Advertising 2001 Abstracts

Advertising Division

RESEARCH
Click Here to Personalize a Friend of Barbie Doll: Metaphors and Promotional Appeals in Online Advertisements for Children • Debashis Aikat, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill • Based on theories related to metaphors in advertisements, cognitive comprehension by children, promotional appeals, and presentation techniques, the research for this study comprised a content analysis of 1,063 online banner advertisements with reference to use of metaphors, promotional appeals, promotional content and selling techniques. This paper argues that the impact and content of the Internet as a new advertising medium are distinctly different from traditional characteristics of television and print.

How Ads Work: Identifying Psychological Mechanisms that Make Emotional and Rational Appeals Successful • Cynthia M. Frisby, University of Missouri • An experiment was conducted to determine if two personality variables might be used to describe and explain individual differences in attraction to advertising appeals. Data collected in the study suggests that people concerned with creating and/or maintaining a particular image like advertising copy that focuses on image and physical appearance. Conversely, data revealed that people driven by inner values, attitudes, and feelings, prefer advertisements that provide information about a product’s quality.

Selling the Estate: An Analysis of Advertising Slogans for News Organizations • Salma I. Ghanem and Jacqueline S. Nirenberg, University of Texas-Pan American • This study explores the use of slogans in promoting news. It not only provides benchmark data from which to track changes in the use of slogans, but also a snapshot of the current state of slogans in the news business. News organizations scored low on brand identification, use of literary techniques, and hard-sell messages. While there was frequent use of precise messages, there was also a surprisingly high incidence of superlatives.

Effectiveness of Humorous versus Non-Humorous Commercials in Happy versus San Program Environments • Manish Gupta, Ginger Park, Christie Vanover and Lori Bergen, Kansas State University • A 2 x 2 factorial experiment was conducted to examine effects of mood congruency and mood intensity on effectiveness of humorous and non-humorous commercials in happy and sad program environments using dependent variables of recall, likeability and purchase intent. Humorous commercials performed better than non-humorous commercials in recall and attitude toward the ad. Non-humorous commercials performed better on attitude toward the brand and purchase intent.

The Impact of Cultural Distance and Linguistic Difference on Standardization of Global Corporate Communications through the World Wide Web: A Content Analysis of the US Global Brands’ International Web Pages • Kyoo-Hoon Han and Glen T. Cameron, University of Missouri-Columbia • This study attempts to examine how cultural distance and linguistic difference are associated with global brands’ corporate communications for foreign markets through their international Web pages. A total of 25 US global brands were sampled and their US and international Web pages for the selected four countries • the UK, France, Hong Kong, and South Korea • were analyzed. The results indicate that greater cultural distance between the countries leads to more differences in information cues and structural features between the US global brands’ US Web page and the respective international Web pages.

Wait! Why is it not Moving? Attractive and Distractive Ocular Responses to Web Ads • Nokon Heo, S. Shyam Sundar and Smita Chaturvedi, Penn State University • Participants (N = 46) in a 2x2x2 within-participants factorial experiment manipulating animation (animated, static), position (top, bottom), and product-involvement (high, low) of banner ads were exposed to eight online news pages. Their ocular responses (i.e., horizontal and vertical eye movements) were measures during their browsing. Results indicate that static ads and top ads tend to distract from news reading, and it takes a high-involvement product to attract visual attention toward animated and bottom ads.

Online Newspapers: A Content Analysis of Ad Formats and Rates • Joe Bob Hester, Texas Tech University • A content analysis of online rate information for the newspaper Web sites associated with the Top 50 largest U.S. Newspapers revealed that these sites offer few advertising options. On average, CPM impressions advertising rates for full banners range widely and are more expensive than on other sites; however, steep discounts are available. The findings suggest that as an industry, online newspapers have failed to agree on the value of their product.

Applying Expectancy-Value Theory to the Consumer’s Search for a Restaurant • E. Dennis Hinde, South Dakota State University • This paper compares the role of paid advertising for restaurants and that of informal, word-of-mouth communications on the same subject. It is a test of expectancy-value theory. Expectancy is defined as consumer beliefs about various media choices. Value is the worth a person attaches to the outcome of the search for a product. The instrument for this research was a telephone survey of 199 restaurant patrons.

Characteristics of Shoppers: Television; Catalog/Direct Mail/Department Store; Internet Shoppers • Mira Lee, University of Minnesota • The ability of marketers and advertisers to develop successful marketing and advertising strategies depends on an understanding of shoppers’ characteristics. In this paper, we discussed differences of demographic, psychological, motivational, attitudinal, and behavioral characteristics between shoppers and non-shoppers of three different types: television, catalog/direct mail/department store, and Internet shopper. The results indicated that each type of shopper has some unique characteristics, as well as similar characteristics across all three types of shoppers.

The Engine’s in the Front, But its Heart’s in the Same Place: A Study of the Use of Nostalgia in Advertising • Oren Meyers, University of Pennsylvania • Through the incorporation of critical studies of advertising and collective memory theory the paper suggests that advertising refers to the past through the construction of commodities as “memory sites.” The study then probes this assumption by focusing on three advertising campaigns that link consumers to their existing or invented shared pasts. Finally the study relates its findings to the current emphasis of American advertisers and marketers on targeting and segmenting strategies.

Influence of Film Critic Quotations in Motion Picture Advertising on Audience Attitudes • Michael A. Mitrook and Trenton C. Seltzer, University of Central Florida • In this study the value of film critic quotations is being questioned. Respondents were shown print advertisements for a hypothetical film in which two variables were manipulated: credibility of the critics (high, low, or mixed), and valence of the original raw quotations (positive or negative) from which the quotes were excised. Results show participants in the mixed critic credibility condition assessed attendance likelihood and purchase intention significantly higher than participants in the low critic credibility condition.

The Role Of Advertisements and Performance or Learning Goals In Product Selection Decisions • Catherine Ilse Pfeifer, University of Kansas and Jacqueline Hitchon, University of Wisconsin Madison • This is the first study to examine the effects of goal-oriented media messages on the selection of products by consumers and to apply psychological goal theory to mass communication. This experiment crossed learning or performance goals with the subjects’ perceived task abilities. They then viewed ads and selected a product (relationship seminar) with either a performance, learning, or humiliation-avoidance goal. Results mostly showed that subjects made their selections in alignment with the previously observed goal.

Seniors’ Perceptions Of Seniors In Magazine Advertisements: A Q Analysis • Tom Robinson, Southern Methodist University, Mark Popovich, Robert Gustafson, and Cliff Fraser, Ball State University • These days the “credo in advertising is that 1849 rules” (Taylor, 1995, p.40). This market segment is attractive to marketers because it represents a large number of individuals who are making changes, trying new products, and spending their money. Mike Neavill, director of corporate advertising for AT&T explains: Advertisers identity a target audience they believe serve as the best prospect for the products or services they have to sell.

Effects of Issue Ads on Candidate Evaluation and Voting Preference: Does Sponsorship Matter? • Fuyuan Shen, Pennsylvania State University and H. Denis Wu, Louisiana State University • This empirical study assessed the effects of attack and advocacy issue ads on candidate evaluations and voting preference in a hypothetical two-way, state senate race. It also examined the effects of sponsorship of ads on candidate evaluations and voting preferences. Subjects were exposed to either attack or advocacy print ads sponsored by either candidates or PACs/interest groups. Results indicated that while attack ads have significant effects on candidate evaluation and voting preference, advocacy political ads do not generate significant impact on subjects.

Advertising Gets Entertaining: A Case Study of Soap Advertisements in The 1930s • Juliann Sivulka, University of South Carolina • This case study analyzes soap advertisements during the 1930s. To create copy and illustrations that would appeal to American audience, admakers tried to more closely associate entertainment value with the product to gain attention. Admakers developed new ads forms that incorporated emotive appeals and such formulaic elements as dramatic photographs, motion picture themes, the comics, as well as daytime soap operas. The success of advertising lay in its ability to entertain, as well as inform and persuade.

Taking It Outside In Kansas: Effects Of An Integrated Communications Health Campaign And Its Echo • Esther Thorson and Doyle Yoon, University of Missouri • Take It Outside (TIO) is a multimedia integrated communications campaign designed and evaluated from the point of view of a specific theoretical stance. The topic of the campaign is second hand or environmental tobacco smoke. The goals of the campaign were to increase the number of people who report understanding the harmful effects of second hand smoke, and to reduce the number of smokers who smoke around others, particularly children.

The Role Of Aad As Mediator In The Effects Of Child And Adult Voiceovers In A Children’s Health Campaign • Esther Thorson and Doyle Yoon, University of Missouri • Attempts were made in this study to examine the effect of child voiceover on adults’ beliefs and behavioral changes, and mediating effects of Aad the dependent variables in a children’s health campaign. Results show that both child and adult voiceovers have an impact on Aad beliefs. In addition, child voiceovers have an impact on interpersonal communication, and adult voiceovers affect behaviors. However, Aad mediated those impacts. Implication of this result is discussed.

Do Free Offers Really Work: A College Student’s Experimental Survey Study • Alex Wang, University of Texas at Austin • This study examined the strength of the relationship between the willingness to accept the free offers online and the average involvement regarding three product categories: entertainment, clothing and healthcare. The findings suggested respondents would not accept free offers in the high-involvement product categories, while they would accept free offers in the low-involvement product categories. Implications for advertisers and the direction of future research were also presented.

An Exploratory Study: The Information Content of Deceptive Infomercials • Jan LeBlanc Wicks and Ron Warren, University of Arkansas • The information content of nine infomercials (or 16.98% of the 53 infomercials) that were identified as deceptive by the Federal Trade Commission is compared to non-deceptive infomercials studied in previous research using the Resnik and Stern (1977) approach. The deceptive infomercials averaged 7.66 information cues while the non-deceptive infomercials averaged 5.8 cues (Tom 1995/1996; Elliott & Lockard 1996). Deceptive infomercials appear more likely to present misleading product safety information and research results in order to make a sale.

Optimal Aad-Ab-PI Measures in the Journal of Advertising: 1991 through 2000 • ChongMoo Woo, University of Florida • The first objective of this study is to assess the items, scales, source, authors, reliability, and frequency of single-item scales and multi-item scales involving Aad-Ab-PI measures in the 1990s journal of advertising. The second objective is to use the aggregated Aad-Ab-PI measures to investigate the robustness of a mediation hypothesis and to assess the strength of specific paths in the model.

SPECIAL TOPICS
Advertising and the consumer movement of the 1960s and 70s • Sue Westcott Alessandri, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and Mary Alice Shaver, Michigan State University • no abstract

Processing Ads in a Competitive Context • Chingching Chang, National Chengchi University • This study documents the interference from the ads of competing brands in the viewing context on evaluations of target ads/brands. It also shows that for the target brand promoting a relatively unique attribute is more effective than promoting a shared attribute. It further explains that consumers cope with persuasive messages by making attributions. These attributional thoughts not only affect their ad evaluations, but also impact brand evaluations via influence on ad liking and ad persuasiveness.

Actions Not Words: What The Handling Of Cross-Border Advertising Disputes Tells Us About The Interests Shaping Advertising In The European Union • Anne Cunningham, Louisiana State University • Working within the critical paradigm, this study seeks to identity the ideology supported by officials most involved in shaping European advertising self-regulation. As Europe moves toward unification, the advertising industry and its regulators have been charged with devising a system to handle international disputes. There can be little doubt that conflicts do and will continue to arise in the international transmission of advertising; but these are only surface-level conflicts.

Changing Direction: Assessing Student Thoughts and Feelings About a New Program in Strategic Communication • Cynthia M. Frisby, Bryan H. Reber, and Glen T. Cameron, Missouri School of Journalism • A number of recent studies have examined integration of advertising and public relations but none reports what students think. Over three semesters students in an Introduction to Strategic Communication course were asked to assess an integrated public relations and advertising curriculum. Students supported integration and viewed a focus on new technology, having a toolkit of integrated communication methods, and understanding the basics of relationship building as paramount.

Making the Invisible Visible Through Media Literacy: The Pinesol Lady and the Ghost of Aunt Jemima • Lorraine Fuller, University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff • Although many of the negative and stereotypical portrayals of Blacks in advertising have faded into oblivion, some still find their way into television commercials. These portrayals are of concern because they can have an impact on others’ social construction of reality about blacks. For years, the “happy mammy” symbol was used to market Aunt Jemima pancakes. The image came to an end in 1989 when the Quaker Oats company gave Aunt Jemima a new more modern look.

“Others” in the Era of Multiculturalism: An Examination of Interweaving Portrayals of Gender, Race, and Age in TV Commercials • Jongbae Hong, University of Southern Illinois-Carbondale • This study interrogated the ways in which complex gender, race and age relations are depicted in TV commercials. By examining the systematic ways that advertising depicts complex and interdependent relations between gender, race and age, this study attempted to find the ways by which TV commercials marginalize cultural “others” such as women, minorities, and the aged. The findings of this study showed that the relations between gender and race are heavily influenced by age, and that Euro-centric perspective prevails in advertising industry.

Re-inventing ‘Tricky Dick’: The selling of Richard M. Nixon in 1968 • Melissa McElroy, University of Alabama • In his race for the American presidency in 1968, Richard Nixon became one of the first presidential candidates to put together a group of people solely charged with changing his public image through the medium of television. This paper analyzes four of Nixon’s television commercials from that race using concepts related to the “star system” and to the idea of repositioning the candidate in the minds of the American public.

Advertisers Got Game: Examining Effectiveness of Product Placements in New Media • Michelle R. Nelson, University of Wisconsin-Madison • no abstract

A Semiotic Exegesis Of World Wide Web Advertising: The Search For A Contextual Understanding Of Digital Design • William Pritchard, Elizabethtown College • Via a semiotic reading of 100 Web advertisements, this study composes a culturally astute understanding of on-line advertising. Web advertisements are analyzed within, and against, the larger cultures of digital and traditional representation. Findings point to the inherent limitations of on-line design in comparison to traditional print design, and present the workings of a new culture of advertising defined by a universal equity among large and small advertisers and a palatable straying from traditional professional advertising codes.

Balance Theory and Advertising: A History, Review and Critical Perspective • Don Umphrey, University of Texas-Austin • Heider’s Balance Theory continues to have relevancy for advertising researchers today, even though has been more than 50 years since it was first introduced. This paper traces the roots of the theory and distinguishes it from other cognitive consistency theories. Further, the paper demonstrates correct and incorrect uses of the theory in advertising and in communication theory with advertising implications. Finally, recommendations are made as to how the theory might be used to probe advertising-related issues in the future.

TEACHING
Preparing the entry-level advertising portfolio: Pointing creative students in the right direction • Sheri Broyles, University of North Texas • A national survey of educators in advertising creative classes focused on what makes a good portfolio in terms of concept and presentation. The questions asked academics mirrored those asked of a national survey of creative directors in Slayden, Broyles, and Kendrick (1998). Results showed that academics and creative directors generally agreed on content and approaches, although academics were more likely to accept logos for copywriters and radio/TV for art directors than were professionals.

Rating Creativity: A Comparison of Judgments of Advertising Professionals and Educators • Alisa White Coleman, University of Texas -Arlington, Bruce L. Smith, Southwest Texas State University and Fuyuan Shen University of South Dakota • Advertising educators prepare students for jobs in the advertising industry. This paper examined one aspect of the industry-creativity-to determine the extent to which educators and agency professionals agree in judging creativity. Educators with a lot of industry experience gave much lower ratings than did professionals or less experienced educators. Educators and professionals tended to agree on the appropriateness of the ads and how well crafted they were.

Educators and Practitioners Look at the Advertising Curriculum • Alan D. Fletcher, Louisiana State University • In 1988 AEJMC established a Task Force on the Future of Journalism and Mass Communication Education. The Advertising Division’s contribution to the project was a survey of advertising educators and advertising practitioners, to measure the degree to which educators and practitioners agreed on the components of a strong advertising curriculum. The current study is a replication of the 1988 study. The study, which employed samples of Advertising Division members and corporate members of the American Advertising Federation, produced results that are very similar to the results of the earlier study.

An Analysis of Attitudes Toward Statistics: Gender Differences Among Advertising Majors • Jami A. Fullerton, Oklahoma State University and Don Umphrey, Southern Methodist University • This study measured advertising students’ attitudes toward statistics. 275 Undergraduate advertising students from two southwestern U.S universities completed a questionnaire used to gauge students’ attitudes toward statistics by measuring six underlying factors: (1) Students’ interest and future applicability; (2) relationship and impact of the instructor; (3) attitude toward statistical tools; (4) self-confidence; (5) parental influence; and (6) initiative and extra effort in learning statistics. Overall findings revealed that advertising students have a negative attitude toward statistics and the introductory statistics.

What’s the Big Idea? Using Socratic Seminars in Advertising Courses • Sandy King and Fritz Cropp, University of Missouri • Advertising students often have difficulty learning to identity, understand and apply creative concepts, or the “big idea.” Analyzing and discussing ads can help, provided the discussion extends beyond reactions and opinions. The Socratic seminar format can be applied in advertising creative concepts to provide a framework for making discussions more productive. This format not only helps students build a more meaningful discussion, it also develops critical thinking and speaking skills particularly valuable to advertising students.

STUDENTS
Effects of Web Site and Advertiser Credibility on Consumer Evaluation of Banner Ad, Brand, and Purchase Intent • Sejung Marins Choi, Michigan State University • The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of consumers’ credibility perceptions of a Web site and of an advertiser on their evaluations of the banner ad and the advertised brand and purchase intention. The impact of relevance or a match between the advertised product category and the content of the Web site was also examined. The results suggest a structural model with significant relationships among relevance, Web site credibility, advertiser credibility, and ad/brand-related concepts.

A Typology of Online Positioning Strategies Among Creative Programs • W. Glenn Griffin, University of Texas-Austin • Among the schools that train advertising creatives, competition for students is fierce. A handful of programs, both trade and academic, supply the industry with the top job candidates every year. Internet technology offers creative programs a new method for positioning themselves among competitors and for student recruitment. This paper proposes a typology of the strategies employed by creative programs taking advantage of the technology. Four distinct strategies are identified in the Online Positioning Strategy Model.

Emotional vs. Cognitive Purchase-Decision Involvement: Comparison of Brand Name and Product-Feature Decisions • Jooyoung Kim, University of Florida • Purchase-decision involvement has been thought to be an important concept in understanding consumers’ involvement in purchasing decisions. In addition, consumers have been viewed as having both cognitive and emotional involvements. To date however, there has been relatively little research that combines the purchase-decision and emotional/cognitive involvement. In this current research, a revised purchase-decision involvement scale was developed to measure both the cognitive and emotional involvement in selected situations involving product features and brand names.

Perceived Risk and Risk Relievers in Online Auctions • Hanjun Ko, University of Florida • This study examines the perceived risk of consumers about online auctions and to determine the preferences for different levels of risk reductions methods when purchasing a product at online auctions. Results show that the perceived risk is higher for those who have not used online auctions than online auction users because they perceived a higher level of risk in terms of financial, time, and psychological risks.

Consequences of Commercial Web Presence: An Exploratory Study of Korean Business Adopters of Web Sites • Jung-Gyo Lee and Jae-Jin Park, University of Missouri-Columbia • A key research issue to the present study is to explore how marketers who have already presented on the Web perceive the World Wide Web as a marketing communications tool. The research focus is on examining what organizational benefits are recognized and how such benefits are associated with organizational features, attitudes toward the Web presence and overall satisfaction with the Web presence.

Internet Communication Benefits and Marketing Competitiveness: An Exploratory Analysis of Senior U.S. Advertising Executives’ Perceptions • Padmini Patwardhan and Hemant Patwardhan, University of Southern Illinois-Carbondale • Using an email survey, this study empirically examined current perceptions of Internet capabilities for marketing and marketing communications among 145 senior advertising agency executives in the Unites States. Generally, opinions about the benefits of Internet use in marketing were highly positive. Factor analysis revealed six specific Internet benefit dimensions: Cost/Time Efficiency, Customer Orientation, Customer Interactivity, Promotional Use, Personal Contact Replacement, and a more general benefit • Overall Value of Internet in Marketing.

An Empirical Examination of the Factors Affecting Attitude Toward the Site • Chan Yun Yoo, University of Texas-Austin • The purpose of this study was to empirically examine the factors affecting attitude toward the site, and to explore the relative importance of those factors. The study employed a within-group experimental design using an online survey. Four different predictor variables (i.e., product involvement, Internet skill, users’ interactivity with the site, and attitude toward the front page) have been tested in relation to attitude toward the site.

