Mass Communication and Society 2008 Abstracts
Mass Communication and Society Division
Television, perceptual filters, and personal politics: Examining public opinion toward gay marriage • Amy Becker, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Dietram Scheufele, University of Wisconsin-Madison • Using data from a nationally representative random-digit-dial survey collected prior to the 2004 presidential election (N=781), this study examines the ways in which predispositions, media use, and political inputs (political knowledge; political tolerance) influence public support for gay marriage. Our findings suggest that attitudes toward gay marriage were largely shaped by ideological orientations and religious predispositions during the course of the 2004 election cycle.
Generational Differences in Reactions to Aggressive Political Interviews • Eran Ben-Porath, University of Pennsylvania • This paper looks at the manner in which generational differences in news values, shape viewers’ reactions to aggressive interviews on television. Uncivil discourse has been found to translate into distrust of the social institutions facilitating this type of communication. However, the effect for younger viewers might be different since the entertaining and involved appearance of aggressive interviews answer to some of the unique expectations of a new generation of news consumers.
Kids say the darndest things, or don’t they? Television exposure and demographic variables in 3rd-6th graders’ implicit and explicit attitudes toward obesity • Kimberly Bissell, University of Alabama; Hal Hays, University of Alabama • This study of 601 3rd-6th grade boys and girls examined implicit and explicit attitudes of anti-fat bias along with media exposure variables, demographic variables, and measures of attitudes about healthy eating and exercise. In this study, predictors of implicit attitudes of bias were measured and then those same implicit measures were tested as possible predictors of more explicit measures of anti-fat bias.
Not Inevitable: Changing the Third-Person Effect Through Education • Stephen Banning, Bradley University • In an experiment, using a pretest and a posttest, the third-person perception was manipulated using education about the third-person effect as an intervention. Participants’ perceptions were significantly different after the intervention. Implications for reducing the third-person effect in order to avoid negative behavioral impacts are discussed.
You and the Tube: Perceptions of Non-Traditional Debate Credibility among New Voters • Pamela Brubaker, The Pennsylvania State University; Michael Horning, The Pennsylvania State University; Christopher Toula, The Pennsylvania State University • In the political arena, new developments in Web 2.0 have been recognized for their ability to provide opportunities for citizens to participate in the political process in ways which were not possible even a decade ago. Responsible for altering the political debate process, this change in technology now allows average citizens to pose questions to presidential candidates. This research examines ways in which the CNN/YouTube debates are affecting perceptions of debate credibility among young voters.
Substance Abuse in Teen-centered Film: 1980-2007 • Mark Callister; Tom Robinson; Chris Near, Brigham Young University • Current mass communication studies have focused on substance use in film; however, they have not focused on teen films over long periods of time. This study examines depictions of alcohol, illegal drugs, and tobacco in teen films from 1980-2007. Results indicate a decline in substance use portrayals. Also, males are shown using illegal substances more than females. These findings suggest that pressure from anti-drug groups may be influencing the presence of illegal substances in films.
Can we make a difference? A study of perceived collective efficacy, Political participation and media use • Sumana Chattopadhyay, Marquette University • Collectives matter in today’s politics. This paper looks at local collective efficacy and its relationship with media use and political participation (informal and electoral). It reveals that local collective efficacy for collective social action tasks has a significant relationship with informal participation in politics.
The Image-Setting Research of Candidates in 2006 Taipei’s Mayoral Election: From the Stimulus-Determined and the Perceiver-Determined Perspectives • Hsuan-Ting Chen, University of Texas at Austin; Meng-chieh Yang • Guided by the theory of second-level agenda-setting and the model of the funnel of causality, results revealed that the agenda of substantive attributes of candidates presented in the newspapers influences the agenda of substantive attributes defining the images of the candidates among the public. Interestingly, more positive reports about a candidate’s attributes can give voters more impression on the candidates’ attributes.
Exploring Characteristics of Three Kinds of Gated News for Three Mainstream Online News Sites • Ying-Ying Chen • This study builds the constructs of three kinds (four types) of gated news to explore how online users pay attention to three online mainstream news sites by defining online users from marketing and democrat perspectives. News characteristics of four types of gated news are examined in explaining online users’ most popular news attention.
Convergence of agenda setting and attitude change approaches: The role of message attributes and the nature of media issues • Gennadiy Chernov, University of Regina • The current experimental study simultaneously tests whether personal experience and the level of message specificity leads to agenda-setting and attitudinal effects. The results demonstrated overall perceived issue importance and attitude favorability increased after participants read the newspaper stories about selected issues of gas and oil prices and international trade with China. In addition, those who did not have personal experience with an issue described in a story with general attributes showed significant attitude change.
