Investigating Sexual Racism and Interactions of Grindr App Users • Ming Wei Ang; Justin Tan • This research explores racialized sexual desires of Grindr users in Singapore through 24 semi-structured interviews. Specific to this context, we found a strict racial hierarchy where Chinese users are preferred over Malays and Indians, sustained by the preoccupation with verifying other users’ races, primarily through photos. This adds a previously unexplored dimension of how technical features structure user interactions. We also extend sexual fields theory by showing how minorities challenge the hierarchy within the field.

* Extended Abstract * Amplifying and signal boosting: How transgender engage the politics of voice and listening • Erica Ciszek; Paxton Haven, University of Texas at Austin; Nneka Logan • This paper examines the concepts of amplification and signal boosting by transgender communicators. Through in-depth interviews, we explore the experiences of transgender communicators to elicit how their lives and narratives of the world are made visible to, and demand attention from, others. This study considers the implications of these communication strategies in contemporary representations across a range of organizational contexts.

“I could NOT relate more:” An in-depth analysis of #growingupgay on Twitter • Lyric Mandell, University of Houston; Alysson Romo, University of Houston • This study employs a mixed methodology, specifically thematic and content analysis to uncover how users utilize the hashtag #growingupgay to reference identities and impression management within the LGBTQ+ community; the degree to which users of the hashtag #growingupgay reference heteronormative stereotypes about the LGBTQ+ community; and uncover the most prevalent tones of voice within the hashtag. This study falls within the literature regarding impression management of stigmatized and stereotyped identities within the queer theory and social identity theory theoretical framework.

Impacts of the 2016 Presidential Elections on Transgender and Gender Diverse People • Sarah Price, University of Alabama; Jae Puckett, Michigan State University; Richard Mocarski, University of Nebraska at Kearney • Although some research has been done on the negative health impacts of the 2016 election on LGBTQ people (see Gonzalez et al,. 2018), to the authors’ knowledge little to no research has been done on the effects that the Trump’s election and anti-trans rhetoric has had specifically on TGD people. This study takes a qualitative approach, examining the daily ruminations of TGD people during the 2016 presidential election. From these ruminations, there are clear trends of anxiety and distress due to political events and rhetoric, specifically in relation to the cissexist actions of Trump and his (then upcoming) administration. Through the lens of marginalization stress, this study seeks to explore the manifestations of gender identity and stigmatization in relation to national political discourse.

No Fats, No Fems, No Asians • Andrew Kix Patterson, The University of Memphis • Self-discovery and identity are innate processes in the adolescence of LGBTQ+ youth. These youth depend on media such as television and social media to discover the culturally accepted norms of sexuality and gender identity. With this responsibility on media’s shoulders to provide an accurate and fair representation of minority groups such as the LGBTQ+, this study compares the casting, production and subsequent representation of queer characters in two MTV reality dating shows across two decades. This study investigates literature to find the possible misconceptions for queer and non-queer youth and adults and completes a qualitative content analysis of the shows in question to provide insight on the topic. Exploratory measures into the perpetuated stereotype of feminine, sexually promiscuous and conventionally attractive cis-gendered, gay men are used to understand the casting choices and the identity media are trying to portray.

Say their name: How the News Reports the Death of Transgender Individuals • Rachel Stark, The University of Memphis • Transgender individuals, especially transgender women of color, face the threat of violent death due to their gender identity. The misgendering of transgender individuals by news media and police may contribute to why the exact number of violent transgender death is unknown. This research used a qualitative content analysis of online news articles to explore how, if at all, journalists followed Associated Press Stylebook guidelines on reporting transgender individuals and the intersectionality of transnormative theory, misogynoir, bias, and structured reality in news media. Despite having clear guidelines by the Associated Press, nearly every news outlet misgendered or misrepresented transgender individuals. Journalists should consistently use the guidelines as outlined by the Associated Press to accurately describe transgender individuals, preform additional fact checking surrounding individuals’ deaths, and ensure that correct information about a person’s gender identity is published without connecting a person to their assigned name or gender at birth.

Mobilizing Social Capital Resources among Anti-Gay Marriage Civil Society Groups in Taiwan • Yowei Kang, National Taiwan Ocean University; Kenneth C. C. Yang, The University of Texas at El Paso • Homosexuality has long been a taboo in Taiwan where LGBTQ minority groups are often marginalized. Despite the landmark ruling by Taiwan’s Constitutional Court in 2017, the legalization of gay marriage has polarized its society and stirred strong objection of many anti-gay conservative and religious civil society groups. The strategic alliance of these pro-family religious groups to win a landslide majority in city and county representatives and three anti-LGBTQ referendums in the 2018 local election. Their victory has demonstrated how social capital resources can be mobilized through multi-platform technologies to accomplish the political agendas of civil society groups. This case study of four anti-LGBTQ groups attempts to provide a thorough discussion of how social capital resources can be mobilized through these media platforms to recruit supporters, change public opinions, accumulate financial resources, and obtain petitions for their anti-LGBTQ referendums before and during the 2018 elections. Discussions and implications are provided.

<2020 Abstracts

Debut Faculty Paper Competition
Clinical Journalism Education: Legal and Ethical Implications of Faculty-Led Reporting Laboratories • Kathleen Culver, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Frank LoMonte • More U.S. journalism schools are launching, or becoming partners in, sophisticated news-gathering operations. Operating a news outlet within the confines of an educational institution presents unique challenges and unanswered questions. This research explores how journalism educators who lead courses that publish publicly conceptualize their roles with regard to legal and ethical issues. It covers the issues that most commonly confront these instructors and highlights concerns that educators may be overlooking.

A Public Good: Can Government Really Save the Press? • Patrick Walters, Kutztown University of Pennsylvania • This paper examines calls over the past decade for increased public investment in the floundering U.S. news industry (for example, McChesney & Nichols, 2010; Pickard, 2020). The paper uses both a First Amendment theoretical perspective and a political economy lens to examine the feasibility of such public solutions. It argues that, while the need for such investment is even more dire today, current political and economic realities make such a solution little more than fantasy.

Open Competition
Right to Know About the Right to Stay: Access to Information About American Immigration Courts • Jonathan Anderson, University of Minnesota • This paper reports the results of an analysis of FOIA logs from immigration courts in the United States. Two primary questions were asked: What are the characteristics of FOIA requests for immigration court records? To what extent do journalists use FOIA to gather information about immigration courts and cases? The study estimates that lawyers were the most active requesters, followed by journalists. The findings also shed light on how journalists use FOIA.

Policy Liberalism and Access to Information in the American States • Jonathan Anderson, University of Minnesota; David Pritchard, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee • In theory, access to information is neither liberal nor conservative. This study empirically tests that assumption and finds that in practice legal rights of access to public records tend to be greater in states with higher levels of policy liberalism. The findings are the latest evidence in a growing body of research that suggests more attention should be paid to understanding policy liberalism’s role in protecting the free flow of information.

A Prophet Without Honor: William Ernest Hocking and Freedom of the Press • Stephen Bates, University of Nevada, Las Vegas • Freedom of the Press: A Framework of Principle (1947), by Harvard philosopher William Ernest Hocking, is one of the books sponsored by the Commission on Freedom of the Press, also known as the Hutchins Commission. In First Amendment literature and case law, it has gotten scarcely any attention. The neglect is unsurprising in some respects. The book is abstract and theoretical, with little mention of case law. It is also meandering, discursive, repetitive, and self-contradictory. Hocking himself called it “long, schematic, and frequently tedious.” Yet for those who make the effort, the book is remarkably prescient. It prefigures Alexander Meiklejohn’s self-government theory and his town-meeting model of public deliberation, Amitai Etzioni’s communitarian political philosophy, Isaiah Berlin’s dual theories of liberty, Owen M. Fiss’s application of the positive First Amendment to regulate the news media, and the works of many media scholars. For all its flaws, Hocking’s Freedom of the Press is a classic.

When Is a First Amendment Case Not a First Amendment Case? • Clay Calvert, University of Florida • This paper analyzes the United States Supreme Court’s 2019 decision in Manhattan Community Access Corp. v. Halleck. Specifically, it concentrates on how the justices divided five-to-four along lines of perceived political ideologies in both: 1) selecting different rules to analyze the issues before them, and 2) reaching opposite conclusions about the outcome of the case. In brief, choosing different rules regarding the state-action doctrine issue led the conservative and liberal blocs to reach counterposed conclusions on the First Amendment speech question. The paper suggests, in turn, that the outcomes reached by both sides comport with broad-brush stereotypes about the intersection between free expression and the danger that big government purportedly poses to individual liberties.

The End of the Affair: Can the Relationship Between Journalists and Sources Survive? • Anthony Fargo, indiana University • Prosecutions for leaking classified information to the press have increased dramatically since the start of the Obama administration. Journalists are rarely subpoenaed to identify their sources now because investigators identify leakers through phone, e-mail, and messaging app records. Common sense and anecdotal evidence suggest sources will be less willing to come forward under current conditions. News organizations should adopt ethical and limited legal obligations to help accused leakers or face the loss of important sources.

