Commission on the Status of Women 2019 Abstracts

“Ceiling-breaker” and “sexist backlash”: Articulations of feminism in narratives of women in sports broadcasting • Dunja Antunovic, Charley Steiner School of Sports Communication; Cheryl Cooky, Purdue University • Recently several women became “firsts” to call nationally televised men’s professional sports games in the United States. Journalists simultaneously celebrated women’s progress and lamented widespread discrimination practices in the industry. This paper examines articulations of feminism in media narratives of “first women.” We locate narratives of progress and narratives of failure to explore the ways certain forms of feminism beome visible. Further, the paper connects media narratives to feminist storytelling practices in academic feminism.

Maidens, Bosomy Belly Dancers and Black Magic Vamps: A Qualitative Content Analysis of the Portrayal of Middle Eastern Women in American Children’s Films • Amal Bakry, University of Louisiana at Lafayette; Dedria Givens-Carroll, University of Louisiana at Lafayette; Nadia Alhashimi • Media are a main source for children to learn about gender (Towbin, Haddock, Zimmerman, Lund, & Tanner, 2003). On average, children watch 20 hours of television per week (The Kaiser Foundation, 1999). Drawing theoretical support from Said’s (1978) Orientalism, this study aims to examine the portrayal of Middle Eastern women in American children’s films. A qualitative content analysis was conducted of nine animated children’s films from 1956 to 2004. These films included the portrayal of Middle Eastern women and were analyzed. Findings indicate that the films reinforced stereotypes about Middle Eastern women who were either hyper-sexualized or were portrayed as villains and/or conniving seductresses in the majority of depictions.

Black Twitter Representations of #Kavanaugh Hearings • Dorothy Bland, University of North Texas; Mia Moody-Ramirez, Title • Public reaction on Twitter exploded after Christine Blasey Ford, a psychology professor, testified she was sexually assaulted by Brett Kavanaugh, a judge, when they were teens. He denied her allegations, and he became the 114th justice on the Supreme Court of the United States on Oct. 6, 2018. This study employs feminist theory and analyzes tweets containing “Kavanaugh Hearings” and “Black Twitter.” Findings indicate most tweets studied fell into five key categories: call to action, historical repetition, steep racial/political divide, white privilege and informational.

Online Harassment of U.S. Women Journalists and its Impact on Press Freedom • Caitlin Carlson, Seattle University; Haley Witt, Seattle University • The purpose of this investigation was to determine whether and how online harassment impacts U.S. Women Journalists. Of particular interest was whether online harassment creates a chilling effect, which in turn may influence press freedom. Results of the survey (n=141) indicated that negative online interactions caused the majority of participants to feel dissatisfied with their jobs. This may cause women journalists to leave the field before retirement age or discourage young women from entering it all together. Given the important role members of the media play in shaping the public agenda, framing issues, and priming viewers about how to evaluate current events, limiting women’s ability to participate in this process could reshape the universe of discourse in a way that is both skewed and problematic. A chilling effect was also evident in participant’s responses. Some respondents reported avoiding covering certain stories for fear of the online vitriol they would receive. An overwhelming majority of U.S. women journalists surveyed (79%) agreed that online harassment was impacting press freedom. In the United States, a free and fair press is an essential component of our Democracy. Online harassment is preventing women journalists from serving in their capacity as a watchdog on government and other institutions. The paper concludes with suggestions for remedying this issue. Recommendations include changing expectations for how women journalists are expected to interact with their audience social media, having news organizations disable the comments feature on their websites, and prohibiting readers and viewers from posting anonymously on news organization’s websites.

Translating transgender lives: A study of trans* communication practitioners as cultural intermediaries • Erica Ciszek, University of Texas at Austin; Elaine Almeida • Through in-depth interviews with trans* communication practitioners, this paper represents a turning point in communication toward a more intentional and reflexive orientation to gender identity and transgender lives. Findings demonstrate trans* practitioners construct and disseminate discourses designed to counter the historical narratives surrounding gender minorities to reshape these stories for themselves (as part of their own identity work), for trans* communities, and for mainstream audiences. This article employs the Bourdieuian concept of cultural intermediation to explicate the lived experiences of trans* individuals working in fields of communication. It specifically asks how trans* communicators create and maintain cultural intelligibility and negotiate social meaning of transgender representations, considering transgender communicators as cultural intermediaries at the center of the struggle for symbolic and material power.

The Pied Piper of R&B: An Intersectional Analysis of News Coverage of R. Kelly’s Sexual Abuse Allegations in the Era of Me Too and #MeToo • Teri Del Rosso, University of Memphis; Melissa Janoske, University of Memphis; Stephanie Madden; Jeniece Jamison • This paper explores coverage of R. Kelly’s sexual abuse allegations. We collected news stories from three Kelly-invested communities: his hometown of Chicago, the entertainment/music industry, and African-American/Black-centered media, within the first year of Me Too and the subsequent first year of the #MeToo movement. Using intersectionality and misogynoir as a lens, we interrogate how the narrative of Kelly is crafted, and to what degree coverage reinforces an institutional bias against young, black women.

Who broke it first? How news of sexual misconduct in US academia reaches the public • Stine Eckert, Wayne State University; Julie Libarkin, Michigan State University; Madison Witkowski, Michigan State University; Julia Michienzi, Michigan State University; Maddy Coy, University of Florida; Bonnie Moradi, University of Florida; Linda Steiner, University of Maryland • We analyzed how news of sexual misconduct in US academia—specifically, when a university employee was the alleged perpetrator—was broken to the wider public. We used a database of 763 cases between 1975 and 2019 to conduct a systematic textual analysis. Thus far, we have coded 434 cases randomly selected by the research team to discern patterns of gender, disciplines, and results of investigations. We conducted a more detailed analysis of 114 of these randomly selected cases to discern which media type broke the news first to a wider public. We used a feminist theory approach to contextualize our findings. Results of the study revealed that 56 cases were first made public to a wider audience in local media, 16 cases were first reported via student media, and 14 cases were first reported via court documents. Not surprisingly, a gendered pattern of misconduct emerged, with the vast majority of cases involving men as perpetrators and women as targets. The majority of perpetrators were faculty, followed by administrators; the overwhelming majority of targets were students.

Framing Campus Sexual Assault in College News: Peer Education and Counter-Power in a Rape-Supportive Environment • Barbara Friedman • Before campus sexual assault made national headlines, it made campus-news headlines. College newspapers, “flash points for campus tensions over many issues” (Hoover, 2004), have been a point of origin for coverage as institutions increasingly come under external scrutiny for their handling of sexual assault complaints. This study considers the ways that coverage of sexual assault in campus newspapers—which outnumber US dailies evidence some of the practices in national media coverage of the issue, and how campus media might constitute a counter-power project, defined by Castells (2007) as “the capacity of a social actor to resist and challenge power relations that are institutionalized.” The study examines 631 articles from 13 colleges or universities that were or are under federal investigation for possible Title IX violations related to mishandling of sexual assault complaints.

Absence of Female Empowerment and Agency: A Content Analysis of the 2017 Billboard Hot 100 Songs • Stephanie Gibbons; Stacey Hust; Kathleen Boyce Rodgers, Washington State University; Jiayu Li; Soojung Kang; Nicole Cameron • The Billboard Top 100 list of music is a composite of the most popular mainstream songs each week of a calendar year. However, when looking at the list of the top songs over the span of 2017, it is apparent that female only artists are grossly underrepresented, comprising of only 14 percent of the total top spots. While female artists deserve an equal place on the list, so do their messages. The following paper explores the extent that top mainstream artists discuss issues such as female empowerment and female sexual agency. Social Cognitive Theory is applied in this paper to exemplify the need for female empowerment within mainstream music in order for female listeners to perceive themselves as efficacious agents over their own life goals. Results indicate that female only artists are most likely to sing about empowerment and sexual agency; however, of those artists, less than ten percent of top songs include these messages.

Not as Innocent as They Seem: A Content Analysis on Gender Stereotyping in Memes • Crystal Hong; Fiona Mei Robinson; Sherlyn Goh, Nanyang Technological University; Abigail Toh • This exploratory study examines gender representations in memes using a content analysis of 638 memes from the Know Your Meme Facebook page. Guided by Erving Goffman’s framework for analysis of gender advertisements, this study found gender stereotyping in memes, especially in representations of dominance and interaction. Males are further observed to dominate the memetic landscape, with a severe underrepresentation of females. Although perceived as harmless entertainment, memes as a communication channel propagates gender stereotypes.

Nasty Writers: Uses and gratifications of private, online space in the age of Trump • Kelsey Husnick, Wayne State University; Rosie Jahng, Wayne State University • Online spaces of feminist solidarity have sprouted up in the last few years, such as a secret Facebook group specifically for women journalists with more than 8,150 members. Using uses and gratifications and the feminist ethic of care as the key theoretical framework, this study examines the female journalists’ current uses of and motivations for participating in the secret female-journalists-only Facebook group. In-depth interviews with group members produced findings including the motivation to seek out information and camaraderie, which, at face value, seem to align with previous motivations for social media use. The feminist ethic of care also emerged as a new motivation. This study illuminates the unique needs of female journalists that are not yet being met within their workplaces, which could have transformative power in newsrooms across the U.S. if used to try to fulfill those needs moving forward.

Between subject and object: How mass media industries have enabled sexual misconduct and harassment—and how they also exposed them • Jacqueline Lambiase, TCU Bob Schieffer College of Communication; Tracy Everbach, University of North Texas; Carolyn Bronstein, DePaul University • These case studies of Fox News and Google examine the #MeToo movement on journalism, advertising, and public relations. These industries have provided a front-row seat for sexual harassment investigations, coverage of the #MeToo Movement, and advocacy for awareness and change. These case studies show that mass media industries need only to look within their own workplaces to find the unforgettable details of abuse. This research provides recommendations to help prevent sexual harassment in the workplace.

Covering a nation’s shame: A feminist news analysis of maternal mortality • Dustin Harp; Jaime Loke, Texas Christian University • The United States has the worst rate of maternal deaths of any other developed nation in the world. Through a qualitative analysis, the research seeks to elucidate how the topic of maternal mortality is structured in mainstream news media. By choosing to examine both national and state news coverage this research offers breadth and depth in its investigation of journalism covering this serious (and often preventable) medical problem. The research presented here represents a fragment of a larger project focused on understanding just how well contemporary journalists are doing in covering the story. This portion of the research offers a qualitative investigation of media coverage of maternal mortality in the United States and Texas, where women’s death related to pregnancy and childbirth are particularly egregious. Feminist, cultural, and health communication theorists and researchers guided the research process, offering a framework from which to approach a discourse analysis.

Exploring Gender Differences in How Teens and Young Adults Experience Cyber Surveillance, Cyberbullying, and Online Sexual Harassment • Stacey Hust; Kathleen Boyce Rodgers, Washington State University; Nicole O’Donnell, Virginia Commonwealth University; Jason Wheeler • This research examines how young men and women experience and respond to cyber surveillance, cyberbullying, and online sexual harassment. Qualitative in-depth interviews and simultaneous social media tours were conducted with eight high school and eight college students from rural, suburban, and urban communities in the Pacific Northwest. Themes include differences in how men and women use social media to seek sexual partners. Additionally, women discussed experiences with sexual cyberbullying, harassment, same-sex slut-shaming, and victim blaming.

Time’s Up: How Celebrity Endorsements on Twitter Impacted eWOM of the 2018 Women’s Movement • Ayla Oden • The Time’s Up movement was founded on January 1, 2018 with an overwhelming support from Hollywood. Celebrity endorsements were crucial to the movement’s viral success. This study utilizes the two-step flow of communication theory and social presence theory to determine what impact celebrity endorsements on Twitter had on the electronic word of mouth (eWOM) of Time’s Up and other social movement organizations (SMOs). A content analysis of tweets (n=801) mentioning the hashtag #TimesUp shows that while not all opinion leaders have an equal impact, some celebrity tweets did out-engage @TIMESUPNOW. This study also analyzed the correlation between online social presence and eWOM. Little correlation was found, indicating that celebrities can be beneficial opinion leaders to SMOs regardless of previous online activity.

Where’s the Beef? How One Woman Rocketed to Leadership in Advertising’s Creative World • Katie Olsen • The advertising industry presents women with one of the toughest paths to achieve leadership. This study used social role theory to examine how a woman was named Executive Creative Director at one of the leading independent full-service agencies in the lower US Midwest at the age of 33. A passion for leadership and creative development connected with promoting and protecting a strong work-life balance were two overarching themes impacting her journey.

From F-Bombs to Kissing Students: Media Framing of Male and Female Professors Accused of Sexual Harassment • Bethany Pitchford, Texas Tech University; Miglena Sternadori, Texas Tech University College of Media and Communication; Jesse Starkey; Amy Koerber • This framing analysis identified the differences in the ways in which news stories depicted two male and two female tenured professors accused of sexual harassment—Coleman Hutchison, Jorge Dominguez, Avital Ronell, and Teresa Buchanan—at research-intensive universities in non-STEM disciplines. The identified media frames, some of which were distinctly gendered, included Subjects (Objects) of Hazy Creepiness; Little Boys Being Bad; Academic Power Players; Treacherous “Stay-Away-Froms”; and Eccentric Free Thinkers.

Examining Intersectionality of Ethnicity and Gender in Voting Decisions: An Experimental Study • Martina Santia; Stephanie L. Whitenack, LSU • Despite the recent surge of women in American politics, women of color still confront disproportionate impediments associated with their perceived gender and ethnicity simultaneously. Through a survey-based experiment, this project builds upon the intersectionality literature to bridge conceptual gaps concerning voters’ attitudes towards Latina political candidates. The results show that Latinas are evaluated more negatively compared to their white female counterparts, thus confirming the double disadvantage Latinas are exposed to when running for office.

Reporting on transgender victims of homicide: Practices of misgendering, sourcing and transparency • Natalee Seely, Ball State University • Media representations of violence against transgender individuals have implications for public opinion, awareness, and policy. Journalists must make editorial decisions about identifying transgender victims of homicide who cannot speak for themselves. Choices regarding sourcing, context, and language may also mitigate or exacerbate stereotypes and misinformation. This study uses content analysis to examine a sample (N=112) of mainstream U.S. news articles that covered the 26 transgender victims of homicide reported in 2018. Around 20% of articles referred to victims by their dead names, but around 9% of articles explicitly drew attention to the harms of police misidentification of transgender victims. Around 30% of the sample discussed violence against transgender individuals in social context. Police sources were present in nearly three-fourths of the sample; however, advocate sources were cited in nearly 50% of articles, offering an additional narrative. Associated Press Stylebook guidelines and best practices are discussed.

“Ideal Press Work”: The struggles of Kentucky suffrage press superintendents in gaining right to vote and living their lives • Melony Shemberger, Murray State University • State press superintendents in Kentucky performed vital work in women’s suffrage associations. Keeping Kentucky newspapers supplied with ready-to-print material on the women’s suffrage movement, writing original articles, maintaining relationships with newspaper editors, and clipping published material were among the responsibilities and activities of the press superintendents. In April 1898, Jessie Jane Cassidy, press superintendent for the National-American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA), wrote a nearly three-page newsletter article describing the importance of “ideal press work” in reaching most U.S. newspapers and citing reasons why “ideal press work” was not being met by the state suffrage associations. This research examines the press work of the Kentucky Equal Rights Association against NAWSA’s “ideal press work” paradigm. Kentucky is the central focus of this study because of the rich digital resources available in obtaining convention reports for most years since the organization’s founding and during the suffrage movement. Overall, Kentucky’s press superintendents had difficulties in meeting the “ideal press work” standard set forth by Cassidy, but progress and achievements were noted, especially during the tenure of Lida Calvert Obenchain. Other variables prevented an “ideal press work” from occurring, such as illness, death and other personal affairs. This examination not only showcases the worthiness of the publicity efforts among suffrage press superintendents in Kentucky, but it also sheds light on the balance these women sought to achieve between gaining their full right to vote and living their lives. This study has implications for today’s women, who face similar struggles in their battles for workplace equalities.

Guarding against complacency: A multi-industry analysis of attitudes toward Title IX and gender equity in sport • Erin Whiteside, University of Tennessee; Charli Kerns • This research explores the attitudes and experiences among sports media professionals toward Title IX and gender equity in sports. Findings update prior research and provide a holistic picture of attitudes toward the law across digital/print, broadcasting and sports information. Findings also show how attitudes may be shaped by gender and age and industry. In highlighting different organizational value systems by industry, this research provides some precision for conversations assessing Title IX and women’s sports coverage.

The Underrepresentation of Women on Commercial FM-radio stations in the Top 20 Markets • Patricia Williamson, Central Michigan University; Ethan Kolek, Central Michigan University • To determine whether women are underrepresented on-air in the radio industry, a content analysis of weekday shifts at commercial FM radio stations in the top 20 U.S. markets was conducted. Findings show women are underrepresented in every daypart except middays, and least represented in Afternoon Drive. By format, women are best represented on-air at Adult Contemporary stations, and least represented at Rock, News/Talk, and Sports stations. Market size nor station ownership impacted air-talent gender.

Challenging the Gender Dichotomy?: Examining Olympic Channel Content Through a Gendered Lens • Qingru Xu, The University of Alabama; Andrew Billings, University of Alabama • “This study content-analyzed 1,013 thumbnails of news episodes at the Olympic Channel through the lens of biological sex. By examining the percentage of pictures rendered to male and female athletes, theme, sports type, sexualization, subordination, and action level, this study uncovered that, although some sex differences existed, the Olympic Channel—overall—showcased a high level of gender equality in visualizing male and female athletes in news thumbnails, especially considering that the cover pictures analyzed in this study were collected from the daily-based media coverage, rather than during the Olympic periods. This study is one of the first to explore sex differences in a media platform established by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), with theoretical and practical implications outlined.

< 2019 Abstracts

Sports Communication 2019 Abstracts

Mobile media and fantasy sport: A quantitative analysis of media dependency on fantasy draft information • Travis Bell, University of South Florida; Brody J. Ruihley, Miami University • Fantasy sport is an interactive team management activity that places emphasis on access and technology. This research focuses on media dependency of fantasy sport information in high demand—in advance of a fantasy football draft. Through surveying 718 adult fantasy users, this quantitative study ranks web media, social media, and podcasts as most depended on. The findings highlight significant differences in consumption and spending based on type of media dependency and multiple screen usage.

Enveloped in the American Flag: Contrasting National Identity within Olympic and National Football League Media Consumption • Melvin Lewis, University of Alabama; Kenon Brown, University of Alabama; Andrew Billings, University of Alabama; Zachary Arth, University of Alabama • This study explored relationships in the context of the National Football League (NFL; American football), employing 732 respondents from a pair of nationally-representative samples to determine the degree of similarity or difference between feelings about the United States as it relates to American consumption of the 2018 Winter Olympics and the 2018 NFL season. Media consumption’s influence on one’s feelings of nationalism was stronger for Winter Olympic fans compared to NFL fans, yet no differences were detected on patriotism and internationalism factors. Academicians and sport marketers should regard these findings as a warrant for considering exploring cause-related sports marketing (CRSM) techniques. Differences in nationalism findings suggest that the comparisons between nations are exclusively an Olympics-based phenomena while the National Football League seems to be much more insular in that regard.

Media Coverage of the Pakistan Super League (Cricket) • Danielle Coombs; David Cassilo, Kent State University • The Pakistan Super League launched in 2016 with massive enthusiasm in its “cricket-mad” nation. Safety concerns stemming from a 2009 terrorist attack in Lahore meant all matches were played in United Arab Emirates. We examine PSL coverage from media in Pakistan, UAE, UK, and US. Findings are considered in the context of social identity theory. This study explores how Middle Eastern sport and national identity are framed in the media across multiple countries.

Legitimizing the journey: National Signing Day and the public relations pseudo-event as cultural moment • Betsy Emmons; Brendan O’Hallarn, Old Dominion University • This research studies the symbolic creation of societal meaning in the rite of passage of National Signing Day. Via case study, using technography from digital media as cultural creator and public relations as mediator, results demonstrated the ritualistic nature of National Signing Day regardless of high school. Results suggest that National Signing Day performs ritual and spectacle to become cultural moment for athletes, embedded into society as an essential mediated aspect of the athlete’s journey.

The Walk-Up: Applying Agenda-Setting Theory to MLB Batters and Television Air Time • Samuel Hakim, The University of Alabama; Zachary Arth, University of Alabama; Darrin Griffin, The University of Alabama; Scott Parrott, The University of Alabama • Informed by agenda-setting theory and scarcity, this manuscript examines factors that predict the amount of focused attention Major League Baseball players receive when at bat. Quantitative content analyses were conducted to examine player quality and eight additional co-variates which significantly predicted the on air time players received. Data suggested that home and away broadcasts differed in the attention they assigned batters, with opposing teams highlighting stronger players more than the players’ own home broadcasts.

#JoinTheAlliance: A Network Exploration into Hashtag Brand-Building by an Emerging Sports League • Jennifer Harker, West Virginia University • This research explores the hashtag use of an emerging spring football league, the Alliance of American Football (AAF). Daily data was collected via Twitter API to explore the emergence and persistence of hashtag use surrounding the AAF, the social construction of secondary hashtags, and the semantic network that emerged across the three time periods of this interactivity. These anchoring symbols of social communication, and the brand-building implications of a sports league’s use of hashtags in acquiring a fanbase, is discussed.

