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LSU Master's Theses

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Articles 151 - 180 of 215

Full-Text Articles in Mass Communication

An Investigation Of Focus: Local, Regional, And National Newspaper Coverage In The Aftermath Of Hurricane Katrina, Roxanne Kearns Dill Jan 2006

An Investigation Of Focus: Local, Regional, And National Newspaper Coverage In The Aftermath Of Hurricane Katrina, Roxanne Kearns Dill

LSU Master's Theses

This study examined the content in coverage of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina by local, regional, and national newspapers. Specifically, six newspapers were examined for a variety of items, including topics covered, frame, types of sources cited, types of authorities quoted, geographic focus, and assignment of blame for the devastation and evacuee distress that followed this historic storm. The analysis covered a two-week period, from August 29, 2005, the day Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, to September 11, 2005. The research methods included a content analysis of the 263 articles that appeared on Page 1 of The New York …


Hurricane Katrina: A Content Analysis Of Media Framing, Attribute Agenda Setting, And Tone Of Government Response, Brigette Lynn Brunken Jan 2006

Hurricane Katrina: A Content Analysis Of Media Framing, Attribute Agenda Setting, And Tone Of Government Response, Brigette Lynn Brunken

LSU Master's Theses

This study content analyzed print media coverage of government response from four newspapers in the five weeks immediately after Hurricane Katrina, looking for common frames, attribute agenda setting, and tone. In addition, it assessed week-to-week differences throughout coverage. Findings indicate that the order of Semetko and Valkenburg's (2000) common frames changed, emphasizing human interest first. Conflict, attribution of responsibility, economic consequences, and morality frames followed. Media's use of attribute agenda setting was evident throughout coverage, primarily emphasizing the issues, relief and rescue, economic, negative timeliness, and rebuilding and repairing. Media's tone of government response was moderately neutral with federal tone …


An Analysis Of The President-Press Relationship In Solo And Joint Press Conferences In The First Term Of President George W. Bush, Susan Billingsley Jan 2006

An Analysis Of The President-Press Relationship In Solo And Joint Press Conferences In The First Term Of President George W. Bush, Susan Billingsley

LSU Master's Theses

A comparative analysis of presidential press conferences was conducted to determine whether the previously established adversarial relationship between the United States president and the American press was alleviated to some degree by the presence of a foreign dignitary. The study applied a system for quantifying adversarial behaviors exhibited by the press to questions asked of President George W. Bush in solo conferences and where he was joined by another head-of-state in joint press conference sessions. Questions from selected conferences during his first term were coded according to four indicators of adversarialness: initiative, directness, assertiveness and adversarialness. Results showed that the …


Media Framing Of Prescription Drug Coverage Following A Recall, Rebecca Ann Hotard Jan 2006

Media Framing Of Prescription Drug Coverage Following A Recall, Rebecca Ann Hotard

LSU Master's Theses

Direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs receives significant attention from academic researchers. Advertising, however, is not the only way prescription drugs are discussed in the public sphere. Many Americans learn about science through mass media. Additionally, researchers believe readers place more trust in editorial content than in advertisements. This study took a quantitative and qualitative approach to content analysis of prescription drug coverage to examine the effects of the highly publicized and controversial Vioxx recall on the news. Significant changes in framing, drugs mentioned, and prominence of story placement were shown. There were no changes in sources used in prescription drug …


Are You Ready For Some ... Sex, Violence, And Gender Stereotypes?: A Content Analysis Of Monday Night Football Commercials And Programming Promotions, Joel D. Massey Jan 2006

Are You Ready For Some ... Sex, Violence, And Gender Stereotypes?: A Content Analysis Of Monday Night Football Commercials And Programming Promotions, Joel D. Massey

LSU Master's Theses

This study examined the content of 200 commercials from the 2004 season of Monday Night Football documenting sexual content, violence, and gender role stereotypes. The data revealed that despite the fact that men appeared twice as often as women, women were more likely to be stereotyped than men. About one quarter of the commercials contained sexual content and about one-fifth contained violence. Beer ads were more sexual than other ads but were not significantly more violent than other ads. There was no clear pattern of variance in the amount of sexual and violent commercials across quarters. Programming commercials were far …


Media Use, Linguistic Preference And Social Capital In The Hispanic Community, Misti Mcdaniel Jan 2006

Media Use, Linguistic Preference And Social Capital In The Hispanic Community, Misti Mcdaniel

LSU Master's Theses

While considerable research had been devoted to the study of social capital, limited information is available assessing the connection between linguistic preference and social capital among ethnic groups. Research indicated the American Latino community exhibits levels of social capital similar to the greater United States populous. Latinos who preferred English-language media, however, exhibited higher levels of social capital than those who used Spanish-language media. Finally, Latinos who held a linguistic preference for English held higher levels of social capital than individuals who preferred Spanish.


