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Articles 1 - 17 of 17
Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Revisiting “Mass Communication” And The “Work” Of The Audience In The New Media Environment, Philip M. Napoli
Revisiting “Mass Communication” And The “Work” Of The Audience In The New Media Environment, Philip M. Napoli
McGannon Center Working Paper Series
This paper revisits the concept of mass communication, which has faced persistent challenges to its continued relevance in light of changes that have taken place in the media environment. This paper offers a counterpoint to claims of the term’s diminished relevance, as well as to some recent efforts to reposition the term, by putting forth an interpretive approach that is not exclusive to the “institutional communicator” and that allows the term “mass” to extend to both the senders and receivers of messages. This paper argues that this interpretive approach is in keeping with some early interpretations of the concept’s meaning, …
The Rationalization Of Audience Understanding, Philip M. Napoli
The Rationalization Of Audience Understanding, Philip M. Napoli
McGannon Center Working Paper Series
This paper reviews the literature that has examined how media organizations make sense of their audiences, the analytical techniques and technologies employed, and how this information is embraced or resisted in the operation of media organizations. As this review illustrates, the historical trend in audience understanding has been one of a steady process of rationalization in how media organizations have approached their audiences. In documenting this process of the rationalization of audience understanding, this review identifies key historical moments in this process. This review identifies the external forces that have influenced this process; the underlying reasons for it; and critiques …
A Comparison Of Two Probability Encoding Methods: Fixed Probablity Vs. Fixed Variable Values, Ali E. Abbas, David V. Budescu, Hsiu-Ting Yu, Ryan Haggerty
A Comparison Of Two Probability Encoding Methods: Fixed Probablity Vs. Fixed Variable Values, Ali E. Abbas, David V. Budescu, Hsiu-Ting Yu, Ryan Haggerty
Psychology Faculty Publications
We present the results of an experiment comparing two popular methods for encoding probability distributions of continuous variables in decision analysis: eliciting values of a variable, X, through comparisons with a fixed probability wheel and eliciting the percentiles of the cumulative distribution, F(X), through comparisons with fixed values of the variable. We show slight but consistent superiority for the fixed variable method along several dimensions such as monotonicity, accuracy, and precision of the estimated fractiles. The fixed variable elicitation method was also slightly faster and preferred by most participants. We discuss the reasons for its superiority and conclude with several …
Policies Of Inertia Or Innovation? European Public Service In Transition From Psb To Psm, Minna Aslama
Policies Of Inertia Or Innovation? European Public Service In Transition From Psb To Psm, Minna Aslama
McGannon Center Working Paper Series
No abstract provided.
The Researcher As A Consumer Of Scientific Publication: How Do Name-Ordering Conventions Affect Inferences About Contribution Credits?, Boris Maciejovsky, David V. Budescu, Dan Ariely
The Researcher As A Consumer Of Scientific Publication: How Do Name-Ordering Conventions Affect Inferences About Contribution Credits?, Boris Maciejovsky, David V. Budescu, Dan Ariely
Psychology Faculty Publications
When researchers from different fields with different norms collaborate, the question arises of how name-ordering conventions are chosen and how they affect contribution credits. In this paper, we answer these questions by studying two disciplines that exemplify the two cornerstones of name-ordering conventions: lexicographical ordering (i.e., alphabetical ordering, endorsed in economics) and nonlexicographical ordering (i.e., ordering according to individual contributions, endorsed in psychology). Inferences about credits are unambiguous in the latter arrangement but imperfect in the former, because alphabetical listing can reflect ordering according to individual contributions by chance. We contrast the fields of economics and psychology with marketing, a …
Access To Audiences As A First Amendment Right: Its Relevance And Implications For Electronic Media Policy, Philip M. Napoli, Sheea T. Sybblis
Access To Audiences As A First Amendment Right: Its Relevance And Implications For Electronic Media Policy, Philip M. Napoli, Sheea T. Sybblis
McGannon Center Working Paper Series
When the issue of speakers’ rights of access arises in media regulation and policy contexts, the focus typically is on the concept of speakers’ rights of access “to the media,” or “to the press.” This right usually is premised on the audience’s need for access to diverse sources and content. In contrast, in many non-mediated contexts, the concept of speakers’ rights of access frequently is defined in terms of the speaker’s own First Amendment right of access to audiences. This paper explores the important distinctions between these differing interpretations of a speaker’s access rights and argues that the concept of …
Media Ownership And The Diversity Index: Outlining A Social Science Research Agenda, Philip M. Napoli, Nancy Gillis
Media Ownership And The Diversity Index: Outlining A Social Science Research Agenda, Philip M. Napoli, Nancy Gillis
McGannon Center Working Paper Series
This paper examines the wide range of lines of social scientific inquiry raised in the ongoing process of assessing and formulating media ownership policy. Specifically, this paper examines the areas of inquiry raised by the FCC's effort to craft an index for assessing viewpoint diversity in local media markets.
Audience Measurement And Media Policy: Audience Economics, The Diversity Principle, And The Local People Meter, Philip M. Napoli
Audience Measurement And Media Policy: Audience Economics, The Diversity Principle, And The Local People Meter, Philip M. Napoli
McGannon Center Working Paper Series
This paper examines the policy implications surrounding Nielsen Media Research’s introduction of the local people meter (LPM) system of television audience measurement. This paper explores the diversity policy considerations that have been raised in connection with the LPM introduction and examines whether the LPM represents a legitimate threat to source and content diversity, or whether the diversity principle has been largely co-opted in support of the economic and strategic considerations of certain industry stakeholders. This paper also addresses the broader question of whether the audience measurement industry should be subjected to more rigorous government oversight.
