Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Nation Brand, National Prestige, And The Social Imaginaries Of The Advanced Nation In South Korea, Jung-Yup Lee

Doctoral Dissertations

The dissertation focused on how the discourses and institutions of nation branding and public diplomacy reshaped the social imaginary of the nation. Following the trajectory of the nation branding discourse in South Korea in the first fifteen years of the 21st century, I examined different moments of the re-imagining of the nation by multiple agents with regard to nation branding and public diplomacy. Firstly, I examined how the news media played a crucial mediating role in importing and disseminating the globally emerging discourse of nation branding in collaboration with private and public think tanks in the early and mid 2000s. …

Uses And Gratifications Of Digital Media: The Case Of Live Blogs, Mirjana Pantic

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation employs a uses and gratification approach to investigate users’ motivations for reading live blogs, their attitudes toward this journalistic format, and participation in live blogging. A survey instrument was utilized in the study to obtain responses from 339 volunteer participants about the ways they use live blogs in the changing media ecosystem. Building upon the argument that new media can gratify a broader set of users’ needs compared with legacy media, the study combined traditional with contemporary gratifications of media to determine what gratifications users seek in live blogs. The study results showed that immediacy, which is a …

Women, Convergent Film Criticism, And The Cinephilia Of Feminist Interruptions, Rachel L. Thibault

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation examines the ways in which female film critics practice film criticism in the convergent age. In original research drawn from ethnographic interviews with eight female film critics and bloggers as well as textual, historical, and reception analyses of criticism, this dissertation argues that women who write film criticism in the convergent era are not only writing from a space of marginalization based on the patriarchal dominance of the film industry, but also face a series of obstacles through gendered and discursive conflicts that are unique to writing online and which do not exert the same impact on male …

An Exploratory Study Of The Presence And Direction Of Agenda-Setting Effects Between Leading U.S. Foreign Policy Think Tanks And U.S. Newspapers, Dzmitry Yuran

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation explores the roles news media and think tanks play in U.S. foreign policy in an analysis of their possible effects on each other’s agendas. In an analysis of salience of, or attention to, multiple countries over time in coverage from leading U.S. newspapers, The New York Times and Washington Post, and in published online materials from leading U.S. foreign policy think tanks, Brookings Institution and Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the research looks at the presence, direction, and strength of agenda-setting effects in the construction of news agendas and attention foci of think tanks. Findings suggest that the …

Freelancers On The Frontline: Influences On Conflict Coverage, Denae Lynn D'Arcy

Doctoral Dissertations

Some journalists who cover conflict in countries like Syria, Ukraine, and Egypt work as freelancers. As opposed to full-time staff members of media organizations, freelancers pay for their own travel, security, drivers, and insurance. While this model of conflict coverage is financially beneficial for media organizations, freelancers indicate that they work for themselves in order to have “freedom” to make their own decisions about conflict coverage. The researcher studied the phenomena of freelance journalism in conflict scenarios through an exploratory study utilizing long interviews, an interpretative, textual analysis of war correspondents’ autobiographies, an online, open-ended questionnaire, and follow-up in-depth interviews …

News And The Public Sphere: The Boston Marathon Bombing In The New York Times And Le Figaro, Ioana Alexandra Coman

Doctoral Dissertations

The current dissertation explores the online mediatization of the Boston Marathon bombing crisis by an American newspaper (The New York Times) and a French one (Le Figaro) and their publics’ reactions to it. The research was conducted along two main analysis axes: (1) the main frames and themes through which the journalists and the publics gave meaning to the event, and (2) the characteristics of the online public spheres therefore created. The comparative perspective on the journalistic frames showed a strong tendency of homogenization, as the same main frames appeared in both analyzed newspapers. However, the …

Trust In News Media In Post-Communist Eastern Europe: The Case Of Serbia, Ivanka Pjesivac

Doctoral Dissertations

The main purpose of this dissertation research was to examine the influences of cultural and performance factors on trust in news media in Serbia. This was done by conducting a survey on a stratified random sample of the Serbian population (N=544). Before testing cultural and performance theories, this dissertation explored the meanings of trust in news media and trust in other people in Serbia, in order to properly operationalize these concepts and establish their conceptual equivalence needed for their adequate measurement. This was done by 20 in-depth interviews with representatives of the Serbian population. The results of this …

