Archives for January 2012

Graduate Education Interest Group

Perceptions of Radio Educators and Radio Managers Regarding Curriculum In College-Level Radio Education • Kersten A. Kappmeyer, Iowa State University • This study proposes a single-platform basis on which to base convergence curriculum inquiry. Radio managers and radio educators were surveyed to determine their levels of support for convergence curriculum and reasons for such support. Results showed a tendency for educators and managers to support convergence curriculum adoption, and a tendency to have positive reasons for that support. However, the tone of the reasons given was significantly more positive among educators than managers.

Understanding International Teaching Assistants (ITAs): Institutional, ITA, and Student Role Expectations of ITAs • Eun-A Park and Jae Hong Kim, Pennsylvania State University • This study explores how school administrators, ITAs, and undergraduate students understand the role of ITAs and what they expect of ITAs in the American undergraduate classroom via in-depth interviews. By looking at each part (school, ITAs, and students), we determine if there is a discrepancy or understanding gap in their expectations.

Cooperative Learning in Communication • Mina Tsay and Miranda Brady, Pennsylvania State University • Cooperative learning has increasingly become a popular form of active pedagogy employed in academic institutions. This study explores the relationship between cooperative learning and academic performance in higher education, specifically in the field of communication. A questionnaire was administered to 24 undergraduate students in a communication research course at a large northeastern university. Findings showed that involvement in cooperative learning is a strong predictor of a student’s academic performance. A significant relationship was also found between the degree to which grades are important to a student and his or her active participation in cooperative learning. Furthermore, the importance of grades and sense of achievement are strong predictors of performance on readiness assessment tests.

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Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Interest Group

Sodomy in the Lone Star State: Texas Media Coverage of Gay Rights Pre and Post-Lawrence v. Texas • R Christopher Burnett, California State University at Long Beach; and Carlos Godoy, University of Southern California • The landscape of the gay rights debate has shifted sharply since the U.S. Supreme Court in June 2003 outlawed state sodomy laws. The case that accelerated the shift originated in Texas, regarded as anti-gay rights. This paper uses content analysis techniques to assess whether an anti-gay bias existed in news coverage in Texas both before and after the landmark Supreme Court ruling.

The Differing Treatment of Gays and Lesbians in the Media in the United States and Europe • Ann Lowney, William Carey College • This paper will seek to expose how treatment of gays and lesbians in the media differs in Europe and the United States. Specifically the paper will look at prime time television shows on both sides of the Atlantic and it will delve into the treatment of sport concerning including the gay and lesbian lifestyle. The aim is to compare and contrast the treatments where applicable and highlight the ethical ramifications. My argument is that the current treatment of gays and lesbians by the media in the United States hinders these groups desire to be accepted and studies by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance against Defamation centre reveals an interesting theory that may affect the future of the visibility of gays and lesbians in the media in future.

Globalized Eroticism, Negotiated Identity: An ethnographic study of Chinese gay men’s erotic pleasures and identity formation in cyber-communities • Hong-Chi Shiau, Central Connecticut State University • The research analyzed the posting section of the most popular gay-themed web-site in Taiwan to understand how Chinese gay men negotiate their identities and derive erotic pleasure through sharing posted audio, graphical, and textual messages. The research suggests that gay Chinese men in the cyber-community form sexual identities through employing various strategies, such as through role-playing. The rhetoric skills employed includes gender-crossing, teasing, prostituting and reciprocating.

‘Neither Cold Nor Hot’: An Analysis of Christian World Wide Web sites that Address GLBT Publics • Douglas J Swanson, University of Wisconsin at LaCrosse • This research analyzes Christian Web sites addressing gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgendered publics. The study involved content analysis of visual, operational, and informational enhancements and a frame analysis to assess issues of intent, consistency, accuracy, and validity. Web sites emphasized information dissemination rather than evangelization or proselytization; were overwhelmingly framed as collections of linked resources, rather than as online destinations for users seeking spiritual comfort; were almost completely devoid of traditional Christian symbols, scripture, and testimony; and failed to acknowledge in depth the complex debate over same-sex relationships.

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Entertainment Studies Interest Group

From Toronto to the World: Rush’s Rhetoric of Oppression and Liberation • Brett A. Barnett, Bowling Green State University • Extending the literature on the rhetoric of music, this paper discusses the rhetorical nature of songs produced by the Canadian band Rush, a genre largely ignored by communication scholars. Through an intrinsic analysis of a sample of songs appearing on the band’s most recent greatest hits album, this essay demonstrates that Rush’s hits tend to alternate between the complementary themes of oppression and liberation, thus providing a potential source of catharsis and inspiration for listeners.

