2021 Abstracts

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

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

Research Paper • Student • Meredith Collins; Allison Lazard; Ashley Hedrick; Tushar Varma • It’s Nothing Like Cancer: Young Adults with Cancer Reflect on Memorable Entertainment Media • “Entertainment media simulates social experiences, facilitates coping, and develops resiliency in young adults, ages 18 – 39. These outcomes could be beneficial for young adults with cancer, who typically report lacking social support and suboptimal psychological outcomes during and after treatment. Guided by the memorable messages framework, we investigated which entertainment media young adults with cancer found memorable and why.

We conducted 25 semi-structured, online interviews. Participants were asked to identify any media title that was memorable or meaningful during their cancer experience; they were also asked to explain whether the title had a positive or negative meaning to them, as well as why they felt that way.

Participants were mostly female (79.2%) and White (80%), with a breast cancer diagnosis (45.8%). Media portrayals were helpful if they prompted exploration of emotions and the creation of meaning around the cancer experience, or if they took participants’ minds off cancer. Most entertainment media focused only on death from cancer. Our participants called for more nuanced portrayals that better reflected their lived reality.

Our results revealed media are used as social surrogates, and to find affirmation and validation. On the other hand, our participants felt that entertainment media focused too heavily on death. This may contribute to internalized stigma and decrease psychological functioning, or affect the perceptions of cancer-free peers. Our participants called for more nuanced portrayals that depicted the realities of living with cancer. Future research should further probe the effects of entertainment media on psychological outcomes for young adults with cancer.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

<2021 Abstracts

2021 Abstracts

Research Paper • Faculty • Anthony Adornato, Ithaca College; Allison Frisch, Ithaca College • Longitudinal Study of Social Media Policies In U.S. Television Newsrooms • This longitudinal study analyzes survey data, gathered in 2014 and 2020, regarding local television newsrooms’ social media policies. The purpose of the study is to track changes over time to these policies. The researchers investigate if and in which ways newsroom social media policies are evolving over time in four specific areas: journalists’ professional and personal social media activities; social media sources and content; audience complaints; and ownership of on-air talents’ accounts. The researchers found a significant increase of guidelines regarding what is and is not appropriate on the professional and personal social media of journalists, with little distinction made between these two types of accounts. Although newsrooms have implemented policies to articulate what is appropriate social media conduct and a majority have recently revised policies, those guidelines do not always address the fast-evolving contemporary issues journalists face on a daily basis, specifically online threats against journalists and verification of user-generated content. The researchers found a trend towards news outlets retaining ownership of on-air talents’ professional accounts.

Research Paper • Faculty • Mary Bock, The University of Texas at Austin; Robert Richardson, University of Texas at Austin; Christopher T. Assaf, UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN; Dariya Tsyrenzhapova, University of Texas at Austin • Production and Improvisation: Digital Native News Video as an Emerging Narrative Style • This project uses content analysis to examine the nature of video narrative form on the internet, comparing the news videos posted by legacy print, TV and digital native organizations. Using the lens of narrative theory, this research examines the way organizations use scripting and editing conventions to establish their standing as authoritative storytellers. The results found the three types of organizations use significantly different storytelling styles, with long-term implications for news organizations and their viewers.

Research Paper • Faculty • Jiyoung Cha, San Francisco State University • Factors That Affect Social Media Credibility as a News Channel: the Impact of Network Relationships, Source Perceptions, and Media Use • Recognizing the prevalent use of social media to get news, this study investigates the factors that affect the credibility of social media as a news channel. A survey of 488 U.S. adults who use social media reveals that individuals’ homophily with their social media contacts, source credibility, trust in alternative news sources, reliance on social media to get news, and frequent social media use to get news positively relate to the credibility of social media.

Extended Abstract • Faculty • Stefanie Davis Kempton, Penn State Altoona; Carlina DiRusso, Hope College • Pressure to Perform: Gendered Expectations of Journalists’ Social Media Use • Social media expertise is essential for journalists to compete in today’s digital world. However, not all journalists experience social media the same way. This study is particularly interested in how gender influences these experiences. A survey of broadcast news professionals was conducted to explore social media trends in the news industry. Findings suggest that female journalists experience more online harassment than male journalists and face additional pressures to perform on social media in certain ways.

Extended Abstract • Faculty • Kim Fox, The American University in Cairo; Yasmeen Ebada • Egyptian Female Podcasters: Creating Social Change Through Public Pedagogy • This research will examine the work of eight Egyptian female college podcasters. The researchers concluded that the podcasts were used as a platform to strengthen feminist epistemologies. The researchers posited that all podcasters adopted or would adopt either a Westernized or Black feminist epistemology. Public pedagogy theory helped determine that the podcasters utilized their podcasts as digital feminism to raise awareness to larger societal problems in a country entrenched in patriarchy.

Research Paper • Faculty • Sherice Gearhart, Texas Tech University; Ioana Coman, Texas Tech University; Alexander Moe, SUNY Brockport; Sydney Brammer, Texas Tech University • “Keep Your Politics Off of My Face(book)!” Online News & Hostile Media Bias in the COVID-19 Social Media Environment • Facebook offers a free platform for news organizations to foster audience engagement and expand reach. However, comments seen before reading news articles shape the visible opinion climate and negatively influence readers. Guided by hostile media bias, the influence of comments and a knowledge-based assessment on perceptions of bias and credibility are tested using a nationwide sample of Facebook users (N = 450). Findings show user comments and knowledge-based assessments enhance negative perceptions among audiences.

Research Paper • Faculty • Manuel Goyanes, Carlos III University; Alberto Ardèvol-Abreu; Homero Gil de Zúñiga, University of Salamanca/Penn State University • Antecedents of News Avoidance: Competing Effects of Political Interest, News Overload, Trust in News Media, and ‘News Finds Me’ Perception • Recent changes in the media environment make it easier than ever for people to actively shape their news repertoires according to their habits, needs, and preferences. As convenient as these practices may seem, they also afford the possibility of disconnecting from news and current affairs more efficiently, with potentially deleterious effects on democracy. Building on the conceptualization of news avoidance as a general disposition and its consequential behavior, this study jointly examines key individual-level predispositions that may motivate individual news exposure avoidance. Based on a two-wave panel survey data collected in the United States, results show evidence that political interest and trust in professional news are negatively related with news avoidance, while news overload and—especially—the ‘news finds me’ perception are positively associated with news-avoidance behaviors. Our analyses suggest that the linkages between these cognitive antecedents and news avoidance are contingent upon the robustness of the empirical tests, with the ‘news find me perception’ yielding the most consistent association across models.

Research Paper • Faculty • Miao Guo, Ball State University; Fu-Shing Sun, Ball State University • Local News on Facebook: How Television Broadcasters Use Facebook to Enhance Social Media News Engagement • This study examines how local television broadcasters use Facebook to enhance social media news engagement. By scraping 1,063 news posts from nine local television stations’ Facebook pages, this investigation performs a content analysis on different features of news posts, including news topics, message vividness and interactivity, post time, and length of post. This study further explores how different news post features affect three dimensions of news engagement indicated by reactions, comments, and shares.

Research Paper • Student • Kendal Heavner, The University of Arkansas • The Impact of Media Algorithms on The Habermassian Public Sphere and Discourse • Media algorithms are increasing in use among popular social networking sites (Geiger, 2009). Widely influential in the media sector, algorithms create a highly personalized experience for the individual viewer. However, some scholars argue the specified curation of media based on a user’s personal preferences leads to a “filter bubble,” an online-based self-fulfilling prophecy in which users’ pre-existing opinions are continually reaffirmed. A survey will examine the impacts that media algorithms have on traditional media theories.

Research Paper • Faculty • Steven Collins, University of Central Florida; William Kinnally, University of Central Florida; Jennifer Sandoval, University of Central Florida • What Influences the Influences?: Examining National Culture, Human Development and Journalism Influences • This study examines how social systems level variables may help shape electronic journalists’ perceptions of the forces influencing their work. We combined Worlds of Journalism Study data with Hofstede’s cultural orientations to consider how the levels of the Hierarchical Influences Model may coalesce. In six analyses across four levels, culture was significantly correlated with perceived influences. Our findings support the belief the social systems level is the hegemonic level on which the others levels rest.

Research Paper • Faculty • Michael Koliska, Georgetown University; Neil Thurman, LMU; Sally Stares, City University of London; Jessica Kunert, University of Hamburg • Exploring audience criteria for perceptions of online news videos • “Journalism professionals and media experts have traditionally used normatively framed criteria to define news quality. But the digital news media environment has disrupted the status quo by putting a greater emphasis on audience reactions as markers of news quality. Little research has addressed the criteria audiences themselves use to evaluate news and particularly audio-visual news. We conducted in-depth group interviews with 22 online news video consumers in the UK to explore the criteria that they use in their perceptions and evaluations of online news videos. Thematic analyses suggest many intersecting criteria, which we group under four headings: antecedents of perceptions, emotional impacts, news and editorial values and production characteristics.”

Research Paper • Student • Wendy L.Y. Leung, The Chinese University of Hong Kong • Distant Suffering of Coronavirus Outbreak: Comparing BBC World and Al Jazeera English Epidemic Reporting in China • This research aims to compare how BBC World and Al Jazeera English (AJE) report the “distant suffering” of the initial outbreak of the coronavirus in China through critical discourse analysis. While BBC World highlighted the situation of “western victims” in Wuhan to domesticate the event with audiences, AJE tried to relate audiences through illustrating the outbreak in both China and surrounding infected countries, previewing its possible impact in the globe.

