Archives for January 2012

History Division

Pete Rozelle: How The Commissioner Used Public Relations To Promote The NFL • William B. Anderson, University of Scranton • This study on former National Football League Commissioner Pete Rozelle presents a unique opportunity to examine how an organizational leader with PR work experience managed a business operation. Rozelle used his public relations background to help make the NFL America’s number one sport (in terms of revenue and in fan polling). Rozelle’s work was analyzed with a methodology developed by Irwin, Zwick & Sutton (1999), which offered a multidimensional approach to help measure organizational performance.

Postal System Development During the Civil War • John Anderson, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign • During the Civil War, postal system development in the United States and Confederate States of America took radically divergent paths. Whereas the U.S. subsidized its postal system, the Confederacy required self-sufficiency. While it remarkably achieved this goal, it did so at the cost of service and public access. To the contrary, the U.S. Post Office implemented several service innovations during wartime. Post-war the U.S. Post Office Department was an active participant in the reunification process.

A Sales Floor in the Sky: Department Store Radio Stations, 1920-1922 • Noah Arceneaux, University of Georgia • Following the creation of the first radio stations in 1920, the number of stations exploded in the following two years. Department stores operated 30 of these early stations and used them to stimulate the sale of receivers, to advertise the store, and to promote specific lines of merchandise. This research analyzes the overlooked phenomenon of department store radio stations as precursors to the commercial model of broadcasting that would eventually dominate the industry.

“Sorry, Cable Trouble”: Kenneth Cox, Lee Loevinger and FCC Reforms in the 1960s • John Armstrong, Furman University • The mid-1960s were a period of ferment and conflict on the Federal Communications Commission. Key issues for the FCC included economic protection for broadcasters against cable television, programming requirements for television licensees, and the fate of the racist television station WLBT. Kenneth Cox and Lee Loevinger were important figures in two conflicting factions of the FCC.

Mediocrity Under Pressure: Chicago Defender coverage of the integration professional baseball in Chicago • Brian Carroll, Berry College • This paper examines the Chicago Cubs’ integration as it was chronicled and contextualized by the Chicago Defender. The Cubs’ additions of Ernie Banks and Gene Baker late in 1953 are placed into the black community’s social and cultural contexts of the time. Examined are the loyalties of the city’s South Side, cleavages that were already divided among the White Sox, which integrated several seasons prior, and the Negro American League, which was struggling to survive.

You have the right to remain silent or you may choose to put your words in print: The Rikers Review and the prison press as advocacy journalism • Kalen M.A. Churcher, The Pennsylvania State University • Prison journalism has been a part of U.S. history since 1800, yet the subgenre has become nearly extinct. Through a close reading of three of the earliest years (1937-1939) of the Rikers Review, this research paper describes how prison reform advocacy was woven into prison journalism much like black, abolitionist and suffragist newspapers presented their own constituencies’ crusades. Though clearly understudied, prison journalism warrants the same scholarly recognition afforded to other advocacy media.

Personal journalism before blogs (anc! before ‘zines): The “amateur press” or “amateur journalism” since 1786 • Dane S. Claussen, Point Park University • After introducing blogging and the “amateur press” movement (primarily late 1860s onward), including listing “amateur journalists” who went on to become prominent newspaper editors and publishers, this paper compares and contrasts today’s blogging with yesteryear’s amateur press movement. Similarities include heavy preponderance of confident, even egotistical, youth; usually short durations; small audiences; financial investment but little or no return; inexpensive technological advances; society’s influences on content; formation of journalists’ community; and no quality control.

Gilles Caron’s coverage of the May 1968 rebellion • Claude Cookman, Indiana University • This article analyzes photojournalist Gilles Caron’s coverage of the May 1968 rebellion in Paris. It argues that Caron photographed the events with great thoroughness, covering both the student militants and the forces of order during the nightly skirmishes; documenting numerous demonstrations, rallies, political meetings and other major events, and portraying the major student leaders and politicians. It maintains Caron produced several images that went beyond daily news photographs to become lasting symbols of the rebellion.

Study Buddies, Matchmakers, and Career Advisors: Cigarette Promotion in the University of Tennessee Newspaper The Orange and White 1926-1963 • Elizabeth Crisp Crawford, University of Tennessee Knoxville • From the 1920s to the 1960s cigarette companies were lucrative campus newspaper advertising sponsors. Advertisements played an important role in creating and reinforcing a cigarette smoking culture. The goal of this research will be to show how cigarette advertisers refined their product’s image to appeal to college students. The campus newspaper of The University of Tennessee, The Orange and White, wil1 serve as a case history to demonstrate how this goal was achieved.

Extra! Chicago Defender Race Record Ads Show South From Afar • Mark K. Dolan, University of Mississippi • The present study examines the South in the narratives, illustrations and song titles of 148 blues and jazz record ads culled from the hundreds appearing in the Chicago Defender between 1920 and 1929. This new, emotionally-charged look at the South through its blues and jazz artists as reflected in the ads clashed with the paper’s prevailing cultural conservatism, the resulting tension is the focus of this study.

“A More Beautiful, More Perfect Lily.” Canadian Women’s Education and Work in the Christian Reform Journalism of Agnes Maule Machar, 1870’s-1890’s • Barbara M. Freeman, Carleton University • Agnes Maule Machar of Kingston, Ontario, was an ardent Canadian nationalist, a Christian social reformer and an early women’s movement activist who believed education was the key to challenging work for women. From the 1870’s to the 1890’s, Machar presented her ideas in several intellectual magazines. Her journalism was shaped by her maternal feminism and Christian social reform activism, the prevailing cultural discourse about women’s rights, and growing commercial pressures in the Canadian magazine industry.

Out of the Darkness, A Hero Emerges: Press Coverage of Coal Mining Disasters • Karen M. Hilyard, University of Georgia • Coal miners are among the most enduring of America’s proletarian heroes, evoking anachronistic imagery and sentimentality. This study seeks to add to the understanding of how heroes are created and covered by journalists, by analyzing media representations of the coal miner during a string of December 1907 mining disasters, as covered by The Philadelphia Inquirer, one of the era’s most prominent urban mass circulation newspapers and the major daily of the coal mining regions.

“Darling Jerry, Darling Mabel, Darling Moran: Ernie Pyle and the Women Behind Him” • Owen V. Johnson, Indiana University • This paper, based on much previously private correspondence, examines the relationship of journalistic icon Ernie Pyle with three women with whom he was intimate and their apparent impact on his journalistic performance. The first was his wife Jerry who nursed him through his days on the road across the United States. As she sank deeper and deeper into manic depression, alcoholism and drug addiction, he was attracted to other women who might take Jerry’s place.

The Lost World of Richard Rovere and Joe McCarthy • Julie B. Lane, University of Wisconsin-Madison • Richard Rovere, the longtime New Yorker correspondent, was an early critic of Senator Joe McCarthy. Reactions to Rovere’s biography of the senator overlook his grudging appreciation of McCarthy’s abilities and obscure his contribution to the journalistic response to McCarthy. Rovere saw McCarthy as a demagogue who dominated U.S. politics and America’s global reputation. This examination of Rovere’s writings adds to our understanding of journalism’s response to McCarthy and to the complexity of the senator’s legacy.

“As citizens of Portland we must protest: Beatrice Morrow Cannady and African American Response to D.W. Griffith’s “Masterpiece,” The Birth of a Nation • Kimberley Mangun, University of Utah • Although some have studied NAACP attempts to bar The Birth of a Nation, journalism historians have overlooked the challenges facing isolated editors. This original study depicts editor Beatrice Cannady’s advocacy on behalf of Black Oregonians. Using primary documents including articles and editorials in the Advocate—the newspaper she published until 1936—film reviews and news stories in the white press, and NAACP documents, this study re-creates a contentious period and illustrates the paper’s importance as a mouthpiece.

Deadly Inferno(s): MOVE as a category for analyzing crisis? • Nicole Maurantonio, University of Pennsylvania • This paper explores how news organizations across the United States chose to present the analogy between the crises in Philadelphia and Waco through an examination of print coverage of the Branch Davidian compound’s destruction. Drawing upon the 1985 bombing of the MOVE house as a similar incident within recent history, journalists attempted to situate the actions taken in Waco within a context accessible to the public.

Meet Pretty Kitty Kelly: Marion Keisker’s Negotiation of Gender in 1940s Memphis Radio • Melissa Meade, Colby-Sawyer College • This paper explores the career of Marion Keisker, a frequently overlooked figure in the history of radio. In the 1940s Keisker developed the “Kitty Kelly” persona on WRECAM, and became well-known in the Memphis community. This study analyzes one particularly illuminating interview, in which Keisker negotiates and challenges inherited gender roles, paving the way for a later career working in the second-wave U.S. women’s rights movement.

A Failed Crusade: Newsroom Integration and the Tokenization of John Sengstacke • Gwyneth Mellinger, Baker University • In 1972 a small group of editors urged the American Society of Newspaper Editors to take up the cause of newsroom integration, but to no avail. Through analysis of primary materials, this paper traces the ways in which the editors’ attempt to enact social justice was repeatedly subverted, often by their own actions. Central to this argument is a discussion of the ASNE’s tokenization of John Sengstacke, the organization’s first black member.

Isaac D. White, Yellow Journalism and the Birth of Media Accountability • Neil Nemeth, Purdue University • This paper examines the role of the New York World’s Isaac D. White (1864-1943) as a major crime reporter, legal expert and the first news ombudsman. After a reporting career of 25 years, White became an expert in media law and the first news ombudsman as head of the World’s Bureau of Accuracy and Fair Play from 1913 to 1931. The paper argues that White was a significant figure in the development of media accountability.

Forgotten and Ignored: Mississippi Newspaper Coverage of Clyde Kennard and his efforts to integrate Mississippi Southern College • Jason A. Peterson, University of Southern Mississippi • Clyde Kennard unsuccessfully tried to integrate Mississippi Southern College in 1959. For his efforts, he was charged with a number of questionable crimes, culminating in a seven-year burglary conviction. This paper argues that the majority of print media outlets in Mississippi failed in their journalistic duties of presenting an unbiased and accurate depiction of the Kennard story.

Tarred, Feathered, and Speaking to the Nation: Niles’ Register and Political Thought, 1829-1849 • Erika J. Pribanic-Smith, University of Alabama • The author conducted a Web-based content analysis to determine Niles’ Register’s position during the Nullification and Wilmot Proviso controversies, if there was a difference between the two, and how the Register compared with political sentiment. The Register reflected Niles’ support of the tariff and opposition to nullification, whereas his successors remained neutral on the Proviso. Other changes during the Proviso included different source materials, blander content, and fewer editorials. The Register reflected the political atmosphere.

Organizing Resistance: The Use of Public Relations by the Citizens’ Councils in Mississippi, 1954-1964 • Laura Richardson Walton, Mississippi State University • During the decade that followed the Brown decision, white Mississippians engaged in many activities to avoid and even nullify the Supreme Court’s edict to integrate the state’s public school systems. In coordinating efforts to protect the “Southern way of life,” the Citizens’ Councils engaged in public relations campaigns that became the key component of the state’s battle to preserve its lily-white school systems.

Hero building in Sporting Life, an early baseball journal • Lori Amber Roessner, University of Georgia • By the turn of the twentieth century, organized baseball had emerged as America’s national pastime with larger-than-life heroes enshrined in mythic lore. Early sportswriters engaged in a symbiotic relationship with organized baseball, promoting the sport, its leaders and players, yet all the while profiting from the game’s success. This paper examines how early sports journalists crafted sports heroes through primitive and advanced means by analyzing Sporting Life, one of the earliest sports journals, from 1912-17.

Hayes, Herr and Sack: Esquire Goes to Vietnam • Keith Saliba, University of Florida • This paper examines the work of Harold Hayes, Michael Herr and John Sack, and what their loose collaboration while serving as editor and writers respectively for Esquire magazine during the 1960s contributed to the journalistic coverage of America’s involvement in Vietnam. Using techniques generally ascribed to literary journalism – and with Hayes’ blessing – Herr and Sack went beyond traditional reporting to delve deeper and reveal a truer picture of the conflict and its human costs.

Rethinking Rights: Press Coverage of Orders Rescinding the World War II Evacuation of Japanese-Americans • Glenn W. Scott, Elon University • California newspapers supported the War Department’s order sending Japanese Americans into internment camps in the months following the attack on Pearl Harbor. When federal decrees were rescinded in late 1944, papers began to reconsider their coverage and depictions of Japanese-Americans returning to the West Coast. This study finds the San Francisco Chronicle, influenced by retired editor Chester H. Rowell, was more willing to revise its narrative than the other major paper, the Los Angeles Times.

Carrying the Banner: The Portrayal of the American Newsboy Myth in the Disney Musical Newsies • Stephen Siff, Ohio University • The Disney musical Newsies depicts a previously forgotten moment in journalism history, when newsboys in New York shut down two of the largest newspapers in the country and sparked what nearly became a city-wide children’s general strike. This paper examines the musical’s fidelity to period accounts of newsboys and 1899 New York newsboy strike and assesses it as a work of history.

Exiled from Italy: The Golden Voice of Italy’s Propaganda Broadcasts (1932-1937) • Stacy Spaulding, Columbia Union College • This paper examines the Italian broadcasting career of Lisa Sergio, a propaganda broadcaster in Rome from 1932 to 1937. Did Sergio, as she claimed in her autobiographical writings, immigrate to the United States because she became an antifascist while working for Italian dictator Benito Mussolini? Or, as FBI informants believed, was Sergio forced into exile because she became too vocal about affairs with high fascist officials?

The Journalist and the Jurist: Twenty Years of Correspondence Between Two Political Adversaries • Kevin Stoker, Brigham Young University • In the early days of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal, a progressive Harvard Law professor and a conservative New York editorial page editor began a correspondence that lasted twenty years. The Democratic jurist and future Supreme Court Justice, Felix Frankfurter, had helped found the American Civil Liberties Union and the New Republic. His Republican journalistic cohort, Geoffrey Parsons, wrote for the New Deal’s leading opponent, the New York Herald Tribune.

A Crucible For the First Amendment: The Hollywood Ten in the Autumn of 1947 • Wendy E. Swanberg, University of Wisconsin-Madison • This paper explores the First Amendment implications of the Hollywood blacklists. In November 1947, ten screenwriters were charged with contempt of Congress for refusing to answer questions before the House Committee on Un-American Activities. The “Hollywood Ten” fought the charges with a novel First Amendment argument, but ultimately lost when the movie industry refused to support them. The screenwriters’ constitutional right to silence ran headlong into the movie industry’s right to be free of government censorship.

A Cultural Explanation for Early Political Broadcast Policy: Values of Partisanship and Neutrality • Timothy P. Vos, Seton Hall University • This paper offers a brief description of the political broadcasting policy that emerged during the 1920s and early 1930s. The focus, however, is on constructing a cultural explanation for this particular historical outcome. What were the cultural values, attitudes, and ideas that emerged in debate surrounding political broadcasting policy? By theorizing culture as a toolkit, two specific cultural values, partisanship and neutrality, were explored for their role in bounding the agency of various historical actors.

<< 2006 Abstracts

Cultural and Critical Studies Division

Circling the Wagons: Containing the Impact of the Downing Street Memo Story in the United States • Douglas Bicket, St. John Fisher College and Melissa Wall, California State University, Northridge • The paper expands the concepts of boundary maintenance and news repair beyond the domestic news realm, and considers them as mechanisms by which the U.S. mainstream news media contain and limit the effectiveness of influences from UK and other foreign news sources in the U.S. public sphere. The focus is on the “Downing Street Memo” story, whose impact was clearly limited by U.S. mainstream media forces employing news repair strategies to downgrade its significance.

