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How The Mass Media Use Numbers To Tell A Story: The Case Of The Crack Scare Of 1986, Jerome L. Himmelstein

Numeracy

Scholars, notably Joel Best and Milo Schield, have emphasized the importance of incorporating social construction into the study of quantitative literacy. Studying social construction involves examining how numbers are produced, how they travel into the mass media, and how the media use them to depict a social problem or discuss an issue. This article presents a case study in the last of these. It asks in particular how important numbers really are in media constructions of a social problem. It focuses on the “Crack Scare” of 1986 in the United States and a classic study in social construction, Orcutt and …

Ua12/2/2 2014 Talisman: Reckoning, Part Ii, Wku Student Affairs

WKU Administration Documents

2014 Talisman yearbook.

• Hutchins, Seth. A Cut Above – Chris Page, Barbers
• Rogers, Shelby. Out with the Old – Thompson Science Complex
• Melcher, Jaclyn. East Meets Western – Shima Alessa, Saudi Arabia, International Students
• Swanson, Kayla. Deep End: Tim Slattery – Swimming
• Swanson, Kayla. Tackling Time: Jim Meyer – Football
• Swanson, Kayla. Beyond the Basket: Kami Howard – Basketball, Class of 1986
• Moster, Brittany. Right Kind of Writing – Walker Rutledge, English
• Smith, Mary-Kate. A Bug’s Life – Keith Philips, Biology
• Kirz, Lindsay. Honors with Par – April Butler, Golf
• Belknap, Abby. Setting the Tone – Greek Week, Spring Sing …

Molding Messages: Analyzing The Reworking Of ‘Sleeping Beauty’ In Grimm’S Fairy Tale Classics And Dollhouse, Jeana Jorgensen, Brittany Warman

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

The story of “Sleeping Beauty” (ATU 410) is one of the most consistently captivating fairy tales. It tells of a cursed princess dreaming in a tower, waiting patiently for her prince to rescue her. Those who recreate the tale for contemporary audiences spin the story anew, reconstructing again and again what it means both to sleep and to awaken. This chapter analyzes two modern television versions of the tale, one for children and one for adults, comparing their incorporation of feminist messages and parallel ideas about shaping narratives and shaping lives. The children’s cartoon Grimm’s Fairy Tale Classics (also called …

Cyberbook: An Introduction To Topics In Cyberculture, Western Kentucky Univeristy Department Of Communication

Communication Student Publications

No abstract provided.

Ua3/9/1 Wku Annual Progress Report, 2013-2014, Wku President's Office

WKU Administration Documents

Progress report regarding Challenging the Spirit (2012-2018) action plan.

Ua68/1/3 Potter College Of Arts & Letters Dean, Assistant Deans, Committees Publications, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Publications created by the Potter College of Arts & Letters Dean, regarding the administration of Potter College.

Contact was a Potter College newsletter about funding opportunities, including grants, for faculty projects and research in the 1970s.

The Forum was a Potter College newsletter for faculty to share information about professional activities and discuss intellectual items of interest in the 1970s.

Potter College Potpourri was a newsletter for faculty, staff, and students that was available in print and online in the late 1990s. It included recent happenings, a frequently asked questions section, and brief departmental updates.

Arts & Letters is the …

Ua68/6/1 Emeriti, Vol. 1, Issue 1, Wku English

WKU Administration Documents

Newsletter created by the Editing and Publishing Class regarding the work of retired English department faculty. This issue includes articles about Karen Schneider, Joseph Millichap, James Flynn, Elizabeth Oakes and Joe Survant.

Vitamin D An Examination Of Physician And Patient Management Of Health And Uncertainty, Keisa Bennett, Brandi N. Frisby, Laura E. Young, Deborah Murray

Scholarship and Professional Work - Communication

Vitamin D has been a topic of much research interest and controversy, and evidence is mixed concerning its preventive effects and health benefits. The purpose of our study was to explore the decision-making strategies used by both primary care providers and community members surrounding vitamin D in relation to uncertainty management theory. We conducted semistructured interviews with primary care providers (n = 7) and focus groups with community members (n = 89), and transcribed and coded using the constant comparative method. Themes for providers included awareness, uncertainty, patient role, responsibility, skepticism, uncertainty management, and evolving perceptions. Community member …

Expressed Best Communication Practices At Television Station X, James Keith

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

American news organizations are evolving as new technologies emerge and alter the way information is reported. The same electronic tools that help connect television news providers with their audiences are being utilized internally between managers and employees. Using an electronic survey, face-to-face interviews, and ethnographic based observations, this study set out to determine best perceived communication practices in a television news environment. The research subjects were all employees at one San Antonio television station that for the sake of anonymity is referred to as Station X. Participants were asked their preferred means of communication for resolving conflict or addressing issues …

Social Media And The Church, Danielle Nicolette Kelley

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Political Criticism And The Power Of Satire : The Transformation Of "Late-Night" Comedy On Television In The United States, 1980-2008, Nickie Michaud Wild

