Professional Identity: Wisconsin Editorial Association Records Show Members Self-Identified as Professionals Before the Civil War • Stephen Banning • An examination of the minutes of the Wisconsin Editorial Association in the mid nineteenth century revealed some journalists self-identified as professionals much earlier than previous research indicated. This research reveals the earliest reference to journalism as a profession by a journalist, an instance which occurred well before the Civil War. This has implications in regard to understanding roots of journalistic identity, journalistic education and journalism codes of ethics, all of which stemmed from an interest in professionalism in the nineteenth century.

From Researcher to Redbaiter: The Odyssey of the Hutchins Commission’s Ruth Inglis • Stephen Bates, University of Nevada, Las Vegas • Ruth Inglis worked effectively with the New Deal liberals on the Commission on Freedom of the Press. After the job ended, though, her life took a different path. She helped ghostwrite a book for Senator Joseph McCarthy, researched for William F. Buckley Jr., befriended Ayn Rand, and got called a fascist by Paul Lazarsfeld. In 1951, four years after publication of her Commission book Freedom of the Movies, Inglis added names to the Hollywood blacklist.

From Switchboard Operator to City Editor: Agness Underwood’s Historic Rise in Los Angeles Journalism • Stephanie Bluestein, California State University, Northridge • Desperate to help support her struggling family, Agness “Aggie” Underwood took a job at the Los Angeles Record newspaper in 1926, filling in for a vacationing switchboard operator. Although it was intended to only be a two-week position, it was the beginning of a legendary 42-year career that culminated with her becoming the country’s first woman city editor of a major metropolitan newspaper. Underwood’s editorship generated coverage by national news magazines that published articles about the historic promotion, and her current newspaper, the Evening Herald-Express, touted her in promotional material as “Newsroom’s Lady Boss” and “America’s only Major Newspaper with a Lady City Editor” (Battelle, 1955). Underwood became a source of inspiration for women journalists wanting to break away from the women’s section and become front-page reporters covering crime, politics, and other stories of importance. This study aims to explore Underwood’s career and personal life to help explain her unlikely success as a female city editor commanding an all-male newsroom. This study is significant because the majority of the research was gathered through recent interviews with her colleagues and children, all of whom are elderly. Their detailed recollections of Underwood contribute to the field of journalism history by explaining how she was able to break through gender barriers, which in turn, paved the way for women to enter the field and helped other women journalists to have more meaningful careers.

Universal Invitations and Inexhaustable Resources: Portrayals of Rural Life in Popular Magazines of the Late 1800s • Michael Clay Carey, Ohio University • This exploratory study examines the descriptions of rural situations, people and places that appeared in three popular magazines – Munsey’s, McClure’s, and Cosmopolitan – in the late 1800s and early 1900s. During the Progressive Era, industrial and financial growth were rapidly reshaping the American social landscape, contributing to the growth of large cities, increasing transportation opportunities, and widening the gap between the rich and the poor. This work suggests that three dominant frames emerge to orient coverage of rural America. A fourth frame, less common than the others but still relevant, is also discussed. The paper argues that the frames present an interesting and at times conflicting view of America’s rural communities in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Rural areas were presented as lands of financial opportunity – places where, with the aid of cosmopolitan sophistication and science, wealth could be found and modern society could thrive. Stories also depicted rural America as a place to be admired, consumed, and sometimes disdained. Its traditional values were lauded while its backwardness was chided. The paper argues that the dichotomies present in those frames – old and new, tradition and progress, work and leisure – are not unlike those evident when one considers the state of the magazine publishing industry, and in fact society as a whole, in the early 1900s.

Murrow and Friendly’s Multimedia Maturation: How Two Non-Visual Communicators Created A Groundbreaking Television Program • Mike Conway, Indiana University School of Journalism • CBS’s See It Now, with Edward R. Murrow and Fred Friendly, is one of the 20th Century’s most celebrated news broadcasts. But how could two men with little visual experience create a landmark 1950s television program? This project explores the thoughts, ideas, and decisions made to blend existing news formats. Murrow’s fame did not guarantee See It Now’s success. Instead it was a willingness to learn from experts in all news media.

Our Voice and Our Place in the World: African-American Female Columnists Discuss Diaspora Politics, 1940-1945 • Caryl Cooper, University of Alabama • This study uses the historiographical method to analyze the themes Charlotta A. Bass, editor and columnist for the California Eagle, Rebecca Stiles Taylor, women’s columnist for the Chicago Defender, and Marjorie McKenzie, columnist for the Pittsburgh Courier, used in their columns to inform their readers about the politics and events of Africa and the nations of African Diaspora during World War II, 1940 through 1945. These three women stand out for their contribution to the wartime discourse about U.S. segregation, colonialism and the meaning of the war. Although Bass, Taylor and McKenzie maintained their column throughout the war years, the specifics of what they wrote about diaspora politics have not been explored. This study seeks to add to the body of knowledge about the role of the black press during a time of national crisis by infusing the female voice into an otherwise masculine body of knowledge.

“To Exalt the Profession”: Association, Ethics and Editors in the Early Republic • Frank Fee, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • This research demonstrates that by the 1830s editors in America were coming together to talk about ethics and raising journalistic standards. Fearing that the excesses of partisanship had made their business “a vehicle of ribaldry and personal defamation,” antebellum editors in nearly every state and territory met to try to tame their free-wheeling craft. The convention movement soon led to formal associations of editors, a development that occurred significantly earlier than scholars generally have recognized.

A Confederate Journalist Held Captive in the North: The Case of Edward A. Pollard • Michael Fuhlhage, Auburn University; Julia Watterson, Auburn University • This project examines how Richmond Examiner editorialist Edward Pollard turned his captivity in the North into Confederate propaganda during the Civil War. Pollard’s journalism aimed to lift Southern spirits by arguing the South could win if only it held out a little longer because the North lacked the resources and will to continue fighting. He argued gallantry and bravado would lead to Confederate independence and the continuation of slavery. Primary sources: newspapers, pamphlets, manuscripts, books.

The past, present, and future of newspapers: Historicity, authority, and collective memory in four that failed • Nicholas Gilewicz, Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania • This article analyzes self-authored histories published in final editions of four United States newspapers that failed between 1978 and 1982. Problematizing the newspaper’s status as an historical document, journalists inscribed historic weight to the closing of their newspapers. This article discusses how journalists shade their histories through hagiography and appeals to collective memory, and how at moments of existential crisis, seams in the interpretation of reality, and journalists’ roles in that interpretation, are made manifest.

Blogging Back Then: Annotative Journalism in I.F. Stone’s Weekly and Talking Points Memo • Lucas Graves, UW – Madison • This article develops the concept of “annotative journalism” with a review of two muckraking investigations, fifty years apart, by the newsletter I.F. Stone’s Weekly and the website Talking Points Memo. Both cases highlight a fragmentary, intertextual style of newswork that unsettles the practices and assumptions of objective journalism, producing dramatic breakthroughs despite little original reporting. This history argues that as a form of reporting annotation works through, not despite, a wider political and media critique.

“The day Eunice Kennedy Shriver Came to the Iron Range” (…and rode a snowmobile) • John Hatcher, University of Minnesota Duluth • This manuscript recounts how it came to be that Eunice Kennedy Shriver came this mining town of less than 6,000 people on Minnesota’s Iron Range, less than 100 miles from the Canadian border, in the dead of winter and rode a snowmobile. Her visit was the culmination of an effort that brought together Veda Ponikvar, a newspaper publisher, with John A. Blatnik, the region’s congressman to rally support at the local, state and national level for the construction of what was touted as one of the first day treatment centers for children with developmental disabilities in the state. This manuscript presents in narrative fashion the story of how the national issue of the deinstitutionalization of the developmentally disabled became a local issue in the community of Chisholm.

“This Has Been a C. D. Chesley Production:” The Story Behind the Early Broadcasting and Sponsoring of Atlantic Coast Conference Basketball • Daniel Haygood, Elon University • Most college sports fans recognize the enduring success of Atlantic Coast Conference basketball teams. Yet, few know that the early television broadcasts of conference games helped set the stage for that success. This research captures the story behind the producing, broadcasting, and sponsoring of ACC basketball from 1958 to 1981. This is when Castleman DeTolley Chesley brought ACC basketball to area fans via television broadcasts, helping to popularize the conference and establish the ACC brand.

“Reagan or Carter? Wrong Questions for Blacks”: Race and 1980s Presidential Politics in the Black Press • Justin Hudson, University of Maryland, College Park • This project analyzes the coverage of racial politics during the 1980s presidential campaigns in two prominent African American newspapers, the Los Angeles Sentinel and the Philadelphia Tribune. Both the Sentinel and Tribune became frustrated by the lack of attention given to black issues by both the Democratic and Republican Parties, and pushed for alternative solutions, such as backing civil rights activist Jesse Jackson’s bid for presidency, as a means to politically empower the black community.

Arguing for Abolition in “American Slavery As It Is” • Paula Hunt, University of Missouri • This paper uses the theoretical framework of field of discourse to examine how Theodore Dwight Weld’s American Slavery As It Is: Testimony of a Thousand Witnesses (1839) communicated to different communities in antebellum America to persuade them to join the abolitionist cause. It suggests that a close reading of historical texts like this one can help illuminate how the discursive strategies of social movements contributed to shaping of public opinion on critical issues.

