Archives for January 2012

Scholastic Journalism Division

One body, four photos, and third-person effect: A teaching formula destined to lessen student support for press access to public records? • David Cuillier, Washington State University • Given the increasing closure of government records, college journalism students are in greater need than ever of developing an appreciation for open government and skills in acquiring access to documents and meetings. Applying third-person effect theory and research from the support for free-epression literature, this paper suggests that the way freedom of information is taught might actually lessen student journalists’ support for press access to records. Suggestions for research and pedagogical approaches are provided.

Transmission down the line: Teacher motivation, student motivation and teacher-course evaluations • Vincent F. Filak, Ball State University; and Kennon M. Sheldon, University of Missouri at Columbia • Does academic motivation go “down the line,” from administrators to teachers to students? We tested a two-level path model based on self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985, 2000), using a sample of 220 introductory journalism students nested within 14 different course instructors. In the best-fitting model, perceived autonomy-support from administrators predicted self-determined instructor motivation. In turn, self-determined instructors provided more autonomy support to their students, which then predicted more self-determined course motivation in students.

I think I can write, but grammar confuses me: Pre-JMC students’ high school and college language skill instruction, perceptions of self-efficacy, and variables that predict success on a required language skills exam • Peter Gade, University of Oklahoma • This study explores the perceptions of students entering JMC programs on their experiences in English courses in high school and college, the extent of their language skill instruction, and their sense of language skills self-efficacy. This study finds that students are not getting much grammar and basic language instruction in their college composition courses. For scholastic educators, this study suggests that they do their students a service if they make a considerable effort to teach the basics of the English language.

Transmitting the media hierarchy for athletics coverage: Gender and racial diversity in sports journalism textbooks • Marie Hardin, Pennsylvania State University; Kim Lauffer, Towson University and Julie E. Dodd, University of Florida • This study examines images in sports journalism textbooks for their depictions of females, minorities and people with disabilities. Textbook photographs are powerful, memorable transmitters of cultural values to students. This research found that these textbook photos emphasize hegemonic values, such as the general marginalization and stereotyping of female athletes and the complete exclusion of people with disabilities. The authors suggest ways textbook authors and editors can improve the books and ways sports journalism instructors can incorporate more progressive values into their instruction.

Must We Print Both Sides? The Viewpoint-Neutrality Quagmire In Public School-Sponsored Forums • Dan Kozlowski, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • In Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the student newspaper under question was a nonpublic forum. Although public forum analysis usually includes an examination of viewpoint-neutrality, the Hazelwood Court concluded its analysis without any such discussion. The omission has resulted in a split in the federal courts of appeals. The U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Sixth, Ninth, and Eleventh Circuits continue to require viewpoint-neutral regulation, while the First, Third, and Tenth Circuits eliminated the requirement in school-sponsored nonpublic forums. This paper examines the decisions of the six cases in the federal courts of appeals, concluding that the First, Third, and Tenth Circuits offered the more accurate interpretation of Hazelwood.

Making Their Way In The World: Journalism Students’ Globalization Awareness • Lyle D. Olson and John E. Getz, South Dakota State University • Globalization — and all of its ramifications — is a reality journalism and mass communication schools must address. A survey at a Midwestern university revealed statistically significant findings related to students’ level of global awareness and their college newspaper experience. The survey also found that students understand the value of a global mindset but are not particularly globally astute. The authors recommend six strategies to increase students’ globalization awareness.

Speaking Up in Class: A Quantitative Analysis of High School Environments and Student Attitudes About Free Expression • Neil Ralston, Northwestern State University • More than 1,000 high school graduates were surveyed to determine what connections, if any, existed between the students’ attitudes regarding free expression and several other variables. Among the findings were that students were more likely to support free expression if they obtained most of their news from print media, if they believed they had “total” or “a lot” of freedom of expression in high school, and if they worked on a school newspaper.

Using Writing to Predict Students’ Choice of Majors • Eric M. Wiltse, University of Wyoming • This predictive study examines whether discriminant analysis results can classify students enrolled in communication courses into their majors. Predictor variables were writing apprehension, self-efficacy, outcome expectations, skills and experience. The study correctly classified 53% of the participants as journalism, communication or non-majors. Discriminant analysis found that writing apprehension, self-efficacy and experience were positive predictors of academic major.

<< 2004 Abstracts

Radio-TV Journalism Division

The Canadian News Directors Study: How Television Newsroom Decision Makers Understand Their Journalistic Roles • Marsha Barber and Ann Rauhala, Ryerson University • This is the first Canadian academic study to attempt to understand how news directors, the people who run Canada’s broadcast newsrooms, conceive the professional roles of the journalists who work for them. The research suggests that there are important differences between the way U.S. and Canadian journalists conceive their roles. In addition, it suggests that there are significant differences between public and private news directors’ conceptions of journalistic roles.

What’s Interesting: Local-news promos as a caricature of presumed audience preferences • Eran N. Ben-Porath, University of Pennsylvania • An analysis of local-news promos was conducted to answer the question “what do news-providers think their viewers find most interesting?” The content of 24 news programs is compared with the content of their corresponding promos. This comparison finds that promos caricature the news, accentuating its extremes, over-representing pragmatic information such as the weather and consumer tips, while under-representing policy issues. In a competitive television market, these discrepancies represent the news organizations’ perception of viewer preferences.

A Content Analysis of News Crawls on Three 24-hour News Networks • April Blackmon, Kimball Benson, and Susan Berhow, Kansas State University • This study’s purpose is to describe television news crawls through a content analysis of three 24-hour news networks. News crawl history, agenda setting theory and the Cultural Indicators paradigm are addressed. Topic and frequency of crawls was assessed using Deutschmann’s (1959) modified categories as used in Stempel’s (1988) work on news network topic choices. The researchers found that news crawls primarily featured hard news items and agenda setting could be observed within the crawl.

Down to the Wire: NPR’s “Morning Edition” Coverage of the 2000 Presidential Election Campaign • Timothy Boudreau, Central Michigan University • This content analysis examines how National Public Radio’s “Morning Edition” news program covered the 2000 presidential election campaign. The study of 116 news stories over about a ten-week period found that NPR’s reporters relied heavily on traditional sources and provided similar tone of coverage to both Al Gore and George W. Bush. The study further noted a significant shift in coverage for Bush after the first presidential debate.

Local television news anchors’ usual tasks: Work roles, gender, and the factory analogy • Katherine A. Bradshaw and James C. Foust, Bowling Green State University; and Joseph P. Bernt, University of Ohio • Anchors regularly complete gatherer, manager, and performer tasks, and participate in multiple steps of the “news factory” analogy. Results further call into question the usefulness of the work roles typology of gatherer and manager, dispute the usefulness of the news factory analogy, and expand the discussion of gender and news anchors. Tasks completed vary significantly by years of experience by gender. Less experienced females perform more tasks and more experienced males perform more tasks. Experienced female anchors may disappear from the anchor desk, and those who stay may become less powerful as they gain experience. A survey of local anchors (895) resulted in 451 usable surveys, a 50.4% response rate.

How Network TV News Covered Breast Cancer, 1974 to 2003 • Sooyoung Cho and Sam H. Jeon, University of Missouri at Columbia • The present study content analyzed all the 602 news stories on breast cancer in three major TV networks over the past three decades (1974-2003). We found that the amount of news coverage increased during the time period. Sub-issues like prevention and treatment significantly increased, while issues like surgery and celebrities decreased. The proportion of the news coverage that included the thematic frame and research findings increased across time whereas some characteristics of the coverage has not changed, such as the dominant citation of medical doctors.

How Do We Select Them and Then What Do We Teach Them? A Survey of Success Factors for Student Broadcast Journalism Award Winners • Dale L. Edwards, C.A. Tuggle and Dan Kozlowski, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • How accurately admissions criteria predict student success has been thoroughly studied. However, little research has examined the connection between those criteria and journalism student success. We survey winners of student broadcast journalism awards to identify factors they believe led to their success. We conclude that standardized tests scores and grade point averages are mildly predictive, but that other factors were stronger predictors. Thus, rigid admissions criteria might exclude some students who would be highly successful.

