Mass Communication and Society 2007 Abstracts
Mass Communication and Society Division
Media Bias in the Eye of the Beholder: Issue Importance, Issue Support and Political Identity • Lee Ahern and Mark S. Pfaff, Penn State University and Paul Rutter, Curtis Johnson • Perceptions and accusations of media bias abound. Democrats decry the conservative slant of FOX news; Republicans bemoan the liberal bent of CNN. Implied within the bias claims on each side is a communications question worthy of study: How can those on the other side of the political aisle be persuaded by those messages? This study examines the degree to which evaluations of issue importance and issue support are related to political identity.
Rexamining the Application of the Elaboration Likelihood Model to Internet Advertising • Jaime Marshall Baird and Steven Collins, University of Central Florida • This experiment sought to validate the Elaboration Likelihood Model of Persuasion for online advertising. The quality of banner advertisement contents –product endorser and arguments –were manipulated testing the variables’ effect on attitude toward the advertisement for groups with high and low levels of product category involvement. For the low involvement condition, source liking predicted participants’ attitude toward the banner advertisements.
News Editorials and the Patriot Act • Sean Baker and Dominique Helou-Brown, Towson University • A frame analysis was conducted on newspaper editorials about the Patriot Act. Editors initially positioned the Act as a violation of civil rights. This “civil liberty” frame emphasized potential social problems that may arise from the Act by connecting it excessive law enforcement power. The discourse changed in 2004 where the Act was primarily used to support election commentary thereby diminishing the cultural importance of it. Implications for society are discussed.
Two for the Price of the Adversarial Press Corps • Stephen Banning, Bradley University and Susan Billingsley, Google Inc. • Increasingly, presidential press conferences are being held with a foreign dignitary present. This study used content analysis of solo and joint press conferences to test the likelihood of journalists to act in an adversarial manner when in either situation. It was found that journalists were much more likely to act in an adversarial manner in solo press conferences.
The body in question?: Thin-ideal media exposure, social physique anxiety and third-person perception about body image in self and others • Kimberly Bissell, University of Alabama • Research examining the social effects of mass media as it relates to body image distortion often considers some behavioral components, specifically excessive dieting, bingeing, and exercising, but many factors related to predictors of these behavioral outcomes are still largely unknown.
Examining a status quo shift: The impact of Roe v. Wade on coverage of abortion protest • Michael Boyle, West Chester University and Cory Armstrong, University of Florida • Research has demonstrated a consistent pattern wherein the more a protest group threatens the status quo the more critically it is treated. Assessments of threat to the status quo are typically based on considering the group’s goals and tactics. However, the distinct influence of a group’s goals and tactics has not been explored. This study examines news coverage of abortion protests prior to and after Roe v. Wade.
Conceptualizations of Female Empowerment and Enjoyment of Sexualized Characters on Reality Television • Mackenzie Cato and Francesca Dillman Carpentier, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill • Now more than ever, media images have become increasingly focused on women and sex-as-power imagery. Specifically, reality-based television commonly portrays a type of female empowerment that seems to equal sexual power. This study examines audience reaction to the images seen on the popular reality show The Girls Next Door, which documents the life and fun-times of Hugh Hefner’s three sexy live-in girlfriends.
Electronic mass marketing communications: An evolving story regarding perceptions of unsolicited e-mails versus direct mail • Susan Chang, University of Miami and Mariko Morimoto, University of Georgia • The Internet is still a relatively new mass communication tool for advertisers and marketers. When weighing the potential benefits of electronic techniques against the financial investment, spam seems particularly attractive to marketers for either for-profit or non-profit objectives.
Food for Thought: The Role of Nutritional Information on Children’s Purchase Influence of Food Products • Courtney Childers, University of Tennessee • Research shows that advertising increasingly influences the majority of family purchase decisions, especially for food products and dining options. The present study contributes to the growing body of literature on advertising to children. Specifically, the purpose of this research is to determine whether the inclusion of nutritional content in advertisements targeting children impacts purchase influence/intention with this younger population. Stimuli were created featuring an original spokescharacter marketing a fictional breakfast cereal via 30-second commercial.
