Newspaper and Online News 2014 Abstracts
Open Competition
“And then I just Google it”: Evolving online news consumption processes among young adults • Dunja Antunovic; Patrick Parsons, Pennsylvania State University; Tanner Cooke • In the changing news environment, young adult news audiences consume less news than their elders and they increasingly gravitate online for news. This paper explores three distinct yet overlapping news consumption sub-processes: (1) intended and routinized news repertoires, (2) unintended or incidental exposure, and (3) directed in-depth consumption. Employing a mixed-methods approach that integrates surveys, an online activity and focus group interviews, this research seeks to identify and describe news consumption processes among young adults.
The effect of correction impact on news perceptions: An analysis of Democratic Theory • Alyssa Appelman, The Pennsylvania State University; Kirstie Hettinga, California Lutheran University • Previous research has categorized news corrections by objectivity and impact. This study seeks to build upon that research by assessing whether these factors affect readers’ perceptions of credibility and importance. A between-subjects experiment (N = 80) found that readers consider objective, high-impact corrections to be more important than other kinds of corrections. Interestingly, correction type did not affect perceptions of credibility. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
Racial identity on trial: Breaking the silence in an online reader space • Ann Auman; Kapi‘olani Ching, University of Hawaii • Online reader comments represent a mediated public space that allows participants to construct their narrative of society’s events. This study analyzes the discourses of online reader comments in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser during the trial of a federal agent in the summer of 2013 after he fatally shot a Hawaiian man. It illuminates the complexities underlying social relations, particularly the culture clash theme of locals vs outsiders that is rarely covered in the news media.
Bouncing Back from Stress Psychological resiliency among journalism school students • Clyde Bentley, University of Missouri; David Wallace, University of Missouri Counseling Center; Tom Warhover, University of Missouri School of Journalism; Ed Morris, University of Missouri; Jim Koller, University of Missouri Counseling Center; Tina Hoffman, Central Iowa Psychological Services • Using a large set of interviews and a 174-student survey, the study examined the stress level of journalism students at a large Midwestern university. Mental health professionals at the school had found that journalism students sought counseling help more frequently than did students from other departments. The study found that while a large proportion of the journalism students coped well or even sought the stress of newsrooms, others found it debilitating. The study attempted to identify factors of “resiliency,” – the ability to bounce back from stress – that could be encouraged in journalism curriculum.
How do U.S. problem states’ local newspapers frame prescription drug abuse? • Rebecca Burton, University of Florida; Kim Walsh-Childers, University of Florida; Calli Breil, University of Florida • Prescription drug addiction has been seen as a U.S. epidemic, particularly in ten states: Florida, West Virginia, Nevada, Kentucky, Alaska, Louisiana, New Mexico, Utah, Pennsylvania and Ohio. This study revealed that local newspaper coverage in the ten problem states framed prescription drug abuse in a way that blamed the problem on politicians, bad doctors or drug traffickers or focused on the ways society suffers from the problem. Although terms like “public health crisis” were frequently used, stories were rarely framed in terms of how the problem could be mitigated, a frame we termed recovery. Health-focused stories were rare. The implications for news influence on public and policy responses to prescription drug addiction are discussed.
Disrupted or Misinformed? A Review of U.S. Newspapers’ Technology-Driven Strategy • H. Iris Chyi, University of Texas at Austin • U.S. newspapers’ digital experiment has been going on for two decades, but the performance of their online ventures has fallen short of expectations. Technology, once an opportunity, has turned into an existential challenge for many newspaper firms. Guided by Clay Christensen’s disruptive technology theory, most newspapers take a technology-driven approach, which leads to a largely unsuccessful experiment. This study reviews U.S. newspapers’ digital struggles and examines the prevalent-but-unchecked assumption about an all-digital future for journalism.
Relationships Among Reader Commenting Systems and the Credibility of News Messengers and Messages • Lindsey Conlin, The University of Alabama; Chris Roberts, University of Alabama • This study tested whether the type of commenting and moderation systems affected credibility of an online story and/or the traditional local newspaper that published it. An experiment manipulated native and non-native commenting systems, and pre- and post-publication moderation systems, with a story-only control treatment. The presence of comments decreased messenger credibility, and more frequent commenters perceived lower messenger credibility. Results and implications for online news are discussed.
Sourcing and Framing the Syrian Crisis: How Elite Newspapers Covered the International Reaction to Syria’s Use of Chemical Weapons • Raluca Cozma, Iowa State University; Claudia Kozman, Indiana University • Drawing on scholarship on framing, sourcing, and war journalism, this content analysis explores how The New York Times and The Washington Post covered the international reaction to Syria’s use of chemical weapons against its own citizens in August 2013. The analysis found that stories in the month following the event focused primarily on diplomacy efforts and stopped paying attention to the ongoing civil war. Despite that, conflict framing was still dominant. The stories were generally thematic and richly sourced. The analysis lends support to the literature on the relationship between sourcing and framing and to the indexing hypothesis.
