Commission on the Status of Women
2022 Abstracts
Research Paper • Faculty • Maha Bashri • Framing Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: Intersectionality and News Frames in Local and National Press Coverage • Minority female politicians receive less frequent media coverage than their counterparts. Even when they do receive media coverage it tends to be negatively framed. The following study analyzes patterns of congruence (or lack of) in news frames and intersectional categories in local and national media coverage of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a politician affiliated with the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). The Washington Post has been selected for this study because it is the most circulated newspaper in the Washington metropolitan area, home to many power brokers in the U.S. government. The local newspaper selected for the analysis was the Bronx Times-Reporter, a weekly newspaper covering news from the Bronx, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s district. The findings point to the prevalence of thematic frames and class as an intersectional category in local news coverage more than in national news coverage. The shift in coverage patterns has significant implications for both minority women politicians and the DSA in American politics.
Research Paper • Faculty • Dorothy Bland, University of North Texas; Mia Moody; Gheni Platenburg, Auburn University; Mira Lowe, University of Florida; Lawrence Mosley, Omni Analytics Group • An Analysis of Memes and Misinformation about Kamala Harris’s Rise to U.S. Vice President • “Kamala Harris made political history in the United States and around the globe when she was elected vice president of the United States in November 2020. She is the first Black female and person of South Asian descent to hold that position. She has been the subject of a variety of memes and misinformation. Using Facebook’s CrowdTangle, a content discovery and social monitoring platform, this study employed framing, feminist and critical race theories to analyze memes and (mis)information that circulated on Facebook during the 2021 U.S. Presidential campaign. Specifically, we analyze Harris-themed memes disseminated over a four-month window between October 1, the month before the November 3, 2020 election, through Jan. 31, 2021. This time frame includes the most heated part of the campaign and Inauguration Day. This study shows that memes ranged from celebrating racial/ethnic pride to misogynistic attacks on Harris.
Extended Abstract • Faculty • Meredith Clark; Miyoung Chong, University of Virginia • #JusticeForBreonnaTaylor: A Case Study of the Evolution of the Black Lives Matter Movement • In this study, we use complementing quantitative and qualitative methods in an effort to track and trace the efficacy of hashtag activism participants’ engagement in Black Lives Matter related content, while focusing on the subtheme of police brutality toward Black women in the United States.
Research Paper • Student • Leticia Couto, Washington State University; Stacey Hust • It was all consensual: The news, sexual assault, and student athletes • This content analysis of 179 newspaper articles investigates the portrayal of college athletes that are involved in sexual assault cases as alleged perpetrator and the presence of rape myths in these stories. Results showed that intoxication might be used as a technique to either blame alleged victims or protect alleged perpetrators. In conclusion, rape myths are still very present in newspaper articles that discuss college athletes as alleged perpetrators of sexual assault.
Research Paper • Student • Dana Dabek, Temple University • Covering the Second Wave: Grace Lichtenstein, The New York Times, and the Legacy of Liberal Feminism • This paper explores the intersections of journalism, memory, and liberal feminism through a critical textual analysis of New York Times journalist Grace Lichtenstein’s coverage of the Second Wave feminist movement in the United States from 1968-1981. Themes of liberalist ideologies, upholding hegemonic power structures, and women as newsworthy for their “firsts” are analyzed within her coverage. This analysis adds to existing scholarship of how journalistic constraints bound how memory of a social movement is constructed.
Research Paper • Faculty • Zehui Dai, Radford University; Michael Meindl, Radford University; Dinah Tetteh • Vlogging pregnancy and laboring during the pandemic: Narratives of Chinese pregnant women in diasporas • In early 2020, COVID-19 spread nationwide in China and later became a global pandemic. The rapid changing context of the situation may lead to unforeseeable challenges and questions for pregnant women. Through a textual analysis of personal narratives told via pregnancy and/or laboring vlogs during COVID-19, the present study aims to understand how pregnant women in Chinese diasporas utilizes YouTube (a digital media platform) to construct a digital identity as they convey their pregnancy and/or laboring experiences to during the pandemic to a particular audience—the transnational, Mandarin-speaking diaspora. Through the analysis, we identified various challenges that pregnant women in Chinese diasporas experienced in pregnancy and/or laboring. The COVID-19 pandemic exasperated the normal difficulties of these issues, as well as created additional problems for this group of women, including regular pregnancy tests, choice of birthing locations, and the support and caring that was normal during this time period. We also believe narrative creation, in the form of vlogging, helps this cohort to gain a sense of agency and empowerment of their diaspora experience by examining and reimagining their experience.
Research Paper • Faculty • Stine Eckert, Wayne State University; Jade Metzger-Riftkin; Fatima Albrehi; Najma Akhther, Wayne State University; Zalika Aniapam; Linda Steiner, University of Maryland • #MeToo academia: Media coverage of academic sexual misconduct at U.S. universities • We conducted a systematic textual analysis of media coverage of 201 academic sexual misconduct cases in the United States between 2017 and 2019 in which a university employee was named as perpetrator. In 97 cases media did not mention the #MeToo movement, indicating that cases were treated as “bad behavior” of a single person rather than as a systemic problem in society linked to rape culture. Four of five cases (80%) were broken to the public by a journalistic news medium demonstrating that journalism, especially local journalism, remains the main path to expose academic sexual misconduct of university employees in the wake of the viral #MeToo hashtag. Student journalists especially broke cases that led to news coverage linking individual cases to broader systemic issues in society, recognizing and contributing to a shift in public discourse on sexual misconduct.
Research Paper • Faculty • Tracy Everbach, University of North Texas; Gwendelyn Nisbett, University of North Texas; Karen Weiller-Abels, University of North Texas • Rebel! Rebel! How Megan Rapinoe’s Celebrity Activism Forges New Paths for Athletes • After the USA won the 2019 Women’s FIFA World Cup, Megan Rapinoe captured the world’s attention with her lavender hair, athletic build, quick moves on the field, eye for style, and outspoken advocacy for equality. This study employs a feminist standpoint and queer theory approach to examine Rapinoe’s activism, advocacy, and celebrity as an influencer and role model for sports fans as well as LGBTQ+ people, and those fighting for racial and gender equality.
Research Paper • Student • Jodi Friedman, University of Maryland, Philip Merrill School of Journalism • #freebritney, #freekesha, #freemelania: Hashtag Activism and Notions of Feminism in Online Communities • Britney Spears, Kesha and Melania Trump are Twitter causes célèbres. Disparate discourses of the hashtag campaigns #freebritney, #freekesha, and #freemelania move users from the personal to the collective, presuming these powerful women are prisoners in gilded cages. Users rally around a central White, female figure who largely does not join discussion of her supposed entrapment. An ethnographic field site of 77,435 tweets is thematically analyzed regarding online fan identity and women’s need for rescue.
Research Paper • Student • Jingyi Guo; Ziwei Zhang; Jinhong Song; Lu Jin; Duan Yu • Femvertising and postfeminist discourse: Advertising to break menstrual taboos in China • This paper investigates Libresse sanitary napkins commercials in China. Employing feminist critical discourse analysis, we interpret the narration of Libresse’s efforts in China as exemplary of the appropriation of femvertising—women empowerment advertising—to challenge menstrual taboos. Our findings indicate that Libresse creates a postfeminist discourse that has generated contradictions regarding gender issues, both liberating and constraining women in an elaborate dance. Our study thus situates a broader discussion of postfeminism, advertising, and global capitalism.
Extended Abstract • Faculty • Meg Heckman, Northeastern University • Building the Gender Beat: U.S. Journalists Refocus the News in the Aftermath of #MeToo • Beats focused on gender have become more common at U.S. news organizations in the last four years—a phenomenon this exploratory study documents in an effort to gauge the prevalence of gender beats and understand the experiences of the journalists (n=66) covering them. Based on semi-structured interviews analyzed using grounded theory, I argue that gender beats are necessary—but ideally temporary—stepping stones to help news organizations move beyond hegemonic masculinity.
Extended Abstract • Faculty • Rahul Bhargava, Northeastern University; Meg Heckman, Northeastern University; Emily Boardman Ndulue • Momala and Willie Brown’s Mistress: A computational analysis of gendered news coverage of Kamala Harris. • It’s well documented that female political candidates face systemic bias in news coverage. There is, however, scant research as to how this phenomenon plays out in the modern hyper-polarized digital media ecosystem. We aim to fill that gap by using computational content analysis to explore recent coverage of Vice President Kamala Harris. We find a perpetuation of sexist tropes and stark differences in the news narratives gaining traction among voters of different political persuasions.
Research Paper • Independent Scholar • Sharmeen Jariullah • An Intersectional Examination of Representations of Muslim Women in Television Series • The interpretive study analyzes the long-standing impact of the Orientalist gaze on representations of Muslim women in the media, resulting in restrictive tropes and archetypes in contemporary television series from the United States and the United Kingdom. The paper proposes how an intersectional framework can be utilized to dismantle preexisting stereotyped and monolithic representations of Muslim women in the news and entertainment media, to favor holistic representations of Muslim women characters.
Extended Abstract • Student • Solyee Kim, University of Georgia; Juan Meng • Women in Communication: Assessing and Advancing Gender Equality • This study addresses the persistent gender discrepancies in the communication profession at three levels (i.e., the micro level with individual communication professionals, the meso level with communication department and/or agency, and the macro level with the communication profession itself). By conducting an online survey of 1,046 communication professionals in the United States and Canada in the year of 2020-2021, this study provides some of the latest analyses on perceptions and experiences related to women and gender equality in the communication profession. Several key issues are investigated, including the perceptions of women’s leadership status within the organization, the perceived improvement of gender equality, contributing factors to gender inequality, the glass ceiling issue, and the barrier for women’s leadership advancement. Research and practical implications are discussed.
Extended Abstract • Faculty • Katie Olsen, Kansas State University; Danielle LaGree, Kansas State University-Manhattan • Mentorship as a Tool to Close the Leadership Gender Gap: Understanding How Professional Relationships Impact Women During Their First Five Years in the Strategic Communications Industry • The strategic communications industry is plagued with a lack of gender diversity among its leadership, and little is known about how early-career women (ECW) receive the support necessary to develop their professional identity–and ultimately, their rise to the top. Using in-depth interviews with 31 ECWs in their first five years of employment, this study seeks to understand how mentorship and professional relationships impact their experiences during the formative first five years in industry.
