Communication Commons^™

Values, Affect And Risk Perception, Kurt Neuwirth, Sharon Dunwoody, Robert J. Griffin

College of Communication Faculty Research and Publications

Three pilot studies provided data exploring the roles of values, threats to these selfsame values and emotions in the perception of risk. Results indicate that judgements about risk are associated with a wide variety of values and perceived threats to values. The findings also revealed that the negative emotions such as sadness, worry, anger, disgust, helplessness and uncertainty were significantly related to risk perception. The authors' discussion advances the view that the range of topics considered appropriate to risk communication can be extended to the area of public opinion and rhetorical studies.

Public Or Private? E-Mail And The Ethics Of Privacy, Bonnie Brennen, David Primeaux

College of Communication Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Job Satisfaction In Newspaper Ad Departments, James Pokrywczynski, John Crowley

College of Communication Faculty Research and Publications

The results of a study indicate that newspaper advertising employees are not as dissatisfied as their editorial counterparts but that they are the least satisfied of any group in the advertising industry.

Learning From News Stories About Risk, Kurt Neuwirth, Sharon Dunwoody, Robert J. Griffin

College of Communication Faculty Research and Publications

The present study contrasts experimental subjects’ reactions to and knowledge held as a result of exposure to news stories about hazards in the environment. Subjects (n=246) viewed six news stories created especially for the experiment. Three stories were of general interest to students (on effective time use, apartment hunting tips and a possible change in academic standards) and three stories were about hazards (a parasite in the campus water supply, an illness caused by chemically treated library books, and fluorescent lighting affecting grades). Results indicate that rates of learning about the characteristics of a hazard occurred at high levels when …

Bridging The Backlash: A Cultural Materialist Reading Of The Bridges Of Madison County, Bonnie Brennen

College of Communication Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

The Common Disaster And The Unexpected Education: Delta Flight 1141 And The Discourse Of Aviation Safety, Ana C. Garner

College of Communication Faculty Research and Publications

News coverage of transportation disasters, such as the crash of Delta Flight 1141, reveal the disaster behavior of passengers, flight personnel and rescue workers. Within a mystery framework, the Flight 1141 discourse provides clues that readers can use to construct their own disaster behavior awareness. The media must expand their pedagogical role beyond natural and technological disasters and begin providing basic airplane safety behavior information.

A Proposed Model Of The Relationship Of Risk Information Seeking And Processing To The Development Of Preventive Behaviors, Robert J. Griffin, Sharon Dunwoody, Kurt Neuwirth

College of Communication Faculty Research and Publications

The purpose of this paper is to develop a model that focuses on characteristics of individuals that might predispose them to seek and process information about health in different ways. Specifically, the model proposes that five factors-(1) individual characteristics, (2) perceived hazard characteristics, (3) personal worry about the risk, (4) information sufficiency, (5) information gain self-efficacy — will influence the extent to which a person will seek out this risk information in both routine and non-routine channels and the extent to which he or she will spend time and effort analyzing the risk information critically. By adapting and synthesizing aspects …

Reconstructing Reality: Interpreting The Aeroplane Disaster News Story, Ana C. Garner

College of Communication Faculty Research and Publications

At 9 a.m. on 31 August 1988, Delta Flight 1141 crashed on take‐off, killing 13 people and leaving 94 survivors. Existing research has furthered our insight into media coverage of disasters but it has not broadened our understanding of disaster narrative interpretations and disaster behaviour education. In total, 24 in‐depth interviews explore reader interpretations of print‐mediated disaster reality and the Delta 1141 disaster. Disaster news stories provide the frames people use to interpret aeroplane disaster behaviour. Concludes the media need to recognize that their pedagogical role extends beyond disaster reporting and includes disaster behaviour information.

Anthony's Silence: The Intersection Of Sex, Gender And Race In Designing Women, Helen M. Sterk, Lynn H. Turner

College of Communication Faculty Research and Publications

Editor's Note: Lynn H. Turner and Helen Sterk examine one small part of the Designing Women script, a short speech by Anthony (one of the series' regulars). They argue that, as the only African American male in the series, Anthony was in a unique position to examine the gender and race issues posed by the Thomas/Hill hearings, and by the Thomas nomination itself. Calling on writings by African .American scholars commenting on the Senate hearings and on race and gender issues generally, the authors conclude that the structure of Anthony's speech represents a missed opportunity.

