Archives for June 2011

Open Competition

Role perceptions and ethical orientations: An analysis of individual-level influences on ethical aggressiveness of journalists • Sheetal Agarwal • Using the 2007 American Journalist panel survey this study examines how role perceptions influence journalists’ ethical aggressiveness. Factor analyses and scale reliability tests find that the long-standing “ethical aggressiveness” index and the “disseminator” role may need re-evaluation. Using regression analysis and a newly constructed ethical orientation scale I find that journalists with affinity to adversarial and interpreter functions have higher levels of ethical aggressiveness. However, populist mobilizers are less likely to justify ethically questionable practices.

“A Watchdog of Democracy”: State of Media Ethics in Bangladesh • Md. Abu Naser, Southern Illinois University Carbondale; Debashis Aikat • By situating journalism ethics within a larger intellectual context of global communication and social change, this study explores and documents the state of media ethics and journalistic standards in Bangladesh, the theoretical and conceptual development of Bangladeshi media ethics in its many forms. Drawing upon recent studies, meta-analyses of ethical issues and reviews of ethical lapses in Bangladeshi journalism, this study covers three aspects. First, it explicates the media practices and journalism ethics theories as they relate to Bangladeshi media. Second, it provides a thorough assessment of journalism ethics through a comprehensive review of a Jatri (2009) survey of Bangladeshi journalists. Third, it identifies theoretically-grounded approaches to unethical practices in Bangladeshi journalism by exploring a seven-point categorized listing of various instances of ethical lapses in Bangladeshi journalism. In conclusion, this study also identifies the need for a comprehensive code of ethics for Bangladeshi media. In its mission to advance its watchdog role, the Bangladeshi code of ethics should draw upon the evolution of its media ethics as a 20th century phenomenon and seek a sustaining significance in the 21st century digital age that is transforming Bangladesh’s contribution to global communication and social change.

The Ethics of Pinkwashing: Applying Baker and Martinson’s TARES Test to Breast Cancer Cause-Related Marketing Campaigns • Kati Berg, Marquette University; Shannon Walsh • From cars and cosmetics to fast food and toasters, everything seems to be turning up pink lately. But not all pink products benefit breast cancer equally. Some companies take advantage of consumers’ concern about breast cancer and in reality profit from marketing pink products while donating little or nothing to the cause. It’s a process known as pinkwashing. As cause-related marketing (CRM) efforts for breast cancer have risen dramatically in the last decade so has media criticism and consumer backlash. Yet, the ethics of pinkwashing have not yet been examined from a theoretical perspective. Thus, this paper critically analyzes the ethics of such campaigns by applying Baker and Martinson’s (2001) TARES test for ethical persuasion to two CRM campaigns: Mike’s Hard Pink Lemonade and KitchenAid Cook for the Cure. Specifically, we argue that consumers are particularly vulnerable because the persuasive communication used in these CRM campaigns fail to meet the five principles of the TARES test: truthfulness, authenticity, respect, equity, and social responsibility.

Unnamed Sources: A utilitarian exploration of their justification and guidelines for limited use • Matt Duffy, Zayed University; Carrie Freeman, Georgia State University • This article critically examines the practice of unnamed sourcing in journalism. A literature review highlights arguments in favor of and against their use. Then, the authors examine some common examples of anonymous sourcing using the lens of utilitarianism, the ethical model commonly used to justify the practice. We find that few uses of unnamed sourcing can be justified when weighed against diminished credibility and threats to fair, transparent reporting. The authors then suggest specific guidelines for journalists that, if followed, would curb many of the pedestrian uses of unnamed sourcing but still allow for the practice in specific circumstances.

Media Responsibility in a Public Health Crisis: An Analysis of News Coverage of H1N1 “Swine Flu” in One Community • Elizabeth Hindman, Washington State University; Ryan Thomas, Washington State University • This qualitative analysis of news reports regarding the H1N1 virus’ impact on a particular community provides insight into the responsibilities of the media within the realm of health communication. Generally, news media did a poor job presenting accurate, timely and useful information, both to local residents who needed specific information, and to the broader public, which needed a context to interpret events on the forefront of what could have been a national health care disaster.

Journalism’s “Crazy Old Aunt”: Helen Thomas and Paradigm Repair • Elizabeth Hindman, Washington State University; Ryan Thomas, Washington State University • Veteran White House correspondent Helen Thomas abruptly retired in summer 2010 after she gave unscripted remarks widely perceived to be anti-Semitic.  This case study applies paradigm repair and attribution theories to explore how mainstream journalists repaired the damage to their profession’s reputation. It concludes, among other things, that they suggested her remarks were caused by senility and that she failed in her obligation to objectivity.

Ethical Pitfalls of Data Digging in Journalism • Jan Leach, Kent State University; Jeremy Gilbert, Medill, Northwestern University • Journalists have been mining publicly available data for decades, but significant changes in presentation means that data journalism is common and this increased use raises new ethical issues. This paper examines the potential for harm when journalists use data mining in reporting. Ethics questions surface about truthfulness, interpretation and potential privacy issues. Authors interview five journalists who frequently use data for journalistic purposes and discuss how they evaluate potential harm when working with data sets.

Agapeistic Ethics and News Coverage of Secular/Religious Conflict • Rick Moore, Boise State University • Agapeistic ethics has received a small amount of attention from scholars interested in how it might be applied to the journalistic profession. This investigation continues that discussion but specifically in regard to how journalists might cover stories that entail religious dimensions. In analyzing the particular case of reporting on legal disputes related to teaching of intelligent design in schools, the paper hopes to shed light on the unique contributions agape can make to media ethics.

Social Responsibility and Tomorrow’s Gatekeepers: How Student Journalists Prioritize News Topics • Sara Netzley, Bradley University • This study examines whether student journalists prioritize news topics that serve social concerns or economic concerns. A nationwide survey asked student journalists to identify which topics they personally preferred as well as which topics they believed were most important for the media to cover. The data suggest that tomorrow’s journalists may have embraced a new theory of the press: the dual responsibility model, in which social and fiscal responsibilities are equally weighed when making editorial decisions. These findings have key implications for the gatekeeping decisions the journalists will make on the job and the type of agenda they might set for the public.

Naming Names: Crime Coverage Rituals in North America, Sweden, and the Neterhlands • Maggie Jones Patterson, Duquesne University; Romayne Smith Fullerton, University of Western Ontario • When a Dutch man killed seven people and injured ten more in an attempt to assassinate the Queen Beatrix, the Dutch Press Agency ANP did not use his name in their stories. This paper examines the ethical practices of journalists in the Netherlands and Sweden, specifically in regard to withholding the names of those accused or convicted of crime, in order to tease out the cultural values these practices reflect. National news stories of great public interest were used as starting points in interviews with Swedish and Dutch journalists and academics. By analyzing these interviews, national codes of ethics, and specific news coverage, the paper examines the reasons behind this respect for criminals’ privacy. The paper argues that the European practices reflect a greater ethic of care than those found in North American journalism. However, these practices are under threat both from the internationalization of news on the Internet and a backlash against immigration in Sweden and the Netherlands.

Ethics and Wartime Self-Censorship: Precedents for a Utilitarian Model in the Digital Age • Michael Sweeney, Ohio University • This paper argues that official government and military censorship have become impossible in the digital age. It offers the World War II model of effective self-censorship by the press, including legal and ethical issues constraining publication decisions, as an example of how cooperation and trust can make the alternative of self-censorship possible. It also addresses the complications posed by the relatively new phenomenon of citizen journalists and the challenges they pose to would-be censors. Finally, it frames the discussion of self-censorship in wartime using a utilitarian model of journalism ethics.

Walter Lippmann’s ethical challenge to the individual • Steve Urbanski, West Virginia University • This paper analyzes in hermeneutic fashion random concepts of the individual from three of philosopher Walter Lippmann’s major works, Liberty and The News, Public Opinion and The Phantom Public. The paper addresses the following: By considering Lippmann’s multi-leveled representation of the individual, 21st century media professionals can become empowered to avoid emotivism and strive toward a more narrative-based form of ethics. The paper compares and contrasts Lippmann’s representation of the individual with John Dewey’s Great Community and Daniel Boorstin’s notion of the pseudo-event.

Teaching Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development Through the Movie NETWORK • John Williams, Principia College • Lawrence Kohlberg’s theory of six stages of moral development has been significant to thinking about moral education for half a century and is viewed by many as the definitive description of moral development. Moral development theories describe moral maturity and the steps or stages that one follows to reach this maturity. Contemporary films and literature have been used as mechanisms for stimulating moral development in students. It would make sense that contemporary film could be used to introduce and teaching Kohlberg’s theory of moral development. This paper is a description and assessment of the use of the feature film Network as a vehicle for engaging undergraduate mass communication students with Kohlberg’s theory of moral development. The activity allows students to engage with the theory, attempt to apply it to a fictional situation, offer critiques to the theory, and suggest alternative perspectives.

Identifying Ethical Challenges and Solutions in the Online Coverage of Recruiting High School Athletes • Molly Yanity, Ohio University • The coverage of the recruitment of high school athletes has exploded into a multimillion-dollar industry. That demand has led to a wave of ethical challenges for the web-based publications providing the coverage. This study will reveal ethical challenges in the coverage and solutions for the publications. This multi-method study should help web-based publications draft of a code of ethics. Media covering high school recruiting can use those guidelines to gain and maintain credibility, uphold a high level of ethics, and protect themselves from rules instituted by outside interests.

Carol Burnett Award

Unprofessional, ineffective, and weak: A textual analysis of the portrayal of female journalists on Sports Night • Chad Painter, University of Missouri; Patrick Ferrucci, U of Missouri • This study investigates the portrayal of five female journalists on the Aaron Sorkin television show Sports Night. The women were depicted as acting unprofessionally, displaying motherly qualities, choosing their personal lives over work, being deferential to men for ethical decisions, and showing a lack of sports knowledge compared to the male characters. The researchers use social responsibility theory to suggest why these portrayals were ethically problematic.

Ethical Attitudes of Male and Female Students Concerning Academics and Journalism • Bill Hornaday, Indiana University • Survey data on plagiarism and fabrication – and perceptions about both among journalism students [n=6873] – indicate females harbor more concern about such activity than males. The findings are consistent for academic settings involving student journalists and scenarios involving professional journalists. Regardless of gender, students were more concerned about fabrication and believed professional breaches merit more concern than academic ones. This study draws from an ongoing, longitudinal project launched in 2004 at a large Midwestern university.

Correcting the record: The impact of the digital news age on press accountability • Nicole Joseph, Northwestern University • This study examines changing news practices to determine if, and how, they have been accompanied by changes in journalists’ abilities to enact traditional ethical standards in the newsroom. To illustrate these changes, I explore the use of news corrections as a means for maintaining journalistic accountability in the digital news age. The findings suggest that key attributes of the contemporary news environment can help journalists in their quests for accountability.

Conflicting Agendas: Economics and Social Responsibility in the Press • Jason Laenen, Manship School of Mass Communication at LSU • Many scholars have argued the economic responsibilities of the American (capitalist) press ultimately undermine its social responsibilities. Little attention has been paid, however, to how the press has successfully neglected these duties–while maintaining its special “inviolable” rights provided by the Constitution. This article argues the press has used the tenets of the dominant economic models (liberalism, Keynesianism, and neoliberalism) in three periods of American history to influence and justify its behavior. Implications are discussed.

Is Ideological Coverage On Cable Television an Ethical Journalistic Practice? Duty, Responsibility, and Consequence • Aimee Meader, University of Texas at Austin • Ideological coverage is a journalistic practice that abandons objective ideals in favor of opinionated analysis. Although editorialism has always been evident in American journalism, this practice is becoming more frequent among cable broadcasters as the industry responds to growing economic pressures. This essay examines ideological coverage to determine whether it meets journalistic duties, such as veracity, and if it can facilitate a deliberative democracy. Additionally, the essay outlines guidelines that allow for ethical, ideological reporting.

The real skinny on food in the media: Ethical shortfalls of covering and marketing food to an ever expanding nation • Temple Northup, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Meghan Sherrill, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill • Consumers deciding what food to purchase are faced with thousands of options at the typical grocery store. In order to help make decisions, the media can be used as a source of information: from advertisers, marketers, and journalists. Through a series of cases studies, this paper critically analyzes the role of the media in misinforming the public about the healthfulness of certain food, thereby playing a contributing role in the growing obesity epidemic.

“Can We Be Funny?”: The Social Responsibility of Political Humor • Jason Peifer, Saint Louis University • Probing the vague boundaries and constraints commonly placed on humor, this essay considers the responsibilities and duties that can guide political humor. Working within a deontological paradigm, this essay establishes the relevance of ethics within society’s political humor and considers the importance of ethical humor. Moreover, this study points to Christians and Nordenstreng’s model of global social responsibility theory as providing a promising framework for orienting ethical political humor.

The Ethics of the ESRB: Social Responsibility Theory and Video Games • Severin Poirot, University of Oklahoma • The video game industry is a multimillion-dollar industry, which reaches millions of customers a day. While there is a variety of research available on the subject, there is little dealing with the ethics of video game content. Using the social responsibility theory of the press, this paper conducts an ethical analysis of the video game industry. Specifically the history and purpose of the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), a self-imposed video game rating system, is discussed. Using the principles of the theory the ESRB appears to meet the requirements of social responsibility. Future research is suggested to further explore the ethical implications of video game content.

Neuroethics, Moral Development and Media: An Emotional War Over Reason • Rhema Zlaten • Neurobiology provides a unique perspective to the moral development process of media professionals and challenges current prevalent theories of ethical evolution. Neurological firings initiate an ethical response, which is then carried out and fostered by character development and experience. Several fields, namely psychology and sociology, have utilized this brain data to consider a full range of human behaviors from the inside out. There is a shortage of similar applications to the media and communication fields, and the viewpoint of neuroscience creates a theoretical challenge to the cognitive level theories that drive current media research, particularly to the areas of moral development and normative theory.

Special Call: Methods for Media Ethics Research

Press Apologias: A New Paradigm for the New Transparency? • Sandra Borden, Western Michigan University • This paper examines the requirements for ethical press apologias, defined as attempts to defend credibility when accused of ethical failure. Facing changing transparency expectations, apologists may fail to fully respond to injured stakeholders. Criticisms of CBS News’ flawed report on President Bush’s National Guard service illustrated this problem. Hearit and Borden’s (2005) paradigm for ethical apologia is applied to “RatherGate” to see if and where the paradigmatic criteria fell short. A revised paradigm is proposed.

The Psychology of Plagiarism • Norman Lewis, University of Florida; Bu Zhong, Penn State University • Journalists and writers have often wondered if plagiarism, an ethical taboo, has a psychological element. Two studies to test that informal hypothesis revealed that plagiarists are remarkably similar to their non-copying peers in Big Five personality traits. However, the two groups differ in a scale that measures integrity on a continuum between principles and expediency. The results show that journalistic plagiarism has more in common with a “normal” accident than with a troubled mind.

Dissecting Press Ethics: A Methodological Evaluation of the Discipline • Jenn Burleson Mackay, Virginia Tech • This paper explores trends in journalistic ethics research. The researcher shows areas where additional research is warranted. Most scholars have relied on essays or surveys to study journalistic ethics. While researchers frequently have analyzed newspaper ethics, scholars have failed to thoroughly study broadcast journalism or new media ethics. Researchers have placed little emphasis on studying audience perceptions of journalistic ethics. The author suggests that triangulation would improve the literature in this discipline.

<< 2011 Abstracts

Media of the People, by the People, for the People: Redefining Public Service Broadcasting in Emerging Democracies • Md. Abu Naser, Southern Illinois University Carbondale; Debashis Aikat • Public service broadcasting has faced many challenges during a decline in the last 20 years. Although the crisis of public service broadcasting is global in nature, the problems the PSB institutions face in developing countries and in emerging democracies differ fundamentally from the challenges that the PSB outlets encounter in the Western world. Public service broadcasting in many developing countries remains a government monopoly where the public has no role in the process. In authoritarian political systems, public broadcasting becomes state propaganda that corrupts the whole broadcasting system. Because of the varied nature of the problems facing PSB institutions in developing countries, there is an emerging need for a variety of solutions. In this context, a plan to make public service television in Bangladesh more effective is proposed. This model may be applied to many other emerging democracies in Asia, Africa, East Europe, and Latin America since PSBs of those countries face similar problems.

Is Family Guy E/I Programming? An Analysis of Adult Primetime Animations for Educational Messages. • Mary Katherine Alsip, University of Alabama; Wyley Shreves • Many studies have found that E/I programming may be falling short of the FCC guidelines prompted by the Children’s Television Act of 1990.  Adult primetime animations have gained popularity in recent years, especially with adolescent and teen viewers.  An analysis of the availability and educational quality of adult animation is made and compared to previous data on E/I programming.  Recommendations for the adjustment of FCC guidelines based on this analysis are made.

Digital media, citizenship orientation, and youth political consumerism • German Alvarez, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Matthew Barnidge, University of Wisconsin – Madison; ByungGu Lee, University of Wisconsin-Madison • This study aims to explore how youth online usage patterns and notions of citizenship foster certain forms of political participation – namely political consumerism. Using cross-sectional survey data from a national representative sample of youth, this study offers a unique attempt to uncover the social-psychological predispositions that make up and define citizenship orientation. Specifically, this paper argues that a typology of trust in political institutions and political efficacy are important factors that contribute to citizenship orientation. Placing these social-psychological predispositions within the analytical framework of the communication mediation model, this paper also examines the mediating role of citizenship orientation between online communication and political participation. This study presents evidence that citizenship is evolving, and that new forms are emerging that place emphasis not on institutional politics, but rather on personally meaningful behaviors such as political consumerism. The results generally support the conclusion that citizenship orientation, as defined by the typology of trust and efficacy, is a significant factor mediating the effects of online media on political participation. The findings also highlight the role of online media in the development of citizenship orientation, indicating differential paths of communicative development that lead to different orientations toward citizenship.

Why your grandparents are on Facebook:  A survey of uses and gratifications of Facebook by older adults • monica ancu, Univ. of South Florida St. Petersburg • This is a uses and gratifications study looking at why older adults, people aged 45 and older, use Facebook. A survey of 225 respondents reveals that older adults are drawn to Facebook by two primary factors, Mood Management (entertainment and emotional connectivity) and Social Action (express opinions and news, and establish relationships). The most popular activity among our sample was playing games and using other entertainment Facebook apps, followed by browsing friends profiles and photos. Content creation and communication through status updates, wall comments, messages and other types of expression were less popular among this age group, with only a third (roughly 30% of respondents) engaged in such activities. The study discusses additional findings and their implications, and it is one of the very few studies looking at the social networking uses and gratifications of older adults.

The new communication environment and its influence on media credibility • Ashley Anderson, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Peter Ladwig; Dominique BROSSARD, LSC, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Dietram Scheufele; Michael Xenos • How exposure to uncivil discussion in online comments alongside two controversial issues—nuclear energy and nanotechnology—influences media credibility is the focus of this study. Using an experimental design with a representative sample of the American population, we find exposure to uncivil discussion increases perceptions of blog post bias and trust in news media for information on science. Exposure to incivility in blog comments increases trust in online sources for the issue of nuclear energy.

