Scholastic Journalism 2009 Abstracts

Scholastic Journalism Division

Exploring Approaches to Journalism Education in a Post-Print World • Sara-Ellen Amster, National University; and Sara Kelly, National University • There is little data concerning curriculum reform nationally to meet the changing realities of the journalism business. This is an exploratory study of the current state of journalism education at what may be the most critical time for the field. It paints a tentative picture of a field consumed with fear about the future. At the same time there was frustration that institutions, ever cautious and bureaucratic, are adapting to societal change with painful slowness.

Minorities and Majors: A Survey of High School Journalists’ Plans for College and Careers • Linda Bowen, California State University, Northridge • Few programs exist for the kind of one-on-one relationship building seen by many educators as the most effective way to entice multicultural students to college and university journalism programs. One unique civic engagement model in California, Media Mentors, puts soon-to-graduate university journalism majors in the classrooms with high school students working on their news publications for two hours each week.

Tinkering with Free Expression: Student Rights in the Age of MySpace • Lola Burnham, Eastern Illinois University • Beginning with the Tinker v. Des Moines School District case that guaranteed students’ rights to free expression, this paper looks at how those rights have been chipped away at in such cases as Fraser, Hazelwood, and Morse and argues that the Morse opinion, in particular, can be misinterpreted in lower court decisions in cases involving fake MySpace pages created by students about their school principals. Two such cases with very different outcomes are examined closely.

The Influence of Personality and Motivation on Mass Communication Students’ Choices between News Media and Strategic Communication • Elizabeth Crawford, University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh; Vincent Filak, University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh; and Glenn Hubbard, University of Texas at Arlington • A study of journalism and mass communication majors (n = 240) revealed differences in regard to personality indices and impetuses for selecting to pursue a degree that emphasized either news media or strategic communication. While showing overall agreement in the importance of openness, agreeableness and conscientiousness, strategic communication students were significantly higher in their ratings of agreeableness, while news media students were significantly higher in their ratings of openness.

Assessing the State of Math Education in ACEJMC Accredited and Non-accredited Undergraduate Journalism Programs • Christine Cusatis, University of Florida; and Renee Martin-Kratzer, University of Florida • Although journalists need basic math skills, little attention has been given to math education in collegiate journalism programs. To assess journalists’ math education, 341 department chairs from both ACEJMC-accredited and non-accredited programs were surveyed. Results indicated that few programs offered math courses specifically for journalism majors. Instead, most relied on general education requirements and segments of core journalism courses to teach math skills. Strategies are proposed for future implementation of math education in journalism programs.

Perceived Journalistic Roles of J-school Students: A Comparative Study of Hong Kong and PRC • Li Deng, Chinese University of Hong Kong; and Wang Wai Ma, City University of Hong Kong • A comparative study was conducted in Mainland China and Hong Kong to show journalism students’ different perceptions of journalistic roles. The six journalistic roles extracted from 24 items are Consonance, Populist mobilizer, Adversarial, Interpretive, Disseminator, and Culture and Entertainment, which represent different professional ideas among students in different social and media environment.

Some Things Never Change: A Retrospective Look at Practitioner Expectations of Journalism and Public Relations Education • Vinita Dhingra, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona • A controversy has been raging for decades about the appropriate curricula for journalism students and the validity of journalism and public relations education. This study presents previously unpublished data from a 1991 study for a retrospective glimpse into the views, expectations and attitudes of journalism and public relations professionals towards journalism education. Results show that the professionals do not place a premium on journalism education and most value strong writing and other practical skills.

Controversy, Job Satisfaction and Self-censorship: A Comparative Analysis of High School and College Media Advisers • Vincent Filak, University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh • An analysis of data from 807 high school and college media advisers revealed congruency regarding controversial topics with which they had the most and least comfort seeing published in their school’s paper. However, high school advisers were significantly less comfortable than their college counterparts in publishing on all these topics. Furthermore, high school advisers feared retribution for running such stories more than the college advisers.

Certain Restrictions May Apply: A Comparison of High School Principals’ Attitudes Regarding Free Expression between 2004 and 2009 • Vincent Filak, University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh; Warren Watson, Ball State University; and Adam Maksl, Ball State University • Data collected from a sample of high school principals in 2004 and a separate sample collected in 2009 (n=535) reveal improvement in regard to knowledge of free expression law and some improved tolerance toward some acts of free expression. However, the data also suggest principals have a reticence toward certain forms of expression, especially those that might occur within their schools.

Hooked on the News via the Web: Integrating www.newsvine.com into a College Level Journalism Writing Course • James Forsher, Seattle University; Gabrielle Evans, Seattle University; Jamie Wallace, Seattle University; Jamie Richardson, Seattle University; Webster Erica, Seattle University; and Jordan Laine, Seattle University • The paper discusses an instructor and his students experience integrating www.newsvine.com into an intermediate media-writing course at Seattle University. Newsvine’s is an online site that features international news, domestic, local, business, politics, odd news, health and entertainment. Readers can also write news articles or comment on stories they are reading.

The Effects of a Student Press Law on the Content of Student Newspapers • Jennifer Garner, Lakeside High School, Hot Springs, Arkansas; and Bruce Plopper, University of Arkansas at Little Rock • Through content analysis of student newspapers five years before and after implementation of the Arkansas Student Publications Act, this research measured whether the Act had any effects on student newspaper content. Findings showed that controversial news and feature stories declined significantly in newspapers at small, rural schools while they increased significantly at large, urban schools. Adviser training and experience seem to be more important determinants of newspaper content than is a student press law.

Item Response Theory versus Classical Test Theory: Proposing a New Approach in Evaluating Journalism Students’ Achievement • Mugur Geana, School of Journalism and Mass Communications, University of Kansas • The present study provides a practical justification for the use of advanced test development methods in building instruments to measure journalism students’ achievement. Evaluating student performance is a cornerstone of the educational process. Developments in psychology of knowledge combined with advances in statistical reasoning applied to educational testing have opened new fields of research into areas of performance appraisal and test building.

Hooking ‘Em Young: Effects of Forms of Youth Exposure to Newspapers on Later Newspaper Adoption • Geoffrey Graybeal, University of Georgia; and Ann Hollifield, University of Georgia • This study examines how different types of exposures to newspapers in high school and prior to high school are related to decisions by college freshmen to adopt and use their college newspaper. The study draws upon newspaper readership and adoption theory to examine predictors. This survey of college freshmen found that interest in news predicts independent newspaper adoption but exposure to news does not.

Moving Beyond Rules: Codes and Classes Role in Ethical Decision-making by Editors at Campus Dailies • Marie Hardin, Pennsylvania State University; and Kirstie Hettinga, Pennsylvania State University • This research uses interviews with college Editors to explore their ethical decision-making. Findings suggest they value ethics classes but generally fail to connect instruction and codes with their newsroom experience. As they gain experience, they may move beyond a foundational, rules-based approaches to ethics, but they may also be overconfident about their decision-making abilities. Student journalists would benefit from instruction integrated into the newsroom environment that includes a focus on understanding the role of codes.

Copying Right and Copying Wrong with Web 2.0 Tools in the Communications and Teacher Education Classrooms • Ewa McGrail, Georgia State University; and J. Patrick McGrail, Jacksonville State University • Understanding copyright law in online content creation has become important in the Information Age. Student content creators should be educated about their responsibilities as producers of content derived from the intellectual property of others. As educators, we want to prepare our students for responsible participation in this new age. This paper describes an approach that we employ with underclassmen in communication courses and English teacher education students to prepare them to deal with copyright issues.

Journalism Students’ Knowledge About U.S. Politics and Government: Implications for Journalism Education • Uche Onyebadi, Southern Illinois University Carbondale • This research deviates from most studies about knowledge of politics and civic affairs with its specific focus on what journalism students in a US university know about the subject. The survey instrument was used in this study.

Designing a News Web Site To Appeal To Teens • Jessica Otwell, University of Memphis • This study links uses-and-gratification theory and the media choice model to teens’ online news consumption. It applies each of them to the future of news organizations and outreach to teen audiences. A focus group was conducted to determine the needs of teens and what changes need to be made to a citywide high school newspaper to reflect their interests. Research found that participants demand connectivity and new design standards when visiting news sites.

The Effects of the Ideological Congruency/Distance between Journalism and Mass Communication Students and their Professors on the Students’ Learning Experiences • Tayo Oyedeji, University of Georgia; Jennimaria Palomaki, University of Georgia; Uche Onyebadi, Southern Illinois University Carbondale; and Jiran Hou, University of Georgia • This study explores the effects of the ideological congruency/distance between journalism and mass communication students and their professors on the learning experiences of the students. The results show that ideological distance/congruency did not affect students’ perceptions of their overall learning experiences and their class grades but had a statistically significant effect on their participation in class discussions.

<< 2009 Abstracts

Radio Television Journalism 2009 Abstracts

Radio Television Journalism Division

Two Parts “Old Media,” One Part “New:” Integrating Social Media and Television News • Thomas Baggerman, Capital University; Cheryl Harrison, Capital University; Brent Small, Capital University; Andrew Newman, Capital University; Stefan Smetanko, Capital University; Jason Kaplan, Capital University; Andrea Klinker, Capital University; Michael Ferko, Capital University; Ruben Fernandez, Capital University; Blaire Ramey, Capital University • This paper examines the academic and industry views on the benefits and challenges of integrating “new” social media like Facebook and Twitter with “old” mainstream news media, particularly television news. The paper reviews national and local exemplar newscasts to assess current levels of integration, and compares these to the stated goals of the newscasts. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of the benefits of possible future melding of social media and television news.

As it Plays Out: Network and local news coverage of two Canadian elections • Marsha Barber, Ryerson University • This research paper addresses the issue of media bias on Canadian television during coverage of the 2006 federal election and the 2007 Ontario provincial election. A content analysis suggests network news coverage is balanced for the most part. Findings further suggest that local coverage was usually balanced, but did not always meet the scrupulous standards set by the networks. However, a more subtle and systemic bias was apparent at both the network and local levels.

The Daily Show as Scapegoat: Examining Cynicism Toward Politics and the News Media • Lauren Bratslavsky, University of Oregon • Drawing on survey data and past studies about The Daily Show, this paper seeks to understand the relationship between the “fake news” TV program and cynicism. Some have applauded the program for its satirical perspectives about politics and the news media.

A tale of two sites: Comparing new media use at television news operations and newspapers • Tim Brown, University of Central Florida; Steve Collins, University of Central Florida • This national survey examined the differences between television news operations and newspapers in their use of multimedia to disseminate content. It appears that the “legacy” attitudes of traditional media are carrying over into new media, and that newspapers appear to be falling behind television stations in some key aspects of delivering content over new media.

New Media, Enduring Values: How Three News Organizations Managed Change In An Age Of Uncertainty • Carrie Brown, University of Memphis; Jonathan Groves, Drury University • This study uses theory on organizational culture and leadership to identify factors affecting the implementation of an initiative by three news organizations to bring the core principles of journalism to life on the Web. A newspaper, a local television station, a producer and distributor of public radio, and an academic institution participated in this effort.

Public vs. Commercial Broadcasting News Use: Does News Consumption Orientation Matter? • Q. Lisa Bu, University of Wisconsin-Madison • Can news consumption orientation, defined as people’s general tendency to prefer certain news medium and content, predict public vs. commercial broadcasting news use? The results suggest that (1) news consumption orientation is a 4-factor concept independent of media use gratification; (2) it predicts public and commercial broadcasting news use but cannot predict which source will be used more; and (3) regular use of online news has no effect on either broadcasting news use.

Gonna take you higher! News Blogging in the 21st Century: A quantitative study • Janice Collins, Ohio University • Mainstream journalists and media outlets have not done an effective job in keeping in touch with the needs, concerns and values of the audience. The internet is changing all of that. Cyberjournalism and blogging is forcing main stream journalists to stand up and pay attention to not only the public, but to their craft, as well.

Considering the Source and Messenger in Local TV News • William R. Davie, University of Louisiana at Lafayette • This content analysis of local television news compared hard and soft news variables of gender and ethnicity by anchors and reporters. There was relative balance in gender and racial representation for hard news and soft news story assignments in contrast to the literature. Findings also compared gender and ethnicity with source type (expert/non-expert) and found white male expert sources overrepresented when compared to female and minority expert sources.

Issue Salience Along Party Lines And TV Network News in the 2008 US Presidential Campaign • David Free, University of Texas at Austin • This study examines whether the issues that are recognized as the most important to voter’s who self-identify with either the Republican or Democratic parties and/or the candidates representing those parties and ideologies are reflected in network television news and the stories the networks identify as salient between January 2008 and Election Day on November 4, 2008.

Is AMBER more effective on the air or online? Priming and source effects in missing children alerts • Jennifer Greer, University of Alabama; Po-Lin Pan, University of Alabama; David Flores, University of Nevada • This study examined the effects of the AMBER Alert system, which has become a staple on broadcast outlets nationwide. Using an experimental design, researchers examined priming effects (AMBER label/generic missing child alert) and source credibility (local television news station/social networking site) on citizen responses to alerts. Regardless of source, the AMBER label prompted higher subject involvement with a case and higher ratings of message importance. The source cue only affected message quality ratings.

The 2008 Presidential Campaign: Political cynicism in the age of Facebook, MySpace and YouTube • Gary Hanson, Kent State University; Paul Haridakis, Kent State University; Audrey Wagstaff, Kent State University; Rekha Sharma, Kent State University; J.D. Ponder, Kent State University • We examined the impact of social network media use during the 2008 presidential campaign on political cynicism. Drawing on uses and gratifications theory, we also considered the contribution of user background characteristics and motives. Results suggest males low in self efficacy who elaborated on political information, but tended not to use social networking sites for political information and whose family and friends did not provide strong political socialization influence, were more cynical than their counterparts.

Television News Frames over the Street Girls • Seong Choul Hong, Indiana University • If prostitution is the world’s oldest profession, it is also, arguably, one of the oldest topics in news media coverage. The U.S. media have sensitized, amplified, and constructed prostitutes and their clients as public nuisances and immoral beings. Nonetheless, the question of how news media present the images of prostitutes and their clients has rarely been explored. Even when this is the case, the research has been confined to content analyses of printing media.

User Generated Content and the 2008 Presidential Election: A Content Analysis of Citizens’ Stories on CNN’s iReport • Kirsten Johnson, Elizabethtown College • The 2008 presidential election saw a shift from people as passive consumers of media to active content creators. People went online to post stories using text, pictures, video, and audio. One site that supports user created content is CNN’s iReport.com. A content analysis was performed on 278 stories written about the 2008 presidential election and posted by citizens to iReport.com.

Selective Exposure of American News Consumers to Polarized Cable News Channels • Yung Soo Kim, University of Kentucky; Mina Tsay, University of Kentucky; Deborah Chung, University of Kentucky • Employing a cross-sectional online survey (N = 135), this study examined patterns of selective exposure to two polarized 24-hour cables news channels, Fox and CNN. Specifically, this study investigated the relationship of political orientation and perceived news bias to channel selection (frequency of viewing intention, frequency of reliance on viewing, amount of attention paid, and frequency of actual exposure).

Teasing Out the Promos: An Analysis of Self-Promotion Strategies in Network Newscasts • Joy Chavez Mapaye, University of Oregon, University of Alaska Anchorage; Kathleen M. Ryan, Miami University-Ohio • This study investigates the self-promotion practices of ABC, CBS, and NBC. Using content analysis and categories grounded in vertical integration strategies, this study examines the management and marketing of the network brand identity through teases and various self-promotion strategies. The research found the three major television networks used self-promotion frequently. In all, 1,063 instances of self-promotion were recorded from the sample. For every 30 minutes of news content, there were approximately 4 minutes of self-promotion.

The Community Affiliation Model: The Effects of Ideological Congruency and Community Affiliation on Audiences’ Perceptions of Cable News Outlets • Tayo Oyedeji and Jiran Hou, University of Georgia • This study proposes and tests the community affiliation model—a model that predicts that community affiliation, a measure of the extent to which media audiences believe that a news media outlet cares about their community, will be the key mediating variable in the relationships among ideological congruency, media believability, media use, and audience loyalty to cable news outlets.

The uses, gratifications and political knowledge young adults obtain from watching network newscasts and late night comedy shows • Susu Qin, Iowa State University, Greenlee School of Journalism and Mass Communication • This study examines how college students use and obtain gratifications from two TV news program genres (regular network news and late-night comedy shows), which of these two program types contribute more to political knowledge, and what is the influence of exposure and attention to late-night comedy shows.

EARwitness Testimony: Applying Listener Perspectives to Developing a Working Concept of “Localism” in Broadcast Radio • Gayane Torosyan, SUNY Oneonta • Ever since the introduction of new technologies such as satellite, Internet and cable radio, the concept of “local” has been at the center of a debate in the radio industry. Ownership consolidation has led to concerns about the loss of “local identity.” Broadcast radio news providers are operating under the assumption that the geographical location of the origin of news plays an increasingly smaller role.

Recreatin’ Sarah Palin: Journalists, Tina Fey and the Construction of a Political Persona • Dannagal Young, University of Delaware • Rarely has an impersonation received as much press coverage as Tina Fey’s impersonation of Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin. Journalists referred to the young comedian as Palin’s “doppelganger,” and her send-up of the Alaska governor as “dead-on” (Wiser, 2008, Chicago Sun-Times). More importantly, perhaps, journalists appear to have embraced Fey’s Palin and integrated this folksy, dim-witted-but-charming version of the governor into their campaign stories.

<< 2009 Abstracts

Public Relations 2009 Abstracts

Public Relations Division

Open Papers
Antagonistic Symbiosis or Interactive Symbiosis: An Analytical Study Of the Relationship between Public Relations Practitioners and Journalists in United Arab Emirates • mai Alkhaja, united Arab emirates university • The goal of study is discover and evaluate the relationship between PR practitioners and journalists at UAE. The important conclusions are : PR practitioners face difficulties in the execution of their roles. Top management have a different view about the free flow of information from that of the practitioner.

PR Goes to the Movies: Public Relations in Selected Films 1996 to 2008 • Carol Ames, California State University, Fullerton • This qualitative analysis of public relations in popular Hollywood films from 1996 to 2008 looks at three questions: First, how is the PR practitioner portrayed in recent films? Second, what kind of public relations activities and models of public relations are depicted? Third, how do other scholars’ results in prior studies apply to the portrayal of public relations in current films?

A Quantitative Review of Crisis Communication Research in Public Relations: 1991-2009 • Elizabeth Avery, University of Tennessee; Ruthann Weaver Lariscy, University of Georgia; Sora Kim, DePaul University; Tatjana Hocke, University of Tennessee • This study quantitatively examines18 years (1991-2009) of data from the crisis communication domain in Public Relations. 66 articles met the selected criteria; each was content analyzed to determine context (corporate, public/government, private, non-profit, other), primary methodology, and numerous contextual elements. Many specific findings are presented, and overall recommendations indicate crisis communication research in public relations may benefit both theoretically and pragmatically through more diverse contextual and methodological applications.

The impact of environmental disclosure on environmental legitimacy and the organization-public relationship • Denise Bortree, Penn State University • Environmental responsibility has become a critical area of focus for corporations. The aim of this research was to examine a key dimension of responsibility by exploring how disclosure of information impacts environmental legitimacy and the quality of the organization-public relationship. Results suggest that disclosure of environmental information leads to a greater perception of legitimacy of an organization and can lead to a stronger relationship with key publics.

New Dimensions in Relationship Management: Exploring Gender and Inclusion in the Nonprofit Organization-Volunteer Relationship • Denise Bortree, Penn State University; richard waters, nc state u • The role of gender in perceptions of the organization-public relations has not been explored. This paper reports on a study of the inclusive behaviors of nonprofit organizations toward teen volunteers. Borrowing from organizational communication literature, the study explores whether greater inclusion by the organization will lead to a higher quality relationship and whether the genders experience different levels of inclusion.

Applied Ethics and Stakeholder Management on Corporate Websites • Shannon Bowen, Syracuse University • A content analysis was conducted using a random interval sample of the 2008 Fortune® 500 list of the largest US corporations to explore their application of ethics and stakeholder management. Seventy-two of the 500 were quantified along the lines of the content of their corporate website related to ethics, communication, stakeholders, relationship measures, community relations, and other qualitative variables.

Increasing publicity and thematic news coverage: The impact of localizing news releases in a state-wide experimental field study • Bonnie Bressers, Kansas State University; joye gordon, kansas state university • In a state-wide experimental field study, Kansas newspapers were sent news releases over a four-month period addressing four children’s health issues. Half of the releases contained state-level data; half contained county-level data. The localized content was published 6-to-1 times more often. Contextual text regarding children’s health was retained. Commercial data and mail-merge software can help publicity efforts by increasing publication and prominence of messages and impacting the rhetorical framing of health topics in newspaper content.

Issues Management and University Alcohol Prevention: Improving Parental Perceptions of Organizational Legitimacy • John Brummette, Radford University • Developed from a strategic issues management and attribution theory approach, the purpose of this study is to assess the parental population to determine any significant relationships between perceptions of university drinking, awareness of alcohol prevention programs and perceptions of organizational legitimacy. A web-based survey (n=173) was conducted in the Spring of 2008 with parents of university students at a state flagship university.

Public Relations Best Practices in Sports Marketing: A Case Study of Aston Villa Football Club • Danielle Coombs, Kent State University; Anne Osborne, Louisiana State University • In some circles, “public relations” is a dirty term and PR practitioners are nothing but shysters. That is what many English football fans seem to think; beyond that, they perceive that those shysters, more often than not, are American. There is one notable exception to this: Randy Lerner, owner of Birmingham, UK’s Aston Villa Football Club. This paper examines the public relations efforts of AVFC through the lenses of relationship management and Grunig’s Excellence theory.