The Effects of Fear-Arousing Antismoking Ads on College Students: A Cross-Cultural Study • Hwiman Chung, New Mexico State University and Euijin Ahn, Yeung Nam University • Antismoking advertisements are increasingly used these days, but the effects of these fear-arousing messages have not been consistent throughout the studies. This study is two-fold: First, it explores the moderating role that culture plays on the effects of fear-appeal advertisements on subjects’ message acceptance. Second, this study also investigates the role of message type in two different cultures (Korea and the United States) using adolescents subjects.
Likelihood of Teachers to Discuss Cover-the-Cough Techniques with Students • Prabu David, Ohio State University • Influenza is a common communicable disease in the United States and the threat of Avian Influenza (H5N1) has received much public attention recently. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend three practices to minimize the spread of germs; (1) frequent hand-washing, (2) respiratory hygiene (covering coughs and sneezes), and (3) social distancing.
The Op-Ed Page: Limiting the Debate of Salient Issues • Anita Day and Guy J. Golan, Florida International University • Socialization of the newsroom research has examined how media routines influence news content. This study applies that line of research by examining how the socialization process may influence the content of the opinion section of the newspaper. The results of a content analysis of both editorials and Op-Ed articles from both the New York Times and Washington Post suggest that organizational ideologies in the newspapers’ editorial sections were reinforced in those papers’ opinion pages.
Online news: Uses, perceptions and displacement effects over time • Ester De Waal and Klaus Schoenbach, University of Amsterdam • This study examines changes in the profile of online news users, their uses and perceptions of online news and eventually how this affects the use of traditional media between 2002 and 2005 in the Netherlands by means of a two-wave panel survey. Findings indicate that the online news audience has become more mainstream in some ways, but also more distinct in others.
Partisan, Non-partisan Sources and News Media Framing of the Iraq Issue in the 2004 U.S. Presidential Campaign • Arvind Diddi, SUNY Oswego • This study adds to the conceptual understanding of the framing process in news media by examining the influence of partisan and non-partisan sources on framing of the Iraq issue in the context of a presidential campaign. In all, 445 stories from three network and three cable television channels were content analyzed between Labor Day and election day during the 2004 presidential campaign.
Don’t Tread on My Blog: A Study of Military Web Logs • Michel Haigh, Pennsylvania State University and Michael Pfau, University of Oklahoma • As the popularity of Web logs increases, so, too, have the number of military Web logs. Service members, veterans, and family members are blogging from home, from the base, and from the battlefield. These milbloggers are able to write daily reports that anyone in the world – friend or foe – can read. Little is known about milblogs. This paper analyzes the content of milblogs and how they depict military personnel.
Framing Memories and Constructing National Identity A Newspaper’s Role in an International Controversy • Choonghee Han, University of Iowa • This paper explores the roles of national media in the framing of memories and national identity construction. What frames were used and what kinds of roles a newspaper played towards its audiences are examined. Specifically, this paper examines news coverage of the shrine controversy as it appeared in Japanese largest circulation newspaper. The shrine controversy means the international dispute surrounding Japanese former Prime Minister Koizumi’s visit to the Yasukuni Shrine.
Does Gender Still Matter? Issue Emphasis in 2006 U.S. House and Senate Campaign Ads • Kyle Heim, University of Missouri-Columbia • Political communication researchers examining gender stereotypes have typically found that female candidates benefit by focusing on “female” issues and men benefit by emphasizing “male” issues. In today’s political climate, however, this strategy may no longer make sense. This study content-analyzes 176 ads from the 2006 U.S. House and Senate campaigns and finds little difference between men and women in issue emphasis. Moreover, neither men nor women hurt their chances of winning by violating gender stereotypes.
Free Press, Front Lines: A Phenomenological Study of Embedded Journalists and Their Military Host Officers During the Iraq War • Ana-Klara Hering, University of Florida • During the Iraq War, hundreds of journalists enrolled in the Department of Defense Embedded Media Program, which offered the media frontline access to U.S. and Coalition troops. The unlikely partnership between the military and the media revolutionized modern-day war coverage. This study captured the personal experiences of 14 Marine Corps officers with whom journalists embedded.
