Archives for June 2013

Reviving High School Journalism in South Dakota: A Research-Based Approach • Jessica Jensen, South Dakota State University; Mary Arnold, South Dakota State University • This paper describes the Summit working to revive high school journalism in South Dakota and the research that inspired it. Over 90 percent of high schools in the state and nationwide offer some kind of journalism. This paper examines the reality masked by those numbers and makes recommendations for improving participation. It also discusses the Summit, a project to revive and update high school journalism statewide. These recommendations can be easily applied or adapted for use in other states.

Big Tweets on Campus: College Newspapers’ Use of Twitter • Kris Boyle, Creighton University; Carol Zuegner, Creighton University • The authors examined Twitter use among campus newspapers, analyzing a sample of Twitter pages from 25 award-winning campus publications and coding for the frequency, content, and interactivity of the tweets. This study revealed these newspapers were tweeting most often during daytime hours and most tweets were about campus-based news. Unlike mainstream newspapers, the publication frequency of these college newspapers and the number of users following their Twitter pages were tied to the newspapers’ tweet frequency.

Student News 2.0: An Ethnographic Examination • Meredith Clark, UNC-Chapel Hill • This ethnographic study goes inside the digital student newsroom to explore exactly how “the inmates run the asylum.” Using semi-structured interviews from 12 participants working on a mobile-optimized summer news project, the study provides insights on the work practices of the digital student newsroom. Validated through the use of textual analysis and member checks, the findings present five key concepts that are immediately applicable as part of a reflexive pedagogy in student digital media production.

Tipping Point: The impact of high school racial demographics on the presence of student newspapers in Georgia • Joseph Dennis, The University of Georgia; Carolyn Crist, The University of Georgia; Chloe Hargrave • This study examines Georgia high schools, applying sociological “tipping point” principles to determine if racial demographics of the school relate to the presence of student newspapers. The study yields significant results, showing that once school populations dip below 70% white, they are less likely to have a student newspaper. It also shows that highly segregated majority-white schools are more likely to have a student newspaper than highly segregated majority-nonwhite schools.

Survey of Campus Readership Habits: Are College Students Reading Newspapers for Community and Political News? • Jeffrey Hedrick, Jacksonville State University • Students at a midsize southern university (N=241) were surveyed for newspaper readership habits with emphasis on acquisition of political news. Student were asked their preference(s) for campus newspaper content, currently a weekly newspaper including little to no local or national news, while infrequently covering stories not related to the campus environment. Findings suggest students are not reading campus newspapers, and do not prefer local newspapers either, but have some interest in local community news.

The Effects of Public Opinion on Student Speech Policies • Karla Kennedy, University of Oregon • This research is concerned with how media coverage of the student speech Supreme Court case, Morse v. Frederick could potentially affect school districts’ student speech and student publication policies by producing frames. In particular, this study focuses on the framing of student speech, public opinion, and public policy. School districts student speech and student publications policies were content analyzed as a surrogate of public opinion. The study found that the media framed the case as more about illegal drug usage than student free expression, leading to very little change in the states’ policies.

A Preliminary Overview of the Early History of High School Journalism in the U.S.: ~1775-1925 • Bruce Konkle, University of South Carolina • Mainstream journalism has its synoptic history books, but to find a succinct history of high school journalism one must secure information from multiple sources: journal articles, theses and dissertations, scholastic journalism textbooks, state department of education curriculum archives and scholastic press association publications, among other resources. This project consolidates and updates fragmented information concerning the early years of scholastic journalism (~1775-1925) to begin creating a preliminary overview of student publications and journalism courses in America’s high schools, an initial step towards writing an in-depth history.

Texting, Tweeting and Blogging by the Book: A Qualitative Look at How Introductory Media Writing Textbooks Frame New Media Instruction • Jeffrey Riley, University of Florida • This was a qualitative content analysis, with some quantitative elements, that examined 11 different introductory journalism textbooks to see how the books addressed three different new media components – blogging, social media, and mobile media. The textbooks are the ones used by the top-10 journalism schools by enrollment. The study found that there are vast levels of inconsistency with introductory journalism texts. Some books integrated the three components throughout their entirety while some covered the components isolated in chapters about digital journalism. Some books framed the components as things to be feared, as frivolous toys of the digital age, while some framed the components as amazing ways to interact with a modern audience; some books contained instructional materials teaching budding journalists how to write well-made blogs, while some books simply discuss the components in passing. As the use of new media continues to grow year-to-year, it becomes increasingly important to understand the texts and tools being used to first introduce new journalists to the things they will need to know.

<<2013 Abstracts

Silencing Religious Dialogue: Religious Communication Apprehension among Muslims in the United States • Mariam Alkazemi, University of Florida • Using the spiral of silence as a theoretical framework, the current study explores the degree to which the mass media influences dialogue about religion among Muslim Americans. Survey data were collected from members of religious and cultural organizations across the United States in the summer of 2012. Participants (N=166) responded to an electronic questionnaire that addressed several variables, including media use, religiosity, willingness to communicate about religion, tolerance for disagreement about religion, and receiver’s apprehension about religion. The results show that Muslims who watch more television are less likely to be willing to communicate about religion within the context of an interpersonal relationship. The current study contributes to the scholarship of media and religion by providing evidence of the spiral of silence phenomenon when the minority group is a religious one.

Use of Online Social Networking Channels for Religious and Political Communication:Examining the Distinct Role of Intrinsic, Extrinsic and Quest Religiosity Under Varied Circumstances • Mian Asim, University of Florida • In order to make more accurate determination of the role of personal religiosity on online social networks for religious communications, extrinsic, intrinsic and quest religiosity were identified, measured treated separately in hierarchical multiple regression models. Subsequently, religious communication was replaced by political communication under the same conditions to draw parallel comparisons. Results indicate that people have special circumstantial reasons to adopt online social networks as a routine communicative medium to incorporate in their respective religions.

Religion, Popular Culture and Social Media: The Construction of a Religious Leader Image on Facebook • Ioana Coman; Mihai Coman • In both media and religious studies, the investigation of the image the religious leaders have in popular culture, benefited unequally from researchers’ interest. Starting from recent Applebee’s social media crisis, which was triggered by a pastor, the present study investigated the frames and themes Facebook users employed in order to give meaning to the crisis, attribute responsibility, and more important, define the role of a religious leader in daily life.

Religious Leaders in Crisis: An Analysis of Image Restoration Strategies and Strategies • Melody Fisher • The following study employs content analysis to examine the crisis communication responses and audience reception of religious leaders involved in scandal. Benoit’s Image Repair Strategies and the Contingency Theory are used to determine the strategies and stances of mega-church leaders: Jim Bakker, Ted Haggard, Eddie Long, Henry Lyons and Jimmy Swaggart. News framing theory determined media and audience reception of the religious leaders’ crisis communication responses. The study concludes that the Religious leaders’ dominant strategies were bolstering and denial, and their media portrayals were balanced.

Relying on Divine Intervention? An Analysis of Church Crisis Management Plans • Hilary Fussell Sisco, Quinnipiac University; Randi Plake, Quinnipiac University; Erik Collins, School of Journalism & Mass Com., University of South Carolina • Research suggests (Kirkpatrick, 2011) that most individual churches have not taken the steps necessary to create coherent crisis management plans that take into account the concerns of their major stakeholders. Employing Coombs’ (2007) three-phase approach to crisis management as a guideline, the researchers conducted a qualitative analysis of church crisis management plans to investigate how prepared these organizations are for a potential reputational crisis

Muslim American Youth: Media Consumption and Identity • Patricia Hernandez, California Baptist University • Several studies have examined minority media portrayals and the impact on youth; however, there is a lack of research including religion as a minority group. Religion is understood to be a key aspect of racial and ethnic identity. This article explores the relationship between Muslim American Youth identity and media consumption. In addition the article demonstrates that media is one element of culture that can shape and constrain religious identity, ethnic identity, self esteem, and perceived discrimination.

Broadcasting Sharia: American TV News’ Illustration of Social Identity and the Emergence of a Threat • Jennifer Hoewe, The Pennsylvania State University; Brian J. Bowe, Michigan State University; Naheda Makhadmeh, Michigan State University • Using social identity theory, this study examined the portrayal of sharia on ABC, CBS, and NBC. A ten-year content analysis showed that sharia was continually paired with mentions of the United States, reinforcing its representation as the in-group, and non-Western countries, forming an out-group comparison. A significant and positive relationship between mentions of non-Western countries and connotatively negative topics positioned individuals associated with sharia – most often Muslims – within the out-group.

Overstating the “Mormon Problem”: Media coverage of Mitt Romney’s faith identity in the 2012 presidential campaign • Jesse Holcomb, Pew Research Center • A content analysis of media coverage during the 2012 presidential campaign finds that attention to candidate Mitt Romney’s Mormon faith was infrequent, yet when it appeared, was often negative in tone, and tied to a narrative of evangelical distrust. The study concludes that media figures may have overstated the notion that Mormonism was a liability for conservative evangelical voters, who were concerned about economic and social issues more than religious identity.

The discourse of ‘umma’ as defined by daily Islam • Faizullah Jan, School of Communication, American University, D.C. • News publications of militant organizations in Pakistan discursively create identities through a set of antagonistic relationships, articulating the identities of us versus them. The identity of umma, or global Muslim community, is created in opposition to the ‘Other’, which has real-life consequences for religious minorities within Pakistan and for the peace in the region and the world at large. These publications construct an ‘enemy’ whose identity is purely negative and cannot be represented positively in a given discursive formation. I have used Laclau & Mouffe’s (1985) discourse theory to analyze the discourse of daily Islam, which is published by a pro-al Qaeda militant organization. The main argument of this paper is to stress the importance of social antagonism when an identity of “us” is created in opposition to a constitutive outside. This constitutive outside becomes “them” or the “other”, which is demonized and dehumanized as the result of a successful articulation or ‘chaining’ of the subject in the flow of discourse.

Misconception of Barack Obama’s religion: A content analysis of cable news coverage of the president • Joseph Kasko, University of South Carolina; Webster Larry, University of South Carolina; Heflin Frank, University of South Carolina • A 2010 Pew Research poll found 18 percent of people wrongly identified Barack Obama as Muslim and only 34 percent correctly identified him as Christian. This was a shift from previous polls that showed roughly half of respondents could identify his religion. This work examines cable news coverage of Obama’s religion from November 2007 to July 2010. The authors suggest that media coverage of Obama’s ties to Islam may have helped to fuel the misconception.

Hijab Hip Hoppers: Constructing Narratives of Struggles and Identity Through Hip Hop Music • Nancy Katu-Ogundimu • This paper is a textual analysis of the lyrics of selected female Muslim rappers from the United States and Europe. The paper examined how music as a strategic communication tool is providing a platform for female Muslim rappers to construct narratives about their struggles and identities as post-September 11 Muslims. Findings reveal that Muslimahs are challenging traditional Islamic narratives about their gender, religion and career choice.

Religion on Social Networking Media • Hyojin Kim, University of Florida; Mian Asim, University of Florida • This paper reports findings of an exploratory study that religious involvement such as frequency of worship and membership in a religious organization are significant predictors of individuals’ engagement in religious activities on social networking sites as well as on the Internet. In addition, variations in individuals’ cultural orientation are found to be significantly related to the degree of individuals’ online religious activities. Suggestions for future research and implications for utilizing social networking media as an active channel of religious communication are discussed.

Tebowing: The Role of Religious Primes on Disposition Formation and the Appreciation of Sports News • William Kinnally, University of Central Florida; Megan Fitzgerald, Nova Southeastern University • The purpose of this study was to use priming and affective disposition theories to examine how religious primes in sports news can influence judgments of media characters (disposition formation) and appreciation of the media content. Participants (396) were randomly assigned to read one of three sports news features in which an athlete expresses a religious association (either Christian or Muslim) or no religious association. Disposition toward the athlete was more positive for the articles including the expression of religious affiliation compared to the control article. However, the article in the Christian condition was evaluated more positively than the other two articles. Linear regression was used to examine the impact of sports interest, religious affiliation, and religiosity schemas on disposition and appreciation for each condition. Religiosity and sports interest explained disposition toward the athlete and appreciation of the article in the Christian condition while only religiosity explained appreciation of the article in the Muslim condition. This study extends the literature by examining how attribute cues such as religious affiliation in media coverage of athletes can prime cognitive and affective constructs that relate to disposition formation and media appreciation.

What Are They Really Selling? A Content Analysis of Advertisements During Religious Television Programming • Stephen Gray, The University of Kansas; Alexandra Inglish; Tejinder Singh Sodhi; Tien-Tsung Lee, University of Kansas • This study quantitatively analyzed the content of television commercials aired during religious programs to determine the categories of products being promoted and the primary method used by advertisers to appeal to highly religious consumers. Medical and life related products are the largest category. Fear-related appeals occurred in the advertisements at the high rate of 81%. The results suggested that marketers attempt to appeal to Christian fundamentalist viewers with fears, anxieties and doubts.

Death, Rebirth, Love, and Faith: Theological Narrative in Secular Cinema • Kangming Ma, Hampton University Scripps Howard School of Journalism and Communications • As a narrative medium and art form, film has been one of the best ways in which any aspect of culture can be reflected and become rich theological resource. This paper examines how themes in five secular films—freedom of will, death, loneliness, love and faith—echo those in the Bible. The results show that today it is still possible for Christians to influence the society by interpreting the divine message transcended through secular films.

Having the last word, but losing the culture wars: Mainstream press coverage of a canceled evangelical benediction • Rick Moore, Boise State University • This study examines how mainstream news media reported the withdrawal of a popular pastor from the 2013 Obama inaugural ceremony. Louie Giglio was originally chosen for a role in the event, but withdrew when focus was placed on a sermon he once delivered about homosexuality. Analysis of framing and sourcing of the stories raises serious questions about the role media played in reporting about this skirmish, which is clearly part of the larger culture wars.

“The Grandest, Most Compelling Story of All Time!”: Dominant Themes of Christian Media Marketing • Jim Trammell, High Point University • This manuscript analyzes the marketing campaigns of five best-selling Christian books and albums to identify their dominant themes. The literary/critical analysis notes how Christian media marketing lauds the artists as Christian role models, projects themes of inspiration and empowerment onto the media, and addresses the media’s aesthetic qualities. Ultimately, the marketing campaigns perpetuate a definition of “Christianity” that privileges how the consumer feels about him or herself over other Christian beliefs or themes.

Downloadable and Streaming: Using the PodCred Framework to Assess Religious Podcasts • Richard D. Waters, University of San Francisco; Anneliese Carolina Niebauer, University of San Francisco • Through a content analysis of one-half of the top religious podcasts in iTunes (n = 90), this study examines whether the PodCred framework can be used to determine which podcasts are more popular and rated more favorably than others. Findings indicate that religious podcasts moderately incorporate the four dimensions and reveal that PodCred dimensions significantly correlate to increased downloads but not necessarily to user ratings. Findings are connected to literature on religious communication online.

