factor analysis, for viewing such animated-news videos.

At Face Value: Considering the Audience for Fox News’ Opinion Programming • Penina Wiesman • Thus far, it appears audiences of Fox News’ opinion shows are treated by much research as simply passive victims, uncritically accepting whatever these sources offer. Yet little effort has been made to thoroughly examine this group in greater depth. Through qualitative interviews, this paper looks at some of the audience members of these shows. Results suggest that stereotypical assumptions of audiences about Fox News opinion shows may not be entirely accurate or fair.

Dynamic v. Static Infographics in Online News: Impact of Format on Perceptions, Memory and Consumption • Patrick Merle; Coy Callison, Texas Tech University; Glenn Cummins, Texas Tech University College of Mass Communications • Graphics accompanying online news articles were manipulated between static and dynamic formats. Eyetracking, perception and memory data was collected as was participants’ arithmetic aptitude. Results suggest that although dynamic graphics are negatively evaluated, high arithmetic aptitude participants attend and recall dynamic graphics more so than those with lower AA, who are drawn to and recall better static visuals. Memory and attention to graphics detracted from memory and attention to story text and vice versa.

Changes in Content Characteristics of Nontraditional Media after Partnering with Traditional News Providers • Jeremy Saks, Ohio University • This paper examines how the content of the website FiveThirtyEight changed after the blog entered into a licensing agreement with The New York Times. Various factors are analyzed including length of posting, variety of topics, number of hyperlinks and multimedia, and multitude of authorship. The content analysis compares and contrasts the content from 2009 and 2011, the individual calendar years before and after the convergence.

Real or Fiction? Perceived Realism, Presence, and Attitude Change in Reality Programming • Emily Dolan; Laura Osur, Syracuse University • This study investigates the effects of perceived realism and presence on attitude change from both first and third person perspectives. Furthermore, this study aims to extend the scholarship on presence and attitude change to the realm of reality television. Results indicate that viewing a show that is perceived to be reality, as opposed to fiction, does not lead to higher levels of presence.

Buffy the Stereotype Slayer • Nichole Bogarosh, Washington State University • Great strides have been made in breaking down barriers and stereotypes – in deconstructing what it means to be a woman and a man – in our society. However, despite these strides, there is much yet to be done. Stereotypes remain and women are still constructed within our society as the weaker sex – the not-powerful, subject to the rule and whims of men. Stereotypes still promote the subordination of women by men.

Judging a book by its cover: Using Q Method to examine millennials’ perceptions and expectations of classic novels • Katherine Patton • The purpose of this study is to explore the ideas of what makes an effective book cover and what attempts have been made to pull in a new, younger audience. This research examines the different types of millennials and their interests in reading and/or purchasing classic novels based solely on the visual presentation of the book cover.

It’s Still All In Your Head: Revisiting the Parasocial Compensation Hypothesis • Phillip Madison; Lance Porter • In America socializing with friends is now a functional alternative to watching television. This study draws from research on intrapersonal communication and media effects, to ask “What functions and characteristics of parasociability predict compensation for real-life interaction?” We combined data from two surveys, arguing that parasocial thinking, when functioning as internal rehearsal and self-understanding, and is characterized by variety and self-dominance, predicts parasociability as compensation for human interaction. Retroactive parasocial thinking negatively predicted compensation.

Breaking Drug War Hegemony or Reinforcing the Bad? Illicit Drug Discourses in AMC’s Breaking Bad • Katrina Flener, Temple University • This paper examines the first four seasons of AMC’s critically-acclaimed series Breaking Bad in terms of its representations of illicit drug use, the drug trade, and associated policy considerations. Relying on critical discourse analysis, this research attempts to understand how the basic cable series supports and/or challenges dominant ideology about illicit drug use, the drug trade (both here and in Mexico), and the United States’ drug war policies.

Is Cheating a Human Function? The Roles of Presence, State Hostility, and Enjoyment in an Unfair Video Game • J.J. De Simone, University of Wisconsin — Madison; Li-Hsiang Kuo; Tessa Verbruggen • In sports and board games, when an opponent cheats, the other players typically greet it with disdain, anger, and disengagement. However, work has yet to fully address the role of AI cheating in video games. In this study, participants played either a cheating or a non-cheating version of a modified open source tower defense game. Results indicate that when an AI competitor cheats, players perceive the opponent as being more human.

Gloomy Euphoria or Joyous Melancholy? Nostalgic Experiences of MMORPG Players in China: A Qualitative Study • Hang Lu, Marquette University • As predicted by Newman (2004) one of the three modern trends in future gaming is retrogaming. Retrogaming is a subculture in which gamers return to play some old computer games, including the most popular genre of online games, massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs). In order to examine gamers’ psychological motivation for returning to some old MMORPGs and their psychological experiences in retrogaming from the perspective of nostalgia, this study interviewed 65 Chinese gamers of a classic MMORPG, StoneAge.

Have We Ever Experienced Remade Fan Video as Visual Poaching on YouTube? • Keunyeong Kim, Pennsylvania State University • As media technology develops, it became harder to avoid the convergence of cultural studies and medium theory (Meyrowitz, 2008). In fact, the advance of interactive new media has accelerated fan cultures by providing a vast proliferation of both text-based and image-based spaces (Jenkins, 2006a, 2006b). The result of which has been the equally simultaneous, yet divergent modes of fan culture response.

All This Has Happened Before: Battlestar Galactica as a Dialogue on the War on Terror • Laura Osur, Syracuse University • The purpose of this study is to explore how Battlestar Galactica addresses issues related to the War on Terror. As science fiction critics Darko Suvin, Carl Freedman, and Frederic Jameson have suggested, the genre has a unique ability to address sociopolitical situations. Through a textual analysis, I find that Battlestar Galactica pushes the audience to reconceptualize war and terrorism by presenting multiple perspectives on questions related to violence, terror, and humanism.

The reality of it all: Navigating racial stereotypes on Survivor: Cook Islands • Patrick Ferrucci, U of Missouri; Margaret Duffy, Missouri School of Journalism • This study investigates how race was depicted on Survivor: Cook Islands. This particular season of the reality television program divided contestants by race into four distinct tribes. Television helps people make sense of the world around them and informs their understanding of the unfamiliar. Racialized depictions may amplify racism and polarization.

Animation Growing Up: Hollywood is Adding Adult Humor in Children’s Animated Films • Chelsie Akers, Brigham Young Uniersity; Giulia Vibilio • Children’s animated films have held a lasting influence on their audiences throughout the decades. As adults co-view such films with their children Hollywood has had to rewrite the formula for a successful animated children’s film. This study concentrates on the idea that a main factor in audience expansion is adult humor. The results show that children’s animated films from 1995-2009 are riddled with many instances of adult humor while in films from 1980-1994 use adult humor sparingly.

May Self-Efficacy Be With You: Self-Efficacy in Star Wars Online Fan Communities • Alexis Finnerty, Syracuse University; Dan Amernick • We examine the role of creative and technical self-efficacy in the online fan community. By surveying producers of fan-made Star Wars music videos to find out how their self-efficacy levels relate to the number of videos they upload, we conclude that creativity is more important to fan video producers than technical skills. We found a slight positive correlation between higher creative self-efficacy levels and uploads, and a negative correlation between uploads and technical self-efficacy.

Traditional vs. Entertainment News: A Study of Framing and Format Effects on Consumer Perceptions • Holly Miller, University of Minnesota School of Journalism and Mass Communication and University of Minnesota Law School; Whitney Walther, University of Minnesota • Entertainment media make up a multi-billion-dollar industry, and celebrity news has seeped into traditional news sources, such as network nightly newscasts, 24-hour cable news channels, and widely circulated publications. More people report knowing about Lindsay Lohan’s 90-day jail sentence for violating her probation than the Prime Minister of Israel’s visit to the White House.

Dancing with the Binary: Heteronormative Expectancies and Gender Inclusiveness on Dancing with the Stars • Betsy Emmons; Richard Mocarski; Rachael R. Smallwood, University of Alabama; Sim Butler, The University of Alabama • The celebrity-based television reality show Dancing with the Stars (DWTS) has been praised for having a diverse cast during its reign as a favorite prime-time competition show. Using a content analysis of gender performance based on Trujillo’s (1991) tenets of hegemonic masculinity along with a femininity binary opposite, this study affirms that heteronormative behavior persists on the show, even while varying genders are included.

Portlandia Tracks the Music Industry into the Age of Digital Media • Elia Powers, University of Maryland-College Park • Portlandia, an Independent Film Channel (IFC) comedy series that affectionately satirizes Portland, Oregon’s hipster culture, represents an unprecedented success by individuals to use the web to turn a video project into a network television series. Its format, niche-oriented content and narrative structure fit with the way that increasingly fragmented audiences consume media in the digital age.

The cathartic effects of narrative entertainment through contemplation: Examining the mediating role of self-perceptions on health outcomes after fictional drama exposure • Guan-Soon Khoo • In response to its disputed status in communication research, a new catharsis theory for media psychology is examined in a controlled experiment. One hypothesized model was tested, and two exploratory models were investigated. Mediational analyses found weak trends towards the hypothesized effects through unfavorable meta-emotions and self-compassion as mediators. Further, significant indirect effects were found via emotional self-efficacy. Results provide initial evidence for the cathartic effects of cinematic tragedy and human drama.

Men on The Wire: A textual analysis of ‘the most realistic depiction of a newsroom ever’ • Patrick Ferrucci, U of Missouri; Chad Painter, University of Missouri • This study investigates how fictional print journalists were portrayed on The Wire. Portrayals of journalism on television could influence audience perceptions of real-life journalists. The researchers used a cultural studies approach focusing on contextualization to analyze the text of all 10 episodes aired during The Wire’s fifth season, paying special attention to latent meanings of verbal and visual features.

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Communicating Science, Health, Environment, and Risk 2012 Abstracts

Faculty

In Her Own Voice: Women Scientists’ Identity Centrality and Perceptions of Workplace Climate • Jocelyn Steinke, Western Michigan University • Social identity theory offers a useful perspective for understanding women scientists’ perceptions of the gendered workplace cultures they encounter. This study of women scientist blogs found that women scientists regardless of whether they exhibited work identity centrality or family identity centrality experienced identity interference related workplace climate perceptions of job opportunities, workload, research funding, resources/equipment, networking opportunities, professional recognition and respect, and work-family balance. Implications for policy, practice, and social change are discussed.

Brochures as Potential Initiators of Change: Study of STD Brochures Available to Native American Youth • Marilee Long, Colorado State University; Donna Rouner, Colorado State University; Roe Bubar, Colorado State University; Irene Vernon, Colorado State University; Greg Boiarsky; Jennifer Walton, NEON • This study investigated whether STD prevention brochures (N = 61) available at six Indian Health Service facilities contained information that would encourage Native American youth and young adults to adopt STD prevention behaviors. The study drew upon three theoretical perspectives: health belief model, social norm concept, and elaboration likelihood model. Results indicate that the brochures will not be effective in helping cut the high rate of STD infections among Native American youth and young adults.

Can Media Literacy Change Children’s Attitudes and Preferences for Sugary Drinks and Fast Foods? • Yi-Chun (Yvonnes) Chen • The goal of this study is to contribute empirical research findings to the lack of intervention research in the area of childhood obesity. This study compared the efficacy of a knowledge-only curriculum (control) to a nutrition + media literacy enhanced curriculum (treatment) to promote desirable food choices among 3rd graders in a Title 1 School in Southwest Virginia (n=119).

Risk in risk: Exploring effects of multiple health risk situation, risk scale and risk origin upon public’s perceived health risk in news • Gang (Kevin) Han, Greenlee School/Iowa State University; Juyan Zhang, The University of Texas at San Antonio; Halli Trip, The University of Texas at San Antonio; Paul LeBlanc, The University of Texas at San Antonio • This study uses an experiment to examine the effects of three factors, namely multiple (two)-risk situation, media representation of risk scale and origin of risk, upon the transference of attribute salience of disease information from media to the audience. Agenda setting, second-level agenda setting, issue obtrusiveness and impersonal influence serve as the theoretical frameworks. Findings suggest that the proximity of health risk significantly affects perceived severity. Risk scale matters when diseases are of international origin.

More is less: Gatekeeping and coverage bias of climate change in US television news • Lee Ahern, Penn State; Melanie Formentin, The Pennsylvania State University • Past research supports the notion that Fox News is more dismissive of global warming than other news outlets. Ironically, Fox covers the issue much more often. A content analysis indicates that, overall, coverage of the issue relies on traditional news values such as political-elite cues and event magnitude. Fox, however, exhibited a news agenda biased toward excessive coverage, and co-opted the issue as an exemplar of “political correctness” and of the excess of political progressivism.