<< 2001 Abstracts

Communication Theory and Methodology 2003 Abstracts

Communication Theory and Methodology Divisions

Similarities and Differences in College-Age Men’s and Women’s Responses to Alcohol Advertisements in Men’s and Women’s Magazines • Erica Weintraub Austin, Autumn Miller, Ryan Sain, Kenneth Andersen, Alina Ryabovolova, Lynne Barber, Angela Johnson, Katie Severance, Toby Beal and Cicely Clinkenbeard, Washington State • A receiver-oriented content analysis (N=321) explored the perceptions of men and women regarding advertisements for alcohol contained in the most popular men’s and women’s magazines. Each individual rated four randomly selected ads (2 from men’s magazines and 2 from women’s magazines), with a total of 32 ads rated by participants. Men found the ads targeting them more appealing while women reported the ads in men’s magazines as more offensive.

Criticism or Praise? The Impact Of Verbal Versus Text-Only Computer Feedback On Social Presence, Intrinsic Motivation, And Recall • Cheryl Campanella Bracken, Leo W. Jeffres, and Kimberly A. Neuendorf, Cleveland State • The Computers are Social Actors (CASA) paradigm asserts that human computer users interact socially with computers, and has provided extensive evidence that this is the case. In this experiment, (N= 134) participants received either praise or criticism from a computer. Independent variables were the feedback (praise or criticism), and voice (verbal or text-only). Dependent variables measured via a computer-based questionnaire were recall, perceived ability, intrinsic motivation, and perceptions of the computer as a social entity.

Processing AIDS/HIV Prevention Messages: Arousing Content, Production Pacing, and Sexual Experience • Samuel D. Bradley, James R. Angelini, Zheng Wang, and Annie Lang, Indiana • Designing effective public service announcements promoting safe-sex behavior is a challenging task. Due to the arousing, risky nature of sex, research suggests that viewers are likely to process these messages differently than other messages. An experiment was conducted wherein 75 college students were shown AIDS/HIV prevention messages. Results suggest that, as with other messages, fast production pacing increased valence. Rather than increasing self-reported arousal, however, pacing decreased the self-reported arousal.

Democratic Realism, Neoconservativism, and the Normative Underpinnings of Political Communication Research • Erik P. Bucy, Indiana and Paul D’Angelo, Albany • This paper traces the development and diffusion of four basic, normative assumptions in the political communication literature identified by Chaffee and Hochheimer (1985). We first examine how these assumptions were brought into the field by Paul Lazarsfeld and his Columbia school colleagues under the guiding principles of democratic realism, and then analyze how they continue to operate in the literature today.

Coefficient of Co-Termination • Li Cai, Ohio State • The assessment of intercoder agreement in the unitizing phase of content analyses has long been overlooked. In particular, little attention has been paid to the issue of co-termination. Although multiple-coder kappa can be used for the purpose of summarizing the agreement of co-termination, its conservativeness often results in gross underestimates. A new family of coefficients based on Multi-response Randomized Blocks Permutation procedure is presented here and numerical examples are given.

Community Level Determinants of Knowledge and Participation: Extending Knowledge Gap to Participation Gap • Jaeho Cho and Douglas M. McLeod, Wisconsin-Madison • This paper investigates the relationships between community characteristics and knowledge and participation levels examined at both the individual and community levels. This research extends knowledge gap to a parallel phenomenon, participation gag. Results from the Social Capital Benchmark Survey 2000 showed that community density, education, and cohesion were significant positive predictors of knowledge but less consistent predictors of participation at the individual level. At the community level, relationships were even stronger, though inconsistent in direction.

Pacing and Arousing Content Effects on Personal Impact, Third Person Effects and Reverse Third Person Effects of Anti-Smoking PSAs for Smokers and Non-Smokers • T. Makana Chock, Julia R. Fox, James R. Angelini, Seungjo Lee and Annie Lang, Indiana • This study found third-person effects of anti-smoking radio PSAs for smokers but reverse third-person effects for non-smokers. For smokers and non-smokers, these effects diminished with increased message pacing, as both rated others more similar to themselves in response to fast-paced PSAs compared to slow-paced PSAs. Increased message pacing resulted in greater perceived effects on self for smokers and non-smokers, although this effect was more pronounced for smokers. Fast-paced, arousing messages had the greatest personal impact.

News Values of Sports Coverage: A test of the Newsworthiness Model on the World Cup Coverage • Yun Jung Choi, Jong Hyuk Lee and Cheolhan Lee, Missouri at Columbia • The purpose of this study is to test the international newsworthiness model of Shoemaker, Danielian, and Brendlinger (1991) in sports coverage. The World Cup held in Korea and Japan was selected as the topic. To test the hypothesis, significance and deviance points of the World Cup matches were operationally defined based on the FIFA ranking points, William Hill betting points, and CNN power ranking, and then these statistics were compared with the coverage.

Using Computerized Content Analysis to Measure Affective Tone: An Amplification of “Sensationalism” by Comparing the Tonal Values of the New York Times to the New York Post Using Whissell’s Dictionary of Affect in Language • Paul Crandon and John Lombardi, North Alabama • This study introduces an innovation content analysis method that incorporates both computerized database processing and traditional semantic differential scaling. The researchers looked for evidence of sensationalism by examining headlines and leads from the New York Times and the New York Post. The two newspapers were compared using Whissell’s Dictionary of Affect in Language and an accompanying software system. Results found significant differences between the two sources, establishing further validation of the instrument itself.

Completeness, Web Use Motivation, and Credibility • Mohan J. Dutta-Bergman, Purdue • Recent articles on the quality of health information on the Internet reveal two critical criteria: completeness and credibility. This paper investigates the effect of web use motivation on the relationship between completeness and credibility. Based on a 2×3 experiment conducted with 246 respondents, the paper demonstrates that the extent of completeness of health information on the Internet impacts consumer assessment of source and website credibility.

Understanding the Relationship Between News Use and Political Knowledge: A Model-Comparison Approach Using Panel Data • William P. Eveland, Jr., Ohio State; Andrew F. Hayes; Dhavan V. Shah, Wisconsin-Madison and Nojin Kwak, Michigan • The purpose of this study was to examine more closely the assumptions of causality in research on learning from news. We collected panel data on a national sample in June and November 2000. We employed a model comparison approach to identify the best fitting model among alternatives that included models of unidirectional and reciprocal causality. The data are most consistent with a model of causality that is unidirectional running from T2 news use to T2 political knowledge.

Minority TV Portrayals, Regional Factors & Opinions on Affirmative Actions: An Affective Model of Policy Reasoning • Yuki Fujioka, Georgia State and Alexis S. Tan, Washington State • The self-administered survey of 360 white respondents in South East (n=360) and 237 white respondents in North West examined (a) regional differences in racial attitudes; and (b) influence of news media on African American stereotypes and opinions on affirmative action. Based upon the power-threat hypothesis and contact hypothesis, the study hypothesized and found that whites in South had more negative racial attitudes than whites in North West.

Cognitive Access to New and Traditional Media: Evidence from Different Strata or the Social Order • Maria Elizabeth Grabe, Indiana • The study reported here experimentally investigated the cognitive access and emotional responses of news consumers across demographic (low and high education groups) and media channel (newspaper, television, and the Web) variables. Contrary to what most channel studies have reported, television, not newspapers, emerged as the most user-friendly medium with the highest probability of providing cognitive access to news information, particularly to subjects in the lower education group.

Responding to Banner Animation: An Application of the Visual Search Paradigm • Nokon Heo, Central Arkansas • This study investigates the effect of banner animation on search-reaction time. All subjects (N = 29) in a 2 (Animation Type) x 3 (Banner Type) x 4 (Distractor Number) within-subjects factorial experiment were participated in a Web banner search task. Each subject completed a total of 72 trials. In each trial, the subject was shown a target banner and asked to search the target in the mist of distractors that were arrayed in a subsequent display.

Inside or Outside of Democracy? Political Socialization of Adolescents Within The Culture of Poverty • Edward M. Horowitz, Johan Wanstrom and Kimberly Parker, Oklahoma • This study investigates political socialization among adolescents in poor inner city communities. These adolescents live in a distinct culture different from the politically dominant upper and middle class cultures. Results indicate that these adolescents are dependent on the educational level of their parents (which often is low) and what they learn from the official school curriculum. The specific environment gives these adolescents few opportunities to learn the cultural capital necessary to understand and function in the political process.

Community and Civic Values, Communication, and Social Capital “Bowling Alone” as a Product of Values and Communication • Leo W. Jeffres, Jae-won Lee, Kimberly Neuendorf and David Atkin, Cleveland State • When Putman (1995) focused attention on a decline in organizational involvement, he renewed interest in community activities and their consequences for civic life. Since civic involvement occurs at the most “local” level, the community and neighborhood have emerged as contexts for examining “social capita” and processes involved in its decline or direction. This paper examines relationships between civic and community values, communication variables and community variable that include social capital, community attachment and identity, using data from a survey conducted in a Midwest metro area in the summer of 2001.

Perceived Interactivity and Cognitive Involvement: A Protocol Analysis of User Experience on A Web Portal with Multimedia Features • Yan Jin and Glen T. Cameron, Missouri-Columbia • This protocol analysis investigates how the most recent developed conceptualization and dimensional definition of perceived interactivity may move beyond advertising effectiveness and fit into Web portal with multimedia features. Portal users’ thoughts on active control, two-way communication, synchronicity as well as vividness were observed and categorized into different cognitive involvement levels. As a result, synchronicity turned out to be the most weighted dimensions, followed by vividness and active control. Two-way communication seemed not a strong indicator of portal interactivity.

The World Wide Web of Sports: A Path Model Examining How Online Gratifications and Reliance Predict Credibility of Online Sports Information • Thomas J. Johnson, Southern Illinois and Barbara K. Kaye, Tennessee • This study surveyed sports enthusiasts online to examine the impact of Internet gratifications and other factors on judgments of online credibility. Being motivated to go online for information and for entertainment were the strongest predictors of credibility of online sports sources. Reliance on traditional media and age were the only other consistent predictors of online credibility, with young, heavy media users rating the Internet as a credible source of sports information.

Gateways, Billboards, Communities, Niches, or Brands: A Concept Explication of Web Portals for Communication Research • Sriram Kalyanaraman and S.Shyam Sundar, Penn State • Web portals are increasing in their presence as well as importance, yet suffer from lack of conceptual clarity. In explicating the concept of portals from a number of disciplinary frameworks, this paper discovers five different, but inter-related, metaphorical conceptions—gateways, billboards, communities, niches, and brands—which, in turn, suggest five dominant features of portal sites — customization, content, control, community, and commerce—for empirical examination as variables in future research on uses and effects of portals.

News Framing of Civic Liberties Restrictions: Conditional Effects on Security Concerns and Tolerance Judgments • Heejo Keum, Elliott Hillback, Hernando Rojas, Tom Hove, Homero Gil de Zuniga, Abhiyan Humane, Mark Heather, Dhavan V. Shah and Douglas M. McLeod, Wisconsin-Madison • We examine framing effects on political tolerance. Using an online survey experiment, we presented alternative versions of a news story concerning government restrictions on an activist group. We manipulated whether the activists backed a cause supported or opposed by the respondent and whether the story framed civil liberties restrictions at the individual or group level. We find individual story frames polarize responses, leading to less support for least-liked groups and more support for most-liked groups.

Deindividuated Individuals?: Ethnographic Study of A Virtual Community • Junghyun Kim, Michigan State • This is a study about how two unique characteristics of virtual communities – the lack of social context cues and group environments – may affect the individuals’ interpersonal interaction as well as collective behaviors in virtual communities. From an ethnographic study, this paper found out that individuals in virtual communities behaved in congruent with their unique community norms with extreme loyalty toward their communities, and that they had hyperpersonal interactions with ingroup members.

Thrilling News, Factors Generating Suspense During News Exposure • Silvia Knobloch, Dmitri Williams, Michigan and Caterina Keplinger, Dresden University of Technology • Hypotheses on reactions to news were derived from Zillmann’s model of fictional drama. German participants read news stories manipulated for affective disposition toward actors and likelihood of negative outcome. Measures of suspense, reading appreciation, lingering interest, information evaluation, and mood were collected. A positive disposition toward protagonists and a perceived high likelihood of a negative outcome increased suspense while attending to news. A positive disposition led to higher reading appreciation, more interest, and better information evaluations.

Talking Politics and Engaging Politics: An Examination of The Interactive Relationships Between Structural Features of Political Talk and Discussion Engagement • Nojin Kwak, Ann Williams, Xiaoru Wang, Hoon Lee, Michigan • This study takes a process-oriented approach to understand the current status of political discussion research and identifies discussion engagement-discussion attention and integrative discussion-as an unexplored, but important, facet of political discussion. We find that discussion engagement enhances the impact that interpersonal talk has on politics, beyond what frequently employed measures of structural features of discussion network-size, frequency, and heterogeneity-yield.

Relationship between Sensation Seeking Tendency and Substance Use: Refining the Measure of Rebelliousness for Substance Use Research • Moon J. Lee, Washington State • This study reviewed a history of developing a theoretical framework of sensation-seeking tendency and addressed the critical issues involved in substance use research in regard to the sensation-seeking scale (SSS). An attempt was made to examine the existing sensation-seeking scale to better capture Disinhibition, one of the four factors in SSS that exhibit a high correlation with substance use. An exploratory factor analysis of the existing items with newly added items indicates one factor solution.

Interaction As A Unit Of Analysis For Interactive Media Research: A Conceptualization • Joo-Hyun Lee and Hairong Li, Michigan State • This conceptual paper proposes interaction as a unit of analysis in interactive media research. Ambiguity of interactivity as a core concept has been identified. With a delineation of the similarities and differences among interactivity, reaction, and interaction, this paper presents a new definition of interaction. The superiority of the interaction concept over interactivity is explained, along with the antecedents and consequences. Research propositions and hypotheses are proposed for use of interaction in future interactive media research.

Population Validity and Subject Selection Bias in Eight Marketing and Mass Communication Journals: A Critical Review • Dennis T. Lowry and Katherine H. Sundararaman, Southern Illinois Carbondale • A probability sample of 508 empirical articles from four prestigious marketing journals and four prestigious mass communication journals from 1991 through 2000 were evaluated to determine the population validity and subject selection bias of the studies. Both disciplines used a preponderance (59.3%) of non-probability samples, and one-third of the articles did not report sufficient sampling procedures to permit replication. A majority of studies did not report sampling completion rates; only 3.4% of the studies reported margin of error information.

How General Principles of Organization Theory Explain Gatekeeping Decisions About News: A Revised View of the Field• Hugh J. Martin, Georgia • Mass communication hypotheses about gatekeeping do not provide a coherent explanation of organizational influences. General theories define organizations as collections of individuals working toward a common goal. This view focuses on the processes that organizations develop, and the internal and external variables that influence the outcome of those processes. These principles are used to develop alternative models of news selection. New propositions about news selection are derived from these models.

Self-Esteem, Self-Affirmation And Threats To Self-Worth: Testing A Motivational Explanation For The Third-Person Effect • Patrick C. Meirick, Oklahoma • The self-enhancement explanation for third-person effects argues that perceiving oneself as resistant to media messages enhances one’s self-esteem. The need to self-enhance can be increased by threats to self-worth or reduced by self-affirmation (Steele, 1988). In Study One, third-person effects did not vary by threat condition or by self-esteem, although those high in self-esteem perceived smaller effects on themselves and others. In Study Two, third-person effects were smaller among those whose self-worth was affirmed.

Understanding Consumer Intention to Shop Online: A Comparison of Three Intention-Based Models • Jae-Jin Park and Glen T. Cameron, Missouri-Columbia • By using a sample of 733 consumers, this study employed path analysis to compare three intention-based models (i.e., the theory of reasoned action, the theory of planned behavior, and the technology acceptance model) in terms of the extent to which each can be used to predict and understand the consumer’s online-shopping intention. This study found that the theory of planned behavior provides a more robust theoretical basis for the study of online shopping than does the theory of reasoned action.

A Cross-Nationally Comparative Look At Agenda-Setting-The Occurrence Of Agenda-Setting Depends On The Nature Of Elite Opinion • Jochen Peter, Amsterdam • Agenda-setting research has rarely studied less frequently covered issues and seldom taken a cross-nationally comparative perspective. Focusing on the issue of European integration, this study investigated whether the amount of EU coverage in television news affected the extent to which EU citizens perceived European integration to be important. More importantly, it was studied whether the nature of elite opinion about European integration moderated the occurrence of agenda-setting effects.

None of the Above: Creating Mass Deliberation Without Discussion • Ray Pingree, Wisconsin-Madison • Deliberative democracy has been plagued by questions of implementation, due to a failure to distinguish between discussion and the more general concept of many-to-many communication. To demonstrate that this theoretical distinction is both possible and important, this paper introduces an example of an Internet-based many-to-many communication system designed to achieve deliberation’s outcomes without discussion. A broader deliberative theory is proposed, to encompass the concept of non-conversational deliberation as part of a more attainable public sphere.

Towards a Network Approach of Human Action, Theoretical concepts and empirical observations in media organizations • Thorsten Quandt, Technical University Ilmenau, Germany • This paper argues that network approaches can be helpful in describing phenomena in the media. It presents data from an empirical observation study in the newsrooms of German online media. We found surprising similarities in the coded material from this observation. This leads us to the conclusion that there are associations and sequences in human action which can be analyzed on the basis of network theory. We therefore develop a relational theory of human action.

Two Suggestions for Better Mass Communication Measurement: Remember Unidimensionality, Forget Little Jiffy • John D. Richardson and Frederick Fico, Michigan State • A review of leading mass communication journals indicates that studies introducing measures of latent constructs rarely considered unidimensionality, a critical element of construct validity. Drawing on psychometric literature, it is demonstrated that procedures commonly used to assess/develop mass communication measures, particularly Cronbach’s alpha and exploratory factor analysis, do not examine whether a measure is unidimensional. Moreover, the review of prior studies also suggests widespread use of Kaiser’s “Little Jiffy,” a contraindicated combination of exploratory factor analytic techniques.

Are People Still Learning from the Media? A Review of Social Learning Theory in Mass Communication Research, 1990-2001 • Jennifer A. Robinson, Alabama • This state of the art review analyzed mass media research which utilized social learning concepts for a theoretical base. Four major research categories were revealed: direct media effects, mediators of vicarious learning, social diffusion (indirect effects), and media oriented theoretical developments. Although health campaigns and media portrayals dominate the research, there are relatively unexplored opportunities for mass media researchers to investigate mediating variables and develop new models utilizing key social cognitive theory concepts.

Emotional Intelligence, Communication, and Civic Engagement: Exploring Possibilities for Civic Renewal • Hernando Rojas, Wisconsin-Madison • This paper integrates emotional intelligence (EI), an ability to recognize and regulate emotions, in a model that predicts civic engagement, both directly and indirectly through various communication variables. In particular, the relationship of EI with media use, interpersonal discussion, and political efficacy are explored. Hypotheses where examined across two studies. Findings suggest that EI is positively related with civic engagement, news use, discussion network size, and political efficacy.

Is Herpes Entertaining? An Application Of Entertainment-Education To Text Information Processing Concerning STDs Among Adolescents • Donna Rouner and Ralf Kracke-Berndorff, Colorado State • This study examined the impact of entertainment-education strategies on audience’s (N=137) information processing regarding sexual health. The hypothesis, that higher involved audience members exposed to a statistical message would show a higher message evaluation than those exposed to an anecdotal message, was partially supported. Also, “framing” the same anecdotal message as either intended for promotion or entertainment purposes, controlling for involvement, found higher message evaluation by respondents exposed to the entertainment message.

Comparison of Computerized and Traditional Content Analysis Techniques: A Case Study of the Texas Democratic Gubernatorial Primary • Cindy Royal, Texas at Austin • In Spring 2002, a graduate seminar at a large southwestern university embarked on a project to analyze the images of political candidates in the Texas Democratic Gubernatorial Primary as found in the Austin American-Statesman. While part of the class used traditional coding techniques, other students utilized the computerized content analysis tool VBPro to analyze the same series of data. This provided a unique opportunity to compare and contrast strategies and results.

News framing of Arctic drilling and its impact on attributes salience and issue attitudes • Fuyuan Shen, Penn State • This paper explores whether news framing can alter the salience of issue attributes, and opinions. Participants were exposed to newspaper articles framing the issue of oil drilling by emphasizing its environmental consequences or economic benefits. Results indicated that news frames had a significant impact on the perceived salience of frame relevant issue attributes. Subjects reported more frame relevant thoughts and perceived frame relevant issue attributes more important.