Campaigning on Social Networks: The Effects of Visiting MySpace Profiles of Political Candidates, Raluca Cozma, Louisiana State University; Monica Postelnicu • This study examines what uses and gratifications (U&G) compel voters to visit MySpace profiles of political candidates, what the perceived effects of those visits are, and how they related to voters’ preexisting political attitudes.
One More Reason for Women Not to Play: Gender Differences in the Perceptions about Video Game Influences on Body Image • Mark Cruea, Bowling Green State University; Sung-Yeon Park, Bowling Green State University • This study examined young women and men’s perceptions about the influence of hypermuscular and hypersexualized male and female images on others of same and opposite gender. The role of gender in the third-person perceptions has been examined in three ways. As the subject of perception, women’s estimate of the influence on other men was higher than men’s estimate.
Journalists and Framing of the Iraq Issue in the 2004 Presidential Campaign • Arvind Diddi, State University of New York at Oswego • For this study, 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. Derived from framing theory and the past literature, twelve frames for the Iraq issue were defined apriori for this study. The study data revealed that mostly negative frames were emphasized in the coverage of the Iraq issue.
Effects of Black’s Strength of Ethnic Identity on Consumer Attitudes: A Multiple-Group Model Approach • Troy Elias, The Ohio State University; Li Gong; Osei Appiah, The Ohio State University • This study examines the role of ethnic identity as a means of understanding Blacks’ responses to Black and White product endorsers on an e-commerce website, and also evaluates the race of a character in an ad as a moderator of consumer attitudes.
The Impact of the September 11 Tragedy on Regulations Governing International Students: A Framing Analysis of Coverage by The New York Times and The Washington Post • Ignatius Fosu, University of Arkansas • Investigations into the September 11 tragedy revealed that three of the hijackers had taken advantage of loopholes in regulations governing international students. This paper examines the dominant frames and sources used by The New York Times and The Washington Post in covering the issue over a 15-month period, and how these possibly contributed to the passing of new regulations to address these breaches.
Gender Diversity in Sourcing for Newspaper Coverage of 2006 U.S. Senate Elections • Eric Freedman, Michigan State University; Frederick Fico, Michigan State University • A content analysis of stories covering eleven races for U.S. Senate in 2006 showed an overwhelming reliance on male “horse race” and issue experts when nonpartisan experts appeared at all in the largest newspaper in each state. When female experts were cited, they were likely to receive less space and appear deeper in a story than male experts.
The Influence of News Coverage of the Virginia Tech Shootings on Perceived Threat, Stereotypes of South Korean Immigrants, and Avoidance of Intergroup Interaction • Yuki Fujioka, Georgia State University; Cynthia Hoffner, Gergia State University; Anita Atwell-Seate; Elizabeth Cohen • This study examines the influence of news coverage of the Virginia Tech shootings on perceived threat of gun violence, stereotypes of South Korean immigrants, and avoidance of interaction with out-group members. News exposure was associated with the greater perceived threat, more negative stereotypes, and greater avoidance of intergroup interaction. Perceived threat and stereotypes both predicted greater avoidance of intergroup interaction. Findings are discussed in light of integrated threat theory, exemplification theory and social identity theory.
Did the media help inflate the housing bubble? Media coverage of real estate markets in times of change • Carroll Glynn, The Ohio State University; Michael Huge, The Ohio State University; Lindsay Hoffman, University of Delaware • Economic issues offer communication scholars the opportunity to analyze media effects via widely available economic indicators, probing the relationship between objective conditions (i.e., economic indicators) and subjective evaluations (i.e., public perceptions of the economy). A content analysis of newspaper coverage from 1996 to 2007 was combined with national survey data. Findings indicate that there was indeed a relationship between both the amount and type of media coverage and public perceptions regarding the housing market.
Late-Night Iraq: Monologue Joke Content and Tone from 2003-2007 • Michel Haigh, The Pennsylvania State University; Joshua Compton, Southwest Baptist University; Aaron Heresco • The current study examines late-night comedy about the war in Iraq. A content analysis examined late-night comedy jokes about the war in Iraq from March 2003 – March 2007. Results indicate the jokes told (N = 986) about Iraq were anti-war, had a negative tone, and depicted the U.S. government negatively. The most common type of comedy employed to discuss Iraq was informative. The topics discussed in the jokes varied.
