Archives for January 2012

Media Ethics Division

The Virtuous Advocate versus The Pathological Partisan: A Model of Opposing Archetypes of Public Relations and Advertising Practitioners (A Virtue Ethics Approach to Applied Ethics for Public Relations and Advertising Practitioners) • Sherry Baker, Brigham Young University • Drawing upon contemporary virtue ethics theory (including care, dependency, humility, humane concern, v-rules, and narrative unity) a graphic model of diametrically opposed archetypes of public relations and advertising practitioners is developed. Profiles of the Virtuous Advocate (representing advocacy virtues) and the Pathological Partisan (representing opposing vices) are introduced. One becomes a Virtuous Advocate or Pathological Partisan by habitually enacting the virtues or vices in the context of practices. Includes suggestions for further virtue ethics research.

A Theory of Journalism • Sandra L. Borden, Western Michigan University • This paper attempts to define journalism by sketching a theory that links the purpose and product of journalism in a meaningful way. Relying on a communitarian account of participatory citizenship and Code’s (1987) notion of epistemic responsibility, this theory proposes that journalism’s purpose is to help citizens know well in the public sphere.

Separating rumors from news but not entirely from journalism • Karen Boyajy and Lee Wilkins, University of Missouri • This study is the first to examine how journalists evaluate rumors. Respondents connected investigating and reporting on rumors with issues of craft—particularly standards of verification—and with truth telling. However, rumors about celebrities were ranked first in terms of stories that need investigation, surpassing topics such as the private lives of public figures and bomb threats. Respondents generally supported debunking rumors but not educating audiences as important journalistic roles.

Propaganda Analysis: A Case Study Of The U.S. Department Of Education’s Minority Outreach Campaign Promoting The No Child Left Behind Act • Bonnie Ann Cain, Oklahoma State University • This study provides a comprehensive examination of the Department of Education’s controversial promotion of No Child Left Behind by employing Jowett and O’Donnell’s 10-point propaganda framework. Arguments that the campaign is propaganda are supported by the campaign’s fit with expectations of propaganda. This case study provides a backdrop for discussion of PR’s role in promoting policy and emerging guidelines for future government PR contracts.

Walking the (Border) Line: Press Coverage of Activist Groups on the Arizona/Mexico Border • Cari Lee Skogberg Eastman, University of Colorado • A battle over migration is brewing in the Arizona desert as advocates of opposing approaches to border policy reform vie for media publicity of their ideals. Through content analysis and correspondence with journalists, this study examines the representation of three activist groups in Arizona’s two largest newspapers, and argues that a civic journalism – through its deep involvement with the community – naturally includes a wider, more equitable representation of voices than traditional utilitarian newsroom approaches.

Political Consulting: The Rise of Professionalism, The Question of Ethics • Michelle Honald, University of Oregon • Content analysis concerning the nature of ethical discussion in political consulting was conducted on a total of 1066 articles from two scholarly journals and one professional trade publication during the period 1995-2005. Of the 1006 articles, 32 mentioned ethics in some substantive way. The articles were further divided into four categories: normative appeals; mention of a code of ethics; discussion of meta-ethical issues; and relation of ethics to academic theory.

Anonymous sources and readership credibility: A qualitative investigation of the barriers to newspaper believability • Tom Hrach and Stephen Siff, Ohio University • Media professionals have reacted to recent declines in media credibility by calling for a reduction of the number of anonymous sources used in news articles. Despite journalists’ belief that anonymous sources present a credibility problem, nonjournalists in focus groups said anonymous sources were only one issue affecting media credibility. More important barriers to credibility included inadequate branding, sourcing and quality of information.

The Green River Confession: News Treatment of Victims and Co-victims • Sue Lockett John, University of Washington • The November, 2003, confessions of Northwest serial killer Gary Ridgway focused intensive media attention on the deaths of more than 48 female victims many years before. In such situations, journalists’ deadline-driven demands to inform the public can conflict with survivors’ needs to avoid re-victimization though loss of privacy, painful word associations, and other triggers of post-traumatic stress.

To Publish or Not to Publish: The Muhammad Cartoon Dilemma • Jenn Burleson Mackay, The University of Alabama • Newspapers inspired Middle Eastern violence and controversy after they published political cartoons depicting Islam’s Muhammad. This paper considers how newspaper editors could have used several ethical models to decide whether they should publish the cartoons. Several ethical models are discussed and applied to the cartoon dilemma. The paper concludes with a comparison of how the models arrive at different decisions that allow the journalist to be ethical regardless of whether he publishes the cartoons.

Transparency: An Assessment of the Kantian Roots of a Key Element in Media Ethics Practice • Patrick Lee Plaisance, Colorado State University • This study argues that the notion of transparency requires reconsideration as an essence of ethical agency. It provides a brief explication of the concept of transparency, rooted in the “principle of human dignity” of Immanuel Kant, and suggests that it has been inadequately appreciated by media ethics scholars and instructors more focused on relatively simplistic applications of his categorical imperative.

Dimensions of Journalistic Messenger Transparency • Chris Roberts, University of South Carolina • While other disciplines have operationalized the term “transparency,” journalism scholars have not explicated dimensions of transparency. This paper suggests that media scholars should use David Berlo’s “source-message-channel-receiver” communication model to discuss a continuum of journalistic transparency attributes. It uses that model to explicate nine dimensions of journalism messenger transparency, notes transparency’s connections to Rawls’ “Veil of Ignorance,” and suggests further research is needed to explore the assumed relationship between transparency and credibility.

“Secret” Casualties: Images of Injury and Death in the Iraq War Across Media Platforms • B. William Silcock and Carol B. Schwalbe, Arizona State University and Susan Keith, Rutgers University • This study examined more than 2,500 images from U.S. television news, newspapers, news magazines, and online news sites during the first five weeks of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in and found that only 10 percent showed injury or death. The paper analyzes which media platforms were most willing to show casualties.

Confidence in the Press, Attitudes about Press Freedom, and the Third Person Effect: A Preliminary Exploration using Secondary Survey Data • Derigan A. Silver, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • Third-person effect—the hypothesis that people overestimate the influence that communications have on the attitudes of others—suggests the possibility that individuals will want to censor the press if they view its messages as having a negative impact on others or if they view media coverage of their group or cause as being biased.

Loath to admit: pressures on ethical disclosure of news release sources • Peter Simmons, Charles Sturt University, AUSTRALIA • Non-disclosure of third-party news sources deceives the public and is ethically objectionable. The S.967 Pre-packaged News Stories Bill endorsed the principle of self-regulation by US journalists when disclosing the source of government news releases. The PRSA and RTNDA advocate disclosure of source to the public, but their members perceive advantages in non-disclosure. PR values the credibility of implied news organization endorsement. Journalists resist being seen to be using PR as a source for their news.

Truth and Transparency: Bloggers’ Challenge to Professional Autonomy in Defining and Enacting Two Journalistic Norms • Jane B. Singer, University of Iowa • Commitments to truth and to “transparency” or public accountability are two central normative aspects of professional journalism. This paper considers ways in which both are challenged and complemented by other communicators, particularly bloggers. It proposes that while all professions claim autonomy over articulation and enactment of their own norms, the Internet environment is one in which definitions of professional constructs are open to reinterpretation and in which oversight of professional behavior is shared.

Construction of the Truth and Destruction of A Million Little Pieces: Framing in the Editorial Response to the James Frey Case • Nicole Elise Smith, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • The notion of truth is central to our modern principles of objective journalism. A recent case has called into question the value that we, societally speaking, place on the truth. This study seeks to understand how editorial writers reacted to and subsequently framed the notion of “truth” within the context of the James Frey case. The qualitative, framing analysis examines editorials with the purpose of providing an understanding of the news frame surrounding the “truth.”

Stakeholder Theory and Media Management: An Ethical Framework for News Company Executives • Reuben J. Stern, University of Missouri • Contrary to stockholder theories that place the interests of profit-seeking owners above all else, stakeholder theorists argue that corporate executives have moral and ethical obligations to consider equally the interests of a wide range of stakeholders affected by the actions of a corporation. This paper argues that the stakeholder approach is particularly appropriate for the governance of news media companies. The paper then outlines an ethical framework to guide news company executives.

The TARES Test as an Ethical Analysis Tool: Assessing the Ethicality of Direct Response Television Programs • Ken Waters and Jamie Melton, Pepperdine University • In recent years, scholars have proposed several “tests” for determining the ethicality of persuasive mediated messages. Baker & Martinson (2001) suggest a five-part test called the TARES test. Eight one-hour special reports prepared by international aid organization World Vision were studied. The researchers note that the TARES test can be used to assess the ethicality of persuasive messages, but dialogue with the messages’ creators is necessary to achieve a useful assessment for pedagogical purposes.

Media Literacy as Trust Builder: How media education can foster critical and sympathetic news audiences • Wendy N. Wyatt, University of St. Thomas • One root of journalism’s credibility crisis can be found in the media illiteracy of its audiences. Therefore, part of the solution rests in educating audiences about the work journalists do. This calls for adjustments to conventional wisdom about media literacy. In addition to providing adversarial tools to critique the press, media literacy should also provide sympathetic tools to understand it. Efforts at foundational media literacy are steps toward reestablishing trust between the media and citizens.

<< 2006 Abstracts

Mass Communication and Society Division

Being Early on the Curve: Online Practices, Associational Membership and Expressive Political Participation • Eulalia Puig Abril and Hernando Rojas, University of Wisconsin-Madison • This study examines online surveillance media use and social interactions effects on early Internet adopters in Colombia. Data analysis from a 2004 survey provide evidence that these variables matter for political engagement, and, most importantly, that in the context of societies in crisis these online practices result in increased expressive political participation and associational membership.

Meth in the Midwest: Space, Time, and Content Frames in Rural and Urban Newspapers • Julie Andsager, MaryAnn Martin, Yeon Kyeong Kim, Lee Farquhar and Mohamad Elmasry, University of Iowa • This study compared news coverage of an ongoing social problem to that of a discrete event. Space and time frames on methamphetamine, an illegal, highly addictive drug problematic in rural areas of the Midwest, were compared in eight rural and urban newspapers from four high-meth states. Findings indicate the newspaper types framed the drug problem differently, though both tended to frame it largely as an individual, present-time crime problem. Implications for future research are discussed.

“Media and Social Divides” Facebook Me!: The Social Divide Between Student and Mainline Newspapers • Fernando Anton, Rut Rey, Eric Abbott and Michael Bugeja, Iowa State University • This study explores the social divide between main line and university newspapers coverage of Facebook, the popular online networking site, using computerized content analysis. A hierarchical cluster and concept mapping procedures identified eight major frames used by student and main line press. Results showed frames dealing with “Sex and Games” and “Relationships” were associated more closely with student newspapers coverage, while “History of Facebook” and “Business of Facebook” were associated with the main line press.

Believing Blogs? Examining the Influence of Gender Cues on Credibility • Cory Armstrong and Melinda McAdams, University of Florida • This study examines how gender and occupational cues influence Weblog credibility. Using an experimental design method, this study manipulated the source descriptors of a Weblog author and had participants rate the overall credibility of the entry. While male authors were deemed more credible than female authors in a main effect, that difference disappeared among blog users. The relationship between gender cues and credibility was moderated by blog usage. Implications are discussed.

