International Communication 2001 Abstracts
International Communication Division
Advertising And The Construction Of Beauty: The Impact Of Economic Liberalization And Globalization On Advertising Formats In India • Katyayani Balasubramanian and K. Viswanath, National Cancer Institute • no abstract
The Subversion In The Age Of Digital Information • Ivo Belohoubek, University of Arkansas-Fayetteville • Author examines the dynamic relationship between the new digital media and the discourse of contemporary global activism. He proposes that for global activism, characterized by intense communication and a for its particular discourse, shaped by the specific technological setting – the digital network, neither Marxism as an ideology, nor structuralism and semiology as a method, are sufficient explanatory tools. His analysis includes postmodern interpretation of Marshall McLuhan’s and Jean Baudrillard’s Medium theory as well as various inputs from poststructuralism. He concludes that the new media significantly change not only the means of subversive communication, but also an ideology and philosophy of global activism and relate directly to such phenomena, as the mass protests against economic globalization, which we could have witnessed the world over during the last decade.
Readers’ grievance columns as aids in the development of India • David W. Bulla, Indiana University • Citizens of India have a unique opportunity to participate in the development of democracy in their nation by giving feedback to the government and corporations through grievance columns in daily newspapers. These complaint columns – separate from letters to the editor – help make powerful institutions accountable for their actions and inactions. This paper examines public feedback and institutional response in three Indian dailies. Its major finding is that most complaints deal with communication and transportation issues, and that public responsiveness by government and corporations is minimal. It also maintains that grievance columns act as an instrument of a particularly Indian civic journalism since editors get story ideas from the complaints. In essence, readers’ grievances help determine newspapers’ agenda.
Revisiting the “Determinants of International News Coverage in the U.S. Media”: A Replication and Expansion of the 1987 Research on How the U.S. News Media Cover World Events • Kuang-Kuo Chang, Michigan State University and Tien-Tsung Lee, Washington State University • This paper is a replication of a significant study in international news coverage published in 1987 by Chang and colleagues which examined the selection criteria of world news events by the U.S. news media. With more recent data, the present study concludes that the once highly significant variable of normative deviance has diminished in its predicting power. U.S. involvement and threats to the U.S. became the two strongest predictors for coverage in both newspapers and TV network broadcasts. Press freedom has emerged as a strong predictor for TV news coverage. Additionally, an eventdriven perspective appears to be more important than context-driven perspective as world news determinants. The findings suggest a swift in how U.S. news media cover international events over time.
‘News aid’, the new aid: a case study of Cambodia • J.L. Clarke, Hong Kong Baptist University • Aid to the news media has recently become an important feature of aid programmes to formerly communist countries. This paper examines criticisms of aid in general and of media aid in particular and surveys the case of Cambodia. It finds that many criticisms are relevant but being dealt with. The underlying problem of whether the aid imposes a Western view of the world remains unresolved because there is little opportunity to experiment with other approaches.
THE DEATH OF DIANA: A MULTI-NATION STUDY OF NEWS VALUES AND PRACTICES • Anne Cooper-Chen, Ohio University • Princess Diana’s death, ranked as the top news story of 1997, presents a perfect case study for comparing various countries’ treatment of news. This study looked at front pages of two newspapers each from Brazil, Finland, Japan, New Zealand and the United States from Sept. 1 (the first day of coverage) to Sept. 7 (the day of the funeral). It found deviance but not geographic proximity to be a universal news value (distant Brazil’s coverage far outstripped nearby Finland’s). It argues that affinity between a nation’s culture and an event’s intrinsic nature can explain coverage.
In search of truth: The TRC and the South African press – a case study • Arnold S. de Beer and Johan Fouche, Potchefstroom University • The demise of apartheid and the first democratic elections in 1994 ushered in a new epoch making era in South African history. This paper deals with one element of these changes in the form of a case study: the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s media hearings, and more specifically, the issue of the Afrikaans press and its activities during the apartheid years (1960-1994). The circumstances preceding the media hearings, the hearings and the aftermath are discussed.
