Archives for January 2012

Radio-TV Journalism Division

The Real Ted Baxter: The Rise of the Celebrity Anchorman • Terry Anzur, WPEC-TV • This book chapter traces the rise of the celebrity anchorman in local TV news. The debate over the role of the anchor is symbolized by the two real-life newsmen in Los Angeles who were the models for the character of Ted Baxter, the fictional TV news anchor on the Mary Tyler Moore Show. Local audiences and the increasing complexity of TV newscasts favored news readers like Jerry Dunphy over opinionated personalities like George Putnam.

Cable and Network TV News: Narrowing International Knowledge Gaps related to Education & International Experience • Christopher E. Beaudoin, Indiana-Bloomington • The current study examines the basic antecedents of international knowledge and tests two forms of the knowledge gap hypothesis. Hierarchical regression analyses are conducted on data from a 2001 national telephone survey. Positive associations are found between international knowledge and education, international experience, and international news attention. Also, international news attention — especially for network TV and cable TV news — appears to narrow gaps in international knowledge between people with lesser and higher levels of education and international experience.

The Mentor-mentee Relationship: A Co-orientation Perspective of National Public Radio Training Projects • Michelle Betz, University of Central Florida and Teresa Mastin, Middle Tennessee State University • This study examines the shared perceptions of a group of mentors (i.e., communication professionals) and mentees (i.e., college students) who participated in several short, intensive radio training projects. Though most participants were on the same page regarding the project’s goal, mentors and mentees expressed the need for more guidance in the area of project expectations. Future studies surrounding this topic should compare traditional and less traditional mentor-mentee programs across disciplines to uncover mentoring program qualities that provide beneficial experiences for both mentors and mentees, especially as related to traditionally marginalized groups.

Language and Cultural Sensitivity in Broadcasting Reforms Toward Commercialism and Pluralism: The Case of Private Radio in Ghana • Isaac Abeku Blankson, Southern Illinois-Edwardsville • Since 1995, Ghana’s radio broadcasting environment has been transformed from public broadcast monopoly to a more vibrant commercial and plural system. However, some of the emerging character of commercial radio has called cultural critics to question whether private radio could help promote Ghana’s culture, languages and local programs. This paper examines emerging cultural issues and concerns surrounding the predominant use of English language by the private radio stations to the neglect of local languages as envisaged and the mimicking of foreign American and Caribbean accents by radio presenters, news readers and DJs (termed LAFA in Ghana) in Ghana.

Media, Terrorism, and Emotionality: Affective Dimensions of News Content and Effects after September 11 • Jaeho Cho, Michael P. Boyle, Heejo Keum, Mark Shevy, Douglas M. McLeod and Dhavan V. Shah, Wisconsin-Madison • This study extends medium theory by combining content analysis and survey research to examine differences in emotional responses to the September 11 terrorist attacks. This paper demonstrates that the language used in television news is consistently more emotional than print news for indicators such as motion, tenacity, praise, blame, and satisfaction. In addition, this study used a RDD survey to demonstrate that use of television news was more strongly related to both positive and negative emotional responses to the attacks than use of print news.

Visual Bias and Other Factors Affecting Voting Behavior of TV News Viewers in a Presidential Election • Renita Coleman, Louisiana State University and Donald Granberg, Missouri-Columbia • This study supports the findings of past studies of nonverbal bias in political campaigns in showing that ordinary TV viewers can and do perceive biases in the facial expressions of television newscasters. Two of the five newscasters studied exhibited significantly more positive facial expressions when they mentioned one presidential candidate than the other in coverage of the 1996 election. This is the third study to produce the same results in three different elections.

The Myth of the Five-day Forecast: A Study of Television Weather Accuracy and Audience Perceptions of Accuracy in Columbus, Ohio • Jeffrey M. Demas, Otterbein College • Television weather has not been studied in a communication journal since 1982, despite technological advances and a reliance on forecasts by a transient public. This study measured accuracy of weather forecasts in central Ohio and found that stations were very accurate in predicting within 48 hours, but extended forecasts were quite inaccurate. Telephone interviews with 315 central Ohio residents revealed that they not only rely on the five-day forecasts, but believe them to be accurate.

Stories in Dark Places: David Isay and the New Radio Documentary • Matthew C. Ehrlich, Illinois at Urbana-Champaign • David Isay is one of America’s most honored broadcast journalists, although relatively few have heard of him. This paper provides a critical/cultural analysis of Isay’s radio stories within the context of contemporary scholarly critiques of journalism. It explores whether his stories appeal to social understanding or merely to voyeurism, whether he presents an alternative model of journalistic storytelling, and whether his work signals a new direction in radio’s use as a news medium.

Network and Local Coverage of the Year 2000 Presidential Elections • Frederick Fico and Geri Alumit Zeldes, Michigan State • A content analysis of network and local stories broadcasted during the 2000 presidential election shows that individual stories tended to be unfair and imbalanced, favoring either Bush or Gore, but the news segment tended to be more fair and balanced. Overall, a Bush source was more likely to be the first source presented, but Gore sources received more airtime. Comparisons between networks and local coverage show that the networks coverage was more fair and balanced.

Measuring Newscast Accuracy: Applying a Newspaper Model to Television • Gary Hanson and Stanley T. Wearden, Kent State • Measuring accuracy has been a part of academic literature since the mid-1930s. Most accuracy surveys, even those for television, send printed stories to sources for their evaluation. This study develops a workable design to measure television news accuracy by sending video copies to sources. It also adopts a questionnaire from the newspaper literature for use in television. The research method was used to assess the accuracy of local television in Cleveland.

On Print, Politics & the Public: “Sesame Street’s” Impact Beyond Television • Stephanie Hay, Ohio • In 1966, Joan Ganz Cooney and Lloyd Morrisett brainstormed about the future of children’s television programming. Two years later, “Sesame Street” debuted on National Educational Television as the product of their discussion with generous public, private and governmental contributions. This historical analysis describes “Sesame Street” from its inception in 1966 through the end of its third season in 1972. It details how media, public and political responses to “Sesame Street” influenced revisions in the non-commercial program’s format.

Local TV News and Sense of Place: Viewers’ Connections to the News They Love to Hate • Lee Hood, Colorado • Local television news is the U.S. public’s most-used information source. This study examines the meaning local news holds for viewers, arguing that such meaning must be understood apart from viewers’ evaluations of the news programs themselves. Contrasting with notions of global homogenization, the study explores ways in which local news may be implicated in individuals’ conceptions of locality and sense of place. It argues that news is one of the windows through which people experience their locale, and that the connection is particularly vivid with television news.

News Diffusion and Emotional Response to the September 11 Attacks • Stacey Frank Kanihan, University of St. Thomas and Kendra L. Gale, Colorado-Boulder • This study examines the news diffusion process during the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. The findings validate other research regarding the rapid diffusion of highly salient information through broadcast media channels in the early diffusion but interpersonal communication quickly becoming the dominant source of information as people begin to talk with others about the events. We also find media coverage in the first days following the attacks made people angry, not more emotionally upset.

Pacing in Television Newscasts: Does Target Audience Make A Difference? • Mark Kelley, Syracuse • Researchers link the pace of television news, i.e., how rapidly the images or shots change, to how well viewers comprehend and remember or learn the information. This study examines the pacing of two television newscasts produced specifically for use as part of the instructional curriculum of primary and secondary schools, to determine if producers utilize pacing that is conducive to learning by children and adolescents.

“Soft” News and “Hard” News — A Reflection of Gender or Culture? • Aliza Lavie, Bar-Ilan University, Israel • In light of the current feminization of the media, we ask if the traditional identity of “soft news” = feminine ad “hard news” = masculine still holds In the treatment of news each gender employs gender-typical modes of operation In dealing with “soft” issues, men inject their typical, objective and disassociated style of reporting. Women, when reporting “hard” news, render salient those specific aspects which are consistent with “feminine” values.

Television Breaking News & the Invalid Application of aUtilitarian Justification: A Practical Plan for Consequential Ethical Dialogue BEFORE Breaking News Occurs • Andrea Miller, Missouri • The common journalistic justification “the people’s right to know” is a basic utilitarian concept. This study argues this old philosophical framework of utilitarianism cannot be applied to the new genre of television breaking news because of the lack of consideration of consequences. When technology brings news to the viewer live, there are an endless number of unexpected situations. Couple the former with the lack of time for adequate consequential consideration (because of technological, competitive and economical pressures) and the result is a complete breakdown of the concept.