Media Criticism as Competitive and Collective Discourse: Defining Reportage of the Abu Ghraib Scandal • Matt Carlson, University of Pennsylvania ? Media criticism is best understood as a competitive dialogue occurring across different spheres. However, each sphere has its own norms and presuppositions as an interpretive community. As a site for inquiry, the paper tracks criticism surrounding reportage of the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal in spring 2004 in four spheres: within the news, the journalism trade press, from the left, and from the right. Criticism either upholds journalistic norms or condemns underlying framework of news.

Counting from Ten Backwards: The New York Times Coverage of the Central American Free Trade Agreement as Anesthesia for a Critical Discussion of Globalization • Kristin Comeforo, Berkeley College • The current study analyzed NY Times framing of the Central American Free Trade Agreement. The goal was to understand how a corporate, profit-oriented media would cover an issue that promised great financial rewards to transnational corporations. Through the framing of CAFTA as a business issue, the privileging of politicians as key sources, and the lack of historical context, findings suggest that the NY Times performed an anesthetizing function that silenced the critical debate of globalization.

Darfur: International Neglect and News Media Silence in the Face of Genocide • Chinedu (Ocek) Eke, Elon University • This paper examines the conflict in Darfur described by many, including the President of the United States, as an ongoing genocide. To this end, I argue that the dearth of news media coverage, particularly of television news, on one of the most egregious human rights violations of our time has kept the public largely in the dark on the scope of the genocide while prolonging the plight of Darfurians.

A Postmodern Critique of Framing and Power: A Response to Durham • J. Collin English, Portland State University • The following paper offers a postmodern critique of the concept of framing using the theories of Jean François Lyotard. It is written in response to the postmodern critique published by Frank Durham (1998; 2003). It offers the discussion a concept of power as it relates to the legitimation of knowledge and the concept of framing.

Tracing the Blame Game: Constructions of Victimization in The New York Times, 1920-2003 • Katie Foss, University of Minnesota • This paper explores how media coverage has historically constructed the role of the crime victim using a discourse analysis of The New York Times. Findings indicate that shifts in discussions of innocence, culpability, restitution, credibility and criminal’s rights generally follow trends in victimization, reflecting early victimology theories and debates in the victim’s movement. Increasingly, though, recent discourse questions female victim credibility, depriving her of restitution, whilst reinforcing hegemonic structures by assisting the criminal’s liberation.

The Claims of Multiculturalism and Journalism’s Promise of Diversity • Theodore L. Glasser, Isabel Awad and John W. Kim, Stanford University • Claims for diversity in American journalism rest on a model of democracy, pluralism, that conserves existing arrangements and leaves many cultural groups at the margins of society. An alternative model of democracy, multiculturalism, posits a more inclusive society and proffers an entirely different conception of journalism diversity.

Overcoming Modernity: The Relevance of Gianni Vattimo to Mass Communication Research • Rochelle Green, University of Oregon and Bastiaan Vanacker, University of Minnesota • This interdisciplinary research paper seeks to ascertain the importance of Italian philosopher, Gianni Vattimo to the field of mass communication research by situating his work in The Transparent Society and “Democracy, Reality, and the Media: Educating the Ubermensche” with several other important scholars in the field. We argue that Vattimo’s work enables research to venture beyond the effects-centered orientation that has long dominated the field.

Wave goodbye to the smoke-filled bar: An analysis of the New York Times’ multiple roles in the struggle for and against cigarette smoke • Robert L. Handley, University of Texas at Austin • The New York Times has taken a stance against smoking by banning cigarette ads and editorializing in favor of “anti-smoking” bills. However, analysis of the paper’s coverage of New York City’s own legislation suggests that its journalists contradicted that stance. First, journalists ignored the public and bar employees while sourcing the City and bar owners. Second, journalists framed the bill as the end, rather than the beginning, of a way of life.

Free-Linking Indirect Speech: Its Practical & Ideological Use in Journalistic Discourse • Joseph C. Harry, Slippery Rock University • The concept of Free-Linking Indirect Speech [FLIS] is introduced to account for certain kinds of indirect quotation occurring in newspaper stories. FLIS is a hybrid concept mixing two concepts in existing communication and linguistic literatures – “linking discourse” and free-indirect speech. Instances of FLIS within newspaper stories are analyzed to show how this reported speech mode, within the rhetoric of objectivity, reveals varying levels of the reporter’s practical and ideological intervention in journalistic discourse.

The Daily Show: News or Something Like It? • Paul Myron Hillier, University of Georgia • Much of what is written about “The Daily Show” critiques the show itself. This paper, however, asks two interrelated questions. First, why do so many people regard TDS as “news,” or at least a forum for civic engagement? And, second, how does TDS speak to a larger social system? This paper situates TDS and the texts about it in a relationship to broader cultural and social forces.

Local News, National Story: Television’s Construction of Viewer Subject Positions during the Iraq War • Wendy Hilton-Morrow, Augustana College • This paper considers why local television news may appeal to viewers during times of national news events. Based on textual analysis of coverage of the Iraq War, it finds that subject positions constructed by local news provided viewers incentive to continue watching by responding to exigencies related the to national event. Specifically, subject positions may have soothed viewers’ feelings of helplessness related to the war.

Separate Audiences, Separate Stories, Same Product: A Qualitative Exploration of the Emergent Ideological Themes in General vs. African American Television Advertising • Karie Hollerbach, Southeast Missouri State University • Advertising intentionally gives meaning to both people and products. Its primary function is to increase product sales, but it communicates norms and evaluations about all types of other things. How would the ideological and cultural themes in advertising differ if a comparison were made between product advertising created and placed to reach two ethnically different market segments?

Habermas on Media Dualism: An Outline of the Empirical and Rational Dimensions of Mass Communication • Thomas Hove, University of Wisconsin, Madison • This discussion supplements previous commentaries on Habermas’s theories of rationality and their relevance to communication research. It explicates his accounts of the various media forms that are necessary for achieving social integration, and the institutional conditions that both support and work against the ideals of communicative rationality. Finally, it suggests that Habermas’s work can provide a more precise theoretical schema for associating specific types of motivation with specific media forms.

Laïcité, the Muslim Headscarf, and the French Public School: A News Analysis, • Shazia Iftkhar, University of Wisconsin-Madison • This paper analyzes press coverage of the 2003 debate over a law banning the Muslim headscarf in French public schools — a debate representing a cultural struggle over the nation. Using theories of the public sphere, universality and citizenship, it examines how the issue was represented and the concept of secularism (laïcité) invoked by social actors. Secularism appears as an incontestable first principle that limits critique, favors powerful actors and excludes minority voices.

A Discourse Analysis of Elite American Newspaper Editorials: The Case of Iran’s Nuclear Program • Foad Izadi, Louisiana State University and Hakimeh Saghaye-Biria, Louisiana State University • This study employs Said’s concept of Orientalism and van Dijk’s concept of ideological square to analyze three elite American newspapers’ editorial coverage of Iran’s nuclear program. A critical discourse analysis of The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal editorials from1984 to 2004 identified six Orientalist themes. The study finds that The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post more predominantly drew upon Orientalist arguments than did The New York Times.

Does Technology Manifest Social Sensibility in South Korea?: Focusing on Korean Advertisements of Mobile Phone • Hyejung Ju, University of Oklahoma • Technology has culturally specific meanings. Technology becomes closely associated with the mode of living and social sensibility. Technology is articulated in feelings like intimate, natural, and even romantic. Men’s happiness and success is equated with the technological progress. I define this tendency as “technological culture.” I specifically reveal this tendency in South Korean context by semiotic analysis of Korean mobile phone advertisements.

Marketizing National Identity After Communism: The Case of Branding Bulgaria • Nadia Kaneva, University of Colorado at Boulder • This paper examines the emerging phenomenon of nation branding as it relates to post-communist countries. Following materialist cultural studies, it offers a critique through an empirical investigation of a project titled, Branding Bulgaria. First, the study documents the main activities of the Branding Bulgaria project. Second, it analyzes the discursive strategies used by project participants to legitimize nation branding. Finally, it outlines several implications of nation branding in relation to post-communist transformations in Bulgarian society.

Not So Revolutionary After All: Reinforcing Frames in Magazine Discourse about Microcomputers • Jean P. Kelly, Otterbein College • This study investigates the hegemonic process by which the microcomputer became a common and trusted appliance in the U.S. Critical Discourse Analysis of four cases, two advertisements and two editorial feature stories, from consumer magazines published during the early years computer’s adoption revealed that a device heralded as “revolutionary” was in fact presented using frames that incorporated and legitimized traditional values, roles, and practices, such as capitalism

The News Media As Pollsters: How Media Polls Politicize Public Issues? • Sonho Kim, University of Pennsylvania • The objective of this paper is to explore the institutional contexts of producing the public opinion poll data from the perspective of social construction and political economy.

Mythical Themes in Iraq War Images, Time Magazine, 2003 • Sun-A Kim and C. Zoe Smith, University of Missouri-Columbia • Using cultural studies and ideological analysis, this study examines how photographs of the Iraq War published in Time from January 13 to December 29, 2003, portray American soldiers in non-combat situations and reflect the dominant ideologies of the U.S. government. Time’s picture packages rely on mythical themes, such as soldiers as good guys and heroes and America’s supremacy and humanitarian goals, potentially interfering with readers’ grasp of the grim, cold reality of war.

Mourning “Men Joined in Peril and Purpose”: Working-Class Heroism in News Repair of the Sago Miners’ Story • Carolyn Kitch, Temple University • This paper provides a narrative analysis of coverage of the Sago, WV coal mine accident in January 2006. Initially promising to replicate the 2002 Quecreek “miracle” rescue, the story went terribly wrong when the miners were found dead. This analysis of 235 newspaper, newsmagazine, and broadcast reports traces the news repair resulting in a new tale of a rural community with class pride, gender roles, and other “traditional” American values presumed lost.

Two-Face, Man Hands and Mimbo: Feminized and Masculinized Portrayals of Single Women on Seinfeld • K. Maja Krakowiak, Pennsylvania State University • Some recent critiques of gendered discourse argue that such discourse may revert back to traditional stereotypes or masculine female characters, both of which are ideologically problematic. The portrayals of females on the show Seinfeld are particularly relevant and potentially problematic. This paper analyzes how Elaine, the only regular female character, is masculinized while the other female characters, namely Jerry’s girlfriends, are sexualized in particular ways. The ideological implications for televised gendered discourse are discussed.

The Real and the Right: Journalistic Authority and the Coverage of Judith Miller • Lise Marken, Stanford University • Journalists derive the authority to tell true stories from their adherence to the strategies associated with objectivity. At the same time, they derive authority from the moral force that underlies narrative. This paper uses the coverage of the jailing of Judith Miller as an opportunity to explore the relationship between objective and narrative authority and see how that relationship allows journalism to reify its portrayal of the real by conflating it with the right.

“Girls With a Passion for Fashion”: The Bratz Brand as Spectacular Consumption • Matthew P. McAllister, Pennsylvania State University • This paper examines different media featuring the “tween” girl brand Bratz, originally a group of four teen fashion dolls that quickly became heavily licensed. Although most critics of Bratz highlight its sexual nature, this paper argues that the explicit consumption ideology of the brand is more problematic, pervading Bratz movies, TV episodes, books, and games. The concept of “spectacular consumption,” in which commercial forms are celebrated as mainstream culture, will be applied to Bratz.

Private Property, Development Strategy and Information Policy: Establishing a Critical View of Copyright Law • Bingchun Meng, Pennsylvania State University • This paper presents theoretical analysis of the conceptualization of copyright. By critiquing both philosophical and pragmatic justifications of copyright, I highlight the constructedness of mainstream discourse on copyright and how that is related with the global political economy of intellectual products. I then propose that copyright should be construed as policy rather than property and copyright governance is not only a regulatory regime but also a constructed discourse contingent upon the dynamics of power.

For Better or Worse: News Discourse and the Same-Sex Marriage Debate • Leigh Moscowitz, Indiana University • This paper offers a critical analysis of the same-sex marriage debate across a variety of prominent mainstream broadcast and print news texts. Employing textual analysis, I examine these dominant news discourses as a gateway into contemporary understandings of the place of homosexuality and the meaning of marriage in our modern society. This analysis shows how representations of gay coupledom were constructed to appeal to a mainstream heteronormative audience.

The Politics of ‘Compressed Development’ in New Media: A History of Korean Cable Television, 1992-2005 • Siho Nam, University of North Florida • This paper seeks to construct an interpretive history of Korean cable television. By using two distinctive yet closely related modes of inquiry: news discourse analysis and political economic analysis, it makes the case that the history of Korean cable has been largely tamed by and locked within the discourse of the state-led compressed economic development model, while the issue of diversity and other important democratic values remain unquestioned.

Africa Remains Silent: A Look At The Coverage Of Live 8 Concerts By African Newspapers • Dorothy W. Njoroge, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale • This paper looks at how the Live 8 concerts campaigning for the cancellation of African debt during the G8 meeting in Scotland in the summer of 2005 was covered in African newspapers. Using narrative analysis, I explore themes such as the construction of the African problem and the portrayal of the West by these papers. While in some senses this coverage served as a counter hegemonic force, perspectives of dominant media are still used.

Communication Coursework and Advocacy: Service-Learning and Opposition to Torture in U.S. Prisons • Eleanor Novek, Monmouth University • As a result of media saturation coverage of abuses at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, audiences now may be more responsive to the messages of advocacy groups that oppose torture and isolation in U.S. prisons. In the service-learning project described here, students in the author’s master’s-level communication research methods class studied the effectiveness of an advocacy group’s public awareness campaign.

Gender Roles and Femininity in the Personal TLC Series: A Qualitative Analysis of Audience Receptivity • Meghan O’Brien, Syracuse University • This study examined how women viewers perceive the portrayal of gender roles and femininity in the Personal TLC series (A Makeover Story, Perfect Proposal, A Wedding Story, and A Baby Story). The study employed three focus groups of women between the ages of 18-34, which represents the target demographic of Personal TLC. Results demonstrate that women viewers believed the shows in the Personal TLC series presented and, thereby, reinforced traditional definitions of gender roles and femininity.

“Mogul Mom vs. Mr. Mom”: Media, Myth, and Shifting Gender Roles in Hector v. Young ? Sarah Burke Odland, University of Colorado at Denver • This paper examines how the media, relying on mythical conceptions of femininity and masculinity, both reflect and shape cultural understandings about gendered labor roles within the family. Drawing on theories of relations of ruling, gender identity, and myth, the study employs critical textual analysis to explore the news discourse surrounding a high-profile custody case and the media’s struggle to make sense of shifting—and often contradictory notions about gender, marriage, family, and work.

Reading the Visual, Tracking the Global: Colonial Representations, Postcolonial Feminist Methodologies, and the Politics of Resistance • Radhika E. Parameswaran, Indiana University • This paper outlines the theoretical and historical contours of a postcolonial feminist methodology to unpack the fertile, historical symbolism of visual images, particularly the still photograph to, in order to advance our skills in the decoding the politics of resistance in our contemporary moment of globalization. The paper begins with a detailed historical genealogy of the visual’s positioning in colonial history and postcolonial nationalism.

More Than Meets the Ear: Radio, Reality, and the Portrayal of Broadcasting in New Yorker Cartoons, 1925-1954 • Randall Patnode, Xaiver University • This examination of more than 300 cartoons attempts to understand how the New Yorker presented the idea of radio broadcasting to its readers. The cartoons suggest that, in enthusiastically embracing radio, Americans demonstrated an acceptance of a new kind of intimacy, a preference for simulated experiences to authentic ones, and a tolerance for multiple and manufactured realities. All of these issues were central to the march of modernity in the first half of the 20th century.

