International Communication 2008 Abstracts
International Communication Division
Bob Stevenson Faculty Paper Competition
The Iraq War on Al-Jazeera Websites: Did the English- and Arabic-language users experience different online coverage? • Mohammed Al-Emad, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale and Shahira Fahmy, University of Arizona • This study examined the online coverage of the Iraq War in the English-and Arabic-language Al-Jazeera websites. By content analyzing prominence of news stories, use of sources, and tone of coverage, this study tested whether Al-Jazeera news websites significantly differed in covering the conflict. Results showed a significant difference regarding the proportion of Iraqi news stories between the two websites. By and large, however, our analysis suggested no differences between the English-and Arabic-language Al-Jazeera websites.
Problematizing “media development” as a bandwagon gets rolling • Guy Berger, Rhodes University and Jude Mathurine, Rhodes University • International initiatives have gained momentum around analysing “media development” – a notion related to, but generally distinct from, media’s contribution to “development”. The focus on the “development” of media largely concerns international support of media in non-dense media environments. The normative character of work done to date can however be interrogated, and located against historical backdrop. Critical theorization of “media” and “development” shows the need to go beyond the legacy of old thinking about old media.
Americanized Beauty? Predictors of Perceived Attractiveness in U.S. and Korean Participants Based on Media Exposure, Ethnicity, and Sociocultural Attitudes Toward Attractiveness Ideals • Kimberly Bissell, University of Alabama and Jee Young Chung, University of Alabama • The objective of this project was to identify themes, patterns and predictors related to attractiveness ideals and appearance norms in other women among a sample of men and women in the U.S. and Korea.
Political Contest, News Bias and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict • Kuang-Kuo Chang, Michigan State University and Eric Freedman, Michigan State University • Guided by the political contest model, along with the indexing and cascading notions, this research examined how and why news bias—rival Israeli and Palestinian official sources were treated unevenly—occurred in four major U.S. newspapers coverage of the long-lasting conflict. The findings suggest that press access to rival official news sources, U.S. foreign policy, and the ratios of local Arab-American to Jewish-American population are strong predictors of the occurrence of news imbalance.
Job Influences of Indian Journalists: What pushes and pulls their pens • Bridgette Colaco, Troy University and Jyotika Ramaprasad, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale • This paper reports the results of a survey of job influences on Indian journalists, primarily modeled after Weaver and Wilhoit’s (1996) study. The influences, rated for importance, coalesced into seven factors – Public/ Government, Organization, Extra Media, Political/ Religious Beliefs, Media Routines, Personal Values/ Opinions, and Career Advancement.
Exploring Coverage of Global Warming in North America, Europe and Asia • Joan Deppa, Syracuse University and Dan Rowe, Syracuse University • A study of nine elite newspapers on three continents shows that news coverage of global warming has increased considerably toward the end of the 10 years from 1997 to 2007. The study identified a significant new cycle of global warming coverage, which could continue into the future, although it slight dipped slightly at the end of 2007. The study also identifies many potential subjects for future studies using this method and data.
Local Media in a Global World: The Framing of Saddam’s Execution in the U.S. Press • Daniela Dimitrova, Iowa State University and Kyung Sun Lee, Iowa State University • One of the major international events at the end of 2006 was the execution of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. The rushed execution sparked a controversy around the world and provided national media with an opportunity to frame the event in ways that resonate with their local audiences. This paper focuses on the framing of the execution in elite newspapers in the United States. Using a content analysis methodology, the study examines the news framing of the event in the U.S. press.
Event perception, issue attitudes and the 2004 presidential election in Taiwan: Issue familiarity and framing effects of online campaign coverage • Gang Han, State University of New York at Fredonia and Pamela Shoemaker, Syracuse University • This study applies framing analysis to online news by examining how two distinguishable news frames identified from the coverage on Taiwan’s 2004 presidential election in two leading news websites in Mainland China influence the audience’s perception of this political event as well as their attitudes toward Mainland-Taiwan relations. Two 3×2, two-wave, between-subject experiments were designed and conducted to test framing effects of online campaign coverage.