Parental Mediation of News Content: Predicting Parental Viewing, Discussing, and Rulemaking about News with Adolescents • Lindsay Hoffman, Ohio State University • Little research has examined parental mediation of news content. This study examines the factors that make parents more or less likely to mediate news on television, in newspapers, and online. Attention is devoted to mediation with adolescents, who are more likely to consume news content than younger children. Family communication patterns, perceived effects of news on children’s attitudes and behaviors, news media use, and parents’ own parental mediation as children were significant predictors of mediation.
The Marijuana Debate: A Social Structural Analysis of Newspaper Coverage of Marijuana • Stacey J.T. Hust, Masahiro Yamamoto, Yi-Chun Yvonnes Chen and Rebecca Van de Vord, Washington State University • A social structural analysis of newspaper coverage of marijuana indicated state newspapers are more likely to discuss aspects of the debate that are congruent with their state’s policy. Although research suggests higher circulation newspapers in structurally plural communities have the capacity to discuss complex issues, neither factors influenced media coverage of marijuana. Overall, these findings indicate news coverage in medicinal marijuana states validates the drug’s use.
Terrorism in Film Trailers: Demographics, Portrayals, Violence, and Changes in Content after September 11, 2001 • James (Jimmy) Ivory and Andrew Paul Williams, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Jennifer Hatch, The College of William & Mary and David Covucci, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University • Terrorism has long been a popular theme in theatrical films. Movie trailers, which have grown increasingly ubiquitous due to technologies such as the World Wide Web and portable digital media players, reach a far greater audience (some viewing intentionally, some unintentionally) than do the films themselves. This paper reports a content analysis examining the demographics and portrayal of terrorists in major-release film trailers, as well as the trailers’ prevalence of violence.
When ‘Good’ Conflicts Go Bad: Testing a Hierarchy-of-Influences Model on Embeds’ Attitudes Toward Censorship in the Iraq War • Tom Johnson, Texas Tech University and Shahira Fahmy, Southern Illinois University • This study, based on surveys of embedded journalists, examines whether embeds’ opinions towards press freedom have changed over time and whether they believe censorship has increased as criticism of the Iraq War have increased and public support has declined.
American Newspaper Coverage of Islam Post – September 11, 2001: A Community Structure Approach • Jason Katz, Victoria Cullen, Connor Buttner and John Pollock, The College of New Jersey • Using a community structure approach linking city characteristics and nationwide reporting on Islam for two years (9/11/2004 – 9/11/2006), a sample of 25 major cities yielded 357 articles. Article prominence and direction measures were combined into Pollock’s Media Vector scores for each newspaper, ranging from +.529 to -.388 (sixteen cities revealing negative coverage).
Verbal Styles of Presidential Candidates in Political Spots and Debates in the U.S. and South Korea • Hyoungkoo Khang, Sungkyunkwan University • This study examined similarities and differences in uses of verbal styles between candidates in both televised political spots and candidate debate statements, and contrasted between the U.S. and Korea. Throughout the computerized content analysis of the presidential spots and debates, to the extent that clear differences exist between American and Korean cultural patterns, political spots and debates, which are a conspicuous indicator of cultural values, appear to manifest these differences quite strongly.
“Your Weight Is Whose Problem?” A Content Analysis of News Frames on Obesity-Related Coverage • Hyo Jung Kim and Sungwook Hwang, University of Missouri-Columbia • This study compared the print news and television news coverage of obesity based on framing theory. Results showed an association between media type and news framing of obesity-related issues. Television news used individualizing frames and human-interest frames more frequently than did print news, while print news used systematic frames, responsibility frames and conflict frames more frequently than did television news.
The News Media Function of Government Websites and Communicative Engagement in Electronic Governance • Ji-Young Kim, Sungkyunkwan University • While the traditional media such as newspaper and television were the unique resources for people to obtain the information on government policies, the Internet has made it possible that they directly access that information with government websites functioning as a news media delivering policy news and political information.
Interplay between Media Use and Social Participation in the Context of Healthy Lifestyle Behaviors: The Mediating Role of Interpersonal Health Communication • Chul-joo Lee, University of Pennsylvania • This study firstly aimed to explore how media use for health information acquisition and social participation interact in the context of healthy lifestyle behaviors. Then, based on the traditional two-step flow model of communication, I examined whether the interactive effects between media use and social participation on healthy lifestyle behaviors are mediated through interpersonal health communication.
