Communicating Science, Health, Environment, and Risk 2019 Abstracts

Exploring attitudes and perceptions of young adults towards e-cigarette exposure in social media • Jordan Alpert; Huan Chen, University of Florida; Kelsy-Ann Adams • Electronic devices that deliver nicotine, e-cigarettes (e-cigs), can be addictive and dangerous. Young adults have the highest prevalence of e-cig usage and are among the most frequent users of social media. Although the FDA has recently imposed restrictions on the promotion of flavors and messages that claim e-cigs are healthier than cigarettes, there are no regulations in the social media space. Our objective was to understand how exposure to e-cigs on social media might influence attitudes and perceptions towards e-cigs among young adults. Thirty-one 18-24 year olds participated in four focus groups in which they responded to examples of social media posts about e-cigs. A thematic analysis was conducted, which revealed three primary themes: 1) social media normalizes e-cigs, in which young adults stated that they are frequently exposed to e-cig content on social media through news organizations and interpersonal relationships; 2) visual appeals are influential, including how depictions of aspirational lifestyles and appealing flavor associations enticed participants; 3) constantly seeing e-cig related messages on social media may encourage trial. The promotion of e-cigs within social media platforms should be closely monitored, to prevent the current epidemic from reaching even larger proportions.

Repeat After Me, This Pill Will Make You Smarter: Exploring the Truth Effect in Websites Promoting Herbal Supplements • Nicholas Boehm; Gayathri Sivakumar • This study examined if repeated exposure to websites promoting herbal supplements increased the perceived truth of health claims as well as beliefs in the efficacy of herbal supplements. Participants saw websites and rated the truth of health claims associated with the websites and beliefs in herbal supplements. Increased exposure to websites led to a truth effect and an increase in beliefs. Findings call for a closer look into the advertising practices of the supplement industry.

Liking and Physical Attraction offer Promising Pathways to Policy Persuasion despite  Potentially Negative Narrative Influence • Julie Cannon, Cornell University • Extant research indicates that narrative messages can be effective across many contexts, but there are boundaries left to explore. When promoting policy to help groups that experience social hostility, like people with obesity, the message source and point-of-view may be particularly salient. The present study tested the influence of point-of-view and source body type on obesity-related policy support and anti-fat attitudes among women in the United States. A pre-test, ten days prior to exposure, provided covariate data on baseline policy support, attitudes toward and experience with weight and income, as well as demographics and political party. The women viewed a social media post with either an obese or not obese profile image, and either a first-person narrative, second-person narrative, or informational post content. Then participants completed a questionnaire included liking, physical attractions, identification, reactance, anti-fat attitudes, and policy support. Findings indicate that second-person narratives from obese sources negatively impact support, whereas narrative point-of-view does not significantly influence policy support when the source is not obese. This experiment also explored the reactance pathway predicted by the entertainment overcoming resistance model (Moyer-Gusé, 2008). The informational condition predicted higher liking, which in turn predicted less reactance. Obese source condition was associated with higher liking, a pleasant departure from most of the literature. The obese source condition predicts lower physical attraction, which in turn predicts reactance. However, source body type does not predict reactance independent of this mechanism suggesting promoting attraction might make representation and parasocial contact more effective and less prone to reactance.

Advancing the EPPM through Inclusion of Social Threat for Smoking Cessation Promotion • Minyi Chen; Liang Chen • This study explored effective strategies to promote Chinese smokers’ cessation intention using the EPPM. Specifically, this study developed the EPPM with social threat to examine the effectiveness of different types of fear appeal messages on behavioral intention. Results revealed that there were significant main effects of individual threat, social threat and efficacy on the cessation intention. Moreover, the significant interaction effect between social threat and efficacy was detected.

Coping with Mental Health Issues via Communicative Action in the Digital Age: Testing the Cybercoping Model with Anxiety and Depression Issues • Myounggi Chon; Stephanie Lambert • This study aimed to examine the effects of individuals’ communicative actions on their affective and physical coping outcomes by using the cybercoping model. This study applied the cybercoping model into anxiety and depression issues. The finding of this research revealed that information seeking was strongly associated with affective coping and physical coping outcomes, whereas information forwarding was not associated with coping outcomes. Two coping processes exist simultaneously and fully mediate between information seeking and cybercoping outcomes.

Desirable or feasible? How psychological distance influences climate change engagement • Haoran Chu; Janet Yang • Based on construal level theory, we propose that psychological distance influences the effect of risk and efficacy framing in promoting climate change engagement. Results from an experimental survey based on a nationally representative sample (N = 1,282) indicate that at closer spatial distance, perceived efficacy boosted by efficacy information increased intention to perform climate mitigation behaviors. In contrast, at farther distance, risk information increased behavioral intention through heightened risk perception of climate change.

Effects of Reported Hurricane Behaviors and Outcomes on Efficacy, Threat Perceptions and Future Evacuation Behavior • Moritz Cleve, University of Florida, Gainseville Florida; Zhaoying Li • In an experimental setting, evacuation behavior and outcomes affected efficacy beliefs to evacuate or stay home, as well as threat perceptions, and intentions to evacuate during a hypothetical hurricane. Regression and parallel mediation models were proposed, and their implications to include efficacy beliefs about the non-recommended response in the EPPM (Witte, 1992) and risk communications, as well as new measures of prior hurricane experience are discussed.

How Narrative Engagement with Young Adult Literature Influences Perceptions of Anorexia Nervosa • Meredith Collins, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Allison Lazard, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • Narratives have been shown to alter health beliefs through a process called narrative engagement; however, this process has yet to be empirically investigated for how increasingly popular young adult (YA) illness literature impact health beliefs among emerging adults. Using an experimental design, we found that YA illness literature fosters narrative engagement, which leads to more endorsement of prosocial beliefs articulated in the narrative compared to an informational brochure. The narrative was more relevant when a “supportive peer” main character was featured, as opposed to a main character experiencing the illness herself. Results suggest narratives may be viable tools to educate individuals serving in an illness support role.

The Impact of Source Credibility and Topic Relevance on Audience Responses to Health Podcasts • Ciera Dockter, University of Missouri; Sungkyoung Lee • “Podcasting is an increasingly popular medium for communicating health information, but little research has examined how podcast message characteristics influence listeners’ processing of the content. This experiment (N = 113) examined how information source and topic relevance can affect source credibility, perceived message effectiveness, health behavioral intentions, and podcast download intentions. Results showed relevant topics and credible sources (expert and experienced) improved information processing, which, in turn, increased health behavioral intentions and podcast download intentions.

Keywords: health behavioral intentions, health communication, information processing, podcasting, source credibility”

The 21st Birthday, 2.0: Exploring the Role of Social Media, Relationships, and Online Image Maintenance within a College Binge Drinking Ritual • Nathan Gilkerson, Marquette University; Joyce Wolburg, Marquette University; Katelyn Mills-Erickson, Marquette University • This qualitative study utilized in-depth interviews with college student binge drinkers, to explore aspects of the 21st birthday as a highly anticipated and often high-risk drinking occasion.  The research examined perceptions of what comprises a typical 21st birthday experience, while also revealing complex dynamics related to social relationship, self-portrayals of drinking behavior on social media, and a perceived need to live up to expectations and use the event as an opportunity for online image maintenance.

A Picture of Health: How News Stories’ Terminology Correlates with Mental Illness Stigma • Emily Goldstein, University of Texas • “‘A very sick man … a very demented person’” (Johnson & Parker, 2017, para. 2). “Mentally disturbed” (Trump, 2018). These are the words — said to news reporters and written on Twitter — that the president of the United States used to describe mass shooters in Las Vegas and in Parkland, Florida, respectively. Wahl (1999) found that despite evidence to the contrary, “dangerousness is a key element of public beliefs about mental illness” (p. 14). With more than 44 million adults in America experiencing mental illness — and more than half of them going without treatment (Mental Health America, 2018b) — it is important to research how the media can frame news stories about mental health in a more precise, less stigmatizing manner. This content analysis (N = 158) shows that journalists’ use of the phrase “mental illness” correlates positively with stigmatizing frames in stories about mental disorders. It also corroborates findings associating news values such as conflict and timeliness with a skewed portrayal of mental disorders by showing a positive relationship between articles categorized as news (rather than business, sports, lifestyle, etc.) and use of stigmatizing frames. This calls for journalists to examine their practices and priorities regarding coverage of mental disorders. This research works toward balanced, accurate, and thoughtful news coverage of mental disorders.

Tweeting the #flushot: Beliefs, barriers, and perceived threat at different points of the flu season • Jeanine Guidry, Virginia Commonwealth University; Ioana Coman, Texas Tech University; Lucinda Austin, School of Media and Journalism, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Nicole O’Donnell, Virginia Commonwealth University; Alessandro Lovari, Università degli studi di Cagliari; Marcus Messner, Virginia Commonwealth University • Influenza epidemics happen every year, and the World Health Organization estimates that the virus contributes to between 290,000 – 650,000 annual deaths. The most effective way to prevent seasonal influenza is vaccination. In recent years, misinformation regarding vaccines abounds on social media, but the flu vaccine is relatively understudied in this area, and the current study is the first one to explore the content and nature of influenza information that is shared on Twitter, comparing tweets published in the early flu season with those posted in peak flu season. Using a quantitative content analysis, 1,000 tweets from both parts of the flu season were analyzed for use of Health Belief Model (HBM) variables, engagement, and flu vaccine specific variables. Findings show promising opportunities for health organizations and professionals: HBM constructs were present more frequently than in previous, related studies, and fewer vaccine-hesitant tweets appear to be present.

Constructing and Influencing Perceived Authenticity in Science Communication: Experimenting with Narrative • Lise Saffran, University of Missouri, School of Health Professions; Sisi Hu, University of Missouri, School of Journalism; Amanda Hinnant, University of Missouri, School of Journalism; Susan Nagel, University of Missouri, School of Medicine; Laura Scherer, University of Colorado Denver • This study develops a measure of perceived authenticity in science communication and then explores communication strategies to improve the perceived authenticity of a scientific message. The findings are consistent with literature around trust and credibility, but indicate that authenticity—the perception that the scientist is a unique individual with qualities beyond institutional affiliations or a role in the production of the research—may add a potentially important dimension to accepted categories of integrity and benevolence.

Why Do Users Stick with Fitness Mobile Apps? Linking Technological Functions with Continuance Usage Intention among Chinese Users • Guanxiong Huang, City University of Hong Kong; Yuchen Ren • To understand how to increase user retention rates of fitness mobile apps in China, the present study draws from the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and investigates the role of exercise self-efficacy along with the original TAM constructs in predicting current users’ intention to continue using the apps. Moreover, this study extends TAM from a human-technology interaction perspective by elucidating the antecedents of perceived usefulness in terms of specific functions of fitness apps.

Smartphone Addiction on Bullying in Schools in Early Adolescence in South Korea • Jaeyop Kim, dept. of social welfare of Yonsei university; Daeyeon Jang, Graduate school of social welfare in Yonsei university; Sookyung Park; Namkee Park; Yujin Lee • Background: Smartphone addiction(SA) is one of most serious problems for affecting bullying in schools(BS) among early adolescence that has been largely overlooked in research attention. Studies on smartphone addiction and bullying in schools indicate aggression as a mediator and parent attachment as a moderator. Smartphone addiction may affect Bullying in schools (in)directly through the mediator. And parent attachment may moderate between smartphone addiction and aggression. Methods: A sample of early adolescents (N=1,292) completed an offline survey, consisting of modified version of Internet Addiction Test, revised version of the Conflict tactics scales, revised version(K-YSR) of the Youth self-report, the scale of Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (IPPA). Frequency, bivariate correlation, and mediated moderation analyses were conducted to assess the effects of smartphone addiction on bullying in schools, mediated via aggression and moderated via parent attachment. Results: SA, aggression and BS were positively related to each other in bivariate analyses. In mediated moderation analyses, SA was found to be a significant predictor of higher levels of aggression, which, in turn, were associated with greater BS, and parent attachment moderates between SA and aggression. Limitations: Study limitations included the use of cross-sectional data with the use of retrospective self-report. Conclusion: SA was positively related to BS, aggression mediated the effect of SA on BS, and parent attachment moderated the effect of SA on aggression. Findings suggest that reducing smartphone addiction and clinical intervention for aggression should be focused upon, and implemented for bullying prevention in the early adolescence context.

E-cigarette Communication on College Websites: The Risk, Campus Policy, and Cessation Support • Jungmi Jun, University of South Carolina; Joon Kyoung Kim, University of South Carolina • We analyzed websites of 118, four-year public/private universities that adopted a policy to prohibit e-cigarette use on campus. We aim to provide an overview of colleges and universities’ current practices to communicate e-cigarette issues in terms of the risk, campus policy, and cessation support. Our results indicate that there is a lack of risk information on college websites. Health and other risks involved in e-cigarette use, which are proven to affect young adults were rarely or never mentioned. More than 20% of our sample colleges did not specify e-cigarettes as a tobacco product prohibited on campus, and more than 10% of colleges labeled their policy as “smoke-free” even though these schools adopted a vape-free policy. While the majority of colleges were promoting the health benefit, and other financial and professional benefits of tobacco-free policy were rarely mentioned. Less than half of colleges appeared to provide a resource supporting campus member to quit tobacco use. No website mentioned on-campus access to nicotine replacement therapy and a program assisting former e-cigarette users or helping those who wish to quit e-cigarettes. Our findings suggest the need for colleges to better inform the risk, policy, and cessation support related with e-cigarettes for successful adoption of complete tobacco-free policies on their campus.

Fighting the tide: How U.S. health organizations use Twitter to address the opioid crisis • Hyoyeun Jun, University of Georgia; YOUNGJI SEO; Andrea Briscoe; Charan Ramachandran, University of Georgia; Bartosz Wojdynski, University of Georgia • This content analysis evaluated tweets about the opioid epidemic published in 2018 by U.S. federal and state health organizations to find out what components of both textual and visual of tweets can achieve the most effective communication for opioid epidemic including text characteristics, perceived discrete emotion and visual components of images. This study found out that compared to fear, inducing sadness and hope can be more effective in motivating more public engagement.

Coping Strategies for Postpartum Depression in an Online Community for Korean Mothers • Hyang-Sook Kim, Towson University; Mun-Young Chung, Bloomsburg University; Eun Soo Rhee, Towson University; Youjeong Kim, New York Institute of Technology • The proliferation of online health communities creates opportunities to exchange social support. Given the growing need to investigate the ways and extent to which social support helps mothers with postpartum depression (PPD) and psychological distress, we examined the exchange of coping strategies in an online community for PPD among Korean mothers. Based on the dual social support model, we focused on how users sought and provided social support as well as the content of that support (i.e., problem-focused or emotion-focused coping strategies). Through a content analysis of 3,073 posts, including both original posts and replies, from a PPD-related message board in a prominent online community for Korean mothers, we discovered a tendency to provide rather than seek support, indicating strong reciprocity in the community. However, emotion-focused coping strategies were overwhelmingly more prevalent than problem-focused coping strategies, indicating how Korean mothers perceived and used the online community. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Who Is Responsible for Campus Sexual Assaults? Attributions of Responsibility and College Students’ Perceived Risk and Willingness to Engage in Preventive Behaviors • Sei-Hill Kim, University of South Carolina; Soobum Lee, Incheon National University; Jungmi Jun, University of South Carolina • Analyzing data from an online survey of college students in the US, this study examines whether the way students attribute responsibility is associated with their perceived risk of campus sexual assaults and willingness to engage in preventive behaviors. We found that attributing responsibility to victims was correlated with a reduced level of perceived risk, while finding attackers or colleges largely responsible was related with perceiving a greater risk. Attributions of responsibility were also associated, in one way or another, with students’ willingness to help victims, take protective measures, and seek information, suggesting that who they blame primarily for the crime can affect not only their risk perception but also their willingness to engage in a variety of preventive behaviors. Finally, we found that that students’ gender could moderate the relationships between responsibility attributions, risk perceptions, and preventive behaviors. By assessing the role of responsibility attribution in understanding the issue of campus sexual assault, our study can add a new and likely helpful discovery regarding the dynamics of risk perceptions and preventive behaviors.

Food science decision: Scientific consensus, perceived health benefits, and healthy eating interest on making decisions • Jiyoun Kim, University of Maryland; Sumin Fang, University of Maryland • This study explores the effects of food science perception on food decisions in the controversial case of genetically modified (GM) foods. We examine (1) how scientific consensus and scientific deference affect the perceived health effects of GM foods; and (2) how perception and healthy eating interest influence people’s actual food decisions. We divided our samples into four segments with different perceptions of foods science: tradeoff, relaxed, skeptical, and uninterested in the process of data analysis.

Moderating Roles of Self-Construal, Risk Perception, and Direct Experience in the Theory of Planned Behavior • Hye Kyung Kim, Nanyang Technological University; Yungwook Kim • In the context of particulate air pollution in South Korea, this study examined moderators within the theory of planned behavior based on a survey of 1,245 South Koreans. For those who construe the self as independent and perceive higher risk, perceived behavioral control becomes a more important determinant for protective intentions. For those who were  impacted by the risk, perceived behavioral control exerts less influence on forming behavioral intentions. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Public’s Responses to High Rate of Suicides among Native American Youths: The Roles of Attributions and Exemplification • Soojung Kim, University of North Dakota; Jenna Peneueta-Snyder, University of North Dakota • As an attempt to address the high rate of suicides among Native American youths, this study tested the effects of video public service announcements (PSAs) promoting support for them. Guided by the attribution and exemplification theories, this study found that external message attributions led audience’s external attributions, societal responsibility judgments, and helping behaviors, and that this linear path model fit well with data when PSAs included exemplars only. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Overcoming the Fear of Death: Applying Terror Management Theory in An Organ Donation Campaign • Sining Kong, Ms. • Drawing on interdisciplinary insights from terror management theory (TMT), this study examined how death defense mechanism (worldview value) reduces fear of death caused by organ donation campaign and changes people’s perceptions and behavioral intentions of organ donation. A 2 (worldview: enhanced worldview vs. non-enhanced worldview) X 2 (mortality salient condition vs. control) online experiment (N=487) was conducted. Results showed that when people were exposed to an organ donation campaign, increased worldview value generated higher level of trust of organ donation medical system than non-worldview increased condition. When people were not exposed to an organ donation campaign, increased world value enhanced people’s intention of promoting organ donation related information than non-worldview increased condition. Theoretical and practical implications were also discussed in this paper.

Effects of Message Presentation Type on GM food Risk Perception, Similarity Judgement, and Attitude • Namyeon Lee, University of Missouri; Ciera Dockter, University of Missouri; Sungkyoung Lee • Media play an important role in communicating scientific and health-related information, in turn, influencing audience risk perception. This study examined how message presentation types—text only, addition of photographs, or addition of infographics—can affect risk perception and attitude towards GM foods. Audience characteristics were treated as moderators. Results showed infographics lowered risk perception and led individuals to perceive GM and non-GM foods more similarly in their safety on allergy, genetic changes, and organ toxicity.

Reassessing the Variables Used to Measure Public Perceptions of Scientists • John Besley; Nicole Lee, North Carolina State University; Geah Pressgrove • Both academics and science communication practitioners have long been interested in the public’s perceptions of scientists and the impacts of those perceptions. Despite this interest, perceptual variables (e.g., trustworthiness, credibility, and fairness) are inconsistently conceptualized and operationalized within the literature. Through an examination of existing scales, feedback from science communication scholars, and a national survey (N = 605), this study suggests four distinct dimensions underlying perceptual measures. We label these competence, integrity, benevolence, and openness.

Effects of Intergroup Comparison and Online Comments on the Promotion of Bone Marrow Donation for African Americans: The Mediating Role of Discrete Emotions and the Moderating Role of Group Identification • Roselyn Lee-Won, The Ohio State University; Sung Gwan Park, Seoul National University • We conducted an online experiment to investigate the effects of intergroup comparison and online reader comments on the mobilization of intragroup support in the context of bone marrow donation for African Americans, considering the role of group identification and discrete emotions. Results showed that intergroup comparison led to greater behavioral intentions to join a bone marrow registry in the presence of supportive reader comments through elicitation of hope particularly among those low in group identification.

To disclose or not? Understanding employees’ uncertainty and behavior regarding health disclosure in the workplace: A modified socio-ecological approach • Jo-Yun Li, University of Miami; Yeunjae Lee • Employees’ health disclosure may facilitate organizations’ effective workplace health programs and policy design and implementation. Given the complexity of the decision-making process of health disclosure, the present study seeks to understand employees’ health disclosure behavior from an interdisciplinary perspective. We incorporated the socio-ecological model of disclosure (SEM) from the health communication field, uncertainty reduction theory (URT) from the interpersonal communication discipline, and some organizational relationship concepts from the public relations area. Guided by the above theoretical frameworks, a survey of 409 full-time employees at a company/organization with more than 300 employees found that individual (perceived risks and benefits), interpersonal (bonding and bridging ties), and organizational-level factors (negative norms and organizational culture) were significantly associated with employees’ perceived uncertainty—a perquisite variable that predominates individuals’ decision-making process. In addition, engaging in different communication behaviors will help employees reduce uncertainty about health disclosure in the workplace. The findings contribute to the existing literature by expanding possible range of programs to encourage workplace health disclosure and imploring health communicators and organizations to implement interventions targeting multiple levels of the SEM framework to reduce employees’ perceived uncertainty, which in turn may facilitate their disclosure decision-making process.

Effects of Self-Persuasion and Referencing on Attitudes Towards Smoking: A Cross-Cultural Examination • Xuan Jim Liu; Charmaine Lee Jia Le; Muhammad Syafiq Bin Muhammad Shahiddin; Kai Xing Lim • This study investigates the effectiveness of self-persuasion and referencing in reducing smokers’ favourable attitudes towards smoking. The study adopted a 2 (persuasion: self-persuasion vs direct persuasion) by 2 (referencing: self-referencing vs other-referencing) between-subjects experimental study design. This is conducted across two cultural contexts to examine the role culture may play on message persuasiveness. Smokers were recruited from both collectivistic and individualistic societies, Singapore (SG, N=161) and America (US, N=163) respectively. While self-persuasion led to more counterattitudinal thoughts, its effects on smoking attitudes was not significant. Self-referencing was found to induce less favourable attitudes towards smoking than other-referencing, mediated by reactance. Results also found an interaction between Self-Persuasion x Referencing. Under self-persuasion, participants exhibited less favourable attitudes towards smoking in self-referencing than other-referencing. An interaction was also found for Self-Persuasion x Cultural Orientation. Self-persuasion worked better in US than SG, although this did not reach significance. Two-way interaction between Referencing x Cultural Orientation was insignificant. Study findings provide initial direction for anti-smoking campaigns and potentially other resistive behaviours. Future research can replicate this study in different health contexts and populations to increase generalisability of results.

Pro-Environmental Behavior Predicted by Media Exposure, SNS Involvement, and Cognitive and Normative Factors • YIMING LIU, City University of Hong Kong; Xigen Li, Shanghai University; City University of Hong Kong • This study investigates the effect of mass media exposure and social networking sites (SNS) involvement on environmental concern and perceived personal responsibility for environment and the consequent behaviors. Based on the norm activation theory and the theory of planned behavior, a model was built to investigate the mediator and moderator between the environmental concern and pro-environmental behavior. The results show that mass media exposure to environmental-related messages positively predicts environmental concern and perceived personal responsibility, while SNS involvement shows a negative effect on environmental concern and insignificant influence on perceived personal responsibility. For behavior prediction, perceived personal responsibility mediates the relationship between environmental concern and pro-environmental behavior. Subjective norm is found to weaken the effect of environmental concern on both behavior intention and self-reported behavior. Self-efficacy and collective efficacy do not moderate the effect of environmental concern on behavior intention, while collective efficacy weakly moderates the effect on self-reported behavior.

Acquisition and Processing of Health Enhancement Advice  and Behavioral Outcomes • Yang LIU, School of Communication and Design, Sun Yat-Sen University; Xigen Li, Shanghai University; City University of Hong Kong • The study explores how people acquire and process health enhancement information and the underlying mechanism of their effects on consequent behavioral outcomes. Need for cognition and media belief significantly predict information acquisition and processing. The effect of information processing on behavioral outcomes is mediated by perceived efficacy and health consciousness. Information sufficiency mediates the effect of information acquisition on perceived efficacy. Health consciousness mediates the effect of perceived efficacy on behavioral outcomes.

“Why would I choose to live less?”: Millennial cancer clinical trial message frame preference • Brandon Nutting, University of Nebraska-Lincoln; Monique Luisi, Missouri School of Journalism • This study assessed a millennial age cohort’s preference of cancer clinical trials message frames, comparing the preferences to a baseline group. Four types of message frames (altruistic gain, altruistic loss, individualistic gain, and individualistic loss), were tested among participants (n = 435). The millennial cohort preferred the individualistic loss cancer clinical trial message frames. Furthermore, there was a significant relationship between message frame preference and age. The results of this study, along with their implications for recruiting millennials to participate in cancer clinical trials and reducing the cancer burden, are also addressed.

Uncertainty Salience in Prospect Theory: Assessing the Persuasive Effect of Goal Framing and Response Efficacy on the Elderly’s Influenza Vaccination Decisions • Meiyin Luo • Suboptimal influenza vaccination increases pandemic risks and adds burdens to public healthcare systems. Applications of goal framing to the vaccine advocacy have captured mixed findings and brought challenges to its rationale – prospect theory. Given debates on the concept explications of risk in the framing literature, the notion of vaccine risk has been further refined from a novel perspective. This research examined how goal framing and response-efficacy salience interacted to yield optimal persuasiveness in influenza vaccine messages. A 2 (goal framing) × 3 (salience of response-efficacy difference) between-factorial experiment was conducted in Singapore. Results showed that weak persuasiveness of framing could be optimized when introducing the difference of response-efficacy. Theoretically, this research improves the applicability of prospect theory in the health persuasion by redefining vaccine risks as the salience of efficacy difference between action and inaction. Practically, for Singapore government and public healthcare industry, present findings shed light on the alternative message designs to promote influenza vaccine engagement in the senior population.