Transcending Race? The Racial Politics of Oprah Winfrey’s Enterprise and Bill Clinton’s New Liberalism • Janice Peck, University of Colorado at Boulder • Oprah Winfrey and Bill Clinton are portrayed as unusually adept at bridging the black/white divide in America. Winfrey is routinely praised for her ability to cultivate a majority white following, while Clinton’s popularity among African Americans is legendary. This paper explores their reputed ability to “transcend race,” focusing on their treatment of welfare.

Myth and Narrative in Newsmagazines’ Photographic Coverage of Hurricanes, 1935-2005 • Richard K. Popp, Temple University • This study provides a narrative analysis of newsmagazines’ photographic coverage of hurricanes over the previous 70 years. Hurricane photos revealed a breakdown in narrative order. Key to this narrative collapse were tableaux that evoked stark binary oppositions. The incongruities revealed by these oppositions presented challenges to narratives about nature, technology, order, and disorder. This sense of cultural disorder may have sparked recourse to paternalistic narratives that signify the continuity of earthly and cosmic order.

Is There a Place for the Public in Media Theory? • Lana F. Rakow, Jim Abbott, Valica Boudry, Louella Lofranco and Diana Nastasia, University of North Dakota • We propose that the public remains elusive and inchoate in both media theory and practice because of the sway that models of communication hold over both academic and professional discourse. We argue that the reliance on a source-message-channel-receiver model precludes conceptualizing a role for the public as a source of conversation and deliberation. By analyzing a public event for media professionals, we uncover theoretical blocks to reconceiving the role of the public.

Activists as Interpretive Communities: Rituals of Consumption and Interaction in an Alternative Media Audience • Jennifer Rauch, Long Island University • This multiple-method study bridges a disturbing gulf between our knowledge of social-movement actors and theories about alternative media by considering the ritual uses of news in an activist audience. In interviews, activists downplayed their consumption of corporate media, but diaries confirmed that they used a wide range of both alternative and mainstream sources.

Advertising Sex and the City or Commodifying Identity? • Sara Roedl, Southern Illinois University Carbondale • This feminist rhetorical criticism examines the manner in which a series of four Sex and the City print advertisements invite viewers to identify with the show’s main characters. A contradiction exists between the independent, self-sufficient women purportedly portrayed on the show and the stereotypical images shown in the ads. Shared themes fostering these representations are identified.

Framing Difference in Transnational Perspective: Constructing Roma and Non-Roma in Film • Adina Schneeweis, University of Minnesota • This study explores the social construction of Roma as other in two films from Western and Eastern Europe. The findings of a framing analysis lend support to the literature on difference. Latcho Drom’s focus on victimization maintains Roma in a position of struggle, oppressed and discriminated against. Conversely, Black Cat, White Cat depicts a world with its own structure and reality, in which the Roma take on the construction of non-Roma as others.

Quarantined Discourses in the Genre Identification of Lifestyle Television • Madeleine E. Shufeldt, University of Colorado-Boulder • Rarely the subject of scholarly attention, the 1990s profusion of lifestyle –and specifically home and garden – television programs has aroused numerous evaluations in the popular press. Studying these accounts reveals certain privileged discourses and causal explanations for the trend. This paper explores what generic identification the privileged discourses support and argues that the neglect of industry economics, television history and class and gender politics serves to naturalize this television trend.

Black Widows: Gendered Representations of Chechen Women rebels in American News • Sara Struckman, University of Texas • This paper explores how The New York Times provides gendered representations of Chechen women rebels in its coverage of the Chechen’s struggle for independence. Because The Times questioned the “black widow” explanation (women avenging the death of a male family member), it found other reasons to explain violent women.

Art in Politics, Culture in Communication – The Billboard in Indian Elections • Shyam Tekwani, Nanyang Technological University • This paper will explore the tradition of billboard and poster campaigns in Indian elections as a political and propagandistic medium, analyze the social, cultural and artistic traditions of India that are reflected through them, and demonstrate the way in which their pre-eminence in Indian political life represents a unique tradition of mass communication that is grounded in the nation’s culture and its socio-political development.

A Critical Discourse Analysis of Chinese and US Newspapers’ Coverage of 2004 Taiwan Presidential Election • Lu Wei, Washington State University • In this article, I compare the discourse of Chinese and US newspapers’ coverage of 2004 Taiwan presidential election, a critical issue of Sino-US political interaction. Both macro-analysis of headlines and thematic organization and micro-analysis of lexical choices, news actors and quotations are conducted to demonstrate the contextual and textual elements of the discourse. The findings reveal that the two newspapers had very different discursive construction of the election so that different ideologies could be supported.

A Tale of “Good” and “Evil”: Ideograph “Evil” in the Presidential Rhetoric of Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush • Magdalena Wojcieszak, University of Pennsylvania • This paper scrutinizes the origin of the ideograph “evil” and elucidates its specific connotations within and across the rhetoric of Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush. It locates “evil” in the founding myth of the American nation and suggests that ideas such as uniqueness, God’s alliance, and universal mission are associated with “evil.” Also, analysis of its applications in the rhetoric of Reagan and Bush demonstrates that its connotation is not stable.

Consumer Education and Middle-Class Identity Construction in Chinese Television • Janice Hua Xu, Western Connecticut State University • This paper studies the development of television formats catering to the emerging middle class by examining influential consumer guide and lifestyle programs of major television stations in China. The paper also analyzes factors contributing to the popularity of this genre and new trends affecting its outlook in the Chinese television industry. The author suggests that television plays an important role in the manifestation of social identities through mediated imagination and participation by selected audience groups.

“Scoop was King”: Media Competition, Markets and Masculinity • Mary Lynn Young, University of British Columbia • This paper examines how journalists develop an elaborate taxonomy of gendered news techniques to gain the upper hand in competitive media environments. Gendered working practices are an entrenched part of the professional knowledge system surrounding media competition in Canada, normalizing distinct and lesser roles for women journalists. These roles also change over time such that the gendered state of Canadian journalism is maintained, but in varying ways and forms depending on the historical context.

<< 2006 Abstracts

Communication Theory & Methodology Division

Assessing the Effect of Direct-to-Consumer Advertising: A Cultivation Perspective • Soontae An, Kansas State • This study examined the effect of antidepressant direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) on perceived prevalence of depression. A survey of Midwestern residents showed that those with high recall for antidepressant DTCA tended to estimate the prevalence of depression higher than those with low ad recall. However, with a source-priming cue before their estimation, the significant association was eliminated.

Effects of Exemplification and Attribution of Blame on Perceived Influence of Self and Others • Julie Andsager, Choonghee Han, Katherine LaVail, Joseph Schwartz, Marina Vujnovic and Joshua Grimm, Iowa • This experiment examined whether exemplars and base-rate information differentially influenced individuals’ perceptions of message effects on self versus others, using two levels of attribution of blame. Subjects perceived themselves more influenced than others by a news story on a high-blame disease, but evinced third-person perceptions for a low-blame disease. Subjects expected themselves and others were more influenced by base-rate information than an exemplar for low-blame disease. Implications for third-person effects, exemplification, and attribution are discussed.

Social Desirability Effects in the Reporting of Online Shopping and Internet Usage • Brian Blake, Cleveland State, Jillian Valdiserri, Kimberly Neuendorf, Cleveland State and Jack Powers, Syracuse • Overwhelmingly, researchers and practitioners turn to self report surveys to understand the dynamics of online behavior. But are such surveys sensitive to distortions due to social desirability (SD) bias? This study examines whether the popularly recommended procedure of embedding a measure of SD in the survey can detect the presence of SD bias, and whether the oft recommended procedure for statistically correcting for SD bias is effective.

Perceived Authority and Communication Channel: Experiments with Instant Messaging • Xin Chen, Texas, J. Sonia Huang, Texas and Nilo Figur, Concordia and Mark Tremayne, Texas • The effects of diminished social context cues in computer-mediated communication between students and instructors are examined using instant-messaging (IM) technology. Two experiments verified such effects, students perceived informal surroundings in IM and, in one experiment, decreased presence of the instructor, but results of hypothesized effects on the perceived authority of the instructor were mixed. Students did show more self-centered behavior in IM but experienced increased feelings of regulation.

Hostile Media Perception: Exploring the Role of Involvement, Third-Person Perception, and Media Skepticism • Jounghwa Choi, Myeng Ja Yang and Jeong-Heon Chang, Michigan State • Hostile media perception is a phenomenon, which shows the significance of individual factors in evaluation of media content. Extending theoretical understanding of hostile media perception, this study is proposed to meet two ends: (1) to examine the roles of different types of involvement in the hostile media effect, i.e., value-relevant and outcome-relevant involvement, and (2) to explore the relationships between hostile media perception and other media-related perceptions, such as third person perception, media skepticism, and perceived opinion climate.

The Effectiveness of Electronic Communication on Employees’ Job Perceptions • Christina Chung, University of Southern Mississippi • This study focused on media selection in organizational communication to explore how new communication media influence employees’ job perceptions. The results indicated that three communication channels, bulletin board, supervisor, and e-mail, were mainly used for organizational communication. Among them, e-mail was the most powerful communication medium for internal communication and job empowerment.

Affective Priming of the 2004 Presidential Candidates: Exploring the second-level agenda-setting effect through visual information • Renita Coleman, Texas and H. Denis Wu, Louisiana State University • This study examines the second-level agenda-setting effect of visual portrayals of the 2004 presidential candidates and finds that visual displays in the news media have a small but significant effect on the public’s feelings toward the candidates and opinions of their character traits. Significant correlations between the media’s and the public’s affective agendas were found, but only for the candidate who was portrayed negatively.

Access attitudes: A measurement tool for gauging support for press access to government records • David Cuillier, Washington State University • This paper describes a new psychometrically valid measurement instrument that conceptualizes support for press access to public records. The 8-item self-report scale is tested over five datasets including college students and the U.S. population, by paper and telephone, demonstrating consistent internal reliability, construct validity, and test-retest reliability. Factor analysis and structural equation modeling identified several subdimensions that explain how people think about government transparency. Research implications for scholars, politicians, and the media are discussed.

The Benchwarmers Hit a Home Run: Non-Traditional Political Communication Effects in 2004 • William P. Eveland Jr., Ohio State • Expectations of important effects for non-traditional media since their rise in popularity beginning in 1992 have been met with mixed empirical results. Data from three surveys conducted in 2004 suggest that non-traditional political communication forms are finally producing consistent positive effects equivalent to traditional media such as television news and newspapers. Moreover, there is some evidence that these positive effects may be amplified among the less educated, helping to close the knowledge gap.

Assessing the role of information-processing strategies in learning from the news about sources of social capital • Kenneth Fleming and Esther Thorson, University of Missouri • This study examines the effects of local news media, informational use of the Internet on interpersonal trust, reciprocity, and associational membership. Analyses of a telephone survey data (n = 546) of American adults in a medium-sized city in Midwest show that local news media were influential in predicting sources of social capital, after controlling for demographic and structural anchoring variables.

Cognitive Dissonance: A Review of the Theory’s Evolution and Applications in Communication and Consumers • Ignatius Fosu, University of Arkansas • Cognitive dissonance theory has evolved over the years since its introduction in 1957. This paper is a review of the theory. This review examines the theory’s evolution as well as the various revisions to the theory since it was proposed by Festinger in 1957. Some applications of the theory in communications and consumer behavior are also noted, particularly the theory’s influence in selective exposure, information seeking, and post decision dissonance research.

Testing cultivation theory for media influences on suicidal thought • King-wa Fu, The University of Hong Kong • The short-term impact of media influence on suicide rate has been well studied but long term and cumulative media influence on individual’s suicidal thought or behavior remain unclear. Based on a population-based survey with 2,016 respondents aged between 20 and 59, this paper aims to test the cultivation theory in the context of media influences on suicidal thought. Cultivation effect, mainstreaming effect and resonance effect are examined.

Opinions as Norms: Applying a “Return Potential Model” to the Study of Communication Behaviors • Carrol Glynn, Michael Huge, Ohio State and Irkwon Jeong, Kwangwoon University, KOREA • This research investigates the impact of normative power on public opinion. By adapting the “return potential model,” set forth by Jay Jackson, we examine perceptions of communication behaviors as a normative opinion process. Telephone survey respondents were asked to offer their own personal opinions regarding several communicative behaviors. By calculating the normative power associated with each of these behaviors, predictions were made regarding the frequency of behavior.

Late Night Malaise? Late Night Talk Shows and Political Trust among Young Adults • Lauren Guggenheim, Michigan • Late night talk shows are becoming an increasingly important source for political information among young audiences. In this study, the negative tone of late night jokes is argued to lead to a less trustful and less politically motivated audience. Using a national survey of young adults 18-29 taken during the 2004 election, findings indicate that watching late night talk shows is associated with distrust in the candidates, though not with distrust in the political system.

Understanding Systems Theory: Transition from equilibrium to entropy • Shelton Gunaratne, Minnesota State University, Moorhead • What we call systems theory is more a metatheory than a monolithic theory. It has provided a set of common signposts for all systems theorists to follow. This essay, written from the perspective of communications scholarship, examines the transition of systems theory from the age of equilibrium to the age of entropy during the middle of the 20th century. It distinguishes between the old equilibrium-based systems theory and the “new” entropy-based systems theory.

Episodic and Thematic Frames Impact on Associative Networks • Michel Haigh, Oklahoma • How a story is framed influences how individuals process the information presented and how they add new information to their associative networks (Pan & Kosicki, 1993; Price & Tewksbury, 1997). Research indicates the media uses frames and these frames impact people in different ways depending on individuals’ associative networks and reveals the presence of different types of frames (i.e., episodic or thematic).

Bootstrapping Specific Indirect Effects in Multiple Mediator Models of Media Effects • Andrew Hayes, Ohio State and Kristopher Preacher, University of North Carolina • In a 2003 Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media article, Holbert & Stephenson (2003) did a great service to the media effects research community by advocating the importance of assessing and quantifying indirect effects in structural equation models of media effects. They also advocated the product of Zs test as a hypothesis test for specific indirect effects. A better and more convenient approach we advocate here is bootstrapping.

‘Real Talk’ for Real: Individual Differences in the Effect of the Climate of Opinion on Expression • Andrew Hayes, Brian Uldall and Carroll Glynn, Ohio State • Most research conducted on the spiral of silence has examined peoples’ responses to hypothetical discussion situations in nonexperimental designs to see if willingness to speak one’s opinion is related to perceptions of the distribution of opinion. Furthermore, researchers have rarely acknowledged that people likely differ in their use of information about the climate of opinion or their susceptibility to various social forces that would discourage open expression when choosing to speak their opinion publicly.

Dependency and Adolescents’ Perceived Usefulness of Information on Sexuality • Amir Hetsroni, Yezreel Valley College, ISRAEL • The study examines the usefulness of information sources on sexuality in the eyes of Israeli adolescents from three ethnic groups: Jews, Moslem-Arabs and Christian-Arabs. The sources are interpersonal (parents, siblings, peers), professional (school, health professionals) and the mass media (television, radio, internet, films, books and newspapers and magazines). In general, all of the sources are perceived as moderately useful at best.

The Effects of Self-Efficacy Statements in Anti-Tobacco Fear Appeal PSAs • Myiah Hively, Washington State University • Students participated in an experiment examining reactions to anti-tobacco messages with a self-efficacy statement. Results include that those who viewed the PSAs indicated greater intention to change their behavior when they perceived that characters were similar to themselves, and indicated higher levels of realism and fear than participants in the control condition. Results regarding differences in perceptions of fear, realism, intentions to change behavior and self-efficacy in the two conditions were in the predicted direction.