Modeling Micro And Macro: A Multilevel Model To Predict Memory For Television Content • Brian G. Southwell, Minnesota • Whenever a study engages an array of variables that should involve different units of analysis, the risk of misleading results lurks. Questions about memory for media content, for example, invite investigation of not only variables describing individuals, but also (relatively speaking) macro-level constructs concerning content. This paper uses multilevel modeling techniques to avoid basic pitfalls and predict memory for electronic media content using data from U.S. adolescents and data regarding nationally available health campaign advertisements.

The Need For Cognition As A Moderator In The Association Between News Media Skepticism • Yariv Tsfati, University of Haifa, Israel and Joseph N. Cappella, Pennsylvania • Prior research has found only modest associations between news media trust and exposure. Many news skeptics report moderate to high levels of mainstream news exposure, despite their mistrust of mainstream news. Why do people watch news they do not trust? This study investigates the moderating role played by the psychological construct of “the need for cognition” in this association. A need for cognition by media skepticism interaction is hypothesized and tested on survey data (n = 424).

Attributions of Advertising Influence and Negative Stereotypes Among First-and Third –Person Perceptions • Don Umphery and Tom Robinson, Southern Methodist • Recent high school graduates and university seniors both judged the influence of four magazine advertisements aimed at different age groups on each other, on people in their mid-40s, and on people in their 70s. Both samples demonstrated first-person findings with advertisements for products aimed at younger people and third-person perceptions for people in their mid-40s and 70s with advertisements for products aimed at older individuals.

The Automatic Activation of Drug Attitudes: Anti-Drug Ad Viewing Styles and Strength of Association • Carson B Wagner, Texas at Austin and S. Shyam Sundar, Pennsylvania State • Strength of association (SOA) measures convey the likelihood that attitudes will activate automatically to guide behavior. Prior anti-drug ad research has shown the difficulty in demonstrating effects on SOA, but theory suggests consuming drug ads passively as opposed to scrutinizing them may result in stronger negative associations. Herein, a between-participants experiment (N = 57) explores this possibility and indicates that viewing ads less actively yields significantly more negative SOA as compared to watching effortfully.

Message Framing and Measuring Emotional Response to Islam and Terrorism: A Comparison Between Christians, Jews and Muslims • Robert H. Wicks, Arkansas • Religion, like politics and economics, has an enormous impact on the evolution of peoples, societies and nations. This study considers how members of different religions perceive and respond emotionally to televised news reports about Islam and terrorism that the media frame in various ways. The study employs emotional response procedures that are similar to Mehrabian scaling techniques. The results indicate news reports with high relevancy to members of various faiths produce feelings of hostility, anger and outrage.

Agenda-Setting Effects in the Digital Age- Refining “Need for Orientation” with “Effort Required to Attend to the Message” • Chan Yun Yoo and Gunho Lee, Texas at Austin • This study attempted (1) to examine the agenda-setting function in the new media environment, (2) to redefine the concept of need for orientation, and (3) to empirically investigate the effects of need for orientation in the agenda-setting process. By conducting an experimental study, the authors revealed that all three new sub-dimensions of need for orientation – personal involvement, knowledge, and effort required to attend to the message – played a significant role in the agenda-setting process, and especially, individual’s effort required to attend to the message moderated the agenda-setting effects.

<< 2003 Abstracts

Newspaper 2004 Abstracts

Newspaper Division

Problem or Promise? Coverage of Gambling in the New York Times 1964-1992 • Timothy Boudreau, Central Michigan University • This content analysis of 356 stories about gambling looked at whether and how coverage of the activity shifted while gambling was becoming less deviant and gaining social acceptance. This study, covering nearly three decades, found that the theme of coverage shifted from an emphasis on crime to one of economics. But no consistent shift in the tone of coverage was found, nor was gambling portrayed as more beneficial for the individual or for the community.

Variations on a Theme: The Professional Role Conceptions of Print and Online Newspaper Journalists • William P. Cassidy, University of Wisconsin at Whitewater • A national survey (N=655) examining the professional role conceptions of print and online newspaper journalists revealed the print group perceived the Interpretive/Investigative role conception as significantly more important than the online group. No significant differences were found between the groups in their perceptions of the Adversarial and Populist Mobilizer role conceptions. Results were mixed for the Disseminator role conception with the online group rating getting information to the public as significantly more important than the print group.

Will they read it if it’s free? College Students and Complimentary Daily Newspapers • Steve Collins, University of Central Florida • Two newspapers in a southwestern metropolitan area began supplying students at an area university with complimentary copies of their publications midway through the Fall 2002 semester. This study involved a survey the following semester that was designed to measure the early success of the program and its effect on readership of other print products. Although fewer than half of students had read a copy of either paper in the previous week, the program had clearly reached an important segment of the student population. Ten percent of students reported reading at least six issues of the papers in the previous week. What’s more, 62 percent of students reading the free papers said they intended to subscribe to a newspaper after graduation.

Risky Business: Youth and Internet Crime in the News • Lynne Edwards and Emily Callaghan, Ursinis University • Informed by Gamson and Modigliani’s (1989) theory of framing, the authors analyzed 160 articles in five major newspapers (1990 – 2002) to explore coverage of youths and Internet crime. Through the over-reliance on official sources and the under-utilization of youth sources, the news frames: 1) boys as Internet villains, 2) girls as Internet victims, 3) police as the only heroes who can save them, and 4) our civil liberties as the ultimate sacrifice.

College Newspaper Sports Agendas • Lee Farquhar, Kristin Rethman, Heather Calhoun and Oksana Boyko, Kansas State University • This agenda setting study in a collegiate setting shows strong similarities between the sports staffs’ sports agenda, readers’ sports agenda and actual coverage. Females and males showed a strong positive correlation regarding sports agendas, but differed slightly in sex-based sports. A strong positive correlation occurred between a two-week constructed sample and a one-week constructed sample in the content analysis. However, the two-week sample better accounted for all sports than the one-week sample.

Content and Framing of Children’s Health Reporting • Rebecca Gruhn and Katherine Hawkins, Clemson University • A review of a random sample of newspapers published during 2001 in a large mid-western state indicated that while a wide variety of children’s health topics received coverage, such coverage often inaccurately represented threats to children’s health in that state. In addition, stories were overwhelmingly framed from a non-public health perspective, promoting the false conclusion that threats to children’s health and safety are random and not preventable.

Newspaper diversity in Chicago: A study of competing editorial pages • Tom Hallock, Ohio University• In an era of diminishing daily newspaper competition and increasing group ownership, a content analysis of the editorials of the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times from two separate years during the administration of President George W. Bush found ideological and subject diversity, indicating that competing newspapers offer readers a choice of editorial opinions and editorial topics. The findings contradict the conclusions of previous research that found no or little effect of competition on newspaper editorials.

Ordinary People and the Weekly Newspaper • John Hatcher, Syracuse • It has been said that community journalism, small daily and weekly newspapers, report on the “everyday lives of ordinary people,” suggesting a uniformity of content based on routinized practices. However, research suggests community heterogeneity has a strong influence on the content of newspapers. This study asks whether community type can be used to predict the variability in source diversity in weekly newspapers. This study uses a content analysis of 659 sources from 40 issues of 10 different weekly newspapers to ascertain the reliance on official sources in reporting the news. The results find partial support for the prediction that community diversity influences source diversity in weekly newspapers.

What The Public Expects of Local News • Don Heider, Maxwell McCombs and Paula Poindexter, University of Texas at Austin • What does the public need to know? What role should news play in local community life? What are the central characteristics of good journalism? Debates and discussions about these fundamental questions primarily have been limited to journalists and those who study journalism. But what about consumers of journalism? This study set out to discover what everyday citizens think about journalism, and in particular, what role the public thinks journalists should play in reporting the local news.

Uncovering the Quality of Converged Journalism: A Content Analysis of The Tampa Tribune News Stories • Edgar Huang, Lisa Radamakers, Moshood A. Fayemiwo and Lillian Dunlap, USF at St. Petersburg • A content analysis, coupled with an in-depth interview, was done in this case study on The Tampa Tribune, a component of The News Center in Tampa, in an attempt to answer the question whether converged journalism has jeopardized journalistic quality. After comparing the quality factors shown in the Tribune stories before, at the beginning of, and three years into convergence, this study has found that media convergence has overall sustained the quality of news reporting.

Houston Harte: Setting The Standard for Community Journalism by Building a Better Community • Cathy Johnson, Angelo State University • This study seeks to tie the contemporary jargon of community journalism to a role model of the past. Houston Harte recognized that in order for his newspaper to thrive, the community would have to prosper. During a period when no one was calling it community journalism, the publisher literally built his adopted community of San Angelo, Texas. His exemplary model shows that a newspaper can focus on the community and still turn a profit.

The Long-Run Relationship Between Newsroom Investment and Change in Circulation for Medium and Large Dailies • Stephen Lacy, Charles St. Cyr; and Susanna Guzman, Michigan State University • This study examines the relationship between newsroom investment in 1984 and the change in weekday circulation over periods of five, ten, and fifteen years at forty-one daily newspapers with more than 25,000 circulation. A significant positive association was found between newsroom investment in 1984 and the percentage change in circulation five years later. The relationships ten and fifteen years after the index measurement were consistent with the hypothesis but not statistically significant.

Salience Transfer between Online and Offline Media in Korea: Content Analysis of Four Traditional Papers and Their Online Siblings • Gunho Lee, University of Texas at Austin • This study explores the intermedia agenda-setting effects among four Korean traditional newspapers and their online siblings. Rank order correlations revealed that there are clear, if not universal, intermedia agenda-setting effects among those papers. Two of the four traditional newspapers set the agenda of their own online siblings, while one online version of the four newspapers set its offline newspaper’s agenda. In general, the traditional papers wielded more power in setting the others’ agenda than their online siblings did, while the online siblings were more vulnerable to the agenda of other papers than the traditional papers were.

‘Everyone else has a TV Weatherman on the Weatherpage’ Institutional Isomorphism and Commitment to Newspaper-TV Partnering • Wilson Lowrey, University of Alabama • This study uses the institutional theory of organizations to explore the degree to which newspapers and TV stations pursue partnerships for concrete benefits, and the degree to which they pursue them to keep up with perceived trends. Findings from a national survey of newspaper editors and TV news directors revealed that pursuit of concrete benefits best predicted initiating partnerships while strength of commitment to partnering correlated more strongly with managers’ professional involvement and with the level of partnering of nearby “flagship” news institutions.

Accuracy Matters: A Benchmark Assessment of Newspaper Error and Credibility • Scott R. Maier, University of Oregon • A survey of 4,800 news sources cited in 14 newspapers provides a large-scale assessment of newspaper accuracy and credibility. Sources found errors in 61 percent of local news stories, an inaccuracy rate higher than reported in 65 years of accuracy research. Newspaper credibility significantly declined in relation to frequency and severity of errors. Inaccuracy negatively affected source willingness to cooperate with the press. The cross-market study, the first of its scope, sets a normative standard for media accuracy.

Answering the Challenge: How Media Writing Instructors Compared at Accredited and Non-Accredited Journalism Programs • Mark Masse and Mark Popovich, Ball State University • Research findings from a national study of media writing instructors reveal modest differences between accredited and non-accredited institutions in teaching attitudes among media writing instructors, provide evidence of significant professional experience among faculty at both categories of journalism programs, and demonstrate the need for continued innovation in the teaching of writing among all journalism educators. This study finds that media writing instructors are currently in transition from traditional to more progressive (e.g., convergence) teaching practices.

Missouri Newspaper Reporters: Perceptions of Prestige, Peers and Job Satisfaction Based on City Size and Personal Characteristics • Jarrett Medlin and Clyde Bentley, University of Missouri • A survey of newspaper reporters in the state of Missouri sought information on how they perceived both their prestige in the community and what people in their communities they identified as peers. Education had a negative correlation with job satisfaction, and reporters portrayed themselves as peers to school teachers in their communities.

Effects of Domestic Violence Coverage Training on Student Reporters • Ginger L. Park, Terri Clark and Joye Gordon, Kent State University • This study’s purpose was to determine if training student journalists would influence how they write domestic violence stories. A treatment group received sensitivity training. The treatment and control groups were assigned to write a story base based on a fictitious account of domestic violence. Quantitative content analysis showed that training had a slight to moderate observed effect with the most pronounced difference being that trained students used fewer statements that excused the perpetrator.

Victim Identification and Low Reporting • R. Riski, Peninsula • No abstract available.

Technology Outruns the Law: Newspapers and the E-Mail Public Records Quagmire • Ron Rodgers, Ohio University • Governmental e-mail as the fillip for violations of the public’s right to know stems from confusion about when an electronic message becomes part of the public record and when privacy – and the right of nondisclosure – adheres to an e-mail sent to or from a public official. This paper looks as where policy is heading as reflected in recent court rulings and in the discourse of commentary by legal and non-legal officials in the trade, periodical, and daily press.

Using House Ads to Promote E-newspapers: A Longitudinal Content Analysis • Shelly Rodgers, Yan Jin, Yoonhyeung Choi, Wanda Sui and Ann Brill, University of Missouri • The authors propose a framework that draws on distinctiveness theory to examine how print newspapers are cross-promoting their Web sites using in-house ads. A content analysis of 15 newspapers was undertaken in 2000 and 2003. Three distinctiveness factors were examined including persuasion, integration and targeting. Findings revealed that while newspapers are doing a fairly good job integrating house ads into the newspaper, there is still room for improvement. The authors conclude that newspaper URLs need to be more prominent, more strategically positioned, and more carefully targeted to males and females for proper marketing of the e-newspaper.

Newspaper Coverage of U.S. Courts of Appeals: Notes on a Model of News Coverage of the Judiciary • Thomas Schwartz, Ohio State University • A line of research analyzing news media coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court has found the coverage to be poor in quantity and quality. Using method and theory similar to those studies, this study finds that coverage of the U.S. courts of appeals also is weak.

A Survey of Photo Editors‘ Attitude Toward Technology • Michelle Seelig, University of Miami • A national survey of photo editors at the top 100 U.S. daily newspapers was conducted to uncover the architectural changes that influence the way photo editors do their job. This research has three goals: to assess the role of technology in the photo-editorial decision process; to assess photo editors’ attitudes toward technology; and determine photo editors’ overall satisfaction with technology. The findings presented show photo editors to have a positive attitude toward the technology.

Revisiting The Police Blotter: Public Service Stories or Assembly Line Journalism at Its Worst? • James Simon and Sean Hayes, Fairfield University • It is one of the most basic rules of journalism: get the other side of the story. Yet when it comes to reporting crime news, newspapers have long been criticized for over reliance on police blotter items which fail to include comment from the accused. This study examined all juvenile justice stories carried by the three largest newspapers in a state over a three-month period. While 81 percent of the stories used police as a source for information, only 7 percent of the stories included comment from juvenile defendants, their attorneys and their relatives.

Message Control on the Campaign Trail: The Influence of Access on Political News • Elizabeth Skewes, University of Colorado • This study looks at the struggle for message control in campaign coverage, using interviews with reporters who covered the 2000 election and participant observation. The study finds that reporters battle with the candidates and their staffs for control over the news, and they are wary of being manipulated. Campaign staffs try to control the message by limiting press access to the candidate. This leads to an undercurrent of tension between the press and the campaign.

Political Power And The Press: Vice President Charles Fairbanks. • Robert Spellman, Southern Illinois University • Charles Warren Fairbanks, vice president under President Theodore Roosevelt, dominated Indiana politics for two decades at the turn of the 20th century. Crucial to his rise to national prominence was the support of Indiana’s most influential newspapers. Unknown to the public was Fairbanks’ controlling or significant financial interests in those newspapers. His majority ownership of the Indianapolis News, the state’s leading newspaper, did not become public knowledge until after his death.

The Impact of Investment in Newsrooms on Newspaper Revenues and Profits: Small and Medium Newspapers 1998-2002 • Esther Thorson and Qun Chen, University of Missouri; and Steve Lacy, Michigan State University • This paper presents a study of five consecutive years (1998 – 2002) of Inland Daily Newspaper data to test the theory that financial investment in the newsroom will influence circulation, which, in turn, will influence revenue and profits. The regression findings show that the model is supported by the data. Using regression generated by the data for each of the five years, the authors calculated how a 4 percent increase in newsroom investment would influence revenue and profits if circulation increased 0, 2 and 4 percent as a result. The results indicate that although investment in newsroom reduces profit in the short term, in the long term it will increase revenue and profit.

Community Newspapers As Instruments of Social Control: Updating Community Conflict and the Press • Michael L. Thurwanger, Bradley University • This study updates research into the social control function exercised by local newspapers in covering community conflict. Newspapers serving Illinois communities selected as the site of corrections facilities constructed or approved for construction between 1977 and 2001 were used in this content analysis. The study provided additional evidence of community newspapers acting in the distributive information control function. A moderate correlation between various aspects of coverage and community structural pluralism was also found.

What the milkman saw: The regional press and frame adjustment in the shadow of war • Fred Vultee, University of Missouri • As President Bush sought to make his case for a war against Iraq, he and his administration consistently framed such a conflict as part of a broader war against terrorism. A content analysis of a major regional daily newspaper suggests that while this alignment was broadly accepted at the outset, press accounts became increasingly less receptive to it as the conflict drew nearer and even less as fighting began.

Objectivity and Conglomeration: A Test of Media Ownership Theory • Xinkun Wang and Renita Coleman, Louisiana State University • This study tests the theory of media ownership by comparing the publicly owned Boston Globe with the privately owned Boston Herald on bias in coverage of the 2000 presidential election. As the theory predicts, the publicly owned newspaper was more objective than the privately owned paper, showing more favoritism toward the candidate it endorsed. Corporate ownership, which has generally been criticized, may not be all bad since the corporate-owned newspaper did a better job of fair and balanced coverage.

The Now What Factor: The Level of Innovativeness Among Online Newspapers • Amy Schmitz Weiss, University of Texas at Austin • This study examines levels of innovativeness by a content analysis of 20 online newspaper homepages. Results showed that the most innovative online newspapers were using a combination of innovative practices and techniques. The Minneapolis Star Tribune, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and the Baltimore Sun were the most innovative among the 20 online newspapers in this study.

Correct This! A Content Analysis of 2003 Errors Posted by The New York Times • Terry Wimmer, West Virginia University • Credibility research for more than 60 years has examined the corrections published in the nation’s newspapers. This project used content-analysis to examine corrections in The New York Times in 2003, the year of the Jason Blair scandal. Objective errors still dominate the newspaper’s corrections, and getting basic information correct: names, identifiers, and spelling, remains a problem. Subjective errors might be the greater threat to credibility, and this project suggests new methodologies for scholars and journalists to improve credibility with readers.

Internet Newspapers Public Forum and User Involvement • Sandy Ye, Louisiana State; and Xigen Li, Arkansas State • This study looked at public forums of the Internet newspapers and user involvement in public forums. A content analysis of 120 U.S. Internet newspapers found 39.2% of the Internet newspapers offered public forums. A majority of newspapers (70.2%) with public forums had less than 15 discussion forums. Newspaper size had a significant effect on diversity of public forums. The findings suggest that the forums of the Internet newspapers have yet to be developed as an effective tool to advance public discourse and democracy deliberation. There was a relatively low user involvement in the public forums regardless of newspaper size.

Local Newspaper Goes Easy on National Story Reporting the Tulia Drug Bust Story: A Case Study • Teresa Young, Wayland Baptist; and Roger C. Saathoff, Texas Tech University • This case study describes how a local weekly newspaper fared compared to its counterparts in larger, more pluralistic towns and cities when 39 of 46 people arrested in a regional drug sting operation in a small West Texas town are African American and the government’s lead witness is completely discredited with charges of racism? The results of this study confirm previous work criticizing small local newspapers for a failure to meet socially responsible journalistic standards.

Growing Up With Parents Who Read and Watch the News: What is the Effect on College Students? • Amy Zerba, University of Texas at Austin • In using social learning theory and the uses and gratifications approach as a theoretical framework, this study shows that parents’ regular use of newspaper and television news does influence college students’ news exposure. Results also showed students’ attachment to print and television does influence news exposure. Findings show attachment to reading print is a consequence of parents reading newspapers and a determinant of students reading newspapers. The results suggest parents’ modeling behavior of media use has an effect.

