Media Ethics 2017 Abstracts
OPEN COMPETITION
Student Understanding and Application of Virtues in a Redesigned Journalism Ethics Class • David Craig, The University of Oklahoma; Mohammad Yousuf, The University of Oklahoma • This study examines how students in a journalism ethics class demonstrated their understanding and application of virtues when several class assignments were tailored to virtue ethics. It adds to the limited study on virtue pedagogy in media ethics. Findings showed most students showed at least a basic understanding of nine virtues and their relevance to journalism. The study suggests several insights and refinements for future assessment of learning about virtue.
Trust vs. evaluation: The interplay of ethics and participation in news • Katy Culver; Byung Gu Lee • Considerable research has pointed to declining levels of public trust in news media, as well as differences in trust based on political ideology. At the same time, the public has greater ability to participate in the processes of news, from commenting on stories to engaging through social media. This study explores the intersections of media trust, ethical performance, and participatory practices, as well as differences by ideology and chosen news outlets.
Weeding out the differences: Market orientation’s effects on the coverage of marijuana legalization • Patrick Ferrucci, U of Colorado; Chad Painter, University of Dayton; Angelica Kalika, University of Colorado, Boulder • This textual analysis compares news coverage of Colorado Amendment 64, the 2012 ballot measure legalizing marijuana statewide, by the strongly market-oriented legacy newspaper the Denver Post and the weakly market-oriented online publication the Colorado Independent. Researchers found differences in storytelling, usage of stakeholders and sources, and coverage about the social and economic impacts of marijuana legalization. These findings are discussed through the theoretical lenses of market theory for news production and W.D. Ross’s duty-based ethics.
An Ethics-Based Investigation of Algorithmic Use of Social Media Data for News • Tao Fu; William Babcock • Using W. D. Ross’s prima facie duties as the theoretical framework, in particular non-maleficence, beneficence and self-improvement, combined with gatekeeping theory and the echo-chamber effect, this study examines the dissemination of fake news on Facebook and its news ranking and recommendation during the United States’ 2016 presidential election. The researchers argue that while Facebook employs algorithms as gatekeepers, it is unrealistic to consider algorithms have in and of themselves an ethics component. So while algorithms are amoral, without moral sense or principles and thus incapable of distinguishing between right and wrong, how they are employed and by whom is the key ethics component to be considered.
The Devil is in the Details: Comparing Crime Coverage Credos in the United States, The Netherlands, and Sweden • Romayne Fullerton; Margaret Patterson, Duquesne University; Katherine Hoad Reddick, The University of Western Ontario • This paper compares crime coverage practices in the United States to those in the Netherlands and Sweden. In the former country, journalists routinely name and provide as many facts as they can gather about persons arrested and charged with serious crimes. In contrast, the latter two countries’ default is not to name or otherwise identify alleged perpetrators. All three countries share a belief in the presumption of innocence and the public right to know, but the Swedish and Dutch foreground the former, while the Americans elevate the latter. We do not posit one set of ethical practices as superior to another, but rather explore the advantages and disadvantages of each approach to consider what the differing practices of naming and specificity versus anonymizing and generalization mean in a broad cultural context, and to consider the importance of their preservation in a globalized age.
“I’m more ethical than you”: Third-person and first-person perception among American journalists • Angela Lee, University of Texas at Dallas; Renita Coleman, University of Texas at Austin • Extending first- and third- person perception to ethics, this study found that journalists at leading news outlets believe colleagues in the same organization act unethically significantly less frequently and act ethically significantly more frequently than those at other organizations and in other industries. The first- and third- person perceptions are a linear function of social distance, but are not the mirror image of each other. Suggestions for improving journalists’ ethics are offered. This study helps expand a field based in philosophy and media sociology by adding insights from social psychology to begin building a more mature scholarship of media ethics.
Playing the right way: In-house sports reporters and media ethics as boundary work • Michael Mirer, University of Wisconsin • Sports teams increasingly hire in-house reporters to produce news content for their own websites. Drawing on the construct of boundary work and using interview data, this paper finds these writers use ethical discourse to formulate a professional identity as journalists, redefining core normative concepts. It argues that in-house reporters detach journalism’s practices and conventions from its overarching normative orientation and concludes by calling for a normative account of in-house reporting rooted in mixed-media ethics.
Bringing Habermas into the newsroom: consensus or compromise and the rehabilitation of common sense • Laura Moorhead, San Francisco State University • Philosopher and media gadfly Habermas in the newsroom? This paper — through the frame of Habermas’s discourse ethics — highlights a path for debating ethics, including race and diversity, in journalism using rational-critical discussion, which can lead to consensus or compromise through a move from individual to collective community interests. The paper considers the rehabilitation of common sense, through emerging technology and an interdisciplinary approach. The point of debating ethics in journalism surfaces as the hope for solidarity despite increasing pluralism.
Taking the white gloves off: The portrayal of female journalists on Good Girls Revolt • Chad Painter, University of Dayton; Patrick Ferrucci, U of Colorado • This textual analysis focuses on the portrayal of female journalists on the series Good Girls Revolt. Unlike many contemporary television series and films, the women of Good Girls Revolt generally are depicted positively. They are behind the scenes heroes and possess journalistic intangibles lacking in their male counterparts, who treat them in demeaning and dehumanizing ways. The researchers then explore the ethical implications of these portrayals through the lens of social responsibility theory.
Teaching Journalism Ethics Through “The Newsroom”: An Enhanced Learning Experience • Laveda Peterlin, University of Kansas; Jonathan Peters, University of Kansas • As documented in multiple fields, students taking ethics courses can benefit from alternative pedagogical approaches using television shows for learning. This research paper explores the journalistic ethics conflicts depicted in the first season of the HBO show “The Newsroom.” Those conflicts, brought to life through vivid and realistic storytelling, enable students to experience how ethical decisions can affect a newsroom and the audience it serves. This is a form of televisual ethnography that provides journalism instructors additional resources to use in the classroom and creates an innovative, rich learning experience for students.
The Evolution of the Potter Box in Mass Media Ethics • Matthew Reavy, University of Scranton • This paper examines the origins of The Potter Box, the most widely used model of decision-making in mass media ethics. The basic structure of the model is traced back to its roots in the work of Talcott Parsons and Ralph B. Potter Jr., through subsequent modifications and to its introduction in the field of mass media by Christians, Rotzoll & Fackler in 1983. Attention is given to variations of the model as they appear in current media ethics texts.
“The Times F’d up”: Responsibility, blame, and journalistic paradigm repair following the 2016 U.S. presidential election • Miles Sari, Washington State University; Elizabeth Hindman, Washington State University • “Through an ethnographic content analysis of 55 print and online newspaper articles and editorials, this paper considers the ways in which the American journalistic paradigm repaired itself in the wake of the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Using the concepts of paradigm repair and attribution theory as guiding frameworks, this study suggests that American news media engaged in first-order and second-order news paradigm repair discourses to identify unethical lapses in news media election coverage, as well as to pinpoint the broader threats of fake news and the Donald Trump administration to the legitimacy of the American journalistic paradigm.
Here’s What BuzzFeed Journalists Think of Their Journalism • Edson Tandoc, Nanyang Technological University; Cassie Yuan Wen Foo • This study seeks to compare BuzzFeed, a new entrant to the journalistic field, with traditional news organizations, from the perspective of BuzzFeed’s own journalists. Through in-depth interviews, this study finds that BuzzFeed’s journalists think they are more attentive to audiences and more willing to experiment than those from traditional news organizations. But at the same time, they also value the same ethical standards in journalism. Thus, BuzzFeed seems to engage in both differentiation and de-differentiation.
News in the Peace Process in Northern Ireland: Reconciliation Isn’t Sexy • Charis Rice, Coventry University; Maureen Taylor • This research explores if and how the media help or hinder democracy in a post conflict nation. In this paper the explicit question about media’s role in democracy has, at its core, an implicit question about media ethics. We interviewed 15 community leaders who are active in ‘cross-community’ organizations in Northern Ireland. The findings suggest that community activists perceive the media to be contributing to the conflict and constraining debates about the way forward in Northern Ireland.
Falsity, fakery and carbon monoxide: A typology of fake news and an ethical approach • Fred Vultee, Wayne State University • Deciding what to do about the epidemic of “fake news” requires both a definition of fake news and an understanding of why real news is valuable. Drawing on the philosophical distinction between lying (Bok, 1978) and bullshit (Frankfurt, 2005), this paper seeks to categorize the potential impacts of different varieties of fake news and to suggest an ethics-based framework for how to counter them. The practice of journalism can address some of these challenges as a craft and some as a profession; the paper concludes by suggesting that journalism and its audiences would gain from addressing the fake news problem on both fronts.
A history of media ethics: From application to theory and back again • Lee Wilkins, Wayne State University • This paper focuses on practical issues that lead to ideas worth considering across disciplines. By discussing the evolution of four concepts, truthtelling, privacy, the impact of technology and moral development, it outlines the historic development of these ideas in the field of media ethics. Its central assertion is that media ethics has had something to contribute to philosophy and political philosophy as well as to working professionals. This contribution centers as much as in does in philosophy and political philosophy as it does in the more accepted domain of applied ethics
CAROL BURNETT AWARD
Spotlight: Virtuous Journalism in Practice • Yayu Feng, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign • This paper uses the movie Spotlight as a case study of virtuous journalism. It interprets Spotlight by textual analysis with key concepts from virtue ethics theory—arête, phronesis, and eudaimonia—to discuss journalistic virtues, journalists’ practical reasoning, and how journalism profession can contribute to human flourishing through its professional goal of questing for truth. The paper also hopes to contribute a relevant case study to demonstrate the value of virtue ethics theory to journalism ethics.
Ethical, moral, and professional standards in journalism practice: A baseline definition of journalistic integrity • Kimberly Kelling • What does it mean for a journalist to have integrity? How does that concept differ from the integrity of the journalist or journalistic institution? Conceptualizations of the term vary among industries and philosophical definitions are just as scattered. Exploring the usage of the term “integrity” in journalism discourse, this paper identifies micro-, meso-, and macro-level applications of journalistic integrity based on a metadiscourse analysis of newsroom codes of ethics and journalism trade publications. Providing a baseline definition of journalistic integrity enables professionals and the public to communicate about press responsibilities and performance with similar expectations.
An Emotional Approach to Risk Communication • Shiyu Yang • The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that emotions are an important, if not integral, aspect of risk communication, and that using emotional appeals in risk communication is not inherently unethical; rather, whether the emotional appeals used in a risk message are ethical or not should be judged based on the context. To achieve this goal, I first establish that emotions can facilitate well-informed and ethically sound risk-related decision-making, by reviewing extant research literature on the dialectical tension between emotion and rationality. Then I advance the notion that emotions are an important aspect of risk communication, by applying the Extended Parallel Process Model (EPPM) and providing a brief discussion of how various kinds of emotions may aid our risk interpretations and help balance various ethical considerations about risks. Next, I proceed to review some of the potential benefits as well as possible negative outcomes of employing emotional appeals in designing risk messages. I further illustrate these points by conducting an ethical critique of a public health campaign, the “war on obesity”. Finally, I reaffirm the thesis statement that emotions are important in risk communication and that emotional appeals should and can be ethically applied to enhance the effectiveness of risk communication.
SPECIAL CALL FOR STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION ETHICS
The Use of Influence Tactics by Senior Public Relations Practitioners to Provide Ethics Counsel • Marlene Neill, Baylor University; Amy Barnes, University of Arkansas at Little Rock • Senior public relations practitioners prefer non-confrontational approaches such as asking questions and dialogue when raising ethical concerns to more senior leaders. Through in-depth interviews with 34 members of the PRSA College of Fellows, this study provides new insights regarding successful and unsuccessful attempts at providing ethics counsel. The role of ethical conscience in public relations was explored through the lens of organizational power and social influence theories. Implications for practice are discussed.
Mass Communication and Society 2017 Abstracts
OPEN COMPETITION
Beauty ideals and the media: Constructing the ideal beauty for Nigerian women through music videos • Aje-Ori Agbese • The research examined how Nigerian music videos objectify and define beauty for Nigerian women. The contents of 100 music videos with a love/romance theme were analyzed. The study found that Nigerian music videos defined beautiful women as thin/skinny, light-skinned and smiling. Several videos also featured white women as the ideal. The paper also discusses the impact of such messages on a country where women had the world’s highest rates for skin bleaching in 2012.
Framing Blame in Sexual Assault: An Analysis of Attribution in News Stories about Sexual Assault on College Campuses • Ashlie Andrew; Cassandra Alexopoulos • The current study is a quantitative content analysis examining media coverage of sexual assault on US college campuses. In particular, we focus on the language that journalists employ to tell these stories and assign attribution of sexual assault to the people involved. Drawing on two different theoretical perspectives, Attribution Theory and Media Framing, we analyze how frequently the language in news stories on sexual assault implicitly assign attribution (or minimize attribution) to either the victim or perpetrator in sexual assault cases.
The Social Dimensions of Political Participation • Soo Young Bae • This study investigates the social dimensions of political engagement, and explores the underlying mechanism of the relationship between social media use and political participation. Using a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults, this study reveals the growing significance of the source factor in the online information environment, and tests whether varying levels of trust that individuals have toward the information source can meaningfully relate to their engagement in politics.
The Role of Media Use and Family Media Use in Children’s Eating Behaviors, Food Preferences, and Health Literacy • Kimberly Bissell, University of Alabama; Kim Baker, University of Alabama; Xueying Zhang; Kailey E. Bissell, The University of the South (Sewanee); Sarah Pember, University of Alabama; Yiyi Yang, University of Alabama; Samantha Phillips, University of Alabama • The relationship between the individual and social factors that might predict a child’s health behaviors specific to food consumption and eating is quite complex. A growing body of literature suggests that external factors such as media use, use of media while eating, and the home eating environment certainly could predict factors such as a child’s preference for specific food, nutritional knowledge, and even the ability to identify food products in food advertisements. Using a survey of children in 2nd and 3rd grade, this study examined questions about how much or if general media use, media use while eating, and familial media use during mealtimes related to a child’s general understanding of health specific to nutritional knowledge, food preferences, understanding of food advertising, and self-perception. Results indicate that media use by each child and by the parent—in general and in the context of eating—were related to lower scores on the nutritional knowledge scale, a stronger preference for unhealthy foods, an inability to correctly identify food products in food advertisements, and self-perceptions. Further results indicate that children’s ability to correctly identify food products in food advertisements was especially low, especially in children who reported spending more time with different types of media. These and other findings are discussed.
Assimilation or Consternation? U.S. Latinos’ Perceptions of Trust in Relation to Media and Other Factors • Ginger Blackstone, Harding University; Amy Jo Coffey, University of Florida • Among the U.S. Latino community, even documented workers are nervous about the future. What role might Internet news exposure, television news exposure, newspaper exposure, radio news exposure, age, whether one was born in the U.S., or–if not—length of time spent in the U.S. be relevant to feelings of trust in the government, trust in others, and U.S. immigration policies? How do Latinos’ feelings in these areas compare to non-Latinos? Using the most recent American National Election Survey data available, the authors conducted a series of regressions and other statistical tests in search of answers. It was found that Latino respondents were more likely than non-Latinos to trust that the U.S. government will do the right thing. Television news exposure was a positive factor. Non-Latino respondents were more likely than Latino respondents to trust others. Internet news exposure, radio news exposure, and newspaper exposure were positive factors, while television news exposure was a negative factor. Trust in the government did not correlate with trust in others for Latino respondents; however, it did for non-Latinos but the effect was weak. Regarding U.S. immigration policy, difference between Latino respondents and non-Latinos were significant; however, a majority of both groups indicated support for an immigration policy that allowed undocumented workers to remain in the U.S. under certain (non-specified) conditions. Internet news exposure and radio news exposure were factors in some comparisons. Overall, no clear patterns were found; however, the findings correspond to the literature and provide an opportunity for future research.
Toxic Peers in Online Support Groups for Suicidal Teens: Moderators Reducing Toxic Disinhibition Effects • Nicholas Boehm, Colorado State University; Jamie Switzer, Colorado State University • This paper describes the results of a study that examined if moderated online peer support groups for suicidal teens differ compared to non-moderated online peer support groups for suicidal teens in terms of the frequency of pro-suicide response and the frequency of uncivil and impolite response given by peers. Findings suggest pro-suicide, uncivil, and impolite responses are significantly more likely to occur in the non-moderated peer support group, as explained by the online disinhibition effect.
Exploring Third-Person Perception and Social Media • John Chapin, Penn State • Findings from a study of middle school and high school students (N = 1604) suggest most adolescents are using some form of social media, with texting, Instagram, and Snapchat currently the most popular. Most (67%) have some experience with cyberbullying, with 23% saying they have been victims of cyberbullying and 7% acknowledging they have cyberbullied others. Despite the heavy use of social media and experiences with cyberbullying, participants exhibited third-person perception, believing others are more influenced than they are by negative posts on social media. Third-person perception was predicted by optimistic bias, social media use, age, and experience with various forms of bullying. Third-person perception may provide a useful framework for understanding how adolescents use social media and how they are affected by it.
“Defensive Effect”: Uncivil Disagreement Upsets Me, So I Want to Speak Out Politically • Gina Chen • This study proposed and tested a mediation model called the “defensive effect” to explain the influence of uncivil disagreement online comments on emotions and intention to participate politically. An experiment (N = 953) showed uncivil disagreement – but not civil disagreement – triggered a chain reaction of first boosting negative emotion and then indirectly increasing intention to participate politically, mediated through that emotion burst. Findings are discussed in relation to affective intelligence theory.
Facts, Alternative Facts, and Politics: A Case Study of How a Concept Entered Mainstream and Social Media Discourse • Moonhee Cho, University of Tennessee; Giselle Auger, Rhode Island College; Sally McMillan, University of Tennessee • Adopting agenda setting as a theoretical framework, this study explored how the term ‘alternative facts’ was covered by both mainstream and social media. The authors used Salesforce Marketing Cloud Social Studio and WordStat to analyze 58,383 total posts. The study follows the development of news story and examines some similarities and differences in top words and phrases used by mainstream and social media. The term ‘alternative facts’ had negative valence in both media types.
Television, emotion, and social integration: Testing the effect of media event with the 2017 US Presidential Inauguration • Xi Cui, College of Charleston; Qian Xu, Elon University • This study empirically tests the social integration effect of media event and its psychological mechanism in the context of the live broadcast of the 2017 US Presidential Inauguration. A national sample (N=420) was drawn to investigate the relationships among television viewing of the live broadcast, viewers’ emotion, and their perceived social solidarity measured by perceived entitativity. In general, viewing the inauguration live on television positively predicted viewers’ emotion. Emotion also interacted with viewers’ national identity fusion to influence perceived entitativity. A significant indirect effect of television viewing on perceived entitativity through emotion was discovered. The same effects were found among non-Trump voters. For Trump voters, television viewing did not have any significant influence on any variable. Through these findings, this study shed light on the psychological mechanisms of media event’s social integration effect at the individual level, explicated the visceral nature of social identification related to media event, and argued for the relevance of this mass media genre in contemporary media environment and social zeitgeist.
New media, new ways of getting informed? Examining public affairs knowledge acquisition by young people in China • Di Cui; Fang Wu • This study examined acquisition of public affairs knowledge as an effect of media use and interpersonal discussion in China, where there is a fast transforming media environment. This study examined public affairs knowledge in both mainstream and alternative forms. Findings showed that attention to traditional sources, exposure to new media sources and face-to-face discussion were correlated with public affairs knowledge. Use of new media sources was correlated with alternative public affairs knowledge. Implications were discussed.
