International Communication 2017 Abstracts
ROBERT L. STEVENSON OPEN PAPER COMPETITION
Future Growth of ACEJMC: U.S. and International Accreditation • Robin Blom, Ball State University; Lucinda Davenport, Michigan State University; Brian J. Bowe, Western Washington University • The number of journalism undergraduate programs accredited by ACEJMC has been stagnant for years. One way to grow the organization is further expansion abroad. A survey of journalism program directors indicated that many see opportunities to spread U.S. values and appreciation for free speech to countries where censorship is rampant, whereas other fear cultural imperialism. This paper discusses the pros and cons of journalism and mass communication accreditation in general, as well as international expansion.
‘Love and courage’: Resilience strategies of journalists facing trauma in northern Mexico • Stephen Choice, The University of Arizona • Mexico is one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists. This study focuses on types of trauma that journalists working in an environment marked by violence and threats experience, as well as the resilience they employ to continue working. Twenty-six print journalists in eight cities near the U.S. border have been interviewed to discover types of trauma and the extent of resilience achieved, as well as ways they go about doing so.
Expressions of International Solidarity via Online Newspaper Stories and Public Comments During Times of Terror • Ioana Coman, University of Wisconsin – Green Bay; Catherine Luther • This study explores the major themes and the thematic markers related to transnational solidarity in The New York Times and Le Figaro’s news stories about the Boston Marathon bombing and their online comments. The overall findings indicate a solidarity narrative across these news stories and online comments. A terrorist attack may create homogeneous communities (Ruiz, et al., 2011), bonding individuals together at a transnational level regardless the possible political strains existing between the nations.
Frame alignment and environmental activism： The case of international and grassroots NGOs in China • Fanxu Zeng; Jia Dai, Tsinghua University • This study examines the framing process in two environmental actions initiated by NGOs: the APP’s deforestation case and the Nu River dam project case. Through interviews with NGO personnel and media managers and analysis of media reports, we focused on an explanation of why certain types of NGO framing prove more effective in achieving their objectives than others. Using the concept of both framing alignment and contestation, we explore how NGOs package interpretive orientations of the issues and set up media frames, and how they cautiously assessed and readjusted their media strategies when confronting counter-frame arguments. Findings suggest that the international NGO Greenpeace were better at strategically use framing alignment with both the government and media, whereas domestic grassroots NGOs failed to align their frames appropriately to gain advantages in framing contestation. This study also reflects on the problem of civil society in China: If indigenous NGOs are quite weak and inept compared to a big transnational NGO like Greenpeace, the formation of a vibrant Chinese civil society may be problematic and unrealistic.
A Qualitative Analysis of Themes in the Global West and the Global South Coverage of the Ebola Outbreak • Adaobi Duru, University of Louisiana at Monroe • Using a media systems comparative framework, I investigated news coverage of the Ebola outbreak. I compare coverage between the liberal media system and the polarized pluralist media system. Leveraging a highly salient event: the Ebola outbreak, I extended the Hallin and Mancini Model to non-western democracies. The study explored differences and similarities in coverage of the outbreak across media systems. Findings revealed that the liberal media system framing of the Ebola outbreak fell into three major categories that differed from the polarized pluralist framing. Journalists in the liberal media system emphasized the limitations of the African continent in the coverage of Ebola. On the other hand, the polarized pluralist media system framing of the outbreak differed from the liberal media system framing because they emphasized the broader implications of the outbreak.
From Physical Space to Cyberspace: Discursive Constructions of “The Great Firewall of China” in Select Newspaper Cartoons • Lyombe Eko, Teexas Tech University; Li Chen • The Great Firewall is a metaphorical turn of phrase that is meant to frame the Chinese infrastructure of Internet information control as being analogous to the Great Wall, an ancient defensive bulwark that is central to Chinese history and culture. We studied international cartoon re-presentations of the imaginary Great Firewall of China. It was found that cartoons from many parts of the world presented China as the walled “Other” of the age of Global interconnectedness.
Country Mentions on Twitter: An Emerging Theoretical Framework • Michael Elasmar; Jacob Groshek; Denis Wu, Boston University • This study focuses on country mentions on social media. It proposes and tests a new theoretical framework that explains and predicts country mentions on Twitter. This study concludes that countries with greater economic power will be mentioned more frequently on Twitter but also that, independent of economic power, larger countries will be mentioned more frequently and so will countries that experience more humanitarian crises. Implications and limitations of the findings are discussed.