Research Paper • Student • Mikayla Pevac, Pennsylvania State University • How to Connect: Sexual Assault Activists’ Reliance on Social Media • From social media to smartphones, the 21st century has seen a lot of change. One area that has specifically undergone an extreme shift due to the digital age is the feminist movement in the United States. As Robert Putnam’s work in Bowling Alone (2000) suggested, people are adapting to the influx of technological advances and are responding by reshaping their social networks. The American feminist movement has arguably utilized digital tools, like the various social media platforms, to create and sustain online relationships between like-minded individuals and provide safe spaces for feminist ideas like never before. By analyzing the social media accounts of two American sexual assault activists, Kamillah Willingham and Chanel Miller, this paper will offer insight into different ways feminist activists are using social media to sustain awareness for their respective causes and also share their personal journeys with their followers. In the past, there has been contention over whether social capital theory is an ideal theory to use when studying phenomenon through a feminist lens this paper thus expands on social capital theory and exemplifies how the theory can be applied to the analysis of two female, persons of color, sexual assault activists’ respective social media accounts.
Research Paper • Profesor instructor adjunto • Valentina Proust, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile; Magdalena Saldana, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile • “What a nasty girl!” Incivility and gendered symbolic violence in news discussions • This study examines gender exchanges developed in the virtual public sphere to identify if gender affects incivility in news comment sections. By relying on a mixed-method analysis of 1,961 news comments, we observed uncivil speech and gendered symbolic violence traits. We found higher incivility levels in comments posted by men, especially comments mentioning females. Also, we identified hegemonic masculinity discourses in conversation referring to women and their gender roles.
Research Paper • Student • Shannon Scovel, University of Maryland • An SEC soccer champion and a winless football team: Media framing and the self-representation of Sarah Fuller’s fall season as a Vanderbilt Commodore student-athlete • This paper analyzes the representation of Sarah Fuller in traditional media and on her own social media platforms before and after her historic kick for Vanderbilt’s football team. Results of over 200 social media posts and nearly 400 articles suggest that traditional media focused almost exclusively on Fuller’s experiences as a football player, downplaying her accomplishments as an SEC soccer champion and instead comparing her football success to that of her male peers.
Research Paper • Faculty • Lyric Mandell, Louisiana State University; Natasha Saad; Alaina Spiers • A Feminist New Materialism Analysis of Digital Pelvic Floor Health Messages • This interdisciplinary study examines digital communication strategies used by advocacy groups/social media influencers about a highly stigmatized women’s health issue. Pelvic floor disorders (PFDs) affect one in four women, but many women lack knowledge about them and do not discuss them. Women often report feeling isolation, shame, embarrassment, and dirtiness. Advocacy organizations have recently implemented campaigns to educate women of varying ages about PFDs. This thematic analysis considers digital messages from three PFD advocacy organizations as well as PFD influencers on TikTok. A feminist new materialism theory and shame resilience theory frame this analysis.
Research Paper • Student • Jun Xu • Incarcerating Successful Women? Affective Economies in Popular Chinese Television Series • “Stemming from China’s neoliberal transition, a plethora of women take part in the workforce. In response, representations of ‘successful-yet-single’ women are emerging in China’s popular television series. Following Esther Peeren’s (2018) and Sara Ahmed’s (2004) work, we argue that affective economies that trigger particular feelings and cultural values related to the notion of single womanhood are constituted through these televisual shows. We therefore consider dominant media representations of ‘successful-yet-single’ women by delving into the mediated ways in which these women are ‘punished’ or ‘remunerated’ for their modern lifestyle—coined and developed in this paper as ‘a neoliberal urbanism with Chinese characteristics’. Through discourse analysis and the mobilization of Goffman’s study on stigma (1986 [1963]), we argue that these series epitomize the cultural reality and re-create a mediated ‘punitive society’, suggesting a successful woman’s happiness is only resolved through securing a romantic relationship—a caveat for all single female viewers.”
Sports Communication Interest Group
2022 Abstracts
Extended Abstract • Faculty • Kim Bissell, University of Alabama; Bummsoo Park, University of Alabama • Narratives and frames of firsts in women’s sports: A content analysis of newspaper coverage of Sarah Fuller and Power Five Football Introduction • Sarah Fuller became the first woman to ever play in a SEC or Power Five football game in November 2020, and news coverage of the event touted the historic nature of it all. Social media users, however, were critical of everything from her actual play to the words on the back of her helmet–Play Like a Girl. Using framing as the underlying theoretical framework, the present study represents a content analysis of news stories published about her play in two NCAA football games. Using a coding protocol developed by Billings and Eastman (2003) to identify descriptors used and the nature of those descriptors, 71 (of 107) news articles were included in the analysis. Of the 5,628 total descriptors coded, a majority were positively valenced and emphasized the historic nature of the event and that it represented a “first” for women in sport. These and other findings are discussed.
Research Paper • Faculty • Patrick Ferrucci, U of Colorado-Boulder • Covering sports, when there’s no sports: COVID, market orientation, paywalls and The Athletic • This study incorporates in-depth interviews with 43 journalists from the digitally native, venture-capital-backed sports journalism organization The Athletic. Through the lens of gatekeeping theory and utilizing the concept of market orientation, findings illustrate how having a somewhat strong market orientation could positively impact gatekeeping processes. Data illustrated that, during the pandemic, journalists at The Athletic collaborated more, and included more diversity in content. This positive result, which led to a subscription increase, is primarily due to market orientation, leadership, staff size and technological adoption, all organization-level influences on gatekeeping. This study concludes with analysis on how these findings can impact journalism in general and sports journalism specifically now and after Covid-19.
Extended Abstract • Student • Adrianne Grubic, The University of Texas at Austin • Proud: A Case Study of the Social Media Representation of Ibtihaj Muhammad • Media portrayals of sportswomen along with Black and Muslim women in general tend to be monolithic, focusing only on oppression of the body and the barriers they face for entry into sport. Using fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad as a case study wiht an eye towards transnational feminism, this multimodal discourse analysis study found her social media representation provides complex insight into what it means to Black, Muslim, and a woman in a traditionally white and elitist sport.
Research Paper • Faculty • Virginia Harrison, Clemson University; Brandon Boatwright; Joseph Bober • “A manifestation of their city as a god”: Gritty memes, the 2020 U.S. presidential election, and online representations of home • During the 2020 U.S. presidential election, Philadelphia Flyers mascot Gritty starred in political election-related memes. Using systematic discourse analysis, this paper analyzes 14 Gritty memes to understand the interplay of sport mascots, fandom and home, and meme co-creation. Evidence was found for meme intertextuality and polyvocality as well as four personas of Gritty that propelled the mascot to transcend sport and become a historic symbol of Philadelphia’s role in determining the election outcome.
Research Paper • Faculty • Guy Harrison, University of Tennessee, Knoxville; Charli Kerns, University of Tennessee, Knoxville; Jason Stamm, The University of Tennessee • Covering the Rooney Rule: A Content Analysis of Print Coverage of NFL Head Coach • While scholars and football insiders have given much attention to the NFL’s ongoing head coaching diversity crisis, the (mostly White) sports media’s coverage of the issue — and of systemic racism in general — has been uneven. 2020’s racial upheaval — and the ensuing commitments made by individuals and corporations to fight systemic racism — offered sports journalists an opportunity to reflect on and recalibrate their coverage of these issues, however. Employing agenda building as a theoretical framework (Lang & Lang, 1991; Rogers et al., 1993), and taking into account the United States’ racial upheaval in 2020, this study uses the content analysis method to compare the rate at which print sports journalists assigned to cover specific NFL teams broadly discussed race in their written coverage of the 2020 and 2021 NFL head coaching hiring cycles. Previous agenda building research has found that the media’s story selection has been influenced at times by external actors and events. In statistically comparing the written coverage of both hiring cycles, which took place before and after the events of 2020, this study explores the possibility that NFL beat writers may have been influenced by those events. The study found statistically significant increases in the amount of web articles that mentioned race during the 2021 hiring cycle, including stories that were written after a head coach was hired. These findings suggest that social movements may influence otherwise routine sports reporting.
Extended Abstract • Faculty • MILES ROMNEY, Brigham Young University; Kevin Hull, University of South Carolina; Kirstin Pellizzaro, University of South Carolina; Denetra Walker • “Where do I even begin?”: The Harassment of Female Local Sports Broadcasters • This study examines the harassment faced by female local sports broadcasters throughout the United States. The women in this study overwhelming report they experience sexism, gender discrimination, and harassment based on their gender. This poor treatment comes from the audience, station management, and the athletes on whom they are reporting. The participants share their stories and reveal some of the many difficulties they face while simply trying to do their job.
Extended Abstract • Faculty • Kevin Hull, University of South Carolina; John Carvalho, Auburn University; Blake Waddell, Auburn University • Who’s Got Game? A Survey of College-Level Sports Media Programs and Classes • As more higher education programs throughout the United States begin sports media programs, this research answers the call to take a closer look at what types of classes are being offered. An examination of the programs at 90 different journalism schools found that the majority offered some type of sports media class. These classes involved both theoretical, lecture-style classes and hands-on skills classes. Further breakdowns of the classes within type of school will be discussed.
Research Paper • Student • Muhammad Fahad Humayun, U of Colorado-Boulder • Construction of Mediated National Identity Through Sports Journalists Twitter Feed • The purpose of this study is to analyze how Pakistani and Indian national identity was portrayed in selected Pakistani and Indian journalists tweets about the 2017 International Cricket Council (ICC) champions trophy final. This study draws on the conceptual framework of mediated national identity, which has been extensively covered in previous sociological literature (e.g., Bale, 1986; Li, Stokowski, Dittmore, & Scott, 2016; Nossek, 2004). This study employed textual analysis to analyze Tweets from 10 sports journalists during the Champions Trophy final 2017. Results indicate that Pakistani and Indian sports journalists attempted to construct narratives of national identity while tweeting during the live match. They did so by employing metaphors, symbols, and semiotic anecdotes unique to their own countries. As one of the first attempts to evaluate how Pakistani and Indian sports journalists construct narratives around national identity and national belonging through their live tweets during a global sporting contest, this study helps push forward an understanding of sporting national identity in South Asia through a study of social media.
