Mass Communication Commons^™

Race, Geography, And News Coverage Of The Opioid Epidemic, Nicholas B. Robert

LSU Master's Theses

The opioid epidemic is the deadliest drug epidemic in United States history. During the early stages of the epidemic, the focus was on white victims in rural and suburban areas. Using the geo-ethnic framework developed from immigration research, this study examines if geography and race impacted the framing of the opioid epidemic in newspapers. The study finds there to be a low level of geo-ethnic influenced framing in news coverage of the opioid epidemic from 2016-2018.

Andrew T. Hatcher: Press, Public Information & Perception For A Nation In Transition Historical Content Analysis On The First African American To Serve As A White House Associate Press Secretary, Nayita Wilson

LSU Master's Theses

Andrew T. Hatcher rose to one of the highest positions in U.S. government when he became the first African American to serve as associate White House press secretary in 1960 under the administration of President John F. Kennedy and during the peak of the Civil Rights Movement. This is a historical content analysis that analyzes Hatcher’s role through primary sources, presidential archives, and select national, local, and minority newspapers.

The overarching purpose of this study was to ascertain Hatcher’s role as associate White House press secretary during civil rights. This study provides further insight into: 1) to what extent did …

Can Cooler Heads Prevail? New Media Technology And Affective Polarization, Brian Kendall Watson

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Are new media technologies stirring up negative partisan feelings in the American public? Can researchers find ways of using new media tools to reduce affective polarization? Relying on a series of experiments featuring online newsfeeds and social media discussions, this dissertation seeks to answer these questions by testing the influence of partisan news and political discussions in realistic Internet environments. Two custom news “portals” (2016, 2018) expose participants to actual partisan news content. Two Facebook discussion experiments (2017, 2019) randomly assign participants to start real political discussions on their personal social media accounts, using discussion-initiation strategies designed to reduce partisan …

#Whyididntreport: Using Social Media Analysis To Inform Issues With Sexual Assault Reporting, Jordyn Warren

LSU Master's Theses

The #MeToo movement allowed victims of sexual assault to go public with their stories. When Dr. Christine Blasey Ford came forward with allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh in September of 2018, she was scrutinized by President Trump for not reporting the incident to authorities “when it happened nearly 30 years ago.” Promptly, #WhyIDidntReport came to fruition on Twitter, uncovering the shame victims feel and the complexities behind why so many individuals didn’t and still don’t report their assaults. Victim-service agencies “provide victims with support and services to facilitate their physical and emotional recovery, offer protection from future victimizations, …

“I Need To Believe That Something Extraordinary Is Possible”: Effects Of Transcendent Media Experiences On The Destigmatization Of Mental Illness, Stephanie Whitenack

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Entertainment psychology is moving toward an area of study where being entertained means experiencing pleasure and/or satisfying fundamental, meaningful needs as human beings (Vorderer, 2011). Now, scholars are examining meaningful media experiences and a recent subset known as transcendent media experiences. Transcendent media experiences are defined as experiences that elicit mixed affective states that can heighten feelings of elevation, compassion, and connectedness that lead to more prosocial motivations. These subjective experiences of meaningfulness can inspire universality by cultivating desires to overcome intergroup hostility (Oliver et al., 2018).

Much is known about the cognitive processes that contribute to lessening social distance …

Toxic Culture: An Emotion And Sentiment Analysis Of College Football Fans In Relation To Controversy And Win-Loss Records, Joshua R. Jackson

LSU Master's Theses

Fans of certain college football teams will experience a wide array of emotions when their team is involved in a scandal. This study examined the fan bases of three university football teams as they learn about and react on social media to their schools and head coaches becoming implicated in controversies. Under the protection of those with similar likes and the secrecy of social media, users can voice opinions in favor of and against the football team’s firing of a coach or handling of an investigation. Fan bases analyzed in the study are Ohio State University, Maryland University, and Baylor …

A Content Analysis Of The New York Times’ Article Framing Of High-Profile Sexual Harassment Cases From Before And After The National Me Too Movement Began, Amy Elizabeth Veale

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Sharing More Than Expected, Loreal Johnson

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

An Analysis Of Political Preferences And Activism Levels Relationship To The Senior Colleges At Louisiana State University, Lily Frances Fontenot

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Source Effects Of Health Information And Digital Health Literacy Among College Students: An Elaboration Likelihood Model Perspective, Julia Morton

LSU Master's Theses

While advertising and persuasion is a widely researched area in mass communication, the impact of health marketing on consumer behavior remains a relatively new arena. The complex health information landscape online is comprised of both public health organizations seeking to improve health behaviors as well as businesses seeking to sell their products or services. It is well documented in the communication literature that the source of information can impact the recipient in a multitude of ways. Digital health literacy is undoubtedly an essential skill for anyone interacting with health information online, spurring the question, do individuals with low and high …

Key Users, Hashtags, And Topics: Network Analyses Of Twitter During Natural Disasters, Rui Wang

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

During natural disasters, social media can play prominent roles in how publics learn and communicate about disasters, as well as improve disaster communication and operations. The open and flat structure of Twitter platform makes Twitter a suitable platform for disaster communication.

