Digital Commons Network^™

À La Carte Cable: A Regulatory Solution To The Misinformation Subsidy, Christopher R. Terry, Eliezer J. Silberberg, Stephen Schmitz, John Stack, Eve Sando

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

Although “fake news” is as old as mass media itself, concerns over disinformation have reached a fever pitch in our current media environment. Online media outlets’ heavy reliance on user-generated content has altered the traditional gatekeeping functions and professional standards associated with traditional news organizations. The idea of objectivity-focused informational content has primarily been substituted for a realist acceptance of the power and popularity of opinion-driven “news.” This shift is starkly visible now: mainstream news media outlets knowingly spread hoaxes, conspiracy theories, and the like.

This current state of affairs is not some freak accident. The Supreme Court’s First Amendment …

Appalachian Broadcast News Coverage Of The Coronavirus: A Content Analysis Of Media Framing In The Midst Of A Health Crisis, Jensen M. Mills

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Media framing of broadcast news is more than identifying an issue, but rather interpreting and explaining the issue for others to better understand. Previous framing scholarship in broadcast news, as well as COVID-19 specifically, has focused mostly on national or international news, so this research explores broadcast coverage from a local perspective in a rural location. During the health crisis of COVID-19, the specific use of media frames can impact how people made sense of the pandemic. Through a content analysis of 165 newscast scripts from five different local news stations in Appalachia, this study contributes to the understanding of …

Season Pass: Southern Miss Sports Report, Mackenzie Hamilton

Honors Theses

Season Pass: Southern Miss Sports Report is a creative activity investigating the process of producing and releasing a weekly sports report. The series is composed of twenty-four two-to-three-minute episodes that recap the highlights, scores, and performances of Southern Miss Athletic teams. In addition to the sports reports, the show includes feature stories that provide insight into the lives of Southern Miss Athletes and Athletic Staff outside of the sports world.

Season Pass aired weekly on Southern Miss Athletics’ Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram accounts from the beginning of September 2020 through mid-March 2021. In this manuscript, I detail the pre-production, production, …

The Full Forecast: A Gender And Racial Analysis Of Broadcast Tv Weathercasters, Danielle Wardinsky Hallows

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis analyzes the representation of women and minorities working as broadcast television weathercasters by examining eight randomly selected television markets. Individual biography web pages from each of the four local syndicate station websites (ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC) were used for data collection. Information was collected about gender, race, number of twitter followers, chief meteorologist position, certificate type (AMS Seal of Approval or Certificate of Broadcast Meteorology) and the show shift for each individual meteorologist. Results indicate that while white males still dominate the majority of positions in smaller markets, women are more equally represented in larger markets. Minorities are …

The Effect Of Newspaper Closure On Local Media Ecology, Cody David Nespor

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

On August 31, 2019, the local newspaper of Youngstown, Ohio, The Vindicator, ceased publication after 150 years. The Vindicator’s closure left Youngstown as the largest city in the United State without a major newspaper. As local newspaper closures become more and more common across communities, there are questions on how, and if, the coverage and content those newspaper provide to their communities can be replaced or will simply be lost forever. This study has three research questions. Question one pertains to the amount of original reporting that will exist without The Vindicator. Questions two asks about the amount of locally …

Rwu First Amendment Blog: David Logan's Blog: Media Centralization Imperils Marketplace Of Ideas 04-05-2018, David A. Logan

Law School Blogs

No abstract provided.

Communication In Live Sports Broadcasts: Attributions Of Task Performance Errors, Benjamin J. Lynn

Theses and Dissertations

A single study was conducted exploring perceptions of causal attributions communicated through a task performance error during a live sports broadcast. Participants were recruited from within the live broadcast sports community and causal attributions of a camera operator’s performance were measured using a Multidimensional Observer Attributions for Performance Scale (MOAPS) developed by Rutherford, Harari, and Rudolph (2013). Additional scales were created to measure perceptions of importance, frequency, and future hiring recommendations. Results found that following a camera mistake in a live sports broadcast, the camera operator’s relationship with the director significantly influenced future hiring recommendations and attributions of ability in …

Gender's Role In Spanish-Language Journalism- An Examination Of How Gender Plays In Hard Vs. Soft News, Victoria R. Elajami

