The purpose of the research is to examine social media usage for news consumption, news behaviors, and online civic reasoning among Generation Z. Specifically, the study has two main purposes: 1) ...examine social media usage frequency for news consumption and other news behaviors (e.g., sharing, liking) via social media; and 2) examine the extent to which Gen Z uses aspects of online civic reasoning in their social media news consumption/behaviors. This was accomplished via an online survey of Gen Z college-aged students (N=187) enrolled at a private university located in the southern part of the United States.
This thesis examines issues of censorship for student journalists and student media advisers at public universities. Using a mixed-method approach, this thesis outlines the opinions of student ...journalists and student media advisers on censorship practices. It also examines what type of topics lead to censorship practices and the impact of censorship on student journalists and student media advisers. The study indicates that Spiral of Silence Theory can explain how censorship practices can silence the unique voices of student journalists and student media advisers. After using survey data and interview responses, the study concludes that censorship is an ongoing problem and creates a fear of isolation among student journalists and student media advisers who have faced censorship.
Data journalism has emerged as a vibrant discipline. Studies have found that news organizations in many countries have dedicated data journalists on staff. However, the rise of data journalism has ...occurred in a context of low media trust and increasing global concern over the propagation of false news on the Internet. The purpose of this three-article dissertation was to examine the extent to which data visualization, as one of the main components of data journalism, may play a role in increasing the credibility of news stories and reducing readers’ misperceptions. In addition, this work tested the potential moderating effects of news source trustworthiness, readers’ prior beliefs, issue involvement, and prior knowledge. Using three separate online experiments, this dissertation showed that while the effect of data visualization on the credibility of news stories may be small or non-significant, data visualization may have an impact on decreasing misperceptions among readers with less than average prior knowledge about an issue. In addition, this work demonstrated that news source trustworthiness and readers’ prior beliefs can significantly affect the credibility of news information, regardless of the presence or absence of data visualization. These findings suggest that news outlets investing in data journalism and data visualization should also focus on regaining trust from readers. In addition, in terms of the fight against misinformation, this dissertation recommends the use of data visualization to procure the correction of misperceptions, especially among readers with less than average prior knowledge concerning an issue. In addition, this work provides some directions for future research on data visualization effects in the context of news information. In this way, this dissertation contributes to the understanding of the impact of graphical representations of data on the credibility of news and the correction of misinformation.
This study uses a mixed-methods approach to examine the framing of the Ukraine crisis from 30 November 2013 to 28 February 2015 by the news media in Russia and the UK. Drawing upon the broader ...framework of media systems theory (Hallin & Mancini, 2004, 2012a; Vartanova, 2012), the thesis identifies and analyses how different media outlets from hybrid and liberal political regimes played a role in the reporting of the Ukraine crisis. The comparative analysis of the news coverage encompasses three news sectors from Russia and the UK that differ culturally, economically, and geopolitically: RT, The Moscow Times, and Pravda.ru from Russia and the BBC, The Guardian, and Mail Online from the UK.The study poses four research questions. The first and main question explores the extent to which the Russian and British news media coverage of the Ukraine crisis supports or refutes current media systems theory. The second and third questions relate to the attention paid and the actual frames used by the different media outlets from Russia and the UK, respectively. The final question focuses on the difference (if any) between the framing of the crisis in Russia and the UK, thus feeding into the analysis in response to the main research question.Following Godefroidt et al.’s (2016) methodological framework using generic, diagnostic and prognostic frames, the findings suggest that first, the Russian media dedicated more attention to the Ukraine crisis than the British media, reflecting the geopolitical interest of the Russian government. Second, both the Russian (RT and Pravda.ru in particular) and the British media tended to use a human-interest angle extensively in discussing the conflict, although in different light. While the former put forward the idea of humanitarianism, the latter stressed the importance of Ukraine’s sovereignty. The media’s articulations of humanitarian sentiments, however, revealed an overarching illiberal trend, by naturalising and justifying their host countries’ involvements in the crisis. The manufacturing consent thesis (Herman & Chomsky, 1988) is useful in explaining the media performance in both the hybrid regime (Russia) and the liberal democracy (the UK). Finally, the study found The Moscow Times from Russia to be critical of the country’s policy on Ukraine, thus supporting the Statist Commercialised model (Vartanova, 2012). On the other hand, the study, to some extent, refuted the Liberal model (Hallin & Mancini, 2004). The level of journalistic professionalism could not be substantiated as high as the liberal model suggests to be, mainly due to a lack of in-depth analysis especially when discussing Russia and President Vladimir Putin. Despite the fact that the British media were more likely to explain the roots of and the possible solutions to the Ukraine crisis than the Russian media, the former overall were identified as delivering an anti-Russia hyperbole in their one-sided coverage of the Ukraine conflict.
This study seeks to analyze how Arkansas’ sports journalists are adapting to the recent surge in available advanced statistics that are being used by certain national news organizations. Using ...in-depth qualitative research that includes in-depth interviews with a number of individuals in the print, broadcast, and athletics side of sports coverage, we discover how journalists and coaches use these next-generation analytics, what they fundamentally mean for the evolution of each respective path, and why so few Arkansas reporters and writers use them at the time of this paper’s defense. We see how budgets and deadlines restrict the use of these statistics, why journalism’s time-oriented workplace environment poses challenges to their use and how changes in daily routine nearly always result in some form of discord. Through research, we find that the more readily available these statistics are, the more likely an individual writer will work to implement them. Likewise, the more steps and obstacles standing in the way of relatively-easy usage, the higher chance that these statistical tools will not be used.
