Graduate Student Interest Group

2022 Abstracts

Research Paper • Student • Julie Aromi, Rutgers University School of Communication and Information • Race on the debate stage: Senators Booker and Harris’s discussions of Blackness in Democratic primary debates • Senators Kamala Harris and Cory Booker both frequently discussed their experiences as Black Americans during the Democratic primary debates throughout 2019. Both Senators acknowledge the ways Black voters are often used as a tool to elect white Democrats, and use their personal experience to establish solidarity with Black audiences. This textual analysis of the Senators’ remarks about race throughout the debates, focuses on how each talks about their own racialized experiences, and the narratives they construct about who they are as Black politicians, advocates, and Americans.

Research Paper • Student Member • Diane Ezeh Aruah, University of Florida • Struggling to fit in: Understanding difficulties faced by African international graduate students in a Predominant White Institution (PWI) in the United States • Every year, thousands of African students apply to graduate programs in the United States with the hope of experiencing quality and standard education unobtainable in their home countries. However, difficulties encountered by African students while settling into the educational system in the United States can impact their pursuit of the “American dream”. This article examines these difficulties using a qualitative phenomenological study of African graduate students in a predominantly white institution in the U.S. In-depth interview was used to collect data from 16 Ph.D. and master’s students. The students encountered inter-personal-based, community-based, and institutional-based difficulties, which often led to feelings of isolation, depression, and low self-esteem. The students managed their difficulties through online and offline support, as well as self-developed skills. Predominantly white institutions in the United States must include the needs of African international students in their recruitment, orientation, and mental health support programs.

Research Paper • Student • Laura Canuelas-Torres • Young Activists or Misguided Children? American Adults’ Perceptions on The March for Our Lives Teen Activists • The efforts of young people to advance gun control measures media coverage from all across the political spectrum. The current project used Q Methodology to further understand American adults’ perception of these activists. Results indicate that three camps emerged: those who recognized the teens as activist, those who see them as mislead and confused and those who see their efforts as the result of adolescent naivety. Relationships with media consumption are discussed.

Research Paper • Student • Sera Choi • The Use of Non-Verbal Cues to Express Apology and User Perception on Influencers’ Apology • This qualitative study examines how YouTube influencers use non-verbal cues in their apology videos and how users perceived these non-verbal cues displayed in the videos. This study utilized facial expressions via different arrangements of upper and lower facial structures, body and hand gestures, and speech rate to analyze how influencers used non-verbal cues. The study observed four different themes of users’ perceptions of non-verbal cues used in apology videos (i.e., sincere, fake, aggressive, and disappointed).

Extended Abstract • Student • Carl Ciccarelli, The University of South Carolina • A critical qualitative analysis of response framing of the COVID-19 pandemic across higher education. • The present study is timely and aims to employ a mixed method research design to extract meaningful insights to inform future practices in higher education through studying responses from a sample of five large public universities located in the southeast United States. This analysis will include in-depth interviews, content analysis of statistical COVID-19 dashboard data for each university, and a textual analysis of the framing and tone of response statements disseminated by each university.

Research Paper • Student • Nina Gayleard • Audience Member Twitter Discussion About Netflix’s Unbelievable (2019) • This research focused on themes amongst audience member discussions of crime entertainment media by examining tweets about Netflix’s Unbelievable (2019). The research aimed to identify major themes amongst audience discussions and see how those themes compared to current themes in crime entertainment media texts. The themes that appeared in the tweets reflected those in Unbelievable (2019) and those currently found within crime entertainment media texts, indicating that audience members actively discerned and discussed relevant themes.

Research Paper • Student • Lingshu Hu • Boosting Texts: Improving Text Classification Performance on Small-Sized, Imbalanced Datasets • Communication scholars, who traditionally focus on text messages, can benefit from adopting recently developed machine learning algorithms on text classification. This study introduced three methods—boosting, SMOTE, and Bert embedding—and tested their performance on small-sized, imbalanced datasets. Results show that SMOTE effectively increases the accuracy of classifying the minority class; Bert embedding can enhance the overall testing accuracy but may not improve minority class recognition; Boosting did not work well with text classification tasks.

Research Paper • Student • Shudan Huang, University of South Carolina; Max Bretscher, University of South Carolina • Motivation to Purchase Organic Foods, Message Clarity, and Information Processing from a Heuristic-Systematic Perspective • This study utilized a construal frame manipulation of an organic product and applied a heuristic-systematic model (HSM) as the theoretical foundation for testing people’s attitude, the brand, and purchase intention of the organic product with different levels of involvement and skepticism. The finding revealed that skepticism will have negative effects on participants’ cognition and acceptance of organic food. And frames were found to be a significant predictor of ad attitude, brand attitude, and purchase intention.

Research Paper • Student • Jeff Hunter, Texas Tech University; Koji Yoshimura • Are there Partisan Differences in the Moral Framing of News? • “Abstract

This study investigated the relationship between moral framing of news media headlines

and the political ideology of the source using moral foundations theory and the model of intuitive

morality and exemplars (MIME). A content analysis assessed the moral framing of 1,100 news

headlines sampled from major news sources. Results indicated that moral foundation framing did

not differ according to the political ideology of the news source, but framing was associated with

the issues examined.”

Research Paper • Student • Yanru Jiang, University of California, Los Angeles • Understanding Triggers of Problematic Internet Uses in Casual Mobile Game Designs • There is evidence that players can become addicted to casual mobile games. This study identified seven elements that are frequently adopted in casual mobile game designs and could trigger game addictions. The study used a seven-item game addiction scale (GAS) to access the addiction level of casual mobile gamers. Adverse effects on addicted players, such as being isolated from social contacts, neglecting important activities, and undermining psychological conditions, were identified through the GAS.

Research Paper • Student • Sarah Johnson • Credibility from the Source: Comparing traditional celebrity endorsers with YouTube endorsers • This study examines the relationship between an endorser’s expertise, trustworthiness, and brand attitude using Source Credibility Theory, by looking at traditional celebrity and YouTube endorsers. A representational survey of the U.S. adult population was used. The research model was analyzed using mediation analysis; the results were determined to have significant direct and indirect effects. Based on the results, there was a slight increase in the strength of the mediator on brand attitude for YouTube endorsers.

Research Paper • Student • URSULA KAMANGA • Assessing the Implications of Cervical Cancer Information Sources and its Barriers Among Latinas • Cervical cancer is preventable, yet screening levels remain low among Latinas, contributing to a 40% mortality rate in the U.S. Health information-seeking behavior among this population remains low. Few studies have assessed channels used while investigating perceived uncertainty for health information-seeking among Latinas. This case study will test the Theory of Planned Behavior through semi-structured interviews to understand the health information-seeking behavior among Latinas and where new channels could be made to assist them.

Research Paper • Student • hakan karaaytu • Independent Journalists Reporting on Political Issues in Turkey, using Traditional and New Media • In this study, while the role and journalistic ideal imputed to the media in contemporary democracies are considered, the changes in the Turkish media sector, which have been structurally transformed since 1980, and the reflections of this change on the identity of the journalists are revealed. As the historical process of the media structure that has been transformed is described, the effects of the experiences in relationship between media and politics on the journalistic profession are illustrated with concrete examples. The research paper consists of interviews with 10 people who are selected from journalism academics and press-journalists in the profession.

Extended Abstract • Student • Yihan Li, School of Journalism and Communication, The Chinese University of Hong Kong • Health code for datafied mobilities in China: Framing of datafication, algorithmic governance and dataism ideology • This research adopts critical discourse analysis to analyze the construction of health code discourse by Chinese governments and its social consequences. This research finds the frame of the health code as an objective tool for orderly mobilities, which is produced by the hierarchical relation between the state and local governments. And this discourse contributes to the emerging of a new mode of algorithmic governance and a dataism ideology with some doubtful assumptions.

Research Paper • Student • Paige Nankey; Rhea Maze • Social Media and Marine Plastic Pollution: A Study of Social Media Messaging on Engagement • This 2 (emotional appeal: hope vs. guilt) x 2 (call-to-action (CTA): presence vs. absence) between-subjects experiment randomly exposed 76 college students to one of four Instagram-type messages about marine plastic pollution: Guilt with no CTA (N = 18), guilt with CTA (N = 20), hope with no CTA (N = 19), or hope with CTA (N = 19). The results were not significant but revealed an interesting interaction pattern when combining hope appeals with CTA’s.

Extended Abstract • Student • Victoria McDermott; Drew T. Ashby-King, University of Maryland • Extended Examining Institutional and Instructional Support of Communication Graduate Students Academic and Social Needs During COVID-19 • Rhetorical and relational goal theory posits that students have academic and relational needs in the classroom that need to be met to facilitate student success. By conducting focus groups with communication graduate students, this study explored how institutional/departmental and instructor communication met students’ needs during the COVID-19 pandemic. We suggest that rhetorical and relational goals are intertwined concepts that contribute to supporting students’ academic and relational needs and success.

Research Paper • Student • Adriana Mucedola, Syracuse University • Royal baby boom: How British tabloids covered Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle’s pregnancies • This study used an intersectional approach to understand how media coverage during Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle’s first pregnancies differed from one another. A content analysis that coded 240 British tabloid articles revealed that Markle received a greater amount of press negativity and negative weight-related attitudes, while Middleton’s body was objectified to a greater extent. Findings suggest that media continue to objectify women in different ways depending on their identities, and reinforce the thin ideal.

Research Paper • Student • Christina Myers • Toward a Conceptual Model of Implicit Racial Bias and Representation of African Americans in Media • “The purpose of this paper is to propose a conceptual model to explain how societal, cultural and historical circumstances contribute to the creation of meaning assigned by content creators and its subsequent understanding, particularly as it relates to the media’s portrayal of African Americans. The author suggests implicit racial bias, stereotypes and ideology, which are shaped by the historical, cultural and societal influences of content creators, allow for inherently prejudiced belief systems to be disseminated and reinforced by mass media. To the author’s knowledge, there is a paucity in mass communication literature that seeks to explain the cognitive processes involved in content creation by members of mass media.

Keywords: Implicit Racial Bias, Ideology, Stereotypes, Black representation, mass media”

Extended Abstract • Student • Nhung Nguyen, University of Kansas • Strangers helping strangers in a strange land: Vietnamese immigrant mothers and expecting mothers in the USA use social media to navigate health acculturation • Drawing from acculturation, this study analyzes 18 in-depth interviews with immigrant Vietnamese mothers and pregnant women in the United States on the role of online social support through Facebook on their pregnancy and motherhood in a strange land. Findings show that immigrant mothers seek out both informational and emotional supports. “Bonding” levels are low and unlikely to transcend into real-life friendships. Social media, however, allows community members to develop and thrive during enculturation.

Extended Abstract • Student • Jeffry Oktavianus, City University of Hong Kong; Yanqing Sun; Fangcao Lu • Extended The episodes of health crisis information response process among migrant domestic workers during COVID-19 pandemic • Guided by Crisis Response Communication Model (CRCM), this study examined how Indonesian migrant domestic workers in Hong Kong digested and responded to health crisis information amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Through in-depth interviews involving 32 workers, this study discovered that the participants went through four stages of crisis response process, including observation (i.e., information gathering), interpretation (i.e., filtering information and verification), choice (i.e., adopting adaptive and maladaptive preventive measures), and dissemination (i.e., information sharing).

Research Paper • Student • Runlei Ren; Xinyu Dai; Mengyuan Wei • The Impact of Internet on Public Trust in Government: Assessing the Mediating Effect of Subjective Social Justice • Over the past decade, public trust in the government (PTG) in developed countries has continued to decline. At the same time, the rapid development of the Internet has changed people’s perceptions. The decline of PTG will pose a challenge to government governance. Given the coexistence of the decline in PTG and the gradual popularization of the Internet, can the Internet explain or partially explain the fluctuations in PTG among citizens? Previous research pointed out that the negative effects may play a leading role. However, existing literature ignores that the relationship between Internet use and public trust in government (PTG) can be mediated by contextual variables such as perceived social justice. Thus, this study uses the 2018 Chinese Social Survey (CSS 2018) and household survey datasets in 2015 (CGSS 2015) to explore the influence of internet usage on PTG and its mechanism. Multivariate regressions and instrumental variable estimates support that: Besides playing a negative role directly (β=-0.0467, t=-3.0304, p<0.001), the internet can also affect PTG by polluting subjective social justice. Diverse applications of the internet have different effects on PTG. From the perspective of different government levels, it conforms to the characteristics of differential trust in government. This conclusion provides a reference for the governance of Internet public opinion. The department of management could treat the Internet as a platform to carry out effective communication between the government and the public to improve political trust.

Extended Abstract • Student • Zoey Rosen, Colorado State University; Channing Bice, Colorado State University; Stephanie Scott, Colorado State University • Extended [Visualizing the Invisible: Visual-Based Design and Efficacy in Air Quality Messaging] • This study examines the effect of efficacy and visual design for messaging for air quality. The following study is a 2 (efficacy: high vs. low) × 2 (message design: visual vs. text) between-subjects experimental design, assessing the effects of these variables on students’ visual comprehension, source credibility, self-efficacy, and protective behavioral intention. Hypotheses were partially supported, finding that there were some statistically significant effects for efficacy and message design on the variables of interest.

Extended Abstract • Student • Andrea Smith, Syracuse University; Adriana Mucedola, Syracuse University; Jian Shi, Syracuse University • Partisan Pride: How Cross-Exposure to Partisan News and Emotions Toward Trump Leads to Civic Engagement • The purpose of this study was to examine the link between consuming either liberal or conservative media, partisans’ emotional reactions to news about Donald Trump, and their level of participation in civic engagement. A sample of U.S. adults (n=813) completed the relevant measures in an online survey. Results indicated that when participants consumed counter-attitudinal media, they experienced negative emotional reactions to news about Donald Trump, which in turn, led them to become more civically engaged.

Research Paper • Student • Courtney Tabor, University of Oregon • “What a 13-year old girl looks like”: A feminist analysis of To Catch a Predator • This paper examines three key episodes of early-2000s sensation To Catch a Predator and situates them within crime media and journalism literature. Based on the analysis, To Catch a Predator represents the apex of crime media as demonstrated by the treatment of women and girls as bait, claims of ownership over women and girls’ bodies, lack of nuance in reporting, and the liberties taken in their journalistic practices.

Research Paper • Student • Jingyue Tao • The Influence of Message and Audio Modalities in Augmented Reality Mobile Advertisements on Consumers’ Purchase Intention • Evidence shows that AR technology is an effective advertising approach to raise a brand’s awareness, so many big brands implement AR into their marketing strategy. However, the effectiveness of AR mobile advertisements on consumers’ purchase intentions remains unclear. To fill this dearth in the literature, this study examined how message and audio modalities of AR mobile advertisements influenced consumers’ purchase intentions through an experiment. Based on the uses and gratifications perspective, this online experiment manipulated the message type (emotional/factual) and audio-verbal appeal (present/absent) of AR advertisements to investigate their impact on consumers’ attitudes towards buying a watch. The results showed that audio-verbal appeal played a salient role in the emotional message to positively influence consumers’ perceived entertaining gratification and intention to buy the watch. However, the audio-verbal emotional message negatively influenced consumers’ purchase intention and did not influence their perceived information gratification. Future research should test other multimedia such as images, video, or animations to better understand the interaction effect between AR mobile advertisements and consumers’ purchase intentions.

Research Paper • Student • Taylor Thompson • Trust in media in the era of fake news • This study explores how political ideologies, media bias, and media credibility affect trust in the media. This research uses an ATP survey from Pew Research Center. The analysis found that people who identify as Democrats have a significantly higher trust in the media, and think the media is doing their job well and effectively. Republicans were less trustful of the media, which suggests a problematic relationship between the media and people who identify as Republicans.

Research Paper • Student • Yue Wang, University of Leuven • Why are smartphones a thief who steals time? An Empirical Study of Smartphone Dependence in China • With the rapid spread of smartphones worldwide, the negative effects of overuse and dependence on smartphones have attracted more and more public attention. To explore how people’s psychological motivations affect smartphone dependence, this research expands the motivation of media-system dependence and adds two psychological characteristics of loneliness and FoMO. The results showed that “recreation”, “orientation”, “loneliness” and “FoMO” had significant impacts on smartphone use, while “understanding” did not have a direct effect on smartphone dependency.This survey provides important information for academicians concerning smartphone dependency, which is still rarely explored in China.

Research Paper • Student • Tian Xinhe • Research on Online Social Support Related to Gender Issues from the Perspective of Communication-An empirical analysis based on Zhihu, an online question-and-answer community in China.docx • The COVID-19 outbreak in early 2020 has highlighted the importance of social caring, and the related gender issues have attracted more attention online. This paper studies the posts related to the “sanitary napkins in loose packing” in Zhihu Community, and examines the impact of online social support on gender issues, from the perspective of communication and through social network analysis, content analysis and text analysis. Findings: Users have not developed a tight social network, but the Matthew effect is significant; online social support strengthens connections between users on gender issues; “otherization” for female is found users in agenda setting; intensified online gender contradiction reflects the polarization effect of network. Misogyny is found in China’s male-oriented online society. On this basis, the paper argues that gender inequality is an objective, deep-rooted existence in Chinese society, and that gender antagonism is becoming increasingly prominent in China’s online society. In the long run, however, we should avoid grafting gender contradictions into class contradictions, with efforts made to coordinate gender relations and seek equal rights for men and women.

Research Paper • Student • Wanjiang Zhang; Jiayu Qu; Jingjing Yi, School of Journalism and Communication, Chinese University of Hong Kong • Stripped from society abruptly: Effects of physical social isolation on people’s emotional expression and well-being • The study employed a quasi-experiment with 1,398 users’ 1,376,718 posts on Weibo. Three computational methods (SA, ITS, STM) were used to investigate the influences of physical social isolation on people’s emotional well-being during the quarantine. Results showed that quarantine brought a sharp fall in people’s emotions immediately without sustained effects. STM-generated topics implied social media’s role in fulfilling three psychological needs. Heavy Weibo users expressed more positively, whereas light users expressed negatively.

2022 Abstracts

Visual Communication Division

2022 Abstracts

Research Paper • Student • Crisis Management in this Visual Era: How People Perceive a Crisis-hit Brand Through News Media Pictures • Mohammad Ali, Syracuse University; Dennis Kinsey, Syracuse University • Visuals in a crisis phenomenon remain largely understudied. This paper analyzes the post-crisis pictures relating to the 2020 Mauritius oil-spill incident. Utilizing Q Methodology, designed to understand people’s subjective perceptions, we identify at least two groups of people who had variant perceptions of recognizing various pictures as (un)forgiving of this crisis-hit Japanese company. The Attribution Theory is used to explain what pictures are more likely to shift people’s perceived crisis responsibility attributions toward the company.

Research Paper • Student • Video [Dis]Convergence and Discernable Logocentrism: Visual Journalists’ Experience during Video Implementation • Christopher T. Assaf, UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN • This project examines visual journalists’ experience with legacy print leaders’ logocentrism during video platform implementation. Recognizing video’s potential as a digital-disruption solution, with prospects for increasing revenue and reaching new audiences, organizational leaders chose individual photojournalists for still and video platform convergence. Adhering to a word-centric ideology, leadership underestimated guidance, communication, and knowledge factors, creating uncertainty and slowing adoption. Collected through 14 interviews with visual journalists and viewed through Rogers’ (2003) diffusion of innovations theory.

Extended Abstract • Student • Extended abstract – From “Betty, la fea” to “Betty in NY” – the impact of digital storytelling on telenovelas • Alejandro Bruna, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile • This work investigates whether digital narrative (or “digital storytelling”) affects visual language and structure of Latin America’s most relevant television product: telenovelas. Using the most successful telenovela in television history (Ugly Betty) two versions were analyzed at a dramatic and narrative level: the original Colombian version (Yo soy Betty, la fea) and its most recent adaptation (Betty in NY). Findings show that digital narrative influences the melodramatic matrix of telenovelas, themes, motivations, plot and situations.

Extended Abstract • Faculty • Extended Abstract: Cognitive and Attitudinal Processing of Visual Frames in 360-Degree Environmental Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Messages • Sungwon Chung, Ball State University; Johnny Sparks, Ball State University • This experiment examined the influence of visual content frames (gain vs. loss) and presentation modality (non-360 vs. 360-degree videos) on cognitive and attitudinal processing of environmental corporate social responsibility (eCSR) messages on viewers’ memory and attitudes. Frame and modality influenced storage (cued recall) of company names, but only modality influenced encoding (recognition) of company names. However, neither frame nor modality affected encoding of company logos. Content frame also impacted perceived message effectiveness.

Extended Abstract • Student • Visualizing criminal jury trials: A quantitative content analysis of images in U.S. news outlets • Umberto Famulari, Indiana University Bloomington; Lesa Hatley Major; Osman Mohamed Osman • “This study will contribute to the scholarship of visual framing and journalism by analyzing for the first time how U.S. news outlets visually represented criminal jury trials in the last eighty years. Drawing from visual framing theory (Coleman, 2010; Bock, 2020), the images that accompanied all the news stories about criminal jury trials from 1940 to 2020 were analyzed at the denotative and stylistic level (Rodriguez and Dimitrova, 2011).

Preliminary findings showed differences between different types of news outlets (national U.S. televisions, cable news, local news outlets and newspapers) in relation to how defendants, victims and jurors were portrayed in terms of gender, race, emotions and camera distance used. Implications of the study were discussed and analyzed.”

Research Paper • Faculty • Paradise or propaganda? Jack Delano’s FSA images of public housing in Chicago • Robin Hoecker, DePaul University • This study looks at Jack Delano’s 1942 photographs of the Ida B. Wells homes in Chicago, and how they shaped narratives of public housing and wartime propaganda. Delano’s photographs show well-dressed Black families in immaculate, furnished apartments, with structured community programs. These images are part of the U.S. government-sponsored photography project of the Farm Security Administration, later Office of War Information, that documented life among working class Americans between 1935-1944.

Research Paper • Student • Revealing the Veil in Internet Memes and GIFs: A Comparative Framing and Stereotyping Analysis • Omneya Ibrahim, The University of Texas at Austin; Shahira Fahmy, The American University in Cairo • This study bridges a gap in visual communication research based on an integrative framing analysis of internet memes and GIFs using the hashtag #Hijab following the 2019 attacks on Muslim mosques in New Zealand. We analyzed both the textual and visual elements used in these digital tools to unravel their framing and stereotyping of veil. While significant differences between memes and GIFs existed, both tools displayed support for the hijab, revealing clear patterns regarding a new progressive image of hijabi women in the contemporary digital environment. Findings show that memes and GIFs challenge the traditional stereotyping and submissive image of Muslim women that has long been portrayed in media. They also suggest that memes and GIFs are each unique and, although sometimes regarded as one by scholars, ought to be evaluated and examined separately and independently from each another in future research.

Research Paper • Faculty • Crisis of Cosmopolitan Citizenship in Hong Sang-soo’s Films • Jin Kim, The College of Saint Rose • Drawing on complex narrative as a heuristic tool, this study aims to provide one reading about narrative structure of Korean director Hong Sang-soo’s films. While his movies seemingly lack logic and coherency, the Korean auteur creates a unique sense of meaningless, intuition, and fragile memory in his movies. Examining similarities and differences among his 2017 and 2018 movies (The Day After, Grass, Hotel By The River, and Claire’s Camera), one of the major arguments of this study is that Hong’s film narratives consist of repetition, fragmentation, looped causalities, lucid subjectivities and, multiple universes. While Hong might defy ideological-social analysis of his films, one of the major arguments in this study is that is resistance against spatial-temporal linearity and narrative consistency is symptomatic to understand crisis of citizenship within global pandemic and political turmoil.

Extended Abstract • Student • Truly Korean? A Quantitative Study of Film Style Under a Colonial System • William Kohler, Southern Illinois University; Yuhosua Ryoo, Southern Illinois University • Was Korean cinema identical to or distinct from Japanese cinema in its use of film techniques during the colonial period? Using a statistical style analysis, we demonstrated that the two are different in every stylistic category, including sound, cinematography, editing, and mise-en-scene. We concluded that Korean films retained their own film style and identity under colonization and should be considered just as truly Korean as films from any other period.

Extended Abstract • Student • A powerful, spiritual, win-win situation: Commercial authenticity in professional birth photography • Anat Leshnick, University of Colorado boulder; Rivka Ribak • Online repositories of professional birth photography present a radical alternative to the medicalized depiction of birth in commercial reality programs. Arguably, birth photographers allow women to see birth and learn about it, document it from their own perspective, and share this personally significant event in the public sphere. However, these images are produced and consumed within a market economy in which notions of resistance – and compliance – appear naïve (Banet-Weiser, 2012). From this perspective, rather than medicalized as opposed to natural, and rather than passive as opposed to resistant, we propose to see birth photography as a site of commercial authenticity, in which birth photographers and birthing women co-produce a neoliberal birth story that is at once liberating and cynical. Drawing on interviews with nine birth photographers and nine women who hired photographers to document their birth, we explore the ways in which these artisans develop professional and aesthetic practices that distinguish them from others in the delivery room, highlighting the complicated ways in which authenticity is created and sold in contemporary cultural production.

Research Paper • Student • Constructing Love: Visual Representation of Blackness in the Obama Marriage • Ajia Meux, University of Oklahoma • A content analysis of 346 images was employed to study differences in racial presentations of Barack and Michelle Obama between the White House and African American media. The literature on symbolic interactionism, presidential and first lady presentation, African marriage, minority media, framing and visual representation suggested that there would be differences by medium in portrayals of the president and first lady on racial variables (egalitarianism, marital affection, racialist, ethnic/cultural, kinship, political). Findings indicate that, across White House and African American media, the couple were often presented as egalitarian and affectionate. Statistical testing indicate that African American media were significantly more likely to depict Michelle Obama with racialist elements and the Obamas as a happy and affectionate married couple than the White House. A contradictory finding indicated that the White House was significantly more likely to focus on the extended family bonds of African Americans by depicting the Obamas in the presence of other black people. This study is important because the Obamas are the first ethnic minority to hold the offices of president and first lady of the United States, and this study is the first to explore the two as an African American married couple. Findings extends research on how minority media help construct reality for their audiences and have implications for new White House image management strategies of presidents and first ladies.

Research Paper • Faculty • A Winning Combination: Effects of Visual Frames in Solutions Journalism Stories • Danielle Kilgo, University of Minnesota; Robert F. Potter; Ryan Comfort, Indiana University • Solutions journalism approaches in recent years have tried to combat pessimistic and avoidant responses in audiences by producing stories about social issues that also focus on attempts to solve the problems. Although scholarship on visuals in solutions journalism has lagged behind research about text, some studies have shown that visual framing emphasizing solutions leads to higher levels of narrative engagement and behavioral intentions (Dahmen, Their & Walth, 2019) and lower levels of negative affect (McIntyre, Lough & Manzanares, 2018) than visual framing emphasizing problems. This study adds to theory about visual frames in solutions journalism with an online 2 (story topic: drug addiction, homelessness) x 4 (visual frame condition: no photo, solutions only, problems only, combination) mixed design experiment that investigated the question of what visual frame might arouse the ideal mix of affective responses to leave people concerned and interested in solutions journalism stories. The results have implications for visual communication theory and for photojournalism practice.

Research Paper • Faculty • Frames and Journalistic Roles in Chinese Reporting on HIV: Insights from a Content Analysis and Qualitative Interviews Focused on the Verbal and Visual Modalities • Chunbo Ren, Central Michigan University; Viorela Dan • Extant work largely neglects visuals’ contribution to news framing and how journalists perform their professional roles. We address this research gap in two studies, and use HIV reporting in China as a test case. Study 1, a content analysis in seven newspapers (2000-2015), shed light on how words and visuals suggest different frames and journalistic roles. Study 2 used in-depth interviews with journalists to contextualize the findings in Study 1, especially on the word-visuals rapport.

Research Paper • Student • Cross-Platform Visual Framing: Climate Visuals on News Websites and Twitter • Yimeng Sun, New York University; Hiu Yan Ping; Lei Guo; Boqi Chen, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; David Assefa Tofu • To examine how the U.S. news media visually frame climate change, the study investigates how news media of different political orientations frame the issue differently across media platforms. We used content analysis to analyze 761 images covering climate change from news websites and Twitter. The results show that major U.S. news media of different political orientations used different visual elements to frame the issue, including various image types and image subjects.

Extended Abstract • Faculty • What “Lens-Based Workers” Are Owed: An Exploration of the Photo Bill of Rights • Keith Greenwood; Ryan Thomas; Cory Macneil • This study will examine the Photo Bill of Rights, a recent initiative that centers the rights of “lens-based workers” and which presents an opportunity to evaluate the position of photojournalism within an evolving society. Through a textual analysis of the Bill’s contents, and a comparison with traditional ethical codes, the paper argues that the Bill represents a challenge to existing frameworks about what journalists owe the public by focusing on what journalists are themselves owed.

Extended Abstract • Faculty • Extended Abstract: Ye Olde Europa Gin Mill: How war looked in isolationist cartoons of 1941 • Darryl Frazier; Fred Vultee, Wayne State University • This paper uses fantasy theme analysis to examine the rhetorical vision created by cartoonists for three major isolationist newspapers in the months leading up to US entry in the Second World War. These cartoons draw on both indexical and allusive properties to challenge or reinforce interpretations of current events, whether it is Uncle Sam stumbling toward a fight in someone else’s bar or a brave Charles Lindbergh landing at an unfriendly field.

Research Paper • Student • Multimodal Analysis: Researching Short-form Videos and the Theatrical Practices • Yiting Wang, University of Hawai’i at Mānoa • “Short-form video is one of the major approaches for people to present themselves on visual social media, such as TikTok. What is behind this type of visual communication? With the emerging field of social media and performance studies, can theatrical or performative discourse make sense of the video data? What would be a good method to study user-generated short-form videos (UGSVs)?

Digital living is performative, and theater is often integrated with social or political practices. This paper uses multimodal analysis for video analysis and draws concepts and practices from Chinese and western theater. Building on three theories (situation, suspense, and mimesis) in which the ontology of theater is often discussed, this paper demonstrates the modes and modalities of five videos originating from TikTok. The preliminary findings suggest three types of suspense and three types of mimesis practices that respectively answer how attention of audiences is retained, and how and why videos are reproduced and disseminated. We argue that imitation as a phenomenon and as a process can generate memes, and memes in turn invites more imitation. The crux at the back are the video practices that ridicule and critique, when different levels of resistance to politics, authority, or societal classes are shown.

