Communication Commons^™

Print Versus Digital: How Medium Matters On 'House Of Cards', Patrick Ferrucci, Chad Painter

Communication Faculty Publications

This study utilizes textual analysis to analyze how journalists are depicted on the Netflix drama House of Cards. Through the lens of orientalism and cultivation, researchers examine how depictions of print and digital journalism would lead viewers to see digital journalists as less ethical and driven by self-gain, while also viewing technology as an impediment to quality journalism. These findings are then discussed as a means for understanding how these depictions could affect society.

The Tree Of Life And Courageous: Comparative Analysis On Faith-Based Filmmaking, Sean O'Connor

Communication Faculty Publications

This thesis analyzes the story structure of two films, The Tree of Life (2011) and Courageous (2011), and their similarities and differences in storytelling and Christian themes. Using screenwriting scholar Robert McKee’s theories on story structure, this comparative analysis highlights the plot elements, conflicts, dialogue, and overall execution of the two films in order to identify their agreement or disagreement with established screenwriting theory. Results from this analysis indicate how both films align with and diverge from McKee’s theories, finding in conclusion that these motion pictures not only provide insight on differences in portraying Christian faith in film but also …

Book Review: Sport History In The Digital Era, Scott D. Peterson

Communication Faculty Publications

Review of Sport History in the Digital Era. Edited by Gary Osmond and Murray G. Phillips. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2015. 279 pages. Hardbound. $60.00

Race Prominent Feature In Coverage Of Trayvon Martin, Erin Willis, Chad Painter

Communication Faculty Publications

This textual analysis examines news framing of the shooting of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman. After studying coverage from The Sanford Herald (North Carolina), The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and The Denver Post, the authors conclude national media perpetuated racial stereotypes, thus heightening the issue of race and making the case more emotional than factual.

Readers outside of Sanford, N.C., had few details about the physical altercation, the heart of Zimmerman’s self-defense claim.

Flipping The Script: Newspaper Reporting Of The Trayvon Martin Shooting, Chad Painter, Erin Willis

Communication Faculty Publications

The purpose of this chapter is to examine newspaper coverage of the George Zimmerman-Trayvon Martin shooting and the frames of race and crime used in the context of newsworthiness. The researchers analyzed 1,177 articles in one local, six statewide, and three national newspapers. The local paper focused on the shooting and the ensuing police investigation instead of social and political issues, and local-interest stories instead of national events. There was virtually no mention of race. Coverage in the six Florida papers was mixed between details of the case and social issues such as Florida's Stand Your Ground law. There were …

Foul Ball: Audience-Held Stereotypes Of Baseball Players, Patrick Ferrucci, Edson C. Tandoc Jr., Chad Painter, J. David Wolfgang

Communication Faculty Publications

This study experimentally tested whether participants held and/or applied stereotypes of baseball players. Participants were asked to rate white, black, and Latino baseball players based on stereotypes consistently identified in previous literature.

Participants saw a photo of a player and an anonymous paragraph from a newspaper that highlighted a particular stereotype. They were then asked to rate the author's credibility. Black players were rated as higher in physical strength and natural ability, consistent with previous literature concerning how athletes were described. However, white and Latin players were not stereotyped. But participants rated white-consistent descriptions as credible and Latin-consistent descriptions as …

'His Women Problem': An Analysis Of Gender On 'The Newsroom', Chad Painter, Patrick Ferrucci

Communication Faculty Publications

This textual analysis focuses on the portrayal of female journalists on Aaron Sorkin’s The Newsroom, which premiered on HBO in 2012. The researchers argue that the four main female journalists are depicted as being unprofessional in the workplace, being inadequate at their jobs, and being motherly and weak. While these female journalists have impeccable credentials, stellar resumes, and a genuine interest in disseminating the best possible news, Sorkin and his fellow writers consistently depict these powerful women as inferior to the male characters.

