Visual Communication Division

Jane Campion’s The Piano: The Female Gaze, the Speculum and the Chora Within the H(y)st(e)rical Film • Jaime Bihlmeyer, Southwest Missouri State University • This paper presents a glimpse into the traces (semios) of the female gaze in Jane Campion’s historical film, The Piano. Campion’s filmic text creates a space in mainstream movies where cinematic enunciation intersects with the linguistic and psychoanalytical innovations of the last half-century. The Piano presents an overwhelmingly clear demonstration of the female gaze and does so within the limitations of mainstream film conventions.

Where We’ve Been — Where We’re Going: An Analysis of Visual Communication Research in Communication Journals • Kimberly Bissell, University of Alabama • This study analyzes the inclusion of visual communication research articles in journals published with a journalism, mass communication or visual communication focus. It is the beginning of a larger project that may give visual communication researchers some insight into the acceptance of our field under the umbrella of mass communication research. All of the issues published under 22 different journals in the last 10 years were analyzed.

At Ground Zero: How Photojournalists Survived the September 11th Terrorist Attack on the World Trade Center • Brandon W. Bollom, Texas at Austin • During the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center, while most people were trying to escape chaos, a few were running toward it. Included in that group were photojournalists, but in the weeks and months following that day, little research appeared as to why they were willing to risk their lives for their profession. This project attempts to fill that gap in coverage with personal interviews, research, and historical data.

Perceptions, Exceptions, and Stereotypes: Visual Representation and the Monster’s Ball • Yolanda R. Cal, Texas at Austin • This paper explores the film Monster’s Ball as an example of stereotypical media images of Black women in contemporary society. Halle Berry’s performance is the first to break both the color and gender barrier in the Academy Awards seventy-four year history. The author examines the visual representation of difference as well as how current notions of race form a discourse with which to investigate stereotypical representations of African-American women.

Sex Appeals that Appeal: The Moderating Role of Women’s Sexual Self-Schema in the Accessibility of Sexual Constructs in Memory • John Davies, He Zhu & Brian Brantley, Alabama • Priming methodology has shown that media exposure can increase women’s accessibility of constructs in memory. While prior research has focused on pornography’s effects on subsequent cognitions and behavior, little research has focused on the effects of sex appeals in advertising. In this study, the authors measured the effects of exposure to magazine ads using sexual appeals. Results indicated that exposure to sex appeals increased accessibility of sexual constructs in memory. Sexual self-schema moderated priming effects.

Evaluating animated Infographics: A step toward Multimedia Research: An Experimental Approach • Klaus Forester, Sabine Stiemerling & Thomas Knieper • Visualization and animation can be seen as two main characteristics of multimedia applications. In our study we compared animated infographics with their still versions and textual representations of the same information. According to our results it is not always appropriate to visualize and animate certain topics but in most cases visualization can enhance information transfer. The results are indicating that animations should be preferably used in complex fields of knowledge.

A Virtual Extension of Public Art: An Analysis of Municipal Websites as Public Art Venues • Tamara L. Gillis and John Syphrit, Elizabethtown College • According to research by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), public art projects commissioned by local communities and corporations give the community or organization a common expression and identity. These installations are often tied to community events, history and lore. As communities enter the virtual environment with the construction of websites, do these websites representing the communities serve as public art installations in the virtual environment?

Newspaper Photo Editors? Perceptions of Women Photojournalists • Ken Heinen and Mark Popovich, Ball State University • With an increasing number of women photojournalists streaming into the newsroom, this study was concerned with how newspaper photo editors would perceive their abilities in comparison with their male counterparts. Nineteen newspaper photo editors replied to a 57-statement Q Sort asking them to rate their perceptions about the skills of women photojournalists. Two patterns of perceptions emerged. One group was labeled as the “professionals,” and the other group as the “pragmatists.”

Television News and the Palestinian Israeli Conflict: An Analysis of Visual and Verbal Framing • Rasha Kamhawi, Indiana University • The presentation of international events on television news has often been criticized for oversimplification and stereotyping. This study is a content analysis of the presentation of one international conflict on the evening network news. It identifies the frames, both verbal and visual, through which the Palestinian/Israeli conflict is presented and any leaning for either side of the conflict. While overt bias is not found, episodic frames that give little or no context are found to be dominant.

Visual Components of Source Credibility for Non-Profit Organizations on the World Wide Web • Linda Jean Kensicki, Minnesota • Limited research has examined the impact of visual communication on the web and none has explored how wired visual constructions influence an organization’s credibility. This research tested a model of visual credibility on 133 individuals through sample web pages for two types of non-profit organizations. Contrary to previous work, a structured design was not uniformly seen as more credible than an organic design.

Framing the Presidential Candidates in Editorial Cartoons • Hyoungkoo Khang & Eyun-Jung Ki, Florida • In the 2000 election campaign, the character and competency issues of the presidential candidates emerged as the most dominant agenda. This result indicates that the agenda of personal character and competency of a presidential candidate could have more influence on the public than did a candidate’s issue stance of policy. Many cartoonists use exaggeration and dishonesty frames to portray Al Gore. Accordingly, the frames in the editorial cartoons could overshadow the image of Gore as a viable presidential candidate.

Photography Editors as Gatekeepers: Choosing Between Publishing or Self-Censoring Disturbing Images of 9-11 • Renee Martin Kratzer & Brian Kratzer, Missouri • Photography editors are gatekeepers who decide what visual images appear in print. This study examines how these gatekeepers chose whether to publish disturbing images of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. In-depth interviews with 22 newspaper photography editors were conducted to gain an understanding of the decision-making process. The results show that many of the photography editors published the images despite the graphic content because they helped communicate the horror and devastation of that day.

Seeing and Believing: A Case Study of Weber’s Schema of Charisma and institution Building as Seen in Visual Images of students at a Christian Liberal Arts College, 1900-1940 • Michael A. Longinow, Asbury College • This study uses the template of Max Weber’s notion of charisma and institution-building to examine visual depictions of students at a Christian liberal arts college in Central Kentucky as these visuals appeared in a nationally-distributed religious newspaper. The analysis compares the images of these students with visual images of those same students in the campus weekly newspaper.

Vision of a New State: Israel as Celebrated by Robert Capa • Andrew Mendelson, Temple University and C. Zoe Smith, Missouri • As we show in an analysis of primary sources, photojournalist Robert Capa’s photographs of the birth of the State of Israel reveal the rightness/naturalness of the Jewish state, arguing that the Israelis were creating a state ex nihilo by turning a desolate, unpopulated strip of land into both an urban and agricultural oasis. His images tap into the reclamation of what the settlers thought was rightly theirs and their spiritual connection to the land.

Of Photographs and Flags: Uses and Perceptions of an Iconic Image Before and After September 11 • Meg Spratt, April Peterson & Taso Lagos, Washington • After the September 11 terrorist attacks, media pundits summoned the memory of Joe Rosenthal’s classic “Flag-Raising on Iwo Jima” photograph, comparing it to a new image of a flag raising at Ground Zero. Such use of an iconic photograph reflects a widely held belief: Photographs have a direct and powerful effect on public consciousness. However, this powerful effects approach has not been supported by empirical evidence.