Challenges to the Conventional Wisdom About Mergers and Consumer Welfare in a Converging Internet Marketplace • Rob Frieden, Penn State University, Bellisario College of Communications • This paper identifies substantial flaws in how U.S. government agencies and courts assess the impact of proposed mergers by firms operating using broadband networks to reach consumers. Using current market definitions, consumer impact assessments and economic doctrine, antitrust enforcement agencies may fail to identify the risk of harm to consumers and competition, a so-called false negative. In recent years, the Department of Justice, Federal Communications Commission and Federal Trade Commission, individually and collectively, have assessed the competitive consequences of numerous multi-billion dollar acquisitions and have conditionally approved almost all of them. These agencies appear predisposed to favor deals that involve vertical integration between market segments, based on an assumption that short term consumer welfare gains would exceed any potential competitive harms. The paper determines that reviewing government agencies appear too willing to extend current assumptions about how “bricks and mortar” markets work to transactions occurring via broadband networks. By “fighting the last war,” these agencies fail to identify new risks to consumer welfare, particularly by ventures operating in multiple markets that do not readily fit into the conventional assessment of mutually exclusive vertical and horizontal “food chains.” The paper concludes that recent and future Internet acquisitions have a much greater likelihood of generating legitimate concerns about competitive and consumer harms, particularly as markets become ever more concentrated and often dominated by a single firm.

There’s Probably a Blackout in Your Television Future: Tracking New Carriage Negotiation Strategies Between Video Content Programmers and Distributors • Rob Frieden, Penn State University, Bellisario College of Communications; Krishna Jayakar, Penn State Bellisario College of Communications; Eun-A Park, Western Colorado University • This paper explains how changes in the video marketplace have triggered changes in strategies used by pay television operators seeking permission to deliver broadcast television and pay television content to cable and satellite subscribers. When video programmers and so-called Multichannel Video Programming Distributors (“MVPDs”) fail to reach closure on a new contract for carriage, MVPDs must “blackout” the content thereby triggering immediate consumer anger. This paper refutes conclusions made by reviewing courts, which approved AT&T’s acquisition of Time Warner, largely on grounds that AT&T would lack the ability and incentive to trigger blackouts even while controlling “must see” content such as HBO and CNN. MVPDs, do not operate as common carriers, such as public utilities, but nevertheless bear legal rights and responsibilities, predicated on marketplace conditions necessitating regulatory support for television broadcasters. Laws and regulations by the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) now appear to be based on contestable assumptions about the public interest value in promoting local programming by offering broadcasters the option of mandatory carriage by MVPDs (“must carry”) in exchange for relinquishing demands for financial compensation. The paper concludes that ventures, such as AT&T and Comcast, have enhanced negotiating power in light of their ability to trigger blackouts as both as content providers and MVPDs. Judicial assumptions that numerous and lengthy blackouts cannot occur do not appear viable when consumers can access video content from more suppliers, including new Over the Top sources like Netflix, and major MVPDs can offer wired and wireless broadband access options.

* Extended Abstract * Meiklejohn, Absolutism and Hate Speech • W. Wat Hopkins, Department of Communication, VIrginia Tech • Hate speech is generally thought to be protected by the First Amendment because it does not fall into one of the classic categories of unprotected speech identified by the Supreme Court. Alexander Meiklejohn advanced the proposition, however, that only speech of self-governing importance is worthy of such protection, and the Court has adopted that position. This paper examines the proposition that hate speech, by default, is not protected by the First Amendment.

Traditional but Open: Research Paradigms in Communications Law, 2010-2019 • Brett Johnson, University of Missouri; Leslie Klein; Jeremiah Fuzy, Missouri School of Journalism • Communications law scholarship is diverse, employing various theories and methods across distinct paradigms. This paper relies on multiple points of empirical data to examine trends in communications law research from 2010 to 2019. Findings suggest that communications law research remains very theoretically and methodologically traditional, with social scientific perspectives in the distinct minority. Nevertheless, communications law research remains open to perspectives from scholars “outside” of the field.

“What are anti-disinformation laws for? – Analyzing anti-disinformation laws from an “information disorder” perspective” • Wei-ping Li, University of Maryland • Over the past years, many countries have enacted laws to fight against disinformation. This paper examines the laws from the perspective of information production. By using the elements extracted from the “information disorder” framework developed by Claire Wardle and Hossein Derakhshan, this paper assesses recently enacted anti-disinformation regulations in Germany, France, and Singapore. It further discusses whether the laws could contribute to the battle against disinformation or would conversely suppress freedom of expression.

* Extended Abstract * Extended Abstract: Virtual assemblies: Exploring problems of private spaces and press protections • Jonathan Peters, University of Georgia • The U.N. Human Rights Committee is currently drafting an authoritative interpretation of a treaty provision guaranteeing the right of peaceful assembly. This paper explores how the provision might be interpreted to protect virtual assemblies, with a focus on two discrete issues raised by the Committee’s latest draft: (a) the nature of assembly and expressive rights in private spaces, and (b) the role of journalists in documenting and reporting on virtual assemblies.

Free Papers and Free Speech: Home Delivered Free Newspapers as Litter • Eric Robinson, University of South Carolina • As newspapers attempt to survive as viable businesses, many are purchasing or creating free community papers. Such papers are often delivered door-to-door, leading to resident complaints that have led municipalities to enact ordinances limiting such distribution. Most courts have held these ordinances unconstitutional, but a recent decision by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals reached a contrary result. This paper explores this issue and recommends solutions to balance the First Amendment and residents’ concerns.

* Extended Abstract * Restoring Access to Information – Can the U.S. Learn From Other Countries? • Amy Kristin Sanders, University of Texas at Austin; William Kosinski • The Supreme Court’s Food Marketing Institute v. Argus Leader Media decision – as well as decisions permitting third-party intervention – has opened the door for increasing opposition to public records requests. This fundamental shift has global implications for transparency as other governments may follow our lead. But approaches taken by other countries to constrain third-party intervention and limit the definition of confidential information – as well as possible legislative reform – offer a glimmer of hope for transparency advocates.

Freedom of speech and press in Muslim-majority countries • Shugofa Dastgeer; Daxton Stewart, Texas Christian University • This paper examines freedom of speech and press in the constitutions of 48 Muslim majority countries in relation to actual existence of these freedoms in these countries, using a scale based on rankings of Reporters Without Borders and Freedom House. First, the findings suggest that the inclusion of Islam as a state religion in a country’s constitution does not necessarily lead to exclusion of freedom of speech and press in the constitutions of Muslim-majority countries. Second, inclusion of Islam as a state religion in the constitutions does make a significant difference when it comes to actual freedom in Muslim majority countries, based on the ranking scaled developed by the authors. Third, constitutional guarantees of freedom of speech and freedom of the press do not guarantee actual freedom for expression and press in Muslim-majority countries.

* Extended Abstract * Decisions & Justifications: Untangling the Supreme Court’s Low-Value Approach to Sexually Explicit Speech • Kyla Wagner, Syracuse University; P. Brooks Fuller • In First Amendment law, the notion that sexually explicit speech is less valuable than forms of expression like false political discourse is rarely disputed. This study revives that dispute with a focus on the Supreme Court’s justifications for axiomatically categorizing sexual expression as “low-value” in the first place. The analysis reveals that a shaky, sometimes, fallacious conceptual framework rooted in third-person perception guides the Supreme Court’s sexually explicit speech jurisprudence. The framework’s implications are discussed.

Pandering, Priority or Political Weapon: Presidencies, Political Parties & the Freedom of Information Act • A.Jay Wagner • The article explores the political nature of the FOIA by examining legislative history, party messaging, presidential actions and a quantitative analysis of FOIA administration from 1975 until present. The outcomes are both predictable—Reagan & Trump having deplorable records—and surprising—George W. Bush producing a relatively transparent record. The study’s findings suggest the failures of FOIA are likely less a consequence of presidencies and political parties than an indiscriminate symptom of contemporary U.S. governance.

Piercing the Veil: Examining the Demographics of State FOI Law Administration • A.Jay Wagner • Proactive disclosure is fashionable in the field of access to government transparency, yet FOI laws remain the keystone to government transparency. Statistical analysis of a 1,002-request FOI audit identifies demographic and political variables that significantly influence request outcomes, namely geography, race and Republican voting and representation. Pinpointing variables that affect FOI outcomes is necessary as the laws provide an individual, actionable right to government information that other mechanisms lack, making rehabilitating FOI invaluable.

Biometrics and Privacy: Regulating the Use of Facial Recognition Technology • Kearston Wesner, Quinnipiac University • Companies and government entities have increasingly used facial recognition technology (FRT) to protect the public from disease, apprehend criminals, ensure public safety, and provide seamless commercial experiences. However, FRT has been criticized for a variety of reasons. It is notoriously fallible, especially when called upon to identify women and people of color. And its use encourages significant privacy violations, with some scholars and advocates suggesting that it opens the door to a surveillance society. This paper analyzes FRT and argues against unrestrained deployment of this technology. It addresses four state statutes, as well as several local ordinances, that have been passed to regulate FRT. Drawing from these sources, particularly Illinois’ Biometric Privacy Act, as well as commentary from scholars and privacy advocates, the paper recommends a model federal biometric privacy statute. The statute incorporates notice, clarity, and testing elements. It also recommends provisions prohibiting employee retaliation and consumer discrimination.

<2020 Abstracts

“Document Your Learning” Internships, student learning and program evaluation • Sharee Broussard, Belmont University • Directing students to “document your learning” in internships and establishing best practice-enabled internship program structure and tools yields thoughtful student reflection that demonstrates achievement of student learning outcomes. Through well-designed structure and tools, data collected in regular student and supervisor reporting can be used in program-level assessment as required by regional accrediting bodies and can inform program-level discussions and decision making.

* Extended Abstract * The Advertising & Public Relations Portfolio Imperative: Not Just for “Creative” Students Anymore • Margaret (Peg) Murphy, Columbia College Chicago • ““Creative” advertising and public relation students (art directors, designers, copywriters, etc.) are pushed to develop portfolios. However, an examination of 2020 coursework, websites, and career centers at 87 leading universities nationwide reveals “non-creative” ad and PR tracks seldom include portfolio work. Yet, academic and industry literature support portfolio development to highlight skills and differentiate candidates in competitive marketplaces. This author argues digital portfolios are a career preparation imperative for all advertising and public relations graduates.”

