Communication Commons^™

“No Man Is An Island:” A Critical Discourses Analysis Of Newspaper Reporting On The Marshallese Community In Northwest Arkansas, Johana Vazquez

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The aim of this study was to examine local newspaper coverage of the Marshallese community in Northwest Arkansas from 1998 to 2017 and analyze discourses that could be attributed to linguistic bias, stereotypes, and Pacific transnationalism. This analysis examines how marginalized immigrants are portrayed in local news coverage using a critical discourse analysis (CDA). The study analyzes the labels and metaphors used in the coverage of Marshallese immigration, adapts the Stereotype Content Model for a discourse analysis, and compares the experiences of Marshallese in the area with larger scholarly work on Pacific transnationalism. The researcher analyzed 11 published pieces from …

Sex, Riots, And Holy Water: How Modern Society Desecrates And Reconsecrates The Sacred, Jodeyah J. Mills

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores how modern societies desecrate and reconsecrate the sacred through rhetoric, ritual, and visual performance. Using three case studies, Nazi Germany’s transformation of Quedlinburg Abbey, the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol, and Sabrina Carpenter’s controversial church music video, “Feather,” this project analyzes how sacred meaning is violated and restored in religious, civic, and popular contexts. Drawing on Kenneth Burke’s dramatistic cycle and postsecular theory, it argues that desecration and reconsecration are dialogic acts that expose competing moral vocabularies within culture. Each event demonstrates that even in a secular age, people respond to ruptures of ultimate meaning …

Investigating The Impacts Of Facial Gestures On Global Participants’ Perception Of The Speaker, Perception Of The Message, Emotional Responses, And Engagement During Video Conferencing, Hanan Mohammed Alghamdi

Theses and Dissertations

Facial expressions play a crucial role in shaping communication and emotional understanding during virtual interactions. This study investigated how facial expressions influence participants’ perceptions of the speaker, perceptions of the message, emotional responses, and engagement during video conferencing across diverse cultural contexts. A hybrid experimental design was implemented using self-administered questionnaires to collect quantitative data and examine cause-and-effect relationships. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three facial-expression conditions Positive (smiling and joyful), Negative (angry or nervous), or Neutral (expressionless) and viewed speakers representing three ethnic backgrounds: White American, Black American, and Middle Eastern. Using a seven-point semantic differential scale, …

Australian Teen Voices On Age Verification And Age Assurance Measures, Giselle Woodley, Harrison W. See, Brian O'Neill, Lelia Green, Elisabeth Staksrud, Paul Haskell-Dowland

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Age verification and age assurance technologies, including biometrics, facial recognition software and digital identification, have been explored as potential measures to restrict access of young people to social media and sexually explicit media (SEM), including pornography. However, there is limited data regarding how teens targeted by such restrictions feel about such strategies. Drawing on qualitative interviews with Australian teens and pre-teens (aged 11–17), this paper presents their views of age verification technologies, particularly in relation to restricting access to SEM. The participants in this study welcomed improved online protections but were ambivalent about proposed solutions. Age assurance and age verification …

A Thematic Analysis Of What Australians State Would Change Their Minds On Climate Change, Amy S.G. Lee, Kelly Kirkland, Samantha K. Stanley, Abby Robinson, Zoe Leviston, Iain Walker

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

What do Australians believe would change their current opinions about climate change? In this study, we used audience segmentation analysis through the Six Americas Short Survey to identify groups of climate opinion holders within a representative sample of Australians. We had 4857 participants tell us what it would take to change their current opinions about climate change and leveraged OpenAI’s Generative Pre-Trained Transformer (GPT) to identify the presence or absence of themes (Nothing, Evidence and Information, Trusted Sources, Action, and Unsure) and subthemes in their responses. GPT performed at near-human levels, proving to be a highly useful tool for thematic …

State Narrative Dominance In Terrorism Reporting: A Critical Discourse Analysis Of Kompas Coverage, Putri Khairunnisa

Journal of Terrorism Studies

This study examines Kompas.com’s news construction of the bombing at the Makassar Cathedral Church on 28 March 2021 by integrating Entman’s Media Framing theory with Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis. Using all news reports published between 28 March and 5 April 2021, the study finds that Kompas frames the event through security-oriented diction, agent–action structures that foreground state authorities as the primary actors, and high-modality statements that minimize uncertainty during the early crisis phase. Intertextual references to previous terrorism cases accelerate the labeling of the perpetrators as part of the JAD network. At the level of discursive practice, reliance on official …

