Media and Disability Interest Group

Promoting Disability-Friendly Campuses To Prospective Students: An Analysis Of University Recruitment Materials • Beth A. Haller, Towson • Estimates are that currently about 9 percent of students on college campuses have some form of disability, up from 3 percent in 1978. This study investigates what universities are and are not providing in their general recruitment materials about disability-related topics as well as what campus disability services materials are providing. The analysis of these materials will illuminate how universities are approaching current recruitment issues related to students with disabilities.

The Trend Toward Hyper-Marginalization: Images of Disability on Prime Time Television • Jennifer Jacobs Henderson, Trinity • In prime time broadcast television, people with disabilities were either nonexistent or hidden behind able-bodied leads. People with disabilities were almost three times more likely to be men than women, and twice as likely to be African American than Caucasian. Forty percent of the disabled characters had been hyper-marginalized -given two traits of minority populations such as blind and African American- and therefore presented in the far margins of both society and discourse.

Running with Ritalin: Magazine Portrayals of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder • Tiffany S. Johnson and Bryan E. Denham, Clemson • This study examines how Time, Newsweek, and U.S. News and World Report have portrayed attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Magazine text was content analyzed for article length, description of the symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, sources quoted in the text, treatment methods suggested, and content co1ceivahly leading to a biased understanding of the disorder. The study finds that news magazine coverage has increased dramatically over the past 14 years, with medicinal treatments such as Ritalin most commonly suggested.

Portrayal of people with disabilities in prime-time TV dramas in Japan • Shinichi Saito, Tokyo Woman’s Christian University-Japan and Reiko Ishiyama, Seijo University-Japan • This study examined the depiction of disabled persons in Japanese prime-time TV dramas. The results showed that no more than one percent of the characters analyzed was disabled, indicating that disabled persons were underrepresented. We also found that most of the disabled persons were young; elderly people with disabilities were virtually nonexistent. The analysis revealed that TV dramas rarely depict certain disabilities, such as internal disorders. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Don’t Label Me: The Stigmatizing Portrayal of Mental Illness on U.S. Television • Mija Shin, Seungjo Lee and Annie Lang, Indiana • This paper content analyzed a sample drawn from a week (24 hours for seven days) of television programming from various channels in order to examine how mental illness is currently being portrayed on television. About 13,5 hours or 8 percent of the total programming contained information related to mental illness. The emotional tone of the messages about mental illness was in general very negative and the illness was portrayed as chronic more frequently than curable.

Invisible, Unnoticed or Idolized: Disability Education Coverage in McCall’s and Good Housekeeping • Alexis Walters, Drake • This article examines coverage of disability education in years leading up to and after passage of PL 94-142, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975. In McCall’s and Good Housekeeping, throughout the period examined, coverage was limited to what Clogston characterized as “supercrips.” Given the failure of mainstream magazines on this issue, it is not surprising that the late years of the 20th century saw a rise in magazines specifically for parents of children with disabilities.

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Internship and Careers Interest Group

An Application of Message Sidedness: Encouraging Undergraduate Participation in Internship Programs • JoAnn L. Roznowski and Brenda J. Wrigley, Michigan State • The Heuristic Systematic Model of persuasion and message sidedness theory is used to investigate communications with undergraduate students about internship participation. An experimental design tested three message formats relative to message credibility, beliefs about internships, and behavior intentions, and investigated the role of prior thought and intent. Study results do not confirm previous message sidedness research., but do support the significant role of prior thought and intent. Practical implications and future research directions are offered.

Preparing for a Career in the Unknown: What Convergent Newsroom Managers Need and Want • Lynn M. Zoch and Erik L. Collins, South Carolina • The findings of research discussed in this paper focus on issues related to hiring and educating journalists for careers in multiple-media newsgathering. True convergence will require commitment by management to full equality of all media partners, a seamless integration of news gathering and dissemination, and an agreement on the education and training necessary for the journalists who will work in multiple-media news operations.

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Graduate Education Interest Group

Magazines’ Frames of “Sesame Street” and the Surrounding Debate, 1968-1994: A content analysis • Stephanie Hay, Ohio University • This research explores using content analysis how magazines framed “Sesame Street,” a non-commercial television program aimed at teaching disadvantaged children their “A-B-C’s” and “1-2-3’s,” and the debate surrounding its merits as an educational tool. This study analyzes popular consumer magazine articles for salient praises and criticisms of “Sesame Street,” and explores what trends existed in magazines’ framing of the debate surrounding the program.

