Archives for January 2012

Civic Journalism Interest Group

The Democratic Ideal and Its Translation Online: The Possibility and Potential of the Internet as Public Sphere • Elizabeth Michelle Franko, University of Colorado • In both popular and scholarly publications, the Internet has been heralded as a new virtual public sphere, or as a tool for reviving a tired democratic process in established democratic states. This paper attempts to uncover and understand the ways in which classic and contemporary democratic theory elucidate the very potential of the Internet to become a viable public sphere. I also seek to interrogate the rhetoric around the Internet as a so-called democratic space.

Experiential Learning for Research and Reporting Classes Through a Comprehensive Newsroom Project • Sharon Hartin Iorio, Les Anderson, Leslie Blythe, Wichita State University • A class in communication research and a class in advanced reporting took part in a contracted civic journalism project for The (Junction City, KS) Daily Union newspaper titled “Re-imagining Junction City.” While examples of academic and professional partnerships exist, none that allowed students to participate both I n the research phase and in the follow-up reporting of the research findings could be identified in a recent literature review.

“Civic Journalism Is Journalism With Ethics”: Practitioners Speak To The Moral Imperative Of Their Work • Rick Kenney, University of Central Florida and Marie Hardin, Pennsylvania State University • How do civic journalists perceive the ethics of the journalism they produce? In a qualitative analysis of long interviews with reporters and editors in one civic journalism newsroom, this paper seeks to – in the spirit of communitarianism – give voice to the movement’s everyday “experiencers”: those who conceive, carry out, and publish the projects at the center of the decade-old debate over whether this brand of journalism is effective or even ethical The Student Writer as the Citizen in Public Journalism.

The Student Writer as the Citizen in Public Journalism • Cailin Brown Leary, University at Albany • Current conversations in public/participatory journalism and in composition are focused on how to engage and invigorate the citizenry. Writing teachers are preparing critical readers and writers to join the public conversation. These writing classrooms can become the sites where “somebody outside the journalism assembles the public.” (Joann Byrd from “What Are Journalists For?” Rosen).

OhmyNews’ and Its Citizen Journalists as Avatars of a Post-Modern Marketplace of Ideas • Ronald Rodgers, Ohio University • Abstract not available.

Judging Journalism • Ivor Shapiro, Patrizia Albanese and Leigh Doyle, Ryerson University • What does “excellence” mean in journalism? The literature reveals no universally agreed set of standards, and awards guidelines are often unclear. When interviewed about how they assess submissions, judges in Canada’s two leading journalism awards programs emphasized their intuition and experience rather than specific criteria, but placed special weight on writing style and on the amount and depth of reporting. Other values included originality, relevance and public impact, integrity, and analysis.

Interactive Media And Journalists: The Effects of Interactive Media on Civic and Traditional Journalists • Shelley Wigley, Oklahoma State University and Patrick Meirick, University of Oklahoma • This study looked at differences between civic and traditional journalists. Sports journalists at daily newspapers participated in a Web-based survey. Results indicate that civic journalists do not place more value on citizen input than traditional journalists, nor do they pay more attention to sports talk radio and Internet message boards as a source of information or fan opinion. The study produced one counterintuitive finding.

<< 2005 Abstracts

Visual Communication Division

See It, Touch It, Taste It, Smell It, Hear It: The Use of Visual Metaphor in Sensory Advertising Strategy • Elizabeth Crisp, Tennessee, Knoxville • The purpose of this paper is to address visual metaphors as they relate to sensory appeals in magazine advertising. This research is important because very little research in the field has examined synesthetic images and visual metaphors in print advertising. This paper examines advertisements collected from five women’s magazines and applies the sensory visuals contained in these advertisements to a visual rhetoric model.

Now You See It, Now You Don’t: The Problems with Newspaper Photo Archives • Lucinda D. Davenport, Michigan State, Quint Randle, Brigham Young and Howard Bossen, Michigan State • This study systematically investigates the practices and policies of archiving and accessing images, now that most newspapers have gone digital. Findings from NPPA newspaper photographers, responding to multiple-choice and open-ended questions, show that policies and practices are in disarray. Photographers also are frustrated and concerned about digital technology becoming obsolete and what it means to historical records.

‘Naturally’ Less Exciting? Visual Production of Men’s And Women’s Track and Field Coverage During the 2004 Olympics • Casey Homan, Nevada-Reno, Marie Hardin, Penn State and Jennifer Greer, Nevada-Reno • Using Zettl’s applied media aesthetics approach, visual production techniques were content analyzed in all track and field coverage in the 2004 Olympic Games. Segments featuring male athletes used more of everything: more time, more segments, more variation in camera shots, more variation in camera angles, more slow motion, and more use of rail-cam. The analysis shows that men’s track and field coverage was framed as more visually exciting than the same events for women.

A Matter of Culture: A Comparative Study of Photojournalism in American and Korean Newspapers • Yung Soo Kim and James D. Kelly, Southern Illinois, • The content of 628 news and feature photographs in ten elite American and Korean newspapers was analyzed for differences in composition, subject number, and subject identification. The Korean approach to photojournalism was purely descriptive while the American approach was more interpretive. Koreans presented far more news, emphasized the group, and maintained a consistent composition. Americans ran more features, emphasized the individual and varied composition. Differences were explained by culture, normative protocols, and differing media philosophies.

Identity-Centered Model of Visual Design: A Case Study of the 50 State Quarters® Program • Angela K. Mak and Suman M. Lee, Iowa State • We adopt Soenen and Moingeon’s (2002) dynamics of the identities of organizations model to demonstrate how the role of visual identity is treated as one of the components of collective identities (i.e. the projected identity) by showing how the creation of a state quarter can be seen as a crucial element that reflects the history of a state’s past, present, and future.

