Newspaper 2007 Abstracts
Newspaper Division
Examining Episodic and Thematic Framing of the 2005 French Riots in Cross-National Press • Angela D. Abel, Cynthia-Lou Coleman, Portland State University • Framing theories have provided a rich landscape for viewing media coverage of political conflicts, social protests, and wars, and the current study joins the body of research that examines news through a framing lens. Specifically the authors extend Shanto Iyengar’s thesis of episodic and thematic news framing, honed by analysis of television coverage, to print media.
Preserving News Integrity: Ethical Certainty and the Boundary Spanning Roles of Newspaper Advertising Executives • Soontae An, Kansas State University and Lori Bergen, Texas State University-San Marcos • This study examined a boundary spanning role of advertising sales executives who sell newspaper advertising, i.e., the degree to which advertising sales executives’ duties may influence a newspaper’s editorial content. A survey of 219 advertising directors measured their amount of formal and informal communication with advertisers to assess their boundary spanning activities.
Editorial and Editorial Cartoon Content in the 2006 Ohio Gubernatorial Campaign • Erin Armstrong, Lisa Forster, Katherine Muse, Jared Rutecki, David Sennerud, Mai Tang and Yi Tian, Ohio University • This study analyzed the content and differences between editorials and editorial cartoons in the six largest Ohio daily newspapers during the 2006 Ohio gubernatorial campaign. Instead of gubernatorial campaign issues—like education or the economy—the election process, including endorsements and horse-race coverage, was the topic most frequently covered. Additionally, there was significant editorial coverage on international and national security content during a statewide election, when more local content might have been expected.
Citizen Journalism and the TMC: User content as a driver for a free newspaper • Clyde Bentley, Hans Meyer and Jeremy Littau, University of Missouri • A random-digit-dialing survey was used to test the impact of citizen journalism content on a weekly total market coverage (TMC) edition of a Midwestern daily newspaper. Regression analysis of the data showed high interest in and readership of the user-generated content supplied to the TMC by a citizen journalism Web site was a major driver of the overall readership of the publication.
Keeping Which Gates for Whom? Choosing Nation/World News at Local Daily Newspapers • Dan Berkowitz, University of Iowa • This paper explores the selection of national and world news at daily newspapers. Data come from interviews with editors at small- and medium-sized newspapers. Unlike the gatekeeping days of Mr. Gates, wire news selection was a minor task, with nation/world stories relegated to a small inside space. Editors worked alone with minimal guidance, and the news they chose had a low priority compared to local news, which increasingly dominated the overall news hole.
“Well worth the dime”: Reader Loyalty to The New York Standard When Television Was New • Joseph Bernt and Marilyn Greenwald, Ohio University • During New York’s 114-day newspaper strike of 1962-1963, nine newspapers throughout the city closed, causing economic stress and forcing New Yorkers to alternative media. This paper carefully examines one successful alternative news source: The New York Standard, a six-day-a-week newspaper published by a credit-card company and staffed by out-of-work journalists. This study indicates that The Standard’s publishers and staff offered readers desired news, features, and advertising—which earned high readership, reader loyalty, and ad-lines.
Bias in the Newsroom: Newspaper Staff Describe the Personal, Organizational and Structural Influences on Coverage • Carrie Brown, University of Missouri • A secondary analysis of survey data collected by the Committee of Concerned Journalists from 896 journalists at 18 newspapers identifies six kinds of biases modern journalists believe influence their work. While some journalists said that the political biases the public perceives in the news do affect coverage, more responses indicated that inherent human biases, structural biases produced via the routines of news production, and the lack of staff diversity are a larger influence on the news.
Not So Different After All: An Examination of the Uses and Gratifications of a Newspaper’s Youth Section • Amanda Brozana, Stillman College and University of Alabama • A survey, from the uses and gratifications approach, was conducted with readers (N=152) of a Southern daily, specifically who took interest in the paper’s youth section. The study found teens often use the newspaper and youth sections in order to gain information that they may pass on to others. Further, adults and youth use this youth section in different ways and the gratifications this section are higher than of the general newspaper for young readers.
