Archives for January 2012

Media Ethics Interest Group

An Intellectual History Of Mass Media Ethics • Clifford Christians and John Nerone, Illinois • Examining the case of the Cincinnati Enquirer’s reporting on Chiquita, we argue that media ethics is challenged to support media critique and political actions. We trace this impasse in media ethics historically, identifying a continuing reliance on utilitarianism and modernist rationalism. We conclude by looking to a dialog among Habermasism discourse ethics, communitarianism and feminism for scholars.

Ethics On Trial: Courts Scrutinize Plaintiff Journalists’ Roles in Defamation Cases • Constance K. Davis, Iowa • Two plaintiff journalists lost defamation cases in 1998. In both cases courts scrutinized the journalists’ ethics and found their actions had helped turn them into limited-purpose public figures. In one case, a photojournalist had taken his concerns about staged photographs in Time magazine to a computer discussion group. In another, a broadcast journalist got into the middle of the failed ATF raid at the Branch Davidian compound, helped move wounded agents and shared his information with other media.

To Council or Not To Council: Debunking Common Myths and Fears About The National News Council • L. Paul Husselbee, Lamar University • Three common assumptions seem to have emerged from speculation about the demise of the National News Council. These assumptions, coupled with journalists’ concerns about news councils in general, are frequently cited as reasons not to consider news councils as a viable mechanism of media accountability. This analysis of the complaints filed with the National News Council finds no evidence to support these assumptions. It suggests that journalists’ traditional “news council phobia” is just that-an irrational fear.

Press, Privacy and Presidential Proceedings: Moral Judgments and the Clinton-Lewinsky Affair • Jennifer L. Lambe, Christina L. Fiebich and Darcia Narvaez, Minnesota • This exploratory study examines the relationship between levels of moral judgment and various attitudes towards the Clinton-Lewinsky affair and subsequent impeachment proceedings. Trends suggest that individuals with higher levels of moral reasoning take a more systemic view of political controversies. Expectations about Presidential competence and character are found to be highly correlated with attitudes concerning the private lives of public officials. Both demographic characteristics and attitudinal variables are shown to be associated with the level of blame assigned to the news media in shaping the Clinton-Lewinsky situation.

Value System Changes Resulting from a Media Ethics Course: A Postmodern Perspective • Larry Z. Leslie, South Florida • This pre- and post-test study examined value system changes resulting from a media ethics course. Over three semesters, seventy-four students participated in the study. They were given Rokeach’s lists of terminal and instrumental values on the first day and again on the last day of class and asked to rank each value on the lists in terms of its importance to them. The study was designed to answer several questions about the degree to which formal instruction in ethics could be influential in students changing the relative importance of several values, particularly those deemed important and less important to contemporary, postmodern culture.

Conservation vs. Dynamism: Five Versions of a Code of Ethics-A Case Study of the Israel Broadcasting Authority • Yehiel Limor, Tel-Aviv University and Ines Gabel, The Open University • The Nakdi Document is the code of ethics and practice of the Israel Broadcasting Authority (‘BA). Since it was drawn up in 1972, the document was updated four times (in 1979, 1985, 1995 and 1998) and expanded fourfold. The significant changes during the years reflect the unique position of the ‘BA as a public broadcasting organization. The research analyses the changes and the political, religious, cultural and professional reasons and circumstances for these changes.

A Research Agenda for Establishing a Grounding for Journalistic Ethics • Dan Shaver, North Carolina-Chapel Hill • The author suggests a model derived from modified professional theory and a set of characteristics for a system of media ethics that may avoid some of the difficulties of traditional approaches. The model proposes the cultivation of a relationship of trust based on bargains between individual news organizations and the immediate public they serve. A six-phase research agenda for testing the basic assumptions and for developing and implementing the model is proposed.

Telling It Like It Is: Letters To The Editor Discuss Journalism Ethics in 10 American Magazines, 1962-1972-1982-1992 • Brian Thornton, Northern Illinois University • This research found that: Negative letters increased from 47% negative in 1962 to 93% negative in 1992; Letters about journalism declined 95 percent during the study period; Themes in the letters changed from ethical concerns about truth to the view that objectivity has been abandoned. These findings add a largely unexplored dimension to the topic of public opinion and press ethics while building on Hazel Dicken-Garcia’s research into letters in the 1800s.