I Love What I Do, But . . . A Relationship Management Survey of Millennial PR Agency Employees • Tiffany Derville Gallicano, University of Oregon; Patricia Curtin, University of Oregon; Kelli Matthews, University of Oregon • Millennials, those born in 1982 and later, represent the largest and most racially diverse generation in history and the fastest growing segment of the workforce. They have also been characterized in the popular press as “coddled,” “entitled,” and lacking a strong work ethic. This survey of Millennial generation agency practitioners uses closed and open-ended questions to determine how they rate their relationships with their employers (on trust, satisfaction, control mutuality, and commitment).

Pretending to Care Regardless of Results: A Critical Examination of Relationship Types and a Revised Framework • Tiffany Derville Gallicano, University of Oregon • In this paper, I describe the conceptualization of relationship types and identify problems with this conceptualization. To fix the problems I identified, I propose a revised conceptualization of relationship types. In addition, I propose quantitative and qualitative measurements for the revised conceptualization.

Annual Earnings Releases: Intermedia Agenda-Setters and Corporate Reputation Influencers • Marcia DiStaso, Penn State University • By exploring corporate earnings releases and local and national coverage of those earnings for 207 companies, this study found that corporations do set the media agenda for annual earnings. Corporate earnings releases were found to have the greatest influence on positive content in local earnings coverage and negative content in national earnings coverage. Reputation was best predicted by the neutrality of the corporate earnings release in combination with the length of local and national coverage.

The Age Paradox: New Media and Public Participation Among Millennials, Generation X, Baby Boomers, and Matures • David Dozier, San Diego State University, School of Journalism and Media Studies; Bey-Ling Sha, San Diego State University; Sandra Wellhausen, Katz & Associates; Kristina Bentson Ray, City of Carlsbad • In a national telephone survey (RDD), relationships were tested among generalized new media usage, public participation using new media, and age. Younger Americans use new media more frequently than their elders. However, older people are more likely to attend public meetings (traditional public participation) because of higher involvement. The significant negative relationship between age and new media public participation reverses to a significant positive relationship, once generalized new media usage is controlled.

An Experimental Investigation of the Crisis Response Strategies in Nonprofit Public Relations • Hilary Fussell Sisco, Quinnipiac University; Erik Collins, University of South Carolina • Crisis communications has distinguished itself as a leading area in public relations. However, little attention has been paid to nonprofit organizations (NPOs), one of the largest sectors of public relations practice. In particular, few studies have examined the crisis response strategies NPOs can employ to repair their reputations.

Corporate Communication Competencies and Expectations at Multiple Levels of Professional Maturity (Preliminary Report of a Work in Progress) • Tamara Gillis, Elizabethtown College • This content analysis of current corporate communication position descriptions (from entry-level to senior management) is intended to identifying expectations and competencies at multiple levels of professional maturity. As they advance in their careers, communication professionals are engaged in the strategic management of core communication processes for businesses and organizations.

Organizational Image Construction in a Fragmented Media Environment • Dawn Gilpin, Arizona State University • Organizations seek to influence their reputation through a variety of self-presentation activities, which collectively express the organization’s identity. Whereas news releases once constituted the primary form of self-presentation, online and social media such as blogging and micro-blogging (Twitter) also contribute to image building in today’s media environment. This paper focuses on organizational image as the social dimension of organizational identity, within a larger model of reputation construction.

Wary of the Web: The Underutilization of Web Sites for Public Outreach by State Emergency Management Agencies • David Guth, University of Kansas; Gordon Alloway, University of Kansas Center for Telemedicine and Telehealth • Expanding on prior research, this paper examines how state emergency management agencies (SEMAs) use the Internet for public outreach. Through content analysis and a survey of SEMA public information officers, it was determined that, overall, SEMA Web site content appears to be focused more toward emergency managers and first responders than toward citizens or the news media.

Crisis Communications in 160 Characters and Spaces: Student Responses, Perceptions and Preferences for Emergency Text Message Notifications • Joseph Giordano, Colorado State University; Kirk Hallahan, Colorado State University • In a quasi-experiment participants (n=337) were surveyed about their behavioral intent after reading two text messages. High-risk (versus low-risk) messages generated greater attention, re-reading, and retention (versus deletion) of messages, greater message forwarding and greater information sharing and information seeking. Effects related to gender and three personality traits—attitude toward technology, self-efficacy and risk-taking—also are reported. . Implications for the successful promotion of cell phone-based crisis alert systems are discussed.

In Search of a Standard Scale: Exploring the Dimensions of Perceived Source Credibility • Karen Hilyard, University of Tennessee • Perceived source credibility is a key construct in communication research but there are no standard scales by which to measure it. In a series of one-on-one interviews, this study explores the dimensions of Meyer’s Credibility Index: trust, fairness, openness, accuracy and bias.

The Influence of Corporate Social Responsibility and Customer-Company Identification on Publics’ Dialogic Communication Intentions • Soo Yeon Hong, Virginia Commonwealth University; Hyejoon Rim, Syracuse University • A public’s engagement in dialogic communications with organizations is an important relational behavior that facilitates building of organization-public relationships. To date, most of the research on dialogic communication has focused on the dialogic potential of the Internet as a way to evaluate organizations’ relationship building practices. Relatively less study has been conducted to examine the factors that influence publics’ engagement in dialogic communications.

Expanding the Government Communication Decision Wheel with Four Levels of Government • Suzanne Horsley, University of Utah; Brooke Liu, University of Maryland; Abbey Levenshus, University of Maryland • The authors surveyed 781 government communicators to expand the model of the government communication decision wheel with the four levels of government: city, county, state, and federal. The results revealed that there are similarities and differences among the four levels of government in terms of daily public affairs activities and environmental obstacles and opportunities. The model was expanded to include the unique organizational attributes of each level and to visualize communication practices among government communicators.

Exploring the Value of Organization-public Relationships in Strategic Management: A Resource-based View • Lin-juan Rita Men, Hong Kong Baptist University; Flora Hung, Hong Kong Baptist University • This study combines the relational approach in public relations and the resource based approach in strategic management in exploring the values of public relations for an organization. Qualitative interview data showed that relationships were the organizational resources because relationship cultivation was an organizational capability and relationship outcomes were the intangible assets.

Examination of Scholarly Networks in Public Relations Research (2004-2008) • Sungwook Hwang, Myongji University; Chang Dae Ham, University of Missouri at Columbia • Based on the results of the bibliometric analysis, this study addresses the current status quo of public relations research as an independent discipline. After comparing the results with a previous bibliometric study (Pasadeos et al., 1999), this analysis of citations and co-citations of published works for the last five years (2004-2008) found that Grunig, J. A. and his work was still located at the center of a scholarly network of public relations.

Toward a Publics-Driven, Emotion-Based System in Crisis Communication:Unearthing Dominant Emotions in Multi-Staged Testing of the Integrated Crisis Mapping (ICM) Model • Yan Jin, Virginia Commonwealth University; Augustine Pang, Nanyang Technological University; Glen Cameron, Missouri School of Journalism, University of Missouri-Columbia • To better understand not only the minds, but also the hearts, of key publics, the authors assessed a more systemic approach to understanding the responses audience to crisis situations. The Integrated Crisis Mapping (ICM) model is based on a public-based, emotion-driven perspective where responses to different crises are mapped on two continua, the organization’s engagement in the crisis and primary public’s coping strategy.

Good for Samsung is Good for Korea: Image restoration strategies used by Samsung after a whistle-blowing corruption scandal • Taejin Jung, SUNY Oswego; Ron Graeff, SUNY Oswego; Woomi Shim, Florida State University • This study sought to examine the various image restoration and renewal strategies a prestigious Korean company (Samsung) employed in responding to the allegations of wrongdoing made by the whistler-blower, Mr. Kim Young-chul. Review of official comments and documents found that the organization used defensive strategies (e.g., denial, attack the accuser, transcendence, bolstering) in order to protect its image.

Causal Linkages among Relationship Quality Perception, Attitude, and Behavior Intention in a Membership Organization • Eyun-Jung Ki, The University of Alabama • This study was designed to test two models linking relationship perception, attitude, and behavior-based involvement in a membership organization. For the four relationship quality dimensions used in this study—control mutuality, satisfaction, trust, and commitment—current members’ perceptions of relationship trust and commitment positively influenced their attitudes toward the organization. More importantly, this study demonstrates that the public’s perception of commitment can also directly engender supportive behavior toward the organization among members of a key public.

Expectation Gaps between Stakeholders and Web-based Corporate Public Relations Efforts: Focusing on Fortune 500 Corporate Web Sites • Sora Kim, DePaul University; Jae-Hee Park, University of Tennessee; Emma Wright, East Carolina University • This study primarily investigates how Fortune 500 corporations use corporate-focused website public relations efforts to prioritize their stockholders and trying to meet different expectations of each stakeholder. The study found that shareholder needs are most often addressed by the corporations followed by consumers, community members, government agencies, and lastly activists, implying expectation gaps between stakeholders and corporate PR efforts. The study also found differences in the way various industries target stakeholders with the exception of shareholders.

Agenda Building Effects of Presidential Candidate Public Relations on Global Media Coverage and Public Opinion • JI YOUNG KIM, University of Florida; zheng xiang, University of Florida; Spiro Kiousis, U of Florida • Grounded in first- and second-level agenda-building and agenda-setting, the relationships among public relations, global media, and public opinion were explored in the context of 2008 U.S. presidential election. Two candidates’ speeches, press releases, and foreign media coverage were analyzed and compared with public opinion. Object salience (issue and candidate) was found between public relations and global media; affective attribute (tone) salience was partially supported in the relationships of public relations, global media and public opinion.

A Quantitative Analysis of Governments’ Use of Interactive Media in International Public Relations • JI YOUNG KIM, University of Florida; Juan-Carlos Molleda, University of Florida • Seeking a relationship between contextual variables and global public relations practices, this study examined 118 official websites of national governments in every continent around the world. In particular, it focused on three political and socioeconomic variables-the level of transparency, economic freedom, and the readiness of E-government-and explored their associations with the interactive media use by national governments. Significant associations were found by supporting the regional differences in the interactive media use by governments.

Media Practices in the Urals Federal District of Russia: Examination of the Non-Transparent Practices at Three Levels • Anna Klyueva, University of Oklahoma; Katerina Tsetsura, University of Oklahoma • This study examined non-transparent practices that happen at the interpersonal, intra-organizational, or inter-organizational level in the media of the Urals Federal District of Russia. Findings showed that the most frequent non-transparent practice in the Urals Federal District of Russia happens at the interpersonal level. However, a number of non-transparent practices happen at the inter-organizational level and their frequency significantly differs between local and national media.

No sickness, no need: College student perspectives on health messages • Cheryl Ann Lambert, Boston University • Scholarship indicates a stark contrast between health impediments college students identify and the health information their respective campuses provide, campus health promotions often lacking personal relevance for college students, and health programs that utilize control-based strategies to compel behavior change. The purpose of this study was to explore how female undergraduates perceive health messages to identify implications for public relations scholarship and practice and to facilitate enhanced health communications for college students.

An Extension of the Situational Theory of Publics in Political Context • DooHee Lee, Department of Communication, University of Maryland; Hyehyun Hong, University of Missouri; Jongmin Park, Kyung Hee University; Youngah Lee, University of Missouri • This study attempted to reexamine and extend the situational theory of publics (STP) in the political context by using a national survey with a total of 978 random samples. Interestingly, in the low political knowledge group, the results showed that the greater problems were recognized, the more people were likely to communicate political issues while the relationship between problem recognition and communication activeness was not significant among those with high political knowledge.

The Emergence, Variation, and Evolution of CSR on the Media and Public Agenda, 1980-2004: The exposure of publicly-traded firms to public debate • Sun Young Lee, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Craig Carroll, University of North Carolina • This study examines the emergence of corporate social responsibility (CSR) as a public issue over 25 years using a content analysis from two national newspapers and seven geographically dispersed newspapers in the U.S. Unlike most other CSR studies, this study adopted a comprehensive definition encompassing all four CSR dimensions: economic, ethical, legal, and philanthropic. We examined newspaper editorials, letters, and columns connecting CSR as a public issue to publicly-traded companies.

Strategic responses to influential external blogs: A model for managing blog-mediated crisis communication • Yan Jin, Virginia Commonwealth University; Brooke Liu, University of Maryland • Practitioners and academics are buzzing about the impact of the blogosphere on public relations practices. Emerging evidence indicates that strategically managing blog-mediated public relations may be especially critical for crisis managers. Yet, no known research provides a comprehensive, theoretically-sound approach indicating how crisis managers should engage with the blogosphere. Therefore, this study proposes a new conceptual model to help public relations practitioners navigate the evolving blogosphere: the strategic responses to influential external blogs model.

Measuring Information Source Usefulness to Differentiate America’s Traveling Public • Lisa Fall, University of Tennessee; Chuck Lubbers, University of South Dakota • This study investigates how publics (travelers) can be differentiated based on information source factors (domains), generational cohorts and residency. Over the course of a year domestic and foreign travelers who were traveling to, from, or through a southeastern state were surveyed; resulting in 1764 participants. Computer mediated communication sources, mass media sources, word-of-mouth, and travel/tourism sources serve as viable predictors. Implications for both practitioners and educators are discussed and recommendations for future research are suggested.

Bridging the Gap: An Exploratory Study of Corporate Social Responsibility among SMEs in Singapore • Mui Hean Lee, Nanyang Technological University; Xiu Wen Lien, Nanyang Technological University; Yan Zhao Poh, Nanyang Technological University; Ai Ling Soh, Nanyang Technological University; Angela Mak, Nanyang Technological University; Augustine Pang, Nanyang Technological University • Corporate social responsibility (CSR) among small-medium enterprises (SME) is an overlooked area. A self-administered web survey was conducted among 113 senior executives from top 500 Singapore SMEs (27.2% response). Key findings include 1) moderate awareness but low comprehension of CSR; 2) engagement relevance to immediate stakeholders; 3) individual values, stakeholder relationships, and governmental influences as main drivers; and 4) lack of various resources as key barriers. A potential framework and future research directions are discussed.

High School Guidance Counselor Preferences of College Web sites • Sheila McAllister-Spooner, Monmouth University • A survey of 69 U.S.-based high school guidance and admissions counselors suggests that college Web sites are the main source used to review colleges and universities. Of Kent and Taylor’s five dialogic features, the ease of interface and useful information features that conserve visit time and generate return visits are perceived as the most important. The dialogic feedback features were not strong indicators that would increase the likelihood of submitting an application.

Enhancing Social Capital between Journalists and Public Relations Practitioners? The Social Media Release Uncovered • Sara Portoghese, Elon University; Barbara Miller, Elon University • This study examines perceptions of the social media release (SMR), an evolution of the traditional news release that incorporates various social media tools. In-depth interviews with journalists and public relations professionals suggest the SMR addresses many of the concerns of the 24-hour news cycle by making story research faster and more convenient for journalists. The SMR may be particularly beneficial in enhancing relationships between reporters and public relations practitioners, particularly online journalists and bloggers.

Not Ready to Play Nice: An Analysis of Negativity in the News Releases of 2007 Presidential Primary • Mia Moody, Baylor University; Joseph Brown, Baylor University • Using competitive candidate position and policy prioritization frameworks, this study investigates negative campaigning and issue preferences as reflected in news releases posted to the Internet sites of candidates and tracking polls leading up to the 2007-2008 presidential primaries. Findings indicated that underdog candidates were more likely than frontrunners to engage in issue-oriented negative campaigning. Conversely, frontrunners were less likely to employ such tactics.

More Words, Less Action: A Framing Analysis of FEMA Public Relations Communications During Hurricanes Katrina and Gustav • Seth Oyer, Bowling Green State University; J. Keith Saliba, Jacksonville University; Franklin Yartey, Bowling Green State University • This study comparatively analyzes the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s crisis public relations communication leading up to and during hurricanes Katrina and Gustav to determine what, if any, changes FEMA made to its communication strategy. Employing framing analysis, the authors discovered that, aside from an increase of more than double the number of words devoted to its Gustav crisis communication, the action statements withing FEMA’s crisis rhetoric had actually decreased since that before and during Katrina.

Effects of interactive online media type and crisis type on public trust during organizational crisis • Seth Oyer, Bowling Green State University; Michael Mitrook, University of Florida • This 2 x 3 experimental design tests the effects of interactive online media type (specifically blog and streaming video) and crisis type (accident, intentional or victim) on public trust during organizational crisis. Coombs’ (1997) Situational Crisis Communication Theory formed the foundation for the crisis type independent variable. Hon and Grunig’s (1999) trust dimension measures from Relationship Theory were used as the basis for the dependent variables.

Extension of Symbolic Convergence Theory: “About us” Web Page Analysis of Fortune Top 100 Corporations • Jongmin Park, Kyung Hee University; Hyunmin Lee, University of Missouri • This study extended the mainly qualitative analysis of Symbolic Convergence Theory (SCT) by conducting a quantitative content analysis of the “About us” Web pages of Fortune top 100 corporations. The findings revealed that, the fantasy type of superiority and the rhetorical vision of economic corporate management appeared the most frequently with related public (dramatic personae), competent and superior corporation (plot line), a person (scene), and economic corporate management (master analogue) as the structural terms of SCT.

Associations among Relationship Maintenance Strategies, Organization-Public Relationships, and Support for Organizations: An Exploratory Study of the Korean Non-Profit Sector • Hanna Park, University of Florida; Yunna Rhee, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies • In this study, the associations among relationship maintenance strategies, organization-public relationships, and support for the organization were examined. In particular, the focus is on non-profit organizations, which has seldom been subject to the public relations relationship management research in Korea. Support for organization was conceptualized and measured as intention to donate and volunteer as non-profit organizations heavily rely on these two types of public support.

From a Journalist’s Perspective: The Opinions and Attitudes Toward Dialogic Components of Corporate Websites • Justin Pettigrew, University of Georgia; Bryan Reber, University of Georgia • This study examines the attitudes and opinions of journalists regarding the use of dialogic components by Fortune 500 company Web sites designed for press use. Print journalists, via interviews, identified what components of online press rooms they found most valuable and desirable. Journalists appreciate the growing presence of dialogic components of corporate Web sites, but a level of distrust and sense of manipulation remains. Suggestions are made for re-examination of online dialogic communications typologies.

Political information source influence on perceptions of organization-public relationships with political parties • Trent Seltzer, Texas Tech University; Weiwu Zhang, Texas Tech University • Using Hallahan’s (2001) model of integrated public relations media planning as a conceptual framework, 508 voters were surveyed during the 2008 presidential general election to examine the relative influence of three sources of information on perceptions of organization-public relationships with political parties: media coverage, interpersonal political discussion, and parties’ strategic communication efforts. Strategic communication exerted the greatest influence on relationship perceptions. The findings extend research on strategic communication planning, public relations effectiveness, and relationship management.

Leading Up: Public Relations Beyond Managerial Roles • Marianne Sison, RMIT University • Public relations literature has often defined practitioners either as managers or technicians, or both. Public relations literature on leadership tend to refer to practitioners as working for or working with leaders, rather than being one of the leaders. By distinguishing between managers and leaders, this paper explores practitioner eligibility to become leaders by analyzing their exercise of influence and their perceptions of themselves as leaders.

Corporate compassion in a time of downsizing: The role of public relations in cultivating and maintaining corporate alumni social networks • Kevin Stoker, Texas Tech University; Susan Walton, Brigham Young University • This paper contends that corporate alumni networks serve a public relations purpose more than they do a human resource purpose. Through interviews with two developers of corporate social networks and a former employee who started an alumni network, the paper shows that these networks represent an opportunity and a moral imperative for public relations.

Perceptions of journalists and sources regarding time, accuracy and panic potential in an emergency • Christopher Swindell, Marshall University; James Hertog, University of Kentucky • The paper presents partial findings from a survey of journalists and official sources including public relations practitioners regarding emergency messages following a hypothetical terror attack. The coorientation model is used to assess both groups’ views. Journalists and official sources exhibit somewhat similar beliefs with regard to accuracy, timeliness, and audience panic but vary widely with regard to their understanding of the other’s views.

Anticipatory Socialization in the Use of Social Media in Public Relations: A Content Analysis of PRSA’s PR Tactics • Maureen Taylor, University of Oklahoma; Michael L. Kent, University of Oklahoma • This paper examines how public relations students are socialized in their understanding of the value and power of social media in the practice of public relations. It explores the public relations academic research about social media as well as the professional claims that state that social media is a valuable public relations tactic. The researchers content analyzed 59 articles and columns appearing in PR Tactics from April 2008 to March 2009.

Images of the U.S. and consumer politics in the Chinese marketplace • jay wang, university of southern California; lifeng deng, tsinghua university • This study addresses the issue of anti-American sentiments in the domain of consumer behavior in China. The central question is under what conditions American brands will become casualties of U.S. foreign policy towards China. We situate the analysis within the concept of “consumer nationalism” and approach the study from the perspectives of Chinese youth through focus group discussions in Beijing.

The Mediating Roles of Perceived Importance of and Attitude toward Corporate Social Responsibility in Consumer Response to Corporate Social Responsibility Communications • Alex Wang, University of Connecticut-Stamford; Ron Anderson, University of Texas at Austin • Despite the increasing importance of CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) communications as effective reputation management, there has been limited understanding about variables and processes involved in consumer response to CSR communications. The current study proposes a three-stage model and investigates the mediating roles of perceived importance of CSR communications and attitude toward CSR communications in consumer response to CSR communications.

Crisis Managers in Crisis: Are PR Professionals Losing Control of the Message? • Shelley Wigley, University of Texas at Arlington; Maria Fontenot, Texas Tech University • This pilot study examined the role citizen generated content plays in the coverage of crisis situations and discusses implications for public relations practitioners who must respond to this type of coverage. By using a content analysis of newspapers and the websites of cable and broadcast news networks, the authors explored the use of both official versus non-official sources and the use of citizen generated content during coverage of the 2007 Virginia Tech shootings.