Culture and International Flow of Movies: Proximity, Discount or Globalization? • Yejin Hong, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities and Tsan-Kuo Chang, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities • The purpose of this study is to determine how and why the international flow of cultural products appears the way it does and what may influence the direction of the flow. Through a comparative investigation of consumption patterns of American movies in the United States, Korea and the United Kingdom, this study tested competing hypotheses derived from the perspectives of globalization, cultural proximity, and cultural discount.
Logistics vs. gatekeeper perspective: Models to predict AP and US news coverage of significant world events • Beverly Horvit, Texas Christian University and Peter Gade, University of Oklahoma • The study tested the relative impact of logistics vs. gatekeeper variables as predictors of the international news coverage of major world events by The Associated Press and 10 US newspapers that depend upon the AP. The logistics variables included characteristics of the country where the event occurred, such as proximity, GDP, status, population and US relations. The gatekeeper variables included the deviance of the event and the involvement of the US.
Marketing Leisure in the Global Village: Culture Counts • Doo Syen Kang, Michigan State University and Lucinda Davenport, Michigan State University • A foremost issue in international marketing planning is the cultural understanding of a target audience. The body of literature for leisure studies is mostly from Western viewpoints, despite growing awareness of value from Eastern perspectives. Even the notion of “leisure” itself is Western-based. This research documents different leisure patterns in the East and West, and examines the differing philosophical traditions as a schematic.
Functional Analysis of Televised Political Spots and Debates in Korean Presidential Elections, 1992-2007 • Chunsik Kim, Hyoungkoo Khang, University of Florida and Younghwa Lee, University of Kansas • Utilizing the functional approach, this study explores similarities and differences between televised political spots and presidential debates in Korean presidential elections. Overall, the study found that there were clear differences in the use of theme functions, utterances, and types of each function between televised political debates and spots. In addition, the results of this study were consistent with findings of previous studies that acclaims were the most common discourse function, followed by attacks, and defense.
AIDS Communication Campaigns in Uganda: Organizational factors and campaign planning as predictors of successful campaign execution • James Kiwanuka-Tondo, North Carolina State University, Mark Hamilton, University of Connecticut and Jessica Jameson, North Carolina State University • About 60% of all the HIV/AIDS cases worldwide are found in sub-Saharan Africa (UNAIDS, 2007). While a few countries in the region have shown a decline in prevalence rates, most countries in southern Africa have made little progress in their fight against AIDS.
Facing the Pluralistic Television Age in Korea: Competition between Local Broadcast Stations and New TV Media • Joon-Ho Lee, Dong-Eui University, Seung-Kwan Ryu, Tongmyong University and Jong-Sang Koo Dongseo University • The study examines Korean TV media industries that are becoming pluralistic and explores competition among three media (local stations, multi-channel TV, and mobile television). Based on uses and gratification and niche theories, competitive indices are computed and compared. The findings from a survey with 469 respondents show local stations have widest niche breadths in information dimension and share much resource with mobile media, but have less competitive superiority than multi-channel and the mobile counterparts.
A new way to look at culture and its influence on advertising around the world • Pamela Morris Loyola University Chicago • Research investigates culture and its influencing role. With anthropological theories, a model is created to show how cultural dimensions influence media and advertising content. Encompassing 108 countries, a factor analysis of 71 country characteristics finds four dimensions: Egocenteric, Nationalistic, Feminine and Masculine. A content analysis of magazine advertisements provides data of images that are tested for correlations with cultural dimensions. The study updates cultural literature with new social phenomena data, like cell-phone and Internet users.
Realities of journalism trainers overseas; A phenomenological study • Nurhaya Muchtar, University of Tennessee and Eric Haley, University of Tennessee • Professional journalism training in developing countries has been an important element in the US democracy assistance program since the late 1980’s. Previous studies tend to focus primarily on the effectiveness and short-term evaluations of the projects from the funders’ perspectives. This article looked at the perspectives of training from the trainers’ side. A phenomenological approach is used in order to understand how trainers make sense of their experiences working with journalists from other countries.
The Extreme Right and Its Media in Italy • Cinzia Padovani, Southern Illinois University Carbondale • Various factors are at the origin of the resurgence of racist, neo-fascist and neo-nazi movements in Europe. Fast-paced social and cultural changes due to globalization of economics and communications; intensification of migration fluxes from former Soviet republics, North African countries, and the Balkans, into Western Europe; the process of European unification and expansion; the crisis of traditional systems of political representation, have nourished, since the early 1990s, the re-birth of far right movements and parties.