Images of the Other: A Cross-Cultural Content Analysis of Coverage of Muslims and Mormons in Bulgarian and United States’ Popular Newspapers, 1996-99. • Maria Deenitchina, Sofia University; Peter Kanev and Byron Scott, University of Missouri-Columbia • This content analysis uses the concept of “otherness” to delineate similarities and differences in media characterizations and stereotypes of Muslims and Mormons in newspapers of two nations. In Bulgaria, newspapers appeared to cover Muslims in a broader, more balanced manner than Mormons. Articles in U.S. newspapers over the same period showed opposite results. Historical, cultural and professional differences may account for the differing patterns of coverage, including audience familiarity/unfamiliarity with the two religions.
Perceptions of Advertising in the Newly Independent States: Kazakstan Students’ Beliefs About Advertising • Jami A. Fullerton and Tom Weir, Oklahoma State University • This study attempts to answer Andrews’ (1991) question, do perceptions of advertising in general vary cross-culturally? Eighty-two students from the former Soviet Union republic of Kazakstan were questioned about their beliefs about advertising. The analysis revealed predominantly negative feelings toward advertising in general. Findings indicate unfamiliarity or general distrust of advertising and uncertainty about the role and potential of advertising to improve the quality of life in the country. A discussion about advertising in Kazakstan’s emerging capitalist economy is also included.
Increasing Circulation? A Comparative News-Flow Study of the Montreal Gazette’s Hard-Copy and On-line Editions • Mike Gasher and Sandra Gabriele, Concordia University • International news-flow research has noted a significant imbalance in the global exchange of news. Drawing on this research tradition, this paper explores the way one daily newspaper, the Montreal Gazette, occupies the geography of the Internet with its on-line news operation. The paper will report on a six-week comparative news-flow study of the Gazette’s hard-copy and on-line editions to determine whether on-line publishing has allowed the Gazette to alter the boundaries of its coverage and its distribution.
Going Global: Choosing the Newspapers We’ll Need to Read in the Digital Age • Richard R. Gross, University of Missouri • Author reviewed surveys of elite newspapers and gathered new data from international journalists regarding which newspapers are regarded as the current “elite.” Respondents were queried regarding criteria for their choices. Respondents were also surveyed regarding the quality of online versions of newspapers and credibility of the medium in the first known survey of its kind. The findings reveal some shifts in newspaper preferences, large differences in criteria from landmark surveys and ambivalence toward online newspapers.
DEVELOPMENT OF PUBLIC AND PRIVATE BROADCASTING IN POST-COMMUNIST ESTONIA: 1991-1996 • Max V. Grubb, University of Southern Illinois-Carbondale • The world in the last decade experienced the collapse of the Soviet Union and the demise of communism in Eastern Europe. This research utilized a case study and historical approach to examine the development of independent broadcast media in post-communist Estonia. The implications drawn from this study are that post-Communist broadcast system transformations are complex, particularly when the developing private broadcast system has to compete with the public system for audiences, advertising revenue, and programming.
FREEDOM OF THE PRESS: A WORLD SYSTEM PERSPECTIVE • Shelton A. Gunaratne, Minnesota State University-Moorhead • The world system theory can provide a refreshingly different perspective of global press freedom. The starting point of assessing press freedom should be the world system, not the “atomistic” nation-state, because one cannot understand the part without knowing the whole, which is more than the sum of the parts. This essay proposes the application of a revised formulation of the world system theory-which presumes a capitalist world-economy dominated by three competing center-clusters each associated with a dependent hinterland of peripheral economic clusters-to examine global press freedom. It proposes a three-tiered typology for measuring press freedom at the world system, state, and individual levels. It suggests that press freedom indices should factor in the power of the center clusters, themselves led by a hegemon cluster, to flood the hinterlands technologically with a barrage of information-communication.
Propaganda in the U.S. and Russian Press: An Analysis of Coverage of the Kursk Submarine Disaster in American and Russian Wire Services • Elaine Hargrove-Simon, University of Minnesota• This paper examines U.S. and Russian coverage of the Kursk submarine disaster from the theoretical perspectives of framing and propaganda. The paper goes on to present a content analysis of Associated Press and ITAR/TASS coverage of the disaster in the weeks following the event. As hypothesized, the U.S. coverage was markedly more negative that the Russian coverage.