Overweight and unworthy? The role of priming in attractiveness, gender, and credibility • Julie Andsager, University of Iowa; Erin O’Gara; Robert Gutsche Jr, The University of Iowa; James Carviou; Nicholas Yanes, University of Iowa • Obesity is a prevalent health concern in the U.S. Guided by attribution theory and priming, an experiment was conducted to assess attitudes toward attribution of responsibility, attractiveness, and credibility in thin versus overweight individuals. Subjects considered thin individuals more attractive than their overweight counterparts, and reader gender was significantly related to evaluations of attractiveness, particularly when weight was primed with an opinion column.  Weight and gender of columnists interacted in perceived credibility.  Implications are discussed.

The Effects of Gain and Loss Frames on Perceptions of Racial Inequality • Erin Ash, Penn State University; Mike Schmierbach, Penn State University • Previous content analytic research has examined the extent to which the media frame racial disadvantage in terms of black losses and gains and white losses and gains, finding that news reports are by far most likely to frame disadvantage in terms of what blacks are more likely (than whites) to lose. This study is an empirical test of the effects of racial gain and loss framing. Results reveal loss frames amplified perceptions that the issue was important and due to systematic, institutional causes. No main effects of race were found, but race did interact with the frame manipulation to influence perceived importance and symbolic racism. Further, regression models showed the influence of perceptions of importance, causal attributions, and symbolic racism in predicting support for two proposed remedies to alleviate the inequality.

Exploring News Media Literacy: Developing New Measures of Literacy and Knowledge • Seth Ashley, University of Missouri; Adam Maksl, University of Missouri; Stephanie Craft, University of Missouri • Using a framework previously applied to other areas of media literacy, we developed an attitudinal scale focused specifically on news media literacy and compared that to a knowledge-based index including items about the structure of the U.S. news media system. Among our college student sample, the knowledge-based index was a significant predictor of knowledge about topics in the news, while the attitudinal scale was not. Implications for future work in assessing news literacy are discussed.

Social Media Consumption, Interpersonal Relationship and Issue Awareness • Sungsoo Bang, University of Texas, Austin • This study examines the relationship between social media consumption and issue awareness using South Korea’s 2007 national survey dataset. This study finds that there is a significant and positive relationship between consuming social media, such as Internet community sites, and issue awareness. The findings indicate that frequency of using social media significantly and positively increases issue awareness such as public policy.  The finding also indicates using social media for socilability is positively related to issue awareness, which is essential for democracy in terms of political knowledge. Furthermore, the finding shows social media uses mediate the relationship between issue awareness and interpersonal relationship such as political discussion, which demonstrates consuming social media decrease the information gap caused by interpersonal relationship.

The Third-Person Effect Among Mormon College Students: An Examination of Social Distance and Behavioral Outcomes • Stephen Banning, Bradley University; Guy J. Golan, Syracuse University; Sherry Baker, Brigham Young University • This study examines perceived media influence amongst a highly religious sample of Mormon college students and investigates the potential behavioral consequences of these perceptions. While Golan (2002) tested the relationship between religiosity and the third-person effect, no study to date has examined third person perceptions and their behavioral consequences amongst religious adherents. Consistent with previous research, our study found robust support for the perceptual hypothesis of the third-person effect and support for third-person perceptions as key predictors of censorship and government regulation of the mainstream news media.

The Impact of the BP Oil Spill on Views about Nuclear Energy: A Natural Experiment • John Besley, University of South Carolina; Sang Hwa Oh, University of South Carolina • A natural experiment involving a survey about nuclear energy conducted just before the BP oil spill and followed-up after the oil spill showed that self-reported attention to the oil spill interacted with environmental attitudes to produce higher perceived risks and less overall support for nuclear risk management policies. An experimental manipulation that involved asking half of the respondents about the oil spill, prior to asking about nuclear energy, resulted in more negative views about nuclear energy. The research speaks to climate-change-related debate about the value of arguing in favor of one energy technology through the critique of another.

What Viewers Want:  Assessing the impact of host bias on perceptions of credibility in political talk shows • Leticia Bode; Emily Vraga, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Magda Konieczna; Michael Mirer; German Alvarez, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Courtney Johnson • The new media environment, and particularly cable news, has recently embraced a partisan style of journalism. It is unclear how subtle changes in the way this style is adopted affect how viewers perceive and evaluate the journalists and programs in question. To consider this question, we employ a 3×3 experimental design. Using professional actors and experienced producers and editors, we imitated a pundit-based political talk show, altering whether the host was neutral, conservative, or liberal, and whether he gave equal time to both sides of the argument, or unevenly distributed time either in favor of the liberal or the conservative guest. We expected that both overt bias and the more subtle bias of allowing one side more time would both factor into evaluations of the host and the program’s credibility, and this expectation is supported by the data. Moreover, their effects are contingent upon the partisan identity of the viewer, and there is an important interaction between the two types of bias. Our findings have significant implications for models of journalism in the cable news era.

Factors Affecting Journalistic Adherence to the Protest Paradigm: The Influence of Protest Goals and Tactics • Michael Boyle, West Chester University; Cory Armstrong, University of Florida; Doug McLeod • A recent spate of protest activity across the globe has reinforced the important role that news media play in covering protesters. Research under the protest paradigm has shown that not all protest groups are treated equally and has consistently found that more deviant protest groups receive more critical coverage. However, our understanding of what factors predict when the protest paradigm will be enacted and when it will not needs further exploration and clarification. This study considers this issue using a geographically diverse set of newspapers  to consider the distinct role of a protest group goals and their tactics as well as the location and issue being protested. The findings indicate that the tactics employed by protest groups have a significant bearing on how they are treated trumping the influence of goals. Further, it is clear that location and issue indirectly influence coverage by influencing group tactics.

Mirror, Mirror on the Screen…The Facebook-Narcissism Connection • Jennifer Braddock, University of Florida • Narcissism is an issue of increasing concern among current generations in the United States.  Young individuals are also more connected than ever, particularly via the social networking site Facebook.  This study uncovers several relationships between narcissism as determined by responses to the NPI-16 and Facebook use based on Uses and Gratifications Theory.  The data suggest that narcissistic individuals look to Facebook to support their self-promoting tendencies.

Everything is Not What It Seems: An Examination of Sitcom Sibling Interactions • Nancy Bressler • Real-life sibling interactions may not be as simplistic as the portrayals on television sitcoms.  Yet, real-life siblings may still identify with these characters.  This study examined popular family sitcoms during the 2009-2010 television season using a quantitative content analysis.  The valence of interactions, types of interactions, sources of conflict, and overall outcomes were all investigated.  These results were further correlated with each sitcom to determine if there was a pattern of sibling interactions.

The pregnancy of “”Skinny Moms”” for Sale!: Representations of Celebrity Moms’ Pregnancies in Korean Online Media”            Jiyoung Chae • This paper explores the representations of celebrity mothers’ pregnancies in Korean online media. An analysis of articles dealing with ten Korean female celebrities’ pregnancies revealed that the celebrities’ thinness during and just after pregnancy are highly emphasized by the media and those celebrities are called “”skinny moms.” In skinny mom discourses, celebrity moms are portrayed as a woman who has both ideal beauty and motherhood. These representations imply that women should be thin and beautiful even during their pregnancies. Also, what the celebrities consume to maintain the skinny body is the center of attention. As a result, the celebrities’ bodies are commodified and objectified by the media representations, which is for women who aspire to have a thin and beautiful pregnancy as they do.

Third-person perception and health beliefs • John Chapin, Penn State • Purpose: To study third-person perception (TPP) within the context of a public health issue (intimate partner violence) and to explore theoretical linkage between TPP and the health belief model.  Methods: Survey of 316 medical professionals  Results: Medical professionals exhibit TPP, believing they are less influenced than patients by media depictions of IPV. In terms of the Health Belief Model, one element, perceived susceptibility, emerged as a predictor of TPP.  Conclusions: There is a rich area of health-related messages yet to be explored in future research.

Adolescents’ Varying Responses to Pro-Health Messages After Media Literacy Training • Yi-Chun Chen • With an increasing attention to entertainment-education (EE) as an integral part of health campaigns, children cultivated in more than two decades of media literacy (ML) movements might view EE differently. This paper thus asks: Will different approaches to media literacy impede the effectiveness of entertainment-education?  A total of 105 adolescents participated in a 2 (sex: female and male) X 3 (ML approaches: negative mediation, positive mediation and control) posttest only with a control group quasi-experimental design. Results showed that a positive evaluative not only had positive influences on key decision-making process concerning alcohol use but also heightened the effectiveness of pro-health entertainment.  Significant sex effects also indicated that female adolescents may be more receptive to the educational aspect of health-focused entertainment-education than their counterparts. Findings suggest that media literacy could enhance pro-health entertainment and has the potential to be employed simultaneously in health campaigns to improve adolescents’ health.

Examining the Conjoint Influence of Parental Mediation and Media Literacy in Substance Use • Yi-Chun Chen; Erica Austin • Prior research has established significant factors that impact individuals’ substance use behavior, including parental communication strategies and their level of media literacy. This study bridges the gap between parental mediation and media literacy in relation to substance use.  Two separate cross-sectional Internet studies with each survey focusing on either alcohol (n=347) or tobacco use behavior (n=291) were conducted at a large mid-Atlantic university (N=638).  Mediation and coviewing had distinctive relationships with media literacy, such that coviewing predicted less advertising skepticism but more critical thinking, negative mediation consistently associated with higher levels of media literacy, rulemaking associated with lower levels of critical thinking, and positive mediation associated with lower levels of advertising skepticism but was unrelated to critical thinking. The results show that parental communication influences can be traced into early adulthood and that strategies which cultivate independent, analytical message processing have indirect protective effects but passive strategies can increase risk.

The Indirect Effect of Media on Political Participation: How Media Promote Political Participation • Doo-Hun Choi, University of Wisconsin – Madison • Analyzing data from the 2008 ANES, the study explored the role of media use in influencing political participation. Particularly, the research examined (a) the relationship between media use and interpersonal trust and (b) the connection between interpersonal trust and political participation. The findings support the thesis that interpersonal trust was positively related to political participation. Moreover, Internet use promoted interpersonal trust, whereas national television viewing was negatively associated with interpersonal trust. Taken together, the findings suggest that the Internet may enhance political participation at least indirectly, an effect mediated by interpersonal trust. Results and implications are discussed in greater detail.

The effect of geographical distance and intensity of online news on user emotion, personal relevance, and perceived intensity • EunRyung Chong, University of Maryland; Ronald Yaros, University of Maryland; John Newhagen • More than two decades of online news environment invited reconsideration of the traditional journalistic definition of “”proximity.” Emotional or virtual proximity of users was examined by 2 (geographical distance) X 2(news story intensity) within subject factorial design online survey experiment. Perceived news intensity and perceived personal relevance to the online news were measured.  Findings indicate that emotional proximity is independent from geographical proximity. Virtual proximity, however, illustrates strong association with the geographical proximity. In “”near”” story, users appeared more strongly to be involved in low intensive story than high intensive story, while in “”far”” story, high intensive story more affected users than low intensive story. The implication of findings for editorial direction of online news is suggested.

Packaging Inspiration: Al Qaeda’s Digital Magazine Strategy and Popular Culture Resonance • Susan Currie Sivek, Mass Communication, Linfield College • This study examines the function and content of Inspire magazine, an English-language digital publication created by Al Qaeda of the Arabian Peninsula with the goal of recruiting Western Muslims to participate in jihad. The selection of the digital magazine medium, as well as the resonance of the content with Western popular culture narratives and tropes, are considered in light of existing research on magazines, social movements, and Islamic terrorism.

The effect of narrative messages on young adults’ response to a health message about Hepatitis C • Michelle Dangiuro-Baker, Penn State University; Fuyuan Shen, Ad Division • Designing health messages for young adults can be challenging, both in getting the attention of young adults and persuading them to adopt safe health behaviors. This study, guided by narrative transportation theory, explored the role that story formats play in immersing young adults into a health message and persuading them to adopt a specific health behavior. An experiment (N=125) was conducted featuring public service announcements (PSAs) regarding the dangers of the Hepatitis C Virus that utilized a 2 (message format: factual vs. narrative) X 2 (message valence: positive vs. negative) factorial design. Results indicated an interaction between valence and message format, with negatively valenced narratives leading to greater persuasion and transportation than positively valenced messages and factual messages when controlling for perceived susceptibility to Hepatitis C. Transportation was shown to fully mediate the relationship between the negative-narrative message and persuasion. However, neither message format nor valence significantly impacted behavior intention, a possible effect of participants’ low perceived susceptibility to contracting the Hepatitis C Virus.

Adding Depth to the Relationship Between Reading Skills and Television Viewing • Steven Dick, Picard Center for Child Development and Lifelong Learning; William Davie; Betsy Bryan Miguez • It has been long accepted that there is a negative correlation between excessive television and academic performance, however, with so many children watching at least some television each day, it is worth considering the effects of more limited viewing.  This project performs a secondary analysis on a nationally representative (NAEP) dataset of more than 26,000 students to evaluate the relationship between television viewing and academic achievement.  Findings include support for the positive effect of moderate viewing among certain young demographic groups (males, students in poverty, Hispanics, and English language learners), which in this study contrasts with the diminishing return of the viewing benefit as students matured.

Partisan Balance and Bias in TV Network Coverage of the 2000, 2004 and 2008 Presidential Elections • Arvind Diddi, State University of New York at Oswego; Frederick Fico; Geri Alumit Zeldes, Michigan State University • This study did a content analysis of television broadcast network news in the 2008 presidential election to examine the partisan balance and bias and compared it with the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections. The study replicated the partisan balance and bias measures used in similar studies in 2000 and 2004 elections. The study findings were comparable to the general conclusions of the earlier research. However, the 2008 data indicated that though the broadcast news networks were largely balanced in their coverage they showed a slight Republican tilt in their coverage.

Money Mothers and Mediators: A Thematic Analysis of Say Yes to the Dress • Katherine Eaves, University of Oklahoma • The explosive growth of the now multi-billion dollar a year wedding industry has been fueled in part by a dramatic increase in the number of wedding-focused television programs. These programs, much like other forms of bridal-focused media, present women with images, ideas and fantasies about what their weddings should be like, look like and feel like.  Using a thematic analysis method and social constructionist theoretical perspective, this study identifies three primary thematic elements in the wedding-focused program Say Yes to the Dress; the role of the mother, financial considerations (or lack thereof), and the positioning of the bridal consultant as a mediator.

Understanding News Preferences in a “Post-Broadcast Democracy”: A Content-by-Style Typology for the Contemporary News Environment • Stephanie Edgerly, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Kjerstin Thorson, University of Southern California; Emily Vraga, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Dhavan Shah • This study develops a 2×2 news typology accounting for an individual’s orientation toward content (news vs. entertainment) and style (factual reports vs. pundit opinions). Findings from cross-sectional and panel data reveal that our typology predicts distinct patterns of news consumption during the 2008 election. Specifically, we predict selection of cable news outlets, soft news programs, and late-night talk shows. Our results also shed light on knowledge change during the 2008 election season.

In Deepwater: A comparative analysis of The New York Times and The Guardian’s coverage of the BP oil spill • Patrick Ferrucci, U of Missouri • This paper offers a comparative analysis of news coverage by The New York Times and The Guardian during the ten days following the BP oil spill of April 20, 2010. Ethnographic content analysis examines the coverage, and institutional analysis examines the outlets in broader cultural and economic contexts. The paper concludes that despite what existing literature would suggest, The New York Times better embodied the spirit of journalism through a diversity of sources and ideas.

The green editorial debate: A comparison of the framing of environmental issues in the Columbia Daily Tribune and St. Louis Post-Dispatch • Maria Garcia, University of Missouri-Columbia; Guy J. Golan, Syracuse University; Jeffrey Joe Pe-Aguirre, University of Central Arkansas • The current study compares how environmental issues were framed in the editorial section of a small community newspaper, Columbia Daily Tribune, and metropolitan newspaper, St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The results of a content analysis point to significant differences in the framing strategies, news values and overall valence in coverage between the two newspapers. The central function of community journalism in relationship to the formation of civic participation and public opinion are discussed.

Expressing opinions on GLBT tolerance using Facebook:  A modern application of the spiral of silence • Sherice Gearhart, Texas Tech University; Weiwu Zhang, Texas Tech University • The present study examined the role of the spiral of silence, in the online environment of the social network site (SNS) Facebook as it is used to express opinions on tolerance for gays and lesbians. Using an experimental manipulation, respondents were presented with either a friendly or hostile hypothetical scenario concerning gay-bullying, a social issue has recently garnered increased media attention and impacts the lives of people across the country. Issue importance and willingness to self-censor indicated the presence of the spiral of silence, so did other individual level variables such as age, gender, media and level of social tolerance. However, perceived climates of opinion and attitude certainty were not found to have any significant impact.  Findings suggest that the spiral of silence does, in fact, exist in the online context of Facebook, an SNS based upon relationships anchored to offline others. Theoretical and practical implications of this study are discussed.

Prevalence and Context of Verbal Aggression  in Children’s Television Programming • jack glascock, Illinois State University • This study examines the prevalence and context of verbal aggression in children’s television programming. In all 256 episodes of children’s programming from cable and broadcast television were examined. About 18 acts of verbal aggression were found, most of which were insults (49.2%) and name calling (24%). A majority of the acts were depicted as externally motivated, justified and followed by either positive or neutral reinforcement. Proportionately, male and female characters were equally verbally aggressive however female characters were more likely than expected to be victims. Social learning implications are discussed.

Perceived H1N1 flu vaccine efficacy and likelihood of vaccine uptake: Assessing the influences of mass media and risk perception • Gang (Kevin) Han, Iowa State University; Kejun Chu; Guolin Shen • This study examines the influences on college students’ perceived efficacy of H1N1 flu vaccine that are exerted by mass media and risk perception, along with personal experience, interpersonal communication and self-efficacy. Respondents’ perceived likelihood of receiving flu shot is also assessed at personal, group, societal and global levels. An online survey was conducted and 1321 completed questionnaires were analyzed. Findings suggest that mass media and risk perception significantly affect respondents’ perceptions of H1N1 flu shot effectiveness, where exposure to both traditional and new media also moderates the influence of risk judgment. In addition, findings reveal an “”mounting pattern”” of perceived likelihood of flu vaccine reception across these levels, wherein respondents perceive that taking H1N1 flu vaccine is more likely for mass collectives than for themselves or family.