The Assertive, Sexual Woman: “Sex and the City” and Attitudes toward Non-Traditional Women • Mary B. Bradford, University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa • This study explores the relationship of viewing sexual programming and attitudes about females in traditional and non-traditional roles. Participants who reported more frequent viewing of “Sex and the City” were more likely to give a higher rating of an assertive, sexual female and a lower rating of a traditional female. Similarity to the characters on this show was also positively related to ratings of the assertive female and negatively related to the traditional female.

TV Fans as ‘Outlaws’: An Examination of Audience Activity and Online Fandom • Vic Costello, Elon University; and Barbara Moore, University of Tennessee at Knoxville • Self-described fans (N=755) of particular television programs were asked to respond online to a question about their use of the Internet for keeping up with a favorite television program. The authors analyzed textual responses to this question for patterns and themes related to audience-centered theories of television-viewing activity. The results reveal a thriving, interpretive community of ‘outlaw’ fans in search of others with whom to communicate and share the experience of a favorite television program.

Wild Watching: Fans’ Reaction to Televised Sports in a Movie Theater • Michael D. Dorsher, University of Wisconsin at Eau Claire • This study examines how fans like watching a sporting event telecast in a movie theater compared to watching similar games live in the arena, on TV at home, or on TV at a bar or restaurant. The study deduces eight hypotheses from the literature and tests them with a self-administered survey completed by 190 respondents at two National Hockey League telecasts in a movie theater. The data support six of the eight hypotheses: Male and female fans alike preferred watching hockey on TV in a movie theater over everywhere else-better even than watching it live in an acclaimed arena.

“America’s Top Model Meets The Bachelor on an Un-Real World”: Examining Viewer Fascination with Reality TV • Cynthia Frisby, University of Missouri at Columbia • One hundred and ten people were asked to participate in a two-part study on the effects of watching reality television. Each participant was asked to complete a uses and gratifications survey and then return in ten days to watch a popular reality TV program. The focus of the study is to test two hypotheses about the effects of viewing reality television: (a) reality show viewing will be positively related to social comparison gratifications and the viewers need to make comparisons with the guests and situations, (b) regular viewers will report greater affect and enhanced mood after watching a show than non-viewers. Results provided support for both hypotheses. Viewers watch reality shows because watching them allows viewers to imagine what they would do in an extreme situation and this comparison results in enhanced mood.

Constructing the “ideal” wife: An analysis of the representation of women in the reality television show, The Bachelor • Amanda S. Hall, University of Georgia • Grounded in cultural studies, feminism and ideology, this study seeks to gain an understanding of how women are represented and how the “ideal” wife is constructed on season four of the reality television show, The Bachelor. Textual analyses of each episode (9) were conducted to discern how female participants on the show were represented. Findings support the notion that heterosexual relationships as portrayed on the show support the private-public binary between men and women.

Fireworks, Bobbleheads, and Free Hot Dogs: Promotions’ Effect on Minor League Baseball Attendance • Thomas Kim Hixson, University of Wisconsin at Whitewater • Game promotions in minor league baseball are implemented mostly to increase attendance, but little research has examined these promotions and their effect on attendance. Commonly held assumptions regarding game promotions are often the basis on which promotion decisions are made. Attendance data was collected from 1231 minor league openings and matched with game promotions. Overall, game promotions significantly increase attendance; however, surprisingly few significant differences were found in attendance when comparing game promotions.

Still a Man’s Game: Gender Representation in Online Video Game Review Content • James D. Ivory, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • Despite the popularity of video games, the medium is still less popular among women than men. One reason for this may be that representations of female characters in video games remain geared toward a male audience. This content analysis used online video review content to investigate both the prevalence and depiction of video game characters. Female characters were found to be both underrepresented and proportionally more often sexualized in comparison to their male counterparts.

Suspense as the Function of Subjective Probability Estimations • Mina Lee, University of Alabama • Suspense is an internal affective status, responsive to suspense evoking material such as a film or a novel. This study suggests suspense evoking can be described as the function of subjective probability of the final resolution. Rear Window (Alfred Hitchcock, 1954) was used and participants were asked repeatedly to estimate of their belief of the main proposition of the film. The results supported the idea of subjective probability is involved in the suspense evoking mechanisms, by showing that there is significant correlation between a subjective probability and suspense rating and the subjective probability explains a unique portion of suspense rating in regression models. The results are discussed in the context of situational representation construct.