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Open Competition

Examining Signs of Recovery: How Senior Crisis Communicators Define Organizational Crisis Recovery • Lucinda Austin, Elon University; Brooke Fisher Liu; Yan Jin • Through 20 in-depth interviews with senior crisis communicators, this study explores how crisis recovery is defined and what role organizational communication, organizational characteristics, and publics play. Findings reveal recovery is measured operationally and short-term. Effective communication principles include proactively addressing failures, being transparent/honest while mostly positive, focusing on future directions, and rebuilding/repairing symbolic damage. Organizational best practices include tested values and crisis leadership. Lastly, publics can facilitate healing, highlight victims’ voices, and provide recovery evidence.

Crisis Communication and Organizational-Centered Situational Considerations for Management • Elizabeth Avery, University of Tennessee; Melissa Graham, University of Tennessee • Survey data collected from local government officials (n=307) from municipalities across the United States identify how unique situational factors, particularly challenges and opportunities within organizations and their operating environments, affect crisis management. This study is a first step in establishing crisis models for various crisis types sensitive to unique organizationally-centered crisis management challenges. Results indicate that partnerships with outside agencies were extremely important in successfully managing a crisis. Implications and importance of findings are discussed.

The Role of Relationships in Public Broadcasting Fundraising • Joshua Bentley, University of Oklahoma; Namkee Park • This study tested the link between how audience members’ perceive their relationship with public broadcasting stations and their intention to donate to public broadcasting. A survey of 348 audience members was conducted. Structural equation modeling revealed a positive relationship between organization-public relationships (OPR; Hon & Grunig, 1999; Ledingham, 2006) and donation intention. The model also showed that parasocial interaction (Horton & Wohl, 1956; Rubin, 2009) directly affected OPR and indirectly affected donation intentions.

When and how do publics engage with nonprofit organizations through social media? A content analysis of organizational message strategies and public engagement with organizational Facebook pages • Moonhee Cho, University of South Florida; Tiffany Schweickart, University of South Florida; Abigail Haase, University of South Florida • The purpose of the study is 1) to investigate message strategies of nonprofits’ Facebook postings and 2) to examine the levels of public engagement based upon the message strategies. The study found that nonprofit organizations use Facebook to disseminate information rather than employ two-way interactions with their publics. The study also found that publics demonstrate high levels of engagement with organizational messages based on two-way symmetry, compared to public information or two-way asymmetrical messages.

Support for a Social Capital Theory of PR via Putnam’s Civic Engagement and PR Roles • Melissa Dodd, University of Central Florida; John Brummette, Radford University; Vincent Hazleton, Radford University • A social capital approach to public relations suggests public relations professionals serve as brokers of social resources on behalf of organizations. Putnam’s conceptualization suggests that civic engagement behaviors serve as surrogate measures of social capital. Results support a social capital approach such that data indicated public relations professionals are more likely to participate in civic engagement behaviors than the general U.S. population. Further, differences were found for manager/technician roles for subcategories of civic engagement behaviors.

Taking on the Bear: Public Relations Leaders Discuss Russian Challenges • Elina Erzikova, Central Michigan University • This study focuses on challenges that hamper the development of public relations in Russia, and possible approaches to mitigate the problems. Through a series of in-depth interviews, 13 leading public relations practitioners indicated that misinterpretation of the public relations function by a variety of publics and a low level of professionalism among practitioners are the most pressing issues the industry faces today. Societal factors such a public distrust in the government and a newly emerged culture of glamour intensify the problems. Participants viewed education in a broad sense (e.g., improving university public relations curricula and enlightening masses and the elites about normative public relations) as an opportunity to resist encroachment into public relations from top management, increase social legitimacy of the occupation and help various organizations meet challenges of globalization.

Replication in Public Relations Research: A 20-Year Review • Osenkor Gogo, University of Georgia; Zifei Chen, University of Georgia; Bryan Reber, University of Georgia • This study investigates replication trends in public relations research over the span of 20 years (1993 – 2012). Through content analysis, 2,038 research articles from three leading public relations and communication journals were examined: Journal of Public Relations Research, Public Relations Review, and Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly. With 14 replications found, our results indicate that replication studies were seldom published in the public relations literature over the examined timeframe. A majority of replications found were extensions, most replications supported the original findings, and research related to the practice of public relations was the most commonly found. Also, interest in replicating public relations research extended beyond the field. The implications of our findings, including possible explanations for the state of replication in public relations research, as well as potential solutions, are discussed.

Comparing the Two Sides of Perception of Crisis Management Strategies: Applying the Co-orientation Model to Crisis Management-Related Beliefs of Public Relations Agencies and Clients • Jin Hong Ha; Jun Heo, University of Southern Mississippi • This exploratory study found that public relations agencies and clients are in agreement on the perceptions of all crisis management strategies (understanding, manual, prevention, responding, communicating, and rebuilding). Second, agency practitioners are more likely to perceive agreement on two crisis management strategies (manual and responding) than do clients. Third, agency practitioners’ perceptions are inaccurate on 5 of the 6 factors (understanding, manual, prevention, responding, and rebuilding); clients are accurate on all factors.

Ideographs and the Strategic Communicator: The Case of U.S. Air Force Leadership Training Material • Phillip Hutchison, University of Kentucky • This case study employs rhetorical theory to highlight some of the easily overlooked ways in which organizational politics complicate the relationship between Public Relations and Strategic Communication. The study focuses on how ambiguous, value-laden language usage in organizational training programs can shape strategic meaning in ways that are not consciously intended and occasionally are dysfunctional. The author explains how such problems easily can spill over into Public Relations products and undermine internal and external communication.

Strategic Social Media Management and Public Relations Leadership: Insights from Industry Leaders • Yi Luo, Montclair State University; Hua Jiang, S. I. Newhouse of Public Communications, Syracuse University; Owen Kulemeka • Public relations leadership is an emerging field in the phase of defining its distinctive dimensions and analyzing the role it plays in organizations’ overall strategic planning and decision making. Based on 43 in-depth interviews with public relations leaders working in diverse for-profit companies and nonprofits, this study explored how the use of social media by those leaders helped them demonstrate expert power, gain decision-making power, and establish leadership among peer leaders/managers within the same organizations.

Conflict? What Work-Life Conflict? A National Study of Future Public Relations Practitioners • Hua Jiang, S. I. Newhouse of Public Communications, Syracuse University; Hongmei Shen, San Diego State University • Using a national random sample of PRSSA members (N = 464), this study explored public relations students’ perceptions of work-life conflict and tested a structural model with expected family-supportive organizational work environment and anticipated supervisory support as predictors, expected work-life conflict as a mediating variable, and projected salary as an outcome. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analysis, one-way ANOVAs, and descriptive analysis were conducted. Theoretical and practical implications of the study were discussed.

An assessment of progress in research on international public relations: from 2000 to 2011 • Eyun-Jung Ki, University of Alabama; Lan Ye, SUNY College at Cortland • This study investigates the trends, patterns and rigors of research studies on international public relations by conducting a content analysis of peer reviewed journals between 2000 and 2011. A total of 144 articles examined and information for each article was recorded, including journal name, publication year, country examined, authorship, theoretical application, method approach, and future research direction. While the number of articles addressing the topic has steadily increased, the field is still under-researched.

Decomposing Impression from Attitude in Relationship Management • Eyun-Jung Ki, University of Alabama; Elmie Nekmat • This study sets forth to expand relationship management research by testing the linkages among relationship quality perception, perceived organization impression, attitude, and behavioral intention across customers of five major banks. Perceived relational quality, individual attitude, and organizational impression significantly affected supportive behaviors. This study also found that perceived relational quality and organizational impression are also important predictors of attitude.

How Spokesperson Rank and Selected Media Channels Impact Perceptions in Crisis Communication • Jieun Lee, KPR & Associates, Inc.; Sora Kim, University of Florida; Emma Wertz, Kennesaw State University • This study examined the impact of spokesperson’s rank and selected media channels in crisis communication by employing different ranks (i.e., CEO and communication director spokespersons) and media channels (blogs, websites, and newspapers). Findings indicated that CEO spokespersons were more effective in terms of lowering publics’ crisis responsibility attributions than communication director spokespersons and that blogs were more effective in lowering crisis responsibility attributions than websites and newspapers.

How employees identify with their organizations in Korea: Effects of internal communication, organizational social capital, and employee-organization relationships • Daewook Kim, Texas Tech University; Soo-Yeon Kim, Sogang University • This study explores how employees identify with their organizations in the Korean context by examining the effects of internal communication, organizational social capital, and quality of employee-organization relationships. The results of this study showed that two-way and symmetrical internal communication were not significantly associated with organizational social capital and employee-organization identification. However, symmetrical internal communication and organizational social capital were positively associated with employee-organization relationships. Thus, employee-organization relationships mediated the relationships among symmetrical internal communication, organizational social capital, and employee-organization identification. The findings of this study suggest that symmetrical internal communication and organizational social capital play a critical role in building and maintaining healthy employee-organization relationships, and emphasize the role of managing employee-organization relationships in enhancing employee-organization identification in the Korean context.

Strategic Choice of CSR Initiatives: Impact of Reputation and CSR Fit on Stakeholder • Yeonsoo Kim, Weber State University • In order to provide insight on under which conditions CSR practices generate mutually beneficial outcomes for businesses and stakeholders, this study examined how corporate reputation interacts with CSR fit and influences attribution tendency, formation of attitudes and intent among stakeholders. The findings confirmed that corporate reputation is a top-level factor for organizations to achieve a sustained competitive advantage. For reputable companies, respondents perceived the motives more positively, showed better attitudes, and reported favorable supportive intent and purchase intent across different CSR fit situations. This study found that the effects of fit considerably differ by corporate reputation. Reputable companies’ high-fit programs lower stakeholders’ skeptical attribution toward the CSR. Attitudes toward the company were not influenced by different CSR fits. When bad reputation companies used high-fitting initiatives, respondents tended to show the weakest supportive intentions, meaning possible backlash effects. Reputable companies’ high-fitting programs engendered the most favorable purchase intentions. Such high-fitting programs produced backlash effects for companies with a poor reputation and with the weakest purchase intentions. A significant role of stakeholder skepticism on attitudes and behavioral intentions was found.

Compassion International & Pinterest: A Case Study • Carolyn Kim, Biola University; John Keeler, Regent University • This study examines Compassion International’s Pinterest account as a vanguard example of how organizations can utilize Pinterest to engage Brand Communities and as a result, steward relationships with existing and potential donors.

Public Fear Contagion: Testing Lay and Educated Publics’ Information Behaviors and Problem Chain Recognition Effect • Arunima Krishna; Jeong-Nam Kim, Purdue University • This study investigates publics’ communicative behaviors about emerging food technologies using the situational theory of problem solving, tests the Problem Chain Recognition Effect from a salient food risk to new food technologies, and show similarities/differences between expert/educated and lay publics’ behaviors and cognitions about food risks. The results help understand communication behaviors of publics regarding new food technologies, and delineate similarities/differences in predicted behaviors of expert/educated and lay publics. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Socially Mediated Democracy? Investigating Twitter as a digital pubic relations campaign tool • Heather LaMarre, University of Minnesota; Yoshi Suzuki • This study examines the effectiveness of Twitter as a public relations communications tool for congressional campaigns. As a means of examining Twitter’s effectiveness in mobilizing voters, congressional candidate and political party Twitter use for all 435 U.S. House of Representatives races (N = 1284) are compared with 2010 election outcomes. Results indicate that Twitter use is an effective means of developing relationships with publics and mobilizing voters in support of political candidates. Among the campaigns that used Twitter to develop effective relationships with their publics, increased levels of Twitter use significantly predicted increased odds of winning.

How public relations practitioners initiate relationships with journalists • Sun Young Lee, Texas Tech University • This study examines the media relations’ strategies of public relations practitioners: how PR practitioners initiate relationships with journalists, particularly surrounding the practice of “pitching,” and the sources from which they learned their strategies. We used a thematic analysis of 167 in-depth interviews students did with experienced PR practitioners. This study offers rich findings on the media relations strategies of practitioners and the sources thereof, topics overlooked in previous research, theory, and practice.

The Buffering Effect of Industry-Wide Crisis History During Crisis • Seul Lee, University of Florida; Sora Kim, University of Florida • Through an experiment, this study suggests that an industry-wide crisis history can mitigate negative damages created by crises, while an organization-specific crisis history intensifies the negative damages. This indicates the type of crisis history is an important factor to be considered when diagnosing proper crisis response strategies during crisis. In addition, this study identifies a stronger negative impact of an organization-specific crisis history among highly issue-involved publics than less involved ones.

An Ethnographic Examination of Public Sector Influences on the U.S. Coast Guard Social Media Program • Abbey Levenshus, University of Tennessee, Knoxville • An ethnographic case study of the U.S. Coast Guard social media program using interview, document, and participant observation data adds depth to the limited government public relations research and government social media management. USCG communicators reported influences categorized within five contexts: organization (USCG), military (DOD), parent agency (DHS), federal government, and the U.S. public sector. The study offers a behind-the-scenes view of public sector attributes and their influences on a government social media program.

Tweet or “Re-Tweet”? An Experiment of Message Type and Interactivity on Twitter • Zongchao Li, School of Communication, University of Miami; Cong Li, School of Communication, University of Miami • More corporations are recognizing the importance of social media for public relations. However, what communication strategy they should implement on social media remains somewhat unclear in the literature. This study examined the effects of message type and interactivity on a corporate Twitter account. Two types of messages, communal-relationship oriented tweets focusing on consumer relations, and exchange-relationship oriented tweets focusing on sales and product promotion, were tested with either a high or low level of interactivity in a 2 × 2 between-subjects experiment (N = 84). Results indicate that communal messages generated more favorable relationship outcomes such as trust and control mutuality than exchange messages. It was also found that message interactivity positively influenced attitude toward the company, perceived company credibility, and commitment. Implications from both theoretical and practical standpoints are discussed.

Effects of transnational crises on corporate and country reputation and strategic responses • Hyun-Ji Lim, Jacksonville University • Through the employment of a 2x2x3 factorial experiment, this study attempts to examine how three factors – level of country reputation, salience of country of origin, types of image restoration strategy – can affect host customers’ attitudes and behavioral intentions. Findings of this study provide empirical evidence as to whether adopting an image repair strategy helps a country to recover its reputation during a crisis, and an opportunity to gain a better understanding of managing country reputation.

Public Engagement with Companies on Social Network Sites: A Cross-Cultural Comparison of China and the United States • Linjuan Rita Men, Southern Methodist University; Wanhsiu Sunny Tsai, University of Miami • This study evaluates how culture influences publics’ engagement activities on the corporate pages of social networking sites (SNSs). It further evaluates the underlying motivations and engagement mechanisms in two culturally distinct countries, China and the United States. Specifically, social media dependency, parasocial interaction, and community identification are examined as the key antecedents of public-organization engagement on SNSs. The results reveal both cultural differences and similarities between Chinese and American publics’ engagement with corporate SNS pages.

Developing and Validating Publics’ Information Transmitting Model as an Outcome of Relationship Management in Bitt Moon; Yunna Rhee • The purpose of this study was to develop a multi-dimensional model of publics’ information transmitting. Relevant literature in public relations, public communication, marketing communication, and interpersonal communication were reviewed. This paper then composed a six dimensional public’s information transmitting behavior (ITB) model according to the three criteria—activeness, valence, and expressivity. Six dimensions were as follows: ‘Praise-Leading’, ‘Praise-Following’, ‘Scolding-Leading’, ‘Scolding-Following’, ‘Avoiding’, and ‘No-commenting’ The result supported that the 18-item ITB model of six dimensions was significantly reliable and valid as we expected. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings were discussed.