The Role of Civil Society in Transforming the Local Politico- and Mediascape: The Case of South Korea • Woongjae Ryoo, Honam University • In the South Korean context, the question of civil society formation is closely connected to the broader issue of communication globalization and the interaction of global- and local forces. In this essay, I thus examine how the South Korean civil society emerged as a social force in transforming the local politico- and mediascape, and how it developed a regionally distinctive relationship with the state.
Global Media and Cultural Identities: The Case of Indians in Post-Amin Uganda • Hemant Shah University of Wisconsin • The unprecedented global movement of money, media and people has had profound consequences for formations and transformations of cultural identities. In this context, the ostensibly stable links between identity and a place called “home” are more modulated and less certain. This paper is a case study, based on depth interviews, participant observation, and archival research, which examines how a diasporic community of Indians in Uganda negotiates cultural identities.
Online Network Size, Efficacy, and Opinion Expression: Tracking the Pro-civic Functions of Internet Use in China, 2003-2007 • Fei Shen, The Ohio State University, Ning Wang, Hong Kong Baptist University and Steve Guo, Hong Kong Baptist University • This study garnered initial evidence for the pro-civic impact of the Internet in mainland China by analyzing three cross-sectional datasets collected in 2003, 2005, and 2007. Results revealed positive relationships between the two dimensions of Internet use (i.e., informational and entertainment use) and online expression. Our model explains the positive associations as being partially conditioned by two mediators, online network size and Internet efficacy.
The State of Public Service Broadcasting in the 21st Century in the Caribbean • Juliette Storr, Pennsylvania State University • Before the turn of the twenty-first century, media systems scholars (Raboy, 1997; Tracey, 1998) predicted the demise of public service broadcasting in the face of new global economic realities. Despite their dire predictions, public service broadcasting continues to survive at the start of the twenty-first century amidst hopes of advancing its public services and fears of destruction by competitive private enterprises. Caribbean broadcasting systems were inherited from their European colonizers.
The second casualty: Effects of conflict on press freedom • Fred Vultee, Wayne State University • This study seeks to build on recent work that emphasizes the importance of press freedom in restraining international conflict by examining the reverse relationship: Whether conflict has an impact on individual nations’ levels of press freedom. It finds that in general, civil wars have a greater negative impact than interstate wars, press systems in democracies are more affected than those in autocracies, and level of conflict is more relevant than the mere presence of conflict.
Marginalizing Voices: Newspapers framing of the Mothers of Beslan • Christa Ward, University of Georgia • This article analyzes media framing of the Mothers of Beslan and the group’s activities for a period of two-years. The textual analysis led to the emergence of several key themes within the marginalization frame. The analysis showed that the newspapers coverage positioned the mothers in direct opposition to the government(Putin) but not as political actor but as mothers. The second marginalizing frame to emerge was that of direct invalidation of the Mothers’ plight.
Framing the War Ethnocentrically • Jin Yang, University of Memphis • Adopting framing scheme and using computer-assisted text analysis software, this study compared the press coverage of the 2003 Iraqi War by the United States and China. The study found that the U.S. zoomed in on the specifics of the war and adopted episodic frames in its coverage of the war and China adopted thematic frames in its coverage and zoomed out to focus on the peripheral issues related to the war.
Markham Student Paper Competition
Media Frames and Terror: US Print Media Representation of Pakistan • Hena Bajwa, University of Texas at Austin • This paper content analyzed 225 stories mentioning Pakistan from the New York Times and Washington Post to determine the context in which US print media framed stories about Pakistan. Findings suggested a strong correlation between stories mentioning Pakistan and terrorism, especially after the “War on Terror” declared by the Bush administration after September 11, 2001. Frames here were categorized as dominant or minor to also account for other subjects referring to Pakistan.
Foreign News and Public Opinion: Attribute Agenda-Setting Theory Revisited • Asya Besova, Louisiana State University and Skye Cooley, Louisiana State University • This research found a strong support for the attribute agenda setting theory by examining the media coverage of nine foreign countries in The New York Times and The Times. Media coverage and the public opinion were strongly correlated. Specifically, negative coverage tends to have more agenda-setting effects than neutral and positive coverage. Also, media portray foreign countries stereotypically, by limiting the coverage around a few issues.
