Advertising 1999 Abstracts

Advertising Division

PF&R
A Content Analysis of Black-and-White Advertisements Used in Magazines • Euijin Ann, Michigan State • This study employed content analysis to examine the usage pattern of black-and white (B&W) advertising in magazines. Results showed that (1) B& W ads appeared to be an important type of advertising tactic, (2) of the B&W ads examined, color-highlighted type appeared most often, (3) B&W ads appeared most often in ads for health care, publication, services, and fashion and beauty, (4) most B&W ads employed emotional appeals rather than informational appeals.

Ethical Issues Associated with Qualitative On-Line Research: Toward a Common Platform • Denise E. DeLorme, Central Florida, George M. Zinkhan and Warren French, Georgia • This paper examines the possibility of a unified professional code of ethics which has the potential to provide solutions to ethical conflicts in qualitative on-line research. A national mail survey and replication e-mail survey were conducted with an interdisciplinary sample. Overall, respondents felt that there should be an ethics code, indicated all core value statements presented are important to include, and noted challenges in industry acceptance of a code. The paper concludes by offering guidance in constructing, implementing, and enforcing such a code.

Perceptions of Harmful Female Advertising Stereotypes and Eating-Disordered Thinking among Female College Students: a Q Method Analysis • Robert L. Gustafson and Mark N. Popovich, Ball State and Steven R. Thomsen, Brigham Young • This study employs Q methodology, personal interviews and a self-administered questionnaire to explore how female college students, a population segment with one of the highest incidences of anorexia nervosa and other eating disorders, rank magazine advertisements that feature a variety of potentially harmful female stereotypes. Specifically, the study examines how ads that feature stereotypes promoting the “thin ideal” rank in comparison to other harmful stereotypes. The findings are compared to measures of the subjects’ anorectic cognitions, body anxiety and dieting behavior.

The Emergence of Integrated Marketing Communications: A Theoretical Overview • John M. McGrath, Pittsburgh-Johnstown • This paper traces the origins of the emerging field of Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC), critically reviews research literature which is seminal to the field, and discusses the future of IMC, including an opportunity for new research.

Research
Complexity and Blame Focus in Anti-Smoking Television Commercials: The Role of Complexity and Individual vs. Industry Blame on Smokers and Non-Smokers • Michael Antecol, June Flora and Lisa Henriksen, Stanford University, Esther Thorson, Missouri, Annie Lang, Indiana University, Robert F. Potter, Alabama • Two experiments are reported. They address these research questions: (1) how does the structure and (2) the blame focus of anti-smoking ads affect ad-specific responses of smokers and non-smokers? Structure was examined by varying an ad’s global complexity scores. Blame focus was examined by comparing “individual blame” anti-smoking ads to “industry blame” ads. Experiment 1 showed that complexity has an effect on the effectiveness of anti-smoking ads, both at autonomic and self-report levels.

Cyberbrand Development: A Study of the Impact of Self Concept and Web Site Personality Congruity • Kelli S. Burns, Florida • In cyberspace, traditional rules for brand building are currently being tested and challenged. Understanding consumer personality may further the ability of an online advertiser to project the appropriate brand image. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the congruity between a Web site and the user’s personality is related to the user’s evaluation of the site. Strausbaugh’s brand personality instrument was used to measure the personality of 157 undergraduates and two Web sites.

A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Political Advertising in the 1996 Presidential Election Campaign in Taiwan and the United States • Chingching Chang, National Cheng-chi • This study applied Hall’s (1977) culture-context theory and Hofstede’s (1991) individualistic/collectivistic aspects of cultural differences to understand how content and appeals of political advertising in Taiwan and the U.S. differ from each other. The aspects examined included the presence of direct and indirect attacks, the presentation of issues in the ads, types of settings, and the use of metaphors, symbols, and songs. Analyses showed that most of the findings were consistent with cultural expectations.

Advertising vs. Public Service Announcements: The Role of Message Type in Safer-Sex Campaigns and Third-Person Perception • John R. Chapin, Penn State • Fifteen years ago, Davison introduced the third-person effect hypothesis, that individuals believe they are less influenced than others by media messages. Although third-person effect is a perceptual bias, Davison believed that individuals act on such misperceptions. Few studies since have tested the behavioral aspect of the third-person effect. In addition, previous studies reporting differences in third-person effect due to message type (i.e. PSAs vs. advertisements) controls to isolate the effects of message type from content and context.

The Elaboration Likelihood Model of Persuasion After Two Decades: A Review of Criticisms and Contributions • Sejung Marina Choi and Charles T. Salmon, Michigan State • Over the past twenty years, the Elaboration Likelihood Model of Persuasion (ELM) has emerged as one of the most influential theories of persuasion in the fields of communication, psychology, and by extension, advertising. In spite of its prominent contributions, the ELM has been criticized in detail for both theoretical and empirical limitations. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the current status of the model through revisiting the criticisms as well as replies to those criticisms by proponents of the ELM.

Effects of Culture and Self-construals on Comparative Advertising Effectiveness • Yung Kywn Choi, Gordon E. Miracle and Linda Cowles, Michigan State University • This study examines cross-cultural differences in comparative advertising effectiveness by tracing possible links between culture, individual values, and advertising effectiveness. A significant main effect of culture was found and a path model was proposed for illuminating the underlying process between culture and advertising effectiveness. The data were generally consistent with the model. Culture was systematically related to self-construals. However, the relationship between self-construals and advertising effectiveness were different depending on the type of an advertisement.

A Content Analysis of Internet Banner Advertising: Focusing on Korean and U.S. Cultural Differences • Hwi-Man Chung, North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Euijin Ahn, Michigan State University • The Web is emerging as a new advertising medium vying strongly with the more traditional media. Despite the Web’s capability of becoming a potentially powerful medium, there is little empirical studies about the banner advertising in the Web. Previous studies about traditional media have suggested that there are differences among different countries and cultures in terms of advertising types and degree of informativeness.

Qualitative Evaluation of Print Ads by Assessors Using the Creative Product Semantic Scale • Alisa White Coleman, Texas at Arlington and Bruce L. Smith, South Dakota • The purpose of the study was to ascertain whether advertising professionals judge advertising creativity in the same way as college students who have had no advertising training, and whether demographic variables significantly affect judgments about the creativity of advertising. Fifteen print ads were evaluated using the Creative Product Semantic Scale. The judgments of students and professionals were significantly different. There were also significant differences on the basis of demographic variables.

Beefcake, Breadwinner, or Babysitter: A Content Analysis of Male Images in Female-Targeted Magazine Advertising, 1978-1998 • Mikalee Dahle and Jennifer Greer, Nevada-Reno • A content analysis of ads featuring men was undertaken for women’s magazines published in 1978, 1988, and 1998. Ads in 1978 publications tended to feature men in a clear role and related to the product; those in 1988 presented men in no clear role and unrelated to the product (a purely decorative role); and images in 1998 served as the middle ground between the two extremes. Clear trends also emerged across different magazine titles.

The Effect of Idiocentrism and Involvement on Attitude, Cognition and Behavioral Intention with respect to AIDS Appeal Types • Mohan Jyoti Dutta, Minnesota • This study looks at the role played by idiocentrism/allocentrism in shaping consumers’ attitude, cognition and behavioral intention in the context of AIDS appeal types. The level of involvement emerges to be a significant moderating factor that interacts with idiocentrism to shape audience preference. This provides direction for an entirely new dimension of research in public health both from theoretical and applied perspectives. Cultures and sub-cultures may be studied in the context of individualism and its effects that may be observed at a cultural level.

Excessive Drinking by College Students: When Advertising and Ritual Behavior Intersect • Edward R. Frederick and Joyce M. Wolburg, Marquette • This study examines university student drinking as part of campus culture. It uses survey data to explore whether students perceive that student drinking rituals influence their drinking and tests a set of survey items for measuring the impact of student drinking rituals. It found evidence that Community and Order rituals do. It also explored whether alcohol advertising influences student drinking. Results show that attention to television alcohol commercials is related to self-reported drinking behavior.

A Study Of The Facets Of The “Country-Of-Origin” Image And Its Comparison Among Different Countries • Wang, Jang-Sun, Tennessee-Knoxville • “Country-of-Origin” image is an important factor, which affects consumers’ evaluations of foreign products in the international marketplaces. This study aims to compare the CO images of three countries – Japan, South Korea and India-having different levels of economic developments, and to explore the components of CO image. It examines the three CO facets of each country and their interrelationships. Additionally, it is observed if CO effects vary by the patriotism, a critical factor affecting CO.

Made In Taiwan And The U.S.A.: A Study Of Gender Roles In Two Nations’ Magazine Advertisements • Kim E. Karloff and Yi-ching Lee, California State • While American women can be found in the driver’s seat, literally, in American magazine advertisements, the same cannot be said of Taiwanese women in Taiwan magazine advertisements. And the American image of the lone cowboy means little to Taiwanese ad-makers. Family, however, means mom and dad in both countries. Such are the findings in this study of gender roles in a cross-section of magazines found in the United States and in Taiwan.

Advertising Representation of Female Bravery During the 1990’s and it’s Relationship to Creative Production • Linda Jean Kensicki, Texas-Austin• Through the work of previous scholars and primary focus group research, this study defines bravery as an essential characteristic of the creative individual. In an attempt to address decreased creative production in women, imitation effects on televised commercial content is examined as a possible collaborator in the development of creativity within women. An analysis of over six hundred commercials during the 1990’s found few women working in advertising agencies and almost no instances of female bravery in commercials.

The Impact of Culture on Political Advertising-A comparison between the U.S. and Korean Newspaper Ads • Chun-Sik Kim, Mokwon University and Yoo-Kyoung Kim, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies • This study examines the impact of cultural characteristics on political advertising between the United States and Korea. A total of 446 advertisements from 1963 to 1997 were content-analyzed in this study. Results of the study showed that there were differences of contents and valences of political advertising between the U.S. and Korea. Also, discussions based on study results showed mixed and intertwined arguments against or for the expectations for this study.

The Impact of Market Mavenism and Shopping Orientation on the Consumer’s Use of the Web, Catalogs and Retail Stores as Shopping and Buying Channels • Cheng Kuo, National Chengchi University and Hairong Li, Michigan State University • Through an online survey, information about 999 Internet users was collected and analyzed with a view to examining their channel selection behavior Two path models were proposed and tested to examine the effects of the individual’s demographics, market mavenism and shopping orientation on their use of the Web, catalog, and retail stores as shopping and buying channels. LISREL covariance analysis was used in testing the models. Results from the analyses have indicated that the level of market mavenism and certain shopping orientation indeed affected the respondents’ channel selection.

Information Cues In Renmin Ribao Advertisements (1979-1998) • Susanna W.Y. Kwok, Hong Kong Baptist University • A content analysis of 448 print advertisements in Renmin Ribao from 1979 to 1998 was conducted. The Resnick and Stern evaluation criteria were used to determine the level of advertising information content and to trace its development. The result indicated that both product nature and medium characteristics had a significant effect on the information level of advertisements in China. Nevertheless, the changing information levels over time were conflicting and called for further study.

Communication Effectiveness of Print Advertising Endorsement in Hong Kong • Vivien S. Y. Leung, Hong Kong Baptist University • This study examined the communication effectiveness of advertising endorsement on consumer purchase intention in Hong Kong. Two products, life insurance and wholesome beverage, were chosen to represent product category with high and low consumer involvement. Two of the eight print advertisements using three types of advertising endorser, celebrity, typical consumer and expert, and a no-model (control) advertisement, were randomly distributed to 120 Hong Kong Baptist University students in April 1998.

The Power of Words: Another Look at the Verbal and Visual Components in Print Ads • Yulian Li, Minnesota • This experimental study compares the effects of three types of ads-verbal, visual and verbal-visual combined-on people’s ad attitude, brand attitude, recall and purchase intention. It finds that verbal ads are more powerful and effective than visual ads, and that the visual component in a verbal-visual combined ad may interfere with the effect of the verbal component on people’s brand attitude and purchase intention. It also finds a superior effect of brand attitude over ad attitude.

The Presence of Nostalgia in Television Commercials • Wendy Martin and Wei-Na Lee, Texas at Austin • This paper reports the results of a study examining the use of nostalgia in marketing/advertising communications. A content analysis of 2,208 television ads was performed to examine the use of nostalgia in advertising, including the concentration of ads and products advertised and possible segmentation based on age or sex differences. Nostalgia was used in 8.3% of the ads sampled in this study, as compared to 10% found in an earlier study.

Does Good Work Pay Off? A Preliminary Study Of Advertising Awards And Financial Growth • Ann Maxwell and Charles Frazer Oregon and Wayne Wanta, Florida • No abstract

Does Reputation Management Reap Rewards? A Path Analysis of Corporate Reputation Advertising’s Impacts on Brand Attitudes and Purchase Decisions • Jongmin Park and Glen T. Cameron, Missouri and Lisa Lyon, Georgia • Claims are made for the importance of corporate reputation as essential to the effective, integrated marketing of a company’s branded products. Based on the Elaboration Likelihood and Combined-Effects Models of persuasion theory, an experiment was conducted to examine the value of one tool in corporate reputation management – the corporate ad or corporate image ad. Using path analysis, findings indicate that the corporate reputation ad had a greater impact on purchase intention under low involvement conditions than under high involvement conditions.

This Page is Brought to You By… An Experimental Test of Sponsorship Credibility in an Online Newspaper • Shelly Rodgers, Glen T. Cameron, Ann M. Brill, Missouri-Columbia • Advertisers are being asked to sponsor pages in online newspapers. E-newspapers and advertisers have anecdotally reported success, however, no study has examined the effects of such sponsorship. This study seeks to remedy that through an experiment that tests the effects of sponsorship on memory and credibility through the manipulation of timing, story type and sponsor type. Findings suggest that there are steps advertisers and e-newspapers can take to optimize the relationship between advertising and news content.