Shifting, broadening, and diversifying: How gay pride organizations are shaping a uniquely 21st century mission • Dean Mundy, Appalachian State University • This study explores how gay pride organizations in ten major U.S. cities execute events that host collectively four million attendees annually. Gay pride’s mission has shifted in the last four-plus decades. Today’s pride organizations require yearlong strategic program planning and outreach. Moreover, they must establish relationships with—and facilitate an intricate community dialog among—a variety of new, diverse stakeholders. The findings reinforce how relationship management and stakeholder theory can inform best public relations practice.

The Misunderstood Nineteenth Century American Press Agent • Karen Russell, University of Georgia; Cayce Myers, University of Georgia • Analysis of press coverage of nineteenth century American press agents indicates that, although press agents worked in a variety of sectors, their primary motivation was profit, their main strategy was media relations, and their tactics often relied on hype or outright lying. A number of early practitioners of press agentry outside the entertainment sector are identified for further study to understand the relationship between press agentry and early corporate publicity.

Beyond the C-Suite: Public Relations’ Scope, Power & Influence at the Senior Executive Level • Marlene Neill, Ph.D., Baylor University • Traditionally public relations scholars have focused on gaining access to the C-suite, but this study demonstrates that there are actually multiple executive-level committees that need their counsel. The findings are based on in-depth interviews with 30 executives representing multiple departments in four U.S. companies, who discussed their involvement or exclusion in eight strategic issues. The factors that impacted public relations’ power and influence included the type of industry, preferences of the CEO, and organizational culture.

Attribution of Government Responsibility for Flu Pandemics: The Role of TV Health News Sources, Self-Efficacy Messages, and Crisis Severity • Sun-A Park, Robert Morris University; Hyunmin Lee, Saint Louis University; Maria Len-Rios, University of Missouri • This experimental study (N=146) investigated how sources in television news (government official vs. doctor), perceptions of crisis severity (high vs. low), and perceptions of self-efficacy messages (presence vs. absence) in TV news stories about the H1N1 flu affected the public’s perception of the government responsibility for the public health crisis and their personal control for preventing contraction of the H1N1 flu. Results revealed significant three-way interactions on perceptions of government crisis responsibility and personal control.

The Under-Representation of Hispanics in the Public Relations Profession: Perspectives of Hispanic Practitioners • David Radanovich, Quinnipiac University • This study explored the under-representation of Hispanics in the public relations profession by conducting in-depth interviews with Hispanic practitioners. The study found that public relations was not the Latinos’ initial career choice, identified three barriers to Hispanics entering the profession, and elicited three practical suggestions to attract more Hispanics to the public relations field. The study also revealed opportunities for future scholarly research to address the under-representation of Hispanics in the public relations profession.

Framing the Massachusetts Cape Wind Debate Among Active E Online Publics • Ben Benson; Bryan Reber, University of Georgia • Activist groups have lobbied for and against the Cape Wind Energy Project since 2001. This is a content analysis of activist groups’ master frames and online comments on Cape Wind news articles retrieved from The Boston Globe website. The most salient advocacy master frames concerned environmental and political benefits. The most salient opposition master frames regarded economic risks. Advocacy comments were recommended more often than opposition comments. Opposition comments containing aesthetic risks were most recommended.

Dialogic communication on Web 2.0: An analysis of organizations using social media to build relationships • Amy Reitz, University of Northern Colorado • In order to determine how social media cultivate relationships with organizational publics, a pilot study was conducted to test how well Kent and Taylor’s (1998) dialogic principles of relationship building work when applied to social media. The findings indicate that the dialogic principles seem to be an appropriate method to use when determining the dialogic principles present in organization social media, albeit with some modifications. Several recommendations are provided to reflect specific social media features.

Smart Friendly Liars: Public Perception of Public Relations Practitioners Over Time • Coy Callison, Texas Tech University; Patrick Merle, Florida State University; Trent Seltzer • Two national surveys of the general public in 2003 (n = 486) and 2012 (n = 372) asked participants to list words describing public relations practitioners. Analyses reveal that the overwhelming majority of the words are positive and that the most commonly used terms outline practitioner intellectual, ethical, and personality traits. While the majority of the personality and intellectual traits are positive, the ethical terms used to describe practitioners are predominately negative.

Identifying Network “Communities” of Theory: The Structure of Public Relations Paradigms • Erich Sommerfeldt, University of Maryland; Michael Paquette, University of Maryland; Melissa Janoske, University of Maryland, College Park; Liang Ma, University of Maryland, College Park • The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how network “communities” of theory can be used to identify distinct research paradigms within public relations literature. Through an analysis of 10 years of articles published in the Journal of Public Relations Research and Public Relations Review (N = 674) the study aimed to identify the theoretical structure of public relations scholarship through network analyses of the connections among theories used by public relations scholars. Results of network analyses suggest that Relationship Management is currently the most influential of the theories identified, in that it holds two general clusters or paradigms of public relations research together. Situational Crisis Communication Theory was identified as the most important theory in a dense group of highly interrelated theories used in crisis research. The paper offers implications on the lack of multiple explanations used in public relations research and the future of theory building in the discipline.

Tracking Influence Through the Social Web: A Network Analysis of Information Flow in Interest-Based Publics • Kathleen Stansberry, University of Akron • This study examines information flow in online, interest-based networks to determine if existing models of information dissemination are adequate. This study finds that a small number of primary influencers from within online communities are central to information collection, collation, and distribution. This finding is inconsistent with one-step, two-step, and multi-step flow models. To more accurately depict online information flow in interest-based networks, I propose a radial model of information flow.

Bridging the journalist-public relations practitioner gap: Toward an “expectations management” theory of media relations • Dustin Supa, Boston University; Lynn Zoch, Radford University • This study addresses one of the challenges facing the study of public relations, the lack of field-specific theory, by introducing the constructs for a new theory of media relations, the expecations management theory (EMT). Based on empirical data, the theory is both descriptive and normative, and defines the nature of the media relations transaction as being one of product, process, role and relationship.

An exploratory study of the effect of Twitter on the public relations – journalist relationship • Drew Wilson; Dustin Supa, Boston University • Media relations is one of the most common functions of the modern public relations. This study examines the impact of emerging media technologies on that function, and seeks to understand how public relations practitioners and journalists are using Twitter in both their personal work and in the relationship with the other profession.

BP’s Reputation Repair Strategies during the Gulf Oil Spill • Lindsay Jordan, Profiles Inc.; Kristen Swain, University of Mississippi • On April 20, 2010, British Petroleum’s Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico exploded, creating the largest oil spill in U.S. history. Analysis of 1,161 BP tweets during the crisis response reflected unexpected reputation repair strategies and responsibility attribution. Situational Crisis Communication Theory suggests that after an accident, PR messages typically reflect low responsibility attribution. Although the official investigation initially did not suggest a preventable crisis, 90% of BP’s tweets reflected high responsibility.

Who’s Coming to the Party? Exploring the Political Organization-Public Relationship in Terms of Relationship, Personality, Loyalty, and Outcomes Among First-Time Voters • Kaye Sweetser, University of Georgia • Building on political organization-public relationship research, this survey (N = 610) of first-time voters investigates the role of relationship as an independent variable. Relationship contributes to predicting strength of political party affiliation, alongside personality. Weak relationships appear to be a significant indicator among those who are no longer loyal to their party and cross party lines. Future research should track the path of relationship from these first-time voters to more experienced voters and longer-standing constituents.

The overarching effects of ethical reputation regardless of CSR cause fit and information source • Weiting Tao, University of Florida; Mary Ann Ferguson • Our experiment examines how corporate prior ethical reputation, CSR cause fit, and information source interact with each other; and how this interaction influences consumers’ evaluations of the company. Meanwhile, our study tests the mediating effect of inferred CSR motives on consumer responses to CSR initiatives. Results show that corporate prior ethical reputation affects consumers’ company evaluations regardless of CSR cause fit and information source, and that this effect is partially mediated by inferred CSR motives.

Stewardship and Involvement: Comparing the Impact on Nonprofit Organizations’ Relationships with Donors and Volunteers • Richard D. Waters, University of San Francisco; Denise Sevick Bortree, Penn State University • Given their focus on program and service delivery, nonprofit organizations often face scarce resources to carry out their administrative functions, such as donor relations and volunteer management. Through intercept surveys of adults (n = 362), this study examines how donor and volunteer relationships evolve differently in the nonprofit sector. Findings indicate that stewardship can boost relationship outcomes for donors and volunteers, but its impact on involvement differs for the two groups.

How Do Different Image Restoration Strategies Influence Organization-Public Relationships in a Crisis? • Richard VanDeHey, University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point; Chang Wan Woo, James Madison University • This research paper illustrates how certain combinations of image restoration strategies encourage a more positive response from publics than others. Rebuild strategies such as mortification, corrective action, compensation, and bolstering were thought to elicit a better reaction from publics than diminishing strategies such as denial, blame shifting, minimization and defeasibility. An experimental study was conducted with 148 college undergraduates. The subjects read one of three fictional news articles (no response, diminishing strategy, and rebuild strategy) about a product recall for an energy drink that was causing illness and answered questions measuring six OPR outcomes suggested by Hon and Grunig (1999): a) trust, b) control mutuality, c) commitment, d) satisfaction, e) communal relationships, and f) exchange relationships. The participants expressed better perceptions about their potential relationship with the company when the company responded with a rebuild strategy. Limitations include lack of generalizability and imbalanced sample sizes of the three groups.

The Impact of Expressing Sympathy through Twitter in Crisis Management: An Experimental Study • Jie Xu, Villanova University; Yiye Wu • This study uses 2 (medium: twitter vs. news release) × 2 (emotional support: yes vs. no) factorial experiment to extrapolate the effects of social media and emotional support on consumers’ crisis appraisal. Two hundred and forty-five twitter users recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk system participate in this study. Multivariate analyses of covariance (MANCOVA) with univariate follow-up tests, using medium and emotional support as fixed factors and product involvement as a control variable are conducted. The result demonstrates significant interaction between emotional support and media channel; emotional support messages delivered through Twitter lowers the perceived crisis responsibility and retain positive organizational reputation, compared to such messages conveyed on news releases. Using twitter significantly lessens people’s sadness and anger. Respondents reading twitter pages attribute less crisis responsibility to the company, and withhold higher perceptions on organizational reputation and purchase intention. Moreover, expressing sympathy and emotional support significantly alleviates people’s sadness and anger, respondents reading messages with emotional support report lower scores on crisis responsibility. Implications, limitations and recommendations for future research are discussed.

 

Student

A Preliminary Study on the Impact of Social Identity on Crisis Attribution • Jonathan Borden, University of Florida • This study seeks to address the current gap in international crisis communications literature by introducing principles of Social Identity Theory into the existing body of crisis communications theory. Hypotheses were tested via an experimental examination of attribution, feelings of empathy, and organization evaluation in several treatment conditions. Analysis revealed that organizational nationality can offer some level of reputational protection whereas crisis location cannot.

Crisis communication and the NBA lockout: Exploring reactions to response strategies in sports crisis • Melanie Formentin • A pre-test, post-test experiment used the 2011 National Basketball Association (NBA) lockout as an example for exploring Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT). Participants (n = 339) evaluated NBA reputation before seeing SCCT strategies embedded in experimental material. Results suggest contexts involving active stakeholders may call for more nuanced approaches to crisis communication. Only “active stakeholder” participants were impacted by SCCT strategies and had more established opinions and knowledge of the league and its crisis history.

“Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse”: CDC’s Use of Social Media and Humor in a Risk Campaign • Julia Daisy Fraustino, University of Maryland; Liang Ma, University of Maryland, College Park • This is a case study of CDC’s “zombie apocalypse” all-disaster preparedness campaign. A 2 (information form: social vs. traditional media) x 2 (message strategy: humorous vs. non-humorous) between-subjects factorial experiment, an interview with a CDC campaign manager, and campaign document analysis uncover benefits and pitfalls of social media and humorous messaging in a risk campaign. Findings show social media can quickly, widely spread disaster information; however, humor may diminish publics’ intentions to take recommended actions.

Social Media’s Effect on Local Government Melissa Graham, University of Tennessee • Using data collected from interviews with public information officers (PIOs) in local governments, this study explores the perceptions of social media as a communication tool. It specifically addresses how social media are used as a public relations function to promote democratic, participatory and transparency models in government. Four primary themes emerged from the data analysis: dialogue promotion, engagement, unconstrained, and barriers.

What Makes You Take an Action in a Crisis? : Exploring Cognitive Processing of Crisis Management • Kyung Jung Han, University of Missouri • This study aims to help practitioners and scholars systematically understand publics in a crisis situation. Based on protection motivation, public segmentation, and crisis management theories, this study conducted a 2 (controllability: high versus low) x 2 (severity: high versus low) experiment. The results show 1) an influence of severity to conative coping behaviors; 2) an interaction effect between severity and controllability; and 3) a relationship between involvement and conative behaviors.

Alerting a Campus Community: Emergency Notification Systems From A Public’s Perspective • Stephanie Madden, University of Maryland • This study evaluated a campus emergency notification system from a public’s perspective to understand how alerts are utilized and perceived. Four focus groups were conducted with students at a large, mid-Atlantic university, and one interview was conducted a public safety official. Findings revealed that alerts served as an information source to students and instigated a social response among them. Implications include a better understanding of how to improve alert messaging strategies.

Defining Early Public Relations: An Examination of the term “Public Relations” in the Popular Press 1774-1899 • Cayce Myers, University of Georgia • This paper examines the use of the term “public relations” in the popular press from 1774-1900. Oftentimes public relations history places the beginnings of PR in the late nineteenth century with a genesis in entertainment and later business. This examination of the use of the term public relations shows that public relations in the eighteenth and nineteenth century was related to politics, specifically international affairs, domestic relations, and political popularity.

The Effects of Media Effects on the Corporate Image of Media Companies • Brett Sherrick, Pennsylvania State University • Prior research in the third-person effects domain has shown that people who believe in harmful media effects are more willing to engage in defiance strategies, such as censorship. Analysis of survey data show that a belief in harmful media effects is also connected to negative evaluations of the media companies potentially responsible for those effects. This research suggests that public relations practitioners for media companies should have become involved in the debate over media effects.

The Billion-Dollar Question: Examining the Extent of Fundraising Encroachment on Public Relations in Higher Education • Christopher Wilson, University of Florida; Sarabdeep Kochhar • U.S. colleges and universities raise billions of dollars a year through sophisticated fundraising efforts. This emphasis on fundraising can lead to encroachment on public relations. To understand the extent of fundraising encroachment in this important nonprofit sector, content analysis was used to examine the structural relationship of public relations and fundraising. The analysis found that 19% of colleges and universities on the 2012 Philanthropy 400 list had structural fundraising encroachment regardless of governance or mission.

