Archives for January 2012

Internship and Careers Interest Groups

How Women in Sports Media Assimilate into their Careers: A Survey of Practitioners • Mane Hardin and Stacie Sham, Penn State University • This research, a survey of women who work in sports media, explores their everyday work experiences and factors that may discourage them from staying in sports media careers. Further, it explores the liberal feminist assertion that more women working in sports media would lead to better coverage of female sports by probing the values and commitment of respondents in relationship to female sports coverage.

Wanted: A First Job in Print Journalism • Shawn M. Neidorf, University of Illinois at Chicago • This paper concerns an exploratory study of how students find their first jobs in print newsrooms (or fail to do so). Journalism graduates prefer one of two divergent methods: tapping social networks for information and/or sponsorship or using what I call “moxie” approaches. Using networks seems to be more successful, but they are available only to students who have made contacts through internships and/or relationships with faculty and other students.

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Graduate Education Interest Group

When do Journalists Learn About Ethics? An Examination of Classroom and Professional Attitudes About Ethical Standards • Scott Reinardy and Jensen Moore, University of Missouri-Columbia • A survey (n=1,195) included broadcast and print journalist students at a large Midwestern university, and broadcast and newspaper professionals. The study compares the ethical perceptions of introductory journalism students to graduating students, as well as professional journalists. The results indicate that in general terms the introductory students appear more ethically grounded than graduating students, and graduating students have a higher standard of ethics than professional practitioners.

Vietnam and Iraq: Memory vs. History During the 2004 Presidential Campaign Coverage • Sue Robinson, Temple University • This paper contrasts two ideas of journalistic ritual — a macro view of communication and a more micro level of objectivity — by textually analyzing five newspapers’ coverage of the 2004 presidential campaign between John Kerry and President George W. Bush, whose mnemonic battles over Vietnam served to clash two fundamental concepts of objective history and cultural memory. Journalists’ professional norms failed to reframe the politicized memories in any meaningful way.

Social Presence, Interactivity and Engagement: A Human-Centered Approach Towards Instructional Technology • Bimal Balakrishnan and Keston Pierre, Penn State University • This paper looks at the question of technology in education from a communication perspective and attempts to make the case for a more human-centered approach. Concepts of social presence, engagement and interactivity are identified as key variables and the relevance of these are theorized. A results of a pilot study carried out to explore the effect of these variables on student satisfaction in an online course are encouraging. The limitations and future directions for the research are discussed.

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Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Interest Group

Gendered Relationships on Television: Comparing Portrayals of Heterosexual and Same-Sex Couples • Adrienne Marie Holz, Rhonda Gibson and James D. Ivory, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill • While intimate heterosexual couples exhibit power imbalances through gender role behaviors, it is unclear whether the same is true for homosexual relationships. Anecdotal evidence, however, suggests that both heterosexual and homosexual relationships on television are portrayed as gendered. This content analysis of intimate relationships on television found disparities in dominant and submissive behaviors to be as prevalent among homosexual couples as heterosexual couples. Implications for viewers’ perceptions and behavior are also discussed.

Sides of Conflict: A Framing Analysis of Same-Sex Marriage in the Gainesville Sun • Rebecca McGovney and Traci Irani, University of Florida • This study analyzed the framing of same-sex marriages or unions within the Gainesville Sun, a southern, university town, New York Times affiliate newspaper. Findings included a single frame of “conflict” and six subframes-“confusion,” “breaking the law,” “equal rights/marriage benefits,” “definition of marriage,” “political tool,” and “court vs. state.” The use of negative subframes and quotation sources in the 22 articles has framed same-sex marriage as a threat.

Framing Gay Marriage: The Human Rights Campaign’s Online Campaign for Marriage Equality • Joseph Schwartz, Syracuse University • Following the 2003 Massachusetts Supreme Court decision that found efforts to ban gay marriage unconstitutional, gay marriage has been a controversial issue, capturing the attention of the media and politicians. This study examines the frames used by the Human Rights Campaign in their efforts to mobilize their members in preparation for the November, 2004 election. A qualitative, inductive approach was employed, involving textual analysis of the group’s membership materials, news releases, action alerts and publications.

Matthew Shepard — Giving a Human Face to Anti-Gay Violence • Rodger Streitmatter, American University • This paper examines and analyzes the news coverage of the 1998 beating death of gay college student Matthew Shepard. This study argues that the coverage communicated four messages to the media-consuming public. Despite the progress that had been made by the final years of the 20th century, a significant number of Americans continued to hate gay people. Stories that were published or that appeared on television news programs showed that the country’s leading journalistic voices expressed unrestrained outrage at how the young man had been brutalized.

