Digital Commons Network^™

Analyzing Perceptions Of Music From A Songwriting Perspective, Jackson Stephen Reynosa

Communication Studies

This study seeks to understand listeners’ perceptions of music from a generational and songwriting approach. A total of 123 participants aged 18 and older took part in an open-ended survey design that measured their subjective music preferences. Four different sections tested participants’ music taste, music tied to generations, an original song made by the researcher, and songwriting in a holistic sense. It was found that participants exercised individualism and authenticity in their responses throughout. By using the Uses and Gratifications Theory, it is explainable that people listened and sought out music for their own unique reasons. By applying Mood Management …

The Representation Of Rape And Sexual Assault Within News Media, Katherine E. Layman

University Honors Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to observe how the framing of rape and sexual assault within The New York Times has changed from 1980 to 2020. To achieve this study, I conducted a content analysis of 150 New York Times articles divided into three separate time periods and taking 50 randomized articles from each timeframe. The first data set was taken from 1980-84 to provide a baseline to work from. The second set is from 1993-97 to encompass significant legislative changes about sexual violence. The final data set is from 2016-2020 and provides the most recent conversation about rape …

Religious Nationalism And The Coronavirus Pandemic: Soul-Sucking Evangelicals And Branch Covidians Make America Sick Again, Peter Mclaren

Education Faculty Articles and Research

This article investigates the response to the coronavirus crisis by Evangelical Christian nationalists in the USA. The article outlines the curious mediaverse of religious nationalism—its post-truth and fake news aspects in particular—links religious nationalism to American exceptionalism, and analyzes conflicts between secular and religious authorities. Drawing upon some lessons from the past, the article addresses the wider implications of Christian nationalism on American politics, and capitalist ideology, as it has been played out virally in the corporate media. The article shows that the ideological underpinnings of evangelical Christianity prevent its proponents from understanding the virus in an historical and materialist …

Art Therapy, Mass Media And Self-Acceptance With Adolescents: A Literature Review, Samantha Leary

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

This literature reviews provides a synopsis of art therapy its potential benefits in combating negative effects associated with social media and adolescents’ sense of self-acceptance. Using art therapy as a mode of self-expression is found to help negate negative effects of social media and provide adolescents with healthy tools to help them develop and grow. Social media provides a wealth of information that can be detrimental to the emotional growth of young adults. In this literature review lack of face to face connection, idealized beauty standards, instant gratification and social comparisons are correlated to depressive symptoms in adolescents. Through the …

From Classroom To Real-World: Preparing Students For The Newsroom, Katherine Allred

Electronic Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine the preparedness of college graduates entering the news field. Employers search for the best possible person with the necessary skills and qualifications required to complete the day-to-day functions of a job. In television news, very specific traits and skills are needed to work in the newsroom environment. Working as a news producer at a small TV station for almost seven years, new employees, specifically reporters, would struggle with some of the basic skills needed for their job. Are universities teaching students everything they need to know? How are they succeeding? If they …

Ethics And True Crime: Setting A Standard For The Genre, Hazel Wright

Book Publishing Final Research Papers

True crime is a genre that has existed for centuries, adapting to social and literary trends as they come and go. The 21st century, particularly in the last five years, has seen true crime explode in popularity across different forms of media. As the omnipresence of true crime grows, so to do the ethical dilemmas presented by this often controversial genre. This paper examines what readers perceive to be the common ethical problems with true crime and uses this information to create a preliminary ethical standard for true-crime literature.

A comparison of the ethical concerns raised in scholarly sources with …

An Outside Gaze On The Relationship Between Indigenous Groups And The Media, Nicole Daoust

Honors Theses

Indigenous groups around the world faced similar challenges. Many of these issues stem from stereotypes, one-sided stories, and overall lack of representation in the media. Without a voice or ally, they are often treated as second class citizens. For my research, I analyzed how the media affected public perception of indigenous people. I specifically focus on four groups: The Aboriginals of Canada, the Māori, Native Americans, and the uncontacted tribes of the Amazon.

Protecting The Image Of A Nation: Jim Crow Propaganda, Kevin Leaven

Masters Theses, 2020-current

This project investigates how the United States Information Agency (USIA) functioned as a propaganda machine on behalf of the United States government at the dawn of the Cold War and the Civil Rights Movement. Drawing from literature on propaganda, public relations, and public diplomacy, this thesis connects 20^th century American propaganda to its roots in public relations, communication studies, and psychology.

