International Communication Division
Faculty Papers
Reflection of Cultural Values in Internet Advertising in Korea and the U.S.: A Theory-based Content Analysis • Daechun An, Ball State University • A content analysis of 600 advertising websites was performed to examine cultural values reflected in Internet advertising in Korea and the U.S. By employing Hall and Hofstede’s cultural values as theoretical frameworks, this study found a clear pattern of dissimilarities in the use of information cues and creative strategy, supporting the idea that the observed between-country differences were attributable to between-country differences in cultural values. In addition, this study demonstrated the effectiveness of the theoretical framework and their linkage with advertising appeals in visualizing a broad representative picture of cultural differences in Internet advertising.
Manufacturing Dislike: The Influence of Direct and Indirect Contact on Stereotypes of Foreigners • Christopher E. Beaudoin, Indiana University at Bloomington • Via a national telephone survey of 467 adults, the current study examines the influence that direct and indirect contact with foreigners has on stereotypes of foreigners. Direct contact with Chinese positively influenced stereotypes of Chinese people while international news attention (a form of indirect contact) negatively influenced stereotypes of Chinese people. International news attention and direct contact did not have significant influence on stereotypes of British. The effects of international news attention on stereotypes of both Chinese and British were more negative for respondents with low levels of direct contact than for respondents with high levels of direct contact.
The Rise of Anti-Americanism in India: A Case Study • Kalyani Chadha, University of Maryland • Widely manifest today, anti-Americanism is frequently sought to be explained in terms of broad generalizations as an ideological phenomenon rooted in opposition to American political and cultural values. This paper argues instead that anti-Americanism is more fruitfully analyzed as a contextual phenomenon and seeks to study it in the case of India, finding recent anti-Americanism within the middle class, to be rooted not in opposition to America’s values but to its foreign policies.
Accuracy and Fairness in News Reporting: How Foreign Newspapers Covered the 2004 Pre-Election Eve Shooting of the Taiwanese President • Kuang-Kuo Chang, Waipeng Lee, and Wenli Chen Nanyang Tehcnological University • Accuracy and fairness are two important journalistic values. However, international journalists have difficulties upholding them in news-breaking episodes. This study examines news coverage of the shooting of the President of Taiwan immediately before his recent reelection in major English-language newspapers. Sixty articles, representing newspapers from eight countries, were analyzed. Results show that journalists made factual mistakes and gave unfair prominence to the “Pan-Green” camp in Taiwan (i.e., the incumbent President, his allies and supporters).
The Influence of Contextual Factors on the Selection of News Frames: A Cross-National Approach to the News Coverage of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) • Kuang-Kuo Chang, Nanyang Tehcnological University; Charles T. Salmon, Byoungkwan Lee, Jounghwa Choi, and Geraldine Marie Zeldes, Michigan State University • SARS became the focus of massive news coverage throughout the world in 2003, riveting the attention of travelers, business owners and politicians alike. This paper reports a content analysis of SARS coverage in six nations directly affected by SARS, but to varying degrees. In particular, this paper examines the role of context-related factors in influencing media frames about the SARS epidemic. Implications of these and other findings are discussed in terms of journalistic practices and cultural factors.
A China without AIDS: A Longitudinal Study of AIDS News in People’s Daily, 1986 – 2002 • Dan Chen, Fudan University; Tsan-Kuo Chang and Dong Dong, University of Minnesota • News media seem to employ a different way to define AIDS and to represent people with AIDS (PWAs). In this longitudinal study, we try to outline the discourses surrounding HIV/AIDS in Chinese news media, discover the major news foci, and discuss the perceived outcomes resulted from the media’s representation and construction of AIDS in contemporary China. We find that driven by a predominant ideology of modernization, AIDS is regarded a social problem that might postpone or deter China’s fast pace toward modernization. Hence, People’s Daily, the most important Chinese Party organ, tries to make this issue invisible to the public.
The Perception of newsworthiness in ten countries: Journalists, public relations practitioners and news consumers • Akiba A. Cohen, Tel Aviv University; and Pamela J. Shoemaker, Syracuse University • Using a simulated newsroom selection task, the study found that across countries there was a positive relationship among how journalists, public relations practitioners and news consumers ranked the newsworthiness of newspaper items, that there was a positive relationship between how these people ranked stories and how prominently their newspapers actually presented them, and that the ranking of stories were more similar to each other than to their actual rankings in the newspapers.