Knowledge Gaps, Belief Gaps, and Public Opinion about Health Care Reform • Doug Hindman, Washington State University • Partisanship and political polarization has become the norm in national, and increasingly, local politics. The passage of the health care overhaul legislation, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, signed into law in March 2010, was no exception to the trend towards greater levels of partisanship; the legislation passed without a single Republican vote. This study raises an additional issue thought to be associated with polarization and partisanship: the distribution among the public of beliefs regarding heavily covered political controversies. Specifically, this study tests hypotheses regarding the distribution of beliefs and knowledge about health care reform. Hypotheses are formulated that seek to extend the knowledge gap to account for the partisan environment.  The belief gap hypothesis suggests that in an era of political polarization, self identification along ideological or political party dimensions would be the better predictor of knowledge and beliefs about politically contested issues than would one’s educational level.  Findings showed that gaps in beliefs and knowledge regarding health care reform between Republicans and Democrats grew, and traditional knowledge gaps, based on educational level, disappeared. Attention to cable TV news narrowed gaps in knowledge among party identifiers. Findings are discussed in terms of improving news coverage of partisan debates.

Clash of coverage: An analysis of the cultural framing components of U.S. newspaper reporting on the 2011 protests in Bahrain • Jennifer Hoewe, The Pennsylvania State University; Brian J. Bowe, Michigan State University • Samuel Huntington’s clash of civilizations paradigm was established after the Cold War to explain an emerging new world order and was utilized in the cultural framing hypothesis’ explanation of U.S. news coverage of conflicts. Through content analysis of three major U.S. newspapers’ coverage of the 2011 protests in Bahrain, this study uses the cultural framing hypothesis to determine if a clash of civilizations shaped news stories. The results largely support the hypothesis and Huntington’s paradigm.

Information Surplus, Information Overload, and Multiplatform News Consumption: Updating Considerations of Influential Factors • Avery Holton, University of Texas-Austin; H. Iris Chyi, University of Texas at Austin • Information surplus tends to trigger psychological effects on news and information consumers, causing information overload. This study explored novel areas of information overload, specifically with regards to news and information, and empirically examined factors associated with the degree of information overload as well as how people perceive the amount of time required to consume information across a broad spectrum of news and information platforms. The findings revealed that the majority of news and information consumers today feel overloaded with the amount of news they are confronted with. Gender, news interest, and the use of specific news platforms and outlets predict the degree of information overload. Additionally, consumers distinguish multiple news platforms by the perceived time required to consume news items on those platforms – older platforms are perceived as more time-consuming than newer platforms. Implications for media psychology, news consumption, and evolving production models are discussed.

Great Planes: National Media’s Understanding of America’s “”Flyover Country”” • Brian Hough, Ohio University • This content analysis investigates topical and spatial understandings of the American Great Plains by national media—specifically USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times. The study finds (1) the Plains are sparsely mentioned in these media,; (2) stories involving economics and politics are the most common topics; (3) North Dakota and South Dakota are the most frequently mentioned states; (4) a high occurrence of depopulation articles in The New York Times.

The Rise of Specialists, the Fall of Generalists • S. Mo Jang • The present study revisits the question as to whether U.S. citizens are information specialists or information generalists.  Although the literature has presented mixed views, the study provides evidence that the changing information environment facilitates the growth of specialists.  Using a national survey (n=1208), the study found that individuals seek issue-specific knowledge driven by their perceived issue importance rather than by general education, and that this trend was saliently observed among those who relied on the Internet.

Framing National and International Disasters: An Analysis of Media and Actor Frames of Hurricane Katrina and Haiti Earthquake • Sun Ho Jeong, University of Texas at Austin • Using frames as organizing principles to construct meanings of an abstract concept of disaster, media and actor frames of Hurricane Katrina and Haiti Earthquake were examined in three stages upon development of the post-disaster relief: (a) Call for humanitarian assistance; (b) New Orleans under anarchy and hopelessness versus Haiti under scrutiny and hope; and (c) Katrina effects. Considering frames as cultural structures involving different social actors, newspapers, press releases and statements were analyzed.

Conflict Frames, Media Bias, and Power Distribution: Title IX as a Longitudinal Social-Movement Case • Kent Kaiser, Northwestern College • Through examination of Title IX as a social-movement case, this paper identified frames advocating for and against Title IX and used content analyses to discover the faithfulness with which conflict frames were transferred from the legal and legislative debate into newspapers.  The study finds that the newspapers were generally faithful to the legal and legislative debate but demonstrated some bias in favor of social reform, thereby challenging hegemonic ideas and empowering the women’s rights movement.

Does Online News Reading and Sharing Shape Perceptions of Online Deliberation?: Exploring the Structural Relationships among Motives and Behaviors of Online News Consumption and Online Deliberation Perceptions • Hyunjin Kang, The Pennsylvania State University; Jeong Kyu Lee, ClearWay Minnesota; Kyung Han You, The Pennsylvania State University; Seoyeon Lee • With the rapid development of interactive communication technology, the Internet is a major source of news and also plays an important role in connecting individual members of society. However, Internet users may have different perspectives on whether or not the Internet positively functions as a medium for civic deliberation. Because being exposed to information on public affairs is a crucial step for one’s civic engagement, this study focuses on the effects of online news consumption motives and behaviors on one’s perceptions of online deliberation. The study (N = 998) explores structural relationships between online news consumption motives, behaviors—elaborative reading and sharing—and perceptions of online deliberation. The study finds significant relationships between online news consumption motives and elaborative news reading and sharing behaviors, but only elaborative reading behavior had a significant effect on one’s perceptions of online deliberation. The implications of these findings are discussed.

The Digital Age, Future of News and Implications for the MDM • Andrew Kennis • This paper is an attempt to make sense out of the many questions surrounding news media performance and its inadequacies. It does this by first synthesizing two critical models of news analysis and applying their respective strengths toward the other’s weaknesses. The synthesis is based on the propaganda (Herman and Chomsky 1988, 2002, 2008) and indexing models (Bennett 1990; Bennett, Livingston and Lawrence 2007). The new digital era of journalism, conventional wisdom on the topic asserts, has significantly usurped prior tendencies in terms of the domination of news themes and sources by government and corporate officials. Scholarly inquiries and findings into the matter, however, have showed that this is simply not the case (Livingston and Bennett 2003; Livingston and Van Belle 2005) and that an era of hyper-commercialism is mostly to blame for a lack of news media independence (McChesney 2000, 2004, 2008). While it cannot be denied that new media and online-based news outlets are increasingly producing exceptional content, the fact remains that the reach of this content is widely dispersed and its subsequent influence is also dispersed, disparate and lacking in comparison to the traditional outlets. Most importantly, it is widely acknowledged that the leading agenda-setting and U.S.-based print sources – the New York Times and Washington Post – are by-and-large responsible for an overwhelming amount of news content, which are in turn re-sourced by alternative news sources in broadcast and online-based media.

How Scholars Have Responded to Social Media Phenomena in Advertising, Communication, Marketing and Public Relations Research From 1997-2010 • Hyoungkoo Khang, University of Alabama; Eyun-Jung Ki, The University of Alabama; Lan Ye, The University of Alabama • Drawing upon the social media phenomena in both practical and academic arenas, this study explored patterns and trends of social media research over the past 14 years across the four disciplines of advertising, communication, marketing, and public relations. As a whole, these findings exhibit a definite increasing trend in terms of the number of social media-related studies published in the four disciplines. This indicates that social media has gained incremental attention among scholars, and in turn, they have been responding and keeping pace well with the increased usage and impact of this new medium. In addition, we suggest that future scholarly endeavors emphasize the prospective aspects of social media, foreseeing applications and technological progress, and elaborating theories.

Attention, Explicated: A Psychological Approach to Mass Communication”            Gyoung Kim • In academia, the term “”attention”” has been defined, explicated, and studied intensively in cognitive psychology and neuroscience.  However, this term is also an important factor to analyze and explain mass communication effects.  This study explains and explores the mass communication theories, mass media effects, and types of a media audience in terms of media audience’s psychological cognitive process of attention and suggests a new definition of attention for studying mass communication effects.

Does Disagreement Mitigate Polarization? How Partisan Media Use and Disagreement Affect Political Polarization • Yonghwan Kim; Hsuan-Ting Chen • This study examines how partisan selective exposure and interpersonal political disagreement influence political polarization. Using data from the 2008 National Annenberg Election Study, this study first investigates the association between individuals’ selective partisan media use and attitude polarization. This study also examines whether disagreement in political discussion networks moderate the association between partisan selective exposure and polarization. As expected, individuals’ partisan selective media use leads to political polarization. Results further show that exposure to disagreement attenuates the association between partisan media use and polarization.

How Self-Other Perceptions and Media Affordances Are Related to News Use by College Students • Esther Thorson, University of Missouri; Eunjin (Anna) Kim, University of Missouri; Margaret Duffy, University of Missouri School of Journalism • This study examines how the Self-Other variables and preferences for certain kinds of Media Affordances affect college students’ news use and importance. Guided by the Media Choice Model (Thorson & Duffy, 2005) we suspected that three Self-Other variables fundamental to how people process information about themselves, others, and the relationship between the two would prove to be individual differences important to media choice.  We also expected that four Media Affordances that we found college students value would predict their news use and importance. Finally, we suspected that the media features would mediate the effects of the self-other variables on news use and importance. This study discovered that the sSelf-Other variables and Media Affordances significantly predicted news use and News Importance. Also, it is revealed that Media AffordanceS successfully mediated the effect of the Self-Other variables on news use and News Importance.

Local 2.0: New Media, Advertising and the Emerging Local Web • Kathleen Kuehn • This paper offers an exploration of the local 2.0 technologies which are leading to the popularity of a “”local web”” in which place-based communities are being harnessed by start-ups and advertisers alike in order to capitalize on the untapped markets of local communities. However, new media research needs to consider this shift, as well as the implications resulting from it in regards to how it will impact social, cultural and political economic relationships. While there is much potential for the local web, there is equally many potential problems. Future media research must account for both.

Investigative Reporting and Local Power • Gerry Lanosga • This analysis of Pulitzer Prize nominations reveals a complex and varied relationship between investigative reporters and contingent groups of elites in which both sides have substantive roles to play as catalysts for societal change.  Investigative journalism, though entangled with power in strikingly intimate ways, plays a role as referee among competing power groups, periodically challenging components of the social system, if only in the interest of keeping the system operating by its own rules.

Female Journalists Contribute to Greater Transparency and Accountability on Twitter • Dominic Lasorsa • Female and male journalists were found to differ little in their use of the microblog medium Twitter, including their general presence on Twitter and the topics about which they tweeted. Furthermore, female and male j-tweeters were no different in the extent to which they engaged in two characteristic microblogging activities that contest major journalistic norms, expressing opinions and admitting nonprofessionals to participate in the news production process. However, regarding a third journalistic norm—transparency—female journalists provided significantly more openness and accountability in their tweets than did male journalists. Supporting a socialization perspective, it was found that female journalists working for larger, national, prestigious news media were less likely than those working for other less “”elite”” news media to express opinions in their tweets, to allow nonprofessional participation in the news they produce on Twitter, and to provide evidence of transparency and accountability in their tweeting. The implications of these findings are considered.

Persuasive Appeals in Television Food Advertising for Children: A Comparative Analysis of Low-Nutrition vs. General-Nutrition Food Advertisements in the U.S • Hyuk Soo Kim, The University of Alabama; Doohwang Lee, University of Alabama; Yangsun Hong • Television food advertisements targeted to children were content analyzed. Using Elaboration likelihood model (ELM) of persuasion, the study identified the various advertising appeals and conceptualized as central and peripheral cues. Further, it investigated how advertising appeals of central and peripheral cues were differently associated with low-nutrition food and general-nutrition food commercials. Overall, the findings suggest that general-nutrition food commercials employed persuasive appeals of central cues more frequently than low-nutrition food commercials. Theoretical, practical and regulatory implications are discussed in the discussion section.

The Impact of Contradicting Media Messages on Political Perceptions:  The Case of a Partisan Dispute in Korea over Lifting Ban on U.S. Beef Imports • ByungGu Lee, University of Wisconsin-Madison • Since mass media is the primary channel through which average citizens are informed of political issues, the way a political affair is described by the media plays an important role in shaping people’s political attitudes. Although its impact has largely been supported by many experimental results, not many studies have tapped into real world issues and very few have tried to answer the question of whether a frame can survive in a competitive environment. By utilizing a natural experiment setting where news frames from different types of media outlets contradicted each other, this study examined whether the impact of countervailing frames can persist in competitive environments to affect citizens’ political evaluations. Along with the impact of news media frames, the influence of perceived responsibility on political judgments (Iyengar, 1989, 1990; Iyengar & Kinder, 1987) was taken into account as well. The results show that media messages with conflicting frames failed to influence citizens’ political evaluations, cancelling out each other’s effect. Instead, the evidence suggests that political perceptions were largely shaped by such factors as the locus of causal responsibility and policy evaluations, which, in turn, were affected by one’s political ideology. Implications for framing research and suggestions for future research were discussed.

Portrayals of Eating and Drinking in Popular American TV Programs: Comparison between Scripted and Non-scripted Shows • Moon Lee, University of Florida; Lauren Gispanski • The purpose of this study was to investigate the portrayals of eating behaviors in popular American TV programs as they pertain to popular scripted television programs as well as non-scripted or “”reality”” television shows. Through a content analysis of 95 episodes, we also measured the prevalence and nature of alcohol consumption that accompanied depictions of eating behaviors in 461 scenes. Regarding the type of food, various foods were portrayed in popular American TV programs of which only 6% of foods portrayed were healthy (e.g. low in calories and fat content such as fruits, vegetables, protein bars, etc.). In addition to food consumption, approximately half of eating scenes were either accompanied by alcohol or solely contained alcoholic beverages, suggesting that popular American TV programs portray alcohol and drinking as a predominant feature of society.  Implications as well as limitations of the study are also discussed in the paper.

The Effect of Editorials on Perceptions of Adolescent Marijuana Use as a Societal Problem • Stacey Hust, Washington State University; Ming Lei • News reports have influenced adolescents’ perceptions of the risks of marijuana use, so media advocacy could be a useful strategy to bring awareness to this public health issue. The current study informs our understanding of the media advocacy strategy by experimentally testing the effectiveness of editorials aimed at framing adolescent marijuana use as a societal problem.  The results indicate the effects of editorials with a societal frame differed based on participants’ decision to use marijuana.

The Influence of News Media on Optimism about Retrospective and Prospective Economic Issues as Sources of Social Capital: Tracing the Effects by A Path Model • Yung-I Liu • This study helps understand media’s conditional effects by investigating the role of mediating attitudinal factors in explaining the relationships between media, and civic attitudes and behaviors. This study attempts to understand the mechanism by which media could influence how much optimism people have in perceiving economic issues, which accordingly could influence people’s possession of social capital. Analyzing the 2004 ANES data by using the structural equation modeling approach, this study finds a path model that links news media to various dimensions of social capital through people’s optimism about economic issues. The findings suggest that news media could influence people’s possession of social capital indirectly through influencing people’s optimism about issues that are highly important and relevant to their lives.

What motivates online disagreement expression?: Examining the influence  of verbal persuasion, vicarious experience, mastery experience and self-efficacy • xudong liu, Southern Illinois University Carbondale; Aaron Veenstra, Southern Illinois University Carbondale • A 2_2 experimental design explored factors influencing self-efficacy and the willingness to express disagreement online. The study found that self-efficacy is a salient factor in predicting whether people will choose to present different opinions on the online forum where the majority discussants opposes to their opinions. Mastery experience and verbal persuasion positively predict self-efficacy, while vicarious experience has no effects on self-efficacy concerning online disagreement expression. Overall, this study responded to the call to explore the reference group’s influence on online discussion and partially confirmed online peer discussants’ motivation role in discussion involvement.

When Undesirable Media Message Looms:  Possibility of Event Occurrence, General Self-efficacy, and Third Person Perception • xudong liu, Southern Illinois University Carbondale • This paper examines the influence of perceived possibility of event occurrence, self-efficacy, and general self-efficacy on third person perception concerning exposure to media coverage of H1N1 swine flu pandemic. Social cognitive theory and construal level theory guided the rationale. Results from a survey showed that people’s concern of disease spreading likelihood in the local community positively predicts perceived media effects on self and on others, but its impact on self-evaluation of media effect is more salient, and thus negatively influence third person perception. People confident in pretending oneself tend to be less affected by media coverage of the pandemic and demonstrate more third person perception. General self-efficacy also positively influences third person perception.

Who in the World? People, Content, and Systemic Bias on Wikipedia • Randall Livingstone, University of Oregon • This research investigates systemic bias on the English-language Wikipedia by focusing in on the representation of persons and people. The work of a particular group of editors devoted to combating bias, WikiProject:Countering System Bias, over a bounded number of edits (n = 2,204) is considered and compared to a sample (n = 2,588) drawn from the general population of editors. Statistical analysis and geographic mapping reveal successes and shortcomings of this group’s work.

So, Who’s an American Now? A Discourse Analysis of CNN.com’s Readers’ Comments on the Fort Hood Shooting and “”Jihad Jane”” Indictment • Jaime Loke, University of Oklahoma; Tania Cantrell Rosas-Moreno, Loyola University • This study discursively analyzes 2,782 readers’ comments from CNN.com’s stories of the Food Hood shooting and the indictment of “”Jihad Jane.”  The analysis illuminates society’s perceptions of what it means to be American. It also helps make sense of how criminals sharing similar religious background but different race and gender are discussed. Additional research on the complex relationship among religion, race and gender within the private-public space of online news readers’ comments is called for.

The ecology of news: Tracking emerging media forms • Wilson Lowrey • Low barriers to entry, failed business models, and a cultural decentering of mainstream journalism have sparked unprecedented variation in news forms and practices, and yet relatively little attention has been paid to the ongoing processes by which such innovations emerge, develop, persist, change and fade. These complex dynamics need more systematic study. This paper proposes a model that offers explanation for the evolution of news forms. The model is informed by sociological scholarship on organization ecology and by concepts from media sociology and media economics. The paper reports findings on an empirical test of aspects of the model, examining the case of “”health blogs”” – blogs that focus on health, medicine and fitness. Support for aspects of the model was found: overall, the health blog population is becoming more institutionalized and formalized, more specialized, and the growth rate more slow and stable.

Why Politics?: Young People’s Motivations for Facebook Political Engagement • Timothy Macafee; Karyn Riddle, University of Wisconsin – Madison • This study uses a convenience sample of undergraduate students to explore the motivations for engaging in three Facebook political activities and probes the extent to which political predispositions predict the motivations for engaging in these political activities. Results reveal that motivations for Facebook political activity vary by activity; the extent to which political predispositions influence motivations to participate politically reveal few patterns, suggesting young people’s political tendencies influence motivations for Facebook political engagement differently.

Less Objectivity Please: Teen preferences for news information • Regina Marchi, Rutgers University • This paper contributes to the ongoing discussion about news consumption among young people, examining news behaviors and attitudes of teenagers. Based on one-on-one interviews and focus group discussions with 61 racially diverse high school students, this paper examines how adolescents become informed about current events and why they prefer certain news media formats to others. The results reveal not only changing ways that news information is being accessed and new attitudes regarding what it means to be informed, but also a preference among youth for opinionated rather than objective news.