Media Archaeology and Digitized Archives: The Case of Great White Hopes • Phillip Hutchison, University of Kentucky • This case study demonstrates how digitized media archives can help journalism historians better contribute to the rubric of media archaeology. The case study traces usage of the media tagline “great white hope” to reveal overlooked insights about this moniker. The findings indicate that contemporary research often uses these idioms nebulously or inaccurately. Of note, white-hope phrases predate Johnson by at least a century; furthermore, the boxing moniker Great White Hope does not directly relate to the original Jack Johnson controversy. Instead, it reflects 1960s phraseology that was interposed onto a historical artifact. This approach highlights the utility of these databases to media archaeologies in general, and it also illustrates how journalism historians can capitalize on searchable media archives to develop more precise and culturally informed histories.

Great Hopes Forgotten: A Narrative Analysis of Boxing Coverage in Black Press Newspapers, 1920-1930 • Carrie Isard, Temple University • The following paper analyzes the overriding narrative that emerged during the 1920s in discussions of pugilism in the black press, arguing that the boxing ring served as a microcosm of Jim Crow segregation for many sports writers, who connected the color line with larger issues of critical citizenship; that the coverage focused largely on the biggest story of the decade, Harry Wills’ unsuccessful pursuit of Jack Dempsey; and finally, that within that narrative, the black press was actively negotiating the construction of a historical narrative of the boxing color line, with Jack Johnson as its main focus.

The WUSC shutdown: Exploring the reasons the University of South Carolina shutdown its radio station • Joseph Kasko, University of South Carolina • In the early 1990s WUSC-FM in Columbia, SC was considered one of the most prestigious college radio stations in the country. However, for several weeks beginning in late 1995 between the fall and spring semesters the station was taken off the air and its student staff was dismissed for reasons that have never truly been explored. This paper will examine the events and circumstances that ultimately led the university to take this course of action.

‘Mr. Justice Everyman’s Far-Reaching Legacy: Transforming Corporate Political Media Spending into Free Speech, 1978-2010, in Terms of Carl Becker’s Theory of History • Robert Kerr, University of Oklahoma • This paper utilizes an analytic approach grounded in Carl Becker’s “Mr. Everyman” theory of history to consider the manner in which Justice Lewis Powell understood the societal role of corporate political media spending and effected that understanding so as to transform it into protected First Amendment “speech.” It suggests the continuing relevance of Becker’s thesis in illuminating what he called “history that does work in the world.”

Ghost Trains: Past Legends and Present Tragedies • Paulette D. Kilmer, University of Toledo • Ghost trains evolved from the archetype of phantom conveyances, like carts and wagons. Long hours, treacherous working conditions, and horrific accidents, which maimed or killed railroaders encouraged belief in apparitions. This essay analyzes the role of storytellers, newspapers, and songs in these legends about ghosts foretelling catastrophes, bringing death, and reenacting the carnage. Today, few fear phantom expresses, but some die playing the ghost train game.

The Writer, The Artist, And The Gentleman: Key Ideas Of News Values From S.S. McClure • Claudia Kozman, Indiana University • This study is an examination of news values from the perspective of S. S. McClure, the editor of McClure’s magazine. Basing this research on S.S. McClure’s papers in the archives of the Indiana University Lilly Library, the author constructs three themes that constitute the news values practiced by McClure. This study also places McClure’s thoughts in the era they functioned in, discussing how they fit and differ from the prevailing ideas of his times.

From Colonial Evangelism to Guerilla Journalism: A Public Sphere History of the Nigerian Press • Farooq Kperogi • This paper traces the history of the press in Nigeria and show how the form and character of the government of the day (colonial governments, military dictatorships, and constitutional democracies) defined the editorial temperaments and public sphere debates in the country. This is important because existing media historiographies of Nigeria often fail to connect the historical dots between the emergence of the first newspaper in Nigeria and the current editorial complexion of the Nigerian press.

“Bright and inviolate:” the growth of business-newsroom divides in the early twentieth century • Will Mari, University of Washington • This paper examines growth of the supposed divide between business and news spaces in American newspapers in the twentieth century, relying on a close reading of business-management textbooks published between 1901 and 1946. These texts were intended to transmit journalistic norms and values across generations of news workers. They were aspirational texts for how newspapers should be run as both businesses and as community trusts, and show some of the struggles and tensions between the different functions of a newspaper, and how their operating principles either advanced or conflicted with one another.

Tributes to Fallen Journalists: The Evolution of the Hero Myth in Journalistic Practice • Raymond McCaffrey, University of Maryland • An analysis of New York Times tributes to fallen U.S. journalists who perished while at work from 1854 to 2012 revealed that articles were written about 87 percent of the 223 journalists who died on foreign assignment compared to coverage of about 58 percent of the 139 journalists whose deaths were in the U.S. Foreign correspondents were often depicted in heroic terms, while those dying in the U.S. were largely portrayed as the archetypal victim.

The Rosie Legend and Why the Ad Council Claimed Her • Wendy Melillo, American University • Since 2002, the Ad Council has used the iconic “We Can Do It!” poster – also known as the Rosie-the-Riveter poster – to showcase its well-known “Womanpower” public service advertising campaign done for the federal government during World War II. This paper explores why the Ad Council claimed the poster and the recruitment campaign’s symbolic representation of female empowerment as part of its history and public image when the historical record reveals both claims to be fiction.

Authorizing the Nation’s Voice: American Journalism, the Department of State & the Transition to Peacetime International Broadcasting • Emily Metzgar • After the end of World War Two, American political leadership sought passage of legislation to authorize peacetime, government-sponsored, international broadcasting that would teach the world about the United States. This article tells the story of disagreement between the Department of State and American journalists in the period between the war’s end in 1945 and the 1948 passage of authorizing legislation, known today as the Smith-Mundt Act.

The 1929 Torches of Freedom Campaign: Walking “into obscurity” or “publicity stunt of genuine historic significance”? • Vanessa Murphree, The University of Southern Mississippi • This paper examines how newspapers responded to Edward Bernays’ Torches of Freedom campaign, which included carefully selected cigarette-smoking women marching in the 1929 New York City Easter Parade with the purported goal of encouraging women to smoke in public. The evidence indicates that Bernays was not particularly successful in getting significant newspaper support and that coverage of the parade event was never as extensive or persuasive as some historians have long suggested.

Institutionalizing Press Relations at the Supreme Court: The Origins of the Public Information Office • Jonathan Peters, U of Missouri Columbia • At the Supreme Court, the press is the primary link between the justices and the public, and the Public Information Office (PIO) is the primary link between the justices and the press. This paper explores the story of the PIO’s origins, providing the most complete account to date of its early history. That story is anchored by the major events of several eras—from the Great Depression policymaking of the 1930s to the social and political upheaval of the 1970s. It is also defined by the three men who built and shaped the office in the course of 40 years.

Partisanship in the Antislavery Press During the 1844 Run of an Abolition Candidate for President • Erika Pribanic-Smith, University of Texas at Arlington • This study of antislavery newspapers during the 1844 presidential campaign concludes that although the antislavery press claimed to be singularly focused on the abolition of slavery, its editors were largely distracted by the election and mirrored the partisan press of that era in their treatment of the various candidates. Furthermore, Liberty Party editors and their Garrisonian counterparts addressed each other with the same level of disdain that they directed at the Whigs and Democrats.

“A World in Perilous Disequilibrium”: Marquis W. Childs and the Cold War Consensus • Robert Rabe, Marshall University School of Journalism and Mass Communications • This paper is a study of the newspaper columnist Marquis Childs and his role as part of the emerging Cold War consensus in the late 1940s. It examines his writings about defense spending, American-Soviet relations, the United Nations, the Truman Doctrine, the Marshall Plan, and other early aspects of Cold War policy-making. It also looks at his involvement with the liberal ideas and organizations that made up the left end of the political spectrum of the era.

“Modern Joan of Arc”: Coverage of Ida Wells-Barnett and the Alpha Suffrage Club • Lori Roessner, UTK; Jodi Rightler-McDaniels, University of Tennessee, Knoxville • Known most prominently as a daring journalist and anti-lynching crusader, Ida B. Wells-Barnett (1862-1931) also worked tirelessly throughout her life as an advocate of women’s rights.The piece not only grapples with the transformation of Wells-Barnett’s portrayal as women’s rights advocate in the press, it also considers how through Wells-Barnett’s involvement the Alpha Suffrage Club was promoted as a site of united womanhood and as a site of resistance and empowerment for African-American women in the Chicago Defender.

The Voice in the Night Unheard by Scholars: Herb Jepko and the Genesis of National Talk Radio • Miles Romney, Arizona State University • Radio scholarship is an emerging field of study among broadcast historians and much remains unexplored. There exists little investigation into how early FCC clear channel radio stations provided the first platform for national radio communication. Much of historical scholarship recognizes Larry King’s satellite-distributed program as the pioneering stride in national overnight talk radio. This study examines new archival evidence that reveals Herb Jepko used clear channel signals to broadcast the first national overnight talk radio program

Arthur J. Goldberg on Freedom of Expression • Thomas Schwartz • Arthur Goldberg had an unusual impact on the development of constitutional theory on freedom of expression while he briefly sat on the U.S. Supreme Court in 1962-64, but his contributions exceeded those while he was on the bench. His early life and experience as a labor lawyer and labor secretary fed his strong interest in maximizing freedom of expression. As U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, he promoted freedom of expression as an international value. Later, he wrote and spoke extensively about the significance of freedom of speech in a variety of contexts, seeing it as the essence of democracy. This research uses his Supreme Court record and materials from his papers to demonstrate his intensive and extensive thinking and application of First Amendment principles.

