Broadcast and Video Studies Commons^™

Front Matter

Discourse: The Journal of the SCASD

No abstract provided.

Framing Of Latinx Vote Choice And Voter Registration, Laurel E. Bennett

Student Publications

This work investigates media framing done by CNN between the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections. Although Latinx voters remain underrepresented and under researched, they have the ability to highly influence elections. Specifically, CNN uses the sleeping giant frame, the need for Latinx voter registration as a frame, and the importance of Latinx voter mobilization as a frame in the 2020 presidential election more prominently than in the 2016 presidential election upon consideration of Latinx vote choice and voter turnout.

Muslim Fashion Influencers Shaping Modesty In The Twenty-First Century On Social Media, Awa Sanno

Student Theses and Dissertations

The depiction of Muslim women in Western media has been a long-running joke, as they are framed to be oppressed by the burdens of their religion and the hijab. However, Muslim women have used the power of social media to counter that narrative through their large followings as fashion influencers, digital creators, food bloggers, makeup artists, lifestyle bloggers, musicians, and so much more. Specifically, Muslim fashion influencers are changing and redefining the notion of modesty throughout their posted content on social media. Many people in Muslim communities see this redefinition of modesty as a conflict with the "proper" ways of …

The Great Resignation: A Content Analysis Of News Sources' Portrayals Of The Covid-19 Labor Shortage., Mackenzie Williams

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

When workers left the labor market in large numbers during the COVID-19 pandemic, proclamations of a labor shortage emerged extensively throughout the news. In this study, I analyze the coverage of the worker shortage among three news sources with different political orientations. Several themes emerged from analyzing a total of 75 articles. The findings showed that the perspective shown in the article, the cause of the labor shortage, restaurant worker portrayal, support of solutions, and opinion of the labor shortage all differed based on the political identity of the news source. This research supports previous findings that show there is …

Black Occularity, The White Gaze, And Color-Blindness In Shonda Rhimes' Bridgerton, Daniella Ruiz Cantu

Political Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

The white gaze, or the assumption that the default reader or observer of a piece of media is white, affects the way that people of color are shown on television. This research project uses the hit Netflix show Bridgerton to study the way that modern-day representations of people of color both challenge whiteness and white supremacy, while also reinforcing the white gaze. This is done through the examination of works by George Yancy, Laraine Wallowits, Frantz Fanon, Laura Mulvey, Kristen J. Warner, and Cheryl I. Harris on the white gaze, the male gaze, narrative conventions of soap operas and telenovelas, …

Come Close And Listen: Exploring The Intimacy Of Audio Media, Eleanor Kingwell Sharples Hoover

Honors Theses

This thesis aims to demonstrate the power of the audio medium to connect speaker and listener, as a result of the uniquely intimate nature of the medium. By understanding how speakers and listeners connect through audio, the research reveals that the audio medium is a sustainable media outlet, one that is durable despite changes in culture in the media market, that has transformed over time, all while keeping itself within the principal constraints of its original form, that being sound as conveyed to a listener. Three interviews were conducted with individuals situated in different areas of the audio media landscape; …

Winter 2022

Conversations

Dean's Letter; Remembering Jill O'Brien (1947-2021); Mastering the Art of Professional Communication: A new online master's program helps communications professionals advance their careers; Inclusive Journalism for a Diverse Society: Faculty member Judith McCray aims to deepen the bench of diverse journalists; An Alumna with an Ear for News: Rachel Hinton; Interorganizational Networks for Social Impact: A conversation with Assistant Professor Kate Cooper

À La Carte Cable: A Regulatory Solution To The Misinformation Subsidy, Christopher R. Terry, Eliezer J. Silberberg, Stephen Schmitz, John Stack, Eve Sando

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

Although “fake news” is as old as mass media itself, concerns over disinformation have reached a fever pitch in our current media environment. Online media outlets’ heavy reliance on user-generated content has altered the traditional gatekeeping functions and professional standards associated with traditional news organizations. The idea of objectivity-focused informational content has primarily been substituted for a realist acceptance of the power and popularity of opinion-driven “news.” This shift is starkly visible now: mainstream news media outlets knowingly spread hoaxes, conspiracy theories, and the like.