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The inequality of women in the workforce has been an ongoing issue. The 19th amendment granted women the right to vote in 1920. Since then, women have continued to fight for their equality in its entirety. Specifically, in the 21st-century women continue to fight for equality in the work place. Studies have shown that the amount of women in the workplace has exponentially increased. In fact, “they caught up with men in the rates of higher-education graduation, they increased their training and representation in formerly male-dominated professional fields and they entered many previously male dominated occupations” (Vokić, 2017). However the …

Good Game Well Played: An Esports Documentary, Gabriella Clare Devia-Allen

Theses and Dissertations

This film explores the operations and cultural practices of the esports community with an emphasis on Twitch as the dominant community platform. Explored sub-communities include Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Duelyst, and League of Legends. A focus on Duelyst allows us to explore the characteristics of an accessible esports culture while also referencing League of Legends and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive offers an objective look at two of the industry’s most developed esports scenes. This documentary tracks the production of broadcast content, the lifestyles of professional players, and the narratives of the industry’s most involved employees. In doing so, the research draws conclusions …

Broadcasting Activity, Programming Policy, Professional And Ethical Standards Of Rtk. 97, Ferid Selimi

UBT International Conference

RTK started its activity with only two hours of programming a day, later extended to four, and to achieve 20 hours of programming a day, of which about 65% of the overall program was local production. Through the years, RTK as a public media continued to accomplish its goals and objectives. This medium was required to keep the balance between programs of general interest and the specific programs that serve the needs of viewers, necessarily, have to do a combination of news programs, sports, programs based on facts, current affairs programs, various documentaries, debates and discussions, cultural programs, etc. Television …

Commraderie Newsletter Archives, Oct. 2010 - Feb. 2015, David N. Dixon

Communication Student Scholarship

COMM News = "Commraderie"

For many years, the Department of Communication regularly published an e-mail newsletter that featured articles about the latest happenings and highlights of our Department. In spring 2015, we decided to change up our format by posting individual articles and Alumni profiles on our website with links from our social media pages. This allows us to communicate more frequently with timely information.

Predictors Of National Broadcast And Cable Television News Coverage Of The Members Of The U.S. House Of Representatives, Jeremy Padgett

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation examines how institutional, individual, and situational variables work to influence the volume of national broadcast and cable television news coverage members of the 109th, 110th, 111th, and 112th U.S. Houses of Representatives received. Analysis combines public data on House structure, member characteristics, member effort, and member circumstances with original computer-aided content analysis of the 38,430 transcripts in which members spoke and the 243,205 statements members made on ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC between January 3, 2005 and January 3, 2013, the full terms of these four congresses. The results presented in this dissertation yield important …

The Future Of Broadcast Television: Online Streaming Infringement And The U.S. Supreme Court, Elizabeth Cuttner

LSU Master's Theses

Aereo and FilmOn X are online streaming services that allow subscribers to watch and record broadcast content online by capturing over-the-air signals through antennas assigned to each user and streaming that content to subscribers. The broadcasters and media owners who own copyrights in the content transmitted via the over-the-air signals that Aereo and FilmOn X capture argue that this service infringes upon their exclusive right of public performance, specifically under the Transmit Clause. The broadcasters have brought suit against both Aereo and FilmOn X for copyright infringement in several courts across the United States; some courts have found the online …

Social Media And Journalism: What Works Best And Why It Matters, Sue Burzynski Bullard

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Faculty Publications

As more Americans turn to social media sites for news and information, news organizations respond by using social networks as platforms to deliver content. This study examines how news outlets use social media platforms, the positive impact and concerns raised by social media use, and the best practices editors identify for effective social media use. The study aims to help editors understand which approaches to social media attract audiences and increase reader or audience interaction.

Muting The Masses: Effects Of The Spiral Of Silence In The College Newsroom, Blaire Ritter

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This paper explores whether or not Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann's theory, the spiral of silence, is an accurate theoretical lens to examine the issues of censorship and conflict in the student broadcast newsroom. Using data collected from classroom observations and student interviews, levels of involuntary and voluntary censorship and editorial control were examined to see if they played a role in classroom dynamic and editorial decisions. Each instance was looked at to see if it fit five criteria; a threat of isolation by peers or community, a fear of this threat, a willingness to speak out by the majority, a quasi-statistical sense …

Open Mic: "Blogosphere" Boom Launches Pundit Review Hosts Into Global Talk Radio, Gerry Boyle

Colby Magazine

Kevin Whalen '92 and Gregg Jackson '90 had never worked in radio. Eighteen months later, they are hosts of a popular radio talk show on Boston's WRKO. An impssible feat? Not with links in the blogosphere.