Does Bringing Climate Change Closer Work? Examining the Impact of Proximizing Climate Change on Risk Perception • Kate Luong, The Ohio State University • The current study examined the impact of portraying climate change impacts as proximal vs. distal on environmental behavioral intention and policy support, mediated via risk perception. Competing hypotheses were derived from construal level theory and self-affirmation theory and tested in an online experiment. The results showed that proximizing climate change actually decreased risk perception and environmental outcomes for people who held more negative attitude towards climate change mitigation, providing support for self-affirmation theory’s predictions. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings were discussed.

Role of Self-Affirmation Order and Narrative Perspective in a Narrative-Based Self-Affirmation Message • Zexin “Marsha” Ma, Oakland University; Xuan Zhu • This study investigates (1) the relative effectiveness of integrated pre-message self-affirmation (SA) and post-message SA manipulations and (2) the persuasiveness of first-person and second-person perspective in narrative-based self-affirmation messages. Two parallel studies were conducted, with one focusing on e-cigarette prevention (N = 80) and the other on nutrition promotion (N = 242). Results from both data sets demonstrated that SA order did not significantly affect defensiveness nor persuasiveness. In the nutrition context, narrative perspective had a significant impact, such that the second-person (vs. first-person) perspective narrative led to higher levels of identification and self-efficacy. This effect was further strengthened in the pre-message SA conditions. Specifically, when the integrated SA manipulation was introduced before the health risk information, second-person (vs. first-person) perspective was more effective at improving identification and self-appraisal in the nutrition context, and at reducing defensiveness and promoting persuasion in the e-cigarette context. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Gun violence as a public health issue: Where do we go from here in terms of media advocacy? • Brooke McKeever; Minhee Choi, University of South Carolina; Denetra Walker; Robert McKeever, University of South Carolina • Recently there has been a push to reframe gun violence as a public health issue. An online survey (N=510) helped study media advocacy, frame salience, and frame adoption. Findings revealed gun control and gun rights are salient, and television and social media are popular sources of gun violence information. Individuals are being held responsible, the NRA is the most recognized organization, and background checks were the most prominent solution. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

The silencing effect of balanced comments • Jessica McKnight, The Ohio State University; Graham Dixon, Ohio State University • In an experiment, we assessed the silencing effects of online comments for a topic rife with scientific misinformation – the autism-vaccine controversy. Exposure to comments representing both sides of the controversy produced silencing effects, but only for individuals whose views align with the scientific community. Instead of affecting one’s perceived opinion climate, “falsely balanced” comment sections might signal the likelihood of uncivil debate in face-to-face contexts, which people holding dominant views may want to avoid.

Social Capital, Stakeholder Perceptions, and Environmental Policy Support: Focusing on Carbon Capture and Storage in Texas • Won-Ki Moon, University of Texas at Austin; Lee Ann Kahlor; Hilary Olson • As new technologies emerge, the governmental organizations developing these technologies are tasked with communicating with the public important information about the benefits these technologies can bring to society, and the risks that may accompany those benefits. The hope is that such public relations efforts will facilitate a balanced understanding of the attendant risks and benefits of a given technology so that people can form opinions as to whether they support the technology’s continued development (or not). In some contexts, the emerging technology is of particular relevance to a specific community, and thus support for the technology is likely to be impacted by social-level variables as well as individual perceptions and attitudes. The current study focuses on public support for one specific emerging technology, carbon capture and storage (CCS), in an area of the U.S. where such technology is likely to have the biggest impact, the oil and gas industry-reliant communities of southeast Texas. Specifically, this study explores relationships between CCS policy support and several stakeholder-focused variables – social capital, risk/benefit perceptions, and perceptions about CCS stakeholders. The results suggest important relationships between perceived risks and benefits, community-focused perceptions (social capital), perceptions about stakeholders (trust in stakeholders and expected role of stakeholders in CCS policy making), and CCS policy support – both individual support and perceived community-level support. Implications for public relations practice are discussed.

Untangling the Contribution of Training on Scientists’ Willingness to Participate in Public Engagement: A Test of Parallel Multiple Mediation • Jacob Copple, University of Texas at Austin; Nichole Bennett; Won-Ki Moon, University of Texas at Austin; Anthony Dudo; Todd Newman; Nicole Leavey; Laura Lindenfeld, Stony Brook University; Chris Volpe, ScienceCounts • This paper investigates the impact communication training has on engagement intentions through a parallel multiple mediation model. Theory of Planned Behavior variables for internal efficacy, response efficacy, and attitudes are examined as potential mediators. Based on a survey of randomly selected scientists from universities in the Association of American Universities (AAU), results indicate indirect effects for internal efficacy and attitude. This research represents a first step into understanding communication training’s role in scientists’ public engagement.

Predictors of HPV Awareness: Data from Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS) • Yuanfeixue Nan • Aiming to clarify the public’s awareness of and knowledge about HPV and HPV vaccine in the U.S., as well as the possible factors that contribute to HPV awareness, a secondary data analysis was conducted using national data from National Cancer Institute (NCI)’s HINTS 5 Cycle 1. The results indicated that there is no progress in raising the awareness of HPV and HPV vaccine in past 4 years. Further efforts need be made in order to reach the remainings. Adults who are relatively younger, with higher education level and economic status were more likely to be aware of HPV and HPV vaccine. Females had higher awareness of HPV and HPV vaccine comparing to males. Adults who lived in northeast of U.S. were more aware of HPV than those in midwest. Non-Hispanic White are much more aware of HPV vaccine than other races, while the non-Hispanic Asian is the ethnic group with least awareness of both HPV and HPV vaccine. Cancer history and electronic health information seeking behavior also could explain part of the disparities of HPV awareness.

Difficult Conversations and Para-Social Relationships in Medical Shows: Analysis of Real-Time Tweets from Viewers of New Amsterdam Medical Drama • James Ndone, University of Missouri • Television medical dramas have been a subject of research among health communication researchers. These television dramas influence health behavior of the viewers. The purpose of this media analysis study was to analyze live-tweets for four consecutive weeks related to New Amsterdam, a television medical drama looking at how audiences perceive and respond to the difficult conversations they see on the drama by tweeting about the show. Thus, the study positions television medium as a powerful way to normalize and generate social dialogue on difficult medical topics.  In addition, the study sought to explore how audiences build para-social relationships and identify with the characters portrayed in the show by live-tweeting when the show is airing. The researcher collected 21,457 tweets, with 75% of the tweets occurring during the central time (CT) airing of the program. A total of 2,178 tweets were used for analysis in this study as they fit in the six broad categories the researcher identified in relation to difficult conversations in New Amsterdam. These themes were: Para-social interactions, tense topics, accuracy, empathy, emotional response and behavioral intention, and identification. Implications for health communication practitioners and medical television dramas’ producers on how to leverage on Twitter for health-related messages are discussed.

The effects of social media on risk perception and preventive behaviors during infectious disease outbreaks: The mediating role of self-relevant emotions • Sang-Hwa Oh, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Seo Yoon Lee, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign; Changhyun Han • While there has been increasing attention to the role of social media during infectious disease outbreaks, relatively little is known about the underlying mechanisms by which social media use affects risk perception and preventive behaviors during such outbreaks. Using data collected during the 2015 Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) outbreak in South Korea, this study explores the relationships among social media use, risk perception, and preventive behaviors by examining the mediating role of two self-relevant emotions: fear and anger. The findings demonstrate that social media use is positively related to both of these emotions, which are also positively related to the public’s risk perception. The findings also indicate that social media use can significantly increase preventive behaviors via the two self-relevant emotions and the public’s risk perception.

A Meta-analysis on mHealth Physical Activity Interventions for Weight Loss: Technology Use, Behavior Change Theories and Techniques • Yan Qin; Xiaojing Wang; Kang Namkoong • Overweight and obesity represent a significant public health problem in an increasing number of countries. Mobile technologies offer potential for efficacious and cost-effective interventions capable of reaching many individuals. The purposes of the current meta-analysis study were to (1) compare the effectiveness of mHealth physical activity (PA) interventions for weight loss to non-technology/usual care/minimal interventions; (2) determine whether technologies used in the interventions affected weight loss results; and (3) examine whether the use of behavior change theories/techniques influenced intervention results. A meta-analysis following PRISMA guidelines was conducted. Weight loss was the primary outcome. Intervention content was independently coded by two coders for technology type, behavior change theory/technique, and other intervention characteristics. A total of 24 studies were identified with 23 RCTs and one matched comparison design. The results showed a medium significant effect size (d=0.400; 95% confidence interval=0.241, 0.558; Z=4.951, P<0.001; N=5146) such that participating in mHealth PA interventions led to more weight loss than control conditions. Interventions were significantly more effective when they used wearable devices as a component of the interventions (QB=3.931, DF=1, P<0.05). However, theory use, the use of smartphone applications and text messages did not have significant moderating effects on intervention effectiveness. This meta-analysis suggests that mHealth PA interventions have the potential to facilitate weight loss among various population groups, especial for overweight and obese populations. However, the inclusion of behavior change theories and techniques needs to be considered with the characteristics of mobile technologies to generate optimal results.

Of nature, trust, and health: Understanding public risk perceptions of genetically engineered foods • Kathleen Rose, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Dominique Brossard, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Dietram Scheufele, University of Wisconsin-Madison • Gene editing technology advances continue to shape agriculture. Past research on GMO attitudes focuses on media coverage and various moral considerations, including “unnaturalness.” Using a representative survey of a North American Midwestern state, we examine how potential outcomes, or consequences, of GE crops impacts risk perceptions. Controlling for established predictors, we find alignment with potential consequences has a significant and substantial impact on GMO risk perceptions, with negative consequences playing a relatively greater role.

The influence of motivationally-relevant appeals on memory for pronutritional health communication messages promoting healthy foods • Lelia Samson, Radboud University; Annemarie Nanne • Motivationally-relevant appeals activate motivational processing, which contributes to memorable messages influencing choices post exposure. Memory formation (recognition and free recall) was recorded in 169 Preteens (aged 7 to 12) and 119 Teenagers (aged 13 to 18) who watched 24 health-related messages varying in Social Visual and Sensory Textual Appeals. Results revealed that pronutritional messages featuring social appeals are better remembered, especially those featuring large groups. The paper makes recommendations for designing effective health-related messages.

Formative Research on Promoting Car-Free Youth Transportation • Autumn Shafer, University of Oregon; Jared Macary, University of Oregon • Car accidents are the leading cause of death among U.S. 10-24 year olds (CDC, 2018). Motivating youth to drive less by choosing car-free mobility may reduce fatalities (Litman, 2016). Results from youth focus groups analyzed through the lens of the theory of planned behavior along with perceived effectiveness feedback on sample messages are presented. This study contributes to our understanding of the theoretical underpinnings of an important and understudied area of health and environmental communication.

Users’ Responses to Public Discourse of HPV Vaccination on YouTube • Yanqing Sun; Fangcao LU, City University of Hong Kong; Stella Chia • This study examines the relationship between characteristics of YouTube videos and audiences’ responses through a content analysis of 186 HPV vaccination-related videos and 4,087 viewers’ comments. In particular, this study used the Health Belief Model and the Theory of Planned Behavior as a reference to identify six content constructs in videos, including the benefits and barriers of HPV vaccination, susceptibility to HPV, severity of HPV, subjective norms and behavioral control of HPV vaccination. We found that a substantial number of videos portrayed HPV vaccines in a negative tone. Videos from anti-vaccination advocacy groups such as Regret and Vaxxed TV were more popular than videos from other sources. Almost half of the videos framed HPV vaccines as female-specific vaccines. Moreover, videos highlighting subjective norms of getting HPV vaccination received more positive comments and in contrast, videos posted by governmental agencies and videos displaying barriers acquired more negative responses.

Truck turnovers and train derailments: How the U.S. freight industry downplays toxic spills • Kristen Swain, University of Mississippi • Social amplification of risk framework highlighted how freight companies communicate about truck and train spills. A newspaper analysis and survey of journalists and state transportation officials showed that almost none of the most serious 5,555 spills in a decade received any press. The 267 stories in 87 papers reported only 54 spills. While journalists provided inadequate coverage of preparedness and lacked knowledge about spills, freight companies blocked reporter access to information, citing homeland security concerns.

The Power of Emotional Appeal in Motivating Behaviors to Mitigate Climate Change • Weiting Tao, University of Miami; Shiyun Tian, University of Miami; Wanhsiu Tsai, University of Miami; Michelle Seelig, University of Miami • This study examines how emotionally evocative viral videos on climate change may promote Generation Z’s actions addressing climate change. Through an online survey of 837 participants, this study provides empirical evidence supporting the conceptual framework incorporating problem recognition, involvement recognition, and motivation mediators to understand the mechanism underlying the effects of emotions on advocacy behaviors from passive information seeking, to proactive willingness to speak out, and willingness to alter behavior to mitigate climate change.

Knowledge and risk perceptions following an an infectious disease outbreak • Esi Thompson, Indiana University • Comparing knowledge and risk perceptions about Ebola from different contexts is critical in designing communication campaigns. Using a comparative case study approach, this exploratory study compare knowledge, risk perception, and information sources between residents in Ghana (an unaffected country) and Liberia (an affected country). Findings show that Liberians had higher knowledge than Ghanaians. But there was no association between knowledge and self-efficacy. The findings suggest that increasing knowledge may not be sufficient in raising self-efficacy levels.

Science Fiction, God, and Nature: A Textual and Frequency Analysis of Facebook Comments about Environmental Applications of Gene Editing • Brittany Walker, University of Georgia • Gene editing holds the potential to address pressing agricultural and environmental challenges. To explore public discussions on this topic, this study performed a thematic analysis of 107 Facebook comments and a frequency analysis of 1,290 Facebook comments. Several themes emerged: pro-science arguments, fears involving higher powers, conflation with genetically modified organisms, and humorous science fiction interpretations. These findings have implications for science communicators and policy makers, as they demonstrate the multipronged reactions gene editing evokes.

Informing the Prescription Drug Cost Debate: What Consumers Want From Journalists Covering Prescription Drug Policy • Kim Walsh-Childers, University of Florida; Diane Ezeh Aruah, University of Florida, Gainseville Florida • Americans pay more for prescription drugs than citizens of any other country in the world. Recent public opinion polls show that large majorities of Americans, across party lines, consider prescription drug costs “unreasonable” and want Congress to take action to reduce prescription drug prices. These poll results demonstrate that the public has substantial interest in government policy related to prescription drug costs. However, the literature provides little information about where, specifically, people obtain information about drug policy (or, for that matter, most other health policies) or what type of information they want journalists to provide in their coverage of drug policy proposals. This paper describes the results of a national survey intended to begin to fill that gap in the research. Drawing on the arguments of Patterson, Donsbach and others that journalists should adopt a new role as society’s “knowledge profession,” the study explored the questions of which media and interpersonal sources consumers use to obtain information about prescription drug policy and what types of information they want journalists to include in their stories about policies meant to help reduce prescription drug prices.

Fear and Hope, Bitter and Sweet: Emotion Sharing of Cancer Community on Twitter • Jinping Wang, Pennsylvania State University; Lewen Wei, Pennsylvania State University • Using a deep learning model and social network analysis, we investigated emotions expressed in a large collection of cancer-related tweets. Joy was the most commonly shared emotion, followed by sadness and fear, with anger, hope, and bittersweet being less shared. In addition, both the gatekeepers and influencers were more likely to post content with positive emotions. Last, tweets with joy, sadness and hope received more likes, whereas tweets with joy and anger were more retweeted.

Predictors of Organ Donation-Related Cognitions and Intentions in China: Communication Variables and Cultural Values • Xiao Wang, Rochester Institute of Technology • China is in the process of establishing a more regulated organ procurement and distribution system. Previous media reports stated that misperceptions toward organ donation created by the media and value-expressive attitudes (e.g., helping others) were two important reasons that prevented or facilitated donor registration in China. Based on a sample of 472 Chinese non-registered donors, the present analysis found that misperceptions toward organ donation in China were a weak predictor of donor registration, compared with subjective norms, self-efficacy, and anticipated guilt, whereas value-expressive attitudes did not predict donor registration. Interpersonal communication, but not media use, was weakly correlated with misperceptions. Neither were related to value-expressive attitudes. Lastly, values (i.e., communitarianism and egalitarianism) were generally related to misperceptions, value-expressive attitudes, and subjective norms, but were not related to efficacy and anticipated guilt. Overall, results indicate that for internalized beliefs, media and interpersonal communication may exert less influence.

Users, Topics and Content Strategies:  Content Analysis of Twelve Climate Change Event Spikes on Twitter • Luping Wang, Cornell University • The increasing media coverage on climate change calls for more research attention on that issue. Reviewing previous studies, we find a focus on understanding the advocacy organizations, as well as how actors connect with other in the activist network. Yet few studies looked at the content, especially the content strategies people used in climate change online discussion.Thus, this work examines in twelve Twitter spike events, who are the most prolific users, what are the types of content people discuss, as well as specific content strategies people used in crafting tweets. The findings suggest prolific users in climate change discussion are activists and bots; users frequently broadcast the news, express personal thoughts and share others’ opinions; and hashtags, hyperlinks and mentions are often used in the content. These results suggest more interaction between elite and non-elite users will be helpful to sustain the momentum climate change activism.

Framing Environmental Risks: Thematic and Episodic Framing, Need for Cognition, and Public Engagement • YAJUN WEN; JIEWEN CHEN; NAINAN WEN • “This research examined the influence of framing of environmental risk news (i.e.,thematic vs. episodic) and individuals’ need for cognition (i.e., NFC) on message attitude, risk perception, and public engagement. We conducted a controlled experiment of 250 college and senior high school students who were asked to read either a thematic-framed or episodic-framed news article on a chemical leak accident in China. Results showed that message framing had direct and indirect influence on risk perception. The indirect relationship was mediated by message attitude. In addition, message framing and NFC worked together to directly influence public engagement with the risk issue. The interaction between message framing and NFC also indirectly influenced risk perception and public engagement, which were mediated by negative emotions. Implications of the findings were also discussed.

From snaps to sun? Young women’s social media use, emotions, and outdoor tanning behaviors • Jessica Willoughby; Jessica Myrick, Pennsylvania State University; Stephanie Gibbons; Clark Kogan, Center for Interdisciplinary Statistical Education and Research • There is a connection between social media use, emotions and tanning behavior, but work is needed to parse out the relationships. We used ecological momentary assessment to collect data from 197 women three times a day for seven days in July 2018. Boredom was associated with increased time on visual social media (VSM). Increased use of VSM was associated with tanning. VSM may be an important channel for skin cancer prevention efforts targeting young women.

Follow the Heart or the Mind?  Examining Cognitive and Affective Attitude on HPV Vaccination Intention • XIZHU XIAO • Human papillomavirus (HPV) is associated with various serious diseases including cervical cancer and genital warts. Although HPV vaccine has been commended as a breakthrough for preventing HPV and HPV-related diseases, the uptake rate remains inadequate and lagging. This dissatisfaction is possibly attributed to a component of interventions that is insufficiently related to individuals’ intentions to get vaccinated against HPV—attitude. With a sample of 430 participants, this study examined which attitudinal component (cognitive vs. affective) is a stronger influencer on the intention to get the HPV vaccine. This study also investigated the influence of risk perceptions of HPV on the attitude and intention of getting the vaccine. Results revealed that cognitive attitude is the sole predictor of intention and mediates the relationship between perceived susceptibility to HPV and the intention to get the vaccine. Theoretical and practical contributions to the field of health communication and HPV vaccine promotion are further discussed.

The Role of Social Distance in Narrative Persuasion for Risk Prevention • Yiwei Xu, Cornell University • This research was designed to examine how narrative messages can influence favorable persuasive outcomes related to driving without cell phone use based on the entertainment overcoming resistance model (EORM) and construal level theory (CLT). An experiment was conducted through using different versions of news stories as the stimuli to test the hypotheses. Results revealed that the low social distance narrative actually increased persuasive resistance. It was also found that one form of persuasive resistance was a significant mediator in the relationship between social distance and persuasive outcomes. Theoretical and practical implications were discussed in the paper.

Young Adults’ (Mis)use of Prescription Opioid Drugs: An Exploratory Study • Jie Xu; Xiaoxia Cao • Based on Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) and the Risk Perception Attitude (RPA) Framework, this study used a survey to examine various factors affecting the risk perception and behavior related to prescription opioid drug (POD) misuse among college students. The results showed that trait reactance, helicopter parenting, and peer pressure were negatively associated with risk perception and positively correlated with POD misuse. Self-efficacy, on the other hand, was positively linked with risk perception and negatively connected with POD misuse. Risk perception was negatively correlated with POD misuse. In addition, self-efficacy moderated the relationship between risk perception and the misuse. This study extends the purview of both SCT and the RPA by testing their central predictions among a sample of a demographic group most vulnerable to the opioid epidemic. It also sheds light on the development of more effective prevention and intervention efforts to counter this burgeoning crisis. Limitations and directions for future research were outlined.

The Leverage Power of Risk Framing in Physician and Patient Communication: A Study of Shared Decision Making Perception • Ellie Yang, University of Wisconsin Madison; Dhavan Shah, UW Madison; Elizabeth Burnside; Terry Little • Risk framing prevails in physician and patient communication where loss versus gain, relative versus absolute presentation intertwine with each other. Current study observed the effect of risk framing on patient perception of shared decision making when discussing breast cancer screening with their primary care provider during the clinical visit. Patients’ awareness of cancer risk is operated as a major condition to moderate the risk framing effect. Multilevel mixed effect models suggest that less risk framing is preferred by patients with high factual risk of breast cancer. Theoretical and social implication for the prospect and regulatory fit theories are discussed.

Online Media Use and HPV Vaccination Intentions in Mainland China:  Integrating a Market Perspective with Media and Behavioral Theories • Guolan Yang, Pennsylvania State University; Jessica Myrick, Pennsylvania State University • This study investigates the role of media in shaping HPV vaccination intentions in mainland China from a marketing standpoint. An online survey (N = 359) revealed direct effects of online information consumption on perceived scarcity of the vaccine, as well as an indirect effect via perceived influence of media on others. Scarcity perceptions, in turn, predicted vaccine attitudes and behavioral intentions. Additionally, gender differences emerged in the data. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

FEMA, media, or search engine? Rumor validation on social media • Janet Yang; Haoran Chu; Sixiao Liu; Jun Zhuang • Based on data from a nationally representative sample, this study explored social cognitive variables that influenced the U.S. public’s motivations to validate rumors about Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma on social media. Risk perception and negative emotions influenced systematic processing of relevant risk information. While systematic processing was significantly related to validation through search engine, trust in information, as a form of heuristic processing, was significantly related to validation through official sources and news outlet.

Cautionary Tales:  Social Representation of Risk in News Coverage of Cyberbullying Victims • Rachel Young; Li Chen; Ge Zhu; Roma Subramanian • A mixed-methods analysis of 610 cyberbullying news stories found that exemplar narratives frequently mention suicide and that extreme risks are qualified by creating victim characteristics. Textual analysis shows how exemplars blame technology for making bullying worse and how deaths by suicide became cautionary tales that also create distance as a form of social coping. Overall, cyberbullying exemplars represent harm and attribute responsibility in ways that suggest how risks can be understood and avoided.

“It’s Global Warming, Stupid”: Aggressive Communication Styles and Political Ideology in  Science Blog Debates about Climate Change • Shupei Yuan, Northern Illinois University; Hang Lu, University of Pennsylvania • Science blogs, as a competing channel to science news reports, play a role in informing and influencing individuals’ science decision-making. The current study examined the effects of a particular communication style – aggressive communication, which is often seen in blogs about climate change debates, on individuals’ pro-environmental behavioral intentions. In addition, two underlying mechanisms – psychological reactance and violation of expectation, as well as the moderating role played by political ideology were investigated. A between-subjects factorial experiment (N = 423) was conducted manipulating aggressive vs. non-aggressive styles in blog articles communicating climate change. The results showed that aggressive style was more likely to trigger psychological reactance and violation of what audience members expected from the writer, which further reduced the audiences’ intentions to act more pro-environmentally. Moreover, liberals responded more negatively to aggressive messages than conservatives. The findings provide plausible explanations for how communication styles affect individuals’ information processing and offer practical implications for science communicators regarding how to select communication styles strategically.

Breaking the Stigma of Depression: The Underlying Mechanisms of the Persuasiveness of Narrative Health Messages • Nanlan Zhang, University of South Carolina; Taylor Jing Wen, University of South Carolina • This paper examined how the message type and the attribute effect on responses to health messages in the context of depression. In addition, this study also investigated the underlying mechanisms of narrative persuasion. A 2 (narrative vs. non-narrative) 2 (attribution to others: presence or absence) factorial between-subject experiment was conducted online recruiting a national sample of 188 American adults. The results showed narrative messages caused changes on the intention to help depression patients through transportation, identification, and the feeling of pity in a serial mediation process. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

< 2019 Abstracts

Electronic News 2018 Abstracts

Media Use and Political Participation: A Comparative Study of U.S., Kenya, and Nigeria • Oluseyi Adegbola, Texas Tech University; Sherice Gearhart, Texas Tech University • This study compares whether news use across media platforms is differently related to online and offline political participation in the U.S., Nigeria and Kenya. Through secondary analysis of data collected from a worldwide survey of adults (N = 1,775), this study found country-specific differences in how both views on national politics and media use predicted political participation. Specifically, there were differences in the effects of traditional and new media on online and offline political participation.

Poles Apart: Influence of Ideology, Partisan Social Media Use,  Discussion and Polarization on Belief Gaps • Tom Johnson, University of Texas at Austin; Heloisa Aruth Sturm, University of Texas at Austin; Lourdes Cueva Chacón, University of Texas at Austin; Jordon Brown • The role of social media in the 2016 election shows the need to study its influence on the belief gap. This study examines the extent to which ideology, partisan social media use, polarization, and political discussion on social media influence false beliefs toward race and immigration. We found that partisan social media use is linked to affective polarization, conservative social media use increases belief gaps on immigration, and issue polarization is linked to belief gaps on both immigration and race.