Nationwide Newspaper Coverage of Comprehensive Immigration Reform: A Community Structure Approach • Patrick Hall, The College of New Jersey; Steven Viani; Alexander Liberton; John Pollock, College of New Jersey • Utilizing the community structure approach, a research model developed by Pollock and others (1977, 1978, 1994-2002, 2007) that connects city characteristics with variations in newspaper coverage of significant events, a nationwide cross-section of 21 newspapers were sampled to analyze coverage of comprehensive immigration reform. The articles were chosen based on specific parameters, including a date range of November 28, 2005 to November 6, 2007 and a word-count of 250 or more.
Representation of Trauma and Collective Memory in Two Newspapers: Different Memories on Sex Slaves, or Comfort Women • Choonghee Han, The University of Iowa • This paper talks about the traumatic memory in the framework of collective memory and media representations, particularly rhetorics and themes of representation. The main focus is on how news media in Japan and South Korea tried to represent their own interpretation of the memory. Editorials from two newspapers, one in each country, that covered the international debate over the sex slaves, or “comfort women,” were analyzed.
Sex-typing of sports: The influence of gender, participation, and media on visual priming responses • Marie Hardin, Penn State University; Fuyuan Shen, Penn State University; Nan Yu, The Pennsylvania State University • Although men’s participation in sports that have traditionally been sex-typed as masculine, such as basketball, have received the lion’s share of media coverage, research shows that women’s interest and participation in these sports has steadily increased during the past decade. This study seeks to update research on the sex-typing of sports with an exploration of how visual priming, through sports images, may be influenced by participation, mediated sports consumption and gender of consumers.
Blogs and the Iraq War: A Time-Series Analysis of Intermedia Agenda Setting and Agenda Building • Kyle Heim, University of Missouri • This study used time-series analysis of news coverage and blog discussion about the Iraq War from mid-2006 through late 2007 to examine intermedia agenda setting and agenda building. The amount of newspaper and television coverage was positively correlated with the number of posts on “A-list” political blogs and personal blogs. Limited evidence was found that A-list political blogs influenced news coverage. Military deaths influenced news coverage, but White House news releases were less influential.
Framing Armed Conflict: A Field Study of Sri Lankan and Israeli-Palestinian Journalists • Anuradha K. Herath; T. Michael Maher; William R. Davie, University of Louisiana • This study applied framing analysis and a “snowball” interviewing technique to determine the relationship between journalists’ attitudes about armed conflict and their reporting. Twenty-four interviews with Sri Lankan and Israeli-Palestinian journalists were conducted, and their work samples were analyzed for the presence of pro-war frames developed using peace journalism guidelines. A definite relationship was detected between the frames created by the journalists’ writing and their attitudes toward the armed conflicts they were covering.
News Leads and News Frames in Stories about Stem Cell Research • Elliott Hillback, UW-Madison; Anthony Dudo, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Rosalyna Wijaya; Sharon Dunwoody, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Dominique Brossard, University of Wisconsin-Madison • Furthering recent research on media framing, this study examines the extent to which “topical emphasis” (focus) and “meaning emphasis” (frames) are conceptually distinct entities. Specifically, we examine to what degree the distinction between foci and frames described by Brossard et al. (2007) in news leads is also present in the body of news stories, and we examine the patterns of association between particular foci and frames in new story leads and bodies, and across types of events.
Value Frames in Health Communication: Reframing and Media Effects • Lindsay Hoffman, University of Delaware; Michael Slater, The Ohio State University • Media frames that appeal to core values have been shown to activate individuals’ values. We argue that values can serve to “reframe” issues. Literature on persuasion, media priming, and framing help explicate the role that value frames play in activating individual values. An experiment exposed subjects to value frames about a smoking ban. Results demonstrated that value frames alone did not affect values, but when value frames were interacted with pre-existing orientations, significant results emerged.
Media Use and Perceptions of Citizen Activities: The Role of the Media in Socializing Active Democratic Citizens • J. Brian Houston; Michael Pfau • This study examined how the mass media depict citizen activities, how individuals think citizens should act, and how the two are related through a content analysis of media content and a national telephone survey. The content analysis found that citizens were frequently depicted as stating political opinions and as the object of government law, policy, or actions.