Civic Journalism And Community Newspapers: Opportunities For Social And Civic Connections, Amy Burroughs Jan 2006

Civic Journalism And Community Newspapers: Opportunities For Social And Civic Connections, Amy Burroughs

LSU Master's Theses

This study sought to fill in a gap in civic journalism research by considering its implications for community newspapers, those small, locally oriented publications that serve rural and suburban communities throughout the country. In particular, this study posed the argument that such newspapers may have advantages in pursuing civic journalism, and that these approaches may especially benefit newspapers in high-growth communities. This study relied heavily on the language of theorists who describe journalism as a public conversation, the quality of which - its usefulness for readers as citizens and members of a community - the press can either help or …


Unbalanced Media Coverage And The 2004 Presidential Election: The New York Times Vs. The Washington Times, Jimmie E. Cummings, Jr. Jan 2006

Unbalanced Media Coverage And The 2004 Presidential Election: The New York Times Vs. The Washington Times, Jimmie E. Cummings, Jr.

LSU Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to find out if either The New York Times or The Washington Times participated in unbalanced media coverage during the last two weeks of the 2004 Presidential Election. Through content analysis paragraph tone was used to evaluate news stories, columns, and editorials as positive, negative or neutral from a composite week sample. Scholars, politicians, the public as well as journalists have long argued about the existence or not of media bias and whether it is in support of liberal or conservative politics. This study was not an attempt to pick a side in that …


Target Audiences And Communication Channels Of Lighten Up Programs In The United States, Nancy Leah Borden Jan 2006

Target Audiences And Communication Channels Of Lighten Up Programs In The United States, Nancy Leah Borden

LSU Master's Theses

Several Lighten Up programs around the United States were qualitatively studied in efforts to determine their target audiences and the communication channels used to reach these audiences. To guide this study, principles from the social marketing framework and the diffusion of innovations theory were applied. Several Lighten Up program executive directors and other high-ranking individuals in charge of the programs were interviewed in-depth to answer questions pertaining to target audiences and communication channels. Inductive data analysis illustrated that programs did not segment their target audiences, that more programs depended on interpersonal and group communication than mass communication, and finally, that …


How African-American And Hispanics Perceive Their Racial Equality In American Advertising, Denise Michele Pallais Jan 2006

How African-American And Hispanics Perceive Their Racial Equality In American Advertising, Denise Michele Pallais

LSU Master's Theses

This study focuses on how African-Americans and Hispanics perceive their racial equality in American advertising. A survey was conducted to find out the African-American and the Hispanic perceptions about how these ethnic groups saw themselves depicted, and the way they are stereotyped by the U.S. media. Overall, the study found that there was no difference between race and the level of perception between these two ethnic groups. However, age appears to be the only demographic variable that affects the African-American and Hispanic perception of discrimination. In addition, the study also exposed that African-Americans are mostly portrayed in the athletic advertising …


Minority Recruitment Efforts Aimed At Increasing Student Diversity At Historically Black Public Colleges And Universities And Predominantly White Public Institutions, Nia Francis Mason Jan 2006

Minority Recruitment Efforts Aimed At Increasing Student Diversity At Historically Black Public Colleges And Universities And Predominantly White Public Institutions, Nia Francis Mason

LSU Master's Theses

Minority and other race recruitment have become a significant part of general recruitment efforts at many predominantly white institutions (PWIs) and historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). Despite increased efforts, some universities have not been successful at increasing diversity on campus. This study relies on the use of in-depth interviews to document, describe and understand the similar and differing characteristics of minority and other race recruitment tactics being used at PWIs and HBCUs. The researcher conducted interviews at four public institutions of higher education; two of which are HBCUs, and two of which are PWIs. The researcher also sought to …


