Social Influence and Political Communication Commons^™

War's Visual Discourse: A Content Analysis Of Iraq War Imagery, Mary Elizabeth Major

Dissertations and Theses

This study reports the findings of a systematic visual content analysis of 356 randomly sampled images published about the Iraq War in Time, Newsweek, and U.S. News and World Report from 2003-2009. In comparison to a 1995 Gulf War study, published images in all three newsmagazines continued to be U.S.-centric, with the highest content frequencies reflected in the categories U.S. troops on combat patrol, Iraqi civilians, and U.S. political leaders respectively. These content categories do not resemble the results of the Gulf War study in which armaments garnered the largest share of the images with 23%. This study concludes that …

Packaging Inspiration: Al Qaeda's Digital Magazine Inspire And Self-Radicalization, Susan Currie Sivek

Faculty Presentations

Inspire magazine, a digital publication of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, seeks to motivate potential terrorists to carry out attacks in the West. The magazine has seemed to be effective, resulting in its connection to a number of recent plots. This presentation discusses the magazine’s potential for aiding prospective terrorists through the self-radicalization process.

Procrastination And The Shifting Political Media Environment: An Experimental Study Of Media Choice Affecting A Democratic Outcome, Morgan E. Ellithorpe, Lance Holbert, Angela L. Palmer-Wackerly

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

The shifting media environment is expected to have a variety of effects on political knowledge and behavior. An experimental study was conducted to assess the influence of media environment on news consumption, perceptions of media experience quality, and success on a political outcome. In addition, procrastination is introduced as a potentially important individual-difference variable with assessments offered for both its main effects and its ability to moderate the influence of media environment. Media environment complexity predicted lower news use and higher success on our political outcome. Procrastination’s effect was on media experience perceptions and a media environment-by-procrastination interaction on this …

Ua3/8/11 President's Office-Meredith Publications, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Publications created by and about the president's office during Thomas Meredith's administration.

Ua3/9/5 President's Office-Ransdell Speech File, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Speeches written and delivered by Gary Ransdell.

Packaging Inspiration: Al Qaeda’S Digital Magazine Inspire In The Self-Radicalization Process, Susan Currie Sivek

Faculty Publications

Al Qaeda is today a fragmented organization, and its strategic communication efforts now focus largely on recruiting individuals in the West to carry out “individual jihad” in their home countries. One Al Qaeda–affiliated publication, Inspire, represents an unusual use of the digital magazine format and content for recruitment. This study examines the content and design of Inspire to determine how the magazine may advance the self-radicalization that it seeks to induce in its readers. This analysis finds that the magazine weaves together jihadist ideology, a narrow interpretation of Islam, and appropriations of Western popular culture to maximize the publication’s …

Communication At Superfund Sites And The Reification Of Division: Toward A Convergence-Building Model Of Risk Communication, Anna G. Hoover

Theses and Dissertations--Communication

This case study evaluates government communication practices at Superfund sites. I describe agency communication practices in Superfund communities, paying particular attention to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's

Seven Cardinal Rules of Risk Communication and its role as a model for federal agencies engaged at these sites. Situating the study within a theoretical milieu that includes sensemaking and symbolic interactionism, I examine whether current practices deepen divisions among stakeholders, reducing the possibility for communicative convergence.

I implement textual analysis and narrative inquiry to examine written and spoken communication about the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant National Priorities List Superfund site. Through …

Theories Of Public Opinion, Patricia Moy, Brandon Bosch

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

While the issue of citizen competency has vexed scholars throughout history, the modern concepts of a mass public and mass media are relatively new. Beginning with the seminal works of Lippmann and Dewey, we chart the evolving theories of public opinion, from the "hypodermic needle" model of the early twentieth century to the more psychologically oriented approach to media effects of today. We argue that in addition to understanding how audiences process media content, theories of public opinion must account for how media content is constructed and disseminated, which is complicated by the ever-changing nature of our media landscape.

Integrating Evidence-Based Practices Into Public Relations Education, Karen Freberg, David L. Remund, Kathy Keltner-Previs

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Faculty Publications

Public relations continue to play an essential and changing role in society, requiring the regular reassessment of the education of future public relations practitioners. Academics and practitioners often differ in how they view the public relations field, how they define the discipline, and how they view the major pedagogical approaches. This paper explores the impact of integrating three different perspectives in public relations education, including practitioner perspective, client perspective, and the evidence-based perspective. Results from students’ reaction papers and an online questionnaire suggest that integrating an evidence-based approach improves the competence and clarity of communications counsel provided by aspiring practitioners.