If it’s good enough for me, it’s good enough for my children: frequency of television viewing as a predictor of parental television monitoring • Stacey Hust, Washington State University; Joann Wong; Yvonnes Yi-Chun Chen, Washington State University • Parents have increasingly expressed concern about children’s media use, yet whether parent’s media use affects their attitudes toward children’s television use has rarely been explored. A survey of 462 parents indicated parents’ television viewing was associated with attitudes about parental mediation, and the frequency of parental TV viewing was positively associated with the frequency of children’s viewing. This study also produced three reliable scales of parents’ identification of scene-specific content as violent, sexual, or family-oriented
A Functional Analysis of the 2007 South Korean Presidential Campaign Blogs • Sungwook Hwang, University of Missouri at Columbia • This study content-analyzes the functions and topics on the 2007 South Korean presidential campaign blogs by employing the Functional Theory.
News Attitudes as Mediators in the Relationship between Political Extremity and Political Blog Use • Kideuk Hyun; Joon Yea Lee, University of Texas at Austin • This study examined the role of news attitudes-preference to attitude-consistent news and differential perception of media trust-as mediators in the relationship between the political extremity and political blog use. Using 2006 Pew Research Center data, initial regression equations revealed the significant relationships among the three sets of associations between political extremity and political blog use, political extremity and media attitudes, and media attitudes and political blog use.
You Can’t Take it With You? Comparing the Effects of Portable Handheld and Television-Based Media Consoles on Users’ Physiological and Psychological Responses to Video Game and Movie Content • James D. Ivory, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University; Robert Magee, Virginia Tech • Because portable media consoles are extremely popular, it is important to investigate how their physiological and psychological effects may differ from those of television-based consoles. This article reports a 2 (Console: Portable or Television-Based) X 2 (Medium: Video Game or Movie) mixed factorial design experiment with physiological arousal and self-reported flow experience as dependent variables, designed to explore whether console type affects media experiences and whether these effects are consistent with different media.
Blogs and Intermedia Agenda-Setting: A Study of Campaign and Political Blogs in the 2006 Pennsylvania Senate Race • Philip Johnson, Syracuse University; Jennifer Liebman, Syracuse University • Our study content analyzed candidate blogs and two popular political blogs from the 2006 Pennsylvania senate race in order to determine which issues were most salient during the election. Spearman’s rho was used to determine issue agenda consistency of candidate blogs and political blogs throughout September and October. These correlations showed that candidate blogs and political blogs maintained consistent issue agendas.
Can you Teach a New Blog Old Tricks? How Blog Users Judge Credibility of Different Types of Blogs for Information About the Iraq War • Thomas J. Johnson, Texas Tech University; Barbara Kaye, University of Tennessee • This study employed an online survey to examine the extent to which blog users judge different types of blogs as credible. More specifically, this study examines the extent to which blog users judge general information, media/journalism, war, military, political, corporate and personal blogs as credible. The study will also examine the degree to which reliance on blogs for war information predicts their credibility after controlling for demographic and political factors.
Going to the Blogs: Toward the Development of a Uses and Gratifications Measurement Scale for Blogs • Barbara Kaye, University of Tennessee • This paper investigates the uses and motivations for connecting to blogs. Rather than relying on motivations from pre-existing scales measuring traditional media or Internet use that must be adapted for blogs, this study relies on open-ended questions about blog use derived from a previous survey.
What do people do with ‘seed news’?: An exploratory case study of news diffusion in cyberspace • Kyungmo Kim, Yonsei University; Yung-Ho Im; Eun-mee Kim; Yeran Kim • This research examines the patterns of news diffusion process in cyberspace. Four news events in Korea were selected to show how each ‘seed news’ is diffused and also transformed along the process in cyberspace. The research especially focuses on transformation of news content and forms in the diffusion process, which the previous news diffusion study has neglected at the expense of concentrating on news awareness of the individual adopters.
The Irony of Satire: People See What They Want to See in The Colbert Report, Heather LaMarre • The Ohio State University; Michael Beam, The Ohio State University; Kristen Landreville, The Ohio State University • This study investigated biased message processing of political satire in The Colbert Report and the influence of political ideology on perceptions of Stephen Colbert. Results indicate that political ideology influences individual-level processing of ambiguous political comedy. Using data from an experiment (N = 332), we found that individual-level political ideology significantly predicted perceptions of Colbert’s political party identification and political ideology.
The Investigative Reporting Agenda in America: 1979-2007 • Gerry Lanosga; Jason Martin, Indiana University • This study is a content analysis of entries in the annual contest sponsored by Investigative Reporters and Editors, a Missouri-based industry association that provides training and recognition to investigative journalists from across the country. Analysis of a random sample of stories from the database’s 20,000 projects yields a systematic description of investigative reporting as it has been practiced in the United States since 1979, an increased understanding of the journalist-source dynamic as it pertains to investigative reporting, and a new perspective on investigative reporting in the context of agenda setting theory.