The Impact of a Throwback Jersey Promotion on Brand Equity • Nicholas Hirshon, William Paterson University; Klive (Soo Kwang) Oh • Sports teams wear throwback jerseys to drive attendance and increase merchandise sales, but reviving unpopular uniforms can damage a team’s brand equity. This study examines a risky, one-night promotion in which the NHL’s New York Islanders revived the much-maligned fisherman logo worn on their jerseys during two last-place seasons from 1995 to 1997. In an attempt to offer practical value to sports marketers weighing the revival of a controversial jersey, the paper measures the impact of the promotion by comparing a qualitative textual analysis of the Islanders’ radio and television broadcasts from the night the fisherman jerseys were worn against a quantitative content analysis of tweets about the promotion, posted by fans, reporters, bloggers, bots, and the team itself. The study emphasizes the importance of understanding the attitudes of fans and reporters toward a sports promotion and creating content tailored to such opinions.

Shared space: How North American Olympic broadcasters framed gender on Instagram • Rich Johnson, Creighton University; Miles Romney, Brigham Young University; Kevin Hull, University of South Carolina; Ann Pegoraro • The Olympic Games offer scholars the opportunity to better understand how broadcasters visually frame male and female athletes to their large audiences. Traditionally, scholars have focused their efforts on the televised Olympic broadcasts and photojournalism coverage in newspaper and magazines. Scholarship has found that female athletes are often underrepresented in event coverage and framed along gender stereotypes; but in more recent Olympic Games broadcasters and traditional news media have provided more equitable coverage between the genders. However, digital and social media platforms (SMPs) now play a significantly larger role in how Olympic broadcasters share content and engage with audiences. Utilizing media framing theory, this study examines how gender is framed on the Olympic Instagram accounts of the two official North American rights holders: National Broadcast Corporation (NBC) and the Canadian Broadcast Corporation (CBC). Researchers collected a cross sectional sample from the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Results indicate that NBC and the CBC were generally equitable in SMP coverage of men and women’s athletic achievements.

Do Women Get Wings? Representation of Female Action Sports Athletes in Red Bull Media Coverage • Charli Kerns; Erin Whiteside, University of Tennessee • This study examines the gender representation of action sports athletes in Red Bull Media House’s YouTube videos. Coding and analysis of a total of 108 videos from 2008 to 2018 revealed that female athletes in Red Bull Media receive more coverage than what is often documented in mainstream, sports broadcasting coverage. However, their representation was primarily limited to feature stories and only specific action sports such as surfing. The results from this study showed that Red Bull does represent a potential break in hegemonic ideology by which male athletes are normalized as authentic athletes through the process of inclusion. However, that visibility was tightly constrained within a normative matrix for imagining female athletes, a process that limits Red Bull Media’s counter-hegemonic potential.

Serena Williams: From Catsuit to Controversy • Jessica Love, University of Southern Mississippi; Lindsey Maxwell, University of Southern Mississippi • Serena Williams was involved in two major news stories in the summer of 2018; she wore a black catsuit at the French Open and was involved in an on-court controversy at the U.S. Open. Newspaper articles from this time frame were analyzed for the sex and race of the author, athletic descriptors (composure, emotionality, strength-based athletic skill) of Williams, and framing of her maternity. Results indicated that Williams was framed differently by various groups of journalists, and framed based on her public behavior.

Dueling Tones of the NBA GOAT Debate • Doug Mendenhall, Abilene Christian University • A debate over who is the GOAT, or “Greatest Of All Time” professional basketball player, saturated social media in 2018. This intense discussion about Michael Jordan versus Lebron James provides data for a quantitative measurement of differences in the tone of language used to evaluate these idols of two different generations of sports fans. Jordan played in the National Basketball Association from 1984 to 2003, the year James, 22 years younger, entered the league. Thus, a generational divide can be expected between fans of the two athletes based on principles of social identity theory, which suggests that the divide may extend to differences in the tone of their discourse in this heated debate. To understand the intersection of these fault lines, the present study gathered more than 8,000 comments appended to 34 YouTube videos related to the Jordan-James debate and sorted them by valence as pro-Jordan, pro-James, or neutral. Analysis was then made using Diction 7.0 software, which provides quantitative measurement of written messages along dozens of tonal variables. Scaled variables created by the author also allowed measurement of levels of incivility and of profanity. Consistent with main hypotheses, comments supporting James, the younger player, were significantly higher in profanity, while comments supporting Jordan were significantly higher in incivility. More than a dozen other differences were found in the tone of comments supporting James or Jordan.

Nike, Colin Kaepernick, and the Politicization of Sports: Examining Perceived Organizational Motives and Consumer Responses • Joon Kyoung Kim, University of South Carolina; Holly Overton, University of South Carolina; Nandini Bhalla; Jo-Yun Li, University of Miami • This study applies arguments from attribution theory to examine the role of perceived motives (values-driven, egoistic-driven, strategic-driven, and stakeholder-driven motives) in developing individuals’ attitudes, positive word-of-mouth (PWOM), and negative word-of-mouth (NWOM) intentions in response to Nike’s 30th Anniversary ad campaign featuring Colin Kaepernick. This study also examines how perceptions of the appropriateness of the politicization of sports moderate these relationships, as well as individual factors that predict people’s assessments of sports as a politicized event. A survey (N = 373) was conducted to examine how much people’s perceptions of Nike’s motives for engaging in Corporate Social Advocacy (CSA) guided their responses and the degree to which they were likely to engage in actions. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

From protest to movement: A longitudinal content analysis of the Colin Kaepernick protest • Vincent Peña, Member • This paper conducts a content analysis of ESPN coverage related to Colin Kaepernick’s protest during the national anthem and related events since. The analysis looks at ESPN.com articles (N=305) during three time periods in the timeline of the Kaepernick protest saga, ranging from his initial protest in August 2016 until Nike released an ad campaign featuring Kaepernick in September 2018. His protest, and the ones that he inspired, have received an immense amount of national news coverage, especially by outlets like ESPN. The analysis looked at frames of his protest over time and tried to answer questions about the different types of frames used as well as the extent to which the overall coverage adhered to the protest paradigm. A two-way ANOVA test was run on the variables for framing and the protest paradigm. The content analysis showed how an outlet like ESPN covers social protests and the extent to which its coverage adheres to the paradigm. Results showed framing of protests did not change over time, but that the adherence to the protest paradigm varied depending on story topic.

A Shaky Bet: Legalized Sports Gambling in the U.S. • Brian Petrotta, University of Oklahoma • When the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the federal ban on sports betting in May 2018, it had the potential to dramatically change how Americans consume and consider sporting events. Prior to the ruling, fantasy sports filled a gap for those desiring a legal alternative to illicit sports gambling. This study utilizes social cognitive theory to analyze how fantasy sports participants’ attitudes, behaviors and environments inform their intention to adopt legal sports betting practices.

Rick Pitino and Image Restoration as Brand Management • Michael Strawser; Stacie Shain, Bellarmine University; Lauren Coffey; Grace Lee • This study focuses on recent scandals surrounding the University of Louisville men’s basketball team. Specifically, the analysis centers on former head basketball coach, Rick Pitino, and his public perception and reputation. Through an image restoration theoretical lens, the authors diagnose Pitino’s public relations challenges and provide advice for future action to rebuild his brand.

Remember My Name: Basketball Writers’ Attitudes Towards Branding and Promotion Via Social Media • Jason Stamm, The University of Tennessee – Knoxville; Erin Whiteside, University of Tennessee • Using a survey disseminated to members of the United States Basketball Association (USBWA), this study shows basketball writers favor branding via social media, and the added workload of branding does not affect level of job satisfaction. Parasocial interaction (PSI) is incorporated as a theoretical framework to observe how branding techniques used via social media and attitudes toward those practices among sports media professionals may enact para-social relationships that could be beneficial for their careers.

Is eSports a Sport? Predictors of eSports Playing and Viewing • Tang Tang, Kent State University; Jake Kucek, Kent State University; Steven Toepfer, Kent State University • This study represents one of the first empirical efforts to systematically examine how and why people play and watch eSports. Findings suggest that eSports consumers are both participants and audiences. Individual factors (i.e., demographics, personality, motivations, fandom, preference) and structures (i.e., availability, access to technologies, cost, media use routine, and uses of in-game structures) significantly predicted eSports playing and viewing. Implications of the study are discussed and future directions are proposed.

Voices of the Gatekeepers: Examining the Olympic Channel Production Through a Gendered Lens • Qingru Xu, The University of Alabama; Andrew Billings, University of Alabama • “This study has conducted 11 interviews with Olympic Channel professionals to explore content production through a lens of gender. The findings suggest that (a) sports media professionals claimed considerate agency and autonomy, with individual personality and perspectives heavily influencing their journalism practice; (b) regarding content selection criteria, the Olympic Channel has been trying to strike a balance between the Olympic values and commercial pursuits, which explained the mixed media coverage revealed in the content analysis; and (c) the considerable proportion of female employees played an important role in facilitating a female-friendly workplace at the Olympic Channel, which—at least to some extent—contributed to a more sex-balanced media coverage at the Channel. The current study appears as one of the first studies exploring content production at the Olympic Channel, contributing to the literature by illustrating how employees at an IOC’s official sports media platform viewed gender equality in their journalism practices.

< 2019 Abstracts

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender & Queer 2019 Abstracts

Is India Authentic or Progressive? American Media Framing of India Decriminalizing Gay-Sex from a Colonialism and Post-Colonialism • Noura Al-Duaijani • This study looks at American media framing of India’s ruling to decriminalize gay-sex from a colonialism and post-colonialism perspectives. A content analysis of articles compared America’s coverage of the Indian ruling with the 2015 coverage of U.S. legalizing gay marriage, and also compared it with  how the Indian media framed the ruling. A colonial perspective emerged through emphasizing the opposing stance of local India’s religion institutes, and the negative circumstances of the Indian LGBTQ community.

Changing Body Ideals of Marginalized Identities and the Proliferation of Social and Entertainment Media • Cristina Azocar; Ivana Markova • A survey of 565 male undergraduates examined the effects of exposure to social networking sites and entertainment media on young men’s body image. Exposure to social and to entertainment media was found to have negative effects on men’s body satisfaction, social comparison, and thin ideal internalization. Findings indicated significant differences in those men who were more exposed to social and to entertainment media than those who were not as exposed. Consistent with past studies, gay men were found to be more dissatisfied with their bodies than straight men. Gay men compared themselves to other better-looking individuals and internalized ideal body types seen in media significantly more than their straight counterparts. Surprisingly, straight men seem to care as much about their physical attractiveness/appearance as gay men do, but only in public settings such as at the beach, at athletic events (including gyms) and social events. Although on average ethnic groups were more similar than different, small but significant differences occurred with Asian men indicating significantly higher body dissatisfaction than White/European men and Middle Eastern/Arab men their counterparts. The study increases our knowledge about SNS and entertainment use and its associated body image and body satisfaction affects among low-income ethnic minority men.

Is Anyone Surprised? How Journalists Frame the Coming Out of Women Athletes • Bill Cassidy, Northern Illinois University • Sports journalism coverage of the coming out announcements of Women’s National Basketball Association superstars Sheryl Swoopes and Brittney Griner were analyzed via a two-dimensional measurement scheme for examining media frames. Results found an overall lack of coverage and that journalists framed the two announcements similarly in terms of time and space dimensions. But, compelling differences were found when comparing the results to those of studies examining the coming out stories of gay male athletes.

What’s in a name?: Cultural meanings of the X-marker • Michelle Dreiling, University of Oregon • In 2017, Oregon began issuing driver’s licenses which bear the X-marker for sex, as opposed to M or F. This study uses critical and feminist poststructural discourse analysis to examine newspaper reporting of this policy change. I find that, though the policy change regards sex, reporting of the change shows the term “gender” subsuming “sex.” Additionally, institutional discursive power is magnified through local and national newspapers picking up AP coverage rather than producing original reporting.

Co-constructing a Media Narrative: Interviews with LGBT Activists from the 1960s and 1970s in New Zealand • Linda-Jean Kenix, University of Canterbury; Suvojit Bandhopadyaya • This paper examines how New Zealand activists in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community of the 1960s and 70s worked to create their own media representation and production. Through the memories of 29 activists who were active in the LGBT political movement of the time, this paper explores how LGBT communities used potentially harmful media stereotypes to their own advantage and how they worked to purposefully manage their representation as well as media production. Activists depended upon diagnostic, prognostic, and motivational framing to amplify, extend, bridge, and transform what it meant to be LGBTQ in New Zealand. At the time, the media represented a very mainstream, and conservative, vision of the LGBT community. These media frames and media representations were systematic processes to reaffirm social, economic and political power. Media narratives of the time were created to project an intended reality. This is, of course, still the case. However, the early work of these activists managed to change that intended reality through dogged determination.

Learning to be Inclusive? Testing the Effects of Media Diet on Attitudes  toward LGT Equality • Tien-Tsung Lee, University of Kansas; Gary Hicks, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville • This study analyzed a large national survey to identify the predictors of attitudes toward the equal rights of lesbians, gay men, and transgender individuals. Egalitarian attitudes are associated with being female, younger, more liberal, less Republican, having a higher income and a lower level of fundamentalist religiosity, as well as consuming a wider variety of news media. Also, media diet mediates the effects of political ideology on support for the LGT community.

Getting Bi: An Analysis of Bisexual Characters’ Depiction on the Television Network the CW • Lyric Mandell, University of Houston; Francesca Ervin, University of Houston • “This study aims to understand the depiction of bisexual characters on the popular television network the CW. Through a combination of textual and visual analysis of two episodes of each of the television shows Riverdale and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (four episodes total). It explores the portrayal in modern television of bisexual characters, a subset of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) community.

Results from a follow-up Pilot of Patient Self Advocacy Workshops for Transgender and Gender Diverse Individuals • Richard Mocarski, University of Nebraska at Kearney; Sim Butler, University of Alabama, College of Communication and Information Sciences; Nathan Wooduff; Robyn King; Debra Hope; Natalie Holt; Sarah Price, University of Alabama, College of Communication and Information Sciences; Jody Kellas • The long-term objective of our research team, Trans Collaborations, is to reduce health disparities for individuals identifying as transgender or gender diverse (TGD) in underserved areas. To do this we are taking a multi-prong approach at the provider, patient, and policy level. This manuscript reports on a pilot of a patient intervention. Specifically, we tested a one day workshop to increase patient self-advocacy through narrative techniques in the TGD population. The ultimate goal is to develop the first evidence-based training program to empower TGNC individuals to self-advocate in health care settings to help reduce health disparities they face. Ideally responsibility for providing culturally sensitive care should reside with health care professionals. Until then, we have developed a self-advocacy skills workshop based on state-of-the-art forensics and communications theory. Preliminary data from an urban sample (36) is reported here and suggests participants have increased self-efficacy following the workshop. Planned follow—up data will test for increased health care utilization and satisfaction.

Information Seeking and MSM’s Attitudes Toward HIV and Condoms • Joseph Schwartz, Northeastern University; Josh Grimm, Louisiana State University • This study examined how frequently men who have sex with men (MSM) used a selection of sources for HIV information and whether MSM’s attitudes toward safer sex could be predicted by the source they used. MSM (N = 969) were surveyed online. Results showed that respondents obtained information most often from HIV/LGBT organizations and dating/hookup apps, particularly the app “Scruff.” Respondents’ attitudes could be predicted by their use of specific sources of HIV information.

< 2019 Abstracts

Internships and Careers 2019 Abstracts

From Employers’ Perspective: The Relationship Between Internship Performance and Employment Intention in Communication Context • Fei Fan, Hong Kong Baptist University • Fresh university graduates, today, face more severe competition in job market compared with those at old days as the number of university graduates keep boosting. For instance, the number of fresh university graduates hit a new historic record, reaching 7.65 million in 2016 in China. To ensure fresh graduates effectively improve their competitive advantage in employment industry, educational institutions in China, particularly Hong Kong, design compulsory courses about internship to ask students to put knowledge and skills learnt in class into practical actions. Media- and communication-related programs or majors have no exception on this. Facing the popularity and increasing importance of internship, many scholars pay attention to internship-related studies. However, few studies have been done on how internship affects employers’ recruitment intention in discipline-specific areas of marketing, advertising and public relations. To fill in this literature gap, this quantitative study was conducted to explore direct work supervisors’ mindset. Altogether 44 responses from student interns’ direct supervisors were collected during 2016 and 2017. The results postulated that perceived interns’ personal quality determined supervisors’ judgement about student interns’ overall internship performance, which later would play a determining role to help employers screen out qualified job candidates and offer job positions to university graduates with better perceived internship performance. In this continuous causal relationship, professional competence was a bridge, mediating the relationship between personal quality and overall internship performance.

Welcome to the Big Leagues: Exploring Rookie Sports Broadcasters’ Adjustment to New Careers • Kevin Hull, University of South Carolina; Miles Romney, Brigham Young University • The purpose of this study is to understand how effectively sports journalism programs and internship experiences are preparing graduates for careers in local TV sportscasting. This study also examines how local sports broadcasters are adjusting to the profession. Results demonstrate the value of a sports journalism education and sports media internship when graduates are attempting to land their first jobs in a local television sports department. However, despite the value shown, many local sports broadcasters, while enjoying it, are still having a difficult time in their first few years on the job.

Intercultural competencies needed for evolving media professions: Educating the next generation of globally minded communicators • Pablo Mino, UNC-Chapel Hill; Rhonda Gibson, UNC Chapel Hill • This study investigated which global competencies are sought after in college students applying for internships and jobs that are international in scope. A survey of 40 global communicators and subsequent interviews revealed that respect for other cultures, listening/observation skills, and understanding others’ worldviews were highly valued. It was also recommended that college graduates have experience traveling abroad and a global network of contacts to enhance their job prospects. Implications for updating college curricula are explored.

< 2019 Abstracts

Graduate Student 2019 Abstracts

Consumers’ Response to Metaphoric Communication of Genetic Modification Technology • Ali Abbasi • Metaphoric communications have been at the heart of the anti-GMO movement for decades. But can they be used to promote GM technology? In this article, we explore different metaphoric messaging strategies that can improve consumers’ perceptions of genetic modification. We test the effectiveness of framing GM technology as either progress or protection, with manmade or natural metaphor sources and with different levels of verbal explanation to determine the best consumer response toward the advertisements.

The Commodification of the Presidency: The Role of Mass Media • Ahmad Alshehab, Arizona State University • Relying on the critical paradigm, the Frankfurt school of thought, and Guy Debord’s concept of media spectacle, this paper examines the consequences of transforming the U.S. presidential election into a commodity to be sold by the media and consumed by the public. The paper addresses several questions, including how the U.S. presidential election was transformed into a commodity for entertainment, what factors contribute to this transformation, and what are the possible consequences and suggested solutions.

Political personalization and gender: 2015 Nigerian presidential candidates on Twitter • Olushola Aromona, University of Kansas • Political personalization has become important to the study of political communication. Particularly, given the possibility of making individualized and personalized messages on Twitter, understanding how political players feature their personal stories in their political messages on Twitter is imperative. In this paper, the tweeting behaviors of presidential candidates in a developing non-western democracy was examined. A content analysis revealed that Nigerian presidential candidates in the 2015 general election highlighted personal stories in campaign message, and male and female candidates differ in the personal topics used, albeit not in stereotypic ways.

“A Woman’s View-point and a Man’s Pen-point”: The Continued Struggle for Gender Equity in Journalism • Bailey Dick, Ohio University • While women writers have indeed made strides in the journalism industry, there are still enormous barriers to equity. Although women are indeed assimilating into newsrooms, the standards by which equity is measured are still male-centric. Through a close reading of existing literature, this paper will explore how women have attempted to create “a room of their own,” showing that those spaces are either unavailable to many women due to economic constraints, or become exploited for profit through verticals or the “first person industrial complex.”

Grab your bags: Exploring destination branding through Instagram • Jaisalyn Santiago; America Edwards, University of Central Florida; Michelle Senter, University of Central Florida; Katherine Pursglove, University of Central Florida; My Bui, University of Centrall Florida • This study explores how destination branding on Instagram (advertising either France versus Japan location and solo versus group travel type) impacts the age cohort of 18 to 24, in terms of message attitude, travel intentions, and destination attractiveness. Authors examine destination branding focused on Japan versus France and solo versus group travel. First, authors discuss Instagram as a communication tool and its role in destination branding, how destination branding has a role in attitude conceptualization and the Theory of Planned Behavior, and finally how these concepts align to influence travel motivations and behaviors of the 18 to 24 aged cohort. Then, authors describe how they employed an experiment to test the dependent variables, following by a meaningful discussion of what the results mean.

Addressing Corporate Social Responsibility Efforts in Corporations: A Content Analysis of Amazon’s and Walmart’s Websites • Tugce Ertem-Eray, University of Oregon • This study analyzes how Amazon and Walmart, two of the largest global companies, present the balance among their economic, social, and environmental activities and communicate their CSR efforts via their corporate websites. Findings indicate that expectations and pressures from the public may help trigger companies to report their CSR efforts. In addition, this study also indicates that the TBL concept does not fully explain each companies’ global CSR efforts.