This current state of affairs is not some freak accident. The Supreme Court’s First Amendment …

Model Of Inspiring Media, Mary Beth Oliver, Arthur A. Raney, Anne Bartsch, Sophie Janicke-Bowles, Markus Appel, Katherine R. Dale

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

Scholars have increasingly explored the ways that media content can touch, move, and inspire audiences, leading to numerous beneficial outcomes including increased feelings of connectedness to and heightened motivations for doing good for others. Although this line of inquiry is relatively new, sufficient evidence and patterns of results have emerged such that a clearer picture of the inspiring media experience is coming into focus. This article has two primary goals. First, we seek to synthesize the existing research into a working and evolving model of inspiring media experiences reflecting five interrelated and symbiotic elements: exposure, message factors, responses, outcomes, and …

Using Visual Storytelling To Design Solutions-Based Approaches To Homelessness, Peggy Peattie

Dissertations

Despite millions of dollars spent over several decades on assistance programs, the nation’s homeless population has increased for the last four years in a row. The number of people reporting as homeless for the first time doubled in San Diego between June 2019 and June 2020. Trying to impose a one-size-fits-all model of care on a population comprised of unique individuals has resulted in many homeless opting for the street rather than subjugating themselves to rules they feel do not treat them with respect and dignity. Yet, the perspectives of homeless individuals are excluded from decision-making dialogue around policies and …

Live The Local: Exploring The Relationship Between Local News Media And Cities Undergoing Downtown Revitalization, Allison Wise

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The rise in suburban development has caused many downtowns across the United States to lose residents, businesses, attractions and community engagement. City officials and planners work to create policies, designs and urban development that help to revitalize downtowns. However, how do we bring people into our downtowns to live, work and play? That is where local news coverage can have an impact. The question arises: What can city officials, event organizers, business leaders do to foster a vibrant downtown? News outlets (e.g., television, print, digital) and their corresponding social media platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter, can act as " …

Racialized Reality: Crime News And Racial Stereotype Framing, Warrington Sebree

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Research shows that crime news is a primary mechanism for shaping public consciousness surrounding legal order, social morality, and threats present in their citizens communities. This research explores how news media influences negative attitudes towards criminal justice reform and Black identity. Utilizing Framing Theory, this study focuses on whether negative stereotypes in crime news triggers racial prejudice and bias towards African Americans. Participants of this study will consist of current students at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. The findings suggest that knowing the race of a potential criminal assailant influences respondents’ attitudes towards presumptions of guilt, future criminality, and criminal …

2021 International Crisis And Risk Communication Conference Program, Conference Organizers

International Crisis and Risk Communication Conference

Program to the to the 11th Annual International Crisis and Risk Communication Conference sponsored by the Nicholson School of Communication and Media.

China’S “Three Warfares”: People’S Liberation Army Influence Operations, Edwin S. Cochran, U.S. Department Of Defense, Retired

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

The following article—whose author is both a retired US Army officer and retired Department of Defense civilian employee with multiple publications—focuses on Chinese information operations. Readers might wish to speculate on matters such as why the Chinese have organized the way they have, whether the organization leads to optimal integration of tools of national security/political power, and how vulnerable specific populations and even intelligence cultures are to specific types of information operations. One might even conclude that the only thing that has not changed in thousands of years has been the technology available to influence others.

This article examines the …

Gen Z And Digital Distractions In The Classroom: Student Classroom Use Of Digital Devices For Non-Class Related Purposes, Bernard R. Mccoy

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Faculty Publications

A 2019 survey of college students examined classroom-learning distractions caused by their use of digital devices for non-class purposes. The purpose of the survey, part of an on-going study, was to learn more about students’ behaviors and perceptions regarding their classroom uses of digital devices for non-class purposes. The survey included 986 respondents in 37 U.S. states and 47 respondents in Alberta, Canada. A significant feature of the study was its measurement of frequency and duration of students’ classroom digital distractions as well as respondents’ motivations for engaging in the distracting behavior. Respondents averaged 19.4% of class time using a …

Community Media In The United States: Fostering Pluralism And Inclusivity In Challenging Times, Michael Huntsberger