Video analysis, under today’s ubiquitous visual data, requires robust updates. In addition to the contribution of a performative and theatrical perspective for the sense-making of short-form videos, this paper also contributes to the methods of video analysis in general and video analysis by using modes and multimodalities.”

Extended Abstract • Student • Extended abstract: [Multifaceted protest paradigm: the visual coverage of the 2019 Hong Kong protests in international news] • Frankie Ho Chun Wong • This study probed into the intersection between the protest paradigm and influence from national interests in news images, crucial in nonverbal news framing, in international news. International outlets’ visuals in reporting an iconic episode in the 2019 Hong Kong protests were comparatively investigated through framing and critical discourse analysis. Results suggest visual news frames consisted of spectacles but not explaining underlying causes, yet showing a between-outlet variance where frames reflected outlets’ political values at home.

Extended Abstract • Faculty • That’s a Good Sign: The Typography and Design of Political Yard Signs • Shannon Zenner, Elon University • Most political communication researchers have focused on the textual content of political messaging, while ignoring how that same text is conveyed visually. This study is a content analysis of yard signs (n=151) posted in North Carolina during the November 2019 and March 2020 elections and the typography and colors used in those yard signs. Preliminary analysis indicates an overall preference for sans serif, all “caps” treatments but with some compelling differences by political party.

2022 Abstracts

Public Relations Division

2022 Abstracts

Research Paper • Faculty • Award submission: Doug Newsome • Public Relations and Sustainability across the African Continent: Using Afro-Centric Philosophies to Remember What’s Been ‘Forgotten or Lost’ • Donnalyn Pompper, university of oregon; Eric Kwame Adae, Drake University • Assuring sustainability across the African continent – the cradle of humankind – is an ethical public relations responsibility. There is insufficient research about public relations as a tool for supporting sustainability goals across the world’s second-largest and second-most populous continent (Volk, 2017); one that the rest of the planet relies upon for forests serving as “lungs of the world” (Fleshman, 2008). To begin filling the gap, we address challenges of making sustainability happen here, given a long history of negative colonial and neocolonial forces operating in many of Africa’s nations. Despite these impediments, enduring are indigenous, pre-colonial Afro-centric philosophies of communalism/collectivism and harmony with the natural environment that support sustainability efforts. We interrogate six indigenous philosophies which resonate with values that make contemporary public relations ethical. We discuss why professional public relations shaped by Afro-centric philosophies is welcomed, globally, and is critical for addressing sustainability across the continent.

Research Paper • Student • Award submission: Doug Newsome • From Saving Face to Saving Lives: Prioritizing the Public in Public Relations • Erika Schneider, University of Missori • Traditional crisis communication literature emphasizes how organizations use communication to protect reputation by shifting attributions of crisis responsibility. The purpose of this study is to reevaluate this approach by comparing proposed framework strategies that serve to protect stakeholders with reputational messaging. Findings from this between-subjects experimental design study provide insight on how informed organizational decision-making, such as corrective action and organizational learning, can reduce feelings of anger while prioritizing stakeholder wellbeing in public relations.

Research Paper • Student • Award submission: Race & Public Relations • Racism and Social Issues Management: Examining State Universities’ Responses to the Killing of George Floyd • Drew T. Ashby-King, University of Maryland • Colleges and universities are social institutions often called on speak about social issues, such as responding to instances of racism on campus. Critics have suggested that when responding instances of racism on their campus, institutional leaders often ignore the racist act and harm caused and focus their discourse on diversity and inclusion. Considering this critique, this study used social issues management as a framework to explore how state flagship universities in the United States (U.S.) responded to an instance of racism that did not occur on their campuses. A qualitative analysis of all 50 U.S. state flagship universities’ initial public statement in response to the police killing of George Floyd led to three key findings: (1) institutions were made to speak on the issue by larger social discourse; (2) through their statements institutions (re)defined the issue as one of diversity and inclusion rather than racism and police brutality; and (3) guided by the logic of whiteness institutions legitimized their definition of the issue. Based on these findings, I argue that the initial conceptualization of social issues management did not adequality consider the power organizations have to define social issues through their discourse. Therefore, I conclude by suggesting an approach to social issues management that centers those most effected by the issue in order to promote social justice.

Research Paper • Student • Award submission: Race & Public Relations • Rethinking cultural factors in government communication: A survey of environmental professionals working for indigenous governments • Ryan Comfort, Indiana University • This study examined the use of and attitudes towards communication media by environmental and natural resource management personnel employed by indigenous nations in the U.S. Survey data on professionals’ use of media, attitudes, and perceived obstacles to better use of media for science & environmental communication revealed that concerns about sharing cultural ecological information may carry significant weight in the communication decision making process of indigenous environmental agencies.

Research Paper • Faculty • Award submission: Race & Public Relations • The Hybrid Firestorm: A Qualitative Study of Black Lives Matter Activism and the COVID-19 Pandemic • Tiffany Gallicano, UNC Charlotte; Olivia Lawless; Abagail Higgins; Samira Shaikh; Sara Levens • The combination of a global pandemic and an ignited social justice movement has created a saturated digital environment in which people turn to social media to navigate a hybrid firestorm fueled by both the Black Lives Matter movement and the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the circuit of culture has been studied in the context of a pandemic (Curtin & Gaither, 2006) and digital activism (Han & Zhang, 2009), research using any theoretical model to study a hybrid firestorm could not be found. This study consists of interviews with 25 participants involving their experiences in the hybrid firestorm. The circuit of culture is used, which is a model composed of five moments, to explore how meaning is created, interpreted, and contested in the context of a social justice movement and a global pandemic.

Research Paper • Faculty • Award submission: Race & Public Relations • Discriminated Against but Engaged: The Role of Communicative Behaviors of Racial Minority Employees • Yeunjae Lee, University of Miami; Jo-Yun Li • Grounded in the situational theory of problem-solving (STOPS), two survey studies investigated how racial minority employees in the U.S. perceive and communicate about the discriminatory situation within their organizations and how it affects their engagement levels. In Study 1 (N = 461), experiences and observance of both formal and informal discriminatory acts at work reduced racial minority employees’ engagement level, while their situational perceptions increased their communicative behaviors toward direct supervisor and peers, respectively. Communicative behaviors with supervisors, not peers, in turn, increased their engagement. Study 2 (N = 454) replicated and extended Study 1 in different contexts, revealing the moderating role of a diverse climate in increasing racial minority employees’ problem and involvement recognition and decreasing their constraint recognition about workplace discrimination situation. Theoretical and practical implications for race in public relations are discussed.

Research Paper • Faculty • Award submission: Race & Public Relations • Silence Has No Place A Framing Analysis of Corporate Sociopolitical Activism Statements • Yvette Sterbenk, Ithaca College; Jamie Ward, EMU; Regina Luttrell; Summer Shelton, Idaho State University • This study used a quantitative framing analysis to examine the company statements delivered by 105 Fortune 500 companies across 21 sectors in June 2020 in response to three social justice issues that took prominence that month in the United States: Black Lives Matter, immigration laws, and LGBTQ rights. The study uncovered which companies and sectors did not make statements, and, among those that did, what messages were most common.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Serving Public Interests and Enacting Organizational Values: An Examination of Public Interest Relations through AARP’s Tele-Town Halls • Lindsey Anderson, University of Maryland • Public interest relations (PIR) is an approach to public relations scholarship and practice that contributes to the social good by integrating the concept of public interest into organizational goals and values. The need for PIR was emphasized during the COVID-19 pandemic as publics looked to organizations for information about a variety of topics (e.g., symptoms, vaccines). AARP created a series of tele-townhalls to communicate with its publics, who are considered to be members of a “vulnerable population” during the pandemic. In order to understand how AARP’s Coronavirus Tele-Town Halls reflected the practices of PIR, I completed a critical thematic analysis of 28 virtual sessions that were hosted in 2020-2021. The analysis, which was guided by the tenets of PIR, found that AARP’s communication (1) highlighted common life course milestones of its publics, (2) emphasized the quality of the information, and (3) provided avenues to engage with the organization and its experts. Based on these findings, I developed theoretical implications that reflect a critical perspective on PIR and suggest future research avenues that seek to build this ethical and socially meaningful approach to public relations.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Understanding the implementation of Enterprise Social Media on Employee Communication: An Affordance Perspective • Song AO, University of Macau; XIAO QIAN, University of Macau • The research adopts the technological affordance approach to examine the role of enterprise social media (ESM) in employee communication in the context of mainland China. The research postulated that organizations can actualize affordances of ESM to achieve certain goals. Using Enterprise WeChat (EWeChat) as the example, the research interviewed 37 participants to explore organizational goals and actions of EWeChat affordance actualization in mainland China. Thirteen EWeChat affordances and means of actualization (i.e., association, control, diversity, feedback, outeraction, perpetual contact, persistence, personalization, portability, privacy, social presence, synchronicity, and visibility) for specific organizational goals were identified. The research explicates ESM affordance actualization as the interaction between ESM and organizations, and also between ESM and employees. The research sheds light on how organizations in mainland China can effectively configure their ESM for certain purposes of its mobile application in employee communication.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Relational Tensions and Publics during Disasters: Investigating Organizational Relationships Ethnographically • Anita Atwell Seate, University of Maryland; Brooke Liu, University of Maryland; Samantha Stanley; Yumin Yan; Allison Chatham, University of Maryland • Relationships are essential for a fully functioning society. Through a multi-sited rapid ethnography, we show how organizations achieve their mission through organizational partners and active publics in the context of disasters. We provide insights into relational tensions that occur in organization-public relationships (OPRs) and how communication can address those relational tensions. In doing so, we answer calls for broadening methodologies to examine OPRs. Overall, we demonstrate the value of continuing to theorize the network approach.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Exploring Online Opinion Leadership: An Analysis of the Influential Users on Twitter During the Online Conversation Around Anthem Protests by Prominent Athletes • Brandon Boatwright • The current study explores the role of online opinion leaders on Twitter in conversations around anthem protests by prominent athletes. The aim of the study is twofold: (1) identify the influential opinion leaders in Twitter conversations related to Colin Kaepernick and Megan Rapinoe, and (2) further understand how and why social media users participate in conversations online about controversial subjects. Ultimately, results from this study extend the network paradigm in public relations research by examining the role of individual users in the construction of a discursive landscape of issue networks. The study combines social network analysis with in-depth interviews in order to adopt a more wholistic framework for studying online opinion leadership in the context of public relations research.

Extended Abstract • Faculty • Open Competition • Extended abstract: Promoting diversity and inclusion: How Fortune 500 companies talk about diversity on Twitter • Denise Bortree, Penn State University; Michail Vafeiadis; Pratiti Diddi, Lamar University; Ryan Wang • This study examines more than 11,000 tweets on diversity topics posted by Fortune 500 companies in 2019. It identifies the 18 most common topics in six general areas – workplace diversity/inclusion, gender/women, sexual orientation, race/ethnicity, disability and activism. Corporations with higher CSR ratings tend to post more diversity-related tweets. Analysis suggests that companies tend to use different topics in original posts and retweets/replies/comments on diversity. Engagement rates on diversity topics vary widely.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Extending civic values in architectures of listening: Arendt, Mouffe and the pluralistic imperative for organizational listening • Luke Capizzo, James Madison University; Meredith Feinman • This conceptual paper introduces the concept of civic listening to augment organizational listening theory and practice. Drawing from the writing of Arendt and Mouffe, it centers pluralism, agonism, deliberation, and reflection as central to listening and delineates the functions and values of civic listening to add to existing architectures. This new perspective points toward deeper, more nuanced, and more equitable organizational engagement in civic discourse and firmer ground for contentious issue engagement.

Extended Abstract • Member • Open Competition • Extended Abstract: Toward an Audience-Centric Framework of Situational Corporate Social Advocacy Strategy: A pilot study • Ioana Coman, Texas Tech University; Jiun-Yi Tsai, Northern Arizona University; Shupei Yuan, Northern Illinois University • Increasingly companies engage in Corporate Social Advocacy or Political Activism. Yet how publics expect companies to take a stance (sometimes even action) on controversial issues remains unclear. We propose an audience-centric approach to investigate how audiences expect companies to act on hot button issues and their reasoning process, through a mixed-method analysis of a survey (N=388) conducted at a public University. Results highlight a need to further understand CSA from audience perceptions.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Exploring the Mediating Effect of Government–Public Relationships during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Model Comparison Approach • Yuan Wang, City University of Hong Kong; Yi-Hui Christine Huang, City University of Hong Kong; Qinxian Cai, City University of Hong Kong • This study proposed, tested, and compared two models to examine the antecedent and outcome of government–public relationships during the COVID-19 pandemic. It conducted three surveys of 9,675 publics in Mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. It found that publics’ perceived governmental responsiveness leads to their satisfaction with and trust in the government, which influence their word-of-mouth intention about the vaccines. Furthermore, relational satisfaction and trust mediate the relationship between perceived responsiveness and word-of-mouth intention.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • A Comparison of Twitter Use by Different Sector Organizations • Taisik Hwang, Suffolk University • “Given the shifting nature of communication environment, this study attempts to discover how leading nature education organizations utilize social media to effectively reach and build relationship with their audiences. Specifically, it employed a content analysis to examine how the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), U.S. National Park Service (NPS), and National Geographic (NG) take advantage of Twitter to better communicate with their external publics. Out of a total of 6,286 tweets sent by these organizations for a six-month period from January to June 2018, a random sample was used for quantitative analysis. Findings show that there are significant differences in these organizations’ use of message functions as well as mentioning of brand names associated with them. For example, both UNESCO and NPS tend to focus on building community with their external stakeholders, whereas NG’s tweets mainly involves the information function. The current study

will benefit other non-profit organizations by revealing ways in which these organizations purposefully use social media to fulfill their mission and suggesting practical guidelines to strategic communicators in public-sector organizations.”

Extended Abstract • Faculty • Open Competition • Feeling elevated: Examine the mediation role of elevation in CEO activism on employee prosocial engagement • Grace Ji, Boston University; Cheng Hong, California State University Sacramento • With a survey of 600 U.S. employees, this study investigated the effect of authentic leadership on employees’ prosocial advocacy engagement in the context of CEO activism. Employees’ moral elevation and organizational identification were examined as mediators. Results showed authentic leadership elicited employees’ positive emotion of elevation and enhanced their identification with the company. In turn, employees’ affective (elevation) and cognitive (organizational identification) responses mediated authentic leadership’s impact on motivating employees’ activism participation.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Influence of identification, relationship, and involvement of a donor on attitudes towards and behavioral intentions to online donation via SNS • Eunyoung Kim, Auburn University at Montgomery; Sung Eun Park, Webster University • This study seeks what factors predict publics’ behavioral intentions to online donate and share words via social media. Relevant literature was reviewed, and an online survey was conducted to examine hypotheses. The results show that identification, involvement, perceived credibility, and attitudes towards online donation predict intention to donate via social media, while attitudes towards helping others, identification, involvement, and site features affect the intention of Word-of-Mouth. Theoretical and practical implications are presented in the discussion and conclusion.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Public Expectations of Government Pandemic-Crisis Communication What and How to Communicate during the COVID-19 Pandemic • Sora Kim, The Chinese University of Hong Kong • Through two representative online surveys in Hong Kong (HK) and the U.S. (US) during the COVID-19 pandemic, this study investigates, from a public-centric perspective, public expectations of effective government pandemic-crisis communication. It looks specifically at what publics want to be communicated in times of a global pandemic and how. In each region, the findings identify four significant dimensions. Three are culturally universal dimensions—basic responsibility, locus of pandemic-crisis responsibility, and disfavor of promotional tone. The fourth is culture-specific—personal relevance for HK and frequency for the US. Among the significant dimensions, the most highly expected is what people consider government’s basic responsibility in pandemic communication, that is, a basic responsibility dimension. This includes providing instructing and adjusting information and securing accuracy, timeliness, and transparency in pandemic communication. In both regions, respondents preferred by far traditional media and non-governmental sources to social media and governmental sources.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Revisiting SMCC Model: How Chinese Public Relations Practitioners Handle Social Mediated Crisis • Sining Kong, Texas A & M University at Corpus Christi; Huan Chen, University of Florida • As social media is widely used by Chinese organizations, this study comprehensively examines how Chinese public relations practitioners cope with social mediated crisis and how culture interacts with social mediated crisis response. An in-depth interview was used to collect data from twenty-three Chinese public relations practitioners, who had experience in dealing with crises and issues via social media. Results showed that Chinese public relations practitioners use diverse social media platforms to satisfy the publics’ gratifications and social media usage preferences. Besides, results also showed the importance of matching information form and information source in responding social mediated crisis. Furthermore, it revealed how the uniqueness of Chinese culture moderated Chinese public relations social mediated crisis response, such as maintaining harmony and avoiding direct confrontation, collaborating with opinion leaders and influencers to shape publics’ opinions, using no response, apologizing, and self-mockery, and emphasizing the importance of media relations.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Social Listening using Machine Learning to Understand Sense Making and Content Dissemination on Twitter: A Case Study of WHO’s Social Listening Strategy During COVID-19 Initial Phase • Sushma Kumble, Towson University; Pratiti Diddi, Lamar University; Maggie Whitescarver • The study utilized unsupervised machine learning techniques to the CERC framework on 6.1 Million Tweets between January to March 2020 to understand the sensemaking process during COVID-19 among Twitter users. The study also used content analysis to examine WHO’s response to the popular emerging conversations. Results indicate that while WHO’s messaging addressed the dominant topics during the timeframe but did not effectively address misinformation. The paper discusses the implications and recommendations for health communication practitioners.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Global Companies’ Use of Social Media for CSR Communication During COVID-19 • Sun Young Lee, University of Maryland–College Park; Duli Shi, University of Maryland; John Leach; Saymin Lee; Cody Buntain, New Jersey Institute of Technology • The purpose of the study was to examine how companies have communicated their efforts to address COVID-19 on Facebook and Twitter and to evaluate the effectiveness of their message strategies. We conducted a content analysis of 992 Facebook posts and 1,957 tweets between March 11 and May 20, 2020, from the 2020 RepTrak’s 100 most reputable companies. About one-third of the messages (n = 1,059) were related to companies’ responses to COVID-19. Companies mostly highlighted CSR efforts related to their expertise, partnership efforts, or financial resources. The majority of messages did not specify a particular group’s interests, but when they did, the most impacted groups, such as frontline personnel and employees, were addressed. Companies mostly used social media to employ one-way message strategies, but incorporating multimedia and expressing appreciation to others were found to be effective message strategies for engaging publics emotionally. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • What do you mean by doing the right thing?: Examining corporate social advocacy frames and transparency efforts in Fortune 500 companies’ website • Hyunmin Lee, Drexel University; Emma Whitehouse, Drexel University • This study examined the state of corporate social advocacy (CSA) initiatives among Fortune 500 companies via a content analysis of their official websites. There is a need to critically examine the ways in which CSA is communicated to create a normative understanding as to what constitutes of ethical and transparent CSA communication. Findings showed that episodic frames were popularly utilized to communicate about CSA and transparency efforts varied according to CSA type and location.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • How Nike and Gillette Survived the Tension between Corporate Social Advocacy and Boycotting Backlash • Juan Liu, Columbus State University; Bruce Getz, Columbus State University • Both 2018 Nike’s Colin Kaepernick and 2019 Gillette commercial campaigns received backlash on social media over their messages addressing controversial social-political issues. Drawing on legitimacy theory, this study examines how polarized boycotting and advocating messages on Twitter affect interactive engagement and perceptions of corporate social advocacy. In both Nike and Gillette conditions, individuals who expressed strong value alignment with brands’ campaigns, were more susceptible to be affected by polarized tweets. When evaluating brands’ motivations for corporate social advocacy, results showed that individuals with weak value alignment were more likely to be affected by polarized messages. However, this pattern is only found in the Gillette condition. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Extended Abstract • Faculty • Open Competition • Public Perceptions of Using the Wireless Emergency Alert System for COVID-19: Lessons for State Government Crisis Communication • Stephanie Madden, Penn State University; Nicholas Eng, Penn State University; Jessica Myrick, Penn State University • On November 25, 2020, the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA) sent out a COVID-19 public health message via the Wireless Emergency Alert system. Using survey (N = 212) and interview (N = 19) research, this study sought to understand the targeted publics’ reaction to this message and factors impacting potential behavior change after receiving this message. Because COVID-19 response has relied on state governments, this research provides important findings for government communicators at the state level.

Research Paper • Student • Open Competition • Communicating the Big Picture with Employees: The Impacts of CEO Vision Communication on Employee Engagement • Yufan “Sunny” Qin, University of Florida; Alexis Fitzsimmons, University of Florida; Eve Heffron, University of Florida; Marcia DiStaso, University of Florida • Communicating an organizational vision with employees can be critical to help employees internalize the vision, which might in turn increase their willingness to get engaged with the work and subsequently achieving higher goals. The aim of this study is to examine whether and how CEO vision communication could influence employee engagement. This study also proposes employees’ perceptions of work meaningfulness and organizational identification as the potential underlying mechanism that mediate the relationship between CEO vision communication and employee engagement. An online survey was conducted with employees across various industries in the U.S.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Internal Activism at Amazon: Rhetorical Strategies and the Public Relations Response • Margaret Ritsch, Washington State University; Erin Tomson, Washington State University • “This study examined the public relations response to employee activism at Amazon during the Covid-19 pandemic. Public relations has typically been examined from a functional perspective, which largely ignores the power dynamics between an organization and its employees, who are important stakeholders that contribute to the organization’s public image. Critical theory provides a useful lens to examine the dynamics of organizational power and control, although this approach has typically been applied to the study of internal communication dynamics. The study addresses this gap by using a critical rhetorical approach to examine Amazon’s response to employee activism. Researchers conducted qualitative content analysis of news media coverage and Amazon’s company content (e.g. websites and public statements). The data indicates that Amazon spokespeople used aggressive rhetorical strategies in their communication with and about employee activists that discouraged unionization and ultimately attempted to prevent current and former Amazon employees from speaking up about their experiences working for the company.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Unpack the Relational and Behavioral Outcomes of Internal CSR: Highlighting Dialogic Communication and Managerial Facilitation • Baobao Song; Weiting Tao • The current study examines how corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication and management contributes to internal public relationship building and employees’ megaphoning behaviors. Specifically, it investigates how organization-public dialogical communication (OPDC) about CSR and the organizational leaders’ facilitation behavior towards employee CSR engagement influence employees’ perceptions of two different distinct types of organization-public relationships (OPRs), i.e., communal and exchange relationships. Structural equation modeling results of 660 on-line survey responses suggest that OPDC has a positive association with communal relationship and negative association with exchange relationship. Facilitation behavior positively contributes to employee exchange relationships. Both communal and exchange relationships are positively associated with employees’ positive megaphoning. Whereas negative megaphoning is negatively linked with communal relationships and positively linked with employees’ exchange relationships with the companies. This study contributes to the growing body of literature on internal CSR communication and management. More importantly, this study uncovers nuanced effects of CSR on internal public communal and exchange relationship building.

Extended Abstract • Faculty • Open Competition • EXTENDED ABSTRACT: Public Communication in the Age of Fake News • Edson Tandoc Jr; Pei Wen Wong, Nanyang Technological; Chen Lou; Hyunjin Kang, Wee Kim Wee School of Communication & Information, Nanyang Technological U; Shruti Malviya, Wee Kim Wee School of Communication & Information, Nanyang Technological U • The rise of fake news has posed threats to societies around the world, affecting various institutions. One area that has not been sufficiently explored is how it has affected public communication. This study examines how the rise of fake news has affected the roles, resources, and routines of public communicators in Singapore. Through in-depth interviews, this research explores how various communication officers across Singapore’s government agencies perceive, and respond to, the fake news crisis.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • The role of community and social capital in community building • Brooke Witherow, Hood College • While the role of social capital in community building has been discussed previously, the terms community and community building are rarely defined (e.g. Dodd et al., 2015; Jin & Lee, 2013; Sommerfeldt 2013a, 2013b). This qualitative case study examines the role of community and social capital in community building through community policing. 26 semi-structured interviews with police administration, patrol officers, and community leaders were conducted. The interviews with patrol officers occurred during seven ride-alongs.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Examining Value Congruence and Outcome-relevant involvement as Antecedents of Corporate Political Advocacy • Leping You; Linda Hon, University of Florida; Yu-Hao Lee • Drawing from the theoretical foundation of corporate political advocacy (CPA), this study aims to understand value congruence and outcome-relevant involvement as the antecedents of CPA that companies should consider when taking a stance on contentious sociopolitical issues. This study conducted a 2 x 2 online experiment to examine how both antecedents affect consumers’ attitudinal evaluation on the credibility and legitimacy of a CPA and predict consumers’ supportive behavioral intentions toward a CPA.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Navigating change in the Era of COVID-19: The Role of Top Leaders’ Charismatic Rhetoric and Employees’ Organizational Identification • April YUE, University of Connecticut • “The Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has had tremendous and swift effects on organizational change. This study examined how organizations can leverage leadership and employee resources to facilitate positive change outcomes. Drawing from the self-concept based motivational theory of charismatic leadership and substitutes for leadership theory, the current study proposed a theoretical model connecting top leaders’ charismatic rhetoric, employees’ affective commitment to change, and employees’ turnover intention. Furthermore, the study investigated contingencies that may modify the relationship between leadership communication and followers’ outcomes. Results from an online panel of 417 U.S. employees showed that top leaders’ use of charismatic rhetoric during change led to followers’ affective commitment to change, which decreased their turnover intention. Furthermore, employees’ organizational identification moderated this relationship. When employees have low identification with their organizations, top leaders’ charismatic rhetoric to address the immediate change is more needed.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • The influence of issue attitude on consumers’ reaction toward corporate social advocacy: A moderated mediation path through cognitive dissonance • Xueying Zhang, North Carolina A&T State; Ziyuan Zhou, Bentley University • Corporate social advocacy (CSA) has gained increasing attention in public relations research. The psychological mechanisms regarding how consumers react to a CSA position that conflicts with their own have not yet been examined. Employing cognitive dissonance theory, this study examines how consumers’ preexisting attitude toward an issue influences their reaction to CSA through cognitive dissonance. An experiment (study1) and a survey (study 2) were conducted on Qualtrics with participants recruited from MTurk. Gay marriage rights and gun control issue were chosen as the CSA topics. The results indicated that a conflict between a consumer’s preexisting attitude and a corporation’s stance on a controversial issue leads to cognitive dissonance. Dissonance mediates consumers’ responses to counter-attitudinal CSA, in terms of perceiving the company as biased and intending to boycott the company. Value involvement and CCI significantly moderated the effect of consumers’ attitudes toward CSA on cognitive dissonance, but the effect varies between the two issues. The results help PR practitioners to better understand the segmented consumer audiences and provide a few pieces of practical advice to minimize the potential risk of expressing advocacy on a position of a controversial social political issue.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Matching words with actions: Understanding the effects of CSA stance-action consistency on negative consumer responses • Ziyuan Zhou, Bentley University; Chuqing Dong, Michigan State University • Corporation social advocacy (CSA) is a popular topic in public relations research. However, few studies have considered the issue of consistency between corporations taking a stance on a controversial issue and acting accordingly. This study proposed a new concept, CSA stance-action consistency, to investigate the negative consumer responses when corporations violate their CSA promises. A 4 × 2 between-subject experiment indicated that CSA stance-action consistency significantly predicted negative word-of-mouth and boycott intentions. Besides, social issue activism moderated such an effect, while CSA record did not. This study added one more piece of evidence on the risks of CSA and encouraged corporations to fully understand stakeholders’ expectations of CSA before getting involved with controversial issues.

Research Paper • Student • Student competition • How China used Twitter to Repair Its Image amid the COVID-19 Crisis • Ayman Alhammad, University of Kansas • “In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries have suffered in different ways politically, economically, and socially because of this health crisis. China registered the first case of COVID-19 and found itself the recipient of negative publicity, some of which, stated by scientists, blamed China for the virus in a Wuhan laboratory, or covered the nature of the disease until it was out of control (Verma, 2020). Because of comprehensive widely negative consequences, China’s image has been distorted in many countries. That led the Chinese government to use a different medium to deal with the crisis, one of which is social media platforms. As Saudi Arabia is one of China’s important economic partners, Beijing is concerned that health crises could affect negatively its economic interests in Saudi Arabia. In fact, China has faced serious obstacles in terms of import and export goods (Hayakawa & Mukunoki, 2021).

China decided to employ digital diplomacy by making its ambassadors communicate with the local and international communities (Brandt & Schafer, 2020). Chinese ambassador, Chen Weiqing, speaks to Saudis via Twitter as Saudi Arabia is ranked eighth in the world with 12.45 million users (Statista, 2020). This paper examines the image repair strategies that the Chinese ambassador in Saudi Arabia employed during the coronavirus pandemic to restore China’s image there. This study adopted rhetorical analysis, building on the theoretical framework proposed by Brinson & Benoit (1999).

An examination of the ambassador’s tweets revealed a variety of image restoration strategies, including denial, bolstering, compensation, and minimization.”

Research Paper • Student • Student competition • The Networked Huawei Agendas during the US-China Trade War: The Interrelationships between Huawei, the News Media, and Public Tweets • Zahedur Arman, Southern Illinois University Carbondale • This study examines interrelationships between the networked Huawei agendas, the U.S. and Chinese news media agendas, and Twitter users’ issue agendas on Twitter during the US-China Trade War. Social network analysis is used as a theory and method to analyze Huawei’s public relations activities on Twitter, news media, and Twitter users’ network. This study found that Huawei’s direct networked agenda setting to Twitter users is more successful than the news media’s networked agenda-setting to the Twitter users. This study is among the first to explore cross-nation networked agenda building and networked agenda setting effects on Twitter. It also found that the US media did not follow Huawei’s networked agendas, but the Chinese media followed the corporation’s issue agendas during the US-China trade war. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.

