Archives for January 2012

Newspaper Division

Survival in Paradise: How Local Identity Helped Save the Honolulu Star Bulletin • Ann Auman, University of Hawaii • This study analyzes identity and culture at the Honolulu Star-Bulletin and how these helped save it from a closure attempt by Gannett Co. Inc. This paper theorizes that distinctive attributes related to the paper’s identity, history and cultural and political influences that were unique to Hawaii kept it afloat. This study analyzes interviews with newsroom staff members and articles to illuminate the Star-Bulletin’s identity and its connection to its survival.

Shielded From the Feds? An Examination of the Proposed Federal Shield Laws • Courtney Barclay, Florida • Journalists are facing an unprecedented use of federal subpoenas to compel the disclosure of confidential and non-confidential information. The lower federal courts, in determining the extent of protection of a reporter’s privilege, have been inconsistent. However, Congress may finally be ready to defend the reporter’s privilege–creating a federal shield law. This paper analyzes the two bills proposed before Congress in 2005 that, if passed, would create a statutory reporter’s privilege.

Hype or Hope? Washington Post Coverage of Hormone Replacement: 1950-2004 • Marlene Cimons, Maryland • The purpose of this study was to examine more than a half-century of Washington Post coverage of hormone replacement therapy (HRT). A content analysis and critical reading found positive themes during early years; risks were reported later, a harbinger of the results of the 2002 Women’s Health Initiative. Within an agenda setting framework, it appears the media reported the dangers, but readers did not take them seriously until the coverage became too prominent to ignore.

Newsroom Marriage Encounters: The Extent to Which Cross-Media Partnerships Display Convergence-based Behaviors • Larry Dailey, Lori Demo, and Mary Spillman, Ball State • This national study of newspaper editors and television news directors provides a snapshot of the state of news convergence. The study found almost 30 percent of newspapers and half of television news departments have convergence partnerships. It suggests that a few partnerships are relatively committed to their convergence efforts, while some are still trying to define them or have partnerships in name only. Finally, it finds the competitive spirit between newspaper and television newsrooms remains intact.

Framing of the Iraq War in the Online New York Times • Daniela Dimitrova, Iowa State • This study examined the framing of the 2003 Iraq War on the home page of the New York Times. The content analysis revealed that violence of war and military conflict frames dominated the coverage overall. Human interest stories and rebuilding of Iraq frames were also common. Missing from the coverage were the reasons leading up to the war. A change in frames occurred over time, indicating a shift in focus from episodic to thematic frames.

Beyond Props and Flak Jackets: A New Model to Define Modern Parachute Journalism • Emily Erickson and John Hamilton, Louisiana State • The common understanding of parachute journalism posits a large media organization whose cutbacks have obliterated its foreign bureaus and forced it to send out ad hoc reporters to do superficial coverage of crises abroad. But this ignores a greater variety in the nature and performance of these reporters and assignments. This study examines how newspapers are engaging in parachute journalism today, and proposes a typology that acknowledges the breadth and complexity of the phenomenon.

Analyzing the Federal Shield Law Proposals: What Congress Can Learn from the States • Anthony Fargo, Indiana • After a rash of cases in which journalists faced jail time for refusing to reveal confidential sources, two bills were introduced in Congress to create a federal privilege. This analysis of the bills finds they are similar. However, one provides a broader definition of who would be protected and the other would discourage subpoenas for reporters’ phone and computer records. Both bills appear to avoid many of the problems that have befallen state shield laws.

An Analysis of the Bush Administration’s Social Security Propaganda Campaign in Major U.S. Newspapers • Lillie Fears, Arkansas State • This investigation uses Jowett and O’Donnell’s 10-Step plan for analyzing Bush administration’s Social Security propaganda campaign as it is revealed in major U.S. newspapers. The plan assists the analysts in identifying several propaganda tactics within the president’s proposal, including its purpose, target audiences, media techniques, and counterpropaganda. In addition, the plan offers useful guidance for evaluating the Bush proposal.

Plagiarism Persists Despite Journalists’ Changing Attitudes • Fred Fedler, Central Florida • Well into the 1900s, it was common for newspaper reporters and editors to copy one another. For years, journalists accepted the practice as necessary and normal. Changes in journalists’ attitudes were gradual as society, technology, and the newspaper industry changed. Today, plagiarism is almost universally condemned, yet eliminating all plagiarism may be impossible. Most newspapers have no written policies or adopt policies that simply prohibit plagiarism without defining it or providing useful guidelines.

Male and Female Sources in Newspaper Coverage of Male and Female Candidates in U.S. Senate Races in 2004 • Eric Freedman, Frederick Fico, and Brad Love, Central Michigan • This study assessed how the largest dailies in states with female Senate candidates in 2004 used male and female expert sand non-expert, uncommitted sources in covering campaigns. Male nonpartisan sources appeared more frequently and prominently than female sources. Female reporters cited male nonpartisan sources more often than did male reporters; reporters of both genders cited female sources equally rarely,. There was a negative correlation between gender diversity in sourcing and both newsroom diversity and circulation.

Why Journalism Students Don’t Know Grammar • Gerald Grow, Florida A&M, and Glen Bleske, California State-Chico • Many college journalism teachers find themselves teaching high school grammar because students never mastered the skills. This paper discusses how grammar education at high school and college levels changed in recent decades, describes some ways of teaching grammar, and reports results of a pilot study of journalism students and their views about grammar skills. The survey indicated that confidence and anxiety may play key roles in how journalism students learn or do not learn grammar.

The Influence of Newspapers on Rural Economic Development • C. Ann Hollifield, Hugh J. Martin, and Cunfang Ren, Georgia • This study tests the theory that mass media have positive effects on local economic development. Rural areas lost newspapers over the 10 years studied. The presence of local daily newspapers in rural counties was related to lower poverty and higher retail sales, while circulation from non-local papers was negatively related to local retail sales. Weeklies had no impact on economic development. Consolidation of daily newspapers in rural areas may undercut the economic sustainability of communities.

Interactive Content & Online Newspapers: A Content Analysis of Online Versions of Korean and U.S. Newspapers • Moonki Hong, Yongrak Park, and Steven McClung, Florida State • Interactivity is considered as the best approaches for contribution of online journalism. Analyzing interactive features in the 116 online versions of Korean and U.S. newspapers in March 2005, the researchers found that U.S. online newspapers need to provide more “active” interactivity content increasing users’ involvement. This study measured two different interactivity levels according to users participation based on online reading and writing.

Jesse James and Late-Nineteenth Century Missouri Newspapers: They Never Did His Legend Wrong • Cathy Jackson, Norfolk State • This descriptive study notes the journalistic and folkloric rise of Jesse James, a Missouri native, who robbed and killed, yet became an American outlaw hero. Through the use of folklore and sociological theories, this study places him and stories written about him as products of Missouri’s crisis-filled, post-Civil War society. An analysis of 36 Missouri newspapers from 1866-1882 reveals stories infused with heroic motifs, insuring that James achieved hero status during his life and in history.

An Experimental Investigation of the Hostile Media Effect in Singapore • Wei Ling Koh, Diana Wong, Joel Yong, and Stella Chia, Nanyang Technological University • This study examines hostile media perceptions, which suggests the tendency for partisans from both sides of a controversial issue to regard the same media coverage as biased against their own viewpoint. Our data found support for hostile media perceptions and also showed that personal opinion remains the main contributing factor for perceived media bias.

Making Sports News: A Case Study of Sports Newsworkers • Dan Kozlowski, North Carolina • Utilizing data from fieldwork in the sports department of a metropolitan daily and interviews with sportswriters, this paper argues that what becomes sports news in the daily press is the product of a convergence of organizational bureaucracy, routines institutionalized to accommodate the exigencies of newswork, and an enigmatic conception of the audience, created and projected on the reader and then used to explain news judgment.

Says Who? Examining the Use of Anonymous Sourcing in News Stories • Martin Kratzer Renee, and Esther Thorson, Missouri • Recent media scandals and the new sourcing policies of three national elite newspapers have focused attention on the use of anonymous sources in newspapers. This content analysis reveals that there has been a decline in the number of anonymous sources from 2003 to 2004; however, the renewed focus on sourcing in the newspaper industry has not extended to the network industry where the number of unnamed sources has increased.

Cancer Stories in Black vs. Mainstream Newspapers: Is There a Public Health Perspective? • Jeongsub Lim, Jiyang Bae, Charlene Caburnay, Jon Stemmle, Shelly Rodgers, Doug Luke, Glen Cameron, and Matthew Kreuter, Missouri • This study compared the content of cancer news stories in black and mainstream newspapers to examine the presence of public health facts. The method was a content analysis of 24 Black and 12 mainstream newspapers, randomly selected from 24 cities in the U.S. Public health facts included prevention, mobilization information, perspective, monetary care, and consequences of cancer. Black newspapers provided more public health facts about cancer perspective and personal behavior mobilization than did mainstream newspapers.

Media Frames and Fairness and Balance of Five U.S. Newspapers’ Coverage of Same-Sex Marriage • Xudong Liu, Louisiana State and Xigen Li, Arkansas State • A content analysis of 209 stories on same-sex marriage found overall coverage of same-sex marriage was fair and balanced. Source dominance of the stories was associated with balance of the coverage. The stories framed as thematic were more likely to be fair and balanced than the stories framed as episodic. The findings did not support the general belief that prestige newspapers do better than high circulation newspapers in fairness and balance of news coverage.