Research Paper • Student • Heidi Makady, University of Florida • I Wouldn’t React to it Because of the Algorithm: How Can Self-Presentation Moderate News Consumption. • While algorithms govern the display of our newsfeed on SNS, studies sought to explore conditions to encourage audience interaction with news content. However, few aimed to understand how audiences may refrain from interaction. This study explores how audience awareness of algorithmic recommendations may drive their news interaction. Through self- presentation framework, results indicate that the higher the level of self-monitoring and algorithmic awareness, the more likely passive news consumption is. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Extended Abstract • Faculty • Dylan McLemore, University of Central Arkansas • Ten Days of Twitter’s “Who to Follow” Algorithm as the Architect of an Election Season Social Network • This study attempts to learn how Twitter curates election information for new users by letting the “Who to Follow” algorithm select accounts for followers of Donald Trump and Joe Biden. The results suggest the algorithm creates a partisan echo chamber by prioritizing ideological agreement. However, it varied significantly in the types of accounts it used to create this bubble, including the number of news personalities and verified accounts suggested to followers of each candidate. A summary of the study is presented in the format of a 1,500-word extended abstract.

Research Paper • Faculty • Kaitlin Miller, University of Alabama • Hostility toward the press: a synthesis of terms, research, and future directions in examining harassment of journalists • While there is an upsurge of research examining hostility toward the press, there continues to be a lack of critical and robust theoretical foundation and agenda for such inquiry. Therefore, the objective of this article is to synthesize literature in the study of abuse and harassment of journalists, set forth clear definitions of terms, situate that literature within a larger theoretical context, and ultimately establish future lines of inquiry for research examining harassment of journalists. The principal objective is to unify work in this growing field to help not only answer important questions about a topic gaining more and more attention, but to also do so with a critical foundation in how hostility toward the press is theorized.

Research Paper • Faculty • Bruno Takahashi, Michigan State University; Qucheng Zhang, Michigan State University; Manuel Chavez, Michigan State University; Yadira Nieves • Touch in disaster reporting: Television coverage before hurricane maria • This study examines the use of touch by television reporters in their interactions with sources — mainly residents and government officials — before Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico. We used a qualitative approach that allowed four themes to emerge inductively. The themes — engagement and participation, empathy and caring, easing tension, and collective empowerment are described in relation to the literature on touch across cultures. Implications for the emotional turn in journalism are discussed.

Research Paper • Student • Melissa Williams, The University of Southern Mississippi; Lindsey Maxwell, Southern Mississippi • The View of the Blue is Bigger than Black and White • Using the social identity theory, this study explored how mass media, race, age, gender, and politic affiliation contribute to Americans’ attitude towards the police. Findings indicate one’s social identity and identification with police play a substantial role in how people choose to view police. Additionally, increased media trust and resulted in more positive perceptions of police, and people who listened to radio news more frequently were more likely to consider police part of their in-group.

Research Paper • Student • Anna Young, University of Connecticut; David Atkin • An Agenda-setting Test of Google News World Reporting on Foreign Nations • The current study examines the international news section of Google News by investigating the frequency and valence of international coverage. The content of news headlines and snippets about other countries are compared to the public perception of those countries, based on a dedicated survey. Although study findings fail to detect a second-level agenda-setting effect, they demonstrate the impact of other variables–such as political philosophy and perceived cultural proximity of the nation–on media agenda-setting.

<2021 Abstracts

2021 Abstracts

Extended Abstract • Student • Elinam Amevor • Cultural Sensitivity in Health Crisis Communication: The Case of COVID-19 Pandemic in Africa • This qualitative study examines the discourses surrounding Melinda Gates’ prediction about dead bodies littering the streets of Africa, if the world did not act fast to rescue the continent. The study thematically analyzed reactions from 12 social media influencers from Nigeria, Kenya, and Ghana. Drawing on the Cultural Dimensions Theory, preliminary findings describe Gates’ remarks as racist and demeaning to Africans. This reinforces the critical need for cultural sensitivity in global health crisis communication

Research Paper • Faculty • Kelli Boling, University of Nebraska – Lincoln • The Power of a Good Story: Domestic Violence Survivors in True Crime Podcast Audiences • This audience reception study qualitatively examines women who identify as domestic violence survivors and fans of true crime podcasts. Using a feminist, critical cultural lens, this study explores why these women are drawn to these podcasts and how they make meaning of the content. Sixteen interviews revealed five themes: the power of a good story, the appeal of audio media, the educational value of the content, their need for understanding, and creating camaraderie through community.

Extended Abstract • Student • Alejandro Bruna, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile • Extended Abstract- Reading Lumpérica from a cinematographic perspective – A fragmented script about marginality • Lumpérica, by Diamela Eltit, presents an interesting narrative mix: stream of consciousness, realism, dialogue and cinematic elements. This work analyzes the enunciated work, discovering that if read from a audiovisual perspective, it is a true script, fragmented and disjointed, but a script nonetheless, framed within a Chile that suffers the pain of dictatorship and, therefore, presents wounds coupled to a marginality that is dependent of the cinematographic eye to be seen.

Research Paper • Faculty • Jennifer Cox, Salisbury University • Black Lives Matter to Media (Finally): A Content Analysis of News Coverage During Summer 2020 • This study examined 286 stories posted about the Black Lives Matter movement and protests following George Floyd’s death by the six most-viewed U.S. news outlets on their Facebook feeds during summer 2020. These organizations published a significant amount of content, though the frequency declined throughout the summer. Stories mostly framed protesters positively and police negatively. Organizations regularly used law/crime spot news to frame protests. The findings suggest a shift away from the media’s protest paradigm.

Extended Abstract • Student • Katherine Dawson • Extended Abstract: Talking Through the Algorithm: Techno-Institutional Bias and Women’s Voices • This work proposes a theoretical framework for understanding how technologies of vocal recording and manipulation, from ‘good speech’ phonetics to A.I. voice renderings, have operated as ideologically charged algorithms that ‘solve’ women’s voices. The research builds upon existing communication literature surrounding the nature and functionality of algorithms, as well as feminist posthumanist theory, which provides a richer conceptualization of how algorithms of voice enact both a political and material discipline upon women’s speech.

Research Paper • Student • Jeffrey Duncan • Video Game Community Content Creators: A Cultural Intermediary Perspective • Video game content creators act as a ‘cultural intermediary’ between game producers and players. Through an interpretive textual analysis of YouTube videos by content creators of two popular games, this study explicates this mediating role the creators play in negotiating the encoding and decoding of gaming messages and their ability to influence audience opinion and producer decisions, highlighting an underrepresented group of creative workers that mediate messages in the gaming industry.

Research Paper • Faculty • Dawn Gilpin, Arizona State University • Theorizing the mediasphere: NRA media and multimodal dependency • This paper uses NRA media operations to illustrate the phenomenon of the mediasphere, defined as a strategically established subsystem of cultural production entrenched in promotional culture and characterized by hybridity, commodification, epistemic authority, embeddedness, identification, centralized control, and oppositionality to mainstream media. A mediasphere represents an attempt to establish audience dependency through multimodal centrality and thereby exercise social and cultural influence; it thus has implications for evolving understandings of information systems, propaganda and promotional culture.

Research Paper • Faculty • Peter Joseph Gloviczki, Coker University • The Space Between Home and Away: Sixteen Fragments across Communication as Culture • “This paper uses sixteen fragments, linked narratives, to make sense of and bring meaning to the space between home and away. Written in an accessible style and broadly inspired by the feminism of Laura Mulvey and the philosophical poetics of Jacques Derrida, the paper

challenges communication as culture to work toward a more narrative, more poststructuralist conceptualization of health communication in particular and communication as culture in

general.”

Extended Abstract • Student • Efrat Gold; megan boler, University of Toronto • Emotionally charged and politically polarized: An interpretive approach to social media analysis • Meaning is never inherent, nor is it neutral. The social act of interpretation, which gets mapped onto people and events, is deeply embedded within pre-existing cultural traditions. Using data from Twitter, Facebook, and Gab as cultural artefacts, we excavate the ways that meanings are made and conveyed through social media. Entering social media to undertake research can feel like entering a new world with its own history, rules, language, and norms. To the less embedded outsider, this world can feel dis-orienting – it is not immediately obvious where to turn, and even less obvious how to make meaning out of what one finds. The ways that people use social media are not neutral, nor are they static – in recent years, it is increasingly clear that social media is doing something, and that something is very influential. But what exactly is this doing and how is it being done? How do social media expressions and interactions speak to deeper beliefs and understandings that people hold about themselves and the world they inhabit? This paper invites a critical reflection on how the work of making meaning out of people, politics, and events is done. As an artefact that says something about the culture from which it stems, social media can inform understandings of the contemporary reality they reflect. Using case studies of comments and interactions among social media users as an occasion to explore cultural practices and disruptions, we dig deep to reveal the social and interpretive aspects already at play.

Research Paper • Student • Julie Grandjean, Texas Tech University • The spectacle of flags • While news editors tend to still consider images as mere illustrations for what is verbally explained (Geise and Baden, 2015), it is important to consider that the analogical properties of images (Abraham and Messaris, 2001) makes them appear more truthful and representative of reality. However, reality tends to be fluid depending on whose story we listen to. This paper narrates the stories of two realist rivals planting their respective national flags on two yet unexplored territories. While the American flag on the Moon was meant as a way to prove the American technological superiority over the USSR to end the Cold War, the Russian flag in the Arctic can be seen as a political move by President Putin to recreate the lost grandeur of the Soviet Union and reenact the Cold War in order to revive his political support at home. By doing so and recording their exploits, the two actors created national narratives that go beyond the simple performance of erecting a flag; I argue that these images construct an affectual nationalist identity through elites’ performance of flag planting, and mass media’s role in staging these political events as a “spectacle.”