Research Paper • Student • Student competition • I Distrust You All Because One of You Did Something Wrong: Spillover Effect of Distrust Elicited by an NPO’s Crisis on Overall NPOs • Bugil Chang, University of Minnesota • This study examined how public distrust formed by the crisis of an NPO spills over to other organizations in the same and different sectors through experiment. Overall, when faced with a crisis, the participants distrusted not only organizations in the same sector as the crisis-stricken organization but also organizations in a different sector. The effect was fully mediated by participants’ perceived distrust toward the crisis-stricken organization.

Research Paper • Student • Student competition • From CSR to Employees’ Megaphoning Behavior: The Roles of Communal Relationship and Corporate Reputation • Enzhu Dong, University of Miami; Dongqing Xu • This study examined how employees’ perceived overall CSR activities impact employees’ positive megaphoning through the mediation of employees’ perceived communal relationship and communal willingness, taking the moderation effect of perceived reputation into consideration. To address the hypotheses, a survey among employees across different organizations was conducted. Results of the moderated mediation examination supported the hypotheses. These findings contributed to the understanding of CSR effects on employee communication behavior and provided implications for organizational management.

Research Paper • Student • Student competition • Examining Publics’ Comparative Evaluations of Government Communication and Strength Ties as Predictors of Country Reputation • Yoosun Ham, Indiana University; Ejae Lee, Indiana University; Eugene Kim, The Media School, Indiana University Bloomington; Sung Hyun Lee • During the COVID-19 outbreak, media tended to report on how different Asian countries — China, Japan, and South Korea — were handling the situation by using comparisons. U.S. citizens have been exposed to information about Asian countries and could compare and evaluate how those countries’ governments communicate with their citizens to help contain the new coronavirus. This study attempted to examine how country reputation could be associated with publics’ comparative evaluations about the dialogic communication competency of a foreign country’s government through news media exposure about how that government contained and/or mitigated the new coronavirus. This study also investigated associations between the perceived tie strength between the U.S. and Asian countries and those countries’ reputations. This study used online experimental surveys. Its findings suggest that country reputation was significantly associated with comparative evaluations about mutuality and openness in Asian countries’ government dialogic communication and perceived tie strength with the U.S. government. Theoretical implications and practical contributions are discussed.

Research Paper • Student • Student competition • Can CEO Activism be Good for the Organization? The Way CEO Activism on Sexual Orientation Equality Achieves High Young Employee Work Engagement • Jie Jin, University of Florida • “Whether a CEO should speak out about controversial issues is a hotly debated topic across the United States. In today’s politically polarized environment, Americans have changed their expectations about whether companies and CEOs should lead social change. Contrary to the conventional wisdom that CEOs shouldn’t avoid taking actions unrelated to their business, the purpose of this study is to examine how CEOs’ pro-sexual orientation equality statements may lead to young employee work engagement from the perspective of social exchange theory. A conceptual model with nine propositions is proposed to reveal how CEO activism generates positive employee outcomes.

Research Paper • Student • Student competition • Twitter styles by the leaders of the 116th US House: A concurrent triangulation • Nana Kwame Osei Fordjour, University of New Mexico; Timothy Kwakye Karikari, University of International Business and Economic, Beijing, China • Situating our study in the context of a global pandemic and a time of seeming polarization in the US, we analyzed the tweets (n = 480) of Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy. We employ the concurrent triangulation approach and blend three theoretical approaches to analyze their credit-claiming behavior, position-taking, attacks as well as the salient frames in their tweets. Findings indicate there is no significant difference in their position-taking and credit-claiming tweets, however, Majority Leader McCarthy tweeted more negatively than Speaker Pelosi. We uncover four salient frames which are: Economic debate, electoral integrity, COVID-19 response, and the appointment of Supreme Court Justice. Ultimately, we juxtapose the qualitative frames with the quantitative findings to give deeper understanding into the three quantitative categories and provide insights into the implications of such tweets.

Research Paper • Student • Student competition • How has the United Nations portrayed International Women’s Day before and after founding UN Women? • Michelle Rossi • By applying feminist theory and framing for public relations, this research explored the range of debate within press releases distributed about International Women’s Day before and after the founding of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, UN Women, in 2011. Using Ethnographic Content Analysis (ECA), this study found that press releases were more descriptive about events in the decade before, and more focused on actions in the decade after.

Research Paper • Student • Student competition • Different Brands Stealing Thunder: How Brand Personality Impacts Crisis Response Strategy Choice • Dongqing Xu • This study aimed to examine the impact of brand personality on participants’ brand perceptions and crisis response evaluation. To be more specific, the study aimed to examine how stealing thunder (i.e., brands disclosing the crisis and response before revealed by the third-party) as a proactive response strategy could impact brands with different personalities in crises. Employing a 2 (brand personality: sincere vs. exciting) × 2 (crisis response type: proactive vs. reactive) experimental design, the study found the buffering effect of sincere brand personality on participants’ perceived credibility, brand attitude, and purchase intention in crisis. In terms of crisis performance evaluations, brand personality was found moderating the effectiveness of the stealing thunder strategy, such that stealing thunder lost its power when employed by a sincere brand. These findings contributed to the extant brand personality literature and suggested a potential boundary of the stealing thunder strategy.

Research Paper • Faculty • Teaching competition • Teaching Philanthropy: How Can Public Relations Courses Prepare Future Fundraisers and Motivate Giving? • Virginia Harrison, Clemson University • Scholars have suggested that fundraising education is a specialty of public relations. This study examines how a fundraising-specific service-learning project may help prepare future fundraisers. A survey of qualitative and quantitative data was administered to public relations students in a fundraising-focused class and in other service-learning classes. Students in the fundraising-focused class were more knowledgeable about nonprofits but were not more inclined to enter the profession. However, they were more motivated to donate after graduation.

Research Paper • Faculty • Teaching competition • Dynamic Capabilities and Social Media Education: Professional Expectations and Curricular Preparation • KiYong Kim • “When Covid-19 impacted regular communication dynamics for organizations, social media became even more prominent in brand communications. A growing body of research confirms training in social media is an essential part of knowing “”how to”” reach one’s organization’s publics (Kruset et al., 2018; Plowman et al., 2015), making social media a mainstay in the public relations educational curriculum (Meganck et al., 2020). This study seeks to bridge the themes found by Kim (2021) related to public relations practice and dynamic capabilities (Teece, 2007) with social media educational practices. This study suggests that there is a link between dynamic capabilities and social media educational practices.

Research Paper • Faculty • Teaching competition • Leveling the Playing Field: Assessing Issues of Equity, Transparency, and Experiential Learning in the PRSSA Bateman Case Study Competition • Amanda Weed, Kennesaw State University; Adrienne Wallace, Grand Valley State University; Betsy Emmons, Samford University; Alisa Agozzino, Ohio Northern University • This study provides the first academic research examination about the Public Relations Student Society of America Bateman Case Study Competition. Research-based insights identify varying perspectives on if the competition meets current students’ needs. Through insights gained from a survey of faculty and professional advisers of 2017-2020 Bateman competition teams, the authors have identified critical perspectives and areas for improvement to the competition along the issues of equity, transparency, and experiential learning. Study results address alignment of knowledge, skills, and abilities identified by the Commission on Public Relations Education and university curricula.

2022 Abstracts

Minorities and Communication Division

2022 Abstracts

Extended Abstract • Student • Faculty Research Competition • Race/Ethnicity, Online Information & COVID-19 Vaccination: Study of Minority Immigrants’ Internet Use for Health-related Information • Annalise Baines; Hyunjin Seo, University of Kansas; Muhammad Ittefaq, University of Kansas; Ursula Kamanga; Fatemeh Shayesteh, University of Kansas; Yuchen Liu • The COVID-19 pandemic aggravated existing challenges for racial/ethnic minority immigrants in the United States in obtaining health information and seeking health care. Based on in-depth interviews with 52 racial/ethnic minority immigrants in the U.S. Midwest, this study analyzes how they navigated online information related to COVID-19, how their race/ethnicity played a role in online health information seeking during the pandemic, and their perspectives on getting vaccinated against the virus.

Extended Abstract • Faculty • Faculty Research Competition • Extended Abstract: Chronicling History: A Comparative Analysis of Newspaper Coverage Chronicling Hillary Clinton’s and Kamala Harris’s History-Making Moments • Shaniece Bickham, Nicholls State University; Rockia Harris, LSU; Jinx Broussard, Manship School, LSU • This study conducts a qualitative textual analysis of the discourse surrounding former U. S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Vice President Kamala Harris as they achieved major political milestones. Articles from two respected Black and two premiere mainstream newspapers are analyzed, and intersectionality is employed to ascertain the extent to which racial and gender stereotypes were prevalent. Preliminary findings show Clinton received more coverage than Harris, but Harris’s coverage included more race and gender mentions.

Extended Abstract • Faculty • Faculty Research Competition • The language of diversity in ACEJMC site-visit reports: Some inclusion but with a lack of equity and belonging • Robin Blom, Ball State University; Gabriel B, Tait, Ball State University; Curtis Matthews, Ball State University; Elena Lazoff • Diversity is an intricate subject in educational settings and an important aspect of ACEJMC accreditation. That body has recently announced changes in the wording of the Diversity and Inclusiveness standard after ongoing complaints that the old standard did not facilitate the changes needed. This study focused on the vocabulary of ACEJMC site-visit reports to explore what concepts are (not) discussed in affirming diversity. For instance, terms as belonging and antiracism are absent from the reports.

Research Paper • Faculty • Faculty Research Competition • When Beauty Meets Racism: A Comparative Content Analysis of #Foxeye Beauty and Asian Activism Videos on TikTok • Grace Choi, Columbia College Chicago • #Foxeye is a beauty trend that has been under scrutiny on social media, especially on TikTok. Initially created to elongate the look of a person’s eyes, it has been criticized as a racist representation of Asians, mainly because of the signature pose where beauty creators pull back the corners of their eyes to showcase the look. In order to understand how #foxeye has been interpreted by various TikTok video creators, a comparative content analysis of 507 TikTok videos was conducted. Applying framing theory, this exploratory study identified video information, video creators’ identities, video production components and messages. Results indicated that although there were more beauty videos than Asian activism videos, Asian activism videos had more social media engagements that created conversations about racism. Moreover, beauty video creators were mostly White while Asian activism video creators were East Asian. The results highlight the dominant discourse in the beauty industry and complex understanding of self-identity through deconstructing this beauty trend.

Research Paper • Faculty • Faculty Research Competition • Fifty Years Researching and Raising Awareness About Minorities and Communication: The Story of MAC’s Scholarship • George Daniels, The University of Alabama; Lillie Fears, Arkansas State University • Using archival materials available to capture research efforts in the early years of the Minorities and Communication Division, this study takes a historical approach in cataloging the scholarship on journalism and mass communication issues for those in racial minority groups presented between 1972 and 2020. Of 661 papers analyzed for this study, 358 or 54% were authored by a female or had research teams with a woman as first author.

Research Paper • Faculty • Faculty Research Competition • “It’s Just As Whitewashed as Ever”: Social Media Sourcing as a Diversification Tool for Journalists • Danielle Deavours, University of Montevallo; Will Heath; Ryan Broussard • Modern American journalism practices rely heavily on the use of expert sources. Traditionally, white, male officials are the primary sources journalists use in traditional media (Humprecht & Esser, 2017). This silences underrepresented voices, leading to symbolic annihilation of minority communities in media coverage. Journalists often cite their inability to reach communities outside of their own perspective as a primary reason for this symbolic annihilation, but what happens when reporters’ networks of power are widened through digital connections? Previous research has explored the role of social media as a tool for newsgathering (Agbo & Okechukwu, 2016), and some studies suggest social media can provide the opportunity for journalists to reach previously inaccessible communities (Van Leuven et al., 2015). Yet, the network theory of power (Castells, 2011) suggests some nodes of these digital networks can create elite sources like officials or influencers that may uphold traditional sourcing practices and hegemonic power structures (Van Leuven & Deprez, 2017). Utilizing qualitative interviews with professional journalists in traditional media outlets, this study seeks to understand whether tapping into broader networks of power through social media helps journalists combat symbolic annihilation of sources or whether hegemonic structures continue despite widened access to multiperspectival resources.

Research Paper • Faculty • Faculty Research Competition • Journalism and mass communications resources and open access perceptions at Historically Black Colleges and Universities • Jerry Crawford; Joseph Erba, University of Kansas; Amalia Monroe-Gulick, University of Kansas; Pamela Peters, University of Kansas • The financial pressures experienced by many Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) have worsen during the pandemic. The use of open access resources as a substitute to subscription models may assist HBCUs navigate dire budget forecasts. This study investigates access to research resources at HBCUs with a journalism and mass communications program, as well as perceptions of open access among librarians and instructors. Results reveal access disparities among HBCUs and favorable perceptions towards open access.

Research Paper • Faculty • Faculty Research Competition • #BlackoutTuesday: News Media’s Change Agents and the Degrees of Separation between Journalism and Activism • Summer Harlow, University of Houston • Based on interviews with 28 journalists following George Floyd’s murder, this study uses #BlackoutTuesday and posts of black squares on social media in support of Black Lives Matter to explore to what extent journalists are redrawing the boundary between journalism and activism when it comes to taking stances for racial justice. Findings reveal journalists of color and young journalists are change agents, pushing traditional journalistic doxa like objectivity from an orthodox to a heterodox status.

Research Paper • Faculty • Faculty Research Competition • ‘I can’t be neutral or centrist in a debate over my own humanity’: Are traditional news norms universal? • Magda Konieczna; Ellen Santa Maria, Temple University • Journalistic objectivity has long been in flux. This paper examines what we term “journalistic edge cases”: situations in which journalists aim to subvert norms, and managers push back, reprimanding the journalists and removing them from coverage or firing them. We find journalists arguing that objectivity works differently when reporting on minority groups; managers counter that objectivity is universal. This examination offers insight into how journalism is evolving, in particular in this moment of racial reckoning.

Research Paper • Faculty • Faculty Research Competition • Understanding the Motivations of Asian American Publics’ Collective Actions Against Racism During the COVID-19 Pandemic • Yeunjae Lee, University of Miami; Weiting Tao; Jo-Yun Li • Grounded in the situational theory of problem solving (STOPS) and social identity model of collective action (SIMCA), this study aims to examine the motivations of minority publics—Asian Americans—in the U.S. engaging in activism against racism and xenophobia during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results of an online survey with Asian Americans in the U.S. suggested that the Asian American publics’ identity enhanced their perceived injustice, efficacy, and situational motivation to counter racism and xenophobia, which in turn facilitated their online activism on social media. Online activism, then, drove their offline activism. Theoretical and practical implications on collective actions from the minority public are discussed.

Extended Abstract • Student • Faculty Research Competition • First-generation students’ college experiences: The role of familial and mentorship support • Victoria Orrego Dunleavy, University of Miami; Ekaterina Malova, University of Miiami; Diane Millette, University of Miiami • In this study, we examined supportive memorable messages received by Black and Hispanic first-generation students from family members and mentors and explored how issues of demographic similarity affect protégé’s perceptions of mentor support and mentor satisfaction. First, results indicate that students may benefit from activating both mentoring and family connections to succeed in college. Second, students find the same-gender mentoring relationships more satisfying. Thus, students, mentors, and families should be educated on the benefits of supportive communication.

Research Paper • Faculty • Faculty Research Competition • 600 & Rising’s Quest to Improve Diversity in the Advertising Profession • Teresa Mastin, Michigan State University; Alina Freeman, Michigan State University; Susan Reilly • “This paper explores advertising trade publications’ coverage of the 600 & Rising social movement, which was launched to dismantle systemic racism in the advertising industry. The visibility of the Black Lives Matters movement and the murder of George Floyd served as catalysts for two Black advertising professionals to lead an effort to address how the advertising industry perpetuates systemic racism through its portrayals of African Americans and Blacks.

Keywords: 600 & Rising social movement; systemic racism in advertising”

Research Paper • Student • Faculty Research Competition • Music of Generations: Expressions of the Black Experience From Civil Rights to Black Lives Matter • Christina Myers; Linwan Wu, University of South Carolina • “This study investigates expressions of the African American experience by examining song lyrics published by Black musicians during two critical time periods in civil rights – 1960-1969 and 2010-2020. To determine the predominate narratives that arise from their songs (N=3,302), LDA-based topic modeling as well as a comparative analysis was employed. Findings indicated the presence of seven topic categories – ‘Love/Relationships,’ ‘God/Religion/Spirituality,’ ‘Social/Activities,’ ‘Wealth/Status,’ ‘Sex/Sexual Desire,’ ‘Social/Political Issues’ and ‘Alcohol/Drugs/Substance Use.’

Keywords: Ideology, music, topic modeling, critical race theory”

Research Paper • Faculty • Faculty Research Competition • Latinas in journalism: Examining their biggest challenges and opportunities • Jessica Retis, University of Arizona; Amara Aguilar; Laura Castaneda, USC • Preliminary findings of a larger project examine the experiences of Latinas in journalism. Drawing on Latino/a Critical Communication theory, the new Latina Critical Journalism Studies approach places Latina journalists at the center of the analysis and focuses on intersectionality (gender, race, class, age, language, migration status); diversity, equity and inclusion; news media practices; and structural challenges. A recent survey shows Latina journalists face distinct challenges in the workplace ranging from sexism to racism.

Extended Abstract • Faculty • Faculty Research Competition • Extended Abstract – Selena: A Latinx Cultural Anchor for Pop Culture Pedagogy • Nathian Shae Rodriguez, San Diego State University • This study evidences how the pop culture pedagogical practice of using Selena as a cultural anchor for a media and communication course can be employed as practice that reflects on, and incorporates, methods that critique and respond to hierarchies of power and identity. Students critically analyzed Latinx mediated representations though pop culture media and highlighted connections with politics and cultural identity, particularly in border regions. Students were empowered to combat racism, homophobia, and other oppressions.

Research Paper • Faculty • Faculty Research Competition • Constructing and Negotiating Panethnic Professional Identity: The Case of the Asian American Journalists Association • Yong VOLZ, University of Missouri; Indah Setiawati, University of Missouri • This study explores how Asian American journalists define and negotiate their collective identities both in panethnic and professional terms. Focusing on the case of the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA), our analysis finds that, instead of problematizing the blanketing panethnic identity, AAJA members tactically and collectively present themselves as a more homogenous racial group in order to maximize their presence and amplify their voices in both newsrooms and the public sphere. They also publicly vocalize their solidarity with other minority groups, especially with their African American colleagues during the “Black Lives Matter” movement, as a way to insert themselves into the broader social justice project. In addition, they capitalize on their ethnic identity to enhance their journalistic authority when covering identity issues. Our findings add to the thin literature on Asian American journalists as they try to position themselves in the social and professional arenas. This study also highlights the impact of the highly racialized moments of 2020, which was compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic and the Black Lives Matters, on the Asian American journalists.

Extended Abstract • Student • Faculty Research Competition • A New Conceptual Model for Understanding Interracial Communication Apprehension: How Does Racial Representation in Television-Entertainment Media Impact Interracial Conversation? • Farrah Youn-Heil, University of Georgia; Yan Jin, University of Georgia • This study proposes a new conceptual model for understanding interracial communication apprehension (IRCA), delineating how people of color use various communication practices (Orbe, 1998) and coping strategies (Lazarus, 1991) to cope with communication apprehension (McCroskey, 1970) triggered by or associated with racial representation in television-entertainment media and public discourse on race-related topics. In-depth interviews are conducted to provide initial examination of the new IRCA model. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Extended Abstract • Student • Student Paper • How coverage of deportation at the U.S./Mexico border constructs common knowledge • Tania Ganguli, University of Minnesota • Stories about deportation, like all pieces of journalism, include background information – that which isn’t explicitly tied to sourcing – which helps identify and reify common knowledge. This study examines that unattributed text to understand how those words construct the reality of deportation of Latinx migrants. By analyzing text from 2014 and 2018 at three newspapers on the U.S./Mexico border, this study illuminates how the construction of Latinx migrants changed as the American political climate shifted.

Research Paper • Student • Student Paper • Barbaric Arabs: Hollywood Portrayals, A Content Analysis • Farah Harb, Wayne State University • The Arab ethnicity encompasses many countries — from North African nations like Egypt and Tunisia, to Gulf countries like Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, to Mid-East countries like Lebanon and Syria. Although the general language in these countries is Arabic, natives to each country speak different dialects and follow different traditions. For example, although Kuwait and Saudi Arabia (both Gulf countries in the Mid-East) are neighboring countries, their dialects and traditional attire are so different that one can tell them apart just by the way they speak or dress. The same goes for other Arabic-speaking countries. Due to historic influences, some of these Arab countries speak French as their second language (e.g., Lebanon, Syria, Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia), whereas the rest speak English. There are significant differences in the Arabic spoken by a Moroccan person, compared to Arabic spoken by a Lebanese person. While there are similarities between Arabs who come from these different countries, major differences include variations in cultural dialects, religions, traditions, dress codes, liberalism, and so on. Although Arabs come from different backgrounds, Hollywood has long portrayed them as different shades of barbaric (Shaheen, 2003). The term “barbaric” here refers to attributes that have been falsely associated with the Arab image and constantly perpetuated through TV shows, movies, books, paintings, and other forms of art and media.

Extended Abstract • Student • Student Paper • Mass Media Coverage of the Unprecedented Events of 2020 Took a Toll on Black People’s Mental Health Conditions • Jaquela Chalise Macklin, The University of Alabama • Many scholars have done research on mental health care, but there are few studies on mental health care in the Black community, particularly how the mass media impacts the stability of Black people’s mental health. This paper focuses on using cultivation theory and conducting qualitative research by way of interviews with the intent to gain first-hand accounts from Black people about the state of their mental health and how mass media possibly impacts it.

Extended Abstract • Student • Student Paper • Black death virality: Exploring motivations of sharing Black death online • Ajia Meux, University of Oklahoma; Britney Gilmore, Texas Christian University • This study seeks to explore the relationship between locus of control, online and offline activism and sharing and forwarding behavior of videos of unarmed Black people being murdered by the police. This research is important because it attempts to define the particular sharing and forwarding behavior at the granular level of online activism based on the idea of control for a population who is often marginalized and underrepresented in more formal areas of political power.

Research Paper • Student • Student Paper • Combating the Angry Black Woman Stereotype at Work Through Demeanor and Praise • Erin Perry, Wayne State University • This visual rhetorical analysis of a viral image from a 2019 interview between CBS journalist Gayle King and singer R. Kelly uses co-cultural theory to make three arguments. First, presumptions are widely held about Black women’s demeanor in the workplace. Second, Black women are members of a co-cultural group that uses various communicative strategies to constantly resist the Angry Black Woman stereotype. Third, Black women and their allies appropriate stereotypes into opportunities for their praise.

Research Paper • Student • Student Paper • “We Just Can’t Afford Not To Be Informed”: How Women of Color are Pushing Against The Theory Of Information Poverty In The Digital Age • Chelsea Peterson-Salahuddin, Northwestern University • In line with the theory of information poverty, one could argue that women of color may face high barriers to news information seeking. However, social and political trends point to the ways women of color are highly informed. Motivated by this tension, this study engaged focus group interviews to examine women of color’s news information seeking habits. Findings suggest holding a woman of color identity does not deter, but motivates news information seeking processes.

Extended Abstract • Student • Student Paper • Shared Identity Endorsement Narratives in Political Campaigns: A framework for studying celebrity endorsements of minority politicians • Madhavi Reddi, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • This paper introduces the concept of shared identity endorsement narratives in political campaigns of minority candidates to provide a framework for researchers to examine celebrity endorsements along the lines of shared racial/ethnic/cultural identity. Using examples of endorsements of Kamala Harris by North American celebrities of Indian descent, I outline four elements of shared identity endorsement narratives in political campaigns – 1) entertainment value, 2) engagement with identity politics, 3) timelessness, 4) solidarity and validation.

Research Paper • Student • Student Paper • The Hair Dilemma of Black Female Newscasters: Personal Preferences Versus Professional Pressures in Picking Styles • Robert Richardson, University of Texas at Austin • A growing number of Black female newscasters are embracing natural hair on television, breaking a long-established requirement for anchors and reporters of all races to have straight hair. This study asks questions about industry pressures to conform to White normative standards and individual issues of identity and expression. Interviews with 25 Black women who work as on-air talent reveal newsrooms are becoming more accepting of natural styles but there is still progress to be made.

Research Paper • Faculty • Student Paper • Perceptions of COVID-19 and BLM Protesting on Twitter • Tanya Gardner; Wei Sun, Howard University; Carolyn Stroman • “On May 25, 2020, in the midst of the pandemic crisis, an innocent Black man, George Floyd, died as a result of police brutality. This event sparked nationwide protests against racial inequality, led by the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. While the number of COVID-19 cases continued to increase in many states, and as businesses began to re-open, there were fears that the BLM movement protests contributed to the resurgence of COVID-19 spread (Meyer, June 1, 2020). In a time of political and racial division, people expressed their support for, or opposition to, the claim that there was a connection between the protests and the rising number of cases.

This study aims to investigate how social media users make sense of the relationship between COVID-19 and BLM, and how health disparities of COVID-19 and race have been discussed in Twitter posts. The findings of the research will increase our understanding of how social media impacts knowledge regarding public health crises.”

Extended Abstract • Student • Student Paper • Reviving the Yellow Peril Digitally: Anti-Asian Hate during The COVID-19 Pandemic on Twitter • Xue Gong, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Shanshan Jiang; Fangjing Tu, University of Wisconsin-Madison • Since the COVID-19 pandemic, Chinese and the broader Asian communities have become the target of resurgent racism both online and offline. Combining Twitter data, governmental data and COVID case data, this study uses both interrupted time series analysis and traditional time series analysis to investigate how anti-Asian sentiments in social media are systematically enhanced by a series of socioeconomic factors and discursive opportunities provided by demagogue attacks on the Asian communities. The results shed implications on building racial justice during a pandemic like COVID-19.

Research Paper • Student • Student Paper • Prescription for Change: The Erasure of Filipino Nurses from American Medical Shows • Kris Vera-Phillips, Arizona State University • This research paper explores the erasure of Filipino nurses from American medical television shows in order to highlight biases in media that lead to a scripted reality that ignores an essential community of workers who are responsible for the daily care of patients. This paper examines the relationship between Filipinos and American power structures. It will also investigate the issue of erasure in television shows through the lens of postcolonial and critical race theories.

Research Paper • Student • Student Paper • How Ethnic News Helps Shape Presidential Evaluations among Chinese Americans During the Covid-19 Pandemic • Jiehua Zhang • Ethnic media play important roles in constructing or reconstructing ethnic identity, facilitating the acculturation process, and encouraging political participation among ethnic groups. The current study looked at the moderation effects of ethnic news use in the relationships between political ideology and presidential evaluations among Chinese Americans during the Covid-19 pandemic when the virus was called “Chinese virus” by some news media and the former president. Relying on a survey of Chinese Americans conducted between October and December 2020, the study showed that while conservative Chinese Americans were more likely than liberals to approve of the former president Trump, the effects of political ideology on the presidential evaluations were diminishing for people who used ethnic media more frequently to get news.

2022 Abstracts

Mass Communication and Society Division

2022 Abstracts

Research Paper • Student • Moeller Student Paper Competition • Purpose vs. Mission vs. Vision: Persuasive Appeals and Components in Corporate Statements • Alexis Fitzsimmons, University of Florida; Yufan “Sunny” Qin, University of Florida; Eve Heffron, University of Florida • Purpose statements persuade stakeholders of companies’ reasons for being. However, there is a lack of distinction among purpose, mission, and vision statements. This quantitative content analysis explored the differences among Fortune Global companies’ purpose, mission, and vision statements, adding to a much-needed body of literature on corporate purpose. Results provide implications for communicators who write these statements as well as theoretical implications related to rhetorical and social identification theories and organizational identification.

Research Paper • Student • Moeller Student Paper Competition • The New Media Normal: Survey-based study of COVID-19 Effects on Motivations to Consume Non-News Media • Kate Stewart, University of South Carolina • This large-scale, self-administered Qualtrics survey, based on a representative sample from 2020 United States Census Data, study specifically investigates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, in a mediating role, on motivations to consume non-news media by having an impact on social escapism, social presence, and coping mechanisms. The scope of this analysis has relevance as a current on-going global pandemic and could be replicated to study how disasters or other pandemics affect non-news media consumption.

Research Paper • • Open Competition • News in the Time of Corona: Institutional trust, collective narcissism, and the role of individual experiences in perceptions of COVID-19 coverage • Ivy Ashe; Ryan Wallace, The University of Texas at Austin; Ivan Lacasa-Mas, Universitat Internacional de Catalunya; Q. Elyse Huang, The University of Texas at Austin • All public health crises have an element of uncertainty to them; however, even in this context, COVID-19 stands out. Trust heuristics such as institutional trust, and trust in media in particular, become more important for people seeking information. In this study, we use a cross-sectional nationally representative study of the American online population to better understand factors impacting overall perceptions of and trust in COVID-19 news. We focus on a subset of people exhibiting traits of collective narcissism, the emotional investment in an in-group such as the nation-state. We show that for core values like institutional trust and perceptions of news media in general, indices for collective narcissism may prove valuable in understanding relationships between audience perceptions and core ideological beliefs. However, in the case of individual news events where uncertainty may be high, individual components of collective narcissism (i.e. anti-elitism, general conspiracy belief, and xenophobia) remain better perception indicators.”

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • News literacy, conspiratorial thinking, and political orientation in the 2020 U.S. election • Seth Ashley, Boise State University; Stephanie Craft, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign; Adam Maksl, Indiana University Southeast; Melissa Tully, University of Iowa; Emily Vraga, University of Minnesota • The rapid spread of misinformation in the digital age has increased calls for news literacy to help mitigate endorsement of conspiracy theories and other falsehoods. This study conducted in the week before the 2020 U.S. presidential election shows that individuals with higher levels of news literacy were more likely to reject conspiratorial thinking, but also that news literacy is unevenly distributed across the population and matters more for individuals with liberal views than conservative views.

