2021 Abstracts

Research Paper • Faculty • Rasha Allam, The American University in Cairo • Configuring the usage of audience analytics on journalism practices inside Egyptian Newsrooms • The usage of audience analytics tools has redefined the whole process of news production. This study, which focuses on six major Egyptian news organizations, examines the use and role of audience analytics on the news production practices within the different types of news organizations understudy. Based on semi-structured interviews with senior and managing editors and using the sociology of news production theory, the study found that the type of ownership is quite decisive in defining the scope of usage for the analytics tools and their roles, in addition to the political context that plays a substantial role in this matter. Results show that although the private news organizations seem more open towards audience metrics, maintaining an authoritative tone of journalism is a priority to protect the organization’s brand. Finally, reaching transnational audiences and creating a pan-Arab news hub are seen by the private news organizations as potential benefits of the analytic tools.

Research Paper • Student • Fitria Andayani, University of Missouri • What is Fair? How journalists’ dual identity, resource conservation, and power dynamics shape pay secrecy culture • A textual analysis of 49 articles from the U.S. journalism trade publications finds that pay secrecy culture is responsible for journalists’ suffering from low wages and income inequity. Moreover, the research shows how the journalists’ dual identity creates their tendency to engage with loss aversion to protect their valuable resources of job security, self-esteem, and self-efficacy. The power dynamics within the news organization also lower journalists’ bargaining power leaving the company’s pay secrecy policy undisputed.

Research Paper • Faculty • Jon Bekken, Albright College • Do Four (or Five, or Six) Firms Control the American Media? Revisiting The Media Monopoly • Exaggerated versions of Bagdikian’s Media Monopoly are ubiquitous. This paper reviews the current state of media ownership concentration. After reviewing economic concentration in the book publishing, broadband and multichannel, motion picture, newspaper, radio and television industries, I demonstrate that the dominant U.S. media firms control more than 60 percent of mass media revenue. These firms’ relentless expansion and profit-seeking, I conclude, poses an existential crisis for journalism, and for the media more generally.

Research Paper • Student • Jaewon Royce Choi; Sooyeon Hong, University of Texas at Austin; Junghwan Kim, Pukyong National University • Does social capital matter to the Millennials? Social capital and user engagements in online video platforms • User engagements in video platforms are considered critical for businesses in measuring attention. This study investigates various factors influencing online video platform user engagements in the forms of showing empathy (e.g., “like”), commenting, and sharing. A theoretical model positing mediating role of social capital and moderating role of generational difference is suggested and tested against three types of engagement. Results indicate intriguing generational effect on social capital’s role in online video platform engagement.

Research Paper • Faculty • Amy Jo Coffey, University of Florida; Ann Hollifield, University of Georgia • Video Measurement and Analytics: Best Practices and Industry Challenges • This paper explores current approaches to video measurement in the rapidly evolving media environment. In-depth interviews of media analytics executives were employed (N=13), along with secondary analysis of data. Findings indicate that best practices include responsible integration of linear and census measurement, viewer assignment modeling, new metering technologies, and the retirement of older, less accurate data-gathering practices. Remaining challenges include a proven single-source method for cross-platform measurement and the resolution of definition issues.

Research Paper • Student • Mathias Felipe de-Lima-Santos, University of Navarra; Lucia Mesquita, Dublin City University • Digital news business models in the age of Industry 4.0 • The news media industry is a sector that is greatly affected by technology and the rapid speed with which changes are taking place. The Fourth Industrial Revolution is upon us and promising to bring with it novel technologies, such as data, automation, and artificial intelligence. However, fostering innovation inside the newsroom takes place with as many hindrances and bureaucratic obstacles as possible. To address how news outlets are adopting new approaches to sustain their business, we conducted thirteen (n = 13) in-depth interviews with leading actors of news organizations in Brazil, a leading country within the Global South with a complex national reality. Our study systematically analyzes qualitative data to present technology-driven, innovative business models and technologies that will be major players in the news industry’s future. Results indicated that organizations do not rely on a unique income source but combine different sustainable models of funding. By deploying technological assets in the news business, these outlets are capable of meeting the needs of audiences and better identifying customer segments, which brings a competitive advantage to these organizations. In summary, this research resulted in responsive knowledge sharing about digital journalism’s business model that is being implemented for the next revolution.

Research Paper • Student • Peter Johnson, Boston University • The Financialization of ABC: Wall Street Legitimation & the Financialized Commodity Audience, 1943–1970 • Leveraging literature from media history and political economy, I consider how the discursive transactions between U.S. television executives and Wall Street stakeholders in the post-war period represented an overlooked “commodity audience” construction. I chart the rise of publicly-traded broadcasting stocks in the 1950s and how the encroachment of institutional investors led to broadcasting’s financialization and concentration. Specifically, I examine ABC between 1953 and 1970, when it became vulnerable to financial extraction and financialized strategies.

Research Paper • Student • Asma Khanom; Peter J. Gade • Nothing routine: Television news management’s response to COVID-19, organizational uncertainty, and changes in news work. • COVID-19 impacted broadcast news work (routine and organization level) which influenced on content. This study, guided by media sociology, explores the impact of COVID-19 on broadcast news routines and management’s organizational responses. The study includes in-depth interviews with broadcast news directors in the southern Midwest of U.S. (n = 10). The pandemic is a macro-level influence, yet the data in this study suggest its influence on news is fluid, flowing up and down among organizational, routine, and individual levels.

Research Paper • Faculty • Dam Hee Kim; Kyung Jung Han; Sungchul Lee • Predicting Twitter Engagement with the Oscar-Winning Parasite: Through the Theoretical Lens of Country-of-Origin • This study examines how 96,131 tweets in Korean and English discussed the Oscar-winning Korean film, Parasite, through the theoretical lens of Country-of-Origin (COO) and electronic Word-of-Mouth. Korean tweets used more affective COO frames (e.g., history-making) whereas English tweets used more cognitive (e.g., film quality) and normative COO frames (e.g., social norms). The number of Twitter engagement was positively predicted by cognitive and affective frames overall, but was negatively predicted by normative frames in English tweets.

Research Paper • Faculty • Castulus Kolo, Macromedia University; Bozena Mierzejewska, Fordham University; Florain Haumer, Macromedia University; Axel Roepnack; Christopher Schmidt, Macromedia University; Anran Luo, Fordham University • Teaching Media Management in International Perspective: A Comparative Content Analysis of Curricula in the US and Germany • “This study was designed to learn more about how media management education varies within national contexts of the US and Germany as well as between both countries via a content analysis of undergraduate and graduate curricula. Information about the specific course content of 34 US programs and nine programs from German universities was captured on the basis of a codebook developed for this purpose. Data shows that media management education focuses on conventional content.

Research Paper • Faculty • Derek Moscato, Western Washington University • Transboundary Cultural Economy: Spatial and Market Configurations of Cascadia’s News • This study examines the news media environment of the U.S./Canada cross-border region known as Cascadia, which includes parts of British Columbia, Washington state, and Oregon. It analyzes the journalistic production processes that drive media coverage in this cross-border region. To better understand the unique dynamics of reporting about this area, the author developed case studies drawn from in-depth interviews with media practitioners from multiple news publications and outlets. Such interviews-driven cases not only inform how Cascadia is understood thematically and contextually, but also how the concept of Cascadia drives media business models and audience interest. This research explores how news media–as an outgrowth of regional communication and culture–navigate the spatial, logistical, and market dimensions of Cascadia reporting, especially as the Cascadia concept grapples with concurrent themes of politics, economy, social responsibility, and climate change. The results show that while regional media enterprises and practitioners on the whole embrace the concept and promise of Cascadia, they are increasingly constrained by logistical or economic challenges. However, emergent models of cross-border media production and dissemination provide insight into the future for Cascadia’s news enterprises.