Comparing Journalistic Interventionism in News Content Cross-Nationally • lea hellmueller, University of Houston; Claudia Mellado; Maria Luisa Humanes; Mireya Márquez; Amado Adriana; Jacques Mick; Colin Sparks; Daniel Olivera; Martin Oller Alonso; Cornelia Mothes, TU Dresden; Nikos Panagiotou; Wang Haiyan; Gabriella Szabó, Centre for Social Sciences, Hungarian Academy of S; Henry Silke; Moniza Waheed; Edson Tandoc, Nanyang Technological University; Agnieszka Stepinska; Daniel Beck; Pasti Svetlana • The concept of journalistic voice has not gained much attention in comparative media research at the expense of a stronger focus on the voices of sources in news coverage. Based on content analyses in 19 countries (N=34,514) this research investigates the types of journalistic voices that are performed in advanced democracies, transitional democracies and non-democratic countries. This study analyzes the neutral-advocate dimension of the journalistic voice in news stories introducing a cross-culture measure of journalistic voice in news. The results show that interventionism is not limited to Mediterranean or partisan media cultures, but can be explained by structural variables such as media freedom and the level of crime in society as well as organizational-level variables such as political leaning of the news outlet, news beat as well as the amount of sources that accompany the journalistic voice in news stories.
Transnational media in a resurgent nationalist movement era: the role of identity in audience’s national and transnational media evaluation • Vanessa Higgins Joyce; Michael Devlin • Many believed in a post-national era, with accelerated globalization in past decades. However, recent nationalist movements resurge in the United States and abroad. This study sought to identify an association between transnational media use and nationalist and internationalist identities in the U.S. With a panel survey of Americans, it found that nationalism predicted perceived credibility of national media, and Fox news in particular. It also found that internationalism predicted credibility and consumption of transnational media.
Drugs, Politics, and the Media: News Coverage of Drug Trafficking in Turkey • Duygu Kanver, Michigan State University; Manuel Chavez, Michigan State University • A bridge between the Middle East and Europe, Turkey has been in the heart of numerous “drug routes” for trafficking illegal drugs produced in the East and delivered to the West. As Turkish police fight drug smuggling through the borders, the public is not well-informed about the issue: A qualitative analysis of the news stories by two mainstream dailies, Hurriyet and Sabah, shows that the coverage is (1) highly politicized, and (2) low in quality.
Testing Stereotypes about the Online Arab Public Sphere: Predictors of Concerns about Internet Surveillance in Five Arab Countries • Justin Martin, Northwestern University in Qatar; Klaus Schoenbach, Northwestern University in Qatar; Shageaa Naqvi • This study examined concerns about internet surveillance among internet users in Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Lebanon, Qatar, and the U.A.E. (N=4,160). Despite common stereotypes about how variables like gender, youth, income, nationality, and liberal or conservative ideology affect political and cultural attitudes in Arab countries, these indicators were not significant predictors of concerns about online surveillance by governments and companies. Arab nationals reported greater concern about companies monitoring their online activity, while expatriates were more worried about government surveillance. The study uses literature on the attribute substitution heuristic to discuss how people might form stereotypes about large groups of people.
News under Pressure: Journalists Views about the Impact of Corporate and Political Ownership of News Media in India • Zara Masood, University of Miami • Indian news media have experienced considerable corporatization and, more important, politicization (politician owners, party leaning owners/editors) in recent years. This paper explores, through the views of journalists in India, the impact of corporatization as well as of the news-politician relationship on their work as well as on the content of news. It finds considerable instrumental use of the media to the advantage of corporate owners and particularly politicians. Partisanship shapes Indian news content considerably.
The Influence of Journalistic Role Performance on Objective Reporting in Chilean, Mexican and Spanish News • Claudia Mellado; Maria Luisa Humanes; Mireya Márquez • Based on a content analysis of stories published in Chile, Mexico and Spain (N=7,868), this study examines the use of four objective reporting methods in newspapers from Spain, Mexico and Chile, and the influence of the performance of six journalistic roles in those reporting methods. The results show that the materialization of objectivity varies across journalistic cultures, revealing also a significant influence of the performance of professional roles on the implementation of objectivity in news.
Revisiting the “Brazilian Paradox:” journalists’ attitudes towards left and right-leaning protests • Rachel Mourao, Michigan State University • This study analyzes Brazilian journalists’ news routines and attitudes towards the protests that swept the country in 2013 and 2015. Guided by literature on the “protest paradigm” and the “Brazilian self-censorship paradox,” a survey of 1,250 reporters reveals individual, organization and routine-level influences on personal attitudes, perceptions of employers’ editorial line and mainstream coverage. Findings reveal that both right and left-leaning reporters viewed mainstream media and their outlet’s coverage as adversarial to their own.