Do Sweeps Really Affect A Local News Program? An Analysis of KTVU Evening News During the 2001 May sweeps • Yonghoi Song, Missouri-Columbia • This study was conducted to examine the impact of the sweeps – the period during which viewing rate is measured – on the news programs in a local television station. The findings show that the sweeps do not always increase the proportion of soft news. The results of this study indicate that commercial pressure of the sweeps on the local television newsroom is mitigated by the characteristics of the audience market and the professional tradition of the newsroom.

AWRT and Edy the Meserand: Preparing Women Professionals to Achieve as Individuals • Stacy Spaulding, Maryland • Whether journalism is a profession or an occupation has been the subject of much debate, however the formation of American Women in Radio and Television (AWRT) in 1951 is evidence of attempts at professionalization on behalf of female broadcasters. In this case, however, the process perhaps helped legitimize women’s roles in an industry that they helped pioneer, but faced widespread discrimination and prejudice in.

Live News Reporting: How a Young Demographic Views It • C. A. Tuggle, North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Suzanne Huffman, Texas Christian University and Dana Scott Rosengard, Memphis • Researchers surveyed more than 500 young adults (ages 18-24) to assess their general views about live television news reporting. Findings show that viewers generally do not base their news viewing on the live reporting tendency of stations. Respondents indicated several positive and negative aspects of the tendency of local news operations to go live. They indicate they like the “real feel” of live reporting, but indicate that it is often overdone. There were market-based differences in viewers’ responses.

The Chromakey Ceiling: An Examination of Television Weathercasting and Why the Gender Gap Persists • Kris M. Wilson, Texas-Austin • Consultants advise that weather is the most important part of the local newscast. Yet, a dearth of scholarly research exists on the television weather. In this survey of more than 200 TV weathercasters, baseline data is analyzed to better understand how this group of specialists’ work. Among the findings is the historically low numbers of women employed as TV weathercasters. Despite significant strides in other areas of television news, women remain a small minority of weathercasters and are most often isolated to weekend newscasts.

Media in a Crisis Situation Involving National Interest: A Content Analysis of the TV Networks Coverage of The 9/11 Incident during the First Eight Hours • Xigen Li, Laura F. Lindsay, and Kirsten Mogensen, Louisiana State University • A content analysis of coverage of 9/11 incident during the first 8 hours examined how five television networks framed the news coverage as events unfolded. Media performed their function in a crisis basically as they were expected and coverage and issues do not vary significantly among the networks. This study found variety of sources was used and the influence of government officials was not as great as in the coverage of a crisis with less involvement of U.S. national interest.

Chinese-Language Television News in the U.S.A.: A Cross-Cultural Examination of News Formats and Sources • Yih Ling Liu and Tony Rimmer, California State University-Fullerton • To study the effects of culture on ethnic news content, hypotheses were proposed based on how several cultural dimensions might influence news format and source of U.S., Taiwanese, and Chinese TV news materials broadcast to the southern California Chinese community. Cultural variables used in the hypotheses were power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism/collectivism, masculinity/femininity, high and low context, and mono and polychronic.

<< 2002 Abstracts

Public Relations Division

RESEARCH
Leadership and Gender in Public Relations: Perceived Effectiveness of Transformational and Transactional Leadership Styles • Linda Aldoory, Maryland and Elizabeth L. Toth, Syracuse • This study used a quantitative survey and qualitative focus groups to examine perceptions of leadership styles, sex differences in these perceptions, and opinions about the gendered nature of leadership in public relations. In summary, the focus group data supported survey results that indicated a strong preference for transformational leadership style over transactional leadership. However, there was also strong evidence for a preference for situational leadership. Findings are interpreted within the frameworks of public relations theory and gender theory.

Public Relations Orientation: Development. Empirical Testing and Implications for Managers • Leeora D. Black and Charmine E.J. Hartel, Monash University • The study uses both theory construction and theory testing techniques to develop and validate the construct and a measure of public relations orientation. The public relations orientation measure assesses the degree to which organizations (1) pursue both behavioral and symbolic relationships with publics, (2) set public relations goals to support organizational goals and facilitate effective use of public relations information within the organization, (3) provide adequate resources for public relations, (4) are responsive to the needs of publics, and (5) engage in dialogue with publics.

Corrective Action After a Crisis: Should Public Relations Require or Request Implementation? • Lori Boyer, Louisiana State University • Public relations practitioners counsel an organizationÕs leadership after a crisis. Should practitioners suggest or require the implementation of corrective measures after a crisis? Participants in an experiment read news accounts of a crisis that was set in a restaurant. Results indicate that organizations that implemented corrective actions after a crisis received significantly higher positive evaluations from consumers than organizations that did not implement corrective action.

Fortune 500 Company Web Sites and Media Relations: Corporate PR Practitioners’ Use of the Internet to Assist Journalists in News Gathering • Coy Callison, Texas Tech University • A content analysis of all 2001 Fortune 500 company Websites was conducted to determine how corporations are using the Web to meet the informational needs of journalists. Analyses revealed that the majority of Websites do not have dedicated pressrooms where media content is centralized. In pressrooms, news releases, executive biographies and executive photographs are the most commonly included materials. Statistics suggest that higher-ranking companies more often provide pressrooms and materials in pressrooms than lower-ranking companies.

Corporate Reputation As A New Media Agenda Item: Attribute Agenda Setting And Business News Coverage • Craig E. Carroll, Texas at Austin • Business news has grown dramatically over the past thirty years suggesting that there has been a shift in the media agenda. This paper proposes examining agenda setting theory for its ability to explain the impact of media coverage on public opinion for matters beyond public issues. Finally, this paper describes the data and methods necessary for testing this extension of attribute agenda setting theory by examining perceptions of corporate reputation.

A Content Analysis of the Journal of Public Relations Research and Public Relations Review, 1989-2001 • Tina B. Carroll, Miami • This study analyzed 498 articles in the Journal of Public Relations Research and Public Relations Review from 1989 to 2001 to investigate the status of published public relations research. Variables that were examined included author characteristics, methodological procedures, and research topics. Results indicate that nearly half (49%) of the articles discussed or tested a theory and 48% of the articles had at least one female author.

PR Educators – “The Second Generation”: Measuring and Achieving Consensus • Erik L. Collins and Lynn M. Zoch, South Carolina • A Delphi study of public relations academics identified James L. Grunig, Scott M. Cutlip, Robert L. Heath, and Glen M. Broom as the public relations researchers who have made the greatest contribution to the theoretical and analytical understanding of public relations during the period from 1960-1990. Findings also indicated that there is little agreement about the important contributions to the theoretical and analytical perspectives of public relations as a profession made by PR academics.

Journalists’ Hostility Toward Public Relations: A Historical Analysis • Fred Fedler and Denise DeLorme, Central Florida • Journalists seem to treat public relations and its practitioners with contempt. However, no studies have investigated the problemÕs historic roots. Thus, this paper explores the perspective of “early insiders” through a historical analysis of autobiographies, biographies, and magazine articles written by and about early U.S. newspaper reporters and editors. Results revealed six interrelated factors that contributed to the origins, persistence, and contradictions surrounding the hostility. The paper concludes with practical implications and future research directions.

Crisis Public Relations: A Study Of Leadership, Culture, Demand And Delivery • Terence (Terry) Flynn, Syracuse University • This study explored how public relations practitioners and their respective managers responded to the crisis events of September 2001. In depth interviews were conducted with five communicators and five managers in an effort to understand how organizational leadership, culture and the demand and delivery of crisis public relations affected the overall response of their organizations to the 9/11 attacks. The study provides the first insights, beyond the Excellence Study, of the demand-delivery cycle as proposed by Dozier, Grunig & Grunig.

Measuring Public Relations Outcomes: Community Relations and Corporate Philanthropy Programs • Margarete Rooney Hall, Florida • This study measured the relationship-building value of the community relations and corporate philanthropy programs of a regional utility company. The strength of the company-customer relationship was determined. Customers were then asked about their awareness of specific community relations and corporate — philanthropy programs, and the importance of those programs. The study compares the strength of the relationship between the company and its customers who were aware and those who were unaware of community relations and corporate philanthropy.

An Integrated Model Of Public Relations Effectiveness: A Conceptual Framework And An Empirical Study • Yi-Hui Huang, National Cheng-Chi University, Taiwan • The purposes of this paper are twofold: 1) develop a comprehensive and integrated framework for evaluating public relations effectiveness, and 2) empirically explore the relationships between and among the performance measures of public relations. Taken as a whole, the results provide valuable insights into these two areas and indicate that public relations is characterized by both direct and indirect effects.

Five Decades of Mexican Public Relations in the United States: From Propaganda to Strategic Counsel • Melissa A. Johnson, North Carolina State University • This paper describes U.S. public relations for Mexico through a quantitative and qualitative content analysis of 940 Foreign Agents Registration Act listings from 1942 through 1991. The article delineates the shift from government to industry representation, the move from press agentry and public information models to more research and counsel, centralization trends, and the evolving roles of US public relations from technicians to high-stakes public relations managers. The continuing robust technician role is confirmed.