‘An Offense to Conventional Wisdom:’ Press independence and Publisher W.E. Chilton III, 1960 to 1987 • Edgar Simpson, Central Michigan University • Over more than two decades as owner/publisher of West Virginia’s largest daily newspaper, The Charleston Gazette, W.E. “Ned” Chilton III established a legacy of independence that serves as an apt framework to discuss today’s core issues surrounding the meaning of a free press. Through the prism of a public sphere invigorated by an independent press, this case study examines Chilton’s insistence on journalism as a seeker of truth – or at least his version of truth – and a hammer for change rather than a “neutral” purveyor of information. This paper, which uses Chilton’s archives, interviews, existing literature, and more than 200 articles of the time period, focuses on three episodes: His battle for the Gazette’s file compiled by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which revealed to the nation for the first time that the FBI had investigated news organizations in addition to individual journalists; the run-up to the Vietnam War, in which the Gazette was cited as one of the first in the nation to challenge the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution as a rationale for military action, and his long association with West Virginia U.S. Senator John Rockefeller, which eventually forced him to choose between friendship and independence. Overall, this study found and the author argues two essential elements for the concept of press independence: the ability to make decisions and a loyalty to ideals that reach beyond business or personal concerns.

A History of the Watchdog Metaphor in Journalism • Tim Vos, University of Missouri; Christopher Matthews • This cultural history of the watchdog-journalism metaphor in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries uses rhetorical and metaphorical analysis to examine how journalists themselves articulated the public service function of journalism in terms of the watchdog metaphor. The study shows how the metaphor evolved alongside cultural changes, from personal relationships with dogs to the political reforms of the Progressive era. The study illustrates how the cultural capital of journalism is rhetorically constructed.

<<2013 Abstracts

The Role of Differing Host Styles in Fox News’ Prime-Time Coverage of Health Care Reform in August 2009 • Mitchell Bard • Much research has looked at individual Fox News programs to ascertain how the network operates in a variety of contexts, but nearly no attention has been paid to the role of individual hosts. The host plays an important role in branding news programs and thus directly affects a network’s credibility. This study examines how the three Fox News prime-time hosts employed differing approaches to furthering the network’s themes opposing health care reform in August 2009.

Engaging Information: How Targeting Creates More Comments but Less Likes on Facebook • Jan Boehmer, Michigan State University • In the present study, I investigate the effects of targeted Facebook posts on audience engagement. Conducting a content analysis of 1536 Facebook status updates, I find that targeting is related to an increase in the amount of comments, but affects the number of likes negatively. To better understand this result, I also explore two variables that potentially affect the likelihood of a newspaper using targeted Facebook posts: Circulation and social media use in the newspaper’s print community. Based on the results, I discuss implications for the future measurement of engagement, stimulating contributions to online communities, and targeting information to specific user groups.

A Content Analysis of The Deseret News Before and After Move to Converged Newsroom • Brendon Butler, Scripps School of Journalism • At the end of August 2010, one of Utah’s two flagship newspapers announced a radical change in its business operations. The Deseret News, with a weekday circulation of nearly 80,000 subscribers, would move to an integrated newsroom, sharing editorial and production staff with its sister media outlets, KSL television and radio. To this end, 57 full-time and 28 part-time employees were fired, reducing the paper’s editorial staff by 43 percent. In total, the paper lost 85 employees. In the aftermath, the paper was criticized for a perceived reduction in coverage of local issues in communities surrounding the capital city where the paper was located. This study examines local coverage by the paper before and after the move to determine if coverage of local issues such as city council meetings declined after the move.

Did #NBCFail? Twitter and User-Generated Critiques of 2012 Olympic Coverage in a Post-Broadcast World • Daniel Sipocz, University of Southern Mississippi; Robert Byrd, The University of Southern Mississippi • The purpose of this paper was to critically examine the viewer/user critiques of NBC’s coverage through the #NBCfail hashtag, via Twitter, over the course of the Olympic fortnight. The hashtag provided viewers/users with a tool to directly address NBC and like-minded Twitters users to express their dissatisfaction with NBC’s Olympic coverage, to create their own discourse, and to demand better coverage that included more accurately capturing the diverse spirit of the games.

Textual Analysis of the Portrayals of the Roma • Sabrina Deaton, University of Central Florida • This paper examines media representations of Roma (Gypsies), a marginalized and socially disadvantaged ethnic group in the U.S. Most members of the U.S. dominant culture have had little-to-no interpersonal interaction with Roma, so much public perception of them is likely shaped by media. This case-study analysis of “Gypsy crime” articles describes how these texts stigmatize Roma through negative coverage that has the power to reify and propagate the spoiled identity of this ethnic minority.

Credibility and Recall Effects of Source Documents in News • Megan Duncan, University of Wisconsin • News organizations use PDFs of source documents such as criminal complaints to supplement news coverage about those documents. Employing the heuristic-systematic processing model, this study examined how those documents affected readers’ recall and perception of credibility of the news. The results of an experiment that included 158 university student participants found little effect on recall or the perception of credibility. However, several factors influencing recall and perception of credibility were found. Implications and future research are discussed.

When Goffman, Soja and Lefebve Talk on Mobile Phones — An Interpretation from Two Perspectives: Postmodern Geography and Symbolic Interactionism • Chia-I Hou, National Taiwan University • This paper explores how different modes and patterns of human communication have emerged or are emerging with the adoption and development of mobile media. The paper considers literature in microsociology (i.e., Goffman) and cultural/postmodern geography (i.e., Lefebvre and Soja) to discuss how individuals use mobile media as means and resources to manage their social interactions. In addition, mobile media act to configure or reconfigure individual socio-geographical spaces in individuals’ everyday lives. The paper examines these two theoretical frameworks, focusing in particular on how time and space might be compressed or expanded via mobile media.

“Cushion for the Pushin’ ”: How Racial Identity Shapes the Way Black Women Interpret Obesity and Weight- Loss Messages • Christal Johnson • The purpose of this study is to take a public relations approach to determine how Black women’s racial identity shapes the way they understand obesity and weight loss messages. According to Helm (1990), racial identity, refers to “a sense of group or collective identity based on one’s perception that he or she shares a common racial heritage with a particular racial group” (p. 3). This study combines the use of situational theory of publics, racial identity, and the centrality and private regard measures of the Multidimensional Inventory of Black Identity (MIBI) scale to qualitatively explore how Black women understand obesity-related messages. This study extends the body of public relations literature by: (1) using a qualitative, audience-centered methodology to examine racial identity and to determine how this contributes to Black women’s meaning-making process relative to obesity and weight loss messages, and (2) introducing the Multidimensional Inventory of Black Identity (MIBI) scale to the public relations field as a tool to examine racial identity. Traditional public relations scholarship utilizes quantitative methods that include race as a static variable for demographic-reporting reasons. However, this study, consisting of focus groups with 21 women, ages 18-60 who reside in Oklahoma, uses racial identity to help examine social factors that shape how Black women understand obesity and weight-loss messages. Results revealed five themes that emerged from the data.

Picturing the Scientists: A Content Analysis of the Scientists’ Photographs in The New York Times, 2000 to 2009 • Hwalbin Kim, University of South Carolina; Christopher Frear, University of South Carolina • By analyzing the scientists’ photographs in the weekly science section of The New York Times, this study shows how an influential newspaper visually portrayed scientists from 2000 to 2009. Using visual framing theory, this study considers how the scientists are represented and significantly finds that most scientists shown were white males. By comparing the photographs with American workforce statistics, the study concludes that the Times reinforced stereotypes rather than portrayed the diverse field.

Popular Mobile Games in Contemporary Society: As Based on Mobile Media Users • Hyungmin Kim, Temple University • With the advent of smartphones, the global mobile applications market has increased exponentially. In particular, mobile games have become extremely popular. As such, this study explores which mobile technologies have been used in mobile games, and their relation to contemporary mobile gamers’ download choices. Apple’s App Store chart was utilized to analyze the common technological and gaming design features of the contemporary mobile games that are most popular with the gamers, and also to examine similarities and differences between the most popular smartphone and tablet computer games. The results show that popular mobile games maximize players’ touch-based enjoyment (i.e., swiping, sliding or drawing). In addition, the popular games have at least two of the following features: simple rules, social interactions, and no enemies or a lack of the need to fight an enemy to accomplish a mission. Games that require careful controls, such as tilting the screen or fast and unpredictable moves, tended to be more downloaded on the iPad than on the iPhone. In terms of ranking fluctuations, the paid game charts were statistically more stable than the free game charts.

The News Media’s Framing of Labor Unions Over Time • Sadie Kliner, The George Washington University • For nearly a century, scholars have explored how news media frame labor unions in the United States. A review of this literature reveals a dominant negative frame and a methodological focus on particular outlets, strikes, case studies and private sector unions. The rise of public sector union membership and the various ways in which news media are now consumed suggest that this approach fails to account for factors critical in understanding how labor unions are framed today.

Sports Agenda in the News Media in Late Communist Poland Claudia Kozman, Indiana University • This study is a textual analysis of the sports agenda in Polish news media between 1974 and the fall of communism in 1989. Analyzing print articles and television broadcasts from a convenience sample of news media, this study identified themes consistent with literature about the relationship between politics and sport. Under communism, the Polish news media presented sport as part of the larger political context. This theme was mostly evident in the period surrounding the withdrawal of Poland from the 1984 Summer Olympic Games. Media discussions that dominated sports news stressed the ongoing ideological battle between socialism and capitalism. The news reports also mirrored the Communist Party agenda, mainly through the leaders’ speeches, official statements, and editorials. Throughout this period, Party leaders emphasized the importance of developing sport locally and internationally. The findings also point to the relative autonomy of Polish journalists who expressed their opinions with or without cues from the Party.

