Graduate Education 2008 Abstracts
Graduate Education Interest Group
When War is the Only Option: A qualitative analysis of cancer narrative development and effects • Kathleen Pontius, University of Oregon • Communication campaigns have led to the creation of an expected experience for those affected by cancer. This project combines rhetorical analysis of communications material published by the Lance Armstrong Foundation with data from young adult cancer survivor interviews to identify a dominant cancer narrative and examine how cancer patients challenge this narrative. Using the theoretical lens of constitutive rhetoric, this paper illustrates the effects a limited cancer narrative has on cancer patients and survivors.
Television representing television: How NBC’s 30 Rock parodies and satirizes the culture industry • Lauren Bratslavsky, University of Oregon • Television sitcoms offer a wealth of representations of culture. Of interest is the representation of the workplace, specifically, working in the television industry. An important component to television comedy as well as representation are two humor devices—satire and parody. Using the culture industry, the circuit of culture framework, and humor techniques, this paper analyzes the NBC sitcom, 30 Rock, for its representation of the television industry, the production of culture, and the culture of production.
Becoming “Quirky”: Towards an Understanding of Practitioner and Blogger Relations in Public Relations • Brian Smith, University of Maryland • The growing influence of consumer-generated media (CGM), including blogs, online forums, podcasts, and other social media tools, has changed the environment in which public relations practitioners conduct campaigns for their clients and connect with their stakeholders. Rather than working solely with journalists to reach publics—practitioners may now become part of “the quirky blogging community” to influence the online conversations about their clients.
News, Neighborhoods, and the Need for Understanding: The Cultural Competence of Journalists • Dianne Garyantes, Temple University • The need for understanding diverse cultures is an urgent priority, given increasing globalization and ongoing military conflicts. Yet, journalists have long been criticized for their inability to represent people who are culturally different from themselves. This paper explores the cultural competence of 83 undergraduate journalism students reporting on diverse urban neighborhoods. Findings indicate important implications for journalism education, including that overcoming language barriers and informally talking with local people are key factors in cultural competence.
Public Relations Education in the United States: An International/Chinese Perspective • Ai Zhang, University of Maryland • Identified as the leader in public relations in the world, the US public relations education has profound implications on what and how public relations is understood and practiced in the rest of the world. The present study adopts an international (i.e., Asian/Chinese) perspective to examine a few critical issues and challenges exemplified in the Western public relations education and discuss their implications on international public relations education with a focus on China.
Blogging for Sovereignty: An Exploratory Analysis of Palestinian Blogs • Justin D. Martin, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Sherine El-Toukhy, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill • This study is a quantitative content analysis of Palestinian blogs (N=127) in both Arabic and English. Blogs in the sample—authored by Palestinian descendents as well as Palestinian advocates of other nationalities—were examined in terms of political content and treatment of Israel, and for differences in content due to language, nationality of the author (Palestinian, American, Egyptian, British etc.), and authors’ location (whether they resided in Israeli-controlled territory or other countries).
Investigating the Effectiveness of Satellite TV Broadcasting as a Tool for International Political Communication: An Empirical Study • Foad Izadi, Louisiana State University • The present study attempts to address the state of pro-American attitudes and pro-American policy positions in Iran. Using hierarchical OLS regression, the study addresses the influence of satellite TV use – as an indicator of access to U.S. sponsored international broadcasting – on the degree of pro-American opinion, above and beyond individual level demographic factors. In this study, I develop two scales of pro-American attitudes and pro-American policy positions based on individuals‘ responses to a 2006 poll.
Getting News Online: Does Media Habit Matter? • Q. Lisa Bu, University of Wisconsin-Madison • This study investigates the relationship between people’s habits of using traditional news media and their uses of the Internet as their main source of news. A regression analysis is conducted on a secondary dataset, the Biennial Media Consumption Survey 2006 by Pew Research Center. The major findings are (1) Habit of watching television news has a significant positive relationship with having the habit of getting news online.
The Pipeline to Publication: Analysis of Student Research Productivity in Mass Communication Journals • Hai Tran, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • This research updates knowledge of student scholarly productivity in top-tier mass communication journals. The impetus for the current analysis is a lack of follow-up in this body of literature while there is anecdotal evidence that young academics are increasingly adopting the “publish or perish” mentality in graduate school. In examining a complete census of thirteen mass communication journals between 1999 and 2006, this study provides empirical evidence regarding the pipeline to publication for student research.
The Influence of Sex on Cultivation Effects • Veronica Garcia-Michael, BGSU • This study examines the cultivation effects based on the sex of the subject and the amount of television watched. Specifically, this study examines the effect of television viewing on female and male college students in order to understand what affect television viewing may have on the consumer. A modified version of the Cultivation Index Scale was administered to 157 college students. A series of ANOVA’s were performed on these data.
Supervision and Web News-Editing Accuracy • David Stanton, University of Florida • The current study examines supervision of a Web-driven news production and editing course at a large, southeastern university. The course, which has been taught for over a decade, utilizes a dynamic site driven by a relational database (MySQL via PHP) and AJAX. Content management systems (CMS) allow journalists to remotely input content, edit and deliver the final product to print and Web-based publications.
The Litigious “Wall”: Reviewing China’s Regulations of the Internet from a Positive Perspective • Xudong Liu; Southern Illinois University Carbondale • This paper discussed numerous approaches applied by the Chinese government to monitor or constrain the Internet users. It addressed the main differences between Chinese regulation and the U.S. regulation regarding the Internet. The paper proposed that, due to the complicated IT technology and the Chinese government’s in-efficiency in carrying out those policies, those who use the Internet were not petrified and the regulations failed in many cases.
Virtual Hillary vs. Obama Girl: A Rhetorical Analysis of Gender, Race, and Age in the 2008 Presidential Primary Campaign • Erin Armstrong; E.W. Scripps School of Journalism, Ohio University • This qualitative case study analyzes general rhetorical components of the official websites for Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama during the 2008 primary campaign. Gender, race, and age are considered through impression management. This study suggests a shift in public relations strategy as website users are building and undermining support for each candidate through website material, like blogs, as well as linked website material, such as posting videos to YouTube and fundraising on Facebook.
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