Archives for January 2012

Science Communication Interest Group

Risk Perception and Information Management Responses to a Predicted Earthquake: Was the Optimism Unrealistic? • L. Erwin Atwood, Pennsylvania State University • Management of threatening information is one means by which individuals respond to perceived risks from predicted disasters. Analysis of correlates of unrealistic optimism, pessimism, and realism indicate that responses to threats of death or injury differ from those regarding threats of property damage. Pessimists are clearly differentiated from optimists and realists by perceived risk perceive effects of news media and discussions with family and friends, and by gender and age.

Evaluating Assertions About Science Writing, Reporting and News Selection: A Content Analysis of the Washington Post and Los Angeles Times • Robert A. Logan, Peng Zengjun and Nancy Fraser Wilson, Missouri-Columbia • In this study, science news in the Washington Post and Los Angeles Times within biennial periods from 1989-1995 is analyzed to explore seven research questions about science reporting, writing and news selection. Among the findings are: the percentage of issue oriented stories in the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times was higher than suggested within the literature. The percent of stories in the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times that embedded educational-informative content was higher than suggested with the literature.

Setting the National News Agenda from New York: When the Times Changed the Dioxin Heath Risk Frame • Glynn R. Wilson, Tennessee-Knoxville • New York Times dioxin coverage from 1989 to 1994 is studied utilizing agenda-setting, framing and gatekeeping theory, with traditional and computer-assisted content analysis techniques. A major health risk frame changed in 1991, when a front page story compared the risks to sunbathing. The story was picked up by other news outlets, potentially leading to public confusion. The combined theory and methods employed here codify in the news frames and address implications for media agenda-setting.

Historical Survey of Media Coverage of Biotechnology in the United States 1970 to 1996 • Bruce V. Lewenstein, Tracy Allaman and Shobita Parthasarathy, Cornell University • Media coverage of biotechnology has played a crucial role in carrying debates about the science, technology, economic, and ethical issues of biotechnology from halls of academe, business, and government to a broader audience. The basic pattern of such coverage has been characterized as a shift from criticism of “genetic engineering” in the 1970s through a more promotional tone on “biotechnology” in the 1980s, and a more nuanced but nonetheless positive tone in the 1990s.

The Role of Attribution and Framing in Rationalizing About Risk Estimates • LeeAnn Kahlor and Sharon Dunwoody, Wisconsin-Madison and Robert J. Griffin, Marquette University • This study looked at factors that may be related to the ways in which people make sense of quantitative risk estimated. The concepts of framing, attribution and informal reasoning aid in this endeavor. Analyses of open-ended comments in a survey about the risk of getting sick from a waterborne parasite indicate that people’s explanations of their level of risk are consistent with predictions made by attribution theory, but are only weakly related to interpretive frames that they may have encountered in the media and other channels.

The Mars Meteorite: A Case Study in Controls on Dissemination of Science News • Vincent Kiernan, Maryland • Through interviews with participants and analysis of media reports, this paper reconstructs preparations by NASA and the American Association for the Advancement of Science regarding discovery of fossilized bacteria in a meteorite from Mars in 1996. The agencies attempted to manipulate the timing and manner of press coverage to serve their own ends. Contrary to the agencies’ stated rationale for embargoes on science news, premature disclosure of the paper in the media did not produce inaccurate media reports.

Newspaper Source Use on the Environmental Beat: A Comparative Case Study • Stephen Lacy, Michigan State University and David C. Coulson, Nevada-Reno • The purpose of this study is to determine whether reporters covering the environmental beat used more diverse sources than are relied on under a traditional beat system. Even though newspapers have Broadened their beat systems to include a greater diversity of topics, the inclusion of a greater diversity of sources has not necessarily followed. In this study of six large and prestigious dailies, the traditional bureaucratic types of sources continue their dominance in shaping the news.

Mass Communication and Public Understanding of Environmental Problems: The Case of Global Warming • Fiona Clark, Keith R. Stamm and Paula Reynolds-Eblascas, Washington • Public understanding of environmental problems is treated here as an example of mass communication problem that has yet to be adequately solved. A survey of metropolitan area residents found that although people are aware of global warming in a general sense, understanding of causes, possible consequences, and solutions is limited. Print media and radio appear to make a difference in both understanding and the number of actions taken by respondents to address this problem.