The Civil Rights movement exposed the cultural inertia of white supremacy in America for the world to see while American foreign policy makers sought to crystallize a cultural hegemony fashioned after American political, cultural, and economic systems. Although …

Friendship In The Digital Age: Implications From A Philosophy Of Communication Approach, Tiffany Petricini

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Friendship is a central relationship-style that grounds us. Much of the literature on the effects of technology on our relationships, especially friendship, has taken a skeptical approach. The notion of friendship is historically-situated, thus, it requires attention in each era and has prompted questions throughout human history. Our time is no exception. Changing cultures and redefinitions of basic human institutions have led us to our current moment, in which we are experiencing a loud and continuing debate on the effect of technology on our lives. Advancements in science have allowed us to understand our past and present in new ways. …

Facial Recognition And Mass Media Use: Effects Of Technology On Perceptions Of Privacy, Muize Lemboye

Theses and Dissertations

Muize Oluwadamilare Lemboye FACIAL RECOGNITION AND MASS MEDIA USE: EFFECTS OF TECHNOLOGY ON PERCEPTIONS OF PRIVACY Artificial intelligence is used to explain how technologies perform human activities the way humans do them. Facial recognition is an aspect of Artificial intelligence that explains how technologies recognize and humans’ face to perform human activities. As facial recognition technologies (FRTs) have become increasingly popular components in today’s globalized society, this thesis aims to discover people’s perception on its effect on privacy. In-depth interviews were conducted among 15 students and staff of UA Little Rock School of Mass Communication to discover this perception. The …

Spartan Daily, May 6, 2020, San Jose State University, School Of Journalism And Mass Communications

Spartan Daily, 2020

Volume 154, Issue 42

Taking Terrorists At Their Word: Testing The Co-Religionist Hypothesis In Islamic State Propaganda, Joel Elliott

Doctor of International Conflict Management Dissertations

This dissertation operates on the idea that, as conflict researchers, we can look to Islamic State’s (referred to from here on as ‘Daesh’) own recruitment propaganda to identify the best people to counter Daesh’s violent rhetoric. This project analyzes Daesh’s main print publication, Dabiq, to catalogue and classify the types of people and institutions Daesh targets most, and which types of arguments Daesh uses to attack those targets. It uses this information to test the Co-Religionist Hypothesis, which predicts that the most effective peaceful interveners in a religious conflict will be of the same religion as the belligerents. Conventional …

Framing Death And Suffering: An Examination Of Photographs Of Dead And Dying During The U. S. Civil War, World War Ii, And The Vietnam War, Richard Anthony Lewis

Dissertations

The dissertation analyzes photographic images of dead bodies that appeared in news settings related to warfare in the United States in three distinct eras – the 1860s, the 1940s, and the 1960s. The primary subject of the analysis are photographs of corpses created in the context of the American Civil War (1861-1865), World War II including the immediate aftermath of the Holocaust (1939-1946), and conflict and war in Vietnam (1950-1975). While the sample represents a partial catalogue of images of the dead in the context of warfare since photography emerged in the 1840s as a medium for disseminating news, the …

Crime Television Viewership And Perceived Vulnerability To Crime Among College Students, Madison S. Seymour

Honors Theses

This study focused on college students’ viewership of the crime drama television shows NCIS, Law and Order, Criminal Minds, and CSI as well as students’ perceived vulnerability to crime. The aim of the study was to determine if there is a relationship between the viewing of crime dramas and perceived vulnerability, based on the theories of mean world syndrome and cultivation. The study also examined the platform viewers used to watch crime dramas, whether that was streaming services or other options such as cable or satellite television. The chosen platform was also compared with perceived vulnerability to crime.

To collect …

Effects Of Sexualized Images In Media On Attitudes Toward Public Breastfeeding, Hannah J. Powell-Yost

Honors Theses

Although breastfeeding is known to promote both physical and emotional health in both infant and mother, many women are hesitant to breastfeed in public due to perceived attitudes toward public breastfeeding. This research explores the relationship between frequent exposure to sexuality in mass media and people's positions regarding breastfeeding. It was hypothesized that sexualized portrayals of the female body perpetuated in mass media would negatively impact individuals’ attitudes toward breastfeeding. No significant correlation was found between media exposure and negative attitude toward public breastfeeding. However, a few interesting results were observed. Individuals who responded positively to sexual media were more …

Framing And Newspaper Coverage Of Racial Integration, Amy Unruh

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

For many Americans who grew up in the 1960s, the first published information about Africans came directly from Africa, in the form of exotic photographs and stories in National Geographic. Susan Goldberg, Editor in Chief of National Geographic, addressed the issue of race portrayals in the magazine, reflecting on the realization that National Geographic often provided readers “their first look at the world” while rarely acknowledging the struggles of race in the United States. The magazine displayed full-color photographs depicting Africans from many nations, dressed in native clothing and jewelry, positioned in settings that implied dignity, beauty and strength. Meanwhile, …

To Buy Or Not To Buy: Consumer Purchase Behavior Based On Lifestyle Brand Logo Colors, Chelsi Crockett

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research aims to examine the logos of lifestyle brands and explore whether certain logo colors elicit a purchase response in consumers. Color Theory and Impression Management Theory are examined alongside the idea of this study. Two-hundred-nine United States residents 18 years of age and older who are not color blind or color deficient participated in a voluntary online survey where they were presented with several differently colored lifestyle brand logos and then prompted to choose which color of lifestyle brand logo would prompt them to purchase a product from the brand in question. The variables of gender, age and, …

Menstruation Regulation: A Feminist Critique Of Menstrual Product Brands On Instagram, Max Faust