Culture, Internet and Gratifications: Do you see the Connection? • Tulika Biswas, University of Tennessee, Knoxville • This paper presents a pilot study focusing on gratifications sought and obtained by international students from the Internet. The study suggests that for immigrants and sojourners such as international students the need to get in touch with their native culture may form an important factor driving their gratification needs while surfing the Internet.
Media Framing through Stages of a Political Discourse:International News Agencies’ Coverage of Kosovo’s Status Negotiations • Lindita Camaj, Indiana University • This study examined framing in international coverage of Kosovo’s status negotiations and whether the stage of the negotiations affected choice of frame. The results indicate that overall international news agencies reported on this issue with an “episodic frame” emphasizing mostly the “conflict” nature of the issue. However, a major difference emerged between Western and non-Western agencies, as ITAR-TASS employed “attribution of responsibility” frame more commonly that Reuters, AFP, and AP.
Destiny, Dynasty and Death: Pakistani Press Reports Frame Benazir Bhuto’s Assassination • Tania Cantrell, The University of Texas at Austin and Ingrid Bachmann, The University of Texas at Austin • Using framing theory, this textual analysis investigates how more than 200 stories from three Pakistani English dailies portrayed the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. National press used three death frames—the devastating effects of her death, the fulfillment of a prophetic demise, and efforts to keep the details of the murder under wraps. Also, it employed two trump frames—obscured gender and religion, and candidate without an election—to organize the information.
Generation Y and the Post 80s’ Culture Identity: A Cross Cultural Perspective • Huan Chen, University of Tennessee, Knoxville • The study examined culture identification of Generation Y and the Post 80s with measurements integrating Western mindsets as well as Oriental wisdom. The findings of this study demonstrate the cultural differences in Generation Y and the Post 80s’ cultural identification as well as in measurements.
Global Risk, Domestic Framing: How U.S., China and South Korea News Agencies Cover the North Korea Nuclear Test • Jia Dai, University of Texas and Kideuk Hyun, University of Texas • Comparative framing analysis on coverage of the North Korea nuclear test in U.S. Associated Press, Chinese Xinhua news agency and South Korean Yonhap news agency identified four major media packages. First, a common “threat” frame dominates in the coverage of all news agencies, represented by a reconfiguration of geopolitics and an emphasis on global cooperation in the perception and resolution of the nuclear test.
No News is Bad News:NGOs, the News Media, and State-imposed Limits on Free Press • Patrick File, University of Minnesota • This paper examines reporting by international human rights NGOs and news organizations during constitutional crises in Sri Lanka and Nepal. The central research question is whether state-imposed restrictions on press freedom and the free flow of information affect NGOs’ ability to raise awareness through the news media. The findings suggest censorship might have the opposite of its intended effect; but more scholarship on NGO-news media relationships and censorship could provide a better, more comprehensive theoretical explanation.
Framing the headlines: Comparative and inter-language framing of Al-Jazeera’s Arabic and English news websites • Stephen Hetzel • This study used quantitative content analysis to capture the lead stories of Al-Jazeera’s Arabic and English news websites and explain the effect of language on lead stories and frames. The findings suggest that the international lead stories on Al-Jazeera and the BBC are influenced by the languages of their websites. In addition, both Al-Jazeera and the BBC rely upon similar sources for stories with matching datelines.
Painful Pictures: Photojournalism and Reconciliation in Peru • Robin Hoecker, University of Missouri • Sponsored by Peru’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the Yuyanapaq photography exhibit documents the country’s armed internal conflict from 1980 to 2000. This study examined the effects of seeing the photographs on viewers’ readiness to reconcile. A post-test only experiment (n=109) found that the exhibit increased viewers understanding of the conflict, but had no effect on their faith in the national government or resentment. For viewers who experienced traumatic events, seeing the photographs helped them to forgive.