Is it right, wrong, or different? Exploring the impact of cultural factors in validating research. • Barbara J. DeSanto, University of North Carolina at Charlotte; William Thompson, University of Louisville; and Danny Moss, M.A. Hons, Manchester Metropolitan University • Scholarship is an established resource providing practitioners and educators with knowledge to improve communication from business to academia. As communication explodes globally, the importance of sharing diverse cultural scholarship from around the world is critical to creating equal global understanding. This pilot study develops a framework to assess how the dominant paradigm of U.S.-based journals includes or excludes the diverse cultural scholarship of global scholars and suggests ways to further study international journal publication values.
The Text is the Vortex: Three African Newspaper Cartoon “Re-Presentations” of President, Press and International Lending Institutions in the Post-Cold War era • Lyombe Eko, University of Iowa • This study analyzed the “re-presentation” of African presidents, the African press and the international lending institutions (the IMF and the World Bank) in the cartoons of two independent African satirical newspapers, Le Cafard Libéré of Senegal, and Le Messager Popoli of Cameroon. The cartoons of a mainstream newspaper, The Daily Nation of Nairobi, Kenya were added for purposes of linguistic and regional balance. The analysis was carried out within the framework of Legrand’s “re-presentation,” and Deleuze and Guattari’s “deterritorialization” Perspectives.
The View From Here: A News-flow Study of the On-line Editions of Canada’s National Newspapers • Mike Gasher, Concordia University • Employing a methodology adapted to the anaylsis of newspaper sites on the World Wide Web, this paper reports on an international news-flow study of the on-line editions of Canada’s three national newspapers: the Globe and Mail, the National Post and Le Devoir. If the Internet provides the technological capacity for newspapers to expand their news geography beyond conventional borders, this paper seeks to determine whether there is any evidence that newspapers are doing so.
News about the EU Constitution: Journalistic challenges and media portrayal of the European Constitution • Martin Gleissner and Claes H. de Vreese, University of Amsterdam • This multi-method study investigates how news media in Britain, Germany, and the Netherlands covered the European Union Constitution. The study draws on interviews with Brussels correspondents and a content analysis of television news and national newspapers. Results show that the Constitution entered and vanished from the media agenda, the tone of the coverage was predominately negative, and the issue was reported from a European angle. Explanations of these results come from journalists’ relation with EU institutions, their home news organizations, and their perception of the audience.
A Descriptive Analysis of Family Interactions in the Television Daily Drama in Korea: Cross-cultural Approach • Jong Won Ha, Sun Moon University • Many television dramas have featured families as the primary story vehicle. This paper aimed to analyze the family interactions focusing on the power process across family roles in Korean daily drama in comparison with American drama. The interactions between family members were characterized by conflicts of female members with the exception of wives. Mothers, daughters, sisters, mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law were arranged at the core of conflicts and struggles in contrast to their counterparts: fathers, sons, brothers, fathers-in-law and sons-in-law, namely men. It was dissimilar to those of American drama.
Who dominates the debate? Five news agencies and their sources before the U.S.-Iraq war • Beverly Horvit, Texas Christian University • A stratified random sample of 321news articles related to the U.S.-Iraq conflict from Jan. 31, 2003, to Feb. 18, 2003, was selected from five news agencies – AP, Agence France Presse, Xinhua, ITAR-TASS and Inter Press Service. U.S. official sources were the most frequently used, and only ITAR-TASS — showed nationalistic bias in its sourcing. However, the non-Western news agencies offered readers more diverse sourcing in their coverage of the debate leading up to the war.
Gratifications Sought from New Technology: Cellular Telephones in the Lives of Japanese Youth • Hiromi Kondo and Tony Rimmer, California State University • Uses and gratifications theory was used to explain why young people use cellular telephones to satisfy their social and psychological needs. A summer 2003 survey of 1,292 high school and college students in Japan found very high levels of cell phone ownership and use. A cellular phone was seen by respondents as an important medium for maintaining relationships with peers. But beyond just talk, cell phones fulfilled socialization desires for Japanese young people. Use of other mass media by young people was not related to cell phone use.