Imported Medical TV Dramas and the Chinese Practice of Constructing Medical Professionalism • Hua FAN • This study explores how the Chinese healthcare professionals’ viewing of imported medical TV dramas can be embedded in their construction of medical professionalism. Specifically, the consumption of imported medical TV drama can spiritually motivate people to pursue a medical career, help healthcare professionals construct, confirm and reinforce the ideal version of medical professionalism, offer them an escape from the heavy workload, and provide resistance to the breaches of the ideal professionalism in actual medical bureaucracies. Protection & Pornography:  A comparative content analysis of pornographic films for the presence of safe sex before and after the California Condom Law • Kyla Garrett Wagner • Legislation mandating pornography actors wear condoms during film production gave reason to believe condom use in pornography has increased. To empirically test this hypothesis and assess safe sex depiction in pornography, a content analysis of 24 adult films produced four years before and four years after the law was completed. A total of 137 sexual scenes were coded, and identified 452 sexual acts and 42 safe sex depictions; 27 depictions before the law and 15 depictions after the law. Unexpectedly, findings revealed more condom use before the law and no significant change in safe sex depictions over time. But additional analyses determined condom use was never rejected or endorsed by the actors; condoms were most common in scenes that depicted mixed-sex sex acts, recreational sex, and sex where there was no relationship between the actors; and that condom use was production company-dependent. Altogether, the hypotheses failed but novel findings of condom use in pornography emerged. The closing discussion offers insight on the condom law and its impact on pornography.

The Impacts of Social Media Use, Interest in News, and News Media Literacy on Detecting Fake News • Emily Gibbens • This study tested social media experience, interest in news, and media literacy to understand the characteristics needed to identify fake news. Participants were given examples of real, fabricated, and satire news to test if they could understand the difference and identify each one. The findings indicated that interest in news, media literacy, and education have a positive relationship with identifying fake news. Social media experience did not have an effect on the identification of fake news like hypothesized. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed.

Media strategy analysis of the “new star” in 2019 Thai Election: linguistic perspective • Yuqi Guo • The parliamentary election of Thailand took place on March 24th 2019. The Future Forward Party, which was founded one year ago by the billionaire Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, performed very competitive leaving many traditional parties behind. This paper analyzes the media strategy of this party based on a linguistic theory: stance. According the discourse analysis and media corpus data, the party’s strategy involves many stance-taking conditions. These strategies have contributed to the popularity of Future Forward Party.

Thinking about real-world friends: Attachment theory as a framework for explaining self-presentation on social media • Yu-Jin Heo, University of South Carolina; Michael Layer • This study used attachment theory to understand how social media users’ attachment styles influenced their behavior online on either their inner or other directed self-presentation behaviors. Our findings show high-anxiety individuals tend to be receptive to their real-world friends’ feedback on social media. These findings imply real-world friends may be the key factor to explain users’ behavioral patterns of social media use.

CSR Communication on Twitter: How Influential Are Socially Responsible Companies Communicating CSR Issues on Twitter • Yangzhi Jiang, Louisiana State University • Whether companies could reap benefits from their CSR activities are contingent on various stakeholders’ perceptions of corporate CSR performances. Thus, the effectiveness of corporate communication regarding CSR is significant. Grounded in the four models of public relations and literature in CSR communication strategies, this study analyzed ten socially responsible companies CSR communication on Twitter. Meanwhile, this study created new formulas to calculate the influential score of CSR communication on Twitter. The results showed that the broadcasting approach was the most applied communication strategy on Twitter overall. The findings may imply that previous studies and the four models of public relations underestimated the power of one-way communication. Surprisingly, generally talking about CSR such as sharing a company’s CSR ranking was the most influential CSR topic on Twitter, which effectively generated stakeholders’ emotional response, retweeting, and mentioning behaviors. However, the socially responsible ranking was not correlated with the effectiveness of corporate CSR communication on Twitter. The results of this study provided both theoretical and practical implications.

Who is Writing About What? A Content Analysis of Science News in The New York Times and the Washington Post • Joshua Jordan, University of Minnesota • To examine how science is communicated to the public via the press, this content analysis examined science news and journalists at The New York Times and the Washington Post. This study found that female science journalists outnumbered male journalists, and journalists with postsecondary degrees outnumbered those with postgraduate degrees. Regarding framing of science news, episodic occurred more often than thematic. The results offer insights into who is writing science news and how it is framed.

Cost-free at all Costs? – A Review of Drivers of Paying Intent and Willingness to Pay for Digital Journalism • Daniel Kunkel; Nicola Kleer • The advertising-based revenue model for journalism is severely challenged due to the effects of digitization. Providers of journalistic content have therefore put increasing emphasis on paid content strategies in recent years. This paper provides a literature review of factors that contribute to consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) and paying intent (PI) for digital journalistic content. We identify 18 variables that influence WTP and PI. Due to inconsistent measurements in the literature, however, the results remain ambiguous.

The Role of Immersion and Involvement in Persuasive Games • Eugene Lee, University of Minnesota; Maral Abdollahi • This study seeks to improve the conceptualizations of involvement and immersion. We identified three distinct dimensions of involvement and immersion in the context of a persuasive game play and its playback. The study shows a significant difference between students playing the game and watching its playback for three dimensions of immersion. We also show the effect of different dimensions of involvement and immersion on attitude and behavioral intention.

Otherization in News: A Qualitative Analysis of Brussels and Lahore Terror Attacks • V. Michelle Michael • This study qualitatively compares how CNN approached the coverage of the terrorist attacks in Belgium and Pakistan. In order to understand any otherization messages in the initial coverage, this paper analyzes the first video story of each event’s coverage in depth. The analysis undertaken in this paper is two-fold: a visual analysis of the moving images used in the video stories and discourse analysis to excavate meaning from accompanying text and language. This mixed-method study uses both semiotics and syntax analysis to explore how similar terrorism events concerning two different social groups (in-group and out-group) are portrayed differently.

Opinion Leaders as Persuasion Agents: Integration of Persuasion Knowledge Into the Theory of Opinion Leadership • Alexander Mueller, University of Saskatchewan • In the healthcare industry, it is a common practice for manufacturers to attempt to persuade customers through opinion leaders (OL) in their specialty. This conceptual paper addresses this challenge by examining the combination and linkage of OL and persuasion agents (PA). OL and PA theories are re-conceptualized in a newly developed Persuasive Opinion Leadership Model. The model´s theoretical relevance is discussed and provides a new perspective on opinion leadership in marketing. Future research is proposed.

On Kichiku as Film and Television Subculture and Its Influences in China • Yu King NG • This paper focuses on the core issues of Kichiku, and refines them into the definition and style characteristics of Kichiku, relationship between the Kichiku as a subculture and China’s mainstream culture, and its influence, which are analyzed separately so as to connect them together. This paper also sorts out the process of meaning shift of the word Kichiku, and change is also a process in which the Kichiku culture gradually comes into being and develops.

A President, a sportsman and a rhetorical vision • Varaidzo Nyamandi, Regent University • The racial, political and social poles in a divided America require solutions towards unity. Presidents Nelson Mandela’s communication of a rhetorical vision to a divided South Africa in 1995 becomes relevant today, as a suggestion of how rhetoric may provide unity. This study explores Bormann’s symbolic convergence theory to explore the creation of a worldview shared by South Africans, once separated along racial lines. The symbolic convergence theory is used to explain the meaning of the rhetorical vision of President Mandela.  He communicates the vision through his recital of the Victorian era poem “Invictus”, as dramatized in the motion picture Invictus (Eastwood, 2009). The study contributes to the growing body of literature on the use of persuasion, from the perspective of the diverse audience, who chain out the vision, as dramatized in Invictus (Eastwood, 2009).   Scholars note that contemporary rhetoric understands the personal nature of creating, receiving and sharing messages and exploring meanings with others. In the pursuit of this general endeavor, this study specifically suggests a way of interpreting shared meaning connecting people of diverse cultures, backgrounds, political views into a new worldview.

An Economic Analysis of the New York Times 1970s Daily Sections • Samantha Peko, Ohio University • In the 1970s, The New York Times Company was in a state of financial decline. The paper instituted a series of changes. Most notably, inserting into the folds of each weekday’s paper a new consumer section (food, home décor, sports, the arts, and science). The sections created a trend that newspapers around the country followed. This paper examines how investors reacted to the idea by looking at changes in the stock price using archival stock market data.

TV Anchors and Reporters use of Emotional Labor: Professional Control Over Personal Health Disclosures Online • Kirstin Pellizzaro, Arizona State University • Using the theoretical lens of emotional labor, this study performs a qualitative content analysis of 24 TV broadcast journalists’ disclosures of personal health-related issues on their professional social media pages – Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Findings indicate that emotional labor was negotiated and learned journalistic skills were employed in various ways, indicating control over content. These findings raise concerns that these controlled narratives can influence an audience understanding of health-related issues.

Mental Health Satisfaction and Social Interactions • Jessica Roark, Ohio University • With online health activities becoming more popular, the opportunities to discuss mental health and share information have increased. A secondary analysis of data from the Pew Research Center examined the effects of social interaction on perceived help obtained from health information gathered online. This study looked specifically at respondents interested in mental health. Findings indicate that there are relationships between perceived help gained from online health information, participation in online health and social media activities.

Future Prospects of Female Journalists in Bangladesh • Md Nurus Safa, Shanghai Jiao Tong University • The study found that, female journalist facing many barriers like family pressure, Society problem, pay-allowances and gender discrimination, sexual harassment and even lack of workplace. Now days they are protecting and talking outside if face any discrimination with them.  It is possible to survive if the passion, professionalism, and love have on this profession. Day by day increasing the female participation in a significant change has come into the social attitude which represent by women’s advancement in journalism sector of Bangladesh.

Bullying in the Digital Age: Difficulties and Dilemmas Regarding Cyberbullying • Chun Shao, Arizona State University • Various media technologies have developed rapidly, which have fundamentally altered the traditional communication patterns. However, as portrayed in various media, an unfortunate aspect of the use of technologies is the increasing occurrence of cyberbullying. This paper aims to explore cyberbullying, focusing on its harm on teenagers and legislative responses to this problem. Through investigating emotional and physical harm of cyberbullying, this study illustrates how far John Stuart Mill’s Harm Principle has progressed not only since Mill’s era but also in the digital age.

The impact of Social Media on Tourism Marketing: Analyzing Young Consumers’ Travel Behavior • Farzana Sharmin, Shanghai Jiao Tong University; Mohammad Tipu Sultan, Shanghai Jiao Tong University • Tourism marketing and promotional strategies are changing from the last few decades. Consumers’ have a more dynamic relationship with social media technology, which is tapping into new tourism marketing dimensions. This study examines the role of social media technology as a utilization trait in shaping young consumers’ travel behavior based on the theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). This research has largely focused on social media acceptance and usage performance of consumers’ during the travel planning phase. The convenience random sample method used to collect data from prime tourist places of Shanghai (China) and instrument developed support on previous research to test hypotheses. The results of structural analyses revealed that respondents’ attitude towards the use of social media affected by technology self-efficiency. In addition, perceived behavioral control has a partial influence towards the attitude of respondents’. Thus the respondents’ mostly prefer social media in pre-travel phase and during travel. Finally, the managerial implications for tourism marketers are presented with a focus on how to improve the effectiveness of social media marketing in targeting groups.

Reacting Against Climate Change Denial: Role of Anger and Anxiety in the Backfire Effects of Censoring Climate Change • Ran Tao, UW-Madison • Since climate change became one of the national agenda in the 1980s, political divide and contention over climate change issues have been seen in the U.S. The reflexivity forces, particularly environmentalism, advocate for an active response to climate change, whereas the anti-reflexivity forces undermined efforts of environmentalism by delegitimizing climate change and preventing progress in climate change policies. Such anti-reflexivity is witnessed as the Trump administration censored and manipulated climate change information online. However, the public’s reaction toward the information control stayed unclear. Applying the psychological reactance theory, this study argues that citizens will react against information control on climate change issues by the government through negative emotions. When citizens receive a high volume of threat message that informed them of information control on climate change from the government, they will feel more anger, which leads to more intention to view the repressed information, learn more about climate change, share climate change information with friends, families, and the public, regardless of their political ideology and pre-exited climate change attitude. The results have implications for advancing reactance theory and understanding citizens’ reactance against governmental information control on climate change.

Participatory Journalism in China: An Extended Newsroom and Power, Network, State • Luxuan Wang, New York University • By analyzing different producers’ identities and posts, this paper explores how participatory journalism differs from traditional media and how organizational structure influences framings in China’s context. Generally, the elite community dominated the discourse of participatory journalism on social media, producing a different framing from that of Chinese traditional news agencies. This paper examined the “extended newsroom” of participatory journalism in Chinese context involving dispositions of capitals, heterogeneous network of human-nonhuman interactions, and the state’s manifestation.

Hacker groups and social movements: A systematic review of literature • Yiping Xia, University of Wisconsin-Madison • Hackers are groups of people with a common concern with information technologies and a shared set of fundamental beliefs, such as the protection of privacy and freedom of information. While there are numerous studies about how social movements and technology intersect, there has been relatively less social movement scholarship devoted to hackers that push for social change via technological means, or make technology the central issue of their agenda. By systematically examining the extant literature using McAdam et al’s (1996) framework, this paper aims to map our current knowledge about hacking/hackers as social movement players, and to generate discussions about future research directions for scholars of interest.

Linkages among Individual Values, Attitudes, and Political Actions: A Cross-Cultural Study • Leping You, University of Florida • Communicating values is crucial to motivating people to be engaged in political/social actions globally. While many studies have examined how cultures influence individuals’ attitudes toward social issues and their intentions of participating in civic actions, research exploring civic engagement in comparison with individualistic and collectivistic cultures on the individual level is relatively scarce. Drawing on Schwartz’s theory of values, this study aims to fill this gap in the literature by analyzing the relationships among individual values, attitudes toward human rights such as equal pay, and political action behavior. The results of this study revealed that people in Asian cultures were found to value both personal-focus and social-focus values more highly than people in America. In addition, personal-focus values were negatively associated with favorable attitudes toward equal pay, while social-focus values such as universalism-nature and universalism-society were positively associated with favorable attitudes toward equal pay. The political environment is suggested as a potential moderator in predicting people’s political activism behavior from behavioral intentions.

The impact of Next Media Animation framing on university students’ attitudes towards, perception of, and participation in the Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong • Runping Zhu, University of Western Australia; Chesca Ka Po Wong • The most significant social protest in Hong Kong since its return to China in 1997 was the 2014 Umbrella Movement seeking democratic processes for the appointment of the Region’s chief executive. This study examines how the framing of the police, government, and opponents of the protests in the Next Media Animation news videos prepared by Apple Daily, an important Hong Kong newspaper, influenced university students’ attitudes, perceptions, and political behavior in terms of the Umbrella Movement events. The findings from a qualitative content-analysis and a quantitative survey (N=212) showed that students viewing negative images of the police, government and anti-protestors framed by the Next Media Animation formed unfavorable attitudes towards the three parties and were consequently more likely than non-viewers to participate in the Movement. The study extends the previous work on audience responses to news framing by demonstrating how animated news frames may, by manipulation of the story facts and enhancing the presentation with emotive music and commentary, prompt stronger audience reactions than those created by other news frames. The finding raises the possibility of misuse of technology by animation practitioners and the risk of exploitation of animated media to promote the ideologies supported by media owners.

< 2019 Abstracts

Visual Communication 2019 Abstracts

Plastics and Polar Bears: Measuring Environmental Framing Effects on Perceived Distance and Sense of Motivation • Danielle Quichocho; Kathleen I. Alaimo, U of Colorado • A critical form of communication for environmental NGOs is the use of photographs to inform and advocate. Therefore, the way in which those images are framed has broad implications for the NGO and the public. This study examines the effect of psychological distance frames upon motivation to help the environment by conducting a survey of college students (n=52). Findings indicate that while distance is salient for all images, a sense of urgency is not.

Video Convergence:  Factors Affecting Photojournalists’ Satisfaction and Adoption • Christopher Assaf, University of Texas at Austin • A survey of visual journalists (N=132) shooting online video finds that factors affecting photojournalists satisfaction and perceptions of quality are related to training and experience. As the convergence of still and video continues at media outlets after more than ten years, overall, more than half of visual journalists surveyed are satisfied shooting online video. Survey respondents who had more video training had higher satisfaction with their video shooting and higher their perception of quality in their video shooting. However, when it comes to convergence, only 44% of respondent had combined still photography and video shooting on assignment at some or all the time — showing a low rate of video technology being adopted and combined with the still photography skillset. Of that, 55% showed dissatisfaction with shooting both stills and video. Findings are discussed in regard to diffusion of innovations theory.

A lion or a lone wolf? Developing a visual measure of archetypal personality for communication research • Jared Brickman, Carnegie Dartlet • The accurate measure of psychological predictors like personality is pivotal to communication research seeking to tailor messages or explain behaviors. Unfortunately, measuring personality is difficult due to desirability bias and lack of universality in understanding trait-based questionnaires. This research builds on literature that suggests visual measures, like icons or emojis, can eliminate some of this bias. Icons were developed for measuring archetypal personality and were tested with two surveys and dozens of real-world case studies.

Visualizing Candidates and Graphicating the News: Evidence from US Presidential Campaign Coverage, 1992-2012 • Erik Bucy, Texas Tech University; Othello Richards, Texas Tech University • The systematic subdivision and increasing graphication of television screen space has proceeded apace in the digital era with little systematic scrutiny despite its widespread application in newscasts locally, nationally, and internationally. The handful of studies that do exist suggest that graphication of broadcast news can aid in story comprehension but also distract from the traditional audiovisual content of news reporting. No analysis has yet considered the prevalence of television news graphics from a systematic, longitudinal perspective. In this paper we perform a visual content analysis of 20 years’ worth of presidential campaign coverage (1992 to 2012) to examine longitudinal trends in the use of graphication by the major broadcast networks since the rise of digital editing. In particular, we examine the use of boxes and split screens by the three main evening newscasts of ABC, CBS, and NBC, which despite experiencing declines in viewership during this period still maintained the largest television news audience during the study period. Beyond documenting a steady—and dramatic—increase in the use of graphication elements, the study finds that candidates are graphicated far more than journalists, although the gap is closing, and Republicans are more often put into boxes and split screens than Democrats. NBC uses these visual elements the most of any network. Trailing candidates are also put into boxes and split screens more than front-runners and candidates who are running in close races. Implications for candidate evaluations and informed citizenship, and the need for experimental studies to document graphication effects, are discussed.

Framing Me Too: A Visual Analysis of the Social Movement’s News Coverage on Twitter • Holly Cowart, Georgia Southern University • This content analysis examines how major U.S. news outlets represent the Me Too movement on Twitter. Using framing, it focuses on images of people in tweets as a form of visual communication. Nine news outlets’ Twitter accounts were sampled to identify relevant themes and explore their potential role in shaping society’s understanding of the movement. Findings include a greater visual emphasis on those accused of sexual misconduct than its victims and a reliance on celebrities.

The impact of imagery: Visual journalists’ assessment of the power of images • Nicole Dahmen, University of Oregon; Brent Walth, University of Oregon; Kaitlin Bane, University of Oregon • Academic debate exists regarding the actual power that images possess to create outcomes or journalistic “impact.” While there is a growing body of research on journalistic impact, it is a generally underexplored research area, and there are no known studies specifically bringing together journalistic impact research with photojournalism literature on the power of imagery. Through surveys with visual journalists, this research explores fundamental questions about journalists’ perceptions of, and experiences with, images and impact.

No, Memes No!  Digital Persuasion in the #MeToo Era • Shahira Fahmy; Omneya Ibrahim, American University in Cairo • This study bridges a gap in communication research by conducting an integrative framing analysis of Twitter memes based on the pathos, ethos and logos persuasion appeals. Specifically, this study examines both visual and textual information in the most popular memes of the #MeToo campaign. Results are based on a quantitative content analysis of the top 1,000 Me Too memes on Twitter during the week in which sexual misconduct allegations were made against Judge Brett Kavanaugh, then nominee for the US Supreme Court justice. Findings reveal the role of different persuasion principles in online social movements. Results showed anti-#MeToo memes significantly focused more on the emotional appeal and less on the logos and ethos appeals than pro-#MeToo memes. Overall, the work contributes to the growing memes literature that empirically explores the integration between visual and verbal modalities in the contemporary digital media environment.

On the boundaries: Professional photojournalists navigating identity in an age of technological democratization • Patrick Ferrucci, U of Colorado-Boulder; Ross Taylor, U of Colorado; Kathleen I. Alaimo, U of Colorado • In the wake of an influx of interlopers populating photojournalism, this study utilizes in-depth interviews with 21 professional photojournalists to better understand how they construct their identity. With a framework of social identity theory, this research found photojournalists consider clear role conception, adherence to normative journalism ethics and organizational backing as key components of their in-group. They consider a loyalty to citizens second, a lack of professional processes, and advocacy key parts of the out-group.

