bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Collusion and Price Fixing in the American Newspaper Industry: Market Preservation Trends, 1890–1910
Authors: Adams Edward E.
Published: December 2011

This study cites examples of price fixing and collusive practices used among newspapers in several cities across the United States during the late 1890s and early 1900s. An examination of the E.W. Scripps papers reveals secret agreements or “combinations” that were utilized among competitors to gain market advantages or to limit competition. The practices included, but were not limited to, profit pooling, price fixing, collusion, and contract exclusivity. The extent to which these agreements were established in differing markets and the candid discussion among the parties involved suggest these agreements were widespread in their use by Scripps newspapers.
Framing Gender on the Campaign Trail: Female Gubernatorial Candidates and the Press
Authors: Devitt James
Published: December 2011

Daily newspaper reporters in 1998 treated female and male gubernatorial candidates equitably in terms of the quantity of coverage. However, newspaper readers were more likely to read about a female candidate's personal traits, such as her appearance or personality, than those of a male candidate. By contrast, they were more likely to read about a male candidate's stand or record on public policy issues than about a female candidate's. Some of these differences disappeared after examining campaigns individually. Results indicate that differences in coverage were due to stories written by male reporters who covered gubernatorial campaigns.
Webelievability: A Path Model Examining How Convenience and Reliance Predict Online Credibility
Authors: Johnson Thomas J. , Kaye Barbara K.
Published: December 2011

This study surveyed politically interested Internet users online during the 2000 campaign to examine whether they view Internet sources as credible and whether reliance on the Web, reliance on traditional sources, convenience of using the Web, or political and demographic variables predict credibility of online media. A greater percentage of respondents judged online media credible in 2000 than in the 1996 presidential campaign. Reliance on traditional media proved the best predictor of online credibility followed by political trust and convenience. On the other hand, reliance on the Web did not influence credibility of information found there.
How Magazines Covered Media Companies' Mergers: The Case of the Evolution of Time Inc.
Authors: Jung Jaemin
Published: December 2011

This study examined how magazines covered media companies' mergers. Specifically, the coverage of three mergers involving Time Inc. was content-analyzed to see differences based on ownership and magazine type. The findings suggest that Time and Fortune favored their parent company in terms of valence or direction of coverage of the merger, emphasis on the company, and amount of coverage. Other results showed the difference in how mergers were framed by news magazines and business magazines.
Reliability in Cross-National Content Analysis
Authors: Peter Jochen , Lauf Edmund
Published: December 2011

Cross-national assessment of coding reliability and its methodological problems have largely been neglected. In an exploratory first study and a more elaborate second study, we investigated how coder characteristics such as language skills, political knowledge, coding experience, and coding certainty affected inter-coder and coder-trainer reliability. The second study showed that language skills influenced both reliability types, albeit mediated by coding certainty. Politically knowledgeable coders coded more reliably, while coding experience did not affect reliability. Overall, the results suggest that cross-national researchers pay more attention to cross-national assessment of reliability.
Campaign Contributions: Online Newspaper Coverage of Election 2000
Authors: Singer Jane B.
Published: December 2011

Through their Web sites, newspapers may contribute to political campaign coverage in new ways. This survey of online editors of leading U.S. newspaper sites indicates that editors gave primary emphasis to the medium's ability to provide Election 2000 information faster and in more detail. Though options for enhancing political discourse were appreciated, both interactivity and multimedia presentations were less widely cited among key goals and perceived successes. These findings suggest that journalists are “normalizing”w the Internet as a way to further traditional roles and goals.
Content Differences between Daily Newspapers with Strong and Weak Market Orientations
Authors: Beam Randal A.
Published: December 2011

A content analysis of more than 13,000 items on the main display pages in twelve daily newspapers finds that publications with a strong market orientation publish fewer items about government and public affairs and more items about lifestyle and sports than newspapers with a weak market orientation. But it also finds that content for the public sphere continues to dominate the main display pages of both newspapers that embrace market-driven journalism and those that do not.
The Effectiveness of Banner Advertisements: Involvement and Click-through
Authors: Cho Chang-Hoan
Published: December 2011

This study indicates that people who are highly involved with a product are more likely to click a banner ad than those with low product involvement. In addition, this study found an interaction effect of peripheral cues (ad size and animation) and level of product involvement on clicking of banner ads; i.e., the positive relationship between peripheral cues and banner clicking is found to be more pronounced among those with low, rather than high, product involvement.
Bridging Latin America's Digital Divide: Government Policies and Internet Access
Authors: Hawkins Eliza Tanner , Hawkins Kirk A.
Published: December 2011