Selling Gay Rights in Colorado: A New Approach for the Centennial State • Christopher Burnett, California State University-Long Beach and Genelle Belmas, California State University-Fullerton • In 2006, Colorado became a battleground in the struggle for gay rights. In an attempt to blunt the impact of the potential passage of a constitutional amendment defining marriage as one man and one woman, gay rights advocates promoted an alternative approach – providing domestic partnership rights for same-sex couples. This paper explores whether a rural-urban divide, or other factors, played the key role in determining the vote.
Haunted by the Babe: Baseball Commissioner Ford Frick’s Newspaper Columns about Babe Ruth • John Carvalho, Auburn University • In 1961, Baseball Commissioner Ford Frick, a former newspaper sports columnist, announced that Roger Maris’s home run record would not be recognized unless he set it in 154 games, as record-holder Babe Ruth did. Frick’s announcement sparked criticism. This paper demonstrates that the motive for Frick’s actions was loyalty toward Ruth, as reflected both in his ghostwriting for Ruth and his columns in the New York Journal newspaper.
Outside Influences: Extramedia Forces and the Newsworthiness Conceptions of Online and Print Newspaper Journalists • William Cassidy, Northern Illinois University • This paper examines the influence of extramedia (outside) forces on the newsworthiness conceptions of online and print newspaper journalists. A national survey (N=655) found that while extramedia forces exerted only a moderate influence overall, there were more influential on the online group. Online newspaper journalists rated Audience Research, Advertisers, Public Opinion Polls, Wire Service Budgets, and Prestige Publications as significantly more influential than did print newspaper journalists.
Setting the Record Straight: An Analysis of Letters to the Editor about Gay Marriage • Kristin Comeforo, Berkeley College • The current study analyzed 256 letters to the editors about gay marriage. The goals were to explain how letter writers come to understand gay marriage, and to evaluate the letters page as a public sphere. Findings suggest that letter writers attempt to interpret gay marriage through existing frames of reference, in various ways, and to different ends. In this way, the letters page functions as a marketplace of ideas rather than a public sphere.
Lessons Learned from Covering Katrina: Comparing Local, Regional, and National Newspapers and Staff Perspectives • Roxanne Dill and Denis Wu, Louisiana State University • This study examined the first two-week coverage of Hurricane Katrina by local, regional, and national newspapers. Specifically, the researchers looked at topics covered, frame, types of sources cited and authorities quoted, geographic focus, and assignment of blame for the devastation and evacuee distress that followed this historic storm.
Boosting the home team: The framing of business news in a large metro daily • Felicity Duncan, University of Missouri • This paper analyzes the ways in which a large midwestern metro daily covers local, national and international businesses and individual businesspeople. Business news forms an integral part of today’s metro newspaper and readers appreciate quality business coverage, yet little research has focused on business news content. Using a framing approach, this paper studied the subject matter and tone of business news coverage, and identified the frames used in covering business.
War of Words: How 22 Newspapers in 11 Countries Framed the Buildup to the Iraq War • John Hatcher, University of Minnesota-Duluth • The buildup to the Iraq war offered the ideal test for what Babbie (2001) calls a natural experiment. This study compares 528 news items from 22 newspapers in 11 democracies. It asks if differences in news coverage are explained by differences in the social structure of a country, the public opinion of a country or with a country’s political position with respect to a specific global event.
International news coverage in U.S. newspapers in a post-Sept. 11 world • Beverly Horvit, Robyn Kriel, Karen Anderson and Jackie Rodriguez, Texas Christian University • An analysis of a four-week constructed sample of international news (N=1,024 stories) in The New York Times, USA Today, Houston Chronicle and Buffalo News indicates the volume of coverage has declined since the 1990s. Iraq received the most coverage, and the top topics were combat/political violence, government and diplomacy. The Middle East received the most coverage in all papers but The Times, which covered Asia more. Of the papers, USA Today had the least coverage.