Talking Heads: How Broadcast Media Frame The Public Relations Industry., Samara Rose Litvack

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Researchers conducted a content analysis to measure framing of the public relations industry in 354 English language broadcast transcripts from the United States, Canada, and Australia from Sept. 1, 2009 to Aug. 31, 2010.

The overall tone toward public relations was strongly negative. Mentions reflected one-way forms of communication and mentions of the pejorative term "PR" appeared more frequently than mentions of "public relations". The profession was almost always mentioned within the body of the broadcast, as opposed to the headline or the lead paragraph.

Exploratory research showed 15 shows that included negative mentions 100% of the time. Additionally, 27 …

Corporate Speech: A Frame Anaylsis Of Cnn, Msnbc, And Fox News Coverage Of Citizens United V. Fec, Emma Rachel Brown

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examined how Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, ABC, NBC, and CBS portrayed the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision from the time of the decision, January 21, 2010 until the mid-term elections November 2, 2010. The broadcast transcripts were read for emergent frames to see how the stations framed coverage. The cable channels had the most coverage. MSNBC, ABC, NBC, and CBS framed the decision negatively, Fox News portrayed it positively, and CNN was neutral to negative in coverage.

Broadcast News Organizations' Perceptions Of Viewer Generated Content, Christopher L. Atkins

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Viewer generated content refers to the recent phenomenon of broadcast viewers taking to the streets and creating content for the stations they watch. This study surveys the managers in broadcast news organizations across the country gauging their thoughts and station usage of content produced by their viewers. This study shows how pervasive the use of viewer generated content is in the broadcast news industry today, and how it is utilized by not only some news organizations but by nearly all stations. The phenomenon of viewer generated content is not only widespread but also has broadcast news organizations rethinking the way …

An Analysis Of The Social Networks Of Local Television Reporters, Lisa R. Honore

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study analyzed the personal and professional networks of four local television reporters using social network analysis methodology. Network analysis was carried out to the tertiary level allowing examination of demographic data for 773 individuals in the reporter networks. Analysis was conducted through the lens of media norms and routines and the sociological principle of homophily that states people are more likely to associate with people like themselves. Using as a guide, norms and routines and homophily literature as well as studies about the portrayal of minorities, the study examines how the social networks of reporters can determine how communities …

A Study Of The History And The Current Impact Of Specialized Sports Satellite Channels In The Middle East, Shahira Amr Monieb

Archived Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the sports satellite channels in Egypt and the Arab world. It discusses the history of these channels which is relatively new in this part of the region. These channels have been introduced with the introduction of the NileSat in 1998 and are still developing until this moment. This study aims to understand the role that the sports satellite channels play in the life of Arabs. It also aims to understand the way Arabs use these channels and the gratifications they get out of watching them. The main reason that lead the sports satellite channels to become very …

Televising 9/11 And Its Aftermath: The Framing Of George W. Bush’S Faith-Based Politics Of Good And Evil, Gary Edgerton

Scholarship and Professional Work - Communication

For most of the four days following 9/11, TV viewers around the world were mesmerised by unthinkable images. Television brought home to Americans especially the polarising effects of the post-Cold War world, including the backlash of Islamic fundamentalism and the imminent threat of future terrorist attacks. A formulaic narrative quickly emerged; ordinary police and firefighters took the lead as America’s national heroes, while Osama bin Laden and the rest of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rose up as villains. On September 12, 2001, U.S. President George W. Bush gave voice to this mythic small-screen storyline as “a monumental struggle of good …

Where The Past Comes Alive’: Television, History And Popular Memory, Gary Edgerton

Scholarship and Professional Work - Communication

No abstract provided.

Television And Other Frills : Public Demands Of Broadcast Services In The Satellite Age, Lelia Green

Research outputs pre 2011

This monograph is the culmination of two years research into public demands of broadcast services in Western Australia. Based on 1,145 completed questionnaires, the study centres upon people in seven communities drawn from the service areas of remote, regional and metropolitan broadcasters. It compares and contrasts the different expectations that these groups of have of broadcast media.

People living in isolation within the remote commercial television service area have one major broadcasting demand: a clear, reliable radio service. Shortwave broadcasts are notoriously susceptible to interference and, on some occasions, are effectively non-existent. Recommendations are made for the of direct radio …