The purpose of this study is to explore the key users, hashtags, and topics in the Twitter networks of natural disasters. In doing so, this study takes a multi-method approach including big data mining and a series of network analyses. This study has collected 9,716,677 tweets during five natural disasters: Louisiana Flood 2016, Hurricane Florence 2018, Hurricane Michael 2018, …

Health Information Seeking As A Coping Strategy To Reduce The Stress Of Informal Caregivers Of Individuals With Alzheimer’S Disease And Other Forms Of Dementia, Nia Francis Mason

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study explored the relationship between information seeking and the perceived stress levels of informal Alzheimer’s and dementia caregivers. An additional component was added to determine whether health literacy and emotional state moderated the relationship.

The study involved conducting qualitative interviews followed by collecting survey data to answer the following research questions: 1) What motivating factors lead informal AD caregivers to seek out information? How do their information needs change? Why do informal caregivers choose to utilize certain resources more than others? Is there a correlation between information seeking and resulting stress levels? Does health literacy moderate the association between …

The Political Leanings Of Louisiana’S Young Independents, Zoe Williamson

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

The Use Of A Celebrity In Advertising A Potentially Unhealthy Product: Using Psi And The Effects On Consumers’ Body Image, Oliver Taylor

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Political #Tweet-Talkin': How Reporters And Politicians Use Twitter In State Government, Jennifer Korth

LSU Master's Theses

Political and media institutions have a dynamic relationship at both the national and state level. Over time, their relationship has changed as a result of technological advances. Twitter has become a powerful communication tool for both politicians and media professionals and has changed the way these two groups correspond with one another and with constituents. Little research has been conducted on state-level political and media institutions’ use of Twitter and this two-project piece aims to fill this void. Project 1 identifies the extent to which journalists covered United States governors’ tweets in 2017. Generally, very few tweets per governor were …

Similarities And Differences In Western Media Portrayals Of The Greek Economic Crisis: A Qualitative Analysis Of The Guardian And The New York Times' Summer 2015 Coverage Of The Greek Economic Crisis, Tryfon Boukouvidis

LSU Master's Theses

This study examines newspaper coverage of the Greek economic crisis in the summer of 2015 by exploring attribution of responsibility to the actors involved in the crisis. I performed a qualitative content analysis on 114 news stories, 59 from The Guardian and 55 from The New York Times. Prior literature has indicated that American newspapers tend to present economic crisis from an elite perspective, which could distort public opinion to reflect elite views. Following previous studies, I analyzed the news stories in terms of how they used the responsibility frame of coverage of the Greeks and their creditors. The …

Local Vs. National: How Twitter Reflects News Coverage Of Colin Kaepernick Protests, Jared Paul Joseph

LSU Master's Theses

Local and national media dedicate different levels of coverage to issues depending on its relevancy to their audiences. This study uses news outlets’ social media activity to show that coverage discrepancies occurred with former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s National Anthem protest. Because his protest reached national headlines, Kaepernick suffered the same fate of many protesting athletes in the past. This study will show how national media carried his story to national headlines and framed his protest negatively. The findings show that local media were the least active among the three media levels, local, regional and national, in covering the Kaepernick …

“All Of Our Skinfolk Ain’T Our Kinfolk;” A Triangulation Study Of The Impact Of Black Racial Identity On The Discourse Of Media Practitioners’ Coverage Of Social Justice, Political And Celebrity News, Gheni Nicole Platenburg

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Since its inception, in 1827, the black press worked to “plead [its] own cause.”[i] Following the 1968 Kerner Commission report, white newsrooms desegregated, and the number of black newsrooms sharply declined. Black journalists transitioning to the white press faced new editorial and psychological challenges.

Today’s black press functions as a shell of its former self, creating a vacancy for media that represent the needs and interests of the black community. Mainstream cable news programs possibly provide a solution to this void -- black journalists and pundits. Using a triangulation approach, this dissertation explores this possibility by examining the impact …

“Breathless Zeal And Careless Confidence”: German Propaganda In World War I (1914-1918), Elisabeth Fondren

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study examines the building and rethinking of German propaganda institutions during World War I. The goal of this dissertation is to illustrate the evolution of German government ideas on propaganda between 1914-1918.