Exploring Cultural Influences on Public Relations Practices in Indonesia • Ming-Yi Wu, Western Illinois University; Michael Putrawenas, Public Relations Society of Indonesia • This study explores cultural influences on public relations practices in Indonesia. Through the use of a survey instrument, this paper reports data collected from Indonesian public relations practitioners (n=54) and describes work-related cultural values as well as the practices of public relations models in Indonesia. The results suggest that the two-way symmetrical, personal influence, and cultural interpreter models are the most frequently practiced models.

Can You Break Up with Your Utility Company? Effects of the Relational Gap Between Experiential and Expected Outcomes on Company Attitudes and Switch Intention • Minjeong Kang, Syracuse University; Sung-Un Yang, Syracuse University • A monopolistic relationship between utilities and their customers creates a unique relational context in which the basic assumption of one’s ability to terminate a relationship with an unsatisfactory relationship partner is violated. The current study examined when competition becomes viable in the market, how this change in utility market would result in customers’ assessment of their attitudes toward their currently monopolistic utility company and their intention to switch to an alternative provider.

A Blog-mediated Crisis Communication Model: Effects of Engagement on Post-Crisis Outcomes • Sung-Un Yang, Syracuse University; Minjeong Kang, Syracuse University; Philip Johnson, Syracuse University; Eric Duncan, Syracuse University • Blogs are an essential tool to present narratives. This study focused on the individual blog reader’s interpretation of crisis communication information and aimed to examine how a blog can be optimally utilized for effective crisis communication. An experimental study (N = 281) was conducted, simulating audience experience with a blog.

Teaching Papers
Integrating Teaching and Research in Public Relations • Sun Young Lee, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • Many attempts have been made to account for the relation between teaching and research, and a great deal of attention has been focused on “what” are the nature of the relationships: positive, negative, or zero. Yet, more productive and meaningful way to discuss the topic will be focusing on “how” to better perform the two roles together.

Current Direction of U. S. Undergraduate Public Relations Programs: A Pedagogical Struggle • Karen Freberg, University of Tennessee; Michael Palenchar, University of Tennessee • While there is some agreement among educators and professionals about what undergraduate public relations students should learn, the literature still reflects a struggle among competing interests and perspectives, as well as a disconnect between what public relations practitioners believe they want from universities and what academics actually deliver.

Measuring Student Outcomes: An Assessment of Service-Learning in the Public Relations Capstone Course • Kelly Werder, University of South Florida • This study assesses the effectiveness of service-learning in the public relations capstone course by measuring perceived student learning outcomes. An assessment instrument is proposed and tested via a longitudinal survey of students (N=135) enrolled in the public relations capstone course at a large southeastern university. Results support a general service-learning assessment instrument for public relations education that includes measures of practical skills, interpersonal skills, citizenship, and personal responsibility, and discipline-specific functional, creative, and research skills.

Student Papers
Beijing Olympics: Public relations under an international spotlight • Jacqueline Alvarez, Pepperdine University • The Beijing Olympics held an unprecedented importance for the Chinese nation. This importance, paired with the international skepticism and criticism received upon the announcement that China would be hosting the 2008 Summer Games, called for an extensive and comprehensive public relations plan.

“Media Can Anger People” vs. “Organizations Can Reduce Anger” in a Crisis: Based on the Morality News Frame and the Organizational Crisis Response Strategy • Seon-Kyoung An, The University of Alabama • This study examined how crisis response strategies and news frame can be used to reduce people’s anger and blame in an internal crisis. College students participated in the 2 (individual vs. organizational responsibility) x 2 (immorality vs. non-immorality frame) between-subject factorial design. The result showed that individual level of responsibility strategy and the immorality frame can make people angry and blame more the organization. Significant interaction effects between the two factors on blame were found.

Using Dialogic Website Design to Build Effective Grantor-Grantee Relationships • Giselle A. Auger, University of Florida • The purpose of this study was to examine the paradoxical relationship that occurs between grantors and grantees in the grant making process and to discuss how this paradox may be alleviated through adoption of transparent communication features in website design. Through analysis of 106 independent foundation websites, the study examined features that correspond to the five elements of dialogic communication.

Asymmetric communication is not always a sin • Vanessa Bravo, Ph.D. Student • This article tries to apply the Information Asymmetry and Information Symmetry concepts -as defined and used in the field of Economics—in the Public Relations´ field, specifically in relation to the two-way model of symmetrical communication used in the theory of the Principles of Excellence in Public Relations and in the theory of the Generic/Specific Principles of Excellence in International Public Relations.

Effective Emergency Preparedness: Applying Agenda-Building and Framing to the American Red Cross’ Communication Practice • Rowena Briones, University of Maryland • This qualitative study explores agenda-building and framing within the American Red Cross’ emergency preparedness messages. Findings revealed that there is an interactive and reciprocal relationship between the American Red Cross, the media, and outside organizations, calling for a combination of rational and emotional appeals as well as the use of various framing devices to disseminate messages.

Unveiling Types of Relationship between Corporate Donors and Charitable Organizations Based on the Coorientation Model • Moonhee Cho, University of Florida • By utilizing the coorientation model, the study aims to examine the views of leading U.S. corporations and charitable organizations about types of relationship between two organizations. The expert survey results show that both corporate giving officers and senior fundraisers of charitable organizations perceive the relationship as more communal than either one-way patronizing or exchange.

A crisis changes news release?:A content analysis of news release and online press rooms of bailout companies • Daejoong Kim, University At Buffalo; Heasun Chun, University At Buffalo; Hyunjung Kim, University At Buffalo • The study examined how the amount and contents of news released in the press rooms of 25 American financial companies’ websites have changed among before, during, and after the bailout crisis. This study first selected 25 American financial companies which received exceeding 10 billion dollars as a bailout money from the list of bailout companies as of December 31, 2008.

Talking about Our Reputation: An Analysis of How Public Relations Firms Communicate Their Reputation Attributes • Maria De Moya, University of Florida; Jooyun Hwang, U. of Florida • Despite public relations’ role in reputation management, the reputation of public relations firms is unexplored. This study analyzed salient reputation attributes in firms’ releases and newspaper stories, and used Agenda-Building theory to measure correlations between attribute salience in firm and media news. Findings detailed the topics and reputation attributes salient in news releases and news stories, but showed no correlation in attribute salience. Implications for managing firms’ reputations and future research are discussed.

Whistleblowing in public relations: Call for a research agenda • Cary Greenwood, University of Oregon • This essay calls for a new research agenda in public relations to address the recent phenomenon of whistleblowing. Management literature has explored whistleblowing extensively since the first whistleblowing research in the 1980s, but public relations has only touched on the topic and not research on whistleblowing exclusively has been conducted in public relations.

Can Public Relations Professionals Help Span the Boundaries Between Scientists and Journalists, and Does This Function Help Increase Accuracy of News Articles About Public Health? • Emily Gresham Wherle, University of Missouri • A function of public relations professionals at public health agencies is to perform a boundary-spanning role. The research examined the role of PR professionals in the communication process, and to determine whether the involvement of a PR professional leads to improved news article accuracy. This study asked news sources to analyze news articles about health departments to determine the accuracy of the articles and the role of public relations professionals working in health departments.

Extent to Which the Federalist Papers Can be Viewed as an American Public Relations Campaign • Sara Hall, University of Florida • This research performed a qualitative content analysis of the Federalist Papers and personal letters to and from Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay in order determine to the role the Federalist Papers played in public relations’ history. A survey of public relations textbooks reveals confused and contradictory conclusions regarding the role of the Papers. This research comes to a determinative answer using the contemporary public relations process model, ROPES, and modern persuasive theories.

Audiences’ Perception of Product-, Corporate-, and Country- Image in a Product-harm Crisis: A Case Study of Sanlu Milk Powder Event in Mainland China • Guanxiong Huang, School of Journalism & Communication, The Chinese University of Hong Kong • Sanlu milk powder event is one of the most disastrous product-harm crises in mainland China recent years. This study investigates the influences of a single crisis at product-, corporate-, and country-level from an audience’s perspective, finding that government response and corporate response are significant predictors of country-of-origin effect of Chinese products, Chinese-based corporate image, and country image.

Either You Got it or You Don’t: Internship Availability at Public Relations Agencies • Christal Johnson, University of Oklahoma • This pilot study examined the relationship between public relations agencies and their internship availability. The study used a content analysis to examine internship opportunities on public relations firms’ Web sites and to determine if company size had an impact on internship availability. Data revealed that a little more than half of the companies offered internships, and companies with a smaller number of employees offered less internships than companies with more employees.

Korean Newspapers’ Framing Oil Spill news • Hyunmee Kang, Louisiana State University • This study examines news stories covering the oil spill accident in South Korea on December 17, 2007, in order to compare news frames presented in the three newspapers, two conservative newspapers, Chosun-Ilbo and JoongAng-Ilbo, and one progressive newspaper, The HanKyoreh, based on theoretical base of media framing and characteristics of media relations in Korea.

The Influence of Organizational Conditions on Public Relations Practitioners’ Dissent • Jin-Ae Kang, University of Alabama; Bruce Berger, University of Alabama • This study was designed to examine the ways in which organizational environment affects public relations practitioners’ dissent over organizations’ unethical decisions. The results of a survey of PRSA members reaffirmed that assertive confrontation is the most frequently adopted tactic for resisting organizations’ unethical decisions. Practitioners were more likely to confront management in an organization where top management did not support ethical behavior.

Anger as a Predictor of Active Public Protest: Extended Application of the Situational Theory of Publics to a Health Crisis • Jin-Ae Kang, University of Alabama; Seon-Kyoung An, The University of Alabama; Kyung Yoon Kwak, Sogang University • This study applies the situational theory of publics to a health crisis by exploring the effect of anger on public behavior. The results of a survey administered on the case of the candlelight rallies on the U.S. beef imports in South Korea demonstrated that involvement, problem recognition, and constraint recognition predict communication behaviors as well as various issue-related online and offline behaviors.

Product Categories Matter?: The Effects of Crisis Type and Involvement on Emotions • Jeesun Kim, University of Missouri • Although crisis communication scholars have examined the impact of perceived crisis responsibility and crisis type on emotions a crisis situation may generate, less attention has been devoted to emotion-related research. Taking two emotions from attribution theory, the present study aims to empirically investigate the interplay of crisis type and involvement on anger and empathy for crisis victims.

How Corporate Social Responsibility Contributes to the Relationship Management across Countries: The U.S. and South Korea • Daewook Kim, University of Florida; Myungil Choi, assistant professor • The purpose of this study was to explore how publics characterize the nature of corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices and organization-public relationships (OPR). The study also examined how CSR practices influence OPR between the U.S. and South Korea publics. The study found that U.S. publics have higher perceptions of CSR practices and OPR dimensions than the Korean publics. Relational CSR practices serve as the fundamental dimension in increasing the level of OPR.

Messages of the people, by the people, and for the people • Nam Young Kim, Louisiana State University; Kiwon Seo, Pennsylvania State University • A candidate’s PR team creates news releases to convince voters that their candidate is more desirable than the opponents. These news releases are important because they can influence the voters’ political information as well as opinion about the candidates. The advance of new media allows candidates to update an unlimited number of campaign messages on their Web sites.

International Corporations’ Interactive, Dialogic Relationship Building on the Web: A Four-Dimensional Approach to Mapping Web Utilization State and Pattern • Hyung Min Lee, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities; Kevin Wang, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities; Soyoen Cho, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities; Soyoon Kim, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities • A useful analytic tool based on a four-dimensional approach was proposed in this study to comprehensively understand the current state and pattern of international corporations’ interactive communication and dialogic relationship building strategies on the Web. In addition, the relationships between international corporations’ Web utilization and their internal/external factors were statistically tested. The findings confirmed the evolution of corporate Web interactivity and dialogic relationship building strategies.

Seeing is Believing: Assessment of Motion Media on Audience Judgments of Believability and Source Credibility • Hyunmin Lee, University of Missouri; Sun-A Park, University of Missouri; Youngah Lee, University of Missouri • The radical shift by news audiences away from newspaper to motion media (video stories on TV, web, cell phones, handhelds) prompted our assessment of media modality (text, text+picture, video) and source (PR, News, User-Created Content [UCC]) effects on credibility, as well as impact of messages. We found the motion media modality significantly enhances believability judgments and perceived veridicality, independent of source cue, in which News source garnered no greater credibility than PR or UCC source.

Maximizing the Internet’s Relationship-building Potential: Obama Campaign’s Strategic Management of its Internet-integrated Grassroots Strategy • Abbey Levenshus, University of Maryland • This case study examines the Obama presidential campaign’s use of the Internet to manage its grassroots campaign. Grounded in relationship-management theory, the study analyzed interviews with campaign staff, its Website, and news articles. Eight themes emerged regarding the campaign’s integration of the Internet and grassroots strategy; six themes surfaced regarding the campaign’s Internet use to manage relationships. Recommendations are made for extending relationship management theory focusing on its intersection with the Internet and political campaigns.

Perceptions vs. Practice: Testing the “Adversarial” Practitioner-Journalist Relationship • Christopher McCollough, Louisiana State University • Scholarship in public relations literature suggests an antagonistic relationship between journalists and public relations literature. This study attempts to account for emergent trends in the media environment, as well as to determine if long-standing trends remain. A series of frequency analyses and linear regressions yielded minimal support or answers for the hypotheses and research questions posed.

Spreading News or Let it Die: A comparative study of news diffusion in online and offline settings • Xiaoyan Pan, Universtiy of Maryland • This study examines the factors that influence individuals’ likelihood to diffuse news in offline and online communications. Individuals’ demographic characteristics, media use and interpersonal communication, as well as perceived news attributes, are included as potential predictors of news diffusion likelihood. Four hundred and thirty three respondents evaluated a news story and reported their likelihood to spread the news through online and offline channels.

Exploring How Corporate Social Responsibility Can Enhance Publics’ Attitudes, Purchase Intentions, and Supportive Behaviors • Hyojung Park, University of Missouri; Soo-Yeon Kim, University of Florida • This study examined the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on attitudes, purchase intentions, and supportive behaviors toward an organization using a 2 (corporate ability: good vs. poor) × 2 (CSR: good vs. poor) between-subjects experimental design. The MANCOVA results suggest that CSR initiatives positively influence the intended outcomes and that the effect of CSR becomes more powerful when a company lacks corporate ability.

Agenda-Building and Agenda-Setting in the Corporate Sphere: Analyzing Influence in the 2008 Yahoo-Icahn Proxy Contest • Matthew Ragas, U of Florida; Jinsoo Kim, University of Florida; Hyun Ji Lim, U of Florida • This study extends agenda-building theory into the corporate sphere. This investigation tested for first- and second-level agenda-building and agenda-setting relationships between the public relations efforts of competing corporate candidates, financial media coverage and investor opinion during the 2008 Yahoo!-Icahn proxy contest. Strong support was found for first-level effects, while evidence of second-level effects was mixed. Cross-lagged correlation analyses revealed that Yahoo!’s information subsidies enjoyed some success in influencing media coverage, while Icahn’s subsidies did not.

How Publicly Traded Companies are Using the World Wide Web: Building Dialogic Relationships • Amy Reitz, Colorado State University • This study examined publicly traded companies’ websites to determine how they use websites to build relationships with their investors. The content of systematic random sample of 25 publicly traded companies from the Standard and Poor’s 500 Stock Index list was analyzed to determine the extent to which publicly traded companies’ websites were employing dialogic communication as well as the significance of responsive and non-responsive companies. The findings indicated that publicly traded companies’ websites appeared to encompass some of the characteristics of dialogic communication.

The Right Words to Say: Implications of Regulation FD on Corporate Spokespersons • David Remund, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • This research investigates enforcement actions taken by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) since the issuance of Regulation FD in 2000. Regulation FD prohibits public companies and their employees from selectively disclosing material, non-public information. The SEC’s lack of clarity relative to materiality standards, though, has proven challenging in recent years for those who work in investor relations and corporate communications.

The View from within: Internal Publics and Corporate Social Responsibility • Ganga Sasidharan, National University of Singapore • This study explored the significance of corporate social responsibility as a predictor of organizational commitment for internal publics. The study has been conducted through a web based survey among a sample of employees in the managerial cadre, with around ten years of experience of working in private sector organizations across the world.

Beyond Activist Publics: Toward a Public Relations Typology of Activist Organizations • Erich Sommerfeldt, University of Oklahoma • This paper furthers public relations’ understanding of activist groups through arguing the importance of creating an activist public typology. From the extant literature on public relations and activism, the paper extracts four factors public relations scholars have used to define and characterize activist groups: organizational structure; access to resources; tactics; and goals/issue interest. The paper proposes how these factors might be used in the development of a typology and offers suggestions for future research.

Finding (and Defining) Corporate Social Responsibility in Sin City • Jessalynn Strauss, University of Oregon • This textual analysis looks at the Web sites of MGM Mirage and Harrah’s Entertainment, examining the ways in which these two corporations portray corporate social responsibility and their commitment to their local community. This research finds that the two corporations have fundamentally different attitudes toward corporate social responsibility as an extension of business practices and discusses the implications of this distinction, especially in a turbulent economy for the industry.

Public relations in Japan: A case study of historical significance and current problems • Koichi Yamamura, University of Miami • This paper takes a case study approach and looks at the historical development of public relations practice in Japan, the problems it faces today, and its potential for the future. It has been said that modern public relations practice was introduced to Japan by the post-World War II Allied Occupation Forces. However, recent studies reveal that the practice of modern public relations can be traced back further.

<< 2009 Abstracts

Media Management and Economics 2009 Abstracts

Media Management and Economics Division

Divestiture Restructuring in the Media Industries: A Financial Market Case Analysis • Alison Alexander, University of Georgia; James Owers, Georgia State University • Much attention has been paid to restructuring in the media industries. Most of this attention has been directed at mergers and acquisitions and the associated increase in industry concentration. What has been largely overlooked is the extent of restructuring that reduces the size of media firms – divestitures. This paper examines several cases of major media divestitures and calibrates the impact of these sell-off and spin-off restructuring events on the value of divesting firms.

Corporate Restructuring in the Media Industries: Mergers, Acquisitions and Divestitures • James Owers, Georgia State University; Alison Alexander, University of Georgia • There has been extensive restructuring in the media industries in recent times. Motivations for these restructurings vary. In some cases firms are seeking to become larger by acquisitions while other firms seek to reduce their size by divestitures. While there is discussion of the effects of restructuring on media concentration, one of the major goals of top management is to make publically traded firms worth as much as they can.

Dimensions of News Media Brand Personality • Tae Hyun Baek, University of Georgia; Jooyoung Kim, University of Georgia; Hugh J. Martin, University of Georgia • This study explores the structure of news media brand personality across multiple media outlets including television network news, newspapers, and news magazines. Through a series of rigorous exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis procedures with an initial set of 229 personality traits that were reduced to the final set of 48 items, we found five brand personality dimensions that can be applicable to news media: Trustworthiness, Dynamism, Sincerity, Sophistication, and Toughness.

TV Reporters Perceptions of Organizational Influences on News Content and Coverage Decisions • Rita Colistra, West Virginia University • This study examined reporter perceptions of organizational-level influence on news content based on an original data from a national Web-based survey of TV reporters. More specifically, this study asks how, how often, and under what conditions do organizational forces attempt to influence television media and their coverage, and to what effect are they successful at doing so? The project also attempts to develop the little-studied area of agenda cutting.

A Discriminant Analysis of High-Definition Television Owners and Non-owners • Michel Dupagne, University of Miami; Paul Driscoll, University of Miami • A national random telephone survey was conducted to profile high-definition television owners based on demographics, media use, interpersonal communication, social participation, cosmopoliteness, perceived innovation attributes of new communication technologies, and ownership of communication technologies. Three of the nine adoption hypotheses were supported. HDTV owners were found to be younger, perceive higher relative advantage, compatibility, observability, and resources of new communication technologies, perceive lower complexity of new communication technologies, and own more communication technologies than non-owners.

A Growth Sector in a Mature and Troubled Industry: U.S. Free Daily Newspapers and their Content • Peter Gade, University of Oklahoma; Christopher Krug, University of Oklahoma • This study describes the journalism content, design, advertising, in-paper marketing and interactive elements in 10 U.S. free daily newspapers. Results indicate the stories are short, with nearly as many briefs as stories. Sports, entertainment, culture and lifestyles get frequent coverage. Most content is national in scope and provided by wires. The advertising hole is surprisingly small, and advertisers are generally local enterprises.

Exploring the Influence of Strategic Entrepreneurship on Alliances in Web-based New Media Companies: A Case Analysis of Google and Yahoo • Fangfang Gao, University of Florida • This study conducted a case analysis of Google and Yahoo, the two prominent and representative Web-based new media companies that have expanded their business through series of alliances, exploring the influence of entrepreneurial mindset and strategic management of resources as the two important dimensions of strategic entrepreneurship (SE) on building alliances, gaining competitive advantages and achieving business success in new media companies. A new model of SE and alliance was proposed based on the findings.

The Determinants of Web Traffic in the Online News Industry: A Resource-based View • J. Sonia Huang, Department of Communication and Technology, National Chiao Tung University • The online news industry faces a fundamental challenge in whether it can produce enough quality content that generates revenue and profit at a level comparable to traditional media. This study operationally defines and tests the resource-based view of the firm in a national survey of the online news industry.

A Cross-Country Analysis of Fixed Broadband Deployment: Examination of Adoption Factors and Network Effect • Sangwon Lee, Jamestown College; Justin Brown, Winthrop University • Broadband infrastructure is a key component of the knowledge economy. Employing the largest secondary data set, this study examines adoption factors of fixed broadband. The result of nonlinear and linear regression analysis suggests local loop unbundling policy, platform completion between different broadband technologies and other diverse industry, ICT, and demographic factors influence fixed broadband diffusion. This empirical study also suggests that network effects and the effects of platform competition co-exist in many countries.