Reality vs. Fiction: How Defined Realness Affects Cognitive & Emotional Responses to Photographs • Andrew L. Mendelson and Zizi Papacharissi, Temple • This paper presents the results of an experiment investigating cognitive and emotional effects related to changing the label ascribed to still photographs, from fictional to real, while keeping the content constant. Results demonstrated that viewers tended to react more strongly to photographs labeled as real, but they thought more about photographs labeled as fiction. Further, the label assigned to the photograph interacted with viewer’s predisposition for learning from visual information.

Fahrenheit 9/11: Michael Moore, ‘W,’ & the Use of Montage as Political Strategy • Peter Morello, Missouri-Kansas City, David R. Thompson, Loras College and Birgit Wassmuth, Drake • This paper provides an overview of Michael Moore’s docu-activist techniques in his 2004 film Fahrenheit 9/11. As the authors define in this paper, a “docu-activist” is a documentary filmmaker who employs what one German scholar of filmmaking describes as “demagogische montage” for the purpose of specific, deadline-oriented social or political change.

The Construction of American Military Identity in Mahjoob’s Cartoons after the Abu Ghraib Prison Scandal in Iraq: A Layered Exploratory Study • Orayb Aref Najjar, Northern Illinois • This study suggests that cartoons are important sites for the construction of the identity of the self and the “other.” Using techniques culled from various disciplines that include social psychology, cognition, anthropology in conjunction with the cartoon code, this study “constructs” an analytical table of “Instructed Viewing” (Goffman, 1979) to study the way cartoonist Emad Hajjaj constructed the identity of the American military in Iraq after the prison abuses of Abu Ghraib.

The Bloody Lens: A bibliographic Essay on Ethical Concerns Related to Shocking Images of Violence and Tragedy • Carol B. Schwalbe, Arizona State • For decades, scholars and journalists have discussed the ethics of disseminating shocking images of violence and tragedy. The proliferation of violent images in our 24/7 news-hungry society raises ethics-related questions for photographers, editors, and producers. This article reviews the literature on the ethics of digital photo alteration (truth telling); decisions faced by photographers, editors, and producers about images of violence and tragedy; and codes of ethics that provide guidance about disseminating grisly images.

Newsroom Attitudes Toward the Roles of Newspaper Designers • Kathryn J. Smith, Jennifer George-Palilonis, Pamela Leidig-Farmen and Mark Popovich, Ball State • While newspaper designers have taken on increasingly important roles in newsrooms, professional and academic literature points to a divide between “word” journalists and “visual” journalists. This study examined current attitudes toward this divide by using Q Methodology. Forty-one journalists at four Mid-western newspapers sorted 50 statements concerning attitudes about the responsibilities of designers and the value of design to the newspaper and its readers. Three factors emerged and were labeled: Collaborators, Progressives, and Traditionalists.

Images of the Casualties of War: Is there a Media Right of Access? • Nicole Elise Smith, North Carolina, Chapel Hill • At the onset of the 1991 Gulf War, the U.S. Pentagon issued a policy prohibiting media coverage, including photography, of the caskets of slain American soldiers arriving at Dover Air Force Base. This research asks, based on the unique attributes of images to convey information, is the ban an unconstitutional prior restraint? Additionally, as some families want photographic coverage of the return of their loved ones, does the restriction violate these families First Amendment rights?

Assessing Pictorial-projective and Photo-elicited Responses to Commercials • Lawrence Soley, Marquette • Photoelicitation and projective assessment are research methods derived from visual sociology and psychoanalysis respectively. This study combined the methods by having respondents view a commercial, and then showing them one of two versions of a projective drawing showing a lone or a male-accompanied woman sitting on a couch. Respondents were told that the woman in the drawing had just seen the commercial, and were asked about what the woman was thinking.

‘When May I Expect my Uniform?’ The World Through Chicago Political Cartoons Before and after Pearl Harbor • Fred Vultee, Missouri-Columbia • As December 1941 began, the Chicago Tribune and the Daily News were reporting two different wars: one America desperately needed to avoid, one it was duty-bound to enter. But when the presses rolled December 7, the Roosevelt-hating Tribune found itself uncomfortably aligned with its rival (owned by Roosevelt-hating Navy secretary).

Visual Representation of Villainy: Comparing Editorial Cartoons of Bin Laden, McVeigh and Kim • Samuel P. Winch, Penn State Harrisburg • This paper reports the results of a content analysis of editorial cartoons featuring Osama bin Laden, Timothy McVeigh, and North Korean President Kim Jong-Il. The elements of editorial cartoons of public enemies are examined as examples of rhetorically persuasive techniques in visual depiction.

Manipulating Visual Information in the Digital Age: How viewers React on Digitally Altered and Manipulative Captioned Photographic Images: Results of a Quasi-Experimental Study • Kathrin Ziegler and Klaus Forster, Munich • In our study we explore how digitally altered and manipulative captioned pictures are perceived by the viewers. We regard image perception as a first necessary step toward any kind of possible effects. Our findings suggest that viewers were not able to recognize differences between differently manipulated pictures with regard to their credibility on a cognitive level. On the emotional level the viewers could therefore be effectively manipulated with both captions and altered photos.

<< 2005 Abstracts

Scholastic Journalism Division

War, Politics and the Journalism Classroom: Resistance to News in a Divided Education System • Sara-Ellen Amster, University of California-San Diego • This paper describes a three-year study of Southern California journalism students’ attitudes toward the news media and politics. It explores their coverage of September II, 2001 and the conflict in Iraq. The study also examines the effect of unequal American education on three journalism classrooms and teen attitudes toward conventional news. It explores the way teaching and perceptions of school officials about student press freedoms affect cynicism, resistance and alienation of teenagers toward the democratic system.

