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Participatory Journalism Interest Group

July 28, 2022 by Kyshia

2022 Abstracts

Research Paper • Faculty • Kenzie Burchell, University of Toronto Scarborough; Stephanie Fielding, University of Toronto • I did my best to show their pain: Participatory genres of photojournalistic witnessing • This paper analyzes an emerging genre of participatory reporting by eyewitness image producers turned professional photojournalist stringers of the Syrian conflict. Borrowing the subjective authenticity of UGC and the diaristic war blog, their AFP Correspondent blog posts stand in contrast to traditional international agency content by providing accounts of the embodied, relational, and temporal dimensions of their experience, each central to the practices of witnessing and bearing witness by UGC producers and photojournalists alike.

Research Paper • Faculty • Deborah Chung, University of Kentucky; Hyun Ju Jeong; Yung Soo Kim • Working together? Contributing and Adopting Citizen Visuals From the Lens of Social Media Usage, Perception, and Visual Attributes • We examined how visual professional journalists and citizen journalists use and view Facebook and Twitter and investigate the role of three visual attributes on their tendency to contribute or adopt citizen visuals. Findings reveal citizens adopt Twitter for dissemination and interpretation; professionals use both platforms mainly for interpretation. The visual quality attribute functions as a mediator for citizens primarily on Facebook for soft news. No significant mediating models were found in the visual professionals’ data.

Extended Abstract • Faculty • Jennifer Cox, Salisbury University • Reacting to Black Lives Matter: Facebook Engagement with News Coverage During the Summer 2020 Protests • This study examined 286 posts from the six most-viewed U.S. news outlets on their Facebook feeds about the Black Lives Matter movement and protests following George Floyd’s death by during summer 2020. Users engaged with stories at a high rate, though engagement declined throughout the summer. Users engaged most frequently with posts featuring anti-BLM and pro-police frames using a variety of reactions. Additional analysis will reveal specific ways in which users engaged with posts.

Research Paper • Faculty • Letrell Crittenden, Thomas Jefferson University; Andrea Wenzel, Temple University • “I Think We Are Truly Ignored” – An Assessment of How Small Town Media Serves the Information Needs of BIPOC Residents • Much has been written recently about how emerging news deserts have impacted small towns across America, and how the loss of news coverage has had an impact upon the sense of community in such places. Nevertheless, little effort has been made to detail how BIPOC communities in particular are served by local media. This is an issue, given the changing nature of small towns, which are increasingly becoming more diverse. This study, which uses a Communication Infrastructure Theory framework, assesses how BIPOC residents of a small town in the Mid-Atlantic are served by local media within their community. Through a series of focus groups and a community discussion involving local media, we interrogate how BIPOC members of this town feel about their place in local news coverage, and investigate how they share and receive important information inside of their community through an assessment of the community’s storytelling network. We find that BIPOC residents do not feel represented in local media, and that storytelling networks, which are siloed by racial and language barriers, have also failed to adequately serve BIPOC residents.

Research Paper • Faculty • Muhammad Fahad Humayun, U of Colorado-Boulder; Patrick Ferrucci, U of Colorado-Boulder • Understanding social media in journalism practice: A typology • While the intersection of social media usage and journalism practice enjoys a prominent place in many scholarly inquiries throughout the field of journalism studies, a comprehensive understanding of this body of literature is lacking. This study attempts to alleviate this problem. Through a systematic analysis of more than 200 studies primarily focusing on how journalists utilize social media in newswork, this paper first classifies social media usage into three broad categories: news construction, news dissemination, and branding. Next, this study introduces a typology that visualizes and explores three dimensions of social media use: motivation (self vs organization), prevalence (sporadic vs prevalent) and disruption (disruptive vs normalization). Our findings illustrate potential future research areas.

Research Paper • Faculty • Avery Holton, University of Utah; Valérie Bélair-Gagnon; Diana Bossio, Swinburne University; Logan Molyneux • “When You’re Out Here On Your Own”: Journalists, Harassment and News Organization Responses • Drawing on interviews with American newsworkers, this study finds that journalists are facing acute, chronic, and escalatory forms of harassment on social media at a time when they are being asked to be more engaged and participatory. Harassment is reported more by journalists self-identifying as women. Journalists also report a lack of resources from news organizations to help prevent and cope with this harassment. Left to address increasing amounts of harassment on their own, journalists report searching for ways to alleviate harassment, including consideration of disengaging from social media and audiences and leaving the profession.

2022 Abstracts

Filed Under: 2022 Abstracts, Paper Call

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender & Queer Interest Group

July 28, 2022 by Kyshia

2022 Abstracts

Extended Abstract • Faculty • Rhonda Gibson; Joe Bob Hester • The social identities of Pete Buttigieg: How Twitter addressed counter-stereotypical attributes of a presidential candidate • Analysis of 8,705,300 tweets about presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg from 2019-2020 showed that only 6.8% addressed his sexuality. Most instead dealt with daily campaign occurrences, such as polls, candidate statements, and debate performances. Of the tweets that addressed his sexuality in a substantial manner, 10.2% referenced religion, with the majority discussing homosexuality as a sin. Counter-stereotypical tweets that presented Buttigieg’s Christianity and sexuality as congruent accounted for just 20.5%. Tweets were also likely to describe Buttigieg’s sexuality as a political liability. Using social identity theory as a framework, it was determined that Twitter conversation related to Pete Buttigieg repeated traditional God-vs.-gay stereotypes and did not produce a more nuanced discussion of the intersection of politics, sexuality and Christianity.

