Mass Communication Commons^™

From Ashes To Ashé: Memorializing Traumatic Events Through Participatory Digital Archives, Patricia Carlton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Traumatic, cataclysmic events, whether caused by man-made or natural forces, threaten the safety, stability, and resilience of a community or state. Additionally, massive media exposure given to documenting and providing information, place the media consumers at psychological risk. As an alternative to broadcast news reports, online memorials and disaster archives provide the public the means and central locations for witnessing catastrophic events, as well as collectively commemorating and mourning the tragic losses. According to psychological and ethnographic research, narrativizing the trauma through shared memories and artifacts of mourning produce multiple therapeutic benefits, including the likely development of cognitive awareness, empathy, …

Using Social Networking Sites During Public Health Crises: Theorizing The Diffusion Of Effective Messages, Sarah Vos

Theses and Dissertations--Communication

During a public health crisis, officials need to communicate with the public quickly and accurately. Social networking sites (SNS) have been identified as an appropriate channel for this type of communication; however, few studies have examined what makes SNS messages effective. Further limiting research in this area is a lack of attention to theoretical constructs that may explain message effectiveness in SNS.

In this dissertation, I propose that diffusion of innovations (DOI) be used to understand SNS and message success on SNS. In doing so, I compare traditional message success (persuasion) to message success on SNS platforms (amplification) and provide …

Do Black Lives Matter In American Mainstream News Media? Two Case Studies Of Police-Involved Shootings Of Black Men Explaining A Racist Media Environment, Alfred J. Cotton Iii

Theses and Dissertations--Communication

This dissertation examines two cases of fatal police-involved shootings of Black men in order to expose the power structures perpetuated through racist media narratives assuming the officers’ behavior was justified and the unarmed men the officers killed somehow were complicit in their death. In reporting on police-involved shootings, mainstream media practices that privilege elites and officials as primary sources of information may produce a dominant media narrative that masks the marginalization and mistreatment of minorities at the hands of these officials and their institutions. The two cases under consideration here examine the “floating signifier” of race in media coverage of …

Sticking To The Script: Sexual Scripts In The Slasher Sub-Genre, Jennifer L. Clay

Theses and Dissertations--Communication

The “slasher” sub-genre has been immensely popular, even spawning television shows that invoke the familiar slasher conventions. This sub-genre has simultaneously become vilified by media researchers over the years. The slasher has received particular criticism for allegedly reinforcing regressive attitudes regarding female sexuality. This study applies sexual script theory to better understand the messages about sex found throughout the sub-genre. This study utilizes content analysis to study the more recent iterations of the slasher sub-genre including the re-make, the modern slasher film and the slasher television show. This analysis uncovered that the slasher sub-genre has evolved over time. While slasher …

Ua1c11/89 Jim Burton Photo Collection, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Photographs and negatives taken by Jim Burton documenting life in western Kentucky primarily between the years 1975 and 1980. Venues include Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, Owensboro, Madisonville, Cumberland County and Scott County.

Band Formations - Burton was hired by WKU band director to photograph half time performances. It was a freelance job paying $250 per winter semester which allowed him to pay his car insurance.

Bobby Sandige - Bobby was from Burton's hometown of Madisonville and was married in college. Besides being a full-time student, he worked full-time at an underground coal mine. Burton did a feature story on …

The Television Spoiler Nuisance Rationale, Lisa Glebatis Perks, Noelle Mcelrath-Hart

Communication and Media Faculty Publications

This essay explores tensions surrounding television spoilers through interviews with thirteen people who are paid to write or edit discourse about television. These professionals include television critics, editors, an entertainment reporter, a popular culture writer, and a television columnist. Analysis of interview transcripts revealed that varying attitudes toward television pleasure undergird the spoiler debate. After describing three divergent television pleasure attitudes, we present the second half of our analysis: interviewees’ statements about the timing of their publications, the content of their writing, and the packaging of their writing. Properly packaging articles so that readers need to “opt in” was the …

Conversations On Controversy: An Examination Of Internet Discussions On High-Profile Incidents Of Recorded Police Brutality, Brittany Nicole Jefferson

Wayne State University Theses

The purpose of this study is to examine the conversations that Internet user have when discussing publicized, recorded incidents of police brutality. This study examined the deaths of Tamir Rice, Eric Garner and Walter Scott and the subsequent discussions about the incidents on YouTube.com, MSNBC.com and NYTimes.com. This was accomplished by using an exploratory content analysis to establish what are the general topics of these discussions. This analysis found that there are 2 major themes that are discussed by Internet users when they comment; the content of the video and the social context of the incident itself. However, the popularity …

Anders Breivik And Elliot Rodger: Violence, Communication, And The Mediated Sphere., Walter Anthony Lucken Iv

Wayne State University Theses

The “mass shooting” has become a major hallmark of everyday news and discussions in mass media. Through the lens of two specific cases, this research situates the mass shooting within a few preexisting historical continuities and disciplines. The mass shooting is read as a communicative media event, and is considered from the perspective of mass media proliferation, political violence, discourse, semiotics, and turn of the century cultural antagonisms. The methods employed herein are textual analysis, rhetorical analysis, and post-Marxian models of historical causation.