Recall, Liking and Creativity in TV Commercials: A New Approach • Gerald Stone, Donna Besser and Loran Lewis, Southern Illinois University-Carbondale • Three advertising effectiveness dimensions were linked in a local random telephone survey asking respondents’ most disliked or liked commercial. The survey included describing the commercials, brand preference, television viewing hours and demographics. Seniors in advertising judged the ads’ creativity. Among many findings related to past research was the suggestion that people “carry a set” of liked and disliked commercials. The study’s major contribution may be its novel way of identifying memorable ads and assessing creativity.

Who We Are and What We Choose to Read: A Psychological Exploration of Media Use • Fang Wan, Ken Doyle and Mohan Jyoti Dutta, Minnesota • This study expands the advertising literature by demonstrating the usefulness of personality types in identifying patterns of media usage. On a quota sample of the US adult population, ordinal and quasi-interval analyses showed that Introverts used print media substantially more than Extroverts, except for special situations, “Tenderminded Introverts” were the most frequent print media consumers. Discussion addressed the use of this information to improve the cost-effectiveness of media planning.

Everything Old is New Again: The Use of Nostalgia Appeals in Advertising • Jennifer L. Williams and Ronald J. Faber, Minnesota • The use of nostalgia in advertising, as well as in other elements of the culture, has been growing as the end of the millennium approaches. Yet little is known about how nostalgia is portrayed in advertisements. This study provides an examination of the content of 108 television commercials that utilize nostalgia in their appeals. The results support the notion that the definition of nostalgia needs to be expanded to include both negative and positive memories and both personal and historical references.

Teaching
Group Personality and Performance A Model for Managing Advertising Student Teams • Shannon Richard, Marilyn Roberts and John Sutherland, Florida • Effective teamwork and interaction skills are a necessity in today’s world. Students are in need of these skills if they are to become successful team players in the work place. Educators are in need of cues as to which group interaction skills are most essential and how to incorporate them into course content. This paper outlines such essential tools in a model for effectively managing student teams. The group behavior of an advertising campaigns course is evaluated to provide a picture of these tools in action.

Incorporating a Promotional Products Teaching Component into the Advertising Campaigns Course: A Partnership Pilot Program • Denise DeLorme, Central Florida • Since the emergence of IMC, it has become increasingly important for students to have an understanding and appreciation of a variety of marketing communications tools. One industry segment that is sometimes overlooked is promotional products. This paper describes the process of incorporating promotional products into the campaigns course through a partnership pilot program. The program’s three phases are discussed: preparation through six instructional planning steps, implementation involving four major learning activities, and evaluation including five key outcomes resulting from surveys of students. The paper concludes by providing educators with future recommendations.

How Media Planning Professionals See Changes in the Marketplace Affecting the Teaching of the Media Planning Course • Carla V. Lloyd, Syracuse University, Jan S. Slater, Ohio University and Brett Robbs, Colorado • Those involved with today’s media-planners, buyers, sellers and distributors must cope with these changes daily, while anticipating the changes yet to come. Not only has the landscape changed, so have the players. Technology is fueling immense competition, creating an overly crowded marketplace vying for limited advertising dollars and waning consumer attention. Media planning professionals, who must navigate through all this change to find ways to deliver clients’ messages to consumers, work during a time that is perhaps like no other in media’s history.

A Practical Exercise of Teaching Ethical Decision Making to Advertising Students • David L. Martinson, Florida International University • Students too often do not understand the important role that ethics plays in their personal or future professional lives. The Hastings Center suggests that the first two steps in teaching ethics center around stimulating the moral imagination in order that individuals will be able to recognize ethical issues. In this paper the author presents a practical exercise that moves ethical decision making out of the strictly theoretical.

Contract Teamwork: A Tool for Tearing Down Ivory Towers • Sally McMillan, Tennessee-Knoxville • How can teamwork be implemented effectively in university-level advertising classrooms? This paper reviews literature on the nature, structure, and function of teams and processes for managing teamwork. Based on this literature an innovative approach to contract teamwork is introduced. The author provides information on implementation and evaluation of that approach with suggestions for improving and expanding contract teamwork in advertising classrooms.

Special Topics
Branding Religion: Christian Consumers’ Understandings of Christian Products • Eric Haley, Candace White, Anne Cunningham, Tennessee • Recent years have witnessed a boom in Christian marketing, both the marketing of Christian products and the use of “Christian-owned” as a loyalty building tool for businesses. Despite the enormous growth in Christian retailing, researchers have paid little attention to the phenomenon. This study offers an entree into the subject by examining how self-described Evangelical Christians, who are the primary consumers of Christian products, make sense of their purchase and use of Christian products.

Testing An IMC Evaluation Model: The Impact Of Brand Equity And The Company’s Reputation On Revenues • Yungwook Kim, Florida • This paper is trying to establish the relationships among variables in corporate communications, especially between advertising and public relations, and to establish an evaluation model for integrating the effects of communication activities in the context of integrated marketing communication (IMC). For testing, a new approach for integrating the effects of communication activities was introduced and the IMC evaluation model was specified. The proposed model was tested with existing secondary data.

Driving Toward Equality: Automobile Advertising and Gender Views, 1920-1940 • Erika J. Pribanic, Alabama • Automobiles have long been considered a masculine area. In Taking the Wheel, Virginia Scharff wrote, “The automobile was born in a masculine manger, and when women sought to claim its power, they invaded a male domain.”’ This theme is often parodied in the modern television sit-com Home Improvement: the car is powerful, dirty, masculine, and off limits to women. The automobile’s inherent masculinity reaches back to the Victorian age, when women were considered too feeble-minded and flail-bodied to even leave their homes, let alone drive automobiles.

Not on Target: Effects of Gender-Targeted Web Sites on Liking and Visit Intent • Shelly Rodgers, Cynthia M. Frisby, Missouri-Columbia • This experiment addresses the effects of gender-targeted web sites on likability and visit intent. A 3 (male vs. female vs. neutral web site) x 2 (gender) between-subjects factorial design was used. Findings suggest that neutral sites are preferred over gender-specific sites. In fact, both genders rated the neutral site as more likable than either the male or female sites. Intent to revisit the neutral site was also more likely for both genders.

An Exploratory Study Of The Synergy Among Ad Attention, Promotional Offers And The Use Of Grocery Buyer Cards In Building Customer Loyalty • Mary Alice Shaver, Hyun-Seung Jin and Carol Pardun, North Carolina at Chapel Hill • This study measures the impact of having a grocery card on using advertising and responding to promotions on shopping habits and customer loyalty. A statewide survey of 589 adults found that, while heavy users of grocery cards do pay more attention to advertising and plan shopping to take advantage of advertised specials and promotions, this behavior does not result in loyalty to the store as defined by regular shopping.

<< 1999 Abstracts

Radio-TV Journalism 2000 Abstracts

Radio-TV Journalism Division

Local Television News and Viewer Empowerment: Why the Public’s Main Source of News Falls Short • Denise Barkis-Richter, Palo Alto College • A content analysis of local television news revealed that only one out of four stories contained empowering information. Through participant observation at a local television news station and in-depth interviews with local television newsworkers, three principal reasons emerged why empowering information was excluded: l) the absence of the station’s commitment to provide empowering information; 2) newsworkers’ lack of enterprise; and 3) the newsworkers’ perception of viewers and what their viewers want.

A Tale of Two Cities: How National Network Television Framed Hate Crimes in Jasper, Texas, and Laramie, Wyoming • Larry Elliott, L. Paul Husselbee, O’Brien Stanley and Mary Alice Baker, Lamar University • Sensational hate crimes in the small cities of Jasper, Texas and Laramie, Wyoming, drew the blinding spotlight of network television in 1998. Television journalists “framed” national images of Jasper and Laramie after an African-American was dragged to death behind a pickup truck in Texas and a homosexual man was beaten, tied to a fence and left to die in Wyoming. Despite residents’ fears that they would be tarred by the national media, the most dominant network television “frame” was favorableÑan emphasis on healing after the crimes.

Learning Ethics: On the Job or In the Classroom? • Gary Hanson, Kent State • Training in ethics is an important component of journalism education. Students are taught to think critically when confronted with ethical dilemmas and to follow an accepted set of professional journalism standards. This preliminary study suggests there are significant differences in the way television news directors and students in journalism classes view ethics instruction and in the possible topics that may raise ethical questions once a student enters the journalism workforce.

Constructing Class & Race in Local TV News • Don Heider, Texas at Austin and Koji Fuse, Pittsburg State • Using participant observation and content analysis, the researchers looked at one local television newsroom to examine what role class and race played in news decision making. Because of journalists’ own position, inhabiting positions in the middle- and upper-middle classes, and because of phenomena such as targeted story selection and story avoidance, the authors’ found that news coverage of the poor specifically and of the lower classes in general was significantly lacking.

Going Digital: An Exploratory Study of Nonlinear Editing Technology in Southeastern Television Newsrooms • Seok Kang, George L. Daniels, Tanya Auguston and Alyson Belatti, Georgia • The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has mandated that all broadcasters convert to a digital standard by 2006. This exploratory study of a stratified sample of large, medium and small market television newsrooms in the southeastern U.S. examined the progress toward converting to nonlinear editing. The findings show conventional wisdom may not apply to the way stations are making the shift to the digital standard. Instead, cost is probably a bigger indicator who will be the “innovators” and “laggards” in going digital.

Symbolic Racism in Television News • David Kurpius, Louisiana State • This research project examines the construction of symbolic racism in television news. Symbolic racism in television news is the combination of two non-racist elements that creates a negative racial stereotype. The researcher assumes these creations are unintended, but still extremely damaging. The purpose of this study is to see if symbolic racism exists in local television news and whether minority hiring and a formal race policy including dialogue about race helps diminish symbolic racist constructions.

Deregulation and Commercial Radio Network News: A Qualitative Analysis • Richard Landesberg, North Carolina-Chapel Hill • The once vibrant and vital business of commercial radio network news is now a declining industry controlled by just two companies. Yet, radio remains a main source of information for many Americans. This study analyzes the consolidation and decline in commercial radio network news and the role of regulation in that decline. It approaches the subject using qualitative methodology to explore the views of network news radio professionals, both journalists and managers.

Stealing the Show: How Individual Issues Dominate the Nightly Network News • Brad Love, Florida • As major stories develop, the media often overwhelm the audience with coverage. Certain issues can dominate and force other stories out of sight all together. This paper examines nightly network newscasts to see exactly what topics lose air time when a non-routine story takes over, as well as looking at the common contention that all three networks cover the same issues in the same proportions.

For the Ear to Hear: Conversational Writing on the Network Television News Magazines • C.A. Tuggle, Suzanne Huffman and Dana Rosengard, North Carolina-Chapel Hill • This study examines the level of adherence to conversational writing style and the rules of grammar by correspondents and producers for network television news magazines on the three primary over-the-air networks. The researchers document differences between networks, but point out that writers for all shows in the sample could do a better job of writing short sentences, using common words, and following the rules of grammar. The researchers employ the Flesch readability scale and devised a second scale to measure additional elements of conversational writing.

Synergy Bias: Conglomerates and News Content • Dmitri Williams, Michigan • The “church-state” division between the editorial and business departments of a news organization is threatened by corporations who promote cooperation between and among divisions (“synergy”). A content analysis tested the hypotheses that the influence of parent companies on news content produces an increase in the quantity and quality of company related materials mentioned on the news. The results showed that such biases did occur, but not evenly and more often in the vertically integrated corporations.

<< 2000 Abstracts

Media Ethics 2000 Abstracts

Media Ethics Division

Searching for the Journalist Phrenemos: An Exploratory Study of the Ethical Development of News Workers • Renita Coleman and Lee Wilkins, Missouri • More than 2,500 years ago Aristotle defined the ethical person as a phrenemos. More contemporary research has focused on moral development. Almost every type of profession that must grapple with ethical issues has been studied in the context of moral reasoning, except journalists. This research proposes to measure journalists’ moral development in order to compare them with other professionals, and to discover which variables are the most significant predictors of higher moral reasoning in journalists — that is, to model the journalist phrenemos.

Covering the Ethics of Death: An Exploration of Three Model Approaches • David A. Craig, Oklahoma • Through an in-depth textual analysis, this paper examines portrayal of the ethics of assisted suicide and euthanasia in three 1998 newspaper pieces that are exemplary in the depth of their of their treatment of ethics — and therefore, it is argued, ethically responsible in their coverage. Presentation of deontological and consequentialist issues and of ethical questions and themes is examined in these pieces, and implications for ethics coverage are discussed.

Of Joint Ventures, Sock Puppets and New Media Synergy: Ethical Codes and the Emergence of Institutional Conflicts of Interest • Charles N. Davis & Stephanie Craft, Missouri • The trend toward cross-ownership raises ethical concerns about entanglements created in the name of synergy. Ethics scholarship routinely defines conflict of interest as an individual act, which ignores the rise of the media conglomerate. This paper introduces the institutional conflict of interest. The paper outlines how media consolidation creates new conflicts of interest by outlining the term’s definitions in various professions and providing a revised definition that encompasses institutional conflicts of interest.

Ethics for Editors: What 11 Editing Textbooks Teach • Susan Keith, North Carolina • Newspaper copy editors have a vital, though often unheralded, role to play in the production of ethical journalism. As the last people to see newspaper stories before publication, they have the opportunity to raise questions that can save newspapers from unnecessarily harming readers or sources or hurting their own credibility. Copy editors can do this, however, only if they develop a good sense of how ethical principles apply to their jobs. One source for such information is the editing textbook.