A Certainty-Weighted, Belief-Based Model Of Political Attitudes: A Bayesian Analysis Of American Public Attitudes Toward The Affordable Care Act, Gabriel Miao Li, Josh Pasek, Jon A. Krosnick

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

This study proposes a novel, certainty-weighted account of the process by which political beliefs shape political attitudes. Building upon expectancy-value frameworks, this paper introduces belief certainty as a moderator of belief impact. A Bayesian partial-pooling approach is used to test a model positing how beliefs about what the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act does and does not do relate to overall attitudes toward the law. This analytic method manages the complexity of multiple potentially correlated beliefs and evaluations by imposing a structural constraint to avoid multicollinearity and enable accurate estimation of parameters. Data from a nationally representative sample survey …

Navigating The Storm: A Qualitative Metaphor-Based Analysis Of Resilience And Identity Reconstruction Among Displaced Professionals, Erhan Atay, Serkan Bayraktaroglu, Leo Johannesberg

The Qualitative Report

Building on previous management scholarship, this paper explains how Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) and metaphorical expressions inform organizational resilience and leadership communication in employee support strategies. It tries to capture the interplay between personal sensemaking and collective adaptation. The study aims to provide practitioners with hands-on insights into developing inclusion, resilience, and identity reconstruction in organizational and societal contexts of disruption. The analysis identifies three critical metaphorical themes: resilience, which is likened to "climbing a mountain;" isolation, which is likened to being "trapped in a bubble;" and identity reconstruction, which is likened to "picking up the shattered pieces of a …

From Digital Divide To Equity-Enhancing Diffusion: Generative Ai And Writing Quality, Rebecca Tukachinsky Forster, Kerk Kee, Gabriel Miao Li

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

This study investigates whether generative AI can narrow the gap between stronger and developing writers and explores the mechanisms underlying these effects. In a within-subject experiment, students wrote two essays, with and without AI assistance. Computer-aided analysis of the writing quality confirmed that while all students benefited from AI, that less skillful writers gained more. There was also no evidence of skillful writers using AI in more sophisticated and beneficial ways. The study contributes to theorizing the digital divide and offers insights into maximizing the benefits of AI tools. Theoretically, we situate generative-AI use within Diffusion of Innovations, treating ChatGPT …

How Experiencing Eudaimonic Emotions Through Music Shapes Prosocial And Altruistic Behavior: Introducing A Unified Model Of Music-Listening-Induced Eudaimonia (Ummie), Rebecca Tukachinsky Forster, Daniel H. Spitz, Tal-Chen Rabinowitch, Roni Granot

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

This paper introduces the Unified Model of Music-Listening Induced Eudaimonia (UMMIE), which offers an integrated novel theoretical framework to explain how music listening promotes prosocial and altruistic outcomes. Drawing on communication and psychology research, UMMIE maintains that elicitation of eudaimonic emotions can be appraised inwards, towards oneself, and thus contribute to the individual's personal growth, wellbeing, and development, or outwards, by connecting to something bigger than oneself, to humanity in general, which could possibly then lead to enhanced prosocial and altruistic attitudes and behaviors. The model specifies musical, situational, and individual variables that serve as moderators and increase the likelihood …

“It’S All Fun And Games Until Someone Loses An Eye (-Test): On The Presence And Consequences Of An Argument Scheme That Re-Works Our Notions Of Evidence And Support”, Matthew P. Brigham

Studies in Debate and Oratory

This essay explores an argument scheme commonly employed in sport communication, the “Eye Test,” which claims that a good faith watching of two teams or athletes, for instance, provides its own evidence as to which is superior. A distinction is drawn between a weak version of the argument, the earned eye test, and the strong version, the universal eye test. Focusing on the latter, which does not rely on expertise but claims that any individual should be able to see the proof of the argument, the essay explores a range of everyday and public sphere arguments that operate …

Trusted Advisor: Reality Or Fading Myth?, Stephen C. Carlson, Susanna Warnock, Gerald Sullivan, Margaret Ryder

Atlantic Marketing Journal

The role of trusted advisor has long differentiated the role of community banking from traditional national banks in its relationship with small businesses. This study serves two purposes. First is to confirm presence of a trusted advisor relationship and secondly, understand the impact of digital banking services on the community banker – small business owner relationship. Using data collected in a survey of community bankers and small business owners in five southeastern United States, this study assesses the viability of the trusted advisor construct by applying the Integrative Model of Organizational Trust (Mayer, Davis, & Schoorman, 1995, 2007), trust-building behaviors …