Hawkers, Thieves And Lonely Pamphleteers: Distributing Publications In The University Marketplace, Erik Ugland

College of Communication Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Gender Roles In Japanese Comics, Daradirek Ekachai, Cheryl Drout

College of Communication Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

"Women's Reality" And The Untold Story: Designing Women And The Revisioning Of The Thomas/Hill Hearings, Patricia A. Sullivan, Steven R. Goldzwig

College of Communication Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

The Relationship Of Access Difficulty And Informational Usefulness To Public Reliance On Risk Communication Channels, Kurt Neuwirth, Robert J. Griffin, Sharon Dunwoody

College of Communication Faculty Research and Publications

The study examined predictors of channels use for information about two water-borne hazards: cryptosporidium and lead. Both channel access costs and the perceived utility of a channel’s content were found to be significant predictors of channel reliance. Channel access costs and reliance played important roles in accounting for media exposure patterns. Channel reliance and, to a lessor extent, the perceived usefulness of a channel were associated with topic-specific media attention and interpersonal discussion.

The Impact Of Information Channels And Message Attributes On Dimensions Of Risk Judgment, Sharon Dunwoody, Kurt Neuwirth, Robert J. Griffin

College of Communication Faculty Research and Publications

Data from a field survey and an experiment were used to explore factors associated with forming judgments about risk, worry and seriousness of threats. Results from the survey indicate that topic-specific media attention and topic-specific interpersonal discussion are linked to cognitive and affective risk judgments about both self and others. Findings from the experiment provide evidence that the severity and likelihood of a hazard combine to influence judgments about a problem’s seriousness to others.

For Better Or For Worse: Coming Out In The Funny Pages, Bonnie Brennen, Sue A. Latky

College of Communication Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Statistics: Advantage Or Potential Minefield, Robert J. Griffin Ph.D.

College of Communication Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Cable Television, New Technologies And The First Amendment After Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. V. F.C.C., Erik Ugland

College of Communication Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

The Influence Of Severity, Vulnerability, And Response Efficacy On Information Seeking And Behavioral Attention, Kurt Neuwirth, Sharon Dunwoody, Robert J. Griffin

College of Communication Faculty Research and Publications

The purpose of this study was to explore Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) in the context of news reports about a hazard. Content elements of outcome severity, vulnerability and response efficacy were systematically varied in stories about a fabricated risk: fluorescent lighting lowering student academic performance. Results from this laboratory experement suggest that information about the severity of consequences results in greater information seeking about a hazard. In addition, information about vulnerability, severity and response efficacy jointly combined to produce higher levels of behavioral intention to take actions designed to avoid the hazard.

Superficial And Systematic Uses Of Information About Environmental Risks, Robert J. Griffin, Sharon Dunwoody

College of Communication Faculty Research and Publications

In this paper, we propose a model that focuses on characteristics of individuals that, we feel, will predispose them to seek and process information about environmental health risks in different ways. Specifically, we suggest that five factors-(l) individual characteristics; (2) perceived hazard characteristics, (3) personal worry about the risk, (4) information sufficiency, (5) information gain self-efficacy-will influence the extent to which a person will seek out risk information in both routine and non-routine channels and the extent to which he or she will spend time and effort analyzing the risk information critically. Although currently not a part of the model, …

Translating Nancy Drew From Fiction To Film, Bonnie Brennen

College of Communication Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

The Relationship Of Communication To Risk Perceptions And Preventive Behavior Related To Lead In Drinking Water, Robert J. Griffin, Sharon Dunwoody, Thomas Dybro, Fernando Zabala

College of Communication Faculty Research and Publications

More and more communities are becoming concerned about health risks posed by lead and other health hazards in their drinking water. Our study, applying the model of innovation diffusion to the adoption of preventive health behaviors, found that reliance on health professionals for information about lead in tap water was associated with residents perceiving risk from this hazard and efficacy in dealing with it, and adopting preventive behaviors. Mass media and pamphlets direct-mailed to residents were relatively ineffective. Results suggest that a more concentrated, proactive public information effort might be needed to reach individuals who live in areas of highest …