Autonomy and Accountability: Reassessing the National News Council • Erik Ugland, Minnesota • This study examines complaints brought before the National News Council, which operated from 1973 to 1984. It seeks to answer the arguments and assumptions posed by opponents of the Council that the Council was biased against the news media and therefore intruded on their autonomy. It seeks evidence of bias by examining disparities in the success of media respondents versus public complainants and disparities in the voting patterns of individual members of the Council.

Rights, Wrongs and Responsibilities: The Nexus of Law and Ethics in the Newsroom • Paul S. Voakes, Indiana University • How do journalists sort out the tangle of legal rights and ethical responsibilities in their everyday news work? In a survey of 1,037 journalists and in-depth interviews with 22 others, this project found substantial evidence for three models of the relationship of law and ethics: A Separate Realms model, a Correspondence model and a new “Responsibility Model,” in which the law is considered in problematic situations but only as one of several considerations in what is essentially an ethical decision.

<< 1999 Abstracts

Media and Disability Interest Group

Disability Visibility: Cartoon Depictions Of Bob Dole • Gene Burd, Texas • This analysis of 65 editorial cartoons by 31 artists examined stereotypes of age and disability in images of Bob Dole. It found 46 were negative and 19 positive in a sample from newspaper reprints and originals in Newsweek, Time, U.S. News, National Review, Nation, and Editorials on File during the 1995-96 presidential campaign. Themes of death, violence and senility dominated images of Dole. Little connection was made between his disability and age and his political position or abilities.

Creating a Virtual Television Culture: Using Actors and Models to Reflect Desired Perceptions in Primetime Television Advertising • Dennis Ganahl, Southern Illinois University • These research results reflect an uncaring and non-inclusive advertising community. They dramatically illustrate the lack of inclusion of visually-detected physically impaired models in current advertising. The study continues a longitudinal analysis of “if and how” the visually-detected physically impaired persons are portrayed in network primetime advertising. This is the largest sampling of network primetime television advertising ever undertaken for this type of study.

Wrestling with Stereotypes: Images of the Mentally Ill in the WWF • Marie Hardin, Florida Southern College and Brent Hardin, Florida State University • This study examines the stereotypes and symbols used in reference to individuals with mental illness or mental disabilities in professional wrestling. After using qualitative methods to analyze more than 30 hours of 1998-99 World Wrestling Federation pay-per-view specials, researchers concluded that stereotypes used to characterize the mentally/ill disabled, while not vastly different from those already seen in prime time, exaggerate negative images of these groups.

Investigating Media Influence on Attitudes toward People with Disabilities and Euthanasia • Kimberly A. Lauffer and Sarah Bembry, Florida • The issues of euthanasia, physician-assisted death, and physician-assisted suicide have become hot topics for news and entertainment shows, spawning hours of programming since a videotape depicting Jack Kevorkian injecting a lethal dose of drugs into the arm of Thomas Youk, a man with Lou Gehrig’s disease, aired on 60 Minutes during the November 1998 sweeps. This experiment used an information-integration approach to examine whether such programming affects attitudes toward people with disabilities.

The Media’s Role In Building The Disability Community • Jack Nelson, Brigham Young University • It is obvious that technology is rapidly changing the world around us. Nowhere is that change more evident than in the changes occurring for those with physical and mental limitations-their portrayal in the media, their use of the media to achieve group aims, and their use of the new on-line media to communicate with others who have limitations and with the non-disabled world as well. In a very real way the growing sense of community among those with disabilities has been linked to the media.

Print Advertising Images of the Disabled: Exploring the Impact on Nondisabled Consumer Attitudes • Zenaida Sarabia Panol and Michael McBride, Southwest Texas State University • This research evaluated the impact of advertisements featuring physically-disabled persons on perceptions, feelings, and behavior of nondisabled audiences. No significant differences were found between responses toward disability and nondisability ads, pointing to possible mainstreaming effects. However, gender and status of disabled persons in advertisements appeared to influence negative assessments of advertising portraying physically-disabled females with nondisabled males. Frequency of exposure to ads portraying disabled persons also seems to determine the direction of attitudinal responses.