<< 2002 Abstracts

Scholastic Journalism Division

Kincaid v. Gibson Revisited: The Incompatibility of the Public Forum Doctrine and Academic Freedom • Laurence B. Alexander and Rocky M. Cabagnot, Florida • This paper reviews the recent student expression case of Kincaid v. Gibson by critically examining the use of the public forum doctrine. Although the deciding court delivered a correct decision, the public forum analysis it utilized is ill suited for application to student press cases. An enlightened approach to future student press cases requires consideration of the role of academic freedom and the First Amendment in a campus setting.

Media Convergence: Industry Practices and Implications for Journalism Education • David W. Bulla, Florida • The purpose of this study is to survey contemporary media practitioners about how convergence is affecting their professional routines and practices, and to find out how journalism educators are addressing convergence in their programs. The paper makes recommendations about how journalism educators can take advantage of the Internet to teach some of the skills and attitudes that are essential to converged media operations.

Is it the Grades or the Goods? Instructor and Course Ratings: A Self Determination Theory Perspective • Vincent F. Filak and Kennon M. Sheldon, Missouri-Columbia • Two hundred and sixty eight undergraduates were asked to recall a course that was important to them and their goals (n=268). They were then asked to rate the instructor and the course as well as respond to several items the measured psychological needs. Sex, age, size of the class and grade received in the course were controlled for in hierarchical regressions.

Why Subscribe? The Win-Win of Classroom Newspapers for Indiana High School Journalism • Mary Arnold Hemlinger and T.J. Hemlinger, Ball State University • The decline in adult readership accounts for much of the recent media attention paid to high school journalism by the newspaper industry. Newspapers also want to tap the “talent pool” of future employees high school journalism can provide. This paper addresses how this current attention can benefit student newspapers as well. Data collected from a mail survey of Indiana high school journalism teachers points to a win-win model where students, advisers and professional newspapers all benefit.

<< 2002 Abstracts

Radio-TV Journalism Division

The Real Ted Baxter: The Rise of the Celebrity Anchorman • Terry Anzur, WPEC-TV • This book chapter traces the rise of the celebrity anchorman in local TV news. The debate over the role of the anchor is symbolized by the two real-life newsmen in Los Angeles who were the models for the character of Ted Baxter, the fictional TV news anchor on the Mary Tyler Moore Show. Local audiences and the increasing complexity of TV newscasts favored news readers like Jerry Dunphy over opinionated personalities like George Putnam.

Cable and Network TV News: Narrowing International Knowledge Gaps related to Education & International Experience • Christopher E. Beaudoin, Indiana-Bloomington • The current study examines the basic antecedents of international knowledge and tests two forms of the knowledge gap hypothesis. Hierarchical regression analyses are conducted on data from a 2001 national telephone survey. Positive associations are found between international knowledge and education, international experience, and international news attention. Also, international news attention — especially for network TV and cable TV news — appears to narrow gaps in international knowledge between people with lesser and higher levels of education and international experience.

The Mentor-mentee Relationship: A Co-orientation Perspective of National Public Radio Training Projects • Michelle Betz, University of Central Florida and Teresa Mastin, Middle Tennessee State University • This study examines the shared perceptions of a group of mentors (i.e., communication professionals) and mentees (i.e., college students) who participated in several short, intensive radio training projects. Though most participants were on the same page regarding the project’s goal, mentors and mentees expressed the need for more guidance in the area of project expectations. Future studies surrounding this topic should compare traditional and less traditional mentor-mentee programs across disciplines to uncover mentoring program qualities that provide beneficial experiences for both mentors and mentees, especially as related to traditionally marginalized groups.

Language and Cultural Sensitivity in Broadcasting Reforms Toward Commercialism and Pluralism: The Case of Private Radio in Ghana • Isaac Abeku Blankson, Southern Illinois-Edwardsville • Since 1995, Ghana’s radio broadcasting environment has been transformed from public broadcast monopoly to a more vibrant commercial and plural system. However, some of the emerging character of commercial radio has called cultural critics to question whether private radio could help promote Ghana’s culture, languages and local programs. This paper examines emerging cultural issues and concerns surrounding the predominant use of English language by the private radio stations to the neglect of local languages as envisaged and the mimicking of foreign American and Caribbean accents by radio presenters, news readers and DJs (termed LAFA in Ghana) in Ghana.

Media, Terrorism, and Emotionality: Affective Dimensions of News Content and Effects after September 11 • Jaeho Cho, Michael P. Boyle, Heejo Keum, Mark Shevy, Douglas M. McLeod and Dhavan V. Shah, Wisconsin-Madison • This study extends medium theory by combining content analysis and survey research to examine differences in emotional responses to the September 11 terrorist attacks. This paper demonstrates that the language used in television news is consistently more emotional than print news for indicators such as motion, tenacity, praise, blame, and satisfaction. In addition, this study used a RDD survey to demonstrate that use of television news was more strongly related to both positive and negative emotional responses to the attacks than use of print news.

Visual Bias and Other Factors Affecting Voting Behavior of TV News Viewers in a Presidential Election • Renita Coleman, Louisiana State University and Donald Granberg, Missouri-Columbia • This study supports the findings of past studies of nonverbal bias in political campaigns in showing that ordinary TV viewers can and do perceive biases in the facial expressions of television newscasters. Two of the five newscasters studied exhibited significantly more positive facial expressions when they mentioned one presidential candidate than the other in coverage of the 1996 election. This is the third study to produce the same results in three different elections.

The Myth of the Five-day Forecast: A Study of Television Weather Accuracy and Audience Perceptions of Accuracy in Columbus, Ohio • Jeffrey M. Demas, Otterbein College • Television weather has not been studied in a communication journal since 1982, despite technological advances and a reliance on forecasts by a transient public. This study measured accuracy of weather forecasts in central Ohio and found that stations were very accurate in predicting within 48 hours, but extended forecasts were quite inaccurate. Telephone interviews with 315 central Ohio residents revealed that they not only rely on the five-day forecasts, but believe them to be accurate.

Stories in Dark Places: David Isay and the New Radio Documentary • Matthew C. Ehrlich, Illinois at Urbana-Champaign • David Isay is one of America’s most honored broadcast journalists, although relatively few have heard of him. This paper provides a critical/cultural analysis of Isay’s radio stories within the context of contemporary scholarly critiques of journalism. It explores whether his stories appeal to social understanding or merely to voyeurism, whether he presents an alternative model of journalistic storytelling, and whether his work signals a new direction in radio’s use as a news medium.

Network and Local Coverage of the Year 2000 Presidential Elections • Frederick Fico and Geri Alumit Zeldes, Michigan State • A content analysis of network and local stories broadcasted during the 2000 presidential election shows that individual stories tended to be unfair and imbalanced, favoring either Bush or Gore, but the news segment tended to be more fair and balanced. Overall, a Bush source was more likely to be the first source presented, but Gore sources received more airtime. Comparisons between networks and local coverage show that the networks coverage was more fair and balanced.

Measuring Newscast Accuracy: Applying a Newspaper Model to Television • Gary Hanson and Stanley T. Wearden, Kent State • Measuring accuracy has been a part of academic literature since the mid-1930s. Most accuracy surveys, even those for television, send printed stories to sources for their evaluation. This study develops a workable design to measure television news accuracy by sending video copies to sources. It also adopts a questionnaire from the newspaper literature for use in television. The research method was used to assess the accuracy of local television in Cleveland.