U.S. News Media: Guardians of Freedom? • Ralph Izard, Louisiana State University and Weimin Chang, Shantou University • This study looks into coverage of the USA Patriot Act to determine whether four prominent newspapers adhere to their traditional function of being guardians of civil liberty. The content analysis found that concerns for individual liberty topped the framing and generally coverage was negative toward the act. Results also showed framing changed as the debate on the act advanced.
The real gender-bender: The curious case of news coverage of the Steve Stanton story • Rick Kenney, University of Central Florida • In its editions for Thursday, Feb. 22, 2007, the St. Petersburg Times reported: “With the mayor at his side, longtime Largo City Manager Steve Stanton disclosed to the St. Petersburg Times on Wednesday that he is undergoing hormone therapy and counseling in preparation for a sex-change operation” (Helfand and Farley, 2007, p. 1A).
Modern-Day Slavery: News Frames of Human Trafficking and Attributes of Trafficking Victims • Jeesun Kim and Wayne Wanta, University of Missouri • This study explores news frames and attributes used in the coverage of human trafficking from 1996 to 2007 in The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times. Results show the responsibility frame was dominant, while the victim-centered attribute, emphasizing “modern-day slavery,” was the most frequently used to identify trafficking victims. Most victims are from Asia, Latin America, or Africa.
Differential News Coverage of Female and Male Athletes During the 2004 Olympic Games • Nathan Kirkham, Catherine Luther and Robin Hardin, University of Tennessee • This study examined how U.S. newspapers covered female and male athletes during the 2004 Olympic Games. Previous research has indicated framing devices that reflect bias against female athletes would be present in the coverage. This research found that although male athletes received more coverage than female athletes, the traditional regressive framing devices against females found in other studies were not significantly present. The only appreciably present frame was physical attractiveness.
Public Opinion Formation of a President: An Agenda Setting study of newspaper coverage of George W. Bush and how it associated with Gallup Poll • Jennifer Kowalewski, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill • This study examined 15 newspapers to determine the relationship between the supportive tone and Gallup Poll approval ratings. The study showed a positive correlation between public approval rating and supportive newspaper coverage, including an increase in supportive tone following the terrorist attacks, and a decrease in supportive tone leading up to Hurricane Katrina. In a presidency where public approval rating has shifted, newspaper supportive coverage and Gallup Poll relate in their view of the president.
The News Readability Problem • Dominic Lasorsa and Seth Lewis, University of Texas-Austin • Low readability of news has often been attributed to production and format features (e.g., deadlines; lead-packing). This study puts blame elsewhere. Stories found deceptive were more readable than authentic stories from the same news organizations. Because the stories were written under similar production and format conditions, findings indicate that low readability is due to the challenge of journalism to convey information only about the real world. Not so constrained, deceptive “news” portrays a simpler world.
The Impacts of Declining Newspaper Readership on Young Americans’ Political Knowledge and Participation: A Longitudinal Analysis • Tien-Tsung Lee, University of Kansas and Lu Wei, Washington State University • Using national survey data from 1984 to 2004, this study examines changes over time in newspaper readership among Americans aged 17 to 24. Newspaper readership is the lowest in this age group and has been declining, which has negative effects on political knowledge and participation. Possible solutions and implications, including competing media and the impacts of political ideology and partisanship, are discussed.
Next-generation news consumers: An exploratory study of young adults and their future with news and newspapers • Seth Lewis, University of Texas-Austin • This study explored the link between young adults’ perceptions and intentions toward news. It surveyed 1,222 students at two large universities and found that five years from now young adults expect to get less of their news from social-networking sites and more from traditional media—especially newspapers. A factor analysis revealed that perceptions toward the future of news have five dimensions: Time and Effort Consuming, Satisfying Civic and Personal Needs, Socially Useful, Devoid of Fun, and Biased.