During the war, German military leaders, politicians, and diplomats had ambitions to change, reform and modernize approaches to media governance. They were losing the battle of ideas, they realized early on. And so German officials were desperate to make propaganda fit into the structure of government; they tried to use new media technologies to be more persuasive. Although there was an abundance of ideas, all of their …

The Uneasy Beginnings Of Public Diplomacy: Vira Whitehouse, The Committee On Public Information, And The First World War, Lauren Claire West

LSU Master's Theses

The established methods and practices of American public diplomacy are commonly credited to the publicity agencies created during and after the Second World War, such as the Office of War Information (OWI) and the United States Information Agency (USIA). However, the Committee on Public Information (CPI) was the first practicing public diplomacy agency. Created by President Woodrow Wilson in April 1917, the CPI and its Foreign Division became a tool for winning the First World War through the dissemination of newspaper articles, films, photographs, and other media techniques. The CPI was the first of its kind to engage with the …

Shades Of Gray: Why Russian Propaganda Is No Longer A Black And White Issue, Karli Walleser

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Effect Of Nostalgia On Brand Loyalty Following Crisis, Meagan Morvant

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Understanding The Political Media Of The Millennial Generation: The Validation Networks Of Liberal Millennials Through Twitter And Late-Night Television, Hannah Lampo

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Disappearing Statehouse Bureaus: The Role Of Student Journalists In The Future Of Covering Government, Sarah Gamard

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

History Of Journalism Education: An Analysis Of 100 Years Of Journalism Education, Hilary Akers Dunn

LSU Master's Theses

This quantitative content analysis uses course descriptions to find changes in journalism education at the University of Missouri, Louisiana State University, and the University of North Carolina over 100 years. This study found that there are two influencing factors that are inherent to the journalism profession: advances in technology and the maturity of the profession itself. These two influencing factors produced changes in technology used in curriculum, course focus (e.g. skill, theory, general knowledge, and history), and course topics (e.g. advertising, broadcasting, public relations, etc.) This study also found that leadership is the most influential factor of change in journalism …

From Party To Publicity: The Transitional Role Of Three Publicity Experts On The Road To Modern Campaigning, Meagan H. Collman

LSU Master's Theses

During an election cycle, social media newsfeeds and TV screens are overrun with political advertisements and celebrity politics. Publicity has become a critical component of presidential elections. While many argue that a reliance on publicity developed with the popularization of the television, I argue that a dependency on publicity occurred in the early-to- mid 1900’s with three publicity experts who paved the way for future elections. Robert Woolley in Woodrow Wilson’s 1916 campaign exercised unprecedented management over his publicity bureau and used new techniques catering to new mediums of the time; Albert Lasker in Warren Harding’s 1920 campaign merged the …

Newspaper Endorsements Of Candidates: Through The Looking Glass, Caitlin Burkes

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Weather Communication On Twitter: Identifying Popular Content And Optimal Warning Format Via Case Studies And A Survey Analysis, Joshua D. Eachus

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The use of Twitter as a channel for weather information inspires a deeper analysis of key information nodes during episodes of high impact weather, especially local meteorologists. To optimize communication on the channel, it is important to understand what kinds of messages produce exposure and attention among users—which translates to knowledge that could improve the reach of a warning. Literature identifies two key models that well describe the cognitive processing of tweets and warnings. The Protective Action Decision Model (PADM) describes risk perception and the factors that enable or disable one from acting on a warning. Particularly through environmental and …

Advancing Democracy One Tweet At A Time, Landon T. Hester

LSU Master's Theses

This thesis takes a broad look how citizens use social media to foster political discussion, enhance political knowledge and engage in political participation in the United States. In this study, democracy is broken down into three empirically measurable components: political discussion, knowledge and participation. To begin, I provide an in-­‐depth review of past research examining the impact social media has on each element of democracy. In addition, I analyze data collected from a novel social media panel of 3,811 Twitter users by researchers from Louisiana State University (Davis et. al, 2017). From this, I measure the impact that Facebook and …

An Impossible Direction: Newspapers, Race, And Politics In Reconstruction New Orleans, Nicholas F. Chrastil

LSU Master's Theses

This thesis examines the racial ideologies of four newspapers in New Orleans at the beginning and end of Radical Reconstruction: the Daily Picayune, the New Orleans Republican, the New Orleans Tribune, and the Weekly Louisianian. It explores how each paper understood the issues of racial equality, integration, suffrage, and black humanity; it examines the specific language and rhetoric each paper used to advocate for their positions; and it asks how those positions changed from the beginning to the end of Reconstruction. The study finds that the two white-owned papers, the Picayune and the Republican, while political opponents, both viewed …