The Effects of Relationships on Satisfaction, Loyalty, and Future Behavior A Case of a Community Bank • Yungwook Kim, Ewha Womans University, Seoul and Samsup Jo, Florida • Testing why relationship building contributes to an organizational bottom line is a key issue in developing relationship-building theory. The results reveal that customers who have positive relational features are less likely to switch the banks their bank accounts whereas the customers who are dissatisfied are more likely to switch their bank account to alternative competitors. CustomerÕs satisfaction and loyalty clearly influenced on the customers’ future behavioral intention.

Cross-National Conflict Shifting: A Conceptualization And Expansion In An International Public Relations Context • Juan-Carlos Molleda and Colleen Connolly-Ahern, Florida • The main purpose of this paper is to introduce, illustrate and expand the concept of “cross-cultural conflict shifting” as it relates to the international public relations arena. The illustration is accomplished by summarizing a legal incident involving America Online Latin America (AOLA) in Brazil with repercussions in the U. S. and European financial markets. After the conceptualization is expanded, theory building and research opportunities in an international public relations context will be introduced.

International Paradigms: The Social Role of Brazilian Public Relations Professionals • Juan Carlos Molleda, Florida • This study uses factor analysis to test the construct “social role” of Brazilian public relations professionals developed through an analysis of the Latin American School of Public Relations. Two factors were extracted and called: (1) “Corporate Social Policies and Employee Relations,” and (2) “Government and Community Relations.” The study was to add to the theoretical base of the U.S. body of knowledge by identifying the similarities between the Latin American and U.S. scholarships.

An Analysis of the Relationships Among Structure, Influence, and Gender: Helping to Build a Feminist Theory of Public Relations • Julie O’Neil, Texas Christian University • Feminist scholars have suggested that the organizational context may be to blame for the powerlessness of some female public relations practitioners. This study assessed this claim by using feminist theory and a structural framework. Women had less formal structural power than men, but there were no gender differences in relationship power or influence. Consistent with feminist hypothesizing and the structural framework, practitioners’ influence was related to both their formal structural power and relationship power — not gender.

Marching in Lockstep: Public Relations Roles in the New South Africa • Barbara K. Petersen, Derina R. Holtzhausen and Natalie T. J. Tindall, South Florida • This study provides an important descriptive framework for understanding public relations practitioner roles in multicultural, politically, and socially complex environments. Quantitative analysis revealed a strong professionalism among South African practitioners (N=208). They did not follow the traditional manager/technician division of roles, but instead, practiced all four tested in this research — liaison, media relations, cultural interpreter, personal influence — with the level of practice increasing as the practitionerÕs position became more senior.

Reconciling Multiple Roles: Toward A Model of the Female African-American Public Relations Practitioner • Donnalyn Pompper, Florida State University • Failure to promote diversity in the public relations workplace handicaps our ability to apply the two-way symmetrical model for public relations excellence. Fortunately, public relations theorists have addressed excellence impediments by fueling “feminization” debates, by confronting the “velvet ghetto” and “glass ceiling” phenomena, and by valuing public relationsÕ “management” function. Unfortunately, by homogenizing “women” and “minorities” in our research, African-American women’s unique contributions have been obscured.

New Partnerships for the Poor: A Case Study Advancing Relationship Theory • Catherine Quoyeser and Elizabeth L. Toth, Syracuse University • This case study advanced and tested a synthesis of two relationship theories, and assists development practitioners in building strategic partnerships for the worldÕs poor. Using the case study method, it examined a partnership between the World Bank Vietnam and Save the Children, United Kingdom in order to test a new operational model of relationships. The study concluded that elements of the new model — causal interactions between antecedents, maintenance strategies, outcomes, and organizational effectiveness — account for changes in the relationship between these organizations.

Building Business Relationships Online: Relationship Management in Business-to-Business E-Commerce • Bryan H. Reber, Alabama and Scott Fosdick, Missouri • A survey of 517 executives examined relationship management within business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce. Companies that employed B2B e-commerce evidenced communication and public relations tenets of relationship management. They allowed consumers to order and pay online, to access online support, to contact the company or sales staff, and to get product information. Engendering loyalty, by tracking customer satisfaction, was weak. Commitment to B2B e-customers was high, evidenced through personnel dedicated to B2B e-commerce and stated organizational commitment.

Asking What Matters Most: A National Survey of PR Professional Response to the Contingency Model • Jae-Hwa Shin, Glen T. Cameron and Fritz Cropp, Missouri • For the first time, a random sample of public relations professionals assessed 86 factors in the contingency theory of public relations. This study aims at identifying what contingent factors matter most in public relations practice to provide public relations professionals with a refinement of the contingency factors in public relations activities. Support was found for a matrix of variables affecting public relations practice, and organizational factors (i.e. top management, public relations department, organizational culture, etc.) were identified that affect the contingency undertaken by public relations practitioners in a given situation.

A Cross-Cultural View of Conflict in Media Relations: The Conflict Management Typology of Media Relations in Korea and in the U.S. • Jae-Hwa Shin and Glen T. Cameron, Missouri • This study provides practical guidelines for American public relations professionals who plan to design and implement media relations practice in Korea and for Korean professionals in the U.S. The first section of this study addresses the conflict components essential to the relationship between PR professionals and journalists. The second section of this study addresses cultural components essential to media relations in Korea and the U.S..

In the Face of Change: A Case Study of the World Wide Web as a Public Relations Tool for Art Museums • Nicole Elise Smith, Louisiana State • As we become even more immersed in the Information Age, a key question for those in the museum public relations field is: What is the impact of the Internet, and in particular the World Wide Web, on the traditional role of museums? This case study uses in-depth interviews, a Web site analysis and a museum visitor study to explore the status of the Web as a public relations tool for an existing art museum.

The TPO Endorsements and Consumer Evaluation of a Web Store: Do Seal, Customer Testimonials, and News Clip Affect Consumers Differently? • Alex Wang and Ron B. Anderson, Texas at Austin • Is there any distinction among TPO endorsements? Do consumers process TPO endorsements differently? This study investigated how consumers evaluate a commercial Web store by examining three types of TPO endorsements, a seal, customer testimonials, and a news clip. The laboratory experiment tested several hypotheses on the determinants of a consumer’s favorable evaluation toward a Web store.

Distilling Grunig’s Situational Theory: A Case Study • Hsiang-Hui Wang, Syracuse University • Grunig’s situational theory is a wonderful theory because it is capable of capturing the dynamic nature of publics and is capable of predicting different communication effects among different segments of publics. However, there is little evidence showing that the situational theory has been applied to the practice, although its validity has been widely tested in academic research.

TEACHING
Virtual Issues in Traditional Texts: How Introductory Public Relations Textbooks Address Internet Technology Issues • Lois Boynton and Cassandra Imfeld, North Carolina at Chapel Hill • The purpose of this paper is to explore how textbooks for undergraduate, introductory public relations courses address Internet and World Wide Web technologies. This study examines the topics and skills that commonly used textbooks address, and explores some of the challenges associated with staying current in an ever-changing environment. Finally, this paper will make some recommendations of how educators and publishers might address the challenge of information obsolescence in textbooks.

Service-Learning Integration in a Public Relations Program: A Pedagogy for Skill Development and an Opportunity for Need Fulfillment • Emma Daugherty, California State University, Long Beach • In professional educational programs, such as public relations, students are expected to develop specialized skills to meet the challenges of a demanding workplace. Thus, service-learning offers a unique opportunity for public relations students to apply classroom concepts in a real-life setting, hone their skills, and gain insight into the field. Moreover, service-learning can help students enrich their understanding of the importance of social responsibility – a key concept in public relations education.

Public Relations Graduates: A Survey Across Three Institutions • Diane Atkinson Gorcyca and Marilyn D. Hunt, Missouri Western State College; Charles A. Lubbers, Kansas State University and Pamela Bourland-Davis, Georgia Southern University • A total of 183 public relations graduates from three institutions reported what public relations tasks they use in their present careers and which curricular elements best prepared them for their careers. The most frequently used public relations functions focused on strategic planning and implementation. Students from all three institutions rated the public relations campaigns course as the most beneficial.

Investigating Effects of Tolerance-Intolerance of Ambiguity and the Teaching of Public Relations Writing: A Quasi-Experiment • Lynne M. Sallot, Georgia and Lisa J. Lyon, Kennesaw State University • An exploratory, quasi-experiment found that students’ individual levels of tolerance-intolerance of ambiguity (TIA), along with different teaching techniques, mitigated their views of public relations and their evaluations of their experiences in the public relations writing course. Students with high TIA and multiple “class clients” for writing assignments were better prepared to recognize complex problems than those with a predominant “class client.” Students permitted portfolio grading were more likely to “recommend this instructor to a friend.”