Research Paper • Student • Patrick Johnson, University of Iowa School of Journalism and Mass Communication • Snake in the Grass: Adapting sex and sexuality from journalistic truth to the silver screen • This paper uses a case study approach to discuss issues of sexuality explored in James Franco and Justin Kelly’s King Cobra by dissecting the line that exists between fact and fiction when a creator bends the foundational truth of a story in an effort to maximize the pleasure of his audience.

Extended Abstract • Faculty • Tien-Tsung Lee, University of Macau; Jared Tu, University of Macau • Cultural values and media use: Do they predict support for same-sex marriage in Taiwan? • In 2019, Taiwan became the first society in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage. Based on a survey of 2,028 Taiwanese citizens, this study identified the predictors of support for same-sex marriage, including a younger age, being female, having more education, having gay friends or relatives, disobeying traditions or customs, being open-minded and curious, having a stronger sense of fairness and justice, using Line less often, and having a higher level of online search diversity.

Research Paper • Student • JungKyu Rhys Lim, University of Maryland, College Park; Hyoyeun Jun; Victoria Ledford, University of Maryland, College Park • Stigmatized groups with infectious diseases: Korean LGBTQ+s’ intersectional stigma and risk communication during COVID-19 outbreaks • Stigmatized groups may not engage in infectious disease testing and treatment, because of intersectional stigma and discrimination. In South Korea, the COVID-19 pandemic surfaced stigmatization when governments and media attempted to communicate COVID-19 risks that stigmatized LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer-identifying) individuals. Using qualitative in-depth interviews (N = 21), this study examines the intersectional stigma, discrimination, and risk communication that LGBTQ+ communities experienced during the COVID outbreak. Implications for public health are discussed.

Extended Abstract • Faculty • Newly Paul, University of North Texas • Framing analysis of the Indian media’s coverage of Section 377, decriminalization of same sex relationships • On September 6, 2018, the Supreme Court of India ruled unanimously to overturn Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code which was introduced in 1861 in British-ruled India and criminalized consensual homosexual sex between adults. This paper examines the major frames that emerged from the Indian media’s coverage of the court’s decision. Specifically, I examine the main frames that were used to discuss the event, the sources quoted most prominently in the stories, and the prominence given to the issue in the media.

Research Paper • Faculty • Joseph Schwartz; Josh Grimm • Investigating the Content of #U = U on Twitter • Undetectable = Untransmittable (U = U) is the scientific fact that HIV cannot be transmitted when an individual is virally suppressed. This breakthrough discovery has the potential to greatly reduce HIV stigma and its negative effects. However, U = U is not widely known. Given that Twitter has the potential to raise awareness of health issues, the purpose of this study was to analyze the content of the #U = U on Twitter. The results showed that mentioning sex and mentioning love were strong predictors that a tweet would be liked and retweeted. This information could help to spread the message of U = U more widely and potentially lessen HIV stigma.

Extended Abstract • Faculty • YOWEI KANG, NTOU; KENNETH C.C. YANG, UTEP • [EXTENDED ABSTRACT] A Computational and Longitudinal Text Mining Study of Gay Marriage Legalization in Taiwan • Homosexuality and gay marriage have been considered a taboo topic in Taiwan where LGBTQIA+ minorities are marginalized. Despite the landmark ruling by Taiwan’s Constitutional Court in May 2017, the legalization of gay marriage is claimed to polarize its society. On May 17, 2019, Taiwan’s Parliament passed the law to legalize gay marriage. This computational text mining study provides a descriptive and longitudinal examination of media framing of gay marriage legalization in Taiwan. Our preliminary findings of 232 media discourses from Lexis/Nexis database (Nexis Uni). We reported statistically significant topical framing variations among all nine extracted topics before and after the landmark passage of marriage bill on May 17, 2019. Discussions and implications are provided.

2022 Abstracts

Filed Under: 2022 Abstracts, Paper Call

Internships and Careers Interest Group

July 28, 2022 by Kyshia

2022 Abstracts

Extended Abstract • Faculty • Cristina Azocar; Lourdes Cárdenas, San Francisco State University • Bilingual Spanish Journalism: Preparing Students for the Future • “Bilingual reporting and writing skills are opening multiple opportunities for journalists in print, broadcast, online and emerging media. But few opportunities exist to prepare students for these jobs, particularly for the bilingual writing expertise required, and the current journalism job market lacks applicants with the bilingual proficiency necessary to fill the openings.

We used mixed-methods to assess whether a minor, a certificate, a concentration or a major would address the bilingual expertise needed for the current job market. We concluded that a bachelor’s degree in Bilingual Spanish Journalism is the best academic option to fill this expertise gap. Based on the expertise needed, we designed an interdisciplinary bachelor’s degree that will provide students with the necessary tools and skills to report, produce and write news stories in Spanish and English for print, online and electronic media, and to work in Latinx mainstream media as well as English language publications covering issues affecting Latinx communities.”

Extended Abstract • Faculty • Brian J. Bowe, American Univ. in Cairo / Western Washington Univ.; Robin Blom, Ball State University; Elena Lazoff • Internship Practices in Journalism and Mass Communication Programs: A review of ACEJMC-accredited programs • The use of professional internships has long been a defining feature of journalism and mass communication programs, but the practice is also increasingly controversial for the financial burdens it places on marginalized students. This study examines accreditation reports for 120 institutions to gain a better understanding of current practices. Preliminary findings show that almost all universities offer internships for credit, about 20% of programs require them, and most use them to assess student learning outcomes.

Research Paper • Faculty • Joey Senat, Oklahoma State University/School of Media; John McGuire, Oklahoma State University/School of Media • Benefiting or Exploiting: Judicial Interpretations of What Constitutes a Legal Unpaid Journalism and Mass Communication Internship Under the Primary Beneficiary Test • This study analyzed federal court applications of the primary beneficiary test used to determine when college students working at for-profit companies should be considered unpaid interns or paid employees. Courts have put few guardrails in place to protect students from being exploited as free labor. Instead, the test is so vague and easily met by employers that students are more likely to be exploited now than they were under the U.S. Department of Labor’s previous criteria. Consequently, universities must take responsibility for ensuring their students benefit from unpaid internships.