Research Paper • Faculty • Azeta Hatef; Sara Shaban • A reckoning in journalism education: Examining the approach to diversity, equity, and inclusion in journalism syllabi • The 2020 protests in the U.S. prompted a reckoning in newsrooms across the country, presenting a critical moment to reflect upon journalism education and preparing students to report on a diverse world. Through Critical Discourse Analysis, we examine syllabi from American universities, focusing on core principles and values in journalism education, specifically their approach to discussions of race, gender, and marginality. While few engage in critical discussion, most universities continue to utilize a traditional framework.

Research Paper • Faculty • Kristen Heflin, Kennesaw State University • Thatcherism, Trumpism, and the Potential of Organic Ideology • In the 1970’s and 1980’s, Stuart Hall struggled to make sense of Thatcherism, an ideology that was incoherent, brought together seemingly opposed viewpoints, and embraced contradiction. Ultimately, Hall developed the concepts of organic ideology and organic intellectual to help make sense of this ideology full of contradictions. This paper examines the theoretical roots of organic ideology and the role of organic intellectuals. It also discusses the concepts in relation to Trumpism and the MAGA movement.

Research Paper • Student • Minos-Athanasios Karyotakis, School of Communication HKBU • Disinformation and Weaponized Communication: The Spread of Ideological Hate about the Macedonian Name in Greece • The current research examined 38 of the most influential disinformation-fueled news (or “fake news”) stories regarding the Macedonian Name Dispute (MND) and the “Prespes Agreement” in the years of 2018 and 2019 by employing the critical discourse analytical (CDA) method of ideological discourse analysis proposed by Van Dijk. The study’s main objective was to expand the relevant literature regarding disinformation, power relations, and hate campaigns by examining the ideological narratives and constructions disseminated through the disinformation-fueled news stories during that two-years-period. The findings showed that those news stories were successfully weaponized and resulted in empowering identity characteristics and ideological narratives through the distancing method (us versus them), the alienation with elements of dramatization (e.g., territorial loss of the Greek Macedonia due to the “Prespes Agreement”), and the sense of victimization and dehumanization that demanded emergency actions to protect the ingroup (Greece) from the outgroup (North Macedonia and its Greek assistants).

Research Paper • Student • Charli Kerns, University of Tennessee, Knoxville • Interrogating Perceptions of Risk and Responsibility in Sports During the Coronavirus Pandemic • This autoethnography examines whitewater kayakers’ decision to paddle the Big South Fork River in Tennessee to reveal the emerging tensions between individual risks inherent in the sport and the much broader constellations of risks into which its participants are interposing themselves during the pandemic. Pre-pandemic rationalities form the context within which individuals engage in neoliberal approaches toward risk-taking in action sports. In turn, these practices articulate with broader frameworks of responsibility in postmodern society.

Extended Abstract • Faculty • Zhaoxi Liu • Dead and Back to Life: “The Eight Hundred” in the Field of Power • In 2019, the Chinese movie “The Eight Hundred” abruptly cancelled its release while China celebrated the 70th anniversary of the People’s Republic, due to political sensitivity. A year later, as China tried to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, the movie became a market-reviving hero. This case study explains the dramatic experience of the movie by exploring the interrelations among the field of cultural production, the field of power, and the field of broader social context.

Research Paper • Faculty • Jessica Maddox; Brian Creech, Temple University • Leaning In, Pushed Out: Postfeminist Precarity, Pandemic Labor, and Journalistic Discourse • During the COVID-19 pandemic, the postfeminist ideal of “having it all” became more contradictory, as women struggled to juggle work and childcare. This research, using critical discourse analysis, examines how lifestyle and explanatory journalism made sense of this problematic ideal as it became evidently untenable during the pandemic. Here, journalism operates as a discursive structure, obscuring its own complicity in sustaining postfeminist and neoliberal relations around the expectations that surround working mothers.

Research Paper • Student • Lucy March • Genre, the meaning of style?: Categorizing Japanese visual kei • This paper explores the Japanese musical movement visual kei, and how to make ontological sense of it given its sonic and visual inconsistencies. Scholars describe visual kei as a socially-driven act of resistance, and as a commercial product with consistent generic characteristics. Examination of a case study demonstrates how visual kei occupies these contradictory spaces simultaneously, and how terms like genre and subculture capture the visual kei’s hybrid nature when used in the appropriate context.

Extended Abstract • Student • Hayley Markovich, University of Florida • Extended Abstract: Race-conscious public health: A critical discourse analysis of the Release the Pressure Campaign • This study focuses on the Release the Pressure campaign aimed at addressing high blood pressure and heart disease rates among Black women in America. Through a critical discourse analysis guided by critical race theory and intersectionality, the study explores how the campaign centers race and responds to structural racism to address heart health. Analysis of the Release the Pressure campaign and its discourses provides an avenue for scholars and practitioners to create race-conscious campaigns.

Research Paper • Student • Zelly Martin, University of Texas at Austin • “The Day Joy Was Over:” Representation of Pregnancy Loss in the News • Recently, news coverage of miscarriage has exploded, fueled primarily by celebrities discussing their personal experiences. To assess discursive constructions of the miscarriage experience in legacy news and women’s magazines, a corpus of 212 articles about pregnancy loss from the New York Times, the Washington Post, People Magazine, and Us Weekly are analyzed using critical discourse analysis. Findings reveal that pregnancy loss coverage perpetuates heteropatriarchal and postracial ideology in service of the narrative of U.S. exceptionalism.

Research Paper • Faculty • Umana Anjalin, University of Tennessee; Abhijit Mazumdar, Park University • India’s #MeToo Movement in Bollywood: Exposing Cultural & Societal Mores • Against the backdrop of the #MeToo movement, aspiring actresses of the Indian film industry have revealed facing sexual harassment at the hands of male colleagues. Using feminist standpoint theory and theoretical thematic analysis of Bollywood actors’ online interviews about facing sexual harassment, this study uncovered common themes about India’s societal, cultural, and administrative mores. It also suggested a few recommendations to overcome the problem.

Extended Abstract • Faculty • Gigi McNamara, University of Toledo • Extended Abstract The One with the Anniversary, the Friends 25th Anniversary Extravaganza: A political economy approach to a postmodern pseudo-event • American broadcast television continues to redefine and reassess its business model as competition for content from steaming services intensifies. In addition, television executives and producers are awash in what I have identified as a “hyper-nostalgic” era of television with reboots and relaunches dotting the primetime landscape. Paying homage to this hyper-nostalgic moment is the publicity juggernaut surrounding the 25th anniversary of the long-running NBC show, Friends. While there are no current plans to relaunch this program with new scripted content, the anniversary event, I contend is indicative of Boorstin’s theory of the pseudo-event. Moreover, I purport the on-going celebrity status of its cast members has furthered strengthened Friends inclusion in the television canon of timeless classics. In my full paper, I will overview the evolution of this hyper-nostalgic pseudo-event and will also draw on the theories from political economy of communication scholars including Riordan, Douglas and Andrejevic. This event also proves to be the “perfect storm” in terms of integrated marketing. The hyper-nostalgic virtue signaling includes both original viewers of the show and a newer younger audience, too young to have watched in the 1990s. Marking this specific historical intersection of celebrity and commerce, Friends continues to identify a new audience, and new consumer base, in this enduring nod to the past.

Research Paper • Faculty • Ali Mohamed, United Arab Emirates University • Investigative journalism and effects of capitalist “pathologies” on societal integration: Challenging Habermas’s “colonization” thesis • “Abstract

Habermas suggests that his “colonization” thesis applies not only to individuals within organizations, but also to institutions like media. Examples Habermas offers point to the vulnerability of journalism, especially, to “market imperatives” in capitalist societies. We challenge this notion by considering the work of investigative journalists who have adapted to advanced digital information technologies in order to reveal “concealed strategic actions” by capitalist interests that operate largely beyond the democratic will-formation of the lifeworld.”

Extended Abstract • Student • Dominique Montiel Valle; Zelly Martin, University of Texas at Austin • Feigning Indignance, Reinstating Power: Paradigm Repair, Femicide, and the Publishing of Ingrid Escamilla’s Murdered Body • In this study, we shed light on the media controversy surrounding the publishing of photos of Ingrid Escamilla’s murdered body in Mexico. Using a theoretical lens that integrates paradigm repair and decolonial feminism, we interrogate how four of Mexico’s most read news publications attempted to reify their media authority in the midst of high threat. We then probe how this positioning reifies media values and institutional alliances that further and perpetuate the devaluation of women.

Research Paper • Student • Madison Mullis, University of Memphis • That’s Why I Smoke Weed: An Analysis of #StonerMom Discourse on TikTok • This research utilized Manning’s symbolic framework to gain a deeper understanding of the #StonerMom phenomenon. A textual analysis was used to examine 55 videos extracted from the “Discover” page on TikTok. The results found that the symbolic framing of drug use on TikTok draws on discourses of social inequality, subsequently reinforcing historical associations between marijuana and POC. #StonerMoms construct marijuana use as a parent-friendly activity through their social media discourse by utilizing the race-neutral term “cannabis” and by framing marijuana as a stress suppressant that helps them be more patient and attentive towards their children. As a result of privileged normalization, #StonerMoms have become complicit in the gentrification of marijuana.