Bright Lights, Big Problem: An Active Learning Approach to Crisis Communication • Shirley A. Serini, Morehead State • Crisis training in the professional world involves engaging individuals in role play encounters that are videotaped and critiqued. Bringing that professional model into the classroom provides students with the opportunity to learn the complexity of crisis management in greater depth. This paper presents a crisis management component of an undergraduate public relations class that incorporated a variety of traditional and non-traditional pedagogical techniques, including the involvement of professionals as both trainers and critiquers.

The Dire Need for Multiculturalism in Public Relations Education: An Asian Perspective • Krishnamurthy Sriramesh, Nanyang Technological University • The globalization that has occurred in the world in the past ten years has made a majority of public relations practice multinational or multicultural. But, current public relations education and literature almost exclusively rely on experiences from the United States. Asian examples relating to culture, political ideology, media systems, etc. are helpful in highlighting the need for making public relations education and research more multicultural and holistic.

<< 2002 Abstracts

Newspaper Division

Watching The Watchdogs: An Ethnomethodological Study of News Decision Making at a Small Midwestern Newspaper • Dharma Adhikari, Tracy Everbach and Shahira Fahmy, Missouri at Columbia • This ethnomethodolgical study of news decision-making at a small Midwestern city newspaper involved six-week long persistent behavioral observation of news budget sessions, the core of the gatekeeping process’ news routines level. Through the qualitative paradigm of descriptive and interpretive epistemology, we identified four typologies of determinants – time-space dimension, content-based considerations, nature of news, intersubjectivity, and external pressure – as crucial in the sociology of news decided for the front page of the newspaper.

The Influence of Reporter Gender on Source Selection in Newspaper Stories • Cory L. Armstrong • Wisconsin-Madison • This study reviewed the level of attention and emphasis given to sources and subjects in overall news coverage and examined whether the gender of the reporter has an impact on male and female representations. A content analysis of 889 stories found disparities between male and female sources in news coverage, with males receiving a significantly higher public status than females. After looking at both structural and editorial influences, the reporter’s gender was found to contribute significantly in the portrayal of males and female sources and subjects in newspapers.

The Credibility Connection: Discovery of a Connection Between Credibility and the Third-Person Effect with Newspaper Stimuli • Stephen A. Banning, Louisiana State University • Studies by the American Society of Newspaper Editors have suggested the media is facing a credibility crisis. In this experiment with newspaper stimuli, credibility showed a strong relationship with the third-person effect in regard to political messages. The lower the credibility scores were, the higher the corresponding third-person effect scores were. There are implications for future elections in regard to potential censorship because higher third-person effect scores have been linked to higher tendencies to censor.

The Impact of Public Ownership, Profits and Competition on Number of Newsroom Employees and Starting Salaries in Mid-Sized Daily Newspapers • Alan Blanchard and Stephen Lacy, Michigan State University • This study of 77 dailies between 25,000 and 100,000 circulation found publicly held daily newspapers produced higher profit margins than did privately held dailies. Public ownership and higher profits were associated with smaller newsroom staffs. Public ownership was positively related with starting salaries. Also the presence of competition was positively correlated with newsroom size and starting salary. The impact of profitability on newsroom size was progressively greater for newspapers with higher than average profit margins.

The Romance and Reality of Copy Editing: A Newsroom Case Study • Glen L. Bleske, California State University • Editing textbooks talk about copy editing in an idealized newsroom, where editors upgrade poor work, improve writing, check facts and plug story holes. The books tell students about the romance, but they are light on the reality of burnout, deadline pressures, and the overburden on copy editors. This case study spends two nights with copy editors who push copy through their computers. They are more like technicians than wordsmiths, and the textbooks don’t talk about their disappointments.

The Influence of Level of Deviance and Protest Type on Coverage of Social Protest in Wisconsin From 1960 to 1999 • Michael Boyle, Elliott Hillback, Narayan Devanathan, Mike McCluskey, Sue Stem, Mark Shevy and Douglas McLeod, Wisconsin • This research examined the relationship between the nature of newspaper coverage of social protests and the level of deviance and type of protest. A content analysis of 291 protest news stories from the Milwaukee Journal, Wisconsin State Journal, Sauk Prairie Star, Watertown Times, and Park Falls Herald from 1960 to 1999 was conducted to compare indicators of the protest paradigm between protests that either support the status quo, seek moderate reform, or seek radical reform.

Exploring the Turnover Issue: Why Newspaper Reporters Intend to Quit Their Jobs Submitted • Lijing Arthur Chang, Nanyang Technological University • This study explores factors behind newspaper reporters’ turnover intentions and the link between their intent to leave their newspapers and their intent to leave journalism. A total of 361 Texas newspaper reporters were surveyed. Findings showed that overall job satisfaction, pay, staff size, age, gender, and marital status affect newspaper reporters’ turnover intentions. The reporters’ intent to leave their newspapers is also found to be a significant predictor of their intent to leave journalism.

Effects of Lead Frames on the Selective Reading of Associated News Reports • Lei Chen and Dolf Zillmann, Alabama • With headlines and texts held constant, the subheads of articles embedded in a newspaper were manipulated to convey factual information only, or such information embellished with conflict, misfortune, agony, or economic implications. The projection of human conflict and agonizing was found to foster greater selective exposure, measured in reading time, to the associated articles.

The “Community Integration Hypothesis” and Other Predictors of Campus Newspaper Readership • Steve J. Collins, Texas at Arlington • A student survey at a public university in the Southwest examined the variables that predict campus newspaper readership. Although satisfaction with the student paper was quite high, the majority of students reported reading no more than one in every four issues. Consistent with the Community Integration Hypothesis, time spent on campus, participation in campus activities, student group membership, living on campus, and having friends on campus all predicted high levels of exposure to the student paper. Readership was negatively correlated with year in school.

Newspaper Editors’ and Educators’ Attitudes About Public Trust, Media Responsibility and Public Journalism • Tom Dickson and Elizabeth Topping, Southwest Missouri State University • The authors surveyed educators who belonged to the Newspaper Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication and editors of daily newspapers to find out whether they had a similar level of concern about public mistrust of the media and government as well as similar attitudes about the need to improve media responsibility and the importance of public journalism as a means to increase media credibility.

Hyperlinking as Gatekeeping: Online Newspaper Coverage of the Execution of an American Terrorist • Daniela V. Dimitrova, Colleen Connolly-Ahern, Amanda Reid, Andrew Paul Williams, and Lynda Lee Kaid, Florida • The execution of Timothy McVeigh marked the closing act of, what was then, the most horrific act of terrorism on American soil. This study focuses on the online coverage of McVeigh’s execution on the Web sites of the top fifteen print newspapers cited by Columbia Journalism Review as the “Best American Newspapers.” Using content analysis, the study compares the fifteen newspapersÕ Web sites by measuring the number of stories on this subject, the sources of the stories, and the number, destination and characteristics of hyperlinks that accompany these stories.

Negotiating the Gray Lines: An Ethnographic Case Study of Organizational Conflict Between Advertorials and News • Alyssa Eckman and Thomas R. Lindlof, Kentucky • This paper reports an ethnographic case study of how one newspaper organization undertook the redesign of its advertorial products. Examining the design and production of advertorials enables us to see and understand the moments when the values of the interpretive communities of advertorialists (advertising) and journalists are invoked. This case study examines the potential for internal conflict within a news organization as distinctly oppositional interests – advertising and news – seek to control a newspaperÕs symbolic goods.

The Cartography of Access: Charting Intersections Between State Political Culture and Open Records Law • Emily Erickson, Louisiana State University • This paper examines 12 state open-records laws to investigate the potential intersections between freedom of information and Daniel Elazar’s typology of state political cultures. Using statutory analysis and phone interviews with journalists and attorneys from the 12 states, the study supports the likelihood that political culture affects the character of open-records access, but appears to intersect with other components: geography, the era in which the law was enacted, and the competing value of privacy.

New(s) Players and New(s) Values?: A Test of Convergence in the Newsroom • Frank E. Fee Jr., North Carolina at Chapel Hill • A newsroom surveyed at two different periods provides a time study of changes in journalistic belief systems and the influence of convergence of work groups. Statistical analysis supports findings that the local work culture is strong and quick to socialize new members. The findings suggest that friction between work groups in newly converged newsrooms may result more from turf battles and power issues than fundamental beliefs about journalismÕs role and function in todayÕs society.