Visualizing the finish line:  Exploring capstone courses in visual communications programs • Matthew Haught, University of Memphis; David Morris II, University of South Carolina Aiken • As the number of journalism and mass communications programs offering a visual communications focused program grows, the curriculum of programs should be examined. This study uses open-ended questionnaire responses with program coordinators and capstone instructors in journalism and mass communications-based visual communications programs. It finds that capstones include internships, ethics courses, campaigns courses, and advanced praxis courses. It concludes that the blend of theoretical and practical understanding and application is the overriding outcome for programs.

Night and day:  A visual diptych of hate and horror in Charlottesville • Susan Keith, Rutgers University; Leslie-Jean Thornton, Arizona State University • Two photographs from the Unite the Right white supremacist gathering in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017—Samuel Corum’s flame-lit image of marcher Peter Cvjetanovic and Ryan M. Kelly’s Pulitzer-winning image of the car attack that killed Heather Heyer—captured the American imagination. This paper examines the rhetorics of contrast, emotion and resonance embedded in the images and argues that they have the potential to become iconic images.

The Visual Effects of Electronic Cigarette Warning Statement Features on Harm Perceptions of E-cigarette among Young Adults • Joon Kyoung Kim, University of South Carolina; Jim Thrasher, University of South Carolina; Robert McKeever, University of South Carolina; Yoo Jin Cho, University of South Carolina • This study investigates young adults’ reactions to varying electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) warning statements. The results of a 3 (warning statement size: 30%, 50%, or 70% of magazine advertisement surface) by 2 (warning statement background: white or yellow) between-subject experiment (N = 320) with one nonfactorial control condition (advertisement with no warning statement) indicate that enlarged and yellow warning statements increased viewers’ perceived harm of e-cigarette use and in turn decreased their susceptibility to e-cigarette use.

Venus, Mars and the Sun: Gender Differences in the Persuasive Efficacy of GIFs with Positive and Negative Emotional Valence on Promoting Sunscreen Use • Bianca Ann Lee; Lena Cheng Yeng Lee; Tessa Su En Liang; Zandra Rui Yi Ang • This study explored the persuasive efficacy of Graphics Interchange Formats (GIFs) and gender’s moderating effect on visual format and emotional valence with a 2 (visual format) x 2 (emotional valence) x 3 (message repetition) mixed design. Key findings were: (a) men were more persuaded by animated GIFs, (b) valence had no significant effect on persuasion within animated GIFs, and (c) within negative valence, men were more persuaded by animated GIFs and women by static graphics.

You Are What You Post: The Interaction of Personality Traits and Visual Content on Instagram • Yuchen Liu • Drawing on the Big Five theory of personality, this study examined how personality traits influence the visual content theme that individuals post on Instagram as well as their posting behavior. An online questionnaire was conducted with 283 undergraduate students, followed by a visual content analysis with 1,000 Instagram posts. Although inconsistency exists between self-reported data and content analysis data, results revealed that personality traits predicted participants’ posting behavior the visual content theme that they post on Instagram. Scholarly and practical implications of this research were discussed in the context of growing visual content in both interpersonal and strategic communication and increasing availability of online social networking.

Journalism’s visual construction of place in environmental coverage • Kyser Lough, The University of Texas at Austin; Ivy Ashe, University of Texas at Austin • This study builds on our understanding of how visual journalism is used with environmental reporting to create a sense of place and understanding in the audience. While most American photojournalism tends to favor close-up photos that include people, environmental coverage leans the opposite way— sweeping landscape photos depicting more of the earth and less of the people that inhabit it. Thus, a contradiction is presented to photojournalists attempting to create imagery to accompany environmental stories. Through a content analysis of wire and non-wire environmental photos on US newspaper front pages, our findings show support that person-focused feature imagery is being used more, though still mostly at an informational level.

U.S. front-pages: Visual news values in wire versus non-wire photographs • Kyser Lough, The University of Texas at Austin; Tara Mortensen • The present study uses a sample of US daily front-pages to examine visual differences between wire and non-wire photography on front pages. The results show that the sample of wire images contain more people than non-wire images, were more emotional and more graphically-appealing, and were used as stand-alone art more frequently than non-wire images. Further, wire images were most-commonly implemented for topics about policy / politics and international relations, while non-wire images more commonly accompanied stories about ceremonies and festivals, as well as stories about the economy. Finally, higher-circulation newspapers in the sample used wire images more often than small-circulation newspapers.

Cost-efficient, Copious, and Not-So Credible? An examination of the credibility of staff and stock photography • Tara Mortensen; Brian McDermott, University of Massachusetts Amherst; Khadija Ejaz • This study addressed audience perceptions of the credibility of stock photography versus photographs taken by professional photojournalists. These audience perceptions were gauged using a newly-developed, reliable scale that measured the construct “photo credibility.” The results of the study suggest that people perceive the credibility of stock images as significantly lower than those taken by professional staff photographers. Professionally-shot, staff photographs were rated particularly high, and higher than stock images, in the variables of photojournalism professionalism, trust and accuracy. However, stock photographs were rated more credible in journalism professionalism, and there was no significant difference between the two groups within the area of completeness.

Photographs’ Role in Creating an Online Social Movement in Kuwait: A Case Study of Manshoor Blog Using Visual Frame Alignment Process • Noura Al-Duaijani; Tara Mortensen • This paper presents the results of a quantitative and qualitative assessment of the role images can play in mobilizing online social movements’ values in conservative societies through the frame alignment process. The case study is of liberal Kuwaiti blog, Manshoor. The main frames used were the injustice frame, followed by the fear of personal suffering, the multiculturalism frame and the boundary frame. In addition to a traditional, qualitative analysis, three visual cues that are frequently used in semiotic analysis (social distance, contact, and point-of-view) are matched with traditional frames in order to visually, quantitatively code images. In this way, a reliable visual coding scheme for frame alignment analysis that makes use of cues was developed.

Race, Gender & Rationale: The Global Image in the Western Mind • Tara Pixley, Loyola Marymount University • This paper unpacks a content analysis of 15 years of photojournalism awarded by World Press Photo and Photographer of the Year International —the two most lauded photojournalism awards. Analyzing images in situ must account for both the subject pictured and the picture’s producer.  As such, the project’s foundational questions are: who takes these images that represent the height of photojournalism and the most publicized views of human experience? What ideas do they ultimately produce about the world’s most vulnerable people and places? The study finds photojournalists are primarily white, male and Western, while award-winning images are most often of black and brown bodies immured in chaos, defined by catastrophe. Central to my argument is that if photojournalism purports to tell the visual story of all humanity, the fact that we continue to view the world’s entirety primarily through this white, male, colonial perspective has frightening implications. Joining a very recent upswing of interest in how journalism lacks diversity and equity within its producers and production processes, this research is an integral addition to the existing canon of visual communication knowledge. As it interrogates existing visual communication practices, it also offers questions to apply in the journalism classroom that can steer the next generation of storytellers toward improved production practices.

Creepy babies and the phenomenon of data distraction • Abby Rinaldi, University of Iowa • This paper examines three data visualizations from three prominent news sites (The New York Times, The Guardian, and The Independent) to identify trends of visual interference which disrupt sense-making and communication of narrative within the stories they seek to tell. The paper groups these different kinds of obstruction under the term data distraction. Data distraction defines the ways in which visualization design can inhibit understanding and clash with the goals and norms of data journalism.

Key Trends Visualizing Green and CSR on Skin Care and Cosmetic Websites • Michelle Seelig, University of Miami; Ruoyu Sun, University of Miami; Sanchary Pal; Huixin Deng • Advertisers and marketers have long used power visual representations of the natural world as a conceptual strategy to sell a variety of goods and services. In the last decade or so, some research has started to emerge that found more companies providing details how their brand or product is made beneficial to protecting the environment. Literature also supports that green branding extends to the web aimed at consumers looking for brands and products aligned with their value system. We believe green themes and CSR important for online branding and informing consumers about their ecological stewardship. Drawing from the literature on green advertising, CSR, and visual framing, we explore the current state of environmental brand identification on skin care and cosmetic websites and the various elements used to frame greenness portraying a pro-environmental stewardship. Overall, findings show improvements including more substantive claims and CSR activities on websites, but for now, associative claims were still more prevalent framing brands green image and implying eco-friendly ideals.

Crowdsmashing: A content analysis of 
Brand New’s branding reviews and reader response • Robert Wertz, University of South Carolina • This study uses content analysis to examine the relationship between the presentation of new corporate visual identities and how people respond to them by evaluating one year of reviews on the design critique web site Brand New. Results indicate that several structural elements correlate with better reader response, while others seem to have no relationship.

< 2019 Abstracts

Public Relations 2019 Abstracts

Doug Newsom Award for Global Ethics and Global Diversity

An Appeal to Shared Values: Faith, Advocacy, and Persuasion in the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ Public Relations • Brian J. Bowe, Western Washington University; Derek Moscato, Western Washington University; Mariam Alkazemi, Virginia Commonwealth University • While much attention has been paid to the way news media both represent and misrepresent Muslims, much less work has been devoted to Muslim self-representation in the public sphere. This study examines press releases issued by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) to begin to close this gap in understanding of Muslim American self-representation. The study explores four strategic frames related to incident reports, legal responses, public sphere engagement and interfaith solidarity. It also examines the calls to action employed in the press releases. Finally, the findings show that releases also emphasized moral language related to protect the rights of individuals to be fully included in public life.

Open Competition

Toward an Emotional Intelligence Approach to Public Relations • Weiwu Zhang, Texas Tech University; Oluseyi Adegbola • This study provides an overview of the role of emotional intelligence in public relations and assesses the research in this area. Existing research has focused mostly on emotional intelligence as a competency vital to effective leadership. This study calls for further research investigating the role of emotional intelligence in different aspects of public relations such as media and customer relations, as well as methodological pluralism in future research.

Resilient Aging: Examining how AARP Constructs Public Resilience Through its #DisruptAging Campaign • Lindsey Anderson, University of Maryland; Sylvia (Jiankun) Guo • We completed an analysis of AARP’s #DisruptAging campaign to understand how the organization crafts messages about resilience to facilitate successful aging among its publics. We found the campaign reflected the processes of resilience communication, as well as a new strategy—acceptance/appreciation. These findings illuminate the societal role of organizational discourse by showing how inclusive organizational-public communication can disrupt stereotypes; thus contributing to a fully functioning society and marking the future of public relations scholarship.

The role of self-transcendent emotions and empathy in motivating communication about social and environmental issues • Denise Bortree, Penn State University; Michail Vafeiadis, Auburn University; Pratiti Diddi, Pennsylvania State University; Julia Gessner, Penn State University; Virginia Harrison; Yiting Chai, Penn State University • This study examines the role of emotions in situational motivations toward communication. In specific, the study looks at how self-transcendent emotions and empathy predict problem recognition, constraint recognition, involvement recognition and situational motivation in problem solving for two issues – climate change and immigration. A 2×2 experimental study found that self-transcendent emotions increase empathy which significantly influences communication motivators. However, not all self-transcendent emotions work in a positive direction for both issues. Implications are discussed.

Exploring the Influence of Stakeholder Personality on Crisis Response Evaluations and Outcomes • Natalie Brown-Devlin, The University of Texas at Austin; Hayoung Lim; Lindsay Bouchacourt, The University of Texas at Austin; Michael Devlin, Texas State University • While public relations professionals are beginning to utilize psychographic data points for more refined methods of audience targeting, this study proposes a novel approach for understanding stakeholders by examining how their elemental personality traits impact 1) crisis communication outcomes (lessen levels of attributed crisis responsibility, improve individual’s image, and increase positive word-of-mouth) and 2) evaluations of employed crisis response strategies. Stakeholder personality traits provide unique psychographics about the target audience, which may assist public relations professionals by micro-targeting strategic crisis response strategies. This study utilized an experimental design with 368 collegiate participants from two Texas universities. Results suggest that several underlying personality traits predict image repair-outcomes regardless of the communication strategy used, while others are more likely to interact certain strategies that embody certain ideal crisis communication outcomes. Several theoretical and practical implications were provided.

Enhancing Perceptions of the value of public relations through MBA education • Kristie Byrum, Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania; Kathleen Rennie Ph.D APR Fellow PRSA Professor, New Jersey City University • The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) launched its MBA/Business School Program in fall 2012 to help MBA programs in the United States introduce strategic communication into the business school curriculum. The leading professional organization in the United States launched the program after finding that MBA curricula do not typically include a focus on communication topics. Since launching the program, the PRSA has engaged 16 colleges and universities across the country as participants in the program, allowing them to offer courses specifically designated to strategic communications. This qualitative study set out to better understand outcomes of the courses, most notably how the course can influence the individual’s perception of the public relations process. The study gauged the impact of the class on the perceptions of students (seasoned business professionals) about the public relations profession and the value of strategic communication. This study reports on the students’ perceptions of the business value of public relations, the use of strategic communication, and why the students’ perceptions are meaningful.

(Re)centering human experience: A provocation for a critical humanistic orientation for public relations • Erica Ciszek, University of Texas at Austin • The article reflects on the contemporary status of public relations, highlighting the tensions between functionalist traditions and emergent critical perspectives. It presents critical humanism as an avenue for propelling public relations research and practice. This article imagines possibilities for critical humanistic work in public relations, drawing from and building upon research on feminism, queer theory and critical theories of race, advocating for the discipline to function as an avenue for social change.

Personal Influence in Public Relations • Krishnamurthy Sriramesh, University of Colorado Boulder; Jolene Fisher, University of Colorado Boulder • Personal influence plays an important role in the functioning of public relations across all cultural contexts, yet the concept has been neglected in the field’s scholarship. This study presents a review of the origins and use of the term, an examination of the current state of the personal influence model as it relates to the body of knowledge of public relations, and a research agenda that advances understanding of personal influence in public relations.

Assessing the Relationship between Self-Benefit and Other-Benefit Message Framing, Perceived Transparency Effectiveness, and Organizational Trust • Jolene Fisher, University of Colorado Boulder; Toby Hopp, University of Colorado Boulder • The frames used in organizational transparency messages have meaningful implications as they pertain to the formation of organizational trust among publics. Specifically, in this study, we proposed that transparency messages that emphasize an organization’s commitment to the social good are more likely to elicit trust-based gains than transparency messages that emphasize the organization’s value to the self. The results of two experiments supported this contention.

Understanding the Church of Scientology’s Interpretation of Effective Public Relations • Melanie Formentin, Towson University; Cylor Spaulding, Georgetown University • Scientology’s public relations (PR) function is based on research and writing by L. Ron Hubbard, who studied PR and drafted documents directing Church communication strategies. Hubbard had the textbook Effective Public Relations reprinted with annotations for Church practitioners. Textual analysis shows Hubbard selectively adopted PR strategies; he embraced identifying primary publics and using interpersonal communication but eschewed psychological principles and media relations strategies. The findings show how a religious organization has employed industry principles.

How institutional pressure influences corporate crisis communication practice?: A comparative case study from China • Qijun He, School of Journalism and Communication, Shanghai University • This study aims to explore the influence of institutional pressure on corporate crisis communication practice in China. Through comparing six cases in three pairs of crisis type, i.e., victim, accidental and intentional, the study showed that the firms depended on its willingness to conform to institutional pressure and resistant ability to adopt various strategic responses to cope with institutional pressure in crisis, and accordingly adapt their crisis communication strategies and forms of response to satisfy both self-interest and institutional pressure with less communicative strategies yet more invisible strategies, low-profile stance, and a more timely, active and consistent form of response.

Is fake news the new social media crisis?: Examining the public evaluation of crisis management for organizations targeted in viral fake news • Rosie Jahng, Wayne State University; Scott Burgess; Maria Clara Martucci, Wayne State University • This study conducted a mixed-design experiment to test the main effect of intention to damage the brand and political motivation on crisis identification, crisis severity, and audience acceptance of crisis responses was tested. Also, the moderating role of intention to damage the brand in fake news on the proposed dependent variables were further tested. Results indicated that while fake news with high intention to damage the brands are perceived and evaluated as a severe crisis, fake news with political motivation is not considered as a reputational crisis as much. Organizations should make strategic decisions based on the strength of intention to damage the brand reputation and the presence of political motivations when they find themselves as victims of fake news spreading on social media.

Toward A Relational Theory of Employee Engagement: Understanding Authenticity, Transparency, and Employee Behaviors • Hua Jiang, Syracuse University; Hongmei Shen, San Diego State University • Based on the relationship management paradigm in public relations and the job demands-resources model, we proposed a relational theory of employee engagement integrating employees’ immediate supervisors’ authentic leadership behavior and transparent organizational communication as antecedents of engagement and contextual performance behavior and turnover intention as behavioral outcomes that engagement leads to. Results from an employee survey (N = 727) indicated that immediate supervisors’ authentic leadership exchange with employees helped promote transparent organizational communication. Both authentic leadership and transparent organizational communication predicted employees’ level of physical, emotional, and cognitive engagement, which, in turn, largely explained employees’ contextual performance behavior and turnover intention. Moreover, transparent organizational communication was directly associated with employees’ turnover intention, and indirectly related to their contextual performance behavior via employee engagement. Finally, transparent organizational communication and employee engagement directly mediated the relationship between authentic leadership and two behavioral outcome variables in our model. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Social Media Research in Public Relations, 1998 – 2018: Status and Future Directions • Ran Ju; Sandra Braun; Dat Huynh; Sarah McCaffrey • This study examined the development of social media PR research by analyzing 189 articles published between 2008 and 2018 from two leading PR academic journals through quantitative and qualitative content analysis. Quantitative findings suggested a steady increase in scholarly attention on this topic, an international development of social media research, and a shift of perspectives used to examine this topic. Qualitative findings revealed themes on prominent results and practical implications from the examined articles.

A Bibliometric Analysis of Global Public Relations as A Scholarly Field • Eyun-Jung Ki, University of Alabama; Yorgo Pasadeos, University of Alabama; Tugce Ertem-Eray, University of Oregon • This bibliometric study aims to evaluate the state of the art in the global public relations literature since its inception to 2017. A total of 24,922 citations from 442 articles permit us to conclude that the growth and popularity of global public relations is steady in the scholarship. The literature is still in the process of interdisciplinary borrowing. The topics of interest in the global public relations research can be generally categorized into three groups: culture or cultural dimensions, application of public relations theory or perspective to another country, and public diplomacy.

The Role of Social Distance, Crisis Severity, and Crisis Response Strategy in Crisis Communication: A Construal Level Perspective • Jeesun Kim, Incheon National University; HyunJee Oh; Chang-Dae Ham, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign • Despite growing research on public attributions of crisis responsibility, relatively little is known about the role of perceived social distance to organizations along with crisis severity and crisis response strategies. Applying Construal Level Theory (CLT) to the context of crisis communication, we examine the role of construal fit between social distance, crisis severity, and crisis response strategy in determining crisis responsibility and negative word-of-mouth (WOM) intention. A test of 2 (social distance: close vs. distant) x 2 (crisis response strategy: defensive vs. accommodating) x 2 (crisis severity: low vs. high) between-subjects experiment finds three two-way interaction effects: 1) between social distance and crisis response strategy; 2) between social distance and crisis severity; and 3) crisis response strategy and crisis severity on negative WOM. No interaction effect was found on crisis responsibility, however. The psychological mechanism based on social distance plays a role in drawing different public reactions to crisis response strategies and different levels of severity. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Activating constructive employee behavioral responses in crisis situations: Examining the effects of pre-crisis internal reputation and crisis communication strategies on constructive and destructive employee voice behaviors • Young Kim, Marquette University; Hyunji Lim, Marquette University • This study explores how organizational management can promote employee voice behaviors, as positive behavioral reactions with constructive ideas, in responding to organizational crisis. Using an experimental study (N=640) among full-time employees in the United States, the study found that pre-crisis internal reputation and crisis communication strategies—accommodative response and stealing thunder—positively and directly affected constructive employee voice behaviors in a crisis situation. Furthermore, the study revealed how post-crisis internal reputation mediates the influences of pre-crisis internal reputation and stealing thunder on positive/constructive and negative/destructive employee voice behaviors.

An Ecological View and A Multi-Level Analysis of Public Organizations’ Communication Behaviors on Social Media • Chih-Hui Lai, National Chiao Tung U; Rebecca Yu, National Chiao Tung University • This study applies an ecological view and a multi-level analysis to unpack public organizations’ communication on social media as embedded in the broader environment. Through manual and automated content analysis of 617 public organizations’ one-year Facebook posts in Taiwan, the data reveal the unique patterns of public organizations’ social media communication as manifested in both message function and message content, as well as the association between these two, after controlling for time and organizational influence.

Crisis Response Strategy Differences: U.S. vs South Korea • Soehyeon Lee; Moon Lee, University of Florida • In this study, we compared the types of crisis response strategies in terms of crisis types utilized in two different countries (i.e., the USA and South Korea) and tested the applicability of a major theoretical approach, Situational Crisis Theory, by analyzing 222 actual crisis cases (USA: n = 114; KOR: n = 108) happened during the last decade (from January 2009 to March 2018). Rebuilding strategy was the most often used strategy, regardless of countries. We also found differences between these two countries in terms of response strategies/specifics in organizations’ responses to crises. Theoretical and practical implications are further discussed in this study.

