Science Communication 2009 Abstracts
Science Communication Interest Group
Psychological responses to environmental messages: The roles of environmental values, message issue distance, message efficacy and idealistic construal • Lee Ahern, Penn State • This study examines the roles of message distance and efficacy in psychological responses to environmental communications, and introduces construal level, specifically idealistic values versus pragmatic concerns, as a mediating variable through which values manifest themselves in pro-environmental attitudes and behavioral intentions. Idealistic construals were found to significantly mediate the values-attitude and values-intentions relationships, and issue distance was found to enhance efficaciousness. Implications and possibilities for future research are discussed.
Low-fat, no-fat and sugar free: Adolescents’ media use, knowledge of nutrition, food preferences, and attitudes toward healthy eating and exercise • Kim Bissell, University of Alabama • Several studies have examined the convergence of increasing obesity rates and the psychosocial effects it may have on adolescents’ perceptions of weight in themselves and others, but surprising little attention is given to children’s knowledge of nutrition and their food preferences based on their time spent with the media.
Audience framing of a slow-motion technological disaster • Camille Broadway, University of Texas at Arlington; Rebecca Cline, Karmanos Cancer Center/Wayne State University • This study used focus groups and in-depth interviews to explore audience-based frames of an environmental disaster in Libby, Montana. Because of widespread and long-term asbestos exposure in Libby, residents of the town are suffering from what can be classified as a slow-motion technological disaster. In looking at how residents framed the issues surrounding the disaster, two primary frames emerged: citizen justice and town survival.
Science on television: Recent trends in portrayals and their contributions to public attitudes toward science • Anthony Dudo, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Dominique Brossard, University of Wisconsin Madison; James Shanahan, Fairfield University; Dietram Scheufele, University of Wisconsin – Madison; Michael Morgan, UMass; Nancy Signorielli, University of Delaware • Twenty five years after Gerbner et al. seminal report on television and science attitudes, there is a need to update the data on portrayals of science and to approach the cultivation question with more sophisticated analyses. The present study addresses this need by analyzing images of science in television between 2000-2006. We then examine the potential relationships between exposure to television and attitudes toward science with an in-depth analysis of 2006 General Social Survey (GSS) data.
It Depends on What You’ve Heard: Exploring the Risk Perception-Attitude Link Across Different Applications of Nanotechnology • Michael Cacciatore, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Dietram Scheufele, University of Wisconsin – Madison; Elizabeth Corley, University of Wisconsin-Madison • Recent research in nanotechnology has primarily focused on broad risk vs. benefit perceptions, ignoring attitudes toward specific applications. This study builds on previous research and explores the extent to which a variety of factors, including value predispositions, media use, knowledge, and risk and benefit perceptions influence attitudes toward nanotechnology.
“Who’s Minding the Storm: Hierarchical Regression Analysis of Factors Predicting Hurricane Preparedness” • Steve Collins, University of Central Florida; Harry Weger, University of Central Florida; Mark Johnson, University of Central Florida • This study sought to develop a better understanding of what Florida residents know about hurricane preparedness and how the mass media can be used to more effectively transmit potentially life-saving information. It is sobering how little some people knew about hurricane preparedness.
Getting Citizens Involved: How controversial science policy debates stimulate issue participation during a political campaign • Kajsa Dalrymple, University of Wisconsin – Madison; Amy Becker, University of Wisconsin-Madison, School of Journalism and Mass Communication; Dominique Brossard, University of Wisconsin Madison; Dietram Scheufele, University of Wisconsin – Madison; Al Gunther, University of Wisconsin-Madison • This study tests the relative mobilizing effects of predispositional factors and attention to media content during a gubernatorial race that focused heavily on stem cell research as a salient campaign issue. Our analyses are based on a statewide telephone survey (N=508 in June-July 2006) conducted prior to the midterm and gubernatorial elections in Wisconsin. Results show that ideological predispositions and attention to both newspaper and online media best explain issue participation.
The emergence of nano news: Tracking thematic trends and changes in media coverage of nanotechnology • Anthony Dudo, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Sharon Dunwoody, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Dietram Scheufele, University of Wisconsin – Madison • Mediated messages can influence awareness and knowledge gain for issues that are novel or for which citizens have few pre-existing attitudes and knowledge structures. The emerging science of nanotechnology is one such issue. In this study we explore characteristics of nanotechnology media coverage. We track the thematic contours of these stories, introduce methodological strategies to elevate the rigor of subsequent analyses, and consider the implications of our findings for news coverage of future emergent technologies.
Women’s Magazine Coverage of Heart Disease Risk Factors: Good Housekeeping Magazine, 1997 to 2007 • Carolyn Edy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • Women continue to underestimate their risk for heart disease. A textual analysis of the portrayal of women’s risk factors for heart disease in articles published by Good Housekeeping magazine from 1997 to 2007 and in corresponding information endorsed by the American Heart Association found that the magazine coverage, while largely consistent with AHA information, targeted women at low risk for heart disease and never mentioned race as a risk factor.
Efficacy Information in Media Coverage of Infectious Disease Risks: An Ill Predicament? • Darrick Evensen, Cornell University; Christopher Clarke, Cornell University • Scholars have identified efficacy as an important component of risk communication. Previous research, however, reveals that a meager percentage of newspaper articles transmit efficacy information. In this paper, we present content analyses of newspaper coverage concerning West Nile Virus and Avian Influenza and analyze provision of efficacy information. Our results indicate greater provision of efficacy information than previously reported. We discuss possible reasons for departure from previous findings and conclude with implications for risk communication.
Health risk as a threat to freedom: Exploring the role of psychological reactance in reactions to West Nile Virus news coverage • Timothy Fung, University of Wisconsin – Madison; Elliott Hillback, University of Wisconsin – Madison • This experiment applies Psychological Reactance to understand people’s reactions to news about the risk of West Nile Virus. While manipulating gain/loss framing and risk likelihood presented as fractions or percentages, we also investigate the utility of trait uncertainty as a predictor and feelings of distress as an indicator of reactance. Results suggest Psychological Reactance may be useful in interpreting reactions to health risk news, and that trait uncertainty and state distress may enrich its conceptualization.
Promises and Challenges of Teaching Statistical Reasoning to Journalism Undergraduates: Twin Surveys of Department Heads • Robert Griffin, Marquette University; Sharon Dunwoody, University of Wisconsin-Madison • Surveys of journalism department heads in 1997 and 2008 showed general support for journalism students being able to reason with statistical information. Stronger support was associated, in particular, with the perception that this cognitive skill would give students an advantage in the journalism job market.
One or Many? The Influence of Episodic and Thematic Climate Change Frames • Philip Hart, Cornell University • This study examines the impact that different methods of framing climate change risk have on predispositions for behavior change and support for policies that address climate change.
Two-Sided Messages and Pandemic Flu: Persuading the Public to Follow Contradictory Government Directives • Karen Hilyard, University of Tennessee • Using exploratory one-on-one interviews (N=19) followed by a 2 x 3, post-test-only experiment with a representative national probability sample (N=443), this study investigates effective ways of persuading the public to follow two inherently-contradictory but critical government health directives during a flu pandemic: “social distancing” and centralized public distribution of medicines and supplies, (referred to here as “public queuing”). The study examines the effect of two-sided messages on perceived source credibility and behavioral intention.
Value Predispositions, Mass Media, and Attitudes toward Nanotechnology: The Interplay of Public and Experts • Shirley Ho, Nanyang Technological University; Dietram Scheufele, University of Wisconsin – Madison; Elizabeth Corley, University of Wisconsin-Madison • This study examines the factors influencing public and experts’ perceptions of nanotechnology and addresses the pertinent question of whether experts are indeed more objective in their judgment of nanotechnology than do the public. First, compared with the experts, the results demonstrate that the public judged nanotechnology as having more risks and lesser benefits and indicated lesser support for federal funding of nanotechnology.
Public meetings about local cancer cluster investigations: Exploring the relative influence of conventional vs. symbolic risk communication on attendees’ post-meeting concern • Katherine McComas, Cornell University; Helen Brown, Cornell Univeristy; Craig Trumbo, Colorado State University • This study examines the relative influence of official versus unofficial risk messages on concern about cancer clusters in six U.S. communities. As part of a larger study of cancer clusters, we obtained written responses from 125 individuals who attended an official public meeting in their community about a suspected cancer cluster. We asked respondents why attending the meeting made them feel more or less concerned.
Examination of newspaper coverage of a controversial scientific technology • Jane W. Peterson, Greenlee School Iowa State University; Jennifer Scharpe, Iowa State University • This case study examines newspaper coverage of a controversial scientific issue, cloning of food animals. This analysis of selected newspaper articles about meat cloning uses a multidimensional approach designed with concepts from social amplification and attenuation of risk. The study uses tenets of this framework to examine the attention afforded the issue, the information provided by sources, the framing of that information, and the directionality of those frames.
Crisis communication during beef recalls due to E. coli O157:H7 contamination • Jennifer Scharpe, Iowa State University • This study aims to evaluate the quantity and quality of crisis communication efforts during one specific type of public health emergency, beef recalls due to E. coli O157:H7 contamination. A content analysis of 452 US newspaper reports immediately following 36 individual beef recalls issued from 2003 to 2008 was conducted. The findings indicate that the type of media coverage, the sources used, and the messages communicated led to the attenuation of risks associated with beef recalls.