On Print, Politics & the Public: “Sesame Street’s” Impact Beyond Television • Stephanie Hay, Ohio • In 1966, Joan Ganz Cooney and Lloyd Morrisett brainstormed about the future of children’s television programming. Two years later, “Sesame Street” debuted on National Educational Television as the product of their discussion with generous public, private and governmental contributions. This historical analysis describes “Sesame Street” from its inception in 1966 through the end of its third season in 1972. It details how media, public and political responses to “Sesame Street” influenced revisions in the non-commercial program’s format.

Local TV News and Sense of Place: Viewers’ Connections to the News They Love to Hate • Lee Hood, Colorado • Local television news is the U.S. public’s most-used information source. This study examines the meaning local news holds for viewers, arguing that such meaning must be understood apart from viewers’ evaluations of the news programs themselves. Contrasting with notions of global homogenization, the study explores ways in which local news may be implicated in individuals’ conceptions of locality and sense of place. It argues that news is one of the windows through which people experience their locale, and that the connection is particularly vivid with television news.

News Diffusion and Emotional Response to the September 11 Attacks • Stacey Frank Kanihan, University of St. Thomas and Kendra L. Gale, Colorado-Boulder • This study examines the news diffusion process during the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. The findings validate other research regarding the rapid diffusion of highly salient information through broadcast media channels in the early diffusion but interpersonal communication quickly becoming the dominant source of information as people begin to talk with others about the events. We also find media coverage in the first days following the attacks made people angry, not more emotionally upset.

Pacing in Television Newscasts: Does Target Audience Make A Difference? • Mark Kelley, Syracuse • Researchers link the pace of television news, i.e., how rapidly the images or shots change, to how well viewers comprehend and remember or learn the information. This study examines the pacing of two television newscasts produced specifically for use as part of the instructional curriculum of primary and secondary schools, to determine if producers utilize pacing that is conducive to learning by children and adolescents.

“Soft” News and “Hard” News — A Reflection of Gender or Culture? • Aliza Lavie, Bar-Ilan University, Israel • In light of the current feminization of the media, we ask if the traditional identity of “soft news” = feminine ad “hard news” = masculine still holds In the treatment of news each gender employs gender-typical modes of operation In dealing with “soft” issues, men inject their typical, objective and disassociated style of reporting. Women, when reporting “hard” news, render salient those specific aspects which are consistent with “feminine” values.

Television Breaking News & the Invalid Application of aUtilitarian Justification: A Practical Plan for Consequential Ethical Dialogue BEFORE Breaking News Occurs • Andrea Miller, Missouri • The common journalistic justification “the people’s right to know” is a basic utilitarian concept. This study argues this old philosophical framework of utilitarianism cannot be applied to the new genre of television breaking news because of the lack of consideration of consequences. When technology brings news to the viewer live, there are an endless number of unexpected situations. Couple the former with the lack of time for adequate consequential consideration (because of technological, competitive and economical pressures) and the result is a complete breakdown of the concept.

Do Sweeps Really Affect A Local News Program? An Analysis of KTVU Evening News During the 2001 May sweeps • Yonghoi Song, Missouri-Columbia • This study was conducted to examine the impact of the sweeps – the period during which viewing rate is measured – on the news programs in a local television station. The findings show that the sweeps do not always increase the proportion of soft news. The results of this study indicate that commercial pressure of the sweeps on the local television newsroom is mitigated by the characteristics of the audience market and the professional tradition of the newsroom.

AWRT and Edy the Meserand: Preparing Women Professionals to Achieve as Individuals • Stacy Spaulding, Maryland • Whether journalism is a profession or an occupation has been the subject of much debate, however the formation of American Women in Radio and Television (AWRT) in 1951 is evidence of attempts at professionalization on behalf of female broadcasters. In this case, however, the process perhaps helped legitimize women’s roles in an industry that they helped pioneer, but faced widespread discrimination and prejudice in.

Live News Reporting: How a Young Demographic Views It • C. A. Tuggle, North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Suzanne Huffman, Texas Christian University and Dana Scott Rosengard, Memphis • Researchers surveyed more than 500 young adults (ages 18-24) to assess their general views about live television news reporting. Findings show that viewers generally do not base their news viewing on the live reporting tendency of stations. Respondents indicated several positive and negative aspects of the tendency of local news operations to go live. They indicate they like the “real feel” of live reporting, but indicate that it is often overdone. There were market-based differences in viewers’ responses.

The Chromakey Ceiling: An Examination of Television Weathercasting and Why the Gender Gap Persists • Kris M. Wilson, Texas-Austin • Consultants advise that weather is the most important part of the local newscast. Yet, a dearth of scholarly research exists on the television weather. In this survey of more than 200 TV weathercasters, baseline data is analyzed to better understand how this group of specialists’ work. Among the findings is the historically low numbers of women employed as TV weathercasters. Despite significant strides in other areas of television news, women remain a small minority of weathercasters and are most often isolated to weekend newscasts.

Media in a Crisis Situation Involving National Interest: A Content Analysis of the TV Networks Coverage of The 9/11 Incident during the First Eight Hours • Xigen Li, Laura F. Lindsay, and Kirsten Mogensen, Louisiana State University • A content analysis of coverage of 9/11 incident during the first 8 hours examined how five television networks framed the news coverage as events unfolded. Media performed their function in a crisis basically as they were expected and coverage and issues do not vary significantly among the networks. This study found variety of sources was used and the influence of government officials was not as great as in the coverage of a crisis with less involvement of U.S. national interest.

Chinese-Language Television News in the U.S.A.: A Cross-Cultural Examination of News Formats and Sources • Yih Ling Liu and Tony Rimmer, California State University-Fullerton • To study the effects of culture on ethnic news content, hypotheses were proposed based on how several cultural dimensions might influence news format and source of U.S., Taiwanese, and Chinese TV news materials broadcast to the southern California Chinese community. Cultural variables used in the hypotheses were power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism/collectivism, masculinity/femininity, high and low context, and mono and polychronic.

<< 2002 Abstracts

Public Relations Division

RESEARCH
Leadership and Gender in Public Relations: Perceived Effectiveness of Transformational and Transactional Leadership Styles • Linda Aldoory, Maryland and Elizabeth L. Toth, Syracuse • This study used a quantitative survey and qualitative focus groups to examine perceptions of leadership styles, sex differences in these perceptions, and opinions about the gendered nature of leadership in public relations. In summary, the focus group data supported survey results that indicated a strong preference for transformational leadership style over transactional leadership. However, there was also strong evidence for a preference for situational leadership. Findings are interpreted within the frameworks of public relations theory and gender theory.

Public Relations Orientation: Development. Empirical Testing and Implications for Managers • Leeora D. Black and Charmine E.J. Hartel, Monash University • The study uses both theory construction and theory testing techniques to develop and validate the construct and a measure of public relations orientation. The public relations orientation measure assesses the degree to which organizations (1) pursue both behavioral and symbolic relationships with publics, (2) set public relations goals to support organizational goals and facilitate effective use of public relations information within the organization, (3) provide adequate resources for public relations, (4) are responsive to the needs of publics, and (5) engage in dialogue with publics.

Corrective Action After a Crisis: Should Public Relations Require or Request Implementation? • Lori Boyer, Louisiana State University • Public relations practitioners counsel an organizationÕs leadership after a crisis. Should practitioners suggest or require the implementation of corrective measures after a crisis? Participants in an experiment read news accounts of a crisis that was set in a restaurant. Results indicate that organizations that implemented corrective actions after a crisis received significantly higher positive evaluations from consumers than organizations that did not implement corrective action.

