AEJMC Code of Ethics

Preamble and the Core Values

AEJMC Code of Ethics

Overall Preamble: AEJMC members are educators, scholars, and advocates of free and responsible journalism and media, and free inquiry in pursuit of knowledge. We are committed to fulfilling our responsibilities with high standards of professional competence and integrity in the service of our discipline, peers, students, institutions, and society. We adhere to the following core values:

• ACCOUNTABILITY. AEJMC members act with openness and transparency in our scholarship, teaching, and service roles.
• FIDELITY AND TRUTH TELLING. AEJMC members value honesty, promise-keeping, and faithfulness to our discipline and stakeholders.
• JUSTICE. AEJMC members strive for fairness, impartiality, and distributive justice in our relationships with peers, students, and other stakeholders. We celebrate and promote diversity.
• CARING. AEJMC members act with respect, sensitivity, consideration of others, compassion, and mercy. We try to protect others from abuse and coercion.

In Research

Preamble: AEJMC members follow ethical research standards as researchers, in designing, conducting, analyzing research; when publishing research; as reviewers, referees, and editors; and as teachers, including when teaching methods and supervising studies. As researchers, AEJMC members are committed to:
Accountability. AEJMC members accurately and fully document sources for ideas, words, and pictures. We never plagiarize or take credit for another individual’s work, whether published or not, nor do we ever fabricate data. We safeguard the integrity of research data and report accurately and fully a study’s purpose, procedures, and results. Authors inform editors when manuscripts are based on dissertations or theses. Researchers who discover errors after an article is submitted, accepted, or published immediately inform the journal’s editor.
As editors, reviewers, referees, and research chairs, AEJMC members handle manuscripts with confidentiality and integrity during every phase of the review process. We evaluate manuscripts without reference to our personal preferences or political agendas. We do not use the material from unpublished manuscripts to advance our work; as editors, we ensure that authors whose work we are publishing conform to ethical standards Because multiple and simultaneous submission policies vary by disciplines, AEJMC editors and research chairs make submission guidelines public.
Fidelity and truth telling. AEJMC members submit to journals manuscripts representing original work, not work that has been published elsewhere. AEJMC members design our work to be free of conflict of interest, and we ensure that the conclusions of our work are consistent with the data we find. We inform subjects of our status as researchers. We do not tailor studies to produce outcomes consistent with interests of funding sponsors or institutions, nor do we conceal data or slant the writing of a study to satisfy an outside sponsor or funding agency.
Justice. AEJMC members acknowledge co-authorship credit fairly and accurately, such that the order of co-authors’ names is consistent with the level of involvement for each coauthor. When the contribution of co-authors is truly equal, we agree on and explain the order for listing co-authors.
Caring. AEJMC members protect research participants; treat all research participants with respect, fairness, and integrity, regardless of age, race, ethnicity, socio-economic status, gender, religion, culture, or sexual orientation. We ensure that participants provide informed consent and that participation in research is not coerced; keep promises regarding confidential information.

In Teaching

Preamble: AEJMC members believe in the worth and dignity of each human being, recognize the supreme importance of the pursuit of truth, devotion to excellence and the nurture of democratic principles — especially the nurture of freedom of expression. We recognize the magnitude of the ethical responsibilities inherent in the teaching process. As teachers, AEJMC members are committed to:
Accountability. AEJMC members respect the autonomy of others, including of individual learners, their development and their learning needs. We acknowledge the rights of students, faculty, and staff to make their own decisions as long as their decisions do not interfere with the welfare or rights of others.
AEJMC members are accountable to students and colleagues, accepting responsibility for our part in student welfare and development. We deliver the services to which students are entitled (e.g. dependable performance in teaching, advising); whenever appropriate, we acknowledge assistance from students or colleagues. We recognize and attempt to fulfill our role as exemplars, both in scholarship and in ethical behavior, and ensure that ethical principles guide the supervision of students and mentoring of junior faculty. We do not tolerate, even passively, unethical behavior on the part of colleagues or students. Simultaneously, we are collegial with colleagues, staff, and students, and promote environments conducive to teaching and learning; we do not involve students in faculty conflicts.
Fidelity and truth telling. AEJMC members exhibit honesty and keep promises to students and colleagues. We demand and foster ethical academic conduct; avoid conflicts of interest and other behavior that would reduce others’ trust in the faculty or academic profession; display openness in dealing with students, colleagues, and the public. We use procedures for informed consent whenever applicable.
We value academic freedom and freedom of expression as well as appropriate, respectful reactions to ideas and opinions expressed by students as well as colleagues; we label our own opinions as such and expect others to do the same. We foster student discovery, rather than indoctrination.
Justice. AEJMC members are committed to fairness and equity. We treat others as we would wish to be treated under similar circumstances; maintain fair and judicious practices when evaluating students or colleagues; pursue sanctions for academic misconduct only after gathering thorough evidence; advocate and practice non-discrimination in all aspects of teaching. We accord dignity to students and colleagues; respect the confidential nature of the student-instructor relationship; respect diversity in all its forms. We are committed to extended participation in higher education in journalism and mass communication, and especially to equality of educational opportunity.
Caring. AEJMC members seek to minimize harm. We engage in relationships with students and colleagues that are not exploitative; do not coerce students to select our favored dissertation and thesis topics, or give undeserved co-author credit; seek consultation when ethical problems arise; and attempt to mitigate any injurious effects of bias in our work. We convey personal ideology or positions in respectful ways; and do not manipulate or coerce social or political behavior in our students. We exercise institutional duties with care, extending compassion and sensitivity to the greatest extent possible toward students and colleagues.
AEJMC members pursue excellence. We engage in continued reflection, evaluation, and improvement in both our subject and in pedagogy. We engage in continuous professional development by learning and adopting new instructional methods and strategies; are open to criticism and new ideas from students and colleagues; take pride in our work and encourage students and colleagues to do the same.

In Professional Freedom & Responsibility

Preamble: Professional freedom and responsibility encompasses research, teaching, and service. This is related to AEJMC members’ interaction with the media professions through preparation of students for media careers, research examining media roles and responsibilities, and service to the professions through engagement and training. Service in support of professional freedom and responsibility is an essential expectation of every AEJMC member. Members work in support of the principles of professional freedom and responsibility within this organization, at our home institutions, and in society at large. As ethical researchers, teachers, and citizens, AEJMC members are committed to:
Accountability. AEJMC members conduct (and encourage students to conduct) constructive evaluation of the professional marketplace. We work with practitioners and industry watchdog groups to inspire media analysis, to foster media accountability, and to promote attention to ethics in journalism and other forms of mass communication. We act as media critics on our campuses and within our communities.
Fidelity and truth telling. AEJMC members nurture, promote, and protect free expression, particularly freedom of speech and freedom of the press, at all levels and at all times. AEJMC members work to improve the understanding of free expression intellectually, historically, and legally. We also work to implement this freedom in the broadest sense: within organizations, on campuses, in our communities, and nationally and globally. Free expression is a fundamental right. When that right is threatened, we act on our ethical obligation to serve as the voice and support of free expression on our campuses and communities.
Justice. AEJMC members work to ensure that racial, gender, and cultural inclusiveness are included in curricula, considered during hiring decisions, and taken seriously by media organizations with which we collaborate. We encourage AEJMC divisions and interest groups to embrace racial, gender, and cultural inclusiveness and include populations historically excluded from public communication.
Caring. AEJMC members have a mandate to serve society beyond our teaching and research. We offer services related to our appropriate professional fields, particularly activities that enhance understanding among media educators, professionals, and the general public. We assist AEJMC, other media organizations, and media practitioners.

<< AEJMC Code of Ethics Index

Media Ethics 2007 Abstracts

Media Ethics Division

The Trouble With Transparency: The Challenge of Doing Journalism Ethics in a Surveillance Society • David Allen, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee • This paper argues for a more complex understanding of how the ethic of transparency is used within American journalism. Following the ethical theories of Jürgen Habermas and Michel Foucault, it suggests that transparency has become central to debates about identity formation, disputes over professional jurisdiction, and how journalists have come to cover political events. It calls for the articulation of an ethical framework to justify when transparency is needed.

When is the Truth Not the Truth? Truth Telling and Libel by Implication • Elizabeth Blanks Hindman, Washington State University • Implied libel cases involve defamatory news stories composed entirely of factual, truthful material, which challenges ordinary libel law and ethical norms. This research applies philosophical theories of truth to determine how judges articulate expectations of truth from news media.

Revising journalism ethics through cultural humanism: Lessons from the press coverage in Iraq • Peggy Bowers, Clemson • Previous philosophical viewpoints guiding journalism ethics have become an impediment. Journalism ethics cannot respond to the exigencies of contemporary media practices or the demands of a global community. This paper argues that a framework that more closely reflects the lived human experience can move journalism ethics forward. It offers a preliminary sketch of cultural humanism and then illustrates these features through two case studies from coverage of the Muslim world.

Ethical Guidelines for the Media’s Coverage of Crime Victims • Jack Breslin, Iona College • This study suggests ethical guidelines for the media’s coverage of crime victims utilizing practical and theoretical approaches drawn from several ethical major philosophies. These guidelines should aid journalists in reaching an ethical balance between the needs of the crime victim and the demands of the news media

Universal Principles in Autonomous Systems • Michael Bugeja; Iowa State University • This analysis investigates the existence of universal principles in technological systems. Principles are grounded in space, culture and time, which Internet may obliterate and/or obfuscate. What is the effect of that in a multimedia environment without physical and linear dimensions? Do principles metamorphose in tact in cyberspace (which is no space at all) or do they falter? Discussion focuses on unexplored nuances of theory in virtual environments with recommendations for applications and future study.

The Suffocating Ethicist: A Model of Journalistic Ethical Constraints • Jenn Burleson Mackay, University of Alabama • Journalists are encapsulated by constraining forces that shape their ethical decisions. Individual traits play a significant role in journalistic ethical choices, but additional influences come from the type of media that employ the journalist in addition to organizational, professional, and cultural factors. This paper builds on previous models of structural constraints and proposes a new model of journalistic ethics, which suggests that media that employ journalists act as filters that exert control over ethical decisions.

Forgive Me Now, Fire Me Later: Journalism Students’ Perceptions on Academic and Journalistic Ethics • Mike Conway and Jacob Groshek, Indiana University • Survey data on journalism students’ perceptions of plagiarism and fabulism indicate that students are more concerned about ethical breaches in journalism than in academics. Further analyses found that students near graduation had higher levels of concern and suggested harsher penalties for unethical journalistic behavior, as did students with experience in student media or internships, specifically journalistic ones. Results here demonstrate that applied media experiences and coursework are crucial in developing future journalists’ perceptions of ethical behavior.

Communitarian Theory and Health Journalism: The Feeling is Mutuality • Megan Cox, University of Oklahoma • Health information has become increasingly popular has a news topic. Journalists must decipher complicated information for audiences who may have difficulty understanding the complex news. In this paper, a normative theory such as Communitarianism shows that it may offer some direction in formulating a health story; however, freedom of expression under the First Amendment must be protected over any obligation placed on a journalist.

The Third Person Effect and Reporting Sexual Assault Victims’ Private Information: Applying Mass Communication Theory to an Ethical Dilemma • Erin Coyle, University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill • In the wake of high profile sexual assaults, some journalists claim it is time to reconsider policies that perpetuate the stigma of sexual assault. For decades, most American newspapers have withheld victims’ names, recognizing that naming victims could deepen their devastation and prevent others from reporting the crime. Little empirical research uses mass communication theory to inform the debate. This paper provides a roadmap for research to apply mass communication theory to the ethical dilemma.

The Ethics of Outing in the 21st Century: Two Case Studies • Gary Hicks, Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville and Tien-Tsung Lee, University of Kansas • The past few years have brought media and scholarly attention to a topic once thought passé – the outing of homosexual public figures in the United States. Using framing analysis, this study analyzes the nature of news coverage of both cases. A theory of media ethics is then used to examine the similarities and differences in how the two politicians were outed.

Global Journalism Ethics at the Turn of the 20th Century? Walter Williams in the ‘World Chaotic’ • Hans Ibold, University of Missouri • This paper identifies principles for global journalism ethics in speeches and essays by the early 20th century journalist and founder of the first journalism school, Walter Williams. Williams is not known as a media ethicist, nor is he a major figure in ongoing scholarly work on global journalism ethics. However, his nascent ethical principles offer an important foreshadowing of current discussions on how journalism ethics might work in a global context.

Salience of Stakeholders and Their Attributes in PR and Business News • Soo Jung Moon and Kideuk Hyun, University of Texas at Austin • This study examined which stakeholder groups are salient and whether there has been a change of salience after the Enron collapse. It also investigated which attributes — legitimacy, power and urgency — render certain stakeholders salient based on stakeholder and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) theory. Content analyses of press releases from fifty Fortune 500 companies and news stories of The New York Times and The Washington Post found the most frequently mentioned stakeholder was stockholders.

The ethics of the gory details • Kimberly Lauffer, Towson University • Using the framework of care-based social responsibility, this paper examines two news stories that had the potential for the inclusion of graphic details. The two journalists who wrote these stories gathered graphic details in the course of their reporting but differed in their choices to include those details. This paper argues that although multiple factors may have affected these journalists’ decisions, a care-based social responsibility framework evaluates one story as more ethical than the other.

Postconventional Reasoning in Public Relations: A Defining Issues Test of Australian and New Zealand Practitioners • Paul Lieber, University of South Carolina and Colin Higgins, Massey University • This study employed an online version of the Defining Issues Test (DIT) (Rest, 1979) to gather data on the ethical decision-making process patterns of 78, Australian and New Zealand public relations practitioners. Results displayed no statistically significant differences in levels of moral development based on country of origin. Political persuasion, however, proved salient to ethical prediction. Practitioners who self-identified as more liberal reasoned differently about their ethics than right-wing peers.

Serving Two Masters: Reconciling Journalistic Exceptionalism and a Codified Ethical Imperative • Gwyneth Mellinger; Baker University • The founders of the American Society of Newspaper Editors saw themselves as pioneers of newspaper ethics, but during the organization’s early decades, some members struggled to abide by the code the ASNE board had adopted in 1922. This paper examines three case studies in which journalistic exceptionalism, a manifestation of self-interest and blindness to double standards, prevented the ASNE from fulfilling its self-appointed role as standard bearer for journalism ethics.