Latin American governments are attempting to close the digital divide by enacting policies to increase access to information technologies. This cross-sectional time-series analysis of nineteen countries between 1990 and 2001 examines government policies and Internet usage. Based on the social shaping of technology perspective, this study finds Internet use is strongly associated with wealth and the telecommunications infrastructure. The government policy with the strongest influence on increasing access is changing the tariff structure—such as creating flat-price dialing schemes. Market liberalization and the worldwide spread of the Internet are also associated with increased access.
Government Suppression of the Japanese Language in World War II Assembly Camps
Authors: Mizuno Takeya
Published: December 2011

This article investigates how the U.S. government prohibited the use of the Japanese “enemy” language at Japanese American “assembly centers” during World War II. Using archival government documents, this study demonstrates that assembly camp authorities curtailed Japanese American evacuees' First Amendment rights. By issuing various regulations and orders, camp officials outlawed the publishing, writing, and reading of Japanese literature of all kinds. They also banned Japanese-language assemblage, worshipping, cultural events, and recreation. Thus, evacuees at assembly camps, especially the older generation who lacked education in the English language, were deprived of their most essential means of self-expression.
Social Construction of Three Influenza Pandemics in the New York Times
Authors: Blakely Debra E.
Published: December 2011

Study of the coverage of three influenza pandemics examined the social construction of influenza over time. Applying three broad frames to 835 New York Times articles, the study demonstrated that the social construction of influenza did change over time, and that these changes were reflected in public-health policy frames. This research demonstrates how the popularization of science changed the social construction of disease in America.
The “Ground War” of Political Campaigns: Nonpaid Activities in U.S. State Legislative Races
Authors: Lariscy Ruthann Weaver , Tinkham Spencer F. , Edwards Heidi Hatfield , Jones Karyn Ogata
Published: December 2011

A national survey of candidates for state legislative offices examined the impact of nonpaid campaign activities on percentage of vote obtained, and assesses them in the contexts of different levels of funding, levels of competitiveness, and incumbency advantage. From a representative sample of 527 candidates, several insights emerge. First, while incumbency is a powerful force, a wide array of nonpaid campaign activities can substantially influence election outcome. Second, while some forms of free media coverage are quite risky, endorsements from community leaders and in newspaper editorials are consistently beneficial at this level. Finally, traditional campaigning, like door-to-door canvassing, is very much alive and well in state legislative races.
Measuring Newscast Accuracy: Applying a Newspaper Model to Television
Authors: Hanson Gary , Wearden Stanley T.
Published: December 2011

Measuring accuracy has been a part of academic literature since the mid-1930s. Most accuracy surveys, even those for television, send printed stories to sources for their evaluation. This study develops a workable design to measure television news accuracy by sending video copies to sources. It also adapts a questionnaire from the newspaper literature for use in television. The research method was used to assess the accuracy of local television in Cleveland.
Exploring the Effects of Online Advertising on Readers' Perceptions of Online News
Authors: Yang Hyeseung , Oliver Mary Beth
Published: December 2011

This study examined how commercialization of Internet news sites can impact perceptions of news. An experiment (N=260) showed that perceptions of online news stories varied as a function of the presence or seriousness of online advertising and Internet use (light versus heavy). Among light Internet users, the inclusion of advertisements resulted in significantly lower perceived news value of hard news stories.
The Information Utility of DTC Prescription Drug Advertising
Authors: Huh Jisu , DeLorme Denise E. , Reid Leonard N.
Published: December 2011

This study examined consumer perceptions of the information utility of direct-to-consumer advertising, focusing particularly on how older consumers respond to this unique form of advertising. Consumers are neutral, not positive, about the information utility of DTC ads, but perceptions vary by demographic and predispositional variables. Older consumers are less negative and see more usefulness in DTC advertising than younger consumers, especially in terms of its ability to prepare them to ask intelligent questions of their doctors. Regardless of age, however, perceptions of DTC advertising utility were positively associated with health care decision-making behavior, indicating that DTC advertising has value as an educational tool and plays a beneficial role in motivating preventive health care decisions.
The Utility of Coorientational Variables as Predictors of Willingness to Negotiate
Authors: Christen Cindy T.
Published: December 2011

This study explored the potential utility of coorientational agreement and accuracy as predictors of willingness to negotiate. Research questions were examined in an experimental setting in which 199 students were randomly assigned to represent one of four groups involved in a simulated recreation management dispute. Analysis revealed considerable disagreement regarding the power and trustworthiness of groups, with self-perceptions being consistently higher than aggregate evaluations. In-group favoring biases, in turn, had a negative effect on the relationship between agreement and accuracy. The influence of favorably biased self-assessments on the relationship between coorientational agreement and accuracy should be taken into account when predicting strategy selection in conflict situations.
A Test of the Third-Person Effect in Public Relations: Application of Social Comparison Theory
Authors: Park Hyun Soon , Salmon Charles T.
Published: December 2011