Culture & Technology in South Korean and U. S. Online Military Strategic Communications • Sungwook Hwang, University of Missouri at Columbia • This study conducted a cross-cultural comparison in measures of interactivity and vividness of South Korean and the U. S. online military strategic communications based on Hall’s high- and low-context communication and Hofstede’s power distance and individualism/collectivism. Considering contradictory literature regarding the influence of culture on the Web, this study examined the applicability of the cultural lens on the technological features of non-commercial Web sites.
Political Implications of International Satellite Broadcasting: A Case Study • Foad Izadi, Louisiana State University • The present study attempts to address the state of pro-American attitudes and pro-American policy positions in Iran. Using hierarchical OLS regression, the study addresses the influence of satellite TV use – as an indicator of access to U.S. sponsored international broadcasting – on the degree of pro-American opinion, above and beyond individual level demographic factors.
Framing a political Issue: Coverage of 2007 Constitutional Referendum by Kyrgyzstan’s Print and Internet-Based Media • Svetlana Kulikova, Louisiana State University • The paper examines media coverage of a national referendum in Kyrgyzstan on adoption of a new version of the Constitution and Elections Code in terms of good governance.
News Coverage of Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign: A Comparative Study of News Coverage of The U.S. And South Korean Newspapers • Joon Yea Lee, University of Texas at Austin and Jooyun Hwang, University of Florida • This study examined the uses of issue, source, framing, and overall news coverage in the U.S. and South Korea before and after the breast cancer awareness month campaign was initiated in each country. A content analysis of the New York Times and two most circulated Korean newspapers was conducted. The findings show an increase in the amount of coverage after campaigns were launched. However, the issue and source types show no significant difference after campaign.
Sex and the City in Seoul: An Incomplete Project • Kyung Lee, University of Pennsylvania • This paper analyzes the cultural background in which Sex and the City attracts female audience in Korea. A textual analysis of 39 newspaper articles was conducted to explore how the audience consumes the image and the text of the show in various realms. What follows is a discussion of a post-Sex and the City social phenomenon called “Denjang Girl syndrome” and how it reflects sociocultural tensions between different groups and between different values in Korea.
Motivations for Communicating over Mobile TV and its Social Impacts in Everyday Life • Seung-Hyun Lee, University of Wisconsin-Madison• This study examines why people use mobile TV-DMB as a new communicating medium, how the dimensions of motivational factors influence mobile TV-DMB use behavior in everyday life, and whether demographic variables have impacts on the motivations and mobile TV-DMB use. This study is an exploratory attempt that empirically investigates motivational dimensions of mobile TV-DMB use among current DMB users, employing the Uses and Gratifications theory.
Starbucks as the Third Place: Glimpses into Taiwan’s Consumer Culture and Lifestyle • En-Ying Lin, University of Florida and Marilyn Roberts, University of Florida • Starbucks dominates Taiwan’s coffee consumption. Starbucks’ unique style and established trend of high-quality coffee from different regions has attracted people’s attention and commingled with their lifestyles. Starbucks locations appear to serve as a third place in the lives of consumers.
What’s in a name: The reputation of Al Jazeera English in the United States • Ronnie Lovler • Al Jazeera English is the Qatar-founded international news network that launched in November 2006 as the first English-language global news channel not based in the West. It came into being ten years after its sister channel, the Arabic language Al Jazeera.
Responses of Middle Eastern Governments to Danish Cartoons Depicting the Prophet Mohammed • Justin D. Martin, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • In January and February 2006, governments all across the Middle East recalled ambassadors from Denmark, announced official boycotts of Danish goods, and called for a handful of Danish newspaper editors to be jailed, all for the publication of cartoons critical of Islam and its prophet. This paper analyzes the responses of these governments as a standardized way of looking at different Middle Eastern nations’ stances toward free expression.
Political Socialization to the Near East: Media Reliance & Feelings toward Muslims, Arab Leaders & Al-Qaida • Justin D. Martin, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Jennifer Kowalewski, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • This paper examines the association between several media reliance variables and feelings toward Muslims of the world, Arab leaders, and members of the terrorist outfit Al-Qaida among a sample of North Carolinians (N=526) polled in 2005. The relationships among these variables are explored through the lens of political socialization research, and the need for more mass communication and political socialization scholarship addressing international topics is discussed.