Research Paper • Faculty • Mark Mederson, Loras College; Michael Mirer, University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee • Flipping the Frame: Rudy Gobert’s journey from episodic bad actor to thematic hero • Rudy Gobert’s positive COVID-19 diagnosis started the process that led to American sports shutting down in the early days of the pandemic. After the diagnosis, video of him touching reporters’ voice recorders at a press availability went viral. This framing analysis in five mainstream newspapers finds that over the course of 72 hours, Gobert went from a bad actor to a hero in news copy as an episodic frame focusing on his actions gave way to a thematic frame about the virus and its effects on the country.
Research Paper • Student Member • Dinfin Mulupi, University of Maryland, College Park • “Stick to tennis”? Media and public narratives in reaction to Naomi Osaka’s #BLM activism • This study examined social media commentary and news media framing of a Black woman athlete’s racial justice activism. Comments (N = 1,400) published to Naomi Osaka’s official Facebook page and online articles published by seven U.S. news organizations (N = 63) were analyzed qualitatively guided by framing and critical race theories. Facebook comments revealed frames of support, infantilization, and silencing of Osaka. News media framed Osaka’s activism as compatible with sports but sidestepped discussing racism.
Research Paper • Student • Vincent Peña, University of Texas at Austin • (Un)fair Pay to Play: Alienation, Exploitation, Labor Power and the NCAA • The argument about paying college athletes is not a new one and has long been a thorn in the side of the NCAA. However, there is a resurgence in the push for compensating college athletes amid a rash of legislation at the state level and court cases headed before the Supreme Court. This paper conducts a critical discourse analysis of this debate surrounding the compensation of college athletes that appears in both the popular and academic press. It examines news and sports media, as well as academic literature, major academic blog sites, and college newspapers. Using a Marxist lens, this paper examines the alienation, exploitation and labor power of major college athletes, especially those in the so-called moneymaking sports of basketball and football. It attempts to explicate the concepts in the context of college athletics and then look at the way various media outlets discursively perpetuate, challenge, or reify the alienation and exploitation of college athletes. Findings suggest that although there is a growing sentiment toward paying the players in some form, whether through granting them the rights to their name, image and likeness or providing them direct compensation, the arguments made by the media contribute to the alienation of college athletes from their athletic labor, and ultimately set the stage for the exploitation of these athletes.
Research Paper • Faculty • Gregory Perreault; Mildred Perreault • eSports as a news specialty gold rush: Communication ecology in the domination of traditional journalism over lifestyle journalism • Esports are becoming more popular with adults as they often result in prize money for those who play, and now even academic scholarships for Division 1 athletes. Therefore, online news might expand these opportunities to understand the impact of business news even further on investors and markets centering around eSports. This study included an analysis of news coverage in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Forbes and Business Insider from January 2018 to December 2020 has yielded 406 articles. Researchers coded these articles for specific marketing and public relations messages, and identified how various entertainment businesses have worked their support of these teams into the news coverage of eSports. We will argue that eSports represents a topic that would typically be covered through lifestyle journalism–after all, both gaming and sports are predominantly lifestyle specialties–that traditional journalism has dominated in order to reaffirm its privileged placement in the communication ecology.
Extended Abstract • Student • Brian Petrotta, University of Oklahoma • From Prohibition to Promotion: Discursive Power in the Legalization of Sports Betting • The discursive power perspective has increasingly been employed in the study of political communication, but only recently made its way into sports scholarship. This study will explore which speakers wielded discursive power by introducing, amplifying, and maintaining topics and frames at critical points in time in the evolution of sports betting legalization in the United States. Results will contribute to the emerging study of discursive power within the context of public policy.
Research Paper • Student • Shannon Scovel, University of Maryland • #TriathlonSoWhite: A critical assessment of the representation, underrepresentation and branding of intersectional bodies on the @USATriathlon official Instagram account • This paper critically evaluates the representation of intersectional bodies on @USATriathlon’s Instagram account in 2020 to understand how the organization viewed the sport during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results also reveal efforts to diversify representation in triathlon after a June 1 statement that committed the governing body to creating a more inclusive sporting space. @USATriathlon’s Instagram feed reproduces hierarchies of the white, able-bodied sporting male, though the 429 posts do also feature white women prominently.
Extended Abstract • Faculty • Matthew Taylor, Middle Tennessee State University • Crowd Pleasers: Exploring Motivations and Measuring Success Among Independent Sports Podcasters • This study uses in-depth interviews with independent sports podcasters to explore their motivations for podcasting and to determine how they measure their success. The findings will contribute to a growing body of podcasting research that has given limited attention to sports thus far despite the rising popularity of the format, which currently ranks among the Top 10 most popular genres for podcast listeners over the age of 18.
Research Paper • Student • Maria Tsyruleva, University of South Florida; Travis Bell, University of South Florida • “Golden Spike”: Examining Atlanta United’s Communication Strategies and Brand Attributes from Launch to Kickoff • This research explores Atlanta United FC, a soccer club that achieved record-breaking average attendance, from the communication perspective. Utilizing thematic analysis of the press releases published between the launch of the club through the team’s first official game, the study examines communication strategies the new organization used and core brand attributes it communicated. The results extend the current knowledge on strategic communication in the sports industry and provide insights for public relations practitioners.
Research Paper • Student • Carolina Velloso • Making Soufflé with Metal: Effects of the Coronavirus Pandemic on Sports Journalism Routines • This paper investigates the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on sports journalism routines. Through open-ended, semi-structured interviews with 12 journalists, this study examines the challenges reporters faced, their adaptation strategies, and reflections on their professional capabilities. This paper argues that while the pandemic destabilized traditional sports journalism routines, respondents relied on previous experience and knowledge about their job requirements to find creative ways to combat the challenges imposed by the unusual sports seasons.
Small Programs Interest Group
2022 Abstracts
Extended Abstract • Faculty • Dawn Francis, Cabrini University • Methods for Teaching Social Justice Journalism • The roots of social justice journalism are over a century old. However, today, there are very few studies defining this genre and preparing journalism and mass communication educators to teach it to their students. This paper provides the results of an exploratory qualitative study into the pedagogical methods for teaching storytelling for social justice. It also takes the insights gained from this analysis and presents an initial model for teaching social justice journalism.
Research Paper • Faculty • Chris McCollough, Jacksonville State University • Building Sustainable Client Partnerships: A Non-Profit Outreach Center’s Value to Developing a Service-Learning Pedagogy • Pedagogical literature documents service-learning’s impact on students, the community, and educators alike. Benefits aside, concerns remain about the time- and resource-intensive nature of building, cultivating, and sustaining client-partnerships (Fall & Bourland-Davis, 2004). The paper is a case study of the development of a non-profit outreach center, its operating practices, its cultivation and maintenance of client partnerships, as well as a consideration of some of the challenges it faces.
Religion and Media Interest Group
2022 Abstracts
Extended Abstract • Faculty • Ibrahim Abusharif • Competing Binaries: “Sufism” vs “Salafism” in The New York Times • In recent years, there have been a string of violent acts committed by extremist Salafists and Taliban against Sufi Muslim worshipers, mosques, and shrines. In covering these acts, The New York Times reporters employ terminologies that seek to explain to readers what Sufism is. In doing so, the newspaper often uses words that unintentionally create a news frame that indicates a binary between Sufism and Islam itself. This study examines through qualitative textual analysis the usage of framing terminologies (such as “sect” or “strain” of Islam) in articles describing Sufism.
Research Paper • Student • LaRisa Anderson, University of Texas at Austin • “You can’t fight what’s already happening, right?”: A Case Study of Christian Live-Streaming • Amongst the myriad expressions of church, live-streaming services are a growing format of evangelism. This case study investigates two churches of varying sizes, demographics, and resources in Austin, Texas who use live-stream services in unique ways. Current literature on the interplay of religiosity and media are discussed including the influence of televangelism. I specifically focus on the nature of communal engagement in the context of live-stream as a definitive characteristic of church. As explicated by John Wright (1987)’s framing of community within the Church, this project explores: How do churches who use live-stream technology facilitate communal engagement? Or rather, how do church leaders intentionally replicate community online? To what extent are the producers of content for churches cognizant of the necessity for community formation? A total of six church officials and other religious personnel were interviewed for approximately 60 minutes. Each were asked to operationalize the community of their church in the physical space and the community they suspect is developing online. Interview data as well as observational field notes were used as source material for content analysis. The hypothesis that churches might neglect the online audience or minimize its use was supported. Findings indicate three suppositions for live-stream approaches: healthy discourse, points-of-entry, and innovation and expansion. These are aided by one constructive finding regarding the reactionary nature of technology adoption in the church. Limitations and future research suggestions are also discussed.
Research Paper • Student • Ruta Kaskeleviciute; Helena Knupfer; Joerg Matthes, University of Vienna • Who Says “Muslims are not Terrorists”? News Differentiation, Muslim vs. Non-Muslim Sources, and Attitudes Toward Muslims • In a quota-based experiment (N = 291), participants were confronted with news about terrorism. We manipulated source (non-Muslim, Muslim) and degree of differentiation between Muslims and terrorists to analyze effects on explicit and implicit attitudes toward Muslims. Undifferentiation predicted negative explicit attitudes but did not affect implicit attitudes. Participants perceived non-Muslim sources as more similar. The effects of undifferentiation on hostile attitudes were more pronounced when sources were perceived as similar compared to less similar.
Research Paper • Faculty • Suman Mishra, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville • Branded Spirituality: Gurus, Globalization, and Neo-Spiritual Nationalism in Indian Marketplace • Scholars have examined the role of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism in marketing practices and in shaping consumption, but similar research related to Hindu religion and associated spirituality in the Eastern marketplace has been scant. This study informs about the new trend of commodification of spirituality in India by examining the advertising of brands associated with prominent spiritual gurus in India. The study highlights how Indian gurus are harnessing the power of Hindu religion and spirituality and combining it with political ideology to add value to their brands and structure consumer choice. The process has worked to direct Indian consumers toward local brands and away from multinational brands by fostering spiritual nationalism, a movement expressed through messages such as sudhta (purity), Ayurveda (nature and naturopathy), rejuvenation, divinity, and swadeshi (local) in brand advertising.