The Contextual Effects of Gender Norms, Communication, and Social Capital on Family Planning Behaviors in Uganda: A Multi-Level Approach • Byoungkwan Lee, Charles T. Salmon and Kim Witte, Michigan State University; and Hye-Jin Paek, University of Wisconsin-Madison • This study hypothesized a multi-level model to examine the contextual effects of gender norms, exposure to health-related radio programs, interpersonal communication, and social capital on family planning behavior in Uganda. The results of HLM showed that all of the four variables were marginally significant predictors of family planning behavior. We found that gender norms as a contextual factor significantly interacted with the individual-level perceived benefit. The significant cross-level interaction between the contextual variable of exposure to a health-related radio program and the individual-level variable of interpersonal communication was also found.
National Interest and Source Use In the Coverage of U.S.-China Relations: A Content Analysis of The New York Times and People’s Daily 1987-1996 • Xigen Li, Arkansas State University • This study examined relationship between national interest and source use in the coverage of U.S.-China relations in their respective elite newspapers of record, The New York Times and People’s Daily. The findings provided support to source dependency in international news coverage and impact of national interest on news content. The findings suggest the relationship between national interest and source use was decided by what was the central interest of the respective country in bilateral relations and how the issues involving national interest was presented by the newspapers.
The Framing of SARS: An Analysis of News Coverage in China and in the United States • Catherine A. Luther and Xiang Zhou, University of Tennessee • This research study examines how the press in the United States and in China framed the story of SARS. While showing that the news frames of economics, responsibility, and human-interest, previously established in other studies were also present in the U.S. and Chinese press coverage of SARS, it also identified a new frame, leadership. How these frames were presented differed depending on the origin of the newspaper.
Confronting gazes: Framing of Saudi women in the American press and American women in the Saudi press • Smeeta Mishra, University of Texas at Austin • This paper analyzes framing of Saudi women in the American press and compares it with representations of American women in the Saudi press by using an empirical ‘list of frames’ approach and drawing upon the critique of Orientalism, second level agenda setting and framing, and feminist critical analysis. Results show that the American press emphasizes restrictions on Saudi women over all other aspects of their lives. The Saudi press highlights ‘questionable values and superficial freedoms’ of American women among other frames.
Crime, Violence and Implications to HIV/AIDS Prevention: Challenges for Behavior Change Communication for in Jamaica • Nancy Muturi, University of the West Indies • Behavior change communication is an effective intervention in HIV/AIDS prevention but faces many challenges particularly in resource poor countries where socio-cultural and economic factors mitigate behavior change. This paper examines the impact of sexual violence on HIV/AIDS epidemic in the Caribbean, which the author contends, is contributing to the HIV/AIDS infection ranking the Caribbean only second to sub-Saharan Africa. Data for the study are gathered through a combination of participatory research methods in Jamaica.
“Nobody came to tell us how to live but how to die”: A HIV/AIDS focus group in sub-Sahara Africa • Emanuel Nneji, Utah State University • This study examines and compares the perceptions of two cohorts of indigenous communities in Nigeria and Botswana, in relation to their participatory communication experience in HIV health-related programs and considers appropriate ways of effectively involving them in such programs. Based on focus group discussions carried out by the author in Nigeria and Botswana in 2002, it is found that none of the focus group participants in either country had any full participatory experience.
International Students in the United States: Sojourners Using Home Country Media • Prajakta Paranjpe Mumbai India; and Jyotika Ramaprasad, Southern Illinois University • Set within the context of sojourning literature as well as uses and gratifications theory, this study examined how international students in the United States used home country mass media to satisfy their needs for information, integration with co-nationals, and familiarity. International students had relatively high use of home country media and above average needs for information, social integration, and familiarity. Their English competency, intention to return home, level of adjustment to the host culture, and needs predicted home country media use either or both in terms of time spent on and attention paid to home country media.
Internet Dependency Relations in Cross National Contexts: A Study of American and Indian Internet Users • Padmini Patwardhan, Texas Tech University; Jyotika Ramaprasad, Southern Illinois University • This study of American and Indian Internet users is one of the first to conduct a cross-country investigation of user-Internet connections within a micro-analytic Media System Dependency (MSD) framework. Using the term Internet Dependency Relations (IDR) to describe these relations, the study investigated 1) overall IDR intensity and intensity of IDR for six goal dimensions specified by MSD theory (social & self understanding, action & interaction orientation, and social & solitary play) and 2) demographic, geographic, and Internet use-related predictors of IDR. Data were collected through a cross-sectional online survey administered to a non-probability sample of American and Indian Internet users (n = 700).