Glamorization or Cautionary Tale? Comparing Episodes of MTV’s 16 and Pregnant and the Mediating Role of Outcome Expectations on Pregnancy Beliefs and Aspirations • Autumn Shafer, Texas Tech University • In 2009, MTV began airing a documentary-style reality television show titled 16 and Pregnant. The series follows one pregnant teen per episode pre/post birth, and focuses on the consequences of teen pregnancy. Millions of teens nation-wide have seen the episodes of 16 and Pregnant, now in its third season. Without an empirical evaluation, it is not clear that such viewing is actually beneficial in shifting teens’ perceptions of the realities of teen pregnancy and parenting.

Synthetic Biology, Real Issues: U.S. Media Coverage of Synthetic Biology • Marjorie Kruvand • Synthetic biology is an emerging field that aims to design and build novel organisms by engineering man-made sequences of genes and assembling them in new combinations. While synthetic biology offers promise for developing cleaner fuels, creating pharmaceuticals, cleaning up pollutants, and fixing defective genes, it has been accompanied by environmental, ethical, and philosophical issues.

Seeking Information about Climate Change: Attention to News Media, Objective Knowledge, and Other Antecedents in an Augmented PRISM • Shirley Ho, Nanyang Technological University; Benjamin Detenber, Nanyang Technological University; Sonny Rosenthal, Nanyang Technological University; Edmund Lee, Nanyang Technological University • This study extends the planned risk information seeking model (PRISM). Survey data from 902 Singaporeans showed that past attention to climate change in the media significantly predicts objective knowledge, risk perception, and affective response related to climate change. In addition, objective knowledge was a weak predictor of seeking intention and was related positively to perceived seeking control and negatively to seeking-related subjective norms. These findings highlight the important role of media depictions of climate change.

A U.S. – China comparison of information-seeking intent about climate change • Z. Janet Yang, SUNY at Buffalo; Lee Ann Kahlor; Haichun Li, Beijing Normal University • We examined risk information seeking intentions related to climate change in U.S. and Chinese samples. Our model accounted for less variance in the Chinese sample and seeking intentions were less influenced by ecocentric attitude, risk perceptions, information insufficiency, and behavioral beliefs. Across the two samples, negative affect and subjective norms had similar impacts. Cultural differences are discussed. Overall, the model has cross-cultural validity and applicability in accounting for risk communication behaviors related to climate change.

Hard times in the heartland: How metropolitan Midwest newspapers cover rural health • Julie Andsager, University of Iowa; Petya Eckler, University of Iowa • Rural health is a public health problem, but little media research has studied it. This content analysis sought to determine how Midwestern, metropolitan newspapers define rural communities, people, and health concerns. Space and time frames were included in the analysis. The six newspapers published relatively few stories on rural health, but the health concerns accurately depicted rural problems. Amount of coverage was positively related to the states’ rurality. Rural residents were rarely included.

Use of Social Media by U.S. Hospitals: Benefits and Challenges • Petya Eckler, U of Iowa; Rauf Arif, University of Iowa; Erin O’Gara, U of Iowa • The study seeks to examine how U.S. hospitals use Facebook and Twitter. In-depth interviews were conducted with 15 public relations representatives of U.S. hospitals which use both social media platforms. Nine themes emerged as dominant: incentives/benefits, challenges, overall response by the public, patient health, community engagement, social media as targeted communication, reaching various demographics, how social media is used, and health literacy.

Media Use and Interpersonal Communication Following a Disaster: The May 22, 2011 Tornado in Joplin, Missouri • Brian Houston • On May 22, 2011, “one of the deadliest tornadoes in the United States history” occurred in Joplin, Missouri (National Weather Service, 2011, p. ii). News coverage of disasters like the Joplin tornado have captured the American public’s attention more than any other issue; however, surprisingly little is known about how individuals living in a community affected by a major disaster use media and interpersonal communication sources following a disaster.

Testing The RISP Model: Cell Phone Users and The New “Possible” Risk of Brain Cancer • Ronald Yaros, University of Maryland • The primary goal of this study was to test and extend the risk information seeking and processing model (RISP) with an online pre and post survey about the World Health Organization’s “possible” category for brain cancer from cell phones. Analyses of participants’ responses to the 2011 WHO announcement included affective response (worry) and perceived information insufficiency associated with a common everyday activity such as cell phone use.

Mediating Trust in Terrorism Coverage • Kirsten Mogensen, Roskilde University • Mass mediated risk communication can contribute to perceptions of threats and fear of “others” and/or to perceptions of trust in fellow citizens and society to overcome problems. This paper outlines a cross-disciplinary holistic framework for research in mediated trust building during an acute crisis. While the framework is presented in the context of television coverage of a terror-related crisis situation, it can equally be used in connection with all other forms of mediated trust.

The climate change blame game: U.S. elite newspaper coverage of climate change • Z. Janet Yang, SUNY at Buffalo; Anthony Dudo; Lee Ann Kahlor; Ming-Ching Liang; Jenny Allen Catellier; Weiai Xu; Jonathan Mertel • This content analysis reveals the general pattern in elite U.S. newspaper coverage of climate change from 2007 to early 2011, which largely coincided with major international negotiations and report releases. Newspaper coverage primarily portrayed other countries, especially China, as contributing to climate change, but portrayed the U.S., as taking the responsibility for finding solutions for climate change, especially when no severe impact of climate change was mentioned in the articles.

Metaphors in Science Communication: The Influence of Metaphors on the Public Perception of Introduced Species • P. Sol Hart, American University; Lauren Krizel • Drawing from the literature on framing processes, the present study examines how using different metaphors to describe introduced species may influence both the public perception of these species and willingness to spend resources to remove them. Using an experimental investigation, this study finds that individuals are more concerned about introduced species when they are described with the metaphor of invaders compared to the metaphors of piggy backers or providers. Implications for science communication are discussed.

Resistance, ethnicity and health: Designing messages that reduce reactance for Hispanic and non-Hispanic diabetics • Liz Gardner, Texas Tech University • An experiment was conducted to determine the influence of ethnicity and two particular message strategies on psychological reactance felt by adult diabetics (N=111) in response to controlling health messages. This 2 (testimonial/informational) x 2 (other-referencing/self-referencing) x 2 (Hispanic/non-Hispanic) experiment, which also included message replication and order factors, tested the influence of the predictors in the context of messages encouraging healthy diet and exercise for adult diabetics.

Join the conquest: Developing a campaign to increase clinical research participation in North Carolina • Heidi Hennink-Kaminski, UNC-Chapel Hill; Jessica Willoughby; Dana McMahan, UNC-Chapel Hill • Clinical research is necessary to develop life-saving medications and treatments, but the clinical research enterprise in the United States is in a state of crisis, largely due to an inability to enroll enough participants in studies. This paper chronicles formative research and message-testing research associated with the development of a local, branded campaign to raise awareness and stimulate interest in clinical research participation, largely among healthy volunteers.

Barriers to Medical Research Participation as Perceived by Clinical Trials Investigators: Reaching out to Rural and African American Communities in XXXXXXXX • Andrea Tanner, University of South Carolina; Sei-Hill Kim; Daniela Friedman, University of South Carolina; Caroline Foster, University of South Carolina; Caroline Bergeron, University of South Carolina • Clinical trials help advance public health and medical research on prevention, diagnosis, screening, treatment and quality of life. Despite the need for access to quality care in medically underserved areas in the state of xxxxxxxx, clinical trial participation remains low among individuals in rural and African American communities.

A “Hopeful Transition to Parenthood”: Metaphoric Mobilization in Web Framing of Fertility Clinics • Orly Shachar, Iona College • Today, 96% of the Society of Assisted Reproductive Technology (SART) member clinics have a web site and nearly 75% of member clinics have engaged in social media. As their presence on the web increases, fertility clinics’ promotional strategies have come under scrutiny. Paramount to their discourse is the language clinics employ on their homepages to frame their services and staff. This study draws on a top recommended clinics’ list, published by a leading parenting web portal.

The Effects of Graphic Messages Embedded in an Anti-smoking Videogame on Knowledge Improvement and Attitudes toward Smoking • Hyo Jung Kim, Nanyang Technological University; Joung Huem Kwon • This study explored the potential of serious videogames as new venues for effective health preventions. Researchers developed a videogame for anti-smoking prevention: Smokey Dude, a Flash based Super Mario kind of action-adventure game. Two versions of this videogame were created to examine the effects of graphic images, commonly adopted in anti-smoking prevention in traditional media in the context of a videogame.

Partisan Media and Healthcare: Conditional Indirect Effects of Ideology and Ambivalence on Structural Knowledge • Myiah Hutchens, Texas Tech University; Jay Hmielowski, Yale University; Michael Beam, Washington State University • Examining various media sources and their impact on knowledge has a long tradition in political communication. While the majority of research focuses on the impact of traditional media on factual knowledge, research is expanding to examine the role of a variety of forms of media and multiple dimensions of knowledge. Additionally, scholars’ focus is shifting from examining simple direct effects to understanding the process that better explains relationships between those variables.

The Effectiveness of the Entertainment Education Strategy in Sexual Assault Prevention: A Field Experiment in a College Campus Setting • Stacey Hust; Paula Adams; Chunbo Ren, Washington State University; Ming Lei, Washington State University; Weina Ran, Washington State University; Emily Marett, Mississippi State University • Sexual assault is a serious problem on college campuses across the United States, and first-year college students living on campus are particularly at risk for sexual assault. Among existing safety-related education programs that addressed sexual assault on college campuses, very few prevention programs have used mass media communication strategies designed to simultaneously entertain and educate, so that audience members choose to attend to the materials.

Postdoctoral Fellow • Predicting Cancer Information Seeking and Cancer Knowledge: The Role of Social and Cognitive Factors • Shelly Hovick, MD Anderson Cancer Center; Ming-Ching Liang; Lee Ann Kahlor • This study tests an expanded Structural Influence Model (SIM) to explore how social and cognitive factors contribute to cancer communication disparities. This study employed an online sample (N=1,007) of African American, Hispanic and White adults. The addition of cognitive predictors to the SIM substantially increased variance explained in cancer information seeking and cancer knowledge. Subjective norms and perceived seeking control were shown to be important mediators of the relationships between social determinants and communication outcomes.

The impact of HIV PSAs on attitudes, behavioral intentions and risk perception as a function of evidence form, argument quality, personal relevance and gender • Jueman (Mandy) Zhang, New York Institute of Technology; Makana Chock; Gina Chen; Valerie Schweisberger; Yi Wang • This study examined the combined effects of evidence form, argument quality, personal relevance and gender on attitudes towards and intentions of condom use with a primary and a non-primary partner as well as on risk perception at personal and societal level among heterosexually active young adults. Argument quality had the greatest impact on the attitude that condom use is effective regardless of partner type. Personal relevance enhanced the effective feeling regarding primary but not non-primary partners.

If they can’t help me, can I help myself? Institutional trust and self-efficacy in eco-label use • Lucy Atkinson, University of Texas at Austin; Sonny Rosenthal, Nanyang Technological University • This study employed latent factor interaction analysis to assess how environmental self-efficacy interacts with three forms of institutional trust—government, manufacturers, and advertising—to affect eco-label awareness and attention. Analyses revealed several main effects and two interactions. Government trust and eco-label awareness related negatively among high-efficacy respondents and positively among low-efficacy respondents. Advertising trust and eco-label attention related negatively among high-efficacy respondents and positively among low-efficacy respondents.

An Evaluation of Church-based Public Engagement on Nanotechnology • John Besley, University of South Carolina; Sang Hwa Oh, University of South Carolina • The current study explores the impact of public engagement on views about nanotechnology risks and benefits, decision-makers and knowledge. Using pre- and post-tests, it finds that, while views about decision-makers stayed stable, scores on a short knowledge quiz increased alongside both risk and benefit perceptions (n = 65). Additional multivariate analysis suggests that change in knowledge is associated with both positive changes in views about decision-makers’ fairness and post-intervention views about decision-makers.

Individual and Community Empowerment through a “Higher Power”: An Exploration of Rural Appalachian Women’s Communication about Health, Religion, and Empowerment • Lucinda Austin, Elon University • Through 41 qualitative, in-depth interviews with women residing in a small rural Appalachian community, this study questions how rural women make meaning of religion, empowerment, and health. This research study explores how religion affects women’s empowerment and how religion can be incorporated as an element of health communication campaigns to positively affect rural women’s everyday health activities.

How do Korean Senior Immigrants Use the Internet for Health Communication in the U.S.? • Jae Park, University of North Florida; Eric Haley, University of Tennessee • As long as the internet is the medium that delivers a tremendous amount of information, the number of senior citizen American immigrants that seek personal health information through the internet has rapidly increased. In-depth interviews were conducted with ten participants in order to answer the question, “How do Korean senior immigrants use the internet for health communication in the U.S.?”

Protection Motivation Theory and Trait Anxiety: Protecting Children’s Dental Health • Kimberly Walker, Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis • Protection motivation theory of fear appeals and attitude change (PMT) has been used with adults to motivate them to protect their health over a wide range of behaviors. It has been used rarely with children. This experiment applied PMT to children to determine how PMT’s two constructs—threat and coping—worked best in a communication message to motivate them to floss.