Factors Motivating Customization and Echo Chamber Creation Within Digital News Environments • Brooke Auxier, University of Maryland, College Park; Jessica Vitak, University of Maryland • In today’s digital environment, news consumers may experience information overload. To combat feelings of unease associated with the influx of news content, some consumers tailor their news ecosystems. This study explores customization and identifies motivating factors. Results from an online survey (N=317) suggest that consumers who diversify their online news streams report lower levels of anxiety related to current events. Findings also suggest differences in reported anxiety levels and customization practices across the political spectrum.

Real Time Political Deliberation on Social Media: Can Televised Debates Lead to Rational and Civil Discussions on Broadcasters’ Facebook Pages? • Lindita Camaj, University of Houston • As broadcast news organizations partner with social media to generate real time reactions to live political debates, this article explores how this trend impacts discussions among their Facebook page users. Data from the 2016 U.S. elections suggest that comments posted on the Facebook pages of ABC and NBC were more rational and civil than comments posted on the Facebook pages of CNN and Fox News. Moreover, discussions prompted by candidate acclaims and policy issues resulted in more deliberate conversations than discussions prompted by opponent attacks and candidate character.

Small Station with Big Voices: Giving a Microphone to Communities Through Student-Citizen Collaborations • Deborah Chung, University of Kentucky; Mike Farrell, University of Kentucky; Kakie Urch, University of Kentucky; Yung Soo Kim • This study offers insights into citizens working with emerging reporters in a journalism capstone course at a U.S.-based university from the perspective of journalism as process and collaboration. Their joint efforts resulted in radio news stories airing on local broadcast stations. Through a series of conversations, unchanged views were found regarding the roles each group was viewed to perform, but mutual respect was developed as citizens gained skills/journalistic style; students gained community connections/general life lessons.

“I know from personal experience”: Shared news consumption and citizen knowledge exchange on Reddit • Corinne Dalelio, Coastal Carolina University; Wendy Weinhold • This study is an investigation into aspects of citizen knowledge sharing around news in the informal online “community of practice” found on Reddit.com/r/news, such as tacit vs. explicit knowledge sharing, tone and incivility, and knowledge questioning. It was found that: 1) incivility was not a hindrance to knowledge exchange, 2) tacit and explicit knowledge sharing occur with equivalent frequency, and 3) knowledge of other participants was questioned more often than that of an outside source.

Personalized news in the age of distraction • Lisa Farman, Ithaca College • This experiment explored the extent to which the cognitive load experienced during multitasking affects attitudes toward and recall of personalized online news. Personalization led to more positive attitudes toward news, and distraction led to worse news topic recall but better detail recall. Distraction also led to less perceived credibility of the news website, which led to more negative attitudes toward the news. No interaction effects were observed, and there were no differences based on multitasking habits.

Technical Frames, Flexibility and Online Pressures in TV Newsrooms • Victor García-Perdomo, Universidad de La Sabana • This research takes a socio-technical approach to understanding TV changes brought by online video platforms. This paper explains how online professionals working for TV stations are implementing digital technologies into their newsrooms to reinforce their online presence. Through participant observation and in-depth interviews, it shows how socio-economic forces and journalistic practices shape technology but, at the same time, it reveals how platforms impose their logic on news production and make producers to lose some control.

How do Lebanese television channels engage with Twitter? An exploratory study into its uses • Claudia Kozman, Lebanese American University; Raluca Cozma, Kansas State University • Through a content analysis of tweets belonging to local television channels in Lebanon, this study sought to examine patterns of their Twitter usage. Guided by the uses and gratifications framework, the current research found that Lebanese broadcast media use Twitter as a one-way tool to disseminate information, rarely making use of its interactivity features. These media tended to discuss news more than any other function, focusing mainly on politics and public affairs.

Frames and sources of links in the climate discussion on Twitter, 2012-2015 • JA Lavaccare, Michigan State University; Kjerstin Thorson, Michigan State University; Luping Wang, Cornell University • We analyzed the 200 most tweeted links during 10 major events related to the climate change issue to find what media sources were most commonly shared, and how this changed over time (2012-2015) and across events. We find that mainstream news media remain dominant. In the second phase of the study, we analyzed framing of the climate issue in widely shared news stories, and how the popularity of frames has changed over time. Notably, a Morality frame was boosted by two major speeches from Pope Francis.

When Everything Else Fails: Radio Journalism during Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico • Yadira Nieves; BRUNO TAKAHASHI, Michigan State University; Manuel Chavez, Michigan State University • In an era of over-reliance on online media technologies in disasters this research assesses the journalistic functions played by Puerto Rican AM radio stations in Hurricane Maria. Throughout the emergency there was total loss of electricity and communications nonetheless local radio maintained operations. This study is one of a few that explore journalistic practices during a disaster in the context of a Spanish-language media system. Through a qualitative analysis of in-depth interviews to radio workers researchers found that in spite of having preparedness plans the magnitude of the disaster led to improvisation and the embracing of alternative journalistic roles. While radio workers were also victims of the disaster they were forced to take on first responder roles.

Prosodic elements for content delivery in broadcast journalism:  A quantitative study of vocal pitch • Shawn Nissen, Brigham Young University; Quint Randle, Brigham Young University; Jenny Lynnes, Brigham Young University; Jared Johnson, Oklahoma State University • Through a quantitative analysis, this exploratory study examined the prosodic elements of mean pitch, pitch variability and pitch range in a sample of 450 voiceovers and throws from 90 male and female broadcast reporters and anchors from larger markets across the United States. Findings indicate that compared to typical speakers in the general population male broadcasters actually speak with an elevated mean pitch, more pitch variability and use more range. However, female broadcasters were found to speak at slightly lower mean pitch levels when compared to other female speakers in the general population (but like males with more variability and range). It is hoped that this study will serve as a starting point in moving broadcast vocal coaching from that of just an art to a bit more of a science.

Rehash or Reset? Examining the intermedia agenda setting effect between Twitter and newspapers on climate change • Yan Su, Washington State University • The purpose of this study was to explore the intermedia influence between Twitter’s and newspapers’ agenda on climate change. Accordingly, using Trump’s announcement of withdrawing the U.S. from the Paris Agreement as a dividing point, the current study compares the issue agendas on Twitter and newspapers before and after the announcement, analyzing both rank-order correlation and cross-lagged correlations between the two platforms. Results suggested that newspapers influenced Twitter before the announcement, while Twitter conversely influenced newspapers’ agenda within five days after the announcement was released, which challenged the assertion that individuals often discuss online within a few days of the reported news coverage. However, although reciprocity appeared, Twitter’s influence was found ephemeral, newspapers regained the dominant role in intermedia agenda setting from the sixth day after the announcement.

Reactance to fact checking: Facebook users’ evaluations of and intentions to share fake news • Shawna White; Nicole Lee, North Carolina State University • Fake news has become a prominent topic since the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Facebook developed a fact-check warning system designed to identify misinformation. We conducted a 2 (warning/no warning) x 2 (RNC/DNC) between-subjects online experiment (N = 235) to test the efficacy of this system, and to investigate whether psychological reactance produces backfire effects. Results revealed the negative outcomes outweighed the positive, explained in part by reactance, particularly when retracted misinformation aligned with partisan predispositions.

2018 ABSTRACTS

Mass Communication and Society 2017 Abstracts

OPEN COMPETITION
Beauty ideals and the media: Constructing the ideal beauty for Nigerian women through music videos • Aje-Ori Agbese • The research examined how Nigerian music videos objectify and define beauty for Nigerian women. The contents of 100 music videos with a love/romance theme were analyzed. The study found that Nigerian music videos defined beautiful women as thin/skinny, light-skinned and smiling. Several videos also featured white women as the ideal. The paper also discusses the impact of such messages on a country where women had the world’s highest rates for skin bleaching in 2012.

Framing Blame in Sexual Assault: An Analysis of Attribution in News Stories about Sexual Assault on College Campuses • Ashlie Andrew; Cassandra Alexopoulos • The current study is a quantitative content analysis examining media coverage of sexual assault on US college campuses. In particular, we focus on the language that journalists employ to tell these stories and assign attribution of sexual assault to the people involved. Drawing on two different theoretical perspectives, Attribution Theory and Media Framing, we analyze how frequently the language in news stories on sexual assault implicitly assign attribution (or minimize attribution) to either the victim or perpetrator in sexual assault cases.

The Social Dimensions of Political Participation • Soo Young Bae • This study investigates the social dimensions of political engagement, and explores the underlying mechanism of the relationship between social media use and political participation. Using a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults, this study reveals the growing significance of the source factor in the online information environment, and tests whether varying levels of trust that individuals have toward the information source can meaningfully relate to their engagement in politics.

The Role of Media Use and Family Media Use in Children’s Eating Behaviors, Food Preferences, and Health Literacy • Kimberly Bissell, University of Alabama; Kim Baker, University of Alabama; Xueying Zhang; Kailey E. Bissell, The University of the South (Sewanee); Sarah Pember, University of Alabama; Yiyi Yang, University of Alabama; Samantha Phillips, University of Alabama • The relationship between the individual and social factors that might predict a child’s health behaviors specific to food consumption and eating is quite complex. A growing body of literature suggests that external factors such as media use, use of media while eating, and the home eating environment certainly could predict factors such as a child’s preference for specific food, nutritional knowledge, and even the ability to identify food products in food advertisements. Using a survey of children in 2nd and 3rd grade, this study examined questions about how much or if general media use, media use while eating, and familial media use during mealtimes related to a child’s general understanding of health specific to nutritional knowledge, food preferences, understanding of food advertising, and self-perception. Results indicate that media use by each child and by the parent—in general and in the context of eating—were related to lower scores on the nutritional knowledge scale, a stronger preference for unhealthy foods, an inability to correctly identify food products in food advertisements, and self-perceptions. Further results indicate that children’s ability to correctly identify food products in food advertisements was especially low, especially in children who reported spending more time with different types of media. These and other findings are discussed.

Assimilation or Consternation? U.S. Latinos’ Perceptions of Trust in Relation to Media and Other Factors • Ginger Blackstone, Harding University; Amy Jo Coffey, University of Florida • Among the U.S. Latino community, even documented workers are nervous about the future. What role might Internet news exposure, television news exposure, newspaper exposure, radio news exposure, age, whether one was born in the U.S., or–if not—length of time spent in the U.S. be relevant to feelings of trust in the government, trust in others, and U.S. immigration policies? How do Latinos’ feelings in these areas compare to non-Latinos? Using the most recent American National Election Survey data available, the authors conducted a series of regressions and other statistical tests in search of answers. It was found that Latino respondents were more likely than non-Latinos to trust that the U.S. government will do the right thing. Television news exposure was a positive factor. Non-Latino respondents were more likely than Latino respondents to trust others. Internet news exposure, radio news exposure, and newspaper exposure were positive factors, while television news exposure was a negative factor. Trust in the government did not correlate with trust in others for Latino respondents; however, it did for non-Latinos but the effect was weak. Regarding U.S. immigration policy, difference between Latino respondents and non-Latinos were significant; however, a majority of both groups indicated support for an immigration policy that allowed undocumented workers to remain in the U.S. under certain (non-specified) conditions. Internet news exposure and radio news exposure were factors in some comparisons. Overall, no clear patterns were found; however, the findings correspond to the literature and provide an opportunity for future research.

Toxic Peers in Online Support Groups for Suicidal Teens: Moderators Reducing Toxic Disinhibition Effects • Nicholas Boehm, Colorado State University; Jamie Switzer, Colorado State University • This paper describes the results of a study that examined if moderated online peer support groups for suicidal teens differ compared to non-moderated online peer support groups for suicidal teens in terms of the frequency of pro-suicide response and the frequency of uncivil and impolite response given by peers. Findings suggest pro-suicide, uncivil, and impolite responses are significantly more likely to occur in the non-moderated peer support group, as explained by the online disinhibition effect.

Exploring Third-Person Perception and Social Media • John Chapin, Penn State • Findings from a study of middle school and high school students (N = 1604) suggest most adolescents are using some form of social media, with texting, Instagram, and Snapchat currently the most popular. Most (67%) have some experience with cyberbullying, with 23% saying they have been victims of cyberbullying and 7% acknowledging they have cyberbullied others. Despite the heavy use of social media and experiences with cyberbullying, participants exhibited third-person perception, believing others are more influenced than they are by negative posts on social media. Third-person perception was predicted by optimistic bias, social media use, age, and experience with various forms of bullying. Third-person perception may provide a useful framework for understanding how adolescents use social media and how they are affected by it.

“Defensive Effect”: Uncivil Disagreement Upsets Me, So I Want to Speak Out Politically • Gina Chen • This study proposed and tested a mediation model called the “defensive effect” to explain the influence of uncivil disagreement online comments on emotions and intention to participate politically. An experiment (N = 953) showed uncivil disagreement – but not civil disagreement – triggered a chain reaction of first boosting negative emotion and then indirectly increasing intention to participate politically, mediated through that emotion burst. Findings are discussed in relation to affective intelligence theory.

Facts, Alternative Facts, and Politics: A Case Study of How a Concept Entered Mainstream and Social Media Discourse • Moonhee Cho, University of Tennessee; Giselle Auger, Rhode Island College; Sally McMillan, University of Tennessee • Adopting agenda setting as a theoretical framework, this study explored how the term ‘alternative facts’ was covered by both mainstream and social media. The authors used Salesforce Marketing Cloud Social Studio and WordStat to analyze 58,383 total posts. The study follows the development of news story and examines some similarities and differences in top words and phrases used by mainstream and social media. The term ‘alternative facts’ had negative valence in both media types.

Television, emotion, and social integration: Testing the effect of media event with the 2017 US Presidential Inauguration • Xi Cui, College of Charleston; Qian Xu, Elon University • This study empirically tests the social integration effect of media event and its psychological mechanism in the context of the live broadcast of the 2017 US Presidential Inauguration. A national sample (N=420) was drawn to investigate the relationships among television viewing of the live broadcast, viewers’ emotion, and their perceived social solidarity measured by perceived entitativity. In general, viewing the inauguration live on television positively predicted viewers’ emotion. Emotion also interacted with viewers’ national identity fusion to influence perceived entitativity. A significant indirect effect of television viewing on perceived entitativity through emotion was discovered. The same effects were found among non-Trump voters. For Trump voters, television viewing did not have any significant influence on any variable. Through these findings, this study shed light on the psychological mechanisms of media event’s social integration effect at the individual level, explicated the visceral nature of social identification related to media event, and argued for the relevance of this mass media genre in contemporary media environment and social zeitgeist.

New media, new ways of getting informed? Examining public affairs knowledge acquisition by young people in China • Di Cui; Fang Wu • This study examined acquisition of public affairs knowledge as an effect of media use and interpersonal discussion in China, where there is a fast transforming media environment. This study examined public affairs knowledge in both mainstream and alternative forms. Findings showed that attention to traditional sources, exposure to new media sources and face-to-face discussion were correlated with public affairs knowledge. Use of new media sources was correlated with alternative public affairs knowledge. Implications were discussed.

Multi-Platform News Use and Political Participation across Age Groups • Trevor Diehl, University of Vienna; Matthew Barnidge, University of Vienna; Homero Gil de Zúñiga, University of Vienna • News consumption in today’s media environment is increasingly characterized by multi-platform news; people now consume news across several multi-media devices. Relying on a nationally representative survey from the U.S., this study develops an index of multi-platform news use, and tests its effects on age-group differences in the way people participate in politics. Results show that Millennials are more likely to rely on multi-platforms for news, which is positively related to alternative modes of public engagement.

Read All About It: The Politicization of “Fake News” on Twitter • John Brummette; Marcia DiStaso, University of Florida; MICHAIL VAFEIADIS, Auburn University; Marcus Messner, Virginia Commonwealth University; Terry Flynn, McMaster University • This study explored the use of the term “fake news” in one of the top news sharing tools, Twitter. Using a social network analysis, characteristics of online networks that formed around discussions of “fake news” was examined. Through a systematic analysis of the members of those networks and their messages, this study found that “fake news” is a very politicized term where current conversations are overshadowing logical and important discussions of the term.

News, Entertainment, or Both? Exploring Audience Perceptions of Media Genre in a Hybrid Media Environment • Stephanie Edgerly, Northwestern; Emily Vraga, George Mason University • This study uses two experimental designs to examine how audiences make genre assessments when encountering media content that blends elements of news and entertainment. In Study 1, we explore how audiences characterize three different versions of a fictitious political talk show program. In Study 2, we consider whether audience perceptions of ‘news-ness’ are influenced by shifts in headline angle and source attribution. The implications of audience definitions of news and its social function are discussed.

A new generation of satire consumers? A socialization approach to youth exposure to news satire • Stephanie Edgerly, Northwestern • This study explores how adolescents—at the doorstep of adulthood—are developing the exposure habit of news satire exposure. Using national survey data consisting of U.S. youth and one associated parent, the paper specifically examines: 1) the prevalence of youth exposure to news satire across a range of media devices and compared to other forms of news, and 2) the socialization factors—parents, school curriculum, and peers—that predict news satire use among today’s youth.

Socially-shared children coming of age: Third-person effect, parental privacy stewardship, and parent monitoring • Betsy Emmons, Samford University; Nia Johnson, Samford University; Lee Farquhar, Samford University • There have been multiple discussions about Facebook’s privacy policies; discourse about parental privacy stewardship has been minimal. As the first generation of socially-shared children become social media users, the collision of privacy with what has already been shared by parents occurs. This study, grounded in third-person effect, asked parents about stewardship of their children’s privacy, and whether other parents were observant. Results affirmed third-person effect for both social media monitoring and privacy among parents.

Journalists primed: How professional identity affects moral decision making • Patrick Ferrucci, U of Colorado; Edson Tandoc, Nanyang Technological University; Erin Schauster • Utilizing identity priming, this study examines whether professional journalists apply ethics differently when primed with occupationally identity. This between-subjects experiment (N=171) administered both conditions the Defining Issues Test, a much-used instrument that measures moral development. The results show identity priming does not affect how journalists apply ethics. The study also found that journalists are potentially far less ethical than they were 13 years ago. These results are interpreted through the lens of social identity theory.

Hydraulic Fracturing on U.S. Cable News • Sherice Gearhart, Texas Tech University; Oluseyi Adegbola, Mr.; Jennifer Huemmer • Hydraulic fracturing, called fracking, is a drilling technique that accesses previously inaccessible oil and gas reserves. Although the process could aid U.S. energy independence, it is controversial and public opinion is divided. Guided by agenda-setting and framing, this study content analyses news coverage of fracking (N = 461) across cable networks (CNN, Fox News, MSNBC). Results show issues discussed and sources used vary ideologically, but all networks failed to provide factual information about the process.

Self-Presentation Strategies’ Effect on Facebook Users’ Subjective Well-being Depending on Self-Esteem Level • Wonseok (Eric) Jang, Texas Tech University; Erik Bucy, Texas Tech University; Janice Cho, Texas Tech University • The current study examined the consequences of different types of self-presentation strategies on Facebook users’ subjective well-being, depending on their level of self-esteem. The results indicated that people with low self-esteem became happier after updating their Facebook status using strategic self-presentation rather than true self-presentation. Meanwhile, people with high self-esteem exhibited similar levels of happiness after updating Facebook using both strategic and true self-presentation.

“Aging…The Great Challenge of This Century”: A Theory-Based Analysis of Retirement Communities’ Websites • Hong Ji; Anne Cooper • By 2040, the large over-65 population will change “religion…work…everything” according to an expert on aging. CCRCs are one health care/housing option for the final years of life. This study of 108 CCRC websites found a self-actualized photo population –smiling, wining/dining, and engaged in various fulfilling pursuits. The disconnect with reality — more males, minorities and healthy people than actually live at CCRCs — has implications for source credibility and the image of ideal aging.

The Role of Social Capital in the United States’s Country Brand • Jong Woo Jun, Dankook University; Jung Ryum Kim, City of Busan; Dong Whan Lee, Dankook University • This study explores antecedents and consequences of social capital. Using Korean college students as research samples, survey research was implemented measuring U.S. media consumptions such as TV drama, Hollywood movies, POP music, advertising, and magazine. As results, American media consumptions influenced social capital elements such as interpersonal trust, institutional trust, network, and norms. Also, interpersonal trust, network, and norms influenced attitudes toward the United States which in turn lead to strong beliefs about the United States. This study extended the usability of social capital to country branding settings, and could provide significant managerial implications to academicians and practitioners.

In the Crosshairs: The Tucson Shooting and the News Framing of Responsibility • Matthew Telleen, Elizabethtown College; Jack Karlis, Georgia College; Sei-Hill Kim • This research adds to the framing literature with a content analysis of media coverage following the 2011 shooting in Tucson, Arizona. Analyzing 535 items from the month after the shooting, it was determined that coverage of the Tucson shooting focused more heavily on societal issues like political rhetoric than on individual issues like mental illness It was also discovered that coverage varied from medium to medium and along political associations.

Tweeting the Election: Comparative Uses of Twitter by Trump and Clinton in the 2016 Election • Flora Khoo, Regent University; William Brown, Regent University • “Social media are increasingly becoming important means of political communication and essential to implementing an effective national election campaign. The present study evaluates the use of Twitter by presidential candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. Results indicate substantial framing differences in the tweets released by the two candidates. These differences are discussed along with implications for future research on the use of Twitter for political campaigns.

The Role of Reanctance Proneness in the Manifestation of Psychological Reactance against Newspaper Editorial • HYUNJUNG KIM • This study investigated the role of trait reactance proneness in the affective and cognitive reactance processes in the context of organ donation in South Korea. A web-based survey experiment using a sample of South Korean residents was conducted. Findings demonstrate that an editorial advocating organ donation from ideologically incongruent media is perceived as more biased than the same editorial from other media. The perceived bias is linked to perceived threat to freedom, which, in turn, is related to affective reactance, leading to unfavorable attitudes toward organ donation, particularly for high trait-reactant individuals. These findings suggest that trait reactance proneness may moderate a psychological reactance process in which affective and cognitive processes of reactance operate separately.

Pride versus Guilt: The Interplay between Emotional Appeals and Self-Construal Levels in Organ Donation Messages • Sining Kong; Jung Won Chun; Sriram Kalyanaraman • Existing research on organ donation has generally focused on message types but ignored how individual differences—and possible underlying mechanisms—affect the effectiveness of organ donation messages. To explore these issues, we conducted a 2 (type of appeal: pride vs guilt) X 2 (self construal: independent vs interdependent) between-subjects factorial experiment to examine how different self-construal levels affect emotional appeals in organ donation messages. The results revealed that regardless of self-construal levels, autonomy mediated the relationship between emotion and attitudes toward organ donation. Also, pride appeal messages generated more autonomy than guilt appeal messages, leading to more positive attitude toward organ donation. Furthermore, after controlling for autonomy, those participants primed with an independent self-construal preferred pride appeal messages more than they did guilt appeal messages. These findings offer important theoretical and applied implications and provide a robust avenue for future research.

“Feminazis,” “libtards,” “snowflakes,” and “racists”: Trolling and the Spiral of Silence • Victoria LaPoe; Candi Carter Olson, Utah State University • Using a mixed methods Qualtrics survey of 338 Twitter and Facebook users, the authors explore the impact that the 2016 election had on people’s political posts both before and after the election and whether or not people actually experienced harassment and threats during the election cycle. This article argues that the internet constitutes a digital public sphere. If trolling causes people—particularly women, LGBTQIA community members, and people who identify with a disability—to censor themselves because they feel their opinion is in the minority or that they will be attacked for stating their ideas, then it would follow that trolling is changing our public sphere, which is affecting our political conversations in a profound way.

Coverage of Physician-Assisted Death: Framing of Brittany Maynard • Sean Baker; Kimberly Lauffer • In 2014, Brittany Maynard, 29, diagnosed with terminal brain cancer, moved from California to Oregon, one of only three U.S. states with legal physician-assisted death, so she could determine when she would die. This paper examines how mainstream U.S. media framed Brittany Maynard’s choice to use physician aid in dying, arguing that although frames initially focused on the event, they transformed into thematic coverage of issues underlying her choice.

Do Political Participation and Use of Information Sources Differ by Age? • Tien-Tsung Lee, University of Kansas; An-Pang Lu; Yitsen Chiu, National Chengchi University • Most studies on the connection between offline and online political participation either focused on young citizens or treated age as a continuous variable. Many of them also used a limited local sample. This survey study employed a national sample to examine the effects of age and information sources on offline and online political participation. The relationship between age and offline/online participation does not appear to be linear, which has important implications for future studies.

Discussing HPV Vaccination: Ego-centric social networks and perceived norms among young men • Wan Chi Leung, University of Canterbury • This study examined the role of social norms in influencing young men’s support for the HPV vaccination. A survey of 656 young adult males in the United States indicated that the perceived injunctive norm was more powerful in predicting support for the HPV vaccination for males than the perceived descriptive norm. The average tie strength in their ego-centric discussion networks for sexual matters, and the heterogeneity of the discussants significantly predict the injunctive norm.

The effects of message desirability and first-person perception of anti-panhandling campaigns on prosocial behaviors • Joon Soo Lim, Syracuse University; Jiyoung Lee • The current research examined the third-person effect (TPE) of anti-panhandling campaign messages. It tested both perceptual and behavioral hypotheses of the TPE. A survey was administered to 660 participants recruited from Mechanical Turk’s Master Workers. The results demonstrate the robustness of third-person perceptions for persuasive campaign messages. We also learned that the magnitudes of TPP for anti-panhandling campaign messages could be moderated by message desirability. Analyzing the behavioral component of TPE, the current study adds empirical evidence that presumed influence of positive social campaign on oneself can make the audience engage in prosocial behaviors as well as promotional behaviors.

The third person effect on Twitter: How partisans view Donald Trump’s campaign messages • Aimee Meader, Winthrop University; Matthew Hayes, Winthrop University; Scott Huffmon, Winthrop University • A telephone poll of Southern respondents in the United States tested the third person effect by comparing partisan perceptions about Donald Trump’s tweets during the 2016 presidential election. Results show that the third person effect was strong for Democrats who viewed the tweets as unfavorable, but diminished for Republicans who viewed the tweets as favorable. Additionally, Republicans’ estimation of media influence on themselves was comparable to Democrats’ perceptions, but estimations of Democrats varied by Party.