Walking in Step to the Future 2005: Views of Journalism Education by Practitioners and Educators • Ernest Martin, June Nicholson, Paula Otto, Jeff South, Judy Turk, and Debora Wenger, Virginia Commonwealth • This 2005 Internet survey of 343 journalism educators, newspaper editors and television and online news executives contrasts views about preparation of students for current and future jobs by showing gaps between what employers’ value most in job applicants and what educational programs are providing. Second, it addresses newsroom challenges that are shaping the industry and journalism education. Third, it examines views on blogging and on newsroom support for First Amendment legal disputes.

Model of the Practice of News Immediacy by Web Newspapers • Brian Massey, Utah • Research tends to take a discrete view of the Web-newspaper practice of immediacy. This article proposes a holistic approach that encompasses the journalistic, commercial, audience and organizational-decision sides of the practice. It represents that approach in a model that conceives of Web-news immediacy as involving dimensions of “time,” “form” and content,” and starting with a “trigger” decision within the newspaper organization. Also discusses are influences that may work on that decision.

Connecting With Readers: Why Newspapers Should Consider Incorporating Blogs Into Their Online Content • Liz Matson, Northeastern • This paper argues that blogs can be an extension of a newspaper’s daily news reporting and a means of connecting with the audience in a more immediate way. Using examples of current newspaper blogs, the paper presents six ways a newspaper can incorporate blogs into the editorial content of the paper’s Website. The paper also presents a content analysis of 81 major metro and national newspaper Websites, which was undertaken in March 2005.

Young Adults’ New Sense of Community Calls for a New Newspaper • Rachel Davis Mersey, North Carolina • Relying on sense of community research and utilizing a uses and gratifications lens, this research asserts that the frame of relevance for young adults is markedly different from that for traditional newspaper consumers, and that the root of this is a revised sense of community, which relies on the idea that relationships–not place–build communities. This geographically-unbound perspective calls for continued research and perhaps ultimately a departure from the conventional newspaper.

What’s Good for Business is Good for America? The Framing of Outsourcing in Business Newspapers and General-Interest Newspapers • Joshua Mound, Ohio • When offshore outsourcing created controversy, it became not just a business matter, but a social and political issue framed by the press in numerous ways. Through the comparison of multiple groups of publications–each consisting of two general-interest newspapers with demographically different audiences and one business newspaper, all from the same city–this study examines the way in which the variables of class and business-orientation affect the framing of outsourcing.

Covering Campaign Finance: A Content Analysis of Articles, Editorials and Columns on the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 • Samuel Murphey, Christina Collison and Anthony Albrecht, Truman State • This paper analyzes the framing of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002. We use content analysis methodology to analyze 96 news articles, editorials, and columns from seven newspapers. Our research shows that newspapers emphasized the legislative process frame more often than justification or issue frames. Further, most newspaper coverage was of a reactionary rather than a proactive nature. The findings prove that significant changes are needed to inform the public about legislative policy making.

Newshole Changes in Three Large Newspapers with Different Ownership Patterns • Geneva Overholser, Esther Thorson, Yan Jin, and Yonghoi Song, Missouri, and Steve Lacy, Central Michigan • This paper examined the Front and Metro newshole in Cleveland Plain Dealer (privately owned), Philadelphia Inquirer (publicly traded), and Minneapolis Star Tribune (owned by two-tiered companies) in 1987 and 2001 (before 9-11) to test the hypothesis that differential profit pressure known to exist in the three ownership patterns would impact the size and distribution news in the newshole. The results are discussed in terms of economic theory relating ownership to newspaper quality indexed by newshole.

When the Barbaric Becomes Sublime: Early New York Times Coverage of the Iraq War • Victor Pickard, Illinois • The historical account of U.S. press coverage of events leading up to and during war suggests the press plays an integral role in bolstering the case for military operations to an often-ambivalent public. Through careful reading of New York Times coverage of the early stages of the Iraq War, this paper examines one news tendency——namely, the technologizing of war——in the process of rendering the phenomenon of war as something natural and awe-inspiring.

Watchdog or Good Neighbor? The Public’s Expectations of Local News Paula Poindexter, Don Heider and Maxwell McCombs, Texas • After an earlier study found the public expected the press to be a good neighbor, the present study set out to determine what that meant. The survey revealed being a good neighbor was strongly valued by women, African-Americans, and Hispanics and over half wanted more coverage of education, health and medicine, science, and arts and culture. Concerns included crime and social issues. Television was viewed as best able to address the public’s concerns.

Mental Map Making: The Role of Black Newspapers in Shaping Perceptions of Cancer in Black Community • Qi Qiu, Cynthia Frisby, Shelly Rodgers and Glen Cameron, Missouri • Using case study meta-analysis, content analysis of black and mainstream papers was combined with survey findings from the same newspaper markets to explore news coverage in relation to mental maps of cancer. Findings indicate that cognitive and affective media attributes were associated with audiences’ cancer knowledge and attitudes, supporting second-level agenda-setting. Less positive black newspapers correlated with higher levels of cancer anxiety among black women. Exposed to more positive headlines, white women had less fear.

The Public’s Views of Ethics in Managing ‘Letters to the Editor’ • Bill Reader and Daniel Riffe, Ohio • This survey poses questions about attitudes toward the importance of LTEs and about ethics related to LTE selection, specifically letters that might be “hostile” toward the respondent’s personal views. Results show that political/ideological views have almost no bearing on attitudes toward the ethics of publishing letters, with most people supporting publication of divisive letters. The exception was with a letter advocating racial segregation, which most respondents said would be “highly unethical” to publish.

It’s Gametime: The Maslach Burnout Inventory Measures Burnout of Sports Journalists • Scott Reinardy, Missouri • A survey (N = 249) of newspaper sports journalists utilized the Maslach Burnout Inventory to examined burnout. Sports journalists suffer moderate rates of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization, and have a high rate of personal accomplishment. Sports editors have a higher rate of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization than sports writers or desk personnel, and a lower rate of personal accomplishment. Younger, less experienced sports journalists at smaller newspapers suffer a higher rate of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization.

More Heat Than Light: A Case Study of Crime-Victim Identification in Theory and in Practice • Kathleen Richardson and Herb Strentz, Drake • This project had intended to study how newspaper identification of accusers in sexual abuse cases affected victim willingness to report crimes. Instead the research became a case study of the efficacy of such identification and the usefulness of statutory access to police records. The study found that police kept most reports of abuse secret, and suggests that debate over victim identification sheds more heat than light when it comes to news coverage of sexual abuse.

‘Journalism is a Loose-Jointed Thing’: A Content Analysis of Editor & Publisher’s Discussion of Journalistic Conduct Prior to the Canons of Journalism • Ronald Rodgers, Ohio • With a category system drawn from the ethical elements listed in the Canons of Journalism, this analysis examined Editor & Publisher’s discussion of the problems of journalism on its editorial page in the more than twenty years leading up to ASNE’s adoption of that code in 1923. This study confirmed the presumption that code was a culmination of the ongoing and historical discourse in the newspaper industry’s primary trade journal.

Second Servings: Online Publication and Its Impact on Second-Day Leads in Newspapers • Jack Rosenberry, St. John Fisher • A content analysis comparing contemporary newspaper leads to ones from 15 years earlier, before Internet publication became commonplace, determined that use of “first day” (direct/summary) leads has declined over that time. The findings support an argument that newspapers’ print editions have become a permanent second-day publication concurrent with the rise of the 24-hour news cycle and the phenomenon of newspapers using their online editions to break news.

The Popular Ideology of Freedom of Expression: An Analysis of Newspaper Political Columns • Thomas Schwartz, Ohio State • This paper addresses the literature on public attitudes toward freedom of expression by analyzing 139 columns by 31 nationally syndicated newspaper columnists in an attempt to describe what the paper calls a popular ideology of freedom of expression. The paper explains what seem to be the conservative and liberal views but also notes “new right” and “feminist-critical” subgroups.

The Influence of Expert Opinion on Media Coverage of the Heisman Trophy Race • Trent Seltzer and Michael Mitrook, Florida • This study examines the 2001-2003 Heisman Trophy races to determine the relationship among the agendas of expert opinion, media coverage, and Heisman voters. The study analyzed 717 media stories, 50 AP college football polls, and 40 Rocky Mountain News expert opinion polls. The results provide support for the agenda-setting and framing influence of expert opinion and media coverage on the Heisman vote, suggesting the important role of expert opinion in the agenda-setting and framing process.

Taking Up Space: Growing Newspaper Groups, Their Markets, and the Makeup of Local Content • Joshua Shear, Syracuse • In this paper, the author predicts that large newspapers groups prefer economies of scale to putting reporters on the streets at each of their newspapers, and that certain types and subjects of news will be more prevalent in group-owned papers than their independent counterparts. Relationships are also predicted between market variables and story topics. The author’s hypotheses are rejected, but interesting relationships are discovered in post-hoc analysis.

Stepping Back from the Gate: Online Newspaper Editors and the Co-Production of Content in Campaign 2004 • Jane Singer, Iowa • In their coverage of the 2004 political campaign, editors of Web sites affiliated with major U.S. newspapers continued to emphasize the provision of credible information. But they moved toward seeing that information less as an end product and more as a basis for user engagement, participation, and personalization. This study suggests a way that journalists might preserve their gatekeeping role in our democracy while simultaneously accommodating the interactive nature of the Internet.