Toward an Integrated Model of Employees’ Communicative Behaviors on Social Media: Individual and Organizational Determinants • Yeunjae Lee; Katie Kim • To advance theoretical understanding of employees’ communicative behaviors on social media, this study proposes and tests an integrative model that incorporates individual and organizational antecedents. The model specifically examines the collective impacts of the social media-related behavioral motivations of individuals and the quality of organization-employee relationship (OER) on their positive and negative information sharing intentions on personal social networking sites and anonymous social media. The results of an online survey with full-time employees in the U.S. showed that OER significantly increases employees’ positive behavioral intentions and social media-related motivations. Further, OER significantly decreases employees’ negative information sharing intentions on anonymous websites but not on their own social media. Considerable and distinct effects of individuals’ positive (i.e., help organization, self-enhancement, enjoyment) and negative (i.e., vent negative feelings, warn others) behavioral motivations on social media are also found. Theoretical and practical implications for public relations and employee behaviors are discussed.

The Value of Public Relations in Enhancing Employees’ Health Information Disclosure Intentions in the Workplace • Jo-Yun Li, University of Miami; Yeunjae Lee • Various mechanisms and processes have been established that lead to employees’ decisions to disclose their health information in the workplace. The existing literature has emphasized individuals’ stigma, privacy, or discrimination but often overlooked the influence of organizations’ internal communication effort. This study focused on organizations’ public relations practices and explored the antecedents of employees’ health-related perceptions, communicative behaviors, and intentions to disclose their health information in the workplace. In particular, this study tested the impact of symmetrical internal communication and the quality of organization–employee relationship (OER) on employees’ perceived risks and benefits of information disclosure and their communication strategies for their health information. The results of an online survey showed that a positive OER increased the employees’ perceived benefits and direct communication behaviors within an organization. In addition, the OER quality decreased the employees’ perceived risks for disclosing their health information to their supervisors but not to their colleagues. Results also found the varying impact of employees’ perceptions and communication strategies on their intention to disclose their physical and mental health problems. Theoretical and practical implications for public relations and health communication were discussed in this study.

Being honest in crisis communication: Implications of pre-crisis engagement and stealing thunder • SANG LEE, 1961; Jiyoung Lee, WVU • This research reports on the buffering effects of two proactive crisis communication strategies: pre-crisis engagement and stealing thunder, which is an organization’s voluntary revelation of crisis information when facing a crisis. The results showed that the effectiveness of stealing thunder was moderated by the pre-crisis engagement with stakeholder petitions such that the effects of stealing thunder were only observed when the organization engaged with stakeholder complaints in the pre-crisis stage. A moderated parallel mediation model explored the underlying mechanism in which crisis responsibility and crisis severity parallelly mediated the interaction effects between pre-crisis engagement and stealing thunder.

Empowered giving: Understanding the role of psychosocial empowerment in charitable giving behavior to mental health organizations • Taylor Jing Wen, University of South Carolina; Jo-Yun Li, University of Miami • Although mental illness constitutes a large part of the burden of disease, it is one of the least funded diseases in the United States. Guided by the theoretical frameworks of giving behaviors and psychological empowerment, this study seeks to understand the effects of individual characteristics (i.e., altruistic personality traits) and contextual factors (i.e., social capital) on individuals’ cognitions of psychological empowerment and individuals’ subsequent donation behaviors. A survey of 604 participants found that individuals’ beliefs about the meanings and impacts of their charitable giving (i.e., meaning and impact) and the control they have over their ability to make such donations (i.e., competence) are the specific dimensions that reinforce the effects of altruism and social capital on donation intentions. The incorporation of different cognitions of psychological empowerment may help mental health organizations and communication practitioners to address the issue of the relative lack of monetary contributions from the public. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Information vetting as a key component in social-mediated crisis communication: An exploratory study • Xuerong Lu, University of Georgia; Yan Jin; Taeyeon Kim • In order to understand publics’ information consumption behavior in current media environment, this study addresses how and why individuals vet information (or not) in crisis situations. Grounded in dual-process model and meta-cognition theory, an initial conceptual framework of crisis information vetting was outlined. An exploratory study, including four focus groups and 13 in-depth interviews, was conducted to investigate: 1) indicators of information vetting behavior according to participants’ self-reported experience; and 2) what motivate and what prohibit participants from engaging themselves emotionally and cognitively in the process of crisis information vetting. Our qualitative data provided evidence for a two-step process of crisis information vetting, namely, primary vetting and secondary vetting. A total of 48 vetting behavior indicators were further rendered, which serve as a strong content base for future scale development and further conceptual model refinement.

Corporate vanguards: The contemporary role of organization altruism • Lincoln Lu, University of Florida; Kalyca Lynn Becktel, University of Florida; Myiah Hutchens, University of Florida • Dramatic influx of brands embracing diplomatic action as part of their strategic marketing and public relations tactics is muddying the definition of corporate social responsibility. This study utilizes the recent Central American migrant caravan as the context to examine participants’ reactions to corporate philanthropy. A 2×3 experimental design was utilized with an online sample. Organizations adopting explicit positions did not increase brand-public relationship, but perceived altruism was increased for all participants regardless of political identity.

The strive for legitimacy? Corporate diplomacy practices of European MNEs in the UAE • Sarah Marschlich; Diana Ingenhoff • Applying a neo-institutional public relations approach, the purpose of this study is to assess to what extent corporate diplomacy in the United Arab Emirates is used as a legitimation strategy. For this, we conducted in-depth interviews with public relations executives (N=20). Our findings imply that companies engage in corporate diplomacy to align with governmental social expectations in their host country, which can contribute to the companies’ moral legitimacy.

A Different Kind of Public Sector Practice: Local Law Enforcement Public Relations • Lindsay McCluskey, SUNY Oswego • Researchers have distinguished between public and private sector public relations, identifying critical environmental factors that influence public relations practices and ultimately organization-public relationships (Horsley, et al., 2010; Liu & Horsley, 2007; Liu & Levenshus, 2010; Liu et al., 2010; Liu et al., 2012). Taking these variables into consideration, scholars created (Liu & Horsley, 2007) and refined (Horsley et al., 2010; Liu et al., 2012) the Government Communication Decision Wheel, a theoretical model. The GCDW studies did not focus on understanding practices and characteristics associated with specific segments of the profession; therefore, they did not account for variables that may be specific to departments or segments within levels of government. Horsley et al. (2010) and Liu et al. (2012) acknowledged such limitations to their research. This study adds to the theoretical understanding surrounding the GCDW by addressing some of the more “nuanced differences” (Liu et al., 2012, p. 237) associated with a segment of public relations practice that shares “similar missions or tasks” – local law enforcement public relations (Horsley et al., 2010, p. 288). This work is based on 20 interviews with local law enforcement public relations personnel across the United States. Several prominent themes emerged regarding the perceived differences associated with local law enforcement public relations. These include demand and being “24/7;” the level of attention paid to, the level of interest in, and the level of media scrutiny associated with local law enforcement; and the inherent nature and complexity of law enforcement interactions and information.

Communication Strategies to Drive Internal Social Media Usage and Relationship Cultivation with Employees • Rita Men; Julie O’Neil, Texas Christian University; Michele Ewing • This study examined the administrative and communication strategies used by organizations to encourage employee participation on internal social media and analyzed whether employees’ internal social media usage engenders increased transparency and relational outcomes. Specifically, researchers proposed and tested a conceptual model that links organizational communication strategies (i.e., strategic information dissemination, two-way symmetrical communication), employee internal social media usage, perceived organizational transparency, and employee-organization relationships. Through an online survey of 1,150 employees from various organizations in the United States that had adopted internal social media, results showed that strategic information dissemination and social-mediated, two-way symmetrical communication both encouraged employees’ use of internal social media, which in turn, led to employees’ perception of organizational transparency and quality relationship outcomes with the organization. The study also found that organizations primarily use internal social media to post information about news and events in order to keep employees informed and updated. Companies most often utilized Facebook to communicate with employees. While majority companies had a social media policy in place, over half of them did not provide social media training. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Exploring the Role of Stakeholder Engagement in Enhancing Resilience in Emergency Communication: A Qualitative Study • Lan Ni, University of Houston; Weidong Shi, University of Houston • This paper explores the role and mechanism of stakeholder engagement in addressing challenges and enhancing resilience in emergency communication. Through qualitative interviews with 16 emergency managers, this study identified four levels of challenges in enhancing resilience (information challenges, expectation challenges, perception challenges, and personnel challenges). Findings also revealed how key stakeholder engagement processes such as stakeholder identification and relationship management can address these challenges and better activate and empower stakeholders to be partners.

A Human Touch and Content Matter for Consumer Engagement • Hyojung Park, Louisiana State University; Yangzhi Jiang, Louisiana State University • This study explores the roles of consumer motivations and brand communication in increasing consumer engagement with a brand on social media. Data from a survey of a quota sample of 691 U.S. consumers indicate that the motivations of entertainment and remuneration are positively associated with consuming and contributing to brand content on social media. In addition, the motive of obtaining information prompts people to consume brand content (e.g., reading a brand’s posts or watching videos), while the motivation for self-expression leads to contributing activities (e.g., conversing on a brand’s account and uploading videos). After controlling for these motivations, brand communication strategy (such as content and tone) appears to influence consumers’ brand-related activities on social media, which subsequently results in consumer intentions in favor of the brand.

Cultivating #Cupfusion: An Exploration of the Unintended Consequences of Communication in a Public Relations Campaign • Timothy Penn, Towson University • This case study is an exploration into the application of Merton’s (1936) typology of unanticipated consequences of purposeful social actions to a public relations campaign. Merton used scientific analysis to understand factors leading to unintended consequences, rather than attributing them to chance or fate. Using qualitative methods,including in-depth interviews, organization-provided document analysis, and content analysis of the Reese’s brand Facebook page, this study found four of his five factors, including lack of foreknowledge, habit, myopia, and values, have proved applicable to the 2016 Reese’s #Cupfusion campaign. Merton’s typology and the idea of unintended consequences has application for public relations theory and practice. The concept of lack of foreknowledge has implications for both chaos and complexity theory, and how they can be applied to unintended consequences and crisis. This research also supports and adds to social media and strategic campaign planning practice, by providing a lens for the analysis and execution of both pre-implementation and evaluation of public relations campaigns.

Activating Audiences: Using STOPS to Predict Engagement with Issues of Women’s Mass Incarceration • Geah Pressgrove; Crisobal Barra, Universidad de Chile; Melissa Janoske, University of Memphis • Rates of women’s incarceration in the United States are growing at an alarming rate leading to a host of negative economic and familial outcomes. Despite this, little attention has been given to the topic and few people know the extent of the issue. Employing STOPS, this study seeks to understand the confluence of factors that might lead to individuals engaging in prosocial action. Qualitative and quantitative findings indicate that both situational motivation and referent criterion predict active communication, however only situational motivation predicts passive communication. Further, passive communicative action is the best predictor of common support behaviors including donating money, volunteering time and participating in policy advocacy. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Bollywood Diplomacy: A critical Analysis of the Role of Hindi Film Industry in International Public Relations • Mian Asim, Zayed University; Azmat Rasul, Florida State University; Muhammad Ehab Rasul • Through the lens of Propaganda Model, this article explores the relationship between the Hindi film industry, Bollywood, and the international public relations strategies devised by the Indian government during the last couple of decades. After receiving the industry status in 1998, Bollywood carefully filtered movie content due to its dependence on the Indian government for tax-relief, foreign direct investment, soft loans from the banking sector, and the government’s ability to produce flak. We focused on flak as a content filter and argued that Bollywood produced films promoting Indian government’s international public relations agenda and the movie-makers followed the official policy for fear of flak from the government. We found that Bollywood, being one of the most significant culture industries in the world, worked closely with the government and, in return, harvested tangible economic benefits (e.g., tax cuts and soft loans) from the Indian government.

Explicating Alumni Engagement: When Conversational Voice Matters More than Openness and Assurances of Legitimacy • Hongmei Shen, San Diego State University; Bey-Ling Sha, San Diego State University • The question of how organizations engage with their stakeholders has seen increasing investigation in recent years, with public relations researchers examining the concept of engagement from cognitive, affective, and behavioral perspectives (e.g., Dhanesh, 2017; Jelen-Sanchez, 2017). This study examined the engagement of university alumni with their alma mater, with data collected from qualitative interviews, a pilot survey, and a main survey. Results identified three dimensions of alumni engagement: instrumental, communicative and affective, and confirmatory factor analysis supported this three-dimensional structure. Structural equation modeling showed that, while conversational voice was conducive to alumni engagement, openness and assurances of legitimacy did not exert any significant impacts. The findings offer concrete ways in which universities can better engage with alumni, as well as conceptual and methodological ways in which public relations scholars might continue to refine the notion of engagement between organizations and their publics.

The Interplay Between Post-Crisis Response Strategy and Pre-Crisis Corporate Associations • Weiting Tao, University of Miami; Baobao Song, Virginia Commonwealth University • How should a company respond to a crisis related to its social responsibility (CSR) by capitalizing on consumers’ existing corporate associations? To answer this question, this study examined the interaction between consumers’ pre-crisis associations with a company and post-crisis response strategies. Results of an experiment render support for the predicted interaction effect. Additionally, results show in dealing with a CSR crisis, a CSR-related response works better than a response that stresses the company’s product expertise.

A Qualitative Study of the Perceptions of Physically Disabled Public Relations Practitioners • Amanda Sebesta, University of Houston; Jennifer Vardeman, University of Houston • This paper explores the perceptions of physically disabled practitioners in the public relations field. Literature about diversity in public relations, workplace discrimination, and feminist theory of disability framed this study. A qualitative study was conducted using open-ended interview questions, talking with practitioners that have a range of disabilities–including wheelchair-bound, amputee and dwarfism. Themes emerged according to structural factors contributing to a limited inclusivity of disabled practitioners in the field, negotiations of power within disability by practitioners, and complicated representation of disabled practitioners. Theoretical and practical implications are presented.

The overlooked public: The role of citizens in countries hosting mega-events • Kelly Vibber; Alessandro Lovari, Università degli studi di Cagliari • This research expands the work that has been done around nation branding and the impact of hosting mega-events (e.g., diplomacy, national reputation, soft power). Previous work has focused primarily on the ways in which hosting mega-events builds, improves or expands the perception foreign and external publics have of the hosting country and external relations. This research instead focuses inward and aims to answer questions about how hosting mega-events is perceived by citizens of the hosting country, how they view their role in interacting with foreign visitors (e.g., person-to-person or sociological diplomacy) and to what extent they communicate in support of, or against, their country’s efforts. A convenience sample of 426 Italian citizens completed the survey. Results indicate that citizens who placed high importance on their interactions with foreigners reported significantly higher scores on attitudes toward Italy hosting the World Exposition, positive megaphoning behaviors about Italy hosting the Expo and perceived themselves as ambassadors during the Expo. The findings highlight the importance of governments engaging with citizens when taking on mega-events. This intentional communication and relationship management with citizens is critical to internal relations during the mega-event, and has the potential to magnify the positive impact of hosting mega-events.

Bridging the Gap between Relationships and Situations: Exploring the Antecedents and Outcomes of Organization-Employee Relationships • Yuan Wang, City University of Hong Kong • Grounded in the frameworks of the relationship management theory and the situational theory of publics, this study examined the effects of employees’ perceived symmetrical and transparent communication on their perceived relationships with their organization and how the relationships influenced employees’ situational perceptions through a national survey of 449 employees working in large organizations in the U.S. This study found that transparent and symmetrical communication were significant predictors of organization-employee relationships (OERs). Another finding was that employees’ perceived symmetrical communication with their organization positively influenced their transparent communication. Furthermore, OERs facilitated employees’ problem recognition and level of involvement as well as weakened their constraint recognition. The theoretical and practical implications of this study were also discussed.

Volunteer motivation fulfillment: The antecedents and outcomes • Anli Xiao; Virginia Harrison; Christen Buckley • The questions of how nonprofit organizations can best fulfill people’s motivations to volunteer and how volunteers’ motivation fulfillment influences people’s supportive intentions to volunteer remain unclear. This study argues that different status of volunteer motivation fulfillment may have different implications on their future supportive intentions. This online survey found that organizations can enhance volunteers’ degree of volunteer motivation fulfillment through effective stewardship strategies. Interesting results involving the effect of volunteer motivation fulfillment were evidenced by data analysis. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

How CEO Disclosure and Gender Affect Perceived CEO Attributes, Relationship Investment, and Engagement Intention • April Yue, University of Florida; Yoo Jin Chung; Amanda Bradshaw; Tom Kelleher, University of Florida; Mary Ann Ferguson • How does a CEO’s social media content disclosure on Twitter affect CEO attributes, relationship investment, and public engagement, and to what extent does the CEO’s gender (male vs. female) moderate how publics evaluate content disclosures? A 2 (CEO gender: male vs. female) X 4 (level of disclosure: 100% corporate vs. 70% corporate and 30% personal vs. 30% corporate and 70% personal vs. 100% personal disclosure) between-subject experimental design was used to address these questions. A random sample of 465 adult participants in the United States was selected. Results showed that posts that featured high personal disclosure did not increase the perceived likability or competence of the CEO. Neither did CEO gender impact these outcomes. However, CEO professional disclosure proved to be an effective means to gain high levels of perceived relationship investment from publics. Finally, publics may hold implicit gender bias when revealing cognitive (i.e., perceived relationship investment) and behavioral evaluation (i.e., engagement intention) toward a female CEO.

Examining the Effects of Internal Communications and Emotional Culture on Employees’ Organizational Identification • April Yue, University of Florida; Rita Men; Mary Ann Ferguson • As one of the first empirical studies investigating the emerging role of positive emotional culture within organizations, we aim to understand how a symmetrical internal communication system and leaders’ use of motivating language contribute to fostering a positive emotional culture featured by joy, companionate love, pride, and gratitude. Furthermore, we examined the linkage between a positive emotional culture and employees’ organizational identification. Through a quantitative survey with 482 full-time employees in the U.S., we found that both symmetrical internal communication and leaders’ use of motivating language induced the perception of a positive emotional culture, which in turn enhanced employees’ organizational identification. Theoretically, the study showcased the value of strategic internal communications at both the leader’s and organizational levels in fostering positive organizational outcomes and added to the body of knowledge on why emotional culture matters. From a pragmatic point of view, the study findings offered strategic insights into how organizations and leaders should communicate to create a benign cultural environment filled with positive emotions and boost employees’ sense of belonging in the organization.

Improve employee-organization relationships (EOR) and workplace performance through CSR: Insights from an electric and energy company in China • Yafei Zhang; Chuqing Dong • This study examined the impact of employee perceived corporate social responsibility (CSR) on their employee-organization identification (EOI), corporate ability (CA), employee-organization relationships (EOR), and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). Results, based on a survey (N = 248) with employees from a large, private company in the electric and energy industry in China, revealed that employee perceptions of CSR were positively associated with EOI, CA, EOR, and OCB. In addition, there was a positive spillover effect between CSR and CA. Findings also indicated the positive associations between CA and EOR, and EOI and OCB. This study contributes to the scant research on employee-centered CSR and suggests CSR as an effective strategy to cultivate relationships with employees and to increase their job performance in the Chinese context.

Teaching

Demystifying Data: A Constructivist Approach to Teaching Statistical Concepts Using SPSS • Lauren Bayliss, Georgia Southern University • To improve public relations students’ self-efficacy and knowledge of statistics, two hands-on activities were created. One activity used data simulation in the software program SPSS, and the other used printed statistical outputs. Both activities were introduced in a flipped-classroom format as part of a crossover experimental design. The results indicate that knowledge of statistics increased through both activities. However, the activity using data simulation in SPSS led to significantly higher self-efficacy for learning statistics.

Cut Me Some Slack: Simulation, Experiential Learning, and Slack Bots to Teach Crisis Communication • Julia Daisy Fraustino, West Virginia University; Amanda Kennedy, St. Mary’s University • This research explores using the newly popular online collaboration hub Slack (and Slack bots) for in-class crisis simulation. Qualitative direct observation of two simulations—(1) a workshop and simulation shadow experience with a state National Guard and (2) a crisis communication class culminating in simulation—along with textual analyses of simulation responses and student reflections probe findings. This study partially replicates and expands previous simulation research to generate new insights and options for PR instruction based in experiential learning theory.

Media Literacy among Public Relations Students: An Analysis of Future PR Professionals in the Post-Truth Era • Jami Fullerton, Oklahoma State University; Lori McKinnon; Alice Kendrick • This study assessed various aspects of media literacy among a national sample of US public relations students. Definitions of media literacy transcended basic interpretation of messages and extended to higher-level concepts such as understanding and how media organizations operate. PR students considered themselves to be fairly media literate, and had higher estimates of their own media literacy than a sample of advertising students in a previous study. Implications for public relations educators are discussed.

Curriculum Rebuilding in Public Relations: A Multi Managerial-Level Analysis of PR Practitioners’ Expectations of Graduates • Arunima Krishna, Boston University; Donald Wright, Boston University; Raymond Kotcher, Boston University • This manuscript reports on a survey of practicing public relations practitioners about the professional attributes and job skills necessary for those who intend to enter the public relations field. Analyses compared differences and similarities between senior-level, mid-level and entry-level practitioners. Results indicate that writing, listening, and creativity are the three most significant skills aspiring public relations people should have followed by creative thinking, the ability to deal with an online reputation crisis, the ability to communicate effectively in today’s environment of disinformation, and the ability to build a crisis response plan. Results found statistically significant differences across senior management, middle management, and junior level respondents on items measuring these skills and attributes: possessing business acumen, creativity, research/measurement skills, new technologies, digital story telling, and how to best interact with public relations firms.

