Electronic News 2014 Abstracts
The Investigative DNA: An Analysis of the Role of Local Television Investigative Journalists • Jesse Abdenour, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill; Daniel Riffe, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • Building off previous studies of journalistic roles, this paper shows evidence that local television investigative reporters are more oriented toward audience appeal and are more adversarial than other journalists. A factor analysis of survey responses (N=165) revealed five functions describing investigative reporters’ perceived roles: Adversarial, Interpretive, Entertainer, Pragmatist, and Mobilizer. Further analyses indicated that ethnicity, amount of investigative work, and an organization’s emphasis on journalism were significant predictors of investigative role.
Forces at the Gate: Social Media’s Influence on Editorial and Production Decisions in Local Television Newsrooms • Anthony Adornato • This nationwide survey of news directors at network affiliate television stations explores the impact social media is having on editorial and production decisions related to newscasts. The results show popular, or trending, content and topics on social media are a significant factor in choosing stories to cover. The research examines how these stories are treated in newscasts versus those gathered through more traditional sources. The study also reveals that the reliance on social media content has increased the chances that newsrooms will spread misinformation. A third of respondents indicated their stations have reported information from social media that was later found to be false or inaccurate. Despite this, policy has not caught up with practice. One of the more striking findings of this study is, of those newsrooms that have social media policies, nearly 40% said the policy does not include procedures for verifying social media content before it is included in a newscast.
Radio and Secondary Orality: A Rhetorical Analysis of Hora 20 • Adriana Angel, Universidad de Manizales • This paper provides some preliminary ideas and exploratory characteristics about the language of radio. After conducting a rhetorical analysis of the talk radio program Hora 20, this manuscript suggests a few levels that allow us to start thinking about the grammar of radio. Specifically, this article suggests three main levels through which the secondary orality of radio manifests in Hora 20: emphatic, grammatical, and dialogic levels. It examines how the use of elements such as interjections, rhythm, tone, flow, spontaneity, genre, enumeration, redundancy, as well as, parallel, pedagogical, collaborative, and confrontational dialogues, define the language of talk radio. Finally, this piece claims all three levels and corresponding sublevels of secondary orality create a particular rhetorical situation of addressivity in which speakers connect with their addressees in particular ways.
Just Like Fox News? MSNBC’s Prime-Time Coverage of Health Care Reform in August 2009 • Mitchell Bard, Iona College • MSNBC is regularly cited in the literature as an example of a liberal news organization, often presented with Fox News representing its corresponding opposite, conservative news. Yet there have been few studies of MSNBC’s content, unlike the robust literature examining Fox News. This article employs a qualitative textual analysis of MSNBC’s coverage of health care reform in August 2009 to examine whether the network’s programs adhered to the objective journalistic values of fairness and balance and an allegiance to accuracy and the facts, despite MSNBC’s perceived ideological predisposition. The study replicates a similar analysis by the author of Fox News’ prime-time programs during the same period. The examination revealed that, despite their ideological predispositions, while both “Countdown With Keith Olbermann” and “The Rachel Maddow Show” operated consistent with the objective journalism value of an allegiance to accuracy and the facts, only Maddow’s program consistently adhered to the value of balance and fairness. The findings come in contrast to the earlier Fox News study, which revealed that none of the three hosts consistently operated consistent with either of the journalistic values. The impact of MSNBC’s practices are discussed in terms of the effect on the public’s trust in news.
Post-television news: Perceptions of three online forms of news video production • John Beatty, La Salle University; Jon Matos, La Salle University • This exploratory quasi-experimental study tested viewer reaction to three versions of the same news story labelled “Standard,” “YouTube” and “MTV.” Participants were asked to rate the three versions on 13 semantic-differential items, as well as to discuss them in controlled focus groups. Results indicate that video news viewers do have a preference for non-traditional types of news presentations online. Broadcasters and journalism faculty should look at new models of online news, such as Philip DeFranco.