Use of Anonymous, Government and Other Types of Sources in Newspaper Investigative Stories • Miglena Sternadori, Missouri • The study content analyzed winning and non-winning newspaper articles entered in the annual contest of Investigative Reporters and Editors from 1995 to 2002. Sourcing patterns were compared, and — contrary to expectations based on normative prescriptions — winning stories used more anonymous sources than non-winners. The frequency of use of government-affiliated sources was about the same. Occasional granting of anonymity appears to continue to be an acceptable practice in investigative reporting, especially in stories on government wrongdoing.

The Right of Review: Signs of Growing Cooperation with Sources • Duane Stoltzfus, Goshen • In thirty years since James W. Tankard Jr. and Michael Ryan considered the accuracy of science coverage in newspapers and challenged the accepted wisdom about prepublication review, it would appear that journalists have moved closer to an approach favored by the two researchers. A survey of the top 50 newspapers in the country shows that the majority often give staff members significant freedom to negotiate prepublication review.

Slave Reparations Dismissed in the News: An Examination of Reparations Coverage in Daily U.S. Newspapers • Venise Wagner, San Francisco State • This study examines coverage of the issue of slave reparations in daily U.S. newspapers. Using content analysis of articles pulled from Jan. 1- Dec. 31, 2002, the study explored how print press treated the story, assessing placement of stories, length, story types, use of sources and the inclusion or exclusion of contextual elements that portray the history of slavery, the legacy of slavery and the economic outcomes of slavery.

The Internet’s Influence on Newspaper’s Agenda: A Content Analysis of News Coverage in the New York Times, 1999-2003 • Xiaopeng Wang and Ying Sun, Ohio • From the inter-media agenda setting perspective, the authors conducted a content analysis to examine the general picture of how online information affected traditional media’s agenda and whether newspapers treated the Internet as a reliable source. The authors found that political entities have utilized new information technology to maintain and promote their interest. In the newspaper newsrooms, the Internet was regarded as a new medium, but not a reliable news source.

The Dominance of Bearish News? Investigating the News Coverage Against the State of the Economy • Denis Wu and Anita Day, Louisiana State • This paper investigated the economic coverage of four local and two national media. Most economic news were found negative in nature. The local media are more likely than the national media to deliver a rosy picture of the economy. Government budget and company performances are two dominant topics, although local and national media differ on the angle used to report on the topics. The New York Times was found to reflect more closely the economy.

Neutral Reportage’ as a Libel Defense • Kyu Youm, Oregon • The “neutral reportage” doctrine immunizes the press from liability for republishing in a neutral manner “newsworthy” allegations made by any “responsible” speaker about public figures. The debate about the validity of neutral reportage as a constitutional libel defense continues, although it was first enunciated in 1977. On March 28, 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to rule on the validity of the neutral reportage doctrine. This paper reexamines the uniquely media-friendly libel defense.

Shaping Feelings: Newspaper Agenda Setting, Level 3: A Hypothesis • Jason Yu and Donald Shaw, North Carolina • We hypothesize that agenda setting exists at the level of affect, agenda setting, level 3. Using New York Times and Gallup Poll data, we found evidence that the affect associated with news messages is transferred to audiences. The study suggests that newspapers may suggest to readers how to feel about topics, a step beyond agenda setting, level 1 (objects), and agenda setting, level 2 (attribute framing).

The Framing of the 2004 Olympic Games in the U.S. Press • Thimios Zaharopoulos, Washburn U• This examines the framing of the 2004 Olympic Games as reflected in the coverage on the New York Times web site. It reinforces views about news media practices that emphasize conflict frames reflecting news values like balance and deviance; and economic consequences frames. However, frames Olympic organizers desired were hardly reflected in the coverage. Certain news frames are related to more contextual coverage, to more negative tone of coverage, and to shorter news coverage than others.

Similar Content, Different Packages: Covering the 9/11 Attack in U.S. and British Major Newspapers • Li Zeng, Arkansas State • This study examined the coverage of the “9/11” attack in U.S. and British major newspapers during the first week after the event. It found that the newspapers in the two countries portrayed the same event in different ways. British newspapers tended to provide more background information through features stories. In both story headlines and non-commentary stories, British newspapers were more likely to use a characterization word to describe the perpetrators than their U.S. counterparts.

<< 2005 Abstracts

Minorities and Communication Division

STUDENTS
The Effects of Social Identity on Perception of Racism in U.S. Print News Media • Omotayo Banjo, Michelle Early, Earlissa Grange, Penn State University • This study examines the relationship between social identity and perception of bias in crime news. We hypothesized that students who strongly identified with mainstream identity would be less likely to perceive bias; that there would be a significant difference among race for perception of bias; and that the individuals who strongly identified with Blacks will be more likely to perceive bias. We found significant effects of mainstream identity on perceptions of bias.

Black and White Racial Comparisons of TV Uses and Gratifications on Life Satisfaction • Bettye A. Grable, Louisiana State University • Television’s viewing influence on college students’ life satisfaction opinions was studied. The project sought to understand the uses and gratifications of television viewing related to life satisfaction opinions. Findings from this study indicted similar uses of television texts by blacks and whites. The hypothesis was significantly supported. Individuals seek information from television to improve their life satisfaction.

Hispanic Media Use: A Literature Review • Farhana Hibbert, Idaho State University • This paper examines peer-reviewed and published research about Hispanic media use. This review is exemplary of the literature available on the topic. First, the general statement of the problem is shared: What are the basic trends and developments in research on Hispanic media use? Then, a summary of the literature is presented. Finally, the literature is critically evaluated: strengths and limitations of the literature are identified, and suggestions for further study are proposed.

Light or Heavy? Idealized Body-Type Images in Women’s Magazines, and Their Effects on African-American Adolescent Females’ Self-Body Image • Rajah Maples-Wallace, University of Missouri • This study examines media effects on African-American females’ moods and self-body images. Forty-two African-American females were exposed to four fictitious magazine advertisements. Twenty-eight subjects were exposed to two ads that displayed extremely thin models, while 14 subjects were exposed to two ads that displayed extremely heavy models. Both groups’ mood scores and body self-esteem scores decreased after viewing the idealized images; however, body self-esteem scores for the women who saw the heavier models decreased more.

Good or Bad TV? Mediating Race and Racism on MTV’s The Real World • Ji Hoon Park, University of Pennsylvania • This study explores the democratic potential of reality TV shows through a textual and audience analysis of two episodes of The Real World Philadelphia. The findings suggest that The Real World Philadelphia served as an important cultural forum that offered an opportunity to witness an incident of racial profiling. Not only did white and nonwhite viewers alike sympathize with the victim, they all engaged in thinking of solutions for gaining a mutual understanding of the cast members who had different racial experiences.

Stalemate, Xenophobia and the Framing of the Immigration Debate • Brendan R. Watson, University of Missouri • Overall newspaper coverage of Hispanic immigration is balanced. However, the dominant conflict frame used to cover the issue may be contributing to the lack of progress towards meeting some of the objectives President George W. Bush laid out to overhaul the nation’s immigration laws in January 2004. An analysis of coverage since that time also reveals significant differences in how Hispanics and non-Hispanics report on immigration, both in regards to the frames they use and how they source their stories.

<< 2005 Abstracts

Media Management and Economics Division

Effects of Ownership Structure on the Financial Performance of Publicly-Traded Newspaper Companies • Soontae An, Hyun Seung Jin, and Todd Simon, Kansas State University • This study examined the effects of ownership structure on the financial performance of twelve publicly traded newspaper companies. Institutional ownership of shares, ownership concentration by major institutional investors, and insider ownership by managers were analyzed longitudinally to see effects on financial performance. The results showed that the level of institutional ownership in one year was negatively associated with the subsequent year’s profitability, as measured by return on equity and return on assets.

Stability and Strategy: Consequences of Clusters in the Radio Industry • Todd Chambers, Texas Tech University • The passage of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 led to the development of local radio clusters where one company could control five, six, seven or eight stations. This study examined issues of program diversity, market share stability and programming strategies within clusters. Using a random sample of 50 radio markets, measures for market share, ownership concentration and format diversity were compared between a time-period for 2000 and 2003/2004.

Content Development for the Third Screen: The Business and Strategy of Mobile Content and Applications in the United States • Sylvia Chan-Olmsted, University of Florida • Next to television sets and computer monitors, today’s mobile telephones offer a “third screen” that delivers information, entertainment, communication, and even transactional services to a growingly mobile society. Applying a value chain framework, the author examined the state of the mobile phone industry and assessed the strategies that established media firms have adopted in exploring this emerging platform. It was found that media conglomerates with strong brands have an advantage in this new content market.

Television Program Trade in East Asia • Jae Eun Chung, Indiana University • International flow of television programs has long been a one-way flow from U.S. East Asia, however, recently saw an increase in regional television program trade. Employing home market model, this paper explains the recent increase in the regional trade and concludes that the increased regional trade is attributable to the media liberalization and deregulation, the advancement of new multi-channel video delivery service system, such as cable and satellite television, and the cultural proximity within the region.