Hybridity and the Rise of the Korean Media in Asia • Doobo Shim, National University of Singapore • A newly-coined phrase Korean wave, which refers to the Korean media culture enjoying popularity across East and Southeast Asia, is representative of the recent regional media development. This paper, by examining the recent big leap of the Korean media industries, argues that the U.S. dominance thesis of the globalization is not entirely justified. Although popular entertainment forms such as film and television are Western invention, Koreans have provided their own twists to the media by blending indeigenous characteristics and adding their unique flourishes in often innovative ways.
Libel Law In India: Following In Sullivan’s Footsteps • Robert L. Spellman, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale • New York Times v. United States revolutionized the law of libel in the United States. It eliminated the harsh strict liability regime of the common law of libel. Sullivan and its progeny held that the First Amendment did not permit public officials and public figures to collect damages for libel unless they proved knowing falsity or reckless disregard of truth or falsity. Other common law nations have rejected Sullivan. The one exception is India. In Rajagopal v. Tamil Nadu the Supreme Court of India adopted a Sullivan-like rule for public officials or public figures to collect libel damages.
Bias in International Coverage? Two U.S. Newspapers’ Treatment of the Venezuelan Political Crisis in 2002-2003 • Kristen Stevens, Natalia Matukhno, Julie Shaw, and Jose Benítez, Ohio University • The focus of this content analysis is to investigate how two major U.S. newspapers—the New York Times and the Washington Post—covered the political crisis in Venezuela from February 2002 through January 2003. This study analyzes the coverage by these newspapers of political, social, and economic discord in Venezuela during a time when U.S. policy was directly opposed to President Chåvez.
Improving internal relationships in South African newsrooms: the need for managerial competencies • Elanie Steyn and TFJ Steyn, North-West University; and Arnold S de Beer, University of Stellenbosch • The Sanef 2002 National Journalism Skills Audit found that bureaucratic managers could not understand today’s young people (having) no respect for or loyalty to the … organization. However, participatory managers reported improved staff loyalty and output. South African media managers witness employees demanding more inclusion in decision-making. This paper investigates whether managerial competencies of communication, planning and administration, teamwork, strategic action, global awareness and self-management might improve newsroom management, and ultimately journalism output in the country. This is also the focus of a second Sanef Audit currently underway.
Our brothers’ keeper: An analysis of media coverage of AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa, 1981-2002 • Dulcie M. Straugham, North Carolina at Chapel Hill • This content analysis study of network evening news coverage of the AIDS crisis in Sub-Saharan Africa over the past 21 years examines the scope of topics covered, the sources used in news stories frames employed by the media to talk about AIDS. Findings suggest that although coverage of the issue is slim, there has been an increase recently. Frames identified are similar to those found in earlier studies of coverage of the AIDS crisis in the United States.
The Influence of Cultural Parameters on Videostyles of Televised Political Spots in the U.S. and Korea • Jinyoung Tak, Keimyung University; Lynda Lee Kaid and Hyoungkoo Khang, University of Florida • Considering cross-cultural aspects of political communication, this study explored how political advertising plays a conspicuous role as an indicator of cultural orientations by comparing and contrasting videostyles of the televised political spots between the United States and Korea since the presidential elections in 1992. A content analysis of verbal, nonverbal, and production components of the videostyles shows that televised political spots were highly reflective of the respective cultural values with regard to high-low context communication, degree of uncertainty avoidance, nonverbal expressions, and the social aspect of Che-Myon.
HIV/AIDS as News: A Case Study Analysis of the Journalistic Coverage of HIV/AIDS by an African Newspaper • Nelson Traquina, New University of Lisbon • When is HIV/AIDS selected as news? This paper is a case study analysis of the news coverage of HIV/AIDS in an African country, Angola that has been ravaged by a civil war since independence from Portuguese rule in 1975 until a cease-fire in 2002. The coverage by Angola’s only daily newspaper, Jornal de Angola, is compared with coverage provided by two Portuguese dailies, Diário de Notícias and Correio da Manhã, in similar years, namely, 1985, 1988, 1993, 1995, 1998 and 2000.
Renegotiating Media in the Post-Soviet Era: Western Journalistic Practices in the Armenian Radio Program Aniv • Gayane Frunze Torosyan and Kenneth Starck, University of Iowa • This study explored the interplay of Soviet-style and Western journalistic conventions by examining an Armenian commercial radio news program, Aniv, which is broadcast nationally and produced through an American-funded non-governmental organization, Internews. Six issues guided the inquiry: (1) Objectivity, (2) Newsworthiness, (3) Social Role of Journalism, (4) Competition, (5) Professional Values, (6) Education and Employment. Results of personal interviews and observations indicated that success in promoting societal discourse is dependent on adapting imported practices to local circumstances.
