President had limited framing power in stem cell debate
[July 15, 2010]
Former President George W. Bush had little influence over the media and public opinion in regard to stem cell research, according to a recent study published in Newspaper Research Journal.
Researchers Shahira Fahmy, Wayne Wanta and Jeannine E. Relly found that despite repeated presidential criticism of stem cell research, most of the 200 newspaper articles they examined were positive. The study examines coverage from 2004 to 2006, before Bush’s veto of a bill that would have ended federal restrictions on stem cell research funding.
While Bush’s main argument against stem cell research was based on ethical issues, only 5.5 percent of articles focused on ethical concerns regarding stem cell research.
The authors concluded that the more Bush spoke out against stem cell research, the more sources were quoted in support of the issue in an attempt by news media to report both sides. Also, the more coverage of the issue, the more informed individuals became on the issue and more information resulted in more support for stem cell research.
Fahmy is an associate professor and Relly is an assistant professor in the School of Journalism at the University of Arizona. Wanta is the Welch-Bridgewater Chair in sports journalism in the School of Journalism and Broadcasting at Oklahoma State University.
The study was published in the summer 2010 issue of Newspaper Research Journal.
Contacts: Sandra H. Utt Cell: (901) 628-2553 e-mail: or
Elinor Kelley Grusin e-mail: .
Marijuana coverage framed differently in editorials, op-eds
[July 15, 2010]
Editorials and op-ed pages framed the debate over medical marijuana differently, using societal, legal and therapeutic frames to look at this highly-contested issue, according to a recent study published in Newspaper Research Journal.
Researcher Guy Golan conducted a content analysis of more than 100 editorial and op-ed articles and found that editorials tended to frame medical marijuana in terms of the social, political and legal implications of legalized medicinal marijuana, while op-ed pieces tended to look only at the medical implications of the debate.
Golan also found that the articles were missing opinions from prominent scientists and religious figures, as most of the articles were written by or included information from newspaper editors, academics or advocacy groups. While these results are consistent with past studies, this led to concern about the lack of balance in framing controversial public issues in newspaper editorials and op-ed pieces.
Golan is an assistant professor in the department of communication at Seton Hall University.
The study was published in the summer 2010 issue of Newspaper Research Journal.
Contacts: Sandra H. Utt Cell: (901) 628-2553 e-mail: or Elinor Kelley Grusin e-mail: .
The larger a newspaper’s local population, the broader its online market
[October 6, 2011]
Research from the Newspaper Research Journal suggests that big city local news is interesting to people hundreds and even thousands of miles away.
In fact, the Los Angeles-based Daily News website attracts readers far away than within Los Angeles.
For readers of the online version of the Daily News, the reader’s average distance from Los Angeles was 422.5 miles.
The research conducted by Hsiang Iris Chyi, an assistant professor at the University of Texas at Austin, included reader surveys at 28 local newspapers that suggest newspapers based in locales with larger populations, as well as those with higher print circulations, tend to have a more geographically dispersed online readership.
Local news stories from Los Angeles top the list, which included a Staten Island paper, in a geographic ranking of reach.
The top-10 list for geographic reach of newspapers’ websites included:
1. Los Angeles – DailyNews.com
2. Denver – DenverPost.com
3. Denver – RockyMountainNews.com
4. Pocatello – JournalNet.com
5. Waterloo – WCFCourier.com
6. St. Paul – TwinCities.com
7. Erie – GoErie.com
8. El Paso – ElPasoTimes.com
9. Whittier – WhittierDailyNews.com
10. Dubuque – THOnline.com
The study was published in the summer 2011 issue of Newspaper Research Journal.
Contacts: Sandra H. Utt Cell: (901) 628-2553 e-mail: or Elinor Kelley Grusin e-mail:
Study Shows the Rise in Use of Online Forums
[October 6, 2011]
While the use of anonymous online forums is growing among newspapers, a majority of reporters say the online comments do not promote civil thoughtful discussion, according to a recent study published in Newspaper Research Journal. Researcher Arthur Santana concluded that many reporters are troubled by the anonymous content and express dismay over their newspaper’s “providing a forum for anonymous discussion, where emotions run high and mudslinging is the norm.”
According to Santana, although most newspapers have online forums, almost half of reporters “never” respond to readers’ comments on their own stories. Some 41.7 percent of reporters in Santana’s research said that they have not changed their approach to reporting based on reader comments.
In fact, 23.1 percent of reporters adapted their reporting practices to include more sources, and 22.9 percent of reporters changed their practices to include more facts. Hence, the online forum has become a medium for feedback to journalists.