Based on a social comparison theoretical framework, this study explores the third-person effect in public relations and examines situational variables such as message topic, message valence (i.e., positive versus negative), perceived desirability of being affected by the message, and receiver characteristics. A lab experiment (n=229) was conducted. This study provided additional empirical evidence of the prevalence of the third-person effect in the context of positive and negative news releases.
Stopped at the Gate: Women's Sports, “Reader Interest,” and Decision Making by Editors
Authors: Hardin Marie
Published: December 2011

Newspaper sports pages have been criticized for failure to incorporate women's sports equitably, although few studies have examined why editors consistently sideline women's sports. This survey of 285 sports editors in the southeastern United States explores gatekeeping factors that may affect coverage received by women's sports. Results show that many editors fail to systematically ascertain reader interests, many believe that female athletic potential is inferior to that of males, and some say they feel no commitment to hiring women or covering women's sports.
Latino Representation on Primetime Television
Authors: Mastro Dana E. , Behm-Morawitz Elizabeth
Published: December 2011

This study analyzes the frequency and quality of depictions of Latinos during the 2002 primetime television season. Research on cultivation theory and social identity theory provides insight into the potential implications of exposure to these images. Findings suggest that while advances have been made in terms of the quality of depictions of Latinos, many of these images remain tied to a few, longstanding media stereotypes. In addition, the rate at which Latinos are portrayed on television remains dramatically below that of the real-world population.
Variations on a Theme: The Professional Role Conceptions of Print and Online Newspaper Journalists
Authors: Cassidy William P.
Published: December 2011

A national survey (N=655) examining the professional role conceptions of print and online newspaper journalists revealed the print group perceived the Interpretive/Investigative role as significantly more important than the online group. No significant differences were found between the groups in their perceptions of the Adversarial and Populist Mobilizer roles. Results were mixed for the Disseminator role. The online group rated getting information to the public as quickly as possible as significantly more important than the print group. William P. Cassidy is an assistant professor in the Department of Communication, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.
Individual Assessment of Media Writing Student Attitudes: Recasting the Mass Communication Writing Apprehension Measure
Authors: Popovich Mark N. , Massé Mark H.
Published: December 2011

Q Methodology was used to recast the Mass Communication Writing Apprehension Measure (MCWAM) created in 1988 and 1992 studies of students. Objectives included assessing the multidimensionality of the MCWAM and the nature of positive and negative attitudes toward writing. Using a pretest, posttest approach, this study produced in-depth information on two factors of students: Optimists/Professionals and Doubters/Pessimists. After a sixteen-week semester, the Optimists/Professionals remained very positive about writing and the relevance of writing skills. By contrast, the Doubters/Pessimists grew even more negative toward the writing experience.
Commitment to Newspaper-TV Partnering: A Test of the Impact of Institutional Isomorphism
Authors: Lowrey Wilson
Published: December 2011

This study uses institutional theory from the study of organizations to explore the degree to which newspapers and TV stations pursue partnerships for concrete benefits, and the degree to which they pursue them to keep up with perceived trends in the industry. Findings from a national survey of newspaper and TV news managers revealed that availability of resources and the goal-oriented pursuit of concrete benefits best predict initiation of partnerships. However, strength of commitment to partnering correlated more strongly with institutional factors—i.e., managers' professional involvement and the level of partnering of nearby “flagship” news institutions and competitors. This was the case even when controlling for business factors such as competition, penetration, and public ownership.
Local News, Social Integration, and Community Participation: Hierarchical Linear Modeling of Contextual and Cross-Level Effects
Authors: Paek Hye-Jin , Yoon So-Hyang , Shah Dhavan V.
Published: December 2011

This study explores the cross-level interactions of local media use with individual and community factors, in particular, local print news use, using a multi-level analysis of community participation. Findings show local print news readership, an essential constituent of communal solidarity, increases the likelihood of community participation both at the individual level and as a function of readership in communities with higher levels of social interaction. Cross-level effects are also observed between individual-level differences in social interaction and home ownership and contextual variation in print news readership.
Newspapers and Protest: An Examination of Protest Coverage from 1960 to 1999
Authors: Boyle Michael P. , McCluskey Michael R. , McLeod Douglas M. , Stein Sue E.
Published: December 2011

This paper examines newspaper coverage of protests from 1960 to 1999. Initial findings indicated protests received consistent levels of support over that time. In light of this, we expected little change in the extent to which these protests challenged the status quo. However, there was a steady decline, with protest coverage becoming less deviant throughout this study. Further analyses suggest disparities in coverage of different protest-types were apparent during the Vietnam War. The most drastic change in treatment of different protest-types was directly after the height of the anti-war movement followed by gradual change thereafter.
Newspaper Copy Editors' Perceptions of Their Ideal and Real Ethics Roles
Authors: Keith Susan
Published: December 2011