Teaching Teachers about Media Literacy: A Survey of Faculty in Colleges of Education • Jane Baughman and Donica Mensing, University of Nevada-Reno • The need for young people to “become intelligent, competent consumers and creators of media messages” (Considine, 2002, p. 23) is becoming increasingly clear. This study examined how media literacy is conceptualized and taught by faculty at Nevada’s eight Colleges of Education. The results of the survey show that faculty agree on the importance of media literacy education in teacher training, but that few have received any training themselves.

Is We There Yet? Mass Communication Students and Grammar Ability • Steve J. Collins and Tara McNealy, University of Central Florida, and Kimberly Bissell, University of Alabama. • Using a survey of students enrolled in an upper-level mass communication course at a southeastern university, the authors examined students’ performance on a 20-question grammar quiz. The results offer plenty of reason for concern. The average score was 10.8. Students struggled with such basic distinctions as the differences between “its” versus “it’s” and “doctors” versus “doctors.” Further analysis indicated that students who’d matriculated from a community college did significantly worse than other students.

Hazelwood Revisited: A Free-Speech Perspective • Thomas E. Eveslage, Temple University • It was 17 years between Tinker v. Des Moines and the High Court’s ruling in Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier. Now, 17 years after Haze/wood, it is time to take a closer look at this heavily criticized case. This paper will answer the following: What evidence exists that student journalists could use Hazelwood to gain more press freedom? The paper will examine court rulings and legal doctrine to see whether policy and practice, legislation and litigation provide hope that the chill of Haze/wood can be reduced.

The Impact of a Civic Journalism Project on Reader Knowledge, Attitudes and Stereotypes • Maria Knight Lapinski and Sue Ellen Christian, Western Michigan • Student newspapers are published for a variety of reasons, one of which is to have an impact on reader’s knowledge of or attitudes about a variety of social issues. This manuscript reports the outcomes of a civic journalism project in a high school designed to impact knowledge, attitudes, and stereotypes about Muslims post-911. Findings indicate sex differences for knowledge and attitudes. The intervention had some impact on stereotypes but not attitudes or knowledge.

Help From A Hoarse Horse: Homonym Exposure and Journalism Students’ Writing Grades • Bruce L. Plopper and Sonny Rhodes, University of Arkansas at Little Rock • Using a longitudinal design, this study investigated the effect 11 weeks of homonym exposure had on journalism students’ writing class grades. Results showed that for journalism majors receiving such exposure, post-treatment writing class GPAs increased slightly but not significantly; however, the writing class GPAs of journalism majors not receiving homonym exposure declined significantly. The writing class GPAs of non-majors remained stable, with or without homonym exposure. Implications for journalism writing class pedagogy were discussed.

Use of Palm Handheld Computers in a Study of University Communications Students • Judy L. Robinson and Julie E. Dodd, California State-Fullerton • In this exploratory study, a small group of communications students in a large university were given a Tungsten E and a keyboard for a semester. Students attended weekly meetings to learn software and hardware applications and to discuss how they were using their Palms. The students were very comfortable in incorporating Palm use into their academic and personal lives.

What do High School Journalism Advisers Really Want? An Exploratory Study of the Future of Scholastic Journalism • Andi Stein California State-Fullerton • This paper explores the future of scholastic journalism, using Southern California high schools as a sample. The study evaluates the state of high school journalism programs in Southern California by assessing the current resources and needs of instructors/advisers. The study is designed to find out what programs instructors/advisers have, what kinds of preparation they bring to these programs, and what they would like to see from local colleges and universities in the way of training and resources for their programs.

<< 2005 Abstracts

Radio-TV Journalism Division

More like Ken, More like Barbie: Pressures on television news anchors about their appearance • Katherine A. Bradshaw and James C. Foust, Bowling Green State University and Joseph P. Bernt, Ohio University • Anchors at all experience levels face pressures about their appearance from sources with power over them. Females are more pressured than males and generally it continues throughout female’s careers, while males face less pressure with more experience. Female anchors are under more constant pressure from consultants, news directors, and viewers about their on-air wardrobe and their hair.

Televising the 2004 Presidential Debates: Which Format Best Addressed Voters’ Concerns • Paul Brown, University of Texas-Austin • Televised presidential debates have become our nation’s most-watched political event. For only the fourth time in history, one of the 2004 debates allowed uncommitted voters to ask the questions rather than journalists. This quantitative analysis found both the Town Hall and traditional moderator formats did not correlate with the public agenda. Analyzed individually, the Town Hall format proved even less effective in addressing issues deemed most important to the public.

The Effect of CNN and Fox News’ Post-Debate Coverage on Viewers’ Perceptions of Presidential Candidates • Jennifer Brubaker, and Gary Hanson, Kent State University • Television news coverage following a presidential debate is often framed as a contest between winners and losers. The use of this frame helps viewers form their assessments of the candidates’ performances. This study examines the effect of post-debate news analysis on the perceived outcome of the debates and on the perceptions of the personal qualities of the candidates. The study found that the perceptions of Fox News Channel viewers changed after watching the network’s post-debate analysis.

“The Family Business”: Entertainment Products and the Network Morning News Shows • Johanna Cleary, University of Florida and Terry Adams, University of Miami • The morning news programs may provide the perfect forum for networks to benefit from “corporate synergy,” perhaps at the expense of editorial integrity. Whether those making decisions about content can satisfy these competing pressures and still adhere to the social responsibility theory of the press is an increasingly significant question. This study measured the entertainment content of the three network morning shows and correlated that to the ownership of the programs and producing entities.