Deregulation and Technology Pushes Radio Out of Tune • Adeniyi Bello, Texas Tech University • Depth interviews with six longtime radio professionals reveal some enthusiasm for digital technology but a unanimous dissatisfaction with the results of deregulation. Observations include: “Radio is probably in its most challenged and dangerous period”; “plundering the industry and lopping off heads, just eliminating jobs by the truckloads”; “There’s no longer a farm team in radio.” All attribute the industry’s pathologies to deregulation, aided by technology. Some question the wisdom of maintaining the current free-market oriented regulatory environment after what they describe as a 17-year failed experiment for both an industry and informed democracy.
Comparing Flagship News Programs: Women’s Sport Coverage in ESPN’s SportsCenter and FOX Sports 1’s FOX Sports Live • Andrew Billings, University of Alabama; Brittany D. Young, University of Alabama • A total of 118 hours of sports news broadcast programming was subject to gender clock-time analysis, half from ESPN’s SportsCenter and half from 2013 startup network Fox Sports 1’s Fox Sports Live. Results showed that both programs featured women’s sports less than one percent of the time, with only modest gains found in an Olympic month (February 2014) of presumed heavy women’s sports exposure compared to a fall (October/November 2013) coding period. Moreover, both programs featured the same top five sports in nearly identical proportionality and story lengths of women’s spots were consistently 70% of a men’s spot regardless of program. Results indicate that Fox Sports Live is replicating SportsCenter’s programming choices far more than challenging them from a gender perspective.
Losing Their ‘Mojo’? Mobile Journalism and the Deprofessionalization of Television News Work • Justin Blankenship, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • Mobile Journalism, whereby a single reporter must write, shoot and edit their own news stories, is a rapidly growing trend among local television news stations in the United States. Using sociology of professions literature and a qualitative case study methodology, this study examines the impact of mobile journalism on the “professionalization” of television news reporters. Findings suggest that mobile journalism may have an impact on several aspects of professional orientation, including expert knowledge, autonomy, routinization and encroachment from outside organizations.
Facing the Death Penalty While Facing the Cameras: A Case Study of Television Journalism Work Routines • Mary Bock, University of Texas at Austin; Jose Araiza • This case study of a capital murder trial explores the way television journalism work routines shape trial coverage. Based on field observations, textual analysis and open-ended interviews, it examined how TV news routine are translated into the stories that are broadcast and posted to the web. The analysis suggests that video news-gathering routines for trials rely heavily on law-enforcement sources, granting considerable control for the story’s framing to those authorities.
Interactive TV News: A Potential Method for Broadcast Television News • Trent Boulter, University of Texas at Austin • This experiment looks at development and use of a delivery system for broadcast television news. An in-home study was conducted for two weeks, allowing people daily access to three local and 5 national newscasts via one interactive newscast. The purpose of the study was to observe when and how they would use the interactive content. The results show that people employed time-delay practices while taking action, on average, every 57 (TV) and 52 seconds (computer).
The Lean Newsroom: A Manifesto For Risk • Jonathan Groves, Drury University; Carrie Brown, University of Memphis • This paper integrates concepts from organizational culture and learning literature with strategic and innovation theory and proposes a three-tiered model to guide change efforts at media organizations. Drawing upon examples from original ethnographic research in four newsrooms, it offers news leaders a road map for fostering continuous adaptation to a fast-changing digital landscape. To succeed at creating a sustainable future, leaders must embrace the constant iteration and user focus of successful digital startups and position themselves strategically in the competitive environment. However, none of these efforts will succeed without careful attention to the underlying assumptions in an organization’s culture that can block learning and change.
The Effects of Melodramatic Animation in News on News Evaluative Judgment via Presence: A Path Analysis • Benjamin Cheng, College of International Education, Hong Kong Baptist University; Wai Han Lo • An experiment with 187 college students was conducted to investigate the effects of using melodramatic animation in crime-related news reporting on the evaluative judgment of news through presence. The results of a path analysis suggest that presence relates to negative rating of a suspect featured in a news report and audience’s confidence in judging the suspect as guilty. However, a diverse result was found for the influence of the use of melodramatic animation in news on presence in different news categories. The practical and ethical issues of using this news format are discussed.