Research Paper • Student • Christina Myers • Beyond the Lens: Black Professional Athletes on Racism & the Realities of Breathing While Black • “This study investigates how Black professional athletes articulate their lived experiences concerning race and racism in the United States through the online digital platform The Players’ Tribune. To explore these dynamics through Critical Race Theory, a qualitative content analysis of narratives (N=29) were analyzed. Results reveal themes of violence perpetuated by law enforcement, fear for the life of self and loved ones, identity, history of systemic racism, call for allyship, Black empowerment and unity. The researcher suggests the counter-narratives that prevail indicate a response against the predominant images and frames in mainstream mass media.

Keywords: Critical Race Theory, Black identity, Black athletes, race”

Extended Abstract • Student • Sohana Nasrin, University of Maryland • Can Journalists be Activists? A Metajournalistic Discourse analysis of the relationship between Journalism and Activism • The relationship between journalism and activism has been a complicated one (Di Salvo, 2020; Russell, 2018; Beaudoin, 2019; Camaj, 2018). Journalism scholars and practitioners have struggled to understand the purviews of the two concepts—journalism and activism. On the one hand, professional journalists have been too concerned with maintaining professional norms such as objectivity, fairness, balance, and the like and tried not to drift into activism while reporting on different issues (Boykoff & Boykoff, 2007). On the other hand, Journalism scholars have engaged in philosophical debates on whether objectivity is a precept of journalism anymore and suggested new values such as transparency (Ingram, 2020) to take its place. This often-contested relationship between journalism and activism got renewed attention, with journalists adequately and accurately covering social justice issues such as racism and scientifically complicated topics such as climate change. The rise of alternative and citizen journalism challenged traditional news media and the norms they abide by. The renewed interests in the relationship between journalism and activism necessitate scholarly attention to understand how and whether journalism and activism can co-exist as professional journalists seek to inform the public. This study attempts to understand professional journalists’ attitudes toward the relationship between journalism and activism by analyzing the metajouranlistic discourse around the topic in the United States. The metajouranlistic discourse indicated that there emerged a shifting attitude toward how professional journalists define journalism.

Extended Abstract • Student • Míchílín Ní Threasaigh, University of Toronto; Ali Azhar, University of Toronto; megan boler, University of Toronto • Melodramatic Platforms: the emotional theatre of collective political storytelling on social media • “If social media is the new digital town hall, Canadian and American democracies are in trouble. Once a site of promise for democratizing mass communication, the internet has also become a site of problematic information and polarized affect. As meta-narratives about national identity clash across social media platforms, it is urgent that we understand how new media is shaping political polarization. In this paper we seek to understand the roles of social media platforms, emotion, and narrative in shaping online civic discourse. More specifically, we ask,

1) How might we analyse social media expressions as a form of collective storytelling?

2) What is the role of emotion in the production and circulation of these polarized political meta-narratives? and,

3) What roles do social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, and Gab play in catalyzing, organizing & circulating these emotionally-charged political meta-narratives?

To answer these questions, we draw upon findings from our three-year, mixed-methods, funded study of affect and narratives of race and national belonging on social media during the 2019 Canadian and 2020 U.S. federal elections; using the January 6th Capitol Riots as a case-study in the melodramatic genre of collective political storytelling on social media.”

Research Paper • Student • Nana Kwame Osei Fordjour, University of New Mexico • Themes, ideology, and social media: A critical analysis of a US Vice President • Considering the paucity of literature in Vice-presidential research, this study analyzes the social media (Facebook) discourse of Vice President Mike Pence, the 48th Vice President of the United States (US). Employing Norman Fairclough’s (2010) three-tier Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) model, I conduct a textual analysis of the Vice President’s social media discourse to analyze the salient themes and ideologies in his Facebook posts. I observed that Vice President Mike Pence portrayed himself like a President in waiting in the wake of President Donald Trump’s impeachment hearings. In addition, findings of this current study indicated that from the ideological standpoint a mediated version of “Trumpism” was performed in the Vice President’s Facebook posts and he indicated his strong Republican values of Conservatism.

Research Paper • Faculty • Jiwoo Park • Witnessing the Power of Digital Activism BTS’ Involvement Brought into the Social Movement: A Case of the Black Lives Matter • “The Black Lives Matter movement erupted after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody during the first six months of the pandemic in the U.S. During the same timeframe, BTS was the most tweeted-about celebrity in the U.S. Through exploring a role BTS’ Twitter activity played for the social movement, this paper reflects on the nature of activism in the social media age and argues for the importance and value of digital activism.

Keywords: ARMY, BLM, BTS, Digital Activism, Slacktivism”

Extended Abstract • Student • Rachel Parker, The University of Alabama • “Extended Abstract: Narrative Formation: Black Women, Writing, and Vogue Magazine” • “Since their circulation beginning in the 18th century, women’s magazines spoke to an audience as varied as their content, including educated women to the housewife (Cramer, 1998). Focusing on subject matter that was important to their readers such as: housekeeping, careers, and marriage, women’s magazines were able to carve out their own niche for this specific market of reader whose interests was being overlooked.

This focus led to an audience showcasing a homogenous group of women in terms of values, education, and race. Focusing on one group as your audience led to the exclusion of others, particularly Black women.

This article will analyze this lack of Black women to be included in these publications as audience members as well as writers through the application of Muted Group Theory (Ardener, 1975).”

Research Paper • Faculty • Katie Place, Quinnipiac University • Toward a Framework for Intersectional Listening In Strategic Communication • This qualitative study explored the intersection of listening theory and intersectional theory to develop a framework for intersectional listening in strategic communication contexts. Interviews with 30 strategic communication professionals and executives were conducted to understand how they embody listening.

Research Paper • Student • Elizabeth Potter, University of Colorado Boulder • Membership negotiation’ flow in CCO model may explain institutional bias at a nonprofit media site • “Scholars can use the “membership negotiation” flow of McPhee & Zaug’s four-flows model of how communication constitutes organization to show how volunteer members of a nonprofit media and news production organization may be included or excluded as members of a local government institution. Aspects of the “membership negotiation” flow also can be used to illustrate how potential members are included or excluded from a volunteer news organization. Finally, the “membership negotiation” flow of the four-flows model of how communication constitutes organization can be used to theorize about how institutional bias may pervade the governmental institution of which this organization is a part.

This case study offers insights into just one way that scholars might think about how to study institutional bias. Because the four-flows model is ontological and because it draws from Giddens’s structuration theory, it has strong explanatory power that can be used to study similar organizations and organizational communication precepts in the future.”

Research Paper • Faculty • Matthew Powers, University of Washington, Seattle; Sandra Vera-Zambrano, Universidad Iberoamericana • Living For—And Maybe Off—Journalism: French and American Journalists’ Career Expectations • Drawing on Bourdieu, this paper explores journalists’ career expectations in France and the United States. Through interviews, we show that highly-resourced journalists in both countries expect to make a living doing work they love. By contrast, lesser-resourced journalists emphasize the sacrifices they make pursuing their careers. While sacrifices vary according to nationally-distinctive labor regulations, journalists in both samples find “virtues in their necessities” (Bourdieu, 1984) by highlighting the possibilities that a journalism career affords.

Research Paper • Faculty • Erica Salkin, Whitworth University Department of Communication Studies; Kevin Grieves, Whitworth University • The “major mea culpa:” Journalistic discourse when professional norms are broken • The “corrections statement” is sufficient for media organizations to address small mistakes. When larger missteps occur, however, more substantive work is needed not only to correct the record, but to protect the organization’s claim to an authentic journalistic identity. This study analyzes a sample of such “major mea culpa” statements to explore how media organizations talk about their significant professional errors and the tools they use to maintain their journalistic identities when such errors occur.

Research Paper • Faculty • Hong-Chi Shiau, Shih-Hsin University • Quenching the Pan-Asian Desire – Thai’s Boys’ Love, Tranculturalism, and Geolinguistic Fusion • “This

study attempt s to unpack the pan Asian Boys’ Love gen re phenomen on by

reading into a Thai BL hit I told Sunset about you , a coming of age story revolving

around two male protagonists in Thai Chinese diaspora. As a result of the real coming

of age drama, this BL has successfully merged two sub genres geikomi (also known as

bara) and Boys Love (BL) manga in the Japanese manga context. T h e use of shared

linguistic repertoire in Asian community is further examined. Its counter flows from

Thailand to China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea offer media scholars

an fertile ground to understand East Asian fans’ practices. While this drama is by no

means the first counter flow case, it affords media scholar s to unpack how boys love

(BL) drama can inter penetrate Asian countries rapidly that has paved the way for a

decentering of the Western dominated global mediascape, as guest editor called for

attention in this issue. Thai s producers use of new practice to engage global audiences

has also destabilized the problematic theoretical dichotomy of East/West global/local

cultural imaginary.”

Extended Abstract • Faculty • Brian Snee, University of Scranton • Courage and Conviction: Christopher Columbus and the Rhetorics of Cancel Culture • Courage and Conviction:  The True Story of Christopher Columbus follows the classic formula for apologia: vehement denial, strategic bolstering, differentiation, and a call for transcendence. The short film engages in its act of dissuasion while simultaneously performing complex commemorative work.  It evokes the past not merely to lead its audience in the act of collective remembering, but also to encourage them to forget much of that past. The film urges its audience to move on, and to allow Columbus—his holiday and his effigies—to stand. Textual analysis reveals it as example of amnestic rhetoric.