Editorializing Immigration: A Content Analysis of Op-Ed Columns • Jennifer Lloyd, University of Texas-Austin • A content analysis of New York Times and Washington Post op-ed columns over two one-year periods found that coverage of immigration issues increased over time and was framed in terms of political action. Columnists were more likely to mention politicians as initial sources of immigration information than expert or immigrant sources. Columnists were also more likely to address immigration issues with a positive overall tone which was significantly related to the immigrants’ area of origin.
Tip of the Iceberg: Published Corrections Represent Less than Two Percent of Factual Errors in Newspapers • Scott Maier, University of Oregon • To assess how frequently inaccurate news stories are corrected, this investigation tracks 1,200 factual errors identified by news sources in a cross-market accuracy audit of ten daily U.S. newspapers. The study showed that less than 2 percent of errors identified by news sources resulted in published corrections. The findings challenge how well journalism’s “corrections box” sets the record straight or serves as a safety valve for the venting of frustrations by wronged news sources.
Framing the Storm: Comparison of Frames Used in Impending Storm Coverage • Chris McCollough, Louisiana State University • This is an examination of newspaper coverage of the hurricane seasons of 2004 and 2006 to determine if the hurricane season of 2005 impacted impending storm coverage. Content analysis of 164 articles in four newspapers, guided by framing theory demonstrated differences with traditional scholarship (Semetko & Valkenburg, 2000). Findings surprisingly indicated valence of frames was more neutral in the 2006 season than in the 2004 season.
Reporter beat and content differences in environmental stories • Michael McCluskey, Ohio State University • Literature suggests story content varies by reporter beat, but little confirming evidence exists. Project used environmental news, which cuts across beats, to analyze differences in story content and context. Analysis of 484 newspaper articles and survey responses from 37 environmental groups shows environmental writers wrote stories more positive to environmental groups than business, political and general reporters. Context of environmental group resources and goals showed some variance among reporter types.
Researchers Are Writing the Obituary, but Geography Is Not Dead Yet • Rachel Mersey, University of Minnesota • The idea of geography is fundamental to the local newspaper, which covers both community news and news from a community perspective. But now scholars suggest that “geography is dead.” A survey of 1,171 adults living in Maricopa County, Ariz., uses geographic and online sense of community measures in order to determine the importance of geography in today’s Internet-rich environment. Results rebuff scholars’ suggestions and indicate that respondents are still attached to their geographic communities.
Maybe the Internet Can Not Save Journalism: The Geographic Sense of Community Gap • Rachel Mersey, University of Minnesota • This research, a survey of 1,171 adults living in Maricopa County, Ariz., is rooted in the idea that there is a virtuous cycle linking newspaper readership to sense of community for the benefit of social capital. Using psychological sense of community measures, it is designed to address what is happening to this relationship when news and news consumers move online. Evidence suggests that newspapers still have a stronger hold than the Web over geographic communities.
The Ties that Bind: News Discourse, Gay Marriage and the Politics of GLBT Representation • Leigh Moscowitz, Indiana University • This paper employs critical-cultural perspectives to examine the mainstream news media as the central battlefield where America’s latest “civil war” is waged—the debate over same-sex marriage rights. Through an analysis of prominent television and print news texts, this paper is concerned with how the journalistic selection of particular couples and the use of certain images and narratives both shape and reinscribe dominant definitions of gay and lesbian identity in our modern culture.
Sampling Error and Presidential Approval Ratings: How Three Major U.S. Newspapers Reported the Polls • Matthew Reavy, University of Scranton • This paper examines coverage of presidential approval ratings in three major U.S. newspapers to determine the accuracy with which those newspapers discuss poll changes in light of sampling error. It finds that the majority of the articles under study over-emphasize change in the polls even when that change could be accounted for by sampling error alone.
Newspaper journalism in crisis: Burnout on the rise, eroding young journalists’ career commitment • Scott Reinardy, Ball State University • The three-component Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey (Exhaustion, Cynicism and Professional Efficacy) was implemented to examine burnout among newspaper journalists (N = 770). With a moderate rate of exhaustion, a high rate of cynicism and a moderate rate of professional efficacy, burnout among the journalists in this study demonstrate higher rates of burnout than previous work.