Citizen comments also “have spurred reporters to re-examine the newsworthiness of a topic and have also helped them think of new and different stories to tell while nudging them toward new and different ways to tell them,” according to Santana, a doctoral student in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Oregon.
The study was published in the summer 2011 issue of Newspaper Research Journal.
Contacts: Sandra H. Utt Cell: (901) 628-2553 e-mail: or Elinor Kelley Grusin e-mail:
Partisanship Influences Perceptions of Communications from Government Agencies
[February 16, 2010]
Government agencies have long distributed prepackaged “video news releases,” or VNRs, to media outlets, as part of their mission to keep the public informed about their policies and activities. The United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) has said that distributing VNRs without clearly identifying the government as their source, as was done on at least two occasions by the Bush Administration, violates laws against covert propaganda. However, to date little has been known about the effects of attribution – or lack of attribution – of government VNRs on audiences.
A study by a team of researchers from Penn State University and the University of Hartford published in the current issue of the Journal of Public Relations Research indicates that the effects of attribution on audiences seems to depend more on who’s watching the VNR than on what the government agency is saying in it.
According to Colleen Connolly-Ahern, an Assistant Professor at Penn State University and the leader of the research team that included Susan Grantham of University of Hartford and Maria Cabrera-Baukus of Penn State, “The original reason for the legislation, and the premise upon which the GAO has operated, is that VNRs are somehow more credible when they appear to be independent news stories, and not identified as government communications. But our findings don’t indicate that at all.”
In fact, said Connolly-Ahern, the credibility of the communications seems to depend on your political affiliation. “Self-identified Republicans actually judged a VNR higher in expertise when they knew it was from a government agency, and not a traditional news story. For self-identified Democrats the effects were reversed, with Democrats finding the VNR less expert when it came from a governmental agency.” The data was collected during the last year of President Bush’s second term.
The role of government is to develop policies that support public interests and reduce risks for all citizens. But Connolly-Ahern, Grantham and Cabrera-Baukus’ findings indicate it’s important for administrators to understand that citizens may base the credibility of their communications on their relationship with the party in power.
The research was supported by a grant from the Arthur W. Page Center for Integrity in Public Communication at the Penn State College of Communications. The authors are now planning to repeat the study. “The change in administrations has given us the chance to see whether or not the findings are different under a Democratic administration,” said Connolly-Ahern.
Contacts: Colleen Connolly-Ahern, Assistant Professor, College of Communications, Penn State University, or Susan Grantham, Associate Professor, School of Communication, University of Hartford, .
New study shows how journalism ethics developed
[September 11, 2009]
Three commissions that investigated violence in the 1960s had a significant impact on the development of widely accepted views about journalism ethics, according to a study published in the summer 2009 issue of Journalism & Communication Monographs.
In a monograph titled “Two Visions of Responsibility: How National Commissions Contributed to Journalism Ethics, 1963-1975,” Glen Feighery says it was not just the work of the Hutchins Commission or the Watergate investigation that prompted media organizations to focus more on social responsibility, but that the work of three commissions, The President’s Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, and the National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence, offered significant advice on how journalists should ethically approach their work. The media responded with revisions of codes of ethics, the creation of news councils and journalism reviews, and increased employment of minorities.
Feighery argues that through this challenge and response, a heightened sense of media responsibility arose. Part of the evolution within journalism ethics at the time forced journalists to consider the relationship between their independence and their responsibility, Journalists valued their freedom from entities of authority, such as government, special interest groups, etc., but they also recognized a duty to adequately inform the public about existing problems. This strong sense of responsibility required journalists to go a step beyond minimizing harm and provide people with information that would allow them to make an informed decision.
Feighery argues that journalists struck the balance between freedom and responsibility by developing the approach of “autonomy,” which meant that journalists would follow self-imposed restraints. As a result, journalists could maintain their independence and work for the greater good of the public, creating an ethical approach that continued to influence the media in the decades following the 1970s .
Feighery is an assistant professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Utah.
CONTACT: Glen Feighery, University of Utah, Office Phone: (801) 585-7521, Email: .
Monograph Explores Cultural Politics of Colorism in India
[December 16, 2009]
Magazine advertisements and television commercials for cosmetics and personal hygiene products in India illustrate a cultural bias toward lighter skin, according to the findings of a study published in the fall 2009 issue of Journalism and Communication Monographs.