Contractualist Morality in News Reporting: What Journalists Owe to Story Subjects, News Sources and The Public • Kathleen L. Mason, Syracuse • Tim Scanlon’s “What we owe to each other” is the most recent substantive addition to ethical theory, and his contractualist theory is the topic of heated philosophical debate. His central notion, that right and wrong “are judgments about what would be permitted by principles that could not reasonably be rejected,” is presented in application to situations faced in daily life. This paper examines how Scanlon’s theory might be used by journalists as they seek to balance their duty to the public against their duties to the subjects and sources.

Beyond Kant Lite: Journalists and the Categorical Imperative • Lee Anne Peck, Ohio • The misunderstanding of Kant’s ethical theory by journalists comes in many forms. According to John Merrill, journalists may thing that if they apply the Categorical Imperative (CI), they are nothing more than “moral robots.” The CI, however, does not tell a person what to do; thus, this paper explores what the CI really entails and what journalists can take from it.

Philosophy in the Trenches: How Newspaper Editors Approach Ethical Questions • Patrick Lee Plaisance, Syracuse • This study sought to identify the various strains of philosophical principles brought to bear on ethical dilemmas by working journalists. A nationwide survey of newspaper managing editors and news editors solicited actual ethical dilemmas and examined how respondents assessed statements that corresponded to various philosophical principles. The study suggested that journalists tend to favor specific philosophical approaches when they are confronted with certain types of ethical questions, affirming calls by some media ethicists for a “pluralistic” approach in newsrooms.

The Concept of Media Accountability Reconsidered • Patrick Lee Plaisance, Syracuse • The concept of media accountability is widely used but remains inadequately defined in the literature and often is restricted to a one-dimensional interpretation. This study explores perceptions of accountability as manifestations of claims to responsibility, based on philosophical conceptions of the two terms, and suggests media accountability to be more broadly understood as a dynamic of interaction between a given medium and the value sets of individuals or groups receiving messages. The shape-shifting nature of the concept contributes to the volatility of debate surrounding conflicting notions of press freedom and responsibility.

Electronic Discussion Groups: An Effective Journalistic Ethical Forum? • Thomas E. Ruggiero, Texas-El Paso • Mass communication literature suggests a perceived ineffectuality of past and current journalistic ethical forums, such as news councils, ombudsmen, ethical codes, academic analysis and journalism reviews, by American journalists. This study investigates the ramifications of the recent introduction of electronic discussion groups, such as “LISTSERVs” and “electronic mailing lists,” as a mode of journalistic ethical discussion. Results of an e-mail questionnaire to 139 working journalists at 69 daily general-interest U.S. newspapers suggest that, while American journalists are overwhelmingly using e-mail to conduct both professional and personal business, it is unlikely, at least at this time, that very many are logging on to electronic discussion groups to discuss ethical issues.

Reporting on Private Affairs Of Public People: A Longitudinal Study of Newspaper Ethical Practices and Concerns, 1993-1999 • Sigman Splichal and Bruce Garrison, Miami • In 1987, after the Miami Herald reported that Democratic presidential hopeful Gary Hart had spent a night in a Washington D.C. townhouse with a young model, a national debate ensued over the proper bounds of reporting about the private lives of public officials. As that debate matured, the Washington Post’s Ben Bradlee summed it up: “ . . . the rules have certainly changed.” The New Republic also weighed in on the issue: The Herald had “opened a sluice gate that will not be easily closed.”

The Moral Authority of the Minnesota News Council: Statements of Principle and Uses of Precedent • Erik Forde Ugland and Jack Breslin, Minnesota • This study addresses the Minnesota News Council’s moral authority — that is, its ability to serve as a referent for the moral choices of others — and how its authority is affected by perceptions of its legitimacy. After analyzing all of the Council’s 125 written determinations, the authors argue that the Council’s legitimacy and authority could be enlarged by clearer statements of ethical principles, explicit expressions of standards of conduct, and more consistent references to precedent.

Testing A Theoretical Model of Journalistic Invasion of Privacy Using Structural Equation Modeling • Samuel P. Winch and L. Kim Tan, Nanyang Tech • Data on invasion of privacy — such as stories identifying crime victims, photographs of grieving people and stories about people’s financial status — obtained through a content analysis of newspapers over 30 years were analyzed with social/structural data such as literacy rate, crime rate and urbanization to validate a theoretical model of privacy using structural equation modeling. Tentatively, urbanization and industrialization seem to predict a decreased incidence in certain types of journalistic invasion of privacy.

<< 2000 Abstracts

Mass Communication and Society 2000 Abstracts

Mass Communication and Society Division

An E-Community of Ideas and Information: Media Content Characteristics of Children’s Web Sites • Debashis Aikat, North Carolina-Chapel Hill • The research for this study was based on concepts related to cultural studies and discourse analyses of top four mainstream children’s web sites based in the United States — Children’s Television Workshop (http://www.ctw.org/), Disney Online (http://www.disney.com/), Nickelodeon Online (http://www.nick.com/), and PBS Online (http://www.pbs.org). Using discourse analyses methods, this study examined media content characteristics of children’s web sites based on five specific construct categories: (a) Information, (b) Entertainment, (c) Education, (d) Commerce, and (e) Interactivity.

Quality Standards in Children’s Programming: An Empirical Analysis of Industry Claims • Alison Alexander, Louise Benjamin and Seok Kang, Georgia and Keisha Hoerrner, Louisiana • ABSTRACT NOT AVAILABLE.

Professional Autonomy and the American Journalist • Randal A. Beam, Indiana-Bloomington • This paper uses data from two national surveys of American journalists to examine the relationship between professional autonomy and the professional roles or functions that journalists embrace; the factors that journalists say influence their notion of what’s newsworthy; and the hypothetical judgments that journalists make about ethically questionable reporting practices. The purpose is to examine the ways in which reporters who have the freedom to pursue the stories that they want in the way that they want differ from reporters – apparently increasing in numbers – who face constraints in their work.

Mass Mediating Social Capital • Christopher E. Beaudoin and Esther Thorson, Missouri-Columbia • This study examines social capital in terms of its connections with news media use via a telephone survey. Positive links were found between social capital — defined in terms of group membership, voting behavior, and community trust — and exposure to news media, especially newspapers. The study suggests the importance age and ethnicity play in social capital — both as mediating factors and as predictors. The study, via structural equation modeling, suggests that causation flows in both directions between social capital and media exposure.

Access Denied: Records Custodians as Resistant Gatekeepers to Government Information • Michele Bush, Florida • Access to government information is a safeguard against government corruption by allowing the citizenry to keep watch over its leaders. Records custodians across the country are denying the citizenry this right. This paper shows the proliferation of records custodians unlawfully denying access to public information. It also shows that there is a lack of statutory guidance for records custodians across the country. This paper reports the problems and provides solutions for improving access to government information.

Television Viewing and Perceptions of Race, Socioeconomic Success, and Reasons For Lack Of Success • Rick W. Busselle and Heather Crandall, Washington State • This survey (N=139) investigates the relationships between television viewing and perceptions about socioeconomic success and failure among African-Americans Results extend previous research by indicating l) drama viewing was related to perceptions of greater educational disparity between blacks and whites and to perceptions that discrimination is a problem for blacks. 2) Sitcom viewing was related to perceptions of less educational disparity and higher estimates of blacks’ income. 3) News viewing was related to perceptions that relative lack of success is due to lack of motivation and not limited job opportunities.

Treating the Y2K Bug: Knowledge Gap Factors that Shaped the Outcome of a Public Issue • Francesca Dillman Carpentier, Alabama • ABSTRACT NOT AVAILABLE.

Whatever Works: A Test of the “Division of Labor Component of Uses and Gratifications Theory • John Carvalho, Campbell • ABSTRACT NOT AVAILABLE.

Rebels with a Cause: Teenagers on Daytime Dramas • Naeemah Clark, Florida • ABSTRACT NOT AVAILABLE.

The Effects of News Stories That Put Crime and Violence Into Context: Testing the Public Health Model of Reporting • Renita Coleman and Esther Thorson, Missouri • ABSTRACT NOT AVAILABLE.

Retreads: Recycling American Prime Time Television for Fun and Profit • Chad Dell, Monmouth • In the 1990s, a new television programming strategy seemed to emerge: “retreads,” the movement of prime time programs from one network to another. In 1995 alone, five cancelled programs found homes on another network’s schedule. This essay accounts for the use of retreads over a fifty-year period, including its resurgence in the 1990s. The essay argues that as one of many program recycling methods, retreads contribute to the alienation of television audiences.

Married sex in the movies: The last taboo? • J.M. Dempsey and Tom Reichert, North Texas • While other studies have incidentally addressed the portrayal of sex between married partners, this study specifically analyzes how sexuality between married couples is depicted in mainstream movies, as represented by the top movie video rentals of 1998 In the 25 motion pictures, married partners were portrayed in sexual behavior 16 times, or in 15% of the 105 codable sexual encounters. The most common sexual behavior portrayed among husbands and wives was passionate kissing.

Newspaper Letters and Phone-Mail to the Editor: A Comparison of Reader Input • Michael E. Dupre, Saint Anselm College and David A. Mackey, Framingham State College • ABSTRACT NOT AVAILABLE.

Partisan and Structural Balance of Election Stories on the 1998 Governor’s Race in Michigan • Frederick Fico and William Cote, Michigan State • The partisan and structural balance of newspaper stories covering the 1998 governor’s race in Michigan was assessed and compared to the newspaper coverage of three earlier elections. The 1998 election coverage favored the Democratic challenger in terms of space and prominence given his campaign’s assertions. A detailed issue analysis, however, suggests that the Republican incumbent was able to dominate the substantive issue agenda, while the Democratic challenger became himself the issue because of his insulting campaign comments.

Journalists’ Newsroom Roles and Their World Wide Web Search Habits • Bruce Garrison, Miami • This paper reports an analysis of how newsroom staff members search for information on the World Wide Web. Daily newspaper data collected in 1998 and 1999 were analyzed to determine if computer-assisted reporting supervisors, news researchers, general assignment and beat reporters, news editors, and newsroom technical specialists differed in how they searched for information on the Web. Findings indicated that there are clear differences in how the group members search.

World Wide Web Use In Newsrooms, 1997-99 • Bruce Garrison, Miami • This study focuses on the use of the Internet and World Wide Web in daily newspaper newsrooms during a three-year period covering 1997-99. The study focused on how these news organizations used the Web to find information, the Web sites most often used for newsgathering, what journalists perceived as the strengths and weaknesses of information found, the Web-based interactive technologies most often used, and the perceived advantages and disadvantages of Web reporting.

Effects of Media Coverage on Illicit Drug Trial Among College Students: What Does Curiosity Really do to the Cat? • Alyse R. Gotthoffer, Miami • This study examines the effects of media coverage on college students’ intentions to try illicit drugs. An experiment was performed with 172 undergraduate students to determine whether awareness, interest, and product curiosity affected intention to try a fictitious drug, MCA. Students were asked to listen to one of six radio segments with drug messages embedded in them. The results suggest that among students predisposed to try illicit drugs, repeated exposure to drug messages heightens awareness, interest, and curiosity about drugs, which, in turn, leads to an intention to try new drugs.

Morality and the Maintenance of Order: The Instructional Potential of “The Jerry Springer Show” • Mary Elizabeth Grabe, Indiana • The prevalence of verbal and physical aggression on daytime television talk shows has earned this genre the designation of “confrontainment.” In recent times politicians, clergy, and media critics have drawn attention by making castigating remarks about the content of particularly “The Jerry Springer Show.” Media scholars have gathered on the sideline of this scuffle to express opinions and offer research evidence to either defend talk shows as democratizing or expel them from the menu of morally just television fare.

The Incidence and Nature of Altruism in Primetime Television Programming • James K. Hertog and Mike Farrell, Kentucky • ABSTRACT NOT AVAILABLE.

Entertainment Media Use and Attitudes Concerning Women’s Rights: Merging Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches to Better Understand a Process of Media Effects • R. Lance Holbert, Dhavan V. Shah and Nojin Kwak, Wisconsin-Madison • Critical feminist scholars have long argued that the consumption of televised entertainment programming, because it is a site of gender role construction and contestation, plays an important role in shaping attitudes toward women and their place in society. Merging these insights with research on media uses and gratifications, we posit that individual-level differences in basic demographic characteristics, value-preferences, and social orientations motivate in the use of various types of recreational and informational media content.

Community Controversy and the News Media: A Network Structure of Community Actors’ Co-Coverage in the Local Newspapers • Naewon Kang, Wisconsin-Madison • This study uses network analysis to investigate how the community actors were covered together in news articles of the two local newspapers over a controversial school pairing policy in Madison, Wisconsin. By examining the co-coverage pattern, the author analyzes a symmetrical matrix of 133 community actors appearing in 132 news articles published during 1992 to 1995. Bonacich centrality and multidimensional analysis demonstrate that individuals who are involved in institutional organizations occupy central positions in the co-coverage network.

A Multilevel Approach to Civic Participation: Individual Length of Residence, Neighborhood Residential Stability, and their Interactive Effects with Media Use • Naewon Kang and Nojin Kwak, Wisconsin-Madison • Adopting the Sampson’s (1991) multilevel system model, this study attempts to investigate the role of residential variables both at the individual and at the neighborhood levels and communication factors in individuals’ civic participation. Findings in this study show the significant impact of both residential variables, individual length of residence and neighborhood residential stability, and support past evidences on the influence of communication behaviors on civic participation.