Sports journalists have historically been anathema to covering socio-political issues related to sports, even as some high-profile athletes have crossed that boundary from sports to socio-political ...issues. But that is changing as new generations of sports reporters come into the profession with more professional development and education in journalism practices and ethics than previous generations. Using a mixed-method approach of content analysis and semi-structured qualitative interviews and employing Bourdieu’s field theory as the theoretical prism through which to view their responses, this exploratory study aims to better understand why and how sports reporters cover socio-political issues related to sports. Results indicated that a number of factors play into whether sports reporters cover socio-political issues related to sports, such as having the time and resources to properly report on those complex issues, wanting to be seen as more than a sports reporter, and having reporters in other beats who can jump in when the story veers into fields outside of sports. The respondents also identified four story types—“humanity” stories, investigative “deep dives,” off-the-field issues, and “hot takes”—that are used to cover socio-political issues, with each story type having its own factors, contexts, and conditions as to whether that story type will be used on socio-political issues.
#BlackLivesMatter is a social activist movement that has developed in response to numerous killings of unarmed African Americans. The growth of this movement developed out of hashtags and social ...media post but has been sustained through the ground work of protest and traditional activism. Through a combination of the digital age and physical participation, activists have continued to make the issues that #BlackLivesMatter addresses relevant. The purpose of this study is to understand the attitudes and behaviors of Black social media social media users who engage with the movement and how they decide to do more than contribute content to stay trending but to understand what influences them to protest the racial injustices of the Black community. This researcher will explore the extent that followers are influenced by social media based on two theories: the theory of planned behavior and identity theory.
The purpose of this study was to analyze how John Oliver, the television host of HBO’s Last Week Tonight, adopts journalistic role performance throughout the long-form segments of his program. Last ...Week Tonight, a satirical news show and spiritual successor to The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, frequently devotes the majority of its half- hour, once-a-week program to conducting a deep-dive on an issue, sometimes independently of the weekly news cycle. Using field theory as a framework, this study explores how Oliver’s position on a cable network, independent of the advertising system other news (and satirical) programs are built on, enables the television host use journalistic roles with less external resistance. This qualitative analysis found that while Oliver serves as a vocal champion for concepts such as democracy and empathy and the profession of journalism, there is very little to suggest he has the means or the inclination to replace the work of traditional journalists and is in actuality, by his own admission to his audience, very much dependent on their work.
This thesis provides a roadmap for developing a risk profile which encapsulates a comprehensive and holistic understanding of civil diminishment as a consequence of risk to journalism. It does so ...through developing a risk profile that encapsulates the understanding of causes and manifestations of risk to journalism. This roadmap begins with establishing an understanding of the deficiencies of current empirical analysis of risk to journalism through the issue of violations of the safety of journalists. It then outlines the inadequacies of methodological approaches to risk to journalism which stem from a narrow and one-dimensional understanding of the societal role of journalism. To address such inadequacies, it is argued that a theoretical turn toward understanding risk to journalism through the use of Alexander's Civil Sphere Theory (2006) and Harrison's (2019) understanding of the civil ideal of the news is required. Combined these steps reveal that there is a need for a multi-dimensional risk profile that captures how civil diminishment occurs when the civil role of journalism is itself diminished. Developing a risk profile, it is argued, provides for a new approach to understanding risk to journalism. In developing this risk profile the following arguments are made: that risk to journalism can be used to understand and indicate how fragile a particular civil sphere is; and therefore how civilly diminished such a civil sphere is or can become; and that it is necessary to profile the causes and manifestations of risk to journalism in order to understand civil diminishment as a consequence of such risk. The thesis concludes that such a risk profile reveals how risk to the civil role of journalism generates various forms of civil diminishment of societies through the reduction of the discursive capacity of the civil sphere. Civil diminishment is defined throughout this thesis in terms of the way diverse forms of anti-civil power dominate the associative and communicative conditions of civil life which occurs as a direct consequence of risk to journalism.
The Google Expedition titled WWI Era Through the Eyes of the Chicago Defender explores African American experiences during the early years of the Great Migration (1910-1970). Conventional journalism ...relies on the false idea that journalists are meant to be, and can be, objective, outside observers. This report provides tools for journalists to create more nuanced, thorough storytelling endeavors. This report describes the theoretical framework and intent of the Virtual Reality (VR) project for students in grades 8 and above. It utilizes Feminist Standpoint Theory (FST) and Critical Race Theory (CRT) to cultivate a VR experience that acknowledges particular, overlooked aspects of American history. The Expedition utilizes photographs and articles from the Chicago Defender, archival stills and motion pictures, and 360-degree images of present-day locations throughout the United States, including Chicago and Waco, TX. Using Google Expedition, students wear a VR headset while a teacher guides the student through the Expedition, which was created through the lens of CRT and FST to help students question current narratives and stereotypes that still pervade society and mass media.