Stalking the Paparazzi: A View from a Different View • Ray Murray, Oklahoma State University • Because of their pursuit of celebrities, paparazzi have a reputation for doing almost anything to get a photograph. This study examines what ethical standards Los Angeles paparazzi use while searching for a lucrative photograph and what boundaries they draw. The study found longtime paparazzi routinely establish ethical guidelines and are upset with newer paparazzi who do not and have much lower standards; as a result, the newer paparazzi are changing the business.

Dimensions of Journalistic Message Transparency • Chris Roberts, University of South Carolina • The past few years have seen new calls for news organizations to be “more transparent” with the public, but there has been little effort to explicate the construct of transparency. This paper uses the “source-message-channel-receiver” communication model to suggest 11 dimensions of messenger transparency, along an opaque-translucent-transparent continuum for each dimension. The ethical considerations of transparency are discussed.

An Ethical Exploration of Free Expression and the Problem of Hate Speech • Mark Slagle, University of North Carolina • The traditional Western notion of freedom of expression has been criticized in recent years by critical race theorists who argue that this ethos ignores the gross power imbalance between the users of hate speech and their victims. This paper examines the arguments put forth by both the proponents of the classical libertarian model and the critical race theorists and the competing ethical models behind these arguments in an effort to mediate between the two.

Karen Ryan is on the air – the VNR and hegemonic expediency in the newsroom • Burton St. John, Old Dominion University • In 2004, the New York Times broke the story that the Bush Administration had developed and disseminated a video news release (VNR) about the 2003 White House-backed Medicare law. This VNR appeared on more than 40 stations. Subsequent press stories and editorials framed the airing of the Ryan VNR as an unethical communication that violated journalism’s professional standards. This piece explores, from a deontological perspective, how journalists and scholars have articulated those standards.

Recovery in New Orleans and the Times-Picayune: Reviewing the Limits of Objectivity, the Possibilities of Advocacy and the Reform of Public Journalism • N.B. Usher, University of Southern California • Along with the challenges of daily life in post-Katrina New Orleans, journalists at the Times-Picayune face a philosophical dilemma: how can they construct fair and balanced news content in the aftermath of Katrina when virtually everyone has had their lives dramatically changed by the storm? This paper relies on interviews with journalists at the Times-Picayune to explore the ethical dilemmas facing this newsroom—including the limits of objectivity and the need for advocacy journalism.

<< 2007 Abstracts

Media Ethics 2008 Abstracts

Media Ethics Division

The Ethics of Lobbying: Testing an Ethical Framework for Advocacy in Public Relations • Kati Berg, Marquette University • This study evaluates the ethical criteria lobbyists consider in their professional activities using Ruth Edgett’s (2002) model for ethically-desirable public relations advocacy. Data were collected from self-administered surveys of 222 registered lobbyists in Oregon. A factor analysis reduced 18 ethical criteria to seven underlying factors describing lobbyists’ ethical approaches to their work. Results indicate that lobbyists consider the following factors in their day-to-day professional activities: situation, strategy, argument, procedure, nature of lobbying, priority, and accuracy.

Cultivating Critical Thinking in a Media Ethics Classroom • Piotr Bobkowski, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • Media ethics instructors and researchers seem to agree that proper ethics education entails the development of critical thinking. But evidence that would support this notion is absent from journalism and mass communication literature. Addressing this deficiency, the present paper identifies the components of critical thinking instruction, evaluates the extent to which decision-making models presented in media ethics textbooks promote critical thinking, and identifies teaching strategies that further critical thinking in a media ethics course.

Documentary Tradition and the Ethics of Michael Moore’s Sicko • Sandra Borden, Western Michigan University • Michael Moore’s documentary, Sicko, is evaluated using virtue theory, which calls our attention to the way traditions inspire us to perform our various roles with moral integrity. Focusing on his use of voice, truth, argument, humor and irony, I will argue that Moore’s performance as a documentary filmmaker generally exhibits coherence, continuity and creativity within the documentary tradition. On the other hand, his performance is not entirely consistent with the moral commitments of documentary filmmakers.

The Moral Sensitivity and Character of Public Relations Students: A Preliminary Study • Mathew Cabot, San José State University • Public relations practitioners and academics have been exploring ethics models, revising ethics codes, holding ethics workshops, and building ethics curricula – all in an attempt to address the ethical lapses that continue to occur in the profession. Little of this activity, however, has included research dealing with the moral development of public relations practitioners and its connection to ethics theories, codes, and instruction.

Ethics of Antismoking PSAs • I-Huei Cheng, University of Alabama; Seow Ting Lee; Jinae Kang, University of Alabama • This study examines the ethical dimensions of public health communication, with a focus on antismoking public service announcements (PSAs). The content analysis of 826 television antismoking ads from the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Media Campaign Resource Center is an empirical testing of Baker and Martinson’s (2001) TARES Test by directly examining the content of tobacco control ads for elements of Truthfulness, Authenticity, Respect, Equity, and Social Responsibility.

Mortality Morality: Effect of Death Thoughts on Journalism Students’ Attitudes Toward Relativism, Idealism, and Ethics • David Cuillier, University of Arizona • This study, based on terror management theory, examines how the thought of death affects views toward relativism, idealism, and unethical behavior. College journalism students (N = 101) participated in an experiment where half were primed to think about death and the other half, the control group, thought about dental pain, and then all of them completed a questionnaire.

Constructing a “Moral Minefield”: News Media Framing of the Ethical Debate in Stem Cell Research • Nicole Smith Dahmen, Manship School of Mass Communication, LSU • The ethical considerations surrounding stem cell research are fueling increasing debate in science, politics, and religion. And this debate has largely been played out in the news media (Nisbet, 2005). This research provides in-depth understanding of how the media have framed the ethical aspects of the stem cell debate. In the analysis of the ethical frames, the theme of the consequences of impeding scientific progress received considerably less coverage than did the religious theme.

There is No Right Answer: What Does Media Ethics Mean to Journalism Students? • Allyson DeVito, University of Tennessee • This study examines the meanings of ethics to journalism students. Although many scholars have argued the importance of teaching media ethics and how best to teach it, there have been few research attempts to examine how journalism students actually understand ethics. After analyzing twelve qualitative interviews, the findings show that students with more professional experience have different meanings of ethics than those with limited experiences outside the classroom, which has implications for teaching media ethics.

Fair Comment? The Ethics of Anonymous Postings on News Web Sites • Kyle Heim, University of Missouri • Many news Web sites now permit readers to post comments on blogs and news stories or to share their thoughts in message forums. Often, readers may do so without having to give their names. Defenders of anonymity say it fosters more candid discussion, but critics charge that it damages trust and encourages incivility. This paper examines the debate and draws on ethical theories to advocate a middle ground of pseudonymity coupled with full-name registration.

The Effectiveness of Newspaper Codes of Ethics • Emily Housley, Texas Christian University • In an industry where public perception appears at an all-time low, it is vital to evaluate the effectiveness of newspaper codes of ethics. Studies have evaluated the role of codes of ethics in the ethical decision-making process, but none have looked at the overall effectiveness of having a code. This study is a quantitative evaluation of one newspaper’s code of ethics, in relation to individuals’ ethical differences, code applicability and code agreement.

The Ethics of Punishing Unethical Expression: Journalism, Imus, and First Amendment Values • Robert L. Kerr, University of Oklahoma • This paper considers the ethics of punishing unethical words — words that not only offend but are argued to cause more harm than simple offense. In this case, the particular words were uttered by radio and television talkshow host Don Imus in 2007. Even though there were no issues implicating First Amendment law in the Imus controversy, strictly speaking, a closer analysis indicates that the relationship between ethical principles and freedom of expression is more symbiotic.

Ethics Research in the New Millennium: A Survey of the Journal of Mass Media Ethics from 2000-2007 • Carol Madere, Southeastern Louisiana University • This article summarizes research published in the Journal of Mass Media Ethics and seeks to determine the most common topic, method of research and theories used. It also evaluates the direction of ethics research against Starck’s prescription for future ethics research after his survey of the journal from 1990-1999. Finally, it proposes future directions for ethics research in the new millennium.

Tragedies of the Broadcast Commons: Consumer Perspectives on the Ethics of Product Placement and Video News Releases • Jay Newell, Iowa State University; Jeffrey Blevins, Iowa State University • Adapting Hardin’s (1968) metaphorical use of “commons” to the domain of broadcasting, we surveyed the attitudes of individuals towards two phenomena (product placement and video news releases), and three constructs (cynicism directed towards government, cynicism directed towards marketers, and the individual’s assessment of their marketing literacy). Respondents were highly cynical about government regulation of advertising and nearly as cynical of the ability of marketer’s to self-regulate.

A Dangerous Deficiency: Why Journalists Have An Ethical Responsibility to Understand the Essentials of Ecology • Bryan H. Nichols, USF • The world is becoming more populated and urbanized, disconnecting people from the natural support systems that maintain their quality of life. This disconnect results in unsustainable policy decisions and lifestyle choices, a situation which journalists are in an ideal position to address. Unfortunately, most journalists are as ecologically illiterate as the public. This paper uses an ethical analysis to argue that all journalists have a responsibility to learn basic ecological principals.

That’s a Wrap (-around!): Blurring the Boundaries of Entertainment and Ads • Kathleen O’Toole, Penn State University • The Children’s Television Act of 1990 restricted the amount of advertising carried on children’s programming and required program separators to distinguish between commercial and non-commercial programming. The law took a “golden mean” approach that balanced the economic imperatives of the television industry with the best interests of young viewers. This paper examines a relatively new genre of programming that may represent an attempt to subvert the spirit and the letter of the law.

“Good Story”—But How Good? Notes Toward a Rhetoric of Journalism • Ivor Shapiro, Ryerson University • Attempts to define how journalists assess their work have consisted of survey research on quality “criteria” and qualitative proposals of “elements” or “principles.” This paper proposes an assessment framework based on the study of rhetoric and organized within five “faculties” (discovery, examination, interpretation, style and presentation). Five standards arise (quality journalism is independent, accurate, open to appraisal, edited and uncensored) plus five criteria of excellence (the best journalism is ambitious, undaunted, contextual, engaging and original).

Academic and Professional Dishonesty: Student View of Cheating in the Classroom and On the Job • Linda Shipley, University of Nebraska-Lincoln • Early studies of academic dishonesty discovered that a large percentage of students admitted they cheated. Since then, additional studies have found even higher numbers of students who report that they cheat, and those students indicate that stress related to getting good grades is a driving factor. Recently, there have been several incidents of journalists who were caught cheating. Could academic and professional dishonesty be connected? This study looks at several factors that might contribute to both.

“Comment Is Free, But Facts Are Sacred”: User-generated content and ethical constructs at the Guardian • Jane B. Singer, University of Central Lancashire/University of Iowa; Ian Ashman, University of Central Lancashire • This case study examines how journalists at Britain’s Guardian newspaper and affiliated website are assessing and incorporating user-generated content in their perceptions and practices. It uses a framework of existentialism to highlight issues of particular interest here, including authenticity and the potentially conflicting ethical constructs of autonomy and responsibility. This study represents one of the first empirical approaches to understanding how journalists are negotiating both personal and social ethics within a digital network.

Video News Release Policies and Usage at Television Stations: Deontological Implications for the Newsroom • Burton St. John, Old Dominion University; Ed Lordan, West Chester University of Pennsylvania • In the last decade, television news stations have received an increasing number of video news releases (VNRs) from PR practitioners who are representing a variety of clients, including government agencies, non-profit organizations and for-profit companies. Despite the increased public profile of the VNR, no research has been conducted on newsroom selection procedures regarding VNRs — specifically, how newsroom VNR policies relate to broadcast journalists’ deontological obligations to multiple audiences.

Twice Victimized: Lessons from the Media Mob at Virginia Tech • Kim Walsh-Childers, University of Florida; Norman Lewis, University of Florida; Jeff Neely, University of Florida • In-depth interviews with survivors, family members and others associated with the April 2007 Virginia Tech shootings revealed that some journalists worsened the trauma through intrusive, insensitive behavior. While some displayed compassion, other journalists knocked on doors at 6 a.m., attempted to sneak hidden cameras into hospital rooms, interrupted grieving students and grabbed a student’s wounded arm.

A Comparison of the Moral Development of Advertising and Journalism Students • Stephanie Yamkovenko, Louisiana State University • This study employed the Defining Issues Test (DIT) to complete the analysis and comparison of the moral development of mass communication students, specifically those who major in advertising and journalism. The DIT is an instrument based on Kohlberg’s moral development theory and is a device for assessing the extent to which a person has developed his or her moral schemas.

How Much Do They Care about Advertising Ethics? -A Content Analysis of Plastic Surgeons’ Websites • Hyunjae (Jay) Yu, Louisiana State University; Tae Hyun Baek, University of Georgia; Yongick Jeong, Louisiana State University; Ilwoo Ju, University of Georgia • The present study focuses on the websites of plastic surgeons who are practicing in the ten major cities of the U.S. Websites are, along with magazine ads, the most popular advertising tool for American plastic surgeons who are now in serious competition among themselves. Under this extremely competitive situation, it is possible that the advertising content could be exaggerating or deceptive to get patients’ attention, as several researchers have indicated.

<< 2008 Abstracts

Media Ethics 2009 Abstracts

Media Ethics Division

Special Call
Teaching journalists how to navigate ethical dilemmas: A case study of ethics in the newsroom • Beth Concepcion, University of South Carolina • The purpose of the media is to cover the issues the public needs and wants to know. However, journalists face competitive and organizational pressures that sometimes conflict with personal morals and principles — and that larger altruistic goal of informing and protecting the public. Often these pressures result in personal and professional ethical struggles.

Standards of Excellence in Breaking News Online: A MacIntyrean Analysis • David Craig, University of Oklahoma • This paper examines the pursuit of excellence in breaking news online and the pressures that stand in the way of it, drawing on interviews with journalists at four large online news organizations. The analysis is guided by MacIntyre’s theoretical framework. Discussion centers on standards of excellence in online journalism, challenges to their attainment, and how journalism as a practice is advancing, declining, or both with developments in online journalism.

Interactive Ethics: Overlapping Norms of Practitioners and the Public in a Shared Media Space • Jane B. Singer, University of Central Lancashire / University of Iowa • Journalists and users share the interactive digital environment in unprecedented ways, suggesting a need to reconsider both professional and audience ethics in this context. This essay considers several ethical principles that take on new configurations for journalists as they move into closer relationships with audiences, then turns to normative concepts that gain relevance for audiences as their online role expands. It concludes by suggesting that digital journalism ethics is an inherently collective enterprise.