Before the Bloggers: The Upstart News Technology of Television at the 1948 Political Conventions • Mike Conway, Indiana University • More than a half-century before political bloggers, television was the exciting new technology at the 1948 political conventions. For the first time, millions of viewers got a live look at democracy in action, warts and all, in an era when the conventions still had drama, surprises, and smoke-filled rooms. Television’s impact on the conventions was immediate and lasting. At the same time, those summer sessions provided television with the perfect platform to gain journalistic respect.

Telestrator Terrorism: Fear Messages in the Television News Coverage of Hurricane Ivan • Nancy McKenzie Dupont and Mary Blue, Loyola University New Orleans • This paper examines the role fear-inducing messages in the coverage of Hurricane Ivan in the New Orleans market. Content analysis and personal interviews were used to gather data. The research results find that fear-inducing message were common and not limited to one kind of message-originator nor one television station, which is surprising given that meteorologists admitted that they knew the hurricane would not make a direct hit on New Orleans.

New Radio – A Turn-on for Young Adults and a Turn-off for AM and FM • David Alan Free, University of Texas-Austin • This study examines the relationship between young adults and new forms of radio. AM and FM frequencies have dominated the market, but now, more choices for radio programming are offered by satellite, Internet, and cable radio. The quantitative analysis of the data attempts to discover “why” new radio is chosen over traditional radio by applying the Uses and Gratifications approach. The results provide insight into “why” young adults are switching to new radio.

Competition and Diversity: A Content Analysis of News Diversity between Fox News and CNN • J. Sonia Huang, University of Texas at Austin • The cable news leader, CNN, was turned over by Fox news in January 2002. The present study attempts to examine the competition effect on content diversity. A content analysis of Fox news and CNN from 1998 to 2004 was conducted to examine the content diversity between and with the two channels. Results showed that topic and location diversity decreased significantly over time within each channel. At the same time, diversity of topic, format, and location between the two channels also dropped dramatically.

Television News Coverage of the Iraq War: An Assessment of Second-Level Agenda Setting And Framing • Seok Kang, Arkansas Tech University • This study examined whether a second-level agenda setting and framing effect existed during the Iraq war from March, 2003 to October, 2004. Results demonstrated that news about the Iraq war is more episodic than thematic. There is more positive than negative framing in affective attributes of the war news. Results also found that news attributes about the Iraq war show similarities between the poll results and television news coverage.

But, will it Play in Lawrence? Audience Perceptions of Convergence at the Lawrence-Journal World, News 6 and LJWorld.com • Stan Ketterer, Oklahoma State University, J. Steven Smethers and Bonnie Bressers, Kansas State University • Existing media convergence studies tend to focus on management and content issues. This study looks at the convergence through the lens of the audience in Lawrence Kansas, a converged media market, reflecting attitudes of focus group respondents towards media convergence. While both groups were concerned about the potential development of a media information monopoly, the older group was more tolerant of convergence, viewing it as necessary in order for the community to have local news coverage.

A More Perfect Union’s Jack A Visual Representation of the Debate over Journalistic Mission Within the American Democratic Experiment • Timothy R. Lewis, Lyndon State College • Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences indicates that students who rely on their spatial intelligence need a visual model to comprehend new material. Teachers tapping a student’s spatial intelligence should link new ideas to a visual image. This paper argues a child’s game piece – a toy jack – can be used to illustrate the complex interaction of the press and the governing process in the United States, despite the contradictory elements found in both.

The Impact of Linear vs. Nonlinear Listening to Radio News on Recall and Comprehension • Hesham Mesbah, Kuwait University • An experimental design using 82 undergraduates from Kuwait University was employed to test the research hypotheses. The stimulus is a real newscast that was recorded and manipulated into four versions in line with the research problem: traditional radio newscast, online newscast played with one click, linear interactive netcast with a click for each news item, and a support activity conditions were additional links for details were added to each link.

“News Alert” – Again, And Again, And Again: How 24-Hour Cable News Networks Are Redefining Television Breaking News • Andrea Miller and Lesa Hatley Major, Louisiana State University • This study explores the premise that the current scholarly definition of television breaking news (non-routine) is outdated. A Content analysis of two constructed weeks of three 24-hour cable news outlets (CNN, Fox News and MSNBC) was used to explore how often the networks “break in” and what types of stories are labeled “breaking.” Results showed the networks are significantly more likely to air breaking news during a ratings period.

Comparing Two Kinds of News Reports about Political Ads: A Model to Predict Candidate Evaluation • Lisa Mills, University of Florida and Pilar Bermudez, University of Central Florida • Researchers conducted experiments to compare television news viewers’ perception of political ads, traditional political race profile reports and ad watch reports. Utilizing real ads and television news reports surrounding competing candidates in a 2002 Congressional Race, researchers found evidence to support their hypothesis that viewers perceive ad watches differently from traditional race profile reports that do not attempt to examine ad truthfulness. Subjects found ad watch reports clearer and easier to understand.

Too Little Too Late: Network Coverage of the FCC’s 2003 Media Ownership Rule Changes • Lisa Mills, University of Florida, Pilar Bermudez and Brian Becker, University of Central Florida • This study conducts a content analysis of network news transcripts in the year leading up to the June 2003 FCC media ownership rule changes. The researchers find evidence the two networks owned by media corporations that stood to gain most from the changes provided the most pro-deregulation coverage. They conclude that none of the commercial, cable or public networks provided coverage that was thorough or timely, thus the public was left out of the policy debate.

American Network Television News Coverage of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia during 1990 and 1991: The Baltic States’ Drive Toward and Attainment of Independence • Anthony Moretti, and Norman E. Youngblood, Texas Tech University • This research examines American network television news coverage of Latvian, Lithuanian, and Estonian efforts in 1990 and 1991 to break free from Soviet domination. This study reports that the evening news programs provided substantive coverage of what was happening in the Baltics until U.S. military forces were deployed to the Middle East because of the Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. Moreover, this study finds that U.S. sources were used less often than expected based on previous research.

