Mass Communication Commons^™

Physical Activity And Cognitive-Health Content In Top-Circulating Magazines, 2006–2008, Anna Greer, Sara Corwin, Daniela Friedman

Anna E. Greer

Physical activity may promote cognitive health in older adults. Popular media play an important role in preventive health communication. This study examined articles discussing associations between physical activity and cognitive health in top-circulating magazines targeting older adults. 42,753 pages of magazines published from 2006 to 2008 were reviewed; 26 articles met inclusion criteria. Explanations regarding the link between physical activity and cognitive health were provided in 57.7% of articles. These explanations were generally consistent with empirical evidence; however, few articles included empirical evidence. Physical activity recommendations were presented in 80.8% of articles; a wide range was recommended (90–300 min of …

Remembering Radical Black Dissent: Traumatic Counter-Memories In Contemporary Documentaries About The Black Power Movement, Kristen Hoerl

Kristen Hoerl

Contemporary rhetoric about race and racism has been shaped, in part, by popular films. Since the late 1980s and 1990s, Hollywood has provided a variety of what Kelly Madison refers to as "anti-racist-white-hero" films.1 Movies including Amistad, Cry Freedom, The Long Walk Home, Mississippi Burning, and Ghosts of Mississippi have routinely positioned white protagonists as civil rights heroes who win justice for the black community by punishing or humiliating white antagonists. Each film frames racial injustice as the consequence of closed-minded individuals, rather than as the outcome of the U.S. economic and political system. More recently, the motion pictures The …

The Creation Of Chronicity: An Institutional Case Study Of Social Policy And Severe Retardation In The Progressive Era, Philip Ferguson

Philip M. Ferguson

The theme of this volume is emerging issues in disability studies. To the extent that disability studies is a relatively new field, new issues are constantly emerging and the discipline could hardly be characterized as in a state of "normal science," to borrow a phrase from Thomas Kuhn. Too, since the field of disability studies is interdisciplinary, new issues constantly emerge as researchers synthesize concepts and approaches from various more traditional disciplines (e.g., sociology, political science, psychology, law).

2014 Journalism Graduate Skills For The Professional Workplace: Expectations From Journalism Professionals And Educators, Bernard Mccoy

Bernard R. McCoy

With 2015 graduations approaching, accuracy, ethical principles, and good news judgment were identified as top skills college journalism graduates should possess for the professional workplace, according to a national survey of journalism educators and professionals. There are sharp differences, though, between respondent groups over how well college journalism programs are doing preparing journalism graduates for journalism careers, as well as the perceived importance of social media, mobile, and digital reporting skills. The survey asked journalism professionals and educators to rank skills and experiences journalism graduates need for the professional workplace. Respondents included 665 professional journalism managers, non-managers, and educators. Respondents …

Structural Pluralism And The Community Context: How And When Does The Environment Matter?, Leo Jeffres, Edward Horowitz, Cheryl Bracken, Guowei Jian, Kimberly Neuendorf, Sukki Yoon

Cheryl C Bracken

Several long-standing theories intersect in discussing the impact of community characteristics and of the mass media. The structural pluralism model popularized by Tichenor and his colleagues says that social structure influences how mass media operate in communities because they respond to how power is distributed in the social system, whereas the linear model says that the increasing size of a community's population leads to more social differentiation and diversity and corresponding increases in subcultures with their own beliefs, customs, and behaviors. Recently, there has been a concern about how changes in society have led to a decline in organizational activity …

Power And Television In Latin America : The Dominican Case, Antonio Menéndez Alarcón

Antonio V. Menéndez Alarcón

Examines the relationship between television network organization and programming, the industry's long-range effects on culture and development, and the extent to which TV contributes to a free marketplace of ideas. The focus is on the Dominican Republic, where the old dictatorial forms have permeated the newer, supposedly democratic media.- WorldCat

Propaganda In Recent Spanish And French Referendum Campaigns: An Analysis Of Propaganda Techniques, Antonio Menéndez Alarcón

Antonio V. Menéndez Alarcón

Chapter in Anokwa, Kwadwo, Carolyn A. Lin, and Michael B. Salwen. International Communication: Concepts and Cases. Belmont, Calif: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning, 2003. Print.