A functional analysis of the 2000 GOP presidential primary debate in Manchester, NH • Zhang Juyan and Jae-Hwa Shin, Missouri-Columbia • No abstract available.

Future Journalists’ Online Use For Information Gathering: The Internet As A Secondary Route For Newsgathering • Gunho Lee, Texas-Austin • No abstract available.

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Entertainment Studies Interest Group

Rise and Fall of News and Entertainment: The Impact of 9/11 Terrorist Attacks on Uses and Gratifications of Web Searchers • Debashis “Deb” Aikat and Cary Roberts Frith, North Carolina-Chapel Hill • This paper examined the impact of 9/11 terrorist attacks on uses and gratifications of Web searchers. Grounded on uses and gratifications (U&G) theories, this paper analyzed Web search trends before and after 9/11 to explore how the information-seeking behavior of Web users’ changed as a result of the terrorist attacks. This study analyzed actual search terms and keywords entered by users of the Internet’s leading search engine Google <http://www.google.com/> in August September and October 2001.

Big Brother And The T-Group: How We Might Learn From Reality Television • Rod Allen, City University-London, and Nod Miller, University of East London-UK • In this paper the authors draw out the considerable parallels between the Big Brother television format, and those like it, and the Mini-Society and Mini-Economy experiments which developed from Kurt Lewin’s T-group methodology of the 1940s and which were used by academics to study social psychology and group dynamics. It is doubted that the originators of the Big Brother format were aware of these experiments, but ways of learning both from the academic processes and from Big Brother-style television programs are suggested in the paper.

Queer as Folk Audience Study: Gay Males, Social Support and Para-social Involvement in Identity Construction or Reinforcement • Laetitia J. Baehr, Hawaii Pacific • This paper investigated how the gay males audience, watch Queer as Folk, was actively involved in this drama, and was likely to engaged in Para-social interactions and self-identifications with television characters, which in turn would help them to construct a positive gay identity. This study extended the findings on psychological origins of media uses in the tradition of uses and gratifications, particularly in terms of how the audience developed or reinforced self-identity, while using media contents.

Humor in Pulitzer Award Editorial Cartoons 1922-1997 • Yun Jung Choi, Missouri • This study examined how humor was used in editorial cartoons that depicted international issues in terms of functions, objects of ridicules, and ways of expression: Function investigated whether humor in cartoons brought social cohesion or conflict to American readers; The objects of ridicules were divided into U.S. and foreign countries; and the way humor was expressed examined whether the humor was used directly or indirectly.

Learning to Cook: Applying Constructivist Learning Theory to Television and Online Programming • Michele Costanza and Ann Brill, Kansas • This paper examines how an audience for TV Food Network interacts with its Web counterpart, FoodTV.com, and assesses how and what learning occurs. The study’s hypotheses were developed using constructivist learning theory, examining how adults learn from using the Web. Studies show that compared to other media, the Web provides a broader experience for self-directed learners. A constructivist curriculum model is applied in three phases to the TV Food Network and FoodTV.com as an example of how audiences construct knowledge.

Sexual Content in Promotional Ads: Contributions of Visual Aspects to Exposure • John Davies, Alabama • Promotional advertisements from the February 2003 sweeps were content analyzed for verbal and visual elements of sexual content. Nearly forty percent of the promos contained some aspect of sexuality, which represents an increase over previous years. Duration of the visual aspects of the promos did not predict exposure to the programs advertised as measured by Nielsen ratings. However, visual intensity of the sexual content significantly predicted exposure to programs.

Hegemony and Counterhegemony in Bravo’s Gay Weddings • Erika Engstrom, Nevada • Gay Weddings, a new reality series on the cable channel Bravo, follows four gay and lesbian couples as they plan and subsequently participate in their weddings, or commitment ceremonies. While these couples challenge the heterosexuality inherent in the wedding ceremony, they simultaneously also follow wedding traditions. In this paper, the author examines how the program evidences both a counterhegemony and hegemony within the context of how mass media portray the wedding in contemporary society.

Media Tools in Adolescents’ Bedrooms • Stacey J.T. Hust, North Carolina-Chapel Hill • Much research has focused on the media’s presence in the home, but rarely have scholars considered the presence of media in adolescents’ private spaces such as their bedrooms. The few studies that have looked at adolescents’ private ownership of media have not fully analyzed the differences in ownership by demographic factors. This study reveals differences in media ownership in the bedrooms of a large sample of early adolescents by race, gender, and economic status.