2022 Abstracts

Filed Under: 2022 Abstracts, Paper Call

Graduate Student Interest Group

July 28, 2022 by Kyshia

2022 Abstracts

Research Paper • Student • Julie Aromi, Rutgers University School of Communication and Information • Race on the debate stage: Senators Booker and Harris’s discussions of Blackness in Democratic primary debates • Senators Kamala Harris and Cory Booker both frequently discussed their experiences as Black Americans during the Democratic primary debates throughout 2019. Both Senators acknowledge the ways Black voters are often used as a tool to elect white Democrats, and use their personal experience to establish solidarity with Black audiences. This textual analysis of the Senators’ remarks about race throughout the debates, focuses on how each talks about their own racialized experiences, and the narratives they construct about who they are as Black politicians, advocates, and Americans.

Research Paper • Student Member • Diane Ezeh Aruah, University of Florida • Struggling to fit in: Understanding difficulties faced by African international graduate students in a Predominant White Institution (PWI) in the United States • Every year, thousands of African students apply to graduate programs in the United States with the hope of experiencing quality and standard education unobtainable in their home countries. However, difficulties encountered by African students while settling into the educational system in the United States can impact their pursuit of the “American dream”. This article examines these difficulties using a qualitative phenomenological study of African graduate students in a predominantly white institution in the U.S. In-depth interview was used to collect data from 16 Ph.D. and master’s students. The students encountered inter-personal-based, community-based, and institutional-based difficulties, which often led to feelings of isolation, depression, and low self-esteem. The students managed their difficulties through online and offline support, as well as self-developed skills. Predominantly white institutions in the United States must include the needs of African international students in their recruitment, orientation, and mental health support programs.

Research Paper • Student • Laura Canuelas-Torres • Young Activists or Misguided Children? American Adults’ Perceptions on The March for Our Lives Teen Activists • The efforts of young people to advance gun control measures media coverage from all across the political spectrum. The current project used Q Methodology to further understand American adults’ perception of these activists. Results indicate that three camps emerged: those who recognized the teens as activist, those who see them as mislead and confused and those who see their efforts as the result of adolescent naivety. Relationships with media consumption are discussed.

Research Paper • Student • Sera Choi • The Use of Non-Verbal Cues to Express Apology and User Perception on Influencers’ Apology • This qualitative study examines how YouTube influencers use non-verbal cues in their apology videos and how users perceived these non-verbal cues displayed in the videos. This study utilized facial expressions via different arrangements of upper and lower facial structures, body and hand gestures, and speech rate to analyze how influencers used non-verbal cues. The study observed four different themes of users’ perceptions of non-verbal cues used in apology videos (i.e., sincere, fake, aggressive, and disappointed).

Extended Abstract • Student • Carl Ciccarelli, The University of South Carolina • A critical qualitative analysis of response framing of the COVID-19 pandemic across higher education. • The present study is timely and aims to employ a mixed method research design to extract meaningful insights to inform future practices in higher education through studying responses from a sample of five large public universities located in the southeast United States. This analysis will include in-depth interviews, content analysis of statistical COVID-19 dashboard data for each university, and a textual analysis of the framing and tone of response statements disseminated by each university.

Research Paper • Student • Nina Gayleard • Audience Member Twitter Discussion About Netflix’s Unbelievable (2019) • This research focused on themes amongst audience member discussions of crime entertainment media by examining tweets about Netflix’s Unbelievable (2019). The research aimed to identify major themes amongst audience discussions and see how those themes compared to current themes in crime entertainment media texts. The themes that appeared in the tweets reflected those in Unbelievable (2019) and those currently found within crime entertainment media texts, indicating that audience members actively discerned and discussed relevant themes.

Research Paper • Student • Lingshu Hu • Boosting Texts: Improving Text Classification Performance on Small-Sized, Imbalanced Datasets • Communication scholars, who traditionally focus on text messages, can benefit from adopting recently developed machine learning algorithms on text classification. This study introduced three methods—boosting, SMOTE, and Bert embedding—and tested their performance on small-sized, imbalanced datasets. Results show that SMOTE effectively increases the accuracy of classifying the minority class; Bert embedding can enhance the overall testing accuracy but may not improve minority class recognition; Boosting did not work well with text classification tasks.

Research Paper • Student • Shudan Huang, University of South Carolina; Max Bretscher, University of South Carolina • Motivation to Purchase Organic Foods, Message Clarity, and Information Processing from a Heuristic-Systematic Perspective • This study utilized a construal frame manipulation of an organic product and applied a heuristic-systematic model (HSM) as the theoretical foundation for testing people’s attitude, the brand, and purchase intention of the organic product with different levels of involvement and skepticism. The finding revealed that skepticism will have negative effects on participants’ cognition and acceptance of organic food. And frames were found to be a significant predictor of ad attitude, brand attitude, and purchase intention.

Research Paper • Student • Jeff Hunter, Texas Tech University; Koji Yoshimura • Are there Partisan Differences in the Moral Framing of News? • “Abstract

This study investigated the relationship between moral framing of news media headlines

and the political ideology of the source using moral foundations theory and the model of intuitive

morality and exemplars (MIME). A content analysis assessed the moral framing of 1,100 news

headlines sampled from major news sources. Results indicated that moral foundation framing did

not differ according to the political ideology of the news source, but framing was associated with

the issues examined.”