Steve Jobs' Moment Of Silence, Janet Dooley

Janet Dooley

Steve Jobs, founder and longtime center of Apple Inc. passed away on October 5, 2011. Tributes to this visionary were spontaneous and abundant. Two students from the School of Visual Arts in New York, Hyui Yong Kim and Bryan Wolff, working with KNARF® Advertising, conceived of a means by which a traditional remembrance, the moment of silence, was upgraded to a modern technological tribute. Users of iPods, iPhones, iPads and other computing devices could download to their iTunes library eight seconds of silence as a remembrance to Jobs’ contributions to technology, to communication and to the impact on their lives.

The Impact Of Government Policies On Access To Broadband, James Prieger

James E. Prieger

With a new focus for federal universal service programs on broadband and the NTIA BTOP funding for broadband adoption projects, recent years have been “exciting times” for those interested in broadband policy aimed at stimulating adoption. While most of the recent programs are still too new to be evaluated rigorously, lessons from older academic study can inform our expectations and lend guidance toward evaluating program success. In this brief work, I review what we know from the last decade and a half of literature on the impact of regulation on broadband adoption, discuss the (mostly woeful) attempts at evaluating adoption …

Social Issues In America, Stephen Cooper

Stephen D. Cooper

One of the more contentious issues in social science at this time is the question of media bias. Both the scholarly and popular literature are thick with writings on this topic, yet for all the interest in it and work devoted to it we are far from a consensus on how media bias can be defined, conceptualized, or researched. Ironically enough, many writings on the subject of media bias do take the position that the news content distributed to the public fails, in one respect or another, to accurately and fairly represent real events, issues, personalities, and situations. Studies differ …

The President And The Press: The Framing Of George W. Bush’S Speech To The United Nations, Stephen Cooper, Jim Kuypers, Matt Althous

Stephen D. Cooper

In this essay, we provide a brief overview of how frames work, discuss the relationship of frames to the news media, and perform a qualitatively based, comparative framing analysis of President Bush’s speech to the United Nations and the mainstream American press response that followed. Findings suggest that by the end of formal military operations in Afghanistan, the press was increasingly framing its reports in such a way that President Bush’s public statements were inaccurately transmitted to the public at large. Three key findings are advanced: one, the press depicted the Bush administration as an enemy of civil liberties; two, …

Bringing Some Clarity To The Media Bias Debate, Stephen Cooper

Stephen D. Cooper

Jim A. Kuypers’ recent book, Press Bias and Politics, has made a significant advance in the methodology of inquiring into this issue—although it’s a safe bet that many in the scholarly community will be tempted to dismiss it out of hand. That’s a shame, if so, because even if one is disinclined to accept Kuypers’ conclusion that the press tends to favor ideas associated with the political left, his method can at least put the debate on a firmer footing.

Advertising Creative: Strategy, Copy & Design, Tom Alstiel, Jean Grow

Jean Grow

No abstract provided.

The Disaster Press Conference: Responding To The Media In An Emergency, John Fisher

Dr. John R. Fisher

No abstract provided.

Blood, Lust And Love:Interrogating Gender Violence In The Twilight Phenomenon, Meenakshi Durham

Meenakshi Gigi Durham

This paper interrogates the construction of gender relations in the Twilight books and films, vis-à-vis issues of implicit and overt gender violence. A combination of ideological analysis, semiology, and feminist critique is used to examine the verbal and visual codes at work in these texts. Five dominant themes emerge: (1) the representation of violence as an inherent characteristic of masculinity; (2) the portrayal of male violence as a justifiable by-product of heterosexual relationships; (3) the definition of masculinity in terms of a dualism wherein “good” boys repudiate their own “instinctive” predilection for violence and “bad” boys allow it to go …

Student Perceptions Of Public Relations And Journalism: A Pilot Study Of Attitude Shifts Through Curriculum Innovation, Bernard Mccoy, Jerry Renaud, Adam Wagler, Amy Struthers, John Baker

