Advertising 2018 Abstracts
Teaching
Expectations v. reality: Comparing perceptions of the advertising industry between students and professionals • Sara Champlin, The University of North Texas; Sheri Broyles, Dr. • Perceptions of the industry matter to newly minted advertising graduates and to the professionals who recruit new talent. However, it’s unclear how these two perspectives overlap. The present study assessed student and professional perceptions simultaneously to determine opportunities for teaching that will bridge discrepancies. Professionals and students see eye-to-eye in many areas, but specific skills, salaries for account executives and media buyers, and overall performance/supervision differed between the two groups. Teaching suggestions are discussed.
Dimensions of News Media Literacy among U.S. Advertising Students • Jami Fullerton, Oklahoma State University; alice kendrick • A national survey of advertising students addresses AEJMC’s 2017 recommitment to teaching news media literacy. On scales of knowledge and attitudes, advertising students rated themselves overall as above average on self-reported estimates of Media Literacy. Students exhibited higher degrees of understanding of and interest in the “Messages and Meanings” and “Authors and Audiences” dimensions than they did in the “Value of Media Literacy”. Those with higher grade point averages and access to internships placed a higher value on media literacy than other groups. Implications for educators are discussed.
Rebuilding from the Ground Up: Developing a New Approach to Visual Communications Curriculum • Adam Wagler, University of Nebraska-Lincoln; Collin Berke • As technology develops, visual communications education must evolve with the times. In the fall of 2015, the curriculum committee at [University Name] College of Journalism and Mass Communications was tasked with evaluating the visual communications program. This committee set out to answer one question: “Are we preparing graduates of our program to be successful in a dynamically changing media industry?” The purpose of this case study is to explore the development of a new visual communications program with summative assessment data that addresses this reality. The proposed solution changed the objectives from four production areas to four conceptual areas: critical thinking, storytelling, how technology works, and integrating media. This paper assesses the effectiveness of an emporium and challenged based learning model implemented for the new program that was launched in the fall of 2016. The results indicate evidence of the effectiveness of the approach through assessment data. The program recognizes that students need the space to learn, fail, and experiment while faculty must be willing to change as well as resist the urge to profess. The success relies on everyone’s comfort in embracing changes in media.
“Keep it true-to-life”: The role of experiential learning in advertising and public relations pedagogy • Amanda Weed, Ashland University • Experiential learning is an important component of advertising and public relations pedagogy as “real world” projects and provides students with distinct benefits that may improve their success as early-career practitioners. Through examination of five experiential learning categories, this study contributes to pedagogy practice by providing a detailed snapshot of how award-winning practitioners and educators perceive experiential learning, how experiential learning is integrated in advertising and public relations education, and identifies areas for improvement.
Open Competition
Applying artificial neural networks to predict ad viewership during TV programs • Fiona Chew, Syracuse University; Beth Egan; Chilukuri Mohan, Syracuse University; Ruochen Jiang; Sushanth Suresh, Syracuse University; Kartik Joshi, Syracuse University • We applied artificial neural networks (ANNs) to analyze TV ad viewership during commercial breaks predicated on second-by-second data that tracked audiences’ mechanical ad avoidance behavior. ANNs comprise hardware and algorithm processing devices trained to discover relationships and patterns, establish and define linkages among numerous variables with large and diverse data. Results identified key attributes that predicted ad viewing declines. These included programs originality/rerun, number of ads, ad placement pod position and ad duration.
An Examination of the Effects of Multicultural Advertising Strategies on Consumer Decision-Making Processes • Carolyn Lin; Linda Dam • Few advertising research studies address how perceived social distance – the level of acceptance individuals feel towards people from a different racial background – may impact consumer responses toward advertising spokespersons from different racial groups. This study explores whether perceived social distance between consumers and multicultural advertising spokespersons influences consumer decision-making processes. Findings suggest that cross-cultural group relations could help explain the underlying consumer decision-making process, which influences the effectiveness of multicultural advertising practices.
Make It Fit: The Effects of Brand-Game Congruity in Advergames on Brand Recall, Attitude, and Purchase Intent • Frank Dardis, Penn State University; Michael Schmierbach, Pennsylvania State University; Jose Aviles, Wittenberg University; Erica Bailey, Angelo State University; Stephanie Orme, Penn State University; Jin Kang, The Pennsylvania State University • Brand congruity, or how well a brand seems to “fit” within the media or external environment in which it is placed, has been studied in numerous sub-areas within the advertising and marketing literature. The concept has received some attention in the realm of embedded in-game advertising (IGA) and advergames, with most studies focusing on brand memory. The current study was the first to manipulate a high-congruity and low-congruity brand within a single advergame and simultaneously evaluate players’ brand recall, attitude, and purchase intent. Further, although differing from each other in absolute congruity, each brand was conceivably suitable in performing some of the real-world functions exemplified in the game. Results indicate strong support for the placement of a high-congruity brand in an advergame, particularly regarding brand attitude and purchase intent. This is especially compelling because, in the current study, participants had to use the brand to succeed at the game; the brand communication was not simply an embedded message. Practical implications are discussed.
Got Muscle? A Longitudinal Study of Masculinity in Fragrance Ads in Esquire and GQ • Laura Beth Daws, Kennesaw State University; Justin Pettigrew, Kennesaw State University • Fragrance ads for women proliferate in style magazines for women, but what about ads for men’s cologne in men’s style magazines? This study examines men’s fragrance ads in the print edition of those periodicals longitudinally to see how ads use nudity and the “masculine ideal” to portray their product. Results of a content analysis of Esquire and GQ from 1950-2015 showed that the “masculine ideal” has remained a constant in fragrance ads over time.
Investigating the Implications of Distinct Personality and Message Factors on Consumer Responses • Naa Amponsah Dodoo, Emerson College; Cynthia Morton Padovano, University of Florida • This research examined psychological determinants of consumer responses to social media ads to understand the effect of consumer personality traits, regulatory focus and product appeal on consumer responses to social media ads. To that effect, this study assessed the impact of openness to experience and neuroticism on consumer responses following exposure to social media ads that employed message strategies that manipulated regulatory focus (promotion vs. prevention) and product appeal (hedonic vs. utilitarian). Experimental results indicate main effects for openness to experience and neuroticism on responses to social media ads. Additionally, interaction effects were found between openness to experience, regulatory focus and product appeal, lending evidence to the influence of personality traits on message persuasiveness. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
Comparative Advertising as a Signal of Quality: The Role of Brand Credibility in Consumer Responses • Naa Amponsah Dodoo, Emerson College • Comparative advertising is a widely-researched area within advertising research. Despite the wealth of information on comparative advertising, research suggests that results from these studies more often than not demonstrate insignificant findings. Drawing on the signaling theory as a framework, this study sought to examine comparative advertising and its role in conveying brand quality relative to noncomparative advertising. With a focus on the U.S. wireless industry, consumer responses to comparative advertising were investigated. Results to some extent support previous literature espousing advertising as a signal of quality. Brand credibility as an important aspect of signaling theory was also examined for both comparative and noncomparative ads and was found to have an impact in consumer responses. Implications and limitations are discussed.
The role of media context and general advertising attitudes on ad avoidance • Esther Thorson, Michigan State; Samuel M. Tham, Michigan State University; Margaret Duffy, U of Missouri • This research develops theory about the role of media context and advertising attitudes regarding why people appreciate, are annoyed by, or attempt to avoid advertising. Media context is comprised of three elements: different media devices, media channels, and media content. The theory was applied in a nationwide survey and findings suggest that advertising appreciation, annoyance, and avoidance are processes rooted on all three factors identified as media context.
Beauty Brands and Micro-blogging in China: How Content Choices Affect Consumer Engagement on Sina Weibo • Mengling Cao, Florida Institute of Technology; Youngju (YJ) Sohn, Florida Institute of Technology; Heidi Hatfield Edwards, Florida Institute of Technology • The purpose of this study is to explore how beauty brands use social media to meet customer’s needs and improve customer engagement through social media posts. The development of social media helps brands extend their marketing areas and gain various benefits. Based on the uses and gratifications theory and literature about customer engagement, this study proposes several aspects about posts include posting day, message originality, modality, post content, and how they affect customer engagements online. In this study, a content analysis was conducted of 2,676 posts from the top 10 beauty brands in China on Sina Weibo, the biggest micro-blogging website in the country. In the results, customer engagements on Weibo were positively affected by modality (i.e., posts with videos) and post content (i.e., posts of incentives, giveaways, news, shows, and feedback, as well as posts with celebrity or spokesperson content).
Soil and Flower: The Relationship between Social Media Usage and Consumer Response to Social Media Advertising • Yang Feng; Quan Xie • This study examines how consumers’ motivations to engage with seven social media platforms (i.e., Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest, and YouTube) influence their evaluations of advertising on those platforms. Results from survey (N = 972, aged 18-35) not only provide empirical evidence for media context literature, but also advance media context literature by delving into different social media platforms. In particular, results revealed that people are driven by different motivations to use the seven social media platforms and they evaluate advertising on each platform in a different way. Furthermore, regression results revealed significant relationships between social media engagement motivations and ad evaluations (i.e., ad relevance, ad trust, ad attention, and ad intrusiveness). Also, the relationship pattern differs across the seven social media platforms. Discussion and practical implications were provided.
Eye-Catching and Unforgettable: The Role of Ad Creativity in Online Video Ads Featuring Augmented Reality Technology • Yang Feng; Quan Xie • This study aims to examine the role of ad creativity in video ads featuring augmented reality (AR) technology uploaded on YouTube. Through an online experiment, we compared people who hold positive pre-existing attitudes toward a familiar brand, people who hold negative pre-existing attitudes toward a familiar brand, and people who are unfamiliar with a brand in terms of their perceived creativity of a video ad featuring AR technology. Further, we explored the differential effect of three dimensions of ad creativity, namely, message usefulness, ad novelty, and ad-consumer association, on short and long-term brand name recall, short and long-term brand message recall, ad attitude, and brand attitude. Results demonstrated that for a familiar brand, people’s perceived creativity of an ad is biased by their pre-existing brand attitudes. For an unfamiliar brand, since people do not have pre-existing attitudes toward it, their perceived creativity of an ad for the unfamiliar brand is mostly shaped by their impressions of the ad. Moreover, results revealed that the three dimension of ad creativity play different roles in ad effectiveness.
The Impact of Erotic Appeal and Message Relevance on Selective Attention to Print Advertisements • Zijian Gong, Texas Tech University; Steven Holiday, Texas Tech University; Glenn Cummins, Texas Tech University • The effectiveness of sexual appeals in advertising continues to be subject to debate. One moderator of this effect is relevance, typically viewed as congruence between sexual appeals and the product. A contrasting view offered here is the relevance of the product to the audience. This experiment employed eye tracking to demonstrate how sexual appeals caused a visual distraction effect for low relevance ads. For high-relevance ads, this effect was not observed.
Social Network for Good: Framing the Message Type and Execution Style of “Cause- Related Marketing” Advertising for a Sports Brand on Social Network Sites • Ji Yoon (Karen) Han; Seungae Lee • Companies now use social network sites (SNS) as an opportunity to promote their values and interact with consumers, particularly for purposes of cause-related marketing (CRM). Traditional print CRM ads focused on promoting social cause (PCS) messages about which a brand commits. However, recent social media-based CRM ads rely on partake-in-our-cause (PIOC) messages. This study applied cause framing (cause-focused ad) and profit framing (product-focused ad) to CRM execution styles and investigated the interplay between the message type (PIOC vs. PCS) and execution style (cause-focused ad vs. product-oriented ad) on consumer response in social media contexts. The findings indicate that when a product-oriented ad is shown, a PIOC message led to more favorable attitudes toward the cause and higher levels of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) intention than did a PCS message. In contrast, when people were exposed to a cause-focused ad, the message type did not significantly affect attitudes or eWOM intention. Further, attitude toward the cause is identified as the mediator to explain the interplay between message type and execution style on eWOM intention.
How Advertising Relevance and Brand Relationship Strength Limits Disclosure Effects of Native Ads on Twitter • Jameson Hayes, University of Alabama; Guy Golan, University of South Florida; Janelle Applequist, University of South Florida; Stephen Rush, The University of Alabama • The growing scholarship on native advertising indicates that advertising recognition often leads to audience resistance of the persuasive messages. The current research conducts two national online experiments examining the impact of advertising relevance and brand relationship strength on native advertising outcomes on Twitter at low and high disclosure levels. Study findings indicate that both perceived relevance and brand relationship strength have the potential to limit audience resistance to the native advertisement.
Measuring Consumer Perceptions of Influencer Product Recommendation Motives on Social Media • Mengtian (Montina) Jiang, University of Kentucky; Nora Rifon, Michigan State University • Social media has seen an explosion of sponsored content created and shared by social media influencers. This study examines how a consumer interprets and infers the influencer’s underlying motives for writing and sharing these posts on Instagram. Three online surveys develop and validate a scale that identifies six distinct types of influencer motives that co-exist during consumer processing of sponsored content: Money, Selling, Image, Love, Sharing and Helping motives. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
Effects of Sensation Seeking, Creator Attractiveness, and Content Characteristics on Branded Entertainment • Dahyun Hong; Jong Woo Jun, Dankook University • This study explores effects of branded entertainment on information processing of consumers. Using Korean female consumers as research samples tries to identify roles of consumer psychological factors, creator attractiveness, and content factors on purchase intentions and word-of-mouth intentions. The findings of this study show that sensation seeking influenced purchase intentions and word-of-mouth intentions. Creator attractiveness is related in positive ways, and content novelty and content credibility influenced purchase intentions and word-of-mouth intentions. Lastly, attitudes toward content is connected to both purchase intentions and word-of-mouth intentions. These results could provide academic and managerial implications in terms of branded entertainment marketing.
How Storytelling Advertising Affects Consumers: Emotion as a mediator between narrative level and WOM intention • Sookyeong Hong, Hansei University; Jin-Ae Kang, East Carolina University; Glenn Hubbard, East Carolina University • Experimental study (n=300) tested the effects of storytelling in radio advertisements on participants’ emotional responses and intentions to share information about the product by word of mouth. Treatments included a story told by the founder of a company, the same story manipulated to come from a customer and a purely informational non-story control stimulus. The founder’s story elicited more favorable responses and had some effect on word-of-mouth intention, especially among participants preferring narrative formats.
Another Super Bowl Study: An Exploratory Research on the Impacts of Ad Effectiveness Factors on Consumer Engagement on Social Media • Gawon Kim; Ian Skupski; Yongick Jeong, Louisiana State University • Using Super Bowl ads, this study explores the relationship between various ad effectiveness factors (length, frequency, clutter, position, social media mention, and liking) and consumer engagement (overall, positive, and negative comments) on social media (Facebook and Twitter). The findings of this study indicate that ad factors have significant impacts on consumer engagement. The effect is in overall social media posts positive and negative sentiment posts, but differently. Marketing implications for the results are discussed.
The attitudinal and behavioral effects of pictorial metaphors in advertising: Considering need for cognition and the mediating effect of emotional response • Soojin Kim, Louisiana State University • The current study investigates the effect of the interrelation between pictorial metaphor and headline in ads with an individual’s difference by Need for Cognition (NFC) on the attitude toward the ad, the brand, and purchase intention (PI), while considering emotions as a mediator. The current study’s findings highlight the importance of the match between pictorial metaphor and headlines for the ad effects by consumer’s cognitive tendency, considering affective responses.
Examining the Personality Traits and Motives That Predict Attitudes Toward and Engagement with Sponsored Content in Snapchat • Tiany Sousa; William Kinnally, University of Central Florida • Social networking sites (SNS) have revolutionized the communication between consumers and brands, publishers, and marketers. These platforms have become a way for advertisers to communicate directly and engage users with content that is innovative and less intrusive. The aim of this research is to examine the personality traits and motives (based on the uses and gratifications theory) that predict attitudes toward and engagement with sponsored content in Snapchat including Filters, Lenses, Discover, and Snap Ads. An online survey with 606 participants showed that the main motives of using Snapchat were social information seeking, entertainment, and impression management. Hierarchical multiple regressions were used to examine the models that predict attitudes toward the sponsored features in Snapchat as well as the engagement with them. Several personality traits and Snapchat motives combined to predict attitudes toward and engagement with sponsored filters. In contrast, only social information seeking was significant predictor of attitudes toward and engagement with Discover feature. More results and practical implications are discussed.
Influencer Marketing on Instagram: The Effects of Sponsorship Disclosure, Source Credibility, and Brand Credibility • Susanna Lee, University of Florida; Eunice Kim • With the rise of social media, influencer marketing appeared as a relatively new form of celebrity endorsement. Although promotional posts on Instagram include messages that disclosure sponsorship and activate persuasion knowledge, consumers’ attitude toward the post may vary by source credibility and brand credibility. This study examines the effects of disclosure types, source credibility, and brand credibility on the effectiveness of Instagram marketing using influencers. Findings reveal that highly credible brands featured in Instagram posts have a positive impact on message credibility, eWOM intention, purchase intention, and attitude toward the ad. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.
The Effect of Soliciting Consumer Participation in Corporate Social Responsibility Campaigns • Sun Young Lee, Texas Tech University; Yeuseung Kim; Young Kim, Marquette University • This study explores the mechanisms through which corporate social responsibility (CSR) campaigns that require consumer participation create more value for companies than do non-participatory CSR campaigns. Based on two distinguishing characteristics of participatory CSR campaigns—interactivity and consumer empowerment—we posit two routes to persuasion, one in which participatory CSR activities generate more favorable attitude toward the company and higher purchase intention through consumer–company identification, enhanced through perceived interactivity, and the other in which participatory CSR activities, in comparison to non-participatory, empower consumers, which, in turn, affects perceived CSR motives. We demonstrate these proposed mechanisms using an online experiment with one non-participatory CSR activity and three different types of participatory CSR activities. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings.
Credible corporates require many likes: An examination of corporate credibility and bandwagon cues • Ruobing Li, Louisiana State University; Michail Vafeiadis, Auburn University; Anli Xiao; Guolan Yang • Compared to conventional advertising forms, social media native ads blend in the context and tend to be more interactive. To examine how corporate credibility and other viewers’ collective opinions associated with a promotional post influence its effectiveness, we conducted a 2 (high vs. low corporate credibility) by 2 (high vs. low bandwagon cues) between subjects experiment. Findings suggested that native ads published by highly credible corporate lead to less negative emotions among viewers and higher intention to engage in behaviors related to the ad and the product advertised; bandwagon cues influenced viewer psychology in a way that high bandwagon cues led to better evaluation of the ad, more positive attitude towards the ad, and higher behavioral intention. Corporate credibility also interacted with bandwagon cues in influencing the persuasive outcomes of the ad. Theoretical and practical implications on native advertising were discussed.
Cognitive Appraisals on a Brand Safety Issue and Hostile Consumer Behaviors: The appraisal-emotion-behavior (AEB) model • Joon Soo Lim, Syracuse University; Junga Kim; Chunsik Lee • Grounded in appraisal theories of emotions, this study tested the appraisal-emotion-behavior model for brand safety. The model posited that the appraisals of harm severity, ad intrusiveness and blame attributions for brand ads displayed next to offensive content would elicit negative emotions, which propels consumers to engage in hostile behaviors such as complaints, negative word of mouth and boycotts. To test the model, data were collected through an online survey using quota sampling (N = 483). Results of the SEM analysis supported the hypotheses regarding the effects of the appraisals on negative emotions. A mediation analysis further demonstrated that the effects of appraisals on the hostile consumer behaviors were mediated by evoked negative emotions. Findings of this study suggest that consumers react to the brand safety issue to the extent that they appraise the potential harm of the offensive content and attribute the responsibility to the brand.
Does When and Where Matter? The Influence of Ad Timing and Placement Context on the Effects of Online Behavioral Advertising • Xinyu Lu; Haesung (Claire) Whang; Jisu Huh • Behaviorally targeted advertising is receiving growing attention due to the preponderance of advertising dollars spent on online advertising and the rapid development of targeting techniques. Drawing on the goal activation model, this study examined the effects of two behavioral targeting strategies—ad timing and ad-context congruity—on consumers’ evaluations of an online behavioral ad. Results show a marginally significant relationship between ad timing and perceived ad relevance, and a significant relationship between ad-context congruity and consumer evaluations through perceived relevance. Theoretical contributions and practical implications are discussed.
Placing Brands on Facebook: How the Source and Context of Brand Posts Affect Brand Likeability • Mira Mayrhofer; Brigitte Naderer; Jörg Matthes, U of Vienna • In two experimental studies we examined how the source of branded messages and the contextual mechanisms elicited by surrounding posts influenced viewers’ evaluations of the messages. We found that humorousness of surrounding posts positively affected brand evaluations but only when the brand itself communicated the persuasive content. Hence, while user-generated brand posts might be less effective than previously thought, humorous contexts on social media sites can support positive environments for advertisers to communicate branded messages.
Political Campaigning Meets Digital Engagement: “Old” Failures and “New” Triumphs • Sally McMiillan, University of Tennessee, Knoxville; Courtney Childers, University of Tennessee; Stuart Brotman; Jinhee Lee; Jian Huang; Natalie Bogda • For decades, advertising spending, journalistic coverage, and polling predictions have been linked to presidential election outcomes. In the U.S. presidential election of 2016 those “old media” tools failed. Using big-data analytics, this study shows that volume and valence of digital political engagement on social media corresponded to the campaign outcome. The 2016 U.S. presidential campaign may represent a “tipping point” between “old” mass communication strategies and tactics and “new” approaches to citizen/consumer digital engagement.
Healthy Living and The Companies That Pay for It: A Qualitative Exploration of Health Native Advertising on BuzzFeed and the Huffington Post • Chris Noland, University of South Carolina; Jo-Yun Queenie Li, University of South Carolina; Taylor Jing Wen, University of South Carolina • This exploratory study investigates the presentation of health native advertising on BuzzFeed and the Huffington Post, the two pioneers of displaying native advertisements on their sites. This qualitative content analysis identifies the sponsored companies, promoted products, presentation formats, information sources, and disclosure types in related to health native advertising. The current research offers health related advertisers, publishers, governmental officials, and scholars with key theoretical and practical insights upon which they can more effectively propose appropriate regulations and refine health native advertising strategies for audiences.
Value from construal level theory: The matching effects of social distance and message orientation for environmental advertising • Sun-Young Park, University of Massachusetts Boston; Eunyi Kim • This study examines the effects of the interaction between social distance and message orientation (i.e., construal level effects) on responses to advertising messages that promote recycling behaviors. The results show that the messages focused on the high-level (why-laden) features were more persuasive in terms of generating more positive attitudes toward advertising when messages are framed in terms of socially distant entities, whereas the messages focused on the low-level (how-laden) features were more effective when asking participants to make judgments for their proximal entities. For behavioral attitudes and intentions these effects were observed under the how-laden and proximal condition, but not observed under the why-laden and distant condition. The findings also demonstrate a unique pattern of construal level fit effects and potential moderators/mediators, such as message persuasiveness and the perceived relatedness between recycling and climate change mitigation, in the context of recycling advertising campaigns. Theoretical and practical implications of the study are discussed.
When Our Goals Set Our Biases: How Regulatory Focus Moderates Persuasion Knowledge and Third-person Perception in Health Advertising • Giang Pham, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Chang-Dae Ham, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign • This study investigates how regulatory focus moderates the effect of persuasion knowledge on third-person perception in the context of health advertising. Two experiments revealed that persuasion knowledge positively influenced third-person perception, which in turn negatively affected ad evaluations. Regulatory focus, either chronic (Study 1: n=105) or induced (Study 2: n=97), significantly moderates the effects of persuasion knowledge on third-person perception and ad evaluations. Implications for improving advertising effectiveness are discussed.
A Meta-Analysis of Cause-Related Advertising Effects on Global Consumers • Michelle Rego, Johnson & Wales University; Dana Rogers; Mark Hamilton, University of Connecticut • Over the past 30 years, cause-related marketing (CRM) campaigns have expanded worldwide. A series of 6 bivariate meta-analyses were conducted using a random effects assumption to determine effect sizes in this field. Moderators were tested using meta-analytic regression, but not found to qualify the results, which included the effect of CRM campaigns on brand attitudes, r=.248, 95% CI(0.189,0.373), and purchase intentions, r=.277, 95% CI(0.141, 0.404). Recommendations for future campaigns and research are discussed.
The Effects of Mood and Arousal on Information Searching and Processing on a Search Engine: Implications for Paid Search Ads • Sela Sar; George Anghelcev, Northwestern University in Qatar; Taylor Jing Wen, University of South Carolina; Chang-Dae Ham, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Jie(Doreen) Shen, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign • An experiment was conducted to examine how mood and arousal interact to influence consumers’ searching tasks and their information processing on a search engine result page (SERP). The results showed that people in a positive mood were more likely to focus on general (global) information of search result ads, whereas people in a negative mood were more likely to focus on detailed (local) information of search ads. There was a significant interaction effect between mood and arousal on information searching and processing on SERP. Theoretical and practical implications for advertisers/marketers and web content designers are discussed.
Determining the effectiveness of sustainability initiatives in advertisements for congruent and incongruent companies • Brett Sherrick, Purdue University; Jennifer Hoewe, Purdue University • This study aligns three theories – narrative engagement, identification, and congruity – to determine the most effective ways to communicate messages regarding companies’ work toward increasing their environmental sustainability. Using an experimental design, the results show that companies whose products run in line with a message of environmental sustainability should create advertisements illustrating their environmental efforts, as those ads should increase positive evaluations of that company. Featuring groups of people in these ads may work to further magnify those positive evaluations. Most interestingly though, this study finds that an advertisement containing a message presented in narrative form is effective in overcoming incongruity between the type of company and the sustainability initiatives presented in the ad.
Explaining the Success of Femvertising: A Structural Modeling Approach • Miglena Sternadori, Texas Tech University College of Media and Communication; Alan Abitbol, University of Dayton • This survey of U.S. adults (N = 419) investigates attitudes toward femvertising as they relate to gender, age, support for women’s rights, feminist self-identification, political affiliation, and trust in advertising. Femvertising is defined as “advertising that employs pro-female talent, messages, and imagery to empower women and girls.” Structural equation modeling reveals several antecedents and consequences of attitude toward femvertising, specifically women’s rights supporters and self-identifying feminists seem highly receptive of femvertising.
How Anticipated Regret Messages Interact With Mood To Influence Purchase Intention • Yanyun Wang; Sela Sar • The current study examines how different types of anticipated regret advertising messages (verbally framed vs. graphically framed) interact with consumer’s mood (positive vs. negative) to influence their attitudes and behavior toward the advertised product. The results revealed a significant main effect of message types. People tended to have better ad evaluation when the ad used graphically framed AR message compared with verbally framed AR message.
Memory at Play: Personalizing Advertisements Based on Consumers’ Autobiographical Memory • Lewen Wei, Pennsylvania State University; Jin Kang, The Pennsylvania State University; Michael Schmierbach, Pennsylvania State University • Targeted advertising promises to increase relevance to consumers, but risks backfiring if it seems overly intrusive. In the present study, we examined whether personalizing the online advertisement based on one’s autobiographical memory can foster positive reactions toward the advertisement. In two studies, participants went through a fictitious social media website where they talked about a special memory and saw an advertisement that was or was not personalized based upon their memory. Results demonstrate that personalized advertisements elicited favorable reaction towards the advertisement via enhanced feeling of nostalgia, but did not show an influence on affect or perceived intrusiveness.
Social Information in Facebook News Feed Ads: A Social Impact Theory Perspective • Fei Xue, The University of Southern Miss • Using social impact theory as a conceptual framework, the current research examined the effects of “social information” on Facebook users’ response to News Feed ads, including ad credibility, attitude-toward-the-ad, brand interest, intention to click, and purchase intention. Three factors were manipulated – relationship strength, physical distance, and number of affiliated friends. Strong main effects were found for relationship strength and physical distance. An interaction effect in click intention was also found between relationship strength and physical distance.
Perceived Native-ness of Social Media Advertisements: A Conceptualization & Scale Development Study • Jing Yang; Linwan Wu, University of South Carolina; Rachel Quint; Jaini Bhavsar • As the development of native advertising across various social media platforms, it has gradually become one of the main streams in digital advertising. It is difficult to reach an agreement on a comprehensive definition of native advertisements among industry practitioners and academia scholars, due to the diverse formats of presenting native advertisements. Specifically, in the social media context, different social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and etc., all have their own formats of native advertising. Therefore, the current study proposes the concept of perceived native-ness, which emphasizes on individuals’ perceptions of native-ness of advertisements presented in the social media context. Through a two-phase research which involved (a) in-depth interviews and (b) a scale development and validation study, we generated and examined a 15-item scale for three underlying dimensions of perceived native-ness of social media advertisements, namely design congruence, personal congruence and content congruence. The theoretical and practical implications of this scale are discussed.
Teens’ Responses to Facebook Newsfeed Advertising: The Effects of Cognitive Appraisal and Social Influence on Privacy Concerns and Coping Strategies • Seounmi Youn, Emerson College; Wonsun Shin, University of Melbourne • This study examines how cognitive (benefit-risk appraisal) and social factors (parent and peer communication) affect teenagers’ privacy concerns and individual and social coping strategies in dealing with Facebook newsfeed advertising. A survey conducted with teen Facebook users (N=305) demonstrates that benefit appraisal induces greater ad engagement while risk perceptions result in reactive coping strategies. Parents have limited impact on teens’ responses to newsfeed advertising, whereas peer communication makes teens less critical about advertising practices.
Effects of Visual Strategies and Personal Relevance on Young Users’ Responses to Brand Content on Instagram • Lijie Zhou, Southern Utah University; Fei Xue, The University of Southern Miss • A 4 (customer-centric, employee-centric, non-brand, and product-centric) × 2 (first-person-view vs. third-person-view) × 2 (personal relevance: high vs. low) mixed-design experiment was used to investigate the effects of visual theme, visual perspective, and personal relevance on brand constructions (attitude-toward-brand, brand love, brand respect, brand image) on Instagram. Findings indicated using customer-centric-images with the first-person-view to promote a high relevance brand on Instagram received the most favorable attitude, strongest brand respect, and strongest feeling of sensuality.
Professional Freedom & Responsibility
Ethnic Diversity as a Solution to the Advertising Industry’s Creative Problem • Robin Spring, Grand Valley State University; Fang (Faye) Yang, Grand Valley State University • “Ethnic diversity in the advertising industry could be a solution for culturally insensitive advertising. Insights from advertising professionals, obtained via in-depth interviews, reveal prevalence of bias in recruiting, hiring and retention of minorities. Findings suggest that current methods to increase minority representation are not effective. Viewing ethnic diversity as a creative/business solution, versus a public relations problem, could motivate meaningful change in the advertising industry
Special Topics
Informing, Reinforcing, and Referencing: Chinese Young Male Consumers’ Interpretation of Social Media Luxury Advertising • Huan Chen; Ye Wang; Eric Haley • A qualitative study was conducted to explore Chinese young male consumers’ perception on luxury brand social media advertising. In-depth interviews were used to collect data and the phenomenological reduction was used to analyze data. Findings revealed four themes regarding the socially constructed meanings of luxury, luxury brand, and luxury brand social media advertising. According to Chinese young male consumers, “luxury” is perceived as a dual-dimensional lifestyle; for luxury brands, although Chinese young male consumers consider the price to be a blatant index of luxury, they perceive brand meanings are a more important symbol to differentiate luxury brands from other brands; and, luxury brands are deemed as an expression of those consumers’ personalities and styles or extension of their identities. Findings further uncovered the meanings of luxury brand social media advertising among Chinese young male consumers. According to the participants, luxury social media advertising assists their luxury brand products purchase in informing them about products of new seasons, reinforcing luxury brands’ image, and offering them a referential source. Theoretical and practical implications were offered.
The Positive and Negative Effects of Intrusive In-App Advertising • Yunmi Choi, Indiana University Southeast • “As smartphone usage and ownership has increased, advertisers need to understand how to place mobile advertisements appropriately without causing negative effects such as irritation on their target audience. This empirical study focused on in-app advertising and its negative and positive impact on smartphone users. Subjects were invited to a computer lab and asked to play a smartphone application. The design of the study was a 2 (Ad Intrusiveness: 5-second vs. 30-second) x 2 (User Controllability: a close ad button vs. no button) x 2 (Task Orientation: hurry vs. free). The results indicate that users are more sensitive to the duration of ad exposure and controllability to close an ad. Irritation and perceived intrusiveness of the ad and app were found to be negative effects of intrusive in-app advertising while recall and recognition of the advertised brand were positive effects. In addition, perceived value and purchase intention of the brand were positively correlated with attitude toward ad and brand. Based on the study findings, it is suggested to offer the option to close in-app ads and reduce the ad exposure time to avoid irritation and perceived intrusiveness. However, if the goal of the in-app ad is to raise the brand awareness, being intrusive would be a good choice. App developers and managers should understand the influence of the absence of a close ad button will result in negatively perceived intrusiveness of their own application.”
Training to Lead in an Era of Change: Insights from Ad Agency Leaders • Sabrina Habib, University of South Carolina; PADMINI PATWARDHAN, Winthrop University • This study examines leadership training in advertising. Using constructivist grounded theory methodology, in-depth interviews with U.S. based agency professionals found lack of a systematic approach to leadership development; a consensus among professionals that training (whether formal or informal) is needed; diverse approaches to training; and recognition of barriers to establishing such programs in agencies despite need and benefits. The study also finds a role for advertising education to train the next generation of advertising leaders.
Role of Immersive Characteristic, Emotional Engagement, and Consumer Responses in Virtual CSR Experiences: Drunk Driving Prevention 360 Degree Video by an Alcohol Company • Yoon-Joo Lee; Wen Zhao, Washington State University; Huan Chen • This study examined a unique context of corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives in the format of virtual reality (VR) video sponsored by an alcohol company through quasi-experimental design. The study aims to examine whether individual difference (immersive tendency) plays a role in perceiving the CSR initiatives in VR videos. This study revealed that consumers with a higher level of immersive tendency are more likely to have a positive attitude toward CSR ads via emotional involvement than those with a lower level of immersive tendency. However, consumers’ immersive tendency or emotional involvement with the VR video did not influence purchase intention. This study attempts to investigate how unique characteristic of VR video (e.g., telepresence, emotional engagement) can play a role in evaluating cognitive, attitudinal, and purchase intention in the unique context of VR video by adopting dialogic (emotional) engagement and HOE model. Theoretical and managerial implications were discussed.
Does VR attract visitors? The mediating effect of presence on consumer response in tourism advertising using Virtual Reality • Wai Han Lo, Hong Kong Baptist University; Benjamin Ka Lun Cheng, Hong Kong Baptist University • 203 college students participated in an experiment exposing to a hotel advertorial that either use online blog, VR 360° video on mobile phone or VR 360° video using Cardboard goggles. The result supports the proposed path model, suggesting the mediating role of presence between using VR and consumer response. Theoretical and practical implications of the use of VR technology in branding and promotion are discussed.
I (Don’t) Want to Consume Counterfeit Medicines: Preliminary Results on the Antecedents of Consumer Attitudes Toward Counterfeit Medicines • S. Senyo Ofori-Parku, University of Oregon; Sung Eun Park, The University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa • “Counterfeit medicine trafficking (an estimated $200 billion) enterprise has become one of the worlds’ fastest growing criminal enterprises. To the pharmaceutical industry, the uptick in counterfeit medicines raises brand equity and brand safety concerns, leading to huge financial losses. To consumers, it is a health and safety issue. But research has primarily focused on supply chain processes, technological, and legal mechanisms, ignoring consumer aspects. This exploratory study sheds light on some of the social, psychological, and normative factors that underlie consumers’ attitudes, risk perceptions, and purchase intentions. Consumers who (a) self-report that they know about the problem, (b) are older, (c) view counterfeit medicine consumption as ethical, and (d) think their significant others would approve of them using such products are more inclined to perceive lower risks and have favorable purchase intentions. Risk averseness is also inversely related to the predicted outcomes. Implications for brand advocacy and consumer safety education is discussed.
Watching AD for Fun: Native Short-video Advertising on Chinese Social Media • Ruowen Wang; Huan Chen • Since 2016, the popularity of Social Media Marketing and Weibo short videos have encouraged brands and companies to cooperate with Weibo influencers to create attractive native short-video advertising for consumers. The current study used phenomenological research method to explore Chinese consumers’ attitude toward and perception on native short-video advertising. The first author recruited 20 Weibo short-video viewers to conduct in-depth interviews to understand their experiences of watching Weibo short-video advertising. The current study has theoretical implication on influencer marketing, native advertising, and social relationship marketing. Furthermore, the study also provides guidance and reference for social media influencers and brands on how to create effective native short-video advertising.
Student Research
The Effect of Endorser Body Type on Attitudes and Emotional Responses Toward Weight Loss Advertisements • Lindsay Bouchacourt, University of Florida • The present study explores the effect of endorser body type on female consumers’ attitudes and emotional responses toward weight loss advertisements. Millennial female consumers were exposed to a weight loss advertisement that featured one of three endorser conditions: a mediated body type endorser, a realistic body type endorser, and no endorser. Attitude toward the ad, attitude toward the brand, purchase intentions, and emotional responses were measured.
#Insta-Credible: The Impact of Influencer-Brand Fit on Source Credibility and Persuasive Effectiveness • Priska Breves, University of Wuerzburg; Nicole Liebers, University of Würzburg; Marina Abt, University of Wuerzburg; Annika Kunze, University of Wuerzburg • Two online-studies analyzed the impact of the fit between Instagram-influencers and the endorsed brand. While the first study (N = 687) used an experimental design and focused on internal validity, the second study (N = 197) employed a survey, presenting results high in external validity. Both studies validated a positive impact of influencer-brand fit on source credibility (trustworthiness and expertise), brand evaluations and behavioral intentions, especially for social media users with low-level parasocial relationships.
Testing the Limits: Self-Endorsement in Ambient Intelligent Environments • Kristy Hamilton, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; SeoYoon Lee; Un Chae Chung; Weizi Liu • Self-endorsement—depicting the “self” as an endorser of a brand—illustrates a new, powerful advertising strategy made possible by affordances of new media platforms. Still, research on self-endorsement in advertising is dominated by discussions of features enabled within immersive virtual environments. Recognizing the multidimensionality of an affordance perspective, this experiment empirically tests the influence of self-endorsers and other-endorsers on brand attitude and purchase intentions using ambient intelligent technology (i.e., digital assistants).
The Changing Landscape of Mobile Advertising: Current Practices, Key Insights and Future Research Directions • Xinyu Lu • Mobile advertising is gaining full momentum now. Consumers’ increasing reliance on mobile devices for consumption of media, coupled with improvements in targeting for mobile advertising, contributes to the growing market share of mobile advertising. Despite the increasing attention from advertisers and scholars, there is not a clear accumulation of empirical findings. This article delves into the changing landscape of mobile advertising brought by the advancement of mobile technologies to examine its implications on mobile advertising research, and provides an overview of the empirical findings. The article also develops a summary of key research opportunities and future directions. In sum, this review is intended to serve as a basis for scholars interested in understanding the mobile advertising literature, as well as a catalyst for future research explorations.
We Eat What We Can “Process”: How Regulatory Fit Affects Consumers’ Evaluation of Front-of-package Food Label and Health Claim • Giang Pham, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign • This study investigates how regulatory fit affects consumers’ processing and evaluation of information on front of food packages. Promotion and prevention-focused participants (N = 253) evaluated food package designs that varied in nutrition labeling system (Facts Up Front, Traffic Light) and health claim frame (enhanced function, reduced disease risk). Results showed that there were significant three-way interactions between regulatory focus, nutrition labeling system and health claim frame on consumers’ perception of product healthiness, purchasing intent and recommending intent, but not attitude toward the package. Implications for improving food advertising effectiveness are discussed.
The Effect of Ad appeals on Materialistic Consumers’ Ethical Purchase • Yuhosua Ryoo; WooJin Kim; Eunjoo Jin, University of Texas at Austin • Materialism is known to be negatively related to consumers’ ethical behavior. Advancing this conventional wisdom, the current research investigated ways to motivate highly materialistic consumers’ ethical consumption by examining the moderating role of advertising appeals. The results indicated that consumers with high materialism showed more positive attitude toward advertisements and greater intention to purchase ethical products when the advertisements convey self-benefit appeals, rather than other-benefit appeals. On the other hand, low-materialistic consumers’ responses did not vary with different types of advertising appeals. The research also demonstrated that protective and enhancement motivations mediate the positive effect of self-benefit appeals on highly materialistic consumers’ ethical consumption.
Do disabilities belong?: Exploring non-disabled consumer attitudes toward persons with physical disabilities in advertising • Summer Shelton, University of Florida • In advertising, which relies heavily on visual stimuli, what place do persons with disabilities (PWDs) hold? Through focus groups with non-disabled consumers, this research asked if advertisements featuring PWDS are encountered, assessed attitudes toward PWDs in advertising, and perceived reasons brands use PWDs. Findings revealed disability/health related advertisements encountered frequently and a desire for “normalization” of disabilities. Print or social platforms are presumed best, and larger brands are proposed leaders in improved disability representation.
Using Anger and Efficacy as A Strategy to Prevent Alcohol-Related Sexual Assault: Dissuading Female College Students from Excessive Drinking within Social Settings • Jie(Doreen) Shen, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign • Despite the fact that female college students’ excessive drinking is a prevalent risky factor that contributes to sexual assault, existing sexual assault prevention programs have rarely addressed the issue of women’s alcohol use. This study examines the effects of anger message appeals and efficacy message appeals on persuasion outcomes. An online experiment was conducted with 122 female college students in United States. They study used a 2 (anger appeal, non-anger appeal) x 2 (high-efficacy appeal, low-efficacy appeal) between-subjects design with attitudes toward excessive drinking and intentions of maintaining sober within social settings as the outcome variables. Results indicate the effectiveness of anger appeals as compared to non-anger appeals and the moderating effect of efficacy appeals on the relationship between anger appeals on attitudes. Theoretical and practical implications are also discussed.
The 360-Degree Drunk Driving Prevention Advertising: The Impacts of Gender Role Beliefs and Self-Referencing on Purchase Intentions and Drunk Driving Avoidance • Wen Zhao, Washington State University • The primary purpose of this study was to examine the factors that influenced the effectiveness of the 360-degree CSR drunk driving prevention advertisement with nontraditional gender-role portrayals on consumers’ behavioral intentions. By conducting an experiment, this study found that the gender role beliefs exerted positive influences on purchase intentions through two sequential mediators, self-referencing and attitudes toward the ad. Additional analysis suggested that gender role beliefs negatively affect individuals’ avoidance of drunk driving through self-referencing.