Research Paper • Faculty • Ray Wang, Thammasat University • Educating effective practice of communication for sustainable development in Thailand • Scholarship has indicated that communication about sustainable development can have many different definitions and objectives. However, little research has discussed how higher education has prepared young professionals who aspire to work in this media management sector. Results from this study indicate that higher education may not be sufficiently preparing young professionals of these roles, and more research on the key competencies and development of young professionals should be conducted in Thailand and around the world.

Research Paper • Student • Changcheng Zhou • Analysis on financing efficiency of listed media companies in China from 2014 to 2018 • “his paper selected 118 media listed companies in mainland China as samples and analyzed their financing efficiency from 2014 to 2018, applying Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) model. On the basis of calculating the financing efficiency of all sample companies, the authors compared the financing efficiency of five sub-areas of news publishing, animation games, film and television media, marketing media and radio and television, and analyzed the changing trend of these indicators in the past three years. Findings from the study suggest that, the overall financing efficiency of media listed companies in mainland China is low. Among the current sample, companies with pure technical efficiency account for the largest proportion. More than half media listed companies are in the increasing stage of scale returns. Based on the findings, the study also provides suggestions on how to improve the financing efficiency of media listed companies.

<2021 Abstracts

2021 Abstracts

Research Paper • Student • Carol Burnett Award for Graduate Student Papers • Gregory Gondwe, University of Colorado • Exploring moral ecology in the coverage of the 2020 racial protests: Analyzing sentiment and intent classification of Newspapers and Broadcast news content in the US • This study contributes to the literature of media moral ecology and the Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) model. It does so by significantly expanding the methodological approaches, and theoretically, by incorporating media genres as a form of moral ecology that informs journalistic practices. The study uses the 2020 news content about racial protests to examine whether the media genre/category (Newspaper or Broadcast) affects how journalists choose to uphold their moral features of implicit norms, the harm principle, and the question of justice. Findings suggest that compared to broadcast media, newspaper genres are more likely to uphold ethical values when reporting racial protest. However, this only happened when political affiliations were controlled for. But when regressed with political affiliations, the effects were significantly skewed, indicating a higher presence of adulterated moral features in the news stories.

Research Paper • Student • Carol Burnett Award for Graduate Student Papers • Minos-Athanasios Karyotakis, School of Communication HKBU • A Need for Change: The Perceived Power of Media and Journalists in Greece • Through 42 interviews with prominent political actors in Greek society, such as members of political parties (including Members of the Greek Parliament and their employees), alongside with well-known anti-fascists during 2019 and 2020, this paper analyses their opinions, ideas, and thoughts regarding the role of media and journalists in the events connected with the Macedonian Name Dispute (MND) in 2018 and 2019. MND was one of the most influential securitized topics on the agenda due to the promoted “Prespes Agreement” from the then-government that was supposed to solve the dispute. The use of MND in Greece’s political competition provoked several important events, such as the government’s fall and change. This study reveals that the MND’s coverage for the interviewees was a part of the problematic Greek media landscape, in which the journalists and the media are perceived as the most powerful societal actors in the country. In addition, the interviewees tend to believe that Greek journalism is not real journalism, as the professionals of the field are pulling strings to realize other goals than serving the public.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Call • Shannon Bowen, University of South Carolina; Marlene Neill, Baylor University • Ethical Organizational Listening in Issues Management for Stakeholder Engagement and Moral Responsibility • Ethical listening is an essential component of strategic issues management as an executive-level problem solving function. This qualitative study of elite Chief Communications Officers (CCOs) seeks to help fill a gap in making listening an explicit and purposeful part of ethics. We seek to enhance the vital role of listening in engaging stakeholders and demonstrating moral responsibility in issues management.

Research Paper • Central Office Staff • Open Call • Yayu Feng, University of St. Thomas • Confucian Virtue System: Bring Media Ethics (Back) to a Humanistic Path • This article engages with Confucianism, the Chinese moral philosophy, and aims to introduce how Confucian ethics could benefit media ethics theorizing by explaining the central component in this ethical system: the notion of good and excellent it pursues and its highest principles. It facilitates a better understanding of the cultural and philosophical context that shapes media’s role in countries influenced by Confucianism, and contributing to the field a new perspective as it searches for global framework.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Call • Andrew Duffy, Nanyang Technological University • Tear down this wall: Native advertising as boundary object in scholarship. • Journalism’s iconic wall separates editorial from advertising with entrenched ideological differences. A hybrid form straddles this wall: native advertising. As a boundary object where competing fields meet, this has been a subject of growing scholarship, making it a suitable subject to investigate the doxa and habitus of academic thought in different fields. This paper analyses titles and abstracts of papers in journalism and advertising scholarship to assess how each frames the subject of native advertising, with a view to identifying ontologies and axiologies of each. It observes the value of such analysis of boundary objects as a means to identify limitations and potentialities in cross-disciplinary work; and to challenge epistemic authority in differing fields. Mapping fields creates space for re-articulation of normal practice in scholarship. This paper also expands earlier theorising on boundary-work to include pragmatics as an element of any field and associated boundary.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Call • Rick Moore, Department of Communication and Media, Boise State University • I Dare Someone to Try: SNL’s “Can I Play That” and the Ethics of Whitewashing and Stereotypes • The topic of whitewashing has been discussed in the popular press for many years. Scholars of media ethics, however, have been very slow to investigate the phenomenon. In this paper I wish to suggest a rather unusual place for academics to catch up on the most recent complications that whitewashing proposes. Given its growth in complexity, though, the problem—if looked at in all its dimensions—may have reached the point where it is insurmountable.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Call • Greg Munno, Syracuse University; Megan Craig, Syracuse University; Katherine Farrish, Central Connecticut State University; Alex Richards, Syracuse University • Journalists with Different Mindsets Agree on Truth as the Profession’s First Obligation • This mixed-method study examines the mindset journalists bring to their work. Study 1 (n = 167) asked professional journalists, journalism professors, and student journalists to rank statements on journalism ethics and norms from most to least like their mindset toward journalism. Using the factor analysis procedure common to Q methodology, we identified two distinct mindsets among the participants. One factor expresses a neutral journalistic mindset that favors dispassionate reporting. The other shows more concern with the impact of journalism on its sources and a desire for more engagement in political discourse. A participant pool larger than that of a typical Q study allowed for additional quantitative analysis that identified significant differences in journalistic mindset by age, gender, professional experience, and journalistic platform. Using an explanatory-sequential design, study 2 (n = 16) further explored the journalistic mindset—the underlying web of beliefs and attitudes about the profession’s core values—with a textual analysis of follow-up interviews. The results, we believe, have applications to research on journalistic ethics and norms, and may provide some insight into the divisions generating conflict in many newsrooms today.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Call • Holly Overton, Penn State University; Anli Xiao, University of South Carolina • Always Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide: Analyzing Moral Conviction, Perceived Motives, and Organization-Public Relationships in Corporate Social Advocacy Efforts • “This study conducts an online survey (N = 267) to examine the role of moral conviction as a

predictor of organization-public relationships (OPR) in the context of corporate social advocacy

(CSA). Four types of attributions are examined as a mediating variable. Results indicate that

moral congruency between an individual and an organization directly leads to stronger trust and

power balance and that moral conviction positively predicts all four OPR dimensions through

values-driven attributions. Implications are discussed.”