Reporting on Two Presidencies: News Coverage of George W. Bush’s First Year in Office • Stephen J. Farnsworth, Mary Washington College; and S. Robert Lichter, Center for Media and Public Affairs • Personal coverage of President Bush during 2001 on network television and in six U.S. newspapers became far more positive after September 11, 2001, with the largest gains found in network television coverage. Coverage of the rest of the Bush administration, in contrast, became distinctly more negative after the terrorist attacks. The vast majority of the executive branch coverage both before and after the terrorist attacks in all media outlets focused on job performance, not the questions of character, ethics and political conduct that often dominate presidential campaign coverage.

Partisan and Structural Balance of Local Television Election Coverage of Incumbent and Open Gubernatorial Elections • Frederick Fico, Geri Alumit Zeldes, and Arvind Diddi, Michigan State University • Local television stories and segments covering the 2002 open race for governor in Michigan were compared with the same stations’ coverage of the 1998 election in which an incumbent governor ran against a challenger. Coverage of the 2002 race was more even handed toward the Republican and Democratic candidates, as predicted. Overall, multi-story segments making up a day’s news coverage were more balanced than the individual stories, consistent with previous research in 1998. Stories and segments leading newscasts were more balanced than those run inside. Election stories that ran alone in a day’s newscast were also more balanced. However, stories covered by reporters were less likely to be balanced than stories covered by anchors, contrary to predictions.

The “I” of Embedded Reporting • Julia Fox and Byungho Park, University of Indiana • This study compares the use of personal pronouns in embedded and non-embedded reports during the “Shock and Awe” campaign to investigate whether embedded reporters’ objectivity was compromised during the Iraq War. The results indicate that critics were warranted in their concerns that embedding reporters in troops would make the reporters part of the story and thus compromise their objectivity, given the increased use of the indexical referential “I” in embedded reporting.

Intermedia Agenda Setting and Global News Coverage: Assessing the Influence of The New York Times on Three Network Television Evening News Programs • Guy Golan, Louisiana State University • For several decades, media scholars have attempted to identify the key variables that shape the complicated international news selection process. At the heart of the research lies the question of what makes a nation or an international event newsworthy? Research findings point to several key determinants of international news coverage including deviance, relevance, cultural affinity and location in the hierarchy of nations. The current study suggests that the newsworthiness of international events may result from an intermedia agenda setting process.

Developing a New Measurement for Television News Accuracy • Gary Hanson and Stanley Wearden, Kent State University • This research study seeks to develop a workable measure of TV news accuracy by asking sources to describe perceived errors using a standardized form and to rate their seriousness and impact. This paper replicates the basic methods of the 2002 study with a new set of questions that examine stories for specific factual errors and for errors in the visual elements: video, graphics and on-camera interviews.

The Impact of Local, Network, and Cable News Dependence during the Iraq War on Attitudes, Interest in the War, Preference for Visual Complexity, and Central vs. Peripheral News Features • Yan Jin and Esther Thorson, University of Missouri; and Michael Antecol, Frank N. Magid Associates, Inc. • With online survey data from the first week of the 2003 U.S.-Iraq War, this study uses the Elaboration Likelihood Model and research on the processing of TV structural variables, especially visual complexity, to ask how people with news dependency on local, network and cable television differ. Those who indicated the most preference for “central” information and high visual complexity chose cable television to get their war news. Type of television news dependence was not differentially associated with preference for “peripheral” information.

Caught on Tape: A Case Study of How Three Local TV Stations Used a Dramatic Amateur Videotape in Reporting Crime • Stan Ketterer, Marc A. Krein and Tom Weir, Oklahoma State University • This case study examines the use of a dramatic amateur videotape in local television news reporting of a crime story involving a police “rough arrest.” The results indicate three stations in Oklahoma City used the dramatic videotape because it was available, but the extent of usage depended on the station. The researchers found the three network affiliates differed dramatically in story placement, video usage, and presentation. However, all stations showed police hitting the suspect with batons more times in a single newscast than in the original tape. Although news executives said sweeps month did not affect coverage, the station using the tape the most had the highest ratings.

Walking in Step to the Future: Views of Journalism Education by Practitioners and Educators • Ernest F. Martin, Jr., Debora H. Wenger, Jeff C. South and Paula I. Otto, Virginia Commonwealth University • This study, based on an Internet survey of 317 educational administrators, television news executives, newspaper editors and online executives during first quarter 2004, contrasts views about preparation of students for current and future jobs by showing gaps between what employers’ value most in job applicants and what educational programs are providing. Second, it addresses newsroom challenges that are shaping the industry and journalism education.

How Would Aristotle Evaluate the Quality of Contemporary Political Discourse Over the Broadcast/Cable Media? • David Martinson, Florida International University • This paper contends that Aristotle’s discussion of what is termed the golden mean can be utilized in attempting to evaluate, from an ethical and public interest perspective, the manner in which the broadcast and cable media provide coverage of contemporary political and public affairs issues. It suggests that an Aristotelian perspective can be particularly helpful in light of the virtual explosion of political discussion/debate over the broadcast airwaves and cable channels in recent years.

“…A Suit That Touches Caesar Nearer”: Television Breaking News And The Relevance Effect • Andrea Miller and David D. Perlmutter, Louisiana State University • The visual clutter and hyperkinetic pace and action of the modern news broadcast and cablecast challenge the distinctiveness of the “breaking news” story. We submit that in the era of visual overload, the key criterion for a successful breaking news story will be “relevance.” Relevance theory asserts that human beings use visual and cognitive cues to attend to items in the environment that are most relevant to them. In our study, we surveyed undergraduates and asked them for the criteria for which, and the degree to which, they would pay attention to hypothetical breaking news stories. We found that it does not matter what story breaks into programming, viewers just want it to be personally relevant to them.

Middletown Media Studies: A Comparison of TV News and TV Use Across Three Research Methodologies • Robert A. Papper, Michael E. Holmes; and Mark N. Popovich, Ball State University • Three studies of television news and other media in “Middletown” are reported: a telephone survey, a diary study, and an observation study. The studies reveal people spend almost triple (193.8 percent) the time with television news than they think they do. That inability to identify time spent with media was common across most media. Overall, people were observed spending an average of 11.7 hours a day using one or more media. Because of media multitasking, total time in media usage is less than the sum of its parts. Simply summing all media use by medium results in a staggering 15.4 hours per day. Diary tabulations of media use documented more usage than did the telephone survey, but it was still 12.9 percent below observed use overall.

Local Television Sports: Band-aids for a Compound Fracture • Brad Schultz, University of Mississippi; and Mary Lou Sheffer, Louisiana State University • A content analysis was conducted in six different television markets to study the sports segment of the local television newscast. The stations say they are making changes to attract new audiences, but data indicated the changes were both minor and ineffectual. Results also showed that such strategies have failed in terms of building ratings. Implications were discussed, including stations eliminating local sports or outsourcing its production.

A Lopsided Deal: The Recent Application of the Equal Opportunities Doctrine • W. Joann Wong, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • This study suggests that the original idea of equal opportunities doctrine has been undermined by its application. This study, which analyzes all federal cases on the equal opportunities doctrine over the past decade, reveals that the Federal Communications Commission’s and the federal courts’ rulings on the doctrine have expanded the scope of the exemptions for bona fide news. Therefore, most broadcasters now can easily fit their telecasts into one of the exemption categories. As a result, the fundamental purposes of the equal opportunities doctrine – the equality of candidates’ use of broadcasting facilities and the audiences’ maximum access to election information – have not been served effectively. The equal opportunities doctrine has become a lopsided deal between broadcasters and political candidates.

<< 2004 Abstracts

Public Relations Division

Shared Involvement and risk perceptions in responding to bioterrorism: An extension of the situational theory of publics • Linda Aldoory and Mark Van Dyke, University of Maryland • This study extended the situational theory of publics into risk communication. Risk communication theories were integrated here to measure their usefulness in extending the situational theory. Focus group participants were given hypothetical news scenarios about a terrorist threat on a U.S. food product. Participants discussed problem recognition, level of involvement, constraint recognition, fear, risk, threat, and social approval. Findings indicated “shared” involvement decreased perceived threat. Perceived susceptibility was central to involvement, and fear arousal was a constraint.