Research Paper • Faculty • Gregory Perreault; Kathryn Montalbano • From Lifestyle Journalism to General News: Field Theory in the hard news turn of religion reporting • In the spirit of Ranly (1979) and Buddenbaum (1988), the present study analyzes the role of religion reporting with the journalistic field. Personnel cuts within newsrooms and the development of “religion reporters” operating from religious institutions necessitate a re-exploration of the field. At stake is the coverage of religion, a topic that continues to be near-and-dear to the vast majority of people in the United States, nearly 79 percent of which identify as religious (Putnam & Campbell, 2010). Simultaneously, the majority of the United States tends to think journalists cover religion poorly. Through the lens of field theory, this study analyzes 20 interviews with U.S.-based religion reporters who work for both mainstream and religious publications. This study finds that as a result of weak economic capital, religion reporting shifted to the general news beats of courts, crime and education. This shift yielded two results: a loss of specialization in reporting of religion, and a loss of much of the lifestyle journalism, or audience-oriented, guidance-oriented news, within the specialty. New entrants, in the form of reporting from religious organizations, offer a means with which to reintroduce lifestyle journalism into the field, thereby facilitating their entry into the field.
Extended Abstract • Faculty • Brian Smith, Brigham Young University; Danielle Hallows; Maggie Vail; Caleb Porter; Alycia Burnett; Camilla Owens; Kateryna Kravchenko • Rise of the Religious Influencer? Examining Faith-Based Influence on Social Media • With their increasing impact, social media influencers are an emerging focus in communication research. Their influence on religious activity is of particular relevance, given the growing use of social media for religious and faith-based purposes. This study examined religious advocacy on social media through in-depth interviews with 20 faith-based influencers. Results showed a duality of social media use among influencers—evangelism and self-transcendence were primary motivations. Additionally, dialogic rather than monologic communication was dominant.
Participatory Journalism Interest Group
2022 Abstracts
Research Paper • Faculty • Kenzie Burchell, University of Toronto Scarborough; Stephanie Fielding, University of Toronto • I did my best to show their pain: Participatory genres of photojournalistic witnessing • This paper analyzes an emerging genre of participatory reporting by eyewitness image producers turned professional photojournalist stringers of the Syrian conflict. Borrowing the subjective authenticity of UGC and the diaristic war blog, their AFP Correspondent blog posts stand in contrast to traditional international agency content by providing accounts of the embodied, relational, and temporal dimensions of their experience, each central to the practices of witnessing and bearing witness by UGC producers and photojournalists alike.
Research Paper • Faculty • Deborah Chung, University of Kentucky; Hyun Ju Jeong; Yung Soo Kim • Working together? Contributing and Adopting Citizen Visuals From the Lens of Social Media Usage, Perception, and Visual Attributes • We examined how visual professional journalists and citizen journalists use and view Facebook and Twitter and investigate the role of three visual attributes on their tendency to contribute or adopt citizen visuals. Findings reveal citizens adopt Twitter for dissemination and interpretation; professionals use both platforms mainly for interpretation. The visual quality attribute functions as a mediator for citizens primarily on Facebook for soft news. No significant mediating models were found in the visual professionals’ data.
Extended Abstract • Faculty • Jennifer Cox, Salisbury University • Reacting to Black Lives Matter: Facebook Engagement with News Coverage During the Summer 2020 Protests • This study examined 286 posts from the six most-viewed U.S. news outlets on their Facebook feeds about the Black Lives Matter movement and protests following George Floyd’s death by during summer 2020. Users engaged with stories at a high rate, though engagement declined throughout the summer. Users engaged most frequently with posts featuring anti-BLM and pro-police frames using a variety of reactions. Additional analysis will reveal specific ways in which users engaged with posts.
Research Paper • Faculty • Letrell Crittenden, Thomas Jefferson University; Andrea Wenzel, Temple University • “I Think We Are Truly Ignored” – An Assessment of How Small Town Media Serves the Information Needs of BIPOC Residents • Much has been written recently about how emerging news deserts have impacted small towns across America, and how the loss of news coverage has had an impact upon the sense of community in such places. Nevertheless, little effort has been made to detail how BIPOC communities in particular are served by local media. This is an issue, given the changing nature of small towns, which are increasingly becoming more diverse. This study, which uses a Communication Infrastructure Theory framework, assesses how BIPOC residents of a small town in the Mid-Atlantic are served by local media within their community. Through a series of focus groups and a community discussion involving local media, we interrogate how BIPOC members of this town feel about their place in local news coverage, and investigate how they share and receive important information inside of their community through an assessment of the community’s storytelling network. We find that BIPOC residents do not feel represented in local media, and that storytelling networks, which are siloed by racial and language barriers, have also failed to adequately serve BIPOC residents.
Research Paper • Faculty • Muhammad Fahad Humayun, U of Colorado-Boulder; Patrick Ferrucci, U of Colorado-Boulder • Understanding social media in journalism practice: A typology • While the intersection of social media usage and journalism practice enjoys a prominent place in many scholarly inquiries throughout the field of journalism studies, a comprehensive understanding of this body of literature is lacking. This study attempts to alleviate this problem. Through a systematic analysis of more than 200 studies primarily focusing on how journalists utilize social media in newswork, this paper first classifies social media usage into three broad categories: news construction, news dissemination, and branding. Next, this study introduces a typology that visualizes and explores three dimensions of social media use: motivation (self vs organization), prevalence (sporadic vs prevalent) and disruption (disruptive vs normalization). Our findings illustrate potential future research areas.
Research Paper • Faculty • Avery Holton, University of Utah; Valérie Bélair-Gagnon; Diana Bossio, Swinburne University; Logan Molyneux • “When You’re Out Here On Your Own”: Journalists, Harassment and News Organization Responses • Drawing on interviews with American newsworkers, this study finds that journalists are facing acute, chronic, and escalatory forms of harassment on social media at a time when they are being asked to be more engaged and participatory. Harassment is reported more by journalists self-identifying as women. Journalists also report a lack of resources from news organizations to help prevent and cope with this harassment. Left to address increasing amounts of harassment on their own, journalists report searching for ways to alleviate harassment, including consideration of disengaging from social media and audiences and leaving the profession.
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender & Queer Interest Group
2022 Abstracts
Extended Abstract • Faculty • Rhonda Gibson; Joe Bob Hester • The social identities of Pete Buttigieg: How Twitter addressed counter-stereotypical attributes of a presidential candidate • Analysis of 8,705,300 tweets about presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg from 2019-2020 showed that only 6.8% addressed his sexuality. Most instead dealt with daily campaign occurrences, such as polls, candidate statements, and debate performances. Of the tweets that addressed his sexuality in a substantial manner, 10.2% referenced religion, with the majority discussing homosexuality as a sin. Counter-stereotypical tweets that presented Buttigieg’s Christianity and sexuality as congruent accounted for just 20.5%. Tweets were also likely to describe Buttigieg’s sexuality as a political liability. Using social identity theory as a framework, it was determined that Twitter conversation related to Pete Buttigieg repeated traditional God-vs.-gay stereotypes and did not produce a more nuanced discussion of the intersection of politics, sexuality and Christianity.
Research Paper • Student • Patrick Johnson, University of Iowa School of Journalism and Mass Communication • Snake in the Grass: Adapting sex and sexuality from journalistic truth to the silver screen • This paper uses a case study approach to discuss issues of sexuality explored in James Franco and Justin Kelly’s King Cobra by dissecting the line that exists between fact and fiction when a creator bends the foundational truth of a story in an effort to maximize the pleasure of his audience.
Extended Abstract • Faculty • Tien-Tsung Lee, University of Macau; Jared Tu, University of Macau • Cultural values and media use: Do they predict support for same-sex marriage in Taiwan? • In 2019, Taiwan became the first society in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage. Based on a survey of 2,028 Taiwanese citizens, this study identified the predictors of support for same-sex marriage, including a younger age, being female, having more education, having gay friends or relatives, disobeying traditions or customs, being open-minded and curious, having a stronger sense of fairness and justice, using Line less often, and having a higher level of online search diversity.
Research Paper • Student • JungKyu Rhys Lim, University of Maryland, College Park; Hyoyeun Jun; Victoria Ledford, University of Maryland, College Park • Stigmatized groups with infectious diseases: Korean LGBTQ+s’ intersectional stigma and risk communication during COVID-19 outbreaks • Stigmatized groups may not engage in infectious disease testing and treatment, because of intersectional stigma and discrimination. In South Korea, the COVID-19 pandemic surfaced stigmatization when governments and media attempted to communicate COVID-19 risks that stigmatized LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer-identifying) individuals. Using qualitative in-depth interviews (N = 21), this study examines the intersectional stigma, discrimination, and risk communication that LGBTQ+ communities experienced during the COVID outbreak. Implications for public health are discussed.
Extended Abstract • Faculty • Newly Paul, University of North Texas • Framing analysis of the Indian media’s coverage of Section 377, decriminalization of same sex relationships • On September 6, 2018, the Supreme Court of India ruled unanimously to overturn Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code which was introduced in 1861 in British-ruled India and criminalized consensual homosexual sex between adults. This paper examines the major frames that emerged from the Indian media’s coverage of the court’s decision. Specifically, I examine the main frames that were used to discuss the event, the sources quoted most prominently in the stories, and the prominence given to the issue in the media.
Research Paper • Faculty • Joseph Schwartz; Josh Grimm • Investigating the Content of #U = U on Twitter • Undetectable = Untransmittable (U = U) is the scientific fact that HIV cannot be transmitted when an individual is virally suppressed. This breakthrough discovery has the potential to greatly reduce HIV stigma and its negative effects. However, U = U is not widely known. Given that Twitter has the potential to raise awareness of health issues, the purpose of this study was to analyze the content of the #U = U on Twitter. The results showed that mentioning sex and mentioning love were strong predictors that a tweet would be liked and retweeted. This information could help to spread the message of U = U more widely and potentially lessen HIV stigma.