Research Paper • Student • Yanru Jiang, University of California, Los Angeles • Understanding Triggers of Problematic Internet Uses in Casual Mobile Game Designs • There is evidence that players can become addicted to casual mobile games. This study identified seven elements that are frequently adopted in casual mobile game designs and could trigger game addictions. The study used a seven-item game addiction scale (GAS) to access the addiction level of casual mobile gamers. Adverse effects on addicted players, such as being isolated from social contacts, neglecting important activities, and undermining psychological conditions, were identified through the GAS.

Research Paper • Student • Sarah Johnson • Credibility from the Source: Comparing traditional celebrity endorsers with YouTube endorsers • This study examines the relationship between an endorser’s expertise, trustworthiness, and brand attitude using Source Credibility Theory, by looking at traditional celebrity and YouTube endorsers. A representational survey of the U.S. adult population was used. The research model was analyzed using mediation analysis; the results were determined to have significant direct and indirect effects. Based on the results, there was a slight increase in the strength of the mediator on brand attitude for YouTube endorsers.

Research Paper • Student • URSULA KAMANGA • Assessing the Implications of Cervical Cancer Information Sources and its Barriers Among Latinas • Cervical cancer is preventable, yet screening levels remain low among Latinas, contributing to a 40% mortality rate in the U.S. Health information-seeking behavior among this population remains low. Few studies have assessed channels used while investigating perceived uncertainty for health information-seeking among Latinas. This case study will test the Theory of Planned Behavior through semi-structured interviews to understand the health information-seeking behavior among Latinas and where new channels could be made to assist them.

Research Paper • Student • hakan karaaytu • Independent Journalists Reporting on Political Issues in Turkey, using Traditional and New Media • In this study, while the role and journalistic ideal imputed to the media in contemporary democracies are considered, the changes in the Turkish media sector, which have been structurally transformed since 1980, and the reflections of this change on the identity of the journalists are revealed. As the historical process of the media structure that has been transformed is described, the effects of the experiences in relationship between media and politics on the journalistic profession are illustrated with concrete examples. The research paper consists of interviews with 10 people who are selected from journalism academics and press-journalists in the profession.

Extended Abstract • Student • Yihan Li, School of Journalism and Communication, The Chinese University of Hong Kong • Health code for datafied mobilities in China: Framing of datafication, algorithmic governance and dataism ideology • This research adopts critical discourse analysis to analyze the construction of health code discourse by Chinese governments and its social consequences. This research finds the frame of the health code as an objective tool for orderly mobilities, which is produced by the hierarchical relation between the state and local governments. And this discourse contributes to the emerging of a new mode of algorithmic governance and a dataism ideology with some doubtful assumptions.

Research Paper • Student • Paige Nankey; Rhea Maze • Social Media and Marine Plastic Pollution: A Study of Social Media Messaging on Engagement • This 2 (emotional appeal: hope vs. guilt) x 2 (call-to-action (CTA): presence vs. absence) between-subjects experiment randomly exposed 76 college students to one of four Instagram-type messages about marine plastic pollution: Guilt with no CTA (N = 18), guilt with CTA (N = 20), hope with no CTA (N = 19), or hope with CTA (N = 19). The results were not significant but revealed an interesting interaction pattern when combining hope appeals with CTA’s.

Extended Abstract • Student • Victoria McDermott; Drew T. Ashby-King, University of Maryland • Extended Examining Institutional and Instructional Support of Communication Graduate Students Academic and Social Needs During COVID-19 • Rhetorical and relational goal theory posits that students have academic and relational needs in the classroom that need to be met to facilitate student success. By conducting focus groups with communication graduate students, this study explored how institutional/departmental and instructor communication met students’ needs during the COVID-19 pandemic. We suggest that rhetorical and relational goals are intertwined concepts that contribute to supporting students’ academic and relational needs and success.

Research Paper • Student • Adriana Mucedola, Syracuse University • Royal baby boom: How British tabloids covered Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle’s pregnancies • This study used an intersectional approach to understand how media coverage during Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle’s first pregnancies differed from one another. A content analysis that coded 240 British tabloid articles revealed that Markle received a greater amount of press negativity and negative weight-related attitudes, while Middleton’s body was objectified to a greater extent. Findings suggest that media continue to objectify women in different ways depending on their identities, and reinforce the thin ideal.

Research Paper • Student • Christina Myers • Toward a Conceptual Model of Implicit Racial Bias and Representation of African Americans in Media • “The purpose of this paper is to propose a conceptual model to explain how societal, cultural and historical circumstances contribute to the creation of meaning assigned by content creators and its subsequent understanding, particularly as it relates to the media’s portrayal of African Americans. The author suggests implicit racial bias, stereotypes and ideology, which are shaped by the historical, cultural and societal influences of content creators, allow for inherently prejudiced belief systems to be disseminated and reinforced by mass media. To the author’s knowledge, there is a paucity in mass communication literature that seeks to explain the cognitive processes involved in content creation by members of mass media.

Keywords: Implicit Racial Bias, Ideology, Stereotypes, Black representation, mass media”

Extended Abstract • Student • Nhung Nguyen, University of Kansas • Strangers helping strangers in a strange land: Vietnamese immigrant mothers and expecting mothers in the USA use social media to navigate health acculturation • Drawing from acculturation, this study analyzes 18 in-depth interviews with immigrant Vietnamese mothers and pregnant women in the United States on the role of online social support through Facebook on their pregnancy and motherhood in a strange land. Findings show that immigrant mothers seek out both informational and emotional supports. “Bonding” levels are low and unlikely to transcend into real-life friendships. Social media, however, allows community members to develop and thrive during enculturation.