Toward an apologetic ethic: A casistical approach • Sandra L. Borden and Keith Michael Hearit, Western Michigan University • Most approaches to crisis management ethics apply existing ethical theories deductively to the crisis management context. This essay takes an inductive approach by using casuistry to first specify the context that gives concrete meaning to ethical principles. The result of this analysis is the development, in paradigmatic form, of the content (what should be said) and the manner (how it should be said) of ideal ethical apologetic communication when organizations are guilty of wrongdoing.

Cutting out the middleman: Must public relations messages be filtered through traditional news media to gain credibility? • Coy Callison and Norman E. Youngblood, Texas Tech University • Credibility of information presented through various media was examined experimentally (N=240). Results suggest that information presented on Web sites, regardless of host, lacks credibility compared to information presented in traditional media. Likewise, information presented by public relations media is viewed as less credible than information presented by news media, independent of format. Most important to practitioners, information relayed via corporate Web sites lacks credibility compared to information distributed by other presentation formats.

Public nudity on cell phones: Managing conflict in crisis situations • Sooyoung Cho and Glen T. Cameron, University of Missouri at Columbia • Using a case study of news coverage to recount a fast-moving, dramatic marketing PR incident that recently occurred in South Korea, the contingency theory of conflict management and crisis management strategies are integrated to examine how crisis is communicated and managed in a very short period of time. Several types of strategies were utilized by contending parties through the various stages of the crisis life cycle. We found evidence for a new contingent variable that should be added in the matrix of contingent factors—the importance of Internet community and Netizens as organized and influential publics. Netizens played an important role throughout the crisis period in changing the organization’s stance from advocacy to accommodation.

The First Amendment protection for corporate speech concerning business practices: The implications of Nike vs. Kasky • Jounghwa Choi, Michigan State University • In 2003, the Nike v. Kasky case alarmed public relations professionals, because the case questioned the First Amendment protection afforded for core communication activities. This study presents an overview of constitutional history of corporate speech in the Supreme Court and discusses Nike v. Kasky in terms of its impacts on corporate speech and public relations practices. In particular, this paper examines constitutional rationales applied in the Kasky court and debates around it. Several noticeable trends in the Supreme Court’s decisions on corporate speech and implications for public relations professionals are discussed.

The importance of appearing competent: An analysis of corporate impression management strategies on the World Wide Web • Colleen Connolly-Ahern and S. Camille Broadway, University of Florida • Web sites have become important impression management tools for corporations, because they represent a constantly available source of information for an organization’s publics. This study uses quantitative content analysis to assess current corporate impression management techniques, using Jones (1990) typology of impression management strategies: ingratiation, competence, exemplification, supplication and intimidation. Findings indicate that corporate Web sites focus on competence and exemplification strategies, and that they are not using the full associative powers of the Web.

How successful are communication strategies? A framing analysis of political PR during the national debate on immigration in Germany • Romy Froehlich and Burkgard Rüdiger • Our study elaborates on the question how to measure PR success. Our study examines media coverage and political PR during the national debate on immigration that occurred in Germany between May 2000 and March 2002. The findings indicate that it is worthwhile to invest in developing a framing-based instrument for the comparison of meanings and contexts instead of depending merely on comparisons of topics or issues.

Crisis management’s new role in educational settings • Barbara Gainey, Kennesaw State University • This paper explores the status of crisis management in educational settings, focusing on crisis management preparation in South Carolina public school districts and the extent to which these districts are “crisis-ready” organizations. A new framework is proposed for analyzing the crisis-ready status of these organizations. The three Cs—crisis management planning, communication (two-way/relationship-building), and cultural leadership within the school community—are seen as essential, interconnected elements of successful crisis management in the 21st century.

Writing and the public relations curriculum: Practitioner perceptions versus pedagogy • Marie C. Hardin, West Georgia University; and Donnalyn Pompper, Florida State University • Educators and practitioners seem to agree that writing is a public relations curriculum fundamental. Value perceptions deviate, however, in assessments of quality and degree of attention to writing in the classroom. An examination of the writing requirements of 152 ASJMC accredited public relations programs indicate that only a little more than half (57%) require a news writing course. Fewer require a public relations writing course (51%). Nearly 200 public relations practitioners were surveyed as to their perceptions of college public relations educators’ writing emphasis. This exploratory study’s findings suggest that practitioners believe both news writing and public relations writing classes should be mandatory among public relations students; they offer slightly stronger support for news writing.

The impact of CEO reputation, corporate credibility, and brand loyalty in relationship building • ChangHyun Jin, University of Florida • The purpose of this paper is to identify the effect of CEO Reputation, corporate credibility, and brand loyalty in relationship building. This study found that corporate credibility has a positive impact on brand loyalty and the relationship building. The results indicate that CEO reputation and corporate credibility had a positive impact of brand loyalty. Furthermore, brand loyalty also important played a role in relationship building. Thus, CEO Reputation, corporate credibility and brand loyalty are likely to affect by moderating in relationship building.

Different means to the same end: A comparative contingency analyses of Singapore and Chinese governments’ management of the perceptions and emotions of their multiple public during the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) crisis • Yan Jin, Augustine Pang and Glen T. Cameron, University of Missouri at Columbia • Using content analyses of SARS news coverage in both Singapore and China, the contingency theory of conflict management and current crisis management literature were integrated to examine how crisis was communicated at the macro levels by the two governments, what were the stances taken, and what strategies were used to manage their multiple publics. Findings showed that although both countries, which shared similar cultures and media systems, perceived the crisis similarly in terms of severity and attribution, the dominant factors and motivations influencing each of their stances and strategies between advocacy and accommodation were different.

Ready for the rainy day: A case study of labeling issue management in the cosmetic industry • Yan Jin, I-Huei Cheng and Anca Micu, University of Missouri at Columbia • To demonstrate how a crisis management model can be applied, particularly to the state of pre-crisis, the current case study analyzed the media coverage of the recent labeling issues that imposed threats to cosmetic industry. In April 2000 European Union (EU) announced that all cosmetic products would be required to fully disclose their ingredients and allergens, beginning in March 11,2005, which set cosmetics industry at an early stage of crisis. Based on Coombs’ (1999) model, crisis signals were detected by locating media-coverage key issues and evaluating information on industry-stakeholder relationship. The reactions of activist groups were also assessed in terms of their strategies and impacts.

A theoretical perspective on “fear” as an organizational motivator for initiating public relations activities • Jangyul Robert Kim, University of Florida • This exploratory study identifies the correlation between fear and the public relations activities of an organization. A survey of forty public relations professionals in Florida was conducted Fear was identified as a critical causal factor that motivates an organization to initiate or undertake public relations activities. The effect of fear on public relations activities of an organization differed by public relations area, by degree of fear, by public/stakeholder and by type of fear/threat.

First- & second-level agenda building & agenda-setting effects: Exploring the linkages among candidate press releases, media coverage, & public opinion during the 2002 Florida gubernatorial election • Spiro Kiousis, Michael Mitrook, Xu Wu and Trent Seltzer • This study explores the role of candidate news releases, media content, and public opinion in shaping the salience of political issues and candidate images during the 2002 Florida gubernatorial election. The study analyzed 77 public relations releases, 1,538 newspaper stories, and public opinion data from a statewide survey of 572 respondents. Significant correlations were found supporting both first- and second-level agenda-building and agenda-setting effects, working to inform strategies of public relations practitioners involved in political campaigns.

Friends in high places: States legislators as targets of public school PR campaigns • Tien-Tsung Lee, Washington State University; and Mark M. Havens, Havens CPR • State legislators are an essential public for school public relations efforts at any time, but especially during a state budget crisis. To identify effective ways to target this audience, a mail survey of all 105 Idaho state senators and House representatives was launched in May 2002. Findings reveal the most common channels through which legislators receive information about public schools, their self-estimated level of knowledge on various issues, and factors affecting their knowledge. Because legislators rarely rely on the news media for information on public schools, school PR campaigns should not utilize this channel. Alternatives are discussed.