“Korean Wave”: the Structure and Issues of the Korean Online Game Industry •Eun-A Park, University of New Haven • Korean games are now under a new spotlight, expanding their markets from Asia to countries in Europe and the Americas and becoming a new engine for “Korean Wave” that refers to the influence of Korean cultural enterprises on foreign countries. South Korea has been a unique model in the world by achieving the rapid growth of broadband infrastructures and part of this success has been attributed to ever-flourishing demands for interactive entertainment network games.

Business, Managerial, and Market Challenges and their Effects on the Foundations of U.S. Broadcasting Policy • Robert Picard, Jonkoping International Business School • This paper argues that the origins of U.S. radio policy, and the reasons for the differences with European nations, were driven by general industrial development policies, by previous decisions involving communications industries, by national financial and economic conditions, and by business and geographic challenges. These factors combined to create a policy environment in which the interests of private enterprises became predominant in developing radio and radio policy.

Burnout in an Online World: Measuring the Effects of New Media Tasks on Journalists • Ramona Wheeler, Brigham Young University; Caroline Christiansen, Brigham Young University; Austin Cameron, Brigham Young University; Todd Hollingshead, Brigham Young University; Brad Rawlins, Brigham Young University • A national online survey was administered to a sample of journalists to learn more about how new media tasks are impacting their jobs and if they are contributing to workplace burnout. Findings indicate that journalists are suffering from moderate levels of exhaustion and cynicism while maintaining fairly high levels of professional efficacy. The perception of new media tasks adding to workload is a contributing factor to journalists’ burnout.

Kansas City Star newsroom layoff survivors aggressively cope with organizational change in an effort to maintain journalistic quality • Scott Reinardy, University of Kansas • In 15 months, the Kansas City Star newsroom has experienced five staff cuts that have reduced the newsroom from 290 to 149. Utilizing organizational development theory, this pilot study examined how Kansas City Star layoff survivors are coping with job security, organizational trust, organizational morale, job commitment and journalistic quality. Results indicate that the layoff survivors’ control coping strategies – a take charge, aggressive approach – is positively associated with organizational trust, morale and organizational commitment.

Examining the Effects of Board Structure of Media Companies on Their Performance: A Stakeholder Perspective • Guosong Shao, University of Alabama • In the stakeholder context, this paper examines the effects of board structure of media companies on their performance. Results show that both the level of board interlocks and the proportion of non-independent directors on the board are positively associated with the financial performance of media companies, as measured by return on assets and return on equities. Results also show that the adoption of staggered boards has a positive effect on return on assets in media companies.

Thinking about Stakeholders: Compensation Arrangements of Media Companies and Their Performance • Guosong Shao, University of Alabama • Nowadays media companies are closely tying executive and director compensation to firm performance. Through regression analyses of the relationship between compensation structure of media firms and their performance, however, this paper found that adopting fixed compensation for CEOs and directors led to better financial and organizational performance. This thus offers support for stakeholder theory which posits that the fixed compensation system, essentially stakeholder-oriented, can better enhance the value of the firm.

Not-For-Profit Journalism: Emerging Business Models • Dan Shaver, Jönköping International Business School/MMTC • The economic problems facing the newspaper industry have stimulated a great deal of interest and debate regarding whether not-for-profit news organizations can address the problem of shrinking local news coverage due to diminished newsroom resources in for-profit newsrooms. Based on an analysis of current non-profit news organizations, this study identifies three not-for-profit business models and evaluates their sustainability and suitability as sources of quality local news.

The demand dynamics of online video markets: Informational cascades in the viewership of online videos • Clarice Sim, Nanyang Technological University; Wayne Fu, Nanyang Technological University • Despite the popularity of online user-created videos on platforms like YouTube, little is known about the factors which influence users’ consumption decisions. The viewing of online videos is hypothesized to be influenced by word-of-mouth communication which triggers informational cascades. An empirical model is schemed and tested with data from the Internet Archive’s moving images section. Results confirm the presence of informational cascades and that its effect is a function of quality uncertainty associated with videos.

Converging Competitors?: Board Interlocks in the Changing Media Landscape • Charlene Simmons, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga • Today many media corporations are linked together through interlocking boards of directors. Are these interlocks legal, especially in an ever-converging media environment? This study of interlocks finds that over 40% of leading media corporations are interlocked with another leading media company. The majority of these interlocks are legal under current media conditions, but that may change as media formats converge. Additionally, the legality of two board interlocks is questioned and discussed.

Weaving a Web within the Web: Corporate Consolidation of the Web, 1999-2008 • Charlene Simmons, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga • This study examines Web site ownership trends over a period of ten years to determine what whether corporate consolidation has occurred among popular Web properties. The study finds that the number of companies controlling the Web has decreased, while the number of properties operated by these companies has increased. Additionally, traditional media corporations have consolidated their influence over the Web through the acquisition of a number of popular Web properties.

Aligning media organizations with environmental changes: The role of strategic action as a managerial competency in South Africa’s mainstream media newsrooms • Elanie Steyn, Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Oklahoma; Derik Steyn, School Business • This paper outlines dimensions of strategic action as a managerial competency in South Africa’s mainstream media. It highlights differences on the importance and implementation of this competency, given media management transformation in a post-apartheid society. Moderately and practically significant effect sizes were calculated between reporters’ and first-line managers’ experiences on all dimensions of this competency. Results emphasized the need to improve first-line news managers’ strategic action skills to better align media organizations with societal changes.

Has Media Convergence Impacted the Merger and Acquisition Activity of Large Media Companies? • Dan Sullivan, University of Minnesota; Yuening Jiang, University of Minnesota • This study develops an analytical framework which helps explain how media convergence can lead changes in ownership decisions. It then uses empirical studies to examine trends in the evolution of media ownership with regards to media convergence and what impact, if any, the Internet and media convergence have had on M&A activity. The study finds that how a firm conceptualizes the Internet relative to its existing business has a significant impact on M&A activity.

Who Competes with Online Newspapers? An Empirical Analysis of Intra- and Inter-media Competition in Local and Long-distance Markets • Mengchieh Jacie Yang, University of Texas at Austin; Iris Chyi, University of Texas at Austin • Applying a media economics framework and based on the dual-geographic market definition, this study employed empirical data collected from users of 28 U.S. newspaper sites to explore the competitive relationships between online newspapers and other offline/online news sources. The results show that in both local and long-distance markets, online newspapers compete with portal news sites and print newspapers.

Measuring attention on the web: a model of attention dimensions of news and information sites • Nan Zheng, University of Texas at Austin • This study proposes a model for measuring attention on the web on three dimensions: popularity (unique audience), frequency (sessions per person), and length (time spent per person). An empirical analysis of news and information Web site traffic reports examines specifically how different attention dimensions relate to one another and what distinct attention patterns characterize different types of websites.

<< 2009 Abstracts

Newspaper 2009 Abstracts

Newspaper Division

Open Competition
Losing Ground: The New York Times and Washington Post News Coverage of the May 2000 Israeli Withdrawal from Lebanon • Abhinav Aima, Penn State New Kensington • This content analysis of the May 2000 coverage of Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon, when compared with a previous study of coverage of Israel’s 1996 attacks on Lebanon, shows distinct indicators of the presence of a “Late Breaking Foreign Policy” effect that Warren P. Strobel cites in his work, wherein the media tend to break free of traditional reliance of government sources and allies in times of crises when government is caught unprepared.

Framing them in order to hang them? Content analysis of the reporting of Zimbabwe and Zimbabweans in Botswana Print Media • Eno Akpabio, University of Botswana • The aim of the study was to find where news stories on Zimbabweans fall and to determine if the reports are objectivist or advocacy framed. The findings indicate that stories on Zimbabweans are advocacy framed as opposed to objectivist framed. Also, there are more stories on Zimbabweans involvement in crime. Flowing from the one sided reports, we call for consideration of another aspect to the framing debate – frame up.

Too Old to Run?: Age, Race, and Gender in the 2008 Presidential Campaign • Ashley Kirzinger, Louisiana State University; Matthew Barnidge, Louisiana State University; Benjamin Jenkins, Louisiana State University; David Kurpius, Louisiana State University • This paper examines the newspaper coverage of four candidates during their campaigns in the 2008 presidential election: Palin, Clinton, Obama, and McCain. Using previous research on journalistic norms and routines, this study investigates not only how five different newspapers covered each of the candidates, but also how the newspapers covered specific age, race, and gender issues.

A Journalistic Ethics Scale: Measuring Constraints On Journalists • Jenn Burleson Mackay, Virginia Tech • This study builds off existing research to introduce a new journalistic ethics scale. The instrument measures the degree to which journalists tend to make acceptable ethical decisions when they face professional, organizational, and social influences. Journalists and scholars assisted in the development of the scale. Journalists working for metropolitan newspapers, community newspapers and television stations were administered the instrument. Community newspaper journalists tended to score higher on the scale than the other groups of journalists.

The Bay of Pigs-New York Times suppression myth • WJoseph Campbell, American University • The often-told anecdote of the New York Times censoring itself in advance of the Bay of Pigs invasion is, this paper finds, a media-driven myth. The paper presents compelling evidence demonstrating the Times reported closely on preparations for the CIA-backed invasion of Cuba in April 1961. The news Times’ reports were detailed and displayed on the front page in the days before the ill-fated assault.

Narrative News Frames in the Changing Times: New York Times Coverage of Space Disasters in Three Eras • Jeffrey Cannon, Indiana University – Bloomington • The present study examined New York Times coverage of the three major U.S. space program disasters, the 1967 loss of Apollo 1 and the 1986 and 2003 losses of the space shuttles Challenger and Columbia, all of which occurred during the same week of a non-election year. Overall overage increased threefold from 1967 to 1986 and 2003.

Interactive News Presentation and its Effects on Evaluative Perception: Is Being “Closer” to the News Better? • Deborah Chung, University of Kentucky; Mina Tsay, University of Kentucky • The current study investigates the effects of different online newspaper presentation styles on the evaluative perceptions of news audiences. An experiment (N = 251) was conducted to examine the influence of relevance and five interactive formats on site engagement, coherence, credibility, and intention to visit the site, along with content clarity, credibility, and objectivity.

U.S. Online Newspapers’ Performance in Local Markets: A Struggle of Inter- and Intra-Media Competition • Iris Chyi, University of Texas at Austin; Seth Lewis, University of Texas at Austin • To portray a realistic picture of the competitive landscape online for local newspapers, this study examined 68 local papers and their performance in both inter- and intra-media competition contexts—i.e., how they competed vis-à-vis their print counterparts and other Web sites for the attention of local audiences.

The Internet is a Dangerous Place: Newspaper Portrayal of the Internet Between 1988 and 1995 • Sabryna Cornish, Northern Illinois University • This paper examines the way the internet was portrayed by mainstream media when it first began to take hold in conventional society and offers insights into the social construction of the technology. This study looks for patterns in the type of information available to the public about the internet through a content analysis of newspapers. Established frames are then examined to determine the patterns that exist in the newspaper coverage of the new technology.

Narrating the Bloodbath: How U.S. and Finnish Newspapers Framed the Virginia Tech and Kauhajoki Shootings • Ruth DeFoster, SJMC, University of Minnesota; Meagan Manning, SJMC, University of Minnesota; Teemu Palokangas, SJMC, University of Minnesota • This study compares how the New York Times and the Helsingin Sanomat of Finland framed coverage of high-profile school shootings in each country. A content analysis examined sourcing trends in each newspaper. The Sanomat relied more on societal-level sources, while the Times used more individual-level sources. There was also a striking disparity in coverage of victims—the Sanomat included almost no coverage of victims, while 20% of the Times articles prominently featured victim coverage.

Framing legislative debate: Measuring bias in coverage of opposing ideological issues in the objective and conservative press • Matt Duffy, Georgia State University • A content analysis looks for assertion bias in the coverage of two issues in two newspapers. The researcher examined the New York Times as an example of the objective press and the Washington Times as an avowedly conservative paper. The two issues—welfare reform and campaign finance reform—curried favor with opposite ideological camps. The study finds a conservative bias in the Washington Times and a mirror-opposite liberal bias in the New York Times.

Adoption of Digital Photographic Archives by U.S. Newspapers and Potential Effects on the Historical Record • Keith Greenwood, University of Missouri • U.S. daily newspapers were surveyed (N = 105) to determine how digital photographic archives were created. The results affirm diffusion and organizational change suggestions that organizational characteristics such as size influence the decisions that are made and that innovations that fit well within the established routines of the organization are likely to be successfully adopted.

Did Enterprise Reporting Challenge Access Reporting and the Administration’s Line on WMDs?: Comparing Newspaper Sourcing in the Run-up to the Iraq War • Patricia Hart, University of Idaho; Kenton Bird, Univeristy of Idaho • This study examines newspaper reporting of three major U.S. news organizations between 911 and the Iraq invasion in light of subsequent criticism that reporters were uncritical in their use of government-supplied information supporting invasion of Iraq. The study asks whether the New York Times, which published an apology for providing uncritical reporting, was more or less balanced than the Washington Post or Knight Ridder papers in sourcing, including citing more varied, international, and nongovernment authorities.

It’s an Old Story: Cautionary Work Tales That Journalists Use to Connect to Ethics • Mary Hill-Wagner, affiliation • This study examines how reporters use workplace or newsroom narratives as guides for correct action in making ethical decisions. This analysis, based on in-depth interviews, employs the theory of narrative inquiry from the field of communication. The study shows that these narratives can lead to discussions on broader ethical matters.

Obituaries online: New connections with the living — and the dead • Janice Hume, University of Georgia; Bonnie Bressers, Kansas State University • This study examines online obituary pages at nine major U.S. daily newspapers seeking to understand how these sites use new technologies, and how they publicly portray people’s lives and deaths. These mainstream dailies provide a forum, and potentially large audiences, for mourners who send messages to the dead, express emotion, and tell stories. They also facilitate connections between readers and build new kinds of virtual communities. This represents a departure from traditional obituary content.

National Survey Finds Health Journalists Are Earnest about Their Educator Roles, Especially Newspaper Journalists • JiYeon Jeong, University of Missouri; María Len-Ríos, University of Missouri; Amanda Hinnant, University of Missouri • A national survey (N=774) of health journalists reveals that newspaper health journalists ascribe more importance to their professional roles than do health journalists working for other news delivery channels or newspaper journalists. Overall, health journalists earnestly strive to an educator role. This is critical considering the high stakes for translating scientific/medical details to help people lead more healthful lives. Personal characteristics, motivations, and workplace attributes are also examined as they relate to role conceptions.

News Framing of HIV/AIDS in Uganda: Comparative content analysis of government owned and private press • James Kiwanuka-Tondo, North Carolina State University; Fay Payton, North Carolina State University; Kelly Albada, North Carolina State University • Though new frames for HIV/AIDS have been examined in developed nations, research that has investigated the presentation of AIDS by African press is sparse. Moreover, what little research exists has examined news frames over a limited time frame (e.g., one year), and has failed to consider the impact of media ownership on these news frames.

Issues, Candidate Characteristics and the Horse Race: Newspaper Coverage of the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election • Dominic Lasorsa, University of Texas at Austin • An analysis of New York Times and Cleveland Plain Dealer coverage of the 2008 U.S. presidential election found that both policy issues and candidate characteristics received more attention than the horse race. Obama received more coverage and more favorable coverage than McCain. McCain and his supporters served as sources more than did Obama and his supporters. The study also found differences between the newspapers, including that Times coverage was more negative than Dealer coverage.

“It’s All About the Web Hits Here:” How and Why Journalists Create Audio Slideshows • Jonathan Lillie, Loyola College • Most newspapers now produce multimedia in an attempt to increase profits from online editions. Since only a handful of studies address aspects of multimedia news production, additional research is needed, which can hopefully help newspaper journalists successfully change, and save, their industry during this period of profit loss and mass layoffs.

Mapping local news: A research methodology • April Lindgren, Ryerson University • This paper introduces a methodology that applies traditional content analysis and computer-based geovisualization to journalism research so that investigators can map and visually explore patterns of local news coverage in an urban setting. The exploratory power of this information visualization approach is illustrated in a case study that investigates the Toronto Star (print edition) newspaper’s coverage of 13 geographically defined pockets of social need and poverty in Toronto, Ontario.

The Use of Anonymous and Transparent Sources in International News • Renee Martin-Kratzer, University of Florida • This study focuses on the use of anonymous sources in newspapers and found that international stories included these sources in 28% of stories compared to 5% of domestic stories. In addition, international stories that related to the U.S. were more likely to include anonymous sources. However, the use of anonymous sources did not vary according to story origination, length or placement.

Using Equity-based Performance Measures to Build a Community-based Brand • Dan Sullivan, University of Minnesota; Rachel Davis Mersey, Northwestern University • Despite competition, newspapers still have a potential competitive advantage as a community resource and leader. Therefore, if newspapers want to succeed, they need to position themselves as “community assets.” This research establishes the current measures of circulation and penetration as weak indicators of community service, and presents a simple and straightforward measure of how well a given newspaper serves its entire community using a summary statistical measure of inequality, the Gini coefficient.

Use of Infographics in Understanding an Environmental Health Risk • Barbara Miller, Elon University; Brooke Barnett, Elon University • A between participants factorial experiment tested the impact of graphic versus textual presentation of an environmental health risk. Results show the inclusion of the infographic did not lead to enhanced understanding of the probability of the health risk. However, participants who saw the map alone were less likely to believe that industries might release chemicals in their community and less likely to report a sense of internal control regarding the risk posed in the story.

Ideology of internationalism gives a significance to English-language newspapers in Japan • Hiroko Minami, University of Oregon • This paper discusses the raison d’être of English-language newspapers in Japan where English is not the native language. This study argues that the ideology of Japanese internationalism (manifested by publishing English-language newspapers) substantially contributes to their sustainability. The patriarchal Japanese industrial system, keiretsu, also keeps English-language newspapers running. The prevalence of these cultural institutions does not necessarily mean, however, that English-language newspapers in Japan are immune from the influence of the neo-liberal global economy.

Source Diversity within Hyperlocal Reporting • Paul Niwa, Emerson College • Hyperlocal is an emerging strategy for newspapers. This study compares source diversity in Asian Pacific American neighborhood coverage with another study of regional reporting. It finds that sourcing of non-elites is enhanced by proximity and by a reporter’s racial in-group. This shows the potential journalistic benefit of both hyperlocal coverage and newsroom diversity. Newsrooms that terminate workers based on seniority may be eliminating reporters who can best implement the hyperlocal strategy in ethnic neighborhoods.

Website Format or Media Experience Driven? A Test of Perceptions of Online Messages • Jennifer Greer, University of Alabama; Po-Lin Pan, University of Alabama; Kelly Frank, University of Nevada; Paula Lee Hobson, University of Nevada; Crystal Soderman, University of Nevada • By manipulating branded editorial, branded blog, and non-branded blog in a between-subjects experiment, this study examined perceptions of online message credibility, quality, preference and persuasiveness. The study was designed to examine whether online website format and personal experience with mass media would come into play when media users evaluated the news and information of branded and non-branded websites.

Information Recall of Internet News: Does Design Make a Difference? A Pilot Study • Val Pipps, The University of Akron; Heather Walter, The University of Akron; Kathleen Endres, University of Akron; Patrick Tabatcher, The University of Akron • This study looked at the effect of the design of online news presentation on content recall. One of four versions of a story were read online. Results of a post-test showed that recall was significantly higher after students read the text only or abbreviated text with photos and captions options over photos with captions and videos or animated graphics.

Bad bugs: U.S. newspaper coverage of antibiotic resistant staph bacteria, 1998-2007 • Paula Rausch, University of Florida; Debbie Treise, University of Florida; Heather Edwards, University of Florida College of Journalism & Communications; Eli Perencevich, University of Maryland School of Medicine • This study examines U.S. newspaper coverage of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus using Social Representation Theory to understand how these media portrayals may have affected public perception about this potential threat. Large majorities of articles discussed both hospital-acquired MRSA, and the much less common community-acquired MRSA, with this trend changing over time. MRSA was often described using potentially threatening language, with risk the most common topic of discussion, occurring more often than prevention, transmission, symptoms, and treatment.

When is a lead not really a lead? Sampling Error During the 2008 Presidential Election • Matthew Reavy, University of Scranton • This study examines how three prestige newspapers reported polling data during the 2008 presidential election. Of special note is their handling “marginal differences” that fell within sampling error. The study confirms hypotheses suggesting that the newspapers would overemphasize differences that could be explained by sampling error alone. Additional hypotheses testing suggestions from previous research that the New York Times would perform better than the other two newspapers were also confirmed.

The New Dynamic in Corporate Media Relations: Are Fortune 500 Virtual Press Rooms Useful to Journalists? • Justin Pettigrew, University of Georgia; Bryan Reber, University of Georgia • This study examines the use of dialogic components of Fortune 500 Company Web site press rooms. A content analysis of all Fortune 500 company press sites examined site content. Results showed that corporations have increased their Web presence, and that dialogic components on the Web are improving for journalists’ use. This study also suggests that operationalized elements of dialogic theory as it applies to the Web should be continually revisited as technology develops.

Weathering the storm: How newspaper sports editors have adapted during changing times • Jesse Temple, University of Kansas; Scott Reinardy, University of Kansas; Max Utsler, University of Kansas • This study examined how newspaper sports editors at some of the nation’s top daily sports sections from the Associated Press Sports Editors 2007 judging contest have coped with budget cuts as the industry struggles through difficult economic times. Through interviews and a survey, sports editors said staff reductions and Internet demands have created more work for their staffs with less time to do a good job.

Is Not-For-Profit Journalism the Key to the Future of News? • Dan Shaver, Jönköping International Business School/MMTC • Bankruptcy filings and newspaper closings have intensified the debate about whether not-for-profit newspapers can fill the gap in local news coverage created by shrinking newsroom resources at for-profit newspapers. This study examines the two major not-for-profit newspaper models and assesses their potential for sustainability and quality local coverage. It identifies opportunities and potential difficulties.