<< 2004 Abstracts

Communicating Science, Health, Environment and Risk 2011 Abstracts

How to Resolve Contradictory Health Messages? : An Alternative Message Framework for Public Service Announcement Developers • Ho-Young (Anthony) Ahn, U of Tennessee; Lei Wu; Eric Haley • A qualitative study was designed to explore college students’ interpretations of and responses toward conflicting tanning health messages, as well as understanding college students’ knowledge, experience, and perceptions toward the popular health issues. Practical implications were provided in terms of developing effective skin cancer prevention messages as well as tanning-promotion messages to help people build correct attitudes toward tanning.

Predicting Scientists’ Participation in Public Life • John Besley, University of South Carolina; Sang Hwa Oh, University of South Carolina • This manuscript provides secondary data analysis of two large-scale surveys of scientists, including a 2009 survey by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press conducted in cooperation with the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), as well as a 2006 survey by the United Kingdom’s Royal Society. The data is used to develop multivariate models explaining scientists’ involvement in communication activities such as engagement with the public and the news media. Demographic factors and scientific sub-field has little impact on engagement, but views about the public and the value of engagement predict scientists’ engagement behavior and willingness to engage. Future survey work, however, should use a more theory-driven variable selection process.

Branding Health Communication Strategies Aimed at Healthcare Professionals • Patrick Merle; Robin Haislett; Dane Kiambi, Texas Tech University; Shannon Bichard, Texas Tech; Kat Livingston; Shankar Borua, Texas Tech University; Spencer Sorensen; Stephanie Kang; Trent Seltzer, Texas Tech University; Elizabeth Gardner, Texas Tech University; Coy Callison • The current study addresses the effort to brand new communication strategies among healthcare professionals. In-depth interviews and focus groups were conducted for the analysis of current communication barriers, message channels and sustainability tactics, and their influence on the patient experience. Strategies are offered to address effective communication training tactics and sustainability in an effort to maximize patient care and satisfaction.

Not in my backyard or yours: Communicative influences of opinion leadership on perceptions of risks and benefits of a bioresearch facility • Andrew Binder, North Carolina State University; Dietram Scheufele; Dominique BROSSARD, LSC, University of Wisconsin-Madison • This study builds on past research in the communication of science and risk by integrating models of attitude formation and learning with an important social factor: opinion leadership. We consider the role that opinion leadership can play in the flow of mass media and interpersonal communication to influence how individual-level risk and benefit perceptions of a potentially high-risk research facility evolve. In order to do so, we rely on primary data from a longitudinal study of the communication and public opinion dynamics surrounding the establishment of the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF) in five candidate communities. The models tested in this study suggest a very flexible influence of opinion leadership in these different communities, in part moderated by the overarching social network—of supporters or opponents—within which they are embedded. Implications for future work on the public communication of science and technology are discussed.

How Global Warming Websites Frame Science Information • Lisa Parcell, Wichita State University; Michael Boyle, West Chester University • The global warming “debate” began as a pure science story, later framed by the media as a heated conflict. No longer solely reliant on the news media to present their “side” of the issue, special interests on both sides launched websites to inform and persuade visitors to their sites. However, these sites vary greatly in the extent to which they use science information, opinion, and other devices in framing global warming arguments. This study builds on science communication literature to examine 21 global warming websites and the specific nature and prominence of scientific information within the sites through a qualitative content analysis.

The impact of social context, warning components, and receiver characteristics on evacuation decisions of African Americans • Vankita Brown, Howard University • This study explores the situational influences found in the Protective Action Decision Model: family involvement (social context), source, channel, message components, (warning components), and fatalism and place attachment (receiver characteristics) on the protective action of African Americans in New Orleans during a hurricane. Additionally, the role of social networks among this community during these times was also assessed. Statistical analyses indicate that social context did not reveal a relationship with evacuation decisions. Public and governmental officials were found to be sources relied on during a hurricane. Both mass mediated and interpersonal communication channels were utilized among respondents, and all message components tested were important to participants. While fatalism was not correlated with evacuation decisions, place attachment was found to have an inverse relationship with willingness to evacuate. Thematic analysis reveals that social networks function as: a source of information and resources, confirmation of warnings, and catalyst to incite action. Results have implications for risk communicators utilizing PAMD as a framework to aid in devising outreach and educational campaigns.

Regulatory trust, risk information processing and support for an emerging technology • Michael Cacciatore, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Dietram Scheufele; Elizabeth Corley, Arizona St. University • Research investigating public attitudes toward nanotechnology has been primarily concerned with assessing the types of risks that the public perceives, as well as how these risks influence larger evaluations of the technology. Recently, however, there have been calls for a more complete understanding of the relationship between risk perceptions and support (Kahan, 2009). This analysis seeks to provide such an understanding by exploring the moderating effects of trust on the risk perception-attitude link. Our findings reveal that while risk perceptions are negatively related to support, the influence of specific risk perceptions on support can vary depending on an individual’s level of trust in the regulators of science. Specifically, our findings suggest two groups of people. The first group (those low in trust) are much more likely to base their decisions about support for nanotechnology on their perceptions of risks. That is, as their risk perceptions increase, their support decreases. The second group of people (those high in trust) are less likely to base their evaluations of nanotechnology on risk perceptions. While many of these individuals may agree that risks are high, their trust appears to override such beliefs and leads to a significantly smaller drop in support for the technology. Possible explanations for these findings are discussed.

Investigating the Role of Identities and Opinion Leadership on Risk Information Seeking and Sharing about Proposed Natural Gas Drilling in New York’s Marcellus Shale • Chris Clarke, Cornell University • This study investigates how identities motivate risk information seeking and sharing about risk controversies, using natural gas drilling in New York State’s Marcellus Shale as a case study. Thirty-six interviews explore the novel premise that an opinion leader identity and the contexts in which it emerges (including group membership and social roles) helps people negotiate a complex risk message environment and shapes communication behavior over time. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Examining Metaphors in Biopolitical Discourse • Cynthia-Lou Coleman, Portland State University; L. David Ritchie • This essay argues that common metaphors and metaphoric phrases used in biopolitical discourse limit how meanings are constructed by framing messages narrowly: so much so, that alternate readings are delimited, resulting in less opportunity for cognitive scrutiny of such messages. We moor our discussion of metaphors in cognitive linguistics, building on three decades of research by scholars including Sam Glucksberg (2008), George Lakoff and Mark Johnson (1980, 1999), and Ray Gibbs, Jr. (2006, 2008), demonstrating how research in framing effects bolsters our claims of limited entailments resulting from message construction. By situating our discussion of framing in biopolitics we make a case that metaphors including Frankenfood, Designer Baby, Vegetative State and Death Tax address how life and death are “managed” in discourse (Foucault, 1980). In this essay we demonstrate ways in which the framing of some metaphors in social discourse slip under readers’ and viewers’ cognitive radars, and thus become “under-the-radar metaphors.”

Impacts of Generalized Interpersonal and Institutional Trust on Environmental Health and Safety Risk Information-Seeking • Christopher Cummings, North Carolina State University • Traditional models of risk communication need elaboration as the media landscape has fundamentally changed. Researchers should investigate not only how messages are disseminated, but also how the public seeks-out risk information within the increasingly complex media landscape. This paper investigates preliminary questions about citizens’ information-seeking behavior and the impacts of generalized interpersonal and institutional trust on media channel selection. Data are populated from a national survey study treating traditional broadcast media and Internet-based media.

The Goldilocks Zone of Science Communication: An analysis of how media depicted Gliese 581g • Michael Dahlstrom, Iowa State University; Michael Bugeja, Iowa State University • This study examines how the pre-existing meaning stored within “Goldilocks” was used in coverage of the discovery of a potentially habitable planet. Results of content analysis revealed that while “Goldilocks” was present in half of the articles, its use was rarely attributed. When compared to the technical name of the planetary system, “Goldilocks” was more clustered near the top of the story and its use remained constant over time while the technical term declined.

Following the leader: Using opinion leaders in environmental strategic communication • Kajsa Dalrymple; Bret Shaw; Dominique BROSSARD, LSC, University of Wisconsin-Madison • This study explores the role that opinion leaders play in encouraging more positive environmental behaviors regarding an issue of growing concern. Results indicate that media can have mixed effects on levels of self-efficacy, and that opinion leaders with higher levels of self-efficacy are more likely to participate in behaviors that could influence their social network(s). These findings offer insights as to how future campaigns can utilize these groups in order to promote prevention activities.

Consensus and Controversy: Climate Change Frames in Two Australian Newspapers • Jamie Nolan, University of Miami; Michel Dupagne, University of Miami • This content analysis evaluated the salience of climate change frames in news and opinion articles of two influential Australian newspapers with different editorial stances between 1997 and 2007. Results revealed that the scientific uncertainty frame appeared more frequently in the more conservative Australian than in the more liberal Age. But the scientific background, policy background, political strategy, and public engagement frames related to climate change were less prevalent in that newspaper than in The Age. The Australian’s climate change articles also relied less on the Australian government and environmental groups as news sources and were more negative in tone than those published in The Age.

Can eWOM Help Smokers Quit? Effects of Online Consumer Reviews of Smoking Cessation Products • Petya Eckler, University of Iowa • This study examines the psychological effects of electronic word of mouth (eWOM) about smoking cessation products on smokers through the Theory of Planned Behavior. The effects of three message features (valence, extremity, appeal) are tested on attitude toward quitting smoking and perceived behavioral control. Valence affected both dependent variables; extremity and appeal interacted to affect perceived behavioral control. Theoretical and practical implications for the study of eWOM in a health context are discussed.

Richard Dawkins: A critical case study of the celebrity scientist • Declan Fahy, School of Communication, American University, Washington, D.C • Celebrity is a pervasive cultural phenomenon, but compared to other professions, scientific fame has remained under-examined. This paper uses zoologist and writer Richard Dawkins as a critical case study to explore scientific celebrity, tracing the historical development and meanings of Dawkins’s fame, through his writing on evolution, his defense of scientific rationality and his current position as emblem of positivist, rational atheism. Celebrity offers a novel framework for analyzing the media representation of science.

Mediated Messages and Self-Efficacy: An Examination of Entertainment-Education, Junk Food commercials and Healthy Eating Habits • Anthony Galvez • According to the National Center for Health Statistics, the rate of obesity in the U.S. has doubled from 1980 to 2004. Because of the pervasiveness of television viewing in American households, it seems logical to implement healthy eating initiatives through television programming. The existing literature demonstrates the effectiveness of the entertainment-education model of message creation to educate audiences about a long list of prosocial issues. One question that remains unanswered is the following: Can the entertainment-education model succeed in industrialized nations where media choices are so varied that reaching target audiences becomes problematic? The purpose of the study was to test if a) exposure to a prosocial message would affect individual self-efficacy toward controlling eating and b) if exposure to junk food commercials would negate any effect of the prosocial message. A convenience sample of 139 college students from Mass Communications courses at a large southwestern university participated in a 2X2 factorial design experiment. Participants were randomly assigned to one of four treatment groups and asked to watch a 30-minute sitcom with half of the participants watching an entertainment-education type message about diet and exercise. Participants were also exposed to junk food advertisements in two of the treatment groups. Results indicated no difference in levels of self-efficacy between those groups exposed to the entertainment-education messages and junk food messages when compared to the control group, thus indicating a need to further evaluate how to develop a better strategy for entertainment-education in media saturated countries.

Exploring the effects of Anti-Alcohol Abuse Message Types on Rebellious College Students • Eun Go, Pennsylvania State University; Moon Lee, University of Florida • The purpose of this study was to examine the responses of college students who were exposed to anti-alcohol abuse messages (fear vs. humor) aimed at discouraging heavy drinking. Particularly, this study explores how college students process humorous and fear-arousing messages differently based on their rebellious tendency. A total of 302 people participated in this study. Results indicated that rebellious college students who watched the fear ads reported lower levels of intention to change their drinking behaviors than those who watched the humor ads. Theoretical as well as practical implications are discussed in the paper.

Message Framing and Vaccination Outcomes: A Within-messages Framing Manipulation Experiment • Rustam Haydarov, UNICEF; Joye Gordon, Kansas State University • This experimental research tested what combination of attribute and goal frames within messages produces the strongest effect on vaccination behavior. Participants (N=476) were exposed online to four experimental framing manipulations and a control condition. A combination of the positive attribute and the negative goal frame was the only condition significantly more persuasive than the control condition. This study contributes to the evidenced-based applicability of framing theory within the context of health communication activities.

Understanding H1N1 influenza with PIM model: A comparison on risk perceptions between the U.S. and China using structural equation modeling • Gang (Kevin) Han, Iowa State University; Kejun Chu; Guolin Shen • This study proposes a “personal-interpersonal-mass mediated” influence (PIM) model, aiming to understand how H1N1 flu risk at four reference levels (personal, group, societal and global) are perceived by college students living in the U.S. and China. The structural equation modeling is tested with the data collected from 1895 and 1441 completed online questionnaires. Findings suggest that the PIM model fits the data well, three dimensions of which are positively associated with respondents’ H1N1 risk perceptions at all levels. Personal disease history is the most powerful factor, showing relatively stronger influence on Chinese respondents than on U.S. respondents. Interpersonal communication exerts stronger influence at group and societal levels, and is a more powerful predictor to U.S. respondents. Mass communication illustrates ubiquitously significant effects on risk perceptions at all reference levels, which plays a more important role for Chinese respondents than for U.S. respondents. Mass-mediated experience has also been more influential than interpersonal communication for Chinese respondents to understand health risk in remote area at global level.

Motivated Reasoning, Identity Cues, and Support for Climate Mitigation Policies a Moderated-Mediation Model • Philip Hart, American University; Erik Nisbet, Ohio State University • This study draws from theories of motivated reasoning, social identity, and persuasion to examine how science-based messages may increase public polarization on controversial science issues such as climate change. Exposing 240 adults to simulated news stories about possible climate change health impacts on different groups, we find that political affiliation interacts with social distance cues to influence identification with victims, which in turn impacts support for climate mitigation policies. Implications for science communication are discussed.

Newspaper coverage of Shaken Baby Syndrome, 1992-2008 • Heidi Hennink-Kaminski, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Elizabeth Dougall • This longitudinal content analysis examines whether news media coverage of shaken baby syndrome aligns with contemporary scientific knowledge about its context, incidence and consequences. A quantitative content analysis of 1,167 newspaper articles about shaken baby syndrome from 1992 to 2008 published in top U.S. newspapers was conducted. Variables of interest included mention of “infant crying” or “colic” in relation to shaking, mention of early infant crying as normal, the consequences of shaking, victim/perpetrator portrayals, and types of sources. SBS is typified in ways that are at odds with contemporary scientific knowledge of its context and consequences. Most newspaper coverage provides no explanation of triggers such as crying, and positions the abuse as unpredictable and unpreventable.

Understanding Recycling Behaviors: A Theoretical Expansion of the Influence of Presumed Media Influence Model • Youqing Liao; Yanyi Yang; Titus J. Yong; Shirley S. Ho • This paper presents a theoretical framework to explain the influence of individuals’ attention to pro-environmental media messages on their recycling intentions. Building on the influence of presumed media influence (IPMI) model, we examine both direct and indirect media effects on recycling intentions and integrate the constructs of attitudes, descriptive, subjective, and injunctive norms into the model. We tested this framework on a random sample of 1,144 Singaporeans using computer-assisted telephone interviewing. Using structural equation modeling, we found evidence of IPMI on recycling intentions, in addition to direct media effects on attitudes, norms and recycling intentions. As expected, perceived media influence on others affected one’s recycling intentions. This relationship was further accounted for by three mediating constructs: attitudes, descriptive, and subjective norms. Injunctive norms, however, did not serve as a mediator. Implications and limitations of the findings were discussed.

The Blame Frame: Media attribution of blame during the MMR-autism vaccination scare • Avery Holton, University of Texas-Austin; Brooke Weberling, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Chris Clarke, Cornell University; Michael Smith, University of Louisville • Scholars have examined how news media frame events, including responsibility for causing and fixing problems and how these frames inform public judgment. This study analyzed the content of 281 newspaper articles about a controversial study linking the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccination with autism. Given criticism of the study as well as its negative impact on vaccination rates across multiple countries, this study examined the actors to whom news media attributed blame for the association between the MMR vaccination and autism, what sources were employed to support those attributions, and what solutions, if any, were offered. This study provides unique insight by examining the evolution of these attributions over the lifetime of the MMR-autism controversy. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

News Coverage of Psychological Trauma and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): Trauma Causes, Reactions, and Treatment • J. Brian Houston, University of Missouri • In order to understand how psychological trauma and PTSD are depicted in the news media, a content analysis of television news and newspapers was conducted. Results found that news depictions of psychological trauma were more likely to focus on “trauma” in general than on “PTSD.” Almost all trauma news stories (98.2%) described the cause of the trauma. The most common cause of trauma in news stories was military service, which was mostly related to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Most trauma news stories did not mention a trauma reaction (64%) or a type of trauma treatment (69%). Committing murder/homicide was the most frequent trauma reaction overall. On average, trauma news stories were more episodic than thematic and there were significant differences in the episodic and thematic framing of different trauma causes.

The Role of Unequal Information Resources Distribution on Health Information Seeking • Heewon Im, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities; Jaeho Cho • The relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and individuals’ health information seeking has been tested in previous studies, but not many explanations for the relationship have been suggested. In this study, the role of unequal resources distribution is proposed as a possible mechanism underlying both the relationship between SES and health information seeking and the relationship between social engagement and health information seeking. The information resources, which are time, money, and information skills, are not equally distributed across different SES groups and individuals’ levels of social engagement; the unequal distribution of resources results from individuals’ different abilities and motivations in seeking health information. In addition, the unequal resources distribution is predicted to moderate the effect of personal relevance of health issues on health information seeking, by varying motivation and ability level. The secondary data analysis was conducted using the 2007 ANHCS. The results show partial support for the positive relationship between social engagement and health information seeking. The study contributes to the theoretical understanding of the effect of social capital on individuals’ health.

Examination of message features in DTC ads and its impact on disclosure recall • Narayanan Iyer, Southern Illinois University Carbondale • Typically disclosures about risks and side effects are communicated via the audio modality in televised pharmaceutical drug commercials. A recent directive from the FDA advises prescription drug advertisers to concurrently convey disclosure information through both audio and video modality (congruence). The FDA also directs drug commercials to not have any elements that could potentially distract viewers from paying attention to disclosures (dominance). There is little research on DTC advertising that tests the impact of modality congruence and visual dominance on recall. An experiment was conducted (N = 98) to investigate this further and the results showed significant effects for visual dominance and its interaction with modality congruence.

Leading and Following in Medical Pack Journalism • Vincent Kiernan, Georgetown University • This study applies the concept of opinion leadership to the phenomenon of pack journalism among medical journalists at daily newspapers. Journalists were surveyed about stress and autonomy in their work. Respondents also were asked to identify other journalists whose work influences them. Regression analysis showed no relationship between autonomy or stress and the propensity of respondents to follow other journalists. Journalists at elite media outlets exerted significant influence over other journalists’ news coverage.

Potential for Cancer Care or Health Threats Producer?: Interaction Effects of News Frame and Information Processing Style on Further Information Seeking About Nanotechnology • Sojung (Claire) Kim, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Timothy Fung, Department of Communication Studies, Hong Kong Baptist University; Dominique BROSSARD, LSC, University of Wisconsin-Madison • This investigation explored main and interactive effects of different news frame and information processing style on further information seeking about nanotechnology and its effects on health treatment. With a total of 378 participants, a 2 (gain vs. loss frame) X 2 (systematic vs. heuristic information processing) between-subjects experimental design was used to test the proposed hypotheses. The study revealed that individuals who were exposed to a positively framed story about the use of nanotechnology in cancer care were more willing to seek out further information about the topic than those who in a negatively framed news. Moreover, individuals sought out information about the topic most when they systematically processed the information in a positively framed story, whereas they sought out the least amount of information when they systematically thought about the topic but in a negatively framed article. Theoretical insights and practical implications of the study findings are further discussed.

Online Information and Self-Reported Learning About Health Care Quality and Costs • Ashley Kirzinger, Louisiana State University; Margaret DeFleur, Louisiana State University; Kirby Goidel • According to a 2009 Pew Research Center study, 61 percent of Americans report going online for health-related information. Described as “e-patients,” this group of health consumers is frequently looking for very specific, tailored information with 60 percent of “e-patients” reporting that the information they found online related to the treatment of an illness or a condition. While we are beginning to understand the online behavior of individuals searching for information about a specific illness, considerably less is known about individuals’ reliance on the Internet for other aspects of health care information, especially information about health care quality and costs. A telephone survey of a random sample of Louisiana residents examined the factors associated with self-reported learning about health care quality and costs. We explore whether using online health information affects individuals’ intent to use a website that posts information about health care quality and costs. Results indicate that since online health information seeking is generally directed at specific diseases, there is little relationship between the use of online sources for medical and health-related information and self-reported learning about health care quality and costs. Yet, individual choice in health care providers is a strong predictor of increased levels of learning about health care quality and costs and increased levels of online health information seeking. We conclude by demonstrating that while there is ample interest among health consumers for information about health care quality and costs, there is a strong disconnect between consumer needs and the information that is available.