Fortune 500 Company Web Sites and Media Relations: Corporate PR Practitioners’ Use of the Internet to Assist Journalists in News Gathering • Coy Callison, Texas Tech University • A content analysis of all 2001 Fortune 500 company Websites was conducted to determine how corporations are using the Web to meet the informational needs of journalists. Analyses revealed that the majority of Websites do not have dedicated pressrooms where media content is centralized. In pressrooms, news releases, executive biographies and executive photographs are the most commonly included materials. Statistics suggest that higher-ranking companies more often provide pressrooms and materials in pressrooms than lower-ranking companies.

Corporate Reputation As A New Media Agenda Item: Attribute Agenda Setting And Business News Coverage • Craig E. Carroll, Texas at Austin • Business news has grown dramatically over the past thirty years suggesting that there has been a shift in the media agenda. This paper proposes examining agenda setting theory for its ability to explain the impact of media coverage on public opinion for matters beyond public issues. Finally, this paper describes the data and methods necessary for testing this extension of attribute agenda setting theory by examining perceptions of corporate reputation.

A Content Analysis of the Journal of Public Relations Research and Public Relations Review, 1989-2001 • Tina B. Carroll, Miami • This study analyzed 498 articles in the Journal of Public Relations Research and Public Relations Review from 1989 to 2001 to investigate the status of published public relations research. Variables that were examined included author characteristics, methodological procedures, and research topics. Results indicate that nearly half (49%) of the articles discussed or tested a theory and 48% of the articles had at least one female author.

PR Educators – “The Second Generation”: Measuring and Achieving Consensus • Erik L. Collins and Lynn M. Zoch, South Carolina • A Delphi study of public relations academics identified James L. Grunig, Scott M. Cutlip, Robert L. Heath, and Glen M. Broom as the public relations researchers who have made the greatest contribution to the theoretical and analytical understanding of public relations during the period from 1960-1990. Findings also indicated that there is little agreement about the important contributions to the theoretical and analytical perspectives of public relations as a profession made by PR academics.

Journalists’ Hostility Toward Public Relations: A Historical Analysis • Fred Fedler and Denise DeLorme, Central Florida • Journalists seem to treat public relations and its practitioners with contempt. However, no studies have investigated the problemÕs historic roots. Thus, this paper explores the perspective of “early insiders” through a historical analysis of autobiographies, biographies, and magazine articles written by and about early U.S. newspaper reporters and editors. Results revealed six interrelated factors that contributed to the origins, persistence, and contradictions surrounding the hostility. The paper concludes with practical implications and future research directions.

Crisis Public Relations: A Study Of Leadership, Culture, Demand And Delivery • Terence (Terry) Flynn, Syracuse University • This study explored how public relations practitioners and their respective managers responded to the crisis events of September 2001. In depth interviews were conducted with five communicators and five managers in an effort to understand how organizational leadership, culture and the demand and delivery of crisis public relations affected the overall response of their organizations to the 9/11 attacks. The study provides the first insights, beyond the Excellence Study, of the demand-delivery cycle as proposed by Dozier, Grunig & Grunig.

Measuring Public Relations Outcomes: Community Relations and Corporate Philanthropy Programs • Margarete Rooney Hall, Florida • This study measured the relationship-building value of the community relations and corporate philanthropy programs of a regional utility company. The strength of the company-customer relationship was determined. Customers were then asked about their awareness of specific community relations and corporate — philanthropy programs, and the importance of those programs. The study compares the strength of the relationship between the company and its customers who were aware and those who were unaware of community relations and corporate philanthropy.

An Integrated Model Of Public Relations Effectiveness: A Conceptual Framework And An Empirical Study • Yi-Hui Huang, National Cheng-Chi University, Taiwan • The purposes of this paper are twofold: 1) develop a comprehensive and integrated framework for evaluating public relations effectiveness, and 2) empirically explore the relationships between and among the performance measures of public relations. Taken as a whole, the results provide valuable insights into these two areas and indicate that public relations is characterized by both direct and indirect effects.

Five Decades of Mexican Public Relations in the United States: From Propaganda to Strategic Counsel • Melissa A. Johnson, North Carolina State University • This paper describes U.S. public relations for Mexico through a quantitative and qualitative content analysis of 940 Foreign Agents Registration Act listings from 1942 through 1991. The article delineates the shift from government to industry representation, the move from press agentry and public information models to more research and counsel, centralization trends, and the evolving roles of US public relations from technicians to high-stakes public relations managers. The continuing robust technician role is confirmed.

The Effects of Relationships on Satisfaction, Loyalty, and Future Behavior A Case of a Community Bank • Yungwook Kim, Ewha Womans University, Seoul and Samsup Jo, Florida • Testing why relationship building contributes to an organizational bottom line is a key issue in developing relationship-building theory. The results reveal that customers who have positive relational features are less likely to switch the banks their bank accounts whereas the customers who are dissatisfied are more likely to switch their bank account to alternative competitors. CustomerÕs satisfaction and loyalty clearly influenced on the customers’ future behavioral intention.

Cross-National Conflict Shifting: A Conceptualization And Expansion In An International Public Relations Context • Juan-Carlos Molleda and Colleen Connolly-Ahern, Florida • The main purpose of this paper is to introduce, illustrate and expand the concept of “cross-cultural conflict shifting” as it relates to the international public relations arena. The illustration is accomplished by summarizing a legal incident involving America Online Latin America (AOLA) in Brazil with repercussions in the U. S. and European financial markets. After the conceptualization is expanded, theory building and research opportunities in an international public relations context will be introduced.

International Paradigms: The Social Role of Brazilian Public Relations Professionals • Juan Carlos Molleda, Florida • This study uses factor analysis to test the construct “social role” of Brazilian public relations professionals developed through an analysis of the Latin American School of Public Relations. Two factors were extracted and called: (1) “Corporate Social Policies and Employee Relations,” and (2) “Government and Community Relations.” The study was to add to the theoretical base of the U.S. body of knowledge by identifying the similarities between the Latin American and U.S. scholarships.

An Analysis of the Relationships Among Structure, Influence, and Gender: Helping to Build a Feminist Theory of Public Relations • Julie O’Neil, Texas Christian University • Feminist scholars have suggested that the organizational context may be to blame for the powerlessness of some female public relations practitioners. This study assessed this claim by using feminist theory and a structural framework. Women had less formal structural power than men, but there were no gender differences in relationship power or influence. Consistent with feminist hypothesizing and the structural framework, practitioners’ influence was related to both their formal structural power and relationship power — not gender.

Marching in Lockstep: Public Relations Roles in the New South Africa • Barbara K. Petersen, Derina R. Holtzhausen and Natalie T. J. Tindall, South Florida • This study provides an important descriptive framework for understanding public relations practitioner roles in multicultural, politically, and socially complex environments. Quantitative analysis revealed a strong professionalism among South African practitioners (N=208). They did not follow the traditional manager/technician division of roles, but instead, practiced all four tested in this research — liaison, media relations, cultural interpreter, personal influence — with the level of practice increasing as the practitionerÕs position became more senior.

Reconciling Multiple Roles: Toward A Model of the Female African-American Public Relations Practitioner • Donnalyn Pompper, Florida State University • Failure to promote diversity in the public relations workplace handicaps our ability to apply the two-way symmetrical model for public relations excellence. Fortunately, public relations theorists have addressed excellence impediments by fueling “feminization” debates, by confronting the “velvet ghetto” and “glass ceiling” phenomena, and by valuing public relationsÕ “management” function. Unfortunately, by homogenizing “women” and “minorities” in our research, African-American women’s unique contributions have been obscured.