Extended Abstract • Student • Jeffry Oktavianus, City University of Hong Kong; Yanqing Sun; Fangcao Lu • Extended The episodes of health crisis information response process among migrant domestic workers during COVID-19 pandemic • Guided by Crisis Response Communication Model (CRCM), this study examined how Indonesian migrant domestic workers in Hong Kong digested and responded to health crisis information amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Through in-depth interviews involving 32 workers, this study discovered that the participants went through four stages of crisis response process, including observation (i.e., information gathering), interpretation (i.e., filtering information and verification), choice (i.e., adopting adaptive and maladaptive preventive measures), and dissemination (i.e., information sharing).

Research Paper • Student • Runlei Ren; Xinyu Dai; Mengyuan Wei • The Impact of Internet on Public Trust in Government: Assessing the Mediating Effect of Subjective Social Justice • Over the past decade, public trust in the government (PTG) in developed countries has continued to decline. At the same time, the rapid development of the Internet has changed people’s perceptions. The decline of PTG will pose a challenge to government governance. Given the coexistence of the decline in PTG and the gradual popularization of the Internet, can the Internet explain or partially explain the fluctuations in PTG among citizens? Previous research pointed out that the negative effects may play a leading role. However, existing literature ignores that the relationship between Internet use and public trust in government (PTG) can be mediated by contextual variables such as perceived social justice. Thus, this study uses the 2018 Chinese Social Survey (CSS 2018) and household survey datasets in 2015 (CGSS 2015) to explore the influence of internet usage on PTG and its mechanism. Multivariate regressions and instrumental variable estimates support that: Besides playing a negative role directly (β=-0.0467, t=-3.0304, p<0.001), the internet can also affect PTG by polluting subjective social justice. Diverse applications of the internet have different effects on PTG. From the perspective of different government levels, it conforms to the characteristics of differential trust in government. This conclusion provides a reference for the governance of Internet public opinion. The department of management could treat the Internet as a platform to carry out effective communication between the government and the public to improve political trust.

Extended Abstract • Student • Zoey Rosen, Colorado State University; Channing Bice, Colorado State University; Stephanie Scott, Colorado State University • Extended [Visualizing the Invisible: Visual-Based Design and Efficacy in Air Quality Messaging] • This study examines the effect of efficacy and visual design for messaging for air quality. The following study is a 2 (efficacy: high vs. low) × 2 (message design: visual vs. text) between-subjects experimental design, assessing the effects of these variables on students’ visual comprehension, source credibility, self-efficacy, and protective behavioral intention. Hypotheses were partially supported, finding that there were some statistically significant effects for efficacy and message design on the variables of interest.

Extended Abstract • Student • Andrea Smith, Syracuse University; Adriana Mucedola, Syracuse University; Jian Shi, Syracuse University • Partisan Pride: How Cross-Exposure to Partisan News and Emotions Toward Trump Leads to Civic Engagement • The purpose of this study was to examine the link between consuming either liberal or conservative media, partisans’ emotional reactions to news about Donald Trump, and their level of participation in civic engagement. A sample of U.S. adults (n=813) completed the relevant measures in an online survey. Results indicated that when participants consumed counter-attitudinal media, they experienced negative emotional reactions to news about Donald Trump, which in turn, led them to become more civically engaged.

Research Paper • Student • Courtney Tabor, University of Oregon • “What a 13-year old girl looks like”: A feminist analysis of To Catch a Predator • This paper examines three key episodes of early-2000s sensation To Catch a Predator and situates them within crime media and journalism literature. Based on the analysis, To Catch a Predator represents the apex of crime media as demonstrated by the treatment of women and girls as bait, claims of ownership over women and girls’ bodies, lack of nuance in reporting, and the liberties taken in their journalistic practices.

Research Paper • Student • Jingyue Tao • The Influence of Message and Audio Modalities in Augmented Reality Mobile Advertisements on Consumers’ Purchase Intention • Evidence shows that AR technology is an effective advertising approach to raise a brand’s awareness, so many big brands implement AR into their marketing strategy. However, the effectiveness of AR mobile advertisements on consumers’ purchase intentions remains unclear. To fill this dearth in the literature, this study examined how message and audio modalities of AR mobile advertisements influenced consumers’ purchase intentions through an experiment. Based on the uses and gratifications perspective, this online experiment manipulated the message type (emotional/factual) and audio-verbal appeal (present/absent) of AR advertisements to investigate their impact on consumers’ attitudes towards buying a watch. The results showed that audio-verbal appeal played a salient role in the emotional message to positively influence consumers’ perceived entertaining gratification and intention to buy the watch. However, the audio-verbal emotional message negatively influenced consumers’ purchase intention and did not influence their perceived information gratification. Future research should test other multimedia such as images, video, or animations to better understand the interaction effect between AR mobile advertisements and consumers’ purchase intentions.

Research Paper • Student • Taylor Thompson • Trust in media in the era of fake news • This study explores how political ideologies, media bias, and media credibility affect trust in the media. This research uses an ATP survey from Pew Research Center. The analysis found that people who identify as Democrats have a significantly higher trust in the media, and think the media is doing their job well and effectively. Republicans were less trustful of the media, which suggests a problematic relationship between the media and people who identify as Republicans.

Research Paper • Student • Yue Wang, University of Leuven • Why are smartphones a thief who steals time? An Empirical Study of Smartphone Dependence in China • With the rapid spread of smartphones worldwide, the negative effects of overuse and dependence on smartphones have attracted more and more public attention. To explore how people’s psychological motivations affect smartphone dependence, this research expands the motivation of media-system dependence and adds two psychological characteristics of loneliness and FoMO. The results showed that “recreation”, “orientation”, “loneliness” and “FoMO” had significant impacts on smartphone use, while “understanding” did not have a direct effect on smartphone dependency.This survey provides important information for academicians concerning smartphone dependency, which is still rarely explored in China.