This study examines the ethics role conceptions of newspaper copy editors, who have long been viewed as “the last line of defense” against errors but sometimes battle for respect in their newsrooms. Survey responses from 470 copy desk workers at 100 daily newspapers indicate that most copy editors think their jobs should have an ethics-watchdog component. They also perceive, however, that there is little newsroom support for their raising questions about potential ethics-related problems. This conflict between perceptions about ideal and real roles was associated with lower job satisfaction across five measures.
What the Public Expects of Local News: Views on Public and Traditional Journalism
Authors: Heider Don , McCombs Maxwell , Poindexter Paula M.
Published: December 2011

A survey found the public does not strongly endorse traditional journalism norms of watchdog and rapid reporting. Furthermore, when opinions of survey respondents and journalists were compared, survey respondents were significantly more likely to say providing a community forum, a public journalism principle, was extremely important. African Americans, Hispanics, women, and adults with less education and income strongly endorsed the public journalism principle of offering solutions to problems. A factor analysis of thirteen public and traditional journalism roles and characteristics revealed four dimensions of journalism as perceived by the public: good neighbor, watchdog, unbiased and accurate, and fast.
Examining the New Influencers: A Self-Presentation Study of A-List Blogs
Authors: Trammell Kaye D. , Keshelashvili Ana
Published: December 2011

This study investigated impression management tactics and self-presentation on popular A-list blogs. Building on Goffman's constructs of self-presentation and operationalizing impression management strategies, this study content analyzed the most-linked-to blogs. A-list bloggers reveal more information about themselves than other bloggers and actively engage in impression management. Differences in blogs based on gender confirm traditional gendered online behavior. Findings indicate the diversity of blogs and encourage researchers to understand the pieces of blogs before purporting to understand the medium as a whole.
Partisan and Structural Balance in Newspaper Coverage of U.S. Senate Races in 2004 with Female Nominees
Authors: Fico Frederick , Freedman Eric , Love Brad
Published: December 2011

Nine newspapers covering U.S. Senate races in 2004 were mostly even- handed in the space and prominence given candidates. Reporter gender, newsroom diversity, and newspaper size were associated with partisan imbalance giving more favorable treatment to Democrats. The partisanship of a story's lead predicted the story's structural imbalance, regardless of the party the imbalance favored. However, story partisan and structural imbalances were negligibly related, suggesting that news processing conventions rather than journalistic partisanship produced the imbalance.
Is Internet Content Different after All? A Content Analysis of Mobilizing Information in Online and Print Newspapers
Authors: Hoffman Lindsay H.
Published: December 2011

The present study answers calls of previous research to analyze the content of online news, assessing differences between print and online newspapers in frequency of “mobilizing information” (Ml)—information aiding people to act on pre-existing attitudes. Conceptual and operational definitions of locational, identificational, and tactical MI are included. Results revealed that online newspapers did not have significantly more MI than their print counterparts. This finding counters the assumption that online newspapers have more mobilizing content than print.
The Gendered Blogosphere: Examining Inequality using Network and Feminist Theory
Authors: Harp Dustin , Tremayne Mark
Published: December 2011

This study examined gender inequity among the most-read political blogs on the Web. Sampling over one year from blog rankings, we found that 10% of the top bloggers were women. Discourse analysis of bloggers' explanations for gender disparity revealed three dominant beliefs: women do not blog about politics, women's blogs lack quality, and top bloggers do not link to women's sites. We use network and feminist theory to explore these claims and offer suggestions for increasing the representation of female voices in the political Blogosphere.
Validation of Database Search Terms for Content Analysis: The Case of Cancer News Coverage
Authors: Stryker Jo Ellen , Wray Ricardo J. , Hornik Robert C. , Yanovitzky Itzik
Published: December 2011

While databases are increasingly used for content analyses in mass communication and journalism research, concerns about sampling error have been largely ignored. We introduce a method to measure the quality of a search phrase according to two criteria: recall (its ability to accurately call up items of interest) and precision (ability to avoid extraneous ones). We present a detailed description of the evaluation procedure, offer an example of its use assessing an online search for news reports about cancer, and discuss limitations of the procedure and further potential uses.
Media Salience and Frame Changing across Events: Coverage of Nine School Shootings, 1997–2001
Authors: Muschert Glenn W. , Carr Dawn
Published: December 2011

This study applies the two-dimensional analytical framework suggested by Chyi and McCombs to assess its utility in studying frame-changing across similar events and between more and less salient events. A content analysis examines New York Times reportage of nine rampage school shootings occurring between 1997 and 2001, identifying the frame-changing dynamic occurring across events and the core frames present in the coverage. Ultimately, the methodological complexities of making cross-case comparisons are explored, including the overlap of measures of frame-changing and salience.
Effects of Sponsorship Congruity on E-Sponsors and E-Newspapers
Authors: Rodgers Shelly
Published: December 2011