Buying Green or Being Green: Environmental Consciousness Frames in Teen Girl Magazines • Alexandra Smith, Penn State University; Denise Bortree, Penn State University • Studies of environmental communication have rarely focused on teen girls. Though youth show greater interest in addressing environmental issues than adults, teen girls lag behind in their knowledge of environmental issues. This paper reports a framing study of environmental issues in 19 teen girl magazines.
Adolescents’ Wishful Identification with Scientist Characters on Television • Jocelyn Steinke, Western Michigan University; Brooks Applegate, Western Michigan University; Maria Lapinski, Michigan State University; Marilee Long, Colorado State University; Lisa Ryan, Lakeview High School • Adolescents’ wishful identification (WID) with scientist characters on television is important to examine because these characters may serve as occupational role models. This study examined adolescents’ WID with televised scientist characters and found differences for interactions related to sex of the television viewer, sex of the television character, television program, and specific attributes exhibited by the television character.
Online Sources of Health Information: An analysis of local TV Web sites • Andrea Tanner, University of South Carolina; Daniela Friedman, University of South Carolina • This study provides a nationwide examination of health news on local television Web sites to evaluate resources and sources used to develop online health stories. Specifically, this content analysis assessed the specific sources of information (e.g. medical journal, government spokesperson, etc.), individuals directly quoted and authorship of television news online content.
Comprehension of science and technology hypertext: Cognitive flexibility or construction integration? • Ronald Yaros, University of Maryland • Competing cognitive theories (a linear construction integration model versus the nonlinear cognitive flexibility theory) are tested for two stories, one about health and the other nanotechnology. Non-expert participants (N = 301) were tested for situational interest in and understanding of the stories. In support of the linear model, results indicated more reader interest and understanding of linearly structured text but only when combined with linear links.
Attention to Science/Environment News Promotes and Attention to Political News Undermines Global Warming Concern and Policy Support • Xiaoquan Zhao, George Mason University; Anthony Leiserowitz, Yale University; Edward Maibach, George Mason University; Connie Roser-Renouf, George Mason University • News coverage of the science of global warming has shifted away from the often criticized balanced reporting in recent years. However, controversy remains the dominant theme in the political coverage of this issue.
Religion and Media 2009 Abstracts
Religion and Media Interest Group
The Protesting Priests of Anti-Globalization: South Korean Catholic Priests’ Resistance to the U.S. Beef Trade • Kisung Yoon, Bowling Green State University • Two statements written by the Catholic Priest’s Association for Justice in Korea were rhetorically analyzed based on the Augustinian rhetoric and Burke’s “five dogs” allegory. Refusing neo-liberal globalists’ claims, the priests employed their rhetoric “Ravenous Wolves” and “Disappointment of People” against the U.S. beef trade and the Free Trade Agreement with the U.S. In addition, they utilized “The Mind of Sky [Chun-Shim]” from Confucianism. The most significant theological frame was “The Kingdom of God.”
Framing Faith: Religion Coverage in Time and Newsweek, 2004-2008 • Kimberly Davis, University of Maryland • The role of the media in shaping how we view religion and faith issues has been somewhat understudied. This qualitative study used framing theory and textual analysis to examine faith and religion coverage in Time and Newsweek from 2004-2008, and how journalists make meaning of this coverage for an audience. The analysis yielded four major frames: culture, politics, religion vs. science and personality.
Demon Hunters and Hegemony: Portrayal of Religion on the CW’s “Supernatural” • Erika Engstrom, University of Nevada Las Vegas; Joseph Valenzano, UNLV • The authors analyze the fictional television series “Supernatural,” aired on the CW network since 2005. Regarding the series’ overall depiction of religions, the findings of a qualitative content analysis demonstrate that “Supernatural,” while fantasy-based fictional entertainment, makes a serious attempt to incorporate a variety of religions and folklore. However, in the context of its main good-versus-evil storyline, the authors found a Catholic-positive tendency, with characters associated with non-Christian religions mainly portrayed as evil distractions.
Evangelistic Film as a Genre and Its Reception: The Case in Hong Kong • Vicky Wing-Ki Ho, The Chinese University of Hong Kong • The significance of the interdisciplinary study of religion and film has been recognized by more scholars in the last 15 years. However, evangelistic film, the specific genre that has a clearly defined purpose to communicate the gospel message, has rarely been explored in the existing literature. This paper attempts to track the genre’s presence in Hong Kong in the last decade and examine how evangelistic film as a genre has been received by local audience.
Newspapers and Discourse on Veiling in Turkey • Mark Hungerford, University of Washington • In the spring of 1999, Merve Kavakçı, an elected member of the Turkish Parliament from a moderate Islamist party, sparked a crisis when she showed up to take her oath donning a headscarf. She was booed out of the building and eventually stripped of her citizenship when it was discovered that she had become an American citizen.
Mainstream Coverage of the Mainline: A Content Analysis of News Reporting about Intra-denominational Conflict • Rick Moore, Boise State University • Do news organizations show bias in the way they cover conservative and liberal religious groups? In this study, the question is addressed by examining conservative and religious factions within the American mainline churches rather than attempting to draw data from very disparate conservative and liberal denominations. Data gathered suggest that on two important measures journalists treated religious conservatives and religious liberals very differently.
The Politics of Representing Iranian women and religion Islam in international magazines, Time and Newsweek (1979-2002) • Bushra Rahman, University of the Punjab • The study focuses on the images of Iranian Muslim women and its association with Islam as a religion of backwardness, threat and oppression. The research examines how and in what context Time and Newsweek magazines constructed the images of Iranian Muslim women from the year 1979 till 2002 and its linkages with Islam.
Media’s Historical Development and Increasing Impact on Jewish Responsa from the Eighteenth to the Twenty-First Century • Tsuriel Rashi, Lifshitz College of Education • This article examines, perhaps for the first time, responsa and rulings of rabbis and adjudicators (poskim) all over the world during the last 250 years from a unique media-oriented point of view.
Coverage of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright scandal in Election 2008 • Amanda Sturgill, Baylor University; Mia Moody, Baylor University • This article looks at how the black press framed a religion-related story. Articles relating to the sermons of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and candidate Barack Obama’s subsequent speech on race and religion in America as published in the black and mainstream presses were compared. The two presses’ coverage did not differ significantly in most areas, except in prominence, although nearly significant differences were found in some political frames.
Internships and Careers 2009 Abstracts
Internships and Careers Interest Group
I’m a People Person!: A look at public relations majors’ perceptions of the major and their first jobs • Brigitta R. Brunner and Margaret Fitch-Hauser, Auburn University • No abstract available.
Correlating Use of Digital Media for News with career planning and expectations • Tony DeMars, Texas A&M University, Commerce and Leo Chan, University of Houston-Clear Lake • No abstract available.
Privileged to be on camera: Sports broadcasters assess factors important to success in the profession • Marie Hardin, Penn State University and Jason Genovese, Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania • No abstract available.
A comparison of student interns and supervisors regarding internship performance ratings • Lulu Rodriguez, Kimberly McDonough, and Marcia Prior-Miller, Iowa State University • Student media internships require three-way communication among educational institutions, student interns, and workplace supervisors. This study assesses the extent to which interns and supervisors agree in ratings of intern performance. Self-administered questionnaires measured four skill sets that incorporated ACEJMC competencies and related items. Respondents differed in their respective mid- and final evaluations, becoming more congruent as internships progressed. Statistically significant differences were observed as students’ tendency to self-rate performances more highly than did their supervisors.
Learning to learn from the industry: Employer internship satisfaction survey • Dana Saewitz and Michael Maynard, Temple University • A survey to over 100 internship employers, with a best partner response rate of around 90% yielded critical information for improving the university internship program. Three curricular adjustments flowing directly from the feedback are (1) a new course in marketing, (2) a special course in preparing students to interview successfully for jobs, and (3) increased rigor in writing courses throughout the curriculum. The survey has proven to be an excellent learning tool.
Internships and Standard Nine: Shall We Dance? • Lillian Williams, Columbia College • As assessment assumes greater significance for accredited journalism and mass communication programs, an examination of ways that internships are utilized to meet the new assessment requirement is timely. This paper presents a case study of a program that utilizes internships to measure values and competencies cited in accrediting standards. Interviews offer perspectives of key participants, including administrators, faculty, staff, students, and work-site supervisors.
Graduate Education 2009 Abstracts
Graduate Education Interest Group
Character Identification or Cultivation? Exploring Media Effects on Emerging Adults’ Appearance Importance • Emily Acosta, University of Wisconsin-Madison • Based on a sample of emerging adults (N=179), hierarchical regression was used to examine whether cultivation effects through media consumption or social comparison through identification with favorite TV character has a greater impact on appearance importance. Those who had an underweight favorite character (ß =.17, p< .01) placed more importance on appearance with 26.5% of the variance accounted for. This suggests that social comparison is more important than cultivation in predicting appearance importance among emerging adults.
Is There a Global Public Sphere? Framing Analysis of Media Coverage of the Russia-Georgia Conflict • Olga Baysha, University of Colorado at Boulder • It has been argued that the advent of transnational media technologies leads to the formation of a global public sphere. By means of framing analysis, this article examines whether signs of global public deliberation were present in American and Ukrainian media coverage of the Russia-Georgia military conflict of 2008.