Whose Values Are News Values? What Journalists and Citizens Want • Frank E. Fee Jr., North Carolina at Chapel Hill • Within the context of declining newspaper circulation and journalist credibility, this study examines the nature of purported disconnect between readers and journalists. Direct comparison of these groups shows significant differences in the belief systems held by the journalists and non-journalists about the role of journalism. Findings also challenge at least some of the claims of the public journalism movement about reader wants and needs, and suggest that some practices to help readers may be unwelcome.

Partisans and Nonpartisans in News Coverage of Local Conflict • Fredrick Fico and Olivia Balog, Michigan State University • Some 255 local stories covering 51 issues in a state’s largest daily newspapers were examined to illuminate dominance by partisan and nonpartisan sources. Partisans dominated the space and attention in conflict stories. Few stories gave partisan opponents balanced treatment. Reporters who had a higher priority for conflict stories were more likely than others to produce balanced stories. Stories displayed more prominently were also more likely to be balanced.

The Use of Electronic Mail as aNewsgathering Resource • Bruce Garrison, Miami • This paper discusses reporters’ and editors’ uses of electronic mail in U.S. daily newspaper newsrooms. The study was based on a national mail survey of reporters and editors at randomly selected daily newspapers in fall 2001. Respondents described the levels and types of use of electronic mail on the job and their concerns about electronic mail. The study found a growing role for electronic mail, but concerns about how and under what circumstances it may be used successfully in gathering information for news stories.

Gatekeeping on the New York Times’ Op-Ed Pages: How Diverse Is the Content? • Guy Golan, Florida and Wayne Wanta, Missouri • A content analysis compared staffwritten stories on the New York Times’ op-ed pages to those written by guest columnists. Results show that guest columnist topics and focuses were vastly different from staffwriters, supporting a “diversity hypothesis.” Staffwriters, however, were more opinionated. Results also show that few voices outside U.S. politicians and experts were heard after the September 11 terrorist attacks, though topics and focuses changed very little, showing mixed support for a “convergence hypothesis.”

Reporters, Robes, and Representative Government • William Dale Harrison, Auburn University • This study investigates how differences in institutional goals at the U.S. Supreme Court and Congress lead to differences in source usage in newspaper articles. Matched pairs of articles by reporters at the same news organizations and surveys of these reporters provide data. The study indicates significant differences in source usage, which support a theoretical approach that reporting practices and news content are affected by an institution’s goal to maintain its legitimacy rather than journalistic norms.

Framing a Mysterious Evil: U.S. Newspapers’ Coverage of North Korean Leader Kim Jong II, 1994-2000 • Kwangjun Heo, Wisconsin-Madison • This paper analyzed two major U.S. newspapers’ coverage of North Korean leader Kim Jong II from 1994 through 2000. Based on a content analysis of news reports, the study found that the newspapers conveyed negative images of Kim. However, there were significant changes in portraying Kim between 1994 and 2000. These results suggested that government sources have strong impacts on news media framing when the press has limited access channel to the issue.

News From Afghanistan: How Five U.S. Newspapers Covered The Taliban Before Sept. 11, 2001 • Beverly Horvit, Texas at Arlington • News stories about the Taliban in the five years before Sept. 11, 2001, were examined in The Boston Globe, Columbus Dispatch, Plain Dealer, Tampa Tribune and Washington Post. Of 278 news stories, 181 were in The Post. Excluding The Post, the four other newspapers ran an average of 4.5 stories on the Taliban each year. This study confirms The Post’s elite status but also confirms fears that international news coverage in U.S. newspapers is inadequate.

“Portraits of Grief,” Reflectors of Values: The New York Times Remembers Victims of September 11 • Janice Humes, Georgia • The systematic examination of obituaries can provide a useful tool to explore the values of Americans of any era. And such an examination can help in understanding an important aspect of American culture, the public memory of its citizens. In the aftermath of 11 September 2001, The New York Times began publishing a remarkable series of “Portraits of Grief,” small sketches recalling the lives of individuals lost in the terrorist attacks.

A Different Nuclear Threat. A Comparative Study of the Press Coverage of the Three Mile Island Nuclear Accident and the Chernobyl Nuclear Accident in Two Soviet and Two American Elite Newspapers • Elza Ibroscheva, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale • This study examined the news coverage of the Three Mile Island and the Chernobyl nuclear accidents and the role of political ideology in deciding the content of news in two elite U.S. newspapers, the New York Times and the Washington Post, and two elite Soviet newspapers, Pravda and Izvestiya. The study concludes that both the U.S. and the Soviet news media were heavily influenced by the Cold War climate and the dominant ideology of each society.

Practicing Diversity: An Exploratory Study of Implementing Diversity in the Newsroom • Anne Johnston, North Carolina-Chapel Hill and Dolores Flamiano, James Madison University • In interviews at four newspapers, the authors found that the critical issues facing the journalists at these newspapers included overcoming the negative images of the newspapers in the community, reconnecting with ignored communities, and using minority gatekeepers to provide an additional perspective on stories. It was found that the newspapers were generally still operating under diversity paradigms that measured success in diversity in terms of numbers and targeting to minority communities.

Longitudinal Effects of Ability Groups on News Writing • Stacey Frank Kanihan, Mark Neuzil, and Kristie Bunton, University of St. Thomas • Ability grouping and news writing are analyzed over four years to assess whether grouped instruction produces lasting improvements in writing. Students (N=135) were placed into remedial and regular groups. Writing content (lead, organization, accuracy) and mechanics (grammar, AP style) were measured several times during the introductory writing course and two years later. Regular students improve and maintain writing skills over time; remedial students improve during the writing course but lose significant ground in the years to follow.

On the Straight and Narrative: The Effect of Writing Style on Readers’ Perceptions of News Story Quality • Jean Kelly, Jan Knight, Jason Nedley, Lee Peck and Guy Reel, Ohio University • Some communication professionals suggest that the inverted pyramid is ineffective and call for a narrative approach to news. The results of this experiment show that straight news and narrative stories often did not differ in their ability to engage readers, and in some cases the narrative may have actually been more effective. Secondary analyses revealed that story subject matter did not influence readers’ assessments of story traits and that story style did not influence salience.

No Exceptions to the Rule: The Ubiquity of Journalism Norms Throughout 29 Years of Environmental Movement Coverage • Linda Jean Kensicki, Minnesota • Research has suggested that the present media merger frenzy will result in one-dimensional content due to a reduced number of media outlets and pervasive cross-ownership. This research examined 1,180 articles about environmental pollution over 29 years from four very different newspapers. It was found that content was overwhelmingly skewed to be more relevant to those in upper socioeconomic classes regardless of socioeconomic readership, geographic location, specific issue or time. Heavily weighted coverage that could not have been found through random chance alone was attributed to pervasive journalistic norms.

News Coverage of the U.S. Attack on Afghanistan: A Comparison of The New York Times and Arab News • Changho Lee, Texas-Austin • This paper compares how The New York Times and Arab News covered the U.S. attack on Afghanistan, which was a response to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the U.S. The study consists of a content analysis based on VBPro, which is complemented by textual analysis. On the whole, the results showed The New York Times displaying a more pro-war position and Arab News, a more anti-war one. Articles in the former focused on military operations and war-supporting nations.

The Non-Linear Web Story: An Assessment of Reader Perceptions, Knowledge Acquisition and Reader Feedback • Wilson Lowrey, Mississippi State University • The study tests assumptions that non-linear Web news stories benefit readers. The study also explores impact on non-linearity of narrative structure on reader feedback. Findings suggest readers of non-linear stories perceived they had more control over the reading process than did readers of linear stories, but there were no significant difference in perceived credibility, perceived involvement by the readers, or in knowledge acquisition. Readers of linear stories were significantly more likely to focus on story content in their feedback about the story.

Newspapers, Community Engagement And Friendship Networks: Linking Local News Consumption To Community Engagement • Michael McCluskey and Hernando Rojas, Wisconsin-Madison • Newspaper usage has been shown to be a better predictor than television viewing of civic activities and friendship networks. This analysis hypothesizes that type of newspaper makes a difference, that local-newspaper readership better predicts civic activism and national-newspaper readership better predicts friendship networks. Survey results (ANOVA) supported the hypotheses. After controlling for demographics, relationships between newspaper typology and friendship networks remained significant, but newspaper typology and community activity relationship, although in the expected direction, lost significance.

Election Night Coverage in Canada: Newspaper Web Sites Hindered by the Canada Election Act • Mary McGuire and Janice Neil, Carleton University • While newspaper web sites had the technical ability to provide real-time results on election night in Canada in November 2000, they were not able to compete in providing the fastest and most reliable outcomes. While many media Internet sites were hindered by technological limitations, the legal prohibition on the publication of results to regions of the country in which the polls were still open was more consequential and impeded the ability of news sites to provide breaking news.