Creating Career Confidence: Fostering Professional Self-Efficacy Through Student-Run Agencies and Integrative Learning • Jeffrey Ranta, Coastal Carolina University/Teal Nation Communications; Debbie Davis, Texas Tech University; Andrea Bergstrom, Coastal Carolina University • This study investigates integrative learning linkages provided through student-run agencies (SRAs) and fostering professional self-efficacy (confidence). Based on survey results of 182 SRA student participants, this research measured professional self-efficacy in performing 23 communication tasks and measures attributions awarded by respondents to student-run agency experiences in developing that confidence. Results suggest changes to pedagogy and offers evidence of SRA effectiveness in preparing graduates for responsibilities in public relations, advertising, integrated and strategic communication.

Student

A Concept Explication of Stance: The Leading Strategy to an Organization’s Crisis Response • Courtney D. Boman, University of Missouri School of Journalism • The stance, or series of stances, an organization takes following a crisis encapsulates its thinking and influences its response strategies. Following requirements outlined by McLeod and Pan, this paper explicates stance as a critical and deliberate position an organization takes that is influenced by internal and external variables, that leads to response strategies. This conceptualization can lead to a vanguard of a third generation of theory development for contingency theory of strategic conflict management.

Gun Control Debate on Twitter: Social Media Advocacy & Advocacy Communication • Minhee Choi, University of South Carolina • This study explores agenda setting, message framing, and the concepts of social media advocacy and mobilizing information through content analysis of tweets from competing pro-gun and gun control advocacy organizations, the NRA and Moms Demand Action. Findings revealed that the two organizations actively set the gun rights and gun control agenda through issue framing. Tweets from both organizations were more likely to frame the cause and solution as episodic frames. Mentions of mobilizing information were actively used by both organizations. However, the NRA showed more active communication with their followers through use of hashtags, replies, retweets, and likes.

ICTs Intrusion: The Effects of Using Communication Technology after Hours on Employees’ Counterproductive Work Behaviors • Katie Kim, University of Oklahoma • The integration of information and communication technologies (ICTs) at the workplace has brought a new internal communication environment in the organization. In particular, ICTs enabled internal communication to be extended beyond the workplace and after work hours, which led to an intrusion of work into employees’ private domains. The study examines the impact of ICTs intrusion on employees’ counterproductive work behaviors (CWB) in the context of internal communication management. The results showed that the extent of ICTs intrusion is positively associated with CWB toward the organization’s members. Moreover, the effects of ICTs intrusion on CWB are accentuated when individuals perceive higher stress of being always connected to internal members during non-work hours. The findings of the study suggest practical guidance to organizational managers and public relations professionals on how ICTs should be utilized as an effective internal communication tool to promote a healthy and productive workforce.

Why Do Publics Engage in Negative Communication Behavior on Social Media? • Bitt Moon, Indiana University Bloomington; Eugene Kim, The Media School at the Indiana University, Bloomington • This study explored how consumer publics participate in negative communication behavior (NCB): Brand-related information seeking and sharing on social media. We examined the effects of cognitive, relational, and emotional drivers on NCB through an online survey of 475 participants. The results showed that cognitive factors -brand incompetence and irresponsibility- affect relational distrust and brand hate, which in turn lead to NCB. The findings indicated the significant role of brand hate in consumer publics‘ NCB.

Exploring the Social Networks of Environmental Nonprofit Organizations and Public Reactions to Facebook Postings Contingent on Message Types • Jeyoung Oh, University of Alabama; Bumsoo Kim, University of Alabama • Environmental nonprofit organizations (ENPOs) use social media to generate organization-level networks and distribute diverse informational and promotional messages to the public. However, little is known about how they build organization-level networks in social media and what types of environmental messages they mainly provide. To fill these gaps, this study explores 1) how ENPOs are likely to have organization-level networks and 2) what types of environmental messages they have distributed and publics’ reactions to them. To answer these research questions, a quantitative content analysis was conducted. The results showed that ENPOs actively maintain networks with 1) other types of nonprofit organizations, 2) community-building organizations, and 3) various news media companies or websites. Regarding the second research question, the results showed that when ENPOs provide accurate messages with informational context, social media users are more likely to respond to the message. Furthermore, when they employ human voice with informational context, social media users tend to react more to the messages.

Examining the influence of personal discussion network on consumer engagement behavior: An egocentric network study • Yan Qu, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • Consumer engagement has been a central component in corporations’ relationship management with consumers. This study examines the antecedents of consumer online behavioral engagement through an egocentric network analysis approach. Specifically, how structural and compositional traits of consumers’ brand discussion networks influence their engagement behavior online were explored. Data from an online survey indicated that the size, heterogeneity, and density of personal discussion network were associated with certain engagement behaviors. Findings and implications are discussed.

Is the Organization Ever the Victim? Reassessing Crisis Responsibility • Erika Schneider, University of Missouri-Columbia • This research investigates the theoretical concept of crisis responsibility to realign its effectiveness in crisis communication. The revision, proposing crisis responsibility as the failure to prevent a risk, illustrates that crisis responsibility is heavily weighted on organizational deficiencies. Strategies that deny responsibility are less effective for the organization because stakeholder perceptions emphasize the preventable nature of all crises. Implications of this concept explication includes strengthening tools for scholars to measure and evaluate crisis response strategies.

Relative efficacy of differentiation and bolstering in mitigating the negative spillover effect from a rival brand’s product-harm crisis: A study of market leader and market challenger • Jun Zhang, Newhouse School of Syracuse University • In light of a brand’s recall crisis, rival brands can mitigate the negative spillover effect by distancing themselves from the brand in crisis. This experimental research examines the relative efficacy of a rival brand’s using either bolstering or differentiation strategy in mitigating the negative spillover effect. Results showed that bolstering by a market leader and differentiation by a market challenger had an indirect effect on protecting brand attitude and purchase intent through heightened message evaluations.

< 2019 Abstracts

Newspaper and Online News 2019 Abstracts

Open Competition

Embracing the visual, verbal and viral media: How post-millennial consumption habits are reshaping the news • Chris Gentilviso, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Deb Aikat, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • The post-millennial or Generation Z constitutes people born in 1997 or after. This study theorizes how news consumption habits of the post-millennial generation are reshaping the news. Based on a 2019 meta-analytical research review of 16 key studies (published between 2017 and 2019) of media consumption habits of post-millennials, this research study delineates news consumption habits of post-millennials. It theorizes how this new generation of media users are embracing the visual, verbal and viral media and, in turn, reshaping news content. The propensity of the post-millennials to participate in the news cycle shapes their rapidly-changing preferences and usage patterns

Written in code: Exploring the negative effects of acronyms and abbreviations in news headlines • Alyssa Appelman, Northern Kentucky University • Through an experiment (N = 131), this study looks at whether the negative effects of acronyms and abbreviations in news articles are based on their presence or their difficulty. In all, it finds support for a presence/absence effect rather than a difficulty/ease effect. Rather than explaining acronyms and abbreviations in news articles, this suggests that journalists should strive to avoid such constructions altogether.

Journalistic compatibility: How social networking sites fit with users’ preferences for consuming hard, soft news • Steve Bien-Aime, Northern Kentucky University; Mu Wu, California State University, Los Angeles • Through a MTurk survey, this study explored whether users perceived Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat as compatible with consuming hard and soft news on those platforms. Participants reported Twitter and Facebook as the most compatible social networking sites in terms of consuming hard and soft news. Additionally, heightened perceived compatibility was significantly positively associated with individuals’ future intentions to use a SNS for news consumption.

(MacDougall Student Paper Award) Newspaper editors’ interactions with journalistic serendipity • Matt Bird-Meyer, University of Missouri • This mixed-methods study explores the information behavior of newspaper reporters regarding their serendipitous encounters with information that lead to story ideas, and how newspaper editors affect their ability to pursue such encountered ideas. As an interdisciplinary examination in human information behavior and journalism studies, behaviors and routines emerged that encouraged and potentially limited certain behaviors and routines. The findings also identify behaviors wherein newspaper editors match reporters with certain traits to certain story assignments.

Misrepresentation of cosmetic and reconstructive surgery in the American and French press • Sandrine Boudana, Tel Aviv; David Boudana • Research on media representation of plastic surgery has focused on American television and magazines to conclude that these media give a distortedly positive image of plastic surgery. Our study tests the hypothesis that, due to a more critically-orientated tradition, the print press rather emphasizes the negative aspects of plastic surgery and raises concerns about the procedures. Extending our study to a comparison with the French press, we also test the hypothesis that, given its polemicist tradition, the French press might be more critical than the American press towards plastic surgery. Content and framing analyses of 500 American and French newspaper articles show that the press is equally – although in different ways – critical of plastic surgery in both countries. However the comparison of media representations with statistical realities reveals that the negative judgment is not based on accurate representations of the realities of the profession.

Conservative News Nonprofits: Claiming legitimacy without transparency • Michael Buozis, Temple University; Magda Konieczna, Temple University • This study is the first examining and categorizing conservative news nonprofits. Using discourse analysis to explore their missions and other public statements, we note that many of these organizations draw on the legitimacy of mainstream journalism outlets while critiquing them, at once associating with and dissociating from them. This enables them to justify their engagement in the kind of activism normally found outside of journalism, even as they obscure their ideological orientations and funding sources.

Understanding the Nonprofit News Landscape in the United States • Monica Chadha, Arizona State University; Jesse Lecy, Arizona State University • This paper attempts to create a landscape of digital nonprofit news sites by examining their categorization as provided by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) through the use of National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities (NTEE). The study also used a content analysis to examine the sites’ mission statements and find out which ones emphasized public journalism, investigative journalism, or both, thus providing nuance to scholarship that until now, has highlighted both as nonprofit news offerings.

Framing of the 2016 Presidential Election of Donald Trump from the World Press • Yu-li Chang, Bethel University • The ascent of Trump as the president of the United States after the 2016 election offered an excellent opportunity to look into how the world press opined on this surprising outcome. This study examined the editorials and columns from the English-language world press on the moral judgment frame, that is, the lessons learned from Trump’s election and the future prospects of the Trump presidency. Mixed methods were chosen as the tool for data analysis – a quantitative content analysis followed by a qualitative narrative analysis to dig deeper into nuances in the thematic frames generated from the content analysis. The findings showed that the world opinion framed Trump’s election more unfavorably than favorably.  This study discovered a central narrative relating to the world’s concerns over Trump’s ability to lead the world to solve its pressing challenges and to do so on moral and cultural grounds.  World opinion framed Trump’s unpredictable personality and policy ignorance as the largest sources of uncertainty, horror, cataclysm facing the world.  Trump was viewed not only being incapable of leading the world to solve its problems; he was portrayed as being capable of bringing catastrophe to the already uncertain and dangerous situation.  World opinion also predicted a degradation of the United States as a beacon of freedom, liberty and democracy because of the resurgent racism, bigotry, xenophobia, and misogyny manifested in Trump and his followers.

Do Students Know the Code?  How Coding is (and isn’t) Taught in Accredited Journalism Programs • Jim Foust; Katherine Bradshaw • A census of ACEJMC-accredited journalism programs reveals that less than a quarter require students to learn code. Despite industry desires for journalists with coding skills nearly 40 percent of the units offer no coding classes. Among programs that require code, most rely on a course or courses taught by full-time faculty in the accredited unit. About one third of units that do not require code currently have plans to add it in the future.

Who perpetuates “fake new” in China? Rumor diffusion on mainstream news websites, Weibo, and WeChat • Lei Guo, Boston University; Yiyan Zhang, Boston University • This study examined the diffusion of online rumors on mainstream news websites, Weibo, and WeChat—the three major media platforms for online news consumption in China. The results show that Weibo was most likely to advance rumors, while WeChat performed the best in refuting rumors. Additionally, mainstream news websites set the agenda of Weibo and WeChat in both advancing and refuting rumors. Within social media, governmental accounts took the leading agenda-setting role in refuting rumors.

Examining the Narratives of Syria: A Longitudinal Frame Analysis of the Syrian Conflict • Emily Burns, Texas State University; Michel Haigh, Texas State University • This study examined news coverage of the Syrian refugee crisis from 2011-2018. Specifically, it investigated how various mainstream news publications framed the Syrian refugee story, the overall tone of coverage, and shifts in coverage of the Syrian refugee crisis over time. Refugees were depicted positively. Tone of coverage became more positive over time, and the most common frames employed were the foreign government response frame and the conflict frame.

Political Polarization and Digital Discourse: Cross-National Analysis of Negativity in Facebook News Comments • Edda Humprecht; Lea Hellmueller • Negativity in news comments arguably leads to a polarization of public debates. We examine how commercialization, but also market-orientation and political leaning of media organizations explain negativity. The study content-analyzed comments on Facebook of six news organizations (N = 1800) in the US and Germany. We find that negative sentiments are particulary prevalent in the polarized information environment of the US. Moreover, hyper-partisan outlets in both countries provoke significantly higher levels of negativity.

Does Newspaper Presence in Household Affect Subscribers’ and Non-Subscribers’ Perceptions of Their Buying Behavior? A Mixed-Method Study • Anastasia Kononova; Esther Thorson, Michigan State University; Jef Richards; Kristen Lynch, Michigan State University • With the ascendancy of digital advertising, there have been only a handful of studies of the newspaper free-standing inserts (FSIs), also known as preprint, as an advertising medium. Given the threatened health of America’s newspapers, the value of FSIs as the primary source of revenue is critical. This paper looks at the impact on newspaper presence in subscribers’ and non-subscribers’ households on their self-reported buying behavior. Individuals from two segments: 1) subscribers to a local daily newspaper (N = 60) and 2) non-subscribers (N = 58) participated in a field study, where the newspaper was delivered to their households for 14 days and was put on hold for another 14 days. Each day, participants reported if they used the newspaper and if they bought anything. Subscribers were found to be older, wealthier, more educated, more likely retired, longer-term community residents, and greater comparison shoppers than non-subscribers. They reported more instances of buying behavior than non-subscribers. Paradoxically, participants who received the newspaper during the study reported fewer instances of buying behavior. Newspaper delivery was associated with increased instances of shopping for health and beauty products. Focus groups were conducted to explain the findings, and the implications were discussed using consumer socialization approach.

Newspaper coverage of Colorado’s 2016 End of Life Options Act • Kimberly Lauffer, Ball State University, Department of Journalism; Sean Baker, Department of Journalism, Central Michigan University; Natalee Seely, Ball State University • Since 2014, several states have introduced and passed legislation permitting aid in dying. In Colorado, Proposition 106, the End of Life Options Act, passed Nov. 8, 2016, with 65 percent of Coloradans approving the law. How newspapers cover contentious issues is important because these representations influence public opinion. This study found a relationship between item type and overall stance, as well as a difference in the content produced by journalists and laypersons or columnists.

Approach or Avoid? Emotional Sentiments and Reactions in News of Sexual Assault • Yu-Hao Lee, University of Florida; Mo Chen, University of Florida • We conducted a sentiment analysis on the news headlines and the social media descriptions of 2340 news articles on sexual assault accusations and #MeToo from October 2017 to February 2018. Based on the emotions-as-frames perspective and theories of political ideologies. We examined whether news organizations with more conservative users used more words that signaled anger, anxiety, and sex. Furthermore, we examined to what extent do the news sentiments of anger, anxiety, and sexual-framed messages predict social media engagement behaviors (like, share, comments) among mostly conservative or liberal users. The results showed that news organizations with more conservative users used more emotional sentiments in their headlines and descriptions. Moreover, anxiety sentiments were associated with less engagement while sexual sentiments were associated with more engagement among most-conservative users.

Drowning out the message: How online comments on news stories about Nike’s ad campaign contributed to polarization and gatekeeping • Jinhee Lee; Zulfia Zaher; Ed Simpson; Elina Erzikova • This study examined audience commentary on Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC’s YouTube and Facebook platforms associated with news stories on Nike’s selection of controversial former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick as spokesman for its 2018 campaign. The study, using the theory of gatekeeping as a starting point, sought evidence for a drowning effect, in which the audience strayed from the primary message of the journalism presented to it. A significant drowning effect was found, across platforms and outlets.

Understanding the Typology of Native Advertising on News Websites • You LI, Eastern Michigan U; Ye Wang • This study explored how 57 U.S. news websites integrated native advertising through placement locations and yet differentiated it from editorial content through disclosure languages and designs. The websites placed native ads in more than two locations on average. While 79% of websites met FTC’s disclosure guideline, only a quarter used maximum disclosure tactics. The publishers with more cultural capital (i.e., the number of Pulitzer awards) differentiated native advertising from editorial content to a greater extent.

News Media Credibility Ratings and Perceptions of Fake News Exposure among Internet Users in Five Countries • Justin Martin, Northwestern University in Qatar; Fouad Hassan, Northwestern University • This study examined media credibility ratings and perceptions of fake news exposure online among internet users in five Arab countries: Lebanon, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, and UAE (N=4,616). Perceptions of fake news exposure were not consistently associated with either ratings of news media credibility or news consumption; rather, respondents who said governments and the public should stop the spread of fake news online were reported coming across fake news online more often.

The Story Behind the Story: How Transparency About the Journalistic Process  Boosts Perceptions of News Outlet Credibility • Gina Masullo Chen, University of Texas at Austin; Alex Curry, The University of Texas at Austin; Kelsey Whipple, The University of Texas at Austin • This two-study package (Study 1: N = 753; Study 2: N = 599) sought to understand whether adding a transparency box that explains how journalists did a news story could improve perceptions of the credibility of a news outlet. Our findings from Study 2 demonstrated this box was effective in boosting perceptions of news outlet credibility when used with real news sites among the audience members for those sites.

Responding to Online Disagreement Comments: It’s Not What You Say, But How You Say It • Gina Masullo Chen, University of Texas at Austin; Marc Ziegele, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf; Martin Johannes Riedl, The University of Texas at Austin & Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society; Pablo Jost, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz; Teresa Naab, University of Augsburg • An experiment (N = 1,231) in Germany found that moderators responding to disagreement comments on a news site’s Facebook page should use high-person-centered (HPC) messages, which acknowledge people’s emotions, rather than low-person-centered (LPC) messages, which dismiss feelings. HPC messages improved attitudes toward the news site and loyalty to the site’s online community, regardless of whether the disagreement comments were civil, uncivil, or impolite. Improved attitudes toward the news site were heightened if journalists were moderating.

Mediating Transnational Movement: Indian News Media and the #MeToo Movement • Suman Mishra • This study explores the media coverage of the #MeToo movement in India. Using thematic analysis of news articles from six prominent Indian newspapers (The Hindustan Times, The Times of India, The Indian Express, The Telegraph, The Pioneer, and The Economic Times), the study reveals the unique way in which this transnational movement was discussed in the Indian context. Patriarchal conditioning, fear of retaliation and reputational harm, and lack of recourse through slow and unresponsive judiciary, were some prominent cultural themes in the coverage. In addition, there was a focus on the entertainment industry and its celebrities. This focus limits “Me Too” movement’s potential and resonance with the larger Indian public who are likely to see it as an elite Hollywood-Bollywood phenomenon. Further discussion is provided.

Guilt by association: How chum box advertising affects news readers’ perceptions • Logan Molyneux; Bartosz Wojdynski, University of Georgia • As content referral widgets and other forms of native advertising continue to be lucrative means of subsidizing journalism, critics and industry observers have derided these “chum boxes” as damaging to the user experience and the journalism they’re adjacent to. This study theorizes mechanisms behind this proposition and tests it in two controlled experiments. Results suggest that chum box ads damage message and source credibility in circumstances where readers are motivated and attentive.

Journalism Practice in a Digital Age: Utilization of Social Media in Online News • Mirjana Pantic, Pace University; Ivana Cvetkovic, University of New Mexico • This study employed the gatekeeping perspective to examine what practices 10 prominent U.S.-based news websites embrace when deriving content and sources from social media. A thorough content analysis of 180 online news shows that journalists primarily rely on institutional, official sources when utilizing social media in the news production process. Furthermore, journalists are most likely to employ written information from Twitter in online news and publish such information in entertainment and politics sections.

“Why the h**l is there a White House Correspondents’ Dinner?” Field Theory in Political Journalism • Gregory Perreault; Kellie Stanfield, Missouri School of Journalism; Shelby Luttman • This study aimed to analyze the shifting role conceptions of journalists in the field, primarily in reference to the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. Researchers conducted 32 phone interviews with political journalists from news outlets ranging from the Los Angeles Times to VICE. This study argues that the present format of the dinner presents a challenge to the journalistic field, one that political journalists have difficulty managing within their journalistic role.