The Arizona Republic and The Indianapolis Star: A Comparative Analysis of Content Changes after Purchase by Gannett • Jeanne Criswell, University of Indianapolis; Robert Gobetz, University of Indianapolis; Frederick May, University of Indianapolis • This study provides quantitative evidence that a local newspaper’s quality before an ownership change substantially influences whether a new ownership model will have a positive, negative or neutral effect. In this case, Gannett ownership had a significantly more detrimental impact on The Arizona Republic than on The Indianapolis Star. The two newspapers’ similar characteristics, shared ownership history, and simultaneous purchase reduced the influence of variables that could account for inconsistencies in other such studies.
Gatekeepers Under Siege: Assessing Factors of Government Public Information Officers’ Controls on Journalists • Carolyn Carlson, Kennesaw State University; David Cuillier, University of Arizona School of Journalism • Journalists as gatekeepers of the news have always had a love-hate relationship with government public information officers (PIOs) in setting the public agenda. Today, reporters are increasingly reliant on PIOs because of reduced resources and staff, and anecdotally journalists allege stronger tactics employed by government to manage the message, including monitoring interviews, prohibiting employees from speaking, and blackballing reporters who write critical stories. This study employs three national surveys to investigate the state of PIO control on the traditional gatekeepers of news – journalists. We surveyed journalists who cover federal agencies, journalists who cover primarily local government, and PIOs at all levels of government to examine whether PIO controls are impacting journalists’ ability to do their jobs, and to identify the individual and external factors related to those controls.
Newsroom Innovation Continuum: A Model for Understanding Heterophily and Innovation • Larry Dailey, University of NV, Reno; Mary Spillman • This paper proposes The Newsroom Innovation Continuum, a theoretical model that connects literature on partnerships between newspapers and television stations, inter-organizational cooperation and innovation. Through a synthesis of research from all three fields, this model suggests that a news organization’s likelihood of innovation correlates with its ability to harness and manage heterophily. The model provides insight into why partnerships have not previously reached their full potential and how future newsroom collaborations could be improved.
Understanding digital media adoption: Analysis of US newspaper coverage of social networks and virtual worlds • Donna Davis; Yan Yang • This content and framing analysis examined the newspaper coverage of social networking sites (Facebook and MySpace) and virtual worlds (Second Life and World of Warcraft) during their burgeoning years. Based on the diffusion of innovation and the hype cycle, this study revealed print media reflected the anticipated adoption curve, yet the coverage was overwhelmingly neutral rather than positive or negative as anticipated. The role of print media in adoption and the hype cycle is discussed.
Weibo as news: Credibility judgments in the context of Chinese microblogging • Xue Dong, The Pennsylvania State University; Alyssa Appelman, The Pennsylvania State University; Chun Liu, Southwest Jiaotong University • Weibo, a microblogging platform similar to Twitter, has become a key source of news in China. Because American-based social media platforms are blocked in China, Weibo has become one of the most popular ways for Chinese people to connect and to share information. This study evaluates Weibo news, in terms of its use and perceived credibility. It also evaluates Weibo’s technological affordances, based on Sundar’s MAIN model (2008). A survey (N = 216) suggests that, despite Weibo’s popularity, television news is still thought to be the most powerful news media outlet in China. In addition, Weibo news use was related to the perceived advantages of the platform, rather than the perceived disadvantages. Interestingly, credibility perceptions are based on bandwagon cues, social presence cues, and quality cues. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.
Primary differences: How market orientation can affect content • Patrick Ferrucci, Bradley University • Studies have shown that market orientation affects content. However, scant research examines how news organizations with different market orientations covered the same story. This study utilizes textual analysis and long-form interviews to compare coverage of the 2013 St. Louis mayoral race. The study compares the strongly market oriented St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the weakly market oriented St. Louis Beacon. Findings showed major differences in content, especially concerning how the two covered race, periphery candidates and the presentation of campaign issues. These results are interpreted through the lens of gatekeeping theory.
Cultural Convergence 10 Years Later: A reexamination of intergroup bias among journalists in the digital media age • Vincent Filak, University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh • This study revisits (BLIND CITE)’s 2004 research of print and broadcast journalists to assess whether changes in the field have diminished the levels of intergroup bias for these groups. The findings here demonstrate that print and broadcast journalists (n=191) remained biased against each other, even in the face of obvious outside threats and outgroup benefits. In addition, the journalists were more likely to view convergence efforts negatively when these efforts were perceived to be the work of outgroup members. In comparing the data gathered here to that in the original study, dislike and distrust of each other remain consistent. Finally, the influx of digital media, while viewed as valuable by all participants, has had little impact regarding the levels of bias the journalists espoused.
Selling a National Influence: The Coverage of the National Collegiate Athletic Association in the New York Times, 1906-1916 • Ashley D. Furrow, University of Memphis • Using the concept of collective memory, this study explores the coverage of the NCAA by the New York Times from 1906-1916. Close examination reveals the dawning of the NCAA’s evolution into a dominating and powerful regulator of intercollegiate athletics as this newspaper charted the progression of its growing influence. As more institutions joined, the NCAA began its transformation into the most influential governing body intercollegiate sports, and the struggle for control is highlighted throughout this analysis.