News release flow-through: News release/news article LSA metric • Ernest F. Martin, Jr., Virginia Commonwealth University • This paper describes the exploration of latent semantic analysis (LSA) as possible automated, statistically reliable metric for measuring the degree to which a particular news release influences a particular news article or story. In the exploratory study, LSA provides a useful evaluative metric to indicate whether the news release impacted a news article. Additionally, the LSA metric is useful for relative scoring—potentially indicating strong, medium or weak coherence between news releases and news stories.

From liftoff to landing: How NASA’s crisis communications affected media coverage following the Challenger and Columbia tragedies • Ryan M. Martin and Lois Boynton, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • NASA’s public relations effort following the Challenger explosion in 1986 is considered an example of crisis communications failure. After the 2003 Columbia disaster, however, NASA was praised for its successful handling of the crisis. This paper identifies how four newspapers presented NASA’s crisis communication efforts following the two crises, utilizing crisis communication concepts associated with stakeholder theory. Results showed that NASA applied these concepts more effectively and received more positive coverage following the Columbia disaster than the Challenger disaster.

Attitudes and aptitudes: Gender differences and outlook on the future by incoming public relations students • Michael A. Mitrook, University of Florida • A national survey is used to explore the attitudes and capabilities of men and women at the earliest stage of the decision-making process that brings them into the public relations field. Female undergraduates and particularly those majoring in public relations have the aptitudes and most of the requisite attitudes needed to become public relations managers. Women were more interested in symmetrical communication than men, offering more versatility and sophistication for the field. However, they appear disinclined to take on the managerial role, envisioning a less-focused career than men envision and opting for technician over managerial positions.

Readers’ preferences for graphic designs by age, generation and life strategies • Linda P. Morton, Oklahoma University • This study examined graphic design decisions by readers’ age, generation and life stages. It used a visual instrument containing three designs for each of twelve design elements. Communicators comprised the 232 subjects for this study. Chi-squares indicated that preferences differed by age for four design elements: informal balance, proximity, rules and typesetting; by generations for four design elements: informal balance, proximity, rules, and typesetting; by life stages for three design elements: rhythm, rules and typesetting.

Research, measurement & evaluation: Public relations educators assess and report current teaching practices • Julie O’Neal, Texas Christian University • This study secured feedback from public relations educators regarding their teaching practices related to research, measurement, and evaluation and their assessments of those practices. One hundred seventeen educators participated in a web-based survey. Although most educators believe a stand-alone research methods course should be offered, less than half of respondents’ units offer a separate course. Most respondents don’t think that educators are doing a good job teaching research competency. Implications for public relations educators are offered.

Exploring global public relations in China’s context • Lan Ni, University of Maryland • This study explores global public relations through China’s cultural context. Culture is first examined through observing dimensional variability together with cultural members’ native meaning making, and then used to explore the influence on both the actual practice and application of principles of excellent public relations in China. Power distance and interpersonal relationship are cultural factors with the most impact. Findings basically support major principles and two additional suggestions are made for the particular cultural context.

Shouting in the media’s deaf ear: A qualitative analysis of the NAACP’s public relations messages in the post-election debacle of 2002 • Stephanye Perkins, University of North Florida • When the contest for the U. S. presidency went into overdrive, the media sought soundbites to put the events in perspective. The NAACP was one of the organizations that sought the media’s ear, but its message of voter disenfranchisement was either drowned in the cacophony or shouted into the media’s deaf ear. This study uses qualitative framing to examine how the nation’s oldest civil rights organization used public relations to deliver its message.

Researching employees’ perception of benefits communication: A communication inquiry on channel preferences, understanding, decision-making, and benefits satisfaction • Gaelle Picherit-duthler and Alan R. Freitag, University of North Carolina at Charlotte • This paper, part of a larger research effort, reports results from a Web-based survey of employees of one organization to examine their perceptions of benefits communication effectiveness. The survey addressed categories of benefits provided, benefits satisfaction, employees’ level of understanding, the decision-making factors driving their benefit choices, and overall effectiveness of communication channels. Results indicated that most employees were satisfied with their benefits communication; ironically, however, many perceived it as a confusing, complicated and sometimes frustrating process.

Conflict and public relations: A hot waste issue in Utah • Kenneth D. Plowman, Brigham Young University • Multiple party negotiations may be the next step in the stream of research combining public relations and conflict resolution. This study undertook a qualitative quasi-experimental design with 11 graduate students taking on different roles in the hot waste issue in Utah. These students framed the issue, defined their self-interests as stakeholders, and then conducted a series of five role plays on the issue. Preliminary findings revealed that contention was the most used strategy, but most often in combination with principled. If those strategies were not successful, then roles players turned to avoidance.

Education and job satisfaction: Toward a normative theory of public relations pedagogy for social change • Donnalyn Pompper, Florida State University • This study investigated how a sample of female African-American public relations practitioners viewed their preparedness for a career that employs few people of color and where even fewer achieve senior-level management status. Focus groups were conducted in Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia. Little formal research is conducted to evaluate effectiveness of public relations curricula – beyond graduates’ job placement figures. Practitioners report that public relations programs’ failure to address multicultural diversity in the classroom has adversely affected their job satisfaction. A normative theory of public relations pedagogy for social change is offered.

The Internet and litigation public relations • Brian Reber, Karla Gower and Jennifer Robinson, University of Missouri at Columbia • The Internet is an emerging new tool in litigation public relations. This paper explores this new phenomenon of personal litigation Web sites by content analyzing the Web sites of three celebrities who are currently involved in high-profile litigation, Martha Stewart, Richard Scrushy and Michael Jackson. The analysis revealed that standard litigation public relations standards transfer well to the Internet and suggests that such Web sites are a promising means for disseminating and controlling a client’s message.

Value assessment of PRSSA Bateman competition • Cathy Rogers, Loyola University • The competition which the Public Relations Student Society of America initiated in 1973 as a classic case study has changed considerably since its inception. The Bateman Case Study has evolved into a competition where students develop, implement, and evaluate a campaign for a real corporate client. This study includes a survey of PRSSA advisors and a qualitative analysis of winning entries developed since 1999, when the implementation phase was added to the competition.

War and peace between journalists and public relations practitioners: Working together to set, frame and build the public agenda 1991-2003 • Lynne M. Sallot and Elizabeth A. Johnson, University of Georgia • Agenda-setting, framing and agenda-building theoretical frameworks were used to investigate how journalists view their relationships with public relations practitioners by analyzing 381 depth interviews conducted with journalists from 1991 through 2003. Journalists who perceived and accepted practitioners’ roles the most as agenda setters, framers and agenda builders for the media, measured by journalists’ estimates of how much news content uses public relations contacts, reported having better relationships with practitioners and valuing public relations more. On average, journalists estimated that 44% of the content of U.S. news media or the medium for which they worked is subsidized by practitioners.

Managing relationships and reputations in the National Pan-Hellenic Council • Arlana Shields, University of Florida• The National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC) is the umbrella organization for nine predominately African-American Greek-letter organizations (National Pan-Hellenic Council, 2003). The members of NPHC organizations are the “first full line of defense.” People have a greater chance of interacting with general members than with the organizations’ executive board members. Consequently, how members behave and display the symbols of their organizations is important to managing public-organization relationships and to maintaining the reputations of these organizations.

Occums Razor in the contingency theory: A national survey of PR professional responses to the contingency model • Jae-Hwa Shin, Glen T. Cameron, University of Missouri at Columbia; and Fritz Cropp, Munich, Germany • 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 internal factors and external factors affecting public relations practice, and particularly individual factors (i.e., communication competency, ethical value, ability to handle complex problems, problem recognition, familiarity with external public) were identified that affect the contingency undertaken by public relations practitioners in a given situation.

Contingent factors in public relations practice: Modeling generic public relations in Korea • Jae-Hwa Shin, Southern Mississippi University; Jongming Park, Kyung Hee-Korea; and Glen T. Cameron, University of Missouri at Columbia • This study aims at identifying what factors public relations practitioners perceive as influential to public relations practice and discriminating public relations practitioners by the distinctive factors in a Korean context. It has some decades of history that many scholars argue what public relations “is” or “should be.” With a qualification of Grunig’s study, Cameron and his colleagues proposed that public relations depend on a number of factors. Based on the contingent factors, this paper looks at what contingent factors are influential in Korean public relations practice. It also examines if the generic rule of excellent public relations is being applied to a non-Western country.