New Partnerships for the Poor: A Case Study Advancing Relationship Theory • Catherine Quoyeser and Elizabeth L. Toth, Syracuse University • This case study advanced and tested a synthesis of two relationship theories, and assists development practitioners in building strategic partnerships for the worldÕs poor. Using the case study method, it examined a partnership between the World Bank Vietnam and Save the Children, United Kingdom in order to test a new operational model of relationships. The study concluded that elements of the new model — causal interactions between antecedents, maintenance strategies, outcomes, and organizational effectiveness — account for changes in the relationship between these organizations.

Building Business Relationships Online: Relationship Management in Business-to-Business E-Commerce • Bryan H. Reber, Alabama and Scott Fosdick, Missouri • A survey of 517 executives examined relationship management within business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce. Companies that employed B2B e-commerce evidenced communication and public relations tenets of relationship management. They allowed consumers to order and pay online, to access online support, to contact the company or sales staff, and to get product information. Engendering loyalty, by tracking customer satisfaction, was weak. Commitment to B2B e-customers was high, evidenced through personnel dedicated to B2B e-commerce and stated organizational commitment.

Asking What Matters Most: A National Survey of PR Professional Response to the Contingency Model • Jae-Hwa Shin, Glen T. Cameron and Fritz Cropp, Missouri • For the first time, a random sample of public relations professionals assessed 86 factors in the contingency theory of public relations. This study aims at identifying what contingent factors matter most in public relations practice to provide public relations professionals with a refinement of the contingency factors in public relations activities. Support was found for a matrix of variables affecting public relations practice, and organizational factors (i.e. top management, public relations department, organizational culture, etc.) were identified that affect the contingency undertaken by public relations practitioners in a given situation.

A Cross-Cultural View of Conflict in Media Relations: The Conflict Management Typology of Media Relations in Korea and in the U.S. • Jae-Hwa Shin and Glen T. Cameron, Missouri • This study provides practical guidelines for American public relations professionals who plan to design and implement media relations practice in Korea and for Korean professionals in the U.S. The first section of this study addresses the conflict components essential to the relationship between PR professionals and journalists. The second section of this study addresses cultural components essential to media relations in Korea and the U.S..

In the Face of Change: A Case Study of the World Wide Web as a Public Relations Tool for Art Museums • Nicole Elise Smith, Louisiana State • As we become even more immersed in the Information Age, a key question for those in the museum public relations field is: What is the impact of the Internet, and in particular the World Wide Web, on the traditional role of museums? This case study uses in-depth interviews, a Web site analysis and a museum visitor study to explore the status of the Web as a public relations tool for an existing art museum.

The TPO Endorsements and Consumer Evaluation of a Web Store: Do Seal, Customer Testimonials, and News Clip Affect Consumers Differently? • Alex Wang and Ron B. Anderson, Texas at Austin • Is there any distinction among TPO endorsements? Do consumers process TPO endorsements differently? This study investigated how consumers evaluate a commercial Web store by examining three types of TPO endorsements, a seal, customer testimonials, and a news clip. The laboratory experiment tested several hypotheses on the determinants of a consumer’s favorable evaluation toward a Web store.

Distilling Grunig’s Situational Theory: A Case Study • Hsiang-Hui Wang, Syracuse University • Grunig’s situational theory is a wonderful theory because it is capable of capturing the dynamic nature of publics and is capable of predicting different communication effects among different segments of publics. However, there is little evidence showing that the situational theory has been applied to the practice, although its validity has been widely tested in academic research.

TEACHING
Virtual Issues in Traditional Texts: How Introductory Public Relations Textbooks Address Internet Technology Issues • Lois Boynton and Cassandra Imfeld, North Carolina at Chapel Hill • The purpose of this paper is to explore how textbooks for undergraduate, introductory public relations courses address Internet and World Wide Web technologies. This study examines the topics and skills that commonly used textbooks address, and explores some of the challenges associated with staying current in an ever-changing environment. Finally, this paper will make some recommendations of how educators and publishers might address the challenge of information obsolescence in textbooks.

Service-Learning Integration in a Public Relations Program: A Pedagogy for Skill Development and an Opportunity for Need Fulfillment • Emma Daugherty, California State University, Long Beach • In professional educational programs, such as public relations, students are expected to develop specialized skills to meet the challenges of a demanding workplace. Thus, service-learning offers a unique opportunity for public relations students to apply classroom concepts in a real-life setting, hone their skills, and gain insight into the field. Moreover, service-learning can help students enrich their understanding of the importance of social responsibility – a key concept in public relations education.

Public Relations Graduates: A Survey Across Three Institutions • Diane Atkinson Gorcyca and Marilyn D. Hunt, Missouri Western State College; Charles A. Lubbers, Kansas State University and Pamela Bourland-Davis, Georgia Southern University • A total of 183 public relations graduates from three institutions reported what public relations tasks they use in their present careers and which curricular elements best prepared them for their careers. The most frequently used public relations functions focused on strategic planning and implementation. Students from all three institutions rated the public relations campaigns course as the most beneficial.

Investigating Effects of Tolerance-Intolerance of Ambiguity and the Teaching of Public Relations Writing: A Quasi-Experiment • Lynne M. Sallot, Georgia and Lisa J. Lyon, Kennesaw State University • An exploratory, quasi-experiment found that students’ individual levels of tolerance-intolerance of ambiguity (TIA), along with different teaching techniques, mitigated their views of public relations and their evaluations of their experiences in the public relations writing course. Students with high TIA and multiple “class clients” for writing assignments were better prepared to recognize complex problems than those with a predominant “class client.” Students permitted portfolio grading were more likely to “recommend this instructor to a friend.”

Bright Lights, Big Problem: An Active Learning Approach to Crisis Communication • Shirley A. Serini, Morehead State • Crisis training in the professional world involves engaging individuals in role play encounters that are videotaped and critiqued. Bringing that professional model into the classroom provides students with the opportunity to learn the complexity of crisis management in greater depth. This paper presents a crisis management component of an undergraduate public relations class that incorporated a variety of traditional and non-traditional pedagogical techniques, including the involvement of professionals as both trainers and critiquers.

The Dire Need for Multiculturalism in Public Relations Education: An Asian Perspective • Krishnamurthy Sriramesh, Nanyang Technological University • The globalization that has occurred in the world in the past ten years has made a majority of public relations practice multinational or multicultural. But, current public relations education and literature almost exclusively rely on experiences from the United States. Asian examples relating to culture, political ideology, media systems, etc. are helpful in highlighting the need for making public relations education and research more multicultural and holistic.

<< 2002 Abstracts

Newspaper Division

Watching The Watchdogs: An Ethnomethodological Study of News Decision Making at a Small Midwestern Newspaper • Dharma Adhikari, Tracy Everbach and Shahira Fahmy, Missouri at Columbia • This ethnomethodolgical study of news decision-making at a small Midwestern city newspaper involved six-week long persistent behavioral observation of news budget sessions, the core of the gatekeeping process’ news routines level. Through the qualitative paradigm of descriptive and interpretive epistemology, we identified four typologies of determinants – time-space dimension, content-based considerations, nature of news, intersubjectivity, and external pressure – as crucial in the sociology of news decided for the front page of the newspaper.