The Double-Edged Nature of Satisfaction with Media in Political Decision Making • Erica Weintraub Austin, Washington State University and Ruth Patterson Funabiki, University of Idaho and Bruce Pinkleton, Washington State University • The purpose of this study was to investigate whether survey instrument measures of satisfaction with political media coverage might reflect complacency rather than a reflective assessment of goal-oriented media use. A survey (N=421) of college students performed in the week before the 2000 November election, when citizens would be presumed to be maximally engaged in the campaign, assessed measures of general media satisfaction, cynicism, apathy and political efficacy.

Celebrity Endorsements: Can They Motivate Disaffected Youth Voters? • Erica Weintraub Austin, Rebecca Van de Vord, Evan Epstein and Bruce Pinkleton, Washington State University • Coinciding with record turn-out among young voters in the 2004 Presidential election was a significant increase the number of celebrity endorsed Get Out the Vote promotions. As scholars have long indicated concern regarding the disaffect youth voters, this study explored the extent to which these promotions might influence decision making variables which predict voting behavior. Findings indicated that celebrity involvement predicted lower levels of apathy and complacency and higher levels of involvement and self-efficacy.

Anchoring the Third-Person Effect Hypothesis with the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA): Self and the Desire to Meet the Social Expectations of Others • Stephen Banning, Bradley University and Guy Golan, Florida International University • We tested the limitations of Paternalism as an explanation for the Third-Person Effect’s behavioral aspect, suggesting the theory of reasoned action better explains why people are sometimes motivated to act on the third-person effect. This study (n=600) revealed the third-person effect can motivate people toward socially desirable action that is not corrective in nature, supporting the TRA as a theoretical basis for the behavioral aspect of the third-person effect.

Revisiting the Lessons of “Mr. Gates”: The Demographic Characteristics of Journalists and Their Content Preferences • Randal Beam, University of Washington • Research on the sociology of news has tended to de-emphasize the role that the social characteristics of journalists may play in shaping media content. This study suggests that that thesis may be worth revisiting. It examined short narratives from 327 reporters who were asked to given a recent example of their “best work.” The differences in the kinds of stories that these reporters cited varied systematically according to those journalists’ demographic and social characteristics.

So Many Cell Phones, So Little Talk of Cellular Health Risks • Joseph Bernt and Phyllis Bernt, Ohio University • Using content analysis, this study examines newspaper coverage of potential health risks associated with cell phones and towers. A total of 282 stories appearing in 15 metropolitan newspapers from 1993 to 2005 were analyzed. Stories reported partisan debate rather than in-depth discussion of issues. Coverage of health risks declined, even as cell phone use proliferated, suggesting a “democratization” of risk. These findings are supported by other research regarding media coverage of health risks.

Media Content and Procedural Justice in the Context of Local Cancer Cluster Investigations • John Besley, Katherine McComas, Cornell University and Craig Trumbo, University of Vermont • This study integrates theory from the relational approach to procedural justice and mass communication to investigate media content about seven cancer cluster investigations in communities across the United States. Focus is put on the degree to which news content from each community highlight the relational treatment of citizens by authorities, as well the degree to content suggests that citizens can have a voice in the cancer investigation of their community.

Through the Hoop: How Sports Participation Displaces Media Use and Influences Positive Body Self- Esteem in Competitive Female Athletes • Kimberly Bissell and Katharine Birchall, University of Alabama • This exploratory study analyzed competitive adolescent female athletes’ use of entertainment media and sports participation and looked for possible predictors of more positive body self-esteem, an affective trait that could be present in women who have eating disorder tendencies.

Toward a More Critical Thinking Journalist: A Content Analysis of Media Literacy in Introductory News Reporting and Writing Textbooks • Linda Bowen, California State University, Northridge • This study examined the extent to which media literacy concepts, as adapted to apply to a journalistic perspective, were present in the content of introductory textbooks widely used to teach news reporting and writing skills to journalism undergraduates across the United States.

Media Usage and Multitasking Among Young Adults • Karen Boyajy, University of Missouri • This study looks at media usage patterns among young adults, with a particular focus on multitasking and the factors that contribute to the time spent with two or more media. Respondents indicated more time spent multitasking as the time with media increased, showing support for the combined use of the Internet and traditional media. The theory of uses and gratification is considered as multitasking presents challenges to one of its basic components.

What Makes a Protester? The Role of Mainstream and Alternative Media Use in Predicting Traditional and Protest Forms of Participation • Michael Boyle, Wichita State University and Mike Schmierbach, College of Charleston • Much research has explored the role that media use plays in facilitating political participation. However, a limitation of this work is that alternative forms of both media and participation have largely been ignored. Research under the protest paradigm indicates that media treat protests critically, suggesting mainstream media might stifle alternative participation.

Have You Seen Deep Throat Yet? The Proliferation of Pornography in American Society in the 1970s • Carolyn Bronstein, Depaul University • This paper investigates a series of legal, governmental, industrial, cultural and technological developments that encouraged the spread of pornography throughout American society in the 1970s.

Family Portrayals in the Media • Mark Callister and Tom Robinson, Brigham Young University • With television viewing occupying significant portions of young children’s lives, and given the cumulative effect television messages have in the construction of young people’s social reality, this study examines the how children’s programming presents family to children.

Stereotypes in Advertising: An Analysis of Sex Role Portrayals of Women and Men over Thirty Years • Courtney Carpenter, University of Alabama and Tom Reichert, University of Georgia • This study assessed representations of women and men and addressed inadequacies of recent gender role research. Using content analysis methodology, advertisements in six popular magazines over the past 30 years (N = 1,855) were investigated. A comparison of sexism in advertising for both genders resulted in profoundly more decorative portrayals, especially in women’s interest and men’s interest magazines. In 2003, approximately three out of four women in advertisements were featured in a decorative manner (73%).

Lung Cancer in Media’s Spotlight: Did Journalists Use Sources to Fulfill a Media Advocacy Role? • Yi-Chun “Yvonnes” Chen, Stacey Hust and Rebecca Van de Vord, Washington State University • This study explored the framing of articles related to lung cancer through journalists’ choice of source as a means of making sense of lung cancer during the time in which it was thrust into the spotlight. Content analysis was conducted on 118 newspaper articles over nine months encompassing Peter Jennings’ illness and death. Findings suggest journalists missed an opportunity to include sources who would fill a media advocacy role by discussing policy and prevention.

“Everyone Is A Racist”: Crash, Hegemony, and the Critical Reinforcement of the Social Discourse on Race • Phillip Chidester, Illinois State University and Shannon Campbell, University of Southern California • This essay contends that the film Crash – despite its popular and critical acclaim – actually functions as a broad expiation of white guilt that contributes nothing to the ongoing American race debate.

What I Watch and Who I Am: National Pride and the Viewing of Local and Foreign Television in Israel • Jonathan Cohen, University of Haifa • This study examines the relationship between various measures of exposure and preference to Israeli television (as opposed to imported foreign television) and the degree of national pride. Results (n = 408) show that over and above strict demographic, ideological, and general TV viewing measures viewing of Israeli channels or news programs was not related to pride. However, the proportion of Israeli favorite shows and favorite characters were predictors of national pride.

Mass Media Consumption and the Sexual Attitudes and Behaviors of Young Adults • Steve Collins and Heather Hackbarth, University of Central Florida • Research suggests sexual content is prevalent in mass media content and this content can have an effect on viewers’ attitudes about sex. The researchers used a survey to examine these relationships in young students at a large southeastern university within the theoretical framework of cultivation. The survey targeted first-semester college freshmen.

Better Off Dead: Media Framing of Individual Journalists, News Organizations and “The Media” • Stephanie Craft, Tayo Oyedeji and Wayne Wanta, University of Missouri • A content analysis examined how different news sources were framed in the news media from January 2004 to October 2005 – before the broadcast of the falsified memo castigating George W. Bush’s service in the National Guard by the Dan Rather-anchored CBS News (September 8, 2004) to after the death of ABC News anchor Peter Jennings (August 7, 2005). Peter Jennings received positive coverage and was especially noted for his professionalism.

Learning about Politics from the Internet • Kajsa Dalrymple and Dietram Scheufele, University of Wisconsin – Madison • Recent research has suggested that traditional and online news sources may differ with respect to their ability to inform audiences. In particular, there is tentative evidence that the hyperlink structure of online newspapers, for example, can promote a more in-depth understanding of political issues than traditional news media. We analyzed data from the 2004 American National Election Study (ANES) to test some of these relationships empirically.

Negative Political Advertising, Cynicism, and Self-Efficacy: The Impact of Ad Type and Message Expos • Frank Dardis, Fuyuan Shen and Heidi Edwards, Pennsylvania State University • Research has indicated that exposure to negative political advertising can foster among individuals feelings of alienation, distrust, and apathy towards government or the political process. However, investigation regarding the amount of exposure to such advertising and the form in which the advertising is presented remains scant. This experimental study examined the impact of ad type (character-based versus issue-based) and amount of advertising exposures on individuals’ cynicism and perceived self-efficacy relating to the government.

Raising the Dead: Recovery of Decayed Online Citations • Daniela Dimitrova and Michael Bugeja, Iowa State University • Recent studies show that online footnotes decay over time. This study investigates how researchers can resurrect lapsed citations, comparing two retrieval methods—online archives and search engines. The Wayback Machine and Google were used to retrieve missing online citations from six leading mass communication journals. Analysis shows that the Wayback Machine was more efficient, suggesting archives are a better method for citation retrieval than search engines. Implications of these findings for future scholars are discussed.

U.S. Newspaper Coverage of Environmental Tobacco Smoke Regulation: A Community Structure Approach • Dana Eisenberg, Tom Hipper, John Pollock, Ashley Magazzu and Tracey Severino, The College of New Jersey • In a representative national cross-section sample of 27 newspapers, this study explored newspaper coverage of a ban on smoking in public places throughout the United States, examining coverage from January 1st, 1998, the date when the first legislation for a ban on public smoking was enacted in California, to May 31, 2004, when Vermont became the most recent state to enact a public ban on smoking.

Controversial Contexts, Elite Bias Claims, and Perceptions of Media Credibility Across Issue Domains • Goidel Robert, David Kurpius and Connor Best, Louisiana State University • While the literature on media credibility is relatively well developed, we have a limited understanding of how perceptions of credibility vary across issue domains. Utilizing a national RDD survey, we articulate a model of media credibility emphasizing the importance of controversy and elite claims of media bias.

Motivations to Respond without Prejudice and Their Relationships with Local News Orientations • Bradley Gorham, Syracuse University • This study examines the relationship between motivations to respond without prejudice and people’s use of and orientation toward local television news. Using survey data from 228 university staff, the study found that although frequency of viewing was not related to motivations to respond without prejudice, motives for watching local television news were. The study discusses the implications in relation to efforts to reduce prejudice.