 

Teaching

A Complexity Approach to Teaching Crisis Management: Crisis Event Simulation in the Public Relations Classroom • Julia Daisy Fraustino, University of Maryland; Stephanie Madden, University of Maryland; Brooke Fisher Liu • This research presents an exploratory pilot study that takes a complexity theory approach to teaching crisis management/communication through an in-class computerized crisis simulation. Qualitative methods of direct observation of a two-session classroom simulation, and textual analyses of simulation response output as well as student-written reflections provide insights into the suitability of simulation as a public relations crisis teaching tool while also examining complexity theory in practice.

The Infographics Assignment: A Qualitative Study of Students’ and Professionals’ Perspectives • Tiffany Gallicano; Gee Ekachai; Karen Freberg, University of Louisville • In the evolving digital landscape, educators can consider adopting emerging tactics to prepare students for the workplace. One of these tactics, the infographic, incorporates storytelling characteristics by presenting synthesized knowledge and data in a visual way (Fernando, 2012). Through five focus groups with 37 students at three universities and interviews with 10 public relations professionals from various workplace settings, we explore strategies for teaching the infographics assignment and identify potential learning outcomes of the assignment.

Public Relations Students’ Ethics: An Examination of Attitude and Intended Behaviors • Lori McKinnon, Oklahoma State University; Jami Fullerton • A major challenge facing modern public relations practitioners is the knowledge and ability to engage in ethical reasoning. Public relations practitioners are at a critical juncture as they balance client advocacy with the public’s right to know, profit motive with personal values, and corporate responsibility with societal good. Thus, it is important for both practitioners and future practitioners to have a strong moral foundation. This study examines public relations students’ understanding of ethics and their attitudes and intended behaviors toward ethical dilemmas. The authors conclude that moral responsibility and the importance of ethical reasoning are vital for public relations students. These students, who will be tomorrow’s practitioners, have the potential to shape the field and improve its image. With a strong moral compass, students will be equipped to apply values and codes to the analysis of ethical dilemmas in public relations practice.

Online undergraduate public relations courses: Effects of interaction and presence on satisfaction and success • Jensen Moore, Louisiana State University • This study examined student success, failure, withdrawal and satisfaction in online public relations courses based on student/instructor interaction, student-to-student involvement, and instructor presence. Student passing rates, D/F rates, withdrawal rates, and evaluations of instruction were compiled from 51 online public relations courses run over the course of two years. The results from the study suggest that student involvement and self-discipline are the strongest predictors of success and satisfaction with online courses.

Does A Professor’s Gender and Professional Background Influence Students’ Perceptions? • Richard D. Waters, University of San Francisco; Natalie Tindall • This study examines how students’ evaluate educators by gauging their perceptions of the instructors’ professional competency, warmth, course difficulty, and industry connectivity. Using a 2×2 experimental design, students (n = 303) reviewed a syllabus for the introductory public relations course to test whether an instructor’s gender or professional background (academic—industry) influenced students’ perceptions. Findings suggest that students evaluate professors on professional criteria and their ability to connect classroom experiences to actual practice.

<<2013 Abstracts

Political Identity as a Moderator of Third-Person Comedy News Effects • Lee Ahern; Mike Schmierbach, Pennsylvania State University • The effects of “comedy news” have been an area of research interest, especially when it comes to the younger audiences who are increasingly getting news content from these shows. However, comedy news perceptions have not been examined in the context of the third-person effect. Because comedy news has been found to have perceptual and political-identity impacts, the third-person framework is a promising direction for research. This experiment exposed college students to coverage of the same issue/story in both traditional news and comedy news. Third-person effects were evident, and political identity played a moderating role for comedy news but not for traditional news. These results shed light on how the third-person effect operates in an important emerging news programming format, and implies broader theoretical implications for the increasingly partisan US media landscape.

Did the Media Matter in “Battleground” North Carolina? Campaign Interest, Knowledge and Efficacy in 2012 • Lisa Barnard; Daniel Riffe, UNC; Martin Kifer; Sadie Leder • Telephone survey in North Carolina before the 2012 presidential election examined voter interest, knowledge, and efficacy; and media exposure, attention, and performance, including online seeking and partisan cable shows. Campaign attention predicted interest and knowledge, and online seeking predicted knowledge. Interest and knowledge were predicted by individual efficacy and epistemic political efficacy—the belief one can find “truth” in politics. News attention and online seeking predicted EPE, but FOX News ratings negatively predicted EPE.

Anatomy of the Egyptian Revolution through Twitter images • Ozen Bas, Indiana University; Tamara Kharroub • This exploratory content analysis examined Twitter images of the Egyptian revolution in terms of emotionally-compelling (violence and facial emotions) and efficacy-eliciting (crowds, protest activities, and national and religious symbols) content. The analysis of 574 images shows more focus on efficacy-eliciting than emotionally-compelling images. However, emotionally-compelling content decreased over time, whereas efficacy-eliciting content increased. Protest activities were the best predictor of image reposting. Finally, highly-influential users posted significantly more efficacy-eliciting content than images of emotionally-charged content.

Thinking About Romney: Frame Building in a Battleground State in the 2012 Presidential Campaign • Sid Bedingfield, University of South Carolina; Dien Anshari, University of South Carolina • Analyzing newspaper articles (n=466), this study investigates the framing of Mitt Romney in a key battleground state during the 2012 presidential election. Campaign officials and political journalists contend that attacks launched by President Obama in late spring defined Romney for the remainder of the campaign. Results suggest partial support for this claim by revealing increased use of negative media frames after the attacks began. Findings offer theoretical insights into the concept of frame building during political campaigns.

Burglar Alarm Fatigue. Media-hype, human-interest frames and audience reactions to a real-life news serial • Audun Beyer, University of Oslo, NORWAY; Tine Figenschou • The presence of media-hypes in the media’s coverage of politics and current affairs is well known. Media coverage sometimes tends to grow out of proportions, and news stories take on a life of their own. We argue that such media-hypes often use elements from the human-interest frame, and that a media-hype consisting of strong, dramatic, and emotional news stories to some degree fulfill Zaller’s notion of a positive media frenzy. In this paper we take one particular such media-hype as a starting point to examine what audiences think of this kind of coverage. Thus, we bring the notion of a media-hype together with a certain view of normative standards for journalism (Zaller), and explore if such coverage really is appreciated with news audiences. Through a survey conducted as the story peaked in the media, it finds that the audience was highly critical of the media coverage, and that members of the audience show a high degree of sophistication when they evaluate this real-life human-interest news serial as it unfolds.

Perceptions of credibility and television news: Examining the moderating effects of cynicism and skepticism • Porismita Borah; Michael Beam, Washington State University; Bruce Pinkleton; Erica Austin, Washington State University • Although scholars have studied the perceptions of news credibility, fewer studies have compared news credibility perceptions across television news genres. In an experimental study, we examine the differences in news credibility perceptions amongst four different news sources. We also studied the moderating role of cynicism and skepticism. Our findings show strong skeptics perceive broadcast media and news satire as most credible while weak skeptics and strong cynics find conservative media most credible. Implications are discussed.

Why the Fake News Really Matters: Political Knowledge Gain and The Daily Show • Nicholas Browning • Employing a uses and gratifications perspective, this study experimentally investigates political knowledge gain for young adult audiences of The Daily Show in comparison to the national nightly network news. Findings show that young people learn from The Daily Show, that political knowledge acquisition is greater for infotainment than for news, and that knowledge gains from infotainment increase when individuals are exposed to the news. Finally, political knowledge gain for infotainment audiences correlates with gratifications obtained.

Sourcing and Framing the 2012 Battle for the White House: A Student Media Analysis • Aimee Burch, Iowa State University; Raluca Cozma, Iowa State University • Drawing on scholarship on framing, sourcing, and bias in election news coverage, this content analysis explores a neglected type of news organization whose editorial output has potentially far-reaching and indelible effects on both its receivers and its creators: student newspapers. The analysis of college newspapers in four swing states found that election stories in these newspapers focus more on human interest and issue coverage than their professional counterparts, are more neutral in tone, and are also more richly sourced. The analysis lends support to the literature on the relationship between sourcing and framing.

The impact of partisan media exposure on diversity of public affairs interests and agenda diversity • Michael Chan; Lap Fung Lee, School of Journalism and Communication, The Chinese University of Hong Kong • A deliberative democracy calls for a citizenry who are well informed in a diverse range of public issues and a media system that shapes the public agenda for deliberation and consensus-building. However, with the proliferation of a high choice media environment citizens nowadays can engage in partisan selective exposure by only consuming news that match their own political attitudes and dispositions. This study examines two under-researched consequences of partisan selective exposure: 1) the reduction in the diversity of interests in public affairs, and 2) the reduction in the number of issues in society that an individual considers important (i.e. nominal agenda diversity). A national survey was conducted in Hong Kong, a transitional democracy with a highly partisan media environment. Results showed that while reading more newspapers is positively related to interest diversity and agenda diversity, citizens who receive their news only from partisan newspapers are less likely to be interested in a range of public issues and are less able to name the pressing issues facing society. Equivalent findings for television news exposure were not found. The findings provide supportive evidence that partisan selective exposure can lead to a fragmented public agenda.

Divided Versus Polarized Voters: Media Influences and Third-Person Perceptions • Chingching Chang; Ran Wei, University of South Carolina; Ven-hwei Lo • This study differentiated “polarized” and “divided” voters and argues that divided voters may need information to reach a decision, which implies they are more open to persuasion through media coverage than polarized voters. In turn, they may infer that election coverage exerts a greater influence on them, resulting in a smaller self–other perceptual discrepancy in terms of their susceptibility to this coverage. On the other hand, polarized voters have made their voting choices early on during the campaign; under such a circumstance, the potential influence of campaign news on them and their self–other perceptual gap should vary as a function of the desirability of the intended influence. This desirability in turn depends on two media factors: coverage target (supported vs. opposing candidates) and coverage valence (positive vs. negative). The results of a survey conducted during the official campaign for the 2012 Taiwanese presidential election supports these predictions, demonstrating the utility of categorizing voters as divided or polarized when examining the perceived effects of election campaign news.

Examining the Reciprocal Relations between News Exposure and Political Discussion: Evidences from the four-wave ANES 2008-2009 Panel Data • Chu-Jie Chen, City University of Hong Kong; Jared Tu, City University of Hong Kong • Despite considerable studies on political discussion in the field of political communication and political sciences, most attention has been paid to the cross-sectional effects of political discussion as a mediator or a moderator, leaving underexplored about the longitudinal reciprocal relations between news exposure and political discussion. Employing the four-wave data from ANES 2008-2009 Panel Study, this paper adopted a cross-lagged path analysis approach which is widely used to infer causal associations in longitudinal research design. Using structural equation modeling, the measurement model and structural model were specified and the analysis results indicated that the reciprocal effects between news exposure and political discussion did not change after adding exogenous variables. Limitation of this paper and further research direction were also discussed.

Networks versus news media, or networks and news media? The interactive effects of network heterogeneity and news sharing on social network services (SNSs) on citizens’ participatory activities • Jihyang Choi; Jae Kook Lee, Indiana University School of Journalism; Emily Metzgar • This study investigated how the use of SNSs is associated with citizens’ political participation by focusing specifically on the effects of the structure of social networks and news consumption activities on SNSs. Specifically, we introduce the concept of news sharing on SNSs as another potential predictor of participation.  The present study found the presence of two sub-dimensions of news sharing: news externalizing and news internalizing. News sharing behavior – particularly news externalizing on SNSs as identified and conceptualized here – was found to be a significant and positive predictor of political participation, while news internalizing was not. Additionally, the results show that network heterogeneity itself has non-significant or only marginally significant effects on participation, either online or offline. However, out data revealed the moderating effects of news sharing that condition the relationship between the level of network heterogeneity and the extent of participation. The findings indicate that heterogeneous online social networks may boost citizens’ participation when they are active in posting news links to share with other members on SNSs.

Hit ‘em hard! Political Partisans and Negative Ads • David Coppini, University of Wisconsin Madison; Bryan McLaughlin, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Catasha Davis; Doug McLeod • As the last two Presidential election cycles have shown, campaign attack ads have become pervasive in American politics. However, political communication scholars still argue on in which circumstances attack ads can be effective and avoid backlash. Using an experimental design with a national representative sample (N=409) this study investigates the effectiveness of attack ads in the context of sex scandals. Results show that attack ads can be a powerful to mobilize partisans, even when the attack ads is extreme. Theory of motivated reasoning and social identity theory are introduced to explain the mechanism behind these findings. In conclusion, a discussion of the implications of the findings for democratic outcomes is introduced.

Hope vs. Fear: Emotional Response to Political Attack Ads as a Mediator of Ego Defense Strategies • Yang Feng, Southern Illinois University Carbondale; Aaron Veenstra; Wenjing Xie • Numerous studies investigating the effects of negative political advertising on political participation have provided mixed findings. We propose an emotion-based explanation in face of the discrepancy, and hypothesize that emotional responses to an attack ad, evoked by one’s ego-defensive mechanism, mediate the relationship between attack ad exposure and attitudinal and behavior responses. We tested the mediating role of emotional responses using an online experiment in the context of the campaign between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. Results provided some support for partisan’s ego-defense reactions influencing one’s attitude certainty and open-mindedness, which subsequently affected information seeking intention.

Amplifying America’s Voice? Journalists’ coverage of deliberation • Caroline Foster, University of South Carolina; John Besley, Michigan State University • Based on interviews with journalists and quantitative analysis of media content, we aimed to explore journalists’ perceptions of the newsworthiness of public engagement events. We asked journalists how they decided whether to cover Our Budget, Our Economy (OBOE), a nationwide public meeting designed to engage the American public in considering policy options for balancing the federal budget. Our data suggest that while “process” stories often lack impact and thus hold little appeal to journalists, some parts of the OBOE process did capture journalists’ attention because they are unique and have potential to affect national economic policy. Implications of these findings for public deliberation and journalism practice are discussed.

Believing in the Public: Orientations toward Facebook and Social, Political, and Media Trust • Itay Gabay, University of Wisconsin – Madison; Jackson Foote; Hernando Rojas, University of Wisconsin – Madison • If Facebook is the mirror of offline social space that it claims to be, then we must take seriously the diverse experiences and orientations toward that. Democratic theorists have left behind old notions of coffee-house salons in favor of a networked sphere of communicative agency, in which the Internet can act as a platform to organize social and communicative action, achieve mutual understanding, and facilitate communicative reflexivity between civil society and the public sphere. We investigate how common-sense notions about the role of publicity, opinion-formation, information-exchange, deliberation, and political expression inform Internet users’ relationship to traditional institutions. This survey of Internet users in Colombia explores how the orientations that users have about the technology relate to the modern institutions that democratic scholars associate with positive social and political engagement. We find that social networking site users who have a public orientation toward the sites and use the broader Internet for political purposes are more likely to have high levels of political and social trust; whereas those who have what we label a private orientation toward the sites have higher levels of media trust. This finding proves most true for those citizens in the lowest socio-economic categories, demonstrating that social networking sites in particular might be a force for mitigating the institutional trust gap between middle-class and poor citizens in the developing world.Those in the lower strata of Colombian society are most likely to gain greater political and social trust from their publicly oriented views about the societal function of Facebook and other social media.