“Dr. Soundbite”: The Making of an Expert Source in Science and Medical Stories • Marjorie Kruvand, Loyola University Chicago • Bioethicists have been increasingly used as expert sources in science and medical stories involving ethical issues. This descriptive case study examines how and why a single bioethicist, Dr. Arthur L. Caplan, has become such a ubiquitous source on an extremely broad range of topics. Organizational news routines provide the theoretical framework for a content analysis of coverage in six newspapers over a 19-year period and interviews with Caplan and six science and medical journalists. The study finds that as part of the small, trusted roster of sources that journalists turn to again and again, Caplan has been the de facto representative of the bioethics profession in the news for the last two decades and has helped shape media discourse on bioethical issues. Findings show that Caplan is quoted so extensively because he understands and follows news routines, likes talking with reporters, provides pithy quotes, and is committed to public engagement. Critics are concerned, however, that Caplan’s personal opinions, values, and biases may be viewed by news consumers as “the” ethical position on issues.

The Influence of a Spin-off of a Health Division on the Content of Health News:A Comparison of Two Leading Korean Newspapers • Na Yeon Lee • This study examines how the establishment of a spin-off, a subsidiary of a parent company that was created as a strategy to increase profits for news organizations, affects the content of the health news. A content analysis of two leading Korean newspapers showed that the main frames of health news changed from promotion of a healthy lifestyle to medical treatments related to potential advertisers, such as private hospitals and pharmaceutical companies. Results also demonstrated that reporters relied more upon health news sources from potential advertisers. These findings suggest that a spin-off may influence the frames of news in ways that give more emphasis to advertisers. This study can contribute to framing research about the hierarchy of influence on news content by identifying the new factor of spin-offs.

The Role of Social Capital in Public Health Communication Campaigns: The Case of the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign • Chul-joo Lee, The Ohio State University • In this paper, we explored how media health campaigns exert their effects through audience’s social capital. Using the National Survey of Parents and Youth (NSPY) dataset, we examined the interactive effects of parents’ campaign exposure and antidrug-specific social capital at both individual- and geographically-aggregated levels on parents’ drug-related talk with their child. We found main effects of parents’ campaign exposure and parents’ antidrug-specific community activities on their talk about drugs with their child. More interestingly, there was a negative interactive effect between campaign exposure and antidrug-specific community activities on the parent talking behavior. In contrast, there was neither a contextual effect of aggregate-level antidrug-specific social capital nor a cross-level interaction involving aggregate-level social capital. The implications of these findings for communication research and public health intervention were discussed.

Resources Aren’t Everything, But They Do Help! Assessing Local TV Health News to Deliver Substantive and Useful Information for Smart Health Decisions • Young Ah Lee, University of Missouri; Erin Willis, University of Missouri School of Journalism; Sun A Park; Hyunmin Lee • Gatekeeping theory informed this comparative analysis of local TV health news stories (N=416) from two different local television stations. Station characteristics such as available resources and network affiliation influenced length (Cramer’s V= .517), location (V= .369), health topics (V= .410), number and quality of news sources, and imputed target audience (V= .173) of local TV health newscasts.

Third-Person Effect and Rectifying Behaviors: Studying Antisocial and Prosocial Online Messages of Youth Drug Abuse • Wan Chi Leung, The Chinese University of Hong Kong • This study examined third-person perceptions for two types of online messages, the antisocial drug-encouraging messages and the prosocial anti-youth drug abuse messages, and their relationship with three types of rectifying behaviors, restrictive, corrective and promotional. While the perceptual gap of antisocial online messages significantly predicted three types of rectifying behaviors, that of prosocial messages failed. Instead, perceived effect of prosocial messages on the self significantly predicted higher likelihood of rectifying behaviors. Perceived effects of antisocial messages on the self and on others were also significant in predicting rectifying behaviors. This study thus calls for more investigation on perceived effects on the self, especially for prosocial messages. Examination of the target corollary was contrary to previous findings, showing that perceived exposure of others to prosocial messages was a significant predictor to behaviors. This points to more explorations on the role of perceived exposure to prosocial messages in the behavioral component.

An Examination of the Indirect Effects of Media on Intentions to Avoid Unprotected Sun Exposure • Jennette Lovejoy, University of Portland; Daniel Riffe, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill • A regional online survey (N=1, 251) of students enrolled at institutions of higher education examined whether internal psychological states, such as attitudes, social norms, perceived behavioral control, and perceived risk mediated the relationship between individual media environments and the likelihood of engaging in a health-adverse behavior such as unprotected sun exposure. Direct effects showed that general and health media use were significant predictors of tanning intentions. All psychological states, except perceived susceptibility, were positively related to intentions to avoid unprotected sun exposure. Indirect effects revealed that general news use was associated with a greater perception of one’s peers and important others engaging in sun protective behaviors, which in turn increased one’s own intentions to engage in sun protection behaviors. A single case of suppression was also evident and showed that individuals’ decreased perceptions of the severity of cancer enhanced the relationship between general newspaper use and sun protection intentions.

Effects of Proximity on the Cognitive Processing of Environmental News • Charles Meadows, University of Alabama; Cui Zhang, University of Alabama; Shuhua Zhou, University of Alabama • To investigate the influence of physical proximity on the cognitive and affective processing of environmental news stories, this study examined the physiological responses and cued recall to environmental news stories on four different environmental issues. The results showed that high-proximity environmental news stories elicited greater heart rate deceleration than low-proximity ones. No significant effects were found for proximity on electrodermal activity. Additionally, no significant effects were found for cued recall, suggesting only limited proximity effects on arousal and retrieval of environmental news stories. These findings present a complex role for proximity in the cognitive processing of news stories. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed.

Computer Mediated Social Support and the Effects of Expression: The Mediating Role of Perceived Bonding on Cancer Patients’ Coping Strategies • Kang Namkoong, University of Wisconsin – Madison; Dhavan Shah; Bryan McLaughlin, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Woohyun Yoo, University of Wisconsin – Madison; Sojung (Claire) Kim, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Shawnika Hull, University of Wisconsin; Tae Joon Moon; Courtney Johnson; Robert Hawkins; David Gustafson • This study examines the mechanism underlying the effects of computer-mediated social support (CMSS) on cancer patients’ coping strategies, distinguishing between the effects of the expression and the reception of emotionally supportive messages. 237 breast cancer patients participating in CMSS groups were included in the analysis. Findings show that the effects of (a) CMSS group use and (b) emotionally supportive expression on patients’ positive coping strategies are mediated by perceived bonding among breast cancer patients.

Acceptability of the H1N1 Vaccine among Older Adults: The Interplay of Message Framing and Perceived Vaccine Safety and Efficacy • Xiaoli Nan, University of Maryland; Bo Xie; Kelly Madden • This study examines the relative effectiveness of using gain- vs. loss-framed messages to promote H1N1 vaccination among older adults, focusing on the moderating role of the message recipients’ perceived vaccine safety and efficacy. An experiment was conducted with older adults recruited from senior centers in the state of Maryland. Results show that older adults who were presented with a loss-framed H1N1 vaccination message developed more favorable attitudes toward H1N1 vaccination and greater intentions to receive the vaccine. But these findings are only limited to older adults who perceived low vaccine efficacy. For those who perceived high vaccine efficacy, message framing didn’t make a difference in post-exposure attitudes and intentions. Overall, framing had no systematic main effects and perceived vaccine safety did not moderate framing effects.

Multilevel Analysis of the Impact of School-Level Tobacco Policies on Adolescent Smoking: Implications for Health Communication • Hye-Jin Paek, Michigan State University; Thomas Hove, Michigan State University; Hyun Jung Oh • This study explores what degrees and types of tobacco-free school policy (TFSP) enforcement are associated with adolescent smoking. A multilevel analysis using 1082 individual students who are nested in 14 schools indicates that a greater punishment of TFSP violation and more tobacco control communication efforts are associated with lower adolescent smoking. But designation of a tobacco-free school zone and school-level smoking are associated with higher adolescent smoking. Implications for effective communication efforts on TFSP are discussed.

(Conditional) Support, Permission, and Misconceptions: Considering Workplace Support for Breastfeeding • Sheila Peuchaud • This paper analyses the responses of 123 business owners and managers when asked about their current practices and attitudes concerning workplace support for breastfeeding mothers. The responses indicate that breastfeeding is largely considered a behavior that employers may or may not permit, placing the practice and womens’ bodies under the control of the employer. Space and time accommodations vary widely, and several responses indicated misconceptions which, if rectified, could extend support for breastfeeding to women in a wider variety of industries and socio-economic levels.

How does Doctor-Patient Communication Differ Based on the Gender of Doctor and the Gender of Patient? An Analysis of Entertainment-Education Based Network Medical Drama Grey’s Anatomy. • Lok Pokhrel, Washington State University • This study content analyzed the total of 12 episodes of Grey’s Anatomy of season six. Total of twenty four episodes of the season six, in which total of sixty eight (N= 68) units of doctor-patient (characters) interactions were coded. This study aimed to find whether there is any significant difference in the communication between doctor and patient due to their gender difference. This study didn’t find a significant difference in terms of doctor-patient communication influenced by the gender of the doctor. The study found that the patients have interacted more to the female doctor characters than to the male doctor characters; however, the difference is not significant except in two categories: patient providing information on past medical diagnosis, and patient seeking information on adjustment/coping (p<.05). In average, patients have communicated more with the female doctor characters than the male counterparts (Male: n=28, Female: n= 40).

The Role of Family Communication Style, Coviewing and Mediation in Family Nutrition Efficacy and Behavior • Erica Austin; Pinkleton Bruce; Marie Louise Radanielina-Hita; Weina Ran, Washington State University • An internet-based survey of 150 parents investigated parental communication styles, mediation and coviewing behaviors regarding media and family nutrition. The results indicated that concept-oriented parental communication predicted negative mediation and parental efficacy for making healthy changes in family nutrition behaviors, while socio orientation predicted the tendency to watch TV during dinner. Coviewing negatively predicted efficacy and positively predicted eating dinner while watching TV. The results suggest that interventions aimed at reducing obesity may benefit from targeting parental mediation strategies and encouraging concept-oriented approaches to family communication practices.

HIV Stigmatization and Stereotyping in Chinese News Coverage: From a Framing Perspective • Chunbo Ren, Washington State University; Stacey Hust, Washington State University; Peng Zhang, The University of Georgia; Yunze Zhao, Renmin University of China • A recent study revealed serious HIV/AIDS stigmatization is prevalent in Chinese media discourse. The current study extends this research by exploring how people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) are portrayed in Chinese media, and how these media frame HIV transmission and responsibility attribution for PLWHA. The result suggests that the newspaper articles promote two different views of people living with HIV/AIDS that is dependent on the manner with which the contracted the disease. Individuals who contract the disease through socially acceptable means are worthy of being featured. In contrast, individuals who contract the disease through socially unacceptable means are less likely to be identified as individuals, and instead are devalued as a nondescript member of a highly dangerous group. This juxtaposition reinforces stigmatization the will mitigate China’s HIV/AIDS anti-stigma efforts.

Mind or Body? A Qualitative Framing Analysis of Fibromyalgia in Newspapers Versus Health Websites • Joy Rodgers, University of Florida; Mari Luz Zapata Ramos, University of Florida • This qualitative framing analysis examined stories and articles in newspapers and health websites to identify frames in the ongoing debate about whether fibromyalgia is a medical or mental affliction. A total of 95 articles retrieved from online archives of elite newspapers and top health information websites were analyzed. The study found that newspapers more frequently framed fibromyalgia in terms of a medical condition, while health websites leaned more toward a mental frame.

Self-identity and past behavior in risk information seeking intention: An augmented PRISM • Sonny Rosenthal, The University of Texas at Austin • This study augmented Kahlor’s (2010) planned risk information seeking model (PRISM). The augmented PRISM depicts risk information seeking intention as the product of attitudes toward seeking, seeking-related subjective norms, perceived control over seeking, affective response, information-seeking self-identity, and past seeking. This study used an online survey of Americans (N = 602) in order to assess the fit of the augmented model, with specific attention to the novel model components—information-seeking self-identity and past seeking. Results supported the proposed model (R2 = .62) and five stated hypotheses related to information-seeking self-identity. In addition, I explored a research question related to past seeking. A notable, but unanticipated finding was that—at least with the current sample—perceived behavioral control did not predict seeking intention significantly.

Inoculating against confusion and restoring confidence in vaccinations: A mental models approach to risk communication • Valarie Bell Wright, The College of Charleston; Heather Woolwine; Amanda Ruth-McSwain, College of Charleston; Margaret White, College of Charleston; Jennifer Lockhart, College of Charleston • Child vaccinations are considered a necessary precaution in safeguarding society by eliminating or reducing the occurrence of several potentially deadly diseases. While there is clear consensus amongst the medical community that vaccinations are critical, there exists some discrepancy in the importance and effects associated with vaccinations throughout the parent community. A parent’s decision to vaccinate is often complicated by fear or apprehension. As such, a mental models approach was used to guide the present study in an attempt to identify the gaps between expert knowledge and nonexpert (parents) understanding of the risks associated with child vaccinations. The results provide the framework for an informed message strategy to assuage fears as well as to provide research-based risk information regarding childhood vaccinations.

News Media’s Treatment of HPV Vaccination in Males: Analysis of U.S. Newspapers and Health Websites • Kang Hoon Sung, University of Florida; Kathryn Gerlach, University of Florida • In October 2009, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Gardasil, a vaccine for the prevention of four types of human papillomavirus (HPV), for use in boys and men. No studies to date have been conducted to determine the manner in which mainstream media outlets frame vaccination of this particular segment of the population. The current study explores how the media have, thus far, presented this controversial issue. Analyses revealed a total of three dominant frames, which the media employed to present the issue of male HPV vaccination. These frames were: 1) Uncertainty, 2) Unreasonable cost and Vaccines as revenue creators, and 3) Opposition and Controversy.

“There would be no peace for me if I kept silent:” A discourse analysis of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring • Melissa Thompson • Rachel Carson’s novel Silent Spring is often singled out as beginning the modern environmental movement. This paper explores the discourse of the novel itself, the sociocultural environment of the U.S. in the early 1960s, and the institution of literary journalism to draw conclusions about why the novel left such an impression on readers and lawmakers. The paper concludes that the manner in which Carson was able to frame the issue of pesticide use left a lasting impression on the upper middle-class readers who were likely to have read the work and taken up the book’s call to action.

News Valence and Attribution of Responsibility in a Cross-National Study of TV News Coverage of the 2009 UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen • Jiun-Yi Tsai, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Xuan Liang, Department of Life Science Communication; Magda Konieczna; Kristine Mattis, Environment and Resources Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies • This research examines how valence of media frames reflects cross-country differences in journalistic norms and national stakes on attribution of responsibility for climate change for alleviating global climate change. By analyzing prime-time television news in three major countries-the United States, China and Canada during the 2009 climate change conference in Copenhagen, we capture the media presentation of the overall valence toward the conference negotiation, home country’s performance, and foreign countries’ performance. The results indicate that the news media of the three countries commonly presented negative assessments throughout the Copenhagen conference. The news media valued their home country’s performance and foreign countries’ performance differently. The relationship between treatment responsibility in the home country and its country performance significantly differed cross the three countries. Reporters and anchors demonstrated national differences in overall tone of messages.

Competing with the conventional wisdom: Newspaper coverage of medical overtreatment • Kim Walsh-Childers, University of Florida College of Journalism & Communications; Jennifer Braddock, University of Florida • Overtesting and overtreatment in health care has had serious consequences, economically and physically, for an American public constantly in search of ways to maintain or regain good health. This qualitative content analysis considered examined the framing of overtreatment in four elite U.S. newspapers. Three frames emerged from the analysis: uncertainty on the part of physicians and patients, the costs of unnecessary medical tests and procedures, including their causes, and legal issues, including malpractice and fraud.

How will College Newspapers Frame a Pandemic? • Allison Weidhaas, University of South Florida • This paper explores how student reporters frame the risk of an infectious disease in their student newspapers. The researcher conducted a content analysis of 12 student newspapers selected from a multi-stage sample in the fall of 2009 to determine if students accurately present the level of risk. The findings indicate that as the potential personal risk of H1N1 increased, the students attempted to reduce anxiety by offering reassuring messages.

On-line Environmental Engagement among Youth: Influences of Parents, Attitudes and Demographics • Rob Wicks, University of Arkansas; Myria Allen; Stephanie Schulte, University of Arkansas • A national stratified quota sample of 1,096 parents and their children between the ages of 12 and 17 was conducted to investigate the factors that may be related to young people’s efforts to persuade members of their on-line social networks to be more environmental. Hierarchical regression analysis revealed that, while parents seem to influence youth behavior, the greatest variance in behavior was not explained by parents but by, among others, environmental self-efficacy, environmental news consumption, political interest, time spent online, and environmental consumerism. The regression model explained more of the variance in the girls’ online environmental advocacy than the boys’.

Construing health message framing: Motivational systems, valence of framing and event tendency of framing • Changmin Yan, Washington State University • Through a 2 (motivational systems: approach/avoidance) by 4 (framing: gain, no loss, loss and no gain) mixed design, this study tested two competing views on health message framing, i.e., the valence perspective and the event tendency view and their interactions with approach or avoidance motivational systems. Although empirical data favored both views when motivational systems were not considered, after adding motivational systems as a moderating variable, only the event tendency mediation model was supported.

Applying the Theory of Planned Behavior to Examine Preventive Behaviors against H1N1: A US-Singapore Comparison • Zheng Yang, SUNY at Buffalo; Jennifer Allen Catellier; Shirley S. Ho; May O. Lwin • This study applies the Theory of Planned Behavior to examine individuals’ intention to adopt preventive behaviors against the H1N1 influenza in the United States and in Singapore. Given the potential risks involved, an alternative measurement strategy is employed to assess attitude. Results suggest that past behavior, news deliberation, and favorable attitude were significant predictors of behavioral intention in both samples. However, societal-level risk perception and subjective norm had different influence between the two samples.

Framing HBV — Newspaper Coverage of HBV in China in 2009 • Chun Yang; Chunbo Ren, Washington State University • This paper focuses on newspapers’ coverage of hepatitis B in general and hepatitis B stigmatization during 2009 in mainland China. Medical treatment, HBV stigma, and anti-stigma efforts were the three main aspects highlighted by newspapers. Although Chinese newspaper coverage was positive with regards to anti-stigma efforts, newspapers placed responsibility on the individual to initiate anti-stigma activities. Additionally, newspapers contributed to the construction of HBV stigma by adopting stigmatizing terms among articles that supported anti-stigma efforts.

Toward A Theoretical Understanding of Using Online Health Communities: Motivation, Ability, and Doctor-Patient Communication Satisfaction • Yinjiao Ye • Drawing on the elaboration likelihood model and the behavioral of health services use, this study explores various correlates of participation in online health groups, including health-involvement variables, ability to use online health support groups, and consumer satisfaction with communication with health professionals and with health care received. The 2007 Health Information National Trend Survey data were analyzed. Results showed that controlling for demographics, health involvement variables, such as family cancer history and psychological health were significant. Also, consumer satisfaction with doctor-patient communication was marginally significant. This study adds to the literature by offering a conceptual understanding of use of online peer-to-peer health support; that is, motivation and ability to use online health information are important, and communication with online peers is pursued when communication with health professionals is less satisfactory.

Effects of Communication on Colorectal Cancer Screening: Revisited Health Belief Model • Woohyun Yoo, University of Wisconsin – Madison; MinWoo Kwon, University of Wisconsin at Madison • The Health Belief Model (HBM) has been the most commonly used in predicting individuals’ cancer screening behaviors. Numerous studies have investigated the role of communication as cue to behavior of Colorectal Cancer (CRC) screening in the HBM, but there is still a lack of research of the effect of communication in the HBM to predict CRC screening behaviors. Communication has a strong potential to play more influential and various roles in influencing CRC screening behaviors. Thus, this study explores how communication influences the behavior-making process of CRC screening on the basis of the HBM. Our findings suggest that communication has an impact on the components inherent in the HBM as well as the effect on CRC screening exert via the mechanism of the HBM.

