Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Alt-Right's Use Of President Donald Trump's Twitter Account As A Propaganda Device, Erin Nicole Jorden

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The long campaign to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act situated President Donald J. Trump in a context where attacks on President Barack Obama’s signature legislation symbolized a broader repudiation of his legacy. Even more than mainstream Republican partisans, the altright blogosphere celebrated the demise of the law to symbolically cleanse the nation of Obama’s influence. Trump attempted to honor his pledge to end Obamacare in his first year of office with his support of the American Health Care Act (March 2017), Better Care Reconciliation Act (July 2017), and the Graham-Cassidy Bill (September 2017). Members of the alt-right reframed …

Seeking Media Reform In Eastern Europe: Marvin Stone And The International Media Fund In Croatia, Hanna Marie Francis

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

In the months after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the International Media Fund was formed. Lead by journalist Marvin L. Stone, the organization was designed to help establish independent media in the former Communist bloc. Though the International Media Fund worked throughout Eastern Europe, this historical research focuses on the organization’s efforts in Croatia. This thesis offers the first unearthing of Stone’s role in the International Media Fund and details about the work the man and the organization did in attempting to establish a free and unfettered press in Croatia.

The Threat Of Terrorism And The Changing Public Discourse On Immigration After September 11, Joshua Woods, C. Damien Arthur

Political Science Faculty Research

This article uses articles from the opinion-leading press to investigate how the news media's repertoire of negative portrayals changed after the September 11 terrorist attacks. It is based on a systematic random sample of 360 articles from two, opinion-leading newspapers---one known for its liberal slant (New York Times) and one known for its conservative slant (Wall Street Journal). The sample is drawn from a large population of articles published over a six-year period (1998-2004). The findings show that the percentage of negative frames involving not only terrorism but also other non-terrorist threats increased significantly after September 11. The elevated frequency …

The Politicization Of Popular Culture: A Case Study In Reagan And Star Wars, Nathan A. Wingert

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

This project examined the use of Ronald Reagan’s rhetoric, specifically the “Star Wars,” “Zero Option” and “Evil Empire” speeches. It answers the question: Why do we know SDI as Star Wars? It also The rationale for the study came from myriad sources, including the historical and political undertones of the Star Wars films and rhetorical criticism of other Reagan speeches. G. Thomas Goodnight’s analysis linked all three speeches together as a reformulation of wartime rhetoric, so that was the rationale for analyzing three speeches. After performing a rhetorical criticism using Burkean identification as the lens, there are several results: Reagan …

Antecedents To Mobbing, Anita Lois Lane

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The research examines possible antecedents to mobbing behavior. Mobbing typically occurs following a bullying incident. Dyadic Power Theory (Dunbar, 2004) is applied to the behaviors associated with this phenomenon. Indirect Interpersonal Aggression can be perceived as a communicative strategy to demonstrate control attempts. Those who lack in self-assurance may be more apt to join in with the mob and cultivate mobbing episodes in the adult world. Emerging adults are entering vocational spheres in large numbers. Becoming aware of unethical communicative behaviors that lead to severe workplace and individual consequences is the focus of this study.

The Storm After The Storm: A Comparative Framing Analysis Of Governmental And News Reporting On Hurricane Katrina, Evan T. Zuverink

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Hurricane Katrina is widely regarded as the greatest natural disaster to ever befall the United States. Following the storm’s devastation of the Gulf Coast region, a media firestorm unleashed, seeking to ascribe responsibility to governmental actors for the “failed” response effort. Through a comparative framing analysis, this study sought to investigate how major news outlets, the White House, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency framed the response efforts that followed Hurricane Katrina.

Conservative Media And Political Socialization: Immigration, Gay Marriage, And Abortion As Presented By Fox News, The Wall Street Journal, And Cnn, Jeff Mckay

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

This study addresses the political socialization of politically conservative individuals and how political ideologies seem to coalesce among individuals from various socioeconomic backgrounds. The main issue that this study aims to tackle is the impact of conservative media on the political socialization of conservative individuals and how media as an agent of socialization might influence them to support ideas that are not to their benefit economically. For instance, conservative individuals from various backgrounds wholeheartedly support the same free market principles. However, the negative effect that capitalism has had on the liberty of middle and lower class citizens of the United …

Lessons From Libya: A Situational Approach To The Generic Criticism Of President Obama's March 28, 2011 Address To The Nation On Libya, Amy L. Schumacher

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Many scholars have called the utility of the generic method of rhetorical criticism into question. Adopting a situational approach to generic rhetorical criticism increases the value of the method considerably. By analyzing situational constituents (scene, purpose, agent, act, agency, and audience) surrounding a discourse, a critic gains a holistic understanding of that text. When coupled with generic comparisons - whether the critic proceeds inductively or deductively - he or she can then trace the recurrent rhetorical strategies across time and place and, simultaneously, highlight the elements unique to the particular rhetor and discourse. I demonstrate this approach through an analysis …

A Detailed Case Study Of Unusual Routines, Stephen D. Cooper

Communications Faculty Research

Everyone working in organizations will, from time to time, experience frustrations and problems when trying to accomplish tasks that are a required part of their role. In such cases it is normal for people to find ways of completing their work in such a way that hey can get around, or just simply avoid, the procedure or system that has caused the problem. This is an unusual routine – a recurrent interaction pattern in which someone encounters a problem when trying to accomplish normal activities by following standard organizational procedures and then becomes enmeshed in wasteful and even harmful subroutines …

A Comparative Framing Analysis Of Embedded And Behind-The-Lines Reporting On The 2003 Iraq War, Jim A. Kuypers, Stephen D. Cooper

Communications Faculty Research

Although a contested position, we believe that reporters and editors frame the news in a way that reflects their personal feelings and newsroom culture (Kuypers, 1997, 2002, 2005; Cooper, in press). Audiences usually receive their political news from only a few press sources; rarely do they read the original statements of those being reported upon.