Framing theory: A systematic examination of a decade’s literature and an agenda for future directions • Porismita Borah, University of Wisconsin-Madison • The framing literature has been consistently growing with contributions from disparate disciplines. However, there has been few systematic examination of the published literature. In order to examine the common trends in this growing body of research, the present study content analyzes framing literature from 93 peer-reviewed journals for a period of ten years.
The Daily Show versus Network News: A content analysis of 2008 general election coverage • Moammar Brown, University of Florida; Adrianna C. Rodriguez, University of Florida • As the nightly network news programs continue to lose audiences and adhere to decades-old hard news formats, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart offers viewers a comedic, slightly cynical alternative. While a parody of traditional half-hour news programs, Stewart won several awards including Emmy awards and two Peabody awards for The Daily Show’s coverage of the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections.
Constructing Gender Online: A Content Analysis of Myspace.com Profile Pictures • Laura Beth Daws, University of Kentucky; Christine Tigas, University of Kentucky • This paper investigates the ways in which sex and gender identity are created in visual representations of the self online. Using a sample of Myspace.com profiles, the authors conducted a content analysis to determine sex and gender differences in profile pictures. The results demonstrated that in most cases, individual users’ photographs reflected traditional notions of femininity and masculinity.
Framing Partners: A Computer-Assisted Evaluation of how Top U.S. Newspapers Frame Business, Trade and Investment in, and with, two Key Latin American Partners • Maria De Moya, University of Florida; Rajul Jain, University of Florida • This exploratory study formulates a novel approach to examine application of framing analysis as an evaluation tool for nation image by using computer assisted and traditional content analysis of newspaper coverage of Colombia and Mexico. This study aims to contribute both to the understanding of image evaluation from a practical perspective, and the applicability of automated coding methods, using content analysis software such as Diction 5.0, for the identification of frames in newspaper coverage.
The Gap between “Mami” and Google: Latina Adolescents’ Online Search for Reproductive Health Information • Ilana Echevarria-Stewart, University of Florida •The purpose of this study was to understand why and how Latina adolescents are using the Internet to search for reproductive health information. This qualitative study used focus groups with Latina adolescents and in-depth interviews with sexual health educators. Discussion with participants revealed that both younger and older Latina adolescents had searched for reproductive health information for themselves, a friend, or a class assignment.
News Exposure and Political Participation: A Citizen versus Consumer Response to News Media Messages • Melissa R. Gotlieb, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Kjerstin Thorson, University of Wisconsin-Madison, SJMC • This study investigates notions of the self as dynamic and offers new ways to consider how exposure to media messages can impact attitudes and behavior. A manipulation of news coverage to focus on civic engagement or consumer culture is found to affect online political expression but not political activism. We use response latency tasks to explore whether activation of a citizen self-concept is a mediator of this effect.
Men, Women, and Sports: Revisited • Skye Chance Cooley, The University of Alabama; Amy Head Jones, The University of Alabama • This study looked at gender differences in the sport media experience, specifically the involvement differences between men and women as sport media spectators. In efforts of updating the 18 year old findings from Gantz and Wenner (1991) this study surveyed a younger generation of research subjects (n=216) and added measures of online sport media use. Findings support gender differences among sport media audiences in sport involvement, sport participation, and sport media consumption.
An Experimental Test of Individual-Societal Framing and Gain-Loss Framing Effects in the Web-based Health Advocacy Campaign • Kenneth Kim, University of Florida • A 2 (gain versus loss framing) X 2 (societal versus individual framing) experimental study was conducted to investigate the interplay of gain-loss framing and societal-individual framing on judgment and persuasion in the Web-based health advocacy campaign. One forty-seven college students participated in the study. The results show partial support for the advantage of the individual-loss framing combination and societal-gain framing combination.
A Theoretical Understanding of Synergy Effects in Integrated Marketing Communications • Dae-Hee Kim, University of Florida • This study examines the theories that can explain the synergy effects in IMC contexts, proposes a conceptual framework for IMC synergy, and concludes that IMC synergy can be generated in varied contexts to produce varied levels of consumer responses. Based on these findings, the paper presents four categories of IMC synergy: memory synergy, attention synergy, attitude synergy, and complementary synergy. The implications and suggestions for future research are also discussed.
Signaling Effects of Offline Advertising on Consumer Trust in Online Advertiser • Chunsik Lee, University of Florida; Junga Kim, University of Minnesota • Although many online businesses advertise their websites in offline media, empirical research on the effects of offline ads on online business has been limited. By applying the signaling effect framework, this study examined the relationship between offline ad exposure and consumer trust in the advertised website. Results from an experiment reveal that mere exposure to an offline ad did not influence website trust.
Intersections: Postcolonial Theory and Communication Studies • Randall Livingstone, University of Oregon • Though postcolonial theory has been a topic of debate in academia since the early-to-mid 20th century, only recently have postcolonial studies and communication studies been considered together. This paper examines the recent interactions of these fields, looking both back at the emergence of postcolonial theory and forward at the way communication scholars are using the theory to inform new lines of research. Recent studies concerning hybridity and diaspora are considered in this review.
Examining How Industries Engage the Media: Comparing American and German Agricultural Associations’ Web sites • Meredith Lord, University of Florida • Despite suggestions that agricultural communicators harness the media to improve the public’s poor understanding of agriculture, coverage of agriculture is dwindling. Given journalists’ preference for interacting with organizations online, this study content analyzed the Web sites of American and German agricultural associations to assess the organizations’ incorporation of Kent and Taylor’s (2003) dialogic principles, which explain how Web sites can be created to engage visitors effectively.
Virtual Possibilities: A Constructivist Examination of the Educational Applications of Second Life • Jeffrey Neely, University of Florida; Kevin Bowers, University of Florida; Matthew Ragas, U of Florida • This study surveyed post-secondary instructors in 15 countries regarding their experiences using the virtual world Second Life as a teaching tool. Qualitative analysis of responses to open-ended questions suggests that Second Life offers a great deal of potential in realizing constructivist principles as well as a number of practical benefits. However, technological barriers, institutional opposition, limited familiarity, and other concerns may be preventing instructors from fully making use of Second Life in their curricula.
Social Viewing Among College Students • Temple Northup, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill • While television is acknowledged to be a social medium, little research has examined the motivations of individuals who frequently engage in social viewing. In this study, uses and gratifications and the expectancy-value theories are used to predict social viewing. Results suggest there is a positive relationship between: (a) motivations based on uses and gratifications and participation in social viewing, and (b) students who felt their motivations were being met and anticipation of future social viewing.
A Model Assessing the Effectiveness of Corporate Social Advertising • Sun-Young Park, University of Florida • The increase in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has been inspired by companies that increasingly recognize it as a key to success for resources. In particular, corporate social advertising is a prevalent communication strategy in the field of corporate societal marketing. However, a barrier to comprehensive understanding of the corporate social ads has been a lack of attention to how differently consumers respond depending on the type of ads.
A Local Community and How They Make Meaning of a Grassroots Public Relations Campaign • Katie Place, University of Maryland • “A Local Community and How They Make Meaning of a Grassroots Public Relations Campaign” examines perceptions of a local grassroots campaign entitled “Under Not Over,” created in opposition to an elevated Metro rail line in a suburban Washington, D.C. community. The situational theory of publics serves as the theoretical base for this paper.
Friend Me, Vote for Me: The Effect of Social Networking Sites on the 2008 Election • Lauren Reichart, University of Alabama; Kenny Smith, University of Alabama • Three hundred and six undergraduate students were surveyed to determine the relationship between media participation in a mediated world (social networking sites) and voting behavior for the 2008 general election. The hypothesis of media participation was analyzed with regards to its applicability in a Web 2.0 time period.
The Evolution of the Blogger: Blogger Considerations of Public Relations Content in the Blogosphere • Brian Smith, University of Maryland • Blogging has become a legitimate platform for individuals to shape conversations about the issues that affect them. This personal medium for self-expression has also become a channel for organizations to gain publicity. The question of a professional influence in a personal space raises questions about blogger decision-making and ethics in representing corporate interests. This study reveals that bloggers consider their sites as extensions of themselves, and that their consideration of reader and corporate interests evolves.
Redefining Cancer: A qualitative study of young adult cancer survivors’ creation of alternative disease narratives • Kathleen Stansberry, University of Oregon • The perception of cancer in American society is far more limited than the actual cancer experience entails. This project uses qualitative methods to examine the cancer experience of young adults to study how a small segment of the cancer population challenges common understandings of cancer using Web-based participatory media to develop alternative disease narratives. Using the theoretical lens of constitutive rhetoric, this paper addresses the process of dominate and alternative cancer narrative creation.
Making a Case for Religious Freedom • Jessalynn Strauss, University of Oregon • This paper examines a 14-page statement released by the Church of Scientology in response to author Andrew Morton’s unauthorized biography of Tom Cruise, one of Scientology’s most notable celebrity adherents.
Gender Differences in Risk Perception: An Exploratory Meta-Analysis • Jiun-Yi Tsai, University of Wisconsin-Madison • This meta-analysis integrates results from 10 studies in which risk perceptions of male and female participants were compared. The goal of this study is to explore the extent to which gender differences in risk perceptions vary across risk type, country area and sample frame. On the whole, results provide support for the notion that females tend to express higher level of concern and worry for a range of risks.
Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender 2009 Abstracts
Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Interest Group
Straight-for-pay: Performativity and sexuality on Seancody.com • Todd Harper, Ohio University • Popular gay porn website Seancody.com centers around a particular draw: the attraction of watching straight men perform gay sex acts. Drawing on performativity literature — particularly Escoffier’s (2003) discussion of gay-for-pay in porn work — this research examines the content on Seancody.com in the context of sexuality performance. The analysis suggests that Seancody’s content produces a potentially damaging rhetoric where the heterosexual male body is the focus of sexual power, rather than the gay male body.
The Politics of Visibility: Negotiations of Femininity and Sexuality on “The L-Word” Rebecca • Kern, Manhattan College • The visibility of sexual identities is far more than political; it defines subcultural groups and promotes cultural validation. This paper examines issues of sexual visibility and representation of queer-identified women on The L-Word, and the negotiation of these representations in reference to L-Word viewers’ sexual own identifications. In the end, construction of these identities continue to uphold the heterosexual/homosexual dichotomy, and privilege norms appropriate to each side of the dichotomy.
An analysis of factors affecting attitudes toward same-sex marriage: Do the media matter? • Tien-Tsung Lee, University of Kansas; Gary Hicks, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville • Using a recent survey of more than 5,000 American consumers, this study examines connections between attitudes toward same-sex marriage and media consumption. A positive attitude is predicted by being liberal and less religious, supporting gender and racial equality, willing to try anything once, considering TV the primary form of entertainment, watching political talk shows, and reading blogs. The theoretical/methodological contributions and real world implications of these findings are discussed.
But Are We Free (to Be You and Me)? Meanings of citizenship in gay tourism advertising • Byron Lee, Temple University • In 2003, the Philadelphia Gay Tourism Caucus and the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation released a new advertising campaign targeting the LGBT community. This paper will consider the advertisements of the Get Your History Straight and Your Nightlife Gay campaign, questioning how non-heterosexuality is represented; first in terms of the symbols and images that convey non-heterosexuality, and second, in consideration of how gay tourism campaigns position queer individuals as citizens in the US.
Entertainment Studies 2009 Abstracts
Entertainment Studies Interest Group
From Shakespeare to Disney: An Explication of Coleridge’s Suspension of Disbelief for Hollywood Musicals • Kelly Barrows, Syracuse University • While the term “suspension of disbelief” is commonly used and understood when explaining how audiences are able to negotiate implausible scenarios in fictional media, the theory lacks a comprehensive view of how the willing suspension of disbelief has been used.
What’s Entertainment? Notes Toward a Definition • Stephen Bates, University of Nevada, Las Vegas; Anthony Ferri, University of Nevada, Las Vegas • This paper attempts to define “entertainment.” It considers the definitions of two related fields, leisure studies and popular culture; the definitions of entertainment used in law and regulation; and different scholars’ approaches to defining entertainment. It posits a set of criteria that can be used to determine what constitutes entertainment, including general passivity or spectatorship; communication; external stimuli that are principally auditory, visual, or both; pleasure; audience; and freedom.
Predictors of Attractiveness: The Role of Entertainment and Sports Media, Self-Discrepancy, and Sociocultural Attitudes in College Students’ Perceptions of Beauty in Women • Kim Bissell, University of Alabama • The objective of this project was to identify themes, patterns and predictors related to attractiveness ideals and appearance norms among a sample of men and women in the U.S. The sociocultural theoretical model has the strongest empirical support for understanding body image disturbance and appearance anxiety (Heinberg, 1996; Thompson, Heinberg, Altabe, Tantleff-Dunn, 1999), by presenting to women through media representations the current societal standard for image and appearance.
Examining Humor in 30 Rock from Four Perspectives: Bergson, Frye, Freud, and Bakhtin • Lauren Bratslavsky, University of Oregon • The sitcom has long been a staple of network television, however, the sitcom has had a noticeable decline. The new sitcoms feature more parody and satire than before, particularly NBC’s 30 Rock. Using four approaches to humor, this paper draws on relevant examples to illustrate the theories of Henri Bergson, Northrop Frye, Sigmund Freud, and Mikhail Bakhtin.
Quarterbacks, engineers, and wingmen: Stereotypically male linguistic and semiotic content in “The Pick-Up Artist • Melissa Crosby, S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, Syracuse University; Jennifer Billinson, The S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, Syracuse University • This textual analysis examines the use of linguistic and semiotic content in the first season of the VH1 reality television show “The Pick-Up Artist.” We have created a framework for this study by building upon existing literature in the areas of gender communication, cultural studies, intertextuality relating to hyper-masculine popular culture icons, and semiotic theory.
Let’s Talk Soaps: An Exploratory Uses and Gratifications Study of Soap Opera Websites and Message Boards • Maria Fontenot, Texas Tech University • This exploratory study examines the motives of individuals who visit soap opera websites, and read and post on soap opera message boards from the uses and gratifications perspective. An online survey was posted on message boards of the three broadcast networks and the cable network SoapNet. Results revealed that entertainment and information seeking as the most popular motives for visiting soap opera website, reading soap message boards, and posting on such boards.
Enjoyment of Sad Endings: The Contributions of Empathy to the Eudaimonic Appreciation of Drama • Tom German, Muskingum College • This study explored emotional processes in the enjoyment of drama by way of negative affect. A 2 (CONTEXT: Present, Absent) x 2 (ENDING: Happy, Sad) fully factorial between-individual design was employed to test the effects of empathy toward protagonist and viewers’ affective states on entertainment of a dramatic television program. Results showed that the empathy interacted with ending type, resulting in sad endings being more entertaining than previous theory would predict.
Upper-Class Women Reading Celebrity News: Audience Reception Study on Celebrity News Viewed Through the Lends of Class • Gwendolyn Heasley, University of Missouri -Columbia • This research attempts to understand the reception of celebrity news magazines among upper class women in the U.S. The ultimate goal of this research is to identify cultural repertoires about the consumption and use of celebrity news. These repertoires are compared to ones found in Joke Hermes (1995) study on British tabloid readers. Qualitative research methods provide the framework for this study and in-depth interviews were conducted in order to collect detailed data.
Rhetorical Visions of Health: A Fantasy-Theme Analysis of Celebrity Articles • Amanda Hinnant, University of Missouri; Elizabeth Hendrickson, University of Tennessee • This research focuses on celebrity health stories in magazines, using fantasy-theme analysis to evaluate messages about health behavior and attitudes. The analysis compares stories about celebrities who have cancer with those about celebrities with health problems perceived as caused by overindulgence (addiction, obesity). The fantasy themes reveal messages about morality, privilege, access, authority, and authenticity. Overall, celebrity health messages could serve to establish moral communities that sanction or penalize health behaviors through their normative influence.
Positive Benefits: An Exploratory Study of Crime Drama Viewership and Sexual Assault Prevention • Stacey Hust, Washington State University; Emily Marett, Washington State University; Hua Chang, Washington State University; Ming Lei, Washington State University; Chunbo “Richard” Ren, Murrow College of Communication; Anna McNab, Washington State University; Paula Adams, Washington State University • This study examines the effects of exposure to crime dramas on rejection of rape myths and attitudes and confidence levels related to sexual assault prevention behaviors. College students’ exposure to crime dramas, acceptance of rape myths and behavioral intentions for consent, bystander intervention, and victim empowerment were collected. This exploratory study provides evidence of positive effects of exposure to crime drama programming and suggests the need for further research in the area.
The Effect of Negative Persuasive Message on Communicator Credibility and Behavioral Intention: The Moderating Role of Group Identification • Mikyoung Kim, Michigan State University; Tom Isaacson, Michigan State University • This study investigated the effect of negative messages on communicator credibility and counter-arguing intention with the moderating role of group identity. We found when people have strong group identity, those with a negative in-group message were more likely to disbelieve the communicator than were those with a negative out-group message. Contrarily, there was no difference between the two messages in communicator credibility among people with weak group identity.
I play, therefore, I am persuaded • Nam Young Kim, Louisiana State University; Yongick Jeong, LSU; Meghan Sanders, LSU • This study examined the potential for game controller platform and co-playing to affect game player’s presence and their perceived effectiveness of in-game advertising. The relationship between players’ psychological outcomes during a game and in-game advertising memory has been studied, yet few studies have focused on attitudinal and behavioral outcomes.
“OK. If it’s for the family.”: Production and representation of family in Maya & Miguel • Emily S. Kinsky, Pepperdine University • This qualitative study is informed by cultural studies and seeks to examine the production and representation of family within one particular television program, Maya & Miguel (Forte, 2004), using the circuit of culture (du Gay, Hall, Janes, Mackay, and Negus, 1997). Production was examined through in-depth interviews with personnel connected to Scholastic Media, while representation was examined through a textual analysis of 12 episodes of Maya & Miguel.
Truthiness of Fake News: Individuals’ viewing characteristics of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report • Jennifer Kowalewski, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Daxton Stewart, Texas Christian University; Francesca Dillman Carpentier, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill • Scholars have investigated how individuals have tuned in to soft news programs for political information; but, not a lot of research has investigated how viewing characteristics influence what programs individuals tune to for that information. Using survey research, this paper examines how viewing characteristics influence the viewing of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. Both shows have become increasingly popular over time, especially for younger viewers who tune more to Comedy Central than CNN.