Effects of TV Sexual vs. Physical Violence against Women on Viewers’ Gender and Sexual Attitudes • Moon Lee, J.T. Hust, Lingling Zhang, Yungying and Zhang, Mija Shin, Washington State University • We investigated the effects of sexual vs. physical violence against women portrayed in TV drama on viewers’ gender stereotypes, acceptance of the objectification of women, sexual permissiveness, and rape myth acceptance. Using a posttest-only group experimental design, one hundred and seventy six college undergraduates viewed a set of five clips of either sexual or physical violence on TV.
She May Have That Done: The Third-Person Effect in Plastic Surgery TV Programs • Shu-Yueh Lee, University of Tennessee • This study examines audiences’ perceived effects about plastic surgery television programs. First, the third-person effect is supported in this study. Second, the factor of social distance between self and others does not influence people’s perceived effects all by itself. The gender of the assumed targets is a stronger factor than social distance in affecting people’s perceived effects on others.
Why They Don’t Trust the Media – An Examination of Factors Predicting Trust • Tien-Tsung Lee, University of Kansas • Political communication literature reveals an on-going scholarly interest in issues surrounding the credibility of news media. Despite scientific evidence to the contrary, many consumers continue to believe U.S. news media have a political bias and, therefore, are not to be trusted. This study seeks to explain media trust using a new theoretical model.
Selective News Exposure, Rally Effects and the Iraq War • Carolyn A. Lin, University of Connecticut • News media coverage of the Iraq war plays a significant role in informing the public about the war event itself. This study examined whether exposure to different news sources had an impact on the public’s opinion on the war. It also explored how the public’s patriotic values, political orientation and religious conviction influenced relationships between their news source exposure and support for the war.
Framing of Public Health Issues: A Content Analysis of Smoking Ban Coverage in Ohio’s Six Major Newspapers • Jennette Lovejoy, Ohio University • A content analysis of major newspaper coverage of Ohio’s smoking ban issues was conducted to ascertain possible media effects on voter preference. In general, news articles presented both sides of the arguments for and against the smoking ban, while opinions pieces favored smoking ban legislation. In addition, most articles focused on issues of human individual rights and tobacco companies’ deceptive tactics of persuasion. Implications for future health media campaigns are discussed.
Blog Functions as Risk and Crisis Communication During Hurricane Katrina • Wendy Macias, University of Georgia, Karen Hilyard and Vicki Freimuth • Blogs were examined during the two weeks following Hurricane Katrina hitting New Orleans to better understand what functions they served. The major functions included both filtering and linking about rescue needs and efforts, missing persons, ways to offer and find assistance, fostering community, and providing information on damage and government response. A thinker function was fulfilled where bloggers expressed opinions, especially on government response.
What Are We Saying About Sex? A Content Analysis of Sexual Health Issues in the Print News Media • Lesa Hatley Major and Kimberly Walker, Indiana University • This study provides a baseline assessment of how the news media present information about sexual health issues in the United States. We content analyzed 330 articles from 49 newspapers around the country. The framing of the coverage was examined using the five levels of the ecological model – intrapersonal, individual, organizational, community, and societal/policy.
All the children are above average: Parents’ perceptions of education and materialism as media effects on their own and other children • Patrick Meirick, Jeanetta Sims and Eileen Gilchrist, University of Oklahoma, Stephen Croucher, Bowling Green State University • Recent research shows parents manifest vicarious third-person perceptions on behalf of their children; that is, they believe their children are less affected by media sex and violence than other children. This study (N = 171) found vicarious third-person perceptions for materialism effects of television and vicarious first-person perceptions for advanced educational effects of public television.
What do we know about cosmeceutical product advertising? Factors influencing college women’s beauty care decision-making • Juan Meng, University of Alabama • By using a 2 X 2 factorial design, this experiment investigated the influence of cosmeceutical product advertising and product-related news on college women’s perceptions of self body-esteem and their beauty care decision-making. The results indicated that although cosmeceutical product ads/news did not exert a great influence on college women’s perceptions of self body-esteem, respondents with different levels of self body-esteem showed significant differences in terms of beauty care decision-making.