Ten years of News Coverage of Nanotechnology in Taiwan: Toward a revised model of mediated issue development • Tsung-Jen Shih, National Chengchi University • The model of mediated issue development suggests that an issue can receive widespread media attention if it is discussed in the political arena, covered by political journalists, portrayed with dramatic terms, and had fewer competing issues in the environment. This study argues that, in addition to these factors, the inclusion of sources representing different stances in the news stories is also a necessary condition for an issue to catch both media and public attention.

Student

Newspaper portrayals of climate-friendly plant-based food practices: The New York Times and The Australian • Radhika Mittal •This paper examines whether mainstream newspapers – The Australian and The New York Times – situate plant-based food practices in the context of anthropogenic climate change. A qualitative content analysis reveals distant, conflicting, compromising and insincere coverage of climate-friendly, plant-based food practices over a period of two years in the newspapers studied. The communication of risk is an important aspect of media engagement with scientific issues, especially when pertaining to urgent, global concerns such as climate change. This study points to a lacuna in these prominent papers’ coverage of an important measure in mitigating climate change.

Fitter with Twitter? The Direct and Efficacy-Mediated Effects of Reading, Writing, and Tweeting Health Messages Online • Rachel Young, University of Missouri School of Journalism • Online social network users regularly compose messages about health-related goals and post them to an audience of friends and followers. However, the psychosocial effects of writing and posting health messages via this platform have not yet been explored in depth. In a controlled experiment, this study examines the psychological and behavioral consequences, both direct and mediated by self-efficacy, of consuming, creating, and transmitting messages regarding physical activity via the social networking and microblogging site Twitter.

Patients or Polar Bears? Framing the Public Health Implications of Climate Change • Justin Rolfe-Redding, George Mason University • This study tested three framings of climate change—as an environmental, health, or security issue—with a spectrum of audience segments, with political advocacy (likelihood of writing the President) as the outcome variable. Results indicate these frames may actually have had the opposite effects from those expected. Moderately engaged segments were relatively less likely to engage in advocacy when viewing the health frame, and skeptical segments were relatively less active when viewing the security frame.

Examining News Coverage and Framing: The Case Study of Sea Lion Management at the Bonneville Dam • Tess McBride, Portland State University; cynthia coleman, portland state university • The current study examines how the construction of news stories frames information in ways that promote stakeholders’ platforms over the course of an environmental, scientific, social, political and legal conflict. Our examination of coverage of management of salmon populations and the encroachment of sea lions at Bonneville Dam in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States illustrates how the use of such frames as blame, solution and failure characterizes the mediated discourse.

Heightening uncertainty around certain science: Media coverage, false balance, and the autism-vaccine controversy • Graham Dixon, Cornell University; Christopher Clarke, Cornell University • To investigate how balanced reporting of the autism-vaccine controversy influences judgments of vaccine risk, we randomly assigned 327 participants to read news articles that presented either balanced claims both for/against an autism-vaccine link, anti-link claims only, pro-link claims only, or non-health related information. Readers in the balanced condition were less certain that vaccines did not cause autism and more likely to believe experts were divided on the issue. We discuss theoretical and practical implications of these findings.

Expression and Reception of Emotional Support Online: Mediators of Social Competence on Health Benefits for Breast Cancer Patients • Woohyun Yoo, University of Wisconsin – Madison; Kang Namkoong; Mina Choi; Dhavan Shah, University of Wisconsin – Madison; Michael Aguilar, University of Wisconsin – Madison; Stephanie Jean Tsang; Yangsun Hong, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Dave Gustafson, University of Wisconsin-Madison • This study examines the mediating role of computer-mediated social support (CMSS) group participation, specifically the expression and reception of emotional support, in the relation between social competence and beneficial health outcomes for breast cancer patients. Participation in a computer mediated social support (CMSS) group was assessed by tracking and coding 237 breast cancer patients’ actual discussion participation and their expression and the reception of emotionally supportive messages.

Seeking information about complex science: The interplay of risk-benefit perceptions and prior knowledge • Leona Yi-Fan Su, 6087729806; Nan Li; Dietram A. Scheufele; Dominique Brossard; Michael Xenos • This study examines the roles of perceived risks and benefits and knowledge level in predicting scientific information seeking behaviors. The findings show that both perceptions of risks and benefits positively relate to information seeking. Moreover, respondents with higher level of factual knowledge in nanotechnology tend to seek more information when perceiving both high risks and benefits. However, respondents with lower knowledge levels are motivated to seek information when high benefits but low risks are perceived.

Using the Theory of Planned Behavior to Explain Green-Buying, Recycling, and Civic Engagement Behavioral Intentions • Youqing Liao; Sonny Rosenthal, Nanyang Technological University; Shirley Ho, Nanyang Technological University • Expanding on the theory of planned behavior (TPB), this study incorporates and examines the effects of media attention, media dependency, and perceptions of personal and impersonal risk on three types of proenvironmental behaviors: recycling, green-buying and civic engagement. Regression analysis of a nationwide cross-sectional survey of Singaporeans (N = 1,168) yielded support for the original TPB model. Media attention significantly predicted green-buying and civic engagement behaviors, while interpersonal communication was significantly associated with all three types of proenvironmental behavior.

Science News Media Use, Institutional Trust, and South Koreans’ Risk Perception of Genetically Modified (GM) foods • Sang Hwa Oh, University of South Carolina; Sei-Hill Kim • The current study explores the role of science new media in shaping trust in science-related institutions and the relationship between institutional trust and risk perception of emerging technology. Using a controversial science issue in South Korea, the use of genetically modified (GM) foods, we fist examine whether institutional trust is negatively related to perception of GM foods risks. We then analyze the relationship between three different types of science media use (newspapers, television, and the Internet) and institutional trust.

Health Self-Efficacy and Health Information Seeking: Exploring Relationships between Source Utilization, Source Trustworthiness, Health Behaviors, and Demographics • Ho-Young (Anthony) Ahn, University of Tennessee; Nathaniel Evans, University of Tennessee; Tatjana Hocke, James Madison University; Elizabeth Avery, University of Tennessee • This study analyzes results from a representative nationwide telephone survey with a random sample (n=300) to examine how demographic variables influence health self-efficacy and how self-efficacy relates to health information seeking, health behaviors, and trust in seeking health information from different sources. No demographics were found to exert a unique influence on health self-efficacy, but the findings suggest health self-efficacy can be useful to predict health behaviors, although not be the best predictor of health information source choice and trust.

Do Online Health-related Behaviors Lead to Being Helped? • Hui Zhang, Colorado State University • The current paper examines what online health information seeking behaviors predict oneself or another being helped by following online health information. Prior studies have primarily focused on evaluation of information quality, credibility of information sources, seekers’ trust in online information, and implication of people’s health status on the types of information they seek.

A dangerous neighbor: The news frames of the radiation effects from the Fukushima nuclear accident • Junga Kim, University of Florida; Bijie Bie • This paper examined how U.S. newspapers conveyed radiation-related health information in coverage of the Fukushima nuclear accident. News articles from The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and USA Today were used in this study. A quantitative content analysis of 277 news articles and a qualitative framing analysis of 60 news articles were conducted.

A Look at Nature: The Visual Representation of Environmental Affairs on the Covers of Time • Bruno Takahashi, SUNY ESF; Mark Meisner, International Environmental Communication Association (IECA) • This study focuses on nature and environmental affairs on the cover of Time magazine. Through content and critical analyses, we reviewed the covers from 1920s to 2011. The results show a subtle trend towards increasing the representation of environmental affairs; an emphasis on dramatically visual issues, and an inattention to less spectacular ones; the difficulty of visually representing certain issues effectively; and the need for more attention to the potential incongruities between text and image.

Commenting on health: A framing analysis of user comments in response to health articles online • Avery Holton, University of Texas – Austin; Na Yeon Lee, University of Texas – Austin; Renita Coleman, University of Texas-Austin • Public health officials have continually urged journalists and other members of the news media to ease off health frames that focus on individuals and to promote broader societal frames instead. While some scholarly research has reinforced these pleas, none have examined the interplay between frames of health news coverage and resulting public comments. The current online environment invites such an analysis, allowing news organizations to post articles online and the public to comment on those articles.

Feast or famine: Acceptability of GM foods for prevention of plant disease • Joseph Steinhardt, Cornell University; Katherine McComas; John Besley, University of South Carolina • This study examines factors influencing public acceptability of genetically modified (GM) foods when situated within the context of preventing “late blight” plant disease, which caused the Irish Potato Famine and still results in substantial crop loss today. It also examines how the perceived fairness of decision-makers influences levels of support for GM foods. The results of a national survey (N=859) found that context mattered little in public acceptability of GM foods whereas perceived fairness predicted support.

To Green or Not To Green: A Cross-Cultural Study of the Impact of Product-Green Claim Congruity • Eunice Kim, University of Texas at Austin • This research examines the effects of product-green claim congruity on consumer responses in green marketing context. The results demonstrate that a product that is congruent with its green claim is evaluated more positively than an incongruent product. More interestingly, the product-green claim congruity effects are found to be more evident in the U.S. than in Korea, indicating the importance of product-claim congruity in Western cultures than in East Asian cultures.

News Media’s Framing of H1N1 and its Effect on Public Perception • Eun Hae Park, University of Missouri, Columbia • This study investigated the types of news frames used in reporting of the H1N1 virus, and also explored risk levels involved. A sample of three different newspapers—The New York Times, Washington Post and USA Today—was used. Framing categories included action, economic consequence, social impact, uncertainty and risk assessment. Risk assessment and social impact were the most commonly used frames.

For Fit’s Sake: A Norms-based Approach to Healthy Behaviors through Influence of Presumed Media Influence • Kaijie Ng; Grace Leong; Tiffany Tham; Shirley Ho, Nanyang Technological University • This study uses the influence of presumed media influence (IPMI) model as the theoretical framework to examine the normative influence of healthy lifestyle media messages on healthy lifestyle behavioral intentions. We included the differentiated social norms (i.e., proximal and distal injunctive norms), and personal norms variables in an extended model. Our results from a representative survey of 1,055 Singaporeans suggest that social distance and personal norms could be integrated into the IPMI theory.

The Effects of Press Freedom and Biotech Policy on Southeast Asian Newspapers’ Coverage of GM Crops • Ruby Asoro • Does a country’s degree of press freedom and national biotech policy influence its newspapers’ performance in reporting about GM crops? A content analysis of articles from six Southeast Asian newspapers reveals that a freer press status fosters more stories and use of frames while a precautionary biotech policy favors the citing of more sources. The diversity of sources, however, produced a more polarized coverage that tended to be negative toward this innovation.

Framing Responsibility in Climate Change: Ethnocentric Attribution Bias, Perceived Causes, and Policy Attitudes • Seung Mo Jang • Although the public’s perception that climate change is caused primarily by humans rather than nature is a key predictor of public engagement with the issue, little research has examined the way through which climate change communication can influence the perception of the cause. The present study seeks to explore how applicable existing research on attribution theory from social psychology is to public understanding of climate change.

From rangers to radio: The role of communication in the development of sense of place • Laura Rickard; Richard Stedman • While considerable scholarship in sociology and environmental psychology has demonstrated that the tenure and quality of our experiences, as well as the physical characteristics of the setting predict sense of place (SOP), less research has examined the role that communication about a place may play.

Concern about Climate Change: A Cross-National Analysis of Political, Cultural, and Media Influences • Heather Akin • This study analyzes the relationship among individual and country-level characteristics on individuals’ concerns about climate change in 24 nations. Using individual-level data on media use, education, and values and country-level data on political structure, economic status and environmental performance, this study analyzed these relationships using Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM). Results indicate that characteristics of nations, particularly status as a democracy, national wealth, and environmental commitment significantly influence citizens’ concern about climate change. Implications of these findings are discussed.

Anatomy of a Gaffe: Examining Print and Blog Coverage of Michele Bachmann’s HPV Vaccine Controversy • Robert Zuercher, University of Kentucky; Adam Parrish, University of Kentucky; Elizabeth Petrun, University of Kentucky • This study explores the nuances of blog and print channel coverage of Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann’s statement that the HPV vaccine caused mental retardation in a supporter’s daughter. The authors conducted a content analysis of both blogs and newspapers to examine differences in sourcing and commentary within blog and print coverage. Finally, a thematic analysis of identified content reveals how Bachmann was framed as a dishonest martyr who served to exacerbate a growing anti-vaccine movement.