The Impact of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on Current Events Knowledge of Young Adults • Augie Grant, University of South Carolina • This study explores the impact of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on current events knowledge of young adults using multiple methods. A survey of college students demonstrates that viewing of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart is positively related to current events knowledge. The causality of that relationship is then tested in an experiment that compares the impact of reports from The Daily Show with Jon Stewart with those from NBC Nightly News.

Partisan vs. Non-partisan Voters: The Moderating Effects of Media Use on Voter Turnout in 2004 • Gang (Kevin) Han, Syracuse University • This study aims to evaluate the extent to which general media use, whether traditional or new, can moderate the effects of partisanship on voter turnout in the 2004 presidential election. Logit models are employed to assess the newly-released NES data, and particular concern is paid to the inconclusive relationship between media variables and partisanship, a conventionally consistent non-communication predictor of voting behavior. Their independent effects on voter turnout are also discussed respectively.

Avian Flu Framing and Agenda Setting in Press Releases and Newspapers During 2005 • Elliott Hillback III and Adam Hinterthuer, University of Wisconsin-Madison • We survey avian flu topics and frames in White House and health organization press releases and in four major U.S. newspapers during 2005 to examine both the flow of information from experts to the public and the change in information as the issue develops. Results suggest dramatization of the issue by the media for the sake of “newsworthiness” and an agenda building – agenda setting relationship between media and government.

Evaluating Public Discourse in Newspaper Opinion Articles: Values-Framing on Health Policy Issues • Lindsay Hoffman and Michael Slater, Ohio State University • The exchange of opinions is an important component of participatory democracies, and newspaper forum pages have been hailed as a conduit for such discussion. Little research has tackled the complexity of this content, but framing research demonstrates that values are an easily accessible heuristic for framing arguments. We examined newspaper forum articles on health policy issues for the presence and complexity of values. Significant differences were found by article type and topic. Implications are discussed.

Children and Sports: Just Do It… or Not? An Investigation of the Relationship Among Children’s Media Use, Sports Participation, Physical Activity, and Obesity • Andrea Holt and Courtney Carpenter, University of Alabama • Current media coverage indicates no more widely examined topic of public health concern than the issue of obesity, which faces an estimated 9 million American children and teens. With the introduction of technologies such as television, children seemingly spend increasingly more leisure time with new media than in physical activity. Therefore, the goal of this study will examine the relationship between television viewing, sports and exercise participation, and Body Mass Index (BMI).

‘We Can’t Keep Losing Our Kids’: Fear, Blame and Mourning in Press Coverage of Teen Deaths • Janice Hume, University of Georgia • This study examines how the deaths of teenagers were covered in three mainstream dailies, 2003-2005, to determine how these stories were “framed,” how the teens were remembered, and what these portrayals reveal about the relationship between the press, teenagers, and American cultural notions about death. Newspapers focused on “sudden deaths,” and represented teens as chronic risk-takers, incapable of rational judgment. Newspapers also participated in a type of public mourning, publishing remembrances and coverage of rituals/memorials.

Hitting the Tween Scene: Body Image Stereotypes on Children’s Television Situation Comedies • Tahlea Jankoski, Brigham Young University • Television programs often portray idealized body images which have become a common source of comparison for young audience viewers. This study examines body types and behaviors on two popular children’s television networks. Specifically, research is centered on children’s situation comedies being marketed to tweens, children between the ages of 9 and 14. Results indicate children’s situation comedies predominately show average or underweight characters.

Framing People in Crises. An Analysis of The New York Times Coverage of 9/11 • Youngkee Ju, University of Missouri • The study examined The New York Times’ different framing of Americans, Arab-Americans, and Arabs in its 9/11 coverage. Drawing on the social psychological perspectives on group membership (Tajfel and Turner, 2001), the study expected that emotional experiences, relational attitudes, and non-emotional, non-relational characters of people should be the aspects focused on by news framing.

For Democracy and the Bottom Line: Goals United States Newspapers Hold for their Letters to the Editor Section • Mark Kelley, University of Maine • This survey measured the degree to which editors at 99 randomly selected American newspapers (large, small, daily, and non-daily) agree with three types of letters to the editor goals (ideological, practical, and business-related). Overall, respondents favored ideological goals (providing a forum for public debate) over practical and business-related goals. The difference was statistically significant. Smaller papers embraced business-related goals significantly more than larger papers. Publication schedule (daily versus non-daily) was not a significant factor.

Something Ventured, Something Gained: Moderating Impact of Blogs on Political Activity • Daekyung Kim and Thomas Johnson, Southern Illinois University-Carbondale and Barbara K. Kaye, University of Tennessee-Knoxville • Based on an online survey that attracted 1,366 blog users during the 2004 presidential election, this study examines not only the effects of traditional interpersonal discussion but also the potential of blogs in facilitating political activity. Results of this study show different roles of online media in connection to political discussion. While blog reliance has little influence on political activity and political knowledge, it increases feeling of political involvement.

Partisanship and News Credibility: Exploring the Role of Hostile Media Perception in News Judgments • Kyun Soo Kim and Yorgo Pasadeos, University of Alabama • This study replicated the influence of partisanship on hostile media perception with regard to the morning-after pill issue and explicated a subsequent effect that the hostile perception may have on news credibility judgments. In so doing, the study integrated the audience-centered and source-centered streams of research on news credibility. The study found that partisans perceived a “balanced” news story as hostile to their position.

The Ideal American: Sex, Class and Race in The Saturday Evening Post, 1910-1960 • Amy Lauters, Wichita State University • This paper examines discourse surrounding issues of sex, race and class in editorials and letters to the editor of The Saturday Evening Post from 1910 to 1960, focusing primarily on the evolution of American middle-class ideology during this period. It found that shared beliefs in free enterprise, freedom from government interference, individualism, self-responsibility, and class mobility characterized both discourse and ideology, and subverted notions of difference along class, race and gender lines.

Health Information and Hurricane Katrina: A Mental Models Approach to Health-Related Articles • Katherine LaVail, University of Iowa • Hurricane Katrina decimated the Gulf Coast, leaving a large portion of New Orleans under water. Due to the severity of the conditions, many questions were raised regarding health concerns. The exploratory study examines the content of health-related articles available on the web sites for print and television news outlets. A mental-model of these concerns clearly delineates the somewhat illogical fears and interests over the six-week period that occurred during this natural disaster of unprecedented size.

College Students’ Body Image Dissatisfaction in Relation to Media Consumption • Moon Lee and Jessi Wells, Washington State University and Shannon Bichard, Texas Tech University • This study investigated how U.S. college students’ media consumption influence their body image dissatisfaction. Television and magazine exposure within different genres was measured in relation to their perceptions of ideal body images as well as body image dissatisfaction. Significant differences in body image dissatisfaction were identified based on the amount of TV reality show viewing as well as beauty and celebrity magazine reading. Also, there was a significant gender differences in their perceived body dissatisfaction.

The Effects of Anti-Tobacco Messages Based on Source Credibility: Government Agencies versus Tobacco Companies • Moon Lee and Yunying Zhang, Washington State University • In this study, how college students respond to the same anti-tobacco messages varied by different sponsorships (a government agency versus a tobacco company) was investigated. It was found that the messages with the governmental agency were rated to be more interesting, credible, effective, realistic, and persuasive than the same messages presented by the tobacco company, specifically among college risk-takers.

Discursive Opportunity Structure: Linking Environmental Group Resources and Communication Strategies • Michael McCluskey, California State University, Fresno • Communication options available to activist groups form a discursive opportunity structure. Study examined variance in discursive opportunity structure by group resources, communication strategies and amount of news coverage. Surveys of 37 environmental groups and analysis of news coverage conducted. Analysis showed group resources weren’t related to communication strategies but were related to amount of news coverage. Also, communication strategies were strongly related to extent of news coverage. Implications for theory discussed.

Deviant in Our Midst • Michael McDevitt, Theresa Crapanzano, Maura P. O’Neal, Colin Lingle, Kerri Rebresh and Bobby Kia, University of Colorado at Boulder • This study explores how the parochial press functions in social control through anti-intellectual depictions of political dissent. We examined news coverage on Ward Churchill, a scholar of ethnic studies who appeared in hundreds of news accounts in early 2005 as sympathetic to the 9/11 terrorists. Findings from a content analysis of Colorado newspapers and non-Colorado media showed that articles from the local press more strongly reflected de-contextualization and absolutism as dimensions of anti-intellectualism.

Two Faces of Eva: Perpetuation of the Hot-Latina Stereotype in Desperate Housewives • Debra Merskin, University of Oregon • Desperate Housewives enjoys an audience of more than 21 million women and men (“Housewives,” 2006). Yet, the character Gabrielle Solis (Eva Longoria) is a typical portrayal of the hot Latina stereotype. Keller’s (1994) tripartite typology of Latina stereotypes frames this textual analysis of dialogue from the first season (23 episodes) of ABC’s prime time hit. This research examined both the character and the role of the actor’s off screen personae in reinforcing this stereotype.

Health Communication and Social Ecology: Two Case Studies • Emily Metzgar, Louisiana State University and Lesa Hatley-Major, Indiana University • Using framing, issue development and social ecology literature, we examine two Louisiana-based public health communication campaigns — one intended to reduce infant mortality rates, another to reduce rates of HIV infection. Considering problem identification, planning, implementation and evaluation, we confirm that arousing a public is separate from sustaining interest over time. We conclude that the social ecology approach incorporating target populations and broader communities is the best way to ensure public health communication campaign success.

Counter-Hegemony or A-Hegemony • Rick Moore, Boise State University • Examines source use in stories about environmental issues in one Northwest daily. Specifically, the researcher analyzes news coverage of four recent environmental controversies to see how source use patterns varied. Similar to recent findings in an analysis of newspaper coverage of pesticide use in California, the results here suggest that activists were used as sources more than industry representatives were, and that pro-environment positions were presented more than anti-environment positions were.

An Experimental Investigation of Reality Construction • Gregg Payne and David Dozier, San Diego State University • This research examines the relationship between newspaper coverage of police malfeasance and the public construction of reality related to the administration of justice. Subjects were randomly assigned in a posttest only experiment. The test group was exposed to four newspaper accounts of evidence contamination involving police. Three hypotheses postulated that exposure to such articles would result in a more negative view of justice administration, when compared to the control group. All hypotheses were confirmed.

Party Identification as a Predictor of Perceived News Media Bias: A Test on Hostile Media Effect • Zengjun Peng, St. Cloud State University and Kenneth Fleming, University of Missouri • This study used hostile media effect theory to test the predictive power of party identification on public perception of general news media bias. Results supported a relative symmetrical hostile media effect whereas Republicans tended to be more likely to perceive a liberal bias, Democrats tended to be more likely to perceive a conservative bias, with Independents lying in between. Media exposure and media involvement appeared to have no significant effect.

Adolescents’ Exposure to a Sexualized Media Environment and their Notions of Women as Sexual Objects • Jochen Peter and Patti M. Valkenburg, University of Amsterdam • We tested the hypothesis that adolescents’ cumulative exposure to sexual media content of varying explicitness would be associated with stronger beliefs that women are sexual objects. Hierarchical regression analyses of an online survey of Dutch adolescents showed that exposure to content of varying explicitness adds up in its relationship with beliefs that women are sexual objects. Exposure to sexually explicit content eventually dominates over exposure to sexually non-explicit and sexually semi-explicit content.