Faculty Publications

For most Americans, public service media (PSM) are synonymous with National
Public Radio for radio and audio and Public Broadcasting Service for television
and video. However, these national services do not fully circumscribe the PSM
sphere in the United States. US community media are non-commercial, locally
controlled outlets that produce content intended for local audiences, most often
focused on local concerns associated with housing, education, government and the
arts. This study provides an overview of the present state of community media
in the United States. It draws on a variety of sources, including data from the
industry, and from the …

The Political Preference Of Arkansas Farmers And Ranchers, Rachel J. Barry, Donna L. Graham

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

Access to information is critical to improving production efficiency, but little is known about how farmers are informed on the policy or issues influencing programs related to farming. This research sought to determine the sources of communication used by farmers and ranchers to form opinions about agricultural policy and candidates, identify the issues important in voting, and their level of participation in the political process. Face-to-face interaction was the preferred form of communication in farm organization meetings, with friends, or farm agencies. Magazines were the preferred source of print communication, and university/extension websites were preferred for internet sources. Broadcast media …

The Alternative Voice: A Content Analysis Of Twitter News Accounts In Kuwait, Yousef Aldaihani

Dissertations

In response to the Agenda Setting scholars’ calls to locate innovative methods to gauge public salience in the evolving communication environment, this study used retweets, likes, and replies to measure public salience on two types of Kuwaiti Twitter news accounts: traditional newspapers accounts, and alternative news accounts. It also aimed to examine the potential effect of media salience constructs: attention, prominence, and valence on public perceived salience. The study was conducted on a 2203 systematically selected tweets from six news accounts. Results revealed that the agenda of the two types were positively significantly correlated. Social issues and politics were the …

Working In A Man’S World — What, Like It’S Hard?: The Perception Of Female Attorneys In The Media, Emily Russell

Student Scholar Showcase

Abstract

The legal drama television series Blue Bloods, The Practice, Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, The Good Wife, How to Get Away with Murder, and Ally McBealfollow the various roles of a female attorney. For this study, these six television series were analyzed in order to identify the media’s perception of female attorneys. By completing a critical analysis of the aforementioned series, a multitude of perceptions based on gender was identified. Five themes occurred from those perceptions: physical attributes, relationships, work environment, litigation tactics, and personality traits. While some of these perceptions were positive, the media …

Introduction Of Candidates And Public Perception - How News Media’S Introduction Of Candidates May Affect Public Perception Of The Candidate, Ian W. Memmer

Masters Essays

This study examines the introduction of candidates in the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election by examining 1,666 online articles in 3 cable news and 3 online newspapers covering the day before their announcement, the day of announcement, and the day following the announcement. The amount of coverage and tone of the articles was examined to determine the effects of agenda setting, media polarization, and first impressions. Results found variation in the amount of coverage given to candidates; online newspapers generally gave more coverage than online cable news; media polarization occurred slightly in favorable coverage of candidates but all candidates received more …

Missing The (Turning) Point: The Erosion Of Democracy At An American University, Anthony Fucci, Theresa Catalano

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

On August 25, 2017, student members of Turning Point USA (TPUSA), a right-wing conservative organization who advocates for smaller government and free market enterprise, recruited on the University of Nebraska–Lincoln (UNL) campus. Members of the UNL community protested nearby. Part of the protest was recorded on video and released to social media leading to harsh public criticism that accused the university of restricting free speech and being an unsafe environment for conservative students. Drawing on cognitive linguistics (e.g. metonymy, framing) and multimodal critical discourse analysis (MCDA), this paper explores how the TPUSA incident at UNL was recontextualized in local and …

Journalists’ Level Of Knowledge On Empirical Research And Opinion Polling: A Study Of Kenyan Journalists, Dane M. Kiambi

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Faculty Publications

This study examines the level of knowledge of Kenyan political reporters on a few key concepts of empirical research and opinion polling. Although data from this study are from a nonrepresentative sample, it offers important insights into levels of knowledge on an important topic in journalism. Results indicate that 63. 4 percent of the reporters did not know that survey findings from a nonrandom or nonprobability sample cannot be generalized to the population. Another 63. 4 percent did not know that sampling error cannot be computed from data that were collected using a nonrandom sample, while 49. 3 percent did …

Persuasion, Marita Gronnvoll

Syllabi

This class will study symbolic communication intended to influence beliefs, attitudes, values, andbehaviors. The course will focus on the critical assessment of persuasive messages, with additionalattention to the theories and research behind persuasive message construction.