Objectivity as Independence: Creating the Society of Environmental Journalists, 1989-1997 • John Palen, Central Michigan University • The Society of Environmental Journalists started in 1989 and quickly became the largest organization of environmental journalists in the nation. It grew despite renouncing growth possibilities on behalf of the journalistic virtue of independence. SEJ’s membership restrictions were controversial. In working through the controversies, SEJ clarified its definition of “environmental journalist,” while demonstrating the continuing strong hold on journalists of the ideal of objectivity.

Alternative Medicine Portrayal in Elite Newspapers: Cure or Quackery? • Lisa M. Brown, Brian H. Vastag, Stephanie L. Dube, Scott C. McMahan and Kristie A. Swain, Texas A&M University • This content analysis examined alternative medicine coverage in 259 articles appearing in nine elite newspapers in five countries. Stories were analyzed for alternative medical topics and primary health problems, and alternative medical topics were compared against newspaper and year. Overall, alternative medical coverage was positive between 1992 and 1997.

<< 1998 Abstracts

Media and Disability Interest Group

The Origins of Closed Captioning: The National Bureau of Standards and Television for the Deaf • Mark Borchert, Northwestern College • This historical study examines how the National Bureau of Standards (NBS), in the pursuit of its own agenda, took the first steps in creating closed-captioned television. As NBS researchers developed a technology to transmit precise standards of time, their interests, intentions and limitations shaped the nature and cultural definition of what would come to be known as “television for the deaf.” The understanding of closed captioning that emerged in this context continues to impact American policy and culture.

Personal Contact Versus Media Exposure as Predictors of Reactions to People with Disabilities • Olan Farnall and Kim Smith, Iowa State • The research presented in this paper explores the influence of personal contact and media exposure on reactions to people with physical or mental disabilities. Visibility of the estimated 43 million Americans with a disability has significantly increased since the 1990 passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which requires employers to make “reasonable accommodations” for disabled employees, mandates that new public transportation be accessible and bans discrimination on the job and in public places.

Physiographic Aggragation and Segmentation: Inclusion of Visually-Detected Physically Impaired Role Models in Advertisements • Dennis Ganahl and Jeff Kallem, Drake • This is an intensive case study of a physically handicapped person. The research develops a personal market profile of the subject to identify him as a prospect and target market for major advertisers. The researchers then develop data from the subject’s actual media consumption to see if any physically impaired models reflect this target market of one in the advertisements. The research results are disappointing and do not illustrate the inclusion of visually-detected physically impaired models in current advertising.

Prizing Disability in Journalism: Inspiration as Code • Beth Haller, Towson University • Awards for excellence in journalism have grown and expanded enormously in the past decade. Prestigious awards signal “validation” of journalistic reporting, but the subject of this paper is the larger cultural meaning that the topics of these awards winner signify. This paper qualitatively assesses specific types of award-winning journalistic endeavors • those that deal with illness or disability. The goal was to reveal the cultural meanings behind these types of journalistic stories and their potential social impact on the lives of people with chronic illness or disability.

A Feminist Exploration of Cybertheory, Student Journalists and RSI Work Culture • Catherine Marston, Iowa • This paper is an initial effort to explore and integrate feminist and cultural theories into a preliminary ethnographic study I conducted of the student journalists at the Daily Iowan. I examine feminist disability and cyber theories to consider the cyborg as a theoretical concept related to my work. I also situate this project within American journalistic work culture, which I refer to as “RSI work culture” because cultural factors are implicated as causes of RSI.

<< 1998 Abstracts

Internship and Careers Interest Group

Predicting Successful Internships • Fred Beard and Linda Morton, Oklahoma • Although previous research suggest the characteristics of successful interns and internships, little research has attempted to examine the relationships between them and specific outcomes. The results of a canonical correlation analysis indicates that all the predictors are correlated with successful outcomes; that the predictors account for approximately one-half the variance in successful internships; and that the effectiveness of an intern’s worksite supervisor is the single most important predictor of internship success.

A Phenomenological Study of the Internship Experience: Reflections from Three Perspectives • Emma Daugherty, California State University-Long Beach • Journalism and mass communication educators have long valued and internships for students. With all the importance placed on experiential learning experiences, such as internships, scant literature exists on the subject. In order to understand the underlying expectations and perspectives of the internship experience for the three groups of participants • interns, site supervisors, and internship coordinators • a phenomenological method of inquiry was used in this study. This qualitative study included 15 interns, 15 site supervisors, and 20 faculty internship coordinators as participants and found that similarities and differences in their responses can help improve the internship experience.