The Cross-cultural Effects of American TV Programs on Nigerian Audiences • Chioma Ugochukwu, University of South Carolina • This experimental study investigates the effects of American-produced entertainment programs on Nigerian audiences’ knowledge, beliefs, behaviors, attitudes, and values, using the cultural imperialism theory as a framework. The subject pool for the experiment consisted of 482 senior secondary school boys and girls from Nigeria, who are representatives of the three major ethnic/religious groups in the country.
“Robed Revolutionaries:” Internet and Television Usage by Students in the UAE • Tim Walters, Zayed University; Lynne Masel Walters, Texas A&M University, Fatma Abdulrabam Mohamed Abdulraham • The students of the title are 20-ish, female Emirati students at Zayed University who move back and forth between the traditional Islamic culture of their families and the modernized Western culture they experience through the media and on the campus. This paper looks at the when, where, and how the use television and the Internet and what they are looking for as they use it. This paper seeks to answer some of these questions and frame further discussion of media use in the modern Middle East.
Newsgathering Practices: How Hong Kong Journalists Operate in the Newsroom • Doreen Weisenhaus, University of Hong Kong • There has been a dramatic rise worldwide in concern over journalistic practices. These issues are considered particularly relevant in Asia as the media play increasingly important roles in fledgling democracies such as Hong Kong, emerging market-oriented systems such as mainland China and more established but politically volatile democracies such as Thailand. This study looks at actual newsroom practices in Hong Kong through the results of a survey of 422 journalists and considers some of the implications of their use.
Shock and Awe: Media Impact on Anxiety and International Support for the Iraq War • Lars Willnat, George Washington University • This study investigates the impact of news coverage about the prelude to the Iraq War on people’s emotional reactions to the war and their international support for the Iraq War. The analysis is based on a survey conducted before and after the start of the war among 2,286 university students from seven countries in Europe, North America, Asia, and the Middle East. The findings indicate that exposure to war coverage is associated with more fear of terrorism, higher levels of war anxiety, and less support for the Iraq War in general.
Ideologies of Crime Coverage in Chinese Media: A Case Study of Chinese Commercial Portals’ Newscontent and Interactivity • Li Xiao and Judy Polumbaum, University of Iowa • Analyzing news stories, commentaries, and readers’ discussions of a sensational serial murder case on China’s two most popular commercial online portals, this study examines how the Internet’s medium-specific characteristics of unlimited space and interactivity facilitate both reinforcement and challenges to dominant ideologies of crime coverage. Textual analysis yields four themes in the news coverage and three themes in readers’ discussions suggesting that both process are underway simultaneously.
Examining the Cultural Paradox Hypothesis on Commercial Websites • Tae-Il Yoon, Hallym University; and Esther Thorson, University of Missouri at Columbia • This study attempts to examine how consumers from different cultural backgrounds respond to visual cues (advertising models) and verbal cues (language) embedded in commercial websites. The results of a web-based experiment confirmed de Mooiji’s (1998) cultural paradox hypothesis. The participants belonging to an Eastern culture were more likely to favor the visual/ verbal cues featuring Western culture, whereas the participants of a Western culture responded more favorably to the visual cues representing Eastern culture.
Changes in Chinese JMC Schools’ Curricula Since China’s Media Reform and Entry into WTO • Ernest Zhang, Fritz Cropp, and Wayne Wanta, University of Missouri at Columbia • This study investigated changes to the curricula of the Chinese schools of journalism and mass communication (JMC) since China’s media reform and entry into the World Trade Organization. Guided by the diffusion of innovations theory, this study discovered the current Chinese curricula, which were inspired by the American curricula, have become more business-related and mass communication-oriented.
Student Papers
Identity via Satellite: A Case Study of the Kurdish Satellite Station Medya TV • Andrea E. Allen, University of Texas at Austin • The content of the Kurdish satellite television station Medya TV was intended to appeal to all Kurds regardless of whether they lived in the Middle East or diaspora. This qualitative study of the station’s goals and programming reveals that while Medya TV produced diverse content to appeal to a variety of Kurdish experiences, the station still privileged a “modern mentality.” This raises questions about the hegemony of values in diasporic media organizations.