Communicating Beach Safety in a Big Surf Culture: Health implications of risk-free Hawaiian newspaper coverage • Amanda Miller • In 2011, drowning fatalities reached the highest rate Hawai’i has experienced since 1993 (IPAC & IPSC, 2012). A quantitative content analysis of newspaper articles published from 2009 to 2012 by the Honolulu Star-Advertiser highlights message patterns which may interfere with effective ocean drowning prevention in Hawai’i. Health implications of cultural attraction to “big surf” combined with messages of high personal responsibility, while lacking perceived risk severity, susceptibility, and contextual prevention tactics are discussed.

You Can Make This Stuff Up: Intersection Between Fiction and News in the Eighteenth Century • Jean Norman, University of Nevada, Las Vegas • In the eighteenth century, it was difficult to tell prose fiction from non-fiction. Both made claims to truthfulness, and often both, especially the newspapers, included fabrication. Using Jürgen Habermas’ theory of communicative acts as a guide, deep textual analysis of eighteenth century British newspapers shows the beginnings of modern journalistic standards by the end of the century: accuracy, honest, and credibility.

Sharpening the 5 W’s with Pentadic Analysis: Toward a Burkean Pedagogy • Nathan Rodriguez, University of Kansas • The digital era challenges journalism instructors to incorporate strategies that recognize a reconfigured mediascape. This essay argues a premium ought be placed upon techniques that promote awareness of language use, appreciation of complexity and an inclination toward patience. It is suggested that Kenneth Burke’s pentad, which elaborates upon the “W’s” of journalism, offers a concise yet sophisticated approach to apprehending interaction that would benefit both practitioners and students of journalism.

Virtual Image Repair – Why Twitter Enables Athletes More Effective Image Restoration than Traditional Crisis Management Techniques • Annelie Schmittel, University of Florida • This study proposes a conceptual model that illustrates why Twitter is a more effective vehicle for image restoration of professional athletes than mainstream media. Athletes involved in scandals are quick to employ traditional crisis management techniques. However, as illustrated in this study, several underlying factors contribute to a more effective form of image restoration and are better achieved through the use of Twitter. Antecedent conditions that affect the validity of the model are outlined within.

Covering Mental Illness: Challenges and Solutions • Roma Subramanian, University of Missouri, School of Journalism • U.S.-based print journalists who had won awards for stories on mental illness were interviewed to determine how reporting on mental illness can be improved. Respondents indicated that a mixture of organizational and personal factors such as editorial support, considerable journalism experience, personal exposure to mental illness, and empathy helped them produce quality stories. Also noteworthy were respondents’ opinions on suggestions in reporting guides about imitation suicides, sensitive language, and positive mental illness news.

The Roles of the Game: The influence of news consumption patterns on the role conceptions of journalism students • Edson Tandoc, University of Missouri-Columbia • This study is based on a survey of 364 undergraduate journalism students and looks at how news consumption patterns influence the journalistic role conceptions that students hold. Guided by social identity theory, this study finds that students rated the interpreter role as most important. Students who prioritized the interpreter role also tend to get their news from online sources and social media. The implications of these findings on college instruction are also discussed.

The Latent Growth Curve of Alcohol Ads Exposure: Adolescents’ Media Use, Drinking Patterns, and Association with Alcohol Using Peers in Identity Development • Jared Tu, City University of Hong Kong • This study examines prospective associations between exposure to alcohol advertising and changes over time in drinking and association with alcohol-using peers. Theoretically, this study is an application of the Reinforcing Model in adolescents’ identity development. With a four-wave panel design in the Latent Growth Curve, the data showed partial support to the Reinforcing Model, suggesting that members with a given social identity select media content corresponding to the existing or developing social identity. Use of the media content, in turn, will reinforce such identities, followed by continuing selection of identity-consistent media. Alcohol advertising exposure, positively or passively selected by adolescents, serves as mediated socialization experience and bridges adolescents’ earlier, family-approved associations to later social activities with peers-centered norms such as drinking. Results identified that baseline exposure to the alcohol ads robustly predicted increasing trajectories of drinking and of associating with alcohol-using peers.

The Activist Network: How Wikipedia Used Facebook Posts and Shares to Gain Support for the SOPA/PIPA Blackout • Amanda J. Weed, Ohio University • One of Facebook’s many features is its capability to share posts among “friend” networks. This capability allows messages to be shared quickly and broadly. Each time a post is shared, it is presented to a new network of “friends”, who then have the option to share the post with their own network of friends, and so on. Successful framing has the potential to create enough support from message receivers that the message will continue to be passed on, in a snowball effect, throughout the social network. The purpose of this paper is to explore the theoretical framework of agenda-building to examine how framed messages from Wikipedia disseminated through Facebook during the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA)/Protect IP Act (PIPA) Blackout campaign. This study utilized a content analysis of Facebook shares of Wikipedia posts from the sample time period January 16 through 19, 2012. This research examined three aspects of framing in Facebook shares to determine: (a) if framed messages affect the likelihood of sharing with comments among 1st level responders; (b) what types of user-generated content 1st level respondents will attach in their comments; and (c) does the 1st level share lead to significant 2nd level sharing. Results of this study may guide future use of framing levels and devices to encourage message dissemination throughout the Facebook network.

Data Privacy in the Newsroom: The Conflict between Privacy Policies and Ethics Policies • David Wolfgang, University of Missouri • This study analyzes website privacy policies used by major news corporations and attempts to understand the newsroom ethics policies as applied to protecting personal information collected about readers. The confluence of the legal and ethical questions revealed a conflicting relationship that possibly exposes news organizations that publish user information to liability while still practicing within the accepted limitations of traditional journalism ethics. Journalists tend to be indignant about the protections they afford to personal information collected on their site, unless the user is a public official using their pseudonym to discuss public issues behind a veil of secrecy. In this situation, journalists not only justify their actions under their ethics policies, but are possibly unknowingly breaching a contract made with each and every reader. In order to protect against liability, news organizations should change their newsroom practices to allow for the disclosure of user information in a very narrowly-constructed situation and amend their privacy policy to align with traditional journalism ethics as applied to privacy situations.

Health-related Reality TV on Social Media: Opportunity for Social Marketing or TV Program Promotion? • Xiaochen Zhang, University of Florida • This paper employed content analysis and thematic analysis to examine what information health-related reality TV (i.e., The Biggest Loser) viewers seek and respond to when interacting with the show’s social networking component. Analysis of posts and comments on The Biggest Loser official Facebook page showed that the most common postings were those promoting the program itself, and the most common user comments were those giving social support.

<<2013 Abstracts

Sin and Spin: The Importance of Public Relations in the Early Gay Rights Movement, 1950-1974 • Edward Alwood, Quinnipiac University • This study examines public relations strategies in the gay and lesbian rights movement from the 1950s when most homosexuals remained deeply closeted through the gay liberation movement in the early 1970s when homosexuality was declassified as a mental illness. The findings demonstrate the effectiveness of message framing and focuses on activists who spearheaded these efforts and the strategies they used to gain recognition as a social minority. Public relations played a vital role in the early stages of the gay rights movement. The study concludes that gay and lesbian activists made a concerted effort to influence public opinion using fundamental public relations strategies more than a decade before the New York riots that marked the beginning of the modern Gay Liberation Movement.

Creating A Narrative Of (Im)Possibility: Outsports.com’s Declaration of a Gay-friendly Sports World • Robert Byrd, The University of Southern Mississippi • In this essay, I argue that Outsports.com writers constructed a narrative using a rhetoric of possibility of an open and accepting environment in American professional sport. By relying on straight athletes, as sources, Outsports’ narrative insinuates that an openly gay athlete would be able to successfully navigate the unknown terrain outside the closet and actually thrive as an openly gay athlete. In this essay, I argue, however, that the narrative of possibility relies on heteronormative constructions of masculinity and gayness.

“The fact is, I’m gay”: Coming Out as a Public Figure • Molly Kalan, Syracuse University; Azeta Hatef; Christopher Fers, Syracuse University • In the summer of 2012, three public figures (Anderson Cooper, Megan Rapinoe, and Frank Ocean) from different industries publicly disclosed that they identify as non-heterosexual. This study employs textual analysis in order to discern what themes appeared across articles covering this disclosure, and what media narratives about LGBTQ figures emerged. Common themes include how public figures act as role models and also provide increased visibility to the LGBTQ community within different industries.

Campaigning from the Closet: Contexts of Messaging During the Campaign to Defeat North Carolina’s Amendment One • Laura Meadows, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Daniel Kreiss, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • This article presents the results of a four-month ethnographic study of the Coalition to Protect All NC Families, the campaign to defeat North Carolina’s 2012 constitutional amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman. We chart the campaign’s creation and conduct, focusing on the its decision to frame the amendment in terms of its harmful consequences for children and families, which marginalized the perspectives of those wanting to argue for marriage equality.

News Attention and Demographic factors Affecting attitudes towards Legalization of Same-sex Marriage in Singapore • Chitra Panchapakesan Kumari, Nanyang Technological University; Li Li, Nanyang Technological University; Shirley Ho • This paper focuses on the impact of the level of news attention to traditional, internet, social media and demographic factors influencing individual’s attitude towards the legalization of same-sex marriage in Singapore. The results indicated that news attention to internet media had positive association whereas news attentions to traditional media or social media had no effects on the individuals’ attitudes. Also individuals’ religion affiliation and religious guidance affected individuals’ attitude towards legalization of same-sex marriage.