This study examines psychological responses to e-sponsors and e-newspapers as a function of sponsor congruity. The method is a 3 (sponsor congruity) x 2 (section) x 4 (news story) x 4 (e-newspapers) within-groups experiment. Participants were student and non-student adults. The high congruity condition yielded positive effects for the e-sponsors, whereas the moderate congruity condition yielded positive effects for the e-newspapers. Sponsor motive moderated sponsor congruity on evaluations of the e-newspapers. Results showed that high congruity sponsors benefited from the sponsorship at the expense of the e-newspaper's credibility. Findings suggest that policies are needed to guide decisions about the use of Internet sponsorships in newspaper Web sites.
The Real and the Right: Journalistic Authority and the Coverage of Judith Miller
Authors: Marken Lise
Published: December 2011

Though journalists openly embrace the “information ideal” and derive authority from the strategies associated with objectivity, they simultaneously employ the “story ideal” and derive authority from the moral force that underlies narrative. This paper uses moments of legal incoherence in the coverage of the jailing of Judith Miller as an opportunity to explore the relationship between objective and narrative authority in journalism. It concludes that these two sources of authority work together to make journalistic accounts appear real both as direct transcriptions of reality and as reflections of a properly ordered moral universe.
Media Reach, Media Influence? The Effects of Local, National, and Internet News on Public Opinion Inferences
Authors: Christen Cindy T. , Huberty Kelli E.
Published: December 2011

These two experiments compare perceptions of local, national, and Internet news articles on two U.S. environmental policy issues: oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and ratification of the Kyoto treaty on global warming. Of interest were the potential effects of perceived article reach and slant on estimates of public support for different policy alternatives. While perceived slant proved to be a fairly robust predictor of public opinion estimates, support for an effect of perceived reach was mixed. Deconstructing perceived media reach into access and exposure assumptions should produce an opinion inference model that is more sensitive to the differing influences of local, national, and Internet news as consumption patterns evolve.
What Katrina Revealed: A Visual Analysis of the Hurricane Coverage by News Wires and U.S. Newspapers
Authors: Fahmy Shahira , Kelly James D. , Kim Yung Soo
Published: December 2011

Results of a comparative visual analysis of front-page photographs in U.S. newspapers and photographs distributed by the Associated Press and Reuters wire services revealed that gatekeeping decisions played an influential role in the coverage of Hurricane Katrina in the late summer of 2005. Front-page photographs differed significantly from photographs provided by news wires. Overall, our analyses challenge the notion that decisions made by wire services dictate the visual coverage of a news event and suggest that gatekeeping selections and use of available information are key factors in visual framing.
Media Effects on Public Safety following a Natural Disaster: Testing Lagged Dependent Variable Models
Authors: Beaudoin Christopher E.
Published: December 2011

This study assesses news and media campaign effects during the recovery phase of a catastrophe. With data from a panel telephone survey in New Orleans in 2006, this study tests lagged dependent variable models for safety beliefs and safety behavior in the context of Hurricane Katrina. News attention and media campaign exposure influenced safety behavior. The effects of news attention were synchronous, while those of media campaign exposure were cross-lagged. In contrast, neither news attention nor media campaign exposure influenced safety beliefs, which may be attributable to ceiling effects of the belief measure. Safety beliefs did, however, have a cross-lagged influence on safety behavior.
The Efficiency of Constructed Week Sampling for Content Analysis of Online News
Authors: Hester Joe Bob , Dougall Elizabeth
Published: December 2011

This article compares different sampling methods and sample sizes for content analyzing news on an online news aggregator. Consistent with previous research focusing on traditional media, constructed week sampling is more efficient than simple random sampling or consecutive day sampling. However, while a single constructed week allows reliable estimates of content in a population of six months of newspaper editions, at least two constructed weeks, and as many as five constructed weeks, are needed to accurately represent online news content gathered during the same period, depending on the type of variables being analyzed.
Media Exposure and Sensitivity to Violence in News Reports: Evidence of Desensitization?
Authors: Scharrer Erica
Published: December 2011

This study explores whether amount of exposure to entertainment television violence, local newspapers, and local television news relates to reactions to reading news stories that recount violent events. Survey results from three regions in the United States show bivariate connections between average media exposure levels and each of three indicators of desensitization. Multivariate results provide partial support for the idea that heavy local news consumption—presumably due to the presence of violent content—can contribute to a blunted response to news stories regarding real-life violent events when individuals have low trait empathy.
Media Use and Human Values
Authors: Besley John C.
Published: December 2011