Hostile Story or Hostile source: A test of HME in a conservative media environment • Yoon-Jung Choi; Sang Hee Kweon, Sung Kyun Kwan University • Opinionated news in a competitive cable TV news environment seems to be a strategy for attracting audiences not only in the U.S. but also in Korea. In this respect, this paper tested the hostile media effect in the opinionated news context and also examined whether the hostile perception comes from the news story or from the news source. The findings show that opinionated news perceptions vary as a function of political ideology and ideologically consistent source cues. However, the findings suggest that partisans’ perceptions can differ according to the situational precondition of media outlets. Liberals were more sensitive in a conservative media environment.
“Boots on the Ground?”: How International News Organizations Integrate User-Generated Content Into Their YouTube Channels • Johanna Cleary; Eisa al Nashmi, Kuwait University; Terry Bloom, University of Miami; Michael North, University of Miami • How is user-generated content (UGC) employed by international news agencies? Through a content analysis of 571 videos posted on the YouTube channels of five international news agencies, this study examines whether UGC is a significant part of today’s international journalism and whether those organizations are actively encouraging interactivity among their viewers. The study includes Al Jazeera English, France 24 English, RT, CNN International, and Al Arabiya.
Framing Conflict and Explicit Violence through Images in Arab Media • Michael Bruce, The University of Alabama; Lindsey Conlin, The University of Alabama • This study employed a content analysis in order to examine visual images of conflict and violence in Arab media. Results show that liberal commercial Arab networks displayed more conflict visuals than western-style networks, and that violent imagery was also more explicit on liberal commercial networks. However, most of the visuals displayed on both types of Arab media did not focus on conflict, indicating that fear of a violent Arab media may be an over-reaction.
Making Air with a Magic Bullet: The Multimedia Journalist’s Impact on News Production • Dean Cummings, Cleveland Convergence • Television news managers view the multimedia journalist as a “magic bullet” to answer economic and production needs. Meanwhile, veteran workers initiate paradigm repair threatening the implementation of the new production model. To make the multimedia journalist successful, managers adjust their supervisory and editorial skills. In the wake of changes, the introduction of young journalists and the steady dismissal of veteran reporters appear to be creating a cultural shift within local television newsrooms.
Framing the 2012 Presidential Election on U.S. Television: Candidates, Issues, and Sources • Daniela Dimitrova, Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication • Using media framing as a theoretical base, this study examines the coverage of the 2012 US presidential election on the three leading television news networks–ABC, CBS and NBC. Consistent with previous election news framing research, the content analysis shows that the coverage used strategic game framing at the expense of substantive issue discussion and also tended to be episodic in nature and emphasized conflict. The analysis also demonstrates that domestic politicians dominated the coverage while other sources such as ordinary citizens and experts remained much less visible. The theoretical and practical implications of this type of election news coverage are discussed in the context of journalism practice and democratic governance.
Digitally influential: How technology affects construction of news processes • Patrick Ferrucci, Bradley University • This ethnographic study examines the effects of technology on the construction of news processes at a digitally native news nonprofit. Specifically, this asks how technology affects gatekeeping and how technology allows the audience more influence on news production. The study finds that a lack of resources results in less desire for innovation; however, technology does give the audience direct access to journalists and significantly more power concerning content. These findings are then discussed through the lens of gatekeeping theory and their meaning for the immediate future of digital journalism.
Audience Perceptions of Quality: A Comparison of Newsgathering Technologies across Viewing Technologies and Generational Cohorts • Charlie Gee, Duquesne University; Zeynep Tanes-Ehle, Duquesne University; Giselle Auger, Duquesne University • This study explores the role of traditional and mobile newsgathering technologies on perceived quality of news stories from the guiding perspective of uses and gratifications theory. In this experimental study, 600 participants evaluated the quality of 58 news stories of various content produced with four different news technologies. Two mobile technologies—iPhone and iPad and two traditional technologies—HD video camera and DSLR were used to produce the stories. Results showed differences in perceived quality of news stories produced with the DLSR as the highest of quality compared to the mobile technologies. The HD camera was found not to be a significant determinant of perceived quality compared to other recording technologies.