Double-Edged Discourse: An Analysis of the LGBT Community’s • John Sewell, The University of West Georgia • This essay introduces the concept double-edged discourse (an oppositional discourse within another, larger oppositional discourse), relating it to the occurrence of queer discourse within LGBT discourse. Employing Laclau’s logic of equivalence, the essay analyzes how the discourse instigated by the Queer Nation manifesto, “Queers Read This,” spearheaded the appropriation of queer as an empty signifier. The essay examines the historical factors leading to the emergence of queer identity from within the greater LGBT discourse, considers the move from gay assimilationist strategies of the 1960s/70s toward queer’s transgressive oppositionality in the 1990s, examines the role of the manifesto, “Queers Read This” as a motivator for the appropriation of queer as an empty signifier, explains how the term queer has been something of a rhetorical burden for the LGBT community, imagines alternative discourses that might have occurred in an AIDS-free world to further clarify how the AIDS crisis may have led to the emergence of queer discourse, and explains how the equivalential linkages enabled by queer eventually dissipated. It is argued that queer functioned at cross-purposes with itself, operating in a way that at first produced constitutive unity and then became divisive as queer discourse ran its course.

Remembering Rustin: Brother Outsider and the Politics of Intersectional Queer Memory • Adam Sharples, University of Alabama • This essay examines the public memory of gay Civil Rights leader Bayard Rustin to question how African American and sexual identities are remembered through contemporary representations in film. By analyzing the documentary Brother Outsider through a critical framework of public memory, intersectionality, and queer theory this project questions how contemporary texts recuperate and circulate Rustin’s memory through mass media and what these revivalist memories signify for race and sexuality as a site of resistance.

<<2013 Abstracts

Identity exploration in emerging adulthood and the effects of privileged television on materialism and life goal importance • Emily Acosta Lewis, Sonoma State University • This study examined a newly proposed sub-genre of TV called privileged TV, which refers to shows that glamorize wealthy lifestyles (e.g. Gossip Girl). The main purpose of this study was to evaluate if and how privileged TV shows may influence emerging adults’ (18-29 years of age)level of materialism and life goal importance (altruistic and wealth/status goals). A survey was conducted on a college (N = 323) and non-college sample (N = 410) to investigate the relationship between privileged TV, materialism, and life goal importance and moderation by identity exploration (a key dimension of emerging adulthood). The results showed that there was a positive relationship between privileged TV and materialism. There was also a negative relationship between materialism and altruistic life goals and a positive relationship between materialism and wealth/status life goals. It was found that those who were low in identity exploration (those who had not yet begun exploring their identity or already have an established identity) needed to engage with the TV show (e.g. influence of presumed influence and peer norms etc.) in order to be affected whereas those who were high in identity exploration (those actively exploring their identity) were affected both directly and indirectly by privileged TV.

Effects of Web Content, Perceived Interactivity and Organization on Attitudes toward the Sport Website. • Taesoo Ahn, Merrimack College; Young Ik Suh; Moonki Hong; Juha Yoon; Paul Pedersen • The current study sought to identify the relationships among web contents (entertainment and informativeness), perceived interactivity, web organization, and attitude toward the sport website. Four hypotheses were presented from a conceptual model, and were tested with Structural Equation Model (SEM) analyses. The results showed that interactivity directly and indirectly influenced attitude toward the sport website, and web organization played a moderate role between perceived interactivity and attitude toward the sport website. The findings of this study suggest that sport marketers need to place more emphasis on perceived interactivity and Web organization, which significantly affect overall attitude toward the sport website. It would be particularly beneficial for sport marketers to use the interactive contents of sport websites to reach current and potential users, but it is important to note that the interactivity functions should be well-organized.

Active versus inactive video game play: Trends in ownership, use, and motivations for use • Mary Katherine Alsip, Institute for Communication and Information Research, The University of Alabama; Kimberly Bissell, University of Alabama • Active video games have been a proposed solution to the growing obesity trends in the U.S. Some studies have indicated that active games are not played as often as needed to improve health outcomes, even when individuals have home access to gaming equipment. Uses and gratifications theory may help determine what motivates players to choose active vs. inactive games. A survey of 217 young adults indicates that there are significant differences in console ownership, use, and motivation to play video games based on gender and based on regular play of active vs. inactive games. Even those that have access to active gaming equipment do not appear to play active games significantly more often than inactive games, and many active equipment owners actually play inactive games more. Females and specifically female active video game players have utility and social motivations for playing video games. Males and female inactive video game players may be more motivated to use video games as a distraction and to alleviate loneliness. These findings are discussed in the context of uses and gratifications theory, and potential directions for promoting active game play are suggested.

Fanfare for the American: NBC’s Primetime Broadcast of the 2012 London Olympiad • Andrew Billings, University of Alabama; James Angelini, University of Delaware; Paul MacArthur, Utica College; Lauren Smith, Auburn University; John Vincent, University of Alabama • Analysis of NBC’s 2012 London Summer Olympic broadcast revealed significant differences between American and non-American athletes. Regarding athletic mentions, American athletes were more likely to be mentioned (55.8%) than all other athletes combined and composed 75% of the most-mentioned athletes within the broadcast. Regarding descriptions ascribed to the Olympians, American athletes were more likely to be depicted using subjective characterizations, disproportionately having their successes attributed to superior composure, commitment, intelligence, and consonance as well as having a greater level of comments pertaining to their modest/introverted nature. Conversely, non-American athletes were more likely to receive success attributions related to their superior experience and failures depicted as a lack of athletic skill—both largely objective measures. Implications on the dialogue divergences are offered at theoretical level, with heuristic impact being discussed in a variety of contexts.

Reality television depictions of mental illness and bias: Priming, media exposure, and bias development • Kimberly Bissell, University of Alabama; Scott Parrott, University of Alabama • It is estimated that between 3 and 6 million people in the United States are compulsive hoarders or struggle with hoarding behavior. To most of the U.S. population, hoarders may be perceived as dirty or messy people who are too lazy to clean their homes. This stereotypical belief about the disease may remain as the general perception of hoarding unless alternative information is presented. Using the theories of priming, cultivation, and the parasocial contact hypothesis, we analyze factors that might be predictors of increased or decreased levels of bias against mental illness followed exposure to mediated representations of hoarding. Thus, the present study had two overarching objectives: 1. To assess participant attitudes toward mental illness following exposure to representation of the mental illness in the clips of Hoarders: Buried Alive; and 2. To assess participant attitudes toward mental illness when factors at the individual, social, and media level are considered. Results from the present study suggest two key findings: first, when exposed to hoarding behavior via a mediated representation of it, negative attitudes were the most prevalent for the experimental group who received no information about hoarding or about it being a mental illness. More simply, if we use exposure to mediated representations of mental illness to make assessments about others without information or knowledge, it is very possible that stereotypical attitudes and beliefs may develop or grow stronger. Second, bias against mental illness was mediated by individual, social, and media factors. These and other findings are discussed.

The Internet’s Role in Sustaining Engagement with Children’s Television • Matt Burns, University of Georgia • For decades, programming models insisted that children’s television series aired 65 episodes, re-ran for a few years, and then disappeared into the recesses of viewers’ memories. Now online video streaming allows nearly any television episode ever produced to be viewed instantly at any time, and social media outlets encourage users to share, discuss, and demand this content. With several media corporations currently riding a wave of nostalgia by reviving children’s television franchises from the 1990s, this research sought to discover how and why college students are engaging with children’s television, and if this sustained engagement can impact the ways media companies consider their programs’ life spans. This article reports the findings of an online survey (n=308) that assessed methods and motivations, as categorized by Askwith (2007), that college students reported for engaging with children’s television. Engagement with children’s television in college is common (69%), but students are unlikely to pay for content or merchandise. Traditional television broadcasts remain an essential component of a show’s longevity. Drawing from uses and gratifications theory, respondents’ motivations for viewing children’s television in adulthood revealed three unique motivation factors labeled Entertainment, Nostalgia, and “Closeted Masters.”

The Nashville Spin on Records: Recording Industry Promotion Techniques • Ashley Cockerham • The onset of a digital music age has forced the music industry to reconsider its methods of music promotion. Publicity-based promotional methods help to expand the recording industry’s shrinking profit margin. The results of this study demonstrate that a paradigm shift to exclusively public relations-rooted promotion is necessary in order to excel within a competitive music market. This study demonstrates that record labels have employed significantly more public relations promotional techniques than they have previously.

Identity and Avatar Similarity in Games: An Exploration of Flow and Enjoyment • Tanner Cooke, Pennsylvania State University • The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between video game players’ salient identity characteristics (age, sex, and body image), degrees of perceived avatar similarity, state of flow, and enjoyment of game play. An online survey with skip logic questions was conducted to understand the impact of age, sex, and body image on gamers’ perceived avatar similarity as well as the relationship between perceived similarity and a user’s state of flow and enjoyment. Using Likert style scale to measure avatar similarities, body image, flow and enjoyment, self-reporting on the survey was used to calibrate perceived gaming ability and time spent playing as gamer level and experience. While only a small sample was collected (sixty-one participants) responses were measured via general linear model and indicated a relationship between males over the age of twenty-six with higher degrees of perceived avatar similarity and their state of flow and enjoyment. This study contributes to extant literature with a preliminary, nuanced understanding of the importance of customization within avatar-based games targeted at certain demographics.

