Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

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 …

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 …

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 …