The effects of individual differences on the enjoyment of morally ambiguous characters • K. Maja Krakowiak, University of Colorado at Colorado Springs • The present study tests how the individual difference factors of ambiguity tolerance (AT) and need for cognition (NFC) affect responses to purely good, purely bad, and morally ambiguous character types. Findings reveal that both AT and NFC affect enjoyment of content featuring different character types. This study thus reinforces the importance of individual differences in affecting media responses.
The Impacts of Intrinsic Motivation and Gender Difference on Video Game Genre Usage: A Multiple Group Comparison Approach • Doohwang Lee, University of Alabama; Jung Kyu Kim, University of Alabama; Robert LaRose, Michigan State University • By integrating Deci and Ryan’s (1985) theory of intrinsic motivation and Csikszentmihalyi’s (1975) theory of flow experience, this study sought to investigate the causal linkage among optimal balance of video game player’s perceived skill and challenge, flow experience, intrinsic motivation and video game genre usage. The results showed that the different types of video game usage were directly influenced by players’ intrinsic motivations, which were also reinforced by players’ flow experiences of enjoyment.
Veronica Mars: A modern-day teenager strolling the dark streets of film noir • Kathryn Lookadoo, Trinity University • This paper examines the teen-detective television show Veronica Mars and its connection to film noir. Film noir’s adaption to television has recently gained notice. The different medium and its constraints morph film noir into a form that retains certain genre characteristics while abandoning others to survive on television. This textual analysis of the pilot episode reveals how Veronica Mars exhibits classic film noir characteristics of past, loss, morality, and alienation while adapting them for television.
“They’re like my family”: An analysis of alternative families in “Friends” • Lisa Marshall, Muskingum College • This research analyzes alternative family structures and friendship rituals in all 10 seasons of Friends. The project offers a textual analysis of the entire series and demonstrates the disregard for blood ties and the construction of alternative families within the group of friends. The Friends narrative contained the idea that biological families are no longer prevalent or important to the characters’ lives. This research found that these six people formed their own kind of family.
Fast Pace, Smart Show?: An Analysis of Educational Quality and Pacing in Children’s Television Programming • Cynthia Nichols, The University of Alabama; Creshema Murray, The University of Alabama • Little research has examined the relationship between the pace and educational quality of children’s programming. The following study uses a systematic content analysis of 100 top-rated U.S. children’s television programs to explore the relationships between these two variables.
Celebrity Persuasion in the Political Arena: A Study of Message Effects on Voter Opinion • Cynthia Nichols, The University of Alabama; Carly McKenzie, The University of Alabama • Prior to the 2008 election, more than 200 participants from a large southern university participated in a study examining the impact of celebrities on voter opinion. Two different formats of the same message were used to determine if message type and content have an impact on voter opinion. Participants viewed two different videos of statements made by Barack Obama. The first video simply showed Obama making a speech.
Do “Sad” People Like “Sad” Entertainment? • Mary Beth Oliver, Penn State University; Julia Woolley, Penn State University; Anthony Limperos, Penn State University; Daniel Tamul, Penn State University; Keunmin Bae, Penn State University; Marlena Freeman, Penn State University • In addition to consuming entertainment for pleasure (hedonistic motivations), individuals may also consume entertainment to experience meaningfulness (eudaimonic motivations). Consequently, extant research suggesting that “sad individuals enjoy sad entertainment” may be better interpreted as illustrating that the meaningful affective states heighten preferences for poignant, dramatic entertainment. In support, this research shows that eudaimonic motivations mediate the relationship between “meaningful” affective states (e.g., contemplative) and interest in entertainment that elicits “meaningful” responses (e.g., inspired, compassionate).
Annie Wilson Wears Versace: The representation of high school females’ socioeconomic class on current fictional television series • Bene Petty, Trinity University • It is important to identify particular ideals, if any, that female youth are exposed to on television. This paper considers how high school females are portrayed in terms of socioeconomic class on fictional television series. Categories such as clothing, home environments, relationships, and behaviors were studied in relation to contemporary female television characters. This study examines 10 shows airing on The CW, ABC Family, Nickelodeon, and The Disney Channel during the fall 2008 television season.
Protecting Children’s Privacy on the Internet: COPPA Compliance on Children’s Websites • Erin Ryan, The University of Alabama; Carly McKenzie, The University of Alabama • Since the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) was passed, websites must follow specific guidelines regarding collection and dissemination of information from children under 13. This content analysis of 165 children’s websites investigated COPPA compliance. Results indicated most websites adhered to privacy policy content requirements, yet many did not follow policy positioning rules. Educational and entertainment websites were less likely than specialty sites to properly position policies, and several sites collected information without stating proper protections.
The Heat is On: The Effects of Temperature on Presence and the Gaming Experience • Ashleigh Shelton, University of Minnesota • This study examines the potential for the contextual element of room temperature to affect presence-related outcomes of video game exposure. Interactivity in the form of natural mapping, High-Definition TV, and surround sound has been advocated as possible contributors to presence experiences, yet no studies to date have investigated the impact of temperature, particularly as it applies to video games.
Swamps, Snakes and Storms: The Negative Portrayal of Louisiana in Film • Danny Shipka, Louisiana State University • Louisiana has long been a popular spot for filmmakers to weave their artistic tapestries. With its unique culture, evocative landscapes as well historical importance to the US, the state and its people have been the subject of intense scrutiny by the entertainment media. Almost without exception, the depiction of Louisiana in these films has been overridingly negative proliferating stereotypes.
The One with All the Heteronormativity: Lesbian Images in Friends • D. Renee Smith, University of Tennessee • Broadcasts networks tout their progressiveness and diversity in presenting lesbian images. In many instances these characterizations result in a heteronormative view of a lesbian world. A patriarchal voice greatly influences the actions of lesbian characters through the use of narrative scripting and specific production techniques. Wardrobe and casting heterosexualize and thus de-politicize lesbian characters. This study uses episodes from the popular situation comedy, Friends, to illustrate the heterosexual hegemony tightly controlling the broadcast television narrative.
Rhymes for sale? A Content Analysis to Determine the Frequency of Use and Implementation Methods of Brand Mentions in Hip Hop Lyrics • Jang Ho Moon, University of Texas at Austin; Kevin Thomas, The University of Texas at Austin; Min Woo Kwon, The University of Texas at Austin; Ryan Turner, The University of Texas at Austin • Hip hop music contains lyrics that are very conversational and can be utilized like forms of marketing communication. However, unlike publicly known forms of marketing communication, products mentioned in hip hop music are free of promotional stigma.
Theorizing Parasocial Interactions Based on Character Authenticity: The Development of a Media Figure Typology • Mina Tsay, University of Kentucky; Mitchael Schwartz, University of Kentucky • The relationships viewers develop with media figures have received substantial attention in the scholarship of entertainment. The present research proposes a four-level PSI typology, theoretically based on authenticity of media figures across the dimensions of depiction (live action vs. animated), story (fiction vs. non-fiction), form (human vs. non-human), and traits (super vs. normal).
Striking the Brand: The Political Economy of TLC’s Miami Ink • Kristine Weglarz, University of Minnesota—Twin Cities • The plethora of reality television available to audiences invites an examination of the role and representation of labor in producing the television series. This paper examines the reality television series Miami Ink and looks at the role of labor as theorized by Christopher Martin in creating the conditions for commodities to have magical, transformative and healing properties.
Community Journalism 2009 Abstracts
Community Journalism Interest Group
Reasserting Radio: An Exploratory Survey of Staff and Volunteers At U.S. Community Radio Stations • Dean Graber, School of Journalism, University of Texas at Austin • Non-commercial “community radio stations” operated by citizens in more than 200 U.S. communities engage listeners in the public sphere, but little empirical data has been collected about U.S. community broadcasters. Through a nationwide Web-based survey, this study found that volunteers and paid staff at U.S. community radio stations participate primarily because of programming freedom, non-commercial principles, and to share music and knowledge with audiences. Most participants predicted community radio’s importance will grow in the future.
Community journalism and community history: A call for stories of the storytellers • Janice Hume, University of Georgia • The historical importance of community journalism in American life — while acknowledged anecdotally — has not been fully demonstrated. This bibliographic essay surveys the histories of community journalism, and calls for more complete and varied research into the relationship between local news and the construction and maintenance of communities.
Community News Editors as Citizens: Individual Level Predictors of Social Capital and Community Engagement • Seungahn Nah, University of Kentucky; Deborah Chung, University of Kentucky • Relying on social capital theory, this study examines the extent to which community news editors build social capital and engage in community activities. Data were collected using a statewide, Web-based survey in a southeastern state.
Journalism’s role in bridging fragmented community: The case of college sports communities • Chang Wan Woo, The University of Alabama; Wilson Lowrey, The University of Alabama; Jung Kyu Kim, University of Alabama; Hyuksoo Kim, The University of Alabama; Hyonjin Ahn, Universityof Alabama • Sports can be a source of social cohesion within a sports community; at the same time, it can obstruct the social bridging process in communities with diverse sports identities. Community journalism can play an integral role in bridging diverse community groups by listening widely to the community, helping to set an agenda, and by facilitating community interaction. This study examines how college sports as community institutions, shape local news media’s efforts to build community.
Community Newspapers and Their Use of Newspaper Design Technology • Jennifer Wood Adams, Auburn University • This nationwide study provides benchmark data on the use of newspaper design technology at community newspapers. The study reports the perceptions and attitudes of community newspaper managers toward implementing desktop publishing software into their newsrooms and if the managers think there is a preference in the newspaper industry for journalists to know a particular application. Differences between daily and weekly community newspapers are compared.
