Public Relations and Advertising Commons^™

Media Narrative Competition Between The U.S. And China During Covid-19, Zhenzhu Zhang

Dissertations

This study examines the narratives that were presented in Chinese and American media by using Dr. Li Wenliang (one of the first people who tried to raise the alarm about the outbreak of COVID-19), and the COVID-19 origin controversy as case studies to understand how these news stories conflicted and which tellings became dominant. The way these two cases have been depicted in the media has changed over time. Understanding how that depiction changed is important because it helps demonstrate how narratives function to frame crises. The current study uses narrative, and framing theories to support thematic analysis of news …

Covid-19 & University Stakeholders: A Faculty Perspective, Torie Fowler

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate faculty member perceptions of job satisfaction, response efficacy, organizational communication efforts, along with organizational trust and goodwill in relation to the COVID-19 crisis. A cross-sectional survey was conducted, using faculty members employed at their institution of higher education during the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 academic years. A total of 285 responses were analyzed.

Results of this study suggest faculty member perceptions of job satisfaction and response efficacy were significant in predicting perceptions of trust and goodwill. The most significant predictor of organizational trust and goodwill was perceptions of organizational communication efforts. Also, this …

The Russian Research Center At Harvard Versus Cambridge Analytica: Influencing The Public In A Cold War, Robert Joshua Howard

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Political Public Relations Agenda-Building: A Content Analysis Of The Us 2016 Presidential Campaign Speeches, Tweets And News Stories, Emmanuel Nwachukwu

Dissertations

This study investigated the role of political agenda building of political speech and tweet in the 2016 US presidential elections and the relationships between the campaign messages and the news cycle during the election campaign period. It also used functional theory of political campaign discourse to evaluate the speech and tweets of the presidential candidates. The study utilized content analysis and analyzed 5303 units of speech, tweets, TV (CNN, FOX and NBC news) clips and news stories from New York Times and Washington Post to derive its conclusions.

The result of the study showed how tweets shaped the media agenda …

Looking Inward: Higher Education Public Relations And Internal Communication, Kelly A. Campbell

Dissertations

There has been a decline in public good will toward institutions of higher education for nearly four decades. Resultantly, the public, media, and politicians call for greater transparency. It would be beneficial for institutions of higher education to utilize strategic means to communicate their stories, successes and brand directly to various publics. A critical, albeit often an overlooked public, are the employees of the university. They can serve as ambassadors for the university interacting with outside publics. In this capacity, not only do employees need to know information about their organization to function well at their positions, they also need …

How Visual Communication Strategies, Brand Familiarity, And Personal Relevance Influence Instagram Users’ Responses To Brand Content, Lijie Zhou

Dissertations

This study comprehensively investigated the effects of visual themes, visual perspective, personal relevance, and brand familiarity on brand constructions (attitude-toward-brand, brand love, brand respect, and three dimensions of brand image) on Instagram. The study consists of two parts. In Study 1, the main and interaction effects of visual design elements on individuals’ visual attentions, brand recognition, and attitude toward brands were examined by using a 4 (visual theme: customer-centric, employee-centric, product-centric, and non-branded) × 2 (view perspective: first-person view vs. third-person view) between-subject eye-tracking test. In Study 2, a 4 (visual theme: customer-centric, employee-centric, non-brand, and product-centric) ×2 (brand familiarity: …

Seeing Is Believing, But Is It The Truth? Reality Vs. Representation Of Men In Contemporary Magazine Advertisements, 1980-2010, Dana Ann Lopez Coleman

Dissertations

McQuail (1994) observed, “The entire study of mass communication is based onthe premise that the media have significant effects” (p. 327). Many of these studies in mass communication have focused specifically on the various consequences that are believed to be a result of advertising. These images and perceptions can also become an individual’s reality which serves to shape society and their day-to-day environment. As Rudy, Popova, and Linz (2010) wrote, “Extensive media exposure leads audience members to adopt media reality as their own, and these altered conceptions of reality can in turn influence behavior” (p. 708). Understanding these visual representations, …

Ecological Psychology And Media Consumption Among Young Adults: A New Framework, Alice Diana Cade Ferguson

Dissertations

The Pew Research Center (2010, March 1) identified three crucial “new metrics of news” (p. 2) that help to explain the appeal of new, interactive media forms among young adult news consumers. These metrics of Portability, Personalizability and Participation (Pew, 2010) highlight the rapid transformations in technology and user interests that have helped create a new manifestation of what McLuhan called an “age of anxiety” (1967/2001, pp. 8-9) in mass media industries and in mass communication education and scholarship. The purpose of this research is to investigate this very shift in how news is delivered and consumed, with particular attention …

Public Relations Models And Dialogic Communication In The Twitterverse: An Analysis Of How Colleges And Universities Are Engaging Their Publics Through Twitter, Jason Antwuan Beverly

Dissertations

Colleges and universities throughout this world are realizing the importance of engaging in and building mutually-beneficial relationships with their key publics through social media. The introduction of the microblogging tool known as Twitter extends the use of social media in higher education, beyond the classroom, and into the realm of public relations where it can be just as effective. Now, colleges and universities are capitalizing off of its potential as a public relations tool. Twitter allows colleges and universities to better connect with their technology-consumed publics trough dialogic and interactive two-way communication. This study examines how 155 colleges and universities …

The Impact Of Celebrity Endorser Type And Source Credibility On The Advertising Attitudes And Purchase Intentions Of Indian Rural Consumers, Sidharth Muralidharan

Dissertations

India is among the fastest growing economies in the world and has the second largest population out of which 70% are considered rural. The rural consumer has witnessed a lifestyle shift wherein they have become brand conscious, consumption of media content has increased and a rising income has opened up possibilities never experienced before. Understanding the love for cinema, celebrity endorsement has become a popular marketing strategy being employed by advertisers in India. The purpose of this study was to find out which celebrity endorser type (national, regional or non-celebrity) was the most effective on rural consumer’s attitude toward the …

The 2008 United States Senate Elections: A Typology Of Negative Themes On Candidate-Sponsored Websites, Erin Brining Hammond

Dissertations

The following study is an examination of the negativity on candidate-sponsored websites for the 2008 United States Senate candidates. Results of a content analysis indicated that negative themes identified were more likely to be oppositional than comparative (Johnson-Cartee & Copeland, 1991) and were more likely to be characterbased than policy-based (Benoit, 1999, 2007). The majority of negative themes were identified as focusing on issue stands rather than political record, job experience, criminal activities, religion, marriage/sex life, family members, medical history, or personal life (Johnson-Cartee & Copeland's, 1989).

Results of the content analysis go against the assumption of functional theory (Benoit, …

Source-Message-Receiver In Integrated Marketing Communication: A Study Of U.S. Institutional Advancement, Sharee Leblanc Broussard

Dissertations

Because integrated marketing communication (IMC) research has traditionally been problematic, this study used an existing scale to determine that higher educational institutional advancement (alumni, marketing-communications, development) is an appropriate venue to study the process model. Responses from practitioners representing every department within advancement, every regional accrediting body and each of the baccalaureate to doctoral Carnegie Classification levels indicated the IMC process model is both understood and its tenets practiced by practitioners at all sizes and levels of institution. The study was of interest to the practitioners as more than half of the respondents requested a copy of the results. Additionally, …