GROWING UP IN POST-COMMUNIST POLAND: THE ROLE OF COMMUNICATION IN DEVELOPING POLITICAL ATTITUDES • Edward M. Horowitz, University of Oklahoma • Since the fall of communism researchers have viewed Central and Eastern Europe as a natural laboratory to see how young people develop the political attitudes, knowledge, and behavior to fully participate in democratic society. Corning out of a 40-year communist legacy and with the variability of the current political and socio-economic conditions, there have been concerns that young people would not develop democratic attitudes. In addition, changing mass media conditions have led to an explosion of broadcasting channels, as well as a wide variety of periodicals. A survey of Polish adolescents (N=1480) finds evidence that certain aspects of political socialization are occurring in Poland: adolescents’ political knowledge is high, increasing with age, and influenced by news sources. Intention to vote is similarly high. The role of the media is seen to be an important part of this socialization process. Implications for the future of Poland’s democracy are discussed.
Redefining Local News: How Daily Newspapers Reflect Their Communities’ International Connections • Beverly Horvit, Winthrop University • Because more than 10 percent of those living n the United States were born elsewhere, one might think it easy to show readers how international news affects their lives. This content analysis examines the cover-to-cover content of 10 newspapers from June 29-July 26, 1998, to determine if the content reflects their communities’ global ties. On average, the newspapers ran less than one international-related story a day that offered readers information on their community’s global connections.
Media, Popular Writings and the Rise of Chinese Nationalism in the 1990s • Yu Huang, Hong Kong Baptist University • The media in mainland China today has found itself in a winning position. Whilst still required to deliver to Party authority it has created an illusion of a more liberal and investigative media through altering its style to become increasingly populist, influential and commercially attractive in an expanding market environment. Much of this can be explain by the media and popular journalistic writings’ increasing adoption of a nationalist news frame; an allegiance with the unifying theme of nationalism that has become perhaps the most important officially-endorsed political development in China throughout the 1990s. This study attempts to trace the developments of this phenomenon, from the media’s pro-westernist stance during the 1980s to its anti-westernist position in the 1990s. Through the detailed analysis of the various media-adopted nationalist themes during the 1990s this study identifies (theorizes) a number of different patterns and strategies that have been endorsed by the media to project its news-frame through a nationalist framework.
WHAT IS THE STATE OE THE EMPEROR’S CLOTHES? AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE CHINESE NEWS AS THE MOUTHPIECE OF THE PARTY AND GOVERNMENT • John Jirik, The University Of Texas-Austin • This paper investigates the CCTV (China Central Television) English news and determines that this example of the Chinese media cannot be considered a simple policy transmission instrument of the communist party and government. This problematizes the assumption that the Chinese media play a mouthpiece role. The paper draws on original research conducted throughout 1999 in an ethnography of the CCTV English newsroom, coupled with content analysis of output.
Attitudes toward Democracy among Journalism Students in Kazakstan • Stanley Ketterer and Maureen J. Nemecek, Oklahoma State University • Since the country’s independence in 1991, Kazakstan’s journalism has followed a jagged course of reversal from a relatively free atmosphere to a near consolidation of state control of information and the suppression of independent media. In this survey of Kazakstani journalism students, they reported they used traditional media, mainly broadcast, the most. They perceived individual human rights, free and fair elections, rule of law, and free speech and assembly as most important in a democracy. About half as many students strongly agreed that these principles were evident in Kazakstan.
National Interest or Global Perspectives? International News in the Korean Television Networks • Hun Shik Kim, University of Missouri-Columbia • This attitudinal study explores the perceptions of Korean television journalists toward international news and examines their selection criteria. Q factor analysis of 38 Korean broadcasters from television networks produced three factors: Realist Traditionalists, Reform Facilitators and Global Communicators. The results show that Korean journalists are driven by national interest concerns, and tend to select stories that reflect Korea’s close ties with certain countries. Apart from demonstrating an awareness of the imbalanced global news flow, the Korean broadcasters are also strongly opposed to media control by government and corporate advertisers.
