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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons

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Articles 1 - 7 of 7

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

New Media, Old Criticism: Bloggers' Press Criticism And The Journalistic Field, Tim P. Vos, Stephanie Craft, Seth Ashley Oct 2012

New Media, Old Criticism: Bloggers' Press Criticism And The Journalistic Field, Tim P. Vos, Stephanie Craft, Seth Ashley

Communication Faculty Publications and Presentations

Bourdieu's field theory suggests that the rise of the Internet and blogs could generate a shift in the journalistic field – the realm where actors struggle for autonomy – as new agents gain access. This textual analysis of 282 items of media criticism appearing on highly-trafficked blogs reveals an emphasis on traditional journalistic norms, suggesting a stable field. Occasional criticisms of the practicability of traditional norms and calls for greater transparency, however, may suggest an emerging paradigm shift.


Exploring Message Meaning: A Qualitative Media Literacy Study Of College Freshmen, Seth Ashley, Grace Lyden, Devon Fasbinder Oct 2012

Exploring Message Meaning: A Qualitative Media Literacy Study Of College Freshmen, Seth Ashley, Grace Lyden, Devon Fasbinder

Communication Faculty Publications and Presentations

Critical media literacy demands understanding of the deeper meanings of media messages. Using a grounded theory approach, this study analyzed responses by first-year college students not currently enrolled in formal media literacy education to three types of video messages: an advertisement, a public relations message, and a news report. Students did not exhibit nuanced understandings of message purpose or sender in any of the three types of messages, and had particular difficulty distinguishing public relations and news messages. These results suggest a media literacy curriculum addressing distinctions between media formats, with emphasis on analysis of message intent and point of …


Rhetoricizing The Urban: Finding A Living Public In Public Plaza, Erin Daina Mcclellan Sep 2012

Rhetoricizing The Urban: Finding A Living Public In Public Plaza, Erin Daina Mcclellan

Communication Faculty Publications and Presentations

The city is a complex and nuanced collection of symbols, actions, interactions, and meanings rife for analysis at any given moment. Rhetorical scholarship adds unique insights into how such meanings are constructed, interpreted, and enacted. Much of the foundational research in the field of communication traces back to McGee's1 disciplinary transition "from rhetorical materialism to rhetoric's materiality."2 As Biesecker and Lucaites point out, this critical discussion has led to understanding rhetorical objects as on a "continuum of rhetorical influence that extend from the most concrete incidence of microrhetorical experience to increasingly abstract socio- and macro-rhetorical experiences".3 It …


Gender Inequality In Deliberative Participation, Christopher F. Karpowitz, Tali Mendelberg, Lee Shaker Aug 2012

Gender Inequality In Deliberative Participation, Christopher F. Karpowitz, Tali Mendelberg, Lee Shaker

Communication Faculty Publications and Presentations

Can men and women have equal levels of voice and authority in deliberation or does deliberation exacerbate gender inequality? Does increasing women's descriptive representation in deliberation increase their voice and authority? We answer these questions and move beyond the debate by hypothesizing that the group's gender composition interacts with its decision rule to exacerbate or erase the inequalities. We test this hypothesis and various alternatives, using experimental data with many groups and links between individuals' attitudes and speech. We find a substantial gender gap in voice and authority, but as hypothesized, it disappears under unanimous rule and few women, or …


As Predicted: Fact And Improbability In News Coverage Of Astrology, Rick Clifton Moore Apr 2012

As Predicted: Fact And Improbability In News Coverage Of Astrology, Rick Clifton Moore

Communication Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study examines a recent eruption of news about astrology. For a theoretical lens, it uses contemporary research on how traditional news values might allow what some have labeled "mystical" ideas to maintain public acceptance in spite of scientific evidence against them. As a contrast to that approach, a different perspective by Neil Postman is provided, an approach that suggests the dominant media of our culture will have as much impact as will professional practice in determining the nature of our messages. In investigating a group of news stories that questioned the validity of key astrological principles, the current study …


Metaphor And Stories In Discourse About Personal And Social Change, L. David Ritchie Jan 2012

Metaphor And Stories In Discourse About Personal And Social Change, L. David Ritchie

Communication Faculty Publications and Presentations

Barack Obama campaigned on the theme of ‘change,’ and as the first African-American to win the U. S. Presidency, he embodies changes of historical and cultural importance. Central among the changes Obama advocates is his attempt, throughout his campaign, to depart from the ‘old politics’ and keep racial issues in the background. However, at a crucial point in the campaign he was forced to confront these issues when a potentially damaging controversy erupted over a series of comments, widely regarded as unpatriotic, made by his personal friend and spiritual adviser, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright. How Obama dealt with this crisis …


Local Political Knowledge And Assessments Of Citizen Competence, Lee Shaker Jan 2012

Local Political Knowledge And Assessments Of Citizen Competence, Lee Shaker

Communication Faculty Publications and Presentations

This article contrasts the national and local political knowledge of a random sample of 993 Philadelphians with the aim of enhancing the scholarly understanding of citizen competence. Empirical study of citizen competence extends back more than fifty years, but the survey data that have been brought to bear upon the topic are almost exclusively focused on national-level politics. Consequently, sweeping conclusions about the competence of the American public rest upon a narrow foundation. The comparisons in this article depict a slew of differences in the distribution of knowledge across national and local politics, many of which challenge established notions of …