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

How has political comedy on television in the United States changed over time? Earlier examples of political comedy on television were shows like Saturday Night Live and various late night talk shows, which focused primarily on political or personal scandals or personal characteristics, rather than policies or substantive issues. In other arenas of television and the public sphere in general, there was serious criticism of scandals, but not in political comedy. Shows that attempted to criticize politicians or serious public issues using satire, irony, or invective such as The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, were routinely censored by network executives. With …

Agents Of Democratic Accountability? : Professional Culture Of Political Journalism In The Us And Germany, Matthias Revers

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Newspaper journalism in the early 21st century is experiencing economic predicaments and a crisis of professional authority, both connected to technological changes of public communication. This is the backdrop of this study of political journalism. It is based on three years of qualitative field research on political press corps in Albany, New York and Munich, Germany, encompassing 72 interviews with reporters (from 31 news organization) and spokespeople (across all political parties and branches of government) as well as about 350 hours of observation. It also draws on professional discourses, including news stories about journalism (meta-journalism), obituaries of journalists as well …

Blogging Love After Loss: How Widows Use Facework When Revealing Their New Relationships Online, Sunshine Baker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Expressions of identity are increasingly occurring in online communication as a variety of social media have emerged. People establish and manage identities online, and experience challenges when changing their online image. Widows experience this challenge in a dramatic fashion, especially when they begin to date and reveal new relationships online. The purpose of this study was to examine the expressions of facework in the online writings of widows regarding their new romantic relationships. This illuminated the ways in which one population, young widow bloggers, deals with the challenge of online identity management. A systematic thematic analysis was conducted to describe …

Twitter Implementation Within Megachurches: An Examination Of The Social Media's Effectiveness, Andrea Thompson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study identified what Twitter followers were discussing in reference to the top five megachurches in size. The methods utilized within this study involved an examination of all tweets hashtagging the top five megachurches over a sixteen day timeframe. The first research question was answered by categorizing tweets into predetermined content categories. This study also addressed the second research question by determining if Twitter implementation was beneficial in executing the missions of the top five megachurches. This question was answered by analyzing tweets using a five point Likert scale measuring how reflective each tweet was to the mission statement of …

The Future Of Broadcast Television: Online Streaming Infringement And The U.S. Supreme Court, Elizabeth Cuttner

LSU Master's Theses

Aereo and FilmOn X are online streaming services that allow subscribers to watch and record broadcast content online by capturing over-the-air signals through antennas assigned to each user and streaming that content to subscribers. The broadcasters and media owners who own copyrights in the content transmitted via the over-the-air signals that Aereo and FilmOn X capture argue that this service infringes upon their exclusive right of public performance, specifically under the Transmit Clause. The broadcasters have brought suit against both Aereo and FilmOn X for copyright infringement in several courts across the United States; some courts have found the online …

Leadership Bias: The Case Of The Cherokee Freedmen, Kristi Barnett Williams

LSU Master's Theses

Journalists inform residents living on or near Native American reservations about key policy issues. Since most tribal councils own and operate their news outlets, retaliation towards journalists working for the tribe is a real concern if the leadership does not appreciate the message. In response to the threat of retaliation, some tribes, like the Cherokee Nation, have legal protections for journalists. The Cherokee Nation’s newspaper, the Cherokee Phoenix, operates under the guidelines of the Cherokee Independent Press Act (CIPA) originally passed in 2000 and amended in 2009. CIPA was the first of its kind in Indian Country. This thesis analyzes …

Journalism And The "Dark Arts" - A Comparative Study Of British And American Media Ethic Codes Against The Backdrop Of The British Phone Hacking Scandal, Paromita Saha

LSU Master's Theses

The British phone hacking scandal in 2011 raised questions about the influence of powerful media conglemorates, most notably, Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, on the culture of the media and democracy on both sides of the Atlantic. Both American and British media are the world’s leading examples of a free market press built on the same ideological foundations. This study argues that the phone hacking scandal calls for a revised and nunanced look at the differences and similarities between the American and British media systems. This comparative analysis uses British and American news media ethic codes as an unit of analysis. …

Editor's Page, Joseph M. Valenzano Iii

Basic Communication Course Annual

This year the National Communication Association (NCA) celebrates its centennial. NCA began over a dispute between speech teachers and English teachers over the perception of oral communication receiving less instructional attention, and for the last century communication experts have been the primary party responsible for communication instruction of college students. Over the years the basic course has largely been focused on public speaking as the course to deliver this instruction, though we developed, and still teach, interpersonal communication and hybrid courses that also include small group communication. There have been several different venues in which the basic communication course has …

Author Biographies

Basic Communication Course Annual

No abstract provided.

Index Of Titles And Authors, Volumes 1-25

Basic Communication Course Annual

No abstract provided.