Kicking off the New Millennium: News Frame Analysis on Korea and Japan’s Co-Hosting of the World Cup 2002 • Kihan Kim, University of Missouri-Columbia, and Jongmin Park, Pusan National University • On May 31, 1996, the Federation International de Football Association (FIFA) announced that the World Cup 2002 will be co-hosted by Japan and the Republic of Korea. This will be the first World Cup hosted by more than one country and also the first to be held in Asia. Newspaper coverage of World Cup 2002 by Japan’s and Korea’s most prominent newspapers, The Daily Yomiuri and Chosun Ilbo, is analyzed quantitatively to understand their frames. This analysis eventually revealed the fact that both countries’ newspapers showed different frames of news based upon their own “national interest,” even in the absence of significant statistical difference in certain topic areas. Both Japan’s and Korea’s newspapers showed a negative attitude toward their counterpart’s “nationality.” However, each country’s news coverage dealt positively with its counterpart’s “preparation” for the World Cup 2002. In addition, each country’s newspaper highlighted issues that had more influence upon its own country. For example, Korea emphasized economic issues and Japan emphasized Japan’s soccer team, which is a reflection of the current issues and matters of concerns of each country: the economic crisis in Korea and the lack of World Cup experience and the diminishing interest in soccer in Japan.
REVEALING AND REPENTING SOUTH KOREA’S VIETNAM MASSACRE: A FRAME ANALYSIS OF A KOREAN NEWS WEEKLY’S ENGAGEMENT IN PUBLIC DELIBERATION • Nam-Doo Kim, University of Texas-Austin • A Korean weekly Hankyoreh21 ran an apology campaign after it uncovered South Korean army’s civilian killings in Vietnam War. This paper compares between the anti-campaign public discourse and the weekly’s media discourse through frame analysis. Based on a distinction between a core theme and criterion sub-themes, I identified the opposition between core themes of dishonored veterans and victims’ eyes. Specifically, a set of duels between the sub-themes anchored in specific value criteria were found. Further considerations to the symbolic resources employed and their implications are given.
Echoes in Cyberspace: Searching for Civic Minded Participation in the Online Forums of BBC Mundo, Chosun Ilbo, and the New York Times • Maria E. Len-Rios, Jaeyung Park, and Dharma Adhikari, University of Missouri-Columbia • This paper examines whether media-sponsored online discussion forums contribute to civic-minded participation, utilization of personal and community knowledge, and whether participation is related to the structure of the forum and interactivity. Content analysis of The New York Time’s Abuzz (U.S.A.) forum, BBC MUNDO’s “Foros” (U.K.) and the Chosun Ilbo’s Forum Chosun (South Korea) showed that participation is related to the structure of the forum, and that media-sponsored online forums do not appear to contribute to civic-minded participation, or to the utilization of common knowledge.
Supreme Court Obscenity Decisions in Japan and the United States: Cultural Values in the Interpretation of Free Speech • Yuri Obata and Robert Trager, The University of Colorado-Boulder • Although U.S. and Japanese constitutions guarantee freedom speech, obscenity is not protected in either country. However, how the two countries’ courts define “obscenity” and the values the use to decide if sexually explicit material is protected differ markedly. This paper discusses the differences in obscenity decisions between the U.S. and Japan, focusing on the Japanese cultural context, to consider how societal traditions influence, create and become manifest in different interpretations of freedom of expression.
Mirror or Lamp: Ethnic Media Use by Korean Immigrants in the U.S. • Hye K. Pae, George State University • This study uncovers factors influencing adaptation in relation to media use. Korean immigrants showed successful adaptation to the American society in terms of structural conglomeration by penetrating into the White residential area, and at the same time they showed high degree of ethnic attachment. A path analysis indicated that length of residence, host communication competence, and education were important factors influencing Korean immigrants’ adaptation. To the contrary, heavy viewing of Korean videotape and high degree of ethnic attachment served as negative factors in the course of adaptation.
Looking East, Looking West: International News Flow into Turkey via the Daily Press. • Yorgo Pasadeos, University of Alabama • no abstract available
The Use of Inoculation in International Political Campaigns-2000 Presidential Election in Taiwan • (Dennis) Weng-Jeng Peng, National Taiwan University and (Wayne) Wei-Kuo Lin, Chinese Culture University • Inoculation theory posits that through cognitive processing the likelihood of resistance to attitude change can be enhanced by applying inoculation treatments containing threat components that motivate individuals to generate counter arguments. The study employed inoculation strategies with a method of field experiment in an international context to examine the efficacy of inoculation. Major hypotheses of this study were supported by empirical data. People received inoculation pretreatments conferred more resistance to attitude change following exposure to a political attack message. Moreover, people who have higher strength of support for candidates are more resistant to counterattitudianl attacks. The nuances of inoculation theory and applications were further assessed and discussed.