Mobile Journalism 101: Student Adoption of Mobile Devices in Producing News Content • Dianne Garyantes, Rowan University; Mark Berkey-Gerard, Rowan University • This study examines journalism students’ use of smartphones to produce news content. Survey findings show that students regularly use smartphones for personal use, but most do not employ them when producing content for journalism assignments. Training and technical assistance from journalism faculty, however, positively influenced student use of smartphones to produce news content. These findings provide empirical support for the positive influence of facilitating conditions, a construct identified in models of user acceptance of technology.
Social Media in the Newsgathering Process: A Survey of Routines and Practices • Tamara Gillis, Elizabethtown College; Kirsten Johnson, Elizabethtown College • One-hundred-and-twenty-nine Pennsylvania journalists were surveyed regarding social media use. Journalists report using social media in the newsgathering process, but still favor traditional means. Younger journalists favor using social media tools, especially Twitter, over older journalists. Those who work in larger newsrooms also use social media more than those in smaller newsrooms. While previous studies have examined tools reporters are using, this is the first to examine age, newsroom size, and impact on social media use.
The Rise of the Dragon? Framing China’s Global Leadership in Elite American Newspapers • Guy J. Golan, Syracuse University; Josephine Lukito, Syracuse University • The current study analyzes the framing of China’s emergence as a global power in the opinion pages of two elite newspapers. Results show that the New York Times framed China as a global power undermined by structural limitations, while the Wall Street Journal framed China as a direct threat to U.S. foreign policy interests. The results of the analysis are discussed in the context of media-government power dynamics.
The Adoption of Pinterest by Local Newspapers in the U.S. • Clark Greer, Point Loma Nazarene University; Douglas Ferguson, College of Charleston • Social media are changing the way journalists disseminate news, as well as the way audiences receive and interact with information. This study examined how local newspapers across the US were using the social network Pinterest. Results of a content analysis found that news was the predominant category of themes on pin boards. In addition, the study revealed that the number of pin boards was related to the size of the newspapers’ circulation. However, few newspapers were using the social medium as a tool to promote the paper.
America’s front pages: A 30-year update • David L. Morris II, University of Memphis; Matthew Haught, University of Memphis • In the digital media age, clear and effective visual communication strategies are a key component of media. While the printed newspaper has been in decline, editors have turned to design, in part, as a way to make the product competitive in the crowded media market. The results of this push for design has ushered in an new era of front page design, with newspapers of all sizes embracing navigation tools and promotions. This study updates the work of Pasternack and Utt examining newspaper design trends in 1984 and 1995. Using front pages collected from 453 newspapers throughout the United States, this study examines the state of current front page design. Further, it explores the use of design hubs and their effect on page design in newspaper chains.
Community Conflict, News Coverage, and Mountaintop Mining in Appalachia: A Content Analysis of Major State and Mining Community Newspapers • Kylah Hedding, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Daniel Riffe, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • Community conflict theory and its “counter-thesis” about the press’s role are not polar opposites. This is especially true for Appalachian areas dependent on a single industry like coal, where much of the conflict comes down to tradeoffs between environmental effects and economic development. This study examines how these competing interests are addressed in the media, using content analysis of news coverage of mountaintop coal mining in community and state/metro papers in Kentucky and West Virginia.
Blog Sites and Blog Cites: Newspaper Journalists’ Use of Blogs as News Sources (2004-2013) • Kyle Heim, Seton Hall University • This study analyzed newspaper articles from 2004 to 2013 in which blogs were cited as news sources (N = 802). Results revealed that the blogs generally were not featured prominently within the articles, and the practice of citing blogs as sources has declined since 2010. Although researchers generally have focused on the role of blogs in political coverage, the citing of blogs occurred more frequently in articles about business and technology and in general news items.
Can the watchdog ever retire? Reevaluating journalistic roles through their performance • Lea Hellmueller; Lindsey Blumell; Jennifer Huemmer; Claudia mellado • This study examines how journalistic role conception performs as a gatekeeping tool to produce content consistent with the two dominant US journalism models: watchdog and civic-oriented journalism. Our study seeks to expand on the established survey research by measuring role performance through a content analysis of newspaper articles. Our findings indicate a strong relationship between gatekeeping practices and the visibility of journalistic roles in news stories.
Journalists and linking: A metajournalistic discourse analysis • Juliette De Maeyer, Université de Montréal, Communication; Avery Holton, University of Utah • Journalists have incorporated hyperlinks (i.e., linking) into their professional practice since the early stages of digital news expansion. Media scholars and professionals championed their use early on, placing an emphasis on the frequency of link occurrence in news content rather than explorations of their functionality. More recent scholarship has observed links may enhance the rapid exchange of information, provide novel levels of transparency, improve trust and social capital, and augment communicative and connective opportunities between journalists and audiences. These studies have drawn largely on data from audiences or limited pools of professional journalists. Less is known about the perceptions and uses of links in journalism on a broader journalistic scale. Drawing on a metajournalistic discourse analysis, this study finds that while journalists and other news media experts may indeed see value in linking, that optimism is balanced by levels of caution and worry, suggesting a need for media scholars, journalists, and news organization to re-evaluate the deployment of links within the news process.