The Paradox of Public Interest: Why Serving Private Interests Provides a Stronger Moral Foundation for Public Relations Performed in Behalf of the Public Interest • Megan Stoker, Brigham Young University; Kevin Stoker, Texas Tech University • The paper examines the concept of the public interest as defined in political science literature and public relations research. This paper applies various philosophical approaches from Ayn Rand to Immanuel Kant, along with recent literature on game theory and public and private interests in public relations, to show that the most ethical approach to serving the public interest is focusing on adhering to personal values and private interests.

Student Competition (Carol Burnett Award)
Building credibility: Developing transparency in public relations • Giselle A. Auger, University of Florida • As an industry, public relations struggles with poor public perception. Such perception is strengthened by highly publicized situations involving questionable ethical behavior. The purpose of this paper is to explicate transparency as it relates to public relations, and to discuss the potential for development of trust within organizations and credibility in public relations, through the practice of transparent communication.

Multi-contextual, Visual Ethical Analysis of Privacy and Ritual in Corpse Images from Sichuan Earthquake • Yang Liu, University of Missouri-Columbia School of Journalism • This paper provides a visual-ethical interpretation and analysis of corpse images from the photo coverage of 2008 Sichuan earthquake, China. Corpse images are interpreted in multiple contexts and analyzed around two concepts of privacy and ritual, both of which feature cultural specificity. Through content analysis and interviews, the paper points out the inconsistency of standards and the impact of media benefits in the ethical self-regulation of Chinese photo journalism.

Yes We Can or No Can Do?: The Distortion of News Coverage in Political Ads • Anthony Palmer, University of South Carolina • Barack Obama’s presidential campaign’s use of the Internet in regards to a video advertisement called Bad News created an ethical controversy due to its use of distorted NBC material without consent. This paper addresses the ethicality of Bad News in terms of the ethical perspectives of Immanuel Kant and John Stuart Mill and proposes a solution that would allow future politicians and political organizations to convey the same message without prompting legal or ethical concerns.

Media Morality and Compassion for “Faraway Others” • Ryan Thomas, Edward R. Murrow College of Communication, Washington State University • In January 2009, the BBC refused to broadcast an appeal by the Disaster Emergency Committee (DEC) for humanitarian relief for refugees in the Gaza region on the grounds that it would compromise BBC impartiality. This paper explores three issues highlighted by this incident of concern to media ethics scholars: the blurring of news and non-news discourses, the consequences of impartiality, and the responsibility media institutions have to “faraway others.”

Open Competition Papers
Negotiating Privacy in the 21st Century: The Millennial View • Seth Ashley, University of Missouri School of Journalism; Lee Wilkins, School of Journalism/University of Missouri; Amanda Wysocki, University of Missouri School of Journalism • Traditional philosophical and legal understandings of privacy are not sufficient for appreciating how people think about privacy today. Radin’s “contested commodities” and Westin’s “circles of intimacy” offer a bridge between positive and negative constructions of liberty and privacy.

Journalistic Constraints: Weighing the pressures that surround the modern media • Jenn Burleson Mackay, Virginia Tech • This paper outlines existing models of constraints on journalistic decisions and applies those concepts to journalistic ethics. The researcher considers how journalistic ethics may be influenced by society, the news organization, the profession, technology, and audiences. Survey responses from weekly newspaper, daily newspaper, and television station journalists illustrate how these constraints affect journalists. The researcher suggests that journalists and journalism students should to be aware of these influences in order to make sound ethical choices.

The Ethical Dimensions of Duke’s Communication Response to its Lacrosse Team Scandal • Rod Carveth, University of Hartford; Claire Ferraris, Western Oregon University • Duke University is one of the most elite private universities in the nation, having tied for fifth in the 2005 U.S. News & World Report’s annual college rankings, behind only Ivy League schools. In addition to superior academics, the school boasts several major sport powers, especially its basketball team.

Persistence of Narrative Persuasion in the Face of Deception • John Donahue, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill; Melanie Green, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill • Individuals are persuaded by fiction, but left unanswered is whether individuals maintain attitude change when a story presented as factual is later shown to be inaccurate. In this experiment, the alleged truth status of a narrative was manipulated. Participants in two conditions were informed after reading the story it was inaccurate due to (1) unintentional inaccuracy or (2) intentional deception. Although readers derogated a deceptive author, they did not correct their attitudes due to inaccuracies.

Offering the Cloak of Confidentiality to News Sources: Journalist’s Ethical Decision-making Behaviors • Michele Kimball, University of South Alabama • The use of confidential sources in news coverage can provide information integral to understanding significant issues for news consumers, but it comes at a price to journalists’ credibility and ethical standards. This study uses qualitative methods to evaluate journalists’ ethical decision-making behaviors when determining whether to grant sources confidentiality. Results show that journalists engage in a four-part process in determining whether to make a promise to protect a source’s identity.

Facing the Future: Media Ethics, Bioethics, and the World’s First Face Transplant • Marjorie Kruvand, Loyola University Chicago; Bastiaan Vanacker, Loyola University Chicago • When the world’s first face transplant was performed in France in 2005, the complex medical procedure and accompanying worldwide media attention sparked many ethical issues, including how the media covered the story. This study used framing theory to examine what happens when media ethics intersect with bioethics by analyzing French, American, and British media coverage on the transplant and its aftermath.

Television News Coverage and Disaster Management – The Ethical Difficulties of Disaster Journalism • Chao Chen Lin, National Chiao Tung University • The study explores ratings-driven television disaster journalism and other related issues on one side and discusses the relationship between disaster reporting and disaster management on the other. This study uses qualitative research methods such as “case study” and “in depth interview, focuses on the four typhoon disasters occurring between July and September of 2008 and conducts related analysis affecting the news production system of television in Taiwan.

Social Constructivism Meets Social Media: The Case for Collaborative Learning in the Ethics Classroom • Patricia Parsons, Mount Saint Vincent University • Teaching ethics as a collaborative process to cultivate moral imagination is an important adjunct to student development of the knowledge, attitudes and skills required of professional practice. The collaborative nature of the new social media provides a platform for the development of pedagogical approaches that are grounded in social constructivism. This paper presents a case illustration of the application of an online wiki to enhance student engagement in learning about professional ethics.

Short and to the Point: How More Ethical Online Headlines Might Help Restore Journalism’s Reputation • David Remund, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • Writing headlines for online media can pose an ethical challenge. The limited real estate and dense saturation on most news organizations’ landing pages means trouble for copy editors and reporters. They must be extremely succinct in their wording yet clever enough to somehow breakthrough the clutter. This paper examines the ethics of news headlines online, drawing upon a blend of primary and secondary research.

Public Relations and Rawls: A Harsh Veil to Wear • Chris Roberts, University of Alabama • John Rawls’ “veil of ignorance” approach to ethical behavior is a seeming staple in mass media ethics textbooks, but the veil is less likely to be given serious consideration as an approach to ethical decision-making than other approaches. This paper looks at the uses, misuses and applications of the veil in contemporary discussions of public relations ethics, and it posits six reasons why the veil may be hard for public relations practitioners to wear.

Beyond Case Studies: An Analysis of Teaching Effectiveness in Award-Winning Media Ethics Exercises • Carol Schwalbe, Arizona State University; David Cuillier, University of Arizona • A content analysis of 228 Great Ideas for Teachers (GIFTs) found that the 16 activities suitable for ethics courses relied on traditional methods of teaching, mainly discussions, teamwork, and case studies. Few used technology, games, or simulations. The authors created an index to measure teaching effectiveness. While most ethics ideas stimulated higher order learning, they did not incorporate other elements that might improve student engagement. The authors make suggestions for dynamic, interactive ethics activities.

Guanxi, Gift-Giving, or Bribery? Ethical Considerations of Paid News in China • Katerina Tsetsura, University of Oklahoma; Zuo Lin, U of Oklahoma • This study of the phenomenon of paid news in China reviews the English-language and Chinese-language literature on the subject of media opacity and cultural traditions of gift-giving and guanxi in Chinese media practices to answer a question whether discussions of media bribery are appropriate in the context of the Chinese media environment.

Credibility as a strategic ritual: The Times, the interrogator, and the duty of naming • Fred Vultee, Wayne State University • This study examines the use of names in the construction of “credibility” as a journalistic duty. Using the framework set forth by Tuchman (1972) of objectivity as a “strategic ritual,” the study discusses the ethical justifications put forth by the New York Times for the process through which it decided to identify a CIA interrogator who had been involved in questioning 9/11 captives.

A Content Analysis of the Public Service Announcements Dealing with Children’s Nutrition and Obesity -Investigating Advertising Appeals, Health Claims, and Health Intervention Techniques- • Jay (Hyunjae) Yu, Louisiana State University; Hoyoung Ahn, U of Tennessee • Public Service Announcements (PSAs) against childhood obesity have been widely used to help children understand the importance of healthy eating habits and smart weight management in their lives. As the rate of childhood obesity in the country has increased enormously in recent years, researchers have emphasized the significant role of the PSAs more than ever, but few have comprehensively investigated the content of the current PSAs dealing with the issues.

<< 2009 Abstracts

AEJMC Divisions Formation Guide

There are currently special interest divisions, each admitted in accordance with qualifications set out in the AEJMC Constitution. Heads of divisions and the Head of the Council of Affiliates are members of the Council of Divisions.

The 18 divisions are: Advertising, Communicating Science, Health, Environment and Risk, Communication Technology, Communication Theory and Methodology, Cultural and Critical Studies, History, International Communications, Law & Policy, Magazine, Mass Communication and Society, Media Ethics, Media Management and Economics, Minorities and Communication, Newspaper, Public Relations, Radio-Television Journalism, Scholastic Journalism and Visual Communication.

Requirements for Forming
The following statement is applicable to any group of Regular AEJMC members wishing to form a division.

Three requirements must be met before submitting a petition for division status to the Executive Committee of AEJMC:

1.            Ten percent of the regular members, or 200, whichever is less, must petition the Executive Committee for creation of this new division. At least 50 of the petitioners must state in writing their intent to join the particular division. The person in charge of organizing should keep these statements.

2.            A $50 check made out to AEJMC must be submitted at the time of the petitioning, to cover initial office costs in connection with the new division.

3.            A proposed program of performance in teaching, research, and public service must be drawn up and agreed to by the petitioners, and submitted with a list of petitioners and the $50 check. The proposed program should not be more than 500 words in length and may be shorter.

For a group seeking divisional status in a given fiscal year, the deadline for submitting the above material is November 1 of that year. A copy of the proposal, the $50 check and the list of petitioners should be sent to the AEJMC central office.

If the petition for divisional status meets the approval of the Executive Committee at its December meeting, it will recommend that the AEJMC Conference vote approval at the next August AEJMC Conference. If the Executive Committee asks for changes in the petition, it will do so far enough in advance of the convention to permit the petitioners to act.

Annual Reports
All divisions are required to make an annual report of their division’s activities to the Elected Standing Committees not later than June 15. One copy of these reports are to be mailed to the executive director. The executive director distributes them to the Board of Directors, the Elected Standing Committees, and the new division heads. A supplemental report is due in early September.

The executive director will send a reminder notice along with a copy of the format for division reports to each division head in early May.

The Elected Standing Committees will send a written report of its findings to the Central Office by October 15. The office will then distribute the report to the division and interest group heads. The reports are published in the January issue of the newsletter.

Constitutional Requirements for Division Performance
Article I, Section 3, of the AEJMC Constitution states:

“The functions of teaching, research, and public service recognized in Section 2 shall be undertaken by each division of this association.

“The elected standing committees shall … evaluate the divisions’ annual reports on a basis of clearly established criteria, and they shall report their evaluations, with recommendations, to the Executive Committee, to the divisions, and to the membership at large. In their evaluations of divisions, they shall consider the issues of diversity in participation and programming.”

Board of Directors and Elected Standing Committees
While the AEJMC Executive Committee has final authority in the review of division performance, it needs help in performing the review. The detailed study of 18 divisions’ performance across the three academic functions of teaching, research and service is more work than it can add to its other duties. AEJMC agencies exist, however, whose assigned work specifically applies to the divisional responsibilities in the three aforementioned functions: AEJMC’s “horizontal” committees, each with authority in one academic function and each cutting across the “vertical” or special interest divisions.

These are the Elected Standing Committees, chosen by AEJMC members to represent them in these functions:
Teaching – Committee on Teaching
Research – Committee on Research
Public Service – Committee on Professional Freedom and Responsibility

Each of these committees has special knowledge and expertise in its own function, and each can and should study the performance of the divisions with respect to that function and of AEJMC as a whole, and make appropriate recommendations to the Board of Directors.

<< Heads

Radio-Television Journalism Division 2010 Abstracts

Interdependence and adoption: The application of critical mass theory to diffusion of non-linear editing • Tim Brown, University of Central Florida; Heidi D. Campbell, University of South Carolina; August E. Grant, University of South Carolina; Harvie Nachlinger, University of South Carolina • This paper applies critical-mass and collective-action theory to the adoption of non-linear video editing by communications programs and television stations. The results of two surveys provide evidence of an accelerating production function of adoption by television stations while the adoption pattern in academia exhibits a decelerating production function. Post-hoc hypotheses suggested by collective action theory suggest that the external forces and interdependence between stations and communications programs (stations hire communications programs graduates) inhibited later-stage adoption by colleges preventing the academy from being a true innovator. Finally, the implications of these interdependent processes suggested by collective action theory are discussed.

Third-person perception and myths about crime and victims of crime • John Chapin, Pennsylvania State University • The study extends the third-person perception (TPP) literature by documenting the phenomenon within the context of news coverage of crime, and by establishing a relationship between TPP and myths or misperceptions about crime. Results of a community sample (N = 340) indicate that TPP is predicted by perceived importance of the topic and belief in myths, but not by experience with crime, age, race, or gender.

What Was the Murrow Tradition? A Case for Supplementing Historical Research with Content Analysis • Raluca Cozma, Iowa State University • This study content analyzes a representative sample of world news roundups from the golden age of foreign correspondence at CBS Radio in order to better understand what the so-called Murrow tradition was in quantitative terms. As the results don’t seem to match the glorified image we have about that era, this study makes a case for supplementing historical research with content analysis in order to better understand the history and evolution of foreign news.