Solar Energy: A Media Analysis Of Las Vegas, Nv And Phoenix, Az, Jennifer Liese

Brookings Mountain West Publications

In recent years, large government-funded solar energy projects across the nation have received increasing media attention—especially with government funded solar projects going bankrupt. This study examines the evolution of media coverage on solar energy issues, including an analysis of political differences and the role they play within two western cities that sit at the epicenter of solar energy resources in the United States, Las Vegas and Phoenix. These cities are poised to compete for and collaborate on projects for millions of dollars in federal research funds and economic development incentives dedicated to the development of solar energy.

This study conducted …

Social Learning Theory In The Frontline Documentary “The Merchants Of Cool”, Alixe A. Wiley

Faculty Curated Undergraduate Works

In the Frontline documentary The Merchants of Cool, the relationship between major media conglomerates and their hedonistic teenage customers is examined through exploring the different tactics industries use to discover and market the next “cool” thing. Industries maintain what the documentary refers to as a “feedback loop” with their customers, which is a cyclic, supply-and-demand relationship that blurs the line between fiction and reality. It has become impossible to tell which side is imitating the other: who do the products and trends that define popular youth culture belong to? What's more, are the sexual and aggressive hormone-fueled behaviors on …

Blind Trusts As A Model For Campaign Finance Reform, Perry Andrew Pirsch

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Theses

In this thesis, I explore whether blind trusts present a viable option for campaign finance reform. More specifically, would either permitting (voluntary) or requiring (mandatory) anonymous donations for political campaigns allow for fully funded, yet privately funded, campaigns while preventing problems, whether real or perceived, such as buying influence (quid pro quo) or buying access, which are traditionally associated with large campaign donations? To study this question, I have examined the constitutional origins of the need to fund federal campaigns, Congress’ power to regulate campaigns under the Constitution’s Elections Clause, the constitutional protection of speech, and the concern of large …

Planned Parenthood Takes On Live Action: An Analysis Of Media Interplay And Image Restoration Strategies In Strategic Conflict Management, Leslie Lynn Rasmussen

Dissertations

On February 1, 2011 the pro-life organization Live Action released videos that appeared to show Planned Parenthood clinic staff disregarding statutory rape and abortion reporting laws and aiding sex traffickers. The videos posted online quickly garnered over a million views and placed Planned Parenthood at the forefront of national news. The Federal government intervened and threatened to remove funding to the Title X organization. Planned Parenthood launched a campaign to retain funding using social media and controlled online media, and attempted restore its image as a reputable healthcare provider while engaged in conflict with Live Action.

A content analysis was …

Analyzing The Tea Party Movement, The Coffee Party Movement, And The Occupy Wall Street Movement’S Use Of The Internet: Case Study On How The Internet Influences Grassroots Social Movement, Tsubasa Morioka

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

The Tea Party movement and the Occupy Wall Street movement have made great use of the Internet and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). This phenomenon intrigued my interest in how grassroots social movements have employed all types of media to mobilize, as well as how they furthered their agenda in the past. In order to better understand how the Internet impacted the three movements, my thesis draws on resource mobilization (RM) and new social movement (NSM) theories for theoretical understanding and textual analysis. The movements I reviewed for analysis are the Tea Party Movement (TPM), the Coffee Party Movement (CPM), …

New Deal Cowboy: Gene Autry And Public Diplomacy, Michael Dean Duchemin

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This dissertation explains how Gene Autry used his mastery of multiplatform entertainment and the techniques of transmedia storytelling to make the policies of Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR), the 32nd President of the United States, more attractive to the American public. Making a case for cultural significance, the work shows how Autry developed a singing cowboy persona to exploit the western genre as his modus operandi, because it appealed to rural, small town and newly-urban Americans in the Midwest, South and Southwest. Examining Autry's oeuvre within a context created by Roosevelt administration policies, the dissertation exposes a process of public diplomacy …

Too Big Not To Fail: United States Corporate Media And The 2008 Financial Crisis, Justin Lars Bergh