Research Paper • Student • Open Competition • Change is the only constant: Young adults as platform architects and the consequences for news • Kjerstin Thorson, Michigan State University; Ava Francesca Battocchio, Michigan State University • We examine digital platform repertoires for news among young adults. Through the lens of “digital labor,” we explore the work that young adults’ undertake to design and maintain their personal media systems, and the consequences of those practices for news use. Drawing on 30 in-depth interviews with 18-34-year-olds, including a shared reading of participants’ newsfeeds in their top three social media platforms, we develop the theoretical concept of personal platform architecture. Our findings suggest that young adults architect and maintain platform repertoires for sociality, personal interests, and emotional well-being rather than for information—but with substantial consequences for news.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • The interplay of narrative versus statistics messages and misperceptions on COVID-19 vaccine intention • Porismita Borah; Xizhu Xiao; Yan Su • Drawing on exemplification theory, we used a moderated moderated mediation model to test the relationships among message manipulation, perceived expectancies, perceived susceptibility, COVID-19 misperceptions and intention to vaccinate. Findings show that perceived expectancies mediate the relationship between message manipulation and vaccine intention. Findings indicate that among individuals with high misperceptions about COVID-19, statistical messages are more persuasive for individuals with high perceived susceptibility, while narrative messages are more influential for individuals with low perceived susceptibility.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • New Cuban-American narratives about the homeland: Moving away from traditional storylines shared by “hardliners” via Twitter • Maria DeMoya, DePaul University; Vanessa Bravo, Elon University • This study analyzed Twitter conversations about Cuba, posted between June 1, 2017, and July 31, 2020, to discover the main themes that “hardliners” and the “new Cuban diaspora” communicated about in relation to Cuba and its future. This is a relevant and timely topic because, without a Castro as the head of the Cuban government for the first time in over six decades, the international community is getting to know a different image of Cuba. In this context, the Cuban diaspora in Florida has also changed and divided into two contrasting groups: the “hardliners,” who completely oppose the Cuban government and do not want any softening in the U.S.-Cuba relationship; and a newer generation whose members do not support the government on the island but prioritize their support for the Cuban people and are in favor of building new relationships on the island. The younger community approves the travel to the island, supporting their relatives at home through remittances, and potentially ending the U.S. embargo imposed on Cuba since 1960. As the analysis of their Tweets showed, this second group is a “new Cuban diaspora” that is changing the way in which the Cuban diaspora performs its public diplomacy roles in the United States.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Misinformation and News Verification: Why Users Fact Check Suspect Content • Erik Bucy, Texas Tech University; Duncan Prettyman, Colorado Technical University • The rise of misinformation has led to a corresponding call for more investigation into the antecedents of news verification, and for improved understanding about who verifies and why. In this study we conduct a thematic analysis of participants’ open-ended responses (N = 2,938 individual thoughts, volunteered by N = 715 participants) to an online questionnaire to explore the factors that may influence individuals’ decisions to verify or not verify information they have reason to believe might be false when they are given the opportunity to do so. We investigate what themes are associated with information verification broadly, then examine the prevalence of themes when associated with several individual difference variables that previous research suggests may be impactful. Specifically, we examine the association of themes with news knowledge (high vs low), news skepticism (high vs low), and individuals’ motivations for media use (surveillance vs entertainment). Descriptive results show significant differences in the characteristics of searchers compared to non-searchers. In addition, news knowledge is a particularly potent individual difference: individuals with high news knowledge had more thoughts about the need to verify information, concerns about manipulative intent, and were far less entertained by the idea of fake news than those with low news knowledge.

Research Paper • Postdoc • Open Competition • Media Mistrust and the Meta-Frame: Collective Framing of Police Brutality Evidence Reporting on YouTube • Richard Canevez, University of Hawaii at Manoa; Moshe Karabelnik, University of Hawaii at Manoa; Jenifer Sunrise Winter, University of Hawaii at Manoa • Social media impacts the news media’s role in police accountability. This convergence produces collective framings of police violence-related evidence that requires further attention. Using a frame analysis of news outlets and content analysis of comments on YouTube, we identify frames, responses, and the collective framing that results from this converging environment. Our findings suggest a triumvirate of competing frames around police brutality, with mistrust of media complicating the role news media plays in accountability.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Who Conducts Fact Checking and Does It Matter?: Examining the Antecedents and Consequences of Fact-checking Behavior in Hong Kong. • Stella Chia, City University of Hong Kong; Fangcao Lu; Al Gunther • This study utilizes a representative survey to examine multiple ways in which people engage in fact checking in a highly divided Hong Kong. The findings showed that stronger partisans who had greater news consumption were more likely to engage in fact-checking behavior. However, frequent fact-checking behavior enhanced, rather than reduced, their beliefs in pro-attitudinal misinformation. A warning of the backfire effects of fact-checking on exacerbating opinion polarization and social division is issued.

Extended Abstract • Research Fellow • Open Competition • Extended Abstract: Exploring the Information Authentication Acts of Experts, Environmentalists, and the Public in Southeast Asia • Agnes Chuah; Shirley Ho; Edson Tandoc Jr; Peihan Yu • Drawing on the Audiences’ Acts of Authentication framework, this study explores how the public, energy experts, and environmentalists in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore authenticate energy related information in a period of energy-related misinformation. The findings showed that the authentication behaviors across the three countries were consistent with the two-step process proposed by the framework. Individuals would turn to external forms of authentication when they were internally unconvinced of the authentication of the information.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • What Remains? The Relationship between Counterfactual Thinking, Story Outcome, Enjoyment, and Emotion in Narratives • Di Cui • Counterfactual thinking is a psychological concept. It explains the phenomenon that occurs when individuals reflectively imagine different outcomes for events that have already happened. This paper examines the application of counterfactual thinking in the field of media psychology. It examines if readers can generate counterfactual thinking in a fictional context. It also looks at the relationship between counterfactual thinking, enjoyment, and negative emotions. By conducting two experiments, the author finds readers can generate counterfactual thinking toward narrative pieces. Different story outcomes play an essential role in influencing the generation of counterfactuals. These findings indicate that counterfactual thinking can be a critical factor that impacts audiences’ understanding and reimaging stories in the long-term.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Fit Bodies that Inspire? A Qualitative study exploring perceptions of and motivations for interacting with Fitspiration content on social media • Roxanne Vos, Radboud University Nijmegen; Serena Daalmans, Radboud University, Behavioural Science Institute • The purpose of this qualitative study (N = 34 interviews) was to gain insight into the motives that underlie the interaction with Fitspiration content on social media and the personal meaning making processes surrounding this interactions. Based on the data four motives to post ‘fitspirational’ content and eight to follow the trend on social media were constructed. These give insight into the positive and negative ways participants believe Fitspiration affects them and others.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Political news personalization and the third-person effect: Examining support for restrictions on audience data collection • Lisa Farman, Ithaca College • An online survey (N=561) tested perceptions of the personalization of online political news. A third-person effect emerged: respondents believed others would be more affected by personalized political news than themselves. Those who thought others would be more affected by news personalization were also more likely to support restrictions on websites’ use of audience data to personalize news. Narcissism was a significant moderator of the relationship between perceived effect on self and support for regulation.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • The Labeling Experiment: Examining the Differential Effects of Equivalent Labels on Individuals’ Associations toward Immigrants • Juliana Fernandes, University of Florida; Moritz Cleve, University of Florida • Using a mix-methods approach, this study examines the differential effects of equivalent labels (i.e., authorized, documented, legal vs. unauthorized, undocumented, illegal) and the impact of these labels on individuals’ associations toward immigrants. Results of three studies show that those exposed to positive valenced labels produce more favorably associations of immigrants than those exposed to negative valenced labels (Study 1a), that associations tend to be quicker for labels such as illegal and slower for labels such as authorized (Study 1b), and that the interaction of association type (warmth/morality vs. competence) with association valence accounts for more variance in evaluations than labels, especially for negatively valenced associations (Study 2). Overall, the series of studies suggests a stronger influence of associations about warmth and morality compared to associations about an immigrant’s competence.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Pornography Addiction and Social Media: An exploratory study on the impact of social media on the road to porn abstinence. • Débora Martini, University of Colorado Boulder; Harsha Gangadharbatla, University of Colorado Boulder • Pornography addiction is on the rise in our society and excessive use often leads to negative life consequences. Just as other addictions, porn addiction can also be triggered by a number of factors. Of these factors, the role of social media has not been fully studied or understood. The current exploratory study uses a survey method to investigate the role of social media in porn addiction among Brazilian porn addicts. Results suggest that social media content is seen as a trigger by self-identified porn addicts and the factors that influence such perception include age of the addict, gender, and the number of times they have relapsed. And changes in behavior on social media are influenced by individuals’ perceptions of social media as a trigger.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • The Growing Influence of Political Ideology in Shaping Health Behavior in the United States • Mugur Geana, University of Kansas; Nathaniel Rabb, The Policy Lab, Brown University; Steven Sloman, The Policy Lab, Brown University • Political polarization is a growing concern in many parts of the world and is particularly acute in the US. This study reinforces previous research on long-term health consequences driven by partisanship by showing that these ideologically-driven differences manifest even more acutely in situations where the possibility of severe illness or death is immediate, and the potential societal impact is significant. The substantial implications for public health research and practice are both methodological and conceptual.

Research Paper • Student • Open Competition • Public buying behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic: Presumed media influence and the spillover effects of SARS • Tong Jee Goh, Nanyang Technological University; Shirley Ho • Testing for a historical spillover effect, this study examined how the influence of presumed media influence (IPMI) processes differed between people with low and high perceived severity of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), when it comes to predicting Singaporeans’ purchasing intention during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results showed that people’s presumptions of media influence on others predicted their intention to buy more. The study also found a historical spillover effect of pre-existing attitude towards SARS.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Unprecedented Times: How Journalists Coped with the Emotional Impact of Covering the COVID-19 Pandemic • Gretchen Hoak • This study explored the stress of covering the COVID-19 pandemic on journalists in the United States. A survey of 222 journalists revealed covering the story was both stressful and emotionally difficult. Females and those who were younger and less experienced perceived higher levels of stress and felt the story was more emotionally difficult than their counterparts. The repetitive nature of the coverage, interacting with victims, and public backlash for their reporting were among the top stressors. Supervisor support was associated with higher levels of work commitment and lower levels of stress. Nearly 60% of participants indicated they received no stress management or coping resources from their news organizations. Of those that did receive support options, most did not take advantage noting the resources were either not feasible or not helpful. Implications for organizational support and its impact on journalist stress are discussed.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Social Media Use Intensity and Privacy Concerns: The Implications for Social Capital • Iveta Imre, U Mississippi; Jason Cain • This study examines how SNS use intensity, specifically social routine integration and social integration and emotional routine, correlate with social capital, as well as how privacy concerns impact the relationship between SNS use intensity and social capital. Findings support that social capital correlates with both factors on the use intensity scale. Only the accuracy factor was a significant predictor of bridging capital while both accuracy and control, and collection proved significant for bonding capital.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Determination of the Factors Influencing the Third-Person Effects in Health and Environmental Concerns • Jessica Shaw, Louisiana State University; Soojin Kim, Louisiana State University; Yongick Jeong, Louisiana State University • This study examines how three personal factors (issue involvement, behavior change intention, and consumption amount) influences the third-person effect in different public issues of health and environment. By employing two measures of the third-person effect (perceived threat of public issues and perceived likelihood of participating in risky behavior), this study found that the influence of the three personal factors vary across issues and measures. Practical implications and suggestions are also discussed.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Science Podcasters and Centering Fairness in Content Creation • Shaheen Kanthawala, University of Alabama; Shupei Yuan, Northern Illinois University; Tanya Ott-Fulmore • “The podcast industry has steadily grown over the last decade and keeps showing promise for further growth. Science and science-related podcasts are a popular genre of podcasts that seem to play a role in science communication. Fundamentally, information provided through science communication is a resource, and there is often disparity in the allocation of most resources. As creators of content that could not only help, but also possibly add to this disparity, science podcasters need to be aware of their audience when developing podcasts.

Therefore, we use the fairness and justice literature to explore how science podcasters think about their audiences when creating content. We further explore how science podcasters view themselves and the role of their podcasts within the science communication space. To do this, we conducted a survey with 147 of the top science podcasters (identified from Apple Podcasts’ top rankings). Our results indicated podcasters view themselves in a connecting role between scientific information lay audiences. They hold ethical values and are mindful of principles of fairness. These findings indicate that they view themselves in the role of science communicators – a role of vital importance today. Their resources should, therefore, be harness in the future to spread science and scientific information to the general public.”

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Media Consumption, Attitudes, and #BlackLivesMatter on the Ground, Court and Field • Danielle Kilgo, University of Minnesota; Rachel Mourao, Michigan State University; Tania Ganguli, University of Minnesota • This work utilizes a nationally representative survey to explore how news media consumption of mainstream, partisan and sports news organizations and the attitudes held by audiences affect recall, negative attitudes towards protest utility, and support for Black Lives Matter. We include considerations for celebrity advocacy efforts in the NBA and NFL. We found ideological and political barriers to support for BLM, indicating conservatism has a stronger impact on protest attitudes, regardless of the tactics employed.

Research Paper • Student • Open Competition • When does the Past Colonial Memory Plug into Nationalism? Information and Media’s Priming of Anti-Japan Nationalism in South Korea and China • Jisoo Kim, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Gaofei Li, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Xining Liao, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Hernando Rojas • Underlining the importance of the respective context of nationalism, this study focuses on anti-Japan nationalism in South Korea and China, which share a similar history of being colonized by Japan. Anti-Japan nationalism has always been alive but explicitly appears in people’s attitudes and behaviors only at certain times. Our study is centered on how information regarding a painful memory of the colonial past may prime individuals to express stronger anti-Japan attitudes and behaviors. Our results suggest that our prime contextually interacts with different types of media in unique ways: in South Korea, those that use social media more often are primed to express increased anti-Japanese nationalism, while in China it is those that consume more mainstream media. Implications of our findings are discussed.

Research Paper • Student • Open Competition • Politically Contested Beliefs: Why Do Conservatives Tend to Have More Inaccurate Beliefs About COVID-19? • Tom Johnson; Taeyoung Lee; Chenyan Jia, The University of Texas at Austin • A fair amount of research showed that politically conservative people are susceptible to false claims about COVID-19. Based on the belief gap hypothesis, this study examines why conservatives have more false beliefs about COVID-19. A representative survey showed that institutional trust was associated with people’s beliefs around COVID-19. Meanwhile, conservative identity indirectly influenced having false beliefs through institutional trust. Also, support for Trump, education, and the use of conservative media predicted having false beliefs.

Research Paper • Student • Open Competition • The new yellow peril: Priming news context on attitudes towards Asian models, and brands • Lincoln Lu, University of Florida; T. Franklin Waddell, College of Journalism and Communications, University of Florida • Recent increase in incidents of violence towards Asian Americans are indicative of underlying animosity often overlooked in discussions of race. Within a news story advertising context, an online experiment (N = 372) found some evidence that consumer ethnocentrism may moderate perceptions of attractiveness for male Asian models, consumer attitudes towards the ad, brand, and purchase intention. These results provide insight into race-based stereotyping at a time of flux surrounding race in America.

Research Paper • Student • Open Competition • Informational, Infrastructural and Emotional Labor: The Extra Work in a News and Broadband Desert • Nick Mathews, University of Minnesota; Christopher Ali • This study offers a systematic qualitative investigation inside a combined news and broadband desert. Despite popular attention to both news and broadband deserts, most recently and acutely during the coronavirus pandemic, there has been no scholarly research into communities where these two deserts intersect. This article confronts this knowledge gap. Built on 19 in-depth interviews with residents of Surry County, Va., we argue that life in a news and broadband desert requires a substantial amount of labor to obtain the information and connectivity so many Americans take for granted. Our findings demonstrate three areas of increased labor for residents: (1) informational, (2) infrastructural and (3) emotional. We conclude with a discussion of life and labor in this desert, specifically, and how it may apply to similar communities across the United States.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Jessica Jones: Exploring Marvel’s Dark Anti-Hero and the Portrayal of Complex Women Characters • Newly Paul, University of North Texas; Gwendelyn Nisbett, University of North Texas • This project uses social construction of gender theory to explore transmedia narratives of Jessica Jones in the graphic novel Alias, and the Netflix television shows Jessica Jones and The Defenders. Transmedia narratives often ascribe new dimensions to characters and narratives, and we aim to compare and contrast the narratives that emerge in these spaces. Using thematic analysis, we find that Jones breaks the sexist tropes often associated with female superheroes, and exemplifies the qualities of a strong, independent woman.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Why and How People Avoid News during the Coronavirus Pandemic: An Analysis of News Repertoire • Chang Sup Park; Barbara Kaye • This study explored how the coronavirus pandemic as a large-scale news event functioned as a catalyst for news avoidance. In-depth interviews with 50 adults in South Korea in May and June 2020 revealed three reasons reconfiguring their media repertoire to ‘coronablock’ news about the pandemic: to tune out, to control information flow, and to seek positive news. The findings contribute to the understanding of news avoidance during a time of global crisis.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • The media affect them, but not me: Veteran and civilian perceptions of news coverage about U.S. military veterans • Scott Parrott; David L. Albright; Nicholas Eckhart; Kirsten Laha-Walsh • Informed by theory of the third-person effect, the present study examined civilian and veteran perceptions of news content concerning veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces, including the perceived quality and effects of news content. A national survey of adults in the United States, including veterans and civilians, documented the presence of a third-person effect in which individuals estimate that media exposure affects others more so than themselves. The effect occurred among both civilians and veterans. In addition, when asked to recall news stories about veterans, respondents often recalled stereotypical stories related to victimization/harm, heroism, charity/social support, mental illness, and violence. The results are important for veterans because the third-person effect may lead veterans to assume media content affects public perceptions of veterans, which could in turn affect veterans’ perceptions of interactions with civilians in social, employment, educational, and other settings. Put simply, veterans could act differently when they assume others are thinking they are traumatized heroes, the predominant image conveyed by U.S. news outlets.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Swapping Insults, Neglecting Policy: How U.S. Presidential Candidates Communicate About Mental Health • Scott Parrott; Hailey Grace Allen • Background. Candidates for high office in the United States of America play an important role in determining the political agenda and shaping public and mass media understanding of which issues should receive attention. Critics contend politicians rarely address mental health, despite the importance of the federal government in ensuring Americans access to quality care. Aims. Two studies sought to understand how candidates for the highest office in the U.S. — the presidency — communicated about mental health using formal (mental, depress, anxiety) and informal (crazy, insane) terminology in social media posts and debates. Methods. Two coders examined 1,807 tweets from 41 politicians who competed in the 2016 and 2020 races, plus transcripts from 47 debates during the primaries and General Elections. Results. Politicians often stigmatized mental illness, using mental health-related slang terms to insult opponents. They afforded less attention to policy and calls for action related to mental health. Conclusions. The authors offer recommendations for mental health professionals and advocates to encourage politicians to address mental health policy while avoiding stigmatizing language.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • My Pandemic News is Better Than Yours: Audience Perceptions of Early News Coverage About Covid-19 • Mallory Perryman, Virginia Commonwealth • This study focuses on how American audiences perceived news coverage during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic in the United States. Through a survey-experiment of American news consumers (N=767) over a three-day period in mid-March 2020, we show that news consumers had positive attitudes toward their own Covid-19 news sources, but were critical about the news sources others were using to get information about the virus. Our data reveal evidence of presumed media influence, where audiences’ evaluations of pandemic news were linked to their perceptions of how news content was impacting others’ health behaviors.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • When In Doubt, Blame China: A Qualitative Analysis of Conservative Coronavirus Content on Reddit • Jeffrey Riley, Georgia Southern University • This is a qualitative content analysis examining the top content posted to the conservative, /r/The_Donald-affiliated subreddit /r/Wuhan_Flu from February 2020 until August 2020. The expectations of health misinformation and widespread downplaying of the virus were not met. Instead, /r/Wuhan_Flu deviated from Donald Trump’s public statements about the pandemic and tended to be far more alarmist than calming. Instead of health misinformation, the subreddit tended to encourage masks and social distancing. However, the results also indicate that geopolitical issues with China were the primary topic, with 217 posts containing negative language or visual images directed at China. Based on literature about radicalized digital spaces, /r/Wuhan_Flu represents the potential for dangerous real-world consequences, especially considering the increase in hate crimes against Asians and Pacific Islanders in the United States since the beginning of the pandemic.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Identity for Sale: Authenticity, Commodification, and Agency in YouTube Influencers • Aysha Vear, University of Maine; Judith Rosenbaum, University of Maine • Focusing on YouTube influencers, this study extends structuration theory into the realm of social media. Interviews, observations, and content analysis were used to explore the relationship between agency, commodification, and authenticity in influencers’ performances. Results show a need to reconceptualize structures as emergent and embodied; that authenticity and agency are inexorably linked and constrained by the commodification inherent in influencers’ performances; and that influencers face a hierarchy of choices that enable and constrain their agency.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Influencing the agenda: The role of conservative figures in melding media agendas for social media communities • Burton Speakman, Kennesaw State University; Marcus Funk • Historically, mainstream news media held significant agenda setting authority. As news and social media evolve, individual actors and digital communities have to meld and filter diverse media agendas into one curated, personal space for their followers. This article examines attempts at far right agendamelding by fringe and conspiracy-affiliated Reps. Lauren Boebert and Majorie Taylor Greene during and after their respective runs for Congress. Results suggest far right politicians can meld agendas from friendly media and their own campaigns, while rejecting mainstream agendas, to influence their Twitter community.

Research Paper • Student • Open Competition • “Infodemic” amid the pandemic: Social media news use, homogeneous discussions, self-perceived media literacy, and misperceptions • Yan Su; Porismita Borah; Xizhu Xiao • Heeding the call to address the “infodemic” in the COVID-19 crisis, this research investigates the associations among social media news use, homogeneous online discussion, self-perceived media literacy, and misinformation perceptions about the COVID-19. We use an online survey and a moderated mediation model. Results show that social media news use is positively associated with misinformation perceptions. Moreover, homogeneous online discussion was a significant mediator, such that social media news use is positively associated with homogeneous discussion, and the latter, in turn, is associated with increased misinformation perceptions. Further, self-perceived media literacy is a significant moderator for both the main and the indirect effects, such that the associations became weaker among those with higher self-perceived media literacy. Findings provide insights into the significance of information sources, discussion network heterogeneity, and media literacy education.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Attention Convergence and Narrative Coalescence: The Impact of the US Presidential Election on the Generational Gap in Online News Use • Chris Chao Su, Boston University • This study revisits the contentious role of the 2016 US presidential election in shaping news and disinformation use by contrasting usage networks of millennials and boomers, two groups with disparate preferences. Theoretically, through bringing the literature on selective exposure thesis into media events, this study advances an analytical framework to approach increased divergence and intensified polarization in the election through a sociological perspective. Empirically, this study compares the generational gap in online news usage in a typical month (Apirl-2015) and the month just before Elections (October-2016), by conducting relational analyses of shared usage for each cohort comprising all major news outlets. The analyses reveal that during the election boomers moved toward a collection of digital-native outlets that produce and disseminate political disinformation – the fake fringe – as well as more toward conservative partisan side of the news landscape. Investigating audience convergence during Donald Trump’s election, this study demonstrates that although the public tends to converge their attention in the event, the systematic divergence in consuming various narratives of the event forcefully steers to audience divergence compared to uneventful periods.

Research Paper • Student • Open Competition • Getting Inspired by Fitspiration Posts: Effects of Picture Type, Numbers of Likes and Inspiration Emotions on Workout Intentions • Yuan Sun; Nicholas Eng, Penn State University; Jessica Myrick, Penn State University • The study investigated the potential positive effects of fitspiration posts for inspiring physical exercises through a 2 (Numbers of likes: High vs. Low) x 2 (Picture type: Body transformation vs. After-only) between-subject experiment. Numbers of likes cued subjective norm, while body transformation posts elicited inspirational emotion, which mediated the effects of picture type on workout intention. Picture type and numbers of likes jointly affected descriptive norm and inspiration emotion, which led to workout intention.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Avoiding real news, believing in fake news? Investigating pathways from fake news exposure to misbelief • Edson Tandoc Jr; Hye Kyung Kim, Nanyang Technological U • This study sought to examine the potential role of news avoidance in the link between exposure to and belief in misinformation. Using two-wave panel survey data in Singapore, we found that exposure to misinformation contributes to information overload, which is subsequently associated with news fatigue as well as with difficulty in analyzing information. News fatigue and analysis paralysis also subsequently led to news avoidance, which made individuals more likely to believe in misinformation.

Extended Abstract • Student • Open Competition • Effective Health Risk Communications: Lessons Learned about COVID-19 Pandemic through the Lens of Practitioners • Taylor Voges, UGA; LaShonda Eaddy, Southern Methodist University; Shelley Spector, Museum of Public Relations; Yan Jin, University of Georgia • The study utilizes semi-structured interviews of health risk communication practitioners in the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic. The contingency theory of strategic conflict management is the guide to understanding the challenges and nuances. Insights gained from interviewing practitioners (projected, n=40) from different sectors with diverse professional backgrounds will help advance the contingency theory’s application in understanding the dynamics observed in times of health risks and crises threatening societal wellbeing.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Fake News in the Family: How Family Communication Patterns and Conflict History Affect the Intent to Correct Misinformation among Family Members • T. Franklin Waddell, College of Journalism and Communications, University of Florida; Chelsea Moss • Do family communication patterns or family conflict history affect the intention to correct fake news shared by family members? A pre-registered online survey (N = 595) was conducted to answer this question. Results revealed that conversation orientation and conformity orientation positively predicted the intention to correct family members, while family history was negatively related with corrective action intention. Presumed influence, by comparison, was not significantly related to corrective action. Theoretical implications are discussed.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • How do NPOs effectively engage with publics on social media? Examining the effects of interactivity and emotion on Twitter • Chuqing Dong, Michigan State University; Yuan (Daniel) Cheng, University of Minnesota – Twin Cities • “Nonprofit organizations (NPOs) are increasingly using social media to engage with publics. However, communication factors associated with effective social media use remain unclear in the nonprofit literature. Drawing from literature on public engagement, interactivity, and emotions, this study employs a computational approach to examine the effects of communication strategies on NPOs’ public engagement on Twitter (i.e., likes and retweets). By analyzing functional interactivity, contingency interactivity, and emotion elements of tweets from the 100 largest U.S. NPOs (n= 301,559), this study finds negative effects of functional interactivity on likes, negative effects of contingency interactivity on likes and retweets, but a positive effect of functional interactivity on retweets. The findings also show negative effects of emotion valence on likes and retweets but positive effects of emotion strength on likes and retweets. Using NPO type as a moderator suggests that there are varying effects of interactivity and emotion on public engagement for service-oriented and other types of NPOs. Practical implications regarding strategic social media use in the nonprofit sector are discussed.

Research Paper • Student • Open Competition • Do All Types of Warning Labels Work on Flagging Misinformation? The Effects of Warning Labels on Share Intention of COVID-19 Vaccine Misinformation • Alexander Moe, SUNY Brockport • Using a survey experiment (N = 403), this study tested the effectiveness of Twitter warning labels flagging misinformation pertaining to COVID-19 vaccines. Results showed that all types of warning labels decreased perceived credibility and share intention compared to no label condition. Moderated mediation analysis showed that vaccine hesitancy moderated the relationship between exposure to warning labels and perceived credibility while perceived credibility served as a mediator on the effects of warning labels on share intention.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Linguistic Attribution Framing: A Linguistic Category Approach to Framing Crisis • Xiaochen Zhang, University of Oklahoma; Jonathan Borden • Based on Attribution Theory, this study proposes a linguistic category approach to framing. A 2 (language: concrete/abstract) x 3 (social identity: out-group/in-group/control) experiment in a political crisis context was used to understand linguistic framing’s effects on attribution. Main effects a) of abstract (vs. concrete) language and b) of out-group (vs. in-group) on higher attribution, future crisis occurrence and unethical perceptions of the politician were found. Implications for framing research are discussed.

Research Paper • Student • Student Competition • The Effects of Nudges on Social Media Users in the Context of COVID-19 Fake News • Wen Xuan Hor, Nanyang Technological University; Rui Yan Leo, Nanyang Technological University; Xin Jie Tan, Nanyang Technological University; Agnes Yeong Shuan Chai, Nanyang Technological University • This study examines the applicability of nudging on reducing sharing of fake news. Using a 2 (Nudge Frame – Gain vs. Loss) x 2 (Nudge Frequency – Single vs. Repeated) between-subject experiment (n = 238), results showed gain-frame nudge will lower the likelihood of sharing and confidence of news. We also examined individual-level traits, need for cognition and reactance, but found no evidence to support moderation. Theoretical and practical implications for nudging theory were discussed.

Extended Abstract • Student • Student Competition • Media Parenting Styles: A Typology of Parental Guidance of Electronic Media Use • Sarah Fisher, University of Florida • Parental guidance for children’s electronic media use varies greatly. From parents who carefully limit the content set before their children’s eyes, to parents who allow freedom for their children to explore on electronic devices. This typology provides a useful definition of a range of parental oversight styles of their children’s use of electronic media. The typology categories emerged from in-depth interviews (N=20) with parents regarding their oversight of their children’s use of electronic media.

Research Paper • Student • Student Competition • Porn and Consent: The relationship between college students’ pornography consumption, perception of realism, and sexual consent intentions • Niki Fritz • Despite sexual assault prevention education (SAPE) on college campuses, sexual assault remains a persistent issue on campuses. Student may be learning non-consensual sexual activity scripts from other sources, such as pornography. Additionally, perceived pornography realism may mediate the relationship between pornography consumption and non-consensual behavioral intentions. This national survey of 500 undergraduate students suggests pornography consumption has a strong positive relationship with non-consensual behavioral intentions and perceived pornography realism was found to mediate the relationship.

Research Paper • Student • Student Competition • From “OK Boomer” to “Boomer Remover”: A Critical Examination of Ageist Memes by Meme Factories • Si Yu Lee, Nanyang Technological University Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information (WKWSCI); Jasmon Wan Ting Hoh, National University of Singapore • Memes and meme factories are increasingly the new fronts for ageism online. Guided by the tripartite model of ageism and third and fourth age concepts, this study employed multimodal discourse analysis to analyze 98 memes from five meme factories in Singapore. An ageist portrayal of older adults in memes was found and tropes like fetishization and denigration of the old were identified. The intersectionality of ageism with gender, race, and class was also emphasized.

