Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Political Discussion And Disagreement: Seeking Validation Through News Media, Michael Carmona

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study explores how often individuals discuss politics with family/friends and acquaintances, how often individuals are exposed to disagreement during those discussions, the strategies they use to respond to political disagreement, and the use of news media following those disagreements. Through the lens of Uses and Gratifications theory, this study examined these elements through an online survey of U.S. adults. The results of this study did not support Hopmann’s, Bjarnøe’s, and Wonneberger’s findings about the relationship between the frequency of political disagreement and the strategies for responding to that disagreement. This study highlights how the discussions and disagreements we have …

Betting On Casinos As A Community Benefit: Analyzing Local News Coverage Of The Development Of Casino Gaming In Ohio, Jessalynn Strauss

International Conference on Gambling & Risk Taking

This research examines news coverage of casino gaming in Ohio in the period 2008-2018. Ohio legalized gambling by popular vote in November 2009 and the state now has four casinos and 7 racinos with VLT gaming. This study will use a framing analysis to look at the way that news coverage portrays casinos with respect to social responsibility and their impact on the local community.

With the spread of gambling outside of traditional strongholds such as Las Vegas and Atlantic City, many have debated casinos’ benefit to communities, and some have criticized casinos’ impact on localities. This study will assess …

Explanatory Journalism, John Hudak

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

John Hudak discusses how members of the press help shed sunlight on the inner workings of government, expose flaws and problems in our system, and inform the citizenry, making journalism a cornerstone of a healthy democracy—and a subject deserving of careful consideration and thoughtful critique.

High Stakes Of Media Messages: Decoding Visual Narratives From The Iraq War In The U.S. And British Presses, Jennifer Liese

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This research analyzes media coverage of the Iraq War from the perspective of the invading forces, the United States and the United Kingdom. The New York Times and The Guardian were chosen to represent news from their respective countries because of their high circulation rates and international prestige for journalistic reporting. The study focuses on how the Iraq War was visually represented after the Iraq invasion of 2003, examining periods in 2006 and 2011. There were significant differences in how The New York Times and The Guardian visually portrayed the war in 2006, especially in terms of Iraqi civilian and …

Newspaper Coverage Of Christianity In South Korea, 1996-2005, Taisik Hwang

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Drawing upon framing theory, this study content analyzes a sample of 2,614 news articles dealing with religions published in Chosun Ilbo from 1996 to 2005. Of this sample, it focuses on 727 news stories covering Christianity to examine how this major daily newspaper has covered this religion in terms of its tone and frames towards Protestants and megachurches. The key findings show that this religion seems to have been portrayed in a positive tone rather than in a negative tone and that Korean journalists tend to view both the Protestants and megachurches as providers of social work services. Given the …

Muting The Masses: Effects Of The Spiral Of Silence In The College Newsroom, Blaire Ritter

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This paper explores whether or not Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann's theory, the spiral of silence, is an accurate theoretical lens to examine the issues of censorship and conflict in the student broadcast newsroom. Using data collected from classroom observations and student interviews, levels of involuntary and voluntary censorship and editorial control were examined to see if they played a role in classroom dynamic and editorial decisions. Each instance was looked at to see if it fit five criteria; a threat of isolation by peers or community, a fear of this threat, a willingness to speak out by the majority, a quasi-statistical sense …

Ghost Hunting: A Rhetorical Analysis Of The American Media On The Waterboard, William Saas

Graduate Research Symposium (GCUA) (2010 - 2017)

This project looks at popular media hands-on investigations of the waterboard (an interrogation method used in the war on terror, viewed historically as "torture") to discover what I argue are the haunting effects of the second Bush administration's rhetorical war.

Women's Health And Fitness Magazines: An Accurate Portrayal?, Jennifer M. Shymansky

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study is a content analysis examining the representation of health information, particularly the leading causes of death, in cover story headlines of one year of the top women's health and fitness magazines: Prevention , Shape , Fitness , Self , Health and Women's Health. The study is grounded in social responsibility theory, a normative media theory. The findings show that women's health and fitness magazines' cover story headlines predominately discuss diet and exercise for weight loss, rather than the leading causes of death facing women. This under representation of actual societal health concerns can limit the vast readerships' health …