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Advertising 2012 Abstracts

Research Papers

Between “Likes” and “Shares”: Effects of Emotional Appeal and Virality of Social Marketing Messages on Facebook • Saleem Alhabash, Michigan State University; Anna McAlister, Michigan State University; Elizabeth Taylor Quilliam, Michigan State University; Amy Hagerstrom, Michigan State University; Shupei Yuan, Michigan State University; Nora Rifon, Michigan State University; Jef Richards, Michigan State University • An online experiment (N=365) explored the effects of emotional tone, affective evaluation (number of likes) and viral reach (number of shares) of Facebook status updates of a fictitious anti-cyberbullying nonprofit organization. We found more positive attitudes toward status updates and anti-cyberbullying, as well as stronger viral sharing intentions, with positive messages. Further, affective evaluation only mattered and led to more favorable attitudes when status updates were negative. Highly liked messages lead to more positive anti-cyberbullying.

Affective Valence, Level-of-Processing and Message Regulatory Focus: How the Effectiveness of Anti-Drinking-and-Driving Advertisements is Influenced by Audience Mood • George Anghelcev, Penn State University; Sela Sar, Iowa State University • Message content (type of appeal, focus of message) and message delivery (media placement) have been identified by recent reviews of campaigns against Alcohol-Impaired Driving (AID) as the two main determinants of campaign success. The present study advances theoretical knowledge on both types of variables, and has actionable implications on how media placement can maximize the effectiveness of anti-AID campaigns. As hypothesized, responses to anti-AID advertisements with different regulatory foci (promotion-framed vs. prevention-framed) were differentially impacted by pre-existing audience mood. The proposed theoretical explanation (namely, that mood effects are due to differential engagement in global or local processing induced by the mood), as well as the identified interaction between message regulatory focus and mood, have never been tested in the context of advertising. Theoretical contributions to advertising literature and to regulatory focus research are considered along with recommendations for advertising practitioners.

The Effectiveness of Comparative versus Noncomparative Advertising for Nonprofessional Services • Fred Beard, University of Oklahoma • Although both services advertising and comparative advertising for products have received considerable attention, few researchers have examined the effectiveness of comparative services advertising. This study addresses this gap in the literature by exploring the effectiveness of comparative advertising for a nonprofessional service. The results of an experiment revealed no significant differences in the effects of comparative and noncomparative service and product ads on several important advertising outcomes. Empirical and practical implications of the results are discussed.

Understanding the Effects of Negative Celebrity Information • Mihyun Kang; William Reeves; Sejung Marina Choi; Weonkyung Kim • This study investigates the effects of two dimensions of congruence in the negative celebrity endorser information on consumer responses to the celebrity endorser as well as the brand endorsed by the celebrity. Results indicated that perceived credibility of the celebrity endorser, in terms of morality and expertise, decreased when the negative event was closely related to the celebrity endorser’s area of expertise. The findings also revealed that the two types of congruence indeed interact in determining consumers’ responses to the celebrity and the endorsed brand; consumers’ responses were least favorable when both types of congruence were high.

London, Lyrics, & Louis: A cross-cultural content analysis of product placement in popular music • Clay Craig; Shannon Bichard, Texas Tech University • The search for alternative forms of advertising corresponds with the proliferation of traditional advertising clutter.  One method that has seen an increase in exploration is product placement. Though commonly applied to visual media, this study examines this practice in song lyrics (i.e. lyrical product placement). The current study seeks to add a cross-cultural dimension by evaluating the use of lyrical product placement in the top 100 songs from the U.S., Europe, and Japan from 2010 (N = 300). Findings indicate regional differences in lyrical product placement and thus opportunities for diversification in the use of lyrical product placement across regions.

Pre-Roll Advertising in Videogames: Effects on Brand Recall and Attitudes • Frank Dardis, Penn State University; Mike Schmierbach; Brett Sherrick, The Pennsylvania State University; Julia Daisy Fraustino, The Pennsylvania State University • Although brands continue to spend large amounts of their marketing budgets on videogame advertising, little research has investigated the effects of pre-roll advertising on players’ recall of and attitudes toward brands partaking in the increasingly common brand-communication strategy. The current experiment indicated that unaided recall scores of brands appearing in pre-roll advertisements were quite robust. Attitudes toward the brands also were positively influenced: players who saw pre-roll ads had more positive attitudes toward the advertised brands compared to players who did not see any ads. A significant interaction indicated that this effect became more pronounced as players enjoyed the game more. Practical implications are discussed.

“Ultimate” sponsorship: Fan identity, brand congruence and the Ultimate Fighting Championship • Michael Devlin, University of Alabama; Natalie Brown, University of Alabama; Andrew Billings, University of Alabama; Stacy Bishop, University of Alabama • This study examined how fan identity towards a sport, in this case, the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), impacted the evaluations of congruent and incongruent sponsors.  An online questionnaire was used to survey 911 participants, revealing that highly identified fans evaluated all sponsors of the sport more favorable than fans who are not highly identified.  Results also showed that highly identified fans evaluated sport-congruent sponsors more favorable than incongruent sponsors, suggesting that fan identification is a critical factor to consider when examining the effectiveness of sport sponsorship.

Advertising enjoyment and time perception in multitasking • Brittany Duff, University of Illinois; Sela Sar, Iowa State University; Sydney Chinchanachokchai, University of Illinois • Consumers are increasingly focused on multiple media, and are exposed to advertisements that divide their attention. This study looks at differences in attitude towards advertisements when advertisements are either the sole recipient of attention versus when attention toward the ads is divided between the ad and one or two additional tasks. Results show that increasing tasks does decrease the attention given to the ads but increases perception of time passing quickly, enjoyment of the task(s) and enhances ad attitude.

An ethical dilemma? An assessment of commercials from the 12 top fast-food businesses • Julie Fudge, North Dakota State University; Nan Yu, North Dakota State University; Laura C. Farrell, North Dakota State University • Scholars suggest that TV commercials can be an important factor contributing to food and drink choices. This study investigated commercials from the top 12 fast-food businesses in the U.S. Our findings revealed that nutrition appeals were rarely used independently to attract consumers and the majority of fast-food ads did not meet a standard test for ethical use of persuasion.

Is Green Advertising Recommended When Things Go Wrong? • Harsha Gangadharbatla; Gergely Nyilasy; Angela Paladino • The current project investigates the effects of green advertising and a corporation’s environmental performance on brand attitudes and purchase intentions. In order to test the effects, an experiment with n=302 subjects was conducted with advertising (green, corporate, and none) and a firm’s environmental performance (high, low, and no information) as independent variables and brand attitude and purchase intention as dependent variables. Results indicate a significant interaction effect between advertising and a firm’s environmental performance. More specifically, controlling for pre-existing industry or category attitudes, the negative effect of a firm’s low performance on brand attitudes becomes stronger in the presence of green advertising compared to general corporate advertising and no advertising. Similarly, when the firm’s environmental performance is positive, both green and general corporate advertising result in unfavorable brand attitudes compared to when there is no advertising. We explain these somewhat counter-intuitive results by using attribution theory and draw both theoretical and managerial implications.

The Effect of Acculturation on the Language of Advertising Among Hispanics • Ashley Garcia, Oklahoma State University; Cynthia Nichols, Oklahoma State University • This study examines the influence of acculturation and language on the emotional response of three print advertisements (English, Spanish, Code-Switched). The advertising treatments and surveys were administered to a convenience sample of 283 respondents in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The Bidimensional Acculturation Scale (BAS) for Hispanics was used to measure acculturation (Low, High, Bicultural). Emotional responses to the print advertisements were measured using the Emotional Quotient (EQ) scale and the condensed Reaction Profile. Results revealed some significant differences in advertising preferences. Results also suggested that a code-switched advertisement could be both culturally relevant and appropriate for reaching the majority of the Hispanic market. Implications, limitations and recommendations for future research are discussed.

Eco-Friendly Buying Behavior: Examining the Roles of Environmental Knowledge, Concern, and Perceived Consumer Effectiveness • Jun Heo; Sidharth Muralidharan, The University of Southern Mississippi • The current study examined the causal relationships among selected environmental antecedents and their impacts on consumers’ green purchase behavior. A total of 283 respondents completed an online survey. Structural equation modeling revealed that environmental knowledge (EK) and environmental concern (EC) were significant predictors of environmentally conscious consumer behavior (ECCB), with EC being the stronger predictor. The study also suggests a major mediating role of EC in predicting ECCB. Implications for advertisers are discussed.

Happy to Help?: The Role of Antecedent Mood with Emotional Appeals in Disaster Relief Advertising • Seungae Lee; David Tisdale, University of Southern Mississippi; Jun Heo • In the last decade, devastating natural disasters have been omnipresent in the world. This study focused on the application of hedonic contingency hypothesis to the donation advertising. It was hypothesized that antecedent mood of audience would moderate the relationship between emotional appeals and evaluations of advertisement. A 2 x 2 experiment was conducted. The results supported the significant role of antecedent mood highlighting the influence of editorial placement of disaster relief advertisements in the media.

Cultural Cues in Advertising: Context Effects on Perceived Model Similarity, Identification Processes, and Advertising Outcomes • Gregory Hoplamazian, Loyola University Maryland • Perceptions of similarity and identification with advertising characters has been linked with positive advertising outcomes.  However, relatively little is known about how context cues in advertising impact viewer perceptions of ad characters.  This paper reports findings from an experiment which manipulated racial cultural cues that appear with White, Black, and racially ambiguous characters.  Results indicate background cultural cues, in the form of artwork associated with Black/White culture, have a significant impact on advertising character perceptions (e.g., similarity, identification) and advertising outcomes (e.g. brand attitudes, purchase intentions).  Findings help explain past research finding White viewers respond no different to advertisements based on character race, by demonstrating that background cultural cues moderate the effects of character race.  Further, results suggest source ambiguity is not a necessary condition for context effects in advertising, and also provide novel insight into viewer responses to racial ambiguity.

Does DTCA Influence Consumers’ Perceived Importance of a Health Issue? Two-Sided Message-Order and DTCA Skepticism • Ilwoo Ju, The University of Tennessee; Jinseong Park, The University of Tennessee • To better understand consumers’ coping mechanisms of DTC advertising and to address socially important health issues, the current study examined whether perceived importance of sleep disorders are influenced by DTC advertising. Two-sided message order and DTCA skepticism were hypothesized as predictors of the perceived importance. The results showed that there is an interaction between the two-sided message order effects and DTCA skepticism. Theoretical, practical, and regulatory implications are discussed.

Young Consumers’ Motivations for Scan QR Code Advertising • Jong-Hyuok Jung, Syracuse University; Rachel Sommerstein, Syracuse University; Eun Seon Kwon, Syracuse University • This study explores consumers’ motivation to use QR codes on advertising. Based on previous literature from consumer media use, technology/innovation adoption, and advertising effectiveness, predictors of consumer intention to use QR code advertising were tested via an online survey of 160 college students. The empirical findings from the current study suggest that consumers’ intentions to use QR code advertising are largely influenced by perceived information value of QR code advertising followed by entertainment and perceived ease of use. Additionally, the current study suggests consumers who have any previous experience with QR code advertising are more likely to use QR code advertising in the future. Both practical and theoretical implications of the study results are also discussed.

Assessing the relationship of attitude toward the ad to intentions to use direct-to-consumer drugs: A systematic quantitative meta-analysis • Wan Seop Jung; E. Soo Rhee • A number of studies have addressed Aad in the DTCA literature. Despite this interest in Aad, there has not been a comprehensive attempt to investigate general findings across independent DTCA studies. Such an investigation is useful in understanding the general strength and variability of the relationships. In the current meta-analysis, the data provided a summary of 278 samples. The aggregated study effects suggested a significant relationship between Aad and a number of important constructs, including both antecedents (education and income) and consequences (behavioral intention). However, the strength of each of these relationships was small or small to moderate.

Characteristics of Advergames on Online Gaming Websites targeting Children • Soontae An, Ewha Womans University; Hannah Kang, University of Florida • This study analyzed advergames on top online gaming websites for children. The content of 131 websites was analyzed to see whether each site contained advergames, particularly advergames for food products, and the way the advergames were presented to children. Results showed that very few websites made a distinction between advergames and general games. In many cases, advergames were mixed in with other general games. Only half of the advergames provided some form of ad breaks to notify users of the commercial nature of advergames. Furthermore, many ad breaks demonstrated problems in terms of visibility, contents, and readability.

The Effect of Tempo in the Background Music of Political Television Spots on Candidates’ Issue Images, Humane Images, and Voters’ Recall • Sang Chon Kim, University of Oklahoma; Doyle Yoon • The current study attempts to examine the effect of background music in political television advertising on candidate images—both issue-related and humane-related images—and voters’ recall, focusing on the musical tempo of background music. In addition, the study uses two concepts as the covariates—motivation (political interest) and ability (political knowledge), which are the core concepts in the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM)—to control the effects of individual difference. An experiment is conducted to investigate the effect of musical tempos on candidate images and on voters’ recall of the ad content. One hundred and fifty participants for the experiment were allocated to three groups—fast-tempo music, slow-tempo music, and no music. The findings revealed that a slow tempo led to issue images of candidates; however, a fast tempo did not lead to humane images. Also, the findings showed that a fast tempo resulted in less recall of the ad content than a slow tempo and a control condition with no music. No significant influences of political interest and knowledge were found on recall and both issue and humane images. More implications are discussed.