Perceptual Filters, Mass Media, and Knowledge: Understanding Attitudes Toward Stem Cell Research • Shirley Ho, Dietram Scheufele and Dominique Brossard, University of Wisconsin-Madison • This study examines the influence of perceptual filters, news media use, and scientific knowledge on general support for stem cell research and on support for human embryonic stem cell research. We use data from a national three-wave panel survey conducted between 2002 and 2005.

Deliberative Reporting, Conflict Frame, and Civic Cognitions • Huiping Huang, National Taiwan Normal University, TAIWAN • Deliberative democracy and public journalism are two recent ideas emerged in political philosophy and journalism. Both originate from reflexive thoughts on elite-centered decision-making process and emphasize the subjectivity of citizens in political decisions. The practice of deliberative democracy requires publicity, equality, nontyranny, and reciprocity. News discourse needs to fulfill these principles to cultivate a deliberative culture. Public journalism offers opportunities to implement the principles of deliberative democracy.

The influence of post-debate commentary on candidate evaluations: Examining “hydraulic” media effect • Hyunseo Hwang, Sun-Young Lee, Douglas McLeod, and Dhavan Shah, University of Wisconsin-Madison • A vast body of post-debate analysis and criticism is practiced by all news media during presidential election years, saying that it affects viewers’ evaluations of candidates and voting decisions. Yet, relatively little has been known about whether and how such media practices affect citizens’ candidate evaluations.

Effects of Media Celebrity Endorsement on Blood Donation: Meaning Transfer and Celebrity Identification • Bumsub Jin, Florida • Grounded on two theoretical models for celebrity endorsements, this study investigated the effects of media celebrities on public blood donation. The empirical results revealed that individuals’ attitudes toward blood donation were predicted by identification with a celebrity who is perceived as altruistic. However, the intention of donating blood was not predicted by the celebrity. The study provides implications that theory-based media campaigns for blood donation can be effectively designed by the appropriate selection of celebrity endorsers.

“I feel therefore I enjoy” Affective Disposition, Presence and Para-Social Interaction In Video Games • Seung-A Jin, University of Southern California • This work aims to apply various psychological theories of entertainment to enjoyment in interactive video/computer game playing. Main foci will be on affective disposition theory (ADT), more recent theories and models of presence, and para-social interaction. The potentials of affective disposition theory and theories of presence to account for the enjoyment of users while playing video/computer games will be addressed.

Teenagers’ Exposure to Sexually Explicit Online Material and Their Attitudes Toward Virginity • Peter Jochen and Patti M. Valkenburg, University of Amsterdam, NETHERLANDS • To test the relationship between adolescents’ exposure to sexually explicit online material and their attitudes toward virginity, we developed an exposure-as-mediated-mediator model. Drawing on a survey among adolescents, this model was largely supported: Exposure to sexually explicit online material mediated the impact of adolescents’ gender and sensation seeking on their attitudes toward virginity. Concurrently, the effect of exposure to sexually explicit online material on attitudes was itself mediated by the perceived realism of such material.

Race, Social Distance, and the Third-Person Effects: The Case of Hurricane Katrina Donation Advertising • Hyo Jung Kim, Missouri • This study, an experiment, explored the reverse Third-person Effects in the context of Hurricane Katrina donation advertisements. As opposed to the expectations, original Third-person Effects were found. This study also revealed positive relationships between social distance, particularly race, and the Third-person gaps. A negative relationship between message desirability and Third-person effects was found. Psychological processes such as downward social comparisons were provided as an explanation for these findings.

Communicant Activeness in Problem Solving (CAPS) • Jeong-Nam Kim, Xavier • The present paper starts from one theoretical question: What are the unique features in communication behavior during a problematic situation? Any life, even that of amoeba, consists of a seamless experience of problem finding and problem solving (Popper, 1999). Nevertheless, only humans have the sophistication in using information to solve problems. Hence, understanding better about communicative features in problem solving should lead to a better problem-solving capability in our lives.

Community storytelling network, neighborhood context, and civic engagement: A multilevel approach • Yong-Chan Kim, Alabama and Sandra Ball-Rokeach, University of Southern California • From a communication infrastructure theory perspective, the current study examined individuals’ civic engagement (neighborhood belonging, collective efficacy, and civic participation) as influenced by two multilevel components of the communication infrastructure–an integrated connection to a storytelling network (ICSN) and the residential contexts—focusing on ethnic heterogeneity and residential stability.

Abu Ghraib follow-up stories: A legitimate controversy frame • Anup Kimar, Iowa • The elite print media failed to report on prison abuse stories even though the news was out there. The elite print media was absent from the action. Eventually the story was broken on in the news features section of TV and a fortnightly magazine. This paper undertakes conceptual and normative analysis of the follow-up news on Abu Ghraib in the print media from the perspectives of Hallin’s news typology of war reporting and journalistic paradigm.

Agenda-Setting and Voter Turnout among Youth: Implications for Political Socialization • Spiro Kiousis, Florida and Michael McDevitt, Colorado • The current study examines the role of agenda-setting in impacting voter turnout using panel data of adolescents in Arizona, Florida, and Colorado from 2002 (T1) and 2004 (T2). Specifically, a model is developed probing the multiple influences of interactive civics instruction, media attention, and discussion on the following sequence of outcomes: perceived salience, opinion strength, political ideology, and finally voter turnout.

News Selection Patterns as a Function of Race: The Discerning Minority and the Indiscriminating Majority • Silvia Knobloch-Westerwick and Osei Appiah, Ohio State and Scott Alter, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School • This study examines whether majority and minority members differ in selections of news that either featured individuals of their own group or dissimilar others. Hypotheses derived from distinctiveness theory were tested utilizing unobtrusive observations of news selections. The sample consisted of 112 blacks and 93 whites, who browsed ten online news stories while exposure was recorded. The news displayed equal numbers of black and white characters.

Effects of the Subjective Experience of Knowledge Difficulty on Self-Judgment of Political Interest • Dominic Lasorsa, Texas • In a survey experiment, political interest self-judgments declined when preceded by political knowledge questions. The effect was lessened when buffering knowledge from interest were two items evaluating how well officials and media keep one informed, which could serve as excuses for knowledge difficulty. Placed before the knowledge items, however, the evaluation items worked less like an excuse for, and more like additional evidence of, knowledge difficulty. Sources of these question context effects are explored.

Effects of Sensation Seeking on processing messages with Slow Motion • Seungjo Lee, Indiana • This study investigates how the personality trait, Sensation Seeking, influences information processing of slow motion edited into various television messages with moderately intensive emotional tone. The results demonstrate that the high sensation seeker processes slow motion more thoroughly compared to the low. The low sensation seeker shows tendency to reject slow motion.

Effects of Endorser Credibility and Message Typicality on Delayed Attitude Change • Joo Soon Lim, University of Florida • In an assumption that a source memory decays over time faster than a persuasive message, this study attempted to test the sleeper effect. Unlike previous studies, the persuasive message in this experimental study was varied with argument typicality.

The Content Analysis of Media Frames: Towards Improving Reliability and Validity • Joerg Matthes, University of Zürich, SWITZERLAND and Matthias Kohring, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, GERMANY • The main purpose of this study is to shed light on methodological problems in operationalizing media frames. After a review of five common methods for the measurement of media frames, we will present an alternative procedure that aims at improving reliability and validity. The proposed method is then demonstrated with data on the coverage of the issue biotechnology in the New York Times.

Beyond Accessibility? Towards an On-line and Memory-Based Model of Framing Effects • Joerg Matthes, University of Zürich, SWITZERLAND • This theoretical paper investigates the effects of media frames on individuals’ judgments. In contrast to previous theorizing, we suggest that framing scholars should embrace both, on-line and memory-based judgment formation processes. Based on that premise, we propose a theoretical model that distinguishes between two levels of framing effects. Along the first level, the media’s framing contributes to the formation of an on-line or a memory-based judgment. The second level describes six hypothetical routes for the stability or change of these judgments.

Everybody Wants to Make a Mark on the World: A Narrative Analysis of an American Culture • Kimberly McCormick, University of North Florida • People have used narrative art to communicate, to educate, and to pass down values verbally and nonverbally between generations. This study analyzed narratives of one graffiti artist (Draw) to determine his self-perception in the graffiti culture. In written reactions to several photographs of his friends and himself, Draw discussed authority as an entity of the past, his life in the present, and graffiti in terms of the future.

The Targeted Audiences of Anti-drug Ads: Message Cues, Perceived Exposure and Perceived Effects • Patrick Meirick, Oklahoma • This study (N = 160) shows demographic cues in anti-drug messages may communicate who the intended targets are, thus influencing perceived exposure and perceived effects for different age, gender and racial groups. In turn, perceived combined effects on self and others (especially the self) predict support for funding anti-drug message campaigns, but not drug enforcement. The possible impact of perceived similarity between a group and the “implied audience” on perceived effects is discussed.

AAPOR Guidelines Are Not Enough – Misreporting Surveys: A Case Study • Bruce Merrill and Tara Blanc, Arizona State • Because surveys published in the media have the ability to create as well as measure public opinion, it is important that professionals who publish and report public opinion surveys report them accurately. While the American Association of Public Opinion Researchers and The National Council on Public Opinion Research have suggested voluntary guidelines for reporting surveys, research has shown spotty compliance with their suggestions.

The Influence of Source Credibility on Attitude Certainty • Xiaoli Nan, University of Wisconsin-Madison • This research investigates the influence of source credibility on attitude certainty, referring to an individual’s subjective confidence in his/her attitude. Results of a laboratory experiment (N = 220) show that low source credibility, compared with high source credibility, leads to greater attitude certainty. This source credibility-attitude certainty relationship only emerged when the source was identified before rather than after message exposure and for participants who were low in need for cognition.

The Relative Persuasive Effect of Gain versus Loss-Framed Messages • Xiaoli Nan, University of Wisconsin-Madison • A persuasive message can focus on either the advantages of compliance (i.e., gain-framed) or the disadvantages of non-compliance (i.e., loss-framed). Previous findings regarding the relative persuasive effect of gain- versus loss-framed messages have been largely inconsistent. This research suggests that there exist two distinct operationalizations of message framing, with one involving desirable end-states and the other involving undesirable end-states.

Social Distance, Framing, and Judgment: A Construal Level Perspective • Xiaoli Nan, University of Wisconsin-Madison • This research investigates the influence of social distance on responses to persuasive messages from the perspective of construal level theory, which contends that as psychological distance increases the salience of high-level construals (i.e., abstract mental representations of information) increases while the salience of low-level construals (i.e., concrete mental representations of information) decreases.

Adolescent Pre- and Post-Orientations that Determine Antismoking Campaign Effectiveness • Hye-Jin Paek, Georgia • Based on Markus and Zajonc’s (1985) O-S-O-R model, this study explores how adolescent pre- and post-orientations determine antismoking campaign effectiveness. Analyzing nationally representative survey data, this study finds that sensation seeking as an internal orientation and antismoking education as a learned orientation play critical roles in adolescent receptivity to both antismoking and cigarette ads. In turn, exposure to both kinds of smoking-related media messages influences adolescent smoking intention.

Interaction of Ideology, News Source and Story Bias: An Experimental Study on Hostile Media Effect • Zengjun Peng, St. Cloud State • This experimental study went beyond the original promises of the hostile media effect theory to test the interaction effects of ideological partisanship, news source and story bias on perceived news bias. Results indicated significant main effects consistent with previous studies and three-way interactions that generally suggest that ideological partisanship, news source and story biases, when congruous with each other, tend to prompt and enhance significant hostile media effect.

Participants’ Perceived Effectiveness of a Peer-Led Media Literacy Curriculum for Adolescent Sex Education • Bruce Pinkleton, Erica Austin, Marilyn Cohen, Yi-Chun “Yvonnes” Chen and Erin Fitzgerald, Washington State • The purpose of this study was to determine if a teen-led media literacy curriculum focused on sexual portrayals would be help increase adolescents’ awareness of media myths, decrease the allure of sexualized portrayals, decrease positive expectancies for sexual activity, and increase students’ intentions to delay sexual activity. A posttest-only with control groups was conducted at 22 school and community sites in Washington state (N=532).

Quantifying Accuracy in Measures of Public Opinion Perception • Jason Reineke and Lindsay Hoffman, Ohio State University • Despite its importance and prominence in the social sciences, researchers have encountered difficulties measuring accuracy. Using a case study in public opinion research, this analysis applies 12 different quantifications of accuracy. Equations yield either difference or accuracy. Three criteria are used to judge accuracy: an objective external criterion, an aggregation of survey responses to a relevant item, and an average estimate of individuals’ responses to the item of interest. Implications for future research are discussed.

Television and the cultivation of gender role attitudes in Japan • Shinichi Saito, Tokyo Women’s Christian University, JAPAN • This study uses cultivation theory as a critical, social scientific theory to determine whether television viewing cultivates traditional attitudes in relation to gender roles. Data from a sampling survey conducted in Tokyo revealed that among politically neutral and liberal females and politically neutral males, television viewing was related to more traditional attitudes regarding gender roles.

Framed Video Processing and the Spread of Activation: Implications for Deliberative Reasoning • Rosanne Scholl, Raymond Pingree, Melissa R. Gotlieb, Aaron S. Veenstra and Dhavan V. Shah, University of Wisconsin-Madison • Research on framed video processing has been neglected in this age of mixed media news. Using manipulations of a value-based frame and a video news report, we tested effects on two unique measures of spreading activation: number of reasons for a position on a controversial issue and the speed with which respondents generated reasons. Results show significant main, and more importantly, interaction effects, which we contend have implications for deliberative processing and discussion.

Community Integration as the Contextual Moderator: Another Look at Time Displacement Hypothesis • Fei Shen, Ohio State • The current study discovered that time displacement and cultivation effects were constrained by psychological elements of community integration such as localism and psychological attachment. Data for analysis were obtained from a telephone survey of a random sample of 593 Hong Kong residents in 2004. Pervasive interaction effects were identified by the data, meaning that localism and psychological attachment play important roles as psychological contexts to influence the relationship between media use and civic/political participation.

Examining the Moderating and Mediating Roles of News Exposure • Michael Slater and Andrew Hayes, Ohio State • Ample evidence exists that adolescent risk judgments predict use of substances such as alcohol. The present study (a nationally-representative telephone survey, n = 406) examines how attention to accident and crime stories among adolescents predicts such judgments regarding alcohol related risks, and how effects of two key individual difference variables—sensation seeking and negative first- or second-hand personal experiences with alcohol risks—are mediated by attention.

Internet and Uses and Gratifications Research: Opportunities, Challenges and New Research Agendas • Youngju Sohn, The University of Georgia • In examining the trend of emerging Internet research, this paper seeks to explore issues such as how the uses and gratifications (U&G) perspective works on Internet research and, conversely, how Internet studies have contributed to U&G research, as well as what challenges Internet research has brought to the U&G perspective. Based on these discussions, this paper proposes new research agendas that will further enrich U&G research.

Is it Tailoring or is it Agency? Unpacking the Psychological Appeal of Customized News • S. Shyam Sundar and Sampada Marathe, Penn State • What makes customization so appealing? Is it the tailoring of content to meet one’s individual needs and preferences? Or the sense of agency and ownership created by acting as one’s own gatekeeper? Or is it simply a novelty effect? This paper tests these competing theoretical propositions by way of a between-subjects experiment (N = 85) which exposed Power users as well as regular users to a news-aggregator Website that was either personalized, customized, or neither.

Other-Person Perceptions of Media Effects: Methodological Questions Pointing Toward Theory’s Demise • Don Umphrey, Southern Methodist University • Since the introduction of the theory dealing with perceived media effects on self and others, mean scores have been used to determine whether such an effect was present. However, the literature has gone beyond questioning the existence of such an effect to examining its underlying reasons.