Extended Abstract • Faculty • YOWEI KANG, NTOU; KENNETH C.C. YANG, UTEP • [EXTENDED ABSTRACT] A Computational and Longitudinal Text Mining Study of Gay Marriage Legalization in Taiwan • Homosexuality and gay marriage have been considered a taboo topic in Taiwan where LGBTQIA+ minorities are marginalized. Despite the landmark ruling by Taiwan’s Constitutional Court in May 2017, the legalization of gay marriage is claimed to polarize its society. On May 17, 2019, Taiwan’s Parliament passed the law to legalize gay marriage. This computational text mining study provides a descriptive and longitudinal examination of media framing of gay marriage legalization in Taiwan. Our preliminary findings of 232 media discourses from Lexis/Nexis database (Nexis Uni). We reported statistically significant topical framing variations among all nine extracted topics before and after the landmark passage of marriage bill on May 17, 2019. Discussions and implications are provided.
Internships and Careers Interest Group
2022 Abstracts
Extended Abstract • Faculty • Cristina Azocar; Lourdes Cárdenas, San Francisco State University • Bilingual Spanish Journalism: Preparing Students for the Future • “Bilingual reporting and writing skills are opening multiple opportunities for journalists in print, broadcast, online and emerging media. But few opportunities exist to prepare students for these jobs, particularly for the bilingual writing expertise required, and the current journalism job market lacks applicants with the bilingual proficiency necessary to fill the openings.
We used mixed-methods to assess whether a minor, a certificate, a concentration or a major would address the bilingual expertise needed for the current job market. We concluded that a bachelor’s degree in Bilingual Spanish Journalism is the best academic option to fill this expertise gap. Based on the expertise needed, we designed an interdisciplinary bachelor’s degree that will provide students with the necessary tools and skills to report, produce and write news stories in Spanish and English for print, online and electronic media, and to work in Latinx mainstream media as well as English language publications covering issues affecting Latinx communities.”
Extended Abstract • Faculty • Brian J. Bowe, American Univ. in Cairo / Western Washington Univ.; Robin Blom, Ball State University; Elena Lazoff • Internship Practices in Journalism and Mass Communication Programs: A review of ACEJMC-accredited programs • The use of professional internships has long been a defining feature of journalism and mass communication programs, but the practice is also increasingly controversial for the financial burdens it places on marginalized students. This study examines accreditation reports for 120 institutions to gain a better understanding of current practices. Preliminary findings show that almost all universities offer internships for credit, about 20% of programs require them, and most use them to assess student learning outcomes.
Research Paper • Faculty • Joey Senat, Oklahoma State University/School of Media; John McGuire, Oklahoma State University/School of Media • Benefiting or Exploiting: Judicial Interpretations of What Constitutes a Legal Unpaid Journalism and Mass Communication Internship Under the Primary Beneficiary Test • This study analyzed federal court applications of the primary beneficiary test used to determine when college students working at for-profit companies should be considered unpaid interns or paid employees. Courts have put few guardrails in place to protect students from being exploited as free labor. Instead, the test is so vague and easily met by employers that students are more likely to be exploited now than they were under the U.S. Department of Labor’s previous criteria. Consequently, universities must take responsibility for ensuring their students benefit from unpaid internships.
Graduate Student Interest Group
2022 Abstracts
Research Paper • Student • Julie Aromi, Rutgers University School of Communication and Information • Race on the debate stage: Senators Booker and Harris’s discussions of Blackness in Democratic primary debates • Senators Kamala Harris and Cory Booker both frequently discussed their experiences as Black Americans during the Democratic primary debates throughout 2019. Both Senators acknowledge the ways Black voters are often used as a tool to elect white Democrats, and use their personal experience to establish solidarity with Black audiences. This textual analysis of the Senators’ remarks about race throughout the debates, focuses on how each talks about their own racialized experiences, and the narratives they construct about who they are as Black politicians, advocates, and Americans.
Research Paper • Student Member • Diane Ezeh Aruah, University of Florida • Struggling to fit in: Understanding difficulties faced by African international graduate students in a Predominant White Institution (PWI) in the United States • Every year, thousands of African students apply to graduate programs in the United States with the hope of experiencing quality and standard education unobtainable in their home countries. However, difficulties encountered by African students while settling into the educational system in the United States can impact their pursuit of the “American dream”. This article examines these difficulties using a qualitative phenomenological study of African graduate students in a predominantly white institution in the U.S. In-depth interview was used to collect data from 16 Ph.D. and master’s students. The students encountered inter-personal-based, community-based, and institutional-based difficulties, which often led to feelings of isolation, depression, and low self-esteem. The students managed their difficulties through online and offline support, as well as self-developed skills. Predominantly white institutions in the United States must include the needs of African international students in their recruitment, orientation, and mental health support programs.
Research Paper • Student • Laura Canuelas-Torres • Young Activists or Misguided Children? American Adults’ Perceptions on The March for Our Lives Teen Activists • The efforts of young people to advance gun control measures media coverage from all across the political spectrum. The current project used Q Methodology to further understand American adults’ perception of these activists. Results indicate that three camps emerged: those who recognized the teens as activist, those who see them as mislead and confused and those who see their efforts as the result of adolescent naivety. Relationships with media consumption are discussed.
Research Paper • Student • Sera Choi • The Use of Non-Verbal Cues to Express Apology and User Perception on Influencers’ Apology • This qualitative study examines how YouTube influencers use non-verbal cues in their apology videos and how users perceived these non-verbal cues displayed in the videos. This study utilized facial expressions via different arrangements of upper and lower facial structures, body and hand gestures, and speech rate to analyze how influencers used non-verbal cues. The study observed four different themes of users’ perceptions of non-verbal cues used in apology videos (i.e., sincere, fake, aggressive, and disappointed).
Extended Abstract • Student • Carl Ciccarelli, The University of South Carolina • A critical qualitative analysis of response framing of the COVID-19 pandemic across higher education. • The present study is timely and aims to employ a mixed method research design to extract meaningful insights to inform future practices in higher education through studying responses from a sample of five large public universities located in the southeast United States. This analysis will include in-depth interviews, content analysis of statistical COVID-19 dashboard data for each university, and a textual analysis of the framing and tone of response statements disseminated by each university.
Research Paper • Student • Nina Gayleard • Audience Member Twitter Discussion About Netflix’s Unbelievable (2019) • This research focused on themes amongst audience member discussions of crime entertainment media by examining tweets about Netflix’s Unbelievable (2019). The research aimed to identify major themes amongst audience discussions and see how those themes compared to current themes in crime entertainment media texts. The themes that appeared in the tweets reflected those in Unbelievable (2019) and those currently found within crime entertainment media texts, indicating that audience members actively discerned and discussed relevant themes.
Research Paper • Student • Lingshu Hu • Boosting Texts: Improving Text Classification Performance on Small-Sized, Imbalanced Datasets • Communication scholars, who traditionally focus on text messages, can benefit from adopting recently developed machine learning algorithms on text classification. This study introduced three methods—boosting, SMOTE, and Bert embedding—and tested their performance on small-sized, imbalanced datasets. Results show that SMOTE effectively increases the accuracy of classifying the minority class; Bert embedding can enhance the overall testing accuracy but may not improve minority class recognition; Boosting did not work well with text classification tasks.
Research Paper • Student • Shudan Huang, University of South Carolina; Max Bretscher, University of South Carolina • Motivation to Purchase Organic Foods, Message Clarity, and Information Processing from a Heuristic-Systematic Perspective • This study utilized a construal frame manipulation of an organic product and applied a heuristic-systematic model (HSM) as the theoretical foundation for testing people’s attitude, the brand, and purchase intention of the organic product with different levels of involvement and skepticism. The finding revealed that skepticism will have negative effects on participants’ cognition and acceptance of organic food. And frames were found to be a significant predictor of ad attitude, brand attitude, and purchase intention.
Research Paper • Student • Jeff Hunter, Texas Tech University; Koji Yoshimura • Are there Partisan Differences in the Moral Framing of News? • “Abstract
This study investigated the relationship between moral framing of news media headlines
and the political ideology of the source using moral foundations theory and the model of intuitive
morality and exemplars (MIME). A content analysis assessed the moral framing of 1,100 news
headlines sampled from major news sources. Results indicated that moral foundation framing did
not differ according to the political ideology of the news source, but framing was associated with
the issues examined.”
Research Paper • Student • Yanru Jiang, University of California, Los Angeles • Understanding Triggers of Problematic Internet Uses in Casual Mobile Game Designs • There is evidence that players can become addicted to casual mobile games. This study identified seven elements that are frequently adopted in casual mobile game designs and could trigger game addictions. The study used a seven-item game addiction scale (GAS) to access the addiction level of casual mobile gamers. Adverse effects on addicted players, such as being isolated from social contacts, neglecting important activities, and undermining psychological conditions, were identified through the GAS.
Research Paper • Student • Sarah Johnson • Credibility from the Source: Comparing traditional celebrity endorsers with YouTube endorsers • This study examines the relationship between an endorser’s expertise, trustworthiness, and brand attitude using Source Credibility Theory, by looking at traditional celebrity and YouTube endorsers. A representational survey of the U.S. adult population was used. The research model was analyzed using mediation analysis; the results were determined to have significant direct and indirect effects. Based on the results, there was a slight increase in the strength of the mediator on brand attitude for YouTube endorsers.
Research Paper • Student • URSULA KAMANGA • Assessing the Implications of Cervical Cancer Information Sources and its Barriers Among Latinas • Cervical cancer is preventable, yet screening levels remain low among Latinas, contributing to a 40% mortality rate in the U.S. Health information-seeking behavior among this population remains low. Few studies have assessed channels used while investigating perceived uncertainty for health information-seeking among Latinas. This case study will test the Theory of Planned Behavior through semi-structured interviews to understand the health information-seeking behavior among Latinas and where new channels could be made to assist them.
Research Paper • Student • hakan karaaytu • Independent Journalists Reporting on Political Issues in Turkey, using Traditional and New Media • In this study, while the role and journalistic ideal imputed to the media in contemporary democracies are considered, the changes in the Turkish media sector, which have been structurally transformed since 1980, and the reflections of this change on the identity of the journalists are revealed. As the historical process of the media structure that has been transformed is described, the effects of the experiences in relationship between media and politics on the journalistic profession are illustrated with concrete examples. The research paper consists of interviews with 10 people who are selected from journalism academics and press-journalists in the profession.