Research Paper • Student • Tian Xinhe • Research on Online Social Support Related to Gender Issues from the Perspective of Communication-An empirical analysis based on Zhihu, an online question-and-answer community in China.docx • The COVID-19 outbreak in early 2020 has highlighted the importance of social caring, and the related gender issues have attracted more attention online. This paper studies the posts related to the “sanitary napkins in loose packing” in Zhihu Community, and examines the impact of online social support on gender issues, from the perspective of communication and through social network analysis, content analysis and text analysis. Findings: Users have not developed a tight social network, but the Matthew effect is significant; online social support strengthens connections between users on gender issues; “otherization” for female is found users in agenda setting; intensified online gender contradiction reflects the polarization effect of network. Misogyny is found in China’s male-oriented online society. On this basis, the paper argues that gender inequality is an objective, deep-rooted existence in Chinese society, and that gender antagonism is becoming increasingly prominent in China’s online society. In the long run, however, we should avoid grafting gender contradictions into class contradictions, with efforts made to coordinate gender relations and seek equal rights for men and women.

Research Paper • Student • Wanjiang Zhang; Jiayu Qu; Jingjing Yi, School of Journalism and Communication, Chinese University of Hong Kong • Stripped from society abruptly: Effects of physical social isolation on people’s emotional expression and well-being • The study employed a quasi-experiment with 1,398 users’ 1,376,718 posts on Weibo. Three computational methods (SA, ITS, STM) were used to investigate the influences of physical social isolation on people’s emotional well-being during the quarantine. Results showed that quarantine brought a sharp fall in people’s emotions immediately without sustained effects. STM-generated topics implied social media’s role in fulfilling three psychological needs. Heavy Weibo users expressed more positively, whereas light users expressed negatively.

2022 Abstracts

Filed Under: 2022 Abstracts, Paper Call

Entertainment Studies Interest Group

July 28, 2022 by Kyshia

2022 Abstracts

Research Paper • Faculty • Audrey Halverson, Brigham Young University; Kris Boyle, Brigham Young University; Kevin John, Brigham Young University • Battle Royale and Addictive Gaming: The Mediating Role of Player Motivations • Previous research on the prevalence of addictive behaviors among video game players has been varied; however, there are emerging concerns that battle royale games may be particularly conducive to addiction. This study utilizes a survey sample of 536 battle royale players to investigate addiction outcomes for battle royale players and the mediating role of various player motivations.

Research Paper • Student • Seung Woo Chae; Sung Hyun Lee • Sharing Emotion while Spectating Video Game Play • This paper examines how the COVID-19 pandemic associates with Twitch users’ emotion, using natural language processing (NLP). Two comparable sets of text data were collected from Twitch internet relay chats (IRCs): one after the outbreak of the pandemic and another one before that. Positive emotion, negative emotion, and attitude to social interaction were tested by comparing the two text sets via a dictionary-based NLP program. Particularly regarding negative emotion, three negative emotions anger, anxiety, and sadness were measured given the nature of the pandemic. The results show that users’ anger and anxiety significantly increased after the outbreak of the pandemic, while changes in sadness and positive emotion were not statically significant. In terms of attitude to social interaction, users used significantly fewer “social” words after the outbreak of the pandemic than before. These findings were interpreted considering the nature of Twitch as a unique live mixed media platform, and how the COVID-19 pandemic is different from previous crisis events was discussed based on prior literature.

Research Paper • Student • Meredith Collins; Allison Lazard; Ashley Hedrick; Tushar Varma • It’s Nothing Like Cancer: Young Adults with Cancer Reflect on Memorable Entertainment Media • “Entertainment media simulates social experiences, facilitates coping, and develops resiliency in young adults, ages 18 – 39. These outcomes could be beneficial for young adults with cancer, who typically report lacking social support and suboptimal psychological outcomes during and after treatment. Guided by the memorable messages framework, we investigated which entertainment media young adults with cancer found memorable and why. We conducted 25 semi-structured, online interviews. Participants were asked to identify any media title that was memorable or meaningful during their cancer experience; they were also asked to explain whether the title had a positive or negative meaning to them, as well as why they felt that way. Participants were mostly female (79.2%) and White (80%), with a breast cancer diagnosis (45.8%). Media portrayals were helpful if they prompted exploration of emotions and the creation of meaning around the cancer experience, or if they took participants’ minds off cancer. Most entertainment media focused only on death from cancer. Our participants called for more nuanced portrayals that better reflected their lived reality. Our results revealed media are used as social surrogates, and to find affirmation and validation. On the other hand, our participants felt that entertainment media focused too heavily on death. This may contribute to internalized stigma and decrease psychological functioning, or affect the perceptions of cancer-free peers. Our participants called for more nuanced portrayals that depicted the realities of living with cancer. Future research should further probe the effects of entertainment media on psychological outcomes for young adults with cancer.”

Extended Abstract • Faculty • Serena Daalmans, Radboud University, Behavioural Science Institute; Mariska Kleemans; Cedra van Erp, Radboud University Nijmegen, Communication Science; Addy Weijers • All the Reasons Why: Exploring the Relationship between Morally Controversial Content in 13 Reasons Why and Viewers’ Moral Rumination • Via in-depth interviews with young adults (N = 45), we sought to gain deeper insights into the experiences of and reflective thoughts (i.e. moral rumination) about controversial media content. In order to map how moral rumination is incited in viewers, we chose a recent example of controversial television, namely 13 Reasons Why. The results will provide a comprehensive account of moral rumination as a concept, and will thereby further field of positive media psychology.