‘Nigger’: Interpretations of the Word’s Prevalence on Chappelle’s Show, Throughout Entertainment, and Everyday Life • Kyle Coward, Council for Adult and Experiential Learning • Throughout history, there have arguably been fewer words more controversial and hurtful than that of ‘nigger.’ In recent times, however, utterance of the term among various African-descended persons has become not so much the rehashing of a negative word, but rather the deconstruction of the term’s historically-perceived connotation, whereby it is reconstructed as a term signifying endearment, particularly among black persons. Employing Berger and Luckmann’s (1967) theory of social constructionism, this study looks at how ten black media consumers interpret the word ‘nigger’ as it is used within three contexts – a 2004 skit of the comedy series Chappelle’s Show, throughout entertainment, and outside of entertainment. Utilizing the grounded theory framework of Strauss and Corbin (1998) to collect data, results uncovered that while a majority of participants had similar interpretations of the word within the context of the skit, there was less agreement of the word’s usage/appropriateness in other contexts.

The Possible Prosocial and Antisocial Effects of Playing Video Games Frequently • J.J. De SImone, University of Wisconsin-Madison • With the renewed attention of video games’ role in school shootings and violent crime, it is important to explore the effects of playing video games frequently. By collecting survey data from a large sample of English-speaking people from across the globe, this study sought to explore whether playing video games frequently may have an effect on people’s prosocial and antisocial behaviors. By considering the frequency of playing popularly released video games as the primary predictor variable, this study’s data revealed that frequent game playing is related to antisocial behaviors, while less frequent playing is related to prosocial behaviors. It appears that playing video games in moderation may have a beneficial effect on individuals while frequent playing is deleterious. The data support the long-term predictions of the General Aggression Model and General Learning Model.

Pseudo newsgathering: Analyzing journalists’ use of pseudo-events on The Wire • Patrick Ferrucci, U of Missouri; Chad Painter, Eastern New Mexico University • This textual analysis examines the role of pseudo-events in the newsgathering process depicted on season five of The Wire. The researchers found that the press and sources construct “reality,” sources present “masks” to conceal “reality,” and journalists acknowledge the absurdity of pseudo-events but cover staged events as genuine news. The overriding conclusion is that fictional journalists fail citizens by constructing a false reality through a negotiation with powerful sources media savvy enough to control depictions.

Does Movie Viewing Cultivate Unrealistic Expectations about Love and Marriage? • Lauren Galloway; Erika Engstrom • The current study examines the association between consumption of media messages by way of movie viewing and genre preference and endorsement of ideals and expectations concerning romantic relationships. A survey of young adults found that viewing preference for both romantic comedies and dramas was significantly and positively correlated with idealized notions of faith that love conquers all, greater expectations for intimacy, and endorsement of the eros love style. However, participants who frequently watched romantic movies did not endorse beliefs in sexual perfection, mindreading, or disagreement disallowance. Results suggest that more mythic romantic ideals may tend to supersede other relational demands.

The Wonder of Wonderfalls: A Search for the Meaning of Life • Timothy R. Gleason, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh • This paper analyzes the short-lived 2004 television series Wonderfalls from an American Studies perspective. I argue the series takes a Generation X view of spirituality, which is one not bound to a particular religion. Wonderfalls can be viewed as a dialogue about the meaning of life, as well as a criticism of religion for religion’s sake. The show represents having a meaningful, humanistic purpose in life as being more important than wealth or prominence.

Fandom as a form of media enjoyment • Alice Hall • This study investigated whether the engaged, participatory viewing mode characteristic of media fandom as conceptualized by Henry Jenkins (1992) is associated with entertainment gratifications distinctive from those evoked by programs that are viewed more casually. It compared viewers’ enjoyment television programs characterized by these two reception modes. Participants reported higher levels hedonic enjoyment and appreciation for the programs they viewed as fans as opposed to those they watched more casually, and this difference was more pronounced in relation to appreciation. Fan-oriented viewing was associated with both meaningful affect as well as with more negative emotions. Positive emotions did not differ across the two program types. Fan-oriented viewing was also associated with stronger social gratifications and character identification. Implications for research into fandom, for emerging conceptualizations of media enjoyment, and for Self Determination Theory are discussed.

Effects of Nonverbal Sensitivity and Gender on the Enjoyment of a First-Person Shooter Videogame • Younbo Jung, Nanyang Technological University; Hyun Jee Oh, Hong Kong Baptist University; Jeremy Sng; Jounghuem Kwon; Benjamin Detenber, Nanyang Technological University • In this study we investigated the effects of gender (male vs. female) and nonverbal sensitivity (high vs. low) on game experience after playing a first-person shooter videogame. The results of Experiment 1 (n = 29) confirmed that male participants enjoyed the game more than female participants. However, the results of Experiment 2 (n = 50) showed that participants with high nonverbal sensitivity experienced more positive valence and a greater level of arousal after playing the same game than people with low nonverbal sensitivity, regardless of their gender. The biological gender of the participants became non-significant, after taking into consideration of nonverbal sensitivity. The results of a mediation analysis showed that the positive affect mediated the effects of nonverbal sensitivity on the enjoyment of the videogame. Implications with respect to a new understanding of gender preference for certain genres of videogames by identifying specific gender-related skills are discussed.

Reality TV, Materialism, and Associated Consequences: An Exploration of the Influences of Enjoyment and Social Comparison on Reality TV’s Cultivation Effects • Shu-Yueh Lee, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh; Yen-Shen Chen, National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan; Mark Harmon, University of Tennessee • This study applied cultivation theory to examine the effects of reality TV on materialism. At first glance reality TV appeared to be the programming most strongly associated with materialism. However, the direct effect waned after introducing enjoyment and social comparison as mediators. In particular, the results showed enjoyment fully mediated the cultivation effect of reality TV on materialism. This study demonstrated media effects not only were mediated by individual differences in demographics and personalities but also were determined by the viewing experiences.

Personifying America: Contrasting Fantasy Themes in the Japanese Animation Hetalia • Wan Chi Leung, University of South Carolina • Hetalia is a Japanese animation in which each character represents a particular nation and is named after the country it represents, with a physical appearance, personality, and behaviors based on widespread cultural stereotypes of the respective nation’s government or people. This study examines Hetalia using symbolic convergence theory to analyze the fantasy themes on the depiction of the character representing the United States and his relationships with other characters. After analyzing the animation and audience responses, pairs of contrasting setting, character and action themes were found. These contrasting themes neutralize each other to create a rhetorical community in which audience accept both positive and negative aspects of nations.

The Parasocial Contact Hypothesis Revisited: An Individual Differences Perspective • Minjie Li, Louisiana State University • Contact with mediated outgroup members can lead to changes in attitudes toward the outgroup as a whole. This belief, known as the Parasocial Contact Hypothesis, has been found to exist in a variety of forms. The present study attempted to expand theorizing in parasocial contact’s relationship with prejudice reduction of homosexuals by taking an individual differences perspective, and taking into consideration various contexts presented by entertainment narratives. We examined the Big 5 personality traits and their relationships with prejudice reduction (measured through implicit and explicit measures, and social dominance orientation). We also examined how prejudice reduction may differ depending on the focus of the narrative (i.e. politics, religion, technology). The results showed that changes in prejudicial attitudes and social dominance orientation didn’t differ as a function of type of issue focused on in the narrative. Personality traits correlated in various ways with prejudiced attitudes. Implications for theory are discussed.

People’s hero vs. Ms. Lane Crawford Populist and petit-bourgeois manifestations in Chinese popular culture • Zhengjia Liu, The University of Iowa; Xianwei Wu, University of Iowa • Super Girl, China’s first reality televisions show, produced the first two audience-voted stars in 2005 and 2006. At the time the show drew intensive attentions for its voting mechanism and democratic potentials. More than five years have passed, but neither of the two champions’ marketing strategies had met the political expectation for their democratic potentials in the previous discussions. By a closer examining of their marketing packages, we found that the two champions presented two manifestations of the contemporary popular culture in China. To understand the complexity of popular culture in a unique social context, we argue to avoid a false dichotomy paradigm of making harsh normative judgment.

How EWOM Influences Group Size of Potential Film Viewers: The Case of Chinese Online Community • Yuqian Hao, Tsinghua University; Yusi Liu, Tsinghua University • Electronic word of mouth (EWOM) is especially significant to experience-based products such as films. This study examined the EWOM effects on the group size of potential film viewers together with the moderating effect of the film’s inherent nature empirically. Using a random sample of films (1895-2011, N = 564) from the database of a popular film-review websites in China, we found although the online community members were fond of new movies and award-winners, the EWOM factors still positively affect the potential box office. The number of comments online, rather than the raters, was effective to enhance the intention to view a film. Both the positive and negative feedback percentages would significantly affect the group size of potential film viewers. Those effects were moderated by a film’s release year, location and award-winning. The findings were valuable for cross-cultural online movie marketing and reexamining the interpersonal influence in the collectivism, high-context cultures.

Music television online: Pitchfork Weekly and the ideology of consumerism • Jordan McClain; Amanda McClain, Holy Family University • Traditional music television features a nexus of advertising, celebrity, and music, supporting philosophies such as consumerism and capitalism. This study examines if similar ideals are evident as music television moves online. A discourse analysis of Pitchfork Weekly, an online music television series, finds consumerism is a primary ideology constructed throughout the program. Despite the democratic potential of the Internet, representative examples of Pitchfork Weekly expose how the program nevertheless upholds the same ideological content that has historically defined music television.