Are Blogs Changing the News Values of Newspaper Reporters? • Mary Lou Sheffer, University of Southern Mississippi; Brad Schultz, University of Mississippi • Traditional news outlets such as newspapers are incorporating blogs as part of their content in an effort to reach new audiences. Because blogs are typically opinionated and personal how newspapers present their blogs could indicate a shift from traditional journalism values. This content analysis sought to investigate several categories (news, sports, politics and entertainment) of newspaper blogs in terms of personal opinion/commentary, attribution and transparency.

The Impact of Newsroom Cutbacks on Newspaper Revenue: An Empirical Financial Analysis • Shrihari Sridhar, University of Missouri, Trulaske College of Business; Esther Thorson, University of Missouri; Murali Mantrala, University of Missouri, Trulaske College of Business • The newspaper industry is faced with troubled times. Executives continue to find ways to withstand the onslaught of various economic forces. However, an empirically observed phenomenon is that a) they have been resorting to cost-cutting measures and b) these cost-cutting measures are more pronounced in the newsroom departments. Scholars disagree with these cutbacks, arguing they constitute a myopic attempt to preserve high profit-margins which ignores the erosion of newspaper revenue.

Newspapers and Urban Growth: How an old Medium Responds to a Growing Trend • Gordon Van Owen, University of Florida • This study examines the impact of urban growth on The Orlando Sentinel and staff perceptions of that change. By analyzing in-depth interviews conducted with staff members from the editorial, circulation, and advertising departments, this study reveals trends that may be occurring on a larger scale at other newspapers across the state and country.

Dynamic Content in American Online Newspapers: Life and Updates in Lead News • Jin Xu, Winona State University • This research examines the life and update of lead news stories on newspaper sites and how they differ concerning newspaper size and story’s geographic focus. The sample includes 59 large, medium and small newspapers. By monitoring their lead news, it has documented the story life, update count, update interval, update immediacy and update clustering. It concludes that timeliness is a distinct hallmark but its degree is determined by newspaper size, not by story’s geographic focus.

Student Papers
Effects of a trend: The influence of user comments on readers’ perceptions of online newspapers • Erin Ash, Pennsylvania State University; Kirstie Hettinga, Penn State; Daniel Halpern, Pennsylvania State University    Online newspapers provide comment forums to generate a sense of community for audiences • This research investigates the relationship between the presence or absence of user-generated comments and perceived journalistic quality. A 2×2 between subjects experiment (N = 96) showed when comments were present, individuals perceived lower levels of reporting quality, yet liked the articles more. Also, sense of online community moderated the relationship between comments and story liking. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Attribute Agenda-Setting and Changing: A Comparative Analysis of U.S. and Korean Media Coverage of The Virginia Tech Shootings • Kanghui Baek, The University of Texas at Austin; Kangkyung Baek, Michigan State University • This study compares U.S. and Korean newspapers’ coverage of the Virginia Tech shootings for the month following the event. By applying attribute agenda-setting theory, this study shows how the Washington Post focused more on “societal” and “anecdotal” levels of attribute agendas, while the Chosun Ilbo focused more on “international” and “individual” levels. Furthermore, this study examines the differences in the two newspapers’ patterns of attribute agenda-setting across the four agenda levels throughout the event’s life span.

Framing a war and a people: The words portraying Iraqi violence • Jacob Dittmer, University of Oregon • This study explores what words are selected in portraying Iraqis and the violence that has plagued the country since the U.S. invasion. Through a content analysis of two newspapers’ stories on Iraq over the course of two years, this study examined the prevalence of certain words compared with others. This study also explored what sources were used in connection with certain frames and how they were attributed.

Change to Believe In? • Jeff Lemberg, University of Maryland • News media trade publications often use critiques and criticisms in an effort to shame the press into better serving their audiences. This analysis of coverage in the trade press about USA Today, from its founding in September 1982 through September 1987, revealed significant tensions over the relationship between traditional journalistic values and organizational change in the newspaper industry.

Attracting the Newspaper Reader in a New Domain: Dimensions of User Interest in News Content Online • Seth Lewis, University of Texas at Austin; Mengchieh Jacie Yang, University of Texas at Austin • To enhance our understanding of online news consumption, this study went beyond analyses of medium preference to explore issues of content interest: (1) identifying clusters of interest among online newspaper readers, and (2) comparing those dimensions across differences in users’ demographics, frequency of news-seeking, and offline relationship with the newspaper. Through an analysis of reader survey data (N=25,964), we found nine reliable classifications of content interest and distinct user types that were associated with them.

When Reporters Blog: Gatekeeping in mainstream newspapers’ blog coverage of ongoing and breaking news events • Bartosz Wojdynski, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • This exploratory study sought to analyze whether news event blogs that are published by mainstream newspapers adhere to conventional journalistic norms with regard to sources both cited and referenced in links. Analysis of 416 blog posts from four separate ongoing and breaking news blogs show support for the extension of mainstream media’s traditional gatekeeping function to news blogs, in addition to newer functions such media criticism and rapid information dissemination.

Community Newspaper Reading Fosters a Sense of Social Cohesion • Masahiro Yamamoto, Washington State University • A long tradition of research in sociology and mass communication suggests that community newspapers serve community social organization by disseminating a pattern of content that promotes common community values and goals. Building on past community newspaper research, this study tests whether community newspaper reading has a direct positive effect on an individual’s sense of social cohesion.

Special Call for Newspaper Industry Research Papers
One Product, Three Markets: How Market Segmentation Informs Newspapers about their Online Readership • Iris Chyi, University of Texas at Austin; Mengchieh Jacie Yang, University of Texas at Austin; George Sylvie, University of Texas at Austin; Seth Lewis, University of Texas at Austin; Nan Zheng, University of Texas at Austin • This study proposes a market segmentation approach for analyzing online newspaper readership. The model first distinguishes long-distance users from local users (based on geographic proximity) and then differentiates between two classes of local users—hybrid and online-only readers (based on the use of multiple product formats). Analysis of online reader survey data from 28 U.S. newspaper Web sites outlines each of the three market segments. Marketing and advertising implications are discussed.

Perceived Differences in Credibility of Traditional News Channels Compared to Online News Channels • Audrey Post, Florida State University; jonathan adams, The Florida State University; Juliann Cortese, Florida State University; Gary Heald, Florida State University; John DuBard, The Florida State University • Much of the research measuring credibility of news across platforms over the past 10 years has been limited to newspapers, television and a broad category called “online.” This study narrowed the focus by comparing the perceived credibility of traditional media with the perceived credibility of their online counterparts, as well as with online-only news sites. It also compared the perceptions of college students and older adults.

Kansas City Star journalists cope with stress and self-affirmation following layoffs • Scott Reinardy, University of Kansas • Steele’s (1988) self-affirmation theory posits that when faced with a threat, self-esteem, self-identity and personal control are affected. For layoff survivors, there are threats to job security, job quality and job satisfaction. In 15 months, the Kansas City Star newsroom was downsized by nearly half. The purpose of this pilot study was to examine the self-affirmation of Kansas City Star layoff survivors and their job security, job quality, job satisfaction and coping strategies.

Role Call: 2008 Campaign and Election Coverage on the Websites of Leading U.S. Newspapers • Jane B. Singer, University of Central Lancashire / University of Iowa • This study, based on a survey of online editors, explores how websites affiliated with leading U.S. newspapers covered the 2008 campaign and election. As the third in a series, it traces changes over a decade in which the internet moved from the periphery to the center of political, public, and media attention. Although the 2004 study suggested online editors were rethinking their function as information gatekeepers, this version indicates a reassertion of traditional journalistic roles.

Experimenting with Interactive Media: Negotiating the Role of Digital Media in News Organizations • Matthew Weber, University of Southern California • This research presents a case study of the evolving nature of the news media industry, from both a micro- and macro-level perspective. After reviewing currents industry trends, as well as previous theoretical work, this study then illustrates the variance in organizational patterns in the news media industry, from traditional hierarchies to network-based modified organizational patterns.

<< 2009 Abstracts

Minorities and Communication 2009 Abstracts

Minorities and Communication Division

Faculty Papers
Wave of Hope: African American Youth Use Media and Engage More Civically, Politically than Whites • Dustin Harp, University of Texas, Austin; Ingrid Bachmann, University of Texas at Austin; Jaime Loke, University of Texas; Tania Cantrell, University of Texas at Austin • The study is the first of a multi-wave panel survey on media use, and political and social attitudes among 12- to 17-year-olds. The results show that African Americans were more likely to engage in civic activities, politically participate in online and offline settings, take part in political consumerism, talk about news, follow the news, and demonstrate overall interest in news. This suggests that race is a complex, influential characteristic affecting youth behavior.

A 2009 Assessment of the Status of Diversity Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Programs • Masudul Biswas, Forum on Media Diversity, Louisiana State University; Ralph Izard, Forum on Media Diversity, Louisiana State University • This paper assessed the status of diversity education in 2008-9 in both accredited and non-accredited journalism and mass communication programs in U.S. colleges and universities. Using survey responses from 105 academic programs, the survey findings support earlier studies that found the number of special courses on media diversity is steadily increasing. The findings also identify a preference for integrating diversity content across the curriculum.

Introducing the super-coon: A new Flavor for the new millennium • Steven Giannino, University of Miami; Shannon Campbell, University of Miami; Chrystal China, University of Miami • This article offers an examination of the latest stereotype of African Americans and situates it within our hegemonically stratified media landscape. This stereotype represents a hybrid of sorts in that it epitomizes the rebirth of one of the most disturbing meditated caricature portrayals of African Americans—the coon, while combining its characteristics with the voracious sexual appetite of the buck.

Discourses of Fame: The “Alma Awards” and the Construction of U.S.-Latino Celebrity • Avila-Saavedra Guillermo, Salem State College • An important, yet still unexplored, element of the Latino trend is the articulation of discourses of celebrity and fame associated with the television shows. An examination of the publicity surrounding the most popular of these shows and performers can advance our understanding of the Latino trend. Through discourse analysis of the 2006, 2007 and 2008 editions of the Alma Awards, this essay examines the construction of Latino television performers as simultaneously ethnic and mainstream media celebrities.

Coverage of Serious Health Risks: A Content Analysis of Popular Women’s Magazines Targeting Hispanics • Shanna Kurpe, Florida State University; Gary Heald, Florida State University; Juliann Cortese, Florida State University • Inequalities exist in the health statuses of Latinos/Hispanics in the United States compared with the general population. One factor potentially contributing to these inequalities is the coverage of serious health risks by the media targeting racial/ethnic minorities. This content analysis of health-related articles available in popular women’s magazines indicates the relative scarcity of information about serious health risks. This scarcity is particularly notable in a popular, Spanish language, magazine targeting Hispanic women.

Before (and after) Kerner: Paul Swensson and the Newspaper Fund • Rick Kenney, University of Central Florida • Paul Swensson began to build the Newspaper Fund’s relationship with Savannah State College for Negroes in particular and with minority students, teachers, and journalists in general, a good five years before a presidential commission, after race riots in America’s inner cities, condemned the media in part for the disfranchisement of Blacks and urge news organizations to overcome their failings.

Assessing Cross-Cultural Learning and the Effects of Personality and Negative Attitudes on Journalism Students’ Knowledge • María Len-Ríos, University of Missouri; Earnest L. Perry, University of Missouri • This study uses a pre-test/post-test design to assess student learning of cross-cultural journalism principles and to determine if students with intolerant personality characteristics (RWA and SDO) learn differently. Findings show that knowledge increased from Time 1 to Time 2. Personality characteristics were associated with beliefs about diversity’s importance to industry, but not to knowledge. As journalists set the tone for conversations about class, race and gender, it is of consequence how students enter these conversations.

HIV/AIDS prevention behaviors: Predictors of condom use among African American college students • DaKysha Moore, Johnson C. Smith University; Srinivas Melkote, Bowling Green State University • Not only is scholarly research limited on college students and their sexual behaviors, but there is also very limited research that strictly focuses on African American college students and their sexual practices. A frequently suggested strategy in the context of HIV/AIDS prevention cited in medical literature as well as by UNAIDS is the consistent use of condoms during sex.

The New York Times v. Sullivan Decision and Coverage of the Civil Rights Story of the 1960s • Ali Mohamed, United Arab Emirates University • A content analysis of stories about the civil rights movement in the New York Times and the Birmingham News before and after the Sullivan libel suit of 1960 shows that the New York Times was equally adversarial toward state officials after the lawsuit as before; and that the Birmingham News devoted more space to news about “change” than the New York Times.

Mi Patria, Mi Pais, Mi Periodico: Second-level agenda setting in The Los Angeles Times and La Opinion • Carolyn Nielsen, Western Washington University • This study asks the question, “What did immigration/inmigración” mean in spring 2006 coverage by La Opinión and The Los Angeles Times. Adding to the growing research on both ethnic media and second-level agenda setting, the study employs qualitative, quantitative and ethnographic content analysis to uncover the subtle differences in coverage and their potentially strong impacts on readers. Research findings are discussed in terms of the larger context of agenda-setting research and theory.

Sourcing within Ethnic Media • Paul Niwa, Emerson College • This study compares sourcing by Asian Pacific American newspapers and metropolitan daily newspaper coverage of ethnic neighborhoods. It finds that ethnic media quotes non-elite sources at the same rate of major newspapers, and that ethnic newspapers favor public officials of their own race. This is the first quantitative comparison of ethnic media and metropolitan daily newspapers.

Peril and promise: Time magazine’s construction of the promise and peril of Michelle Rhee • David Oh, Denison University • Time’s coverage of Michelle Rhee employs “strategic objectivity” to simultaneously support White capitalist values manifest in Rhee’s pro-market educational reform proposals and to contain the person of Rhee evident in the use of historical stereotypes of Asian Pacific Americans. This use of objectivity creates a sense of impartial coverage while hiding alternative, especially labor, critiques, maintaining racist hierarchies, and promoting White interests.

“Isn’t he a good guy?”: Constructions of Whiteness in the 2006 Olympic Hockey Tournament • Kelly Poniatowski, Duquesne University; Erin Whiteside, The Pennsylvania State University • Given sports’ valued cultural position, scholars argue that images of sports stars provide viewers with guidance about how “good” men should behave (Whannel, 2002). Drawing from cultural studies theories on race in sports, this study explores representations of hockey players in the 2006 Winter Olympics television commentary. We suggest that the commentary provides lessons to viewers by way of the construction of the (White) hockey players as having exceptional physical bodies, intellectual aptitude and moral righteousness.

Depictions of minority characters on popular children’s cable programs: A content analysis • Jack Powers, Ithaca College • Documenting the trend of ethnic/racial minority characters on television is important because the depictions may help to either perpetuate racial stereotypes or diminish them. How television presents minority characters may influence the majority’s beliefs and perceptions about minority groups, and may also influence how minorities respond to the majority.

Television Drama and Partially-Structured Measure of Racial Attitudes • Lingling Zhang, Towson University • This study investigates the utility of a thought-listing procedure for measuring automatic racial attitudes based on the logic of partially structured measures. Two episodes of Law and Order are used as the stimuli to replicate the findings. Both convergence and discriminant validity are tested. Results indicate that the Partially-Structured measure has a positive relationship with explicit measure of racial attitudes and no significant relation with implicit measure of racial attitudes.

Student Papers
From the Buckeyes to the Hitmen: New racism and neoliberalism in media coverage of Maurice Clarett • Erin Ash, Pennsylvania State University; Bonnie Sierlecki, Pennsylvania State University • Maurice Clarett, who led the Ohio State Buckeyes to a National Championship in 2002, became the most covered off-field athlete in the Big Ten conference in 2006 after being arrested twice that year. This textual analysis examines the coverage of Clarett in 2006 through a lens of neoliberalism and new racism. Our analysis finds support for the persistence of racial stereotyping and the continued dominance of White male voices in coverage of Black athletes.

Diversity, Discrimination, and Disappearing Acts: A Qualitative Study of African American Professionals in Mass Communication Industry • Tori Collier, University of Oklahoma • It would be expected that racial minorities who experience workplace racial discrimination would exhibit job dissatisfaction and departure. Yet, many studies in the literature report that minorities are experiencing job satisfaction in discriminatory workplaces. Of 14 African-American media professionals that were studied, half the participants perceived that racial discrimination had a negative impact on their job satisfaction and half admitted to staying in discriminatory work environments to bring about positive change in race relations.

African American Women & The 2008 Presidential Election • Tonia East, Georgia State University • The 2008 presidential election has revealed the salience of minority coverage with the potential of an African American or woman president. African American women identification with gender and/or race, was explored in interviews of both Clinton and Obama supporters.

Justice Delayed, Justice Denied: Racism in the Press and Congress during New Mexico’s Quest for Statehood • Michael Fuhlhage, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • This historical study examines the negative portrayals of Latinos in the popular press and in deliberations over whether to admit New Mexico as a state. The antecedents of modern Latino stereotypes abounded in newspapers, magazines, and books as well as in records of the House and Senate Committees on the Territories in 1848-1912.

The Effects of Suspects of Different Gender and Ethnic Groups in a Crime News Article • Rachel Quick • This study examined how suspects of different genders (male and female) and ethnic backgrounds (African American and Caucasian) in a crime news story affect African American and Caucasian participants. Hypotheses were based on priming and cultivation theory. A total of 154 participants read one of four versions of a manipulated crime news article about a suspect committing a robbery.

Barack Obama: An Unlikely Challenge to Campus Speech Codes • Patricia Smith, Louisiana State University Manship School • President-elect Barack Obama’s “unlikely” candidacy thrust racial tension into the spotlight as incidents of cross-burning and effigies gained national media attention. The appropriate relocation of such incidents, from racially-driven to politically-driven, will help foster the free-flowing learning environment desired for universities. The possibility for new and open discussion, however, may be determined by the institution’s recognition of speech code jurisprudence and their response to unpopular expressions.

The New Suzie Wong: Normative Assumptions of White Male and Asian Female Relationships in Advertising • Murali Balaji, Pennsylvania State University; Worapron Worawongs, Pennsylvania State University • This study examines the explicit and implied relationships between Asian females and white males in television advertisement, using several examples to illustrate the historical and contextual impact of these images. A critical textual analysis of five televisions advertisements was conducted to examine the implicit meaning embedded in the content. The textual analysis revealed three dominant themes, which include assimilation/dependency, exoticism, and character positioning to convey social status.

<< 2009 Abstracts

Media Ethics 2009 Abstracts

Media Ethics Division

Special Call
Teaching journalists how to navigate ethical dilemmas: A case study of ethics in the newsroom • Beth Concepcion, University of South Carolina • The purpose of the media is to cover the issues the public needs and wants to know. However, journalists face competitive and organizational pressures that sometimes conflict with personal morals and principles — and that larger altruistic goal of informing and protecting the public. Often these pressures result in personal and professional ethical struggles.

Standards of Excellence in Breaking News Online: A MacIntyrean Analysis • David Craig, University of Oklahoma • This paper examines the pursuit of excellence in breaking news online and the pressures that stand in the way of it, drawing on interviews with journalists at four large online news organizations. The analysis is guided by MacIntyre’s theoretical framework. Discussion centers on standards of excellence in online journalism, challenges to their attainment, and how journalism as a practice is advancing, declining, or both with developments in online journalism.

Interactive Ethics: Overlapping Norms of Practitioners and the Public in a Shared Media Space • Jane B. Singer, University of Central Lancashire / University of Iowa • Journalists and users share the interactive digital environment in unprecedented ways, suggesting a need to reconsider both professional and audience ethics in this context. This essay considers several ethical principles that take on new configurations for journalists as they move into closer relationships with audiences, then turns to normative concepts that gain relevance for audiences as their online role expands. It concludes by suggesting that digital journalism ethics is an inherently collective enterprise.

The Paradox of Public Interest: Why Serving Private Interests Provides a Stronger Moral Foundation for Public Relations Performed in Behalf of the Public Interest • Megan Stoker, Brigham Young University; Kevin Stoker, Texas Tech University • The paper examines the concept of the public interest as defined in political science literature and public relations research. This paper applies various philosophical approaches from Ayn Rand to Immanuel Kant, along with recent literature on game theory and public and private interests in public relations, to show that the most ethical approach to serving the public interest is focusing on adhering to personal values and private interests.

Student Competition (Carol Burnett Award)
Building credibility: Developing transparency in public relations • Giselle A. Auger, University of Florida • As an industry, public relations struggles with poor public perception. Such perception is strengthened by highly publicized situations involving questionable ethical behavior. The purpose of this paper is to explicate transparency as it relates to public relations, and to discuss the potential for development of trust within organizations and credibility in public relations, through the practice of transparent communication.

Multi-contextual, Visual Ethical Analysis of Privacy and Ritual in Corpse Images from Sichuan Earthquake • Yang Liu, University of Missouri-Columbia School of Journalism • This paper provides a visual-ethical interpretation and analysis of corpse images from the photo coverage of 2008 Sichuan earthquake, China. Corpse images are interpreted in multiple contexts and analyzed around two concepts of privacy and ritual, both of which feature cultural specificity. Through content analysis and interviews, the paper points out the inconsistency of standards and the impact of media benefits in the ethical self-regulation of Chinese photo journalism.

Yes We Can or No Can Do?: The Distortion of News Coverage in Political Ads • Anthony Palmer, University of South Carolina • Barack Obama’s presidential campaign’s use of the Internet in regards to a video advertisement called Bad News created an ethical controversy due to its use of distorted NBC material without consent. This paper addresses the ethicality of Bad News in terms of the ethical perspectives of Immanuel Kant and John Stuart Mill and proposes a solution that would allow future politicians and political organizations to convey the same message without prompting legal or ethical concerns.

Media Morality and Compassion for “Faraway Others” • Ryan Thomas, Edward R. Murrow College of Communication, Washington State University • In January 2009, the BBC refused to broadcast an appeal by the Disaster Emergency Committee (DEC) for humanitarian relief for refugees in the Gaza region on the grounds that it would compromise BBC impartiality. This paper explores three issues highlighted by this incident of concern to media ethics scholars: the blurring of news and non-news discourses, the consequences of impartiality, and the responsibility media institutions have to “faraway others.”