Over Half a Century After Independence: Press Freedom in Zambia at the Crossroads • Gregory Pitts, Middle Tennessee State University; Twange Kasoma, Radford University • Zambia, over half a century after independence and as it commemoratinges its silver jubilee, since the return of multiparty elections finds itself at an awkward crossroads since the return of multiparty elections. This study examines the development of multiparty elections in Zambia and uses quantitative data to investigate the level of support for press freedom among members of the Zambian Parliament. The study finds that while Parliamentarians support press freedom, political and social values—influenced by Colonialism and Humanism—have not matured to sustain a free press and Zambia’s press freedom has regressed. Government control or dominance of media will stifle, rather than nurture, the growth of a generation of reporters who can function as independent journalists.
Perceptions of Media Roles among Journalism Students in Serbia, Croatia, and Macedonia: Does news orientation have an impact? • Ivanka Pjesivac, University of Georgia; Iveta Imre, University of Arkansas; Katerina Spasovska, Western Carolina University • This study examined the perceptions of media roles among journalism students in Serbia, Croatia, and Macedonia (N=501). The results show that the most important are citizen-oriented and watchdog roles and that they are positively predicted by hard news orientation, whereas consumer and loyal roles are least important and positively predicted by the soft news orientation. This is the first study that comparatively analyzed students’ views in three countries of the former Yugoslavia using national samples.
Diasporic vs. national media in covering an international deal: An investigation of how American and Iranian diasporic media covered the Iran Nuclear Deal • Mehrnaz Rahimi, Miami University; Rosemary Pennington, Miami University • After long time negotiations with P 5+1, Iran and the world reached an agreement on its uranium enrichment program in summer 2015. This agreement or deal was a major achievement for Iran because it resulted in the removing sanctions and the release of blocked funds. The current study analyzed the coverage of the Iran Deal in an Iranian diasporic media, Asr-e-Emrooz, as well as two American newspapers, The New York Times and Los Angeles Times. Analysis of 985 articles indicated that the three newspapers had a positive tone toward the Deal and framed it as a good compromise, although the Iranian newspaper showed more doubt about future of the Deal and its implementation by Iran.
Toward a global model of agenda building and gatekeeping: Collective action and Right to Information legislation in the India case • Jeannine Relly, School of Journalism, The University of Arizona; Rajdeep Pakanati • This qualitative study of a purposive sample of journalists in India (N = 41) examines the collective nature of associations among news media practitioners, civil society organizations, social activists, and other stakeholders around the utilization of Right to Information Act in public interest initiatives. The research found myriad factors connected with these partnerships, including concerns about violence, shortage of time, and methods of using the RTIA as a powerful investigative tool.
International News Coverage and Source Selection in U.S. Foreign Policy Debates: The Case of Iran Deal in Broadcast News • Mehdi Semati, Northern Illinois University; Bill Cassidy, Northern Illinois University; Mehrnaz Khanjani • This research examines broadcast news coverage of the nuclear negotiations between Iran and the West, applying “indexing” theory. Results present evidence of indexing, showing Iran deal coverage in broadcast news reflected official views within a framework of institutional debates among congressional and executive branch sources. The coverage indexed both consensus among the officials within the executive branch and the congressional opposition during different time periods studied. Additionally, the results present strong evidence of power indexing.
“Tremendously Irritated”: Media Trust among Urban Brazilian News Consumers • Flavia Milhorance, City, University of London; Jane B. Singer, City, University of London • Around the world, polls show a crisis in trust in civic institutions, the media foremost among them. This study adds nuance to the numbers within a single nation, Brazil. Original focus group data is analysed in the context of exclusive questionnaire data from the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism to understand why news consumers trust – or do not trust – their media, and the implications of those perceptions for Brazilian media and civic society.
Human Rights Reporting in Rwanda: Opportunities and Challenges • Meghan Sobel; Karen McIntyre, Virginia Commonwealth University • News media play a role in increasing public understanding of human rights issues. Yet, little scholarship has analyzed human rights reporting in developing or post-conflict nations. Interviews with Rwandan journalists revealed that, in this post-genocide era of reconstruction, reporters define human rights broadly and believe reporting on abuses has a positive impact on the abuse. However, a lack of press freedom inhibits human right reporting, thus, prohibiting journalists from fulfilling their social responsibility.