Frame competition after key events: A longitudinal study of framing of economic policy • Stefan Geiss, Department of Communication, U of Mainz; Mathias Weber, University of Mainz; Oliver Quiring, University of Mainz • Key events catalyze frame building processes and competition between frames. A longitudinal study investigates media framing of economic policy after the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers (2008–2009). Status and resources of frame sponsors and cultural resonance of frames prove critical for a frame’s success. The frames ranking high on these categories are more competitive and have the capability to displace and suppress alternative frames. Diversity of framing of economic policy was high and constant.

Fighting the War on (Appalachian) Coal in Local and National News • Maxine Gesualdi, Temple University • During the 2012 presidential campaign, a rhetorical war on coal was waged by the candidates and covered in local and national news. This study compares framing of the war on coal in 67 articles from Charleston, WV, newspapers and in 54 Associated Press and nine New York Times stories. In addition, the analysis highlights the role of a local activist journalist and provides insight into media representations of Appalachia.

Relationship Development through Social Networking: How United States Governors are Using Facebook • Melissa Graham, University of Tennessee; Danijela Radic, University of Tennessee • Through a content analysis of the Facebook profiles of the United States Governors, this study examines the relationship development strategies that are being incorporated by governors on their social networking pages. Results indicate that most of the governors have incorporated the majority of Facebook applications available to them. Examining the governors’ profiles for disclosure, information dissemination and involvement revealed that disclosure and information dissemination were the most often used strategies.

YouTube / OurTube / TheirTube: Official and Unofficial Online Campaign Advertising, Negativity, and Popularity • Jacob Groshek; Stephanie Brookes • This study explored online campaign advertising as it existed in the primary season of the 2012 presidential campaign. In looking at official and unofficial advertising of five viable candidates on YouTube for a nearly one-year time period during the 2012 primaries, analyses reported here undertook key features of negativity, popularity, and content producers. Results demonstrated a number of noticeable and significant differences, as well as several similarities across the candidates, the parties, and the producers of online advertising with regard to the level of negativity found in ads posted to YouTube during this election. To some extent, the patterns observed indicate the normalization and embeddedness that YouTube has taken on in political campaigning and situate YouTube as a permanent fixture among many channels in elections.

Biased Partisan News and a Divided Nation: A Test of Self-categorization Theory • Jiyoung Han • This study explores the processes that might underlie the influence of biased partisan news media on opinion polarization. Consistent with self-categorization theory, exposure to biased partisan news is expected to indirectly generated opinion polarization by making one’s party identification salient as opposed to its counterpart (i.e., Democrat vs. Republican). A pretest/post test experimental study (N = 298) demonstrated that that causal effect of biased partisan news effects on opinion polarization. Departing from selective media exposure prediction, this study demonstrated that the changes in opinion shown in incongruent conditions were no smaller than the changes in opinion shown in congruent conditions. In addition, joint significant tests also supported the mediation effects of the strength of party identification in the process of opinion polarization. This study is one of the first studies showing group polarization can occur via mass communication in the absence of any kinds of group discussion. Theoretical implications of this study were discussed.

Bridging the Partisan Divide? Exploring Ambivalence and Information Seeking Over Time in the 2012 US Presidential Election • Jay Hmielowski, University of Arizona; Michael Beam, Washington State University; Myiah Hutchens, University of Arizona • Research has shown that holding conflicting attitudes may lead people to live up to the normative ideal of how citizens should act in a democracy. One example of this ideal behavior is the research showing that ambivalence leads to information seeking. To expand on this line of inquiry, this study examines the relationship between ambivalence and information seeking over time using three-wave panel data. In addition, we also examine whether ambivalence leads people to seek out attitudinally consistent or inconsistent media, and whether use of pro- or counter-attitudinal outlets increases or decreases ambivalence, respectively. Results suggest that a higher level of information seeking leads to a reduction in ambivalence. This decrease in ambivalence seems to be driven by using pro-attitudinal media. Experiencing ambivalence, however, is associated with an increase in counter-attitudinal media use.

Differential Effects of Fear and Anger Appeals in Political Advertisements • Elizabeth Housholder, University of Minnesota; Philip Chen, University of Minnesota • The 2012 election saw unprecedented spending on negative political advertising, yet research in this area has produced conflicting results about the effects on downstream political behavior. Using an original experiment, this study investigates an understudied area in political advertising research: the differential mobilization, information-seeking and evaluation effects caused by anger and fear appeals. The results indicate that anger appeals have cause greater mobilization and more positive evaluations of the sponsor, as compared to fear appeals.

Does the Horserace Really Sell?: Examining Election News Preferences • Seung Mo Jang, University of Michigan; Yu Won Oh, University of Michigan • This study investigated how citizens select election news online. Voluntary national samples browsed a news website featuring four types of election news (horserace, candidates’ issue positions, campaign trails, and voters). Their online activities, including article selection and the length of exposure, were unobtrusively measured by behavior tracking software. Findings revealed that participants tended to choose issue-based election coverage but avoid news stories about campaign trails. The horserace was irrelevant to the popularity of news stories.

Toward a Virtuous Circle: The Role of News Consumption and Media Trust • Qihao Ji, Florida State University; Louisa Ha, Bowling Green State University; Jingyu Bao • The current study reconciles the social capital perspective with virtuous circle/media malaise approach by examining the relationship among news consumption, media trust, and civic engagement. It confirms the influences of demographic variables on media’s democratic effectiveness. Moreover, Television news consumption was found having a positive power in predicting political participation and civic engagement. In addition, different demographic groups and news consumption patterns across media lead to significantly different likelyhood of specific media trust.

The Shape of the Pack in U.S. Political Journalism • Vincent Kiernan, Georgetown University • This study applies the concept of opinion leadership to pack journalism among political journalists in the United States. Journalists were surveyed about stress and autonomy in their work and were asked to identify other journalists whose work influences them. There was no correlation between autonomy or stress and the number of journalists followed by a respondent. Journalists at elite media outlets were commonly designated as leaders of others, but follower relationships also were grouped geographically.

Knowledge vs. Stereotype: Exploring the Mediating Mechanisms of the Relationship between Selective Exposure, Attitudinal Polarization, and Political Participation • Yonghwan Kim, The University of Alabama • This study tests two models that explicate the relationship between selective exposure and political polarization and participation. The knowledge model suggests that the effects of selective exposure on individuals’ attitudinal polarization and political engagement are mediated by knowledge of candidate issue stances. The stereotype model proposes that selective exposure indirectly influences political polarization and participation via stereotypical perceptions of candidates (i.e., McCain’s age and the prospect of a Black presidency). By posing issue knowledge and stereotypical perceptions as potential mediators, this study extends current literature to analyze why and how selective exposure leads to polarization and political participation. The results provide evidence that individuals’ stereotypic perceptions of the candidates’ age and race mediate the influence of selective exposure on attitudinal polarization and participation while there was no support for the knowledge model. These findings thus challenge the argument that selective exposure is normatively desirable due to its contribution to citizens’ greater levels of political participation. The findings of this study call into question such a contention because the results show that individuals who engage in selective exposure are motivated to participate in political activities by forming stereotypic perceptions of candidates rather than by gaining factual issue knowledge.

Facebook to offline or offline to Facebook: A longitudinal study for the 2012 Taiwan Presidential Election • Jih-Hsuan Lin, National Chiao-Tung University • The study collected data before and after the 2012 Taiwanese Presidential Election to examine the mobilization direction between online Facebook and offline political participation. The panel data supported four SEM models proposed in this study. In addition, young population significantly indicated more positive attitudes for Facebook than the elder population. However, no differences were found between these two populations regarding their Facebook political activities, mostly due to the perceived culture of not discussing politics with friends.

Uncertain Future: Media Influence and the Republican Party • Bryan McLaughlin, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Catasha Davis; Mallory Perryman, University of Wisconsin – Madison; Kwansik Mun • Following the 2012 election, media coverage centered on whether the Republican Party should compromise its stances on issues core to conservative identity (taxes or abortion). We test whether news framing the GOP’s future in terms of compromise or policy maintenance affects Republicans. The compromise frame led to lower Republican identity salience in the taxes conditions. Further, we found a main effect of compromise on perceptions of public opinion and individual assessment of need to compromise.

Covering the Conventions: Bias in Pre and Post-speech Media Commentary during the 2012 Presidential Nominating Conventions • Dylan McLemore, University of Alabama; Youngju Kim, University of Alabama; Reema Mohini, University of Alabama; Scott Morton, University of Alabama • Presidential nominating conventions traditionally mark the beginning of the general election, and research suggests they may have an effect on voters. However, studies of convention coverage remain few. This content analysis evaluates instant media commentary from the 2012 Republican and Democratic national conventions for ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC. Coverage across networks was generally favorable to both parties, though significant differences in valence frames emerged between cable rivals Fox News and MSNBC.

Blogging the Irrelevant?: A Content Analysis of Political Blog Coverage of the 2012 Democratic National Convention • Laura Meadows, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Creighton Welch, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Daniel Riffe, UNC; Daniel Kreiss, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • This content analysis examined coverage of the 2012 Democratic National Convention in the 25 most-trafficked conservative and 25 most-trafficked liberal political blogs from September 1 to September 9, 2012. A total of 1,501 individual blog posts were coded during this eight day period. The convention was found to have an aggregative function, drawing the attention of both conservative and liberal blogs in similar numbers, though the two partisan groups differed significantly in terms of tone and focus of coverage.

But How Does it Play in Peoria? China’s Public Diplomacy & American Public Opinion • Emily Metzgar; Lars Willnat; Shuo Tang, Indiana University; Tunga Lodato, Indiana University • Using content analysis and original survey data we ask if China’s public diplomacy efforts in the United States have resulted in more positive media coverage in recent years and if so, whether this correlates with more positive attitudes toward China among the American public. We find no improvement in the tone of American coverage. Moreover, we find media coverage has only limited influence on American opinion of China. We discuss the implications of these findings.

Citizen Journalism and Civic Participation: Theory of Reasoned Action and Its Mediating Effects • Seungahn Nah, University of Kentucky; Kang Namkoong, University of Kentucky; Rachael Record, University of Kentucky; Stephanie Van Stee, University of Kentucky • Drawing on the theory of reasoned action (Fishbein, 1967; Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975), this study examines the direct and indirect effects of citizen journalism on civic participation. Through a quasi-experimental design, the analyses show that citizen journalism practice has a direct effect on civic participation with volunteering/donating to nonprofit and voluntary organizations. This study also reveals that attitude toward nonprofit and voluntary organizations mediates the relationship between citizen journalism and civic participation.

Examining How Normative Opinion Cues and Incivility on Social Networking Sites Influence Political Engagement • Rachel Neo, The Ohio State University • This study uses Pew Research Center survey data to examine how social media influences political outcomes. Findings suggest that people use social media to selectively attend to opinion congruent political information, and to selectively avoid opinion incongruent political information. Perceived opinion incongruence was positively associated with willingness to self-censor on social media. Incivility on social media was negatively associated with political engagement. People were likely to post about politics if their peers were doing likewise.

Crunching the Numbers: Network Newscasts and the Reporting of Polling Data During the 2012 Election • Chad Nye, Keene State College; John Mcguire, Oklahoma State University • This study examined 250 separate presidential polling reports from the ABC, CBS and NBC nightly newscasts between Labor Day and Election Day 2012. The researchers found significant differences between the networks in the accuracy of poll reports and in attention given to margin of error in poll reports. The researchers also found that despite the opportunity to enhance poll reporting by using their web pages, none of the three networks took advantage of that opportunity.

Negative Super PAC Advertising: Involvement, Affective Responses, and Political Information Efficacy • David Painter, Full Sail University; Eisa Al Nashmi, Kuwait University; Jessica Mahone, University of Florida • This investigation parses the influence of partisanship and political expression on the effects of negative Super PAC ads. Using a pretest-posttest design with two experimental conditions and 585 participants, both enduring and situational involvement exerted significant main and interaction effects on viewers’ affect toward the general election candidates and levels of political information efficacy. These results suggest enduring and situational involvement moderate the effects of negative Super PAC advertising in primary contests.

Socially Networked Politics: Effects of Facebook Use on Political Attitudes of Young Female Adults • Azmat Rasul, Florida State University; Ulla Bunz, Florida State University • This study scrutinizes the relationship between one of the social networking websites (Facebook) and political attitudes of young female adults. We were interested in examining the effects of Facebook on the cognitive, affective, and behavioral dimensions of the attitudes of the young female users. We focused on young female adults as females are conventionally and stereotypically considered a politically alienated section of the society. Our objective was to investigate if new and interactive modes of social and political communication were influencing attitudinal and behavioral patterns of young girls when they are exposed to a variety of political messages on Facebook. Using survey data collected at a large Southern university (n = 242), we were able to predict that Facebook use is positively associated with political self-efficacy and political support for various institutions.

Diagnosing the Disease of American Politics: Jimmy Carter, George F. Will, and the 1976 Campaign • Lori Roessner, UTK; Natalie Manayeva, UTK • On March 25, 1976, Washington Post columnist George F. Will offered an account of the day-to-day life of a political reporter. Four years later, the Pulitzer-Prize winner would be criticized for his lack of transparency on the campaign trail. This study examines the role that the academic turned columnist played in contributing to the image of Jimmy Carter and in constituting the form of political journalism in the post-Watergate era.

Thematic and Episodic Framing of Occupy Wall Street in The Washington Post • Jeremy Saks, Ohio University • This study is a content analysis of The Washington Post to see how it framed the Occupy Wall Street movement. The two concepts that are key to the analysis are episodic and thematic framing. The results showed that The Washington Post published more articles with episodic than thematic framing. The majority of the most emphasized sources were from outside of the protest movement

Facebook as a Campaign Tool during 2012 Elections: A New Dimension To Agenda Setting Discourse • Arthur Santana, University of Houston; Lindita Camaj, University of Houston • Using the theoretical framework of agenda setting, this research examines the extent to which the messages of the presidential candidates during the 2012 U.S. presidential campaign were transferred to the public via Facebook. Results reveal that Facebook has risen to become an important campaign tool while also raising new questions about the extent to which the agenda setting paradigm is being reshaped with the advent of this new media.

Engagement of Young Adults: Long-term Effects of Family Socialization and Media Use • Rosanne Scholl, LSU; Chance York, Louisiana State University • This paper uses inter-generational panel survey data to show that young citizen’s political engagement is affected by family characteristics they experienced as adolescents. A young person is more likely to vote if, when he or she was a teen, parents read and talked about the news. However, adolescent media use has no association with voter turnout as a young adult. Effects were found for parent and young adult news use, but not entertainment TV use.

Cumulative and Long Term Campaign Advertising Effects on Democratically Valuable Outcomes • Rosanne Scholl, LSU; Melissa R. Gotlieb, Texas Tech University; Travis Ridout; Ken Goldstein; Dhavan Shah • Political advertising research has mostly ignored the possibility that advertising effects may build up across multiple election seasons or extend past Election Day. This study investigates the short- and long-term effects of both same-cycle and cumulative exposure to ads on a range of normatively desirable attitudes and behaviors using two different election-year survey datasets and an extensive content analysis. Effects within and across elections are shown, as well as sleeper and sustained effects over time.