Effect of News Tweets on Users’ Liking, Trust, and Intention to Share and Use Information • Brian Houston, University of Missouri; Mitchell McKinney; Esther Thorson; Joshua Hawthorne; David Wolfgang, University of Missouri; Alecia Swasy • Using an experiment, we tested how news tweet (topic, tone, focus) and user (Twitter familiarity, location) characteristics affected attitudes about news tweets with a random sample of Chicago and Los Angeles adults. Results indicated tweet topic and user location affected some tweet attitudes. Also, objective tweets were preferred to subjective, and local tweets were preferred to national. At the same time, local subjective tweets were most appealing. Experience with Twitter was important in understanding effects.
The Re-Animation of Literary Journalism as a Digital Genre • Susan Jacobson, Florida International University; Robert Gutsche Jr, Florida International University; Jacqueline Marino, Kent State University • Since The New York Times published Snow Fall in 2012, digital news audiences have seen a growing body of similar work characterized by the purposeful integration of multimedia into longform journalism. Some of these packages also employ techniques from literary journalism, such as scenes and character development. Creators include both established media organizations and startups. Their work is alternately celebrated as the future of digital storytelling and lambasted as a distracting mess of multimedia. Just as the literary journalists of the 1960s attempted to write the nonfiction equivalent of the great American novel, the Web journalists of the 2010s are reviving literary journalism techniques. They are experimenting with multimedia to enhance the literary form and incorporating new digital formats, such as parallax scroll and video loops, to produce a new era of multimedia literary narratives that are character-driven and evocative of time and place. To evaluate whether this emerging genre represents a revival of literary journalism and to what extent it incorporates new techniques of news storytelling, we analyze 50 longform news packages published online in 2012 and 2013.
The Objectivity Question: A Q Study of Journalism Students’ Perceptions of Objectivity as a Normative Value • Amanda Kehrberg; Christina DeWalt, The University of Oklahoma; Joonil Kim, University of Oklahoma; Peter Gade, Professor at the University of Oklahoma • Objectivity has long been considered a normative value of journalism, one essential to the journalist’s claims to both credibility and autonomy (Gans, 2005; Mindich, 1998; Rosen, 1993; Schudson, 2001). Yet while objectivity is continuously cited as the most important guiding norm, research and professional sources suggest that objectivity is often misunderstood by journalists and applied differently in their work. This confusion is amplified by the rise of postmodern skepticism on the existence of observable, stable truth and the proliferation of collaborative digital technology. The purpose of this study is to understand how undergraduate journalism majors, as aspiring professional journalists, process and understand concepts related to objectivity as a guiding professional norm. In this Q-Methodology study, 42 aspiring journalists (undergraduate journalism majors at a major Midwestern university) sorted 44 stimulus statements about dimensions of objectivity in March 2014. The results produced four factors explaining 58% of the variance: The Objective Traditionalists, the Uncertain Scientists, the Human Professionals, and the Digital Participants. The findings show three strongly correlated factors with high support for objectivity as a guiding professional norm, with distinct differences identified in how respondents understand impartiality and the increasing influence of technology.
Political Participation and Newspaper Coverage of Municipal Elections In Small-Town America • Esther Thorson; Scott C. Swafford, University of Missouri; Eunjin (Anna) Kim, University of Missouri • Local elections are the bedrock of participatory politics but seldom the focus of studies about news media effects. The present study reports a survey of media use and political knowledge and participation in local elections by people in three small Midwest communities. The literature on how news and interpersonal communication impact political participation via cognitive, affective, and behavioral routes is used to predict how consumption of election news, preferences for different kinds and formats of information, interpersonal political discussion, and exposure to political persuasion messages predict voting in municipal elections, knowledge about municipal government structure, perceived importance of the elections, and other kinds of participation in them.
How U.S. Daily Newspapers Decide to Design and Implement Paywalls • Mike Jenner, University of Missouri; Esther Thorson; Eunjin (Anna) Kim, University of Missouri • This study reports a representative survey of 416 publishers of U.S. dailies. The focus was to determine current levels of paywall deployment, and to explore how newspaper management decided to move to paywalls. The study is informed by the New Institutionalism (e.g., Lowrey, 2011), which suggests that newspaper companies perceive themselves as institutions with significant values and responsibilities to fulfill and therefore are less likely to use independent consumer research in making business decisions, and more likely to ask and imitate each other. Although the findings show some independent consumer research, it is at a low level, while asking each other is the most common “research” procedure. There are also clear effects on decision-making of newspaper size and its ownership structure.