Positioning University Internship Programs to Emphasis the Complementary Nature of Theoretical and Applied Training Methods • Teresa Mastin, Michigan State University • The debate continues, theoretical or applied training methods, which method is most appropriate for training students enrolled in university advertising and public relations programs. This paper proposes that university internship programs are qualified to serve in a unique position as harbinger that theoretical and applied methods are indeed complementary and as such should be presented concurrently. Such a stance would help students and practitioners alike make the conceptual link between applied activities and their theoretical underpinnings.

Correlating Grade Point Average with Internship Performance: A Case Study • Michael L. Maynard, Temple University • Analysis of internship grades earned by 132 journalism mass communication students who registered for internship credit at a major Northeastern university show that students with a 2.7 GPA predictably do as well as students with a GPA ranging from 3.0 to 3.3. Accordingly, it is recommended that the GPA cutoff point for internship eligibility at this school be lowered to 2.7, from the previous 3.0 standard. This case study demonstrates the value of measuring actual performance against idealized standards.

<< 1998 Abstracts

Graduate Education Interest Group

Public Perceptions of a Media Saturated Crime: The Case of Mary Kay LeTourneau • Sean Baker, Washington • This paper examines an agenda-setting relationship between a media saturated statutory rape case and public perceptions of the case and issues surrounding it. A survey was conducted asking respondents’ news media exposure and perceptions of statutory rape. It is argued that a non-traditional statutory rape case would increase respondent awareness of this type of crime. The agenda-setting hypothesis was moderately supported. The primary factor which increased respondent’s salience perceptions was amount of television use.

Constructing the Face of AIDS: Debby Feyerick and the Wayne Fischer Story • Che Baysinger, Rutgers University • The following research paper examines a televised weekly news series, which puts a human face on the issue of AIDS. Unlike many news stories today which are sanitized and formulamatic, this story looks take a personal look at one man’s existence and its ultimate end. The series is an excellent example of accountable television news coverage that constructs meaning as it is created rather than sensationalizing events and placing facts into pre-existing contexts which merely reinforce stereotypes.

The Clash of Values Underlying U.S. Credit Unions’ and Banks’ Arguments in Their Public Relations Campaigns • Julie W. O’Neil, Utah • Whether U.S. credit unions should be able to extend their membership beyond traditional groups has been the focus of recent arguments between credit unions and banks. A careful analysis of credit unions’ and banks’ public relations rhetoric provides a clear picture of clash of values underlying either sides’ appeals to the American public and legislators, and established the relevancy of using a value analysis to better understand how the rhetoric of public relations campaigns functions.

<< 1998 Abstracts

Civic Journalism Interest Group

Predicting Successful Internships • Fred Beard and Linda Morton, Oklahoma • Although previous research suggest the characteristics of successful interns and internships, little research has attempted to examine the relationships between them and specific outcomes. The results of a canonical correlation analysis indicates that all the predictors are correlated with successful outcomes; that the predictors account for approximately one-half the variance in successful internships; and that the effectiveness of an intern’s worksite supervisor is the single most important predictor of internship success.

A Phenomenological Study of the Internship Experience: Reflections from Three Perspectives • Emma Daugherty, California State University-Long Beach • Journalism and mass communication educators have long valued and internships for students. With all the importance placed on experiential learning experiences, such as internships, scant literature exists on the subject. In order to understand the underlying expectations and perspectives of the internship experience for the three groups of participants • interns, site supervisors, and internship coordinators • a phenomenological method of inquiry was used in this study. This qualitative study included 15 interns, 15 site supervisors, and 20 faculty internship coordinators as participants and found that similarities and differences in their responses can help improve the internship experience.

Positioning University Internship Programs to Emphasis the Complementary Nature of Theoretical and Applied Training Methods • Teresa Mastin, Michigan State University • The debate continues, theoretical or applied training methods, which method is most appropriate for training students enrolled in university advertising and public relations programs. This paper proposes that university internship programs are qualified to serve in a unique position as harbinger that theoretical and applied methods are indeed complementary and as such should be presented concurrently. Such a stance would help students and practitioners alike make the conceptual link between applied activities and their theoretical underpinnings.

Correlating Grade Point Average with Internship Performance: A Case Study • Michael L. Maynard, Temple University • Analysis of internship grades earned by 132 journalism mass communication students who registered for internship credit at a major Northeastern university show that students with a 2.7 GPA predictably do as well as students with a GPA ranging from 3.0 to 3.3. Accordingly, it is recommended that the GPA cutoff point for internship eligibility at this school be lowered to 2.7, from the previous 3.0 standard. This case study demonstrates the value of measuring actual performance against idealized standards.

<< 1998 Abstracts