Multi-Platform News Use and Political Participation across Age Groups • Trevor Diehl, University of Vienna; Matthew Barnidge, University of Vienna; Homero Gil de Zúñiga, University of Vienna • News consumption in today’s media environment is increasingly characterized by multi-platform news; people now consume news across several multi-media devices. Relying on a nationally representative survey from the U.S., this study develops an index of multi-platform news use, and tests its effects on age-group differences in the way people participate in politics. Results show that Millennials are more likely to rely on multi-platforms for news, which is positively related to alternative modes of public engagement.
Read All About It: The Politicization of “Fake News” on Twitter • John Brummette; Marcia DiStaso, University of Florida; MICHAIL VAFEIADIS, Auburn University; Marcus Messner, Virginia Commonwealth University; Terry Flynn, McMaster University • This study explored the use of the term “fake news” in one of the top news sharing tools, Twitter. Using a social network analysis, characteristics of online networks that formed around discussions of “fake news” was examined. Through a systematic analysis of the members of those networks and their messages, this study found that “fake news” is a very politicized term where current conversations are overshadowing logical and important discussions of the term.
News, Entertainment, or Both? Exploring Audience Perceptions of Media Genre in a Hybrid Media Environment • Stephanie Edgerly, Northwestern; Emily Vraga, George Mason University • This study uses two experimental designs to examine how audiences make genre assessments when encountering media content that blends elements of news and entertainment. In Study 1, we explore how audiences characterize three different versions of a fictitious political talk show program. In Study 2, we consider whether audience perceptions of ‘news-ness’ are influenced by shifts in headline angle and source attribution. The implications of audience definitions of news and its social function are discussed.
A new generation of satire consumers? A socialization approach to youth exposure to news satire • Stephanie Edgerly, Northwestern • This study explores how adolescents—at the doorstep of adulthood—are developing the exposure habit of news satire exposure. Using national survey data consisting of U.S. youth and one associated parent, the paper specifically examines: 1) the prevalence of youth exposure to news satire across a range of media devices and compared to other forms of news, and 2) the socialization factors—parents, school curriculum, and peers—that predict news satire use among today’s youth.
Socially-shared children coming of age: Third-person effect, parental privacy stewardship, and parent monitoring • Betsy Emmons, Samford University; Nia Johnson, Samford University; Lee Farquhar, Samford University • There have been multiple discussions about Facebook’s privacy policies; discourse about parental privacy stewardship has been minimal. As the first generation of socially-shared children become social media users, the collision of privacy with what has already been shared by parents occurs. This study, grounded in third-person effect, asked parents about stewardship of their children’s privacy, and whether other parents were observant. Results affirmed third-person effect for both social media monitoring and privacy among parents.
Journalists primed: How professional identity affects moral decision making • Patrick Ferrucci, U of Colorado; Edson Tandoc, Nanyang Technological University; Erin Schauster • Utilizing identity priming, this study examines whether professional journalists apply ethics differently when primed with occupationally identity. This between-subjects experiment (N=171) administered both conditions the Defining Issues Test, a much-used instrument that measures moral development. The results show identity priming does not affect how journalists apply ethics. The study also found that journalists are potentially far less ethical than they were 13 years ago. These results are interpreted through the lens of social identity theory.
Hydraulic Fracturing on U.S. Cable News • Sherice Gearhart, Texas Tech University; Oluseyi Adegbola, Mr.; Jennifer Huemmer • Hydraulic fracturing, called fracking, is a drilling technique that accesses previously inaccessible oil and gas reserves. Although the process could aid U.S. energy independence, it is controversial and public opinion is divided. Guided by agenda-setting and framing, this study content analyses news coverage of fracking (N = 461) across cable networks (CNN, Fox News, MSNBC). Results show issues discussed and sources used vary ideologically, but all networks failed to provide factual information about the process.
Self-Presentation Strategies’ Effect on Facebook Users’ Subjective Well-being Depending on Self-Esteem Level • Wonseok (Eric) Jang, Texas Tech University; Erik Bucy, Texas Tech University; Janice Cho, Texas Tech University • The current study examined the consequences of different types of self-presentation strategies on Facebook users’ subjective well-being, depending on their level of self-esteem. The results indicated that people with low self-esteem became happier after updating their Facebook status using strategic self-presentation rather than true self-presentation. Meanwhile, people with high self-esteem exhibited similar levels of happiness after updating Facebook using both strategic and true self-presentation.
“Aging…The Great Challenge of This Century”: A Theory-Based Analysis of Retirement Communities’ Websites • Hong Ji; Anne Cooper • By 2040, the large over-65 population will change “religion…work…everything” according to an expert on aging. CCRCs are one health care/housing option for the final years of life. This study of 108 CCRC websites found a self-actualized photo population –smiling, wining/dining, and engaged in various fulfilling pursuits. The disconnect with reality — more males, minorities and healthy people than actually live at CCRCs — has implications for source credibility and the image of ideal aging.
The Role of Social Capital in the United States’s Country Brand • Jong Woo Jun, Dankook University; Jung Ryum Kim, City of Busan; Dong Whan Lee, Dankook University • This study explores antecedents and consequences of social capital. Using Korean college students as research samples, survey research was implemented measuring U.S. media consumptions such as TV drama, Hollywood movies, POP music, advertising, and magazine. As results, American media consumptions influenced social capital elements such as interpersonal trust, institutional trust, network, and norms. Also, interpersonal trust, network, and norms influenced attitudes toward the United States which in turn lead to strong beliefs about the United States. This study extended the usability of social capital to country branding settings, and could provide significant managerial implications to academicians and practitioners.
In the Crosshairs: The Tucson Shooting and the News Framing of Responsibility • Matthew Telleen, Elizabethtown College; Jack Karlis, Georgia College; Sei-Hill Kim • This research adds to the framing literature with a content analysis of media coverage following the 2011 shooting in Tucson, Arizona. Analyzing 535 items from the month after the shooting, it was determined that coverage of the Tucson shooting focused more heavily on societal issues like political rhetoric than on individual issues like mental illness It was also discovered that coverage varied from medium to medium and along political associations.
Tweeting the Election: Comparative Uses of Twitter by Trump and Clinton in the 2016 Election • Flora Khoo, Regent University; William Brown, Regent University • “Social media are increasingly becoming important means of political communication and essential to implementing an effective national election campaign. The present study evaluates the use of Twitter by presidential candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. Results indicate substantial framing differences in the tweets released by the two candidates. These differences are discussed along with implications for future research on the use of Twitter for political campaigns.
The Role of Reanctance Proneness in the Manifestation of Psychological Reactance against Newspaper Editorial • HYUNJUNG KIM • This study investigated the role of trait reactance proneness in the affective and cognitive reactance processes in the context of organ donation in South Korea. A web-based survey experiment using a sample of South Korean residents was conducted. Findings demonstrate that an editorial advocating organ donation from ideologically incongruent media is perceived as more biased than the same editorial from other media. The perceived bias is linked to perceived threat to freedom, which, in turn, is related to affective reactance, leading to unfavorable attitudes toward organ donation, particularly for high trait-reactant individuals. These findings suggest that trait reactance proneness may moderate a psychological reactance process in which affective and cognitive processes of reactance operate separately.
Pride versus Guilt: The Interplay between Emotional Appeals and Self-Construal Levels in Organ Donation Messages • Sining Kong; Jung Won Chun; Sriram Kalyanaraman • Existing research on organ donation has generally focused on message types but ignored how individual differences—and possible underlying mechanisms—affect the effectiveness of organ donation messages. To explore these issues, we conducted a 2 (type of appeal: pride vs guilt) X 2 (self construal: independent vs interdependent) between-subjects factorial experiment to examine how different self-construal levels affect emotional appeals in organ donation messages. The results revealed that regardless of self-construal levels, autonomy mediated the relationship between emotion and attitudes toward organ donation. Also, pride appeal messages generated more autonomy than guilt appeal messages, leading to more positive attitude toward organ donation. Furthermore, after controlling for autonomy, those participants primed with an independent self-construal preferred pride appeal messages more than they did guilt appeal messages. These findings offer important theoretical and applied implications and provide a robust avenue for future research.
“Feminazis,” “libtards,” “snowflakes,” and “racists”: Trolling and the Spiral of Silence • Victoria LaPoe; Candi Carter Olson, Utah State University • Using a mixed methods Qualtrics survey of 338 Twitter and Facebook users, the authors explore the impact that the 2016 election had on people’s political posts both before and after the election and whether or not people actually experienced harassment and threats during the election cycle. This article argues that the internet constitutes a digital public sphere. If trolling causes people—particularly women, LGBTQIA community members, and people who identify with a disability—to censor themselves because they feel their opinion is in the minority or that they will be attacked for stating their ideas, then it would follow that trolling is changing our public sphere, which is affecting our political conversations in a profound way.
Coverage of Physician-Assisted Death: Framing of Brittany Maynard • Sean Baker; Kimberly Lauffer • In 2014, Brittany Maynard, 29, diagnosed with terminal brain cancer, moved from California to Oregon, one of only three U.S. states with legal physician-assisted death, so she could determine when she would die. This paper examines how mainstream U.S. media framed Brittany Maynard’s choice to use physician aid in dying, arguing that although frames initially focused on the event, they transformed into thematic coverage of issues underlying her choice.
Do Political Participation and Use of Information Sources Differ by Age? • Tien-Tsung Lee, University of Kansas; An-Pang Lu; Yitsen Chiu, National Chengchi University • Most studies on the connection between offline and online political participation either focused on young citizens or treated age as a continuous variable. Many of them also used a limited local sample. This survey study employed a national sample to examine the effects of age and information sources on offline and online political participation. The relationship between age and offline/online participation does not appear to be linear, which has important implications for future studies.
Discussing HPV Vaccination: Ego-centric social networks and perceived norms among young men • Wan Chi Leung, University of Canterbury • This study examined the role of social norms in influencing young men’s support for the HPV vaccination. A survey of 656 young adult males in the United States indicated that the perceived injunctive norm was more powerful in predicting support for the HPV vaccination for males than the perceived descriptive norm. The average tie strength in their ego-centric discussion networks for sexual matters, and the heterogeneity of the discussants significantly predict the injunctive norm.
The effects of message desirability and first-person perception of anti-panhandling campaigns on prosocial behaviors • Joon Soo Lim, Syracuse University; Jiyoung Lee • The current research examined the third-person effect (TPE) of anti-panhandling campaign messages. It tested both perceptual and behavioral hypotheses of the TPE. A survey was administered to 660 participants recruited from Mechanical Turk’s Master Workers. The results demonstrate the robustness of third-person perceptions for persuasive campaign messages. We also learned that the magnitudes of TPP for anti-panhandling campaign messages could be moderated by message desirability. Analyzing the behavioral component of TPE, the current study adds empirical evidence that presumed influence of positive social campaign on oneself can make the audience engage in prosocial behaviors as well as promotional behaviors.
The third person effect on Twitter: How partisans view Donald Trump’s campaign messages • Aimee Meader, Winthrop University; Matthew Hayes, Winthrop University; Scott Huffmon, Winthrop University • A telephone poll of Southern respondents in the United States tested the third person effect by comparing partisan perceptions about Donald Trump’s tweets during the 2016 presidential election. Results show that the third person effect was strong for Democrats who viewed the tweets as unfavorable, but diminished for Republicans who viewed the tweets as favorable. Additionally, Republicans’ estimation of media influence on themselves was comparable to Democrats’ perceptions, but estimations of Democrats varied by Party.
‘Where are the children?’: The framing of adoption in national news coverage from 2014 through 2016 • Cynthia Morton; Summer Shelton, University of Florida • Pilot research explored three specific questions: 1) what frames are represented in print news stories about adoption?; 2) which frames are most prevalent in their representation?; and, 3) what implications can be made about the effect of combination of the news frames and their frequency on audience perceptions? A qualitative content analysis was conducted. The findings suggest that print news’s coverage of the child adoption issue leans toward legal/legality and child welfare/work frames. Implications on adoption perceptions and the potential impact on individuals influenced by adoption are discussed.
Exemplification of Child Abduction in U.S. News Media: Testing Media Effects on Parental Perceptions and Assessment of Risk • Jane Weatherred, University of South Carolina; Leigh Moscowitz, University of South Carolina • Despite decades of research, public misperceptions persist about the threat of child abductions in the U.S. Because prior research reveals that parental perceptions of child abduction are mediated by news coverage, this study offers one of the only experimental designs that found links between media coverage and parental perceptions of child abductions, advancing the literature on exemplification theory. This study advances our understanding of how media coverage can impact public perceptions of crime.
Sharing Values vs. Valuing Shares: A Communication Model a Social-Financial Capital • Paige Odegard; Thomas Gallegos; Chris DeRosier, Colorado State University; Jennifer Folsom, Colorado State University; Elizabeth Tilak, Colorado State University; Nicholas Boehm, Colorado State University; Chelsea Eddington, Colorado State University; Cindy Christen, Colorado State University • Emphasizing the shift in priority placed on social, financial, and professional capital in an era of technological growth, this paper proposes the Communication Model of Social-Financial Capital (CMSFC). The paper discusses the effects of innate and acquired identities, and values on preference for social, financial, and professional capital, which in turn affect preference for social media platforms. Finally, the paper discusses how the model is applicable in realistic settings and suggests next steps for empirical validation.
Understanding antecedents of civic engagement in the age of social media: from the perspective of efficacy beliefs • Siyoung Chung; KyuJin Shim; Soojin Kim, Singapore Management University • This study examines three efficacy beliefs— political self-efficacy, political collective efficacy and knowledge sharing efficacy—as antecedents of social media use and civic engagement. Employing more than one thousand samples in Singapore, we empirically test (a) a conceptual framework that can provide an understanding of the relationship between the three types of efficacy and civic engagement and (b) the underlying mechanism through which the three types of efficacy beliefs affect civic engagement via social media. The findings suggest that the current civic engagement is characterized by excessive use of social media. Also, the study implicates knowledge sharing efficacy was found to play an important role in mediating the relationships between social media and political self-efficacy, political collective efficacy, respectively.
Online Surveillance’s Effect on Support for Other Extraordinary Measures to Prevent Terrorism • Elizabeth Stoycheff; Kunto Wibowo, Wayne State University; Juan Liu, Wayne State University; Kai Xu, Wayne State University • The U.S. National Security Agency argues that online mass surveillance has played a pivotal role in preventing acts of terrorism on U.S. soil since 9/11. But journalists and academics have decried the practice, arguing that the implementation of such extraordinary provisions may lead to a slippery slope. As the first study to investigate empirically the relationship between online surveillance and support for other extraordinary measures to prevent terrorism, we find that perceptions of government monitoring lead to increased support for hawkish foreign policy through value-conflict associations in memory that prompt a suppression of others’ online and offline civil liberties, including rights to free speech and a fair trial. Implications for the privacy-security debate are discussed.
Audiences’ Acts of Authentication: A Conceptual Framework • Edson Tandoc, Nanyang Technological University; Richard Ling, Nanyang Technological University Singapore; Oscar Westlund; Andrew Duffy, Nanyang Technological University Singapore; Debbie Goh, Nanyang Technological University Singapore • Through an analysis of relevant literature and open-ended survey responses from 2,501 Singaporeans, this paper proposes a conceptual framework to understand how individuals authenticate the information they encounter on social media. In broad strokes, we find that individuals rely on both their own judgment of the source and the message, and when this does not adequately provide a definitive answer, they turn to external resources to authenticate news items.
Committed participation or flashes of action? Bursts of attention to climate change on Twitter • Kjerstin Thorson, Michigan State University; Luping Wang, Cornell University • We explore participation in bursts of attention to the climate issue on Twitter over a period of five years. Climate advocacy organizations are increasingly focused on mobilizations of issue publics as a route to pressure policy makers. A large Twitter data set shows that attention to climate on Twitter has been growing over time. However, we find little evidence of a “movement” on Twitter: there are few users who participate in online mobilizations over time.
Is the Tweet Mightier than the Quote? Testing the Relative Contribution of Crowd and Journalist Produced Exemplars on Exemplification Effects • Frank Waddell, University of Florida • What happens when journalist selected quotes conflict with the sentiment of online comments? An experiment (N = 276) was conducted to answer this question using a 3 (quote valence: positive vs. negative vs. no quote control) x 3 (comment valence: positive vs. negative vs. no comment control) design. Results revealed that online comments only affect news evaluations in the presence of positive rather than negative quotes. Implications for exemplification theory and online news are discussed.
Ideological Objectivity or Violated Expectations? Testing the Effects of Machine Attribution on News Evaluation • Frank Waddell, University of Florida • Automation now serves an unprecedented role in the production of news. Many readers possess high expectations of these “robot journalists” as objective and error free. However, does news attributed to machines actually meet these expectations? A one-factor experiment (human source vs. machine source) was conducted to answer this question. News attributed to robots was evaluated less positively than news attributed to humans. Attribution effects were invariant between individuals scoring low and high in anthropomorphic tendency.
Express Yourself during the Election Season: Study on Effects of Seeing Disagreement in Facebook News Feeds • Meredith Wang, Washington State University; Porismita Borah; Samuel Rhodes • The 2016 election was characterized by intense polarization and acrimony not only on the debate stage and television airwaves, but also on social media. Using panel data collected during 2016 U.S. Presidential election from a national sample of young adults, current study tests how opinion climate on social media affect ones’ political expression and participation. Result shows disagreement on Facebook encourages young adults to express themselves and further participate in politics. Implications are discussed.
Won’t you be my (Facebook) neighbor? Community communication effects and neighborhood social networks • Brendan Watson, Michigan State University • This paper examines the effect of neighborhood social context, specifically the degree of racial pluralism, on the number of residents who use Facebook to connect with their local neighborhood association to follow issues affecting their community. Analysis is based on a new “community communication effects” approach, replacing the city-wide analysis of prior studies with an analysis of neighborhood data more likely to influence users of newer, participatory communication platforms. Results suggest more complicated, non-linear effects than theorized by the existing literature. Some degree of neighborhood heterogeneity is necessary to create interest in neighborhood issues and spur mediated as opposed to interpersonal communication among neighbors. But too much heterogeneity is associated with a decline in following neighborhood associations on Facebook. The paper identifies where that tipping point occurs and discusses practical and theoretical implications.
The needle and the damage done: Framing the heroin epidemic in the Cincinnati Enquirer • Erin Willis, University of Colorado – Boulder; Chad Painter, University of Dayton • This case study focuses on the Cincinnati Enquirer’s coverage of the heroin epidemic. The Enquirer started the first heroin beat in 2015, and it could serve as a model for other news organizations. Reporters used combinations of episodic, thematic, public health, and crime and law enforcement frames in their coverage. These news frames are discussed in terms of how individualism-collectivism, geographic location, available resources, and social determinants inform journalistic and societal discussions of the heroin epidemic in terms of solutions instead of responsibility or blame.
Suicide and the Media: How Depictions Shape our Understanding of Why People Die by Suicide • Joyce Wolburg, Marquette University; Shiyu Yang; Daniel Erickson; Allysa Michaelsen • The contagion effect of the media upon suicide is well documented, given that suicide rates tend to increase following heavy news coverage of a death by suicide. However, much less is known about the influence that the media has upon attitudes and beliefs about suicide, particularly our understanding of why people choose to die by suicide and our tendency to lay blame for suicidal acts. Using text analysis, this study identifies and describes seven reoccurring themes across the entertainment media—in both drama and comedy—that address the reasons people die by suicide. Further analysis demonstrates how blame is assigned. Conclusions are drawn regarding the overall social impact, especially on the surviving friends, family, therapists, etc.