Research shows that both values and some media effects develop slowly, over a similar time frame. The current study uses cross-sectional data collected during the second round of the European Social Survey— including a twenty-one-question Schwartz Value Survey—to look at links between individual values and exposure to newspapers, television news and entertainment, radio news, and the Internet. The results support the hypothesis that media exposure—particularly entertainment television and Internet use—is linked to value orientations.
The Master Settlement Agreement and Visual Imagery of Cigarette Advertising in Two Popular Youth Magazines
Authors: Sung Yongjun , Hennink-Kaminski Heidi J.
Published: December 2011

While the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) between tobacco companies and forty-six states banned targeting youth through advertising and promotions, it did not designate specific visual imagery restrictions for magazine advertisements. While several studies have examined the MSA's effect on cigarette advertising expenditures in magazines and exposure of youth to such advertisements, this study provides a descriptive account of changes in the visually oriented content of cigarette advertisements in two popular youth magazines before and after the MSA.
Plagiarism Antecedents and Situational Influences
Authors: Lewis Norman P.
Published: December 2011

A study of daily newspaper plagiarism over a ten-year period reveals the offense results from a combination of individual and systemic causes. An association between how the misdeed is termed and what sanction is applied, combined with evidence of a marked increase in disclosure and firings after the 2003 Jayson Blair case, reveals that plagiarism is situationally defined. Four types of plagiarism are identified, linked to three antecedents: rationalizing dishonesty, problematic techniques, and definitional ambiguity. Most plagiarism arises from professional routines that minimize attribution, yet is treated relatively harshly because it exposes a paradigmatic pretense of journalistic originality.
Testing the Second Level of Agenda Setting: Effects of News Frames on Reader-Assigned Attributes of Hezbollah and Israel in the 2006 War in Lebanon
Authors: Rill Leslie A. , Davis Corey B.
Published: December 2011

An experiment involving 485 participants provided evidence for second-level agenda-setting effects of manipulated print media stories about the 2006 war in Lebanon. Investigators (1) measured readers' perceptions of the war's involved parties, Israel and Hezbollah, and (2) compared specific attributes that readers in each condition assigned to Israel and Hezbollah. Results demonstrated significant differences in attributes and perceptions of Israel and Hezbollah among five conditions. Computer content analysis of open-ended responses demonstrated a relationship between the version of the news story read by participants and the attributes that the participants assigned to Israel and Hezbollah.
Letters as Indicators of Community Values: Two Case Studies of Alternative Magazines
Authors: Reader Bill , Moist Kevin
Published: December 2011

This study examines how letters to the editor in alternative magazines can serve both as indicia of virtual community (a collective phenomenon) and as artifacts of how community members interact with those communities (an individual-level phenomenon). Analysis of letters published in two very different alternative magazines demonstrates the role of letters to the editor in articulating and crafting collective values as well as serving as textual avatars and a means of leadership for community members.
Science for Everybody? How the Coverage of Research Issues in German Newspapers Has Increased Dramatically
Authors: Elmer Christina , Badenschier Franziska , Wormer Holger
Published: December 2011

Whereas in other countries experts diagnose a “crisis” of science reporting, Germany has seen an unprecedented boom in science journalism. But is this boom limited to science sections themselves, or does it spread also into other sections? And how does this increase in coverage influence the kind of reporting itself? Analysis of 4,077 articles in three nationwide newspapers in two periods (2003–2004 and 2006–2007) indicates an overall increase of science reporting by 48%; outside the science sections of the newspapers the increase is by 136%.
Media, Celebrities, and Fans: An Examination of Adolescents' Media Usage and Involvement with Entertainment Celebrities
Authors: Chia Stella C. , Poo Yip Ling
Published: December 2011

This study examines how adolescents' involvement with entertainment celebrities mediates media effects on personal values and subjective well-being. A survey of 621 adolescents aged from 11 to 18 years old in Singapore showed that the three aspects of adolescents' involvement with celebrities—entertainment-social values, intense-personal feelings, and borderline-pathological tendencies—were associated with adolescents' media consumption, with the association between intense-personal feelings and media consumption a reciprocal one. The three aspects were directly or indirectly associated with the adolescents' materialistic values, self-esteem, and life satisfaction.
What is the War on Terror? Framing through the Eyes of Journalists
Authors: Lewis Seth C. , Reese Stephen D.
Published: December 2011

This study explored the War on Terror framing process through interviews with journalists at USA Today, testing the presumption that, because frames are organizing principles whose manifestations extend beyond the level of content alone, journalists' personal discourse will reflect and reinforce frames found in the text. Results show that reporters “transmitted” the War on Terror as shorthand for policy, “reified” the frame as concrete and uncontested, and “naturalized” it as a taken-for-granted condition. These findings suggest broader lessons for the U.S. press in becoming more aware of the words and catchphrases that signify the prevailing wisdom of public officials.
How Public Relations Professionalism Influences Corporate Social Responsibility: A Survey of Practitioners
Authors: Kim Soo-Yeon , Reber Bryan H.
Published: December 2011