Comments on Covering Up: International Discourse on the Burkini Ban • Lauren Van Yahres; Sally Ann Cruikshank • Following the Bastille Day terrorist attack in Nice, France, costal towns banned Muslim full-coverage swimwear known as the burkini in July 2016. This study examined how five international news outlets, Al Jazeera, The Guardian, Russia Today (RT), The Times of India, and The Washington Post, and online commenters framed the ban. Among the news articles, four dominant frames emerged, colonialism, feminist, consumerist, and French nationalist. Commenters used different frames, Islamophobia, sexist, cultural conflict, and satire.
A Conceptual Model of Watching Social Live Streaming in China: Who Are the Users and How About Their Psychological Well-Being? • Anan Wan, University of South Carolina; Linwan Wu, University of South Carolina • Social live streaming services (SLSSs) as a new type of social networking site (SNS) have been increasingly prevalent in China. This study proposed and tested a conceptual model to explore the motivations and consequences of using SLSSs among Chinese college students. Results of an online survey discovered that the entertainment motive and broadcaster attraction are the main reasons for watching social live streams. Moreover, users’ parasocial interaction with the broadcasters was identified as the underlying process of using these services, which in turn influenced users’ loneliness and addiction to SLSSs. Theoretical and practical implications were discussed.
The Effect of U.S.-based Social Media Use on Acculturation and Adaptation among Chinese Students in America • Chen Yang, University of Houston – Victoria • This study investigated how the use of major U.S.-based social media may influence the acculturation and adaptation among Chinese students in America. Survey data collected from 408 respondents showed that more frequent Facebook and Twitter use activities contributed to higher acculturation while more frequent responses received on the two SNSs led to better adaptation. Online network sizes have more robust effect on the acculturation than on adaptation. Implications about their network subgroups were also discussed.
Individualizing depression responsibilities on Chinese social media: Analyzing the Weibo framing of three key players • Yuan Zhang; Yifeng Lu; Yan Jin; Yubin Wang • In recent years, depression has become a leading public health threat in China, and stigmatization due to cultural and historical reasons presents one of the biggest challenges in tackling the threat. Research indicates that individualizing health responsibilities, one of the most prominent frames in communicating health issues, is directly related to the formation of stigma. While both cross-cultural theory and prior research suggest the prevalence of contextual and societal attributions in China, the individualization of the Chinese culture in recent decades may potentially alter the pattern of responsibility attributions for public health issues such as depression. Against this backdrop, we content-analyzed how three key players in the fight against depression — media organizations, mental health institutions and an online support group — framed causal and problem-solving responsibilities for depression on Sina Weibo, one of the most influential social networking sites in China. We found that all three groups primarily assigned depression responsibilities to the individual (vs. the society). Moreover, state-controlled media organizations were more inclined to hold individuals responsible for fixing the problem than market-oriented media organizations. Despite the overall individualization of depression responsibilities, the online support group demonstrated a relatively stronger tendency to hold the society at large accountable for tackling this public health threat. These findings provide implications for alleviating mental health stigma and suggest future avenues for mental health communication research.
Transnational news media coverage of distant suffering in the Syrian civil war: An analysis of CNN, Al-Jazeera English and Sputnik • Xu Zhang, University of Tennessee, Knoxville; Catherine Luther • Building on previous literatures on the mediation of distant suffering in relation to the concept of cosmopolitanism, this study analyzed news articles published on the online sites of CNN, Al-Jazeera English and Sputnik to investigate the transnational news outlets’ portrayals of human suffering associated with the Syrian civil war. Using the qualitative data software analysis program NVivo, the analysis revealed that all three of the examined news sources commonly employed shocking numbers and brief narratives in their stories on the humanitarian disaster. CNN and Al-Jazeera English, however, provided more in-depth and emotive descriptions of misfortunes through quotes from local residents, thus connoting a cosmopolitan outlook. Russia-based Sputnik, on the other hand, tended to present the Russian government’s stance on Syria. Its stories included criticisms of the West and emphasized the humanitarian role of the Russian military. This finding indicates that transnational media outlets do not completely stay away from national institutionalized politics.