Talking Sh*t: Profanity on Basic Cable • Gary Pettey and Cheryl Campanella Bracken, Cleveland State University and Amy Dalessandro, Sharon Snyder-Suhy • A content analysis of prime-time programming of six basic cable channels was conducted to examine the frequency and context of offensive language. The study is a partial replication of Kaye and Sapolsky’s (2004a) analysis of broadcast television content in primetime. The current study included programming from May 2005 for a total of 252 hours across 120 different programs.

Talking to Young Voters. A Content Analysis of Political Messages on Get-Out-the-Vote Web Sites • Monica Postelnicu and Spiro Kiousis, University of Florida • Surveys of young voters have revealed that political apathy is caused in part by feelings of low information efficacy and low knowledge about candidates and policy issues during elections. Mainstream media, television as well as print, are not sufficient sources of campaign information for young voters, who tend to rely more on online and alternative media formats.

Ideal Self-Concept, Television Consumption, and the Perpetuation of a Brand Conscious Society • Mark Rademacher, University of Wisconsin-Madison • American society is a mediated and consumer society, which has direct implications for the construction of identity. This study seeks to examine the influence of individuals’ ideal self-concept, defined as how an individual would like to perceive herself, and television viewing patterns on levels of brand consciousness. Findings suggest specific ideal self-concepts and television viewing patterns have differential effects on brand consciousness. Implications for the perpetuation of a brand consciousness society are discussed.

Exploring Student Use of Media During the Week of September 11, 2001: Media Dependency or News Fatigue • Brad Rawlins, Brigham Young University and Tyrone Glade, Pennsylvania State University • A quantitative content analysis of media journals kept by students during the week of 9/11/2001 confirmed an individual media dependency relationship for the day of the attacks and the following day, but revealed a quick shift to normal media use patterns. A qualitative thematic analysis of student reflection papers found weariness with the reports of the attacks, lack of new information, and obligations of being a student were among the reasons given for the shift.

Who Do You Know? A Recognition Study of Faces in the News • Sam Riley, Virginia Tech and Gary Selnow, San Francisco State University • This study examines what individual news figures and types of news figures are most and least recognizable to university students. Student respondents were asked to identify 60 news figures whose head shots were taken from the three top-circulation news weeklies. Half the news figures were political; the other half were entertainment figures. Results were examined by gender, media use and political interest level. Also reported are misidentifications of the 60 news figures.

Look Who’s Watching: The Audience for Statewide Public Affairs Television Just Might Surprise You • Karen Rowley and David Kurpius, Louisiana State University • One of the recurring questions that arises in research about statewide public affairs television networks is who exactly is watching? Critics argue that it is difficult to gauge whether these state versions of C-SPAN have any value since no one really knows. This study is an attempt to begin to answer that criticism. Data gleaned from a national telephone survey show the viewing audience for these networks is both larger and more diverse than expected.

Perception of Media Bias and Its Effect on Media Choice • Kimberly Rubenstein, University of Kansas • This study investigated the hostile media effect and its potential to drive partisans to sources they see as friendly to their point of view. Both strong supporters and strong opponents of the war in Iraq found a news story on the war to contain bias. Both groups showed a propensity for visiting news sources that present information on the war in a light they agree with, showing the potential for audience fragmentation along political lines.

Moral Issues, Framing, and Media: The 2004 Presidential Election Campaign and the “Moral Divide” • Denise St. Clair, Carly Yuenger and Xiao Yu Wang, University of Wisconsin-Madison and Yphtach Lelkes, Temple University and Patrick Roman Peczerski, University of Wisconsin-Madison and Jerilyn April Teo, University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign and Susanne B. Ress, University of Koblenz-Landau and Seung-Hyun Lee, University of Wisconsin-Madison • Following the 2004 Presidential Election, many voters noted moral issues as most important in their voting decision. Therefore, this paper asks: How prominent were moral issues – specifically, same-sex marriage and abortion – in U.S. news coverage of the 2004 campaign, and did the media perpetuate these issues as “moral” when they were covered? Ultimately, this study is a preliminary investigation of the role of media in the growing social divide in the U.S. along “moral” lines.

Women as the marginalized majority: Cultural hegemony and gender representation in Japanese television news• Shinichi Saito, Tokyo Woman’s Christian University and Reiko Ishiyama, Seijyo University • A content analysis of TV news programs indicated that, while only a slight gender imbalance was present among anchors, women were under-represented as reporters, voice-overs, and commentators. This study also found that male news sources significantly outnumbered female sources, and that working women were much less likely than men to be depicted as news sources. The data suggest that the news programs analyzed in this study reflect the masculine cultural hegemony that prevails in Japan.

Digital Desis: New Media and the Transnational Identity of Asian Indians in the U.S. • Daniel Schackman and Nirali Bhagdev, Syracuse University • This qualitative research study of Asian Indians in the U.S. explores the nexus of their new media use and transnational identity. Nineteen in-depth interviews were conducted with participants ranging from the long-settled to the recently arrived, and included U.S. citizens, guest workers and university students. The study describes the circular relationship of new media and transnational identity in the selection of media and content that both develops and reinforces cultural hybridism.

“Killing Spree”: The Effects of Game Mode and Gender on Violent Cognitions • Mike Schmierbach and Chris Scharlau, College of Charleston • Although scholars have repeatedly linked video games to aggression, little research has investigated how specific game characteristics might generate such effects. In this study, we consider how game mode — cooperative, competitive, or solo — shapes aggressive thoughts. Using experimental data (N = 102), we find partial support for the idea that cooperative play modes prompt less violence, although this effect holds primarily for men.

Beyond the Games: A Study of the Effects of Life Issues and Burnout on Newspaper Sports Editors • Scott Reinardy, Ball State University • A survey (N = 184) and depth interviews are used to examine what issues influence burnout of newspaper sports editors. Using the three-component Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey (Emotional Exhaustion, Cynicism and Professional Efficacy), issues such as overall job satisfaction, perceived organizational support, work-family conflict and role overload were examined. The results indicate that while job satisfaction and perceived organizational support diminish burnout among sports editors, work-family conflict and role overload create higher levels of burnout.

Uses and Gratifications in the Blogosphere: Identifying Motives, Antecedents, and Outcomes of Weblog • Trent Seltzer and Michael Mitrook, University of Florida • Initial studies on weblogs have considered their influence on social, business, and political institutions; however, the motives and antecedents that lead individuals to blog, as well as the outcomes associated with weblog use, should also be investigated. This study surveyed 228 college students to identify the uses and gratifications associated with weblog use. Comparisons were also made between bloggers and non-bloggers to identify differences in their patterns of Internet use.

Women’s Sexuality on Men’s Sites and Men’s Sexuality on Women’s Sites: A Content Analysis • Jae Woong Shim, Indiana University and Chang Hee Choi, Indiana State University • This study investigates how men’s and women’s sexuality are represented on sexual websites targeted for women and sexual websites targeted for men. Using Web-content analysis method, 200 pornographic images randomly selected from four sexual websites (two women’s sexual sites and two men’s sexual websites) are analyzed. The criteria of comparison are based on such concepts as sexual inequality, sexual objectification, and violence/aggressiveness that have been commonly used in the literature on content analyses of pornography.

“Super Size Me[dia]”: Behavioral Attitudes and Information Source of Fast Food among College Students • Jae-Hwa Shin, University of Southern Mississippi • The purpose of this study is to examine the behavioral attitudes of college students and their information sources about fast food. While they perceived fast food as economical, accessible or convenient, college students for the most part acknowledged the negative impact of fast food on health. They predicted that their references including friends, roommates and parents would evaluate fast food as bad just as they perceived but do not absolutely comply with the presumed opinion.

Diversity in the Newsroom and Photographic Coverage of Hurricane Katrina • Stephen Siff, John Wing, Wei Kang and Mohamed Sati, Ohio University • This study analyzed a full week’s photographic coverage of Hurricane Katrina in 15 randomly selected Ohio newspapers to determine if newspapers of different size and diversity characteristics portrayed the disaster differently in photographs. A positive correlation was found between the proportion of black (as opposed to non-black) victims depicted in newspaper’s photo coverage and that newspaper’s size, the racial diversity of its newsroom, and the racial diversity in its readership area.

Children and Adolescents on Prime Time Television: Continuing Devaluation and Victimization • Nancy Signorielli, University of Delaware • Prime time network television programs broadcast between the fall of 2000 and the fall of 2005 present an overall image that devalues children, teenagers, and childhood. Children and young adults are under represented and symbolically annihilated. Young boys, in particular, are very likely to be victimized. These programs also isolate and segregate both minority and white children and adolescents.

Editing Conservatism: How National Review Magazine Framed and Mobilized a Political Movement • Susan Sivek, University of Texas at Austin • This paper examines how National Review magazine helped spark the 1960s American conservative movement through its particular framing of conservatism, and how it has sustained that influence to today. Using research on frame alignment in social movements, the first issue of National Review is analyzed and placed in context with contemporaneous events and publications. The implications of National Review’s success for today’s political movements and for creators of political media messages are also discussed.

The Role of Gender in the Enjoyment of Video Games • Barry Smith, University of Alabama • This paper examines the role of gender may play in the experience of enjoyment derived from playing video games. Cognitive skills and gender were assessed in relation to flow and enjoyment. Significant gender differences were found. However, previously theorized cognitive differences between genders did not explain gender differences in video game enjoyment. Findings are discussed in the context of the impact that use of video games may have on other skills.

Hurricane Katrina and Media Criticism: Interpretive Communities and Perceptions of Media Performance • Laura Smith, Kenneth Campbell and Yang Hwan Lee, University of South Carolina • Shortly after Hurricane Katrina struck America’s gulf coast, critics began voicing concerns about media coverage – condemning racially charged portrayals and the reporting of rumor. In-depth interviews with 81 evacuees in four states show they do not share those concerns. Instead, most evacuees were largely pleased with the media’s efforts. Findings are discussed in terms of interpretive communities and illustrate how shared experience impacts perceptions of media messages in times of crisis.

How Many Times Can You Say “I Am Not Here to Make Friends?” • Tuo-Yu Su and Mary Cassata, State University of New York at Buffalo • Using the cultivation theory as a basis, this study examined the potential connection between people’s reality television consumption and their perceptions about the necessity to be competitive in real life. The results showed that heavy viewers of reality television are more likely to regard being competitive as a necessary trait to succeed in real life than light viewers.

The Trends of Agenda-setting Effects among the Media, the Public and Congress • Yue Tan, Indiana University • This paper aims to examine the longitudinal evolution of the entire issue-agenda of mass media, Congress and the public, and the relationship between the three from 1980 to 1998. Dataset are derived from New York Times stories, Gallup’s Most Important Problem series and congressional hearings. It is found that the Congress-public relationship was stronger than the media-Congress relationship and the media-public relationship.