Political Communication 2016 Abstracts
I Like You, You’re Like Me: Influences of Partisan Media Use on Ideological Primary Voting • Aaron Veenstra, Southern Illinois University Carbondale • The two major political parties in the U.S. are increasingly polarized in terms of ideology, which is reflected in the diminishing tendency of liberals to identify as Republicans or conservatives to identify as Democrats. Another way of looking at this phenomenon is that each party is a social group in which being in the “correct” ideological grouping has become an important social norm. This study examines how that norm influences vote choice in partisan primary elections, where all the available choices are members of the in-group. National Annenberg Election Study data from the 2008 presidential primary season shows that voters were most likely to express intent to vote for the candidate they saw as ideologically closest to themselves. Subsequent analysis found that this was a robust relationship between out-party media use and greater distance between oneself and one’s candidate, while in-party media only had effects for Democrats. That is, out-party media, which should weaken group norms, was related to weaker expression of the norm of ideological voting, while fro Democrats, in-party media was related to stronger expression of that norm. These findings demonstrate the importance of perceptions about ideology to performing one’s identity as a partisan, and also provide key evidence of a role for partisan media and specifically television, in bolstering or diminishing that ideological behavior.
Folksy talk or simplistic chatter? An analysis of rhetorical complexity and charisma in U.S. presidential campaign speeches • Ben Wasike, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley • This study used integrative complexity to examine partisan dynamics of rhetorical complexity and charisma in the 2004, 2008 and 2012 presidential stump speeches. While the candidates demonstrated low IC levels overall, the decline in rhetorical complexity was faster for Republicans. Democrats displayed more complexity and charisma. The findings also show correlation between IC and charisma. Unique contributions to scholarship include linking charisma to IC and using IC rather than readability scales to measure rhetorical complexity.
Source Networks and Environmental Regulation: Proposing a New Measure of Partisanship in the Portrayal of Climate Policy • Bethany Conway, Cal Poly; Jennifer Ervin, University of Arizona; Kate Kenski, University of Arizona • This study used social network analysis to explore the networks of news sources used in coverage of the Obama administration’s climate change report and the subsequent emission reductions proposed by the EPA in summer 2014. Coverage from May through July 2014 by CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC was coded for source use. Aggregate and monthly source networks were created and analyzed for similarities. Results suggest unmistakably partisan patterns of source use, with MSNBC using a larger number of sources than CNN and Fox News. We suggest such patterns facilitate the conceptualization of an ideology of news construction on behalf of cable news organizations.
Partisan Assessment and Controversial News Online: Hostile Media Perceptions of the 2014 Chris Christie “Bridge” Scandal • Boya Xu, University of Maryland • The cognitive process of audience response has caught increased attention among media effects scholars. Hostile media phenomenon exemplifies the extent to which media coverage is perceived as agreeable or disagreeable to one’s own opinion, which serves as an important indicator of perceived news bias. Over the past few decades, hostile media effect studies have researched several cases of notable conflict between two different groups of interest. Guided by literature on this theory and partisan assessment of controversial news, the current study examines the 2014 Chris Christie bridge scandal in the commentary coverage of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. The findings demonstrate that partisan news consumers reacted to constructed news information in hugely different ways. The present research extends hostile media research by offering an expanded model to examine people’s perceptions in the psychological sense, and places the discussion of hostile media effects toward the direction of online media environment.
Meeting Diversity and Democratic Engagement: Mobile Phone Usage Patterns, Exposure to Heterogeneity and Civic Engagement • Chang Sup Park, Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania • This study, based on a survey of 1,351 mobile phone users, investigates the relationships among patterns of mobile phone use, exposure to heterogeneity, weak-tie networks, and civic engagement. It finds that informational uses of mobile phones are positively associated with civic engagement. Relational and recreational uses have a null association with civic engagement. Using mobile phones for informational or recreational purposes is significantly linked to meeting diverse voices in mobile communication. The current study also finds that both exposure to heterogeneity and weak-tie networks moderate the impact of mobile phone use on civic engagement. This research indicates that even using the mobile phone for non-informational purposes can result in engagement in civic affairs if mobile phone users meet diversity frequently and have large weak-tie contacts.
Effects of Online Comments on Perceptions of a Political News Interview: Experiments Extending Theories of Blame and Equivocation to Web 2.0 • David Clementson, The Ohio State University • Research indicates that online comments overpower the substance of web news items. We created experimental stimuli of a political news interview and manipulated comment sections beneath. We ran experiments with college students (Study 1, N = 154) and voters (Study 2, N = 153). Results indicated that people made attributions of blame, source credibility, and evasiveness, as well as their own attitudes and comments, based on whether comments implicated the politician or the media.
Think Tanks and News Media in U.S. Foreign Policy Agenda-Setting: Who is Telling Whom What to Talk About? • Dzmitry Yuran, Florida Institute of Technology • This study explores the roles news media and think tanks play in U.S. foreign policy in an analysis of their possible effects on each other’s agendas The connection between the agendas of think tanks and the news agenda, as well as the possible impact of think tanks on news media attention to countries, suggest that think tanks should be included in foreign policy agenda-setting models, traditionally limited to policymakers, public, and media as active participants.
People Power and Media through the Eyes of Late Night Comedy Viewers • Edo Steinberg, Indiana University • Using secondary data analysis of NAES and Pew surveys from 2008 and 2012, this study examines the relationship between watching late night comedy shows and trust in the media and external efficacy. Total number of shows watched is positively correlated with external efficacy and low evaluations of the media, but individual shows’ relationship to these variables is complex. Furthermore, the paper argues that The Daily Show promotes a constructive form of distrust in media.
Does the Political Apple Fall Far from the Tree? Agenda-Setting in Tweens’ and Teens’ Agreement with Parental Political Beliefs • Esther Thorson, University of Missouri School of Journalism; Di Zhu, University of Missouri • There have been few studies of how closely parent political beliefs match their children’s. That question is addressed here with a national survey of parents and their children 12-14 and 15-17 on 14 various political belief questions (e.g., “government has gotten too big”). Social salience of the beliefs in news and public opinion influences youth beliefs. Parental beliefs are the best predictors for both younger and older children’s beliefs even after extensive controls are applied.
How High School Classroom Experiences Influence Youth Political Knowledge and Participation: A Mediation Model • Esther Thorson, University of Missouri School of Journalism; Joseph Moore, University of Missouri; Benjamin Warner, University of Missouri • This study utilizes an OSROR model of political socialization to examine the effects of demographics, school socialization, news media exposure, interpersonal and online communication, and political knowledge on adolescent political participation. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) revealed that, among all the criterion variables, school socialization, and particularly participation in mock trials, had significant direct and indirect effects on youth political participation. Contrary to previous studies, this study found a negative relationship between online communication and political knowledge.
Questionable democratizing soft news effects on political knowledge • Heesook Choi, Missouri School of Journalism • This survey study investigates the relationship between the exposure to soft news and political knowledge based on the incidental learning hypothesis. To replicate Baum’s (2002) findings, I employ the media consumption survey data that the Pew Research Center collected in 2010 and 2012, which were the last two. Unlike Baum’s findings, this study illustrates a strong negative relationship between people’s consumption of soft news and their knowledge about politics. People who consume relatively more soft news are less likely to be knowledgeable about politics, compared to people who consume relatively less soft news. In general, the relationship is not conditional on people’s level of political interest. However, when it is, the exposure to entertainment-oriented soft news is more likely to lead to the lower level of political knowledge even among politically attentive individuals. These incompatible findings also highlight the need to revisit what constitutes soft news and create a more sophisticated or multidimensional scale to measure more precisely people’s exposure to soft news in comparison to hard news programs, rather than blindly relying on the oversimplified dichotomy, hard versus soft news. This study also examines the role of recording services such as TiVo in political learning. The results suggest that TiVo does not necessarily have a negative effect on political knowledge.
Political Persuasion on Social Media: A Moderated Moderation Model of Political Disagreement and Civil Reasoning • Homero Gil de Zúñiga, University of Vienna; Matthew Barnidge, University of Vienna; Trevor Diehl, University of Vienna • A fair amount of scholarly work highlights the importance of news use and political discussion to fuel political persuasion. Exposure to both novel information and diverse opinions are key for individuals to change their views over a political issue. In the context of social media, news use arguably contributes to the prevalence of contentious politics, in part because individuals can express dissent through their social networks as they consume news content. However, individuals might be more open to political persuasion in social media environments, especially if they are exposed to political disagreement and discuss it in a civil and reasoned manner. Relying on national survey data from the United Kingdom, results of a moderated moderation model shows that 1) social media news use predicts political persuasion on social media (direct effects); 2) discussion disagreement and civil reasoning levels moderate this relationship in a two way, and three way interactions
How Does Political Satire Influence Political Participation? Examining the Factors of Exposure to Pro- and Counter-Attitudinal Political Views, Anger, and Personal Issue Importance • Hsuan-Ting Chen, Chinese University of Hong Kong; Chen Gan, the Chinese University in Hong Kong (CUHK); Ping Sun, Chinese University of Hong Kong • While research has shown that exposure to political satire elicits negative emotions, which in turn mobilize political participation, we use experiment data to extend this line of research by examining the type of exposure (i.e., exposure to counter-attitudinal and attitude-consistent political views) and investigating a specific negative emotion—anger—in influencing political participation. Results document that exposure to counter-attitudinal political satire is more likely than attitude-consistent exposure to increase the likelihood of participation in issue-related activities through evoking one’s anger about the political issue. More importantly, this indirect effect functions under the condition when people consider the issue to be personally important, and the indirect effect is stronger when one’s personal issue importance is greater. Implications for the functioning of deliberative and participatory democracy in media genres that are emotionally provocative are discussed.
Shaping Media Trust: News Parody, Media Criticism, and Valuations of the Press • Jason Peifer, Indiana University – The Media School • This study explores how news parody and perceptions of news media importance (PNMI) can contribute to shaping perceptions of the press’s trustworthiness. A two-wave survey (N=331) exposed participants to news parody stimuli, measuring media trust and PNMI one week before and immediately after the parody exposure. Results demonstrate a mediated process of influence, wherein parody’s implicit commentary about the press (compared to explicit criticism) promotes PNMI, which in turn fosters trust in the news media.
Predicting voting intentions using congruity theory and stereotypes related to political party and race/ethnicity • Jennifer Hoewe, University of Alabama • This study explores the intersection of the cues of race/ethnicity and political party affiliation as they are presented in the news media and predict evaluations of political candidates. It predicted individuals’ responses to political candidates after considering the expectations of congruity theory and cueing. It found that congruity theory is an appropriate theoretical mechanism for explaining intentions to vote for political candidates, where individuals’ political party affiliation is the necessary moderating variable to consider. Also, a candidate’s political party affiliation as well as race/ethnicity are salient in determining voting preferences and attitudes toward the candidate, but party is more consistently salient. Finally, this study identified that Independent Party candidates are not favored or disfavored when compared to Republican and Democratic candidates, and Independent voters do not show significant preference for Independent Party candidates.
Is Group Polarization a Function of Conflict Framing or a Pre-existing Rivalry Group Schema? • Jiyoung Han, University of Minnesota • Two experimental studies tested whether conflict framing of the news promotes group polarization along party lines. Informed by self-categorization theory, an underlying mechanism behind the news effect was also identified. Specifically, Study 1 showed that Democrats and Republicans exposed to partisan conflict-framed news adopted more extreme positions on a disputed issue. This polarization effect of the news emerged via partisan identity salience and perceived in-party prototype. Study 2 retested the group polarization hypotheses in an apolitical context. The results showed that gender conflict-framed news heightened the level of gender identity salience in the minds of news consumers and lead women and men to express more polarized positions. Theoretical and practical implications were discussed.
Closing the technocratic divide: How activists utilized digital form letters to engage the public in the FCC’s 2014 net neutrality debate • Jonathan Obar • Building upon research suggesting activists close technocratic divides with digital form letters, this study investigates the extent to which structural/rhetorical subordination central to the divide was overcome during the FCC’s 2014 net neutrality debate. Results suggest activists helped address impediments of geography, time and access; however, the prevalence of standardized language in many comments suggests the public’s voice was largely absent. This raises questions about ‘slacktivist’ tactics advancing mobilization efforts while avoiding principal-agent problems.
Different Strokes for Different Folks: Examination of Open-Carry Frames on Twitter Across States in the United States • Joon K Kim; Yicheng Zhu, University of South Carolina • This paper examines the online conversation about open carry policy in the U.S. Twittersphere in terms of its connection to media frames in traditional media. We collected 54,699 tweets about open carry policy using Sysomos Twitter API and our analysis showed that Twitterers from different states have significant distinct preferences over frames. Such preference was influenced by both the open carry policy and the political inclination of the states, while the later has a stronger influence than the former. For the open carry policy, tweets from Democratic states uses more safety and racial frame, while those from Republican states prefer legal and gunrights frame.
Learning the Other Side? Motivated Reasoning, Awareness of Oppositional and Likeminded Views, and Political Tolerance • Jörg Matthes, U of Vienna; David Nicolas Hopmann, University of Southern Denmark; Sebastian Valenzuela, Pontificia U Catolica de Chile • We posit that two basic information-processing motives—accuracy and directional goals—help explain when people learn from counterattitudinal news. Study 1 uses a two-wave survey matched with a media content analysis, and finds that awareness for oppositional views increases with cross-cutting news only for people with high accuracy motivations. In Study 2, we corroborate this finding with a survey experiment, and also find that a high directional motivation may actually hinder learning from counterattitudinal news.
Social Media and Civic Engagement: Results from a European Survey • Josef Seethaler, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Institute for Comparative Media and Communication Studies; Maren Birgit Marina Beaufort • There is considerable controversy as to the effects of social media on political participation. Drawing on Bennett and Segerberg’s concept of “connective action,” which – contrary to “collective” action – puts more emphasis on civic engagement as an act of personal expression, the study analyzes the relationship between media use and various forms of political participation across 15 European countries. Results indicate a notable switch from “collective” to “connective” forms of participation, particularly among people under 40.
Political Gratifications of Internet Use in Five Arab Countries: Predictors of Online Political Efficacy • Justin Martin; Ralph Martins; Shageaa Naqvi • Informed by research into uses and gratifications of the internet for political utility, this study examines predictors of online political efficacy, the belief that the internet has political utility, among internet users in five Arab countries (N=4,029): Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Lebanon, Qatar and the U.A.E. As hypothesized, variables in Arab countries often assumed predictive of political activism—being young, being unemployed, distrust of news media, progressive ideology, and more—were not consistently associated with online political efficacy. Yet counter to hypothesized, internet dependency and social media use were also not strongly or consistently associated with efficacy in the five countries. Rather, the strongest predictors of efficacy were belief in news media credibility, print media use (newspapers, magazines, books), belief in the reliability of online information, and tolerance of free speech online.
Do journalists facilitate a visionary debate among US presidential candidates? Content analysis reveals temporal orientation of debate questions • Karen McIntyre; Cathrine Gyldensted • Applying prospection — or imagining possible futures — to political journalism, a content analysis examined questions asked during U.S. presidential debates. Half of debate questions asked from 1960 to 2012 focused on the present, one-third focused on the future, and 12% focused on the past. Members of the public were more likely than journalists to ask future-oriented questions. The percentage of future-oriented questions also related to the specific election cycle and which news organization hosted the debate.
When and How Do Media Matter in a Policy Debate? The Multi-faceted Role of Newspapers in the Fracking Debates in New York and North Carolina • Kylah Hedding, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • This study brings together framing research from political science and communication through the lens of the Advocacy Coalition Framework. It examines the role of the media in the fracking policy debates in North Carolina and New York, two states with very difference policy outcomes. A multi-method approach shows that the media had a multi-faceted role in the policy process that may differ from the way scholars have previously conceptualized the media.
Not credible but persuasive? How media source and audience ideology influences credibility, persuasiveness and reactance • Lelia Samson, Nanyang Technological University; Edson Tandoc, Nanyang Technological University • This paper seeks to understand the impact of media source and audience ideology on how readers process political editorial news in the context of the Singaporean press, particularly focusing on the perceived credibility and persuasiveness of news message, as well as audience reactance to them. It does so through the framework of information processing and within the peculiar cultural, historical and social context of the Asian press, particularly that which lead to the formation and development of the Singaporean press. Through a mixed factorial experiment (N= 110) conducted online, the study found that both media source and audience ideology affected ratings of source credibility, persuasiveness of the political editorial news message, and audience reactance to them. Participants identifying with the dominant political ideology rated the dominant news source as more credible, while participants with alternative political ideology rated the alternative news source as more persuasive as well as higher in reactance. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed, as are directions for future research.
Perceived Agenda-Setting Effects: Factors Impacting Awareness of Media Influence • Linsen Su, Beijing Jiaotong University; Wayne Wanta, University of Florida • Using the air pollution issue in Beijing as the focus, the current study examines respondents’ perceived media impact on both issue agenda-setting (first-level) and attribute agenda-setting (second-level) effects through a self-reported telephone survey in January 2015.The results confirm media impact on the awareness of issue agenda-setting effects but only partly support attribute agenda-setting effects. The results show perceived media credibility, direct personal experience with air pollution, interpersonal communication frequency, and media (TV, radio, newspaper, magazine, and Internet) exposure frequency all positively predict the perceived issue agenda-setting effect by individuals. Only media credibility and direct personal experience predict perceived attribute agenda setting effects. The findings suggest that Chinese media are effective in telling people what to think about, but ineffective in telling people how to think.
A Linkage of Online Political Comments, Perceived Civility, and Political Participation • Masahiro Yamamoto, University at Albany – SUNY; Francis Dalisay, University of Guam; Matthew Kushin, Shepherd University • This study investigates how exposure to uncivil and reasoned online political comments is related to offline and online political participation. Data from a survey of online panels show that exposure to reasoned online political comments was positively associated with offline and online political participation both directly and indirectly through one’s perceptions of civility in society. Data also show that exposure to uncivil online political comments predicted decreases in perceived civility in society, which in turn was related to lower levels of offline and online political participation. Implications are discussed for political deliberation and uncivil political discourse.
Mobile Information Seeking and Political Participation: A Differential Gains Approach with Offline and Online Discussion Attributes • Masahiro Yamamoto, University at Albany – SUNY; Seungahn Nah • This study, derived from a differential gains model, examines how mobile-based political information seeking is associated with offline and online political participation in interaction with three political discussion features: frequency, size, and heterogeneity. Data from a Web survey of an online panel indicate that the link between mobile information seeking and offline political participation is greater for respondents who discuss politics with others face-to-face and online more frequently and a greater diversity of others face-to-face and online. Data also reveal that the link between mobile information seeking and online political participation is stronger for those who discuss politics with others offline and online more often, a larger number of others online, and a greater diversity of others offline and online. Implications are discussed for the role of informational use of mobile phones in fostering political engagement.
Framing Without Attribution: Party Competition, Issue Ownership and how Journalists Frame the News • Michael Wagner, UW-Madison; Mike Gruszczynski, Austin Peay State University • Do journalists index news coverage even when they are not quoting a source? We specify the circumstances under which indexing occurs during times that journalists frame issues on their own. Our analysis of news coverage of abortion, energy, taxes, and Iraq from 1975-2008 demonstrates that during periods when the two major parties fail to frame issues with consistency within their party and competition between the parties, journalists are more likely to frame issues while acting as their own source, even when controlling for economic factors and public opinion. When journalists do frame issues on their own, they often “self-index,” adopting preferred frames from the party that “owns” that issue while applying game frames as Election Day draws near.
Learning Politics from Facebook Friends? The Impact of Structural Characteristics of Facebook Friend Network on Political Knowledge Gain • Minchul Kim, Indiana University; Yanqin Lu, Indiana University; Jae Kook Lee, Indiana University • This study examines whether and how people learn about politics from Facebook. In particular, we hypothesize that structural characteristics of one’s Facebook friend network can promote political knowledge gain. Results indicate that the proportion of Facebook weak ties, but not the size of Facebook friend network, has direct effects on political knowledge gain. The impacts of these structural characteristics on political knowledge are more pronounced for the politically interested. Implications of the findings are discussed.
Weapons and Puppies: Effectiveness of TSA’s Use of Instagram • Ming Wang, University of Nebraska-Lincoln; Valerie Jones, UNL • This paper examines the effectiveness of communication on visual social networking sites by government agencies, using TSA’s Instagram account as a case. Results show that TSA’s Instagram account elicited stronger emotional reactions a private business’ Instagram account. More importantly, perceived usefulness of content, perceived persuasive intent of content, and negative emotions all affected attitudes toward the TSA and all three except persuasive intent of content also influenced communicative action regarding the TSA account.
Political Divide in Twitter: A Study of Selective Exposure Clusters • Mohammad Yousuf, University of Oklahoma; Abu Daud Isa, University of Georgia • This study tests the Selective Exposure Clusters model by examining connections among Twitter users engaged in discussion on shared political topics. A network analysis was conducted on two topic networks defined by the hashtags #SOTU and #WeAreAllMuslim. Results show that Twitter users form distinct clusters as they participate in Twitter discussion on political topics. Most hubs and top mentioned users within a cluster appeared to have identified themselves with one side of a topic. The top mentioned users and the most shared URLs also identify with the dominant political standpoint within a cluster.
Look Who’s Writing: How Gender Affects News Credibility and Perceptions of Issue Importance • Newly Paul; Mingxiao Sui; Kathleen Searles, Louisiana State University • Studies indicate that women reporters are underrepresented in newsrooms and assigned to gender-stereotypic roles. In this paper, we explore how women journalists can make a difference in a gendered newsroom. Using an experiment, we examine how gender affects readers’ perceptions about: a reporter’s credibility, a news outlet’s credibility, and importance of the issue being written about. Results indicate that readers consider women’s issues important, but reporters who deviate from their gender-stereotypic roles are evaluated negatively. Readers’ gender perceptions, however, do not affect the credibility of the news outlet.
Understanding the interplay between selective and incidental exposure online: The influence of nonlinear interaction on cross-cutting online political discussion • Nojin Kwak, University of Michigan; Brian Weeks, University of Michigan-Department of Communication Studies; Dam Hee Kim, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; Daniel Lane, University of Michigan; Slgi Lee, University of Michigan • This study analyzes whether two patterns of information exposure online, pro-attitudinal selective exposure and counter-attitudinal incidental exposure, work in concert to foster or undermine people’s cross-cutting political discussion online. Using data from a two-wave national survey conducted during the 2012 US presidential campaign, three theoretical accounts that provide alternate predictions were examined. Findings show that incidental exposure may affect how selective exposure contributes to cross-cutting political discussion in a curvilinear way.
A disturbed relationship? Politicians’ view of journalists’ effect on democracy in German-speaking democracies • Peter Maurer • In an environment where the distinction between news and opinion is unclear, this study explores how politicians view the press across three German-speaking countries. It tests how politician’s attitude toward a mediatized political process affects their tendency to contact journalists. Drawing on an international survey, the study finds that when political actors view the press as pundits, they tend to have a lower evaluation of the press in general, and also contact journalists less often.
Read, share, discuss: Examining the relationship between news processing, face-to-face, and online political discussion • Rebecca Donaway, Washington State University; Myiah Hutchens, Washington State University; Michael Beam, Kent State University; Jay Hmielowski, Washington State University • This study seeks to examine differences in online and face-to-face discussion via exposure to online news and people’s information processing strategies. Using national survey data, we determined that online discussion has direct relationships with online news exposure and heuristic processing, whereas face-to-face discussion is associated with systematic processing. We also found an interaction where increased systematic processing and online news exposure also predicts online discussion, but no interactive relationships are related to face-to-face discussion.
Silence on the second screen: The influence of peer-produced social media cues on political discourse and opinion • Rebecca Nee, San Diego State University • A 2 by 3 between-subjects factorial experiment tested the effects of peer-produced Twitter posts on political opinions and online discourse via the second screen. Researchers manipulated a Twitter feed as participants simultaneously watched a debate excerpt and were also invited to post to Twitter. Qualitative interviews with participants and a content analysis of the tweets show the primacy effect of peer-produced social media cues and evidence of both the spiral of silence and bandwagon effect.
Why Candidates Turn to Twitter Campaigning? An analysis of 2014 Indian General Elections • Saifuddin Ahmed, University of California, Davis • This study focuses on party and individual characteristics of 2014 Indian general election candidates, to explain why some candidates were more likely to adopt Twitter and use it for broadcasting, conversational and mobilization purposes. Findings revealed, candidates from fringe and minority parties and less covered in traditional media adopt and use Twitter more frequently than others – thereby suggesting Web 2.0 technologies to close the existing offline political power structures. Implications of the findings are discussed.
“Wishing to be Trump” and Other Parasocial Predictors of Trust, Likeability, and Voting Intention for The Apprentice Host • Sara Hansen, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh; Shu-Yueh Lee • This study evaluates parasocial effects of Donald Trump in The Apprentice on attitudes and behaviors toward his presidential run, and effects of political leaning and charismatic leadership. Analysis of survey data from 174 young voters shows wishful identification positively influences liking, trusting, and voting for Trump. Interest positively influences likeability and voting. Being conservative and feeling Trump is a charismatic leader was influential. Impacts of celebrity identification and symbolic modeling on Trump’s popularity are discussed.
Second Screening Donald Trump: Conditional Indirect Effects on Political Participation • Shannon McGregor, University of Texas – Austin; Rachel Mourao • This paper assesses the moderating role of support for Donald Trump to the relationship between TV news and political participation through second screening. Applying a cross-lagged autoregressive panel survey design to the communication mediation model, our results suggest that the mediating role of second screening is contingent upon attitudes towards Trump. For those who do not view Trump favorably, second screening during news leads to a decrease in political participation, both online and offline.
Media frames in mainstream newspaper coverage of Indian general elections: A structural equation modeling method • Uma Shankar Pandey, Surendranath College for Women, Kolkata • “This paper provides a structural equation modeling approach to detect latent unobserved endogenous ‘accessibility-emphasis’ frames through well-defined content analysis variables in news content. This empirical method is more transparent in identifying ‘Emphasis’ frames in election news stories. It also addresses reliability concerns since coding of the news content is done for the text variables and not for frames directly. Election related news appearing on the front page and one special election page of three mainstream English newspapers in India, from the three biggest cities of India — The Times of India, Hindustan Times and The Telegraph are selected for a 53 day period from March to May, 2014. 1767 stories from the 316 pages of these newspapers are content analyzed for themes using Entman’s schemes. These observed themes are then used to define the unobserved latent frames, both generic and issue-specific — Alliances, Conflict, Strategy, Horserace, Novelty and Human Interest. The identification of generic frames — observed in extant literature in western contexts — in a non-western context points to a limited convergence of emphasis framing across diverse democracies. Standard goodness of fit indices is used to measure the acceptability of the proposed model.
A Fine-Tuner of the Q-Sense: Exposure to Political Communication and Misestimating Public Opinion on Immigration • Volha Kananovich • This study explores the role of political communication in increasing the accuracy of citizens’ estimations of public opinion on immigration. Using data from a national survey (N=1132), it shows that greater attention to a presidential campaign predicts a more accurate estimation. Results suggest that political communication can serve as a useful source of public opinion cues that may inhibit pluralistic ignorance, despite the potentially biased samples of opinion that voters are exposed to by competing sides.
Political associational ties on mobile social media: A cross-national study of Asia-Pacific region • Wan Chi Leung • This study examined 30 Asia-Pacific countries for national-level factors that can influence the penetration of mobile technology and mobile social media, and development of associational ties with political organizations on Facebook and Twitter. Findings showed that Asia-Pacific countries had nearly caught up Americas’ and Europe’s mobile phone and social media use. Indulgence in a culture was found to predict mobile social media use, which was associated with becoming a fans of Facebook pages of the government, news, political communities, and NGOs. Political participation and civil liberties predicted following Twitter accounts of news and NGOs. Implications on political use of mobile social media in Asia-Pacific region are discussed.
The Moderating Effect of Social Identity on Collective Political Action in Hong Kong: A Communication Mediation Approach of Social Networking Service Use • Yingru Ji, The Chinese University of Hong Kong; Yanmengqian Zhou • As social networking service (SNS) has been found to have increasingly significant impact on political discussion and participation, this study integrated SNS into the communication mediation model, exploring the relationship between overall SNS use, hard news use of newspaper, television, news website and SNS, online and offline political discussion and participation in collective political action in post-umbrella Hong Kong. Data were gathered via a survey of 648 college students in Hong Kong. Results showed that SNS and newspaper hard news, offline and online political discussion, and education significantly predicted the participation in collective political action in Hong Kong. The results also demonstrated that social identity plays a moderating role between political discussion and participation as for those who have higher Hong Kong identity, the more discussion they are involved in the more likely they will participate in collective political action while for those who are less identified with Hong Kong society, more discussion will lead to less participation.
Network structural polarization of opinion leaders: the example of Sina Microblog • Yunxia Pang • This study investigates the composition, interaction and evolution of opinion leader groups on Chinese microblogging platform Sina Weibo, using social network analysis. By analyzing the “following” and “interactive” patterns among the opinion leaders over 1.5 years, we find that the basis of group polarization is network structural polarization. Based on the analysis of 241 selected opinion leaders, this paper finds that traditional classification for “Left” and “Right” intellectuals is still the key factor to differentiate opinion leaders on Sina Weibo, while the different careers do not amplify polarization. We find the in-group interaction density of the “Left” and the “Right” increased significantly as time went, while the “neutral” group’s internal interaction density does not change.
Public Relations 2016 Abstracts
Open Competition
I Thought They’d Do More: Conflicting Expectations, Constraints and Communication in a University Crowdfunding Program • Abbey Levenshus, University of Tennessee; Laura Lemon, University of Tennessee; MoonHee Cho, University of Tennessee; Courtney Carpenter Childers, University of Tennessee • This study of a university crowdfunding program adds scholarly and practical depth to knowledge of enterprise crowdfunding, a new phenomenon in the higher education fundraising context. The case study identified that development representatives use crowdfunding for donor acquisition, micro-fundraising, and awareness-building. However, the new program struggles due to influences such as limited project leader commitment and lack of urgency. Internal communication and conflicting expectations, ignored in current crowdfunding research, emerged as critical to program success.
Co-branded Diplomacy: A Case Study of the British Council’s Branding of “Darwin Now” in Egypt • Amal Bakry, Coastal Carolina University • In the wake of September 11, cultural diplomacy has become a key element of public diplomacy and dialogue-based initiatives have been used to improve understandings between the Muslim world and the West (Report of the Advisory Committee on Cultural Diplomacy, 2005, p. 4; Bubalo & Fealy, 2005). In 2009, the British Council implemented the “Darwin Now” initiative in Egypt in partnership with the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. Although evolutionary theory is considered controversial in the Islamic world, “Darwin Now” generated mostly positive media coverage. This study utilizes a co-branding theoretical framework in order to examine how the British Council was able to avoid negative spillover effects. In this research, a single case study of the British Council Darwin Now 2009 campaign in Egypt was conducted to examine how the British Council was able to brand the Darwin Now project and to avoid negative spillover effects. The case study consisted of a content analysis of news stories, press releases, and participants’ feedback surveys. In addition, 36 in-depth interviews with informants from the partner organizations, the media, and the general public were conducted. The findings of this study conclude that it was possible to overcome negative spillover effects as a result of partnering with a high-profile national organization such as the Bibliotheca Alexandrina.
Fundraising on Social Media: How Message Concreteness and Framing Influence Donation Outcomes • Anli Xiao, Penn State University; Yan Huang, The Pennsylvania State University; Denise Bortree, Penn State University • This study examined the effect of concreteness and framing of a fundraising message on donation intention and behavioral intentions on social media. A 2 (Message concreteness: abstract vs. concrete) × 2 (Message framing: gain vs. loss) between-subjects experiment (N = 213) revealed that a message with concrete details about donation outcomes elicited greater intention to donate compared to a message with only a general description of the donation outcomes. Message concreteness had indirect effects on donation intention, donation amount, and intentions to act on the fundraising post through heightened cognitive elaboration, perception of message credibility, transparency, message vividness, and empathy. Framing the donation outcomes in terms of gains due to donors’ action or loss as a result of inaction, however, did not result in significant differences on donation intention, donation amount and social media intentions. The theoretical and practical implications of the study are discussed.
Communicating effectively about social causes: Congruence between prosocial motives and CSR attributions • Baobao Song; Mary Ann Ferguson, University of Florida • Through the lens of applicable social psychology theories, this study gives practical direction to strategic corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication that encourages stakeholder’s donations to corporate-sponsored social causes and creates positive stakeholder-corporation relationships. An experiment with 373 adults studied two types of individual prosocial motives (intrinsic and extrinsic) and two different messages about the corporation’s intrinsic or extrinsic motives for its CSR programs. The theory tested here predicted and found that, through prosocial sense-making, a stakeholder’s intrinsic prosocial motivation followed by CSR communication about the corporation’s intrinsic prosocial motives led to not only strengthened perceptions of self and organizational prosocial identities, but also created stakeholder-company identification (S-C Identification), plus positive affective attitudes, and behavioral intentions towards the corporation. In addition, the monetary benefit for the social cause, significantly increased by three times when stakeholder’s intrinsic personal prosocial motives matched the perception that the CSR motives were intrinsic.
Organizational Authenticity and Stakeholder Advocacy: Testing the Arthur W. Page Society’s Building Belief Model • Callie Wilkes, University of Florida; Kathleen Kelly, University of Florida • Authenticity and advocacy are concepts that hold great interest for both public relations scholars and practitioners. The study reported in this paper surveyed employees about their perceptions of their organization’s communication and authenticity, as well as the degree to which the employees advocate on behalf of their organization. Results showed a strong relationship between two-way symmetrical communication and perceived organizational authenticity, and, together, the two variables explained 53% of the variance in employee advocacy.
Beyond Structural Encroachment: An Examination of the Relationship Dynamics between Public Relations and Fundraising in Higher Education • Christopher Wilson, Brigham Young University; Mark Callister, BYU; Melissa Seipel, BYU; Meghan Graff, Brigham Young University • While previous research has examined the extent of fundraising encroachment on public relations in colleges and universities, most of the research conducted to understand the impact of encroachment on public relations, as well as the factors that underlie encroachment, has focused on for-profit organizations or charitable non-profits generally. This study examines the relationships between public relations and fundraising departments, as well as the factors that influence that relationship, through in-depth interviews with 23 senior public relations officers at public and private colleges and universities listed on the Philanthropy 400.
Credibility and deception in native advertising: Examining awareness, persuasion, and source credibility in sponsored content • Denise Bortree, Penn State University; Anli Xiao, Penn State University; Fan Yang, Pennsylvania State University; Ruoxu Wang, Penn State University; Mu Wu, Penn State University; Yan Huang, The Pennsylvania State University; Ruobing Li, Penn State University • This study examined the impact of awareness of native advertising, level of promotional content, and media credibility on the evaluation of sponsored content such as perceived credibility, perceived deception and future reading intention. Results from the 2x2x2 experiment (N = 500) found that awareness of native advertising leads to lower perceived credibility and higher perceived deception. However, native advertising with high promotional content is judged as more credible than messages with low promotional content.
Stakeholder Theory and World Consumer Rights Day as Indicator of China’s Growing Corporate Social Responsibility Commitment • Donnalyn Pompper; Chiaoning Su, Temple University; Yifang Tang • This study was designed to expand stakeholder theory building beyond capitalist-democratic system contexts as a means for assessing corporate social responsibility (CSR) commitment. We focused on The People’s Republic of China and stakeholders engaged with World Consumer Rights Day by scrutinizing a full-week of 2015 coverage produced by 21 Chinese newspapers (N=685 news items) and conducting a hermeneutic phenomenological theme analysis. In addition to identifying ways stakeholder groups were represented among the World Consumer Rights Day reportage, findings suggested three emergent themes providing clues as to how CSR may be evolving in China: 1) Empowering consumers to pressure business into being responsible, 2) Making government policy to support consumers, and 3) Encouraging a consumer-corporation relationship philosophy. China may be moving away from a primarily philanthropic approach to CSR since supporting consumer-stakeholders is one means by which this is accomplished.
Public Relations Channel “Repertoires”: Exploring Patterns of Channel Use in Practice • Erich Sommerfeldt, University of Maryland; Aimei Yang, University of Southern California; Maureen Taylor, University of Tennessee, Knoxville • There are more communication channels available to public relations practitioners today than ever before. While practitioners may use any number of channels to accomplish public relations objectives, public relations research has tended to focus on the use of single communication channel in isolation from other available channels. This study asked senior public relations practitioners in the United States, Brazil, South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia (N = 504) how they employ combinations of media channels or “channel repertoires” to reach their publics. Exploratory analyses revealed four distinct patterns or repertoires of channels. Results of regression analyses revealed that many public relations functions predict the use of certain channel repertoires, and which functions of public relations use more channels than others. The findings have implications for public relations theory building, practice, and pedagogy on media planning and engagement with publics.
Predictors of Members’ Supportive Behaviors Towards Nonprofit Membership Associations • Eyun-Jung Ki, The University of Alabama; MoonHee Cho, University of Tennessee • This study investigated determinants of members’ supportive behavioral intentions—to donate and to recommend the membership to others in the context of professional membership associations. Using empirically collected data from more than 5,000 members across six professional membership associations, this study found professional benefits, personal benefits, past donation experience, gender and age for significant factors on the two intentions. However, lengths in the field and solicitation were not significant factors for the members’ supportive future behaviors.
Stewardship and Credibility Strategies in Political Websites • Geah Pressgrove, WVU; Carolyn Kim, Biola University • In today’s digital environment, online stakeholders are more important than ever for political candidates. This study uses a quantitative content analysis of the website home pages of all presidential, senate and congressional candidates in the 2016 election in order to identify stewardship and credibility strategies used. Findings provide valuable insight into the future of online political communication.
Generation 3: Communicating Corporate Social Responsibility in the Age of the Integrated Corporate Citizen • Heidi Hatfield Edwards, Florida Institute of Technology • Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is multi-disciplinary. The literature contains a variety of approaches to and definitions of CSR. CSR communication scholarship has extended beyond the traditional transmission conceptualization of communication to explore CSR through a “communication constitutes organizations” (CCO) lens. This theoretical shift coupled with the increasing practice of strategically planned CSR encourages scholars and practitioners to rethink the role of CSR as an integral part of the organizational narrative. This construction fits with the concept of the corporate global citizen in which a corporation’s activities as a whole embody CSR. This paper examines award-winning corporate/cause partnerships over a ten year period to determine if and how industry standards and expectations of CSR have shifted. Applying the concept of generational CSR, CECP Directors’ Award recipients from 2004 to 2014 are analyzed to better understand if and how communication about such partnerships have evolved to third-generation, integrated CSR. Findings support a trending shift toward communicating more integrated partnerships. Implications for public relations practitioners who must develop corporate narratives and scholars negotiating the interdisciplinary conceptualizations are discussed.
Defining Publics Through CSR Communication: Testing an Integrated Theoretical Model for Examining the Impact of Companies’ Environmental Responsibility Messaging Strategies • Holly Ott, University of South Carolina • This study aims to apply the situational theory of publics and framing theory to corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication research. Specifically, the purpose of the study is to apply and test the theories in this realm to determine how different environmental issues and the manner in which information about each issue impacts publics’ behaviors and, ultimately, their perceptions of a Fortune 500 company and of a given environmental issue. Using a 3 (message frame: diagnostic, prognostic, or motivational) x 2 (environmental issue: general vs. specific) plus control between subjects experimental design, the study examines the attitudes, cognitions, and behavioral intentions different publics may form about different environmental responsibility issues. Furthermore, the study aims to examine how different types of message frames (diagnostic, prognostic, or motivational) and topics may impact how a company can move a public toward information seeking behaviors. Structural equation modeling was used to examine significant paths between variables, thus creating a proposed new theoretical model that can be applied to CSR literature. The present study adds to existing CSR communication research by applying a new theory to CSR literature and offering an integrated model that can assist companies with addressing questions that could enable organizations to enhance their CSR communication efforts.
Crafting Employee Trust: From Authenticity, Transparency to Engagement • Hua Jiang, Syracuse University; Yi Luo, Montclair State University • Based on a random sample of employees (n=391) working across different industry sectors in the US, we proposed and tested a model that investigated how authentic leadership, transparent organizational communication, and employee engagement, as three influential organizational factors, were linked to employee trust. We also examined the interrelationships among these key factors closely associated with long-term business success and organizational development. Results of the study supported our conceptual model, except for the direct effect of authentic leadership upon employee engagement. Theoretical contributions and managerial ramifications of the study were discussed.
The Evidence of Expectancy Violation Induced by Inconsistent CSR Information • Hyejoon Rim, University of Minnesota; Young Eun Park, Indiana University • Applying expectancy violation theory, the study examines how a company’s commitment to CSR interacts with the timing of receiving public relations messages (i.e., presentation order), and how they affect the public’s evaluation of the CSR campaign. The results reveal that presentation order influences the public’s attitudes and the WOM intentions when a company showed a low commitment, but the order effects disappeared when a company perceived to be dedicated to the CSR campaign. The public’s attribution to altruism, however, can differ by the presentation order even though the company showed high commitment. The result suggests potential backfire affects that associated with inconsistent CSR information, especially when public expectations are negatively violated. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
Empowering Consumers Through Participatory CSR Programs: The Effect of Participatory CSR on Company Admiration and WOM Communications • Hyojung Park, Louisiana State University; Soo-Yeon Kim, Sogang University • This study conceptualized participatory corporate social responsibility (CSR) as a consumer empowerment strategy, which allows for public participation in CSR development and implementation. To test positive effects from participatory CSR, a 2 (type of CSR program) × 4 (tone of consumer comments) experiment was conducted in a social media context. The participatory CSR program led participants to have higher levels of perceived self-efficacy and social worth, and these subsequently resulted in stronger intentions to speak positively about the company’s CSR efforts.
Effects of Organization Sustainability Communication: The Influence of Interactivity, Message Framing, and Type of Medium • Jeyoung Oh; Eyun-Jung Ki, The University of Alabama • To understand how interactivity, message framing, and type of medium affects public perceptions and reactions to an organization in organization sustainability communication, this study conducted a 2 (interactivity: high vs. low) x 2 (message framing: gain-focused vs. loss-focused) x 2 (medium type: Facebook vs. organizational blog) experimental survey (N = 394). Results show that the level of interactivity and type of message framing appears significantly influences social presence of the message and public positive word-of-mouth intention. Public intention to generate positive word-of-mouth was highest when the message had high interactivity with gain-focused message conveyed in the organization’s Facebook page.