Criss-Crossing Perspectives: Assessing Press Freedom and Press Responsibility in Germany and the United States • Horst Pottker, University of Dortmund and Kenneth Starck, The University of Iowa • This paper presents views of two media scholars—one from Germany, one from the United States—on press freedom and press responsibility. The goal was to make an assessment of their own press systems but also to attempt to learn from the other. The German perspective argues for more press freedom in Germany; the North American perspective maintains the need for more press responsibility in the United States. Authors conclude that insights about one’s own press system can be gained from considering factors in other systems.
The Private and Government Sides of Tanzanian Journalists • Jyotika Ramaprasad, Southern Illinois University-Carbondale • Against the backdrop of the evolution of Tanzania’s political and economic systems from the controlled to the liberal, this paper presents the concomitant evolution of Tanzania’s media from colonial and indigenous government control to private ownership. Using type of ownership (private, party or government) as a classifying variable, the paper then captures Tanzanian journalists’ current demographic, work related, and opinion profile with regard to the importance of their jobs, their journalistic freedom, and private and government media traits. The historical influences on Tanzanian media are apparent particularly in journalists attribution of traits to government and private media: the former will unify and develop the country, the latter will develop an informed citizenry but also be sensationalistic and unethical. Interestingly, the traits ascribed to government and private media were related to ownership of place of employment of the respondents.
Rooted in nations, blossoming in Globalization? A fresh look at the discourse of an alternative news agency in the age of interdependence • Jennifer Rauch, Indiana University – Bloomington• This paper compares, through qualitative methods, the discourse produced by Inter Press Service and the Associated Press on two globalization issues. The IPS mission of balancing international news flows is placed in the context of both interdependency and previous studies of wire service content. The finding of this study that these IPS texts differ meaningfully from the dominant agency’s – is discussed in relation to the larger challenge of informing the North of events in the South.
The Shrinking World of Network News • Daniel Riffe and Arianne Budianto, Ohio University • Analysis of 1970-2000 international news on ABC, CBS and NBC nightly news. Using four constructed weeks per year and the Television News Index and Abstracts, the study coded 24,794 news items. Trend analysis (Spearman’s rho) demonstrated that all three networks exhibited significant trends toward: fewer discrete news items per newscast, decreased international coverage, increases in “soft” and “bad” international news, decreased attention to developing countries, but increases in bad news from those countries.
Who Controls “Crtl + C”: A Study of the Effects of Media Ownership and Media Type in China • Lu Shi and Xueyi Chen, Syracuse University • This project is aimed at examining the influence of media ownership (state-owned media vs. privately-owned media) and media type (traditional media vs.on-line media) on media degree of conformity to official Party ideology in China. A content analysis of four media -the Bejing Youth Daily, 21dnn.com, Phoenix Satellite TV, and sina.com—shows that neither media ownership nor media type had any independent effect on media’s degree of conformity; only the interaction effect between these two variables was found significant. Meanwhile, sina.com, a privately-owned on-line medium, was shown to be significantly more deviant from official Party ideology than the other three media. The distribution of news sources and that of deviant news in relation to news type in all the four media were also investigated. Results suggest that by strategically and selectively using “CtrI+C” citing sources other than the Party’s mouthpiece and covering local news, where state control is more relaxed, sina.com achieved a higher level of deviation. The findings are also discussed within the framework of the symbiotic relation between the state and the business elite in China.
Cyber-Globalization: Media Framing on Short-Term Global Capital • Young Jun Son, Indiana University-Bloomington • Seven prestigious newspapers of four countries were content analyzed focusing on their news frames on short-term global capital flow. The newspapers of the United States and Singapore, in which financial policies are highly free and largely unrestricted, dominantly framed for free flow of speculative capital and great openness in global financial markets. However, the newspapers of Thailand and South Korea, in which financial policies are moderately free and which have both suffered recent economic crises, are more concerned about the control for speculative capital than those of the United States and Singapore.