Understanding the Internet’s Impact on International Knowledge and Engagement: News Attention, Social Media Use, and the 2010 Haitian Earthquake • Jason A. Martin, Indiana University School of Journalism • Relatively little is known about how Internet media use and other motivational factors are associated with outcomes such as knowledge of international news and involvement. Recent research suggests that attention and interaction with foreign affairs news is one path to closing the knowledge gap in this context. The acquisition of foreign affairs knowledge also has implications for individuals’ abilities to have a broader worldview, to hold accurate public opinions about foreign nations, to facilitate a greater since of global belonging, and to get involved with international events.  This paper examines the relationship of media use, foreign affairs political knowledge, and international involvement. A nationally representative survey conducted shortly after the 2010 Haitian earthquake produced measures of demographics, news media use, social media use, international engagement, general political knowledge, and foreign affairs knowledge.  Statistical analysis found that news exposure, news attention and various types of social media use produced significant independent positive associations with international news knowledge and international involvement after demographic controls. Hierarchical regression also found that domestic political knowledge, cable TV exposure, Internet news exposure, and radio exposure were the most important predictors of international knowledge. Another regression found that news attention, e-mail use, social media use, and texting about the Haitian earthquake were the three strongest predictors of international involvement.  These findings support related research that has found a positive association among Internet news use, international knowledge, and international engagement while also making new contributions regarding the importance of mediated interpersonal discussion for predicting international involvement.

Media Multitasking and Narrative Engagement: Multitasking as a Moderator of Transportation • Rachel Ross; Michael McCluskey, Ohio State University • This study investigates the role of multitasking as a moderator of narrative engagement. A sample of 201 undergraduates was exposed to either a film-only condition or a film coupled with a task to be completed on a computer, and responded to items measuring empathy, transportation, perceived realism and enjoyment. Media multitasking was found to moderate transportation, negatively impacting absorption. Evidence also showed that transportation led to perceived realism and enjoyment. Implications and potential avenues for future research are discussed.

Wikipedia vs. Encyclopedia Britannica: A Longitudinal Analysis to Identify the Impact of Social Media on the Standards of Knowledge • Marcus Messner, Virginia Commonwealth University; Marcia DiStaso, Pennsylvania State University • The collaboratively edited online encyclopedia Wikipedia is among the most popular Web sites in the world. Subsequently, it poses a great challenge to traditional encyclopedias, which for centuries have set the standards of society’s knowledge. It is, therefore, important to study the impact of social media on the standards of our knowledge. This longitudinal panel study analyzed the framing of content in entries of Fortune 500 companies in Wikipedia and Encyclopedia Britannica between 2006 and 2010. Content analyses of the length, tonality and topics of 3,985 sentences showed that Wikipedia entries are significantly longer, more positively and negatively framed, and focus more on corporate social responsibilities and legal and ethical issues than in Britannica, which is predominantly neutral. The findings stress that the knowledge-generation processes in society appear to be shifting because of social media. These changes significantly impact which information becomes available to society and how it is framed.

Conceptualizing Beauty and Culture:  A Quantitative Analysis of U.S. and French Women’s Fashion Magazine Advertisements • Pamela Morris, Loyola University Chicago; Katharine Nichols • This study investigates differences in the concept of beauty between France and the United States based on magazine advertisements found in each country.  As beauty is implicated in culture, culture is also explored.  Beauty is not only a mammoth idea; but looking beautiful is a major industry.  The difficulty with researching beauty is that it is elusive and varies with society.  Over 570 ads from ten women’s fashion magazines are reviewed.  Among the major findings is that American publications consist of more ads as a percentage of total pages.  American magazines also include more ad copy.  French advertisements employ more English words as opposed to the number of French words found in American publications.  In addition, ads for hair care products and makeup are more prevalent in the U.S. than in France.  In contrast, French magazines include more ads for lotions and perfumes.  Differences illustrate cultural priorities. In terms of tone, people in American publications show more smiles, while people in France are more bizarre and sexy.  American advertisements present more women, non-working women, and women as decoration than their French counterparts.  This may indicate that the United States is more traditional.  French publications show more men with family, which may imply more contemporary gender roles.  People in French publications also demonstrate more endorsements. Even though Americans and French have many similarities, subtle differences in advertising reveal cultural variations in beauty between the two nations.  This paper provides a framework for further study on advertising, culture, and beauty.

Paging Dora: Examining the impact of recognition of children’s television characters through the capacity model • Cynthia Nichols, Oklahoma State University • The purpose of this study was to examine how liking and recognition influence the processing of educational and narrative content through the constructs of the capacity model. The quasi-experimental portion of this study used 3- to 5-year-old children (N = 135) in a 3 (pace) x 2 (distance) factorial, within-subject design to measure the acquisition of educational content and narrative content. Pace, distance, and children’s cognitive maturity played a significant role in the acquisition of information, as well as liking and recognition. However, the sensitivity of these variables varied. Additionally, the results revealed that the degree of semantic distance and children’s cognitive maturity played a significant role in their ability to acquire information from educational and narrative content.

The Influence of Knowledge Gap on Personal and Attributed HIV/AIDS Stigma in Korea • Byoungkwan Lee; Hyun Jung Oh; Seyeon Keum; Younjae Lee, Hanyang University • This study tests a comprehensive model that explicates the influence of AIDS knowledge gap on personal and attributed stigma. Fear of contagion serves as a mediator between AIDS knowledge gap and AIDS stigma. An analysis of the survey data collected to evaluate the impact of 2008 AIDS campaign in Korea reveals that AIDS knowledge was significantly associated with personal stigma both directly and indirectly but only indirectly associated with attributed stigma through fear of contagion.

Cultural Influence in Differential Normative Mechanisms: A Cross-National Study of Antismoking PSA Effectiveness • Hye-Jin Paek, Michigan State University; Hyegyu Lee; Thomas Hove, Michigan State University • This study explores the detailed mechanisms of norm message effectiveness and cross-national differences in normative mechanisms. Online experiment data from 464 U.S. and Korean participants reveal three findings: (1) collectivism played a significant role in audience receptivity to norm messages, but the role varied by norm type and by country; (2) descriptive and injunctive norm perceptions affected behavioral intention through different mechanisms; (3) the normative mechanism was more rigorous and consistent among Koreans than Americans.

Does Prior Message Work to Promote Motivation for Serious Game Playing? • Eun Hae Park; An Soontae • This study aims to test effects of external aid that can enhance motivation and performance of serious game playing to maximize learning effects. Based on self-determination theory, two types of rationales were examined. Also, individual’s level of issue involvement was tested as a moderating variable. Overall, providing intrinsic goal was effective to increase both motivation and performance but there was no main effects and interaction effect in terms of issue involvement.

Reality TV Subgenres and Cultural Orientations: Individualistic vs. Collectivistic Values among a Multiethnic Sample of Viewers • David Park; Maria Elana Villar • This study tested uniformity of cultural orientations and reality TV subgenre preferences through gender and across a variety of ethnic groups. The results established correlations between collectivism and two reality TV subgenres, crime/police and informational reality programming, among an ethnically diverse group of participants. There were no significant correlations between individualism and any of the reality TV subgenres. Gender and ethnic differences existed in frequency of reality TV subgenre viewing, but not in orientations.

The rumors of our death have been greatly exaggerated: What the data say about the future of television • Jack Powers, Ithaca College • There has been a great deal of controversy and speculation about the impact of the Internet and related digital media on traditional media, particularly television. Some have predicted—and sometimes purport to have discovered—a sharp decline in use of traditional media in general and television viewing in particular. Obviously, confirmation of the future awaits the passage of time. However, data of excellent quality and undeniable pertinence exist that identify the likely future pattern. Three representative national surveys of 8-18 year olds– each about five years apart– report on comprehensive media use in the United States. At the time of the first (1999), Internet use was well underway. By the time of the second (2004), Internet use had reached a high state of development, and by the time of the third (2009), wireless broadband was widely available for use in handheld devices, tablet computers, and portable laptops.  Between 1999 and 2009, time spent on the Internet more than tripled (3.6x) and new uses, not significant at the time of the first survey, appeared by the second and third surveys. However, traditional media—screen, audio, print—did not see the drastic decreases many had expected. Instead, total time devoted to television content increased considerably, but real differences in how that content is being accessed have emerged.

Breaking the News: Advertising Embedded in Local Television Broadcasts & Journalist Alienation • Andrea Prewitt, Portland State University • Advertisements have become an increasingly dominant part of daily life and television news is no exception. Market-driven journalism has impacted the way outlets choose stories as well as how they get covered. However, there is still work to be done on the overlooked issue of advertising embedded in news content and the effect it has on both viewer and newsroom values. This study aims to reveal how one station features promotional pieces about businesses and organizations that also pay to have commercials run on that channel. These stories are not clearly labeled as advertisements or sponsored spots and instead blend in with pieces on other topics and events. The practice is an abuse of the public airwaves and forces journalists to struggle with their own professional identity. However, these effects are part of a larger movement that will also be addressed: the implication of market-driven journalism. This study includes a textual analysis of stories the station aired during one program over four months in 2008 to understand the scope of embedded advertising. Additionally, the paper analyzes qualitative interviews with station employees through Karl Marx’s concept of alienation. Journalists come to realize that their work is slowly severed from its definition as a personal contribution to society and any sense of self that is tied to professional identity fails to coincide with roles assumed on the job.

Seeing what you get: A comparison of newspapers’ visual brand personalities and consumer perceptions • Adriane Jewett, University of Kansas; Scott Reinardy, University of Kansas • A visual brand analysis identifies distinctive characteristics and current branding trends in the eight largest newspapers in the U.S., including USA Today, the Los Angeles Times, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, the Chicago Tribune, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and The Washington Post.  Additionally, A survey of college students (n = 608) utilizes J. Aaker’s (1997) Brand Personality Scale to examine the visual brand personality of top-circulating U.S. newspapers.  The theory of semiotics classifies newspaper brands as symbols, allowing the researcher to study their signified meanings and associations. Unaided versus aided personality rankings indicate that students with no visual brand aids rank newspapers as more personality filled than those face-to-face with the visual brand.  An analysis of current branding strategies concludes that most of the sample newspapers (7) portray an exciting or competent brand personality and suggests that newspapers are failing to realize the full potential of their visual brands.

Perceived Threat, Immigration Policy Support, and Media Coverage: Hostile Media and Presumed Effects in North Carolina • Brendan Watson, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, School of Journalism & Mass Communication; Daniel Riffe, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill • This study, using survey data (N=529), examined perceived “”threat,”” subjective knowledge about immigration, support for punitive and assimilative policies, and opinions about media coverage effects. Perceived threat was related to support for punitive policies, and “”hostile media perception”” was confirmed.  However, perceived threat was not related to presumed influence of coverage. Internet use, age, race, and education predicted threat perception; perceived threat, perceived favorableness of coverage, and daily newspaper reading predicted presumed influence of coverage.

Stereotypical Beauty Norms in Advertisements in Fashion Magazines • Sara Roedl, Southern Illinois University • This study examined models in advertisements in fashion magazines to determine whether portrayals conforming to the stereotypical beauty ideal decreased during a 5 year period. Fifteen codes were used to examine women in ads in Cosmopolitan and Glamour.  While some characteristics were shown with equal frequency, significant changes occurred in ethnicity, skin tone, hair length, and age, indicating an increase in the portrayal of multi-ethnic women and women over the age of 30.

What Makes Young Adults Care to Read Online Health Messages?  Efficacy and Exemplar Impacts on Message Perceptions and Selective Exposure • Silvia Knobloch-Westerwick; Melanie Sarge, The Ohio State University • Avoidance of health information presents a paramount challenge to health communication campaigns. Drawing on social-cognitive theory and exemplification theory, two studies examined how efficacy and exemplification as message characteristics influence young adults’ selective exposure and perceptions of health messages. Participants (n = 258) browsed an online magazine, with news leads varying by efficacy and exemplification, while selective exposure was unobtrusively logged. Participants generally preferred exemplar information. Men favored ‘low efficacy, exemplar’ messages; women avoided ‘high efficacy, base-rate’ messages. A second experiment (n = 111) examined how efficacy and exemplification affected message perceptions and found neither influenced relevance perceptions but both affected perceived message intent. Results suggest a trade-off of using persuasive elements in health campaigns, as they may reduce exposure.

The Ku Klux Klan’s right-wing appeal: An examination of today’s more mainstream KKK • Andrew Selepak, The University of Florida; john SUTHERLAND, uf dept of adv • The purpose of this study was to explore the relationships among political orientation and fundamental Christian beliefs and agreement with Ku Klux Klan ideology. Results suggest political orientation and Christian fundamental beliefs are significantly related, but not as strong as expected, to agreement with Klan values. These findings support the notion the Klan is taking steps to rebrand its image into a more mainstream organization with an ideology similar to white, religious and political conservatives.

Examining Persuasion Appeals and Substance Featured in Antismoking and Antidrug Advertisements in Social Marketing Campaigns • Drew Shade, Penn State University; Robert Magee, Virginia Tech; Erin Cooper, The Johns Hopkins Institutions; Sarah Long, O’Keeffe & Company • Due to continuing debate regarding the best ways to use mass media to discourage youth marijuana and tobacco use, social marketing campaigns must examine which persuasion appeals will be most effective in changing young adults’ attitudes and behavior. Although the effects of fear appeals have been well documented, much less is known about the impact of humor and shock appeals. The effectiveness of these appeals was tested in a factorial experiment (N = 209) with persuasion appeal (fear vs. shock vs. humor) and substance featured (tobacco vs. marijuana) as factors. Findings revealed that the appeals had differing effects and that the success of any given appeal also depended on the substance with which the appeal was used.

The Use of Blogging as Online Grassroots Activism: Analysis of Blogs in the Scott Sisters Case • Thomas Broadus, University of Southern Mississippi; Melody Fisher, University of Southern Mississippi; Riva Teague, University of Southern Mississippi; Jae-Hwa Shin, University of Southern Mississippi • This study uses content analysis to examine the presence, involvement and mobilization of blogs in the case of Gladys and Jamie Scott, two sisters from Mississippi who received double life sentences for an armed robbery they say they did not commit. This study is significant because it examines how activists used blogs to publicize the Scott sisters‟ case to push for their early release from prison, which the governor granted after nearly 17 years. Blog posts and comments are analyzed and compared in terms of theme, frame, emotion, language and message. Results show that about half the blogs were administered by African Americans. Blog posts primarily provided case background and were predominantly oriented in the direction of personal and political content. The dominant theme was fact-based for blog posts and value-based for comments. The blog posts and comments both employed an episodic dominant frame, diagnostic language and neutral emotions. The findings support similar research that shows most bloggers tend to provide information rather than push their readers to take action.

Teaching Millennials to Engage THE Environment instead of THEIR Environment: A Pedagogical Analysis • Rick Stevens, University of Colorado Boulder; Deserai Crow, University of Colorado Boulder • This paper examines the difficulty in teaching contemporary students of journalism (those in the much-discussed Millennial Generation) to cover complex topics like science and environmental reporting. After examining contemporary literature, the authors subjected 120 undergraduate students to a strategy that combined visual representations of abstract concepts, media texts and experiential peer interactions with positive outcomes on comprehension and demonstrations of critical analysis.

Evolutionary Psychology, Social Emotions and Social Networking Sites — An Integrative Model • Sandra Suran; Gary Pettey; Cheryl Bracken; Robert Whitbred • This exploratory research employed an Evolutionary Psychology (EP) perspective whereby the human mind is viewed through the lens of the physiological and psychological mechanisms that created the developmental programs we use today (Cosmides & Tooby, 1992). This theoretical framework was used to study the relationship between human behavior, the state of alienation, and Social Networking Sites  (SNS). Based on survey data from college students, there seemed to be a relationship between alienation and SNS. Alienation dimensions were highest among those who had the lowest amount of contacts on SNS.  The findings from this study will add to the body of knowledge on Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) as well as afford an opportunity for further research in understanding human behavior engaged in SNS through the viewpoint of Evolutionary Psychology.

The Concept Of Online Image Of A Brand And Its Application To Nation Brands • Giorgi Topouria, University of Missouri-Columbia School of Journalism • Unlike traditional media, Internet, which is a dynamic global information system, is no longer just communication channel, but environment into which human communication and interactions are moving, and where these interactions leave tangible trace, forever changing the environment itself and parties involved.  Under these circumstances, the concept of brand acquires new momentum and special importance, especially for nations. With globalization and IT revolution, countries have become increasingly aware of their image internally and internationally. The concept of brand has strong connection to reputation and image of a country which is becoming increasingly important in world where everything is interconnected. Many countries adopted approach that looks at nations as brands and started managing their country’s image based on branding methods and practices developed within advertising, marketing and PR fields. This approach has become known as nation branding.  Based on Chaffee’s blueprint, the paper provides detailed explication of concept of online brand image conceptualized as dynamic sum of all available online information related to brand. Explication includes: justification, empirical description, primitive terms, underlying assumptions, variables, unit definition, operationalization and measurement. Further, the concept is applied to nation-brands, integrated into framework of conceptual model of nation image formation and is used as foundation for expansion of conceptual model of key perspectives in nation image.  Paper suggests an expanded model of image of nation-brand and defines directions of future study of how online brand image of nation affects countries’/nations’ reputation and global competitiveness.

Twitter As Public Salience: An Agenda-Setting Analysis • Christopher Vargo, Fall 2011: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • Twitter provides an opportunity as a source of public opinion. Therefore, this paper argued Twitter as an indirect measurement of public salience. The issues of BP Oil and The Mortgage and Housing Crisis were given a time series analysis. First and second-level agenda setting variables were coded for television newscasts and newspapers and interpreted as measurements of media salience. Tweets were labeled public salience. A mild relationship between media salience and public salience was shown.

Are you for real? Communication Professionals, Virtual Identity Deception, and Consumer Backlash • Anastasia Pronin; Carson Wagner, Ohio University • Promoters have recognized electronic word-of-mouth can boost message effectiveness. Using anonymous identities, they’ve acted as “”everyday people”” to gain credibility but risk exposure, begging the question whether it causes more harm than good. A two- condition experiment (N= 59) examines source deception exposure effects on credibility and attitudes. In one condition, participants read eWOM by a professional who self- disclosed. In another, participants read the same message — by a product “”enthusiast.” Results show deception exposure backlash effects.

Re-Enlightenment: How Contemporary Dissenters in Pop Culture are Cultivating a New Age of Reason • Sheliea Walker • This essay seeks to explore the similarities between 18th century literature during The Enlightenment and 21st century discourse in the media. I propose that our society is entering a new age of enlightenment based on contemporary expression of dissent in popular culture. Just as in the age of The Enlightenment, dissenting opinions push our society toward increased progress, equality, and tolerance.