The Visual Representation of Presidential Candidates in Online Media • Shuo Tang, Indiana University; Edo Steinberg, Department of Telecommunications, Indiana University; Yanqin Lu • Through a framing analysis of 786 candidate images published by major newspapers, newsroom blogs, and partisan blogs during the 2012 presidential campaign, the present study analyzed and compared how mainstream and online media visually framed the presidential candidates. The results suggested that while the mainstream media kept a balanced view in framing the candidates, the liberal blogs did not specifically favor Obama over Romney. The conservative blogs, however, demonstrated their favorability by positively framed Romney and negatively framed Obama through the images they selected to publish.

Network Issue Agendas on Twitter during the 2012 U.S. Presidential Election • Chris Vargo, UNC Chapel Hill; Lei Guo, The University of Texas at Austin; Donald Shaw, UNC Chapel Hill; Maxwell McCombs • Twitter contained discussion of issues by citizens and news organizations during the 2012 U.S. presidential election. This investigation of how the salience of issues varied across these groups on Twitter was guided by agenda melding, Network Agenda Setting Model and the concept of selective exposure. Both horizontal and vertical media correlated highly with each other. Moreover, both vertical media and horizontal media were also correlated highly with the network issue agendas of candidate supporters.

Communication’s Next Top Model: Comparing the Differential Gains and Communication Mediation Models as Predictors of Political Participation and Knowledge • Hong Vu, University of Texas at Austin; Joseph Yoo, The University of Texas at Austin; Maegan Stephens, The University of Texas at Austin; Brian Baresch, University of Texas; Rachel Reis Mourao, University of Texas at Austin; Tom Johnson • Scholars agree interpersonal communication works with mass communication to influence political participation and knowledge, but disagree about the nature of that relationship. This study tests two competing models: The Differential Gains Model, which examines the interaction between media and discussion, and the Communication Mediation Model, which focuses on discussion as a mediator between media and political measures. This study found considerable support for the Communication Mediation Model, but little support for the Differential Gains Model.

The Argument and the Source: News Coverage, Competitive Partisan Issue Framing, and American Public Opinion • Michael Wagner, University of Wisconsin-Madison • What are the consequences of the long-term framing strategies of partisan elites on American public opinion and party identification? While Carsey and Layman (2006) explicate the different conditions for issue-based party change and party-based issue change, recent evidence suggests that partisan-sourced issue frames play a key role in affecting who is aware of elite differences on issues over time (Author Citation 1 deleted) and when party-based issue change is likely to occur (Author Citation 2 deleted). However, this evidence only examines the internal consistency of issue frames within parties, ignoring the actual content of the frames themselves. Baumgartner, DeBoef, and Boydstun’s (2008) development of evolutionary factor analysis provides scholars a new way to examine how the content of different frames about the same issue are salient, resonant, and persistent over time; but, it doesn’t account for the sources of the content. I merge ANES Cumulative file data (from 1976-2008) with the first evolutionary factor analysis of partisan-sourced issue frames coded from Newsweek magazine on two issues (abortion and taxes) from 1976-2008 to show how the salience and persistence of partisan-sourced issue frames affect long-term shifts in party identification and changes in public opinion. The analysis shows that Republican and Democratic elites highlight different aspects of the same issue and that the salience, persistence, and resonance of these frames affect partisanship in different ways for abortion and taxes over time.

Comparing Ann Romney’s RNC Speech with Michelle Obama’s DNC Speech in 2012 • Qian Wang • The study examined what kinds of strategy Ann Romney and Michelle Obama used in their speeches to the National Conventions of their own Parties as well as how the audience perceived and resonated with their speeches. Through a quantitative textual analysis of the speeches and a content analysis of audience comments to the speeches on Fox News website and CNN News website, the study found Obama’s speech is more gender-balanced and issue-balanced than Romney’s. Further, more audience perceived Obama’s speech authentic expression and Romney’s, strategic promotion.

United States College Students’ Social Media Use and Online Political Participation • Hongwei Yang, Appalachian State University; Jean DeHart, Appalachian State University • After Election 2012, 4,556 college students were surveyed to investigate which elements of social media use predict online political participation. Structural equation modeling and hierarchical multiple regression results showed that political uses of Facebook and Twitter, political self-efficacy, online social capital, and group participation were positive predictors of online political participation. Extensive Facebook and Twitter use was a negative predictor, and social trust did not directly influence participation. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Powered by Democracy? – A multilevel model of media uses and political participation across Asian countries • Xinzhi Zhang, City University of Hong Kong; Feifei Zhang, State University of New York – University at Albany • Voting is not the only way that people influence policy making. The present study concentrates on two alternative modes of political participation – the contact-mode participation, i.e., contacting governmental or non-governmental agencies to express political concerns, and the demonstrative form of participation, i.e., petitioning, demonstrating, and protesting – in 10 Asian countries where free public election has not been implemented in all of them. We propose that the political impact of media is contingent upon the democratic development level within the society. Multilevel linear regression models using wave 2 Asian Barometer Survey (n=16,737) show that newspaper, TV, and the informational use of the internet yield different but significant impacts on the different modes of participatory behaviors whereas such impacts are moderated by the level of democracy. Positive associations between reading newspaper and political participation are stronger in pro-democracy countries. The same patterns occur between the informational use of internet and political activities as well.

Perceived Speech Conditions and Disagreement of Everyday Talk: Effects on Political Efficacy • Weiyu Zhang; Leanne Chang, National University of Singapore • Motivated by the theoretical debate on whether everyday talk is qualified to be part of the deliberative system, this study proposes two middle-range concepts, perceived speech conditions and perceived disagreement, to theorize the deliberativeness of everyday talk based on Habermas’s theory of communicative action. Three dimensions of perceived speech conditions, including free proposal, symmetrical opportunity, and fair treatment, are conceptualized and operationalized in the context of everyday talk. Situating the empirical test in a hybrid political system, the study finds that perceived speech conditions demonstrate positive associations with both internal and external efficacy after controlling for amount of discussion and perceived disagreement. Study findings offer insights into understanding a variety of deliberation practices using the two theory-driven concepts.

News use, infotainment and political participation: Advancing the mediating role of news and infotainment cognitive elaboration • Pei Zheng; Alberto Ardèvol-Abreu; Homero Gil de Zúñiga, University of Texas at Austin • Media fragmentation has favored the emergence of “softer” news programs. Although, previous research showed the links between traditional news exposure and participation, the relationship between infotainment-use and participation has not been so clearly established. Based on U.S. national two-wave-panel-data, this study examines the relationship between news use, infotainment, and political participation; proposing a novel theoretical addition through the mediating effect of individual’s cognitive news-use/infotainment elaboration. Results indicate effects are mediated by these cognitive elaboration efforts.

Tweeting “Red” and “Blue”?: How Fox, MSNBC, CNN Journalists Use Twitter to Cover the 2012 Presidential Debates • Pei Zheng • Did journalists tweet “Red” and “Blue” during the 2012 presidential debates? Or did they use their 140 characters for objective reporting? Journalism as a profession is expected to be objective. However, with Twitter as a new reporting tool, objectivity may have taken a back seat.Using the Twitter data during 2012 presidential debates, this study provides insight into whether Twitter was used by cable news journalists as an objective reporting tool or for partisan purposes.

<<2013 Abstracts

Open Competition

Political or Professional?: The Nineteenth Century National Editorial Association • Stephen Banning • In the nineteenth century the National Editorial Association grew from just over fifty editors to over 4,000 members representing 12,000 newspapers. This was a time when some state press associations were self identified as professionals. This research examines the National Editorial Association’s character and motivations to see if members were interested in professionalization as well. The National Editorial Association’s questionable connection with the 1992 World’s Fair is also examined.

It’s the leadership, stupid, not the economy: A framing study of newspaper endorsements of presidential candidates in the 2012 election • Kenneth Campbell, University of South Carolina; Ran Wei, University of South Carolina; Wan Chi Leung, University of South Carolina; Maia Mikashavidze, University of South Carolina • Though framing research has been robust, but no study has examined press endorsements of presidential candidates with a framing perspective. To fill the void, we pursued a framing analysis of presidential endorsements in the 2012 election. Moreover, the present study aims at overcoming some of the limitations in the existing literature with a framing analysis of the candidates and issues used by the newspaper endorsements in the tightly contested presidential contest between incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney in 2012. To achieve the objectives, a quantitative content analysis and qualitative framing analysis of 75 newspaper endorsements were conducted. Findings show that newspapers that endorsed Obama framed him as a leader based on his performance on a variety of national issues whereas newspapers that endorsed Romney framed him as their choice based primarily on the economy.

Fuzzy, transparent, and fast: Journalists and public relations practitioners characterize social media interactions • Aaron Chimbel; Tracy Everbach, University of North Texas; Jacqueline Lambiase • This mixed-methods study, based on a survey including open-ended responses from 167 journalists and PR practitioners, examines views on interacting through social media. Grounded in journalism ethics and news production research, the study examines how professionals navigate rapidly changing social media. Results show journalists and PR practitioners see themselves working in the same digital space. Journalists and PR professionals thought it was ethical to become social media “friends” and followers. Still, these relationships are evolving.

Is Google “Stealing” your Content? Examining How the News Industry Framed Google in an Era of News Aggregation • H. Iris Chyi, University of Texas at Austin; Seth Lewis; Nan Zheng, James Madison University • As online news aggregators outperform most traditional media sites, some news executives accuse Google News of stealing their content, even as they rely on Google for exposure. This quantitative content analysis examines how the news industry, during the 2008–2010 financial shock for U.S. newspapers, covered its delicate relationship with Google. While Google was often portrayed as the enemy, most coverage suggested that newspapers should work with Google, indicating the challenge in assessing Google’s role in an era of news aggregation.

This Just In: Examining the Presence of Spot News in Print and Online News Organizations • Jennifer Cox, Salisbury University • Newspapers are competing with online-only upstarts to provide spot news coverage that drives local readership prompting questions regarding the ways in which news is defined by both types of organizations. This study examined print and online content in four pairs of daily newspapers and online-only news organizations sharing a common home city. A content analysis of 1,965 news items revealed spot news appeared more frequently online than in print, though there was no significant difference regarding the presence of spot news between newspapers and their online-only competitors. Online-only publications provided spot news most on crime items, while newspapers provide it most in accident/disaster/public safety items. The majority of spot news items contained the timeliness and proximity news values. The results of this study indicate both organization types understand readers’ hunger for spot news online, though the types of spot news stories they include in their products tend to vary. An online emphasis on spot news may be indicative of a shift in news definitions that could impact readers’ perceptions of personal safety in their own communities.

Deciphering ‘Digital First’ During Football Season: A Study of Blogging Routines of Newspaper Sports Reporters • George Daniels, The University of Alabama; Marc Torrence, The University of Alabama • To understand how the newspaper industry’s “digital first” philosophy works for local newspaper writers covering football, this study surveyed local newspaper blogs in all 14 Southeastern Conference markets and 10 markets of SEC non-conference opponents. A follow-up content analysis during Week 6 of the 2012 season revealed 80% of posts were not on GameDay and most focused on hard news. For these bloggers, “digital first” mandates speed and a heavy reliance on news conference content.

Newspaper Coverage of the BP Oil Spill: Framing by Distance and Ownership • Ryan Broussard; Robert T. Buckman, Univ. of Louisiana at Lafayette; William R. Davie, Univ. of Louisiana at Lafayette • This study analyzed how twelve newspapers framed the BP oil spill in terms of environmental, government, and industrial factors. The environmental frame eclipsed the industrial and government frames. In addition, the newspaper’s status in terms of its corporate ownership and national scope shaped the coverage. This study reinforced and refined the research of Molotch and Lester by showing how news frames are subject to variables of proximity and newspaper ownership in covering such an environmental hazard.

Building an Agenda for Regulatory Change: The New York Times Targets Drug Abuse in Horse Racing • Bryan Denham • This article addresses the manner in which a New York Times investigative series on drug use and catastrophic breakdowns in U.S. horse racing influenced policy initiatives across a six-month period. Beginning with the March 25, 2012 expose’ “Mangled Horses, Maimed Jockeys,” the article analyzes how the Times helped to define policy conversations at both the state and national levels. The article also addresses how the Interstate Horseracing Improvement Act of 2011, a fledgling piece of legislation, became what Kingdon (2003) described as a “solution in search of a problem” and thus a political lever in policy deliberations. Long recognized for its capacity to influence the content of other news outlets, the article concludes, the New York Times can also play an important role in legislative arenas, informing lawmakers of salient issues as well as opportunities for substantive and symbolic policy actions.

Unnamed Attribution: A Historical Analysis of the Journalism Norms Surrounding the Use of Anonymous Sources • Matt Duffy, Georgia State University • This paper offers a historical examination of the journalistic norms surrounding the practice of citing anonymous sources. The author examines a variety of textbooks, guidebooks, trade press coverage, and codes of ethics over the past century. The analysis reveals that unnamed attribution, once scorned as a journalistic practice, has gained acceptance over time. As journalistic norms have evolved, the acceptance of the practice has spread beyond national government and international reporting to local coverage. Despite the general acceptance of this practice, journalistic norms surrounding when and how to use anonymous sources remain unsettled. This analysis also finds that journalism textbooks more often describe common practices of journalists rather than provide normative directives as to how journalists should act. Importantly, this study reveals that a journalistic tradition of independently verifying information from unnamed sources has dramatically diminished.

Reading the Truth-O-Meter: The influence of partisanship in interpreting the fact-check • David Wise, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Megan Duncan, University of Wisconsin; Thomas Jaime; David Coppini, University of Wisconsin Madison; Young Mie Kim, School of Journalism and Mass Communication • This study experimentally investigates the effects of fact-checking articles and partisanship in evaluating claims made in political attack ads and attitudes toward the targeted politician, the ad’s sponsor and the fact-checking organization. In a 2 (political party congruency) X 3 (fact-check rating) experiment, participants were randomly assigned to see one of two videos accusing a fictional politician of a financial scandal. The only difference between the two videos was the political party of the politician. After the video, participants read one of three randomly assigned fact-checks rating the ad either “true,” “half-true,” or “false.” In a post-test, participants answered questions about the ad, the targeted politician, the ad’s sponsor and the fact-checking organization. The results indicate that fact-check articles can affect evaluations of a political attack ad’s claims, as well as the targeted politician, ad sponsor, and the fact-checking organization’s adherence to traditional journalistic norms and standards. We also found that on some measures, partisans engage in motivated reasoning, which amplified party differences when the ad was ruled half-true, and in some cases, true. Our findings suggest that while fact checking can be effective at correcting misinformation, motivated reasoning among partisans plays a role in shaping the effects of fact-check rulings on attitudes toward the ad’s target, sponsor and the fact-checking organization.

If it bleeds, it leads: How cognition, motivation, and emotions influence our attention to the news • Margaret Flynn, University of Connecticut • The current study aims to provide a renewed examination of why certain news items are more attractive than others, or why the most “important” news is not always the most popular. Buck’s (1985) developmental interactionist theory provides a novel framework for examining this phenomenon of selective exposure. This perspective proposes that an individual’s emotions may direct their attention to a particular message, or in this case a news story. By employing an experimental methodology this paper demonstrates that complex combinations of emotions can influence what news information audiences select. Additionally, there is evidence here that suggests news information can alter mood and impact subsequent emotional states.