Not another Chernobyl: Evidence of Russian candor during the sinking of the submarine Kursk • Stacy Spaulding, American University • In the confusion surrounding the sinking of the Russian submarine Kursk, many U.S. newspapers were quick to declare a return to Soviet-era standards of secrecy because of conflicting and sometimes false information. But by examining coverage of the accident in three leading U.S. newspapers, this study found evidence that there was more openness than U.S. journalists recognized In particular, Russian sources figured more Prominently than U.S. sources in breaking news stories. Page one stories were also more likely to quote Russian sources than U.S. sources, and named Russian sources were quoted more often than named U.S. Sources, anonymous U.S. sources or anonymous Russian sources. This study examines the implications of these findings, drawing on a comparison to the Chernobyl disaster, and calls for a more nuanced understanding of contemporary Russian communication.
International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy • Joseph D. Straubhaar, University of Texas-Austin and Douglas A. Boyd, University of Kentucky • From the 1920s until 2001 international broadcasting has expanded to include television, not just the traditional form of long-distance electronic communication: mediumwave and shortwave radio. Traditionally done by governments and public corporations, international radio, and especially satellite-delivered television are increasingly commercial ventures, with CNN International and the BBC’s World being the most well known examples. This paper traces the evolution of international electronic communication in light of its present-day role in public diplomacy.
The Global News and the Pictures in Their Heads: A Comparative Analysis of U.S. and Foreign Media Coverage • Zixue Tai and Tsan-Kuo Chang, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities • News as a special kind of social product requires something to have taken place in the first place, to be captured by news people and published by the media, and ultimately to be consumed by the audience. Every stage is crucial for the news manufacturing process. This is especially true in international communication. This study examines the triangular relationship among what editors think as important news, what the audience likes, and what the U:S. and foreign media actually cover. The convergence and divergence of opinions from the audiences and the editors found in this study and media performance in coverage of some specific types of stories in the global context have important implications for better understanding of the processes and structure of international communication in society.
Press Freedom in Jamaica: A Qualitative Content Analysis of Government and Media Debates, 1990-2000 • Grace Virtue, Howard University • The Jamaican media industry has undergone profound changes in the past decade with growth in radio, television and print. With an often-fractious socio-political climate and traditions framed by slavery, colonialism and poverty, there is ongoing debate over how the society is being impacted by the media. This study is an attempt to determine how freedom of the press is conceptualized in Jamaica. A qualitative content analysis of newspaper articles and government documents were used for the study.
Coverage of International Elections in the U.S.: A Path Analysis Model of International News Flow • Wayne Wanta, University of Missouri-Columbia, and Guy Golan, University of Florida • A path analysis examined filters that may influence media coverage of international elections in the U.S. Western industrialized nations and U.N. Security Council members formed a core that received more coverage than peripheral nations. International interactions – trade with the U.S. and number of ancestors in the U.S. -transformed some nations into “semi-peripheral” nations, which received more coverage than other countries. Finally, international attributes – e.g., presence of nuclear weapons and gross domestic product – led some peripheral nations to receive coverage.
Cultural Differences in the Responses towards Offensive Advertising: A Comparison of Koreans, Korea-Americans, and Americans • Tae-Il Yoon, University of Missouri-Columbia and Kyoungtae Nam, University of Tennessee-Knoxville • This research reports on a cross-cultural study about the cultural differences in the affective responses toward offensive advertising. The research examined the issue by testing the reactions toward the controversial Benetton ads among three different groups (Korean, Korean-Americans, and Americans). The empirical data demonstrated that there were significantly cultural differences for non-offensive ad as well as for offensive ads. The results suggested that affective responses to advertising might be more culturally bounded than as expected. Its theoretical and managerial implications were discussed.
Four Effects in the Professionalization Process: A Study of Chinese Journalists in the Reform Era • Yong Zhang, University of Minnesota • Analyzing data from a nation-wide survey (n=1 ,649), this paper examines professional orientations of Chinese journalists in the reform era. Four major factors are found to influence the emergence of journalistic professionalism. They are historical experience represented by age cohort, communist party membership, one’s career path and experiences in professional improvement. Among these competing influences, journalists’ experience in professional improvement is found to be the most powerful predictor of accepting the general ideas of professionalism. The results are interpreted in light of the changing political, economic, and cultural milieu in China’s media reforms.
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