Extended Abstract • Student • Yihan Li, School of Journalism and Communication, The Chinese University of Hong Kong • Health code for datafied mobilities in China: Framing of datafication, algorithmic governance and dataism ideology • This research adopts critical discourse analysis to analyze the construction of health code discourse by Chinese governments and its social consequences. This research finds the frame of the health code as an objective tool for orderly mobilities, which is produced by the hierarchical relation between the state and local governments. And this discourse contributes to the emerging of a new mode of algorithmic governance and a dataism ideology with some doubtful assumptions.
Research Paper • Student • Paige Nankey; Rhea Maze • Social Media and Marine Plastic Pollution: A Study of Social Media Messaging on Engagement • This 2 (emotional appeal: hope vs. guilt) x 2 (call-to-action (CTA): presence vs. absence) between-subjects experiment randomly exposed 76 college students to one of four Instagram-type messages about marine plastic pollution: Guilt with no CTA (N = 18), guilt with CTA (N = 20), hope with no CTA (N = 19), or hope with CTA (N = 19). The results were not significant but revealed an interesting interaction pattern when combining hope appeals with CTA’s.
Extended Abstract • Student • Victoria McDermott; Drew T. Ashby-King, University of Maryland • Extended Examining Institutional and Instructional Support of Communication Graduate Students Academic and Social Needs During COVID-19 • Rhetorical and relational goal theory posits that students have academic and relational needs in the classroom that need to be met to facilitate student success. By conducting focus groups with communication graduate students, this study explored how institutional/departmental and instructor communication met students’ needs during the COVID-19 pandemic. We suggest that rhetorical and relational goals are intertwined concepts that contribute to supporting students’ academic and relational needs and success.
Research Paper • Student • Adriana Mucedola, Syracuse University • Royal baby boom: How British tabloids covered Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle’s pregnancies • This study used an intersectional approach to understand how media coverage during Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle’s first pregnancies differed from one another. A content analysis that coded 240 British tabloid articles revealed that Markle received a greater amount of press negativity and negative weight-related attitudes, while Middleton’s body was objectified to a greater extent. Findings suggest that media continue to objectify women in different ways depending on their identities, and reinforce the thin ideal.
Research Paper • Student • Christina Myers • Toward a Conceptual Model of Implicit Racial Bias and Representation of African Americans in Media • “The purpose of this paper is to propose a conceptual model to explain how societal, cultural and historical circumstances contribute to the creation of meaning assigned by content creators and its subsequent understanding, particularly as it relates to the media’s portrayal of African Americans. The author suggests implicit racial bias, stereotypes and ideology, which are shaped by the historical, cultural and societal influences of content creators, allow for inherently prejudiced belief systems to be disseminated and reinforced by mass media. To the author’s knowledge, there is a paucity in mass communication literature that seeks to explain the cognitive processes involved in content creation by members of mass media.
Keywords: Implicit Racial Bias, Ideology, Stereotypes, Black representation, mass media”
Extended Abstract • Student • Nhung Nguyen, University of Kansas • Strangers helping strangers in a strange land: Vietnamese immigrant mothers and expecting mothers in the USA use social media to navigate health acculturation • Drawing from acculturation, this study analyzes 18 in-depth interviews with immigrant Vietnamese mothers and pregnant women in the United States on the role of online social support through Facebook on their pregnancy and motherhood in a strange land. Findings show that immigrant mothers seek out both informational and emotional supports. “Bonding” levels are low and unlikely to transcend into real-life friendships. Social media, however, allows community members to develop and thrive during enculturation.
Extended Abstract • Student • Jeffry Oktavianus, City University of Hong Kong; Yanqing Sun; Fangcao Lu • Extended The episodes of health crisis information response process among migrant domestic workers during COVID-19 pandemic • Guided by Crisis Response Communication Model (CRCM), this study examined how Indonesian migrant domestic workers in Hong Kong digested and responded to health crisis information amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Through in-depth interviews involving 32 workers, this study discovered that the participants went through four stages of crisis response process, including observation (i.e., information gathering), interpretation (i.e., filtering information and verification), choice (i.e., adopting adaptive and maladaptive preventive measures), and dissemination (i.e., information sharing).
Research Paper • Student • Runlei Ren; Xinyu Dai; Mengyuan Wei • The Impact of Internet on Public Trust in Government: Assessing the Mediating Effect of Subjective Social Justice • Over the past decade, public trust in the government (PTG) in developed countries has continued to decline. At the same time, the rapid development of the Internet has changed people’s perceptions. The decline of PTG will pose a challenge to government governance. Given the coexistence of the decline in PTG and the gradual popularization of the Internet, can the Internet explain or partially explain the fluctuations in PTG among citizens? Previous research pointed out that the negative effects may play a leading role. However, existing literature ignores that the relationship between Internet use and public trust in government (PTG) can be mediated by contextual variables such as perceived social justice. Thus, this study uses the 2018 Chinese Social Survey (CSS 2018) and household survey datasets in 2015 (CGSS 2015) to explore the influence of internet usage on PTG and its mechanism. Multivariate regressions and instrumental variable estimates support that: Besides playing a negative role directly (β=-0.0467, t=-3.0304, p<0.001), the internet can also affect PTG by polluting subjective social justice. Diverse applications of the internet have different effects on PTG. From the perspective of different government levels, it conforms to the characteristics of differential trust in government. This conclusion provides a reference for the governance of Internet public opinion. The department of management could treat the Internet as a platform to carry out effective communication between the government and the public to improve political trust.
Extended Abstract • Student • Zoey Rosen, Colorado State University; Channing Bice, Colorado State University; Stephanie Scott, Colorado State University • Extended [Visualizing the Invisible: Visual-Based Design and Efficacy in Air Quality Messaging] • This study examines the effect of efficacy and visual design for messaging for air quality. The following study is a 2 (efficacy: high vs. low) × 2 (message design: visual vs. text) between-subjects experimental design, assessing the effects of these variables on students’ visual comprehension, source credibility, self-efficacy, and protective behavioral intention. Hypotheses were partially supported, finding that there were some statistically significant effects for efficacy and message design on the variables of interest.
Extended Abstract • Student • Andrea Smith, Syracuse University; Adriana Mucedola, Syracuse University; Jian Shi, Syracuse University • Partisan Pride: How Cross-Exposure to Partisan News and Emotions Toward Trump Leads to Civic Engagement • The purpose of this study was to examine the link between consuming either liberal or conservative media, partisans’ emotional reactions to news about Donald Trump, and their level of participation in civic engagement. A sample of U.S. adults (n=813) completed the relevant measures in an online survey. Results indicated that when participants consumed counter-attitudinal media, they experienced negative emotional reactions to news about Donald Trump, which in turn, led them to become more civically engaged.
Research Paper • Student • Courtney Tabor, University of Oregon • “What a 13-year old girl looks like”: A feminist analysis of To Catch a Predator • This paper examines three key episodes of early-2000s sensation To Catch a Predator and situates them within crime media and journalism literature. Based on the analysis, To Catch a Predator represents the apex of crime media as demonstrated by the treatment of women and girls as bait, claims of ownership over women and girls’ bodies, lack of nuance in reporting, and the liberties taken in their journalistic practices.
Research Paper • Student • Jingyue Tao • The Influence of Message and Audio Modalities in Augmented Reality Mobile Advertisements on Consumers’ Purchase Intention • Evidence shows that AR technology is an effective advertising approach to raise a brand’s awareness, so many big brands implement AR into their marketing strategy. However, the effectiveness of AR mobile advertisements on consumers’ purchase intentions remains unclear. To fill this dearth in the literature, this study examined how message and audio modalities of AR mobile advertisements influenced consumers’ purchase intentions through an experiment. Based on the uses and gratifications perspective, this online experiment manipulated the message type (emotional/factual) and audio-verbal appeal (present/absent) of AR advertisements to investigate their impact on consumers’ attitudes towards buying a watch. The results showed that audio-verbal appeal played a salient role in the emotional message to positively influence consumers’ perceived entertaining gratification and intention to buy the watch. However, the audio-verbal emotional message negatively influenced consumers’ purchase intention and did not influence their perceived information gratification. Future research should test other multimedia such as images, video, or animations to better understand the interaction effect between AR mobile advertisements and consumers’ purchase intentions.
Research Paper • Student • Taylor Thompson • Trust in media in the era of fake news • This study explores how political ideologies, media bias, and media credibility affect trust in the media. This research uses an ATP survey from Pew Research Center. The analysis found that people who identify as Democrats have a significantly higher trust in the media, and think the media is doing their job well and effectively. Republicans were less trustful of the media, which suggests a problematic relationship between the media and people who identify as Republicans.
Research Paper • Student • Yue Wang, University of Leuven • Why are smartphones a thief who steals time? An Empirical Study of Smartphone Dependence in China • With the rapid spread of smartphones worldwide, the negative effects of overuse and dependence on smartphones have attracted more and more public attention. To explore how people’s psychological motivations affect smartphone dependence, this research expands the motivation of media-system dependence and adds two psychological characteristics of loneliness and FoMO. The results showed that “recreation”, “orientation”, “loneliness” and “FoMO” had significant impacts on smartphone use, while “understanding” did not have a direct effect on smartphone dependency.This survey provides important information for academicians concerning smartphone dependency, which is still rarely explored in China.
Research Paper • Student • Tian Xinhe • Research on Online Social Support Related to Gender Issues from the Perspective of Communication-An empirical analysis based on Zhihu, an online question-and-answer community in China.docx • The COVID-19 outbreak in early 2020 has highlighted the importance of social caring, and the related gender issues have attracted more attention online. This paper studies the posts related to the “sanitary napkins in loose packing” in Zhihu Community, and examines the impact of online social support on gender issues, from the perspective of communication and through social network analysis, content analysis and text analysis. Findings: Users have not developed a tight social network, but the Matthew effect is significant; online social support strengthens connections between users on gender issues; “otherization” for female is found users in agenda setting; intensified online gender contradiction reflects the polarization effect of network. Misogyny is found in China’s male-oriented online society. On this basis, the paper argues that gender inequality is an objective, deep-rooted existence in Chinese society, and that gender antagonism is becoming increasingly prominent in China’s online society. In the long run, however, we should avoid grafting gender contradictions into class contradictions, with efforts made to coordinate gender relations and seek equal rights for men and women.