Measuring Player Perceptions Of Advertising In Online Games, Ben Lewis Jan 2006

Measuring Player Perceptions Of Advertising In Online Games, Ben Lewis

LSU Master's Theses

An experiment with 100 participants aged 18-24 was conducted to measure the effects of advertising in an online role-playing computer game on perceived interactivity and other aspects of gameplay experience. Results from a post-test questionnaire revealed insight into players' attitudes toward advertising in video game environments, and reflected varying levels of advertising awareness and recall, message recognition, and factors in purchasing habits. Results suggested that while advertising in online games can sometimes trigger high advertising awareness rates, it can also reduce a game's perceived sense of realism and genuinely annoy players if not appropriately coordinated with the game environment. Whereas …


Mass Media Usage During A Natural Disaster: Lsu College Students And Hurricane Katrina, Pavica Juric Jan 2006

Mass Media Usage During A Natural Disaster: Lsu College Students And Hurricane Katrina, Pavica Juric

LSU Master's Theses

A survey with 293 American and 68 international LSU students and two focus groups with American students and one with international students were conducted between November 2005 and February 2006 to determine the difference in media use between American and international LSU students in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina: What were students’ main sources of information after the storm? What were their sources when electricity was out? Which source of information helped students feel less lonely? Which source of information helped students fell less stressful? Finally, which medium did the students believe, when compared to others, did the best job …


The Purpose Of Magazine Web Sites, Mark Marquez Ii Jan 2005

The Purpose Of Magazine Web Sites, Mark Marquez Ii

LSU Master's Theses

The purpose of this thesis was to determine whether online versions of printed magazines shared an overall purpose. Guided by grounded theory, interviews were conducted of publishers and staff members from the Web sites of 15 printed magazines. The analysis of the interviews suggested that the overall purpose of online versions of magazines is marketing of the printed magazine, and that the sites also are intended to accomplish a number of secondary purposes.


Museum-Public Relationships: Exploring The Relationship Management Theory Of Public Relations, Mary Presley Schoen Jan 2005

Museum-Public Relationships: Exploring The Relationship Management Theory Of Public Relations, Mary Presley Schoen

LSU Master's Theses

This study employs the organization-public relationship (OPR) scale to measure member perceptions of an art museum affiliated with a Southern university. The scale is a 15-item, multi-dimension tool developed by Bruning and Ledingham to measure a public’s relationship with an organization (Ledingham, 2001). The three dimensions are personal relationship, community relationship, and professional relationship. The study found that member perceptions of the museum-public relationship differentiated members who voted to continue their membership from those who voted to discontinue their membership with the museum. Further, this study supports the relationship management theory of public relations as a viable framework for practicing …


Predicting Indonesian Journalists' Uses Of Public Relations-Generated News Materials, Simon Sinaga Jan 2005

Predicting Indonesian Journalists' Uses Of Public Relations-Generated News Materials, Simon Sinaga

LSU Master's Theses

The news media are the main channel for public relations practitioners to get messages across to their publics. Getting their news or information materials used in the media is, therefore, a key professional responsibility for public relations practitioners. In an Asian country like Indonesia, this practice constitutes one of the more important parts of pubic relations practices. However, there has been little research conducted on predictive factors – especially as concerns taking into account different factors together – regarding Indonesian journalists’ uses of public relations news materials, since it is the largest nation in the Southeast Asian region, and no …


Bonjour Canada: A Case Study Of The 1995-2000 Louisiana Public Relations Campaign To Attract Canadian Visitors To Louisiana, Bonnie Anne Bauman Jan 2005

Bonjour Canada: A Case Study Of The 1995-2000 Louisiana Public Relations Campaign To Attract Canadian Visitors To Louisiana, Bonnie Anne Bauman

LSU Master's Theses

The research undertaken in this study explores five years of the Louisiana Office of Tourism's public relations campaign to attract Canadian visitors to Louisiana. The study considers how the campaign's organizers used the cultural bond between French-speaking Canadians and Louisiana to attract Canadians to Louisiana. The study also examines how important the public relations strategy of highlighting the cultural bond between host and tourist was in attracting Canadian visitors to the state. In addition, the study uncovers whether or not campaign organizers considered the impact their campaign would have on Louisiana's Cajun citizenry. The research method employed was the case …


Women's Uses Of The Internet, Rachelle Powell Jan 2005

Women's Uses Of The Internet, Rachelle Powell

LSU Master's Theses

In this study I will look at the main reasons women use the Internet. Studies about women and the Internet are divided; some indicate less use of the Internet than men, but other studies show strong evidence of a narrowing gap in use. Due to this lack of clarity, a study that looks exclusively at women’s Internet activities and usage is needed. Although qualitative research does not test or apply theory the same way quantitative research does, uses and gratifications theory informed this study. This is an exploratory study of women and the Internet.