Ratings Creep and PG-13: A Longitudinal Analysis • Ron Leone, Stonehill College • Ratings creep” is the belief that adult concept escalates in films with the same rating over time. This study tests the “ratings creep hypothesis” in PG-13 films (1988, 1997, and 2006), and compares 1997 R films to 2006 PG-13 films. Sixty films were analyzed. Significant increases in violence among PG-13 films were found; increases in other adult content were not.
Issue Constraints and Gatekeeping:Limited Production Capacities of News Sites for Publishing Diverse Issues • Jeongsub Lim, Austin Peay State University • Traditional news media are unable to publish all news items because of structural constraints or limited capacities, such as the availability of news holes and staff reporters, resulting in issue constraints that favor a small range of issues over diverse alternative issues. This study explores the question of to what extent such issue constraints are present in news sites.
“Are all celebrity endorsements the same?” The impact of different spokespersons for mental illness campaigns • Yu-Jung Lin, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities • Whether all celebrities are equally useful as potential spokespersons for health campaigns is an open question. This study tested the potential impact of two different celebrities, a non-celebrity, and a control condition with no message on the perceptions of those with major depression among a population of undergraduates. Results suggest that while the endorsement message conditions did improve perceptions relative to the control condition, the two celebrities differed dramatically in their effect.
American and Japanese Viewpoints on Press Freedom/Civil Liberty Infringements within the Context of Terror • Catherine Luther, University of Tennessee • This study examined the potential influences of cultural values, perceived level of terrorism threat, interest in terrorism news, and mass media consumption habits on the degree of support or nonsupport given to antiterrorism strategies that infringe on civil liberties and press freedom. The impact of the above main factors was analyzed through a survey-based analysis of viewpoints expressed by American and Japanese college students.
Examining Narrative Engagement’s Influence on Entertainment-Education Campaigns for Organ Donation • Emily Garrigues Marett, Washington State University Edward R Murrow School of Communication; Rick Busselle • Organ donation consent rates are very low despite overwhelmingly positive attitudes toward organ donation. Because television is the primary source of information on organ donation, entertainment-education campaigns may be an effective strategy. Previous research has linked narrative engagement to changes in attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors. This study empirically tested the influence of narrative engagement on entertainment-education efforts. Results indicated that entertainment-education programming was more successful than standard entertainment programming at influencing organ donation attitudes.
Blogging the Horse Race: New Media and the Presidential Primary Campaign • Jason Martin, Indiana University; Gerry Lanosga • Horse-race campaign coverage has been a popular topic of communication research, but not yet for new media. This content analysis investigates how blogs covered the 2008 presidential primaries. Bloggers used the horse-race theme in reporting and focused on candidate performance more often than print media at rates that were statistically significant. Also, horse-race reporting in both media was found to include a more complex mixture of issue coverage than previous similar studies had indicated.
Voters’ Attention, Perceived Effects, and Voting Preferences: Negative Political Advertising in the 2006 Ohio Governor’s Election • Jennette Lovejoy, Ohio University; Hong Cheng, E.W. Scripps School of Journalism Ohio University; Daniel Riffe, E.W. Scripps School of Journalism Ohio University • Statewide survey (N=564) before Ohio’s 2006 gubernatorial election examined political interest, campaign news and advertising attention, and perceived effects of negative political ads. Interest was related to political and negative political advertising attention, which were in turn related to campaign news attention. Candidate preference predicted attention to political and negative political ads; attention to ads significantly predicted perceived effects on self and on others, while negative ad attention significantly predicted third-person differential (other minus self).
Values and media use in Germany, 1986-2005: An explorative analysis • Merja Mahrt, Zeppelin University, Germany; Klaus Schoenbach, Amsterdam School of Communications Research (ASCoR), University of Amsterdam • How is media use related to the personal values of audience members? This study explores for the first time historically whether an expanding media offer has been accompanied by a selection behavior more and more determined by individual values. Have people increasingly tended to use the media they assume to represent their values?
A Citizen-Eye View of Television News Source Credibility • Andrea Miller, Louisiana State University; David Kurpius, Louisiana State University • This experimental study used 244 participants to investigate citizen perceptions of news sources focusing on source credibility. Ten television news stories were created varying source affiliation (officials/citizens), source race (African-American/Caucasian), and type of story (hard/soft news). For the first time, results showed viewers do distinguish between the credibility of official and citizen sources. No difference was found in credibility based on race. Results are discussed within the frameworks of civic journalism and citizens sources.