Research Paper • Student • Stefanie East • A Little Bit Alexis: From Self-Absorbed Socialite to Self-Made Career Woman • The cultural impact of Schitt’s Creek and its eclectic mix of characters has resonated with viewers across the world, partly because of its message of love and acceptance, but also because of the strong female characters. This essay offers an analysis of one the most iconic characters from the show, Alexis Rose. Using Kenneth Burke’s method of pentadic criticism, it will examine the breaking of a stereotype and impact of character development on an audience.

Research Paper • Faculty • Erika Engstrom; Ralph Beliveau, University of Oklahoma • Masculinity’s Representative Anecdote in the MCU: Resistance and Revision in “Avengers: Endgame” • This paper interrogates the 2019 film “Avengers: Endgame” using the lens of hegemonic masculinity. By examining the behaviors and storylines of its central male superheroes, four main themes that challenge hegemonic masculinity were identified: (1) seeking help from and giving help to others, (2) emotional expressiveness, (3) expressions of fear and vulnerability, and (4) emphasis on father-child relationships. These merge to tell an overarching “story”—the representative anecdote—of a progressive and positive masculinity, one that affirms that super-heroic men are not afraid to show vulnerability, uncertainty, and affection. The Marvel Cinematic Universe is one of the largest entertainment franchises in media history, and the positive masculinity presented in this film demonstrates a slow but progressive evolution of gender portrayals that hold the potential for positive representations that reflect the many ways manhood is performed in reality.

Extended Abstract • Faculty • Chris Etheridge, University of Kansas; Fatemeh Shayesteh, University of Kansas; Remington Miller, University of Arkansas at Little Rock; Abigail Carlson, University of Arkansas at Little Rock • From “hunky beefcakes” to “beautiful” Homecoming queens: Perpetrators and victims in true crime podcasts • Because this podcasting platform is still relatively new, few studies have considered how perpetrators of crime and victims of crime have been portrayed. Through a content analysis of true crime podcasts, this study will address a gap in the scholarship by chronicling descriptions of victims and perpetrators in several popular true crime podcasts.

Extended Abstract • Student • Heesoo Jang, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Madhavi Reddi, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • [Extended Abstract] Intimacy and Connections: Celebrity Culture in Indian and South Korean Television Shows • This study examined how celebrities’ private lives are used as core elements of Asian television shows. The countries of interest were India and Korea, as the entertainment industries of both countries have increasingly challenged the global dominance of Hollywood. Using qualitative textual analysis, two prominent shows –Taste of Wife (Korea) and Koffee with Karan (India)—were analyzed. Both shows used celebrities’ personal lives and connections to create intimacy with the public and amplify visibility.

Research Paper • Student • Wei Lin • More contributors, shorter continuance? The paradox of entertainment contents contribution • Controversial debates are going on over the issue whether incentive to contribute is to diminish or increase with the expansion of group size. Previous studies on open collaborative platform for knowledge generation and sharing suggest that shrinking group size weakened motivation of contribution. This paper introduces group size into cognitive evaluation theory. By tracing behavior of video contributors in a hedonic information system for 20 months, we illustrate the negative effects of group size of entertainment contributors on intrinsic motivation and social rewards, which lead the discontinuance and inactivity of new contributors. Different mechanisms in hedonic and knowledge-sharing information system are discussed as well.

Research Paper • Student • JINDONG LIU, CUHK; biying wu • A “soul” emerges when AI meets Anime via hologram: a qualitative study on users of new anime-style hologram social robot “Hupo” • Anime-style hologram social robots are the latest entertainment products. This paper discusses how social robots and anime content converge via this new technology. Through interviews (N=18) in the case of Hupo, it identifies unique media phenomena including anime-style gamification and idolization of social robots, anime-assisted interactional order maintenance, and AI empowerment of anime characters. It argues anime fandom practice compensates for inadequate AI incapability, which challenges the vision of realistic human simulation in anthropomorphism.

Research Paper • Faculty • Patrick Osei-Hwere, West Texas A&M University; Enyonam Osei-Hwere, West Texas A&M University; Li Chen, West Texas A&M University • Spotlighting Emotional Intelligence in Children’s Media: Emotional Portrayals in Disney Channel Television Series. • A content analysis of emotions depicted in five Disney channel television series using social cognitive theory, entertainment education, and emotional intelligence constructs, found that characters depicted emotions of happiness, anger, and fear most frequently. There were no significant associations between gender and emotion display. Researchers found significant associations between emotion types and variables of age, emotion labeling, emotion regulation, emotion display target, and emotion display location. Recommendations for media researchers and content creators are discussed.

Research Paper • Student • Suri Pourmodheji, Indiana University, Bloomington • Keeping Up With the Yummy Mummies? Examining Kim Kardashian’s Mediated Yummy Mummy Images on the reality television program Keeping Up With The Kardashians versus Instagram posts. • “This chapter examines concepts of body image and the yummy mummy in motherhood, by analyzing select scenes from the reality television program, Keeping Up With The Kardashians (Keeping Up), and Instagram posts from Kim Kardashian’s personal Instagram page, @kimkardashian. Contextualizing the yummy mummy, the pressures of maintaining the bikini ready body for mothers, exploring body as commodity, and examining a fantasy of motherhood, I apply these concepts to an analysis of Kardashian’s body during her motherhood journey. Furthermore, I argue that Kardashian’s body functions in a hegemonic way as a seemingly attainable goal for postpartum women and those looking to get back into shape post baby. This chapter asks the following questions, how does Kardashian convey the yummy mummy concept referenced by Littler and Jermyn throughout Keeping Up and on Instagram? How does Kardashian function as a persona in flux between her appearance on Keeping Up and on Instagram? Further, how does the in-flux persona play a role in the way she portrays motherhood on Instagram? To address these questions, I use visual and contextual analysis on select scenes and Instagram posts that focus on Kardashian and her body as a mother. From analyzing these examples, I argue for the following conclusions: Kardashian’s role as a mother is portrayed through self-critical language to reinforce an authentic display of the yummy mummy body, through confident Instagram posts depicting her desirable body, and through post-racial visual discourse represented in family pictures on Instagram.