Are We Signing In or Logging Off?: The Effect of Information and Entertainment-seeking Internet use on Civic Engagement and the Role of Psychological Well Being and Political Talk • JungHwan Yang, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Nathan Hebert, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Chia-chen Yang, University of Wisconsin-Madison; MinWoo Kwon, University of Wisconsin at Madison; Stephanie Hartwig, University of Wisconsin-Madison • This article examines how two distinctive patterns of Internet use are associated with civic engagement, how four age cohorts might moderate these relationships, and how psychological well-being and political talk might mediate them. The data, drawn from the 2006 DDB Life Style Survey, indicate a positive effect for information-seeking use of the Internet on civic engagement, and a negative effect for entertainment-seeking use.  For both types of use, the effects of the Internet on engagement were largest for the youngest cohort and grew weaker, sometimes to insignificance, as age increased. A mediating role for political talk was not found. A mediating role for psychological well-being was found, but only for the youngest age cohort, “”Net Generation””.  For Net Generation, both types of Internet use were negatively associated with well-being, and lower well-being scores were associated with higher civic engagement. Though no mediation effect of well-being was found for the two oldest age cohorts, for them higher well-being was associated with higher civic engagement. Our findings suggest that Internet effects on civic engagement are changing and may be growing more influential on the young. The results underscore the need to continually track these relationships in rapidly changing democratic information societies.

Exploring Political Polarization: Polarized Attitudes or Polarized Perceptions? • JungHwan Yang, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Hernando Rojas, University of Wisconsin – Madison • This study first examined multiple dimensions of political polarization by differentiating between the affective and cognitive components of attitude polarization and by introducing new concept of issue perception polarization. Then we identified factors that predict each aspect of polarization. In doing this, we constructed several measures that capture polarization at the group and individual level. Based on national survey data that conducted in Colombia in 2010, we found that the affective and cognitive attitude polarization and issue perception polarization showed different patterns: issue perception and cognitive attitude are highly polarized, whereas affective attitude polarization is not that severe. Also the predictors of each dimension of the polarization were different: the impact of media use was found only for affective attitude polarization; the extreme political ideology affects affective attitude polarization; and the extreme issue perception affects cognitive attitude polarization and issue perception polarization. The findings suggest that political polarization is consisted of multiple distinctive dimensions, which are differently influenced by diverse predictors. Further implications in polarization research were discussed.

Conflict Thesis or the Reverse?: Testing the Relationships among Religiosity, Attitude toward Science and Technology, Media Use, and Subjective Health Status among 56 Societies • Qingjiang (Q. J.) Yao, Fort Hays State University • Does religiosity harms supports to science and technology advancements? Does news media use mediate the relationship? With data drawn from the recent wave of world value survey that covers 56 societies, this study finds that religiosity neither increases nor decreases supports toward science and technology but enhances self-rated health status. Religiosity reduces news media use, but consuming news media does not improve health status and it lowers supports toward science and technology advancements.

<< 2011 Abstracts

The globalization of beauty:  An examination of messages about ideal beauty communicated to readers of fashion and beauty magazines published worldwide • Yan Yan; Kim Bissell, University of Alabama • Mass media have long been considered responsible for perpetuating norms about beauty and attractiveness cross-culturally. The current research examined how ideal beauty and its related constructs were represented by four top fashion magazines—Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Elle and Vogue in 12 countries via a content analysis of 71 magazines. Results indicate an assimilation of norms about beauty and attractiveness across four different magazines published worldwide. Results reveal that there was less evidence of cultural influence on “”ideal beauty””  as the models pictured in editorial content had very similar beauty constructs.  These and other findings are discussed.

Candid conversations: A content analysis of the subjects of the Playboy Interview • Ashley Carnifax, Ohio University • This paper explores the subjects of the Playboy Interview from its start in September 1962 until March 2011, looking specifically at genders, ages, races, and professions.  A content analysis of these 569 interviews showed that the majority were white, male, and part of the TV/film industry.  Data also indicate that the interview has moved from a more political and activist focus during the 1960s and 1970s to a more celebrity-driven focus in the 2000s.

Cosmonaut to Chimpanzee: The Framing of the First Woman in Space by American Magazines • Kathleen Endres, University of Akron • This paper examines how American magazines presented the story of the flight of cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman to orbit the earth, in 1963. Utilizing the framing analytical technique, the author found that most American magazines ignored the story. Twelve magazines covered it. Frames are discussed by category of magazine. Tuchman’s views of the “”symbolic annihilation of women”” are supported.

The Traveling Gourmet: Culinary Tourism in Gourmet Magazine 1941-1990 • Elizabeth Fakazis, Univ of Wisconsin Stevens Point • This paper uses qualitative content analysis to map culinary travel writing in Gourmet from 1941 to 1990 asking: what forms did travel articles take, how significant were they in relation to overall content, and how did they use “”authenticity”” and “”exoticism,”” two concepts researchers have identified as central to contemporary culinary journalism. My goal is to provide a historical context for scholarship that has focused attention on culinary journalism produced since the mid-1990s.

Establishing and adhering to sexual consent:  The association between reading magazines and college students’ sexual consent negotiation • Stacey Hust, Washington State University; Paula Adams, Washington State University; Emily Marett, Mississippi State University; Jessica Willoughby; Chunbo Ren, Washington State University; Ming Lei; Weina Ran, Washington State University; Cassie Norman; Marie Louise Radanielina-Hita • Magazines may influence the sexual scripts individuals establish as norms for sexual behavior (Ward & Walsh, 2009). The current study tests whether exposure to magazines is associated with sexual consent negotiation.  A survey of 313 college students indicate that exposure to men’s magazines was significantly negatively associated with sexual consent seeking and adherence to decisions about sexual consent. In contrast, exposure to women’s magazines was significantly negatively associated with refusal of unwanted sexual activity.

Characteristics of Online Editors at City and Regional Magazines • Joy Jenkins, Oklahoma State University • Continually updated websites have become necessary additions to traditionally print publications, such as newspapers and magazines. In recent years, a particular subset of magazines, city and regional magazines, has also followed this trend, creating online editions with much of the same content as found in their print editions. Many of these magazines have also hired web-focused editors to oversee their online editions, creating online-exclusive content and filling a number of other roles. This study profiles online editors at city and regional magazines that are members of the City and Regional Magazine Association. A survey of these online editors reveals that they share many similarities. Their online editions have many of the same types of content, including articles repurposed from the print edition, blogs and directories and databases, and these online editors have many of the same job duties, including managing social media, copy editing articles and writing blogs. They also see themselves as having similar roles and responsibilities in their workplaces, such as increasing traffic to their online editions and creating a sense of community with their readers. These online editors are similar in the pressures they face as well, with small staff sizes, limited resources and pressure to accommodate advertisers. Overall, these online editors aim to create online editions that are well-designed and functional and present exclusive, dynamic content that will attract readers and present information on a variety of topics.

‘This Shot Can Save Your Life!’ (Or Can It?): Framing of the HPV Vaccine in Teen, Parenting, and Women’s Magazines • Carolyn Lepre, Marist College • In 2006, a highly effective vaccine was approved that would protect against four strains of the HPV virus, which is the most common sexually transmitted disease in the U.S. This study investigated how selected teen, parenting, and women’s magazines framed information concerning the HPV vaccine between 2006 and 2010, with a goal of discovering how the vaccine was presented as well as if the frames in the magazine types shifted over the time period studied.

Self-Schema-Persuasion Perspectives on Localization vs. Internationalization: A Case Study of ELLE China’s Editorial Strategies • Zhengjia Liu, The University of Iowa; Marcia R. Prior-Miller, Iowa State University; Jie Yan, Peking University, China • This study examined how international periodicals solve the tensions between internationalization and localization. Analysis of the editorial content of 20 years’ issues of Elle China showed increasing amounts of content directly produced by the local editing team. Findings indicate the magazine balances the tensions between sociological contexts and audiences’ psychological perceptions by using Eastern faces to present international brand items. Thus the publication in China caters to consumerist values of worshiping the Western lifestyle, while appealing to audience members’ self-schema.

Effects of media type, news topic and celebrity type on use of media frames • Jing Liu • Through content analysis of 331 cover news stories randomly sampled from two leading but competing news weeklies with top circulation in Hong Kong during the past 20 years, this paper investigated the effects of media type, news topic and celebrity type on the use of media frames in popular journalism.   The results yielded significant effects of news topic and celebrity type on the use of media frames, except for media type. Overall, human interest frame is most frequently used in Hong Kong popular journalism, followed by economic frame, conflict/violence frame, attribution of responsibility, sexuality, social injustice and morality frame.   It is observed that Hong Kong popular journalism focuses intensively on celebrity news, with achieved celebrity as the main concern. There is an increasing entrance of ordinary people into celebrity system, which are highly associated with sexuality frame, while economic and social injustice frames are most frequently used in ascribed celebrity, and morality frame are most used in coverage of ordinary people rather than celebrity. It is noteworthy that the human interest frame are used generally frequently across all news topics and celebrity types, with the peak in coverage of attributed celebrity and ordinary people.   News topic worked as an efficient mediator in the effect of celebrity type on the use of media frames. It is noteworthy that social injustice frame is most frequently used in political/military news but least in entertainment news; sexuality frame are most used in entertainment news while least in economic news.

Embedded in the Gulf: On the Ground with the Boys of Company C • J. Keith Saliba, Jacksonville University; Ted Geltner, Valdosta State University • Relatively few studies have systematically analyzed the ways literary journalists construct meaning within their narratives. This study employed rhetorical framing analysis to discover embedded meaning within the text of John Sack’s Gulf War Esquire articles. Textual analysis revealed several dominant frames and one master frame capable of shaping readers’ interpretation of events. The study concludes that Sack’s literary approach to war reportage is in many ways superior to that of conventional journalism.

Changing Attitudes, Changing Lives: How the Christian Press Framed the AIDS in Africa Crisis • Ken Waters, Pepperdine University; Elizabeth Smith, Pepperdine University • During the past three decades, no region has been more devastated by the HIV/AIDS pandemic than the continent of Africa, specifically the sub-Saharan countries. While active now, churches in both Africa and North America were slow to respond with compassion and educational resources as the crisis grew. Initially, high profile fundamentalist Christians claimed AIDS was God’s punishment on homosexuals, a further sign of the “”end times”” (Long, 2005; Palmer, 1996).  One important source that helped change perceptions of Christians in America were the specialized publications targeted to these believers. This research explores how Christian periodicals framed the AIDS in Africa crisis, and, in turn, set an agenda for how religious individuals and their organizations eventually responded to the growing pandemic.  Five frames dominated religious periodical coverage of the AIDS crisis in Africa:  moral responsibility, theological and doctrinal controversy, victimization, education and policy considerations, and medical and scientific care/concern. The variety of articles and frames used by the publications highlighted the plight of AIDS victims in such a way as to help readers understand the need to reach out and help others in the name of their religion.  As a result, by early in the 21st century, churches in North America became a major source of funding and advocacy on behalf of those suffering with the virus.

<< 2011 Abstracts

Opting-in to Privacy: A Comparison of Proposed Online Privacy Protections • Courtney Barclay, Syracuse University • In 2010, The Wall Street Journal launched an investigative series on “one of the fastest-growing businesses on the Internet — spying on consumers.” The use of online tracking methods, particularly for commercial purposes, has raised significant privacy concerns for consumers. Advertisers using behavioral targeting technologies are able to analyze a person’s web viewing habits “to predict user preferences or interests — based on the preferences or interests inferred from such Web viewing behaviors.” The industry has promoted self-regulatory principles and implementation tools to respond to these concerns. However, in December 2010, the Federal Trade Commission reported that these efforts “have been too slow and up to now have failed to provide adequate and meaningful protection.” The Obama administration has supported broader legislation that would offer more comprehensive protection of individuals’ private data. The leading model for data privacy protection is the 1980 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Guidelines on the Protection of Privacy and Transborder Flows of Personal Data, to which the United States is a signatory. This article examines two leading privacy law proposals — the Privacy Bill of Rights draft proposal and the BEST PRACTICES Act — in the context of the OECD principles. This examination concludes that the legislative proposals fill significant gaps in the protection offered by self-regulatory schemes and current privacy laws.

Libel Capital No More? Reforming British Defamation Law • Stephen Bates, University of Nevada, Las Vegas • London has repeatedly been called the libel capital of the world, but after years of criticism, it appears that change may finally be under way. In August 2010, President Obama signed into law the SPEECH Act, which addresses the problem of libel tourism as it affects Americans. Further, a January 2011 ruling of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg is likely to reduce the costs facing unsuccessful defendants in some British defamation cases. In addition, and most significantly, the British government released proposals for far-reaching reform of defamation law in March 2011.  This article analyzes the potential reforms of British defamation law. First, it summarizes provisions of the current law, the major criticisms and defenses of them, and the government’s proposals for change. Second, it examines issues related to the costs of litigating defamation cases in Britain, which are not addressed in the government’s proposed bill. Third, the article summarizes and evaluates the American SPEECH Act. Fourth, the article considers the extent to which the completed and the proposed reforms may ameliorate the perceived shortcomings of British defamation law, and discusses problems that are likely to endure. The conclusion notes that major reform of long-criticized defamation law in Britain may finally be at hand, though much remains to be done.

Revisiting the Right to Offend Forty Years After Cohen v. California • Clay Calvert, University of Florida • This paper examines the lasting legacy of the United States Supreme Court’s ruling in Cohen v. California upon its fortieth anniversary.  After providing a primer on the case that draws from briefs filed by both Melville Nimmer (for Robert Paul Cohen) and Michael T. Sauer (for California), as well as newspaper articles from the era about the case, the paper examines how subsequent rulings by the nation’s high court have been influenced by the logic and reasoning of Justice Harlan’s majority opinion in Cohen.  The legacy, the paper illustrates, is about far more than just protecting offensive expression.  The paper then illustrates how lower courts, at the state and federal levels, have used Cohen to articulate a laundry list of principles regarding First Amendment jurisprudence.  The paper concludes by considering how new technologies and the digital age may affect Cohen’s future influence, as well as how President Barack Obama’s call in January 2011 for a more civil public discourse about political issues stands counterposed to the First Amendment rights provided by Cohen.  Finally, the U.S. Supreme Court’s eight-justice majority opinion in March 2011 in Snyder v. Phelps demonstrates that, at least for today, the right-to-offend principle is alive and well.

The Texting and E-mailing of Fighting Words • Clay Calvert, University of Florida • This paper examines the viability of the aging fighting words doctrine in the digital era.  In particular, the paper explores whether the doctrine, which was designed to address face-to-face confrontations and responsive violence, can be narrowly modified and adapted to apply to new modes of real-time, electronic communication, including texts, instant messages and e-mails.  This issue is timely and ripe for review because the doctrine, if modified, might serve as one legal vehicle for censoring and/or punishing so-called cyber bullies who use these forms of digital communication to convey personally abusive expression in targeted, one-on-one fashion.  In the process of analyzing this issue, the paper addresses the U.S. Supreme Court’s apparent unwillingness in its 2010 opinion in United States v. Stevens for creating new categories of unprotected expression and queries whether this would translate to an equal unwillingness to modify extant categories of unprotected expression.  Significantly, the paper examines the transcript of the October 2010 oral argument in Snyder v. Phelps to search for indications of how current members of the high court interpret the meaning of the fighting words doctrine.

SLAPPing e-Publius: Protecting Anonymous Expression and Reputation in a Digital Age • Brian Carroll, Berry College • This paper examines the difficulty in balancing an individual’s right to reputation against another’s right to anonymous expression online, and in so doing it argues against a takedown notice for online defamation similar to that legislated as part of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and against any effort to criminalize online defamation as antithetical to the First Amendment. In fighting off these problematic responses to the admittedly growing problem of anonymous defamation online, this paper examines imbalances created by, among other things, ISP immunity granted by the Communications Decency Act, public figure-private citizen distinctions, and the lack of uniformity among state-level anti-SLAPP statutes.

Donaldson v. Beckett and the Common Law of Literary Property: A Century of American Scholarly Perceptions and Misperceptions • Edward Carter, Brigham Young University; Jessica Danowski; Jena Green, Brigham Young University; Karina Shamaileh-Marcella, Brigham Young University • This article attempts to address more than a century of American misperceptions about the 1774 House of Lords copyright case Donaldson v. Beckett by, first, undertaking a detailed examination of the case itself using not just the five reported versions of the House of Lords opinion but also contemporary newspaper accounts.  Although other scholars have referred to a small number of the news accounts, this article undertakes a lengthy and comprehensive review of the news reports, in conjunction with the official versions of the case.  The newspaper accounts reveal significant previously unrecognized, or at least underappreciated, facts about the case.  Next, the article documents the extent of American legal scholars’ misperceptions of and confusion about Donaldson.  Finally, the article discusses the import of these misperceptions.

New Technology, Old Obstacles: FOI Advocates Share Their Struggles for Access in the Digital Age • Sandra Chance, University of Florida; Christina Locke, University of Florida • While closed-door meetings, secret files and surreptitious telephone calls were once the primary means that government officials circumvented public scrutiny, new technology poses new challenges.  Modern technology provides government employees and elected officials with a whole new arsenal of ways to avoid transparency, if they choose to do so.  This paper explores the ways state freedom of information (FOI) advocates are coping with the challenges presented by technology.  A survey distributed to FOI advocates nationwide revealed that while technology is influencing the amount of access (for better or worse), most concerns still revolve around the government employees and elected officials upon whom the public depends upon to carry out the function of government and be the guardian of public resources and information.  Most respondents also felt new laws would help ensure access in the digital age.  Nationwide collaboration among FOI advocates may be the best way to achieve effective changes in the law.

“Blurring” and “Tarnishment”: How Federal Courts Have Applied the 2006 Trademark Dilution Revision Act Standards. • Roxane Coche, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • A trademark is a word or a symbol used by the owner to brand a product or service, and communicate to consumers the source of that product or service. The unauthorized use of a trademark, or something similar, to brand product or service can lead to consumer confusion and allow the trademark owner to sue the offending party for trademark infringement under federal law. However, federal law offers another cause of action for trademark owners when the circumstances of an unauthorized commercial use do not create consumer confusion but instead lessen the trademark’s uniqueness to brand a product or service — the dilution claim. To protect famous trademarks from dilution, Congress enacted, in 1995, the first comprehensive federal law, the Federal Trademark Dilution Act (FTDA). After a case — Moseley v. V. Secret Catalogue, Inc. — made its way to the Supreme Court, Congress amended the FTDA in the Trademark Dilution Revision Act (TDRA) in 2006. Included in the modifications brought by the TDRA, a new definition of dilution introduced the concepts of “blurring” and “tarnishment.” This study examines the extent to which federal courts have allowed dilution claims under the “blurring” and the “tarnishing” standards set out in the TDRA. It demonstrates that although both constitute dilution, the factors and evidence that come into play, in each of them, are far from being similar.

An Extinction of Transparency: The Opaque Endangered Species List • Benjamin W. Cramer, Pennsylvania State University • This paper reconstructs the Endangered Species Act as a government information statute. That Act makes use of an official list of threatened plants and animals, which is used for agency action and the enforcement of regulations. However, this paper argues that the official list of threatened species is not sufficiently accurate or transparent to citizens, making the list a violation of not just environmental law but also government transparency policy.