Civic and Citizen Journalism 2009 Abstracts
Civic and Citizen Journalism Interest Group
What’s Journalism Got to Do with It? Political Blogs and Bloggers • Tom Bakker, University of Amsterdam; Klaus Schoenbach, University of Amsterdam; Claes de Vreese, University of Amsterdam • This article reviews studies on political blogging. While citizen journalism advocates had high hopes that blogs would lead to more diverse and broader coverage, produced by all types of citizens, data shows that political bloggers resemble traditional journalists (white educated males) and that bloggers do little original reporting and mainly publish opinion based on news by mainstream media. More systematical empirical research is needed to assess the journalistic contribution of political bloggers.
New Media’s Contribution to Presidential Debates • Pamela Brubaker, The Pennsylvania State University • Web 2.0 technologies add a new dimension to political campaigns whereby citizens can view and listen to political messages and well as produce and distribute the messages themselves. This study examines the debate questions aired during the Republican and Democratic CNN/YouTube presidential primary debates, whereby citizens had the opportunity to submit video questions through the video sharing website YouTube.
Reporting By the People: A Case Study of Citizen Journalism During the 2008 Election • Rebecca Coates-Nee, San Diego State University, JMS; K. Tim Wulfemeyer, San Diego State University, School of Journalism and Media Studies; David Dozier, San Diego State University, School of Journalism and Media Studies • This case study examined a year-long, citizen-journalist project that focused on the 2008 presidential campaign. Six bloggers were recruited, trained, and contributed weekly posts to a group blog hosted on a public radio/television station’s Web site. In this study, participant observation, interviews, and project reports were used. Findings indicate that managing blogger motivation is key, training bloggers is important, and bridging the gap between professional journalists and citizen bloggers is difficult.
How Citizen Journalists Conceive of and Practice Community in One Midwestern City • Cathy DeShano, University of Wisconson-Madison; Sue Robinson, University of Wisconson-Madison • This research examines how citizen journalists in one city conceive of and engage in communities, drawing from theories about social capital, public sphere, communicative integration, and community to consider the implications of virtual contribution for democratic governance.
Interacting is Believing?: Examining bottom-up credibility of blogs among politically interested Internet users • Daekyung Kim, Idaho State University • This study examines how politically interested Internet users perceive blogs as credible sources of news and information. More specifically, this study aims to identify a new possible factor that has an impact on blog credibility assessment in the collaborative nature of digital media circumstances. It was found that blog credibility was predicted by the interaction between blog reliance and online news activity. Implications of the findings were discussed for future research.
The Blogger as Journalist • Gerry Lanosga, Indiana University School of Journalism • This is a secondary analysis of Pew Internet data from a 2006 survey of bloggers. The bloggers were analayzed by cohorts, with particular attention to those who view their blogs as journalism. Using journalistic standards such as fact-checking and source attribution correlated significantly with levels of audience attention reported by those bloggers. This finding tempers enthusiasm about journalistic characteristics of bloggers as a whole that stem from the failure to distinguish between types of bloggers.
Frequency Of Links To Primary Source Material In The Hyperlinking Patterns Of Political Blogs • Mark Leccese, Emerson College • Political bloggers claim to be a crucial source of information in American elections and public policy debates, usurping the role of mainstream media. This study coded more than 2,000 hypertext links on the World Wide Web on six widely-read political blogs during seven consecutive days in January 2008. It found that fewer than about 15% of hyperlinks directed readers to primary sources.
“Anyone can know:” Citizen journalism and the interpretive community of the mainstream press in a Mid-Western city • Sue Robinson, University of Wisconson-Madison; Cathy DeShano, University of Wisconson-Madison • Online citizen writers are forming a loose community that is alternatively collaborating or at war with journalists’ own interpretive community. Interviews with bloggers and professional journalists revealed convergences and tensions within these communities according to framing values of socially responsible missions, access to information, entitlement to knowledge and informal notions of professionalism.
Sustaining Hyperlocal Media and Citizen Journalism: In Search of Funding Models • David Kurpius, Louisiana State University; Emily Metzgar, Indiana University; Karen Rowley, Louisiana State University • As traditional media operations struggle to find their footing in a world of rapidly evolving interactive technology and economic turmoil, media innovators are exploring new ways to identify, collect, and disseminate information. One innovation that is attracting attention is the development of hyperlocal media.
The Future of News? A Study of Citizen Journalism and Journalists • Brad Schultz, University of Mississippi; Mary Lou Sheffer, University of Southern Mississippi • A survey of citizen journalists was conducted to assess what, if any, impact they are having on traditional news values such as balanced reporting, double checking facts and ethical reporting. Citizen journalists at three different news/sports sites took part in the study.
Is Blogging Journalism? Analyzing the Blogosphere’s Perspective • Michael Sheehy, University of Cincinnati; Hong Ji, The Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism • This content analysis identifies bloggers’ perceptions of the relationship between blogging and journalism through framing theory. The study found bloggers generally do not perceive blogging as journalism, even though many see a connection between the two. The study also found growing blogger sentiment that blogging is journalism, that bloggers identify work processes as best characterizing the similarities or differences between blogging and journalism, and that bloggers typically rely on other blog sites as sources.
Discourse in The Malaysian Sociopolitical Blogosphere Amidst Racial Politics • Jun-E Tan, Nanyang Technological University; Indrajit Banerjee, Nanyang Technological University • ‘The Chinese are only squatting here’, remarked Ahmad Ismail, a Malaysian politician during a political rally in August 2008, drawing flak from numerous parties within the multicultural country. This paper examines the sentiments at the grassroots level in the Malaysian sociopolitical blogosphere after the incident by performing content analysis on 10 prominent blogs.
Sniffing Out Sleeping Dogs: Web 2.0 and Reconceptualizing the Public Sphere and Guard-dog Media • Ryan Thomas, Edward R. Murrow College of Communication, Washington State University; Mary Grace Antony, Washington State University • In this paper, we synthesize literature on the media’s role in the public sphere with work on the agenda-setting and guard-dog functions of mass media. We argue that citizen journalism has reinvigorated notions of the public sphere while posing significant challenges to agenda-setting and guard-dog theories. We highlight the Oscar Grant shooting on New Years Day, 2009 and the subsequent response as a lens through which the emancipatory potential of citizen journalism can be realized.
Online and Offline Citizen Journalism News: Which do our Young Adults Believe in? • Charlene Wee, National University of Singapore; Julian Lin, National University of Singapore • This study compares perceived credibility of online and offline citizen journalism news, with controls placed on the news stories, authors and publisher. A survey of over 300 young adults — deemed to be more familiar and frequent in their consumption of online and citizen journalism news — indicates that contrary to beliefs that newspapers are increasingly made redundant by the Internet, readers see offline news versions as being more credible. The findings contribute to research and practice.
Practicing Place: Sharing, Collaboration, and Collective Action in an Online Urban Forum • Patrick Wehner, University of Pennsylvania; Dana M. Walker, University of Michigan • Increasingly, research is demonstrating how internet-enabled technologies are not separate from, but actually embedded in, our everyday and localized practices. If the internet is becoming “more local,” as some scholars have claimed, how can we understand the role of citizen-produced information, news, and discussion within the media landscape of news and information about the city?
Status of Women 2009 Abstracts
Commission on the Status of Women
False Rape and Media Frenzy: Newspapers’ Framing of the Duke University Lacrosse Case • Barbara Barnett, University of Kansas • In 2006 three white members of the Duke University lacrosse team were charged with raping and sexually assaulting a black woman hired to dance at a team party. The case generated hundreds of news stories, and the charges ultimately proved to be false. This qualitative analysis examines how U.S. journalists framed the story and suggests they focused on the legal twists and turns in the case, rather than the larger issue of rape.
Behind the Scenes of Women’s Broadcast Ownership • Carolyn Byerly, Howard University • Recent research shows that women’s ownership of broadcast stations — FM and AM radio, and television — has dropped to the single digits in this era of deregulation and the media conglomeration that has resulted. This paper contributes to an understanding of women’s relationship to media structures by reporting the qualitative portion of a larger study on women broadcast ownership in the United States.
Patients’ Privacy and the Internet: Where Abortion Rights and the First Amendment Overlap • Deborah Carver, University of Minnesota • On September 3, 2008, Jezebel.com reported that a web site, AbortionTracker.com, claims to have a database of the personal information of women who have had abortions since the 1940s. This paper explores what legal remedies patients currently would have to remove their information from the database and discusses a feminist treatment of the First Amendment, arguing that the web site’s database should not be protected.
Does Gender Influence Students’ Evaluations of College Professors? A Qualitative Content Analysis of RateMyProfessors.com • Mackenzie Cato, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • RateMyProfessors.com, a rapidly growing online destination for students, now boasts more than 6.6 million user-generated ratings of more than 900,000 college professors. Students use the site’s free services to plan their class schedules and rate professors they have taken in the past. Does a professor’s gender play a dominant role in students’ evaluations? The purpose of this study is to qualitatively analyze students’ evaluative postings of college professors on the Web site RateMyProfessor.com.