Kevorkian Convicted In 60 Minutes A Semiotic Analysis Of Editorial Cartoons • Ann Preston, Quincy University • This research asked what signs depict Kevorkian and related characters in recent cartoons, what those signs signify, and how proximity affects depictions. Icons include exaggerated nose, ears and glasses in caricatures of Kevorkian. Indices include IV bags and hypodermics. Symbols consist of words. Depictions of Kevorkian and of “60 Minutes” are overwhelmingly deflating. Only two cartoons extend the agenda beyond the “60 Minutes” broadcast or the Kevorkian trial to include disability. Detroit is over represented among trial cartoon.

<< 1999 Abstracts

Internship and Careers Interest Group

Benefits Of An Internal College Internship With Professor As Practitioner Supervisor: A Two-Year Case Study • John E. Forde, Mississippi State • One method to help communication professors stay current is for them to directly supervise students who are completing internships within their own college. When students receive credit for the work, the professor may serve as the faculty supervisor/coordinator and the professional/practitioner supervisor. This case study outlines one successful program being implemented by a university and the ensuing benefits for the students, professor, dean, and other publics.

Helping Students Find Internships And Jobs: An Outline For A Workshop On Resume Writing, Interviewing And Portfolio Development In Cooperation With Professional Public Relations Practitioners • Terri Lynn Johnson, Indiana University • The importance of internships for public relations students is well established, but obtaining the internship can be competitive and overwhelming. This paper outlines how to establish a workshop to help students develop resumes, interviewing skills, and portfolios with the help of professional public relations practitioners. It supplements the educational program, provides skills needed to obtain internships and jobs in the field, supports a mentoring program for college students and builds the University’s relationship with professionals.

Emotional Intelligence and Employability: Implications for Internship Curriculum • Michael L. Maynard, Temple University • The study correlates Emotional Intelligence dimensions of motivation as well as social and communication skills with feedback from internship hosts on 79 student evaluations on two questions: What gave the intern most trouble? and Would you hire the intern? Chi square analysis supports the hypothesis that interns not lacking in emotional intelligence are more likely to be considered for employment by the internship host than interns who lack emotional intelligence.

<< 1999 Abstracts

Graduate Education Interest Group

An Exploration Into the Haves and Have-Nots of Electronic Commerce • Sean Baker, Washington • A telephone survey was conducted to explore typical users of Internet commerce in Washington state. Findings suggest that lower income, less educated, rural, and senior citizens have disproportionate access to communication and information technologies. These groups are falling victim to an existing “technology gap” in our society. However, one finding suggests that information access for women is becoming more equitable. Suggestions for future research are presented.

The Press Release And The Bscore: New Statistical Measurement Explored • Lee Bollinger, South Carolina • Persuasion messages dynamically impact people/society, and scholars plough their way through mounds of rhetoric to determine how such impact can be predicted Researchers develop measures of effects; advertisers reach for sales data; TV producers pay for ratings; marketers attempt consumer measures of taste; social psychologists analyze social systems over time for predictive purposes; and public relations people diligently study the craft of the press release to attract media. All prediction attempts involve usage of precision tools.

Coming to America: Perceptions of International Graduate Students in Journalism • Teresa Trumbly Lamson, Richard Gross, Steven E. Chappel, Renita Coleman and Keith P. Sanders, Missouri • To examine motivations of international students’ selection of American universities for graduate study in journalism, a Q-study was conducted at a Midwestern journalism school. Questionnaires were constructed in accordance with standard practices for the Q-methodology. Factor analysis was conducted. Researchers found three closely related factor types, with subtle distinctions among them. Researchers conclude international students were motivated to study in the United States based on the school’s reputation, the professional potential it offered, and finances.

Cultural Myth and Nature as Adversary in “Dateline NBC” • Robert Newell, Washington • Adopting the Barthesian logic that modern media engages in culturally informed mythmaking, this author searches for myths behind today’s news content. Qualitatively and quantitatively examining a number of texts from the popular NBC newsmagazine, “Dateline NBC”, this author suggests that American news, or at least newsmagazine, coverage of the natural environment is informed by a unique perspective that runs through American letters, essays, historical documents and literary tradition.