From Here to Obscurity: Media Substitution Theory and the Internet • Barbara K. Kaye, Valdosta State and Thomas J. Johnson, Southern Illinois • ABSTRACT NOT AVAILABLE.

Internet Uses and Gratifications: Understanding Motivations for Using the Internet • Hanjun Ko, Florida • In this study, the uses and gratifications theory was applied to investigate the Internet users’ motivations and their relationship with attitudes toward the Internet as well as types of Web site visited by users. Four motivations and five types of Web sites were discovered via factor analysis. Differences among heavy, medium, and light users of the Internet were also analyzed in terms of their motivations, types of Web sites frequently visited, and attitudes toward the Internet.

A Framing Analysis: How Did Three U.S. News Magazines Frame About Mergers or Acquisitions? • Sang Hee Kweon, Southern Illinois • The study examined news coverage of the mergers based on the types of mergers, government policy, and news focus of the three U.S. news magazines. This study found that all three magazines covered mergers or acquisitions favorably, particularly media mergers, and mergers news coverage was 35.3% (183) episodic and 64.5% (335) thematic. Fortune, a business-focused magazine, covered non-media mergers more favorably, whereas Newsweek and U.S. News & World Report covered media mergers more favorably than non-media mergers.

Pleasure, Reality, and Hegemony: A Television Drama and Women in a Korean Confucian Patriarchal Family Structure • Oh-Hyeon Lee, Massachusetts • ABSTRACT NOT AVAILABLE.

Political Talk, Not All “Hot Air” A Path Model Predicting Knowledge, Cynicism & Vote in an Issue Campaign • Glenn Leshner and Maria E. Len-Rios, Missouri • This study used regional telephone survey data collected after a 1999 off-season issue election to examine how campaign media and interpersonal political discussion predict how much voters learned about the issue, how they voted, and how politically cynical they were. Three distinct types of voters were identified: those who thought the issue was important, those who reported being involved in the campaign, and those who relied on endorsements to decide how to vote.

The Role of Response Efficacy in Health Threat Messages • Yulian Li, Minnesota • ABSTRACT NOT AVAILABLE.

City Characteristics of Newspaper Coverage of Social Security Reform: A Community Structure Approach • John C. Pollock, Tiffany Tanner and Mike Delbene, College of New Jersey • Utilizing the community structure approach developed by Tichenor, Donohue, and Olien (1973, 1980) and elaborated by Pollock and others (1977, 1978, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999), a set of hypotheses were tested to discover the relationship between city characteristics and newspaper reporting on Social Security reform. This approach suggests that certain demographics within a community are systematically linked to newspaper reporting on critical issues.

Thinking About Health: The Relationship of Mass Media and Cognition to Perceptions of Children’s Health • Bryan H. Reber, Missouri • How media use and cognitive work contribute to perceptions of children’s health and quality of life issues was tested in a survey of 1,238 adults. Demographics were predictors of cognitive work and media use on children’s health issues. High cognitive work on children’s health issues was significantly related to pessimistic perceptions about the status of children’s health. High television exposure and attention were related to optimistic perceptions. Cognitive work led to more accurate assessments of the health situation.

Perceptions of Media Fairness: Implications for The Nixon And Clinton Legacies • Marilyn S. Roberts, Florida and Thomas J. Johnson, Southern Illinois • The study examines perceptions of the Watergate and Lewinsky scandals. Survey data (n=450) was collected after the Senate rejected articles of impeachment against President Clinton. Three questions asked about the scandals: whether their actions were serious enough to warrant being forced out of office; perceptions of corruptness; and whether the media were out to get them. Included are measures of demographic and political variables to determine significant associations and implications for the two Presidential legacies.

Telemedicine versus Telelaw: A Legal Comparison Between Offering the Services of Doctors and Lawyers over the Internet • Johanna M. Roodenburg, Florida • This paper compares the movement of the services of doctors and lawyers onto the Internet. It finds that doctors are moving online at a more rapid pace than lawyers. The paper examines the policy rationale for the different telemovement pace between the two professions.

Co-use and Co-processing of News Media in the Family: An Explication and Empirical Validation • Christian Sandvig and Melissa Nichols Saphir, Stanford and Steven Chaffee, California • This study considers the sharing of media in the family by developing two concepts similar to co-viewing and mediation but that apply to communication media other than television. Termed co-use and co-processing, this paper first explicates these concepts, then presents preliminary empirical evidence that these concepts exist from a survey of parent-adolescent pairs. We find that families widely co-use media other than television, mutually co-process content from these media, and that adolescents often initiate co-processing.

An ‘Improbable Leap’: A Content Analysis of Newspaper Coverage of Hillary Clinton’s Transition from First Lady to Senate Candidate • Erica Scharrer, Massachusetts-Amherst • This study is primarily a quantitative content analysis of newspaper coverage of Hillary Clinton as she makes an unprecedented transition from first lady to senate candidate. 342 newspaper stories are analyzed to determine whether the press has responded to her adoption of non-traditional roles with a negative tone. 96 stories about Giuliani are used for comparison, and a qualitative analysis of negative statements appearing in news stories adds depth and dimension to the discussion of critical tone.

Media Cue-Taking and Trends in Mass Opinion: Explaining Evaluations of ClintonÕs Competency and Integrity • Dhavan V. Shahm Wisconsin-Madison; David Domke, Washington; Mark D. Watts, Abacus Associates and David P. Fan, Minnesota • Contrary to what might be expected according to many models of media effects and public opinion, President Clinton’s job approval ratings remained high – and even slightly rose – during the period of critical coverage surrounding the Monica Lewinsky debacle. At the same time, although it received much less attention, public evaluations of the President’s integrity plummeted. With these public opinion divergences in mind, several pollsters, pundits, and scholars have argued that news media must have been largely irrelevant.

The Impact of Political Advertising: Differences Between Positive Ads and Issue, Image and Mixed Attacks • Sung Wook Shim, Florida • The purpose of this study is to identify the impact on the attacking candidate when he/she attacks the attacked candidate with four types of ads: issue, image attacks, both issue and image combined attacks and positive. The study results show that image attack produced a greater negative change than issue attack for evaluation of attacking candidate. The decline was significant between likelihood of voting for attacking candidate in the pretest and likelihood of voting for attacking candidate in the posttest.

Media Bias, Campaign Coverage, and Public Opinion: The 2000 New York Senate Race • Young Jun Son and Deborah Soun Chung, Indiana • This study examines the linkage between candidate treatment and public opinion during the ongoing 2000 New York Senate race and tests T. Patterson’s media candidate portrayal models. With evidence of political bias, our findings demonstrate the New York Times and the Washington Times were respectively favorable to Mrs. Clinton, the Democrat, and to Rudolph Giuliani, the Republican. In the visual part, we did not find specific media bias. We could not support Patterson’s models both in the written and the visual part.

Exploration of TV-Free Life Style • Toward a Media Exchange Model • Tao Sun and Tsan-Kuo Chang, Minnesota • ABSTRACT NOT AVAILABLE.

Influence of Spouse Communication and Informational Media on Risk Perception • Eun-Ho Yeo and Clifford W. Scherer, Cornell • This study used a path model to examine the influence of two communication behaviors on risk perception. Spouse communication, talking about health issues, and mass communication, use of informational media, particularly print, was used to predict husband and wife personal risk perception and societal risk perception. The focus of the paper is to examine the possibility that the impact of informational mass media on risk perception is mediated by family interaction, particularly husband-wife communication.

Economic Literacy and News Interest • Lowndes F. Stephens, South Carolina • The National Council on Economic Education, the Federal Reserve, the U.S. Department of Education (Goals 2000 Educate American Act) and other organizations are promoting economic literacy. In this investigation the author tests, and finds support for, two hypotheses (using a random telephone survey sample of 369 residents in a Southern metropolitan area) – that interest in economic, business, and personal finance news is strongly and positively correlated with economic literacy, and with estimated financial net worth.

Exporting the First Amendment a Case of the Fair Report Privilege • Kyu Ho Youm, Arizona State • Under the fair report privilege doctrine of American libel law, “[t]he publication of defamatory matter concerning another in a report of an official action or proceeding or of a meeting open to the public that deals with a matter of public concern is privileged if the report is accurate and complete or a fair abridgment of the occurrence reported.” Regardless of how it is formulated, the answer to the question of whether reports of the proceedings of foreign courts and other agencies fall within the fair report privilege in U.S. law carries profound implications for American news media in global communication.

An Interdisciplinary Synthesis of Framing • Weiwu Zhang, Wisconsin-Madison • This paper provides a multidisciplinary treatment of the framing analysis and pays close attention to the framing processes linking its antecedents, contents, and consequences. The antecedents of framing addresses the issue of how frames are constructed in the first place and how these influences interact with news media routines to influence actual media content frames. The consequences of media content frames deal with the extent to which media frames are adopted by audience members.

<< 2000 Abstracts

Magazine 2000 Abstracts

Magazine Division

The Portrayal of Black Women’s Facial Features in Mainstream Fashion Magazines: 1989-1998 • Oluwatosin Adegbola, Howard • The method of content analysis was applied to three mainstream fashion magazines (Vogue, Glamour, and Cosmopolitan; randomly sampled from 1989-1998), to investigate claims of stereotypical portrayals. The women were coded on complexion, lip size, nose width, and hairstyle with attainable scores in categories ranging from very Caucasian to very Negroid. Results showed that there was a pattern whereby majority of the Black women in the magazines possessed Caucasian features.

Cosmetic Ads in Cosmopolitan and New Woman: Do Advertisers get Special Treatment in Editorial? • Elizabeth Althoff, Drake • Advertisers seek increasingly large concessions from magazines they advertise, as evidenced by recent RFPs from agencies. In this study, cosmetic ads are compared with editorial treatment of the advertiser’s brand in two women’s magazines, Cosmopolitan and New Woman, 1997 to 1999. While Cosmo mentioned only 21 brands in editorial, 19% of these were also advertisers in the same issue. New Woman mentioned 37 brands, but only 8% of these were advertisers.

Setting the Agenda and Framing in Beauty Magazines: A Content Analysis of the Coverage of Breasts • Julie L. Andsager, Washington State and Angela Powers and Rachael McKinness, Northern Illinois • This study uses two content analysis methods to examine how four women’s beauty magazines framed information concerning the health and beauty of breasts during the 1990s. Breast cancer prevention and risk was the most prominent theme, while implants received little attention. Cancer was associated with fear and danger. Breast size was a recurring frame, linking breasts to sexual attractiveness. Medical doctors were the most frequent sources used. Magazines varied in how they framed breast issues.

‘Pearl Harbor of the Cold War:’ Coverage of Post-Sputnik Science Reforms In Four National Magazines • Timothy E. Bajkiewicz, North Carolina-Chapel Hill • Sputnik was a rallying cry for American science education. This study found eighty-six articles on this topic in four national magazines: Popular Science, Scientific American, Life, and the Saturday Evening Post, from October, 1957 to September, 1958. All called for immediate changes. The articles used examples of students and teachers, expert opinion, and scientific studies regarding attitudes and the state of science education in both the United States and the Soviet Union.

Farm Magazine Advertisers Turn Up the Heat: An Analysis of Ethical Pressures Faced by Farm Magazine Writers • Stephen A. Banning, Texas A&M • The traditionally small advertising base for farm magazine publications has continued to shrink. This study looks at kinds of pressures farm magazine writers may be feeling as they become dependent on fewer and fewer advertisers. Results of this nationwide survey indicate farm magazine writers feel advertisers are applying a great deal of pressure in areas of ethical concern. When compared with the same instrument given to a similar sample pool a decade before, the study indicates a general feeling that the amount of pressure from advertisers has increased.

Twenty-Five Years of Newsweek’s Coverage of Salvador Allende and Augusto Pinochet: A-Content Analysis • Matthew M. Bifano, Ohio • Through a longitudinal study using a content analysis, the researcher demonstrated that Newsweek’s coverage during the 1970 election of Salvador Allende, his presidency, the military coup in 1973, and Augusto Pinochet’s presidency tended to follow the U.S. government’s foreign policy. Newsweek’s dependence on official news sources and its failure to use human rights groups as sources made its coverage hegemonic rather than independent from the various U.S. administrations’ policies toward Chile.

Yosemite’s Transition from Space to Place: An Historical Investigation in Media’s Role in the Place-Making Process • Nickieann Fleener and Edward Ruddell, Utah • ABSTRACT NOT AVAILABLE.

AOL-Time Warner’s Magazine and Music Interests: Good Business Makes Poor Journalism • Geoffrey P. Hull, Middle Tennessee State • This study examines two publications of AOL-Time Warner, Time and People Weekly, to determine whether they give more coverage or more favorable coverage to products and artists of Time Warner’s music division. One year of issues of each publication was examined. Time and People do devote more total coverage to Time Warner distributed recordings and artists than to those of their competitors Qualitative measures of the coverage found no significant differences.

Women’s Political Voices: A Content Analysis of The Political Coverage in Women’s Magazines • Stacey J.T. Hust, Washington State • Political coverage in women’s magazines has seldom been studied, but as an integral component of women’s media consumerism, it is important to discern how they cover important issues. Research reports that women do not have access to political information and are not conditioned to be involved in the political process. A content analysis is used to analyze the political coverage of nine magazines over a five-year period.

‘A Death in the American Family’: National Values and Memory in the Magazine Mourning of John F. Kennedy Jr. • Carolyn Kitch, Temple • The 1999 death of John F. Kennedy Jr. provided an opportunity for news media to tell a life story as a way of assessing the American character, defining it in terms of family and generation and in terms of sacrifice and redemption. Focusing on magazines a medium that played a leading role in the public mourning of JFK Jr. • this paper analyzes the narrative and ritual aspects of the coverage in order to understand journalism’s role in affirming national values and creating collective memory.