Television Viewing And Attitude Toward Marriage: Does Program Genre Make A Difference? • Sara Baker Netzley, Southern Illinois • This study examined the relationship between attitude toward marriage and television program genres. Statistical analysis found no relationship between nine program genres and attitude toward marriage and no relationship between nine demographic variables and attitude toward marriage. However, post hoc analyses found that as sitcom viewing increases. attitude toward marriage decreases, and that children of married or widowed parents were more positive about marriage than children of divorced or never-married parents.

Judging a Movie by its Cover: a Content Analysis of Sexual Portrayals on Video Jacket Rentals • Mary Beth Oliver, Omatayo Banjo and Jinhee Kim, Penn State • A content analysis of video rental jackets was conducted to examine the prevalence and nature of sexual portrayals. The most common types of sexuality observed were attractive characters and characters in sexy clothing and with skin exposed. Female characters on the jackets were more likely than male characters to be portrayed in sexual ways, and films for violent genres were particularly likely to feature sexual portrayals.

The Elements of “Weekend Update”: Informing and Influencing Through Late-Night Comedy • Aaron Reincheld, Ohio • During the first five years of NBC’s “Saturday Night Live,” 1975- 1980, the news parody “Weekend Update” reached 30 million viewers each Saturday, disseminating alternative viewpoints on the noteworthy or absurd week’s events. “SNL” founders, such as creator and producer Lorne Michaels, saw their parody as more than entertainment, considering it as important as any newspaper, magazine, or television show. “Weekend Update” not only became a news outlet, but influenced politics and loosened censors’ restrictions.

Beyond Modem Racism: Backlash and Brutality on “The Shield” • John D. Richardson, Michigan State • This paper examines representations of race in popular U.S. culture through a textual analysis of the cable television series, The Shield. Significations of modem racism and hegemonic racial ideology are examined. Focusing on the construction of white, black and Latino identities, and relationships among them, ways in which The Shield promotes overt racism, including backlash and police brutality against racial minorities, are also considered. Theoretical implications for popular conceptions concerning race and crime are discussed.

Narrative Structure in Sex and the City. “I Couldn’t Help But Wonder…” • Cindy Royal, Texas • Sex and the City uses a unique narrative structure to portray the complex issues faced by single women. Each episode, the central theme is posed by the main character as she ponders a topic for her weekly column. This device performs several functions that aid in illustrating the meaning of the single woman and creating identification with the audience: voiceover narration and the development of spectatorship, construction of multiple meanings, and women’s relationship with technology.

Making it Personal: How Personality Affects Identification and Enjoyment of Heroes, Villains and Ambiguously Valenced Characters • Meghan S. Sanders, Penn State • While communication researchers recognize that the relationship between views and media characters is a large part of involvement with the media, there has not been a systematic examination of the direct and combined effects of personality and type of character (hero, villain, etc.) upon identification and enjoyment. Is it something within ourselves that makes characters more or less attractive and appealing?

Rated “R” For Reactance: The Application of Psychological Reactance Theory to the Likelihood of College Students for Viewing Films Based on Motion Picture Association of America Ratings • Aaron J. Siskow, Iowa State • This study searched for evidence of psychological reactance outlined by Brehm (1966) as it pertains to college students’ likelihoods to view films based on their Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) rating. Reactance theory would suggest that college students are most likely to view NC-17 films, followed by R films, PG-13, PG, and G. Results failed to display this but suggested that year in school, gender, and personal value characteristics all affect likelihood to view.

Crime, Romance and Sex: Washington Women Journalists in Recent Popular Fiction • Stacey L. Spaulding, Columbia Union College and Maurine Beasley, Maryland • This study of thirteen novels portraying Washington women journalists finds their portrayals have improved since 1990 when one authority concluded that most novels showed women as “unfulfilled unfortunates.” The fictional women in this study, featured most prominently in detective stories, are eager to expose male corruption to further their careers but make little effort to change underlying social causes. These women are searching for relationships, but their careers still take precedent.