Holy Guacamole! A social network and framing analysis of the Chipotle E. coli contamination issue • John Brummette, Radford University; Hilary Fussell Sisco, Quinnipiac University • Active social media users can develop narratives and frames that, regardless of their accuracy, influence the trajectory of an issue or crisis. As a result, public relations practitioners must continually scan and monitor the dialogue that occurs on social media. Through the use of an agenda-setting and social network analysis framework, this study analyzed the Twitter network and frames that formed around the Chipotle E. coli issue.
Examining the Intersection of Strategic Communications Planning and Social Media Strategy: A Multi-Method Approach • Kenneth Plowman, Brigham Young University; Christopher Wilson, Brigham Young University • While public relations industry leaders have proposed a strategic approach to social media that follows traditional public relations process models, industry research has found that social media practices do not necessarily incorporate these strategic planning principles. Meanwhile, scholarly research on the organizational use of social media has largely focused on message- and channel-level strategy. The purpose of this study is to examine the integration of strategic communication planning with current organizational social media practice at the program level through in-depth interviews and a national survey of public relations practitioners.
Understanding Peer Communication about Companies on Social Media: Evidence from China and the United States • Linjuan Rita Men; Sid Muralidharan • This study proposed and tested a social media peer communication model that links tie strength, social media dependency, and public–organization social media engagement to the peer communication process and organization–public relationship outcomes. Results of a cross-cultural survey of 328 American and 304 Chinese social media users showed that tie strength and public–organization social media engagement are positive predictors of peer communication about companies on social media that leads to quality organization–public relationship outcomes.
Volkswagen mea culpa: Messages, media coverage, and audience responses to the 2015 emission scandal • Melody Fisher; Leslie Rodriguez Rasmussen; Riva Brown, University of Central Arkansas Department of Communication • The body of crisis communication research primarily focuses on one aspect of the communication process: internal and external factors surrounding a company’s response, the discourse of company literature, or audience reception. This study examines the entire communication process of a corporation’s response to crisis — the sender, message, and receiver. Specifically, this study analyzes Volkswagen’s crisis communication strategies and tactics while focusing on the interplay of its messages, media coverage, and audience response.
Facebook, Instagram, and Message Frames • Michel Haigh, Penn State; Kristen Laubscher • This study conducted a 2 (social media messages posted on Facebook and Instagram) by 3 frames – corporate social responsibility, corporate ability, and hybrid) experiment with stakeholders (N = 519). Results indicate Instagram messages significantly increased stakeholders’ purchase intent compared to Facebook messages. In addition, corporate social responsibility frames had a positive influence on stakeholders’ perceptions of the organization’s corporate social responsibility and organization-public relationship.
The Roles of Distrust and Media Use on Risk-Associated Affects, Efficacy, and Activism: The 2015 Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) Outbreak Crisis in South Korea • MInjeong Kang, The Media School, Indiana University; Jangyul Kim, Colorado State University; Heewon Cha, Division of Communication & Media, Ewha Womans University • The scale of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) outbreaks has been global. The 2015 South Korean MERS case is unique in that public distrust of the government and inaccurate, unreliable news media coverage of the outbreak unprecedentedly elevated and amplified public risk perceptions. The current study addressed how ineffective government communication, distrust, media use, and negative emotions can lead to public activism intentions and activism behaviors against the government. An online survey with 400 representative samples of South Korean citizens was conducted to assess these links. The study’s findings demonstrated that poor dialogic communication by the government during the crisis exerted a strong effect on public distrust toward the government and public distrust toward the government subsequently led to the arousal of negative emotions (anger and anxiety) among the public. Individuals’ media frame perceptions were also found to influence the arousal of anger and anxiety, mediated by their media uses for information about the crisis. The findings of the study expanded Turner’s Anger Activism Model by identifying critical factors affecting the levels of negative emotions during the MERS crisis, which ultimately led to an increase in activism intentions and behaviors among the public.
Relational Conciliation Effects on Hot-Issue Publics in a Crisis: • Myoung-Gi Chon; Jeong-Nam Kim • The purpose of this study is to explore models for monitoring and predicting active publics and their communicative action regarding organization reputation in a crisis. This study used panel data with 347 participants using social media, conducting the survey twice to track changing publics and evaluate the effectiveness of organizational efforts to cool down publics on the given issue. This study presents two conceptual models based on the Situational Theory of Problem Solving (STOPS) and the theory of Organization-Public Relationships (OPR) to explain changing active publics and illuminate how communicative behaviors change over the course of time in an organizational crisis.
Cyber-security breach and crisis response: An analysis of organizations’ official statements in the U.S. and South Korea • Nahyun Kim; Suman Lee, Iowa State University • The purpose of this study is to investigate characteristics of crisis responses (responsibility admittance, sympathetic expression, compensation, reassurance, spokesperson, victimization, unavoidability) appearing in official statements when a cyber-security breach threatens organizational reputation. It analyzed 108 official statements issued by U.S. and South Korean organizations. The study found that (1) organizations are hesitant to actively admit responsibility, highly express sympathy, and clearly mention compensation. Instead, they vigorously promise that a data breach will not happen again (reassurance); (2) employees are frequent perpetrators of cyber-breaches, as are outside hackers, and (3) individual spokespeople such as CEOs, presidents, and other managers (PR, HR, and IT) are more visible in the U.S. In contrast, in the statements issued by the Korean organizations, collectively referred group identities such as all members of organization and name of organization are more visible.
The State of Peer Review in the Public Relations Division: A Survey • Pat Curtin; John Russial, University of Oregon; Alec Tefertiller, University of Oregon • This study reports the findings from a survey of AEJMC conference paper reviewers, with particular emphasis paid to the 90 respondents who have reviewed for the Public Relations Division, to determine how they characterize the state of peer review both as reviewers themselves and as recipients of reviews. Significant differences exist between how they approach reviewing conference papers versus journal submissions, and how satisfied PRD reviewers are with the process compared to other AEJMC reviewers.
How Organizations Built and Framed the National News Media Agenda for Postmenopausal Hormone Therapy • Paula Weissman, American University • This content analysis explored how health and medical organizations influenced national news media coverage about postmenopausal hormone therapy from 1995 to 2011. A positive, significant relationship was found between the quantity of press releases (N=675) and news stories (N=429) over time (r = .55, p<.001). Findings supported the transference of attribute frames (benefits and risks) from the PR to the news agenda. Press releases and news stories communicate different benefits and risks than FDA-regulated channels.
Communicating Social Responsibility Efforts: A Success Strategy for Nonprofits or a Shift from Stakeholders’ Priorities? • Richard D. Waters, University of San Francisco; Holly Ott, University of South Carolina • Through a 2×5 experiment that tested the message believability and source credibility of corporate social responsibility (CSR) messaging by nonprofit organizations, this study sought to determine whether CSR messaging that is unrelated to a nonprofit organization’s mission and area of programmatic service could boost its reputation. Much of the CSR literature has documented benefits of CSR communication for corporations, but recent research has shown that nonprofit leaders are skeptical of CSR messaging because of its potential to make the nonprofit appear that it is focusing on aspects other than its mission. The results of this study highlight that CSR messaging does provide a reputational boost to the nonprofit, but the organization should be cautious as to how they incorporate the CSR messaging into their communication efforts.
The Invisible Moderators: Homophily Thesis and Agenda-Building Role of State-Owned media in the 2014 Hong Kong Protest • Tianduo Zhang, University of Florida; Ji Young Kim; Tiffany Schweickart, University of Florida; Barbara Myslik, University of Florida; Liudmila Khalitova, University of Florida; Jordan Neil; Craig Carroll, New York University; Guy Golan, Syracuse University; spiro kiousis • This study aims to advance theoretical and practical knowledge of political public relations and mediated public diplomacy through analyzing the agenda-building effects of state-own media in 2014 Hong Kong Protest, and testing whether social system homophily predicts the strength such agenda-building effects. Our results present strong correlations between Chinese state-own media agenda and foreign media agenda of 11 countries across. The democratic, cultural, and press freedom proximity does not impact state-own media’s agenda-building effect.
Buffer or Backfire: How Pre-Crisis Associations and Attitude Certainty Impact Consumer Crisis Responses • Weiting Tao, University of Miami • This experiment examines how consumers with positive associations in corporate ability versus social responsibility respond to associated-based crises differently. It also tests how consumers further adjust their responses based on the perceived certainty in their pre-crisis company attitudes. Results reveal that attitude certainty determines when positive pre-crisis associations buffer a company against crises or backfire. Additionally, the buffering and backfiring effects vary in magnitude dependent on the relevance of the crisis to these associations.
Understanding Publics’ Post-Crisis Social Media Engagement • Xiaochen Zhang, Kansas State University; Jonathan Borden, Syracuse University • Through an online survey, this study examines publics’ post-crisis social media engagement behavioral intentions including information seeking, support seeking, as well as negative and positive word-of-mouth in Chipotle’s E. coli crisis. Results indicate that uncertainty avoidance and relational trust may affect perceived severity, perceived susceptibility (i.e., likelihood of being affected by the crisis threat), and negative emotions (i.e., anger, contempt, disgust and fear), which lead to subsequent social media communication behavioral intentions.
Looking for Motivational Routes for Employee-Generated Innovation: The Effect of Individual, Managerial, and Compensatory System Factors on Employees’ Work Creativity and Scouting • Yeunjae Lee; Alessandra Mazzei; Alessandro Lovari; Jeong-Nam Kim • The purpose of this study is to (1) develop an integrated model of employees’ scouting behavior, (2) investigate how individual, managerial, and compensatory system factors affect employee empowerment and creativity, and (3) examine how employee empowerment and creative process engagement influence on communicative action, scouting behavior. A web-based survey of 306 current employees who are working full-time in a semi-conductor company in Italy explored the antecedents of a newly introduced employees’ communicative behavior, scouting. It refers to employees’ voluntary communication efforts to bring relevant information to the organization. Results suggest that the employees’ empowerment and creative work engagement are positively related to their scouting behavior. Moreover, we examined how employees’ intrinsic motivation, leader’s empowering leadership, and compensatory system factors affect employees’ empowerment and work creativity. Theoretical and practical implications for future research are discussed.
Student
Bridging the Gap: Testing the Mediating Effects of Relationship Quality and Type in the CSR Communication Process • Alan Abitbol, Texas Tech University • Utilizing the stakeholder and relationship management theories as framework, this study examined the mediating effects of perceived relationship quality and type on the CSR communication process. The results of an online survey of consumers (N = 847) showed that relationship quality and communal relationships mediated the relationship between exposure to CSR messages and attitude. This suggests the impact of a company’s CSR communication can be more effective on positive outcomes if they prioritize company-stakeholder relationships.
Motivation with Misinformation: Conceptualizing Lacuna Individuals and Publics as Knowledge Deficient, Vaccine-Negative Issue-Specific Activists • Arunima Krishna • This study sought to propose and test a new sub-type of individual activism – lacuna individuals. Lacuna individuals are those who hold high levels of negative attitudes about an issue, have deficient issue-specific knowledge, and yet are highly motivated in their information behaviors about the issue. The evaluation and acceptance of scientifically non-legitimate data, referred to as knowledge deficiency, and negative attitudes about the respective issues, form the focal points of the conceptualization of lacuna individuals. In this study, the context vaccine negativity in the US was investigated to identify lacuna individuals about vaccine safety. Results revealed that knowledge deficient, vaccine-negative individuals displayed higher levels of issue-specific perceptions, motivations, and communication behaviors about vaccines as a social issue than did non-knowledge deficient, non-vaccine negative individuals. Results, therefore, support the conceptualization of lacuna individuals, and publics, as knowledge deficient activists holding high levels of negative attitudes, and contribute to public relations scholarship by bringing knowledge and attitudes in conversation with issue-specific activism.
Testing the Integrated Crisis Mapping (ICM) Model as a Predictive Tool for the NFL’s Concussion Crisis • Danielle Myers, THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM; Douglas Wilbur, The University of Missouri School of Journalism • This study repurposes the integrated crisis-mapping (ICM) model as a public relations (PR) tool for practitioners to choose an optimal response message frame in anticipation of an emotional reaction from publics. The context used for this study National Football League’s (NFL) issue of player concussions, which is a significant PR threat. Quadrants two and four of the model were tested using two hypothetical crisis response frames: accident and an equipment failure. A web-based experiment was conducted using a 2 (response condition) x 2 (involvement: high vs. low) x 2 (exposure to the NFL concussion issue) between subjects factorial design. Findings suggest that the message frames are not significant predictors of the emotions posited by the ICM model. Feelings of schadenfreude and sympathy were present; participants were more sympathetic toward NFL players than to the NFL. The accident condition was a predictor of perceived high organizational engagement, increased message credibility, and more positive perceptions of corporate reputation in comparison to the equipment failure condition. Those indicating higher involvement toward the NFL also indicated more favorable perceptions of corporate reputation, while those who were more exposed to the NFL concussion issue prior to the study indicated less favorable perceptions of corporate reputation.
The NFL and Its Concussion Crisis: Adapting the Contingency Theory to Examine Shifts in Publics’ Stances • Douglas Wilbur, The University of Missouri School of Journalism; Danielle Myers, University of Missouri • The National Football League is immersed in a serious conflict involving a disease called Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE). The conflict appears to have manifested into a crisis with the release of Sony Motion Picture’s film Concussion, which is highly critical of the league. The movie has the potential to influence various publics in a manner that is harmful to the league. This study uses the contingency theory of conflict management, specifically stance adoption along the contingency continuum, as the theoretical framework. Past studies have used the contingency continuum to evaluate the shifting stances of organizations during crisis communication. However, the purpose of this study is to determine if various unorganized publics can develop stances in the same manner in which an organization may adopt a stance. A quantitative content analysis of tweets using the hashtag “#ConcussionMovie” or the words “NFL” and “concussion within the same tweet was used to gather data. Non-parametric tests revealed statistically significant findings that indicate most publics have adopted a positive advocative stance towards the movie. The findings also indicate that four of the six publics adopted an advocacy stance against the league, while two indicate a mildly accommodative stance. This study provides some evidence that contingency theory can be expanded to include not only the organization involved in the crisis, but also unorganized publics, although further research is required. The study also has implications for public relations practitioners who must account for the multitude of reactions of various publics during a crisis situation.
Public relations education in an emerging democracy: The case of Ghana • Esi Thompson, University of Oregon • A lot of studies have paid attention to public relations education in different countries. But, there is a dearth of studies on public relations education in emerging democracies in Africa. This is in spite of calls by scholars (e.g., Sriramesh 2002) for evidence of non US experiences and perspectives to enrich the profession. The current study responds to this call by investigating public relations education in Ghana. Through interviews, this study unearths how public relations lecturers in Ghana are preparing students for the industry in an emerging democracy. The findings show that lecturers perceive a reluctance on the part of professionals to accept students for internships and jobs. Furthermore, although there are curriculum inconsistencies across the diploma, bachelors and masters level, under resourced lecturers find ways to appropriate and provide the students with skills needed for industry.
Do local news side with a local organization? The impact of boosterism and information subsidies on local and national news about the crisis of Ray Rice and the Baltimore Ravens • Eunyoung Kim, University of Alabama • The study examines how local news tends to support local organizations differently from national news. Three reasons of differentiation between local and national news were suggested: organizations’ boost to the city’s economic growth, journalists’ personal/professional values, and information subsidy of local news from local organizations. Content analyses on news about the Ravens’ crisis show positive relationships between dependency on organizational sources and supportive coverage on local news. Theoretical and practical implications are presented in conclusion.
Does Public Segmentation Matter in Crisis Communication? The Interplay between Public Segmentation and Crisis Response Strategies • Jing (Taylor) Wen, University of Florida; Jo-Yun Queenie Li; Baobao Song • The Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT) provides guidelines for understanding the effectiveness of different crisis response strategies. The current study showcases the importance of public segmentation in the SCCT model. A 3 (crisis response strategy: deny, diminish, rebuild) × 4 (public segment: advocate, dormant, adversarial, apathetic) factorial experiment was conducted. The findings suggest that advocate public expressed more positive evaluation about the company when exposed to rebuild and deny strategies. Both dormant and adversarial stakeholders reported positive responses on rebuild and diminish strategies. However, no difference was found among apathetic public. Theoretical and managerial implications are also discussed.
Relationship cultivation strategies on global art museums’ Facebook fan pages • Joongsuk Lee, University of Alabama; Woojin Kim, University of Texas • This study examined types and indicators of relationship cultivation strategies on Facebook fan pages of 168 global art museums by using a content analysis. Findings showed that the networking strategy was most often used, followed by access, positivity, openness, assurance, and sharing of tasks. Other findings reported that nearly half of all 18 indicators were less used than one-half of the total sample. The indicators less used than half are links to other online entertainment media, histories, mission statements, exhibitions, responses to user reviews, membership fees, e-stores, and donations. Implications of the results are discussed.
Message Framing Effects on Increasing Donation for Nonprofit Organizations • Jung Won Chun, University of Florida • Message framing has been considered as an important theoretical framework to understand publics’ perception of nonprofit organizations’ charitable giving campaigns and their subsequent behavior intentions. By adopting appropriate message strategies, particularly framing, charitable giving campaigns can overcome apathy toward a group of unidentified victims and increase donors’ participation. The current study explored the effects of message framing focusing on regulatory fit (promotion vs. prevention), and donation target (episodic vs. thematic) by employing a 2 × 2 experimental design. The results revealed that people who read a promotion-focused message were more willing to donate than those who read a prevention-focused message when the message targeted several unidentified victims. A moderated mediation effect of feeling of hope showed the underlying mechanism to explain the effects of message framing.
The 2015 China Cruise Ship Disaster: An Extended Analysis of Image Restoration Strategies • Lijie Zhou, The University of Southern Mississippi • This mixed-analysis study examined the Chinese government’s crisis communication efforts across three stages of 2015 China cruise ship disaster. Though a quantitative analysis, this study compared the major image restoration strategies used at each stage. Beyond statistical comparisons, though a textual analysis, the study discussed the culture influence on usage of image restoration strategy and what cultural dimensions should be considered when designing crisis communication strategies so as to be culturally sensitive and relevant.
Seeing a Crisis through Colored Glasses: Exploring Partisan Media and Attribution of Crisis Responsibility on Government Trust in a National Crisis • Myoung-Gi Chon; Elisabeth Fondren, Louisiana State University • The goal of this study is to explore how partisan media influence publics’ attribution of crisis responsibility and government trust in a national crisis. Using a real disaster, the 2014 Sewol ferry disaster of South Korea, this study examined that how partisan media influence attribution of crisis responsibility to government. Further, attribution of crisis responsibility as a mediator was tested in the study. The results revealed that publics accessing liberal media are more likely to attribute crisis responsibility to the government; whereas publics reading conservative media are less likely to attribute crisis responsibility to the government. However, attribution of crisis responsibility appeared to mediate the effect of partisan media on government trust in a crisis.
Please Share Your Voice: Examining the Effect of Two-way Communication Approach in Crisis Response Messages • Shupei Yuan, Michigan State University; Tsuyoshi Oshita, Michigan State University • The current study employed an experiment (N=250) to investigate the effects of two-way communication approach in crisis communication on individual’s attitude toward the crisis response message and the company. We also considered perceived fairness as the mediator to explain the effect of two-way communication. The results showed two-way communication approach has positive influence on participants’ attitude, which suggest that excellence theory is still valid in the context of crisis communication. Moreover, as predicted, individual’s perceived fairness from the organization explains why two-way communication works. The findings provided both scholarly and practical implications for crisis communication.
Expanding the Integrated Crisis Mapping Model: Publics’ Emotions, Coping, and Organizational Engagement Following the 2013 Boston Marathon Bombing • Sylvia Guo • Guided by the Integrated Crisis Mapping (ICM) model and coping literature, this study qualitatively examined online publics’ crisis emotions, especially positive ones, coping methods, and a focal organization’s (Boston Athletic Association, or BAA) engagement as discursively enacted on the Boston Marathon Facebook (BMF) page during one month following the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing. Results from qualitative content analysis showed that positive public emotions existed and stemmed from online publics’ identity, coping, and BAA’s engagement. Publics engaged in cognitive, emotional, action-based, and discursive coping; they formed a rhetorical digital community where a renewal discourse fostered positive emotions, aided coping, and guided BAA’s engagement. By detailing the connections among publics’ positive emotions, coping, BAA’s engagement, and community discourse, this study offers suggestions to (1) refine and expand the ICM model, and (2) develop a community-based, organization-decentered renewal discourse, which reflects the social media landscape and can be integrated in the ICM model.
Fortune 100 Companies’ Overall Social Media Presence and Dialogic Engagement at Facebook • Tae Ho Lee • Based on the dialogic theory, this content analysis explored the overall usage of social media platforms by Fortune 100 companies, and the actual dynamics of communication on Facebook, by investigating 261 profiles found on various social media platforms, together with 400 posts and 268 responses on Facebook. The findings suggested the widespread adoption of diverse platforms, a meaningful presence of special purpose accounts, and the lack of realization of dialogic potential. Practical implications are discussed.
The Voice of the Public: Twitter’s Role in Crisis Communication • Terri Manley, Texas Tech University; Mary Norman, Texas Tech University • On August 18, 2015, 37 million private Ashley Madison accounts were leaked onto the dark web. Using a content analysis to analyze the Twitter comments to understand the reactions, focus of interest, and emotional elements regarding the hack and the company, the results indicated that the public’s attention focused more on who was on the website, and what exactly the website stood for versus the negligence of the company’s security and business practices.
Mismatch vs. Magnitude: Defining and Testing Overresponse and Overreaction • Tyler G Page, University of Maryland • Situational Crisis Communication Theory suggests reputation repair strategies for organizations facing crises, however, it does not explain the impact of magnitude of response or what constitutes an overreaction. This study defines two different types of overreaction: overreaction and overresponse. It experimentally tests both with a sample of 487 participants and finds that magnitude of response can impact crisis outcomes. Implications for theory and practitioners are discussed.
Can We Trust Government Again? An Experimental Test of Government Reputation Repair and Kategoria • Tyler G Page, University of Maryland • This study is the first to compare how effective Situational Crisis Communication Theory response strategies are in repairing the reputation of governments compared to businesses. Using an experiment of 232 participants, it shows that a government in crisis will experience better outcomes than a business. This research also compares strategies within the denial posture for effectiveness and is the first to examine kategoria and its effects. Implications for theory and practitioners are discussed.
Crowdsourcing Corporate Social Responsibility • Young Eun Park, Indiana University • A growing number of corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices are utilizing online consumer participation (i.e., crowdsourcing). As opposed to traditional CSR communication, the crowdsourcing approach invites the public to generate and decide on companies’ CSR initiatives. The current research examined the effects of crowdsourcing in the context of CSR through experiments using an actual company (Starbucks). A pretest and posttest between subject experiments with three conditions (no crowdsourcing CSR, one-way crowdsourcing CSR, and two-way crowdsourcing CSR) were performed among 108 participants recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk. The results indicate that one-way crowdsourcing was significantly higher than a no-crowdsourcing condition in terms of affective commitment. Also, this study examined crowdsourcing in relation to negative corporate issues covered in the media. The findings indicate that presenting CSR regardless of its format (e.g., CSR report, one-way, or two-way crowdsourcing) generated a positive attitude while crisis significantly decreased attitude.
Constructing Corporate Responsibility and Relationships: Analyzing CEO Letters in Annual Reports by ExxonMobil and Chevron • Zifei (Fay) Chen, University of Miami • Through a qualitative content analysis of CEO letters in ExxonMobil and Chevron’s annual reports from 2005 to 2014, this study explored how corporate responsibility and stakeholder relationships were constructed in the corporate communication process for the two U.S. oil companies. Findings showed financial and economic dominated construction of responsibility and hierarchized stakeholder relationships, revealing the discrepancies between the companies’ social reporting and normative standards of responsible conduct. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
Teaching
The State of Social Media Curriculum: Exploring Professional Expectations of Pedagogy and Practices to Equip the Next Generation of Professionals • Carolyn Kim, Biola University; Karen Freberg, University of Louisville • With the rise of social media, university programs are searching for effective ways to prepare students to use social media (Fratti, 2013). This challenge is mirrored by professionals who are also seeking to better equip themselves (Brown, 2014). This study explored key elements that should be included in social media education through interviews with over 20 social media industry leaders. Findings provided extensive guidance for faculty who teach social media courses.
I Love Tweeting in Class, But … A Mixed-Method Study of Student Perceptions of the Impact of Twitter in Large Lecture Classes • Jenny Tatone; Tiffany Gallicano, University of Oregon; Alec Tefertiller, University of Oregon • In this study, we explored how students think the use of Twitter as a pedagogical tool in the large lecture classroom affects their sense of class community (if it has any impact). We also explored students’ opinions about the ways (if any) that Twitter affects their learning experience in a large lecture classroom. We then compared survey data between two classes to identify differences resulting from Twitter use.
Teaching Media Relationships: What’s in the Textbooks? • Justin Pettigrew, Kennesaw State University; Kristen Heflin, Kennesaw State University • Media relations is still an extremely important part of a public relation’s students education. This study examined 6 introductory texts and 6 PR writing texts from a media relations standpoint. The study found that while textbooks provide basic information for reaching the media through tactical means, few go beyond that to discuss initiating and maintain long-lasting relationships with media professionals that are necessary for long-term success in navigating the changing nature of both fields.
A Dam(n) Failure: Exploring Interdisciplinary, Cross-Course Group Projects on STEM-Translation in Crisis Communication • Laura Willis, Quinnipiac University • This exploratory, quasi-experimental study examines whether incorporating an interdisciplinary, cross-course aspect to a group project on the Teton Dam failure in a crisis communication management course would impact public relations students’ ability to translate technical aspects of the crisis for media and public audiences. Results suggest the inclusion of an engineering student as a technical ‘expert’ negatively impacted project grades and increased student frustration. Possible improvements and lessons for future interdisciplinary, cross-course projects are presented.
Empowering the Future Practitioner: Postmodernism in the Undergraduate Public Relations Classroom • Stephanie Madden, University of Maryland; Katie Brown, University of Maryland; Sifan Xu, University of Maryland • Although academics have worked to bring postmodernism approaches into public relations scholarship, there has been little to no attempt to date to integrate postmodern principles into the undergraduate public relations classroom. This study explored how public relations educators can teach postmodern concepts to undergraduate students, as well as the main lessons learned about public relations from a postmodern lens by students. Results of this study indicated students were forced to questions their underlying assumptions about organizational structures for the first time and gained a deeper appreciation for the complexity of public relations.
AEJMC Trailblazers of Diversity – Federico Subveri
AEJMC Trailblazers of Diversity in Journalism Education
Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication
School of Journalism
University of Texas at Austin
The purpose of this index is to mark the themes that have emerged in the interviews conducted so far. From these indexes we will develop an extensive guide of the areas to be covered in the interviewer’s story of the interview subject – and where the viewer/listener can find them.
We ask you watch the interview and give descriptions about what the interview has to say about the issues listed here. We ask you to note any NEW topics that you find in the interview – issues that are not included in this index. YOU MUST INCLUDE COUNTER OR TIMES. At the end of the index you will find a section for your comments of the interviewer in general, the interviewer and your suggestions for improvements in further interviews. We also ask you to give us your opinion on whether this interview is a good subject to be contacted for the second-level interviews.
Lastly, we appreciate feedback on this index so that we can revise future forms.
Interview Subject: Federico Subveri
Interviewer: Martin Do Nascimento
Interview date: 5/7/2014
Number of Recorded Segments: 3
Interview length: 01:16:37
Language: English
Reviewer: Carlos Morales
Date of review for index: 6/12/14
Table of Contents:
Early Experience in Journalism (3)
Federico’s studies (4-5)
Diversity in Academia (5-10)
AEJMC (11-13)
Early Experiences in Journalism:
2:33 Says the interesting part of his personal story was he intended – since high school and throughout some of college – to be an aeronautical engineer.
2:56 interest in math didn’t “match up” once he got to college.
3:05 He witnessed protests to Vietnam War at University of Puerto Rico and what he saw personally differed from the media accounts.
3:25 These differences caused him to say: “There’s something wrong here – why?”
3:37: He excelled in the area of social sciences and decided to explore media
3:52 During his last year of college, the university introduced the master’s degree in public communication.
4:05 He was one of the first 33 students to enroll in the program at the University of Puerto Rico
4:15 At this point he wanted to be a journalist, he wanted to write about journalism.
4:17 He worked at the San Juan Star as a copy boy. Because of this position he was able to do some freelance work for the SJ Star.
4: 29 Here he also witnessed the lifestyle of journalists in the newsroom and realized that wasn’t him.
4:43 At the end of his master’s degree he started weighing the options of a Ph.D in communication because he wanted to do research about media.
4:48 He was admitted to the University of Wisconsin at Madison
5:09 His work has been a “social science approach to the field”
5:54: As a Puerto Rican in Puerto Rico, he was the majority; only minority in political beliefs.
6:10 He wasn’t aware of being a “Latino or Hispanic” until he had to fill out forms and felt “that’s the closest category – I’m just a puertoriqueño.”
6:35 (more on Vietnam protests): The experience of the protests and then reading the newspapers the next day is one that told him there was something wrong with the system and how stories are covered, their political meaning.
7:33 Until that point he was apolitical, but those contradictions alerted him and urged him to study that.
His Studies
8:00 His studies at Wisconsin were directed with his desire “to understand the political economy of the media system of Puerto Rico.”
8:13 He wanted to understand the decision why the decision makers in Puerto Rico, in terms of news construction, did what they did.
8:42 Expanded his research to include the political economy of not only Puerto Rico but Latin America.
8:48 Another turning point in his decision to continue his communication studies was an international conference in San Jose, Costa Rica, where “the most progressive minds of media in Latin America” were meeting.
9:45 He was beginning to understand how media, politics and the economics work together.
10:01 At Wisconsin, his studies were a challenge because the university was very much a social science empirical oriented university and school of journalism
10:16 He did the coding for a study on Hispanics in Chicago and was allowed to do studies on this data, which would eventually become the basis for his dissertation.
11:44 The body of his research was new and pioneering – he was supported to continue his efforts.
12:12 His first job was at the University of California Santa Barbara where he learned what it meant to be a professor. By 1992 he began work at UT Austin.
12:20 At the time he had no intention to stay as a professor in the United States.
12:29 He wanted to go back to Puerto Rico because part of his studies had been funded by the University of Puerto Rico presidential system.
12:42 As he finished his studies and began working, the political power in Puerto Rico shifted form center to right wing. The president of the university system, Federico found out years later, didn’t want any more pro-independence professors in the school of communication.
13:11 As much as he applied and tried to get back to Puerto Rico, he never got a positive response from any university in any system in the country.
13:29 While at UT he did the first study on the political economy of the media system of Puerto Rico.
12:45 He continued his interest in Puerto Rico and developed the study of Latinos in media in the United States in all branches, children, politics, etc.
13:58: The third branch of his interests became race and media relations in Brazil. He performed these studies with support from the LLilas office (Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies).
15:52 While at Wisconsin, he realized that there were two emerging tracks on Latino Media studies were: The ownership and history of Spanish media in the United States and
16:33 Overall there were very few studies on Latinos and media.
16:56 There were hardly any studies, Federico recalls, that connected the use of media and political knowledge and opinions and behaviors among Latinos.
17:17 There had been studies about the use of media and politics, but the research wasn’t quite aligned with Federico’s overall research goals.
17:59 Still as of today, there are a lot of studies that look at history, ownership, use of media, and now there’s content analysis of films, TV shows and print
18:26 There’s still a sizeable gap in terms of survey research that connects use of media and knowledge.
18:44 An area he’s developed is emergency communication, how people who are not English-speakers understand there’s an emergency.
18:55 There’s a huge gap in terms of policy, knowledge and implementation for Latinos who are primarily Spanish-speakers.
19:09 Federico had to find the gaps that had not been developed and then explore them – at Wisconsin it was all beginning. Now there’s an explosion of literature.
Diversity at Wisconsin
20:11 At Wisconsin he had the blessing of open-minded professors who allowed him to engage in the field of work he was interested in, but there wasn’t a professor who could teach him what he learned about in Latinos and media.
20:41 Diversity at the time meant Blacks and Whites. 20:44 There was a sense of awareness, but not as much as it is today, recognizing changing demographics and the growth of Latino populations and their media.
20:53 Some of his professors at Wisconsin weren’t aware of these populations and their media.
21:07 There were, however, professors that guided him to literature.
21:12 While at Wisconsin, he was supported to engage in this fledgling field
22:44 In the time he’s taught, there’s been a dramatic change in the field of communication. There’s recognition now of the demographic shift.
22:54 There’s a need to embrace research in these arenas.
22:57 One of the contributions to the change has been the recent graduates who became professors and studied in this field.
23:49 These graduates have populated this area, doing research and engage in teaching others.
23:57 What is still lacking is the institutional higher level decision makers who validate and support this work.
24:11 Even at UT Austin, the school of journalism has Latino professors but there isn’t a whole track dedicated to the research of getting a Ph.D in Latinos in Media.
24:31 The department of radio-television-film had an interdisciplinary concentration of diversity and media. But didn’t have the research to go with it.
24:42 The college of communication has not had, developed and promoted an integrated Masters and doctoral program to attract, train and prepare future researchers in the social science of communication.
25:08 That is missing still.
25: 10 In these 30 years, the studies, the content analysis, the history of these works is growing.
25:25 Kent Wilkinson – not a Latino – has branched off and done similar studies and is now a director at Texas Tech.
25:50 It’s not just a privy for Latinos or other minorities it’s still a lack of institutional recognition of the value of these programs.
26:08 At the undergraduate levels there are courses here and there but there isn’t an institution dedicated to this research.
26:56 A Senior professor at UC Santa Barbara told Federico’s student that here Latino studies was a dead end.
27:17 This, Federico says, implies that not only were this student’s efforts not worthwhile, but neither was Federico’s.
27:23 UC Santa Barbara has yet to hire another Latino professor who can engage in these studies, Federico says.
27:55 The decision makers there haven’t recognized the need for it.
28:03 The institutional, high-level effort to make change is not there.
28:11 At UT, the environment was more supportive.
28:21 Federico left to New York temporarily, returned to UT, and was told by the key decision maker of the radio-television-film chair department that “that Latino stuff you do is not a priority here anymore, so I’m not going to hire you.”
29:24 He then moved to Texas State University.
29:35 Within a few months he developed a program that became the Center for the Study of Latino Media and Markets. It flourished for 5 years.
30:01 Support dwindled and wasn’t as strong as it needed to be for the center to survive and to keep him there.
30:10 Now at Kent State University
30:26 In 1992, he proposed to school director at UT a program – for the college – to develop Latinos and media issues. The dean at the time told him, “that’s not relevant here.”
31:07 When he moved to Texas State, he updated the proposal and within a year he had the center.
31:20 It depends on the decision makers, he says, who are either open minded or not.
32:16 Some of these decision makers don’t have the capacity to value these programs because they were educated in a narrow field, in which Latinos weren’t a topic.
33:00 It’s not part of their radar, of their value system. It’s other.
33:15 Federico says, in 30 years the demographics have changed, the media have changed, the political power of Latinos has been demonstrated and there is a different mindset.
33:42 Given the changes, the need for a professor who can teach the social science of Latinos in communications isn’t a priority, he says.
34:15 The perspective may be that what they’re doing is good enough.
34:54 The one university that comes close to having these programs/institutions is the University of Urbana- Champaign.
35:21 There’s still the need to enhance – at the college level, at the university level – an integrated effort to study these populations, their media and their effects.
37:01 Federico has seen that 1/3 or more of the applicants – people who have earned or are about to earn their Ph.Ds – are people with Asian backgrounds in their names.
37:26 Federico hardly finds a Latino name.
37:40 He says we haven’t done a good enough job to develop, at the high school and undergraduate level, degree programs and interest in Latino media studies. The same goes, he says for other ethnicities.
38:10 Even though there are Latinos engaged in graduate-level education, they are not in the social science and statistical analysis.
38:43 Statistical skills are a necessity for this field, which may not available to many Latinos.
39:15 Federico says he believes that those – namely Latinos and African-Americas – who lack these skills are encouraged to become teaching assistants.
40:03 What’s missing, Federico says, is the need to purposely recruit and train the minorities that don’t have those skills but have to be trained to get that knowledge and go into the research field.
40:49 It’s a cycle that can only be broken by training these specific students who are underprivileged or understudied.
41:00 They then can become future publishers and do training and recruiting for future generations.
41:31 He wants to emphasis that there are individual efforts; there are people who recognize the need to understand Latino/African-American populations.
41:53 Rarely will you find an institution that will incorporate this as part of its flagship.
42:35 We need doctoral-level classes that teach the research on the political economy, history, on the uses, on the content analysis, on the effects of media on diverse populations.
42:48 We need more than just a “catch-all course.”
43:00 (Siren in the background, interview stopped for several seconds) (ask maggie about this part)
44:58 The interesting thing about studying race in Brazil is that the leading scholar is a white Italian (heritage) Brazilian woman.
45:34 This professor’s students, who have graduates, are now the ones teaching these issues in Brazil and teaching the next generation.
45:45 They are, however, behind in the national recognition for the need to enhance and teach these issues. It’s an incremental process as it is here.
46:20 Most of the studies he’s familiar with in Brazil are content analysis on how the media has treated race issues.
46:56 The reason for Brazil being behind in is there’s an ideology that there is no racial differences. The reality, however, is that there are major differences, Federico says.
47:33 Still we have a gap in people who are trained and can train others to engage in research in this arena.
47:51 For too many years, Federico says, it was assumed that racial issues were minority issues in passing.
48:02 Some of the first academics writing about this assumed that minorities emigrated with very little knowledge of the U.S., learned about it and left their old cultural values behind – which Federico says is old hat.
48:30 Latinos – and other groups – hardly ever assimilate, they adapt. It’s a sum game. These groups learn about U.S. culture and learn about their heritage.
48:54 The term Federico uses to describe this is situational ethnicity
49:21 It’s not a linear process of leaving behind old culture, taking on new culture.
51:06 Some recognize that there’s a problem.
51:56 Study after study makes it evident that there is a problem in the underrepresentation and the misrepresentation of Afro-brasileros in their media.
52:16 Federico wants to aim bring this research to the decision makers to press the need for change.
52:44 He doesn’t think there’s a need for that much individual research in Brazil to figure out that need.
52:58 Negative images cause harm to the stereotyped individual and to the general population that assumes incorrectly who and what those “others” are.
53:13 If we can get that research to decision makers in advertisement, in television – there will be a great leap forward, Federico says.
53:51 It’s not just enough to say there’s a need bring minorities into the school of journalism, there needs to be a systematic effort.
54:03 This is related to the quotas in Brazil, Federico says.
54:08 Federico explains that kids aren’t given the same advantages as others. He uses analogy of kids running a race, some have shoes, some have been coached and others have had neither.
55:00 He says the same applies to journalism schools and mass communication.
55:06 Years of undertraining – not lack of skill – is what hinders some students. It’s important to recognize that.
56:19 People will act when they’re pressured to do so. But part of that process to be convinced requires more background, understanding of the situation, Federico says.
56:39 Too many decision makers don’t have that background
56:58 Major decisions require money, Federico says, and money then is directed to those who they see in their experiences that are pressuring them.
57:17 One of the most recent programs that was developed form the Dean’s level is at Cal-State Fullerton. The dean recruited and developed their center, specifically to teach about Latinos and media.
57:54 There were some reluctant members of the faculty.
58:07 At this institution, dean was proponent. At others, there’s usually more support from faculty but not from decision makers.
59:00 He hopes that there’s more higher-level decision making processes, given the change in demographics.
59:25 It’s imperative for major efforts to be directed at Latino populations and media, the uses and the effects on this population and general population and other ethnic minorities.
AEJMC
1:00:29 Federico says that it was through support from AEJMC that he gained validation for the work he was doing
1:00:36 His first AEJMC conference was in 1976.
1:00:39 That year it took place at Wisconsin.
1:01:01He attended the conventions, became a member, and started to receive the journals.
1:02:05 Federico says the support he received from AEJMC members was widespread – but he wasn’t receiving this kind of support from his faculty, professors at Santa Barbara.
1:02:35 Federico was either a graduate student or a young professor when he was recruited to be apart of the minorities in communication division.
1:02:47 He was then nominated a position within that division, became a chair, and was recruited to the commission.
1:03:03 During those years of participation, Federico says two things happened: He received validation for his work and he was able to talk to (and be listened to) about the value of diversity.
1:03:27 Whether it was panel opportunities, involvement, research, it helped him on the way to get a foothold with the organization.
1:04:24 The value of AEJMC for diversity issues is twofold.
1:04:28 With its minorities in communication division, anyone that does diversity issues has an opportunity to get their work evaluated even if it’s not accepted for a convention.
1:04:49 The work is evaluated and given feedback that can contribute to the enhancement of that research.
1:05:00 For those whose paper is accepted, the conference is a place where they have full support – they don’t have to justify, Federico says, it’s a given that it is valued.
1:05:16 This networking contributes to the enhancement of the scholarship of minority issues in communication.
1:05:44 As students and scholars present their work in these other divisions (not just the minorities in communication division), then diversity is acknowledged and valued and expanded into those other divisions as well, Federico says.
1:06:29 One of the projects that AEJMC had was the journalism leadership institute for diversity (JLID). This brought together a number of minority faculty, women and minority. Federico says it often went to white women who learn leadership skills for being department chairs and deans.
1:07:22 Some applied, Federico says, and were not ready for those positions.
1:07:26 That program wasn’t funded after a time. Federico is unsure why.
1:07:49 The effort, Federico says, was directed towards anybody, but not purposefully towards those who didn’t have the preparation (“running shoes” as Federico says, referring to his earlier analogy.)
1:08:29 AEJMC should return to the JLID program and make it more sophisticated.
1:08:40 They could also then express the importance to other faculties across different universities of diversifying their faculty.
1:08:56 From there, Federico says, it’s important to also teach the maintenance, the training needed to retain diverse faculty.
1:09:55 AEJMC has changed dramatically its gender diversity.
1:10:45 In terms of recruitment of more outreach to diversity it lags behind, Federico says.
1:10:57 AEJMC has done a great job in the gender disparity that used to exist, from when it started to today.
1:11:06 In a study, Federico says, we noticed that more than half of the leadership of AEJMC has been female in the divisions and at the presidency.