‘Where are the children?’: The framing of adoption in national news coverage from 2014 through 2016 • Cynthia Morton; Summer Shelton, University of Florida • Pilot research explored three specific questions: 1) what frames are represented in print news stories about adoption?; 2) which frames are most prevalent in their representation?; and, 3) what implications can be made about the effect of combination of the news frames and their frequency on audience perceptions? A qualitative content analysis was conducted. The findings suggest that print news’s coverage of the child adoption issue leans toward legal/legality and child welfare/work frames. Implications on adoption perceptions and the potential impact on individuals influenced by adoption are discussed.

Exemplification of Child Abduction in U.S. News Media: Testing Media Effects on Parental Perceptions and Assessment of Risk • Jane Weatherred, University of South Carolina; Leigh Moscowitz, University of South Carolina • Despite decades of research, public misperceptions persist about the threat of child abductions in the U.S. Because prior research reveals that parental perceptions of child abduction are mediated by news coverage, this study offers one of the only experimental designs that found links between media coverage and parental perceptions of child abductions, advancing the literature on exemplification theory. This study advances our understanding of how media coverage can impact public perceptions of crime.

Sharing Values vs. Valuing Shares: A Communication Model a Social-Financial Capital • Paige Odegard; Thomas Gallegos; Chris DeRosier, Colorado State University; Jennifer Folsom, Colorado State University; Elizabeth Tilak, Colorado State University; Nicholas Boehm, Colorado State University; Chelsea Eddington, Colorado State University; Cindy Christen, Colorado State University • Emphasizing the shift in priority placed on social, financial, and professional capital in an era of technological growth, this paper proposes the Communication Model of Social-Financial Capital (CMSFC). The paper discusses the effects of innate and acquired identities, and values on preference for social, financial, and professional capital, which in turn affect preference for social media platforms. Finally, the paper discusses how the model is applicable in realistic settings and suggests next steps for empirical validation.

Understanding antecedents of civic engagement in the age of social media: from the perspective of efficacy beliefs • Siyoung Chung; KyuJin Shim; Soojin Kim, Singapore Management University • This study examines three efficacy beliefs— political self-efficacy, political collective efficacy and knowledge sharing efficacy—as antecedents of social media use and civic engagement. Employing more than one thousand samples in Singapore, we empirically test (a) a conceptual framework that can provide an understanding of the relationship between the three types of efficacy and civic engagement and (b) the underlying mechanism through which the three types of efficacy beliefs affect civic engagement via social media. The findings suggest that the current civic engagement is characterized by excessive use of social media. Also, the study implicates knowledge sharing efficacy was found to play an important role in mediating the relationships between social media and political self-efficacy, political collective efficacy, respectively.

Online Surveillance’s Effect on Support for Other Extraordinary Measures to Prevent Terrorism • Elizabeth Stoycheff; Kunto Wibowo, Wayne State University; Juan Liu, Wayne State University; Kai Xu, Wayne State University • The U.S. National Security Agency argues that online mass surveillance has played a pivotal role in preventing acts of terrorism on U.S. soil since 9/11. But journalists and academics have decried the practice, arguing that the implementation of such extraordinary provisions may lead to a slippery slope. As the first study to investigate empirically the relationship between online surveillance and support for other extraordinary measures to prevent terrorism, we find that perceptions of government monitoring lead to increased support for hawkish foreign policy through value-conflict associations in memory that prompt a suppression of others’ online and offline civil liberties, including rights to free speech and a fair trial. Implications for the privacy-security debate are discussed.

Audiences’ Acts of Authentication: A Conceptual Framework • Edson Tandoc, Nanyang Technological University; Richard Ling, Nanyang Technological University Singapore; Oscar Westlund; Andrew Duffy, Nanyang Technological University Singapore; Debbie Goh, Nanyang Technological University Singapore • Through an analysis of relevant literature and open-ended survey responses from 2,501 Singaporeans, this paper proposes a conceptual framework to understand how individuals authenticate the information they encounter on social media. In broad strokes, we find that individuals rely on both their own judgment of the source and the message, and when this does not adequately provide a definitive answer, they turn to external resources to authenticate news items.

Committed participation or flashes of action? Bursts of attention to climate change on Twitter • Kjerstin Thorson, Michigan State University; Luping Wang, Cornell University • We explore participation in bursts of attention to the climate issue on Twitter over a period of five years. Climate advocacy organizations are increasingly focused on mobilizations of issue publics as a route to pressure policy makers. A large Twitter data set shows that attention to climate on Twitter has been growing over time. However, we find little evidence of a “movement” on Twitter: there are few users who participate in online mobilizations over time.

Is the Tweet Mightier than the Quote? Testing the Relative Contribution of Crowd and Journalist Produced Exemplars on Exemplification Effects • Frank Waddell, University of Florida • What happens when journalist selected quotes conflict with the sentiment of online comments? An experiment (N = 276) was conducted to answer this question using a 3 (quote valence: positive vs. negative vs. no quote control) x 3 (comment valence: positive vs. negative vs. no comment control) design. Results revealed that online comments only affect news evaluations in the presence of positive rather than negative quotes. Implications for exemplification theory and online news are discussed.

Ideological Objectivity or Violated Expectations? Testing the Effects of Machine Attribution on News Evaluation • Frank Waddell, University of Florida • Automation now serves an unprecedented role in the production of news. Many readers possess high expectations of these “robot journalists” as objective and error free. However, does news attributed to machines actually meet these expectations? A one-factor experiment (human source vs. machine source) was conducted to answer this question. News attributed to robots was evaluated less positively than news attributed to humans. Attribution effects were invariant between individuals scoring low and high in anthropomorphic tendency.

Express Yourself during the Election Season: Study on Effects of Seeing Disagreement in Facebook News Feeds • Meredith Wang, Washington State University; Porismita Borah; Samuel Rhodes • The 2016 election was characterized by intense polarization and acrimony not only on the debate stage and television airwaves, but also on social media. Using panel data collected during 2016 U.S. Presidential election from a national sample of young adults, current study tests how opinion climate on social media affect ones’ political expression and participation. Result shows disagreement on Facebook encourages young adults to express themselves and further participate in politics. Implications are discussed.

Won’t you be my (Facebook) neighbor? Community communication effects and neighborhood social networks • Brendan Watson, Michigan State University • This paper examines the effect of neighborhood social context, specifically the degree of racial pluralism, on the number of residents who use Facebook to connect with their local neighborhood association to follow issues affecting their community. Analysis is based on a new “community communication effects” approach, replacing the city-wide analysis of prior studies with an analysis of neighborhood data more likely to influence users of newer, participatory communication platforms. Results suggest more complicated, non-linear effects than theorized by the existing literature. Some degree of neighborhood heterogeneity is necessary to create interest in neighborhood issues and spur mediated as opposed to interpersonal communication among neighbors. But too much heterogeneity is associated with a decline in following neighborhood associations on Facebook. The paper identifies where that tipping point occurs and discusses practical and theoretical implications.

The needle and the damage done: Framing the heroin epidemic in the Cincinnati Enquirer • Erin Willis, University of Colorado – Boulder; Chad Painter, University of Dayton • This case study focuses on the Cincinnati Enquirer’s coverage of the heroin epidemic. The Enquirer started the first heroin beat in 2015, and it could serve as a model for other news organizations. Reporters used combinations of episodic, thematic, public health, and crime and law enforcement frames in their coverage. These news frames are discussed in terms of how individualism-collectivism, geographic location, available resources, and social determinants inform journalistic and societal discussions of the heroin epidemic in terms of solutions instead of responsibility or blame.

Suicide and the Media: How Depictions Shape our Understanding of Why People Die by Suicide • Joyce Wolburg, Marquette University; Shiyu Yang; Daniel Erickson; Allysa Michaelsen • The contagion effect of the media upon suicide is well documented, given that suicide rates tend to increase following heavy news coverage of a death by suicide. However, much less is known about the influence that the media has upon attitudes and beliefs about suicide, particularly our understanding of why people choose to die by suicide and our tendency to lay blame for suicidal acts. Using text analysis, this study identifies and describes seven reoccurring themes across the entertainment media—in both drama and comedy—that address the reasons people die by suicide. Further analysis demonstrates how blame is assigned. Conclusions are drawn regarding the overall social impact, especially on the surviving friends, family, therapists, etc.

MOELLER STUDENT COMPETITION
How U.S. Newspapers Frame Animal Rights Issue: A Content Analysis of News Coverage in U.S. • Minhee Choi; Nanlan Zhang • Analyzing newspaper articles, this study explores how American newspapers have framed the issue of animal rights. Results indicate that news stories were more likely to present animal rights as a legal and policy issue, rather than a political and an economic issue, talking primarily about illegality of animal mistreatment and radicalized animal rights activists. Based upon the notion of frame building, this study also examines some factors that may influence the media’s selective use of frames.

Moeller Student Competition • Framing the Taxpaying-Democratization Link: Evidence from Cross-National Newspaper Data • Volha Kananovich • This study explores the relationship between the nature of the political regime and the framing of the construct of a taxpayer in the national press. Based on a computer-assisted analysis of articles from 87 newspapers in 51 countries, it demonstrates that the less democratic a country is, the more likely it is for the press to frame a taxpayer as a subordinate to the state, by discussing taxpaying in enforcement rather than public spending terms.

Moeller Student Competition • Who is Responsible for Low-Fertility in South Korea? • Won-ki Moon, University of South Carolina; Joon Kim, University of South Carolina, Columbia • This study investigated how South Korean newspapers have presented low fertility, specifically focusing on how newspapers attribute responsibility to society or individuals. Through a content analysis of South Korean newspapers (N = 499), we found that the newspapers were focusing heavily on societal-level causes and solutions when talking about low fertility. Among potential causes of and solutions for low fertility, insufficient government aids and financial incentives were mentioned most often.

STUDENT COMPETITION
Online Conversations during an Emergent Health Threat: A Thematic Analysis of Tweets during Zika Virus Outbreak • Alexander Moe, Texas Tech University; Julie Gerdes, Texas Tech University; Joseph Provencher, Texas Tech University; Efren Gomez, Texas Tech University • “Days after the World Health Organization declared an outbreak of Zika in Brazil a global emergency on February 2, 2016, United States President Barack Obama responded by requesting over $1.8 billion in Zika research and prevention funds from Congress. This event put the under-researched disease on the radar of American citizens. The present study examines a set of over 70,000 public Tweets during the days surrounding Obama’s request to understand how Twitter users in the States made sense of the emerging infectious disease.

Understanding why American Christians are intolerant toward Muslims: Christian nationalism and partisan media selection • Kwansik Mun • This paper seeks to explain the formation of political intolerance by reviewing theoretical arguments on Christian nationalism and selective exposure theories. Our analysis confirms the significant relationship between Christian nationalism and ideological news selection, and the mediated effect of ideological news media on both perceived threats and political intolerance toward Muslims.

The “Primed” Third-Person Effect of Racial Minority Portrayals in Media • Jiyoun Suk, University of Wisconsin-Madison • This study explores how priming of different levels of media effects (either strong or weak) influences the third-person effect of media portrayals of African Americans. Through an online posttest-only control group experiment, results show that priming strong media effects heightened perceived media effects on in-group and out-group others, but not on the self. Also, it was the perceptions of in-group others, after reading the strong media effects message, that led support for media literacy education.

Beyond Passive Audience Members: Online Public Opinions in Transitional Society • yafei Zhang, The University of Iowa; Chuqing Dong • This study examined audience members’ online comments of a popular TV news program featuring controversial social issues in the contemporary Chinese society. Findings suggested that audience members expressed more negative comments, substantial cognitive recognition, and constructive suggestions towards the government, elite class, and media. The pluralistic and legitimate public opinions expanded the literature on online public discourse in transitional societies. Audience members as citizens in the formation of public spheres were also discussed.

2017 ABSTRACTS

Graduate Student 2017 Abstracts

Twitter Building the Agenda: How Journalists Use Twitter as a Source While Reporting • Kaitlin Bane, University of Oregon • With a U.S. president infamous for tweeting, it is becoming exceedingly important for scholars to study and understand how the medium is influencing news reporting. Using quantitative content analysis this paper examines the use of tweets as quotes in web-only news organizations compared to traditional print organizations. Findings show that while print outlets most often use Twitter to quote official sources and for opinion comments, web-only news organizations use the medium differently.

Yoga in Media! Using Theory of Planned Behavior to Examine Media Influences on Intention to Practice Yoga • Nandini Bhalla, University of South Carolina • Using theory of planned behavior as a conceptual framework, this paper analyzes the association between the portrayal of yoga in media with the intention to practice yoga, for both yoga practitioners and non-practitioners. A t-test showed that yoga practitioners have a more positive attitude towards yoga media content than non-yoga practitioners and that they internalize media content more strongly than non-practitioners. Hierarchal multiple regression was used to analyze the results. Implications are discussed.

How Activism and Ethics Intersect in Public Relations: A Pilot Study • Minhee Choi • This pilot study explored how public relations practitioners’ activism is associated with their ethics in the context of corporate social responsibility and communication. Although no correlation was found between activism and ethics, results showed that practitioners with high levels of relativist ethics are less likely to be ethical in their communication. Practitioners with more than 20 years of work experience have higher levels of ethics, and practitioners in PR agencies have the lowest ethical levels compared to other sectors. Theoretical and practical implications of the results are discussed.

Tie Strength and Privacy Concern in Social Context Advertising • Chuqing Dong; Alexander Pfeuffer • Social context advertising is a targeting approach using social relationships to promote brands on social media. Drawing upon the concept of social influence, this study examined how social context ads displaying contacts with varying tie strengths affected brand attitude and purchase intent of consumers with differing levels of privacy concern. Regardless of consumers’ privacy concern, social context ads displaying strong ties increased purchase intent while brand attitudes remained unaffected. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

“Sources Say … He May Have Been Depressed and Angry” • Jacqueline Fellows • An increase in mass shootings in the U.S. has amplified the reporting on mental illness despite weak evidence that links the two issues. A qualitative content analysis of local newspaper coverage of five mass shootings in 2015 shows that journalists ignore professional standards and rely on nonqualified sources in stories that include mental illness as a component of mass shooting coverage. Additionally, sources frame mental illness as dangerous and/or undesirable.

What’s in your school? A content analysis of school persona creation using online messages • Dakota Horn, Illinois State University • Message framing is a key part of designing a message to influence a potential buyer or even a potential citizen within a community system. This study examines “about us” pages on school district websites within the state of Illinois to gain incite as to how and why school districts craft messages to create a persona. The examinations will breakdown goal creation of the district and execution through message features: structure, content, style, as well as the potential efficacy of the audience member. A content analysis was performed to show a common theme of message design in comparison of several school districts. The content analysis developed a theme among content creation in online messages.

Why Social Media? Examining the Motivations of Chinese University Students to Gather Public Affairs News on Social Media Platforms • Liefu Jiang, University of Kansas • Through a survey with 568 participants, this paper employs uses-and-gratifications theory to investigate Chinese university students’ public affairs news consumption on WeChat and Sina Weibo, the two most popular Chinese social media platforms. The findings suggest that students’ news reading is driven by different motivations on the two platforms. Socializing and technological-convenience positively relate to WeChat users’ news reading, while information seeking negatively relates. For Sina Weibo users, only technological-convenience positively relates to news reading.

What Drives Facebook and Instagram Users’ Emotional Attachment and Continuing Use? A Comparative Analysis of Internal and Socio-Cultural Factors • Bumsoo Kim, University of Alabama • This study investigated whether and how the internal and socio-cultural factors that differently enhance the level of intensity toward Facebook or Instagram activities and intention to continue to use the platforms. In this study, I propose individual motivations and gratifications (social interaction, entertainment, passing time, peeking, and need for recognition) and socio-cultural factors (subjective norms and SNS culture), and an online survey with 606 adults was conducted. The results showed significant differences between motivations/gratifications for intention to continue to further use Facebook compared to Instagram. The degree to which individuals have willingness to continue to use both platforms can be different depending upon what motivations they have. Individuals’ perceptual level of differences between Facebook and Instagram are important assets for SNS practitioners in developing better SNS technologies as well as for scholars in developing theories about social media use.

Asian Television and Cultural Globalization: A Critical Analysis from 2000–2015 • Dieer Liao, School of Journalism and Communication, Tsinghua University; Yueyue Liang, School of Journalism and Communication, Tsinghua University • This study examines 96 articles about Asian television and cultural globalization published in 19 major SSCI journals of communication studies from 2000–15, aiming to present a meta-analysis of relevant research in the context of international communications. It demonstrates the patterns and distribution of theoretical paradigms, flow trends, issues of concern, territory of focus, methodology, and authorship reflected in the studies surveyed through content analysis. The primary findings of this research are that the political economic framework remains the prevailing critical paradigm in this field; that the most-studied issue is structural control of the media sphere; that China-related studies amount to the largest proportion; and that the qualitative method is adopted most frequently. The highlight is that a gradual shift from in-flow to contra-flow and inter-Asia flow has been noticed, and that South Korea is found to have become the focal center of transnational studies in Asian television and cultural globalization.

Mobilizing the Umbrella Movement: An Alternative Framework of Protest in an Information Society • Zhongxuan LIN • This study takes the Umbrella Movement as a case study to investigate the media mobilizing structures of the protest in an information society. It proposes an alternative framework of “contextualized transmedia mobilization” to explore how protestors situated in a specific context employ, create, circulate, amplify, and converge various forms of media to continually mobilize themselves and the public, and, thus heighten participation levels, innovate contentious repertoires, and experiment with organizational transformation.

The Impact of Social Amplification and Attenuation of Risk: A national survey of Chinese Public Reactions Toward Middle East Respiratory Syndrome • Jiawei Liu; Zhaomeng Niu • Human beings are evolved to avoid threats to protect themselves. Threat caused by risk is a primary biological motivator in our environment and elicit automatic aversive responses. In general, people feel more aroused and pay more attention to the potential threat. Recent research studies call attention to how the public perceive the risk under the influences of multiple factors in individual and social amplification stations. This study developed a conceptual model and examined how media exposure, knowledge, as well as information seeking behavior affected lay understanding and risk perceptions toward MERS in China. In general, the results demonstrated that greater information seeking behavior could predict: 1) higher frequency of media exposure; 2) higher level of individual knowledge of MERS; 3) higher likelihood of amplifying the perceived threat of MERS.

Newspaper Coverage of Mars in the United States and the United Kingdom 2011-2016 • Mikayla Mace • A content analysis of three elite print newspapers in the United States and three in the United Kingdom found that the framing and tone of articles about Mars were deployed similarly despite the different objectives of each country’s space program. From the Apollo moon shots to human exploration of Mars, each successive era of spaceflight has been framed in a logical progression from concept to completion that resonates with the values of the times.

First Ladies: Policy Involvement, Public Approval Ratings, and Women in the Workforce • Nia Mason, Louisiana State University • Based on the theory of social influence, a mixed methods approach was used to understand the relationship between First Ladies’ policy involvement and their approval ratings, and between approval ratings and the number of women in the workforce. A textual analysis examined the first research question. A simple linear regression tested the second research question, showing a significant relationship. A Pearson correlation tested the third research question and showed a relationship of no significance.

Real or Ideal: Millennial Perceptions of Pornographic Media Realism and Influence on Relationship Assessments • Farnosh Mazandarani, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • This study examines pornography and whether content idealism, realism, or sexual explicitness of media genres may affect relationship assessments. Findings indicated greater consumption of pornography predicted lower sex satisfaction, perceived realism indicated higher content identification, and higher identification with pornography lead to greater pornography consumption. Participants who identified more with pornography reported higher sexual expectations. Idealization had no direct effect on relationship assessments yet showed a negative relationship on idealized media consumption on sexual expectations.

Debating What’s Natural: A Qualitative Framing Analysis of “Natural” Food Label News Coverage • Melissa McGinnis, University of Florida • The use of “natural” on food labels is a growing concern for the food industry and consumers. This qualitative framing study uses a literary approach analyzing 51 articles covering the “natural” food label debate in four U.S. nationally recognized newspapers. This study identifies stakeholders most frequently in conflict and the areas of contention in the “natural” food label debate. In addition, this study identifies the terms used to define “natural” foods.

“20 Years is Just the Other Day”: The role of genesis narrative in constructing journalism culture • Ruth Moon, University of Washington • There is evidence that political influences shape professional views, but that the specifics of local culture impact journalists’ actual practices. However, there is little research unpacking the particular ways culture impacts journalism. Using theoretical perspectives from journalism studies and organizational sociology and newsroom ethnographic data gathered in Kigali, Rwanda, I show how narratives constructed from elements of local culture and shared history function as myths that impact journalism culture on both ideological and practical levels.

Visual Framing of Dieselgate: A Content Analysis of Global News Coverage • David Morris II, University of Oregon • News coverage of an event traditionally attempts to provide the largest audience with the greatest information that would impact that audience. In their visual coverage of Volkswagen’s emission scandal commonly referred to as “Dieselgate,” newspapers from around the world seemed to fall short of this practice. This study investigates the type of visuals and themes used by more than 6,000 newspapers from news outlets across the globe in their coverage of Dieselgate. In a content analysis of newspapers’ front pages for one week following Volkswagen’s Clean Air Act of 1963 Notice of Violation, this study reveals that the dominate visual deployed by newspapers from around the world is a single photograph. The research also finds that a dominant visual theme in the newspaper coverage of Dieselgate around the world is financial in nature. Perhaps more concerning is the absence of visual representation of Dieselgate as a global environmental issue.

Effects of Brand Placement in Mobile Applications on Consumer Responses • Haseon Park, University of North Dakota • This study examined the effects of individual thinking style and ad congruency to explore the effects of native advertising on consumer responses in mobile applications. The experimental results revealed the interaction effects of nativity and thinking styles, nativity and congruency. This study findings contribute not only to the understanding of the effects of thinking styles and ad congruency in native advertising, but also to extending the scope of mobile native advertising research.

The UNC Academic Scandal: A Framing Analysis of Local Media Coverage • Matthew Stilwell, University of South Carolina • The purpose of this study is to examine how a local media outlet, The News & Observer, reported the University of North Carolina (UNC) academic scandal. This study used a framing analysis and constant-comparative methodology to analyze the dominant frames that were emphasized or resistant in local media coverage. Results indicated that multiple parties and players were the focus of the news stories. Factors including blame and athletics in higher education are discussed.

Sharing Cultural Goods on Facebook: Social Capital, Opinion Leadership, and Electronic Word-of-Mouth • Alec Tefertiller, University of Oregon • While the role of paid advertising in online environments has diminished, electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) has become increasingly valuable. This study sought to determine if consumers’ trust in their social media network, defined as social capital, or identification as an opinion leader better predicted social media eWOM related to cultural goods. The key finding was that perceived opinion leadership consistently best predicted Facebook eWOM.

Chinese Watchdogs: Journalistic Role Performance in Chinese Media • Emeka Umejei, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa • This paper examines the relationship between journalistic role conception and role performance within Chinese media organisations based in Africa (Xinhua News Agency, China Central Television and China Daily newspaper). It contributes a non-western perspective to the debate on the relationship between role conception and role performance. The paper demonstrates the ways in which the relationship between role conception and role performance within Chinese media is hinged upon conditional autonomy in relation to the typology of stories. Furthermore, it argues the dominant practice of using survey methods in examining the relationship between journalistic role conception and role performance is not suited to contexts outside Anglo-American sphere. It therefore proposes a qualitative approach that combines semi-structured interview and qualitative content analysis in examining this relationship within contexts of limited journalistic autonomy.

Twitter as a digital union: Exploring blogger reactions to corporate collapse • Mariah Wellman, The University of Iowa • This paper asks whether Twitter can afford the formation of digital unions during labor crises using a cast study of Mode Media, a lifestyle publishing and ad network that shut down without compensating its bloggers. Through a textual analysis of tweets containing the hashtag #ModeOwesBloggers, I argue bloggers used Twitter to create a sense of solidarity in a time of struggle by advocating for change, empathizing with other bloggers, and communicating feelings to Mode Media.

Meeting the New Players: A Study of Digital Native Journalists’ Professionalism • LU WU • Digital native journalists have brought new blood and challenges to journalistic professionalism. This paper surveyed digital native journalists and legacy journalists on their three dimensions of professionalism. Findings show that digital native journalists are both preservers and transformers of journalistic professionalism. Identifying how digital native journalists differentiate from legacy journalists on aspects of professionalism has afforded some clues of how journalistic professional values and practices will develop in the future.

Social News: Enhancing Media Richness by Connecting Virtuality with Reality in Cyberspace • Yanfang Wu • Utilizing a purposeful snow-ball rolling strategy, the investigator conducted semi-structured qualitative interviews from June to July 2014. Thirteen interviewees titled journalists, convergence journalists, editors, community editors, and engagement editors, from thirteen different newsrooms of multiple platforms, varied from newspaper, radio, television, magazine to online only news organizations were interviewed. Their affiliated news organizations vary in size, from large to small. Based on media richness theory, the study shed light on how journalists, using social cues, delve into the virtual world, build connections between the “virtuality” and “reality” through finding sources, interacting with audiences, constructing virtual communities in the cyberspace and integrating the “virtuality” with the “reality” into the news production process. With its rich multimedia function that allows immediate response between journalists and audiences, social media becomes a rich medium that connects the “virtuality” to the “reality” in news.

Creating Spaces Revisited: Students Perspectives on International and Multi(inter)cultural Public Relations Education • Kiaya Young • In a global market employees need the skills to be able to work in a multicultural market. International public relation skills are becoming a necessity. Public Relations practitioners are educated on various fundamental skills through their educational programs, but there has been a lack of international and multi(inter)cultural education. This paper is a restudy of Nilajana Bardhan 2003 study Creating Spaces for International and Multi(inter)cultural Perspectives in Undergraduate Public Reactions Education

Perceptions of Advertising with Interracial Couples: The Influence of Race and Attitudes Toward Interracial Dating • Taylor Young, Oklahoma State University • The present study analyzed how models’ race or ethnicity influences attitudes toward advertising that portrays interracial couples. A survey of college students (n=309) was conducted to examine whether the type of couple (interracial or same race) or the configuration of the interracial couple (Black female – White male or Black male – White female) influenced their response. Additionally, it explored how respondents’ race or ethnicity and preexisting attitudes toward interracial dating impacted their response to the ad.