Measuring the Relationship Between Journalistic Transparency and Credibility • Chris Roberts, University of South Carolina • Declines in mainstream media credibility, and the Internet’s rise of alternative voices, have heightened calls for news organizations to be more transparent in news reports and decision-making. In two online experiments, participants read the same newspaper story but had varied access to data sources and/or editor’s explanation. Extra “transparency” boosted neither story nor message credibility, suggesting transparency’s limits in boosting credibility of a traditional news story from a well-known messenger.
City Editor Job Satisfaction and Perception of Local News Reporters • Charles St. Cyr, Butler University • A survey of 303 city editors at daily newspapers found that 88 percent of respondents said they are less than very satisfied with their jobs, almost all expressed less than very high satisfaction for every measure of local news reporter performance used in the study, and most rated themselves favorably for how they interact with reporters.
Gulf Coast Journalists and Hurricane Katrina: Mounting Challenges to the Work Routine • Shearon Roberts, Louisiana State University • This mixed methodological study contrasted changes in news sourcing and framing with changes in the work routine of Gulf Coast journalists one year into the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Newspaper content analysis found significant increases in human interest framing techniques with ordinary people as sources. Interviews with Gulf Coast journalists revealed that these findings were consistent with a new found connection and identification with the public given a common suffering these journalists shared with readers.
Measuring an eroding base: Use of the circulation robustness variable for U.S. daily newspapers • Glenn Scott, Elon University • This study examines the circulation performance of a randomly selected sample of 195 U.S. daily newspapers by applying a methodological tool that calculates their circulation robustness. Aimed at measuring the support of a paper’s key base of readers, this tool pioneered by media researcher Philip Meyer calculates changes over time in newspapers’ penetration rates for their home counties. Only eleven newspapers showed increases over a period of about six years ending in 2003. Newspapers as a whole showed a decline.
Press Coverage of Ohio’s 2006 Gubernatorial Election • Michael Sheehy, University of Cincinnati • This content analysis examines coverage of the 2006 Ohio gubernatorial election by six metropolitan daily newspapers. The study tracks story type, subject, focus and candidate advantage in the nine weeks before Election Day. A major finding was that the papers published relatively few in-depth stories profiling the issues and candidates, even though one had never before run a statewide race. The study also found that the Democratic candidate received more advantageous coverage than the Republican.
Washington Post Policies and Practices On Unnamed Sources Over Four Decades • Michael Sheehy, University of Cincinnati • This qualitative study focuses on the Washington Post’s policies and practices on the use of unnamed sources over four decades beginning in the early 1960s. The study begins with an examination of the style book under editor Russ Wiggins, then continues with policies under Benjamin Bradlee and Leonard Downie Jr. Archival research, interviews with prominent editors and an analysis of Post coverage produced this study, which tracks the evolution of policies and factors influencing change.
You Must Read This: A content analysis of most e-mailed stories from five news sites • Stephen Siff, Ohio University • The lists of most e-mailed stories presented on many news web sites present a new tool for evaluating reader preference. This study analyzes the topics, treatments and news values present in most e-mailed stories from five major online news sites during a two week period. The study uses established coding methodologies to allow comparison with prior research into the types of stories generally present in newspapers and on newspaper front pages.
Legal qualifications and perceived ideologies: How the New York Times framed the Supreme Court nomination of John Roberts • Derigan Silver, University of North Carolina • Today, the Supreme Court nomination process is one of the most confrontational aspects of American politics and garners wide media coverage. Despite its importance, little research has focused on how the media covers the nomination process. This research used framing analysis to identify how the New York Times and politicians set the agenda for John Roberts’ 2005 nomination hearings and represented the debate over his nomination.