Anatomy of Front Pages: Comparison between The New York Times and other elite U.S. newspapers • Yung Soo Kim, University of Kentucky, School of Journalism and Telecommunications; Deborah Chung, University of Kentucky • Using a content analysis, this paper compares the front page elements of the New York Times with six elite national newspapers to assess how different news organizations package and present their most important page to the public. Findings reveal that the Times featured more international and national news stories, depended more frequently on its own staff for both stories and images, and employed smaller headlines on its front page compared to the other elite newspapers.
Portrayals of Hunger: Priming Effects of Stereotypical News Images on Caucasian and Hispanic Audiences • Meredith Morris, University of Central Florida; William Kinnally, University of Central Florida • This study applies priming and exemplification to examine the ways in which news photos influenced readers’ social judgments. Of particular interest were the perceptions of Caucasian respondents about minorities, and Hispanics’ perceptions of African Americans and other Hispanics regarding the issue of hunger. Participants (506 college students) were randomly assigned to read one of three versions of an online news article about emergency hunger services. One version included photographs of African Americans, another included photos of Hispanics, the last was text-only. All three articles included base-rate statistics of ethnicities using emergency hunger services. Results showed images influence the way Caucasians and Hispanics perceive those people suffering from hunger. Key findings included that Caucasians in the study were susceptible to Hispanic primes, which altered their views on their perceptions about the number of Hispanics receiving emergency food services. However, Caucasians’ perceptions of African Americans did not change. Additionally, Hispanic participants were affected by primes in such a way that limitations on societal advancement were perceived more strongly than those of the Caucasian participants. The difference between Caucasians’ stereotypes regarding African Americans and Hispanics is an interesting development. The role of priming stereotype in relation to social issues is discussed.
Going Digital and Social: How a Colorado Newspaper Adopted New Journalistic Strategies • Kris Kodrich, Colorado State University • This study examines how the executive editor of the Fort Collins Coloradoan implemented a digital strategy and how the journalists at the daily newspaper accepted the changes. Utilizing concepts from newsroom sociology and diffusion of innovations to examine the changes, the study concludes that the editor successfully changed the culture of the newsroom in order to better serve the community. The study offers recommendations for newsrooms seeking a similar path.
The Evolution of Values: A Case Study of Washington Post Sunday Magazine Editors • Jeff Lemberg, Curry College • How do editors of a weekly newspaper section manage the interplay between editorial values and business values? This case study of The Washington Post Sunday magazine reveals that editors of the magazine routinely sought positive recognition and professional acceptance by the daily newspaper’s most respected journalists, and routinely ignored the business side of publishing. However, findings also show a clear evolution in editors’ attitudes, toward a more balanced approach to news and business values.
Since 1984: The Emergence of Journalistic Professionalism of Southern Weekend • Xiaoqin Li, Department of Communication, FSS, University of Macau • Consisting of two rounds in-depth-interviews with the journalists and editors of Southern Weekend, the leading weekly in China, the author aims to investigate how the staff in Southern Weekend, not only break the limitation of the authority, but also meet the market need in spite of paying the price of ‘media deviance’ in the view of the power center. The motivations are found to come from both Chinese tradition and journalistic professionalism.
Agenda Rich, Agenda Poor: Exploring Agenda Diversity of Internet events on news coverage in China • Shuning Lu, University of Texas at Austin; Baohua Zhou, Fudan University • With the proliferation of Internet events in China, mainstream journalism reacts to this trend actively. The current study employs agenda diversity as a core concept to systematically examine the ways in which mass media cover Internet events. It reveals that Internet events have been incorporated into news coverage in traditional media in China. However, it exhibits a limited, unstable and fragmented manner of covering Internet events, which largely correspondent to the newspapers’ location and journalistic paradigm. The implications and future research directions are also discussed in the study.
Job Satisfaction and Gender at Iowa Newspapers: Findings from a Mixed-Method Study • Tracy Lucht, Iowa State University • This study aims to contribute to the literature on gender and job satisfaction by using a mixed-method approach to learn the perceptions and attitudes of employees at community newspapers in Iowa. A survey (n=139) was used to gather quantitative and qualitative data in order to compare the employment experiences and job satisfaction of male and female employees on measures of job quality, work-life balance, and organizational support.
Tweets and Tributes to Fallen Journalists: The Emerging Role of Social Media in Journalism’s Hero Mythology • Raymond McCaffrey, University of Arkansas • This study explored the existence of hero myths in tributes by journalists via Twitter after the deaths of correspondents Anthony Shadid and Marie Colvin in February 2012. A qualitative analysis revealed that about 38 percent of the 466 tweets advanced a hero myth. The study concluded that social media has emerged as a powerful agent in spreading a mythology that espouses risk-taking and a form of stoicism that involves ignoring the consequences of dangerous assignments.
Framing building in news coverage of school shootings • Michael McCluskey, Tennessee-Chattanooga • Two dimensions of frame building, structural characteristics and social norms, were evaluated to understand the range of problem definitions within news coverage of school shootings. Nine problem definitions were analyzed in the news content (N = 1,326). Although newspapers in Republican and Democratic states did not differ, other audience-oriented structural characteristics varied. Events with the highest degrees of social norm violation emphasized individual-level responsibility. Findings expand understanding of frame building and problem definitions.