MOELLER STUDENT COMPETITION
How U.S. Newspapers Frame Animal Rights Issue: A Content Analysis of News Coverage in U.S. • Minhee Choi; Nanlan Zhang • Analyzing newspaper articles, this study explores how American newspapers have framed the issue of animal rights. Results indicate that news stories were more likely to present animal rights as a legal and policy issue, rather than a political and an economic issue, talking primarily about illegality of animal mistreatment and radicalized animal rights activists. Based upon the notion of frame building, this study also examines some factors that may influence the media’s selective use of frames.
Moeller Student Competition • Framing the Taxpaying-Democratization Link: Evidence from Cross-National Newspaper Data • Volha Kananovich • This study explores the relationship between the nature of the political regime and the framing of the construct of a taxpayer in the national press. Based on a computer-assisted analysis of articles from 87 newspapers in 51 countries, it demonstrates that the less democratic a country is, the more likely it is for the press to frame a taxpayer as a subordinate to the state, by discussing taxpaying in enforcement rather than public spending terms.
Moeller Student Competition • Who is Responsible for Low-Fertility in South Korea? • Won-ki Moon, University of South Carolina; Joon Kim, University of South Carolina, Columbia • This study investigated how South Korean newspapers have presented low fertility, specifically focusing on how newspapers attribute responsibility to society or individuals. Through a content analysis of South Korean newspapers (N = 499), we found that the newspapers were focusing heavily on societal-level causes and solutions when talking about low fertility. Among potential causes of and solutions for low fertility, insufficient government aids and financial incentives were mentioned most often.
STUDENT COMPETITION
Online Conversations during an Emergent Health Threat: A Thematic Analysis of Tweets during Zika Virus Outbreak • Alexander Moe, Texas Tech University; Julie Gerdes, Texas Tech University; Joseph Provencher, Texas Tech University; Efren Gomez, Texas Tech University • “Days after the World Health Organization declared an outbreak of Zika in Brazil a global emergency on February 2, 2016, United States President Barack Obama responded by requesting over $1.8 billion in Zika research and prevention funds from Congress. This event put the under-researched disease on the radar of American citizens. The present study examines a set of over 70,000 public Tweets during the days surrounding Obama’s request to understand how Twitter users in the States made sense of the emerging infectious disease.
Understanding why American Christians are intolerant toward Muslims: Christian nationalism and partisan media selection • Kwansik Mun • This paper seeks to explain the formation of political intolerance by reviewing theoretical arguments on Christian nationalism and selective exposure theories. Our analysis confirms the significant relationship between Christian nationalism and ideological news selection, and the mediated effect of ideological news media on both perceived threats and political intolerance toward Muslims.
The “Primed” Third-Person Effect of Racial Minority Portrayals in Media • Jiyoun Suk, University of Wisconsin-Madison • This study explores how priming of different levels of media effects (either strong or weak) influences the third-person effect of media portrayals of African Americans. Through an online posttest-only control group experiment, results show that priming strong media effects heightened perceived media effects on in-group and out-group others, but not on the self. Also, it was the perceptions of in-group others, after reading the strong media effects message, that led support for media literacy education.
Beyond Passive Audience Members: Online Public Opinions in Transitional Society • yafei Zhang, The University of Iowa; Chuqing Dong • This study examined audience members’ online comments of a popular TV news program featuring controversial social issues in the contemporary Chinese society. Findings suggested that audience members expressed more negative comments, substantial cognitive recognition, and constructive suggestions towards the government, elite class, and media. The pluralistic and legitimate public opinions expanded the literature on online public discourse in transitional societies. Audience members as citizens in the formation of public spheres were also discussed.
Magazine 2017 Abstracts
Yoga for Every (body)? A Critical Analysis of the Evolution of Yoga Representation across Four Decades in Yoga Journal • Nandini Bhalla, University of South Carolina; Leigh Moscowitz, University of South Carolina • This paper examines 41 covers of Yoga Journal magazine, the most popular magazine for yoga enthusiasts in the U.S., from 1975 to 2016. Using visual and linguist frame analysis of magazine covers, this project critically examines how yoga representations have evolved from a mental discipline to a commercialized form of exercise. Themes of religion, art, exercise, spiritual connection, and (male Indian) expertise were prominent cover displays from the 1970s-1990s. However, in the 2000s, young, white, thin female bodies came to signify the practice of yoga, anchored to hegemonic notions of femininity, displayed on the covers in objectified and commercialized ways. Implications for the perceptions and practice of yoga in U.S. culture and beyond are discussed.
Urban Matters: The Convergence and Contrasts of Journalistic Identity, Organizational Identity, and Community Identity at a City Magazine • Joy Jenkins, University of Missouri • This study examines the perspectives of local journalists through an ethnographic case study of D magazine in Dallas, Texas. The study assesses how staff members discursively construct their journalistic identity within a geographically focused media organization, including the influences of their organizational roles, the company mission, and perceptions of their audience. The study also considers the relationship between journalistic identity and community identity by addressing how staff members describe their publication’s role within Dallas.
Exploring the Concept of Sustainability within the GD USA Magazine • Szilvia Kadas, West Virginia University; Bob Britten, West Virginia University • The American Institute of Graphic Arts (2010) suggested its members take ownership of their ethical obligations and design with societal, environmental, and economical consciousness. However, the graphic design field is lagging in adapting sustainable practices, and there are no sustainable design standards to rely on. This phenomenological research investigates the state of sustainability within a mainstream graphic design trade magazine to understand how sustainable design is communicated to graphic designers.
“The Nation’s Stamp of Approval”: The 1976 Women’s-Magazine Campaign for the ERA • Carolyn Kitch, Temple University; Urszula Pruchniewska, Temple University • In July of 1976, more than three dozen American women’s magazines – reaching 65 million women and ranging in nature from Girl Talk to womenSports – published articles about the Equal Rights Amendment as its ratification deadline approached. Coinciding with the nation’s Bicentennial, their argument enfolded the ERA within a broader discussion of democracy. This study offers textual and contextual analysis of this editorial campaign, which challenges conventional historiography of the relationship between women’s media and feminism.
Profiting from Gender Consumption: Examining the Historic Precedents of Lucky magazine • Gigi McNamara, University of Toledo • Lucky magazine, a once profitable title in the glossy world of fashion magazines, published from 2000-2015. A celebration of shopping and style, Lucky magazine occupied a specific space in the cluttered world of publishing. But what are the historical precedents and economic incentives for such a magazine? And how has Lucky not only embraced, but arguably been a forerunner of, magazines’ movement into the digital age and the revenue possibilities there? I will first briefly survey a history of consumer culture and magazines targeted to women’s consumption, and set up provide a broad overview of the Condé Nast publishing empire and Lucky magazine. To place Lucky in the modern magazine and advertising context, I will outline and discuss mission statements, press releases, media kits and rate cards, available financial data and information/interviews from trade journal articles. In addition, this article will focus on the political economy of Lucky by addressing the Lucky magazine demographic, circulation figures, advertising revenue and publishing history. Using the research methodology of close textual analysis and drawing on the theoretical framework of commodity feminism (Goldman, Heath and Smith, 1991); and postfeminsim (McRobbie, 2000, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2009), this article will contextualize the contributions of Lucky magazine.
Queer Feminisms in the Chicago DIY Zine Community • Chelsea Reynolds, California State University – Fullerton • Self-published zines offer a forum for marginalized people to express themselves. They are self-representational magazine media that are easy to produce and inexpensive to disseminate. Although zines have been examined by scholars of feminist and queer theory, little research on zines has been conducted within the field of mass communication. This paper theorizes zine production and zinester identity within sociology of news and cultural studies frameworks, drawing on interviews conducted with eight LGBTQ and feminist-identified zine-makers living in Chicago.
“As Long As I Find Myself Adequate”: Effects of Exposure to Fashion, Celebrity, and Fitness Magazines on Disordered Eating • Shelby Weber; Miglena Sternadori, Texas Tech University • This study explored the relationship between the use of fashion, celebrity, and fitness magazines and eating disorder symptomology. One-hundred-and seven undergraduate students (62 female) at a Midwestern university participated in a quasi-experiment that asked them to evaluate images of underweight and normal-weight individuals. The participants also completed a questionnaire about their eating and exercise behaviors. Exposure to fitness, celebrity, and fashion magazines was positively related, at a statistically significant level, to distorted perceptions of normal weight and self-reported binge eating.
Love Your Mother: How the 1970s Launch of a News Magazine Defines Environmental Journalism • Carol Terracina-Hartman, Michigan State University • “This study examines the history of environmental news as it appeared in the inaugural editions of Mother Jones magazine 1976 — 1981. Launched during an era of environmental protection, this newsmagazine aligned civil rights, hazards, and justice in its definition of environmental news, suggesting that while mainstream media was flocking to cover newly minted environmental protection agencies and their failure to meet standards, Mother Jones writers were covering the corporations and the power the executives wielded then and now through deals, illegal trade, and often illegal experiments. The method was historical analysis of content, examining topics, bylines, funding, article placement, and treatment. Additional analysis examines sources throughout the entire dataset of articles as well as source usage by topic. Results indicate corporations not politicians are identified as power wielders and are the focus of much investigative articles. Results are precedent-setting and agree with prior literature on source usage in environmental journalism, but are inconsistent with research on environmental journalism that follows in mainstream media: dominating topics include “extreme hazard” and “food safety” with “citizen” and “government scientist” top sources. Graphics accompany 78% of content, with at least one photo or illustration. Nearly 70 percent of articles were cover stories or Front Lines (news briefs). Mainstream press initiated environment reporting five years later, but content analysis studies show the dominant frames or themes emphasize the capital value of nature and conservation in reporting and less emphasis on civil rights or justice.
On the Cover of the Rollin’ Stone: How Rolling Stone Magazine Frames Politics and News • Ashley Walter, Duquesne University • The Rolling Stone magazine is a significant artifact spanning throughout American pop culture; yet it has fought to be considered a legitimate news source in American media. This paper examines how Rolling Stone frames news and politics, and how the magazine portrays itself as being political, through its front covers. Research has shown that magazine covers “communicate,” “visually summarize” and work “as an advertisement to attract customers” (Kang & Heo, 2013). The purpose of this study is to examine how Rolling Stone presents itself as a legitimate news source and interrogates how its covers convey the publication’s identity. A mixed-methods content analysis was used to analyze both front cover artwork and front cover text. This research reveals how magazines can use their covers to establish legitimacy in American media.
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender & Queer 2017 Abstracts
Is Ellen DeGeneres a “DeGenerate?” How public support for same-sex marriage dictated news coverage of the TV’s first out lesbian • Cory Armstrong, University of Alabama; Jue Hou, Universtiy of Alabama; Kylie McLeod, University of Alabama • This study examines media treatment of Ellen DeGeneres over a 26-year period, focusing on how she served as a surrogate for the same-sex marriage debate during that time. The study suggests that coverage of DeGeneres followed a similar path to that of a protest group, challenging the status quo, and therefore, suffering critical and negative treatment from media. Findings indicated that even after common gender-related variables, such as female sources and mentions, were controlled, the major contributing variable was the level of public support for same-sex marriage. Implications for both protest-related literature and scholarship on public opinion were discussed.
Families in transition: News coverage of transgender lives and issues within a family context • Rhonda Gibson; Deborah Dwyer, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, AEJMC Member • This study involves a two-part content analysis featuring both quantitative and qualitative/critical analysis of news coverage of transgender issues from a family context. All news articles (N=91) from The New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal from 2002-2016 that addressed transgender lives and issues within a specific family-related context were analyzed using the theoretical frameworks of social constructionism and framing. After examining the topics, sources, and frames, researchers concluded that news coverage has increased over time in terms of quantity and reliance on transgender sources to tell their own stories. However, consideration of issues of gender identity, gender-role negotiation, and family structure remain superficial.
The Bathroom Boogeyman: A Qualitative Analysis of How the Houston Chronicle Framed the Equal Rights Ordinance • Shane Graber • In 2015, Houston, Texas voters defeated a bill that would have expanded civil rights to previously unprotected groups, including transgender people. Using a framing analysis, this paper investigates how the city’s daily newspaper, the Houston Chronicle, covered the debate over the bill. As such, this study identified four main news frames: (a) an LGBT frame; (b) a Red Tape frame; (c) a Religious Freedom frame; and (d) a Bathroom Boogeyman frame. Together they aligned to form a daunting challenge to an effort to protect one of society’s most vulnerable groups: the transgender community.
‘It’s like birth control for HIV’: Communication and stigma for gay men on PrEP • Joseph Schwartz; Josh Grimm • This study examines the role of communication during the process of adopting pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), focusing on how they learned about PrEP, how they discussed adoption with healthcare providers, and encountering stigma on social networks. Findings showed that participants rarely learned about PrEP from traditional news outlets, commonly experienced stigmatization by their healthcare providers, and encountered stigma in a variety of forms online. Given these results, strategies are suggested for improving gay men’s healthcare.
Performing the Host: A Textual Analysis of Lesbian Representation in The Ellen DeGeneres Show • Jasmina Lee • Ellen DeGeneres made headlines when she publicly came out on television in 1998, but her career quickly toppled under the weight of the heterosexual-dominated industry. Today, Ellen celebrates her enduring yet wholly unanticipated comeback as the lead of the longtime running daytime talk show The Ellen DeGeneres Show. By analyzing the show’s visual content and written material, this paper argues that the show appeals to its target audience of women and children in order to maintain the popularity and positive regard of its host both on and off the air. It concludes with the assertion that although the show is often criticized and largely heteronormative in its representation of its host’s identity, it ultimately serves as a vehicle for positive social change.
How Narrative Focus of Mediated Homosexual-Heterosexual Intergroup Conflict Affects Prejudice Reduction: A Priming Approach • Minjie Li, Louisiana State University • Intergroup attitude change can occur when people are exposed to media depiction of outgroup members. However, there is little reach on how media depiction of the group conflict between ingroup and outgroup characters might influence people’s intergroup attitudes. The present study examines how television narrative focus of homosexual-heterosexual intergroup conflict primes people’s implicit and explicit attitudes towards the gay outgroup, attitudes towards same-sex family, and social dominance orientation. The findings demonstrate that the attitudes towards the gay outgroup are different from the ones towards gay marriage after exposure. Attitudes towards gay people and social dominance orientation varied depending on the narrative focus.
“You gay, bro?”: Representing the adolescent coming out narrative in The Real O’Neals • Miles Sari, Washington State University • Through the lens of rhetorical narrative theory, this paper will examine the representation of the coming out narrative of 16-year-old Kenny O’Neal, the main character in the ABC sitcom, The Real O’Neals. In particular, this paper will consider the ways in which the thirteen episodes of the first season — under the guise of authenticity — construct queer youth identity and culture, especially in relation to class, race, and gender. Additionally, this paper will offer a critique of how such representation frames a problematic, palatable narrative of the adolescent coming out experience that trivializes the struggles of queer youth to find community and acceptance in a heteronormative society. To situate this mediation of the adolescent coming out narrative within a broader cultural context, this paper will also analyze the discourses with which various news media have critiqued the show’s representation of queer subjectivity on major cable network television.
The “Dangle” Angle: Examining Incivility in Online Discourse About Transgender Rights • Kelsey Whipple, University of Texas at Austin • This study gauges incivility in online discourse and the factors that contribute to it through a content analysis and textual analysis of comments published underneath articles about transgender rights, an important and polarizing political issue. Results uncovered an overwhelming rate of incivility in the comments, with clear ties between incivility and quotes of transgender people, among other factors. This study contributes to research about incivility, deliberation and the public perception of the trans community.
Law and Policy 2017 Abstracts
OPEN COMPETITION
‘Famous in a Small Town’: Indeterminacy and Doctrinal Confusion in Micro Public Figure Doctrine • Matthew Bunker, University of Alabama • The determination of which defamation plaintiffs are public figures is frequently outcome-determinative in libel litigation. Yet courts are wildly inconsistent in their rulings on what this paper refers to as micro public figures – individuals who have achieved notoriety within a small geographic area or within a particular cultural niche. Should such plaintiffs be characterized as all-purpose public figures? This paper analyzes the case law and offers a more precise approach to this problem.
Gag Clauses and the Right to Gripe: The Consumer Review Fairness Act of 2016 • Clay Calvert, University of Florida • This paper examines new legislation, including the federal Consumer Review Fairness Act signed into law in December 2016, targeting non-disparagement clauses in consumer contracts. Such “gag clauses” typically either prohibit or punish the posting of negative reviews of businesses on websites such as Yelp and TripAdvisor. The paper asserts that state and federal statutes provide the best means, from a pro-free expression perspective, of attacking such clauses, given the disturbingly real possibility that the First Amendment has no bearing on contractual obligations between private parties.
Social Media Under Watch: Privacy, Free Speech, and Self-Censorship in Public Universities • Shao Chengyuan • This study examines social media monitoring in the case of two large Southeast public universities. One university has been using a social media monitoring program for years; the other has not adopted this new form of monitoring technology. In this survey, students were asked about their perception and acceptance of monitoring from the university, their concern for online privacy, support for online free speech, and experience with cyberbullying. This study explores the relationships among attitude toward online privacy and online free speech, perception and acceptance of monitoring, and willingness to self-censor when speaking on social media. The correlation analysis showed that the more one is concerned about online privacy and supports online free speech, the less likely that person would regard social media monitoring as acceptable. While those who were more concerned about online privacy were more likely to self-censor, those who were more supportive of online free speech were less likely to self-censor. Most important, this survey found that perception of monitoring was not positively correlated with self-censorship, which goes against the assumption that awareness of surveillance from an authority would cause self-censorship. In addition, this study found that, while 85 percent of the surveyed students use social media on daily basis, more than 60 percent were not greatly concerned about social media monitoring from the university and the government. Implications for studies on social media monitoring and direction for future research are discussed.
Don’t Bother: How Exemption 3 of the Freedom of Information Act Enables an Irrebuttable Presumption of Surveillance Secrecy • Benjamin W. Cramer, Pennsylvania State University • The Freedom of Information Act of 1966 (FOIA) gives American citizens a legally-protected procedure to request documents from federal agencies in the Executive Branch and to appeal denied requests. However, the Act acknowledges that some government-held information should remain undisclosed for purposes of safety or security, so the act has exemptions mandating that certain categories of information can be withheld. Exemption 3 states that a federal agency can withhold a document that has already been deemed non-disclosable in a different statute. Exemption 3 is often used by agencies that are involved in traditional national security practices and the controversial modern techniques of pervasive electronic surveillance, as justification for keeping information on those practices secret. This is possible because there are many other statutes in the security field that already allow those types of documents to be withheld in the event of a citizen request, and FOIA Exemption 3 does not allow flexibility in how those statutes are interpreted. This has allowed agencies to exercise greater discretion toward information that they do not wish to disclose to citizens, while the judiciary has almost uniformly deferred to agency discretion. This article will argue that Exemption 3 has inadvertently made the security and surveillance establishment more secretive, creating a nearly irrebuttable presumption that documents must not be disclosed to citizens or journalists.
Who Should Regulate? Testing the Influence of Policy Sources on Support for Regulations on Controversial Media • Kyla Garrett Wagner, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Allison Lazard, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • Policy research has explored the relationship between perceived effects of controversial media exposure and support for regulations on controversial media, but it has yet to examine how the source of these regulations impacts support. Therefore, this study used a between-subjects experiment to explore how sources of media policies (government vs. industry) influence support for a media policy. Two policy were used: one on pornography and one on violent video games. Other potential predictors of policy support (source credibility, attitudes, and beliefs) were also assessed. We found that while the source of a media policy did not influence support for a media policy, perceived credibility of the policy source and personal beliefs and attitudes about the controversial media were significant predictors of support for a media policy. However, these variables influenced support for the two media policies differently. This study suggests 1) policymakers should assess regulations on controversial media individually to understand what will gain social support for a policy, and 2) future research is needed to explain the differences in these variables across media policies.