Research Paper • Student • Student Competition • Predictors of IS Professionals’ Information Security Protective Behaviors in Chinese IT Organizations: The Application of the Organizational Antecedents, Theory of Planned Behavior and Protection Motivation Theory Abstract • Xiaofen Ma, National University of Singapore • “Securing organizational information systems (IS) as pivotal information assets is central to achieving a strategic advantage; this is an organization-wide concern. Recognition by practitioners and researchers of the positive impact of inside work-driven protective behaviors on IS security at the organizational level has led to the establishment of a research stream focused on IS experts’ performance of protective behaviors. To contribute to the research stream, this study employs two theories: protection motivation theory (PMT) and the theory of planned behavior (TPB), and a set of work-related organizational antecedents: organizational commitment and job satisfaction, often cited in information security literature. Therefore, given the varied facets central to work-motivated information security resources, determining the relationships of each distinct PMT, TPB, and organizational aspect with IS experts’ protective behaviors is a significant contribution. Using a survey of 804 representative IS professionals in the Chinese information technology (IT) industry, we find support for several associations: (a) information security attitude and subjective norms as constituents of TPB significantly influenced the information security protective behaviors performed by IS experts; (b) the coping appraisals (self-efficacy and response cost) and threat appraisals (threat susceptibility and threat severity) of PMT were significantly predictive of IS experts’ protective behaviors toward information security; and (c) organizational factors involving organizational commitment positively impacted the protective behaviors. However, job satisfaction, and perceived behavioral control as a construct of the TPB were not associated with information security behaviors. Contributions to theory and implications for practice are discussed.

Research Paper • Student • Student Competition • The Mediated Classroom: A Grounded Theory Analysis of Live Streaming Media Affordance and Teaching Context Remodeling from The Perspective of Actor-Network-Theory • Yefu Qian, School of Media and Communication, Shanghai Jiao Tong University; Chen Li; Ruimin He • The massive and popular application of emerging media technology (such as live streaming, virtual meeting-Zoom & Google Meet) in releasing the tensions of suspended classes during the global pandemic (COVID-19) provides an entry point to visualize the role of mediatization in shaping the traditional human social practice. As the online form of teaching penetrates in college education, it is of practical significance to comprehend the mediated teaching contexts and visualize the optimization of online teaching by exploring the affordance of live streaming media which serving as an “actor” in social networks. In this paper, we apply a qualitative analysis according to the grounded theory, based on detailed interviews with 45 college students in Shanghai, to elaborate on the affordance of live streaming in shaping the online teaching in Actor-Network-Theory. Besides, we target to explore the transformation of the teaching context between media technology and social practice so that we can offer insights for the ongoing or future researches of mediatization.

Extended Abstract • Student • Student Competition • Learning by doing: The potential effect of interactivity on health literacy • Natasha Strydhorst; Sava Kolev; Philippe Chauveau, Texas Tech University; Eric Milman, Texas Tech University • This experimental study investigates the relationship between message interactivity and message comprehension, absorption, and self-reported elaboration of health information as contributors to increased health literacy about COVID-19 and the opioid epidemic. A representative population will be exposed to a stimulus of factsheets, followed by tests measuring perceived comprehension, absorption, elaboration, message processing bias, and political ideology and interest. The authors anticipate a positive correlation between interactivity level and comprehension, absorption, and elaboration scores of participants.

Research Paper • Student • Student Competition • Cancel Culture and Its Underlying Motivations in Singapore • Beverly Tan, Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University; Gabrielle Lee, Nanyang Technological University; Rachel Angeline Chua, Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University; Charlyn Ng, Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University • This mixed-methods study explores Singaporeans’ understanding of cancel culture and motivators of participation. Interviews defined cancel culture as public shaming on a social media platform, carried out or supported by a group of people, which aims to hold people accountable for socially unacceptable behaviour. Our survey found attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control, outcome expectancy, and general Belief in a Just World as significant predictors behaviour through intention, contextualising cancel culture in Singapore’s context.

Research Paper • Student • Student Competition • A content analysis of alcohol posts from adolescents, brands, influencers, and celebrities in Facebook and Instagram’s persistent and ephemeral messages • Sofie Vranken, School for Mass Communication Research, KU Leuven; Sebastian Kurten, Leuven School for Mass Communication Research • “This content analysis examines how peers, celebrities, influencers and brands refer to  alcohol in Facebook and Instagram’s persistent and ephemeral messages. The results show  that: (1) all agents frequently portray alcohol posts, (2) adolescents are the sole agent to  refer to moderate and extreme forms of alcohol use as opposed to celebrities, influencers  and brands whom solely display moderate alcohol posts and (3) some agents  (celebrities/influencers) may have a commercial motive to share alcohol posts.”

Extended Abstract • Student • Student Competition • Extended Abstract: In AI we trust: The interplay of media attention, trust, and partisanship in shaping emerging attitudes toward artificial intelligence • Shiyu Yang; Nicole Krause; Luye Bao, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Mikhaila Calice, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Todd Newman; Michael Xenos; Dietram A. Scheufele, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Dominique Brossard • Artificial intelligence (AI) has changed the way scientists make genetic edits; it has infiltrated our daily lives through the internet of things; and it is being used by law enforcement agencies to fight crime. Many of the societal questions raised in its wake cannot be answered by science. Who or what will govern this technology? How do we prevent inevitable biases in how the technology is developed and applied? In this extended abstract, we report analysis of nationally representative public opinion data and examine what factors, including attention to mass and social media, shape U.S. publics’ trust in various institutions regulating AI development, as well as how trust and political ideology interact to shape public support for AI technology.

Research Paper • Student • Student Competition • Women on-screen: Exploring the relationship between consumption of female talent shows and sexism, internalization of beauty ideals, and self-objectification in China • Yi Yang, The Chinese University of Hong Kong; Yunyi Hu, The Chinese University of Hong Kong • Will consumption of female talent shows influence Chinese women’s self-body relationship? With the framework of objectification theory, this study provides empirical evidence to this question. Using data collected from a sample of 584 females in China, this study found that female talent shows consumption indirectly promoted body-surveillance through the mediation effects of benevolent sexism, internalization of beauty ideals, and self-objectification. Implications of the findings for the reflection on female talent shows in China are discussed.

2022 Abstracts

Cultural and Critical Studies Division

2022 Abstracts

Extended Abstract • Student • Cultural Sensitivity in Health Crisis Communication: The Case of COVID-19 Pandemic in Africa • Elinam Amevor • This qualitative study examines the discourses surrounding Melinda Gates’ prediction about dead bodies littering the streets of Africa, if the world did not act fast to rescue the continent. The study thematically analyzed reactions from 12 social media influencers from Nigeria, Kenya, and Ghana. Drawing on the Cultural Dimensions Theory, preliminary findings describe Gates’ remarks as racist and demeaning to Africans. This reinforces the critical need for cultural sensitivity in global health crisis communication

Research Paper • Faculty • The Power of a Good Story: Domestic Violence Survivors in True Crime Podcast Audiences • Kelli Boling, University of Nebraska – Lincoln • This audience reception study qualitatively examines women who identify as domestic violence survivors and fans of true crime podcasts. Using a feminist, critical cultural lens, this study explores why these women are drawn to these podcasts and how they make meaning of the content. Sixteen interviews revealed five themes: the power of a good story, the appeal of audio media, the educational value of the content, their need for understanding, and creating camaraderie through community.

Extended Abstract • Student • Extended Abstract- Reading Lumpérica from a cinematographic perspective – A fragmented script about marginality • Alejandro Bruna, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile • Lumpérica, by Diamela Eltit, presents an interesting narrative mix: stream of consciousness, realism, dialogue and cinematic elements. This work analyzes the enunciated work, discovering that if read from a audiovisual perspective, it is a true script, fragmented and disjointed, but a script nonetheless, framed within a Chile that suffers the pain of dictatorship and, therefore, presents wounds coupled to a marginality that is dependent of the cinematographic eye to be seen.

Research Paper • Faculty • Black Lives Matter to Media (Finally): A Content Analysis of News Coverage During Summer 2020 • Jennifer Cox, Salisbury University • This study examined 286 stories posted about the Black Lives Matter movement and protests following George Floyd’s death by the six most-viewed U.S. news outlets on their Facebook feeds during summer 2020. These organizations published a significant amount of content, though the frequency declined throughout the summer. Stories mostly framed protesters positively and police negatively. Organizations regularly used law/crime spot news to frame protests. The findings suggest a shift away from the media’s protest paradigm.

Extended Abstract • Student • Extended Abstract: Talking Through the Algorithm: Techno-Institutional Bias and Women’s Voices • Katherine Dawson • This work proposes a theoretical framework for understanding how technologies of vocal recording and manipulation, from ‘good speech’ phonetics to A.I. voice renderings, have operated as ideologically charged algorithms that ‘solve’ women’s voices. The research builds upon existing communication literature surrounding the nature and functionality of algorithms, as well as feminist posthumanist theory, which provides a richer conceptualization of how algorithms of voice enact both a political and material discipline upon women’s speech.

Research Paper • Student • Video Game Community Content Creators: A Cultural Intermediary Perspective • Jeffrey Duncan • Video game content creators act as a ‘cultural intermediary’ between game producers and players. Through an interpretive textual analysis of YouTube videos by content creators of two popular games, this study explicates this mediating role the creators play in negotiating the encoding and decoding of gaming messages and their ability to influence audience opinion and producer decisions, highlighting an underrepresented group of creative workers that mediate messages in the gaming industry.

Research Paper • Faculty • Theorizing the mediasphere: NRA media and multimodal dependency • Dawn Gilpin, Arizona State University • This paper uses NRA media operations to illustrate the phenomenon of the mediasphere, defined as a strategically established subsystem of cultural production entrenched in promotional culture and characterized by hybridity, commodification, epistemic authority, embeddedness, identification, centralized control, and oppositionality to mainstream media. A mediasphere represents an attempt to establish audience dependency through multimodal centrality and thereby exercise social and cultural influence; it thus has implications for evolving understandings of information systems, propaganda and promotional culture.

Research Paper • Faculty • The Space Between Home and Away: Sixteen Fragments across Communication as Culture • Peter Joseph Gloviczki, Coker University • “This paper uses sixteen fragments, linked narratives, to make sense of and bring meaning to the space between home and away. Written in an accessible style and broadly inspired by the feminism of Laura Mulvey and the philosophical poetics of Jacques Derrida, the paper

challenges communication as culture to work toward a more narrative, more poststructuralist conceptualization of health communication in particular and communication as culture in

general.”

Extended Abstract • Student • Emotionally charged and politically polarized: An interpretive approach to social media analysis • Efrat Gold; megan boler, University of Toronto • Meaning is never inherent, nor is it neutral. The social act of interpretation, which gets mapped onto people and events, is deeply embedded within pre-existing cultural traditions. Using data from Twitter, Facebook, and Gab as cultural artefacts, we excavate the ways that meanings are made and conveyed through social media. Entering social media to undertake research can feel like entering a new world with its own history, rules, language, and norms. To the less embedded outsider, this world can feel dis-orienting – it is not immediately obvious where to turn, and even less obvious how to make meaning out of what one finds. The ways that people use social media are not neutral, nor are they static – in recent years, it is increasingly clear that social media is doing something, and that something is very influential. But what exactly is this doing and how is it being done? How do social media expressions and interactions speak to deeper beliefs and understandings that people hold about themselves and the world they inhabit? This paper invites a critical reflection on how the work of making meaning out of people, politics, and events is done. As an artefact that says something about the culture from which it stems, social media can inform understandings of the contemporary reality they reflect. Using case studies of comments and interactions among social media users as an occasion to explore cultural practices and disruptions, we dig deep to reveal the social and interpretive aspects already at play.

Research Paper • Student • The spectacle of flags • Julie Grandjean, Texas Tech University • While news editors tend to still consider images as mere illustrations for what is verbally explained (Geise and Baden, 2015), it is important to consider that the analogical properties of images (Abraham and Messaris, 2001) makes them appear more truthful and representative of reality. However, reality tends to be fluid depending on whose story we listen to. This paper narrates the stories of two realist rivals planting their respective national flags on two yet unexplored territories. While the American flag on the Moon was meant as a way to prove the American technological superiority over the USSR to end the Cold War, the Russian flag in the Arctic can be seen as a political move by President Putin to recreate the lost grandeur of the Soviet Union and reenact the Cold War in order to revive his political support at home. By doing so and recording their exploits, the two actors created national narratives that go beyond the simple performance of erecting a flag; I argue that these images construct an affectual nationalist identity through elites’ performance of flag planting, and mass media’s role in staging these political events as a “spectacle.”

Research Paper • Faculty • A reckoning in journalism education: Examining the approach to diversity, equity, and inclusion in journalism syllabi • Azeta Hatef; Sara Shaban • The 2020 protests in the U.S. prompted a reckoning in newsrooms across the country, presenting a critical moment to reflect upon journalism education and preparing students to report on a diverse world. Through Critical Discourse Analysis, we examine syllabi from American universities, focusing on core principles and values in journalism education, specifically their approach to discussions of race, gender, and marginality. While few engage in critical discussion, most universities continue to utilize a traditional framework.

Research Paper • Faculty • Thatcherism, Trumpism, and the Potential of Organic Ideology • Kristen Heflin, Kennesaw State University • In the 1970’s and 1980’s, Stuart Hall struggled to make sense of Thatcherism, an ideology that was incoherent, brought together seemingly opposed viewpoints, and embraced contradiction. Ultimately, Hall developed the concepts of organic ideology and organic intellectual to help make sense of this ideology full of contradictions. This paper examines the theoretical roots of organic ideology and the role of organic intellectuals. It also discusses the concepts in relation to Trumpism and the MAGA movement.

Research Paper • Student • Disinformation and Weaponized Communication: The Spread of Ideological Hate about the Macedonian Name in Greece • Minos-Athanasios Karyotakis, School of Communication HKBU • The current research examined 38 of the most influential disinformation-fueled news (or “fake news”) stories regarding the Macedonian Name Dispute (MND) and the “Prespes Agreement” in the years of 2018 and 2019 by employing the critical discourse analytical (CDA) method of ideological discourse analysis proposed by Van Dijk. The study’s main objective was to expand the relevant literature regarding disinformation, power relations, and hate campaigns by examining the ideological narratives and constructions disseminated through the disinformation-fueled news stories during that two-years-period. The findings showed that those news stories were successfully weaponized and resulted in empowering identity characteristics and ideological narratives through the distancing method (us versus them), the alienation with elements of dramatization (e.g., territorial loss of the Greek Macedonia due to the “Prespes Agreement”), and the sense of victimization and dehumanization that demanded emergency actions to protect the ingroup (Greece) from the outgroup (North Macedonia and its Greek assistants).

Research Paper • Student • Interrogating Perceptions of Risk and Responsibility in Sports During the Coronavirus Pandemic • Charli Kerns, University of Tennessee, Knoxville • This autoethnography examines whitewater kayakers’ decision to paddle the Big South Fork River in Tennessee to reveal the emerging tensions between individual risks inherent in the sport and the much broader constellations of risks into which its participants are interposing themselves during the pandemic. Pre-pandemic rationalities form the context within which individuals engage in neoliberal approaches toward risk-taking in action sports. In turn, these practices articulate with broader frameworks of responsibility in postmodern society.

Extended Abstract • Faculty • Dead and Back to Life: “The Eight Hundred” in the Field of Power • Zhaoxi Liu • In 2019, the Chinese movie “The Eight Hundred” abruptly cancelled its release while China celebrated the 70th anniversary of the People’s Republic, due to political sensitivity. A year later, as China tried to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, the movie became a market-reviving hero. This case study explains the dramatic experience of the movie by exploring the interrelations among the field of cultural production, the field of power, and the field of broader social context.

Research Paper • Faculty • Leaning In, Pushed Out: Postfeminist Precarity, Pandemic Labor, and Journalistic Discourse • Jessica Maddox; Brian Creech, Temple University • During the COVID-19 pandemic, the postfeminist ideal of “having it all” became more contradictory, as women struggled to juggle work and childcare. This research, using critical discourse analysis, examines how lifestyle and explanatory journalism made sense of this problematic ideal as it became evidently untenable during the pandemic. Here, journalism operates as a discursive structure, obscuring its own complicity in sustaining postfeminist and neoliberal relations around the expectations that surround working mothers.

Research Paper • Student • Genre, the meaning of style?: Categorizing Japanese visual kei • Lucy March • This paper explores the Japanese musical movement visual kei, and how to make ontological sense of it given its sonic and visual inconsistencies. Scholars describe visual kei as a socially-driven act of resistance, and as a commercial product with consistent generic characteristics. Examination of a case study demonstrates how visual kei occupies these contradictory spaces simultaneously, and how terms like genre and subculture capture the visual kei’s hybrid nature when used in the appropriate context.

Extended Abstract • Student • Extended Abstract: Race-conscious public health: A critical discourse analysis of the Release the Pressure Campaign • Hayley Markovich, University of Florida • This study focuses on the Release the Pressure campaign aimed at addressing high blood pressure and heart disease rates among Black women in America. Through a critical discourse analysis guided by critical race theory and intersectionality, the study explores how the campaign centers race and responds to structural racism to address heart health. Analysis of the Release the Pressure campaign and its discourses provides an avenue for scholars and practitioners to create race-conscious campaigns.

Research Paper • Student • “The Day Joy Was Over:” Representation of Pregnancy Loss in the News • Zelly Martin, University of Texas at Austin • Recently, news coverage of miscarriage has exploded, fueled primarily by celebrities discussing their personal experiences. To assess discursive constructions of the miscarriage experience in legacy news and women’s magazines, a corpus of 212 articles about pregnancy loss from the New York Times, the Washington Post, People Magazine, and Us Weekly are analyzed using critical discourse analysis. Findings reveal that pregnancy loss coverage perpetuates heteropatriarchal and postracial ideology in service of the narrative of U.S. exceptionalism.

Research Paper • Faculty • India’s #MeToo Movement in Bollywood: Exposing Cultural & Societal Mores • Umana Anjalin, University of Tennessee; Abhijit Mazumdar, Park University • Against the backdrop of the #MeToo movement, aspiring actresses of the Indian film industry have revealed facing sexual harassment at the hands of male colleagues. Using feminist standpoint theory and theoretical thematic analysis of Bollywood actors’ online interviews about facing sexual harassment, this study uncovered common themes about India’s societal, cultural, and administrative mores. It also suggested a few recommendations to overcome the problem.

Extended Abstract • Faculty • Extended Abstract The One with the Anniversary, the Friends 25th Anniversary Extravaganza: A political economy approach to a postmodern pseudo-event • Gigi McNamara, University of Toledo • American broadcast television continues to redefine and reassess its business model as competition for content from steaming services intensifies. In addition, television executives and producers are awash in what I have identified as a “hyper-nostalgic” era of television with reboots and relaunches dotting the primetime landscape. Paying homage to this hyper-nostalgic moment is the publicity juggernaut surrounding the 25th anniversary of the long-running NBC show, Friends. While there are no current plans to relaunch this program with new scripted content, the anniversary event, I contend is indicative of Boorstin’s theory of the pseudo-event. Moreover, I purport the on-going celebrity status of its cast members has furthered strengthened Friends inclusion in the television canon of timeless classics. In my full paper, I will overview the evolution of this hyper-nostalgic pseudo-event and will also draw on the theories from political economy of communication scholars including Riordan, Douglas and Andrejevic. This event also proves to be the “perfect storm” in terms of integrated marketing. The hyper-nostalgic virtue signaling includes both original viewers of the show and a newer younger audience, too young to have watched in the 1990s. Marking this specific historical intersection of celebrity and commerce, Friends continues to identify a new audience, and new consumer base, in this enduring nod to the past.

Research Paper • Faculty • Investigative journalism and effects of capitalist “pathologies” on societal integration: Challenging Habermas’s “colonization” thesis • Ali Mohamed, United Arab Emirates University • “Abstract

Habermas suggests that his “colonization” thesis applies not only to individuals within organizations, but also to institutions like media. Examples Habermas offers point to the vulnerability of journalism, especially, to “market imperatives” in capitalist societies. We challenge this notion by considering the work of investigative journalists who have adapted to advanced digital information technologies in order to reveal “concealed strategic actions” by capitalist interests that operate largely beyond the democratic will-formation of the lifeworld.”

Extended Abstract • Student • Feigning Indignance, Reinstating Power: Paradigm Repair, Femicide, and the Publishing of Ingrid Escamilla’s Murdered Body • Dominique Montiel Valle; Zelly Martin, University of Texas at Austin • In this study, we shed light on the media controversy surrounding the publishing of photos of Ingrid Escamilla’s murdered body in Mexico. Using a theoretical lens that integrates paradigm repair and decolonial feminism, we interrogate how four of Mexico’s most read news publications attempted to reify their media authority in the midst of high threat. We then probe how this positioning reifies media values and institutional alliances that further and perpetuate the devaluation of women.

Research Paper • Student • That’s Why I Smoke Weed: An Analysis of #StonerMom Discourse on TikTok • Madison Mullis, University of Memphis • This research utilized Manning’s symbolic framework to gain a deeper understanding of the #StonerMom phenomenon. A textual analysis was used to examine 55 videos extracted from the “Discover” page on TikTok. The results found that the symbolic framing of drug use on TikTok draws on discourses of social inequality, subsequently reinforcing historical associations between marijuana and POC. #StonerMoms construct marijuana use as a parent-friendly activity through their social media discourse by utilizing the race-neutral term “cannabis” and by framing marijuana as a stress suppressant that helps them be more patient and attentive towards their children. As a result of privileged normalization, #StonerMoms have become complicit in the gentrification of marijuana.

Research Paper • Student • Beyond the Lens: Black Professional Athletes on Racism & the Realities of Breathing While Black • Christina Myers • “This study investigates how Black professional athletes articulate their lived experiences concerning race and racism in the United States through the online digital platform The Players’ Tribune. To explore these dynamics through Critical Race Theory, a qualitative content analysis of narratives (N=29) were analyzed. Results reveal themes of violence perpetuated by law enforcement, fear for the life of self and loved ones, identity, history of systemic racism, call for allyship, Black empowerment and unity. The researcher suggests the counter-narratives that prevail indicate a response against the predominant images and frames in mainstream mass media.

Keywords: Critical Race Theory, Black identity, Black athletes, race”

Extended Abstract • Student • Can Journalists be Activists? A Metajournalistic Discourse analysis of the relationship between Journalism and Activism • Sohana Nasrin, University of Maryland • The relationship between journalism and activism has been a complicated one (Di Salvo, 2020; Russell, 2018; Beaudoin, 2019; Camaj, 2018). Journalism scholars and practitioners have struggled to understand the purviews of the two concepts—journalism and activism. On the one hand, professional journalists have been too concerned with maintaining professional norms such as objectivity, fairness, balance, and the like and tried not to drift into activism while reporting on different issues (Boykoff & Boykoff, 2007). On the other hand, Journalism scholars have engaged in philosophical debates on whether objectivity is a precept of journalism anymore and suggested new values such as transparency (Ingram, 2020) to take its place. This often-contested relationship between journalism and activism got renewed attention, with journalists adequately and accurately covering social justice issues such as racism and scientifically complicated topics such as climate change. The rise of alternative and citizen journalism challenged traditional news media and the norms they abide by. The renewed interests in the relationship between journalism and activism necessitate scholarly attention to understand how and whether journalism and activism can co-exist as professional journalists seek to inform the public. This study attempts to understand professional journalists’ attitudes toward the relationship between journalism and activism by analyzing the metajouranlistic discourse around the topic in the United States. The metajouranlistic discourse indicated that there emerged a shifting attitude toward how professional journalists define journalism.

Extended Abstract • Student • Melodramatic Platforms: the emotional theatre of collective political storytelling on social media • Míchílín Ní Threasaigh, University of Toronto; Ali Azhar, University of Toronto; megan boler, University of Toronto • “If social media is the new digital town hall, Canadian and American democracies are in trouble. Once a site of promise for democratizing mass communication, the internet has also become a site of problematic information and polarized affect. As meta-narratives about national identity clash across social media platforms, it is urgent that we understand how new media is shaping political polarization. In this paper we seek to understand the roles of social media platforms, emotion, and narrative in shaping online civic discourse. More specifically, we ask,

1) How might we analyse social media expressions as a form of collective storytelling?

2) What is the role of emotion in the production and circulation of these polarized political meta-narratives? and,

3) What roles do social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, and Gab play in catalyzing, organizing & circulating these emotionally-charged political meta-narratives?

To answer these questions, we draw upon findings from our three-year, mixed-methods, funded study of affect and narratives of race and national belonging on social media during the 2019 Canadian and 2020 U.S. federal elections; using the January 6th Capitol Riots as a case-study in the melodramatic genre of collective political storytelling on social media.”

Research Paper • Student • Themes, ideology, and social media: A critical analysis of a US Vice President • Nana Kwame Osei Fordjour, University of New Mexico • Considering the paucity of literature in Vice-presidential research, this study analyzes the social media (Facebook) discourse of Vice President Mike Pence, the 48th Vice President of the United States (US). Employing Norman Fairclough’s (2010) three-tier Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) model, I conduct a textual analysis of the Vice President’s social media discourse to analyze the salient themes and ideologies in his Facebook posts. I observed that Vice President Mike Pence portrayed himself like a President in waiting in the wake of President Donald Trump’s impeachment hearings. In addition, findings of this current study indicated that from the ideological standpoint a mediated version of “Trumpism” was performed in the Vice President’s Facebook posts and he indicated his strong Republican values of Conservatism.

Research Paper • Faculty • Witnessing the Power of Digital Activism BTS’ Involvement Brought into the Social Movement: A Case of the Black Lives Matter • Jiwoo Park • “The Black Lives Matter movement erupted after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody during the first six months of the pandemic in the U.S. During the same timeframe, BTS was the most tweeted-about celebrity in the U.S. Through exploring a role BTS’ Twitter activity played for the social movement, this paper reflects on the nature of activism in the social media age and argues for the importance and value of digital activism.

Keywords: ARMY, BLM, BTS, Digital Activism, Slacktivism”

Extended Abstract • Student • “Extended Abstract: Narrative Formation: Black Women, Writing, and Vogue Magazine” • Rachel Parker, The University of Alabama • “Since their circulation beginning in the 18th century, women’s magazines spoke to an audience as varied as their content, including educated women to the housewife (Cramer, 1998). Focusing on subject matter that was important to their readers such as: housekeeping, careers, and marriage, women’s magazines were able to carve out their own niche for this specific market of reader whose interests was being overlooked.

This focus led to an audience showcasing a homogenous group of women in terms of values, education, and race. Focusing on one group as your audience led to the exclusion of others, particularly Black women.

This article will analyze this lack of Black women to be included in these publications as audience members as well as writers through the application of Muted Group Theory (Ardener, 1975).”

Research Paper • Faculty • Toward a Framework for Intersectional Listening In Strategic Communication • Katie Place, Quinnipiac University • This qualitative study explored the intersection of listening theory and intersectional theory to develop a framework for intersectional listening in strategic communication contexts. Interviews with 30 strategic communication professionals and executives were conducted to understand how they embody listening.

Research Paper • Student • Membership negotiation’ flow in CCO model may explain institutional bias at a nonprofit media site • Elizabeth Potter, University of Colorado Boulder • “Scholars can use the “membership negotiation” flow of McPhee & Zaug’s four-flows model of how communication constitutes organization to show how volunteer members of a nonprofit media and news production organization may be included or excluded as members of a local government institution. Aspects of the “membership negotiation” flow also can be used to illustrate how potential members are included or excluded from a volunteer news organization. Finally, the “membership negotiation” flow of the four-flows model of how communication constitutes organization can be used to theorize about how institutional bias may pervade the governmental institution of which this organization is a part.

This case study offers insights into just one way that scholars might think about how to study institutional bias. Because the four-flows model is ontological and because it draws from Giddens’s structuration theory, it has strong explanatory power that can be used to study similar organizations and organizational communication precepts in the future.”

Research Paper • Faculty • Living For—And Maybe Off—Journalism: French and American Journalists’ Career Expectations • Matthew Powers, University of Washington, Seattle; Sandra Vera-Zambrano, Universidad Iberoamericana • Drawing on Bourdieu, this paper explores journalists’ career expectations in France and the United States. Through interviews, we show that highly-resourced journalists in both countries expect to make a living doing work they love. By contrast, lesser-resourced journalists emphasize the sacrifices they make pursuing their careers. While sacrifices vary according to nationally-distinctive labor regulations, journalists in both samples find “virtues in their necessities” (Bourdieu, 1984) by highlighting the possibilities that a journalism career affords.

Research Paper • Faculty • The “major mea culpa:” Journalistic discourse when professional norms are broken • Erica Salkin, Whitworth University Department of Communication Studies; Kevin Grieves, Whitworth University • The “corrections statement” is sufficient for media organizations to address small mistakes. When larger missteps occur, however, more substantive work is needed not only to correct the record, but to protect the organization’s claim to an authentic journalistic identity. This study analyzes a sample of such “major mea culpa” statements to explore how media organizations talk about their significant professional errors and the tools they use to maintain their journalistic identities when such errors occur.

Research Paper • Faculty • Quenching the Pan-Asian Desire – Thai’s Boys’ Love, Tranculturalism, and Geolinguistic Fusion • Hong-Chi Shiau, Shih-Hsin University • “This

study attempt s to unpack the pan Asian Boys’ Love gen re phenomen on by

reading into a Thai BL hit I told Sunset about you , a coming of age story revolving

around two male protagonists in Thai Chinese diaspora. As a result of the real coming

of age drama, this BL has successfully merged two sub genres geikomi (also known as

bara) and Boys Love (BL) manga in the Japanese manga context. T h e use of shared

linguistic repertoire in Asian community is further examined. Its counter flows from

Thailand to China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea offer media scholars

an fertile ground to understand East Asian fans’ practices. While this drama is by no

means the first counter flow case, it affords media scholar s to unpack how boys love

(BL) drama can inter penetrate Asian countries rapidly that has paved the way for a

decentering of the Western dominated global mediascape, as guest editor called for

attention in this issue. Thai s producers use of new practice to engage global audiences

has also destabilized the problematic theoretical dichotomy of East/West global/local

cultural imaginary.”