Social TV and Democracy: How Second Screening During News Relates to Political Participation • Homero Gil de Zuniga, University of Vienna; Victor Garcia, University of Texas at Austin; Shannon McGregor, University of Texas at Austin • The political implications of second screening, a hybrid media process that combines television and a second, web-connected screen, are analyzed here. Based on national, two-wave longitudinal panel data, this study sheds light on the future of social TV by examining the relationship between second screening and online political behaviors. Results show that second screening for news is a significant predictor of online political participation and a key link between TV news and political engagement.
Towards Broadcasting 2.0? Interactivity and User-Generated Content in Local Radio and Television Programs • Kevin Grieves, Ohio University; Greg Newton, Ohio University • Newer forms of digital media reflect a fundamental shift from a unidirectional model of communicating with audiences to an interactive one. Local radio and television stations are now able to interact with listeners and viewers more easily via online and social media channels. Little is known, however, about how interactivity and user-generated content impact traditional broadcast program content. Content analysis of local radio and television programs indicates occasional and somewhat marginalized inclusion of such elements.
The Role of Political Identity and Media Selection on Perceptions of Hostile Media Bias during the 2012 Presidential Campaign • Mei-Chen Lin; Paul Haridakis; Gary Hanson, Kent State University • We examined predictors of hostile media bias in the 2012 presidential campaign. In the current study, group-based characteristics (i.e., group status, intergroup bias, political ideology) and political cynicism were significant predictors of people’s perceptions of a hostile media bias toward their political party. TV and social networking sites were negative predictors while the use of two other media – radio and video sharing sites – were positive predictors of hostile media bias perceptions.
Market Size and Local Television News Use of “Cheap” Video • Mark Harmon, University of Tennessee; Maria Fontenot, University of Tennessee-Knoxville • The researchers used Livestream to gather a stratified local TV news sample of 29 newscasts, 298 stories. The data show that, contrary to prediction, market size did not affect initiative, story topics, manner of presentation, or use of non-original “cheap” video—such as network feeds, security camera footage, viewer submissions, or Google and other web maps. Crime and disaster/accident were the most common topics; voice over and live reporting were the usual story types.
Content versus context: The effects of writing style on memory and emotions in local television news • Keren Henderson, LSU • This experiment measures the influence of inverted pyramid and diamond (storytelling) writing styles on news consumers for the sake of discussing the relationship between social responsibility and business decisions in local television news production. The study investigates the differences between the inverted-pyramid writing style and the storytelling (or diamond-shaped writing) style on memory, emotions and brand recognition abilities of local television news viewers.
The Rise of Online News Aggregators: Consumption and Competition • Angela M. Lee, University of Texas at Dallas; H. Iris Chyi, University of Texas at Austin • While traditional news firms continue to struggle online, news aggregators (i.e., Yahoo News, Google News and the Huffington Post) have become a major source of news for American audiences. Through a national survey of 1,143 U.S. Internet users, this study (1) offers an in-depth look at the composition of news aggregator users, (2) proposes a theoretical model that examines demographic and psychological predictors of aggregator use, and (3) uncovers non-competitive relationships between three major news aggregators and major TV, print and social media news outlets. Such findings are at odds with industry sentiment, or hostility toward news aggregators and call for a reassessment of the role of news aggregators in today’s media landscape.
Working Social: Personal vs. Professional Social Media Use by Local TV Reporters • Suzanne Lysak, Syracuse University; Michael Cremedas; Jean Jadhon, Hollins University, WDBJ-TV • This survey of 405 local TV reporters explored challenges posed by their increasing use of social media: what guidance they are provided as they use social media; how frequently reporters and newsroom managers clash over a reporter’s posts; and how frequently reporters are directed to remove social media posts—whether personal or professional accounts. The information can be helpful to news managers who are creating or revising policy for social media use in their newsrooms.