Television and social capital in Egypt: A third world examination of Putnam’s theory • Hesham Mesbah, Kuwait University • This study examines Putnam’s theory of social capital from an indigenous third world perspective. A random sample of 400 adults was interviewed in Cairo, Egypt. The results did not support Putnam’s hypothesis of time displacement. People do not get diverted from civic participation because of the amount of time they spend watching TV. Attention to particular programming is more powerful in predicting social capital.
Media Coverage of the Supreme Court • Emily Metzgar, Stella Rouse and Kaitlyn Sill, Louisiana State University • Although the Supreme Court’s influence as a political institution is largely dependent on the media’s dissemination of information about its decisions, little is known about variables leading to media coverage of the Court. In this paper, we examine whether journalists rely on case characteristics for cues about the newsworthiness and political salience of Court decisions. We find that reporters rely on a variety of case factors are indicators of both case importance and political salience.
Framing Islam and Democracy: A Content Analysis of Representations in the U.S. Prestige Press from 1985-2005 • Smeeta Mishra, Bowling Green State University • A content analysis study of the framing of Islam and democracy in the U.S. prestige press between 1985 and 2005 showed that coverage increased substantially after the 9/11 attacks, reaching its peak when the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003. The top two primary topics associated with the coverage of Islam and democracy were the threat of extremist Islam and political conflict.
Continuous Media Consumption: Evidence from the Middletown II Studies • Jay Newell, Iowa State University, Robert A. Papper, Michael Holmes and Mark Popovich, Ball State University and Mike Bloxham • The post-modern conception of media saturation assumes that individuals are inundated with mass media, and that media exposure is non-stop. This research tested the assumption of non-stop media consumption through an analysis of 4,500 hours of observations from the Middletown II multiple media studies (N = 350). A substantial number of participants were exposed to one or more forms of media for 100% of the observed day.
Patterns of failure: A functional analysis of television spots of unsuccessful U.S. presidential candidates (1952-2004) • Uche Onyebadi, University of Missouri • This paper examines the minimally researched area of television spots of failed presidential candidates. It applies the functional theory of political campaign discourse. An interesting finding: contrary to conventional wisdom, some failed Democratic Party presidential candidates acclaimed more than they attacked in their political spots.
Antecedents of College Student’s Future Intentions to Undergo Cosmetic Surgery: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach • Jin Seong Park and Chang-Hoan Cho, University of Florida • Cosmetic surgery is increasingly used in the U.S. as a method to improve physical appearance. Using a structural equation modeling approach, the authors developed and tested a theoretical model specifying the multiple pathways through which a number of psychological and socio-cultural factors potentially influence the intention to receive cosmetic surgery in the future.
Spiral Of Silence Experiment On An Online Forum: Willingness To Post A Message And Fear Of Isolation • Sung-Yeon Park and Gi Woong Yun, Bowling Green State University and Anca Birzescu • Presence of online forums changed the ways people communicate. Current Weblog culture reflects this cultural phenomenon. Authors of this study realized that the communication environment in CMC is particularly relevant to the discourses of the traditional communication theory, spiral of silence.
TV sex exposure and college students’ sexual expectations attitudes: An experiment • Jack Powers, Ithaca College • Using the Solomon four-group experimental method, 99 subjects were randomly placed into four groups to test the hypothesis that students exposed to 12-minute clips featuring sex content from TV would score higher on a sexual attitudes index than those subjects not so exposed. While there was no statistical significance between the control groups and the experimental groups, the reported attitudes about sexual expectations were quite interesting.
Consumer Culture and Lifestyle Politics: The Case of Socially Conscious, Green, and Anti-Consumption Consumption • Mark A. Rademacher, University of Wisconsin-Madison • Consumer culture has become entrenched in American society over the past century. The goal of the current paper is to trace to trace the emergence of consumer culture, its affect on civic engagement, and the rise of lifestyle politics. Specifically, three forms of lifestyle politics will be examined– socially conscious consumption, environmental consumption, and anti-consumption movements. Conclusions are discussed regarding the state of civic engagement and lifestyle politics in contemporary consumer culture.