Culture, Media, and Depression: A Focus Group Study in Understanding International Students’ Mental Health Literacy • Nanlan Zhang • This study employed qualitative, in-depth focus groups with international students and U.S. students to explore their perceived mental health literacy and perceptions of information portrayed in mass media regarding depression. The results found that American students showed openness and sufficiency in talking about depression. International students assigned stigma in the Asian and African cultural values as a major barrier to discussing personal experiences regarding depression in public. Both groups held negative attitudes toward media in conveying messages about depression but showed more trust on social support, which implied a need for improving public’s mental health literacy.

2017 ABSTRACTS

Entertainment Studies 2017 Abstracts

Blackish: Deconstruction and the changing nature of black identity • Venise Berry, University of Iowa • The hit ABC television show Blackish explores the changing nature of black identity in America. Specifically, Blackish critically tests a number of core ideas that influence the authenticity of blackness. This analysis examines how black identity and authenticity are communicated within this specific television program as a resistant, satirical narrative effectively deconstructing the commodification of stereotypes, stigmas, racial biases, and historic myths.

Undisclosed information – Serial is My Favorite Murder: Examining Motivations in the True Crime Podcast Audience • Kelli Boling, University of South Carolina • This study explores the true crime podcast audience within the uses and gratifications theoretical frame. Using an online survey (n = 308), this study found that the true crime podcast audience is predominantly female (73%), and five motivations were prominent for users: entertainment, convenience, boredom, voyeurism, and relaxation. All significant motivating factors were found to be more salient for females than for males. Practical and theoretical implications for genre-specific media are discussed.

My Sexual Entertainment, My Vote: How Attitudes Toward Condom Use in Pornography Related to Support for California’s Condom Law • Kyla Garrett Wagner, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Joseph Cabosky, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • In 2016, Californians voted down Proposition #60, which aimed to mandate condom use in pornography. This study’s survey of residents assessed how one’s entertainment preferences relate to their support for regulation. Findings generally suggest some aversion to condom use in pornography, especially among heterosexual males. Data suggest the more pornography one watches, the more averse one is to condoms in pornography, as well more opposed to regulation. Results varied more by gender than sexual orientation.

“FYI: This Video is Sponsored:” Exploring Credibility in User-Generated and Professionally-Generated YouTube Videos • Madeline Migis, The University of North Texas; Sara Champlin, The University of North Texas • YouTube now holds the attention of more 18 to 34 year olds than any major cable network. As a result, advertisers capitalize on the popularity of YouTube content creators to broadcast branded information through the creator’s large audiences. A sample of 144 videos, representing 44 creators, were examined. From this dataset, themes were generated that pointing to ways in which credibility and truthfulness are depicted in sponsored and non-sponsored content across user- and professionally-generated content.

Selfie-posting on social media: The influence of narcissism, identification, and gender on celebrity followers • Li Chen; Carol Liebler • The celebrities and the selfie are both prevalent in contemporary popular culture. The present research aims to examine social media users’ narcissism, involvement with celebrity culture, and gender as predictors on their selfie-posting behavior. We recruited 594 respondents through MTurk, who lived in the US and followed at least one celebrity on social media. Respondents completed a 15-minutes online survey through Qualtric. The current study provided empirical evidence of narcissism’s critical role in selfie-posting and involvement with celebrity culture. Results also showed that the identification with celebrity culture and the attitudes towards celebrity selfies served as mediators in the relationship between narcissism and selfie-posting frequency. Meanwhile, gender played a role in these relationships. Based on our study, women post selfies more frequently than men. Interestingly, we also found the interaction effect between respondent gender and celebrity gender on the attitudes towards celebrity selfies.

The Efficacy of Radio Entertainment Education in Disseminating Health Messages: A Meta- Analysis • Pratiti Diddi, Pennsylvania state university; Sushma Kumble, Pennsylvania state university; Fuyuan Shen • The present meta-analytic review of 23 studies (N = 35,138) examined the persuasive effect of radio based entertainment education efforts in the area of health communication. The results suggested that overall persuasion effects of radio messages was small but significant (r=.13, p<.001). There were significant moderating effects for health issues (r = .17, p<0.001), and exposure time (r = .14, p<0.001) and research design setting (r = .14, p<0.001). Gender did not moderate the effect.

Connecting to the Narrative: The influence of relevance, motivation, and realism on narrative identification. • Matt Eastin, The University of Texas at Austin; Vincent Cicchirillo, DePaul; Mary Dunn, The University of Texas at Austin; Fangxin Xu, The University of Texas at Austin • Over the past two decades, researchers have examined video game play through content, player, and engagement differences to better understand both positive and negative outcomes from play. To extend the research agenda and move gaming research beyond the play perspective, this research turns the focus to game narrative elements. Specifically, this study will use a backstory narrative to examine the effects of setting relevance (i.e., location), motivation (i.e., attack and retaliatory violence), and perceived realism, on identification and subsequent state arousal and state hostility. In doing so, this research furthers the understanding of how interactive storytelling can have an impact on a player’s psychological perspective prior to content engagement.

Social Comparison on Facebook and the Impact on Life Satisfaction • Lee Farquhar, Samford University; Theresa Davidson, Samford University • Facebook use, lower self-esteem, and loneliness have been regularly examined in recent years. However, scholars, it seems, have left a gap with regard to social comparisons on Facebook, which now claims over 1.23 billion in active daily users (Facebook Newsroom, 2017). The effects of these comparisons on general well-being outcomes need further examination. This paper examined Facebook Intensity, general Social Comparisons, and Facebook-specific comparisons as predictors of Life Satisfaction and Happiness. Survey data was collected from college students and Amazon’s Mechanical Turk workers. Broadly speaking, social media matters in terms of one’s happiness and life satisfaction. Results indicate the salience of general social comparisons, and, Facebook-specific comparisons to impact Life Satisfaction and Happiness. Facebook Intensity did not serve as a predictor in either of our models; however, time spent on the site predicted Life Satisfaction.

The influence of female lead characters in political TV shows: Links to political engagement • Jennifer Hoewe, University of Alabama; Lindsey Sherrill, University of Alabama • This study examines political television dramas with lead female characters, proposing a model that links viewing of these shows with political engagement. A survey revealed that individuals who regularly viewed Madam Secretary, The Good Wife, or Scandal reported feelings of transportation and connections with the main characters – women in positions of political power and leadership. These parasocial relationships then led to increases in political interest and self-efficacy, with interest then predicting real-world political participation. The findings illustrate that these political dramas – featuring strong lead female characters – have prosocial implications, including the non-stereotypical representation of women and eventual increases in political engagement among viewers.

Co-op Mode: Players’ Parasocial Interactions with Video Game Characters • Kyle Holody, Coastal Carolina University; Sommersill Tarabek, Savannah College of Art and Design • The present study examined parasocial interaction (PI) and parasocial relationships (PR) within the scope of 2011 high-narrative video game The Last of Us. While previous research on PI and PR focused heavily on celebrities and television content, this study expounded on the limited literature concerning players’ cognitive and attitudinal responses to video games. A survey was utilized to examine effects of the game and related variables, such as players’ aggression, transportation, empathy, and morality. Results were compared to an experimental pilot test and suggest that players experience different interactions with in-game characters and that these interactions are related to different cognitive and emotional responses the players have to the game. The results also justify the need for further research into what influences players’ PIs, aggression, and other game effects, and indicate the effects video game players feel while playing are much more complicated and may last longer than currently understood.

Television for Good? An Examination of Depictions of African American Families in Situation Comedies • Brittany Jefferson • The depictions of African Americans in entertainment has often been a topic of debate. This paper reviews the extant literature regarding depictions of African American families on television shows intended to display positive representations free of stereotypes. Despite the stated goals of such programming, characters featured tended to reflect established racial stereotypes or failed to represent realistic experiences shared by African Americans. The consequences and ethical implications of such programming is also explored.

In Contempt of Court?: Unintended Consequences of Watching Courtroom Shows • Khadija Ejaz; Joon Kim, University of South Carolina, Columbia; Nandini Bhalla, University of South Carolina; Jane Weatherred, University of South Carolina • Courtroom shows like Judge Judy frequently top the ratings charts in the United States. This study examines such shows through media system dependency (MSD). Responses from a sample of 401 respondents were gathered using a self-administered online survey. Analysis revealed that watching courtroom shows made viewers dependent on television to understand the world. At the same time, such dependence was related to poor knowledge of the small claims court system. The implications of this finding are discussed in light of other findings that indicated that watching such shows made viewers more likely to participate in both real and television courts.

Integrating the Theory of Planned Behavior and Uses and Gratifications to Understand Music Streaming Behavior • Heidi Bolduc, University of Central Florida; William Kinnally, University of Central Florida • Nielsen Music 360 Research Report indicates that 67% of all music consumers in the U.S. used digital music streaming services to listen, discover, and share music (The Nielsen Company, 2014). Scholars and music professionals are recognizing the importance of understanding the influences behind music streaming behavior. This study proposes an expanded Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) model by integrating the TPB with music streaming motives from the Uses and Gratifications theory. The expansion reflects an effort to gain a better understanding of the intentions to use music streaming services and actual behavior. Results suggest that both the original TPB and expanded TPB models can be successfully applied within the context of digital music streaming service use. Specifically, attitudes and perceived behavioral control drive behavioral intention in the traditional TPB model whereas only attitudes predict behavior. In the expanded TPB model the motives of convenience and information seeking emerged as contributors to intention to use digital music streaming services, while the motives of entertainment and social identification emerged as predictors of streaming behavior. Ultimately, these results reveal fundamental differences between what leads listeners to use the services and what keeps them listening. The implications are discussed.

Exploring the Effects of Viewer Enjoyment of The Apprentice on Perceptions and Voting Behavior for President Trump • Shu-Yueh Lee, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh; Sara Hansen, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh • This research explores how viewer enjoyment of The Apprentice and The Celebrity Apprentice as entertainment media impacted attitudes toward Donald Trump and voting intentions in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Data from an online survey with 624 responses were analyzed using path analysis. Meaningfulness in watching the shows contributed to enjoyment, which positively influenced attitudes toward Trump’s charismatic leadership that then predicted intention to vote for him. Implications for media entertainment and culture are discussed.

Dad, Where Are We Going? Analyzing the Popular Chinese Reality TV Show from a Communication Perspective • Sixiao Liu, University at Buffalo, SUNY; Hua Wang • “In this study, we examined a popular Chinese reality TV show Dad, Where Are We Going, using the framework of entertainment-education communication strategy. We analyzed the program content of five celebrity fathers and their children engaging in a variety of challenging activities as well as the audience response on social media. Our quantitative content analysis included two parts: (1) using 10 communication dimensions (five nonverbal and five verbal) for decoding different parenting styles, and (2) evaluating the scale, valence, and insights from audience comments online. We discuss the research findings and implications for parenting and fatherhood in the contemporary Chinese society.

Spoiler Alert: Can Co-Viewing with Smartphones Save TV from YouTube? • Rebecca Nee, San Diego State University; Valerie Barker, sdsu • Viewership of entertainment programming on traditional television channels has been steadily declining. Mobile phones, social media, streaming videos, and YouTube compete for the attention of younger audiences. This study of 18 and 19-year-old college students (N = 345) found television viewing is far from dead, however. The practice of co-viewing virtually with others through a mobile phone enhances the experience for young adults, providing a sense of social capital affinity and gratifying social identity needs.

Television and the role model effect: Exposure to political drama and attitude towards female politicians • Azmat Rasul, Florida State University; Arthur Raney • Entertainment television historically relied on the engaging potential of political broadcasting, and political fiction played a significant role as a narrator of stories about politics and politicians using different plot lines such as comedy, drama, thriller, and action. To understand the processes through which exposure to primetime drama culminates in an attitudinal change, the current study proposes an SEM model to explicate the role of essential mediating variables such as identification, transportation into the narrative, enjoyment, and political self-efficacy, and focuses on direct and indirect effects between media use motivations and attitude toward female politicians. The results indicated that there is a significant relationship between exposure to political drama and audience attitude towards female politicians.

Effects of Customized Ratings on User Evaluations of Television Shows • Jeremy Saks, Ohio University; Carson Wagner, Ohio University • This study analyzes the effects of customized ratings on individuals’ enjoyment of television shows. The study utilizes an experimental methodology that attempts to mimic that of popular media distribution websites, such as Netflix. The results show that individuals report differing levels of enjoyment depending on the ratings they receive prior to viewing shows in three genres despite the fact that the ratings are randomly assigned. The results and implications are discussed.

The role of readers’ performance of a narrative on their beliefs about transgender persons: A mental models approach • Neelam Sharma • Narratives are powerful communication tools that can influence people’s beliefs and attitudes. Narrative processing literature explains cognitive operations involved in information processing in terms of transportation and identification with characters. Narrative performance, however, is an unexplored construct in narrative engagement literature. Narrative performance is a process by which readers bring cognitions and emotions to construct distinct story worlds into which they can be transported. This study advances the narrative processing literature by examining how people’s performance of a narrative affects their story-related beliefs. A three-condition experiment, with 174 voluntary participants, was conducted to gauge the effects of performance on viewers’ beliefs about transgender persons. Multivariate regression analysis demonstrated that narrative performance can weaken the effects of narrative transportation, and performance can be a stronger predictor of viewers’ story-related beliefs. The study discriminates narrative performance from narrative transportation, demonstrating construct validity. This study uses mental models approach as a theoretical basis, and along with operationalization of narrative performance, develops valid and reliable scales for measuring viewers’ beliefs about transgender persons and their propensity to take action in socializing with transgender persons.

Appealing to Niche Markets: A Typology of Transmedia Storytelling for Digital Television • Ryan Stoldt • “Traditional television networks have a limited amount of time available to broadcast content, so programming decisions are based on maximizing potential market reach instead of in appealing to small markets. Digital television’s broadcast time is solely limited by server space and regulation of broadband data transference, so their technological infrastructure affords more opportunities to appeal to smaller markets. These affordances can be seen through the types of programming digital television services produce. This paper proposes a typology of transmedia stories used by digital television services like Netflix and Hulu to appeal to niche markets to grow their business. Five types of transmedia stories were theorized to appeal to varying levels of niche markets: serialized continuations, augmented continuations, world building universes, cross-platform personalities, and adaptations. This typology provides a better understanding of the production practices of digital television networks, an area of research that has received little attention to date.

Binge-Watching: A Concept Explication • Stephen Warren, University of Massachusetts • Binge-watching has yet to be adequately analyzed and researched to determine its effects, despite myriad Americans engaging in the activity. While some studies have attempted to discover its causes or effects, most research fails to operationalize the viewing aspects of binge-watching that make the experience unique. This concept explication reviewed the existing literature on other binge activities and behaviors and attempted to develop guidelines for more specifically defining and measuring binge-watching in future studies.

Behind the Music: How Music Journalists Understand Their Roles and Their Readers • Kelsey Whipple, University of Texas at Austin • Through in-depth interviews, this study explores the professional roles of music journalists and the ways they think about and create content for their audiences. It applies the hierarchy of influences and journalistic role conceptions to a new role for these lifestyle journalists: curator. The findings also suggest that music journalists see consideration of their audiences as limiting, and they are driven to focus on increasingly niche genres of music to differentiate themselves as experts.

Exploring the Business Potential of Location-Based Mobile Games: Taking Pokémon Go as an Example • Linwan Wu, University of South Carolina; Matthew Stilwell, University of South Carolina • Pokémon Go, a location-based mobile game, has been tremendously prevalent ever since its launch in 2016. Advertising professionals have begun to consider this game as a promising advertising platform. This study investigates the business potential of this game by conducting a survey to examine the psychological process of the gameplay and how it leads to advertising effectiveness. Results indicated that players experienced spatial presence, which positively influenced their attitudes toward and behavior intentions to the sponsors. Moreover, spatial presence was positively influenced by players’ game engagement, perceived mobility, and contextual perceived value (CPV). We also identified players’ motives of playing Pokémon Go, including the exercise, entertainment, and social motive. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Don’t Respond to Strangers: How a Groundbreaking Television Drama Serial Helped Raise Domestic Violence Awareness in China • Zhiying Yue; Hua Wang • Don’t Respond to Strangers is the first and only television drama serial about domestic violence in China. Given its purposeful attempt to address domestic violence as a prevalent yet taboo topic, we used entertainment-education (E-E) as an overarching framework and the protection motivation theory (PMT) as our conceptual foundation to examine this program. We first analyzed the messaging in drama serial and the viewer comments posted on online forums about the show. Major themes identified from both the drama serial and viewer comments were consistent for raising awareness and stimulating discussions about domestic violence. Based on the results, we conducted an online survey with 326 adults in China. Within PMT framework, path model results showed that exposure to this drama was significantly associated with perceived severity of domestic violence and perceived reward from tolerating domestic violence. Furthermore, perceived severity and self-efficacy were significant predictors of Domestic Violence Law support and the intention to fight against domestic violence; self-efficacy was also a significant predictor of intention to intervene domestic violence; and perceived reward was the only significant predictor of tolerating domestic violence. These findings have theoretical and practical implications for E-E interventions in domestic violence context

Facebook vs. YouTube Manners: Effects of Pseudonymity on Posting Politeness • Gi Woong Yun, University of Nevada, Reno; Sasha Allgayer, Bowling Green State University • Facebook and YouTube function differently, but particularly in regards to anonymity or pseudonymity of users. This study evaluates public reaction to one of the most contentious topics of current European music and art; Conchita Wurst. Comments from Facebook and YouTube were collected and quantitatively analyzed to discern similarities/differences between the types of comments posted by users on the two platforms. Of particular intrigue was the role pseudonymity and self-identifying information have on social media manners. Overall, many users seemed to be unimpacted by levels of self-identifying information. However, profane language was less frequent and replies to comments were more civil on the network with self-identifying information; Facebook. The results of this study shed some light to online politeness: Systematic mechanisms that identify self and personal networks (Facebook’s use of full name and friendship networks) correlate with increased politeness and reduction of nasty comments towards other users.

2017 ABSTRACTS

Communication Theory and Methodology 2017 Abstracts

OPEN CALL COMPETITION
Mediated Food Cues: A Theoretical Framework for Sensory Information • Lauren Bayliss, University of Florida • Through a series of propositions, this paper outlines how message strategies related to the feelings food causes, such as full-stomach feelings and taste enjoyment, could be used to communicate food and nutrition information to laypeople. To incorporate somatosensory information into communication theory, this paper develops a framework for food and nutrition message processing based on perceived information importance and comprehension as conceptualized in Subjective Message Construct Theory (SMCT). Within this framework, concepts from food studies research are reviewed and applied to strategic health communication. By integrating concepts from food studies, nutrition labeling, and individual differences specific to food, such as eating restraint, the framework provides an approach to understanding how food messages may be different from other forms of communication. Finally, an example is given of how the theoretical framework can be applied when communicating about a specific type of nutrition information, energy density.

Competitive frames and the moderating effects of partisanship on real-time environmental behavior: Using ecological momentary assessment in competitive framing effects research • Porismita Borah • One of the major findings from cognitive sciences demonstrates that humans think in terms of structures called frames. The present study conducted two focus groups and two experiments to understand the influence of competitive frames on real-time environmental behavior. To capture real-time behavior, the second experiment used Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) methodology via mobile technology. Findings show that a message with elements from both problem-solving and catastrophe frames increased individuals’ environmental behavior. This relationship is moderated by political ideology, such that only those participants who identified as Democrats and Independents showed more pro-environmental behavior. Overall, Republications were low on pro-environmental behavior compared to the Democrats. But within the Republicans, participants showed more likelihood for pro-environmental behavior in the catastrophe framed condition. Implications are discussed.

More Than a Reminder: A Method for Using Text Messages to Communicate with Young People and Maintain an In-Person Bystander Intervention Training • Jared Brickman; Jessica Willoughby, Washington State University; Paula Adams • One problem facing in-person communication campaigns is that the positive outcomes can fade over time. Text may be a perfect supplement. This study tested and evaluated a method for using text messages to maintain in-person intervention efforts. Over the course of four months, participants in the messaging group received a weekly text. At the end of the study, the program was rated highly by participants and the messaging group scored significantly higher on attitudinal outcomes.

Emotions, political context and partisan selective sharing on Facebook • Yingying Chen, Michigan State University; Kjerstin Thorson, Michigan State University • The research examines the social sharing of partisan media messages under political contexts. Using with behavioural data, we analysed Facebook posts of Breitbart, Occupy Democrats and the New York Times before and after the 2016 presidential election. The result further confirms that emotional arousal is more correlated to social sharing, but partisan media and political contexts interacts with emotion responses to influence social sharing. Further results show that emotional responses to partisan media messages are different and changes as the circumstance of identity bolster or identity threat.

Measuring Information Insufficiency and Affect in the Risk Information Seeking and Processing Model • Haoran Chu, University at Buffalo, SUNY; Janet Yang • “Utilizing structural equation modeling and latent difference score technique, the current study analyzed six different ways to model information insufficiency and four ways to model affective response in testing the risk information seeking and processing (RISP) model in two contexts – the 2016 presidential election and climate change. Latent difference score was found to be an effective approach in measuring information insufficiency as a latent structure. However, classic regression method provides a better fit to the data. Consistent with previous research, valence and uncertainty appraisal dimensions seem to be viable ways to measure affective response.

When Information Matters Most: Adapting T.D. Wilson’s Information-seeking Model to Family Caregivers • Susan Clotfelter, Colorado State University • Family caregivers – the unpaid backbone of the American system of medical care – contribute an estimated $470 billion to the U.S. economy each year. Information-seeking constitutes one of their primary duties, including information related to the care recipient’s condition and disease progress, insurance, medications, therapies, and nutrition, as well as complex medical, insurance and financial systems. This paper synthesizes a key information-seeking model, that of T.D. Wilson (1999) with a list of cognitive barriers drawn from a research review and a theory from social stratification research. It proposes a new, expanded model that attempts to capture the influences, challenges and barriers now known to form part of the information journeys of family caregivers. The paper also examines the findings of recent caregiver studies in light of the proposed new model, an effort that offer indications for future research and interventions to assist this important, but overlooked and overworked demographic.

Bypassing vs. Complying? Predicting circumvention of online censorship in networked authoritarian regimes • Aysenur Dal, The Ohio State University • Circumvention technologies offer alternative means for bypassing online censorship created by networked authoritarian governments to combat online dissent and suppress information. This paper explores the correlates of circumvention technology use by examining the influence of account capital-enhancing Internet use, attitudes toward Internet censorship, regime support as well as risk perceptions about Internet activities. Using an online survey of approximately 2000 Internet users in Turkey, we employ quantitative methods to examine what determines the frequency of use as well as motivations behind being a user or a non-user of circumvention tools.

Social Identity Theory’s Identity Crisis: The Past, Present, and Future of a Human Phenomenon Metatheory • Julia R. DeCook, Michigan State University • Social Identity Theory is a phenomenon that is acknowledged and researched across many social science disciplines. Despite its prevalence and popularity, the way that the theory is applied and further, how social identity is measured, is incredibly inconsistent and convoluted. The purpose of this manuscript is to bring together different perspectives of this phenomenon through an exploration of the theory’s history, development, and growth, as well as to propose three dimensions of social identity and social identification to advance understanding as a discipline of this phenomenon. In the literature, social identification and social categorization are often confused and used interchangeably, when these are two distinct processes, as proposed by the original proponent of Social Identity Theory, Henri Tajfel. This manuscript aims to bring together Tajfel’s original conceptualization as well as other approaches to the theory and attempts to propose dimensions of “social identification.” Specifically, a dimension is proposed consistent with previous research on social identity theory and mass communication research, as well as two others based on a reading of the literature focusing on social identity theory. Future directions for developing a valid measure of social identity in the context of mass communication and media research are also discussed, and how this application can help to advance the theory as well as the discipline.

In the eye of the beholder: How news media exposure and audience schema affect the image of the U.S. among the Chinese public • Timothy Fung; Wenjie Yan; Heather Akin • This study presents a theoretical framework that examines foreign publics’ use of foreign news from domestic media and pre-existing schema to form an image of another nation. To test the proposed theoretical framework, we examined Chinese citizens’ image of the U.S. using the data from a survey collected from a representative sample of Chinese adults. The findings suggest that the role of foreign news from domestic media is conditional on pre-existing schema, including individuals’ patriotism and whether they have traveled to the U.S. We conclude by discussing the implications of the results for research investigating national image and stakeholders interested in predictors of national image.

Walking a Tight-Rope: Intimacy, Friendship, and Ethics in Qualitative Communication Research • James Gachau, University of Maryland • Qualitative research asks scholars to adopt and maintain a critical reflexivity that presents the biases, influences, and interests of the researcher vis-a-vis the research being conducted. A meta-method analysis of a research project involving participants who were close friends of the researcher is presented to explore the ways the author navigated the messy world of ethnographic research. The style and personality of the researcher is foregrounded, and put at the same critical plane as that of the research subject, to illustrate its centrality in giving a less false account than one in which the investigator is assumed to be “objective” in the traditional sense of the word. As Lindlof and Taylor write, “we should appreciate that researchers have been socialized by various cultural institutions to inhabit and perform their bodies in preferred ways” (2011, p. 139). Thus, the cultural and historical background of the investigator is examined to illuminate how it affected and influenced the research. The findings suggest that “intimate curiosity” (Lindlof and Taylor, 2011), coupled with the mutual recognition and respect of friendship (Honneth, 2014), can serve as effective tools to produce more robust data and yield more nuanced interpretations. The hope is that the essay offers a significant contribution to reflexivity and helps bolster the ethnographic imagination in communication research.

Do Computers Yield Better Response Quality than Smartphones as Web Survey Response Devices? • Louisa Ha, Bowling Green State University; chenjie zhang, Bowling Green State University • This study consists of two field experiments on college students’ media use surveys to examine the effect of smartphones and computers as response entry device on Web survey response quality across different question types and delivery mode. We found that device effect on survey quality was only significant when interviewers were present. Difference in device was not significant in overall response quality in the e-mail delivered Web survey. When given a device choice in the e-mailed delivered Web survey, computers were twice as more likely to be chosen as the response device. Yet immediate response rate was much higher for smartphones than computers. Implications of the findings to survey researchers were discussed.