Depictions of Obscene Content: How Internet Culture and Art Communities Can Influence Federal Obscenity Law • Austin Linfante, Ohio University • A recent decision by the United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa, United States v. Handley (S.D. Iowa 2008), complicates how current obscenity law (notably the PROTECT Act of 2003) can prosecute depictions of obscene content. These would include any sort of artwork or simulation that simulates or uses fictional characters to depict otherwise obscene material without using or harming any real-life living beings. This paper will first look at previous court cases, laws and academic literature to determine how obscene content as well as depictions of obscene content have been ruled in the past in terms of whether or not they are protected speech. This will also include examining how online art communities such as DeviantArt and FurAffinity police themselves when it comes to this type of content. There will also be a discussion about how specific types of obscene content like child pornography and bestiality affect a viewer’s likelihood to commit sex crimes themselves. Afterwards, this paper will present the case behind expanding current federal law on obscene content to include depictions of this type of obscene behavior. These model laws will all be based on how large art communities currently police this kind of content. This should ultimately lead to preventing future sex crimes against children and animals as well as provide effective obscenity law.
A Gap in the Shield? Reporter’s Privilege in Civil Defamation Lawsuits 2005-2016 • Meghan Menard-McCune, LSU • The purpose of this study is to determine how state courts and legislatures have addressed reporter’s privilege in civil defamation cases. After an analysis of court cases in six states, the study found three issues relating to reporter’s privilege that the courts addressed: 1) The state shield law’s definitions of news and news media 2) The waiver of the shield law and the protection of unpublished material 3) The shield law’s defamation exception.
“Oligopoly of the Facts”? Media Ownership of News Images • Kathleen Olson, Lehigh University • This paper examines the use of the idea/expression dichotomy, the fair use doctrine and the First Amendment in cases involving news organizations suing for copyright infringement over the use of their news images, including photographs, film and video footage.
Voting Booth or Photo Booth?: Ballot Selfies and Newsgathering Protection for User-Generated Content • Kristen Patrow • This paper addresses whether ballot selfies qualify for First Amendment protection. The analysis includes both newsgathering and speech claims. Snapchat filed an amicus brief in the First Circuit case, Rideout v. Gardner. The work concentrates on Snapchat’s contention that user-generated work is newsgathering activity. The paper reviews cases on newsgathering during elections and the voting process. The analysis shows that ballot selfies are best understood as a hybrid of speech and access rights.
Say this, not that: government regulation and control of social media • Nina Brown, Syracuse University/Newhouse; jon peters • Internet law and policy discussions are converging on the problem of fake news and the idea that “the private sector has a shared responsibility to help safeguard free expression.” They have also raised the possibility of federal government intervention. This article advances those discussions by exploring what Congress could do to enact legislation requiring social media platforms to remove fake news—and whether that would be prudent. It also explores the First Amendment’s role in the private sector.
The Heat is On: Thermal Sensing and Newsgathering – A Look at the Legal Implications of Modern Newsgathering • Roy Gutterman, Syracuse University; Angela Rulffes, Syracuse University • Thermal imaging technology, which was once used primarily by the military, has made its way into the civilian world. Journalists have already begun making use of the technology, and as that use becomes more prevalent concerns about legal issues also arise. This paper, relying on tort privacy cases, Fourth Amendment case law, and theoretical conceptualizations of privacy, provides an in-depth examination of the legal implications surrounding the use of thermal imaging devices for newsgathering.
Lock or Key: Does FOIA Sufficiently Open the Right to Information? • Tyler Prime, Arizona State University; Joseph Russomanno, Arizona State University • A year after the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Freedom of Information Act was observed, criticism of – and disappointment in – the law is significant. Though written with the strong guidance of journalists, FOIA, according to many, has failed to live up to its initial promise of peeling back the layers that too often shroud the federal government in secrecy, and allowing the news media and other citizens to contribute first-hand to the democracy. The United States was only the third nation to pass such a law, but during the half-century since then, the nation has slipped to 51st among world nations by one measure in right to information. FOIA is much to blame. Issues with response rates, unorganized systems and subjective interpretations of the act and its exemptions have combined to lock information from public access rather than acting as the key it was intended to be. This paper utilizes data from annual federal agency FOIA reports to the attorney general from 2008 to 2015. This information indicates that across multiple metrics, FOIA has increasingly struggled to fulfill and often failed to provide records to requesting parties. The trends revealed suggest that significant overhaul is necessary. Rather than prescribing another round of amendments that are little more than Band-Aids on a withering dinosaur, this paper concludes with a detailed set of recommendations – highlighted by a crowd-sourced request database – that move far from FOIA’s original paper-based model that still rests at its analog core.
The Protection of Privacy in the Middle East – A Complicated Landscape • Amy Kristin Sanders, Northwestern University in Qatar • “throughout the Middle East – erroneously viewed by many outsiders as a homogenous region steeped in conservative Islamic culture – the legal landscape varies dramatically with regard to privacy. This article discusses the many influences that have shaped the legal culture throughout the region, which has drawn inspiration from the British Common Law approach, the European Civil Law heritage and centuries of Islamic thought. The result is unique legal environment that blends together traditional religious values, the impact of decades of colonialism and the recent effects of global interconnectedness as a result of the Internet and social media. Not surprisingly then, the legal framework surrounding the protection of privacy is intricate. It would be much easier to allude to the Middle East in sweeping generalizations, dividing it simply into the Levant countries on the western side and the Gulf countries on the eastern shore. But, that approach fails to address the peculiarities that exist from country to country. Although space constraints require painting with a broad brush, this article endeavors to shed light whenever possible on the region’s similarities and differences by using specific examples from countries. Recognizing the enormous undertaking that would be necessary to catalog each and every law pertaining to privacy across 14 nations, this article instead lays out a comparative framework – highlighting the influences of the common law and civil law traditions on the legal framework throughout the Middle East. It provides a high-level overview of privacy law as it exists throughout the Middle East – comparing various sources of law from Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen. In addition, a substantive case study highlights important recent developments and helps foreshadow coming trends in the region.”
Killer Apps: Vanishing messages, encrypted communications, and the challenges to freedom of information laws • Daxton Stewart, TCU • In the early weeks of the new presidential administration, White House staffers were communicating among themselves and leaking to journalists using apps such as Signal and Confide, which allow users to encrypt messages or to make them vanish after being received. By using these apps, government officials are “going dark” by avoiding detection of their communications in a way that undercuts freedom of information laws. In this paper, the author explores the challenges presented by encrypted and ephemeral messaging apps when used by government employees, examining three policy approaches — banning use of the apps, enhancing existing archiving and record-keeping practices, or legislatively expanding quasi-government body definitions — as potential ways to manage the threat to open records laws these “killer apps” present.
Knowledge Will Set You Free (from Censorship): Examining the Effects of Legal Knowledge and Other Editor Characteristics on Censorship and Compliance in College Media • Lindsie Trego, UNC-Chapel HIll • Issues of censorship in higher education have lately been common in the news, however it is unclear to what degree college newspapers experience external influences. This study uses an online survey of public college newspaper editors to examine specific censorship practices experienced by newspaper editors at public colleges, as well as editor compliance with these practices. Further, this study explores how personal characteristics of editors might influence perceptions of and compliance with censorship practices.
First Amendment Metaphors: From “Marketplace” to “Free Flow of Information” • Morgan Weiland, Stanford University • As cognitive linguist George Lakoff has shown, metaphors play a central role in structuring what humans understand as possible. In the First Amendment context, the central organizing metaphor for how judges, scholars, and the public understand the freedom of expression is as a “marketplace.” But little scholarly attention has been paid to a second metaphor that animates the Supreme Court’s thinking about expressive freedoms: the “free flow of information.” This paper’s project and contribution is to recover the free flow metaphor in the Court’s First Amendment doctrine, spanning over 40 opinions dating to the 1940s. This paper reviews every First Amendment opinion in which the Court used the metaphor, finding that the metaphor, by providing a new architecture that structures—and limits—how it is possible to think about who or what counts as a speaker, what qualifies as speech, what the proper role for the press is, and what role the state can play in the expressive environment, undergirds the Court’s development of libertarian theories of speech and the press. Understanding the free flow metaphor’s conceptual structure matters not only because it reveals a shift in the deeper logic of rights and responsibility undergirding the freedoms of expression, a perspective unavailable when looking at the doctrine through the marketplace metaphor’s lens. It also provides a better framework for understanding and fixing the contemporary expressive environment online because some of the most pressing social problems—cyberbullying and fake news—make more sense when assessed through the free flow metaphor’s framework.
Fake News and the First Amendment: Reconciling a Disconnect Between Theory and Doctrine • Sebastian Zarate, University of Florida; Austin Vining, University of Florida; Stephanie McNeff, University of Florida • This paper analyzes calls for regulating so-called “fake news” through the lens of both traditional theories of free expression – namely, the marketplace of ideas and democratic self-governance – and two well-established First Amendment doctrines, strict scrutiny and underinclusivity. The paper argues there is, at first glance, a seeming disconnect between theory and doctrine when it comes to either censoring or safeguarding fake news. The paper contends, however, that a structural-rights interpretation of the First Amendment offers a viable means of reconciling theory and doctrine. A structural-rights approach focuses on the dangers of collective power in defining the truth, rather than on the benefits that messages provide to society or individuals. Ultimately, a structural-rights interpretation illustrates why, at the level of free-speech theory, the government must not censor fake news.
DEBUT FACULTY PAPER COMPETITION
Half the Spectrum: A Title IX Approach to Broadcast Ownership Regulation • Caitlin Carlson, Seattle University • Women make up half of the U.S. population yet own less than eight percent of commercial television and radio broadcast licenses. This is incredibly problematic given the important role women’s media production and ownership plays in the feminist movement. Mass media set the agenda for public debate, frames issues, and primes viewers with the frameworks they should use to evaluate those issues. Women’s greater participation at ownership levels would enable women to speak publicly about their experience, which could substantially alter the agenda set by mass media or shift the frames used to interpret current events. For its part, the FCC has been trying for the past 40 years to address the absence of women and people of color from media ownership. However, in 2016 the Commission rejected race- or gender-based considerations in favor of privileging independent media organizations as the most effective way to achieve viewpoint diversity. Given the failure of the FCC to fix the problem, I argue here that a radical new approach is needed. Using Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 a guide, I propose that legislation be developed that prohibits denying members of either sex the chance to participate in broadcast media organizations, which like educational institutions, receive financial benefits from the federal government. Here, I liken broadcast licenses to federal funds and propose that failure to comply with this anti-discrimination policy could result in license removal.
China’s personal information protection in a data-driven economy: A privacy policy study of Alibaba, Baidu and Tencent • Tao Fu • China’s Internet companies are expanding their businesses at home and abroad with huge consumer data at hand. However, in the global data-driven economic and technological competition, China’s personal information protection is behind that of the West. By content analyzing the online privacy policies of leading Chinese Internet and information service providers (IISPs) – Alibaba, Baidu, and Tencent, this study found their privacy policies to be generally compliant with China’s personal information protection provisions. The three IISPs used proper mechanisms showing their commitment, measures, and enforcement to data security but their Fair Information Practices need further improvement. The ecosystem of personal information protection in China is severe and users need privacy literacy. Privacy policies in this study offer more about ‘notice’ than they do ‘choice’. Chinese IISPs collect and use information extensively in the guise of providing value to the user. Societal mechanisms such as joining a third-party, seal-of-approval program and technological mechanisms such as using a standardized format for privacy policies have not been widely sought by Chinese IISPs. Lagging behind their global acquisition and operation, Chinese IISPs’ efforts in personal information protection have given insufficient consideration to transborder data flow, and to change of ownership. Recommendations were offered.
Reforming the Lifeline Program: Regulatory Federalism in Action? • Krishna Jayakar; EUN-A PARK, Institute for Information Policy at Pennsylvania State University • This paper considers whether common national standards for determining participants’ eligibility and designating service providers in the Lifeline program are preferable to a decentralized system where state utility commissions have greater influence over these program parameters. Two recent decisions of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), a 2016 Order and its reversal in March 2017, on the designation of Eligible Telecommunications Carriers to provide broadband Lifeline service, centered on this question. Statistical analysis of program data demonstrates that state-by-state variations in enrollment may be attributed to state-level policy actions, after controlling for alternative demographic and economic explanations. On the premise that state-by-state variations in participation rates in a federal program are unfair because they burden consumers solely based on their location, this paper concludes in favor of national standards.
The Medium is the Message: Digital Aesthetics and Publicity Interests in Interactive Media • Michael Park, Syracuse University • Recent application of the right of the publicity doctrine to interactive media has led to inconsistent rulings and uncertainty to the doctrine’s scope, when pitted against First Amendment considerations. These recent court decisions have inadequately explained the disparate application, and this uneven application of legal principles raises serious free speech concerns for expressive activities with other emerging interactive media platforms such as virtual reality. However, these recent decisions have unveiled discernible principles that help explain the disparate approach of the right of publicity doctrine to new interactive media. This article articulates the assumptions guiding the disparate application of the doctrine. This article begins with a historical overview of the right of publicity doctrine and the various approaches adopted by the courts. It will then focus its attention on the transformative work test and address the recent analytical pivot—from a holistic examination of the work to a myopic focus on the individual avatar—by employing a natural rights theory argument to explain the courts’ narrow approach to transformativity. Furthermore, this paper makes the case that the courts’ discordant doctrinal treatment of interactive games is premised in the misplaced notion that the medium lacks artistry and authorial signature (i.e. interactive games are not art, but rather craft). Finally, this work advances the argument that while today’s interactive games present rich historical and pedagogical content, courts have failed to adequately apply common law and statutory exemptions that include not only news, but works of fiction, entertainment, public affairs and sports accounts.
The Privilege That Never Was: The Curious Case of Texas’ Third-Party Allegation Rule • Kenneth Pybus, Abilene Christian University; Allison Brown, Abilene Christian University • Beginning in 1990, the year the Supreme Court of Texas decided McIlvain v. Jacobs, journalists and media lawyers alike operated under the belief that news outlets in Texas had a powerful protection against libel lawsuits when reporting third-party allegations about matters of public concern. Relying on McIlvain, appeals courts cited the “third-party allegation rule” time and again when finding in favor of media defendants. But, after more than two decades, the Supreme Court threw the state’s libel jurisprudence into discord by ruling in 2013 that the third-party allegation rule didn’t exist in common law and, in fact, never had existed. A corrected opinion withdrew some repudiatory language but introduced more ambiguity. The Texas Legislature responded to this abrupt about-face in the summer of 2015 by crafting and passing an apparently sweeping statutory third-party allegation privilege that restores the protections journalists believed they had in such cases. Little legal scholarship has examined the circuitous history of this privilege and its powerful potential for limiting libel claims against media.
Beyond “I Agree:” Users’ Understanding of Web Site Terms of Service • Eric Robinson, University of South Carolina; Yicheng Zhu, University of South Carolina • With the ubiquitous use of websites and social media, the terms of service of these sites have increasing influence on users’ legal rights and responsilibities when using these sites. But various studies have shown that users rarely review these terms of service, usually because they are too much trouble and are often are too complex for most users to understand; one proposed solution is simplification of the language of these documents. Our experiment took advantage of a major website’s revision of its terms of service to reduce legal jargon and make them more understandable to determine whether the changes resulted in language that more effectively conveyed the intended meanings. But our results show that such changes are likely to have minimal effect, and that users generally based on understanding of what is permitted and not permitted on websites with their preconceived notions. Based on this finding, we present some proposals to address this issue.
Revisiting copyright theories: Democratic culture and the resale of digital goods • Yoonmo Sang, Howard University • This study surveys theoretical justifications for copyright and considers the implications of the notion of cultural democracy for copyright law and policy. In doing so, the study focuses on the first sale doctrine and advocates the doctrine’s expansion to digital goods after discussing policy implications of the first sale doctrine. Arguments for and against a digital first sale doctrine are followed. The study argues that democratic copyright theories, in general, and the notion of cultural democracy, in particular, can and should guide copyright reforms in conjunction with a digital first sale doctrine. This study contributes to the growing discussion of democratic theories of copyright by demonstrating their applicability to copyright policy and doctrine.
A Secret Police: The Lasting Impact of the 1986 FOIA Amendments • A.Jay Wagner, Bradley University • The 1986 amendments to the Freedom of Information Act were a passed as a last-minute rider to the Anti-Drug Abuse Act, the Reagan era legislative contribution to the War on Drugs policies. The amendments though small in number and limited in congressional discussion have made a lasting impact on FOIA implementation. The three pieces – a broad restructuring of Exemption 7, the law enforcement exemption; the addition of exclusions for law enforcement and intelligence requests; and introduction of a new fee structure – were aimed at addressing concerns from the law enforcement and intelligence communities and in-line with the general aims of the Anti-Drug Abuse in providing law enforcement more tools and less scrutiny in combating illicit drug production, sale and use. The paper looks to consider the amendment along two tracks. In the tradition of legal scholarship, preceding legislative efforts, judicial decision and executive messaging are pursued in an effort to understand motives and purpose of the amendment. The second track uses a dataset of cabinet-level department FOIA annual reports figures from 1975 until 2016 in exploring the ways the FOIA has been used and administered. The dataset gleaned from more than 550 annual reports traces the ways the 1986 amendment altered civic access to information on policing and national security. Presently, Exemption 7 accounts for 57 percent of all exemption claims and “no records” responses – a direct outcome of exclusions – account for the closure of 15 percent of all records processed and demonstrate massive growth after the amendment. The study demonstrates how the 1986 FOIA Reform Act has undermined the public’s ability to provide oversight of law enforcement.
Essential or Extravagant: Considering FOIA Budgets, Costs & Fees • A.Jay Wagner, Bradley University • The budgets, costs and fees of the Freedom of Information Act represent the financial lifeblood of the access mechanism but are rarely considered in scholarship. This study considers these elements of FOIA administration through a combination of traditional legal scholarship and a database composed of more than 500 FOIA annual reports, compiling 93 percent of all cabinet-level department annual reports from 1975 until present. In exploring the legislative and judicial trajectory of the costs and fees of FOIA implementation, including the illustrative Open America decision and its recognition of a lack of resources as an acceptable rationale for delay, the study questions the sincerity of FOIA administration. Lack of resources has existed as a legal claim for delay since the 1976 Open America decision, yet no statutory progress has been made since. FOIA – a galling obligation for most federal agencies – is required to compete for funding with other agency priorities among the general agency budget. There is no legislative requirement nor guideline in how FOIA is funded, and as a result, FOIA funding is remarkably low (all while the federal government countenances resource excuses). Analysis of FOIA annual report data uncovers little in the way of consistent or coherent system in costs accrued, fees collected, staffing measures and general usage data. The study aims to take a small step in asking big questions about how and why FOIA is financed in the manner it is, and, further, whether such lack of funding and oversight demonstrates insincerity on the government’s part.