Reaching key publics online: University public relations practitioners’ use of the World Wide Web • Deborah A. Silverman, University of Buffalo • The author conducted a content analysis of all 261 American doctorate-granting universities to determine how they are using the World Wide Web to provide information for key publics. The analysis revealed that although most universities have clearly labeled, dedicated newsrooms linked from their home page, content is often limited. Special links on the home page for key publics were most common for alumni and friends; current students; prospective students; and faculty and staff.

Ending a chapter of their lives: A study of disaffiliation in college sororities • Jessalynn Strauss, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • This study examines the process of disaffiliation, the process by which members officially sever ties with their sorority organization. In this study, eight former sorority members were interviewed about their sorority experience, their disaffiliation process, and their thoughts on sorority membership and ex-membership. Information gathered from this study will be used to inform a public relations plan for the Panhellenic sororities at a major Southeastern university to help the sororities improve their communication with the university and its community.

Emergent postmodern approaches to corporate communication strategy • Ursula Ströh, University of Technology, Australia •In this paper I suggest a new approach to corporate communication strategy in line with postmodern theories. I argue for a more participative approach with high ethical and moral meaning creation through action science and research rather than the structured approaches suggested by current corporate communication theorists. I further more call for relationship management based on the basic interpersonal relationship principles where ethics, integrity, trust, openness, and listening skills determine the success of relationships. Organizations that favor their shareholders above other stakeholders and believe that business determines success and drives policy should be replaced with organizations that function as responsible, moral, and honest citizens of a larger environment. This approach ensures a positive reputation for the organization through socially responsible change processes that have relational influences into a larger societal community structure.

To give or not to give: Factors determining alumni intent to make donations as a PR outcome • James C. Tsao and Gary Coll, University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh • This study is significant to those schools and departments seeking to develop segmented fund raising campaigns. Segmented campaigns are those undertaken and carried out by individual schools and departments, supplementary to campus-wide efforts. The majority of journalism and mass communication programs have traditionally relied on their campus development or foundation office to conduct annual mass giving campaigns to the entire population of alumni, including journalism and mass communication graduates. However, such individual and segmented campaigns can be costly because departments cannot benefit much from economies of scale in producing and distributing appeals. Further, the appeals are not likely to be as sophisticated in execution as those developed by campus foundation offices. So it is doubly important for organizations considering segmented fund raising campaigns to identify factors that effectively enhance alumni giving.

Analysis of fund raising models at public historically Black colleges and universities • Natalie Tindall, University of Maryland • This empirical study examined whether public historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) predominately practiced the press agentry, public information, two-way asymmetrical, two-way symmetrical or mixed motive models of fund raising. The findings reported the heavy usage of press agency model of fund raising by advancement officers, replicating a component identified by both Alessandrini (1998) and Kelly (1991; 1995a; 1995b; 1998). The impact of the state appropriations and institutional support on the advancement function indicated the relevance of state and institutional funding to the practice of fund raising and dictated whether fund raising would be an effective component of the organization. The most interesting concepts emerging from the research was the emergence of a mixed motive model of fund raising.

Responding to activism: An experimental analysis of public relations strategy influence on attributes of publics • Kelly Page Werder, University of South Florida • Experimental methods were used to examine the influence of public relations strategies on attributes of publics. Specifically, public relations strategies derived from Hazleton and Long’s public relations process model (1988) were tested to determine strategy influence on problem recognition, level of involvement, constraint recognition, and goal compatibility toward an organization responding to activism. Results indicate that the attributes of problem recognition and level of involvement are influenced by public relations strategies. In addition, the findings of this study support the situational theory of publics; however, items measuring level of involvement and goal compatibility were found to be the strongest predictors of information seeking behavior. Findings indicate that goal compatibility is a predictor of strategy effectiveness.

A qualitative study of military-media relations during the war in Iraq: Investigating embedding, discovering relationship theory in action • David S. Westover, Jr. and Margot Opdycke Lamme, University of Florida • This exploratory, qualitative approach to examining media embedding during the U.S. military’s largest combat operation since the Gulf War afforded an opportunity to establish grounded theory. Instead, what emerged were four of the elements identified in the scholarly literature as central to organization-public relationships: trust, access, exchange, and understanding.

Examining the existence of professional prejudice and discrimination against public relations • Donald K. Wright, South Alabama University • This study of a large sample of public relations educators (n=342) examined attitudes and opinions about the existence of professional prejudice and discrimination in public relations and public relations education. A web-based survey and follow-up interviews were used with a sample selected from members of the Public Relations Division of the AEJMC and the Educators Academy of PRSA. Results found substantial evidence suggesting such prejudice and discrimination exists. Nearly 98 percent of the study’s respondents agreed some people are prejudiced against public relations. More than half (56.6%) of the public relations educator respondents said they have had a dean, director or department chair who was prejudiced against public relations, and many of these administrators evidently have made use of exaggerations and stereotypes about public relations while criticizing it. Results also suggest this prejudice is more pronounced among print journalists and journalism faculty than it is among other groups of communication educators and practitioners.

<< 2004 Abstracts

Newspaper Division

Problem or Promise? Coverage of Gambling in the New York Times 1964-1992 • Timothy Boudreau, Central Michigan University • This content analysis of 356 stories about gambling looked at whether and how coverage of the activity shifted while gambling was becoming less deviant and gaining social acceptance. This study, covering nearly three decades, found that the theme of coverage shifted from an emphasis on crime to one of economics. But no consistent shift in the tone of coverage was found, nor was gambling portrayed as more beneficial for the individual or for the community.

Variations on a Theme: The Professional Role Conceptions of Print and Online Newspaper Journalists • William P. Cassidy, University of Wisconsin at Whitewater • A national survey (N=655) examining the professional role conceptions of print and online newspaper journalists revealed the print group perceived the Interpretive/Investigative role conception as significantly more important than the online group. No significant differences were found between the groups in their perceptions of the Adversarial and Populist Mobilizer role conceptions. Results were mixed for the Disseminator role conception with the online group rating getting information to the public as significantly more important than the print group.

Will they read it if it’s free? College Students and Complimentary Daily Newspapers • Steve Collins, University of Central Florida • Two newspapers in a southwestern metropolitan area began supplying students at an area university with complimentary copies of their publications midway through the Fall 2002 semester. This study involved a survey the following semester that was designed to measure the early success of the program and its effect on readership of other print products. Although fewer than half of students had read a copy of either paper in the previous week, the program had clearly reached an important segment of the student population. Ten percent of students reported reading at least six issues of the papers in the previous week. What’s more, 62 percent of students reading the free papers said they intended to subscribe to a newspaper after graduation.

Risky Business: Youth and Internet Crime in the News • Lynne Edwards and Emily Callaghan, Ursinis University • Informed by Gamson and Modigliani’s (1989) theory of framing, the authors analyzed 160 articles in five major newspapers (1990 – 2002) to explore coverage of youths and Internet crime. Through the over-reliance on official sources and the under-utilization of youth sources, the news frames: 1) boys as Internet villains, 2) girls as Internet victims, 3) police as the only heroes who can save them, and 4) our civil liberties as the ultimate sacrifice.

College Newspaper Sports Agendas • Lee Farquhar, Kristin Rethman, Heather Calhoun and Oksana Boyko, Kansas State University • This agenda setting study in a collegiate setting shows strong similarities between the sports staffs’ sports agenda, readers’ sports agenda and actual coverage. Females and males showed a strong positive correlation regarding sports agendas, but differed slightly in sex-based sports. A strong positive correlation occurred between a two-week constructed sample and a one-week constructed sample in the content analysis. However, the two-week sample better accounted for all sports than the one-week sample.

Content and Framing of Children’s Health Reporting • Rebecca Gruhn and Katherine Hawkins, Clemson University • A review of a random sample of newspapers published during 2001 in a large mid-western state indicated that while a wide variety of children’s health topics received coverage, such coverage often inaccurately represented threats to children’s health in that state. In addition, stories were overwhelmingly framed from a non-public health perspective, promoting the false conclusion that threats to children’s health and safety are random and not preventable.