Identification and negative emotions lead to political engagement: Evidence from the 2016 U.S. presidential election • Jennifer Hoewe, University of Alabama; Scott Parrott, University of Alabama • This study puts forth a model of political identification, where identification with political figures influences emotions and eventually changes levels of political engagement. Using a survey of young adults immediately following the 2016 U.S. presidential election, negative emotions are shown to mediate the relationship between identification with a political candidate and post-election political engagement, including election-related information seeking and sharing as well as intentions to participate in political activities. That is, when individuals identify with a political candidate and that candidate experiences something negative – producing negative emotions in supporters – that emotional experience leads to increases in political engagement.

The Effect of Presumed Media Influence on Communicative Actions about Same-sex Marriage Legalization • Yangsun Hong, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Catasha Davis, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Shawnika Hull, George Washington University • This study examines presumed media influence of a social issue, legalization of same-sex marriage (SSM), on non-LGB individuals’ communicative action. Data (N = 1,062) was collected in four Midwestern cities two months before the SSM law passed nationwide, when majority of media coverage was favorable toward SSM legalization. We found that presumed media influence on others shaped perception of positive climate of public opinion toward SSM legalization, which influenced their opinion. Our results indicate that presumed media influence indirectly shaped willingness to express opinion about the issue and willingness to speak out against those stigmatizing LGB populations, through perceived climate of public opinion and own opinion about the issue. We discuss the role of communicative action in contributing to public deliberation and democratic policy making processes. We also claim that mass media may indirectly decrease social stigma to sexual minorities, and ultimately contribute to social change.

Multitasking and Task Performance: Roles of Task Hierarchy, Sensory Interference, and Behavioral Response • Se-Hoon Jeong; Yoori Hwang • This study examined how different types of multitasking affect task performance due to (a) task hierarchy (primary vs. secondary multitasking), (b) sensory interference (low vs. high interference), and (c) behavioral response (absent vs. present). The results showed that task performance was reduced when the given task was a secondary task, when sensory interference was high, and when behavioral response was present. In addition, there was an interaction between task hierarchy and sensory interference, such that the effect of task hierarchy was more pronounced when there was sensory interference. There were some differences between Task 1 and Task 2 performance as an outcome. Theoretical, practical, and methodological implications for future multitasking research are further discussed.

Effects of Weight Loss Reality TV Show Exposure on Adolescents’ Explicit and Implicit Weight Bias • Kathrin Karsay, University of Vienna; Desirée Schmuck • This study investigated the effects of exposure to a weight loss reality TV show on the implicit and explicit attitudes toward obese individuals. An experimental study with N = 353 adolescents was conducted. The results indicate that for those individuals who expressed fear of being obese, TV show exposure reinforced negative explicit attitudes via the activation of perceived weight controllability. Furthermore, for all adolescents TV show exposure enhanced negative implicit attitudes toward obese individuals

Scale Development Research in Communication: Current Status and Recommendation for the Best Practices • Eyun-Jung Ki, University of Alabama; Hyoungkoo Khang; Ziyuan Zhou, The University of Alabama • This study was designed to analyze articles published in 11 communication journals that address new scale development from its inception until 2016. A total of 85 articles dedicated to developing a new scale for the communication disciplines. This study particularly examines characteristics of the exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis procedures, including sample characteristics, factorability, extraction methods, rotation methods, item deletion or retention, factor retention, and model fit indexes. The current study identified a number of specific practices that were at variance with the current literature in terms of EFA or CFA. Implications of these findings and recommendations for further research are also discussed.

Who is Responsible? The Impact of Emotional Personalization on Explaining the Origins of Social Problems • Minchul Kim, Indiana University; Brent Hale, Indiana University; Maria Elizabeth Grabe, Indiana University; Ozen Bas, Indiana University • An experiment was designed to examine the influence of two news formats on how news consumers attribute causes for social issues. One story format followed the traditional objectivity standard of factual reporting while the other represented a human interest approach to storytelling, adding an emotional case study of the social issue to factual information. Participant (N=80) trait empathy was included as an additional factor in assessing how news formats might influence responsibility assignment for social problems. A week time delay between exposure to stimuli and open-ended responses enabled the observation of how (if at all) different story formats influence news consumer explanations of the causes behind social problems. Our findings show that participants with higher levels of trait empathy express a greater shift to collectivistic attribution after watching personalized news stories than do participants with lower levels of trait empathy. Our findings also suggest that the personalization of news stories and trait empathy does not affect individualistic attribution of social problem causes.

The Study of Semantic Networks and Health News Coverage: Focusing on Obesity Issues • Sunghak Kim • This work investigates news coverage related to obesity to understand various discourses and relationships surrounding the health issues and explain their dynamics. Health news stories were analyzed to observe which issues, frames, and sources of obesity-related topics are shared through mass communication. By applying semantic network analysis, a map of relations and flows among different objects and attributes became apparent. Furthermore, the research illustrates the change of semantic network structures over different time periods.

An Analysis of Process-Outcome Framing in Intertemporal Choice • Ken Kim • The current study was designed to explore how framing as process versus outcome works in intertemporal choice. Given the importance of earlier savings, one-hundred nineteen college students were recruited for the experimental study to investigate their intentions to begin saving earlier for retirement (i.e., begin saving at age 25 or as soon as you leave school). The obtained data indicated that a message emphasizing the process of earlier savings for retirement (that is, process framing) was more effective than a message stressing the outcome of earlier savings (that is, outcome framing) in intertemporal choice. Further, a process frame was more effective when it was presented in terms of losses than gains. However, the data revealed no difference between gain and loss framing in the outcome framing condition. Some implications for creating persuasive messages to encourage earlier savings were discussed.

Mediated Vicarious Contact with Transgender People: How Do Narrative Perspective and Interaction Depiction Influence Intergroup Attitudes, Stereotyping, and Elevation? • Minjie Li, Louisiana State University • Taking the experimental design approach, the present study investigates how narrative perspective (Ingroup Perspective vs. Outgroup Perspective) interacts with valence of intergroup interaction depiction (Positive vs. Negative) in transgender-related media content to redirect people’s attitude towards and stereotyping of transgender people, transportation, and elevation responses. The findings reveal that the outgroup perspective narrative is more likely to elicit 1) positive attitudes towards the featured transgender character and the transgender outgroup as a whole; 2) higher levels transportation; 3) stereotyping transgender people with genuine qualities; and 4) meaningful, mixed and motivational responses. However, the positive depiction of transgender-cisgender intergroup interaction can only prompt more positive attitudes towards the featured transgender character, and elicit meaningful affect and physical responses.

Relational Maintenance and the Rise of Computer-Mediated Communication: Considering the Role of Emerging Maintenance Behaviors • Taj Makki, Michigan State University • Existing typologies of relational maintenance behaviors do not account for communication behaviors that take place between romantic partners in online environments. This paper presents findings from a systematic literature review where the author aimed to assess the extent to which typologies for offline behaviors correspond with research findings pertaining to the use of CMC between romantic partners. Based on this review, and in efforts of moving toward a typology of relational maintenance behaviors that accounts for the precise range of efforts exchanged between partners to sustain relationship quality, the present paper proposes that additional dimensions be considered for their relevance to relationship outcomes. Specifically, conflict management and surveillance management are proposed as two maintenance-related behaviors that have emerged with the increasing use of computer-mediated communication between romantic partners. The present paper explicates each of these constructs in the context of relational maintenance and its intended outcomes, and proposes avenues for future research toward an all-inclusive typology of relational maintenance behaviors.

React to the Future: Political Projection, Emotional Reactions, and Political Behavior • Bryan McLaughlin; John Velez; Amber Krause, Texas Tech Universtiy; Bailey Thompson • This study demonstrates the important mediating role political projection—the process of cognitively simulating future political scenarios and imagining the potential effects of these scenarios—plays in determining how campaign messages affect voting behavior. Using an experimental design, we find that campaign messages that are narrative in nature (compared to non-narrative) encourage higher levels of political projection, which elicits higher levels of anger, which, in turn, is negatively related to support for the opposing candidate.

Media Violence and Aggression: A Meta-Analytic Approach to the Previous 20 Years of Research • Alexander Moe, Texas Tech University; Joseph Provencher, Texas Tech University; Hansel Burley • “This Meta-analysis examines research on the effects that violent media content has on individuals’ aggression. A total of a total of 28 studies reporting data for 2840 participants remained for analysis. The findings indicated the presence of homogeneity (Q = 37.10, df = 27, p < 0.05). The implications both for the current state of media violence research, as well as future research interests and practices are discussed.

Corporate Sustainability Communication as Legitimizing and Aspirational Talk: Tullow Oil’s Discursive Constructions of Risks, Responsibility, and Stakeholders • S. Senyo Ofori-Parku, The University of Alabama • Critics of corporate social responsibility (CSR) worry that corporations use CSR communication to ‘greenwash’ their practices. But a recent version of the communication as constituting organization (CCO) perspective argues that such communication, even if misleading, can create positive organizational improvements. Underpinned by the corporate sustainability framework (which combines commonplace notions of CSR with risk management), the discourse-historical approach (DHA), and CCO, this study examines how an oil multinational—Tullow Oil— discursively constructs its sustainability issues and stakeholders. From a predominantly technical perspective of sustainability, Tullow constructs its identity as an aspirational, engaged and a responsible business. As seen in a shift in its Global Reporting Initiative certification from C+ in 2007 to A+ in 2013, Tullow’s CS talk has a potential to constitute desirable practices. However, the extent to which such discourse results in sustainable corporate outcomes hinges on whether it is used to merely reproduce or transform institutionalized notions of sustainability associated corporate practice. By combining the DHA and CSF, this research provides a novel technique for issues and stakeholder analysis—who and what is important to the organization. The implications are discussed.

Unsupervised analyses of dynamic frames: Combining semantic network analysis, hierarchical clustering and multidimensional scaling • Joon-mo Park • This study analyzes the online discourse frames of the fine particulate air pollution issue in South Korea from May 12, 2016 to June 11, 2016. To detect frames, semantic networks combined with unsupervised learning techniques such as hierarchical clustering and multidimensional scaling were applied. 9,241 web documents posted on portal websites were collected. After extracting keywords from those documents, word frequency and co-occurrence matrix were measured. Through calculating the Euclidean coefficient, proximities between words were deducted. The analyses focused on the most frequently occurring 25 keywords which further functioned as elements in the hierarchical clustering analysis. Then multidimensional scaling showed the results over three phases of time period through changes of frequently occurring frames and proximities between concepts. In the first phase, many health-related and government-related concepts appeared. Next, the second phase, after government released official announcement on news, the government-related words were associated with individual responsibilities such as ‘mackerel’, ‘pork belly’, and ‘diesel price’. Institutional cause-related keywords appeared along with several energy-related keywords in the last phase. Moreover, in Phase 1 and 3, ‘China’ and ‘ultrafine dust’ were mentioned in terms of health risk, but in Phase 2, ‘China’ was associated with governmental coping ability. Finally, keywords such as ‘diesel price’, ‘related stock’ revealed what the public also concerned was the side effects of air pollution in daily lives.

Who are the Voters? A Contemporary Voter Typology Based on Cluster Analysis • Ayellet Pelled, University of Wisconsin – Madison; Hyesun Choung, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Josephine Lukito, 1990; Megan Duncan, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Song Wang, Department of Statistics, University of Wisconsin-Madison; “Winnie” Yin Wu; Hyungjin Gill, University of Wisconsin – Madison; Jiyoun Suk, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Trevor Kniaz • Most research on political party identification has focused on partisan voters and the consequences of political polarization. Independent voters are also an important feature of the political landscape, but far fewer studies have examined them. Too often researchers treat independent voters as a monolithic entity, using a single response category to identify them. But as made clear by the 2016 Presidential election, there are vast differences among independent voters. This study explores distinct clusters of voters that emerged in the context of the 2016 Presidential election. Using national survey data (N = 2,582) collected shortly before the November election, we conducted a cluster analysis to classify individuals into subgroups that share similar profiles of opinions concerning different personal values and worldviews. Nine clusters are distinguished: mainstream liberals, mainstream conservatives, anti-establishment liberals, anti-establishment conservatives, engaged floaters, patriotic liberals, disengaged isolates, disengaged floaters, and pragmatic liberals. Two of the nice clusters represent the traditional two party ideology while the other seven clusters are mixed in their party affiliation. Clusters differ in their political attitude and voting behaviors. Our study also reveals patterns in how engaged and disengaged partisans and independents choose media for their news source. The results suggest that voters’ party affiliation and political attitudes are not organized in a single dimension of ideological liberal/conservative. The political ideology is rather a multidimensional trait that should be measured in a more elaborated way so that can properly predict people’s political behavior including their voting choices.

Credibility and Persuasiveness of News Reports Featuring Vox Pops and the Role of Populist Attitudes • Christina Peter • Exemplification research has consistently shown strong effects of vox pops exemplars, i.e. ordinary citizens voicing their opinion in news reports, on audience judgments. In this context, ordinary citizens as opinion-givers were found to be more persuasive compared to other sources, such as politicians. The main reason for this is seen in the fact that ordinary citizens are more trustworthy, yet this has not been empirically tested. In our study, we look at spillover effects of source trustworthiness on the news report itself. We investigate whether the integration of vox pops in a news article enhances the credibility of the article, and whether this mediates effects on personal opinion. In addition, we look at whether populist attitudes (i.e., the belief in the homogeneity and virtuosity of the people and a mistrust in elites) moderate these effects. In a web-based experiment, we confronted participants with news articles where arguments were put forward either by the journalist or by ordinary citizens as vox pops. Results indicate that the integration of vox pops enhances the credibility of the news article, which in turn leads to stronger persuasive effects. These effects were only found for people holding strong populist attitudes.

Differential Uses and Gratifications of Media in the Context of Depression • Sebastian Scherr, U of Munich • Depression is the most common metal disorder linked with both higher and lower media use behaviors. Nevertheless, findings on the use of particular media in depression are scattered, dependent on individual motivations, and media demand characteristics. The associations between depression, media use, and motives are explored using robust regressions and representative data. Depression links with higher TV use, computer gaming, and music, and with lower use of newspapers with motives being both compensatory and non-compensatory.

Measurement Invariance and Validation of a New Scale of Reflective Thoughts about Media Violence across Countries and Media Genres • Sebastian Scherr, U of Munich; Anne Bartsch; Marie-Louise Mares, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Mary-Beth Oliver, Pennsylvania State University • This study investigates reflective thought processes and meaning-making about media violence as a fact of social reality within two survey samples from the US and Germany. Building on a large item pool derived from qualitative interviews, we suggest a five factorial self-report scale to assess reflective thoughts about media violence. Given the established measurement invariance of the furthermore cross-conceptually validated scale across countries and genres, we strongly recommend its use and replicative future work.

Authenticity: Toward a unified definition in communication • Diana Sisson, Auburn University; Michael Koliska, Auburn University • This study draws upon previous definitions and characteristics of authenticity from philosophy, psychology, and sociology to highlight the insufficient conceptualization and explication of authenticity in an interactive media environment. Findings revealed research foci across the various communication fields regarding authenticity lie primarily on the message sender neglecting what an authentic message is or how a message receiver may understand authenticity. This study is a first step to critically define authenticity in communication.

Opinion Climates à la Carte – Selective and Incidental Exposure Impacts on Polarization, Public Opinion, and Participation • Daniel Sude, The Ohio State University; Silvia Knobloch-Westerwick; Melissa Robinson, The Ohio State University; Axel Westerwick • Hypotheses regarding political polarization were derived from cognitive dissonance, motivated reasoning, and spiral of silence theories. A selective exposure study (N = 118) featured six political online articles and examined impacts on attitudes, public opinion perceptions, and participation likelihood. Multi-level modeling demonstrated that encountering article leads influenced attitudes per article stance. Attitude-consistent messages were selected more often. Article selection, even if attitude-discrepant, influenced public opinion perception in line with article stance and fostered participation likelihood.

Pathways to Fragmentation: User Flows and Web Distribution Infrastructures • Harsh Taneja; Angela Xiao Wu, Chinese University of Hong Kong • This study analyzes how web audiences flow across online digital features. We construct a directed network of user flows based on sequential user clickstreams for all popular websites, using traffic data obtained from a panel of a million web users in the United States. We analyze these data to identify constellations of websites that are frequently browsed together in temporal sequences, both by similar user groups in different browsing sessions as well as by disparate users. Our analyses thus render visible previously hidden online collectives and generate insight into the varied roles that curatorial infrastructures may play in shaping audience fragmentation on the web.

“You Must Be This Anthropomorphic” to Write the News: Machine Attribution Decreases News Credibility and Issue Importance • Frank Waddell, University of Florida • Do readers prefer news attributed to human journalists due to the operation of a similarity attraction effect, or is news attributed to “robot journalists” preferred because automation is perceived as objective? An experiment was conducted to answer this question using a 2 (source attribution: human vs. machine) x 2 (robot recall: no recall vs. recall) design. Results reveal that machine attribution decreases news credibility and issue importance via lower source anthropomorphism and higher expectancy violations.

The 2016 U.S. Presidential Public Opinion Polls: Third-Person Effects and Voter Intentions • Jane Weatherred, University of South Carolina; Anan Wan, University of South Carolina; Yicheng Zhu, University of South Carolina • Focusing on the 2016 U.S. presidential election, this study investigates how the American voting public perceives public opinion polls in terms of desirability of the message, partisanship, political affiliation and knowledge. The public’s intentions to impose restrictions on the polls were also examined relative to the third-person effect (TPE) gap. Results from a survey of 807 respondents indicate that the public does not understand how polls are conducted, yet still perceives that the polls are biased, and the greater the TPE gap, the more likely a person will support restrictions on the polls.

Political Economy, Business Journalism and Agency: An Examination • Rob Wells, University of Arkansas • The political economy theory tradition of media studies is a powerful framework to examine business journalism, particularly news decisions in wake of the genre’s origins as a market participant. This theory is often used to criticize business reporting, but the literature rarely examines some fundamental theoretical assumptions and conflicts that arise from using the political economy theory. This theory, for example, has been criticized for its deterministic view of individual agency. Critics contend the theory’s focus on control by an elite superstructure minimizes the potential for individual initiative and innovation. This places the political economy theory in a basic conflict with individual agency, a core normative value in the journalism field, one with enduring power and embedded in institutional frameworks. The historical and sociological underpinnings of journalistic professionalism, for example, emphasize the role of reporter and editor autonomy, and these forces continue to have staying power. This essay seeks to answer the question, how does the political economy’s view of agency coexist, if at all, with the journalistic professional ideal of autonomy? The essay explores this question through a content analysis of business journalism coverage during the savings and loan crisis of the 1980s, for example, provides some significant examples of individual reporting initiative, particularly at a small trade industry newspaper called the National Thrift News. The essay concludes by noting the political economy theory fails to predict the extraordinary work of this small trade newspaper, which succeeded in large part due to a strong journalistic professional culture.

Picture Yourself Healthy–How Social Media Users Select Images to Shape Health Intentions and Behaviors • Brianna Wilson; Silvia Knobloch-Westerwick • To test predictions derived from the SESAM model, participants (N = 265) selectively viewed Instagram-like postings featuring healthy or unhealthy food imagery. Beforehand, participants reported habits and perceived expert-recommendations regarding food intake. After viewing postings, participants chose gift cards representing healthy or unhealthy food purchases and indicated food intake intentions. Results show existing eating behavior predicts selective exposure to healthy or unhealthy food imagery, which in turn, shapes gift card choices and food intake intentions.

No Comments, but a Thumbs-down: Estimating the Effects of Spiral of Silence on Online Opinion Expression • Tai-Yee Wu, University of Connecticut; Anne Oeldorf-Hirsch, University of Connecticut; David Atkin • This study tests Spiral of Silence theory in online news discussions by examining willingness to express one’s opinion via commenting, sharing, and voting. Results (N = 530) indicate that while fear of isolation is generally a negative predictor of opinion expression, perceived online anonymity positively predicts commenting. Moreover, one’s minority status and reference group support encourage the use of a thumbs-down, and opinion congruity with the news and issue involvement motivate news sharing.

Is It Top-Down, Trickle-Up, or Reciprocal?: Testing Longitudinal Relationships Between Youth News Use and Parent and Peer Political Discussion • Chance York, Kent State University • Using data from a three-wave, parent-child panel survey and Slater’s Reinforcing Spirals Model (RSM) as an analytical framework, I document a “trickle-up” political socialization process whereby baseline levels of youth news use and political discussion with peers motivate future political talk with parents. Results suggest youth possess agentic political power and play an active role in their own political socialization, rather than being passive receivers of “top-down” influence. Methodological suggestions for modeling variables are discussed.

Bridging the Divide Between Reason and Sentiment: Exploring the Potentials of Emotionality in Journalism • Sheng Zou • Following the line of scholarship to take emotionality seriously in communication, this paper theorizes the nexus between emotions/affects and journalism in the digital era, and develops a five-facet conceptual framework to delineate the civic potentials of emotionality in news reporting by transcending the conventional dualism between reason and emotion. It proposes a view of emotionality as an ally to rationality, and as an intermediary bridging public and private spheres, connecting the individual and the collective.

2017 ABSTRACTS

Communication Theory and Methodology 2016 Abstracts

Open Call Competition
What is a shared interest?: How ex parte can be used to reveal the overlap of public and corporate interests in FCC policy making • Amy Sindik, Central Michigan University; Brian Creech, Temple University • Additional theoretical and methodological development is needed to consider the FCC’s role overseeing public and corporate interests. This study uses ex parte contacts to examine the FCC policy process in order to discern the interests it considers when crafting policy. This article introduces a term to be used when neither a discussion of public or private interests is sufficient: the shared interest. The shared interest is used to define the areas where the public good may overlap with industry profit motive and gives a scholar a particular concept to search for when parsing the complications of communication policy.

Attention Ecology of the Web • Anegla Xiao Wu, Chinese University of Hong Kong; Harsh Taneja, University of Missouri • Taking an ecological approach, our study conceptualizes and empirically demonstrates the associations between website-level media structures and global patterns of online attention. We develop (1) a typology of website formats along the curatorial and the productive dimensions, and (2) two measures to capture distinct aspects of attention that complement the typical aspect of popularity. We implement these methodological innovations on world’s 850 most popular sites and their shared usage data at three recent time points.

Affect, Risk and Online Political Criticism in Restricted Information Environments Aysenur Dal Although political outcomes of using information and communication technologies in restricted information settings have attracted scholarly attention from various disciplines, some important questions remain unanswered. Why do the measures taken against citizens’ online political activities in authoritarian settings often fail for great enough crowds? What is the explanation for the psychological processes of those who engage in “risky” political expression in settings where there may be direct consequences of anti-government online behavior? In this study, we suggest a model that explains how individuals living in restricted information environments perceive and react to risks of online political expression. The main theoretical contribution is to draw links between literatures of perceiving risk and political communication so that our knowledge on government responses to expanding political role of ICTs incorporates citizen behaviors’ underlying judgment and decision making mechanisms as well. Using an original web survey, we study the underlying processes that individuals go through in evaluating and responding to the risk of engaging in expressive behaviors in an increasingly restricted information environment, Turkey.

New Directions in Selective Exposure: Measurement and Mitigation • Benjamin Lyons, Southern Illinois University Carbondale • Individuals often seek out agreeable information, increasing polarization and impairing knowledge. This study contributes new ways to measure and potentially mitigate this bias. First, contextually-activated discussion networks are examined alongside traditional media choice as dependent variables. Next, self-affirmation and social identity complexity primes are investigated as interventions. Results (N = 600) show social identity complexity marginally reduced selective exposure to media, and significantly reduced activated network density. Neither intervention impacted network homogeneity.

The Effect of Collaborative Filtering on Online News Processing • Christina DeVoss, University of Connecticut; Anne Oeldorf-Hirsch, University of Connecticut • “Online news consumption is increasing, which can produce different effects on agenda setting and learning compared to offline news consumption. Using an experimental design (N=178), this study tests how collaborative filtering of online news affects information processing, based on the cognitive mediation model. Results indicate that bandwagon cues indicated by collaborative filtering positively influence cognitive elaboration about the news, and that both surveillance and interpersonal utility motivations are related to news attention and elaboration.

How Can Media Users Feel Presence by Fictional Media Content? • Euijin Ahn, Yeungnam University; Hwiman Chung, New Mexico State University • Few studies have explained why media users experience presence by fictitious media objects or events. The most challenging problem is that media users implicitly know they are just visual fabrications. Here, we try to solve this paradoxical phenomenon of presence. We propose cognitive models of presence that are independent from a belief system. The proposed models are based on a perceptual experience of stereopsis which is related to the perception of egocentric distance.

Data Analysis with Topic Models for Communications Researchers • Frederick Boehm • We present a non-technical introduction to data analysis with topic models for communications researchers. We motivate the discussion with a research question from social media communications research. We then discuss statistical aspects of topic models as we illustrate these methods with data from Twitter and from The New York Times. We complement our discussion with computer code (in the R computing language) that implements our methods. We close with ideas about the future value of topic modeling to communications researchers.

Perusing Pages and Skimming Screens: Selective Exposure to News Articles in Online vs Offline Contexts • George Pearson, The Ohio State University; Silvia Knobloch-Westerwick • The rise of soft and user-generated news cause fundamental changes for recipients’ news selections. A carefully designed 2x2x2 experiment had participants (n = 197) sample from the same soft and hard news in an online or offline context, while presenting amateur or professional source cues. Soft news was generally preferred, unexpectedly more so in the offline setting and more so among habitual print news consumers. Amateur vs. professional sources did not affect selections.