Open Competition Papers
Negotiating Privacy in the 21st Century: The Millennial View • Seth Ashley, University of Missouri School of Journalism; Lee Wilkins, School of Journalism/University of Missouri; Amanda Wysocki, University of Missouri School of Journalism • Traditional philosophical and legal understandings of privacy are not sufficient for appreciating how people think about privacy today. Radin’s “contested commodities” and Westin’s “circles of intimacy” offer a bridge between positive and negative constructions of liberty and privacy.

Journalistic Constraints: Weighing the pressures that surround the modern media • Jenn Burleson Mackay, Virginia Tech • This paper outlines existing models of constraints on journalistic decisions and applies those concepts to journalistic ethics. The researcher considers how journalistic ethics may be influenced by society, the news organization, the profession, technology, and audiences. Survey responses from weekly newspaper, daily newspaper, and television station journalists illustrate how these constraints affect journalists. The researcher suggests that journalists and journalism students should to be aware of these influences in order to make sound ethical choices.

The Ethical Dimensions of Duke’s Communication Response to its Lacrosse Team Scandal • Rod Carveth, University of Hartford; Claire Ferraris, Western Oregon University • Duke University is one of the most elite private universities in the nation, having tied for fifth in the 2005 U.S. News & World Report’s annual college rankings, behind only Ivy League schools. In addition to superior academics, the school boasts several major sport powers, especially its basketball team.

Persistence of Narrative Persuasion in the Face of Deception • John Donahue, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill; Melanie Green, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill • Individuals are persuaded by fiction, but left unanswered is whether individuals maintain attitude change when a story presented as factual is later shown to be inaccurate. In this experiment, the alleged truth status of a narrative was manipulated. Participants in two conditions were informed after reading the story it was inaccurate due to (1) unintentional inaccuracy or (2) intentional deception. Although readers derogated a deceptive author, they did not correct their attitudes due to inaccuracies.

Offering the Cloak of Confidentiality to News Sources: Journalist’s Ethical Decision-making Behaviors • Michele Kimball, University of South Alabama • The use of confidential sources in news coverage can provide information integral to understanding significant issues for news consumers, but it comes at a price to journalists’ credibility and ethical standards. This study uses qualitative methods to evaluate journalists’ ethical decision-making behaviors when determining whether to grant sources confidentiality. Results show that journalists engage in a four-part process in determining whether to make a promise to protect a source’s identity.

Facing the Future: Media Ethics, Bioethics, and the World’s First Face Transplant • Marjorie Kruvand, Loyola University Chicago; Bastiaan Vanacker, Loyola University Chicago • When the world’s first face transplant was performed in France in 2005, the complex medical procedure and accompanying worldwide media attention sparked many ethical issues, including how the media covered the story. This study used framing theory to examine what happens when media ethics intersect with bioethics by analyzing French, American, and British media coverage on the transplant and its aftermath.

Television News Coverage and Disaster Management – The Ethical Difficulties of Disaster Journalism • Chao Chen Lin, National Chiao Tung University • The study explores ratings-driven television disaster journalism and other related issues on one side and discusses the relationship between disaster reporting and disaster management on the other. This study uses qualitative research methods such as “case study” and “in depth interview, focuses on the four typhoon disasters occurring between July and September of 2008 and conducts related analysis affecting the news production system of television in Taiwan.

Social Constructivism Meets Social Media: The Case for Collaborative Learning in the Ethics Classroom • Patricia Parsons, Mount Saint Vincent University • Teaching ethics as a collaborative process to cultivate moral imagination is an important adjunct to student development of the knowledge, attitudes and skills required of professional practice. The collaborative nature of the new social media provides a platform for the development of pedagogical approaches that are grounded in social constructivism. This paper presents a case illustration of the application of an online wiki to enhance student engagement in learning about professional ethics.

Short and to the Point: How More Ethical Online Headlines Might Help Restore Journalism’s Reputation • David Remund, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • Writing headlines for online media can pose an ethical challenge. The limited real estate and dense saturation on most news organizations’ landing pages means trouble for copy editors and reporters. They must be extremely succinct in their wording yet clever enough to somehow breakthrough the clutter. This paper examines the ethics of news headlines online, drawing upon a blend of primary and secondary research.

Public Relations and Rawls: A Harsh Veil to Wear • Chris Roberts, University of Alabama • John Rawls’ “veil of ignorance” approach to ethical behavior is a seeming staple in mass media ethics textbooks, but the veil is less likely to be given serious consideration as an approach to ethical decision-making than other approaches. This paper looks at the uses, misuses and applications of the veil in contemporary discussions of public relations ethics, and it posits six reasons why the veil may be hard for public relations practitioners to wear.

Beyond Case Studies: An Analysis of Teaching Effectiveness in Award-Winning Media Ethics Exercises • Carol Schwalbe, Arizona State University; David Cuillier, University of Arizona • A content analysis of 228 Great Ideas for Teachers (GIFTs) found that the 16 activities suitable for ethics courses relied on traditional methods of teaching, mainly discussions, teamwork, and case studies. Few used technology, games, or simulations. The authors created an index to measure teaching effectiveness. While most ethics ideas stimulated higher order learning, they did not incorporate other elements that might improve student engagement. The authors make suggestions for dynamic, interactive ethics activities.

Guanxi, Gift-Giving, or Bribery? Ethical Considerations of Paid News in China • Katerina Tsetsura, University of Oklahoma; Zuo Lin, U of Oklahoma • This study of the phenomenon of paid news in China reviews the English-language and Chinese-language literature on the subject of media opacity and cultural traditions of gift-giving and guanxi in Chinese media practices to answer a question whether discussions of media bribery are appropriate in the context of the Chinese media environment.

Credibility as a strategic ritual: The Times, the interrogator, and the duty of naming • Fred Vultee, Wayne State University • This study examines the use of names in the construction of “credibility” as a journalistic duty. Using the framework set forth by Tuchman (1972) of objectivity as a “strategic ritual,” the study discusses the ethical justifications put forth by the New York Times for the process through which it decided to identify a CIA interrogator who had been involved in questioning 9/11 captives.

A Content Analysis of the Public Service Announcements Dealing with Children’s Nutrition and Obesity -Investigating Advertising Appeals, Health Claims, and Health Intervention Techniques- • Jay (Hyunjae) Yu, Louisiana State University; Hoyoung Ahn, U of Tennessee • Public Service Announcements (PSAs) against childhood obesity have been widely used to help children understand the importance of healthy eating habits and smart weight management in their lives. As the rate of childhood obesity in the country has increased enormously in recent years, researchers have emphasized the significant role of the PSAs more than ever, but few have comprehensively investigated the content of the current PSAs dealing with the issues.

<< 2009 Abstracts

Mass Communication and Society 2009 Abstracts

Mass Communication and Society Division

Perceived realism, anxiety, and health orientation in viewers’ responses to health news and entertainment • Julie Andsager, University of Iowa; Elizabeth Stoycheff, Ohio State University • This study examines the relationships among health orientation, anxiety, and perceived realism among individuals exposed to relevant or less relevant information on TV medical dramas and similar health news. An experiment (N = 191) found that health orientation was not a reason for viewing medical dramas on TV. Perceived realism was greater for news stories than for fictional portrayals, but the pattern differed for relevant and non-relevant health conditions. Implications for health communication are discussed.

Perceived Media Influence of the Virginia Tech News Coverage on Self and Other’s Attitudes toward Gun Control Policy • Anita Atwell Seate, University of Arizona; Elizabeth Cohen, Georgia State University; Yuki Fujioka, Georgia State University; Cynthia Hoffner, Georgia State University • The current study examines the perceived effects of the Virginia Tech shooting news coverage on self and other’s attitudes toward gun control policy, behavioral outcomes and the moderating role of group membership. A total of 207 respondents completed an online survey. Larger third-person perceptions were reported for those who owned guns due to the reduction of the perceived effect on self.

Young Women’s Perceptions of Indoor Tanning and Media’s Influence: Interviews with College Students and a Content Analysis of Pro-Tanning Messages • Lucinda Austin, University of Maryland, College Park; Monique Turner, University of Maryland, College Park • This two-part study addresses problems of indoor tanning behaviors by seeking to inform our larger understanding about young women’s tanning behaviors and attitudes and how various media influence these attitudes and behaviors. The first study uses the Theory of Planned Behavior as a basis for understanding, and explores individuals’ attitudes, perceived norms, and perceived behavioral control regarding tanning behaviors through focus groups with college student females.

Mass media and dissent control: Hegemonic discourses about the 2006 student protests in Chile • Ingrid Bachmann, University of Texas at Austin • When almost 800,000 high school students in Chile carried out a series of protest in demand of a better education, they challenged both the new administration and the dominant view of society. This case study argues that the main Chilean newspaper acted in such a way that this dissent was accommodated in order to minimize and ultimately nullify the threat it represented, via three major strategies: labeling, recontextualization and change of focus.

Journalism and Public Service in Troubled Times • Randal Beam, University of Washington; Bonnie Brownlee, Indiana University School of Journalism; David Weaver, Indiana University School of Journalism; Damon DiCicco, University of Washington • This paper examines journalists’ views about public service within their profession and news organizations at a time of significant economic and technological turmoil in the news business. The findings show that journalists remain strongly committed to informing the public and to serving the public interest. But an examination of factors that influence their views on public service suggests that the hard times facing news organizations today may undermine their ability to uphold this professional value.

New voters, new outlooks? Same-sex marriage, social networks, and generational politics • Amy Becker, University of Wisconsin-Madison, School of Journalism and Mass Communication • This study examines the factors that shape public acceptance of homosexuality and support for same-sex marriage across age cohorts. Using data from two national surveys, our analysis suggests that personal contact makes younger respondents more accepting of homosexuality and gay marriage, while value predispositions have a greater impact on attitudes among older individuals.

Qualitative Interviews with Local Newspaper Journalists about Public Meetings: Changing Circumstances and Unchanged Expectations • John Besley, University of South Carolina; Chris Roberts, University of Alabama • This manuscript draws on theory and research related to both journalism and citizen engagement to explore what newspaper journalists think about current coverage of public meetings. It focuses on public meetings because of their role in American political thought as well as their place as a focal point for local civic news coverage.

Back to Class: Understanding J-School Grad Students’ Motivations for Continuing Education • Jessica Birthisel, Indiana University; Emily Metzgar, Indiana University • Despite the media industry’s economic struggles, many students still choose to pursue graduate education in journalism and mass communication. This paper, using data collected in a March 2009 online survey of more than 400 graduate students in journalism and mass communication presents a snapshot of feelings about earning an advanced degree in a rapidly changing field. We consider the implications of our findings for both program design and student job prospects in this shifting media climate.

U.S. versus Them: An Analysis of the Verbal and Visual Coverage of Women’s Beach Volleyball During the 2008 Summer Olympic Games • Kim Bissell, University of Alabama; Lauren Reichart, University of Alabama • This study represents a content analysis of 15 beach volleyball games for the U.S. and non-U.S. women’s teams during the 2008 Summer Games. Play-by-play commentary and between-play commentary was analyzed for all televised portions of the 15 games, and all court shots and camera angles were coded.

Pre-existing factors or media effect? Understanding the third-person perception • Michael Boyle, West Chester University; Mike Schmierbach, Penn State University; Douglas McLeod, University of Wisconsin • Recent research on third-person perceptions has suggested the importance of ego defensiveness and normative fit as factors affecting perceived effects. In this study we consider the extent to which news stories that manipulate normative fit and potentially threaten ego defensiveness drive perceptions about effects of video games.

You’re not alone! – The Influence of Reality Television Consumption on the Use of Facebook for Stalking • Christopher Brott, University of Kansas • Reality television shows have been hugely popular long before the inception of social network sites. Nonetheless, both offer a similar experience: the possibility of peeking into other people’s private lives. Here, social cognitive theory suggests a relationship between both types of media. Surveying a sample of college students, this study seeks to offer some new insights into the interplay between reality television and social networking.

Insights into Freshmen Weight Issues: An Ethnographic Study of How First-year Students Make Decisions about Eating • Courtney Carpenter Childers, University of Tennessee; Eric Haley, University of Tenness; Cheryl Ann Lambert, Boston University; Lisa Jahns, University of Tennessee • The transition from high school to college represents a turning point during which health behavior trajectories may be influenced. This study addresses the internal and external factors that guide students’ eating decisions as they are understood and relayed by students through ethnographic, qualitative methods. A sample of 102 second semester college freshmen participated in a two week data collection period.

Logging on and letting out: Using online social networks to grieve and to mourn • Brian Carroll, Berry College; Katie Landry, USA Track & Field • The purpose of this paper is to explore how and why younger Internet users maintain connections using social networking platforms such as MySpace and Facebook with those who have died or been killed. This paper, therefore, examines the blurring or blending of interpersonal communication and mass communication via the Web even as what once was very private communication—messages to the deceased—becomes very public.

Talking Past Each Other: Online Debate about Decriminalization of Gay Sex in Singapore • Benjamin H. Detenber, Nanyang Technological University; Mark Cenite, Nanyang Technological University; Shuhua Zhou, University of Alabama; Shelly Malik, Nanyang Technological University • A quantitative content analysis was conducted on 10,473 comments from two opposing online petitions related to the legal status of a section of the penal code in Singapore used to ban sex between men. Results indicate numerous significant differences in how the two sides discussed the law and its significance.

Established Journalism and Blogging as Citizen Journalism: A National Survey of American Journalists • Tsan-Kuo Chang, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities; Kathy Forde, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities; Brian Southwell, University of Minnesota; Hyung Min Lee, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities; Yejin Hong, University of Minnesota • Through a national survey of newspaper editors and TV news directors, the purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to provide a critical examination of the interplay between professionalism and journalism in the United States, with a focus on how the authority and legitimacy of professional journalism might be challenged or threatened by the emerging citizen journalism.

News Representation of Foreign Brides: A Comparative Study of News Coverage in Taiwan and Korea • Hsuan-Ting Chen, University of Texas at Austin; Kanghui Baek, The University of Texas at Austin • The purpose of this study was to understand the differences in news coverage of foreign brides in Taiwan and Korea and to further examine news representation of foreign brides in the two countries. Results from a content analysis of two Taiwanese newspapers and two Korean newspapers revealed that news coverage of foreign brides has significant differences in story topic, story tone, and news source between the two countries.

The circuit of image capital and place-making: a case study of Hengdian World Studios • Pui Ha Chow, The Chinese University of Hong Kong • This paper proposes the concept of the circuit of image capital to investigate how the image economy of a greenfield studio called Hengdian World Studios in China has interacted with the place-making process. The concept emphasizes not only complex intersection of the local and the global but the force of symbolic and material interplay and the deployment of aesthetic reflexivity in the shaping of landscape.

Free your mind and your soul will follow: Advocating reform from the Louisiana State Penitentiary • Kalen Churcher, Niagara University • At the Louisiana State Penitentiary, inmate-produced media, particularly The Angolite magazine, are used as advocacy tools to educate both inmate and free-world communities. Exhibiting characteristics of both mainstream and alternative journalism, inmate-produced media are worthy of study not merely from a classification standpoint, but because this dying cultural entity, in addition to its information-bearing role, serves a ritualistic function that unites the captive and the free in a common goal of reform.

The moral judgment of minority journalists: Evidence from Asian American, Black, and Hispanic professional journalists • Renita Coleman, University of Texas-Austin • This study used three controlled experiments to investigate the effects of a story subject’s race on the moral judgment of Asian American, Hispanic and Black professional journalists by changing only the race of the news subjects in photographs.

Who interacts on the Web?: The intersection of users’ personality and social media use • Teresa Correa, University of Texas at Austin; Amber Willard Hinsley, University of Texas-Austin; Homero Gil de Zuniga, University of Texas – Austin • In the increasingly user-generated Web, users’ psychological characteristics, such as their personality, may be crucial factors that lead them to engage in this participatory media. This study investigated the relationship between personality and social media use and the effect of gender and age on that dynamic in a national sample of U.S. adults.

Is There Anybody Out There?: How Radio Program Directors Target Today’s Audience • David Crider, Syracuse University • In-depth interviews were conducted with program directors at radio stations throughout the Northeast to determine how they reach their stations’ target audiences and how they know whether or not these efforts are effective. The various common themes that emerged from these interviews show that the program directors use a combination of branding their stations, new technology such as the Internet, public appearances, and the on-air content of their stations to attract listeners.

Suspicion and Secrecy: The Relationship between Skepticism, Cynicism, and Support for Freedom of Information • David Cuillier, University of Arizona; Bruce Pinkleton, Washington State University • This study, based on social cognition theory, examines potential political psychographic factors, such as skepticism, cynicism, apathy, complacency, and efficacy, that might predict support for government transparency, an essential element of democracy and journalism. Results from a random-digit-dial telephone survey of 416 Washington state residents indicate that skepticism, cynicism, and political liberal values predict support for principled transparency. Implications discussed include the importance of critical thinking in a society based on self-governance and democratic principles.

The Palin Factor: Effects of Ideology, Race and Media Consumption in the 2008 Presidential Election • J.J. De Simone, University of Kansas; Tien-Tsung Lee, University of Kansas • This study examines media consumers’ perceptions of Sarah Palin during the 2008 presidential election. Using data from the 2008 American National Election Study, the researchers concluded that heavy television viewers had the strongest positive opinions of the vice presidential candidate; no other media had a statistically significant impact on consumers’ opinions during the election.

Voter Learning, Campaign Interest and Intention to Vote in the 2008 Presidential Election: Did the Media Matter? • Jacob Groshek, Iowa State; Daniela Dimitrova, Iowa State University • In this study the impact of both traditional and new media formats on three variables in the 2008 election—issue knowledge, campaign interest and intention to vote—was investigated. The results demonstrated that general online news use was a significant predictor of voter learning but more frequent use of Weblogs was associated with lower levels of campaign issue knowledge.

When bloggers attack: Examining the effect of negative citizen-initiated campaigning in 2008 presidential election • Timothy Fung, University of Wisconsin – Madison; Emily Vraga, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Kjerstin Thorson, University of Wisconsin-Madison, SJMC; Hans Meyer, University of Missouri • Building on the social emotion model (Smith, 1999), we examined the effect of social identification on emotional reactions and behavioral tendencies of individuals exposed to citizen-initiated attack in the blogosphere during the 2008 presidential election. The findings revealed that emotional responses and associated action tendencies are conditioned based on which candidate support groups individuals belong to when they were exposed to partisan, attacking blog commentaries.

Biological Literacy and Health Concern: A Model to Predict Health Information Acquisiton • KARINA GARCIA-RUANO, PhD Student – Michigan State University; Charles Salmon, Professor; Jon Miller, Professor; Laleah Fernandez, Ph.D. student • This study seeks to broaden the understanding of biological literacy among U.S. adults and health information acquisition. This study uses Structural Equation Model (SEM) to predict health-specific information behaviors and explores the impact of chronic or life threatening concerns and the intervening effect of biological literacy. This research finds strong evidence about the role of biological literacy for health information seeking behaviors.

Propagandizing the Status Quo: The Differential Impact of Cultivated Worldviews on Minorities • Laurel Gleason, The Ohio State University • Several disparate, but complementary bodies of literature discuss the media’s role in reinforcing dominant values and norms. I endeavor to join these bodies in a coherent whole and to consider the media effects, and social implications, of the resultant chain of ideological dissemination. Using data from the 2000 American National Election Studies and OLS regression, I focus on the impact of cultivation on the political self-efficacy of those outside socially dominant groups.

The uses and gratifications of social networking sites (SNS): Investigating the roles of gender, media uses, and religiosity in predicting different motivations • Guy J. Golan, Seton Hall University; Joon Soo Lim, Middle Tennessee State University; Michael Sedita, Seton Hall University • Social networking websites (SNS) such as Facebook and Myspace offer user a multitude of applications in a highly dynamic and interactive online platform. The current study aimed to identify diverse motivational factors in using SNS amongst Facebook and Myspace users.

Newspaper Framing of Medical Marijuana in Editorials and Op-Ed Columns • Guy J. Golan, Seton Hall University; Kirsten M Griffiths, Seton Hall University • The current study examines how newspaper editorials and Op-Ed columns framed the highly controversial California Proposition 215 and the issue of medical marijuana. A content analysis of opinion articles points to an unbalanced allocation of issue framing between editorial and Op-Ed articles and points to organizational influence over opinion section content.

Political Consumerism and Youth Citizenship: The Development of Identity Politics Among Tweens and Teens • Melissa R. Gotlieb, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Kyurim Kyoung, UW-Madison, Dept. of Communication Arts; Itay Gabay, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Dhavan Shah, University of Wisconsin-Madison • This study uses national survey data collected from parents and children to explore differences across models predicting self-actualizing citizenship among tweens and teens. Our results support an overall similar model for predicting political consumerism among youth, in particular the important role of news use and information sharing in the online environment. However, some important differences in the relative influence of parental encouragement of civic engagement, news use, and outcome orientations did emerge across age cohorts.

Television News and Framing Mental Illness: A Look at Twenty Years of Coverage • Lesa Hatley Major, Indiana University • Television news and newspapers are prominent as the most common sources of information about mental illness. Despite this relatively few studies have examined the content of news stories about mental illness. Research that has been conducted has only examined newspaper coverage. To date, no studies have analyzed the frames used to cover mental illness in television news stories creating a sizeable gap in what we know about how mental illness is framed by the news media.

The Long-Term Impact of High School Civics Curricula on Political Knowledge, Democratic Attitudes and Civic Behaviors • Myiah Hively, The Ohio State University; William Eveland, The Ohio State University • This manuscript examines the effects of exposure to various elements of a civics curriculum on civic participation, two forms of political knowledge, internal political efficacy, political cynicism, news elaboration, discussion elaboration and various forms of interpersonal and mediated political communication behaviors. The data are based on a longitudinal study of high school students in a challenged large urban school district in a Midwestern state.