Reporting Risk: Perceptions of fear and risk from health news coverage • Barbara Miller, Elon University; Alissa Packer, Susquehanna University; Brooke Barnett, Elon University • Using actual news coverage of an environmental health issue, this experimental study examined whether providing benchmarks – namely risk equivalents and comparisons – influenced individuals’ risk perceptions. The study suggests providing information on other sources of a contaminant may do little to reduce subjects’ estimates of risk; however, providing information about comparable, unrelated risks may lower concern associated with a particular hazard.
Understanding Media Satisfaction: Development and Validation of an Affect-based Scale • Padmini Patwardhan, Winthrop University; Jin Yang, University of Memphis; Hemant Patwardhan, Winthrop University • Media satisfaction is an important construct in the study of relationships between mass media and audiences. In mass communication literature, media satisfaction is a widely used construct in the study of media effects as a desired consumption outcome and likely predictor of future media-related behavior. From an industry perspective, creating satisfaction is central to the economic viability of media institutions and services.
Sexually Explicit Material on the Internet and Adolescents’ Sexual Preoccupancy: Assessing Causality and Underlying Mechanisms • Jochen Peter, University of Amsterdam; Patti Valkenburg • The main aim of this study was to investigate whether adolescents’ use of sexually explicit Internet material (SEIM) increased their sexual preoccupancy. Within one year, we surveyed 962 adolescents aged 13-20 three times. Structural equation modeling showed that exposure to SEIM stimulated sexual preoccupancy. This influence was mediated by subjective sexual arousal from SEIM. The effect of exposure to SEIM on sexual arousal did not differ between male and female adolescents.
The role of media literacy in adolescents’ understanding of and responses to sexual portrayals in media • Bruce Pinkleton, Washington State University; Erica Austin, Washington State University; Marilyn Cohen, University of Washington; Yvonnes Yi-Chun Chen, Washington State University • Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and teen pregnancy rates are at an all-time high in the United States and sexual behavior is prevalent in the mass media. The purpose of this study pretest-posttest quasi-experiment conducted in the field to determine whether or not a theory-based media literacy curriculum focusing on sexual portrayals in the media would positively influence adolescents’ decision making regarding sex.
How Media Audiences Spontaneously Articulate the Third-Person Effect in Naturalistic Conversation: A Qualitative Look at the Form and Content of Self-Other Comparisons • Jennifer Rauch, Long Island University • This study enhances the external validity of third-person effect (TPE) research by showing how audience members spontaneously compare themselves to others while talking about media messages. Focus groups of political activists watched and discussed a television news program, responding to non-directional questions in a naturalistic setting, a qualitative approach that contrasts with the surveys and experiments of most TPE research.
Nationwide Newspaper Coverage of the No Child Left Behind Act: A Community Structure Approach • Janna Raudenbush, The College of New Jersey; Alyssa Conn, The College of New Jersey; Gina Miele, The College of New Jersey; John Pollock, College of New Jersey • Utilizing the community structure approach, as developed in nationwide studies by Pollock and others (1977, 1978, 1994-2002), this study investigated links between city characteristics and nationwide newspaper coverage of the No Child Left Behind act. A national cross-section sample of 21 newspapers was selected from the NewsBank database.
Citizen Journalism as Third Places: What makes people contribute information online (or not) • Sue Robinson, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Cathy DeShano • Informed by literature on the public sphere, community and the Internet, this research represents a qualitative ecological reconstruction of a particular communicative niche, Madison, WI. Depth interviews with trained-but-non-practicing citizen journalists as well as with established local news bloggers formed this case study of a single community.
Georgia Peach: How the Press Shaped the National and Regional Memory of Ty Cobb • Lori Roessner, University of Georgia • This article examines the national and regional memory of Ty Cobb, often hailed as the greatest baseball player of the Deadball Era. The demon of the diamond’s feats and antics have been recounted in newspapers, magazines, film and sports history books for more than a century, and local and national museums celebrate his legend, as much as his legacy on the field.
From Junkies to Avoiders: How using traditional and nontraditional forms of TV news is related to political attitutdes and behaviors in emerging adults • Kathleen Schmermund, U.S. Congressman Phil English; Anne Johnston, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • This research examines how use of traditional and nontraditional TV news is related to measures of high or low political trust, cynicism, political participation, efficacy and interpersonal political communication. An Internet survey of 884 college students indicated that slightly more than a third of the respondents could be classified as TV news Junkies and another third as Avoiders of all TV news.