Boo-yah! Sports Journalists Identify ESPN’s Impact on Sports Writing • Scott Reinardy and Earnest L. Perry, University of Missouri • A survey (N = 249) of newspaper sports editors, sports writers, desk personnel (copy editors and page designers) examined the perception of how the language used on ESPN influences the writing style sports writers use in stories. The results indicate that sports journalists believe jargon, entertainment-based writing and ESPN’s SportsCenter is altering the tone of sports writing.

The Impact of Live Versus Packaged News on Television Viewers’ Information Processing of Some Episodes of the Iraq War • Rut Rey, Iowa State University • This study evaluated the impact of two modes of presenting television news, live versus packaged reports, on viewers’ processing of incidents that occurred during the 2003 American intervention in Iraq. An experiment was conducted using 200 volunteer students. No differences were found in the encoding, storage, and retrieval performance between the group that was shown live reports and those who saw the packaged stories.

Intermedia Agenda Setting in the 2004 Presidential Elections: Issue Saliency in Television News, Political Advertising and Blogs • Kaye D. Trammell, Guy Golan, Louisiana State University and Wayne Wanta, University of Missouri • This study examined whether political ads and candidate blogs were successful in influencing the issue and news agenda of the major television news networks during the 2004 presidential election. Data showed strong correlations between blogs and the media agenda. Advertisements did not correlate with the media agenda. Cross-lag analysis showed that the media set the candidates’ agenda. The authors suggest intermedia agenda setting occurred as the media transferred their agenda to campaign blogs.

A Descriptive Analysis of NBC’s Coverage of the 2004 Summer Olympics • C. A. Tuggle, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Suzanne Huffman, Texas Christian University and Dana Scott Rosengard, University of Memphis • This study examines the amount of NBC’s 2004 Olympics coverage devoted to women’s athletics and compares that to 2000 and 1996. Analysis showed that men received more overall coverage, but women’s teams were covered more extensively than were men’s teams. That coverage concentrated on two specific women’s teams, with other women’s team competitors receiving scant coverage. As was the case in 2000 and 1996, women who competed in 2004 in sports involving power or hard physical contact received almost no attention.

<< 2005 Abstracts

Public Relations Divisions

TEACHING
Comparison of Indirect Sources of Efficacy Information in Pretesting Messages to Prevent Drunken Driving • Ronald B. Anderson, University of Texas at Austin • This experiment tested the impact of two forms of symbolic modeling and verbal persuasion on self-efficacy beliefs and intentions to prevent a friend from driving drunk. Three efficacy-information public service announcements were produced to raise participants; beliefs in their abilities to intervene successfully: a behavioral-modeling message, which demonstrated the prevention skills; a verbal-modeling message, which described the skills; and a persuasive message, which only encouraged intervention.

Beating the Odds: How the American Football League Used Public Relations to “Win” a War Against a Monopoly • William B. Anderson, University of Scranton • No professional sports group ever achieved acceptance as widespread within a single decade’s span as the American Football League (AFL). This study chronicles how the AFL used public relations strategies and tactics to garner public acceptance, which in turn helped convince the older National Football League to merge with the upstart league.

Overcoming the Stigma of Discrimination: Applying a New Management Philosophy and Integrated Communication To Restore The Reputation Of Denny’s Restaurants • Alik Anso, Richard Nelson and Stephen Matthews • Abstract not available.

The Effect of Prior Corporate Reputation on Public Attitudes Toward a Company • Public Suspicion as a Mediating Variable • Jiyang Bae, University of Missouri-Columbia • This study attempted to verify whether prior corporate reputation affects public perceptions toward corporate philanthropic messages and ultimately affects public attitudes toward the company. The study’s five hypotheses were all supported with an experiment method. 72 undergraduate students were participated in this study. Participants inferred corporate charitable giving as a mutually beneficial activity when a company had a good reputation (H 1). Participants inferred corporate charitable giving as a self-interested activity when the company had a bad reputation (H2).

Cultural Awareness: Hispanic Public Relations Practitioners’ Perceptions of Effective Communication with Hispanic Publics • Cristina Proañlo Beazley, University of Louisiana at Lafayette • As the Hispanic publics continue to grow in the United States, public relations departments must be prepared to communicate effectively with them. This exploratory study examines cultural awareness from the viewpoint of Hispanic public relations practitioners who communicate with Hispanic publics as part of their practice. In-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with eleven Hispanic public relations practitioners who work with Hispanic publics.

Building Relationships with Child Publics: Study of the Content of Nutrition Websites for Children • Denise Bortree, University of Florida • Abstract not available.

Finding a Conceptual Basis for Communicating about Terrorism: Is Terrorism ‘Extreme’ Activism? How do we Respond Ethically? • Shannon A. Bowen, University of Houston • Abstract not available.

Engineering the Continuation of a Non-judgmental U.S.-China Relations in the Tumultuous Post-Cold War World: An Overview of the Chinese Public Relations Campaign in the U.S. in 1990s Xiaowei Chen, Louisiana State University • This case study of the Chinese public relations campaign examines the geopolitical-ideopolitical context, identifies the key stakeholders, interprets their message strategy and issue management, and finally, illustrates how the Chinese public relations contributes to the delinkage of the U.S.-China trade from human rights issue.

A Study of Journalists’ Perception of Candidates’ Websites and Their Relationships with the Campaign Organization in Taiwan’s 2004 Presidential Election • Yi-Ning Katherine Chen, National Cheng-Chi University • This investigation is designed to gain insight into what the perceptions are for journalists in using a candidate’s website as a news gathering tool. Drawing upon the somewhat limited research to date, this study also seeks to explore how journalists’ perception of the websites affects their relationships with the campaign organization. The results show that the some of the perceptions of such websites, as related to the relationship components, suggest that a candidate’s website may enhance this relationship.