The National Geographic Magazine and Environmental Coverage, 1970-1980 • Jan Knight, Ohio • ABSTRACT NOT AVAILABLE.

A Comparison of Magazine Summer Olympic Coverage by Gender and Race: A Content Analysis of Sports Illustrated • Jim Mack, Ohio • This study content analyzed 212 Summer Olympic articles in Sports Illustrated, seeking to find if the magazine provided representative coverage of women and minority U.S. athletes. The total U.S. medal winners for race and gender divisions was compared to the number of pictures and print references to U.S. athletes in Olympic articles from 1960 to 1996. This study found that, quantitatively, Sports Illustrated did provide representative coverage of female and minority athletes for the Summer Olympics.

Framing a War: Photographic Coverage of the Kosovo War in Newsweek, Time, and U.S. News & World Report • Nikolina Sajn, Kwangju Heo and Sarah Merritt, North Carolina • This paper studies framing of the photographic coverage of the Kosovo War in three U.S. newsmagazines. The quantitative content analysis of the photographs showed that the coverage concentrated on the U.S. leaders, troops and arsenal. The photographs of civilians showed almost exclusively just the Albanian side. The magazines failed to inform the public about all aspects of the war, and the traditional “good vs. evil” paradigm applies in the coverage of this confrontation.

American Magazines Prosper-At Whose Expense • David Sumner, Ball State • Conflicting evidence exists regarding whether consumers or advertisers pay most of the costs of magazine publishing for the industry as a whole. The purpose of this study is to look at the evidence by analyzing rates charged for both circulation and advertising, focusing on data from 1980 to 1998. It compares subscription prices, single copy prices, and advertising per-page rates for 96 major magazines monitored by the Audit Bureau of Circulations that were published continuously between 1980 and 1998.

Lillian Ross: Pioneer of Literary Journalism • James W. Tankard, Jr., Texas • Lillian Ross has reported for The New Yorker for more than 50 years. This paper argues that Ross has not been given sufficient credit for her contributions to the style known as literary journalism. Ross used dialogue and the technique of writing articles made up mostly of scenes to write such articles as her classic “Portrait of Hemingway.” She also pioneered the non-fiction novel form in her book Picture • years before Capote’s In Cold Blood.

The Relationship Between Health and Fitness Magazine Reading and Eating-Disordered Weight-Loss Methods Among High School Girls • Steven R. Thomsen, Michelle M. Weber and Lora Beth Brown, Brigham Young • The study examined the relationship between reading women’s health and fitness magazines and the use of eating-disordered diet methods (laxatives, appetite suppressants/diet pills, skipping two meals a day, intentional vomiting, excessive exercising, and restricting calories to 1,200 a day or less) among a group of 498 high school girls. The authors found moderate, positive associations between reading frequency and these unhealthful behaviors, which are often the first steps toward the development of anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa.

The Amazing Magazines of Hugo Gernsback • Jonathan Thornton, Trinity • In 1908, Hugo Gernsback foresaw the future of science fiction, helping to define it as an influential and popular genre through his magazine Amazing Stories. Throughout his life, Gernsback was a dreamer who would strongly influence the genre of science fiction magazines, from serializing “Ralph 124C41+” in Modern Electrics, to his peak of launching and editing the first all-science fiction magazine, to the post-Amazing Stories era of his life when he published several science fiction magazines.

Hidden Under a Bushel: A Study of the Thriving World of Religious Magazine • Ken Waters, Pepperdine • Religious publications have a long and varied history in the United States. The publications are among the first magazines to appear in the U.S. and their content helped shape the early Republic’s literacy, morals and political events. But during the past 150 years, their influence has lessened. Although some 3,000 religious publications exist today, most report small circulation levels. Critics contend that many religious magazines are more focused on doctrinal battles than presenting news and information for the general public.

<< 2000 Abstracts

Advertising 2000 Abstracts

Advertising Division

Research
The Effects of Ethnic Identification on Multicultural Adolescents’ Evaluations Of Ads • Osei Appiah, Iowa State • This manuscript examines whether the strength of ethnic identity influences multicultural adolescents’ responses to ads featuring models of different races and their responses to ads featuring race-specific cultural cues. The researcher digitally manipulated the race of characters in ads and the number of race specific cultural cues in the ads while maintaining all other visual features of these ads. Three hundred forty-nine black, white, Hispanic, and Asian-American. Adolescents evaluated black character or white character ads based. The findings indicate high black identifiers and low black identifiers responded, in part, differently to culturally embedded ads.

The Effectiveness of Banner Advertisements: Involvement and Click-through • Chang-Hoan Cho, Nebraska at Lincoln and John D. Leckenby, Texas-Austin • This paper explores the relationship between consumer’s level of involvement and clicking of banner ads on the WWW. This study indicates that people in high involvement situations are more likely to click a banner ad in order to request more information than those in low-involvement situations. Meanwhile, it is found that people in low-involvement situations are more likely to click a banner ad when it has a large size and dynamic animation.

Does Humor Really Matter ?: Some Evidence From Super Bowl Advertising • Hwi-Man Chung, North Carolina-Chapel Hill • This study examined the effects of humor on advertised brand recall and recognition and advertising liking through quasi-experimentation conducted immediately following Super Bowl broadcasts. Simple regression shows that humor has a positive impact on advertised brand recall, recognition, and ad liking. Also, this study examined whether the effects of humor vary across product categories. Multiple regression shows that there are statistically significant differences in the effects of humor on recall, recognition, and ad liking among product categories.

Smoking in the News: Intermedia Agenda Setting and The Anti-Tobacco Advertising Campaign • Stacie Lee Greene, North Carolina-Chapel Hill • ABSTRACT NOT AVAILABLE.

Emotional Responses to Web Advertising: The Effects of Animation, Position, and Product Involvement on Physiological Arousal • Nokon Heo and S. Shyam Sundar, Penn State University • ABSTRACT NOT AVAILABLE.

The Effectiveness of Comparative Advertising Among Koreans: Is It Effective to Increase the Intensity of Comparison over Time? • Jang-Sun Hwang and Mariea Grubbs Hoy, Tennessee • Despite the popularity of comparative advertising (CA), few studies have explored how to develop this strategy outside the United States. This study reports the results of an experiment conducted in South Korea, a country where CA is rarely used. Two hundred Korean college students were exposed to fictitious advertisements in which the independent variable of comparison intensity (non-comparative/low/medium/high/increasing) and exposure sequence (first/second/third) were manipulated. The dependent variables of attitude toward the brand and purchase interest assessed advertising effectiveness.

Influence of Cigarette Promotion on Juvenile Susceptibility to Smoking: A Path Analysis • Hye-ryeon Lee and Kristie A. Taylor, Arizona and Stacey Nofziger, Kansas State • ABSTRACT NOT AVAILABLE.

The Effects of Threat in Verbal and Visual Print Ads on Perceptions and Behavioral Intention • Yulian Li, Minnesota • This experimental study applied the protection motivation theory in examining the effects of threat ads on the cognitive appraisal processes and the subsequent purchase intention. With verbal and verbal-visual ads manipulated into high and low levels of threat, it was found that there is a positive linear relationship between the amount of threat in verbal-visual ads and changes in the cognitive appraisal processes.

What the Real World Really Wants: An Analysis of Advertising Employment Ads • Sally J. McMillan, Tennessee and Kim Bartel Sheehan, Brandt Heinemann and Charles Frazer, Oregon • This study examines technology-driven changes in the recruitment of advertising professionals. The researchers analyzed content of employment advertisements published in Advertising Age and posted on HotJobs. Differences were found both over time and between offline and online sources. Technology has increased demand for both computer skills and people skills such as being a team player. Advertising educators must adapt to technological change, but the classroom should not emphasize technology at the expense of interpersonal interaction.

Super.Com: An Analysis of Message Strategies Utilized in Super Bowl Ads for Dot.com Companies • Margaret A. Morrison and Candace White, Tennessee • Using a message strategy typology developed by Taylor (1999), a thematic analysis of dot.com commercials appearing in Super Bowl XXXIV was performed to determine which strategies these businesses use. Other aspects of the ads, including the gender of main characters and voice-over narration, were examined. Results indicate that rational and ego message strategies dominated the ads. Male voice-overs and characters dominate. The efficacy of the strategies used, along with the tactical elements are discussed.

Political Advertising and State of the Union Addresses: Distinct or Merging Communications? • Nelson Mumma Jr., North Carolina-Chapel Hill • Political advertising and State of the Union addresses are seemingly distinct types of communication. However, research and existing literature indicate that the gap between the two may be narrowing. This paper reveals that presidents are using State of the Union addresses to deliver what are, in part, political advertisements by previewing television advertising themes that run later that year and by mentioning campaign issues, their accomplishments, and their vice presidents.

The Role of Advertising, Special Promotions, and Loyalty Programs on Grocery Shopping in the New Millennium • Mary Alice Shaver, Michigan State and Carol J. Pardun, North Carolina-Chapel Hill • A random sample of 119 grocery shoppers indicated that most shoppers (95.9%) have at least one loyalty card to use while shopping. In addition, 31.2% were identified as loyal shoppers (those who had one card and shopped at one store) and 67.8% variety shoppers (those who had many cards and shopped at different stores). Both kinds of shoppers disregard newspaper advertising before heading out to the grocery store — and prefer national brands over store brands.

Effects of Violence and Brand Familiarity on Responses to Television Commercials • Fuyan Shen, South Dakota • This empirical study investigates the effect of violence and brand familiarity on an individual’s responses toward television commercials measured in terms of memory, brand attitude and purchase intention. Results indicate that violence has significant effects on the processing of advertising messages. These effects are moderated by brand familiarity. Specifically, on the measures of brand attitude and purchase intention, violence appears to be more effective in generating less favorable responses for familiar brands than unfamiliar brands.

Slackers, Whiz Kids, Introverts and Extroverts: Self-concept, Advertising, and the Susceptibility to Campus Drinking Rituals • Joyce M. Wolburg and Edward R. Frederick, Marquette • This study examines the relationship between self-concept, exposure and attention to alcohol advertising, and the influence of three functions of the drinking ritual among college students. Findings show that susceptibility to the functions of the drinking ritual is related to attention and exposure to alcohol advertising. Influence of the ritual function also varies among four self-identity groups — Slackers, Whiz Kids, Introverts and Extroverts.

Special Topics
The Role of Self in Processing Advertising Messages — An Exploration of Gender Schema • Ching Ching Chang, National Chengchi University • This study examines how individuals’ self-schemata interfere with their processing of advertising messages. It suggests that how subjects perceive themselves on one important dimension of self-schemata — gender schema — affects the way they respond to advertising messages with different user portrayals. Findings show that self-congruent messages generate higher levels of self-referencing, more positive emotions, less negative emotions and higher levels of calmness. Enhanced self-referencing and positive emotions lead to more positive ad liking and, in turn, result in more positive brand attitude.

From European Autonomy to Advertising Autonomy: European Advertising Self-Regulation in the Context of a Unified Europe • Anne Cunningham, Louisiana State • Few critics have questioned the contention — championed by such international organizations as the newly formed European Advertising Standards Alliance (EASA) — that unfettered advertising is necessary for the development of a free and thriving world economy. In an effort to promote freer exchange of advertising worldwide, many organizations are working to coordinate European advertising self-regulatory codes and practice. However, the literature on the detrimental impact of cultural synchronization and on the media’s, particularly advertising’s, role in transporting culture raises concerns about how standardizing European advertising self-regulation might influence those cultural values that threaten capitalist values.

Threat, Authoritarianism And Political Advertising: An Experiment In Personality And Persuasion • Fang Wan, Patrick Meirick, Jennifer Williams, Justin Holmes and Christina Fiebich, Minnesota • This study explores the interaction of authoritarianism and threat in evaluations of positive political advertisements. Threat and reward versions of ads for three issues were shown to 136 students. As predicted, those high in authoritarianism found threat ads more persuasive when the issues were analyzed as a whole, but this preference was significant for only one of the three when analyzed separately. Attitudes toward the ads and candidate traits, in turn, were related to evaluations of the candidates.

Messages of Hope: Developing Health Campaigns that Address Misperceptions of Breast Cancer Held by Women of Color • Cynthia M. Frisby, Missouri • Abstract According to the National Cancer Institute, breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths among black women. Medical literature identifies two reasons for the high mortality rates for Black women: detection of the disease in its advance stages and/or myths, misperceptions, and fears concerning the causes of and prognosis related to breast cancer. Ninety-two African-American females ranging in age from 20 to 77 were surveyed to determine the beliefs and perceptions held about breast cancer.

Internet Advertising: A Cross-Media Analysis between Advertising Content on the Internet and in Print • Sarwat M. Husain, North Carolina-Chapel Hill • This pilot study attempts to compare advertising content between the Internet and a traditional medium. Both media focused on vehicles that ware targeted to women; women’s websites and a woman’s general interest magazine. Information collected via frequency tables showed that print magazines had almost twice as many ads (86) compared to websites (mean 47.5). Therefore, advertising was not found to be as prevalent on the Internet as in the traditional print media.

Television News Coverage of Advertising: A Census of the Last Years of the Twentieth Century • Kevin L. Keenan, The American University in Cairo • This study is a content analysis of all television news stories about advertising on ABC, CBS, CNN, and NBC during the years 1994 through 1999. Variables examined include the types of advertisers reported on, the tone and theme of advertising stories, the types of sources consulted, and the media categories included. Comparisons are made with an earlier study of television news coverage and with a study of how newspapers cover advertising.