Portrayal of Older Characters on Children’s Animated Programs • Tom Robinson and Caitlin Anderson, Brigham Young University • This purpose of this study was to determine how older characters are represented, portrayed and displayed in children’s animated television programs. A content analysis of five networks was conducted providing 45 hours of programming and 121 different episodes. The results indicate that older characters, while predominately portrayed in a positive manner, are underrepresented and shown with a variety of negative characteristics including angry, senile and crazy, ugly, overweight, toothless and slow moving.

Liking Them Bad: Positive Affective Dispositions Towards Villainous Characters • Meghan Sanders, Pennsylvania State University • Most research using disposition theory as a driving force have dichotomized characters as protagonist and antagonists, with the latter being deemed as the recipient of negative sentiment. Prior research suggests villains can be the recipient of positive sentiment and hence become attractive to the viewer. This study explored the relationship between personality characteristics of and attraction to villainous characters. Results showed that various personality traits allow us to have different reactions to villains but that these reactions are also filtered by our own dispositions.

‘Here Baby, There Mama, Everywhere Daddy Daddy’: Legal Challenges to the Rock-Musical ‘Hair • Jim Sernoe, Midwestern State University • The controversy over the play Hair led to a series of attempts to prevent its performance at theatres across the country in the late 1960s and early 1970s. These censorship attempts in turn led to a series of cases around the country, primarily in the South, culminating with a 1975 Supreme Court ruling in Southeastern Promotions v. Conrad. This paper examines the cases in depth and speculates as to the reasons for the legal and cultural clashes.

Drama in the Ring and on the Ice: An Exploration of Atom Egoyan’s Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) Television Productions • Marsha A. Tate, Pennsylvania State University • Film director Atom Egoyan’s oeuvre includes two CBC television productions—the 1986 hour-long drama, In This Corner and the 1993 made-for-television movie, Gross Misconduct. This essay examines several aspects of the productions that challenged the normal conventions of 1980’s and 1990’s television along with critical and audience reaction to them.

(R)evolution Of The Television Superhero: Comparing the Portrayal of Superheroes in Superfriends and Justice League • Kevin D. Williams, University of Georgia • Using Mike Benton’s four characteristics of a superhero (costume, powers, secret identity, and altruism), a superhero cartoon from the 1970s, Superfriends, was compared against a superhero cartoon airing since 2000, Justice League. Comparisons were made to examine how American cultural values have changed in the last 30 years. A final statement is made discussing how these superhero narratives were metaphors for American power in the historical periods in which they aired.

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Civic Journalism Interest Group

Exploring Polyphony in Community Radio Stations: A Case Study of an Appalachian Community Media Arts Center • Chike Anyaegbunam and Rajesh Guar, University of Kentucky • Proponents of community radio argue that such stations often practice participatory journalism and can contribute significantly to strengthening civic engagement and democracy. This paper presents and analyzes the philosophy and practices of Appaishop, an Appalachian community media center and radio station, as it strives to provide a forum for the community to engage in the deliberation of their problems and solutions, celebrate their strengths and culture, and confront economic policies, and political practices that constrain self governance and sustainable development in the region.

Community Journalism Can Transform African Communities • Robert C Moore and Tamara L Gillis, Elizabethtown College • Changes in the media of sub-Saharan Africa allow for citizen empowerment and social interaction due to the integration of community journalism and community media as process and mechanism. Citizens have the opportunity to engage in a partnership with media that allows them to share in decision-making concerning issues that affect their future. Community journalism and community media are able to make a difference in the lives of people in Africa.

Public Journalism: Using New Institutionalism as a Theoretical Tool to Explore the Rise and Spread of the Movement • Sandra L Nichols, Carmichael, CA • Although studies show that public journalism has experienced widespread effects since its emergence in the late 1980s, it has not as yet developed full institutional status, wherein new civic routines and practices are accepted and adopted as natural and reasonable by journalism professionals. This study offers new institutionalism as a theoretical tool to explain the rise of the movement, its diffusion through the journalistic field, and forces constraining its ability to achieve full institutionalization.

Double Crossing Democracy? The Civic Vision vs. Vertical Integration in the Debate Over the Cross-Ownership Ban • Ronald Rodgers, Ohio University • The ongoing cross-ownership debate hinges on two distinct positions — one that regards dispersed ownership of the media as fundamental to democracy, and another that views the media through the lens of a commodity metaphor. This paper looks at the cross-ownership debate and concludes that a commodified media may well create community, but one of consumers grounded in consumerist values, not in the values of civic commonality as the source of an interstitial community.