This national survey (N=289) explored how public relations practitioners' professionalism is associated with their attitudes toward corporate social responsibility (CSR). Results showed that practitioners with high professionalism have more positive attitudes toward CSR. Practitioners' longer time in the job and larger PR department size positively affect professionalism. Women have more positive attitudes toward CSR than men, and older practitioners have more positive attitudes toward CSR than younger practitioners.
Changes in Professionalism of U.S. Journalists in the Turbulent Twenty-First Century
Authors: Beam Randal A. , Weaver David H. , Brownlee Bonnie J.
Published: December 2011

A panel study of 400 U.S. journalists assessed changes in indicators of professionalism between 2002 and 2007, a period of significant economic and technological turmoil for news organizations. Findings show that professional organization membership declined among journalists, and staff cutbacks and higher workloads posed threats to the autonomy of some news workers. Beliefs about professional roles shifted slightly, with more emphasis on analyzing problems and being adversaries of public officials. Finally, journalists became more ethically cautious during the five-year span of the study, a period in which ethical lapses were disclosed by several high-profile news organizations.
Revisiting the Knowledge Gap Hypothesis: A Meta-Analysis of Thirty-Five Years of Research
Authors: Hwang Yoori , Jeong Se-Hoon
Published: December 2011

This knowledge gap meta-analysis examines (a) average effect size of the gap, (b) impact of media publicity, and (c) moderators of the gap. Positive correlation between education and level of knowledge ( r = .28) was found, with no differences in the size of the gap (a) over time and (b) between issues of higher and lower publicity. However, gap magnitude was moderated by topic, setting, knowledge measure, and study design, but not by publication status, country, and sampling method. Relatively smaller gaps were found for (a) health-science topics compared to social-political topics and (b) local/personal issues compared to international issues.
Variations in Media Priming: The Moderating Role of Knowledge, Interest, News Attention, and Discussion
Authors: Valenzuela Sebastián
Published: December 2011

Existing research on which citizens are most and least likely to exhibit media priming effects is inconclusive. Using data from the 2006 Canadian election, this study examined the moderating role of voters' political knowledge, interest in politics, news attention, and discussion frequency. Results show priming was not constant across political involvement variables. It was strongest for citizens with moderate levels of knowledge and discussion, but was negatively related to interest. Compared to pessimistic and optimistic accounts of voters' ability to resist media influence, the findings suggest a more nuanced perspective on citizen “competence.”
Exploring the Online Radio Adoption Decision-Making Process: Cognition, Attitude, and Technology Fluidity
Authors: Lin Carolyn A.
Published: December 2011

Even though online radio services have been available since the mid-1990s, academic research on online radio diffusion remains scarce. The present study explores how online radio's value-added affordances may help shape the cognitive and affective responses to influence the adoption process among terrestrial radio listeners. Results show that online radio's fluid technology attributes, positive adoption beliefs and attitudes, and functionally similar technology clusters are significant predictors of online radio adoption. A lack of familiarity with online radio and low affinity with radio listening might have contributed to the lack of interest in online radio adoption.
Dimensions of News Media Brand Personality
Authors: Kim Jooyoung , Baek Tae Hyun , Martin Hugh J.
Published: December 2011

This study explores the structure of news media brand personality across multiple media outlets including television network news, newspapers, and news magazines. Through a series of exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis procedures with an initial set of 229 personality traits that were reduced to the final set of forty-eight items, we found five brand personality dimensions that can be applicable to news media: Trustworthiness, Dynamism, Sincerity, Sophistication, and Toughness. Practical implications for media brand management are discussed.
The Song Remains the Same: Transformative Purpose Analysis in Fair Use Law
Authors: Bunker Matthew D.
Published: December 2011

Fair use doctrine in copyright law is widely known as a difficult and unpredictable area of legal doctrine. Recently, the “transformative use” doctrine has emerged as a dominant approach to fair use determinations. Some courts are even viewing as transformative appropriations that do not alter the original work in any way, but that simply use it in a different functional context from its original creator. This article examines and critiques this novel “transformative purpose” approach to fair use and suggests that the approach may create even more indeterminacy in an already confused fair use landscape.
Southern Myths and the Nineteenth Amendment: The Participation of Nashville Newspaper Publishers in the Final State's Ratification
Authors: Marcellus Jane
Published: December 2011

In 1920, Tennessee became the final state to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment, which eliminated sex restriction on voting rights. This article uses the concept of myth to examine how Nashville newspapers made suffrage part of the discursive battle for regional identity. While the Nashville Banner amplified anti-suffragists' “Old South” propaganda of the Lost Cause and southern honor, Nashville Tennessean coverage was grounded in the “New South” myth's national, progressive focus. The two newspapers' publishers took their positions beyond their pages by becoming participants in the political contest.
Relevance to the Rescue: Can “Smart Ads” Reduce Negative Response to Online Ad Clutter?
Authors: Kim Nam Young , Sundar S. Shyam
Published: December 2011