Baseball And Steroids In The News: How Politicians And Reporters Construct The News, Claudia Kozman Jan 2005

Baseball And Steroids In The News: How Politicians And Reporters Construct The News, Claudia Kozman

LSU Master's Theses

This study is a content analysis of newspaper coverage of baseball and steroids. The data are a random sample from four newspapers: Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, and The Washington Post. The period under study consists of 77 weeks, from April 10th, 2003, to December 9th, 2004. The results supported four hypotheses and negated one. Analysis showed that the issue of baseball and steroids was not institution-driven news; it was the result of governmental action, events outside of government, and local interest. The number of stories rose after governmental action. It also rose after …


Changing Face: The Evolution Of Chinese Women's Dress And Appearance, Xiaolan Wang Jan 2005

Changing Face: The Evolution Of Chinese Women's Dress And Appearance, Xiaolan Wang

LSU Master's Theses

Women’s dress and appearance can reflect a lot about a civilized society. It is influenced by many factors as well. The dress and appearance of contemporary Chinese women have not been studied much by mass communication researchers. This paper, however, explored the factors that influence the development and evolution of contemporary Chinese women’s dress and appearance. It traced back from Dynastic China to Republican China and then to Mao’s red China to examine the historical and political influences imposed on the dress and appearance of Chinese women. Then, it used in-depth interviews to find out factors that influence women’s dress …


Adoption In New Orleans: What Agencies Are Doing To Promote It, Emily Barbara Rivers Jan 2005

Adoption In New Orleans: What Agencies Are Doing To Promote It, Emily Barbara Rivers

LSU Master's Theses

Unplanned and unwanted pregnancies are a national concern in the United States. In addition, many people exist who would like to become parents, but cannot or do not reproduce biologically. While adoption could offer a solution to this problem, the actual number of adoptions that take place is very small. This study examined what adoption agencies in the New Orleans area are doing to promote themselves to women with unwanted pregnancies. In-depth interviews were conducted with five adoption agencies. Three of the five agencies reported using various methods of targeting women with unwanted pregnancies. These methods included public posters, flyers …


Covering The Revolution Of Roses (Differences And Similarities Between Georgia And Independent Television Companies), Nino Danelia Jan 2005

Covering The Revolution Of Roses (Differences And Similarities Between Georgia And Independent Television Companies), Nino Danelia

LSU Master's Theses

The study analyzed how independent and state media's news programs differ in the way they framed the Georgian Revolution of Roses. The paper analyzed what sources, frames and key words journalists used to describe the protest in order to investigate if the coverage was objective or biased in any particular direction. Study provides evidence that by framing protests in a different way, politicians and journalists give different meanings to the same issues and suggest what is at issue. Each party of the political elite tried to promote their own political viewpoints. By preferring sources from the ruling party and their …


Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco: Her Press Strategies And The Local Press, Brecke Megan Latham Jan 2005

Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco: Her Press Strategies And The Local Press, Brecke Megan Latham

LSU Master's Theses

This thesis focuses on Louisiana Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco’s press strategies. The first section of the paper provides the standard and documented description of the role and press strategy for a governor. The second section provides a background of the responsibility of the press within a democratic society in the context of the Social Responsibility Theory. The third section examines what elements define a press/politico relationship and what defines positive and negative aspects related to this type of relationship. This research utilizes a qualitative research design, including in-depth interviews, participatory observation/field notes and case studies. Perceptions, derived from the governor’s …


Patterns Of Self-Expression And Impression Management In Blogs, Ana Keshelashvili Jan 2005

Patterns Of Self-Expression And Impression Management In Blogs, Ana Keshelashvili

LSU Master's Theses

The constant process of technology development offers Internet users new tools, allowing them to enjoy their right of free expression. One of the latest popular tools introduced for use by mass audience on the Internet is a weblog (or blog). There are more than 4.12 million blogs on the Internet maintained by different people with different purposes. Some of the bloggers manage to create an image that makes them "celebrities" among the community of bloggers. These are the people whose blogs are among the most well-known and also regularly linked by other bloggers. Besides, media's view of blogging comes directly …


A Tale Of Two Champions: Lsu And Southern University Compete For Coverage In Louisiana Newspapers, Damiane Christopher Ricks Jan 2005

A Tale Of Two Champions: Lsu And Southern University Compete For Coverage In Louisiana Newspapers, Damiane Christopher Ricks