Cancer Research Funding and the Press: Identifying a Relationship and Raising the Question of Causality • Jason Reineke and Michael Slater, Ohio State University, Marilee Long, Colorado State University and Erwin Bettinghaus, Klein Buendel, Inc. • This research was designed to determine if there is a relationship between the amount of news media coverage different types of cancer receive and the amount of money the National Cancer Institute grants for research on those cancers. Analysis of content, epidemiological, and NCI research funding data indicates that newspaper coverage is related to later NCI research funding, and that NCI research funding is related to later newspaper, magazine and television coverage. Implications are discussed.
Excitation Transfer: Arousal States Due to Exercise and Perceptions of Mass Media Images, Media Exposure, and Interpersonal Communication • Claudia Rojo, University of Texas-Austin • In 1959, Bernard Berelson argued that mass communications research appeared to be approaching its end. In response to this claim, Elihu Katz proposed a theory of his own—the uses and gratifications approach—which moved away from asking what media do to people, but rather focused on what people bring to media.
Statewide Political Journalism: Public Perceptions of Media Accuracy, Bias, and Problem-Solving Ability • Karen Rowley, David Kurpius, Robert Kirby Goidel and Christopher McCollough, Louisiana State University • This study explores how perceived media biases affect views of media as being helpful to citizens in their coverage of state politics and public affairs. This builds on a body of literature on cynicism, media bias, and public journalism. The study uses multiple regression analyses of a national survey of 605 respondents. The findings indicate perceived media bias works against the people viewing media as helpful in public problem-solving.
Television and the cultivation of gender stereotypes about sports • Shinichi Saito, Tokyo Woman’s Christian University • This study examines whether viewing televised sports news cultivates gender stereotypes about sports. Data from a sampling survey revealed that viewing televised sports news is related to traditional beliefs about the gender appropriateness of the sports categorized as masculine.
News Media Framing of American Indians: A Study of 10 Years of American Indian News Reports from the ABC, CBS, and NBC Broadcast Evening Network News Programs • John Sanchez, Pennsylvania State University • This study identifies and examines for the first time American Indian News reports broadcast by the CBS, ABC, and NBC evening news programs from 1990-1999. The close examination of these American Indian news reports determines the number of occurrences and examines the construction of news report frames of American Indians to which American Indian news reports can be classified.
Trivializing the News? Affective Context Effects of Commercials on the Perception of Television News • Christian Schemer, Joerg Matthes and Werner Wirth, University of Zurich • This study examined whether affect induced by television commercials influences the perception of news programming. An experiment showed that viewers in positive moods generated by television commercials (affective priming) perceive news stories viewed both after and before watching the commercials as more entertaining, relaxing, realistic and as more credible than viewers exposed to neutral commercials do. Positive mood, as compared to neutral mood, also had a positively biasing effect on the perceived importance of news.
The Smokers Inside Kids’ Heads: Re-examining Normative Influences on Youth of Tobacco Use • Maureen Schriner, University of Minnesota • The approach of this study in examining normative influences on youth was to compare 4th and 6th graders’ perceptions about tobacco use. Both grades had strikingly similar overestimates of adult smoking prevalence, at nearly three times the actual adult smoking rate. The 4th and 6th graders did differ significantly in mass media tobacco exposure and cigarette brand recognition, but not in other social influence measures.
Social Learning of Aggressive, Argumentative and Disrespectful Attitudes through Stand-up Comedy • Marc Seamon, Robert Morris University • The communication literature on social learning of attitudes through consumption of mediated entertainment has focused primarily on the effects of television violence. Humor researchers have not pursued the same line of media effects study but instead have examined the mood-enhancing effect of comedy.
Intra-media Interaction: The Multiplicative Effects of News Media Use on Political Knowledge • Fei Shen, Ohio State University • A secondary analysis of three data sets revealed that media use not only has independent impact on political knowledge, but also creates joint effects across different programs within a certain type of medium and across different types of media outlets.