Communication & Popular Culture, Marita Gronnvoll

Syllabi

This course examines popular culture and the emergence of mass culture in the United States. Itstarts from the premise that popular culture, far from being a frivolous or debased alternative to“high culture”, is in fact an important site of popular expression, social instruction, and culturalconflict, and thus deserves critical attention. We examine theoretical texts that help us to “read”popular culture, even as we study specific forms and artifacts of popular culture: from televisionshows to Hollywood movies, graphic novels to advertisements, and popular music to fiction.Throughout the course, we ground what we call “culture” in political, economic, and socialcontexts. We pay …

Raising Arizona: A Visual Rhetorical Analysis Of Kyrsten Sinema's And Martha Mcsally's 2018 Campaign Announcement Videos, Audrey L. Oswald

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

This study examines the visual and verbal components of Kyrsten Sinema’s and Martha McSally’s campaign video announcements as both candidates competed for the 2018 Arizona Senate. The primary research objective was to understand how the audience demographics and the rhetorical situation faced by each candidate affected the choice of visual components for the persuasion of potential voters. The study concludes that the visual messages were chosen primarily to appeal to each candidate’s supporting viewers. Sinema’s message, however, was more intersectional in that it appealed to a larger body of potential voters across party lines. The candidates appeal to voters using …

Gender, Politics, Market Segmentation, And Taste: Adult Contemporary Radio At The End Of The Twentieth Century, Saesha Senger

Theses and Dissertations--Music

This dissertation explores issues of gender politics, market segmentation, and taste through an examination of the contributions of several artists who have achieved Adult Contemporary (AC) chart success. The scope of the project is limited to a period when many artists who figured prominently in both the broader mainstream of American popular music and the more specific Adult Contemporary category were most commercially viable: from the mid-1980s through the 1990s. My contention is that, as gender politics and gendered social norms continued to change in the United States at this time, Adult Contemporary – the chart, the format, and the …

Comparing Virtual Reality Tourism To Real-Life Experience: Effects Of Presence And Engagement On Attitude And Enjoyment, Adam Wagler, Michael D. Hanus

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Faculty Publications

With the advent of 360-degree video technology, Virtual reality (VR) headsets can take users to locations in the real world. Despite the increasing number of virtual tourism opportunities using digital VR technology, little research has assessed the effective realism of 360-degree video tourism. This study took users on a guided audio tour of a state Capitol building. Users either took the tour via two-dimensional (2-D) video, immersive 360-degree video using a VR headset, or physically went to the location and walked around the grounds. Users were measured on spatial presence, emotional engagement with the tour, sponsor liking, and tour outreach …

Developing The Next-Generation Don Draper, Valerie K. Jones

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Faculty Publications

Technology and the proliferation of data have transformed the advertising industry. Those with digital and analytical skills are now more employable than those with “traditional” advertising skills. At the same time, colleges and universities face increasing emphasis on job placement rates. Are advertising programs providing students with the skills needed to win jobs today and become successful employees tomorrow? Today’s “next-generation Don Drapers” must be fluent not only in creativity and big ideas but also in analysis and Big Data.

Rwu First Amendment Blog: David Logan's Blog: Media Centralization Imperils Marketplace Of Ideas 04-05-2018, David A. Logan

Law School Blogs

No abstract provided.

Voice-Activated Change: Marketing In The Age Of Artificial Intelligence And Virtual Assistants, Valerie K. Jones

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Faculty Publications

The Internet of Things promises to make relationships with technology more personal than ever. Voice-controlled virtual or artificial intelligence assistants such as Amazon’s Alexa or Google Assistant execute the commands of their users, providing information, entertainment, utility, and convenience while enabling consumers to bypass the advertising they would typically see on a screen. This “screen-less” communication presents significant challenges for brands used to “pushing” messages to audiences in exchange for the content they seek in hopes of creating preference. It also raises ethical questions about data collection, usage, and privacy. Little is known about the role marketing will play in …