01:11:34 The leadership on the gender side, primarily white women and some African Americans, has improved, Federico says. But at the “rank and file” AEJMC is “decades” behind.
01:11:59 AEJMC is way behind in terms of recruitment and retention of Latinos.
01:12:17 Federico says he would recommend a JLID program specifically for Latinos for AEJMC.
01:12:40 There needs to be a similar effort, Federico says, for other underrepresented groups as there are really way behind.
01:13:50 It’s well document that the portrayals of Latinos in the media are not what they should be. Federico points to some of his research for support.
1:14:07 Federico points to a controversy with MSNBC that’s currently going on.
1:14:18 Federico mentions member of MSNBC who dressed up with a sombrero and maracas and some liquor for a “cinco de mayo” segment.
1:14:44 The decision makers in these institutions should do better. The problem has been documented, Federico says, but they haven’t changed their mindset.
01:14:54 It should fall upon the schools of journalism, the decision makers at the schools of journalism, the scholars at the schools of journalism to bring to the decision makers in the news media the imperative for better, more diverse images.
01:15:18 Federico hopes that the decisions of these schools create substantial change and influence.
1:15:46 Now it’s time for change in the content and representation of these groups.
1:15:53 There should not be the continued stereotyping of these groups, or the ignoring of them as it has been the case.
Trailblazers of Diversity – Ray Chavez
AEJMC Trailblazers of Diversity in Journalism Education
Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication
School of Journalism
University of Texas at Austin
The purpose of this index is to mark the themes that have emerged in the interviews conducted so far. From these indexes we will develop an extensive guide of the areas to be covered in the interviewer’s story of the interview subject – and where the viewer/listener can find them.
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Interview Subject: Ray Chavez
Interviewer: Martin do Nascimento
Interview date: 4/18/2014
Number of Recorded Segments: 3
Interview length: 02:07:34
Language: English
Reviewer: Carlos Morales
Date of review for index: 7/1/14
Table of Contents:
Early experiences in journalism (3-8)
From the Classroom to the Newsroom (8-9)
Journalism and Diversity (9-14)
AEJMC (14-17)
Diversity in Academia (17-18)
Different Academic Positions Held (18-20)
Realization about Diversity (20-22)
Diversity Now (20-23)
Accolades/End (22-23)
Early Experiences in Journalism:
0:00 – 2:48 Preamble and introductions
3:08 Chavez says he got into journalism by accident.
3:13 The high school that Chavez went to in El Paso, Texas was a technical high school.
3:29 While he was there he had to pick a shop and he chose architectural drafting. He was hopeful that this career path would get him a job right away.
3:41 Chavez didn’t have plans to go to college right away after graduation.
3:55 On top of the drafting class, Chavez also took a journalism class, but he didn’t do very much writing.
4:12 He wrote copy for the yearbook, but mainly did bookkeeping.
4:15 However, he “didn’t get hooked on journalism or even thought of it as a career”
4:20 Chavez adds that these technical schools were allowed to have athletic teams and compete against the regular high schools in the city and the state.
4:37 Chavez was a good distant runner and eventually won the state championship
4:51 As a result he received many scholarship offers. “Not for my brains, not for my head – but for my legs”
5:00 That’s how Chavez ended up in Texas Tech University. He received a full-ride track scholarship.
5:06 Chavez needed to decide on a major and chose architecture. His first semester was a disaster, he said.
5:26 Chavez was in danger of losing his scholarship because his GPA was dipping.
5:33 A counselor asked Chavez what he liked doing and he said “writing and sports” – so they combined the two and he took journalism courses.
6:02 That’s how Chavez stumbled into journalism
6:18 The reality, Chavez says, is that he never really did that much sports writing
6:40 (quick break to turn off ceiling fan)
7:12 Chaves says that he really enjoyed the writing classes, because that’s where he excelled.
7:19 Chavez’s older brother is the one who taught him English since their parents didn’t know much English themselves.
7:56 Chavez took photography. He says it provided a creative outlet for him
8:04 What really got him hooked, Chavez says, was working on the school newspaper. “Once I got on the staff there, I really enjoyed going out and doing stories.”
8:41 Chavez has been told that he was the first Latino to be on the news staff at the Texas Tech University Daily. When he researched this claim he wasn’t able to find any Spanish surnames on the daily before him.
9:09 He found this interesting because he knew there were others who had the talent and the skills.
9:17 “I looked around me in my newsroom and discovered that, yeah, I was the only Latino and there weren’t any in the pipeline.”
9:29 Chavez says that he was treated well by the staff and the student editor.
9:39 At that time, Chavez remembers, most of the stories that were about minorities were about East Lubbock – the area where most of the African Americans lived.
9:52 More of the minority-related stories were about African-Americans
10:03 There wasn’t a lot of coverage on Latinos, Chavez says. “Most of the Latinos that were in Lubbock area at that time, in the panhandle and the south plains, were migrant workers.”
10:15 Chavez says that since they were transitory they didn’t really establish themselves in the community – that came later.
10:24 Because of that Chavez was unable to make use of his knowledge of the Spanish language or of the Spanish community.
10:32 That’s how he ended up doing many stories on African-Americans.
10:44 By the time he graduated there was another Hispanic in the pipeline. His name was Robert Montamayor
10:52 Chaves says he might be familiar to some of his colleagues because he went on to become the first Latino executive editor of the University daily at Texas Tech.
11:12 In Montamayor’s career he went on to become a Pulitzer winner at the Los Angeles Times.
11:35 Chavez says Montamayor would’ve succeeded without any of his advice
11:43 Chavez says their friendship allowed him to criticize him and his work, provide him with a path.
12:30 Chavez says Montamayor would’ve been successful without him – but he hopes he “made it a little bit easier”
12:51 The newsroom, Chavez says, was a sanctuary for him.
12:58 That is where he had the respect of his fellow staffmembers.
13:09 At a closing banquet during his senior year, Chavez received an award for being the stop staff member of the paper.
13:53 Texas Tech and Lubbock – however – was a different story, Chavez said.
14:03 The environment has changed over the years and he says it’s a better place for minorities in general, especially Latinos who have taken up a more permanent residence in the area.
14:13 It was difficult, Chaves says, because he had to deal with the “ultra-conservative, sometimes backwards and sometimes bigoted community of Lubbock.”
14:31 Getting off campus was a challenge. That’s where Chavez would encounter individuals who would either ignore him or make snide remarks.
14:48 Chavez recounts a story
14:48 His freshman year, Chavez decided that he’d had enough was going back to El Paso. Fortunately, he says, his roommate – Lance Harter – convinced him to stay in Lubbock – the two stayed up all night talking. They remain friends today
16:14 Chavez says he always recognizes Harter as the guy who convinced him to stay at Texas Tech and “tough it out.”
16:44 Chavez says that you had to have an internship in order to graduate.
16:52 He was having a hard time finding a place to intern. He needed to look beyong Lubbock and go to the South Plains area.
16:55 The Lubbock Avalanche Journal he says was ultra-conservative. “They probably did not want to take me on as an intern because how could I possibly be the best intern available form Texas Tech at that time?”
17:21 Chavez was fortunate to get a phone call from the executive editor of a paper that was distributed in the black section of town.
17:34 The executive editor had called because he had read Chavez’s articles and wanted to know if he was interested working part time for the West Texas Times.
17:59 As a result, Chavez ended up interning there.
18:05 All of this, he recalls, was part of his education.
18:10 Chavez worked what was essentially the ghetto at that time
18:16 He says the black folks didn’t get the connection – was he really with the black newspaper?
18:25 Chavez says it was tremendous experience – It expanded his horizons and convinced him of the need for diversity.
18:39 The mainstream newspaper – the Avalanche Journal – was not covering East Lubbock. The West Texas Times was. This forced Chavez to ask himself, why did they have to establish their own newspaper to get information out to their community? And why was the mainstream paper ignoring this community.
18:59 It allowed Chavez to think about diversity in terms of more than what’s happening to Latinos.
19:40 This was the “seminal moment” that Chavez became aware of the need for more diversity.
19:45 Chavez’s coursework at Texas Tech had led him to start developing ideas beyond his personal experience. For example, he took a lot of courses in African-American studies.
20:00 History became one of Chavez’s areas of interest. He even became trained at the University of Washington as a journalism historian
20:10 In taking those courses, Chavez says, he began to learn more and more about the history of African-Americans.
20:18 TJ Patterson – who owned the West Texas Times – was also a business professor at Texas Tech.
20:30 Chavez says he learned more than journalism from Patterson. He “learned about the economics of the black community.”
20:42 His experience on the West Texas Times influenced him to take a broader diversity of coursework.
21:41 “In some ways growing up in El Paso was isolating because the majority of the population in El Paso is Latino.” Chavez grew up in the barrio – his high school was 95 percent Hispanic.
22:17 His interaction with white people he says was minimal. Because of this, Chavez says, he didn’t notice a lot of discrimination
22:20 Even though he never noticed discrimination, Chavez says he did notice inequality. “Very few of the shakers…were Latino.” Most of the population, Chavez added, was Latino, but the leadership was white.
22:45 Going to Lubbock was eye-opening for Chavez.
22:55 “That change, that reality was really what most of America was like, as opposed to the Southwest.”
23:04 Chavez says this was the “catalyst” that made him think about what he could do for his community and how to educate them about diversity
23:26 His experience with the Black community furthered that
24:09 Chavez’s dad was an “avid newspaper reader”
24:14 His family subscribed to the daily newspaper
24:18 Sundays specifically we’re a ritual of sorts. “We would sit around and take pieces, different portions of the newspaper”
24:42 It was an English newspaper. But since Chavez’s grandfather only knew Spanish they would also get the Spanish newspaper.
24:56 Chavez read mostly the English newspaper because his dad wanted him to learn English. Occasionally, he would try to read the Spanish editions.
25:23 Chavez’s grandmother was blind so she listened to a lot of radio. And the radio she listened to was the Spanish-language station.
25:38 “There was always Latino music in our house”
25:56 Chavez says that his news and information was coming from a variety of sources.
26:11 He adds that his family also watched television together. They’d mainly watch the Spanish-language stations from Juarez.
From the Classroom to the Newsroom
27:12 Chavez had a job offer before graduation
27:30 During his junior and senior year he was working for the school newspaper and the West Texas Times.
27:40 The offer Chavez received was from his hometown of El Paso, Texas.
27:53 Chavez didn’t go through his commencement exercises at Tech because after his last final he had to head to El Paso to start work.
28:39 This is where Chavez’s professional career began.
28:47 Chavez says he was fortunate that his first job was in El Paso because he already knew the community.
29:12 From there Chavez worked for several other newspapers
29:12 The Seattle Times (where he worked during graduate school at the University of Washington).
29:32 After that he worked for the Yakama Herald Republic in eastern Washington state.
29:45 Chavez said he would’ve stayed there, but what drove him away was the eruption of Mount St. Helens
39:48 Chavez says that the eruption was a great event to cover as a journalist, but was a terrible personal experience.
30:04 The ash cloud dumped all of its volcanic ash in the Yakama valley and Chavez was highly allergic to it. “I was miserable physically. I didn’t want to raise my family in that environment”
30:36 As a result, Chavez took the first job available, which happened to be a teaching position.
30:39 He ended up teaching at San Jose State University.
31:01 Chavez thought he would try teaching for a while.
31:14 Chavez also worked at the Albuquerque Tribune, and the Miami Herald during a summer.
31:40 “Something kept pulling me back – not only to journalism but to education.”
31:44 Chavez says it was UT El Paso that brought him back
31:49 The university offered him a job as the advisor to the student newspaper
31:53 Chavez said it was a great experience. It was the first time he advised a student newspaper
32:01 “And to have it happen in El Paso where the majority of the staff were Latinos, first generation college students – I did not appreciate their talent until many years later.”
32:22 Chavez says that the first staff he had was committed and talented. Most of them – he adds – have gone on to continue their careers in journalism.
Journalism and Diversity
33:32 In Washington state, Chavez says, the largest minority group was Asian-American.
34:04 Chavez says he liked working in this community because he wanted to “open up more of the Seattle Times’ coverage in that area”
34:22 As he did in Lubbock with the black community, Chavez felt this was an opportunity to learn more about Asian Americans.
34:32 Chavez says that the stories he wrote weren’t “blockbuster news stories” but more “slice of life culturally related stories.”
34:51 Chavez adds that these stories were to explain to the Seattle community more about the Asian-American community. For example, he did a story on Japanese gardens
35:01 The international district, Chavez says, didn’t have much character – “it was just buildings, sidewalks and streets”
35:22 Through learning about the community, Chavez realized that the Japanese-Americans like to garden – but there’s no room, so they garden on the rooftops.
35:40 Nobody knows about it except for the people in the community, Chavez says.
36:18 Chavez says that he takes particular pride in those stories.
36:24 Now in Yakama Valley, Chavez wrote about migrant workers. He adds that his managing editor Jim Macknekey wanted to expand coverage and make use of Chavez’s bilingual ability.
36:45 Chavez says he takes particular pride in a series of stories he did about migrant workers coming to the Yakama valley.
37:03 Most people didn’t know about this community because they were transitory
37:12 Chavez was able to go into the fields with them, they accepted and trusted him.
37:40 Chavez says that he got in touch with his native roots
37:52 The other large minority population are indigenous – the Yakamas. Chavez started doing stories on the Yakama Indian nation.
38:02 “The greatest reward that I got form the Yakamas was not a plaque or a trophy…I was invited to the opening of their Indian cultural center.”
38:23 Chavez thought he was invited because he was a reporter, but he was there to be honored for his contributions to the Indian community.
39:26 That meant more to Chavez than many of the types of awards that he would get later on.
39:50 “It affirmed, it validated my value to that community.”
41:00 “Regardless of who you are and what your background is, you tend to be ethnocentric”
41:12 Chavez says he’s no different’ from anybody else. He identifies with the Latino community, with the American Indian community (and because of his coverage) with the Black and Asian community
41:30 But the priority for Chavez remains in being Hispanic and covering Hispanic issues.
41:34 “And that’s true of newsrooms because newsrooms are made up of individuals and these individuals come from their own communities. And when you have a newsroom that is predominantly white, they’re going to rely on their own background and their own sources.”
42:00 Chavez adds that news people are “open minded” and not bigoted, but they do tend to fallback on what makes them comfortable – “that’s just human nature”
42:22 Chavez says that his contribution to the newsroom was to encourage his colleagues to think in broader terms
42:41 Thinking about this different communities leads to thinking about poor communities.
42:48 When the poor community is covered, Chavez says, it’s about crime
43:18 The news is there the second there’s a drug bust, Chavez says, but doesn’t go into these communities to cover important events like graduation.
43:27 “That bothers me because that community exists on a day-to-day basis and on a day-to-day basis most of these people are decent, upright law-abiding citizens who do things in their communities that are worth news coverage”
43:58 When Chavez got back in the newsroom after leaving UTEP, he began work at The Albuquerque Tribune
44:19 Like El Paso, Albuquerque is predominantly Hispanic
44:19 At the Tribune Chavez was an assistant city editor
44:28 He worked with his city editor to expand news coverage along more positive lines in the Latino community.
44:35 After that Chavez was sent back to El Paso to work for the El Paso Herald Post
44:46 A few months later he was promoted to city manager – he was now in a position “to make decisions on what we cover and what we don’t cover.”
45:03 His staff was very supportive
45:26 Chavez says he belives they changed the culture. “I think the Herald-Post became known as the newspaper for the minority community”
45:43 Chavez clarifies that some of these stories were negative.
45:51 These stories mainly included drug-trafficking, Chavez adds.
46:08 Chavez says he had to rescue a photographer that had been arrested by some of the federal police in Juarez who were connected to the drug trade.
46:50 “We did do those stories because it was news but we did a number of other stories were I got to decide what the priority was”
47:01 One of these stories, Chavez says, was called the Streets of El Paso and focused on a “slice of life” story
47:51 Chavez says that he was blessed to have a staff that energetic and devoted to community service.
48:53 As a newsperson, Chavez said, you can’t be driven by “popularity.”
49:12 Chavez says that some of the most negative comments he received was from Latinos
49:19 These comments came from when they wrote articles critical of events happening in their neighborhood.
49:35 For example, Chavez says, there was a story about “shooting galleries” – abandoned houses where heroin addicts go to shoot up.
49:58 This was mainly happening in the southside of El Paso in the Segundo barrio – the second ward.
50:05 Chavez says this was a well known occurrence to city officials and police.
50:21 When his reporters came back and told Chavez what was going on he said if this happened in the affluent side of town something would’ve been done.
50:50 immediately they did stories on this
50:55 Chavez says that they came under fire from the Latino community for photographs they printed – specifically one of a teenage boy in the “shooting gallery” actually shooting up.
51:33 The community was wondering how they could take this photo and not stop him
51:51 “The reason, the motivation behind it was to shock the community so they would put pressure on the city to clean it up – and that’s exactly what happened.”
52:01 During that process, however, Chavez says they received lots of criticism.
53:07 Chavez says that his personal motivation to highlight these shooting galleries was because he felt they were an insult to his grandmother – who used to live in that neighborhood.
53:5 One of the things that Montamayor did at Tech was to change the logo to the student newspaper from “Official student publication of Texas Tech University” to “It is the purpose of this newspaper to raise constructive hell”
54:18 This means that you’re raising issues that will upset people but if it leads down the road to a betterment of that community – then you’ve done your job.
54:41 “Those are the kinds of stories that journalists should do”
54:49 In the long run, Chavez says, if the end result of your reporting leads to a betterment of the community then you did your job.
55:10 Chavez says that’s what lacking in today’s coverage.
55:31 The staff was generally supportive of the changes in coverage, Chavez says.
55:56 News organizations, Chavez adds, like to have a “template” for their newspaper. “Most of the time they’re thinking in terms of the bottom line – the income, the fiscal health of the newspaper”
56:18 Chavez says that representatives from Scripts-Howard (owners) visited the staff to talk about some of the things they should be doing.
56:47 The presentation from the representatives went touched on “lifestyle issues”
56:56 They told Chavez and his staff that they needed to cover things that people could do after work and things about health.
57:24 They also suggested doing more stories about daycare
57:42 These representatives from Script-Howard were from Cincinnati, which is very different from El Paso. At one point, Chavez says, a veteran reporter says ‘We have to stop you – this is a blue collar town…when they get home from work they’re not going to work”
58:13 To write these stories about gyms and fitness centers, Chavez said, you’re only speaking to a small group of people.
58:55 The next reporter said that the daycares in El Paso were primarily relatives or maids who doubled as nannies.
59:59 Chavez said they felt insulted that the Scripts-Howard people offer advice after having done little to no research on the El Paso community
1:00:35 Chavez and the rest of the staff walked out
1:01:00 These are the types of things that exist within newsrooms, Chavez says
1:01:19 These companies – like Scripts-Howard — promote their editors mostly based on the fiscal health of the newspaper and where they fall in line with standards of the corporation, not the community.
1:02:06 “Our executive editor came from Knoxville. He had a good heart and right intentions but it took him a long time to understand El Paso – it’s a unique setting along the border.”
Treatment of Diverse Groups
1:03:41 The women that Chavez has worked for and with did not get paid as well as the mend. “Equity in pay is still a major issue”
1:04:14 Chavez says that gay issues are still being debated. He doesn’t think that individuals are judged but that newsrooms have a hard time dealing with gay issues.
1:04:42 It wasn’t addressed during Chavez’s time in the newsroom
1:04:49 “It’s an issue I try to address in my teaching, in my classes.”
1:05:05 He says there’s also a generational push. The current generation is more open minded and tolerant, he says, especially in the Hispanic community.
1:05:34 Chavez says in his experience he doesn’t know of any conflict of having gay reporters in the newsroom.
1:06:08 “When you have that good mix in the newsroom, ethnic and racial mix, it leads to other issues, a good mix of men and women.”
1:06:25 Chavez likens a newsroom to a family
1:07:09 Journalists, Chavez says, move on, unlike people in academia.
1:07:19 Chavez also did radio for a little while too.
1:07:28 He did bilingual broadcasts at UT El Paso. It was called El Paso Adelante. The first half-hour was in English and the second in Spanish.
AEJMC
1:08:53 Chavez has been a member of AEJMC off and on for years. This is because he’s bounced back and forth between the newsroom and academia
1:09:12 He’s also a member of the accrediting council – there’s AEJMC and there’s ACEJMC
1:09:24 That branch, Chavez says, accredits journalism and mass communication programs across the country.
1:09:41 AEJMC is an important organization, Chavez says. “It’s a good vehicle for people to share ideas and innovations.”
1:10:10 Chavez says it’s similar to a continuing education. It keeps us up to date, Chavez adds.
1:10:28 At these conferences, Chavez “steals” good ideas from other people and incorporates it into his teaching
1:10:55 (Clip breaks)
1:11:45 If you’re a professor you don’t have to be a member of AEJMC – but it’s beneficial
1:12:07 If you teach mainly skills courses AEJMC is probably not as useful to you. It is, however, if you are a researcher
1:12:29 Most of the papers that are introduced in their conferences are research oriented
1:12:32 Those that “came up through the ranks of the news business” rely on newsroom experiences to help with the skills courses.
1:12:55 Chavez says AEJMC is more helpful for him when he teaches courses that are connected to his research areas.
1:13:31 The first time Chavez joined he was a graduate student.
1:13:38 That was mainly because AEJMC held their national conference in Washington that year – Chavez saw this as a good opportunity to 1) see the research that was being done and 2) establish a network
1:14:36 “I joined because my mentor, professor Robert Simpsons at the University of Washington, recommended that I join.”
1:14:55 Chavez was able to present his research at this conference. His paper was about the history of Spanish-language journalism in the Pacific Northwest. This would eventually become his thesis.
1:15:20 The history of these Spanish-language journalism in southwest states is well documented, Chavez says.
1:15:45 He dropped membership when he graduated from the University of Washington.
1:15:50 He rejoined when he began teaching at San Jose State University.
1:16:26 Chavez’s first experience with the organization was critical
1:16:48 Most of his classes at Texas Tech and Washington dealt with mainstream media and very little about non-mainstream, “minority” media
1:17:10 These are the things that Chavez had to research on his own or learn about from other faculty members.
1:18:09 Chavez says that there are people in academia who won’t admit to their shortcomings, e.g. when they don’t know.
1:18:33 “AEJMC, If I were to criticize sometimes falls into that pattern,” Chavez explains, adding that the further you get in research/studies “you sometimes become a little bit more narrow”
1:19:29 This pattern has – in some ways – stayed the same.
1:19:52 “When it comes to universities, the universities pretty much fall back on traditions. It’s a tradition-bound profession so they rely on traditional research.”
1:20:24 Non-traditional forms of research, like documentaries, aren’t as well accepted, Chavez adds. Institutions have gotten better he says, but it’ll take a couple more years before it becomes more accepted.
1:21:12 Chavez says the most productive change within AEJMC has been the production of more divisions and interest groups that address diversity issues
1:27:12 There are interest groups that can develop into divisions if enough people show particular interest in that area (Chavez says these can be a range of topics)
1:22:18 Chavez says that accreditation is an important process in this. “There are now more vehicles…that begin to push those kinds of issues onto the agenda”
1:22:22 He adds that being who we are, it’s difficult to get out of our comfort zones
1:22:58 “When you try to push those individuals to be more diverse in terms of ethnicity, race, gender, etc, it’s like pulling teeth.”
1:23:28 It becomes hard to convince people of the importance of diversity, Chavez says, especially if they already have tenure
1:24:15 Chavez further defines the differences between AEJMC and ACEJMC
1:24:18 The accrediting council is an offshoot. It’s the main accrediting vehicle, Chavez says, that can grant (or not) accreditation.
1:24:39 “They’re the ones that have a more direct impact on a program because they include a diversity standard. They have a number of standards they look at.”
1:24:48 When Chavez serves on accreditation teams he usually is assigned to look at their diversity among other things.
1:25:20 Chavez would like to see more aggressive action taken to not accredit programs that have great deficiencies in diversity.
1:25:38 He adds that there are very few – if any – programs that have lost accreditation because they failed the diversity standard.
1:26:02 AEJMC is a little more political, Chavez says. The organization’s membership needs to more aggressive pushing the diversity agenda.
1:26:30 This is important because we live in a nation that’s more diverse than it’s been before.
1:26:45 The AEJMC dates back to 1912
1:27:05 The group has come a long way, Chavez says, but still has much work to do to ensure that diversity becomes a “primary issue”
Experiences with Diversity in Academia
1:28:05 “I think he main criticism, the main deficiency is the curriculum where courses that address diversity are electives rather than required courses.”
1:28:36 Chavez adds that there should be, within required courses, a diversity element.
1:28:53 Chavez says that he’s seen some programs that faculty are required to incorporate diversity into their existing work.
1:29:10 He’s also seen the development of coursework that falls into the areas of electives, but are not required of students so the only ones who take those courses are the ones that are most interested in the subject
1:29:25 Chavez gives an example: If you have a course on women in the media the people who sign up are mainly going to be women – but it’s a course that would be of great benefit to male students.
1:29:51 This is something Chavez says he learned the hardway
1:30:06 At the University of Colorado, the Association for Women in Communications needed a faculty advisor and they couldn’t find one. Either because the women faculty members were already on so many committees or cause the male faculty members didn’t want to be advisors.
1:30:39 Chavez volunteered as advisor on a temporary basis
1:30:55 It turned out that Chavez learned a lot from this group. “They educated me as much as I think I educated them.”
1:31:18 The girls in the group wanted Chavez to stay on as a permanent advisor. During his time at the University of Colorado he maintained this position.
1:32:06 He went on to join the national group
1:32:27 It was another eye-opening opportunity for Chavez
1:32:42 “I think that’s part of the process – you have to get more faculty members do that sort of think…and for AEJMC to push those issues, to commit to community service in a broader sense, in a diverse sense.
1:33:11 (Short break in interview to fix dog’s collar)
Different positions in academia
1:33:40 Chavez has had several positions in academia. His first teaching experience was as a teaching assistant at the University of Washington.
1:34:12 He liked this experience. His advisor mentioned that he had positive evaluations as a TA and told Chavez to consider this as a possibility.
1:35:10 His first full-time teaching position was at San Jose State University
1:35:17 Chavez says he found that he had a connection with his students. He did this for 2 years.
1:35:38 His next role “was a kind of teaching position” as the advisor for the student newspaper at UTEP. As advisor you also taught one or two courses a semester.
1:36:07 Next: Chavez met several students from The University of Colorado at a conference in El Paso. When they returned to Boulder they mentioned to their dean that Chavez would be an excellent addition to their teaching staff.
1:36:42 Chavez was offered a position with Colorado University
1:37:04 When Chavez sat down with the dean to discuss what he’d be doing, he soon realized that there wasn’t a diversity component
1:37:07 He then proposed the establishment of an office of student diversity within the school of journalism. Chavez’s idea was approved and he was later appointed director.
1:37:30 It was a good opportunity, Chavez says, to bring together all his past experiences.
1:37:48 Within the Office of Student Diversity, Chavez created another group: MEMO – the Multi-Ethnic Media Organization
1:37:56 MEMO became the main organization for minority students, Chavez says.
1:38:15 MEMO did well. After Chavez left Colorado they kept the program
1:38:39 The group was a great support system for minorities in boulder, Chavez says
1:38:50 “Minorities there can sometimes feel uncomfortable because it’s not part of the culture of Boulder, Colorado. So it’s good that they have a home in MEMO that they can go to and mutually support each other.
1:39:10 After Colorado, Chavez went on to the University of South Dakota and “the creation of the American Indian Journalism Institute”
1:39:20 The most underrepresented group of journalists are Native Americans, according to Chavez – not only because they’re small in numbers but because Native Americans don’t pursue careers in mass communication.
1:39:39 Chavez, a friend of his – Jack Marsh of the Freedom Forum – and Danny McCulough – an Osage Indian who was teaching at the University of Montanta – got together to create the concept for the American Indian Journalism Institute.
1:40:13 This was to be an institute that could “act as kind of a boot camp to recruit American Indians and then give them initial training in journalism.”
1:40:24 They wanted to establish the institute at the University of South Dakota.
1:40:42 Jack Marsh recruited Chavez to be the chairman of the journalism program and also to be the education director for this institute.
1:41:26 When Chavez returned, his role as chairman gave him his “first opportunity to be a manager, primarily an administrator.”
1:41:51 He designed the curriculum for the AIJI boot camp. McCulough provided the recruitment, and Marsh provided the funding and the office support.
1:42:09 That program produced more American Indian journalists more than any previous program or any program since, according to Chavez.
1:42:27 This lead to an opportunity at the University of Oklahoma.
1:42:32 The University had heard about Chavez’s efforts in South Dakota and contacted him for an assistant professorship and to develop a similar program.
1:43:05 Chavez took the position.
1:43:33 Fred Blevins – a professor – had already created the program (The Oklahoma Institute for Diversity in Journalism), and Chavez came to help develop it.
1:43:53 When Blevins left, Chavez took over.
1:43:58 Chavez was hired for a year – and at the end of the year Oklahoma offered him a permanent position. That’s how Chavez ended up in Oklahoma.
1:44:30 Chavez was there for a little over seven years.
1:44:37 “That’s the whole academic aspect, but it’s always been about diversity – it’s always been the driving force and the driving motivation.”
Realization about diversity
1:45:02 Chavez says that it was at Texas Tech that he most likely began to understand the need for diversity in journalism and journalism education.
1:45:13 Being the only minority at the newspaper, Chavez said, made him recognize his differences and perspectives.
1:45:58 “I don’t like being a one-and-only because you don’t have many allies.”
1:46:06 Chavez said it was easier/better when there were other minorities
1:46:22 “That’s when I became aware that, if you’re going to have diversity in journalism you’re got to have diversity in faculties, too. You can’t teach what you don’t know.”
1:47:45 This idea, Chavez continues, is the main criticism he has of higher education. “There are not enough of us people of color, gay people – there’s a lot of women now in academia and I think that’s why women’s issues have risen to the forefront…But it’s mostly white women.”
1:48:53 It’s not in your experience unless you go out there and do it yourself, Chavez says, recounting his early experiences with the African-American community.
1:49:19 Chavez says that when he was working in the black community he went to church with them to learn more about their community. He goes on to say how he shared experiences with different communities.
1:50:25 “I learned to diversify my approaches to people in order to be more accepting, but I had to know about their lives.”
1:50:46 “It’s not just sympathy it’s empathy and in order to empathize you got to go to go do it.” Chavez says that’s the main problem with higher education.
1:51:44 Chavez says that recruitment is a major challenge that diversity in journalism faces.
1:52:15 A lot of minority groups, Chavez says, grow up in unconventional ways – not how people in academia come up.
1:52:50 “They are at a disadvantage at being hired for a full-time faculty position because in academia a Ph.D is often a required skill, a requirement for employment”
1:53:06 Chavez says that he likes to think that his Ph.D is from the “school of hard knocks.” He says his years in journalism and experiences give him an education that some haven’t had.
1:53:59 A lot of them are unprepared to teach diversity because they haven’t experienced it themselves, Chavez says. “The minorities are disadvantaged because they’re not recognized and appreciated for their unconventional ways of getting where they are.”
1:54:30 This is still a major fault – Chavez says – not just in journalism but “across the board.”
1:54:45 Chavez says his career in academia would’ve been much smoother had he had a Ph.D.
1:55:19 Despite the fact that Roger Simpson encouraged Chavez to continue his education, he had a family to provide for, so he took the first job that was offered – which ended up being the job in Yakama.
1:54:45 Once he began working full-time and had enough he realized he couldn’t go back for a Ph.D because it would be a strain on his family.
1:56:16 “Although I took some doctoral-level coursework at the University of Washington, I didn’t complete the Ph.D because I had those other priorities.”
Diversity now
1:57:48 Chavez says that this has always been a process of “taking two steps forward and then taking one step back.”
1:58:04 “We’re constantly swimming against the stream, we’re going upstream and if you stop swimming, the stream is going to take you down.” Chavez adds that this is the metaphor for what he sees in journalism and academia
1:58:28 You constantly have to fight to make progress – and it’s not easy, Chavez says. “It’s very hard to institute change, specially institutional change.”
1:58:50 Chavez says in the current situation he believes they’ve eased off on diversity as a priority.
1:59:05 The advancements made in diversity, Chavez says, can act as a detriment. They lead people to believe that it’s not an urgency anymore because there have been gains.
2:00:10 Affirmative action, Chavez says, never meant that you had to hire a minority. The good programs, he adds, are the ones that said you must give an “equal opportunity”
2:00:29 A good program will take into consideration a person as an individual, their background, and their unique set of skills – it’s not about having to hire a minority.
2:01:10 Covering diversity is a challenge, Chavez says. And all the news wants to write about is car chases.
2:01:55 Chavez says that news organization don’t go into depth, it’s surface-reporting
2:02:21 “We’re sliding back in order to do easy journalism and that’s not our job.”
Accolades
2:02:58 In 2001 Chavez was honored by Texas Tech University as outstanding alum
2:03:24 As part of the award Chavez returned to Lubbock for an awards banquet.
2:03:51 Chavez was presented the award by TJ Patterson – the business professor that hired Chavez for the West Texas Times
2:04:35 Although Chavez is normally hesitant about receiving awards he says this one was special because of Patterson.
2:04:44 Chavez says Patterson’s speech revolved around a particular story Chavez did while working with the West Texas Times
2:04:47 It was about a scam that resulted in an 82-year-old woman having to give a woman back her house. After the article was published, the woman was returned to her home and Chavez wrote a follow up.
2:05:10 This woman was so grateful that Chavez was writing the story that when he showed up she embraced Chavez and gave him and told him thank you.
2:06:32 The plaque wasn’t about that one instance, Chavez says. He says it was really representative of his whole career – which started at Tech.
2:06:31 It started with the awakening that he “knew diversity was important.”
2:06:42 It was important, Chavez adds, that everyone become an agent of change – like Patterson, who helped to make Chavez an agent of change, too.
2:07:10 The plaque is a reminder of everything that led up to that event – the culmination of his experiences in journalism, Chavez says
Tips from the AEJMC Teaching Committee
Montreal: The Best Programming on Teaching at an AEJMC Conference
By Linda Aldoory
AEJMC Standing Committee on Teaching
Director, Horowitz Center for Health Literacy
Associate Professor, Behavioral & Community Health
School of Public Health
University of Maryland
(Article courtesy of AEJMC News, July 2014 issue)
When I was in graduate school at the University of Texas at Austin, I started a newsletter for the graduate students in the College of Communication, and one of my first articles listed what I thought was the top five steps to better teaching. That was 1990, and I feel I have come full circle as I write this article describing what I think will be the top five teaching programs at AEJMC’s Conference this year in August in Montreal, Canada. Starting with number five…
(5) Pre-conference workshops! As custom dictates, the pre-conference options include several teaching topics, and this year, these collaborative workshops drill down into specific and current challenges. For example, a special workshop on Advertising Teaching by Sheri Broyles addresses the impact that technology and everyday culture has had on consumer buying behavior, and how to teach in order to “invite…interact…and engage” with consumers in today’s highly interactive and user generated online world. Another workshop is a “Teach-In” for school journalism educators and advisors. This will be an all-day event for secondary school and post-secondary journalism educators in the AEJMC conference host’s region. The workshop will be coordinated and hosted by the Scholastic Journalism Division, area professionals and professors from the host university (Concordia). Topics include student press freedom, diversity of story platforms and multimedia production. A unique pre-conference workshop will be focused on the effective use of adjuncts by journalism and mass communication programs to teach skills classes. Topics will include “how to guide adjuncts in syllabi development, grading and classroom management as well as how to hire, monitor and evaluate adjunct faculty to ensure high standards.”
(4) Wednesday’s highlighting of the “traditional” forms of communication! One panel called, “Using Television and Movies to Teach Students about Multicultural Connections and Diversity,” addresses race, gender, ethnicity and class issues in teaching. With television programming continually featuring stereotypes, the need to teach students about diversity and multiculturalism continues to grow. “Such instruction can be the catalyst for continued lifelong dialogue about discrimination, diversity and inclusion that hopefully will promote greater understanding,” according to panel organizers.
(3) Thursday’s cultural understandings for teaching race, gender, ethnicity and cultural diversity! For example, the panel titled, “International Engagement: Projects and Partnerships that Globalize Education,” will explore projects and strategic partnerships that allow educators to incorporate globalization and diversity that fosters cultural engagement. There will also be a special session honoring the 60th anniversary of “Brown v. Board of Education – Its Meaning: Yesterday, Today and in the Future.” According to planners, “While some have a very narrow definition of the historic 1954 Supreme Court decision, its reach is broad and not limited to K-12 schools. The decision overturned the Separate but Equal Doctrine established in 1896 by Plessy v. Ferguson, which by extension, makes Brown’s subtext justice and equality throughout the academy. This panel will explore the meaning of Brown, the status of African Americans in higher education, continued threats to Brown‘s essence and the future of AEJMC’s commitment to diversity.”
(2) Friday’s teaching innovations programming! The early morning session on “Teaching Innovations” reflects the framework for the day and showcases a panel of academic leaders who share their “inventive approaches to teaching journalism and mass communication in an age characterized by ever-changing technology, increasingly diverse classrooms and global publics.” A later session of the day, “A Year Through Glass: How We Used Google’s Newest Gadget in the Classroom,” features professors who were selected to test Google Glass during its beta phase.
And the Number One Choice in AEJMC Programming in Teaching…
(1) Teaching Plenary Session! Thursday, 10 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. Are you one who resists or embraces online teaching? Regardless of your answer, online teaching is touted as the future of journalism and mass communication education, and this plenary offers understandings from national leadership and field experiences. The session, “The E-Learning Transformation: Promise and Challenge for Our Times,” features keynote speaker Larry Ragan, co-director for the Center for Online Innovation in Learning at Penn State University. Since 2008, Ragan has lead the design and development of Academic Outreach Faculty Development, which offers a range of professional development programming for World Campus and Penn State faculty preparing for online and continuing education teaching success. Ragan has also served as the co-director of the Institute for Emerging Leadership in Online Learning, and as co-director and faculty of the EDUCAUSE Learning Technology Leadership program. The session will address issues such as increased access from students to the online classroom, systems that adapt to the learner, global enrollments, learning experiences delivered through mobile devices, defining the role of faculty in the blended and online classroom, controlling the development and delivery costs, and quality. Following Ragan’s remarks are panelists from the field—Sharon Bramlett-Solomon, Rosental Alves and James Hamilton—who will offer lessons learned and best practices for online learning within journalism and mass communication.
Public Relations 2014 Abstracts
Open Competition
Patterns of paper productivity and thematic content in the Public Relations Division of AEJMC 2003-2012 • Giselle Auger • Research papers are an indicator of the work being done in academia and often reflect important social changes. Results of this investigation identified thematic differences between the content of top student papers and top faculty papers in the public relations division of AEJMC including differences in the number of nonprofit, relationship management, and corporate social responsibility studies. Moreover, 2009 appears to have been a watershed year as social media appeared for the first time and general research on the Internet peaked. The presence of an ‘invisible college’ of research and influence is also identified.
Perceived sincerity in CSR activities: The contribution of CSR fit, modality interactivity, and message interactivity • Eun Go, Penn State University; Denise Bortree, Penn State University • This study explored how CSR communication in social media can build message credibility and improve organizational attitudes. In particular the study investigated the role of CSR fit, modality interactivity, and message interactivity through a 2 x 2 x 3 experimental design (N=299). The results suggest that promoting good-fit CSR activities improves credibility and attitude. Additional analysis suggests an interaction between CSR fit and message interactivity that makes fit critical in low-interactivity settings. Implications are discussed.
You Know Me Well: A Coorientation Study of Public Relations Professionals’ Relationship with Bloggers • Justin Walden, College at Brockport, SUNY; Denise Bortree, Penn State University; Marcia DiStaso, Penn State University • Drawing from the coorientation framework, this study reports survey findings from two groups: bloggers and public relations professionals. Blogger attitudes toward the quality of their relationship with public relations professionals are compared to the attitudes about the organization-blogger relationship that are held by public relations professionals. Although considerable attention in the literature has been placed on the journalist/public relations professional relationship, scholars have yet to fully investigate the blogger/public relations professional relationship. Implications are discussed.
“Is Apology the Best Policy?” An Experimental Examination of the Effectiveness of Image Repair Strategies during Criminal and Non-Criminal Athlete Transgressions • Kenon Brown, The University of Alabama • Through the use of a 2 X 3 factorial experiment, the researcher examined the effects of response strategies on an athlete’s perceived image after they provide a response when faced with a criminal or a non-criminal transgression. Results showed that the attacking the accuser strategy was just as effective as the mortification strategy in the repair of the athlete’s image overall, as well as when the athlete is faced with a criminal transgression; The bolstering strategy was also the least effective strategy, regardless of the type of transgression. Implications for the empirical examination of response strategies and for strategic communication practitioners are provided.
The interactive role of political ideology and media preference in building trust: A PR perspective • Michael Cacciatore, University of Georgia; Juan Meng, University of Georgia; Alan VanderMolen, Edelman; Bryan Reber • Using survey data, this paper looks at predictors of business trust in the top five countries based on GDP ranking – the United States, China, Japan, Germany, and France. Demographics emerged as significant predictors of trust across countries, while political ideology was a key driver of trust in the U.S. Political ideology also interacted with preferred media choice in predicting trust. Theoretical and practical implications for the field of public relations and public practitioners are offered.
Communicating CSR on social media: Strategies, main actors, and public engagement on corporate Facebook • Moonhee Cho, University of Tennessee; Tiffany Schweickart, University of Florida; Lauren Darm, University of Florida • Based on content analysis of 46 corporate Facebook pages for a one-year period, this study found that corporations communicate non-CSR messages more frequently than CSR messages on social media. When communicating CSR activities, corporations employed the informing strategy more than the interacting strategy and included more internal publics’ activities than that of external publics. This study also found that publics engage more with non-CSR messages than CSR messages, which reflects public cynicism of CSR messages.
Renegade Girl Scouts or a Merit Badge for Spin: (Re)articulating Activism and Public Relations • Pat Curtin, University of Oregon • This paper answers Dozier and Lauzen’s (2000) call for critical theoretical examinations of activism and public relations to provide new perspectives and avoid the paradox inherent in organizational-level analyses. It also fills a literature gap by examining a case of internal activism, thus blurring organizational boundaries and rejecting Us/Other dichotomies. Articulation theory’s role within the cultural-economic model (Curtin & Gaither, 2005, 2007) is expanded to provide a more nuanced understanding of the public relations/activism relationship.