Defying censorship: A framework for reactance and learning in the face of media controls • Golnoosh Behrouzian; Emma Fete; Aysenur Dal • Media censorship is a significant issue plaguing over 80 percent of the world’s population. This suppression of information can have damaging consequences for the public’s knowledge base and negatively impact the capability of citizens to make well-informed decisions, by withholding information or creating misperceptions, amongst other things. While most research addresses the implications of censorship from a more normative institutional level, we propose a novel theoretical framework looking at the individual-level effects of perceived censorship on political knowledge. Through the integration of psychological reactance as a mediating variable, we use data from a two-wave longitudinal survey, taken by Turkish citizens before the June 2015 general election, to conduct an exploratory study of the underlying psychological and communication processes that may motivate increased political learning. We find that those citizens who perceive a threat to their media freedom are more likely to experience psychological reactance, which heightens their level of political learning. Our results both challenge and expand on previous findings that suggest censorship broadly dampens political knowledge, since the boundary condition provided by psychological reactance suggests that higher levels of perceived censorship may, in fact, motivate higher achievement in knowledge. We discuss the implication of these findings as it relates to information-seeking strategies that may further clarify how individuals in repressed media environments manage their media freedom.

Evaluating Sampling Methods for Content Analysis of Social Media Data • Hwalbin Kim, University of South Carolina; Seung Mo Jang, University of South Carolina; Sei-Hill Kim; Anan Wan, University of South Carolina • Despite the existing evaluation of the sampling options for periodical media content, little is known about whether the traditional sampling methods are applicable to social media content. This paper tests the efficiency of simple random sampling and constructed week sampling, varying the sample size of media content in the context of the 2014 South Carolina gubernatorial election. This study also provides initial evidence that each day can be better used as a unit of analysis.

Agreement between Humans and Machines? — A Reliability Check among Computational Content Analysis Programs • Jacob Rohde, Boston University; Denis Wu • As data generated from social networking sites become larger, so does the need for computer aids in content analysis research. This paper outlines the growing methodology of supervised machine learning in respect to document topics classification and sentiment analysis. A series of tweets were collected, coded by humans, and subsequently fed into a selection of six different popular computer applications: Aylien, DiscoverText, MeaningCloud, Semantria, Sentiment 140, and SentiStrength. Reliability results between the human and machine coders are presented in a matrix in terms of Krippendorff’s Alpha and percentage agreement. Ultimately, this paper illuminates that, while computer-aided coding may lessen the burden and accelerate for researchers in coding social media content, the results of utilizing these programs indicate low reliability for analyzing political content.

Establishing an EMA-style Collection Method for Intervention Message Testing • Jared Brickman; Jessica Willoughby • Evaluating messages is important for message creation. Previous research has often used long-form surveys to test messaging. This study asks whether real-time sampling on a mobile phone could serve as a message-testing alternative. Participants evaluated messages over a week using mobile phones. More than 90 percent of messages were evaluated, and a majority of participants preferred this methodology. This approach, while not without limitations, is a viable and important tool for diversifying message testing.

The social media mourning model: Examining tie strength and “acceptable loss” in Facebook mourning posts • Jensen Moore, University of Oklahoma; Sara Magee, Loyola University Maryland; Jennifer Kowalewski, Georgia Southern University; Ellada Gamreklidze, Louisiana State University • Social media allows people to grieve. However, not all deaths are equal. In a 2 (death type: acceptable vs. non-acceptable) x 2 (Tie strength: strong vs. weak) experiment, we found individuals felt more positive toward those who died in an acceptable manner, and who had a stronger relationship with the deceased. However, the strength of relationship appears to be more influential in its effect on the views toward grieving than how a person died.

Explicating the Meaning of Social Media Literacy • Jeremy Ong; Edson Tandoc, Nanyang Technological University • This paper explicates the concept of social media literacy, arguing that the increasing digitization of social life on social media confronts users with novel problems, such as misinformation, identity theft, privacy concerns, and matters of taste and decency. By engaging in the process of meaning analysis, this paper identifies four domains of social media literacy: technical, privacy, credibility, and social domains. The paper also argues for the theoretical and practical utility of this proposed typology.

Evaluating a sexual health text message service using short message service (SMS) surveys with adolescents • Jessica Willoughby; Kelly L’Engle, University of San Francisco; Kennon Jackson; Jared Brickman • Two-way mHealth interventions allow for feedback solicitation from participants. This study explores the use of a text-message survey to assess demographics and program feedback from users of an adolescent sexual health text message question-and-answer service. The text message survey achieved a 43.9% response rate. When compared to respondents who used the service and completed an online in-school questionnaire, text survey respondents were more likely to be female and older. They also reported higher service satisfaction.

“The First Decision for My Child”: Mechanisms through which Parents of Children with and without Autism Decide on Their Children’s Vaccination • Juwon Hwang, University of Wisconsin – Madison • Based on O1-S-O2-R model, this study explores the mechanisms through which parents decide on their children’s vaccination. Analyzing nationally representative survey data, this study assumes that the evaluation of health information sources plays a critical role in parents’ benefit perception and decisions on their children’s vaccination. This study finds that print and interpersonal communication as stimuli are positively associated with parents’ benefit perception of their children’s vaccination whereas social media is negatively associated with it. In turn, benefit perception is significantly related to parents’ decisions on their children’s vaccination. However, there is no interaction effect of parents of children with autism (PCA) and the evaluation of health information sources on parents’ benefit perception and decisions on their children’s vaccination. The results seem to suggest that targeted messages addressing PCA’s concerns and to mitigate mistrust are needed.

Global Network Agenda Setting: Visualizing the South China Sea Dispute • Lei Guo, Boston University; Kate Mays, Boston University; Jianing Wang, Boston University • This study theoretically and methodologically advances the Network Agenda Setting Model, a third level of agenda setting, through a media analysis of the South China Sea dispute. Combining a sophisticated semantic network analysis approach and the Granger causality test, the study examined the interplay between three involved countries’ media coverage and the global public opinion as reflected on the Twittersphere. Network visualization techniques were also used to graphically represent the media network agendas.

Sampling Strategy for Conducting Content Analysis of Digital Native Sites • Lu Wu, UNC-Chapel Hill; Joe Bob Hester • This study investigates sampling strategies for efficiently creating representative samples of digital native sites. Using 90,117 stories from BuzzFeed, the authors compare simple random, consecutive day, and constructed week samples. Similar to previous research, the study concludes that constructed week sampling is the most efficient technique. For variables with low variability (coefficient of variation < 0.30), 3 to 5 constructed weeks may be sufficient. For situations with a greater degree of variability, 6 to 12 constructed weeks may be required in order to create a representative sample.

When gaps become huuuuge: Donald Trump and beliefs about immigration • Magdalena Saldana; Lourdes Miri Cueva Chacon, University of Texas at Austin; Victor Garcia-Perdomo, University of Texas at Austin/Universidad de La Sabana, Colombia • The belief gap argues that ideology and partisanship—instead of education—explain people’s beliefs about politically contested issues. Relying on nationally representative panel data, this study explores how ideology and education work together to predict belief gaps about immigration. In addition, we test if support for Donald Trump increases negative beliefs about immigrants. Findings suggest that ideology and education interact to predict attitudes (but not beliefs), and Trump’s supporters exhibit significantly negative beliefs about immigration.

Perceived Hostile Media Agenda in the 2016 Democratic Primary • Mallory Perryman, University of Wisconsin – Madison • This survey of young voters (n=187) explored perceived bias in news coverage of the 2016 Democratic presidential primary race. We introduce the idea of the hostile media agenda, where, in addition to sensing hostile bias in the valence of a candidate’s news coverage, the audience also senses a hostile bias in the volume of a candidate’s coverage. Indeed, voters felt media had slighted their candidate in both valence and volume of coverage.

Communication Activities as a Source of Perceived Collective Efficacy • Masahiro Yamamoto, University at Albany – SUNY • This study examines two communication-based sources of neighborhood collective efficacy, communication ties with neighbors and local media use. Data from a Web survey of Chicago residents show that communicative relationships characterized by weak ties are associated with increases in perceived collective efficacy. Data also indicate a positive link between attention to neighborhood social news and perceived collective efficacy. Both weak communication ties and attention to neighborhood social news also have indirect associations with perceived violence in the neighborhood through perceived collective efficacy. Implications are discussed for the role of interpersonal and mediated communication in neighborhood safety.

Understanding information encountering: A case of newspaper reporting behavior at Midwestern metropolitan-area newspapers • Matt Bird-Meyer, University of Missouri • This study considers how journalists embrace the unexpected as part of their reporting routine using Erdelez’ framework of information encountering. Five journalists from metropolitan-area newspapers participated in the study. The study began with a semi-structured interview. The participants were asked to keep a diary to record their reporting behavior. The researcher followed up with a debriefing. By embracing the unexpected, it was clear that these journalists routinize encountering and make themselves open to encountering.

Party or Peers: Where is the loyalty? Corrective action effects on opinion and expression in the context of intergroup political conflict • Megan Duncan, University of Wisconsin-Madison; David Coppini • This study extends the corrective action hypothesis, addressing three important gaps in the literature. First, we directly test corrective action hypothesis in controlled opinion climates within the American partisan context and we pit this hypothesis against a competing hypothesis, support-based engagement. While most research on corrective action used cross-sectional data, this study attempts a causal explanation by manipulating comments about a fictitious candidate. Second, we measure the change in opinion caused by peer comments while accounting for the effect of party identification. Third, we pit party loyalty and peer influence against each other to find which has the larger effect on predicting the change in opinion about a candidate and the likelihood of expressing that opinion. Specifically, this study uses a 2 (political party) X 3 (comment opinion climate) experiment embedded in a survey of the adult American population (N=350). The study purported to be a beta-test for an election mobile application to test the effects of party cues and opinion climate on support for a candidate and individuals’ expression. Our design built three distinct political climates, allowing us to test directly how partisans and non-partisans act in each environment. The results show a corrective action effect in opinion change about the candidate.

Comment is free, but biased: Spiral of silence and corrective action in news comment sections • Megan Duncan, University of Wisconsin-Madison; David Wise, UW-Madison; Ayellet Pelled, University of Wisconsin; Shreenita Ghosh, University of Wisconsin Madison; Yuanliang Shan, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Mengdian (Mandy) Zheng; Douglas McLeod, University of Wisconsin–Madison • Our online experiment provides evidence that the opinion climate of news comments have an effect on the formation of news audience opinions about news issues. Through the lens of spiral of silence theory, corrective action hypothesis, and peer influence research, we see differences in the reactions to varying opinion climates on the news audience. The study adds to the literature by manipulating the perception of opinion climate on an issue by using a fictitious current event, it measures changes in opinion instead of merely resulting opinion, and it adds nuance to the discussion of opinion climate by reflecting five conditions. The experiment allowed participants to reply, comment, do both, or do nothing and so comes closer to measuring real-world expression behavior. Results suggest the interaction between opinion climate and personal opinion can predict who will engage with a news comment section through the mechanism of spiral of silence, and the expressed opinions in a news comment section influence the direction of opinion change about the issue.

Reluctance to talk face-to-face and post on Facebook about politics: Examining the roles of fear of isolation, willingness to self-censor, and network structure • Michael Chan • Based on concepts from spiral of silence theory, this study examines Hong Kong citizen’s willingness to publically express support for a political party or candidate face-to-face and on Facebook during the 2015 District Council elections. Findings from a national survey showed that fear of social isolation (FSI) exhibited an indirect effect on public expression of support through willingness to self-censor (WTSC) for both offline and Facebook contexts. Moreover, there was evidence of moderated mediation for the Facebook condition, such that the indirect effect was stronger for those with more homogeneous Facebook networks. This particular finding is framed in terms of the technological affordances of Facebook (e.g. persistence and scalability of posted messages vis-à-vis spoken communications) as well as increased identifiability and decreased anonymity of Facebook interactions, which accentuate the publicness of political expression and individuals’ fear of social isolation and sensitivity to the opinion climate.

Testing Intergenerational Transmission of News Content Preference: A South Korean Case • Minchul Kim, Indiana University • Understanding of how adolescents develop news preference is closely associated with understanding of how a democratic society works. This study tested the intergenerational transmission of news content preference between parents and adolescents. Specifically, our findings suggest that mothers’ news content preference, but not that of fathers’, had independent and lasting influences on adolescents’ news content preference. This implies that mothers may play a more direct role in the intergenerational transmission of news content preference than do fathers.

Racial Diversity in News: How Journalist, Officeholder, and Audience Intersect to Affect Racialized Issue Coverage • Mingxiao Sui; Newly Paul; Paru Shah, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Political Science Department; Johanna Dunaway, Department of Communication, Texas A&M University; Brook Spurlock • This study examines whether and how the presence of minority journalists affects media coverage of racialized issues. We focus our analysis on data from more than 1,500 state legislative elections in 2012 and content analysis data from local news coverage of 3,400 candidates in these elections. Our finding indicates that minority journalists in newsrooms may not help increase the coverage of racialized issues. However, in states with a larger minority population, minority journalists are more likely to cover race-related issues.

Does News Still Serve as a Public Forum? Broadcast News and the Public Agenda, 1968-2010 • Patrick Meirick, University of Oklahoma; Jill Edy • An analysis of quarterly public opinion and broadcast news coverage from 1968 through 2010 shows the news agenda is as strongly related with the public agenda as ever. However, it does not function as has been assumed. The agenda-setting relationship appears to diversify the public agenda rather than winnowing it to a narrow list of action items. That is, broadcast news may foster consensus by making us aware of each other’s concerns.

Who Sets the News Agenda on “Chinese Twitter”? The Interaction between the Media and Opinion Leaders on Weibo • Qian Wang • Within the theoretical framework of agenda setting, this study applied granger causality analysis to examine the relationships between the news agendas of the media outlets and opinion leaders on one Chinese social network platform—Weibo. The study not only applied agenda setting to Chinese social media, but it also approached the agenda-setting effects of social media from a completely different perspective, recognizing and differentiating the segmented agendas on social media platforms. It examined more nuanced agenda-setting effects among the most influential groups on social media platforms, determining and comparing the news agendas of these groups. The results showed agenda-setting effects exist only between the opinion leaders and commercial media outlets rather than the official media in China. Although journalists and celebrities tended to the most influential ones on Twitter, business elites were the most influential opinion leader on Weibo.

Cultural Cognition, Psychological Sense of Community, and Offshore Oil Risk Perceptions in Ghana: A Scale Development and Adaptation Study • S. Senyo Ofori-Parku, The University of Alabama • The cultural cognition thesis observes that individuals’ worldviews or cultural biases orient how they think about environmental health issues, messages, and policy prescriptions. However, the cultural cognition worldview scale, which has been extensively validated in the United States, has not been validated in African contexts. Since environmental hazards have asymmetric impacts on developing countries and the poor in general, this study uses Ghana’s burgeoning offshore oil production industry as a context, to test and systematically develop a cultural cognition worldview measure that is sensitive to the local Ghanaian context. The psychological sense of community and Schwartz’ universal values scale were also tested. Initial assessments of the ability of these scales to predict offshore oil risk perceptions are reported.

I Am In A Relationship With Harry Potter: Evaluation of Parasocial Interactions and Textual Poaching in Harry Potter Fandom Forums • Sara Erlichman • Author J.K. Rowling is notorious for producing fandom content in order to keep the Harry Potter alive. The objective of this study seeks to identify parasocial interaction and textual poaching themes such as interpretations, constructed fan content, and identification with the community in online Harry Potter fandom forums. This pilot study analyzed 100 posts from MuggleNet.com’s discussion forums to measure the prevalence and relationship of textual poaching and parasocial processes within these posts.

The link between crime news and guilty verdicts: An examination of the largest jury summons in US history • Sarah Staggs, University of Arizona; Kristen Landreville • The trial for Colorado theater shooter James Holmes summoned a record 9,000 potential jurors to serve. As media continue to publicize and sensationalize high-profile crime stories, it becomes more difficult to find individuals and potential jurors with little to no exposure to pretrial publicity. This study explores the association between interest and exposure in a case, as well as subsequent knowledge of the case and judgments of a criminal offender’s guilt. Agenda setting, framing, and predecisional distortion are the theoretical foundations used to explore this relationship between media and cognition. A national survey (N = 236) was distributed to measure exposure to pretrial publicity to the Colorado theater shooter case, recalled knowledge about the crime, and views of the offender’s guilt. Results show that perceptions of the criminal offender’s guilt were influenced by increased exposure to pretrial publicity, interest in the case, media credibility beliefs, and knowledge of the crime event. Evidence was found supporting the link between exposure to pretrial publicity and predecisional distortion favoring the offender’s guilt.

Rethinking Communication Infrastructure and Civic Participation: Interaction Effects between Integrated Connection to a Storytelling Network (ICSN) and Internet and Mobile Uses on Civic Participation • Seungahn Nah; Masahiro Yamamoto, University at Albany – SUNY • This study draws on communication infrastructure theory (CIT) to examine the extent to which Internet and mobile devices may drive integrated connection to a storytelling network (ICSN) on civic participation. Data were collected through a nationwide online panel (N=1201) to test conditional effects of ICSN on civic participation in physical and virtual settings by Internet and mobile uses. Results indicate that the relationships between ICSN and civic participation in offline and online contexts were moderated by expressive uses of Internet and mobile media concerning local politics or community issues. In other words, these relationships were stronger for those who more frequently engaged in locality-oriented expressive activities such as expressing opinions and passing along information encountered online on local politics or community issues. This study reveals locality-based expressive uses of Internet and mobile media as driving and mobilizing mechanisms that may help citizens to engage in place-based civic and community life. This study also discusses theoretical insight, policy implication, and practical application to advance the communication infrastructure theory (CIT).

Selecting Serious or Satirical, Supporting or Stirring News? Selective Exposure to Traditional versus Mockery News Online Videos • Silvia Knobloch-Westerwick; Simon Lavis, The Ohio State University • Selective exposure to satirical and traditional news was examined with online clips to test cognitive dissonance and entertainment-education hypotheses. An experiment (n = 146) presented news choices, varied in stance (conservative, liberal) and format (traditional vs. satirical news). Results show political interest fosters traditional news selection. Clips with partisan alignment were more frequently selected. Selecting satire news affected internal political efficacy, and selecting online news clips induced attitude shifts according to message stance.

Millennials vs. Boomers: Using Behavioral Data to Compare the Digital News Networks of Two Cohorts • Stephanie Edgerly; Harsh Taneja, University of Missouri; Anegla Xiao Wu, Chinese University of Hong Kong • This study takes a macro “audience-centric” approach to studying the online news habits of two age cohorts. While surveys suggest that millennials and boomers differ in online news exposure, we use metered data from comScore to analyze shared usage between the 789 most popular news (and social networking) websites for both cohorts. We compare the resulting two “digital news usage networks” to determine how prominent both social media and legacy media are for each cohort.

Examining the Interaction Effect between Media Favorability and Media Visibility of Business News on Corporate Reputation • XIAOQUN ZHANG, University of North Texas • This study showed the significant interaction effect between media favorability and media visibility of business news on corporate reputation, indicating that the first-level agenda-setting effect and the affective dimension of the second-level agenda setting effect take place simultaneously when the public use media messages to form corporate reputation. It also suggested that the composite measure of media favorability and media visibility is superior to the measure of favorability, and a threshold of media visibility is a necessity to create a valid measure of media coverage to predict corporate reputation. This study was based on the content analysis of 2,817 news articles from both elite newspapers and local newspapers.

Social media, political disagreement, political participation, and self-censorship • Yangsun Hong, University of Wisconsin-Madison • The purpose of this study is to examine the specific mechanisms of the relationship between social media use for politics and engagement in participatory activities. This study argues that exposure to political disagreement will be an important mechanism explaining the association between the social media use and engagement in participatory activities, especially for expressive type of participatory activities. In this regard, this study expects a moderating role of self-censorship in the proposed mediation pathway. The result confirms political disagreement as a mediator of the relationship between social media use and expressive type of political activities. It also shows while self-censorship has a suppressing effect on individuals’ willingness to speak out which is a strong antecedent of expressive activities, the greater experience of political disagreement cancels out the suppressing effect of self-censorship on expressive activities.

A Meta-Analysis of News Media’s Agenda-Setting Effects, 1972-2015 • Yunjuan Luo; Hansel Burley, Texas Tech University; Alexander Moe, Texas Tech University; Mingxiao Sui • This project involved exploring the agenda-setting hypothesis across a range of studies using rigorous meta-analytic approaches. The researchers drew upon empirical agenda-setting studies published from 1972 to 2015, and 67 studies that met the inclusion criteria for analysis produced a moderate grand mean effect size of .487. A multiple regression analysis revealed significant predictors, most notably was the predictor that classified the basis for the study correlation as either the number of content categories or the number of participants. A multiple regression of a subgroup using text analysis produced homogeneity (non-significance). The mean for these studies was .51. This is an indication of consistency in findings across agenda setting studies. Study limitations and suggestions for future research are also discussed in the article.

The Communication Research Matrix: An Alternative Approach to Kuhn’s Conception of Paradigms • Zachary Sapienza; Aaron Veenstra, Southern Illinois University Carbondale • Utilizing an implicit general semantics framework, this article explicates Thomas Kuhn’s conceptions of paradigms with specific attention paid to their context and application within the field of mass communication. In doing so, this paper will highlight three potential problems with the concept of paradigms ranging from multiple and diverse definitions to Kuhn’s insistence that it was not applicable to the social sciences. Building off the work of Rosengren (1983) and Renckstorf & McQuail (1996), this paper will examine the potential of research quandrants as an alternative to paradigms and make a case for their use in the field of mass communication.

2016 Abstracts

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.

2016 Abstracts

Newspaper and Online News 2016 Abstracts

Open Competition
Can breaking news coverage fix lack of government openness? A case study of content strategies at Egypt’s increasing popular Youm7 online newspaper • Ahmed Orabi, Journalism Department, College of Media, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Eric Meyer, University of Illinois • “Increased attention to breaking news coverage of incremental developments rest have helped make Youm7 an Egyptian online newspaper one of the nation’s most frequent online destinations since Egypt’s Arab Spring unrest. This qualitative case study examines how and why the transformation occurred. It is based on four weeks of field work between April 8 and May 3, 2015, inside Youm7’s newsroom using three tools: ethnographic observation, in-depth interviews with 20 journalists and content analysis.

The Costs of Risky Business: What Happens When Newspapers Become the Playthings of Billionaires? • Alex Williams, University of Pennsylvania; Victor Pickard • This manuscript analyzes the actions of individuals that purchase struggling metro newspapers. We first contextualize the journalism crisis by reviewing the business model of the newspaper industry in the 20th century. To understand who buys metro newspapers, we then chronicle the most prominent newspaper acquisitions in 2011 and 2012: The San Diego Union-Tribune, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and the Orange County Register. We discuss three types of new owners: politicos; venture/vulture capitalists; and benevolent billionaires.

Tweeting news during a crisis: How professional norms influenced Ferguson coverage • Amber Hinsley, Saint Louis University; Hyunmin Lee, Saint Louis University • “This study explores journalists’ professional norms during a crisis by content analyzing their tweets in the week following Michael Brown’s death in Ferguson, Mo. It also identifies norms that resonated with the public and compares print and broadcast journalists. Journalists adhered to their objectivity norm, but broadcast journalists’ opinion tweets were more likely to be retweeted. Implications include whether journalists should have different social media policies, and if certain audience engagement measures should be reassessed.

The Portrayal of Schizophrenia in Legacy and Digital Native News • Anna Rae Gwarjanski, The University of Alabama; Scott Parrott; Brian Roberts; Elizabeth Elkin • A quantitative content analysis compared coverage of schizophrenia in legacy news websites and digital native news sites. Researchers coded 558 articles for the presence/absence of stereotypes concerning schizophrenia, the number and type of sources directly quoted, and the valence of source commentary and overall articles. Articles from legacy news sites stood greater chance of containing stereotypes about schizophrenia. Articles from legacy news sites stood greater chance of containing an overall negative valence about schizophrenia.

The Disappearance of the Front Page: Measuring Heterogeneity of Newspaper Stories in Print, Online and Mobile • Arthur Santana, San Diego State University • This paper examines the uniformity of news stories across three platforms – print, online and mobile – from the same newspaper, on the same day, at the same time of day. Using 50 U.S. newspapers in two constructed weeks, this paper quantitatively investigates the similarities of the top stories (N = 6,300) in each medium. Findings build on the theory of agenda setting in a digital age and prompt new discussions about the effects of media fragmentation.

Framing the same-sex marriage ruling: How audience ideology influences newspaper coverage • Brandon Szuminsky; Chad Sherman • This 487-newspaper study investigated the substantive differences in the media agenda of the 2012 Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage, as represented by newspaper front page coverage, with emphasis on differences in coverage between “red” and “blue” states. Framing decisions expressed through headline word choice and space allocation were analyzed as examples of variation within the media agenda. The findings suggest the media agenda is in fact significantly impacted at the local level.

A network approach to intermedia agenda-setting: a big data analysis of traditional, partisan, and emerging online U.S. news • Chris Vargo, University of Alabama; Lei Guo, Boston University • This large-scale intermedia agenda-setting analysis examines U.S. online media sources for 2015. Based on the NAS Model, the results showed news media of different types set network agendas to various degrees. Agendas were highly reciprocal. Online partisan media best explained the entire media agenda. The agendas of the New York Times and the Washington Post were more likely to be caused by emerging media. NAS effects varied by media type, issue type and time periods.

Newspaper front page photographs: Effects of image consumption in a digital versus print news format • Daniel Morrison, University of Oregon; Nicole Dahmen, University of Oregon; David Morris II, University of Oregon • Based on a volume of scholarship citing differences in recall and knowledge of text-based content consumed from print versus digital platforms, this experimental research found certain significant differences regarding the same visual content viewed in a print versus digital format. Study findings indicate that technological change (digital consumption) has effects for communication consumption regarding images, which may underlie the changing nature of iconic images and iconic image formation in the age of digital news.

Did Black lives matter? The evolution of protest coverage after the deaths of Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown • Danielle Kilgo, University of Texas at Austin; Rachel Mourao; George Sylvie • “This study utilizes devices from the protest paradigm to examine news media coverage of protests surrounding the judicial decisions of George Zimmerman and Darren Wilson. A content analysis of national newspaper coverage shows that coverage prior to the judicial rulings focused on protestors’ tactics (violence versus peaceful) and changed to the realm of ideas (grievances and demands) after the acquittals. No progression was found in legitimization of protests.