I “Unlike” You! Reasons for Unliking Brand Pages on Facebook • Eun Sook Kwon; Eunice Kim, University of Texas at Austin; Sejung Marina Choi • Social networking sites (SNSs) enable consumers to visibly exhibit their relationship, taste and voice. Often, consumers “like” or become friends with a brand on SNSs, but they may discontinue the relationship by “unliking” the brand page. We surveyed 176 college students who have “unliked” commercial brands on Facebook to determine what causes consumers to end their relationships with brands on SNSs. Findings suggest four reasons for “unliking” brands on Facebook: excessive information, lack of information, lack of brand interest, and lack of incentive. Additional analyses indicate that when consumers feel that they are generally overloaded with information, and perceive brand posts as irritating on Facebook, they are more likely to “unlike” the brand pages they have previously associated with. Implications for advertisers and brand managers are discussed.

Engagement Ads in Social Network Games:  Persuasion Knowledge and Consumer Choices to Send Marketer-Generated eWOM to Friends • Jin Kyun Lee, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh; Sara Hansen • This study investigates antecedents for persuasion knowledge about sending marketer-generated electronic word of mouth via advertisements in social network games (SNGs). Survey data from 319 consumers who play SNGs was analyzed using regression analysis. While overall persuasion knowledge did not impact eWOM, SNG advertiser sincerity and game involvement positively enhanced opinion passing and opinion giving. Product knowledge positively affected opinion giving. Implications suggest that as consumers feel SNG advertiser sincerity, they willingly become persuasion agents.

When does personalized advertising really work? The conceptual difference between actual personalization and perceived personalization • Cong Li • Personalized advertising is becoming an industrial trend and a number of prior studies have concluded that personalization is more efficacious than non-personalization. However, it is somewhat confusing in the literature whether the test of personalization effects should be based on the message sender’s objective personalization process or the message receiver’s subjective perception. It is argued in this article that, due to potentially biased consumer perception, an actual personalization process does not automatically yield more favorable outcomes. Two laboratory experiments demonstrate that it is possible for a personalized message to be perceived as generic and for a generic message to be perceived as personalized. The key finding is that perceived personalization instead of actual personalization determines message effectiveness. A message only shows superior effects when it is perceived to be personalized by the message recipient, regardless of whether it is actually personalized or not.

How Connected Are Connected Consumers?  Comparing the Contextual Use of Traditional and Nontraditional Video Platforms • Kelty Logan • The “connected consumer” adds video platforms to their use of traditional television.  Because this behavior is prevalent among teens and young adults, an elusive media target, advertisers have embraced digital video platforms to augment their traditional media plans. This study indicates that while the media content may be constant across video platforms, the user experience differs.  Furthermore, receptiveness to advertising varies according to user experiences suggesting that ads are not uniformly effective across video platforms.

Child Exposure to Food and Beverage Placements in Movies: Toward an Implicit Persuasion Model  (Top Paper, Ad Division) • Jorg Matthes, University of Vienna • There is little knowledge about how product placements shape the food choices of children. Informed by an implicit persuasion model, two studies demonstrate that exposure to brands in movies can have a significant impact on children’s food and beverage choices. Due to an implicit attitude formation mechanism, no effects on explicit attitudes such as brand liking and future consumption intentions were observed. These findings bear great importance to advertising scholars, nutrition experts, and policy regulators.

Objectification or evolution? Examining male representations in advertisements in Singapore’s men’s magazines, 1985-2011 • Fernando Paragas, Nanyang Technological University; Jack Yong Ho • Higher incidences of body dissatisfaction amongst males have led to speculation that men are increasingly experiencing what had previously been observed between women and their exposure to female objectification in the mass media. While it may be tempting to assume a similar relationship between male body dissatisfaction and exposure to male objectification in the media, few studies have been conducted to understand the extent to which males are being objectified in the first place – and even less so in Asia. Through a random stratified sampling of advertisements within four popular Singapore-based men’s magazines from 1985 to 2011, a content analysis revealed patterns similar to Western-based studies, with young, lean-muscular Caucasian men taking up a highly disproportionate amount of Singapore’s media space over the decades. It was also found that males are increasingly portrayed to be sexual and of a mesomorphic and well-defined physique; trends that may explain men’s body-image discrepancies and subsequently, desires for bodily change. The study also revealed that Asian male representations, while often stereotyped as asexual in the West, are increasingly following the footsteps of their Caucasian counterparts.

To help or not to help:  Effects of affective expectancies on responses to prosocial advertisements • Sheetal Patel; Sri Kalyanaraman • This experimental study examines the suggestion that negative affective expectancies about the outcomes of prosocial acts resulting from the news and related to compassion fatigue can negatively influence compassion, attitudes, and prosocial behavior in response to an advertisement. Using affective expectancy and attitude toward the ad theory, the findings suggested affective expectancies directly influenced feelings and compassion while indirectly influencing attitudes and behaviors. The implications of these effects on advertisements and resulting behavior are discussed.

The Effects of Spokes-characters and Mood on Children’s Attitudes toward Advertising and Purchase Intention • Bin Shen; Karla Gower, University of Alabama • Research on mood in cognitive psychology supports the idea that affective cues of mood convey information, but it has not yet been systematically studied in children. The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of children’s mood (happy vs. sad) and the presence of spokes-characters (present vs. non-present) on their attitudes toward advertising and purchase intention, with specific focus given to the interaction of children’s affective state and product endorsers in advertising. Eighty-five third graders participated in a 2 _ 2 factorial experiment. The results indicated a significant interaction between mood and spokes-characters on children’s attitudes toward advertising for the unfamiliar brand. Significance was also found in the unfamiliar brand condition between spokes-characters and attitudes toward advertising. Furthermore, the study indicated a significant relationship between mood and attitudes toward advertising under both brand conditions, and that children in a happy mood have higher purchase intention than in a sad mood. The implications of these findings for advertisers, marketers, and public-policy makers are discussed.

Exploring interactive media from the perspective of creative professionals at advertising agencies in the Midwest • Adam Wagler, University of Nebraska-Lincoln • Interactive media is creating new challenges for creative professionals in advertising. This qualitative study explores how leading advertising agencies in the Midwest are integrating interactive media into campaigns. The findings begin with a fundamental shift in the industry that is moving away from “advertising.” Agencies must engage audiences while embracing change by building interactivity into their “DNA.” Professionals and educators will benefit from findings that identify strategies to stay current with a rapidly changing medium.

Examining Perceived Control of Navigation and Its Interaction with Perceived Fit in Cause-Sponsorship Leveraging on Corporate Web Sites • Ye Wang, University of Missouri – Kansas City • Web-based interactivity can facilitate central-route processing of sponsorship, which is different from low-level processing and mere-exposure effects in traditional situations of sponsorship. Therefore, the purpose of the present study is to examine the effects of Web-based interactivity, specifically perceived control of navigation, on audience processing of sponsorship. The results showed that low perceived control of navigation was associated with lower attitude toward the sponsorship and the sponsor’s brand, and purchase intent than high perceived control of navigation. The effect of perceived fit on the number of negative thoughts of the sponsorship depends upon levels of perceived control of navigation.

Sex sells? A meta-analysis of the effect of sexual content in advertisements on persuasive outcomes • John Wirtz, Texas Tech University; Johnny Sparks; Kelli Lyons, Texas Tech University • This paper presents a meta-analysis of the effects sexual content in advertisements has on recall and recognition, attitudes, and purchase intention. We identified 76 relevant effects from 54 studies that used the experimental method. The primary analysis tested for main effects, although we also conducted exploratory analyses of three moderator variables—appeal intensity, gender, and study publishing date. Our analysis revealed significant main effects for sexual content on ad and brand recall and recognition and purchase intention, although the effect for brand recall was negative (i.e., recall lower). Main effects for attitude toward the ad and brand were not significant.

Branding Potentials of Keyword Search Ads  (Second Place, Best Paper) • Chan Yoo, University of Kentucky • Based on the priming theory including the inclusion and exclusion model, this study examined the effects of ad rankings in search engine result pages, especially for an unknown brand, on memory and perceptions. Both topic knowledge and persuasion knowledge about keyword search ads were examined as moderators. A total of 228 undergraduate students participated in the experiment featuring a 2 (rank: 1st  vs. 4th) x 2 (persuasion knowledge: activation vs. no activation) between-subjects design with some covariates (i.e., click-through, search confidence, and demographic information). The results suggest that a keyword search ad for the unknown brand may generate greater recognition and more favorable brand perceptions, when it has a high ranking than when it has a lower ranking than well-known brands. Furthermore, subjects’ topic knowledge and persuasion knowledge were working together to influence brand recognition and perceptions.

Narrative Transportation in Radio Advertising: A Study of the Effects of Dispositional Traits on Mental Transportation • Lu Zheng, University of Florida; Yunmi Choi, University of Florida • This study examined the potential influence of three individual traits, namely transportability, mental imagery vividness and need for cognition on one’s psychological transportation and ensuing belief change in a narrative radio advertising context. The study demonstrated that all three dispositional factors tend to significantly influence one’s degree of transportedness. Moreover, the study showed that a higher degree of transportedness leads to a more potent persuasive impact on one’s affective and conative responses to narrative radio commercial.

A Content Analysis of the Information Content of Over-the-Counter Drug Advertising in Magazines • Lu Zheng, University of Florida; John Sutherland; Shine Lyui • Despite the pivotal role played by OTC advertising in consumers’ health-related decisions, little research has examined the information content of OTC advertising in the past three decades.  This study content analyzed the information cues portrayed in OTC ads from six popular magazines representing three categories (women, men, and general interest) from 2008 to 2010. The study provides insight into the current state of OTC print advertising. Implications and limitations of the study are discussed.

Teaching Papers

Where the Bottom Line Is Higher: What Small IMC Agencies Need from New Graduates • Martine Robinson Beachboard, Idaho State University; Lisa Weidman, Linfield College • In non-metropolitan areas, colleges may find themselves developing IMC curricula based on national studies of major markets.  The authors, whose students find work primarily in smaller organizations, surveyed advertising professionals in a mostly rural state.  Survey results indicate that employers in small agencies need the same things larger agencies need – and more.  Here, even entry-level employees must have a client-centered business perspective.  In this world, everyone has to contribute to the bottom line.

Overview of Technology’s Role in the Advertising Creative Classroom • Lisa Duke; Sabrina Habib • Digital interactive platforms have permeated every aspect of day-to-day life, with the potential to profoundly affect the ways advertising creative students and professionals generate and develop ideas.  However, little work has been done to better understand the ways in which new technologies are used to construct and sustain creative ideas. The purpose of this study is to understand the role of technology in advertising creative classrooms.

Learning from the best: A study of the growth, goals and methods of exemplary teachers • Brett Robbs, University of Colorado at Boulder; Sheri Broyles, Mayborn School of Journalism • University of North Texas • This study provides insight into the growth of 15 exemplary advertising teachers and the skills and attributes essential to their success. It’s based on interviews with teachers characterized as exemplary because of their experience and their having won a national or major university teaching award. The paper examines the methods respondents use to improve, the key change in their evolution as teachers, the responsibilities seen as critical and the ways they achieve their goals.

Professional Freedom & Responsibility Papers

Perceptions of Work-life Balance Among US Advertising Students: A Study of Gender Differences • Jami Fullerton; Alice Kendrick • US advertising students who rated statements pertaining to work/life balance in the advertising industry as part of a national survey generally indicated that they “want it all” with respect to a rewarding career and a full personal and family life. Yet the majority who said they would work 60-80 hours per week if necessary seems to indicate that they might anticipate a compromise in terms of their leisure or family time. Gender differences were not apparent in terms of the students’ willingness to work long hours and their desire to have a good quality of life. Women, however, were more likely than men to believe in early-career burnout, that they might not work in advertising if they had children and that society might look down on them if they worked full time after having children. Results of this survey suggest that the advertising industry’s notorious dearth of work/life balance appears destined to repeat itself with Millennial Generation, despite predictions to the contrary.

Special Topics Papers

Creative Reconstruction in Tokyo: The Rebuilding of an American/Japanese Advertising Agency • Daniel Haygood, Elon University • Doing business in Japan can be treacherous for any American firm, particularly one trying to navigate a joint venture comprised of an American advertising agency and a traditional Japanese advertising agency. Different organizational structures, management philosophies, company cultures, and approaches to the advertising business create immense challenges. This rare success story of one such venture revealed lessons of organizational structure assimilation, inter-cultural management, and basic common sense.