* Extended Abstract * Seeking ‘Skilled, Poised, Fluent’ Verbal Communicators: Aesthetic Labor and Signaling in Journalism Job Advertisements • Elia Powers, Assistant Professor, Towson University • Journalism job advertisements send important signals about skills and attributes that news organizations value. This study explores how advertisements convey expectations for how journalists should sound by conducting a thematic content analysis of U.S. journalism job listings (n = 510) for positions requiring substantial verbal communication (e.g., reporters and broadcast anchors). Requirements for exceptional verbal skills and explicit calls for vocal clarity create obstacles to occupational entry for journalists with speech disabilities or speech anxiety.

<2020 Abstracts

James W. Markham Student Paper Competition
Twitter engagement and interactions with public agencies and citizens’ overall trust in the Nigerian government • Olushola Aromona, University of Kansas • Following the #OccupyNigeria protests in 2012, use of social media, particularly Twitter, for election monitoring, mobilization, and civic engagement has increased in Nigeria. The impact of social media on engagement and interactions between government agencies and their online citizens has been demonstrated. Research indicate that online interactions and engagement are relevant for citizens’ trust in the government. Using a content analysis and online survey, this pilot study examines the interactions between Nigerian government agencies and Nigerian Twitter users in fostering trust. Findings revealed negative patterns of engagement and interactions. While citizens engage and interact with government agencies, the discourses were largely negative; thus, the relationship between engagement, interactions, and trust is largely negative. However, this relationship is moderated by party affiliation, education, and age.

Peace, Harmony, and Coca-Cola: Decoding Coca-Cola’s Ramadan 2018 Advertisement • Reham Bohamad; Daleana Phillips • Coca-Cola’s 2018 Ramadan commercial was designed to foster unity and harmony through a multicultural marketing strategy for Dutch audiences. The Netherlands, as well as mainland Europe, is experiencing a wave of right-wing populism or nationalistic political ideologies since the terrorist attacks on Paris and Brussel’s in the mid-2000s. Dutch attitudes toward the steady influx of Muslim immigrants since World War II has shifted from acceptance toward hostility. Increasing nationalistic political rhetoric and xenophobia in The Netherlands reflects this growing hostility toward Muslims. This analysis of Coca-Cola’s Ramadan advertisement utilizes Stuart Hall’s Encoding and Decoding theoretical framework to examine readings from three different levels: dominant, negotiated, and oppositional. The dominant level reflects Coca-Cola’s encoded message that its product can generate racial/ethnic and religious harmony by providing a common platform of understanding through sharing a Coke. The negotiated level reflects Coca-Cola’s position as a major global corporation attempting to sell a product. The oppositional reading utilizes Critical Race Theory as an oppositional framework for interpreting Coca-Cola’s advertisement. This commercial utilizes an assimilationist strategy to build a sense of harmony and trust around a female Muslim representation that has been highly Westernized. Furthermore, Coca-Cola’s Ramadan commercial promotes the idea that the consumption of their product is the solution to ending discrimination toward Muslims in the Netherlands. Their advertising strategy results in contributing to post-racial ideologies that silence discussions about race/ethnicity and religion while allowing “law and order” rhetoric and policies to monitor Muslim immigrants’ movements through policing and surveillance.

Factors Influencing Nutrition News Reporting Among Ghanaian Journalits • Augustine Botwe • The media in Ghana can play a significant role in informing the public about health issues. But in Ghana coverage of nutrition is low. The results of a cross-sectional survey of Ghanaian journalists (n=105) show that reporting on nutrition is influenced by gender, media dynamics, journalists’ health orientation and the three constructs of the theory of planned behavior. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Partisanship, News Uses, and Political Attitudes in Ghana: An Application of the Communication Mediation Model • Abdul Wahab Gibrilu, The Chinese University of Hong Kong • “Past communication mediation studies have shown positive relationships between media uses and citizens political attitudes, but understanding the mechanisms underlying the relationship is limited because they often did not take into account the diverse affordances of the media uses and the environment it triggers effects. Using a national Afro-barometer survey (N = 2,400) in Ghana, the present study examined the relationship between media uses and a variety of citizens’ political attitudes and how such relationships are affected by partisanship. Based on series of regression analysis, findings showed that online news uses consistently predicted all levels of citizens political attitudes whilst traditional media use was only associated with citizens levels of presidential trust and confidence in government. When partisan differences were further examined, results showed that only online media uses by ruling party members exhibited direct effects on trust in president and democratic satisfaction. However, in all, traditional media uses based on ruling party support and no party members exhibited indirect effects on political attitudes. Oppositional members showed no effect.

Global Coverage of COVID-19: Examining CNN and CCTV news in guiding public sentiments • Gregory Gondwe, University of Colorado-Boulder • This study set out to examine how CNN and CCTV news covered the COVID-2019 pandemic from December 2019 to February 2020. The aim was to investigate the role that the global mainstream media play in guiding public sentiments during a global pandemic impacting everyone across race, color, social status, and geographical boundaries. Comparative analyses suggest that both CNN and CCTV news were only partial in their coverage when reporting about themselves. When talking about each other, the two countries seemed to employ a problem-centered approach where stories focused on blame and the economic ramifications of the COVID-19. As CNN was being blamed for focusing on the social cost of the pandemic, CCTV news was equally blamed for the lack of transparency. Further findings suggest that both media failed to mediate the general public concerns about the coronavirus at a global level. In other words, both CNN and CCTV news failed to adopt a stabilizing role towards the panicking audience in the sense that they did not implement strategies of reassurance to the public in their reporting.

* Extended Abstract * News framing in Bangladesh, India and British media: Bangladesh parliamentary election 2018 • Kazi Mehedi Hasan, University of Mississippi • After the abolition of the non-partisan caretaker government probation from the constitution, for the first time all opposition parties participated in the 2018 parliamentary election under a party government in Bangladesh. This study examines how the media of Bangladesh, India, and Britain framed the election and finds that election conspiracy, intimidation, and conflict frames are dominant in Bangladeshi and British media. Remarkably, Indian media abases intimidation and conflict but emphasizes on the game and economic frames.

First-generation immigrants’ and sojourners’ susceptibility to disinformation • Solyee Kim, University of Georgia; Hyoyeon Jun • News consumption enhances the contact experience for first-generation immigrants and sojourners in their acculturation to the host culture. Using acculturation theory, this study explores interdisciplinary concepts. The authors argue that first-generation immigrants and sojourners’ level of the English proficiency, length of stay in the host culture and their news consumption impact their susceptibility to disinformation. As foreign-born residents make up close to 14% of the U.S. population, this study will provide meaningful insights.

Cultural Identity of Post-Colonial South Koreans: Through the South Korean Boycott against Japan in 2019 • Jisoo Kim, University of Wisconsin-Madison, School of Journalism and Mass Communication • The colonial history between South Korea and Japan as the once colonized and the once colonizing did not fade but continued to impact both nations. South Koreans nationwide boycott of 2019 against Japan engendered in this context. Through a critical discourse analysis on the news articles representation and online discussions concerning the boycott, the present study aimed at a better understanding of the cultural identities of post-colonial South Koreans that emerged amid the situation.

Journalism in continuous circulation: appropriations of language and knowledge through independent circuits of information on Whatsapp • Eloisa Klein • The paper analyzes how information circuits external to journalism appropriate journalistic characteristics of language and knowledge to build their own audience and operating logic. We carried out a study of a network of 50 Whatsapp groups, in the interior of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, gathered under the name of News Hunters. We note the emphasis on the microlocal, as well as the predominance of a notion of factuality related to the interruption of regularity, in addition to an independent system of information mediation.

Network Agenda Setting, Transnationalism and Territoriality: Chinese Diasporic Media in the United States • ZHI LIN, School of Communication, Hong Kong Baptist University; Ziyuan LI, Shanghai Jiaotong University • This study employs network agenda setting to explore transnationalism and territoriality between Chinese diasporic media, Chinese media and American media. Although Chinese and American media significantly influence Chinese diasporic media, influence of American media becomes non-significant after controlling Chinese media. Chinese media is influenced by American media because China is proactively responding to international media, during which its own agenda is set. Chinese media mediates agenda setting effects between American and Chinese diasporic media.

China in Gilgit-Baltistan: A comparative analysis of Pakistani and Indian newspapers • Muhammad Masood, City University of Hong Kong • Gilgit-Baltistan is the only border region of Pakistan connected with China. India, however, claims Gilgit-Baltistan as an integral part of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute. Nonetheless, China is very active in Gilgit-Baltistan, such as in the form of various Chinese projects. Thus, Gilgit-Baltistan possesses both geographically essential and geopolitically controversial position in South Asia. This study analyzes news framing and discursive legitimation of two competing newspapers’ coverages on “China in Gilgit-Baltistan” – Dawn and The Hindu.

Framing Chinese Investment in Africa: Media Coverage in Africa, China, the United Kingdom, and United States of America • Frankline Matanji, University of Iowa • This study is grounded on framing theory to understand tones and frames adopted by media from Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, China, the United States, and United Kingdom in the coverage of Chinese investment in Africa, relying on news articles collected between 2013 and 2018. Results of this quantitative content analysis study indicate that each tone and generic frame was adopted with varying levels of intensity across the countries under study.