Exploring sample sizes for content analysis of online news sites • Xiaopeng Wang, Ohio University • Studies of research trends predict that the Internet will continue to be an important topic in communication scholarship. However, content analysis has been facing many challenges in measuring the hypertextual and interactive Web content. One of the problems is sampling methods that unfortunately draw little attention from the scholars.

Reconsider the Relationship between the Third-Person Effect and Optimistic Bias • Ran Wei, South Carolina and Ven-Hwei Lo, National Chengchi University, TAIWAIN and Hung-Yi Lu, National Chung Cheng University, TAIWAN • Whether the relationship between the third-person effect and optimistic bias is spurious is controversial. The purpose of this study is to help resolve the controversial relationship between third-person effects and biased optimism in the context of assessing the impact of the news about bird flu outbreaks in Taiwan. Using a random sample of 1,107 college students, the third-person perception and optimistic bias were found robust phenomena.

Seeing is Perceiving: The Impact of Message Structure on Televised Presidential Debates • Rob Wicks, Arkansas • A natural experiment was conducted in which college students were exposed to the third televised Presidential debate between George W. Bush and John Kerry in 2004. Randomly assigned participants viewed one of five presentation conditions (i.e., ABC, CNN, C-SPAN, Fox News and PBS). The results suggest that presentation styles influenced perceptions of candidates. Perceptions of Kerry changed favorably on the attributes of friendliness, success and on the feeling thermometer.

Effects of Experientiality and Story Attributes on Risk Perception and Story Evaluation • Shuhua Zhou, Alabama, Chia-hsin Pan, Chinese Culture University, Taipei, TAIWAN and Xin Zhong, Renmin University, Beijing, CHINA • This study tested the conjoint effects of participant experientiality and two story attributes, severity and context, on perception of the SARS threat and on story evaluation. Participants’ rationality was assessed by the Rational-Experiential Inventory. Stories of SARS were manipulated to be either severe or non-severe, and with context or without context. Two experiments using identical manipulations and measurement instrument were conducted, one in the US and one in China.

<< 2006 Abstracts

Communication Technology Division (CTEC)

Municipal Broadband Services: Government Supply as Panacea to Market Failure in the Provision of High Speed Internet service to Underserved and Unserved Communities • Abubakar Alhassan, Florida • Broadband’s higher speed and greater bandwidth distinguishes it from the hitherto slow, limited bandwidth dial-up service. Although the US is the cradle of the Internet, but OECD reports show that it now lacks behind other nations in broadband deployment, a development blamed on market failure characterized by the commercial ISPs’ refusal to deploy broadband to certain communities. This paper examines the provision of broadband by municipalities as the policy panacea for the market failure.

Utility vs. Commodity: Framing the Provision of Broadband • John Anderson, Illinois at Urbana-Champaign • The importance of broadband connectivity is growing, and while universal service is a national priority incumbent telecommunications service providers are not moving in this direction. This leads to public and non-profit entities working to correct this market failure. Incumbents have responded with a political offensive swiped largely from the playbook of the electric power industry some 100 years ago. Ultimately, the question of broadband provision may be settled at the national level.

Revisiting the Issue of Blog Credibility: A National Survey • Stephen Banning, Bradley and Kaye Trammell, Louisiana State • This study investigated the relationship between credibility, third-person effect, and blog use. Through a national phone survey (N = 575), researchers found support for all hypotheses. While credibility was neutral overall, blog authors assessed blogs as being more credible than non-bloggers, and credibility correlated with likelihood to act (behavior). Third-person effect was found in reference to blogs and it correlated with blog credibility and likelihood to act. Findings and future research are discussed.

Value and Digital Rights Management: A Social Economics Approach • Benjamin Bates, Tennessee-Knoxville • Current copyright overemphasizes financial return compared to alternative sources of value (both social and private) deriving from information use. I use an approach designed to emphasize those other aspects of value and consider the implications of current and proposed Digital Rights Management (DRM) approaches for the creation of social value. I conclude that while most DRM approaches actually exacerbate conditions, DRM also offers the potential for an irights system that more fully incorporates social value.

Generation iPod: An Exploratory Study of Podcasting’s ‘Innovators’ • David Brown, Texas at Austin • Podcasting has become one of the most heavily hyped media concepts in recent years, billed as the latest digital-age threat to “old-media”. Yet almost nothing is known about listeners, their habits, or podcast demand. This exploratory study offers one of the first snapshots of real-world podcast use among its earliest adopters. The results suggest surprising gender and other distinctions between listeners and non-listeners, barriers to experimentation, and fading interest after initial podcast use.

Pioneers in the Blogosphere: Profiling the Early Adopters of Weblogs • Byeng-Hee Chang and Trent Seltzer, Florida • Weblogs, or “blogs,” are increasing in their use, visibility, and impact. Using the Innovation Diffusion Theory literature as a theoretical framework, a secondary analysis of data gathered by the Pew Internet and American Life Project indicated that there are significant differences between adopters and non-adopters of weblogs in terms of demographic profile, innovativeness, use of other new communication technologies, and Internet use.

A Multinational Study on Online Privacy: Global Concerns and Local Responses • Hichang Cho, Rivera Milagros and Sun Sun Lim, National University of Singapore • Using a survey on 1261 Internet users from five international cities—Bangalore, Seoul, Singapore, Sydney, and New York, we examined international Internet users’ perception and behavioral responses concerning online privacy. We found that online privacy was a “global human rights issue” affecting almost all Internet users worldwide, but the way individuals perceived and coped with it varied across a host of micro-macro level factors such as demographics, Internet expertise, nationality, and cultural values.

Extending Technology Acceptance Model With Social And Organizational Variables • Siyoung Chung, National University of Singapore • The purpose of this study is to empirically examine the differential influences of a comprehensive set of technology acceptance attributes on both adoption and usage behavior. A mail survey was conducted with the employees (n = 108) who were the active sales of a large corporation in the U.S, which recently introduced a web-based sales system. The findings demonstrated that attitudinal, social, and organizational variables selectively influenced technology adoption and usage behavior.

News as a Process: A New Approach to the Political Economy of Communication • Lori Cooke-Scott, Ryerson • This paper proposes a unified theory of the political economy of news communication, encompassing changing realities in technology, market capitalism and everyday life. A central feature is its treatment of news as a process of exchange rather than a product to be exchanged. A processive approach is needed to understand the structural transformation of the news industry, the shift in power relations among producers and consumers, and the revolution in audience agency and community formation.

Is Seeing–or Hearing–Believing?: Reactions to Listening to the 2004 Presidential Debates With and Without Video • Mike Dorsher, Wisconsin-Eau Claire • In a quasi-experimental study inspired by the Kennedy-Nixon “Great Debate,” 175 participants from a mid-size Midwestern university either watched the 2004 presidential debates on TV or listened to them without the video. The data yielded few significant differences between debate viewers and listeners. Candidate debate performances rated high on “presidential” qualities and eloquence best predicted the debate winner.

Can Billie-Jo sell wine? The Effects of Social Category Cues and Rich Media in E-commerce Websites • Edward Downs, Sampada Marathe, Bimal Balakrishnan and Suellen Hopfer, Penn State • Do social category cues and richness of media affect website perceptions and memory in E-commerce? If so, how do these variables relate to product price sensitivity? An eight-condition mixed-model experiment was designed to test these questions. A significant three-way interaction effect was detected, driven by a rich media by product interaction effect when holding source constant. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed as well as limitations and directions for future research.

Sociology of News and New Media: How the Blogosphere Transforms Journalism and Changes News • Ivan Dylko and Gerald Kosicki, Ohio State • Political blogs have recently demonstrated an ability to affect public discourse, especially during the 2004 presidential election. In this paper we examined implications of the blogosphere for the sociology of news. A case study of the CBS’ 60 Minutes segment about George W. Bush was used to demonstrate that journalists used information from blogosphere and that blogs could break stories faster than traditional media and successfully push them onto media’s agenda.

Is the Internet an Agent of Empowerment in News Making? A Case Study of Chinese Journalists • Li Fu, Chinese University of Hong Kong • This study adopts the mediationist perspective to explore the impact of the Internet on Chinese journalists. It finds that, the Internet has made an impact on news making, however, its power is limited, affected by constraining and facilitating factors at the individual, organization, and institutional levels; the Internet therefore empowers journalists in a situational way, characterized as time-specific, genre-specific, media status-specific, and location-specific. Such situational empowerment is mainly driven by commercialization and propaganda reforms.

A Ten-Year Profile of the Democratic Agency of the Internet in 152 Countries • Jacob Groshek, Indiana • Since its inception, the internet has been lauded as a potent democratizing agent. Using macro-level data from 1994 to 2003, this study examined the extent to which the internet has fulfilled this promise. In the 152 countries included in this study, increased internet diffusion was not shown to be a meaningful predictor of more democratic regimes or diminished government control of the press. It did, however, show strong, positive relationships with economic growth.

Unraveling Uses And Effects Of An Interactive Cancer Communication System • Jeong-Yeob Han, Robert Hawkins, Bret Shaw, Suzanne Pingree, Fiona McTavish and David Gustafson, Wisconsin • As part of an effort to understand uses and effects of an Interactive Cancer Communication System (ICCS), the purpose of current study is to explore the relationships between different use patterns and subsequent changes in patients’ health outcomes. By examining different use patterns, this study revealed effective styles of use that are associated with benefits. Both theoretical and practical implications for eHealth research and evaluation are discussed.

Blogs in the Media Conversation: The Knowledge Factor in the Diffusion Process • Nanette Hogg, Carol Lomicky, Ruth Brown and Syed Hossain, Nebraska-Kearney • A content analysis of 1,168 stories in seven media outlets found blogs first mentioned in 2000. The number of stories mentioning blogs tripled every year until 2004 when the rate of increase slowed. Researchers concluded media provided knowledge about blogs as an innovation, consistent with the first step identified by Rogers in the innovation-decision process. Qualitative analysis revealed media generally discussed blogging in positive terms.

Exploring E-gov Online Structures for Citizen Participation • Min Jiang, Purdue • Acknowledging that Internet architecture, far from being value free, are results of deliberate choices, the paper utilizes website content analysis to examine the online structures for citizen participation on 30 Chinese provincial government websites. Their potentials and limits for democratic practices in the neo-authoritarian state are evaluated through a revised UN e-participation framework. Although not implemented to promote democracy, some features of the websites online structures grant cautious optimism for more open and responsible governance.

Creating a Web of Trust and Change: Testing the Gamson Hypothesis on Politically Interested Internet Users • Tom Johnson, Southern Illinois and Barbara Kaye, Tennessee-Knoxville and Daekyung Kim, Southern Illinois • Creating a Web of Trust and Change This study used an online survey of politically interested Internet users to examine the Gamson hypothesis that those who are low in political trust and high in political self-efficacy can be most easily mobilized into political action. Internet users in general were almost equally divided between being an Assured (high in trust and efficacy) and a Dissident (low in trust and efficacy).

Posting and Reading Personal Messages: The Motivation of Personal Blog Use and The Effects of Personal Blog Use on Users’ Loneliness, Belonging and Well-Being in Real Life • Younbo Jung, Hayeon Song and Peter Vorderer, Southern California • The purpose of the current paper is to develop a theoretical model that explains the motivation of personal Blog use (Impression Management, Voyeuristic Surveillance, and Social Comparison) and the effects of personal Blog use on offline life (loneliness, belonging, and psychological well-being). The proposed model for Study 1 (N=73) and Study 2 (N=531) were tested via an online survey of Blog users in Cyworld. Implications based on the findings are discussed.

Influences of Online Chat Use on Social Support and Psychosocial Well-Being • Seok Kang, Arkansas Tech • This study explores the role of disembodiment—telepresence in cyberspace—in online chat use and its effects on social psychosocial well-being. Results suggest that disembodiment in online interaction is a compelling contributor to increased loneliness and depression and decreased social support.

Abandoning Traditional News Media?: Factors Influencing the Time Displacement Effects of Online News • Daekyung Kim and Tom Johnson, Southern Illinois • This study surveys 266 college students to examine which factors, such as reliance, interactive use, motivations, and credibility of online news, predict perceived displacement effects of mainstream, portal news sites, and blogs on traditional news media. The study shows mixed findings and suggests that displacement effects vary by reliance, motivations, and credibility of each online news sites. Discussions about the relationship between online news sites and traditional media are followed.

When the Public Has the Press: An Analysis of Bloggers and Their Blogging Activities in the 2004 U.S • Eunseong Kim, Indiana • This study examines bloggers and their blogging activities during the 2004 U.S. presidential campaign. The analysis of an online survey of 270 bloggers provides valuable information about bloggers’ weblog activities, their motivations for blogging, political orientation, and the pattern of media use. The findings indicate that bloggers played active roles as information providers (or communicators in the participatory media) and as contributors of civic discourse.

Effects of Cognitive Busyness and Computer Modality on Gender Stereotyping of Computers • Eun-Ju Lee, California-Davis • Two experiments tested the mindlessness explanation for the Computers Are Social Actors paradigm. In Experiment 1, participants played a trivia game with a computer, which they thought generated random answers. They attributed greater competence and conformed more to the male than the female computers, but only when cognitively busy with a secondary task. However, when the computer produced its output in synthesized speech, as opposed to written text, such advantages of the male computer dissipated.

Philosophy and Network Structure: A Case Study of Japan’s i-Mode and Wi-Fi in the U.S. • Hoon Lee and Yong Jin Park, Michigan • This study examines how philosophical outlooks of societies influence the development of network systems. A comparison between i-Mode and Wi-Fi demonstrates that culture, which conspired to either hamper or accelerate the Internet diffusion, influences the configuration of wireless networks in each country. Hierarchical Japanese culture transformed the architecture of the Internet. In the US, the legacy of hacker reanimated grassroots movements toward free Wi-Fi network. Policy implications of technological designs are discussed.

Blog agenda: What did they blog about in the 2004 U.S. Presidential Election? • Jae Kook Lee, Texas at Austin • This study investigates the way that political blogs prioritize a variety of public issues in comparison with mainstream media. With an analysis of news coverage of blogs and mainstream media in the 2004 U.S. Presidential Election, the study found that the priority, or the agenda, of blogs are similar to that of mainstream media. Furthermore, the study found that political blogs cover the election with virtually the same agenda, regardless of their political leaning.

Viewer Privacy over Cable, Satellite, the Internet, and other MVPDs: The Need for Uniform Regulator • Laurie Lee, Nebraska-Lincoln • Television viewers can now watch shows over a variety of distribution formats, including telephone, broadband Internet, and cellular phone, from many multichannel video program distributors (MVPDs). Unfortunately, subscribers also risk their privacy to MVPDs capable of collecting vast amounts of viewing data. Federal laws protect cable and satellite subscribers, but do not necessarily extend to all MVPDs. This paper examines these laws and proposes uniform federal legislation protecting all video consumers regardless of transmission medium.

The Effects of 3G License Fees on the Mobile Markets in OECD Countries • Sangwon Lee, Florida • Over the last several years, a large number of licenses for 3G services have been awarded through various approaches. This article presents an empirical analysis of the potential effects of 3G license fees on mobile markets in OECD countries. The findings herein reveal that 3G license fees have affected mobile prices in OECD countries, which may imply that large initial down-payments have an adverse effect on the growth of 3G services.

The Development of Mobile Television: Examining the Convergence of Mobile and Broadcasting Services • Sangwon Lee and Sylvia Chan-Olmsted, Florida • The convergence of mobile and broadcasting services may deliver a driver for dramatic growth in the telecommunications sector. It is said that Korean DMB system is the most commercially successful mobile television services worldwide today. We explore the factors that influence the development of the Korean DMB market and their implications. It was found that the combination of broadcasting and mobile telephone in the context of mobile television presents a classic case of “complementary convergence.”