“I hate Jack Thompson”: Exploring third-person differences between gamers and non-gamers • Mike Schmierbach, Penn State University; Michael Boyle, West Chester University; Qian Xu; Douglas McLeod, University of Wisconsin-Madison • Numerous studies have demonstrated a third-person perception, but many aspects of the origins and consequences of this remain unaddressed. In this study, we use the topic of video game effects to assess how differences in an individual’s use of a medium and between positive and negative effects shape the third-person effect. Although games are subject to clear third-person perceptions and subsequent support for censorship, these patterns are greatly diminished for heavy players and positive effects.
Professionalization in Political Online Communication? German Party Web Sites in the 2002 and 2005 National Elections • Eva Johanna Schweitzer, University of Mainz, Germany • This paper examines the development of e-campaigning in a party-centered democracy. Based on theoretical concepts of political communication research that are applied to explain recent changes in online campaigning, the study compares German party Web sites in two national election cycles by a quantitative content and structure analysis. The results show that major and minor parties fall more and more apart in cyberspace and that traditional offline trends in political communication are disregarded online.
Flame On! Sports Fans and Online Aggression • Brad Schultz, University of Mississippi; Mary Lou Sheffer, Texas Tech University • Studies have shown that highly identified sports fans often engage in aggressive physical behavior, however, little is known about aggression in terms of non-physical Internet communication. This study applied Wann’s self-esteem maintenance model to examine how sports fans use online message boards. A content analysis was conducted to analyze message board communication before, during and after a championship football game.
Staying Alive: The Impact of Media Coverage on Candidacy Attrition in the 1980-2004 Primaries • Fei Shen, The Ohio State University • This study proposed a “media momentum model”, arguing that the amount of news coverage candidates receive might influence their candidacy duration. The two mechanisms that drive this process are rational choice on the candidates’ side and cue-taking on the voters’ side.
Pluralistic Ignorance and Social Distance of Public Relations Practitioners and Journalists in the Source-Reporter Relationship • Jae-Hwa Shin, University of Southern Mississippi; Jongmin Park, Kyung Hee University; Glen Cameron • A Web survey of 206 public relations practitioners and journalists in South Korea showed both false dissensus and social distance among public relations practitioners and journalists enacted through the source-reporter relationship. Coorientational analysis simultaneously demonstrated that members of each profession disagreed with and inaccurately predicted responses of the other. Their inaccurate projection of the views of the other profession was greater than their disagreement, resulting in false dissensus, on two dimensions of conflict and strategy.
Soldiers of Misfortune: How Two Newspapers Framed Private Security Contractors In Iraq • Mark Slagle • Since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the U.S. military’s use of private security contractors has grown enormously. Concomitant with that increase has been an increase in media coverage of these contractors and how they are used in conflict areas. This paper examines how two newspapers, one national and one local, framed one private security company in two separate incidents.
Comparing Media Effects on Perceived Issue Salience across Different Media Channels and Media Types • Jesper Stromback, Mid Sweden University; Spiro Kiousis, University of Florida • Although agenda-setting research is one of the most widely investigated theories in mass communication, it is still not clear whether newspapers or television are more powerful in terms of salience transfer from the media to the public. In addition, most agenda-setting studies are content- rather than attention-based, and use cross-sectional rather than panel data.
Local Media, Public Opinion, and State Legislative Policies: Agenda Setting at the State Level • Yue Tan; David Weaver • This study aims to explore first-level agenda setting at the state level. In particular, it examines the relationships among media coverage of local newspapers, state-level public opinion and state legislative policies, in order to better understand mass media’s role in state policymaking. In addition, it also tests the intervening impact of two state level factors: state legislative professionalism and state political culture on the agenda setting effects.
Attribute Agenda Setting and Images of Hillary Clinton, a Retrospective Case Study • Hai Tran, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • This research attempts to provide some new evidence that links public opinions and attitudes about presidential candidates in direct proportion to cognitive and affective attributes presented in media coverage. The study also investigates the relative power of the various mass media in setting the public agenda.
Is It Frames or Facts? Testing Internally vs. Ecologically Valid Frames on Risk Perceptions • Emily Vraga; D. Jasun Carr; Jeffrey Nytes, UW Madison; Dhavan Shah, University of Wisconsin-Madison • Research on framing remains fractured. The focus of this experiment examines the division between idealistic (internally valid) and pragmatic (externally valid) approaches to framing within the domain of risk perceptions. Our study suggests that both conceptions of framing have merit. Specifically, we find that while both idealistic and pragmatic frames produce differences in total risk perceptions between gain and loss frames, it is idealistic frames that produce effects on comparative judgments.