How Many News People Does a Newspaper Need? • Philip Meyer and Minheong Kim, North Carolina-Chapel Hill • Newspaper editors and newspaper investors see the news-editorial staff in different ways. To an editor, the staff creates the influence that makes the newspaper a viable commercial product. To an investor, the staff is mostly cost that shrinks the bottom line. We looked at more than 400 newspapers and found that those with above-average staff size (adjusted for circulation size) in 1995 were more successful at retaining circulation in the next five years. The explained variance was small but significant.

They Are Not Us: Framing of American Indians by the Boston Globe • Autumn Miller and Susan Dente Ross, Washington State University • Analysis of news, feature, and editorial content in the Boston Globe found historical negative frames of Native Americans continue. Stereotypical good and bad Indian images are less frequent than in turn-of-the century media but emerge more subtly through frames of degraded and historic relic Indians. The virtual absence of American Indian voices and unattributed negative content marginalize American Indians. Differences among the frames across story types support theories that structure and organization influence content frames.

Use of Minority Sources in News • A.N. Mohamed, Edinboro University of Pennsylvania • In the 1980s, Gannett editors and reporters were instructed to seek the opinions of African American and other minority news sources in connection with every news subject, not just “ghettoized” race issues. To determine the effectiveness of this practice, 15 newspapers (five each from Gannett, Knight-Ridder and Scripps-Howard) were content analyzed. The findings confirm EntmanÕs hypothesis that minority sources speak about a narrow range of (race-related) issues and are more likely to speak in angry, complaining tones.

National Security v. Civil Liberties: What is the Newspapers’ Position? A Content Analysis of Editorials • Nikhil Moro, Ohio State University • This study analyzes 96 American newspaper editorials about the USA Patriot Act of 2001 to gauge the newspapers’ position in the national security versus civil liberties debate. Historical and legal theory, about press freedom and the press’ attitude toward the First Amendment, is used as a background for the analysis. The hypothesis that a majority of editorials would support national security over civil liberties during a conflict between the two is not supported, nor is the theoretical proposition that newspapers do not stand up unselfishly for First Amendment principles.

Above the Fold: The Implications of Micro-Preservation to the Analysis of Content Importance in Newspapers • John E. Newhagen, Maryland • Nicholson Baker’s (2001) book detailing the micro-preservation of newspapers, Double Fold: Libraries and the Assault on Paper, set off a firestorm of criticism among library preservationists. Microform and Imaging Review went so far as to devote an entire issue to a scathing review of the book (Cybulski, 2001). The foundation for the uproar is the allegation that libraries have been systematically eliminating original copies of newspapers since the 1950s and replacing them with micro-preservation media such as microfilm to save space.

Source Diversity and Newspaper Size: The Use of Sources in Local News • Kristy H. Nichols, Louisiana at Lafayette • The purpose of this study was to examine the types of sources used in staff-written, front-page stories of local newspapers and to examine whether circulation size is related to the sources these newspapers use. This study’s results indicated that smaller local newspapers used fewer government sources and more non-government sources than larger local newspapers; and local newspapers rely less on government officials as sources than national newspapers studied in previous research (Brown, et al., 1987).

Prepared for Crisis? Breaking Coverage of September 11th on Newspaper Web Sites • Quint Randle, Brigham Young University, Lucida Davenport and Howard Bossen, Michigan State University • This study comprised a content analysis of newspaper Web site home pages captured live on the late morning and late afternoon of September 11th, 2001. While it focused on immediacy, it also examined editorial and visual elements, localizing and multimedia. Major findings were that 65 percent of the Web sites in the morning and 38 percent in the afternoon said nothing about the WTC attacks. Newspapers missed an opportunity to reassert their role as primary sources of unfolding information.

A Case Study of the Photographic Principle • Michelle I. Seekug, Miami • This case study examines the thought -processes of news professionals as they pertain to the importance and function of news photos at The Philadelphia Inquirer and the impact of technology on those decisions. This paper forwards the photographic principle a concept used to frame the process by which news professionals at The Philadelphia Inquirer exemplify responsible photojournalism especially given the latest technology and its potential use or misuse to social construct news photos.

Translating the Tower of Babel: Issues of Language and Culture in Converged Newsrooms A Pilot Study • Bill Silcock and Susan Keith, Arizona State University • This paper focuses on issues of newswork language, routines, and culture conflicts that can occur in the convergence process. This paper reports on a pilot study that sought to identify areas where news operations and journalism schools that adopt convergence in the future may encounter language- and culture-based challenges. Tapping into the experiences of professionals and professors working with convergence the goal of this study was to see whether bringing together people with backgrounds in print and broadcast has created a virtual Tower of Babel.

Politics by the Numbers: The Role of Money and Public Opinion in Presidential Campaign Coverage • Elizabeth A. Skewes, Colorado at Boulder • This paper uses content analysis to examine the impact of a presidential candidateÕs poll ratings and fundraising on news coverage in 1999 – before the start of the 2000 primaries. It finds that polls and fundraising influenced news coverage – the amount and the prominence – early in 1999. But by the end of the pre-primary year, the factor that most influenced a candidate’s coverage was the amount of coverage he or she had received earlier in 1999.

Women Sportswriters: An Even Playing Field? • Karen Sloan, Miami • Sports reporting has been considered by many as the last bastion of male dominance in the newsroom. A national survey of women sportswriters questioned the veracity of this assumption. Findings indicated that women sportswriters face additional challenges on the job, but are generally able to overcome these obstacles. The perception of sports journalism as a male-dominated industry in which women rarely succeed is no longer valid.

Sourcing Patterns of National and Local Newspapers: A Community Structure Perspective • Yonghoi Song, Missouri-Columbia • This study compared the sourcing patterns of national and local newspapers in order to see the degree of official and elite source dominance in political news as well as nonpolitical news. The findings show that local newspapers rely more heavily on official and elite sources than national newspapers do. The trend is more obvious in the coverage of nonpolitical news. The results of this study suggest that the newspaper sourcing patterns reflect the structure of the community they serve.

The New York Times’ John Walker Lindh Story: A Constructionist Framing Analysis • Juyan Zhang and Betty Houchin Winfield, Missouri • Through a constructionist framing analysis of The New York Times’ coverage of the John Walker Lindh story, the intrinsic cognitive dissonance in the story was found to change through frames. WalkerÕs identity was transformed from being a Taliban fighter to “a Californian.” His psychiatric was attributed as a cause his behavior, but his family’s attempts to make a psychiatric legal case was defined as “a public relations strategy.”

<< 2002 Abstracts

Minorities and Communication Division

FACULTY COMPETITION
Representations, Constructions Of Cultural Spaces And Marking Racial Difference: The Discourse of Urban-Suburban Dialectic as an Exilic Narrative • Linus Abraham, Iowa State University of Science and Technology • This paper examines the manifestation of the urban-suburban dialectic in the media. It suggests the dialectic serves as a hyper-ritualized narrative, linked to the dominant racial ideology, which by essentializing the nature of cultural spaces on the basis of race (suburban = white, urban = black) promotes myths of racial superiority and inferiority. The dialectic functions as a regime for staging and marking racial difference in the culture.

Racial And Regional Differences in Readers’ Evaluations of the Credibility of Political Columnists by Race and Sex • Julie L. Andsager, Washington State University • The purpose of this study, an experiment, was to determine how- race and gender of columnist and reader interact to influence readers’ perceptions of the credibility of the opinion column. Further, we examined whether regional differences would relate to credibility. This experiment was conducted using 594 students from two universities 2,500 miles apart. No differences in credibility appeared by race or gender of the columnist until region and race of the subjects interacted.

Americans Online: Differences in Surfing and Evaluating Race-Targeted Web Sites by Black and White Users • Osei Appiah, Iowa State University • Two hundred three black and white subjects navigated through either a black- or white-targeted professionally designed web site. It was expected that race-targeted web sites would not affect white viewers’ browsing and evaluation of a web site. Race-targeted web sites were, however, expected to influence black viewers’ responses to a site. As expected, whites displayed no difference in their overall navigation time on a site and displayed no difference in their evaluation of a site based on the racial target of the web site.

Starkly Different Views: A Historical Examination of Letters to the Editor Responding to the Lynching of Three Blacks in Aiken, S.C., 1926 • Kenneth Campbell, South Carolina • This study examines letters to the editor of several newspapers written in response to a triple lynching in Aiken, S.C. in 1926. While it does not suggest that the letter writers are a mirror of public opinion, it does point to the value of their ongoing conversation as a part of the historical record that should be considered in accounts of the tragedy.