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Call • David Craig, University of Oklahoma; Katie Place, Quinnipiac University; Erin Schauster; Patrick Plaisance, Penn State; Chris Roberts, University of Alabama; Ryan Thomas; Casey Yetter, University of Oklahoma; Jin Chen, Penn State University • Moral Foundations in Life Narratives of Emerging Adults in Media-Related Fields • The purpose of this study was to explore the moral foundations evident in the life narratives of emerging adults in media-related fields, based on analysis of life story interviews with 182 recent graduates from six media-related programs across the United States. Participants offered rich accounts of how their sense of morality was shaped over the course of their lives, and thus influenced their sense of the virtues of care/harm, fairness/injustice, ingroup loyalty/betrayal, authority, and purity/integrity. Findings identified how individuals draw upon concrete examples of the moral foundations from their childhood, but also identified ways in which individuals moral awareness had refined during emerging adulthood. Thus, media educators must develop pedagogy that best enables our students to a) reflect on moral values and the roles they play in students’ holistic lives, b) engage in dialogue about virtues and moral foundation concepts, and c) have opportunities to explore and refine their moral awareness with regard to the media fields they will enter.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Call • Patrick Plaisance, Penn State; Marlene Neill, Baylor University; Jin Chen, Penn State University • Moral Orientations and Traits of Public Relations Exemplars • This study seeks to contribute to moral psychology research on media professionals with a survey of the highly selective College of Fellows of the Public Relations Society of America. The study explores personality and character traits as well as ethical ideologies, and it also introduces the Moral Foundations Theory (MFT) assessment to media ethics scholarship. Results (N = 59) affirm the exemplar status of Fellows, indicated by their top-ranked Global Character Strengths, including Honesty and Fairness, their above-average scores on Conscientiousness and Openness to experience traits, as well as the fact that a large majority reject relativistic thinking and demonstrate a strong concern for harm. Results also document positive correlations among several factors linked to empathy, justice and concern for harm. Those, coupled with an embrace of the MFT’s Harm/Care and Fairness/Reciprocity foundations, suggest a progressive moral orientation, and affirm the usefulness of a neo-Aristotelian framework for media ethics scholarship.

Extended Abstract • Faculty • Open Call • Erin Schauster • Moral reasoning and the life stories that depict personal interest, maintaining norms and universal principles • 75-word Summary: Moral exemplars in advertising are ideal candidates for understanding moral reasoning because of the challenges they face in the collaborative practices of strategic communication. Life story interviews and DIT results suggest that, while they exhibit high levels of moral reasoning, reasoning based on personal interest and, more so, maintaining norms are used to justify ethical decision making. More research is needed to understand the integrated, collaborative work of strategic communication and practices that influences norms.

Research Paper • Student • Open Call • Christopher Vardeman, University of Colorado Boulder • Skepticism, Egoism, & COVID-19 Advertisements: An Exploratory Study of Consumer Attitudes and Moral Foundations • The COVID-19 pandemic has created unprecedented challenges for advertisers, and for small businesses in particular. Many retailers have had to adopt new messaging strategies to address responses to the virus in order to allay fear. This study measures consumer attitudes toward advertisements that make reference to COVID-19 safety responses alongside individual factors of advertising skepticism, egoism, and moral foundations thought to influence and predict such attitudes. Results are interpreted and implications for advertisers are discussed.

Research Paper • Student • Open Call • Lewen Wei, Pennsylvania State University; Pratiti Diddi, Lamar University • Morality rules: Understanding the role of prior reputation in consequences of scansis • Drawing from literature on crisis communication and moral licensing/consistency, we explored the role of prior organizational reputation on people’s responses to organizations’ morality-oriented negative publicity (i.e., scansis) through an online experiment (N = 293). We found organizations with better prior reputation tended to get more severe backlash in scansis than those with poorer reputation, which implicated the need to take the unique role of morality in scansis into account in both pertinent research and practice.

Research Paper • Faculty • Special Call for Ethics and Inclusion in Media Practice • Brad Clark, Mount Royal University • A New Objective: Recasting Journalism Ethics Through the Racial Reckoning • During the “racial reckoning” in 2020, racialized and Indigenous journalists in the United States and Canada called out their employers and industry for the systemic racism endemic to news operations and content. They explained their frustrations, criticisms and insights in columns, social media posts, essays, interviews, and other published media, frequently challenging notions of objectivity. This paper uses a qualitative content analysis of those media accounts to explore how journalism’s dominant ethic subverts inclusive newsrooms and news coverage.

Research Paper • Student • Special Call for Ethics and Inclusion in Media Practice • Alexis Romero Walker, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • Converging Theory with Practice in the Media Skills Classroom • This article provides that there is a need to incorporate contemporary media and film theory in the media skills classroom to adequately work to decolonize education and bring equity to higher education media programs. Using an autoethnographic approach, the article showcases how to incorporate concepts related to equity in lighting in the skills classroom. The article additionally provides an adjusted approach to critical media literacy to effectively bring equity and inclusion to the media skills classroom, and proposes questions that instructors should ask themselves as they create their curriculum for their courses.

<2021 Abstracts

2021 Abstracts

Research Paper • Student • Moeller Student Paper Competition • Alexis Fitzsimmons, University of Florida; Yufan “Sunny” Qin, University of Florida; Eve Heffron, University of Florida • Purpose vs. Mission vs. Vision: Persuasive Appeals and Components in Corporate Statements • Purpose statements persuade stakeholders of companies’ reasons for being. However, there is a lack of distinction among purpose, mission, and vision statements. This quantitative content analysis explored the differences among Fortune Global companies’ purpose, mission, and vision statements, adding to a much-needed body of literature on corporate purpose. Results provide implications for communicators who write these statements as well as theoretical implications related to rhetorical and social identification theories and organizational identification.

Research Paper • Student • Moeller Student Paper Competition • Kate Stewart, University of South Carolina • The New Media Normal: Survey-based study of COVID-19 Effects on Motivations to Consume Non-News Media • This large-scale, self-administered Qualtrics survey, based on a representative sample from 2020 United States Census Data, study specifically investigates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, in a mediating role, on motivations to consume non-news media by having an impact on social escapism, social presence, and coping mechanisms. The scope of this analysis has relevance as a current on-going global pandemic and could be replicated to study how disasters or other pandemics affect non-news media consumption.

Research Paper • • Open Competition • Ivy Ashe; Ryan Wallace, The University of Texas at Austin; Ivan Lacasa-Mas, Universitat Internacional de Catalunya; Q. Elyse Huang, The University of Texas at Austin • News in the Time of Corona: Institutional trust, collective narcissism, and the role of individual experiences in perceptions of COVID-19 coverage • All public health crises have an element of uncertainty to them; however, even in this context, COVID-19 stands out. Trust heuristics such as institutional trust, and trust in media in particular, become more important for people seeking information. In this study, we use a cross-sectional nationally representative study of the American online population to better understand factors impacting overall perceptions of and trust in COVID-19 news. We focus on a subset of people exhibiting traits of collective narcissism, the emotional investment in an in-group such as the nation-state. We show that for core values like institutional trust and perceptions of news media in general, indices for collective narcissism may prove valuable in understanding relationships between audience perceptions and core ideological beliefs. However, in the case of individual news events where uncertainty may be high, individual components of collective narcissism (i.e. anti-elitism, general conspiracy belief, and xenophobia) remain better perception indicators.”

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Seth Ashley, Boise State University; Stephanie Craft, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign; Adam Maksl, Indiana University Southeast; Melissa Tully, University of Iowa; Emily Vraga, University of Minnesota • News literacy, conspiratorial thinking, and political orientation in the 2020 U.S. election • The rapid spread of misinformation in the digital age has increased calls for news literacy to help mitigate endorsement of conspiracy theories and other falsehoods. This study conducted in the week before the 2020 U.S. presidential election shows that individuals with higher levels of news literacy were more likely to reject conspiratorial thinking, but also that news literacy is unevenly distributed across the population and matters more for individuals with liberal views than conservative views.