The researchers conclude that Sorkin and his creative team failed in their ethical obligation to the audience …

Book Review: For The Love Of Baseball, Scott D. Peterson

Communication Faculty Publications

I was having a great deal of déjà vu all over again when I started For the Love of Baseball—and that was even before I read the forward by Yogi Berra.

Cowboys, Angels, And Demons: American Exceptionalism And The Frontier Myth In The Cw's 'Supernatural', Joesph M. Valenzano

Communication Faculty Publications

The CW network series Supernatural (2005–) draws its text from the horror and fantasy genres as well as religious mythology. Concurrently, it transmits a core “American” mythos. As its protagonists keep watch along a supernatural frontier and eradicate threats to the American way of life, this program both reinforces and alters aspects of the frontier myth and the myth of American exceptionalism by depicting its main characters as representations of America writ large whose mission has grown from an appointment by God to being equals to God.

In this manner, Supernatural forwards a new American exceptionalism through the notion that …

Book Review: ¡Arriba Baseball!, Scott D. Peterson

Communication Faculty Publications

Sports writers and league owners continue to work to keep their industry as non-political as possible, claiming that, among other things, "it should be about the game." Students and scholars of sport culture and writers of sport fiction, including many of the authors included among the selections of ¡Arriba Baseball! know otherwise.

World Theatre, Michelle Hayford

Communication Faculty Publications

When approaching the topic of world theatre, it is necessary to first dispel some popular myths about theatre forms that are outside the traditional Western theatre aesthetic or canon. For the purposes of this chapter, selected examples of world theatre, including theatre of the Western world, are explored. However, there is a focus on the historical trajectory of traditional performance forms of non-Western countries. With the exception of efforts to preserve these traditional forms, it is important to note that “world” theatre is not code for static performance that resists evolution. Nor is world theatre “primitive” or simple. In this …

Mapping Reality: An Introduction To Theatre, Charlie Mitchell, Michelle Hayford

Communication Faculty Publications

This book seeks to give insight into the people and processes that create theatre. Like any other world—be it horse racing, fashion, or politics—understanding its complexities helps you appreciate it on a deeper plane. The intent of this book is not to strip away the feeling of magic that can happen in the presence of theatre but to add an element of wonder for the artistry that makes it work. At the same time, you can better understand how theatre seeks to reveal truths about the human condition; explores issues of ethics, gender, ethnicity, class, sexuality, and spirituality; and exists …

Suit My Heart: Staging Foster Youth Narratives That Hit Home, Michelle Hayford

Communication Faculty Publications

While devising Suit My Heart, I relied upon my training in the ‘three A’s’ of performance studies conceived by my late mentor Dwight Conquergood as “artistry, analysis and activism” (2002: 152). With these ‘three A’s’ in mind, I set out to facilitate a devising process and create an artistic product that would positively serve all communities involved. The quality of the project would be determined not only by the efficacy of the play that we produced in the end, but by the personal growth of my students and the empowerment of our community partners throughout the process. Discovering the reach …

The Role Of Public Relations In Social Capital And Civic Engagement, Weiwu Zhang, Alan Abitbol

Communication Faculty Publications

Public relations scholars have increasingly argued for the broader role of public relations and strategic communication in society (e.g., Taylor, 2010). That is, how can knowledge of public relations be used to make society better rather than simply making organizations more effective? This study examines how different types of public relations and strategic communication efforts contribute to citizens’ social capital and civic engagement. Specifically, this study uses data from the 2010 Pew Internet and American Life Project ‘Social Side of the Internet’ survey to examine the relationship between various strategic communication efforts by social, civic, professional, and religious organizations and …

A Black And White Game: Racial Stereotypes In Baseball, Patrick Ferrucci, Edson C. Tandoc Jr., Chad Painter, Glenn Leshner

Communication Faculty Publications

The current study experimentally tested stereotypes and credibility of messages associated with athletes. Participants were asked to rate photos of black and white baseball players based on stereotypes identified in previous literature. They were then given an anonymous paragraph from a newspaper that featured either a stereotype consistent or inconsistent message and asked to rate the author's credibility. Black players were rated significantly higher in physical strength and natural ability, which is consistent with previous literature. However, inconsistent with previous literature, white players were not rated significantly higher in intelligence and leadership. Despite these results, when measuring credibility, this study …