Hashtag feminism and lifting the ban on Iranian female spectators. The case study of #BlueGirl • Fatemeh Shayesteh, University of Kansas • This study examined how Iranian women’s stadium ban is discussed by Twitter users with the hashtag #BlueGirl in Farsi and English. I used the feminist theory and the literature of hashtag feminism to analyze the tweets about the death of Sahar, a soccer fan who self-immolated to protest the stadium ban. Using the qualitative content analysis, I identified the emerging narratives and themes, including feminist themes from 600 analyzed tweets.

Moderated Conditional Effects of Social Media Use, Political Discussion and Trust in Politics on Three Types of Political Participation: Cross-National Evidence • Yan Su; Xizhu Xiao • Anchored by the theoretical framework of the differential gains model, this study analyzes nationwide surveys from three Asian societies: Japan, Taiwan, and China, in terms of the moderated conditional effects of social media use, political discussion and trust in politics on contact participation, civic engagement and electoral participation. Results suggested that trust in politics was a significant predictor of electoral participation in all three societies, whereas social media use and political discussion had varying effects on different types of participation in different countries. The conventional differential gains model was partially confirmed in Japan and Taiwan, while it did not hold true in China. However, a significant moderated conditional effect emerged in China. This study extends the differential gains model into a moderated moderation model. Implications are discussed.

Good Rohingyas, bad Rohingyas : How Rohingya narratives shifted in Bangladeshi media • Mushfique Wadud, University of Nevada, Reno • This study investigates how Rohingya refugees are framed in Bangladeshi media outlets. Rohingyas are ethnic and religious minorities in Myanmar’s Rakhine state facing persecution for the last few decades. Majority Rohingas fled to neighboring Bangladesh after a massive crackdown in Rakhine state in 2017. A total of 914,998 Rohingyas are now residing in refugee camps in Bangladesh (as of September 30, 2019). Built on framing theory and based on qualitative content analysis of 420 news stories and opinion pieces of five daily newspapers and two online news portals, the study first examines dominant frames used by Bangladeshi news outlets on Rohingya refugees. The study then goes on to investigate frame variation over time. It also investigates whether framings vary based on character of the news outlets and their ideologies. Findings show that frames vary over time and tabloid and online news outlets are more hostile towards refugees than quality newspapers. The study also finds that right wing news outlets are pro-refugees in Rohingya case. This might be due to Rohingya’s Muslim identity.

Depicting the mediated emotion flow: The super-spreaders of emotions during COVID-19 on Weibo • Jingjing Yi, School of Journalism and Communication, The Chinese University of Hong Kong; Jiayu Qu, The Chinese University of Hong Kong; Wanjiang Zhang, School of Journalism and Communication, The Chinese University of Hong Kong • This study collected two million posts and reposts regarding COVID-19 on Weibo. Emotion analysis and social network analysis were used to examine mediated emotion flow by comparing it with information flow. Results indicated that both the emotion and information flow presents a multi-layer mode, while the emotion network has a higher transmission efficiency; Officially verified accounts are more likely to become super-spreaders of emotions; Good emotions were predominant but isolated from others in online discussions.

Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition
Saudi Women Take the Wheel: A Content Analysis of How Saudi Arabian Car Companies Reached Women on Social Media • Khalid Alharbi, University of South Carolina; Kelli Boling, University of South Carolina; Carol Pardun, University of South Carolina • This study explored how automobile companies in Saudi Arabia used Twitter to market to women after the government lifted the ban on women driving. The study examined these 184 tweets and the 92 advertisements embedded in them using both quantitative and qualitative methodology. The results suggest that auto companies were supportive of women and presented them as more independent and authoritative than has historically been considered typical for Saudi Arabia.

Women refugees’ media usage: Overcoming information precarity and housing precarity in Hamburg, Germany • Miriam Berg, Northwestern University in Qatar • This study examines how women refugees in Hamburg, Germany, of whom many arrived either as minors with their family members or as unaccompanied minors (now young adults), have managed to overcome information precarity experienced as a result of limited and/or restricted access to the internet and/or traditional media. This study also examines whether the forced migration and constantly changing living conditions these women have experienced, from mass emergency shelters to refugee accommodation and youth flats (and for some, a return back to refugee accommodation), have impacted their media usage. Findings from 32 semi-structured interviews with refugee women originating from various countries (Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Eritrea, Syria, and Turkey) have shown that their overall perception of precarity was amplified by limited internet access. Yet, refugee women were actively seeking to overcome this precarity and were extremely resilient and resourceful in finding ways to access the internet so as to utilize various digital media and information and communication technologies tools. Despite the fact that this study does not exclusively focus on mobile phone use, the findings indicate in particular that mobile phones represent a lifeline for refugee women and are seen as being as vital to their everyday lives as food or shelter.

Perpetual dependency syndrome: Journalism and mass communication education in Pakistan • David Bockino; Amir Ilyas, University of the Punjab • Utilizing the theoretical foundation of new institutionalism, this study explores journalism and mass communication education in Pakistan. Anchored by interviews across five programs in the city of Lahore, the study identifies key moments and people in the trajectory of these programs, explores the current connection between these programs and the larger journalism and mass communication organizational field, and examines why many educators within these Pakistani programs feel so constrained by the supranational institutional environment.

After the Revolution: Tunisian Journalism Students and a News Media in Transition • Brian J. Bowe, Western Washington University; Carolyn Nielsen, Western Washington University; Arwa Kooli, L’Institut de Presse et des Sciences de l’Information; Rafia Somai, L’Institut de Presse et des Sciences de l’Information; Joe Gosen, Western Washington University • A decade after the Jasmine Revolution ushered in the Arab Spring, Tunisia remains a bright spot for democratic reform and press freedom in the region. However, this transition is still tentative, and the reforms remain fragile. This study examines Tunisian journalism students (N=193) to understand their motivations for earning a degree in the field and how they conceptualize journalism’s role in society. By studying the extent to which future Tunisian journalists understand their professional roles as protectors of democratic values, we may gain a glimpse into how they are internalizing the lessons of the revolution. The results of this survey showed that students emphasized social responsibility motivations for studying journalism. Participants most strongly valued the role of journalists in promoting tolerance and cultural diversity, educating the audience, letting people express their views, reporting things as they are, and supporting national development. These results suggest that Tunisian students view their work as assuming monitorial and interventionist roles. Finally, they have mixed views about social media’s impact on journalism.

Survival in an Online-First Era: Exploring Social Media’s Effects on Indian Journalism & Resultant Challenges • Dhiman Chattopadhyay, Shippensburg University • With greater access to technology, countries in the so-called Global South are increasingly using social media platforms such as Twitter, WhatsApp and Facebook as a major source of breaking news. This study conducts a first-of-its-kind pan-Indian study of Indian journalists to examine how social media’s ability to break news first has affected journalistic practices in the world’s most populated democracy. In-depth interviews were conducted with 18 senior editors at some of the country’s largest newspapers, magazines, TV channels and websites to understand editors’ own perspectives about how social media have affected gatekeeping practices, resultant challenges, and the way forward. Findings indicate Indian journalists face unique challenges because of the multi-lingual, multi-ethnic, multi-caste structure of the nation, and differences in politico-economic structure of the media industry also results in a different understanding of the Gatekeeping function and the Hierarchy of Influences Model. Implications are discussed.

How Public Deliberation Happens in an Unlikely Place:A Case Study on Ghana’s Deliberative Poll • Kaiping Chen, University of Wisconsin-Madison • Empowering ordinary citizens with the capacity to deliberate is a core issue in science communication. Despite growing deliberative practices in developed nations, it is significantly less understood how public deliberation can happen among impoverished populations who lack formal education in developing countries. This paper studied a case of a well-designed deliberation method, Deliberative Poll, in Tamale, Ghana. I examined how scientific expertise was used, the type of arguments raised, and the quality of people’s dialogues by analyzing thousands of speech acts from deliberation transcripts and the information material provided to participants. I found that in a well-designed deliberation environment, scientific expertise is well represented. Marginalized populations had thoughtful discussions on complex policy issues. Local policymakers even considered their opinions. This paper contributes to our understanding of how to effectively foster public deliberation among marginalized populations and systematically measure the nuances of scientific expertise and public reasoning on science

Cinema and the ethnic divide: Contemporary representations of Mexico and Mexicans in Hollywood Films • Gabriel Dominguez Partida, Texas Tech University; Hector Rendon, Texas Tech University • “Cinema produced in a country exhibits values and traits of the local culture. It also personifies members of out-groups seen as the other, portrayed with a series of particular characteristics easily distinguishable by the domestic audience. However, the preponderance of Hollywood’s products in the international film markets makes their representations more influential. The majority of its films depict the dominance of the white culture from a heroic and superior perspective about others.

In the case of Mexico and Mexicans, Hollywood films present the country and its inhabitants in a disadvantageous position. Nevertheless, previous studies indicate that the image of a lawless land plagued with bandits has gradually changed to a more positive one since NAFTA. This representation is vital as films contribute to developing an identity, and if these images present negative attributes, people tend to reject their own culture.

Hence, this study consists of a content analysis of 39 scripts from Hollywood films produced from 2000 to 2019 to analyze how they describe Mexico and Mexicans, the prevalence of negative and positive depictions, and how the incorporation of Mexican characters and Mexico as the central location influence these representations. Results suggest that a negative image of Mexico has been perpetuated in those films, relating the country and its inhabitants as dangerous, inferior, and primitive in comparison with the U.S. However, when productions include Mexican characters among the protagonists a tendency exists to reduce the negative image of the nation and its residents.”