Market Competition, Station Ownership, And Local News Andpublic Affairs Programming On Local Broadcast Television, Michael Yan, Philip M. Napoli
Market Competition, Station Ownership, And Local News Andpublic Affairs Programming On Local Broadcast Television, Michael Yan, Philip M. Napoli
McGannon Center Working Paper Series
This study examines the relationship between competitive conditions in television markets, ownership characteristics, and commercial broadcast television station provision of local news and public affairs programming. Policymakers continue to raise questions about the relationship between ownership and market conditions and the provision of informational programming, in connection with a variety of policy areas, including ownership regulation, localism initiatives, and station public interest obligations; however, much of the research in this area is either out of date and/or methodologically flawed. This study presents the results of an analysis of a random sample of 285 full power television stations. Among the studies’ …
Paradoxes Of Media Policy Analysis: Implications For Public Interest Media Regulation, Philip M. Napoli
Paradoxes Of Media Policy Analysis: Implications For Public Interest Media Regulation, Philip M. Napoli
McGannon Center Working Paper Series
No abstract provided.
Toward A Model Of Audience Evolution: New Technologies And The Transformation Of Media Audiences, Philip M. Napoli
Toward A Model Of Audience Evolution: New Technologies And The Transformation Of Media Audiences, Philip M. Napoli
McGannon Center Working Paper Series
This paper proposes and develops a model of audience evolution. The concept of audience evolution in this case refers to the notion that the dominant framework employed by media industry stakeholders (content producers, distributors, advertisers, media buyers, etc.) to conceptualize the audience evolves in response to environmental changes. These environmental changes primarily involve technological changes that simultaneously transform the dynamics of media consumption as well as the dynamics of gathering information on various dimensions of audience behavior. These technological changes also interact with one another, in that the technological changes that affect the dynamics of media consumption also simultaneously provide …
Diversity As An Emerging Principle Of Internet Governance, Philip M. Napoli
Diversity As An Emerging Principle Of Internet Governance, Philip M. Napoli
McGannon Center Working Paper Series
This paper investigates the ongoing emergence of diversity as a guiding normative principle of Internet governance. This paper starts from the premise that principles play a fundamental role in the development and implementation of any regulatory regime, but that the communications policymaking process historically has suffered from ambiguous and sometimes contradictory conceptualizations of its guiding principles, and from such principles functioning more as rhetorical devices to be exploited by stakeholder groups rather than as analytical tools to be used by policymakers. This paper provides a comparative analysis of the conceptualization and application of the diversity principle in traditional mass media …
Predicting World Cup Results: Do Goals Seem More Likely When They Pay Off?, Maya Bar-Hillel, David V. Budescu, Moty Amar
Predicting World Cup Results: Do Goals Seem More Likely When They Pay Off?, Maya Bar-Hillel, David V. Budescu, Moty Amar
Psychology Faculty Publications
Bar-Hillel and Budescu (1995) failed to find a desirability bias in probability estimation. The World Cup soccer tournament provided an opportunity to revisit the phenomenon in a context in which desirability biases are notoriously rampant. Participants estimated the probabilities of various teams’ winning their upcoming games. They were promised money if one team—randomly designated by the experimenter—won its upcoming game. Participants assigned a higher probability to a victory by their target team than did other participants, whose promised monetary reward was contingent on the victory of its opponent. Prima facie, this seems to be a desirability bias. However, in a …
Toward A Federal Data Agenda For Communications Policymaking, Philip M. Philip, Joe Karaganis
Toward A Federal Data Agenda For Communications Policymaking, Philip M. Philip, Joe Karaganis
McGannon Center Working Paper Series
No abstract provided.
Studying Media As Media: Mcluhan And The Media Ecology Approach, Lance Strate
Studying Media As Media: Mcluhan And The Media Ecology Approach, Lance Strate
CMS Faculty Publications
No abstract provided.
The International Child Poverty Gap: Does Demography Matter?, Patrick Heuveline, Matthew Weinshenker
The International Child Poverty Gap: Does Demography Matter?, Patrick Heuveline, Matthew Weinshenker
Sociology Faculty Publications
According to the Luxembourg Income Study data, the United States child poverty rate is the second highest among 15 high-income nations. The present work reveals that 55% of all American children living in a household headed by a single female with no other adult live in poverty —the highest rate for any of the five living arrangements in the 15 countries examined by this Study. While previous analyses have focused on market forces and governmental redistribution across households, we question the contribution of demographic factors that place children in family structures with different poverty risks relative to other factors such …
Issues And Challenges Facing Internet Governance: A Report From The 2007 Internet Governance Forum, Philip M. Napoli
Issues And Challenges Facing Internet Governance: A Report From The 2007 Internet Governance Forum, Philip M. Napoli
McGannon Center Working Paper Series
This report examines the 2007 Internet Governance Forum, held in November, 2007 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The Internet Governance Forum is a UN-sponsored convening that emerged from the UN’s World Summit on the Information Society. The purpose of the IGF is to provide a multi-stakeholder forum for discussion and debate on the wide range of social, political, and economic issues related to Internet governance. This report first provides background on the events and issues leading up to the creation of the IGF. Next, this report examines the IGF’s mandate and how it has been executed up to this point. …