Deliberative communities online: Towards a model of civic journalism based on the blog • Lori Cooke Scott, York University and Ryerson University • This essay examines the citizen-run “weblog” to conceptualize a fully participatory democratic mediated public sphere. The author argues that the content, conventions, structure and practices of “blogging” lend themselves to applications of meaningful participatory journalism. It is suggested that news organizations can encourage a rejuvenation of citizenship by educating, facilitating and integrating blogs into their news coverage and the local community, as well as by advocating for protection of the “blogosphere” as a space for open deliberation.

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Visual Communication Division

The Phenomenon of the Gros Canon • Kay Amert, Iowa • The paper examines the phenomenon of the gros canon, exploring the introduction of the first display roman and its rapid imitation and adaptation in France and abroad. Early iterations involved a six-way intersection of the ideas and work of Simon de Colines, Geofroy Tory, Robert Estienne, Antoine Augereau, Guillaume Le Bé, and Claude Garamond. Micro-analysis distinguishes the fonts and suggests their relation. The findings shed light on the cultural meaning of the gros canon in its own time.

Alphonse Marie Mucha: Posters, Panels and Comic Books? • Brandon Bollom and Shawn McKinney, University of Texas • Creative work, theories and techniques of early 20th Century Art Nouveau poster designer and commercial artist, Alphonse Mucha, continue to inform the creation of contemporary media products to a surprising extent. Interviews conducted with comic book artists reveal the extent of Mucha’s continuing impact on the development of an under-appreciated medium. Features identified as common to both commercial and more exalted forms of art encourage a reevaluation of Mucha’s historic significance.

Digital News Photography: Is the Historic Record a Blip on the Screen? • Howard Bossen, Michigan State University • Members of the National Press Photographers Association were surveyed to examine how the transition from film to digital cameras has affected the creation and preservation of photographic records. Results indicate that the diffusion of digital cameras into daily newspapers is virtually complete. Digital cameras are being used on almost all assignments. But while photographers may be shooting more with digital cameras, a lower proportion of these images are eventually archived, compared to 35mm film.

In the Age of the Instant: The Influence of the Digital Camera on Social Interaction between Subject and Photographer in Photojournalism • Dennis Dunleavy, San Jose State University • This research paper focuses on how visual routines related to social interactions between the photojournalist and subject are affected by the use of the digital camera when compared to prior experiences using a film camera. Goffman’s theory of “interaction ritual” is explored in this study as a way of understanding the influence of the digital camera on visual routines. A textual analysis of interviews with professionals collected over the past two years provides deeper insight into photojournalist are redefining and renegotiating visual routines in a digital age.

‘They Took It Down’: Picturing the Toppling of the Saddam Hussein Statue in National and International Newspapers • Shahira Fahmy, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale • Results of a visual content analysis examining the tone of coverage of the toppling of the Saddam’s statue event in 41 newspapers of 30 countries reveal a range of photographs ran in newspapers around the world. The study explores the relationship between several contextual variables and overall tone of visual depictions. Findings indicate the visual coverage in U.S. newspapers was more favorable than visual coverage of newspapers from coalition and non-coalition countries.

The Impact of Group Identity on the Spiral of Silence: An Examination of Freelance Photographers and Copyright Retention Issues • Vincent Filak and Thomas Price, Ball State University • We examined whether group-based identities would impact an individual’s desire to speak out more so than the fear of isolation as posited in the spiral of silence. Survey data collected from a group of freelance photographers (n=234) revealed that the latter stages of the spiral of silence were affirmed in the overall prediction of whether individuals would speak out on the issue of copyright infringement. However, group media predicted personal opinion and individuals were more likely to speak out on the issue when their group identity was made salient. Theoretical and professional implications are discussed.

Conventionalization in Newspaper and Magazine Feature Photography: A study of Winning Photographs in the Pictures of the Year International Competition • Keith Greenwood and C. Zoe Smith, University of Missouri at Columbia • This study examines conventionalization in content of newspaper and magazine feature photographs selected as winners in the annual Pictures of the Year International competition. A sample of winning images was created at five-year intervals from the 60 years of the competition and builds upon similar studies using sports feature photographs. The results show specific contents of the feature images have changed over time but the type of content exhibits a degree of conventionalization.