Violence in Televised Professional Wrestling: A Legitimate Cause for Concern? • Ron Tamborini, Paul Skalski, David Westerman and Kenneth Lachlan, Michigan State • We investigate physical violence in professional wrestling by applying the NTVS coding scheme (Wilson et al., 1997) to a sample of televised professional wrestling. Prevalence and context of wrestling violence was coded using NTVS categories on the nature of perpetrators/targets, types of acts, rewards and punishments, and consequences of violence. Comparisons were drawn between wrestling and NTVS’s broad sample of television.

Partisan Politics in Popular American Political Movies: An Analysis of the Framing of Republican Villains in Dave, The American President and The Contender • Juile Yiotas, Texas • Politician-as-villain is a common representation in American film. However, in this classic theme, the politician is often set in opposition to the average citizen. When the heroes and villains are all politicians, which characters are heroes and which are villains? This paper examines three movies in which the heroes and the villains are all politicians. It explores how movies construct villains and partisanship finding in all three cases that the villains are Republican.

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Civic Journalism Interest Group

A Public Journalism Model for the Middle East and North Africa: Effectiveness of Media-NGO Relationships in Partial Autocracies • David C. Coulson, Nevada-Reno and Leonard, R. Teel, Georgia State • This study examines how the media and non-governmental organizations might work together with each other to develop a model of public journalism in partial autocracies in the Middle East and North Africa. We found that a form of public journalism can be practiced in the region. It appears that despite working in partial autocracies where media are generally owned or controlled by government, journalists cooperating with NGOs can represent the needs and concerns of civil society.

Exploring Radio Public Service as Civic Journalism • Tony R. DeMars, Sam Houston State • This paper seeks to begin a discussion of radio public affairs programming as an outlet for topics within a civic journalism model. Dominant music-format radio stations in a major radio market were surveyed to determine their scheduling of and attitude toward programming public affairs on the station. Simultaneously, a sample of potential radio listeners was surveyed to measure uses of radio and attitudes toward public affairs type programming.

Narrative Definers? Storytelling as a channel to public discussion • Risto Kunelius, and Mika Renvall University of Tampere-Finland • News journalism’s reality constructions are structurally dependent on institutionalized, power routine sources, the “primary definers”. The paper illustrates (by means of an analysis of a case study from Finland), how this constant fact of journalism research can partly be challenged by use of “narrative definers”, by opening the journalistic public sphere to ordinary people’s storytelling about their experiences concerning common problems.

Tracing the Effects of Public Journalism on Civil Society: 1994 –2002 • Sandy Nichols, Lewis A. Friedland, Jaeho Cho, Hernando Rojas and Dhavan Shah, Wisconsin-Madison • This study examines 561 cases of public journalism, published between 1994-2002, to address previously identified methodological shortcomings in the existing public journalism research literature. Using hierarchical multiple regression analyses, the study traces the effects of organizational features, particular projects, story frames and roles played by citizens on improvements in citizenship, political processes and volunteerism. Specific effects on civil society are discussed, study limitations are addressed, and insights for future research and practice are offered.

Civic Journalism and Objectivity: A Philosophical Resuscitation •Henry Overduin, McNeese State • The purpose of this paper is to show that civic journalism – however much it rejects the traditional views of objectivity – still requires the concepts of ontological and epistemic objectivity because those ideas are essential for the possibility of communication and truth in journalism. Building on arguments from Nicholas Rescher, this paper restates the case for objectivity and replies to its critics.

When Schools Fail to Act Ethically: The Vital Role of Civic Journalism • Janis, T. Page, Missouri-Columbia • In summer 2001, a small town in Illinois experienced an incomprehensible series of traumas, thrust into the center of a national crisis involving toxic mold contamination, an infected school, and an intractable school board. Assertive coverage by the local press not only provided substantial investigative reporting, but gave voice to an oppressed public. Written from personal experience, this auto-ethnography documents the vital role of civic journalism in promoting good citizenship when public servants fail.

Elite And Non-Elite Sourceing In Civic And Traditional Journalism News Projects • Jennifer Roush, West Virginia • This project was broken into two studies to analyze the use of “elite,” media-savvy, and “non-elite,” non-media savvy, sources in civic and traditional journalism. In the first study, four newspaper series about mining and aging were used to show the use of sources in the practice of civic journalism. The Charleston Gazette’s “Mining the Mountains” traditional journalism series, and The Herald-Dispatch’s “West Virginia After Coal” civic journalism series, both with six stories each, were chosen to explore the idea of whether civic journalism uses more non-elites as sources.

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