Circling the Paradigmatic Wagons: A Comparative Analysis of Journalistic Paradigm Defense. • Lyombe Eko; Cassandra Hayes • This article explores, describes, and explains, the concept of journalistic paradigm defense from a comparative, international perspective, using as case studies a number of “mediatized meta-events,” problematic situations, and crises that posed perceived existential threats to the journalistic paradigm– or the freedom of speech and of the press on which it is grounded–in a number of jurisdictions. This analysis was carried out within the framework of journalism as a paradigm, a way of seeing, organizing and representing reality. When this paradigm is threatened, journalists from different cultural geographies of freedom of expression rise to defend it.

Understanding Latin American Data Journalism: Open-Coding Culture, Transparency, and Investigative Reporting • Maria Isabel Magaña, Universidad de La Sabana; Víctor García-Perdomo, Universidad de La Sabana • This study analyzes how Latin American reporters understand data journalism according to their social contexts, how they make sense of digital technologies and how technical artifacts (tools, data, software) shape their journalistic values and practices. Results show that reporters understand data journalism as a hybrid between investigative journalism and open-source culture. They value transparency over other traditional journalistic values, which creates activism towards open data, access and freedom of information.

The vox-pop, the victim and the active citizen: A Content Analysis of Citizen Sources in Non-Western International Broadcasting in Spanish • Miriam Hernandez, CSUDH; Dani Madrid-Morales, University of Houston • This study examines the salience of citizen sources, its news functions and its relationship to foreign policy objectives in three international State broadcasters: Iran’s HispanTV, Russia’s RT and China’s CGTN Español. Through a content analysis of news stories broadcasted in 2014 and 2017 (N = 1,265), results indicate the representation of ordinary sources follows well-known news functions (vox-pop, exemplars and active agents), but they also strategically respond to foreign policy interests. Implications and differences among broadcasters are discussed.

Have a Seat! How Digital-native News Organization in Colombia Built Consensus on the Topic of Venezuela Through Social Media • Vanessa HIggins Joyce, Texas State University • Correlation of different segments of society is a major function of mass media. However, little is known about how consensus building works in the networked, digital environment and in Latin America. This study tested the premise on a social media page from a digital-native news organization in Colombia, on the salient issue of Venezuela. It found support for consensus building between men and women (rs=.76, n=10, p<.05) on substantive attributes of the issue of Venezuela.

* Extended Abstract * Extended abstract: Blaming Others: Stigmas Related to COVID-19 Pandemic in Indonesia and Malaysia • Ika Idris, Universitas Paramadina; Nuurrianti Jalli, Universiti Teknologi Mara • This study investigates the stigmas formed around the COVID-19 through Twitter conversations in Indonesia and Malaysia. We collected 450,000 tweets related to the COVID-19 and analyzed 6,932 using quantitative content analysis. We found that the central stigma in Indonesia was ‘labeling’ while in Malaysia, it was ‘responsibility’ of a religious group amid the pandemic. Although differing primary stigmas, conversations in both countries inclined to blame on other actors as the cause of the pandemic.

* Extended Abstract * Extended Abstract: The Marriage of Inconvenience: An Exploratory Analysis of Media Convergence in Pakistan • Muhammad Ittefaq, University of Kansas; Ammar Malik Sheikh, Mashable Pakistan; Waqas Ejaz; Muhammad Yousaf, University of Gujrat; Shahira S Fahmy, The American University in Cairo • Based on the hierarchy of influence model and the diffusion of innovation theory, we explore perceptions on media convergence in Pakistan’s media industry and its socio-economic impact on journalists’ work and routines. Our study of in-depth interviews with Pakistani journalists, contribute to the growing literature on media convergence. It, therefore, will allow for a deeper understanding of the various aspects of modern (converged) journalism, specifically the challenges and opportunities of multimedia in the developing world.

Sakazuki, Kodokushi: Website Depictions of Japanese Seniors in the World’s Grayest Society • Hong Ji; Anne Cooper-Chen, Ohio u; Tomoko Kanayama; Eiko Gilliford • This study analyzed 355 images, including 167 elders and 136 staffers, who appeared in photographs taken at Japanese senior living facilities. The marketing-oriented websites showed primarily healthy, joyful-looking elders, 64.7% female and 35.3% male; 93.4% are pictured with others, and 21.0% are in wheelchairs. Results supported the universalism and endurance of Maslow’s (1954) Hierarchy of Needs and Hofstede’s (2001) Dimensions of Cultural Variability. The study partly redresses the dearth of research in English on Japan.

Perceptions of refugees in their home countries and abroad: A content analysis of la caravana migrante/the migrant caravan in Central America and the United States • Linda Jean Kenix, University of Canterbury; Jorge Freddy Bolanos Lopez, University of Canterbury • In October 2018, a group of Honduran citizens announced that they would walk towards the American South border looking to be allowed entry into the United States. This research asks how media in five Central American countries and that of several states in The United States covered these refugees during what was called ‘the migrant caravan.’ Any mediated differences found can translate to very real consequences for how these refugees are viewed in their home countries and in the country that they are moving towards. Repeated media imagery can form ideology and culture within a nation state. This research is important as these mediated representations can then form how refugees are treated, both in policy and through interpersonal interactions.

Innocence Killed: Framing of Visual Propaganda in the Recruitment, Radicalization and Desensitization of the Children of ISIS • Flora Khoo; William Brown • Millions of children living in the Islamic State have witnessed senseless violence as part of their daily lives and are targeted by ISIS for recruitment. This study examines the appeals ISIS uses to recruit children. Based on a quantitative content analysis of 22 ISIS child propaganda videos, results illuminate how the narrative of the glorification of heaven attracts potential martyrs and how families form a key part of the narratives used to recruit children.

Lone Wolf or Islamic State: A Content Analysis of Global News Verbal Framing of Terrorist Acts • ASHLEY LARSON • Scholars have identified the mass media plays a crucial role in the dissemination of terror messages. Since the attacks of September 11th, 2001, much attention has been paid to terrorism in the global television landscape. More recently, the discourse surrounding acts of terror has changed, due in part to the people behind the attacks. This study seeks to understand how global television news broadcasts verbally frame acts of terror based on two current threats: the individual terrorist (the Lone Wolf) and the organized group (the Islamic State). Findings indicate global news has strong similarities of the verbal framing of terrorist attacks, regardless of the classification of the attacker.

Winning Hearts and Minds Through Cuisine: Public Diplomacy and Singapore’s Bid for UNESCO Intangible Heritage Recognition • Seow Ting Lee, University of Colorado Boulder; Hun Shik Kim, University of Colorado at Boulder • “Food represents a common ground for all, enabling nation states to use gastrodiplomacy to build tangible and emotional transnational connections with foreign publics through food.

This paper examines middle power Singapore’s national and international campaigns to inscribe its hawker culture through UNESCO’s List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. Singapore’s UNESCO bid is motivated by a desire, in collaboration with non-state actors, to strengthen the value and standing of its nation brand through food.”

A Case Study of Foreign Correspondents’ Use of Twitter during the 2019 Hong Kong Protests • LUWEI ROSE LUQIU; Shuning Lu, North Dakota State University • Technological innovation has altered the power balance among journalists, news media outlets, and audiences. Twitter, for instance, has provided journalists with new opportunities to disseminate unedited content directly to the public, thus exercising freedom of press at the individual level. Informed by scholarship on journalistic normalization and news engagement, the research described here examined the sourcing, content, and engagement on Twitter among 20 foreign correspondents from Western legacy media during the 2019 anti-extradition bill protests in Hong Kong. The analysis of this case study shows that these journalists interacted more with other journalists than with members of the general public, and also that they were more engaged in sharing factual information than in self-branding. Further, while few of the journalists’ tweets contained their personal opinion, these non-factual tweets generated more likes, comments, and retweets than those factual ones. This finding is significant because the expression of personal opinions can increase the transparency of reporting as well as engagement between journalists and their audiences. A profound implication of the findings presented here is that news outlets and journalists should rethink the relationship between objectivity and transparency in the networked environment.

The Cross-Culture Selfie Study: Exploring the Difference between Chinese and American Motivations for Taking and Sharing Selfies on Social Media • Yuanwei Lyu, The University of Alabama; Steven Holiday, The University of Alabama • Based on the cultural dimension framework, this study explores the motives for taking and posting selfies on social media in different cultural contexts. While cultural dimensions have been widely applied to understanding communication practices, a question remains concerning whether Hofstede’s (1994) original cultural aspects are still applicable in undergoing societies. Using the data collected from the United States and China, this research seeks to examine the differences and commonalities in motivations for taking and sharing selfies between these two technologically-progressive countries. The findings will validate past scholarship on the uses and gratifications (U&G) of selfies, but also provide support for the global online culture.

Dialectics of Complexity: A Five-Country Examination of Perceptions of Social Media Platforms • Gina M. Masullo, School of Journalism, The University of Texas at Austin; Martin Riedl, University of Texas at Austin; Ori Tenenboim, School of Journalism, The University of Texas at Austin • This study examined people’s lived experiences with social media through 10 focus groups across five countries: Brazil, Germany, Malaysia, South Africa, and the United States. Findings demonstrate that social media make people’s lives less complex, but this belies heightened complexity as they negotiate four paradoxes when using social media. We describe these as dialectics between: convenience versus safety, helpful versus unreliable information, meaningful versus wasted time, and feeling better using platforms versus feeling worse.

Press Freedom in East Africa: Perceptions from journalists in Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya • Karen McIntyre, Virginia Commonwealth University; Meghan Sobel Cohen • This cross-national comparative survey sought to understand how journalists in three East African countries — Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya — perceive their press freedom, what factors influence that freedom, as well as how accurately they view international press freedom rankings. Among other findings, the data revealed that journalists in all three countries reported similar threats to press freedom, with fear of government retaliation and repressive national laws as the factors that most influence freedom in the region.