A Niche Analysis of the Web, Catalogs and Retail Stores: A Case in Taiwan • Cheng Kuo and Vincent Huang, National Chengchi University and Hairong Li, Michigan State • This study examines channel utilities of the Web in comparison with catalogs and retail stores from the perspective of niche theory. It identified and measured three channel utilities (communication, distribution, and convenience) with a set of 14 questions. Through on-line surveys, information about 909 Taiwanese internet users were collected and analyzed. Scales of channel utilities were assessed using confirmatory factor analysis and then used to examine the niche breadth, niche overlap, and niche superiority of these channels.

J. Peterman and Seinfeld: Why a Promotional Success Was a Marketing Failure • Richard Parker and James A. Karrh, Alabama • Despite unprecedented exposure as part of television’s most popular show, the J. Peterman Company failed. This paper reviews the Peterman case in light of research on the value of such in-program brand exposures. A set of principles is offered that not only helps explain J. Peterman’s missed opportunities but that also serves as a guide to other marketers seeking to arrange and exploit in-program brand exposures, brand (product) placements, and other forms of publicity.

Advertising and the Consumer’s Hunt for Information: Traditional and Internet Sources • Catherine Ilse Pfeifer, Wisconsin-Madison • “The advertising world is changing.” This is a statement that has been uttered since the dawn of marketing, but it is also becoming truer as time passes. The marketplace is experiencing a shift in both the target audiences and the media. This change in the advertising and marketing situation needs to be accompanied by changes in thinking about how to contact customers.

Underwriting the War Effort: The Advertising Council Organizes the Advertising Industry, 1942-1945 • Inger L. Stole, Illinois at Urbana-Champaign • The focus of this paper is on the (War) Advertising Council during the Second World War. It discusses how the Council, acting in a public relations capacity for the advertising industry, spent considerable energy on coaching, encouraging, even guilt-tripping advertisers into compliance. The paper also discusses how the advertising community’s work through the Council was received among the American public. A case study of the War Advertising Council’s controversial 1944 campaign to “Stamp Out V.D.”, offers an interesting look at the extent to which individual advertisers were committed to the Council’s work.

Testing a Fear-based Personality Construct in the Consumer Context • Tao Sun, Minnesota • Based on the DDB Needham Life Style data, this paper validates the fear-based personality construct proposed by Doyle (1999). Set in a consumer behavior context, this paper investigates how people of different personalities, in order to diffuse their unique patterns of fear, engage in such consumption behaviors as saving, innovativeness, brand-name seeking, lottery buying, fashion pursuit, and energy/environment consciousness. Advertising implications (i.e., use of brand personality and of fear appeals) are discussed.

PF&R
Trouble with Angels: A Multi-disciplinary Analysis of Calvin Klein Jeans Advertising • Carla V. Lloyd, Syracuse • The 1995 Calvin Klein jeans campaign stirred up widespread opposition not seen before by the advertising industry. Scholarly research on this controversial ad campaign has tended to focus on the profession by examining the legal, regulatory and ethical ramifications of sexually explicit advertising on the practice of advertising. This study breaks new ground by using a multidisciplinary approach to examine this controversial advertising campaign. The findings of this study suggest that the young models appearing in the ads were posed and stylized to look like cherubs.

The Evolution of Corporate Social Responsibility • Cynthia R. Morton, Florida • The evolution in corporate social responsibility is represented by a consistent trend in company activity since the early l900s. Four major areas have contributed to the increasing influence of corporate involvement on issues of broad social concern. This paper examines the progression in corporate social responsibility, from the origin of philanthropic giving to more marketing-based activities such as sponsorships and cause-related marketing.

The Effectiveness of Attack and Response in Negative Political Advertising • Sung Wook Shim, Florida • ABSTRACT NOT AVAILABLE.

Teaching
Teaching Consumer Empathy: Adding a Service-Learning Component to the Advertising Research Course • Beth E. Barnes, Syracuse • Service-learning has been adopted by U.S. university faculty in many disciplines. This paper describes a service-learning component included in the advertising research course at a large university. Unlike many service-learning programs in communications the experience described here does not involve students working on a project such as a survey for a community organization, but instead puts students into organizations as volunteer observers. The mechanics of the program are described as well as preliminary outcomes.

Teaching TV Advertising Creative Using Digital Video on the Desktop • Fred K. Beard, Oklahoma and David Tarpenning, Advertising & Marketing Resources, Inc. • This paper describes the development and presentation of a TV advertising instructional unit based on desktop video technology. The paper (l) describes the authors’ curriculum development approach, (2) reports the results of quantitative evaluations of the unit by both students and advertising practitioners, (3) draws conclusions regarding the feasibility of including desktop video in advertising creative courses not entirely devoted to TV advertising, and (4) provides a sufficiently detailed description of the unit so it can be replicated by interested advertising educators.

A View From The Ivory Tower To The Real World: A Survey Of Those Who Teach Advertising Creative Courses • Sheri J. Broyles, North Texas • A national survey of educators in advertising creative classes asked about teaching challenges as well as the same open-ended questions asked of Creative Directors in the Kendrick, Slayden, and Broyles (1996) study. Results showed some differences, but more striking similarities. Both professors and professionals agree on the importance of conceptual ability and the portfolio for the entry-level creatives as well as bringing working professionals into the classroom. It is suggested that the Ivory tower and the Real World may not be all that different.

Integrating Public Speaking into the Advertising Curriculum • Kim Golombisky, South Florida • Presentations are an inevitable and crucial part of the advertising business. Yet advertising education does not emphasize effective public speaking skills. This essay first argues the need for advertising students to develop presentation skills and then shares a method for integrating public speaking into advertising courses without “crowding out” traditional advertising content. Following “writing across the curriculum” programs, “speaking across the curriculum” provides a model for incorporating oral communication skills into advertising courses.

Student
Advertising Ethics: What is it and who has it? • Kimberly C. Gaddie, Oklahoma • This study fills a gap in prior research on advertising ethics by focusing not on what types of ethical guidelines should be applied in agencies, but rather on what guidelines are applied. This study proposes that advertising practitioners employ a multi-tiered set of ethical codes in those decision-making situations. In-depth interviews were used to gain insight to the foundations and applications of ethics to daily decision-making processes. Findings indicate that elements of different ethical codes do in fact blend together to guide the decision-making processes of advertising practitioners.

Effective Communication of Brand Extensions: A Comparison of Close and Remote Extensions • Jooyoung Kim, Colorado-Boulder • Brand extension is where many branding theories are used since it requires a company to understand the original brand’s brand position, the intended extension category, and various communication strategies. Since brand extension is often a very effective marketing strategy, many scholars have been researching brand extensions, focusing on product development strategies and consumers’ basic evaluation process. However, relatively little research has been conducted regarding the communication aspects of brand extensions.

Differences in the Use of Message Strategies between the U.S. and Korean Television Automobile Commercials • Guiohk Lee, Tennessee • The purpose of the present study is to identify the similarities and differences in the use of creative strategies between American and Korean automobile TV commercials. The cultural differences of the two countries provided a basis for the hypotheses in examining the differences in the use of message strategies. The results show that there are statistically significant differences in the degree of informational/transformational strategies and the use of specific message strategies.

Examining Pathos, Ethos and Logos in Magazine Advertising • Jongmin Park, Pusan National University • Throughout the history of human communication, three different fields of study have developed: rhetoric, ethic, and logic. Manipulative advertising in this study is scrutinized by these three modes. The majority of rhetoricians regard manipulative advertising as a type of discourse used to demonstrate their diverse techniques. On the other hand, when consumers get extra utility and affirmative feelings from manipulative advertising, in addition to information, utilitarian ethicists do not believe it is unethical.

Presidential Primary 2000 Videocassettes: A Framing Study • John Parmelee, Florida • Current research on presidential primary campaign videocassettes provides merely a brief history of this unique type of advertising. This study uses frame analysis to explore the presidential primary campaign videos of Gary Bauer, Bill Bradley, George W. Bush, Steve Forbes, Al Gore, and John McCain. Two researchers systematically viewed the videos and found that while each candidate frame was unique, all six videos shared one frame: mass media as supplier of candidate validation.

Slinging Mud: The Effectiveness of Attack and Response in Negative Political Advertising • Sung Wook Shim, Florida • The purpose of this study is to identify the impact of the attacked candidate’s issue response and image response and the impact of issue and image attack on the attacking candidate. An experiment with manipulated television commercials was conducted to examine the character evaluation, commercial evaluation and likelihood of voting for the attacking candidate and attacked candidate. Issue attack had a more positive impact on the character evaluation, commercial evaluation and likelihood of voting for the attacking candidate than image attack.

What Works?: Evaluating the Effectiveness of Anti-Drinking and Driving Campaigns Aimed at College Students • Katie Wilson, Arkansas • Past focus group research of college students’ perceptions of anti-drinking and driving campaigns and promotions aimed at them is reviewed. The goal is to evaluate the effectiveness of these types of advertising campaigns in changing college students’ behavior. Analysis of the content of a college-sponsored ad suggests alternate approaches and different effectiveness levels.

<< 2000 Abstracts

Entertainment Studies 2001 Abstracts

Entertainment Studies Interest Group

Focus Group Analysis: Can It Help Explain Present Audience Discontent with Broadcast Network Television? • William J. Adams, Kansas State University • This study used focus groups to investigate audiences dissatisfaction with the major U.S. broadcast networks. The study found a strong perceived lack of variety. However, the term variety actual meant three separate things. While participants gave lip service to a separation between news and entertainment, follow up questions indicate they see no real. Participants had strong anti-business sentiments based on the belief that networks and producers held them in contempt. While participants strongly objected to sex and violence, they could not agree on what represented objectionable content.

Is there sufficient evidence to regulate popular music and music videos?: A review and critique • David J. Atkin and Robert Abelman, Cleveland State University • For nearly half a century, the evolution of rock music has been marked by controversy over its social influence. To a large degree, arguments by the pro- and anti-regulation/censorship camps echo those encountered in debates over the effects of media violence and pornography generally (e.g., Jeffres, 1997). The present study reviews empirical work on the content and effects of violence in rock music and music videos. In evaluating whether the research meets the high burden for regulatory intervention, we must first establish (1) whether the content of these popular arts is, in fact, providing an increasingly toxic content environment, and (2) whether such contents actually influence audience attitudes and behaviors. A review of the literature suggests that assailants of popular music have needed to “fill in the blanks” of their empirical arguments with selective citations to the voluminous literature on general media effects (e.g., with TV violence). The specific literature on popular music and music videos provides little in the way of longitudinal, externally valid findings that can establish a “smoking gun” with media influences as potent causal agents with human behavior. Implications for media regulation are discussed.

Zelda 64 and video game fans: A walkthrough of games. intertextuality and narrative • Mia Consalvo, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee • This paper argues that in order to better understand and theorize video games and game playing, it is necessary to study the activities of gamers themselves. This research examines game fans’ construction of walkthroughs, which guide other players through the action and story of the game. It is argued that these walkthroughs function as narratives for gamers, which are read intertextually by game fans. Further, gamers should be considered active creators of meaning regarding games, as they inhabit many of the characteristics of traditional media fans, including active reading of the media text, construction of media texts to share with other fans, and knowledge of intertextual relations between various media forms.

Front Page Women: Images of Women in Film Version of the Classic Play The Front Page. • Douglass K. Daniel, Ohio University • Four film versions of the play The Front Page, considered by many the definitive work of fiction about newspaper reporters, retained misogynistic elements over nearly six decades. Rather than changing with the times, the stereotypical women characters who dared to enter the man’s world of the press room were crushed by it. Even in the most recent version, made in 1988, women remained the pawns of men when not merely disruptive and annoying.

I HATE YOU SO MUCH RIGHT NOW!: FEMALE AFRICAN AMERICAN ARITISTS AND THE JUSTIFATION OF VIOLENCE IN MUSIC VIDEO • Michele S. Foss and Stephynie Chapman, The University of Florida • This essay explores the ways in which three African-American female musicians justify their use of violence within music video narratives. What are these artists saying in their videos? What do these videos teach viewers about African-American women? Whether a product of the progressive day and age or a product of the frequently controversial hip-hop genre, these videos make a timely cultural comment about an art form that continues to become more assertive.

Sins and Virtues of Prime Time Television: Fictional Characters as Role Models • Kendra L. Gale, University of St. Thomas • This paper is a content analysis of the moral character of fictional characters on popular prime-time, American television programs. This study uses the cardinal sins and virtues: 1) to assess the moral values of characters; 2) to document the overall presence or absence of moral themes in prime time sitcoms and dramas; and 3) to examine the consequences of particularly sinful or virtuous behavior. Characters are assessed for their potential as role models.

Reality Television Goes Interactive: The Big Brother Television Audience • Lisa Gandy and M.J. Land, Georgia College & State University, and Lisa McChristian, Elon College • Reality television was taken to a new realm in the summer of 2000. Television audiences and Internet audiences were married through a voyeuristic, interactive experience. This study attempted to better understand the audience attracted to these interactive, realistic television shows. Utilizing previous studies on audience interactivity, a random telephone survey of Big Brother viewers was administered. Big Brother viewers that browsed the show’s website before and after the show were demographically more likely to be younger, more educated, and PC owners. Big Brother website visitors were significantly more likely to plan to watch the television show, eliminate distractions to that viewing and be more involved during the television show than non-Internet website users.

Wong Kar-Wai: An International Auteur in Hong Kong Film-making • Timothy R. Gleason, University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, Qi Tang, Bowling Green State University and Jean Giovanetti, Freelance Writer • Wong Kar-Wai is the premier “auteur” of Hong Kong cinema. This paper analyzes his film, Chungking Express using the “auteur as structure” approach. The analysis reveals Wong utilizes a French New Wave style to represent his view of a Hong Kong undergoing social and political transformations. This research is significant because it introduces the work of an internationally-acclaimed director to mass communication scholars and deciphers a film inherently complex to interpret.