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Much research about advertisements for menstrual products reveals the ways in which such advertising perpetuates shame and reinforces unrealistic ideals of femininity and womanhood. This study aims to examine the content of Instagram posts by four different menstrual product brands in hopes of understanding how these functions may or may not be carried out by social media posts by these brands as well. Building on the body of research about menstrual shame and advertising, I specifically ask: How do the Instagram pages for four menstrual product brands dissuade individuality; how do they prescribe femininity; and how do these functions differ …

The Impact Of Social Media On The Social Lives Of People With Visual Impairment (Facebook Groups As A Case Study), Itto Outini

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This present research seeks to provide a more comprehensive understanding of why people with visual impairment use social media. I investigate this question using uses and gratification (U&G) Theory, which was developed by Katz, Blumler, & Gurevitch (1974). The theory explains what people do with media and why. The purpose of this study is twofold: it seeks to document reasons people with visual impairment use Facebook and it endeavors to reveal which variables can influence users’ decisions to use one social media platform instead of another. In particular, I am interested in determining factors motivating users with visual impairment to …

Instagram And Eating Disorders: An Empirical Study Of The Effects Of Instagram On Disordered Eating Habits Among Young Girls, Katherine Wayles

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Scholars have studied the relationship between body dissatisfaction and social media use, particularly focusing on young women as vulnerable consumers. Many studies concentrate on the amount of media consumed, rather than the specific activities and behaviors associated with feelings of low self-esteem or poor body image. It is important to determine exactly what behaviors and social media engagements contribute to disordered relationships with food, assessing a user’s pre-existing weight/body concerns in relation to the amount and type of media they consume. Instagram in particular is included in this study, as it is an image-based social networking site where users can …

Social Studies Teacher Perceptions Of News Source Credibility, Christopher H. Clark, Mardi Schmeichel, H. James Garrett

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

Politically tumultuous times have created a problematic space for teachers who include the news in their classrooms. Few studies have explored perceptions of news credibility among secondary social studies teachers, the educators most likely to regularly incorporate news media into their classrooms. We investigated teachers’ operational definitions of credibility and the relationships between political ideology and assessments of news source credibility. Most teachers in this study used either static or dynamic definitions to describe news media sources’ credibility. Further, teachers’ conceptualizations of credibility and perceived ideological differences with news sources were associated with how credible teachers found each source. These …

Spartan Daily, April 29, 2020, San Jose State University, School Of Journalism And Mass Communications

Spartan Daily, 2020

Volume 154, Issue 39

Is That Media Literacy?: Israeli And Us Media Scholars’ Perceptions Of The Field, Ornat Turin, Yonty Friesem

Journal of Media Literacy Education

Sixty-nine media scholars from Israel and the Unites States responded to an online questionnaire aimed to identify the boundaries of media literacy. The participants received a list of thirty-two potential titles for a final paper and were asked to rate the relevancy of each topic for an undergraduate media literacy course. While the statistical analysis showed no significant difference in the ranking, deviations and distributions demonstrate disagreements as to what is important or marginal in the field. Protectionist topics were ranked high as well as topics involving children, digital media, and popular culture. It also appears that media education has …

Mobile Phones In The Classroom: Policies And Potential Pedagogy, Pamela L. Morris, Susan H. Sarapin

Journal of Media Literacy Education

Many university instructors (76% of our survey) have a mobile phone policy in their classrooms, due to the distractions of unregulated use. Yet only about half of those who ask students to put down their phones report that these policies are effective. Given that students want to and will use their phones, are instructors taking the opportunity to integrate these mobile devices as a part of media literacy or other pedagogy? We conducted a nationwide survey of more than 150 college instructors to explicate what policies are used, and where they come from; how they are enforced (e.g. rewards and …

Determining The Feasibility Of An Online, Media Mediation Program For Parents To Improve Parent-Child Sexual Health Communication, Tracy M. Scull, Christina V. Malik, Elyse M. Keefe

Journal of Media Literacy Education

Media Aware Parent is an interactive, web-based program designed to equip parents to communicate with their adolescent child about sexual health and media by enhancing parental communication and media mediation skills, as well as provide them with medically-accurate sexual health knowledge. In a small feasibility study, 56 parents of 7th and 8th graders in the United States were randomly assigned to complete a prototype of Media Aware Parent or receive online resources about adolescent sexual health. Results indicated that after using the program, participants in the intervention group discussed more new sexual health topics with their child and also had …

Spartan Daily, April 23, 2020, San Jose State University, School Of Journalism And Mass Communications

Spartan Daily, 2020

Volume 154, Issue 37

The Prospector, April 23, 2020, Utep Student Publications

The Prospector

Headline: UTEP Conducts COVID-19 Vaccine Research

Spartan Daily, April 22, 2020, San Jose State University, School Of Journalism And Mass Communications

Spartan Daily, 2020

Volume 154, Issue 36

The Guardian, Week Of April 20, 2020, Wright State Student Body

The Guardian Student Newspaper

News articles from The Guardian for the week of April 20, 2020. The Guardian is the official student-run newspaper for Wright State University. It has been published regularly since March of 1965.

Spartan Daily, April 16, 2020, San Jose State University, School Of Journalism And Mass Communications

Spartan Daily, 2020

Volume 154, Issue 34