Microniche, Microdimension, Macrodollars: An Examination of Cable Sports Networks and Niche Resource Expansion • Amy Jo Coffey, University of Georgia • America can’t get enough cable sports networks. Far from being ESPN, the second wave of networks that emerged in the 1990s are “microniche” networks such as The Golf Channel, Outdoor Life Network, and Speed Channel. This paper explores the concept of resource expansion in the niche. The national advertising microdimension is compared with the number of networks in the niche over a tenyear period, revealing strong correlation and, moreover, resource expansion under competitive conditions.

Strength and Success in the Weekly Newspaper Industry: A theoretical Model of Ownership and Resource Partitioning • Rita Colistra, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill • This paper examines the weekly newspaper industry and explains some forces that have led to its success. Weekly newspaper ownership is examined to determine whether the trend toward concentration has moved to engulf the weekly industry. Aspects from Carroll’s resource partitioning model and findings from an earlier study are used to create a model explaining ownership trends of weeklies in differing markets. This model will be useful to researchers interested in newspaper ownership concentration.

A Proposed Measure of the Potential for Scope Economies in Communication Firms • John Dimmick, Ohio State University and Alan Albarran, University of North Texas • In the realm of media firms Bogart (1995, p. 51) defined synergy as “… the transfer of symbolic messages across media boundaries [which] permits a “synergy” that makes the whole larger and more profitable than the sum of its separate parts.” Synergy, then, is achieved by the use of the same or similar symbols in different media to create efficiencies and, thus, higher profits.

Where Do We Fit? What Do We Do? Occupational Role Dilemmas of Advertorialists Within a News Organization • Alyssa Eckman and Thomas R. Lindlof, University of Kentucky • This study examines the effect that working between two organizational spheres – advertising and news – has on newspaper advertorialists and the messages they produce. Qualitative methods, including ethnographic field study, are used to examine the occupational roles of advertorialists and relates those roles to changing meanings of news and advertising. A more complete set of terms and descriptions are offered to define advertorials and enhance understanding of the occupational roles and practices of newspaper advertorialists.

Developing Media Managers for Convergence • Holly Fisher, University of South Carolina • This paper looks at convergent journalism from a management perspective. It addresses accepted definitions of convergence and common media management theories, bringing them together to create directives for media managers who are creating converged newsrooms. The paper looks at how to physically structure the newsroom, developing newsroom roles, how to address newsroom cultural changes, communicating with and managing media employees, and the need for training at all levels needed for implementing convergence in a newsroom.

What Is Means to be the Editor: Top Newsroom Editors’ Management Styles and Attitudes about their Organizational Roles and Support • Peter Gade, University of Oklahoma • A survey of a probability sample of top editors at U.S. newspapers explored their attitudes toward several variables, including two organizational variables considered important to understanding organizational change — organizational integration and perceived organizational support. Responding editors indicated they perceive they are working in integrated organizations, and the level of integration is correlated with their perceived organizational support.

Metroplex Newspapers: A Different Kind of Organization • Steve Hallock, Ohio University • analysis of editorials in two metroplex markets — separately owned newspapers based in neighboring communities that compete for advertisers and readers—found measurable diversity of opinion. But these newspapers differed from directly competing newspapers in their relative lack of attention to local issues of shared interest by their different communities.

Determinants of Cable Program Diversity • Louisa Ha and Lisa Marshall, Bowling Green State University • This paper proposes a framework that examines the determinants of cable program diversity, which includes market competition, the gatekeeping effects of cable system operators, the vertical and horizontal integration of multiple cable system operators (MSOs) and cable networks, the financing of cable networks, and consumers’ demand and viewing habits of television programs. The study shows a 20-year diversity trend of cable networks with policy recommendations addressing these factors to achieve content diversity in cable.

Do Medium and Small Market Dailies Produce Abnormal Profits? • Stephen Lacy and Arvind Diddi, Michigan State University and Esther Thorson, University of Missouri • Data from 1,485 Inland Press Association dailies with less than 85,000 circulation from 1998 through 2002 indicated that most medium and small dailies made abnormal profits, with normal profits defined as the return on 30- year U.S. Treasury bonds. However, dailies under 25,000 circulation averaged about half the profit margin of dailies with 25,000 to 85,000 circulation, and each year, almost 20% of the small dailies actually lost money.

Confrontation or Conciliation? The Plight of Small Media Brands in a Zero-Sum Marketplace • Walter McDowell, University of Miami • Small media brands, operating in a highly competitive zero sum marketplace, reach inevitably a strategic crossroads in which they must decide on confrontation or conciliation with larger incumbent brands. Frontal assaults may foster the promise of market share growth but also provoke serious retaliation. Conversely, appeasement maneuvers may foster reassurance of market survival but also perpetuate economic stagnation.

Exploring the Relationship Between Commercial Pricing and Inventory Sellout Across TV Program Segments: A Case Study • Walter S. McDowell, University of Miami and Steven Dick, Southern Illinois University • Although most television stations already use a number of diagnostic tools to monitor the performance of their sales efforts, there is void in evaluating the relationship between average unit pricing and percent inventory sellout. Using one typical commercial television station as a case study, a correlation analysis of six months of proprietary sales data, representing nine distinct program segments revealed that this pricing/inventory relationship varied considerably across program segments.

Self Sufficiency or Market Transaction? Vertical Integration in the U.S. Television Syndication Market • Goro Oba and Sylvia Chan-Olmsted, University of Florida • This study explores the programming relationship between vertically integrated syndicators and their affiliated stations in the context of two theoretical frameworks associated with the advantages of vertical integration, the transaction cost and vertical foreclosure theories. The programming on stations vertically integrated with syndicators was assessed along with the destination of programming distributed by those syndicators. The results indicated that vertically integrated syndicators struck the right balance between self-sufficiency and the advantage derived from market transaction.

Managing News in a Managed Media: Mediating the Message in Malaysiakini.com • Augustine Pang, University of Missouri-Columbia • Widely regarded as a deviant web newspaper in Malaysia, Malaysiakini.com is proving that managing an independent media in a government-managed media landscape is more than a Sisyphean struggle. Using ethnography and interviews, this study seeks to understand media management through news management, using Shoemaker and Reese’s (1996) model. Findings show that despite its attempts to minimize governmental influences through media socialization, the greatest impediment to editorial freedom are pressures from extramedia forces, which act as a surrogate ideology.

Video On Demand: Pragmatics of the Holy Grail • Eun-A Park, Penn State University • Many market analysts have prospected that most of on-demand video delivery will be occupied by digital cable VOD outpacing the Internet or other options. Nevertheless, past predictions of when cable VOD would come to the mass market have never materialized. Ultimately, it can be argued that consumers would select a service for watching movies based on their juggling of time, money and utility regardless of the innovativeness of the service.

The effect of mulitmarket contacts on radio station revenue per listener • Heather Polinsky, Central Michigan University • This study investigates the effects of multimarket contacts between the top ten national radio station group owners in 2001. A positive correlation was found between multimarket contacts among the top ten radio station group owners and radio station revenue per thousand listeners, but no evidence of mutual forbearance between the top ten radio group owners was established. However, there is evidence that the top ten radio group owners have an impact on radio market competition.

The News-Sports Management Disconnect in Local Television • Brad Schultz, University of Mississippi and Mary Lou Sheffer, Louisiana State University • A theoretical framework of administrative behavior was applied to the management relationship between news and sports departments in local television. While such departments cooperated to a degree, there was a decided lack of communication on long-range issues such as strategy, audience and implementation. The resulting problems and issues of this management ‘disconnect’ had implications not only for sports, but also for the entire structure and management of local television news.

Digital Technologies and Media Management: Rough Waters Ahead • Dan Shaver, University of Central Florida • In the decades ahead, traditional media organizations will face a transformation in information creation, distribution, and consumption patterns more fundamental than any change since the printing press created the basis for mass communication. “Information” is used here in the broadest sense, including the full array of media content from entertainment to commercial information to news.

Laws of the Marketplace or a Market Culture? The Place of Markets in Explaining the Origins of Political Broadcasting Policy • Tim P. Vos, Seton Hall University • This paper explores how markets were invoked during the early legislative battles over political broadcasting policy. Two distinct logics of historical explanation are considered: 1) an explanation that conceptualizes markets as a real ontological force, i.e., as an extension of the laws of nature, and 2) an explanation that conceptualizes markets as a cultural force, i.e., as part of a market culture. The paper concludes that the historical record best supports a cultural explanation.

<< 2005 Abstracts

Mass Communication and Society Division

Missing the Market: Character Salience in Television Program Websites • James R. Angelini, Debbie P. C. Goh, Jason A. Rosow, Tyler Dodge, Wenchang Deng, Na Zhou and Susan Tyler Eastman, Indiana University, Bloomington • The television media promote primetime programs in ways that reflect different target markets. Analysis of the gender, ethnic, and age demographics of 1306 images of characters on the six broadcast networks’ 124 program websites showed close similarities between old and new media in gender and ethnicity stereotyping but not in age stereotyping. In addition, an index of character and program salience measured the relative prominence of characters by demographic type.

Cultivating Fear: The Effects Of Television News Public’s Fear Of Terrorism • Fernando Anton, Iowa State University • Based on cultivation theory, this study analyzes the relationship between television news exposure and the creation of fear in TV audiences. The results showed that heavy television news viewers are more scared of terrorism than light viewers. They also hold a larger number of erroneous beliefs about facts related to terrorist incidents and are more likely to change their behavior due to fear. Differences in cultivation levels among viewers of the six main national TV networks were also found.