New Media Skills Competency Expected of TV Reporters and Producers: A Survey • Michael Cremedas, S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, Syracuse University; Suzanne Lysak, S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, Syracuse University This study examined the current state of online news production at local television stations—what is being produced and who is producing it—and what emphasis news directors place on new media skills when making hiring decisions. Armed with a picture of how today’s TV newsrooms are attempting to meet the demand for Web content, broadcast journalism educators can more efficiently establish a proper balance between traditional classroom instruction and training in new media.

Domestic Terrorism on the Nightly News • Ruth DeFoster, University of Minnesota • This study examines coverage of domestic terror attacks in the United States on evening network news broadcasts, analyzing both the extent of coverage and differences in coverage—including the presence of the term terrorism—between attacks perpetrated by culprits identified by different ethnic, racial, and religious descriptors. Analysis of 394 stories (42 events) found a significant association between the use of the word terrorism and the identification of culprits as Muslim (x2 = 25.026, df = 1, p < .0001).

Audience Preferences in Determining Quality News Production of Backpack Journalism • Charlie Gee, Duquesne University • This study explores preferences by younger news audiences of backpack journalism in local television news. Local television news has to compete with Internet and other media to attract viewers. The focus of the study centered around technology’s influence on television newsgathering techniques and if the techniques delineated the quality of journalistic presentation and is theoretically based on uses and gratifications.

News Source Perceptions of Accuracy for Newspaper & Television Websites • Darrell Blair, University of Tennessee; Mark Harmon, University of Tennessee • In a pilot study, researchers tested perceptions of accuracy by news sources utilizing a conventional research methodology adapted to sample online news websites. Findings mirror several aspects of existing accuracy research. In general reporter error is often cited as a reason for factual inconsistencies or misrepresentations of facts within news stories and subjective errors are more prevalent than are objective errors. Researchers provide recommendations for future accuracy research.

Bridging the Gap between Students and Veteran Journalists: Promising Practices for Journalism Educators • Sarah Holtan, Concordia University Wisconsin • This study examined television journalists regarding their perceptions of on-the-job success and the role of prior education. The findings show success is in all levels, it is relative to age, and is never-ending. Success means moving forward, being factually accurate, having a positive impact as a professional, and avoiding preventable on-air mistakes. The informants found value in learning about ethics and news judgment in college but felt overwhelmed by the practical aspects of their jobs.

Social Identity and Convergence: News Faculty and Student Perspectives on Web, Print, and Broadcast Skills • Glenn Hubbard, The University of Texas at Arlington; Elizabeth Crawford, NDSU; Vincent Filak, UW-Oshkosh • National survey of 342 mass communication students and faculty (n=342) assessed the relationship between social identity with given mass communication disciplines (print, broadcast, advertising, and public relations) and preferences for the teaching of broadcast, print, or web-oriented skills. Findings indicate that broadcasting students and faculty who identify highly as broadcasters are less open to the teaching of cross-platform skills than others in the sample. Also, among all mass communication student and faculty participants, there was a negative relationship between the strength of preference for the teaching of traditional print or broadcast skills and the teaching of web-related skills. This negative relationship was strongest among those in broadcasting, indicating that intergroup bias is stronger among broadcasters than others in mass media programs, and possibly suggesting that broadcasters are less open to convergence than other mass communication students and faculty. There were no significant differences between students and faculty in terms of print or broadcast skills preferences, but students ranked the teaching of all mass communication skills more highly than faculty.

Motivations and Attitudes toward Crime News as Predictors of Risk Perception • Eun Hwa Jung, University of Florida • This study investigated the factors influencing risk perception through crime news on television. To gain insights into the issue, the study considered motivations for watching television news and attitudes toward crime news as predictors of risk perception. However, only frequency of watching crime news was found to positively influence risk perception. The findings contribute to greater understanding of television news audiences and the effect that crime news on television has on audiences’ perceptions of risk.

Operationalizing the dimensions of current events: Two pilot studies • Jack Karlis, University of South Carolina; August E. Grant, University of South Carolina • Journalism faculty has long used current events tests as a tool to help journalism students develop the habit of consuming news. A number of previous studies have examined the relationship between consumption of specific media and college students’ current events knowledge. However, the literature on current events knowledge is limited compared to other aspects of mass communication curriculum, and a notable weakness in most of these studies is a failure to provide a specific, operational definition of current events. This paper explores the use and previous operationalizations of current events tests and reports the results from two exploratory studies designed to investigate the perceived importance of current events subject matter and move towards an operational definition of current events testing in mass communications curriculum. Ten dimensions of current events are operationalized, and differences in knowledge and importance of these dimensions by sex are investigated.

Differing Uses of YouTube During the 2008 U.S. Presidential Primary Election • Gary Hanson, Kent State University; Paul Haridakis, Kent State University; Rekha Sharma, Kent State University • In this study we explored YouTube use during the 2008 U.S. presidential primaries. Specifically, we identified people’s motives for using the site and described the types of videos people viewed and shared. Results indicated participants used YouTube predominantly for habitual entertainment and information seeking purposes. But there was a strong relationship between political surveillance motivation and watching news, political ads, direct-to-camera videos, and campaign ads, suggesting YouTube could be a significant medium in future elections.

Tweeting the news: Broadcast stations’ use of Twitter • Jessica Smith, Texas Tech University; Stephanie Miles, Texas Tech University; Jillian Lellis, Texas Tech University • This pilot study offers a picture of basic characteristics of Twitter posts by television broadcast stations. A content analysis examined a sample of 8,566 tweets selected from 117 stations in one month. Most tweets included hyperlinks to additional content, and most lacked source attribution for the information they offered. Tweets about crime and law enforcement, miscellaneous content, government and politics, and accidents or disasters were the most common topics, composing more than 56% of the sample. Finally, few tweets included Twitter-specific functions that link topics and users in online conversation.

The Evolving Frame: NBC’s Coverage of The U.S. Presidents’ Visits to China, 1989-2009 • Boya Xu, West Virginia University • This study analyzes NBC’s coverage of the U.S. President’s visits to China from 1989 through 2009, and investigates the evolving characteristics of media framing over time. By examining the changes of primary target, content orientation, and tone in news reporting in different time periods, using quantitative content analysis, it is concluded that journalistic ideology in the newsroom played an important role in news making, while the media interpretation of international communication is applied within the context of foreign policies and bilateral relations.

Marketing Sensationalism: A Comparison of Television News in Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan • Shuhua Zhou, University of Alabama; Trisha Lin, Nanyang Technological University; Cui Zhang, the University of Alabama • Examining the prominence of sensational content, features and storytelling in news reports, this comparative study investigated news sensationalism in commercial and state-owned Chinese television news. For the selected cases (CCTV from mainland China, TVB Hong Kong, TTV and TVBS from Taiwan), 1,132 news stories from 56 main evening newscasts in the fall of 2007 were content analyzed. Three sets of variables, sensational topics, tabloid packaging and vivid story-telling techniques, were used to measure dramatic elements in news stories. The findings partially supported the contention that the more competitive TV newscasters (Hong Kong’s TVB and Taiwan’s TVBS) have more sensational topics, tabloid packaging, and vivid storytelling techniques than the state-owned CCTV of China and Taiwan’s TTV. Implications of these findings on Chinese television news were discussed.

<< 2010 Abstracts

Public Relations Division 2010 Abstracts

Open Competition
Effect of Message Type in Strategic Advocacy Communication: Investigating Strategies to Combat Ageism • Terri Bailey, Florida Gulf Coast University • This experimental research study investigated the effects that message type in mass media messages have on attitudes toward older adults among undergraduate college students. The purpose of the study was to investigate strategic communication message strategies that could be employed to combat negative stereotypes that stigmatize a social group, in this case older adults. Due to the large population of aging baby boomers, efforts to combat prejudice and discrimination against older adults—termed ageism—is both timely and salient. Theoretical bases for the study included social identity theory and the elaboration likelihood model. Three types of message appeal conditions (cognitive, affective, and mixed cognitive/affective) were presented in simulated Yahoo.com online news articles that combated two negative stereotypes of adults over age 65. The simulated news article was designed to reflect a published press release disseminated to the media by an age organization. The results showed that presenting fact-based cognitive arguments supported by research evidence was a more effective message strategy for producing positive attitude change toward older adults among the 200 undergraduate students participating in this experiment than were affective messages based on emotional appeals, subjective personal evaluations, and compassionate arguments or a combination of cognitive and affective appeals. Furthermore, results indicated the importance of mass media messages in terms of producing positive attitude change toward a stigmatized social group, older adults. There was significant positive attitude change toward older adults after exposure to the stimulus materials in both the immediate and time-delayed (one week) conditions.

Eclipsing Message Meaning: Exploring the Role of Source Identity and Cynicism in Publics’ Perceptions of Health Care Reform Issue Ads • Abbey Blake Levenshus, University of Maryland; Mara Hobler, University of Maryland; Beth Sundstrom, University of Maryland, College Park; Linda Aldoory, univ of Md • Using the circuit of culture to analyze interviews and focus groups, researchers found sponsor identity represented in health care reform ads overlapped with cynicism in critical, complementary ways. Researchers identified two themes, ongoing and eclipsing, regarding source identity’s meaning-making role and three themes regarding source cynicism’s regulating influence, including questioning sponsor motives, regulating sponsor identity, and regulating message. Findings add depth to the circuit of culture’s articulation between identity, regulation, and consumption of issue advertisements.