Unknown Knowns: Judicial Review and Mosaic Theory in the years of the George W. Bush Administration • Kelly Davis, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • The purpose of this paper is to look for trends in post-9/11 judicial deference to mosaic theory claims concerning national security, including both FOIA national security exemption claims, law enforcement exemption claims involving terrorism investigations, and the state secrets privilege.  Findings indicate that the level of deference given to executive claims of national security is moderate overall, but precedence of judicial review has been set to strong and weak standards by appellate courts composed of democratic and republican appointees, respectively.

Corporate Underwriting on PBS and the Funding of Children’s Educational Television • Joelle Gilmore, University of Pennsylvania • The Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 prohibits PBS from airing advertisements, but changes to underwriting polices in 2008 allow child-friendly production techniques common to commercial networks. Using samples from 2006/2010, we analyze underwriting spots during children’s programming before and after the changes. Spots from 2006 included fewer child-friendly techniques and were more likely to represent adult-focused industries.  A new business model is needed if PBS is to remain a provider of high-quality, non-commercial children’s programming.

Snyder v. Phelps and the Death of Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress as a Speech-based Tort • Wat Hopkins, Virginia Tech • The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in March that the Westboro Baptist Church was not liable for damages in Albert Snyder’s lawsuit for intentional infliction of emotional distress because the church’s protests at the funeral of Snyder’s son involved matters of public concern.  The Court’s focus on a subject-matter based protection for Westboro’s speech makes it virtually impossible for private persons who are brutalized by verbal attacks to achieve recourse through the courts.

Tweeting the Police Scanner: The Rediscovered Liabilities • Bill Hornaday, Indiana University • This article examines First Amendment issues that might arise when professional or citizen journalists use Twitter to spread information obtained from “police scanner” transmissions. It addresses confusion concerning the practice’s legality and illustrates potential risks. It concludes by arguing that “scanner tweeting” should be done sparingly and under guidelines that minimize the spread of flawed information, reduce the risk of a potential defamation lawsuit, and promote the safety of emergency personnel, the public, and media.

Poker and Prostitution: Craig v. Henry and the Dilemma of Hypothetical Online Prostitution • Jack Karlis, University of South Carolina • Craigslist is a free online forum for users to exchange goods, information and services. Under its “services” heading, content once listed an “erotic” heading, containing user generated ads for “legal escort services, massage workers, exotic dancers, erotic phone lines and other services for ads that often contain adult content” to deter the aforementioned adult-themed content out of other postings on the site. South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster and the South Carolina law enforcement officials involved in craigslist, Inc. v. Henry D. McMaster, et al. aimed to stop the illegal activity of prostitution in their own state’s confines, but the actions taken by both parties in the cases have raised greater concerns in the realm of commercial speech in the United States. The U.S. District Court’s ruling and logic for dismissing craigslist’s appeal in its entirety raises more questions than it answers. Why was craigslist not considered a third-party provider in regards to its content? Why was craigslist singled out when various other online outlets offered the same type of content in some way, shape or form? Weren’t craiglist’s numerous restrictions and revisions to the content considered enough? Were McMaster and his party’s threats of criminal prosecution “credible” enough? Was prior restraint involved when craigslist decided to completely eliminate its adult/erotic section? Was the decision of this case incorrectly resolved using current commercial speech guidelines in place? This paper will aim to answer these questions and examine the possible restrictive effect this case may have on future online commercial speech.

What the Numbers Tell Us: FOIA Implementation under the Obama Administration • Minjeong Kim, Colorado State University • The Obama administration’s FOIA policy clearly contrasts with that of the Bush administration. To examine if the Obama administration’s policy change has resulted in differences in the actual processing of FOIA requests, this study compares FOIA implementation between the two administrations. The study analyzes quantitative data collected from twenty-five federal agencies’ annual FOIA reports. The study findings suggest that overall the twenty-five agencies have granted more access under the Obama administration than the Bush administration.

State Action, Public Forum and the NCAA: First Amendment Rights of the Credentialed Media • Michael Martinez, University of Tennessee Knoxville • In 2007, the NCAA revoked the press credentials of a newspaper reporter for blogging during a tournament baseball game. The association was concerned that it would infringe on broadcast rights granted to ESPN and violate their copyright. This paper will make the case that the revocation was an infringement on the newspaper’s First Amendment right of a free press to disseminate the news and will examine it through copyright law, state action and forum analysis.

A Textual Analysis of the Influence of McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commission in Cases Involving Anonymous Online Commenters • Jasmine McNealy, Syracuse University • In McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commission, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down an Ohio law that prohibited the distribution of anonymous campaign material.  According to the court, speakers may want to remain anonymous for fear of physical, social, and economic reprisal, “Anonymity is a shield from the tyranny of the majority.” But the McIntyre decision concerned offline communications.  A question remains as to whether the courts have or are willing to apply McIntyre to anonymous Internet communications, and if so, is that application limited only to political speech.  This study examines these questions in an attempt understand what impact McIntyre has had on the protection of online anonymity by presenting an textual analysis of cases in which subpoenas have been issued to identify anonymous online commenters.

Might This “Legal Attack Dog” Have Much Bite? Righthaven, Fair Use and the Unauthorized Reproduction of News Content Online • Scott Parrott, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • While the Internet allows newspapers and other news producers a chance to reach larger audiences than ever before and to generate revenue through online advertising and subscriptions, the World Wide Web also creates challenges regarding the unauthorized duplication of original news content. Computers and the Internet allow users an easy, quick, and inexpensive method for disseminating exact copies of articles, video footage, photographs and other news content to wide audiences without asking for the copyright owner’s permission. A host of recent copyright infringement lawsuits against bloggers and other Web site operators for republishing news content without permission highlights the growing prominence of a clash between original news content producers and secondary publishers online.  The present paper examines federal court decisions since 1985 to determine how courts have treated fair use in copyright infringement cases in which news content was the material in controversy. The analysis found that federal courts have more often than not denied the fair use defense in copyright infringement lawsuits involving news content. While its factual nature favors fair use, news content still enjoys copyright protection especially when a secondary use is for commercial purposes and hinders the market for the original work.

A SLAPP in the Facebook: Assessing the Impact of Strategic Lawsuits against Public Participation on Social Networks • Robert Richards, Pennsylvania State University • In fall 2010, Sony Pictures released The Social Network, a movie about the birth and rapid growth of Facebook.  In the first five weeks of its release, the film grossed $79.7 million as well as critical acclaim.  The film also explores the legal wrangling among the site’s innovators in the technology’s early stages.  Today, larger legal concerns are looming from outside the social networks’ inner circle — specifically, third parties who are suing users directly in an effort to shut them up, close them down or teach them a costly lesson.   The weapon — Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP) — has been a tactic for decades, but the proliferation of online targets, such as Facebook pages, blogs and consumer gripe sites have breathed new life into this nefarious litigation practice.  Additionally, SLAPPs aimed at online discussion pose a particularized threat not only to the technology-driven marketplace of ideas but also the centuries-old notion of anonymous speech.  For various motives, online users often post anonymously or under pseudonyms.  SLAPP filers in search of targets are issuing subpoenas designed to unmask the identities of these posters.  Anti-SLAPP statutes provide some protection to online speakers, but they are of varying availability and utility.  This paper explores the legal issues and challenges faced by social network users, bloggers and consumers who gripe online.  It argues that a national, rather than state-by-state, solution to the problem of online SLAPPs is needed and explores whether legislation pending in Congress addresses the pressing issues.

Tobacco Advertising Regulations, Counter-marketing Campaigns and the Compelling Interest in Protecting Children’s Health • Derigan Silver, University of Denver; Kelly Fenson-Hood, University of Denver • The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Lorillard Tobacco Co. v. Reilly that even a compelling interest in protecting children’s health would not allow the government to overly burden the flow of communication to adults about tobacco products has left public health officials with little room to craft tobacco advertising restrictions that are both demonstrably effective and constitutional. Focusing on social scientific research in the field of health communication and the legal doctrines of counterspeech and government speech, this paper posits that a national counter-marketing tobacco prevention campaign targeting youth and paid for with compulsory fees or a tax paid by tobacco companies would advance the government’s interest in preventing youth smoking, better uphold First Amendment ideals and allow adults to continue to receive information about legal products. However, the paper also concludes that not all counter-marketing campaigns are created equal and campaigns should focus on using techniques proven to be effective.

Two Dominant Industries, One Regulatory Agency: Lobbying Strategies to Attain Regulatory Capture • Amy Sindik, University of Georgia • What happens when two dominant industries are regulated by the same agency?  The majority of strategic regulatory research operates under the assumption that the agency is captured by a single, dominant industry.  Having two dominant industries regulated by the same agency impacts the lobbying strategies of organizations in both industries. This article uses lobbying contributions from the broadcast and telecommunications industries, two dominant industries competing for regulatory capture by the FCC, to examine if competing for capture alters isomorphic lobbying strategies.  The findings suggests that isomorphic lobbying strategies still occur frequently between the telecommunications and broadcast industries, but some efforts are made to begin distinguishing lobbying efforts in the areas of policy focus and the amount of internal versus external lobbying conducted by the organizations.

Journalist Privilege in 1929: The Quest for a Federal Shield Law Begins • Dean Smith, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • “The difficulty with much constitutional scholarship, “ Professor Michael Gerhardt has said, “is that it fails to account for, much less examine, the interplay between judicial and non-judicial precedents.” Gerhardt’s theory of “non-judicial precedents” asserts that rules made outside courts — norms, regulations, statutes — shape constitutional issues long before courts intervene. The question of whether the First Amendment should provide a testimonial privilege to journalists is a case in point: No federal court addressed that issue until 1958, but journalists had framed it as a constitutional issue for decades — even as they lobbied for statutory shield laws. The primary goal of this paper is to apply Gerhardt’s theory to an early turning point in journalist-privilege history: the first attempts, in 1929, to persuade Congress to adopt a federal shield law. On Gerhardt’s view, it represented a valuable opportunity for non-judicial actors to lead a national dialogue about constitutional meaning and help define freedom of the press, largely undefined by courts at the time.  A second goal is to use original historical research to correct the record about these events and illuminate their significance. This history will emphasize the role non-judicial actors — including William Randolph Hearst and Fiorello La Guardia — played in leading a national debate about journalism, and, as Gerhardt’s theory would predict, the meaning of the First Amendment. It also will tie these events to a raft of shield laws adopted in the 1930s and 1940s, a link that never has been shown.

Vox Hawkeye: A Study in the Intellectual Call for Open Government (and How One State Heeded It) • Steve Stepanek, Georgia Southern University • Open government is the linchpin of a representative republic, for it powerfully promotes citizens’  claims for access to the seats of institutional power whereby they are able to both keep themselves informed and make their collective voices heard.  This paper provides a background of the historical/scholarly lineage of the open government movement and offers insight (based upon the legislative and journalistic records extant during the period in question) into the political and philosophical forces that developed as one state sought to implement its regime of “sunshine” laws.

Can I Use This Photo I Found on Facebook? Fair Use and Social Media Images • Daxton Stewart, Texas Christian University • When news breaks about unknown people, news media turn to social networking sites such as Facebook to find photographs of the subject.  However, these uses may be infringing on copyrights of photographers.  Applying the fair use analysis to photographs found online and republished for news reporting purposes, the authors conclude that courts are unlikely to approve of this defense except in situations when photographs are independently newsworthy and news publishers act in good faith.

Flying Dragon Seeking Freedom of Information: A Critique of Chinese OGI Regulations • Yong Tang, Pennsylvania State University; Halstuk Martin, Pennsylvania State University • In 2008, four decades after U.S. Congress passed the Freedom of Information Act, People’s Republic of China embraced its own concept of freedom of information. This paper examined Chinese freedom of information law known as the Open Government Information Regulations (OGI Regulations) and found that the Chinese law is embracing international standards in many areas but also have something unique. The paper examined the major flaws of the law and also examined many court cases to see how the law has been implemented.

Space to Breathe Falsely: Reexamining the Balance between Commercial Speech and Defamation 20 Years after U.S. Healthcare v. Blue Cross • Matthew Telleen, University of South Carolina • This paper examines the case of U.S. Healthcare, Inc. v. Blue Cross of Greater Philadelphia 20 years after it was decided. The case involved a choice between applying the commercial speech doctrine or traditional defamation analysis. The court focused on the commercial nature of the speech and denied the heightened protection of actual malice. A better approach would have been to engage in a tradition defamation analysis, as explained in this paper.

Good Intentions, Bad Results: Learning from Failed Media Policies to Avoid Future Mistakes • Tom Vizcarrondo, Louisiana State University • Policymakers often approach potential new regulations with good intentions that the rules will positively address a particular problem, only to observe bad results once the new policy has been implemented.  This paper studies two different media policies that produced bad results, ultimately leading to their repeal.  The paper identifies factors contributing to the failure of these policies, and paper presents recommendations for future policymaking efforts that could alleviate the problem of “good intentions, bad results.”

Retransmission Consent: An Exploration of its Past, Present and Future • Gillian Wheat, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • High-profile disputes over retransmission consent, an ongoing issue in the telecommunications industry, have resulted in several television blackouts.  Thus, the Federal Communications Commission recently issued a notice of proposed rulemaking seeking comments on potential changes to the guidelines governing retransmission consent negotiations.  This paper examines the legislative and administrative history of retransmission consent, the current regulatory framework under which it is negotiated and the manner in which the Federal Communications Commission has responded to complaints.

Transparency as Talisman: The Shifting Rationales for Campaign Finance Regulation • Justin Wolfgang, University of Missouri-Columbia • This article will argue that recent developments in the Supreme Court’s view of the First Amendment as applied to corporations and the possible threat of corruption have led to an expedited dismantling of decades of precedent since the seminal campaign finance reform case of Buckley v. Valeo in 1976, which said preventing corruption or the appearance of corruption was a valid interest for regulating campaign financing.  This article will further argue that the Court has ignored legislative intent and ultimately stripped campaign finance reform down to a simplified system of using mere disclosure as a method of detecting and preventing possible corruption. The Court’s recent decision in Doe v. Reed upholds the Buckley Court’s approval of disclosure requirements as a valid method of protecting against corruption or the appearance of corruption, because the government interest in informing the public was substantially related to the means of compelled disclosure.  Finally, this article will argue that the Court’s dichotomous treatment of compelled disclosure in Reed as compared to their treatment of corporate contributions in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, contradicts its earlier decisions upholding the protection against corruption or the appearance of corruption in campaign finance reform.  Whether transparency alone can serve to eliminate potential corruption is an untested assumption, and one that represents a signal change in campaign finance philosophy.

The Ellsberg Act of 2011: Proposing a Better Policy on the Free Flow of Information in the Era of WikiLeaks, Whistleblowers and War • Jason Zenor, SUNY Oswego • In response to the WikiLeaks issue, this article proposes a new policy on the free flow of information — the Ellsberg Act. This new policy will advance transparency by promoting whistleblowing, while also promoting government efficiency by encouraging proper channels of dissemination. It will also enhance the privileges that the traditional media has already earned. Finally, this policy seeks to distinguish between beneficial “journalism” and harmful “sabotage.”

<< 2011 Abstracts

Bob Stevenson Open Paper Competition

The Victim/Hero Legacy of Bulgarian Crime Writer Bobby Tsankov • Edward Alwood, Quinnipiac University • Western news outlets portrayed 30-year old Bulgarian crime writer Bobby Tsankov as a “”prominent”” victim/hero in the struggle for a free press following his brutal murder in 2010.  In contrast, Bulgarian newspapers showed him as an unscrupulous trickster.  This study examines 72 articles from the most widely read Bulgarian daily newspapers to understand factors that account for the contradictory framing of Tsankov’s murder.  The findings provide an understanding of the role of framing in media mythmaking.

Global Digital Divide: Language Gap and Post-communism in Mongolia • Undrahbuyan Baasanjav, Temple University • This paper explores several factors of the global digital divide in the former socialist country of Mongolia. By analyzing manifest media content on the Internet, as well as by interviewing people involved in Internet development, this research goes beyond the question of access to the Internet and asks how language factors exacerbate the digital divide in an impoverished country. Furthermore, this research explores how post-communist political settings, aid dependency, and international organizations influence Internet development.

The Whole Online World Is Watching: Networking Sites and Activism in China, Latin America and the United States • Dustin Harp, University of Texas School of Journalism; Ingrid Bachmann, University of Texas at Austin; Lei Guo, University of Texas at Austin • Using a cross-cultural framework, this study relies on survey data to examine how activists in China, Latin America and the United States use social networking sites for their mobilizing efforts. Activists in China assigned greater importance to the importance of social media to promote debate. Those in Latin America expressed more apprehensions about the ease of using social networking sites. Respondents from the United States had greater confidence in their ability to solve community problems.

Journalism Advocacy: How Three Organizations Responded to Attacks Against Journalists in Egypt • Butler Cain, West Texas A&M University • When journalists who were covering the recent political protests in Egypt became targets of assaults and intimidation, three journalism advocacy groups – Reporters Without Borders, the International Federation of Journalists, and the Committee to Protect Journalists – responded quickly and forcefully. The press releases they issued during a two-week campaign of violence against the news media condemned Egypt’s actions, advocated for the humane treatment of all journalists, and documented dozens of incidents of press attacks and intimidation.

Reporting Global Obesity: A Longitudinal, International Comparative Study of News Coverage of the Public Health Issue as a Social Problem • Kuang-Kuo Chang, Shih Hsin University • Guided by social epidemiology concept, this research studies how 10 major newspapers in seven selected countries have covered the obesity issue. Findings broaden the theoretical scope of health communication in studying other public health or social problems and offer pragmatic implications for journalists, audiences, policymakers, and interested parties in dealing with this staggering issue, i.e. for governmental institutions to regulate food industry in advertising, confronting the seven nations, and the rest of the world.

Beauty Without Borders: Representation and role of female models in global women’s magazines published in China, India, and USA • BRIDGETTE COLACO, TROY UNIVERSITY • In China and India, a booming economy, rising salaries, disposable incomes, and a growing interest in beauty fashion, and relationships have encouraged a profitable print media industry that has led several foreign women’s magazines to launch Chinese and Indian editions. Women’s magazines not only shape how a woman views herself but also how society views her. This study is a content analysis that compared how Asian and Western models are portrayed in advertisements in Chinese, Indian, and U.S. editions of five women’s magazines. June 2010 issues of Cosmopolitan, Elle, Good Housekeeping, Marie Claire, and Vogue, from each country were examined. Altogether 870 advertisements were analyzed across 15 magazines. In the light of how globalization integrates different cultures, beside numerical representation of models, analysis revealed meanings that advertisers attached to Chinese, Indian and Western women with regard to specific social and beauty variables. This is because advertisers synchronize models, clothes, products, and values, to needs of the target audience. Variables included type of product models advertised, relative importance of models’ role and percentage of skin-lightening creams in beauty advertisements. The study found that 30 percent of Chinese beauty advertisements promoted skin-lightening products. The ‘Snow White syndrome’ exists in Indian advertising too. Drawing on feminist, social comparison and expectancy theories, further analysis revealed meanings that advertisers attached to Chinese and Western women with regard to specific social and beauty variables. This study contributes to the research that exists on how advertisers portray women in non-American media markets.