Closing the Deal: The Use of Snow & Benfords’s Core Framing Functions on Activist Websites • Erik L. Collins, University of South Carolina, Lynn M. Zoch, University of Miami and Daniel C. Walsh, University of South Carolina • The researchers used an adapted version of the core framing functions model first introduced by Snow and Benford (1988) in conjunction with a content analysis of Websites to discover whether activist organizations are using methods described in the theory to strengthen the communication on their Websites.

Ethical Discussion in Peer Reviewed Public Relations Journals: A Content Analysis • Benton Danner and Michael A. Mitrook, University of Florida • Content analysis concerning the nature of ethical discussion in peer reviewed public relations journals was performed on a total of 721 articles from four scholarly journals covering the period 1998-2004.

An Evolutionary Model of Organization-Activist Relationships • Elizabeth Dougall • University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill • The propositions of an evolutionary model of organization-activist relationships are advanced anticipating associations between variations in the public opinion environment of an organizational population and the evolution of organization-activist relationships. Variations are described using four dimensions: stability (turnover of issues), complexity (the number of issues in the issue set), intensity (volume of media coverage), and direction (favorability of media coverage for the focal population).

Legal Implications of IMC for Public Relations •Kathy R. Fitzpatrick, DePaul University• The application of First Amendment commercial speech doctrine to integrated marketing communication (IMC) demonstrates that the integration of public relations with advertising and marketing may dilute the constitutional protection afforded corporate speech. This analysis of U.S. Supreme Court decisions shows that by combining political expression, i.e., public relations, with commercial expression, i.e., advertising and marketing, a corporation may expand the range of communications that may be defined and regulated as commercial speech.

The Status of Public Relations Research in the Leading Journals between 1995 and 2004 • Eyun-Jung Ki and Hyoungkoo Khang, University of Florida • This study analyzes the trends, patterns and rigors of research studies pertaining to public relations through a content analysis of published public relations articles from two leading public relations journals between 1995 and 2004. Four hundred and three articles from the two journals were collected. Each article was coded by the year of its publication, the name of the journal, author(s)’ name, affiliation, and country of author(s)’ affiliation, research topics, research methods, sampling methods, response rates, intercoder reliability, and statistical analysis.

Exploring Town-Gown Relations: Community Relations in a University Setting • Sei-Hill Kim, Brigitta R. Brunner and Margaret Fitch-Hauser, Auburn University • Analyzing data from a telephone survey of local residents, this study examined the role of community relations in higher education. Our data supported the idea that various contributions to local communities may produce a favorable pubic image of a university. More importantly, residents who were more aware of the contributions showed greater willingness to support the university.

The News Release Format For The 21 Century: A Receiver-Based Model For The Electronic Medium • Thomas Klipstone, University of South Carolina • A content analysis of electronic news releases shows that electronic news releases are basically an electronic version of traditional print public relations material that is not being formatted or structured to fit the qualities and advantages of the electronic medium. This study reviews the current status of the electronic news release format and suggests an electronic news release format suited to take advantage of the qualities of the receiver-based medium.

Christina’s Doin’ It… So Should I? • The Nature of Celebrity Health Advocacy and Advice in Media • Julie C. Lellis, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • Abstract not available.

Crisis Communications Preparedness Among U.S. Organizations: Activities and Assessments by Public Relations Practitioners • Rhegan McDaniel and Kirk Hallahan, Colorado State University • A survey of U.S. public relations practitioners (n=126) found that three-quarters of their employer organizations have a written crisis communications plan and that organizations, as a whole, were reasonably prepared to engage in crisis communications. Preparedness was measured based on the presence of a crisis plan as well as a tactics index; a training index; indices related to the maintenance of lists of employees, media and stakeholders; and the monitoring of the print and broadcast media and the Internet.

Assessing and Managing Reputation among Multiple Stakeholder Groups of a Health Care Organization Seen Through the Lens of Identity and Identification • Angela K. Mak, Iowa State University • This paper uses PeaceHealth Medical Group as an example to assess a health care organization’s reputation among various key stakeholder groups seen through the lens of identity and identification. An elite interview and eight focus groups (i.e. donors, volunteers, community leaders, local community, support staff, media, nurses, and doctors) were conducted. The different dimensions of primary and secondary reputation from stakeholder groups revealed that a reputation held by a specific stakeholder group is based on the strength of its relationship with the organization.

The Syllogism of Apologia: Rhetorical Stasis Theory and Crisis Communication • Charles Marsh, University of Kansas • Rhetorical stasis theory – the process of identifying a debate’s core issue – can provide a hierarchical structure for crisis response strategies. The author proposes that the accusation in a crisis situation – the kategoria — has a syllogistic form, allowing crisis managers to decide whether to attack an accusation at its minor premise level, major premise level or conclusion. Stasis theory posits three content-related issues categories.

Is the Press Legitimizing the “Truth”? An Examination of the Third Party Endorsements of the “Truth” National Anti- tobacco Campaign • Jensen Moore and Fred Vultee, University of Missouri-Columbia • This study used discourse analysis to examine the positive press coverage (i.e. third party endorsements) of the “Truth” national anti-tobacco campaign. Thirty-nine national and regional articles from 1999-2005 were analyzed. The findings provide insights into the central themes, identifiable images, and dominant discourse presented by the media about the campaign. Results of this study are important because little is known about the legitimizing force of the press in regard to these campaigns.

Why do Students Major In Public Relations? A Study of Factors Influencing a Student’s Choice of Major, and Gender Similarities and Differences • Gina J. Noble, Oklahoma State University • This study surveyed public relations majors to determine the factors influencing the selection of their major in an effort to help public relations educators, advisers and counselors better understand the motivations and expectations of these students. The study attempts to provide information regarding why students decide to major in public relations, how students perceive the major and its job opportunities, common misperceptions regarding the profession, and gender similarities and differences of students selecting the major.