Mobile Phone Diffusion in Developed and Developing Countries: Digital Divide, Factor, and Difference • Yang-Hwan Lee, South Carolina • This study identified the exist of digital divide between 23 developed and 54 developing countries in mobile phone diffusion during 1996-2002. In addition, factors that known to the influential affecting ICT diffusion were tested. According to the empirical test, the digital divide in mobile phone diffusion still existed and had been widen. Based on the panel regression, it was found that economy, technology, and regulation factors affected mobile diffusion. Time effect existed, but was minimal.

Predictors of Cell Phone Use as a News Device • Xigen Li, Southern Illinois • Building on the theoretical framework drawn from diffusion of innovation, technology acceptance model and expectancy-value model, this study proposed and tested a model of cell phone use as a news device. Technology functionality, information accessibility and user technology initiative were found to be significant predictors of cell phone use as a news device. Perceived value of information, news reliance and news consumption were not significant predictors of cell phone use as a news device.

College Students’ Use of iPods: Connecting iConsumption to iPiracy • Lisa Marshall, Bowling Green State • The purpose of this paper is to analyze the iPod as a tool of communication for college students and explore connections it has to the Diffusion of Innovations Theory. This paper provides an iPod overview, shows connections to piracy and the theory, and presents findings to a survey completed by 100 college students. Seventy-three percent of students reported they never pay music used on the iPod, seeking ways other than purchase to obtain iPod media.

The Source Cycle: Intermedia Agenda-Setting Between the Traditional Media and Weblogs • Marcus Messner and Marcia Watson, Miami • This study examined the intermedia agenda-setting effects between the traditional media and weblogs based on the use of one as a source by the other. A content analysis of 2,059 newspaper articles was combined with a separate content analysis of 120 weblogs. It was found that the newspapers increasingly use weblogs as sources and that weblogs heavily rely on the traditional media as sources. Thereby, traditional media and weblogs engage in a source cycle.

Online Journalism and the War in Cyberspace: A Comparison between U.S. and International Newspapers • Matt Neznanski and Daniela Dimitrova, Iowa State • The 2003 Iraq War was the first military conflict in which online media played a significant role. This study explores how the Internet was used to disseminate war news and information by comparing a number of international newspaper Web sites (N=791). Through a content analysis, the study shows some differences in the use of Web-specific features such as hyperlinks, animations, multimedia content, and interactive elements. Differences between U.S. and international Web sites are also discussed.

Uses of the Internet by College Students: Implications for Political Involvement • Kristine Nowak, David Atkin, Christian Rauh and Mark Hamilton, Cleveland State • In this emerging online environment, an intriguing avenue for research involves the relationship between Internet use and political involvement. In an effort to fill that void, the present study explores the extent to which college students rely on the Internet as a channel for political information and the influence that such uses have on their levels of political involvement.

Ruling the Cyber-Cities: When the West and the East Walk Together • Yong Jin Park, Michigan • This study examines the moderating role of culture in promoting or curtailing the convergence of online marketplaces. Drawing upon international regime theory, this study challenges the viability of ‘industry self-regulation’ regime that neglects cultural differences in privacy. A survey compared regulatory perceptions of the US and Korean participants. The aim is to explore the nature of a consensus among policymakers and to measure the effectiveness of the policy in its operation.

The Political Shaping of Municipal Wi-Fi Networks: A Case Study of Hermosa Beach • Namkee Park, Southern California • This study examines the role of local government and its impacts on the municipal Wi-Fi networks’ deployment and operation from the perspectives of social/political shaping of technology and path dependency. By employing a case study method, the study investigates the ways in which the network in Hermosa Beach, CA, has been implemented. It uncovers that the role played by local government still matters even in the era of deregulation and privatization in communication technologies.

Information Technology and Information Literacy in Journalism-Mass Communication Libraries: • Patrick Reakes, Barbara Semonche and Fred Thomsen, Florida • The last decade has been a time of sweeping change in journalism education as well as in the research facilities that support it. The management and use of information technology are critical factors in the promotion and development of information literacy within the journalism-mass communication curriculum. This research was undertaken in an effort to investigate information technology use and information literacy programs in Journalism/Mass Communications libraries and to establish a “baseline” for future research.

The Internet Immersion Divide: A Barrier to Inclusive Online Communities • Louis Rutigliano, Texas at Austin • The concept of Internet immersion looks at the relationship between online access and online activities. It considers Internet immersion as a continuum from passivity to interactivity. This paper finds that people who go online more frequently are more likely to use the Internet for interaction and after comparing offline factors such as income to this continuum, this paper presents a new form of digital divide.

Is it More Fun to Kill Other People? Exploring Video Game Enjoyment in a Variety of Game Modes • Mike Schmierbach and Thomas Butler, College of Charleston • Video games exist to provide players with enjoyment, yet little research has explored what makes a game enjoyable. In this study, we consider how college students (N = 102) respond to one of three play modes in a first-person shooter. Enjoyment is fostered by greater excitement and attachment to avatar and lower frustration, all of which points to the importance of engagement or flow. Gaming experience shapes some responses, but game mode has minimal effects.

Online Citizens and Consequences of Internet Use for Political Participation • Daniel Schneider, Stanford • The Internet offers new opportunities for political dialogue and communication with possible implications for political participation. Using data from General Social Survey of 2000, 2002 and 2004 characteristics of Internet users with and without interest in political online content are investigated and the consequences of Internet use for political participation are examined. Results suggest a selection process for use of the Internet and political online content and that Internet use can increase political participation.

Frame-up: An Analysis of Arguments Both For and Against Municipal Wi-Fi Initiatives • Gwen Shaffer, Temple • Dozens of cities plan to build wireless broadband networks. This textual analysis compares documents used to bolster and break down the case for municipal Wi-Fi. It examines how Wireless Philadelphia uses “public good” principles to frame its argument for a potentially massive taxpayer investment, while the telecommunications industry frames city-run wireless networks as “risky” and unnecessary. Contradictions and inconsistencies in these documents highlight how information is manipulated to influence the debate over Wi-Fi policy.

Dear Radio Broadcaster: Fan Mail as a Form of Perceived Interactivity • Charlene Simmons, Tennessee-Chattanooga • In an attempt to learn more about perceived interactivity this study explores the perceptions of broadcast radio listeners. Early broadcast radio provides an interesting example for exploring interactivity because although the medium lacked interactive features millions of listeners perceived that the opportunity to ‘interact’ with radio personalities existed through fan mail. This study examines listener fan mail as well as radio programs to determine whether radio encouraged a level of perceived interactivity.

Political Web sites: An Equalizer for Candidate Gender and Race Disparities? • Melissa Smith, Mississippi State and Barry Smith, Alabama • This study examines the roles candidate race and gender may play in the evaluation of candidates presented via campaign Web sites. Apparent race and gender of a candidate were manipulated while issue information was held constant on a campaign Web site. The candidate’s gender was shown to affect evaluations of the candidate (positively for female candidates). The candidate’s race did not affect evaluations of the candidate.

Blogging for Better Health: Putting the “Public” Back in Public Health • S. Shyam Sundar, Heidi Hatfield Edwards, Yifeng Hu and Carmen Stavrositu, Penn State • Weblogs are a relatively new and unique online communication tool. This paper examines blogs that focus on mental health issues to better understand the function and content of these particular types of blogs. The researchers discuss theoretical issues surrounding technological and psychological aspects of health blogs and employ quantitative content analysis as well as qualitative textual analysis to determine who mental health bloggers are, why they blog, and the nature of mental health blogs.

Framing of Tsunami Bloggers: A Study of Print Newspapers from Four Countries • Renuka Suryanarayan, Ohio • The purpose was to see if blogs had become important journalistic sources in newspaper reporting of the tsunami, 2004. The coverage by the New York Times, the Daily Mail, London, the Times of India, and the Daily News, Sri Lanka, was content analyzed. Two findings were 1) that technology does not change journalists’ routine in Eastern and in Western countries; and 2) that the number of tsunami deaths in a country had no correlation to media salience.

An Experiment Testing the Agenda-Setting Effect of Blogs • Kaye Trammell, Louisiana State • This study explored the agenda-setting effect of communication style and interactivity on blogs among young people. As a multi-cell experiment on undergraduate students, this study exposed participants to blog posts that discuss an issue in 1). an anecdotal manner told from a first-person perspective or 2). report-like manner discussing facts and statistics about an issue. Results confirm the agenda-setting power of blogs, but find mixed results regarding the hypothesized impact of communication style and interactivity.

Credibility and the Uses of Blogs Among Professionals in the Communication Industry • Kaye Trammell, Lance Porter, Deborah Chung and Eunseong Kim, Louisiana State • Communication professionals are beginning to take note of blogs as more turn to them for information and deem blogs “credible.” Using an online survey of professionals in journalism and public relations, this study investigated the use of blogs within the communication industry. Factor analysis revealed simplistic blog use categorizations as being either passive or active. Results also indicate that those who are labeled “high users” in both factors assign more credibility to the medium.

From Yahoo! to AAARGH: Developments in the French Approach Towards Blocking Hate Speech • Bastiaan Vanacker, Minnesota • This paper discusses a recent case in which a French court ordered local ISPs to block certain American Web sites because they violate French hate speech law. It discusses how French courts have dealt with similar issues in the past and compares these approaches with the recent one. It also discusses the technological issues relating to destination ISP blocking brought up by such blocking orders.

Ethical and Strategic Messages: Frames and Learning in a Mixed Media Context • Aaron Veenstra, Ben Sayre, Dhavan Shah and Doug McLeod, Wisconsin • Many people consider strategic framing harmful to democracy because it erodes citizen interest in the democratic process. Our results demonstrate that this is not always the case. Testing the effects of textual strategic frames and video processing in a digital environment, we show that strategic frames may also provide a context that is more conducive to learning in mixed media news environments than that provided by ethical or value frames.

The Diffusion of GIS in Journalism • Ben Wasike, Texas at Brownsville • This study looked at the likelihood of journalists to adopt GIS and the future of the technology’s diffusion in journalism. In-depth interviews and a Web survey were used. Sixty-three percent of reporters were aware of GIS but only 11% use GIS. OLS regression showed that gender, age, and the use of other technologies affect the likelihood to adopt GIS. The availability of map data, competition, and use of secondary GIS products will affect diffusion.

Internet Gratifications, Media Use and Technology Cluster as Predictors of Wi-Fi Adoption • Ran Wei, South Carolina • The Internet becomes portable thanks to Wi-Fi and Wi-Max. However, existing research shows use of wireless Internet was low. This study explores factors predicting adoption of Wi-Fi powered WLAN. Findings show that low level of Wi-Fi awareness is a hurdle to adoption. Results of multivariate analyses indicate that newspaper reading is a predictor of Wi-Fi awareness. The motivations of information learning and social escapism are the strongest predictors of Wi-Fi interest and adoption likelihood.

The Adoption and Use of Mobile Phone in Rural China: Behavioral and Psychological Factors • Lu Wei, Washington State and Mingxin Zhang, Hubei University • Based on a theoretical model adapted from perceived need theory and original diffusion theory, this study demonstrated that both behavioral and psychological factors may significantly predict Chinese rural resident’s adoption and use of mobile phone. The effect of psychological factors, however, is very limited in the prediction of adoption and use of new media technologies, especially in the context of rural society. The relationships among demographic, behavioral, and psychological factors were discussed.

The Big Three’s Prime Time Decline: The Technological and Social Context • Kenneth Wiegand and Douglas Hindman, Washington State • This paper is an analysis of factors associated with the 25 year decline in the prime time shares of the top three television networks. Time series analysis revealed that share decline was associated with multiple video programming distribution (MVPD) penetration. MVPD penetration and network profits were associated with social differentiation, indicating organizational adjustment to the social environment. Findings were discussed in terms of the principle of relative constancy and open systems models of organizational change.

Perception Gaps of Cyber Public Sphere • Xu Wu, Arizona State • The focus of this research is to explore and compare people’s perception of online sphere as opposed to print media sphere and broadcasting media sphere. Nine attributes were summarized from Jürgen Habermas’s original discussions. A comparative survey study was conducted among some 150 undergraduate journalism students in China and in the United States, respectively. Findings exposed significant perception gaps on cyber sphere’s capacity and performance as a genuine public sphere.

Weblogs as Agents of Political Participation: Mobilizing Information in Weblogs and Print Newspapers • Masahiro Yamamoto, Washington State • Considering the growing popularity of Weblogs for journalistic use, the present study investigated the possibility that Weblogs could become a catalyst for political participation. Examining Weblogs and print newspapers, this content analysis study found more tactical mobilizing information in Weblogs than in print newspapers. This result suggests that Weblogs can potentially function as an alternative information source that encourages citizens to engage in political activities.

Perceived Anonymity and Online Public Disclosure • Haejin Yun and Robert LaRose, Michigan State • This study redefined anonymity as perceived anonymity based on a critique of previous, pertinent empirical studies. The redefined construct of perceived anonymity adopted the Social Information Processing (SIP) model’s approach to computer-mediated communication (CMC). Two competing models of perceived anonymity affecting online public disclosure – a deindividuation model and a SIP-based model – were built and tested with real online social support community data. The SIP-based model was supported with perceived anonymity negatively affecting public disclosure.

<< 2006 Abstracts

Advertising Division

Research
Effects of “Gender Role Orientation” on Perceived Role Offensiveness in Advertising: A Cross-cultural Study of Korea and U.S. • Daechun An, University of North Texas and Sang Hoon Kim, Inha University and Gul-Jin Jung, Kyung Buk National University • Employing Hofstede’s gender role items as a new scale for female role orientation, this study examined cross-cultural differences in the female role orientation, the perception of female role offensiveness in advertising, and its consequences with Korean and American student samples.

Humor in Advertising and Audience Offense: An Exploratory Study • Fred K. Beard, University of Oklahoma • The use of humor in advertising has often been considered risky, partly due to its potential for causing offense. The findings of this study of consumer complaint adjudication reports, published by the Advertising Standards Authority of New Zealand, reveal that audience members are (1) more offended by inherently offensive themes than anything else, and (2) when an intentionally humorous advertisement offends, it is likely because it was a certain type of humor that frequently includes inherently offensive themes.

Real Women on Real Beauty: Perceptions of Attractiveness and Thinness in Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty • Kimberly L. Bissell and Amy Rask, University of Alabama and Ron Leone, Stonehill College • Using an experiment with college women at a university in the south, we used an image of a model from Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty with other lingerie and swimsuit models of varying shapes and sizes to test how or if the campaign’s objective of teaching women that beauty comes in all shapes and sizes was at all successful in changing college women’s beliefs about beauty and attractiveness in themselves and in other women.

Blue Ads, Red Ads: Are Connections Being Made in the Political Blogosphere? • Laura F. Bright and Gracieli Scremin, University of Texas at Austin • Blogs are a new force in the online media market used to reach niche markets. This study examines advertising on the most popular type of blog: political blogs. A content analysis of 74 political blogs was undertaken which analyzed advertisements with respect to their interactivity, product context and political affiliation. Advertisements were found to be mostly static, politically congruent within their blogs and to feature products as opposed to political issues or organizations.

Publication Productivity and Topic Trends in Advertising Research: 1996 through 2005 • Jongsuk Choi, Hyejin Yoon, Hana Kim and Jooyoung Kim, University of Georgia • Retrospective studies are meaningful in the way that they guide us in designing our future courses by shedding light on pas progress and limitations. The purpose of this study is to reveal and document the contributions of institutional and departmental affiliations to theory and model development, advertising topic trends, and research method via a retrospective study in the field of advertising research.

