Mass Communication Commons^™

An Examination Of How The Media Portrayed Professional Female Athletes During The 2023 Women's World Cup In The Match-Up Between Spain And The United States, Brianna R. Breazier

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Professional Projects

This project is an examination of how the media portrayed professional female athletes during the 2023 Woen's World Cup in the match-up between Spain and the United States. This project consists of a literature review of the history of both countries, an overview of feminist theory, and past studies that show current patterns of biases or stereotypical behavior in today’s mainstream media. This project also consists of a cross-examination and comparison between Spain and the United States, specifically examining the timeline of events between the two. The purpose of this study is to compare the media trends of professional female …

Midweed: A Comparison Between Marijuana Laws, Regulations, And Social Attitudes In Cannabis-Legal Vs. Cannabis-Illegal Midwest States, Abagail Lim

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Professional Projects

This professional project is a series of three journalistic articles. Each article focuses on laws, regulations and social attitudes surrounding marijuana in the United States. These topics are explored primarily through the lenses of two Midwest states (Illinois & Nebraska), which have highly contrasting laws and regulations regarding marijuana. The state of Illinois legalized medical marijuana in January 2014 and recreational marijuana in January 2020, while in Nebraska, both medical and recreational use still remains illegal, though possession of up to one ounce has been decriminalized.

The purpose of choosing these two states is to show how stark a contrast …

The Journey Of The Black Sports Journalist: Past, Present And Future, Gary Washburn

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Professional Projects

It took nearly 60 years for the mainstream audience to learn and digest the impact of the Black sports journalist on the American sports landscape.

In the Disney-movie “42,” detailing Jackie Robinson’s breaking of baseball’s color barrier in 1947, Robinson bonded with a journalist named Wendell Smith, who served as a guide, mentor and liaison for the baseball player during his travel journey with the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Smith not only covered Robinson’s ground-breaking excursion into a sport that had proudly prohibited and disavowed Blacks from playing Major League Baseball, he became Robinson’s trusted colleague, gaining access to stories and insights …

Video 101: Video Production Basics, Visually Explained, Chris Flanery

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Professional Projects

As video becomes more prevalent in all aspects of life, the demand for competent video production skills continues to grow. Having the technical literacy to capture professional-level video is highly sought-after and begins with proper education and training. This project found the process for learning video production often fails to maximize on its full potential. Despite being a visual medium, most individuals surveyed and interviewed for this project who work in the video production industry report visuals are rarely used to demonstrate fundamental concepts in learning video production. These same individuals and additional research indicate visual aids help illustrate many …

Krnu: Expansion And Realignment, Kaci Richter

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Professional Projects

Terrestrial radio stations have undergone fundamental changes over the last three decades. The entertainment market has expanded to include more ways for content creators to reach audiences and more platforms for advertisers to promote and sell their goods and services. As listener habits have changed, radio stations have been forced to keep pace, adding owned media platforms like websites, apps and social media accounts to meet listeners where they are. This struggle is not limited to commercial radio properties. Listener habits are forever changed, and noncommercial stations are often under-resourced. 90.3 KRNU is one of those under-resourced noncommercial educational stations …

With A Female Vice President In Office, Has Media Gender-Bias Left The Presidential Campaign Trail? The Short Answer Is No, And The Reason Why Is Deep Rooted., Nora Tarte

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Professional Projects

An examination of treatment in the media of female vice presidential candidates—Geraldine Ferraro (1984), Sarah Palin (2008) and Kamala Harris (2020)—surfaces a trend of gender bias perpetuated by subtly sexist language in all three campaigns. While society has made strides in equality in the 36 years between campaigns, the media treatment of Vice President Kamala Harris is not that far removed from the treatment of Geraldine Ferraro. The bias exists both overtly and subtly with obvious sexist language and more subtle forms of sexist language in coverage doled out by top media outlets, but subtle sexism is what often flies …

Rugby League As A Televised Product In The United States Of America, Mike Morris

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Professional Projects

Rugby league is a form of rugby that is more similar to American football than its more globally popular cousin rugby union. This similarity to the United States of America’s most popular sport, that country’s appetite for sport, and its previous acceptance of foreign sports products makes rugby league an attractive product for American media outlets to present and promote.

Rugby league’s history as a working-class sport in England and Australia will appeal to American consumers hungry for grit and authenticity from their favorite athletes and teams. Established coverage of English soccer has paved the way for rugby league media …

Journalistic Ethics And The Right-Wing Media, Jason Mccoy

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Professional Projects

This paper will examine the development of modern media ethics and will show that this set of guidelines can and perhaps should be revised and improved to match the challenges of an economic and political system that has taken advantage of guidelines such as “objective reporting” by creating too many false equivalencies. This paper will end by providing a few reforms that can create a better media environment and keep the public better informed. As it was important for journalism to improve from partisan media to objective reporting in the past, it is important today that journalism improves its practices …

Social Media Flooded With Rescue Requests During Hurricane Harvey, Alison Greenhalgh

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Professional Projects

When Hurricane Harvey hit Houston, social media was used in a new way during a natural disaster. Emergency phone lines were jammed, and people were in desperate need of rescuing. These people turned to social media, such as Facebook, to ask for help. At the same time, civilian rescuers turned to social media to find locations of people in need of rescuing. News articles published stories about the desperate cries for help on social media; however, these articles left some questions unanswered. How exactly did social media connect rescuers and victims, and how could it be more efficient? How did …

Tweeting The Boston Marathon Bombings: A Case Study Of Twitter Content In The Immediate Aftermath Of A Major Event, Rebekah Dawn Giordano

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Professional Projects

The project explored and analyzed the use of the social media tool Twitter in the immediate aftermath of a major event. Tweets and re-tweets from the first hour following the Boston Marathon Bombings on April 15, 2013 were collected and analyzed. The project used the application SIFTER from the company Textifer to identify the related tweets by inputting sixteen previously documented keywords related to the Boston Marathon Bombing. The tweets were then divided into several categories and subcategories to be analyzed. The company Twitter Counter was used to obtain accurate information, such as followers on, for various individual Twitter accounts. …