Extended Abstract • Faculty • Rhon Teruelle, Purdue University Northwest • Social Media as an essential tactical resource for police whistleblowers • This article examines social media and The Lamplighter Project on Twitter as an example of a tactical resource for police whistleblowers. While whistleblowing, the act of exposing and reporting police wrongdoing is still viewed in a negative light by the majority of law enforcement, recent incidents such as the killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor display the need to hold police accountable for their actions. Moreover, reports that some police officers were involved in the attack against America’s capitol clearly exhibits that members of law enforcement are not above committing unlawful acts. The Lamplighter Project plays a key role in providing police whistleblowers a safe space on Twitter, allowing them to report on and expose police misconduct, brutality, and malfeasance.

Extended Abstract • Student • Kris Vera-Phillips, Arizona State University • The Framing of Other: How Framing Can Be A Postcolonial Tool For Institutional Power • Framing is a function of power. This conceptual theory paper investigates how leaders and institutions use the media strategy of framing as a postcolonial tool for obtaining, maintaining, and reinforcing power. Entman (1993) identified four functions of framing: defining problems, diagnosing causes, making moral judgments, and coming up with remedies. I will take each function of framing defined by Entman, apply lessons from postcolonial studies, and show how both are reflected in demonstrations of power.

Research Paper • Faculty • John Vilanova • The Caucasities of Portland: Theorizing White Protests for Black Lives • “This article uses “Caucasity” — a portmanteau of “Caucasian” and “audacity” — to retheorize the 2020 Portland, Oregon #BlackLivesMatter uprisings.

Promoted by the comedians Desus and Mero and proliferated through Black Twitter, Caucasity is best understood as a set of privileged performance practices deployed by white people, even while protesting white supremacy.

I historicize the term and analyze viral figures from the protests, arguing for productive nuance in theorizing white action for racial justice.”

Extended Abstract • Faculty • WeiMing YE; Luming Zhao • “I Know It’s Sensitive”: Internet Filtering, Recoding, and “Sensitive-word Culture” in China • In this article, we develop “sensitive-word culture” as a new lens for understanding Internet filtering and censorship, and online cultural production in China. Using in-depth interviews with 20 Chinese Weibo users, four types of word recoding are summarized and the motivations of users for recoding practices and the power relations are demonstrated. A notable finding suggests that “sensitive-word culture” is becoming a source and hub of slang and Memes production on the Chinese network society.

Extended Abstract • Student • Steven Young, Ph.D. Candidate • Hybrid Media or Mediasport? Exploring Media Portrayal of Esports Culture • Esports are growing in popularity at a rapid pace worldwide. In contemporary society, individuals watch esports broadcasts as part of their normal media consuming practices. Esports media significantly impact audience understandings, and play an integral role in shaping public discourse about esports culture. This study focuses on Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO), which is currently the most recognized first-person shooter esport worldwide and the third most popular game across all esports genres (Irwin & Naweed, 2020). Interested in how the cultural knowledge and experience of esports are represented in media, I explored professional CS:GO esports broadcasts from two prominent professional leagues, ESL Pro League (EPL) and ELEAGUE. EPL is significant because it is longest standing professional Counter-Strike league worldwide. ELEAGUE represents the first regularly aired professional Counter-Strike league in the United States. Together, these leagues serve as active participants in creating, shaping, and molding esports culture worldwide. A thematic analysis of textual and audio-visual data from professional CS:GO broadcasts revealed that esports culture is a novel phenomenon, similar to sport, but situated within video games, and interspersed with a variety of digital media. Using traditional sports metaphors and comparisons, as well as sportscast style match coverage and gameplay reporting, EPL and ELEAGUE illustrate CS:GO as a global media-sport. At the same time, both leagues emphasize technicity and rely on gamer jargon to frame professional CS:GO as a form of hybrid media intrinsically tied to game culture. Together these representations suggest that esports culture is a “hybrid media-sport.”

Extended Abstract • Student • Ali Zain, University of South Carolina • Celebrity Capitol and Social Movements: A Textual Analysis of Bollywood Celebrities’ Tweets on 2020-21 Indian Farmers’ Protest • Building on global trend of celebrity activism and concept of celebrity capital, this study qualitatively examines Twitter posts of Bollywood celebrities about 2020-21 Indian farmers’ protest to to discover the dominant themes of favoring and opposing discourses. It was found pro-farmers celebrities used rhetorical and explanatory support while others employed celebrity capital as political support to government to oppose protesters and their supporters. Some celebrities even engaged in celebrity-shaming and name-calling in their communications.

Research Paper • postdoc • Sheng Zou, University of Michigan • “The Virus May Have Come From…”: COVID-19 Infodemic in China and the Politics of (Mis-)Translation • This article delves into the COVID-19 infodemic on China’s Internet, particularly fake news stories attributing the virus’s roots to the United States. It approaches the false origin stories as transnational and intertextual constructs, which involve practices of (mis)translating and referencing foreign source texts to paradoxically delegitimate the foreign, especially Western, Other. Through a close reading of emblematic cases, this article identifies three mistranslation maneuvers and gestures towards ways to combat fake news in the post-COVID era.

<2021 Abstracts

2021 Abstracts

Research Paper • Faculty • Gregory Gondwe, University of Colorado; Patrick Ferrucci, U of Colorado-Boulder; Edson Tandoc Jr • Community gatekeeping: Understanding information dissemination by journalists in Sub-Saharan Africa • This study contributes to the theory of gatekeeping by examining how community media journalists in Sub-Saharan Africa navigate through conflicting information. Using the case of COVID-19, the study examined how journalists from community media in Zambia and Tanzania reported government information that conflicted with what the local communities they served believed to be untrue. Drawing from interviews with journalists from community media organizations, we were able to demonstrate that there was a schism between what the editors thought as newsworthy versus what the reporters believed as possessing journalistic values relevant for their communities. Unlike the reporters, most editors aligned much with what the government wanted the media to transmit. This is especially true in Zambia where reporters indicated that most of their stories were flagged as irrelevant by their editors. These findings are then examined through the lens of gatekeeping, particularly a focus on various levels of analysis.

Research Paper • Faculty • Kelly Kaufhold, Texas State University • Locating the Media’s Role in Empathy for Immigration • The relationship between media consumption and attitudes about immigration is well established, but with a focus on national news outlets. The role of local media consumption is not as well understood. This study surveyed residents of Texas (N-316) which shares two-thirds of the United States’ border, and Ohio (N=322) which is less diverse and politically predictable. Reading Ohio newspapers predicted significantly less support for immigration; reading national newspapers, more support. Local TV viewing wasn’t significant.

Research Paper • Student • Nick Mathews, University of Minnesota • Print imprint: The connection between the physical newspaper and the self • This research puts forward the theoretical concept “print imprint,” articulating the connection between the printed newspaper and its reader’s “Self.” This paper contends the newspaper draws out the meaningfulness of ownership, touch and nostalgia, all ingredients of the self. This research centers on interviews with 19 readers of a rural, weekly newspaper that shuttered. Ultimately, this research argues the loss of the weekly newspaper prompted a loss or lessening of self of the abandoned readers.

Research Paper • Faculty • Laura Moorhead, San Francisco State University • Collaborative coverage: A content analysis of articles by local journalists working to solve homelessness and engage community • Beginning in June 2016, 77 media organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area began working together to end homelessness in the community. Journalists put aside competitive and, oftentimes, philosophical differences to “flood airwaves, the internet, and print publications with news” about the “solutions to and causes of homelessness.” The effort, known as the SF Homeless Project (SFHP), continued beyond one day and has gained international attention, becoming a model for journalists and communities elsewhere. Yet, little is known about the SFHP’s coverage, impact, and potential for community change and replication elsewhere. This research — a content analysis of 977 articles published over 18 months by 134 media organizations — examined efforts to shape local public opinion and policy on homelessness and asked, What does coverage look like when journalists work to take a systems perspective to address homelessness?

Research Paper • Student • Jeffry Oktavianus, City University of Hong Kong • The role of integrated connectedness of community storytelling networks in empowering migrant domestic workers • “Situated against Indonesian migrant domestic workers (MDWs) in Hong Kong, this study examined how MDWs’ integrated connectedness to the community storytelling networks (ICSN), comprising interpersonal communication, community organizations, and media outlets, was able to empower migrant helpers. The findings revealed that ICSN was positively associated with perceived social support and behavioral empowerment, while the influence of ICSN on intrapersonal and interactional empowerment operated via social support.

Keywords: communication infrastructure, community storytelling network, empowerment, migrant domestic workers”

Research Paper • Student • William Singleton, University of Alabama; Wilson Lowrey; Nick Buzzelli • Must I follow the script? Professional objectivity, journalistic roles and the black community journalist • The negotiation of objectivity as a community journalism norm has become timelier based on dissatisfaction many Black journalists have voiced over coverage of police brutality protests. This study examines how Black community journalists covering social-justice protests in local legacy news media, digital startups, and traditional community Black press have expressed journalistic objectivity and enacted their journalistic roles. Findings showed that coverage in the traditional Black press publication and the digital startup enacted a stronger advocacy role and showed more subjectivity than the legacy publication. Also, a “clarifier” role emerged from analysis of the digital startup publication, in which journalists gave local protest groups a platform to distinguish their identities from other protest groups.

Extended Abstract • Student • Anna Grace Usery • Examining how solutions journalism builds street credibility between media and audiences • This study explores how media organizations build credibility with their audiences through solutions journalism. It also seeks to understand how community partners are utilized by media organizations to augment storytelling and create a symbiotic relationship with audience members. Results from this study indicate that the definition and practice of solutions journalism is changing in the field and that symbiotic relationships are helping to build credibility at the individual level.