Extended Abstract • Faculty • Courage and Conviction: Christopher Columbus and the Rhetorics of Cancel Culture • Brian Snee, University of Scranton • Courage and Conviction:  The True Story of Christopher Columbus follows the classic formula for apologia: vehement denial, strategic bolstering, differentiation, and a call for transcendence. The short film engages in its act of dissuasion while simultaneously performing complex commemorative work.  It evokes the past not merely to lead its audience in the act of collective remembering, but also to encourage them to forget much of that past. The film urges its audience to move on, and to allow Columbus—his holiday and his effigies—to stand. Textual analysis reveals it as example of amnestic rhetoric.

Extended Abstract • Faculty • Social Media as an essential tactical resource for police whistleblowers • Rhon Teruelle, Purdue University Northwest • This article examines social media and The Lamplighter Project on Twitter as an example of a tactical resource for police whistleblowers. While whistleblowing, the act of exposing and reporting police wrongdoing is still viewed in a negative light by the majority of law enforcement, recent incidents such as the killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor display the need to hold police accountable for their actions. Moreover, reports that some police officers were involved in the attack against America’s capitol clearly exhibits that members of law enforcement are not above committing unlawful acts. The Lamplighter Project plays a key role in providing police whistleblowers a safe space on Twitter, allowing them to report on and expose police misconduct, brutality, and malfeasance.

Extended Abstract • Student • The Framing of Other: How Framing Can Be A Postcolonial Tool For Institutional Power • Kris Vera-Phillips, Arizona State University • Framing is a function of power. This conceptual theory paper investigates how leaders and institutions use the media strategy of framing as a postcolonial tool for obtaining, maintaining, and reinforcing power. Entman (1993) identified four functions of framing: defining problems, diagnosing causes, making moral judgments, and coming up with remedies. I will take each function of framing defined by Entman, apply lessons from postcolonial studies, and show how both are reflected in demonstrations of power.

Research Paper • Faculty • The Caucasities of Portland: Theorizing White Protests for Black Lives • John Vilanova • “This article uses “Caucasity” — a portmanteau of “Caucasian” and “audacity” — to retheorize the 2020 Portland, Oregon #BlackLivesMatter uprisings.

Promoted by the comedians Desus and Mero and proliferated through Black Twitter, Caucasity is best understood as a set of privileged performance practices deployed by white people, even while protesting white supremacy.

I historicize the term and analyze viral figures from the protests, arguing for productive nuance in theorizing white action for racial justice.”

Extended Abstract • Faculty • “I Know It’s Sensitive”: Internet Filtering, Recoding, and “Sensitive-word Culture” in China • WeiMing YE; Luming Zhao • In this article, we develop “sensitive-word culture” as a new lens for understanding Internet filtering and censorship, and online cultural production in China. Using in-depth interviews with 20 Chinese Weibo users, four types of word recoding are summarized and the motivations of users for recoding practices and the power relations are demonstrated. A notable finding suggests that “sensitive-word culture” is becoming a source and hub of slang and Memes production on the Chinese network society.

Extended Abstract • Student • Hybrid Media or Mediasport? Exploring Media Portrayal of Esports Culture • Steven Young, Ph.D. Candidate • Esports are growing in popularity at a rapid pace worldwide. In contemporary society, individuals watch esports broadcasts as part of their normal media consuming practices. Esports media significantly impact audience understandings, and play an integral role in shaping public discourse about esports culture. This study focuses on Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO), which is currently the most recognized first-person shooter esport worldwide and the third most popular game across all esports genres (Irwin & Naweed, 2020). Interested in how the cultural knowledge and experience of esports are represented in media, I explored professional CS:GO esports broadcasts from two prominent professional leagues, ESL Pro League (EPL) and ELEAGUE. EPL is significant because it is longest standing professional Counter-Strike league worldwide. ELEAGUE represents the first regularly aired professional Counter-Strike league in the United States. Together, these leagues serve as active participants in creating, shaping, and molding esports culture worldwide. A thematic analysis of textual and audio-visual data from professional CS:GO broadcasts revealed that esports culture is a novel phenomenon, similar to sport, but situated within video games, and interspersed with a variety of digital media. Using traditional sports metaphors and comparisons, as well as sportscast style match coverage and gameplay reporting, EPL and ELEAGUE illustrate CS:GO as a global media-sport. At the same time, both leagues emphasize technicity and rely on gamer jargon to frame professional CS:GO as a form of hybrid media intrinsically tied to game culture. Together these representations suggest that esports culture is a “hybrid media-sport.”

Extended Abstract • Student • Celebrity Capitol and Social Movements: A Textual Analysis of Bollywood Celebrities’ Tweets on 2020-21 Indian Farmers’ Protest • Ali Zain, University of South Carolina • Building on global trend of celebrity activism and concept of celebrity capital, this study qualitatively examines Twitter posts of Bollywood celebrities about 2020-21 Indian farmers’ protest to to discover the dominant themes of favoring and opposing discourses. It was found pro-farmers celebrities used rhetorical and explanatory support while others employed celebrity capital as political support to government to oppose protesters and their supporters. Some celebrities even engaged in celebrity-shaming and name-calling in their communications.

Research Paper • postdoc • “The Virus May Have Come From…”: COVID-19 Infodemic in China and the Politics of (Mis-)Translation • Sheng Zou, University of Michigan • This article delves into the COVID-19 infodemic on China’s Internet, particularly fake news stories attributing the virus’s roots to the United States. It approaches the false origin stories as transnational and intertextual constructs, which involve practices of (mis)translating and referencing foreign source texts to paradoxically delegitimate the foreign, especially Western, Other. Through a close reading of emblematic cases, this article identifies three mistranslation maneuvers and gestures towards ways to combat fake news in the post-COVID era.

2022 Abstracts

Communication Technology Division

2022 Abstracts

Research Paper • Faculty • Aaron Atkins • The development and exploration of immersive, 360-degree virtual reality video (360VR) and its potential as a viable medium for information dissemination, has been the subject of both speculation and exploration over the last five years. As such, it becomes important to test/examine and investigate the effects the medium itself in different message contexts. This study details an experiment designed to test memory performance, persuasion and counterargument, and mediated influence in a community news context. It will use a political ideology message factor manipulation in a virtual reality, community journalism story and utilize a general public participant pool as the foundation for the study. It will also make use of the limited capacity model for motivated mediated message processing (LC4MP) as its theoretical framework. Findings include differences in memory performance between moderate and liberal participant groups, an increase in spatial presence mediated by sense of community, differences in visual and aural recall, and a ceiling effect in perceptions of journalist and message credibility. Implications and future research directions are discussed.

Research Paper • Faculty • Itai Himelboim, University of Georgia; Porismita Borah; Danielle Ka Lai Lee; Janice Lee; Yan Su; Anastasia Vishnevskaya; Xizhu Xiao • In this paper we examine Tweets related to five leading conspiracies regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. Among the 15 conspiracy elements that were coded, content that believed in the conspiracy theories were the highest; followed by malicious purpose; and content about the conspirators. Our findings from the quantitative patterns as well as from qualitative narrative coding showed the interconnections among all five conspiracy theories. Findings showed that malicious purposes and secretive actions received the highest engagement.

Research Paper • Faculty • Yuhmiin Chang • Recent survey studies have found that media multitasking had a negative effect on mood. This study, however, proposes that media multitasking can have both positive and negative effects on mood depending on the messages in the single medium. The results of the experiment demonstrate that media multitasking lead to greater mood repair through the mediation of perceived entertainment than relevant Website and lesser mood repair through the mediation of flow than Netflix sitcoms on PC.

Research Paper • Student • Ye Chen; Carolyn Lin • This study examined the effects of augmented realness and technology fluidity of (Augmented Reality)AR applications on consumers’ experience. A posttest-only between-subjects experiment was conducted to test a series of hypotheses. Findings demonstrate that both features positively influenced consumer responses through the immersion experience of flow. Specific effects on cognitive and affective response were discussed. The study contributes to theoretical building in AR marketing research and has implications to AR marketing practitioners.

Research Paper • Student • Joshua Cloudy, Texas Tech University; Jamie Banks; Nick Bowman • Artificially intelligent (AI) journalists have the potential to lower hostile media bias by activating the machine heuristic—a mental shortcut assuming machines are more unbiased, systematic, and accurate than are humans. An online experiment targeting abortion partisans found support for the prediction: an AI journalist activates the machine heuristic that, in turn, mitigates hostile media bias. This mediation effect was moderated: perceived bias was more strongly reduced as partisanship towards the issue became more extreme.

Research Paper • Faculty • Juliann Cortese, Florida State University; Mia Liza A. Lustria; Vaibhav Diwanji, Florida State University • A randomized controlled, within-subjects experiment was conducted to compare user preferences for receiving information through a tailored video website compared to a generic website. Findings suggested that participants significantly preferred the interactive video format compared to the standard format on all but two direct-comparison variables. The interactive format outperformed the generic site in terms of behavioral intentions, user engagement, user fulfillment and positive affect, with significant order effects for information evaluation and elaboration of content.

Research Paper • Faculty • KW Fu • This study empirically examines the roles of organizational and crowd activists in social movement’s action repertoires (mobilization, framing, and tactical coordination) by analyzing 4 million Telegram channel messages collected in the Hong Kong’s 2019 Anti-Extradition Law movement. The findings highlight the logic of cross-breeding metaphorically, a hyper-hybrid mode of Bennett & Segerberg’s logics of connective and collective actions, emphasizing a dynamic power-making process of the networked media in shaping contemporary social movement.

Research Paper • Faculty • Homero Gil de Zúñiga, University of Salamanca/Penn State University; Manuel Goyanes, Carlos III University; Christofer Skurka, Pennsylvania State University • Recent scholarship has devoted attention to the spread of fake news in social media, suggesting systematic viable ways to slow down the spread of misinformation. Generally, effective documented interventions rely on fake news identification and social peer corrective actions. Based on a cross-cultural, mixed method sequential design, this study further investigates 1) how citizens develop strategies to identify fake news and generate rational motivations to engage in corrective actions (Study 1, based on fifty-one in-depth adults’ interviews in Spain), and tests 2) whether traditional, social media, and fake news exposure predict taking corrective measures, as well as indirect relationships explained through individual’s news cognitive elaboration (Study 2, with US survey data). Qualitative and quantitative results highlight the distinctive news use effects over fake news corrective actions, placing some individual cognitive processes at the center of fake news counteractive behavior.

Research Paper • Postdoctoral Fellow • Zhang Hao Goh; Edson Tandoc Jr; Bin Ng • Livestreaming has gained traction in recent years, making it a billion-dollar industry. Owing to its success, most social networking sites today have integrated livestreaming functions in their platforms, as an increasing number of users broadcast, and an even bigger number watch, livestreams. What makes people watch livestreams? Studies have acknowledged how social media use (i.e., social networking) can mitigate the effects of loneliness, but due attention has yet to be given to the consumption of livestream content. Using national survey data (N = 1,606), this study demonstrates that livestream viewing has a positive influence on individuals’ well-being. Notably, the frequency of livestream viewing moderates the negative effects of loneliness on the viewers’ psychological, social, and emotional well-being. Implications of the results were discussed.

Extended Abstract • Student • PEI-CHUAN CHANG; Ying-Chia Hsu • Guided by Information Acceptance Model, this study examines information adoption in the context of social shopping by integrating two moderators, content provider motivation and social homophily. Results of structural equation modeling verify information acceptance model: As perceived information quality increases, information usefulness would also increase, boosting the likelihood of information adoption. Meanwhile, when social shoppers perceived higher similarities with the social media groups, they would be more likely to view the provided information as useful.

Research Paper • Faculty • Yu-Huay Hsu, Department of Bio-Industry Communication and Development at National Taiwan University; Shihhsien Hsu, National Taiwan University • Based on the affordance approach, this study used surveys to explore the relationship among the multi-dimensional aspects of SNS affordance (symbolic, functional, interactive), users’ perceived value, and usage loyalty. Findings indicated that site affordances contribute to perceived value and usage loyalty. Moreover, trust is a significant moderator through the mediated model of affordance and usage loyalty via perceived value. Results show that participants care about social media platforms’ offering and form value perceptions; thus, influencing their posterior behavior of commitment toward the corresponding SNSs.

Research Paper • Faculty • Li Zhong; Vincent Huang • This study explores how mobile technologies provide a communication tool to help Filipino domestic workers in Hong Kong cope with social and emotional loneliness. Findings from a survey suggest that mobile phone use was only negatively associated with social loneliness. Both problematic mobile phone use and social support mediated the negative relationship, while only problematic mobile phone use was found to mediate the positive association between mobile phone use and emotional loneliness.

Research Paper • Faculty • Liefu Jiang, Chicago State University • Through an experiment with 199 participants, this paper tested the causal relationships between perceived media reach, perceived media influence, and different levels of corrective actions on social media. Findings show that only perceived media reach can influence participants’ likelihood of taking low-level corrective actions. This paper contributes to corrective action studies by providing evidence of causality between antecedents and different levels of corrective actions, which helps researchers investigate corrective actions more accurately.

Research Paper • Faculty • Shaheen Kanthawala, University of Alabama; Jessica Maddox • “WhatsApp is a highly prevalent form of communication among people in India, with India being the app’s largest market. The app has revolutionized communication within people’s day-to-day lives in the country with discussions including a wide spectrum of topics including health. Health content on these closed platforms can have long-term and dangerous ramifications, especially since WhatsApp has often been under fire for the excessive amount of misinformation spread on the platform. In order to explore the kind of health content prevalent on the platform, we conducted 19 semi-structured, in-depth interviews with Indians over the age of 40.

Our findings highlight how most health discussions on the platform predominately involve natural remedies and alternative medication in order to build people’s immunity. However, this content is rarely verified, but people still engage with it in order to reduce feelings of uncertainty that come along with health issues (especially those in light of the COVID-19 pandemic). These ideas also give insights into the folk theories people have surrounding natural health solutions (as compared to Western medication), especially when tied together with historical and cultural narratives, and the role of the government in encouraging these beliefs.”

Research Paper • Faculty • Wonkyung Kim; Hyun Jung Oh • This study examined the process through which the quality of relationship between fans and a musician influences fans’ experience and engagement of virtual concerts. A structural equation model with the survey data collected from 248 Chinese participants highlights the importance of fan-artist relationship, perceived interactivity, presence, and enjoyment in predicting fans’ eWOM behaviors. Implications are provided on how to utilize virtual platforms and interactivity features to improve audience experience and engagement of the virtual concert.

Extended Abstract • Professional • Alex Kirkpatrick, Washington State University; Amanda Boyd; Jay Hmielowski, University of Florida • We surveyed a sample of US citizens regarding their media habits related to staying informed about artificial intelligence (AI). Results suggest that those dependent on media-systems to stay informed about AI perceive the impacts of AI to be nearer and more likely to affect people similar to them. In turn, this psychological proximity increased the chances that respondents themselves would share AI contents online. Perceived rate of technological change was found to enhance this process. Results are conceptualized in relation to Construal-level of Psychological Distances, and Media-System Dependency Theory.

Research Paper • Student • Heysung Lee, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Yibing Sun; Hernando Rojas • This research investigates relationships between engagement during live streaming, parasocial interactions (PSI), and the role of PSI as social capital promoting offline political participation, using online survey with 504 respondents in South Korea and 510 respondents in the U.S. Results shows that viewer engagement and perceived attitude homophily with the host is positively related to PSI. PSI promote political participation and political efficacy amplifies the positive effects of PSI on political participation in both countries.

Research Paper • Student • Yukyung Lee, University of Connecticut; Carolyn Lin • This study tested the effects of serial positioning of online consumer reviews on review information process and evaluation. Results suggested that consumer reviews published in the order of “lowest” to “highest” ratings alongside more positive prior brand attitude led to more systematic information processing, which was positively related to perceived review helpfulness. While perceived review helpfulness is positively associated with perceived website credibility, the latter is positively linked to intentions to shop on the website.

Research Paper • Student • Wenbo Li, The Ohio State University; Silvia Knobloch-Westerwick, The Ohio State University; Chris Cosma, The Ohio State University • News recommender system and popularity metrics (i.e., bandwagon cues) have changed how users encounter and select information. Hypotheses on resulting information exposure were derived from Sundar et al.’s (2015) TIME and Knobloch-Westerwick’s (2020) UCU frameworks. A computerized lab experiment examined how a self-representation affordance (inducing focus on self vs. others) moderates bandwagon cues’ (low vs. high numbers) impact on exposure to political messages. The results show that creating a private self-representation induced self-focus and led to more exposure to messages with high bandwagon-cues numbers than to messages with low bandwagon-cues numbers. Creating a public self-representation induced other focus and led to more exposure to messages with low bandwagon-cues numbers than to messages with high bandwagon-cues numbers. An online field study followed up and yielded similar, albeit weaker effects on information exposure. The findings underscore how user profiles and recommender systems, as on Twitter or Facebook, interact to affect information exposure.

Research Paper • Student • Fanjue Liu, University of Florida; Mo Chen; Yu-Hao Lee • Computer-generated virtual influencers today have humanlike visual representations and function like human social media influencers. Virtual influencers have been increasingly adopted as brand endorsers in influencer marketing with both successes and failures. However, little is known about how consumers would attribute the success or failure regarding virtual influencers’ endorsements. Through the theoretical lens of mind perception theory and attribution theories, this study examines how people attribute responsibility to virtual influencers when they perceive the influencer as a computer-generated virtual person versus as a human in terms of endorsement failure and success. The results of a 2 x 2 experiment showed that when the endorsement had a positive outcome, people attributed more credit to the human influencers than the virtual influencers. In contrast, when the endorsement had a negative outcome, people attributed similar responsibility levels to the human influencers and the virtual influencers. Mind perception was found to mediate the effect of source identification—virtual human versus human—on the responsibility attribution toward influencers. The findings of this research provides theoretical and practical implications for both influencer marketing and human-robot interaction research.

Research Paper • Faculty • Nancy Muturi, Kansas State University; Raluca Cozma, Kansas State University; Alec Tefertiller, Baylor University; Jacob Groshek, Kansas State University • A nationally representative online survey conducted in the United States during the initial surge of the COVID-19 pandemic examined the moderating role of civic engagement, social capital, and misinformation concerns in the relationship between media use and self-protective health behaviors. Building on the Social Exchange Theory, analyses found that while social media as a whole negatively impacts compliance with recommended health practices, certain affordances and awareness of its potential shortcomings reverse that association. Implications for theory, risk communication via traditional and social media, and public health are discussed.

Research Paper • Faculty • Mustafa Oz, The University of Tennessee Knoxville • “This study is an attempt to further understand uncivil discourse on social media platforms. Instead of solely focusing on incivility, this study distinguishes incivility from intolerance and examines these two concepts in the context of public comments on two social media platforms. More specifically, the study examines whether uncivil and intolerant comments vary based on platforms and topic sensitivity, as well as the relationship between uncivil/intolerant discourse and deliberative attributes.

According to the results, while incivility occurs in both platforms, there is a meaningful difference between Facebook and Twitter in terms of intolerant comments. Also, there is a positive relationship between topic sensitivity and intolerance. Finally, Facebook discussion 46% more likely to contain deliberative comments than Twitter discussion.”

Research Paper • Faculty • Mustafa Oz, The University of Tennessee Knoxville; Akan Yanik • Many surveillance studies used the panopticon analogy to understand the impact of government surveillance practices on political participation. In the light of Foucault’s thoughts, this study examined how the perception of government surveillance impacts Turkish social media users’ willingness to express an opinion on social media. Also, we examined whether online privacy skills and perceived majority variables moderate the relationship between perceived surveillance and willingness to speak out on social media. The results suggested that perceived surveillance is negatively related to one’s willingness to speak out. On the other hand, online privacy skills moderate the relationship between perceived surveillance and one’s willingness to speak out.

Extended Abstract • Faculty • Judith Rosenbaum, University of Maine; Benjamin Johnson, University of Florida; Jonathan Hinds • With social media seen as central to marketing, understanding how the source of a brand-related social media post impacts attitudes is critical. Building on research into electronic word-of-mouth and warranting theory, an experiment was used to compare the impact of content posted and reshared by peers, influencers, and brands on Facebook and Instagram. Results pointed to the value of third-party claims, but also revealed the interaction between the nature of the source and the platform.

Research Paper • Student • Olga Shabalina; Xiaohan Hu; Kevin Wise • Layout congruency and user experience are central predictors of visual search on social media feeds. However, our understanding of their effect on users’ online behavior and attitude towards social media platforms is underdeveloped. The present research fills this gap and explores what Pinterest users think about visual search in one-column (congruent) versus two-column (incongruent) conditions of Pinterest board layout, and how their experience primes perceived processing fluency and attitude towards visual search.

Extended Abstract • Faculty • Inyoung Shin; Hyunsook Youn • This study explores the roles of mass and social media use and personal networks in the judgment of COVID-related perceived risk among college students. Extending the impersonal hypothesis, we examine how mass media, social media, and personal networks related to college students’ risk perception at two different levels: personal and societal. Our study shows that mass media use can increase societal risk perception, whereas social media and network-related characteristics have the potential to increase both personal and societal risk perceptions.

Extended Abstract • Faculty • Brian Smith, Brigham Young University; Staci Smith; Danielle Hallows; Lauren Silva; Kateryna Kravchenko • The COVID-19 pandemic’s effects include extended use of communication technology. This study examines communication technology effects through the lens of missionaries, who faced an unprecedented new normal – the replacement of in-person proselyting with digitally-facilitated interaction. In-depth interviews with 17 participants who served as missionaries during the pandemic reveal both effects and effectiveness of communication technology, including effects on resilience mediated by uncertainty acceptance and integration of personal interest.

Research Paper • Faculty • Xu Song; Cindy T. Christen, Colorado State University • A post-test only 2x2x2 factorial between-subjects experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of gender and instant messaging experience on the organization-customer live chat communication in both schema-resonance and non-schema-resonance conditions. A convenience sample (N=261) was used. Compared to males, females used less live-chat time, demonstrated greater usage intent, and were more satisfied with live chat service, communication approach, and information provided. IM experience had a significant effect on customer intention in schema-resonance live chat.

Research Paper • Faculty • Edson Tandoc Jr; James Lee, Nanyang Technological University; Xin Ping Lee, Nanyang Technological U; Yu Xuan Joycelyn Teo, Nanyang Technological U; Chei Sian Lee, Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technlogical University, Singapore • This experimental study investigated the effectiveness of correction message sent by different group members (in-group vs out-group) and through different modes of delivery (group vs interpersonal chat) in reducing participants’ perceived credibility of online fake news. Guided by the social identity theory, this study found that correction messages sent via interpersonal channels were more effective at lowering participants’ perceived credibility of online fake news, but we found no main effect for type of sender.

Research Paper • Faculty • Jingyuan Shi; Liang Chen; Stephanie Jean Tsang • We extended the influence of presumed media influence model by taking interpersonal communication into account. Our survey (N = 642) results revealed that individuals’ attention to COVID-19 information on social media and their engagement in interpersonal communication about the disease independently and jointly affected presumed others’ attention. The more that individuals engaged in interpersonal communication, the less that their attention to mediated content factored into how they perceived others’ attention to such content. Presumed others’ attention, in turn, was positively associated with presuming that others were influenced by COVID-19 misinformation and the intention to correct, but not censor, misinformation.

Research Paper • Student • Yunwen Wang, University of Southern California; Yusi Aveva Xu; Jiaxi Wu, Boston University; Hye Min Kim, University of Southern California; Traci J. Hong, Boston University; Margaret L. McLaughlin, University of Southern California • A recent surge of e-cigarette use raised serious public concern. Drawing on Moral Foundations Theory, this study integrated computational and human strategies to disentangle vaping controversies. We conducted time-series analysis, topic modeling, classification, and chi-square tests on 2,669 public Facebook posts. Results revealed pro-vapers cited more Fairness/Cheating and Authority/Subversion than anti-vapers, while anti-vapers cited more Sanctity/Degradation. Referencing to Care/Harm as well as Loyalty/Betrayal in similar sheer volumes, the two opposing communities sometimes contextualized them differently.

Research Paper • Faculty • Yuan Wang, City University of Hong Kong; Yang Cheng, North Carolina State University • This study examines the patterns and trends of social media-related public relations (SMPR) research published in 14 journals from 2006 to 2018. It analyzes the theoretical trends (i.e., research topics, theories and theoretical models, hypotheses, and research questions), methodological trends (i.e., sample types, sampling methods, and research methods), and social media platforms used in 357 published journal articles. The results reveal the trends of SMPR articles across journal areas and stages of social media development.

Research Paper • Student • Luxuan Wang, Rutgers University; Inyoung Shin; Yi-Ta Lu • Our study examined how the unique social endorsement systems on Twitter indicating who retweets a post and how many like that post, affected perceived credibility of misinformation and sharing intention. By conducting a 2 by 2 survey experiment among 267 Twitter users, we found the relative effects of an acquaintance as a retweeter over a celebrity on misinformation credibility and retweeting intention and the presence of bandwagon cues increases information credibility and retweeting intentions.

Research Paper • Student • Yi-Ning Katherine Chen, National Chengchi University; CHIA-HO RYAN WEN, Newhouse School of Public Communications, Syracuse University • Enhancing public confidence in revolutionary technology is possibly the most consequential job of government when developing novel science, and one of the greatest obstacles is to figure out why the masses hold highly discrepant views on any specific technology. Based on previous literature, this study hypothesizes that the discordant perceptions of science arise from individuals’ intrinsic divergent world views built upon political orientations, content knowledge, perceived knowledge, and habitual consumption of scientific news. Analysing 502 survey participants, our research concludes first that the dichotomous political ideology (liberalism versus conservativism) is a feeble predictor in Taiwan’s social context and not as indicative as it is for the U.S. society. Second, content knowledge of AI predicts positive attitudes towards AI and its regulation, whereas perceived knowledge of AI predicts risk perceptions of AI. Third and finally, in accordance with content knowledge, scientific news consumption has a direct bearing on both the benefit perceptions of AI as well as its regulation support.

Extended Abstract • Faculty • David Wolfgang, Colorado State University; Manu Bhandari • Negative online reader comments on news sites can hurt journalists’ credibility but much could depend on how the comments are constructed and presented. This study considers how differences in the argument strength of negative comments and the individual’s level of media trust could influence journalist’s credibility ratings. An experimental study with 122 U.S. participants showed comment argument strength can affect a journalist’s credibility and, more importantly, media trust can influence perceived argument strength effects.

Extended Abstract • Faculty • Yuehua Wu; Jie Hu; Wu Li • Using online survey, this study examines a sample of Chinese college students to assess the relationship between online gaming intensity and real-life unethical decision-making. Results show that gaming intensity has no direct effect on unethical decision-making yet has indirect effect on it via game cheating and serial indirect effect via game cheating and moral disengagement. The relationship between these two variables is positive at low levels of peer cheating and negative at high levels.

Research Paper • Faculty • Linwan Wu, University of South Carolina; Taylor Wen, University of South Carolina • In this study, we explored the practitioner perspective of AI advertising by analyzing the articles that mention AI and its related terms from an important advertising trade publication. A computational analysis of natural language processing discovered five salient topics from these articles, including “platform/companies leverage AI in business,” “AI powers content creation,” “AI battles against human wrongdoing,” “using AI for consumer marketing,” and “exhibiting AI-involved work/cases.” We compared these topics with the existing scholarly research of AI advertising and identified the gap between academic and practitioner perspectives. Implications of this study to both researchers and professionals are discussed.

Extended Abstract • Faculty • YOWEI KANG, NTOU; KENNETH C.C. YANG, UTEP • “The convergence of mobile technologies and location-aware AR applications in museums has presented an interesting phenomenon for both researchers and practitioners to develop best practices and theoretical exploration. Particularly, the pervasive nature of mobile technologies and the heavy reliance on consumers’ locational information are two major technological advantages that make digital reality applications possible. An important question to explore is how users’ privacy concerns would affect the emerging AR applications in museums that rely on consumers’ locational information to generate location-relevant cultural contents. To better understand these relationships between consumers’ privacy concerns, consumer autonomy, and their privacy management strategies, this employed a questionnaire survey to collect empirical data from conveniently recruited 263 participants. Findings from this study did not support the role of consumer autonomy on concerns over location privacy. However, museum-goers’ own privacy concerns do predict 2 out of 3 privacy management strategies to better protect their location privacy. Theoretical and practical implications will be discussed.

Keywords: Augmented Reality (AR), Communication Privacy Management (CPM) Theory, Consumer Autonomy, Location Privacy Concerns, Privacy Management Strategies, Self-Determination Theory, Questionnaire Survey”

Extended Abstract • Faculty • Xinzhi Zhang, Hong Kong Baptist University; Dion Deng • By analyzing users’ real-time comments on the video streaming platforms—known as Danmaku comments—the present study advances research on co-commenting and distinguishes co-commenting based on the same time (two users sending comments at the same time) versus co-commenting based on the same timeline point (two users sending comments at the same points of the video’s timeline). Two co-commenting networks based on users’ danmaku commenting on Bilibili are constructed and analyzed.

Research Paper • Student • Ying Zhu; David Silva, kent State University; Michael Beam, kent State University • Internet censorship and VPN restrictions prevail in mainland China. This study investigates factors influencing overseas Chinese VPN users’ attitudes toward censorship and VPN use guided by theories of the third-person effects and social norms. Results show that third-person effects, injunctive norms, and censorship attitudes influence people’s VPN use. Both injunctive and descriptive norms influence censorship attitudes. Chinese social media use impacts people’s injunctive norms while U.S. social media use influences both injunctive and descriptive norms.

Research Paper • Student • Annalise Baines; Muhammad Ittefaq, University of Kansas; Mauryne Abwao • Using echo chambers as a framework, we analyzed 400 Parler posts using the hashtag #COVID19Vaccine and #NoCovidVaccine to understand users’ discussions through text analytics approach. Findings reveal five themes: reasons to refuse the COVID-19 vaccine, side effects of the COVID-19 vaccine, population control through the COVID-19 vaccine, children getting vaccinated without parental consent, and comparison of other health issues with COVID-19. Findings suggest users adopted various terms to express their beliefs regarding the COVID-19 vaccine.