Language Preference Issues Related to the Entry of a Local Hispanic Television Newscast • Todd Chambers, Texas Tech University • This paper examines the language preference issues related to entry of a local Hispanic television newscast. As the Hispanic population continues to grow, local media outlets will attempt to meet that need. One of the acculturation issues related to Spanish language media is the issue of language preference. Using a telephone survey method of Hispanics in a local television market in the Southwest, this study found a large demand among Hispanics for a newscast targeted to their population.

The Race Card and Ethical Reasoning: The Importance of Race to Journalistic Decision Making • Renita Coleman, Louisiana State University • A controlled experiment is used to investigate the effects of race of news subjects on journalists’ ethical reasoning. In this study as well as in two previous studies reported here, the race of the people in the dilemmas had a highly significant effect on ethical reasoning. When participants knew the race because they saw photographs, their ethical reasoning scores were higher when the people in the ethical dilemmas were white than when they were African American.

The Linguistic Intergroup Bias In Interpretations of a Race-Related Crime Story • Bradley W. Gorman and Eileen N. Gilligan, Syracuse University • Social psychologists argue that language can subtly reflect the structure of our thinking, especially in situations involving groups. This paper examines the linguistic intergroup bias in the context of people’s interpretations of a race-related television news story. The LIB suggests that people use more abstract language to describe members of outgroups performing negative behaviors compared to those same behaviors performed by ingroup members.

Black Ink and the New Red Power: Native Newspapers and Tribal Sovereignty • Patty Loew, and Kelly Mella, Wisconsin-Madison • This paper examines the relationship between Native American newspapers and tribal sovereignty and how this relationship informs community dialogue over environmental issues. “Black Ink and the New Red Power: Native Newspapers and Tribal Sovereignty” uses both quantitative and qualitative methodology. It includes a content analysis of more than a thousand environmental stories in four tribal newspapers in Wisconsin over a five-year period (1995-1999), interviews with Native American journalists, and discussions with Indian focus groups.

We Want In: The African American Press’ Negotiation for a White House Correspondent • Earnest L. Parry Jr., Texas Christian University • Almost 60 years ago, Harry S. McAlpin shook the hand of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and held a brief conversation with him after a White House press conference. It marked the first time an African American reporter had participated at a White House press conference as an official correspondent. Though African American editors and publishers had been pressuring the White House to allow a journalist to represent them since the beginning of Roosevelt’s administration, the most concerted efforts did not occur until just before and during America’s involvement in World War II.

Color Blindsided in the Booth: An Examination of the Descriptions of College Athletes During Televised Games • James A. Rada, Rowan University and K. Tim Wulfemeyer, San Diego State University • During televised sporting events, African American athletes often are characterized as purely physical specimens on the field or court and they are the recipients of negative references to their off-field activities. In contrast, White athletes more often are the recipients of a broader and more positive set of descriptors. This research tested for the presence of racial bias in televised coverage of men’s collegiate sports. Results showed that while African Americans have made some progress, biased coverage still exists.

Economic News Coverage in Puerto Rico and the Contradictions of Dependent Development • Ilia Rodriguez, St. Cloud State University • The purpose of research was explore how an elite Puerto Rican newspaper mediated the political tensions surrounding the implementation of the economic development policy promoted on the island by the Puerto Rican and U.S. governments between 1947 and 1963. More specifically, the analysis focused on the framing strategies utilized by the daily El Mundo to cover those aspects of Operation Bootstrap that became the subject of debate and revealed some of the tensions and contradictions of industrialization in a colonial context.

At War At Home And Abroad: The Pittsburgh Courier Columns of George S. Schuyler In Roosevelt’s America • Earnest Wiggins, South Carolina • A review of the writings of George S. Schuyler suggests that the ‘30s and ‘40s were the most productive decades of his life, during which he published journalism, commentary, essays and novels. This study focuses on his journalistic product, the work that has garnered the least attention from scholars. This researcher contends that his political and social philosophies were solidified during the second and third Roosevelt Administrations, periods of national challenge and change.

STUDENT COMPETITION
Media Effect on Race and Immigration: Testing the Link • Cleo Joffrion Allen, Louisiana State University • Martin Gilens concludes in his book Why Americans Hate Welfare (1999) that racial stereotypes play a central role in whites’ attitudes about welfare, crime, and immigration. His content analysis suggests a link between the “darkening” of poverty in news and public perceptions, but fails to empirically connect the two. I test the putative link between race and immigration using 2000 NES data -specifically, whether media use is positively correlated to racial attitudes and attitudes about immigration spending.

A Fall from Grace: The Framing of Imam Fawaz Damra by The Cleveland Plain Dealer • Yolanda D. Campbell, Akron • This paper reveals how the September 11th terrorist attacks, committed by men of the Islamic religion, may have influenced the news coverage of a significant national Islamic leader. Through a qualitative content analysis, the researcher examines The Cleveland Plain Dealer’s news coverage of Imam Fawaz Damra, current Islamic leader of the Islamic Center of Greater Cleveland mosque in Parma, Ohio and nationally known Islamic leader. Findings indicate that before September 11th, the newspaper consistently anointed Damra as a “spiritual leader.”

The Black Press and the Integration of Baseball: A Content Analysis of Changes in Coverage • Brian Carroll, North Carolina at Chapel Hill • This study analyzes black press coverage of both the Negro leagues and major league baseball before and after Jackie Robinson broke baseball’s color barrier with the Brooklyn Dodgers in April 1947. The study employs a content analysis of columns and articles before integration and after Robinson’s signing. The results are meant to contribute to an understanding of the role of the black press in achieving integration and the newspapers’ conflicted relationship with Negro league baseball.

News Media, Racial Profiling, and September 11: Implications for Driving While Black • Philip Garland, David Domke, Andre Billeaudeaux and John Hutcheson, Washington • Study of news coverage before and after September 11 illuminates how discourse changed with respect to voices used as sources and their respective degree of support for racial profiling. Journalists and individual citizens increased as sources in post September 11 news, despite recent scholarship suggestive of overwhelming media reliance on elites and government officials. Examination of source’s race pinpoints which racial groups drive increased support for racial profiling, revealing white American sources’ significant belief shifts.

Silencing the Voice of the Minority • Minjeong Kim, North Carolina at Chapel Hill • This paper compares coverage of two newspapers — the Los Angeles Times in the United States and the Chosun Ilbo in South Korea — about the civil disturbance following the Rodney King verdicts in Los Angeles in 1992 to explore whether the media kept Korean-American views out of the marketplace of ideas by portraying events in ways that did not include Korean-American voices. It shows that Korean-Americans’ voices were limited in the Los Angeles Times.

Jesse Owens, a Black Pearl Amidst an Ocean of Fury: A Case Study of Press Coverage on Jesse Owens in the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games • Pamela C. Laucella, North Carolina at Chapel Hill • This research examines the mainstream and black press’s coverage of 1936 Olympic gold medallist Jesse Owns. It compares Grantland Rice’s articles with journalists at New Your Amsterdam News to elucidate the interplay between journalists, media content, and 1920s culture. While all recognized Owens’s talent and gracious deportment, Rice’s evasive, descriptive, and stylistic approach focused on surrounding scenes and racial stereotypes. Amsterdam News’ journalists remained passive yet resolute in emphasizing Owens’s place in history while denouncing Adolph Hitler.

Cultural Diversity under Deregulation: Minority Ownership in Broadcast and Cable after the 1996 Telecommunications Act • Seung Kwan Ryu, Southern Illinois University-Carbondale • This study examines the consequences of cultural diversity in terms of the status of minority ownership in broadcast media and cable after deregulation: How has deregulation affected minority ownership and programming in the cable industry, including the ownership of broadcast media? First, this study discusses the FCC’s minority preference policy. Second, it explores the current status of minority ownership in broadcast media and cable, focusing on period after the 1996 Act.

Hispanics in the Heartland: Are New Members of Iowa Communities Getting Appropriate Coverage in Local Newspapers? • Ellen Thompson, Drake University • As Hispanic populations increase in small communities, what are the community newspapers doing to provide community-wide, equitable coverage? This study examines 129 Iowa newspapers and compares percentage increases (if any) of Hispanic coverage with actual percentage increases of Hispanic people in the community. In 2000, 63 newspapers had 143 Hispanic-related stories in 8 of 14 news categories, the largest being 41 in Education, Classic Arts, and Religion.

<< 2002 Abstracts

Media Management and Economics Division

“Many Will Play, Few Will Win”: Global Strategies and Content Characteristics of Web Portals of Transnational Internet Media Corporations • Debashis “Deb” Aikat, North Carolina at Chapel Hill • Inspired by their success in the United States, transnational Internet media corporations have launched international Web portals by forging global partnerships or starting localized subsidiaries to market their products and vision worldwide. Based on a survey and a content analysis incorporating information theories and concepts related to Internet economics, this study analyzed the global strategies and content characteristics of Web portals and examines media management practices.

