Digital Commons Network^™

$750 Million Of Neutral News Coverage: A Content Analysis Of Nextel's Media Exposure Before And After Becoming Nascar's Primary Corporate Sponsor., Joshua Tod Watson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the exposure of the Nextel brand name in major U.S. newspapers 1 year before and after Nextel became the primary sponsor of the North American Stock Car Association of Racing. A content analysis of 576 newspaper articles was performed. The hypotheses tested the quantity and quality of Nextel's coverage, as well where the stories were appearing and where the brand was being used in the stories.

The study found the number of Nextel mentions in year two was almost 4 times as many as year one. The data reveal a dramatic increase in cases found in sports …

Product Placement During The Family-Viewing Hour., Harry C. Arnold

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The so-called family-viewing hour, the eight to nine o’clock hour of prime time, is one of the most watched hours of television by both adults and children. Advertisers, of course, favor shows that draw large audiences so their product presentations or commercials are witnessed by masses of people. Now, because of videocassette recorders and other similar control devices, viewers are eliminating commercials from their viewing experience¹ and advertisers are clamoring for new ways to get their products into the mind of the consumer.² To counteract this commercial avoidance by consumers, advertisers are embedding products within television programming thereby …

War On The Media: The News Framing Of The Iraqi War In The United States, Europe, And Latin America., Maria Pestalardo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study analyzes the framing of the war in Iraq (2003) during the week before and the week after the conflict started according to the media coverage of nine leading newspapers from United States, Europe, and Latin America. Through quantitative content analysis, the researcher answered seven research questions and analyzed the framing, sources, and approaches used by the newspapers in the news coverage of the conflict. The researcher compared the news coverage of each region and found that there were significant differences in the content of the war reporting according to the geographical area of the media. European and Latin …

Training For Diversity In Journalism: Tracking The Columbia Summer Program Graduates, 1968-1974., Mary Alice Basconi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Columbia University's Summer Program, created by Fred Friendly, was the first enduring effort to prepare non-whites for jobs in the news media. It operated from 1968 to 1974 at the Graduate School of Journalism, training 223 journalists for print and broadcast jobs. Three decades after the closing of this elite program, 110 graduates responded to a telephone survey on attitudes toward first employers, careers, and their experiences at Columbia. Results from this exploratory study show respondents spent an average 17.6 years in news media after the Summer Program, and 30.9 percent of respondents spent thirty years or more in journalism. …

Portrayals Of Appalachia In America's Major Metropolitan Newspapers., Honey Leigh Comer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

According to Gerbner's cultivation theory, misrepresentations in the media create false realities in the minds of society. To date, much research has been done on the impact of this phenomenon on women, minority races, and the homosexual community. Little consideration has been given, however, to geographic minorities such as Appalachians. This study attempts to identify the frequency and manner of representations of Appalachia in major metropolitan newspapers across the U.S. By conducting a framing analysis on a sample of 823 individual mentions of "Appalachia" in 2005, the author is able to illustrate interesting relationships between geographic proximity and the type …

Laughing In The Shadow: The Role Of Humor In Ghost Story Telling., Melissa Ann Bentley-Edwards

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The ghost story concert is a popular modern form of presenting ghost stories to ticket buying audiences and is one of the last stomping grounds of the oral tradition. Attendees come to be scared but not terrified. Tellers employ humor to release tension during the tale. When does humor release tension while maintaining the momentum of the story? When does the humor employed deflate it into a comical tale and diffuse suspense altogether?

In an effort to answer these questions, four variants of a single story, Tailypo, were analyzed for the presence of tension and humor inducing stimuli employing …