‘Natural Born Killers’: An Aesthetic-Ethical Deconstruction of Violence in (and of) the Mass Media • Joseph Harry, Slippery Rock University • The 1994 film Natural Born Killers is analyzed from a postmodern literary and aesthetic-ethical interpretive stance to consider the film’s own ethos pertaining to violence as both personal, family-dysfunctional issue and as cultural-media event. The theoretical position, and the film’s own chaotic, schizophrenic narrative, both provide a means to understand the film’s contradictory moral outlook from a deconstructivist ethical perspective, embracing complexity, irony and moral indeterminancy as a potentially inescapable and problematic outcome of ethical evaluation within a media-fragmented culture.

Fall Colors 2000: The State of Diversity in Broadcast Network Prime Time Television • Katharine Heintz-Knowles, Children’s Media Research and Consulting, and Jennifer Henderson, University of Washington • Network television came under fire during the 1999 season for it’s lack of racial diversity. Network executives responded with assurances that the 2000 season would be more inclusive of racial minority characters. This paper examines the racial diversity in the first two episodes of each entertainment series airing during prime time on the six broadcast networks for the Fall 2000 season. The study discovered that the network prime time world is primarily a white one, with African Americans making a visible presence and all other racial minority groups being virtually invisible. While a vast majority of programs have entire casts that are racially mixed, most of the racial minority characters are included in secondary and guest roles. When just opening credits casts are considered, the authors discovered that more programs featured racially homogeneous casts (either all white or all black) than racially mixed casts.

The Influence of Media Ownership on News Coverage: A case of CNN’s Coverage of Movies • Jaemin Jung, University of Florida • The purpose of this study was to examine whether media conglomerates use their own media outlets to promote their media products. Specifically, CNN’s coverage of movies was content analyzed to see differences based on the ownership. The findings suggest that CNN, a subsidiary of Time Warner, showed favoritism toward their parent company’s movies. While CNN increased the amount of coverage of Time Warner’s movies after the merger with Time Warner, it reduced the coverage of its competitors’ movies.

That Which Unites and Divides Us: A Study of Television Audience Meaning-Making • Karen E. Kline, Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania • This paper examines the social practices surrounding television that were enacted by a group of regular viewers of the television program Picket Fences. The ethnographic data provide a portrait of active audiencehood revealed through the ways respondents asserted control over their viewing experiences and the specific terms of their engagement with this program and its characters. At the same time, respondents generated ideologically diverse interpretations that reflected the racial and social class differences among them.

Mass Media Use and Teen Sexuality: Findings from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health • Myra Gregory Knight, Elon College • This study examined the cultivation of sexual attitudes and behaviors among adolescents based on the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, a representative sample of U.S. high school students. The study found that television viewing alone was not linked with any of the sexual attitudes tested but that sexually suggestive media use and overall media use were. Both television viewing and sexually suggestive media use were associated with an increased risk of sexual debut.

Offense and Harm as Predictors in a Third-Person Effect Variation Study • Ron Leone, Stonehill College • The purpose of this study is to examine how personal offensiveness to, and perceived harmfulness of, violent and sexual film content relates to the setting of minimum age limits for viewing movies containing examples of each. Using third-person effect as a theoretical framework, a 2×2 experiment was conducted. Subjects were asked to assess how harmful they believed what they viewed was, and, instead of responding to “effects on self” items, subjects indicated levels of personal offensiveness to the material. It is hypothesized that subjects will find sex more offensive than violence, and personal offensiveness will outweigh perceived harmfulness as affecting behavior (setting a minimum age limit for viewing). Findings are mixed: although sex appears to not be more offensive than violence, personal offensiveness does seem to outweigh perceived harmfulness when setting a minimum age limit for viewing sexual and/or violent movie content.

Bodies on Display: ESPN’s Coverage of the NFL Draft • Thomas P. Oates, University of Iowa • The 2000 NFL Draft was the occasion for an intense and remarkable media spectacle. ESPN’s production included television, magazine and internet coverage. This paper considers these texts from a critical/cultural perspective in order to interpret the complex ways in which assumptions and assertions about various forms of power are woven into the narratives produced by ESPN. The paper presents the argument that the draft coverage celebrated technological capitalism, masculinity and military values.

Latinas and African American Women in the Film “The 24-Hour Woman” • Diana I. Rios, University of Connecticut and Meta Carstarphen, University of North Texas • This essay examines women of color in “The 24-Hour Woman.” We examine how the film reconstructs images of Latinas and African American women and critique the extent to which the film breaks new ground. Our analytic approach includes “mestiza” (Sandoval, 1998; Anzaldua, 1987) and “womanist” (Walker, 1983) perspectives. The mestiza and womanist frameworks are appropriate for this film analysis since they lend insight into woman character thinking and development throughout the film narrative.

THE COMEDY CAMPAIGN: The Growing Influence of Humor in Presidential Elections, A Uses and Gratifications Approach • Laura K. Smith, University of Texas • In the year 2000, news and entertainment programs dedicated a great deal of comedic attention to the presidential race. Taking a Uses and Gratifications approach, the author examines the role of comedy among the young electorate. She concludes comedic programs, while popular, are among many sources young people use to learn about the candidates. The author also examines motivations driving young people to non-traditional sources and finds motivation can significantly affect the impact of jokes.

View the Right Way: Encoding/Decoding and the Critical Reception of Do the Right Thing • Mark W. Sullivan, Towson University • Spike Lee’s film Do the Right Thing became quite controversial upon its 1989 release. The unusually large amount of printed commentary generated by the film provides a rare opportunity to examine a variety of actual response to one text to help understand just how polysemic a text might be. Belying the theoretical potential of “selective perception” leading to an infinite number of individual decodings, the response quickly clustered into just two meanings.

Colonial/Censorship Burdens • See Kam Tan aand Annette Aw, Nanyang Technological University • This paper examines censorship with respect to colonialism. It specifically seeks to understand the operation of such prohibitive powers, their vigilance and failure, through a disursive analysis of Tsui Hark’s feature, Dangerous Encounter – 1st Kind (1980). Three interrelated questions guide the analysis: Is censorship all-powerful? How is censorship dealt with at the site of production? Can censorship engender an creative impetus of its own, beyond its initial debilitating capacity?

<< 2001 Abstracts

Visual Communication 2001 Abstracts

Visual Communication Division

Defining Visual Communication in the New Media Environment • Linus Abraham, Iowa State University • New media technology provides the journalism academy the opportunity to fashion a transformative change in our understanding of communication • from one that emphasizes language to recognizing the visual modality as a primary mode of communication. The paper canvases for a movement from the balkanized and skills connotation associated with visual communication towards an integrated study of visual communication, both as an intellectual and skill activity. The paper argues that the concept of visual journalism (geared towards training visual generalist and inculcating visual fluency) provides an opportunity to reinvigorate visual communication and locate it at the center of journalism education.

A Visual Experiment in Acceptance: Does Quantity and Location of Blood Affect Readers’ Reaction to a Photograph? • Abhinav Aima and Patricia Ferrier, Ohio University; Les Roka, University of Utah; Lynn Silverstein and James Staebler, Ohio University• This experiment tested the reactions of 265 subjects to manipulated accident photographs, which were empirically constructed across increasing levels of “Gore” and given different geographic “Locations” in the cutline. Nine 7-point measures were designed to test the students’ responses. A three-way Analysis of Variance revealed that the factors of “Gore” and “Location”, or their interaction, did not cause significant variance but the factor of “Sex” did – Males varied significantly in their responses from females.

Affect and Emotion: Eliciting Compassionate Response Via Facial Affect in Visual Images • Courney Bennett, Stanford University • This study aims to extend research on the effects of visual message elements by examining the relationship between facial affect and emotional response. A study was conducted to explore two questions: 1) whether facial affect in visual images influences how compassionately people feel toward the person portrayed visually, and 2) what the relative influence of a message’s verbal and visual elements would be on compassionate response. The findings and their implications were discussed.

Selling the Revolution: Appropriating Black Radical Images for Advertising • Coletter Gaiter and Mohan Dutta-Bergman, University of Minnesota • Media images of 1960s and 70s African American militants introduced a new visual signifier we call “the defiant gesture.” The radicals themselves and the media both skillfully used photographs featuring black men in defiant poses to serve their specific agendas. A new archetypal black male image emerged that is now featured in advertising to urban hip-hop followers. Decontextualized in their current iterations, these powerful images serve divergent cultural and social needs of different audiences.

Establishing a Photojournalism Historiography: An Historiographical Analysis of the Developmental Approach • Timothy Roy Gleason, University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh • This paper examines the nature and application of the Developmental historical approach for photojournalism. It examines the approach by describing it, identifying assumptions held by Developmental historians, and lists questions these historians might ask. Then, it uses a communication history model to reveal how this approach can address particular aspects of the model. This is followed by a discussion of the approach’s strengths and weaknesses. Lastly, a conclusion offers some final comments.

Digitally Altered News Photographs: How much manipulation will the public tolerate before credibility is Lost? • Joseph Gosen, Reno Gazette-Journal and Jennifer Greer, University of Nevada-Reno • A quasi-experimental design was used to examine what factors influence public attitudes toward a digitally manipulated news photo, photography in general, and news media. Subjects were shown one of five versions of a photograph. Increasing levels of digital alteration caused lower credibility scores for the published photograph. Credibility of photography and the news media was influenced more by age, income, and education than treatment. Familiarity with imaging software was linked to tolerance of the alterations.

Seeking Gender Equity on the Sports Pages: An Analysis of Newspaper Photos from the 2000 Olympics • Marie Harden, University of West Georgia, Jean Chance and Julie Dodd, University of Florida, and Brent Hardin, University of West Georgia • Researchers conducted a content analysis of five daily newspapers’ publication of photographs during the 2000 Olympic Games to assess the reality of photo portrayals in relationship to gendered participation in the Games, and to assess the existence of sexual difference in the use of photos. The study concluded that the portrayal of women athletes in Olympics competition appears to show continuing change. The researchers conclude that there is good reason to predict a continuing trend of improved gender equity in Olympic sports coverage for women athletes and diminishing portrayals of sexual difference as the number of women athletes competing in the Games continues to increase.

Ideal-Body Media and Ideal Body Proportions 2 Ideal-Body Media and Ideal Body Proportions • Kristen Harrison, University of Michigan • Dozens of studies have linked ideal-body media exposure to the idealization of a slim female figure, but none have examined the proportions of this figure. This study correlates exposure to ideal-body media (television, fitness and fashion magazines) with college women’s and men’s perceptions of the ideal female bust, waist, and hips. For women, ideal-body media exposure predicted the choice of a smaller waist and hips, but not a smaller bust. For both women and men, ideal-body media exposure predicted approval of women’s use of surgical body-change methods.

Southern Mentalities, Photographic Reflections In Black and White: The 1915-1960 Mississippi Pictures of O.N. Pruitt • Berkley Hudson, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill • To explain race relations in the South during the last 170 years, historian Joel Williamson posits a template of three, Southern white mentalities: conservative, radical and liberal. These are reflected in photographs of O.N. Pruitt, who between 1915 and 1960 worked in Columbus, Mississippi. Regardless of which mentality is reflected, Pruitt, a white man, moved authoritatively in the worlds of black and white, rich and poor, documenting a complexity at once brutal and genteel.

Normative Conflict in the Newsroom: The Case of Digital Photo Manipulation • Wilson Lowrey, Mississippi State University • It is the contention of this study that journalism is divided into occupational subgroups, each representing a different area of expertise and a different sets of norms and values. Subgroups compete with one another for legitimacy. It is proposed that ethical problems in journalism – the case here is digital photo manipulation – may be viewed as evidence of normative conflict rather than as simply a crack in the ethical wall. Through in-depth interviews and a national survey, it is found that photo manipulation relates mostly closely with organizational complexity and multiplicity of subgroups, while there is some evidence that the newsroom’s normative environment as reflected in the existence of rules, also is related.

A Study Of The Persuasiveness Of Animation When Used As Forensic Demonstrative Evidence • Benjamin Allyn Meyer, Iowa State University • This study assessed that motion is the variable which makes forensic animation persuasive. Three groups of participants read a trial transcript. Each group saw a pro-prosecution or a pro-defense animation, images taken from the animations, or no visual imagery. Pro-prosecution imagery coincided with the physical evidence. Pro-defense imagery contradicted it. Results suggest that when computer-animated displays support the physical evidence, it is the dynamic nature of the animation which makes it persuasive to jury members.

If Looks Could Kill: The Ethics of Digital Manipulation of Fashion Models and Attitudes of Readers • Shiela Reaves, Jacqueline Hitchcon-Bush, Sung-Yeon Park, Gi Woong Yun, University of Wisconsin-Madison • Magazine editors and visual educators need to expand the ethical connections between digital manipulation of fashion models and the increased health crisis of eating disorders. This study examines reader response to the digital manipulation of fashion models and explores readers’ attitudes toward this use of new technology. This study challenges the implicit assumption of magazine editors and advertisers who defend digitally altered fashion photos by saying “our readers understand.” This study identified magazine images that promoted “the thin ideal” and then recovered the body image in a second photo that was digitally altered and restored to a healthy slimness. In an experiment 104 subjects viewed a total of six photographs, three “thin ideal” originals and three restored versions that transformed the models to slender as opposed to extremely thin. Findings indicated that prior exposure to very thin models, as opposed to versions restored to slenderness, reduced subjects sensitivity to the difference between extremely thin and slender versions, increased their self consciousness, and eroded their healthy eating attitudes. Furthermore, prior exposure to the thin ideal disempowered the subjects even after viewing both versions of each photograph: they were less likely to take action protesting the manipulation to editors and advertisers.