Media Literacy to Rebuild Trust in Journalism: A Typology for a Changing News Audience • Sue Robinson, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Kelly Nelson, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Carlos Davalos, University of Wisconsin-Madison • Trust in all institutions has plummeted across the board, internationally – especially trust in the political institution that is the press. One popular solution to rebuilding trust calls on increased forms of media literacy. Using a series of 15 case studies involving initiatives around the globe to rebuild citizen trust in news media, this research explores the links between media literacy and relationships with information in a digital, populist age through both textual analysis of these projects’ materials as well as in-depth interviews with their founders and directors. It puts forth a more complex definition of media literacy, typologizes kinds of literacy (settling on civic consumption, amateur (co-)production (sharing), professional information production (newsrooms), and algorithms/technology), and reimagines who is responsible to become literate and to teach literacy. We find that the notion of “literacy” has application for not only schools, universities and adult citizens, but also for journalists and platforms themselves.

Border Patrol: The Rise and Role of Fact-Checkers and Their Challenge to Journalists’ Normative Boundaries • Jane B. Singer, City, University of London • Although most research to date has focused on leading U.S. fact-checkers, similar initiatives are springing up all over the world. This study draws on a globally disseminated questionnaire, plus interviews with fact-checkers on four continents, to examine how they describe their fundamental norms, understand their social role, and engage their audiences. A conceptual framework of journalistic boundary-setting helps guide exploration of the ways that fact-checkers see themselves in relation to legacy journalists.

Diffusion of Video Advertising on Community Newspaper Websites? • Burton Speakman, Kennesaw State University; Michael Clay Carey, Samford University • This study reviews diffusion of innovation at community media websites regarding the use of video and video advertising. Results suggest that video reached a point where a sizable number of community media outlets publish them online. Yet, video advertising lags behind in use. Furthermore, it appears that elements such as circulation and size of a media corporation have little influence in the development and use of video and video advertising on community media websites.

When do people share fake news online? The effect of social network size and homophily • Ruoyu Sun, University of Miami; Cong Li, University of Miami; Barbara Millet; Khudejah Ali; John Petit • “This study examined the impact of social network size and homophily on people’s intention to share news, especially fake news, on Facebook. Based on an experiment, it was found that perceived homophily with Facebook contacts was positively associated with news sharing intention. A significant three-way interaction effect between network size, homophily, and news type on news sharing intention was also discovered, and this effect was mediated by motivation to socialize with online contacts.

Enacted Journalism Takes the Stage: How Audiences  Respond to Reporting-Based Theater • Ori Tenenboim, The University of Texas at Austin; Natalie (Talia) Jomini Stroud, The University of Texas at Austin • From offering comment sections to hosting town hall meetings, news organizations have experimented with different ways of engaging audiences. This paper focuses on reporting-based live-theater performances followed by conversation. Drawing on surveys of audiences attending performances of three different plays (n=279) and in-depth interviews with 13 people involved in the plays, this paper shows that what we term “enacted journalism” can increase knowledge, boost efficacy, and influence what people think about the media’s role.

A New Kind of Journalistic Paradigm Repair: How U.S. News Outlets Rejected the Label “Enemy of the People” • Leslie-Jean Thornton, Arizona State University; Susan Keith, Rutgers University; Sue Robinson, University of Wisconsin-Madison • “In August 2018, more than 600 news organizations answered the Boston Globe’s call for a united editorial stand against more than two years of unprecedented attacks by the U.S. President. Qualitative analysis revealed movement beyond paradigm repair into paradigm justification through oppositional identity markers, affinity reminders, and validity claims. This represents a more substantial defense of the foundational idea that a press is necessary for a vibrant democracy.

Here’s what to know about clickbait: Effects of image, headline and editing on audience attitudes • Fred Vultee, Wayne State University; Scott Burgess; Darryl Frazier, Wayne State University; Kelsey Husnick, Wayne State University • “This quantitative study examines responses to three features of news practice: headline style, selection of illustrations and level of processing applied to the text. The strongest influence on perceptions of quality or credibility come from editing, and the presence of editing also influences whether traditional or clickbait headlines are associated with better memory for story details. News use, Internet use, news source and field of study also influence outcomes.

Whistleblowing, leaking, or both? A text-mining analysis of definitional discrepancies in major metro newspapers • Stephenson Waters • Using a framing-centered text-mining analysis, the purpose of this study was to examine the content of 2,100 news stories from major metro daily newspapers to uncover if and how the connotations surrounding whistleblowing and leaking acts may vary depending on a journalist’s word choice. Considering the risks whistleblowers take when disclosing information to the news media, the question of how they are defined by journalists is consequential. Crucial to the success of a whistleblower’s intention of actionable change or remedy of misdeeds is the public dissemination of their claims and evidence, so media coverage matters. Initial results found journalists overall tend to frame whistleblowers and leakers in objective language in the majority of their coverage of these subjects. More subjective terminology was infrequent, considering the vast number of stories in the overall data set; however, the occurrences of subjective language is still instructive, as it showed preliminary results that leakers and leaking are framed negatively and with more skepticism than whistleblowers and whistleblowing. Limitations and directions for future research are discussed.

Report for America, report about communities: local news capacity and community trust • Andrea Wenzel, Temple University; Sam Ford, Tow Center for Digital Journalism; Efrat Nechushtai, Columbia University • This study looks at Report for America’s efforts to strengthen the capacity of local news and increase trust from the perspective of a neighborhood on Chicago’s West Side, and a rural county in Eastern Kentucky. Using a communication infrastructure theory framework, it follows 28 residents through project-start and end focus groups. This is complemented by 15 interviews with journalists and RFA staff, and content analysis of local stories from the Chicago Sun-Times and Lexington Herald-Leader.

Look Around and Learn: Effects of 360-Degree Video in Online News • Bartosz Wojdynski, University of Georgia; Ivanka Pjesivac, The University of Georgia; Jihoon Kim; Matt Binford, University of Georgia; Keith Herndon, University of Georgia • In a between-subjects eye-tracking experiment, adult readers of a large metropolitan daily newspaper (N=48) viewed and evaluated one of two versions of the same online news feature: one with an embedded 360-degree video alongside text and images, and the other using exclusively text and static images. Findings show that the presence of 360-degree video increased attitudes toward the article, article credibility, and visual attention to article content, but did not significantly affect recall of the story

Keepers of the comments: How comment moderators handle audience contributions • David Wolfgang, Colorado State University; Hayley Blackburn, Colorado State University; Stephen McConnell, Colorado State University • “As news commenting has evolved as a participatory tool and journalists have developed traditional practices for moderation, there are increasing questions about how to promote quality spaces for news discourse. Using gatekeeping theory, this study analyzes in-depth interviews with 13 news comment moderators to understand how these individuals establish moderation routines and define their professional role. This provides new insight into the journalist-audience relationship and the development of new media practices for online news production.

Commenters as a threat to journalism? How comment moderators perceive the role of the audience • David Wolfgang, Colorado State University; Stephen McConnell, Colorado State University; Hayley Blackburn, Colorado State University • “Journalists and commenters have struggled to negotiate the appropriate use of news forums. But research about perceptions of commenters has typically focused on journalists and not the comment moderators who specifically manage content. This study uses in-depth interviews with 13 U.S. news comment moderators to understand through a field theory analysis how moderators perceive commenters as possible threats to the profession and, potentially, help to develop quality commenting into a form of journalistic cultural capital.

Student Papers

Democracy’s gatekeepers? How editorial boards constructed moral equivalence between 2016 presidential candidates • Kirsten Adams, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • Through a mixed-method analysis of 75 major U.S. newspapers’ 2016 editorial endorsements, this study asks how editorial boards evaluated the two most controversial and unpopular major-party presidential candidates in U.S. history and the threats they posed to democratic norms and institutions. I find that while attempting to fill the seemingly vacated role of “democracy’s gatekeepers,” news organizations simultaneously undermined these efforts by actively constructing moral equivalence between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.

Darker cloud or silver lining? News framing of the opioid crisis and organ donation • Alexis Bajalia, University of Florida; Amanda Bradshaw • America’s opioid crisis is doing more than taking lives. It is contributing to a substantial increase in organ donation, which some conclude is saving lives. A qualitative framing analysis of 59 U.S. news articles explored how journalists frame the relationship between the opioid crisis and organ donation. Four major themes emerged: silver lining and hope out of tragedy; shortcut to saving lives, times, and organs; medical acceptance, innovation, and evolution; and rewriting the narrative and changing the stigma. Because news articles tended to frame the relationship between the opioid crisis and organ donation as having a positive effect on society, this study provided practical and theoretical implications about how such framing may impact consumers’ knowledge, attitudes, and/or beliefs about the opioid crisis and/or organ donation.

Similarities and Differences in Western Media Portrayals of the Greek Economic Crisis • Tryfon Boukouvidis, Louisiana State University • This study examines newspaper coverage of the Greek economic crisis in the summer of 2015 through a qualitative content analysis on the attribution of responsibility to the actors involved. Prior literature indicates that American newspapers present economic crises from an elite perspective, possibly distorting public opinion to reflect elite views. Newspapers have become more rigorous in interpreting the underlying mechanisms of a crisis instead of superficially covering episodic events, but most analysis comes from editorials.

Biased Optimism: Online Fake News and Their Influence on Third-Person Perception and Corrective Action • Hyungjin Gill; Moonhoon Choi • This study examines the potential presence of 3PE in fake news and investigates at what third-person perception (“3PP”) may do to people’s willingness to engage in different forms of corrective action. Additionally, based on the root-idea embedded in 3PE (i.e., anticipation of media influence on self vs. others), the study delves into whether such perceptual distinction exists in presumed corrective action intention as well. And finally, the research aims to identify various kinds of corrective actions that may exist in different forms of reactions in response to online mis/disinformation to further previous communication research findings on undesirable media and attitudes toward censorship. Results shows presence of third-person effect (presuming greater effect of potentially harmful media content on others than self) in fake news exposure. Respondents also saw others as having more willingness to engage in corrective behaviors to counter fake news than themselves, serving as potential explanation for the spread of mis/disinformation during elections. Implications of corrective action items and the association between third-person perception and corrective action intention are discussed.

Framing Immigration:  Criminal Frames of Latinx Immigrants and Social Distancing • Elizabeth Hurst, University of Oklahoma; Juliana L. Barbati • This experiment sought to examine how manipulation of high-order social identities can impact the perception of different news frames at four different levels (i.e., the communicator, the receiver, the text, and the culture. The results indicate that political party identification had the most significant impact on social distance towards Latinx immigrants and national identity salience. Implications for single-exposure framing experiments, the level of culture within framing research, and social identity research are discussed at length.

Interpretation, participation and negotiation in China’s online news: A study of The Paper • RAN JU • This article selects The Paper (Pengpai), a Chinese online news media which incorporates the functionality of the party press into market-oriented journalism, to examine how online news embraces an interpretive journalism paradigm to collaborate with the party-state, to encourage the community involved in, and to find a place in the Chinese digital market. In addition to in-depth interviews with reporters and editors in The Paper, this study analyzes 2239 news articles posted on The Paper website and the comments underneath these articles over the period from 2015 to 2016. It is argued that the connection and disconnection between the journalistic role conception and performance are shaped by the negotiation between multiple groups and institutions that are constituted by interpretive communities. Journalistic interpretation in the online platform, on the one side, enlarges the boundaries of journalists’ collective authority, and on the other side, equips engaged readers with discursive resources in public debates.

Tweets, Statements, and Quotes: News Source Selection, Gatekeeping, and Bias coverage of Indian #Metoo movement • Shreenita Ghosh, University of Wisconsin Madison; Kruthika Kamath, University of Wisconsin–Madison • This study explores the source categorization, source prominence, gender representation, journalist gender, and the coverage of #metoo movements in India. A content analysis of nine major English-language daily newspapers coverage of the movement shows that the digital age has only made a marginal dent in norms of inclusion and credibility of ordinary and minority citizens as sources. Further, medium selection and journalistic gatekeeping are considerably different in the two phases of the Indian #metoo movement.

Battle of the Frames: Perspective Collision and Hyper-Mediation at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. • Chelsea Bonser; DI LAN; Stephen McConnell, Colorado State University • A collision of perspectives at the Lincoln Memorial revealed how one moment in today’s digital news environment can rapidly produce news frames that define and redefine “reality” along ideological lines. Through a content analysis of media outlets that vary on the political spectrum, the authors found significant associations regarding how each outlet distinctly portrayed and framed the main actors of the event, as well as how new frames rapidly formed as new information became known.

Addressing News Media Image in an Age of Skepticism • Soo Young Shin, MSU • This study explored news media image as perceived by the public by employing a concept used in marketing literature—image. Journalism stakeholders and scholars suggest the public’s perceptions of news media is not favorable, which consequently decreases readerships and makes the public lean towards alternative news (i.e., fake news). Considering this growing negative sentiment toward news media, it is crucial to understand the public’s perceptions of news media to address the public’s negative perception(s) and hopefully change them. Particularly, the news media industry has not yet possessed broad concepts, not to mention measures, to capture the public’s overall perceptions in terms of news organizations. The perceptions of 44 participants (over the course of nine sessions) living in the Midwestern U.S. were investigated using focus group methods. The results revealed eight dimensions of news media image: news quality, news usefulness, social responsibility, personality, usability, transparency, perspective-taking, and news selection bias. Participants believed that news media organizations are mostly biased in their selection of news stories, as news organizations are under pressure to make profit. Despite holding this view, certain ideals of news media, such as the potential role of the media as community watch-dogs and “protectors” of democracy, are highly valued. Participants particularly valued transparency, rather than objectivity, of news organizations and indicated that news is generally useful in acquiring information directly relevant to their lives.

The Emergence of Social Justice Journalism • Allison Steinke, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities • Social justice journalism is an emerging style of newswork in for-profit and nonprofit newsrooms in the United States. This qualitative study provides in-depth analysis of interviews with journalists who cover social justice topics at mainstream legacy media and nonprofit newsrooms across the U.S. Some reporters have formal social justice beats while others are general assignment reporters, investigative reporters or columnists who occasionally cover social justice topics or beats including criminal justice, government corruption, marginalized populations, immigration, and homelessness. Through the conceptual lens of the sociology of newswork and imagined audiences, this study explores social justice journalists’ beats, identities, and constructions of their audiences. This study argues that journalists who cover social justice often identify as advocates within the public sphere while others oppose advocacy in their work and prefer to pursue traditional journalistic values of fairness, accuracy and objectivity.

< 2019 Abstracts

Minorities and Communication 2019 Abstracts

Faculty Research Competition

Doesn’t Beto Look Hispanic? Perceived Co-ethnicity and Voting in the 2018 Texas Senate Election • Oluseyi Adegbola; Sherice Gearhart, Texas Tech University • Existing research has shown that Hispanic voters are likely to support Democratic candidates as well as candidates with matching ethnicity. However, voters’ decisions are influenced by a host of other factors including, but not limited to, political advertising, agreement with candidates’ issue positions, and candidate evaluations. The current study examines how these factors collectively guide Hispanic voters using survey data (N = 424) collected during the 2018 Texas senate election featuring Anglo Democrat, Beto O’Rourke, and Hispanic Republican, Ted Cruz. Results suggest that different pathways led to support for Cruz and O’Rourke. Hispanics exposed to advertising supporting Cruz also perceived him to be Hispanic, leading to shared issue positions and support for him. Hispanics exposed to advertising supporting O’Rourke were more likely to share his issue positions, leading to positive evaluations and electoral support for the congressman. Implications for future research on Hispanic voting are discussed.

What do scientists look like? Race, Gender, and Occupation in Children’s STEM-Focused Educational Television • Fashina Alade, Michigan State University • This content analysis draws attention to race and gender representation amongst the characters in STEM-focused children’s television programs. Across 90 episodes, 1,086 unique speaking characters were coded on their demographics, physical attributes, centrality to the plot, and modeling of STEM behaviors and occupations. Findings align closely with prior character-focused content analyses, with female and minority characters being underrepresented compared to U.S. population statistics, but also present some areas in which the industry may be improving.

Perpetual foreigners: negotiating the framing of Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans via Twitter after Hurricane Maria • Maria DeMoya, DePaul University; Vanessa Bravo, Elon University • In September of 2017, Puerto Rico was hit with Hurricane Maria, one of the costliest and deadliest storms in U.S. history. Its effects on the island’s infrastructure and socioeconomic situation are still felt more than a year later. The media attention that this crisis brought resulted in coverage not only about the hurricane but also about the island and its people, bringing renewed attention to the territory status of Puerto Rico and the different type of citizenship held by its residents. As with any modern natural disaster, people relied on traditional and digital media to obtain need-to-know information and make sense of the situation. In this process, Twitter users articulated a place for Puerto Ricans in the American imaginary. Through a critically-informed content analysis of Twitter conversations, this study explores the question of the treatment of Puerto Rico and its people, and how this treatment was shaped by Twitter discussions.

YouTube’s content influence on college-aged Black women’s decision to transition to natural hair • Cameron Jackson; Vanessa Bravo, Elon University • Not knowing how to care for their natural hair and not wanting to be judged by older generations, young Black women are turning to YouTube to gain information and support for their decision to go natural, and to become part of a larger online community. To understand their motivations, this study analyzed the narratives of 17 Black, college-aged women, from five universities(two private liberal arts universities, two large state universities and two historically Black universities), about their experiences of going natural and the role YouTube played in their journey. The different meanings of transitioning to wearing natural hair and the role that YouTube played in the process of making that decision, according to the participants’ narratives, are discussed in the study. Findings suggest that YouTube videos about natural hair have helped these women to overcome challenges encountered during their natural hair journeys, such as facing societal judgment and going against familial norms. However, the participants also revealed concerns surrounding the accuracy of YouTube depictions in regard to colorism, hair textures and branded content. Implications of how YouTube has influenced these Black women’s sense of identity and how it has given them a shared online community are discussed.

JMC Deans of Color Lead with a Purpose: A Qualitative Study • Keonte Coleman, Middle Tennessee State University School of Journalism and Strategic Media • This qualitative study contextualized the leadership experiences of journalism and mass communication (JMC) deans who self-identified as persons of color. These deans expressed bringing a higher purpose to leading their programs while anonymously participating in a virtual focus group. This study aims to elucidate the benefits of increasing the diversity of JMC leadership and to illuminate the need to improve the working environment to help recruit future JMC leaders of color.

Expanding the Theory of Planned behavior: Implications for Media Use, Race/Ethnicity, and Pro-Environmental Intentions • Troy Elias; Jay Hmielowski, Washington State University • Using a purposive sample of 302 Latinos, 305 African Americans, 310 non-Hispanic Whites, and 299 Asian Americans, we examine the relationship between media (e.g., liberal, conservative, and non-partisan) and pro-environmental intentions. Existing studies show the impact media’s ideological perspectives have on shaping orientations. We propose a mediated moderated model examining whether the conditional indirect relationship of various media outlets on behavioral intentions through key components of the Theory of Planned Behavior varies by race.

“I am Enough”: (Re)Constructions of Gendered and Racialized Subjectivities in Crazy Rich Asians • Marianne Fritz, California State University, Los Angeles • As the first film in 25 years to feature an all-Asian cast, Crazy Rich Asians has generated a lot of interest among profession film critics and, more importantly, film spectators. The present paper considers the film’s counter-hegemonic depictions of Asian Americans. In addition, I examine the film’s depiction of gender roles within heterosexual romantic relationships, and the way it normalizes Asian-Asian pairings, while at the same time sexualizing the image of the Asian male.

Latina Millennials in a Post-TV Network World: ‘Anti-stereotypes’ in the Web-TV Series East Los High • Celeste Gonzalez de Bustamante, University of Arizona; Jessica Retis, Cal State University – Northridge • This paper analyzes the emergence of ‘anti-stereotypes,’ and attempts to locate Latina millennial latinidad in East Los High, by paying specific attention to the topic of teen pregnancy. In addition, we aim to identify attempts to create collective action through scale shifting strategies (Livingston and Asmolov, 2010; Author 2014). The chapter interrogates how Latinas are being represented and representing themselves in a historically political and transformative mediatic era, and what might be the prospects for social change. In addition, the chapter examines the potential for collective action among producers and actors of East Los High through the process of “scale-shifting”. In Tarrow’s (2005) definition, scale-shifting involves ‘‘a change in the number and level of coordinated contentious actions to a different focal point, involving a new range of actors, different objectives, and broadened claims. It can also generate a change in the meaning and scope of the object of the claim’’ (p. 121).” While, Tarrow, Livingston and Asmolov were concerned with the potential for activists to side-step bona-fide political actors and structures in nation-states, we focus our attention on the structural issues involving the entertainment industry, and the ability of Latina/o producers and actors to circumvent traditional power structures to contribute to collective-action to effect social change. They argue that “the growth of networked non-state actors and scale shifting sometimes bypasses both states and traditional news organizations” (Livingston and Asmolov, 2010, p. 751). We ask in this post TV-network era, whether approaches involving transmedia and edutainment (using entertainment outlets and content to entertain and educate) strategies (Ramasubramarian, 2016; Wang & Singhal, 2016), and/or the use of social media by entertainment actors as activists may contribute to create a sense of collective action. We suggest that there is room and need for more programming similar to ELH that incorporates the dual functions of entertaining Latina youth and education about relevant social issues.

News media apologies for racism • Robin Hoecker, DePaul University • Should news organizations apologize for racist coverage? What should such an apology look like? This study looks at three case studies of publications that apologized publicly for their contributions to slavery, racism and racially motivated violence: The Hartford Courant in 2000, National Geographic in 2018, and the Montgomery Advertiser in 2018. It reviews the elements of an effective apology and then evaluates each publication’s statement on those parameters. It compares and contrasts these efforts and discusses potential best practices for publications considering apologies in the future.