Do online news comments matter? Anonymity, argument quality and valence • Barbara Miller, Elon University; Qian Xu, Elon University; Brooke Barnett, Elon University • This study involved an experiment examining how attributes of reader comments in response to news stories impacted perceptions of an online news story as well as reader intentions to share the story, a key aspect of public deliberation on a topic. Attributes of both the comment and the commenter impacted reader perceptions of the online journalism as well as reader intentions to learn more about the topic or continue discussing the story in other formats.
The Coverage and the Speech: A Case in Collaborative Agenda Setting and Singapore • Fernando Paragas, Nanyang Technological University; Chee Leong Lam, Nanyang Technological University; Premkumar Thanapalan; Eugene Seng • This paper seeks to contribute to this debate on the relationship between media and the government in Singapore by exploring the idea of a collaborative agenda setting in which, in addition to the classical flow from newsmakers to news coverage, the media reflexively nurtures an agenda for and with the government. For its case the study explores the link between the coverage of the Straits Times a year prior to the Prime Minister’s speech on National Day Rally 2013. Education, a major concern in the nationwide discourse initiative Our Singapore Conversation, is the anchor topic. Using quantitative and qualitative textual analytical approaches, this research shows the dynamics of collaborative agenda setting and its implications to Singapore and the relationship between media and the state.
When New Media Makes News: Framing Technology and Sexual Assault in the Steubenville Rape Case • Rosemary Pennington, Indiana University School of Journalism; Jessica Birthisel, Bridgewater State University • The 2013 Steubenville rape trial featured a sadly familiar story of juvenile acquaintance rape; what captured national interest in the case, however, was how the rapists and peer witnesses captured video and photos of the assault and disseminated them in social media. This qualitative textual framing analysis explores how national news coverage of the case framed technology in relation to the assault, particularly how technology was framed as witness, galvanizer, and threat.
When a change isn’t really a change: Sampling error in coverage of presidential approval ratings • Matthew Reavy, University of Scranton; Kimberly Pavlick, University of Scranton • This study extends research into how journalists handle sampling error within polls by examining coverage of President Obama’s approval ratings in three major newspapers over a five-year period. Results indicate support for hypotheses suggesting that, when confronted with poll results that could be explained by sampling error alone, journalists will instead emphasize those changes or differences. Special attention is given to difficulties involving “records” and results depicted as crossing an arbitrary line.
Converging on Quality: Integrating the St. Louis Beacon and St. Louis Public Radio Newsrooms • Frank Michael Russell, University of Missouri/Missouri School of Journalism; Esther Thorson; Margaret Duffy, Missouri School of Journalism; Heesook Choi • This paper reports the first phase of research about the merger of the St. Louis Beacon, a nonprofit online news startup, and St. Louis Public Radio. Based on a semi-structured interview with the editor of St. Louis Public Radio and a content analysis of articles posted on the two organizations’ websites, we conclude that the combined news organization has made initial progress in integrating complementary strengths based on several quantitative indicators of news quality.
Controlling The Conversation: The Availability Of Commenting Forums By News Topic In Online Newspapers • Arthur Santana, University of Houston • Reader commenting forums of online newspaper sites allow newsreaders the opportunity to participate in an online conversation about the news topic at hand, furthering the democracy-enabling function of newspapers. The forums, however, are not universally available following all news stories. This research investigates the extent to which some news topics are more likely than others to come with a commenting forum, adding a new dimension to newspapers’ ability to set the public agenda.
Graphic Display in News Stories • Frederick Schiff, University of Houston; David Llanos, University of Houston • Two exhaustive models of news coverage predict graphic display in newspaper stories. All the leading theories of news play are incorporated in a three-level Hierarchical Linear Model, specifying story-level, newspaper-level and ownership-level variables. A separate Factor Analysis Model found five “common-sense” story types. OLS analysis produced the most parsimonious set of significant variables from the competing models and theories and yielded an Adjusted R2 of 9.3 percent of the explained variance in predicting graphic display.
Journalist’s Perceived Knowledge and Use of Heuristics in Selecting Sources and Story Ideas for Health News Reporting • Heather Shoenberger, University of Missouri; Shelly Rodgers, University of Missouri at Columbia • This study seeks to identify differences between reporters with low versus high perceived knowledge on health reporting. We theorized that reporters with lower perceived knowledge were more likely to rely on official/branded sources (short-cuts) for story ideas than their peers who have higher perceived knowledge. Additionally, we sought to discover whether reporters with higher perceived knowledge delve deeper into the health topic by spending more time researching and relying on more technical scientifically based sources than those with lower perceived knowledge. Implications for health reporting and health literacy are discussed.
Get it first, get it fast, get it in fewer than 140 characters: Local vs. regional news microblogging • Amanda Sturgill, Elon University; Dana Gullquist • As traditional news outlets such as newspapers are using microblogging as a way to break news stories, questions about the lack of context and the lack of confirmation prior to publication are arising. One area that has been less examined is the differential effects in newspapers of different sizes. This paper considers the coverage of the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., with comparison of the Twitter feed from the local weekly, a regional daily and a state-wide publication via content analysis. All three covered the story on Twitter, but even though the social medium reached a worldwide potential audience, the content of the Tweets were differentiated as if for the audience for the print product. The small weekly was more accurate than the larger dailies were.