Predictors of News Trust and News Medium Choice in 18-34 Year Olds • Esther Thorson and Brian Hamman, University of Missouri • A Communication Need States model generates expectations about how much young adults will trust and use newspapers, television, and the Internet for news. Need for information, entertainment and connectivity, valuing new media features like immediacy and customizability, and social presence as indicated by being able to see news professionals and knowing the person that reports the news are all predictive of trust, and trust, strongly impacts media use, even after controls are applied.

Choice of News Media Sources in the New Media Landscape: The Crucial 18-34 Demographic • Esther Thorson and Kjerstin Thorson, University of Missouri • This study proposes a modified uses and gratifications model that is applied to the question of how young adults (18-34) choose and use news channels including television, newspapers, and the Internet. The model is then tested with a secondary analysis of a nationwide survey of young adults. The results provide strong support for the model, particularly in terms of the impact of communication needs on the use of newspapers, television and Internet for news.

Agenda for Trouble: News Frames of Mitigation and Responsibility after Hurricane Katrina • Fred Vultee, University of Missouri • A content analysis of national news coverage of Hurricane Katrina’s impact and aftermath examines how blame is apportioned between local and national actors, when stories are told from personal or institutional perspectives, which areas of impact are highlighted, and – perhaps most significantly – whether a media agenda of long-term hazard mitigation emerges.

The Obesity Epidemic and Relationships among Adolescent Media Use, Activity and BMI: A Path Analysis • Kimberly Walker, Indiana University • Childhood obesity has become a societal epidemic. Due to the rapidity in which youth obesity rates have arisen, academic and lay reporting trends suggest behavioral variables—especially television and computer use—are culprits to blame. Referred to as the energy imbalance or “couch potato” hypothesis, media use is assumed to displace vigorous activity, which leads to obesity.

Pushing Continue: Combining Violence with Other Variables in Video Game Research • Kevin Williams, Mississippi State University • A factorial design was conducted with 150 male college undergraduates playing different video games to investigate the impact of violent content, frustration with gameplay, and the interaction of those factors with aggressive personality. Results indicate that combining violent content and frustration increase scores on an anger measurement scale. The combination of high trait aggression, violent content, and frustration led to the highest scores on one anger instrument. Findings support the General Aggression Model.

Does It Matter Who Is Quoted? Examining the Influence of Source Types on Perceived Credibility of Online News Sources • Li Zeng, Arkansas State University • This study examined whether different types of sources quoted within online news stories affect individuals’ perception of story credibility. The data from an experimental setting suggested that the Elaboration Likelihood Model is applicable to online news perception. When exposed to stories arousing high motivation, participants considered stories moderately credible regardless of source types. When exposed to stories arousing low motivation, they considered stories quoting officials more credible than those quoting involved parties or affiliated individuals.

American Foreign Policy Belief Systems and Public Opinion Toward China • Wei Zha and Goidel Robert, Louisiana State University • Different political and economic environments worldwide might influence the ebb and flow of dimensions concerning the average Americans’ foreign policy preference, but the underneath broad belief systems maintain constant. In the context of economic globalization and terrorism, two reliable and interpretable core values: Americanism and Internationalism pop up and help explain how they rate China.

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Magazine Division

With the troops: a content analysis of reporter status and how Time, Newsweek, and U.S. News & World Report framed U.S. interventions between 1983 and 2003 • Erin Coyle, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • This quantitative content analysis of Time, Newsweek, and U.S. News & World Report assessed magazines’ framing of five U.S. military conflicts between 1983 and 2003. Framing theory and the spheres of influence were used for this study of magazine influence from media-military relations. Statistical analysis found that magazine articles written by reporters with greater reporter-troop relations provided more positive frames for military action. Reporter-troop relations also influenced the use of government and military sources.

Positive Reinforcement: Portrayals of alcohol advertisements in teen and young adult magazines • Stacey J.T. Hust, Yi-Chun “Yvonnes” Chen and Erica Weintraub Austin, Washington State University • Alcohol advertisements are frequently in magazines with high teen readership and use appeals that target youth. A content analysis over four years examined differences in themes and portrayals in magazines targeted to teens and those targeted to young adults. Results indicate alcohol ads emphasized positive rewards and connected alcohol use to sexual prowess and relaxation. Regression analyses showed magazine circulation is positively associated with frequency of both alcoholic beverage advertising and ads targeted to youth.

Framing Sex, Romance, and Relationships on the Covers of Maxim and Cosmopolitan • Sammye Johnson, Trinity and Susan Currie Sivek, University of Texas at Austin • Both Cosmopolitan and Maxim present messages about incredible sex and physical perfection on their covers. Do the magazines frame sexuality in similar or different ways? A content analysis of the covers of 12 issues of Maxim and 12 issues of Cosmopolitan was done. Two questions were considered: (1) Does the visual representation of women on the covers of Maxim and Cosmopolitan reflect differing framing of female sexuality?

Consumer Responses to Sexual Magazine Covers on a Men’s Magazine • Tom Reichert, University of Georgia and Shuhua Zhou, University of Alabama • Competing men’s magazines often use sexually attractive cover models to enhance circulation. This investigation tested the efficacy of sexual cover models on consumer outcome variables including magazine interest and purchase intention, as well as on psychological variables such as sexual arousal and social comparison. Overall, magazine interest value and purchase intention were significantly higher in the sexual condition, as were sexual arousal and tendency for upward social comparison.

Body Image of Older Adults in Magazine Advertisements: A Content Analysis of Their Body Shape and Portrayal • Tom Robinson and Mark Callister, Brigham Young University • Because body disturbance, eating disorders, and the drive for thinness, are all conditions that effect older individuals, the images of older adults in the advertisements of national magazines can have a lasting impression. These media images compete with real life role models as the predominant source for body comparisons among both men and women. This study uses a content analysis to determine what body image of older adults is portrayed in national magazine advertisements.

Are Political Opinion Magazines Really All That Special? A Content Analysis • Susan Currie Sivek, University of Texas at Austin ? This study analyzes 843 feature articles from three political opinion magazines, and addresses the magazines’ function in American political discourse. Articles’ authors, topics, and frames were coded. Male authors from the editorial staffs were most represented. Articles often utilized “horse race” and “ideological” frames, reflecting the magazine’s political perspective. This political coverage – while reflecting distinct ideological positions was thus similarly framed as in other media.

Long Time Coming: How Magazine Letters to the Editor in 1952 Foretold Days of Rage • Brian Thornton, Northern Illinois University • Abstract not available.

A Pictorial Myth in the Pages of Life — Small Town America as the Ideal Place • Sheila Webb, Marquette University • The small town occupies a mythic place in American culture. In the media and popular culture, the small town is portrayed as a place of community, of traditional values, of practical attitudes, and as an incubator of progress. This paper argues that this myth was codified between the First and Second World Wars and that Life played a role in that idealization.

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Law and Policy Divisions

Watchdog on a Leash: Reporter’s Privilege in Federal Criminal Circuit Court Cases • Kirsten Margrethe Beattie, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • Since Branzburg v. Hayes (1972), courts at the state and federal level have struggled to interpret and apply the common law derived from the case’s 5-4 majority. While some states have enacted shield laws offering reporters varying levels of privilege, Rule 501 of the Federal Rules of Evidence and federal common law deny the existence of a reporter’s privilege. This paper examines how Federal Circuit Courts have interpreted Braznburg and what privilege reporters can claim.

Judicial Deference or Acquiescence?: The Use of FOIA Exemption 7(A) as a New National Security Exemption in Center for National Security Studies v. U.S. Department of Justice • Cheryl Bishop, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • This paper examines the use of FOIA precedent on judicial deference as applied in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals decision in Center for National Security Studies v. U.S. Dept. of Justice, as well as subsequent FOIA cases that cited the ruling. The court majority accorded a high level of deference to the executive in ruling that the information in question was exempt under Exemption 7(A) of the FOIA.

From PETA To Lamparello: The Chilling Effect Of Trademark Law On Political Parody • Kellie Cairns and Dale Herbeck, Boston College • Cybersquatters register domain names using protected trademarks for financial gain. Laws invoked to combat cybersquatting, most notably the Lanham Act and the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, have been erroneously extended by the courts to reach legitimate political expression in cases like PETA v. Doughney. Rather than privileging the economic interest of trademark holders, future decisions should follow the logic of Lamparello v. Falwell and focus on the viewpoint espoused by the web site.

The Press as Interest Group: Mainstream Media in the United States Supreme Court • Eric B. Easton, University of Baltimore • This study explores the influence that news media organizations exert on the United States Supreme Court as parties and amici curiae. The study found, inter alia, that the media succeed more often than not, although by a relatively small margin, with far greater success in content-related than in newsgathering cases. Media organizations have been more successful as parties than as amici, and more successful against state and local government entities than against the federal government.

Reese’s Pieces in My Birkin, Please: An Examination of Product Placement in TV and Calls for Reform • Emily Erickson and Anne C. Osborne, Louisiana State University • Abstract not available.

Libel Law and the Postmodern Dilemma: The Search for Truth • Kathy Roberts Forde, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities • To consider the ways in which constitutional jurisprudence has grappled with postmodern language problems is to try to reconcile two systems of thought with radically different assumptions about knowledge. Yet, as this study’s case analysis will demonstrate, the language and truth issues implicated in New York Times v. Sullivan and its progeny require such a reckoning.

Commercial Speech in Public Schools: Evaluating the First Amendment Rights of Advertisers • Joshua H. Godwin, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill • This paper examines the regulation of advertising in public schools and advertisers’ First Amendment rights to force a school to accept their advertisements. It outlines court rulings illustrating the confusion regarding the state versus local authority battle for control of in-school advertising.

The Chinese Conundrum: When Culture Is At Odds With The Adoption Of Copyright Law • Gary C. Guffey, University of Georgia • Prints, paintings, graphic art, books, music, movies, software and many other copyrighted works are illegally copied and account for as much as 90 percent of China’s art and literature market. An analysis using legal consciousness theory and property rights theory suggests the Chinese culture may be one of the biggest hurdles for the adoption of copyright as a legal concept.

International Criminal Tribunals: Does the Reporters Privilege Apply? • Elaine Hargrove-Simon, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities • This paper reports on the decision of the Appeals Chamber in the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, which ruled that war correspondents are entitled to reporter’s privilege. Because reporter’s privilege is seen as essential to democracy, this paper takes the position that future international cases involving reporters (in particular the newly-created International Criminal Court), should allow evidentiary guidelines giving all journalists reporter’s privilege.

From PETA to Lamparello: The Chilling Effect of Trademark Law on Political Parody • Dale Herbeck, Boston University • Abstract not available.

Accessing Records Six Feet Under: A 50-state Study of Statutory Autopsy Laws • Ana-Klara Hering, University of Florida • Public access to autopsy records is regulated at the state level, but no two states treat the issue in an identical manner. This study found that almost the same number of states that consider autopsy records presumptively open consider them closed. However, the majority of states are not absolute in their treatment of this issue. Most statutes contain exemptions, which allow for disclosure of otherwise sealed records, or vice versa.