Book Review: Final Fenway Fiction, Scott D. Peterson

Communication Faculty Publications

If there is a special room in the house of sport literature for fan creations, then the Fenway Fiction series deserves a place of prominence among the legions of blogs about everything from baseball cards of AAA ball players to Todd Zeile's homers for 11 different teams, "Johnny Marz" tribute videos on YouTube, and mash-ups with A-Rod's head photoshopped onto the bodies of figures from Greek Mythology.

Keep Relationships Positive Or Do Things Right: Bridging Women Leaders’ Conflict Management Strategies In Non-Profit Organizations In Taiwan And The Us, Chin-Chung Chao, Dexin Tian

Communication Faculty Publications

Purpose – The present study aims at contributing to the knowledge of organizational communication and cross-cultural female leadership by examining the conflict management strategies between Taiwanese female presidents and their American counterparts in Rotary Clubs.

Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected through field observations and 25 in-depth interviews with 14 Taiwanese female presidents and 11 American female presidents in Rotary Clubs. Theme analysis of the interpretive method was used in this research.

Findings – This study revealed that the female presidents in both cultures applied obliging and integrating strategies to handle management conflicts. Yet, due to the interference of past presidents, …

Getting Your Bloke On: Gender Issues In The Reality Competition 'I Will Survive', Frank Miller

Communication Faculty Publications

The Australian reality competition "I Will Survive" set out to find a cast replacement for the leading role in the Broadway production of "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert." The stage version closed halfway through production the series, forcing a repositioning of the competition as the search to find "Australia's next triple threat." Even when the main prize was a role as a drag queen, however, the series presented a heterocentric approach to gender that treated drag less as a means of personal expression than as a part in a play that just happened to be about two gay men and …

Introduction To "On The Sleeve Of The Visual: Race As Face Value", Alessandra Raengo

Communication Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Book Review: Drawing Card, Scott D. Peterson

Communication Faculty Publications

Although Drawing Card employs many of the standard conventions of a baseball novel, Mills' book also makes significant and surprising departures. Instead of telling the story of a player's experience in the game, the narrative derives primarily from the consequences of a dream denied. The novel also serves as a cultural history of Cleveland of the 1930s and 1940s with side trips to Sicily at various key points in the island's history.

Reification, Reanimation, And The Money Of The Real, Alessandra Raengo

Communication Faculty Publications

This essay is an exercise in a form of looking from a distance. It is prompted by the desire to explore the connection between two stunning objects, namely, Ken Jacobs’s Capitalism: Slavery (2006), a digital animation of a stereoscopic card picturing slaves at work in a cotton field, and Nick Hooker’s 2008 digital video for Grace Jones’s song Corporate Cannibal. This is not an essay directly about Ken Jacobs and even less about Grace Jones, but rather an attempt to show how, for me, these two works belong to the same set. The set I am thinking about is …

Climbing The Himalayas: A Cross-Cultural Analysis Of Female Leadership And Glass Ceiling Effects In Non-Profit Organizations, Chin-Chung Chao

Communication Faculty Publications

Purpose – The present study aims at contributing to the knowledge of organizational communication and cross-cultural leadership by examining the relationship between cultural values and expected female leadership styles in non-profit organizations in Taiwan and the US. Design/methodology/approach – In total, 307 Rotarians in Taiwan and the US completed a survey meant to reveal their cultural values and expected female leadership styles. In addition, the method of semi-structured interviews was used to raise the participants’ consciousness of and critical reflections upon social practices regarding female leadership.

Findings – The research results are threefold. First, among the three major leadership styles, …

Book Review: Knocking On Heaven's Door, Scott D. Peterson

Communication Faculty Publications

Since the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, baseball has had more than its share of apologists to proclaim the game's virtues and unique qualities-how the game lends itself to narrative, how it's a meritocracy that rewards hard work and perseverance, or how it acts as a conduit to the American Dream. What baseball literature needs in he present day and age is more writers to tell the whole story-and Marty Dobrow's Knocking on Heaven's Door does just that.