Effects of Negative Exemplars of Celebrity Smoking on College Students’ Smoking • Woohyun Yoo, University of Wisconsin – Madison; Albert Gunther, University of Wisconsin – Madison • Most anti-smoking efforts have focused on adolescent smoking, and relatively little attention has been paid specifically to prevent college students’ smoking. Negative news stories on celebrity smoking increase the risk perception of smoking and they attract people’s attention to the problem inherent in smoking. From the point of view of the exemplification theory, this kind of news can be considered as an exemplar that influences individual assessment of smoking risk as well as contingent apprehension that motivates smoking avoidance and anti-smoking behavior. This study examines the effect of the negative exemplars of celebrity smoking in health news on college students’ perceived risk of smoking and smoking intentions. Our findings supported that negative exemplars of celebrity smoking have a strong impact on college students’ smoking. In addition, the effects are moderated by smoking status. Ever-smokers who read smoking news with negative exemplars of celebrity smoking are more likely to report higher levels of perceived risk of smoking and lower levels of smoking intentions, but never-smokers do not show the patterns

<< 2011 Abstracts

U.S. Masters Journalism Programs

Programs below are listed by state

ALABAMA

Alabama, University of
College of Communication
Tuscaloosa AL 35487-0172
205-348-5520
Departments: Advertising, Telecommunication and Film, Journalism, Public Relations, Speech Communication
Degrees: MA, PhD

South Alabama, University of
Department of Communication
Mobile AL 36688
205-380-2800
Sequences: Broadcast News, Communication Studies, Print Journalism, Organizational Communication, Public Relations, Radio-TV Film
Degrees: MA

ARIZONA

Arizona, University of
Department of Journalism
Tucson AZ 85721
602-621-7556
Sequence: News-Editorial
Degrees: MA

Arizona State University
Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication
Tempe, AZ 85287-1305
480-965-5011
Sequences: Print/Online Journalism, Broadcast, and Public Relations
Degrees: BA in Journalism and Mass Communication, MMC

ARKANSAS

Arkansas, University of
Walter J. Lemke Department of Journalism
Fayetteville AR 72701
501-575-3601
Sequences: News, Advertising/Public Relations, Broadcasting, Magazines
Degrees: MA

Arkansas at Little Rock, University of
Department of Journalism
Little Rock AR 72204
501-569-3250
Sequences: News-Editorial, Broadcast Journalism, Professional and Technical Writing, Public Information
Degrees: MA

Arkansas State University
College of Communications
State University AR 72467
501-972-2468
Sequences: General Radio-Television, Broadcast News, Radio-TV Production and Performance, Radio-TV Management and Sales, Cable and Alternative Technologies, News-Editorial, Community Journalism, Advertising, Public Relations, Photojournalism, Printing Management, Printing Technology
Degrees: MSMC in Journalism, Radio-TV

CALIFORNIA

California at Berkeley, University of
Graduate School of Journalism
Berkeley CA 94720
510-642-3383
Sequences: News-Editorial, Radio News, Television News
Degree: MJ

California State University, Chico
College of Communication
Chico CA 95929
916-898-4015
Sequences: Media Arts, Visual Communications, Instructional Technology, Information and Communication Systems, Speech Communication, Organizational Communication, Journalism Public Relations
Degrees: MA

California State University, Fresno
Department of Journalism
2225 East San Ramon Avenue
Fresno CA 93740-0010
209-278-2087
Sequences: Advertising, News-Editorial, Photocommunications, Public Relations, Radio-Television News Communication
Degrees: MA

California State University, Fullerton
Department of Communications
Fullerton CA 92634
714-773-3517
Sequences: Advertising, Journalism Photocommunications, Public Relations, Radio/Television/Film
Degrees: MA in Communications

California State University, Northridge
Department of Journalism
Northridge CA 91330
818-885-3135
Sequence: News-Editorial
Degrees: MA

Pacific, University of the
Department of Communication
Stockton CA 95211
209-946-2505
Sequences: Broadcast, Print, Public Relations, Interpersonal Communications, Rhetoric and Public Address
Degrees: MA

Pepperdine University
Communication Division
Malibu CA 90263
213-456-4211
Majors: Advertising, Journalism, Public Relations, Telecommunications
Degrees: MA

San Diego State University
Department of Journalism
San Diego CA 92181
619-265-6635
Sequences: Advertising, News-Editorial, Public Relations, Radio-TV News
Degrees: MS

San Francisco State University
Department of Journalism
1600 Holloway Avenue
San Francisco CA 94132
415-338-1689
Sequences: News-Editorial, Magazine, Photojournalism
Degrees: MA

San Jose State University
Department of Journalism and Mass Communications
San Jose CA 95192
408-924-3240
Sequences: Magazine, News-Editorial, Radio-TV News, Photojournalism, Advertising, Public Relations
Degrees: MS

Southern California, University of
School of Journalism
University Park
Los Angeles CA 90089-1695
213-740-3914
Sequences: Print, Broadcast, Public Relations
Degrees: MA

Stanford University
Department of Communication
Stanford CA 94305-2050
415-723-1941
Sequences and Degrees: Journalism (MA), Documentary Film (MA), Communication Research (PhD)

COLORADO

Colorado, University of
School of Journalism and Mass Communication
Campus Box 287
Boulder CO 80309
303-492-5007
Sequences: Advertising, Broadcast Production Management, News-Editorial, Radio-TV
Degrees: MA, PhD

Colorado State University
Department of Technical Journalism
Fort Collins CO 80523
303-491-6310/6319
Sequences: Electronic Reporting, News-Editorial, Public Relations, Technical-Specialized Communication
Degrees: MS-Technical Communication

Denver, University of
Department of Mass Communications and Journalism Studies
Denver CO 80208
303-871-2166
Sequences: Mass Communications, Journalism Studies
Degrees: MA, MS

Northern Colorado, University of
Department of Journalism and Mass Communications
Greeley CO 80639
303-351-2726
Sequences: Advertising, Public Relations, News-Editorial, Telecommunications
Degrees: MA

CONNECTICUT

Hartford, University of
Communication Department
West Hartford CT 06117
203-768-4633
Offers MA in Communication with emphasis in Journalism or Mass Communication

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

The American University
School of Communication
Washington DC 20016
202-885-2060
Sequences: Broadcast Journalism Print Journalism, Public Communication, Visual Media, Graduate Journalism and Public Affairs, Graduate Film and Video, Graduate Public Communication
Degrees: MA

FLORIDA

Florida, University of
College of Journalism and Communications
Gainesville FL 32611-2084
904-392-0466
Graduate Sequences: Advertising, Communication Research, International Communication, Journalism, Political Campaigning, Public Relations, Telecommunication
Degrees: MA in Mass Communication, PhD in Mass Communication

Florida A&M
School of Journalism, Media and Graphic Arts
Tallahassee FL 32307
(904) 561-2399
Sequences: Newspaper Journalism, Magazine Production, Broadcast Journalism, PR, Printing Production, Photography, Graphic Design, Printing Management
Degrees: MA in Journalism

Florida International University
School of Journalism and Mass Communication
North Miami FL 33181
305-940-5625
Sequences: News-Editorial, Advertising, Public Relations, Broadcasting
Degrees: MS

Miami, University of
School of Communication
Coral Gables FL 33124
305-284-2265
Majors: Advertising, Public Relations, Journalism, Photography, Motion Pictures, Video/Film, Speech Communication, Organizational Communication, Broadcasting, Broadcast Journalism
Degrees: MA, MFA

South Florida St. Petersburg, University of
Department of Journalism & Media Studies
St. Petersburg FL 33701
727-873-4850
Sequences: Journalism and Media Studies
Degrees: MA

South Florida, University of
School of Mass Communications
Tampa FL 33620-7800
813-974-2591
Sequences: Advertising, Broadcasting, Journalism (news-editorial and magazine), Public Relations, Visual Communications
Degrees: MA

West Florida, University of
Communication Arts
Pensacola FL 32514
904-474-2874
Sequences: Journalism (broadcast and print), Advertising & Public Relations, Radio/Television/Film, Graduate Mass Communication
Degrees: MA

GEORGIA

Georgia, University of
Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication
Athens GA 30602
404-542-1704
Departments: Advertising/Public Relations, Journalism, Telecommunications
Degrees: MMC, PhD

Georgia State University
Department of Communication
Atlanta GA 30303
404-651-3200
Sequences: Print, Broadcast, Public Relations, Film, Speech, Theatre
Degrees: MS

ILLINOIS

Illinois, University of
College of Communications
Urbana IL 61801
217-333-2350
Sequences: Advertising, Broadcast Journalism, News-Editorial, Media Studies
Degrees: MS, PhD

Northern Illinois University
Department of Journalism
DeKalb IL 60115
815-753-1925
Sequences: Broadcast News, News-Editorial, Photojournalism, Public Relations
Degrees: MA

Northwestern University
Medill School of Journalism
Evanston IL 60208-2101
708-491-5091
Degrees: MSA, MSJ

Southern Illinois University
School of Journalism
Carbondale IL 62901
618-536-3361
Sequences: Advertising, News-Editorial
Degrees: MA, MS, PhD

Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville
Department of Mass Communications
Edwardsville Il 62026
618-692-2230
Sequences: Television and Radio, Journalism
Degrees: MS

INDIANA

Ball State University
Department of Journalism
Muncie IN 47306
765-285-8200
Sequences: Journalism and Public Relations
Degrees: MA

Indiana University
School of Journalism
Bloomington IN 47405
812-855-9247
Sequences: News-Editorial, Broadcast News, Photojournalism, Advertising, Public Relations, Magazine, Media Management, Journalism Education
Degrees: MA Prof., MA Res., PhD

IOWA

Drake University
School of Journalism and Mass Communication
Des Moines IA 50311
515-271-3194/2838
Sequences: Advertising, Broadcast News, Broadcast Sales and Mgmt, Journalism Teaching, Magazines, News-Editorial, Public Relations, Radio/TV
Degrees: MA

Iowa, University of
School of Journalism and Mass Communication
Iowa City IA 52242
319-335-5821
Degrees: MA, PhD

Iowa State University
Department of Journalism and Mass Communication
Ames IA 50011
515-294-4340
Sequences: Advertising, Electronic Media Studies, Magazine, Newspaper, Public Relations/Corporate Communication, Science Communication and Teaching of Journalism
Degrees: MS

KANSAS

Kansas, University of
William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications
Lawrence KS 66045
913-864-4755
Sequences: News, Advertising, Radio-TV, Magazine
Degrees: MS

Kansas State University
A.Q. Miller School of Journalism and Mass Communications
Manhattan KS 66506-1501
913-532-6890
Sequences: Journalism, Advertising, Public Relations, Radio/TV
Degrees: MS

Wichita State University
Elliott School of Communication
Wichita KS 67208
316-689-3185
Sequences: Advertising, Broadcasting, Journalism, Public Relations, Speech Communication
Degrees: MA

KENTUCKY

Murray State University
Department of Journalism and Radio-TV
Murray KY 42071
502-762-2387
Majors: Journalism, Advertising, Public Relations, Radio/TV
Degrees: MS, MA

LOUISIANA

Louisiana State University
Manship School of Journalism
Baton Rouge LA 70803-7202
504-388-2336
Sequences: News-Editorial, Advertising, Broadcast Journalism
Degrees: MJ

Northeast Louisiana University
School of Communication
Monroe LA 71209-0320
318-342-2144
Sequences: Broadcast News, Film-Making, News-Editorial, Photojournalism, Public Relations, RTVF Management, RTVF Performance, RTVF Production
Degrees: MA

Southwestern Louisiana, University of
Department of Communication
Lafayette LA 70506-3600
318-231-6103
Sequences: Print Journalism, Broadcasting, Public Relations, Interpersonal and Public Communication, Media Advertising
Degrees: MS

MARYLAND

Maryland, University of
College of Journalism
College Park MD 20742
301-405-2379
Sequences: Advertising, Broadcast News, News-Editorial, Public Relations
Degrees: MA, PhD

MASSACHUSETTS

Boston University
College of Communication
640 Commonwealth Avenue
Boston MA 02215
617-353-3450
Sequences: Broadcast Journalism, Business and Economics Journalism, Film, Health Communication, Journalism, Mass Communication, Public Relations, TV, Television Management, Science Journalism. (Dual-Degree Programs:) Mass Communication/Law, Television Management/Business Administration. (Joint Degree:) International Relations and International Communication
Degrees: MS/JD, MS/MBA, MA

Emerson College
Mass Communication Division
Boston MA 02116
617-578-8800
Sequences: TV, Film, Audio, Print and Broadcast Journalism
Degrees: MA

Northeastern University
School of Journalism
Boston MA 02115
617-437-3236
Sequences: News-Editorial, Radio-Television News, Advertising, Public Relations
Degrees:MA, MJ

MICHIGAN

Grand Valley State University
School of Communications
Allendale MI 49401
616-895-3668
Degree: MS in Communication Management

Michigan, University of
Department of Communication
Ann Arbor MI 48109-1285
313-764-0420
Sequences: MA, Journalism Telecommunication Arts and Mass Communication
Degrees: MA, PhD

Michigan State University
School of Journalism
East Lansing MI 48824-1212
517-353-6430
Sequences: News-Editorial, Journalism Education
Degrees:, MA, PhD

MINNESOTA

Minnesota, University of
School of Journalism and Mass Communication
111 Murphy Hall
206 Church Street SE
Minneapolis MN 55455-0418
612-625-9824
Degrees: MA, PhD

St. Cloud State University
Department of Mass Communications
St. Cloud MN 56301
612-255-3293
Sequences: Advertising, Broadcast, News Editorial, Public Relations
Degrees: MS

MISSISSIPPI

Jackson State University
Department of Mass Communications
Jackson MS 39217
601-968-2151
Sequences: News-Editorial, News-Editorial (Public Relations), Broadcast Journalism, Broadcast Production, Advertising
Degrees: MS

Mississippi, University of
Department of Journalism
University MS 38677
601-232-7147
Sequences: Print, Radio/TV (PR, magazine, advertising emphases available in both)
Degrees: MA

Southern Mississippi, University of
School of Communication
Hattiesburg MS 39406-5158
601-266-5650
Degrees: MS, MS in Communication; MS in Public Relations; PhD in Communication

MISSOURI

Central Missouri State University
Department of Communication
Warrensburg MO 64093
816-543-4840
Sequences: Mass Communication, Broadcasting and Film, Public Relations, Journalism (News-Editorial)
Degrees: MA

Missouri, University of
School of Journalism
Graduate Studies Center
116 Walter Williams Hall
Columbia MO 65211
573-882-4852
Sequences: Advertising, Broadcast News, Magazine, News-Editorial, Photojournalism
Degrees: MA, PhD

MONTANA

Montana, University of
School of Journalism
Missoula MT 59812
406-243-4001
Sequences: Print, Broadcast
Degrees: MA

NEBRASKA

Nebraska-Lincoln, University of
College of Journalism
Lincoln NE 68588-0127
402-472-3041
Departments: Advertising, Broadcasting, News-Editorial, Graduate
Degrees: MA

Nebraska at Omaha, University of
Department of Communication
Omaha NE 68182
402-554-2600
Sequences: News-Editorial, Broadcast News, Broadcast Production, Advertising/Public Relations
Degrees: MA

NEVADA

Nevada, Las Vegas, University of
Greenspun School of Communication
Las Vegas NV 89154-5007
702-739-3325
Sequences: Telecommunications, Communications Theory, Journalism, Public Relations, Advertising, Broadcast Journalism
Degrees: MA

Nevada-Reno, University of
Reynolds School of Journalism
Reno VN 89557-0040
702-784-6531
Sequences: Print Journalism, Broadcast Journalism, Advertising, Public Relations, Photojournalism, Graduate Program
Degrees: MA

NEW JERSEY

Fairleigh Dickinson University
Department of Communications
Teaneck NJ 07666
201-692-2415
Sequences: Advertising/Public Relations, Broadcasting, Journalism, Film, Theory
Degrees: MA

NEW YORK

Columbia University
Graduate School of Journalism
New York NY 10027
212-854-4150
Sequences: News-Editorial/Broadcasting
Degrees: MSJ

Iona College
Department of Communication Arts
New Rochelle NY 10801
914-633-2230
Sequences: Journalism, Advertising, Public Relations, Film, Broadcast
Degrees: MS

New York University
Department of Journalism and Mass Communication
New York NY 10003
212-998-7980
Sequences: Newspaper, Magazine, Broadcast News, Public Relations, Media Criticism
Degrees: MA

Syracuse University
S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications
Syracuse NY 13244-2100
315-443-2301
Sequences: Graduate: Advertising, Magazine, Media Administration, Newspaper, PhD in Mass Communications, Photography, Public Communications Studies, Public Relations, Television/Radio
Degrees: MA, MS, MPS, PhD

NORTH CAROLINA

North Carolina, University of
School of Journalism and Mass communication
CB 3365
Chapel Hill NC 27599-3365
919-962-1204
Sequences: News-Editorial, Broadcast Journalism, Public Relations, Visual Communication, Advertising
Degrees: MA, PhD

NORTH DAKOTA

North Dakota, University of
School of Communication
Box 8118
Grand Forks ND 58202
701-777-2159
Sequences: Journalism, Broadcasting, Advertising, Public Relations, Speech Communication
Degrees: MA, MS Ed.

OHIO

Bowling Green State University
Department of Journalism
Bowling Green OH 43403
419-372-2076
Sequences: News-Editorial, Broadcast Journalism, Public Relations, Magazine Journalism
Degrees: MS, PhD in Mass Communication

Kent State University
School of Journalism and Mass Communication
Kent OH 44242
216-672-2572
Sequences: News/Editorial, Advertising, Public Relations, Photojournalism, Photo Illustration, Broadcasting News and Radio/TV
Degrees: MA

Ohio State University
School of Journalism
Columbus OH 43210
614-292-6291
Sequences: Advertising, Broadcast, News-Editorial, Public Relations
Degrees: MA

Ohio University
Scripps School of Journalism
Athens OH 45701
614-593-2590
Sequences: Advertising, Magazine, Newswriting and Editing, Public Relations, Broadcast News, Visual Communication
Degrees: MSJ, PhD

OKLAHOMA

Oklahoma, University of
H.H. Herbert School of Journalism and Mass Communication
Norman OK 73019
405-325-2721
Sequences: Advertising, News-Communication, Professional Writing, Public Relations, Broadcasting and Electronic Media
Degrees: MA

Oklahoma State University
School of Journalism and Broadcasting
Stillwater OK 74078-0195
405-744-6354
Specializations: Advertising, News-Editorial, Public Relations, Teacher Certification, Broadcast News, Broadcast Production and Performance, Broadcast Sales and Management, Agricultural Communication
Degrees: MS, EdD (jointly with College of Education)

OREGON

Oregon, University of
School of Journalism
Eugene OR 97403-1275
503-346-3738
Sequences: News-Editorial, Advertising, Radio-TV News, Public Relations, Magazine
Degrees: MA, MS

Portland, University of
Department of Communication Studies
5000 North Willamette Blvd
Portland OR 97203-5798
503-283-7229
Masters Programs: MA sequences are offered in Communication. An MS degree in Management Communication is granted in conjunction with the School of Business Administration

PENNSYLANIA

Duquesne University
Department of Communication
Pittsburgh PA 15282
412-434-6460
Sequences: Advertising, Broadcast Journalism, Communication, Corporate Communication, Media Management/Operations, Media Performance, Media Production, Organizational Communication, Print Journalism, Public Relations
Degrees: MA

Point Park University
School of Communication
Pittsburgh, PA 15222-1984
412-392-3412
Sequences: Public Relations, Advertising, Print/Investigative Journalism, Broadcast Journalism, Mass Communication
Degrees: M.A., joint M.A./M.B.A.