The Influence of Reporter Gender on Source Selection in Newspaper Stories • Cory L. Armstrong • Wisconsin-Madison • This study reviewed the level of attention and emphasis given to sources and subjects in overall news coverage and examined whether the gender of the reporter has an impact on male and female representations. A content analysis of 889 stories found disparities between male and female sources in news coverage, with males receiving a significantly higher public status than females. After looking at both structural and editorial influences, the reporter’s gender was found to contribute significantly in the portrayal of males and female sources and subjects in newspapers.

The Credibility Connection: Discovery of a Connection Between Credibility and the Third-Person Effect with Newspaper Stimuli • Stephen A. Banning, Louisiana State University • Studies by the American Society of Newspaper Editors have suggested the media is facing a credibility crisis. In this experiment with newspaper stimuli, credibility showed a strong relationship with the third-person effect in regard to political messages. The lower the credibility scores were, the higher the corresponding third-person effect scores were. There are implications for future elections in regard to potential censorship because higher third-person effect scores have been linked to higher tendencies to censor.

The Impact of Public Ownership, Profits and Competition on Number of Newsroom Employees and Starting Salaries in Mid-Sized Daily Newspapers • Alan Blanchard and Stephen Lacy, Michigan State University • This study of 77 dailies between 25,000 and 100,000 circulation found publicly held daily newspapers produced higher profit margins than did privately held dailies. Public ownership and higher profits were associated with smaller newsroom staffs. Public ownership was positively related with starting salaries. Also the presence of competition was positively correlated with newsroom size and starting salary. The impact of profitability on newsroom size was progressively greater for newspapers with higher than average profit margins.

The Romance and Reality of Copy Editing: A Newsroom Case Study • Glen L. Bleske, California State University • Editing textbooks talk about copy editing in an idealized newsroom, where editors upgrade poor work, improve writing, check facts and plug story holes. The books tell students about the romance, but they are light on the reality of burnout, deadline pressures, and the overburden on copy editors. This case study spends two nights with copy editors who push copy through their computers. They are more like technicians than wordsmiths, and the textbooks don’t talk about their disappointments.

The Influence of Level of Deviance and Protest Type on Coverage of Social Protest in Wisconsin From 1960 to 1999 • Michael Boyle, Elliott Hillback, Narayan Devanathan, Mike McCluskey, Sue Stem, Mark Shevy and Douglas McLeod, Wisconsin • This research examined the relationship between the nature of newspaper coverage of social protests and the level of deviance and type of protest. A content analysis of 291 protest news stories from the Milwaukee Journal, Wisconsin State Journal, Sauk Prairie Star, Watertown Times, and Park Falls Herald from 1960 to 1999 was conducted to compare indicators of the protest paradigm between protests that either support the status quo, seek moderate reform, or seek radical reform.

Exploring the Turnover Issue: Why Newspaper Reporters Intend to Quit Their Jobs Submitted • Lijing Arthur Chang, Nanyang Technological University • This study explores factors behind newspaper reporters’ turnover intentions and the link between their intent to leave their newspapers and their intent to leave journalism. A total of 361 Texas newspaper reporters were surveyed. Findings showed that overall job satisfaction, pay, staff size, age, gender, and marital status affect newspaper reporters’ turnover intentions. The reporters’ intent to leave their newspapers is also found to be a significant predictor of their intent to leave journalism.

Effects of Lead Frames on the Selective Reading of Associated News Reports • Lei Chen and Dolf Zillmann, Alabama • With headlines and texts held constant, the subheads of articles embedded in a newspaper were manipulated to convey factual information only, or such information embellished with conflict, misfortune, agony, or economic implications. The projection of human conflict and agonizing was found to foster greater selective exposure, measured in reading time, to the associated articles.

The “Community Integration Hypothesis” and Other Predictors of Campus Newspaper Readership • Steve J. Collins, Texas at Arlington • A student survey at a public university in the Southwest examined the variables that predict campus newspaper readership. Although satisfaction with the student paper was quite high, the majority of students reported reading no more than one in every four issues. Consistent with the Community Integration Hypothesis, time spent on campus, participation in campus activities, student group membership, living on campus, and having friends on campus all predicted high levels of exposure to the student paper. Readership was negatively correlated with year in school.

Newspaper Editors’ and Educators’ Attitudes About Public Trust, Media Responsibility and Public Journalism • Tom Dickson and Elizabeth Topping, Southwest Missouri State University • The authors surveyed educators who belonged to the Newspaper Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication and editors of daily newspapers to find out whether they had a similar level of concern about public mistrust of the media and government as well as similar attitudes about the need to improve media responsibility and the importance of public journalism as a means to increase media credibility.

Hyperlinking as Gatekeeping: Online Newspaper Coverage of the Execution of an American Terrorist • Daniela V. Dimitrova, Colleen Connolly-Ahern, Amanda Reid, Andrew Paul Williams, and Lynda Lee Kaid, Florida • The execution of Timothy McVeigh marked the closing act of, what was then, the most horrific act of terrorism on American soil. This study focuses on the online coverage of McVeigh’s execution on the Web sites of the top fifteen print newspapers cited by Columbia Journalism Review as the “Best American Newspapers.” Using content analysis, the study compares the fifteen newspapersÕ Web sites by measuring the number of stories on this subject, the sources of the stories, and the number, destination and characteristics of hyperlinks that accompany these stories.

Negotiating the Gray Lines: An Ethnographic Case Study of Organizational Conflict Between Advertorials and News • Alyssa Eckman and Thomas R. Lindlof, Kentucky • This paper reports an ethnographic case study of how one newspaper organization undertook the redesign of its advertorial products. Examining the design and production of advertorials enables us to see and understand the moments when the values of the interpretive communities of advertorialists (advertising) and journalists are invoked. This case study examines the potential for internal conflict within a news organization as distinctly oppositional interests – advertising and news – seek to control a newspaperÕs symbolic goods.

The Cartography of Access: Charting Intersections Between State Political Culture and Open Records Law • Emily Erickson, Louisiana State University • This paper examines 12 state open-records laws to investigate the potential intersections between freedom of information and Daniel Elazar’s typology of state political cultures. Using statutory analysis and phone interviews with journalists and attorneys from the 12 states, the study supports the likelihood that political culture affects the character of open-records access, but appears to intersect with other components: geography, the era in which the law was enacted, and the competing value of privacy.

New(s) Players and New(s) Values?: A Test of Convergence in the Newsroom • Frank E. Fee Jr., North Carolina at Chapel Hill • A newsroom surveyed at two different periods provides a time study of changes in journalistic belief systems and the influence of convergence of work groups. Statistical analysis supports findings that the local work culture is strong and quick to socialize new members. The findings suggest that friction between work groups in newly converged newsrooms may result more from turf battles and power issues than fundamental beliefs about journalismÕs role and function in todayÕs society.

Whose Values Are News Values? What Journalists and Citizens Want • Frank E. Fee Jr., North Carolina at Chapel Hill • Within the context of declining newspaper circulation and journalist credibility, this study examines the nature of purported disconnect between readers and journalists. Direct comparison of these groups shows significant differences in the belief systems held by the journalists and non-journalists about the role of journalism. Findings also challenge at least some of the claims of the public journalism movement about reader wants and needs, and suggest that some practices to help readers may be unwelcome.