The Political World in Storage: How Communication Influences Political Knowledge Structure • Fei Shen, Ohio State University • This study expands traditional studies on media’s influences on political knowledge by examining the relationship between political knowledge structure density (KSD) and various communication behaviors. Three major findings are suggested by data collected from a RDD telephone survey during November 2004 in Ohio. First, newspaper consumption and political discussion contribute to KSD. Second, elaboration, the tendency to make conceptual connections when processing news, is positively related with KSD.
Media Coverage of West Nile Virus and Avian Flu: News Source, News Values, and Issue • Tsung-Jen Shih, Rosalyna Wijaya and Dominique Brossard, University of Wisconsin-Madison • This study examined the use of news sources in New York Times’ coverage of West Nile virus and avian flu through a content analysis. Our findings indicate that government and scientists were the most prominent sources in the coverage of West Nile virus, with the World Health Organization taking over as the second most prominent source in avian flu coverage.
Perceived Influence of Women’s Magazine Portrayals on Body Image • Melissa Shrader and Denise DeLorme, University of Central Florida • A series of in-depth interviews was conducted with frequent readers of beauty and fashion magazines to examine the perceived influence of women’s magazine portrayals on self and others. Findings provide additional evidence to support the third-person effect as it relates to female body image. Results reveal that the portrayals were perceived to have greater and more negative effects on others than on self.
Prime Time Characters and Violence in the 21st Century: Involvement, Race, Sex and Age • Nancy Signorielli, University of Delaware • An analysis of leading/supporting characters in week-long samples of prime time network programming broadcast between the fall of 2000 and the fall of 2006 found that 30% of the characters were involved in violence, with more men than women so involved. Compared to earlier studies, involvement now tilts toward committing violence rather than being a victim of violence, even for the women.
The dual role of ethnic media with its dual content: The effect of local news and home country news connectedness of ethnic media on the sense of belonging to the residential area • Hayeon Song, University of Southern California • Research on ethnic media has had a long dispute about whether ethnic media helps or hampers acculturation. This paper argues the contents of the ethnic media has been overlooked when explaining the two seemingly opposite roles of ethnic media, and it empirically test the effect of local news and home country news featured in ethnic newspapers in Latino, Chinese and Korean ethnic communities in Los Angeles on a sense of belonging to the residential areas.
Harry Potter and the Exploitative Jackals: Media credibility attribute salience in young audiences • Daxton Stewart, University of Missouri • J.K. Rowling’s wildly successful series of children’s books about Harry Potter, the boy wizard, depicts journalists in a decidedly unflattering light. The scandalous, unethical reporter Rita Skeeter antagonizes Harry in the fourth book in the series, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, while The Daily Prophet, the wizarding world’s daily newspaper, portrays him as a mentally disturbed teenager crying wolf in the following book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
Blood Diamonds: Coverage and Framing in US and Canadian Newspapers • Avril Adrianne De Guzman, Kyung Sun Lee and Sainan Wang, Iowa State • This study assessed US and Canadian newspaper framing of blood diamonds from 2000 to 2007. By applying the theoretical framework of framing cycle and triggering effect, the research explored shifts in frames used by newspapers marked by two triggering events. Results showed that ‘UN call for diamond certification scheme’ and the “launch of the movie Blood Diamond” were the most frequently cited. The stakeholder frame was the dominant frame for both US and Canada.
Local Media, Public Opinion, and State Government Policy: Second-Level Agenda Setting and Political Bias • Yue Tan and David Weaver, Indiana University • This study aims to explore second-level agenda setting at the state level. In particular, it examines the relationships among media bias of local newspapers, state-level public opinion and state policies, in order to better understand mass media’s role in state policymaking. It is found that local media’s tendency to cite liberal think tanks correlates to policy priorities, while its endorsement of Democratic candidates correlates to liberal public opinion and liberal policies.
Watching Network News and Supporting a Woman Presidential Candidate: Implications from a Non-Election Year Poll • Hai Tran, University of North Carolina • This paper explores the relationships between news use and willingness to support a female candidate for president. Cross-sectional survey data in a non-election year were analyzed to examine the differential effects of media channels on political learning and voting behavior. Findings suggest that exposure to network TV news contributes to opinions about the likelihood of voting for a woman seeking presidency.