Research Paper • Student • Rachel Son, University of Florida • K-dramas and the American youth: Conceptualizing the aspiration of a youthful utopia • The purpose of the current paper is to develop a model to explain why American youth audiences choose to watch K-dramas. A rationalism approach by deriving concepts from existing theory to identify the variables of the model. The theoretical perspective comes from the theory of Temporarily Expanding the Boundaries of the Self (Slater et al., 2014), as well as contributions from entertainment research regarding enjoyment and affective motivations (Oliver & Raney, 2011). K-drama narratives is the independent variable and youthful utopia aspiration is the proposed dependent variable. As audiences begin temporarily expanding the boundaries of self to restore their identity and attain self-fulfillment, they are transported into the narrative where they identify with the characters’ experience in the stories. This leads to the American youth audiences to learn something about their own identity and life by expanding their understanding about South Korean culture through drama portrayals. In sum, audiences find meaning for their own lives that cannot be gained by self-affirmation through boundary expansion while viewing K-dramas.

Research Paper • Student • Nathan Spencer, The University of Memphis • License to angst: A study of female characters in Christopher Nolan films • This paper is a textual analysis of female characters in Christopher Nolan films. Its purpose is to determine how Nolan represents women in his films, thus adding to the literature on Nolan and on women in blockbuster films. The data consisted of a sample from three of Nolan’s most popular films, The Dark Knight, Inception, and Interstellar. The data was organized into five distinct categories: Dead Wife Syndrome; Women as a plot device for men; Violence as shock value; Mommy issues; and Behind every strong woman is… a man? The results reveal that Nolan’s stories revolve around men, reducing women to stereotyped subordinates. Nolan actively weaponizes his female characters’ femininity, treating them violently in his stories to motivate his male characters and tantalize the audience. His consistent successes over different genres point to moviegoers wanting to consume the stories he tells, regardless of content. This study’s results determine that his influence is directly hindering positive female representation in mainstream blockbuster films.

Research Paper • Faculty • Alec Tefertiller, Baylor University; Lindsey Maxwell, Southern Mississippi • Am I binge-watching or just glued to the couch? Viewing patterns, audience activity, and psychological antecedents for different types of extended-time television viewing • The phenomenon of binge-watching has received considerable attention in both the media and in research. However, extended-time television viewing is not only confined to narrative binges. This study sought to better understand the differences between different types of extended-time television viewing, including binge-watching. While little evidence was found to suggest a connection between problematic mental health antecedents and extended-time viewing, differences in audience attention and overall patterns of consumption were found.

Research Paper • Faculty • Kelsey Whipple, University of Massachusetts Amherst; Ivy Ashe; Lourdes Cueva Chacon, San Diego State University • Aux News: Examining Listeners’ Perceptions of the Journalistic Function of Podcasts • Podcasting is a well-established medium with a rapidly growing audience but no established ethical standards or practices. Through a representative national survey of American internet users (n = 1,025), this research examined how much podcast listeners trust podcasts and how they evaluate their journalistic merit. Podcast listeners trust podcasts less than most other news sources, with the exception of online news and satirical news programs. And though listeners agree that podcasting is a form of journalism, a way to stay informed about news and current events, and a valuable source of information, they are more skeptical of podcasts when comparing them to traditional news sources. Age is the only demographic category that predicts listening frequency.

Research Paper • Faculty • Qingru Xu; Hanyoung Kim; Andrew Billings • Let’s Watch Live Streaming! Exploring Streamer Credibility in Influencing Purchase Intention in Video Game Streamer Marketing • This study aims to examine the effect of streamer credibility on purchase intention in the context of video game streamer marketing, and further explore the underlying mechanism of the examined relationship via a mediation analysis. With recruiting 277 participants in the United State, this study (a) confirms the significant and positive relationship between streamer credibility and purchase intention, and also finds that (b) the mediators of parasocial relationships and streamer loyalty partially mediate the effect of streamer credibility on purchase intention. Surprisingly, the indirect effect of streamer credibility through the two mediators on purchase intention is stronger than the total effect; meanwhile, the direct effect of streamer credibility on purchase intention in the mediation model remains significant but negative. By applying structural equation modeling analysis, the current research offers a theoretical explanation for how streamer credibility influences viewers’ purchase intention in the context of video game streamer marketing, with practical and practical implications outlined.

Extended Abstract • Student • Wenjing Yang; Ruyue Ma • Online and offline : How MOBA games affect adolescence’s Discourse • MOBA games are now a big part of adolescences’ daily life , which not only affect their entertainment but also affect their communication . This paper draws on the theory of scenes proposed by Joshua Meyrowitz (1985) , using the way of participant observation and depth interview . The intial findings are that MOBA games realize the integration of scenarios in three dimensions and thus provided some new discourse for adolescence , which affect their communication and social interaction .

Extended Abstract • Student • Casey Yetter, University of Oklahoma; Alex Eschbach, University of Oklahoma • Earth’s Moralist Heroes: Virtue depictions in the Marvel Cinematic Universe • The purpose of this paper is to identify how virtue ethics are depicted in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). A thematic analysis was used to analyze 12 of Aristotle’s virtues (courage, temperance, liberality, magnificence, magnanimity, gentleness, truthfulness, wittiness, friendliness, modesty, and righteous indignation) in the protagonist superheroes in the MCU films, the most successful film franchise in cinematic history.

2022 Abstracts

Filed Under: 2022 Abstracts, Paper Call

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