Dumpster Dining And Symbolic Sleep: Homelessness, Political Theater And The Community For Creative Non-Violence • Kathleen Olson, North Carolina -Chapel Hill • The Community for Creative Non-Violence (CCNV) was a “radical Christian group” that skillfully used the “media event” during the Eighties to turn public attention to the homeless. This paper examines CCNV’s use of political theater and the Supreme Court case that linked homelessness and symbolic speech, Clark V. Community for Creative Non-Violence, concluding that CCNV used the case itself as a form of political theater to put the plight of the homeless at center stage.

Professors of Foresight: Finding a Place for the Future in Journalism Curricula • Richard Somerville, Missouri • The study of the future has grown into a valued tool for business planners, government and non-government organizations, and many areas of the social sciences. Yet despite the need for reporters and editors who can inject foresight into the news-and despite studies showing that “futures thinking” not only can be a useful tool for journalists in a rapidly changing world, but a vital one-the use of futures studies in the teaching of journalism and mass communications is found to be an underused resource.

The Effect Of Membership In The Society Of Environmental Journalists On Inclusion Of Enabling Information In Stories On Water Quality • Michelle Tedford, Ohio University • This study builds on Rossow and Dunwoody’s finding that enabling information in environmental stories is tied to editors’ concerns for the issues. If membership is an indicator of concern, stories by SEJ members should include more enabling information from different sources, include more graphics, and influence the story’s placement. In a look at water quality stories from 1993, none of these differences was found to correspond with membership when comparing member and non-member groups.

<< 1999 Abstracts

Civic Journalism Interest Group

Civic Journalism And Community Policing: Potential For Partnership • Kathryn B. Campbell, Wisconsin-Madison • The reforms movements of civic journalism and community policing are intended to replace or substantially modify entrenched models of media practice and law enforcement. However, no academic research has been completed on the theoretical or empirical connections and interactions between community policing and civic journalism models. Civic journalism, despite its own liabilities, may provide a way for specific policing concerns about protecting individual rights and establishing community norms to be addressed.

Civic Journalism And Gender Diversity In News-Story Sourcing • Brian L. Massey Nanyang Technological University, Singapore • The proposition that civic journalism corrects for traditional journalism’s weaknesses was tested for the under-representation of women as sources in traditionally reported news. By comparison, women’s appearance in news stories as information sources increased under civic journalism, but only marginally and only in stories reported by female journalists. Men sources were still numerically dominant. The results of this case study raise questions about civic journalism’s long term success at reforming traditional newswork.

Constructing Meaning: The Role Of The Audience In News Writing • Jack Morris, Missouri • Writing theory and practice are shifting from a linear product paradigm that focuses on delivery of facts to an interactive process paradigm that focuses on construction of meaning. This shift is evident in composition, anthropology, linguistics, philosophy, literary theory and psychology, and it is the root of the civic-traditional journalism debate. This paper traces the history of the construction of meaning movement and shows how it parallels the development of more interactive communication models.

Following Their First Steps: A Lesson In Launching Public Journalism • Rebecca A. Payne, Arizona • Public journalists experimenting with ways to improve daily coverage have a greater challenge than their contemporaries who focused on “project” reporting. This case study examines the public journalism efforts of one newspaper, The State, in Columbia, South Carolina, to reconnect with readers and improve coverage. Results emphasize the importance of choosing a topic and for including reporters in decision-making from the beginning. A poorly conceived project and one that has little support from newsroom staff may actually harm rather than heal connections with readers.

Media Coverage of Sports and Politics: An Examination of the Press’ Role in Campaigns for Professional Sports Stadium Construction • Robert Trumpbour, Pennsylvania State University • In recent years, a new “Super Bowl” has emerged for sports franchise owners, with the construction of a taxpayer subsidized stadium as the ultimate prize. This paper argues that civic journalism might offer a better coverage strategy than the traditional reporting methods when reporting on political attempts to publicly fund sports stadia. In many regards, the stakes of the stadium finance game are much more significant for the typical citizen and sports fan since the result has been franchise relocations and/or new taxes in order to subsidize stadium construction for professional sports franchises.

<< 1999 Abstracts