Mediating the power of relationship antecedents: The role of involvement and relationship quality in the adolescent-organization relationship • Denise Bortree, Penn State University • This study presents one of the first examinations of the influence of antecedents of relationships on the organization-public relationship. Results from a survey of adolescent volunteers suggest that reason for volunteering with a nonprofit organization was a significant predictor of the teens’ future intentions toward the organization. Two variables partially mediated the relationship between antecedents and future intended behavior, involvement and relationship quality. Findings suggest that while reasons for relationship initiation play a powerful role in the organization-public relationship, organizations can minimize the impact through relationship management.
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Grounding Organizational Legitimacy in Societal Values • John Brummette, Radford University; Lynn Zoch, Radford University • The purpose of this exploratory study is to utilize grounded theory to create a better understanding of the values and standards that constitute organizational legitimacy from the public’s perspective. Values identified are: honesty, fairness, accountability, competence, innovation, efficiency, trustworthiness, accessibility, personalization, quality, accreditation, corporate social responsibility and longevity. In addition, the study found that different values are linked to each of the six types of organizations (retail, manufacturing, service, educational, nonprofit and government) discussed by the study’s participants.
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Influence of Public Relations Communication Strategies and Training on Perceptions of Hospital Crisis Readiness • Emily Buck, Texas Tech University; Coy Callison, Texas Tech University; Trent Seltzer, Texas Tech University • To better understand organization-wide perception of crisis readiness and crisis communication effectiveness, 731 hospital employees were surveyed. Employees participating in crisis training perceived themselves and their hospital as more crisis ready than those who had not. Awareness of the crisis plan leads to higher levels of perceived crisis readiness; training, two-way communication, and face-to-face communication lead to greater perceived crisis readiness. Participants reported hospitals presented crisis plans through oral presentation more frequently than other methods.
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The Dual-Continuum Approach: An Extension of the Contingency Theory of Conflict Management Cindy T. Christen, Colorado State University; Steven Lovaas, Colorado State University • This paper examines the limitations of using a single advocacy-accommodation continuum when depicting organizational stance and movement in conflict situations. The authors argue that advocacy and accommodation vary independently in response to a variety of contingent factors. To comprehensively capture the locations and motions that are possible in intergroup conflicts, a two-continuum approach is proposed. Separate assessment of the effects of contingent factors on advocacy and accommodation can be used to locate organizational stance along advocacy and accommodation continua. Situations that are problematic for a single continuum can be captured if separate continua are employed. By depicting initial stance and desired direction of movement for both the organization and external group, the dual-continuum approach can also provide practical guidance to public relations practitioners in selecting strategies for achieving preferred outcomes. By suggesting the application of different models of public relations practice based on differences in organization-external group stances and movement, the dual-continuum approach also lays the foundation for eventual synthesis of excellence and contingency perspectives.
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Delusions vs. Data: Longitudinal Analysis of Research on Gendered Income Disparities in Public Relations • David Dozier, San Diego State University, School of Journalism and Media Studies; Bey-Ling Sha, San Diego State University • Gendered income disparities are well documented: men earn higher salaries than women. Less clear are the reasons why. This study analyzed four surveys of PRSA members (1979, 1991, 2004, and 2006). Men earned significantly higher salaries than women practitioners, men had more years of professional experience, and greater professional experience was correlated with higher salaries. In three of four surveys, men earned significantly higher salaries than women, after controlling for professional experience.
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Factors Contributing to Anti-Americanism Among People Abroad: The Frontlines Perspective of U.S. Public Diplomats • Kathy Fitzpatrick, Quinnipiac University; alice kendrick, Southern Methodist University; Jami Fullerton, Oklahoma State University • This study examined the views of U.S. public diplomats on factors that contribute to anti- American attitudes among people abroad. The purpose was to gain a better understanding of the most significant causes of anti-Americanism through the first-hand experiences of the men and women who have served on the front lines of U.S. public diplomacy and to consider the implications for U.S. public diplomacy going forward. A factor analysis revealed four underlying dimensions of anti-Americanism, which were labeled Information, Culture, Policy and Values. The public diplomats rated the Policy factor as the most significant, followed by the Information factor, the Culture factor and the Values factor.
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Understanding Made in China: Valence framing, product-country image, and international public relations • Gang (Kevin) Han, Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication/Iowa State University; Xiuli (Charlene) Wang, School of Journalism and Communication/Peking University • This study employed an experiment to examine the effects of valenced news frames, in terms of risks and benefits, on people’s perceptions of and attitudes towards the product-country image (PCI) of Made in China. Findings suggested that participants in the risks-frame condition gave significantly negative evaluation on this product-country image, whereas the participants in the benefits-frame condition offered more positive evaluation. Personal relevance, shopping experience, and shopping habit jointly affected this relationship as covariates. The concept of product-country image, as well as the implications of valence framing for international public relations, was also discussed.
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Disaster on the Web? A Qualitative Analysis of Disaster Preparedness Websites for Children • Karen Hilyard, University of Tennessee; Tatjana M. Hocke, University of Tennessee; Erin Ryan, The University of Alabama • In a qualitative analysis using stakeholder theory, child development research and website usability criteria, the authors examine three disaster preparedness websites created for children by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The sites were characterized by outdated content and technology, low levels of two-way communication and poor usability compared to other offerings for kids on the Web, and may therefore fail to effectively accomplish the mission of preparing children for disasters.
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Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure of Media Companies • Jiran Hou, The University of Georgia; Bryan Reber, University of Georgia • Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives have become increasingly common among corporations in the United States. However, there has been very limited research studying media companies’ CSR initiatives and disclosure. In this study, we examined the CSR initiatives and disclosure of major media companies in the United States. Specifically, we conducted content analysis to analyze five major dimensions of CSR disclosure: environment, community relations, diversity, employee relations and human rights. We also analyzed the disclosure of companies’ media specific CSR activities. Our findings showed that nine of the ten companies have engaged in different types of CSR activities. These companies’ CSR initiatives differ by the types of the company, and the size of the company also has influence on the reporting of CSR initiatives.
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he effects of crisis response strategies on attribution of crisis responsibility and relationship quality outcomes • Eyun-Jung Ki, The University of Alabama; Kenon Brown, The University of Alabama • This study investigated the effects of crisis response strategies on the attribution of an organization’s crisis responsibilities and relationship quality outcomes and determined the linkages among relationship quality outcome indicators. This study found that none of the tested crisis response strategies were helpful in reducing public blame surrounding the featured organization’s responsibility in the crisis. This study did not discover any significant impact of the crisis response strategies on the relationship quality outcomes.
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Content analysis on CSR Reporting of Companies’ Web sites: Signaling Theory Perspective • Hyuk Soo Kim, The University of Alabama; Joe Phelps, University of Alabama; Jee Young Chung, University of Alabama • The current study introduced the signaling theory in the domain of CSR reporting and content-analyzed how companies report their CSR activities on their corporate web sites. Top 100 advertising-spending companies were selected as a sample frame. From the perspective of signaling theory, the current study investigated how companies are reporting their CSR activities by employing the concept of benefit salience and congruency. Additionally, this study explored the relationship between CSR activities and branding. The results showed that companies are not effectively reporting their CSR activities and did not find any relationship between CSR activities and branding.
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Exploring ethics codes of national public relations professional associations across countries • Soo-Yeon Kim, University of Florida; Eyun-Jung Ki, The University of Alabama • This study explored ethics codes present on Web sites of national public relations professional associations across countries. Of a total of 107 countries examined, 66 (61.7%) countries were found to have one or more professional associations. Among the 45 Web sites accessible in English, 38 (84.4%) provided ethics codes, the most frequently presented values in which were ‘fairness,’ ‘safeguarding confidences,’ and ‘honesty.’ This study was an exploratory attempt to provide a descriptive picture of public relations professional associations and their ethics codes across countries.
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Corporate Social Responsibility and Organization-Public Relationships: Public Relations and Marketing Educators’ Perspectives • Daewook Kim, University of Florida; Mary Ann Ferguson, University of Florida • This study examines how public relations educator’s perceptions differ from marketing educators with regard to corporate social responsibility (CSR) dimensions. It further explores the association between CSR and the organization-public relationship (OPR) dimensions. This research found that marketing educators showed more value for the economic dimension, while public relations educators showed a relatively higher value for the ethical & legal and discretionary dimensions of CSR. The perceptual differences are also embedded in the association between the CSR and OPR dimensions.
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When Cousins Feud: Advancing Threat Appraisal and Contingency Theory in Situations That Question the Essential Identity of Activist Groups • Jeesun Kim, Grand Valley State University; Glen Cameron, University of Missouri – Columbia • This experiment applied the concepts of avowed and ascribed identities to situations when similar activist organizations clash. Based on the threat appraisal model (Jin & Cameron, 2007) and contingency theory (Cancel, Mitrook, & Cameron, 1999), analysis of effects of an attack on a group’s essential identity due to hypocritical behavior advances theory and practice of strategic conflict management. The distinction between internal and external threat and the linear perspective in stance predictions on the contingency continuum are both revised and extended by current findings.
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Reputation Repair at the Expense of Providing Instructing and Adjusting Information Following Crises:Examining 18 Years of Crisis Responses Strategy Research • Sora Kim, University of Florida; Elizabeth Avery, University of Tennessee; Ruthann Lariscy, University of Georgia • Quantitative content analysis of 51 articles published in crisis communication literature in public relations indicates both a prevalent focus on image restoration or reputation management in the crisis responses analyzed in more than 18 years of research and a relative neglect of instructing and adjusting information in subsequent recommendations. This research makes insightful crisis response recommendations regarding consideration of organizational type involved in a crisis (government, corporation, or individual) and targeting active publics when selecting crisis responses.
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Face to Face: How the Cleveland Clinic Managed Media Relations for the First U.S. Face Transplant • Marjorie Kruvand, Loyola University Chicago • When the first U.S. face transplant was performed at the Cleveland Clinic in late 2008, public relations practitioners at the non-profit academic medical center in Ohio played an essential role in helping to establish whether the risky and controversial surgery would be judged successful by the medical community, the news media, and the public. This descriptive case study uses agenda building theory and the related concept of information subsidies to examine how practitioners planned and handled media relations for one of the year’s top medical stories – a story accompanied by challenging ethical issues. Strongly influenced by what they believed was a media relations fiasco involving the world’s first face transplant, which had been performed three years earlier in France, Clinic practitioners effectively used information subsidies while tightly controlling information about and access to the patient. The study finds that the Clinic’s media relations activities resulted in highly positive media coverage that enhanced the Clinic’s reputation while also helping to reshape the U.S. media agenda on face transplants.
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Social Media And Strategic Communications: Attitudes And Perceptions Among College Students • Bobbi Kay Lewis, Oklahoma State University • Social media have been adopted from its inception by public relations, advertising and marketing practitioners as tools for communicating with strategic publics. Wright and Hinson (2009) have established that public relations professionals perceive social media positively with respect to strategic communication. Given that social media are having an impact on professionals in the industry, the current study examined if social media are having a similar impact on college students in general and students studying in the area of public relations and advertising. The attitudes and perceptions of social media among college students were explored by modifying the survey instrument used by Wright & Hinson to explore the attitudes and perceptions of social media among PR professionals. It is important for educators and curriculum leaders to have an appreciation of students’ knowledge base of social media and how they employ it in their construction of knowledge and reality. It is also valuable for professionals in the industry, who are hiring recent college graduates, to gain insight into how students perceive social media in their own lives and as strategic tools. Findings suggest that college students majoring advertising and public relations view social media more positively than other majors because they understand how it fits in to the industry in which they are being educated. Because of these findings, social media should be incorporated into strategic communications curriculum to better prepare students for the current media climate.
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Bureaucrats, Politicians, and Communication Practices: Toward a New Model of Government Communication • Brooke Liu, University of Maryland; Abbey Blake Levenshus, University of Maryland; J. Suzanne Horsley, University of Alabama • The success of any government policy or program hinges on effective internal and external communication. Despite the critical importance of communication in the public sector, very little research focuses specifically on government communication. Through a survey of 781 government communicators in the U.S., this study builds on a model – the government communication decision wheel – by adding a previously untested variable: political versus bureaucratic employer. Specifically, the study identifies four significant differences and five similarities in how the public sector environment affects bureaucrats’ and elected officials’ communicators’ public relations practices. The findings provide valuable insights for practitioners and contribute to public relations theory development for the under-researched public sector.
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Twitter me this, Twitter me that: A quantitative content analysis of the 40 Best Twitter Brands • Tina McCorkindale, Appalachian State University • In February 2010, Twitter, a microblogging website, had more than 21 million unique visitors, and continues today to be an increasingly important social media tool for public relations. Most public relations research about Twitter has focused on case studies—few quantitative analyses have been conducted. Therefore, the purpose of this paper was to conduct a content analysis to determine how Mashable’s 40 Best Twitter Brands were using Twitter, and what makes these the best brands. From October 2009 to January 2010, a constructed month of tweets were analyzed to determine an organization’s usage and authenticity/transparency on Twitter. While some organizations only used Twitter to disseminate information or for customer service, other organizations used the microblog to engage with various publics. Results also found organizations who named the individual who tweeted on behalf of the organization engaged in more dialogue with various publics compared to those that did not. The researcher also provided a list of 11 gold standard Twitter accounts, as well as suggestions for future research.
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Exploring the Roles of Organization-Public Relationships in the Strategic Management Process: Towards an Integrated Framework • Rita Linjuan Men, University of Miami; Chun-ju Flora Hung, Hong Kong Baptist University • By combining the growing body of knowledge on organization-public relationships with insights from strategic management in the management literature, the purpose of this study is to demonstrate, from the relational approach, the value of public relations at the organizational level. Specifically, it intends to examine the roles of organization-public relationships (OPRs) in each stage of the strategic management process, namely, strategic analysis, strategy formulation, strategy implementation and strategic control. Seventeen in-depth interviews were conducted with public relations directors, vice presidents, and general managers from Fortune 500 and Forbes’ China 100 Top companies in China to explore the issues. The findings show that OPRs can contribute to strategic analysis by being the source of information, channel of information, active information detector and foundation for internal analysis. It contributes to strategy formulation by providing broad information, incorporating intelligence, perspectives and insights and engaging employees in decision-making. In strategy implementation, OPRs can generate support from parties involved and facilitate the strategy execution process. In strategic control, OPRs can provide feedback and updated information for strategy adjustments and strategy review, engage employee in self-management and facilitate organizational control through relational trust, commitment and satisfaction. Through playing multiple roles in each strategic management stage, OPRs can eventually contribute to sustainable competitive advantage, achievement of organizational goals and organizational effectiveness. An integrated framework of OPRs and strategic management is developed in this study based on the empirical data. Theoretical and practical implications are also discussed.
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Crisis Preparedness versus Paranoia: Testing the Crisis Message Processing Model on the Effects of Over Communication of Crisis Preparedness Messages by Governments • Kester Tay, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore; Rasiah Raslyn Agatha, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore; May O. Lwin, Nanyang Technological University; Augustine Pang, Nanyang Technological University • The literature has constantly emphasized consistent messaging and reinforcement of messages by organizations managing crisis. What remains unclear is the effects of over-emphasis and over-exposure of messages to the audience. The authors have developed a model called the Crisis Message Processing Model to understand how audience process crisis messages. This study, the first of a series of empirical tests, examines the interactions among message intensity, repetition and threat perceptions. Findings showed rigor of the model (75 words, as requested by PR division).
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Exploring Citizen-Government Relationships: A Study of Effective Relationship Strategies with South Korean Citizens during a crisis • Hanna Park, University of Florida; Linda Hon, University of Florida • This study explored the citizen-government relationships (CGRs) in South Korea during a crisis, mass protests in 2008 against the U.S. beef import. Associations among relationship maintenance strategies (RMSs), CGRs and publics’ support for the government and president were investigated. For this study, 200 online community users participated in online survey. Results showed that respondents perceived the government’s RMSs as asymmetrical and CGRs as negative. RMSs were positively correlated with CGRs and support for the government.
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Identifying the Synergy Between Corporate Social Responsibility • Hyojung Park, University of Missouri, School of Journalism; Bryan Reber, University of Georgia • Using a two-step approach to structural equation modeling, this study examined how different types of corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives are associated with relational satisfaction, trust, company evaluation, and behavioral intentions. The results revealed that trust was positively influenced by economic, ethical, and philanthropic responsibilities, while satisfaction was positively influenced only by economic responsibilities. Additionally, CSR performances appeared to positively affect company evaluation and behavioral intentions (purchase, employment, and investment) through trust and satisfaction.
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Talking Health Care Reform: The Influence of Issue-Specific Communication on Political Organization-Public Relationships and Attitudes • Trent Seltzer, Texas Tech University; Weiwu Zhang, Texas Tech University • A survey of US citizens (n = 420) was conducted to examine the influence of strategic communication regarding health care reform on perceptions of organization-public relationships (OPRs) with political parties. Results indicate that issue-specific strategic communication – and dialogic communication in particular – not only enhanced perceptions of the OPR with the sponsoring political party, but also destabilized relationships with the opposition party. Positive perceptions of political OPRs resulted in favorable attitudes toward parties and the issue.
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Organization-Employee Relationship Maintenance Strategies: A New Measuring Instrument • Hongmei Shen, San Diego State University • The purpose of this study was twofold: 1) to develop a valid and reliable new instrument to measure relationship maintenance strategies in the context of organization-employee relationships, and 2) to explore how organizations build relationships with internal publics. A focus group (N = 10) and an online survey were administered (N = 583). Statistical tests established the validity and reliability of a six-factor 20-item instrument for relationship maintenance strategies. It was also found that organizations utilized openness, assurances of legitimacy, networking, and compromising to a larger extent than distributive negotiation and avoiding to build relationships with their employees. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Hope for Haiti: An Analysis of Facebook and Twitter Usage during the Earthquake Relief Efforts • Sidharth Muralidharan, Univ. of Southern Mississippi; Leslie Rasmussen, Univ. of Southern Mississippi; Daniel Patterson, Univ. of Southern Mississippi; Jae-Hwa Shin, Univ. of Southern Mississippi • The Haitian earthquake devastated the small island of Hispaniola, leaving thousands dead and billions of dollars of property damage. The earthquake also represented a watershed in the use of social media usage by nonprofit and media organizations to inform, communicate and mobilize support from the general public and orchestrate disaster relief efforts. By implementing applying the theory of framing to posts and tweets of nonprofits and media organizations, the authors found that morality and responsibility were the dominant message frames for nonprofits and conflict was the dominate frame for media; both used frames that were episodic in nature; and positive emotions were the dominant frame for nonprofits while media focused on negative emotions. Nonprofits and media used information dissemination and disclosure effectively but were not as effective with involvement strategies, implying a less interactive and more of a one-way communication.
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Has the use of online media rooms to create a dialogue with journalists changed in global corporations? Comparing 2004 to 2009. • Dustin Supa, Ball State University; Lynn Zoch, Radford University • This study examines whether the top 50 global corporations in 2004 established dialogic communication with the media through their use of online media rooms and, using the same methods, compares those findings to the same corporations in 2009. The authors have determined that while progress toward increased dialogic communication was realized in some areas, in other ways, there was little or no improvement. In fact the online media room in 2009 was less likely to contain some of the features that were found in 2004.
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How Emergencies Have Affected the Interaction of Journalists/Sources: Message Development in the Terror Age • Christopher Swindell, Marshall University • In a terror attack or other emergency, journalists and sources (often public relations practitioners) may bring the misperceptions they hold about the other group to bear in the interaction. This study uses survey research to highlight differences in message strategy and importance that the two groups have about a hypothetical terror attack. The researcher questioned 150 working journalists and official sources using coorientation to assess subtle differences in their beliefs about the work of the other. Using ANOVA and post hoc t-tests, the researcher found journalists and sources disagree, are incongruent, and most importantly, are inaccurate in their perceptions about message speed, accuracy and panic potential. Public relations best practices advocate forthrightness and candor with the news media. The current study found many journalists suspicious of practitioners and vice versa regarding the most critical elements of emergency messages. The paper suggests both groups should better appreciate the role of the other, especially in an emergency or terror attack where life and limb may be at stake.
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The Possibilities and Realities of Studying Intersectionality in Public Relations Jennifer Vardeman-Winter, University of Houston; Natalie Tindall, Georgia State University; Hua Jiang, Towson University • Intersectionality refers to multiple, interdependent identities that simultaneously impact groups. This paper introduces intersectionality to public relations so researchers and practitioners can to better understand the contexts of organizational-public communication relationships. Theories of power, identity, and intersectionality in public relations are reviewed. Emphasis is put on dissecting the complications of studying intersectionality and ways previous researchers have explored it. The study design for an intersectional analysis of publics is discussed.
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Indeed, It Does Depend: Examining Public Relations Leaders through the Lens of the Contingency Theory of Leadership • Richard Waters, North Carolina State University • Contrary to other leadership theories, the contingency theory of leadership argues that anyone has the potential to lead depending on situational variables. Through a survey of 11 PRSA chapters and 9 state/local public relations associations (n = 539), this study found that the contingency theory of leadership describes and predicts public relations behavior (role enactment and relationship cultivation behaviors) satisfactorily. Implications for practice and theory development are discussed.
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It’s Not a Small World After All: Using Stewardship in a Theme Park’s Daily Operations Richard Waters, North Carolina State University • Through the use of participant-observation research, this manuscript attempts to encourage relationship management scholars to explore Kelly’s (2001) conceptualization of stewardship as viable strategies for creating relationships centered on trusting behaviors. Though often equated with fundraising, the four stewardship strategies—reciprocity, responsibility, reporting, and relationship nurturing—were found to play a significant role in how managers and human resources officials strengthened relationships with employees at Disney’s Hollywood Studios theme park. With numerous examples of their utilization in a specialization far removed from fundraising, the study challenges the traditional approach scholars have taken to understand cultivation activities in the organization-public relationship.
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Ethical Considerations in Social Media Usage — a Content Analysis of Silver Anvil Winners Patricia Whalen, Faculty; Sylwia Makarewicz, recently graduated master’s student Focusing on ethical practices in social media and relationship theory, this descriptive study uses content analysis to document usage of social media and ethical/reputational terms among recent PRSA Silver Anvil winners. The study found that a slim majority used social media, but, especially in consumer goods firms, the technology was more likely to be used as a message dissemination tool than an intent to build trust and develop more credible relationships with key constituencies.
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Translating Science for the Public: Predictors of PIOs’ Roles in the Knowledge Transfer Process • Judith White, University of New Mexico • Public information officers (PIOs) link knowledge transfer between researchers and journalists. Orientation toward science/health/technology knowledge is important to PIOs’ choices of education, training, and occupational experience. This study constructs an index to measure science/health/technology orientation (SHTO) from an Internet survey of a random sample of PIOs. This study shows SHTO index to be a statistically significant predictor for variety of story topics covered but not of number of scientist sources used in information subsidies.
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A study of PR practitioners’ use of social media in crisis planning • Shelley Wigley, University of Texas at Arlington; Weiwu Zhang, Texas Tech University • A survey exploring social media and crisis planning was conducted with 251 members of the Public Relations Society of America. Nearly half of respondents (48%) said they have incorporated social media into their crisis plans. Of these respondents, most indicated they have incorporated Twitter as a tool in their crisis planning, primarily for distribution purposes. Additionally, the study found that public relations professionals whose organizations rely more heavily on social media tools in their crisis planning correlated positively with practitioners’ greater confidence in their organization’s ability to handle a crisis. As for practitioners’ use of social media in their every day practice, results revealed that a large percentage use social media on a personal level; however, results also indicated that a large percentage of respondents’ organizations (82%) use social media. Survey respondents indicated that the stakeholders they communicate with most via social media are potential customers and clients (71%), followed by news media (61%).
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Telling your own bad news: A test of the stealing thunder strategy • Shelley Wigley, University of Texas at Arlington • This study explored the concept of stealing thunder, or telling your own bad news, by conducting a content analysis of newspaper coverage following two political scandals – one in which a source stole thunder from reporters and one in which the source engaged in silence and allowed the media to break the story. Results showed no association between stealing thunder and the number of articles or length of article. However, stealing thunder was associated with more positively framed stories and fewer negative media frames.
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A Longitudinal Analysis of Changes in New Communications Media Use by Public Relations Practitioners: A Two-Year Trend Study • Don Wright, Boston University; Michelle Hinson, Institute for Public Relations, University of Florida • This two-year trend study of a large number of public relations practitioners (n=1,137; n=574 in 2009; n=563 in 2010) found new communications media have a huge impact on public relations practice. This study found social networking site Facebook to be ranked as the most important of these new media for public relations messages in 2010, replacing search engine marketing that ranked first in 2009. Micro-blogging site Twitter was the next most frequently used new media site in 2010 followed by social networking site LinkedIn and video sharing outlet YouTube. The overall use of social networking, micro-blogging and video sharing websites in public relations practice increased dramatically between 2009 and 2010. The use of blogs, search engine marketing and electronic forums or message boards remained relatively constant while the importance of podcasts decreased slightly. This study found huge some large gaps existed between how new communications media actually are being used and how much public relations people think they should be used. This study also measured the frequency of personal use by public relations practitioners of traditional news media and new communications media and found that although most who practice public relations get their news from newspapers followed by magazines, television news and radio news, the use of micro-blogging sites such as Twitter, social networks such as Facebook and video sharing sites such as YouTube made dramatic increases between 2009 and 2010.