LSU Master's Theses

The study’s purpose was to discover if two Louisiana newspapers gave Louisiana State University’s football team more favorable coverage than that of the team from Southern University, a historically black university. A content analysis of articles published in The Advocate (Baton Rouge) and the Times-Picayune (New Orleans) from the 1995 and 1998 seasons when Southern University’s team accomplished greater success than LSU’s team, and the 2003 season when both teams won national championship titles revealed that while LSU’s team did not receive more prominent coverage and praise than Southern University’s team, racial stereotypes appeared throughout the 667 articles analyzed. Although …


Are Murders Equal In The Eyes Of The Media?: A Study Of Race, Gender, Class And Quality Of Coverage, Tobie Marie Blanchard Jan 2005

Are Murders Equal In The Eyes Of The Media?: A Study Of Race, Gender, Class And Quality Of Coverage, Tobie Marie Blanchard

LSU Master's Theses

Crime news is an important component of local news. A literature review suggested that the media’s coverage of crime news can reveal vital information about media routines and biases. The main issue in this study is race and the media. The subtext of crime news and how the media cover different races when dealing with crime can speak to the larger issues of race and the media. The primary focus of this study was to examine how the media cover victims of murder, but more specifically to investigate any differences that may exist in how they cover White and Black …


Mammary Malfunction: A Comparison Of Breastfeeding And Bottlefeeding Product Ads With Magazine Article Content, Angela Broussard Hyderkhan Jan 2005

Mammary Malfunction: A Comparison Of Breastfeeding And Bottlefeeding Product Ads With Magazine Article Content, Angela Broussard Hyderkhan

LSU Master's Theses

Breastfeeding is a pressing social issue in terms of women’s equality, preventative healthcare, and the preservation of a valuable natural resource. Future progress in breastfeeding advocacy will depend on an accurate investigation into the current situation. In this study, three women’s prenatal magazines (American Baby, ePregnancy, and Parenting) are analyzed via content analysis for one calendar year, looking specifically at infant formula-related product advertisements, breastfeeding-related product advertisements and variations of the mother’s role in infant feeding. The content of breastfeeding-related magazine articles also is analyzed within the context of the advertisements. This sample of media appears to have evolved away …


Coverage Of The 2003 Post-Election Protests In Azerbaijan: Impact Of Media Ownership On Objectivity, Ilgar Khudiyev Jan 2005

Coverage Of The 2003 Post-Election Protests In Azerbaijan: Impact Of Media Ownership On Objectivity, Ilgar Khudiyev

LSU Master's Theses

The purpose of this study is to determine bias in press news coverage of the 2003 post-election street protests, which resulted from the presidential election in Azerbaijan. This study provides a look at the extent of state and private media ownership of newspapers in Azerbaijan conducting a content analysis of three highly circulated local newspapers, one state owned and the others privately owned, during a three week period following the election day when the main subject of local newspapers’ coverage was protest actions in the streets of the capital city, Baku. The data are news and articles regarding the street …


Risk Reporting And Source Credibility: Trying To Make The Readers Interested, Raluca Cozma Jan 2005

Risk Reporting And Source Credibility: Trying To Make The Readers Interested, Raluca Cozma

LSU Master's Theses

An experiment with 98 participants was conducted to explore the effects of government versus multiple sources on perceived credibility and interest when applied to the same risk stories. It also analyzed the effects of source treatment on participants' assessment of government credibility and source reasonableness. The study investigated the effects of demographic characteristics of participants (age, gender, media use) on the same variables, and tried to determine if there was any statistical correlation between the two dependent variables of credibility and interest. It also analyzed the effects of human-interest reports on credibility and interest. Overall, the study found that participants …


A Case Study Of The National Advancement Plan At Louisiana State University As Implemented By The Lsu Foundation In The Memphis, Tennessee, Area, Elizabeth Nealy Jan 2004

A Case Study Of The National Advancement Plan At Louisiana State University As Implemented By The Lsu Foundation In The Memphis, Tennessee, Area, Elizabeth Nealy

LSU Master's Theses

Because university foundations are facing increased pressures as the result of declining funds and increased competition, they must learn to use more effectively a wide range of marketing activities and demographic segmentation. Prospect identification may be one such tool. The literature on non-profit philanthropy suggests that the demographic segmentation of alumni and prospect screening and subsequent identification may serve as appropriate criteria. This case study examines how giving levels, involvement levels and attitudes of donors may vary as a result of the implementation of the National Advancement Plan, a systematic peer screening model and communications tool developed for a university …