A Continuum of Difference: Race and Gender in Visual Depictions of Sporting Females • Marie Hardin, Susan Lynn and Kristie Walsdorf, Pennsylvania State University • This research integrates understanding of the media’s presentation of racial difference and sexual difference in sport by examining racialized images of females in general-interest women’s sport magazines. More than 4,000 photo images from four magazines were coded for relationships between racial and gendered depictions of athletes. The results of this research point to a continuum of racial and sexual difference in depictions of female athletes. Black/Masculine/Sport anchors one end and White/Feminine/Non-Sport anchors the other, reinforcing the idea that Black and White females in U.S. culture are defined by their differences. Non-Black minority women are virtually invisible and fall somewhere in between Blacks and Whites on the continuum. This continuum emphasizes both sexual and racial difference for females, locking them into hegemonic structures that reinforce their low status in U.S. culture.

Male Newspaper Photographers’ Perceptions of Women Photojournalists • Ken Heinen and Mark Popovich, Ball State University •This study is the third in a series that explored the attitudes of newspaper photojournalists toward the increasing number of women coming into the field. Q Methodology was used to understand how 16 male photojournalists felt about this phenomenon. Two factors were derived from the analysis and they were labeled as “Gender Blind” and “Gender Sensitive.” Both factors were similar in their beliefs that women and men were equal in stature in the field, which is an indication of how the stereotypical notions about women in photojournalism have changed in the past decade.

The Homogenized Imagery of Activist Organizations on the Internet • Linda Jean Kensicki, University of Minnesota •This research evaluates websites from non-deviant and deviant activist organizations to better understand the relationship between the type of advocacy group and the visual imagery used for self-representation. Seventeen of 21 variables measured for this study found no difference between non-deviant and deviant activist organizations’ visual representations on the Internet. These findings complicate the notion of a diverse communicative sphere and suggest a strong homogenizing effect could actually be occurring. Now that activists face the responsibility of representing themselves to potentially millions of viewers, it is suggested that self-imposed ‘normalizing’ restrictions on visual constructions of organizational identity may be inevitable.

Out of the Pool and into the Bed: Photographic Coverage during the Persian Gulf and Iraqi Wars in Three U.S. Newspapers • Paul Lester and Cynthia King, California State University at Fullterton • The United States has been engaged in military conflicts both honorable and questionable. Consequently, journalists have traveled to the front lines to produce stories and pictures both supportive and critical. A content analysis was conducted of images published in three US newspapers during the 1991 and 2003 wars with Iraq. The conclusion reveals that the U.S. military probably received the type of coverage it hoped when it installed the embedding program.

Myth and Photography: A Semiotic Analysis of Magazine Advertisements • Teruggi Page, University of Missouri at Columbia • This paper addresses the importance of visual media in society and in particular its rhetorical power within the context of women’s home magazines. The study examines three evocative “As I See It” advertisements, part of a rare fifteen-year long campaign for Kohler kitchen and bath products, featuring the surrealist photography of Hugh Kretschmer. A semiotic analysis suggests a transformative relationship between female models and the products, connoting referents of human commodification, self-alienation, sexual activity, and desire.

Alteration Tolerance: Gauging the Acceptability of Digital Manipulation Techniques in News Photographs • Lulu Rodriguez and Joel Geske, Iowa State University • The acceptability of digitally manipulated news photographs to a group of potential mass media practitioners and image handlers was examined by showing 130 college newspaper readers a series of 19 paired local news photographs. Each pair consists of the original image and its digitally altered version, and respondents were asked to rate the extent to which each alteration was acceptable to them. The results indicate that in general, manipulating photos that included people was more unacceptable than manipulating photos of objects. Respondents did accept some alterations, especially if these entail removing distracting elements or other ways by which the technical strengths of photographs can be enhanced.

News Photography and Reactions to Tragedy: How Journalistic Imagery Triggers Emotion and Influences Perceptions of Violence, Safety and Responsibility • Margaret A. Spratt, University of Washington • This research considers how a dramatic news photograph influences the way individuals react to and process information about vital social issues, especially issues dealing with trauma, crime, and violence among youth. Through an experimental approach, this project finds that readers respond differently to a print news analysis about youth and violence if a potentially disturbing photographic image is included – in this case, the dramatic Pulitzer-prize winning image of two students grieving at Columbine High School.

The Effect of Visual Continuity in Television News: The Filmic Code, the Journalistic Code and the News Viewer • Susan Zuckerman, Indiana University • Television journalists use visual continuity techniques to construct news reports. These techniques were originally employed to evoke realism in theatrical films and documentaries and became the preferred method of presenting visual material in television news. This study used an experiment to investigate the effect of visual continuity on perceived reality, credibility and affective reaction in TV news. It found no differences for reports constructed according to continuity guidelines than for those that violated the guidelines.

<< 2004 Abstracts