Student
When did transparency appear in PR and what does it mean? A historical analysis of the word and its contexts. • Giselle A. Auger, University of Florida • Since 1990 the word transparency has increasingly been found in discussions of financial accountability, government culpability, crisis communication, and corporate social responsibility. The purpose of this study was to examine the adoption of transparency into the public relations literature, its contexts and meanings. Through a historical review of the use of the word transparency, and a content analysis of the word within the public relations literature, the adequacy of existing definitions are evaluated.

The Impact of Industy on the Crisis Situation: Applying Consensus to the SCCT Model • Kenon Brown, The University of Alabama • The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of an industry’s crisis history on a member organization’s crisis situation by exploring the concept of consensus and its impact on the Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT) model. The study uses a 2 x 2 x 2 factorial experiment to test the impact of industry crisis history and its interaction effects with crisis history and relationship history during the reporting of a fictitious product recall. Results found that industry crisis history had no effect on crisis responsibility or organizational reputation.

Roles of nonprofit organizations as social oil: How local nonprofit organizations help multinational corporations build social capital in host countries • Moonhee Cho, University of Florida • Emphasizing the importance of social capital, the purpose of the paper is threefold: 1) to explicate social capital as the resources that determine the business success or failure of multinational corporations (MNCs), 2) to discuss the role of nonprofit organizations as boundary spanners in the relationship between MNCs and community members, and 3) to propose a model that demonstrates how local nonprofit organizations build social capital of MNCs vis-à-vis community members as well as provide propositions in formation of social capital. In doing so, the paper provides a framework of the relationships among three sectors of society: private, nonprofit, and community, for developing democracy in a pluralist society.

When tourists are your friends: An exploratory examination of brand personality in discussions about Mexico and Brazil on Facebook • Maria DeMoya, University of Florida; Rajul Jain, University of Florida • Using Aaker’s (1997) brand personality framework, this study explores how two top international tourist destinations -Mexico and Brazil— communicate their brand personalities on their Facebook pages and which personalities their followers associate with them. Specifically, this research explores if these destinations’ public relations efforts are succeeding in communicating the brand image of their countries by promoting them online on one of the most popular social media outlets.

Text Haiti to 90999: The future of relationship fundraising for a nonprofit organization. • Terri Denard, University of Alabama • The relief campaign following the 2010 Haiti earthquake yielded unprecedented text-message donations. This study examines the relief campaign to learn whether its initial success can yield deeper relationships or provide a blueprint for similar campaigns. The study found the text channel reached younger and first-time donors, 10% of whom opted-in to receive future communications. However, donations dissipated after the initial rush, underscoring the importance of cultivating new relationships through traditional and emerging channels.

The Situational Theory of Publics: Youth Civic Engagement • Jarim Kim, University of Maryland • This study addresses how the youth become active in the political processes. Research question guiding this study is why and how did youth come to be an active public in the 2008 Obama campaign? Using ten in-depth qualitative interviews with college students this study looked at how and why they became actively engaged in the political process. The situational theory of publics was employed as a framework to examine their active participation. Findings indicate that an active public engaged in Obama campaign satisfied all of the three variables of the theory. This study also found the antecedent factors of the STP that influenced their communicative behaviors. This study advances the understanding of the active publics in the political communication context as well as elaborating independent variables of the STP.

Does going green really matter to publics? The effects of environmental corporate social responsibility (CSR), price, and firm size in the food service industry on public responses • Yeonsoo Kim, University of Florida • This study examined the different effects of pro-active environmental CSR and passive CSR practices on attitudes toward the company, intent to seek information on and communicate the company’s CSR to others, and intent to pay incentives. How price of products/service, consumers’ environmental concern, and corporate size interact with those effects was tested. Proactive environmental programs led to more positive publics’ responses. Subjects wanted to find information on and talk about CSR programs the most when companies with proactive CSR provided cheap products. When small companies had proactive environmental CSR programs, participants showed favorable attitudes and stronger intent to pay more regardless of price. Conversely, in the case of passive CSR, participants showed better reactions only when the price was cheap. Environmentally conscious consumers showed more sensitive reactions toward the CSR practices in general.

Return to Public Diplomacy: A Review of the Published Work • Anna Klyueva, University of Oklahoma • Reinvigorated interest toward public diplomacy in the aftermath of 9/11 facilitated the growth of research in the field. This study analyzes peer-reviewed articles published from 1989 to 2010 from two relevant disciplines: communication and political science. The objectives of the study were to determine the concepts that have emerged, grown, or diminished within the past two decades in the field of public diplomacy; to report the types of research methods that have been most commonly employed; and to compare and contrast the similarities and differences in scholarly discussions on public diplomacy between communication and political science.

Power-control or empowerment? How women public relations practitioners make meaning of power. • Katie Place, University of Maryland • The purpose of this study was to examine qualitatively how women public relations practitioners make meaning power. Literature regarding power-control theory, gender and power and empowerment contributed to this study. From the literature, one research questions was posed: How do women public relations practitioners make meaning of power? To best illustrate and describe how women public relations practitioners experience the phenomena of power, the researcher incorporated a qualitative research method which utilized 45 in-depth, semi-structured, face-to-face interviews with women public relations practitioners guided by an interview protocol. A grounded theory approach (Glaser & Strauss, 1967) was used to analyze the data. From the data arose several themes regarding gender and power. Results suggested that women practitioners made meaning of power as a function of influence, a function of relationships, knowledge and information, access, results-based credibility and empowerment. The data extend our understanding of practitioner power, power-control theory and empowerment in public relations. Power in public relations exists in various forms and empowerment serves as an alternative meaning making model of power.

Explicating Cynicism toward Corporate Social Responsibility: Causes and Communication Approaches • Hyejoon Rim, University of Florida • This study attempts to explicate the concept of cynicism in the context of corporate social responsibility, focusing more on the causes rather than its consequences. As corporate social responsibility has become increasingly popular in business, it has become more important to determine how to best communicate such initiatives with the public in this cynical age. Grounded on psychology, marketing, and business literature, this research intends to outline potential antecedents of cynicism on the situational and individual levels. At the situational factors, industry environment, organizational reputation, salience of promotion, and goodness of fit are identified. At the individual level, external locus of control and ethical ideologies are suggested as dominant sources of cynicism. Implications for strategic corporate social responsibility management and communication, as well as further research are discussed.

Legitimacy 2.0: Possible Research Avenues for Corporate Reputation in the Digital Age • Joy Rodgers, University of Florida • Among the challenges facing public relations practitioners in the new collaborative, interactive, and non-hierarchical digital arena is the management of corporate identity and reputation. This study examines the concept of legitimacy as it relates to reputation in order to contribute to the term’s theoretical foundation in the online realm and suggests some potential avenues for research to inform the practice of public relations reputation management in a digital information society.

Legitimation in Activist Issues Management: Congressional Testimony of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) • Erich Sommerfeldt, University of Oklahoma • This study investigated the rhetorical legitimation efforts of ACT UP, an activist group whose extreme tactics have been characterized as illegitimate. Through rhetorical analysis of the Congressional testimony of five ACT UP representatives from 1988 to 1992, the study determined how ACT UP representatives attempted to bolster legitimacy for themselves as issue managers, for their issues, and policy recommendations as they attempted to participate in shaping public policy on AIDS issues.

The Role of Social Capital in Public Relations’ Efficacy: How Internal Networks Influence External Practice • Erich Sommerfeldt, University of Oklahoma • This paper argues that public relations can be used as a force to enhance collective social capital, but only when a public relations unit has access to or reserves of social capital themselves. The paper introduces a case of a government agency in Jordan, and presents findings from a network analysis study that shows the public relations unit(s) to be deficient in social capital and thereby unable to affect its creation within or without the organization.

The impact of online comments on attitude toward an organization based on individual’s prior attitude • Kang Hoon Sung, University of Florida • This study is a 3 (Prior attitude) by 4 (Type of online comments) factorial design experiment that tests effects of online comments on attitude toward an organization based on individual’s prior attitude. The results showed that online comments have a significant effect on people’s attitude. Especially, people with prior neutral attitude were affected the most. For people with prior negative attitude, two-sided comments were most effective. Usability was the most influential factor in changing attitude.

