Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Frame-Shifting In Humor And Irony, L. David Ritchie

Communication Faculty Publications and Presentations

Coulson's (2001) analysis of humor as "frame-shifting" is extended to irony and compared to other current theories of humor and irony, including Giora's (2003) graded salience model. It is argued that the effects of humor and irony often depend on a subversive relationship between the initial and alternative frames, which adds to both cognitive and social meaning; understanding these effects requires consideration of the expansion of common ground (Clark, 1996) and relevance effects (Sperber & Wilson, 1986) triggered by the shift from a culturally licensed to a subversive frame. Reanalysis of several examples from recent studies in the light of …

Does The "News" Come First? Social Responsibility, Infotainment, And Local Television Newscasts In Portland, Oregon: A Content Analysis, Carey Lynne Higgins

Dissertations and Theses

This study examines the infotainment versus social responsibility debate as it applies to local television newscasts in the United States. An overview of the concerns surrounding infotainment as news follows, including a look at a newsroom's traditional responsibilities to its viewers, as well as its current role in adding to parent company profit. Socially responsible hard news and infotainment characteristics are defined as they apply to television news broadcasts, both within the context of news story content and in presentation style.

A descriptive content analysis examines these characteristics within the late night local newscasts airing in Portland, Oregon. Portland is …