Negative Emotions to Western Media and Reception of Mediated Public Diplomacy • Yicheng Zhu, University of South Carolina; Ran Wei, University of South Carolina; Guy Golan, University of South Florida • The current study explores the potential backfire effect in mediated public diplomacy. We built a conceptual model of negative emotions and support for retaliation campaigns. Using a national survey data from China, we tested the model in four scenarios (Japanese, U.S., Russian and European news), and discussed the importance of country friendliness and attention to international news as antecedents. We found people receiving public diplomacy could develop negative emotions, and even support for retaliation campaigns.
MARKHAM STUDENT PAPER COMPETITION
National Biases of World Games: Local and International Media Coverage of the “Lochtegate” • Heloisa Aruth Sturm, University of Texas at Austin • This study compared Brazilian and U.S news coverage of the “Lochtegate” during the 2016 Summer Olympics in order to untangle the ways in which information flows, source proximity and multilayered identities played a role in depicting that incident. Cultural proximity played a major role in the selection of sources. Differences were found concerning pace of the news, contextualization, and prognosis. National identity emerged in distinct ways through media portrayals of this event.
Influence of Foreign News Programs on the International News Agenda of Rwandan Television and Newspapers • Wellars Bakina, University of Arizona • A quantitative content analysis conducted in 2016 indicates that the international news edition of Rwanda Television (RTV) depended mostly on foreign programs, mainly from Euronews and Al Jazeera English. Qualitative interviews with the RTV editorial team revealed the main factors influencing story selection. RTV and two Rwandan newspapers focused on the same news topics but used slightly different sources. Defining factors for this intermedia agenda-setting included institutional barriers, language, and the globalization of news.
Gatecrashing: Exploring how Indian journalists tweet breaking news and what type of tweets attract followers • DHIMAN CHATTOPADHYAY, Bowling Green State University • This study examines how Indian journalists tweet when they share breaking news on Twitter, and what type of tweets lead to greater follower engagement. Specifically it focuses on a sensational breaking story to examine journalistic gatekeeping practices on social media: What type tweets were preferred by the journalists to disseminate breaking news? What type of tweets received most follower engagement? And finally, how did the nature of follower comments inform scholarly understanding of news consumption practices on social media platforms? Findings indicate journalists mostly Tweeted personal opinion, and this type of tweet also received most follower engagement through ‘likes’ and comments. Further, contrary to selective exposure theory, people engaged more with tweets when its contents did not agree with their pre-existing beliefs. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed.
Under the Dome: How Chinese Newspapers Frame “Haze” • Minghui Fan, University of Alabama; Qingru Xu • In recent years, China’s polluted air has seriously affected on Chinese health. This paper explored whether journalists for the commercial newspaper Qilu Evening Newspaper were different from journalists for the party-organ newspaper People’s Daily in framing Chinese air pollution. After analyzing news coverage of two newspapers regarding Chinese air pollution from 2011 to 2016, this study found both newspapers primarily blamed individuals for the problem and engaged in propaganda for the Chinese Communist Party.
Symmetrical Communication in Social Media: Analyzing Indonesian Ministries Communication Networks in Social Media • Ika Idris, Ohio University • Interactivity as the key feature of social media has opened the opportunity for symmetrical communication between organization and its stakeholders. Previous research on quantitative models of symmetrical communication focus on survey-based research which cannot fully capture the information flows. This study use social network analysis to investigate symmetrical communication in social media conversation networks. The subjects of the study are Indonesian Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Education and Culture and this study aims to analyze whether the governments use of social media has led to dialogue and mutual understanding. The country is the largest market of social media users in Southeast Asia and has been promoting Public Information Act since 2008. This study found that symmetrical communication was not implemented, the governments were the centrals of the networks, and the conversations were lack of engagement. The findings show that the ministries’ Facebook pages encountered spam posts and fake accounts that are potentially ruins government reputation. This study recommends Indonesian government to invest resources in planning better public relations strategies, specifically in a daily basis operation. It is time for Indonesian government to provide a better quality of information, not just focus to the information quantity.
Pilot study: How do Chinese students change their social media habits after moving to the United States, and what factors motivate this change? • Liefu Jiang, University of Kansas • This project employs the uses-and-gratifications theory to analyze in-depth interviews of 23 Chinese students in a university in the United States. Findings suggest that most Chinese students use both U.S. social media apps and Chinese apps after moving to the U.S. Their social media choices are driven by different motivations. Also, findings suggest that social media usage benefits Chinese students in cultural adaption after moving to the U.S.