Partisans and Nonpartisans in News Coverage of Local Conflict • Fredrick Fico and Olivia Balog, Michigan State University • Some 255 local stories covering 51 issues in a state’s largest daily newspapers were examined to illuminate dominance by partisan and nonpartisan sources. Partisans dominated the space and attention in conflict stories. Few stories gave partisan opponents balanced treatment. Reporters who had a higher priority for conflict stories were more likely than others to produce balanced stories. Stories displayed more prominently were also more likely to be balanced.

The Use of Electronic Mail as aNewsgathering Resource • Bruce Garrison, Miami • This paper discusses reporters’ and editors’ uses of electronic mail in U.S. daily newspaper newsrooms. The study was based on a national mail survey of reporters and editors at randomly selected daily newspapers in fall 2001. Respondents described the levels and types of use of electronic mail on the job and their concerns about electronic mail. The study found a growing role for electronic mail, but concerns about how and under what circumstances it may be used successfully in gathering information for news stories.

Gatekeeping on the New York Times’ Op-Ed Pages: How Diverse Is the Content? • Guy Golan, Florida and Wayne Wanta, Missouri • A content analysis compared staffwritten stories on the New York Times’ op-ed pages to those written by guest columnists. Results show that guest columnist topics and focuses were vastly different from staffwriters, supporting a “diversity hypothesis.” Staffwriters, however, were more opinionated. Results also show that few voices outside U.S. politicians and experts were heard after the September 11 terrorist attacks, though topics and focuses changed very little, showing mixed support for a “convergence hypothesis.”

Reporters, Robes, and Representative Government • William Dale Harrison, Auburn University • This study investigates how differences in institutional goals at the U.S. Supreme Court and Congress lead to differences in source usage in newspaper articles. Matched pairs of articles by reporters at the same news organizations and surveys of these reporters provide data. The study indicates significant differences in source usage, which support a theoretical approach that reporting practices and news content are affected by an institution’s goal to maintain its legitimacy rather than journalistic norms.

Framing a Mysterious Evil: U.S. Newspapers’ Coverage of North Korean Leader Kim Jong II, 1994-2000 • Kwangjun Heo, Wisconsin-Madison • This paper analyzed two major U.S. newspapers’ coverage of North Korean leader Kim Jong II from 1994 through 2000. Based on a content analysis of news reports, the study found that the newspapers conveyed negative images of Kim. However, there were significant changes in portraying Kim between 1994 and 2000. These results suggested that government sources have strong impacts on news media framing when the press has limited access channel to the issue.

News From Afghanistan: How Five U.S. Newspapers Covered The Taliban Before Sept. 11, 2001 • Beverly Horvit, Texas at Arlington • News stories about the Taliban in the five years before Sept. 11, 2001, were examined in The Boston Globe, Columbus Dispatch, Plain Dealer, Tampa Tribune and Washington Post. Of 278 news stories, 181 were in The Post. Excluding The Post, the four other newspapers ran an average of 4.5 stories on the Taliban each year. This study confirms The Post’s elite status but also confirms fears that international news coverage in U.S. newspapers is inadequate.

“Portraits of Grief,” Reflectors of Values: The New York Times Remembers Victims of September 11 • Janice Humes, Georgia • The systematic examination of obituaries can provide a useful tool to explore the values of Americans of any era. And such an examination can help in understanding an important aspect of American culture, the public memory of its citizens. In the aftermath of 11 September 2001, The New York Times began publishing a remarkable series of “Portraits of Grief,” small sketches recalling the lives of individuals lost in the terrorist attacks.

A Different Nuclear Threat. A Comparative Study of the Press Coverage of the Three Mile Island Nuclear Accident and the Chernobyl Nuclear Accident in Two Soviet and Two American Elite Newspapers • Elza Ibroscheva, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale • This study examined the news coverage of the Three Mile Island and the Chernobyl nuclear accidents and the role of political ideology in deciding the content of news in two elite U.S. newspapers, the New York Times and the Washington Post, and two elite Soviet newspapers, Pravda and Izvestiya. The study concludes that both the U.S. and the Soviet news media were heavily influenced by the Cold War climate and the dominant ideology of each society.

Practicing Diversity: An Exploratory Study of Implementing Diversity in the Newsroom • Anne Johnston, North Carolina-Chapel Hill and Dolores Flamiano, James Madison University • In interviews at four newspapers, the authors found that the critical issues facing the journalists at these newspapers included overcoming the negative images of the newspapers in the community, reconnecting with ignored communities, and using minority gatekeepers to provide an additional perspective on stories. It was found that the newspapers were generally still operating under diversity paradigms that measured success in diversity in terms of numbers and targeting to minority communities.

Longitudinal Effects of Ability Groups on News Writing • Stacey Frank Kanihan, Mark Neuzil, and Kristie Bunton, University of St. Thomas • Ability grouping and news writing are analyzed over four years to assess whether grouped instruction produces lasting improvements in writing. Students (N=135) were placed into remedial and regular groups. Writing content (lead, organization, accuracy) and mechanics (grammar, AP style) were measured several times during the introductory writing course and two years later. Regular students improve and maintain writing skills over time; remedial students improve during the writing course but lose significant ground in the years to follow.

On the Straight and Narrative: The Effect of Writing Style on Readers’ Perceptions of News Story Quality • Jean Kelly, Jan Knight, Jason Nedley, Lee Peck and Guy Reel, Ohio University • Some communication professionals suggest that the inverted pyramid is ineffective and call for a narrative approach to news. The results of this experiment show that straight news and narrative stories often did not differ in their ability to engage readers, and in some cases the narrative may have actually been more effective. Secondary analyses revealed that story subject matter did not influence readers’ assessments of story traits and that story style did not influence salience.

No Exceptions to the Rule: The Ubiquity of Journalism Norms Throughout 29 Years of Environmental Movement Coverage • Linda Jean Kensicki, Minnesota • Research has suggested that the present media merger frenzy will result in one-dimensional content due to a reduced number of media outlets and pervasive cross-ownership. This research examined 1,180 articles about environmental pollution over 29 years from four very different newspapers. It was found that content was overwhelmingly skewed to be more relevant to those in upper socioeconomic classes regardless of socioeconomic readership, geographic location, specific issue or time. Heavily weighted coverage that could not have been found through random chance alone was attributed to pervasive journalistic norms.

News Coverage of the U.S. Attack on Afghanistan: A Comparison of The New York Times and Arab News • Changho Lee, Texas-Austin • This paper compares how The New York Times and Arab News covered the U.S. attack on Afghanistan, which was a response to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the U.S. The study consists of a content analysis based on VBPro, which is complemented by textual analysis. On the whole, the results showed The New York Times displaying a more pro-war position and Arab News, a more anti-war one. Articles in the former focused on military operations and war-supporting nations.

The Non-Linear Web Story: An Assessment of Reader Perceptions, Knowledge Acquisition and Reader Feedback • Wilson Lowrey, Mississippi State University • The study tests assumptions that non-linear Web news stories benefit readers. The study also explores impact on non-linearity of narrative structure on reader feedback. Findings suggest readers of non-linear stories perceived they had more control over the reading process than did readers of linear stories, but there were no significant difference in perceived credibility, perceived involvement by the readers, or in knowledge acquisition. Readers of linear stories were significantly more likely to focus on story content in their feedback about the story.