Research Paper • Student • Open Competition • Kjerstin Thorson, Michigan State University; Ava Francesca Battocchio, Michigan State University • Change is the only constant: Young adults as platform architects and the consequences for news • We examine digital platform repertoires for news among young adults. Through the lens of “digital labor,” we explore the work that young adults’ undertake to design and maintain their personal media systems, and the consequences of those practices for news use. Drawing on 30 in-depth interviews with 18-34-year-olds, including a shared reading of participants’ newsfeeds in their top three social media platforms, we develop the theoretical concept of personal platform architecture. Our findings suggest that young adults architect and maintain platform repertoires for sociality, personal interests, and emotional well-being rather than for information—but with substantial consequences for news.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Porismita Borah; Xizhu Xiao; Yan Su • The interplay of narrative versus statistics messages and misperceptions on COVID-19 vaccine intention • Drawing on exemplification theory, we used a moderated moderated mediation model to test the relationships among message manipulation, perceived expectancies, perceived susceptibility, COVID-19 misperceptions and intention to vaccinate. Findings show that perceived expectancies mediate the relationship between message manipulation and vaccine intention. Findings indicate that among individuals with high misperceptions about COVID-19, statistical messages are more persuasive for individuals with high perceived susceptibility, while narrative messages are more influential for individuals with low perceived susceptibility.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Maria DeMoya, DePaul University; Vanessa Bravo, Elon University • New Cuban-American narratives about the homeland: Moving away from traditional storylines shared by “hardliners” via Twitter • This study analyzed Twitter conversations about Cuba, posted between June 1, 2017, and July 31, 2020, to discover the main themes that “hardliners” and the “new Cuban diaspora” communicated about in relation to Cuba and its future. This is a relevant and timely topic because, without a Castro as the head of the Cuban government for the first time in over six decades, the international community is getting to know a different image of Cuba. In this context, the Cuban diaspora in Florida has also changed and divided into two contrasting groups: the “hardliners,” who completely oppose the Cuban government and do not want any softening in the U.S.-Cuba relationship; and a newer generation whose members do not support the government on the island but prioritize their support for the Cuban people and are in favor of building new relationships on the island. The younger community approves the travel to the island, supporting their relatives at home through remittances, and potentially ending the U.S. embargo imposed on Cuba since 1960. As the analysis of their Tweets showed, this second group is a “new Cuban diaspora” that is changing the way in which the Cuban diaspora performs its public diplomacy roles in the United States.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Erik Bucy, Texas Tech University; Duncan Prettyman, Colorado Technical University • Misinformation and News Verification: Why Users Fact Check Suspect Content • The rise of misinformation has led to a corresponding call for more investigation into the antecedents of news verification, and for improved understanding about who verifies and why. In this study we conduct a thematic analysis of participants’ open-ended responses (N = 2,938 individual thoughts, volunteered by N = 715 participants) to an online questionnaire to explore the factors that may influence individuals’ decisions to verify or not verify information they have reason to believe might be false when they are given the opportunity to do so. We investigate what themes are associated with information verification broadly, then examine the prevalence of themes when associated with several individual difference variables that previous research suggests may be impactful. Specifically, we examine the association of themes with news knowledge (high vs low), news skepticism (high vs low), and individuals’ motivations for media use (surveillance vs entertainment). Descriptive results show significant differences in the characteristics of searchers compared to non-searchers. In addition, news knowledge is a particularly potent individual difference: individuals with high news knowledge had more thoughts about the need to verify information, concerns about manipulative intent, and were far less entertained by the idea of fake news than those with low news knowledge.

Research Paper • Postdoc • Open Competition • Richard Canevez, University of Hawaii at Manoa; Moshe Karabelnik, University of Hawaii at Manoa; Jenifer Sunrise Winter, University of Hawaii at Manoa • Media Mistrust and the Meta-Frame: Collective Framing of Police Brutality Evidence Reporting on YouTube • Social media impacts the news media’s role in police accountability. This convergence produces collective framings of police violence-related evidence that requires further attention. Using a frame analysis of news outlets and content analysis of comments on YouTube, we identify frames, responses, and the collective framing that results from this converging environment. Our findings suggest a triumvirate of competing frames around police brutality, with mistrust of media complicating the role news media plays in accountability.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Stella Chia, City University of Hong Kong; Fangcao Lu; Al Gunther • Who Conducts Fact Checking and Does It Matter?: Examining the Antecedents and Consequences of Fact-checking Behavior in Hong Kong. • This study utilizes a representative survey to examine multiple ways in which people engage in fact checking in a highly divided Hong Kong. The findings showed that stronger partisans who had greater news consumption were more likely to engage in fact-checking behavior. However, frequent fact-checking behavior enhanced, rather than reduced, their beliefs in pro-attitudinal misinformation. A warning of the backfire effects of fact-checking on exacerbating opinion polarization and social division is issued.

Extended Abstract • Research Fellow • Open Competition • Agnes Chuah; Shirley Ho; Edson Tandoc Jr; Peihan Yu • Extended Abstract: Exploring the Information Authentication Acts of Experts, Environmentalists, and the Public in Southeast Asia • Drawing on the Audiences’ Acts of Authentication framework, this study explores how the public, energy experts, and environmentalists in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore authenticate energy related information in a period of energy-related misinformation. The findings showed that the authentication behaviors across the three countries were consistent with the two-step process proposed by the framework. Individuals would turn to external forms of authentication when they were internally unconvinced of the authentication of the information.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Di Cui • What Remains? The Relationship between Counterfactual Thinking, Story Outcome, Enjoyment, and Emotion in Narratives • Counterfactual thinking is a psychological concept. It explains the phenomenon that occurs when individuals reflectively imagine different outcomes for events that have already happened. This paper examines the application of counterfactual thinking in the field of media psychology. It examines if readers can generate counterfactual thinking in a fictional context. It also looks at the relationship between counterfactual thinking, enjoyment, and negative emotions. By conducting two experiments, the author finds readers can generate counterfactual thinking toward narrative pieces. Different story outcomes play an essential role in influencing the generation of counterfactuals. These findings indicate that counterfactual thinking can be a critical factor that impacts audiences’ understanding and reimaging stories in the long-term.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Roxanne Vos, Radboud University Nijmegen; Serena Daalmans, Radboud University, Behavioural Science Institute • Fit Bodies that Inspire? A Qualitative study exploring perceptions of and motivations for interacting with Fitspiration content on social media • The purpose of this qualitative study (N = 34 interviews) was to gain insight into the motives that underlie the interaction with Fitspiration content on social media and the personal meaning making processes surrounding this interactions. Based on the data four motives to post ‘fitspirational’ content and eight to follow the trend on social media were constructed. These give insight into the positive and negative ways participants believe Fitspiration affects them and others.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Lisa Farman, Ithaca College • Political news personalization and the third-person effect: Examining support for restrictions on audience data collection • An online survey (N=561) tested perceptions of the personalization of online political news. A third-person effect emerged: respondents believed others would be more affected by personalized political news than themselves. Those who thought others would be more affected by news personalization were also more likely to support restrictions on websites’ use of audience data to personalize news. Narcissism was a significant moderator of the relationship between perceived effect on self and support for regulation.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Juliana Fernandes, University of Florida; Moritz Cleve, University of Florida • The Labeling Experiment: Examining the Differential Effects of Equivalent Labels on Individuals’ Associations toward Immigrants • Using a mix-methods approach, this study examines the differential effects of equivalent labels (i.e., authorized, documented, legal vs. unauthorized, undocumented, illegal) and the impact of these labels on individuals’ associations toward immigrants. Results of three studies show that those exposed to positive valenced labels produce more favorably associations of immigrants than those exposed to negative valenced labels (Study 1a), that associations tend to be quicker for labels such as illegal and slower for labels such as authorized (Study 1b), and that the interaction of association type (warmth/morality vs. competence) with association valence accounts for more variance in evaluations than labels, especially for negatively valenced associations (Study 2). Overall, the series of studies suggests a stronger influence of associations about warmth and morality compared to associations about an immigrant’s competence.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Débora Martini, University of Colorado Boulder; Harsha Gangadharbatla, University of Colorado Boulder • Pornography Addiction and Social Media: An exploratory study on the impact of social media on the road to porn abstinence. • Pornography addiction is on the rise in our society and excessive use often leads to negative life consequences. Just as other addictions, porn addiction can also be triggered by a number of factors. Of these factors, the role of social media has not been fully studied or understood. The current exploratory study uses a survey method to investigate the role of social media in porn addiction among Brazilian porn addicts. Results suggest that social media content is seen as a trigger by self-identified porn addicts and the factors that influence such perception include age of the addict, gender, and the number of times they have relapsed. And changes in behavior on social media are influenced by individuals’ perceptions of social media as a trigger.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Mugur Geana, University of Kansas; Nathaniel Rabb, The Policy Lab, Brown University; Steven Sloman, The Policy Lab, Brown University • The Growing Influence of Political Ideology in Shaping Health Behavior in the United States • Political polarization is a growing concern in many parts of the world and is particularly acute in the US. This study reinforces previous research on long-term health consequences driven by partisanship by showing that these ideologically-driven differences manifest even more acutely in situations where the possibility of severe illness or death is immediate, and the potential societal impact is significant. The substantial implications for public health research and practice are both methodological and conceptual.