Framing of Election News in the Bulgarian Press • Daniela Dimitrova; Petia Kostadinova • Although election news framing is a burgeoning area of research, framing studies in Eastern Europe remain extremely rare. This study analyzes the media coverage of campaign news in six elite Bulgarian newspapers during the 1990-2009 period. It investigates the use of the game and issue frames and the relationship between these frames and a number of system-level and organizational-level factors. Empirical tests show that the number of parties in government and party ownership are significant predictors of game frame use. The results are discussed in the context of framing research in Western Europe and the United States.

Still Stuck in First Gear: The Case of the German Blogosphere • Stine Eckert • An implicit assumption that informs studies of new media is that similar trends and practices are emerging across the world, with blogging being one such widely perceived trend. Analyzing the case of Germany, where blogging has been slow to develop, this paper argues that such assumptions are questionable and identifies a complex combination of social, political, economic and legal factors play a critical role in inhibiting the expansion of blogging in Germany.

Development Communication to Internet Connectivity: Milestones in United Nations Formulation and Transfer of Communication Policy to Africa (1958-2010). • Lyombe Eko, University of Iowa • This paper analyzed United Nations formulation and transfer of communication policy to Africa since 1958. It was found that the United Nations and its specialized agencies- UNESCO and the International Telecommunications Union (ITU)-started formulating and transferring communication policies to Africa at the dawn of independence.  UN communication policies emphasized the role of the mass media as catalysts for development. At the turn of the 21st century, the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) emphasized reduction of the digital divide between Africa and the rest of the world, and encouraged Internet connectivity as the panacea for the continent’s development problems. However, there was no long-term strategy to localize and use information and communication technologies to produce content in African contexts or languages. Policies aimed at reinventing and localizing Information and Communication Technologies in Africa would facilitate the production of African content and make the Internet relevant in different African contexts.

Before They Were Revolutionaries: Assessing Journalistic Professionalism in Mubarak’s Egypt • mohamad elmasry • Egypt’s historic 2011 revolution, which ousted President Hosni Mubarak after 30 years in power, is expected to transform various aspects of Egyptian society. Arguably, one area in need of significant reforms is journalism. Although Egypt has been seen historically as having one of the more developed media industries in the Arab world (Amin & Napoli, 1997; Ayalon, 1995; Rugh, 2004), Egyptian journalism has historically been fraught with problems, including a lack of freedom from government control (Cooper, 2008; Fark, 2004; Mellor, 2005; Najjar, 2004; Pintak, 2008; Sakr, 2001) and poor standards of education and training (Amin, 2002; Waterbury and Richards, 2007). The ousting of Mubarak and the installation of a democratic form of government may address – if it has not already done so – the problem of press freedom. It will likely take a sustained program of reform, however, to address the education and training issues. Education and training are key because they aid the development of a journalistic ideology (Weaver et al., 2003), and are important components of journalistic professionalism in general (Harless, 1990; Weaver et al., 2003; Windahl et al., 1978). The present study — a professionalism survey of Egyptian print journalists — grew out of nearly six-months of fieldwork in Cairo conducted over the last half of 2008. The purpose of the survey was to assess various aspects of Egyptian print journalism practice and professionalism during the (late) Hosni Mubarak era. Specifically, the survey addresses journalism education and training quality, work routines, press freedom, and journalistic ideology.

Exploring the potential of wireless technologies to accelerate universal Internet access in Ghana • Ignatius Fosu, University of Arkansas • A qualitative study including in-depth interviews with ISPs explored Internet diffusion in Ghana. Findings suggest that due to Ghana’s inefficient and outdated fixed-line infrastructure, Ghana’s universal Internet access goals might not be achievable through fixed-line technologies. Rather, wireless technologies present great potential and may be more efficient. Policy suggestions to encourage widespread deployment of wireless broadband, expand bandwidth, and encourage infrastructure sharing are offered as potential directions for future research.

A Not-So-Modest Proposal: Advancing a Research Agenda for Studying Central Asia Mass Media • Eric Freedman, Michigan State University School of Journalism • In former Soviet Central Asia, independence produced five distinctive press systems with authoritarian commonalities. Scholars have barely scratched the surface in studying those systems in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. This paper identifies unexplored and under-explored topics, including questions related to journalistic practices, governmental constraints, training and education, coverage of public affairs, access to information, public attitudes toward the press, social media, and the Internet. It also identifies obstacles to research in the region.

Country Reputation, Place Branding and ethnocentricity:  South Africa and the 2010 FIFA World Cup • Jami Fullerton, Oklahoma State University; Derina Holtzhausen, Oklahoma State University • Using the 2010 FIFA World Cup event as a stimulus, this study investigated the effect of international sporting events on country reputation. Given the extensive media coverage and viewership of the World Cup in the United States, a pre/post quasi-experimental test was conducted to assess the effect of the sporting event on the country reputation of South Africa.  A nationally representative sample of more than 800 US adults participated in the study. Sample statistics matched US adult population parameters in terms of age, level of income and geographic distribution. Scales measuring Country Reputation (Yang, Shin, Lee & Wrigley, 2008) and Ethnocentrism (Smith & Kim, 2006; Shimp & Sharma, 1987) were administered.  Factor analyses of country reputation and the ethnocentrism were conducted and findings are discussed in the context of the extracted factors.  The study found that on the Affection factor of country reputation, attitudes toward South Africa significantly improved after the World Cup event.Results also showed that levels of ethnocentrism moderated the effect.

The Impact of Technology on the Arab Communication Style and Culture:  A Comparison to the U.S. • Salma Ghanem, Central Michigan University; Morris Kalliny, Department of Marketing John Cook School of Business Saint Louis University • The paper focuses on the effects of technology on communication in the Middle East. A content analysis of online respondents to articles published in Al Arabiya online indicates a change is taking place. A comparison of those comments to online respondents’ comments to USA Today revealed that differences between Arab communication style and that of the United States still exist.

International Advertising Education: A Research Agenda • Frauke Hachtmann, University of Nebraska-Lincoln • The dominance of the American advertising industry in the global marketplace is reflected by the many advertising curricula in higher education in the United States that are preparing students to compete in a globalized world. However, research about what and how to teach international advertising has been scarce in recent years. The purpose of this paper was to review the relevant literature about international advertising curriculum and pedagogy and to provide a research agenda.

Determining international news coverage in nonelite newspapers: How important are gatekeepers? • Beverly Horvit, University of Missouri; Peter Gade, University of Oklahoma; Elizabeth Lance, University of Missouri School of Journalism • This study examines international news flow in four nonelite U.S. newspapers. Regression models using data from a content analysis of 2,401 stories, paired with variables such as wire coverage, U.S. troop presence and cultural proximity, explain between 55 percent to 88 percent of the variance in international news coverage. Wire coverage is the strongest predictor, and cultural proximity only affects the coverage of the two larger newspapers, the Houston Chronicle and San Jose Mercury News.

A Different Kind of Massive Attack: How the Bulgarian Ultranationalist Party Ataka Engineered Its Political Success Using Digital Media • Elza Ibroscheva, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville • The purpose of this paper is to trace the role of media in securing the success of Ataka, Bulgaria’s most prominent far-right political party, which has found a particularly powerful manifestation in new digital platforms of the Internet and the proliferation of other far-right political formations, such as the Bulgarian National Union (BNU). To accomplish this, the study sets two goals: first, to explore the political and socio-cultural environment which has allowed for the growth of ultra-nationalist rhetoric in Bulgaria, and second, to examine how the media publicity machine, with specific focus on their new media tactics, have contributed to securing popular support for the virtually unfettered expression of ultra-nationalistic ideas. By conducting an in-depth analysis of Ataka’s and BNU’s use of digital media, including websites, online forums, and other social networking tools, the study analyzes the importance of digital media in assisting right wing political platforms in gaining traction with the electorate.

The Girls of Parliament: A Historical Analysis of the Press Coverage of Female Politicians in Bulgaria • Elza Ibroscheva, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville; Maria Raicheva-Stover, Washburn University • Using the theoretical thesis of gender mediation, which argues that portrayals of female politicians in the media reflect an ideology that treats male politicians as norm and female politicians as novelty, this study explores to what extent gender mediation is at play in the coverage of female politicians in the Bulgarian press. Given Bulgaria’s unique position as a former communist state, this study aims to discover through a historical qualitative analysis of the press coverage of female politicians during communism, through the post-communist transition and to present date, whether the images and language used to cover women in politics has changed, and if so, in what way. The study found that despite some qualitative differences in the way in which media treated women in politics during the different historical periods, their portrayals remained essentially refracted through the ideological prism of patriarchy, reinforcing the idea that women’s participation in politics is defined and judged by male-dominated norms of behavior and performance.

The Pattern and Determinant Factors of International Television News Flows • Youichi Ito, Akita International University • This is a part of a large-scale international collaborative research on television news in which 17 countries participated.  Political, military, and economic power are all important determinants but multiple regression analyses has shown that geographical distance is the most important determinant.  It was also found  that U.S., U.K., and France enjoy monopolistic privileges in international news flows based on their international mass media including news agencies.

Ego, altruism, and irrelevance:  A survey of Bulgaria’s news blog scene • Christopher Karadjov, California State University, Long Beach • The paper provides for the first time an overview of Bulgaria’s news blogs as an alternative to traditional media and proponents of free speech. In addition to examining the existing literature, the study uses in-depth interviews with bloggers to highlight pertinent characteristics of Bulgarian blogosphere. Bloggers’ motivation and perceived influence are scrutinized, and examples are added to illustrate recently featured topics from their blogs. Contrary to expectations, Bulgarian news blogs did not seem to have developed as a mere extension of online discussions on current events but as an independent platform with new participants who defend fiercely their right to free speech. This study also reviews the unexpectedly low popularity of microblogging (such as Tweeter) as a means to deliver news or mobilize audiences.

Documenting Africa: The Life and Death of Kevin Carter and his 1994 Pulitzer-winning photograph • Yung Soo Kim, University of Kentucky; James Kelly, Indiana University • An online survey was conducted to investigate the public and photojournalists’ perceptions of appropriate reactions to the circumstances surrounding Kevin Carter’s photograph of a collapsed Sudanese girl as a vulture awaits her death. Respondents agreed that the picture was newsworthy and accepted the journalistic rationale for making the photograph. The majority indicated that they would have made the photo themselves under similar circumstances, but would have done more to help the girl than did Carter.

Journalists’ Role, Expertise, and Authority in a Transformation of Media and Citizenship in South Korea: An Audience Perspective • Kyun Soo Kim, Grambling State Univ. • The premise of this study is that answering what news users think the journalists are for will offer crucial clues for understanding the meaning of changes in a contemporary news environment and discussing the future of journalism. With this premise in mind, this study first examined how public’s view of the journalists bears on their consumption of news media and citizenships. Then the influence of perceived journalists’ roles on perceived journalism expertise and authority was explored as it can indicate an aspect of external legitimacy of journalism. The study found interesting variances in journalists’ roles perceived by audience depending on their news media use. The study found relationships between both monitorial and informed citizenships and perceived journalists’ roles and at the same time different roles of news media uses in predicting citizenships. Finally this study successfully tested a new journalists’ role of guide and further found its strong influence on perceived journalistic expertise and authority.

Independent, New, or “”Ours””?: Transformation of Russian NTV Channel • Svetlana Kulikova, Georgia State University • In the modern world, neo-authoritarian governments often use the rhetoric of free market economics to justify backward movements from pluralist and diverse media systems to government-controlled systems. This study looks at how the Russian government carefully orchestrated such transformation of NTV, the first truly independent television in the country and the third largest national television network. Using a case study approach and qualitative analysis of newspaper coverage of 2003 NTV managerial crisis, it shows how after the 2001 takeover by a state-controlled oil and gas company GazProm, the editorial policy and content of NTV programs was gradually changed to conform with the government priorities. Given that television reaches 85-90 percent of the Russian population, the majority of which does not have access to Moscow-based independent newspapers, this transformation of the only independent network has irreparable consequences for democracy in Russia.

Influences of Norms and Guilt by Culture: Anti-Secondhand Smoking Context • Hyegyu Lee; Hye-Jin Paek, Michigan State University • This study examined how norm appeals and guilt influence smokers’ behavioral intention and whether and how the influence varies by culture. An online experiment among 310 smoking students in individualist (US) and collectivist (Korea) countries indicated that (1) guilt arousal has a strong and direct impact on behavioral intention, and (2) the impact of guilt on behavioral intention appears stronger among Korean smokers than among US smokers so that the power of guilt overshadows that of norms.

When Consumption Becomes All-Consuming:   Comparing “”Stickiness”” from the Business and Social Health Perspectives in China • Constance Milbourne, United International College; Jeffrey Wilkinson • Global internet use continues to rise as do efforts to reach and hold onto online consumers. ‘Stickiness’ is a positive indicator of web site effectiveness reflecting time spent on the site. But published reports suggest that there are increasing numbers of people with various types and forms of so-called ‘internet addiction.’ Public health experts warn that excessive web use and time spent online can have negative repercussions, but the relationship between consumer marketing stickiness and online addiction is not clear. A convenience sample in China is surveyed on web behaviors, time spent online, and possible internet addiction. Results indicate a link between relative frequency engaging in online behaviors and so-called internet addiction. The more “”sticky”” the web becomes, the higher the self-report of behaviors associated with internet addiction.  Implications and recommendations for marketers and health experts are presented.

Self Presentation in Online Environments: A study of Indian Muslim Matrimonial Profiles • Smeeta Mishra, Mass Communication Research Center, Jamia University; Matthew Monippally, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad; Krishna Jayakar, College of Communications, Penn State University • This study examines the self presentation practices of Indian Muslim men and women in online matrimonial advertisements.  Findings indicate that while Indian Muslims are using the new medium to adhere to traditional cultural and religious values, they are also making critical adjustments to adapt to the medium itself. While men and women claimed to possess different attributes in their profiles drawing upon gender role expectations in Indian society, they were identical in their preference for light skin or what is termed as “”fair complexion”” in Indian English. An overwhelming majority of advertisers claimed to possess desirable skin tones and body types. Few Indian Muslim profiles highlighted external manifestations of religiosity, such as praying five times a day, wearing a hijab or burqa, and observing Ramadan. Further, results of this study also illuminate the influence of South Asian culture on Islamic practice, which is evident in the mention of caste identifications in the online matrimonial profiles.

Elaboration, content preference and framing: Effects of “”Incompetent Authority”” frame in China-made product recall coverage” • Ji Pan • Building on a replication of the test that media frames influence attitude by activating frame-related thoughts in audience, this study examines the role people’s cognitive elaboration and content preferences play in framing effects. Manipulating a New York Times story about Chinese toothpaste recall with reasoning and framing devices from the “”Incompetent Authority”” frame, our experiment found that while readers’ in-depth elaboration on the product safety issue did not moderate framing effects on attitude and causal attribution, those closely following consumer news were able to think more comprehensively after reading the stimulus. Implications for framing theory and U.S. media’s presentations of Chinese products are discussed.

News Accuracy in Switzerland and Italy: A Transatlantic Comparison with the U.S. Press • Colin Porlezza, University of Lugano; Scott Maier, University of Oregon; Stephan Russ-Mohl • Nearly 80 years of accuracy research in the United States has documented that the press frequently errs, but absent is empirical study about news accuracy elsewhere in the world. This study presents an accuracy audit of Swiss and Italian daily regional newspapers. Replicating U.S. research, the study offers a trans-Atlantic perspective of news accuracy. The results show that newspaper inaccuracy – and its corrosive effect on media credibility – transcends national borders and journalism cultures.

Framing Corruption: India’s Three Largest English-Language Newspapers and the Right to Information Act • Jeannine Relly, University of Arizona, School of Journalism; Carol Schwalbe, School of Journalism, University of Arizona • This exploratory study used a content analysis of articles published in India’s three largest English-language newspapers to examine how the press framed corruption in association with the 2005 Right to Information Act. The findings indicate that less than 2 percent of the 281 frames focused on watchdog journalism, suggesting that the English-language dailies in India have not used the freedom of information legislation extensively as an investigative tool to root out corruption.

Exploring Cross-Cultural Value Structure with Smartphone • Dong-Hee Shin, Sungkyunkwan University • This study cross-surveyed smartphone users in the U.S. and Korea to determine the differences of perceived values between the countries. Factors of usability and aesthetic values are combined with theory of reasoned action. Several propositions about the strength of the model’s relationships are made. The motivations of smartphone services were analyzed cross-nationally focusing on the differences in the composition of motives in the two countries. While the results illustrate the importance of both usability and aesthetic values, the two countries show different pattern and set of values. Based on the results of this study, practical implications for cross-cultural strategies in smartphone global markets and theoretical implications for cross-country studies are recommended accordingly.

Community Service: Editor pride and user preference on local newspaper websites • Jane Singer, University of Iowa • As diverse user contributions become prevalent on local newspaper websites, editors are assessing the effect on their own decisions. Through a survey of British editors, this paper examines the overlap between online user preferences, as suggested by assessments of website traffic, and content that the editors identify as their best. The study finds plenty of overlap between the types of stories included on the agendas of editors and users, but a considerable disconnect on specifics.

Edward Jordon’s newspaper, The Watchman, and the Emancipation of Slavery in Jamaica • Roxanne Watson, School of Mass Communications, University of South Florida • In 1832 Jamaica freedmen were still denied the right to vote and hold office and 300,000 slaves remained on the sugar estates. The Watchman and Jamaica Free Press, a newspaper edited by free colored Edward Jordon, played a role in obtaining equal rights for freedmen and emancipation for the slaves. Because of this, the newspaper’s free colored editor, Edward Jordon was indicted and tried for sedition under a statute that carried the death sentence.

American perceptions of China and the Chinese: Do the media matter? • Lars Willnat • This study of perceptions of China and the Chinese people is based on a national online survey conducted in early 2011 with a representative sample of 1,012 adult Americans. The findings suggest Americans have more sophisticated views of China than conventional wisdom might predict. Specifically, the data indicate that American respondents are able to distinguish their views of the Chinese government from those of the Chinese people. The survey also found that Americans have more interest in international news, particularly with respect to China, than is typically assumed. News media exposure was found to be associated with perceptions of China, but not perceptions of Chinese.

Cultural Assumptions about Domestic and Diaspora Publics in Global Public Diplomacy • Rhonda Zaharna, american university • This paper explores the cultural underbelly of public diplomacy by looking at the varying assumptions about the domestic public in global public diplomacy. The US public diplomacy model, currently the dominant perspective, focuses on foreign publics in developing initiatives. The public diplomacy of other countries tends to focus on their domestic publics and even diaspora as key components. The paper surveys different intellectual heritages to develop multi-cultural lenses for viewing public diplomacy around the world.

Covering Terrorism: An Analysis of Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya Web Sites • Lily Zeng, Arkansas State Univ. • This study examines the coverage of terrorism in two leading Arab news Web sites, Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya from September 11, 2009 to September 10, 2010. It finds that the stereotype that “”the terrorist is a Muslim”” continues in terrorism coverage, despite the fact that some terrorists are non-Muslims. However, the two sites manage to send out the message that “”the majority of terrorism victims are Muslims.” In addition, it reveals that too much media focus is placed on disseminating and supporting official positions and decisions, and humanitarian sufferings from terrorism are seldom brought to the attention of the public.