Pennsylvania, University of
Program in Communication
Philadelphia PA 19104-6220
215-898-7041
Graduate program in Communication Codes, Behavior, Systems, Institutions and Policies; Health and Development Communication; Political Communication; Cultural Criticism. MA, PhD

Pennsylvania State University, The
School of Communications
University Park PA 16802
814-865-6597
Sequences: Advertising, Broadcast/Cable, Film and Video, Journalism, Mass Communications
Degrees: MA, MJ, MFA, PhD

Pittsburgh, University of
Department of English, Non-Fiction Writing
526 Cathedral of Learning
Pittsburgh PA 15260
412-624-6506
MFA in Non-Fiction

Temple University
Department of Journalism
Philadelphia PA 19122
215-787-7433
Sequences: Advertising, Magazine, Mass Media Photography, News-Editorial, Public Relations
Degrees: MA, MJ, PhD

SOUTH CAROLINA

South Carolina, University of
College of Journalism and Mass Communications
Columbia SC 29208
803-777-4102
Sequences: Advertising/Public Relations, Broadcasting, News-Editorial
Degrees: MA, MMC

SOUTH DAKOTA

South Dakota, University of
Department of Mass Communication
Vermillion SD 57069
605-677-5477
Programs: Advertising, Broadcast Journalism and Print Journalism, Broadcast Production, Corporate Communications, Public Relations, Telemedia Management
Degrees: MA

South Dakota State University
Department of Journalism and Mass Communication
Brookings SD 57007-0596
605-688-4171
Sequences: News-Editorial, Advertising, Broadcast Journalism, Science and Technical Writing, Agricultural Journalism, Home Economics Journalism, Printing Journalism
Degrees: MS

TENNESSEE

Memphis State University
Journalism Department
Memphis TN 38152
901-678-2401
Sequences: Advertising, Broadcast News, News-Editorial, Public Relations
Degrees: MA

Middle Tennessee State University
College of Mass Communication
Murfreesboro TN 37132
615-898-2813
Departments: Journalism Radio-TV/Photography, Recording Industry Management, Research Institute
Degrees: BS in Mass Communication, BS in Record Industry Management, MS in Mass Communication

Tennessee, University of
College of Communications
Knoxville TN 37996
615-974-3031
Sequences: Advertising, Broadcasting, Journalism (News-Editorial and Public Relations)
Degrees: MS, PhD in Communications

TEXAS

Abilene Christian University
Journalism and Mass Communication Department
Abilene TX 79699
915-674-2298
Sequences: Advertising, Public Relations, Journalism, News-Editorial, Broadcast Journalism, Broadcast Production, Corporate Video, Religious Broadcasting, Religious Journalism, Photojournalism
Degrees: MA

Baylor University
Department of Journalism
Waco TX 76798
817-755-3261
Degrees: Master of International Journalism

East Texas State University
Journalism and Graphics Arts Department
Commerce TX 75429-1909
903-886-5239
Sequences: Journalism (majors in News/Ed., Photojournalism, Advertising/Public Relations and Teaching emphases), Printing
Degrees: MA, MS

Houston, University of
School of Communication
Houston TX 77204-4072
713-749-1745
Sequences: Advertising, Corporate Communications, Film, Journalism, Radio-TV, Public Relations, Telecommunications
Degrees: MA

North Texas, University of
Department of Journalism
Denton TX 76201
817-565-2205
Sequences: News Writing-Editorial, Advertising, Public Relations, Photojournalism, Broadcast News, Business Journalism, Teaching
Degrees: MA, MJ

Texas at Austin, University of
Department of Journalism
Austin TX 78712
512-471-1845
Sequence: Broadcast News, Magazine Journalism, News and Public Affairs Reporting, Public Relations, Photojournalism
Degrees: MA, PhD

Texas at El Paso, University of
Department of Communication
El Paso TX 79968
915-747-5129
Sequences: Broadcast, Journalism, Communication
Degrees: MA in Communication

Texas Christian University
Department of Journalism
Fort Worth TX 76129
817-921-7425
Sequences: News-Editorial (BA); News-Editorial, Broadcast Journalism, Public Relations/Advertising (BS); Teaching Certification, Media Studies (MS)

Texas Southern University
School of Communications
Houston TX 77004
713-527-7360
The program offers master’s degrees with concentrations in News-Editorial, Advertising/Public Relations and Broadcast Journalism

Texas State University
School of Journalism & Mass Communication
San Marcos TX 786664-4616
512-245-2656
Sequence: Mass Communication
Degrees: MA

Texas Tech University
School of Communications
Lubbock TX 79409-3082
806-742-3385
Sequences: News-Editorial, Advertising, Telecommunications, Broadcast Journalism, Public Relations, Photocommunications, Corporate Telecommunications
Degrees: MA

UTAH

Brigham Young University
Department of Communications
Provo UT 84602
801-378-2997
Sequences: Advertising, Broadcast/Media Sales Management, Communication Studies, Journalism, Public Relations
Degrees: MA

Utah, University of
Department of Communication
Salt Lake City UT 84112
801-581-6888
Sequences: Public Relations, Broadcast Journalism, News-Editorial, Radio-TV, Film
Degrees: MS, MA, PhD

Utah State University
Department of Communication
Logan UT 84322-4605
801-750-3292
Sequences: News-Editorial, Media Management, Radio-TV News
Degrees: MA, MS

VIRGINIA

Norfolk State University
Department of Journalism
Norfolk VA 23504
804-683-8330/8331
Sequences: Advertising, News-Editorial, Photojournalism, Public Relations
Degrees: MA

Radford University
Department of Communication
Radford VA 24142
703-831-5282
Sequences: News-Editorial, Public Relations
Degrees: MS in Corporate Public Relations

Regent University
Department of Journalism
1000 Regent  University Drive COM200
Virginia Beach VA 23464-9800
888-777-7729
The school offers a MA in Journalism with an emphasis in converged media, interactive journalism, news-editorial, broadcast journalism, public relations, magazine, photojournalism, professional writing and journalism education

Virginia Commonwealth University
School of Mass Communication
Richmond VA 23284-2034
804-367-1260
Sequences: News-Editorial, Broadcast News, Advertising, Public Relations
Degrees: MS

WASHINGTON

Washington, University of
School of Communications
Seattle WA 98195
206-543-2660
Sequences: Advertising, Broadcast Journalism, Communications, Editorial Journalism
Degrees: MA, MC, PhD

Washington State University
Edward R. Murrow School of Communication
Pullman WA 99164-2520
509-335-1556
Sequences: Advertising, Broadcasting, Journalism, Public Relations, Speech Communications
Degrees: MA, Interdisciplinary PhD with Communication emphasis

WEST VIRGINIA

Marshall University
W. Page Pitt School of Journalism and Mass Communications
Huntington WV 25701
304-696-2360
Sequences: Advertising, Broadcast, Broadcast News, Journalism Education, Magazine, News-Editorial, Public Relations
Degrees: MAJ

West Virginia University
Perley Isaac Reed School of Journalism
Morgantown WV 26506-6010
304-293-3505
Sequences: Advertising, Broadcast News, Graduate Program, News-Editorial, Public Relations
Degrees: MSJ

WISCONSIN

Marquette University
College of Communication, Journalism and Performing Arts
Milwaukee WI 53233
414-288-7133
Sequences: Advertising, Broadcast and Electronic Communication, Journalism, Public Relations, Film minor
Degrees: MA

Wisconsin-Madison, University of
School of Journalism and Mass Communication
Madison WI 53706-1497
608-262-3691
Sequences: News-Editorial, Broadcast News, Advertising, Public Relations, Mass Communication
Degrees: MA, PhD

Wisconsin-Madison, University of
Department of Agricultural Journalism
Madison WI 53706
608-262-1464
Sequences: Print, Broadcast, Advertising, Public Relations, Science Reporting in Mass Communication, Agriculture, Natural Resources/Environment, Family/Consumer Sciences
Degrees: MS, PhD

WYOMING

Wyoming, University of
Department of Communication and Mass Media
Laramie WY 82071-3904
307-766-3122/6277
Sequences: General Communication Studies, Advertising, Broadcasting, Print Journalism, Public Relations
Degrees: MA

Author Index T, 61-70

Journalism Quarterly Index Vol. 61-70 •  1984 to 1993

TABACZYNSKI, TRACY, See FREDIN.

TAN, ALEXIS S. and GERDEAN K. TAN, Television Use and Mental Health, 63:106-13.

TAN, ALEXIS S., SARRINA LI and CHARLES SIMPSON, American TV and Social Stereotypes of Americans in Taiwan and Mexico, 63:809-14.

TAN, ALEXIS S., GERDEAN K. TAN and ALMA S. TAN, American TV In Philippines: A Test of Cultural Impact, 64:65-72.

TAN, ALEXIS S. and KULTILDA SUARCHAVARAT, American TV and Social Stereotypes of Americans in Thailand, 65:648-54.

TAN, ZOE, See LAI.

TANKARD, JAMES W., JR., TSAN-KUO CHANG and KUO-JEN TSANG, Citation Networks as Indicators of Journalism Research Activity, 61:89-96, 124.

TANKARD, JAMES W., JR., Quantitative Graphics in Newspapers, 64:406-15.

TARPLEY, J. DOUGLAS, American Newsmagazine Coverage of the Supreme Court, 1978-81, 61:801-04.

TAYLOR, RONALD E., See HOVLAND.

TEETER, DWIGHT L., JR., The First Amendment at its Bicentennial: Necessary But Not Sufficient? 69:18-27.

THARP, MARYE, See LAI.

THAYER, FRANK, Measuring Recognition and Attraction in Corporate Advertising Trademarks, 65:439-42.

THISTLEWAITE, ROBERT L., See MCFARLAND.

THOMAS, LARRY W. and LASLO V. BOYD, Television News Coverage of Six Federal Regulatory Agencies, 61:160-64.

THOMASON, TOMMY, See WOLF.

THOMPSON, TERESA L., See SLATER.

TICHENOR, P. J., See DONOHUE.

TICHENOR, P. J., See OLIEN.

TICHENOR, PHILLIP J., CLARICE N. OLIEN and GEORGE A. DONOHUE, Effect of Use of Metro Dailies on Knowledge Gap in Small Towns, 64:329-36.

TICHENOR, PHILLIP J., See DONAHUE.

TIEDGE, JAMES T. and KENNETH J. KSOBIECH, The Sandwich Programming Strategy: A Case of Audience Flow, 65:376-83.

TIEDGE, JAMES T., ARTHUR SILVERBLATT, MICHAEL J. HAVICE and RICHARD ROSENFELD, Discrepancy Between Perceived First-Person and Perceived Third-Person Mass Media Effects, 68:141-54.

TILLINGHAST, WILLIAM A., Slanting the News: Source Perceptions After Changes in Newspaper Management, 61:310-16, 418.

TINKHAM, SPENCER F., See WEAVER-LARISCY.

TOWLES, DAVID E., See LOWRY.

TOZIER, CAROLYN, How Justice Department Viewed the St. Louis Joint Operating Agreement, 63:503-08.

TRUJILLO, NICK and LEAH R. EKDOM, A 40-Year Portrait of the Portrayal of Industry on Prime-Time Television, 64:368-75.

TSANG, KUO-JEN, News Photos in Time and Newsweek, 61:578-84, 723.

TSANG, KUO-JEN, See TANKARD.

TSAI, YEAN, See TSANG.

TSANG, KUO-JEN, YEAN TSAI and SCOTT S.K. Liu, Geographic Emphases of International News Stories, 65:191-95.

TUCKER, LAUREN, ROXANNE HOVLAND and GARY WILCOX, Consumer Response to Seagram’s Equivalency TV Ad Campaign, 64:834-38.

TUMLIN, SHERLYN-ANN, See SMITH.

TURK, JUDY VANSLYKE, Public Relations in State Government: A Typology of Management Styles, 62:304-15.

TURK, JUDY VANSLYKE, Sex-Role Stereotyping in Writing the News, 64:613-17.

TURK, JUDY VANSLYKE, JIM RICHSTAD, ROBERT L. BRYSON, JR., and SAMMYE M. JOHNSON, Hispanic Americans in the News in Two Southwestern Cities, 66:107-113.

TURK, JUDY VANSLYKE, See WANTA.

<< Back

Newspaper Division 2010 Abstracts

Open Competition
Courting Iran: The New York Times and Washington Post News Coverage of the March 2000 U.S. Foreign Policy Changes • ABHINAV AIMA, Penn State New Kensington • This content analysis study of the sources quoted in news reporting on Iran in March 2000 found that U.S. Government and U.S.-policy friendly sources continued to dominate the news reporting in The New York Times and Washington Post, even though the foreign policy toward Iran was shifted from a hawkish to a dovish posture. The U.S. Government, in particular, was able to assert itself in the news coverage with 34% of source attributions for all news attributions in the reporting of The New York Times and Washington Post. The two newspapers also showed no statistically significant differences in the sourcing of their news stories, thereby indicating a propaganda effect on news routines that was prevalent in both of the leading national newspapers.

Now Tweet This: How News Organizations Use Twitter • Cory Armstrong, University of Florida; Fangfang Gao, University of Florida • This study examined how Twitter is used as a content dissemination tool within the news industry. Using content analysis, this study looked at tweets of nine news organizations over a four-month period to determine how individuals, links, news headlines and subject areas were employed within the 140-character limits. Results indicated that regional media tended to differ in usage from both local and national media and that broadcast news agencies were more likely to tweet multimedia packages than were print-based organizations. Crime and public affairs coverage were the most tweeted topics, the results indicated. Implications were discussed.

Sporting a New Angle: A Content Analysis of Journalists’ and Bloggers’ Framing of Rush Limbaugh’s Failed NFL Ownership Bi • Marie Hardin, John Curley Center for Sports Journalism, Penn State University; Erin Ash, Pennsylvania State University • As their audiences have increased, the practices and professionalism of bloggers in the sports blogosphere have been scrutinized by scholars and journalists alike. This research explores differences between bloggers and journalists by examining the ways each type frames sports stories with significant social impact. Differences in the ways journalists and bloggers contextualize a story were revealed through a content analysis of media columns and blogs that covered Rush Limbaugh’s failed attempt to become an NFL owner.

A Discourse Analysis of Supreme Court Case Coverage in News Magazines and NewspapersKathryn Blevins, The Pennsylvania State University; Courtney Barclay, Newhouse School at Syracuse University • The Supreme Court is one of the most respected yet obscure institutions in the United States. Due in part to this obscurity, most citizens rely news coverage of the Supreme Court for information about the decisions and how these decisions impact their lives. Past research has indicated an overall decrease in the coverage of Supreme Court decisions though, which is particularly problematic in light of citizens’ reliance on news reporting and interpretation. This study used a recent First Amendment free speech case Morse v. Frederick as a case study to examine coverage in high circulating news magazines and newspapers. The study examined issues of quantity and quality of coverage as well as accuracy and thematic content. Overall quantity was consistent with past studies that found that news magazines tend to have fewer stories than newspapers. This study found a possible emergent trend in newspapers having a higher quality of coverage, while in the past news magazines tended to have better written stories. Accuracy in reporting was an issue in both news magazines and newspapers and a critical discourse analysis of themes found strong institutional themes within specific publications, but no themes that could be generalized from the coverage when it was taken as a whole.

Searching for the core of journalism education: Program directors widely disagree on curriculum priorities • Robin Blom, Michigan State University; Lucinda Davenport, Michigan State University • Journalism educators must make important decisions on the core curriculum: the courses that all journalism students must take to graduate. There is much variety between schools, which brings the question of what kind of curriculum core journalism directors, overall, prefer. This study with a sample of 134 directors indicates that they widely disagree on which specific courses are the most important for all journalism students to take to become competent in the industry.

The Anonymous Poster: Today’s Hybrid of the Anonymous Pamphleteer and Anonymous Source? Lola Burnham, Eastern Illinois University; William Freivogel, Southern Illinois University Carbondale • Editors and judges face novel questions about how to treat anonymous posters to news sites. Is the anonymous poster more like the anonymous pamphleteer or anonymous source? Some judges have provided posters with as much or more protection than sources. Yet anonymous sources are more deserving of protection than posters. Newspapers vet anonymous sources, know their identity and know they possess authoritative information. Newspapers risk current legal protections by equating posters with sources.

Walking a Tightrope: Obama’s Duality as Framed by Selected African American Columnists • Kenneth Campbell, University of South Carolina; Ernest Wiggins, University of South Carolina • We examine columns of three Pulitzer Prize-winning African American columnists to identify the frames they used to offer perspective on the candidacy and early administration of Barack Obama, the first African American president in the United States. The period under study stretches from the time when it became clear that Obama would be the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee to the first six months of his administration. We find that the columnists — Leonard Pitts of The Miami Herald, Eugene Robinson of The Washington Post and Cynthia Tucker of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution — concentrated on a frame of duality to explain Obama’s historic election bid and early presidency.

News and Community in a Tumultuous Border Region • Cathleen Carter, Colorado State University; Kris Kodrich, Colorado State University • This ethnographic study examines the complexity of reporting the news in a tumultuous border region. Using observation and interview, it reveals how reporters and editors at the El Paso Times define their roles and responsibilities as they cover the violence as well as daily life on both sides of the United States/Mexico border. The study examines how journalists at the El Paso Times attempt to meet the needs of the community, which in this case encompasses two major cities – Ciudad Juarez and El Paso – separated by a river, the Rio Grande. Juarez, where thousands of men, women and children have been murdered in recent years, is one of the most dangerous cities in the world. The El Paso Times newsroom is seven blocks from Juarez. This study, conducted in the El Paso Times newsroom in October-November 2009, shows that journalists at the El Paso Times consider Juarez an integral part of their community. Subsequently, the journalists attempt to cover Juarez as best they can, despite the danger.

Hiring for Change? A Content Analysis of Newspaper Industry Job Ads Appearing on JournalismJobs.com and Editor & Publisher • Johanna Cleary, University of Florida; Meredith Cochie, University of Florida • This study examines the knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) prioritized by news managers who are hiring and offers conclusions about what employers value during this time of great change. It compares today’s priorities with those of the 1980s – another time of significant change. The content analysis of 418 job ads is based on Lewin’s Planned Change Theory, which seeks to deconstruct transitional periods. Results show that technical skills are important, but leadership/management and multitasking capabilities are increasingly mentioned.

The gap between online journalism education and practice: The twin surveys • Ying Roselyn Du, Hong Kong Baptist University; Ryan Thornburg, UNC-Chapel Hill • The gap between journalism education and journalism practice has long been the focus of debates in the field. Amid the emergence of online journalism in the 1990s, the profession’s criticism of journalism education has continued unabated. It is ever important to revisit the old gap issue in this new context. This study attempts to examine the discordance between education and practice by comparing online journalism professionals and educators’ perceptions of key skills, concepts, and duties for online journalism. Findings of the twin surveys suggest that differences do exist in the online context.

Abortion and Same-Sex Marriage: Wedging Issues Together Through Indexing • Cindy Elmore, East Carolina University • This analysis of U.S. newspaper coverage of abortion during 2000-2005 reveals that abortion is frequently linked in the news with same-sex marriage. Bennett’s indexing theory is applied to explain how the issues came to be so frequently paired in the news. President George W. Bush and other Republican or conservative organization officials were found frequently linking the issues during the years examined, which, according to indexing, provided the impetus for journalists to perpetuate the pattern.

College newspaper editors and controversial topics: Applying the third-person effect and the willingness to self-censor • Vincent Filak, UW-Oshkosh • An examination of 189 matched pairs of college newspaper editors and college newspaper advisers found instances of third-person perceptions and a willingness to self-censor when editors reported their comfort levels regarding controversial material. Data from the pairings (n= 189) revealed that editors underestimated advisers’ comfort levels and that those estimations, while erroneous, were predictive of the editors’ comfort levels. In addition, while the advisers’ willingness to self-censor and actual comfort-level data was not predictive of the editors’ comfort levels on several controversial topics, the editors’ own ratings on the WTSC scale did predict the editors’ comfort with the material.

Effects of Quantitative Literacy and Information Interference on the Processing of Numbers in the News • Coy Callison, Texas Tech University; Rhonda Gibson, UNC; Dolf Zillmann, University of Alabama • This investigation examines how people of differing numeric skills form quantitative impressions on the basis of statistical information and exemplars in news reports. An experiment varied differences in quantitative literacy and exposure to quantitative information presented in base-rates, exemplars, and combinations of both. Additionally, interference from exposure to competing quantitative information was employed. Findings suggest that, irrespective of numeric skills, explicit statistics yield more accurate estimates than sets of exemplars. After interference from unrelated messages, however, individuals of superior numeracy show greater proficiency in processing statistical information, whereas persons of inferior numeracy rely more on exemplars in making quantitative assessments.

Understanding the News Habit: An Exploration of the Factors Affecting Media Choice Jonathan Groves, Drury University • This exploratory study used logistic regression analysis on a national media-usage survey to understand the role of habit in the decision-making process of consumers. The analysis considered habit in addition to other facets of a media-usage model based upon uses-and-gratifications theory. For all media, habit was a significant factor in whether people chose a medium as their primary source for news.