Research Paper • Student • Open Competition • Tong Jee Goh, Nanyang Technological University; Shirley Ho • Public buying behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic: Presumed media influence and the spillover effects of SARS • Testing for a historical spillover effect, this study examined how the influence of presumed media influence (IPMI) processes differed between people with low and high perceived severity of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), when it comes to predicting Singaporeans’ purchasing intention during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results showed that people’s presumptions of media influence on others predicted their intention to buy more. The study also found a historical spillover effect of pre-existing attitude towards SARS.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Gretchen Hoak • Unprecedented Times: How Journalists Coped with the Emotional Impact of Covering the COVID-19 Pandemic • This study explored the stress of covering the COVID-19 pandemic on journalists in the United States. A survey of 222 journalists revealed covering the story was both stressful and emotionally difficult. Females and those who were younger and less experienced perceived higher levels of stress and felt the story was more emotionally difficult than their counterparts. The repetitive nature of the coverage, interacting with victims, and public backlash for their reporting were among the top stressors. Supervisor support was associated with higher levels of work commitment and lower levels of stress. Nearly 60% of participants indicated they received no stress management or coping resources from their news organizations. Of those that did receive support options, most did not take advantage noting the resources were either not feasible or not helpful. Implications for organizational support and its impact on journalist stress are discussed.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Iveta Imre, U Mississippi; Jason Cain • Social Media Use Intensity and Privacy Concerns: The Implications for Social Capital • This study examines how SNS use intensity, specifically social routine integration and social integration and emotional routine, correlate with social capital, as well as how privacy concerns impact the relationship between SNS use intensity and social capital. Findings support that social capital correlates with both factors on the use intensity scale. Only the accuracy factor was a significant predictor of bridging capital while both accuracy and control, and collection proved significant for bonding capital.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Jessica Shaw, Louisiana State University; Soojin Kim, Louisiana State University; Yongick Jeong, Louisiana State University • Determination of the Factors Influencing the Third-Person Effects in Health and Environmental Concerns • This study examines how three personal factors (issue involvement, behavior change intention, and consumption amount) influences the third-person effect in different public issues of health and environment. By employing two measures of the third-person effect (perceived threat of public issues and perceived likelihood of participating in risky behavior), this study found that the influence of the three personal factors vary across issues and measures. Practical implications and suggestions are also discussed.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Shaheen Kanthawala, University of Alabama; Shupei Yuan, Northern Illinois University; Tanya Ott-Fulmore • Science Podcasters and Centering Fairness in Content Creation • “The podcast industry has steadily grown over the last decade and keeps showing promise for further growth. Science and science-related podcasts are a popular genre of podcasts that seem to play a role in science communication. Fundamentally, information provided through science communication is a resource, and there is often disparity in the allocation of most resources. As creators of content that could not only help, but also possibly add to this disparity, science podcasters need to be aware of their audience when developing podcasts.

Therefore, we use the fairness and justice literature to explore how science podcasters think about their audiences when creating content. We further explore how science podcasters view themselves and the role of their podcasts within the science communication space. To do this, we conducted a survey with 147 of the top science podcasters (identified from Apple Podcasts’ top rankings). Our results indicated podcasters view themselves in a connecting role between scientific information lay audiences. They hold ethical values and are mindful of principles of fairness. These findings indicate that they view themselves in the role of science communicators – a role of vital importance today. Their resources should, therefore, be harness in the future to spread science and scientific information to the general public.”

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Danielle Kilgo, University of Minnesota; Rachel Mourao, Michigan State University; Tania Ganguli, University of Minnesota • Media Consumption, Attitudes, and #BlackLivesMatter on the Ground, Court and Field • This work utilizes a nationally representative survey to explore how news media consumption of mainstream, partisan and sports news organizations and the attitudes held by audiences affect recall, negative attitudes towards protest utility, and support for Black Lives Matter. We include considerations for celebrity advocacy efforts in the NBA and NFL. We found ideological and political barriers to support for BLM, indicating conservatism has a stronger impact on protest attitudes, regardless of the tactics employed.

Research Paper • Student • Open Competition • Jisoo Kim, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Gaofei Li, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Xining Liao, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Hernando Rojas • When does the Past Colonial Memory Plug into Nationalism? Information and Media’s Priming of Anti-Japan Nationalism in South Korea and China • Underlining the importance of the respective context of nationalism, this study focuses on anti-Japan nationalism in South Korea and China, which share a similar history of being colonized by Japan. Anti-Japan nationalism has always been alive but explicitly appears in people’s attitudes and behaviors only at certain times. Our study is centered on how information regarding a painful memory of the colonial past may prime individuals to express stronger anti-Japan attitudes and behaviors. Our results suggest that our prime contextually interacts with different types of media in unique ways: in South Korea, those that use social media more often are primed to express increased anti-Japanese nationalism, while in China it is those that consume more mainstream media. Implications of our findings are discussed.

Research Paper • Student • Open Competition • Tom Johnson; Taeyoung Lee; Chenyan Jia, The University of Texas at Austin • Politically Contested Beliefs: Why Do Conservatives Tend to Have More Inaccurate Beliefs About COVID-19? • A fair amount of research showed that politically conservative people are susceptible to false claims about COVID-19. Based on the belief gap hypothesis, this study examines why conservatives have more false beliefs about COVID-19. A representative survey showed that institutional trust was associated with people’s beliefs around COVID-19. Meanwhile, conservative identity indirectly influenced having false beliefs through institutional trust. Also, support for Trump, education, and the use of conservative media predicted having false beliefs.

Research Paper • Student • Open Competition • Lincoln Lu, University of Florida; T. Franklin Waddell, College of Journalism and Communications, University of Florida • The new yellow peril: Priming news context on attitudes towards Asian models, and brands • Recent increase in incidents of violence towards Asian Americans are indicative of underlying animosity often overlooked in discussions of race. Within a news story advertising context, an online experiment (N = 372) found some evidence that consumer ethnocentrism may moderate perceptions of attractiveness for male Asian models, consumer attitudes towards the ad, brand, and purchase intention. These results provide insight into race-based stereotyping at a time of flux surrounding race in America.