Negotiating a digital self: Journalists’ use of Twitter and Instagram • Claudia Mellado; Amaranta Alfaro • Based on face-to-face, in-depth interviews with 31 Chilean journalists from national TV, radio, print, and online media, this study explores how they negotiate their identities and media use on Twitter and Instagram. The results suggest that, overall, Chilean journalists use Twitter and Instagram to stay informed, report the news, engage in branding activities, and interact with their audiences, expanding the scope of their work to include new professional roles and allow for the emergence of different but not mutually exclusive digital selves. Nevertheless, important differences were found based on the platform used and the journalists’ own perception of which practices are valid and important. Specifically, three groups were identified. While we found strong patterns of a reinterpretation of journalistic practices by normalizing some traditional functions into social media, which is represented by the “adapted”; we also found clear elements of redefinition of the journalistic work, represented by the “redefiners.” They disrupt traditional norms merging their different selves in both platforms, and use their accounts differently to target specific audiences. We also identified a group of journalists who resist the idea of mixing their professional work with social media practices, remaining “skeptical” to changes.

Whose News to Trust? Presidential Approval and Media Trust in the U.S. and Russia • Kelsey Mesmer, Wayne State University; Elizabeth Stoycheff • Trust in journalism has declined around the world. This study employs a comparative survey of two divergent political systems – the United States and Russia – to better understand eroding faith in their media institutions. We hypothesize that these declines have occurred, in no small part, as a result of support for authoritative political leadership that seeks to control the national news narrative. Survey results indicated a negative relationship between American citizens’ trust of national news media and support for U.S. President Donald Trump, and a positive relationship between Russian citizens’ trust of national news media and Russian President Vladimir Putin. We situate these findings in the context of each country’s media system.

* Extended Abstract * Cross-media Use in Civic Engagement : The Hybridity of Collective, Connective, and Individual Actions in Politics • Hailey Hyun-kyung Oh; Yoon Jae Jang; So Eun Lee • This research aims to explore the impacts of cross-media use for news upon political participation in the context of South Korea. Studies have shown that, under new media environment, people use a group of media for news and political information (Pew Research, 2008; Kang, & Kim, 2010; Dubois, & Blank, 2018; Newman, Fletcher, Kalogeropoulos, & Nielsen, 2019). The constellation of news media individuals draw for their daily news consumption was also identified as media repertoire (Van Rees & Van Eijck, 2003; Ksiazek, 2011; Yuan, 2011; Kim, 2014). Cross-media audience is a heterogeneous group that can be fragmented depending on what kind of media they use as the major source for news. The increasing cross-media audience reflects people are more likely to blend traditional and new media for consuming news, and this hybridity in media repertoire is also relevant to various political activities, from individual to collective actions leading to transnational-level social movements (Chadwick, 2013; Chadwick, O’Loughlin, & Vaccari, 2017). Assuming that political actions, encouraged by news media, vary across platforms—that is, a certain type of media platform encourages individual actions while others motivate more collective actions, or connective ones—this study identifies the audience using more than two types of news media among five, i.e. newspapers, television, radio, magazine, and the Internet, and categorizes this cross-media audience based on their media repertoire. After categorizing each type of cross-media audience, its demographic characteristics is identified respectively. Lastly, how this hybridity of media use influence civic engagement is tested.

Blurring the lines between fiction and reality: Framing the Ukrainian presidency in the political situation comedy Servant of the People • Nataliya Roman; Berrin Beasley; John Parmelee • This study examines presidential framing in the Ukrainian sitcom Servant of the People, which helped Ukrainian comedian and political novice Volodymyr Zelenskyy win the presidency in 2019. Building upon research into fictional framing (Holbert et al., 2005; Mulligan & Habel, 2011) and political satire verite (Conway, 2016), this study analyzes the roles and character traits of Vasiliy Goloborodko, a fictional Ukrainian president played by Zelenskyy. The findings expand framing theory to include fictional political leaders in sitcoms and provide insight into the role the comedy played in Zelenskyy’s historic presidential victory.

* Extended Abstract * Extended Abstract: Networking (with Other) Crises: Translating the Refugee Crisis into Advocacy for the Roma • Adina Schneeweis, Oakland University • This article is a study of advocacy communication and the ideological translation of plight. It examines how activism for Europe’s largest minority group, the Roma (Gypsies), connects to, builds upon, borrows from, and distances itself from, the migrant refugee crisis that gripped Europe in the mid-2010s. Through discourse analysis of advocacy texts published by European NGOs between 2014 and 2018, the study concludes that advocacy discourses build a clear case that connects the plight of the Roma to the refugee crisis, through humanitarian appeals, highlighting the affinity of vulnerability, and by amplifying the crisis to shed light on the needs of Roma communities.

Competing Frames on Social Media: Analysis of English and Farsi Tweets on Iran Plane Crash • Hyunjin Seo, University of Kansas; Fatemeh Shayesteh, University of Kansas • This study conducted content analysis and word co-occurrence network analysis of tweets about the Ukraine plane crash in Iran in 2020 to analyze differences between English tweets and Farsi tweets in framing and discussing the major international event. Results from our computational analysis and human coding of the tweets show important differences and similarities between English tweets and Farsi tweets in terms of prominent frames and frequently co-occurring word pairs.

News and the neoliberal order: How transnational discourse structures national identities and asymmetries of power • Saif Shahin, American University • Comparing 15 years of news coverage of international aid from two donor nations (United States and Britain) and two receiver nations (India and Pakistan), this study makes three arguments. The dynamic between nationalist identification and transnational discourse is dialectical. This dynamic reinforces asymmetries of power, privileging some nations as superior while making others complicit in their subordination. Finally, newsmaking and foreign policymaking are mutually constitutive social phenomena—both reproduce a shared conception of national identity.

* Extended Abstract * Influencer Engagement With Chinese Audiences: The Role of Language • Zihang E; Ziyuan Zhang, The Pennsylvania State University; Ryan Tan, Penn State University; Olivia Reed, The Pennsylvania State University; Heather Shoenberger, The Pennsylvania State University • With the rise of platforms such as YouTube and TikTok influencers are seeking to increase their view-counts and spheres of influence globally. This study examines the differences in perception by a Mandarin speaking audience of beauty vlogs created in English and Mandarin on parasocial interaction with the influencer, perceived homophily, perceived authenticity, self-truth of the influencer, and purchase intent variables. Results will add insights to the area of influencers looking to communicate to international audiences.

Global Economy, Regional Bloc, National Interests: ASEAN Coverage in Philippine Broadsheets • Nathaniel Melican, City, University of London; Jane B. Singer, City, University of London • Let’s face it: Regional economic blocs are not inherently compelling, leaving journalists who cover them to search for frames to attract the attention of editors and audiences. This study draws on a content analysis of stories about the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, plus interviews with Filipino journalists, to understand the nature of the information citizens receive – which focuses largely on national interests rather than broader ones — and the rationale for generating it.

* Extended Abstract * Health Misinformation in Kenya • Melissa Tully, University of Iowa; Kevin Mudavadi; David Biwott, USIU-Africa • The global spread of misinformation on social media and chat apps has led to increased interest of this phenomenon. Drawing on interviews with Kenyan adults, this study explores Kenyans’ exposure and response to health misinformation to provide much-needed data from the Global South. Findings suggest that health misinformation is prevalent and participants respond by looking for multiple sources of information. Although, when exposed to a misinformation exemplar, many were quick to accept it as “fact.”

* Extended Abstract * Syrian Armenian Refugees in Armenia: Social Cohesion and Information Practices • Melissa Wall, California State University – Northridge • This paper is based on interviews carried out in the spring of 2019 in Armenia with Syrian Armenian refugees who fled to their ancestral homeland due to the Syrian civil war. UNHCR officials and NGO personnel were also interviewed. The project examines the ways the refugees’ information practices – both via social media and interpersonally – can create opportunities to overcome information precarity and experience different forms of social cohesion in their new home.

Overseas Media, Homeland Audiences: Examining Determinants of News Making in Deutsche Welle’s Amharic Service • Tewodros Workneh, Kent State University • In the absence of credible news outlets, Germany’s public international broadcaster Deutsche Welle’s (DW) has been one of the few foreign-based radio stations that successfully withstood the Ethiopian government’s crackdown on non-state-owned media. This study examines determinants of journalism practice and newsroom culture in DW’s Amharic Service. By adopting an analytical framework of ideological, geographic, and audience-generated determinants of news making, it charts homeland and host challenges that constrain journalistic autonomy in DW Amharic’s newsroom.

Social media, protest, & outrage communication in Ethiopia: Toward fractured publics or pluralistic polity? • Tewodros Workneh, Kent State University • In 2018, Ethiopia experienced a tectonic political shift following the culmination of years of public outcry against the ruling party, Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). Protest groups, predominantly organized along ethnic identification, have used social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter to disseminate strategies, recruit members, and galvanize support. Anchored on theories of collective identity and moral outrage, this study investigates the role of social media platforms in mobilizing Ethiopians toward political reform during the protest and post-protest periods. Data generated from a mixed method approach consisting of an online survey and interviews indicate social media platforms played a crucial role by drawing Ethiopian youth to participate in political discourse, empowering formerly marginalized groups to influence policy, and fostering ingroup cultural/political cohesion. However, evidence indicates participation opportunities created by social media platforms also brought apprehension including the rise of outrage communication as manifested by hate speech, political extremism, incitement of violence, and misinformation. I argue, in the context of a polity embodying highly heterogeneous and contested nationalisms—ethnic or otherwise—such as Ethiopia, social media platforms increase ingroup political participation but chronically diminish outgroup engagement. I conclude by discussing the limitations of regulating social media content through legislation. Furthermore, I highlight the need to integrate media and information literacy into education curricula as a long-term, sustainable solution to Ethiopia’s digital dilemma.