Microbloggers’ Motivations In Participatory Journalism: A Cross-Cultural Study Of America And China, Jue Rui

Doctoral Dissertations

This phenomenological study focuses on the motivations of participatory journalists contributing on microblogs such as Twitter and Weibo. Although online user behavior and motivations have been studied before, few studies have examined motivations of participatory journalists from their own perspective. Moreover, this study is one of the few to explore participatory journalists across different cultures (U.S. and China). The author conducted a total of 13 in-depth interviews with participatory journalists on microblogs from both countries and used a qualitative analysis method to identify the themes and patterns that emerged. Motivations such as earning respect, technology early adoption, self-expression, relationship building, …

Telling It Like It Is: A Qualitative Excavation Of The Factors That Impel Natural/Physical Scientists To Serve As Mass Media News Sources, David Scott Wells

Doctoral Dissertations

Scientific discoveries and technological advancements are often viewed as crucial to the growth and success of a nation. Also viewed as important are an informed public. Governed by different socio-cultural rules, the communities of science and journalism share little in common. However, the effective creation of science news typically requires interaction between scientists and journalists. Scholarly studies of the communicative engagement between the science and journalism communities suggest interactions have not been smooth, potentially hindering effective public dissemination and uptake of scientific information via the press.

Past studies of the relationship between scientists and journalists have primarily focused on the …

Students’ Writing Self-Efficacy, Motivation, And Experience: Predictors In Journalism Education, Matthew Bryan Broaddus

Doctoral Dissertations

The field of journalism has gone through several years of turmoil as new technology, platforms, and economic hardships have swept away traditional journalistic practices and models. Print media continues to hemorrhage jobs and money while media outlets adjust to technology-enhanced reporting. College journalism majors often face changing curriculum and graduate feeling unprepared to be competitive in the journalistic job market. While many things have changed in the field, one pillar of journalism that has not changed is the need for journalists to possess an excellent writing ability, supplemented with the ability to think analytically. The connection between students’ ability to …

Journalism Under Siege: An Investigation Into How Journalists In Macedonia Understand Professionalism And Their Role In The Development Of Democracy, Katerina Spasovska

Doctoral Dissertations

The financial decline of the traditional media; technological advances and 24/7 news cycles; and the rise of new media are transforming journalism in ways that are seen as problematic and leading towards less professional practices. In Eastern Europe this transformation tops off the still ongoing systemic transformation from communist systems, ongoing since the late 1980s.

This study examines how journalists in Macedonia perceive their profession today, what they consider professional journalism, and how they define their role in Macedonian society and democracy. Macedonian media system is fragmented and financially fragile, providing an opening for political and business influence. Foreign capital …

Backpack Journalism In Television Newsgathering: Audience Perceptions Of Quality, Charles Wesley Gee

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore preferences by younger news audiences of backpack journalism in local television news. Local television news has to compete with Internet and other media to attract viewers. The theoretical foundation for this study, uses and gratifications, proposes audience members will actively seek news information using television as a primary source.

The focus of the study centered around technology’s influence on television newsgathering techniques and if the techniques delineated the quality of journalistic presentation. Four hundred and ninety three college students were surveyed about their media use, news gratification, and preferences of production quality …

Just Another Day At The Office: An Investigation Into How Public College Administrators Balance The First Amendment Rights Of The Student Press And The Broader Interests Of Their Campuses, James Edward Miller

Doctoral Dissertations

Courts have ruled for decades that student journalists at public colleges and universities are entitled to constitutional protection. As a result, higher education officials are faced regularly with dilemmas that pit the free campus press against what the administration sees as the greater good of the institution at large. With a summary of relevant case law as its backdrop, this qualitative study describes how public college administrators balance the First Amendment rights of the campus press and the broader interests of their institutions.

A number of authors have suggested that open dialogue and mutual understanding are crucial for a healthy …