The Role Of Public Relations In Ethnic Advocacy And Activism: A Proposed Research Agenda • Maria De Moya, DePaul University; Vanessa Bravo, Elon University • This essay proposes a research agenda for exploring public relations’ role in ethnic advocacy and activism, as a way to build the field’s knowledge of ethnic public relations. To highlight the potential contribution of public relations to ethnic organizations, the use of media relations and public information tactics by Latino organizations in the U.S., is explored, and the use of public relations by two Latino organizations conducting advocacy efforts in favor of immigration reform are described. Additionally, the authors propose an agenda for exploring how public relations is used by ethnic organizations to advance their goals.
Identifying strategic disconnect: Social media use by banks and its impact on trust • Marcia DiStaso, Penn State University; Chelsea Amaral • This study explored the adoption and use of social media by banks and identified if it corresponds with what the public wants in social media from banks. The results show that social media adoption by the top banks is strong, but that the content is contrary to what the public wants. Connecting with a bank on social media was found to result in slightly higher perceptions of trust.
Communicating Ethical Corporate Social Responsibility: A Case Study • Heidi Hatfield Edwards, Florida Institute of Technology • Corporate philanthropy receives mixed reviews among supporters and critics of corporate giving. With a societal push for corporations to give back to their communities, supporters cite the importance of corporate social responsibility. Critics argue some companies use their giving to mask suspect financial dealings or to buy the public’s good will and counter damage caused by their products or practices. This paper identifies three competing views regarding the ethics of corporate philanthropy, and discusses a framework from which to examine a company’s communication about its social responsibility efforts. Using that framework, this paper examines the ethics of corporate giving using a case study to identify if and how a multinational company (Harris Corporation) communicates ethical principles of corporate philanthropy through its website and annual report, and how philanthropy fits in the corporate priorities.
Refining the Social-Mediated Crisis Communication Model: Expanding Understanding of Cognitive and Affective Disaster Responses • Julia Daisy Fraustino, University of Maryland; Brooke Liu, University of Maryland; Yan Jin, University of Georgia • This study details an experiment using a random, nationally representative sample of 2,015 U.S. adults. Refining the social-mediated crisis communication model, a 3 (disaster information form: Twitter vs. Facebook vs. static web post) x 4 (disaster information source: local government vs. national government vs. local news media vs. national news media) between-subjects design investigated effects of information form and source and impacts of demographics on publics’ cognitive and affective responses to a hypothetical terrorist attack.
Using the Riverside Situational Q-Sort (RSQ) to Construct an Expert Model of a Crisis • Karen Freberg, University of Louisville; Kristin Saling, United States Army; Laura Freberg, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo • Behavior in response to a crisis will result from a combination of individual and situational variables. However, the Riverside Situational Q-sort (RSQ; Funder et al., 2012; Sherman, Nave, & Funder, 2010) provides a method for quantifying and comparing subjective impressions to create an expert crisis and layperson model with their personal definition of a “crisis.” Differences in their perceptions illustrate how crises managers and their intended audiences perceive same situations in very different ways.
Can Ghost Blogging Disclosure Help an Organization? A Test of Radical Transparency • Toby Hopp; Tiffany Gallicano, University of Oregon • Advocates of radical transparency believe that organizations may benefit from a “radical” approach to sharing increased levels of information about their organizational practices. To test one application of radical transparency, this study experimentally explored the effect of disclosing CEO ghost blogging practices on reader attitudes. The results of this study provide preliminary support for the notion that radical transparency does not hurt reader attitudes toward a CEO or brand in the context of ghost blogging.
Public Relations and Digital Social Advocacy in the Justice for Trayvon Campaign • Linda Hon, University of Florida • This study examined the digital media ecosystem that developed during the Justice for Trayvon campaign prior to George Zimmerman’s arrest. Research literature in public relations, social advocacy, and digital communication as well as content relevant to the campaign in Lexis/Nexis and on Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube were used to develop a theoretical model of digital social advocacy within the context of public relations.
Activist Message Discrepancy and Value-Involvement • Seoyeon Hong, Webster University; Rosie Jahng, Hope College • This study examined whether publics evaluate activists differently when they perceive discrepancy in their promoted causes (public relations statement) and their actions (news coverage of activists) in the lens of social judgment theory. In addition, the role of value- involvement in how publics evaluate activists is examined. Results found that the higher the level of message discrepancy between the public relations statement and news coverage of activists, the more negative participants’ attitude toward activists and the less donation intention participants were. Even though participants with high involvement with issues showed more positive attitude and greater donation intention to activists than low involvement participants for all level of message discrepancy, there was no moderation effect detected. The findings and theoretical implications are discussed in terms of how activists can maintain and promote further relationships with general public and public with high value-involvement.
Leading in the Digital Age: A Study of How Social Media are Transforming the Work of Public Relations Leaders • Hua Jiang, Syracuse University; Yi Luo, Montclair State University; Owen Kulemeka • This study took one of the first steps to examine how public relations leaders’ understanding of social media’s strategic role relates to their active social media use and how strategic social media management may lead to the development of public relations leadership abilities. By analyzing data from a national survey of public relations leaders (n = 461), we found that (1) leaders’ years of professional experience, organizational type and size, size of communication staff, and leaders’ primary role as managers vs. front-line social media professionals significantly impacted the way social media were used in public relations work; (2) public relations leaders’ strategic vision of social media predicted their use of Facebook, RSS Feeds, Blogging, YouTube, and their active social media use in media relations and environmental scanning; and (3) social media use ultimately resulted in the advancement of public relations leadership abilities. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings and suggestions for future research were discussed.
Mediation of Employee Engagement on Symmetrical Internal Communication, Relationship Management, Employee Communication Behaviors, and Retention • Minjeong Kang, Indiana University; Minjung Sung, Chung-Ang University • The purpose of this study is to examine the mediation effects of employee engagement between employee management efforts (i.e., symmetrical internal communication and employee relationship management) and employee communication behaviors and employee retention. For this purpose, this study collected the data from a survey of 438 randomly selected employees working for a corporation in South Korea. The findings of this research clearly demonstrate: (1) employee/internal communication management is linked with employee engagement; (2) employee engagement enhances supportive employee communication behaviors as well as employee retention. Implications and suggestions for future studies are discussed.
Trust, Distrust, Symmetrical Communication, Public Engagement, and WOM • Minjeong Kang, Indiana University; Young Eun Park, Indiana University • The purpose of this study is to examine how public engagement mediates the relationships across organizations’ symmetrical communication efforts, public trust and distrust toward organizations, and publics’ positive and negative WOM (word-of-mouth) behaviors. This study analyzed the data from a survey (N = 704) of a randomly selected sample of U. S. consumers. The results showed strong links between symmetrical communication and trust/distrust and between symmetrical communication and public engagement. Also, this study found that public engagement strongly mediated of the effects of symmetrical communication efforts and trust on publics’ positive WOM. Implications and suggestions for future studies were discussed.
Relationship management in networked public diplomacy • Leysan Khakimova • The purpose of this study was to explore relationship management in networked public diplomacy. The network view of public diplomacy emphasized relationships as important links between organizations, governments, publics. Data included 32 in-depth qualitative interviews with 31 communication officers in governments and organizations. Results reflected limited use of relationship cultivation strategies, both online and offline. In addition, findings suggested a new offline relationship cultivation strategy, i.e. communicated long-term commitment.
Message strategies and public engagement in corporate Facebook pages • Cheonsoo Kim, Indiana University; Sung Un Yang, Indiana University • By employing the six-segment message strategy and hierarchical categorizations of public engagement on social media, this study investigated the link between message strategies and the levels of Facebook engagement. Content analysis of posts (N = 600) was conducted on Facebook pages of 20 companies sampled. Findings showed different message strategies led to different levels of public engagement (i.e., like, comment, share) on Facebook. The theortical and practical implications of the study are discussed.
Testing the buffering and boomerang effects of CSR practices on corporate reputation during a crisis: An experimental study in the context of an obesity campaign by a soft drink company • Hark-Shin Kim; Sun-Young Lee, Individual Purchaser • The present study seeks to explore the effects of CSR practices on corporate reputation and consumers’ degree of supportive intention toward the corporation, and also to examine whether CSR practices produce buffering effects (help to reduce reputational damage) or boomerang effects (increase reputational damage). The results suggest that CSR activities might be more effective in improving people’s favorable attitudes toward the corporation, even the perceived image of CSR activities and the supportive intention as expressed in word-of-mouth referrals or purchasing its products. Second, the results supported the marginal evidence of a boomerang effect. Moreover, this study examined the effects of a crisis on consumers’ emotions under different conditions in order to explore consumers’ cognitive processes and shed light on why consumers respond to a crisis differently in different situations.
How do we perceive crisis responsibility differently? An analysis of different publics’ perceptions of crisis responsibility through news framing in crisis communication • Young Kim, Louisiana State University; Andrea Miller, Louisiana State University; myounggi chon • This study explores the dynamics of crisis communication by examining how publics differently perceive crisis responsibility through different crisis news framing. The study aims to identify and analyze the relationship between public segmentation, news framing, and perceived crisis responsibility. In spite of the importance of an interwoven relationship, there is a lack of such systematic analysis of perceived crisis responsibility based on public segmentation and news framing in crisis communication. An online experiment with 1,113 participants found that their perceptions of crisis responsibility were in consistent with the news framing they read; those who read a news story framed as a preventable crisis perceived high levels of responsibility to the organization, and others who read a news story framed by accidental crisis perceived a low level of crisis responsibility to the organization. Moreover, different publics perceived crisis responsibility differently as latent publics were more susceptible to crisis news framing. Thus, the results shed light on how news framing affects publics’ perceptions of crisis responsibility which could lead to varying crisis response strategies of an organization. Theoretical and practical implications for future research and practices are discussed.
A Content Analysis Of Facebook Responses To Abercrombie And Fitch’s Post-Crisis Message • Emily Faulkner, Saint Louis University; Vallory Leaders; Hyunmin Lee, Saint Louis University • Guided by the Situation Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT) and emotions literature, this paper content analyzed Facebook users’ responses to Abercrombie and Fitch’s (A&F) post-crisis response message. The findings showed that the majority of Facebook commenters attributed crisis responsibility to A&F, expressed negative emotions, and expressed nonsupport towards the organization. Additionally, there were significant differences between the type of expressed crisis attribute and behavioral intention, expressed emotions type and expressed behavioral intention, and expressed emotions type and crisis attribution.
How to win foreign publics’ support? Invisible battle over history and politics and the role of public diplomacy • Hyun-Ji Lim, University of Miami • The use of soft power and the support of the foreign public are increasingly important in this age of public diplomacy and global public relations. When a country faces a historical and political conflict with another country, this invisible battle needs a strategy from within this context. Through the employment of a 2 x 2, between-subjects experimental research method, this study aims to examine a causal relationship by analyzing the influence of participants’ perception of the reputation of the involved country and the level of involvement they feel toward the issue on their attitude and behavioral intentions on behalf of the country involved. Implications for global public relations practice and theory are discussed.
Communicating Compassion: A Narrative Analysis of Compassion International’s Blogger Engagement Program • Lisa Lundy • A narrative analysis of Compassion International’s blogger engagement program reveals lessons for nonprofits seeking to partner with bloggers. Compassion went beyond just reaching new sponsors through blogger engagement, but also sought to retain and educate existing sponsors, equipping them as ambassadors for the organization. Compassion’s blogger engagement program demonstrates the social capital to be garnered for nonprofit organizations when they partner with likeminded bloggers who can help tell their story.
Infusing social media with humanity: The impact of corporate character on public engagement and relational outcomes on social networking sites • Rita Linjuan Men, Southern Methodist University; Wanhsiu Sunny Tsai, University of Miami • This study links the factors central to social media communications, including perceived corporate character, parasocial interaction, and community identification, to public engagement and organization–public relationships. Based on American users’ engagement behaviors on corporate Facebook pages, the study underscores the effectiveness of a personification approach in social media communication to construct an agreeable corporate character for enhancing public engagement and inducing intimate, interpersonal interactions and community identification, which in turn improves organization-public relationships.
Engaging Employees in the Social Era in China: Effects of Communication Channels, Transparency, and Authenticity • Rita Linjuan Men, Southern Methodist University; Flora Hung-Baesecke, Hong Kong Baptist University • This study examines the internal communication landscape in the social era in China and investigates how organizations’ use of various communication channels fosters organizational transparency and authenticity, which in turn drives employee engagement. Surveying 407 working adults via the web, this study showed that face-to-face and social media channels are most effective in building organizational transparency, authenticity, and engaging employees. Organizational transparency and authenticity perceived by employees demonstrated strong positive effects on employee engagement.
Filner and Ford, a tale of two mayors: A case study of sex, drugs and scandal • patrick merle, Florida State University; Nicole Lee, Texas Tech University • In 2013, Toronto Mayor Rob Ford and former San Diego Mayor Bob Filner each faced a public crisis, scandals deemed preventable based on human errors, use of illegal drugs for the former and sex misconduct for the latter. Reviewed through the traditional Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT) lens, this comparative case study examined the appropriateness of response strategies used by each political figure. Future research directions and practical implications are presented.
15 Years of Ethics in Peer Reviewed Public Relations Journals: A Content Analysis • Michael Mitrook, University of South Florida • Content analysis concerning the nature of ethical discussion in peer reviewed public relations journals was performed on a total of 1405 articles from four scholarly journals covering the period 1998-2012. Of the 1405 articles, 134 mentioned ethics in some substantive way and were further analyzed in four categories: appeal to a normative ethical theory; mention of a code of ethics; mention of metaethical issues; and relating ethics to a particular public relations theory.
Social media use during natural disasters: Using Q Methodology to identify millennials’ surveillance preferences • Kristen Meadows, CARAT USA; Jensen Moore, Louisiana State University • Due to the inevitable occurrence of natural disasters and their ability to affect millions of people, it is increasingly important to understand how individuals prefer to gather information regarding potential harms or threats. Approached from the hardwired for news hypothesis, developed by Shoemaker (1996), this research examined how millennials preferred to gather information during natural disasters thereby fulfilling surveillance needs. The use of Q-Methodology allowed for surveillance types to emerge among millennials based on attitudes toward use of traditional and social media during natural disasters.
Reevaluating Propaganda in PR History: An Analysis of Propaganda in the Press 1810 to 1918 • Cayce Myers, Virginia Tech • Analysis of U.S. press coverage of propaganda indicates that the term propaganda had a largely negative connotation in the nineteenth and early twentieth century. Propaganda’s association with religious, political, and grassroots organizations are identified and discussed. This analysis concludes that Edward Bernays’s assertion that propaganda was a neutral term for PR practice prior to 1918 is inaccurate. Implications for PR historiography are discussed.
Who is Responsible for What? Examining Strategic Roles in Social Media Management • Marlene Neill, Baylor University; Mia Moody-Ramirez, Baylor University • This study examines the strategic roles associated with social media management through the lens of role theory. By analyzing the responses from participants in two focus groups and a survey of public relations and human resources practitioners, we identified nine strategic roles and the associated responsibilities including policy maker, internal collaborator, technology tester, communications organizer, issues manager, relationship analyzer, master of metrics, policing, and employee recruiter. Public relations leads most of these activities, but human resources is a close collaborator. Study findings also provide specific insights into online reputation management processes, exact content of social media policies, and the most common metrics used for social media channels.
Navigating the Leadership Challenge: Inside the Indian Public Relations Industry • Padmini Patwardhan, Winthrop University • This study examined public relations leadership in India as perceived by practitioners. Both Western concepts and Indian approaches are explored. 140 respondents took an industry survey; 13 experienced professionals participated in depth interviews. Importance of Meng and Berger’s excellent leadership model was endorsed in India. Culture-specific leadership roles such as nurturer, seer, and mentor along with practices such as “the personal touch” were also observed. Strengthening soft skills was considered important to developing future PR leaders.
Integrated Influence? Exploring Public Relations Power in Integrated Marketing Communication • Katie Place, Saint Louis University; Brian Smith; Hyunmin Lee, Saint Louis University • Public relations and marketing experience turf wars to determine ownership of new communication frontiers, including digital and social media (Delaria, Kane, Porter, & Strong, 2010; Kiley, 2011). Integrated marketing communication (IMC) prescribes that effective communication hinges on building consistent messaging around stakeholder needs through collaboration between functions (Kliatchko, 2008). Few, if any, other studies have identified the supposed power imbalance in IMC, or the influence of IMC on public relations power. This pilot study builds on the exploratory research by Delaria, et al. (2010) and Smith and Place (2013) to evaluate public relations power in IMC, and the mediating effect of social media expertise on that power. An online survey was distributed to 391 public relations professionals, ultimately surveying 21 public relations professionals in IMC environments. An exploratory factor analysis was conducted to analyze if the responses grouped into different types of perceived roles. Additional descriptive statistics and regression analysis were implemented to test the hypotheses and research questions. Results of this pilot study suggest that public relations’ influence in IMC is situated at the nexus of structural power and influence-based power, drawing upon manager versus technician typologies of public relations’ roles. Findings imply that individuals associated with social media expertise hold more “technician” roles and responsibilities, and therefore, do not have the legitimate, coercive or reward power associated with “management” roles. These findings contradict previous studies (i.e. Diga and Kelleher, 2009) that found a positive association between social media use and prestige power, structural power, and expert power.
Trust, Transparency, and Power: Forces to be Reckoned with in Internal Strategic Communication • Mandy Oscarson; Kenneth Plowman, Brigham Young University • In 2011, internal strategic communication was not improving as quickly as one might hope in one office of the Department of Defense. The literature supported the need for improved internal strategic communication, but during the lead author’s summer internship, she noted that the communication team struggled to make this happen. Why were these communication professionals not successful? What was hindering their success? Earlier research showed that trust and transparency were connected to internal strategic communication—either positively or negatively. But one new theme arose from the current study: power. The authors took a closer look at why power may play a role in understanding why internal communication was not improving very quickly in this one office. To do this, the authors asked current and former members of the strategic communication team for their opinions through open-ended survey questions about their experiences. This study illustrates that a lack of trust, transparency, and empowerment—and the inappropriate use of power—are all factors in the success or failure of internal strategic communication.
The relationship between personal technology use and the donor/volunteer: A parasocial approach • Geah Pressgrove, West Virginia University; Carol Pardun, University of South Carolina • An online questionnaire completed by 660 nonprofit stakeholders supported the idea that having a social media based personal connection to the nonprofit, resembling a parasocial friendship, had a significant impact on the stakeholder’s intentions to support the organization in the offline community (e.g. volunteer, donate). Findings also indicate that when a stakeholder has a higher level of social connections and time spent online, there is a decrease in the intention to behaviorally support the organization.
Nonprofit Relationship Management: Extending OPR to Loyalty and Behaviors • Geah Pressgrove, West Virginia University; Brooke McKeever • Through a survey of organizational stakeholders (N=660), this study contributes to our understanding of nonprofit public relations in three key areas. First, a new five-factor scale to measure perceptions of the relationship cultivation strategies of stewardship was tested. Second, group differences between organization stakeholder types were explored. Third, a new working model that extends previous OPR models to include variables of loyalty and behavioral intentions was advanced. Findings revealed theoretical, measurement and practical applications.
Addressing the Under-Representation of Hispanics in Public Relations: An Exploratory Quantitative Study • David Radanovich, High Point University • While the Hispanic population in the United States has grown dramatically, the number of Hispanics in public relations has not kept pace. This exploratory quantitative study surveyed Latino public relations professionals to quantify perceived barriers to entry and evaluated ideas for increasing interest in pursuing public relations as a career among Hispanics. The research identified opportunities for educators, professional organizations, public relations agencies, nonprofits and businesses to work together to help address this under-representation.
Skepticism toward CSR: Developing and Testing a Measurement • Hyejoon Rim, University of Minnesota; Sora Kim, The Chinese University of Hong Kong • The study attempts to develop a measurement of CSR skepticism and identify a strongest predictor among the refined CSR skepticism constructs by testing the relationships between skepticism constructs and public responses. Through testing competing models, this study concludes that four factors should be considered to measure CSR skepticism: 1) skepticism toward a CSR communication’s informativeness, 2) skepticism regarding discrepancy: CSR communication motives and CSR motives, 3) skepticism toward a company’s altruism (sincerity), and 4) skepticism regarding image promotion. Skepticism toward a company’s altruism is identified as the strongest predictor in determining negative public response to CSR, whereas cynicism, in contrast to past research, does not have much predictive power to explain public attitude toward CSR.
Time-lag Analysis of Agenda Building between White House Public Relations and Congressional Policymaking Activity • Tiffany Schweickart, University of Florida; Jordan Neil, University of Florida; Ji Young Kim; Spiro Kiousis, University of Florida • This study examined the agenda building process between White House political public relations messages and Congressional policymaking activity during the first six months of the Obama administration’s second term. Using a time-lag design, this study explored three levels of agenda building for issues, issue frames, and the co-occurrence of issues with eight information subsidy types. Theoretical and practical implications for the three levels of agenda-building and advancing the study of political public relations are discussed.
Relationships as Strategic Issues Management: An Activist Network Strategy Model • Erich Sommerfeldt, University of Maryland; Aimei Yang, University of Southern California • This paper argues that activist relationship building is likely to be influenced by the nature of the issue for which a group advocates and the stage of that issues’ development. Informed by issues management perspectives as well as theories of framing and institutionalization, this paper proposes a model of activist networking strategies that explains and prescribes the nature of network relationships an activist group maintains at different stages of an issues development.
Does social media use affect journalists’ perceptions of source credibility? • Dustin Supa, Boston University; Lynn Zoch, Radford University; Jessica Scanlon, Boston University • Changes in the media landscape have put social media in the forefront of interpersonal and organizational communication. This study investigates whether the same is true of the journalists’ relationship with media relations practitioners. A nation-wide survey of journalists (n=535) found that although journalists use social media to generate story ideas, they rarely use them to communicate with practitioners, and perceived greater source credibility in practitioners with whom they had a face-to-face rather than online relationship.
Joining the Movement?: Investigating Standardization of Measurement and Evaluation Within Public Relations • Kjerstin Thorson, University of Southern California; Emily Gee, University of Southern California; Jun Jiang, USC; Zijun Lu, University of Southern California; Grace Luan, University of Southern California; David Michaelson, Teneo Strategy; Sha-Lene Pung, University of Southern California; Yihan Qin, usc; Kaylee Weatherly, University of Southern California; Jing Xu • This paper draws on a new survey of public relations professionals to explore (1) the extent to which respondents report adopting standardized measures recommended by professional organizations; (2) predictors of measurement standardization; and (3) links among measurement practices and self-reported influence of public relations within the broader organization.
Survivor-to-Survivor Communication Model: How Organizations can use Post-Disaster Interviewing to Facilitate Grassroots Crisis Communication • Jennifer Vardeman-Winter, University of Houston; Robyn Lyn; Rakhee Sharma • Public relations and crisis communication research focuses largely on post-crisis communication from the organizational standpoint. Problems arise like jurisdictional conflicts, miscommunications because of cultural differences, and inefficiencies in crisis recovery because national groups don’t have intimate knowledge of the disaster site like local groups do. Thus, it is important to theorize and practice public relations with the knowledge of the publics’ standpoint. In this essay, we look to a recent post-crisis anthropological project conducted with survivors of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita to highlight the important of local, grassroots efforts of recovery. We suggest that public relations practitioners can facilitate some of the concepts used in this process, such as survivor-to-survivor interviewing and sharing narratives. We provide a roadmap that moves our field from a traditional organizational-based post-crisis model to a survivor-to-survivor communication model to be utilized by organizational communicators.
Creating Social Change with Public Relations: Strategically Using Twitter to Turn Supporters into Vocal Advocates • Jeanine Guidry, Virginia Commonwealth University; Richard Waters, University of San Francisco; Gregory D. Saxton, SUNY-Buffalo • Communication scholarship has shown that peer-to-peer communication has the most influence on individuals. Organizations must learn how to engage audiences and facilitate discussions between individuals about organizational messages on social media platforms. Through a content analysis of 3,415 nonprofit Twitter updates, this study identifies message types that are more likely to be retweeted, archived, and discussed. Through these stakeholder behaviors, public relations practitioners have stronger influence as it transitions from organizational to interpersonal messaging.
Dialogic communication and organizational websites: An analysis of existing literature and recommendations for theory development • John Wirtz, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Thais Menezes Zimbres • This paper presents the results of a systematic analysis of studies applying Kent and Taylor’s (1998; 2002) dialogic theory of public relations to organizational websites and social media presence. We identified 34 studies that applied the five-fold dialogic communication framework to organizational websites and an additional 12 studies that applied the framework to some aspect of social media (e.g., blogs, Facebook, Twitter). We then analyzed the papers, paying particular attention to common themes in Methods, Results, and theory testing and development. In general, we found a consistent emphasis on the role of websites and social media as facilitators of dialogic communication and as useful tools for managing organizational-public relationships. However, we found a relatively low degree of consistency across the studies in how dialogic communication was measured, as less than half of the studies (41%) used the same measures. We also found a relatively narrow range of fields represented, with most papers focusing on nonprofit (74%) or government (14.7%) websites. Finally, a surprisingly high proportion of the studies (28%) did not include any research questions or hypotheses, while only 26% of the studies tested a relation between some aspect of the dialogic communication framework and another variable (e.g., responsiveness to inquiry, corporate performance). The paper concludes with recommended areas of future research and theory testing.
An Analysis of How Social Media Use is Being Measured in Public Relations Practice • Don Wright, Boston University; Michelle Hinson, University of Florida • This paper reports on a six-year, longitudinal analysis exploring if and how social and other new media use is being measured in public relations practice. With more than three thousand respondents (n=3,009) – an average of more than 500 per year – the study found fewer than half of the public relations practitioners surveyed work with organizations or have clients that have conducted research measuring what is being communicated about them via social media, blogs and other emerging media. The percentage of organizations conducting these measures grew from 38.6% in 2009 to 45.9% in 2014. Results indicate those who work in public relations strongly support the idea of conducting new media research and measurement. However, most of the research actually taking place involves basic measures of communication outputs and content analysis rather than communication outcomes studies exploring the impact this communication might be having on opinion leaders and other influential people or its role influencing attitude, opinion and behavior formation, reinforcement and change.
The Internet in Public Relations Research: An Analysis and Critique of Its Temporal Development • Yi-Hui Huang, The Chinese University of Hong Kong; Fang Wu; Qing HUANG, School of Journalism and Communication, The Chinese University of Hong Kong • This study develops a holistic and up-to-date description of Internet public relations research by analyzing 123 academic journal articles published between 2008 and 2013. Three developmental stages of Internet public relations research are identified: the Budding Stage (1992-2003), the Diversification Stage (2004-2008), and the Advancement Stage (2009 to present). Comparisons among the three different stages are made. Major findings include: 1) research has been expanding and diversifying; 2) recent theoretical development makes a shift from description to theorization; 3) dialogic theory, excellence theory, interactivity, and dialogicity have been the most frequently studied theories and characteristics; 4) asymmetrical research agenda exists in terms of its lack of diversity in locality, perspective, and cultural sensitivity. Improvements can and should be made by moving toward a research agenda that is more methodologically diverse, culturally sensitive, and symmetrical. Reflections, critiques, and suggestions for how to advance Internet public relations research are offered.
Effects of source credibility and virality on evaluations of company response via Facebook: An experiment in online crisis communication • Shupei Yuan, Michigan State University; Saleem Alhabash, Michigan State University • Social networking sites have become important tools to communicate with publics during crises. This study investigated the how source credibility predicted attitudes toward the apology response and the company in crisis as a function of source type and number of likes. Findings showed that the strength of association between trustworthiness and attitudes varied as a function of source type and virality. Findings are discussed within the persuasion models, crisis response typologies, and new communication technologies.
Chinese Milk Companies And The 2008 Chinese Milk Scandal: An Analysis Of Crisis Communication Strategies In A Non-Western Setting • Lijie Zhou, Arkansas State University; Li Zeng, Arkansas State University; Gilbert Fowler • Study analyzed how four major Chinese companies (Sanlu, Mengniu, Yili, and Bright Group) used press releases to respond to the 2008 Chinese Milk Scandal. Analyzed in stages, findings show during pre-crisis, all displayed similarities — keeping silent / covering-up. In crisis, strategies varied dramatically as companies became involved — looking for government protection and apologizing. In post-crisis, survivors adopted bolstering strategy. Study suggests Chinese companies employed western crisis communication strategies, although with distinct Chinese characteristics.
Student
Examining the Influence of Public Relations Message Strategy Use on Student Attitude Through Facebook • Alan Abitbol • Experimental methods were used to examine the influence of public relations strategies, derived from Hazleton and Long’s (1988) public relation process model, disseminated over Facebook on student attitude. Results revealed that negative messages posted on Facebook had the most significant effect on participant attitude, and that using Facebook as a medium did not affect attitude significantly. These findings indicate that the message content is especially important since the platform itself does not impact attitude.
Framing for the cure: An examination of self and media imposed frames of Susan G. Komen • Caitrin Cardosi, Kent State University • The following study examines the frames created about Susan G. Komen for the Cure® both by the foundation itself and by major national news outlets. A qualitative analysis, grounded in framing theory, identified frames around the foundation formed by the media both in 2008 and during the months of January, February, and March of 2012. Then, it compared those frames with frames that emerged from press releases published by the foundation during the same times. The study found that brand strength is a key component to influencing media framing, as is grounding messaging in issues larger than the individual organization. Future research could examine the relationship between national headquarters of nonprofits and media outlets in comparison with the relationship between local chapters and media outlets.
Global Networks, Social Media and the Iceland Ash Cloud: A Crisis Communication Case • Maxine Gesualdi, Temple University • The Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajokull erupted in April 2010 causing a large cloud of ash, which moved across Europe created a crisis situation for many stakeholders including airlines, nation-state governments, and individual consumers. The ash could was a non-deadly natural disaster that had no human cause, responsible party, or recovery effort. This study explores the Iceland ash cloud as a networked global communication crisis and reveals implications for management of crises via social media.
Comprehending CSR Message Effects: An Application of the Elaboration Likelihood Model • Osenkor Gogo, University of Georgia; Nicholas Browning, University of Georgia; Marvin Kimmel, University of Georgia • Although CSR initiatives generally elicit positive consumer reactions, a recent study showed that most people find CSR messages confusing. This experiment examined the information processing dynamics at play in the relationship between CSR messages and consumer perceptions of corporate reputation. Based on ELM, the results indicated that CSR’s influence on reputation is unaffected by message complexity. This effect is, however, intensified by involvement, information processing ability, and brand familiarity. The implications are discussed.
Internet-Mediated Relationship Management in Local Nonprofit Fundraising • Yi Ji • While organizing Pedal 4 Kids charity bike ride, Ronald McDonald House Charities of South Florida primarily adopted online communication to manage relationships with its stakeholders. However, neither recruitment nor fundraising goals were achieved. In-depth interviews with event participants revealed integrated application of message interactivity and functional interactivity would enhance public engagement in local charity event. Findings provide theoretical and practical implications in local nonprofit public relations management through fundraising event in a new media context.
“Culturing” Generic/Specific Theory: Relocating Culture in Generic/Specific Public Relations • Amanda Kennedy, University of Maryland • This study asked how culture in generic/specific theory (GST) (traditionally applied to international public relations) can be reconceived, and whether GST can also apply to domestic public relations to inform culturally reflective and effective national campaigns. I conducted seven in-depth interviews and thematic analysis to explore how national CDC campaigns were adapted to local publics by community organizations, finding that deeper theories of culture can enhance GST and makes GST useful for domestic public relations.
The More Informative, The Better: The Effect of Message Interactivity on Product Attitudes and Purchase Intentions • Holly Ott, The Pennsylvania State University; Sushma Kumble, The Pennsylvania State University; Michail Vafeiadis, The Pennsylvania State University; Thomas Waddell • Social media increasingly allows consumers to interact with businesses, although the effects of this novel technology in the context of public relations is under-examined. The present study conducted a 2×3 experiment to examine the effect of message interactivity and source authority on consumers’ ad attitudes, brand attitudes, and purchase intentions. Message interactivity had a positive effect on ad effectiveness via the indirect pathway of perceived informativeness. Theoretical and practical implications of study results are discussed.
Set It and Forget It: The One-Way Use of Social Media by Government Science Agencies • Nicole Lee, Texas Tech University; Matthew VanDyke, Texas Tech University • Research suggests that one-way message dissemination is not an adequate means of improving knowledge or changing attitudes about science. Informed by public relations literature on the use of social media for dialogic communication, the current study examined how United States federal government science agencies communicate about science and the strategies they enact on social media. Findings suggest they underutilize social media’s potential for dialogue and treat new media platforms as broadcast media.
Publics’ Preference-Consistent and -Inconsistent Judgments of Crisis Response: A Preliminary Examination of Expectancy Contrast Theories in Crisis Management • Xiaochen Zhang, University of Florida • This study attempted to use expectancy contrast theories to explain and predict publics’ response to organizational crisis response strategies in an experiment. It tested the effects of prior attitude valence (positive, negative) and crisis response strategies (denial, bolster, combined) on publics’ attitudes and blame. An interaction effect was found on attitude but not on blame. Bolstering was found to be more effective for positive condition but less effective for negative condition than denial and combined.
How do Leading Companies in Greater China Communicate Their CSR Practices through Corporate Websites? A Comparative Study of Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan: 2008-2013 • Mengmeng Zhao, The Chinese University of Hong Kong • This study explores how corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices are presented and communicated on corporate websites of 204 top companies in Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan during 2008-2013. The analytical focuses of content analysis include presence, prominence and extent of communication, as well as CSR issues and modes reported on the websites. The results indicate that CSR communication has gained great attention in the Greater China area, as nearly two-thirds of top companies communicated CSR on their corporate websites. However, significant discrepancies exist among three regions in terms of CSR perception, perceived importance of CSR issues, and the adoption of CSR modes. Specifically, more than one-third of Hong Kong companies use term “Sustainability”, a more advanced form of CSR, as the section title to refer to responsible behavior. Whereas the majority of companies in Mainland China and Taiwan still use “CSR” or “Social Responsibility”. Furthermore, as for CSR issues and modes, Mainland Chinese companies put much efforts on poverty and disaster relief as well as philanthropic act, while Hong Kong companies attach great importance to community’s sustainable development and implement CSR activities through more institutionalized ways such as volunteering, sponsorship and partnerships, and Taiwan companies embrace humanist spirit, as their CSR projects involve more in arts and culture, health and safety of workers, and employee engagement. This study represents the first comparative study of CSR communication amongst businesses in Greater China, providing a preliminary observation of the status of CSR implementation and communication in these three convergent-and-divergent societies. Limitations and implications for future research were also discussed.
Teaching
“Can every class be a Twitter chat?”: Teaching social media via cross-institutional experiential learning • Julia Daisy Fraustino, University of Maryland; Rowena Briones, Virginia Commonwealth University; Melissa Janoske, University of Maryland • Using the framework of experiential learning theory, instructors of social media strategy classes at three universities implemented Twitter chats as a way to build students’ social media and public relations knowledge. Creating topical case studies and discussing them during the chats, students applied course theories and concepts, built professional networks, and broadened understanding of how to communicate using a new tool in a unique digital culture. Best practices for teaching using similar assignments are offered.
Considering Certification?: An Analysis of Universities’ Communication Certificates and Feedback from Public Relations Professionals • Julie O’Neil, Texas Christian University; Jacqueline Lambiase • Working professionals may need post-baccalaureate education, but finding time and resources to do so may be difficult. An analysis of 75 university master’s programs in public relations found 22 related programs offering communication certificates. A web audit of these programs, plus a survey and depth interviews, indicated professionals are interested in earning certificates, particularly in social and digital media strategy and measurement. Professionals want to attend certificate programs that combine online and face-to-face instruction.
In Their Own Words: A Thematic Analysis of Students’ Self-Perceptions of Writing Skills in Mass Communication Programs • Scott Kuehn, Clarion University; Andrew Lingwall, Clarion University • This study explored student self-perceptions of writing skills in mass communication programs at thirteen public state universities in the Mid-Atlantic region. Responses to three open-ended questions revealed heavy student concern with their basic skills, a desire for extensive faculty contact and feedback, and for many respondents, an immaturity or naiveté regarding professional standards. This study addresses implications for faculty members who wish to better understand their students in order to devise more effective writing instruction.
Communicating Science, Health, Environment, and Risk 2014 Abstracts
Expectancies and Motivations to Attend an Informal Lecture Series • Niveen AbiGhannam, University of Texas at Austin; Ming-Ching Liang; Lee Ann Kahlor, UT Austin; Anthony Dudo, University of Texas at Austin • We interviewed the audience of an informal science lecture series at a college campus. We used self-determination theory to understand what motivates audiences to attend the talks and social cognitive theory to determine the outcome expectancies that people hope to get out of attending those talks. Intrinsic motivations were found to be the main drivers for attending the talks. Audiences, however, were also found to also hold outcome and efficacy expectations to attend the talks.
“Drunk in Love”: The Portrayal of Risk Behavior in Music Lyrics • Christina Anderson, Coastal Carolina University; Kyle J. Holody, Coastal Carolina University; Mark Flynn, Coastal Carolina University; Clay Craig, Coastal Carolina University • The current study investigates the portrayal of risk behavior in Rap, R&B/Hip Hop, Adult Contemporary, Rock, Country, and Pop lyrics by conducting a content analysis of top 20 Billboard songs from each category from 2009-2013. Using the theoretical framework of the Social Cognitive Theory (Bandura, 2009), this study discusses normative behaviors of music genres, as well as the potential implications of vicarious learning and modeling for consumers of music lyrics. Findings suggest alcohol consumption and sexual behaviors are the most frequently mentioned risk behaviors in lyrics, particularly within Rap and R&B/Hip-Hop lyrics. Results also suggest risk behavior is often associated with positive emotions and a disregard for consequences. Media literacy for adolescents and young adults, who are the greatest consumers of music, is emphasized as a possible solution. Further investigation into the impact of exposure to risk behavior in music lyrics upon consumers is warranted.
Integrating Self-Affirmation into Health-Risk Messages: Effects on Message Response and Behavioral Intent • Laura Arpan, Florida State University; Young Sun Lee, Florida State University; Zihan Wang, Florida State University • The current study tested a new method of using Self-Affirmation Theory to increase adaptive responses to health-risk messages. Participants’ self-concepts were affirmed via text incorporated into messages rather than by more cumbersome, less practical methods used in previous studies. College students (N=342) who reported high or low level of personal relevance of three behaviors (wearing flip-flops, drinking bottled water, or drinking caffeinated beverages) were exposed to either affirming or non-affirming Public Service Announcements about the risky behavior and its health outcomes. Affirmed participants reported more positive attitudes toward the message, greater self-efficacy, and increased behavioral intent to reduce risky behavior than non-affirmed participants, and this effect was stable for participants in both high- and low- relevance groups. However, affirmed participants rated the risk-associated threat as less severe than non-affirmed participants. Perceptions of threat susceptibility were not influenced by affirming vs. non-affirming messages.
Predicting employee responses to an energy-saving intervention and descriptive versus moral norms framing of educational messages • Laura Arpan, Florida State University; Prabir Barooah, University of Florida, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering; Rahul Subramany, Lutron Electronics • This study examined energy savings, air-quality changes, and employee responses associated with an energy-efficiency pilot program in a university building. Effects of two educational message frames (descriptive vs. moral norms cues) were also tested. Employees’ personal moral norm to conserve energy most consistently predicted positive responses. The two message frames had roughly equivalent effects on behavioral responses, although employees who received the descriptive-norms message were somewhat more likely to say they might complain about the program.
Resonance of a Media-Based Social Norms Health Campaign to Students in a College Greek System • Erica Austin, Washington State University; Stacey J.T. Hust, The Edward R. Murrow College of Communication, Washington State University; Bruce Pinkleton, Washington State University Murrow Center for Media & Health Promotion; Jason Wheeler, Washington State University; Anna Wheatley, Washington State University • A posttest-only field experiment with randomized assignment to control and treatment groups tested the role of resonance in a media-based campaign for alcohol abuse and risk prevention within a college Greek community. Gender-targeted, descriptive and injunctive norms-based e-zine messages especially resonated among higher-risk students. Resonance predicted efficacy for safer behavior and smaller collective norms misperceptions. The results indicated the intervention strategies successfully reached high-risk students and that beneficial effects depended on receptivity, not just exposure.
Stay Active: The Effect of a Social Media Community on Exercise Adherence Motivation • Justin Barnes, University of Idaho; Yong-Chae Rhee, Washington State University • The purpose of this study was to provide information regarding a venue for exercise adherence motivation toward physical activity via social media support. The five themes identified that positively affected participants’ intrinsic and extrinsic motivation to adhere to exercise through a social media fitness application were: accountability matters; support is crucial for a sedentary population beginning exercise; recognition of gains positively affects motivation; social media creates positive fitness competition; and fitness is a lifestyle.
Functions of Family Support in Elderly Chinese Singaporean Women’s Health Behavior • Iccha Basnyat; Leanne Chang, National University of Singapore • This study sought to investigate how family support functions in the lives of elderly Chinese Singaporean woman and how it guides elderly women’s management of day-to-day health and well-being. Thirty-eight semi-structured interviews were conducted to explore elderly women’s understanding of family support in their lives and its influence on their health behavior. Results of thematic analysis show that family support was carried out through intergenerational communication of health information from the past and provision of physical assistance in the present. Together, the intangible information support and the tangible physical support serve a function of encouraging elderly women to engage in positive health behavior rooted in both traditional practices and Western medical treatments. Findings from this study provide insights into how health behavior is communicated, and supported in a local cultural context.
Commercial Sex Worker’s Articulations of Agency and Survival: Implications for Health Intervention Strategies • Iccha Basnyat • Lived experiences of female commercial sex workers illustrate that sex work is a manifestation of limited access to education, resources, and jobs due to violence, oppression, and patriarchy. However, Nepalese female commercial sex workers reconstitute sex work as a viable form of work that provides food and shelter for their families and allows fulfillment of their duties as mothers. Through a culture-centered approach to research, which emphasis voices of the marginalized and their own articulations of how marginalized spaces are negotiated, this article offers an entry point to locating commercial sex workers as active participants in their day-to-day living. Thirty-five in-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with street-based female commercial sex workers. Thematic analysis revealed the following three themes: (a) surviving through sex work; (b) financial security in sex work; and (c) surviving sex work stigma. These findings have implications for health promotion targeted to this population. Lived experiences illustrate the need to move away from traditional, top-down, linear behavior-change health campaigns to reconstitute health interventions with a participatory bottom-up approach that includes the voices of the cultural participants and are situated within their own needs and context.