State-level Policies for Personal Financial Disclosure: Exploring the Potential for Public Engagement on Conflict-of-Interest Issues • John Wihbey, Northeastern University; Mike Beaudet, Northeastern University • This paper examines personal financial disclosure practices required for public officials across U.S. states and finds that more than 80 percent of states rate poorly when evaluated on a set of objective criteria. A “disclosure degree” score is calculated for each state; these scores are then brought together with a related set of measures to evaluate transparency more broadly for public officials in each state. Levels of public corruption in each state are also considered. For financial disclosure to be meaningful, we argue, three interconnected areas must be evaluated: First, the precision of the information required by law to be disclosed; second, the degree of openness and relevance of information toward the detection of conflicts of interest; third, the degree to which institutional monitors – prosecutors, news media, ethics commissions – can generate public knowledge.
Internships and Careers 2017 Abstracts
A Guide to Landing Your First Job • Justin Barnes, University of Idaho; Rebecca Tallent, University of Idaho; Katie Blevins, University of Idaho; Yong Chae Rhee, Washington State University; Scott Barnicle, West Virginia University • This study identified seven themes that current employers desire in prospective candidates: time and efficiency, the ability to self promote, one’s behavior at their previous employers, participation in industry related and outside extracurricular activities, the desire to keep learning through reading and writing, creativity, and the ability to fit into an organization’s culture. Obviously before this research was conducted, there was an immense amount of information readily available for candidates entering the job market. Nonetheless, the stakes have never been higher for the current generation entering the workforce. With that known, research suggests that Miliennials are impatient and also struggle with taking the long view during their career search. They have been raised in an environment of instant gratification, where answers and solutions are regularly found via digital personal assistants, social media, Google, etc. Alsop (2014) claims that Millennials are struggling more than previous generations to delay not just the gratification of a good grade or a Facebook conversation, but also some of the more important aspects of their lives such as finding employment. Such feelings are creating recruiting and retention headaches for employers too, and can make impatient, job-hopping Millennials less appealing candidates to companies. With the knowledge gathered from the data in this study, perhaps professors, career service advisers, and Millenials will be better prepared when seeking employment.
“Making the Connection”: Aggregate Internship Data as Direct and Indirect Measure Informing Curricula and Assessment • Michael Bugeja, Iowa State University; Melissa Garrett, Iowa State University • This paper focuses on aggregate internship data from an accredited Midwestern mass communications school to illustrate how feedback loops inform curricula and assessment according to standards of the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications. A sample survey instrument is shared with data directly related to ACEJMC values and competencies. Final recommendations are made to help accredited programs earn compliance in assessment by using direct and indirect measures from internships.
Learning to lead: Factors in leadership development for communication students in co-curricular organizations • Ben Hannam; Amanda Sturgill, Elon University; Kelly Furnas; Harold Vincent, Elon University • Although leadership seems like something developed over the course of a career, flattening organizational structures mean leadership skills matter from the start of one. This study investigated the role of communication co-curricular organizations in developing student leadership, finding that leadership develops in a curvilinear fashion with leadership higher at the beginning and end of the student’s education than it is in the middle. An investigation of participants in student media and in a student advertising/public relations agency shows that the methods of selection of students and the focus of the organizations may affect student leadership development.
International Communication 2017 Abstracts
ROBERT L. STEVENSON OPEN PAPER COMPETITION
Future Growth of ACEJMC: U.S. and International Accreditation • Robin Blom, Ball State University; Lucinda Davenport, Michigan State University; Brian J. Bowe, Western Washington University • The number of journalism undergraduate programs accredited by ACEJMC has been stagnant for years. One way to grow the organization is further expansion abroad. A survey of journalism program directors indicated that many see opportunities to spread U.S. values and appreciation for free speech to countries where censorship is rampant, whereas other fear cultural imperialism. This paper discusses the pros and cons of journalism and mass communication accreditation in general, as well as international expansion.
‘Love and courage’: Resilience strategies of journalists facing trauma in northern Mexico • Stephen Choice, The University of Arizona • Mexico is one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists. This study focuses on types of trauma that journalists working in an environment marked by violence and threats experience, as well as the resilience they employ to continue working. Twenty-six print journalists in eight cities near the U.S. border have been interviewed to discover types of trauma and the extent of resilience achieved, as well as ways they go about doing so.
Expressions of International Solidarity via Online Newspaper Stories and Public Comments During Times of Terror • Ioana Coman, University of Wisconsin – Green Bay; Catherine Luther • This study explores the major themes and the thematic markers related to transnational solidarity in The New York Times and Le Figaro’s news stories about the Boston Marathon bombing and their online comments. The overall findings indicate a solidarity narrative across these news stories and online comments. A terrorist attack may create homogeneous communities (Ruiz, et al., 2011), bonding individuals together at a transnational level regardless the possible political strains existing between the nations.
Frame alignment and environmental activism： The case of international and grassroots NGOs in China • Fanxu Zeng; Jia Dai, Tsinghua University • This study examines the framing process in two environmental actions initiated by NGOs: the APP’s deforestation case and the Nu River dam project case. Through interviews with NGO personnel and media managers and analysis of media reports, we focused on an explanation of why certain types of NGO framing prove more effective in achieving their objectives than others. Using the concept of both framing alignment and contestation, we explore how NGOs package interpretive orientations of the issues and set up media frames, and how they cautiously assessed and readjusted their media strategies when confronting counter-frame arguments. Findings suggest that the international NGO Greenpeace were better at strategically use framing alignment with both the government and media, whereas domestic grassroots NGOs failed to align their frames appropriately to gain advantages in framing contestation. This study also reflects on the problem of civil society in China: If indigenous NGOs are quite weak and inept compared to a big transnational NGO like Greenpeace, the formation of a vibrant Chinese civil society may be problematic and unrealistic.
A Qualitative Analysis of Themes in the Global West and the Global South Coverage of the Ebola Outbreak • Adaobi Duru, University of Louisiana at Monroe • Using a media systems comparative framework, I investigated news coverage of the Ebola outbreak. I compare coverage between the liberal media system and the polarized pluralist media system. Leveraging a highly salient event: the Ebola outbreak, I extended the Hallin and Mancini Model to non-western democracies. The study explored differences and similarities in coverage of the outbreak across media systems. Findings revealed that the liberal media system framing of the Ebola outbreak fell into three major categories that differed from the polarized pluralist framing. Journalists in the liberal media system emphasized the limitations of the African continent in the coverage of Ebola. On the other hand, the polarized pluralist media system framing of the outbreak differed from the liberal media system framing because they emphasized the broader implications of the outbreak.
From Physical Space to Cyberspace: Discursive Constructions of “The Great Firewall of China” in Select Newspaper Cartoons • Lyombe Eko, Teexas Tech University; Li Chen • The Great Firewall is a metaphorical turn of phrase that is meant to frame the Chinese infrastructure of Internet information control as being analogous to the Great Wall, an ancient defensive bulwark that is central to Chinese history and culture. We studied international cartoon re-presentations of the imaginary Great Firewall of China. It was found that cartoons from many parts of the world presented China as the walled “Other” of the age of Global interconnectedness.
Country Mentions on Twitter: An Emerging Theoretical Framework • Michael Elasmar; Jacob Groshek; Denis Wu, Boston University • This study focuses on country mentions on social media. It proposes and tests a new theoretical framework that explains and predicts country mentions on Twitter. This study concludes that countries with greater economic power will be mentioned more frequently on Twitter but also that, independent of economic power, larger countries will be mentioned more frequently and so will countries that experience more humanitarian crises. Implications and limitations of the findings are discussed.
Comparing Journalistic Interventionism in News Content Cross-Nationally • lea hellmueller, University of Houston; Claudia Mellado; Maria Luisa Humanes; Mireya Márquez; Amado Adriana; Jacques Mick; Colin Sparks; Daniel Olivera; Martin Oller Alonso; Cornelia Mothes, TU Dresden; Nikos Panagiotou; Wang Haiyan; Gabriella Szabó, Centre for Social Sciences, Hungarian Academy of S; Henry Silke; Moniza Waheed; Edson Tandoc, Nanyang Technological University; Agnieszka Stepinska; Daniel Beck; Pasti Svetlana • The concept of journalistic voice has not gained much attention in comparative media research at the expense of a stronger focus on the voices of sources in news coverage. Based on content analyses in 19 countries (N=34,514) this research investigates the types of journalistic voices that are performed in advanced democracies, transitional democracies and non-democratic countries. This study analyzes the neutral-advocate dimension of the journalistic voice in news stories introducing a cross-culture measure of journalistic voice in news. The results show that interventionism is not limited to Mediterranean or partisan media cultures, but can be explained by structural variables such as media freedom and the level of crime in society as well as organizational-level variables such as political leaning of the news outlet, news beat as well as the amount of sources that accompany the journalistic voice in news stories.
Transnational media in a resurgent nationalist movement era: the role of identity in audience’s national and transnational media evaluation • Vanessa Higgins Joyce; Michael Devlin • Many believed in a post-national era, with accelerated globalization in past decades. However, recent nationalist movements resurge in the United States and abroad. This study sought to identify an association between transnational media use and nationalist and internationalist identities in the U.S. With a panel survey of Americans, it found that nationalism predicted perceived credibility of national media, and Fox news in particular. It also found that internationalism predicted credibility and consumption of transnational media.
Drugs, Politics, and the Media: News Coverage of Drug Trafficking in Turkey • Duygu Kanver, Michigan State University; Manuel Chavez, Michigan State University • A bridge between the Middle East and Europe, Turkey has been in the heart of numerous “drug routes” for trafficking illegal drugs produced in the East and delivered to the West. As Turkish police fight drug smuggling through the borders, the public is not well-informed about the issue: A qualitative analysis of the news stories by two mainstream dailies, Hurriyet and Sabah, shows that the coverage is (1) highly politicized, and (2) low in quality.
Testing Stereotypes about the Online Arab Public Sphere: Predictors of Concerns about Internet Surveillance in Five Arab Countries • Justin Martin, Northwestern University in Qatar; Klaus Schoenbach, Northwestern University in Qatar; Shageaa Naqvi • This study examined concerns about internet surveillance among internet users in Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Lebanon, Qatar, and the U.A.E. (N=4,160). Despite common stereotypes about how variables like gender, youth, income, nationality, and liberal or conservative ideology affect political and cultural attitudes in Arab countries, these indicators were not significant predictors of concerns about online surveillance by governments and companies. Arab nationals reported greater concern about companies monitoring their online activity, while expatriates were more worried about government surveillance. The study uses literature on the attribute substitution heuristic to discuss how people might form stereotypes about large groups of people.
News under Pressure: Journalists Views about the Impact of Corporate and Political Ownership of News Media in India • Zara Masood, University of Miami • Indian news media have experienced considerable corporatization and, more important, politicization (politician owners, party leaning owners/editors) in recent years. This paper explores, through the views of journalists in India, the impact of corporatization as well as of the news-politician relationship on their work as well as on the content of news. It finds considerable instrumental use of the media to the advantage of corporate owners and particularly politicians. Partisanship shapes Indian news content considerably.
The Influence of Journalistic Role Performance on Objective Reporting in Chilean, Mexican and Spanish News • Claudia Mellado; Maria Luisa Humanes; Mireya Márquez • Based on a content analysis of stories published in Chile, Mexico and Spain (N=7,868), this study examines the use of four objective reporting methods in newspapers from Spain, Mexico and Chile, and the influence of the performance of six journalistic roles in those reporting methods. The results show that the materialization of objectivity varies across journalistic cultures, revealing also a significant influence of the performance of professional roles on the implementation of objectivity in news.
Revisiting the “Brazilian Paradox:” journalists’ attitudes towards left and right-leaning protests • Rachel Mourao, Michigan State University • This study analyzes Brazilian journalists’ news routines and attitudes towards the protests that swept the country in 2013 and 2015. Guided by literature on the “protest paradigm” and the “Brazilian self-censorship paradox,” a survey of 1,250 reporters reveals individual, organization and routine-level influences on personal attitudes, perceptions of employers’ editorial line and mainstream coverage. Findings reveal that both right and left-leaning reporters viewed mainstream media and their outlet’s coverage as adversarial to their own.
Over Half a Century After Independence: Press Freedom in Zambia at the Crossroads • Gregory Pitts, Middle Tennessee State University; Twange Kasoma, Radford University • Zambia, over half a century after independence and as it commemoratinges its silver jubilee, since the return of multiparty elections finds itself at an awkward crossroads since the return of multiparty elections. This study examines the development of multiparty elections in Zambia and uses quantitative data to investigate the level of support for press freedom among members of the Zambian Parliament. The study finds that while Parliamentarians support press freedom, political and social values—influenced by Colonialism and Humanism—have not matured to sustain a free press and Zambia’s press freedom has regressed. Government control or dominance of media will stifle, rather than nurture, the growth of a generation of reporters who can function as independent journalists.
Perceptions of Media Roles among Journalism Students in Serbia, Croatia, and Macedonia: Does news orientation have an impact? • Ivanka Pjesivac, University of Georgia; Iveta Imre, University of Arkansas; Katerina Spasovska, Western Carolina University • This study examined the perceptions of media roles among journalism students in Serbia, Croatia, and Macedonia (N=501). The results show that the most important are citizen-oriented and watchdog roles and that they are positively predicted by hard news orientation, whereas consumer and loyal roles are least important and positively predicted by the soft news orientation. This is the first study that comparatively analyzed students’ views in three countries of the former Yugoslavia using national samples.
Diasporic vs. national media in covering an international deal: An investigation of how American and Iranian diasporic media covered the Iran Nuclear Deal • Mehrnaz Rahimi, Miami University; Rosemary Pennington, Miami University • After long time negotiations with P 5+1, Iran and the world reached an agreement on its uranium enrichment program in summer 2015. This agreement or deal was a major achievement for Iran because it resulted in the removing sanctions and the release of blocked funds. The current study analyzed the coverage of the Iran Deal in an Iranian diasporic media, Asr-e-Emrooz, as well as two American newspapers, The New York Times and Los Angeles Times. Analysis of 985 articles indicated that the three newspapers had a positive tone toward the Deal and framed it as a good compromise, although the Iranian newspaper showed more doubt about future of the Deal and its implementation by Iran.
Toward a global model of agenda building and gatekeeping: Collective action and Right to Information legislation in the India case • Jeannine Relly, School of Journalism, The University of Arizona; Rajdeep Pakanati • This qualitative study of a purposive sample of journalists in India (N = 41) examines the collective nature of associations among news media practitioners, civil society organizations, social activists, and other stakeholders around the utilization of Right to Information Act in public interest initiatives. The research found myriad factors connected with these partnerships, including concerns about violence, shortage of time, and methods of using the RTIA as a powerful investigative tool.
International News Coverage and Source Selection in U.S. Foreign Policy Debates: The Case of Iran Deal in Broadcast News • Mehdi Semati, Northern Illinois University; Bill Cassidy, Northern Illinois University; Mehrnaz Khanjani • This research examines broadcast news coverage of the nuclear negotiations between Iran and the West, applying “indexing” theory. Results present evidence of indexing, showing Iran deal coverage in broadcast news reflected official views within a framework of institutional debates among congressional and executive branch sources. The coverage indexed both consensus among the officials within the executive branch and the congressional opposition during different time periods studied. Additionally, the results present strong evidence of power indexing.
“Tremendously Irritated”: Media Trust among Urban Brazilian News Consumers • Flavia Milhorance, City, University of London; Jane B. Singer, City, University of London • Around the world, polls show a crisis in trust in civic institutions, the media foremost among them. This study adds nuance to the numbers within a single nation, Brazil. Original focus group data is analysed in the context of exclusive questionnaire data from the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism to understand why news consumers trust – or do not trust – their media, and the implications of those perceptions for Brazilian media and civic society.
Human Rights Reporting in Rwanda: Opportunities and Challenges • Meghan Sobel; Karen McIntyre, Virginia Commonwealth University • News media play a role in increasing public understanding of human rights issues. Yet, little scholarship has analyzed human rights reporting in developing or post-conflict nations. Interviews with Rwandan journalists revealed that, in this post-genocide era of reconstruction, reporters define human rights broadly and believe reporting on abuses has a positive impact on the abuse. However, a lack of press freedom inhibits human right reporting, thus, prohibiting journalists from fulfilling their social responsibility.
Comments on Covering Up: International Discourse on the Burkini Ban • Lauren Van Yahres; Sally Ann Cruikshank • Following the Bastille Day terrorist attack in Nice, France, costal towns banned Muslim full-coverage swimwear known as the burkini in July 2016. This study examined how five international news outlets, Al Jazeera, The Guardian, Russia Today (RT), The Times of India, and The Washington Post, and online commenters framed the ban. Among the news articles, four dominant frames emerged, colonialism, feminist, consumerist, and French nationalist. Commenters used different frames, Islamophobia, sexist, cultural conflict, and satire.
A Conceptual Model of Watching Social Live Streaming in China: Who Are the Users and How About Their Psychological Well-Being? • Anan Wan, University of South Carolina; Linwan Wu, University of South Carolina • Social live streaming services (SLSSs) as a new type of social networking site (SNS) have been increasingly prevalent in China. This study proposed and tested a conceptual model to explore the motivations and consequences of using SLSSs among Chinese college students. Results of an online survey discovered that the entertainment motive and broadcaster attraction are the main reasons for watching social live streams. Moreover, users’ parasocial interaction with the broadcasters was identified as the underlying process of using these services, which in turn influenced users’ loneliness and addiction to SLSSs. Theoretical and practical implications were discussed.
The Effect of U.S.-based Social Media Use on Acculturation and Adaptation among Chinese Students in America • Chen Yang, University of Houston – Victoria • This study investigated how the use of major U.S.-based social media may influence the acculturation and adaptation among Chinese students in America. Survey data collected from 408 respondents showed that more frequent Facebook and Twitter use activities contributed to higher acculturation while more frequent responses received on the two SNSs led to better adaptation. Online network sizes have more robust effect on the acculturation than on adaptation. Implications about their network subgroups were also discussed.
Individualizing depression responsibilities on Chinese social media: Analyzing the Weibo framing of three key players • Yuan Zhang; Yifeng Lu; Yan Jin; Yubin Wang • In recent years, depression has become a leading public health threat in China, and stigmatization due to cultural and historical reasons presents one of the biggest challenges in tackling the threat. Research indicates that individualizing health responsibilities, one of the most prominent frames in communicating health issues, is directly related to the formation of stigma. While both cross-cultural theory and prior research suggest the prevalence of contextual and societal attributions in China, the individualization of the Chinese culture in recent decades may potentially alter the pattern of responsibility attributions for public health issues such as depression. Against this backdrop, we content-analyzed how three key players in the fight against depression — media organizations, mental health institutions and an online support group — framed causal and problem-solving responsibilities for depression on Sina Weibo, one of the most influential social networking sites in China. We found that all three groups primarily assigned depression responsibilities to the individual (vs. the society). Moreover, state-controlled media organizations were more inclined to hold individuals responsible for fixing the problem than market-oriented media organizations. Despite the overall individualization of depression responsibilities, the online support group demonstrated a relatively stronger tendency to hold the society at large accountable for tackling this public health threat. These findings provide implications for alleviating mental health stigma and suggest future avenues for mental health communication research.
Transnational news media coverage of distant suffering in the Syrian civil war: An analysis of CNN, Al-Jazeera English and Sputnik • Xu Zhang, University of Tennessee, Knoxville; Catherine Luther • Building on previous literatures on the mediation of distant suffering in relation to the concept of cosmopolitanism, this study analyzed news articles published on the online sites of CNN, Al-Jazeera English and Sputnik to investigate the transnational news outlets’ portrayals of human suffering associated with the Syrian civil war. Using the qualitative data software analysis program NVivo, the analysis revealed that all three of the examined news sources commonly employed shocking numbers and brief narratives in their stories on the humanitarian disaster. CNN and Al-Jazeera English, however, provided more in-depth and emotive descriptions of misfortunes through quotes from local residents, thus connoting a cosmopolitan outlook. Russia-based Sputnik, on the other hand, tended to present the Russian government’s stance on Syria. Its stories included criticisms of the West and emphasized the humanitarian role of the Russian military. This finding indicates that transnational media outlets do not completely stay away from national institutionalized politics.