Newspaper diversity in Chicago: A study of competing editorial pages • Tom Hallock, Ohio University• In an era of diminishing daily newspaper competition and increasing group ownership, a content analysis of the editorials of the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times from two separate years during the administration of President George W. Bush found ideological and subject diversity, indicating that competing newspapers offer readers a choice of editorial opinions and editorial topics. The findings contradict the conclusions of previous research that found no or little effect of competition on newspaper editorials.

Ordinary People and the Weekly Newspaper • John Hatcher, Syracuse • It has been said that community journalism, small daily and weekly newspapers, report on the “everyday lives of ordinary people,” suggesting a uniformity of content based on routinized practices. However, research suggests community heterogeneity has a strong influence on the content of newspapers. This study asks whether community type can be used to predict the variability in source diversity in weekly newspapers. This study uses a content analysis of 659 sources from 40 issues of 10 different weekly newspapers to ascertain the reliance on official sources in reporting the news. The results find partial support for the prediction that community diversity influences source diversity in weekly newspapers.

What The Public Expects of Local News • Don Heider, Maxwell McCombs and Paula Poindexter, University of Texas at Austin • What does the public need to know? What role should news play in local community life? What are the central characteristics of good journalism? Debates and discussions about these fundamental questions primarily have been limited to journalists and those who study journalism. But what about consumers of journalism? This study set out to discover what everyday citizens think about journalism, and in particular, what role the public thinks journalists should play in reporting the local news.

Uncovering the Quality of Converged Journalism: A Content Analysis of The Tampa Tribune News Stories • Edgar Huang, Lisa Radamakers, Moshood A. Fayemiwo and Lillian Dunlap, USF at St. Petersburg • A content analysis, coupled with an in-depth interview, was done in this case study on The Tampa Tribune, a component of The News Center in Tampa, in an attempt to answer the question whether converged journalism has jeopardized journalistic quality. After comparing the quality factors shown in the Tribune stories before, at the beginning of, and three years into convergence, this study has found that media convergence has overall sustained the quality of news reporting.

Houston Harte: Setting The Standard for Community Journalism by Building a Better Community • Cathy Johnson, Angelo State University • This study seeks to tie the contemporary jargon of community journalism to a role model of the past. Houston Harte recognized that in order for his newspaper to thrive, the community would have to prosper. During a period when no one was calling it community journalism, the publisher literally built his adopted community of San Angelo, Texas. His exemplary model shows that a newspaper can focus on the community and still turn a profit.

The Long-Run Relationship Between Newsroom Investment and Change in Circulation for Medium and Large Dailies • Stephen Lacy, Charles St. Cyr; and Susanna Guzman, Michigan State University • This study examines the relationship between newsroom investment in 1984 and the change in weekday circulation over periods of five, ten, and fifteen years at forty-one daily newspapers with more than 25,000 circulation. A significant positive association was found between newsroom investment in 1984 and the percentage change in circulation five years later. The relationships ten and fifteen years after the index measurement were consistent with the hypothesis but not statistically significant.

Salience Transfer between Online and Offline Media in Korea: Content Analysis of Four Traditional Papers and Their Online Siblings • Gunho Lee, University of Texas at Austin • This study explores the intermedia agenda-setting effects among four Korean traditional newspapers and their online siblings. Rank order correlations revealed that there are clear, if not universal, intermedia agenda-setting effects among those papers. Two of the four traditional newspapers set the agenda of their own online siblings, while one online version of the four newspapers set its offline newspaper’s agenda. In general, the traditional papers wielded more power in setting the others’ agenda than their online siblings did, while the online siblings were more vulnerable to the agenda of other papers than the traditional papers were.

‘Everyone else has a TV Weatherman on the Weatherpage’ Institutional Isomorphism and Commitment to Newspaper-TV Partnering • Wilson Lowrey, University of Alabama • This study uses the institutional theory of organizations to explore the degree to which newspapers and TV stations pursue partnerships for concrete benefits, and the degree to which they pursue them to keep up with perceived trends. Findings from a national survey of newspaper editors and TV news directors revealed that pursuit of concrete benefits best predicted initiating partnerships while strength of commitment to partnering correlated more strongly with managers’ professional involvement and with the level of partnering of nearby “flagship” news institutions.

Accuracy Matters: A Benchmark Assessment of Newspaper Error and Credibility • Scott R. Maier, University of Oregon • A survey of 4,800 news sources cited in 14 newspapers provides a large-scale assessment of newspaper accuracy and credibility. Sources found errors in 61 percent of local news stories, an inaccuracy rate higher than reported in 65 years of accuracy research. Newspaper credibility significantly declined in relation to frequency and severity of errors. Inaccuracy negatively affected source willingness to cooperate with the press. The cross-market study, the first of its scope, sets a normative standard for media accuracy.

Answering the Challenge: How Media Writing Instructors Compared at Accredited and Non-Accredited Journalism Programs • Mark Masse and Mark Popovich, Ball State University • Research findings from a national study of media writing instructors reveal modest differences between accredited and non-accredited institutions in teaching attitudes among media writing instructors, provide evidence of significant professional experience among faculty at both categories of journalism programs, and demonstrate the need for continued innovation in the teaching of writing among all journalism educators. This study finds that media writing instructors are currently in transition from traditional to more progressive (e.g., convergence) teaching practices.

Missouri Newspaper Reporters: Perceptions of Prestige, Peers and Job Satisfaction Based on City Size and Personal Characteristics • Jarrett Medlin and Clyde Bentley, University of Missouri • A survey of newspaper reporters in the state of Missouri sought information on how they perceived both their prestige in the community and what people in their communities they identified as peers. Education had a negative correlation with job satisfaction, and reporters portrayed themselves as peers to school teachers in their communities.

Effects of Domestic Violence Coverage Training on Student Reporters • Ginger L. Park, Terri Clark and Joye Gordon, Kent State University • This study’s purpose was to determine if training student journalists would influence how they write domestic violence stories. A treatment group received sensitivity training. The treatment and control groups were assigned to write a story base based on a fictitious account of domestic violence. Quantitative content analysis showed that training had a slight to moderate observed effect with the most pronounced difference being that trained students used fewer statements that excused the perpetrator.

Victim Identification and Low Reporting • R. Riski, Peninsula • No abstract available.

Technology Outruns the Law: Newspapers and the E-Mail Public Records Quagmire • Ron Rodgers, Ohio University • Governmental e-mail as the fillip for violations of the public’s right to know stems from confusion about when an electronic message becomes part of the public record and when privacy – and the right of nondisclosure – adheres to an e-mail sent to or from a public official. This paper looks as where policy is heading as reflected in recent court rulings and in the discourse of commentary by legal and non-legal officials in the trade, periodical, and daily press.

Using House Ads to Promote E-newspapers: A Longitudinal Content Analysis • Shelly Rodgers, Yan Jin, Yoonhyeung Choi, Wanda Sui and Ann Brill, University of Missouri • The authors propose a framework that draws on distinctiveness theory to examine how print newspapers are cross-promoting their Web sites using in-house ads. A content analysis of 15 newspapers was undertaken in 2000 and 2003. Three distinctiveness factors were examined including persuasion, integration and targeting. Findings revealed that while newspapers are doing a fairly good job integrating house ads into the newspaper, there is still room for improvement. The authors conclude that newspaper URLs need to be more prominent, more strategically positioned, and more carefully targeted to males and females for proper marketing of the e-newspaper.

Newspaper Coverage of U.S. Courts of Appeals: Notes on a Model of News Coverage of the Judiciary • Thomas Schwartz, Ohio State University • A line of research analyzing news media coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court has found the coverage to be poor in quantity and quality. Using method and theory similar to those studies, this study finds that coverage of the U.S. courts of appeals also is weak.

A Survey of Photo Editors‘ Attitude Toward Technology • Michelle Seelig, University of Miami • A national survey of photo editors at the top 100 U.S. daily newspapers was conducted to uncover the architectural changes that influence the way photo editors do their job. This research has three goals: to assess the role of technology in the photo-editorial decision process; to assess photo editors’ attitudes toward technology; and determine photo editors’ overall satisfaction with technology. The findings presented show photo editors to have a positive attitude toward the technology.