Predictors of Perceptions of Scientists: Comparing 2001 and 2012 • John Besley, Michigan State University • The 2001 and 2012 National Science Foundation surveys of public attitudes and knowledge about science were used to model perceptions of scientists and explore whether the predictors of such perceptions have changed over time. The available data indicate that the relative impact of the available predictors changed somewhat between the two time periods. Key predictors of views about scientists include age, gender, and scientific knowledge, regardless of time period. Science museum attendance and primary source of science news were also sometimes important. A key limitation of the modeling is that the available predictors do a relatively poor job predicting both positive and negative views about scientists. This may suggest the need for a reconsideration what questions get included in the biennial NSF science and technology survey, particularly when it comes to communication variables.
Visual Attention to and Memory for Humorous Versus Threating Advisories • Hannah Sikora; Mary Brooks, Texas Tech University; Zijian Gong, Texas Tech University; Glenn Cummins, Texas Tech University • Based on the looming threat of threat-inducing graphic advisories in cigarette advertising and packaging, advertising researchers have begun to explore the impact of graphic images incorporated in advisory labels as a means of eliciting attention and improving memory. However, some research has shown that such messages can also lead to selective avoidance among smokers. This study used the tenets of the Extended Parallel Process Model (EPPM) and eye tracking to test the utility of humorous appeals within graphic advisory labels for both smokers and nonsmokers. Compared to threat-inducing graphic advisories, humorous appeals garnered greater attention and unaided recall. However, advisory type had no impact on attitudes toward cigarette advertisements, and these effects were uniform for both smokers and non-smokers.
Expert Interviews with Science Communicators: Identifying News Values and Perceptions of Audience Values • Paige Brown, Louisiana State University • Science communicators are a key link between scientists and lay readers, navigating both the values of science and the values of audiences, using professionally shared news factors and ideas about the role of science communication in society to select and produce stories. And yet we know little about the motivations and assumptions of audience values that underlie professionally shared news factors in science communication. Interviews with 14 science communicators in various areas of communication reveal that both their personal motivations and their perceptions of audience values influence whether and how scientific research is translated into story.
Opposing ends of the spectrum: Predicting trust in scientific and religious authorities • Michael Cacciatore, University of Georgia; Nicholas Browning, University of Georgia; Dietram Scheufele; Dominique Brossard; Michael Xenos; Elizabeth Corley • Given the ethical questions that surround many emerging technologies, the present study is interested in exploring public trust in two potentially opposing institutions for information about the risks and benefits of science: scientific authorities and religious organizations. We find that Evangelicals are less trusting of scientific institutions and more trusting of religious authorities than their non-Evangelical counterparts and that they use mediated information differently in forming their trust evaluations. Implications of the findings are discussed.
Pilot Evaluation of a UV Monitoring-Enhanced Skin Cancer Prevention Among Farm Youth in Rural Virginia • Yvonnes Chen, University of Kansas; Donatus Ohanehi; Kerry Redican; Robert Grisso; John Perumpral; Steve Feldman; J. Dan Swafford; John Burton • Due to higher levels of UV exposure, rural farm youth are at higher risk for skin cancer than non-farm youth. This pilot study assessed how a UV monitoring-enhanced intervention decreased UV exposure among youth. Using a one-group pretest-posttest design, we found participants’ skin cancer knowledge, skin protection attitude and likelihood of engaging in protection practices significantly increased. Participants were satisfied with the functions of the monitoring device. This tailored intervention was effective for rural youth.
Sources of information influencing the state-of-the-science gap in hormone therapy usage • Fiona Chew, Syracuse University • “Medical reviews and research comprise a key information source for news media stories on medical therapies and innovations as well as for physicians in updating their practice. The present study examines medical review journal articles, physician surveys and news media coverage of HT to assess the relationship between the three information sources and whether/if they contributed to a state-of-the-science gap (a condition when the evaluation of a medical condition or therapy ascertained by the highest standards of investigation is incongruent with the science-in-practice such as physician recommendations and patient actions). We meta-analyzed 156 randomly sampled medical reviews on hormone therapy (HT) and all surveys of US physicians’ HT recommendations between 2002 and 2009. Next, we content analyzed HT news valence in three major TV networks, newspapers and magazines/internet sites in 2002 and 2009. Medical reviews yielded a mixed picture about HT while most physicians were pro-HT. Newspaper and television coverage reflected a pro and con balance while magazine stories were more positive in 2009. Implications are discussed. Implications are discussed.”
One Does Not Fit All: Health Audience Segmentation and Prediction of Health Behaviors • myounggi chon; Hyojung Park, Louisiana State University • This study sought to propose a Health Belief Model-based (HBM) approach to segmenting health audiences in order to improve targeting of cancer prevention efforts. The segmentation variables included HBM variables (perceived susceptibility and self-efficacy), information trust, health literacy, perceived determinants of health, and other modifying variables, such as demographics. This study also examined how the identified health segments would differ in cancer prevention behaviors, including diet and exercise. Data from the 3,630 respondents in the mail portion of the 2013 Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS) were used for health audience segmentation. A cluster analysis resulted in three distinct health audience groups: (a) Health Aware, (b) Health At Risk, and (c) Health In Confidence. MANOVA tests indicate that these segments significantly differ regarding healthy diet and exercise. The findings from this study can help health practitioners to design more effective cancer prevention campaigns and to promote health behaviors among various audiences.
Linking Evidentiary Balance, Uncertainty, and Health Attitudes in the Context of Vaccine Risk • Christopher Clarke, George Mason University; Brooke McKeever; Avery Holton, University of Utah; Graham Dixon, Cornell University • This article extends research on using ‘evidentiary balance’ to communicate risk-related uncertainty. Participants (n=181) read news articles with/without evidentiary balance rejecting an autism-vaccine link. The impact of such information on post-exposure certainty that vaccines are safe, effective, and not connected to autism was not contingent on pre-exposure certainty. However, it was associated with positive vaccine attitudes indirectly, via a perceived divide among scientists regarding a link and post-exposure certainty. We discuss theoretical and practical implications.
Immersion in Video Games, Creative Self-Efficacy, and Political Participation • Francis Dalisay, University of Hawaii at Manoa; Matthew Kushin, Shepherd University; Jinhee Kim; Clarissa David, University of the Philippines-Diliman; Lilnabeth Somera, University of Guam; Amy Forbes, James Cook University • A survey (N = 801) was conducted in Australia, Guam, the Philippines, South Korea, and the U.S. to explore the relationships between the discovery, role-play, and customization motivations of video game play (Yee, 2006), creative self-efficacy, and political participation. Findings reveal role-play and creative self-efficacy are positively associated with political participation; discovery and role-play are positively associated with creative self-efficacy. Discovery and role-play had small indirect effects on political participation via creative self-efficacy.
Representations of the Environment on Television, and Their Effects • James Shanahan; Katherine McComas, Cornell University; Mary Beth Deline, Cornell University • This study revisits research begun in the 1990s, examining representations of the environment on American entertainment television. We collected new data to assess change between 2012 and the 1990s. Using a cultural indicators and cultivation approach, the study finds that: 1) the environment is still rarely represented; and 2) heavier TV viewers are likelier to sublimate their environmental beliefs. These findings have implications for better understanding the social and policy environment where environmental decisions occur.”
Affective arousal as a mechanism of exemplification effects: An experiment on two-sided message recall and risk perception • Graham Dixon, Cornell University • To test the effect of emotional visuals in two-sided message recall and risk perception, participants (n=516) were randomly assigned to an article presenting conflicting risk arguments with either an image exemplifying an action-risk argument, an image exemplifying an inaction-risk argument, or no image. Significant main effects on recall and risk perception were observed for readers in the action-risk exemplar condition. Negative affect mediated these effects, lending support to the affect heuristic.
Scientists’ prioritization of goals for online public communication • Anthony Dudo, University of Texas at Austin; John Besley, Michigan State University • This study examines scientists’ strategic communication sensibilities, specifically in terms of their valuation of five goals for online public communication. These goals include informing the public about science, exciting the public about science, strengthening the public’s trust in science, tailoring messages about science, and defending science from misinformation. We use insights from extant research, the Theory of Planned Behavior, and procedural justice theory to identify likely predictors of scientists’ views about these communication goals. Results show that scientists most value communication designed to defend science from misinformation. Regression analyses reveal factors associated with valuing each of these specific communication goals.
The Threat, Self- External- and Response- Efficacy Model: Examining Climate Change Coverage in Leading U.S. Newspapers • Lauren Feldman, Rutgers University; P. Sol Hart, University of Michigan; Tijana Milosevic, American University • Drawing from the Extended Parallel Processing Model and political science concepts of efficacy, this study proposes the Threat, Self-, External-, and Response- (TSER) efficacy model for communicating about risks, such as climate change, that have a political component. We applied this model to a content analysis of news and opinion stories about climate change in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and USA Today between 2006-2011. The results indicate that U.S. newspapers represent the threat of climate change and efficacy for actions to address climate change in ways that are suboptimal for public engagement, and this is particularly true in The Wall Street Journal. Implications for public engagement and ideological polarization are discussed.
“It’s natural and healthy, but I don’t want to see it” The impact of entertainment television on breastfeeding attitudes • Katie Foss, Middle Tennessee State University; Ken Blake • This study examined entertainment television’s effect on breastfeeding attitudes. Based on results of a randomized-group experiment involving 364 students, this study finds that while participants generally held positive attitudes, exposing them to clips of prime-time fictional television depictions of breastfeeding negatively affected their attitudes, particularly after viewing an older child breastfeeding. Furthermore, watching a clip in which a breastfeeding woman is harassed in a restaurant seemed to improve comfort with viewing breastfeeding. Qualitative responses indicated that many participants held mixed feelings about the clips ranging from positive reactions to describing the breastfeeding videos as awkward, amusing, or irrelevant to their lives. The study concludes that entertainment television can affect attitudes toward breastfeeding, even in a population with few parents. It also speculates that pro-breastfeeding images in media could help normalize breastfeeding, creating a climate conducive to breastfeeding success.
Dr. Joel Fuhrman’s Health Immersion Conference and Its Effects on Diet and Health Behavior Change: An Extension of the Health Belief Model • Desiree Markham, Texas Tech University; Liz Gardner, Texas Tech University • Surveys were conducted with attendees of a Health Immersion Conference to assess effectiveness of this diet-focused intervention and examine Health Belief Model tenets. Surveys assessed how likelihood to change diet practices following the conference, types of intended diet changes, and perceived obstacles to change. Findings illustrate the effectiveness of this health intervention and also consider the influence of benefits promoted via a cue to action and perceived susceptibility in predicting intentions to change health behavior.
On Pins and Needles: How Vaccines Are Portrayed on Pinterest • Jeanine Guidry, Virginia Commonwealth University • Vaccination is an effective public health measure that has been instrumental in greatly reducing the morbidity and mortality due to infectious diseases. However, increasing numbers of parents question the safety of vaccines or refuse to vaccinate their children outright. The Internet is playing a significant role in this burgeoning anti-vaccination movement, since a growing number of people use the Internet to obtain health information, including information about vaccines. Given the role the Internet and specifically social media play in providing vaccination-related communication, and the fact that limited research that has been done to address this area, this study focused on the social media platform Pinterest and analyzed a total of 800 vaccine-related pins through a quantitative content analysis. The majority of the pins were anti-vaccine, and most were original posts as opposed to repins. Concerns about vaccine safety and side effects were an oft-repeated theme, as was the concept of conspiracy theory. Pro-vaccine pins elicited consistently more engagement than anti-vaccine pins. Health educators and public health organizations should be aware of these dynamics, since a successful health communication campaign should start with an understanding of what and how others communicate about the topic at hand.
Framing Climate Change: A Content Analysis of Chinese Mainstream Media from 2005 to 2012 • Jingjing Han, Indiana University; Shaojing Sun, Fudan University • As the largest greenhouse gas emitter and the second-largest economy, China is of great importance in global climate change mitigation. This study investigated the state of affairs of Chinese media coverage on climate change. Focusing on the period from 2005 to 2012, we analyzed a total of 874 news articles from five mainstream Chinese newspapers such as People’ s Daily, Xinhua Daily Telegraph, and Southern Metropolis Daily. In reference to media framing analysis, we identified six major frames that are prominent in reports regarding climate change, including conflict, collaboration, human interest, attribution of responsibility, science, and leadership. Results showed that the frequencies of frame usage varied significantly across the Chinese newspapers. Furthermore, the use of certain frames (e.g. conflict, collaboration) is associated with the employment of different information sources, among which government officials are the most frequently cited. This study also suggested that the Chinese media are more likely to frame climate change from a political perspective, rather than a scientific and environmental one.
Extending the impacts of hostile media perceptions: Influences on discussion and opinion polarization. • P. Sol Hart, University of Michigan; Lauren Feldman, Rutgers University; Connie Roser-Renouf, George Mason University; Anthony Leiserowitz, Yale University; Edward Maibach, George Mason University • Researchers recently have begun to examine how hostile media perceptions (HMP) may promote discursive activities aimed at correcting the media’s perceived negative influence. Extending this line of research, we examine how discussion, promoted by HMP, influences ideological polarization on the issue of climate change. Using nationally representative survey data , we test a moderated-mediation model which finds that HMP significantly impact support for climate mitigation policies through the mediator of discussion, and that the link between discussion and policy support is moderated in a three-way interaction with network heterogeneity and political ideology. Specifically, discussion in homogeneous networks increases opinion polarization by intensifying conservatives’ opinions, whereas discussion in heterogeneous networks decreases polarization by moderating liberals’ opinions. HMP also directly influences polarization.
The Role of Mass Media Related Risk Factors in Predicting Adolescents’ Risky Sexual Behaviors • Madhurima Sarkar, The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital; Gary Heald, Florida State University • Numerous studies have documented the importance of risk factors in predicting adolescents’ sexual behaviors. This study examines the utility of mass media-related risk factors, as well as traditional risk factors, in predicting these behaviors. The integrated model in this study details the role of mass media exposure and perceptions of media messages when predicting both adolescents’ intentions to engage in sexual behaviors and their actual risky sexual behaviors.
The Cognitive Mediation Model: Communication, Information Processing, and Public Knowledge about Climate Change • Xianghong Peh, Nanyang Technological University; Shirley Ho, Nanyang Technological University • This study advances the cognitive mediation model by examining the factors influencing Singaporeans’ knowledge about climate change. Based on a nationwide RDD telephone survey of adult Singaporeans (N = 1,083), results showed that attention to newspapers was positively associated with elaboration but not selective scanning, attention to Internet news was positively associated with elaboration and selective scanning, and attention to television news was not associated with the two information processing strategies. Elaboration, in turn, was positively associated with knowledge but not selective scanning. Interpersonal discussion had a direct negative relationship with knowledge but an indirect positive relationship with knowledge via elaboration. Overall, our results support the model and offer a more nuanced understanding of the learning process in the context of climate change.
First-Person Effects of Emotional and Informational Messages in Strategic Environmental Communications Campaigns • Jennifer Hoewe, The Pennsylvania State University; Lee Ahern, Penn State • This study examined the first- and third-person effects of emotional and informational messages, particularly relating to the critical issue areas of energy, the environment, and global warming. Due to intense political polarization on such issues, it also explored the role of political party identification. The results of an experiment indicate that informational messages about the environment produce third-person effects, while environmental advertisements meant to evoke emotion caused first-person effects. Moreover, emotional environmental advertisements appealed more to Republicans and those who did not support a political party. As such, indirect, emotional messages appear to represent an opportunity for strategic environmental communicators to design campaigns that resonate with potentially unreceptive audiences.
Developing Effective Alcohol Abuse Prevention Campaign Messages for Fraternity Men and Sorority Women: Gender Differences in the Descriptive and Injunctive Norms Used in Media-Based Health Campaigns • Stacey J.T. Hust, The Edward R. Murrow College of Communication, Washington State University; Erica Austin, Washington State University; Bruce Pinkleton, Washington State University Murrow Center for Media & Health Promotion; Anna Wheatley, Washington State University; Jason Wheeler, Washington State University • An important risk factor for heavy drinking and its consequences within college student populations is involvement in a fraternity or sorority (Bartholow et al., 2003). Fraternity and sorority members drink more frequently, more heavily, and experience more alcohol-related problems during college than their non-Greek peers (e.g. Borsari & Carey, 1999). The current study used a survey to explore fraternity men’s and sorority women’s behaviors and beliefs about alcohol consumption, to help develop appeals used in health-promotion campaigns. It further identifies the degree to which estimations of an in-group reference group is associated with members’ personal behaviors and beliefs associated with alcohol use. Our findings indicate fraternity men and sorority women similarly engage in negative behaviors related to alcohol use, and they are influenced by their perceptions of their peers’ behaviors and beliefs. Given this population is at great risk for alcohol abuse, there is significant need to develop prevention programs that are effective with this community.
The impacts of message framing and risk type in skin cancer prevention messages • Moon Lee; Hannah Kang, University of Florida • We explored how the effects of message framing and risk type interact with individuals’ prior experience and compared how these effects are different based on different types of advocated behaviors (i.e. avoiding tanning beds/sunbathing or using sunscreen). Through two experiments, we found three-way interactions among framing, risk type, and prior experience. The effects of message framing and risk type were different based on types of advocated behaviors.
The Corporate Medicine Show • Hyosun Kim, University of North Carolina -CH • Pharmaceutical advertising is everywhere and Direct-to-Consumer advertising of prescription drugs perceived as controversial issue in pharmaceutical market, for policy makers and for communication scholars. However, DTC advertising of pharmaceuticals is not a new phenomenon. Drug manufacturers have directly advertised their medications to consumers since the beginning of medicine. The FDA began to regulate drug advertising to protect consumers from misleading promotions, and their role has been expanded with the growth of pharmaceutical market. This study traces the history of pharmaceutical advertising in the 1930s when the 1938 Act expanded the scope of federal regulations and chaos still existed in the market. Benefit claims that drug manufacturers made were puffery and medications were portrayed as breakthrough in the ads. Also, none of the ads analyzed were not present risk information. The pharmaceutical advertisements in 1930 represent the FDA’s concerns in 1930.
Factors influencing risk perceptions of science issues: Comparing college students in the U.S. and South Korea • Hwalbin Kim, University of South Carolina; Robert McKeever, University of South Carolina; Jeong-Heon JC Chang, Korea University; Ju-Yong Ha, Inha University • This study examines the role of the media, interpersonal communication, and elaborative processing in shaping participants’ risk perception of nuclear and genetically modified organisms (GMO) technology in the United States and South Korea. The findings indicate that attentions to science television news and elaborative processing are positively related to risk perception of science issues. The effect of newspaper readership on risk perception about scientific issues was moderated by elaborative processing.
Attributions of Obesity Stigmas and News Source in Two Leading Newspapers in the United States and South Korea • Hyang-Sook Kim, St. Norbert College; Emily Gear, St. Norbert College; Mun-Young Chung; Hyunjin Kang, Penn State University • The worldwide increase in obesity rates calls for research about a potential contagion of obesity stigmas via newspapers. A content analysis of two leading newspapers in the United States and South Korea found more stories with obesity stigma in the American newspaper than in Korean. Obesity-stigma news included attributions of obesity for both societal and personal levels in both newspapers. Health expert sources cancelled out obesity stigma in news stories in the Korean newspaper only.
Barriers to Clinical Trial Participation: Comparing Perceptions and Knowledge of African American and White South Carolinians • Sei-Hill Kim; Andrea Tanner, University of South Carolina; Daniela Friedman; Caroline Foster, College of Charleston; Caroline Bergeron • Analyzing data from a survey of South Carolinians, this study examines how to better promote clinical trial participation specifically among African Americans. Findings revealed that African Americans were significantly less willing than whites to participate in a clinical trial. African Americans also had lower subjective and factual knowledge about clinical trials and perceived greater risk of participating in a clinical trial. Lack of subjective knowledge and perceived risk were significant predictors of African Americans’ willingness to participate.
Need for Affect and Cognition as Precursors to Risk Perception, Information Processing, and Behavioral Intent on the Use of Sunscreen with Nanoparticles • Se-Jin Kim, Colorado State University • The use of sunscreen with nanoparticles involves risks that are not yet fully known or verified. More importantly, behavioral attitude/intention of this behavior has not been investigated in the context of any theoretical model that includes personality attributes such as need for affect and need for cognition. This paper introduces and develops a hybrid theoretical model of risk-based behavioral attitude/intention based on the Theory of Reasoned Action, Dual Process Risk Perception, the Heuristic Systematic Model, and need for affect/need for cognition. The hybrid model proposes that personality attributes (need for affect/need for cognition), the Heuristic Systematic Model, Dual Processing Risk Perception (Affective- and Cognitive-Risk Perception) are antecedents to dependent variables from the Theory of Reasoned Action (attitude and behavioral intention towards sunscreen use). This study suggests a series of hypotheses and research questions using the topic of sunscreen with nanoparticles. The findings of the study indicate that the proposed model is adequately fit to what was suggested in the hypotheses and research questions.
Social Media, Risk Perception, and the Third Person Effect: The Case of Fukushima Radiation • Ji Won Kim, Syracuse University; Makana Chock, Syracuse University; Myojung Chung; Soyoung Jung, Syracuse University • This study examined the effects of social media context on perceptions of risk message. We investigated how reading news stories of the radioactive risk of Japanese fishes in the social media site would affect risk perception and third-person effect. A 2 (Facebook vs. news site) x 2 (narrative vs. factual) between-subjects experiment (N= 90) was conducted. Results showed that social media context increased personal risk perception and reduced 3PE.
Medialization of Science as a Predictor for Scientists’ Participation in Public Engagement • Eun Jeong Koh, Department of Life Sciences Communication, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Linda Pfeiffer, Mass Communication and Environmental Resources, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Sharon Dunwoody, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Dominique Brossard; Hans Peter Peters • An international mail survey of biomedical scientists shows that factors previously found to influence scientists’ participation in mediated science communication also are predictors of participation in direct public engagement activities. We analyze perceptions of “medialization of science,” which refers to the increasing orientation towards (and adaptation to) media criteria by scientists (Weingart, 1998). The effect of medialization on scientists’ participation in direct public engagement was significantly greater than on scientists’ participation in mediated communication.
Testing an Alternative to False Balance in Media Coverage of Controversial Science • Patrice Kohl; Soo Yun Kim, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Yilang Peng; Sharon Dunwoody, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Eun Jeong Koh, Department of Life Sciences Communication, University of Wisconsin-Madison • Controversy in science news accounts attracts audiences and draws public attention to important science issues. But when competing truth claims are given equal space in a news story despite the likelihood that one claim is more valid than others, this can result in a narrative structure known as “false balance.” Falsely balanced stories may unnecessarily heighten audience perceptions of uncertainty. In this study, we look at whether highlighting the preponderance of evidence bolstering one truth claim over others—a strategy we identify as “weight-of-evidence reporting”—might attenuate this effect. In comparing the impact of a weight-of-evidence narrative with the false balance story, our results suggest weight of evidence can play a role in reducing some of the uncertainty audiences may perceive, while false balance is linked with greater perceived scientific uncertainty.
The Perceived Familiarity Gap Hypothesis: Examining How Media Attention and Reflective Integration Relate to Perceived Familiarity of Nanotechnology in Singapore • Edmund Lee; Shirley Ho, Nanyang Technological University • The original knowledge gap hypothesis posits differential knowledge gains between people in the higher and lower socioeconomic status (SES) groups. This study put forth the notion of “perceived familiarity” as another dimension of knowledge and proposes a complementary model—the “perceived familiarity gap hypothesis”—that examines how media attention and reflective integration are associated with gaps in familiarity between the higher and lower SES groups in the context of nanotechnology in Singapore. Significant three way-and two-way interactions between education, attention to media and reflective integration were found—higher television usage closed the perceived familiarity gap between the higher and lower SES groups and for individuals who engaged in higher elaborative processing and more interpersonal discussion. Newspaper attention on the other hand widened the perceived familiarity gap between the higher and lower SES groups among those who engaged more in elaborative processing. Theoretical and practical implications were discussed.
Social Influence on Soda Consumption Behaviors among International Students Residing in the United States • Xuan Zhu, University of minnesota; Lauren Gray, University of Minnesota; Jiyoon Lee, University of Minnesota • Despite media propagation of the deleterious health effects of soda consumption, the U.S. still has one of the world’s highest soda consumption rates. Peer modeling and normative behavior theories are used to examine the relationship between soda consumption and student status (U.S. or U.S.-residing international). Our survey-based research reveals differences between the two groups in actual and perceived soda consumption. Perceived norms are shown to contribute to the increase in soda consumption.
The Influence of Socio-Cultural Factors on Social Stigma of Suicide • HANNAH LEE, Ewha Womans University • The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of socio-cultural characteristics on stigma of suicide. The results indicated that exposure to suicide prevention information was associated with low level of stigma, while exposure to news coverage of suicidal events was associated with high level of stigma. In particular, cultural characteristics were closely connected to the stigma of suicide. These findings have important implications for suicide prevention and also for developing culturally appropriate interventions.
Seeking and Learning: Examining Selective Exposure to Media Coverage of A Controversial Scientific Issue • Xuan Liang; Heather Akin, University of Wisconsin-Madison • This study explores the causal relationship between information seeking and knowledge about nanotechnology. Using a two-wave dataset from a nationwide online panel survey, we find reciprocal relationships between information seeking behavior and knowledge. Specifically, we find that seeking counter-attitudinal information conducive to knowledge gain but seeking information consistent with pre-existing attitudes suppresses knowledge levels. Participants with lower levels of knowledge about nanotechnology tend to be more engaged in information seeking. Different media, including the use of television, social media and other online websites, also impact factual knowledge and information seeking behavior.
From Education to Communication: Influences on Health • Ming-Ching Liang • Using the 2009 Annenberg National Health Communication Survey (ANHCS 2009) data, the roles of social network, print media use, and health information seeking behavior (HISB) in predicting health were examined. Controlling for education, social network and HISB exhibit positive associations with health status, but negative associations with diet and perceived quality of care (PQC). Print media use is a positive contributor to PQC and health, but has an insignificant relationship with dietary practices.
Beyond Gory or Happy Sensation on Facebook: Effects of Emotionality in Anti-drunk Driving PSAs on College Students’ Drunk-driving Attitudes and Behavioral Intentions • Chen Lou, Michigan State University; Saleem Alhabash, Michigan State University • Driving under the influence of alcohol presents a growing public health concern. With increasing investment in alcohol marketing via social media, the current study uses a 3 (emotional tone: positive vs. negative vs. coactive) x 3 (message repetition) within-subject factorial design to investigate the effects of exposure to anti-drunk driving messages shared via Facebook on drunk driving attitudes and behavioral intentions. More specifically the study investigated how emotional tone affects attitudes toward the PSAs, the issue of drunk driving, and intentions to drive while tipsy and while drunk. Furthermore, the study explored how attitudes (toward the PSA and drunk driving), descriptive and injunctive norms, and past drinking behaviors predict intentions to drive while tipsy and drunk. Results showed that PSAs with negative tone was most effective in eliciting unfavorable attitude toward PSAs and drunk driving, and lowest likelihood to drive while feeling tipsy or drunk in near future. Findings are discussed in relation to behavioral change models in light of anti-drunk-driving social media interventions.
Traversing Psychological Distance: Climate Change Framing, Emotions and Support for Policies • Hang Lu, Cornell University • The climate-change-as-distant issue has been of concern for many communicators and policy makers. This study applied the Construal Level Theory of Psychological Distance to examining what types of messages might be more effective in augmenting intentions to adopt pro-environmental behaviors and support climate change mitigation policies. A 2 (Temporal: Distant vs. Proximal) x 2 (Spatial: Distant vs. Proximal) x 2 (Social: Distant vs. Proximal) quasi-experiment was conducted among 483 participants. The results indicate significant interaction effects between temporal and social dimensions on pro-environmental behaviors and significant main effects of temporal dimension on support for mitigation policies. In addition, three discrete emotions, worry, sympathy and anxiety, were found to fully mediate some of these relationships. Limitations and future implications are also discussed.
Framing Climate Change in Psychological Distance Terms: A Content Analysis of National and Local U.S. Newspapers • Hang Lu, Cornell University; Naa Amponsah Dodoo, University of Florida • The concern around many Americans’ perception that climate change is a distant issue has been soaring in recent years. Although research on media coverage of climate change has been well-documented and varied in a wide range of topics, few studies have tried to look at media coverage of climate change from the perspective of psychological distance. This study employed content analysis as the primary technique to examine the portrayal of climate change in relation to psychological distance dimensions in two national and thirty-six local newspapers over a 13-month period. The results indicate that climate change is most likely to be presented as to pose impacts in a very distant or unspecified future, at the globe-level or unspecified locations, and with high certainty. Temporal, spatial and social dimensions of climate change frames were positively correlated. There was a negative association between changes in climate change frames and changes in public perceptions of climate change. Implications and limitations are also discussed.
Evaluating Food Labels and Food Messages: An Experimental Study of the Impact of Message Format and Product Type on Evaluations of Magazine Food Advertisements • Yongick Jeong, Louisiana State University; Lisa Lundy • Using a 2 (gain vs. loss frame) X 3 (organic, non-GMO, and antibiotics free products) mixed-repeated-measures design, this study examines how message format and product type influenced the effectiveness of food labels in magazine food advertisements. Results indicate that product type and food labels were more influential than message format (gain/loss frame). Overall, participants viewed organic foods more favorably than non-GMO or antibiotics free foods. Theoretical and marketing implications are discussed.
Tracking a healthy lifestyle: College students’ attitudes toward the adoption of health and fitness mobile applications • Paige Madsen, University of Iowa; Melissa Kampa; Melissa Zimdars • To encourage the development and maintenance of healthy among college students, Student Health Services at a large Midwestern university implemented a health and wellness program that was poorly utilized by students. The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine the viability and student interest in a health-related mobile phone app that could be used in conjunction with a university Student Health Services program to give students easy access to track their health and fitness goals using their cell phones. This study used intercept interviews to explore current mobile app use, attitudes toward the use and functions of health and fitness apps, perceived barriers to their use, and perceptions a health app sponsored by the university. Results indicated that 80% of the sample used a smart device, and nearly half were using some type of health app. Participants indicated that they were interested in app functions that would allow them to connect directly to the recreation center on campus – to either see fitness class schedules or gym equipment availability. Participants were less interested in apps that would connect them to others via social media or apps intended to help manage mental health. Student concerns included privacy and the cost of apps. This exploratory study suggests that apps are a good option for universities to encourage the adoption of healthy lifestyles among students, and for students to efficiently manage their own health and fitness goals.
Setting The Nutritional Agenda: An Analysis of Nutrition Blog Sourcing • Shana Meganck • This research study analyzed the sources of nutrition blog information in order to increase understanding of how our nutritional agenda is set by bloggers. Focusing on 20 nutrition blogs, the study content analyzed 3,156 posts, and conducted in-depth interviews with the bloggers. The findings showed that nutrition bloggers are sourcing half of the time, citing a variety of sources, and finding and choosing sources in various ways.
Understanding the Effect of Affective Priming on Health News Processing and Health Information Seeking Intention Over Time • Alexandra Merceron, University of Connecticut; Yi Wang, University of Connecticut; Dana Rogers; Christina DeVoss • This quantitative experiment (N=236) builds on recent research on media priming effects to explore the impact of primed affective responses on reader’s assessments of the credibility of health journalism, and subsequent health information seeking intentions and behavior. Potential mediating and moderating factors, such as type of affect elicited from priming (positive or negative), content evaluation (topic interest, prior knowledge, news discussion), and health self-efficacy were also measured to further explain the relationship between affective priming and health information seeking related attitudes and behavior.
Framing Climate Change: An Examination of Environmental Agency Websites in Costa Rica, Norway, the United States and China • Jill Capotosto, Elon University; Barbara Miller, Elon University • This study examined the framing of climate change on the environmental agency websites of countries with vastly different environmental performance scores—Costa Rica, Norway, the U.S., and China. The depth with which the sites covered climate change sources varied greatly, as did the level of action (individual, national or international) emphasized to mitigate and adapt to climate change impacts. This study sheds light on communication that reflects and/or encourages environmentally progressive agendas.
Marketplace advocacy by the fossil fuel industries: Issues of identity and influence in environmental policy • Barbara Miller, Elon University; T. Kenn Gaither, Elon University • Through the lens of the cultural-economic model of public relations, this study used a semiological approach to examine strategic communication by the industry trade groups representing the energy industries of coal (American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity) and petroleum (American Petroleum Institute). The study identified four prominent identities created by mass media advertisements from the ACCCE and API to enhance public support while reducing concern for climate change initiatives.
The effects of survivors’ social support on psycho-social adjustment of newly-diagnosed breast cancer patients in an online social support group • TAE JOON MOON, University of Wisconsin – Madison; Woohyun Yoo, University of Wisconsin – Madison; Ming-Yuan Chih, University of Kentucky; Dhavan Shah, University of Wisconsin – Madison; David Gustafson, University of Wisconsin – Madison • This study delineates (1) which types of social support BC survivors provide to newly-diagnosed BC patients in an online social support group and (2) how the survivors’ support is different from that of newly-diagnosed breast cancer patients by using a systematic computer-aided content analysis. The present study further investigates (3) how the survivors’ support contributes to a psycho-social adjustment of newly-diagnosed patients. The results indicate that, compared to newly diagnosed patients, BC survivors provided emotional support more frequently. However, there is no difference in provision of information support between survivors and new patients. Survivors’ emotional support contributes to improvement of new patients’ psycho-social outcomes (e.g., BC related concern, perceived social support, depression), whereas both emotional and informational support provided by new patients are not associated with the psycho-social adjustment of newly-diagnosed patients.
Hope and the hyperlink: Drivers of message sharing in a Twitter cancer network • Jessica Myrick, Indiana University; Avery Holton, University of Utah; Itai Himelboim, University of Georgia; Brad Love • Social networking sites (SNSs) such as Twitter have become an important part of health communication, providing a means for increased awareness and knowledge for a number of conditions. Cancer ranks among the most salient health topics on Twitter with thousands of individuals and organizations creating accounts, lists, and hashtag communities to share information and provide social support. Yet, research has thus far focused on the use of social media in public discourses and community building surrounding specific forms of cancer rather than support networks set up for cancer more broadly. This study extends such work by examining how users of a general cancer network on Twitter offer social support and link to resources. This study also analyzes how Twitter content might drive message sharing within the cancer network, a key determinant of online community stability and growth. The results indicate that cancer-focused communities on Twitter may foster information sharing and messages of hope, sadness, and encouragement while frequently linking to grassroots efforts, health professionals, news media, and advocacy resources. Social support in the form of hope and the inclusion of hyperlinks to advocacy websites were the greatest drivers of message sharing in the sample studied here. These findings help advance current theoretical considerations pertaining to health communication and social media while also providing critical insights for health and health communication practitioners.
The Partisan Brain: How Dissonant Science Messages Lead Conservatives and Liberals to (Dis)trust science • Erik Nisbet; Kathryn Cooper; R. Kelly Garrett • There has been deepening concern about political polarization in public attitudes toward the scientific community. The “intrinsic thesis” attributes this polarization to psychological deficiencies among conservatives as compared to liberals. The “contextual thesis” makes no such claims about inherent psychological differences between conservatives and liberals, but rather points to interacting institutional and psychological factors as the forces driving polarization. We evaluate the evidence for both theses in the context of developing and testing a theoretical model of audience response to dissonant science communication. Conducting a national online experiment (N=1500), we examined audience reactions to both conservative-dissonant and liberal-dissonant science messages and consequences for institutional trust in the scientific community. Our results suggest liberals and conservatives alike react negatively to dissonant science communication with resulting diminished trust in the scientific community. We discuss how our findings link to the larger debate about political polarization of science and implication for science communicators.
Causal Attribution of Health Status: Media Trust, Information Seeking, and Optimism • Hyun Jee Oh; Hyehyun Hong • This study employed 2007 Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS) data to examine antecedents and consequences of causal attribution of health status. Attribution theory was used as a theoretical framework. When applied to health communication, the theory suggests people have a tendency to attribute either internal (individual) or external (social) causes to health status. The study results indicated that personal cancer history and media trust antecede internal attribution of health status. Internal attribution then positively affected optimism about cancer and information-seeking and healthy lifestyle behaviors. Structuring equation modeling showed that all three path models from media trust to attribution to three consequences of attribution (optimism, information-seeking, and healthy behavior) were significant. This shows that media can encourage internal attribution by increasing trust in health information they provide. Providing quality health information that meets public needs and wants is therefore imperative. Other practical and theoretical implications are further discussed.
How Fear-Arousing News Messages Affect Risk Perceptions and Intention to Talk about Risk • Hye-Jin Paek, Hanyang University; SANG-HWA OH; Thomas Hove, Hanyang University • Applying the impersonal/differential-impact hypotheses and fear theories, this study demonstrates how fear-arousing media messages about risk can affect personal- and societal level risk perception, as well as intention to talk with family and friends. Analysis of a survey of Korean adults indicates that fear-arousing media messages about carcinogenic hazards and mad cow disease affected both personal- and societal-level risk perceptions and interpersonal communication directly and indirectly through risk perceptions.
Informing the Publics during Health Disaster: A Crisis Management Approach to News Media Responses to Flu Pandemic • Po-Lin Pan, Arkansas State University; Juan Meng, University of Georgia • Dividing crisis management process into three macrostages, this content analysis examined how news media responded to health disaster in terms of (1) news frames, (2) mortality subjects, (3) vaccine problems, (4) evaluation approaches to risk magnitudes, and (5) news sources in three crisis management stages. Results showed that news media used various framing strategies to inform the publics in different stages. The frames of health risk, societal problems, political/legal issues, and prevention and health education were more frequently used in the pre-crisis stage, while the medical/scientific frame was regularly used in the post-crisis stage to highlight medical treatment and scientific research in dealing with the health disaster. Evaluation approaches were also employed differently in three stages. Qualitative approach was mostly used in the pre-crisis stage, while quantitative approach and statistical approach were commonly used in the post-crisis stage. Health professionals were widely used as news sources in all stages to increase the publics’ awareness of health crisis severity, while government officials and politicians could repeatedly appear to function strategically toward the achievement of public-institution effectiveness in the pre-crisis stage.
Motivating Citizens: An Assessment of Individual Motivation to Share Warning Messages through Social Networking Sites • Mimi Perreault, University of Missouri; Seoyeon Hong, University of Missouri School of Journalism; Grace Park, University of Missouri School of Journalism • The current experiment investigated how individual motivations in psychological process (Self-Determination Theory) and personality tendency (Motivation Activation Measures) predict their likelihood to broadcast warnings through social networking sites during disasters (e.g., natural disasters, or gun shooting). Not only individuals differ in responses to disasters based on their motivational reactivity but also intrinsic motivation and relativism are explaining the variance of warning intentions. Interestingly, level of defensive system activation is associated intrinsic motivation while appetitive system score is associated with extrinsic motivation. Findings of the current study provide meaningful contributions for risk communication researchers and practitioners (e.g., FEMA) who intend to develop targeted campaign messages in disasters.
Opinion toward Nuclear Energy Use and Constructions of Health and Environmental Risks in Post-Fukushima News. • David J. Park, FIU-SJMC; Juliet Pinto, FIU-SJMC; Weirui Wang, Florida International University • This paper analyzes constructions of opinion toward nuclear energy use, as well as environmental and health risk in international news coverage of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster between the German Sueddeutsche Zeitung (SZ), the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), and the U.S. New York Times. Our results indicate the German newspapers used more diverse sources including opinionated and anti-nuclear sources than the U.S. paper. In addition, our results also noted that environmental risk was rarely mentioned in either newspaper regardless of the source’s opinion. The lack of sources covering environmental risks may be influenced by journalistic routines, news values and lack of access to information by Japanese officials. Opinion toward nuclear energy made a difference if health risk was mentioned within the New York Times, while the sources’ opinion in the German sample did not influence whether health risk was mentioned. Pro-nuclear energy use sources did not mention health risk compared with sources with other opinions. The variance may also suggest the sources and the newspapers place a hierarchy on human risk versus environmental risk. Findings are discussed in terms of implications for policy outcomes.
Defining a Medical Condition: A Qualitative Framing Analysis of Magazine Coverage of Fibromyalgia, 1980-2011 • Joy Rodgers, University of Florida • Recent marketing efforts for fibromyalgia drugs have renewed the debate on the medical classification of the pain condition. Framing studies have shown media coverage of certain topics to affect public attitudes. This study breaks new ground by identifying the dominant framing of fibromyalgia in 30 years of magazine coverage. Little to no shift was found in the framing of fibromyalgia, signaling a need for media and scientists to work together in providing service to patients.
Temporal framing and motivated reasoning: Can temporal cues moderate backlash toward worldview-incongruent environmental messages? • Sungjong Roh, Cornell University; Katherine McComas, Cornell University; Laura Rickard, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry; Daniel Decker, Cornell University • This study investigated how temporal distance frames increase or decrease boomerang effects of value-incongruent environmental messages by changing behavioral intentions to engage in conservation. Results from two randomized experiments show that a temporally distal frame for an emerging wildlife could reduce backfire effects on conservation intentions for people low in biocentric values when exposed to messages emphasizing human attribution of responsibility—namely, value-incongruent information—whereas a temporally proximal frame exacerbated a backlash against such messages.
Exploring Health Literacy, its Measurement and Predictors among African American College Students • Judith Rosenbaum, Albany State University; Benjamin Johnson, The Ohio State University; Amber Deane, Albany State University • Health literacy is increasingly seen as a solution to health disparities and poor health outcomes, and various instruments have been developed to measure it. In an exploratory pilot study, we tested the most recent and comprehensive measure of health literacy: the HLSI-SF. The results provided interesting insight into media use as a possible predictor of health literacy, but also raised questions about the instrument and how exactly to measure and define health literacy.