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Entertainment Studies Interest Group

Agenda Setting and the Hip Hop Factor in Decision 2004 • Carol Adams-Means, Texas at San Antonio, Maria Flores-Guitierrez and Maxwell McCombs, University of Texas at Austin • The 2004 election process has encountered a new variable in voter education and participation. It has come via the Hip Hop (HH) subculture. The Hip Hop Summit Action Network (HSAN) campaign is the vehicle through which HH music producers and performers intended to engage young, eligible voters, ages 18 to 35, in the 2004 election process. The non-partisan HSAN is comprised of HH music industry leaders, performers, political leaders, activists, academicians, and HH music followers.

The Kids are Watching, but what are they Learning? The Political Content of The Daily Show • Carole Bell, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill • Given The Daily Show’s increasing popularity as a news source and recent prominence in the 2004 election process, it is important to examine the nature of the information the show provides. The current analysis revealed that using The Daily Show as a primary source of political information is highly problematic. Viewers who use it as a substitute rather than supplement for traditional news will likely lack the information needed to learn from or evaluate its content critically.

Fan Websites: Motives, Identification and Site Content • Maureen Cech and John Beatty, La Salle University • As part of a larger study of the creators of celebrity fan Websites, this online qualitative study examines the self-selected responses of 49 site creators. A set of open-ended questions asking about their celebrities, fan communities, and creative expression was sent to these site creators. Actor- and musician-site creators reported similar motives for creating their fan sites, citing celebrity-based motives most often, followed by creativity-based and fan-based motives.

A Review of Literature on the Status, Effects, and Causal Factors Involved in the Differences in Media Coverage for Men’s and Women’s Athletics • Elizabeth Ann Gibler, University of Missouri-Columbia • In this paper, the literature on gender differences in sports coverage is examined for an understanding of the issue’s current status as well as its causes and effects. Despite the continuing increase in interest and participation in women’s sports, media coverage for female athletes has actually declined over the past decade. This unequal media coverage affects female participation and body image as well as the professional opportunities available to female athletes.

Tales of Tattered Romance: Cheaters TV, Real Reality, and Melodramatic Parody • Joseph C. Harry, Slippery Rock University • The Cheaters syndicated television show is analyzed as a hybrid genre that draws on and unwittingly problematizes traditional and contemporary notions of romance, technological surveillance, and voyeurism by featuring suffering lovers and videotaped exploits of their cheating mates. The rhetoric of the text is explored by examining its conjuncture within political, economic and socio-cultural forces, and by interpreting the program’s contradictory narrative, ethical, and ideological stance.

Impact of Celebrity Endorsers on Student Voters • Elizabeth Hutton, Maja Krakowiak, Kathleen O’Toole and Kelly Shultz, Pennsylvania State University • Rock musicians played an unprecedented role in the 2004 presidential election. In an effort to motivate the youngest segment of the electorate, some of the biggest names in rock music headlined benefit concerts on behalf of Democratic candidate Senator John Kerry. Performers such as Bruce Springsteen, who had never taken an overtly partisan stand in his 30-year career, stumped through swing states in a series of concerts called the Vote for Change Tour.

Linking Television General Viewing to the Acceptance of Rape Myths • Lee Ann Kahlor and Dan Morrison, University of Texas at Austin • Abstract not available.

The Role of Animation in the Third-Person Effect: A Comparison of Live-action and Animated Violence in Kill Bill Volume 1 • Christine A. Klek and Letrez A. Myer, Pennsylvania State University • Abstract not available.

Social Cognitive Understanding on Video Game Usage • Doohwang Lee and Robert LaRose, Michigan State University • This study investigated how people become deficient in self-regulation in video game play so that they may engage in excessive video game consumption behavior. Based on Bandura’s social cognitive theory of self-regulation (1986; 1991), this study proposed a model of unregulated video game consumption behavior and investigated why video games players engage in playing specific genres of video games. This study found significant impacts of outcome expectations, deficient self-regulation on video game play among 388 college undergraduate students.

Simply Irresistible: Reality TV Consumption Patterns • Lisa K. Lundy, Louisiana State University • This purpose of this study was to explore college students’ consumption patterns in regard to reality television, their rationale for watching, their perceptions of the situations portrayed in reality television, and the role of social affiliation in their consumption of reality television. The results of focus groups indicate that while participants perceive a social stigma associated with watching reality television, they continue to watch because of the perceived escapism and social affiliation provided.

Fascination of Reality Television with the College Student Audience: The Uses and Gratifications Perspective on the Program Genre • James A. Mead, Wisconsin-Whitewater • Due to recent publications on the popularity of reality television over the past few years, a study was conducted in order to determine the most common motives for why a specific target audience watches the programming genre. A total of 162 southeastern Wisconsin college students were surveyed on their regular television viewing habits. The only demographics each participant revealed were gender, age, race, and class standing.