The mass shooting is an outgrowth of global consolidation and proliferation of mass media. The mass shootings …

Slo Assessment Report Feedback Communication Studies - Journalism And Media Communication Ba And Bs 2016, Uno Office Of Institutional Effectiveness

Student Learning

Outcomes: The program has eight distinct SLOs (goals). Measures: A single measurement tool (internship supervisor evaluation) was used to assess each SLO. Specific items on the measurement tool were aligned to each of the goals. The performance assessment was completed for 48 students, and a proficiency target was identified (80% assessed as satisfactory or exceptional). Results Reported: The routine data collection over three year period substantiates the results. The internship supervisor evaluation provides the program with results for the eight program goals. Goals 1-7 were assessed with a single data point (one item per goal from the internship supervisor evaluation). …

Call For Manuscripts

Basic Communication Course Annual

No abstract provided.

Gender Games: The Portrayal Of Female Journalists On 'House Of Cards', Chad Painter, Patrick Ferrucci

Communication Faculty Publications

This textual analysis focuses on the portrayal of female journalists in House of Cards. The uneven depictions of six female journalists could have a socializing effect on the audience. The researchers argue that the character Zoe Barnes is depicted as childlike, unprofessional, and unethical, while the character Ayla Sayyad is portrayed as a dedicated watchdog journalist. The researchers then explore the ethical implications of these portrayals through the lens of social responsibility theory.

In His Image: A Content Analysis Of Evangelical Youth Books For Their Representation Of Gender Roles And Ideals, Taryn Renee Vis

Honors Projects

This content analysis discusses the results of the analysis of twelve major Evangelical books for young adults and their representation of gender roles and gender ideals. The background of the Evangelical church’s handling of gender, particularly in relation to media beginning in the 1970s is established and discussed at length in order to situate this analysis amongst previous discussion of Evangelical gender roles. This analysis found that each of the books discussed four main themes of gender roles and relations: biological essentialism, complementarianism, counter-cultural branding of gender, and sexual purity (especially for young women).

Examining Local Law Enforcement Public Relations, Lindsay M. Mccluskey

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This mixed-method dissertation 1) identifies and describes common local law enforcement public relations activities, including reputation management, community relations and engagement, media relations, social media management, and internal communications; 2) addresses perceived similarities and differences associated with local law enforcement public relations relative to peers within the same level of government (e.g., public relations in the parks department of the same municipality); 3) identifies distinctive and reinforces common government public relations environmental characteristics, challenges, and opportunities associated with local law enforcement; 4) provides insights regarding how local law enforcement are using online tools (e.g., websites and social media) for public …

Framing The Ebola Outbreak: Systemic Influences On News Coverage, Adaobi Vivian Duru

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

ABSTRACT Using a media systems comparative framework, I investigated the relationship between systemic characteristics and news coverage of international events. Leveraging a highly salient event: the Ebola outbreak, I extended the Hallin and Mancini Model to non-western democracies. This dissertation explored differences in media coverage of Ebola across media systems. Findings revealed that characteristics of media systems inform how news about an event is framed by reporters. By investigating news influences, this dissertation broadly sheds light on the latent influences of politics and culture on what audiences receive as news. My results showed that liberal media systems such as those …

Exploring Organizational Resilience Asset And Its Antecedents For Effective Internal Crisis Communication, Young Kim

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Nowadays crises are omnipresent with daily news headlines as reminders. The public continues to see or experience many different crises that affect numerous individuals and organizations as well as society in general. Against this backdrop, corporate communication professionals, for effective crisis management, are expected to help the organizations and their leaders make decisions, as well as communicate clearly when crises arise. Considering a fast changing media environment, recent scholars have called for new approaches to crisis communication to enhance theoretical developments. They suggested that researchers should take a broader context beyond the dominant crisis communication research perspectives based on the …

Front Cover

Basic Communication Course Annual

No abstract provided.

Title Page

Basic Communication Course Annual

No abstract provided.

Editorial Board

Basic Communication Course Annual

No abstract provided.

Contents And Abstracts

Basic Communication Course Annual

No abstract provided.

The Internal Marginalization Of Basic Course Scholarship, Cheri J. Simonds, Stephen K. Hunt

Basic Communication Course Annual

There is an adage in the field of communication education that states, the difference between knowing and teaching is communication (Hurt, Scott, & McCroskey, 1978). That is, a teacher can be an expert in his or her field, but if he or she cannot communicate that knowledge in a way that students understand, learning is not achieved.

This statement highlights the central role of communication in the teaching and learning process. As communication education scholars and Basic Course Directors, we conduct research in the domains of communication pedagogy (i.e., research questions that address the best methods of teaching communication) and …