36. From Development Communication to Internet Connectivity: Milestones in United Nations Formulation and Transfer of Communication Policy to Africa (1958-2010) • Lyombe Eko, University of Iowa • This paper analyzed United Nations formulation and transfer of communication policy to Africa since 1958. It was found that the United Nations and its specialized agencies– UNESCO and the International Telecommunications Union (ITU)–started formulating and transferring communication policies to Africa at the dawn of independence. UN communication policies emphasized the role of the mass media as catalysts for development. At the turn of the 21st century, the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) emphasized reduction of the digital divide between Africa and the rest of the world, and encouraged Internet connectivity as the panacea for the continent’s development problems. However, there was no long-term strategy to localize and use information and communication technologies to produce content in African contexts or languages. Policies aimed at reinventing and localizing Information and Communication Technologies in Africa would facilitate the production of African content and make the Internet relevant in different African contexts.

37. Exploring the potential of wireless technologies to accelerate universal Internet access in Ghana • Ignatius Fosu, University of Arkansas • A qualitative study including in-depth interviews with ISPs explored Internet diffusion in Ghana.Findings suggest that due to Ghana’s inefficient and outdated fixed-line infrastructure, Ghana’s universal Internet access goals might not be achievable through fixed-line technologies. Rather,wireless technologies present great potential and may be more efficient. Policy suggestions to encourage widespread deployment of wireless broadband, expand bandwidth, and encourage infrastructure sharing are offered as potential directions for future research.

Markham Student Paper Competition

The Emergence of Social Media & the Political Crisis in Pakistan • Rauf Arif, The University of Iowa • The following paper is about the emergence of social media in Pakistan. Using a case study of YouTube videos uploaded both by the journalists and non-journalists during the 2007 political crisis in Pakistan, the paper finds that social media are contributing to the promotion of political dialogue in the country. The study finds that the social media have the ability to serve as an alternate media in the absence of traditional sources of news and information. Future researchers interested in new media may find this study helpful to understand how the Internet communication is challenging and transforming political hierarchies in developing countries by empowering individuals to engage in online political dialogue.

The discursive reproduction of Chinese and Japanese national identities: Editorials and opinions of the East China Sea dispute in the China Daily and Daily Yomiuri • Michael Chan, Chinese University of Hong Kong • Using a critical discourse analysis approach this study analyzed how national identities and ideologies were discursively constructed and reproduced through editorial and opinion commentaries in two English-language newspapers from China and Japan on an international incident involving the two countries. The first four editorials/opinions on the incident from the China Daily and Daily Yomiuri were analyzed. Findings showed that a variety of discursive strategies and linguistic devices were adopted by the newspapers to present the ‘home’ nation positively and ‘other’ nation negatively. Even though both newspapers are products of globalization and purport to target international and cosmopolitan audiences, the reporting of the East China Sea incident closely adhered to official narratives and discourses of the respective countries.

Media Framing and Terrorism: Analysis of frames in news reports of London bombings and Mumbai attacks • Nivedita Chatterjee, Pennsylvania State University • This study explores the manner in which terrorist activities are framed differently in different media systems to deduce what influences the media to frame these attacks in a particular manner. The study further investigates the differences between the frames – geographical, regional, and religious – that are used by countries such as the United States and United Kingdom, with their similar experiences with and policies for terrorism, and India, a country that has been dealing with sporadic terrorist attacks since its independence. The qualitative textual analysis of articles filed in three news portals, timesofindia.com, nytimes.com and bbc.co.uk regarding two terrorist attacks – July 7, 2005 London bombings and November 26, 2008 Mumbai attacks – revealed that frames used by the media for portraying terrorist activities are subject to influences from the manner in which terrorism is perceived and the terrorism policies employed by the host country.

Globalization in Guyana: An Exploratory Study on Pirated Television • Sally Ann Cruikshank, Ohio University • Guyana is a country greatly influenced by globalization, particularly when it comes to television programming.  Approximately 90% of programming shown on Guyanese television is pirated from North America and other regions of the world.  Guyana, a former British colony, is the only English-speaking country in South American and is one of the poorest countries in the hemisphere.  Guyana is a racially diverse nation, with a population split between people of African and East Indian descent.  This study examined the television programming of four Guyanese channels.  The programming was analyzed, within the theoretical framework of dependency theory, to determine what socioeconomic status was portrayed in the shows.  It further examined the racial make-up of characters in the shows.  Results revealed that most of the programming aired on Guyanese television depicted a lifestyle completely out of reach for the average Guyanese.  Further, many of the programs featured mainly white characters.

Between politics and market: Chinese media’s framing of Taiwan’s presidential elections in 2004 and 2008 • Ming Dai, University of Missouri, Columbia • The study investigated the variability of media framing of political election to test the conceptual reliability of the generic/issue-specific frames (Han, 2007; Semetko & Valkenburg, 2000). Through a content analysis of major Chinese media’s framing of the presidential elections in 2004 and 2008 in Taiwan, the study tested the validity of four generic and issue-specific frames: game, conflict, military consequences and ideology. Factor analysis and independent t-test were conducted to examine how media’s frames varied according to the changes in political policy and international relations. The results confirmed the conceptual consistency of generic and issue-specific frames over time. The variability of the frames, however, also depended on the interaction of political need and media’s audience orientation.

Same old, same old? A content analysis of the framing of Haiti in the news after the 2010 earthquake in the Jamaica Gleaner & the New York Times • Kay-Anne Darlington, Ohio University • This content analysis outlines the framing of Haiti in the Gleaner and New York Times coverage after the 2010 earthquake. The results confirm continued negative framing of Haiti using frames such as poverty, violence and political instability, thereby facilitating the ‘othering’ of Haiti. While these frames may help readers understand the disaster, they also exacerbate Haiti’s problems by ensuring that readers remain unaware of/unresponsive to the real issues facing Haiti.

Whose Global Publics? Al-Jazeera English’s Network Expansion and North American Media Barriers • Ian Davis, University of Illinois College of Media • The 2011 wave of political change in the Middle-East caught U.S. officials unprepared. Why was boiling regional turmoil so invisible to those in the West? These upheavals revealed blindspots in U.S. public discourse. So, why has Al Jazeera English (AJE) faltered when expanding into North America? This paper tracks the network expansion of AJE from 2006-2010 using newspaper and industry publications to document its organizational globalization as well as the institutional hostility to this growth.

The Politics of Cross-Cultural Discourses: “”Translating”” the AIDS  Epidemic to a Western Audience • Estee Fresco, University of Western Ontario • This work undertakes a discourse analysis of excerpts from Stephen Lewis’ book Race Against Time and Stephanie Nolen’s book 28: Stories about AIDS in Africa. It concludes that Lewis’ work maintains and perpetuates the epistemological framework upon which an unequal power relationship between Western and African countries rests while, on the other hand, Nolen’s work challenges this framework. This work contributes to considerations of the Developing World’s role in addressing the AIDS epidemic in Africa by suggesting that we cannot think about the material impact of strategies to fight the AIDS crisis or efforts to educate individuals about this crisis without first considering the impact that the very act of writing and speaking about the crisis can have on the individuals impacted by AIDS.

From Marching to Clicking: How NGOs are Leveraging Digital Tools for Activism in Mexico • Summer Harlow, University of Texas-Austin • This study examines how four activist organizations in Mexico have employed digital communication technologies, exploring how digital tactics are being diffused among these organizations, which dimensions of activism are supported by technologies, what obstacles they face in using technologies, and how they see these tactics as impacting the future of activism in Mexico. Interviews suggest that while the digital divide limits use of these tools, digital tactics still are being diffused, aiding and improving activism.

Transnational Comparative Framing: Suggesting a Model of Approach • Lei Guo, University of Texas at Austin; Avery Holton, University of Texas-Austin; Sun Ho Jeong, University of Texas at Austin • The recent rise in academic attention to transnational comparative media studies highlights the need for a more unified research approach to the field. By analyzing recent cross-national framing studies, this paper exposes gaps in the literature that a Transnational Comparative Framing Model suggested by this paper could help fill. An empirical study is applied to the model to illustrate its ability to provide a cohesive approach to this emerging area of media research.

Framing the Liberation War of Bangladesh in the U.S. and U.K. Media: A Content Analysis of the New York Times and the Times (London) • Mohammad Hossain, Southern Illinois University Carbondale (SIUC) • This study examined the framing of the liberation war of Bangladesh in the New York Times and the Times (London). The results suggest that both newspapers used three frames most frequently: military-conflict frame, prognostic frame and human interest frame. Both newspapers published news stories with more neutral tone than positive and negative tones. The New York Times and the Times (London) relied mostly on official sources as the primary sources in publishing news.

Newspaper Visibility of Members of Parliament in Kenya • Kioko Ireri, School of Journalism Indiana University • This research investigates variables that predicted news coverage of 219 Members of Parliament in Kenya by four national newspapers in 2009. The 10 variables examined are: ordinary Member of Parliament, cabinet minister, powerful ministry, parliamentary committee chairmanship, seniority, big tribe identity, major party affiliation, presidential ambition, commenting on contentious issues, and criticizing government. Findings indicate that commenting on contentious issues, criticizing government, being a cabinet minister, being an ordinary MP, holding a powerful cabinet portfolio, and seniority significantly predicted visibility of the parliamentarians. Commenting on controversial issues and major party identification were the strongest and weakest predictors, respectively. Additionally, of the top 10-most visible MPs, eight were cabinet ministers, with seven of them holding powerful ministerial positions.

Cultural Motivations for Imported Television Programs: The Korean Audience Watching U.S. Television Programs • Jennifer Kang, University of Texas at Austin • This study examines the motivations and viewing patterns of the Korean audience watching U.S. programs. It also argues that cultural aspects should be included in the viewing process of imported programs as a motivation. Four out of the five motivation factors were cultural motivations, and the viewing pattern factors tended to be active rather than passive. Results also showed that people who were motivated by the program quality tended to have more active watching habits.

Two-Level Games and the Issue of Ratification in the Global Public Sphere: A Case of Russia-Ukraine Gas Dispute 2008-09 • Anna Klyueva, University of Oklahoma • This study examined the role of international and domestic public opinion in ratification phase of international negotiations. Building on the two-level game theory (Putnam, 1988), the study examined how international and domestic public discourses are interdependent and may influence the issue salience in the media. To illustrate the argument, the study used the Russia-Ukraine gas dispute 2008-09. The results of the study indicated that foreign governments influence both the issue salience and the tone of media coverage.

Globalization in Africa:  A 10-Year Critical Literature Review of Communication Scholars’ Research Agenda • Ammina Kothari, School of Journalism – Indiana University • Based on a critical literature review of peer-reviewed scholarship published during the period from 1999 through 2009, I discuss three broad frameworks used by scholars: globalization as an agent of change; globalization as a global force; and globalization as a theoretical construct. My analysis finds that scholars defining globalization as an agent of change generally focus their research on media texts and cultural analyses, in order to highlight how globalization creates hybrid identities and melding of cultures. Scholars who view globalization as a global force, akin to imperialism, take on a more critical stance in their analysis, interrogating the idea of technology as an agent of change and the spread of English language as a conduit for fostering global communities. The third set of scholars who take a theoretical approach towards understanding theories of globalization focus on the disjuncture which currently exists in academia about the lack of a single definition for globalization. I also find that most of the research on globalization is conducted by scholars based in the United States and South Africa.  Additionally the geographical scope of scholarship is largely limited to South Africa. I argue that the absence of African scholars and the lack of diversity in the location of research, limits our understanding of the effects of globalization in Africa within the context of communication scholarship.

A Comparative Analysis of Coverage of the 2008 Mumbai Attacks in The New York Times and The Times of India • Elizabeth Lance, University of Missouri School of Journalism • Employing both ethnographic content analysis and institutional analysis of media systems, this paper examines coverage of the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks in two elite newspapers, The New York Times and The Times of India. By examining both the specific coverage in each newspaper as well as the broader structure in which that content was produced, this paper offers a comprehensive analysis to better understand the state of rational critical debate in the public sphere and how that informs democratic practices in each country. This paper concludes that The New York Times is better equipped to contribute to rational critical debate, but that even so, it is along a carefully scripted frame.

Globalization as Professionalization:  On the Production Side of China’s Journalism • Shi Li, Indiana • Guided by Appadurai’s five “”suffix scapes,”” this paper presents a participant-observation study on China’s journalism production side: a newsroom in Shanghai and a photojournalism workshop in Rizhao. Findings suggest that globalization has an implication on China’s journalism, especially photojournalism production, and that for many working journalists and editors such implication means “professionalization.” The resistance toward professionalization, intriguingly, has both local and global roots, and is revealed through censorship, self-censorship, and over-commercialization, among others things.

Mass Communication Research on China from 2000 to 2010: A Meta-Analysis • Shi Li, Indiana; Shuo Tang, Indiana University Bloomington • This study presents a meta-analysis of mass communication research on China from 2000 to 2010. It reveals patterns in authorship, methodological and theoretical approaches, medium and area of focus, through a content analysis of 159 articles published in 20 major communication journals. Eight frameworks frequently used by communication scholars to study China are identified in a follow-up analytical review. The paper concludes with a discussion on implications of the findings and suggestions for future work.

The story of Qi Shi Ma: Online discussion and community engagement in urban China • Zhengjia Liu, The University of Iowa • This case study discussed the local online forum’s potential of being a public sphere in China, using textual analysis of online discussions about a local affair in the City of Hangzhou. The analysis included 16 news stories from a local newspaper archive and 300 threads with 100 subsequent posts from the online forum hosted by the newspaper. The results showed that the online forum provided the residents with a platform to express their opinions, compared with the newspaper that worked as an organ for the government. On the other hand, the online discussions showed low levels of complexity and rationality. The social media only started to be a public space for expression rather than a public sphere for negotiations.

The Waning Elitism of U.S. Correspondents in Paris Between 1998 and 2010 • Patrick Merle, Texas Tech University • A qualitative study divulged findings from in-depth interviews conducted with U.S. foreign correspondents based in France in 1998 and in 2010. This longitudinal research investigated differences in the socio-demographic profiles as well as journalistic experiences and practices between journalists who covered France at two distinct time periods. Results suggested an overall wading elitism, an erosion of Paris’s news value, as well as the deontological threat posed by the Internet.

Countering Cultural Metanarratives: Anna Politkovskaya’s Chechen War Reporting • Susan Novak, University of Kansas • Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who reported about the Second Chechen War and the innocent Chechen civilians who suffered as a result, was assassinated in 2006. Her journalistic narratives told factual stories, but the Russian people disregarded them while the rest of the world lauded the work. Close textual narrative analysis of Politkovskaya’s stories, looking specifically at the Russian metanarratives her work countered, may help explain why her reporting did not resonate with Russian readers.

Veiled Politics: Legitimating the Burqa Ban in the French Press • Anne Roberts • This paper argues that mediated discourse in the French press contributed significantly to the passage of a law excluding the veil from being worn in public.  The discourse in the press made the legislation appear reasonable and necessary because of its association with gender inequality and religious fundamentalism. This media narrative was couched in a defensive employment of laïcité and legitimated the political position by presenting the veil as intolerable and against public social order.

The effect of ICTs on democratic attitudes and behaviors in sub-Saharan Africa • Elizabeth Stoycheff, Ohio State University • Recent political uprisings in the Middle East have communication scholars, journalists and politicians speculating: How do new media technologies influence citizens’ democratic attitudes and behaviors?  This paper empirically examines the relationship between two ICTs (Internet and cell phone use) and citizens’ demand for democracy and likelihood to engage in political protest in developing countries.  Implications for current political movements are discussed.

Framing Colombia: Problem Definition and Remedy in the New York Times, 1997-2008 • Matt Tedrow, University of Texas at Austin • This study uses framing theory and a content analysis of 794 news items to examine how the New York Times framed Colombia’s internal conflict as well as U.S. military involvement in the country for the years 1997-2008. Research questions asked which groups were depicted as responsible for violence and narcotrafficking, and what rationales were given for U.S. involvement in Colombia. Analysis focused on problem definition and remedy, two important framing functions defined by Entman (2004).

Soap operas as a matchmaker: A cultivation analysis of the effects of South Korean TV dramas’ on Vietnamese women’s marital intentions • Hong Vu, The University of Kansas • This cultivation study examined the effects of South Korean soap operas on Vietnamese female audiences. It also assessed cultivation effects in combination with the Theory of Reasoned Actions. Based on a survey of 439 female viewers, it explicated the link between South Korean soap opera consumption and the emergent phenomenon of transnational marriages involving Vietnamese women and South Korean men. Cultivation effects were confirmed in an international setting. Results also have important real world implications.

The Power of Social Network in China: How Does Microblog Influence the Way of Expression • Linjia Xu, Renmin University of China • Microblogs have provided a means for citizens to express their opinions and hardships to the public and to the Chinese government. When these hardships are dire, the power of online voices can force the government to act quickly and to respond effectively.  This study focuses on the influence of microblogs on the relationship between citizens and government. A survey of 495 microbloggers shows that the medium is predominantly used to main using for acquiring information and for following celebrities as opinion leaders. The analysis explored the characteristic way of continuous exposure to public by microblog. The tree-structure of information flow as I modeled made a topic to a hot issue. Netizens are mastering this medium, harnessing the power of the microblog in order to solve their societal problems, choosing this form of action over previous actions such as letters, phone calls, or visits to the high authorities.  This paper will show that the relationship between citizens and the Chinese government is fundamentally changing with the rise of new media and the increasing power of microblog.

A Qualitative Analysis of How and Why People Use Social Network Sites: A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Korea and the U.S. • Jinnie Yoo, University of Texas-Austin • While participation in social network sites (SNSs) has grown rapidly in recent years and is a highly popular, global phenomenon, only few research examined how the different cultural values and attitudes impact the way people adopt and use this new media platform. Employing qualitative approach, this study attempts to uncover the cross-cultural differences in motivations and behavioral patterns for using SNSs among the Korean and American users. The findings of this study show the explicit differences in the motivations and strategies for using SNSs between Korean and American users, which are supported by the independent and interdependent self-construals theory proposed by Markus and Kitayama (1991). The motivational themes and usage patterns emerged from Korean participants are more other- or relationship-focused, pursuing social/emotional support, while those of Americans are more ego- or self-focused, pertaining to entertainment or information seeking.

International Coverage, Foreign Policy, and National Image: Exploring the Complexities of Media Coverage, Public Opinion, and Presidential Agenda • Cui Zhang, University of Alabama • This study examines the linkage of media coverage of foreign countries, public opinion, and the policy agenda through the lens of both first- and second-level agenda-settings. A triangulation of research methods compared media coverage, public opinion and presidential public papers for 15 foreign countries. Results indicated that agenda-setting effects exist in media agenda, public agenda, and policy agenda regarding foreign countries. Implications of these findings on agenda-setting theory and national image were discussed.

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