Research Paper • Student • Open Competition • Nick Mathews, University of Minnesota; Christopher Ali • Informational, Infrastructural and Emotional Labor: The Extra Work in a News and Broadband Desert • This study offers a systematic qualitative investigation inside a combined news and broadband desert. Despite popular attention to both news and broadband deserts, most recently and acutely during the coronavirus pandemic, there has been no scholarly research into communities where these two deserts intersect. This article confronts this knowledge gap. Built on 19 in-depth interviews with residents of Surry County, Va., we argue that life in a news and broadband desert requires a substantial amount of labor to obtain the information and connectivity so many Americans take for granted. Our findings demonstrate three areas of increased labor for residents: (1) informational, (2) infrastructural and (3) emotional. We conclude with a discussion of life and labor in this desert, specifically, and how it may apply to similar communities across the United States.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Newly Paul, University of North Texas; Gwendelyn Nisbett, University of North Texas • Jessica Jones: Exploring Marvel’s Dark Anti-Hero and the Portrayal of Complex Women Characters • This project uses social construction of gender theory to explore transmedia narratives of Jessica Jones in the graphic novel Alias, and the Netflix television shows Jessica Jones and The Defenders. Transmedia narratives often ascribe new dimensions to characters and narratives, and we aim to compare and contrast the narratives that emerge in these spaces. Using thematic analysis, we find that Jones breaks the sexist tropes often associated with female superheroes, and exemplifies the qualities of a strong, independent woman.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Chang Sup Park; Barbara Kaye • Why and How People Avoid News during the Coronavirus Pandemic: An Analysis of News Repertoire • This study explored how the coronavirus pandemic as a large-scale news event functioned as a catalyst for news avoidance. In-depth interviews with 50 adults in South Korea in May and June 2020 revealed three reasons reconfiguring their media repertoire to ‘coronablock’ news about the pandemic: to tune out, to control information flow, and to seek positive news. The findings contribute to the understanding of news avoidance during a time of global crisis.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Scott Parrott; David L. Albright; Nicholas Eckhart; Kirsten Laha-Walsh • The media affect them, but not me: Veteran and civilian perceptions of news coverage about U.S. military veterans • Informed by theory of the third-person effect, the present study examined civilian and veteran perceptions of news content concerning veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces, including the perceived quality and effects of news content. A national survey of adults in the United States, including veterans and civilians, documented the presence of a third-person effect in which individuals estimate that media exposure affects others more so than themselves. The effect occurred among both civilians and veterans. In addition, when asked to recall news stories about veterans, respondents often recalled stereotypical stories related to victimization/harm, heroism, charity/social support, mental illness, and violence. The results are important for veterans because the third-person effect may lead veterans to assume media content affects public perceptions of veterans, which could in turn affect veterans’ perceptions of interactions with civilians in social, employment, educational, and other settings. Put simply, veterans could act differently when they assume others are thinking they are traumatized heroes, the predominant image conveyed by U.S. news outlets.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Scott Parrott; Hailey Grace Allen • Swapping Insults, Neglecting Policy: How U.S. Presidential Candidates Communicate About Mental Health • Background. Candidates for high office in the United States of America play an important role in determining the political agenda and shaping public and mass media understanding of which issues should receive attention. Critics contend politicians rarely address mental health, despite the importance of the federal government in ensuring Americans access to quality care. Aims. Two studies sought to understand how candidates for the highest office in the U.S. — the presidency — communicated about mental health using formal (mental, depress, anxiety) and informal (crazy, insane) terminology in social media posts and debates. Methods. Two coders examined 1,807 tweets from 41 politicians who competed in the 2016 and 2020 races, plus transcripts from 47 debates during the primaries and General Elections. Results. Politicians often stigmatized mental illness, using mental health-related slang terms to insult opponents. They afforded less attention to policy and calls for action related to mental health. Conclusions. The authors offer recommendations for mental health professionals and advocates to encourage politicians to address mental health policy while avoiding stigmatizing language.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Mallory Perryman, Virginia Commonwealth • My Pandemic News is Better Than Yours: Audience Perceptions of Early News Coverage About Covid-19 • This study focuses on how American audiences perceived news coverage during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic in the United States. Through a survey-experiment of American news consumers (N=767) over a three-day period in mid-March 2020, we show that news consumers had positive attitudes toward their own Covid-19 news sources, but were critical about the news sources others were using to get information about the virus. Our data reveal evidence of presumed media influence, where audiences’ evaluations of pandemic news were linked to their perceptions of how news content was impacting others’ health behaviors.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Jeffrey Riley, Georgia Southern University • When In Doubt, Blame China: A Qualitative Analysis of Conservative Coronavirus Content on Reddit • This is a qualitative content analysis examining the top content posted to the conservative, /r/The_Donald-affiliated subreddit /r/Wuhan_Flu from February 2020 until August 2020. The expectations of health misinformation and widespread downplaying of the virus were not met. Instead, /r/Wuhan_Flu deviated from Donald Trump’s public statements about the pandemic and tended to be far more alarmist than calming. Instead of health misinformation, the subreddit tended to encourage masks and social distancing. However, the results also indicate that geopolitical issues with China were the primary topic, with 217 posts containing negative language or visual images directed at China. Based on literature about radicalized digital spaces, /r/Wuhan_Flu represents the potential for dangerous real-world consequences, especially considering the increase in hate crimes against Asians and Pacific Islanders in the United States since the beginning of the pandemic.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Aysha Vear, University of Maine; Judith Rosenbaum, University of Maine • Identity for Sale: Authenticity, Commodification, and Agency in YouTube Influencers • Focusing on YouTube influencers, this study extends structuration theory into the realm of social media. Interviews, observations, and content analysis were used to explore the relationship between agency, commodification, and authenticity in influencers’ performances. Results show a need to reconceptualize structures as emergent and embodied; that authenticity and agency are inexorably linked and constrained by the commodification inherent in influencers’ performances; and that influencers face a hierarchy of choices that enable and constrain their agency.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Burton Speakman, Kennesaw State University; Marcus Funk • Influencing the agenda: The role of conservative figures in melding media agendas for social media communities • Historically, mainstream news media held significant agenda setting authority. As news and social media evolve, individual actors and digital communities have to meld and filter diverse media agendas into one curated, personal space for their followers. This article examines attempts at far right agendamelding by fringe and conspiracy-affiliated Reps. Lauren Boebert and Majorie Taylor Greene during and after their respective runs for Congress. Results suggest far right politicians can meld agendas from friendly media and their own campaigns, while rejecting mainstream agendas, to influence their Twitter community.

Research Paper • Student • Open Competition • Yan Su; Porismita Borah; Xizhu Xiao • “Infodemic” amid the pandemic: Social media news use, homogeneous discussions, self-perceived media literacy, and misperceptions • Heeding the call to address the “infodemic” in the COVID-19 crisis, this research investigates the associations among social media news use, homogeneous online discussion, self-perceived media literacy, and misinformation perceptions about the COVID-19. We use an online survey and a moderated mediation model. Results show that social media news use is positively associated with misinformation perceptions. Moreover, homogeneous online discussion was a significant mediator, such that social media news use is positively associated with homogeneous discussion, and the latter, in turn, is associated with increased misinformation perceptions. Further, self-perceived media literacy is a significant moderator for both the main and the indirect effects, such that the associations became weaker among those with higher self-perceived media literacy. Findings provide insights into the significance of information sources, discussion network heterogeneity, and media literacy education.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Chris Chao Su, Boston University • Attention Convergence and Narrative Coalescence: The Impact of the US Presidential Election on the Generational Gap in Online News Use • This study revisits the contentious role of the 2016 US presidential election in shaping news and disinformation use by contrasting usage networks of millennials and boomers, two groups with disparate preferences. Theoretically, through bringing the literature on selective exposure thesis into media events, this study advances an analytical framework to approach increased divergence and intensified polarization in the election through a sociological perspective. Empirically, this study compares the generational gap in online news usage in a typical month (Apirl-2015) and the month just before Elections (October-2016), by conducting relational analyses of shared usage for each cohort comprising all major news outlets. The analyses reveal that during the election boomers moved toward a collection of digital-native outlets that produce and disseminate political disinformation – the fake fringe – as well as more toward conservative partisan side of the news landscape. Investigating audience convergence during Donald Trump’s election, this study demonstrates that although the public tends to converge their attention in the event, the systematic divergence in consuming various narratives of the event forcefully steers to audience divergence compared to uneventful periods.

Research Paper • Student • Open Competition • Yuan Sun; Nicholas Eng, Penn State University; Jessica Myrick, Penn State University • Getting Inspired by Fitspiration Posts: Effects of Picture Type, Numbers of Likes and Inspiration Emotions on Workout Intentions • The study investigated the potential positive effects of fitspiration posts for inspiring physical exercises through a 2 (Numbers of likes: High vs. Low) x 2 (Picture type: Body transformation vs. After-only) between-subject experiment. Numbers of likes cued subjective norm, while body transformation posts elicited inspirational emotion, which mediated the effects of picture type on workout intention. Picture type and numbers of likes jointly affected descriptive norm and inspiration emotion, which led to workout intention.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Edson Tandoc Jr; Hye Kyung Kim, Nanyang Technological U • Avoiding real news, believing in fake news? Investigating pathways from fake news exposure to misbelief • This study sought to examine the potential role of news avoidance in the link between exposure to and belief in misinformation. Using two-wave panel survey data in Singapore, we found that exposure to misinformation contributes to information overload, which is subsequently associated with news fatigue as well as with difficulty in analyzing information. News fatigue and analysis paralysis also subsequently led to news avoidance, which made individuals more likely to believe in misinformation.