Negative Emotions to Western Media and Reception of Mediated Public Diplomacy • Yicheng Zhu, University of South Carolina; Ran Wei, University of South Carolina; Guy Golan, University of South Florida • The current study explores the potential backfire effect in mediated public diplomacy. We built a conceptual model of negative emotions and support for retaliation campaigns. Using a national survey data from China, we tested the model in four scenarios (Japanese, U.S., Russian and European news), and discussed the importance of country friendliness and attention to international news as antecedents. We found people receiving public diplomacy could develop negative emotions, and even support for retaliation campaigns.
MARKHAM STUDENT PAPER COMPETITION
National Biases of World Games: Local and International Media Coverage of the “Lochtegate” • Heloisa Aruth Sturm, University of Texas at Austin • This study compared Brazilian and U.S news coverage of the “Lochtegate” during the 2016 Summer Olympics in order to untangle the ways in which information flows, source proximity and multilayered identities played a role in depicting that incident. Cultural proximity played a major role in the selection of sources. Differences were found concerning pace of the news, contextualization, and prognosis. National identity emerged in distinct ways through media portrayals of this event.
Influence of Foreign News Programs on the International News Agenda of Rwandan Television and Newspapers • Wellars Bakina, University of Arizona • A quantitative content analysis conducted in 2016 indicates that the international news edition of Rwanda Television (RTV) depended mostly on foreign programs, mainly from Euronews and Al Jazeera English. Qualitative interviews with the RTV editorial team revealed the main factors influencing story selection. RTV and two Rwandan newspapers focused on the same news topics but used slightly different sources. Defining factors for this intermedia agenda-setting included institutional barriers, language, and the globalization of news.
Gatecrashing: Exploring how Indian journalists tweet breaking news and what type of tweets attract followers • DHIMAN CHATTOPADHYAY, Bowling Green State University • This study examines how Indian journalists tweet when they share breaking news on Twitter, and what type of tweets lead to greater follower engagement. Specifically it focuses on a sensational breaking story to examine journalistic gatekeeping practices on social media: What type tweets were preferred by the journalists to disseminate breaking news? What type of tweets received most follower engagement? And finally, how did the nature of follower comments inform scholarly understanding of news consumption practices on social media platforms? Findings indicate journalists mostly Tweeted personal opinion, and this type of tweet also received most follower engagement through ‘likes’ and comments. Further, contrary to selective exposure theory, people engaged more with tweets when its contents did not agree with their pre-existing beliefs. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed.
Under the Dome: How Chinese Newspapers Frame “Haze” • Minghui Fan, University of Alabama; Qingru Xu • In recent years, China’s polluted air has seriously affected on Chinese health. This paper explored whether journalists for the commercial newspaper Qilu Evening Newspaper were different from journalists for the party-organ newspaper People’s Daily in framing Chinese air pollution. After analyzing news coverage of two newspapers regarding Chinese air pollution from 2011 to 2016, this study found both newspapers primarily blamed individuals for the problem and engaged in propaganda for the Chinese Communist Party.
Symmetrical Communication in Social Media: Analyzing Indonesian Ministries Communication Networks in Social Media • Ika Idris, Ohio University • Interactivity as the key feature of social media has opened the opportunity for symmetrical communication between organization and its stakeholders. Previous research on quantitative models of symmetrical communication focus on survey-based research which cannot fully capture the information flows. This study use social network analysis to investigate symmetrical communication in social media conversation networks. The subjects of the study are Indonesian Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Education and Culture and this study aims to analyze whether the governments use of social media has led to dialogue and mutual understanding. The country is the largest market of social media users in Southeast Asia and has been promoting Public Information Act since 2008. This study found that symmetrical communication was not implemented, the governments were the centrals of the networks, and the conversations were lack of engagement. The findings show that the ministries’ Facebook pages encountered spam posts and fake accounts that are potentially ruins government reputation. This study recommends Indonesian government to invest resources in planning better public relations strategies, specifically in a daily basis operation. It is time for Indonesian government to provide a better quality of information, not just focus to the information quantity.
Pilot study: How do Chinese students change their social media habits after moving to the United States, and what factors motivate this change? • Liefu Jiang, University of Kansas • This project employs the uses-and-gratifications theory to analyze in-depth interviews of 23 Chinese students in a university in the United States. Findings suggest that most Chinese students use both U.S. social media apps and Chinese apps after moving to the U.S. Their social media choices are driven by different motivations. Also, findings suggest that social media usage benefits Chinese students in cultural adaption after moving to the U.S.
Framing Diplomatic Conflicts: How Indian and Nepali Media Covered the Controversy Surrounding the Ratification of Nepal’s Constitution in 2015 • Amir Joshi, Iowa State University • This article investigated the framing of the controversy surrounding the ratification of the Nepali Constitution in newspaper articles published in Nepal and India for six months. Using framing analysis, this study compared the way in which Indian and Nepali newspapers differed in terms of frames, tone, and news sources. The content analysis revealed significant differences in the conflict frames and tone used. Both countries treated the story episodically and relied on official sources for the news.
Dramatism Approach to International Apology/Apologia: 70 years Later • Emi Kanemoto • “Abe danwa, a speech by the current Prime Minister of Japan, Abe Shinzo, was nationally live broadcasted on August 14, 2015 in Japan on the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II in Asia. The goal of study was to reveal the intentions behind the broadcasted speech by unpacking to whom and how he was making shazai (apology with feeling of being indebted), owabi (apology with knowledge of wrong-doing), and kansha (appreciation). By utilizing the dramatistic approach, four themes emerged around these three key terms: owabi for past action, owabi for present/future, (no) more shazai? and kansha to whom? The critical thoughts in the end discussed what Japanese media reported after the speech and how Japan was labeled as a “forever-victimizer.”
Choosing the Best Name: The Effectiveness of Brand Name Localization on Consumers’ Attitude toward a New Foreign Product • Xuan Liang; Huan Chen, University of Florida • An online experiment was conducted among 235 subjects to examine the effect of brand name localization on brand attitude, product attitude, and purchase intention. Results indicated that in general people prefer original, exotic brand name than localized brand name in the context of the U.S. In particular, young consumers have a more positive attitude toward and are more likely to purchase imported products with a foreign name than the ones with a localized name. In addition, more collectively oriented people evaluated the product with exotic brand name more positively than those less collectively oriented people did.
The Elephant in the Room: Media Ownership and Political Participation in Hong Kong • LUWEI ROSE LUQIU, Pennsylvania State University • The political system of one county, two systems in Hong Kong presents a challenge for an authoritarian government that seeks to control media ownership in an open and law- abiding society. By focusing on the media ownership structure, this paper provides details regarding how the Chinese government used political power and capital to censor and shape the public sphere to temper political interests in Hong Kong. It also attempts to identify potential solutions to the problem and make predictions regarding the future of online and offline activism in Hong Kong.
A Comparative Content Analysis of Argentine and British Print Advertising During the Malvinas/Falkland Islands War • Juan Mundel, DePaul University; Yadira Nieves-Pizarro, Michigan State University; Douglas Wickham, Michigan State University; Melinda Aiello, Michigan State University • Argentine and British print newspaper ads were content analyzed to examine how advertising expression and content differed in the two countries while they were fighting the Malvinas/Falkland Islands War. Appeals, advertised products, discursive strategies, and code-switching were studied. Results show that across both countries the types of products advertised during the war were similar, although there were more ads for hedonic products in Argentina. Further, the use of appeals was more common in Argentine ads, which could reflect cultural differences between the two countries. Interestingly, the use of national symbols was scarce across both countries which differs from trends found in other advertising markets.
Unique storytellers–freelancers in international news production • Xu Zhang, University of Tennessee, Knoxville • “Economic strains and the emergence of new digital platforms have significantly changed the way foreign news is produced and reported in legacy news media. Freelancing, which is defined as a casualized and multi-skilled employment has been playing a vital role in covering international news in recent years (Edstrom and Ladendorf, 2012). Considering their emerging roles in international news production, this study examined the phenomenon of freelancing in the context of foreign news reporting. Semi-structured interview with 11 freelancers reveals that even though freelancers face insecurity and hardship of meeting the financial needs, they tend to be creative and unique in presenting the international news stories they covered. Particularly, their emphasis on the human aspect of stories reflects the values of humanity and diversity. This hints that freelancers could act potentially as an advocate force to change so often superficial, stereotyped International news coverage.
Covering up or Telling Your Own Bad News? The Effects of “Stealing Thunder” Strategy on Journalists’ Reactions in Different Cultural Settings • Lijie Zhou; Carrie Reif-Stice • The current study examines the effectiveness of stealing thunder strategy on the United States and Chinese journalism students’ perceived credibility of organization, the interests of reporting the crisis, perceptions of crisis severity, and way of framing news. The findings indicate that using stealing thunder strategy increases the credibility of organization, but does not necessarily reduce participants’ interests of reporting the crisis and the perceptions of crisis severity. However, after adding culture as the second variable, the interaction effects of stealing thunder strategy and participants’ cultural background on participants’ responses and the way to frame news were found.
History 2017 Abstracts
Archiving India’s Thriving News Media: A Case Study of Digitized Historical and Current News from India • Deb Aikat, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • India’s newspaper market is the largest in the world and this study compares digital archives of India’s print media in databases of Dow Jones Factiva, LexisNexis Academic, NewsBank and ProQuest based on inputs from archivists at the Center for Research Libraries, the Library of Congress and the British Library among other libraries. Lack of visual content and sparse broadcast content characterize the otherwise captivating repertoire of 794 digitally curated publications analyzed in this study
From Fiasco to Canon: The Fall and Rise of the Commission on Freedom of the Press • Stephen Bates, University of Nevada, Las Vegas • The Hutchins Commission’s A Free and Responsible Press (1947) is a media-studies classic, but archival materials show that the Commission was, as one member observed, “a mess.” Robert Hutchins missed nearly a third of meetings. The director mismanaged the staff and overspent the budget. At Time Inc., which funded the project, an executive called it a “$200,000 disaster.” Then at the last minute, Hutchins reengaged, rewrote the report, and persuaded everyone to sign.
The Selling of the Selling of the War: A Public Relations Historical Case Study of “Prelude to War” • Ray Begovich, Franklin College • Using primary sources from the National Archives, this paper describes key elements of the 1943 public relations campaign used to promote the theatrical release of the Frank Capra-directed Prelude to War, the first of the U.S. government’s Why We Fight military training films made public. This historical case study shows that Hollywood and the U.S. government closely cooperated in using communications tactics commonly used by public relations professionals today.
Colonization and Cornish: A Blueprint for Freedom’s Journal • Kenneth Campbell, University of South Carolina • Little is known about the early background of Samuel E. Cornish, senior editor of Freedom’s Journal, the first black newspaper, founded in 1827. An analysis of the colonization protest by free blacks while Cornish was studying for the ministry in Philadelphia between 1816 and 1822 and his later move to New York before starting the newspaper shows that Cornish and the newspaper might have deeper anti-colonization roots than previously believed, initiating the Black Freedom Struggle.
The CSI Imaginary: British newspaper coverage of the beginnings of modern criminal forensics and ‘trace’ evidence • Brian Carroll, Berry College • This paper, part of a larger project that interrogates the crime scene as it has been portrayed in television, novels, and newspapers, explores the origins of what has become a shared understanding of contemporary CSI by focusing on the crime scene as a symbolic artifice. In particular, this paper uses the accounts and descriptions in English newspapers of homicide investigations to locate the formation of conventions for and about crime scenes, and in particular for the PI (principal investigator) or IO (investigating officer). Murder investigations were chosen because they are not surprisingly the best documented of forensic investigations, a result of the public attention they have historically commanded. Murder sells newspapers, as the rise of yellow journalism in the United States underlined. The study, therefore, aims to open up a window on the beginnings of criminal forensics, a history that can aid better understanding of the forensic world that inspires so much programming, coverage, and culture today. As its methodology, this study examines the attention paid to CSI by English reporters, editors, and correspondents who offered the first draft of forensics history in covering what were high-profile murders.
Unveiling the “Sick Elephant”: CIA Public Relations and the Soviet Economic Forecast Controversy of 1964 • Matthew Cecil, Minnesota State University, Mankato • The Central Intelligence Agency’s failed 1964 effort at Cold War public relations demonstrates how assertive public communication that undermines a foundational principle of an organization (in this case, secrecy) can do substantial harm to its public image. A study of the event also shows the limited capacity of the agency’s small Office of Public Affairs, particularly in contrast with the FBI’s massive public relations office, the Crime Records Section.
The Press of the Mississippi Territory, 1798-1817 • David R. Davies, University of Southern Mississippi • This paper examines the pioneering printers and newspapers in the Mississippi Territory from the territory’s founding in 1798 until statehood in 1817. Generally, historians have ignored the early Mississippi press. With the exception of a few specialized and limited studies published in state historical journals, historians have ignored the press of the Mississippi Territory ever since the second edition of Isaiah Thomas’s History of Printing in America, published in 1874, summarized it in just one sentence. Yet, state histories of early printers and newspapers can provide valuable insights into the unique circumstances of press development on the frontier. The press developed differently, of course, in each territory and state according to the highly individualized circumstances of each. This paper explores the unique circumstances of press development in the Mississippi Territory, particularly the territory’s pioneering printers and newspapers and their political entanglements.
Terry Pettus and the 1936 Seattle Newspaper Strike: Pivotal Success for the American Newspaper Guild • Cindy Elmore, East Carolina University • The American Newspaper Guild was struggling for life when journalist Terry Pettus wrote his 1935 letter requesting to join. Pettus then successfully recruited journalists throughout the Northwest to the ANG. He launched, then advised the Seattle Newspaper Guild throughout its successful 1936 strike against William Randolph Hearst. Pettus’ actions were pivotal to Guild successes, which had national implications for the ANG. Yet he later paid a high price for his work on the Guild’s behalf.
The Katyn Cold Case: The Press and the Madden Committee • Timothy Roy Gleason, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh • The emergence of the Cold War in the 1950s led to an American investigation of the Soviet Union’s Katyn massacre of Polish officers. This paper examines journalists’ pressure on Congress to conduct an investigation, cites news coverage of the Madden Committee, and relies on the Madden report and intelligence documents to offer insights. As one of the first products of the Cold War, the investigation’s thorough and deliberate approach was a contrast to McCarthyism.
Not Your Grandpa’s Hoax: A Comparative History of Fake News • Julien Gorbach, University of Hawaii Manoa • Fake news is hardly new in journalism, and a sense of historical perspective is clarifying. A recent, quick overview in Columbia Journalism Review has pointed to some superficial similarities in hoaxing over the ages “in editorial motive or public gullibility, not to mention the blurred lines between deliberate and accidental flimflam.” It cautions that people may be overreacting to “macro-level trends” that are do not indicate real, significant changes in the media. But before we rush to downplay the significance of this recent spate of hoaxing, it is worth reviewing the history more carefully.
Abuse of a “Great Power”: An Examination of Twentieth-Century Advertising Criticism in the United States • Nicholas Hirshon, William Paterson University • The persuasive character of twentieth-century advertising made a lasting impact on American culture and consumerism. This historiographical study uses textual analysis to examine more than a dozen seminal books on the advertising industry, as well as primary sources such as advertisements for major American brands and articles in newspapers, magazines, and trade publications, to identify dominant themes and variations in twentieth-century criticisms of advertising in the United States.
‘Jack and Jill’ Be Nimble: Acknowledging the Historic Use of Nontraditional Advertising in an “Adless” Children’s Magazine • Steven Holiday, Texas Tech University • ‘Jack and Jill’ is viewed as a historically adless children’s magazine that protected readers from the “seething complications of commercial pressure” from its first issue in 1938 until 1963. Using the historical method, the present research analyzes primary and secondary sources to identify that the magazine actually included a prosocial form of nontraditional advertising throughout World War II that went unacknowledged by publishers, editors, and historians, but may have influenced its young readers.
How many biscuits can you eat this mornin’?Martha White’s sponsorship of country music radio and TV shows • Lance Kinney, University of Alabama • “How many biscuits can you eat this mornin’?”: Martha White Flour’s sponsorship of country music radio and television show broadcasts. In June 1953, an unlikely partnership of hillbilly musicians and sophisticated businessmen began a mutually beneficial marketing communication relationship that helped bluegrass music flourish as a musical style while simultaneously building a multi-million dollar food brand. This research will detail Martha White Flour’s brand 1953 – 1969 sponsorship of Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs & the Foggy Mountain Boys, arguably the world’s best-known bluegrass band. The thesis is that the visibility supplied by the sponsoring brand, via tour and live appearance support, along with radio show and television show sponsorship allowed bluegrass to move from a regional, vernacular music to an international phenomenon. Early country music brand marketing via sponsor brands is described, along with the support Martha White Flour provided to Flatt and Scruggs. Conference presentation will include screening portions of Martha White-sponsored television programs, along with the display of other Martha White-related marketing communication memorabilia.
Abolitionist Aggregator: Collective Action Frames in the British Anti-Slavery Monthly Reporter, 1825-1833 • Linda Lumsden, University of Arizona • This paper explores the significance of the Anti-Slavery Monthly Reporter, an innovation in social movement media that under founding editor Zachary Macaulay was critical to the British abolition movement that ended slavery across the British Empire in the 1830s. The paper analyzes the Reporter’s functions and contents through the lens of social movement theory, specifically how it used the three components of collective action frames described by scholar William Gamson: injustice, agency, and identity.
Life as a club: the careers of junior reporters in U.S. newsrooms from 1920 to 1960 • William Mari, Northwest University • Among the various groups in the newsroom workforce of the twentieth century, the large pool of reporters was marked by an intense degree of stratification and diversity of both agency and ability. Ranging from the humble cub, only recently lifted out of the hopeful but even lowlier office-support role and routine of the copy boy or girl, to the exalted and powerful columnist (and his or her more faraway cousin, the correspondent), reporters were “peers” in the sense that they all gathered or created content for the newspaper and found themselves enmeshed in a newsroom hierarchy over which they had minimal managerial control. How young reporters in American newsrooms cooperated and competed with one another, negotiated differences in age, gender, race, experience, education and political belief, and formed their own internal working routines and culture, will be the subject of this study. Because “cubs,” as these reporters were called, represented changing trends in journalism education, technology adoption and even gender norms, they are worth a closer reexamination. As the careers paths of journalists continue to change in the early twenty-first century, exploring how reporters entered and became accustomed to the occupation in a similar time of upheaval remains a useful exercise. In the early- to mid-parts of the last century, journalism was also in flux, in ways that reflect the economic uncertainty and disruption of technology in our own time. This research draws on a variety of primary sources, including then-contemporary professional literature, trade publications and memoirs.
The Socialist Journalist • Martin Marinos • Drawing on archival sources and oral interviews with Bulgarian journalists, this essay examines the role of journalists in Eastern European socialist societies. Specifically, the paper focuses on two unexplored features of the journalistic profession under socialism: the role of journalists as advocates for “the people” and the functions of socialist foreign correspondents working outside of the Eastern bloc. The goal of the paper is to complicate the traditional portrayal of socialist journalists as mere “mouthpieces” of the state.