The Donner Party And The Rhetoric Of Western Expansion, Mary Stuckey

Communication Faculty Publications

There have been numerous studies of the frontier myth as it operated in the early republic and throughout our history. As a result of this work, we know a lot about the frontier myth, its history, elements, and ideological functioning. We know less, however, about how that myth developed when its ideological elements met the empirical realities of western emigration. I argue that four specific cultural fictions—erasure, civilization, community, and democracy— are integral elements of the larger fiction of the American frontier myth. By understanding them through the vehicle of the Donner Party narratives, we can deepen our understanding of …

Book Review: Major League Bride, Scott D. Peterson

Communication Faculty Publications

As the title indicates, Lockwood's memoir sets out to relate the big league experience from the uncommon perspective of a baseball player's wife. Fans of a certain age might recognize her husband, Skip Lockwood, a starter turned closer who achieved some fame with the New York Mets in the mid-1970s—and who shared a 1965 rookie card with Blue Moon Odom and Catfish Hunter. More than just a memoir, Lockwood's book provides a cultural history because her and her husband's time in baseball was bracketed by the strikes of 1972 and 1981—an important period in the labor relations of Major League …

Culturally Universal Or Culturally Specific: A Comparative Study Of The Anticipated Female Leadership Styles In Taiwan And The United States, Chin-Chung Chao, Dexin Tian

Communication Faculty Publications

Guided by Bass and Avolio’s leadership frameworks and Hofstede’s modified cultural dimensions, the present cross-cultural study aims to compare and explore the relationships between cultural values and anticipated female leadership styles in non-profit organizations in Taiwan and the US. Regression and t-test analyses of 307 participants in 138 Rotary Clubs in the two societies reveal two research findings. First, Rotary Club members in Taiwan have higher scores in all the cultural dimensions of collectivism, masculinity, and life-long relationships than their US counterparts. Second, transformational leadership proves to be the most anticipated leadership style among Rotary Club members in both cultures. …

Book Review: Our White Boy, Scott D. Peterson

Communication Faculty Publications

Equal parts history and memoir, Our White Boy works on a number of levels while developing a wide range of themes. Operating as baseball history, the book chronicles two seasons of the Wichita Falls/Graham Stars, a black semi-pro baseball team. As a memoir, Jerry Craft tells his unique story as the only white man to play in the West Texas Colored League. On still another level, Craft and Sullivan follow the time-honored narrative strategy of illustrating how baseball can aid in the development and maturity process of a young man.

Foreigners' Archive: Contemporary China In The Blogs Of American Expatriates, Qi Tang, Chin-Chung Chao

Communication Faculty Publications

This study scrutinized blogs written by American expatriates in twenty-firstcentury China. The primary objectives were to explore how China is represented in such blogs and to understand the discursive processes through which the American bloggers utilize the blogging technology to narrate their perceptions of the Chinese realities. Drawing on the postcolonial and discursive perspectives, we have determined that the blogs examined here consist of a distinct discursive space of cultural representation and contestation. They were also interpreted as a digital extension of conventional Euro-American travel writing as they share with the genre a set of rhetorical conventions and face the …

Book Review: The Great Match And Our Base Ball Club, Scott D. Peterson

Communication Faculty Publications

These two early baseball texts are well met (and well married) in the recently published book that was edited by Trey and Geri Strecker. While Our Base Ball Club focuses more on illustrating how "baseball fever" could overtake a nineteenth century American town, both texts demonstrate the contemporary significance of the game.

Book Review: Drowned Boy, Scott D. Peterson

Communication Faculty Publications

The seven stories and the novella that make up Jerry Gabriel's recently published collection are linked by a single character, much in the manner of another Ohioian, Sherwood Anderson. The pieces follow Nate Holland from age eight to young adulthood and portray his upbringing in a small town in Southeastern Ohio.