Political Advertising and the Third Person Effect: Investigating the Behavioral Consequences of Negative Political Ads • Stephen Banning, Guy Golan, and Lisa Lundy, Louisiana State University • Political advertising has emerged as a key component of the modern presidential campaign. The current study examines the perceived influence of negative and biographical political advertisements on potential voters. A judgment task experiment of 340 individuals who were shown four ads from the 2004 Bush/Kerry campaigns provided some evidence as to the perceived effects of television presidential ads.

Cable Battleground: Analysis of Coverage for the 2004 Presidential Election on CNN and Fox News • Jacqueline Bates, Syracuse University • A content analysis was designed to explore cable shows’ stories on policy and campaign issues during the 2004 presidential election. Both CNN and Fox News were compared for airtime of policy and campaign issues as well as airtime devoted to the candidates. Through this research project, it was found that CNN and Fox News are highly similar in their coverage of policy issues and candidates, but they differ in the coverage of campaign issues.

Make Me Over: Third-Person Perception About Body Image and Endorsement of Plastic Surgery in Self and Others • Kimberly L. Bissell, University of Alabama and Ron Leone, Stonehill College • Research examining the social effects of mass media as it relates to body image distortion often considers some behavioral components, specifically excessive dieting, bingeing, and exercising, but little is known about the degree in which women turn to plastic surgery to correct or reshape their bodies. Using a survey of college women, participants were shown an image of a thin-ideal swimsuit model and asked to project how repeated exposure to images like the one viewed would affect themselves and others.

Who’s Got Game? Exposure to Entertainment and Sports Media and Social Physique Anxiety in Division I Female Athletes • Kimberly L. Bissell, and Katie Hines, University of Alabama • This study compared college female athletes’ exposure to two types of media, and looked for possible associations with social physique anxiety, an affective trait that could be present in women who have eating disorder tendencies. Our survey of Division I female athletes yielded very inconsistent patterns with regard to the type of media that is more likely to be related to higher levels of physique anxiety.

Managing Impressions of Ethnic Diversity: Is Diversity a Differentiation Tactic on Collegiate Home Pages? • Lori Boyer, Louisiana State University • This study is an empirical analysis of whether colleges and universities use ethnic diversity as a self-presentation tactic. The Web site home pages of a random sample of 40 academic institutions were examined for written and visual references that regarding students of African American, Hispanic or Asian backgrounds. Findings suggest ethnic diversity was more likely to be present in the photographs rather than in the text. Results are discussed from the self-presentation theoretical perspective.

Third-Person Effect and Censorship of Web Pornography • Li-jing Arthur Chang, Jackson State • The study, which surveyed 710 respondents in Singapore, found that third-person effect played a role in the support for the censorship of Web pornography. Other factors found to predict the support for the censorship measure include gender, age, and Internet use. In addition, the study also confirmed past empirical evidence about the link between third person effect and undesirable media content, and the association between third person effect and the social distance between self and others

Youth Perceptions of their School Violence Risks • John Chapin, Penn State University • In order to gauge youth perceptions of school violence, the study links two perceptual bias literatures: third-person perception and optimistic bias. The intersection of the two literatures may be especially beneficial in understanding how adolescents process and interpret mass media public health messages and subsequently engage in risk behaviors or self-protective behaviors in health contexts. Findings from a survey of 350 urban adolescents indicate shared predictors of third-person perception and optimistic bias (age, self-esteem) as well as differences (knowledge).

Attention, Perception, and Perceived Effects: Negative Political Advertising in a Battleground State of the 2004 Presidential Election • Hong Cheng and Dan Riffe, Ohio University • Based on a statewide telephone survey conducted two weeks prior to the November 2004 presidential election, this study probes Ohioans’ attention to and perception of the 2004 presidential election advertising, and their perception of effects of those negative political ads. Citizens in this “battleground” state had a very high level of awareness of the campaign and campaign advertising, and characterized the campaign advertising as more negative than in the past.

An Examination of Third Person Effect with Q Methodology: How Does My Ideal Body Image Differ from the Perceived Ideal Image of Others? • Yun Jung Choi and Jong Hyuk Lee, Syracuse University • The third person effect was examined with the Q methodology. Participants were asked to sort images of women to represent their ideal image and their perception of other’s ideal image. The third person effect was observed in the study. People’s their own ideal Q sort loaded on one factor while their Q sorts representing their perception of others’ ideal image loaded on another factor.

Risk Communication: The Importance of Source Diversity to Credible and Interesting Reporting • Raluca Cozma Louisiana State University • An experiment was conducted to explore the effects of government versus multiple sources on perceived credibility of and interest in risk stories. It also analyzed the effects of sources on participants’ assessment of government credibility and source reasonableness. The study investigated the effects of demographic characteristics of participants on the same variables, and tried to determine if there was any statistical correlation between credibility and interest. It also analyzed the effects of human-interest reports on credibility and interest.

Advertising Exposures and Message Types: Exploring the Perceived Effects of Soft-Money Political Ads • Frank Dardis, Heidi Hatfield Edwards, and Fuyuan Shen, Penn State University • This experimental study examined third-person effects of negative political attack advertising and its relationship with ad type (issue vs. character), exposure level and attitudes toward campaign finance reform. After being exposed to one, three, or five independently sponsored attack ads from the 2004 Presidential Election, subjects were found to overestimate the effects of negative political advertising on others vs. self.

Hyper-Masculinity as Political Strategy: George W. Bush, the “War on Terrorism,” and An Echoing Press • David Domke University of Washington • Scholars have demonstrated the centrality of masculinity as an ideology in the American presidency, but have devoted insufficient attention to the manner in which presidents use specific forms of masculinity in strategic ways to control the mass media environment and circumscribe public sentiment.

First-time Eligible Presidential Voters’ Perceptions of Politics, Patriotism, and Media • Jacqueline M. Eckstein, Miglena Daradanova, Peter J. Gade, University of Oklahoma • This Q-methodology analysis seeks to help explain the attitudes of a large and important group of the political electorate-first-time presidential voters. This cohort, also called Generation Y by scholars and social pundits (Klinger, 1999; Morton, 2001; Shepherdson, 2000), is the largest group of first-time presidential voters in U.S. history (Rosenberg, 2004).

Multilevel Models of the Impact of News Use and News Content Characteristics on Political Knowledge and Participation • William P. Eveland and Yung-I Liu Ohio State University • Studies indicate that election news has changed for the worse since the 1960s. But, little research has examined the impact of this “decline” in the quality of news on the effects of news use on positive outcomes such as political knowledge and participation. This study employs multilevel modeling to test the hypothesis that news media effects vary over time as a function of news media content. The data provide little support for this hypothesis.

Rationalizing War A Path Analysis Model of Agenda Building • Shahira Fahmy, Southern Illinois University, Juyan Zhang, Monmouth University and Wayne Wanta, Missouri School of Journalism • This agenda-building study employed a path analysis model to examine the three-way relationship among the president, the media and the public on the Iraq War issue during the Bush administration. Findings suggest President Bush reacted to public opinion by emphasizing the five most important rationales for war: War on terror; Prevention of the proliferation of V/MD; Lack of inspections; Removal of the Saddam regime; Saddam is evil.

Show the Truth and let Al Jazeera Audience Decide Support for Use of Graphic Imagery Among Al Jazeera Viewers • Shahira Fahmy and Thomas J. Johnson, Southern Illinois University • This survey examines Al Jazeera viewers’ perceptions of the network’s presentation of graphic and war-related visuals and whether viewers perceive the network provides visual information they cannot find in national Arab media and CNN. Nearly nine in ten supported the use of graphic imagery, saying watching those visuals was a good decision for them and that Al Jazeera provides a unique source of visual information. Further, media reliance, press freedom and political interest predicted support for use of graphic imagery.

News (Un)Scripted: An Analysis of Support and Blame in The Wake Of Two Shooting Deaths • Vincent F. Filak and Robert S. Pritchard, Ball State University • Using Gilliam et al’s (2000) theoretical framework of crime news as script, this case study examined the response postings (n=389) left on a newspaper’s website regarding two fatal shootings. An analysis of the postings found differences in placement of blame and support based on whether the incident followed standard script patterns. Postings regarding a shooting that fit the script were more likely to attribute blame to the assailants as individuals and offer sympathy to the victim’s family.

An Empirical Investigation of the Relationships Among Fear and Efficacy of Breast Cancer, Media Use, and Knowledge About Breast Cancer Prevention in Caucasian and African American Women • Kenneth Fleming and Cynthia Frisby, University of Missouri-Columbia • This study examines the relationships among attitudes toward breast cancer, knowledge about the disease, religious beliefs, and use of various news media channels in Caucasian (n=240) and African American (n=206) women randomly selected in eleven metropolitan areas in the U.S. Results show that magazines were negatively related to fear of breast cancer, and radio was positively related to efficacy of the disease for African American women. Use of the Internet was a predictor of efficacy for Caucasian women.

Media, Civics & Social Capital in a Hispanic Community: The Case of Santa Ana, California • Dennis Foley and Tony Rimmer, California State University • This study explores relationships between community activity and media use among Hispanics with data from a 2002 survey in Santa Ana, California (N=209). Survey questions were adapted from a Robert Putnam 2000 national benchmark survey from which Putnam developed his notions of social capital. Community activity and media use were both low and positively related. Education was the only factor to show positive correlations with both community activity and media use. Cultural dimensions, including language, were also expected to reveal influences. They did, but with minimal effect. The implications of the findings in this unique community raise concerns about the possibility of building “social capital” — the norms of reciprocity and trust necessary for community life.