Extended Abstract • Student • Yidong Wang, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Avery Holton, University of Utah • Pride and Protest: Intersectional Work of Queer Community Media • This study examines the practice of intersectionality in queer community media production. Drawing on interviews and surveys with nine queer community news outlets in the US as well as texts sampled from these outlets’ coverage of the Black Lives Matter movement in connection to the narrative of LGBTQ Pride, we find that queer community media serve as a platform where discussion around racism within LGBTQ communities takes place and where intersectional coalition can be mobilized.

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2021 Abstracts

Research Paper • Faculty • Anne Smink, University of Amsterdam; Lindsay Hahn, University of Buffalo; Bryan Trude, University of Georgia; Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn, University of Georgia • Embodied Congruence as a Framework for Understanding User Experiences with Immersive Technologies • We introduce embodied congruence (i.e., perceived symmetry between users’ anticipated physical interactions and the interactions afforded by immersive platforms) as a comprehensive framework for studying user experiences with existing and emerging immersive technologies. We applied this proposed framework in a pre-registered experiment designed to examine whether higher embodied congruence afforded by wearable augmented reality (AR) devices could enhance perceived user experiences and use intentions compared to lower embodied congruence afforded by handheld AR devices. Participants (N =165) played an AR game in either a high or low embodied congruent condition. Results showed that a high embodied congruent AR experience induced higher spatial presence compared to a low embodied congruent AR experience, which consequently enhanced hedonic and utilitarian value. Although high hedonic value induced higher use intentions, utilitarian value did not. Results of this study highlight the utility of the embodied congruence framework for understanding and interpreting user experiences across a range of current and forthcoming emerging technologies.

Extended Abstract • Student • Luye Bao, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Mikhaila Calice, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Nicole Krause; Christopher Wirz; Dietram A. Scheufele, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Dominique Brossard; Todd Newman; Michael Xenos • Communicating AI: Segmenting audiences on risk and benefit perceptions • Effective communication about complex technologies requires a nuanced understanding of how different audiences make sense of and communicate disruptive technologies with immense societal implications. Using AI as an example, we segment nationally-representative survey data into distinct audiences with differing media diets. Results show that attitudes toward AI vary not just by level of news attention but also the content audiences attend to.

Extended Abstract • Student • Ava Francesca Battocchio, Michigan State University; Chris Etheridge, University of Kansas; Kjerstin Thorson, Michigan State University; Moldir Moldagaliyeva, Michigan State University; Dan Hiaeshutter-Rice; Chuqing Dong, Michigan State University; Kelley Cotter; Yingying Chen; Stephanie Edgerly • A systematic method of cataloging civic information infrastructure • The convergence of evolving technology, journalism precarity, and a global public health crisis has exacerbated long simmering questions about how and where both communities and individuals get civic information. While recent work has mapped media ecologies with a specific focus on journalistic productivity, a robust methodology for identifying and validating non-journalistic civic information production is lacking. This work establishes an approach to cataloging ever-expanding civic information infrastructure, negotiating how to determine and demonstrate the validity of the catalog, establishing a framework for incorporating emergent technology, and creating a scalable approach for cross-community comparison.

Research Paper • Student • Ava Francesca Battocchio, Michigan State University • Hyperlocal affective polarization: Remixing rural understanding • Affective polarization and the rural-urban divide in the United States are growing. However, extant work minimally focuses on community-level factors that may be driving polarization in rural communities. This paper proposes advancement of theory at the intersection of national politics, media transformations, and rurality to better understand the current state of U.S. politics. This paper proposes a new model of information sharing at the community level and how ecosystems may foster reinforcement of local concerns.

Extended Abstract • Faculty • Saraswathi Bellur; Porismita Borah • Extended Abstract: (Mis)information & Motivation: Building a motivational interactivity model for tackling online misinformation • The COVID-19 “infodemic” has posed numerous challenges to communication scholars. We examine one such challenge regarding misinformation about face-mask use on social media. In an online experiment (n = 200), we manipulated information processing motives (accuracy vs. defense) and the level of interactivity (high vs. low). We measured users’ need for cognition and thinking styles. Based on this data, we propose a new motivational interactivity model to tackle the imminent problem of social media misinformation.

Extended Abstract • Faculty • Robin Blom, Ball State University • Expectancy violations in media theory • This study tested a theoretical model in which news believability is predicted primarily by an interaction between news source trust and news content expectancy. The results demonstrated that the interaction was, indeed, an important factor in predicting news believability for news stories attributed to either CNN or Fox News. The effects sizes were moderate to large. Importantly, the data indicated that distrusted sources could be highly believable, even more believable than trusted sources.

Research Paper • Faculty • Porismita Borah • Message framing and COVID-19 vaccination intention: Moderating roles of partisan media use and pre-attitudes about vaccination • Vaccine hesitancy is a significant barrier for the implementation of COVID-19 vaccine. The main purposes of the current experimental study are to examine 1) the impact of four types of message on COVID-19 vaccination intention and 2) understand the moderating role of partisan media use and prior vaccination attitudes. The findings from the individual vs. collective message frames and the moderating effects of partisan media use and pre-attitudes reveal the complex nature of vaccination behavior.

Extended Abstract • Faculty • Yingying Chen, University of South Carolina; Zhao Peng, Michigan State University • (Extended Abstract) The Strength and Pitfalls of Topic Modeling in Communication Studies: A Systematic Review • Topic modeling has become a growingly popular method for text analysis in communication. As an unsupervised machine-learning text analysis method, it identifies the latent structure in the large-scale text data and shows strength in the exploratory analysis. However, researchers have also raised questions to its theoretical contribution, methodological reliability and validity. To better understand the strength and pitfalls of topic modeling, the research provides a systematic review of 94 studies that applied topic modeling in 25 peer-reviewed communication journals in the past decade. Our analysis focuses on three aspects: the theoretical contribution, the research design, the reliability and validity of the method. Our research critically examines the application of topic modeling and provides implications for future communication studies.

Research Paper • Student • Eliana DuBosar, University of Florida • What Drives You? Conceptualizing Motivations for Partisan Media Selectivity • Selective exposure is the phenomenon that individuals actively seek out messages that match their prior beliefs, spanning various subdisciplines of communication research. In political communication, this has most commonly been studied by examining an individual’s use of partisan media. This paper offers a typology conceptualizing motivations for partisan media selectivity along two axes: counter- to pro-attitudinal information and intentional use to active avoidance. Additionally, potential implications and directions for future research are discussed.

Research Paper • Faculty • Patrick Ferrucci, U of Colorado-Boulder; Toby Hopp • Reshaping the spheres: An essay on the new normative role of gatekeeping • This theoretical essay argues for reconstituting the normative role of gatekeeping of journalism in a functioning democracy. It contends that in this time of disinformation, misinformation and fake news, the journalist’s main normative role should involve gatekeeping all deviant information from the mainstream public sphere. To accomplish this, the essay reconceptualizes for the 21st century the spheres of information introduced by Hallin (1989). It then articulates why the space inside the sphere of legitimate controversy grew in recent years, and journalists, through gatekeeping, must restore it to its normative ideal.

Research Paper • Student • Isabelle Freiling, University of Vienna; Nicole Krause; Kaiping Chen; Dietram A. Scheufele, University of Wisconsin-Madison • Science of open (communication) science: Toward an evidence-driven understanding of quality criteria in communication research • Following psychology’s lead, our field has begun to endorse principles of open science with little critical evaluation. These efforts have faced a lack of (a) conceptual clarity in problem definitions; (b) formative and summative evaluation of open science guidelines; and (c) attention to non-replicability in social media data as one of our field’s most rapidly growing research areas. In analyzing these problems, we argue for a science of open (communication) science for our discipline.

Research Paper • Faculty • Manuel Goyanes, Carlos III University; Marton Demeter, National University of Public Service; Aurea Grané, Carlos III University; Tamás Toth, Kodolányi János University; Homero Gil de Zúñiga, University of Salamanca/Penn State University • Research Patterns in Communication (2009-2019): Testing Female Representation and Publication Efficiency, within Most Cited Scholars and across the Field • Inequalities in academia are considerable, persistent, and subjected to broad scholarly scrutiny. Drawing upon the concepts of Matilda and Matthew-effects, this study compares the evolution of female scholars as leading authors, the growth of authors per paper, and the productive strategies in the last decade of the most cited scholars versus the representative sample in the Communication field. Results indicate that female leading authors remain to endure a systematic disadvantage. In the span of a decade, there are significantly more leading female authors in the field, but their proportion among the most cited scholars has not yet crystalized, introducing what we term as latent Matilda-effect. Likewise, the number of authors per paper has significantly increased in the field, but not among the most cited scholars, who, in turn, publish significantly more papers than the field average, within both 2009 and 2019. And not only that, the productivity gap between the most cited scholars and the field has substantially increased between the span of this decade, perpetuating a rich get richer effect. Theoretical implications of these findings and suggestions for future studies are finally discussed in the manuscript.

Research Paper • Faculty • Jay Hmielowski, University of Florida; Moritz Cleve, University of Florida; Eliana DuBosar, University of Florida; Michael Munroe, University of Florida • Feeling is NOT Mutual: Political Discussion, Science, and Environmental Attitudes by Party Affiliation • In this paper, we examine the conditional indirect relationship between political discussion and attitudes towards science and environmental related topics. Our study finds that the relationship between political discussion and evaluations of actors in society (scientists and environmentalists) is moderated by party identification. We also find that evaluations of scientists and environmentalists translate into support for science and environmental policies. Moreover, we assess whether these associations vary over time. These results show that the relationship between discussing politics and evaluations of scientists and environmentalists is stronger in the 1990s compared to the early 2000s among both Democrats (positive relationship) and Republicans (negative relationship). The conditional indirect association also varies over time.