The Relationship Of Communication To Tapwater Lead Risk Perceptions And Protective Behaviors, Robert J. Griffin, Sharon Dunwoody, Fernando Zabala

College of Communication Faculty Research and Publications

More and more communities are becoming concerned about health risks posed by lead and other health hazards in their drinking water. Our study found that reliance on health professionals for information about lead in tapwater was associated with residents perceiving risk from this hazard and efficacy in dealing with it, and adopting preventive behaviors. Mass media and pamphlets direct-mailed to residents were relatively ineffective. Results suggest that a more concentrated, proactive public information effort might be needed to reach individuals who live in areas of highest risk from tapwater lead.

Professor Finds Condom Editorial Full Of Holes, Jim Pokrywczynski

College of Communication Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Assessing The Distracting Viewing Environment For Televised Sports And Its Relationship To Advertising Recall, James Pokrywczynski

College of Communication Faculty Research and Publications

The viewing of televised sports, like other television viewing situations, is often accompanied by many audience distractions. These distractions, which are particularly acute in the viewing of televised sports, include group viewing, wagering, and food and beverage consumption. All these activities may influence the impact of advertising placed within sports programs, which totals almost $3 billion annually.

This study uses reports of the activities listed above by individuals while viewing pro football's Super Bowl and gathered through a day-after national coincidental sample, to assess the relationship of these distractions to advertising recall. Regression results show that the consumption of certain …

Crisis At Little Rock: Eisenhower, History, And Mediated Political Realities, Steven R. Goldzwig, George N. Dionisopoulos

College of Communication Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Community Structure And Science Framing On News About Local Environmental Risks, Robert J. Griffin, Sharon Dunwoody

College of Communication Faculty Research and Publications

Based on the conflict/consensus model of Tichenor, Donohue and Olien, we expected that community pluralism would affect press use of science frames in stories about local polluters of the community's environment. We further expected that science framing would affect reporters' inclusion of information linking contamination to health threats (a "risk linkage"). A content analysis of nine months of coverage by 19 newspapers in 16 communities, mostly in Wisconsin, indicates that journalists do not employ science frames to give meaning to contamination stories as much as they use governmental frames. When reporting on local, institutional (e.g., business, governmental)sources of pollution, news …

Managing The Multicultural Work Force: How Pr Practitioners Help Corporations Improve Employee Relations, Daradirek Ekachai

College of Communication Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Public Reliance On Risk Communication Channels In The Wake Of A Cryptosporidium Outbreak (Presentation), Robert J. Griffin, Sharon Dunwoody, Fernando Zabala, Megan Kamerick

College of Communication Faculty Research and Publications

In the spring of 1993, about 39% of Milwaukee-area residents suffered through a nationally publicized illness brought about by cryptosporidium, a parasite that had infested the metropolitan drinking water supply and that, potentially, could do so again in Milwaukee and other communities. Our study, based on a telephone sample survey of 610 local adult residents, examines some factors that seem to influence the public's use of, and reliance on, various communication channels for information about this repeatable hazard in the wake of the outbreak. Analysis indicates that the affective variable of personal worry about becoming ill in the future with …

Community Structure And Press Coverage Of Health Risks From Environmental Contamination, Robert J. Griffin, Sharon Dunwoody

College of Communication Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Impacts Of Information Subsidies And Community Structure On Local Press Coverage Of Environmental Contamination (Presentation), Robert J. Griffin, Sharon Dunwoody

College of Communication Faculty Research and Publications

An analysis of 373 daily newspapers in the Midwest found that community structure and the public information activities of an environmental group affected press coverage of a story about pollution from industrial toxins. Results indicate that the press' function to report or raise issues concerning industrial toxic releases and related health risks is tempered by community pluralism and particularly by community reliance on manufacturing. A press kit sent to some newspapers by an environmental group appears to have influenced the papers to run a story on toxic industrial releases, but it primarily encouraged the delegation of local staff resources to …