An Exploratory Study of An Emerging Phenomenon in Advertising Agencies:  Project Management Is Taking Over? • Daniel Ng, University of Oklahoma • The advertising industry has evolved into an unparalleled yet acute competitive environment where the demand for performance and service is endless. Agencies are under unprecedented pressure to meet client expectations, stay up to date on ever-changing technology trends and meet insurmountable deadlines. As change within the marketplace transpires and the need for ingenious campaign to reach a fragmented audience trends upward, agencies are forced to reevaluate how they are structured from the inside.  This paper attempts to find current perspective toward the evolution of account management in ad agencies settings.  Intriguing results are found via using personal interviews with advertising professionals. It also discusses key differences between the both account management and project management.  It delves into the perspective of the evolution and gradual transition from account management to project management as well as evaluating how agencies are being affected by new required needs in the marketplace.

Advertising in Flux: The Exodus of Account Planning from St. Louis • Sara Roedl, Southern Illinois University • This research focuses on account planning in St. Louis, examining its role in the St. Louis advertising community.  Information was gathered through personal interviews.  Account planning has declined significantly in St. Louis.  While planning is typically utilized by full service agencies, in St. Louis it is popular among promotions agencies.  Advertising practitioners have adapted to the declining presence of account planning by nesting planning practices within other efforts in order to remain competitive.

From Credibility to Engagement: Determining Meaning in Public Relations and Advertising • Brian Smith • Scholars have long maintained that public relations content is more effective than advertising content because the former carries increased credibility through the value of third-person testimonials in publicity and editorial coverage. However, scholars have been unable to conclusively prove public relations’ advantage. In order to understand the difference in impact between public relations and advertising, this study assesses the way publics assign value to each communication source in three focus groups. Results reveal a dichotomy between public relations as personal responsibility and advertising as entertainment, and the possibility that the two communication types balance each other toward communication impact. This study also challenges assumptions that audiences seek the same value in both communication forms and suggests that engagement, rather than credibility, is the more appropriate point of evaluation.

Using Taylor’s Six-Segment Strategy Model to Generate Messages That Help to Reduce Hospital-Acquired Infections • Ron Taylor, University of Tennessee, Knoxville • Hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) are a serious problem worldwide, costing in the United States alone $30 billion annually. About five percent of hospital patients will develop an HAI.  Encouraging health care workers to adhere to a recommended hand washing protocol has become a major health care initiative.  This study demonstrates how messages based in Taylor’s Six-Segment Strategy Wheel may be more effective than the current ones, most of which are based in models of rational decision-making.

Student Papers

Separating Motivational Activation from Implicit Attitudes in a Food Advertising Context • Rachel Bailey, Indiana University • The study is a first step in differentiating the contributions of motivational activation from attitude accessibility and strength to evaluative priming responses. An evaluative priming procedure as well as psychophysiological indicators of motivational activation are used to gauge their contributions to responses toward symbols of appetitive stimuli (branded packaging representing food) and primary appetitive stimuli (unpackaged food). In general, results show unpackaged food is generally more appetitive showing better implicit attitudes and greater motivational activation.

When do consumers seek brand recommendations online? Updating existing theory on product choice and the form of information • Hyuk Jun Cheong • Consumers have been enabled to share their product purchase experiences, brand-relevant information, and product recommendations more easily since the advent of social media and User-Generated Content (UGC). Moreover, product information and brand recommendations in the context of UGC are deemed more trustworthy than online advertising or the product information produced by companies because they are mostly generated by their peers (Goldsmith and Horowitz 2006; Cheong and Morrison 2008). In this study, we attempted to identify and provisionally update empirical aspects of advertising theories – mainly the ELM and the FCB grid – that don’t currently accommodate things like UGC, by performing three focus groups with 29 college students (the number of participants – FG1: 9, FG2: 10, FG3: 10). Based on the results of the focus groups, the FCB grid was updated, and several propositions pertaining to consumers’ brand- or product-related information-seeking behaviors in the context of UGC and a list of 12 product categories, generated by using three product dimensions (i.e., “product involvement,” “think-feel,” and “online-offline shopping”), were provided for the future research. Preliminary findings and discussion points for scholars and professionals working in relevant fields are also offered in the study.

Effects of violent television programs on advertising effectiveness among young children • Eunji Cho, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Seung Chul Yoo, The University of Texas at Austin • Using an experimental method, this study found violent TV programs elicits a high level of excitation among young children, which substantially enhances their advertising effectiveness. When advertising was viewed in a violent program, children showed higher ad recall and more favorable attitudes toward the ad when the advertising was viewed in a nonviolent program. Higher purchase intention and brand preference were also founded among subjects who viewed the ad embedded in a violent program.

The Relationship Between Uncertainty Avoidance and Children’s Online Advertising Regulation Code: Examining the EASA • Nathaniel Evans, University of Tennessee • The current study examines variations in children’s advertising regulation code across the pan-European community and seeks to understand the relationship such code has with uncertainty avoidance (UAI). A content analysis of 18 European nation states’ advertising regulatory bodies’ (SROs) policies in the European Advertising Standards Alliance (EASA) was carried out. Findings reveal that nation states with higher UAI tend to have regulation code that mirrors a liberal market model of regulation reflective of the International Camber of Commerce (ICC) rather than a national-cultural model of advertising regulation reflective of EASA. The findings have implications for advertisers and regulators. Future research suggestions for EASA and children’s online advertising regulation code are discussed.

The Effect of Arousal Variance and Presentation Sequence on Audience Responses to Animal Protection PSAs • Hyejin Kim, University of Minnesota; Okhyun Kim, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities • This study investigated the effect of arousal variance and presentation sequence on visual message recall in the context of animal protection Public Service Announcements (PSAs) with an unpleasant image appeal. The results demonstrated that an arousal generated from a visual message is more effective in the PSA element recalls. The findings contribute to advancing the limited capacity model of emotional message processing and to building more memorable PSA campaign strategies.

The Effects of Visual Metaphor in Advertising on Attitude Changes • Soojin Kim, University of Florida; Jihye Kim, University of Florida • The purpose of this experimental study was to test the persuasive effects of visual metaphors in ads on consumers’ attitudes and intention and gain a greater understanding of the effects of visual metaphors under the levels of the corporate credibility and involvement in ads. An experimental study was conducted to examine three-way interactions in a 2 (involvement: high/low) x 2 (corporate credibility: high/low) x 2 (metaphor or non-metaphor) factorial design. The findings showed that a high credibility and visual metaphor association for the individuals who have high level of involvement produced more positive attitudes toward the ad and brand than a non-metaphor. The theoretical explanation and practical implications of the results of the study are further discussed.

The Impact of Music-Product Fit in Television Ads on Advertising Effect • Chih-Fan Chen; Hui-Fei Lin, National Chiao Tung University; Shu Ning Tang • Music is perhaps the most important stimulating element of an advertisement. If properly utilized, music becomes the catalyst for advertisements. Prior research has focused on the type of music, the style of the melody or rhythm, and how it combines with the product in the ad. However, the effectiveness of ad jingles, especially those written for a product or brand on the persuasion has received little attention. In view of these, the purpose of this study is to examine whether under the different level of ad involvement, fit with the product and the background music in the ad that has the brand written in the lyrics will influence the advertising effect. The theoretical foundations draw on the Limited Capacity of Attention Model and Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM). A 2 (involvement: high/low) x 2 (background music in ad: fit/no fit) between-subjects design was conducted. The results revealed that people with high involvement have higher memory about the brand, better attitudes toward the ad, and greater attitudes toward the brand when the music and product fit compared to when did not.

Strategies and Effectiveness of Product Placement in Idol Dramas • Pin-Chun Chen; Hui-Fei Lin, National Chiao Tung University; Shu Ning Tang • The purpose of this study was 1) to investigate the current status and implementation strategies of product placement and 2) to examine the relationships among exposure times, plot connection and the effects of product placement in Taiwanese idol dramas. The in-depth interview method was executed on 10 interviewees, including producers, television executives and script writers and an experiment with a 2 (number of exposures: high/low) x 2 (plot connection: high/low) between-subjects design taking Taiwanese idol drama “Hana Kimi” as example were conducted (N=95). The findings indicated that first product placement in Taiwanese idol dramas can be divided into three phases, including Front Period/Story Plotting, Planning Period/Script Writing as well as Implementation Period/Release and Broadcast. The number of exposures and plot connection had a significant main effect on memory, brand attitude, and purchase intention, respectively. Second, there was a significant number of exposures and plot connection interactions on brand attitude rather than purchase intention. More specifically, brand placements with a high number of exposures that were highly connected to plots resulted in more positive brand attitudes than those with few exposures that were loosely connected to the plots. The findings suggested that increasing the brand exposure time and the plot connection strategies have to be planned at the story plotting and script writing stages. Brand involvement and types are the main criteria in deciding the level of plot-connection. The strategy must be well-prepared before execution to have a more effective reach.

Testing ‘Visibly’ Disabled Spokesperson Credibility on the Advertising Attitudes and Purchase Intentions of Able-bodied Consumers • Wilbur Martin, University of Southern Mississippi; Sidharth Muralidharan, The University of Southern Mississippi • The purpose of this study was to determine whether commercials for high and low involvement products with a visibly disabled spokesperson made a difference in advertising attitudes and purchase intentions. A between-subjects experimental study was followed by a focus group. Findings showed that disabled spokespersons for a low involvement product generated positive brand attitudes and purchase intentions. In terms of credibility, trustworthiness was the most important source credibility dimension. Implications for advertisers are discussed.

Something Old, Something New: Convergence Culture, Lifestage Marketing, and The Knot, Inc. • Jamie Schleser, American University • This paper uses The Knot, Inc. as a case study to examine emergent trends in marketing in response to convergent media culture and the evolution of the hybrid consumer, the shopper who is able to transition seamlessly between different mediums and participate simultaneously in online and offline consumer behavior. I will argue that by interacting with consumers across a variety of platforms, deeply integrating participatory and social media tools, and developing a model of “lifestage marketing,” The Knot, Inc. is at the forefront of marketing strategies designed to engage consumers beyond their primary point of interaction with the company in order to develop loyal lifetime brand users. Some consideration is paid to the challenges of this strategy, including technological evolution cycles and continuing relevance.

The Influence of Identity Fusion on Patriotic Consumption: A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Korea and the U.S. • Jinnie Yoo, University of Texas at Austin; KyungOk Kim, The University of Texas at Austin • This study proposes that there is a significant relationship between identity fusion with a country and patriotic consumption behaviors, and individuals’ cultural backgrounds play an important role in this relationship. To test this idea, this study focuses on fused persons and explored how these persons reacted to advertising that contained patriotic messages. Further, to uncover possible cross-cultural differences in individuals responding to those patriotic ad messages depending on their fusion level, this study explores and compares people from two different cultural contexts; Korea vs. the United States. The results demonstrated that fused persons in both countries increase their willingness to be patriotic consumers by showing a high consumer ethnocentric tendency and favorable responses to patriotic advertising while such influences of identity fusion on patriotic consumption behaviors are stronger in the collectivistic country (i.e., Korea) than in the individualistic country (i.e., the U.S.). Additionally, the findings of study suggest that fusion can be a more influential factor to predict consumers’ patriotic consumption behaviors than identification.

Country Music is Cool:  Advertising, Symbolic Excludivores and Musical Omnivores • Dawn Ziegerer Behnken, Penn State University • Music from many genres is used in television advertising, with the exception of country music.  Omnivorousness predicted more positive attitudes in those viewing an advertisement using “indie” music.  A measure for “coolness” was developed and a dimension called “trendy” mediated between omnivorousness and attitude related variables.  The term “symbolic excludivore” refers to those stating a dislike for country music.  Symbolic excludivores exposed to country music in television advertising did not have negative attitudes compared to those liking country music.

<< 2012 Abstracts

Book Reviews Index M, N, 71-80

J&MC Quarterly Index Vol. 71-80 • 1994 to 2003

M

MACDONALD, J. FRED, Blacks and White TV: African Americans in Television Since 1948, 2d ed., (Stuart H. Surlin) 71:1, 259.

MALLIN, JAY, SR., Covering Castro: Rise and Decline of Cuba’s Communist Dictator (Michael B. Salwen) 72:1, 236.

MALONE, MICHAEL S., The Microprocessor: A Biography (Paula M. Poindexter) 73:2, 494.

MANHEIM, JAROL B., The Death of a Thousand Cuts: Corporate Campaigns and the Attack on the Corporation (Rebekah V. Bromley) 79:2, 478.

MANN, PATRICIA S., Micro-Politics: Agency in a Postfeminist Era (Lianne Fridriksson) 71:4, 1006.

MANNING, PAUL, News and News Sources: A Critical Introduction (Kim Landon) 79:2, 502.

MANOVICH, LEV, The Language of New Media (Kathleen K. Olson) 79:2, 494.

MAREK, JAYNE E., Women Editing Modernism: “Little” Magazines & Literary History (Carolyn Kitch) 73:3, 773.

MARLANE, JUDITH, Women in Television News Revisited (Angela Powers) 76:4, 792.