Research Paper • Faculty • Jennifer Hoewe, Purdue University; David Ewoldsen, Michigan State University • The Media Use Model: Using Constraint Satisfaction and Coherence to Explain Media Processes and Effects • The Media Use Model (MUM) is a testable, meta-theoretical model that can unify and explain several existing theories of media processes and effects. It uses a constraint satisfaction approach to coherence to explain the dynamic relationship between a media consumer’s motivations, expectations, and cognitive processing during media use. The MUM includes six propositions, which represent stages during which a media consumer’s existing cognitive representations influence their selection, consumption, interpretation, and comprehension of media content.

Research Paper • Student • Lingshu Hu • I, We, You, or They? Language Styles in Political Discussion on Twitter • This study used a big dataset and cluster analysis algorithm to detect the language styles in political discussion on Twitter and applied multinomial regression to examine the covariations between Twitter user variables and language styles. Through K-means cluster analysis of over 700,000 tweets, this study identified six groups of language styles and found that they covariate with Twitter user variables such as social connections, expressive desires, and gender. Implications of findings have been discussed.

Research Paper • Faculty • Myiah Hutchens, University of Florida; Ekaterina Romanova; Amanda Pennings, University of Florida • Negative Emotion and Partisanship: The Mediating Role of Emotion on Media Trust • Understanding the impact of emotional responses when explaining political behavior has continued to garner attention by political communication scholars. One area that remains understudied is the extent to which experiencing different emotions influences how media sources are evaluated and the extent to which this has impacts on broader media trust. This study utilizes a single factor experiment to examine how partisanship impacts emotional reactions to comments on media stories and the subsequent mediating role of emotion on evaluations of source and media trust. Results suggest that individuals who identify as Democrats and Republicans experience different emotions in response to comments that are critical or supportive of neutral media outlets, which subsequently impacts media trust.

Research Paper • Student • Jeannette Iannacone, University of Maryland, College Park; Lindsey Anderson, University of Maryland • Emotion in Virtual Research Spaces: Proposing Micro-Communicative Practices to Facilitate Online Qualitative Interviews • Online research platforms, such as Zoom and WebEx, have become important sites for qualitative inquiry, especially in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. As researchers move their work online, it becomes important to re-consider commonly held conceptualizations of place and emotion—both of which are key considerations of qualitative research. In this paper, we illuminate the communicative micro-practices that account for the complicated ways that emotion and place intersect during virtual qualitative interviews. In doing so, we developed four propositions that articulate ways in which emotion should be better accounted for in these online settings. We organized the propositions using the three phases of the research process—pre-data collection, during data collection, and post-data collection. These propositions underscore the relevance of emotion in qualitative research, emphasize the significance of communicative micro-practices for conducting online interviews, and inform discussions about practices for qualitative interviews that better account for virtual spaces.

Research Paper • Student • Wufan JIA, City University of HongKong • Self-Influence of Online Posting • Self-influence of online posting, or how posting content online can influence the publishers, is attracting increasing scholarly attention. Various theories have been adopted to explain this phenomenon, such as cognitive dissonance, self-perception, and identity shift. This article reviews the prominent theories to understand the self-influence of online posting and identifies several mechanisms to explain this phenomenon. This article also raises a set of criteria to distinguish each mechanism and offers a solution to find mechanisms, boundary conditions, and moderators to explain different online posting behaviors.

Research Paper • Faculty • Yeunjae Lee, University of Miami; Jeong-Nam Kim • A Multi-Trait-Multi-Perspective Conceptualization and Operationalization of Relationship: Validation of Measures for Organization-Public Relationship Types • Relationship management theories have explored and developed measures for types of relationship between an organization and its publics. Using two waves of survey data from employees (N = 454) and consumers (N = 513), this study validated the measures of three organization-public relationship types (i.e., egoistic, provident, communal) from two perspectives (i.e., organization-oriented, public-oriented). Results of MTMP (multi-trait-multi-perspective) analysis showed overall good reliability, as well as convergent and discriminant validity. The study also provided evidence of test-retest validity and nomological validity by examining the associations between symmetrical communication and each relationship type. The effects of differences between two-sided communal and one-sided communal relationships on relational quality across groups (i.e., employees, consumers) were also identified. Implications for the use of this research are discussed.

Research Paper • Student • Slgi (Sage) Lee, University of Michigan • Permanently Connected: Behavior, Perception, and Their Political Implications • The ubiquitous use of internet-connected media enables individuals to stay in constant touch with personal contacts in an “always-on” society. Consequently, some individuals have developed the habit of being permanently connected with others through digital media. This paper examines the psychological and political consequences of this behavior. Analysis of two independent sets of data collected via a two-wave panel survey and an online experiment reveals that, over time, permanent connection increases the perception of permanent togetherness with others, which we label as “permanently-connected perception.” This perception is in turn positively associated with news sharing through the belief that information one shares online will instantly be received and responded to by online contacts as it is shared. Findings emphasize the “spill-over” influence of permanent connection, in which perpetual interpersonal communication motivates political behavior, news sharing, and the role of the permanently connected perception in mediating this process

Research Paper • Student • Heejae Lee, Syracuse University; Se Jung Kim, Syracuse University; Seo Yoon Lee; Shengjie Yao, Syracuse University; Natnaree Wongmith, Syracuse University; T.Makana Chock, Syracuse University • Confusion about the Coronavirus: The Effects of Uncertainty on Information Seeking Behaviors • “There has been a notable amount of conflicting and confusing information about the Coronavirus pandemic. This study investigates the effects of information uncertainty about the disease on people’s perceptions of their own risks and information seeking behavior. Results from an online survey (N = 483) conducted in August 2020 indicated that information uncertainty and confusion about the Coronavirus increased perceived risk, while the degree of risk perception induced by the information uncertainty increased people’s negative emotions and this, in turn, led people to seek out information about the Coronavirus from government public health sites. These results suggest that initial uncertainty and confusion about Coronavirus information may actually increase risk perceptions and could lead people to seek out information on ways to prevent infection. Overall, the findings of our study have theoretical implications for understanding people’s responses to health communication during the Coronavirus pandemic.

Research Paper • Student • Yingdan Lu, Stanford University; Jennifer Pan • The Pervasive Presence of Chinese Government Content on Douyin Trending Videos • The proliferation of social media has expanded the strategies for government propaganda, but quantitative analyses of the content of digital propaganda continue to rely predominantly on textual data. In this paper, we use a multi-modal approach that combines analysis of video, text, and meta-data to explore the characteristics of Chinese government activities on Douyin, China’s leading social video-sharing platform. We apply this multi-modal approach on a novel dataset of 50,813 videos we collected from the Douyin Trending page. We find that videos from the Douyin accounts of Chinese state media, government, and Communist Party entities (what we call state-affiliated accounts) represent roughly half of all videos featured on the Douyin Trending page. Videos from state-affiliated accounts focus on political information and news while other Trending videos are dominated by entertainment content. Videos from state-affiliated accounts also exhibit features, including short duration, brightness, and high entropy, found in prior research to increase attention and engagement. However, videos from state-affiliated accounts tend to exhibit lower average levels of audience engagement than Trending videos from other types of accounts. The methods and substantive findings of this paper contributes to an emerging literature in communication on the computational analysis of video as data.

Research Paper • Faculty • Joerg Matthes, University of Vienna; Nicoleta Corbu, National University of Political Studies and Public Administration, ROMANIA; Soyeon Jin, Munich Technical; Yannis Theocharis, Technical University in Munich; Christian Schemer, U of Mainz; Karolina Koc-Michalska, Audencia Business School; Peter van Aelst, University of Antwerp; Frank Esser, U of Zurich; Toril Aalberg, Norwegian University of Science and Technology; Ana Cardenal, Open University of Catalonia; Laia Castro, University of Zurich; Claes de Vreese, University of Amsterdam; David Hopmann, University of Southern Denmark; Tamir Sheafer, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Sergio Splendore, Università degli Studi di Milano; James Stanyer, Loughborough University; Agnieszka Stępińska, Adam Mickiewicz University; Jesper Strömbäck, University of Gothenburg; Václav Štětka, Loughborough University • Perceived Exposure to Misinformation Fuels Emotional Concerns about COVID-19: A Cross-Country, Multi-Method Investigation • We tested the relationship between perceived exposure to misinformation and emotional concerns about COVID-19. In Study 1, multilevel regression and propensity score analyses of a survey across 17 countries confirmed this relationship. However, the relationship was weaker with rising levels of case-fatality ratios, but independent from the actual amount of misinformation per country. Study 2 replicated the relationship using experimental data. Furthermore, Study 2 demonstrated the underlying mechanism driving concerns about COVID-19 based on misinformation.

Research Paper • Faculty • Soo Young Shin; Serena Miller, Michigan State University • A Participant Observation Method Guide for Ethnographers based on an Examination of Journalism Newsroom Scholarship • A scholarly social structure that coalesces around a particular method can reveal patterns about how a field interprets that method. Content analysis is a useful way to systematically evaluate behavioral patterns. We studied participant observations of newsrooms and assessed scholars’ adherence to methodological reporting best practices in 135 journal articles. An adherence to reporting quality can improve our understanding of the method. Suggestions are put forth to increase the transparency and rigors of it.