“Always a Bridesmaid and Never a Bride:” Portrayals of Women of Color as Brides in Bridal Magazines • Cynthia M. Frisby, University of Missouri-Columbia • Bridal advertisements from 2000-2004 were content analyzed as an extension of a study reported in a book titled White Weddings that assessed the portrayals of African American women as brides in bridal magazines from 1959 – 1999. Data obtained show that the proportion of Caucasian women as brides was greater than the number of ads featuring Black women as brides. Significant differences were also found on the ethnicity of the model used on the cover of magazines.

Political Correlates of Daytime Talk Show Viewing • Carroll J. Glynn Ohio State University, Bruce W. Hardy and James Shanahan, Cornell University • This study examined the influence of daytime talk shows on opinion formation, from a cultivation perspective. Specifically, we examined how exposure to daytime talk shows and the extent that these shows are perceived as real are related to support for government involvement in family issues. Not only did we find that both exposure and perceptions were positively related to levels of support, we found a mainstreaming effect toward a liberal position.

Political Knowledge, Civic Engagement, and Media Use Across Election Campaigns • Robert Kirby Goidel and David D. Kurpus, Louisiana State University • Understanding the role of the media in informing and engaging the public in democratic political processes has been at the core of empirically based mass communication research. Yet, despite a considerable body of literature, we know surprisingly little about how patterns of media use differ across elections (presidential, senate, and mayoral) within a single election season, and media use translates into civic engagement.

Second Level Agenda Setting and Political Advertising: Investigating the transfer of issue and attribute saliency during the 2004 U.S. presidential election • Guy Golan, Louisiana State University and Spiro K. Kiousis, University of Florida and Misti L McDaniel, Louisiana State University • The current study examines the agenda setting function of televised political advertisements during the 2004 U.s. presidential election. Adding to the growing research on second level agenda setting, we examined how the advertising agendas of the Bush and Kerry campaigns may have impacted public evaluations of the two candidates. Our results provide support for the agenda setting hypothesis as well as mixed support for the second level hypothesis.

Framing Private Lynch: Establishment and Tenacity of the Hero Frame During War • Josh Grimm University of Texas-Austin • Following the rescue of Jessica Lynch, a soldier captured during the invasion of Iraq, media outlets incorrectly sensationalized events surrounding her capture, imprisonment, and rescue. Using Lule’s components of a hero, newspaper articles and news transcripts were analyzed for these attributes, and a Web forum was studied to gauge reaction. A hero frame was present in the press and, for at least a portion of the population, the frame was a stubborn one.

Coverage of Illusion: Framing the Pre-Iraq War Debate • Jacob Groshek, Indiana University • This study examined how two leading news outlets framed the pre-Iraq War debate. Not only was opposition seldom framed in a substantive manner, neutral and supportive coverage were also rarely framed substantively. These findings suggest that the public was given little basis for participating in policy deliberation and that the media made more effort to illustrate how the policy was going to be implemented, rather than why it should (or should not) be implemented.

Have the Cows Gone Mad: Are They Sick, Down, or Diseased? A Content Analysis of Newspaper Articles Discussing the First U.S. Mad Cow Outbreak • Michel M Haigh, Michael Bruce and Elizabeth Craig, University of Oklahoma • This study examines the media’s portrayal of the mad cow disease outbreak of 2003. It specifically examines whether the newspaper coverage of the news event differed between the east/west coasts and the Midwest. The differences examined include: tone, framing (episodic, thematic, economic, health, treatment, or causal), affect, and source credibility. Results indicate a variety of differences in tone, framing, emotion, and source credibility between the east/west coasts versus the Midwest newspapers coverage.

How Activists Persuade; Examining Differences in Message Factors in the Abortion Debate • Abby Gail Hendren, University of Florida • With the trend toward examining persuasion effects from a consumer-marketing perspective, the heated public debate about abortion provides opportunities to examine the precursor to effects, the message itself, within the context of a controversial issue. Through content analysis of NARAL and NRLC ‘5 press releases, significant differences in the persuasive message factors employed by the groups were found. Additionally, differences emerged between the groups’ discussion of abortion decision-making, and the specific issues addressed by each group.

The Perception of Freedom of the Press in the Eyes of the Media: A Comparative, International Analysis of 242 Ethical Codes • Itai Himelboim, University of Minnesota and Yehiel (Hilik) Limor, Sapir College • This study explores perceptions of freedom of the press of those who practice it: journalists and media organizations. References to freedom of the press in codes of ethic worldwide were analyzed based on characteristics of organizations and the political-economic status of countries. Findings show that journalists express concerns regarding their freedoms, regardless the level of freedom of the press in the country. In developing countries, codes show concerns primarily about the most fundamental freedoms.

Effects of Positive vs. Negative Self-Efficacy Statements in Humorous Anti-Alcohol Abuse Ads • Myiah Hutchens Hively, Moon J. Lee, and Yi-Chun “Yvonnes” Chen, Washington State University • This study investigated the effects of self-efficacy statements in different types (positive vs. negative) of taglines in humorous anti-alcohol abuse advertisements based on individuals’ sensation seeking tendency. An experiment was conducted with 114 college students. Results indicate that positively reinforced messages consistently demonstrated better results than the negatively reinforced advertisements; however, results were mixed for the effects of self-efficacy statements. Implications, limitations and directions for future research are discussed.

Sin, Wrath, and Death Ritual Interrupted: Press Coverage of the Tri-State Crematory Scandal • Janice Hume, University of Georgia • Abstract not available.

Embeds’ Perceptions of Censorship: Can You Criticize a Soldier Then Have Breakfast with him the Next Morning? • Thomas J. Johnson and Shahira Fahmy • Southern Illinois University • This study examines a survey of embedded journalists worldwide to explore their opinions about freedom of the press and the degree to which they believe their reports were censored during the Iraq War. Our findings suggest most journalists took a social responsibility approach to freedom of press during the Iraq War, saying the needs of the media and military need to be balanced. Embeds reported that they experienced little censorship in Iraq and said they did not self-censor their stories.

Web Site Story: An Exploratory Study of Why Weblog Users Say They Use Weblogs • Barbara K. Kaye, University of Tennessee • This paper examines the uses and motivations for accessing Weblogs. Rather than relying on motivations from pre-existing scales measuring traditional media or Internet use that need to be adapted for weblogs, this study asked respondents in an open-ended format for reasons why they connect to weblogs.

Motivations for Online News Sites: Uses and gratifications of online news sites for political information • Daekyung Kim and Thomas J. Johnson, Southern Illinois University Carbondale • This online study examined the motivations for why politically interested Internet users during the 2004 presidential campaign were using mainstream news sites, independent Web-based news sites, and Weblogs, and attempted to discover which factor predict motivations for using the news Web sites. Convenience/information seeking appeared as the strongest motivations for using news Web sites. The findings also indicate that each of the news Web sites satisfies different needs.

A balancing act: Predicting support for requiring Internet filters in public libraries and schools • Jennifer L. Lambe, Mynah S. Lipke & Elizabeth M. Perse, University of Delaware • Although the First Amendment seems absolute, it is balanced with other important interests. Protecting children from Internet pornography has been a struggle for Congress. The Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) requires public libraries and schools to place filters on computers with Internet access to receive funding for new technologies. This study examines variables predicting public attitudes about such filters. News framing, internet pornography use and liberal-conservative self-ranking are among the statistically significant predictors.

Here and There around the World: Proximity and Scope as News Values • Jong Hyuk Lee, Gang (Kevin) Han, Pamela J, Shoemaker, Syracuse University and Akiba A. Cohen, Tel Aviv University, Israel • Based on the data of What’s News, a cross-national news definition project, this study introduces the concept of scope to enrich the dimensions of proximity, as a news value and examines the extent to which news items exhibit these two as well as how they may be related. Other two news values, deviance and social significance are also discussed regarding their interaction with both proximity and scope.

Rethinking Voter Rationality: Presidential Debates and Voter-candidate Issue Alignment • Nam-Jin Lee, Christopher C. Long, Seungmin Shin, Seung-Hyun Lee, and Dhavan V. Shah, University of Wisconsin-Madison. • Research on presidential debate has proposed several conflicting mechanisms leading to issue alignment-a process in which voters bring their issue positions and candidate choice into alignment, with varying implications for voter rationality.

Party affiliation, political ad perceptions and political involvement: Evidence from the 2004 Presidential campaign • Sangki Lee and Fuyuan Shen, Penn State University • This research used a data from a survey during the 2004 presidential campaigns found that party affiliation was a significant factor in how individuals perceived the negativity and truthfulness of political ads. Specifically we found that people respond to negative political ads in accordance with their partisanship. Furthermore, it was found that party affiliation has significant effects on how negative perceptions of ads influence political involvement. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings will be addressed.

Advanced Learning and Online News: A Test of Cognitive Flexibility Theory • Wilson Lowrey and Kyun Soo Kim • University of Alabama • This study employs cognitive flexibility theory (CFT) from the field of education psychology to test learning effects from varying online story formats. According to CFT, when case examples from a knowledge area are interwoven with conceptual perspectives, learning should be more easily applied across diverse settings. Experiment findings revealed significant interaction effects with degree of prior Web use and degree of prior knowledge of story content, but a weak main effect from varying story format.