MARTIN, ROBERT W. T., The Free and Open Press: The Founding of American Democratic Press Liberty, 1640-1800 (David A. Copeland) 79:3, 766.

MARTIN, SHANNON A. and KATHLEEN A. HANSEN, Newspapers of Record in a Digital Age: From Hot Type to Hot Link (Hugh S. Fullerton) 75:4, 850.

MARTIN, SHANNON E., Bits, Bytes, and Big Brother: Federal Information Control in the Technological Age (William J. Leonhirth) 73:1, 245.

MATSUDA, MARI J., CHARLES R. LAWRENCE III, RICHARD DELGADO, and KIMBERLE WILLIAMS CRENSHAW, Words That Wound: Critical Race Theory, Assaultive Speech, and the First Amendment (Jeremy Cohen) 71:2, 483.

MATTELART, ARMAND, Mapping World Communication: War, Progress, Culture (David B. Sachsman) 72:2, 474.

MAXWELL, BILL, Maximum Insight (Jean Chance) 79:1, 244.

MAXWELL, BRUCE, Washington Online: How to Access the Government’s Electronic Bulletin Boards (Steven J. Dick) 72:2, 485.

MAYNARD, ROBERT C. with DORI J. MAYNARD, Letters to My Children (George Estrada) 73:2, 489.

MCALLISTER, MATTHEW P., EDWARD H. SEWELL, JR., and IAN GORDON, eds., Comics & Ideology (Lucy Shelton Caswell) 79:1, 218.

MCCARTHY, ANNA, Ambient Television: Visual Culture and Public Space (W. Richard Whitaker) 79:2, 468.

MCCAULEY, MICHAEL P., ERIC E. PETERSON, B. LEE ARTZ, and DEEDEE HALLECK, eds., Public Broadcasting and the Public Interest (Louise Benjamin) 80:4, 995.

MCCHESNEY, ROBERT W., Telecommunications, Mass Media, & Democracy (Beth Haller) 73:1, 272.

MCCHESNEY, ROBERT W., Rich Media, Poor Democracy: Communication Politics in Dubious Times (Joseph P. Bernt) 77:1, 205.

MCCOMBS, MAXWELL, DONALD L. SHAW, and DAVID WEAVER, eds., Communication and Democracy: Exploring the Intellectual Frontiers in Agenda-Setting Theory (Everett M. Rogers) 74:4, 892.

MCCOMBS, MAXWELL and AMY REYNOLDS, eds., The Poll With a Human Face: The National Issues Convention Experiment in Political Communication (Robert O. Wyatt) 77:2, 435.

MCCORD, RICHARD, The Chain Gang, One Newspaper versus the Gannett Empire (Benjamin Burns) 79:3, 754.

MCDANIEL, DREW, Electronic Tigers of Southeast Asia: The Politics of Media, Technology, and National Development (Robyn S. Goodman) 79:2, 481.

MCDONOUGH, JOHN and KAREN EGOLF, eds., The Advertising Age Encyclopedia of Advertising (Tom Bowers) 80:2, 449.

MCDOUGAL, DENNIS, Privileged Son: Otis Chandler and the Rise and Fall of the L.A. Times Dynasty (Bryce Nelson) 79:1, 250.

MCELREATH, MARK P., Managing Systematic and Ethical Public Relations (R. Brooks Garner) 71:2, 468.

MCGOWAN, WILLIAM, Coloring the News, How Crusading for Diversity Has Corrupted American Journalism (Benjamin J. Burns) 79:1, 216.

MCGUIRE, MARY, LINDA STILBORNE, MELINDA MCADAMS, and LAUREL HYATT, The Internet Handbook for Writers, Researchers, and Journalists (Robert Huesca) 75:4, 846.

MCINTYRE, BRYCE T., ed., Mass Media in the Asian Pacific (Tsan-Kuo Chang) 75:3, 668.

MCKERCHER, CATHERINE, Newsworkers United: Labor, Convergence, and North American Newspapers (Bonnie Brennen) 80:1, 218.

MCLAUGHLIN, GREG, The War Correspondent (Patrick S. Washburn) 80:1, 231.

MCLUHAN-ORTVED, STEPHANIE (producer) and TOM WOLFE (writer/narrator), The Video McLuhan (Vols. 1-6) (James Carey) 74:2, 449.

MCMANUS, JOHN H., Market-Driven Journalism: Let the Citizen Beware? (George Sylvie) 71:4, 1004.

MCPHAIL, THOMAS L., Global Communication: Theories, Stakeholders, and Trends (Kevin L. Keenan) 79:2, 488.

MCQUAIL, DENIS, Audience Analysis (Gerald M. Kosicki) 75:3, 659.

MEADOWS, MICHAEL, Voices in the Wilderness: Images of Aboriginal People in the Australian Media (Félix Gutiérrez) 78:4, 879.

MELKOTE, SRINIVAS R. and SANDHYA RAO, eds., Critical Issues in Communication: Looking Inward for Answers. Essays in Honor of K.E. Eapen (Nilanjana Bardhan) 79:3, 760.

MELLO, MICHAEL, The Wrong Man – A True Story of Innocence on Death Row (Linn Washington Jr.) 79:2, 521.

MERMIN, JONATHAN, Debating War and Peace: Media Coverage of U.S. Intervention in the Post-Vietnam (W. Richard Whitaker) 76:4, 779.

MERRILL, JOHN C., Journalism Ethics: Philosophical Foundations for News Media (Hendrik Overduin) 75:2, 432.

MERRILL, JOHN C., PETER J. GADE, and FREDERICK R. BLEVENS, Twilight of Press Freedom: The Rise of People’s Journalism (Robert E. Drechsel) 78:3, 620.

MERRITT, DAVIS “BUZZ,” Public Journalism & Public Life: Why Telling the News Is Not Enough (Barbara Zang) 72:4, 976.

MERZER, MARTIN, and the staff of The Miami Herald, The Miami Herald Report: Democracy Held Hostage (Michael B. Salwen) 78:3, 613.

MESSARIS, PAUL, “Visual Literacy”: Image, Mind, and Reality (Kevin G. Barnhurst) 71:3, 756.

METALLINOS, NIKOS, Television Aesthetics: Perceptual, Cognitive, and Compositional Bases (Thimios Zaharopoulos) 74:2, 448.

MEYERS, JEFFREY, Edmund Wilson: A Biography (James Aucoin) 72:4, 968.

MEYERS, MARIAN, News Coverage of Violence Against Women: Engendering Blame (Julie Henderson) 74:3, 652.

MICKELSON, SIG, The Decade That Shaped Television News: CBS in the 1950s (Chris W. Allen) 76:1, 170.

MICKIEWICZ, ELLEN, Changing Channels: Television and the Struggle for Power in Russia (Douglas A. Boyd) 74:3, 645.

MILLER, BARBARA, and others, Education for Freedom (Louis E. Inglehart) 71:4, 1024.

MILLER, JON D. and LINDA G. KIMMEL, Biomedical Communications: Purposes, Audiences, and Strategies (Janet Kaye) 79:3, 747.

MILLER, KAREN S., The Voice of Business: Hill & Knowlton and Postwar Public Relations (Frank D. Durham) 76:4, 789.

MILLER, TOBY, NITIN GOVIL, JOHN MCMURRIA, and RICHARD MAXWELL, Global Hollywood (Anne Cooper-Chen) 79:3, 768.

MIN, EUNGJUN, ed., Reading the Homeless: The Media’s Image of Homeless Culture (Barbara Zang) 77:2, 437.

MINDICH, DAVID T. Z., Just the Facts: How “Objectivity” Came to Define American Journalism (Robert M. Ogles) 76:2, 398.

MIRALDI, ROBERT, ed., The Muckrakers: Evangelical Crusaders (Susan Willey) 78:2, 397.

MITCHELL, CAROLINE, ed., Women and Radio: Airing Differences (Christopher H. Sterling) 79:1, 2, 79:1, 233.

MITCHELL, CATHERINE C., Margaret Fuller’s New York Journalism: A Biographical Essay and Key Writings (Karen F. Brown) 72:4, 969.

MONDAK, JEFFERY J., Nothing to Read: Newspapers and Elections in a Social Experiment (David H. Morrissey) 73:2, 497.

MONTGOMERY, GAYLE B. and JAMES W. JOHNSON with PAUL G. MANOLIS, One Step From the White House: The Rise and Fall of Senator William F. Knowland (George Estrada Jr.) 75:4, 851.

MOORE, MOLLY, A Woman at War: Storming Kuwait with the U.S. Marines (Meta G. Carstarphen) 71:2, 481.

MOORE, ROY L., Mass Communication Law and Ethics (Craig Sanders) 72:1, 245.

MORFFITT, MARY ANNE, Campaign Strategies and Message Design: A Practitioner’s Guide from Start to Finish (Edd Applegate) 76:3, 606.

MORLEY, PATRICK, This Is the American Forces Network: The Anglo-American Battle of the Air Waves in World War II (Wallace B. Eberhard) 79:1, 257.

MORRIS, JAMES MCGRATH, Jailhouse Journalism: The Fourth Estate Behind Bars (George M. Abney) 76:1, 176.

MOY, PATRICIA and MICHAEL PFAU, With Malice Toward All? The Media and Public Confidence in Democratic Institutions (Edmund B. Lambeth) 77:4, 933.

MUELLER, MILTON L., Telephone Companies in Paradise: A Case Study in Telecommunications Deregulation (Hoyt Purvis) 71:3, 754.

MULLEN, MEGAN, The Rise of Cable Programming in the United States: Revolution or Evolution? (W. Richard Whitaker) 80:4, 997.

MUNSON, EVE STRYKER and CATHERINE A. WARREN, eds., James W. Carey: A Critical Reader (Theodore L. Glasser) 75:1, 212.

MUNSON, WAYNE, All Talk: The Talk Show in Media Culture (Judith Sheppard) 71:4, 999.

MURPHY, JOHN H. and ISABELLA C.M. CUNNINGHAM, Advertising and Marketing Communication Management (E. Lincoln James) 72:1, 232.

MURPHY, TIMOTHY and SUZANNE POIRIER, eds., Writing AIDS: Gay Literature, Language and Analysis (John E. Bowes) 71:1, 231.

MURRAY, DAVID, JOEL SCHWARTZ, and S. ROBERT LICHTER, It Ain’t Necessarily So: How the Media Make and Unmake the Scientific Picture of Reality (Edward Caudill) 79:1, 236.

MURRAY, MICHAEL D., The Political Performers: CBS Broadcasts in the Public Interest (Joan Bieder) 72:3, 744.

MURRAY, MICHAEL D. and DONALD G. GODFREY, eds.,Television in America: Local Station History from Across the Nation (Jim Upshaw) 74:4, 907.

MURRAY, MICHAEL D., ed., Encyclopedia of Television News (Kris M. Wilson) 76:2, 392.

MYTTON, GRAHAM, ed., Global Audiences: Research for World Broadcasting 1993 (Tuen-Yu Lau) 71:1, 224.

N

NACOS, BRIGITTE L., Terrorism and the Media: From the Iran Hostage Crisis to the World Trade Center Bombing (Caroline Dow) 72:4, 979.

NACOS, BRIGETTE L., Terrorism and the Media: From the Iran Hostage Crisis to the Oklahoma City Bombing (Richard Shafer) 73:3, 770.

NACOS, BRIGETTE L., Mass Mediated Terrorism (Christopher Hanson) 80:3, 731.

NAPOLI, PHILIP M., Foundations of Communications Policy: Principles and Process in the Regulation of Electronic Media (Louise Benjamin) 78:4, 854.

NASAW, DAVID, The Chief: The Life of William Randolph Hearst (Michael S. Sweeney) 78:1, 196.

NEGROPONTE, NICHOLAS, Being Digital (Suzanne Huffman) 72:4, 965.

NELSON, JILL, Volunteer Slavery: My Authentic Negro Experience (Diana Fallis) 71:2, 479.

NELSON, RICHARD ALAN, A Chronology and Glossary of Propaganda in the United States (Manny Paraschos) 74:3, 645.

NELSON, STANLEY, producer, The Black Press: Soldiers Without Swords (video) (Harry Amana) 75:2, 435.

NERONE, JOHN, Violence Against the Press: Policing the Public Sphere in U.S. History (Norma Fay Green) 72:2, 484.

NEUZIL, MARK and WILLIAM KOVARIK, Mass Media & Environmental Conflict: America’s Green Crusades (John A. Palen) 74:1, 214.

NEVILLE, JOHN F., The Press, the Rosenbergs and the Cold War (J. Michael Robertson) 73:2, 499.

NEWKIRK, PAMELA, Within the Veil: Black Journalists, White Media (Harry Amana) 77:4, 934.

NEWMAN, BRUCE I., The Mass Marketing of Politics: Democracy in an Age of Manufactured Images (Patricia Moy) 76:4, 781.