Research Paper • Faculty • Yilang Peng • APL: A Python Library for Computational Aesthetic Analysis of Visual Media in Communication Research • Visual aesthetics are related to a broad range of communication outcomes, yet the tools of computational aesthetic analysis are not widely available in the community of communication scholars. This workshop article addresses this gap and provides a tutorial for social scientists to measure a broad range of hand-crafted aesthetic attributes of visual media, such as colorfulness and visual complexity. It also introduces APL, a Python library developed for computational aesthetic analysis in social science research, which can be readily applied by future researchers. With tools of computational aesthetic analysis, communication researchers can better understand the antecedents and outcomes of visual aesthetics beyond the content of visual media.

Research Paper • Student • Elizabeth Potter, University of Colorado Boulder • CCO model can explain how a nonprofit news organization can remain independent of outside influence • Aspects of McPhee and Zaug’s four-flows model of how communication constitutes organization show how volunteers at a nonprofit news organization can remain independent of outside influence. This case study uses the ontological four-flows model to discuss how volunteer members of the nonprofit news organization create news stories and video content for a website and a local public access channel. The ethnographic research continues with a discussion about the “the dark side” of possible public relations bias as an outside influence. Data from this ethnographic case study shows how news production volunteers negotiate through discourse how to put structures in place that can help the organization remain independent of “the dark side” of outside influence. Because this news organization is one of the first news organizations in the United States to receive direct funding from a governmental entity, the findings in this study can illustrate greater tensions created by such a funding model in a democracy as well as offer an organizational communication frame to resolve them.

Research Paper • Faculty • Kenneth Pybus, Abilene Christian University • Legal Narratives: Establishing Frames for Media Coverage of Appellate Courts • Interviews with members of the Supreme Court of Texas, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals and the journalists who cover both sought to identify the primary news frames jurists and journalists believed were most commonly applied by media outlets when covering decisions of the high courts. Jurists on both Texas high courts indicated they recognize the potential of journalists, consciously or unconsciously, to frame coverage of high court opinions and, through examples, helped identify several frames that could be useful in future research of appellate court coverage. Among the most common frames cited were the winner and loser frame, in which the entirety of coverage focuses on the outcome of the case rather than the rationale, on which jurists say they spend the bulk of their time, the David versus Goliath frame, in which coverage focuses on the decision’s impact on the weaker party in the case, regardless of the outcome or the issues decided, and two related frames, the ideological frame, in which decisions are reported in terms of the court’s preference for or hostility to an industry or institution, and the political frame, in which decisions of the court are cast in terms of political leanings or affiliations. Journalists defended attention to the elements of each frame described as appropriate information to fully develop and explain court decisions.

Research Paper • Student • Martin Johannes Riedl, The University of Texas at Austin; Gina Chen, University of Texas at Austin; Tamar Wilner, University of Texas at Austin • Focus Groups in Communication, Journalism, and Media Research: A Reappraisal • Focus groups are intimately tied to the history of the field of communication research but far from universally appreciated. As this research shows, focus groups constitute a powerful method in their own right, allowing deliberative group decision processes to surface. Drawing from 19 focus groups, 127 participants, five countries, and three research projects, this paper reappraises the method and reflects on a range of challenges. It also catalogs unique methodological opportunities and best practices.

Research Paper • Student • Shaoqing Han; Naipeng Chao; Wensen Huang; Bin Yang • Diffusion of Diffusion: Research on the Interdisciplinary Knowledge Diffusion of Communication Theory • Communication science at the “Crossroads” has always been faced with the problems of “Communication without Theory” and “Involution” of theory, which originated from the dilemma of theoretical contribution of communication studies. It is an important issue throughout the history of communication science, which means that most of the theories are not unique to communication science but “borrow” from other disciplines. At the same time, we should realize that some classical theories in communication science can also supply theoretical resources for other disciplines. The present study takes Diffusion of Innovations Theory as an example, based on the full-scale dataset of Web of Science (WoS), mining the citation relationships between papers, and constructing the citation network, discipline network and diffusion paths of the theory. Based on empirical analysis, we find that Diffusion of Innovations Theory has strong theoretical vitality, and the knowledge diffusion is highly interdisciplinary on time and across disciplines. The results indicate that not all communication theories are borrowed from other disciplines, and there are still some communication theories with “output” mode in the process of knowledge diffusion.

Research Paper • Faculty • Christofer Skurka, Pennsylvania State University; Rainer Romero-Canyas; Helen Joo; David Acup; Jeff Niederdeppe, Cornell University • Emotional Appeals, Climate Change, and Young Adults: A Direct Replication of Skurka et al. (2018) • There is much need to verify the robustness of published findings in the field of communication–particularly regarding the effects of persuasive appeals advocating behaviors that combat social issues. To this end, in this brief replication note, we present the results from a preregistered, direct replication of Skurka et al. (2018). The original study found that a threat appeal about climate change can increase risk perception and activism intentions and that a humor appeal can also increase activism intentions. Using the same stimuli, measures, and experimental design with a similar sample of young adults, we fail to replicate these findings. We do, however, replicate age as a moderator of humor’s effect on perceived risk, such that the humor appeal only persuaded emerging adults (ages 18-21.9). We consider several explanations for these discrepant findings, including the challenges (and opportunities) that communication researchers and practitioners must navigate when communicating about rapidly evolving social issues.

Research Paper • Student • Allison Steinke, University of Minnesota • Cultivating Cognitive Legitimacy: The Case of Solutions Journalism • The theoretical underpinnings of the solutions journalism approach have not been fully developed. By leveraging new institutional theory and cognitive legitimacy, this project provides a theoretically driven empirical investigation of how solutions journalism—defined as rigorous responses to social problems—can renew trust in the news, catalyze economic vitality for global news outlets, and provide readers and journalists alike with hope in the midst of a culture of toxic negativity. The theoretical underpinnings of the solutions journalism approach have not been fully developed. By leveraging new institutional theory and cognitive legitimacy, this project provides a theoretically driven empirical investigation of how solutions journalism—defined as rigorous responses to social problems—can renew trust in the news, catalyze economic vitality for global news outlets, and provide readers and journalists alike with hope in the midst of a culture of toxic negativity. This study presents three major theoretical arguments. First: Institutions are socially constructed with varying levels of legitimacy. Second: Solutions journalism is an emerging institution gaining legitimacy in practice worldwide. Third: Solutions journalism is a journalistic approach that functions globally as a networked organizational form.

Research Paper • Student • Kathryn Thier, University of Maryland • Toward a Theory of Solutions Journalism and Explanation of its Effects • Solutions journalism, an emerging journalism practice that rigorously covers responses to social problems using objective reporting methods, has been shown to produce positive audience attitudes and feelings. Despite increasing interest from scholars and practitioners, there is limited academic development of possible underlying theoretical mechanisms that explain solutions journalism’s effects. Accordingly, the present article seeks to develop such a theoretical framework. In doing so, the article defines solutions journalism, examines its components based on the literature, and considers whether communication theory about attitude change and persuasion offers theoretical explanations for noted effects of solutions journalism. Several propositions are offered and avenues for future research are discussed. Overall, the article provides an examination of solutions journalism and a set of propositions to steer future research of solutions journalism’s attitudinal effects.

Research Paper • Student • Marina F. Thomas; Alice Binder; Joerg Matthes, University of Vienna • Why More Is Less on Dating Apps: The Effects of Excessive Partner Availability • Dating apps advertise with high availability of potential partners. We theorize that such excessive choice could increase fear of being single and partner choice overload while decreasing self-esteem. In a survey (Study 1), dating app use was associated with increased partner availability which, in turn, predicted fear of being single. Study 2 experimentally induced low, moderate, or high partner availability. Higher partner availability increased fear of being single and partner choice overload, and decreased self-esteem.

Research Paper • Faculty • T. Franklin Waddell, College of Journalism and Communications, University of Florida; Holly Overton, Penn State University; Robert McKeever, College of Information and Communications, University of South Carolina • Does Sample Source Matter for Theory? Testing Model Invariance with the Influence of Presumed Influence Model across Amazon Mechanical Turk and Qualtrics Panels • Online data collection services are increasingly common for testing mass communication theory. However, how consistent are the theoretical tenets of theory when tested across different online data services? A pre-registered online survey (N = 1,546) was conducted that examined the influence of presumed influence model across subjects simultaneously recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk and Qualtrics Panels. Results revealed that model parameters were mostly consistent with theory regardless of data source. Theoretical implications are discussed.

Research Paper • Faculty • T. Franklin Waddell, College of Journalism and Communications, University of Florida; Jessica Sparks; Chelsea Moss • Measuring Sexist Stereotypes about Female Reporters: Scale Development and Validity • Prejudicial behaviors towards female journalists are on the rise, yet few instruments are available to measure stereotyping of female journalists. The present work validates a new scale for measuring female journalist stereotyping (FJS) using exploratory (N = 561) and confirmatory factor analysis (N = 580). Results reveal that the FJS scale has a reliable and replicable factor structure that is distinct from measures of sexism and journalist mistrust. FJS also negatively predicts news credibility.

Research Paper • Student • Yin Yang, Pennsylvania State University • (Extended) Influence of Presumed Influence: Past, Present, and Future • Since Gunther and Storey (2003) originated the influence of presumed influence (IPI), researchers have applied it to examine an indirect route of media effects. This paper reviews this theory, including key constructs of IPI with their relationships, important IPI studies, unsolved problems in IPI research, and future direction to address these problems. In particular, this paper suggests scholars to integrate media features into IPI studies. A theoretical rationale for this suggestion and examples are provided.

<2021 Abstracts