Cognitive and emotional risk perceptions mediate the association between news media use and food consumption intention: Analyzing food safety outbreaks in East Asia • Minsun Shim, Inha University; Myoungsoon You, Seoul National University • Much research on risk perception and health behavior has examined cognitive dimensions of risk but not emotional dimensions. To address this gap, this study examines both cognitive risk perception (perceived risk of susceptibility and severity) and emotional risk perception (worry) in the context of food safety risks in East Asia. We investigate their roles in independently and jointly predicting intention to consume outbreak-associated food products, as well as mediating the influences of news exposure and attention on intention. Data from a nationwide survey in South Korea (N = 1,500) lent support for our hypotheses in both cases of processed food from China and seafood from Japan. Our findings indicate: (1) both perceived risk and worry were negatively associated with food consumption intention, and the relationship between perceived risk and intention was stronger among those higher in worry; (2) news attention had stronger association with risk perceptions than news exposure, and it moderated the relationship between news exposure and risk perceptions; (3) perceived risk and worry mediated the associations between news media use and food consumption intention. Implications and limitations of the findings are discussed.
The power of narratives in health blogs: Identification as an instigator of self-persuasion • Carmen Stavrositu • This study examined the extent to which narrative vs. non-narrative blogs instigate self-persuasion processes and, ultimately, behavioral intentions related to skin cancer prevention. Participants (N = 190) read one of two versions of a blog post about skin cancer that described a blogger’s journey with skin cancer diagnosis and treatment, and included specific recommendations for skin cancer prevention. The post was written in either narrative or non-narrative style. Findings indicate that narrative blog formats reduce counterarguments while increasing pro-attitudinal arguments. These effects were shown to emerge as a result of higher identification with the blogger in the narrative vs. the non-narrative blog condition. Furthermore, the decrease in counterarguments and increase in pro-attitudinal arguments were associated with a stronger behavioral intentions, lending support to the notion that narratives and identification not only inhibit counterarguments, but promote pro-attitudinal arguments, which essentially translate to self-persuasion. Theoretical and practical implications, as well as suggestions for future research, are discussed.
Buzz Agents and a Teen Public Health Social Marketing Campaign: Impact on Attitudes and Behaviors • Amy Struthers, University of Nebraska-Lincoln; Ming Wang, University of Nebraska-Lincoln • Researchers developed a public health campaign for teens focused on obesity prevention, based on social marketing and buzz marketing principles, to test a series of hypotheses postulating that use of these principles would result in positive attitudes toward the campaign among the most engaged members of the target audience, the buzz agents, leading to positive attitudes as well as positive self-reported behavior changes involving fruit and vegetable consumption and physical activity. Results largely support the hypotheses, with the exception of vegetable intake. The researchers propose that the buzz agent concept may provide a model for reaching adolescents most effectively with public health messages.
Cueing attitudes and behaviors about climate change: Heuristic processing and social norm cues on YouTube • Leona Yi-Fan Su, Department of Life Sciences Communication, University of Wisconsin-Madison; James T. Spartz, Department of Life Sciences Communication, University of Wisconsin-Madison • Normative cues embedded in a new media platform such as YouTube may shape viewers’ perceived importance of the video topic and willingness to seek more information. Study results suggest that the “number of views” cue can have subtle but significant influences on participants’ attitudes and behaviors. Specifically, individuals who indicated heuristically processing the video were likely to assign greater importance to the issue and seek more information under the “high number of views” condition.
Headlining energy issues: A content analysis of ethanol headlines in the U.S. elite press • Bruno Takahashi, Michigan State University; Carol Terracina Hartman, Michigan State University; Katheryn Amann, Michigan State University; Mark Meisner, International Environmental Communication Association • Few studies examining media coverage of environmental and science issues have focused on headlines, which are considered relevance optimizers. This study examined the headlines about ethanol in the elite U.S. press. We focused on themes, issue attributes, tone, and actors. Results show a dominance of policy and economic themes, similar to other studies on biofuels. Differences with those studies are found in the presence of actors, where ethanol industry is more prevalent than governmental actors.
The Framing of the Child Computer User by Taiwanese Children’s Newspapers • Yue Tan; Ping Shaw • This paper examines the media’s framing of child computer users in Taiwan and its evolution with the Internet diffusion (2000- 2011). Using a content analysis of articles published in the most popular children’s newspaper, we found significant longitudinal changes. Specifically, the construction of children changed from “needy” and “victimized” users to “successful” and “dangerous” users, and the agents of action shifted from children to schools and government, while maintaining an emphasis on the cognitive gains.
Dodging the debate and dealing the facts: Using research and community partnerships to promote understanding of the Affordable Care Act • Andrea Tanner, University of South Carolina; Otis Owens, University of South Carolina; Diana Sisson; Vance Kornegay, University of South Carolina; Caroline Bergeron; Daniela Friedman; Megan Weis; Lee Patterson; Teresa Windham • This study reports on an innovative, community-based effort to promote awareness and understanding of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Specifically, this study assesses the current knowledge, perceptions, and communication sources and needs regarding the ACA among adults in one southeastern county in an effort to determine the feasibility of establishing the public library as a trusted and non-partisan source of ACA-related information. Results of formative research are discussed and campaign development activities are chronicled.
Truth, Objectivity, and False Balance in Public Health Reporting: Michele Bachmann, HPV, and “Mental Retardation” • Ryan Thomas, Missouri School of Journalism; Edson Tandoc, Nanyang Technological University; Amanda Hinnant, Missouri School of Journalism • This content analysis of media coverage of Michele Bachmann’s erroneous comments that the HPV vaccine causes mental retardation aims to understand the relationship between truth and objectivity in public health reporting. Of 206 articles analyzed, under half provided correction and less than 30% provided a counterpoint. We also found health reporters tended to engage in truth-telling and objectivity more than political reporters. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.
Why I seek information: An integrative approach to explore the impact of discrete emotion on information seeking about flood risks • JIUN-YI TSAI, University of Wisconsin-Madison • This present study investigates the relationships between cognitive appraisals and emotion and the impact of emotion (anger) on information seeking behavior with regard to flood risks. We develop and test an integrative model to explore how unique sets of cognitive appraisal patters are associated with anger and how anger relates to key cognitive predictors in the RISP model. Results indicated that cognitive appraisals of responsibility, personal control, certainty and importance significantly predicted emotional reactions of anger. Emotional responses of anger not only directly motivated information seeking behavior but also triggered more need for information. Informational subjective norms, information insufficiency and perceived information gathering capacity continued to serve as positive predictors of risk information seeking. Perceived knowledge and appraisals of importance exerted a direct relationship with effortful information seeking. The sense of being uncertain about what happened in terms of flooding associated with higher information sufficiency threshold. Implications for risk communication theory and practice are discussed.
The Influence of Attitudes, Beliefs and Involvement on Environmental Selective Exposure and Subsequent Reinforcement Effects • Melanie Sarge, Texas Tech University; Matthew VanDyke, Texas Tech University • While research suggests predispositions as predictors of selective exposure, empirical investigations utilizing environmental information as the exposure stimuli are limited. The current study collected data in three waves; during the second wave, selective exposure (time spent) with news articles discussing environmental topics was unobtrusively recorded. Results revealed attitude and involvement as significant positive predictors of environmental selective exposure. Additionally, motivations to reinforce self-related attitudes and confirm self-efficacy beliefs through environmental selective exposure are observed.
Nationalizing a global phenomenon: A study of how the press portrays climate change in four different countries • Hong Vu • This study investigates the news media coverage of climate change in four different countries. Using the framing approach, this study identifies the connection between several national socioeconomic and environmental traits and the resulting portrayals of climate change. Although global warming/climate change is a global issue, which affects every country in the world, the news coverage of it varies from country to country. Such a variation is related to each country’s level of development, climate performance index ranking, and climate severity. The findings of this research contribute to framing literature by assessing and comparing frame use in a national context, filling in the gap in the application of framing as a communication theoretical framework.
“Measles epidemic … NOT!”: A fantasy theme analysis of vaccine critics’ online responses to negative media attention • Denise Vultee, Wayne State University • Outbreaks of measles in both California and New York in March 2014 drew increased negative media attention to parents who elect not to vaccinate their children. In response to this heightened scrutiny and criticism, many of these parents and their advocates turned to a variety of online venues to reaffirm their values and defend their choice. This study uses symbolic convergence theory and its associated rhetorical approach, fantasy theme analysis, to examine this discourse for insight into the rhetorical vision shared by vaccine critics in the U.S. It is intended as a step toward providing health communicators with a better understanding of the attitudes, beliefs, and values of this audience as they work to design messages about the risks and benefits of vaccination.
News, Health Decisions and the Microwave Society: Female Consumers’ Beliefs about Coverage of Medical Overtreatment • Kim Walsh-Childers, University of Florida; Jordan Neil, University of Florida; Jennifer Braddock; Ginger Blackstone, University of Florida • Health news may influence consumers’ knowledge and perceptions of medical; this may be especially true for women, who pay more attention to health information and tend to play more active roles in health decision-making for themselves and their family members. This study examined female consumers’ beliefs about overtreatment and about the role of news coverage in influencing their own health decisions. Focus group interviews with 20 adult women revealed six themes: overtreatment equals over-use of drugs, tests and specialists; the role of health professionals; the role of patients; the problem of time; costs and profits; and the role of the media. The women complained that health professionals spend too little time with patients, fail to listen to patients’ concerns or adequately answer their questions, and are more concerned about avoiding lawsuits and maximizing incomes than about providing the most efficient and effective care. Patients – most often “other” patients rather than the participants themselves – were seen as contributing to overmedication due to their desire for a “quick fix” to their health problems; however, they tended to see screening tests as useful precautions that enable consumers to be “better safe than sorry.” The women regarded the entire health care system, as well as the media industry, as driven by profits. They viewed health news, in general, with great skepticism and wanted journalists to provide more complete information about medical interventions, including “balanced” information about risks, benefits, the quality of evidence supporting new interventions, and conflicts of interest among doctors and researchers.
One Step Forward, Five Steps Back: Changes in News Coverage of Medical Interventions • Kim Walsh-Childers, University of Florida; Jennifer Braddock; Cristina Rabaza, University of Florida College of Journalism; Gary Schwitzer • In an increasingly complicated and demanding health news environment, HealthNewsReview.org offers reviews of the stories produced by major media outlets as a measure by which journalists and the public can assess the success or failure of health coverage across 10 criteria for quality reporting. This study produced an analysis of those reviews from 2005 to 2013, indicating significant declines in key areas. On average, the stories reviewed during 2010-2013 successfully met just less than half of the criteria. Changes over time in meeting the criteria were related to outlet type and story topic, with television and newspapers showing declines on the greatest number of criteria; the largest number of criteria showing statistically significant declines over time were for reviews of stories about medical treatments other than drugs or surgery. The paper discusses possible causes for the declines and the potential implications.
Impact of Influential Sources on Their Followers: Investigating Mental Illness Discussion in Chinese Social Media • Weirui Wang, Florida International University; Yu Liu • A content analysis was conducted to examine depression-related discourses by public opinion leaders and elite media in Chinese social media, as well as the impact of these discourses on their followers. The study revealed that stereotypes presented by these influential users often triggered stigma or reduced support among their followers. Environmental and genetic attributions reduced stigma. The recovery and treatment information was found to be a double-edged factor and should be cautiously used.
Exploring Latina College Students’ Involvement with Tanning and Skin Cancer Messages • Paula L. Weissman, American University; Susan Allen • This exploratory focus group study used the situational theory of publics (STP) to examine the skin cancer-related attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors of Latina college students. The findings reported provide insight into the motivations for tanning behaviors that put these women at risk for skin cancer; highlight how underserved Latinas are by current skin cancer prevention campaigns; identify the need for culturally specific campaigns for this audience group; and suggest numerous directions for future research.
Testing Predictors of Physical Activity Among a Sample of Hispanic Adults Using the O-S-O-R Model • John Wirtz, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Supathida Kulpavaropas • This paper presents a test of the O-S-O-R model (Markus & Zajonc, 1985) using data collected from a sample of Hispanic adults (N = 288). Exercise identity and ethnic identity were defined as preorientations (O1); physical activity- and health-related media use were stimuli (S); reflective integration and conversation about physical-activity related media were defined as postorientations (O2); and the outcome was physical activity (R). A path analysis revealed that exercise identity influenced both types of media use, as well as behavior. Health-related media use then predicted reflective integration and conversation, while PA-related media use only influenced conversation. Finally, reflective integration and conversation influenced levels of physical activity. Results of the study suggest that identity may act as a filter for media selection and that conversation serves as a link between media use and behavior. The results also suggest that practitioners should consider using mass media messages that encourage physical activity-related media use and conversation as potential precursors to regular physical activity when targeting Hispanic populations.
Does a Cyber Attack Motivate Action? Comparing Perceived Risks By Victims Of A Recent Attack • Ronald Yaros, University of Maryland • Applying temporal and physical distance in construal level theory (Trope & Liberman, 2003) to the risk information seeking and processing model (Griffin & Dunwoody, 2000), this study (N = 350) measured cyber risk perceptions. The “near” sample read an alert about a data breach of their personal information. The “distant” sample read news about future risks. Results suggest risk perceptions, worry, trust, and intentions to take precautionary measures were affected by construal level and age.
The Effect of “Headless Fatties” vs. Whole Beings in Obesity Health Campaign Imagery • Rachel Young, University of Iowa; Roma Subramanian, University of Missouri; Amanda Hinnant, Missouri School of Journalism • Recent campaigns with text and images depicting obesity as the effect of individual behaviors sparked concern that an emphasis on individual determinants may lead to stigmatization of overweight or obese people. In this 3 x 2 experiment (n = 252), we sought to determine whether stigmatizing images and text led to differences in antifat attitudes and health-related behavioral intentions, and whether effects were moderated by weight status. We found that stigmatizing images in particular prompted significant differences in negative attitudes toward overweight individuals and also in behavioral intentions to increase healthy behavior or to limit unhealthy behavior. Our results demonstrate that stigmatizing images might be effective at stigmatizing the behaviors that lead to obesity, but an intended consequence of these images is that they also contribute to stigma experienced by overweight people, which results in social and emotional harm.
Tweeting flu and setting agenda on Twitter network • Gi Woong Yun, Bowling Green State University; David Morin, Utah Valley University; SangHee Park; Claire Y. Joa; Brett Labbe; Jongsoo Lim; Sooyoung Lee, Sogang University; Dae-Won Hyun • This paper had two main goals. First, to accurately establish the network agenda setters regarding flu information based on the amount of replies and mentions. The twitter accounts were categorized as media, a health related individuals, organizations, government, an individual, in order to test the relationship between centrality measures of the accounts and their categories. The second goal was to examine the relationship between centrality measures and Twitter specific characteristics of each individual account, including the number of tweets and followers as well as the number of accounts followed and tweets favorited. By collecting this type of Twitter data, it is possible to obtain accurate centrality measures, through the social network analysis method, and gain a better understanding of the relationship between account characteristics and centrality measurements. Result indicated if the media and organizational Twitter accounts were present, they did set agenda on the Twitter network. Also, the novel research framework adopted in this research showed some potential.
The Efficacy of Chinese News Coverage of Tobacco Control: A Comparison between Media Agenda and Policy Agenda • Di Zhang; Baijing Hu • This study examines Chinese news coverage of tobacco control between 2010 and 2012, which is compared with the China Tobacco Control Program (2012-2015), a recent national policy initiative. The study found that the relative salience of second-level tobacco control issues on media agenda has a positive and moderate influence on policy agenda. The results suggest that media advocacy is a very useful tool for tobacco control practitioners to influence policy agenda in China, but its use has limits because of the obstruction from the tobacco industry, Chinese cultural norms and the way policymakers use media in policymaking process.
Advertising 2014 Abstracts
Professional Freedom & Responsibility
What’s the Score?: A Longitudinal Content Analysis of Mature Adults in Super Bowl Commercials • Mary Brooks, Texas Tech University; Shannon Bichard; Clay Craig, Coastal Carolina University • Based on the rising older adult population, the importance of advertisers recognizing this consumer group is imperative. Thus, this content analysis of 239 Super Bowl commercials applied framing theory to examine how mature audiences are represented in one of the most expensive and highly viewed advertising venues. Previous research suggests that older adults are typically underrepresented in all media and often stereotyped. The results show underrepresentation is still problematic; yet positive frames were used often.
Inoculating the Electorate: American Corporatocracy and its Influence on Health Communication • Laura Crosswell; Lance Porter • Much like Socrates’ separation of art and cookery suggested the need for a new rhetoric centuries ago, commercially driven agendas reflect a contemporary need for a moral code in the corporate healthcare industry. This research examines the profit-driven agendas, non-branded marketing strategies, and commercialized propaganda that influence public trust in pharmaceutical products. Specifically focusing on Rick Perry’s 2007 HPV vaccination mandate, we examine the role that corporate funding plays in legislation, regulation, and voter/consumer behavior. Emergent findings from in-depth field interviews with Texas residents illustrate the capitalized communications contaminating consumer trust and public health, and present an argument for regulation realignment in the healthcare industry.
Tokens in a Man’s World: A Global Analysis of Women in Advertising Creative Departments • Jean Grow, Marquette University; Tao Deng, Marquette University • Using the Standard Directory of Advertising Agencies this study quantitatively explores the underrepresentation of women in advertising creative departments across five global geographic clusters. Engaging the Hofstede and GLOBE models and considering both horizontal and vertical distribution, data demonstrate fairly consistent patterns across 41 countries indicating significant complications for women both horizontally and vertically. Data further demonstrate a global scarcity of creative women with their numbers actually declining, across time, when compared to previous data.
Ethics of the Business Case for CSR Communication: An Integrated Business and Moral Perspective on CSR • S. Senyo Ofori-Parku, University of Oregon • Is it unethical to use corporate social responsibility (CSR) to enhance business goals through public relations, advertising, branding, and marketing efforts? In attending to this question, this paper points out the duality of CSR. It places profitable business in a framework that embraces utilitarianism economics and ethical principles such as duties, rights, and obligations. Drawing on literature from philosophy, business management and ethics, and communication ethics, it proposes that CSR is inherently both economic (strategic) and social (involves morality).
Message Strategies for Ads in U.S. Children’s magazines: An Application of Taylor’s Six-Segment Strategy Wheel • Meenakshi Trichur Venkitasubramanian; Jinhee Lee; Ronald Taylor, University of Tennessee • This study explores the message strategies employed by advertisers for children’s products in U.S. children’s magazines. This study also explores the association between product category and the message strategy. The study uses Taylor’s six-segment strategy wheel as its theoretical framework. A total of 531 ads from three different children’s magazines were examined for the years 2010-12. Content analysis of the ads reveals that advertisers use more transformational approaches than informational approaches.
Research
From Clicks to Behaviors: The mediating effect of viral behavioral intentions on the relationship between attitudes and offline behavioral intentions • Saleem Alhabash, Michigan State University; Anna McAlister, Michigan State University; Chen Lou, Michigan State University; Amy Hagerstrom, Michigan State University • Advertisers, marketers, and other professional communicators are heavily investing in social media marketing in hopes that online engagement will ultimately lead to offline behaviors (e.g., purchase). However, the relationship between online engagement behaviors (i.e., viral behaviors) and offline behavior still remains puzzling. The current study reports results of four experiments that investigated the mediating effect of intentions to like, share, and comment on persuasive social media messages with regard to informing the relationship between attitudes and offline behavioral intentions. The results are mixed with regard to this mediating effect. Findings are discussed in relation to redefining persuasion models within the context of the new media environment and in relation to practical implications of valuing online behaviors.
The Effects of the Valence of National Events on Persuasion in Patriotic Message: Regarding the Goal Framing • Hye Jin Bang, University of Georgia; Dongwon Choi; Jinnie Jinyoung Yoo, Gachen University • This study aims to examine if the activation of national identity through different contextual cues interplays with regulatory-focus message framing on consumers’ reaction to patriotic advertising. Specifically, this study explores the effective forms of patriotic ad message (promotion-focused vs. prevention-focused) depending on different valence of national identity priming contexts (positive vs. negative). Findings from an experiment suggest that the interaction between the valence of national identity priming and regulatory framing. Specifically, it appears that promotion-focused message yielded favorable Aad, Ab and PI when the valence of contexts that activate national identity is positive. On the other hand, the prevention-focused message elicited more favorable Ab if the valence of contexts that prime national identity is negative.
Exploring the Role of Parasocial Relationships on Product Placement Effectiveness • D. Jasun Carr, Susquehanna University • The practice of product placement, the embedding of goods and services within media, has experienced a resurgence of interest in recent years both from the stand point of the practitioner seeking additional avenues by which to reach the elusive consumer, and by scholars seeking to better understand the influence that media have on the consumptive practices of the audience. Many practitioners, and some scholars, have taken the stance that the practice of product placement may currently be the most influential form of advertising and persuasion.
Product Placement in Hollywood Movies: A Longitudinal Analysis • Huan Chen, Penn State Erie, The Behrend College; Ye Wang, University of Missouri – Kansas City • The study examined the nature and characteristics of product placement in the U.S. top-grossing movies from 2001 to 2012 with a historical approach. Several important findings and trends were identified from the results: First, product placements were found to be prolific in the U.S. top-grossing movies, with an average of 32 brands embedded in each movie. Second, the product categories of automobile, electronic equipment, and media and entertainment enjoyed the highest exposure in the movies. Third, brands appeared visually or verbally, but rarely demonstrated dual modality. Fourth, the majority of the placed brands seemed to fit with the movie setting regardless of visual or verbal oriented placements, and the most popular presentation mode of brand was full product. Finally, more than half of the product placements involved the interaction of characters.
Your Favorite Memory: Emotional Responses to Personal Nostalgic Advertising within Reminiscence Bump across Generations • ILYOUNG JU; Yunmi Choi, University of Florida; Jon Morris • This study examined the influence of reminiscence bump years when it comes to nostalgic advertising. Emotional responses toward nostalgic advertisements from late boomers and generation x were investigated. An online experiment was conducted to collect data from general consumer panels in their 30’s (x-gen) and 50’s (late boomers). Different emotional responses toward nostalgic advertisements were identified between the two generations. The result of this study revealed that nostalgic advertisements indicating reminiscence bump years were more likely to 1) evoke nostalgic feeling, 2) bring more positive Appeal (late boomers) and Engagement (x-gen), and 3) increase purchase intention.
Putting Things into Context: How evaluations are influenced by organic product claim and retail brand • Brenna Ellison, University of Illinois- Urbana Champaign; brittany duff, University of Illinois- Urbana Champaign; Xinyang Liu, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign; Jiachen Yao, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign • Organic food labels have been shown to have a “health halo” whereby products that are labeled organic are judged to be healthier and worth more money. However, the majority of work on organic product claims have ignored both product type and the context in which they are seen in (retail environment). We randomly assigned people (n=900) to see either a processed (cookie) or fresh (strawberry) product that had (not) been labeled as organic and put the scenario in the context of a retail brand (Walmart, Target or other). Results showed that organic labels had many of the previously found effects but these effects were modified by product type and the retail store at which they were supposedly going to be placed in.
Country Reputation as a Moderator of Tourism Advertising Effectiveness • Jami Fullerton, Oklahoma State University; Alice Kendrick, SMU Temerlin Advertising Institute • This study examines the role that country reputation plays in moderating the effects of tourism advertising to that country as well as attitude toward its government and citizens. A pre-post online study conducted in Australia used the current Brand USA’s “Land of Dreams” television commercial as the experimental stimulus. The country reputation index was factor analyzed to reveal three dimensions – Leadership, Investment and Culture. Results indicated that Leadership moderated the main effects of the tourism ad, as well as attitude toward the US government.
Sweetening the Deal: The Impact of Using “That’s-Not-All” Techniques in Promotional Emails • Zijian Gong, Texas Tech University; Shannon Bichard • This experiment investigated the “that’s-not-all” (TNA) technique as a promotional strategy and offered suggestions for maximizing its effectiveness in email advertising. Results denote a significant TNA impact on attitudes and perceptions of offer value, and this impact was robust across various types of products. Additionally, adding a time limit to TNA offers enhanced the perceptions of offer value. The research contributes to the current literature by developing strategies to increase the effectiveness of TNA techniques.
Segmenting The U.S. Product Placement Market: On the Basis of Consumers’ Cognitive and Attitudinal Responses to Advertising in General • Chang Dae Ham; Jin Seong Park, University of Tennessee Knoxville; Sejin Park, University of Tennessee • The purpose of the present study is to examine how U.S. consumers respond to product placement according to their perceptions about advertising in general. Based on a nationally representative sample of US adults from Experian Simmons (N = 22,348), this study identified five clusters of U.S. consumers, segmented by their cognitive and attitudinal responses to advertising in general. The study further reveals that each cluster has distinct demographic and media usage profiles and exhibits varying responses to product placement across television and movie. Implications for the practice of product placement are discussed.
A Model of Consumer Response to OTC Drug Advertising: Antecedents and Influencing Factors • Jisu Huh, University of Minnesota; Denise DeLorme, University of Central Florida; Leonard Reid, University of Georgia • Given the importance of OTC drugs in the healthcare marketplace and the lack of systematic research about OTC drug advertising effects, this study proposed and tested a Consumer Over-the-Counter Drug Advertising Response (CODAR) model. SEM analysis provides support for the model, explaining the OTCA effect process from key consumer antecedents to ad involvement, from ad involvement to ad attention, from ad attention to cognitive responses, then to affective/evaluative responses, leading to the final advertising outcomes.
Where Should Brands Position their Advertisements during the Sporting Event? Spectators’ Mental Energy Perspective • Wonseok Jang, University of Florida; Yong Jae Ko, University of Florida; Jon Morris; Jungwon Chun, University of Florida • The current study proposes a novel way to understand when brands should display advertisements during sporting events to maximize effectiveness. Relying on the ego-depletion model and the self-determination theory, this study explains how sport fans use, store, or increase their mental energy in the body system during the sporting event. Subsequently, how the increase or decrease mental energy transfers to the sport fans’ evaluation process of advertisements that were positioned during the sporting event.
The Effectiveness of Ecolabels among Young Adults: Environmental Warning Messages in Differing Message Contexts • Yongick Jeong, Louisiana State University • This study determines the contextual relationships between ecolabels and message contexts. By conducting two experiments, via a two-way mixed-repeated-measures design, the impacts of contextual similarity (Study 1) and the effects of context-induced moods (Study 2) on the effectiveness of ecolabels are examined. This study found ecolabels perform differently based on context formats (ads vs. PSAs), context-induced moods (positive vs. negative) and environmental issues (energy conservation, recycling, and pollution). Interaction effects were also examined and discussed.
The Role of Personal and Societal Norms in Understanding Social Media Advertising Effects: A Study of Sponsored Stories on Facebook • Joonghwa Lee, Middle Tennessee State University; Soojung Kim, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities; Doyle Yoon, University of Oklahoma • This study examines the antecedents and behavioral consequences of personal and societal norms in the context of Facebook sponsored stories. The survey findings indicate that personal descriptive and injunctive norms influence consumers’ intentions to interact with sponsored stories, whereas societal descriptive and injunctive norms do not. Interpersonal influences (e.g., family) and social influences (e.g., number of ‘likes’) form personal and societal norms, respectively. Theoretical and practical implications for social media advertising effects are discussed.
Development of an Other Minds Confidence Scale for Advertising • Esther Thorson; Eunjin (Anna) Kim, University of Missouri; Eunseon Kwon, University of Missouri; Heather Shoenberger, University of Missouri • The present study develops a rationale for why the construct of “other minds confidence” is generally an important one for human communication and specifically for theory about how people respond to advertising and other intentionally persuasive messages. We develop an exploratory scale for measuring what we conceptualize as “other minds confidence,” evaluate its reliability and factor structure, test whether it is different from a closely related construct, “persuasion knowledge,” and then further assess its validity by see whether it predicts general attitude toward advertising. Finally, we discuss some potential applications of the scale.
Perceived Norms and Consumer Responses to Social Media Advertising: A Cross-Cultural Study of Facebook Sponsored Stories among Americans and Koreans • Soojung Kim, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities; Joonghwa Lee, Middle Tennessee State University • This study examines the differences in the relationship among three types of norms (i.e., subjective, personal descriptive, and personal injunctive norms), attitudes toward interacting with Facebook sponsored stories, and behavioral intentions between Americans and Koreans. The findings indicate that personal injunctive norms were a stronger predictor of behavioral intentions for Koreans, whereas subjective norms and personal descriptive norms were stronger predictors of behavioral intentions for Americans. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
The Cognitive and Affective Effects of Brand Categorization and Evaluation on Brand Extension Purchase Intent • Jungsuk kang; Carolyn Lin • This study tested an expanded categorization model to examine how consumers evaluate and process perceived brand relationships between a parent brand, an extension product category and a brand extension. Study findings confirmed that perceived product-feature fit instead of perceived parent-brand image fit between a parent brand and its extension product category significantly enhanced the perceived similarity between the parent brand and its brand extension as well as brand-extension attitude and brand-extension purchase intent.
Uses and Gratifications that Drive Young Adults’ Smartphone Use and the Implications for Advertising Effectiveness • Kelty Logan, University of Colorado at Boulder • This quantitative study focuses on young adults in the U.S. and their use of smartphones in the belief that a thorough understanding of the gratifications sought will provide guidance to advertisers regarding the relative levels of involvement associated with each function. Specifically, the study explores the participants’ hierarchy of needs, the needs they seek to gratify through the use of various smartphone functions and applications, and their attitudes toward the advertising found in those environments. The results suggest that the heavy users of smartphone functions and apps are those who feel that “connection with friends and family,” “building relationships,” “increasing self-esteem,” and “mood elevation” are extremely important. Light users of smartphone functions and apps are those who feel that “seeking information/knowledge” or “seeking escape” are extremely important. While all light users appear to share negative attitudes toward advertising on smartphone functions and apps, not all heavy users share the same attitudes. There appears to be a distinction among heavy users based upon gratifications sought from smartphone use. Those who value connection, relationship-building, and mood elevation do not have positive attitudes toward advertising they encounter on smartphone functions and apps. Those who value increased self-esteem, however, appear to accept advertising on email and apps for information, assistance, and social media.
The Effectiveness of Cross‑media Advertising in Simultaneous Media Use: Combining TV and Web Advertisements • Shanshan Lou; Hong Cheng • Focused on cross-media advertising under simultaneous media exposure, this study explores the effectiveness of combining TV and web advertising by asking experiment participants (N = 168) to consume TV and web content simultaneously. In contrary to results from prior studies, media combination was not found to yield detrimental effects on ads attitudes and recalls. Multitasking seemed to have more negative influence on the recall of TV ads when compared with that of complex web ads simultaneously exposed to.
The “Boomerang Effect” of Disclosures: How Placement Disclosures Affect Brand Memory, Persuasion Knowledge, and Brand Attitude • Joerg Matthes; Brigitte Naderer, U of Vienna • Despite the relevance of disclosures to policy makers and consumer organisations, we have limited knowledge as to whether disclosures hinder or foster the impact of brand placements. This paper develops and tests a theoretical model of placement disclosure effects. An experimental study exposed participants to the video clip “Telephone” by Lady Gaga. Product placement frequency (zero, moderate, high) and presence of brand disclosures were experimentally varied. Results demonstrated that brand disclosures lead to an increase in brand memory for frequently depicted placements. Disclosures also affected defence motivation against persuasive influence by activating conceptual and attitudinal persuasion knowledge. However, defence motivation did not lead to more negative brand attitudes. On the contrary, findings suggest that disclosures can lead to more positive brand attitudes by activating, and therefore, strengthening already existing favourable brand evaluations. In terms of protection against covert marketing techniques, we conclude that disclosures may be a double-edge sword.
Exploring Qualifications for Senior-Level Advertising Agency Positions • Sheryl Oliver, Howard University; Rochelle Ford, Howard University • Using institutional theory to frame this study explores the qualifications talent and diversity professionals in advertising agencies perceive to be necessary to obtain senior-level positions in the advertising industry. Because African Americans and other minority groups are under-represented in mid and senior-level positions, this study explored particular characteristics desired among them. Using qualitative interviews, leadership experience within advertising agencies was the most important quality because they will be able to demonstrate a track record of success, the ability to thrive in a fast-paced environment, a level of toughness, and ability to generate new business. These characteristics will give credibility to candidates and help them motivate their teams. African Americans are expected to give back and mentor others. Results reinforce the need for strong retention programs to help entry-level candidates obtain mid-level managerial agency positions so they can be promoted into senior-level roles.
Beyond Exclusivity and Convenience: Real Estate Advertisements and the Singapore Story • Fernando Paragas, Nanyang Technological University; Aaron Tan, Nanyang Technological University; Dennis Kom, Nanyang Technological University; Stacey Anne Rodrigues, Nanyang Technological University; Joyce See, Nanyang Technological University • Using textual analysis, this paper explores the narrative that real estate advertisements depict and nurture in Singapore. Through the stages of identification, construction and deconstruction, the paper explores connections between and among advertising as text, culture as context and discourse as supra-text. It reveals paradoxes within the advertisements that depict not only what developers infer as the aspirational lifestyle in Singapore but also inform the tensions of life in the city-state.
The Influence Mechanism of the Advertising and National Economy：the Chinese Experience (1979-2010) • Linsen Su; Mingqian Li • The paper found that GDP and economic openness predicted the advertising positively in China, whereas the Engel coefficient and unemployment had negative effects on the advertising, but the effect of the urbanization on advertising could not be confirmed, basing on the co-integration analysis of the per capita advertising, per capita GDP, urbanization, economic openness, urban unemployment rate, and Engel coefficient.
Let’s conserve energy but you recycle! Environmental claim types and responsibility attributions in green ads • Edson Tandoc, Nanyang Technological University; Margaret Duffy, Missouri School of Journalism • This study seeks to test the effects of two elements used in green advertisements—claim type and attribution of responsibility—on ad attitude, attitude toward the company, and purchase intention. An experiment involving 869 participants found that energy and recycling claims were more effective in getting a positive ad attitude than a selling sustainable products claim. The company’s taking responsibility for saving the environment is the most effective strategy to get a positive brand attitude.
Health Buzz at School: Evaluations of a Statewide Teen Health Campaign • Ming Wang, University of Nebraska-Lincoln; Amy Struthers, University of Nebraska-Lincoln • Drawing upon data from the first two years of a state-wide health communication campaign that employed a peer-to-peer marketing strategy to encourage high school students to adopt healthy behavior, this paper finds that the buzz component increased campaign awareness among students in participating schools compared to those in the comparison schools, but there was no significant difference between their health attitudes. Furthermore, attitude toward the campaign mediated the effect of buzz exposure on health attitudes.
Deception by Design? Analyzing native advertising design and disclosure on news websites • Bartosz Wojdynski, University of Georgia; Nathaniel Evans • In the face of evidence that consumers selectively, or even reflexively, avoid many forms of display advertising online, content publishers have sought more subtle ways to deliver viewers’ attention to advertisers’ content. One recent emergence is an increase in the use by online publishers of advertising copy presented in the form of editorial content, often called “native advertising.” Although this practice has analogs in print and broadcast media forms, the present research identified and analyzed recent examples of such native advertising on online editorial content publishing sites (N=28), with a focus on the language, positioning, and size of information that discloses the content as advertising. The findings suggest a lack of standard practice in all three areas. Although a majority of examples offered some disclosure elements positioned before the start of the page content, very few explicitly used any form of the word “advertising” in the disclosure labels. The findings are discussed in the context of the need greater for empirical research into effects of design characteristics in disclosure labeling.
A little training goes a long way: Increasing children’s recognition of embedded advertising through education • Eilene Wollslager, Our Lady of the Lake University • This study examined the relationship between media literacy training and elementary students’ (grades 3-4) ability to recognize embedded advertising (advergaming) in a children’s online website. Children could not recognize advergames as advertising at the beginning of the study (0%). Following a brief, 10-minute training session, children’s ability to recognize an advergame as a commercial message increased to 30%. Additionally, there was no indication of a digital divide in student’s awareness of advergaming. Rural students outperformed urban counterparts in the recognition of online advertising.
Understanding Consumer Animosity in the Politicized Global Market: From the Perspective of Young Transnational Consumers • Qinghua Yang; Katy Snell; Wanhsiu Sunny Tsai, University of Miami • Contextualized in the recent territorial dispute between Japan and China, this research examines consumer animosity from the perspective of transnational Chinese consumers. This study provides a multidimensional model of animosity and tests an integrative model that links cultural identification, antecedents (i.e., patriotism, nationalism, and internationalism), and moderators of consumer animosity (i.e., perceived symbolism and perceived threat). Transnational Chinese consumers’ cultural identification was found to significantly influence the mechanisms underlying their animosity against Japan and Japanese products.
Does “green” work? The role of message framing, construal level and environmental concern • Lingling Zhang, Towson University; Hua Chang • Many firms adopt green advertising and put great emphasis on the value of green marketing strategies. However, little research has examined the effectiveness of green appeal in advertisements. Building on message framing and construal level theory, this study conducts two experiments to examine the interaction effect of construal level and gain or loss framed messages on consumers’ attitudes and purchase intention towards advertised product, as well as the moderating role of consumers’ environmental concern in this interaction. The findings demonstrate that a congruency between loss (gain) frame and low (high) level construal leads to more positive outcomes in consumers’ attitudes and purchase intention. Furthermore, this research reveals that the congruency effect is moderated by the level of consumer environmental concern, which has important theoretical and practical implications.
Special Topics Papers
Connecting Science to Advertising: How John B. Watson Laid the Foundation of Behavioral Targeting • Abigail Bartholomew, University of Nebraska–Lincoln; Frauke Hachtmann, University of Nebraska-Lincoln • Behaviorism as defined in 1913 by John B. Watson was a science that used repeated, observable human activity to develop hypotheses that would eventually predict and control responses. Through repeated experiments, Watson developed a thorough knowledge of what he defined as base human reactions. Stanley Resor, then president of J. Walter Thompson Agency, hired Watson to promote a partnership between advertising and science, and the subsequent 15 years of Watson’s career included some notable scientific contributions. This historical study shows that though these outcomes may not have provided many measurable positive results, they set into motion industry-wide change that continued to develop until the present. The study also argues that though behavioristic principles may not have found solid footing in a mass media environment, the current networked communication state provides much more fertile ground for analyzing message receivers and eliciting desired responses.
A Case History of Small Advertising Agency Leadership: An In-Depth Look at Knoxville’s Lavidge & Associates • Daniel Haygood, Elon University • Most of the advertising agency-related articles in the trade press and the research contained in academic journals focus on the large multi-national advertising agencies. This is unfortunate because much innovation, creativity, and resourcefulness are found in the local advertising agency communities. This case history takes an in-depth look at Lavidge & Associates, a small advertising firm located in Knoxville, Tennessee. This advertising agency is in its sixty-third year of business, a journey that has seen the firm begin as a two-person shop, rise to employ fifty to sixty individuals, and then return in the recent decade to a small firm with two full-time business partners. Throughout its long history, the agency has survived by demonstrating leadership in different areas of the business. This quality of leading appears to be the key to its success and survival. Specifically, the firm’s story reveals leadership lessons in management, client service, creative development, and production. It shows that innovation can often come from the smaller firms of the advertising community.”
Educating the Next-Generation Don Draper • Valerie Jones, University of Nebraska-Lincoln • Technology and the proliferation of data have transformed the advertising industry. Those with digital and analytical skills are now more employable than those with “traditional” advertising skills. At the same time, colleges face increasing emphasis on job placement rates. Are advertising programs providing students with the skills needed to win jobs today? Today’s “next-generation Don Drapers” must not only be fluent in creativity and big ideas, but also be fluent in analysis and big data.
“Putting On Campaigns”: A History of 70 Years of Advertising Education at X University • Ronald Taylor, University of Tennessee; Joyce Wolburg, Marquette University • Two philosophies of advertising education have existed in American colleges and universities since the early 1900s. This paper traces the two philosophies—a “how to philosophy” vs. a “why philosophy” as they were sequentially implemented across 70 years at a land grant university in the Southeast.
Assessing Brand Personality on Social Media: An Analysis of External Perceptions of University Twitter Activity • Brandi Watkins, Virginia Tech; Regina Lewis, The University of Alabama • Universities market to diverse audiences and when combined with a common struggle within many universities for funding, online social media marketing possibilities become an important component of the university brand. This investigates the influence of Twitter activity on perceptions of university branding. Findings indicate that there is little difference in how universities are perceived by external audiences; the study contributes to the current body of literature by applying traditional brand personality scales to non-traditional media.
Motivating savings behavior in PSAs: The effect of social norms and the moderating role of financial responsibility • Hye Jin Yoon, Southern Methodist University • Personal savings rates in the United States are low, creating potentially negative consequences. This study conducted two experiments to test the effects of social norms and the moderating role of an individual’s financial responsibility in responses to public service advertisements promoting savings behavior. Across two studies, perception of norm and benefit information varied with financial responsibility. Implications for social norm theory and improving social marketing ad campaigns to promote saving are provided.
Teaching Papers
Blogging In The Classroom: Using WordPress Blogs With Buddy Press Plugin As A Learning Tool. • Keith Quesenberry, Johns Hopkins University; Dana Saewitz, Temple University; Sheryl Kantrowitz, Temple University • Three professors used WordPress blogs with 130 students one semester in three different advertising courses. Descriptions of how blogs were used to enhance student participation, engagement and skill building are included along with students’ quantitative and qualitative assessments. The use of course blogs led to multiple positive self-reported student learning outcomes. Based on the researchers’ self-evaluation and analysis of students’ survey feedback, this article offers insights for using blogging as a learning tool.
Teach Like They Build It: A User Experience Approach to Interactive Media in Advertising Education • Adam Wagler, UNL • The proliferation of interactive media and new technology on college campuses is blending together student academic work and online personal lives. Advertising instructors have unique opportunities to leverage interactive instructional technology to reach more students and give them various ways to engage in learning materials while modeling professional applications of emerging media. User experience (UX), a term normally associated with interactive design, provides a framework for all advertising instructors to effectively integrate interactive media into their teaching. An in-depth review of the literature is provided to bridge the research between cognition, mass communications, and web usability creating a foundation for a UX approach to using interactive media in advertising education. The purpose of this paper is to provide theory-based strategies for advertising instructors to take advantage of interactive technology for student learning while modeling professional uses of interactive media.
Student Papers
The Moderating Role of Brand Familiarity on Media Synergistic Effect: An Information Processing Perspective • Guanxiong Huang, Michigan State University • Cross-media advertising campaigns have become commonplace in today’s multimedia environment. Drawing from the multiple source effect theorization, this study explores the underlying mechanism of media synergistic effect from an information processing perspective. Brand familiarity is proposed as a moderator of media synergistic effect: people with different level of prior brand-related knowledge tend to process advertisements in diverse cognitive routes. An experiment found that for an unfamiliar brand media synergy outperforms repeated exposures via a solo medium in terms of raising message credibility and generating more positive thoughts, while similar effects were not seen on the familiar brand.