Revisiting The Police Blotter: Public Service Stories or Assembly Line Journalism at Its Worst? • James Simon and Sean Hayes, Fairfield University • It is one of the most basic rules of journalism: get the other side of the story. Yet when it comes to reporting crime news, newspapers have long been criticized for over reliance on police blotter items which fail to include comment from the accused. This study examined all juvenile justice stories carried by the three largest newspapers in a state over a three-month period. While 81 percent of the stories used police as a source for information, only 7 percent of the stories included comment from juvenile defendants, their attorneys and their relatives.

Message Control on the Campaign Trail: The Influence of Access on Political News • Elizabeth Skewes, University of Colorado • This study looks at the struggle for message control in campaign coverage, using interviews with reporters who covered the 2000 election and participant observation. The study finds that reporters battle with the candidates and their staffs for control over the news, and they are wary of being manipulated. Campaign staffs try to control the message by limiting press access to the candidate. This leads to an undercurrent of tension between the press and the campaign.

Political Power And The Press: Vice President Charles Fairbanks. • Robert Spellman, Southern Illinois University • Charles Warren Fairbanks, vice president under President Theodore Roosevelt, dominated Indiana politics for two decades at the turn of the 20th century. Crucial to his rise to national prominence was the support of Indiana’s most influential newspapers. Unknown to the public was Fairbanks’ controlling or significant financial interests in those newspapers. His majority ownership of the Indianapolis News, the state’s leading newspaper, did not become public knowledge until after his death.

The Impact of Investment in Newsrooms on Newspaper Revenues and Profits: Small and Medium Newspapers 1998-2002 • Esther Thorson and Qun Chen, University of Missouri; and Steve Lacy, Michigan State University • This paper presents a study of five consecutive years (1998 – 2002) of Inland Daily Newspaper data to test the theory that financial investment in the newsroom will influence circulation, which, in turn, will influence revenue and profits. The regression findings show that the model is supported by the data. Using regression generated by the data for each of the five years, the authors calculated how a 4 percent increase in newsroom investment would influence revenue and profits if circulation increased 0, 2 and 4 percent as a result. The results indicate that although investment in newsroom reduces profit in the short term, in the long term it will increase revenue and profit.

Community Newspapers As Instruments of Social Control: Updating Community Conflict and the Press • Michael L. Thurwanger, Bradley University • This study updates research into the social control function exercised by local newspapers in covering community conflict. Newspapers serving Illinois communities selected as the site of corrections facilities constructed or approved for construction between 1977 and 2001 were used in this content analysis. The study provided additional evidence of community newspapers acting in the distributive information control function. A moderate correlation between various aspects of coverage and community structural pluralism was also found.

What the milkman saw: The regional press and frame adjustment in the shadow of war • Fred Vultee, University of Missouri • As President Bush sought to make his case for a war against Iraq, he and his administration consistently framed such a conflict as part of a broader war against terrorism. A content analysis of a major regional daily newspaper suggests that while this alignment was broadly accepted at the outset, press accounts became increasingly less receptive to it as the conflict drew nearer and even less as fighting began.

Objectivity and Conglomeration: A Test of Media Ownership Theory • Xinkun Wang and Renita Coleman, Louisiana State University • This study tests the theory of media ownership by comparing the publicly owned Boston Globe with the privately owned Boston Herald on bias in coverage of the 2000 presidential election. As the theory predicts, the publicly owned newspaper was more objective than the privately owned paper, showing more favoritism toward the candidate it endorsed. Corporate ownership, which has generally been criticized, may not be all bad since the corporate-owned newspaper did a better job of fair and balanced coverage.

The Now What Factor: The Level of Innovativeness Among Online Newspapers • Amy Schmitz Weiss, University of Texas at Austin • This study examines levels of innovativeness by a content analysis of 20 online newspaper homepages. Results showed that the most innovative online newspapers were using a combination of innovative practices and techniques. The Minneapolis Star Tribune, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and the Baltimore Sun were the most innovative among the 20 online newspapers in this study.

Correct This! A Content Analysis of 2003 Errors Posted by The New York Times • Terry Wimmer, West Virginia University • Credibility research for more than 60 years has examined the corrections published in the nation’s newspapers. This project used content-analysis to examine corrections in The New York Times in 2003, the year of the Jason Blair scandal. Objective errors still dominate the newspaper’s corrections, and getting basic information correct: names, identifiers, and spelling, remains a problem. Subjective errors might be the greater threat to credibility, and this project suggests new methodologies for scholars and journalists to improve credibility with readers.

Internet Newspapers Public Forum and User Involvement • Sandy Ye, Louisiana State; and Xigen Li, Arkansas State • This study looked at public forums of the Internet newspapers and user involvement in public forums. A content analysis of 120 U.S. Internet newspapers found 39.2% of the Internet newspapers offered public forums. A majority of newspapers (70.2%) with public forums had less than 15 discussion forums. Newspaper size had a significant effect on diversity of public forums. The findings suggest that the forums of the Internet newspapers have yet to be developed as an effective tool to advance public discourse and democracy deliberation. There was a relatively low user involvement in the public forums regardless of newspaper size.

Local Newspaper Goes Easy on National Story Reporting the Tulia Drug Bust Story: A Case Study • Teresa Young, Wayland Baptist; and Roger C. Saathoff, Texas Tech University • This case study describes how a local weekly newspaper fared compared to its counterparts in larger, more pluralistic towns and cities when 39 of 46 people arrested in a regional drug sting operation in a small West Texas town are African American and the government’s lead witness is completely discredited with charges of racism? The results of this study confirm previous work criticizing small local newspapers for a failure to meet socially responsible journalistic standards.

Growing Up With Parents Who Read and Watch the News: What is the Effect on College Students? • Amy Zerba, University of Texas at Austin • In using social learning theory and the uses and gratifications approach as a theoretical framework, this study shows that parents’ regular use of newspaper and television news does influence college students’ news exposure. Results also showed students’ attachment to print and television does influence news exposure. Findings show attachment to reading print is a consequence of parents reading newspapers and a determinant of students reading newspapers. The results suggest parents’ modeling behavior of media use has an effect.

<< 2004 Abstracts

Minorities and Communication Division

FACULTY RESEARCH
International Diplomacy and the Prelude To 2003 Invasion of Iraq: African News Coverage and Assessment • Emmanuel C. Alozie, Governors State University • This study analyzed how the sub-Saharan African press interpreted events leading to the 2003 American-led military invasion of Iraq. It found that the press opposed the policies and efforts to initiate a military action. The opposition was based on the contention that a Western-led attack on Iraq, without international consensus, would produce political, economic and social upheaval in the Middle East, which might spread to Africa.

The Effectiveness of “Typical-User” Testimonial Ads on Black Browsers’ Evaluation of Products On Commercial Web Sites: Do They Really Work? • Osei Appiah, Ohio State University • This study tested the effectiveness of black and white character testimonial ads on black browsers’ evaluation of a high-end technical product on a commercial Web site. The results demonstrate that testimonial ads that feature black characters positively influence black browsers, but testimonial ads that feature white characters are no more effective than a site without testimonial ads. Specifically, the findings indicate that black browsers identified more strongly with black character testimonials, were more likely to believe a site was targeting them when the site contained black testimonials, and recalled more product information from a site that featured black character testimonials vis-á-vis a site with either white character testimonials or no testimonials.

Idaho Unido: Providing Print Media That Meet the Needs of Hispanic Populations in Distributed Rural Areas • Martine R. Beachboard, Idaho State University • Hispanics account for approximately 13.3 percent of Americans. Often overlooked are the media needs of the growing numbers of Hispanics in non-metropolitan areas. One Idaho couple met the needs of a rural Hispanic population by publishing the bilingual biweekly Idaho Unido. This study addresses the motivation for publication, readers’ use for cultural maintenance, and the publisher’s business model. This success story may serve as an example for other small newspapers serving minority publics.