Sources and Synergies: News Media Discussion of Public Relations and Ethics • Bonnie Parnell Riechert, University of Tennessee • News media discussion of public relations and ethics is investigated in a computer-assisted content analysis of articles mentioning both “public relations” and “ethics” in The New York Times from 1988-2004. Themes in coverage are identified. The Public Relations Society of America and its code of ethics are represented in the coverage, indicating some success in frame sponsorship. The phrase “public relations” is used in a variety of ways; implications for practitioners and educators are discussed.

Effects of Endorsement Type and Expertise Indicators on Web Credibility • Amy Robinson-Russ and Marilee Long, Colorado State University • This study investigated the effects of endorsement type and author expertise on online credibility. It was hypothesized that subjects would perceive an online message endorsed by a third party (news organization) as more credible than one endorsed by a first party (corporation), and that subjects who received additional author information would assign higher credibility to the message than those who received the author’s name. Results showed no significant difference in how subjects perceived message credibility.

The Dialogic Potential of Weblogs in Relationship Building • Trent Seltzer, University of Florida • Previous research has revealed a gap between the relationship-building potential of traditional Websites, the objectives of public relations practitioners, and the actual design of organizational Web sites. A content analysis of 50 environmental weblogs was conducted to identify the existence of dialogic principles that can be used to effectively build relationships online. Comparisons between weblogs and traditional Web sites suggest that weblogs may incorporate these principles to a greater degree than traditional Web sites.

The Death of the Models: A Meta-Analysis of Modem Dimensions in Public Relations • Bey-Ling Sha, San Diego State University • In recent years, the venerated models of public relations have been reconceptualized as dimensions of public relations behavior. This article examines the internal reliabilities of items across three studies constructing the “classic dimensions” of two-way, symmetrical, ethical, interpersonal, and mediated communication – as well as the “cutting-edge dimensions” of social activities and conservation – concluding with recommendations of specific items shown by meta-analysis to be the most valid measures of the new dimensions of public relations.

Crossing boundaries: Comparing online media relations of Fortune 100 companies’ U.S. vs. China corporate sites • Ying Sun, Ohio University • While Web sites have become important corporate communications tools globally, no research has addressed the application of the Web to media relations in an international setting. This exploratory study compared media relations strategies as evident in the U.S. and Chinese corporate sites of American companies. Using content analysis, this paper examined how these sites address journalists’ information needs and facilitate two-way symmetrical communication, and investigated how country-specific contexts influence the application of public relations models

Strategic Public Relations Based on a Scenario Approach: A Case of an Insurance Company • MinJung Sung, University of New York • Abstract not available.

Lowering the Bar: Privileged Court Filings as Substitutes for Press Releases in the Court of Public Opinion • Samuel Terilli, Sigman Splichal and Paul Driscoll University of Miami • In the civil lawsuit against Kobe Bryant for sexual assault, the judge admonished lawyers for engaging in “public relations litigation” – the use of pleadings to attract media attention and try cases in the court of public opinion. This paper looks at the legal ramifications of such practices. It concludes that lawyers and public relations professionals can responsibly use court documents to communicate with the public, so long as they do not abuse the process.

Lobbying as Advocacy Public Relations and its “Unspoken” Code of Ethics • Kati A. Tusinski, University of Oregon • This paper examines lobbying as a form of advocacy public relations. Interviews and document analysis are used to illustrate the advocacy function of lobbying and questions the ethics of such work. This research fills two visible gaps in the public relations body of knowledge by continuing to develop advocacy as a function of public relations and by contributing to the development of lobbying as a profession by studying the ethical frameworks lobbyists employ to their work.

Organizational Credibility as a function of Source Trust • Edward Vieira and Susan Grantham, University of Hartford • This study examined the role of affect and reason in cognitive involvement, comprehension, message credibility, and subsequent attitude formation. The results indicate that the model was driven by comprehension and involvement in processing the message. The non-profit designation (versus for-profit) was significantly linked to level of involvement with the message and subsequently source credibility and a positive attitude toward the topic.

Cross-National Conflict Shifting: A Case Study of the DuPont Teflon Crisis in China • Yimin Wang and Juan-Carlos Molleda, University of Florida • The purpose of this paper is to illustrate and support the theory of cross-national conflict shifting through a case study of a transnational crisis, the DuPont Teflon crisis in China. This recent corporate crisis originated from the United States due to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s administrative action against DuPont, which instantly shifted to China where it transformed into a consumer product safety crisis. A triangulation of qualitative and quantitative methods was used.

Fund Raising on the Internet: A Content Analysis of ePhilanthropy Trends on the Internet sites of the Organizations on the Philanthropy 400 • Richard D. Waters, University of Florida • To evaluate the current status of ePhilanthropy, a stratified random sample of the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s “Philanthropy 400” was content analyzed for variables identified in practitioner and scholarly literature on accountability, fund-raising practices, and communication strategies. Analysis found that the top fund-raising organizations provided their annual reports, organizational goals, and mission statements while second tier organizations were more likely to use a sales and marketing approach by using e-commerce technology to process on-line donations.

The Practitioner Roles of Fund Raising: An Assessment of Gender Differences • Richard D. Waters and Kathleen S. Kelly, University of Florida and Mary Lee Walker, Consultant Orlando, FL • A national study of members of the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy found that Kelly’s (1998) adaptation of public relations roles-liaison, expert prescriber, problem-solving process facilitator, and technician-account for the daily activities of fund-raising practitioners. Similar to public relations studies, all but the last role were found to be highly correlated, indicating a two role typology might be a better descriptor. One-way ANOVAs revealed that males enacted managerial roles more than females; however, no significant differences were found for the technician role.