Media Effects on Domestic Migration: The Influence of Money Magazine’s “Best Places to Live” Rankings • Sebastian Valenzuela, University of Texas-Austin • City rankings abound, but few studies have measured if they have an impact on real-world conditions. The present study is the first empirical attempt to asses if city ratings have an effect on the public by documenting the influence of Money magazine’s “Best Places to Live” ranking across a 7-year period on domestic migration flows of 66 U.S. cities.
Antecedents to Agenda Setting and Framing in Health and Medical Science News • Sherrie Wallington, Kelly Blake, Kalahn Taylor-Clark and Vish Viswanath, Harvard University and the Dana – Farber Cancer Institute • Few studies have determined the sources and resources that health journalists say they use in developing health and medical science news stories, as well as the priorities and angles they use in selecting and writing stories. We used a national survey of health reporters and editors to show that differential individual and organizational characteristics may influence health reporters’ and editors’ agenda setting and framing of medical and public health news.
The Impact of Political Discussion on Political Decision-making • Ming Wang, University of Wisconsin-Madison and Bruce Pinkleton, Washington State University • A local telephone survey (n=237) was conducted in 2005 to examine how political discussions among voters would affect political decision-making. Factor analysis of the survey data first separates two distinct, yet related, constructs: political cynicism and political skepticism. Multiple regression analysis further shows that political discussion frequency is positively associated with involvement, political efficacy and political skepticism whereas perceived importance of political discussion is only associated with involvement and political efficacy.
What Shapes Americans’ Opinions about Other Countries? News, Entertainment, and Personal Contact • Xiuli Wang, Di Zhang and Temple Northup, Syracuse University • In today’s global environment, public perceptions of foreign countries can play an important role in foreign policy decisions. Accordingly, it is becoming increasingly important to understand what factors contribute to the opinions individuals hold about foreign countries. In this cross-sectional survey, the influences of news, entertainment, and personal contact are examined, with results suggesting that news exposure influences public opinion the most, although entertainment and personal contact may also play an important role.
An Experiment in Female Viewers’ Attentiveness to Pro-Esteem Media Messages • Pierre Wilhelm, Athabasca University and Lucian Dinu, University of Louisiana-Lafayette • The present investigation examined the extent to which commercial TV ads that promote a “pro-esteem” attitude regarding women’s appearance can improve female viewers’ appreciation of their personal beauty. It also questioned whether a professionally produced movie depicting hefty “real women” celebrating their personal beauty could improve female viewers’ body-esteem. Researchers raised two related research questions guiding the present experiment. The first question investigated the effect that test clips exerted on female viewers’ body-esteem.
Does newspaper coverage of breast cancer produce frame-setting effects on teachers’ perceptions? • Zheng Yang, Cornell University and Philip Hart • Results from a content analysis of 140 articles on the breast cancer issue from 1996 to 2005 are compared with data from a self-administered survey conducted in 2005. News articles are selected from the New York Times and four other regional newspapers in the New York State, where the survey was conducted among school teachers. Reports on new findings from scientific research emerge as the dominant theme in breast cancer coverage.
Context and Sources in Broadcast Television Coverage of the 2004 Democratic Primary • Geri Alumit Zeldes, Frederick Fico and Steve Lacy, Michigan State University • This study examined context variables (reporter speculation, multiple viewpoints, and story emphasis) and source variables (anonymous sources and source transparency) in broadcast television coverage of the 2004 Democratic presidential primaries. Primary coverage was compared with coverage of other major stories. Primary coverage was no more focused on conflict than were other major stories. Primary coverage was, however, more focused on winners and losers, and primary reporting was more likely to include reporter speculation.
Electoral commitment as an intervening variable: Explaining why age, income and education affect newspaper readership • Jianchuan Zhou, University of Georgia • The theory of civic duty suggests that a sense of civic duty drives citizens to participate in politics and keep informed. Results from a telephone survey preceding a gubernatorial election support this theory. This paper confirms that a relationship between electoral commitment and newspaper use frequency is not spurious, and demonstrates that electoral commitment is an intervening variable between demographic determinants and newspaper use. The intervening role is particularly strong between education and newspaper use.
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