Framing Breast Cancer: Building an Agenda through Online Advocacy and Fundraising • Brooke Weberling, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • Using qualitative content analysis, this study employs agenda building and framing to examine e-mail messages from Susan G. Komen for the Cure and Komen Advocacy Alliance to determine strategies for communicating about breast cancer and inspiring involvement in the nonprofit organizations’ advocacy and fundraising efforts. Three types of messages, nine frames and various tactics emerged among the 50 messages (sent during one year). Theoretical implications and applications for public relations and fundraising professionals are discussed.

Teaching
Meeting the needs of the practice: An evaluation of the public relations curricula • Moonhee Cho, University of Florida; Giselle A. Auger, University of Florida • Considering that much of the academic literature focused on the practice of public relations, and that there appeared to be consensus between educators and practitioners about the skills necessary for entry to the field, the researchers questioned whether in fact public relations courses and programs within higher education were adequately preparing students for placement in an entry-level position or providing skills that would aid in advancing to higher level positions. To this end, researchers conducted two content analyses, first on courses offered at the college or university level, and secondly, on current job descriptions for public relations positions. Results indicated that the public relations curricula is generally meeting the needs of the practice; however the demand for knowledge and skills in social and emerging or new media by potential employers far exceeds the frequency with which such subjects are addressed in the public relations curricula.

Big Chief Tablets and Sharpened Pencils: Helping PR Practitioners Transition from Practice to Classroom • Barbara DeSanto, Maryville University of Saint Louis; Susan Gonders, Southeast Missouri State University • The first stage of Super’s (1990) theory of adult career development, exploration, combined with Tierney’s (1997) analysis of universities’ culture and socialization processes provides two perspectives to apply to a current information workshop offered as an educational tool to public relations practitioners thinking about becoming involved in academia. Using this theoretical framework allows workshop participants and workshop providers ways of understanding the process and stresses of career change decisions from each other’s perspective.

The RFP Solution: One Response to Client/Service Learner Issues • Cathy Rogers, Loyola University New Orleans; Valerie Andrews, Loyola University New Orleans • Public relations programs have adopted service learning as standard practice, particularly by incorporating real client work to maximize student learning. While the literature documents the widespread use of real clients and service learning as an exemplary teaching method, little has been written about the instructor/client relationship, other than to note the difficulties of dealing with clients, including unrealistic expectations, inadequate communication, lack of respect for students as professionals, and commitment to the project. This paper reviews one university’s creation and implementation of a formal request-for-proposal (RFP) process to match community partners with mass communication course projects. The paper reviews the process and results of focus groups conducted to create the RFP process and examines two phases of the RFP implementation. This case study shows how an RFP disseminated to local nonprofits can minimize unrealistic professor and client expectations and maximize student learning and client satisfaction.

Pre-Professional Attitudes and Identities: The Socialization of Journalism and Public Relations Majors • Bey-Ling Sha, San Diego State University; Amy Weiss, San Diego State University • Relationships between journalists and public relations practitioners tend to be uneasy, if not antagonistic. The purpose of this study was to explore the possible origins of this complex relationship by examining the socialization of journalism and public relations college majors. The findings indicate that, although pre-professional journalists and public relations practitioners have some diverging perspectives on both their counterparts and their respective professional identities, these differences may not be as significant as they first seem.

Service-Learning in the Public Relations Classroom: An Experiential Approach to Improving Students’ Critical-Thinking and Problem-Solving Skills • Brenda Wilson, Tennessee Technological University • A study of students in a public relations course showed support for a service-learning instructional model enhancing critical thinking and problem solving and reducing rote memorization. Data were collected from 40 undergraduates in a pretest/posttest design and showed significance on 11 of 19 critical-thinking and problem-solving items. Students said they would recommend the course to others, worked harder in it than in most courses, and were satisfied with their expected grade.

<< 2010 Abstracts

Law & Policy Division 2010 Abstracts

The Associated Press as Common Carrier? • Stephen Bates, University of Nevada, Las Vegas • From the late 1860s until Associated Press v. United States (1945), critics contended that the AP ought to be regulated as a common carrier or public utility. This paper analyzes the common-carrier concept as advocates (and sometimes legislators and judges) have applied it to the AP and other media, including Jerome Barron’s arguments for a right of access. It also discusses the doctrine that the government can sometimes regulate the press in order to advance First Amendment interests.

Disciplining the British Tabloids: Mosley v. News Group Newspapers • Stephen Bates, University of Nevada, Las Vegas • In 2008, Max Mosley, the head of Formula One racing, won an invasion-of-privacy suit against News of the World. The tabloid had published articles, including hidden-camera photos, charging that Mosley had participated in a Nazi-themed S&M orgy with five prostitutes. This paper criticizes the Mosley ruling. Among other flaws, the ruling reflects a crabbed and elitist view of the press, and it diminishes the role of the media in articulating and enforcing public morality.

Conceptualizing the Right to Environmental Information in Human Rights Law • Cheryl Ann Bishop, Quinnipiac University • During the last two decades, there has been increasing understanding that access to environmental information is a key to sustainable development and effective public participation in environmental governance.  This research identifies and explicates the human right to environmental information by analyzing documents and legal rulings from the Inter-American, European, African and UN human rights regimes. It finds that the right to environmental information has broad support; nonetheless, the articulations of this right are not always consistent.

The Constitutional Right-to-information on the Individual Level • Kathryn Blevins, The Pennsylvania State University • The constitutional right to government-held information is a muddled legal right, especially in light of government abuses of the Freedom of Information Act in the past decade. This paper provides an overview of the First Amendment jurisprudence regarding an individual’s right to government-held information before ultimately arguing that perhaps the right to information should be conceptualized as a constitutional rather than statutory right in light of strong Supreme Court support.

Every Picture Tells A Story, Don’t It? Wrestling With The Complex Relationship Among Photographs, Words & Newsworthiness In Journalistic Storytelling • Clay Calvert, University of Florida • Using the 2009 opinion by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in Toffoloni v. LFP Publishing Group (and the Supreme Court’s March 2010 denial of a petition for a writ of certiorari) as an analytical springboard, this paper focuses on the complex relationship in journalistic storytelling among images, text and newsworthiness and the implications of it for press freedom.  The paper pivots on a key research question: If pictures are crucial to journalistic storytelling, from news to entertainment, then why should judges be able to usurp from the press the First Amendment-protected role of editor and place themselves in the position of arbiter of what counts more in storytelling – words or images – when ruling on a story’s newsworthiness?

Free Speech, Fleeting Expletives & the Causation Quagmire:  Was Justice Scalia Wrong In Fox Television Stations? • Clay Calvert, University of Florida; Matthew Bunker, University of Alabama • This paper analyzes the U.S. Supreme Court’s approach in 2009 in FCC v. Fox Television Stations to the issue of harm to minors allegedly caused by fleeting expletives.  Dissecting Justice Antonin Scalia’s language in the case on causation of harm, the paper examines the quantum of evidentiary proof needed by a federal agency to demonstrate causation sufficient to justify restricting the speech in question.  The paper suggests how Scalia’s analysis begs the law for an infusion of research from social science fields, including communication.  It also contextualizes the causation issue within a broader framework, illustrating how Scalia’s remarks demonstrate doctrinal inconsistency and judicial incoherence on speech-related questions of both causation and redress of harm in areas of law other than indecency, namely with laws targeting video games, commercial speech and trademark.

One Click to Suicide: First Amendment Case Law and its Applicability to Cyberspace • Christina Cerutti, Boston College • Websites counseling dangerous activity such as suicide represent uncharted legal territory.  To date, most legal scholarship regarding these sites considers whether they incite imminent lawless action.  As an alternative to incitement, this paper argues that these websites are more productively characterized as instruction manuals that aid and abet unlawful activity.  In support of this approach, this paper proposes a three-tiered legal test for distinguishing between protected and unprotected instruction manuals under the First Amendment.
Charting The Right to Publish and the Right to Privacy: Reconciling Conflicts Between Freedom of

Expression and the Disclosure of Private Facts • Erin Coyle, Louisiana State University • Legal scholars have suggested the Supreme Court’s narrow, fact-tied rulings have favored free expression and provided little clarity on privacy rights.  Little is known, however, about whether lower courts have discussed any free expression values or privacy values when ruling on disclosure of private facts claims since 1989. This paper examines if and how state high court and federal appellate court decisions filed after the U.S. Supreme Court’s Florida Star v. B.J.F. ruling have analyzed clashes between free expression and privacy arising in disclosure of private facts cases. During the past twenty years, four states’ high courts have clarified for the first time that the common law of their respective states does recognize invasion of privacy by the disclosure of private facts in the past twenty years.  On the other hand, during the 1990s, two states’ high courts suggested their states’ common law did not recognize the disclosure branch of invasion of privacy.  The courts in those six states reached different conclusions about the constitutionality of the tort.  Most state supreme and federal appellate courts that have considered disclosure cases since 1989, however, have not discussed the constitutionality of the tort.  Almost half the relevant rulings focused on the failure of disclosure of private facts plaintiffs to demonstrate that defendants gave widespread publicity to matters not of legitimate public concern. Few courts suggested that they attempted to reconcile conflicts between freedom of expression and privacy, or even acknowledged the tension between First Amendment interests and privacy interests that Justice Marshall mentioned in Florida Star. In one sense, courts followed the U.S. Supreme Court’s practice of relying on principles that sweep no more broadly than the appropriate context of the case. Most state high courts and federal courts of appeals did not balance free expression and privacy interests. Several rulings referred to at least one individual value undergirding privacy law—most commonly the liberty value— and the marketplace of ideas, self-governance, and checking values for freedom of expression.  Some suggested the free expression interests outweighed the privacy interests at issue, but only gave lip service to the traditional concept of balancing competing interests. Most of those rulings engaged in definitional balancing, suggesting that publishing information on a matter of public interest automatically outweighed any privacy interests at stake.

Avoiding the Prisoners’ Dilemma: Economic Development and State Sunshine Laws • Aimee Edmondson, Ohio University; Charles Davis, University of Missouri • This paper looks at the nexus of freedom of information and local and state governments’ economic development negotiations with private business, reviewing all 50 state codes to determine whether officials are free to negotiate and woo private business behind closed doors in the name of job growth for their communities. There has been a push to bring unprecedented secrecy to the process in a state-eat-state battle for jobs with private business insisting upon millions in tax breaks and other incentives. A tire factory or even a private prison could pop up next door and community members may not know about it until after the deal is signed. At least 15 states exempt such negotiations in their sunshine laws. Even more troubling, at least 11 states are hiding those exemptions outside the sunshine law, in the codes that govern economic development agencies themselves. Courts have responded to such secrecy in a mixed manner, ruling that quasi-governmental, nonprofit and private economic development agencies working on behalf of the government are often subject to state sunshine laws. However, in some states, courts have deferred to state statues mandating closure. This paper also offers recommendations for legislative and other types of public policy change to insure transparency in such negotiations.

Motivations for Anonymous Speech: A Legal Realist Perspective • Victoria Ekstrand, Bowling Green State University • This paper is interested in the role courts are playing in assisting plaintiffs who want to sue anonymous online speakers. Specifically, it is interested in how courts are interpreting and defining the cultural value of anonymous speech, particularly in online environments. Using a legal realist approach and an interdisciplinary study of the literature in literature studies, communication, history and political science, this paper looks to address why we seek the mask of anonymity in our speech and identify the beneficial and/or harmful motivations for speaking anonymously. It then looks at two recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions on anonymous speech to address whether the law reflects those cultures and traditions of anonymous speech. It concludes that while some motivations for anonymity have been addressed by the U.S Supreme Court, some of the key motivations for anonymous speech online – such as fun and spontaneity – are not central to the Court’s discussions.

Assessing the Need for More Incentives to Stimulate Next Generation Network Investment • Rob Frieden, Penn State University • Incumbent carriers often vilify the regulatory process as a drain on efficiency and an unnecessary burden in light of robust marketplace competition.  Some claim that regulation creates disincentives for investing in expensive next generation networks (NGNs), and even accepting subsidies for broadband development if the carrier must provide access to competitors. In the worst case scenario, incumbent carriers secure unwarranted and premature deregulation, despite an ongoing need for governments to guard against anticompetitive practices and to promote sustainable competition.   Once a subsidy mechanism is in place, government may not easily wean carriers off such artificial compensation.  In rare instances government may find some key carriers unwilling to accept subsidies and in turn disinclined to pursue expedited NGN development, as is currently occurring in the U.S., because incumbent carriers do not want to provide interconnection and access to competitors.This paper will examine how incumbent carriers in the United States have gamed the incentive creation process for maximum market distortion and competitive advantage.  The paper suggests that the U.S. government has rewarded incumbents with artificially lower risk, insulation from competition, and partial underwriting of technology projects that these carriers would have to undertake unilaterally.   The paper also examines the FCC’s recently released National Broadband Plan with an eye toward assessing whether the Commission has properly balanced incentive creation with competitive necessity.  The paper provides recommendations on how governments can calibrate the incentive creation process for maximum consumer benefit instead of individual carrier gain.

Network Neutrality and Over the Top Content Providers • Rob Frieden, Penn State University This paper considers whether the Federal Communications Commission has legal authority to impose so-called network neutrality rules on producers of content, applications and software delivered to users via the Internet.  The paper asserts that the FCC lacks jurisdiction and cannot generate compelling policy justifications to expand its regulatory wingspan to include content providers whose products ride on top of a bitstream offered by Internet Service Providers.  The paper provides insights on the line between lawful and reasonable Internet nondiscrimination and transparency requirements and unlawful intrusion of content providers’ First Amendment rights.  The paper also provides an assessment of whether governments must regulate or adjudicate network neutrality conflicts related to content as opposed to access via the Internet to content.

Fairey v. AP: Is the Obama Hope Poster a Fair Use or a Copyright Infringement? • Laura Hlavach, Southern Illinois University Carbondale • About Jan. 30, 2009, The Associated Press learned that a 2006 Barack Obama photo taken by an AP photographer was the visual reference artist Shepard Fairey used to develop his iconic Obama Hope posters. Fairey found the photo on Google and did not seek any license to use the image. Fairey considered his use fair under U.S. copyright law; The AP did not. Their legal battle continues. What would U.S. Supreme Court precedent hold?