Change and Stability in the Newspaper Industry’s Journalistic Labor Market • Lee B. Becker, Tudor Vlad and Hugh J. Martin, Georgia • Among the common assumptions made about the journalistic labor market is that it hierarchical, with entry-level hiring done almost exclusively by smaller organizations. Individuals are thought to be able to gain employment at larger media organizations only after they have served time in smaller ones. The assumed normal career progression for a newspaper journalist is from a small newspaper, perhaps even a weekly, to a larger one and on up the chain, with employment at larger organizations open only to those who have served their time at the lower levels of the employment chain.

Measuring Radio Program Diversity in the Era of Consolidation • Todd Chambers, Texas Tech University • This paper addresses the issue of market structure in the top 50 radio markets and the different types of program diversity measures. The study used a secondary analysis of ownership information, format information and song information to analyze the research questions and hypotheses. Overall, the study confirmed previous research related to an increase in format diversity with an increase in the number of competitors. Likewise the findings showed a negative relationship between ownership concentration and radio program diversity.

Diversification Strategy of Global Media Conglomerates: Examining Its Patterns and Drivers • Sylvia M. Chan-Olmsted and Byeng-Hee Chang, Florida • This paper reviews the diversification patterns of the leading global media conglomerates and proposes an analytical framework for examining the factors that influence these strategic choices. Using a case-study approach, we analyzed the top seven global media conglomerates’ product and international (geographic) diversification strategies. Combining both the industrial economics and resource-based view of strategic management, we further devise a system of drivers that might affect the extent, direction, and mode of diversification for global media conglomerates.

The Emerging Broadband Television Market: Assessing the Strategic Differences between Cable Television and Telephone Firms • Sylvia Chan-Olmsted and Jae-Won Kang, Florida • This paper compared the strategic differences between telcos and cable television firms based on a proposed strategic architecture that depicts the roles of various channel members and the interrelationships between them in the emerging broadband television industry. We found that M&As were practiced more frequently than other types of alliances and cable was a more attractive target as well as an active acquirer in M&A alliances. Also, “relatedness” appeared to be a more important M&A strategy for the cable firms as the telcos focused on a resource alignment strategy, allying with firms in the information services and software sectors.

The Dual Structure of Global Networks in the Entertainment Industry: Interorganizational Linkage and Geographical Dispersion • Bum Soo Chon, Kyunggido, Korea and George A. Barnett, SUNY-Buffalo • This paper describes the contour of the global media networks in terms of interorganizational linkages and spatial distribution of foreign direct investment in the entertainment industry. The results of the multiple network analyses revealed that there were significant differences in the positional structures of global media networks in the entertainment industry. However, in the case of the structural relationships between the interorganizational and geographical dispersion networks, the QAP analyses revealed structural similarities between both networks in the entertainment industry.

Measuring the Financial Success of Motion Pictures: A Study Integrating the Economic and Communication Theory Perspectives • Bryan Greenberg, Syracuse University • Prior research into movie attendance has fallen into two camps. The first, economic, revolves around financial measurements and how these measurements correlate with attendance. The second perspective, known as the communication theory or psychological approach, focuses on the processes undertaken by the audience in choosing an entertainment option. While these two perspectives differ on the surface they in fact share certain similarities, most notably an assumption of an active audience influenced by and interacting with outside variables.

Ownership and Barriers to Entry in Non-metropolitan Daily Newspaper Markets • Stephen Lacy, Michigan State University; David C. Coulson, Nevada-Reno and Hugh J. Martin, Georgia • This exploratory study found that private ownership of dailies was negatively associated with the number of weekly newspapers and with the penetration of paid and all weeklies within the county. This is consistent with the prediction that privately held newspapers keep prices and profits lower and quality higher than publicly held dailies. The strategy of lower prices and higher investment in quality could discourage weeklies from starting and would lower weekly penetration.

A Case-Study Analysis of Divestiture Determinants & Strategies of Major Media Firms, 1996-2000 • Daphne Eilein Landers, Florida • The Telecommunications Act of 1996 has stimulated media firms to restructure their operations, relative to new opportunities. The deregulatory law has led firms to engage in extensive mergers and acquisitions. Nevertheless, media firms also have divested numerous operations. The goal of this exploratory research paper, therefore, is to ascertain what have been the divestiture strategies – and divestiture determinants – of major media firms since the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Divestiture strategies and motivations are reviewed and applied to recent media divestiture activity.

Switching Radio Stations While Driving: Magnitude, Motivation and Measurement Issues • Walter McDowell, Miami and Steven J. Dick, Southern Illinois University • Rather than examining what attracts radio audiences to a station, this study looked at what turns audiences away. Among the findings of a general public self-report survey of over 350 people were that, while driving a car or truck, there is considerable station switching within a mere quarter-hour listening span and that avoidance of commercials (or zapping) was by far the most influential motivator.

Free Riders and Pretenders: Media Industry Organizations and Collective Action • Jennifer H. Meadows, Design California State University, Chico and August E. Grant, Focus25 Research & Consulting • This study uses collective action theory to examine membership in media industry organizations. In particular it examines the free riders, those actors who benefit from the services of a media industry organization such as lobbying but do not participate. A survey of members and non-members of a media organization was conducted to measure dimensions of collective action. A third group, pretenders, non-members who indicate that they are members, was found. Differences among members, non-members and pretenders are examined.

Anatomy of a Death Spiral: Newspapers and Their Credibility • Philip Meyer and Yuan Zhang, North Carolina at Chapel Hill • Editors have long believed in their hearts that the economic success of newspapers depends on their credibility. We find evidence to support this belief by examining 21 counties where newspaper credibility has been measured. The more people believe what they read in the papers, the greater the robustness of circulation penetration over a recent 5-year period. Unfortunately, both credibility and readership are falling in what appears to be a classic reinforcing process.

DonÕt I Know You? Understanding and Serving Audiences for Special-Interest Publications • Allison Morgan, Middle Tennessee State University • Using a case study approach, this paper considers how media managers working for special interest publications can seek to hold and maintain their readers’ loyalty. Specifically, this study explored the challenges faced by the communications department of Tennessee Farmers Cooperative, a farm-supply organization that publishes a monthly special-interest newspaper for its agricultural audience.

Digital Cinema Goes to Hollywood: The Economic Effects of Digital Technology on the Motion Picture Industry • Siho Nam, The Pennsylvania State University • Situated within economic and industrial contexts, this research aims to examine how digital technology differs from other preceding film technologies and to assess the economic effects of digital cinema at this stage of development by utilizing some secondary statistical data. It also pays specific attention to the technical and economic barriers that inhibit digital cinema’s rapid diffusion. Finally, a possibility of the Internet as a new film exhibition venue is briefly discussed.

Must-Carry: An Economic Consideration • Namkee Park, Southern California • In Turner Broadcasting System v. FCC (1994 & 1997), the US Supreme Court justified and affirmed the constitutionality of the “must-carry” restrictions of the Cable Act of 1992 by referring to the cable operators’ “bottleneck, or gatekeeper control over most of the television programming.” However, an economic analysis focusing on the current conditions for competition, relevant market analysis, and concentration and vertical integration data suggests that the Court’s ruling was based upon faulty reasoning.

Managing Innovation: Newspapers’ and the Development of Online Editions • Shashank Saksena and C. Ann Hollifield, Georgia • Media managers in the 21st century will need to constantly assess and respond to emerging technologies that have the potential to disrupt the industry. This project examined the innovation management processes that the newspaper industry used to respond to the Internet, using an analytical framework of recommended innovation management techniques derived from previous research. The study found that newspapers’ innovation-management processes were generally haphazard and that industry executives should be better prepared in the future to manage innovation.

Business Models Of Online News Organizations: Endgame For Global Media Dominance? • Frederick Schiff, and Jefferson Gaskin, Houston • The study compares leading news websites. Results show that content factors and market factors are both important in predicting the size of the unique audience attracted to news sites. The most important market factor seems to be paying attention to news consumers outside the area of the core product strength of established media firms. Content characteristics also predict online performance of news organizations, especially business models that optimize information retrieval and storage, and interactive networking.

Competition and/or Coexistence?: The Relationship between Local Television Stations and Their Websites at the Macro and Micro Levels • Tae-Il Yoon and Glen T. Cameron, Missouri-Columbia • In an attempt to explore the relationship between traditional television media and the new Internet media, this study will use market survey data of local television stations in a city within the framework of the niche theory framework. The findings of the current study suggest that the relationship between local TV stations and their websites are more complicated than practitioners and researchers assume. Their relationship depends on the context in which the two media work.

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