The African Hunger Fad: Once in Vogue, Now Out of Style? An Analysis of ABC, CBS and NBC News Networks August 1968-August 2003 • Rucha Chitnis, Ohio University • In the 21st century, researchers suggest that famines have largely prevailed in Africa, although risks continue in other nations. This study examined ABC, CBS, and NBC’s coverage of famines that have struck the African continent. The results of this study showed that TV news networks’ coverage of hunger places prominence on the food crisis in very few countries. The media have largely failed in bringing African famines to the attention of viewers in its earlier stages. The media also use standardized sources in the famine coverage. Famines when packed with other newsworthy or entertaining elements receive more coverage.
Failing Hegemony: A Comparative Content Analysis of the Coverage of the Lead-up to the Attack on Iraq in 2003 in the World Media • Erin Collins, Martin Jensen, Peter Kanev, Matt MacCalla, Aalborg University, Denmark • The media in a hegemonic system follow and reinforce the ‘spin’ of the political elites. This ability of the powerful to enlist the media in their campaigns against enemies, real or imagined, is an indicator of the elites’ power to convince and to define the limits and flow of the public discourse. The US-led war against Iraq in the early 2003 was preceded by a media debate, which demonstrated that global media are breaking new ground. News outlets from around the world challenged the dominant news frame of the United States. While in a similar conflict 12 years earlier the world the news outlets of 2003 did not buy into the story of the ‘Coalition of the Willing.’ This implies a serious challenge of the global hegemon’s ‘soft power’ to convince and to conduct policy without resorting to coercion.
Content Analysis: A Study of the Top Frequently Visited Web Sites in the United States, China, and Korea • Corie Forrest, Gennadi Gevorgyan, Cong Li, and Youjeong Kim, Kansas State University • The current study identifies the relationship between cultural variability and online communication. Hofstede’s model of cultural variability is used as the theoretical framework to compare the Web site design in the United States, China, and Korea. The results of the study suggest that the four cultural dimensions examined (collectivism, power distance, masculinity, and uncertainty avoidance) in the context of Web site design demonstrate different levels across cultures. The implications of cultural variability are discussed.
My news or your news? CNN Interactive’s regionalization policy • Margaretha Geertsema University of Texas at Austin • Based on theories of globalization, a content analysis of CNN Interactive’s regional Web sites were conducted in 2002 and 2003 to determine whether CNN is indeed targeting regional audiences with these sites. The study shows not only that CNN successfully regionalizes its stories, but that it refined its regionalization strategy over the last two years. However, CNN lacks in original content on the pages for Africa, the Americas and the Middle East, and these regions remain undercovered.
“We Are What We Watch” A Media Ethnography of Hybridity, Acculturation, and Ghorba Among Arab-Canadian Families • Adel Iskandar, University of Kentucky • This paper is an ethnographic study of the processes by which Arab immigrants in Canada contest their identities and how their consumption and negotiation of mass mediated narratives from national and transnational satellite television both assist and resist the process of acculturation into Canadian society. By employing exploratory focus groups and extended participant observation among immigrant families, this study showcases the strategies by which these families articulate their Arab and Canadian identities. The study also reveals and explicates the term Ghorba as a conceptual tool to assist in the examination of the contrasting forces and pressures affecting social and cultural assimilation.
Blacklisted and Defiant: Voices of Middle Eastern Political Struggle in Cyberspace • Amani Ismail, University of Iowa • Cyberspace’s capacity to communicate messages across various entities distinguishes this medium from others. It allows messages of those stigmatized by society and mainstream media to be conveyed. The stigmatized include political violence groups, sometimes called “terrorists.” Textual analysis of web sites of two organizations classified as “terrorist” by the U.S. government examines how cyberspace allows them to deliver their ideologies. Findings suggest that the Internet may be empowering for them, contrary to mainstream media’s representation.
Exploring Influential Factors on Music Piracy across Countries • Eyun-Jung Ki, Byenghee Chang and Hyoungkoo Khang, University of Florida • This study explored various determinant factors influencing music piracy rates across countries. The results of regression analysis showed that GDP, Individualism, Intellectual property protection and size of music market has significantly associated with the music piracy rates across the globe.