Opening Bottlenecks: On Behalf of Mandated Network Neutrality • Bill Herman, University of Pennsylvania • Among the most contentious issues in communication policymaking in 2006 is the topic of “network neutrality,” the principle that internet service providers should generally treat all data and applications equally. This paper defends network neutrality regulation in the face of withering criticism by legal scholar Christopher Yoo. This paper rebuts Yoo’s claims of improved network management and economic welfare, and it presents the case for regulations requiring network neutrality on First Amendment and other grounds.

Two Competing Visions of the Fundamentals of Copyright • Minejeong Kim, Hawaii Pacific University • This paper is an attempt to provide a theoretical framework that can guide the focal inquiry of copyright jurisprudence. The author of this paper argues that there are two competing visions of the fundamentals of copyright and that the contrasting views help to explain what happens in copyright law.

The Facebook: Placing Universities Face-to-Face with First Amendment Concerns — How University Action Toward Hate Speech on Online Social Network Threatens College Students’ First Amendment Freedoms • Kimberly Lopez, University of Florida • The online social network Facebook has become one of the most popular Web sites with an estimated 64 percent of undergraduates listed in the network. As the new technology continues to grow, universities begin to monitor the site and hold students accountable for their posts’ content, especially for hate speech. This paper uses legal research methods to explore the body of law likely to apply to a Facebook hate speech case brought before a court.

State Guarantees of Freedom of the Press May Again Be Best, Just as They Were First • Joe Mathewson, Northwestern University • After more than a century and a half of disuse, the First Amendment has been since 1964 the strongest legal protection of a free press. But recent contempt citations suggest that that period of expanding reach is over. Therefore the press freedom guarantees of the state constitutions, which preceded the First Amendment and declare affirmatively the right to publish, may be the best hope for future protection of press freedom.

Is the Chill Gone? A Follow-Up Study of Newspaper Editors Regarding Libel • Roy L. Moore, Georgia College & State University, Elizabeth K. Hansen, Eastern Kentucky University, and Davide Girardelli, University of Kentucky • Replicating a 1992 study, this study uses a 2004 national sample of 180 editors to examine frequency of actual and threatened libel suits against daily newspapers, chilling effect, factors associated with chilling effect and changes over time. Given the decline in large libel suits and awards, predicted a reduced chilling effect.

Adjudicating Libels in Information Society • Nikhil Moro, Ohio State University • Personal jurisdiction is a vexing problem in adjudicating libel cases in the information society. The various traditions of freedom of expression scholarship are unable to reconcile the individualization condition enabled by emergent technologies to the need to resolve multiple personal jurisdictions. This paper uses a frame of freedom of expression to address the jurisdictional challenge posed to libel law by the information society.

Planting The Seeds Of Constitutional Conflict: A Look At The Legal Landscape Concerning Presidential Power and the NSAs Wiretapping Program • Brian Pafundi, University of Florida • Following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, President Bush authorized the NSA to conduct “electronic surveillance of Americans and others inside the United States to search for evidence of terrorist activity without the court approved warrants ordinarily required for domestic spying.” Since the wiretapping involves both domestic and foreign communications, the surveillance program raises numerous legal questions.

The Politics of Censorship: A Curved Explanation for a Contentious Phenomenon • Jason B. Reineke, The Ohio State University • The social science literature has offered a variety of results and explanations regarding the relationship between political ideology and support for censorship. The present research asks whether the relationship might best be described nonlinearly in order to reconcile these inconsistencies. An examination of data from the General Social Survey suggests that individuals who are very liberal or very conservative both tend to be significantly more supportive of censorship than a linear description predicts.

Policy issue networks and the Freedom of Information Act: An examination of 50 years of Congressional Testimony • Jeannine E. Relly, University of Arizona • The U.S. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is the product of numerous political agreements and compromises. In many ways, it is no different from other legislation and policies with its cycles of testimony from elite private actors, including union members, business representatives, consumer advocates, and other groups, which have entered and exited the policy-making process in the 40 years since the original law was passed.

Market Definition, Merger Review and Media Monopolization: Congressional Approval of the Corporate Voice through the Newspaper Preservation Act • Amy Kristin Sanders, University of Florida • This paper will examine the effect of the Newspaper Preservation Act on competition in the daily newspaper market by analyzing legislative history, subsequent court interpretations and Justice Department implementation of the NPA. Part II of the paper discusses the legislative history of the NPA and the subsequent case law that has interpreted it. In addition, this section addresses the effects of the NPA on the Justice Department’s merger review process.

Invoking Privilege Since Branzburg: Are Bloggers Like Other Non-Traditional Journalists? • Jason Shepard, University of Wisconsin-Madison • In the 33 years since the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a First Amendment-based reporter’s privilege’ most federal and state courts have nonetheless carved out a privilege under certain circumstances. An analysis of cases in which non-traditional journalists have sought the privilege provides significant guidance in determining whether bloggers can invoke the privilege.

Policy, Practice, and Intent: Forum Analysis and the Uncertain Status of the Student Press at Public Colleges and Universities • Derigan A. Silver, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill • Until recently the First Amendment rights of student newspapers at public colleges and universities had been considered to be largely coextensive with the rights of other newspapers.

Inherited tensions: The semantic struggle of the public interest • Maria Simone, Rowan University • This paper reports results from observations and interviews conducted with media activists. The examination focused on inherited tensions from historical interpretations of the public interest standard. These tensions demonstrate concerns about: 1) vagueness; 2) self-interest; and 3) consensus. The researcher argues the public interest provides limited benefit for guiding policy. In order to achieve the spirit of the public interest, advocates should shift discourses to those of media rights and justice.

The Promise of Arbitration: Can it succeed in journalism as it has in other businesses? • Daxton R. Stewart, University of Missouri • Both courts and businesses favor arbitration as an alternative to litigation, and nearly every kind of commercial transaction in the United States is now subject to some kind of arbitration agreement. This paper examines whether arbitration could be used by news publishers to provide an efficient means to resolve disputes.

Inciting Jealousy and Discontent The Remains of Constitutional Media Access to the Battlefield after Flynt v. Rumsfeld • Thomas C. Terry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • It is the purpose of this paper to determine if there any constitutional arguments remaining for press access to the battlefield in the wake of the D.C. Circuit’s unanimous rejection of any such claim and the Supreme Court’s denial of certiorari for Flynt v. Rumsfeld in October 2004. The Supreme Court has never accorded the press access rights outside the courtroom and post-September 11 would probably not be inclined to grant any.

Access Control, Circumventing Devices, and the DMCA: A legislative history and case analysis • John Thomson Jr., University of Wisconsin-Madison • While the Digital Millennium Copyright Act was needed to combat digital piracy, the effect of the legislation has been to allow content owners greater control over how consumers use a copyrighted work. This paper offers an analysis of the legislative history and court application of the DMCA as it relates to access control and circumventing devices. It will be argued that, white user rights in access control was considered, the application poorly reflected Congress’ intent.

Evaluating cross-border Internet Hate Speech Regulation: a Normative Framework • Bastiaan Vanacker, University of Minnesota • This paper tries to develop a normative framework for assessing regulations of Internet content originating from another country. This framework is rooted in a representative concept of sovereignty, the end-to-end principle and the more practical principle of effectiveness. The framework was designed to assess regulatory attempts of European countries to limit hate speech originating from the United States, but can also be applied to other instances of cross border Internet content regulation.

International and Comparative Law on the Journalist’s Privilege: A Case of Reverse U.S. “Exceptionalism” in Freedom of the Press? • Kyu Ho Youm, University of Oregon • This paper examines the journalist’s privilege from an international and comparative perspective. Its main part comprises a discussion of U.S. law on the journalist’s privilege, comparison of the “shield laws” of several foreign countries, and an analysis of the ICIY’s decision in the Randal case, which involved Washington Post reporter Jonathan Randal.

The Yahoo! Case on Global Cybercommunication: National Laws Still Setting the Internet Borders • Kyu Ho Youm, University of Oregon • Yahoo! v. LICRA (9th Cir. 2006) focused on whether U.S. courts should enforce foreign cyberlaw judgments without violating the First Amendment on freedom of expression. This paper examines: (1) How are American news media protected against enforcement of foreign court judgments?; (2) On what ground did the Ninth Circuit rule en banc on the French court judgment against Yahoo!?; and (3) What is the significance of the Yahoo! case for cybercommunication?

<< 2006 Abstracts

International Communication Division

After the declaration: In search of Africa in Time magazine, 1979-1986 • Emmanuel C. Alozie, Governors State University • Concentrating on coverage within a decade of the adoption of UNESCO’s media declaration, this qualitative content analysis of Time magazine, using World Systems Theory as its conceptual framework, found that as a “historian in a relative hurry”, Time’s news and related coverage of Africa produced a mixed result.

Using Copyright Law to Protect Folklore: Unintended Consequences in Ghana • Kwasi Boateng, University of Arkansas and Duncan H. Brown, Ohio University • The need to protect folklore from commercial exploitation by transnational media corporations is widely accepted. However, the best mechanisms to achieve this protection are less clear. In Ghana attempts to protect folklore have resulted in a copyright act that requires Ghanaian nationals to pay a user fee to perform or adapt their own cultural artifacts. This paper reviews the issues this interpretation of copyright law raises and suggests an alternative approach.

Blasphemy As Sacred Rite/Right: “The Mohammed Cartoons Affair” and Maintenance of Journalistic Ideology • Dan Berkowitz and Lyombe Eko, University of Iowa • On September 30, 2005, Denmark’s largest newspaper, Jyllands-Posten, published twelve satirical drawings depicting the Muslim prophet Mohammed. This sparked a short-lived controversy that flared anew from the embers several months later. This paper explores how two national flagship newspapers – The New York Times and Le Monde – undertook the rite of paradigm maintenance for the sacred right of free speech and the professional ideology of journalism in the French and U.S. cultures.

Bride burning: how newspapers framed Dowry in India, 1999-2005 • Porismita Borah, University of Wisconsin-Madison • In India, the number of dowry-related deaths has been increasing exponentially. This study explores how newspapers framed dowry over a period of six years. Using framing analysis, the study employs a content analysis of 3,874 newspaper articles. The findings show that the newspapers interpreted the dowry issue in physical terms, which means most of the coverage was about the physical torture of the victim. And the coverage mostly consisted of short reports.

One Region, Two Worlds? Comparing Cultural Values in Chinese and Indian Television Commercials • Hong Cheng, Ohio University and Padmini Patwardhan, Winthrop University • As a first comparative study on advertising in two most populous and fastest-growing markets in the world today, this paper focuses on the cultural values reflected in Chinese and Indian television commercials. Major findings include that both countries’ commercials tend to emphasize modernity over tradition as a dominant value, and Chinese commercials used traditional Eastern values more often than Indian ads, which resorted to more Western values.

Expanding critical reporting within the confines of party-state control: the case of Southern Weekend • Li-Fung Cho, University of Hong Kong • China’s nascent watchdog journalism, motivated by commercial pressures and mandated by the central government to control the lower echelons of power, allows horizontal criticism mostly across provincial boundaries. This paper looks at how one leading Chinese newsweekly, Southern Weekend, expanded its editorial autonomy mainly by capitalizing on the power struggles between the central and local governments, and between one local government and another in order to survive and become profitable.