Creating a Measure of News Mediation: How do Parents Talk about the News? • Myiah Hively, The Ohio State University • Parental mediation of television has primarily been examined as a tool that has the potential to ameliorate negative effects of television or increase the positive effects of television associated with exposure to various types of content. However, news content is generally not considered when examining parental mediation despite the importance placed on news media use in political socialization literature.

Sports Programming, Gender Roles and Sexual Assault: A Test of the Media Practice Model • Stacey Hust, Washington State University; Ming Lei, Washington State University; Chunbo “Richard” Ren, Murrow College of Communication; Emily Marett, Washington State University; Anna McNab, Washington State University; Hua Chang, Washington State University; Jessica Fitts, Washington State University • The study was a survey of 426 college students that utilized SEM to investigate the structure of relationships among viewing sports programming, gender roles, rape myth, and obtaining consent in sexual intercourse, and intention to intervene in sexual assault situations. The results suggested that viewing sports programming and femininity had direct and indirect impact on intentions to intervene in sexual assaults.

Problems, solutions, and obesity: Inter-media agenda setting in a heavy-weight world • Stacie Meihaus Jankowski, Indiana University • This study examines obesity coverage from 1985-2007 in The New York Times, NBC, and The New England Journal of Medicine. An inter-media agenda setting study, this study looks at the relationships between the medium and the type of obesity coverage—stories about problems, solutions, or both problems and solutions—as well as relationships between the media. Real-world indicators of incidence rates and celebrity issues are also examined.

The Effects of Health Message Vividness on Attitudes Toward Students with ADHD • Michael Barthel, Syracuse University; Philip Johnson, Syracuse University; Jinghui Hou, Syracuse University; Yujing Ma, Syracuse University; David Crider, Syracuse University • This study uses a between-subjects experimental design to test the effect of low- and high-vividness messages about ADHD. The messages seek to change attitudes toward accommodations and stigma, with recognition memory also being tested as a guide to message effectiveness. Ambivalence is also assessed in order to measure interactions with vividness.

Hot Diggity Blog: A Cluster Analysis Examining Motivations and other Factors for Why People Judge Different Types of Blogs as Credible • Barbara Kaye, University of Tennessee; Tom Johnson, Texas Tech • Using two-step cluster analysis this study identifies four groups of users who deem seven types of blogs (general information, media/journalism, war, military, political, corporate and personal blogs) as highly credible. The four groups are each motivated to turn to blogs for many of the same reasons, however some differences emerged among the groups. Additionally, the four user clusters differ on demographic and political characteristics.

The Effect of Positive versus Negative Frame of CSR Messages: Exploring the Moderating Role of Gender in the Context of Organ Donation Sponsorship • Hyo Kim, University of Missouri-Columbia • This study investigates how the emotional valence of social messages influences individuals’ responses to an associated Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) message. A 2 (positive vs. negative) x 2 (men vs. women) between-subject experiment was conducted. A significant interaction effect between gender and emotional valence was revealed, suggesting that practitioners need to strategically employ the emotional valence factor in accordance with the gender of target public when developing CSR communications.

Dual Influence of Mass Media and Interpersonal Relationships on Female College Students’ Weight Status • Hyang Sook Kim, Pennsylvania State University; Donna Sheffield, Kansas State University • This study assesses possible predictors of college females’ weight problems. Employing social learning theory (SLT) and social cognitive theory (SCT), this study examined personal and environmental determinants that influence individuals’ behaviors. Results from surveys conducted with 141 female college students showed that the more pressure they felt from mass media depiction of thin body images, the more negatively they judged their own bodies.

Looking at the Production and Representation of Disability in Maya & Miguel • Emily S. Kinsky, Pepperdine University • This qualitative case study examines the production and representation of characters with disabilities within the children’s television program, Maya & Miguel, using the circuit of culture (du Gay, Hall, Janes, Mackay, & Negus, 1997). This program was created with a goal of social change – to help children get along better with others around them. Representation was examined through textual analysis of 12 episodes, while production decisions were examined via in-depth interviews with Scholastic Media personnel.

Entertainment Media and Political Discourse: An Assessment of Relations between Late-Night TV Comedy, Face-to-Face Political Talk, and Debate Viewing • Kristen Landreville, The Ohio State University; R. Lance Holbert, The Ohio State University • Associations between late-night TV comedy viewing and two forms of political discourse, political discussion and debate viewing, are explored. Arguments are offered linking late-night TV comedy exposure and political discussion, and the role of debate viewing within this relationship is also assessed. A secondary analysis of 2004 Annenberg panel data shows that late-night comedy and political discussion have positive direct effects on debate viewing and late-night TV comedy exposure has an indirect effect on discussion.

Does Violent Video Game Play Influence Players’ Aggressive Thoughts? An Investigation based on Sensation Seeking Tendency • Steven Bisch, Washington State University; Moon Lee, Washington State University • This study investigated effects of video game play on users’ aggressive thoughts as reflected in attitudes toward guns and violence and differences among high and low sensation seekers. Sixty participants played either a violent or nonviolent video game and reported their thoughts immediately afterward game play. Violent video game players exhibited more favorable attitudes toward guns and violence than nonviolent game players and high sensation seekers exhibited higher scores than low sensation seekers.

Voiced Values: Communicating a Local Organizational Identity for Disability • Julie Lellis, Emerson College • This paper explores organizational identity as a concept defined by an organization’s values. Ten different local, disability-related nonprofit organizations were used to examine how – as measured through their communicated values – organizational identity is expressed. Results of a quantitative content analysis of marketing and public relations materials used by the organizations indicated the presence of a collective identity among all ten organizations.

Black Newspaper Media Dependency for Self Understanding and for Health and Cancer Information • María Len-Ríos, University of Missouri; Elisia Cohen, University of Kentucky; Charlene Caburnay, Washington University in St. Louis • Media system dependency theory (Loges & Ball-Rokeach, 1993) is used to understand Black newspaper media dependency for cancer information among a national survey of Black newspaper readers (N= 783). Findings show that Black newspaper media dependency intensity for cancer and health information is predicted by Black newspaper use after controlling for demographics, Black self-identity, and general audience media dependency. Implications for the Black press and health disparities communication researchers are discussed.

Reports, Inferences and Judgments in Deceptive and Authentic News Stories • Dominic Lasorsa, University of Texas at Austin; Seth Lewis, University of Texas at Austin • U.S. journalism has been tarnished by recent incidents of high-profile deception. This calls for a closer examination of underlying patterns in deceptive news. A content analysis of recent deceptive news articles found that they contain a lower proportion of report statements and a higher proportion of both inferential statements and judgment statements than a random sample of ostensibly authentic articles produced by the same major news organizations during the same time frame.

Perceptions of Media Functions and Processing of News: Analysis of Audience in a Chinese Metropolitan • Xiaoqin Li, University of Macau; Zhongshi Guo, Hong Kong Baptist University • Based on the assumption that audience members carry mental images and expectations about functions of media prior to using them, this study specifies a theoretical model to investigate whether and how perceptions of media shape the way individuals process news information. Data for analysis come from telephone interviews of a probability sample of 1,000 Guangzhou residents. Results show the Chinese audience process news in a critical ways, partially due to skepticism toward the established media.

The Persuasion Effects of Watching the Documentary “Behind the Labels: Garment workers on U.S. Saipan” • Xuan Liang, University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee; Jing Zhang, University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee • This project examines how the documentary film Behind the Labels: Garment workers on U.S. Saipan influences consumers’ evaluations of the brands exposed in the film. Seventy-two students participated in a pretest and posttest. The results showed that after watching the film, participants expressed more negative attitudes towards and less likelihood to purchase the brands. Learning also occurred as measured by brand recall. These findings help explain how media content may promote positive social changes.

The Impact of News “Voice” on Adolescent Political Efficacy • Jeremy Littau, University of Missouri; Liz Gardner, University of Missouri; Esther Thorson, University of Missouri • In a national survey of teens and their parents fielded in months immediately following the 2008 Presidential election, we examined the role of a new news concept, “voice,” which we operationalized in terms of three categories: authoritative, opinionated, and direct to the consumer (DTC).

Empathy, narrative involvement, and identification with fictional characters: Examining the path from trait to state reactions • Chad Mahood, The Ohio State University; Emily Moyer-Gusé, The Ohio State University • The role of empathy in relation to media content has been under-examined. This study hypothesizes that both the ability to identify emotions (empathy) and a tendency to get ‘caught-up’ in a story (narrative involvement) are needed to help an individual take on the perspective of a fictional character (identification). In other words, the connection between empathy and identification is mediated by narrative involvement. This meditation was found for both trait and state narrative involvement.

All the News Fit to Post? Comparing News Content on the Web to Newspapers, Television and Radio • Scott Maier, University of Oregon • The study examines how online news coverage differs in content from news provided by newspapers, network television, cable television and radio. Analyzing data collected by the Project for Excellence in Journalism, the study finds that 59 percent of the top stories on news web sites covered the same topics as covered by legacy media. But only 15 percent of news stories linked to by blogs and social media sites corresponded with mainstream media’s top stories.

Communication patterns in the age of new media: An examination of the relationship between family communication patterns, political tolerance, and Internet use • Jessi McCabe, Wayne State University • This paper explores the relationship between Family Communication Patterns, Political Tolerance, and Internet use. Socio-oriented homes are restrictive in media content and are less political, whereas Concept-oriented homes are the opposite. Diversity of ideas and political knowledge is necessary for tolerance development. Results indicate that socio-oriented homes are less tolerant. Internet use confounded the nature of expected relationships. Implications and future research of Internet use is discussed, particularly as it applies to FCP and tolerance.

Youngsters’ Political Talk with Those Outside School and Family:The Hierarchy of Political Socialization • Mi Jahng, Universty of Missouri-Columbia; Hans Meyer, University of Missouri; Esther Thorson, University of Missouri • This study explores the assumption that political socialization can be considered as a hierarchy of stages of attention, learning, interpersonal communication behaviors, and political participatory behaviors. In this hierarchy political discussion outside of family and school is an important stage. Political elaboration and efficacy gained from the news media were hypothesized to encourage adolescents to reach this stage. The results are discussed in terms of the hierarchy model of political socialization.

Are People Who Use Tobacco More Likely to be Persuaded by Anti-tobacco Ads that Make Them the Victim? • Jensen Moore, West Virginia University • This study used a 3 (Tobacco Use – Low/Moderate/High) X 2 (Message Type – Attack/Blame) X 2 (MSV – Low/High) repeated measures experimental design to examine what type of anti-tobacco message (i.e., Blame vs. Attack) and sensation levels would influence attitudes, behaviors, and emotional responses of individuals with differing levels of tobacco use (TU).

Building Social Capital through Nonprofit Organizations’ Websites: Organizational Features and e-Social Capital • Seungahn Nah, University of Kentucky • Relying on such theories as resource dependency (Pfeffer & Salancik, 1978), resource mobilization (McCarthy & Zald, 1977), and social capital (Putnam, 2000), this study examines the effect of organizational features on the extent to which nonprofit organizations generate social capital through Websites. Data were collected using multiple research methods, such as public archive analysis, Website content analysis, and email and telephone surveys.

The Delicate Balance of Remembering and Forgetting: An Analysis of NASA Memorials • Nicole Pankiewicz, University of Minnesota • The legacy of the U.S. space shuttle program is examined though an analysis of memorials to Challenger and Columbia at Arlington National Cemetery. The story NASA tells through these memorials, compared with the official accounts of each accident, is a revealing instance of political communication. The messages memorialize the dead astronauts while urging the public and Congress to move forward with the space program. NASA asks us to remember what happened – and to forget why.

Satisfaction with Media Performance and Perceptions of Media Usefulness in Political Decision Making and Disaffection    • Bruce Pinkleton, Washington State University; Erica Austin, Washington State University; Jessica Fitts, Washington State University; Megan Reiser, Washington State University; Yushu Zhou, Washington State University • Researchers conducted a telephone survey of 416 randomly selected, registered voters in Washington state in the weeks preceding the 2008 elections. The purpose of the survey was to examine citizens’ attitudes toward news media and their political decision making and disaffection.

e-Patients with Chronic Illnesses: Analyzing the Commonalities and Differences among Three Online Groups • Andrea Meier, University of North Carolina, School of Social Work; Bret Shaw, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Judith Feder, Brodeur Partners; Eulalia Puig Abril, University of Wisconsin-Madison • Researchers have studied online health information and support seeking strategies for cancer and common chronic illnesses, but there have been fewer studies of e-patients with other chronic conditions or comparisons across illness communities. This study seeks to inform the development of Health 2.0 resources for Internet users living with chronic health problems by better understanding their current e-health information, support seeking behaviors and future needs.

Intermedia Agenda-Setting and Political Activism: MoveOn.org and the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election    • Matthew Ragas, U of Florida; Spiro Kiousis, U of Florida • This study tested for intermedia agenda-setting effects among explicitly partisan media coverage and political activist group, citizen activist and official campaign advertising – all in support of the same candidate. The setting for this investigation was MoveOn.org’s ‘Obama in 30 Seconds’ contest, which was held during the 2008 U.S. presidential election primaries. The data provided significant evidence of first- and second-level agenda-setting relationships. These results extend the intermedia agenda-setting framework to political activist communication efforts.

Usefulness of Environmental News Coverage, Risk, Personal Efficacy and Information Sufficiency • Brooke Weberling, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Jennette Lovejoy, Ohio University; Daniel Riffe, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • This study uses telephone survey data (N=511) to examine relationships among exposure/attention to and usefulness of newspaper, television, and Web environmental news coverage; information sufficiency (IS); personal efficacy (PE); and environmental risk. Attention to news was positively related to IS and PE, but perceived usefulness of news coverage did not correlate with IS or PE. Attention to and usefulness of Web coverage significantly predicted perceived local environmental risk.

Is Your Baby a Brainy Baby? Learning from “Educational” Infant DVD Program Content by 12- to 24-Month-Olds • Erin Ryan, The University of Alabama • Though the AAP recommends no screen time for children under two, toddlers are routinely exposed to “educational” baby videos. Thus, a one-group pretest-posttest repeated-measures quasi-experiment with 12- to 24-month-olds was performed to test learning of picture-letter pairings after several viewings of a Brainy Baby video. Results revealed no significant statistical findings; in this short term study, there was no detectable learning. Trial-by-trial analyses revealed children did not perform any better than chance on repeated posttests.

The effects of pre-existing mood and message relevance on the effectiveness of health PSAs: differential effects by message type • Sela Sar, Iowa State University; George Anghelcev, Penn State University • An experiment was conducted to examine the effects of mood, self-relevance and types of health messages on behavioral intentions in response to prevention and detection health messages. Detection messages emphasize the presence or absence of a potential health problem, whereas prevention messages focus on averting the onset or development of a health problem (Rothman and Salovey, 1997).

Measuring the Effects of a Media Literacy Program on Conflict and Violence • Erica Scharrer, UMass Amherst; Leda Cooks, UMass Amherst; Shara Dunn, UMass Amherst • A 5-session media literacy unit on conflict and media violence was administered to 85 sixth graders. Repeated measures analyses were employed to study the 57 for whom matched data were available. Results show students became more likely to choose a non-aggressive approach to two of three conflict scenarios presented and boys, but not girls, became more likely to acknowledge effects of media violence. Other measures employed suggest a mixed response to the curriculum.

Transnational Campaign Styles in Cyberspace: Comparing Virtual Attacks in Germany and the United States • Eva Johanna Schweitzer, University of Mainz, Germany • This paper compares the use of attacks on German party Web sites in two state elections, one national election, and one European parliamentary election with recent American evidence. The results show that virtual mudslinging has affected German e-campaigns on all levels of the political system, with patterns similar to those found in the US. This supports the notion of a global standardization effect in Web campaign practices brought about by the professionalization process in politics.

Asking Mom: Mothers’ Reactions to Theory-Based Messages to Vaccinate Daughters Against • Autumn Shafer, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill; Joan R. Cates, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • Significant disparities in cervical cancer exist in the United States based on race, socioeconomic status and geographic region. This study reports findings of message testing in the rural Southeast, in which ethnically diverse mothers and female caregivers were asked to provide their opinions about two potential theory-based message campaigns targeted to mothers of 11 and 12 year old girls who have not been vaccinated against Human Papillomavirus (HPV), the virus that causes cervical cancer.

A Grounded Theory Analysis of how College Students Search for Health Information on the Internet: A Case of HIV/AIDS • Kim Smith, North Carolina A&T State University • Fifteen white students from a predominately white university in the Southeast, and 15 black students from a historically black university in the Southeast were presented with the following hypothetical. “Pretend that your close friend or relative had acquired HIV/AIDS.

Roles of Traditional Media in Internet Manhunt • Jing Su, University of Missouri-Columbia • This article explores the roles of traditional media especially newspapers in China in the new online phenomenon-internet manhunt. By using content analysis to examine newspapers coverage of a specific case, the study finds that traditional model of agenda-setting is reversed. Online public opinion can set the agenda for mass media. And the study also finds that traditional media play paradoxical dual roles in the internet manhunt course.

Media Ownership and the Diversity of Voices: A Media Effects Perspective • Dan Sullivan, University of Minnesota; Rachel Davis Mersey, Northwestern University • The debate regarding media cross-ownership has been framed as an economic one and dominated by economic methods and measures. This paper makes the case that what is needed are measures of the power associated with a given level of diversity in the public sphere (aka marketplace of ideas) and that these measure needs to be grounded in media effects theory. The paper then offers a framework for developing such measures.

Media Concentration and the Dynamics of Misinformation: Implications for Media Ownership • Dan Sullivan, University of Minnesota; Brian Weeks, University of Minnesota • There has been considerable discussion of how the public was “misinformed” by the media leading up to the war in Iraq – and that many continue to perceive that misinformation as true. This paper makes the case that the more concentrated the media, the more likely this is to occur and to do so in ways that impact public opinion and ultimately public policy. The paper then discusses the implications for FCC media ownership policy.

News Media Framing of Rural and Education Issues in the 2008 U.S. Presidential Campaign • Brooks Smith, University of Mississippi; Kristen Swain, University of Mississippi • This content analysis examined how international news media portrayed rural issues and education in coverage of the 2008 U.S. presidential campaign. The study evaluated patterns in sourcing, time context, political framing, coverage across media platforms, and enterprise vs. episodic reporting. Obama was quoted more frequently than McCain in rural and education stories. While Obama received more attention in this coverage, McCain received no negative coverage.

The Trend and Impact of Media Agenda Diversity from 1946 to 2004 • Yue Tan, N.A. • First, this study examines the long-term trend in the agenda diversity of the New York Times from 1946 to 2004. Second, this study tests weather the agenda-setting effect between the media agenda and the public agenda has become weaker over that time.

Personality’s effect on news content • Tim Vos, University of Missouri School of Journalism; Mark Poepsel, University of Missouri-Columbia, Missouri School of Journalism • This study surveyed newspaper journalists (N=65) to ascertain their personality types, the amount of time they spend doing different types of journalism, and the amount of time they would like to spend on these same types of journalism. The study hypothesized that the strength of a journalist’s personality type would predict the amount of time he or she spent on a corresponding type of journalism. The hypotheses were partially supported.

Building the Habit: Growth in News Use Among Teens During the 2008 Campaign • Emily Vraga, University of Wisconsin-Madison; porismita borah, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Ming Wang, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Dhavan Shah, University of Wisconsin-Madison • This study uses panel data to examine growth in newspaper, television, and online news use among adolescents during the 2008 presidential election. The study suggests that while socializing agents like parents and school are effective in encouraging growth in traditional (newspaper and television) news use, individual engagement with society and politics primarily predicts growth in online news use. The results suggest that different socializing agents are effective spur different forms of news use.

The Symbiosis of News Coverage and Aggregate On-line Search Behavior: Obama, Rumors, and Presidential Politics • Brian Weeks, University of Minnesota; Brian Southwell, University of Minnesota • The relationship between on-line information seeking behavior and mass media news presentation likely is symbiotic. We can expect on-line behavior, such as search, to be at least a partial function of exposure to conventional news coverage rather than vice versa. Using Google search trends as a search behavior indicator, we examine the agenda-setting effect of the rumor that Barack Obama was secretly Muslim. As predicted, volume of news coverage positively predicts spikes in aggregate search.

Telepresence and exemplification effects: A sleeper effect? • David Westerman, West Virginia University; patric spence, Western Michigan University; Kenneth Lachlan, Boston College • Exemplification theory (Zillmann, 1999, 2002; Zillmann & Brosius, 2000) suggests exemplar representations in media content may cause people to make overestimated judgments about phenomena included in this content. Other exemplification research also notes the presence of a sleeper effect (Gibson & Zillmann, 1994). The current study sought to examine the role telepresence plays in increasing the potential for sleeper exemplification effects.

Analysis of the Role of News Sources in the Media Frame-Building Process of Epidemic Hazards • Rosalyna Wijaya, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Tsung-Jen Shih, University of Wisconsin-Madison; dominique brossard, University of Wisconsin Madison • Using media frame-building (Scheufele, 1999) as a theoretical framework, this study analyzed media coverage of West Nile virus (N=260) and avian flu (N=241) from their first appearance in The New York Times to November 2006.

Living in a Material…Web? Gender and Materialism on Children’s Toy Web Sites • Christina Malik, UNC-Chapel Hill; Bartosz Wojdynski, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • Research has shown that exposure to affluence and materialistic behavior in media over time is correlated with materialistic values in consumers. Growth in Web use by children has given marketers a new avenue to reach these consumers. This study undertook a content analysis of children’s toy-affiliated Web sites to document the frequency and types of materialistic behaviors present on children’s Web sites, and analyze differences between how consumer values are imparted to boys and girls.

The Digital Divide in the New Media Environment: Gaps in Motivation and Usage Pattern • Jung-hwan Yang, Seoul National University • The digital divide has been discussed mostly from a perspective of the diffusion rate of information technologies, the user’s accessibility to the media, and the amount of media usage time. However, those approaches do not sufficiently clarify what users actually do with diverse media. Therefore, this study tries to examine media users’ motivations and the specific usage patterns of the news media to discover if there is a gap between motivations and usage patterns.