Representations of Female Scientists in The Big Bang Theory • Heather McIntosh • The Big Bang Theory offers a unique moment to explore the representations of female scientists within the situation comedy. This article begins with a brief discussion about representations of scientists in media genres, highlighting the differences created by the situation comedy. Focusing on Bernadette and Amy, this article then analyzes these characters’ representations within the contexts of representations of scientists, focusing specifically on their professional roles, their gender roles, and their intelligence. It concludes with suggesting that while on the surface some challenging and even undermining of these stereotypes do appear, those challenges remain short-lived in light of the situation comedy’s goals to entertain while reinforcing the status quo.

The Non-Normative Celebrity Body: Constructing Peter Dinklage in Entertainment Journalism • Russell Meeuf • Analyzing the descriptions and discussions of dwarf actor Peter Dinklage in contemporary, entertainment journalism, this article examines the possibilities for celebrities with non-normative bodies to challenge dominant stereotypes and stigmas concerning bodily difference. While Dinklage’s career provides an opportunity for entertainment journalism to challenge Hollywood’s bigotry concerning little people, the prominence of a dwarf actor also elicits condescending descriptions, puns, and other language that makes a spectacle of bodily difference.

Out of Harlem: A historical comparison of race in comic books • Ben Miller, Univeristy of Minesota • This study performed a comparative qualitative content analysis to examine how the initial portrayals of African American super heroes have changed from their early conception following the civil rights era to more recent times. Using hegemony as a theoretical framework, this study compared the first appearances of three heroes from 1969-72—John Stewart, the Falcon, and Luke Cage—to the first appearances of Miles Morales as the new black Spider-Man in 2011-12. The findings found clear differences between the ways the earlier heroes were presented compared to the present day character. In particular, the locations of the characters, their dealings with authorities and the visual representations were discussed. Finally, the conclusions section used previous literature on African American stereotypes and the evolution of minority portrayals to interpret the findings.

What’s Funny About That? Late Night Comedy’s Portrayal of Presidential Candidates • Tyler G. Page, Brigham Young University; Melissa Steckler; Tom Robinson, Brigham Young University • Late night comedy gets viewership in excess of three million people each night. This study explores the narratives embraced by late night comedians about the major party presidential candidates in the 2004, 2008 and 2012 United States Presidential Elections. Using a content analysis of over 1200 jokes, researchers discovered trends in the narratives promoted by comedians and the way those changed for incumbents during their re-election campaigns.

Understanding the Appeal of Reality Television (RTV) using IMSD Theory • Jeffrey Ranta, University of South Carolina • This paper explores the use of Individual Media System Dependency Theory as a way of interpreting the use of Reality Television (RTV) by television consumers. Utilizing Mechanical Turk to access responses to an online survey about RTV dependence and containing a brief examination of the role of social media in RTV program selection, the study also provides insight into the appeal of social media for enjoyment and selection of RTV programming.

Out of the Box: An Attitudinal Analysis of The Perception of LGBT Characters on US Television • James Triplett, Georgia State University; Erin Ryan, Kennesaw State University • The number of LGBT characters on US television is on the rise. Social Identity Theory suggests this increased visibility may lead to more social acceptance of the LGBT community in American society. Thus, this study is an attitudinal analysis of straight and non-straight television viewers regarding perceptions of LGBT characters on television. Research questions included: What attitudes do straight viewers have regarding homosexual characters on scripted television? and; What attitudes do homosexual viewers have regarding homosexual characters on scripted television? Survey methodology was utilized with questions falling into three categories: visibility, representation, and attitudes. Pearson correlations and ANOVAs were performed, using sexual orientation of participants as the grouping variable. Several findings were statistically significant. Regardless of a participant’s sexual orientation, there is general agreement that LGBT individuals are not adequately represented on television. Analysis of the optional open-ended question found that participants believed there were unrealistic representations of LGBT characters on television.

“She’s the Wittiest Person You’ll Ever Meet”: Predictors of Audience Thoughts about Media Figures • Victoria Shao; Xizi Wang; Angeline Sangalang • Scholars have attempted to understand the importance the way in which audiences connect to media characters. In this study, we analyze open-ended responses audience members make about their favorite media figures. We explore the degree to which audiences list descriptive or evaluative thoughts. Additionally, we explore whether individual differences for affect predict the types of thoughts when thinking of their favorite media figures. Finally, we discuss implications for character involvement and enjoyment.

To Be Romanian in Post-Communist Romania: Entertainment Television and Patriotism in Popular Discourse • Adina Schneeweis, Oakland University • This article uses the case study of the entertainment program Garantat 100%, broadcast on Romanian public national, international, and local channels, to describe an exceptionalist type of patriotic discourse – unique in the public sphere of democratizing Romania. The study identifies the program’s primarily educative and moralizing role, and its call for an out-of-the-ordinary, resilient living. Further, in the context of developing Romania, high rates of emigration to Western Europe and the United States, and politico-economic crises, the show illustrates the challenge in grappling with Western influences, on the one hand, and the desire to celebrate localism, on the other.

BUYERS BEWARE: Brett Favre is not in this Paper: A Textual Analysis of Online User Reviews for Madden NFL 12 • Brett Sherrick, Pennsylvania State University • The value of online user-generated content is debatable. Critical scholars argue that it reinforces hegemonic control, but Cultural Studies scholars argue that it provides an outlet for resistance of hegemonic control. This textual analysis examines online user reviews for EA Sports’ Madden NFL 12 from Amazon.com and determines that both existing Critical and Cultural Studies literature can help explain the content of the reviews, but a varied perspective is necessary to provide full explanation.

I Did it Myself!: Pinterest and the Evolution of DIY Communities • Danny Shipka, Oklahoma State University; Steven Smethers, Kansas State University • The rise of Pinterest as a social/entertainment site has transformed the Internet landscape. Though the media platform may be new, the concept is only the latest in the line of mediated DIY platforms that began with the introduction of women’s magazines in the 1830s. This paper examines how the concept of community has shifted away from geographical boundaries onto a virtual environment giving the user more control over their informational and entertainment choices.

Motivations for fan fiction participation • Jessica Smith • More than a million fan fiction stories have been posted online, and their authors and readers spend hours creating and consuming the content. A survey (N = 321) of members of fan fiction communities based on popular television shows revealed greater involvement with shows for which participants read and wrote fan fiction than with other shows they liked but didn’t follow in fan fiction. Higher levels of involvement correlated with greater degrees of parasocial interaction with participants’ favorite characters. In addition, participants found four gratifications from their membership in a fan fiction community: personal expression, entertainment, pass time, and social connection.

What Children’s Book Say About Watching Too Much Television • Tia Tyree • With such strong and negative effects connected to watching television and consistent benefits of associated with reading, parents could use books as a tool to not only obtain positive educational benefits for their children but teach them about the perils of too much television watching. This is a study of children’s literature about watching too much television. The purpose of this study was to address these issues by 1) examining what messages are placed in children’s literature about television watching, 2) identifying whether children’s literature is used as a tool against television watching, and 3) analyzing the approaches used to teach children about watching television. This research found that behavior change approaches depicted in children’s books about television viewing focused on fear as a major factor used in drawing children away from watching television; the pointless pressure to purchase products advertised; the chance to learn other activities they could do rather than to watch television and that the children’s self-realization of the destructive effects of watching television mainly occurred absent parental influence. In fact, parents and adults were largely absent from the plots or contributed to the children’s negative behavior.

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Beyond “Death Panels”: Fox News’ Prime-Time Coverage of Health Care Reform in August 2009 • Mitchell Bard • Writers often offer the partisan bias of Fox News as its defining characteristic. But the lack of neutrality should not end the discussion. Does Fox News abide by the other traditional values of objective journalism? I answer this question by qualitatively examining Fox News prime-time programming in August 2009 related to health care reform. I find that the channel does not abide by journalistic values, instead working more closely within the traditional elements of propaganda.

Traversing the Twittersphere: Social Media Policies in International News Operations • Terry Bloom, University of Miami; Johanna Cleary, University of Florida; Michael North, University of Miami • This article examines the workflows, editorial guidelines, and managerial oversight of social media, particularly Twitter, at six different international news agencies. Through a series of in-depth interviews with news managers, social media producers and public relations officials at Al Jazeera, CNN, Globo, Telecinco, RTVE, and the U.S. government’s Office of Cuba Broadcasting, the authors examined how these policies may affect the framing of news stories.

Missing White Woman Syndrome: How Media Framing Affects Viewers’ Emotions • Lindsey Conlin, The University of Alabama; William R. Davie, Univ. of Louisiana at Lafayette • Missing White Woman Syndrome relates to the idea that stories about attractive, young white females who go missing are more prevalent in the news to the exclusion of similar stories about other demographics. This study employed an experiment to test whether visual framing elements affected the emotional responses of viewers. Results showed that participants did respond more strongly to some emotions in some situations, particularly to the emotions sympathy and pity, and generally supported the ideas of framing and framing effects.

Tweets from the Horse’s Mouth: Network television news framing of 2012 presidential candidates on Twitter • Denae D’Arcy, University of Tennessee; Dzmitry Yuran, University of Tennessee, Knoxville; Ioana Coman • Voters rely on the media to provide information about presidential candidates. One platform from which voters now glean this information is social media. This study considers network television news coverage of the 2012 presidential election on Twitter. Content analysis of tweets from news networks examines patterns of tone and framing. This study found that news networks gave more positive coverage to Obama than Romney and used horserace framing most often when covering the presidential candidates.