You Can't Be Kind Of A Lesbian: Mass Media's Representation Of Bisexual Woman, Shannon Pappas

Communication and Theater Association of Minnesota Journal

In the present day, many societal beliefs and ideas are cultivated through mass media messaging. This study aims to examine mass media’s representation of bisexual women, specifically in pornography, and how those ideas lead to harmful stereotypes. Television show characters and song lyrics depicting bisexual women were examined using cultivation theory. Analysis found much of the representation involving force or coercion, indecisiveness, hypersexuality, and group sex. Pornography is an integral space for people to explore their sexualities. However, bisexual videos tend to only depict hypersexual or violent fantasies. With over 80,000 people logging onto PornHub each minute, negative stereotypes of …

Truth Will Out: Combating The Rhetoric Of Modern Conspiracy Theory, Seth Kelley

Communication and Theater Association of Minnesota Journal

This essay explores modern conspiracy theories’ relationship to hatred and ignorance, and how specious ideas do not hold up to classical rhetorical analysis. It posits reasons why power embraces conspiracies that it has traditionally rejected and explains power and conspiracy theory’s symbiotic relationship in the age of misinformation. It champions rhetoric as the best tool to combat conspiracy theories.

Thesis: In order to effectively combat conspiracy theory’s undermining of human progress, we must hold conspiracists accountable for spreading dangerous lies, directly teach formal rhetoric in all public schools (and how to spot specious content), effectively foster multicultural respect and appreciation, …

Verbal Aggressiveness And Argumentativeness In College Forensics Students, Ben Walker

Communication and Theater Association of Minnesota Journal

Roth (2017) found competitive parliamentary debate participants score lower in verbal aggressiveness than those who have not competed in parliamentary debate. While there is some research regarding verbal aggressiveness in academic debate, there is not much in terms of individual events. This study examines verbal aggressiveness and argumentativeness in both debate and individual event college students. Results indicate debate students to have higher levels of verbal aggressiveness than IE students when trying to influence students not in forensics. Male students scored higher on verbal aggressiveness as did seniors. Conclusions about college forensics are drawn and suggestions are made for future …

From The Editor, Tanya Miller

Communication and Theater Association of Minnesota Journal

Letter from the Editor of the Communication and Theater Association of Minnesota Journal, Dr. Tanya Miller, for Volume 48, 2025 issue.

Volume 48, 2025, Communication And Theater Association Of Minnesota Journal, Front Matter

Communication and Theater Association of Minnesota Journal

Front matter and Table of Contents for Volume 48 (2025) of the Communication and Theater Association of Minnesota Journal.

Volume 48, 2025 Communication And Theater Association Of Minnesota Journal

Communication and Theater Association of Minnesota Journal

Complete digitized volume (volume 48) of Communication and Theater Association of Minnesota Journal.

Empathy On Trial: The Role Of Neuroscience And Communication In Sexual Violence Jurisprudence, Samantha M. Gonzales

Honors Program Theses and Research Projects

Sexual violence remains a contentious public safety and legal challenge, which has become further complicated by the tension between supporting victim-survivors and safeguarding the falsely accused. False accusations, though still well below the numbers of rightly accused, are experiencing a rise in popularity given recent (past ten years) political climates. This thesis examines how communication theory, neuroscience, and law intersect in molding perceptions of truth, culpability, and justice in sexual violence cases; while also examining the intersectionality of those fields in addressing the candor of allegations, the rate of recidivism, and quality of public health and safety. The most prominent …

Digital Competence In Early Childhood Formal And Informal Education: Findings From A Systematized Review, Davide Cino, Claudio D’Antonio, Federica Ranzani, Silvia Demozzi, Cosimo Di Bari

Journal of Media Literacy Education Pre-Prints

This article reports on findings from a systematized literature review on digital competence in early childhood (age range, 0-6). Through a quantitative and qualitative analysis of 31 empirical studies, the article provides: 1) a mapping of key information contained in the dataset based on relevant variables inductively and deductively identified (i.e., children’s age, type of educational context, type of digital skill, caregiving actors, description of relevant activities, screen time discourse, risks and opportunities discourse, reference to wellbeing); and 2) a narrative in depth account of digital competence in early childhood in relation to the type of educational context investigated, i.e., …