Awakening the Civic Parent: The School and Family in Political Socialization • Michael McDevitt, University of Colorado at Boulder and Spiro Kiousis, University of Florida • This paper explores whether schools-through the prompting of student-parent conversation-can awaken the civic parent of an adult, a role identity that might otherwise remain dormant. Results validate a theoretical model in which a school intervention engenders political involvement directly, but also indirectly through the long-term cultivation of civic parenting. Results are derived from a field study of Kids Voting USA as taught to high school students and parents in Arizona, Colorado, and Florida.

Evidence of Media Saturation Among a Group of 10th Graders in Beijing • Jay Newell and Ma Qing, Iowa State University • A foundational assumption of post-modem thought is that societies worldwide are awash in mass media. However, the suppositions of media saturation have yet to be defined or tested. For this research, indicators of electronic media saturation were considered to be the ubiquity of electronic media devices, the proximity of devices to their users, and the constancy of media device use.

Perceptions of Seafood/Fish Safety and Media Effects in China • Lan Ni, University of Maryland • Using qualitative interviewing, this study examined how people in China perceive the safety of seafood and fish and how the media play a role in the communication of such risk. Consistent with the western risk literature, the findings basically confirmed the importance of personal relevance in risk perception and the necessity of multiple level efforts or a “holistic approach” in risk reduction. The unique finding about risk information overload demands further research on risk prioritization.

Mass Media, Religion, and Support for Civil Liberties: The Case of Muslim Americans • Erik C. Nisbet, James Shanahan, and Ronald Ostman, Cornell University • This paper examines associations between mass media use and individual predispositions, such as ideology and Christian religiosity, with public support for restrictions on Muslim American civil liberties. Using a national survey conducted in November 2004, we demonstrate how attention to TV news regarding the War on Terrorism and religiosity are both associated with increased support for restrictions.

Middletown Media Studies: A Comparison of Concurrent Media Exposure across Three Research Methods • Robert A. Papper, Michael E. Holmes, Mark N. Popovich and Michael Bloxham, Ball State University • Concurrent media exposure (CME) is an emerging concern in audience research for media professionals and scholars. We apply three methods–telephone survey, media diary, and observation–to reveal features of CME such as its frequency and duration in a typical media user’s day and patterns of concurrent media pairings. Results reveal differences in the profile of CME across research methods and underscore the roles of television as a “universal presence” and telephone as a “universal priority” in shaping patterns of CME.

The Differential Effects of Entertainment Television on College Women’s Satisfaction in Weight and Self-Esteem: The Moderating Role of Body Mass Index and Perceived Importance of Physical Appearance • Jm Seong Park, and Michael F. Weigold, University of Florida • The present study investigated how women’s body mass index (BIVH) and perceived importance of physical appearance moderate the relationship between entertainment media use variables, including both passive exposure to entertainment programming and active use of entertainment referents, and body-image dissatisfaction and self-esteem. Based on a survey with 198 female undergraduates, the study found that importance of physical appearance moderated the comparison to self-esteem link, while BMI moderated the exposure to body image dissatisfaction link.

Ideology and Source Credibility: Partisan Perception Bias in Believability of CNN, Fox News and PBS • Zengjun Peng, University of Missouri • This paper examines the relationship between partisan ideology and perception of source believability within the framework of hostile media effect. Results show that partisan ideology significantly influenced people’s perceived believability of three news outlets of CNN, Fox News and PBS (News Hour with Jim Lehrer). Liberals are more likely to rate CNN as believable while conservatives tend to endorse Fox News. Partisan ideology, however, does not make a difference in the evaluation of PBS.

Individual Differences in Perceptions of Internet Communication • Jochen Peter & Patti M. Valkenburg, University of Amsterdam • Drawing on a survey among 687 adolescents, we investigated (a) to what extent their perceptions of Internet communication differ and (b) which background variables (i.e., age, gender, social anxiety, loneliness, need for affiliation) underlie these differences. We focused on how adolescents perceive the controllability, reciprocity, breadth, and depth of Internet communication in comparison with face-to-face communication.

Advertising evaluations and perceived media importance in political decision making • Bruce E. Pinideton, David Cuillier, Yi-Chun “Yvonnes” Chen, Rebecca Van de Vord, Myiah Hutchens Hively, Erica Austin and Ming Wang • Washington State University • Scholars often blame the news media and negative campaign commercials for increasing citizens’ apathy and disinterest in politics. This study examined the relationships among people’s perception of media and advertising, and their political apathy, complacency, efficacy, and involvement through a telephone survey of randomly selected voters in Washington state. Results indicate that perceptions of advertising usefulness positively associated with apathy and the perceived importance of political advertising as a source of election information associated with complacency.

Social capital and mass media effects: A reexamination of the relationship between social capital and newspaper, television and Internet use • Maria Raicheva-Stover, Washburn University • It is a central argument in this study that communication carries wide implications for social capital, yet this link has not been examined in sufficient depth. On the basis of existing literature, this study conceptualizes social capital as consisting of two complementary categories – structural and cognitive. Furthermore, the study uses improved measures of newspaper, television and Internet use to predict the two types of social capital.

The making of the 2004 U.S. President: A Matter of Ethnic Differences, Faith or Political Identification? • Raiza A. Rehkoff, Georgia State University • During election years, religion and politics have to be seen not as separate but interrelated factors, especially when parties politicize issues at the intersection of religion and politics like gay marriages, abortion, Iraqi invasion and death penalty. Building on social identity theory, this study examines religious, political identities and news media exposure as predictors for presidential voting intentions and attitudes toward politicized issues among African American and non-African American new voters during the 2004 presidential election.

Television and Political Alienation in Japan: Lazarsfeld and Merton’s Narcotizing Dysfunction Revisited • Shinichi Saito, Tokyo Woman’s Christian University • Expanding on Lazarsfeld and Merton’s (1948) narcotizing dysfunction, this study examined whether viewing television cultivates political alienation. Data from a survey conducted in Tokyo revealed that frequent viewers were more likely to be politically apathetic and feel politically inefficacious. Among viewers who did not watch the news on public television, television viewing was also related to cynicism. We examined the implications of our findings and provide some directions for future research.

First-Person Shooters and Third-Person Effects: Early Adolescents’ Perceptions of Video Game Influence • Erica Scharrer and Ron Leone • Perceptions of the potential for negative influence from six specific video games that varied in rating (from E for Everyone to M for Mature) were measured in a sample of 118 sixth and seventh graders. Results support a third-person perceptual gap that grew as the rating of the game became more restrictive. The presence of parental rules about video games was a positive predictor of perceptions of influence on self and others.

‘We’ll Never Save Enough’: the Effect of Media Use on Prospective, Retrospective, Sociotropic, and Pocketbook Economic Attitudes • Rosanne Scholl, University of Wisconsin-Madison • This study examines the relationship between media exposure and perceptions of personal and sociotropic economic vitality. Using multi-wave panel data from the DDB-Needham Lifestyle Survey, this study shows that media exposure is associated with greater optimism about the current state of the national economy, but greater pessimism of “pocketbook” judgments about one’s own current economic situation. Media use was not related to prospective judgments about future personal and societal economic health.

Television Consumption and Gender Role Attitudes in Late Adolescent Males • Jay Senter, University of Kansas • Using the cognitive information-processing model and cultivation theory as a basis, this study examined the potential connection between late adolescent males’ television consumption and their attitudes about masculinity. Participants kept track of their television viewing for a week and then responded to an attitudes questionnaire. The data yielded a correlation between the amount of sexual content the participants consumed and the likelihood that they accepted stereotypical portrayals of masculinity as normative.

Communication, Consumption, Contentment, and Community: A Non-Recursive Model of Civic Participation and the “Pursuit of Happiness” • Dhavan V. Shah, University of Wisconsin-Madison, R. Lance Holbert, University of Delaware, Lucy Atkinson, Eunkyung Kim and Sun-Young Lee, University of Wisconsin • Theories of social capital and civic culture suggest that life satisfaction has a positive and, perhaps, reciprocal set of influences on engagement in cooperative activities. However, as Coleman and Galbraith assert, contentment, especially stemming from economic affluence and compensatory consumption, may diminish inter-reliance, weaken the strength of social ties and ultimately reduce civic volunteerism.

The Rise of Network Public Opinion as a Social and Political Force in China • Zixue Tai, Southern Illinois University – Edwardsville • This paper examines the role of the Internet in creating a brand-new social platform where Chinese citizens can debate hot issues of the day. It demonstrates through recent cases that since public opinion on sensitive issues may not be readily available elsewhere due to official sanction and control, popular sentiments as expressed in online forums, chatrooms and BBS often serve as a barometer for politicians, government functionaries and lawmakers to gauge public opinion.

Community Newspapers as Members of the Local Growth Coalition: Framing Discourse Surrounding Community Initiatives • Michael L. Thurwanger, Bradley University •This study analyzed news and editorial coverage by newspapers serving Illinois communities seeking selection as prison sites. Analysis of frames and their sponsors support the existence of an effective alliance within these rural communities fitting the local growth coalition model proposed by Logan and Molotch (1987). Consistent with that model, the study provided strong evidence of membership and participation by the newspapers in those local growth coalitions and advancement of their economic growth agendas.