Extended Abstract • Student • Open Competition • Taylor Voges, UGA; LaShonda Eaddy, Southern Methodist University; Shelley Spector, Museum of Public Relations; Yan Jin, University of Georgia • Effective Health Risk Communications: Lessons Learned about COVID-19 Pandemic through the Lens of Practitioners • The study utilizes semi-structured interviews of health risk communication practitioners in the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic. The contingency theory of strategic conflict management is the guide to understanding the challenges and nuances. Insights gained from interviewing practitioners (projected, n=40) from different sectors with diverse professional backgrounds will help advance the contingency theory’s application in understanding the dynamics observed in times of health risks and crises threatening societal wellbeing.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • T. Franklin Waddell, College of Journalism and Communications, University of Florida; Chelsea Moss • Fake News in the Family: How Family Communication Patterns and Conflict History Affect the Intent to Correct Misinformation among Family Members • Do family communication patterns or family conflict history affect the intention to correct fake news shared by family members? A pre-registered online survey (N = 595) was conducted to answer this question. Results revealed that conversation orientation and conformity orientation positively predicted the intention to correct family members, while family history was negatively related with corrective action intention. Presumed influence, by comparison, was not significantly related to corrective action. Theoretical implications are discussed.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Chuqing Dong, Michigan State University; Yuan (Daniel) Cheng, University of Minnesota – Twin Cities • How do NPOs effectively engage with publics on social media? Examining the effects of interactivity and emotion on Twitter • “Nonprofit organizations (NPOs) are increasingly using social media to engage with publics. However, communication factors associated with effective social media use remain unclear in the nonprofit literature. Drawing from literature on public engagement, interactivity, and emotions, this study employs a computational approach to examine the effects of communication strategies on NPOs’ public engagement on Twitter (i.e., likes and retweets). By analyzing functional interactivity, contingency interactivity, and emotion elements of tweets from the 100 largest U.S. NPOs (n= 301,559), this study finds negative effects of functional interactivity on likes, negative effects of contingency interactivity on likes and retweets, but a positive effect of functional interactivity on retweets. The findings also show negative effects of emotion valence on likes and retweets but positive effects of emotion strength on likes and retweets. Using NPO type as a moderator suggests that there are varying effects of interactivity and emotion on public engagement for service-oriented and other types of NPOs. Practical implications regarding strategic social media use in the nonprofit sector are discussed.

Research Paper • Student • Open Competition • Alexander Moe, SUNY Brockport • Do All Types of Warning Labels Work on Flagging Misinformation? The Effects of Warning Labels on Share Intention of COVID-19 Vaccine Misinformation • Using a survey experiment (N = 403), this study tested the effectiveness of Twitter warning labels flagging misinformation pertaining to COVID-19 vaccines. Results showed that all types of warning labels decreased perceived credibility and share intention compared to no label condition. Moderated mediation analysis showed that vaccine hesitancy moderated the relationship between exposure to warning labels and perceived credibility while perceived credibility served as a mediator on the effects of warning labels on share intention.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Xiaochen Zhang, University of Oklahoma; Jonathan Borden • Linguistic Attribution Framing: A Linguistic Category Approach to Framing Crisis • Based on Attribution Theory, this study proposes a linguistic category approach to framing. A 2 (language: concrete/abstract) x 3 (social identity: out-group/in-group/control) experiment in a political crisis context was used to understand linguistic framing’s effects on attribution. Main effects a) of abstract (vs. concrete) language and b) of out-group (vs. in-group) on higher attribution, future crisis occurrence and unethical perceptions of the politician were found. Implications for framing research are discussed.

Research Paper • Student • Student Competition • Wen Xuan Hor, Nanyang Technological University; Rui Yan Leo, Nanyang Technological University; Xin Jie Tan, Nanyang Technological University; Agnes Yeong Shuan Chai, Nanyang Technological University • The Effects of Nudges on Social Media Users in the Context of COVID-19 Fake News • This study examines the applicability of nudging on reducing sharing of fake news. Using a 2 (Nudge Frame – Gain vs. Loss) x 2 (Nudge Frequency – Single vs. Repeated) between-subject experiment (n = 238), results showed gain-frame nudge will lower the likelihood of sharing and confidence of news. We also examined individual-level traits, need for cognition and reactance, but found no evidence to support moderation. Theoretical and practical implications for nudging theory were discussed.

Extended Abstract • Student • Student Competition • Sarah Fisher, University of Florida • Media Parenting Styles: A Typology of Parental Guidance of Electronic Media Use • Parental guidance for children’s electronic media use varies greatly. From parents who carefully limit the content set before their children’s eyes, to parents who allow freedom for their children to explore on electronic devices. This typology provides a useful definition of a range of parental oversight styles of their children’s use of electronic media. The typology categories emerged from in-depth interviews (N=20) with parents regarding their oversight of their children’s use of electronic media.

Research Paper • Student • Student Competition • Niki Fritz • Porn and Consent: The relationship between college students’ pornography consumption, perception of realism, and sexual consent intentions • Despite sexual assault prevention education (SAPE) on college campuses, sexual assault remains a persistent issue on campuses. Student may be learning non-consensual sexual activity scripts from other sources, such as pornography. Additionally, perceived pornography realism may mediate the relationship between pornography consumption and non-consensual behavioral intentions. This national survey of 500 undergraduate students suggests pornography consumption has a strong positive relationship with non-consensual behavioral intentions and perceived pornography realism was found to mediate the relationship.

Research Paper • Student • Student Competition • Si Yu Lee, Nanyang Technological University Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information (WKWSCI); Jasmon Wan Ting Hoh, National University of Singapore • From “OK Boomer” to “Boomer Remover”: A Critical Examination of Ageist Memes by Meme Factories • Memes and meme factories are increasingly the new fronts for ageism online. Guided by the tripartite model of ageism and third and fourth age concepts, this study employed multimodal discourse analysis to analyze 98 memes from five meme factories in Singapore. An ageist portrayal of older adults in memes was found and tropes like fetishization and denigration of the old were identified. The intersectionality of ageism with gender, race, and class was also emphasized.

Research Paper • Student • Student Competition • Xiaofen Ma, National University of Singapore • Predictors of IS Professionals’ Information Security Protective Behaviors in Chinese IT Organizations: The Application of the Organizational Antecedents, Theory of Planned Behavior and Protection Motivation Theory Abstract • “Securing organizational information systems (IS) as pivotal information assets is central to achieving a strategic advantage; this is an organization-wide concern. Recognition by practitioners and researchers of the positive impact of inside work-driven protective behaviors on IS security at the organizational level has led to the establishment of a research stream focused on IS experts’ performance of protective behaviors. To contribute to the research stream, this study employs two theories: protection motivation theory (PMT) and the theory of planned behavior (TPB), and a set of work-related organizational antecedents: organizational commitment and job satisfaction, often cited in information security literature. Therefore, given the varied facets central to work-motivated information security resources, determining the relationships of each distinct PMT, TPB, and organizational aspect with IS experts’ protective behaviors is a significant contribution. Using a survey of 804 representative IS professionals in the Chinese information technology (IT) industry, we find support for several associations: (a) information security attitude and subjective norms as constituents of TPB significantly influenced the information security protective behaviors performed by IS experts; (b) the coping appraisals (self-efficacy and response cost) and threat appraisals (threat susceptibility and threat severity) of PMT were significantly predictive of IS experts’ protective behaviors toward information security; and (c) organizational factors involving organizational commitment positively impacted the protective behaviors. However, job satisfaction, and perceived behavioral control as a construct of the TPB were not associated with information security behaviors. Contributions to theory and implications for practice are discussed.