Comparing Gen Z And Millennials’ Experience In Management Trainee Programs And Their Impact On Employee Retention, Jyro B. Triviño, Josh Aidan T. Cue, Liana Beatriz G. Lu, Margaret Louise E. Mil, Gabrielle Marie P. Tamayo, Elisha Ann G. Tan

Leadership and Strategy Faculty Publications

Understanding generational differences in engagement with Management Trainee (MT) programs is crucial for talent development, yet comparative studies linking these experiences to employee retention are limited. This study addressed this gap by investigating the distinct motivations and retention drivers of Filipino Gen Z and Millennial graduates from the MT program. Using a qualitative research design, in-depth interviews were conducted with six professionals (three Gen Z and three Millennials) who completed structured MT programs in Philippine-based organizations. The data were analyzed using a comparative thematic analysis framework adapted from Braun and Clark. Findings revealed key distinctions in motivations and retention drivers. …

Exploring Themes Of Gender And Nature Through An Ecofeminist Analysis Of Three Eco-Horror Films, Valeria Evelin Valdez Rios

Undergraduate Research Symposium Posters

With warmer days and more frequent natural disasters, it is clear to see climate change and global warming on the rise. It is more important now than ever to spread awareness about climate change’s consequences and how we can address them. Both nature and women are oppressed by patriarchal, capitalist systems, which is why we are interested in the intersection of gender and nature in environmental media. Our hopes are to tap into an under-studied field of environmental communication by analyzing eco-horror films, which are horror films with environmental messages. Using ecofeminist rhetorical theories, we analyze how three eco-horror films …

Deaf Parents’ Infant-Directed Touch With Their Hearing And Deaf Babies: Intuitive, Cultural, Or In Need Of Instruction?, Brenda C. Seal Ph.D.

Journal of Early Hearing Detection and Intervention

No abstract provided.

The Current - Volume 36 Issue 5, Nova Southeastern University

Student Newspapers

No abstract provided.

The Cowl - V. 89 N. 9 - November 20, 2025

The Cowl

The Cowl - student newspaper of Providence College. Vol. 89 No. 9 - November 20, 2025. 24 pages.

Transnational Networks Of Film Repetitions In East Asia : Proliferation And Limitations, Roman Kusaiko

Lingnan Theses (MPhil & PhD)

A growing number of contemporary film critics, influencers, and audiences criticize film remaking, a tested and successful Hollywood practice. The main complaints are a lack of originality, overreliance on repeated titles, and an openly commercial nature. Despite criticism, film remakes have existed for decades and are a vivid and resilient form of recycling under new cultural and geopolitical circumstances. Contemporary film remaking reflects the impacts of globalization, transnationalization, and the rapid development of new media and digitalization.

Nevertheless, there is a tendency to theorize on film remaking, often relying on the dichotomy of the source and a remake or, less …

Leadership Communication, Heather Arlen, Eli Bruess, Mitchell Buerkle, Ali Gravelle, Magdalen Kramer

Leadership Education Newsletters

No abstract provided.

November 19, 2025: Vol 105, Issue 9, The Herald

The Herald

The top story for Wednesday, November 19, 2025 was "SGA unanimously votes to expand use of flex dollars."

Emotional Communication In The Healthcare Industry, Brandon Dolan

SPARK Symposium Presentations

Through conducting interviews with healthcare professionals and the study of data that reviews the role of emotional communication in the healthcare industry, I can conclude that there are several challenges that healthcare professionals experience when communicating emotions. To begin, there is the existence of implicit and explicit feeling and display rules that are demanded by both clients, patients, and organizations. There are expectations and obligations that healthcare professionals must meet in terms of the emotions they experience and the behaviors they express to ensure the functionality of their industry. In response to these feeling and display rules, employees often find …

Love At A Distance: Exploring Perceptions Of Long-Distance Relationships Through Q Methodology, Ljubica Ivanovic Klobcic

Theses and Dissertations

With technology advancing and making it easier for individuals to connect and keep in touch, long-distance romantic relationships (LDRRs) have become increasingly common. While some people thrive in these relationships despite physical separation, others find the experience stressful and unsatisfying. This study explores how individuals perceive and navigate LDRRs and what their experiences are. Using Q methodology, participants sorted and ranked statements related to their experiences. Factor analysis revealed three unique groups: Traditional Romantics, who see their relationships in traditional terms despite technology use; Debbie Downers, who perceive distance as a burden and do not feel that technology improves their …