Predicting the Relationships among Country Animosity, Attitudes toward, Product Judgment about, and Intention to Consume Foreign Cultural Products • KENNETH C. C. YANG, THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT EL PASO; YOWEI KANG, NATIONAL TAIWAN OCEAN UNIVERSITY • This study employs the marketing concept of country animosity to study Taiwanese audience’s consumption of foreign cultural products from China and South Korea. This study uses a survey to collect data from 763 participants living in Taiwan, a democratic island with cultural, historical, and political relationships with these two countries. Linear regression analyses find that country animosity is an important predictor of how Taiwanese viewers judge Chinese television dramas, but less useful in predicting their judgment of South Korean television dramas. Overall, country animosity also explains intention to watch Chinese television dramas and offer partial support to intention to watch South Korean television dramas. Results conclude that predictive power of country animosity and its sub-dimensions depends on existing geo-political and historical relationships between Taiwan and China, as well as Taiwan and South Korea. This study concludes with theoretical implications and managerial recommendations to promote cultural products to audiences with different cultural, historical, and political background.

Transcending Third-Person Effects of Foreign Media in the US: The Effect of Media Nationality and Message Context on TPE and Support for Restrictions • Yicheng Zhu, Beijing Normal University; Anan Wan, Kansas State University • This study examines how social identities can transcend given distinct message contexts of foreign persuasion, and lead to support for restriction of foreign media in the US through TPE. With a US voter quota sample (N = 856), our results indicate that when foreign persuasion happened in a US-identity-provoking context, partisan differences in TPE are remedied. Moreover, the study found foreign media creates more TPE than domestic media. Within the category of foreign media, a friendly ally is perceived to have more effect on both self and others.

<2020 Abstracts

Robert Capa: War Photographer as Performance and Revision of the Myth • Christopher T. Assaf, University of Texas At Austin • This paper will examine the mythos surrounding war photographer Robert Capa. New research challenges whether Capa’s D-Day invasion film was ruined, the number of negatives he made, and Capa himself. Through the lens of Barthes’ (2013) “ideological myth,” this study questions Capa’s self-mythologizing; the narrative of Falling Soldier (1936); his elite photojournalistic status; and his photographs of June 6, 1944. Further inspection will illuminate Capa the war photographer via the hegemonic masculinity fueling his persona.

Democracy on the Skids: The Hutchins Commission’s Fears for America’s Future • Stephen Bates, University of Nevada, Las Vegas • Scholars often remark on the timeless quality of A Free and Responsible Press, the 1947 report of the Hutchins Commission. Yet some of the Commission’s most striking parallels to today did not make it into the book. In closed-door deliberations, Commission members worried that the democratic system in the United States faced grave threats, including a fragmenting and polarized electorate, foreign and domestic propaganda, and what we now call echo chambers, trolls, and deplatforming.

“Libbers’ March”: Newspapers and the 50th Anniversary of U.S. Women’s Suffrage • Dana Dabek, Temple University • This paper explores newspaper coverage of the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment in the U.S. in 1970, including but not limited to the Women’s Strike for Equality, under the lens of memory studies. Situated within a larger conversation regarding how the U.S. suffrage movement is brought into collective memory by the media, this work contends that feminist message, preservation of memory, and media framing are often at odds.

Individual- and Role-Level Influences on Crisis Coverage: A Content Analysis of Columbine • Danielle Deavours, University of Alabama • Neutrality, to remove one’s emotions and beliefs from reports, is a norm of the journalism profession. A desire to be neutral is often fostered by an adherence to institutional and organizational norms enacted by individual journalists in their routine newsmaking decisions. Yet, when routines are less applicable, like during crisis event coverage, will journalists still adhere to the professional norm of neutrality or will they become more subjective as individual-level influences of emotions and personal beliefs take over? This study focuses on nonverbal expressions of broadcast journalists during crisis coverage, specifically during school shootings. Using a pivotal moment in American school shooting history, the shootings at Columbine High School in Columbine Colorado on April 20, 1999, this study seeks to understand a critical moment in journalistic history of individual and role influences of journalists during crisis. This work features the case study of the first 24-hours of national news coverage from Columbine and a content analysis methodology. As one of the first school shootings in the United States to receive 24 hour live coverage, the broadcasts of Columbine provide unique insight into a non-routinized event’s coverage. The findings in this study contribute to understanding of journalistic practices (specifically broadcast and visual journalism), nonverbal communication, journalism history, and school shootings.

‘Skeptics Make the Best Readers’: The Institute of Propaganda Analysis’ Pioneering Media Literacy Efforts and the Fight Against Misinformation (1937-1942) • Elisabeth Fondren, St. John’s University • This study examines the Institute for Propaganda Analysis’ efforts to build, manage, and expand American institutional media literacy programs before and during World War II. Most centrally, this paper explores the IPA’s visions and advocacy for propaganda literacy against the backdrop of rising nationalism during the period of 1937-1942. Through a historical and textual analysis of archival papers, notes, speeches, correspondence, newspaper articles and the Institute’s publication, the results of this study show how the Institute raised awareness and highlighted the need for information literacy during a time that precedes our modern attempts to promote critical thinking and engagement with political information. Supported by a network of elites, social scientists and editors, these efforts gained momentum. The Institute’s newsletter, Propaganda Analysis, and its educational programs, specialized leaflets and books were received favorably, however, the Institute could neither overcome its financial struggles nor thwart official pressures to cede its work, perceived as ‘un-American’ in light of the U.S. war mobilization. By examining how scholars of public opinion worked with the press, garnered publicity, and shared their expertise on propaganda publicly, the findings offer original insights into the pioneering efforts of the American anti-propaganda movement.

A Know-Nothing’s Portrayal of Mexicans in the 1850s Press: The Work of G. Douglas Brewerton • Michael Fuhlhage, Wayne State University • George Douglas Brewerton was among the first magazine correspondents to use first-person experience to describe the Spanish and Mexican people and culture in the U.S.–Mexico Borderlands in the 1850s. His lengthy travel narratives published in Harper’s New Monthly Magazine in 1853 and 1854 chronicled his journey with Kit Carson across the Mojave and Old Spanish trails to Taos, New Mexico. The link between the Baptist, Southern, white, Anglo-Saxon, and nativist facets of his social identity and his demeaning portrayal of Mexicans is examined.

“Gladwin Hill and “‘The Wetbacks'”: The New York Times and the Mexican Migrant Security Threat” • Melita Garza, Texas Christian University • This study examines Gladwin Hill’s 1951 Pulitzer Prize-nominated series, “’The Wetbacks,’” as well as the journalist’s personal papers to show how the first Los Angeles bureau chief for the New York Times catapulted illegal immigration to a national topic from a regional one. Reporting at the height of the “Red Scare,” Hill framed Mexican immigrants as a national security threat, a mediated representation that inspired network news coverage, congressional action, and an enduring immigrant stereotype.

Enemy Words on American Airwaves: Cold War Radio Moscow Broadcasts to the U.S. • Kevin Grieves, Whitworth University • Most attention to Cold War broadcasting has been on the European context, and on Western radio reaching across the Iron Curtain to Soviet Bloc audiences. This study examines Americans listening to Radio Moscow during the Cold War era, particularly as reflected in the U.S. popular press. The study investigates the tensions behind American journalists casting Radio Moscow as a propaganda threat, but also reacting derisively and dismissively to Soviet radio content. This paper highlights efforts of Radio Moscow to reach American audiences via U.S. radio stations and traces shifts in American attitudes towards Radio Moscow over time.

History of the Black Power Movement: Going Beyond Mediated Images • Adrianne Grubic, The University of Texas at Austin • The Black Power movement is best known for its iconic images. The movement was so much more than that, despite media in the 1960s promulgating that it had only one purpose, that of violence. This paper will analyze articles and books from historians and movement leaders looking at how their revolution was viewed by the media and themselves, along with how Black power was demonstrated in mediated spaces such as the arts and literature.

Film Censorship’s Last Stand: The Memphis Board of Review 1967 to 1976 • Thomas J. Hrach, University of Memphis • Memphis, Tennessee, was the last major American city to continue the practice of censoring films when its Board of Review was ruled unconstitutional by a federal judge in 1976. Memphis held on so long to the practice of censoring films because of the city’s legacy of censorship and its goal of retaining old world values in the changing era of the 1960s and ‘70s. A history of the Board of Review in Memphis shows how censorship was an attempt to hold onto old-school thinking in uncertain times.

Platform life, platform death: civilian counter-histories of military-made social media • Muira McCammon • The purpose of this article is to analyze the creation, use, and termination of TroopTube by the Department of Defense for the sharing of messages and videos by, between, and for U.S. servicemembers. Drawing on news coverage of the platform and an interview with a designer, this research uses the grounded theory approach to demonstrate that the public civilian response to this military-made social media platform was not a continuous narrative; rather, the press presented different platform narratives, which highlighted different imagined and actual affordances of the platform as imagined by the state. The research demonstrates that while newspapers, magazines, and blogs promoted and actively encouraged the use of TroopTube, it was, in fact, imperiled from the start. Drawing on press accounts and semi-structured interviews with those who imagined, contracted, and explained the platform to American civilian and military audiences, I offer up the concept of the platform counter-narrative—of which there are two types, the platform counter-narrative and the platform counter-memory. The first arises during the time of the platform’s life, and the second, follows its death.