Web Presence of Universities: Is Higher Education Sending the Right Message Online? • Elizabeth M. Will and Coy Callison, Texas Tech University • Web sites of the 3738 U.S.-based colleges and universities were sampled and analyzed to determine how higher education employs the internet to communicate to key publics overall and students in particular. analysis revealed prospective donors are the most often-targeted public followed by faculty/staff. Prospective and current students followed. In better news to students, the five items students most often seek on the Web were the five most common items linked from university home pages.

A Benchpoint Global Analysis of How Research is Used in Public Relations Throughout the World • Donald K. Wright, University of South Alabama and Michelle Hinson, University of Florida • Although research has been an important part of public relations for more than half a century, the use of research, measurement and evaluation in the field varies dramatically. While many have advocated the use of research through public relations textbooks, the scholarly literature contains few studies measuring how research actually is used in public relations.

An Analysis of Nonprofit Organizations’ Web Pages for Public Relations: Focus on Media Relations, Donor Relations, and Interactive Communication Features • Hye Min Yeon, University of Florida • This study is to examine how the 100 largest nonprofit organizations utilize their Web sites for donor relations, volunteer relations, media relations and their interactive communication features. The result of this study revealed that most of selected organizations were effectively using the Web sites and donor relations were utilized the best. However, there is no relationship neither between public relations activities and grouped Web sites based on the revenues, nor between interactive communication features and the grouped Web sites.

Dictating the News: Understanding Newsworthiness from the Journalistic Perspective • Lynne M. Zoch and Dustin W. Supa, University of Miami • This study looks at previous research done in journalism and public relations to identify eight factors that determine newsworthiness. A content analysis of news releases from public and private corporations was then used to determine if they contained the eight factors identified by the research. The analysis indicated that only two of the eight factors were being used regularly in the releases, and that the majority of the releases would not be considered newsworthy by journalists.

STUDENT

Public Relations Writing: What do Agencies Want? • Kurt Wise, DePaul • This study explored the perceptions of public relations professional working in agency settings concerning the writing skill of entry-level practitioners and public relations writing pedagogy. Focus group participants indicated writing for the Web required a different approach than other writing tasks in an agency setting. Professionals also contended educators spend too much time emphasizing news releases and not enough time on other types of writing such as telephone and/or email pitches.

What Do They Get When They “Give Back?” A Three-Year Study of Public Relations Student Attitudes Toward Civic Engagement • Lisa T. Fall, University of Tennessee • The purpose of this three-year study is to assess how using what students learn in the classroom during internships influences their attitudes toward certain civic engagement issues. Results demonstrate that having more opportunities to use what they learned while on the job significantly predicts career choices as well as attitudes toward who they believe benefits most (themselves, organization, supervisor, community, target public/s) and how valued they believe their contributions are to their employer and to them personally.

Why are More Women than Men Attracted to the Field of Public Relations? Analyzing Students’ Reasons for Studying PR • J. Rebecca Folmar and Lois A. Boynton, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • This quantitative study explores why more young women than young men are attracted to the collegiate study of public relations and choose to join the public relations workforce professionally. Women’s reasons for being attracted to public relations included: it is a profession for which they feel well-suited, allowing opportunities for relationship building, interpersonal communication, and creativity; and it is a broad, portable career path that allows opportunities for advancement as well as flexibility for family demands.

The Gatekeeper Interview Assignment: Teaching Public Relations Students How to Write for the News Media and to Conduct Media Relations Effectively • Elizabeth A. Johnson and Lynne M. Sallot, University of Georgia • This study uses the results of two focus group discussions, and telephone and e-mail interviews with 33 students who had completed “gatekeeper interviews” in public relations writing courses to judge the pedagogical value of the assignment. The gatekeeper interview requires students to interview in the newsroom working journalists who make decisions about using content that has a public relations practitioner influence in the news.

Teaching (About) International Public Relations: An Examination of Individual and Institutional Attributes of Public Relations Educators in the United States • Angela K. Mak and Jane W. Peterson, Iowa State University • This paper updates Parker’s (1995) international public relations (IPR) education study by surveying PR educators on the AEJMC PRD mailing list. Results show significant changes in the past ten years in international perspectives in PR courses, the number of IPR courses offered by schools, and individual and institutional attributes between educators who teach IPR and those who do not. Suggestions for PR educators, school administrators, and graduate students in the US are discussed.

Building a Stronger PRSSA chapter: What Self Determination Theory Tells Us About the Importance of Motivation and Need Satisfaction • Robert S. Pritchard, Vincent F. Filak and Lindsay L. Beach, Ball State University • This study uses self-determination theory to predict the impact of need satisfaction and intrinsic motivation on PRSSA members. While higher levels of need satisfaction universally predicted more positive ratings of both the PRSSA chapter and adviser, Teahan award winners were significantly more positive in their ratings of all of these variables. Furthermore, students who felt more intrinsically motivated reported a greater likelihood that they would persist in PRSSA and transition to PRSA upon graduation.

Sources and Synergies: News Media Discussion of Public Relations and Ethics • Bonnie Parnell Riechert, Tennessee • Abstract not available.

Portrayal of Public Relations in Mass Communication Textbooks • Candace White and Thomasena Shaw, University of Tennessee • A qualitative textual analysis of how public relations is portrayed in the most commonly used textbooks in introductory mass communication courses was conducted to see if portrayal has improved since Carolyn Cline’s similar study in 1982. The theoretical premise was that the literature indicates that journalists are socialized to hold negative attitudes toward public relations, and that socialization begins in the academy. Results show portrayal has improved, but negative attitudes continue to be expressed in textbooks.

<< 2005 Abstracts