New Media and the Young Generation: Exploring predictors in young people’s adoption of webcasting • Yan Yang, University of Florida • Based on the Diffusion of Innovation theory and the Uses & Gratification theory, this paper investigates predictors in young people’s adoption of webcasting—innovativeness, media consumption level, technology ownership, perceived needs (of webcasting), and perceived popularity. Results from a survey of college students found that young people’s need for companionship and their perceived popularity of webcasting are important indicators of their adoption usage.

Information Seeking Related to Clinical Trial Enrollment • Z. Janet Yang, Cornell University; Katherine McComas, Cornell University; Geri Gay, Cornell University; John Leonard, Weill Cornell Medical College; Andrew Dannenberg, Weill Cornell Medical College; Hildy Dillon, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society • In an effort to understand what motivates people to attend to information about clinical trial enrollment, this study applies the Augmented Risk Information Seeking Model to explore potential differences in information seeking behaviors among healthy respondents and members of a patient support group. Emotions associated with clinical trial enrollment, risk judgment, attitudes, awareness, the tendency to rely on independent decisions, normative beliefs, and information seeking intentions influenced routine and non-routine information seeking behaviors differently.

Why and How Facebook Satisfies You: Collective Self-Esteem, Emotional Openness, Communication Apprehension as Predictors of Facebook Uses and Gratifications • Zhang Yin, School of Journalism and Communication, CUHK; Tang Shing Tung, School of Journalism and Communication, CUHK • This study presents a comprehensive set of gratifications-obtained from Facebook by a sample survey of Facebook users in Hong Kong, a region with a sharply high user rate. It also investigates the interrelationships between three psychological traits (collective self-esteem, online emotional openness, and communication apprehension) and the identified gratifications, and the interrelationship between them and Facebook uses. Six aspects of gratifications are identified and grouped into two categories.

Differences in Emotional and Cognitive Responses between Non-Humorous and Humorous Public Service Advertisements • Hye Jin Yoon, University of Georgia • With the inconsistent results as to the effectiveness of threat appeals in public service announcements (PSAs), the use of humor in communicating threatening information has been suggested as an alternative strategy. But our understanding of humor processes in risk messages is limited due to the scarcity of research on this topic.

Gatekeeping, “gatewatching,” and the political process: Measuring the impact of new media on political activism and knowledge during the 2008 U.S. general election • Chance York, Kansas State University; Sookyong Kim, Kansas State University; Keunyeong Kim, Kansas State University • The purpose of the current study is to examine the effects of new media on political activism and knowledge during the 2008 U.S. election season. Specifically, the current study examines the usage patterns of new media among the coveted 18 to 24-year-old voting demographic. Using Bruns’ (2008, 2008b) “gatewatching” hypothesis, this study finds that new media is related to an increase in overall political activism, but not general political knowledge.

Without a watchdog, who can be trusted? An inquiry of the watchdog role and media trust among Chinese journalists and journalism students • Bu Zhong, Penn State University; Yong Zhou, Renmin University of China • By employing media system dependency theory, this study investigates how Chinese journalists (n = 125) and journalism students (n = 165) perceived the watchdog role and media trust in news reports and the BBS content. The results show that they rated a stronger sense of watchdog role in political information than in sports information.

<< 2009 Abstracts

Magazine 2009 Abstracts

Magazine Division

Still Reading Women’s Magazines: Reconsidering the Tradition Nearly a Half-Century After The Feminine Mystique • Amy Aronson, Fordham University, Lincoln Center • Among America’s most popular media, women’s magazines have long received widespread critique – both inside and outside academia, not least from women themselves. Since the 1960s, critical discussion has fallen into three basic camps. This article maps those perspectives, and elucidates a fourth position that theorizes the American women’s magazine as a distinct form.

Parenting Magazines and Obesity: How Well Do The Trim The Fat? • Cory Armstrong, University of Florida • This study compares stories about obesity in parenting and women’s interest magazines between 2002 and 2008. In particular, the portrayals of female and male mentions were examined to determine the types of messages being conveyed within the news stories. Magazines have been found to serve as an important source for health-related news, and, with the increasing number of obese children and adults in the U.S., determining the type of coverage is a key area of research.

Unrealistic Expectations: Representations of Celebrity Motherhood in People Magazine • Katherine Eaves, University of Oklahoma • The ideology of intensive mothering argued by Hays (1996) requires mothers pour all of their time, energy and financial resources into their children. This ideology is widely accepted as the appropriate way to rear children, and is espoused by popular, mainstream parenting magazines and parenting manuals, as well as in other media forums. This research examines discourse about celebrity mothers in People magazine to determine whether this media genre also perpetuates the ideology of intensive mothering.

Women’s Roles Portrayed in Women’s Magazines in China: An Analysis of Global and Local Influences • Yang Feng, Nanyang Technological University; Kavita Karan, Nanyang Technological University • This paper analyses the impact of the global (Western and Asian) and local forces in the roles of women in women’s magazine in China through examining the content of women’s magazines in China. Particular reference is given to media portrayal of women in both local and international magazine content as magazines in China are influenced by the process of globalization and the influence has been traced in the changing depiction of women’s roles in the magazines.

Japanese Fashion Magazines as Reflections of Gender-Related Societal Changes in Japan • Catherine Luther, University of Tennessee • The primary purpose of this study was to analyze gender representations in Japanese fashion magazines. Using a textual analysis to examine the representations, it sought to explore if the images were reflecting the recent changes that have occurred in Japan with regard to the social status of men and women. The study found gender representations that stray from the media representations that have traditionally existed in Japan.

Baby boomers and health: Eleven years of heart disease content in mass circulation • Paula Rausch, University of Florida; Debbie Treise, University of Florida; Ronald Shorr, North Florida/South Georgia Veterans Health System • Using qualitative and quantitative analysis, we explored heart disease-related content in mass circulation magazines most heavily read by the previously unexamined group of people 50+. Content targeting these readers was lacking, and few articles provided information referrals. Topics most commonly discussed did not always coincide with the top US government-cited heart conditions. Discussion of medications, testing, hospitalization, and death was common. Dominant latent frames included menopause, increased risk with age, reducing risks, blame, and confusion.

Turn-on or Turn-off: A Content Analysis of Magazine Coverage of LSD, 1954-1968 • Stephen Siff, Miami University • In the 1960s, scholars and critics blamed magazine coverage of LSD for a range of effects, including assisting in the spread of the drug, whipping up hysteria against its use and causing bad trips. This study examines these claims through a content analysis of articles about LSD published in popular magazines in the years before federal law prohibited possession of the drug.

Reading Travel Magazines: Frames of the Colonial “Other” and Post-Modern Authenticity in Feature-Stories Featuring Non-Westerners • Aimee Wachtel, University of Missouri, Columbia; Amanda Hinnant, University of Missouri • This research provides an original look at themes of colonialism and authenticity as manifested in travel magazines’ depictions of the non-westerner. This study compares contemporary travel magazine coverage to Lutz and Collins’ (1993) research on National Geographic. A content analysis of imagery and a textual analysis of display type showed that display text was highly indicative of both themes, and that images were largely indicative of the theme of authenticity while less so of colonialism.

Fighting – or Fueling – the Fear? Breast Cancer Coverage in Consumer Magazines • Kim Walsh-Childers, University of Florida; Heather Edwards, University of Florida • Women identify consumer magazines as a key source of information on many health topics, including breast cancer, which continues to rank as women’s greatest personal health fear. This study examined the comprehensiveness and accuracy of breast cancer information provided in 537 articles published in 17 consumer magazines from 2002 through 2007. Accuracy of information was determined for 33 key breast cancer facts identified by an expert panel as important information for women to know.

The Creation of Community in Reiman Magazines-A Reader Reception Study • Sheila Webb, Western Washington University • This study is a continuation of a narrative and rhetorical analysis of the Reiman magazines which placed them within the broader American cultural landscape, showing how the role of suburban middle-class white women is tied to traditional values, religion, and a valorization of country taste as “authentic” expression. This previous work exemplified one strand of reception studies – the textual interpretation of media content.

<< 2009 Abstracts

Law and Policy 2009 Abstracts

Law and Policy Division

Garland v. Torre and the Birth of Reporter’s Privilege • Stephen Bates, Nevada, Las Vegas • In 1957, Marie Torre, TV columnist for the New York Herald Tribune, wrote that Judy Garland was balking over a planned CBS special, apparently because, according to Torre’s network source, she “thinks she’s terribly fat.” Garland sued CBS for defamation and subpoenaed Torre to learn the name of her source. Torre herself then became something of a celebrity by refusing to identify him.

Information-Privacy Rights in International Human Rights Law • Cheryl Ann Bishop, Quinnipiac • The right of access to personal information held by governments is an evolving right in international human rights law. This study examines the right to personal information guaranteed by the various human rights regimes – the European, Inter-American, African, and United Nations – and identifies commonalities regarding how the right is conceptualized. This study finds that the right to personal information is broadly recognized and that it is conceptualized fairly consistently across the various human rights regimes.

The Greatest First Amendment Victory Harry A. Blackmun Ever Lost: How the U.S. Supreme Court Decided Gannett Co. Inc. v. DePasquale • John Bender, Nebraska-Lincoln • In Gannett v. DePasquale, the Supreme Court rejected enforceable right for the public to attend judicial proceedings under the Sixth Amendment. In dissent, Justice Harry A. Blackmun argued for recognizing such a right. Blackmun’s dissent began as the majority opinion and became a dissent only after Justice Lewis F. Powell Jr. switched his vote. Notes and memoranda among the papers of Justices Blackmun and Powell provide insights into why Powell switched his vote.

Tinker’s Midlife Crisis at 40: Tattered and Transgressed But Still Standing • Clay Calvert, Florida • This paper examines the erosion of the strength of the Supreme Court’s 1969 opinion in Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District. Indicators of decline range from Justice Thomas’ stunning call in Morse v. Frederick for overruling Tinker to recent lower-court opinions using Tinker to censor off-campus expression posted on the Internet. The paper explores possible reasons for the decline and abuse of Tinker and it makes suggestions for its reinvigoration.

Bailing Out the Print Newspaper Industry: A Not-So-Joking Public Policy & First Amendment Analysis • Clay Calvert, Florida • Daily print newspapers face a financial crisis. This paper examines what initially was a satirical proposal for a government bailout of the print-newspaper industry, modifying the initial idea and then both defending and critiquing it. In the process, the paper: uses the work of constitutional scholar Cass Sunstein and veteran journalists; employs the marketplace of ideas metaphor; and examines the press’s watchdog role, the Supreme Court’s Tornillo decision and the Newspaper Preservation Act of 1970.

Contrasting Concurrences of Clarence Thomas: Deploying Originalism and Paternalism in Commercial and Student Speech Cases • Clay Calvert, Florida, and Matthew Bunker, Alabama • This paper compares and contrasts, through the lenses of both originalism and paternalism, Justice Thomas’ radically different views of free expression in two relatively new areas of First Amendment jurisprudence: commercial speech and student speech. The paper pivots on the question of how Thomas reached diametrically opposed conclusions about the scope of – indeed, very existence of, in the case of students -speech rights in 44 Liquormart, Inc. v. Rhode Island and Morse v. Frederick.

Gate keeping the gatekeepers: International Community and Freedom of Information in Kosovo • Lindita Camaj, Indiana • This study suggests that the effects of international community are greater during the adopting process of FOI laws in transitional countries, but less effective on behavioral changes that accommodate the implementation of these laws.

Truth be Told: An Analysis of FDA Interpretation of “True Statement” Regulations for DTC Advertising • Sheetal Chhotu-Patel, North Carolina • Direct-to-consumer prescription drug advertisements are legally required to provide a “true statement,” of drug information. This study analyzes how the FDA interprets the true statement requirement by examining 68 regulatory letters. With a few exceptions, the FDA interpreted literally the complaint categories of omission of material information, unsubstantiated comparative claims, overstatement of efficacy, and broadening of indications. Inclusion of risk information and how risk information is presented were more broadly interpreted. Implications are also discussed.

Clearing Up the FOIA Transparency Question: How Congress Can Break the Coming Deadlock • Benjamin Cramer, Michael D. Todd, and Martin E. Halstuk, Penn State • The purpose of this paper is to shed light on what is shaping up to be a clash between the newly inaugurated President Barack H. Obama’s stated goals for transparency and the Supreme Court’s restrictive view of agency-disclosure obligations under the FOIA. This research project concludes that a resolution to this conflict ultimately rests with the third branch of government—the Congress, which possesses the legal authority to decide this question.

The Declining First Amendment Rights of Government News Sources • Robert Drechsel, Wisconsin • In Garcetti v. Ceballos, the Supreme Court in 2006 held that public employees have no First Amendment protection against retaliation for speech they engage in pursuant to their job duties. The decision inherently strengthens government’s ability to control employees’ interaction with the press. Judges are struggling to determine what constitutes speech pursuant to job duties. Courts seem to be trying to interpret Garcetti to protect employee-to-journalist speech, but Garcetti limits their discretion to do so.

Bursting the Bubble: Complaints about Soap Operas to the Federal Communications Commission, 2004-2008 • Marsha Ducey, College at Brockport (SUNY) • This paper explores the content of complaints about daytime serials to the Federal Communications Commission during the years 2004 through 2008. A quantitative content analysis on a total of 198 complaints was done. The complaints show that the complainants do not have a clear understanding of what the Federal Communications Commission can regulate. The most common complaints were related to language that complainants considered profane and/or obscene and to the depiction of homosexual relationships.

American Exceptionalism, The French Exception, and Harmonization of International Intellectual Property Law • Leo Eko, Iowa • The aim of this paper was to study the differential postures of the United States and France with regard to international intellectual property law, using as a case study both country’s adhesion to the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, and transposition of the WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT) and the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT) of 1996.

Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics: Developing a Clearer Assessment of Market Penetration and Broadband Competition in the United States • Rob Frieden, Penn State • The paper concludes that the FCC and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration have overstated broadband penetration and affordability by using an overly generous and unrealistic definition of what qualifies as broadband service, by using zip codes as the primary geographic unit of measure and by misinterpreting available statistics. Additionally the FCC includes as competition services lacking any true cross-elasticity with other services based on substantial price differences.

Using social frameworks: Incorporating word-picture juxtaposition research into libel law • Tom Grimes, Texas State, Robert Drechsel, Wisconsin, and Amy Reynolds, Indiana • This paper uses Monahan and Walker’s (1987) social framework approach to incorporate word-picture juxtaposition research into the adjudication of libel law. Specifically, it argues for a new category of defamation, Type 3, which occurs when a message receiver incorrectly “remembers” something as defamatory because of racial, ethnic or gender stereotypes.

False Sense of Security: The impact of FERPA’s campus crime provision on the release of student records related to campus safety • Jennifer Harlow, North Carolina • Despite recent tragic events on college campuses, the federal student privacy law continues to impede information-sharing critical to campus safety. FERPA was amended in 1992 to allow access to campus law enforcement records following the Student Press Law Center v. Alexander decision. This paper reviews court cases and legislative action to address how FERPA has been applied in questions involving access to campus security since that amendment.

We All Need Somebody To Lean On(Line): Can Promises of Confidentiality Protect Digital Self-Disclosure? • Woodrow Hartzog, North Carolina • Conventional wisdom dictates individuals can have no expectation of privacy when disclosing information online. This paper examines how promises of confidentiality might legally affect the self-disclosure of information on online social networks. It concludes that the doctrine of promissory estoppel could serve to protect self-disclosure if, as a function of the online social network, explicit promises of confidentiality are required before disclosure occurs. However, a limited recovery for damages reduces the significance this remedy.

Defining Journalists: The Application of the Definition of “Journalist” to Bloggers • Shin Haeng Lee, Indiana • As the Internet has emerged as a powerful medium, a heated controversy has developed over whether bloggers can be regarded as journalists and protected by shield laws as much as traditional journalists.

Still Have a Ticket to Ride (Along): An Examination of Media Joint Activities with Law Enforcement • Jasmine McNealy, Florida • Recently the family of a man, who committed suicide when police attempted to arrest him, sued NBC claiming that its hit show “To Catch a Predator” caused the man’s death and violated his civil rights. This case demonstrates the continued possible liability for news organizations that participate in joint activities with law enforcement. This paper discusses both U.S. Supreme and lower court cases involving ride-alongs and the issues that surround this newsgathering activity.

Audience Measurement, the Diversity Principle, and the First Amendment Right to Construct the Audience • Philip Napoli, Fordham • This paper uses the lawsuits filed in 2008 by the Attorneys General of New York and New Jersey against radio audience measurement firm Arbitron, in response to Arbitron’s launch of the Portable People Meter, as the basis for an inquiry into the appropriate speech classification of audience ratings data.

We’re All Publishers Now: A New Look at Publishing in the Digital Age • Rich Powell, Indiana • The concept of publishing as a matter of law is becoming increasingly complex. Current U.S. law defines publishing in three areas – one statutory (copyright) and the others equity (libel and privacy). The standards in all three definitions are fairly distinct, but well-suited to their specific intentions. It is now questionable, however, if these definitions are suitable in the digital age.

Sex, Lies and the Internet • Robert Richards, Penn State • As blogs and social networking sites proliferate, the level of discourse continues to ramp up to a point where defamatory and other damaging content is becoming more commonplace. This paper examines whether an Internet Service Provider should ever face liability for such actionable content, particularly when the third-party remains anonymous, or should the protections of Section 230 remain intact. It proposes changes to the current immunity that has existed for more than a dozen years.

Punishment for Shade: An Analysis of Penalties and Remedies for Violations of Open Meetings Laws Across the Country • Adrianna C. Rodriguez and Laurence B. Alexander, Florida • All 50 states and the District of Columbia have enacted open meetings laws. States’ open meetings laws contain penalty provisions to remedy violations that may include civil and criminal penalties, injunctive relief, invalidation of action and removal from office. However, while state laws may provide for penalties to be levied against public officials who disregard open meetings laws, violations persist and there is little evidence that penalties are enforced.

Bloggers as Limited-Purpose Public Figures: New Standards for a New Media Platform • Amy Kristin Sanders and Sarah Arendt, Minnesota • The traditional public-figure doctrine needs to be adapted to the new faces of online media and the ever-changing conversation outlets available to news consumers on the Internet. After reviewing the traditional tests for plaintiff status determinations in defamation cases, this paper establishes a legal standard that American courts can use to determine plaintiff status in cases involving bloggers who sue for defamation.

Defining Matters of Public Concern Through State Court Decisions on Statutory Anti-SLAPP Motions • Autumn Shafer, North Carolina • This research analyzes how courts have defined the key legal concept of matters of public concern through state court decisions involving anti-SLAPP laws with threshold requirements of public concern. Factors such as whether the case involved media, government, the topic, online expression or the original SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) are evaluated for their role in how courts have determined if a matter is of public concern. Implications to First Amendment jurisprudence are discussed.

The Right to Know, “Special Privileges” and Institutional Constraints: A Comparison of Access Cases • Derigan Silver, Denver • Based on an examination of multiple cases dealing with access to national security locations and information, the paper concludes that although many courts are unwilling to totally embrace the notion that a right of access exists outside of the judiciary, most have used the judicial access precedents to support arguments that there is at least a qualified right of access guaranteed by the First Amendment.

Power, National Security and Transparency: Judicial Decision Making and Social Architecture Theory in the Federal Courts • Derigan Silver, Denver • Examining federal cases dealing with national security and transparency, this paper determines how federal courts identify the main legal issues present in a case, or “frame” the cases, and the legal factors—such as precedent, framers’ intent/originalism, or textualism—they use to reach or justify their conclusions. The paper contends that aggregated together these decisions have created an “architecture of power” that determines how our society controls national security information.

Statutory Shield Laws in Constitutional Orbits: Rise of the ‘Covered Person’ Issue • Dean Smith, North Carolina • With the election of President Barack Obama, passage of a federal shield law protecting journalists from compelled disclosure seems certain. It also seems certain that the scope of the law’s protection – its “covered person” definition – will continue to be a source of rancor. A curious feature of debate has been the prominence of constitutional rhetoric in a discussion about statutory law.

Challenging Civil Contempt: An alternate approach to keep journalists out of jail • Daxton Stewart, Texas Christian • Despite their continued assertion of a First Amendment or common law reporter’s privilege in federal courts, journalists continue to be sent to jail, and recent consideration of a federal reporter’s shield law, if passed, would still not provide an absolute shield. In three high-profile cases since 2004, journalists were found in civil contempt of court and ordered to be confined in jail, despite their arguments that imprisonment would not coerce them to testify.

Do We Still Need Dignity: Hate and Dignity in the United States and Germany • Michael D. Todd, Penn State • This study is a comparison of landmark U.S. Supreme Court decisions concerning the treatment of hate speech and landmark German Constitutional Court decisions concerning the preservation of human dignity. The study concludes that the current limits on free speech protections under German federal law were a necessity when the law was written, but may now be an outdated and overly limited approach to free speech protections.

Sexual Speech on Internet Blogs and the Privacy Tort of Disclosure of Private Information • Kearston Wesner, Florida • Blogs (online diaries) can threaten privacy because the blogger can divulge personally-identifiable, embarrassing information to a wide audience. In 2004, a Senate staffer raised a novel issue by sharing her partners’ sexual information: what happens when someone’s First Amendment right to disclose her history conflicts with another’s desire for privacy? This paper analyzes constitutional law and the tort of public disclosure of private information to determine how courts have attempted to balance these competing interests.

Access to Information as a Right: South Korea’s 20-Year Experience • Kyu Youm, Oregon • Given that South Korea is often touted as a model case for the United States in exporting democracy abroad, Korea’s evolving experience with freedom of information deserves a systematic analysis. This is all the more compelling, considering that this year marks the 20th anniversary of the Korean Constitutional Court’s landmark case on access to information as a constitutional right.

<< 2009 Abstracts