Search-engine marketing, sponsored-links services, and smart advertisements provide information relevant to content being consumed at any moment by an Internet user. Can they alleviate negative reactions to ad clutter on Web sites? We investigated whether or not relevance of such ads moderates negative effects of ad clutter on consumers' attitudes toward ads and Web sites. All subjects (N = 13) were exposed to all conditions of a 2 (cluttered; uncluttered) X 2 (relevant; irrelevant) factorial within-subjects experiment. Results showed significant main effects for ad clutter and ad relevance as well as interactions of the two on consumers' attitudes.
When Women Run the Newsroom: Management Change, Gender, and the News
Authors: Beam Randal A. , Di Cicco Damon T.
Published: December 2011

This study examined content at ten small daily newspapers at two points in time—before and after a woman replaced a man as managing editor. The results were then compared with content changes at ten “matched” papers at which a man was managing editor for both points in time. The mix of topics that the newspapers covered changed little across time for both groups of publications. But the types of articles changed for the papers at which women became managing editors. The emphasis on feature approaches to the news increased, and standard hard news declined.
Talking about Poverty: News Framing of Who is Responsible for Causing and Fixing the Problem
Authors: Kim Sei-Hill , Carvalho John P. , Davis Andrew C.
Published: December 2011

This study explores how the American news media frame the poverty issue, looking at the way the media present its causes and solutions. It also examines the notion of frame building, exploring the factors that may influence the media's selective uses of certain frames. Media attributions of responsibility are largely societal, focusing on the causes and solutions at the social rather than personal level. Liberal newspapers made more references than conservative papers to social causes and solutions. Television news is slightly less likely than newspapers to make social-level attributions.
Comparing Reporters' Work across Print, Radio, and Online: Converged Origination, Diverged Packaging
Authors: Reich Zvi
Published: December 2011

This paper compares how eighty reporters from three media—print, online, and radio—obtained a sample of their items, seeking to establish which of two schools of thought is closer to reality: scholars who contend that each news medium embodies a unique “regime” of content creation, or those who argue that the different media maintain similar news reporting standards. A series of face-to-face reconstruction interviews with reporters from nine leading Israeli national news organizations suggests that the three media are not unique factories of news, but rather unique packing and distribution houses of similarly obtained materials.
Deliberation in Spite of Controversy? News Media and the Public's Evaluation of a Controversial Issue in South Korea
Authors: Kim Sei-Hill , Scheufele Dietram A. , Shanahan James , Choi Doo-Hun
Published: December 2011

Using a controversial issue in South Korea—a government plan to relocate the administrative capital—this study examines the role of news media use in facilitating informed issue evaluation, a form of deliberative decision making, where citizens carefully evaluate different attributes of an issue. Survey data indicated that respondents who used news media often were more able to articulate a specific reason why relocation would be a good or a bad idea. Heavy users of news media were also more firmly opinionated on key issue attributes and tended to think about the issue more carefully.
Color Blind: Race and the Ethical Reasoning of Blacks on Journalism Dilemmas
Authors: Coleman Renita
Published: December 2011

This study used a controlled experiment to investigate the effects of a story subject's race on black journalism students' ethical reasoning by changing only the race of the people in the photographs. Contrary to what in-group and identification theories would predict, these black students did not show preference to people of their own race in ethical dilemmas; instead they treated both blacks and whites as equals. Seeing photographs also had an effect on ethical reasoning; those who saw photographs, regardless of race, made significantly better ethical decisions than those who did not.
The Prodigy and the Press: William James Sidis, Anti-Intellectualism, and Standards of Success
Authors: Bates Stephen
Published: December 2011

William James Sidis was a reclusive former child prodigy whom the New Yorker found in 1937 and mocked as an eccentric failure. Sidis sued the magazine, leading to one of America's landmark rulings on invasion of privacy. Analyzing themes in the New Yorker article and other news coverage of Sidis, this study finds both anti-intellectualism, including disparagement of Sidis's masculinity, and deference to psychological experts. Some coverage also indicates that the press sought to impose a particular vision of success on Sidis.
Commentary: Interviews and Focus Groups as Critical and Cultural Methods
Authors: Rakow Lana F.
Published: December 2011

Interviews and focus groups are valuable methods that share an important place in qualitative research in many disciplines, including journalism and mass communication. A wise use of these methods, however, requires that a researcher be well versed in the critical and cultural scholarship that enables an assessment of their use and results. The author proposes that researchers be intentional, self-reflexive, and transparent in decisions about the purpose, design, execution, and interpretation of results of their projects. If provided with this information, a reviewer or reader will have the grounds to assess the value of work using these qualitative strategies.