Basic Communication Course Annual Vol. 26

Basic Communication Course Annual

Full issue (276 pages, 9.7 MB)

Impression Formation In The Online Amateur Setting: An Examination Of Transgender People, Minjie Li

LSU Master's Theses

Technology is enhancing our amateur culture, which may provide counter-stereotype depictions. The present study reexamined the continuum model of impression formation by investigating how the mechanism of an amateur technology platform interacts with the depiction of amateur content created by social minority members to redirect people’s cognitive process of impression formation of minority members in the online amateur setting. More specifically, conducting a 2 (Stereotype Depiction) x 2 (Platform) experiment, this study looked at whether amateur platform YouTube encouraged people to go beyond stereotyping to form an counter-stereotypic impression of the mediated transgender person featured in the amateur content. Moreover, …

British Cultural Narrative In Winston Churchill's Political Communication, Andres L. Faza

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study uses Winston Churchill's "We Shall Fight on the Beaches" speech, delivered to the House of Commons following the evacuation of Dunkirk, France in June 1940, as a source text by which to examine Churchill's use of British cultural narratives in political communication. Narrative and heuristic theories are proposed as means by which listeners process such messages. A number of rhetorical devices are defined, in order to inform a discussion of the narratives identified, particularly the means by which those narratives were rhetorically embedded in the text. After a careful examination of the source text, the narratives of knighthood …

Trust, Credibility And Authenticity: Race And Its Effect On Audience Perceptions Of News Information From Traditional And Alternative Sources, Sadaf R. Ali

Wayne State University Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to investigate audience perceptions of trust, credibility and authenticity in news information coming from traditional and social media sources, especially focused on how securitization amplifies the effects of news frames regarding race and culture. Research in race and media suggests that citizens of nations who look like the "other" will be framed differently than those of nations that look like "us." The study examines the effects of securitization and how exceptionalism coupled with framing can create an atmosphere where American culture has become securitized, in particular the ways in which multiculturalism due to increased …

Visualization, Viewer And Emotion: An Empirical Study Of Cognition And Affective Responses To Infographics Used For Crisis Communication, Sean M. Stewart

Theses and Dissertations

A 3 (crisis response strategy) x 3 (medium) factorial design experiment was conducted to determine if information graphics conveyed through online news sources may be more beneficial for organizational reputations during some crisis situations than the use of news videos and text-based news stories. Variables examined include cognitive and affective appraisal, third-person effect, behavioral response and crisis response strategy.

Recent research in organizational crisis communications has pointed to the fact that more information is needed regarding how individuals react cognitively and affectively to crisis communications. Current crisis communications literature is also sparse concerning the behavioral aspects of crisis message reception …

(Tele)Presence In Mediated Worship: The Influence Of Antecedent Traits And The Effect On Memory, Enjoyment And Behavior, Brian Klebig

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the phenomena of (tele)presence in the distinct mediated environment of an online Christian worship service. A quantitative field experiment involving 48 participants who had just viewed a religious Internet broadcast was undertaken. Individual differences in personality and religiosity are examined in tandem with (tele)presence as predictors of a number of outcome variables, including memory, enjoyment of the online worship service and behavioral intention to be more active with the church. The results showed no significant relationship between religiosity and the experience of (tele)presence, but that users who experienced greater (tele)presence enjoyed the service more, had a greater …

[Introduction To] Identity And Leadership In Virtual Communities: Establishing Credibility And Influence, Dona J. Hickey, Joe Essid

Bookshelf

The presence and ubiquity of the internet continues to transform the way in which we identify ourselves and others both online and offline. The development of virtual communities permits users to create an online identity to interact with and influence one another in ways that vary greatly from face-to-face interaction.

Identity and Leadership in Virtual Communities: Establishing Credibility and Influence explores the notion of establishing an identity online, managing it like a brand, and using it with particular members of a community. Bringing together a range of voices exemplifying how participants in online communities influence one another, this book serves …

Quench The Thirst: A Content Analysis Of The Persuasive Techniques Of Unicef's Tap Project, Rachel Chadalavada

Masters Theses

This study analyzes the persuasive techniques utilized by UNICEF's Tap Project. This water related campaign began in 2007 and since then has created four themes. These themes are: Dine out, Celebrity Tap, Facebook Push and Cellphone Challenge. The study finds that the videos employed by the Tap Project portray all six Facets of Effects. However, their usage was based on the message that was being delivered. That said, not all videos utilized all of the facets. This implies that an advertisement need not necessarily use all six Facets of Effects to be successful. The facet of association however, stood out …

The Internet And The Google Age: Introduction, Jonathan D. James

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

No abstract provided.

Diversity Project: Poster Series Connects Core Values To Library Materials And Expertise, Bettina Peacemaker, Sue Robinson, Marilyn Scott

VCU Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

Virginia Commonwealth University celebrates diversity as a core value, and VCU Libraries actively strives to foster inclusion and an understanding of difference. The diversity and culture poster series was envisioned as a way to connect education about diversity directly to library collections and expertise. This poster details the distribution, response, and impact of the series.