The Effects of Strategic News Coverage on Political Cynicism: A Content Analysis of Online Interactions • Weirui Wang, The Pennsylvania State University • A content analysis of online interactions was conducted to examine the effects of strategic news coverage on political cynicism among audiences. News stories from the websites of ABC News, CBS News, USA Today, and The Washington Post were analyzed for the uses of media frames in the coverage of the embryonic stem cell research controversy (n = 49).
Exploring “Positive” Effects: College Students’ Media Exposure and Exercise Intentions • Xiao Wang, Eastern Connecticut State University • Previous research in body image mainly focused on the disordered eating attitudes and behaviors. This current study sought to explore the potential positive effects resulted from exposure to a variety of media outlets and to provide a mediating analysis on how media exposure shaped individuals’ attitudes toward good body image and self-efficacy to perform a target behavior.
The Effects of Homophily, Identification, and Violent Video Games on Players • Kevin Williams, Mississippi State University • After an experiment with 148 male participants, results indicated skinning a video game character to physically resemble the player led to greater identification and psychological involvement with the game’s character, but did little to impact the feeling of presence. Exposure to violent content also led to greater physical hostility than exposure to nonviolent content. An interaction effect revealed playing a violent game with a character physically resembling the player led to even greater hostility.
Surviving Survivor: A Content Analysis of Antisocial Behavior and its Context in a Popular Reality Television Show • Christopher Wilson, Brigham Young University; Tom Robinson; Mark Callister • Since the debut of Survivor in 2000, reality programs have become a staple on American television. Critics have argued that reality programming represents the bottom rung of television programming promoting antisocial behavior, exhibitionism, and voyeurism. This content analysis examines types, frequency, and context of antisocial behavior on seven seasons of Survivor from 2000 to 2007.
Agenda Building and Setting in a Referendum Campaign. Investigating the Flow of Arguments among Campaigners, the Media, and the Public • Werner Wirth, U of Zurich; Jorg Matthes, U of Zurich; Christian Schemer, U of Zurich; Martin Wettstein, U of Zurich • This study is the first of its kind to test second level agenda building and setting effects in the course of a referendum campaign. Personal standardized interviews with 47 different campaign managers are linked to a content analysis of TV and newspaper coverage, and a three-wave public opinion survey. The results demonstrate the dynamic flow of arguments in the agenda building and setting process; top-down from the campaigners to the news media, and the public.
College Students’ Self-Concepts and Attitude toward Advertising; -The Relationships among the Body-Esteem, Social Comparison, and the Perception about Diet Advertising • Hyunjae (Jay) Yu, Louisiana State University; Gevorgyan (George) Gennadi, Louisiana State University; Hoyoung Ahn, University of Georgia • There have been many studies dealing with the relationships between self-perceptions and the perceptions of advertising. However, research that focused specifically on diet advertising, which has recently seen a dramatic increase in our society, has been scarce. One can assume that people’s perceptions of diet advertising may be influenced by how they think about their own bodies or by the extent to which they compare their own bodies with those of others.
The Effects of Media Use, Trust, and Political Party Relationship Quality on Political and Civic Participation • Weiwu Zhang, Texas Tech University; Trent Seltzer, Texas Tech University • This study used data from a telephone survey of 998 residents of a midsized city during early 2008 to examine the interaction among interpersonal communication, media use, interpersonal trust, relationships with political parties, civic and political participation, and confidence in government. Results indicated that interpersonal communication, new media use, and relationship with political parties were related to increases in civic and political participation. Strong relationships with parties were also related to increased confidence in government.
Seeing is Believing? An Explorative Study of News Credibility in China • Yunze Zhao; Wenjing Xie • This study aims at evaluating media credibility in contemporary China and exploring what factors will influence people’s perceptions of media credibility. A survey was conducted in Beijing and found that the newly-emerged professional media outlets have evolved into a strong competitor of the traditional party-organ news media and were viewed as more credible than the party mouthpiece.
“I feel happy today so I care less about news details:” The impact of mood on processing news information • Bu Zhong, Pennsylvania State University • This study is an experiment (N = 87) that investigated the impact of three mood states – happy, sad or neutral – upon the way people process news information. After an effective mood induction procedure, the experiment discovers that changes of mood states produce significant differences in processing news information. The data also suggest that mood directs people’s attention and valence cues to different types of information in the news – global or local information.
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