A Descriptive Analysis of NBC’s Primetime Coverage of the 2008 Summer Olympics • Charles A. Tuggle, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Kelly Davis, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • This study examines NBC’s United States broadcast coverage of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games for gender equality and compares that coverage to previous years. Olympic coverage is particularly important to female athletes because many receive little media attention beyond Olympic competition. The study found that, while female participation in the Olympics has increased, NBC coverage of women’s events has not, and 97% of airtime devoted to women’s events was confined to six “socially acceptable” sports.
The Feminism of Bernarr Macfadden: Physical Culture and the Empowerment of Women • Kathleen Endres, University of Akron • This paper looks at the feminism of publisher/editor Berrnarr Macfadden as presented on the pages of Physical Culture magazine during the first two decades of the twentieth century. Two phases were identified. During the first decade, Macfadden focused on health feminism. During the second decade, Macfadden’s feminism had extended to embrace political, economic and legal equality for women.
Sports reporting and gender: Women journalists who broke the locker room barrier • Tracy Everbach, University of North Texas; Laura Matysiak, University of North Texas • This qualitative study examined the influences of female sportswriters who broke the locker room barrier in the 1970s and 1980s. Interviews with 12 women who were key members of sports media during this period showed that the women fought hard to gain access to athletes’ inner sanctum. Once they gained access, they endured harassment and embarrassment, but ultimately landed compelling stories from their subjects.
Gender Differences in Chinese Journalists’ J-blogs • Fangfang Gao, University of Florida; Renee Martin-Kratzer, University of Florida • The explosion of Internet users and j-bloggers in China makes Chinese j-blogs an area worthy of examination. This study focused on the differences in j-blogs written by male and female Chinese journalists. Topics, formats, reader comments, j-bloggers’ responses, hyperlinks, and multimedia features were examined to gain insight into gender influences on online journalism in China. The findings reveal that traditional social norms for gender influenced the content and format of j-blogs.
Riding the Wave: The Evolution of a Broadcast Feminist, Alison Owings, 1966-77 • Sarah Guthrie, Ohio University • Alison Owings was one of an important group of women in broadcast news, those who pushed for substantial changes in the way women were treated in broadcast and ultimately for changes in the way that women were covered in news. Not all women could be the “first” but there were many small stones in the shoes of the established, male hierarchy.
Susan Faludi’s Backlash: A Book’s Role in Building the Media Agenda for Coverage of Sexual Harassment in the Early ‘90s • Lynette Holman, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • This study investigates the notion that a book’s publication may have influenced the media agenda, or at least built it around the topic of feminism, and more specifically, the issue of sexual harassment.
Television as a Societal-Level Influence on Rape Perceptions: The Cultivation of Rape Myths • LeeAnn Kahlor, University of Texas at Austin; Matthew Eastin, UT-Austin • Cultivation theory, feminist theory, and ecological models guided this study of television as a societal-level contributor to the acceptance of rape myths. Results from an online cross-sectional survey of 1064 U.S. adults (371 males, 693 females) confirmed a significant positive correlation between television viewing and rape myth acceptance. As predicted, this relationship was stronger for men.
“He leads with his head and she follows her heart”?: Maya & Miguel’s representation of gender • Emily S. Kinsky, Pepperdine University • Using qualitative methods, the children’s program Maya & Miguel, which airs on PBS in the United States, is analyzed for its depiction of gender using the circuit of culture (du Gay et al., 1997). Through a textual analysis of 12 episodes, the author examines the portrayal of characters and their gender. Some gender stereotypes are maintained (e.g., boys are more sports focused), while others are broken (e.g., Miguel is depicted as musical and artistic).
Look Who Is Talking: Candidates’ Self Presentation on Campaign Websites and Viability In 2006 U.S. Senate, House and Gubernatorial Races • Jayeon Lee, The Ohio State University; Kideuk Hyun, The University of Texas at Austin • This study applied Expectancy Violations Theory to the relationship between political candidates’ self-presentation on their campaign websites and electoral consequences in 2006 U.S. Senate, House and gubernatorial races. The results show that female candidates are more likely to emphasize male traits than their male counterparts, but there is no difference across males and female candidates in their emphasis of male versus female issues.
Sexism at any Altitude?: Stewardess Advertising and Second-Wave Feminist Protest • Katherine Lehman, Albright College • In 1960s-70s airline advertising, flight attendants appeared as prospective brides or swinging singles. While this advertising strategy reflected women’s limited work and social roles, I argue it had broader economic and political implications. Throughout this period, airlines used stewardesses’ perceived sexual availability as a marketing tool to navigate heightened competition. Feminist protests against stewardess images in the early 1970s helped change the tone of advertising, and sparked broader discussion of gender discrimination in the workplace.
Framing Saint Johanna: Media coverage of Iceland’s first female (and openly gay) Prime Minister • Dean Mundy, UNC Chapel Hill • On February 1, 2009, Johanna Sigurdardottir became Iceland’s first female (and the world’s first openly gay) prime minister. She inherited a collapsed government and economy, as well as a brief timeline to prove her abilities. Accordingly, Iceland’s unique international position represents a significant opportunity to understand how media frame the first female and first openly gay prime minister.
Feminist Discourse and “Real” Ideology in The Dove Campaign for Real Beauty • Dara Persis Murray, Rutgers University • This paper interrogates the representation of women and cooption of feminist discourse around the Western cultural notion of beauty in The Dove Campaign for Real Beauty (CFRB). A semiotic analysis focuses on CFRB’s United States advertising. This textual investigation reveals that CFRB employs feminist signs to reference a key binary opposition in feminist politics – liberation and oppression – in the presentation of an ideology of “real beauty.”
The Self-Body Image: An Integrated Model of Body Image and Beauty Ideals • Temple Northup, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill • While there has been no shortage of literature examining body image as well as beauty ideals, there has been relatively little that has tried to explore and explicate exactly what is meant by the terms body image or beauty ideal in mass communication research, and how those concepts are then related. Indeed, those terms are often used interchangeably.
Ms. Vice President: Media exposure and voter views on gender stereotypes and women in politics • Scott Parrott, The University of Alabama; Brett Harmon, The University of Alabama; Sarah Belanger, The University of Alabama; Sarah Beth Combs, The University of Alabama • This study surveyed 221 college students about their political ideology, media use and views on gender and women in politics in the wake of the 2008 presidential election, which included women vying for the two highest posts in American government. Informed by media priming and gender gap in policy preferences theories, the study found a relationship between media exposure and respondent views on women in politics and gender roles in society.
Women leaders in public relations: A qualitative analysis • Katie Place, University of Maryland • “Women leaders in public relations: A qualitative analysis” examines what factors women public relations leaders believe affect their success and how women public relations leaders perform leadership. Literature regarding feminist theory of public relations and women, leadership and public relations framed the study. A qualitative method was used to conduct semi-structured face-to-face interviews with women public relations executives, vice presidents and senior managers on the East Coast.
Fifty Years Later: Mid-Career Women of Color Against the Glass Ceiling in Communications Organizations • Donnalyn Pompper, Temple University • Little scholarly attention has focused on the interplay of age, ethnicity and gender dimensions among working women challenging the organizational glass ceiling. For the current study, 36 midlife-aged women of color working in mediated message industries were invited to discuss how — as beneficiaries of socio-political movements and legislation spanning nearly five decades — they negotiate organizational hierarchies and balance public and private work spheres.
Run Faster, Train Harder, Look Sexier? Examining the Pressure Female Athletes Feel to be Sexy • Lauren Reichart, University of Alabama • One hundred and sixty female athletes from five Division I universities in the southeastern and northeastern United States were surveyed to determine if sexualized and glamorized media frames of elite athletes resulted in a negative social comparison by collegiate athletes, and if greater exposure to such media frames resulted in more acceptance of those media frames.
Restricting or liberating? Female journalists’ experiences of managerial competencies in traditionally male-dominated Nepali newsrooms – an exploratory study • Elanie Steyn, Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Oklahoma; Kathryn Jenson White, Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Oklahoma • Organizations worldwide recognize people as their most important resource. However, many countries struggle to acknowledge women as leaders, creating significant imbalances. Reasons contributing to this are male-dominated management environments, religious and cultural barriers. This study qualitatively explores female journalists’ experiences of management in traditionally male-dominated Nepali media environments. It highlights gaps between the importance and implementation of three managerial competencies in these newsrooms, which currently restrict Nepali women’s professional roles.
The Candidates’ Wives : Newspaper Coverage of Cindy McCain and Michelle Obama in the 2008 Presidential Election • Jenna Swan, Denison University • The 2008 Presidential race offered an opportunity to challenge the mold of the “preferred” First Ladies, constructed in news as embodying model American femininity. News stereotypes of African American women tend to run counter to the normative “ideal” of First Ladies. A content analysis of 166 newspaper articles found that Cindy McCain more closely meets expectations of “ideal First Ladies”, suggesting the presence of a racialized gender norm bias.
“I don’t feel like I’m up against a wall of men!”: Negotiating difference, identity and the glass ceiling in sports information • Erin Whiteside, The Pennsylvania State University; Marie Hardin, Penn State • This research explores how women in college sports public relations, commonly called sports information, cope with their minority status and the related notion of a glass ceiling at their workplace. It follows the work of Wrigley (2002), who argues that women in public relations use several strategies to cope with existence of a glass ceiling, together which form a concept she calls “negotiated resignation.” We explore this concept through conversations with women sports information directors and theorize about the implications of those characterizations.