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigates United States newspaper coverage of the 2008 financial crisis, with a particular focus on the debate that took place in press coverage surrounding the proposed 700 billion dollar Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). Specifically, this study aims to understand how, when faced with a crisis that threatened hegemony, the state and economic elites, working in and through media, were able to effectively convince the subordinate classes to consent to state intervention aimed at perpetuating a financial system that has historically profited from the relative financial insecurity of the subordinate classes. In order to understand media's role in …

American Propaganda, Popular Media, And The Fall Of Jacobo Arbenz, Zachary Carl Fisher

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In June 1954, President Jacobo Arbenz Guzman of Guatemala resigned in the face of a coup led by Colonel Carlos Castillo Armas. While the United States publicly denied involvement, the coup was in fact the culmination of a plan called PBSUCCESS (CIA codeword), led by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Although PBSUCCESS lived up to its namesake, it was aided (both intentionally and unintentionally) by various U.S. media outlets. For the duration of Arbenz Guzman's regime, he and his country had been the subject of U.S. suspicions of undue Communist and Soviet influence. A general anti-Communist attitude permeated virtually all …

The Impact Of Reporter Gender On Print News Coverage Of The 2008 Dole–Hagan U.S. Senate Race In North Carolina, Courtney Hunt Munther

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Theses

Four reporters covered the 2008 U.S. Senate race between Republican incumbent Elizabeth Dole and Democrat challenger Kay Hagan – two male and two female – all of whom worked for the same news organization. This study analyzed the coverage the four reporters produced about the Dole-Hagan race, looking specifically at story structure, topic selection, descriptive language used, tone and source selection. Due to study limitations, no clear relationships were established between reporter gender and the news coverage of the Dole-Hagan race that reporters produced.

Advisor: John Bender

Media, Military, Militarism: Media Consumption, Awareness Of U.S. Military Foreign Policy, And Support For War, Daniel James Patten

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

This study examines the relationship between the media, attitudes towards supporting war, and military awareness. Online survey data were collected from a four-year university located in a heavily militarized area. This study found that having knowledge of Afghanistan and Iraq War facts negatively affected one's decision to support war and was the strongest predictor of this decision. The media was not found to be a significant predictor impacting this knowledge when controlling for other variables. Political ideology and other related variables were found to be more influential of this knowledge. These findings imply that the public may be imprudently supporting …

Revolutionary Ideology In The Information Age: Technology Of The Occupy Wall Street Movement, Jed D. Blume

Capstone Collection

The research presented in this project draws heavily on themes of social justice and human rights. The purpose of this inquiry is twofold. For one, it functions as an SIT Graduate Institute “Capstone,” which meets the graduation requirements for a Master’s degree from the school. Secondly, the function of this project is to provide a space to investigate how the theory and practice of contemporary social change utilizes today’s most powerful non-militaristic technology. The focus of my research is particularly concerned with my own participant observation in the Occupy Wall Street movement, which emerged in the United States in late …

Facebook Changing The Face Of Voting: How The Internet And Social Networking Sites Affected Youth Voting Behaviors In The 2008 Election, Aleesha M. Larsen

Political Science Theses and Capstones

Since the eligible voting age was changed in 1972 to include 18-21 year-olds, turnout has been historically low for the youngest group of American voters. But, the 2008 election got young people to swarm the polls, resulting in one of the highest turnout rates, among the youngest age cohort, in history. The Obama campaign was the first to successfully use social networking sites, like Facebook and Twitter, to help mobilize and persuade young voters. In this study, I attempted to find how significant of a role in the Internet played in convincing voters aged 18-24 to vote in 2008, especially …

Bears, Baby Carrots, And The Colbert Bump: An Analysis On Stephen Colbert's Use Of Humor To Set The Public's Political Agenda, Dominique Mckay

Masters Theses

In recent years, political satire has risen in popularity and recognition as an effective means of transmitting political news to a younger generation of voters. This recent development brings forth new questions about the role of political satire in setting the public's political agenda. Using Agenda-Setting Theory as a framework, this study takes The Colbert Report, one of the most popular satire television shows of this generation, and analyzes it for a possible political agenda. In the end, what this study finds is that in the six weeks leading up to the 2008 U.S. presidential election The Colbert Report chose …

The Storm After The Storm: A Comparative Framing Analysis Of Governmental And News Reporting On Hurricane Katrina, Evan T. Zuverink

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Hurricane Katrina is widely regarded as the greatest natural disaster to ever befall the United States. Following the storm’s devastation of the Gulf Coast region, a media firestorm unleashed, seeking to ascribe responsibility to governmental actors for the “failed” response effort. Through a comparative framing analysis, this study sought to investigate how major news outlets, the White House, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency framed the response efforts that followed Hurricane Katrina.