Reporting Al-Jazeera’s Close Encounter With U.S. Militarism: A Comparative Content Analysis Of American And British Newspapers’ Post-9/11 Wartime Journalism • Nam-Doo Kim and Seckjun Jang, University of Texas at Austin • Given the recent repercussions of Arab network al-Jazeera’s wartime prominence, we conducted a comparative content analysis of the New York Times and the Guardian to examine their uses of al-Jazeera-sourced information and voices, portrayals of the Arab medium and related issues, and presentations of al-Jazeera-sourced Osama bin Laden’s statements. We predicted that the British newspaper would be more active in use of the media source, more favorable in description of the Arab medium, and more serious treatment of the terrorist messages than the American counterpart.
News Coverage of U.S. War in Iraq: A Comparison of The New York Times, The Arab News, and The Middle East Times • Changho Lee, University of Texas at Austin • This study investigated how The New York Times, The Arab News, and The Middle East Times reflected their national interests in their coverage of the Iraqi War. Overall, The New York Times emphasized U.S. war efforts, citing primarily U.S. officials while the Arab newspapers devoted more space to antiwar voices, citing primarily Arab sources. Thus, national interest became an important factor influencing media coverage of conflicts. Considering overall findings, The New York Times followed the interests of an attacking country whereas Arab newspapers reflected the interests of an attacked country.
Do You Mirror Me? – Intermedia Agenda Setting Effects among 8 Online Media in Korea • Gunho Lee, University of Texas at Austin • This study explores the intermedia agenda-setting effects among 8 Korean online newspapers, 5 of which are online extensions of traditional media; one is an online edition of a wire service, and the other 2 are “original” online newspapers, which were born on the Internet. Rank order correlations revealed that some of the traditional media’s online siblings influence others of the same kind, while they have no such effect on the original online newspapers. Original online newspapers and the wire service showed weak agenda-setting effects on the traditional media’s online counterparts, but they do not have any agenda-setting effects on original online newspapers.
Standardized, Localized, or Glocalized Programming?: An Analytical Study of MTV’s Programming Strategy in Japan • Goro Obo, University of Florida • Glocalization, characterized by cultural fusion as a result of adaptation of foreign products to suit local tastes and needs, is an omportant strategy used by many transnational media corporations. This study examined how glocalized television programming works, taking MTV Japan for example. It was discovered that glocalized programming was prominent, occupying 63 percent of the programming schedule, provided the network had a comparative advantage in the industry, and met viewers’ demands for local and foreign music.
World AIDS Day and Relevant Campaigns: How They Affected the International Media Coverage of AIDS • Qi Qiu, University of Missouri at Columbia • This study examined the role of World AIDS Day and campaigns around it in setting media agenda. Content analysis of worldwide print media coverage of AIDS during and outside the World AIDS Day 2003 period indicated that AIDS Day affected the media agenda by boosting coverage of AIDS. Additionally, the study found that campaign scale rather than real world factors was a strong predictor of media coverage of AIDS, as suggested by information subsidy theory.
President Bush Visits Africa: An analysis of Botswana’s Daily News and South Africa’s Mail & Guardian • Denise St. Clair, University of Wisconsin at Madison • Using framing as both theory and method, this paper evaluates how two key African newspapers — one from Botswana, the government owned Daily News, and one from South Africa, the independent Mail & Guardian—covered President Bush’s July 2003 trip to Africa. This study builds on Entman’s work on framing, and seeks to see if Entman’s hypothesis that newspapers support the dominant ideology of their government holds true in international settings.
An Islamist Newspaper Faces West: Commentaries in Zaman’s English and Turkish Editions
During a Seismic Year • Kristen S. Stevens, Ohio University • This study analyzes Turkish commentaries translated for an online English edition, Zaman, between March 2003-March 2004, and compares coverage between Zaman’s Turkish and English language editions surrounding the November 2003 terrorist attacks in Istanbul. An analysis of the primary topic selection in moderate Islamist Zaman’s articles and commentaries revealed that there has been a change in its coverage since the attacks in November 2003 – and some surprising substantial ideological consonance between the different language editions.
Chinese National Identity with Global Characteristics: A Look at Hollywood Films Reception by Popular Cinema • Weiqun Su, University of Minnesota • Hollywood films, from the perspective of cultural studies scholars, are seen as having been actively advocating the American way of life and American values. However, China’s case is very unique in the sense that its reception of Hollywood films changes with the drastic change in its internal politics: from seeing Hollywood films as reinforcing the traditional Marxist vision of evil capitalism, to seeing Hollywood films as the manifestation of the American way of life and to the celebration of the ethos of film stars.