A Longitudinal Analysis of Network News Editing Strategies from 1969 through 1997 • Richard Schaefer, University of New Mexico • Four editing variables were tracked through a content analysis that spanned two 14-year periods. The analysis revealed that synthetic-montage increased and continuity-realism decreased across both periods, as network news editors embraced shorter sound bites, more special effects, and an increasing use of montage-edited footage. Quicker overall cutting rates and the use of more asynchronous sound increased from 1969 through 1983, but appeared to level off over the next 14-year period. When taken together, the results suggest that television journalism has evolved from more “camera of record” news techniques in favor of more thematically complex editing strategies.

Representing Class: John Vachon’s Portrait of 1940s Dubuque • James Tracy, University of Iowa • This project is an interpretive analysis of photographs of Dubuque, Iowa taken by FSA photographer John Vachon in 1940. This essay argues that the photographs constitute substantive historical evidence augmenting the existing history of a working class environment and culture. The paper considers the labor-management antagonism in Dubuque and the meaning and importance of images to interpretive historical inquiry.

<< 2001 Abstracts

Radio-TV Journalism 2001 Abstracts

Radio-TV Journalism Division

Hype Versus Substance in the Final Weeks of the Broadcast Television Networks’ 2000 Presidential Election Campaign Coverage • Julia Fox and James Angelini, Indiana University • An analysis of the broadcast television networks’ coverage of the final two weeks of the 2000 presidential election campaign found significantly more hype than substance in both the audio and video messages of presidential election campaign stories. Furthermore, even when audio messages contained substantive coverage, accompanying visuals often emphasized hype rather than substance. The importance of these results is discussed in the context of recent research findings about how viewers process audio and video messages.

Identifying Juvenile Crime Suspects: A Survey of Ohio Television Stations and Newspapers • Gary Hanson, Kent State University • Journalists traditionally have not reported the names of juveniles who are accused of committing crimes. Since the mid-1980s, this paternalistic approach has been challenged by the changes in the frequency and seriousness of juvenile crimes. As a result, news directors and editors in Ohio have begun to rethink their policies regarding the identification of juvenile suspects. This survey compares the way in which television stations and newspapers approach the issue.

Gatekeeping International News: An Attitudinal Profile of U.S. Television Journalists • Hun Shik Kim, University of Missouri-Columbia • This study explores the attitudes of U.S. television journalists toward international news and examines their selection criteria. Q factor analysis of 31 journalists from major national networks and local TV stations yielded three factors: Pragmatic Idealists, Global Diplomats, and Bottom-line Realists. The network journalists support a global view, selecting international news with diverse themes while the local journalists take a more pragmatic stance due to business pressures and audience demands, choosing international news with a local angle. All the journalists give priority to international news with U.S. involvement and are strongly opposed to governmental and advertiser influences.

Change Frames on CSPAN Call-in Shows: The framing of citizen comments • David D. Kurpius, Louisiana State University and Andrew Mendelson, Temple University • A content analysis of C-SPAN call-in shows was conducted to examine how citizen-callers frame the political ideas they present The main issue of concern was do people rely on the same frames the mainstream news media rely on, focusing on image, strategies and conflict or do they rely on an issue frame? A secondary issue was how the guests and hosts of these calI4n shows react to the different frames. Results show that callers were more likely to rely on issue frames in discussing political issues, though there was no difference in length of time spent by the callers on the different frames. The hosts/guests responded for a much longer time when callers used a conflict frame. However, when we examined the format of the response by the host and guest, we saw that they were much more likely to ask a question or elaborating on something said when a caller used an issue frame.

The Credibility of Women Sportscasters • Michael A. Mitrook and Noelle Haner Dorr, University of Central Florida • This work used an experimental design to explore the impact of a radio sports broadcaster’s gender on their perceived credibility by listeners. Results indicate that female sportscasters are not perceived to be as credible as their male counterparts. Furthermore, the results also exhibited a tendency for both male and female respondents to rate the male broadcaster higher than the female, but the male respondents provided much lower ratings for the female broadcaster than the female respondents.

Network Television Coverage of the 1980 and 1984 Olympic Boycotts: A Content Analysis of the Evening News on ABC, CBS and NBC • Anthony Moretti, Ohio University • The United States and the Soviet Union led boycotts tarnishing the 1980 and 1984 summer Olympics. This study examined how the ABC, CBS and NBC evening news programs covered the boycotts. The press nationalism model holds that media follow the “official” government line in reporting international affairs. Based on abstracts from the Vanderbilt University television archives, this content analysis found evidence to support the hypothesis that press nationalism influenced coverage of the boycotts.

Commercial Quality Influence on Perceptions of Television News • Stephen Perry, Dana Trunnell, Chris Morse, and Cori Ellis, Illinois State University • The impact of high and low-quality commercials upon high and low quality television newscasts were examined using Elaboration Likelihood Model and contrast effects research. This study showed some support for contrast effects. Results also suggest an interaction between news quality and the presence of commercials within newscasts in producing an emotional response. Additionally, we found that when commercials were present within the news program, participants were able to recall fewer of the news stories.

Non-Users of Internet News: Who are They and Why Do They Avoid TV News and Newspaper Web Sites? • Paula Poindexter and Don Heider, University of Texas-Austin • Who are non-users of Internet news and why do they avoid online news that is produced by TV, cable, newspapers, newsmagazines, and radio? To answer this question, randomly selected adults with Internet access in a southwestern metropolitan area were asked why they did not read news on the Internet. Survey respondents who ignored news online represented 42 percent of all Internet users. Both an age gap and a gender gap distinguished non-users and users of news on the Internet. Non-users of Internet news were significantly more likely to be younger and older. Non-Internet news users were also significantly more likely to be female than male. The primary reason for avoiding news on the Internet is lack of interest. Slightly more than one-quarter of non-users of Internet news said they ignored online news because they weren’t interested. Almost one-fifth indicated that they didn’t read news online because they had already read newspapers and 18 percent said they avoided online news because they didn’t have time. Seven percent said online news was too time consuming and four percent indicated that they avoided online news because they preferred TV news. The age distinction and reasons for avoiding news on the Internet are similar to what is known about nonviewers of network and local TV news and nonreaders of newspapers.

To Be On TV or To Be a TV Journalist: Students’ and Professionals’ Perceptions of the Role of Journalism in Society • Ron F. Smith and George Bagley, University of Central Florida • The Jane Pauley Task Force found that news professionals were dissatisfied with the ethical and journalistic attitudes of new graduates. This study compares news directors’ perceptions with those of broadcast majors and finds several significant differences between them. The higher percentage of students placed great importance in providing entertainment. Professionals are more likely to see their role as investigating government claims. Also, students and professionals differed on half the ethical issues presented to them.

A Content Analysis of TV News Magazines: Commodification, Conglomeration, and Public Interest • Kuo-Feng Tseng, Michigan State University • This study conducts a content analysis of television news magazines to find out the impacts of media commodification and conglomeration on public interest. It finds that news story topics and presentation styles become more tabloidism than prior researches did, especially for 48 Hours, 20/20 and Dateline. Crime stories and sexy images were the popular strategies to attract audiences. News story topics have associated relationship with advertising and news sources. News magazines prefer to stories and sources from their conglomerate or partnership.

<< 2001 Abstracts

Media Ethics 2001 Abstracts

Media Ethics Division

Social Dimensions of Ethics Decisions in Newswork: A Comparison Across Ethical Situations • Dan Berkowitz, University of Iowa and Yehiel Limor, Tel-Aviv University • This paper studied decisions about ethical problems in newsgathering through five social dimensions: individual, small group, organizational, professional, and societal. Data were gathered through a mail survey of reporters in one Midwest state. Results found two broad response patterns, one basing decisions chiefly on professional autonomy and public interest, and another pattern that considered all five social dimensions more broadly. These patterns were most clearly distinguished by a reporter’s degree of professional experience.

The Ethics Agenda of the Mass Communication Professoriate • Jay Black, University of South Florida, Bruce Garrison, University of Miami, Fred Fedler, University of Central Florida, and Doug White, University of South Florida • This study reviews a growing body of faculty ethics literature and surveys one-third of the AEJMC membership about its attitudes toward 65 different issues. Forty-eight percent of the 775 people who received the mail questionnaire in late 2000 provided usable responses. They indicated that in many respects journalism and mass communications faculty are very similar to colleagues from other disciplines, but on many items, are far more sensitive to the welfare of students.

History, Hate and Hegemony: What’s a Journalist To Do? • Bonnie Brennen and Lee Wilkins, University of Missouri • This paper focuses on the distribution of a KKK flier in Columbia, Missouri, as a case study through which to explore the responsibility of journalists confronting the issue of hate speech. It draws on Antonio Gramsci’s concept of hegemony, which is contrasted with an ethically-based discussion of the societal impact of hate speech. In an effort to help journalists cover hate without furthering its ends, this paper concludes with some practical advice for journalists that is grounded in communitarian theory and the notion of journalism as a transformational activity.

The Role of Questions in TV News Coverage of the Ethics of Cloning • David A. Craig and Vladan Pantic, University of Oklahoma • This study is a qualitative analysis of how the ethics of cloning was portrayed in 36 network TV news pieces after the cloning of Dolly the sheep in 1997. It focuses on ethical questions, a prominent feature of most of the stories. All but a few questions pointed to issues of ethical duty or consequences, though often only in general terms. Responsible uses of questions are discussed, along with uses that distorted or sensationalized.

Characterizing Plagiarism: An Interdisciplinary Critical Analysis • Victoria Smith Ekstrand, University of North Carolina • This paper presents an interdisciplinary analysis of the literature on plagiarism in an effort to inform the discussion on plagiarism in journalism. It argues that characterizations of journalistic plagiarism as a recent trend work against solving the problem. It identifies three characterizations of plagiarism the behavioral, empirical and structuralist approaches – and argues that industry observers tend to see journalistic plagiarism through the behavioral lens and would benefit from a more comprehensive view.

The Fairness Factor: Exploring the Perception Gap Between Journalists and the Public • Deborah Gump, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • Few moral frameworks as formed as early in life as fairness, and few are more difficult to define. While journalists focus on professional values of even-handed and dispassionate reporting as the basis of fairness, readers often include social values of compassion and respect. This paper offers a definition of fairness within the contexts of procedural and distributive justice and uses two surveys to find that journalists and the public hold different values for three of four selected elements of fairness: accuracy, balance, respect, and reporting expertise in a subject area. Journalists and the public are also found to be poor judges of how the other values the four elements.

WHAT WOULD THE EDITOR DO? A THREE-YEAR STUDY OF STUDENT- JOURNALISTS AND THE NAMING OF RAPE VICTIMS IN THE PRESS • Kim E. Karloff, California State University-Northridge • According to recent surveys, 80 percent of Americans say the news media “often invade people’s privacy,” 52 percent say they think the news media abuse the First Amendment, and 82 percent think reporters are insensitive to people’s pain. In the case of whether or not those in the press should name or not name the survivors of rape, journalism students – those who will be making these decisions in the future – have offered even more opinions, newsroom policy suggestions, and optimism. The purpose of this three-year, 140-student study was to examine how these future journalists might write/rewrite newsroom policy on naming names. Their responses include: a call to publish names, but only if the victim asks for or consents to identification; a charge to lessen the impact of the social stigma attached to the crime; and a request for the ethical treatment of rape victims and survivors.

Applying Sociological Theory to Statements on News Principles: Functionalist, Monopolist, and Public Service/Status Claims in Four Recent Journalism Ethics Codes • Susan Keith, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill • This paper examined four recently written or rewritten journalism ethics codes in light of functionalist, monopolist, and public service/status views of professional ethics described in the sociological literature. All three types of theoretical elements were present in the Gannett newspapers, Radio-Television News Directors Association, and Tampa Tribune codes. However, the American Association of Sunday and Features Editors code featured only monopolist elements. As predicted in Andrew Abbott’s work on professional ethics, the elements present in the codes corresponded roughly to the external pressures on the organizations that wrote them.

Impartial Spectator in the Marketplace of Ideas: The Principles of Adam Smith as an Ethical Basis for Regulation of Corporate Speech • Robert L. Kerr, The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill • This integrative essay offers an ethical basis justifying regulation of corporate speech, based on the neglected moral and political theories of Adam Smith. His essential tenets on free markets are applied to the First Amendment marketplace of ideas concept that has been prominent in developing corporate free-speech rights. It is argued that regulation of corporate speech cam actually enable more ideas to flourish in the political marketplace – advancing utilitarian ideals of the common good.

Privacy and the pack: Ethical considerations faced by local papers covering the JFK Jr. plane crash • Mark W. Mulcahy, University of Missouri-Columbia • Local journalists covering the deaths of John F. Kennedy Jr., Carolyn Kennedy and Lauren Bessette primarily dealt with three ethical dilemmas. The first issue was the invasion of the Kennedys’ privacy through photographs. Second, reporters had to consider privacy, accuracy and credibility in their use of unnamed sources. The third issue was how increased competition affected the journalists’ ethical decision-making. This case study examines the link between those dilemmas and local journalists’ behavior.

Leaks: How Do Codes of Ethics Address Them? • Taegyu Son, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • This paper is to analyze how journalistic codes of ethics wrestle with the matter of leaks. Leaks are an important means for the government to control the media. In order to maintain their competitiveness, journalists become the government’s managerial tool, often ignoring fundamental precepts of journalism ethics – independence and the fourth estate function. Codes of ethics have been the most widely used mechanism for journalistic accountability. None of the 41 codes analyzed explicitly mentions leaks.

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