Conservative Media And Political Socialization: Immigration, Gay Marriage, And Abortion As Presented By Fox News, The Wall Street Journal, And Cnn, Jeff Mckay

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

This study addresses the political socialization of politically conservative individuals and how political ideologies seem to coalesce among individuals from various socioeconomic backgrounds. The main issue that this study aims to tackle is the impact of conservative media on the political socialization of conservative individuals and how media as an agent of socialization might influence them to support ideas that are not to their benefit economically. For instance, conservative individuals from various backgrounds wholeheartedly support the same free market principles. However, the negative effect that capitalism has had on the liberty of middle and lower class citizens of the United …

Lessons From Libya: A Situational Approach To The Generic Criticism Of President Obama's March 28, 2011 Address To The Nation On Libya, Amy L. Schumacher

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Many scholars have called the utility of the generic method of rhetorical criticism into question. Adopting a situational approach to generic rhetorical criticism increases the value of the method considerably. By analyzing situational constituents (scene, purpose, agent, act, agency, and audience) surrounding a discourse, a critic gains a holistic understanding of that text. When coupled with generic comparisons - whether the critic proceeds inductively or deductively - he or she can then trace the recurrent rhetorical strategies across time and place and, simultaneously, highlight the elements unique to the particular rhetor and discourse. I demonstrate this approach through an analysis …

Public Relations In Kenya: An Exploration Of Models And Cultural Influences, Dane M. Kiambi, Marjorie Keeshan Nadler

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Faculty Publications

This pioneer study explores the public relations models that inform the practice of public relations in Kenya, and the cultural values that influence this practice. Results show the personal influence model as the most used by practitioners in Kenya, while individualism is the most experienced cultural value. The strong correlation between personal influence model and Hofstede’s cultural value of femininity points to the practitioners’ strong desire for good interpersonal relationships with colleagues, supervisors, clients and key publics.

Ethnic Appeal: A Self-Defense Tool For Kenyan Politicians, Dane M. Kiambi

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Faculty Publications

So far, analyses of apologetic rhetoric strategies as used by individuals or organizations to respond to accusations of wrongdoing have been concentrated in the West. An analysis of political apologia in an African setting — in this case Kenya — reveals that while Kenyan politicians have used denial, victimization, mortification, and counterattacking among other self-defense strategies, one particular strategy emerges as the most commonly used by Kenyan politicians — ethnic appeal.

Feminizing Presidents: Joseph Keppler And Gender In Gilded Age Political Cartoons, Jerome Gonzalez

American Studies Senior Theses

Amid the crowded newsstands of American cities in the late nineteenth century, the average reader flipping through a copy of Puck, a weekly humor magazine devoted to political and social issues, may have been surprised to see an unusual print: that of the President of the United States depicted in women’s clothing, with feminine features, performing a womanly task! These few drawings, alluding to both literary and social ideas, done by the Austrian immigrant artist Joseph Keppler, appeared in his Puck magazine in the years 1877, 1880, and 1884, coinciding around an election year. While Presidents Rutherford B. Hayes, James …

Kanye West Is Heading South, Clifton A. Sammet

Communication Studies

No abstract provided.

More Than Memories? Schema Transference From Media Characters To Real People, Hilary Ray

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study focused on whether personality traits and evaluations of television personalities are used to make inferences about new Social interaction partners. It tested the hypothesis that priming schemas of television personalities will bias inferences made about a stranger. The results were mixed. Participants in the experimental condition made more biased inferences about a stranger than did participants in the control condition. This transference was not influenced by participants' parasociability, and methodological limitations prevented conclusive study of the influence of affective evaluations in this effect. Future studies should attempt to increase methodological control and introduce a diverse set of measures …