Broadcast meteorology, clashing institutional logics, and the pursuit of legitimacy • Betsy Emmons; Wilson Lowrey • Due to technological innovations both within institutional journalism and interactive communication, broadcast meteorologists are at a crossroads in the routines of their professions. This study builds on institutional logics within organizational structures in interviews with broadcast meteorologists to learn how professional duties have shifted in this new technological domain.

Journalists’ Credibility Assessments and Use of Social Media in the News-gathering Process • Tamara Gillis, Elizabethtown College; Kirsten Johnson • A survey of 421 journalists identified key factors used when evaluating credibility of social media information sources. Results show journalists consider social media sites that contain accurate information, documented expertise of the writer, and evidence of objectivity to be credible. Journalists reported their use of social media is increasing. Three-quarters of those surveyed reported that they need to maintain a Twitter account connected to their job, however traditional means of news gathering are favored.

“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” Reporting: Examining Broadcast Network News Coverage and Indexing of a National Debate over Time • Jacob Groshek; Lanier Holt, Indiana University • The maelstrom of coverage surrounding the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) debate provides an instructive setting in which to compare television news and analyze how tones change over time along the contours of official consensus. In advancing the concept of indexing further beyond actual conflict or the threat of war and honing in on a domestic but still military issue, we examine all U.S. network news coverage on this topic for the years 2010 and 2011 (effectively 1 year before and after DADT was repealed). Findings observed here suggest relatively high levels of similarity across networks and additional independence from military operations and official consensus than have been suggested in previous research. Importantly, though, findings observed here suggest that on certain contentious but sensitive topics, conventional conceptions of indexing may not hold.

Engaging the Online Audience: Web News Appearance, Nature and Value • Diane Guerrazzi, San Jose State University; August Grant, University of South Carolina; Jeffrey Wilkinson, Houston Baptist University • As news organizations increasingly rely on the Internet for disseminating content, understanding how best to package that content rises in importance. This study attempts to isolate the qualities of effective online news reports through an experiment that tests the impact of three different online news formats upon a set of dependent variables identified in prior research. Building upon previous research, three different presentations were created for two different news stories: a text-only version, a version with the same text plus subheads and photos, and a version with the same text plus subheads and video. Results included strong relationships among perceived appearance, perceived cognitive impact, and perceived value of the story. Time spent viewing a story was strongly correlated with recall, but there was no relationship between the format of the story and the subjective evaluations or recall. Some suggestions for packaging and presenting news in online formats are presented.

Taking the “Local” out of Local TV News: Implications for an informed public • Lee Hood, Loyola University Chicago • The meaning of “local” in local TV news is not as straightforward as one might imagine. “Local” newscasts in several markets around the country emanate from hundreds of miles away. This study examines the implications of such a delivery system, using a content analysis of more than 1,000 stories to compare outsourced and local newscasts to determine if differences exist on story topics and source types, particularly in the realm of public affairs news.

Televised Objectification of Africa’s Summer Olympic Athletes: Subtle or Blatant? • Yusuf Kalyango, Ohio University, Ohio, Athens, USA • This study examines how major television networks—NBC Universal Sports in the United States, BBC Sport in the United Kingdom, and Supersport in South Africa—are perceived to objectify African athletes in the Summer Olympic Games. It tests assumptions and initiates an intellectual discussion that some African athletes and African viewers perceive irregularities in the global television sports representation of African athletes during the Summer Olympics. The analysis is based on coverage of the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China and London, United Kingdom, respectively, as gleaned from semi-structured in-depth interviews with African athletes, trainers, and viewers in six African countries as well as the United Kingdom and the United States who closely watched the Olympic coverage during the past two Summer Olympic Games.

Restoring Sanity Through Comic Relief: Parody Television Viewers and Political Outlook • Barbara Kaye, University of Tennessee – Knoxville; Tom Johnson • The Daily Show and The Colbert Report regale viewers with satirical, witty, and humorous exposes` of the political world and news coverage. But they have also been criticized for creating cynicism and political disengagement. This study found parody news viewers are more politically knowledgeable, interested, active, and self-efficacious than viewers of CNN, Fox News Channel, MSNBC, or broadcast television news. Additionally, reliance on parody news shows does not lead to polarization or government distrust.

Motives for News Consumption and Patterns of Digital Media Use: Their Differential Relationships among Internet Users • Shin Haeng Lee • To examine online news consumers’ activity and its implications, this study analyzes data collected by the 2010 Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project. The findings demonstrate the relationship of online news consumers’ civic motive to their use of participatory digital media tools whereas their social and entertainment motives are associated with increased acquisition of online news. The analysis also reveals different patterns in that relationship, considering news consumers’ style of digital feature use: the relationship is contingent on the frequency of Internet use. Lastly, this paper suggests online news consumers’ divergent types of digital citizenship.

How People Read Controversial News: Findings from an Eyetracking Study Exploring the Effects of Reader Bias • Soo-Kwang Oh • This exploratory study utilizes eyetracking to examine how an individual’s bias about news topics influences their news reading behavior. As previous studies do not discuss behavioral responses as a result of perceived bias, this study investigated the influence of perceived bias on reading patterns by measuring 1) eye movements and 2) pupil size when reading online news articles containing perspectives they agree or disagree with. Findings suggest consistent trends, which call for further studies.

Autonomy and perception of work quality drive job satisfaction of TV news workers • Scott Reinardy, University of Kansas • Self-determination theory tells us that intrinsic and extrinsic motivations influence our goal-oriented behavior and determine individual satisfaction. Self-determination issues such as deadlines, breaking news, multiple-screen obligations, competition and the desire to produce quality journalism confront TV news workers each day. In this study of nearly 900 TV news workers, broadcasters who have the freedom and organizational support to conduct their work have managed to find a great deal of job satisfaction. They also say they are producing a high quality of journalism. Of the sample, 19% (n = 155) said they intended to leave broadcast journalism within five years. Those intending to leave demonstrated significantly lower levels of job satisfaction, organizational support, autonomy and work quality. The primary reasons for leaving were salary, family issues and concerns about quality journalism.

Interactive Quizzes on News Websites • Natalie Stroud; Josh Scacco; Ashley Muddiman • The use of interactive features on news websites has become increasingly popular. Drawing from a “mix-of-attributes” approach (Eveland, 2003) and literature on survey research, we propose that a multiple-choice quiz will increase engagement compared to an open-ended quiz because (a) the open-ended quiz is more interactive, (b) an open-ended quiz using a slider poll is more novel, and (c) open-ended questions require more processing time to reach a conclusion. We partner with a local news station to show that a mix of open- and closed-ended polls can increase use of the interactive features and time-on-page. Methodological and practical implications are discussed.

The Effects of “Social Watching” the 2012 Presidential Debates • Esther Thorson, University of Missouri; Joshua Hawthorne, University of Missouri; Alecia Swasy; Mitchell McKinney, University of Missouri • This paper examines the impact of watching the debates with others—whether those others are present in person or accessed through Facebook or Twitter. Theory about the impact of debate content suggests that viewers may experience negative emotions as “their” candidate is attacked, and may experience great uncertainty about issues at the same time. These negative response may occur simultaneously with the excitement of knowing one is sharing an experience of importance with millions of others. These possibilities suggest that “social watching,” whether in person or mediated, will produce a more positive response to the debate (more enjoyment, attention, interest) as well as a higher likelihood of more debates being watching and watched longer. These predictions are strongly supported with a sample of American adults in two different parts of the country.

Broadcasting’s New Scarcity Principle: a Case Study in Radio Newsroom Resource Allocation • Christopher Terry, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee • This case study examines the FCC’s use of the benefits of economy of scale as a rationale to justify many mergers of broadcast radio outlets after the implementation of the 1996 Telecommunications Act. After exploring several licensing and transfer decisions where the FCC’s rationale for approving a merger relied on the premise that consolidating stations into common ownerships would allow resources to be dedicated to content production, the article reports the observations of the resources made available to a radio news operation on four presidential election over a twelve year period. The results of this participatory observation indicate that the longer a station was owned and operated by a consolidated media company, the internal news operation received less resources, produced less local news content, and began re-using material produced for other media outlets. These findings demonstrate that the FCC’s use of economy of scale as a justification for approving media mergers was a flawed policy.

Political Advertising on Social Media in the 2012 Presidential Election: Exploring the Perceptual and Behavioral Components of the Third-person Effect • Ran Wei, University of South Carolina; Guy Golan, Syracuse University • This exploratory study examines the perceived effects of political ads that appeared on social media in the 2012 presidential campaign from a third-person effect framework. Results of a survey using a probability sample of 496 college students indicated that they tend to believe that political ads on social media have a greater influence on others than on themselves. However, the more desirable they viewed such ads, the more they admitted the ads to having influenced them. Finally, third-person perception of political ads on social media was found to be a positive predictor of engagement in promotional social media behavior after the influences of demographics, social media use, and political attitudes were taken into consideration.

Subsidizing Disaster Coverage in the Digital Age: An Exploration of Hurricane Sandy • Shelley Wigley, University of Texas at Arlington; Maria Fontenot, University of Tennessee-Knoxville; Ioana Coman • This study explored reporters’ use of user generated content to subsidize coverage of Hurricane Sandy. Sources cited in articles from local and national news websites were analyzed. Results revealed nearly 7% of sources came from UGC (or social media sites), that cable stations used more UGC as sources than network stations, and that reporters sourced content from Twitter significantly more often than content from other social media sources, such as Facebook and YouTube.

<<2013 Abstracts