China’s Image of Japan: Framing in Chinese Media, 2002 • Xiaopeng Wang, Ohio University • A poll conducted in 2002 indicated that anti-Japanese sentiment was rising in China. Critics argued that negative coverage of Japan greatly affected people’s attitudes. This study analyzes Chinese Global Times, one major newspaper mainly covering world news in China, and finds that Japan was framed as an economical partnership and a historical foe of China. However, no significant correlation was found between media frames and people’s perceptions of Japan.
Reflecting The Caribbean: A Content Analysis of the BBC’s Online News Coverage of Four Caribbean Countries • Kallia Wright, Ohio University • This paper explores the amount of coverage the British Broadcasting Corporation’s news website allocates to four Caribbean countries, Haiti, Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago in terms of stories on conflict and resolution. The research exposed that over a five-year period over 75% of the online stories posted by the BBC on the countries focused on conflict. Additionally, no attention was given to Haiti’s bicentenary independence celebrations in comparison to the amount of coverage the country’s conflicts received.
Bicultural identity and its effects on fear appeal perception for health messages • Cui Yang, University of Minnesota • This research project is to determine under what condition, how cultural identity may impact the persuasion of fear appeals, particularly in the domain of individuals’ decision making to avoid sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), among biculturals with both Chinese and American cultural backgrounds. This study found evidence that the effect of cultural situation cues and health message content are moderated by dual cultural identity, or the perceived compatibility or opposition between ethnic and mainstream cultures. Findings suggest that in health campaigns, it is important to understand how cultural frame switching facilitates or hinders the processing of health information.
Imported American Television Programs and Viewers’ Satisfaction with Personal Life and Society in South Korea • Hyeseung Yang, Pennsylvania State University • This study explored how the values and images embedded in exported “mainstream” U.S. media may function as a catalyst that deteriorates individuals’ subjective well-being in developing, “marginalized” countries. The survey results show that heavy viewing of American television programs among people living in South Korea is associated with amplified estimates of Americans’ affluence and consequently lower satisfaction with Korean society. Implications of findings in terms of international cultivation research are discussed.
Their Word against Ours: News Discourse of the 2003 Gulf War Civilian Casualties in CNN and Aljazeera • Mervat Youssef, University of Iowa • In times of war the reporting of casualties becomes one of the most controversial issues. Journalists have to walk the fine line between reporting the suffering of civilians and avoiding accusations of being mouthpieces of the enemy. Textual analysis of news reporting Iraqi casualties on both CNN and Aljazeera suggests that both news outlets disseminated propagandistic messages as they downplayed casualties. In either case, propaganda served a different and distinct sociological function.
The Ecology of Games Shaping China’s Television Broadcasting Policy: Analysis of the conditional broadcasting licenses to foreign cable TV • Jia Zhang, University of Washington • October 2001 marked a breakthrough for western television broadcasters that AOL Time Warner first reached a cable carriage agreement with the Chinese government. This paper employs an ecology of games as an analytical approach to study this conditional broadcast licensing policy, providing explanations about the context, the actors and their behaviors in the policy-making process. The analysis also suggests certain features that are characteristically Chinese about the ecology of games shaping the television broadcasting policy.
The U.S. News Coverage of China Related to WTO Membership in the Pre-WTO Eras • Miao Zhang, Ohio University • This study analyzed four US newpapers, the New York Times, the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and Chicago Tribune, to explore how US news media covered China and its WTO membership in the pre-WTO eras. Findings show that US news coverage of China and WTO membership is much less in the post-WTO era than in the pre-WTO era, and that news focus and countries discussed changed significantly. However, non-Chinese sources remained dominant in news coverage.
Effect of Chinese Cultural Ties in Chinese National’s Media Use • Ting Maggie Zhang, Syracuse University • This paper examines the relationship between the strength of Chinese national’s cultural ties and their use of Chinese-language media and English-language media in the United States. It uses acculturation/adaptation theory and sees Chinese cultural ties as a reverse process of acculturation. A survey method is employed at the individual level to study the topic.
Shenbao: Cultivating a Modern Chinese Public Sphere, 1872-1889 • Xiang Zhou, University of Tennessee at Knoxville • This exploratory study examines the Shenbao, an influential daily Chinese-language newspaper published by a British merchant in the Shanghai International Settlement in 1872, highlighting its editorial efforts in bridging communication between the Chinese and Western communities and helping cultivate a modern society in the important transformation period of China. This study may help readers become aware of the political and moral implications of the debate about the role of the foreign communities in China’s development.