Embedded Versus Behind-The-Lines Reporting On The 2003 Iraq War, Stephen D. Cooper

Communications Faculty Research

A 2003 study by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press found that “Most Americans (53%) believe that news organizations are politically biased, while just 29% say they are careful to remove bias from their reports ... More than half—51%—say that the bias is ‘liberal,’ while 26% discerned a ‘conservative’ leaning. Fourteen percent felt neither phrase applied” (Harper, 2003). Now add to this that even some academicians are finally accepting the idea that journalists, as a group, are more liberal than the population as a whole. However, whether political or other biases (Hahn, 1998) affect news coverage …

An Assessment Of The Fundamental Differences Between Mainstream And Independent Media : A Content Analysis Of The Print Media, Chadford D. Roush

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The mainstream media in the United States is an institutional arrangement of structural power within the political economy of capitalist society. The concentration and centralization of the media corporations creates the structural constraint for ideological social control. A few multinational corporations control a vast amount of media access that creates a filtering process for information. The mainstream media is extremely powerful in American society. The media helps to mold opinions on an array of news topics. Major media sources in the US are conforming their news coverage to be “industry friendly”. In simply terms the American people are only getting …

The West Wing : President As Symbol, Sarah E. Cavendish

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

This study examines how the character of President Bartlet is constructed on The West Wing. Fifteen episodes from October 2001 to January 2002 were taped and reviewed for this research. Real life presidential settings and presidential roles are used as a starting point for analysis. The application of these characteristics to President Bartlet describes how this character functions as a credible fictional president. Suggestions for future research are also presented.

President Clinton's Crisis Rhetoric And The Post-Cold War World: A Dramatistic Perspective, Christopher R. Darr

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Presidential rhetoric has become an important field of study for scholars. Political scientists as well as communication researchers have long been interested in the role of presidential speech. Particularly in the mass media age, what presidents say has a great influence on our nation’s domestic and foreign affairs (Ceaser, Thurow, Tulis, & Bessette, 1981). Presidents can communicate directly with the public using radio and television, and their words can be carried via journalists to the public through a variety of newspapers, magazines and other media outlets. The purposes of this presidential rhetoric are many: to inform the public of policy …

An Effect Of The Medium In News Stories: “The Pictures In Our Heads”, Stephen D. Cooper

Communications Faculty Research

This study used an experimental design to test for a channel effect in news stories. Four television news stories were recorded off-air, then the narrations were transcribed to form a print news story containing the same words; the broadcast video and the print story were the two treatment levels. Subjects received the stories in one of the treatment levels, and were asked to judge the blameworthiness or praiseworthiness of the actors named in the story. Logistic regressions could predict with substantial accuracy the medium in which subjects had received the story from these judgments, indicating a channel effect on their …

Military Public Affairs Practitioners' And Civilian Journalists' Perceptions Of Army Crisis Communications, Michelle L. Martin

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Public relations is at the heart of an organization's relaying of messages to its internal and external audiences. Communication with key audiences allows the organization to release important information, answer questions, address fears and misconceptions, maintain or change the organization's image, influence public opinion and address crises affecting the organization. The Army, like any large organization, must communicate effectively with its publics - legislators, service members, government representatives, the media, and the general public from which it draws its members.

Experts recommend a four-step process for conducting public relations programs (Hiebert, 174). An organization should first conduct research, both primary …

Military Control Over War News: The Implications Of The Persian Gulf, Stephen D. Cooper

Communications Faculty Research

News coverage of warfare poses a difficult problem for political systems with a free press, such as ours in the United States. In an era of high-tech weaponry and nearly instantaneous global communications, conflicts are inevitable between the obligation of the press to inform the general public, and the obligation of the military to successfully conduct war. The military’s controls over news-gathering during the 1990-91 Persian Gulf War set off a controversy still smoldering during the Haiti occupation of 1994. This paper examines the legal, historical, and technological aspects of this issue.

Privacy And The News Media, Stephen D. Cooper

Communications Faculty Research

The right of the public to know and the right of the individual to be let alone are inherently in conflict. The origins of these rights are quite different: the former derived from the First Amendment's protection of a free press, the latter in a law journal article published in the late nineteenth century. So, too, has the development of these ideas followed different paths: the former as Constitutional law, the latter as tort law. This article examines the relationship between privacy law and the press. A century ago two lawyers called for legal relief from aggressive newspaper reporters. At …

News Media Objectivity: How Do We Ask The Questions?, Stephen D. Cooper

Communications Faculty Research

There is a lively and often public debate in progress concerning the objectivity of the news media, or the lack of it Scholars have approached this topic from three distinct angles: content analysis, values, and the economics of the news industry. Their conclusions have varied markedly, apparently guided by their particular frames of reference.

This article suggests that while we seem to have lost our fix on objectivity as a measurable attribute of news products, the news work routine of objectivity encourages fairness in our public discourse, and deserves attention in scholarly research.

0402: Walter Lippman Collection, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

Nationally-known journalist and philosopher; papers include photographs, magazine and newspaper articles, and pamphlets, and "Today and Tomorrow", vols. 1-117 (1931-1967).