Out of the Gate, Onto the Front Page: Coverage of Presidential Candidates, 2000 to 2004 • Elizabeth Skewes, University of Colorado • This paper examines news coverage of the 2004 presidential candidates in the political season that ran from November 2000 to November 2004. It finds that only a few candidates received a significant amount of coverage; that issues and policy received the greatest coverage early in the election season; and that the two eventual nominees – George W. Bush and John Kerry – received both more positive and negative coverage than the other candidates, whose coverage was more neutral in tone.
The Weblog Forest: The effectiveness of staff-produced blogs in engaging newspaper audiences in conversation • Mary Spillman, Lori Demo and Larry Dailey, Ball State University • This exploratory study examines the conversation created by staff-produced political blogs at general-circulation daily newspapers one week prior to the November 2006 election. Results show that the blogs studied contained a small number of postings, failed to create much interaction between the blogger and the audience, and attracted few audience comments, calling into question whether political blogs are effective in meeting newspaper goals to encourage civic discourse.
Anonymous Sourcing and “Contest-Winning” Impact on Story Credibility • Miglena Sternadori and Esther Thorson, University of Missouri • This study explores the effects of two variables, use of anonymous sources and journalistic judgment of story quality, on news credibility. These variables were tested in an experiment where the stimuli consisted of 12 abridged stories from the morgue of Investigative Reporters and Editors, a professional association.
Interactivity in J-Blogs: Opportunities for Online Communication between Journalists and the Public • E. Jordan Storm, Syracuse University • If done well, j-blogs can enhance communication between journalists and the communities they serve but if done badly, j-blogs simply act as repositories for static content. In order to determine to what degree newsrooms are communicating with their publics on j-blogs, this study analyzed a proportionally representative sample of j-blogs on American daily newspaper Web sites.
An Exploratory Study of International News Coverage in Indian Newspapers • Venkata Ratnadeep Suri, Indiana University • The exploratory study investigates the patterns of International news coverage and the influence of some systemic determinants on international news coverage in two leading Indian English language newspapers. Based on previous studies, 5 systematic determinants were selected as predictors of international news coverage: Diaspora ties, colonial ties, geographical proximity, trade volume measured by average volume of Indian imports and exports to a particular country, and a particular guest country’s economic power measured by its Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
News Sourcing in a Bioterror Disaster • Kristen Swain, University of Kansas • This content analysis examines risk framing in relation to sourcing and play in 457 newspaper stories about the 2001 anthrax attacks. Health agency and law enforcement sources dominated the coverage, followed by scientists, victims, and citizens. After the initial outbreak, fear, speculation, and victims characterized coverage of the acute crisis, while health officials dominated post-crisis coverage. Stories that received less play were more likely to explain risks. The more sources a story used, the less likely it was to include vague advice.
Why women are dropping out of newspaper jobs: Exploring the factors influencing their decision to leave • Amber Willard, University of Texas • This study assessed the job satisfaction of current and former newspaperwomen and their reasons for leaving their last newspaper position. Recent research has found women are leaving the newspaper industry at a higher percentage than other mediums. A job-satisfaction theory was applied to form many of the questions in an online survey that used snowball sampling, and the study found many women left their previous position because of salary and management-related issues.
Factors that Predict Newspaper Reading Habits in College Students • Brenda Wilson, Tennessee Technological University • A sample of first-time college students (N=343) at a four-year university in Tennessee completed a questionnaire measuring their newspaper reading habits as well as their previous experiences with newspapers. Factors studied included the students’ current newspaper reading habits, their family newspaper literacy practices during childhood, their experiences with newspapers in their K-12 education, and their civic interests.
Putting the Story Back in Hard News Stories to Engage Young Audiences • Amy Zerba, University of Texas-Austin • This experimental study examines young adults’ expectations of hard news stories and whether narrative storytelling can positively influence their reading experiences for comprehension, learning, interest and enjoyment. Participants reported an increased understanding and interest in an Iraq story after reading a narrative version than what they had expected. They enjoyed and stayed interested in a murder story better than the traditional storytelling group, which reported learning less and losing interest more quickly than they had expected.
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