Framing Diplomatic Conflicts: How Indian and Nepali Media Covered the Controversy Surrounding the Ratification of Nepal’s Constitution in 2015 • Amir Joshi, Iowa State University • This article investigated the framing of the controversy surrounding the ratification of the Nepali Constitution in newspaper articles published in Nepal and India for six months. Using framing analysis, this study compared the way in which Indian and Nepali newspapers differed in terms of frames, tone, and news sources. The content analysis revealed significant differences in the conflict frames and tone used. Both countries treated the story episodically and relied on official sources for the news.
Dramatism Approach to International Apology/Apologia: 70 years Later • Emi Kanemoto • “Abe danwa, a speech by the current Prime Minister of Japan, Abe Shinzo, was nationally live broadcasted on August 14, 2015 in Japan on the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II in Asia. The goal of study was to reveal the intentions behind the broadcasted speech by unpacking to whom and how he was making shazai (apology with feeling of being indebted), owabi (apology with knowledge of wrong-doing), and kansha (appreciation). By utilizing the dramatistic approach, four themes emerged around these three key terms: owabi for past action, owabi for present/future, (no) more shazai? and kansha to whom? The critical thoughts in the end discussed what Japanese media reported after the speech and how Japan was labeled as a “forever-victimizer.”
Choosing the Best Name: The Effectiveness of Brand Name Localization on Consumers’ Attitude toward a New Foreign Product • Xuan Liang; Huan Chen, University of Florida • An online experiment was conducted among 235 subjects to examine the effect of brand name localization on brand attitude, product attitude, and purchase intention. Results indicated that in general people prefer original, exotic brand name than localized brand name in the context of the U.S. In particular, young consumers have a more positive attitude toward and are more likely to purchase imported products with a foreign name than the ones with a localized name. In addition, more collectively oriented people evaluated the product with exotic brand name more positively than those less collectively oriented people did.
The Elephant in the Room: Media Ownership and Political Participation in Hong Kong • LUWEI ROSE LUQIU, Pennsylvania State University • The political system of one county, two systems in Hong Kong presents a challenge for an authoritarian government that seeks to control media ownership in an open and law- abiding society. By focusing on the media ownership structure, this paper provides details regarding how the Chinese government used political power and capital to censor and shape the public sphere to temper political interests in Hong Kong. It also attempts to identify potential solutions to the problem and make predictions regarding the future of online and offline activism in Hong Kong.
A Comparative Content Analysis of Argentine and British Print Advertising During the Malvinas/Falkland Islands War • Juan Mundel, DePaul University; Yadira Nieves-Pizarro, Michigan State University; Douglas Wickham, Michigan State University; Melinda Aiello, Michigan State University • Argentine and British print newspaper ads were content analyzed to examine how advertising expression and content differed in the two countries while they were fighting the Malvinas/Falkland Islands War. Appeals, advertised products, discursive strategies, and code-switching were studied. Results show that across both countries the types of products advertised during the war were similar, although there were more ads for hedonic products in Argentina. Further, the use of appeals was more common in Argentine ads, which could reflect cultural differences between the two countries. Interestingly, the use of national symbols was scarce across both countries which differs from trends found in other advertising markets.
Unique storytellers–freelancers in international news production • Xu Zhang, University of Tennessee, Knoxville • “Economic strains and the emergence of new digital platforms have significantly changed the way foreign news is produced and reported in legacy news media. Freelancing, which is defined as a casualized and multi-skilled employment has been playing a vital role in covering international news in recent years (Edstrom and Ladendorf, 2012). Considering their emerging roles in international news production, this study examined the phenomenon of freelancing in the context of foreign news reporting. Semi-structured interview with 11 freelancers reveals that even though freelancers face insecurity and hardship of meeting the financial needs, they tend to be creative and unique in presenting the international news stories they covered. Particularly, their emphasis on the human aspect of stories reflects the values of humanity and diversity. This hints that freelancers could act potentially as an advocate force to change so often superficial, stereotyped International news coverage.
Covering up or Telling Your Own Bad News? The Effects of “Stealing Thunder” Strategy on Journalists’ Reactions in Different Cultural Settings • Lijie Zhou; Carrie Reif-Stice • The current study examines the effectiveness of stealing thunder strategy on the United States and Chinese journalism students’ perceived credibility of organization, the interests of reporting the crisis, perceptions of crisis severity, and way of framing news. The findings indicate that using stealing thunder strategy increases the credibility of organization, but does not necessarily reduce participants’ interests of reporting the crisis and the perceptions of crisis severity. However, after adding culture as the second variable, the interaction effects of stealing thunder strategy and participants’ cultural background on participants’ responses and the way to frame news were found.
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