A ‘Sentimental’ Election: Emergent Framing and Public Sentiment in Social Media Content during the 2012 US Presidential Campaign • Jacob Groshek; Ahmed al-Rawi • By being embedded in everyday life, social networking sites (SNSs) have altered the way campaign politics are understood and engaged with by politicians and citizens alike. Somewhat paradoxically, though the features and influence of social media are regularly reported, the actual content of social media has remained a vast but somewhat amorphous and understudied entity. The study reported here thus examines public sentiment as it was expressed in just over 1.42 million social media units on Facebook and Twitter to provide broad insights into dominant topics and themes that were prevalent in the 2012 US election campaign online. Key findings include observed similarities and divergences across social networking sites and channels that cultivate a fuller understanding of what is being communicated in political social media content that is largely citizen and user-generated.

Who reads online news anyway? On and offline behaviors that predict reading of online newspapers. • Michael Horning, Bowling Green State University; SangHee Park, Bowling Green State University; Luyue Ma, Bowling Green State University; Fang Wang, Bowling Green State University • As newsrooms begin to develop content and user experiences designed for the Internet, new questions arise about the types of individuals reading online newspapers and the journalistic practices that might be appealing to online readers. This exploratory research assesses important predictors in online newspaper reading among college-aged students. Findings suggest that levels of civic engagement, public journalism interests, reading news on social media sites, and Internet use context are predictors of online newspaper use.

The “SomeTimes Picayune:” Comparing the online and print offerings of the New Orleans’ newspaper before and after the print reduction • Young Kim, Louisiana State University; Andrea Miller, LSU • This study compared the online and print news of New Orleans’ Times-Picayune before and after print publication moved from seven days a week to three. A content analysis found each venue offered different content, contradicting existing research touting news homogeneity. Print offered more public affairs and global news while online offered more local and entertainment news. Findings are discussed within the frameworks of social responsibility and local news value.

News Consumption in the Age of Content Aggregation: The Case of Yahoo, Google and Huffington Post • Angela Lee, University of Texas at Austin; H. Iris Chyi, University of Texas at Austin • In the pre-Internet era, the role of news providers in the media market was clearly defined. Media companies produced content as suppliers of news and information and competed with other media firms in their geographic market for audience and/or advertising share in either inter- or intra-competition scenarios. But the Internet has brought about revolutionary changes to this media landscape. One major change is the rise of content aggregators. While traditional news firms are still struggling with the economics of their online ventures, these news aggregators have become a major source of online news for American audiences. This exploratory study, through an online survey of 1,143 respondents, empirically examines the relationship between use of three major news aggregators—Yahoo, Google, and Huffington Post— and 13 major news media outlets operated by print, broadcast, cable and electronic news media. The goal is to offer an extensive overview of competition among key players in contemporary news ecology. Findings of this study suggest a symbiotic relationship between all three news aggregator sites and 13 major news outlets across different news industries. Such findings are at odds with industry sentiment, or hostility toward news aggregators, and news organizations are encouraged to reassess their relationship with news aggregators in the attempt to find better revenue models rather than casting blames that have no empirical basis.

How Journalists Value Positive News: The Influence of Professional Beliefs, Market Considerations, and Political Attitudes • Ka Kuen Leung, School of Journalism and Communication, The Chinese University of Hong Kong; Lap Fung Lee, School of Journalism and Communication, The Chinese University of Hong Kong • While the negativity bias of the news media is generally recognized in many countries around the world, various types of positive news, ranging from touching human interests stories to news about national or community achievement, also feature regularly in the news media. Yet few scholarly analyses have examined whether and how professional journalists value positive news. This article examines Hong Kong journalists’ perceptions of the values of five types of positive news. It is hypothesized that professional beliefs about media roles in society, market considerations, and political attitudes would be related to perceived value of positive news. Analysis of data from a journalist survey shows that Hong Kong journalists do regard news stories that tell touching stories and promote social values and norms as important, but they do not see news stories that promote national development and achievement as important. Belief in the cultural role of the press, acknowledgement of market influence on the media, and national and local identification are significant predicts of perceived value of positive news. Implications of the findings are discussed.

The News Re-imagined: The Promise of Local Foundation-Funded Journalism • Suzanne Lysak, Syracuse University; Michael Cremedas, Syracuse University • This research surveyed 207 local newspaper and television news managers to measure reaction to a Federal Communications Commission proposal aimed at improving quality, in-depth reporting at the local level. In its landmark 2011 report, “Information Needs of Communities: The Changing Media Landscape in a Broadband Age, the FCC called for a national program that would place reporters in local newsrooms, with the reporters’ salaries partially or fully paid by local community foundations.

Experimental Psychology Applied: Assessing NYT columnist Nicholas Kristof’s strategies to overcome psychic numbing • Scott Maier, University of Oregon • People relate to one death as a tragedy but tune out the loss of thousands as a statistic, a phenomenon documented by psychology experiments that suggest “the more who die, the less we care.” This sobering finding has influenced New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof in his reporting on Darfur, human trafficking and other mass suffering. Drawing from behavioral research, Kristof says he now goes out of his way to find just the right person who illuminates the larger story. Reframing his journalistic approach, Kristof also seeks to move his readers by reporting on people who overcome adversity or offer real solutions. Content analysis and Internet metrics are used to assess whether Kristof adheres to these principles, and, more importantly, whether this kind of reporting engenders reader response. The findings offer guidance on how the media can overcome psychic numbing and compassion fatigue.

Online Story Commenting: An Experimental Test of Conversational Journalism and Trust • Doreen Marchionni, Pacific Lutheran University • Online story commenting offers a form of citizen engagement on news sites potentially important to democratic discourse. Yet few issues vex newsrooms more because of abusive rants, often from unnamed sources. This controlled experiment set out to test the “conversationalness” of commenting, using newly identified variables that theoretically measure the concept of journalism as a conversation. The study also tested whether commenting might help with reader trust. The data show that commenting’s best indicators of conversation are perceived friendliness and social presence. But comments do not appear to help with journalism’s most important values of perceived credibility and expertise.

Editorials, privilege and shield law Post-Branzburg: Forty years of newspaper narratives • Sandra Mardenfeld, Long Island University • As the prosecution against whistleblower Bradley Manning unfolds, the importance of confidential sources and their value to society once again is scrutinized. This study seeks to discover the discussions four major metro papers have within their commentary pages from 1972, the year of the pivotal Supreme Court case Branzburg v. Hayes, to 2012. What does the media say about issues such as reporter’s privilege and shield laws within their editorial section? A discussion of the three major themes uncovered leads to suggestions for future treatment.

Vicariously Rejected: Political-Sex-Scandal News Coverages Primes Negative Attitude Toward Sexual Betrayal • Gina Masullo Chen, The University of Southern Mississippi, School of Mass Communication and Journalism; Hinda Mandell, Rochester Institute of Technology, Department of Communication; John Wolf, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Department of Humanities • An online experiment (N = 231) reveals that reading news stories about political sex scandals prime negative attitudes toward sexual betrayal. Seeing sexual infidelity as humiliating is mediated through relationship satisfaction and attitudes toward sexual behavior. Results are discussed in relation to priming theory.

Breaking news and problems definitions from school shootings, 1996-2012 • Michael McCluskey • Problem definitions in the news provide explanations for tragic events like school shootings. This study examines nine problem definitions in the breaking news coverage (N = 311) of 11 school shootings between 1996 and 2012. Guns, teen life and school security were the most prominent problem definitions. Analysis shows differences by the audience orientation of the newspapers and by contextual factors in the shootings.

“Evil Visited this Community Today”: News Media Framing of the Sandy Hook School Shooting • Dylan McLemore, University of Alabama; Kimberly Bissell, University of Alabama • A content analysis of seven newspapers’ coverage of the Sandy Hook school shooting in December 2012 assessed how news outlets contextualized the story for readers in the week following the event. The results revealed that the Sandy Hook shooting was most commonly framed in terms of the victims. Gun control became the central frame through which blame was attributed. A mental health frame was also evident, in line with prior shootings but despite a lack of evidence in this particular case. The findings suggest an enduring stigma surrounding mental health, and a continued association of mental illness with violent behavior. Findings are elaborated upon by considering frame valence, sourcing, and the passage of time.

Page One or Six: A proposition for a news type index • Patrick Merle, Florida State University; Clay Craig, Coastal Carolina University • This research proposes an updated instrument to measure news preferences. To date, the literature features two scales designed for a media landscape removed from today’s multi-screen environment. Beyond the obsolete nature of their scales, prior authors omitted the dimensions of style and timeliness, prevalent facets in today’s interactive context. Exploratory data from a survey (N = 317) reviewed through structural equation modeling start a scale developmental effort to discuss a valid measurement of news types.

Cranks or Community: Describing those who comment on news stories • Hans Meyer, Ohio University; Michael Clay Carey, Ohio University • By offering comments at the end of stories, news organizations are allowing readers to engage in the news. But few journalists say the read or appreciate the comments their stories receive because they say comments are, for the most part, junk. This study used a nationwide survey to describe the people who post comments at the end of new stories and suggests that news professionals may be the largest determinant in the quality of comments they receive. A hierarchical regression model predicting participation suggests that noticing moderation in forums and the importance readers place on moderation is the most important element that leads to participation. Noticing moderation and giving it high importance can also mediate the influence of other participation antecedents, such as the value of anonymity and the importance of civility. It also mediates the influence of most demographic variables besides age.

Nate Silver and the rise of the poll aggregators: How they proved their worth to news media in the 2012 election • Brad Scharlott, Northern Kentucky University; Nikhil Moro, University of North Texas • Prominent poll aggregators such as Nate Silver proved their worth in the 2012 election with forecasts that were far more accurate than the typical pollster’s. In future election cycles, cash-strapped newspapers that formerly commissioned pollsters may decide that their resources would be better spent licensing a poll aggregator, as The New York Times did with Silver, thereby also boosting traffic to their websites. They may also hire statisticians to start their own in-house poll-aggregation operations. The public interest in the work of poll aggregators seems certain to rise in coming election cycles as more and more people come to see in them a gold standard of election prognostication. But if there will be fewer pollsters out there generating data to analyze, then poll aggregators’ results may not be as robust in the future as they were in the 2012 election cycle.

Prescribing the News: Newsroom size and journalistic experience as key factors in the interaction between health journalists and public health organizations • Gregory Perreault; Shelly Rodgers; Jon Stemmle • A phone survey of 142 Midwestern journalists and editors was conducted to examine awareness and use of and knowledge about health literacy programs and initiatives in the State of Missouri. Journalists’ self-efficacy, reader-friendly writing behaviors on the topic of public health, and time spent and experience writing about health and science news were examined. We compared larger versus smaller newsrooms in terms of awareness and use of materials from health-related news services. Results suggest that two factors, newspaper size and experience, proved to be useful in making predictions about awareness and use of health-related news services and use of reader-friendly writing behaviors.

A slow response to Quick Response: Diffusion of QR technology on U.S. newspaper front pages • Chris Roberts, University of Alabama; Keith Saint, University of Alabama • A three-week constructed sample shows that few newspaper publish Quick Response (QR) codes on front pages, and many codes were beyond newsroom control. Content analysis describes QR use by papers in the context of diffusion of innovation and niche gratification theories, and compares published “deep” links to randomly selected pages. Interviews with newspaper executives reveal institutional isomorphism reasons for QR adoption and the belief that QR has little widespread acceptance by readers or the industry.

Anonymous User Comments and the Influence on Fan Identity and Sports Article Credibility • Sean Sadri, University of Florida • The present study examined how anonymous user comment tone can impact group identity, sports article credibility, and attitudes towards a sports news source. Participants were randomly assigned a sports article, where the article was indicated to have appeared on one of four sports sources with positive, negative, or no comments. Scores on a user identification scale were significantly higher for the positive comments than for negative comments. User comments were not shown to affect credibility.

Scanning and Sharing But Little Engagement: Newspaper Reporters’ Use Of Social Media • Arthur Santana, University of Houston • A national survey of newspaper reporters at large and mid-size U.S. newspapers reveals that the frequency with which they use Facebook and Twitter to supplement their reporting is minimal, especially among older, more experienced reporters at large dailies. Findings demonstrate that reporters are infrequently engaging the social networking sites to support some of their reporting duties and are instead more apt to scan the sites and use them as promotional tools.

A Predictive Model of Story Prominence in U.S. Daily Newspapers • Frederick Schiff, University of Houston; David Llanos, University of Houston • This study compares two exhaustive models of news content to predict story prominence. Both models were derived from eight leading theories of news play. Hierarchical Linear Modeling specified story-level, newspaper-level, ownership-level and cross-level variables. A Factor Analysis Model found five “common-sense” story types. Coders analyzed 6,090 stories, using a random stratified sample of 114 newspapers and 59 ownership groups. According to OLS, a combined model (HLM and FAM) yielded an Adjusted R2 of 19.5%.

The Power of the Impulse: The Flow of Content Communities and Online News Consumption • Amy Schmitz Weiss; Valerie Barker, Journalism & Media Studies SDSU; David Dozier; Diane Borden • This study examines how U.S. adults consume news content from various communities online (ranging from YouTube to news websites) and how they access this information from digital devices (e.g. laptops, desktops, smartphones, tablets). Based on a national telephone survey conducted of U.S. adults, this study identifies that people are consuming different kinds of news content online and doing so in a state of Flow via their digital devices. Using the theory of flow (Csikszentmihalyi, 1975), this study aims to see how an online user can engage in an impulse form of news consumption (through various content communities) via digital devices (e.g. laptops, smartphones, tablets and desktop computers). Implications of the findings are addressed and future research directions for examining online news consumption through this lens are discussed.

Generating “New” News or Recycling Old News?: News Diversity and the World Wide Web • Charlene Simmons, U of Tennessee at Chattanooga • The Web has been heralded as an alternative to traditional media, providing users with diverse information and perspectives not previously available. Web usage studies have demonstrated that users do not spend time on alternative sites, but rather they spend the majority of their time on just a handful of popular Web sites. This study explores whether popular news sites act as new sources of diverse information or whether they repurpose content available from other sources.

Journalism’s thin line: A case study of suburban news and the news divide • Edgar Simpson, Central Michigan University • This exploratory study examined the news environment in a county where a daily newspaper had closed. Using the theories of the public sphere and geographic-based public affairs journalism as a key structural element in invigorating the sphere, the study mapped out the public affairs news in an Ohio suburban county where a daily newspaper closed. Overall, this study, offered as a case to explore vexing national issues, found that regional and metro daily newspapers have largely retreated to their cores, despite having significant circulation in the county, and that commercial television rarely ventured into the area, even though the county is part of their Designated Market Areas. The study found weekly print operations provided the majority of public affairs journalism. Further, this study found Web-only start-ups were not a factor in public affairs news and that the weekly operations provided a higher quality of coverage, in terms of sourcing and depth, than all other media.