Why editors use human interactive features: Individual, organizational, and community level factors • Deborah Chung, University of Kentucky; Seungahn Nah • Employing Shoemaker and Reese’s hierarchy of influences approach (1996), we investigate factors affecting U.S. daily news editors’ use of human interactive features that facilitate the expression of ideas (customization features) and dialogue/discussion (interpersonal features). Individual-level factors were found to predict the use of customization features while organizational characteristics predict the use of interpersonal features. When individual and organizational variables were removed, the community structural variable emerged as a predictor for use of interpersonal interactive features.

Who Is Willing to Pay? Understanding Readers’ Payment Intention of News • Donghee Wohn; Mousa Ahmadi, New Jersey Institute of Technology • Despite the increase of people paying for digital content, media companies have been experiencing limited success to get people to pay for news. We conducted interviews (N= 25) to examine why people are inclined or disinclined to pay for news. We then conducted a survey (N= 250) to examine how much people would be willing to pay for news and the differences between fixed rate and pay-what-you-want models. We then examined differences in motivation and news engagement between three groups: those who did not want to pay anything (savers), people who were inclined to pay very little (scrimpers), and people who were willing to pay for news services (spenders). Understanding differences between these groups not only helps inform business models, but also demonstrates that changes in design could alter people’s attitudes about paying for news.

5 Ways BuzzFeed is Transforming (Or Preserving?) the Journalistic Field • Edson Tandoc, Nanyang Technological University • Guided by field theory and the concept of journalistic boundary work, this study sought to examine whether BuzzFeed, a new agent in the journalistic field, is participating in the preservation or transformation of journalism. This was carried out by analyzing its news outputs based on the markers—or boundaries—that defined traditional journalistic practice, such as news values, topics, formats, and norms. The analysis found that while news articles produced by BuzzFeed are exhibiting some departures from traditional journalistic practice, in general BuzzFeed is playing by the rules, which might explain its legitimation as a recognized agent in the field.

Giving in or giving up: What makes journalists use audience feedback in their news work? • Edson Tandoc, Nanyang Technological University; Patrick Ferrucci, U of Colorado • Guided by the theory of planned behavior, this study sought to identify factors that lead journalists to monitor and incorporate audience feedback in their news work through Twitter and web analytics. Based on a survey of 360 online journalists in the United States, this study found that journalists’ personal attitudes toward using audience feedback, organizational policy on the use of audience feedback, as well as how much knowledge and skill they think they currently have to use audience feedback in their work, affect their intention to use, and ultimately, their actual use of, audience feedback in their editorial decisions.

Divvying Up How We Spend Time With News Devices and Channels • Esther Thorson, University of Missouri School of Journalism; Samuel Tham, University of Missouri – School of Journalism • Americans spent around 70 minutes a day consuming news. With so many ways to access news, what variables determine how much time we spend with legacy media like newspapers and television, and what leads to digital and mobile usage. This study develops a model of the variables that lead to device and channel choices for news, which is tested in a national sample of 1000 adults.

Differently Pitiless: Representations of Immigrants in Episodic and Thematic Frames. A Transatlantic Comparative Analysis • Francesco Somaini, Central Washington University • This study investigated the representations of immigrants emerging from news stories in Arizona and Italy and the relationship between online comments attached to those stories and the episodic or thematic frame used to tell them. Quantitative content analysis was used in a comparative approach across regions that constitute borderlands between first and second world countries. Implications of framing for journalists covering minorities and disempowered groups are discussed.

Local Newspaper Use in Hawaii Fosters Acculturation to Local Culture, Community Ties and Involvement • Francis Dalisay, University of Guam; Masahiro Yamamoto, University at Albany – SUNY; Chamil Rathnayake; Joanne Loos, University of Hawaii at Manoa; Kapiolani Ching, University of Hawaii at Manoa • We use the case of Hawaii to test a proposed mediation model positively linking local newspaper use with community ties (i.e., social cohesion and trust) and community involvement via acculturation to local culture. Findings revealed acculturation to local culture was associated with higher social cohesion, trust, and community involvement. Also, local newspaper use had an indirect positive association with sense of belonging, feelings of morale, social trust, and community involvement through its positive association with acculturation to local culture.

News of the future: Journalism organizations’ members look at content, news practice, their jobs and their organizations • Fred Vultee, Wayne State University • This paper uses an online quantitative survey to explore the attitudes of members of journalism organizations toward journalism and the workplace, likely trends in employment, and what services those organizations should – and do – provide. By examining multivariate relationships rather than univariate measures, it offers suggestions for journalism organizations, employers, educators, and others interested in how journalists and colleagues in related professions see the world after the impact of the recession and the loss of revenue.

Normalizing Online Commenting: Exploring How Journalists Deal with Incivility on News Sites • GIna Masullo Chen, The University of Texas at Austin; Paromita Pain, The University of Texas at Austin • In-depth interviews with 34 journalists reveal they are becoming more comfortable with online comments and often engage with commenters to foster deliberative discussions or quell incivility. However, our data also suggest some journalists feel discomfort with engaging in this way for fear it breaches the journalistic norm of objectivity. Overall, findings suggest journalists are not ceding their gatekeeping role to the public through comments, but rather re-asserting it through moderating objectionable comments and engaging.

Active yet Passive: Students media habits begin with active choice, evolve to passive consumption • Hans Meyer, Ohio University; Burton Speakman • The definition of media habits must include more than one dimension: active choice. LaRose (2010) calls for expanding the theory to include active and passive use. This study advances LaRose’s call through at nationwide survey of more than 1,000 current college students. It finds that the main attitudes that drive frequent media usage are active, such as need to be involved, and passive, such as the need to know. In fact, the media students use demonstrate an evolution from a one-time active choice to passive attention. This is especially true for social media where students mainly seek entertainment and connection but end up getting a lot of important news and information.

The Reluctant Prosumer/Produser: Limited User Interest in Interactivity Offered by a Metropolitan Newspaper • Jackie Incollingo, Rider University • A mixed methods research project combining two quantitative survey results (n=632 and n=1,248) with semi-structured interview data (n=30) explored how users of a newspaper’s digital content engage with interactive features, and whether these features satisfy their desires. Although the literature celebrates the potential of prosumption (where the activities of consumer and producer converge), this research indicates that digital users do not prioritize sharing stories online, and reported little desire to leave comments or create content.

Groundbreaking Storytelling or Dancing Hamsters? What Eyetracking Tells Us About the Future of Longform Journalism • Jacqueline Marino; Susan Jacobson; Robert Gutsche • As journalists continue to integrate multimedia into longform journalism, news organizations wrestle with questions of audience interest and economic sustainability. To investigate audience reception to digital longform journalism, this study employs eyetracking technology and interviews with audience members to understand their interactions with text, video, and other elements. It also explores how digital longform journalism may attract and retain audience interest. Keywords:audience, digital journalism, eyetracking, longform journalism, mobile

Driving Las Vegas: News Coverage of Uber’s Clash with Unions in Sin City • Jessalynn Strauss, Elon University; Lauren Bratslavsky • This paper looks at the framing of Uber’s expansion into Las Vegas by the local newspaper of record, the Review-Journal. It examines and unpacks the complicated context of the fight between Uber and taxicabs in Las Vegas, taking into account the city’s strongly union history. The framing analysis pays particular attention to the portrayal of union opposition to Uber expansion in an attempt to determine how the newspaper mediates understanding of organized labor in this particular case.

“Two Cheers for ‘Doing It All’: Skills and Newspaper Reporting Jobs” • John Russial, University of Oregon • “This study looks at newspaper reporting jobs ads in order to examine whether reporters need to be able to “do it all” ¬– producing text, video and photography and using social media. It is based on content analyses of JournalismJobs.com, a major online marketplace. Photography and social media are mentioned considerably more often than video skills. Photo skills are more important for weeklies and social media for dailies. The results raise questions about what type of cross-platform training is necessary.

Journalists’ Use of Knowledge in an Online World: Examining Reporting Habits, Sourcing, and Institutional Norms • John Wihbey, Northeastern University • There has been little empirical study of how journalists are drawing on and applying academic research and systematic knowledge. This paper examines data from an original online survey (n = 1,118). A multivariate analysis finds that knowledge usage is more likely among journalists with certain forms of training, a national audience, and more coverage specialization. Politics and television reporting were associated with lower levels of engagement with expert knowledge.

The contextualist function: U.S. newspaper journalists value social responsibility • Karen McIntyre; Nicole Dahmen, University of Oregon; Jesse Abdenour • A survey evaluated U.S. newspaper journalists’ attitudes toward contextual journalism — stories that go beyond the immediacy of the news and contribute to societal well-being. Results indicated that journalists highly value professional roles associated with contextual journalism. Responses revealed new journalistic role functions, including the “Contextualist.” Contextualists and traditional journalists expressed positive attitudes toward contextual journalism forms — solutions journalism, constructive journalism and restorative narrative — while adversarial and market-oriented journalists had negative attitudes toward contextual journalism.

The Viability of Peace Journalism in Western Media Environments • Kimberly Foster; Beverly Horvit, University of Missouri School of Journalism • “Conflict is pervasive and inevitable. Although not all conflicts lead to violence, violent conflicts have left a measurable toll of devastation. Peace journalism, a concept born in the 1970s, aims to frame news in a way to provide a comprehensive understanding of conflict that empowers more insightful critical public discourse. This paper addresses the theoretical challenges to peace journalism practices and provides insight into opportunities for in-depth reporting from conflict zones by Western media practitioners.

#LoveWins: Sharing breaking news of the marriage equality act on Instagram • Leslie-Jean Thornton, Arizona State University; Sonia Bovio, Arizona State University • On the morning of Friday, June 26, 2015, the U. S. Supreme Court ruled in the case of Obergefell v. Hodges, commonly known as the marriage equality ruling. Within the minutes of the announcement, social media exploded with posts about the news. Participants in the online celebration rallied around the hashtag #LoveWins, with Twitter posts using the hashtag cresting at 5,187,809 when the day was done. But while Twitter garnered the most traffic, Instagram offered a different experience, along with a steady traffic flood of more than 1,500 posts using the #LoveWins hashtag within the first 20 minutes of the announcement. However, unlike Twitter, where imagery is an option, Instagram is fundamentally more visual as every post is image-driven. The #LoveWins feed on Instagram was awash in news reports from a wide variety of news organizations. Overwhelmingly, however, those breaking news posts did not come directly from the news organizations themselves. This qualitative study examines the visual messages of people using #LoveWins to share breaking news via Instagram. In light of those findings, it examines the visual messages and hashtag use of news organizations cited in #LoveWins breaking-news posts as news sources, and the potential news audience in Instagram communities.

Journalistic Identity as Branding: Individual, Organizational, and Institutional Considerations • Logan Molyneux, Temple University; Avery Holton, University of Utah; Seth Lewis • Journalists, scholars and industry observers have noted a rise in journalistic branding, especially on social media. To what extent and in what ways are journalists constructing social identities online? This study conducts a content analysis of Twitter profiles and tweets from a representative sample of U.S. journalists. It finds that nearly all journalists practice branding in some form (in bios, in tweets, via links), and branding is concentrated at organizational and individual levels.

Effects of News Framing on Reader’s Opinion of E-Cigarettes • Lu Wu, UNC-Chapel Hill; Rhonda Gibson • Electronic cigarettes have gained great popularity in the past few years but remain a novel and controversial subject in news coverage. The current study is an experiment that builds on existing content analyses of media coverage of e-cigarettes to determine what effects common news frames (those focused on regulation, health effects, and tobacco/smoking industry concerns) have on news consumers. Results show that different framing tactics in news can sway people’s attitudes towards e-cigarettes, specifically when it comes to discussion on regulation and youth smoking. Framing has little effects on people’s social norms towards e-cigarettes or their intention to use e-cigarettes.

Gathering Evidence of Evidence: News Aggregation as an Epistemological Practice • Mark Coddington, Washington and Lee University • News aggregation is often presented in opposition to reporting, though the two practices have much in common as journalistic evidence-gathering techniques. Using participant observation and interviews with aggregators, this study explores aggregation as an epistemological practice, examining the ways aggregators weigh evidence, evaluate sources, and verify information. It finds that narrative is a form of second-order newswork, built on the principles of reporting and reliant on it for secondhand evidence.

All The News That’s Fit To Post: Millennials’ Definitions Of News In The Context Of Facebook • Megan Mallicoat • The current study purposed to investigate the content of millennials’ Facebook news feeds with the intent of assessing how information therein compares with previously defined traditional news topics. The social-psychological theory of self-presentation was also considered: using Facebook can be a very public action, and so this study purposed to determine how self-presentation behavior might influence Facebook actions and news feed content. A purposeful sample of participants between the ages of 25-34 was selected (n = 20), and a computerized content analysis was conducted using Provalis Research’s program WordStat. One-on-one interviews were also conducted.

Framing Occupy Central: A Content Analysis of Hong Kong, American and British Newspaper Coverage • Mengjiao Yu, University of South Florida; Yan Shan, University of South Florida; Scott Liu, University of South Florida • Grounded in framing theory, this paper presents a quantitative content analysis of newspaper reporting of the Hong Kong protests, also known as the Occupy Central Movement or the Umbrella Revolution, between September 28 and December 11, 2014. The political, economic and legal implications involved have made the protests one of the most newsworthy events in the history of Hong Kong since the transfer of its sovereignty from the United Kingdom to China in 1997. This study aims to examine the various frames used in the coverage of the protests in three major newspapers that operate within different political, economic and ideological boundaries: South China Morning Post, The New York Times, and The Guardian. Results of the content analysis supported the hypotheses that significant differences existed in the newspapers in their framing of the protests, the protesters, the government, news censorship, and politically sensitive issues. While the frames used by The New York Times and The Guardian were in agreement with the Western democratic-liberal press system, the frames used by South China Morning Post reflected the authoritarian-liberal nature of the Hong Kong press system.

Now You See Me, But You Don’t Know: Consumer Processing of Native Advertisements in Online News Sites • Mengtian Jiang, Michigan State University; Brigitte Balogh McKay, Michigan State University; Jef Richards, michigan state university; Wally Snyder, michigan state university • “Native advertising has become increasingly popular among publishers and advertisers to indirectly compete for consumer attention. Guided by the Information Processing Theory and using a mixed method design, this exploratory study investigates consumer’s cognitive processing of online native advertisements in terms of attention allocation, native ad recognition and brand recall. Results showed that participants had a relatively low literacy for native advertising. Implications of the findings are discussed and future research directions suggested.

The Effects of Native Advertising on Legacy and Online News Publishers • Michelle Amazeen, Rider University; Ashley Muddiman, University of Kansas • Extending research from Wojdynski and Evans (2015), this experimental study replicates the challenges of effectively disclosing native advertising and demonstrates a promising inoculation method that increases likelihood of recognition. Moreover, this quantitative research indicates that both legacy and online news publishers were punished for displaying native advertising. Attitudes toward the publisher and perceptions of its credibility declined for both, although online publishers suffered greater attitudinal damage than did legacy publishers who may benefit from their established reputation.

Micropayments for News: The Effects of Sunk Costs on News Engagement • Nicholas Geidner, The University of Tennessee; Jaclyn Cameron, University of Tennessee Knoxville • Survey walls – a micropayment scheme where users answer survey questions in order to access content – represent a way news organizations are monetizing content. This experimental study examines the effects of survey walls on engagement with online news. The results demonstrate that survey walls alter individuals’ engagement with news content. Specifically, individuals in “pay” conditions spent more time on the article and were less willing to share the content than people in the “non-pay” condition.

Who’s in, Who’s out? Constructing the Identity of Digital Journalists • Patrick Ferrucci, U of Colorado; Tim Vos, University of Missouri • Through the framework of social identity theory, this study utilizes in-depth interviews with 53 digital journalists to see what they believe is essential to their work and who falls outside the label of digital journalist. The results support the notion that changes to the digital media environment have indeed been a new source of professional identity for digital journalists. We then explore what this might mean for the field of journalism.

Journalism Transparency: How journalists understand it as a professional value, ethical construct and set of practices • Peter Gade; Kevin Curran, Univ of Oklahoma; Shugofa Dastgeer; Christina DeWalt, The University of Oklahoma; Desiree Hill; Seunghyun Kim, University of Oklahoma; Emmanuel-Lugard Nduka, University of Oklahoma • This national survey of 524 journalists seeks to identify how journalists understand transparency as a professional value, ethical construct and set of practices. Results identify six dimensions of transparency knowledge, and that journalists strongly embrace transparency as an ethical construct. The extent to which journalists practice transparency is constrained by their existing work loads, concerns about negative outcomes and overall skepticism of change.

‘We don’t cover suicide … (except when we do cover suicide)’ • Randal Beam; Sue Lockett John; Michael Mead Yaqub • Unlike most other unnatural deaths, journalists approach suicide as an occurrence that they are hesitant to cover. “Our policy is not to write about suicides,” they say. Except that often, they do. This paper, based on interviews with 50 U.S. journalists, examines the rationales that the journalists invoke as they decide about whether to cover a suicide.

Twitter’s influence on news judgment: An experiment among journalists • Shannon McGregor, University of Texas – Austin; Logan Molyneux, Temple University • Literature suggests that journalists give a substantial amount of attention to Twitter. What affect might this have on their news judgment, their decisions on what to let through the gates? This study hypothesized a positive bias in favor of news appearing to be from Twitter. Instead, an experiment among working journalists (N = 212) finds a negative bias, suggesting that journalists who use Twitter less in their work tend to discount news they see there.

JOURNALISTS RESEARCHING BIG DATA: A study of research methods and processes in big data journalism • Soo-Kwang Oh; Edson Tandoc, Nanyang Technological University • Through a content analysis of data journalism stories from The Guardian (n=260), a pioneer in contemporary big data journalism, we sought to investigate how the practice of big data journalism takes into account rigorous research method and design. Findings suggested that big data journalism lacks discussions of several elements required for proper scientific research, such as size of data, date of collection and methods for analysis.

Advocacy or Objectivity? Role Perceptions and Journalistic Culture in Alternative and Mainstream Media in Brazil • Summer Harlow, Florida State University • Most research on journalists’ role perceptions and journalistic culture remains Western-focused, and is limited to mainstream media. This quantitative study uses a survey to fill two gaps in the literature by examining differences in role perceptions and journalistic culture among mainstream and alternative media journalists in Brazil. Results indicate significant differences in role perceptions, as mainstream media journalists place more importance on traditional ethics, while alternative media journalists value their normative responsibilities more.

Should There Be an App for That? An Analysis of Interactive Applications within Longform News Stories • Susan Jacobson, Florida International University; Robert Gutsche; Jacqueline Marino • The most-read story of 2014 on the website of The New York Times was a news app called “How You, Youse and You Guys Talk.” While news apps can enhance news stories, they cost a lot of time and money to produce. In this study, we conduct semi-structured interviews with 12 Millennial tablet computer users to evaluate longform multimedia news packages that include Web applications as part of the story presentation to better understand what might be involved in creating successful news apps.

#IfTheyGunnedMeDown: An analysis of mainstream and social media in the Ferguson, Missouri Shooting of Michael Brown • Tracy Everbach, University of North Texas; Meredith Clark, University of North Texas; Gwendelyn Nisbett, University of North Texas • Focusing on the hashtag #IfTheyGunnedMeDown, this study examined the framing of mainstream newspaper coverage of social media activism in the aftermath of the 2014 police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. People of color primarily used the hashtag to draw attention to what they perceived as negative stereotypes perpetuated by the news media. The study employed a textual analysis of news coverage followed by semi-structured interviews with hashtag-protest participants. The analysis found that the mainstream media followed news production rituals by relying primarily on elite, established sources and generally ignoring the social media protestors’ voices. The social media protestors who used the hashtag said they employed it to bypass the mainstream media, and this research indicates they may well have done so and possibly reached a younger generation that relies more on social media than legacy media.

Student Papers
Exploring the Effects of News Personalization and User Comments: Third-Person Perception of the 2013 Target Data Breach • Boya Xu, University of Maryland • It has been robustly supported that media can have a profound social impact indirectly that people’s attitudes or behaviors may be influenced by their perception of the effects of certain content on others, not by the content directly. This impact is particularly magnified when people see others as more negatively influenced than they are themselves, known as the third-person effect. The current study dives into the 2013 Target data breach that has grasped intense attention among the public and media outlets nationally. Survey results show that personalized news content and news sources may encourage individuals to perceive themselves as equally or more vulnerable to the information than others, which was overlooked by the original theorization of third-person effect.

#wjchat: Discursive Construction of Journalistic Values and Norms on Twitter • Frank Michael Russell, University of Missouri School of Journalism • This qualitative textual analysis of posts from @wjchat (web journalism chat) on Twitter provides evidence that journalists and journalism educators use social media to discursively construct institutional values and norms such as verification, objectivity, and diversity. The findings were consistent with and extended gatekeeping theory, the hierarchical influences model, and sociological and discursive institutionalism. Keywords: Gatekeeping, new institutionalism, journalistic values, Twitter. Method: Qualitative.

Carrying Credibility: How News Distribution Affects Reader Judgment • Holly Cowart, University of Florida • This experiment examines the impact of online platforms on source credibility. Using a traditional news media with an online presence, and an online-only news media, it compares news content on three platforms (website, Facebook, Twitter). Results of the 146-person experiment indicate a difference in perceived credibility among platforms. The traditional news media sees a significant drop in credibility between the website and the two social media sites. The online-only news media does not. The implications of these finding are discussed in terms of the changing way that news is presented. News media distribute their content to apps and social media sites. Based on this study, that distribution may result in a loss in credibility for the news source.

Framing EU borders in the news: An analysis of three European news websites • Ivana Cvetkovic, University of New Mexico • Human mobility is widely reported in the news with various framings of national spaces, migrants, borders, home, and security. Using discourse analysis of articles published in the online editions of Croatia’s Jutarnji list, Britain’s The Guardian, and Germany’s Der Spiegel, this research identifies news frames about borders in the European Union context. The analysis produced four micro-frames: borders as lived space, border security, border materialization, and disputes over border-management.

Is That News Story an Ad? News Homepage Design May Mislead Consumers into Sponsored Content • Kate Keib, University of Georgia Grady College; Mark Tatge, University of South Carolina • “While advertisers are set to spend nearly $8 billion on native ads this year, the Federal Trade Commission released a policy on deceptive advertising specifically addressing paid content designed to look like editorial. We execute a content analysis of 60 top U.S. news websites, capturing the design elements of native ads and their similarity to editorial content. Results show that native ads are very similar to editorial content.

An Impolite Conversation: The Interaction between Anonymity and Online Discourse on Political Blogs • Meghan Erkkinen, University of Minnesota • “Previous research has indicated that anonymity is correlated with increased impoliteness and incivility in newspaper comments sections. This study uses quantitative content analysis to examine the impact of anonymity on the comments of partisan political blogs. Results indicate that sites allowing anonymous comments host more impolite and uncivil comments, and that those comments are more likely be directed interpersonally, than sites that require users to verify their identities.

National Issues and Personal Choices, Agendamelding in Iran: A Study of Traditional Media and Twitter in 2015 • Milad Minooie • Building on agenda setting research, agendamelding posits that audiences form their agendas based on social/horizontal media (e.g. Twitter) and their personal preferences in addition to traditional/vertical media (e.g. newspapers). The findings of the present study suggest that social media users adopt their agendas from social/horizontal media rather than traditional/vertical media. One of the implications of this finding is that when the government holds monopoly over traditional/vertical media, personal preferences and social/horizontal media become more salient.

Intermedia Attribute Agenda Setting in the Context of Issue-Focused Media Events: The Case of Caitlyn Jenner and Transgender Reporting • Minjie Li, LSU • On April 24, 2015, Olympic gold medalist Caitlyn Jenner confirmed her transgender identity on “Bruce Jenner: The Interview” with Diane Sawyer and started her own reality show, I am Cait. This study identifies patterns of second-level intermedia agenda setting in the framing of Caitlyn Jenner’s high-profile planned media events about her gender transition, examining the extent to which they influence the way national news outlets report transgender-related stories and the salience of certain story attributes. More specifically, through a comparative quantitative content analysis, this study found that transgender-related reports appearing after the Caitlyn Jenner’s interview were more likely to 1) mention alternative non-binary gender discourses to highlight transgender subjectivity, 2) take the intersectionality perspective to address the the complexity of transgender issues from the aspects of race, class, and sexuality difference, 3) differentiate transgender issues from LGBT issues, and 4) take in-depth approaches to report the stories.

How Online News and Informational Media Position Themselves in the Networked Media Ecosystem: A Study of Niche • Mohammad Yousuf, University of Oklahoma • This study used the Theory of the Niche to examine how four types of online news and informational media—Mainstream, Institutional, Alternative, and User-generated—position themselves in the networked media ecosystem. A total of 700 content units—175 from each media type—were analyzed to test four hypotheses regarding the primary functionalities of these media types. Three hypotheses were supported and one was rejected. Data did not find a primary functionality of the Institutional media.

Digital News Sharing: The Role of Influence and Habits in Social Media News Sharing • Samuel Tham, University of Missouri – School of Journalism • 30% of Americans use social media for news. With news organizations seeking to harness more online news sharing from their viewers, questions are raised as to what kinds of users share news on social media. This study proposes a model that examines the impact of technology leadership (social influence), news affinity, digital device use (habits), and the role of demographics to better understand the characteristics of users that share news on social media.

War of Perception: A Habermasian Discourse Analysis of Human Shield Newspaper Reporting During the 2014 Gaza War • Shane Graber, University of Texas-Austin • In 2014, as Arabs and Israelis fought a deadly and destructive 50-day military battle in Gaza, a simultaneous war of perception was being waged in American news media. This study uses a Habermasian critical discourse analysis to examine how five of the largest newspapers reported accusations of Palestinian human shielding. The findings show that journalists tended to report distorted representations of the human shield claims, potentially obfuscating unfairly a highly complex Middle East conflict.

“When India was Indira”: Indian Express’ Coverage of the Emergency (1975-77) • Subin Paul • When Prime Minister Indira Gandhi imposed censorship in the summer of 1975, few newspapers tried to withstand the attack on press freedom. This historical study used framing theory to examine how Indian Express constructed its position against the Gandhi regime during the 21-month National Emergency. The qualitative content analysis of the Indian Express’ coverage demonstrated its struggle to frame the Emergency as authoritarian. More broadly, the analysis provided a way to understand how journalism functions under censorship.

2016 Abstracts