Extended Abstract • Student • Jaewon Royce Choi; Sharon Strover, University of Texas at Austin; Soyoung Park, University of Texas at Austin; Mackenzie Schnell, University of Texas at Austin • This study examines relatively understudied aspect in disinformation research: affective nature of contents. We investigate the visual elements of images used in the Facebook ads purchased by Russian Internet Research Agency (IRA). Following systemic functional visual semiotic theory, visual elements of gaze, social distance, and efficacy statement were coded for images in IRA Facebook ads. Multiple regression analysis reveals significant joint effects of these visual elements and political leaning of ads on IRA ad engagements.

Extended Abstract • Student • Lingbo Gan; Peng Xu • This study examines the types and motivations of Chinese elderly adults using social media to share health information through in-depth interviews. Chinese elderly adults tend to share health information about healthcare and specific diseases through group and private chats with their strong relationships. This study concludes five motives for Chinese elderly to share information, and categorizes them according to relationships and information appeal. The cultural traits and local psychology behind the behaviors are also discussed.

Research Paper • Student • Ashley Hedrick • This paper uses interviews with 15 One Direction fanfiction writers on Wattpad.com to learn more about the interactions between Wattpad’s technological affordances and fans’ erotic writing about “bad boy” characters. Fanfiction bad boys often mistreat women, sometimes escalating to sexual coercion. While the popularity of erotic writing decreased teen girl writers’ internalized stigma regarding sex, some young writers learned to seek out bad boys in real life romantic relationships.

Research Paper • Student • Mengru Sun, Zhejiang University; WEI HUANG; Wencai Hu • The proposed perception-behavior linkage effect in present study bridges the gap between perceptions of social media affordances and behaviors, shedding new light on how disclosure perceptions may trigger communication behavior in CMC. Based on Hyperpersonal communication model, it was found that asynchronicity indirectly influence the self-disclosure processes through the affordance of editability, whereby the intensified perception of asynchronicity (or anonymity) could lead to stronger perception of editability as well as more amount of disclosure and depth of disclosure. Meanwhile, the relationship between perception of asynchronicity (or anonymity) and perception of editability was contingency depend on the frequency of social media use. More specifically, suggested by cognitive load theory, the working memory would decay the self-disclosure amount as the increase use of social media. The results are critical to understanding the dynamics and opportunities of self-disclosure in social media services that vary levels of identification and types of audience.

Research Paper • Student • Muhammad Fahad Humayun, U of Colorado-Boulder • Previous research has concluded that online social network sites (SNS) may be benefiting their users by connecting and communicating with others (Donath & Boyd, 2004; Subrahmanyam & Greenfield, 2008) while there is also a growing body of research focusing on social media and privacy concerns (Bode, 2012). In this study, we aim to demonstrate that privacy concerns might limit political participation online using a convenience based sample. Through previous literature review, we hypothesized that a) Individual privacy concerns will predict lower levels of online political participation, b) Individuals’ privacy concerns will predict lower levels of the political use of Facebook, c) Individuals’ privacy concerns will predict higher levels of the political use of Instagram d) Individuals’ privacy concerns will predict lower levels of the political use of Twitter. Results show that the privacy concerns of citizens predict lower political participation on the Internet in general along with Facebook and Twitter but predict higher participation on Instagram.

Extended Abstract • Student • Fanjue Liu, University of Florida; Mo Chen • COVID-19 is fundamentally changing the way people connect, collaborate and socialize. With the ongoing pandemic amplifying people’s feeling of loneliness, technology has been integrated into peoples’ lives and used to solve challenges induced by social distancing and quarantines. Specifically, voice assistants are growing as a pandemic-era staple. Combining the uses and gratification approach and three-factor theory of anthropomorphism, this study investigates the psychological factors underlying the interaction between users and voice assistants that motivate users to anthropomorphize voice assistants, and tests whether the lack of sociality during COVID-19 pandemic motivates people to regain the feeling of connectedness through anthropomorphizing voice assistants.

Research Paper • Student • Muira McCammon • This study examines how government agencies negotiate and navigate what is appropriate for users acting on behalf of the U.S. administrative state to say. It traces the digital labor of government employees tasked with intervening when official government social media accounts amplify inappropriate content. The analytical framework proposed—government content moderation—is meant to extend understandings of how digital workers at government institutions negotiate the continued importance of information technology in promoting organizational identity.

Research Paper • Faculty • Emily McCaul, Virginia Tech; Jocelyn Hotter, Virginia Tech; Jess King, Virginia Tech; Jenna Davis • Brands increasingly utilize Instagram influencers as a digital marketing tool, because influencers have shown to be effective in engaging customers by offering them relatability and trustworthiness online via digital communication, as suggested by source credibility theory. This study seeks to explore the questions: How do Instagram users identify an Instagram influence, and what factors communicate to the consumer that a user carries “influence?” In this experiment, a 2×2 factorial design is used to present participants with two visual cues: follower counts and verification badges. Then, participants’ attitudes towards the product, attitudes towards the influencer and purchasing intentions are measured via a questionnaire. The results of this study found no significant interactions between the independent variables (i.e., follower count and verification badge) and the attitude towards the product, attitude towards the influencer’s credibility, or purchasing intention. These results carry implications for source credibility of influencers, as this study suggests, that perhaps follower count and verification badges do not play as big of a role in determining an audience’s trust and relatability to an influencer.

Research Paper • Student • Anneleen Meeus, KULeuven • This cross-sectional study examined how preadolescents’ different (i.e.,real and false) online self-presentation strategies are associated with their appearance-related perceptions. Results (n=638;52.4% girls,Mage=10.94,SDage=0.85) showed that when preadolescents engaged in more truthful self-presentations, they also felt more positive about their appearance. A significant moderation effect was found for social feedback, with the association becoming stronger as online popularity (e.g., likes) increased. Conversely, false self-presentation was negatively related to appearance-related perceptions, while no significant interaction effect was found.

Research Paper • Student • Jessica Wyers, Louisiana State University; Ayla Oden, Louisiana State University • Although the divide in terms of technological access has largely been flattened, there remain large disparities in digital and online privacy literacy. Individuals with lower rates of digital literacy are often more vulnerable to online surveillance and privacy invasion threats. Using 2019 data collected by the Pew Research Center, this study investigates how digital literacy can play a mediating role in the perceived understanding of online institutional threats by the government and private companies.

Extended Abstract • Student • Giang V. Pham, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign • This study examines the process through which flow absorbs media users’ attentional resources and results in a cost of time and effort for goals outside of the flow-inducing activity. An eye-tracking experiment is conducted to observe how video game players– who were assigned a single goal or multiple goals– allocate their attention to the game vs. to external cues. The findings will enhance the understanding of flow’s negative aspects and technology that alleviates flow costs for users.

Research Paper • Student • Caleb Porter, Brigham Young University; Camilla Owens; Ljubica Ivanović • Clubhouse is a new anonymous, audio-only, invitation-only communication technology. In the year since its inception it has amassed an enormous following. The current study seeks to build foundational knowledge on Clubhouse user’s motivations for use, in accordance with the Uses and Gratifications theory. A big data, computational content analysis was performed using text mining to evaluate the conversation surrounding Clubhouse on Twitter. Results showed “communication utility” and “exclusivity,” among others, as key motivators for use.

Research Paper • Student • Mingzhen Megan Tan; Bing Ming Woo; Dilys Ting Ying Woon • This study investigates the role of multimodal disinformation and fact-checks on message credibility and the intention to share disinformation online. Using the Heuristic Systematic Model (HSM) to control for variables that could impact credibility perceptions, this study features a 2 x 2 factorial design conducted on a Singapore sample (N = 205). The results show that multimodal fact-checks are more effective than monomodal fact-checks in debunking disinformation, with its impact mediated by message credibility.

Research Paper • Student • RYAN TAN, Pennsylvania State University; Cheng Chen • Discord is a videogame-related social platform allowing gamers to join or host and customize chat servers. Customization allows each server to have a unique interface design. With the thousands of servers currently run by players and various corporations, why are some Discord servers more popular than others? We explored these questions through an online experiment (N = 130) coupled with a content analysis of Discord servers’ interface elements at varying levels of popularity. We discovered that players perceived lower community-building opportunities in the presence of automated role assignment and role restricted channels but these perceptions were elevated in the presence of hierarchical roles in the member-list and voice channels. These perceptions of community-building further influenced users’ attitudes and behavioral intention towards the server. These findings have theoretical implications for building an integrated model of new technology adoption as well as practical implications for building better platforms for game communities.

Research Paper • Student • Dongya Wang; Yang Liu • The prevalence of masculinity on gay dating apps has negative impacts on gay men’s mental health. When cruising on gay dating apps, gay men often encountered the representation of masculinity from other users, which in turn provoked their own masculinity consciousness. Given masculinity consciousness’ association with internalized homophobia, gay dating apps use may further deteriorate gay men’s mental health. However, few studies have been conducted in the Chinese context. The current study utilized an online survey to examine how gay dating apps use influenced gay men’s depressive symptoms in the Chinese gay community in the neoliberal era. Eventually, 236 eligible participants were recruited via snowball sampling. The results demonstrated the positive relationship between gay dating apps use and users’ depressive symptoms. Moreover, the mediation effect that masculinity consciousness and internalized homophobia respectively had on gay dating apps use and depressive symptoms were demonstrated. Those findings called for attention to the negative impact of heave gay dating apps use, the prevalence of masculinity consciousness and internalized homophobia had on users’ mental health.

Research Paper • Student • Wenting Yu • The actions that news audiences take to verify news bear great theoretical and practical relevance to journalism and communication studies. In existing literature, there is no standardized scale for measuring news verification behavior. The purpose of this study is to develop and to validate a multidimensional scale of news verification. The model is developed based on U.S participants, and then validated with Sweden samples. The results show that news verification can be considered a hierarchical factor (of second-order), which consists of three lower-order factors: message elements, social cues, and third-party sources. This model is the first news verification behaviour measurement scale developed with validation in communication research.

Research Paper • Student • Ali Zain, University of South Carolina • This study uses the theory of planned behavior to predict individuals’ intentions to quit social media. Attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control significantly predicted intentions to quit social media, accounting for 68 percent of variance among participants (N = 525) representing the US census data. Political partisanship and belief in misinformation were also slightly increasing predictability of the TPB, indicating that they can be used as moderators or antecedents of subjective norms in future.

Research Paper • Faculty • Yulou Jiang, Beijing Normal University; Wanci Li, Beijing Normal University; Jing Lu, Beijing Normal University; Yicheng Zhu, Beijing Normal University; Anan Wan, Kansas State University • Combining gamified interfaces with popular online influencers, Social Livestream Shopping (SLS) has emerged recently as a powerful format of online marketing in East Asian societies and the West. This paper explores the effect of gamification and influencer perception on Chinese college students’ competitive arousal and impulsive buying tendency. Building on S-O-R model and Competitive Arousal Model, our path analysis found gamification and influencer perception influences competitive arousal through the mediation of immersion.

2022 Abstracts

Visual Communication Division

2021 Abstracts

Research Paper • Student • Mohammad Ali, Syracuse University; Dennis Kinsey, Syracuse University • Crisis Management in this Visual Era: How People Perceive a Crisis-hit Brand Through News Media Pictures • Visuals in a crisis phenomenon remain largely understudied. This paper analyzes the post-crisis pictures relating to the 2020 Mauritius oil-spill incident. Utilizing Q Methodology, designed to understand people’s subjective perceptions, we identify at least two groups of people who had variant perceptions of recognizing various pictures as (un)forgiving of this crisis-hit Japanese company. The Attribution Theory is used to explain what pictures are more likely to shift people’s perceived crisis responsibility attributions toward the company.

Research Paper • Student • Christopher T. Assaf, UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN • Video [Dis]Convergence and Discernable Logocentrism: Visual Journalists’ Experience during Video Implementation • This project examines visual journalists’ experience with legacy print leaders’ logocentrism during video platform implementation. Recognizing video’s potential as a digital-disruption solution, with prospects for increasing revenue and reaching new audiences, organizational leaders chose individual photojournalists for still and video platform convergence. Adhering to a word-centric ideology, leadership underestimated guidance, communication, and knowledge factors, creating uncertainty and slowing adoption. Collected through 14 interviews with visual journalists and viewed through Rogers’ (2003) diffusion of innovations theory.

Extended Abstract • Student • Alejandro Bruna, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile • Extended abstract – From “Betty, la fea” to “Betty in NY” – the impact of digital storytelling on telenovelas • This work investigates whether digital narrative (or “digital storytelling”) affects visual language and structure of Latin America’s most relevant television product: telenovelas. Using the most successful telenovela in television history (Ugly Betty) two versions were analyzed at a dramatic and narrative level: the original Colombian version (Yo soy Betty, la fea) and its most recent adaptation (Betty in NY). Findings show that digital narrative influences the melodramatic matrix of telenovelas, themes, motivations, plot and situations.

Extended Abstract • Faculty • Sungwon Chung, Ball State University; Johnny Sparks, Ball State University • Extended Abstract: Cognitive and Attitudinal Processing of Visual Frames in 360-Degree Environmental Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Messages • This experiment examined the influence of visual content frames (gain vs. loss) and presentation modality (non-360 vs. 360-degree videos) on cognitive and attitudinal processing of environmental corporate social responsibility (eCSR) messages on viewers’ memory and attitudes. Frame and modality influenced storage (cued recall) of company names, but only modality influenced encoding (recognition) of company names. However, neither frame nor modality affected encoding of company logos. Content frame also impacted perceived message effectiveness.

Extended Abstract • Student • Umberto Famulari, Indiana University Bloomington; Lesa Hatley Major; Osman Mohamed Osman • Visualizing criminal jury trials: A quantitative content analysis of images in U.S. news outlets • “This study will contribute to the scholarship of visual framing and journalism by analyzing for the first time how U.S. news outlets visually represented criminal jury trials in the last eighty years. Drawing from visual framing theory (Coleman, 2010; Bock, 2020), the images that accompanied all the news stories about criminal jury trials from 1940 to 2020 were analyzed at the denotative and stylistic level (Rodriguez and Dimitrova, 2011).

Preliminary findings showed differences between different types of news outlets (national U.S. televisions, cable news, local news outlets and newspapers) in relation to how defendants, victims and jurors were portrayed in terms of gender, race, emotions and camera distance used. Implications of the study were discussed and analyzed.”

Research Paper • Faculty • Robin Hoecker, DePaul University • Paradise or propaganda? Jack Delano’s FSA images of public housing in Chicago • This study looks at Jack Delano’s 1942 photographs of the Ida B. Wells homes in Chicago, and how they shaped narratives of public housing and wartime propaganda. Delano’s photographs show well-dressed Black families in immaculate, furnished apartments, with structured community programs. These images are part of the U.S. government-sponsored photography project of the Farm Security Administration, later Office of War Information, that documented life among working class Americans between 1935-1944.

Research Paper • Student • Omneya Ibrahim, The University of Texas at Austin; Shahira Fahmy, The American University in Cairo • Revealing the Veil in Internet Memes and GIFs: A Comparative Framing and Stereotyping Analysis • This study bridges a gap in visual communication research based on an integrative framing analysis of internet memes and GIFs using the hashtag #Hijab following the 2019 attacks on Muslim mosques in New Zealand. We analyzed both the textual and visual elements used in these digital tools to unravel their framing and stereotyping of veil. While significant differences between memes and GIFs existed, both tools displayed support for the hijab, revealing clear patterns regarding a new progressive image of hijabi women in the contemporary digital environment. Findings show that memes and GIFs challenge the traditional stereotyping and submissive image of Muslim women that has long been portrayed in media. They also suggest that memes and GIFs are each unique and, although sometimes regarded as one by scholars, ought to be evaluated and examined separately and independently from each another in future research.

Research Paper • Faculty • Jin Kim, The College of Saint Rose • Crisis of Cosmopolitan Citizenship in Hong Sang-soo’s Films • Drawing on complex narrative as a heuristic tool, this study aims to provide one reading about narrative structure of Korean director Hong Sang-soo’s films. While his movies seemingly lack logic and coherency, the Korean auteur creates a unique sense of meaningless, intuition, and fragile memory in his movies. Examining similarities and differences among his 2017 and 2018 movies (The Day After, Grass, Hotel By The River, and Claire’s Camera), one of the major arguments of this study is that Hong’s film narratives consist of repetition, fragmentation, looped causalities, lucid subjectivities and, multiple universes. While Hong might defy ideological-social analysis of his films, one of the major arguments in this study is that is resistance against spatial-temporal linearity and narrative consistency is symptomatic to understand crisis of citizenship within global pandemic and political turmoil.

Extended Abstract • Student • William Kohler, Southern Illinois University; Yuhosua Ryoo, Southern Illinois University • Truly Korean? A Quantitative Study of Film Style Under a Colonial System • Was Korean cinema identical to or distinct from Japanese cinema in its use of film techniques during the colonial period? Using a statistical style analysis, we demonstrated that the two are different in every stylistic category, including sound, cinematography, editing, and mise-en-scene. We concluded that Korean films retained their own film style and identity under colonization and should be considered just as truly Korean as films from any other period.

Extended Abstract • Student • Anat Leshnick, University of Colorado boulder; Rivka Ribak • A powerful, spiritual, win-win situation: Commercial authenticity in professional birth photography • Online repositories of professional birth photography present a radical alternative to the medicalized depiction of birth in commercial reality programs. Arguably, birth photographers allow women to see birth and learn about it, document it from their own perspective, and share this personally significant event in the public sphere. However, these images are produced and consumed within a market economy in which notions of resistance – and compliance – appear naïve (Banet-Weiser, 2012). From this perspective, rather than medicalized as opposed to natural, and rather than passive as opposed to resistant, we propose to see birth photography as a site of commercial authenticity, in which birth photographers and birthing women co-produce a neoliberal birth story that is at once liberating and cynical. Drawing on interviews with nine birth photographers and nine women who hired photographers to document their birth, we explore the ways in which these artisans develop professional and aesthetic practices that distinguish them from others in the delivery room, highlighting the complicated ways in which authenticity is created and sold in contemporary cultural production.

Research Paper • Student • Ajia Meux, University of Oklahoma • Constructing Love: Visual Representation of Blackness in the Obama Marriage • A content analysis of 346 images was employed to study differences in racial presentations of Barack and Michelle Obama between the White House and African American media. The literature on symbolic interactionism, presidential and first lady presentation, African marriage, minority media, framing and visual representation suggested that there would be differences by medium in portrayals of the president and first lady on racial variables (egalitarianism, marital affection, racialist, ethnic/cultural, kinship, political). Findings indicate that, across White House and African American media, the couple were often presented as egalitarian and affectionate. Statistical testing indicate that African American media were significantly more likely to depict Michelle Obama with racialist elements and the Obamas as a happy and affectionate married couple than the White House. A contradictory finding indicated that the White House was significantly more likely to focus on the extended family bonds of African Americans by depicting the Obamas in the presence of other black people. This study is important because the Obamas are the first ethnic minority to hold the offices of president and first lady of the United States, and this study is the first to explore the two as an African American married couple. Findings extends research on how minority media help construct reality for their audiences and have implications for new White House image management strategies of presidents and first ladies.

Research Paper • Faculty • Danielle Kilgo, University of Minnesota; Robert F. Potter; Ryan Comfort, Indiana University • A Winning Combination: Effects of Visual Frames in Solutions Journalism Stories • Solutions journalism approaches in recent years have tried to combat pessimistic and avoidant responses in audiences by producing stories about social issues that also focus on attempts to solve the problems. Although scholarship on visuals in solutions journalism has lagged behind research about text, some studies have shown that visual framing emphasizing solutions leads to higher levels of narrative engagement and behavioral intentions (Dahmen, Their & Walth, 2019) and lower levels of negative affect (McIntyre, Lough & Manzanares, 2018) than visual framing emphasizing problems. This study adds to theory about visual frames in solutions journalism with an online 2 (story topic: drug addiction, homelessness) x 4 (visual frame condition: no photo, solutions only, problems only, combination) mixed design experiment that investigated the question of what visual frame might arouse the ideal mix of affective responses to leave people concerned and interested in solutions journalism stories. The results have implications for visual communication theory and for photojournalism practice.

Research Paper • Faculty • Chunbo Ren, Central Michigan University; Viorela Dan • Frames and Journalistic Roles in Chinese Reporting on HIV: Insights from a Content Analysis and Qualitative Interviews Focused on the Verbal and Visual Modalities • Extant work largely neglects visuals’ contribution to news framing and how journalists perform their professional roles. We address this research gap in two studies, and use HIV reporting in China as a test case. Study 1, a content analysis in seven newspapers (2000-2015), shed light on how words and visuals suggest different frames and journalistic roles. Study 2 used in-depth interviews with journalists to contextualize the findings in Study 1, especially on the word-visuals rapport.

Research Paper • Student • Yimeng Sun, New York University; Hiu Yan Ping; Lei Guo; Boqi Chen, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; David Assefa Tofu • Cross-Platform Visual Framing: Climate Visuals on News Websites and Twitter • To examine how the U.S. news media visually frame climate change, the study investigates how news media of different political orientations frame the issue differently across media platforms. We used content analysis to analyze 761 images covering climate change from news websites and Twitter. The results show that major U.S. news media of different political orientations used different visual elements to frame the issue, including various image types and image subjects.

Extended Abstract • Faculty • Keith Greenwood; Ryan Thomas; Cory Macneil • What “Lens-Based Workers” Are Owed: An Exploration of the Photo Bill of Rights • This study will examine the Photo Bill of Rights, a recent initiative that centers the rights of “lens-based workers” and which presents an opportunity to evaluate the position of photojournalism within an evolving society. Through a textual analysis of the Bill’s contents, and a comparison with traditional ethical codes, the paper argues that the Bill represents a challenge to existing frameworks about what journalists owe the public by focusing on what journalists are themselves owed.

Extended Abstract • Faculty • Darryl Frazier; Fred Vultee, Wayne State University • Extended Abstract: Ye Olde Europa Gin Mill: How war looked in isolationist cartoons of 1941 • This paper uses fantasy theme analysis to examine the rhetorical vision created by cartoonists for three major isolationist newspapers in the months leading up to US entry in the Second World War. These cartoons draw on both indexical and allusive properties to challenge or reinforce interpretations of current events, whether it is Uncle Sam stumbling toward a fight in someone else’s bar or a brave Charles Lindbergh landing at an unfriendly field.

Research Paper • Student • Yiting Wang, University of Hawai’i at Mānoa • Multimodal Analysis: Researching Short-form Videos and the Theatrical Practices • “Short-form video is one of the major approaches for people to present themselves on visual social media, such as TikTok. What is behind this type of visual communication? With the emerging field of social media and performance studies, can theatrical or performative discourse make sense of the video data? What would be a good method to study user-generated short-form videos (UGSVs)?

Digital living is performative, and theater is often integrated with social or political practices. This paper uses multimodal analysis for video analysis and draws concepts and practices from Chinese and western theater. Building on three theories (situation, suspense, and mimesis) in which the ontology of theater is often discussed, this paper demonstrates the modes and modalities of five videos originating from TikTok. The preliminary findings suggest three types of suspense and three types of mimesis practices that respectively answer how attention of audiences is retained, and how and why videos are reproduced and disseminated. We argue that imitation as a phenomenon and as a process can generate memes, and memes in turn invites more imitation. The crux at the back are the video practices that ridicule and critique, when different levels of resistance to politics, authority, or societal classes are shown.

Video analysis, under today’s ubiquitous visual data, requires robust updates. In addition to the contribution of a performative and theatrical perspective for the sense-making of short-form videos, this paper also contributes to the methods of video analysis in general and video analysis by using modes and multimodalities.”

Extended Abstract • Student • Frankie Ho Chun Wong • Extended abstract: [Multifaceted protest paradigm: the visual coverage of the 2019 Hong Kong protests in international news] • This study probed into the intersection between the protest paradigm and influence from national interests in news images, crucial in nonverbal news framing, in international news. International outlets’ visuals in reporting an iconic episode in the 2019 Hong Kong protests were comparatively investigated through framing and critical discourse analysis. Results suggest visual news frames consisted of spectacles but not explaining underlying causes, yet showing a between-outlet variance where frames reflected outlets’ political values at home.

Extended Abstract • Faculty • Shannon Zenner, Elon University • That’s a Good Sign: The Typography and Design of Political Yard Signs • Most political communication researchers have focused on the textual content of political messaging, while ignoring how that same text is conveyed visually. This study is a content analysis of yard signs (n=151) posted in North Carolina during the November 2019 and March 2020 elections and the typography and colors used in those yard signs. Preliminary analysis indicates an overall preference for sans serif, all “caps” treatments but with some compelling differences by political party.

<2021 Abstracts

Public Relations Division

2021 Abstracts

Research Paper • Faculty • Award submission: Doug Newsome • Donnalyn Pompper, university of oregon; Eric Kwame Adae, Drake University • Public Relations and Sustainability across the African Continent: Using Afro-Centric Philosophies to Remember What’s Been ‘Forgotten or Lost’ • Assuring sustainability across the African continent – the cradle of humankind – is an ethical public relations responsibility. There is insufficient research about public relations as a tool for supporting sustainability goals across the world’s second-largest and second-most populous continent (Volk, 2017); one that the rest of the planet relies upon for forests serving as “lungs of the world” (Fleshman, 2008). To begin filling the gap, we address challenges of making sustainability happen here, given a long history of negative colonial and neocolonial forces operating in many of Africa’s nations. Despite these impediments, enduring are indigenous, pre-colonial Afro-centric philosophies of communalism/collectivism and harmony with the natural environment that support sustainability efforts. We interrogate six indigenous philosophies which resonate with values that make contemporary public relations ethical. We discuss why professional public relations shaped by Afro-centric philosophies is welcomed, globally, and is critical for addressing sustainability across the continent.

Research Paper • Student • Award submission: Doug Newsome • Erika Schneider, University of Missori • From Saving Face to Saving Lives: Prioritizing the Public in Public Relations • Traditional crisis communication literature emphasizes how organizations use communication to protect reputation by shifting attributions of crisis responsibility. The purpose of this study is to reevaluate this approach by comparing proposed framework strategies that serve to protect stakeholders with reputational messaging. Findings from this between-subjects experimental design study provide insight on how informed organizational decision-making, such as corrective action and organizational learning, can reduce feelings of anger while prioritizing stakeholder wellbeing in public relations.

Research Paper • Student • Award submission: Race & Public Relations • Drew T. Ashby-King, University of Maryland • Racism and Social Issues Management: Examining State Universities’ Responses to the Killing of George Floyd • Colleges and universities are social institutions often called on speak about social issues, such as responding to instances of racism on campus. Critics have suggested that when responding instances of racism on their campus, institutional leaders often ignore the racist act and harm caused and focus their discourse on diversity and inclusion. Considering this critique, this study used social issues management as a framework to explore how state flagship universities in the United States (U.S.) responded to an instance of racism that did not occur on their campuses. A qualitative analysis of all 50 U.S. state flagship universities’ initial public statement in response to the police killing of George Floyd led to three key findings: (1) institutions were made to speak on the issue by larger social discourse; (2) through their statements institutions (re)defined the issue as one of diversity and inclusion rather than racism and police brutality; and (3) guided by the logic of whiteness institutions legitimized their definition of the issue. Based on these findings, I argue that the initial conceptualization of social issues management did not adequality consider the power organizations have to define social issues through their discourse. Therefore, I conclude by suggesting an approach to social issues management that centers those most effected by the issue in order to promote social justice.

Research Paper • Student • Award submission: Race & Public Relations • Ryan Comfort, Indiana University • Rethinking cultural factors in government communication: A survey of environmental professionals working for indigenous governments • This study examined the use of and attitudes towards communication media by environmental and natural resource management personnel employed by indigenous nations in the U.S. Survey data on professionals’ use of media, attitudes, and perceived obstacles to better use of media for science & environmental communication revealed that concerns about sharing cultural ecological information may carry significant weight in the communication decision making process of indigenous environmental agencies.

Research Paper • Faculty • Award submission: Race & Public Relations • Tiffany Gallicano, UNC Charlotte; Olivia Lawless; Abagail Higgins; Samira Shaikh; Sara Levens • The Hybrid Firestorm: A Qualitative Study of Black Lives Matter Activism and the COVID-19 Pandemic • The combination of a global pandemic and an ignited social justice movement has created a saturated digital environment in which people turn to social media to navigate a hybrid firestorm fueled by both the Black Lives Matter movement and the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the circuit of culture has been studied in the context of a pandemic (Curtin & Gaither, 2006) and digital activism (Han & Zhang, 2009), research using any theoretical model to study a hybrid firestorm could not be found. This study consists of interviews with 25 participants involving their experiences in the hybrid firestorm. The circuit of culture is used, which is a model composed of five moments, to explore how meaning is created, interpreted, and contested in the context of a social justice movement and a global pandemic.

Research Paper • Faculty • Award submission: Race & Public Relations • Yeunjae Lee, University of Miami; Jo-Yun Li • Discriminated Against but Engaged: The Role of Communicative Behaviors of Racial Minority Employees • Grounded in the situational theory of problem-solving (STOPS), two survey studies investigated how racial minority employees in the U.S. perceive and communicate about the discriminatory situation within their organizations and how it affects their engagement levels. In Study 1 (N = 461), experiences and observance of both formal and informal discriminatory acts at work reduced racial minority employees’ engagement level, while their situational perceptions increased their communicative behaviors toward direct supervisor and peers, respectively. Communicative behaviors with supervisors, not peers, in turn, increased their engagement. Study 2 (N = 454) replicated and extended Study 1 in different contexts, revealing the moderating role of a diverse climate in increasing racial minority employees’ problem and involvement recognition and decreasing their constraint recognition about workplace discrimination situation. Theoretical and practical implications for race in public relations are discussed.