Making Change: Diffusion of Technological, Relational, and Cultural Innovation in the Newsroom • Jane B. Singer, University of Iowa; Melissa Tully, University of Iowa; Shawn Harmsen, University of Iowa; Brian Ekdale, University of Iowa • Diffusion of innovations theory typically has been applied to the spread of a particular technology or practice. This paper seeks to obtain a deeper understanding of the multi-faceted nature of upheaval in the news industry by considering the diffusion of three distinct but related changes: technological, relational, and cultural. It does so through a case study, based on quantitative and qualitative data, of a Midwestern news company undergoing successive waves of significant change.

Microblogging the News: Covering a Crisis When Twitter is the Only Option • Amanda Sturgill, Elon University; Rajat Agarwal, Elon University • As news media are evolving strategies for incorporating new technologies for gathering and disseminating the news, social media have become a part of the mix. Because the ability to tell stories over social media is not restricted to experts, scholars have suggested that social media are more useful for engaging users and for creating a sense of community around issues in a particular area. One aspect of news in the emerging social news environment that has not been as well studied is the coverage of breaking news. This paper examines the coverage of a shooting during a unique event in which a college newspaper was locked down and only able to communicate via Twitter. Content analysis of the newspaper’s tweet stream suggests that the coverage fits largely into patterns found in coverage of other breaking news, although a significant number of tweets were used to push users to the newspaper’s regular web presence, once it again became available.

Frames of Mental Illness in an Indian Daily Newspaper • Roma Subramanian, University of Missouri, School of Journalism • Through a framing analysis of news stories about mental illness in The Times of India, an elite daily newspaper in India, this study aimed to understand how the Indian news media influence the public’s perception of mental illness. The following themes were identified: crime, suicide, prevention/treatment/recovery, simplistic/inadequate explanations, stigma, and mental health care system issues. Overall, while some stories perpetuate mental illness stigma, there is an attempt to raise the public’s awareness about mental illness.

The “militant” Chicago Defender: A study of editorials and letters to the editor in 1968 • Brian Thornton, University of North Florida • The “radical” Chicago Defender: A study of the newspapers editorials and letters to the editor in 1968. There is almost a mythological narrative surrounding the Chicago Defender, one of the most influential black newspapers in the U.S. In its heyday the paper, hailed by Langston Hughes as “the journalistic voice of a largely voiceless people,” was a “must read” for many African-Americans, not just in the Midwest, but also throughout the country, especially in the Deep South. The Defender is credited with playing a major role in influencing the Great Migration of African-Americans from the rural South to the urban North from 1915 to 1925. The paper was militant, if not radical, in its early days in demands for racial justice and social change. But what kind of editorial stance did the paper take in the late 1960s, at the height of the Black Power/Black Panther social phenomenon? Did the paper call for massive social change, or defend the status quo? It might surprise some readers to discover that the Defender called for the death penalty for black teens who committed murder in 1968. This research examined all the editorials and letters to the editor published in the Chicago Defender from Jan. 1, through Dec. 31 1968, with a view towards understanding what stances the paper and its readers took in discussions of such important topics as race, social change, Black pride, equal employment opportunities and black culture. A total of 395 editorials were published in the paper that year and all were closely read and analyzed along with 35 letters to the editor.

When Critical Voices Should Speak Up: Patterns in News Coverage of Unofficial Sources During the BP Oil Spill • Brendan Watson, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities • Media routines suggest that journalists’ BP oil spill coverage would rely heavily on official sources. Yet, unofficial sources are most likely to offer critical perspectives that could help avoid similar accidents from occurring. Some deride the media’s initial crisis coverage as speculative and inaccurate. This study, however, found support for a positive effect of the disaster: it momentarily dislodged media routines, and prior to the emergence of an official narrative, news coverage was more inclusive of critical voices.

Examining the Behavioral Consequences of the First-person Effect of Newspaper Endorsements in the 2012 Presidential Election • Ran Wei, University of South Carolina; Ven-Hwei Lo; Chingching Chang • Research examining the perceptions of media influences of political messages on the self relative to others (Davison, 1983) has documented both third-person (e.g., a greater perceived effect on others than self) and first-person perceptions (e.g., a greater perceived effect on self than others). As a new direction of research, increasing scholarly attention (Golan & Day, 2008) is being paid to investigating the antecedents of the first-person effect and its consequences on behavior. However, empirical research of the first-person effect is still limited; no study has examined the behavioral consequences of first-person perceptions on voter behavior. To fill the void, the present study examines the perceived influences of newspaper endorsements of presidential candidate in the 2012 election. Data collected from a random sample of 520 respondents supported third-person perception regarding the influence of newspaper endorsements of presidential candidate. However, findings also show that the more credible the newspaper endorsements, the greater the perceived influence on self. Furthermore, first-person perception was found as a positive predictor of the intention to boycott newspapers that endorsed the opposing candidate and the likelihood of voting for the candidate who received more newspaper endorsements.

 

MacDougall Student Paper Competition

The Social Mediation of News and Political Rumors • Soo Young Bae, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor • This study investigates the dynamics between news media use and political rumors in the current information environment on the Internet, with a particular focus on the implications of the newly emerged social networking sites. By examining survey data of online social media users, this study highlights the contrasting implications of the traditional news media and social media as news sources in shaping the users’ perceptions about political rumors, and reveals the significant consequences of the homogeneity of the users’ online social networks.

Three Days a Week: Has A New Production Cycle Altered The Times-Picayune’s News Coverage? • David Bockino, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill • This study explores the difference in print and online news coverage by the New Orleans-based newspaper The Times-Picayune before and after the implementation of a new production cycle. While print coverage has remained relatively static in terms of both topic and type category, there are differences between both the paper’s print and online coverage as well as its online coverage on days with a print edition and days without a print edition.

Generating Visits through Facebook: The Ambivalent Role of Engagement • Jan Boehmer, Michigan State University • In the present study, I investigate the effects of engagement with news content posted on Facebook. More specifically, I look at how different levels of engagement affect the number of individuals who click on the posted link, as well as the visits that are created on the website it refers to. I also look at the number of pages seen during visits, and the duration of the visits. I find that while the number of individuals who click on a link on Facebook does not increase due to higher levels of engagement, an increase in visits is evident. However, contradictory to common believe, higher levels of engagement affected the number of pages visited, and the time spent on the website, negatively. Finally, I discuss potential reasons for why the engagement created on Facebook can not be easily transferred to a website.

Capitalism, Crisis & Custom Content • Kyle Brown • This paper will offer a theoretical framework of the symbiotic relationship between newspapers and advertisers within a market journalism structure, and seek to identify and define standard journalistic ethics. It will then place custom content, a recent and emerging advertising endeavor that further blurs the lines between ad and editorial, within that theoretical discussion and offer discussion on the ethical dilemmas of the production of such disguised content, at both the institutional and individual levels.

Trust Me, I Am Your News: Media Credibility across News Platforms in U.S. & South Korea • Yunmi Choi, University of Florida; Daniel Axelrod, University of Florida; Jihyun Kim • International surveys measured American and Korean college students’ respective media usage habits, preferences and their views on the credibility of news offered by various media platforms. Specifically, this study examined the students’ habits with, and preferences for, news from the TV, radio, newspapers, the Internet, and mobile devices. Though Korean and American college students prefer either online or mobile news, Korean students assigned traditional media outlets much higher credibility ratings than those from U.S. students.

Human Trafficking in the Elite Press: A Content Analysis of Newspapers in the West • Irma Fisher, University of Oregon; Tobias Hopp, University of Oregon • This study analyzed the human trafficking coverage found in six elite newspapers in the U.S. UK, and Canada. Using a sample of 327 articles, we content analyzed the presentation of human trafficking as a domestic/national or international issue. The results indicated significant differences in the handling of the issue on the basis of article type, article focus, and press nationality. Furthermore, between-newspaper differences were identified.

Lifecycle of Obesity Coverage: Comparing Attributions of Child and Adult Obesity • Se Na Lim, University of Alabama; Virginia Johnson, The University of Alabama; Adam Sharples, The University of Alabama; Richard Rush, The University of Alabama; Rosanne Rumstay, The University of Alabama • This study examined how the media report on obesity and compared and contrasted frames of responsibility used in the reporting of child and non-child obesity. Using framing theory and looking specifically at individual health and public health frames, this study researched how newspapers represent the prevalence, causes, consequences, and solutions of child and non-child obesity. Two research questions were posed: First, what type of content (among prevalence, consequence, cause, and solution) most frequently appears in news articles and what frames are used for describing those contents? Second, what differences exist among child obesity, adult obesity, and obesity in general in regard to content types and frame level? A content analysis was conducted of six national newspapers reporting on obesity in the year 2011. A total of 382 mentions of obesity in 80 articles were coded and analyzed. Results indicated that prevalence and solution/prevention of obesity are mentioned most frequently. These two content types are also most frequently described in a public health frame, while consequence and cause are most frequently described in an individual health frame. Among mentions of childhood obesity, solution/prevention were the most frequent content types, while prevalence and content were most frequently mentioned for adult obesity. Mentions of child obesity were framed in public frames and individual health frames in the same proportion, but obesity in general was more frequently described using a public health frame. Limitations of this study and directions for future research in this area are discussed.

Technological and sociological motivations: Predictors of online content curation platform acceptance among journalists • Angela Lee, University of Texas at Austin; Vittoria Sacco; Marco Giardina • While the nature of social media encourages and facilitates real-time news distribution, information overload on social media sites is challenging journalists’ gatekeeping role in filtering out relevant news information for the public in an increasingly speed-driven online news cycle. Online media content curation platforms — based on principles of museum curation that knit technological and human skills for selecting, classifying, preserving, contextualizing and crafting content from various online sources in curated narratives — have been identified by mainstream news organizations such as Al Jazeera and freelance journalists as a solution to this problem. Applying an adapted version of the technology acceptance model (TAM) through survey research, this exploratory study examines Swiss journalists’ acceptance of media content curation platforms. The results suggest: (1) positive associations between motivations variables and attitudes; (2) positive associations between attitudes and intention to use media content curation and, contrasting previous findings, (3) no effect of perceived attractiveness on attitudes. This study’s findings suggest new ways to encourage acceptance and use of media content curation platforms among journalists. Professional and theoretical implications are also discussed.

Stay Tuned for More News from Your Friends • Seok Ho Lee, University of Texas at Austin • This study employs an attribute of social network, the strength of closeness, as a predictor for news consumption on Facebook. The evidence suggests that strength of closeness on Facebook contributes to positive attitude and behavioral change on news consumption on Facebook. And, individuals are found to rely on their social relations as news sources as the closeness of friendship grows. Meanwhile, the strength of closeness on Facebook has negative association with heterogeneous news consumption.

Journalism Endures: Has Twitter Changed the News Product? • Shin Haeng Lee • This study examines the effect of social media use by news agencies on their journalistic norms and practices: public service orientation, objectivity, and transparency or accountability. The data are 1,141 stories posted by six mainstream media organizations on Twitter over one constructed week in 2012. Findings show a tendency toward professional, hierarchical journalism; even blog posts have not led to innovative adoption of the horizontal communication patterns of social media. Traditional newsrooms rather co-opt the new technology to connect with digital media users. This study concludes that journalism as an institution normalizes rather than adjusts to the changing media landscape.

The Challenge of Interactive News for a Public Caught in an Online Identity Crisis • Megan Mallicoat, University of Florida • This study examines the effect of publicness on how people interact with online news. In this exploratory experimental study, participants in three conditions were asked to read 10 articles from a news website and write comments on five articles of their choosing. The findings show participants’ personal interests could significantly predict news selection. They also show attempts at self-presentation in comments most frequently utilized the strategies of ingratiation and competence, but intimidation was present also.

The Effect of Heuristic Processing of Online News Columns on Source Credibility and Message Believability Ratings • Amna Al-Abri; Alexandra Merceron, University of Connecticut • This paper draws on established theories of stereotyping to explore how heuristic processing of online news columns influences ratings of source credibility, likability, and dynamism as well as message believability through the activation of stereotypical perceptions.

What journalists retweet: Opinion, humor and brand development on Twitter • Logan Molyneux, University of Texas • Previous studies on Twitter have been quantitative and have found a loosening of traditional journalistic norms on social media. This qualitative study of journalists’ activity on Twitter takes an inductive approach to learn what new behaviors are present there. Findings include a prevalence of opinion and humor, contrary to the journalistic norm of objectivity, but also something new: personal brand development. The concept of brand development on social media is explicated and its implications explored.

Reshaping the journalists-audience relationship. National survey of journalists and their use of Twitter • Magdalena Saldaña, The University of Texas at Austin • Through a national on-line survey of journalists with Twitter accounts, this paper study how journalists use Twitter as a reporting tool, how likely they are to gather information from it, and how they see their followers. From the hierarchical model of influences’ perspective, results show journalists see Twitter as a valid source of ideas and news sources, and their audiences are becoming central to the way they report the news and produce news media content.

Whose public sphere? An analysis of the final comments on a community newspaper’s online forum • Shannon Sindorf, University of Colorado; Anthony Collebrusco, University of Colorado • This paper used content analysis and textual analysis to examine posts made to the online comments forum of a community newspaper after the board was shut down due to editors’ claims that its contents were too uncivil. Comments were analyzed for the amount of substance and civility present. The findings indicate that the majority of posts on the forum were both civil and substantive in nature. Only a handful of users posted most of the comments, indicating that the viewpoints expressed were limited to a very small group. Textual analysis found that discussion of local issues was conducted differently than that surrounding broader, national topics. Local discussion was more measured in tone and generated more civil discourse than did debates over national issues.

Whom do you trust? Comparing the credibility of citizen and traditional journalists • Alecia Swasy; Manu Bhandari, University of Missouri; Edson Tandoc, University of Missouri-Columbia; rachel davis, University of Missouri • Anybody with a video camera and Internet access can become a citizen journalist. But do readers trust untrained citizens to deliver credible news? Using the framework of the MAIN model, this study explored the effects of traditional journalism cues on how young news consumers evaluate online news. Participants rated traditional journalists to be more credible than citizen journalists. Participants also rated straight news articles to be more credible than opinion pieces.

Framing the Egyptian Revolution: An Analysis of the U.K. and U.S. Elite Press • Rodrigo Zamith, University of Minnesota; Stephen Bennett, University of Minnesota; Xiaofei He, University of Minnesota • This study seeks to analyze and compare the coverage of the Egyptian revolution by the elite press in the United Kingdom and the United States. Drawing from framing theory, the authors employ a manual holistic approach to content analysis to assess the salience of frames, the depiction of actors, and selection of sources. The findings reveal an appreciable level of congruence in the coverage, both in terms of the frames they used and the sources they turned to in shaping the coverage. However, significant differences were found for the depictions of the key actors in the revolution and the domestication of the issue.

 

American Copy Editors Society (ACES) Competition

Are Online Newspapers Inferior Goods or Public Goods? • Louisa Ha, Bowling Green State University; XIAOQUN ZHANG • This study of general population and college students in 2012 in a local newspaper market examines the use of online and print newspapers to determine the relationship between online and print newspaper readership and whether online newspapers are inferior goods or public goods. The data did not support the inferior good hypothesis in both samples, contradicting the findings of earlier research. Newspaper executives are recommended to set different expectations for their print products and online products.

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