NEWTON, JULIANNE H., The Burden of Visual Truth: The Role of Photojournalism in Mediating Reality (Paul E. Kostyu) 78:1, 195.

NIVAT, ANNE, Chienne De Guerre: A Woman Reporter Behind the Lines of the War in Chechnya (Linda J. Lumsden) 79:3, 756.

NOCK, STEVEN L., The Costs of Privacy: Surveillance And Reputation in America (Tim Gleason) 71:2, 464.

NORD, DAVID PAUL, Communities of Journalism: A History of American Newspapers and Their Readers (Hazel Dicken-Garcia) 79:2, 475.

NORDENSTRENG, KAARLE and HERBERT I. SCHILLER, eds., Beyond National Sovereignty: International Communication in the 1990s (Paul Ashdown) 71:3, 734.

NORDENSTRENG, KAARLE, ELENA VARTANOVA, and YASSEN ZAS-SOURSKY, eds., Russian Media Challenge (Owen V. Johnson) 79:3, 788.

NORRIS, PIPPA, A Virtuous Circle: Political Communications in Postindustrial Societies (Mira Sotirovic) 78:3, 623.

NORRIS, PIPPA, Digital Divide: Civic Engagement, Information Poverty, and the Internet Worldwide (Sheila L. Tefft) 79:2, 479.

NORTON, BARBARA T. and JEHANNE M GHEITH, eds., An Improper Profession: Women, Gender and Journalism in Late Imperial Russia (Robin Bisha) 80:1, 211.

<< Back

J&MC Quarterly Index – Professional Issues

Volumes 71 to 80
1994 to 2003
Subject Index: Professional Issues

Are Journalists Really Irreligious? A Multidimensional Analysis (Doug Underwood and Keith Stamm) 78:4, 771-786.

Changing the Newsroom Culture: A Four-Year Case Study of Organizational Development at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Peter J. Gade and Earnest L. Perry) 80:2, 327-347.

Does the Cheerleading Ever Stop? Major League Baseball and Sports Journalism (William B. Anderson) 78:2, 355-382.

Does Making Journalism More Public Make a Difference? A Critical Review of Evaluative Research on Public Journalism (Brian L. Massey and Tanni Haas) 79:3, 559-586.

Explaining Variability in Newspaper Design: An Examination of the Role of Newsroom Subgroups (Wilson Lowrey) 80:2, 348-367.

Finding a New Way: Nicaraguan Newspapers in a Globalized World (Kris Kodrich) 79:1, 101-120.

Holding the News Media Accountable: A Study of Media Reporters and Media Critics in the United States (Susanne Fengler) 80:4, 818-832.

The Impact of Public Ownership, Profits, and Competition on Number of Newsroom Employees and Starting Salaries at Mid-Sized Daily Newspapers (Stephen Lacy and Alan Blanchard) 80:4, 949-968.

The Impact of Technological Skill on Job-Finding Success in the Mass Communication Labor Market (Wilson Lowrey and Lee B. Becker) 78:4, 754-770.

The Making and Unmaking of Civic Journalists: Influences of Professional Socialization (Michael McDevitt, Bob M. Gassaway, and Frank G. Pérez) 79:1, 87-100.

The Myth of “The Local” in American Journalism (John J. Pauly and Melissa Eckert) 79:2, 310-326.

National News Cultures: A Comparison of Dutch, German, British, Australian, and U.S. Journalists (Mark Deuze) 79:1, 134-149.

The Normative-Economic Justification for Public Discourse: Letters to the Editor as a “Wide Open” Forum (Karin Wahl-Jorgensen) 79:1, 121-133.

Numbers in the Newsroom: A Qualitative Examination of a Quantitative Challenge (Patricia A. Curtin and Scott R. Maier) 78:4, 720-738.

Numeracy in the Newsroom: A Case Study of Mathematical Competence and Confidence (Scott R. Maier) 80:4, 921-936.

Personal and Professional Dimensions of News Work: Exploring the Link between Journalists’ Values and Roles (Patrick Lee Plaisance and Elizabeth A. Skewes) 80:4, 833-848.

Professional Confidence and Situational Ethics: Assessing the Social-Professional Dialectic in Journalistic Ethics Decisions (Dan Berkowitz and Yehiel Limor) 80:4, 783-801.

The Promise and Peril of Anecdotes in News Coverage: An Ethical Analysis (David A. Craig) 80:4, 802-817.

Race and Ethical Reasoning: The Importance of Race to Journalistic Decision Making (Renita Coleman) 80:2, 295-310.

Sources and Civic Journalism: Changing Patterns of Reporting? (David D. Kurpius) 79:4, 853-866.

Times of Turmoil: Short-and Long-Term Effects of Organizational Change on Newsroom Employees (George L. Daniels and C. Ann Hollifield) 79:3, 661-680.

<< JMCQ 71-80 Subject Index

J&MC Quarterly Index – Press Performance

Volumes 71 to 80
1994 to 2003
Subject Index: Press Performance

Content Differences between Daily Newspapers with Strong and Weak Market Orientations (Randal A. Beam) 80:2, 368-390.

Does Making Journalism More Public Make a Difference? A Critical Review of Evaluative Research on Public Journalism (Brian L. Massey and Tanni Haas) 79:3, 559-586.

Embargoes and Science News (Vincent Kiernan) 80:4, 903-920.

An Experimental Examination of Readers’ Perceptions of Media Bias (Dave D’alessio) 80:2, 282-294.

Experts in the Mass Media: Researchers as Sources in Danish Daily Newspapers, 1961-2001 (Erik Albæk, Peter Munk Christiansen, and Lise Togeby) 80:4, 937-948.

Framing Gender on the Campaign Trail: Female Gubernatorial Candidates and the Press (James Devitt) 79:2, 445-463.

Gender Politics: News Coverage of the Candidates’ Wives in Campaign 2000 (Betty Houchin Winfield and Barbara Friedman) 80:3, 548-566.

Holding the News Media Accountable: A Study of Media Reporters and Media Critics in the United States (Susanne Fengler) 80:4, 818-832.

The Making and Unmaking of Civic Journalists: Influences of Professional Socialization (Michael McDevitt, Bob M. Gassaway, and Frank G. Pérez) 79:1, 87-100.

The Myth of “The Local” in American Journalism (John J. Pauly and Melissa Eckert) 79:2, 310-326.

Objective Evidence of Media Bias: Newspaper Coverage of Congressional Party Switchers (David Niven) 80:2, 311-326.

Partisan and Structural Balance in Local Television Election Coverage (Sue Carter, Frederick Fico, and Jocelyn A. McCabe) 79:1, 41-53.

The Princess and the Paparazzi: Blame, Responsibility, and the Media’s Role in the Death of Diana (Elizabeth Blanks Hindman) 80:3, 666-688.

The Promise and Peril of Anecdotes in News Coverage: An Ethical Analysis (David A. Craig) 80:4, 802-817.

Source Use in a “News Disaster” Account: A Content Analysis of Voter News Service Stories (Randall S. Sumpter and Melissa A. Braddock) 79:3, 539-558.

Sources and Civic Journalism: Changing Patterns of Reporting? (David D. Kurpius) 79:4, 853-866.

This Just In … How National TV News Handled the Breaking “Live” Coverage of September 11 (Amy Reynolds and Brooke Barnett) 80:3, 689-703.

<< JMCQ 71-80 Subject Index

J&MC Quarterly Index – Law, Policy, Criticism, and Ethics

Volumes 71 to 80
1994 to 2003
Subject Index: Law, Policy, Criticism, and Ethics

Access to Governors’ Records: State Statutes and the Use of Executive Privilege (Ellen M. Bush) 71:1, 135-144.

Alistair Cooke: America’s Unconventional Press Critic (Michael D. Murray) 72:1, 158-167.

Australian Journalists’ Professional and Ethical Values (John Henningham) 73:1, 206-218.

Bridging Latin America’s Digital Divide: Government Policies and Internet Access (Eliza Tanner Hawkins with Kirk A. Hawkins) 80:3, 646-665.

The Corporate Plaintiff as Public Figure (Matthew D. Bunker) 72:3, 597-609.

A Decade of Indecency Enforcement: A Study of How the Federal Communications Commission Assesses Indecency Fines (1987-1997) (Milagros Rivera-Sanchez and Michelle Ballard) 75:1, 143-153.

The Fight for Access to Government Records Round Two: Enter the Computer (Sigman L. Splichal and Bill F. Chamberlin) 71:3, 550-560.

From Class D to LPFM: The High-Powered Politics of Low-Power Radio (Alan G. Stavitsky, Robert K. Avery, and Helena Vanhala) 78:2, 340-354.

Have It Your Way? Public Records Law and Computerized Government Information (Matthew D. Bunker) 73:1, 90-101.

High School Newspapers Still Censored Thirty Years after Tinker (Lillian Lodge Kopenhaver and J. William Click) 78:2, 321-339.

Holding the News Media Accountable: A Study of Media Reporters and Media Critics in the United States (Susanne Fengler) 80:4, 818-832.

How Effective Are Codes of Ethics? A Look at Three Newsrooms (David E. Boeyink) 71:4, 893-904.

Impartial Spectator in the Marketplace of Ideas: The Principles of Adam Smith as an Ethical Basis for Regulation of Corporate Speech (Robert L. Kerr) 79:2, 394-415.

Intellectuals‘ Property: Universities, Professors, and the Problem of Copyright in the Internet Age (Matthew D. Bunker) 78:4, 675-687.

Journalists and the Overtime Provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (Robert Jensen) 73:2, 417-426.

The News Media’s Right of Access to Pretrial Discovery Materials in Civil Lawsuits (Hosoon Chang) 71:1, 145-158.

Newspaper as Repeater: An Experiment on Defamation and Third-Person Effect (Laurie Mason) 72:3, 610-620.

Online News: User Agreements and Implications for Readers (Victoria Smith Ekstrand) 79:3, 602-618.

Open Government in the Digital Age: The Legislative History of How Congress Established a Right of Public Access to Electronic Information Held by Federal Agencies (Martin E. Halstuk and Bill F. Chamberlin) 78:1, 45-64.

Personal and Professional Dimensions of News Work: Exploring the Link between Journalists’ Values and Roles (Patrick Lee Plaisance and Elizabeth A. Skewes) 80:4, 833-848.

Pervasive Public Figure Status and Local or Topical Fame in Light of Evolving Media Audiences (Matthew D. Bunker and Charles D. Tobin) 75:1, 112-126.

The Princess and the Paparazzi: Blame, Responsibility, and the Media’s Role in the Death of Diana (Elizabeth Blanks Hindman) 80:3, 666-688.

Privatized Government Functions and Freedom of Information: Public Accountability in an Age of Private Governance (Matthew D. Bunker and Charles N. Davis) 75:3, 464-477.

Professional Confidence and Situational Ethics: Assessing the Social-Professional Dialectic in Journalistic Ethics Decisions (Dan Berkowitz and Yehiel Limor) 80:4, 783-801.

The Promise and Peril of Anecdotes in News Coverage: An Ethical Analysis (David A. Craig) 80:4, 802-817.

Pronouncements and Denunciations: An Analysis of State Press Association Ethics Codes from the 1920s (Mary M. Cronin and James B. McPherson) 72:4, 890-901.

Protecting a Delicate Balance: Facts, Ideas, and Expression in Compilation Copyright Cases (Matthew D. Bunker and Bethany Bolger) 80:1, 183-197.

Race and Ethical Reasoning: The Importance of Race to Journalistic Decision Making (Renita Coleman) 80:2, 295-310.

Regulation of Sexually Explicit Videotex Services in France (Michel Dupagne) 71:1, 121-134.

Reputational Assault: A Critical and Historical Analysis of Gender and the Law of Defamation (Diane L. Borden) 75:1, 98-111.

The Salience and Pertinence of Ethics: When Journalists Do and Don’t Think for Themselves (H. Allen White) 73:1, 17-28.

Sexual Harassment of Women Journalists (Kim Walsh-Childers, Jean Chance, and Kristin Herzog) 73:3, 559-581.

Silenced Students: The Uncertain but Extensive Power of School Officials to Control Student Expression (Susan Dente Ross) 79:1, 172-187.

The Supreme Court Defines the Marketplace of Ideas (W. Wat Hopkins) 73:1, 40-52.

Targets, Effects, and Perpetrators of Sexual Harassment in Newsrooms (Cindy M. Brown and Gail M. Flatow) 74:1, 160-183.

Trespassing Speakers and Commodified Speech: First Amendment Freedoms Meet Private Property Claims (Matthew D. Bunker) 77:4, 713-726.

The Variable Nature of Defamation: Social Mores and Accusations of Homosexuality (Elizabeth M. Koehler) 76:2, 217-228.

What Were You Thinking? A Survey of Journalists Who Were Sued for Invasion of Privacy (Paul S. Voakes) 75:2, 378-393.

<< JMCQ 71-80 Subject Index