Factors Influencing the Effectiveness of Patriotic Advertising to Ethnic Minorities • Gawon Kim; Jun Heo, Louisiana State University • This research revisits the identity complexity, identification, and distinctiveness theories to understand how ethnic minorities in the U.S. respond to patriotism-themed advertising. The significance of acculturation was emphasized in evaluating patriotic ads, beyond the ethnicity itself. Online experiment revealed that Americans, regardless ethnic backgrounds, preferred patriotic advertising, and the preference improved with an ethnicity-matching appeal. The authors argue acculturation of new generations among ethnic minorities reduces the gap between ethnically dominant group and minority groups.

She’s not one of ours: Social identity, black sheep effects and transgressive female athletes • Lance Kinney, University of Alabama; Dylan Teal; Amanda Flamerich • She’s not one of ours: Social identity, black sheep effects and transgressive female athletes. This research reports the results of a 2 (female athlete race: Black or White) x 2 (female athlete appearance: threatening or non-threatening) experiment. Participants read a simulated media report and recommended punishment for an athlete accused of using performance-enhancing drugs. Participants with high levels of personal racial identity recommended significantly harsher punishments to athletes of other races. Sex effects were observed for White female participants and Black male participants.

Learning to be More or Less Prejudiced? How News Media Moderate the Effects of Ideologies and Partisanship on Attitudes toward Migrants • Tien-Tsung Lee, University of Kansas; Yuki Fujioka, Georgia State • Using a large national survey, this study investigated the predictors of Americans’ attitudes toward migrants. Younger, better educated, non-White, liberal, and Democrat-leaning individuals are more supportive of migrants. Political partisanship mediates the relationship between ideology and attitudes toward migrants. The number of television news programs watched, and the number of radio news and talk shows consumed, have a moderation effect on the connection between the support for migrants and one’s ideology as well as partisanship.

Does Professor’s Gender or Ethnicity Matter to College Students? A Case of Prejudice in Higher Education • Moon Lee, University of Florida; Povedano Shiselle • This study investigated how college students rated professors’ qualifications and their intention to take a course based on a professor’s race and gender after reviewing an identical syllabus of a communication course. The purpose was to investigate whether a professor’s ethnicity/gender influences college students’ perceptions of the professor and their evaluations of the class. Five hundred twenty-seven undergraduate students participated in this post-test only group experiment. We found an interaction effect between a professor’s gender and ethnicity on a student’s perception of the professor’ qualifications, likability, and student’s intent to enroll in a class.

Latino Trust in Journalists and the 2016 U.S. General Election: An Analysis of Voter Responses • Maria Len-Rios, The University of Georgia; Patricia Moy, University of Washington; Ivanka Pjesivac, The University of Georgia • This paper reports qualitative and quantitative data from a national online panel survey of Latinos (N=720) after the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Participants reported in their closed-ended responses a level of distrust toward the news organizations that largely parallels national figures. In open-ended responses, Latinos cited cable news journalists most as trusted journalists, with additional differences by partisanship and whether individuals were U.S. or foreign born. Implications for political news consumption and identity are discussed.

Muhammad Ali in New York, 1967-1970: The Media and an Exiled Boxer Fight the Establishment • Raymond McCaffrey, University of Arkansas • This historical study explores the relationship between Muhammad Ali and the New York media from April 1967 to October 1970, when the boxing champion was exiled from fighting after refusing military induction. The study examines Ali’s relationship with powerful media personalities who stood by him when many journalists refused to even use his Muslim name. This examination reveals Ali’s skill and daring as he publicized his fight against the U.S. government and the boxing establishment.

The Supreme Court’s Plessy and Brown decisions, democratic rights, and journalism ethics in the battle over segregation in the South, 1960-1964 • Ali Mohamed, UAE University • We examine the role of the Southern press in the “massive resistance” to the High Court’s Brown v. Board of Education ruling of 1954 to integrate schools, and the extent to which newspaper editorial arguments relied on legal and social rationales for segregation from the High Court’s earlier Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896. Plessy’s three rationales for institutionalizing segregation — the “separate but equal” doctrine, state’s rights, and a tiered system of “social rights”, were widely adopted by the press. However, newspapers took the “equal” part of Plessy’s “separate but equal” doctrine much more seriously than did elected officials in the South. A content analysis of the Birmingham News from 1960 to 1964 found support for Thornton’s (2002) thesis that post-Brown electoral politics in Alabama produced staunch segregationist officials whose relations with the press became highly adversarial. While the News supported segregation and states’ rights, after George Wallace was elected governor in 1962, the paper opposed his policies and the editorial page became a platform focused more on advocacy of greater equality, voting rights, and the rule of law.”

Advertised Stereotypical and Masculine Images of Black and White Men: Where Are We Now? • ADRIENNE MULDROW, East Carolina University • To assess the portrayal of hegemonic masculinity from Black and White males in magazine advertising, an in-depth content analysis of advertised imagery appearing in two representative genres of two mainstream, male-directed magazines—men’s lifestyle magazines and sports magazines from 2015 to 2017–was completed. Drawing upon Mahalik and colleagues’ (2003) conformity to masculinity inventory and using social identity theory and cultivation theory, the primary aim of the study was to compare stereotypical images of Black men and stereotypical images of White to determine the frequency of these images and if there is a significant difference in these images by race. Overall results from 2,135 images from 72 magazines indicate that the image of Black men in contemporary magazines is improving and most images, favorable or unfavorable, are comparable to those of White men. Images of Black men were shown in equivalent percentages as White men with regard to primary roles, professional roles violent imagery, and with the most desirable body type. The study relates current findings to prior findings of stereotypical images to determine how advertisers in these magazine genres are choosing to display images of Black and White men and with what possible effects.

Thinking Black: an Analysis of the Impact of Black Racial Identity on the Discourse and Work Routines of Cable Media Practitioners • Gheni Platenburg, University of Montevallo • Black journalists working in the mainstream press face an “identity crisis: Am I Black first and a reporter second? Or do I owe my primary allegiance to the newspaper (or other media)?” The researcher explores this concept through semi-structured interviews with black, news practitioners from FNC, MSNBC and CNN. Findings revealed race further impacted black media practitioners’ discourse through employer-mandated limitations, on-air interactions with colleagues, considerations of audience reactions and more.

Preparing for the worst: Lessons for news media after Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico • Bruno Takahashi, Michigan State University; Qucheng Zhang, Michigan State University; Manuel Chavez, Michigan State University School of Journalism • Hurricane Maria was the most devastating hurricane in Puerto Rico in the last 90 years. The entire communication system collapsed, including cellular networks and telephone system. Media organizations in Puerto Rico, with the exception of one radio station, were unable to transmit much needed information during and immediately after Maria made landfall. The present study examines changes in journalistic practices, organizational readiness and disaster coverage plans, and infrastructure preparedness almost 18 months after the event. This study extends the limited research examining long-term changes to news media preparedness plans in the context of disasters, and expands theoretical understandings of media practices in the context of the hierarchy of influences model. The results suggest that infrastructure damage severely hampered the ability of news organizations to perform their work, but solidarity among media was useful in the immediate aftermath of the disaster. Each media played a differentiated and important role in the aftermath of the disaster based on their resources and organizational structure. The study shows that preparedness plans were inadequate and that changes are slowly been implemented to deal with challenges related to infrastructure, electricity, and technology, but with limited focus on the long-term well-being of media workers. Recommendations to improve communication responses to future natural disasters are presented.

Exploring Psychosocial Comorbidity Messages and Illness Perception: A Focus Group Study With African American Survivors of Prostate Cancer • Sean Upshaw, University of Utah • Prostate cancer remains a health challenge in U.S. health care, especially among African American men, who experience elevated levels of prostate cancer diagnosis compared to other racial/ethnic groups. However, psychosocial comorbidity challenges often affect the perception of illness and engagement with prostate cancer. This qualitative focus group study explored the implications of illness perception (IP) and psychosocial comorbidity messages (PSCM) concerning prostate cancer among 12 African American survivors. Findings suggest that IP that can identify existing mental health barriers associated with prostate cancer as influenced by PSCM in African American survivors. The findings also indicate that PSCM can provide insight into how African American survivors developed an IP framework about prostate cancer through communication.

The Black Digital Syllabus Movement: The Fusion of Academia, Activism and Arts • Sherri Williams, American University • As Black America experienced some of the most profound shifts in politics and entertainment in recent history, from the Ferguson rebellion to the release of Beyonce’s Lemonade, Black academics worked to find ways to help Black people and the nation understand and contextualize these major events and connect them to history. Using social media Black scholars curated lists of texts, films and music that related to the Black American experience of the present and past and shared them on social networks giving birth to the Black digital syllabus movement. The Black digital syllabus movement taps into the amplifying power of Black Twitter and Black digital culture to bridge the gap between pop culture, politics and scholarly work and spread contextualized, curated lists of important Black works. The syllabi analyzed in this study, created between August 2014 and August 2017, are the Ferguson Syllabus, #BlkWomenSyllabus, Charleston Syllabus, Lemonade Syllabus, A Seat at the Table Syllabus and the 4:44 Syllabus. This study uses the historical method in qualitative research to examine the syllabi and the context in which they were created.

Meaning Co-creation and Social Influencers in Race-relevant Crisis: A Social Network Analysis Study of Starbucks’ Crisis in Philadelphia • Ying Xiong, University of Tennessee; Moonhee Cho • The purpose of the research was to explore how meaning co-creation by the publics during the Starbucks’ crisis in Philadelphia and examined who were the social influencers in Starbucks’ Crisis in Philadelphia. The research applied semantic network analysis and social network analysis. Research results found the co-created meanings addressed three issues: Starbucks’ racial training, racial identity, and other celebrities who have received racial critiques. Mainstream media, celebrities, and activists were social influencers in the crisis.

Beyond the Reversal: Imagining New Ethnicities in Self-Representation • Sherry Yu • The under- and mis-representation of minorities in the media comes as no surprise. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s sitcom, Kim’s Convenience, is an interesting case study in this regard, as it is not only about representation of a minority group, but also about self-representation by a minority. A Critical Discourse Analysis of Kim’s Convenience explores ethnicity at the intersection of various social characteristics, and suggests the potential to imagine Stuart Hall’s new ethnicities.

Student Paper

Politicking While Black: News and Social Media Representations of Three Black Female Political Candidates Running for the House of Representatives in the 2018 Midterm Election • Zeina Cabrera-Peterson • African American women have been the leading force in political campaigns long before they had the right to vote and hold office. Today, roughly 5% of African American woman hold political positions (CAWP, 2018). However, despite their political participation, there are few studies that examine representation of Black female political candidates in news media. This study employed a content analysis of news reports and three Black female candidates’ Twitter campaign accounts to examine how news media represented these three, first-time candidates and to analyze how these candidates represented themselves on Twitter. Based on the overall analysis of a census of newspaper articles and Twitter candidate accounts, the study found that race and gender was not a leading area of news coverage or self-representation in tweets. The research found that these candidates were mostly identified by their former occupations and were not questioned because of who they are, but because of what they do. These findings are significant because it challenges and reshapes gender and race identities.

Puerto Rican college students’ experience with Post-hurricane María media environment • Laura Canuelas-Torres; Naiya Brooks • Utilizing a Digital Diaspora framework, researchers explore the experiences of Puerto Rican college students during and after Hurricane Maria. We conducted and analyzed 13 interviews, examining media use, the impact of communication interruption, and opinions on media coverage. Results show that students used both mainstream and social media to learn about the hurricane’s impact and reported feeling uncertainty, anxiety, and anger related to the inability to reach family, and the American government’s response.

“Zero-Tolerance” Transnational Motherhood: Images of Mothers and Children at the U.S.-Mexico Border • Ana R Good • It all began during a law enforcement event in Scottsdale, Arizona, when then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a new, “zero-tolerance” policy in the handling of illegal border crossings. Though at the time, Session’s announcement did not generate much buzz, the United States was soon faced with an onslaught of gut-wrenching images. Using the lens of “transnational motherhood,” this paper will argue that the images taken at the border of the United States employed humanizing effects.

Black bad men or bad niggers: Popular culture and hypermasculinity in Black Greek letter fraternities • Rafael Matos, Indiana University of Pennsylvania • Black Greek Letter Fraternities are influenced by popular culture to maintain hyper masculine beahviors. The study will explore the impact popular culture has on the way NPHC fraternity members reinforce constructs that encourage hyper-masculinity through new member presentations.

Buying Blackness: Black Audience Decoding of Nike Advertisements • Diamond Stacker • This study reviews representations of Blackness in media, specifically in sports media, to uncover the harmful, yet subtle stereotypes in sports advertising. Applying Hall’s (2001) encoding/decoding theory to analyze the impact of selling Blackness, the research used focus groups to examine how Black, college-young adult audiences engage with and identify racial constructions in Nike advertisements, and thus, how that influences their views on Nike as a brand.

Adapting to Change: Rethinking Advocacy in the 21st Century Black Press • Miya Williams Fayne • The black press is often conceptualized as an advocacy press but in the current digital environment this definition is malleable. Black press websites that primarily produce entertainment news create ambiguity about advocacy as a requirement. Informed by interviews with journalists and focus groups with readers this research finds that advocacy in the black press is fraught as entertainment advances it, by providing increased representation of African Americans, and threatens it, by decreasing hard news content.

< 2019 Abstracts

Media Management, Economics, and Entrepreneurship 2019 Abstracts

The Exception is the Rule: Structural Factors and the 21st Century Television Audience • Marianne Barrett, Arizona State University; Harrison Mantas, Arizona State University • This study uses Nielsen ratings data for prime-time programs aired by each of the five broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, CW, Fox and NBC) for three seasons—fall 2014 through spring 2017 to examine the degree to which traditional structural factors impact program performance.. The study found little predictability in the networks’ scheduling practices and noted their propensity to rely on stunting and conservation of scarce resources to maximize ratings which speaks to the complexity of the contemporary television landscape.

Can Newsroom Values Coexist with Native Advertising? Navigating Boundaries for a New Revenue Model • Jake Batsell, Southern Methodist University • This study, based on 17 interviews in the U.S. and Scandinavia, explores how the emergence of native advertising forced news organizations to negotiate boundaries for a new revenue model challenging traditional conceptions of the press’ role in society. The study explores how media professionals are incorporating traditional journalistic values, routines and practices as the news industry embraces native advertising. Guided by social responsibility theory, the study identifies four main themes in news organizations’ native advertising strategies.

What’s in a job posting?: A content analysis of legacy media job listings • Anna Aupperle; Jenna Grzeslo • Students in telecommunications and television departments are often expected to be able to use the industrial skills they learned in college when applying to paying jobs after graduation. However, little research has been conducted amongst television-owning companies to see what skills legacy media firms are requesting of their entry-level employees. This content analysis purports to answer the questions of what positions these companies are trying to fill as well as the skills necessary to be competitive in that job market.

Social Media Competitive Analysis and Texting Mining: A Facebook Case Study in a Local Television Market • Miao Guo, Ball State University • To increase competitive advantage and effectively assess the competitive environment of business, today media companies need to monitor and analyze social content and user behavior from both their own social media platforms and competitors’ social sites. A social media competitive analytics framework is proposed to consider three aspects: social media presence, social media user behavior, and social content marketing strategies. The results showed two divergent social media deployment patterns among these five local television stations.

River of trauma: STS, PTSD, and the emotional double bind for news organizational leaders • DESIREE HILL, University of Central Oklahoma • Terror attacks, disasters, and other deadly events send shockwaves of trauma throughout organizations. Studies have documented journalists’ trauma, but effects for organizational leaders have not received attention. A qualitative study with two data sets focuses on an overarching research question: how do organizational leaders in news organizations experience traumatic news events? Findings contribute to existing research by revealing that top organizational leaders in news organizations experience secondary traumatic stress, PTSD, and other negative emotional outcomes.

Government Regulation of Online Audio-Visual Entrepreneurship in China: Experiences from the Administration in Beijing • Wenqian Xu, Division Ageing and Social Change (ASC), Linköpings Universitet; Hongchao Hu, School of Journalism and Communication, Renmin University of China • This article aims at investigating (1) how the government regulates online audio-visual enterprises and content, and (2) what the major influences of government regulation on online audio-visual entrepreneurship are, with a specific focus on the administration in Beijing. This study draws from data gained from semi-structured interviews with 14 respondents. It finds that license management and content censorship are principal approaches to regulating practices of online audio-visual entrepreneurship in Beijing.

Is TV Sustainable in Future? A Comparison with Smartphone • Kyungji Lee; Jong Woo Jun, Dankook University; Jae Hee Park, University of North Florida • This study is designed to explore the different degrees of media usage and antecedents between TV and smartphones among consumers. Survey method was utilized, and a total of 321 respondents participated in the study. Self-congruence, trust, and immersion were used as antecedents of consumer media usage. Regarding content structure, self-congruence influenced content trust, which in turn led to audience immersion. Direct relationships between self-congruence and immersion were also found. Trust is the only statistically significant antecedent for TV consumption, while self-congruence and immersion are the meaningful antecedents of smartphone use. Content trust influenced smartphone use negatively. The findings provide academic and managerial implications for content marketers and adverting media planners.

What happened to the Global Over-the-Top Video Markets? • Sangwon Lee, Kyung Hee University; Seonmi Lee; Hye Min Joo • This study examines the factors influencing global OTT video market growth. The results suggest that Netflix’s market entry, OTT platform competition, traditional pay TV market size, and broadband infrastructures contribute to the OTT video market growth. The study also demonstrates that the traditional pay TV market and the OTT market grow together. However, the findings also reveal a negative association between the market entry of Netflix and the subscription revenue growth rate of pay TV services.

Navigating the External Realities: A Case Study of Bangladeshi Media Managers • Sohana Nasrin, University of Maryland • Traditionally, the Bangladeshi media scenario was dominated by legacy mainstream media that were managed by people who value control and stability. However, the new media managers are leaning towards innovation and creativity. By utilizing the Competing Values Framework (CVF) (Quinn,1984), this research identifies the managerial competencies applicable to traditional media managers and non-traditional media managers. It also delineates how those two approaches are similar and different and how that affects management of these organizations.

Two Player Mode: Factors That Influence Capital Committed To Video Game Crowdfunding Campaigns on Kickstarter and Indiegogo • Phuong Nguyen, Phuong Nguyen; Geoffrey Graybeal • Crowdfunding has become a common and important funding method for start-ups ventures in the United States, and has been expanding globally. In this study we replicate Cha, 2017’s study on finding factors influencing the success of crowdfunding campaigns for video games. The analysis of 959 crowdfunding campaigns on 2 platforms Kickstarter and Indiegogo suggest that human capital, media and platform choice, the use of media and graphics, and geography influence the success of crowdfunding for video games.

Consumer Personality and Lifestyles at the Box Office and Beyond: How Demographics, Lifestyles and Personalities Predict Movie • Anthony Palomba, St. John’s University • While movie studios have leveraged data traditionally through demographics, there may be missed opportunities in securing further granular insights through personality and lifestyle scales. Due to the amount of hyper-competition among movies but also across platforms, marketers and advertisers may revisit consideration of how consumer personality and consumer lifestyle may aid them in predicting movie frequency consumption across genres and platforms. This study deployed a survey and collected a national randomized sample (N=301). Implications include cultivating consumer profiles and anticipating how certain personalities and lifestyles may help measure certain movie genre and movie platform consumption.

Ingredient Branding at the Box Office: How Creative Genre Fit and Familiarity Predict Movie Theater Attendance • Anthony Palomba, St. John’s University • This study examined how consumers’ perceive creative genre fit and creative familiarity predict movie theater attendance. Most movie marketing scholars have investigated movie theater box office based on measurements such as the number of screens available, the time of year, movie genre, and whether critics have bestowed positive or negative reviews upon the movies.

Journalism’s Backstage Players: A Population Ecology and Roles Analysis • Lindsey Sherrill, University of Alabama; Jiehua Zhang, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa; Danielle Deavours, The University of Alabama; Yuanwei Lyu, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa; Nathan Towery; William Singleton, University of Alabama; KEQING KUANG, The University of Alabama; Wilson Lowrey • Professional associations have been mostly overlooked in news industry research. This study uses a population ecology of journalism professional associations from the 1800s forward, and a content analysis of current association websites to reveal associations’ patterns, types, and roles. Findings suggest associations change little over time, and that associations have turned inward, embracing roles that are internally oriented toward members and their identities rather than roles that are externally oriented toward support of the profession.

Anytime, Anywhere, and Commercial Free? Consumer Attitudes of Premium and Advertising- Supported Subscribers of the Digital Streaming Service Hulu • Alec Tefertiller, Kansas State University; Kim Sheehan, University of Oregon • With the advent of web-streaming video and audio media content, streaming media companies have given consumers the choice between advertising-supported and premium, ad-free versions of their products. Most notably, the streaming video site Hulu offers multiple price points, including ad-supported and ad-free subscriptions. Using an online survey of Hulu users (N = 362), it was determined that ad-supported users valued advertising more; however, there were no differences in luxury consumption, price consciousness, and sales proneness.

< 2019 Abstracts