In their monograph, “Melanin on the Margins: Advertising and the Cultural Politics of Fair/Light/White Beauty in India,” Radhika Parameswaran and Kavitha Cardoza first provide context for “colorism,” or skin color discrimination, in India. They explain that the nineteenth century colonial attitudes that considered the science of race looked at physical characteristics of natives in order to prove their inferiority. Likewise, colorism has roots in the caste system of India, as well as in the country’s ancient history when lighter-skinned tribes invaded around 1500 B.C.
The authors argue that colorism affects women more than men, and non-white women consider light-colored skin to be an asset that can improve one’s social and economic status. Magazine advertisements, matrimonial classified advertisements, film and music industries, and fashion magazine editorials promote skin-lightening cosmetics and personal products by taking advantage of this cultural perspective.
In their study, Parameswaran and Cardoza identify the themes of transformation, scientific authority and heterosexual romance in the rhetoric of the advertisements they analyze. These themes suggest that a woman can change her skin color; that she should trust the products developed by western science; and that she can gain a successful, fulfilling relationship with a man as a result of having lighter skin.
Parameswaran is an associate professor in the School of Journalism at Indiana University, Bloomington, and Cardoza is a senior reporter at WAMU Public Radio in Washington, D.C.
CONTACT: Dr. Parameswaran at the School of Journalism, Indiana University. Phone: (812) 855-8569. Email:
Enhancing Student Segmentation Skills and Targeting Knowledge
[July 25, 2009]
In the advertising world, it is becoming ever more important to justify advertising expenditures. In order to more effectively assess the impact of advertising investments, a popular strategy is to divide the market place into meaningful segments, evaluate the responsiveness and profitability of each segment and then select the “best” segments to target. Given that there are numerous methods for dividing the market place and as a result, numerous potential segmentation schemes, it is necessary to utilize an effective metric that will allow for the evaluation and selection of the most beneficial segmentation scheme.
The Direct Marketing industry has long used decile charts, gains tables and lift charts to demonstrate and evaluate response differences between market segments and to compare competing segmentation schemes. As the number of schemes increases, the complexity of comparison also increases using these methods. For the most part, marketing analysts rely on “eye ball”” inspection, without any rigorous statistical measurement. If scheme A “looks” better than scheme B (higher highs, and lower lows), then scheme A is deemed superior and recommended for incorporation. If there are numerous competing schemes, the “eye ball” method becomes difficult, making it even more challenging to select the optimum segmentation scheme.
The Gini coefficient, a statistic developed more than 100 years ago ago for evaluating disparity of wealth within a population is recommended as a useful metric for comparing competing segmentation schemes or for comparing competing response models. The Gini coefficient rages from 0 to 1. Once the Gini Coefficient is computed for each segmentation scheme, a decision can be immediately rendered by selecting the scheme with the highest Gini coefficient. For a more detailed description of how the Gini coefficient is related to other methods currently used to evaluate response performance, please refer to the author’s article in the Journal of Advertising Education.
CONTACT: Henry Greene, Ph.D., Central Connecticut State University, .
AEJMC Statement on Open-Access Electronic Journals and Nuisance Lawsuits
April 9, 2013 | The Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) is committed to unbridled scholarly inquiry and criticism. Academic freedom is essential to building the applicable theory that adds to journalism and mass communication knowledge. Evaluation is requisite to this scientific method. And the integrity of journalism and mass communication research should be rigorously evaluated before its publication in peer-reviewed journals.
Such integrity is currently challenged by the recent proliferation of open-access electronic journals that charge author fees for publication, including those that have been described as “predatory.” The standards of manuscript acceptance for these predatory journals may lack rigor, and the quality of their articles may bear scrutiny.
Librarians who monitor the integrity of scholarly journals and bloggers who criticize the predatory nature of some open-access journals have been intimidated with unmerited lawsuits by some of these journal publishers.
Abusive attempts to muzzle unfavorable scholarly evaluations and criticisms carry grave ramifications for librarians and scholars who may express negative opinions about the quality of these journals. Such attempts pose a real and perceived threat to those in the scholarly community. Most likely to be gagged are those who assess professional journals and the institutions that employ journal authors and editors who may criticize these predatory journals. Equally susceptible are the journalism and mass communication programs that employ the communication scholars who may question these publication venues.
AEJMC reaffirms its fundamental belief in the compelling need for academic freedom that underlies evaluation and criticism of the quality of research and of the journals for this research. AEJMC pledges its unwavering support and defense of those who face litigational intimidations in connection with their candid evaluation of research and journals and whose assessment is essential to journalism and mass communication scholarship.
AEJMC 2013 Resolutions
AEJMC Members approved resolutions during the 2013 year.
- Resolution One: April 2, 2013 — AEJMC Resolution: 25th Anniversary of Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier.