Death in the Middle East: an analysis of how the New York Times and Chicago Tribune frame violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict • Mohamad Elmasry, University of Iowa • This paper analyzed New York Times and Chicago Tribune newspaper coverage of killings in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The purpose of the study was to analyze how the two newspapers framed the violent actions of Israelis and Palestinians to find out what framing devices the newspapers used to express their pro-Israeli positions. Findings suggest that the newspapers used frames that justified Israeli killings, assigned more prominence to the Israeli perspective, and condemned Palestinian killings.

Guidance·Supervision·Reform·Freedom: Plotting the direction of Chinese media through an analysis of the all-important buzzword • Qian Gang, University of Hong Kong • This study employs Chinese-language database research, Chinese Party periodicals and the author’s first-hand experience as a media professional in China to analyze the development of China’s so-called “media reform” since the onset of economic reforms in the 1980s. The author analyzes the media policy buzzwords coined by high-level Chinese officials in order to clarify the thinking behind the country’s media policy and demystify what outside observers often read as inconsistent trends of openness and suppression.

Journalism and the State: Taking Seriously a Collaborative Role for the Press • Theodore L. Glasser, Stanford University • Many conceptions of press freedom, especially Western views of an independent and autonomous press, leave little room for a serious consideration of a collaborative relationship between the press and the state. Still, collaboration not only describes certain relationships between the press and the state but at times prescribes them as well.

Where in the World is Africa?: Predicting coverage of Africa by U.S. television networks • Guy J Golan, Florida International University • The current study investigates coverage of African nations by four U.S. television newscasts. It focuses on the news period between the years 2002-2004 and reveals that despite presence of wide scale famine, civil conflict, disputed elections and an AIDS epidemic, the African continent received limited coverage. In the discussion, the study’s results are incorporated into the larger theoretical application of world system theory into research on the determinants of international news coverage.

How the World Looks to Us: International News in Award-Winning Photographs from the Pictures of the Year, 1943-2003 • Keith Greenwood and Zoe Smith, University of Missouri • An analysis of award-winning photographs of international events from the annual Pictures of the Year competition is compared to a similar study of Pulitzer Prize winning photographs. The analysis concludes the award-winning photographs, which represent the best of photojournalism, portray international events through a limited number of themes that reinforce a stereotype of developing nations as violent and conflict-torn places.

How German Gen Xers Define Their Generation: An Exploratory Collective Case Study • Frauke Hachtmann, University of Nebraska-Lincoln • This exploratory collective case study describes how members of Generation X, who were born and raised in Germany define their generation. Typological analysis
was used to analyze the interview data. Six qualitative themes emerged, including “the stable family,” “the pensive generation,” “finding common cultural ground after the reunification,” “letting go of the past,” “television is dead,” and “keeping it real – advertising should be believable.”

Introducing Utilitarian Journalism: An Alternative to Development Journalism in Africa • Kingsley O. Harbor, Jacksonville State University • Utilitarian Journalism (UJ) is a concept developed by this author as an alternative to development journalism (DJ). UJ is a derivative of the theory of Utilitarianism by Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill. This paper develops the research-based components of DJ compares them with those of UJ. The study establishes the failure of DJ to advance the cause of national development and demonstrates, by comparison, the potential efficacy of UJ for advancing national development.

Discursive Themes in the Chronicle of Current Events • Elaine Hargrove-Simon, University of Minnesota • The Chronicle of Current Events (the Chronicle) was an underground dissident newspaper produced in the former Soviet Union from April 1968 until June 1982. By adopting an objective and legalistic tone, the Chronicle has been credited with playing an important role in the democratic movement in the former Soviet Union. This paper will attempt to identify elements of discourse contained in the Chronicle that placed it in such an important role in the democratic movement.

9/11, the War on Terrorism and the U.S. Image in Latin America: Reinforcement Rather than Rupture • Sallie Hughes and Jesus Arroyave, University of Miami • Latin Americans turned to mass media on Sept. 11, 2001 like people everywhere, but for them the meaning of the attacks was colored by how they are tied economically and personally to the United States.

Engendering transition: A textual analysis of portrayals of female politicians in the Bulgarian press • Elza Ibroscheva, Southern Illinois University and Maria Raicheva-Stover, Washburn University • This paper examines how the changes after the fall of the Berlin Wall have affected the presentation of female politicians in Eastern Europe. Textual analysis of the highest circulation daily in Bulgaria was used to examine how female politicians were portrayed during the 2005 parliamentary elections.

“FOXifying” Bulgarian TV: A Critical Analysis of the First Private National Channel in Bulgaria • Elza Ibroscheva, Southern Illinois University and Maria Raicheva-Stover, Washburn University • This paper applies a critical analysis of the tension between global and local to examine the effects of foreign capital on the broadcasting system of post-communist Bulgaria. By exploring through a mix of quantitative and qualitative methods the creation of Bulgaria’s first private national channel, bTV, an affiliate of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, this paper shows how the initial strong resistance to bTV’s commercially-driven programming was successfully quenched by high ratings and advertising revenues.

New Windows, New Air: The Use of Online Political Bulletin Boards by Arabs • Ali Jamal, Edward Waters College and S. M. Mazharul Haque, University of Southern Mississippi • This study employs the uses and gratifications perspective to explore motivations leading Arabs to use the online political bulletin boards. A factor analysis of 456 questionnaires revealed the occurrence of four factors motivations: information/surveillance, anticensorship/freedom, excitement, and guidance. Correlations occurred between motivations and interest in politics, political efficacy, trust in government, and discussing issues with people. The study found that the guidance factor played a key role in predicting users’ discussions of issues and information.

Radio and the Making of a Nation: Slovak Radio in World War II and the Cold War (1938-1968) • Owen V. Johnson, Indiana University • This paper provides a historical examination of the role of radio in the process of the development of national identity during the three decades when radio was the primary mass medium. During these decades, governed respectively by semi-fascist, democratic and communist governments, radio helped create a distinctly Slovak – as opposed to Czechoslovak –public sphere, which helped lay the groundwork for the eventual division of the country at the end of 1992.

Media framing of Hurricane Katrina and foreign correspondents’ journalistic expectations from the US media coverage of the disaster • Yusuf Kalyango, Jr. and Petya Eckler, University of Missouri-Columbia • This study examines the foreign media framing of Hurricane Katrina and foreign correspondents’ journalistic expectations from the U.S. media coverage of the disaster. A content analysis of the foreign press and a survey of non-U.S. journalists were conducted. Overall journalistic expectations were not met in terms of public dialog, diversity and skepticism but were satisfied for investigative reporting and accuracy. Great differences in opinion were seen between foreign correspondents from Europe and other continents.

International Communication, Terrorism and Post-Colonial Theory • Anandam P. Kavooori, University of Georgia • Post-colonial analytical strategies are discussed and related to the subject matter of terrorism by (a) dis-articulating the semantic and political field behind traditional categorizations of International Communication (Culture, Nation, and Theory) and suggesting how these are re-worked in the semantic space of contemporary terrorism and (b) articulating issues of globality, identity and reflexivity and seeing how these are animated/disseminated in contemporary, pre and post 9/11 strategies of mediated terrorism.

Persisting patterns: a framing analysis of the New York Times’ coverage of Venezuelan politics, 2001-2005 • Sara Keever, University of Texas-Austin • This study examined the framing of recent Venezuelan politics in the New York Times. A content analysis of 386 articles revealed striking similarities between the frames presented in this prestige newspaper and those of the White House and the conservative partisan press. The author concludes that journalistic routines and ideologies, such as elite sourcing, ethnocentrism and altruistic democracy, influenced the exclusion of alternative frames in this case.

Collective memory and visuals of “the most romantic event of World War II” in Parisian newspapers • Susan Keith, State University of New Jersey • This paper analyses how images published in ten Parisian newspapers on the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Paris reflect collective memories about a touchstone event in French history. It suggests that collective memory favored conceptions of France as its own liberator, celebrating its authority, and crowded out images of the enemy, collaborators, and Americans.

Axis of evil? News framing of North Korea before and after the 2002 U.S. State of the Union Address • Yeon Kyeong Kim, University of Iowa • This study examines the use of government sources and framing of North Korea in the New York Times before and after the 2002 U.S. State of the Union address. A content analysis of 132 news stories found that foreign government sources were used more frequently than U.S. government sources in both periods. Results showed that after North Korea was included in the “axis of evil,” crime, military, nuclear weapons, refugees, and cultural/human interest frames increased.

Fair or Unfair?: Comparative Press Coverage Analysis of Cigarette Trade Talks and Policy by Korean and U.S. Press • Kwangmi Ko Kim, Towson University and Heewon Cha, Ewha Woman’s University, Seoul, SOUTH KOREA • Based on a framing theory, this study provides a comparative analysis of news coverage of cigarette trade talks and polices between Korea and the U.S. The quantitative analysis reveals that each country’s newspapers similarly covered this issue as a trade issue, but the qualitative analysis indicates that this issue was differently framed in a way that reflects each country’s political, economic, and social circumstances.

Selective Exposure of Korean Internet Users to Framed Online News Media • Yung Soo Kim and Jyotika Ramaprasad, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale • This online survey explored the relationship between Internet users’ selection of (i.e., exposure to) online news media in Korea, which framed the issue of Korea’s joining the Iraq War differently. The regression models based on 213 participants’ answers showed that attitudes toward the Iraq War and awareness of the difference between two polarizing online news media, the progressive OhmyNews and the conservative Chosun.com, were significantly related to Korean Internet users’ selective exposure.

Press freedom in transitional regimes as a contributor to democratic processes • Svetlana Kulikova, Louisiana State University ? The paper explores the role of press freedom and media independence in transitional countries that became independent as a result of break-down of the socialist block. Using the data from three major Freedom House survey available for 27 nations in transition since 1994, regression analyses show a strong correlation: greater freedom of press and more independent press systems are indicative of greater overall democratization and shorter periods of transition.

The WMD coverage of blogs and mainstream media: a comparison of two media types • Jue Kook Lee and Jaekwan Jeong, University of Texas, Austin • This study analyzes coverage of Iranian and North Korean WMD by blogs and mainstream media, and examines how the two media types deal with international news, with theoretical framework of second-level intermedia agenda-setting. The blogs attribute agenda is found to have strong correlations with the mainstream attribute agenda with regards to the issue of WMD coverage. The results suggest that despite many distinct characteristics, blogs cover international news in very similar way to mainstream media.

Frames and agendas: a time series analysis of how the US President and the US media portray foreign leaders • Jeongsub Lim, University of Missouri-Columbia • This study examined how the U.S. president and The New York Times portrayed the policies and leaderships of foreign presidents. Presidents of South Korea and the Philippines were chosen. Using a bivariate ARIMA models, this study found that President George W. Bush influenced how the newspaper covered South Korean presidents. The newspaper also influenced how President Bush depicted South Korean presidents to some extent. There were bidirectional influences between the two for the Philippine presidents.