An Idea Before Its Time: Charles S. Johnson, Negro Columnist • Gwyneth Mellinger, James Madison University • In the mid-1940s, Claude Barnett of the Associated Negro Press developed a proposal for Fisk University sociologist Charles S. Johnson to write a weekly column for daily newspapers. Had the plan succeeded as they imagined, Johnson’s column, titled “A Minority View,” would have integrated the opinion pages of the white press. This paper documents the three-year history of the column, which had the indirect backing of the General Education Board, a Rockefeller-endowed philanthropy.
The Impact of Pearl Harbor on the Japanese-Language Press in Hawai‘i • Takeya Mizuno, Toyo University • This article examines the life-changing impact of Pearl Harbor on the Japanese “enemy language” newspapers in Hawai‘i. Institution of martial law shattered their First Amendment press freedom as well as ethnic self-esteem. The sweeping arrests of staffers started from December 7, 1941. The language press was soon licensed and suspended categorically by military orders. Although a “permit” of resumption was issued later, remaining staffers had to bear not only stringent censorship, but intrusive, embarrassing propaganda.
Lincoln’s Messengers: Norman Hapgood’s and Ida Tarbell’s Biographies at the Dawn of the Progressive Era • Ronald Rodgers, University of Florida • A close reading of two biographies of Abraham Lincoln by two pillars of the Progressive Era at the dawn of that era – Norman Hapgood and Ida Tarbell – distills some notions of the ideals of Lincoln that were applicable to the living world decades after his death and at the core of the Progressive principles that helped give life and sustain the movement that confronted and sought to remedy the societal inequities of the Gilded Age
The Media’s Verdict of Jimmy Carter’s Transition Act: An Administration in Disarray • Lori Amber Roessner, University of Tennessee • This manuscript will extend the transition research of scholars such as Martha Joynt Kumar, John B. Burke, and John Anthony Maltese by examining a case study of the Carter Administration’s unprecedented transition efforts in 1976. The manuscript involved the examination of national news coverage, archival documents housed at the Jimmy Carter Library in Atlanta, and transcripts from the Miller Center’s Jimmy Carter Presidential Oral History Project and original long-form interviews.
President Ford’s Personal Watergate: The Undermining of the Public Sphere During the Mayaguez Incident of 1975 • William Schulte, Winthrop University; Edgar Simpson; Michael DiBari, Jr. • In May 1974, Cambodian troops captured the U.S. container ship, SS Mayaguez and her crew, off the Cambodian coast, igniting a clash between the new Khmer Rouge regime and a U.S. president dealing with aftermath of Watergate and the fall of Saigon. The Mayaguez incident was initially reported as a successful rescue mission, with the Ford administration keeping silent about the forty-one U.S. military personnel who died in the operation. For five days, the Pentagon insisted that one American had been killed. Viewed through the theory of the public sphere, this study addresses how the Ford administration sought to mislead the press and public. No previous scholarship could be located on the media and its interactions with the U.S. government during the seizure of the Mayaguez. This work adds to the literature on how authorities shape public opinion. The paper examines the White House’s efforts to silence all but official sources during the four days between the seizure and release of the ship, and how those actions affected the information available for debate within the public sphere. The Mayaguez incident demonstrates how political actors can manipulate public opinion to their own ends.
Mnemonic Retrospective: A social history of collective memory studies, the first 100 years • Emil Steiner • In this literature review I explore how collective memory studies, as a body of cross-disciplinary scholarship, was formed and reformed during the last 100 years. To do so I analyze how scholars have discursively constructed collective memory, in contrast to personal memory, as an exploitation of the past in the service of present social interests particularly political and economic. I track this discourse in tandem with the term’s diffusion from obscurity to ubiquity during the second half of the 20th century. I then organize the scholarship by the types of media studied and the “mnemonic communities” that form around them. Doing so reveals how communication scholars use collective memory to differentiate themselves within the field and how they have struggled to articulate the study of memory in opposition to the dominant social scientific literature. This history indicates that the relationship between social identity and social memory is symbiotic and processual for those who exploit memory and those who study it. Based on this I conclude that collective memory is a metadiscursive process, the study of which articulates and enacts its identity.
Functionalist Explanations in Media Histories: A Historiographical Essay • Tim Vos, University of Missouri • This historiographical essay examines how functionalist explanations persist in a range of media histories and examines the logic and consequences of functionalist explanations. The essay argues that paying attention to social, cultural, economic or political contexts does not necessarily move media historians substantially closer to offering explanation. Even histories that describe structural contexts can be plagued by a persistent problem: functionalist assumptions. The essay argues this undercuts the value of historical scholarship.
A Pivotal Moment: How Press Coverage of a The Port Chicago Disaster Helped Reveal Racial Inequalities • Pamela Walck, Duquesne University • “A little more than a month after the Allies launched a stunning blow to the Germans on the beaches of Normandy, newspaper readers across the United States and Great Britain opened their papers on July 19, 1944, to find stunning headlines and staggering images of the mass destruction that had occurred overnight at the once-bustling naval station of Port Chicago. The incident was quickly labeled by the American press as the worst wartime disaster the United States had seen during World War II. News coverage of the incident also revealed deeply-seeded inequality in the U.S. military’s use of manpower through media coverage of the incident. This study found that while the mainstream press in America and Britain initially reported the impact this disaster had on African American servicemen, it quickly stopped reporting the racial element of the story. Meanwhile, the American black press took every opportunity to be more vocal about the inequalities African American servicemen suffered due to military policies. This study also argues that press coverage of the Port Chicago incident helped contribute to the desegregation of the U.S. military—pushing a tradition-based institution into the vanguard of the long civil rights movement.
“The Vilest Man in the Newspaper Business”: F. G. Bonfils’s Libel Case against the Rocky Mountain News • Ken Ward • Denver Post publisher F. G. Bonfils sued the rival Rocky Mountain News for libel in 1932. This research details the efforts of News investigative reporter Wallis Reef, who was sent out to support the News’s case by documenting Bonfils’s history of corruption. It analyzes a crucial episode in the long and consequential history of the war between the News and Post, filling out Bonfils’s tarnished biography and exploring Reef’s tenuous position as investigative reporter/private investigator.
Louis Decimus Rubin, Jr.: The History of Algonquin Books From Personal Correspondence • Jane Weatherred, University of South Carolina • Louis Decimus Rubin, Jr., (1923-2013), journalist, American literary scholar, critic, professor, writer and publisher, established Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill in North Carolina. Using previously unexamined correspondence in Rubin’s archives at the University of North Carolina’s Wilson Library, available one year after his death on November 16, 2013, this manuscript contributes to an understanding of the intellectual, social, cultural and institutional forces surrounding the history of book publishing in the United States.
Graduate Student 2017 Abstracts
Twitter Building the Agenda: How Journalists Use Twitter as a Source While Reporting • Kaitlin Bane, University of Oregon • With a U.S. president infamous for tweeting, it is becoming exceedingly important for scholars to study and understand how the medium is influencing news reporting. Using quantitative content analysis this paper examines the use of tweets as quotes in web-only news organizations compared to traditional print organizations. Findings show that while print outlets most often use Twitter to quote official sources and for opinion comments, web-only news organizations use the medium differently.
Yoga in Media! Using Theory of Planned Behavior to Examine Media Influences on Intention to Practice Yoga • Nandini Bhalla, University of South Carolina • Using theory of planned behavior as a conceptual framework, this paper analyzes the association between the portrayal of yoga in media with the intention to practice yoga, for both yoga practitioners and non-practitioners. A t-test showed that yoga practitioners have a more positive attitude towards yoga media content than non-yoga practitioners and that they internalize media content more strongly than non-practitioners. Hierarchal multiple regression was used to analyze the results. Implications are discussed.
How Activism and Ethics Intersect in Public Relations: A Pilot Study • Minhee Choi • This pilot study explored how public relations practitioners’ activism is associated with their ethics in the context of corporate social responsibility and communication. Although no correlation was found between activism and ethics, results showed that practitioners with high levels of relativist ethics are less likely to be ethical in their communication. Practitioners with more than 20 years of work experience have higher levels of ethics, and practitioners in PR agencies have the lowest ethical levels compared to other sectors. Theoretical and practical implications of the results are discussed.
Tie Strength and Privacy Concern in Social Context Advertising • Chuqing Dong; Alexander Pfeuffer • Social context advertising is a targeting approach using social relationships to promote brands on social media. Drawing upon the concept of social influence, this study examined how social context ads displaying contacts with varying tie strengths affected brand attitude and purchase intent of consumers with differing levels of privacy concern. Regardless of consumers’ privacy concern, social context ads displaying strong ties increased purchase intent while brand attitudes remained unaffected. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
“Sources Say … He May Have Been Depressed and Angry” • Jacqueline Fellows • An increase in mass shootings in the U.S. has amplified the reporting on mental illness despite weak evidence that links the two issues. A qualitative content analysis of local newspaper coverage of five mass shootings in 2015 shows that journalists ignore professional standards and rely on nonqualified sources in stories that include mental illness as a component of mass shooting coverage. Additionally, sources frame mental illness as dangerous and/or undesirable.
What’s in your school? A content analysis of school persona creation using online messages • Dakota Horn, Illinois State University • Message framing is a key part of designing a message to influence a potential buyer or even a potential citizen within a community system. This study examines “about us” pages on school district websites within the state of Illinois to gain incite as to how and why school districts craft messages to create a persona. The examinations will breakdown goal creation of the district and execution through message features: structure, content, style, as well as the potential efficacy of the audience member. A content analysis was performed to show a common theme of message design in comparison of several school districts. The content analysis developed a theme among content creation in online messages.
Why Social Media? Examining the Motivations of Chinese University Students to Gather Public Affairs News on Social Media Platforms • Liefu Jiang, University of Kansas • Through a survey with 568 participants, this paper employs uses-and-gratifications theory to investigate Chinese university students’ public affairs news consumption on WeChat and Sina Weibo, the two most popular Chinese social media platforms. The findings suggest that students’ news reading is driven by different motivations on the two platforms. Socializing and technological-convenience positively relate to WeChat users’ news reading, while information seeking negatively relates. For Sina Weibo users, only technological-convenience positively relates to news reading.
What Drives Facebook and Instagram Users’ Emotional Attachment and Continuing Use? A Comparative Analysis of Internal and Socio-Cultural Factors • Bumsoo Kim, University of Alabama • This study investigated whether and how the internal and socio-cultural factors that differently enhance the level of intensity toward Facebook or Instagram activities and intention to continue to use the platforms. In this study, I propose individual motivations and gratifications (social interaction, entertainment, passing time, peeking, and need for recognition) and socio-cultural factors (subjective norms and SNS culture), and an online survey with 606 adults was conducted. The results showed significant differences between motivations/gratifications for intention to continue to further use Facebook compared to Instagram. The degree to which individuals have willingness to continue to use both platforms can be different depending upon what motivations they have. Individuals’ perceptual level of differences between Facebook and Instagram are important assets for SNS practitioners in developing better SNS technologies as well as for scholars in developing theories about social media use.
Asian Television and Cultural Globalization: A Critical Analysis from 2000–2015 • Dieer Liao, School of Journalism and Communication, Tsinghua University; Yueyue Liang, School of Journalism and Communication, Tsinghua University • This study examines 96 articles about Asian television and cultural globalization published in 19 major SSCI journals of communication studies from 2000–15, aiming to present a meta-analysis of relevant research in the context of international communications. It demonstrates the patterns and distribution of theoretical paradigms, flow trends, issues of concern, territory of focus, methodology, and authorship reflected in the studies surveyed through content analysis. The primary findings of this research are that the political economic framework remains the prevailing critical paradigm in this field; that the most-studied issue is structural control of the media sphere; that China-related studies amount to the largest proportion; and that the qualitative method is adopted most frequently. The highlight is that a gradual shift from in-flow to contra-flow and inter-Asia flow has been noticed, and that South Korea is found to have become the focal center of transnational studies in Asian television and cultural globalization.
Mobilizing the Umbrella Movement: An Alternative Framework of Protest in an Information Society • Zhongxuan LIN • This study takes the Umbrella Movement as a case study to investigate the media mobilizing structures of the protest in an information society. It proposes an alternative framework of “contextualized transmedia mobilization” to explore how protestors situated in a specific context employ, create, circulate, amplify, and converge various forms of media to continually mobilize themselves and the public, and, thus heighten participation levels, innovate contentious repertoires, and experiment with organizational transformation.
The Impact of Social Amplification and Attenuation of Risk: A national survey of Chinese Public Reactions Toward Middle East Respiratory Syndrome • Jiawei Liu; Zhaomeng Niu • Human beings are evolved to avoid threats to protect themselves. Threat caused by risk is a primary biological motivator in our environment and elicit automatic aversive responses. In general, people feel more aroused and pay more attention to the potential threat. Recent research studies call attention to how the public perceive the risk under the influences of multiple factors in individual and social amplification stations. This study developed a conceptual model and examined how media exposure, knowledge, as well as information seeking behavior affected lay understanding and risk perceptions toward MERS in China. In general, the results demonstrated that greater information seeking behavior could predict: 1) higher frequency of media exposure; 2) higher level of individual knowledge of MERS; 3) higher likelihood of amplifying the perceived threat of MERS.
Newspaper Coverage of Mars in the United States and the United Kingdom 2011-2016 • Mikayla Mace • A content analysis of three elite print newspapers in the United States and three in the United Kingdom found that the framing and tone of articles about Mars were deployed similarly despite the different objectives of each country’s space program. From the Apollo moon shots to human exploration of Mars, each successive era of spaceflight has been framed in a logical progression from concept to completion that resonates with the values of the times.
First Ladies: Policy Involvement, Public Approval Ratings, and Women in the Workforce • Nia Mason, Louisiana State University • Based on the theory of social influence, a mixed methods approach was used to understand the relationship between First Ladies’ policy involvement and their approval ratings, and between approval ratings and the number of women in the workforce. A textual analysis examined the first research question. A simple linear regression tested the second research question, showing a significant relationship. A Pearson correlation tested the third research question and showed a relationship of no significance.
Real or Ideal: Millennial Perceptions of Pornographic Media Realism and Influence on Relationship Assessments • Farnosh Mazandarani, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • This study examines pornography and whether content idealism, realism, or sexual explicitness of media genres may affect relationship assessments. Findings indicated greater consumption of pornography predicted lower sex satisfaction, perceived realism indicated higher content identification, and higher identification with pornography lead to greater pornography consumption. Participants who identified more with pornography reported higher sexual expectations. Idealization had no direct effect on relationship assessments yet showed a negative relationship on idealized media consumption on sexual expectations.
Debating What’s Natural: A Qualitative Framing Analysis of “Natural” Food Label News Coverage • Melissa McGinnis, University of Florida • The use of “natural” on food labels is a growing concern for the food industry and consumers. This qualitative framing study uses a literary approach analyzing 51 articles covering the “natural” food label debate in four U.S. nationally recognized newspapers. This study identifies stakeholders most frequently in conflict and the areas of contention in the “natural” food label debate. In addition, this study identifies the terms used to define “natural” foods.
“20 Years is Just the Other Day”: The role of genesis narrative in constructing journalism culture • Ruth Moon, University of Washington • There is evidence that political influences shape professional views, but that the specifics of local culture impact journalists’ actual practices. However, there is little research unpacking the particular ways culture impacts journalism. Using theoretical perspectives from journalism studies and organizational sociology and newsroom ethnographic data gathered in Kigali, Rwanda, I show how narratives constructed from elements of local culture and shared history function as myths that impact journalism culture on both ideological and practical levels.
Visual Framing of Dieselgate: A Content Analysis of Global News Coverage • David Morris II, University of Oregon • News coverage of an event traditionally attempts to provide the largest audience with the greatest information that would impact that audience. In their visual coverage of Volkswagen’s emission scandal commonly referred to as “Dieselgate,” newspapers from around the world seemed to fall short of this practice. This study investigates the type of visuals and themes used by more than 6,000 newspapers from news outlets across the globe in their coverage of Dieselgate. In a content analysis of newspapers’ front pages for one week following Volkswagen’s Clean Air Act of 1963 Notice of Violation, this study reveals that the dominate visual deployed by newspapers from around the world is a single photograph. The research also finds that a dominant visual theme in the newspaper coverage of Dieselgate around the world is financial in nature. Perhaps more concerning is the absence of visual representation of Dieselgate as a global environmental issue.
Effects of Brand Placement in Mobile Applications on Consumer Responses • Haseon Park, University of North Dakota • This study examined the effects of individual thinking style and ad congruency to explore the effects of native advertising on consumer responses in mobile applications. The experimental results revealed the interaction effects of nativity and thinking styles, nativity and congruency. This study findings contribute not only to the understanding of the effects of thinking styles and ad congruency in native advertising, but also to extending the scope of mobile native advertising research.
The UNC Academic Scandal: A Framing Analysis of Local Media Coverage • Matthew Stilwell, University of South Carolina • The purpose of this study is to examine how a local media outlet, The News & Observer, reported the University of North Carolina (UNC) academic scandal. This study used a framing analysis and constant-comparative methodology to analyze the dominant frames that were emphasized or resistant in local media coverage. Results indicated that multiple parties and players were the focus of the news stories. Factors including blame and athletics in higher education are discussed.
Sharing Cultural Goods on Facebook: Social Capital, Opinion Leadership, and Electronic Word-of-Mouth • Alec Tefertiller, University of Oregon • While the role of paid advertising in online environments has diminished, electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) has become increasingly valuable. This study sought to determine if consumers’ trust in their social media network, defined as social capital, or identification as an opinion leader better predicted social media eWOM related to cultural goods. The key finding was that perceived opinion leadership consistently best predicted Facebook eWOM.
Chinese Watchdogs: Journalistic Role Performance in Chinese Media • Emeka Umejei, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa • This paper examines the relationship between journalistic role conception and role performance within Chinese media organisations based in Africa (Xinhua News Agency, China Central Television and China Daily newspaper). It contributes a non-western perspective to the debate on the relationship between role conception and role performance. The paper demonstrates the ways in which the relationship between role conception and role performance within Chinese media is hinged upon conditional autonomy in relation to the typology of stories. Furthermore, it argues the dominant practice of using survey methods in examining the relationship between journalistic role conception and role performance is not suited to contexts outside Anglo-American sphere. It therefore proposes a qualitative approach that combines semi-structured interview and qualitative content analysis in examining this relationship within contexts of limited journalistic autonomy.
Twitter as a digital union: Exploring blogger reactions to corporate collapse • Mariah Wellman, The University of Iowa • This paper asks whether Twitter can afford the formation of digital unions during labor crises using a cast study of Mode Media, a lifestyle publishing and ad network that shut down without compensating its bloggers. Through a textual analysis of tweets containing the hashtag #ModeOwesBloggers, I argue bloggers used Twitter to create a sense of solidarity in a time of struggle by advocating for change, empathizing with other bloggers, and communicating feelings to Mode Media.
Meeting the New Players: A Study of Digital Native Journalists’ Professionalism • LU WU • Digital native journalists have brought new blood and challenges to journalistic professionalism. This paper surveyed digital native journalists and legacy journalists on their three dimensions of professionalism. Findings show that digital native journalists are both preservers and transformers of journalistic professionalism. Identifying how digital native journalists differentiate from legacy journalists on aspects of professionalism has afforded some clues of how journalistic professional values and practices will develop in the future.