Research Paper • Student • Wanjiang Zhang; Jiayu Qu; Jingjing Yi, School of Journalism and Communication, Chinese University of Hong Kong • Stripped from society abruptly: Effects of physical social isolation on people’s emotional expression and well-being • The study employed a quasi-experiment with 1,398 users’ 1,376,718 posts on Weibo. Three computational methods (SA, ITS, STM) were used to investigate the influences of physical social isolation on people’s emotional well-being during the quarantine. Results showed that quarantine brought a sharp fall in people’s emotions immediately without sustained effects. STM-generated topics implied social media’s role in fulfilling three psychological needs. Heavy Weibo users expressed more positively, whereas light users expressed negatively.
Entertainment Studies Interest Group
2022 Abstracts
Research Paper • Faculty • Audrey Halverson, Brigham Young University; Kris Boyle, Brigham Young University; Kevin John, Brigham Young University • Battle Royale and Addictive Gaming: The Mediating Role of Player Motivations • Previous research on the prevalence of addictive behaviors among video game players has been varied; however, there are emerging concerns that battle royale games may be particularly conducive to addiction. This study utilizes a survey sample of 536 battle royale players to investigate addiction outcomes for battle royale players and the mediating role of various player motivations.
Research Paper • Student • Seung Woo Chae; Sung Hyun Lee • Sharing Emotion while Spectating Video Game Play • This paper examines how the COVID-19 pandemic associates with Twitch users’ emotion, using natural language processing (NLP). Two comparable sets of text data were collected from Twitch internet relay chats (IRCs): one after the outbreak of the pandemic and another one before that. Positive emotion, negative emotion, and attitude to social interaction were tested by comparing the two text sets via a dictionary-based NLP program. Particularly regarding negative emotion, three negative emotions anger, anxiety, and sadness were measured given the nature of the pandemic. The results show that users’ anger and anxiety significantly increased after the outbreak of the pandemic, while changes in sadness and positive emotion were not statically significant. In terms of attitude to social interaction, users used significantly fewer “social” words after the outbreak of the pandemic than before. These findings were interpreted considering the nature of Twitch as a unique live mixed media platform, and how the COVID-19 pandemic is different from previous crisis events was discussed based on prior literature.
Research Paper • Student • Meredith Collins; Allison Lazard; Ashley Hedrick; Tushar Varma • It’s Nothing Like Cancer: Young Adults with Cancer Reflect on Memorable Entertainment Media • “Entertainment media simulates social experiences, facilitates coping, and develops resiliency in young adults, ages 18 – 39. These outcomes could be beneficial for young adults with cancer, who typically report lacking social support and suboptimal psychological outcomes during and after treatment. Guided by the memorable messages framework, we investigated which entertainment media young adults with cancer found memorable and why. We conducted 25 semi-structured, online interviews. Participants were asked to identify any media title that was memorable or meaningful during their cancer experience; they were also asked to explain whether the title had a positive or negative meaning to them, as well as why they felt that way. Participants were mostly female (79.2%) and White (80%), with a breast cancer diagnosis (45.8%). Media portrayals were helpful if they prompted exploration of emotions and the creation of meaning around the cancer experience, or if they took participants’ minds off cancer. Most entertainment media focused only on death from cancer. Our participants called for more nuanced portrayals that better reflected their lived reality. Our results revealed media are used as social surrogates, and to find affirmation and validation. On the other hand, our participants felt that entertainment media focused too heavily on death. This may contribute to internalized stigma and decrease psychological functioning, or affect the perceptions of cancer-free peers. Our participants called for more nuanced portrayals that depicted the realities of living with cancer. Future research should further probe the effects of entertainment media on psychological outcomes for young adults with cancer.”
Extended Abstract • Faculty • Serena Daalmans, Radboud University, Behavioural Science Institute; Mariska Kleemans; Cedra van Erp, Radboud University Nijmegen, Communication Science; Addy Weijers • All the Reasons Why: Exploring the Relationship between Morally Controversial Content in 13 Reasons Why and Viewers’ Moral Rumination • Via in-depth interviews with young adults (N = 45), we sought to gain deeper insights into the experiences of and reflective thoughts (i.e. moral rumination) about controversial media content. In order to map how moral rumination is incited in viewers, we chose a recent example of controversial television, namely 13 Reasons Why. The results will provide a comprehensive account of moral rumination as a concept, and will thereby further field of positive media psychology.
Research Paper • Student • Stefanie East • A Little Bit Alexis: From Self-Absorbed Socialite to Self-Made Career Woman • The cultural impact of Schitt’s Creek and its eclectic mix of characters has resonated with viewers across the world, partly because of its message of love and acceptance, but also because of the strong female characters. This essay offers an analysis of one the most iconic characters from the show, Alexis Rose. Using Kenneth Burke’s method of pentadic criticism, it will examine the breaking of a stereotype and impact of character development on an audience.
Research Paper • Faculty • Erika Engstrom; Ralph Beliveau, University of Oklahoma • Masculinity’s Representative Anecdote in the MCU: Resistance and Revision in “Avengers: Endgame” • This paper interrogates the 2019 film “Avengers: Endgame” using the lens of hegemonic masculinity. By examining the behaviors and storylines of its central male superheroes, four main themes that challenge hegemonic masculinity were identified: (1) seeking help from and giving help to others, (2) emotional expressiveness, (3) expressions of fear and vulnerability, and (4) emphasis on father-child relationships. These merge to tell an overarching “story”—the representative anecdote—of a progressive and positive masculinity, one that affirms that super-heroic men are not afraid to show vulnerability, uncertainty, and affection. The Marvel Cinematic Universe is one of the largest entertainment franchises in media history, and the positive masculinity presented in this film demonstrates a slow but progressive evolution of gender portrayals that hold the potential for positive representations that reflect the many ways manhood is performed in reality.
Extended Abstract • Faculty • Chris Etheridge, University of Kansas; Fatemeh Shayesteh, University of Kansas; Remington Miller, University of Arkansas at Little Rock; Abigail Carlson, University of Arkansas at Little Rock • From “hunky beefcakes” to “beautiful” Homecoming queens: Perpetrators and victims in true crime podcasts • Because this podcasting platform is still relatively new, few studies have considered how perpetrators of crime and victims of crime have been portrayed. Through a content analysis of true crime podcasts, this study will address a gap in the scholarship by chronicling descriptions of victims and perpetrators in several popular true crime podcasts.
Extended Abstract • Student • Heesoo Jang, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Madhavi Reddi, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • [Extended Abstract] Intimacy and Connections: Celebrity Culture in Indian and South Korean Television Shows • This study examined how celebrities’ private lives are used as core elements of Asian television shows. The countries of interest were India and Korea, as the entertainment industries of both countries have increasingly challenged the global dominance of Hollywood. Using qualitative textual analysis, two prominent shows –Taste of Wife (Korea) and Koffee with Karan (India)—were analyzed. Both shows used celebrities’ personal lives and connections to create intimacy with the public and amplify visibility.
Research Paper • Student • Wei Lin • More contributors, shorter continuance? The paradox of entertainment contents contribution • Controversial debates are going on over the issue whether incentive to contribute is to diminish or increase with the expansion of group size. Previous studies on open collaborative platform for knowledge generation and sharing suggest that shrinking group size weakened motivation of contribution. This paper introduces group size into cognitive evaluation theory. By tracing behavior of video contributors in a hedonic information system for 20 months, we illustrate the negative effects of group size of entertainment contributors on intrinsic motivation and social rewards, which lead the discontinuance and inactivity of new contributors. Different mechanisms in hedonic and knowledge-sharing information system are discussed as well.
Research Paper • Student • JINDONG LIU, CUHK; biying wu • A “soul” emerges when AI meets Anime via hologram: a qualitative study on users of new anime-style hologram social robot “Hupo” • Anime-style hologram social robots are the latest entertainment products. This paper discusses how social robots and anime content converge via this new technology. Through interviews (N=18) in the case of Hupo, it identifies unique media phenomena including anime-style gamification and idolization of social robots, anime-assisted interactional order maintenance, and AI empowerment of anime characters. It argues anime fandom practice compensates for inadequate AI incapability, which challenges the vision of realistic human simulation in anthropomorphism.
Research Paper • Faculty • Patrick Osei-Hwere, West Texas A&M University; Enyonam Osei-Hwere, West Texas A&M University; Li Chen, West Texas A&M University • Spotlighting Emotional Intelligence in Children’s Media: Emotional Portrayals in Disney Channel Television Series. • A content analysis of emotions depicted in five Disney channel television series using social cognitive theory, entertainment education, and emotional intelligence constructs, found that characters depicted emotions of happiness, anger, and fear most frequently. There were no significant associations between gender and emotion display. Researchers found significant associations between emotion types and variables of age, emotion labeling, emotion regulation, emotion display target, and emotion display location. Recommendations for media researchers and content creators are discussed.
Research Paper • Student • Suri Pourmodheji, Indiana University, Bloomington • Keeping Up With the Yummy Mummies? Examining Kim Kardashian’s Mediated Yummy Mummy Images on the reality television program Keeping Up With The Kardashians versus Instagram posts. • “This chapter examines concepts of body image and the yummy mummy in motherhood, by analyzing select scenes from the reality television program, Keeping Up With The Kardashians (Keeping Up), and Instagram posts from Kim Kardashian’s personal Instagram page, @kimkardashian. Contextualizing the yummy mummy, the pressures of maintaining the bikini ready body for mothers, exploring body as commodity, and examining a fantasy of motherhood, I apply these concepts to an analysis of Kardashian’s body during her motherhood journey. Furthermore, I argue that Kardashian’s body functions in a hegemonic way as a seemingly attainable goal for postpartum women and those looking to get back into shape post baby. This chapter asks the following questions, how does Kardashian convey the yummy mummy concept referenced by Littler and Jermyn throughout Keeping Up and on Instagram? How does Kardashian function as a persona in flux between her appearance on Keeping Up and on Instagram? Further, how does the in-flux persona play a role in the way she portrays motherhood on Instagram? To address these questions, I use visual and contextual analysis on select scenes and Instagram posts that focus on Kardashian and her body as a mother. From analyzing these examples, I argue for the following conclusions: Kardashian’s role as a mother is portrayed through self-critical language to reinforce an authentic display of the yummy mummy body, through confident Instagram posts depicting her desirable body, and through post-racial visual discourse represented in family pictures on Instagram.