Bernard R. McCoy

Journalism and Public Relations have had a long and often contentious relationship. It is rare when journalists and advertising/PR specialists work well together in the real world. It is equally rare when advertising, public relations and journalism students work together as part of their classroom education. This pilot mixed methods study explored the perceptions journalism and public relations majors had about each other’s professions. The experimental group was comprised of 40 journalism and public relations majors who worked together covering a national event in an immersive college class. The control group included 68 students who participated in a more traditional …

Digital And Media Literacy: Tapping Into Popular Culture, Renee Hobbs

Renee Hobbs

It’s something every principal understands: when teachers have low expectations of their students, they may rely on lecturing, explanation and recitation, over-controlling classroom interaction, and summarizing texts on behalf of students. But when teachers develop and implement curriculum ideas that are predicated on students as active, engaged, and independent learners, great things can happen in the classroom. Teachers who are already using news media, popular culture, and digital media to support academic achievement in language arts, science, history, and the arts are discovering the power of connecting students’ digital learning skills to fundamental practices in analysis, evaluation, composition, reflection, and …

Connecting Kids With News In Their Community, Renee Hobbs

Renee Hobbs

Youngsters made video games, and educators found that ‘hands-on activity helped kids to process news reporting. It also gave them ways to tell this story by integrating their perspectives as they aimed it at fresh audiences.’

Fragmented Liveness / Mediated Moments, Kristen Lovell

Kristen R Lovell

No abstract provided.

Lockouts, Protests, And Scabs: A Critical Assessment Of The Los Angeles Herald Examiner Strike, Bonnie Brennen

Bonnie Brennen

No abstract provided.

Can Google-Tv Help Liberate Cable-Tv?, Erik Ugland

Erik Ugland

No abstract provided.

Empowerment And Protection: Complementary Strategies For Digital And Media Literacy In The United States, Renee Hobbs

Renee Hobbs

Billions of dollars are being spent in the United States to make sure that children and young people have computers, data projectors and access to the Internet in elementary and secondary schools. There is robust experimentation now ongoing as teachers explore how to use technology primarily as a means to accomplish traditional content learning outcomes. Digital and media literacy education offers an alternative model that emphasizes a set of practical competencies or life skills that are necessary for full participation in a highly-mediated society. Digital and media literacy competencies are not only needed to strengthen people’s capacity to use information …

The Reporter's Privilege Goes Incognito In Wisconsin, Erik Ugland

Erik Ugland

No abstract provided.

'My Little Genius' And The Role Of The Fcc, Erik Ugland

Erik Ugland

No abstract provided.

The Aims Of Public Scholarship In Media Law And Ethics, Erik Ugland

Erik Ugland

No abstract provided.

Photojournalism: Historical Dimensions To Contemporary Debates, Bonnie Brennen

Bonnie Brennen

No abstract provided.

American Journalism History Reader, Bonnie Brennen, Hanno Hardt

Bonnie Brennen

The American Journalism History Reader presents important primary texts—news articles and essays about journalism from all stages of the history of the American press—alongside key works of journalism history and criticism. The volume aims to place journalism history in its theoretical context, to familiarize the reader with essential works of, and about, journalism, and to chart the development of the field.

The reader moves chronologically through American journalism history from the eighteenth-century to the present, combining classic sources and contemporary insights. Each century's section begins with a critical introduction, which establishes the social and political environment in which the media …

Connections Between Lobbying, Public Relations And Advocacy, Kati Berg

Kati Berg

The article by Dr. Berg examines the communication and public relations activities lobbyists are involved. Findings suggest that many lobbyists, like many public relations practitioners, do think about their role as one of advocacy. The paper also notes some of the contradictions and limitations of using the term advocacy as a way of describing many communication activities.

Teaching Ethics With The Help Of Hollywood, Kati Berg

Kati Berg

No abstract provided.

Teaching Media Ethics At The Graduate Level, Kati Berg

Kati Berg

No abstract provided.