Research Paper • Faculty • Award submission: Race & Public Relations • Yvette Sterbenk, Ithaca College; Jamie Ward, EMU; Regina Luttrell; Summer Shelton, Idaho State University • Silence Has No Place A Framing Analysis of Corporate Sociopolitical Activism Statements • This study used a quantitative framing analysis to examine the company statements delivered by 105 Fortune 500 companies across 21 sectors in June 2020 in response to three social justice issues that took prominence that month in the United States: Black Lives Matter, immigration laws, and LGBTQ rights. The study uncovered which companies and sectors did not make statements, and, among those that did, what messages were most common.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Lindsey Anderson, University of Maryland • Serving Public Interests and Enacting Organizational Values: An Examination of Public Interest Relations through AARP’s Tele-Town Halls • Public interest relations (PIR) is an approach to public relations scholarship and practice that contributes to the social good by integrating the concept of public interest into organizational goals and values. The need for PIR was emphasized during the COVID-19 pandemic as publics looked to organizations for information about a variety of topics (e.g., symptoms, vaccines). AARP created a series of tele-townhalls to communicate with its publics, who are considered to be members of a “vulnerable population” during the pandemic. In order to understand how AARP’s Coronavirus Tele-Town Halls reflected the practices of PIR, I completed a critical thematic analysis of 28 virtual sessions that were hosted in 2020-2021. The analysis, which was guided by the tenets of PIR, found that AARP’s communication (1) highlighted common life course milestones of its publics, (2) emphasized the quality of the information, and (3) provided avenues to engage with the organization and its experts. Based on these findings, I developed theoretical implications that reflect a critical perspective on PIR and suggest future research avenues that seek to build this ethical and socially meaningful approach to public relations.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Song AO, University of Macau; XIAO QIAN, University of Macau • Understanding the implementation of Enterprise Social Media on Employee Communication: An Affordance Perspective • The research adopts the technological affordance approach to examine the role of enterprise social media (ESM) in employee communication in the context of mainland China. The research postulated that organizations can actualize affordances of ESM to achieve certain goals. Using Enterprise WeChat (EWeChat) as the example, the research interviewed 37 participants to explore organizational goals and actions of EWeChat affordance actualization in mainland China. Thirteen EWeChat affordances and means of actualization (i.e., association, control, diversity, feedback, outeraction, perpetual contact, persistence, personalization, portability, privacy, social presence, synchronicity, and visibility) for specific organizational goals were identified. The research explicates ESM affordance actualization as the interaction between ESM and organizations, and also between ESM and employees. The research sheds light on how organizations in mainland China can effectively configure their ESM for certain purposes of its mobile application in employee communication.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Anita Atwell Seate, University of Maryland; Brooke Liu, University of Maryland; Samantha Stanley; Yumin Yan; Allison Chatham, University of Maryland • Relational Tensions and Publics during Disasters: Investigating Organizational Relationships Ethnographically • Relationships are essential for a fully functioning society. Through a multi-sited rapid ethnography, we show how organizations achieve their mission through organizational partners and active publics in the context of disasters. We provide insights into relational tensions that occur in organization-public relationships (OPRs) and how communication can address those relational tensions. In doing so, we answer calls for broadening methodologies to examine OPRs. Overall, we demonstrate the value of continuing to theorize the network approach.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Brandon Boatwright • Exploring Online Opinion Leadership: An Analysis of the Influential Users on Twitter During the Online Conversation Around Anthem Protests by Prominent Athletes • The current study explores the role of online opinion leaders on Twitter in conversations around anthem protests by prominent athletes. The aim of the study is twofold: (1) identify the influential opinion leaders in Twitter conversations related to Colin Kaepernick and Megan Rapinoe, and (2) further understand how and why social media users participate in conversations online about controversial subjects. Ultimately, results from this study extend the network paradigm in public relations research by examining the role of individual users in the construction of a discursive landscape of issue networks. The study combines social network analysis with in-depth interviews in order to adopt a more wholistic framework for studying online opinion leadership in the context of public relations research.

Extended Abstract • Faculty • Open Competition • Denise Bortree, Penn State University; Michail Vafeiadis; Pratiti Diddi, Lamar University; Ryan Wang • Extended abstract: Promoting diversity and inclusion: How Fortune 500 companies talk about diversity on Twitter • This study examines more than 11,000 tweets on diversity topics posted by Fortune 500 companies in 2019. It identifies the 18 most common topics in six general areas – workplace diversity/inclusion, gender/women, sexual orientation, race/ethnicity, disability and activism. Corporations with higher CSR ratings tend to post more diversity-related tweets. Analysis suggests that companies tend to use different topics in original posts and retweets/replies/comments on diversity. Engagement rates on diversity topics vary widely.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Luke Capizzo, James Madison University; Meredith Feinman • Extending civic values in architectures of listening: Arendt, Mouffe and the pluralistic imperative for organizational listening • This conceptual paper introduces the concept of civic listening to augment organizational listening theory and practice. Drawing from the writing of Arendt and Mouffe, it centers pluralism, agonism, deliberation, and reflection as central to listening and delineates the functions and values of civic listening to add to existing architectures. This new perspective points toward deeper, more nuanced, and more equitable organizational engagement in civic discourse and firmer ground for contentious issue engagement.

Extended Abstract • Member • Open Competition • Ioana Coman, Texas Tech University; Jiun-Yi Tsai, Northern Arizona University; Shupei Yuan, Northern Illinois University • Extended Abstract: Toward an Audience-Centric Framework of Situational Corporate Social Advocacy Strategy: A pilot study • Increasingly companies engage in Corporate Social Advocacy or Political Activism. Yet how publics expect companies to take a stance (sometimes even action) on controversial issues remains unclear. We propose an audience-centric approach to investigate how audiences expect companies to act on hot button issues and their reasoning process, through a mixed-method analysis of a survey (N=388) conducted at a public University. Results highlight a need to further understand CSA from audience perceptions.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Yuan Wang, City University of Hong Kong; Yi-Hui Christine Huang, City University of Hong Kong; Qinxian Cai, City University of Hong Kong • Exploring the Mediating Effect of Government–Public Relationships during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Model Comparison Approach • This study proposed, tested, and compared two models to examine the antecedent and outcome of government–public relationships during the COVID-19 pandemic. It conducted three surveys of 9,675 publics in Mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. It found that publics’ perceived governmental responsiveness leads to their satisfaction with and trust in the government, which influence their word-of-mouth intention about the vaccines. Furthermore, relational satisfaction and trust mediate the relationship between perceived responsiveness and word-of-mouth intention.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Taisik Hwang, Suffolk University • A Comparison of Twitter Use by Different Sector Organizations • “Given the shifting nature of communication environment, this study attempts to discover how leading nature education organizations utilize social media to effectively reach and build relationship with their audiences. Specifically, it employed a content analysis to examine how the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), U.S. National Park Service (NPS), and National Geographic (NG) take advantage of Twitter to better communicate with their external publics. Out of a total of 6,286 tweets sent by these organizations for a six-month period from January to June 2018, a random sample was used for quantitative analysis. Findings show that there are significant differences in these organizations’ use of message functions as well as mentioning of brand names associated with them. For example, both UNESCO and NPS tend to focus on building community with their external stakeholders, whereas NG’s tweets mainly involves the information function. The current study

will benefit other non-profit organizations by revealing ways in which these organizations purposefully use social media to fulfill their mission and suggesting practical guidelines to strategic communicators in public-sector organizations.”

Extended Abstract • Faculty • Open Competition • Grace Ji, Boston University; Cheng Hong, California State University Sacramento • Feeling elevated: Examine the mediation role of elevation in CEO activism on employee prosocial engagement • With a survey of 600 U.S. employees, this study investigated the effect of authentic leadership on employees’ prosocial advocacy engagement in the context of CEO activism. Employees’ moral elevation and organizational identification were examined as mediators. Results showed authentic leadership elicited employees’ positive emotion of elevation and enhanced their identification with the company. In turn, employees’ affective (elevation) and cognitive (organizational identification) responses mediated authentic leadership’s impact on motivating employees’ activism participation.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Eunyoung Kim, Auburn University at Montgomery; Sung Eun Park, Webster University • Influence of identification, relationship, and involvement of a donor on attitudes towards and behavioral intentions to online donation via SNS • This study seeks what factors predict publics’ behavioral intentions to online donate and share words via social media. Relevant literature was reviewed, and an online survey was conducted to examine hypotheses. The results show that identification, involvement, perceived credibility, and attitudes towards online donation predict intention to donate via social media, while attitudes towards helping others, identification, involvement, and site features affect the intention of Word-of-Mouth. Theoretical and practical implications are presented in the discussion and conclusion.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Sora Kim, The Chinese University of Hong Kong • Public Expectations of Government Pandemic-Crisis Communication What and How to Communicate during the COVID-19 Pandemic • Through two representative online surveys in Hong Kong (HK) and the U.S. (US) during the COVID-19 pandemic, this study investigates, from a public-centric perspective, public expectations of effective government pandemic-crisis communication. It looks specifically at what publics want to be communicated in times of a global pandemic and how. In each region, the findings identify four significant dimensions. Three are culturally universal dimensions—basic responsibility, locus of pandemic-crisis responsibility, and disfavor of promotional tone. The fourth is culture-specific—personal relevance for HK and frequency for the US. Among the significant dimensions, the most highly expected is what people consider government’s basic responsibility in pandemic communication, that is, a basic responsibility dimension. This includes providing instructing and adjusting information and securing accuracy, timeliness, and transparency in pandemic communication. In both regions, respondents preferred by far traditional media and non-governmental sources to social media and governmental sources.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Sining Kong, Texas A & M University at Corpus Christi; Huan Chen, University of Florida • Revisiting SMCC Model: How Chinese Public Relations Practitioners Handle Social Mediated Crisis • As social media is widely used by Chinese organizations, this study comprehensively examines how Chinese public relations practitioners cope with social mediated crisis and how culture interacts with social mediated crisis response. An in-depth interview was used to collect data from twenty-three Chinese public relations practitioners, who had experience in dealing with crises and issues via social media. Results showed that Chinese public relations practitioners use diverse social media platforms to satisfy the publics’ gratifications and social media usage preferences. Besides, results also showed the importance of matching information form and information source in responding social mediated crisis. Furthermore, it revealed how the uniqueness of Chinese culture moderated Chinese public relations social mediated crisis response, such as maintaining harmony and avoiding direct confrontation, collaborating with opinion leaders and influencers to shape publics’ opinions, using no response, apologizing, and self-mockery, and emphasizing the importance of media relations.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Sushma Kumble, Towson University; Pratiti Diddi, Lamar University; Maggie Whitescarver • Social Listening using Machine Learning to Understand Sense Making and Content Dissemination on Twitter: A Case Study of WHO’s Social Listening Strategy During COVID-19 Initial Phase • The study utilized unsupervised machine learning techniques to the CERC framework on 6.1 Million Tweets between January to March 2020 to understand the sensemaking process during COVID-19 among Twitter users. The study also used content analysis to examine WHO’s response to the popular emerging conversations. Results indicate that while WHO’s messaging addressed the dominant topics during the timeframe but did not effectively address misinformation. The paper discusses the implications and recommendations for health communication practitioners.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Sun Young Lee, University of Maryland–College Park; Duli Shi, University of Maryland; John Leach; Saymin Lee; Cody Buntain, New Jersey Institute of Technology • Global Companies’ Use of Social Media for CSR Communication During COVID-19 • The purpose of the study was to examine how companies have communicated their efforts to address COVID-19 on Facebook and Twitter and to evaluate the effectiveness of their message strategies. We conducted a content analysis of 992 Facebook posts and 1,957 tweets between March 11 and May 20, 2020, from the 2020 RepTrak’s 100 most reputable companies. About one-third of the messages (n = 1,059) were related to companies’ responses to COVID-19. Companies mostly highlighted CSR efforts related to their expertise, partnership efforts, or financial resources. The majority of messages did not specify a particular group’s interests, but when they did, the most impacted groups, such as frontline personnel and employees, were addressed. Companies mostly used social media to employ one-way message strategies, but incorporating multimedia and expressing appreciation to others were found to be effective message strategies for engaging publics emotionally. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Hyunmin Lee, Drexel University; Emma Whitehouse, Drexel University • What do you mean by doing the right thing?: Examining corporate social advocacy frames and transparency efforts in Fortune 500 companies’ website • This study examined the state of corporate social advocacy (CSA) initiatives among Fortune 500 companies via a content analysis of their official websites. There is a need to critically examine the ways in which CSA is communicated to create a normative understanding as to what constitutes of ethical and transparent CSA communication. Findings showed that episodic frames were popularly utilized to communicate about CSA and transparency efforts varied according to CSA type and location.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Juan Liu, Columbus State University; Bruce Getz, Columbus State University • How Nike and Gillette Survived the Tension between Corporate Social Advocacy and Boycotting Backlash • Both 2018 Nike’s Colin Kaepernick and 2019 Gillette commercial campaigns received backlash on social media over their messages addressing controversial social-political issues. Drawing on legitimacy theory, this study examines how polarized boycotting and advocating messages on Twitter affect interactive engagement and perceptions of corporate social advocacy. In both Nike and Gillette conditions, individuals who expressed strong value alignment with brands’ campaigns, were more susceptible to be affected by polarized tweets. When evaluating brands’ motivations for corporate social advocacy, results showed that individuals with weak value alignment were more likely to be affected by polarized messages. However, this pattern is only found in the Gillette condition. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Extended Abstract • Faculty • Open Competition • Stephanie Madden, Penn State University; Nicholas Eng, Penn State University; Jessica Myrick, Penn State University • Public Perceptions of Using the Wireless Emergency Alert System for COVID-19: Lessons for State Government Crisis Communication • On November 25, 2020, the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA) sent out a COVID-19 public health message via the Wireless Emergency Alert system. Using survey (N = 212) and interview (N = 19) research, this study sought to understand the targeted publics’ reaction to this message and factors impacting potential behavior change after receiving this message. Because COVID-19 response has relied on state governments, this research provides important findings for government communicators at the state level.

Research Paper • Student • Open Competition • Yufan “Sunny” Qin, University of Florida; Alexis Fitzsimmons, University of Florida; Eve Heffron, University of Florida; Marcia DiStaso, University of Florida • Communicating the Big Picture with Employees: The Impacts of CEO Vision Communication on Employee Engagement • Communicating an organizational vision with employees can be critical to help employees internalize the vision, which might in turn increase their willingness to get engaged with the work and subsequently achieving higher goals. The aim of this study is to examine whether and how CEO vision communication could influence employee engagement. This study also proposes employees’ perceptions of work meaningfulness and organizational identification as the potential underlying mechanism that mediate the relationship between CEO vision communication and employee engagement. An online survey was conducted with employees across various industries in the U.S.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Margaret Ritsch, Washington State University; Erin Tomson, Washington State University • Internal Activism at Amazon: Rhetorical Strategies and the Public Relations Response • “This study examined the public relations response to employee activism at Amazon during the Covid-19 pandemic. Public relations has typically been examined from a functional perspective, which largely ignores the power dynamics between an organization and its employees, who are important stakeholders that contribute to the organization’s public image. Critical theory provides a useful lens to examine the dynamics of organizational power and control, although this approach has typically been applied to the study of internal communication dynamics. The study addresses this gap by using a critical rhetorical approach to examine Amazon’s response to employee activism. Researchers conducted qualitative content analysis of news media coverage and Amazon’s company content (e.g. websites and public statements). The data indicates that Amazon spokespeople used aggressive rhetorical strategies in their communication with and about employee activists that discouraged unionization and ultimately attempted to prevent current and former Amazon employees from speaking up about their experiences working for the company.

Keywords: activism, employee, public relations, internal communication”

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Baobao Song; Weiting Tao • Unpack the Relational and Behavioral Outcomes of Internal CSR: Highlighting Dialogic Communication and Managerial Facilitation • The current study examines how corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication and management contributes to internal public relationship building and employees’ megaphoning behaviors. Specifically, it investigates how organization-public dialogical communication (OPDC) about CSR and the organizational leaders’ facilitation behavior towards employee CSR engagement influence employees’ perceptions of two different distinct types of organization-public relationships (OPRs), i.e., communal and exchange relationships. Structural equation modeling results of 660 on-line survey responses suggest that OPDC has a positive association with communal relationship and negative association with exchange relationship. Facilitation behavior positively contributes to employee exchange relationships. Both communal and exchange relationships are positively associated with employees’ positive megaphoning. Whereas negative megaphoning is negatively linked with communal relationships and positively linked with employees’ exchange relationships with the companies. This study contributes to the growing body of literature on internal CSR communication and management. More importantly, this study uncovers nuanced effects of CSR on internal public communal and exchange relationship building.

Extended Abstract • Faculty • Open Competition • Edson Tandoc Jr; Pei Wen Wong, Nanyang Technological; Chen Lou; Hyunjin Kang, Wee Kim Wee School of Communication & Information, Nanyang Technological U; Shruti Malviya, Wee Kim Wee School of Communication & Information, Nanyang Technological U • EXTENDED ABSTRACT: Public Communication in the Age of Fake News • The rise of fake news has posed threats to societies around the world, affecting various institutions. One area that has not been sufficiently explored is how it has affected public communication. This study examines how the rise of fake news has affected the roles, resources, and routines of public communicators in Singapore. Through in-depth interviews, this research explores how various communication officers across Singapore’s government agencies perceive, and respond to, the fake news crisis.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Brooke Witherow, Hood College • The role of community and social capital in community building • While the role of social capital in community building has been discussed previously, the terms community and community building are rarely defined (e.g. Dodd et al., 2015; Jin & Lee, 2013; Sommerfeldt 2013a, 2013b). This qualitative case study examines the role of community and social capital in community building through community policing. 26 semi-structured interviews with police administration, patrol officers, and community leaders were conducted. The interviews with patrol officers occurred during seven ride-alongs.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Leping You; Linda Hon, University of Florida; Yu-Hao Lee • Examining Value Congruence and Outcome-relevant involvement as Antecedents of Corporate Political Advocacy • Drawing from the theoretical foundation of corporate political advocacy (CPA), this study aims to understand value congruence and outcome-relevant involvement as the antecedents of CPA that companies should consider when taking a stance on contentious sociopolitical issues. This study conducted a 2 x 2 online experiment to examine how both antecedents affect consumers’ attitudinal evaluation on the credibility and legitimacy of a CPA and predict consumers’ supportive behavioral intentions toward a CPA.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • April YUE, University of Connecticut • Navigating change in the Era of COVID-19: The Role of Top Leaders’ Charismatic Rhetoric and Employees’ Organizational Identification • “The Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has had tremendous and swift effects on organizational change. This study examined how organizations can leverage leadership and employee resources to facilitate positive change outcomes. Drawing from the self-concept based motivational theory of charismatic leadership and substitutes for leadership theory, the current study proposed a theoretical model connecting top leaders’ charismatic rhetoric, employees’ affective commitment to change, and employees’ turnover intention. Furthermore, the study investigated contingencies that may modify the relationship between leadership communication and followers’ outcomes. Results from an online panel of 417 U.S. employees showed that top leaders’ use of charismatic rhetoric during change led to followers’ affective commitment to change, which decreased their turnover intention. Furthermore, employees’ organizational identification moderated this relationship. When employees have low identification with their organizations, top leaders’ charismatic rhetoric to address the immediate change is more needed.

Keywords: leadership communication, charismatic rhetoric, change communication, organizational identification, affective commitment, turnover intention”

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Xueying Zhang, North Carolina A&T State; Ziyuan Zhou, Bentley University • The influence of issue attitude on consumers’ reaction toward corporate social advocacy: A moderated mediation path through cognitive dissonance • Corporate social advocacy (CSA) has gained increasing attention in public relations research. The psychological mechanisms regarding how consumers react to a CSA position that conflicts with their own have not yet been examined. Employing cognitive dissonance theory, this study examines how consumers’ preexisting attitude toward an issue influences their reaction to CSA through cognitive dissonance. An experiment (study1) and a survey (study 2) were conducted on Qualtrics with participants recruited from MTurk. Gay marriage rights and gun control issue were chosen as the CSA topics. The results indicated that a conflict between a consumer’s preexisting attitude and a corporation’s stance on a controversial issue leads to cognitive dissonance. Dissonance mediates consumers’ responses to counter-attitudinal CSA, in terms of perceiving the company as biased and intending to boycott the company. Value involvement and CCI significantly moderated the effect of consumers’ attitudes toward CSA on cognitive dissonance, but the effect varies between the two issues. The results help PR practitioners to better understand the segmented consumer audiences and provide a few pieces of practical advice to minimize the potential risk of expressing advocacy on a position of a controversial social political issue.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Ziyuan Zhou, Bentley University; Chuqing Dong, Michigan State University • Matching words with actions: Understanding the effects of CSA stance-action consistency on negative consumer responses • Corporation social advocacy (CSA) is a popular topic in public relations research. However, few studies have considered the issue of consistency between corporations taking a stance on a controversial issue and acting accordingly. This study proposed a new concept, CSA stance-action consistency, to investigate the negative consumer responses when corporations violate their CSA promises. A 4 × 2 between-subject experiment indicated that CSA stance-action consistency significantly predicted negative word-of-mouth and boycott intentions. Besides, social issue activism moderated such an effect, while CSA record did not. This study added one more piece of evidence on the risks of CSA and encouraged corporations to fully understand stakeholders’ expectations of CSA before getting involved with controversial issues.

Research Paper • Student • Student competition • Ayman Alhammad, University of Kansas • How China used Twitter to Repair Its Image amid the COVID-19 Crisis • “In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries have suffered in different ways politically, economically, and socially because of this health crisis. China registered the first case of COVID-19 and found itself the recipient of negative publicity, some of which, stated by scientists, blamed China for the virus in a Wuhan laboratory, or covered the nature of the disease until it was out of control (Verma, 2020). Because of comprehensive widely negative consequences, China’s image has been distorted in many countries. That led the Chinese government to use a different medium to deal with the crisis, one of which is social media platforms. As Saudi Arabia is one of China’s important economic partners, Beijing is concerned that health crises could affect negatively its economic interests in Saudi Arabia. In fact, China has faced serious obstacles in terms of import and export goods (Hayakawa & Mukunoki, 2021).

China decided to employ digital diplomacy by making its ambassadors communicate with the local and international communities (Brandt & Schafer, 2020). Chinese ambassador, Chen Weiqing, speaks to Saudis via Twitter as Saudi Arabia is ranked eighth in the world with 12.45 million users (Statista, 2020).

This paper examines the image repair strategies that the Chinese ambassador in Saudi Arabia employed during the coronavirus pandemic to restore China’s image there. This study adopted rhetorical analysis, building on the theoretical framework proposed by Brinson & Benoit (1999).

An examination of the ambassador’s tweets revealed a variety of image restoration strategies, including denial, bolstering, compensation, and minimization.”

Research Paper • Student • Student competition • Zahedur Arman, Southern Illinois University Carbondale • The Networked Huawei Agendas during the US-China Trade War: The Interrelationships between Huawei, the News Media, and Public Tweets • This study examines interrelationships between the networked Huawei agendas, the U.S. and Chinese news media agendas, and Twitter users’ issue agendas on Twitter during the US-China Trade War. Social network analysis is used as a theory and method to analyze Huawei’s public relations activities on Twitter, news media, and Twitter users’ network. This study found that Huawei’s direct networked agenda setting to Twitter users is more successful than the news media’s networked agenda-setting to the Twitter users. This study is among the first to explore cross-nation networked agenda building and networked agenda setting effects on Twitter. It also found that the US media did not follow Huawei’s networked agendas, but the Chinese media followed the corporation’s issue agendas during the US-China trade war. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.

Research Paper • Student • Student competition • Bugil Chang, University of Minnesota • I Distrust You All Because One of You Did Something Wrong: Spillover Effect of Distrust Elicited by an NPO’s Crisis on Overall NPOs • This study examined how public distrust formed by the crisis of an NPO spills over to other organizations in the same and different sectors through experiment. Overall, when faced with a crisis, the participants distrusted not only organizations in the same sector as the crisis-stricken organization but also organizations in a different sector. The effect was fully mediated by participants’ perceived distrust toward the crisis-stricken organization.

Research Paper • Student • Student competition • Enzhu Dong, University of Miami; Dongqing Xu • From CSR to Employees’ Megaphoning Behavior: The Roles of Communal Relationship and Corporate Reputation • This study examined how employees’ perceived overall CSR activities impact employees’ positive megaphoning through the mediation of employees’ perceived communal relationship and communal willingness, taking the moderation effect of perceived reputation into consideration. To address the hypotheses, a survey among employees across different organizations was conducted. Results of the moderated mediation examination supported the hypotheses. These findings contributed to the understanding of CSR effects on employee communication behavior and provided implications for organizational management.

Research Paper • Student • Student competition • Yoosun Ham, Indiana University; Ejae Lee, Indiana University; Eugene Kim, The Media School, Indiana University Bloomington; Sung Hyun Lee • Examining Publics’ Comparative Evaluations of Government Communication and Strength Ties as Predictors of Country Reputation • During the COVID-19 outbreak, media tended to report on how different Asian countries — China, Japan, and South Korea — were handling the situation by using comparisons. U.S. citizens have been exposed to information about Asian countries and could compare and evaluate how those countries’ governments communicate with their citizens to help contain the new coronavirus. This study attempted to examine how country reputation could be associated with publics’ comparative evaluations about the dialogic communication competency of a foreign country’s government through news media exposure about how that government contained and/or mitigated the new coronavirus. This study also investigated associations between the perceived tie strength between the U.S. and Asian countries and those countries’ reputations. This study used online experimental surveys. Its findings suggest that country reputation was significantly associated with comparative evaluations about mutuality and openness in Asian countries’ government dialogic communication and perceived tie strength with the U.S. government. Theoretical implications and practical contributions are discussed.

Research Paper • Student • Student competition • Jie Jin, University of Florida • Can CEO Activism be Good for the Organization? The Way CEO Activism on Sexual Orientation Equality Achieves High Young Employee Work Engagement • “Whether a CEO should speak out about controversial issues is a hotly debated topic across the United States. In today’s politically polarized environment, Americans have changed their expectations about whether companies and CEOs should lead social change. Contrary to the conventional wisdom that CEOs shouldn’t avoid taking actions unrelated to their business, the purpose of this study is to examine how CEOs’ pro-sexual orientation equality statements may lead to young employee work engagement from the perspective of social exchange theory. A conceptual model with nine propositions is proposed to reveal how CEO activism generates positive employee outcomes.

Keywords: CEO activism, sexual orientation equality, work engagement, social exchange theory”

Research Paper • Student • Student competition • Nana Kwame Osei Fordjour, University of New Mexico; Timothy Kwakye Karikari, University of International Business and Economic, Beijing, China • Twitter styles by the leaders of the 116th US House: A concurrent triangulation • Situating our study in the context of a global pandemic and a time of seeming polarization in the US, we analyzed the tweets (n = 480) of Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy. We employ the concurrent triangulation approach and blend three theoretical approaches to analyze their credit-claiming behavior, position-taking, attacks as well as the salient frames in their tweets. Findings indicate there is no significant difference in their position-taking and credit-claiming tweets, however, Majority Leader McCarthy tweeted more negatively than Speaker Pelosi. We uncover four salient frames which are: Economic debate, electoral integrity, COVID-19 response, and the appointment of Supreme Court Justice. Ultimately, we juxtapose the qualitative frames with the quantitative findings to give deeper understanding into the three quantitative categories and provide insights into the implications of such tweets.

Research Paper • Student • Student competition • Michelle Rossi • How has the United Nations portrayed International Women’s Day before and after founding UN Women? • By applying feminist theory and framing for public relations, this research explored the range of debate within press releases distributed about International Women’s Day before and after the founding of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, UN Women, in 2011. Using Ethnographic Content Analysis (ECA), this study found that press releases were more descriptive about events in the decade before, and more focused on actions in the decade after.

Research Paper • Student • Student competition • Dongqing Xu • Different Brands Stealing Thunder: How Brand Personality Impacts Crisis Response Strategy Choice • This study aimed to examine the impact of brand personality on participants’ brand perceptions and crisis response evaluation. To be more specific, the study aimed to examine how stealing thunder (i.e., brands disclosing the crisis and response before revealed by the third-party) as a proactive response strategy could impact brands with different personalities in crises. Employing a 2 (brand personality: sincere vs. exciting) × 2 (crisis response type: proactive vs. reactive) experimental design, the study found the buffering effect of sincere brand personality on participants’ perceived credibility, brand attitude, and purchase intention in crisis. In terms of crisis performance evaluations, brand personality was found moderating the effectiveness of the stealing thunder strategy, such that stealing thunder lost its power when employed by a sincere brand. These findings contributed to the extant brand personality literature and suggested a potential boundary of the stealing thunder strategy.

Research Paper • Faculty • Teaching competition • Virginia Harrison, Clemson University • Teaching Philanthropy: How Can Public Relations Courses Prepare Future Fundraisers and Motivate Giving? • Scholars have suggested that fundraising education is a specialty of public relations. This study examines how a fundraising-specific service-learning project may help prepare future fundraisers. A survey of qualitative and quantitative data was administered to public relations students in a fundraising-focused class and in other service-learning classes. Students in the fundraising-focused class were more knowledgeable about nonprofits but were not more inclined to enter the profession. However, they were more motivated to donate after graduation.

Research Paper • Faculty • Teaching competition • KiYong Kim • Dynamic Capabilities and Social Media Education: Professional Expectations and Curricular Preparation • “When Covid-19 impacted regular communication dynamics for organizations, social media became even more prominent in brand communications. A growing body of research confirms training in social media is an essential part of knowing “”how to”” reach one’s organization’s publics (Kruset et al., 2018; Plowman et al., 2015), making social media a mainstay in the public relations educational curriculum (Meganck et al., 2020). This study seeks to bridge the themes found by Kim (2021) related to public relations practice and dynamic capabilities (Teece, 2007) with social media educational practices. This study suggests that there is a link between dynamic capabilities and social media educational practices.

Keywords

Dynamic Capabilities, Social media education, public relations professionals, Case studies, scenarios, experiential learning, digital leadership, VUCA”

Research Paper • Faculty • Teaching competition • Amanda Weed, Kennesaw State University; Adrienne Wallace, Grand Valley State University; Betsy Emmons, Samford University; Alisa Agozzino, Ohio Northern University • Leveling the Playing Field: Assessing Issues of Equity, Transparency, and Experiential Learning in the PRSSA Bateman Case Study Competition • This study provides the first academic research examination about the Public Relations Student Society of America Bateman Case Study Competition. Research-based insights identify varying perspectives on if the competition meets current students’ needs. Through insights gained from a survey of faculty and professional advisers of 2017-2020 Bateman competition teams, the authors have identified critical perspectives and areas for improvement to the competition along the issues of equity, transparency, and experiential learning. Study results address alignment of knowledge, skills, and abilities identified by the Commission on Public Relations Education and university curricula.

<2021 Abstracts