A New Perspective on Brand Avoidance Behaviors: Attention to Social Comparison Information matters! • Eunjin (Anna) Kim, University of Missouri; Eunseon Kwon, University of Missouri • Prior research on brand consumption behaviors, especially those that potentially affect a person’s social identity, has mainly focused on approach rather than avoidance motives. We examine brand avoidance behaviors in the context of an individual-difference construct, attention to social comparison information (ATSCI). Our overarching argument is that high ATSCI consumers, being anxious and uncertain about others’ reactions, will seek to keep a low profile in their brand choices—they will prefer to blend in rather than to stand out. In study 1, we show that although high and low ATSCI consumers identify themselves with equally prestigious brands, the former do so with less distinctive brands. In study 2, we find that high ATSCI consumers, unlike their low ATSCI counterparts, avoid conspicuous brand logos even in the case of highly prestigious brands.
Perfect Mothers: How Mothers are Presented in Images in Food Advertising • Jinhee Lee; Jimi Hong, University of Texas at Austin • The purpose of study is to explore how food advertising portrays mother images in food advertising and which advertising themes in food advertising. The study selected sample advertisements from three magazines: Parents, Family Fun, and Working Mother. For analyzing data, content analysis was conducted. The study showed that food advertising portrayed traditional mother images and highlighted the traditional meanings of mothering. Theoretical and practical implications were addressed.
Anonymous vs. Non-anonymous Online Comments: The effects of Comments’ Visual Anonymity and Valence on Consumers’ Attitude and Purchase Intention • Chen Lou, Michigan State University; Pradnya Joshi; Eunsin Joo • Using the theoretical framework of social identity model of deindividuation (SIDE) and elaboration likelihood model, this study investigated how online commenters’ visual anonymity and comments’ valence (either positive or negative) affect consumers’ attitude and purchase intention toward products sold on social commerce websites. In a 2 (commenters’ visual anonymity: anonymous vs. recognized) x 2 (comments’ valence: positive vs. negative) between-subjects factorial design, participants (n= 157) were exposed to one of the four Groupon webpage selling a printer before being asked to indicate their evaluation and purchase intention toward the printer. Results indicated that online peer comments do have persuasive effects on online users, and such effects are not limited to only anonymous users’ reviews. Also, visually recognized negative comments – compared to anonymous negative comments – seem to be more efficient in persuading users not to buy the product. Findings are discussed in the context of computer-mediated-communication with new technology change in relation to consumer behavior research and social commerce marketing.
Playing with the Brand: Exploring the Influence of Advergame Play on Company Evaluations and Recall • Matthew VanDyke, Texas Tech University; Ann Rodriguez, Texas Tech University • This experiment employed a 2 X 2 factorial design to assess the influence of advergame play on evaluations of a company and game-specific information recall. Advergame play did not influence participants’ attitude toward the company or an ambiguous company news event. Participants’ perceptions of the advergame’s interactivity predicted whether the game was perceived as informative and enjoyable. Recall data suggested that regardless of interactivity perceptions, participants tended to recall game-specific information.
Mouse Tracking as a Method to Explore Brand Personality Distinctiveness • Zongyuan Wang, University of Missouri at Columbia; Russell Clayton, University of Missouri • Brand personality is an important value for a brand to differentiate itself from other brands and to create unique brand images. This study used mouse tracking as an unobtrusive cognitive indicator measure of brand personality distinctiveness and examined how product involvement and function orientation might jointly influence brand personality distinctiveness. Results showed that brand personality distinctiveness and accessibility was higher for functional brands than for sensory brands and was the lowest for low-involvement sensory brands.
Larger, Closer, Brighter: How Advertising Design Influence Advertising Recognition • Zongyuan Wang, University of Missouri at Columbia; Mikkel Christensen, University of Missouri; Andrew Brown, University of Missouri at Columbia; Michelle Reed, University of Missouri at Columbia • Ads on media suffer from competitions of their counterparts, which can be detrimental to ad recognition. Physical properties ad design may influence ad recognition. This study examined how brand name contrast, brand name size, and distance between the brand name and the product image influenced ad recognition. Findings suggest that larger brand name, shorter distance between the brand name and the product image, and higher brand name contrast produced the highest ad recognition.
Disgust in Advertising – Social and Gender Implications • Kivy Weeks, University of Connecticut • This exploratory research increases understanding of the implications for disgust in marketing communications. It details an experiment manipulating the amount of disgust in an advertisement depicting a low involvement, brand new product. It evaluates the importance of gender, social variables, as well as state and trait disgust on product attitude. Important findings include a significant interaction between gender and disgust manipulation, such that gender moderates the relationship between disgust advertising and product attitude, with disgust having a greater negative effect on attitude for women than men.
Newspaper and Online News 2013 Abstracts
Open Competition
Political or Professional?: The Nineteenth Century National Editorial Association • Stephen Banning • In the nineteenth century the National Editorial Association grew from just over fifty editors to over 4,000 members representing 12,000 newspapers. This was a time when some state press associations were self identified as professionals. This research examines the National Editorial Association’s character and motivations to see if members were interested in professionalization as well. The National Editorial Association’s questionable connection with the 1992 World’s Fair is also examined.
It’s the leadership, stupid, not the economy: A framing study of newspaper endorsements of presidential candidates in the 2012 election • Kenneth Campbell, University of South Carolina; Ran Wei, University of South Carolina; Wan Chi Leung, University of South Carolina; Maia Mikashavidze, University of South Carolina • Though framing research has been robust, but no study has examined press endorsements of presidential candidates with a framing perspective. To fill the void, we pursued a framing analysis of presidential endorsements in the 2012 election. Moreover, the present study aims at overcoming some of the limitations in the existing literature with a framing analysis of the candidates and issues used by the newspaper endorsements in the tightly contested presidential contest between incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney in 2012. To achieve the objectives, a quantitative content analysis and qualitative framing analysis of 75 newspaper endorsements were conducted. Findings show that newspapers that endorsed Obama framed him as a leader based on his performance on a variety of national issues whereas newspapers that endorsed Romney framed him as their choice based primarily on the economy.
Fuzzy, transparent, and fast: Journalists and public relations practitioners characterize social media interactions • Aaron Chimbel; Tracy Everbach, University of North Texas; Jacqueline Lambiase • This mixed-methods study, based on a survey including open-ended responses from 167 journalists and PR practitioners, examines views on interacting through social media. Grounded in journalism ethics and news production research, the study examines how professionals navigate rapidly changing social media. Results show journalists and PR practitioners see themselves working in the same digital space. Journalists and PR professionals thought it was ethical to become social media “friends” and followers. Still, these relationships are evolving.
Is Google “Stealing” your Content? Examining How the News Industry Framed Google in an Era of News Aggregation • H. Iris Chyi, University of Texas at Austin; Seth Lewis; Nan Zheng, James Madison University • As online news aggregators outperform most traditional media sites, some news executives accuse Google News of stealing their content, even as they rely on Google for exposure. This quantitative content analysis examines how the news industry, during the 2008–2010 financial shock for U.S. newspapers, covered its delicate relationship with Google. While Google was often portrayed as the enemy, most coverage suggested that newspapers should work with Google, indicating the challenge in assessing Google’s role in an era of news aggregation.
This Just In: Examining the Presence of Spot News in Print and Online News Organizations • Jennifer Cox, Salisbury University • Newspapers are competing with online-only upstarts to provide spot news coverage that drives local readership prompting questions regarding the ways in which news is defined by both types of organizations. This study examined print and online content in four pairs of daily newspapers and online-only news organizations sharing a common home city. A content analysis of 1,965 news items revealed spot news appeared more frequently online than in print, though there was no significant difference regarding the presence of spot news between newspapers and their online-only competitors. Online-only publications provided spot news most on crime items, while newspapers provide it most in accident/disaster/public safety items. The majority of spot news items contained the timeliness and proximity news values. The results of this study indicate both organization types understand readers’ hunger for spot news online, though the types of spot news stories they include in their products tend to vary. An online emphasis on spot news may be indicative of a shift in news definitions that could impact readers’ perceptions of personal safety in their own communities.
Deciphering ‘Digital First’ During Football Season: A Study of Blogging Routines of Newspaper Sports Reporters • George Daniels, The University of Alabama; Marc Torrence, The University of Alabama • To understand how the newspaper industry’s “digital first” philosophy works for local newspaper writers covering football, this study surveyed local newspaper blogs in all 14 Southeastern Conference markets and 10 markets of SEC non-conference opponents. A follow-up content analysis during Week 6 of the 2012 season revealed 80% of posts were not on GameDay and most focused on hard news. For these bloggers, “digital first” mandates speed and a heavy reliance on news conference content.
Newspaper Coverage of the BP Oil Spill: Framing by Distance and Ownership • Ryan Broussard; Robert T. Buckman, Univ. of Louisiana at Lafayette; William R. Davie, Univ. of Louisiana at Lafayette • This study analyzed how twelve newspapers framed the BP oil spill in terms of environmental, government, and industrial factors. The environmental frame eclipsed the industrial and government frames. In addition, the newspaper’s status in terms of its corporate ownership and national scope shaped the coverage. This study reinforced and refined the research of Molotch and Lester by showing how news frames are subject to variables of proximity and newspaper ownership in covering such an environmental hazard.
Building an Agenda for Regulatory Change: The New York Times Targets Drug Abuse in Horse Racing • Bryan Denham • This article addresses the manner in which a New York Times investigative series on drug use and catastrophic breakdowns in U.S. horse racing influenced policy initiatives across a six-month period. Beginning with the March 25, 2012 expose’ “Mangled Horses, Maimed Jockeys,” the article analyzes how the Times helped to define policy conversations at both the state and national levels. The article also addresses how the Interstate Horseracing Improvement Act of 2011, a fledgling piece of legislation, became what Kingdon (2003) described as a “solution in search of a problem” and thus a political lever in policy deliberations. Long recognized for its capacity to influence the content of other news outlets, the article concludes, the New York Times can also play an important role in legislative arenas, informing lawmakers of salient issues as well as opportunities for substantive and symbolic policy actions.
Unnamed Attribution: A Historical Analysis of the Journalism Norms Surrounding the Use of Anonymous Sources • Matt Duffy, Georgia State University • This paper offers a historical examination of the journalistic norms surrounding the practice of citing anonymous sources. The author examines a variety of textbooks, guidebooks, trade press coverage, and codes of ethics over the past century. The analysis reveals that unnamed attribution, once scorned as a journalistic practice, has gained acceptance over time. As journalistic norms have evolved, the acceptance of the practice has spread beyond national government and international reporting to local coverage. Despite the general acceptance of this practice, journalistic norms surrounding when and how to use anonymous sources remain unsettled. This analysis also finds that journalism textbooks more often describe common practices of journalists rather than provide normative directives as to how journalists should act. Importantly, this study reveals that a journalistic tradition of independently verifying information from unnamed sources has dramatically diminished.
Reading the Truth-O-Meter: The influence of partisanship in interpreting the fact-check • David Wise, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Megan Duncan, University of Wisconsin; Thomas Jaime; David Coppini, University of Wisconsin Madison; Young Mie Kim, School of Journalism and Mass Communication • This study experimentally investigates the effects of fact-checking articles and partisanship in evaluating claims made in political attack ads and attitudes toward the targeted politician, the ad’s sponsor and the fact-checking organization. In a 2 (political party congruency) X 3 (fact-check rating) experiment, participants were randomly assigned to see one of two videos accusing a fictional politician of a financial scandal. The only difference between the two videos was the political party of the politician. After the video, participants read one of three randomly assigned fact-checks rating the ad either “true,” “half-true,” or “false.” In a post-test, participants answered questions about the ad, the targeted politician, the ad’s sponsor and the fact-checking organization. The results indicate that fact-check articles can affect evaluations of a political attack ad’s claims, as well as the targeted politician, ad sponsor, and the fact-checking organization’s adherence to traditional journalistic norms and standards. We also found that on some measures, partisans engage in motivated reasoning, which amplified party differences when the ad was ruled half-true, and in some cases, true. Our findings suggest that while fact checking can be effective at correcting misinformation, motivated reasoning among partisans plays a role in shaping the effects of fact-check rulings on attitudes toward the ad’s target, sponsor and the fact-checking organization.
If it bleeds, it leads: How cognition, motivation, and emotions influence our attention to the news • Margaret Flynn, University of Connecticut • The current study aims to provide a renewed examination of why certain news items are more attractive than others, or why the most “important” news is not always the most popular. Buck’s (1985) developmental interactionist theory provides a novel framework for examining this phenomenon of selective exposure. This perspective proposes that an individual’s emotions may direct their attention to a particular message, or in this case a news story. By employing an experimental methodology this paper demonstrates that complex combinations of emotions can influence what news information audiences select. Additionally, there is evidence here that suggests news information can alter mood and impact subsequent emotional states.
A ‘Sentimental’ Election: Emergent Framing and Public Sentiment in Social Media Content during the 2012 US Presidential Campaign • Jacob Groshek; Ahmed al-Rawi • By being embedded in everyday life, social networking sites (SNSs) have altered the way campaign politics are understood and engaged with by politicians and citizens alike. Somewhat paradoxically, though the features and influence of social media are regularly reported, the actual content of social media has remained a vast but somewhat amorphous and understudied entity. The study reported here thus examines public sentiment as it was expressed in just over 1.42 million social media units on Facebook and Twitter to provide broad insights into dominant topics and themes that were prevalent in the 2012 US election campaign online. Key findings include observed similarities and divergences across social networking sites and channels that cultivate a fuller understanding of what is being communicated in political social media content that is largely citizen and user-generated.
Who reads online news anyway? On and offline behaviors that predict reading of online newspapers. • Michael Horning, Bowling Green State University; SangHee Park, Bowling Green State University; Luyue Ma, Bowling Green State University; Fang Wang, Bowling Green State University • As newsrooms begin to develop content and user experiences designed for the Internet, new questions arise about the types of individuals reading online newspapers and the journalistic practices that might be appealing to online readers. This exploratory research assesses important predictors in online newspaper reading among college-aged students. Findings suggest that levels of civic engagement, public journalism interests, reading news on social media sites, and Internet use context are predictors of online newspaper use.
The “SomeTimes Picayune:” Comparing the online and print offerings of the New Orleans’ newspaper before and after the print reduction • Young Kim, Louisiana State University; Andrea Miller, LSU • This study compared the online and print news of New Orleans’ Times-Picayune before and after print publication moved from seven days a week to three. A content analysis found each venue offered different content, contradicting existing research touting news homogeneity. Print offered more public affairs and global news while online offered more local and entertainment news. Findings are discussed within the frameworks of social responsibility and local news value.
News Consumption in the Age of Content Aggregation: The Case of Yahoo, Google and Huffington Post • Angela Lee, University of Texas at Austin; H. Iris Chyi, University of Texas at Austin • In the pre-Internet era, the role of news providers in the media market was clearly defined. Media companies produced content as suppliers of news and information and competed with other media firms in their geographic market for audience and/or advertising share in either inter- or intra-competition scenarios. But the Internet has brought about revolutionary changes to this media landscape. One major change is the rise of content aggregators. While traditional news firms are still struggling with the economics of their online ventures, these news aggregators have become a major source of online news for American audiences. This exploratory study, through an online survey of 1,143 respondents, empirically examines the relationship between use of three major news aggregators—Yahoo, Google, and Huffington Post— and 13 major news media outlets operated by print, broadcast, cable and electronic news media. The goal is to offer an extensive overview of competition among key players in contemporary news ecology. Findings of this study suggest a symbiotic relationship between all three news aggregator sites and 13 major news outlets across different news industries. Such findings are at odds with industry sentiment, or hostility toward news aggregators, and news organizations are encouraged to reassess their relationship with news aggregators in the attempt to find better revenue models rather than casting blames that have no empirical basis.
How Journalists Value Positive News: The Influence of Professional Beliefs, Market Considerations, and Political Attitudes • Ka Kuen Leung, School of Journalism and Communication, The Chinese University of Hong Kong; Lap Fung Lee, School of Journalism and Communication, The Chinese University of Hong Kong • While the negativity bias of the news media is generally recognized in many countries around the world, various types of positive news, ranging from touching human interests stories to news about national or community achievement, also feature regularly in the news media. Yet few scholarly analyses have examined whether and how professional journalists value positive news. This article examines Hong Kong journalists’ perceptions of the values of five types of positive news. It is hypothesized that professional beliefs about media roles in society, market considerations, and political attitudes would be related to perceived value of positive news. Analysis of data from a journalist survey shows that Hong Kong journalists do regard news stories that tell touching stories and promote social values and norms as important, but they do not see news stories that promote national development and achievement as important. Belief in the cultural role of the press, acknowledgement of market influence on the media, and national and local identification are significant predicts of perceived value of positive news. Implications of the findings are discussed.
The News Re-imagined: The Promise of Local Foundation-Funded Journalism • Suzanne Lysak, Syracuse University; Michael Cremedas, Syracuse University • This research surveyed 207 local newspaper and television news managers to measure reaction to a Federal Communications Commission proposal aimed at improving quality, in-depth reporting at the local level. In its landmark 2011 report, “Information Needs of Communities: The Changing Media Landscape in a Broadband Age, the FCC called for a national program that would place reporters in local newsrooms, with the reporters’ salaries partially or fully paid by local community foundations.
Experimental Psychology Applied: Assessing NYT columnist Nicholas Kristof’s strategies to overcome psychic numbing • Scott Maier, University of Oregon • People relate to one death as a tragedy but tune out the loss of thousands as a statistic, a phenomenon documented by psychology experiments that suggest “the more who die, the less we care.” This sobering finding has influenced New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof in his reporting on Darfur, human trafficking and other mass suffering. Drawing from behavioral research, Kristof says he now goes out of his way to find just the right person who illuminates the larger story. Reframing his journalistic approach, Kristof also seeks to move his readers by reporting on people who overcome adversity or offer real solutions. Content analysis and Internet metrics are used to assess whether Kristof adheres to these principles, and, more importantly, whether this kind of reporting engenders reader response. The findings offer guidance on how the media can overcome psychic numbing and compassion fatigue.
Online Story Commenting: An Experimental Test of Conversational Journalism and Trust • Doreen Marchionni, Pacific Lutheran University • Online story commenting offers a form of citizen engagement on news sites potentially important to democratic discourse. Yet few issues vex newsrooms more because of abusive rants, often from unnamed sources. This controlled experiment set out to test the “conversationalness” of commenting, using newly identified variables that theoretically measure the concept of journalism as a conversation. The study also tested whether commenting might help with reader trust. The data show that commenting’s best indicators of conversation are perceived friendliness and social presence. But comments do not appear to help with journalism’s most important values of perceived credibility and expertise.
Editorials, privilege and shield law Post-Branzburg: Forty years of newspaper narratives • Sandra Mardenfeld, Long Island University • As the prosecution against whistleblower Bradley Manning unfolds, the importance of confidential sources and their value to society once again is scrutinized. This study seeks to discover the discussions four major metro papers have within their commentary pages from 1972, the year of the pivotal Supreme Court case Branzburg v. Hayes, to 2012. What does the media say about issues such as reporter’s privilege and shield laws within their editorial section? A discussion of the three major themes uncovered leads to suggestions for future treatment.
Vicariously Rejected: Political-Sex-Scandal News Coverages Primes Negative Attitude Toward Sexual Betrayal • Gina Masullo Chen, The University of Southern Mississippi, School of Mass Communication and Journalism; Hinda Mandell, Rochester Institute of Technology, Department of Communication; John Wolf, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Department of Humanities • An online experiment (N = 231) reveals that reading news stories about political sex scandals prime negative attitudes toward sexual betrayal. Seeing sexual infidelity as humiliating is mediated through relationship satisfaction and attitudes toward sexual behavior. Results are discussed in relation to priming theory.
Breaking news and problems definitions from school shootings, 1996-2012 • Michael McCluskey • Problem definitions in the news provide explanations for tragic events like school shootings. This study examines nine problem definitions in the breaking news coverage (N = 311) of 11 school shootings between 1996 and 2012. Guns, teen life and school security were the most prominent problem definitions. Analysis shows differences by the audience orientation of the newspapers and by contextual factors in the shootings.
“Evil Visited this Community Today”: News Media Framing of the Sandy Hook School Shooting • Dylan McLemore, University of Alabama; Kimberly Bissell, University of Alabama • A content analysis of seven newspapers’ coverage of the Sandy Hook school shooting in December 2012 assessed how news outlets contextualized the story for readers in the week following the event. The results revealed that the Sandy Hook shooting was most commonly framed in terms of the victims. Gun control became the central frame through which blame was attributed. A mental health frame was also evident, in line with prior shootings but despite a lack of evidence in this particular case. The findings suggest an enduring stigma surrounding mental health, and a continued association of mental illness with violent behavior. Findings are elaborated upon by considering frame valence, sourcing, and the passage of time.
Page One or Six: A proposition for a news type index • Patrick Merle, Florida State University; Clay Craig, Coastal Carolina University • This research proposes an updated instrument to measure news preferences. To date, the literature features two scales designed for a media landscape removed from today’s multi-screen environment. Beyond the obsolete nature of their scales, prior authors omitted the dimensions of style and timeliness, prevalent facets in today’s interactive context. Exploratory data from a survey (N = 317) reviewed through structural equation modeling start a scale developmental effort to discuss a valid measurement of news types.
Cranks or Community: Describing those who comment on news stories • Hans Meyer, Ohio University; Michael Clay Carey, Ohio University • By offering comments at the end of stories, news organizations are allowing readers to engage in the news. But few journalists say the read or appreciate the comments their stories receive because they say comments are, for the most part, junk. This study used a nationwide survey to describe the people who post comments at the end of new stories and suggests that news professionals may be the largest determinant in the quality of comments they receive. A hierarchical regression model predicting participation suggests that noticing moderation in forums and the importance readers place on moderation is the most important element that leads to participation. Noticing moderation and giving it high importance can also mediate the influence of other participation antecedents, such as the value of anonymity and the importance of civility. It also mediates the influence of most demographic variables besides age.
Nate Silver and the rise of the poll aggregators: How they proved their worth to news media in the 2012 election • Brad Scharlott, Northern Kentucky University; Nikhil Moro, University of North Texas • Prominent poll aggregators such as Nate Silver proved their worth in the 2012 election with forecasts that were far more accurate than the typical pollster’s. In future election cycles, cash-strapped newspapers that formerly commissioned pollsters may decide that their resources would be better spent licensing a poll aggregator, as The New York Times did with Silver, thereby also boosting traffic to their websites. They may also hire statisticians to start their own in-house poll-aggregation operations. The public interest in the work of poll aggregators seems certain to rise in coming election cycles as more and more people come to see in them a gold standard of election prognostication. But if there will be fewer pollsters out there generating data to analyze, then poll aggregators’ results may not be as robust in the future as they were in the 2012 election cycle.
Prescribing the News: Newsroom size and journalistic experience as key factors in the interaction between health journalists and public health organizations • Gregory Perreault; Shelly Rodgers; Jon Stemmle • A phone survey of 142 Midwestern journalists and editors was conducted to examine awareness and use of and knowledge about health literacy programs and initiatives in the State of Missouri. Journalists’ self-efficacy, reader-friendly writing behaviors on the topic of public health, and time spent and experience writing about health and science news were examined. We compared larger versus smaller newsrooms in terms of awareness and use of materials from health-related news services. Results suggest that two factors, newspaper size and experience, proved to be useful in making predictions about awareness and use of health-related news services and use of reader-friendly writing behaviors.
A slow response to Quick Response: Diffusion of QR technology on U.S. newspaper front pages • Chris Roberts, University of Alabama; Keith Saint, University of Alabama • A three-week constructed sample shows that few newspaper publish Quick Response (QR) codes on front pages, and many codes were beyond newsroom control. Content analysis describes QR use by papers in the context of diffusion of innovation and niche gratification theories, and compares published “deep” links to randomly selected pages. Interviews with newspaper executives reveal institutional isomorphism reasons for QR adoption and the belief that QR has little widespread acceptance by readers or the industry.
Anonymous User Comments and the Influence on Fan Identity and Sports Article Credibility • Sean Sadri, University of Florida • The present study examined how anonymous user comment tone can impact group identity, sports article credibility, and attitudes towards a sports news source. Participants were randomly assigned a sports article, where the article was indicated to have appeared on one of four sports sources with positive, negative, or no comments. Scores on a user identification scale were significantly higher for the positive comments than for negative comments. User comments were not shown to affect credibility.
Scanning and Sharing But Little Engagement: Newspaper Reporters’ Use Of Social Media • Arthur Santana, University of Houston • A national survey of newspaper reporters at large and mid-size U.S. newspapers reveals that the frequency with which they use Facebook and Twitter to supplement their reporting is minimal, especially among older, more experienced reporters at large dailies. Findings demonstrate that reporters are infrequently engaging the social networking sites to support some of their reporting duties and are instead more apt to scan the sites and use them as promotional tools.
A Predictive Model of Story Prominence in U.S. Daily Newspapers • Frederick Schiff, University of Houston; David Llanos, University of Houston • This study compares two exhaustive models of news content to predict story prominence. Both models were derived from eight leading theories of news play. Hierarchical Linear Modeling specified story-level, newspaper-level, ownership-level and cross-level variables. A Factor Analysis Model found five “common-sense” story types. Coders analyzed 6,090 stories, using a random stratified sample of 114 newspapers and 59 ownership groups. According to OLS, a combined model (HLM and FAM) yielded an Adjusted R2 of 19.5%.
The Power of the Impulse: The Flow of Content Communities and Online News Consumption • Amy Schmitz Weiss; Valerie Barker, Journalism & Media Studies SDSU; David Dozier; Diane Borden • This study examines how U.S. adults consume news content from various communities online (ranging from YouTube to news websites) and how they access this information from digital devices (e.g. laptops, desktops, smartphones, tablets). Based on a national telephone survey conducted of U.S. adults, this study identifies that people are consuming different kinds of news content online and doing so in a state of Flow via their digital devices. Using the theory of flow (Csikszentmihalyi, 1975), this study aims to see how an online user can engage in an impulse form of news consumption (through various content communities) via digital devices (e.g. laptops, smartphones, tablets and desktop computers). Implications of the findings are addressed and future research directions for examining online news consumption through this lens are discussed.
Generating “New” News or Recycling Old News?: News Diversity and the World Wide Web • Charlene Simmons, U of Tennessee at Chattanooga • The Web has been heralded as an alternative to traditional media, providing users with diverse information and perspectives not previously available. Web usage studies have demonstrated that users do not spend time on alternative sites, but rather they spend the majority of their time on just a handful of popular Web sites. This study explores whether popular news sites act as new sources of diverse information or whether they repurpose content available from other sources.
Journalism’s thin line: A case study of suburban news and the news divide • Edgar Simpson, Central Michigan University • This exploratory study examined the news environment in a county where a daily newspaper had closed. Using the theories of the public sphere and geographic-based public affairs journalism as a key structural element in invigorating the sphere, the study mapped out the public affairs news in an Ohio suburban county where a daily newspaper closed. Overall, this study, offered as a case to explore vexing national issues, found that regional and metro daily newspapers have largely retreated to their cores, despite having significant circulation in the county, and that commercial television rarely ventured into the area, even though the county is part of their Designated Market Areas. The study found weekly print operations provided the majority of public affairs journalism. Further, this study found Web-only start-ups were not a factor in public affairs news and that the weekly operations provided a higher quality of coverage, in terms of sourcing and depth, than all other media.
Making Change: Diffusion of Technological, Relational, and Cultural Innovation in the Newsroom • Jane B. Singer, University of Iowa; Melissa Tully, University of Iowa; Shawn Harmsen, University of Iowa; Brian Ekdale, University of Iowa • Diffusion of innovations theory typically has been applied to the spread of a particular technology or practice. This paper seeks to obtain a deeper understanding of the multi-faceted nature of upheaval in the news industry by considering the diffusion of three distinct but related changes: technological, relational, and cultural. It does so through a case study, based on quantitative and qualitative data, of a Midwestern news company undergoing successive waves of significant change.
Microblogging the News: Covering a Crisis When Twitter is the Only Option • Amanda Sturgill, Elon University; Rajat Agarwal, Elon University • As news media are evolving strategies for incorporating new technologies for gathering and disseminating the news, social media have become a part of the mix. Because the ability to tell stories over social media is not restricted to experts, scholars have suggested that social media are more useful for engaging users and for creating a sense of community around issues in a particular area. One aspect of news in the emerging social news environment that has not been as well studied is the coverage of breaking news. This paper examines the coverage of a shooting during a unique event in which a college newspaper was locked down and only able to communicate via Twitter. Content analysis of the newspaper’s tweet stream suggests that the coverage fits largely into patterns found in coverage of other breaking news, although a significant number of tweets were used to push users to the newspaper’s regular web presence, once it again became available.
Frames of Mental Illness in an Indian Daily Newspaper • Roma Subramanian, University of Missouri, School of Journalism • Through a framing analysis of news stories about mental illness in The Times of India, an elite daily newspaper in India, this study aimed to understand how the Indian news media influence the public’s perception of mental illness. The following themes were identified: crime, suicide, prevention/treatment/recovery, simplistic/inadequate explanations, stigma, and mental health care system issues. Overall, while some stories perpetuate mental illness stigma, there is an attempt to raise the public’s awareness about mental illness.
The “militant” Chicago Defender: A study of editorials and letters to the editor in 1968 • Brian Thornton, University of North Florida • The “radical” Chicago Defender: A study of the newspapers editorials and letters to the editor in 1968. There is almost a mythological narrative surrounding the Chicago Defender, one of the most influential black newspapers in the U.S. In its heyday the paper, hailed by Langston Hughes as “the journalistic voice of a largely voiceless people,” was a “must read” for many African-Americans, not just in the Midwest, but also throughout the country, especially in the Deep South. The Defender is credited with playing a major role in influencing the Great Migration of African-Americans from the rural South to the urban North from 1915 to 1925. The paper was militant, if not radical, in its early days in demands for racial justice and social change. But what kind of editorial stance did the paper take in the late 1960s, at the height of the Black Power/Black Panther social phenomenon? Did the paper call for massive social change, or defend the status quo? It might surprise some readers to discover that the Defender called for the death penalty for black teens who committed murder in 1968. This research examined all the editorials and letters to the editor published in the Chicago Defender from Jan. 1, through Dec. 31 1968, with a view towards understanding what stances the paper and its readers took in discussions of such important topics as race, social change, Black pride, equal employment opportunities and black culture. A total of 395 editorials were published in the paper that year and all were closely read and analyzed along with 35 letters to the editor.
When Critical Voices Should Speak Up: Patterns in News Coverage of Unofficial Sources During the BP Oil Spill • Brendan Watson, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities • Media routines suggest that journalists’ BP oil spill coverage would rely heavily on official sources. Yet, unofficial sources are most likely to offer critical perspectives that could help avoid similar accidents from occurring. Some deride the media’s initial crisis coverage as speculative and inaccurate. This study, however, found support for a positive effect of the disaster: it momentarily dislodged media routines, and prior to the emergence of an official narrative, news coverage was more inclusive of critical voices.
Examining the Behavioral Consequences of the First-person Effect of Newspaper Endorsements in the 2012 Presidential Election • Ran Wei, University of South Carolina; Ven-Hwei Lo; Chingching Chang • Research examining the perceptions of media influences of political messages on the self relative to others (Davison, 1983) has documented both third-person (e.g., a greater perceived effect on others than self) and first-person perceptions (e.g., a greater perceived effect on self than others). As a new direction of research, increasing scholarly attention (Golan & Day, 2008) is being paid to investigating the antecedents of the first-person effect and its consequences on behavior. However, empirical research of the first-person effect is still limited; no study has examined the behavioral consequences of first-person perceptions on voter behavior. To fill the void, the present study examines the perceived influences of newspaper endorsements of presidential candidate in the 2012 election. Data collected from a random sample of 520 respondents supported third-person perception regarding the influence of newspaper endorsements of presidential candidate. However, findings also show that the more credible the newspaper endorsements, the greater the perceived influence on self. Furthermore, first-person perception was found as a positive predictor of the intention to boycott newspapers that endorsed the opposing candidate and the likelihood of voting for the candidate who received more newspaper endorsements.
MacDougall Student Paper Competition
The Social Mediation of News and Political Rumors • Soo Young Bae, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor • This study investigates the dynamics between news media use and political rumors in the current information environment on the Internet, with a particular focus on the implications of the newly emerged social networking sites. By examining survey data of online social media users, this study highlights the contrasting implications of the traditional news media and social media as news sources in shaping the users’ perceptions about political rumors, and reveals the significant consequences of the homogeneity of the users’ online social networks.
Three Days a Week: Has A New Production Cycle Altered The Times-Picayune’s News Coverage? • David Bockino, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill • This study explores the difference in print and online news coverage by the New Orleans-based newspaper The Times-Picayune before and after the implementation of a new production cycle. While print coverage has remained relatively static in terms of both topic and type category, there are differences between both the paper’s print and online coverage as well as its online coverage on days with a print edition and days without a print edition.
Generating Visits through Facebook: The Ambivalent Role of Engagement • Jan Boehmer, Michigan State University • In the present study, I investigate the effects of engagement with news content posted on Facebook. More specifically, I look at how different levels of engagement affect the number of individuals who click on the posted link, as well as the visits that are created on the website it refers to. I also look at the number of pages seen during visits, and the duration of the visits. I find that while the number of individuals who click on a link on Facebook does not increase due to higher levels of engagement, an increase in visits is evident. However, contradictory to common believe, higher levels of engagement affected the number of pages visited, and the time spent on the website, negatively. Finally, I discuss potential reasons for why the engagement created on Facebook can not be easily transferred to a website.
Capitalism, Crisis & Custom Content • Kyle Brown • This paper will offer a theoretical framework of the symbiotic relationship between newspapers and advertisers within a market journalism structure, and seek to identify and define standard journalistic ethics. It will then place custom content, a recent and emerging advertising endeavor that further blurs the lines between ad and editorial, within that theoretical discussion and offer discussion on the ethical dilemmas of the production of such disguised content, at both the institutional and individual levels.
Trust Me, I Am Your News: Media Credibility across News Platforms in U.S. & South Korea • Yunmi Choi, University of Florida; Daniel Axelrod, University of Florida; Jihyun Kim • International surveys measured American and Korean college students’ respective media usage habits, preferences and their views on the credibility of news offered by various media platforms. Specifically, this study examined the students’ habits with, and preferences for, news from the TV, radio, newspapers, the Internet, and mobile devices. Though Korean and American college students prefer either online or mobile news, Korean students assigned traditional media outlets much higher credibility ratings than those from U.S. students.
Human Trafficking in the Elite Press: A Content Analysis of Newspapers in the West • Irma Fisher, University of Oregon; Tobias Hopp, University of Oregon • This study analyzed the human trafficking coverage found in six elite newspapers in the U.S. UK, and Canada. Using a sample of 327 articles, we content analyzed the presentation of human trafficking as a domestic/national or international issue. The results indicated significant differences in the handling of the issue on the basis of article type, article focus, and press nationality. Furthermore, between-newspaper differences were identified.
Lifecycle of Obesity Coverage: Comparing Attributions of Child and Adult Obesity • Se Na Lim, University of Alabama; Virginia Johnson, The University of Alabama; Adam Sharples, The University of Alabama; Richard Rush, The University of Alabama; Rosanne Rumstay, The University of Alabama • This study examined how the media report on obesity and compared and contrasted frames of responsibility used in the reporting of child and non-child obesity. Using framing theory and looking specifically at individual health and public health frames, this study researched how newspapers represent the prevalence, causes, consequences, and solutions of child and non-child obesity. Two research questions were posed: First, what type of content (among prevalence, consequence, cause, and solution) most frequently appears in news articles and what frames are used for describing those contents? Second, what differences exist among child obesity, adult obesity, and obesity in general in regard to content types and frame level? A content analysis was conducted of six national newspapers reporting on obesity in the year 2011. A total of 382 mentions of obesity in 80 articles were coded and analyzed. Results indicated that prevalence and solution/prevention of obesity are mentioned most frequently. These two content types are also most frequently described in a public health frame, while consequence and cause are most frequently described in an individual health frame. Among mentions of childhood obesity, solution/prevention were the most frequent content types, while prevalence and content were most frequently mentioned for adult obesity. Mentions of child obesity were framed in public frames and individual health frames in the same proportion, but obesity in general was more frequently described using a public health frame. Limitations of this study and directions for future research in this area are discussed.
Technological and sociological motivations: Predictors of online content curation platform acceptance among journalists • Angela Lee, University of Texas at Austin; Vittoria Sacco; Marco Giardina • While the nature of social media encourages and facilitates real-time news distribution, information overload on social media sites is challenging journalists’ gatekeeping role in filtering out relevant news information for the public in an increasingly speed-driven online news cycle. Online media content curation platforms — based on principles of museum curation that knit technological and human skills for selecting, classifying, preserving, contextualizing and crafting content from various online sources in curated narratives — have been identified by mainstream news organizations such as Al Jazeera and freelance journalists as a solution to this problem. Applying an adapted version of the technology acceptance model (TAM) through survey research, this exploratory study examines Swiss journalists’ acceptance of media content curation platforms. The results suggest: (1) positive associations between motivations variables and attitudes; (2) positive associations between attitudes and intention to use media content curation and, contrasting previous findings, (3) no effect of perceived attractiveness on attitudes. This study’s findings suggest new ways to encourage acceptance and use of media content curation platforms among journalists. Professional and theoretical implications are also discussed.
Stay Tuned for More News from Your Friends • Seok Ho Lee, University of Texas at Austin • This study employs an attribute of social network, the strength of closeness, as a predictor for news consumption on Facebook. The evidence suggests that strength of closeness on Facebook contributes to positive attitude and behavioral change on news consumption on Facebook. And, individuals are found to rely on their social relations as news sources as the closeness of friendship grows. Meanwhile, the strength of closeness on Facebook has negative association with heterogeneous news consumption.
Journalism Endures: Has Twitter Changed the News Product? • Shin Haeng Lee • This study examines the effect of social media use by news agencies on their journalistic norms and practices: public service orientation, objectivity, and transparency or accountability. The data are 1,141 stories posted by six mainstream media organizations on Twitter over one constructed week in 2012. Findings show a tendency toward professional, hierarchical journalism; even blog posts have not led to innovative adoption of the horizontal communication patterns of social media. Traditional newsrooms rather co-opt the new technology to connect with digital media users. This study concludes that journalism as an institution normalizes rather than adjusts to the changing media landscape.
The Challenge of Interactive News for a Public Caught in an Online Identity Crisis • Megan Mallicoat, University of Florida • This study examines the effect of publicness on how people interact with online news. In this exploratory experimental study, participants in three conditions were asked to read 10 articles from a news website and write comments on five articles of their choosing. The findings show participants’ personal interests could significantly predict news selection. They also show attempts at self-presentation in comments most frequently utilized the strategies of ingratiation and competence, but intimidation was present also.
The Effect of Heuristic Processing of Online News Columns on Source Credibility and Message Believability Ratings • Amna Al-Abri; Alexandra Merceron, University of Connecticut • This paper draws on established theories of stereotyping to explore how heuristic processing of online news columns influences ratings of source credibility, likability, and dynamism as well as message believability through the activation of stereotypical perceptions.
What journalists retweet: Opinion, humor and brand development on Twitter • Logan Molyneux, University of Texas • Previous studies on Twitter have been quantitative and have found a loosening of traditional journalistic norms on social media. This qualitative study of journalists’ activity on Twitter takes an inductive approach to learn what new behaviors are present there. Findings include a prevalence of opinion and humor, contrary to the journalistic norm of objectivity, but also something new: personal brand development. The concept of brand development on social media is explicated and its implications explored.
Reshaping the journalists-audience relationship. National survey of journalists and their use of Twitter • Magdalena Saldaña, The University of Texas at Austin • Through a national on-line survey of journalists with Twitter accounts, this paper study how journalists use Twitter as a reporting tool, how likely they are to gather information from it, and how they see their followers. From the hierarchical model of influences’ perspective, results show journalists see Twitter as a valid source of ideas and news sources, and their audiences are becoming central to the way they report the news and produce news media content.
Whose public sphere? An analysis of the final comments on a community newspaper’s online forum • Shannon Sindorf, University of Colorado; Anthony Collebrusco, University of Colorado • This paper used content analysis and textual analysis to examine posts made to the online comments forum of a community newspaper after the board was shut down due to editors’ claims that its contents were too uncivil. Comments were analyzed for the amount of substance and civility present. The findings indicate that the majority of posts on the forum were both civil and substantive in nature. Only a handful of users posted most of the comments, indicating that the viewpoints expressed were limited to a very small group. Textual analysis found that discussion of local issues was conducted differently than that surrounding broader, national topics. Local discussion was more measured in tone and generated more civil discourse than did debates over national issues.
Whom do you trust? Comparing the credibility of citizen and traditional journalists • Alecia Swasy; Manu Bhandari, University of Missouri; Edson Tandoc, University of Missouri-Columbia; rachel davis, University of Missouri • Anybody with a video camera and Internet access can become a citizen journalist. But do readers trust untrained citizens to deliver credible news? Using the framework of the MAIN model, this study explored the effects of traditional journalism cues on how young news consumers evaluate online news. Participants rated traditional journalists to be more credible than citizen journalists. Participants also rated straight news articles to be more credible than opinion pieces.
Framing the Egyptian Revolution: An Analysis of the U.K. and U.S. Elite Press • Rodrigo Zamith, University of Minnesota; Stephen Bennett, University of Minnesota; Xiaofei He, University of Minnesota • This study seeks to analyze and compare the coverage of the Egyptian revolution by the elite press in the United Kingdom and the United States. Drawing from framing theory, the authors employ a manual holistic approach to content analysis to assess the salience of frames, the depiction of actors, and selection of sources. The findings reveal an appreciable level of congruence in the coverage, both in terms of the frames they used and the sources they turned to in shaping the coverage. However, significant differences were found for the depictions of the key actors in the revolution and the domestication of the issue.
American Copy Editors Society (ACES) Competition
Are Online Newspapers Inferior Goods or Public Goods? • Louisa Ha, Bowling Green State University; XIAOQUN ZHANG • This study of general population and college students in 2012 in a local newspaper market examines the use of online and print newspapers to determine the relationship between online and print newspaper readership and whether online newspapers are inferior goods or public goods. The data did not support the inferior good hypothesis in both samples, contradicting the findings of earlier research. Newspaper executives are recommended to set different expectations for their print products and online products.
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