* Extended Abstract * The Nation’s First Press Secretary: Ray Stannard Baker and the Lessons of Publicity • Meghan McCune, Louisiana State University; John Maxwell Hamilton • American journalist Ray Stannard Baker is primarily remembered by historians as a prominent muckraker. This paper argues that Baker had another important distinction that has been overlooked; he qualifies as the nation’s first presidential press secretary. In his role as chief spokesman for President Woodrow Wilson during the Paris Peace Conference, which marked the end of the First World War, Baker set an exceptionally high standard for the position. At a time when governments around the world developed large-scale propaganda systems for war, Baker held a democratic view of his position as press secretary. A progressive with a strong faith in publicity, Baker believed he was not only as a spokesperson for the President, but also an advocate for the press.

From Prohibition’s Demon Drink to Acceptable Indulgence: Distillers and the Battle to Normalize Liquor in America • Wendy Melillo, American University • The liquor industry’s image enhancement strategies following the repeal of Prohibition were specifically designed to erase the negative legacy of America’s great social experiment. The distillers’ goal to normalize liquor products in the minds of Americans was about much more than just increasing market share against their beer and wine competitors. To achieve cultural acceptance, the liquor industry would have to dismantle the lesson Prohibition taught Americans, which was to treat liquor as “hard” and more dangerous when compared to other types of beverage alcohol. By establishing a self-regulatory advertising code, infusing its ads with drink responsibly messages, positing alcohol equivalency, and associating liquor with the nation’s heritage, the liquor industry has established the drinking of its products as part of a culturally acceptable American lifestyle.

Influence of the Supreme Court’s Plessy v. Ferguson decision on southern editorial arguments during the “massive resistance” to integration • Ali Mohamed • We examine the role of the Southern press in the “massive resistance” to the High Court’s Brown v. Board of Education ruling of 1954 on school integration, and the extent to which newspaper editorials relied on social and legal rationales for segregation based on the High Court’s earlier Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896. All three of Plessy’s rationales for institutionalizing segregation — states’ rights, a dual system of “social rights” based on race, and the doctrine of “separate but equal” — were widely adopted by the press. However, newspapers took the “equal” part of Plessy’s “separate but equal” doctrine much more seriously than did elected officials in the South – causing significant friction between the press and political leaders – especially in Alabama and Mississippi. A content analysis of the Birmingham News from 1960 to 1964 found that, although the News supported segregation through arguments of “states’ rights” and a dual system of “social rights” as laid out in the Plessy decision, the paper’s editors remained consistently committed to equality and the rule of law throughout the turmoil of the civil rights movement.

Shaping Billboard Magazine: Lee Zhito’s Rise From Part-time Writer to Vice President, 1945 to 1993 • Madeleine Liseblad, Middle Tennessee State University; Gregory Pitts, Middle Tennessee State University • The name Billboard is recognized in the music and entertainment industry, but the journalists behind the publication’s rise to prominence have not been recognized. Lee Zhito—with his red handlebar mustache and constantly present pipe—spent nearly fifty years with Billboard, starting as a writer and working his way up to become publisher and vice president. He was arguably one of the earliest music and entertainment journalists, covering the music industry but also keening aware of new technologies and distribution platforms that would impact the entertainment industry and consumers. He defended the publication’s integrity to advertising critics by maintaining a strong ethical center, while always advancing the prominence and influence of Billboard in the music and entertainment industries. Despite Zhito’s impressive career and impact at Billboard, academic studies about his reign have not been conducted. Surprisingly little has been written about Billboard, beyond encyclopedia entries or academic studies about its various music lists. Zhito helped grow Billboard, which in turn helped grow radio and the recording industry; a symbiotic relationship in many ways. This study is based on the newly acquired Lee Zhito collection at the Center for Popular Music at Middle Tennessee State University. The collection—donated by his daughter Lisa Zhito—contains ten linear feet of manuscript materials, including correspondence, periodicals, clippings, tapes and films. The collection technically covers the years 1956 to 1995, but there are some items dating back to the 1930s. The bulk of the collection is from 1975 to 1995.

Our Forgotten Mother: Daisy Bates and Her School Integration Campaign • Lori Amber Roessner, University of Tennessee; Monique Freemon, University of Tennessee • Answering calls of public relations historians, this study seeks to recover the role of Daisy Bates in the Little Rock school integration campaign and to serve as an intervention into the great men’s account of public relations history. Culling available archival sources and published news texts in White mainstream and Black Press, we examined the public relations tactics that Bates implemented in her campaign for school integration, analyzed the motivations behind her deployment of the public relations tactics, and evaluated the successes and failures of her strategies.

‘Complaining,’ Campaigning,’ and everything in between: media coverage of pay equity in women’s tennis in 1973 and 2007 • Shannon Scovel, University of Maryland • This paper analyzes the media coverage of pay equity in women’s tennis in three newspapers during the 1973 U.S. Open and 2007 Wimbledon tournaments, the first and last Grand Slams to offer equal pay. A content analysis of over 100 articles demonstrates that journalists portrayed the female athletes involved in the pay equity conversations in 2007 as empowered advocates, marking an important shift from the “emotional” and “demanding” descriptions reporters applied to women in 1973.

Framing women’s roles in 20th century farming: A content analysis of cover images • Catherine Staub, Drake University; Amy Vaughan; Alina Dorion • This content analysis examined how women are portrayed throughout the 20th century on the covers of two high-circulation farm magazines. Coders identified gender, age, activity, gendered stereotypes, and predominance of the figures in 801 farm magazine cover images. Findings suggest an under-representation and stereotypical portrayal of women on the covers throughout the 20th century. This research contributes to an understanding of the framing role of farm magazines in the representation of women’s contributions to agriculture.

Capturing “The Real Thing”: James Ricalton Brings the Russo-Japanese War to American Parlors • Natascha Toft Roelsgaard; Michael S. Sweeney • James Ricalton was one of a handful of photojournalists who covered the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05, which has been cited as “World War Zero” for its scale, weaponry, and use of press controls. The war also was the first covered with widespread use of halftones, marking a milestone in photographic history. Ricalton used a stereographic camera to produce twin images sold by Underwood & Underwood on cardboard cards for home viewing. This article aims to restore the work of a masterful photojournalist to its proper place in history. In addition it critically analyzes a selection of his photographs of the Japanese army using John Szarkowski’s typology of photograph as “window” and “mirror,” revealing, respectively, the subject and the mind of the photographer.

“A True Newspaper Woman”: The Career of Sadie Kneller Miller • Carolina Velloso, University of Maryland, College Park • This paper examines the life and career of Sadie Kneller Miller, a journalist working at the turn of the twentieth century. Miller earned a prominent contemporary reputation, but her career has been largely lost to posterity. This paper uses traditional historical research methods to reconstruct Miller’s career and show the ways Miller both challenged and conformed to norms and expectations of women journalists of the period. This is the first scholarly work on Miller.

“Don’t Waste The Reader’s Time”: The Journalistic Innovations and Influence of Willard M. Kiplinger • Rob Wells, Univ of Arkansas • The newsletter format has witnessed a popular resurgence in digital media but little is known about the origins of this multi-billion dollar industry for specialized information. This paper examines a newsletter industry pioneer Willard M. Kiplinger, whose Kiplinger Washington Letter claims to be the oldest continuously published newsletter in the U.S. This publication perfected a type of reporting that influenced publications ranging from Newsweek to U.S. News & World Report, Bloomberg, Axios and others. A 1967 Newsweek obituary of Kiplinger said at the time, “There are at least 1,000 newsletters in the country today. Many of them borrow heavily from the Kiplinger techniques.” ⁠ The Kiplinger Washington Letter once boasted being “the most widely read business letter in the world.” It was influential during the New Deal, with Kiplinger serving as a crucial bridge between conservative business leaders and New Deal regulators. His reporting and engagement with both camps embodied the “corporate commonwealth” ethos that promoted business stability through self-regulation and voluntary cooperation through trade associations. Kiplinger’s weekly newsletter nurtured a close reader engagement through a specialized research service and extensive correspondence with his subscribers, a type of early crowdsourcing that anticipated the active audience interaction in digital journalism.

How the 1910 Bombing of the Times Building Destroyed the Socialist Party and the Unions • Daniel Wolowicz • This paper examines how the 1910 bombing of the Los Angeles Times building, which killed 20 employees and was dubbed “the crime of the century,” led to the defeat of 1911 Socialist mayoral candidate Job Harriman and resulted in the federal prosecution of the leaders of the International Association of Bridge, Structural and Iron Workers union who were responsible for a nearly decadelong terrorist campaign to bomb non-union worksites across the United States. At the center of this sweeping story stands Gen. Harrison Gray Otis, the publisher and owner of the Los Angeles Times, a man whose iron will helped transform L.A. from a gritty frontier town into one of the fastest-growing cities in the world and home to Hollywood. The far-reaching investigation and ensuing trial included Detective William S. Burns, the man known as “America’s Sherlock Holmes,” as well Clarence Darrow, one of the most famous attorneys in U.S. history. It was an epic battle between organized labor and the cabal of Los Angeles powerbrokers who would do anything to keep unions and Socialists from gaining a foothold in the City of Angels at the turn of the century.

“The paper of record of the women’s movement”: The national identity of off our backs • Kate Yanchulis, University of Maryland • off our backs, subtitled “a women’s news journal,” built and maintained national coverage of the feminist movement and a national reputation within that movement from its first issue in 1970 until it folded in 2008, yet it remains largely neglected by scholars. Through interviews with staff members and archival material from the periodicals’ offices, this paper shows how off our backs forged its national identity and strived to be the front page for the feminist movement.

<2020 Abstracts