More than just a pretty face?: Framing analysis of women and women journalists in Columbia Journalism Review, 1961-1991 • Amber Willard Hinsley, University of Texas-Austin • Women in American society are defined through the media, and journalists are powerful in selecting how women are framed. By studying a prominent trade publication, we discover how journalists may “learn” which frames to use when writing about women in general and in the journalism profession. Columbia Journalism Review was analyzed over thirty years, and three dominant themes emerged – women and female journalists as invisible figures, as wives and mothers, and as victims of discrimination.
Visual Communication 2009 Abstracts
Visual Communication Division
Assessing the Impact of Website Domain on End-user Evaluations of Web Page Aesthetics Using an Immediate Aesthetic Perception Technique • Jonathan Adams, The Florida State University; Forrest Doddington, Curiositî Design Solutions; Juliann Cortese, Florida State University • This study investigated the ‘immediate aesthetic impression’ method of quantifying the perception of attractiveness of website designs. This study is an extension of an existing line of research that investigates end-user’s “first impression” evaluations of web page attractiveness. The current research evaluates the potential influence of website domain on end-user perception of website visual aesthetics. A snowball technique was used to contact and enroll 184 participants.
The Analysis of the 9/11 Terrorist Attacks Photographs in the New York Times from 2001 to 2008 • Kanghui Baek, The University of Texas at Austin • This study examined photographs of 9/11 terrorist attacks that were published in the New York Times from 2001 to 2008. This study attempted how journalists have constructed a visually historic memory of the 9/11 as members of a culture of terror and to consider what the visual discourse might reveal about journalism in the United States, both at the time and in relation to lasting effects.
Labeling Participation: Exploring the Role of “I Voted” Stickers in Public Affairs Participation and Conversation on Election Day • Elizabeth Cohen, Georgia State University • The role of visual, social labels in public affairs engagement has been relatively neglected by research. Drawing from self-perception theory, this study predicted that identity variables would mediate the effect of wearing “I Voted” stickers on voters’ intended political involvement. The relationship between sticker display and interpersonal conversations was also investigated.
Why They Clash? The role of political posters in perpetuating the hegemonic structure of feudalism and sectarianism in Lebanon • Yasmine Dabbous, Louisiana State University; Khaled Nasser, Louisiana State University • To understand why clashes over political posters occur in Lebanon, this study analyzes the banners’ visual rhetoric and the characteristics of the posting practice. Taking the Beiruti street as an arena of collective assimilation, the paper argues that posters are more than pictures of political leaders. They promote the parties’ agendas and create a symbolic bonding between leaders and community. Reflections of collective identities, posters perpetuate a hegemonic feudal and sectarian system tearing Lebanon apart.
Self-trained and self-motivated: Newspaper photojournalists strive for quality during technological challenges • Keith Greenwood, University of Missouri; Scott Reinardy, University of Kansas • Photojournalists are often at the forefront of technological change in the newsroom. Newsroom efforts to increase Web production oftentimes hinge on the work of photographers, asking them to acquire skills to create multiple-image galleries, slideshows with audio and now video stories. The purpose of this pilot study was to examine newspaper photojournalists and their perceptions of job security, job quality, organizational trust, job satisfaction, morale and job commitment.
PHOTO FIXATION: Evaluating Web Site Conventions in Online News Slideshows • Lynette Holman, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Laura Ruel, UNC-Chapel Hill • With the advent of more advanced software like Flash in 1996, and Soundslides in 2005, news entities have been able to produce their own slideshows with greater ease. The key question is which presentation conventions are most useful and effective in gaining and keeping the attention of the audience.
Visual Framing of the 2008 Anti-China/Olympics Demonstration/Riot: A Content Analysis • Ying Huang, Southern Illinois University Carbondale • A content analysis of 74 photos from New York Times and Washington Post on the 2008 anti-China/Olympics protest/riot revealed that the event was framed positively, and the positive portrayal was achieved through framing demonstrators as peaceful, and the police as violent and intimidating. More photos with pro-Tibet parties and fewer photos with pro-China parties magnified the scope of the anti-China/Olympics demonstrations. Further, the demonstration, suppression and confrontation frames appeared more frequently than other frames.
A visual typology of surveillance news: Tools, techniques, and implications for public understanding • J Kilker, UNLV • To examine visual framing of the complex but important topics of surveillance and civil rights, this project used specialized software and a card sort to develop a typology of images in stories from three media sources. Photography focused on technology, social, and policy-making aspects of surveillance; other image categories were products of surveillance and constructed imagery. Few images were of the artifact, explanatory, timeline, and visualization types that might help public understanding of this topic.
Photojournalism’s Dilemma: Being a Dispassionate Observer or a “Good Samaritan” • Yung Soo Kim, University of Kentucky • When documenting human tragedy, photojournalists frequently face serious ethical dilemmas in choosing between acting as dispassionate observers and “Good Samaritans.” Regarding these ethical dilemmas, this study asked whether readers adopt a situational ethics rationale when they assess the photojournalist’s decision to make a photograph of a person suffering severe trauma, or whether they use an absolutist or utilitarian rationale.
A Semiotic Analysis of the Media Representation of China by the Australian Public Broadcaster • Xiufang (Leah) Li, Miss • Due to the significance of visual communication and the gap of the previous works, semiotic approach is employed to examine how the ‘Foreign Correspondent’ current affairs show produced by the Australian Broadcasting Cooperation represents China. It explores what kinds of signs are used; how they respond to each other under what kinds of context; whether there are any embedded myths.
Too Wide to Please? A Comparison of Audience Responses to Widescreen vs. Pan and Scan Presentation • Kimberly Neuendorf, Cleveland State University; Evan Lieberman, cleveland state university; Lingli Ying, cleveland state university; Pete Lindmark, cleveland state university • Motivated by film industry concerns over “pan and scanning” and a dearth of empirical research on audiences, an experiment was conducted. 71 subjects viewed sequences from four films presented in either widescreen or pan and scan format. Results show (a) audiences split in their preferences, (b) differences in viewers’ perceptual outcomes between the formats, (c) other perceptual factors predict positive affect, (d) the specific film is highly predictive for both perceptual outcomes and positive affect.
Using Research Informed Design Methods Enhances Audience Understanding Among Visual Communications Students • Jennifer Palilonis, Ball State University • This case study focuses on two courses comprised of journalism graphics students during which research-informed design and development strategies were implemented as a learning exercise in order to provide visual communications students with a better sense of audience understanding related to their design work. Students who took a survey and the completion of each course that was intended to gauge their opinions about research-informed design activities were overwhelmingly positive about the experience.
Visual Surfaces and Epidermal Fantasies: The Gendered Body and Transnational Modernity in India • Radhika Parameswaran, Indiana University • This paper’s analysis of the body, beauty, and transnational modernity in India offers a semiotic critique of discourses on skin lightening and skin color in a wide range of visual images. The paper employs a cultural studies methodological approach in order to connect, disconnect, and juxtapose visual, textual, and ethnographic data and travel across national, cultural, and gendered spaces.
Animated Web political cartoonists of 2008 presidential campaign: Finding their voice? • Karon Speckman, University of Missouri • This paper examined whether professional political cartoonists were finding better ways to use visual and audio metaphors in animated cartoons to promote democratic debate of the 2008 presidential campaign. Using Lamb’s definition of satire and Medhurst and De Sousa’s taxonomy for cartoon classification, the study suggested that animated political cartoonists were still trying to find their satirical voice. Music, multiple frames and movement hampered satire by diluting condemnation messages.
Discriminating news-reading behavior and cognition using eye-tracking methodologies • Dave Stanton, University of Florida • Two-hundred readers were exposed to prototype newspapers and news websites in order to understand their reading behaviors and cognition. Prototypes varied the number and types of discrete visual structures to see what combinations would result in great information recognition. Eye-tracking equipment measured eye-movements as proxy measures for underlying cognitive processes. Initial findings support the notion that utilizing visual structures that are limited to small number of information categories generated great information recognition.
Effects of Hyperlink Density on News Web Page Reading: An Eyetracking Study • Laura Ruel, UNC-Chapel Hill; Bartosz Wojdynski, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • Multiple theoretical models indicate that the complexity of Web pages affects how users interact with Web content. This study tracked participants’ eye movements to study the effects of hyperlink density on how users view, perceive, and recall content from online news Web sites. Results indicate that increased hyperlink density leads to an increase in number of stories viewed and alterations in link-reading patterns on the homepage itself, but has little effect on attitudinal measures.
Message Characteristics and Persuasion: The Mediating Role of Visual-Verbal Redundancy on the Effectiveness of Anti-smoking Messages • Jie Xu, Villanova University • This study investigated the mediating role of visual-verbal redundancy on the impact of three features (message sensation value, message cognition value, and smoking scenes) of anti-smoking messages on young adults’ ad processing. Using a within-subject experimental design, the mediation analyses indicated that V-V redundancy played a partially role mediating the relationship between MSV and message effectiveness. Also, it came between the other two message factors (MSV, and smoking scenes) and ad effectiveness as a complete mediator.
Correlating eye tracking with robust cognitive measures for visual representations in news • Ronald Yaros, University of Maryland • Eye-tracking studies to assess the effectiveness of visual elements continue to increase and “heat maps” suggest how readers attend to graphics, text, etc. To further test the relationships between eye movements, news stories and one’s understanding of content, this multi-method pilot (N = 20) analyzes eye measurements from two types of text and graphics in four stories about science and health.