Audience Loyalty and Spanish-Language Radio • Todd Chambers, Texas Tech University • This study focused on time spent listening and station switching as measures of loyalty to Spanish-language radio stations. Data were collected from industry resources and measured a variety of variables including the amount of time a person listens to a particular radio station and the degree a station has audience turnover as a measure for station switching for Spanish-language and mainstream stations in selected Hispanic radio markets. Overall, the results suggest that some Spanish-language radio stations had higher levels of time spent listening and lower levels of audience turnover. The findings have implications for Spanish-language radio stations that may under-perform in traditional ratings analysis but over-perform when other measures of radio listening habits are considered.

We Finally Got a Piece of the Pie (Maybe): Hegemony and Multi-raciality in “The Jeffersons” • Michele S. Foss, Pacific University • Through a methodology consisting of textual analysis (narrative and rhetorical), this paper attempts to answer the following questions: How does television construct the concept of mixed race, especially within genres not traditionally considered to be “racialized,” or frequent sources of racial discussion? Does television in general, and “The Jeffersons” specifically, use that construction and polysemy to strengthen the bonds of hegemony and push society forward to the bliss of the status quo? If so, how?

“By the Color of Her Skin”: Effects of Endorser Ethnicity on African American Women’s Attitudes To Seek Early Detection of Breast Cancer • Cynthia M. Frisby, University of Missouri • While they are less likely to develop breast cancer, African American women diagnosed with breast cancer have significantly shorter life expectancy rates than Caucasian women diagnosed with similar disease, research shows. The research in this paper seeks to determine how ethnicity of the endorser might be used to influence and/or change health-related attitudes and behaviors of African American women. Data reveal that ads containing African American endorsers are and can be most effective in changing attitudes toward early prevention of breast cancer.

Black Images In the Media and Black Attitudes Toward Affirmative Action • Yuki Fujioka, Georgia State University • The self-administered survey of 203 African American respondents examined the relationship among black images in the media, perceived public perception of the in-group and endorsement of affirmative action. The study found that negative evaluation of black media images predicted perceived lower level of public attitudes toward blacks, which in turn, resulted in a greater endorsement of affirmative action.

A New Path For Native American Tribal Media: Perceptions of Development Communication • Teresa T. Lamsam, Nebraska at Omaha; and Keith P. Sanders, University of Missouri • This analysis uses the theories of development communication to examine perceptions of Native American tribal media among key staff members of tribal development programs in health, housing and education. Q Methodology was used to determine perceptions of development communication in relation to tribal media and to interpret the strength and characteristics of those views. Three attitudinal types – symbolically named Fortress Builders, Abode Builders and Bridge Builders – were analyzed for characteristics.

Bridging the East and West: Roles, Reporters and Chinese-Language Newspapers • Carol M. Liebler and Wanfeng Zhou, Syracuse University• This paper investigates the roles journalists at three Chinese language daily newspapers assign both to themselves and to their organizations. We examine these roles in the context of crisis-driven news (SARS), as well as in more routine contexts. Data obtained through in-depth interviews reveal journalists go beyond traditional roles identified in the literature. Not only does advocacy play an important role, but journalists stress the need for news to be reported through “Chinese eyes,” particularly during crises. It further appears some reporters question dominant ideology, and this is reflected in their approach to their news work.

Spanish-language Radio Use In Rural America • Alex Ortiz, Texas Tech University • This research examines the role of Spanish-language radio in the ethnic identity formation in a group of mostly recently arrived Mexican residents in Central Florida. The data indicate that ethnic radio primarily fulfils a native-culture linking function among listeners, providing information that helps them maintain a distinct Mexican- or Latino-based identity. However, respondents also reported that ethnic radio performs a limited assimilative purpose for its ability to connect listeners to the dominant society.

Racial Profiling in the Newsroom: A Case Study • David Pritchard and Sarah Brzenzinski, University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee • This study examines the kinds of stories covered by white and minority reporters at a daily newspaper in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The results showed that minority journalists were assigned mostly to beats and stories that dealt principally with minority issues. Whites, on the other hand, tended to cover issues of general interest and power. Explanations for this discrepancy focused on the invaluable contribution of experience and knowledge to a reporter’s work.

Latino and African-American Press Reactions – to Mainstream Coverage of Census Statistics on Race and Ethnicity: The Politics of Appropriation and Contestation • Ilia Rodriguez, University of New Mexico • The purpose of this paper is to compare coverage of the 2003 U.S. Census Bureau release of statistics on Latino population growth to elucidate how news narratives in Latino, African-American and mainstream papers produced competing discourses on inter-ethnic relations in the United States, with emphasis on the construction of perceptions of black-latino relation.

Racial Representation and Role Depiction in Magazine Advertising: A Content Analysis • Govinda Tidball and Frauke Hatchtmann, University of Nebraska at Lincoln • In the past, arguments arose that mass media advertising campaigns were reluctant to use non-white models for mass media advertising efforts. This research study investigates the controversial issue of racial representation, as well as apparent role depiction, across different media in order to derive conclusions concerning the following: Are Whites portrayed more frequently and more prominently than non-Whites as the models of choice in mass media advertising? How are members of the racial groups classified as White, African-American, Asian, and Hispanic portrayed in advertising in relationship to each other? The primary value of this research study is that it provides a frame of reference for past racial representation and role portrayals in mass media advertising.

Looking Back to Look Forward: Standard 12 Two Decades Later • Evonne Whitmore, Kent State University • This paper seeks to provide a historical perspective on the impact of ACEJMC’ s Standard 12 on the Council and on the curriculum. The adoption of Standard 12 in 1984 by the accrediting council signaled the beginning of the diversity movement in journalism higher education. Standard 12 required journalism schools to document the hiring of women and people of color to faculties and to show the contributions of minorities in the curriculum. For 20 years the Standard has dominated much of the discussion at Council meetings and has frequently led in non-compliance levels. To gain an understanding of the tussle between schools and the Council over the standard, a historical analysis was conducted on more than 300 ACEJMC documents from 1986 to 2003.

STUDENT RESEARCH
The 51st State Debate: An Analysis of How Four American Newspapers Covered the 1998 Vote to Determine the Future Status of Puerto Rico • Mariel Betancourt-Beil, Ohio University • This study analyzed the sources and opinions presented in stories regarding the 1998 vote to determine Puerto Rico’s future status as a nation. Through a content analysis of the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and Washington Post, the study discovered that diversity of sources was much greater than diversity of opinions expressed by these sources. Roughly 62.7% of all sources failed to express whether they supported Puerto Rico’s statehood or not.

Gambling with Identity: Self-Representation of Native Americans on Web sites by Tribes that have Casinos • David Cuillier, Washington State University • This textual analysis of 205 official Native American Web sites evaluates how tribes in different economic power positions represent their identities on the Internet. The findings show that half of the tribes with casinos construct identities of the exotic Other, such as tepees and stoic chiefs in headdresses. In contrast, fewer than 1 in 10 of the tribes without casinos communicate the same identity, instead displaying modem images and assertions of resistance. Implications are discussed.

Influences Affecting Newspaper Coverage of American Indians from Journalistic Perspective • Andrew Morozov, Jay Love, Helga Wernicke and Steve Barrus, Washington State University • This study examines working newspaper journalists’ concept of their professional role with respect to their coverage of news about American Indians. The study utilizes a content analysis of transcripts taken from in-depth interviews with journalists and editors at a small town newspaper in the Northwest. The analysis reveals a number of factors hindering the reporters’ ability to cover news involving American Indians in a manner consistent with their professional roles and goals.

Asian Representations in Film • David C. Oh, Syracuse University • A content analysis was performed of mass market U.S. films with prominent Asian portrayals over seven decades to test whether perceived social distance of Asian ethnic groups affects portrayals of Asian characters. Asian characters were found to be portrayed as negatively valenced and unaccultured with portrayals becoming more positive over time. This study supports the hypothesis that perceived social distance affects the portrayal of Asian characters in film.

Fitting the pieces together: The puzzle of newspaper coverage of Hispanics in emerging immigrant communities • Lisa M. Paulin, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • This study examines newspaper coverage of Hispanics in nine emerging immigrant communities using content analysis. The results indicate that newspapers are generally attempting to portray Hispanics positively and to promote social understanding, but at the same time, Hispanics are still being portrayed as victims who are not in control of their circumstances. This study shows that newspapers, just as communities, are grappling with the issue of how to effectively cover a complex group.

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