The G-20 Summit: An analysis of newspaper coverage of nine days that the world came to Pittsburgh • Steve Hallock, Point Park University • Analysis of the coverage of three national and two local newspapers of the world economic summit held in Pittsburgh in 2009 found a preference for official agendas over those of organizations that had attended to demonstrate in support their agendas. Demonstrated in story frequency and use of official sources, this preference revealed a media affinity with the elites and official organizations rather than a proclivity to serve as watchdog over them.

In the Rough: Tiger Woods’ Apology and Journalistic Antapologia • Paul Husselbee, Southern Utah University; Kevin Stein, Southern Utah University • This content analysis of newspaper treatment of Tiger Woods’ apology uses a hybrid of qualitative and quantitative methods to examine pre-apology coverage and journalistic antapologia (reaction to apology). Findings indicate that before and after the apology, journalists focused on Woods’ alleged character flaws, suggested that the apology did not take adequate responsibility, and questioned the motive for the apology. The tone of coverage was primarily neutral, although a significant amount of the coverage was unfavorable.

Covering a teenage killer: Using framing to qualitatively analyze Baltimore newspapers’ coverage of the murder of the Browning family • Kimberly Lauffer, Towson University; William Toohey, Towson University • Using frame analysis, the authors examined 40 written items and 32 photographs about the quadruple homicide of a Baltimore County family that appeared in five Baltimore-area newspapers and by the Associated Press between Feb. 3 and Feb. 26, 2008. We identified two dominant frames in the written stories immediately following the Browning murders: (1) the inexplicable nature of the crime and (2) the murderer as victim. We also noted a lack of adherence to journalistic standards of neutrality during this initial stage of coverage.

Editor Blogs: Ample Commentary, Little Transparency • Norman Lewis, Full-time faculty; Jeffrey C. Neely, University of Florida; Fangfang Gao, University of Florida • Journalists urge disclosure of how news decisions are made to build credibility, a task ideally suited for blogs. However, a survey of 280 daily newspapers found only 39 had a top editor who blogged, just 5.5% of 621 blog entries addressed news decisions, and few editors engaged readers in discussion. Only one newspaper had an editor blog that regularly discussed news decisions. The results question whether editors see transparency as a core journalistic value.

Conversational Journalism: An Experimental Test of Traditional and Collaborative Online News • Doreen Marchionni, Pacific Lutheran • The concept of journalism as a conversation has been richly explored in descriptive studies for decades. Largely missing from the literature, though, are clear operational definitions and empirical data that allow theory building for purposes of explanation and prediction. This controlled experiment sought to help close that gap by finding a way to first measure the concept of conversation, then to test it on key outcome measures of perceived credibility and expertise in online newspaper sites. Findings suggest that conversational journalism is a powerful, multi-dimensional news phenomenon, but also nuanced and fickle. Conversation features most predictive of credibility and expertise were audience members’ perceived similarity to a journalist and that journalist’s online interactivity with the audience. Findings also suggest that short, biographical videos of journalists may be key in conveying the feature of social presence, or humanness, of a journalist online.

The Transformation of Investigative Journalism in the Digital Age • Jon Marshall, Northwestern University • In the past decade, the Internet changed how investigative stories were presented. This study shows how new technology allowed readers to follow their own path through information using timelines, document links, video, audio, maps, and interactive graphics. By the end of the decade, digital tools had transformed how reporters gathered information through techniques such as crowdsourcing, wikis, and social networking. The Internet was giving investigative journalists powerful new tools while also draining newspapers of resources.

Polarization or Moderaterism? Activist Group Ideology in Newspapers • Michael McCluskey, Ohio State University; Young Mie Kim, University of Wisconsin-Madison • Although a longstanding tradition suggests an enduring value of moderatism (Gans, 1979) in news, trends suggest growing polarization (Bennett & Iyengar, 2008). Survey data from 208 activist groups is merged with content from 118 newspapers about the activists (N = 4,329 articles) to analyze the moderatism vs. polarization question. Analysis shows that moderate groups, compared to ideologically polarized groups, were covered in newspapers with lower circulation and had less presence within the articles.

Agenda Setting and Print Media Coverage of College Football: Impact on Bowl Championship Series Matchups • Michael Mitrook, University of Florida; Todd Lawhorne, University of Florida This study examines the 2005-2008 Bowl Championship Series (BCS) in order to analyze the relationship among the agendas of voter opinion, print media coverage, and college football rankings. The study analyzed 500 print media stories, 42 college football voter polls (made up of Harris Interactive polls and USA Today Coaches polls), and BCS rankings. Significant correlations were found supporting agenda-setting effects in the voter opinion, print media coverage and BCS ranking relationship.

Training Sports Journalists in Converged Newsrooms: What Educators Need to Know to Train Sports Journalists • Ray Murray, Oklahoma State University; John McGuire, Oklahoma State University; Stan Ketterer, Oklahoma State University; Mike Sowell, Oklahoma State University With the trend toward convergence journalism, future newspaper sports journalists must know different skills from their predecessors. This research project investigated job skills desired of the next generation of sports journalists within newspaper organizations. Nearly 120 respondents managing newspaper sports departments were surveyed about job skills or attributes future employees must demonstrate. Through a factor analysis, four underlying dimensions were found: Reporting Skills (deemed most important by participants), Broadcasting Skills, Editing Skills, and Sports Knowledge.

When Citizens Meet Both Professional and Citizen Journalists: Social Trust, Media Credibility, and Perceived Journalistic Roles among Online Community News Readers • Seungahn Nah, University of Kentucky; Deborah Chung, University of Kentucky • Through a Web-based survey (N=238), this study examines how online community news readers perceive the roles of both professional and citizen journalists and predicts the extent to which social trust and media credibility contribute to the perceived journalistic roles. Analyses show that while both social trust and media credibility were positively related to the role conceptions of professional journalists, social trust was positively associated with the role conceptions of citizen journalists only. Implications are discussed for the relationship between social capital, media credibility, and perceived journalistic roles.

Community Conversation or ‘The New Bathroom Wall?’ Anonymous Online Comments and the Journalist’s Role • Carolyn Nielsen, Western Washington University • This nationwide survey of journalists working at small, mid-size, and large daily newspapers across the country measures their perception of professional role in regard to online comments. It finds most journalists see themselves as disseminators in regard to online comments. Most journalists are not frequently reading comments on their work and largely do not see comments as useful. Most have never replied to online comments on their work. However, they also do not see comments as a serious drain on time or negative impact to morale. Journalists strongly support the idea of allowing online comments on newspaper Web sites, but wish comment were not anonymous. Further, they are troubled by the racism and factual inaccuracies they see.

Latinos in mainstream and Latino press: An argument for Cultural Citizenship • Lisa Paulin, N.C. Central Univ. • The Latino population is growing faster in the southeastern United States than anywhere else in the country and impacting communities on numerous fronts. This study sheds light on the complexity of how Latinos are represented in North Carolina’s news media. Specifically, this content analysis examines coverage of five Latino issues in two mainstream and two Spanish-language (Latino) newspapers in North Carolina. My original goal was to capture an overview of the similarities and differences in how the newspapers covered newsworthy events or issues that were related to Latinos. The results, in fact, raise questions about how to define a Latino issue. The issues that were covered the most were related to gangs and the death of Jesica Santillán, and the least-covered issues were changes to driver’s licence laws and the Mt. Olive boycott. However, there were anomalies in the coverage that confounded these assertions. The two issues that received the least coverage had higher percentages of stories that were completely relevant to the issue. In my discussion, I propose using cultural citizenship to help define research on Latinos and other underrepresented groups for future research.

It is all the same newspaper to me: Assessment of the online newspapers through uses and gratification analysis and relationships with their print parents • Jelena Petrovic, University of New Mexico • This study deploys uses and gratification framework to assess the relationship between online and print newspapers. Using survey data, AMOS confirmatory factor analysis indicated emergence of two online-only gratifications – virtual community and process interactivity – that indicate that online readers act as both receivers and transmitters of information. MANOVA analysis and Pearson Product-Moment correlations between online and print gratifications provided support for a supplementary relationship between online and print newspapers.

Journalism’s layoff survivors tap resources to remain satisfied • Scott Reinardy, University of Kansas • Hobfoll’s (1989) Conservation of Resources Theory contends that individuals work to gain and defend valued resources. During difficult times, workers will tap into reserves to ward off stress. This study examines job satisfaction among 2,000 newspaper layoff survivors and the resources of organizational trust, morale, perceived job quality and organizational commitment. Those who are highly satisfied demonstrated higher levels of resources. Also, those with dwindling resources had diminished job satisfaction and intentions to leave journalism.

The Good, Bad, and Unknown: Coverage of Biotechnology in Media • Ann Reisner, University of Illinois; Gwen Soult, University of Illinois • As biotechnology research and application has become a controversial social issue; social movement organizations and leaders have emerged as the major voice for public protest. However, news theories suggest that the news is normally presented through established routine agencies, primarily government sources. As such, these theories would suggest that social movement organizations opposing genetic engineering in agriculture would have limited success in presenting their claims through established mainstream media. Through content analysis of 250 randomly selected Illinois newspapers, whose circulation is 40,000 or more, and television sources, the authors found that social movement organizations had considerable success in having their claims presented. Ideological position of the organization appears to be less important than the bureaucratic credentials of the main spokesperson in terms of success of gaining coverage.

Role Convergence, Newspaper Skills and Journalism Education: A Disconnect • John Russial, University of Oregon; Arthur Santana, University of Oregon • This study, based on a national sample of newspapers, examines role convergence in newspapers in light of the degree of multimedia produced. It finds a great deal of job specialization as well as some convergence of newsroom roles. Role convergence can be seen in certain job categories and in certain types of skills, but not across the board. Online staff jobs are the most more converged, but even for those employees, traditional skills are considered more important than new technical skills, such as multimedia. These findings raise questions about the belief that journalism programs must restructure their curricula to prepare students for converged jobs.

Giving Users a Plain Deal: Contract-Related Media Liability For Unmasking Anonymous Commenters • Amy Kristin Sanders, University of Minnesota-Tine Cities; Patrick File, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities • Using legal research methodology, this paper examines a nascent legal issue for online news organizations: could they face civil liability for voluntarily unmasking anonymous commenters? An discussion of contract law, applied to a case study of six news Web sites, found many news organizations’ user agreements likely immunize them from contractually based liability, while in practice the news organizations claim that they zealously guard user privacy and will resist unmasking commenters at almost any cost. Are users getting a plain deal?

Electronic press run: An analysis of newspaper breaking news e-mail alerts • Jessica Smith, Texas Tech University • A content analysis of breaking news e-mail alerts (N=1,153) sent by 17 of the largest newspapers in the United States reveals that the topics of these alerts differs from the traditional topical distribution on newspaper front pages. The categories most heavily covered in the alerts are elections, sports, crime, and government. About 68% of the alerts correspond with stories in the next day’s print edition of the newspaper, but only about 35% of the alerts correspond to front-page stories. About 34% of the alerts contain any form of source attribution. These results have implications for intra-organization gatekeeping and the growing market for personalized mobile and electronic news delivery.
Decoding Darfur conflict: Media framing of a complex humanitarian crisis Mustafa Taha, American University of Sharjah, UAE • This qualitative study uses frame analysis to examine how the New York Times’ framed the conflict in the Sudanese region of Darfur between 2003-2007. Darfur has become a site of multi-dimensional conflict involving local, regional, and international actors. A traditional low-level local conflict between nomadic Arabs and African framers over water supply and grazing lands has degenerated into a massive racially-charged armed conflict engulfing the Sudanese region of Darfur, Chad, as well as the Central African Republic. Scarce economic resources, culture, race, religion, and identity constitute hot sites of struggle in Darfur. A robust United Nations force is being deployed in Darfur to put an end to a civil strife depicted by the Times as a genocidal war. Most of the Times’ depictions framed the conflict as an ethnic war between Arabs and Africans. The NYT put the blame squarely on Sudan government, called for more sanctions, and demanded bringing war criminals to the International Criminal Court (ICC). The only viable solution will be a fair and equitable peace negotiated settlement between Sudan government and the rebels.

An early history of newspaper agents • Tim Vos, University of Missouri School of Journalism; You Li, University of Missouri • This study reexamines the history of newspaper agents in the 19th century to determine who these agents were and what their duties included. The study used primary sources to examine an array of references to newspaper agents and to craft profiles on agents from 13 newspapers in the first half of the century. The results show a much broader array of duties and identities than current histories generally consider.

Frame-changing and Stages of a Crisis: Coverage of the H1N1 Flu Pandemic • Lily Zeng, Arkansas State University • This study examines the coverage of the H1N1 flu pandemic in the New York Times from a dynamic perspective. It identifies four stages of the crisis: Peak I, Valley, Peak II, and Post-Peak II. Based on a two-dimensional model, the study reveals that during the life span of the pandemic (April 2009 to February 2010), the newspaper maintained a consistent emphasis on the event as a national challenge and an apparent focus on current updates of the situation of the disease, especially during the two peak stages of the life span. When the crisis enters a new stage, however, the frame-changing strategy is usually employed to maintain the salience of the event on the news agenda.

Why Some Young Adults Dislike Print Newspapers and Their Ideas for Change • Amy Zerba, University of Florida • Eight focus groups across three cities were conducted with everyday young adults to understand why they don’t read print newspapers. This study deeply examined nonuses, like inconvenience, to uncover their true meanings. Participants suggested ways newspapers could change and critiqued a young adult newspaper. The participants were studied as two age groups, 18-24 and 25-29. Small group differences did emerge. Results showed these young adults are search-savvy news consumers who want choice and effortless news.

Under the Weather: The Impact of Weather on US Newspaper Coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympics Bu Zhong, Pennsylvania State University; Yong Zhou, Renmin University of China Investigating how weather may influence news reporting represents an effort of examining certain hypotheses concerning journalistic practices that may not match a known pattern of the profession. By using computer-aided content analysis, this study examined the effects of weather measured by the Air Pollution Index (API), temperature and climate (sunny or cloudy) on four US newspapers’ 2008 Beijing Olympic reports (N = 289), which are the New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today and Wall Street Journal. The results demonstrated that the API and temperature were significantly related to the number of negative words used in the four papers’ Olympics reports. In general, when the weather (air pollution, high temperature) went worse, US journalists in Beijing used more negative words in reporting the Olympics. But the climate was not found to have the same effect. Some differences existed between the newspapers in terms of the weather impact.

Newspaper

MacDougall Student Paper Competition
The elite press coverage of the 2009 health care reform debate • Steven Adams, Iowa State University (Greenlee School of JLMC) • Research condemned media coverage of the 1993-1996 health care reform debate, and this study seeks to determine whether the elite press followed suit in 2009. It applies paragraph-by-paragraph content analysis to investigate the framing and sourcing of articles in The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, and The Washington Post. Results show that the issue/economic frame dominates the news coverage, in stark contrast to Clinton-era coverage; framing and sourcing change significantly over the course of the debate; and significant relationships exist between specific sources and frames.

Do Comments Count?: The Effects of Type and Amount of User-Generated Comments on News Stories • Erin Ash, Pennsylvania State University; Kirstie Hettinga, Penn State; Andrew Peeling, Pennsylvania State University • Most online newspapers provide feedback forums that allow readers to discuss, through commenting on particular stories, the topics presented in the news. A 2 x 2 x 2 mixed-factorial experiment (N = 95) investigated the relationship between the type and amount of user-generated comments on news stories and readers’ perceived level of journalistic quality. This study also examined bandwagon, expertise, and invasiveness heuristics as possible mediators of the relationship between comments and journalistic quality ratings.

Declarations of Independence: Experts, popular sources, and press independence in the health care debate • Matthew Barnidge, Louisiana State University • This study examines press independence from the government in the 2009 health care debate. It captures the discourse represented in the news about the debate by measuring sources and the expressions they make. This paper also outlines a distinction between various types of autonomy, and offers a new conceptualization of independence. The main question guiding this research is whether there is a substantial difference among the various viewpoints expressed by different types of news sources.

Young voters online news use and political tolerance: The influence of alternative news use to argument repertoire of college students • Mi Jahng, University of Missouri-Columbia; HyunJee Oh, University of Missouri • This study examines the use of alternative online news and the political discussion participations of adolescents. This study focused on finding see what feature of online news can encourage young college student voters to have higher political tolerance. We used argument repertoire as an indicator of political tolerance. We found that opinionated voice online news significantly improved the argument repertoire of the younger voters. Implications of this study are discussed in terms of facilitative role of press in democracy.

Social Network Sites as Another Publishing Platform for Newspapers • ALICE JU, University of Texas at Austin • With the growing popularity of social network sites, newspapers have been using social network sites such as Twitter and Facebook to distribute the news stories. This paper examines how many newspapers are using Twitter and Facebook as another publish platform, the relation between a newspaper’s website unique visitor and its social network site subscriber. The result shows that 1) most newspapers are using social network sites while reaching few audiences, 2) the relation between the number of unique website visitors and social network website subscribers doesn’t show significance, and 3) larger social network sites do not guarantee a broader audience.

Collective memory and discursive contestations: Reconstruction of a Maoist-Era Icon in China’s Government-controlled Newspapers • Ji Pan, University of South Carolina • To understand the dynamics of collective memory as carried by government-controlled media in transiting societies, this study textual-analyzed how China’s newspapers reconstructed the image of Lei Feng, a pre-reform hero worshipped by the entire nation since the 1960s. Drawing on collective memory conceptions, this study found that preservation and erasure of pre-reform meanings and factual narratives, present commemoration derived from preserved meanings and alternative chronicling by less-controlled media coexist in the reconstruction. In resonance to China’s cultural shift, the alternative chronicling humanized Mao’s flawless soldier into a lively and fashion-loving youth without directly confronting the newspaper discourses, which exploited the existing symbolism to promote economic development and the building of a harmonious society. Implications for the fluidity of collective memory and discursive contestations in transiting societies are discussed.

The influence of educational information on newspaper reader attitudes toward people with mental illness • Scott Parrott, The University of Alabama • Newspaper articles stereotypically portray people with mental illness as violent, unstable, and socially undesirable. The present research project examined whether the inclusion of educational material in an otherwise stereotypical newspaper article would foster less negative reader attitudes toward people with mental illness than an article without the educational material. The simple pre-test/post-test, within-groups experiment demonstrated limited success. Suggestions are made on ways newspaper reporters might produce less stigmatizing articles about mental illness.

Conversation or cacophony: Newspaper reporters’ attitudes toward online reader comments • Arthur Santana, University of Oregon • A relatively new addition to the list of interactive components at newspaper Web sites, online reader comment forums have both served and unnerved many journalists. This research, based on a national survey, demonstrates how newspaper reporters have ambivalent feelings toward the forums — tolerating them for occasional insights while despising them for harboring anonymous bullies and bigots. Either way, the forums have had an undeniable influence on the way newspaper journalists do their jobs.

Latino Candidates: Community Features, Newspaper Treatment, and Election Outcomes in 14 Southwestern Cities • jennifer schwartz, University of Oregon • This study explored the relationship between community structural characteristics (racial/ethnic diversity, percent Latino, and Latino median household income) and newspaper treatment of Latino and white candidates in 815 photographs and 608 photograph-associated headlines from 14 newspapers in the last two months of four statewide elections that occurred between 2003 and 2008 in the U.S. Southwest. Findings show newspapers in more racially/ethnically diverse cities provide a larger number of more prominent and more favorable visuals of Latino candidates than white candidates.

Integration or Law and Order – Editorial Stances of the Arkansas Gazette during the Central High Crisis • Donna Stephens, University of Central Arkansas; Nokon Heo, University of Central Arkansas • The study examines the editorial stances of the Arkansas Gazette during the Central High Crisis. In order to test proposed hypotheses, two independent coders conducted a content analysis of eighty-eight Gazette editorials that ran on the topic of the Central High Crisis from September 1, 1957 through May 27, 1959, as reproduced in the book, Crisis in the South: The Little Rock Story. Editorials were coded for three categories of variables: the Ultimate Message of the Editorial; Attitude of the Editorial toward Faubus, Brown vs. Education, President Eisenhower, and the Tactics of the Segregationists; and words or phrases commonly used to convey the newspaper’s attitudes were also analyzed for qualitative analysis. The results showed that the Arkansas Gazette advocated a law-and-order stance rather than one that favored integration during the Central High Crisis. The Gazette was overwhelmingly negative regarding Governor Faubus and the tactics of the segregationists. Also it was found that the Gazette’s editorials took no real stance toward Brown or Eisenhower during this time period. The results were discussed in the context of journalistic perspectives.

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