Take me inside and tell me what’s important: What do readers want from journalists they follow on social media • Amanda Sturgill, Elon University; Max Negin, Elon University; Margaret Sloane • As more news consumers are finding their stories on social media, there is increasing pressure on news outlets and journalists to meet and interact with the audience there. However, concerns over social media’s disruption of the established news process and its credibility safeguards, and worries over the financial pressures that have already stressed journalists to an extreme have meant there is not a clear model of how best to use the new tools. This paper looks at one aspect of the issue: audience expectations. Responses (n=422) to an open question about journalists in social media asked on Facebook by a popular newspaper columnist were thematically analyzed. Researchers found that readers wanted journalists on social media to provide auxiliary content and to engage with readers about the process of story development. Implications for journalistic practice are discussed.
Why web analytics click: Factors affecting the ways journalists use audience metrics • Edson Tandoc, Nanyang Technological University • This study, based on a survey of 210 online editors, proposes a theoretical framework guided by field theory that explains the patterns of how journalists use web analytics in news work. This framework is tested using structural equation modeling and finds that journalists’ perception of competition in the field, and their conceptions of the audience as a particular form of capital, lead them to using web analytics in particular ways.
A tale of two newsrooms: How market orientation influences web analytics use • Edson Tandoc, Nanyang Technological University; Patrick Ferrucci, Bradley University • This current study compares a strongly market-oriented newsroom and a weakly market-oriented newsroom in terms of how they used web analytics in news work. Using ethnographic methods, the study finds that web analytics influenced editorial decisions in both newsrooms. However, the two newsrooms differed in the extent to which they used analytics and in their reasons for doing so. These differences are examined using the framework of market theory in news construction.
Making Business News: A Production Analysis of The New York Times and The Implications for Accountability Journalism • Nikki Usher, The George Washington University • The 2007-2009 financial crisis and its lingering after-effects have provoked strong reactions about the place of business journalism in creating public interest journalism. Questions often associated with government-journalist relationships have recently been asked of business news, from concerns about sourcing practices to the implications of ownership. To move the discourse about the financial crisis forward, it is important to understand how journalists produce and create business news. This article stems from five months of ethnographic research at The New York Times and aims to offer insight into business news production at the nation’s leading newspaper. From a theoretical perspective, it offers an evaluation of the significance of the values embedded in news creation for understanding the potential for watchdog journalism. The article considers critiques about the political economy of business journalism, but data ultimately suggest that that Gans’ (1979) “responsible capitalism” offers a guiding framework for understanding journalists’ decision-making. This perspective has both strengths and weaknesses for developing accountability journalism. Ultimately, the article argues that journalists, per se, may not be the problem, but the traditional structures of journalistic output may be in part to blame for the limitations of accountability business journalism.
Intermedia agenda-setting in a multimedia environment: The case of national elections in Austria • Ramona Vonbun, Institut of University of Vienna, Department of Communication; Katharina Kleinen-von Königslöw; Klaus Schoenbach • This paper analyzes the intermedia agenda-setting process of 34 newspapers, online news sites and TV-news in a nationwide setting through automatic content analysis and time series analysis. The findings suggest that the opinion leader role of a medium depends on issue specific characteristics such as obtrusiveness, mediating the intermedia agenda-setting process. Additionally, the traditional role of print media as intermedia agenda-setters may be challenged by online news sites, especially for issues with an online focus.
Characteristics of Newspaper Stories For and Against Tobacco Control • Zongyuan Wang, University of Missouri at Columbia; Ginny Chadwick, University of Missouri; Shelly Rodgers, University of Missouri at Columbia • To answer the call for more systematic surveillance and evaluation of newspaper coverage of tobacco, a 7-year content analysis of Missouri newspapers examined characteristics of newspaper stories for and against tobacco control. Results showed that pro-tobacco control themes (i.e., non-smokers’ rights, public health) were dominant; however, a considerable number of newspaper stories were against tobacco control. Pro-tobacco control themed stories were less prominent than anti-tobacco control themed stories in terms of story size as well as number of graphics, and less localized in terms of local sources cited, localized sentences, as well as ordinary citizens as authors. In spite of this, stories for control did focus on providing more information related to public health and more resources for references and were more likely to mobilize readers to change their health behavior and their community. This study calls for an increase in prominence and localization of pro-tobacco control news stories.
Student Papers
Preparatory Journalism: The College Newspaper as a Pedagogical Tool • David Bockino • This study utilizes a national survey of college newspaper advisers to assess the pedagogical benefits of the college newspaper. It finds significant differences between the degree of audience and marketing coupling occurring within college and U.S. daily newspapers as well as differences in student autonomy among college newspapers with varying financial foundations. The results call into question the role of the college newspaper within a changing media environment.