Research Paper • Student • Rachel Son, University of Florida • K-dramas and the American youth: Conceptualizing the aspiration of a youthful utopia • The purpose of the current paper is to develop a model to explain why American youth audiences choose to watch K-dramas. A rationalism approach by deriving concepts from existing theory to identify the variables of the model. The theoretical perspective comes from the theory of Temporarily Expanding the Boundaries of the Self (Slater et al., 2014), as well as contributions from entertainment research regarding enjoyment and affective motivations (Oliver & Raney, 2011). K-drama narratives is the independent variable and youthful utopia aspiration is the proposed dependent variable. As audiences begin temporarily expanding the boundaries of self to restore their identity and attain self-fulfillment, they are transported into the narrative where they identify with the characters’ experience in the stories. This leads to the American youth audiences to learn something about their own identity and life by expanding their understanding about South Korean culture through drama portrayals. In sum, audiences find meaning for their own lives that cannot be gained by self-affirmation through boundary expansion while viewing K-dramas.
Research Paper • Student • Nathan Spencer, The University of Memphis • License to angst: A study of female characters in Christopher Nolan films • This paper is a textual analysis of female characters in Christopher Nolan films. Its purpose is to determine how Nolan represents women in his films, thus adding to the literature on Nolan and on women in blockbuster films. The data consisted of a sample from three of Nolan’s most popular films, The Dark Knight, Inception, and Interstellar. The data was organized into five distinct categories: Dead Wife Syndrome; Women as a plot device for men; Violence as shock value; Mommy issues; and Behind every strong woman is… a man? The results reveal that Nolan’s stories revolve around men, reducing women to stereotyped subordinates. Nolan actively weaponizes his female characters’ femininity, treating them violently in his stories to motivate his male characters and tantalize the audience. His consistent successes over different genres point to moviegoers wanting to consume the stories he tells, regardless of content. This study’s results determine that his influence is directly hindering positive female representation in mainstream blockbuster films.
Research Paper • Faculty • Alec Tefertiller, Baylor University; Lindsey Maxwell, Southern Mississippi • Am I binge-watching or just glued to the couch? Viewing patterns, audience activity, and psychological antecedents for different types of extended-time television viewing • The phenomenon of binge-watching has received considerable attention in both the media and in research. However, extended-time television viewing is not only confined to narrative binges. This study sought to better understand the differences between different types of extended-time television viewing, including binge-watching. While little evidence was found to suggest a connection between problematic mental health antecedents and extended-time viewing, differences in audience attention and overall patterns of consumption were found.
Research Paper • Faculty • Kelsey Whipple, University of Massachusetts Amherst; Ivy Ashe; Lourdes Cueva Chacon, San Diego State University • Aux News: Examining Listeners’ Perceptions of the Journalistic Function of Podcasts • Podcasting is a well-established medium with a rapidly growing audience but no established ethical standards or practices. Through a representative national survey of American internet users (n = 1,025), this research examined how much podcast listeners trust podcasts and how they evaluate their journalistic merit. Podcast listeners trust podcasts less than most other news sources, with the exception of online news and satirical news programs. And though listeners agree that podcasting is a form of journalism, a way to stay informed about news and current events, and a valuable source of information, they are more skeptical of podcasts when comparing them to traditional news sources. Age is the only demographic category that predicts listening frequency.
Research Paper • Faculty • Qingru Xu; Hanyoung Kim; Andrew Billings • Let’s Watch Live Streaming! Exploring Streamer Credibility in Influencing Purchase Intention in Video Game Streamer Marketing • This study aims to examine the effect of streamer credibility on purchase intention in the context of video game streamer marketing, and further explore the underlying mechanism of the examined relationship via a mediation analysis. With recruiting 277 participants in the United State, this study (a) confirms the significant and positive relationship between streamer credibility and purchase intention, and also finds that (b) the mediators of parasocial relationships and streamer loyalty partially mediate the effect of streamer credibility on purchase intention. Surprisingly, the indirect effect of streamer credibility through the two mediators on purchase intention is stronger than the total effect; meanwhile, the direct effect of streamer credibility on purchase intention in the mediation model remains significant but negative. By applying structural equation modeling analysis, the current research offers a theoretical explanation for how streamer credibility influences viewers’ purchase intention in the context of video game streamer marketing, with practical and practical implications outlined.
Extended Abstract • Student • Wenjing Yang; Ruyue Ma • Online and offline : How MOBA games affect adolescence’s Discourse • MOBA games are now a big part of adolescences’ daily life , which not only affect their entertainment but also affect their communication . This paper draws on the theory of scenes proposed by Joshua Meyrowitz (1985) , using the way of participant observation and depth interview . The intial findings are that MOBA games realize the integration of scenarios in three dimensions and thus provided some new discourse for adolescence , which affect their communication and social interaction .
Extended Abstract • Student • Casey Yetter, University of Oklahoma; Alex Eschbach, University of Oklahoma • Earth’s Moralist Heroes: Virtue depictions in the Marvel Cinematic Universe • The purpose of this paper is to identify how virtue ethics are depicted in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). A thematic analysis was used to analyze 12 of Aristotle’s virtues (courage, temperance, liberality, magnificence, magnanimity, gentleness, truthfulness, wittiness, friendliness, modesty, and righteous indignation) in the protagonist superheroes in the MCU films, the most successful film franchise in cinematic history.
Community Journalism Interest Group
2022 Abstracts
Research Paper • Faculty • Community gatekeeping: Understanding information dissemination by journalists in Sub-Saharan Africa • Gregory Gondwe, University of Colorado; Patrick Ferrucci, U of Colorado-Boulder; Edson Tandoc Jr • This study contributes to the theory of gatekeeping by examining how community media journalists in Sub-Saharan Africa navigate through conflicting information. Using the case of COVID-19, the study examined how journalists from community media in Zambia and Tanzania reported government information that conflicted with what the local communities they served believed to be untrue. Drawing from interviews with journalists from community media organizations, we were able to demonstrate that there was a schism between what the editors thought as newsworthy versus what the reporters believed as possessing journalistic values relevant for their communities. Unlike the reporters, most editors aligned much with what the government wanted the media to transmit. This is especially true in Zambia where reporters indicated that most of their stories were flagged as irrelevant by their editors. These findings are then examined through the lens of gatekeeping, particularly a focus on various levels of analysis.
Research Paper • Faculty • Locating the Media’s Role in Empathy for Immigration • Kelly Kaufhold, Texas State University • The relationship between media consumption and attitudes about immigration is well established, but with a focus on national news outlets. The role of local media consumption is not as well understood. This study surveyed residents of Texas (N-316) which shares two-thirds of the United States’ border, and Ohio (N=322) which is less diverse and politically predictable. Reading Ohio newspapers predicted significantly less support for immigration; reading national newspapers, more support. Local TV viewing wasn’t significant.
Research Paper • Student • Print imprint: The connection between the physical newspaper and the self • Nick Mathews, University of Minnesota • This research puts forward the theoretical concept “print imprint,” articulating the connection between the printed newspaper and its reader’s “Self.” This paper contends the newspaper draws out the meaningfulness of ownership, touch and nostalgia, all ingredients of the self. This research centers on interviews with 19 readers of a rural, weekly newspaper that shuttered. Ultimately, this research argues the loss of the weekly newspaper prompted a loss or lessening of self of the abandoned readers.
Research Paper • Faculty • Collaborative coverage: A content analysis of articles by local journalists working to solve homelessness and engage community • Laura Moorhead, San Francisco State University • Beginning in June 2016, 77 media organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area began working together to end homelessness in the community. Journalists put aside competitive and, oftentimes, philosophical differences to “flood airwaves, the internet, and print publications with news” about the “solutions to and causes of homelessness.” The effort, known as the SF Homeless Project (SFHP), continued beyond one day and has gained international attention, becoming a model for journalists and communities elsewhere. Yet, little is known about the SFHP’s coverage, impact, and potential for community change and replication elsewhere. This research — a content analysis of 977 articles published over 18 months by 134 media organizations — examined efforts to shape local public opinion and policy on homelessness and asked, What does coverage look like when journalists work to take a systems perspective to address homelessness?
Research Paper • Student • The role of integrated connectedness of community storytelling networks in empowering migrant domestic workers • Jeffry Oktavianus, City University of Hong Kong • “Situated against Indonesian migrant domestic workers (MDWs) in Hong Kong, this study examined how MDWs’ integrated connectedness to the community storytelling networks (ICSN), comprising interpersonal communication, community organizations, and media outlets, was able to empower migrant helpers. The findings revealed that ICSN was positively associated with perceived social support and behavioral empowerment, while the influence of ICSN on intrapersonal and interactional empowerment operated via social support.
Keywords: communication infrastructure, community storytelling network, empowerment, migrant domestic workers”
Research Paper • Student • Must I follow the script? Professional objectivity, journalistic roles and the black community journalist • William Singleton, University of Alabama; Wilson Lowrey; Nick Buzzelli • The negotiation of objectivity as a community journalism norm has become timelier based on dissatisfaction many Black journalists have voiced over coverage of police brutality protests. This study examines how Black community journalists covering social-justice protests in local legacy news media, digital startups, and traditional community Black press have expressed journalistic objectivity and enacted their journalistic roles. Findings showed that coverage in the traditional Black press publication and the digital startup enacted a stronger advocacy role and showed more subjectivity than the legacy publication. Also, a “clarifier” role emerged from analysis of the digital startup publication, in which journalists gave local protest groups a platform to distinguish their identities from other protest groups.
Extended Abstract • Student • Examining how solutions journalism builds street credibility between media and audiences • Anna Grace Usery • This study explores how media organizations build credibility with their audiences through solutions journalism. It also seeks to understand how community partners are utilized by media organizations to augment storytelling and create a symbiotic relationship with audience members. Results from this study indicate that the definition and practice of solutions journalism is changing in the field and that symbiotic relationships are helping to build credibility at the individual level.
Extended Abstract • Student • Pride and Protest: Intersectional Work of Queer Community Media • Yidong Wang, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Avery Holton, University of Utah • This study examines the practice of intersectionality in queer community media production. Drawing on interviews and surveys with nine queer community news outlets in the US as well as texts sampled from these outlets’ coverage of the Black Lives Matter movement in connection to the narrative of LGBTQ Pride, we find that queer community media serve as a platform where discussion around racism within LGBTQ communities takes place and where intersectional coalition can be mobilized.