Democratic Consequences of Hostile Media Perceptions: The Case of Gaza Settlers • Yariv Tsfati and Jonathan Cohen, University of Haifa • In this paper, we examine the consequences of the hostile media phenomenon and advance the argument that people’s perceptions of hostile coverage shape their trust in mainstream media institutions. Media trust in turn affects trust in democracy and willingness to accept democratic decisions.

Communication Channels and Agenda Diversity: The Impact of “Display” and “Research” Sources on the Public Agenda • Ester DeWaal and Klaus Schoenbach, University of Amsterdam • As display channels, television, print newspapers, radio and magazines offer pre-selected and pre-ordered information about topics of the public sphere. “Research” channels, such as online news sites, online newspapers and videotex, allow, but also require more autonomy from their users. Consequently, overlooking topics one is not interested in should be easier. So, display channels should contribute to more diversity of the perceived public agenda.

Explaining Charitable Giving During Times of Crises: An Exploration of Two Psychological Paradigms • Richard D. Waters, and Jennifer Lemanski, University of Florida • A survey of two Red Cross chapters’ donors revealed that donors to the December 2004 tsunami relief efforts were more likely to experience feelings of cognitive dissonance than non-donors and their donations resulted in a consonance restoration. Testing the mere exposure theory, it was found that increased exposure to news concerning the tsunami did not correlate to increased donations. This study found support for Festinger’s hypothesis that individuals avoid situations that increase feelings of dissonance.

Nationalism as a McLuhanite Message in the Online Sphere • Xu Wu, University of Florida • Forty years ago, Canadian social scientist Marshall McLuhan first declared that “the medium is the message.” What kind of message has the online medium brought to the cyber world and to the real world? Is there any room or time left for the continual existence of nationalism? Moreover, what nationalists can do and have been doing in utilizing the online technology to promote their causes? Relevant literature and cases were reviewed and analyzed in answering these questions.

Zooming in on American Civic Life: Modeling Social Capital from Internet Dependency Relations and Internet Current Affairs News Consumption • Jin Yang, University of Memphis And Jyotika Ramaprasad, Southern Illinois University • Focusing on social capital from Internet dependency relations (IDR) and Internet current affairs news consumption perspectives, the study explored the role of the Internet in American civic life and its contributions to social capital resources, using structural equation modeling. It found complex relationships among IDR, Internet current affairs news consumption, and social capital.

A Meta-analysis of Coping Strategies for Reducing Children’s Media-Induced Fright • Yinjiao Ye, University of Alabama • This investigation meta-analyzed the effect of coping strategies on reducing children’s media-induced fright reactions. Results confirmed the estimation in the literature that for children approximately from 7- to 11-year-old, cognitive strategies worked better than non-cognitive strategies and had a moderate effect (r = -.34) in reducing their media-induced fear. For children approximately younger than 7-year-old, results suggested although non-cognitive strategies tended to be more effective than cognitive strategies did, no significant difference existed between these two types of coping strategies.

Web Repertoires and Audience Concentration • Jungsu Yim, Seoul Women’s University • This study focuses on presenting the evidence of an association between Web repertoires and audience concentration that has been hypothetically suggested in some past studies. The result is that Web repertoires formed in an individual respondent level lead to audience concentration in an aggregate level. The result implies that television audiences in the multi-item media environment will face the similar environment to the Web.

Nationalistic Ambiguity in the Shadow of Occupation: Newspaper Opinion Pages as Meaning-Makers about Post-War Iraq • Mervat Youssef, Amani Ismail and Dan Berkowitz, University of Iowa • In times of nationalistic ambiguity, media discourses function as a forum for casting diverse voices that negotiate meaning about developing events. The manifestation of this process is explored through two moments that generated such ambiguity within the American community: The Abu Ghraib prison abuse and the Nick Berg beheading in 2004. Findings suggest that mediated opinion discourses often serve as a mechanism which facilitates the maintenance of community cohesion around shared values through group differentiation.

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Magazine Division

Publishers Choice: The Influence of Publishers and Advertisers on Agri-Business Magazines • Stephen A. Banning, Louisiana State University and James F. Evans, University of Illinois • This study focuses upon the health, vigor and credibility of a complex information system in which the U.S. food enterprise and society in general have an important stake. Authors employed a contractualist model in which power requires mutual agreement by all parties. Through qualitative research methods, the study reported here examined related views among a sample of agricultural publishers and advertisers.

West versus East in Egyptian Teen Magazines: A Content Analysis of Teen Stuff Al Shabab and Kelmetna • Ralph D. Berenger and Dalia El Nimr, American University in Cairo • This study examines three teen magazines in Egypt: what topics they cover and what they don’t cover to better understand the effect they publications have on young readers. Through content analysis and content evaluation, this paper finds celebrities and romance dominates the publications. The paper also explores the publications’ similarities and differences, and offers some suggestions on how they can be improved to help young people better understand the world around them.

Representation of Gender and Race in Images of Information Technology in Magazines Popular with Middle School Students • Joseph Bernt, Phyllis Bernt, Ohio University and Tomoko Kanayama, Keio University • Middle school students use media 8 hours a day, including magazines; during these middle school years, girls and minorities are most likely to discontinue studies in science. Content analysis of 4,210 editorial and 840 advertising images of people in favorite magazines of middle school students found 86 editorial and 339 advertising images were associated with IT. Most editorial images were of entertainment devices and advertising images were of videogames.

General Interest Magazine Language Preference among Hispanics • Anthony Galvez, Texas Tech University • For this study, 217 Hispanic respondents read articles in Spanish, English and a mix of English with Spanish and asked to identify their affinity toward the articles, ability to understand the articles, and the article’s perceived news value. Data analysis revealed Hispanics preferred articles written in English and a mix of English and Spanish to those written in Spanish alone. No relationship was found between level of acculturation and language presentation style preference.

Outsourcing and the Class Divide: The Framing of an Economic and Social Issue in Fortune and Time • Josh Mound, Ohio University • In recent years, offshore outsourcing has become a controversial issue. As various interested parties have attempted to shape, spin, and slant coverage of the issue, media outlets have selectively emphasized certain facets of the issue when presenting it to their respective target audiences. By studying the framing of outsourcing in Fortune and Time, this study examines the relationship between the demographic characteristics of a magazine’s target audience and how that magazine frames the issue of outsourcing.

Framing the Enemy Following September 11 • Jeff Patterson, University of Texas at Austin • The news media’s rush to explain terrorist motivations in the weeks after September 11, 2001 led to thematic frames of traditional depictions of enemies (i.e., as barbaric; criminal; antidemocratic; evil; beast/inhuman; as death). Given critics’ concerns of news media coverage being overly simplistic in portraying the Middle East and Islam, the paper raises concerns about the news media’s in creating sufficient images by which rational choices are made/justified in the in the first weeks of the new war on terror.

Affluent Consumer Magazines: A Pilot Study Using the Theory of Niche to Explain Advertiser Spending • Lindsay S. Phillips, Iowa State • This study examined the extent to which the theory of the niche could be applied to competing lifestyle consumer magazine categories. This was determined by the ability to develop levels of niche breadth and niche overlap for competing magazine. A content analysis was conducted measuring the number of automobile advertisements included in each magazine. Findings suggested that the data collected were inconsistent with the theory of the niche.

Food frames: The Coverage of Food by News Magazines, 1995-2004 • Joan E. Price, Ohio University • This content analysis examines news magazine articles on food-related topics for trends in topic coverage, framing and source use, from 1995 through 2004. Findings indicate that the food industry dominated coverage, as the most frequently covered topic category and in the most commonly invoked frame, that of interest group liberalism. Sources from the food industry were also the most frequently cited and the most prominently featured source type.

Representing Texas and Texans: The Content and Editorial Process of Texas Monthly Magazine • Susan Currie Sivek, Texas at Austin • This study of Texas Monthly uses content analysis and in-depth interviews to understand the nature of the magazine and its editorial process. The content analysis reveals the magazine’s narrow definition of “Texas,” regarding gender, racial/ethnic diversity, and individuals’ occupations. The nature of magazine management and the socialization of editorial staff contribute to this portrayal. The potential for attribute agenda-setting studies of cultural images is discussed as a new use for the theory.

Teaching Standards in Feature and Magazine Writing Classes • David E. Sumner, Ball State University • This study sought to determine the most common problems seen by professors in feature and magazine writing assignments. Based on 134 respondents, the most common problems are 1) Not reading widely enough to distinguish between original and unoriginal ideas; 2) Choosing an angle that’s too broad and poorly focused; and 3) Writing articles that do too much ‘telling’ and not enough ‘showing.” The results display significantly high correlation by gender, terminal degree, and tenure status comparisons.

Entertainment and Music Magazine Reading and Binge Drinking Among a Group of Juvenile Offenders • Steven R. Thomsen, Brigham Young University and Dag Rekve, World Health Organization • This study examines the influence of exposure to entertainment and music magazines on binge drinking among a group of 342 juvenile offenders (ages 12-18) currently under court supervision. Results of a multivariate logistic regression analysis to predict whether our subjects typically consumed five or more drinks during a drinking episode indicate that perceived ease of access, age, gender, the number of best friends who drink, and entertainment/music magazine reading frequency were significant predictors of binge drinking.

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