Reporting a Humanitarian Tragedy: A Framing Analysis of Chinese Newspaper Coverage of Darfur • Xun Liu and Seow Ting Lee, Michigan State University • This study examines the coverage of the Darfur crisis by the People’s Daily and the China Daily over 26 months. Based on a content analysis and a textual analysis, the comparative framing analysis found similarities in the coverage, which is motivated by national interest. However, there are significant differences in the portrayal of major actors, and the assignment of blame and responsibility. The findings can be explained by the papers’ ownership and China’s media environment.

Super Girl’s voice: exploring the effects of dynamic cross-media interaction and a generation of new Chinese TV genre • Shanshan Lu, People’s University of China and Tuen-yu Lau, University of Washington, Seattle • This paper seeks to explore the impact of a very popular television show, “Super Girl’s Voice,” as a new genre in Chinese television programming. Additionally, In China’s TV industry, the use of instant messaging is a very special phenomenon — that Short Messages Service (SMS) is used to encourage audience participation in TV programs.

A conceptual framework for analyzing the agenda-setting influence of the African media in a conflict context • Eronini R. Megwa, California State University, Bakersfield • This paper sketches out a new conceptual framework for examining the agenda-setting role of the media in a conflict context in a social system with a weak media system. Building on Megwa and Brenner’s (1988) agenda-setting paradigm, the paper argues that in such a system, influence flows from opinion leaders to the media, to the elite, and eventually to the general public.

Objectivity in News During a Time of Impending War: An Examination of Coverage in New York Times prior to 2003 Iraq War • Srinivas R. Melkote, Jacob Turner, and Michael Meredith, Bowling Green State University • In keeping with the theme of the 2006 AEJMC Conference, this paper is an empirical analysis that falls under the category of media criticism and accountability. Specifically, the study investigated the manner in which the New York Times covered the events, issues, and actors during the month prior to the start of the 2003 war with Iraq.

Un-Covering Darfur Sudan 2003-2005: Which News Organization Offered the Most Comprehensive Coverage? • Bella Mody, University of Colorado • Media coverage of developing countries and U.S. domestic realities continues to be sensational, episodic and stereotypical, in spite of years of scholarship and political protest. The consequences of the lack of an internationally informed citizenry are politically troubling at this unipolar juncture in world political history with the U.S. as sole superpower on the one hand, and private investors looking for faster increases in rates of return from their investment in media firms on the other.

The framing of SARS by Chinese Regional and mainland media • Mia Moody-Hall, University of Texas, Austin • This contextual analysis looked at how mainland and regional Chinese newspapers framed the coverage of the SARS epidemic. After a systematic assessment of the coverage of the disease and the extent to which its areas of concern were communicated to the public, the author found that there were key differences in how the genres framed their coverage of the disease.

Terrorist or freedom fighter: the effects of the United States’ and the United Kingdom’s ideological views and global policies in the coverage of the trial of Jomo Kenyatta by the New York Times and The Times of London • Tayo Oyedeiji, Missouri School of Journalism • This study analyzed the framing of Jomo Kenyatta in the New York Times and The Times of London to investigate the effects of a nation’s ideological stance/global policy on its media’s coverage of an international event/personality. The study found that the ideological stance/global policy of the United States affected the trial’s coverage by the New York Times while the United Kingdom’s global policy did not seem to affect the coverage by The Times of London.

Melanin on the Margins: Advertising and the Magic of Women’s Skin-Lightening in India • Radhika E. Parameswaran, Indiana University and Kavitha Cardoza, University of Illinois at Springfield • This paper takes a qualitative approach to examine magazine advertisements for cosmetic products that promise to lighten women’s skin color in post-liberalization India. Borrowing from the insights of semiotic and Marxist criticism and feminist cultural studies, the paper explores the range of visual and story-telling techniques that advertisements deploy to persuade Indian women to purchase skin-lightening cosmetic products.

Critical Citizens in Taiwan: A Social Capital Approach • Bonnie Peng, National Chengchi University, Taipei, TAIWAN • The purpose of this study is to examine voters’ media use, social capital, and civic knowledge in Taiwan and to try to find out the relationships between voters’ civic knowledge and their voting on election days. The result of the study found that watching television and the preference for hard-news materials were related to citizens’ life satisfaction. The hard-news preference was also related to respondents’ civic knowledge and actual voting.

Liberating the silenced: Iranian bloggers in the diaspora • Celine Petrossian, California State University, Northridge • This study examined how diaspora Iranians use blogs to engage in a dialogue about their Iranian identities, and the ways in which they maintain, challenge or create their identities through the use of blogs. Interviews were conducted with Iranian bloggers in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. Findings suggest that blogs have liberated a traditionally silenced Iranian society by providing a transnational space for political, social and cultural self-expression.

Job satisfaction and professionalism among private radio station employees in Uganda • Gregory Pitts, Bradley University • This manuscript reviews the role of radio in Africa and focuses on the introduction of free-enterprise radio, with a specific look at radio in Uganda. A quantitative study of private radio station employees in Uganda found a young, highly educated and generally satisfied workforce. A desire to use their abilities and get ahead professionally characterizes the employees. But, job insecurity and low pay are limiting factors to career progress among most of the employees.

First Democracy in Chinese History: Media’s Role in the Democratization of Taiwan • Kuldip R. Rampal, Central Missouri State University • This research paper, based on a field study in Taiwan, explains the role of the dissident media during martial law years and free media in the post-martial law years to push for and consolidate democratic political institutions in Taiwan. The facilitative role played by an evolving interpretation of the Confucian ideology, communication revolution and Taiwan’s globalized economy is also discussed.

Uses of Mass Media for Adaptation Purposes: A Quantitative Study of Brazilian Immigrants in Los Angeles • Raul Reis, California State University, Long Beach • This research project used a quantitative instrument to assess how Brazilian immigrants in the Los Angeles area use English and Portuguese-language mass media for adaptation purposes. A survey instrument was developed to assess how the use of ethnic and host mass media contribute to the way Brazilian immigrants in a large and multicultural metropolitan area adapt to life in the United States.

Media framing of Indonesian government and GAM • Renuka Suryanarayan, Ohio University • The Indonesian media’s role in the one year of peace moves of the Indonesian National Armed forces (TNI) with the rebels of Banda Aceh was studied. The media framing of the Indonesian National Armed forces (TNI) and the Aceh Freedom Movement (GAM) was determined by a content analysis. Results indicated that the military government got overwhelming more attention, prominence and treatment. This was congruent with trade literature criticism of a biased Indonesian media.

Framing Sars in China • Feng Shen and Jiun-yi Tsai, University of Florida, Gainesville • A framing analysis examines the U.S. media coverage of SARS in China in 2003. The purpose is to investigate the use of an “anti-communism/Tiananmen Square demonstration” China frame and the relationship between the media coverage and the Chinese government’s policy change towards SARS. The results indicate that the media were more critical of the Chinese government and employed more frequent reference to the “anti-communism” frame when the Chinese government took more active measures against SARS.

Covering Terrorism Abroad: News and news values in the U.S. and China • Pamela J. Shoemaker, Gang Han and Jong-Hyuk Lee, Syracuse University and Yonghua Zhang, Shanghai University • This study compared U.S. and Chinese news coverage about five terrorist events that occurred in 2004 and 2005. The number of victims – large or small – and the location of the perpetrators – domestic separatists or foreign terrorists – were used to predict how prominently the events are covered in both countries’ newspapers. The number of victims is an indicator of how newsworthy an event.

The global village in a local context – Implementing global awareness as a managerial competency within South Africa’s multicultural mainstream media newsrooms • Elanie Steyn, Deon de Klerk and TFJ (Derik) Steyn, North-West University, South Africa • Globalization has become one of the most salient characteristics of business activity worldwide. Successful global media activity necessitates sound global awareness skills among media managers. These include cultural knowledge, understanding, openness and sensitivity. South Africa’s multilingual and multicultural media environment requires media managers to primarily apply these skills in a local context. This could contribute towards improved newsroom management and ultimately professional media output.

Juggling the blame: news framing of the Srebrenica crisis (1993-2005) • Marina Vujnovic, University of Iowa • This framing study is a content analysis of the news articles published on the Srebrenica crisis in New York Times and Washington Post from 1993, when Srebrenica was proclaimed a safe area by United Nations officials and the international community, through 1995, when the first genocide in Europe since WWII occurred in Srebrenica, and to 2005, when many articles appeared during the 10th anniversary of the Srebrenica crisis.

No press, no peace: media freedom and the onset of international conflict • Fred Vultee, University of Missouri • Recent studies have pointed to the importance of media freedom as a factor in the “democratic peace,” or the observation that democracies do not make war on other democracies. This study seeks to expand on that work by extending it into the post-Cold War era and by using press freedom as an ordinal variable rather than a dichotomous one.

The “Baghdad Broadcasting Corporation”: US conservatives take aim at the BBC • Melissa Wall, California State University, Northridge and Douglas Bicket, St. John Fisher College • This paper employs qualitative textual analysis to assess the US conservative attack on British media, particularly the BBC, during the post 911 terrorism wars, finding conservative blogs, print media and think tanks notably hostile. The processes of media criticism taking place within conservative circles are viewed through the analytical concepts of news repair and boundary maintenance.

The Principal-agent Problem in Chinese State-owned Press • Guozhen Wang, and Peng Hwa Ang, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore • The principal-agent problem refers to the conflicts of interests between an enterprise’s owner, the principal, and its manager, the agent. In the Chinese press, this problem is manifested in extravagance, corruption, and other misfeasance. While Chinese authorities attribute such mischief to some immoral managers and journalists, the authors argue that the problems are systemic and structural. The authors suggest that the role of the press has to be redefined and private ownership thereof legitimized.

The reception of local, regional and global television dramas in Hong Kong • Xie Wenjng, University of Maryland • Inspired by the concept of cultural proximity, which was used to explain the local and regional cultural booming by Latin American scholars, a study was conducted in Hong Kong to examine audiences’ preference for local, regional and global TV dramas. We detect a hybridized choices pattern of TV dramas in Hong Kong.

Explore the determinants of international news coverage in Australia’s online media • Wang Xiaopeng, Ohio University • This study expanded international news flow studies to the online media environment. The researcher examined the contextual determinants of online international news flow in Australia and discovered that if nations had strong economies and large numbers of Internet users, they would receive more coverage on Australia?s online media. Furthermore, after 9/11, foreign countries that traditional media usually do not cover could attract more attention from online media if they have a powerful, active military.

Cultural dimensions and framing the internet in China: a cross-cultural study of newspapers’ coverage in Hong Kong, Singapore, the U.S. and the UK • Xiang Zhou • University of Tennessee, Knoxville • The current study introduces Hofstede’s cultural dimensions into framing research by conducting a cross-cultural comparative analysis of news coverage of the Internet in China from 2000 to 2004 in Hong Kong, Singapore, the United States and the United Kingdom. Differences were found in terms of both the salience of Internet-related issues and the use of news frames across societies.

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