Generating Congruence: How Repeated Sponsorship Messages Enhance Evaluations of Incongruent Sponsors • Frank E. Dardis, Pennsylvania State University • Much research on sponsorship indicates that congruent sponsors – brands or companies with a perceived fit with the sponsored event or cause – enjoy much more favorable reactions from consumers than do incongruent sponsors. However, by conceptualizing congruence as a static property and by exposing individuals to only one sponsorship message, extant research in this regard remains limited.

Senior Citizens on Interpersonal, Advertising, and Other Mediated Sources of Rx Drug Information • Denise E. DeLorme, University of Central Florida and Jisu Huh, University of Minnesota and Leonard N. Reid, University of Georgia • A series of in-depth interviews was conducted with senior citizens (1) to determine how they evaluate, compare, and use different interpersonal, advertising, and other mediated sources of prescription drug information; (2) to provide additional insight on their perceptions of the credibility, trustworthiness, and value of these sources, including DTC advertising; and (3) to capture verbatim comments for translation into scalar statements in future survey research.

Do They See What We See? A Cross-Cultural Analysis of Advertising Visuals • Katherine T. Frith and Kavita Karan, Nanyang Technological University • In this globalized world, advertising is becoming more visual, yet to date, there has been little research on how culture shapes audience’s perceptions of visual messages. In this qualitative study the authors asked respondents in the USA, India, and Singapore what they saw in the visuals used in global ads.

Advertising Students’ Attitudes about Advertising: A Nationwide Survey of Generation Y • Jami Fullerton, Oklahoma State University and Alice Kendrick, Southern Methodist University and Connie Frazier, American Advertising Federation • The first large-scale nationwide survey of advertising student attitudes toward advertising in-general revealed more positive beliefs about advertising than did previous studies of both advertising and non-advertising students. The 1,226 students from 187 colleges and universities expressed most favorable attitudes toward the economic effects of advertising and the level of regulation for the industry. Students were largely neutral in their attitudes toward advertising ethics and social effects.

Krugman Revisited: Brain Wave Measures of Media Involvement for Print and Television • Joel Geske and Saraswathi Bellur, Iowa State University • In 1971, Krugman used brain waves to examine differences in media involvement. From a sample of one subject, he posited his finding that television evokes passive involvement as opposed to active involvement by magazines. The current study re-evaluated this proposition with a larger sample of thirty participants. Findings run counter to those found by Krugman, suggesting greater attention to television than to magazines. Methodological concerns and implications for EEG and media effects studies are discussed.

Is Beauty a Joy Forever? Young Women’s Emotional Responses to Varying Types of Beautiful Advertising Models • J. Robyn Goodman, Jon Morris, and John Sutherland, University of Florida • This paper investigated college women’s emotional responses to Solomon et al.’s (1992) six beauty types. Factor analysis revealed that the original six beauty types did not hold up. Instead, the six types combined into two mutually exclusive, independent dimensions: Sexual-Sensual and Wholesome Beauty. After testing emotional reactions to these two beauty types, it was found that models with higher degrees of Wholesome Beauty produced significantly greater pleasure, arousal, and dominance. Implications for the industry are discussed.

Implicit Memory as a Complementary Measure of Brand Placement Effectiveness in Video Games • Federico de Gregorio, University of Alabama • Explicit memory measures (free recall, recognition) assume that items which cannot be accessed explicitly have been forgotten and are, thereby, ineffective. Implicit memory is proposed as a means of tapping into such “forgotten” items. An experiment to explore the utility of implicit memory as a complementary measure of brand placement effectiveness in video games shows that participants demonstrated explicit recall for approximately three placed brands while demonstrating implicit memory for an additional two (different) brands.

Reconceptualization of Advertising Clutter in the Online Environment • Louisa Ha and Kim McCann, Bowling Green State University • The paper proposes an analytical framework that reconceptualizes advertising clutter by separating the physical presence from the perception of advertising clutter with individual differences taken into account. We compare the characteristics of online and traditional media to show how various online ad formats constitute the dual self-pace and the captivity characteristic of online media. Task orientations and time orientations should be additionally taken into consideration in determining consumers’ perceived advertising clutter level.

Blog Ads Revisited: A Follow-Up Analysis of Advertising on Weblogs • Daniel M. Haygood and Amanda L. Miller, University of Tennessee and Cassandra Imfeld, SunTrust Bank • Weblogs, a form of personal expression placed on the Internet, are now often the front lines of political debate and candidate races; just one of the many changes occurring on weblogs. Among those changes is the growing presence of advertising. This research, a follow-up study from six months ago, gauges the advertising presence on weblogs to determine just how advertising has changed since that time, a substantial amount of time in technological terms.

The Development of a Popular Culture Identification Scale: A New Way to Investigate Consumers’ Attitudes • William Hoon, Western Illinois University, Jyotika Ramaprasad, Southern Illinois University Carbondale • Over the years, as advertisers broadened their scope of potential customers and diversified the models used in advertising, the salient factors of consumer attitudes became a significant interest to marketers. A new variable, popular culture identification, was introduced as an explanatory variable with respect to white consumer behavior. The paper addresses the need to examine the salience of popular culture and the development of a scale to measure the variable.

What’s Eating CARU About Kids’ Food Advertising? An Exploratory Analysis of Recent CARU Food Advertiser Cases • Mariea Grubbs Hoy and Margaret Morrison, University of Tennessee • Obesity among children is a major concern in the U.S. with advertising often being cited as a contributing factor. Self-regulation is viewed as the most favorable approach to combat the influence of advertising on childhood obesity. This paper examines some recent CARU cases involving foods, beverages and fast foods to determine the focus of advertising self-regulation aimed at food advertisers who target children.

Hispanic TV Advertising, Where did All the Mariachis Go? • Maria-Gracia Inglessis, Felipe Korzenny and Holly McGavock, Florida State University • Based on the assumption that marketers have begun to represent the Hispanic market in a less stereotypical fashion, this content analysis examines the frequency and nature of the value orientations represented in U.S Hispanic television commercials. The most commonly occurring value orientations dealt with enjoying life, collectivism, and wisdom/education. Notably less frequent were value orientations referring to luxury/social status, respect for the elderly, and nurturance, among others. Implications and recommendations for the industry are discussed.

Advertising and Promotions in Children’s Programs in the New Millennium • Nancy A. Jennings, University of Cincinnati • Historically, scholars have examined children’s advertising, but this line of research has not been updated in the new millennium. This study updates and expands the investigation with a content analysis of 563 non-program segments appearing during Saturday morning programming on 2 network (ABC and WB) and 2 cable channels (Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon). Results show that media products are becoming an increasingly larger portion of the advertising environment and that program promotions have risen dramatically.

Brought to You by…: The Impact of Television Billboards on Advertising Effectiveness in Sports Broadcasts • Yongick Jeong and Joe Bob Hester, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • This study explored the impact of television billboards (the 5-10 second identification of a sponsor during a broadcast) on advertising performance in sports broadcasts and addressed the question, “Do television billboards increase the effectiveness of a sponsor’s advertisement?” The results showed that the brands whose advertising was paired with television billboards were better recognized than ones without television billboards.

Advertising Appeals in the Global Men’s Magazine: A Cross-Cultural Comparison • Hong Ji, The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey • This study content-analyzed the use of advertising appeals in Shishang• Esquire, the Chinese mainland edition of Esquire, compared to its U.S. counterpart by focusing the changes since the copyright cooperation between Trends Magazines and Hearst began. In 2004, the use of group, soft/hard sell, modernity/traditional, and nature appeals differed in Shishang• Esquire and U.S. Esquire. The mixed use of Western and Eastern appeals was found. Glocalization thesis was supported in a complex way.

Why Not “the Best?”: Women Scarce When Adweek Ranks the Best Creative • Karen L. Mallia, University of South Carolina • This study analyzed eleven years of Adweek annual issues in which the magazine’s editors identify the “best” commercials of the prior year, to evaluate the presence of women creative staffers in this industry accolade. The study looked at issues from February 1996 through February 2006, which culled advertising from 1995 through 2005. This study finds further evidence suggesting that women are severely under-represented in advertising agency creative roles.

More Than Meets the Eye: Investigating the Hidden Impact of Brand Placements in Television Magazines • Joerg Matthes, Christian Schemer and Werner Wirth, University of Zurich • A growing research literature suggests that visual brand placements need not to be recalled in order to have an impact on brand attitudes. In an experimental study, we investigated the influence of brand frequency, viewer’s involvement and viewer’s persuasion knowledge on the attitudes towards the brand. Results clearly indicate a mere exposure effect (Zajonc, 1968): A frequently presented brand placement can have a positive effect on brand evaluations although viewers do not recall the brand.

A Cross-cultural Study of Young American and Taiwanese Consumers’ Intentions to Opt-in to SMS Advertising • Alexander Muk, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater • This study aims at examining whether cultural differences between countries have significant impact on consumers’ adoption of SMS advertising. To understand whether culture is an important determinant of people’s intentions to accept SMS advertising, Taiwan and the U.S. representing two different cultures are selected in this study. Propositions presented in this study provide preliminary evidence that young consumers’ cultural orientations embedded in their belief systems may play an influential role in their decision-making processes.

The Pursuit of Self-Regulatory Goals: How Counterfactual Thinking Influences Advertising Persuasiveness • Xiaoli Nan, University of Wisconsin-Madison • Individuals have a self-regulatory system that regulates behaviors toward either promotional goals (those that relate to attaining positive outcomes) or preventional goals (those that pertain to avoiding negative consequences). This research tests the idea that matching versus mismatching the focus of an ad appeal (highlighting the positive outcome achieved or the negative outcome avoided by using the product) with an individual’s self-regulatory goal can enhance advertising persuasiveness.

One Goal, Three Voices: Content Analysis and Audience Evaluation of Antismoking Advertisements in Youth Magazines • Hye-Jin Paek, University of Georgia • Through both content analysis and an audience evaluation of antismoking advertisements, this study examines what kinds of antismoking advertisements are currently available in youth magazines and how audiences evaluate the different types of advertisements. It finds that antismoking advertisements in youth magazines are simply invisible. It also suggests that, to achieve intended results, campaigners should practice more sophisticated media planning and creativity techniques, and that they should pre-test their advertisements before execution.

“If Her Name Is on It, She Must Be Famous:” The Impact of Naming the Spokesperson on Attitude Toward the Ad • Kartik Pashupati, Southern Methodist University and Pushkala Raman, Texas Woman’s University • In spite of the large amounts of money being spent on celebrity endorsements, many ads do not explicitly identify the celebrity spokesperson. This study investigates whether the explicit identification of a celebrity spokesperson by name results in more favorable attitude toward the ad. The impact of identifying a non-celebrity (or fake celebrity) spokesperson is also investigated.

Direct to Consumer Advertising: Enhancing Patient-Provider Communication and Health Literacy • Paula Rausch and Debbie Treise, University of Florida • Direct-to-consumer advertising (DTC) of prescription medications through mass media has burgeoned, accompanied by significant interest in how this advertising affects patients and their health-care providers. This study’s purpose is to add to existing literature by investigating through in-depth qualitative interviews the perceptions of nurse practitioners, who have largely been neglected in prior studies. Five themes emerged: communication effects, DTC learning, quick fix, de-stigmatization, and paradoxes. These themes and their implications are discussed in detail.

Does “Passing the Courvoisier” Always Pay Off? Positive and Negative Evaluative Conditioning Effects of Brand Placements in Rap Videos • Christian Schemer, Joerg Matthes, Werner Wirth and Samuel Textor, University of Zurich • The proliferation of brands in rap videos continues to loom. One mechanism by which brand placements affect consumer attitudes is evaluative conditioning. Given that rap videos contain positive and negative scenes, there is a high potential for positive and negative attitudinal effects. The results of our experimental study indicate the expected effects: The pairing of a brand (conditioned stimulus) with positively evaluated rappers (unconditioned stimulus) produces positive attitudes toward the brand.

Western Women in the Chinese Edition of Cosmopolitan Magazine: A Preliminary Comparison of Western and Asian Models in Advertising to a Middle-Class Chinese Audience • John C. Schweitzer, Bradley University • This exploratory research was undertaken to investigate the use of Western models in Chinese advertising; specifically to look at how Western and Asian models are depicted in a Chinese edition of an international magazine, Cosmopolitan. The results of the investigation showed that Western models were associated with Western fashion and accessory ads for Western-based companies. On the other hand, both Chinese and Western cosmetic companies featured Asian women in their advertising.

Building Trust and Loyalty through Corporate Social Responsibility Advertising: The Effects of Transparency and Intent • Janas Sinclair and Karen Mishra, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • The strength of advertiser (1) intent and (2) transparency communicated in a corporate social responsibility ad were experimentally manipulated, and trust was examined as a key mediator of advertising effectiveness. In the proposed model, strong intent builds trust by increasing perceptions of shared values, and strong transparency builds trust by increasing perceptions of reliability. Further, perceptions of shared values and reliability were expected to build loyalty by increasing trust.

Effects of Third-Party Endorsements on Information Strength and Purchase Intent: Information Relevancy vs. Product Communication Form • Alex Wang, University of Connecticut-Stamford, Carolyn A. Lin, University of Connecticut-Storrs • This experimental study examines whether the insertion of a TPO endorsement—or the lack of it—in conjunction with product information relevancy, influences consumers’ perceived information strength and purchase intent. Study findings indicate that, while TPO endorsements had no influence on consumer perceptions of product information strength, product information relevancy did. Product information relevancy to consumers’ choice goals also has a significant influence on both product information strength and purchase intent.

Gender, Humor and Sexual Appeals in Advertising • Fei Xue, University of Southern Mississippi and Tom Reichert, University of Georgia and Ignatius Fosu, University of Arkansas • Many advertisements that contain sexual information also contain humorous information. However, it is not clear what pattern of responses the two message appeals elicit when they are combined in the same ad. The current experiment examined the relationship between the use of humor and participants’ reactions to sexually oriented commercials, as well as individual difference variables such as gender and sexual self-schema.

Cross-Cultural Comparisons of U.S. and Chinese Corporate Websites • Jie Zhang, Wan-Hsiu Sunny Tsai and Wei-Na Lee, University of Texas at Austin • This study investigates information content and advertising appeals reflected in top U.S. and Chinese companies’ corporate websites to understand the role of corporate website in marketing communication mix, in different stages of e-commerce development, and in relation to specific sociocultural environments. The results suggest that most U.S. corporate websites were based on the e-commerce model and featured significantly more detailed product information.

Penetration of Brand Pre-evaluation on Hierarchy of Advertising Effect: A Structural Equation Modeling Analysis • Yanjun Zhao, Southern Illinois University Carbondale • Employing structural equation modeling analyses, this study checked the role of brand pre-evaluation within the framework of hierarchy of effects in advertising. By comparing two SEM models, the study examined the extent to which brand pre-evaluation exerts an impact on advertising effectiveness. Results from an experiment with 60 undergraduates showed that brand pre-evaluation influence attitudes toward brand and product, but not purchase intention in the hierarchy of effects.

Effects of Culture-Congruent Visuals on Affect Perception and Purchase Intention • Shuhua Zhou, Yinjiao Ye and Jie Xu, University of Alabama • This paper examines visual elements of TV commercials that influence viewers’ affect, perception and purchase intention. Based on theories differentiating cultures along the dimensions of contextuality as well as individualism and collectivism, we designed a study to test the effects of culture-congruent visuals on viewers’ affect, perception and behavioral intentions, in contrast to culture-incongruent visuals.