Collective Memory through Fidel: The Construction of Collective Memory through the news coverage of Fidel Castro’s Resignation • MaryAnn Martin, University of Iowa • Collective memory works as a means of cultural survival for the Cuban diaspora in the United States. Using a textual analysis, this study examines the collective memory constructed from news coverage of Fidel Castro’s resignation as president of Cuba. The analysis shows that news coverage maintains that neoliberal economic reforms will save Cuba, assert the longstanding connections between Cubans and the U.S. government, and position Castro as a permanent obstacle to democracy.
Framing the Death of Investigative Journalism: Anna Politkovskaya’s Murder in the NYT and Izvestiya • Susan Novak, University of Kansas • The October 2006 murder of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya brought international attention to the dangers of investigative journalism in Russia. Media framing of this event in Izvestiya and the New York Times shows that each framed the tragedy differently. The Times elaborated on Russia’s political failings; Izvestiya focused on Politkovskaya and the crime with some commentary on a free press. Cold War rhetoric may be returning to U.S. news coverage of Russia.
Chips and curry; Kraut and kebabs: Exploring multiculturalism through comedy • Rosemary Pennington, Indiana University • European public broadcasters have a mandate to communicate the importance of multiculturalism to society, which is becoming increasingly difficult as they fight with private broadcasters for audience. This study compared two television comedies, from Great Britain and Germany, looking for similarities in how multiculturalism and minorities were portrayed to mainstream audiences. The comparison found that, even with the different histories of the two nations, the programs approached multiculturalism in very similar ways.
Japan’s “Baby Bust” in the Daily Yomiuri: Newsworthiness of International Experiences of a Domestic Issue • Sheila Peuchaud, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • This qualitative content analysis applies Shoemaker and Cohen’s (2006) deviance and social significance model of newsworthiness to coverage of the international experience of declining birth rate in Japan’s leading Daily Yomiuri. Declining birthrate is a dramatically important public issue in Japan, and a demographic challenge it shares with most industrialized nations.
Corporate Social Responsibility in China: Perspectives from a Developing Country • Hongmei Shen, University of Maryland, College Park • Amongst heated discussions of multinational companies’ social responsibilities, the study examined a three-dimensional model (Arthaud-Day, 2005) of social responsibility management by multinational corporations operating in a developing country—China. Results from 18 interviews of employees identified two types of strategic orientations—global and transnational and four universal CSR issues (the underprivileged, education, environment, and community). Other cultural nuances and implications were also discussed.
‘Who you are’ versus ‘who you think you are’ • Tsung-Jen shih, University of Wisconsin-Madison • Using a PPS sample of 612 citizens drawn from Taipei County, Taiwan, this study examines the interactive role of national identity, personal identity, and party identification as heuristics that provided simplified guidance for voters in the context of the 2005 mayoral and magistrate election in Taiwan. The results confirmed previous research findings that ethnicity has conceded to “identity” as a determinant of voting.
Information Appropriateness and Health Risks to Consumers: A Content Analysis of Chinese Dietary Supplement Company Websites • Song Tian • The purpose of this study is to assess the extent of appropriateness and potential health risks of Chinese dietary supplement company websites as sources of information for consumers. Based on a content analysis of 120 business websites, this research has revealed that Chinese health food company websites did contain low-level overall appropriate information to the consumer.
International Newspaper Coverage of Muslim Immigration: A Community Structure Approach • Joshua Wright, The College of New Jersey • A study compared hypotheses connecting variations in international demographics with differences in international newspaper coverage of Muslim immigration using an extended form of the “community structure approach” developed in international studies by Pollock and others (1977, 1978, 1994-2002, 2007). A sample of 15 newspapers from every major world region was acquired from NewsBank/LexisNexis yielding 370 articles of 250+ words (9/11/2001 to 9/11/2007).
How people’s words find their way to mainstream media: online discussion and news in China • Di Zhang, Syracuse University and Jinghui Hou, Syracuse University • This study examines how online discussion in Chinese internet forums influences Chinese mainstream news content from the perspective of gatekeeping. Through content analysis, we analyze 88 issues discussed in internet forums in 2007 and mainstream media stories originating from them. We find that deviance and intensity of online discussion positively predict media coverage prominence, while social significance forms a negative correlation, and the moderating effect of sensitivity of issue topic is not significant.
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