Positive news websites and extroversion: Motives, preferences, and sharing behavior among American and British readers. • Karen McIntyre, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Meghan Sobel, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • Personality has been known to influence media choices. This study examined the relationship between American and British respondents’ level of extroversion and their motivations, story preferences, and sharing behavior in regard to consuming positive news on two “good news” websites. A survey of 1,560 positive news consumers was conducted. Results revealed that among American readers, extroversion was more strongly associated with the information-seeking motive whereas extroversion was more strongly associated with social utility among British readers. For both nationalities, extroverts were more likely than introverts to share stories with a wider group of people, although sharing medium was found to be more important than audience size. Finally, both groups of positive news readers were most likely to both view and share the stories they considered to be the happiest. The results of this study cannot be generalized due to a nonrandom sample, as respondents self-selected to take the survey. Still, the results have both theoretical and practical implications. The links found between extroversion and interest in positive news add to the literature on the relationship between personality and media selection. Further, results regarding sharing behavior might benefit both content producers and their audiences in both countries.
The Effect of Instant Media Commentary on Perceptions of Political Speakers: A Conventional Case Study • Dylan McLemore, University of Alabama • This study employs an experimental design to measure the effects of post-speech instant media commentary in the context of a single-speaker speech at a party nominating convention. It also seeks to explore differences in effects between favorable and unfavorable commentary to update the area of research for the age of differentiated cable news. It observed benefits of exposure for the political speaker, though instant media commentary did not significantly affect perceptions.
Are Young People Abandoning Local Television News? • Jacob Nelson, Northwestern University • When it comes to news, more people turn to local television than anywhere else, including network and online news sources. Almost half of Americans surveyed by Pew Research Center in 2012 report watching local television news regularly. When people turn on their televisions to watch the news, 60% flip to local television news programs. Eight in 10 adults who follow local news closely do so using television weekly. But younger people are increasingly turning away from local television news. What’s more, younger people appear to be turning away from watching television in general. Are younger people abandoning local television news more than older media consumers? If so, are they replacing the news they are not getting from television with news consumption elsewhere? Or, in a media environment with seemingly endless options, are younger people consuming less news? Using regression analysis, this paper will an attempt to answer these questions by comparing American local television news media consumption habits based on results from two Pew surveys taken ten years apart in hopes of determining whether or not a younger generation that grew up using the internet will maintain the television news watching habits of the generation that came before it.
Small-Market MMJs: Hoping for Change that May Not Come • Simon Perez, Newhouse School, Syracuse University; Michael Cremedas • The Multi-Media Journalist (hereafter MMJ) newsgathering model requires one person to fill the roles of reporter, videographer and video editor as well as social media and web content producer. This study focuses on the effect the model has on how MMJs view the quality of their work and their future career expectations. The results suggest many small-market reporters are not satisfied with their jobs and are reconsidering whether to continue their careers in television news.
Diversity without Inclusion: A Comparative Analysis of Co-owned Spanish and English-language Television Network News • Seaira Christian-Daniels, Ohio University; Mary Rogus, Ohio University • This study is a comparative content analysis of the two Comcast-owned network news programs, Noticiero Telemundo and NBC Nightly News. The study explores whether the news programs cover different stories, and how they cover the same story. It also explores the diversity of talent and sources used by both news programs. It finds that, although the networks are owned by the same company, they share few content characteristics, except a lack of diversity among sources and on-air talent.
Differences among News Websites in their Use of Interactive Features • Natalie Stroud; Josh Scacco; Alex Curry • While interactive features, such as comment sections, used to be rare on news websites, they are now the norm. This content analysis of 155 news websites examines the use of social media buttons, lists of hyperlinks, polls, comment sections, and mobile sites. Television news and newspaper websites are compared, as are local and more broadly-targeted news sites. Results reveal many differences in the use of interactive features based on medium and target.
Towards a Mission to Inform, Educate, and Entertain: Influences on Story Selection at the British Broadcasting Corporation • Joe Watson, Baker University • This paper explores the influences on story selection at the British Broadcasting Corporation. Through interviews with personnel and observation of routines at BBC News world headquarters in London, the author identifies three themes that contribute to our understanding of how stories are selected and shaped for coverage at the BBC: respect and appreciation of the audience, the needs of individual networks and programs, and awareness of the Royal Charter.
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