Newspapers, Community Engagement And Friendship Networks: Linking Local News Consumption To Community Engagement • Michael McCluskey and Hernando Rojas, Wisconsin-Madison • Newspaper usage has been shown to be a better predictor than television viewing of civic activities and friendship networks. This analysis hypothesizes that type of newspaper makes a difference, that local-newspaper readership better predicts civic activism and national-newspaper readership better predicts friendship networks. Survey results (ANOVA) supported the hypotheses. After controlling for demographics, relationships between newspaper typology and friendship networks remained significant, but newspaper typology and community activity relationship, although in the expected direction, lost significance.

Election Night Coverage in Canada: Newspaper Web Sites Hindered by the Canada Election Act • Mary McGuire and Janice Neil, Carleton University • While newspaper web sites had the technical ability to provide real-time results on election night in Canada in November 2000, they were not able to compete in providing the fastest and most reliable outcomes. While many media Internet sites were hindered by technological limitations, the legal prohibition on the publication of results to regions of the country in which the polls were still open was more consequential and impeded the ability of news sites to provide breaking news.

How Many News People Does a Newspaper Need? • Philip Meyer and Minheong Kim, North Carolina-Chapel Hill • Newspaper editors and newspaper investors see the news-editorial staff in different ways. To an editor, the staff creates the influence that makes the newspaper a viable commercial product. To an investor, the staff is mostly cost that shrinks the bottom line. We looked at more than 400 newspapers and found that those with above-average staff size (adjusted for circulation size) in 1995 were more successful at retaining circulation in the next five years. The explained variance was small but significant.

They Are Not Us: Framing of American Indians by the Boston Globe • Autumn Miller and Susan Dente Ross, Washington State University • Analysis of news, feature, and editorial content in the Boston Globe found historical negative frames of Native Americans continue. Stereotypical good and bad Indian images are less frequent than in turn-of-the century media but emerge more subtly through frames of degraded and historic relic Indians. The virtual absence of American Indian voices and unattributed negative content marginalize American Indians. Differences among the frames across story types support theories that structure and organization influence content frames.

Use of Minority Sources in News • A.N. Mohamed, Edinboro University of Pennsylvania • In the 1980s, Gannett editors and reporters were instructed to seek the opinions of African American and other minority news sources in connection with every news subject, not just “ghettoized” race issues. To determine the effectiveness of this practice, 15 newspapers (five each from Gannett, Knight-Ridder and Scripps-Howard) were content analyzed. The findings confirm EntmanÕs hypothesis that minority sources speak about a narrow range of (race-related) issues and are more likely to speak in angry, complaining tones.

National Security v. Civil Liberties: What is the Newspapers’ Position? A Content Analysis of Editorials • Nikhil Moro, Ohio State University • This study analyzes 96 American newspaper editorials about the USA Patriot Act of 2001 to gauge the newspapers’ position in the national security versus civil liberties debate. Historical and legal theory, about press freedom and the press’ attitude toward the First Amendment, is used as a background for the analysis. The hypothesis that a majority of editorials would support national security over civil liberties during a conflict between the two is not supported, nor is the theoretical proposition that newspapers do not stand up unselfishly for First Amendment principles.

Above the Fold: The Implications of Micro-Preservation to the Analysis of Content Importance in Newspapers • John E. Newhagen, Maryland • Nicholson Baker’s (2001) book detailing the micro-preservation of newspapers, Double Fold: Libraries and the Assault on Paper, set off a firestorm of criticism among library preservationists. Microform and Imaging Review went so far as to devote an entire issue to a scathing review of the book (Cybulski, 2001). The foundation for the uproar is the allegation that libraries have been systematically eliminating original copies of newspapers since the 1950s and replacing them with micro-preservation media such as microfilm to save space.

Source Diversity and Newspaper Size: The Use of Sources in Local News • Kristy H. Nichols, Louisiana at Lafayette • The purpose of this study was to examine the types of sources used in staff-written, front-page stories of local newspapers and to examine whether circulation size is related to the sources these newspapers use. This study’s results indicated that smaller local newspapers used fewer government sources and more non-government sources than larger local newspapers; and local newspapers rely less on government officials as sources than national newspapers studied in previous research (Brown, et al., 1987).

Prepared for Crisis? Breaking Coverage of September 11th on Newspaper Web Sites • Quint Randle, Brigham Young University, Lucida Davenport and Howard Bossen, Michigan State University • This study comprised a content analysis of newspaper Web site home pages captured live on the late morning and late afternoon of September 11th, 2001. While it focused on immediacy, it also examined editorial and visual elements, localizing and multimedia. Major findings were that 65 percent of the Web sites in the morning and 38 percent in the afternoon said nothing about the WTC attacks. Newspapers missed an opportunity to reassert their role as primary sources of unfolding information.

A Case Study of the Photographic Principle • Michelle I. Seekug, Miami • This case study examines the thought -processes of news professionals as they pertain to the importance and function of news photos at The Philadelphia Inquirer and the impact of technology on those decisions. This paper forwards the photographic principle a concept used to frame the process by which news professionals at The Philadelphia Inquirer exemplify responsible photojournalism especially given the latest technology and its potential use or misuse to social construct news photos.

Translating the Tower of Babel: Issues of Language and Culture in Converged Newsrooms A Pilot Study • Bill Silcock and Susan Keith, Arizona State University • This paper focuses on issues of newswork language, routines, and culture conflicts that can occur in the convergence process. This paper reports on a pilot study that sought to identify areas where news operations and journalism schools that adopt convergence in the future may encounter language- and culture-based challenges. Tapping into the experiences of professionals and professors working with convergence the goal of this study was to see whether bringing together people with backgrounds in print and broadcast has created a virtual Tower of Babel.

Politics by the Numbers: The Role of Money and Public Opinion in Presidential Campaign Coverage • Elizabeth A. Skewes, Colorado at Boulder • This paper uses content analysis to examine the impact of a presidential candidateÕs poll ratings and fundraising on news coverage in 1999 – before the start of the 2000 primaries. It finds that polls and fundraising influenced news coverage – the amount and the prominence – early in 1999. But by the end of the pre-primary year, the factor that most influenced a candidate’s coverage was the amount of coverage he or she had received earlier in 1999.

Women Sportswriters: An Even Playing Field? • Karen Sloan, Miami • Sports reporting has been considered by many as the last bastion of male dominance in the newsroom. A national survey of women sportswriters questioned the veracity of this assumption. Findings indicated that women sportswriters face additional challenges on the job, but are generally able to overcome these obstacles. The perception of sports journalism as a male-dominated industry in which women rarely succeed is no longer valid.

Sourcing Patterns of National and Local Newspapers: A Community Structure Perspective • Yonghoi Song, Missouri-Columbia • This study compared the sourcing patterns of national and local newspapers in order to see the degree of official and elite source dominance in political news as well as nonpolitical news. The findings show that local newspapers rely more heavily on official and elite sources than national newspapers do. The trend is more obvious in the coverage of nonpolitical news. The results of this study suggest that the newspaper sourcing patterns reflect the structure of the community they serve.

The New York Times’ John Walker Lindh Story: A Constructionist Framing Analysis • Juyan Zhang and Betty Houchin Winfield, Missouri • Through a constructionist framing analysis of The New York Times’ coverage of the John Walker Lindh story, the intrinsic cognitive dissonance in the story was found to change through frames. WalkerÕs identity was transformed from being a Taliban fighter to “a Californian.” His psychiatric was attributed as a cause his behavior, but his family’s attempts to make a psychiatric legal case was defined as “a public relations strategy.”

<< 2002 Abstracts