When Does F*** Not Mean F***?:  FCC v. Fox Television Stations and Protecting Emotive Speech W. Wat Hopkins, Virginia Tech • The Supreme Court of the United States demonstrated in its current term that it doesn’t always deal cogently with non-traditional language.  In FCC v. Fox Television Stations, the justices became sidetracked into attempting to define the f-word and then to determine whether, when used as a fleeting expletive rather than repeatedly, the word is indecent for broadcast purposes.  The Court would do well to avoid definitions and heed Justice John Marshall Harlan’s advice in Cohen v. California to provide protection for the emotive, as well as the cognitive, element of speech.

The Attack Memorandum and the First Amendment: Adjudicating an Activist Role for Business in the Marketplace of Ideas • Robert Kerr, University of Oklahoma • Decades after leaving the Supreme Court, Justice Lewis F. Powell, Jr., remains as well known for a once secret memorandum as for many influential opinions. This analysis of his jurisprudence in relation to his memorandum on advancing business interests in the marketplace of ideas suggests that although he indisputably did so in First Amendment law, he also strove more than popularly believed to maintain limits on those protections in order to preserve other societal interests.

The impact of competition on universal service in Korea: A case study • Sung Wook Kim, Seoul Women’s University; Krishna Jayakar, Penn State University • A substantial body of theoretical and case study literature exists about the relationship between competition and universal service in developing countries. On the one hand, many scholars have argued that state-owned monopolies in developing countries are not able to mobilize the capital needed for network expansion: the resulting unmet demand for services becomes a motivator for liberalization. On the other hand, the introduction of competition jeopardizes the internal and external subsidies through which the state-owned monopoly kept subscription rates low: the heightened concern about loss of subscribership incentivizes the creation of explicit universal service statutes and funding mechanisms concurrently with or soon after competition is introduced. We show in this case study that universal service in Korea had a unique evolutionary path, which did not conform to either of these expectations. We argue that the outcomes predicted by theory and observed in the case study literature are not intrinsic to the monopoly condition per se, but derive from the strategic choices made by telecommunications managers, regulators and lawmakers in developing countries.

Show Me the Money: The Economics of Copyright in Online News • Minjeong Kim, Colorado State University This paper examines copyright in online news through an economic perspective of copyright law. The paper asks: To what extent are news publishers entitled to reap any economic benefits from the online distribution of news? In its analysis, this paper distinguishes between different types of news uses and relies upon the following three branches of law: (1) the fair use doctrine, (2) the hot news doctrine, and (3) laws related to the retransmission of copyrighted programs by cable television.

When Even the Truth Isn’t Good Enough: Confusion by the Courts Over the Controversial False Light Tort Threatens Free Speech • Sandra Chance, University of Florida; Christina Locke, University of Florida • Journalists are taught that truthful reporting is the best defense to a lawsuit.  However, Florida journalists who reported the truth lost an $18-million false light lawsuit.  The verdict was ultimately overturned by the Florida Supreme Court, but within two months, a Missouri court specifically recognized the tort in a case involving the Internet.  Using recent appellate cases, this paper examines the potential for false light to stifle the media, especially when truthful news is targeted.

Balancing Statutory Privacy and the Public interest: A Review of State Wiretap Laws as Applied to the Press • Jasmine McNealy, Louisiana State University • Press organizations have been accused of violating state wiretapping and eavesdropping laws most often in situations involving hidden cameras or microphones.  In these investigations, the news media have turned up truthful information regarding illegal or unethical activities that the press finds newsworthy and the public finds interesting.  Ethics aside, the courts have not always granted First Amendment protection to hidden camera and other surreptitious surveillance investigations by the press.  This article reviews state wiretap laws as they have been applied to the press.  Specifically, this article examines the application of state wiretap laws to the press in light of the Supreme Court’s decision in Bartnicki v. Vopper in which the Court found that the First Amendment guarantee of freedom of speech outweighed the privacy interests of those whose private conversation was intercepted without permission.

Plaintiff’s Status as a Consideration in Misrepresentation and Promissory Estoppel Cases against the Media • Jasmine McNealy, Louisiana State University • Both fraudulent misrepresentation and promissory estoppel require that the plaintiff have reasonably relied upon statements made by the defendant. But what of an additional inquiry into the status of the plaintiff in relation to the journalist in these cases, as a consideration for whether the plaintiff could have reasonably relied upon statements made by the journalist?   Such a consideration could significantly change the jurisprudence surrounding cases involving false statements made by journalists. This paper examines the influence that the status of the plaintiff in misrepresentation and promissory estoppel cases against journalist could have.

Obscenity is in the Eye of the Beholder:  Use of Demonstrative Evidence to Delineate Community Standards in Obscenity Cases • Rebecca Ortiz, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Courts have long struggled with the requirement that materials in obscenity cases must be measured against contemporary community standards from the perspective of an average person as determined in Miller v. California. The U.S. Supreme Court failed to provide a specific definition or geographic dimensions of community standards for fact finders to consider. Determining whether something is obscene based upon such a requirement is particularly difficult at the federal level where the community may be defined as the entire nation. Pornographers may, therefore, be uninformed about whether their materials are obscene, namely because the specific community in which a court may find their materials exist and relevant standards are left undefined. Use of demonstrative evidence in obscenity cases may be a crucial tactic for counsel to demonstrate the standards of a particular community, but courts are typically tentative about admitting such evidence. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the use of demonstrative evidence in recent obscenity cases for establishing contemporary community standards and examine court rationales for admission or exclusion of evidence. The paper reveals that courts’ acceptance or rejection of demonstrative evidence was unpredictable. Courts were more likely to exclude evidence than admit it for wavering rationales. Findings reveal that by disallowing admission of evidence, the courts may be shifting the burden of proof onto the defense and creating a chilling effect on sexual expression.

Public Access to Criminal Discovery Records: A Look Behind the Curtain of the Criminal Justice System • Brian Pafundi, University of Florida Levin College of Law • This research provides a survey of federal and state law regarding access to criminal discovery records. The public availability of criminal discovery records implicates three important pillars of American jurisprudence: public access to the judiciary, a defendant’s right to a fair trial and the protection of individual privacy. Florida’s public records law opens discovery records to public inspection once exchanged between the opposing parties. This paper determines whether any other jurisdiction grants similar access.

Internet Service Provider’s Liability for Defamation: South Korea’s Balancing of Free Speech with Reputation • Ahran Park, university of Oregon • ISPs in the United States have been totally immunized from publishers’ liability for online defamation under the Communications Decency Act § 230. But as the recent Google lawsuit in Italy illustrates, American ISPs are confronting the threat of defamation lawsuits abroad. Therefore, more understanding of ISP policy in foreign countries is necessary, and South Korea provides a noteworthy example of ISP jurisprudence exactly contrary to the U.S. immunity. Statutory laws and courts in South Korea have burdened ISPs with heavy liability for defamation by online users. For instance, the Communication Network Act in Korea punishes online defamation as a crime and compels ISPs to delete allegedly libelous postings promptly. The Korean Supreme Court also held that ISPs should be liable for defamation by third party even when ISPs did not receive any notification related to defamatory postings. This paper discusses ISP liability in the comparative law perspective and maintains that burdening ISPs with strict liability would chill freedom of speech in cyberspace.

Libelous Language Post-Lawrence: Accusations of Homosexuality as Defamation • Laurie Phillips, UNC • Just as imputations of race or political affiliation were once defamatory, judges – both within and between states – are returning competing rulings concerning imputations of homosexuality. Functioning as a post-Lawrence v. Texas update to Koehler’s (1999) The Variable Nature of Defamation, this paper examines cases between 2004 and 2009 involving imputations of homosexuality. Findings indicate that in 88% of the forty two cases analyzed, defamatory claims failed, yet most judges neglected to directly address the issue.

Gay Labeling and Defamation Law:  Have Attitudes Toward Homosexuality Changed Enough to Modify Reputational Torts? • Robert Richards, Penn State University • This paper analyzes the issue of whether labeling someone gay should still be considered defamatory per se.  It traces the history of, what one court called, this far more subtle and difficult question and examines societal attitudes towards homosexuality.  The paper concludes that society has not yet reached the point where homosexuality is no longer viewed, by significant populations, with some level of scorn or ridicule, given such recent events as individuals being physically attacked merely because they are perceived to be homosexual, organizations whose sole purpose is to defeat the rights of same-sex couples to marry, public schools where gay and lesbians can sense the scorn of their fellow students by reading messages on t-shirts, and religions whose members would rather defect than accept homosexual congregants.

The convergence policymaking process in South Korea • Dong-Hee Shin, Sungkyunkwan University • In 2009, South Korean government reformed its communications sector through legislation that addresses convergence services. This study traces the policy-making process of the convergence in terms of politics and regulation, and it also examines how the stakeholders’ interests are aligned and coordinated in the policymaking process of convergence in Korea. This study investigates the socio-political construction of Korea’s strategy for convergence reform with two research questions: (1) what social and political factors influence strategy formulation and (2) how do different interests stabilize ideologies in which actors formulate their strategies based on their interests. Despite the dynamic interactions, the actor-network around convergence has yet not been effectively stabilized, as the politics of convergence is complex and marked by paradoxical features. This study provides a theoretical basis for understanding why the convergence debate in Korea has so far been problematic.

A Web of Stakeholders and Strategies in the Digital TV Transition: • Dong-Hee Shin, Sungkyunkwan University • This study investigates the development of Korean digital TV transition by tracing the interaction between social and technological entities from various perspectives at different developmental stages. A socio-technical analysis examines the dynamic interactions among the stakeholders in the switchover to digital broadcasting, showing how the various actions taken by leading stakeholders affect diverse groups of stakeholders. In addition to the qualitative analysis, a structural-equation model examines the perceptions and expectations of digital TV consumers in Korea. Consumers’ perspectives and expectations suggest the factors that will lead them to adopt DTV, as well as the barriers to adoption. The overall findings show that Korean digital TV transition is the outcome of a proactive strategy by industry players and the Korean government’s top-down policy of supporting such a transition. It is argued that the policy of a top-down transition, which overlooks coordination among stakeholders, harms consumers and hinders effective and sustainable development. The case of Korea has implications for other countries that are pursuing digital transition strategies.

The Framers’ First Amendment: Originalist Citations in U.S. Supreme Court Freedom of Expression Opinions • Derigan Silver, University of Denver • As a mode of constitutional interpretation, originalism holds judges should construe the U.S. Constitution according to framers’ intent.  Focusing on rational choice theory, this paper examines the strategic use of originalist citations by Supreme Court justices in First Amendment freedom of expression opinions.  The paper quantitatively examines when justices use originalist citations to strategically advance their policy preferences, insulate their decisions from criticism or persuade other justices to join their opinions.  In addition, it qualitatively explores the content of the justices’ originalist citations to determine how the justices are describing the original meaning of the First Amendment.  Thus, the paper adds to the strategic citation literature, advances understanding of how the justices have interpreted the original meaning of the First Amendment and illuminates how originalist arguments have shaped current free expression jurisprudence.

Evaluating Public Access Ombuds Programs:  An analysis of the experiences of Virginia, Iowa and Arizona • Daxton Stewart, Texas Christian University • The author conducted case studies of ombuds programs monitoring open government laws in Virginia, Iowa and Arizona.  The offices largely comported with the major tenets of ombuds programs – independence, impartiality, and providing a credible review process – but weaknesses in perceptions of impartiality hurt the development of the Iowa and Arizona programs.  The program with the most perceived success, Virginia’s FOI Advisory Council, appeared to embrace the tenets of Dispute Systems Design the most.

Mother knows best: Can lessons from the Ma Bell breakup apply to net neutrality policy? • Tom Vizcarrondo, Louisiana State University • The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on October 22, 2009 seeking input from the public regarding network management policy commonly known as net neutrality. The request is the latest step in an ongoing and protracted debate among lawmakers, regulators, Internet industry leaders, and consumers over whether additional regulation is required to ensure that the Internet remains free and open. The different views are almost always defended as being in the best interest of the consumer, although individual motives and benefits often belie such statements. This paper examines many of these arguments, but also focuses on the network management debate within the context of an existing legal framework of court opinions. This paper examines many of these arguments, but also focuses on the network management debate within the context of an existing legal framework of court opinions. In particular, the court-ordered divestiture of AT&T shares many of the issues which are being considered today as part of the net neutrality debate. This paper examines whether lessons learned from this divestiture can be applied to the current debate in order to reach the best possible outcome. This paper finds such lessons, and concludes that these lessons argue for an incremental approach to any new network management policy; further, policies that encourage competition and private sector solutions is desirable over sweeping government regulations.

Implications of Copyright in the Context of User-Generated Content and Social Media • Amber Westcott-Baker, University of California Santa Barbara; Rebekah Pure, University of California Santa Barbara • Business models for generating revenue from user-generated content (UGC) are still developing.  In the meantime, many tensions exist between the business interests of companies providing the platforms for user-generated content and the interests of content producers (users). This paper will outline the conflicting interests—users want to create and share content in a way that they control, while companies want to make money and be protected from liability—and the resulting copyright and ownership issues that arise from these tensions.

Obama Administration Lifts the Dover Ban: Is the New Policy on Press Access Constitutional? Jason Zenor, University of South Dakota • A corollary of the right to publish must be a right to gather news.  However, in times of war, one of the first rights to be abrogated is the freedom of the press. One of the wartime restrictions has been the Dover Ban, a policy which has restricted press access to arrival ceremonies for fallen soldiers of war. The Dover Ban has been criticized by the press and by veterans, and challenged in court-but was never overturned. In February 2009, the Obama Administration changed the policy so that the press could have access if they received permission from the family of the fallen soldier. Though this change is progress for the free flow of information and is clearly less violative of the Constitution than was the prior outright ban, this article argues that it is still unconstitutional. First, the Dover arrival ceremonies have been traditionally open to public and the press and the history of Dover Ban’s creation and enforcement illustrate that it is a content-based regulation. Therefore, the restriction must survive the strict scrutiny test. Accordingly, neither the government’s public relations interest nor the privacy interest of the family of a volunteer soldier, are compelling.  Furthermore, the new policy is a de facto license where the family acting as a surrogate for the government decides the whether the press has access based upon whether the family perceives the content of the coverage will be acceptable. Finally, the policy is not permanent and an outright could be reinstated.

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