Local Press Politics: Transparency and the Lobbying Efforts of Newspaper Associations in the U.S. • Michael Clay Carey, Ohio University • Media companies have a long history of actively lobbying federal and state governments on issues related to freedom of information, as well as policies that affect media revenues. This study examines media lobbying efforts at the state level, where local press associations actively lobby state legislatures on issues that affect daily and weekly newspapers. Using journalistic understandings of transparency as a foundation, the research considers how newspaper associations characterize their efforts to shape public policy through lobbying, what issues they emphasize as priorities on public websites, and how their online statements about public policy compare to actual money spent lobbying on behalf of newspapers. Newspapers and newspaper associations are fierce advocates for transparency in government, but this research suggests that newspaper associations are not especially transparent about their own involvement in the governmental process. Many associations considered in this study provided little information about the money and time spent lobbying the government to make it easier for reporters to do their job and for newspapers to turn a profit. The study argues that, as advocates for government transparency and important actors in democratic societies themselves, newspapers (and, by extension, the press associations they constitute) have a moral obligation to be transparent about such matters.
Seeing Through the User’s Eyes: The Role of Journalists’ Audience Perceptions in Their Use of Technology • Mark Coddington, University of Texas at Austin • Using a national survey of U.S. newspaper journalists, this study examines whether journalists’ perceptions of their audience are a significant factor in their implementation of new technologies. Findings indicate that journalists’ perception of audience demand is significantly associated with increased technology use, though perceptions of the audience’s technological use and access are not a significant factor. In addition, the relationship between audience perception and technology use is stronger for smaller newspapers than larger ones.
You’ll Never Believe What They Found: Examining Potential Uses of Clickbait in Headlines • Holly Cowart, University of Florida; Jeffrey Riley, University of Florida • This study explores how exposure to clickbait-style headlines influences a reader’s likelihood to read, share, and trust story content based on mere exposure effect. Survey respondents reported their level of new media versus traditional media use. The 172 respondents then selected stories they would read, share, and trust based on headline style. The study found a relationship between reported use of media and level of trust toward clickbait-style headlines.
Accessibility-heuristic and changes of media frames • Byung Wook Kim, University of Iowa; Subin Paul, University of Iowa • This study examined changes of the U.S. media frames of the Fukushima disaster, mainly focusing on the frames that discussed in the previous studies as cues inducing individuals’ different decision value regarding safety concerns. We found that “uncertainty” option increased over time with a “loss-frame” being dominant, and the proportion of undesirable consequences in a story decreased. We concluded that frame-changing by the U.S. media has likely invoked public perception of safety in Fukushima positively.
What makes “good” news newsworthy? • Karen McIntyre, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • For decades, the media have been criticized for focusing too much on negative news. As a result, news outlets exist that only publish happy, positive stories. A content analysis was conducted to determine the news value of stories published on five online “good” news outlets. Stories were coded for the presence or absence of traditional news values, such as impact, timeliness, etc. Results indicated that stories from “good” news websites were overwhelmingly entertaining and emotional and lacked common news values such as conflict and references to power authority figures. Implications are discussed.
News Goes Native: An Examination of Online News Media’s Disclosure Practices for Sponsored Content • Joseph Moore, University of Nebraska at Lincoln • Online news publishers are increasingly using sponsored content that assumes the format of the host site’s editorial content. This has led to concern among some in the journalism industry that readers will be unable to distinguish advertising from news editorial. A content analysis and an experiment examined how publishers are formatting sponsored content and how readers are processing disclosure information for sponsored content. The results suggest that current labeling and disclosure practices may be inadequate in alerting readers to the commercial nature of sponsored content.
The gender gap revisited: Pattern persists of under-representing female candidates in newspapers’ election coverage • Audrey Post, Florida State University • Much has been written over the past 40 years about female political candidates, their efforts to shatter the so-called “glass ceiling,” and the effects of media coverage on women’s candidacies. Despite gains in equity of coverage and the prominence of female candidates in the 2008 presidential election, an analysis of newspaper coverage of the 2010 election for Florida governor revealed the gender gap persists, even when a woman is a major-party nominee.
The News Agenda Online: Hyperlinks on Traditional Prestige Media and Internet-Only Websites • Frank Michael Russell, University of Missouri/Missouri School of Journalism • This study examines the use of hyperlinks in articles on traditional prestige and online-only news websites in the context of agenda building, intermedia agenda-setting, and gatekeeping theories. Evidence is found that news organizations use hyperlinks primarily for the gatekeeping function of sending readers to content elsewhere on their websites. However, hyperlinks also show to varying extents that news organizations are influenced by other news media more than official or expert sources.
Transformation of the Print: Examining the Diminishing News Orientation of Leading American Newspapers • Miki Tanikawa, University of Texas at Austin • Over the last several decades, newspapers have shed their news orientation in favor of features and analytical news stories in large part to differentiate themselves from their on-line rivals which have a clear speed advantage. Content analyses of leading American newspapers found that today only 35 percent of the front page articles are traditional, event centered news articles, down from 69 percent 25 years ago.
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