You’re Living in the Past, It’s a New Generation: Music as a Memory Device in Nostalgia Television Shows • Heather Muse, Temple University • The proliferation of nostalgia television shows in recent years has given rise to popular music of past eras appearing on television frequently. This narrative analysis examines the use of popular music in the television series That ‘70s Show, Freaks and Geeks, and American Dreams to determine how popular music helped to evoke nostalgia for the era represented. Frith’s notions of cultural and emotional codes for film music and Grossberg’s concept of “rock formations” of culture were utilized in the analysis.

Monsters, Gangsters, Jesters and psychopaths: The Examination of Trait Characteristics of Movie Villains and Emotional Responses • Meghan A. Sanders, Pennsylvania State University • In this paper, the literature on gender differences in sports coverage is examined for an understanding of the issue’s current status as well as its causes and effects. Despite the continuing increase in interest and participation in women’s sports, media coverage for female athletes has actually declined over the past decade. This unequal media coverage affects female participation and body image as well as the professional opportunities available to female athletes.

Under the (Glue) Gun: Containing and Constructing Reality in Home Makeover TV • Madeleine Shufeldt and Kendra Gale, University of Colorado-Boulder • This paper presents a case study of two families over a 7-month period as they move from fan to applicant to cast of the home improvement reality TV program Trading Spaces: Family. The paper details the discrepancies between the actuality of participation and the preferred “reality” of dramatic and collaborative interior design. Strategies to maintain (or even increase) the producers’ power over the unscripted events via program format, contracts and selective editing are highlighted.

Flow and Enjoyment of Video Games • Barry P. Smith, University of Alabama • This paper examines how flow may contribute to the experience of enjoyment derived from playing video games. Entertainment theories and flow theory are briefly reviewed and then applied to the medium of video games. Video game enjoyment is theorized as the result flow which occurs when the challenge presented by a video game is relatively high and matched with an individual’s perception of his or her level of skill at playing the game.

No Laughing Matter: Negative Attribute Agenda Setting on Late Night Television • Amy Zerba and Tania Cantrell, University of Texas at Austin • This attribute agenda setting study explores the negative attributes of Bush and Kerry jokes on Leno, Letterman, Conan and The Daily Show and the negative attributes stated by watchers and non-watchers of the shows during the 2004 U.S. presidential election. Findings from this content analysis, Web survey and experiment study show attribute agenda setting effects for Bush; increased campaign interest with show(s) exposure; and the significant influence of party affiliation with respondents’ negative descriptions and the jokes’ negative attributes.

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Community Journalism Interest Group

When Casinos Come to Town: How Iowa Newspapers Framed Gambling Expansion and the Influence of these Frames on Citizens’ Approval or Rejection of Casinos in their Counties • Jason Michael Boucher, Iowa State • This study used framing theory to analyze the findings of a content analysis of four newspapers that serve different Iowa counties one year preceding and one year following each county’s casino referendum. The results show that the newspapers used the expansion debate, tax and economic frames the most, and relied heavily on state and local politicians as information sources. The orientation of opinion pieces was related to the referenda outcomes in each county.

Servicing the “Needy Mistress”: Commitment to People, Place, and Mission as a Function of Family Newspaper Ownership • Susan Brockus, Purdue University • Family members from six family-owned newspapers sold to media corporations in the past decade were interviewed to gain their perceptions on what it is like to grow up in, commit to, and ultimately sell the family newspaper after generations of ownership. It is the underlying concern of this project that there are differences between local and corporate ownership that have the potential for lasting impact upon cultural health, particularly in smaller markets and rural communities.

Newsroom Leaders’ Perceptions of the Role and Value of Copy Editors at Community Newspapers • Corbin Crable, Anna Morelock and Amber Willard, Kansas State University • This study maintains community newsroom leaders place less value on the role of copy editors than on other positions, such as designers, and have eliminated the copy editor or integrated the job into other positions due to budget constraints. Survey results from 77 community newspapers statewide showed leaders valued the work performed by copy editors but not employing one person whose sole task is copyediting.

Life and Death in a Small Town: Cultural Values and Memory in Community Newspaper Obituaries • Janice Hume, University of Georgia • This study analyzes 738 obituaries published in a twice-weekly newspaper, the Guntersville (Ala.) Advertiser-Gleam. The purpose is twofold—to show how citizens’ lives were publicly commemorated, and to illustrate the important role obituaries play in community newspapers. Obituaries did more than report the news of deaths. They celebrated life, and represented a kind of “ideal,” offering clues about values. What they revealed was a people with strong ties to place, family, church, and work.

Back to the Future: Allegheny Mountain Radio and Localism in West Virginia Community Radio • Maryanne Reed and Ralph E. Hanson, West Virginia University • Community radio is a form of non-commercial broadcasting designed to serve a specific geographic area. In recent years, community radio has become a viable alternative to both commercial and public radio, which produce nationally oriented programming designed for mass audiences. The value and impact of community radio can be seen through the work of Allegheny Mountain Radio, a three-station network serving a rural and geographically isolated region of southern West Virginia and Virginia.

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