Cultural Values in Internet Advertising: A Longitudinal Study of the Banner Ads of the Top 100 U.S. Web Sites • Lin Zhuang, Louisiana State University and Xigen Li, Southern Illinois University Carbondale • This longitudinal study explores dominant cultural values in Internet advertising of the top 100 U.S. Web sites in 2000 and 2003. The findings reveal that Internet advertising reflects more utilitarian values than symbolic values. The study also found that the type of advertising appeal is associated with product categories. The results indicate that Internet advertising reflects a convergence of the typical cultural norms of the American society and the particular features of Internet advertising medium.

PF&R
Calls for a temporary ban on direct-to-consumer advertising of news prescription drugs: Would such regulation violate freedom of speech? • Terri Ann Bailey, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • This paper focuses on recent calls for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to impose a temporary ban on Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) advertising of newly approved prescription drugs. By analyzing recent Supreme Court commercial speech cases and by applying the Central Hudson test established for ascertaining whether regulations of commercial speech violate the First Amendment, this study addresses whether a temporary ban on DTC advertising of prescription drugs would likely pass constitutional scrutiny.

Whose advertising is this? Examining the social communication in television advertising for the general and African American audiences • Karie Hollerbach, Southeast Missouri State University • Market segmentation made communication with the advertising audience predicated on the audience segment. African Americans were the first minority group identified as having economic viability as a target market that could be reached through advertising content and placement. A content analysis of 358 television advertisements for General and African American audiences revealed that African Americans are still playing a subordinate role, even in advertising targeted to them.

Truly Toffee and Raisin Hell: A textual analysis of lipstick names • Debra Merskin, University of Oregon • This study examines the monikers of 1,722 lipstick names from 52 national brands. Using Goffman’s (1959) concept of presentation of self and impression management and Barthe’s (1982) semiotic model, the findings show, in addition to simple color names, most of the lipsticks are named after food, beverages, sex, and romance. Understanding how naming, as a creative strategy, constructs meaning is an important part of apprehending the role of cosmetics in women’s lives.

Asian American females: The influences of life-stage on ethnic media use and other important advertising variables • Mariko Morimoto, University of Georgia and Carrie La Ferle, Michigan State University • Asian Americans are becoming one of the fastest growing ethnic groups in the U.S. With estimates of significant buying power, the group is becoming an attractive market for advertisers. However, little is known about this group regarding advertising responses. Previous studies on this group suggest we must start to examine differences within the group rather than ignoring potential variations in demographic factors.

Special Topics
Popular Music Placement in Prime-time Television Commercials • David Allan, Saint Joseph’s • Have you noticed a lot of popular music in commercials lately? This research analyzed 3,456 prime-time television advertisements to quantify and qualify the placement of popular music in advertising. The results showed that of the 715 unique ads, 14% contained popular music. Popular music (primarily pop and rock) was observed more often in automotive, audio/video, and food commercials than any other product category.

Direct-to-Consumer Advertising: Agency Perspectives • Jim Avery, Oklahoma • This paper discusses the issues surrounding direct-to-consumer (DTC) pharmaceutical advertising. The intent of this advertising is to convince or inform consumers about a drug or condition. These consumers can then discuss ailments with their doctors. A great deal has been written on this subject, but the author found no published information on how advertising agencies work with these pharmaceutical clients and the high level of scrutiny within the category.

7-Up: The Strategic Story of the Uncola Campaign • William Barre and Karl Idsvoog, Kent State • A brand’s position is crucial to its success in the category. This is particularly true in categories that are dominated by one or two brands. These dominant brands can reduce other brands in the category to niche positions. Such was the case for 7-Up in the soft- drink category. In 7-UP’s case, however, there were two dominant brands – Coke and Pepsi. In addition, there was a dominant type of product within the category, namely colas.

Consumer Responses to Visual Hyperboles in Print Advertising • Mark A. Callister, Brigham Young and Lesa A. Stern, Southern Illinois-Edwardsville • Advertising research on visual tropes is limited and has focused primarily on metaphors and puns. One type of visual trope that has been virtually ignored is the hyperbole. Depicting people, products, and objects in ways that far exceed their capability and nature is a popular strategy in advertising today.

Creative Strategies in Viral Advertising: An application of Taylor’s six-segment message strategy wheel • Guy J. Golan, Florida International and Lior Zaidner, Jetix • Based on a computer mediated word of mouth approach, viral advertising represents the latest online advertising phenomenon. The current study provides one of the first empirical investigations of viral advertising. It uses Taylor’s six segment message strategy wheel as a theoretical framework. A content analysis of 360 viral ads revealed that advertisers predominantly based their message strategies on an individual ego oriented appeals that were based on such themes as humor and sexuality.

Mobile Narratives and Mobile Citizens: What Cell Phone Ads Say about the Mobile World • Jonathan J.M. Lillie, Hawaii-Manoa • This article offers a critical reading of the active citizen of the mobile world as a dominant narrative presented in many marketing representations, such as those on Nokia.com. Within these “mobile narratives,” the individual is often articulated as a powerful construct to which technology-enabled agency is tied.

Student Papers
The Right Stuff: Brand Names and Logos on Clothing, Equipment and in Venues at the 2006 Olympics • Lois Bauman, Brigham Young University • Brand names and logos on clothing, equipment and in venues during the broadcast of the 2006 Olympics were analyzed for measures of visibility through content analysis. These results were compared to viewers’ perceptions collected through survey responses. Content analysis showed fewer actual brand names and logos than were reported by survey respondents. Perceptions of Olympic ad clutter were prevalent despite Olympic Brand Protection and Clean Venue policies.

The Joint Production of Advertising and Film: Brand Placement in Korean Films • Jongsuk Choi and Yongjun Sung, University of Georgia • As part of a larger research program examining the effectiveness of film as a brand placement vehicle in Korea, an exploratory content analysis was conducted of brand placements in popular films between 1995 and 2003. The present study attempts to examine to what extent and in what context brands have been placed in popular Korean films over a nine-year period.

Learning About Logos: Jamaican Children and Brand Advertising • Anthea Edalere-Henderson, University of the West Indies • This study investigates the recognition rates exhibited by Jamaican children for various televised brands and advances the argument that some perspectives on the effects of foreign media content require revisiting, given the dynamism of local industry and changes in advertising practices. In respect of this particular study, the real challenge facing Caribbean people seem to center on ideological shifts related to consumerism generally, which are reflective of processes occurring at the global level.

Direct Mail Advertising to Hispanics: The Influence of Acculturation on Attitude Toward the Ad • Kenneth Wilson Graham, Oklahoma State University • This study examines the influence of acculturation, language used and model ethnicity on the effectiveness of direct mail advertising to Hispanic consumers, as measured by respondents’ emotional response to the ad. An advertising experiment was conducted with a convenience sample of 205 respondents in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The Bidimensional Acculturation Scale for Hispanics (BAS) was used to group respondents into one of three acculturation groups: low acculturated, bicultural, and high acculturated.

Mobile Media Use and Its Impact on Consumer Attitudes Toward Mobile Advertising • JongWoo Jun and SangMi Lee, University of Florida • This empirical study researched cell phones, the representative mobile media, based on the approach of uses and gratifications. Using U.S. college students as a sample we explored the relationship uses and gratifications, attitudes toward mobile advertising, and behavioral intentions and we tried to construct a model with them. The results of this study indicated that mobility/convenience and multimedia service were positively related to attitudes toward mobile advertising and lead to favorable behavioral intentions.

The Different Effects of Involvement Types and Advertising Message Strategies on Product and Corporate Advertisements • Sora Kim and Yoon-Joo Lee, University of Tennessee, Knoxville • The purpose of this study is to gain a better understanding of the effects of different involvement types and ad message strategies on attitude and behavioral intentions toward the product and the company advertised. By comparing the advertisement of a computer brand with the advertisement of a corporation that produces the computer brand, the study intends to examine the different effects of involvement types and advertising message strategy. The results provided some useful insights.

Celebrity Endorsement in Cross-Cultural Advertising • Jenny Kriens and Weiqin Zhao, University of Nebraska-Lincoln • This study employs a qualitative research approach using focus groups to investigate American and Chinese consumers’ perceptions surrounding celebrity endorsers’ usage and effectiveness in American and Chinese advertisements. The findings of this study suggest that American and Chinese consumers’ perceptions of endorser usage differ and while celebrities attract attention to advertisements from both consumers group, this does not constitute effectiveness.

Attitude Certainty and Resistance to Persuasion: Investigating the Impact of Source Trustworthiness in Advertising • Jennifer Lemanski and Hyung-Seok Lee, University of Florida • This experimental study replicated previous research (Tormala and Petty, 2004b) concerning cognitive load and source expertise on attitude certainty. The present study replaces source expertise with another component of source credibility, trustworthiness. Under either high or low cognitive load conditions, participants generated counterarguments to a message either high or low in trustworthiness. Participants became more certain of their attitudes when counter-arguing a source low in trustworthiness, but only under low cognitive load.

Are You Ready for Some… Sex, Violence and Gender Stereotypes? A Content Analysis of Monday Night Football Commercials and Programming Promotions • Joel Massey, Louisiana State University • This study examined 2004 Monday Night Football commercials and promotions documenting sexual content, violence, and gender role stereotypes. Men appeared twice as often as women, but women were more likely to be stereotyped. Programming commercials were significantly more sexual and violent than other commercials. Despite apparent declines in objectionable content, this study alerts us to lingering concerns about advertising content, and raises the possibility that the networks themselves may be the worst offenders.

Attention, Attitude and Experience as Predictors of Advertising Avoidance Behaviors Among Five Different Media • Jensen Moore, University of Missouri-Columbia • This investigation extends on the 1997 Speck & Elliot study of advertising avoidance behaviors by examining attitudes, attention and experience in both traditional and new media. Drawing upon information processing theory, the hierarchy of effects model, and selective exposure and avoidance research, this study uses survey methodology to examine “coping” behaviors associated with exposure to today’s abundant advertising messages.

DTC Advertising and the Perceived Social Reality of Depression: The Potential Effects of DTC Advertising for Antidepressant Brands on College Students’ Perceptions of the Prevalence and Lifetime Risk of Depression • Jin Seong Park, University of Florida • This study is theoretically rooted in the research traditions of cultivation theory, construct accessibility and availability heuristic. Based on a survey with 206 student participants, this study finds that familiarity with DTC print advertisements for antidepressant brands are associated with college students’ inflated perceptions of the prevalence and lifetime risk of depression. Interpersonal experiences with depression also significantly predicts their perceived lifetime risk, but not perceived prevalence.

A Chain-Reaction View of Word-of-Mouth Communication: Effects of Perceived Group Norms on College Students’ Word-of-Mouth Communication Regarding the Issue of Choosing a Spring Break Destination • Jin Seong Park and Kenneth Kim, University of Florida • Based on the literature on the influences of perceived group norms on human behavior, the current study reveals a mechanism through which individuals’ exposure to WOMC could influence their own communication patterns in a later WOMC situation.

Appeals and Cultural Symbols in Chinese TV Commercials • Feng Shen, University of Florida • This content analysis examines the use of rational/emotional appeals and cultural symbols in Chinese TV commercials. The purpose is to explore their usage for indigenous brands and possible differences between product categories. Based on convenience sampling, the results indicate that there is no difference in the overall use of appeals and more use of Eastern cultural symbols, but there are significant differences in the use of appeals and cultural symbols between product categories.

Videostyle in Presidential Campaigns 2000 & 2004: An Informational Versus Transformational Approach • Feng Shen and Kenneth Kim, University of Florida • This content analysis examines the videostyle and advertising strategies in the 2000 and 2004 presidential campaigns. The purpose is to test the concepts informational/ transformational advertising and product life cycle (PLC) in the context of political advertising and the relationship between videostyle and informational/transformational advertising. The results suggest that the PLC concept is applicable to political advertising and there are certain significant relationships between videostyle and informational/ transformational advertising.

Effectiveness of Product Placements in Video Games: Game Players’ Perception and Virtual Reality Experience • Wonshun Shin, Yejin Hong and Yuening Jiang, University of Minnesota • This study examined the effectiveness of product placements embedded in a video game. The research findings showed that players who perceived their skill to be higher than the challenge from the game tended to remember more brand names and logos in the game than those who perceived their skill to be lower than the challenge. The positive relationship between virtual products experience and overall attitude toward the product was also found.

Untangling Knots: An Alternative Approach to Hybrid Corporate Speech • Youngju Sohn, University of Georgia • This paper proposes more refined and useful guidelines for determining the constitutionality of regulations on hybrid corporate speech, where commercial speech is blended with noncommercial elements. This paper compares the existing legal standards for the analysis of commercial speech with Robert O’Neil’s proposition, which urges to reexamine the current criteria and look at the nexus between the speaker’s economic motive, context and audience. An alternative framework, which modifies O’Neil’s scheme, is proposed.

Promoting Television: Synergy Effects on Cross Media Promotion • Tang Tang, Ohio University • A content analysis of 2099 mentions for 209 new network programs in 84 issues of TV Guide from 1997 to 2002 was conducted to test the synergy effects in the field of program promotion. The study found a significant positive correlation between a new network program’s total exposure in TV Guide and a program’s ratings; and an overall significant positive association between a new program’s advertising mentions in TV Guide and its ratings.

Political Advertising, Political Cynicism and Affect: A Mediation Model Account • Changmin Yan and Carrie Sipes, Pennsylvania State University • Through an experiment, this study explored the relationship between negative political advertising and political cynicism. While negative ads per se did not lead to dramatic increase of political cynicism among voters, but when it combined with positive political ads, voters’ political cynicism soared due to exposure to contrasting information of a candidate. Further analyses suggested a mediation model for contrasting information and political cynicism by ad-induced negative emotion. Practical and policy implications were discussed.

Political Advertising Valence and Candidate Response Strategy • Changmin Yan, Carrie Sipes and Pat Farabaugh, Pennsylvania State University • This study examined multiple factors’ influence on viewers’ perceptions of political advertising’s issue salience and the importance of image or issue as a voting criterion. In general, negative ads are effective for challengers and positive ads are effective for incumbents. Moreover, going alone with the opponent’s advertising valence is an effective response strategy to raise image whereas going against the opponent’s advertising valence works better to emphasize the importance of stance on the issue.

Mediated by TV Campaign News: Indirect Effects of Political Commercials on Voters’ Political Knowledge • Jason Jusheng Yu, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill • The purpose of this study is to examine the mechanism of how TV political advertising and TV campaign news work together influencing voters’ political knowledge by proposing that TV campaign news mediates the effect of TV political advertising on voters’ political knowledge. Empirical evidence supports the mediating role of TV campaign news in the relationship between TV political advertising and voters’ political knowledge. More experimental research is needed for integrated political communication.

Teaching
An Analysis of Career Aspirations of 1,200 U.S. Advertising Students • Jami Fullerton, Oklahoma State University and Alice Kendrick, Southern Methodist University and Connie Frazier, EVP Mosaic Center & Education Services, American Advertising Federation • A pool of 1,226 students studying advertising at 187 U.S. colleges and universities provided the largest data set to date about aspects of employment preferences as well as attitudes toward working in advertising. Three-fourths of students said they planned to enter the advertising work force upon graduating, and four out of five expressed interest in working in an agency setting.

How To Improve Critical Thinking Skills In The Media Strategy Course Using Online Peer Collaborative Learning: A Mixed Methods Study • Frauke Hachtmann, University of Nebraska-Lincoln • This study addresses how a specific teaching standard set forth by the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications (ACEJMC) can be measured in the media strategy course. The purpose of this exploratory sequential mixed methods design was to show how online peer learning can improve critical thinking and to examine the effect of this teaching approach. The author found that using the approach resulted in higher quality media plans.

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