Social News: Enhancing Media Richness by Connecting Virtuality with Reality in Cyberspace • Yanfang Wu • Utilizing a purposeful snow-ball rolling strategy, the investigator conducted semi-structured qualitative interviews from June to July 2014. Thirteen interviewees titled journalists, convergence journalists, editors, community editors, and engagement editors, from thirteen different newsrooms of multiple platforms, varied from newspaper, radio, television, magazine to online only news organizations were interviewed. Their affiliated news organizations vary in size, from large to small. Based on media richness theory, the study shed light on how journalists, using social cues, delve into the virtual world, build connections between the “virtuality” and “reality” through finding sources, interacting with audiences, constructing virtual communities in the cyberspace and integrating the “virtuality” with the “reality” into the news production process. With its rich multimedia function that allows immediate response between journalists and audiences, social media becomes a rich medium that connects the “virtuality” to the “reality” in news.
Creating Spaces Revisited: Students Perspectives on International and Multi(inter)cultural Public Relations Education • Kiaya Young • In a global market employees need the skills to be able to work in a multicultural market. International public relation skills are becoming a necessity. Public Relations practitioners are educated on various fundamental skills through their educational programs, but there has been a lack of international and multi(inter)cultural education. This paper is a restudy of Nilajana Bardhan 2003 study Creating Spaces for International and Multi(inter)cultural Perspectives in Undergraduate Public Reactions Education
Perceptions of Advertising with Interracial Couples: The Influence of Race and Attitudes Toward Interracial Dating • Taylor Young, Oklahoma State University • The present study analyzed how models’ race or ethnicity influences attitudes toward advertising that portrays interracial couples. A survey of college students (n=309) was conducted to examine whether the type of couple (interracial or same race) or the configuration of the interracial couple (Black female – White male or Black male – White female) influenced their response. Additionally, it explored how respondents’ race or ethnicity and preexisting attitudes toward interracial dating impacted their response to the ad.
Culture, Media, and Depression: A Focus Group Study in Understanding International Students’ Mental Health Literacy • Nanlan Zhang • This study employed qualitative, in-depth focus groups with international students and U.S. students to explore their perceived mental health literacy and perceptions of information portrayed in mass media regarding depression. The results found that American students showed openness and sufficiency in talking about depression. International students assigned stigma in the Asian and African cultural values as a major barrier to discussing personal experiences regarding depression in public. Both groups held negative attitudes toward media in conveying messages about depression but showed more trust on social support, which implied a need for improving public’s mental health literacy.
Entertainment Studies 2017 Abstracts
Blackish: Deconstruction and the changing nature of black identity • Venise Berry, University of Iowa • The hit ABC television show Blackish explores the changing nature of black identity in America. Specifically, Blackish critically tests a number of core ideas that influence the authenticity of blackness. This analysis examines how black identity and authenticity are communicated within this specific television program as a resistant, satirical narrative effectively deconstructing the commodification of stereotypes, stigmas, racial biases, and historic myths.
Undisclosed information – Serial is My Favorite Murder: Examining Motivations in the True Crime Podcast Audience • Kelli Boling, University of South Carolina • This study explores the true crime podcast audience within the uses and gratifications theoretical frame. Using an online survey (n = 308), this study found that the true crime podcast audience is predominantly female (73%), and five motivations were prominent for users: entertainment, convenience, boredom, voyeurism, and relaxation. All significant motivating factors were found to be more salient for females than for males. Practical and theoretical implications for genre-specific media are discussed.
My Sexual Entertainment, My Vote: How Attitudes Toward Condom Use in Pornography Related to Support for California’s Condom Law • Kyla Garrett Wagner, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Joseph Cabosky, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • In 2016, Californians voted down Proposition #60, which aimed to mandate condom use in pornography. This study’s survey of residents assessed how one’s entertainment preferences relate to their support for regulation. Findings generally suggest some aversion to condom use in pornography, especially among heterosexual males. Data suggest the more pornography one watches, the more averse one is to condoms in pornography, as well more opposed to regulation. Results varied more by gender than sexual orientation.
“FYI: This Video is Sponsored:” Exploring Credibility in User-Generated and Professionally-Generated YouTube Videos • Madeline Migis, The University of North Texas; Sara Champlin, The University of North Texas • YouTube now holds the attention of more 18 to 34 year olds than any major cable network. As a result, advertisers capitalize on the popularity of YouTube content creators to broadcast branded information through the creator’s large audiences. A sample of 144 videos, representing 44 creators, were examined. From this dataset, themes were generated that pointing to ways in which credibility and truthfulness are depicted in sponsored and non-sponsored content across user- and professionally-generated content.
Selfie-posting on social media: The influence of narcissism, identification, and gender on celebrity followers • Li Chen; Carol Liebler • The celebrities and the selfie are both prevalent in contemporary popular culture. The present research aims to examine social media users’ narcissism, involvement with celebrity culture, and gender as predictors on their selfie-posting behavior. We recruited 594 respondents through MTurk, who lived in the US and followed at least one celebrity on social media. Respondents completed a 15-minutes online survey through Qualtric. The current study provided empirical evidence of narcissism’s critical role in selfie-posting and involvement with celebrity culture. Results also showed that the identification with celebrity culture and the attitudes towards celebrity selfies served as mediators in the relationship between narcissism and selfie-posting frequency. Meanwhile, gender played a role in these relationships. Based on our study, women post selfies more frequently than men. Interestingly, we also found the interaction effect between respondent gender and celebrity gender on the attitudes towards celebrity selfies.
The Efficacy of Radio Entertainment Education in Disseminating Health Messages: A Meta- Analysis • Pratiti Diddi, Pennsylvania state university; Sushma Kumble, Pennsylvania state university; Fuyuan Shen • The present meta-analytic review of 23 studies (N = 35,138) examined the persuasive effect of radio based entertainment education efforts in the area of health communication. The results suggested that overall persuasion effects of radio messages was small but significant (r=.13, p<.001). There were significant moderating effects for health issues (r = .17, p<0.001), and exposure time (r = .14, p<0.001) and research design setting (r = .14, p<0.001). Gender did not moderate the effect.
Connecting to the Narrative: The influence of relevance, motivation, and realism on narrative identification. • Matt Eastin, The University of Texas at Austin; Vincent Cicchirillo, DePaul; Mary Dunn, The University of Texas at Austin; Fangxin Xu, The University of Texas at Austin • Over the past two decades, researchers have examined video game play through content, player, and engagement differences to better understand both positive and negative outcomes from play. To extend the research agenda and move gaming research beyond the play perspective, this research turns the focus to game narrative elements. Specifically, this study will use a backstory narrative to examine the effects of setting relevance (i.e., location), motivation (i.e., attack and retaliatory violence), and perceived realism, on identification and subsequent state arousal and state hostility. In doing so, this research furthers the understanding of how interactive storytelling can have an impact on a player’s psychological perspective prior to content engagement.
Social Comparison on Facebook and the Impact on Life Satisfaction • Lee Farquhar, Samford University; Theresa Davidson, Samford University • Facebook use, lower self-esteem, and loneliness have been regularly examined in recent years. However, scholars, it seems, have left a gap with regard to social comparisons on Facebook, which now claims over 1.23 billion in active daily users (Facebook Newsroom, 2017). The effects of these comparisons on general well-being outcomes need further examination. This paper examined Facebook Intensity, general Social Comparisons, and Facebook-specific comparisons as predictors of Life Satisfaction and Happiness. Survey data was collected from college students and Amazon’s Mechanical Turk workers. Broadly speaking, social media matters in terms of one’s happiness and life satisfaction. Results indicate the salience of general social comparisons, and, Facebook-specific comparisons to impact Life Satisfaction and Happiness. Facebook Intensity did not serve as a predictor in either of our models; however, time spent on the site predicted Life Satisfaction.
The influence of female lead characters in political TV shows: Links to political engagement • Jennifer Hoewe, University of Alabama; Lindsey Sherrill, University of Alabama • This study examines political television dramas with lead female characters, proposing a model that links viewing of these shows with political engagement. A survey revealed that individuals who regularly viewed Madam Secretary, The Good Wife, or Scandal reported feelings of transportation and connections with the main characters – women in positions of political power and leadership. These parasocial relationships then led to increases in political interest and self-efficacy, with interest then predicting real-world political participation. The findings illustrate that these political dramas – featuring strong lead female characters – have prosocial implications, including the non-stereotypical representation of women and eventual increases in political engagement among viewers.
Co-op Mode: Players’ Parasocial Interactions with Video Game Characters • Kyle Holody, Coastal Carolina University; Sommersill Tarabek, Savannah College of Art and Design • The present study examined parasocial interaction (PI) and parasocial relationships (PR) within the scope of 2011 high-narrative video game The Last of Us. While previous research on PI and PR focused heavily on celebrities and television content, this study expounded on the limited literature concerning players’ cognitive and attitudinal responses to video games. A survey was utilized to examine effects of the game and related variables, such as players’ aggression, transportation, empathy, and morality. Results were compared to an experimental pilot test and suggest that players experience different interactions with in-game characters and that these interactions are related to different cognitive and emotional responses the players have to the game. The results also justify the need for further research into what influences players’ PIs, aggression, and other game effects, and indicate the effects video game players feel while playing are much more complicated and may last longer than currently understood.
Television for Good? An Examination of Depictions of African American Families in Situation Comedies • Brittany Jefferson • The depictions of African Americans in entertainment has often been a topic of debate. This paper reviews the extant literature regarding depictions of African American families on television shows intended to display positive representations free of stereotypes. Despite the stated goals of such programming, characters featured tended to reflect established racial stereotypes or failed to represent realistic experiences shared by African Americans. The consequences and ethical implications of such programming is also explored.
In Contempt of Court?: Unintended Consequences of Watching Courtroom Shows • Khadija Ejaz; Joon Kim, University of South Carolina, Columbia; Nandini Bhalla, University of South Carolina; Jane Weatherred, University of South Carolina • Courtroom shows like Judge Judy frequently top the ratings charts in the United States. This study examines such shows through media system dependency (MSD). Responses from a sample of 401 respondents were gathered using a self-administered online survey. Analysis revealed that watching courtroom shows made viewers dependent on television to understand the world. At the same time, such dependence was related to poor knowledge of the small claims court system. The implications of this finding are discussed in light of other findings that indicated that watching such shows made viewers more likely to participate in both real and television courts.
Integrating the Theory of Planned Behavior and Uses and Gratifications to Understand Music Streaming Behavior • Heidi Bolduc, University of Central Florida; William Kinnally, University of Central Florida • Nielsen Music 360 Research Report indicates that 67% of all music consumers in the U.S. used digital music streaming services to listen, discover, and share music (The Nielsen Company, 2014). Scholars and music professionals are recognizing the importance of understanding the influences behind music streaming behavior. This study proposes an expanded Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) model by integrating the TPB with music streaming motives from the Uses and Gratifications theory. The expansion reflects an effort to gain a better understanding of the intentions to use music streaming services and actual behavior. Results suggest that both the original TPB and expanded TPB models can be successfully applied within the context of digital music streaming service use. Specifically, attitudes and perceived behavioral control drive behavioral intention in the traditional TPB model whereas only attitudes predict behavior. In the expanded TPB model the motives of convenience and information seeking emerged as contributors to intention to use digital music streaming services, while the motives of entertainment and social identification emerged as predictors of streaming behavior. Ultimately, these results reveal fundamental differences between what leads listeners to use the services and what keeps them listening. The implications are discussed.
Exploring the Effects of Viewer Enjoyment of The Apprentice on Perceptions and Voting Behavior for President Trump • Shu-Yueh Lee, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh; Sara Hansen, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh • This research explores how viewer enjoyment of The Apprentice and The Celebrity Apprentice as entertainment media impacted attitudes toward Donald Trump and voting intentions in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Data from an online survey with 624 responses were analyzed using path analysis. Meaningfulness in watching the shows contributed to enjoyment, which positively influenced attitudes toward Trump’s charismatic leadership that then predicted intention to vote for him. Implications for media entertainment and culture are discussed.
Dad, Where Are We Going? Analyzing the Popular Chinese Reality TV Show from a Communication Perspective • Sixiao Liu, University at Buffalo, SUNY; Hua Wang • “In this study, we examined a popular Chinese reality TV show Dad, Where Are We Going, using the framework of entertainment-education communication strategy. We analyzed the program content of five celebrity fathers and their children engaging in a variety of challenging activities as well as the audience response on social media. Our quantitative content analysis included two parts: (1) using 10 communication dimensions (five nonverbal and five verbal) for decoding different parenting styles, and (2) evaluating the scale, valence, and insights from audience comments online. We discuss the research findings and implications for parenting and fatherhood in the contemporary Chinese society.
Spoiler Alert: Can Co-Viewing with Smartphones Save TV from YouTube? • Rebecca Nee, San Diego State University; Valerie Barker, sdsu • Viewership of entertainment programming on traditional television channels has been steadily declining. Mobile phones, social media, streaming videos, and YouTube compete for the attention of younger audiences. This study of 18 and 19-year-old college students (N = 345) found television viewing is far from dead, however. The practice of co-viewing virtually with others through a mobile phone enhances the experience for young adults, providing a sense of social capital affinity and gratifying social identity needs.
Television and the role model effect: Exposure to political drama and attitude towards female politicians • Azmat Rasul, Florida State University; Arthur Raney • Entertainment television historically relied on the engaging potential of political broadcasting, and political fiction played a significant role as a narrator of stories about politics and politicians using different plot lines such as comedy, drama, thriller, and action. To understand the processes through which exposure to primetime drama culminates in an attitudinal change, the current study proposes an SEM model to explicate the role of essential mediating variables such as identification, transportation into the narrative, enjoyment, and political self-efficacy, and focuses on direct and indirect effects between media use motivations and attitude toward female politicians. The results indicated that there is a significant relationship between exposure to political drama and audience attitude towards female politicians.
Effects of Customized Ratings on User Evaluations of Television Shows • Jeremy Saks, Ohio University; Carson Wagner, Ohio University • This study analyzes the effects of customized ratings on individuals’ enjoyment of television shows. The study utilizes an experimental methodology that attempts to mimic that of popular media distribution websites, such as Netflix. The results show that individuals report differing levels of enjoyment depending on the ratings they receive prior to viewing shows in three genres despite the fact that the ratings are randomly assigned. The results and implications are discussed.
The role of readers’ performance of a narrative on their beliefs about transgender persons: A mental models approach • Neelam Sharma • Narratives are powerful communication tools that can influence people’s beliefs and attitudes. Narrative processing literature explains cognitive operations involved in information processing in terms of transportation and identification with characters. Narrative performance, however, is an unexplored construct in narrative engagement literature. Narrative performance is a process by which readers bring cognitions and emotions to construct distinct story worlds into which they can be transported. This study advances the narrative processing literature by examining how people’s performance of a narrative affects their story-related beliefs. A three-condition experiment, with 174 voluntary participants, was conducted to gauge the effects of performance on viewers’ beliefs about transgender persons. Multivariate regression analysis demonstrated that narrative performance can weaken the effects of narrative transportation, and performance can be a stronger predictor of viewers’ story-related beliefs. The study discriminates narrative performance from narrative transportation, demonstrating construct validity. This study uses mental models approach as a theoretical basis, and along with operationalization of narrative performance, develops valid and reliable scales for measuring viewers’ beliefs about transgender persons and their propensity to take action in socializing with transgender persons.
Appealing to Niche Markets: A Typology of Transmedia Storytelling for Digital Television • Ryan Stoldt • “Traditional television networks have a limited amount of time available to broadcast content, so programming decisions are based on maximizing potential market reach instead of in appealing to small markets. Digital television’s broadcast time is solely limited by server space and regulation of broadband data transference, so their technological infrastructure affords more opportunities to appeal to smaller markets. These affordances can be seen through the types of programming digital television services produce. This paper proposes a typology of transmedia stories used by digital television services like Netflix and Hulu to appeal to niche markets to grow their business. Five types of transmedia stories were theorized to appeal to varying levels of niche markets: serialized continuations, augmented continuations, world building universes, cross-platform personalities, and adaptations. This typology provides a better understanding of the production practices of digital television networks, an area of research that has received little attention to date.
Binge-Watching: A Concept Explication • Stephen Warren, University of Massachusetts • Binge-watching has yet to be adequately analyzed and researched to determine its effects, despite myriad Americans engaging in the activity. While some studies have attempted to discover its causes or effects, most research fails to operationalize the viewing aspects of binge-watching that make the experience unique. This concept explication reviewed the existing literature on other binge activities and behaviors and attempted to develop guidelines for more specifically defining and measuring binge-watching in future studies.
Behind the Music: How Music Journalists Understand Their Roles and Their Readers • Kelsey Whipple, University of Texas at Austin • Through in-depth interviews, this study explores the professional roles of music journalists and the ways they think about and create content for their audiences. It applies the hierarchy of influences and journalistic role conceptions to a new role for these lifestyle journalists: curator. The findings also suggest that music journalists see consideration of their audiences as limiting, and they are driven to focus on increasingly niche genres of music to differentiate themselves as experts.
Exploring the Business Potential of Location-Based Mobile Games: Taking Pokémon Go as an Example • Linwan Wu, University of South Carolina; Matthew Stilwell, University of South Carolina • Pokémon Go, a location-based mobile game, has been tremendously prevalent ever since its launch in 2016. Advertising professionals have begun to consider this game as a promising advertising platform. This study investigates the business potential of this game by conducting a survey to examine the psychological process of the gameplay and how it leads to advertising effectiveness. Results indicated that players experienced spatial presence, which positively influenced their attitudes toward and behavior intentions to the sponsors. Moreover, spatial presence was positively influenced by players’ game engagement, perceived mobility, and contextual perceived value (CPV). We also identified players’ motives of playing Pokémon Go, including the exercise, entertainment, and social motive. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.
Don’t Respond to Strangers: How a Groundbreaking Television Drama Serial Helped Raise Domestic Violence Awareness in China • Zhiying Yue; Hua Wang • Don’t Respond to Strangers is the first and only television drama serial about domestic violence in China. Given its purposeful attempt to address domestic violence as a prevalent yet taboo topic, we used entertainment-education (E-E) as an overarching framework and the protection motivation theory (PMT) as our conceptual foundation to examine this program. We first analyzed the messaging in drama serial and the viewer comments posted on online forums about the show. Major themes identified from both the drama serial and viewer comments were consistent for raising awareness and stimulating discussions about domestic violence. Based on the results, we conducted an online survey with 326 adults in China. Within PMT framework, path model results showed that exposure to this drama was significantly associated with perceived severity of domestic violence and perceived reward from tolerating domestic violence. Furthermore, perceived severity and self-efficacy were significant predictors of Domestic Violence Law support and the intention to fight against domestic violence; self-efficacy was also a significant predictor of intention to intervene domestic violence; and perceived reward was the only significant predictor of tolerating domestic violence. These findings have theoretical and practical implications for E-E interventions in domestic violence context
Facebook vs. YouTube Manners: Effects of Pseudonymity on Posting Politeness • Gi Woong Yun, University of Nevada, Reno; Sasha Allgayer, Bowling Green State University • Facebook and YouTube function differently, but particularly in regards to anonymity or pseudonymity of users. This study evaluates public reaction to one of the most contentious topics of current European music and art; Conchita Wurst. Comments from Facebook and YouTube were collected and quantitatively analyzed to discern similarities/differences between the types of comments posted by users on the two platforms. Of particular intrigue was the role pseudonymity and self-identifying information have on social media manners. Overall, many users seemed to be unimpacted by levels of self-identifying information. However, profane language was less frequent and replies to comments were more civil on the network with self-identifying information; Facebook. The results of this study shed some light to online politeness: Systematic mechanisms that identify self and personal networks (Facebook’s use of full name and friendship networks) correlate with increased politeness and reduction of nasty comments towards other users.
