Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Use Of Mass Communication In Animal Rights Fundraising Campaigns, Jaime E.R. Shorter

Honors College

Animal abuse and neglect is an ongoing, documented problem for society. Cases of animal harm stream in and out of news reports and public discussion. With changes in technology, mass communication has become more than a convenient outlet for publicizing stories about animal harm. Not-for-profit organizations look to mass communication as a way to gain support from the public.

Animal welfare organizations use mass communication to benefit their causes and reach multiple groups through their use of fundraising campaigns. Animal welfare organizations were created to address the problem of abuse and harm. But, as not-for-profit organizations, they rely heavily on …

‘Skins’: A Contemporary Moral Panic, Jenna L. Hoops

Honors College

A moral panic is public opposition -- often highly emotional and morally charged -- to popular culture content distributed using a new form of mass communication. My thesis will be an analysis of commentary about the television show, Skins, which aired in 2011 on MTV. Opposition to the show focused on its portrayals of drug use, sexuality, and immoral behavior by actors under the age of 18. First, I will research the history of moral panics drawing on mass communication scholarship in order to identify the common aspects of media panics. Second, I will analyze commentary on the show …