Research Paper • Student • Student Competition • Yefu Qian, School of Media and Communication, Shanghai Jiao Tong University; Chen Li; Ruimin He • The Mediated Classroom: A Grounded Theory Analysis of Live Streaming Media Affordance and Teaching Context Remodeling from The Perspective of Actor-Network-Theory • The massive and popular application of emerging media technology (such as live streaming, virtual meeting-Zoom & Google Meet) in releasing the tensions of suspended classes during the global pandemic (COVID-19) provides an entry point to visualize the role of mediatization in shaping the traditional human social practice. As the online form of teaching penetrates in college education, it is of practical significance to comprehend the mediated teaching contexts and visualize the optimization of online teaching by exploring the affordance of live streaming media which serving as an “actor” in social networks. In this paper, we apply a qualitative analysis according to the grounded theory, based on detailed interviews with 45 college students in Shanghai, to elaborate on the affordance of live streaming in shaping the online teaching in Actor-Network-Theory. Besides, we target to explore the transformation of the teaching context between media technology and social practice so that we can offer insights for the ongoing or future researches of mediatization.

Extended Abstract • Student • Student Competition • Natasha Strydhorst; Sava Kolev; Philippe Chauveau, Texas Tech University; Eric Milman, Texas Tech University • Learning by doing: The potential effect of interactivity on health literacy • This experimental study investigates the relationship between message interactivity and message comprehension, absorption, and self-reported elaboration of health information as contributors to increased health literacy about COVID-19 and the opioid epidemic. A representative population will be exposed to a stimulus of factsheets, followed by tests measuring perceived comprehension, absorption, elaboration, message processing bias, and political ideology and interest. The authors anticipate a positive correlation between interactivity level and comprehension, absorption, and elaboration scores of participants.

Research Paper • Student • Student Competition • Beverly Tan, Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University; Gabrielle Lee, Nanyang Technological University; Rachel Angeline Chua, Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University; Charlyn Ng, Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University • Cancel Culture and Its Underlying Motivations in Singapore • This mixed-methods study explores Singaporeans’ understanding of cancel culture and motivators of participation. Interviews defined cancel culture as public shaming on a social media platform, carried out or supported by a group of people, which aims to hold people accountable for socially unacceptable behaviour. Our survey found attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control, outcome expectancy, and general Belief in a Just World as significant predictors behaviour through intention, contextualising cancel culture in Singapore’s context.

Research Paper • Student • Student Competition • Sofie Vranken, School for Mass Communication Research, KU Leuven; Sebastian Kurten, Leuven School for Mass Communication Research • A content analysis of alcohol posts from adolescents, brands, influencers, and celebrities in Facebook and Instagram’s persistent and ephemeral messages • “This content analysis examines how peers, celebrities, influencers and brands refer to  alcohol in Facebook and Instagram’s persistent and ephemeral messages. The results show  that: (1) all agents frequently portray alcohol posts, (2) adolescents are the sole agent to  refer to moderate and extreme forms of alcohol use as opposed to celebrities, influencers  and brands whom solely display moderate alcohol posts and (3) some agents  (celebrities/influencers) may have a commercial motive to share alcohol posts.”

Extended Abstract • Student • Student Competition • Shiyu Yang; Nicole Krause; Luye Bao, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Mikhaila Calice, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Todd Newman; Michael Xenos; Dietram A. Scheufele, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Dominique Brossard • Extended Abstract: In AI we trust: The interplay of media attention, trust, and partisanship in shaping emerging attitudes toward artificial intelligence • Artificial intelligence (AI) has changed the way scientists make genetic edits; it has infiltrated our daily lives through the internet of things; and it is being used by law enforcement agencies to fight crime. Many of the societal questions raised in its wake cannot be answered by science. Who or what will govern this technology? How do we prevent inevitable biases in how the technology is developed and applied? In this extended abstract, we report analysis of nationally representative public opinion data and examine what factors, including attention to mass and social media, shape U.S. publics’ trust in various institutions regulating AI development, as well as how trust and political ideology interact to shape public support for AI technology.

Research Paper • Student • Student Competition • Yi Yang, The Chinese University of Hong Kong; Yunyi Hu, The Chinese University of Hong Kong • Women on-screen: Exploring the relationship between consumption of female talent shows and sexism, internalization of beauty ideals, and self-objectification in China • Will consumption of female talent shows influence Chinese women’s self-body relationship? With the framework of objectification theory, this study provides empirical evidence to this question. Using data collected from a sample of 584 females in China, this study found that female talent shows consumption indirectly promoted body-surveillance through the mediation effects of benevolent sexism, internalization of beauty ideals, and self-objectification. Implications of the findings for the reflection on female talent shows in China are discussed.

<2021 Abstracts

2021 Abstracts

Research Paper • Student • Lydia Cheng • The practice and presentation of slow journalism: A case study of Kinfolk magazine • This paper contributes to the literature on slow journalism by analysing how elements of slow journalism is presented in the popular literary lifestyle magazine, Kinfolk. Based on a textual analysis of the editor’s letters from 30 issues of Kinfolk, this study found that the practice of slow journalism is manifested in the magazine through four ways: an emphasis on community, advocating for slowness in both production and consumption of content, and a niche editorial presentation.

Research Paper • Faculty • Lisa Phillips, SUNY New Paltz • Gender, the New Journalism, and the Early Careers of Gloria Steinem and Gail Sheehy • New Journalism has a woman problem. The core works critics, scholars, and the readers associate with the phenomenon are largely written by men, with subject matter—cars, wars, politics, motorcycle gangs—that often privileges male sources and perspectives. Yet a number of women writers consciously embraced the reporting methods, style, subjectivity, narrative structure, and subject matter of New Journalism, with several achieving levels of commercial success comparable to their male colleagues. Despite these accomplishments, women writers’ legacy in New Journalism remains tenuous. Joan Didion is the only woman who is consistently seen as part of the core canon of New Journalism writers. Several others occupy a far less certain position. What accounts for the tenuous foothold of women writers in the New Journalism? This article will address this question by looking at the process by which the accomplishments, writing style, and reportorial methods of two women journalists, Gloria Steinem and Gail Sheehy, connected them to New Journalism and the social and cultural forces that shaped their professional reputation and legacy.

Research Paper • Faculty • Gabriel B, Tait, Ball State University; George Daniels, The University of Alabama; Dorothy Bland, University of North Texas • Fifty Years of Black Enterprise Magazine Covers: A Visual Analysis of Black Business • The same year Black Enterprise Publisher Earl G. Graves, Sr died, his magazine celebrated its 50th anniversary. A content analysis of 509 Black Enterprise covers shows how it represented Black business professionals and issues. While they appeared more often in the last two decades, women were significantly less likely than men to be on the front of the magazine. Gracing the magazine cover most often were Barack Obama and Former American Express CEO Kenneth Chenault.

Research Paper • Faculty • Kelsey Whipple, University of Massachusetts Amherst • Cancel or be canceled?: How U.S. arts and culture journalists perceive the influence of politics and cancel culture in their work • Modern cultural journalists have a unique relationship to cultural knowledge, capital and authority that attracts them to audiences and establishes them as arbiters of culture. Through a series of in-depth interviews with 73 American arts and culture journalists conducted in 2020, this study seeks to understand how these journalists perceive the influence of politics on their work, as well as their own roles in “cancel culture.” Findings suggest they see the intersection between national politics and popular culture as an increasingly valuable realm for explication in their work. However, their views on cancel culture are mixed, based in fear and anger. Many journalists believe it is their responsibility to support the cancelation of cultural figures who have committed perceived wrongs, while others are afraid of being canceled themselves for unwittingly committing a cultural faux pas in their journalistic work.

<2021 Abstracts

2021 Abstracts

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

<2021 Abstracts