Department of Journalism and Creative Media

Permanent URI for this community

https://ir.ua.edu/handle/123456789/61

Browse

Now showing 1 - 20 of 58

At home: shelter magazines and the American life 1890-1930
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2019) Mayfield, Mark; Roberts, Chris; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
The four decades between 1890 and 1930 included an unprecedented wave of new American magazines that took full advantage of lower postal rates, affordable printing costs, skyrocketing advertising revenues, more literate audiences, and a nation rapidly transforming itself from a rural to an urban society. Media scholars have studied this era in significant detail, often labeling it a Golden Age of magazines, or a “magazine revolution.” By any label, it is clear the modern magazine emerged during this period with the advent of halftone photography, writers and editors who honed their skills as “magazinists” instead of newspaper journalists, and massive circulation numbers that made household names out of national publications. Yet, within this larger context, a genre of magazines focused exclusively on the American home has received far less attention from researchers. Known as “shelter magazines,” these publications featured decorating, architecture, landscape gardening, and furnishings, and in doing so, often chronicled socio-economic shifts in the eras they covered. Historians have tended to include these publications only briefly in the far larger body of general magazine research, or alternatively grouped them almost invisibly into the genre of women’s magazines, despite their far more narrow focus on home interiors, decorating and gardening. Today, shelter magazines are among the most popular publications in the United States — ranging from House Beautiful, Architectural Digest, Better Homes and Gardens, Traditional Home, Elle Décor, Dwell and Country Living — to influential regional publications such as Southern Living, Sunset and Midwest Living. This thesis will examine the genre’s origin as a specific and highly-influential niche within the context of the proliferation of new magazines and advancing technology during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It will further review how these magazines mirrored and influenced the American home, and whether social network theory can help explain how they developed obsessively loyal subscribers at a time long before today’s instant digital communications.
Behavioral determinants for vaccine acceptability among rurally located college students
(Routledge, 2018) Britt, Rebecca K.; Englebert, Andrew M.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
Background: College-aged adults in a rural and medically-underserved area often struggle to receive proper vaccinations due to lower socioeconomic status coupled with life demands. Objectives: The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) was used as the theoretical basis to explore behavioral determinants associated with vaccination uptake in the population. Methods: This study used a questionnaire distributed to college students (n = 208) located in a rural area to assess the effects of social and behavioral factors on vaccination uptake. Results: Attitudes and normative beliefs towards vaccination uptake were positive but were largely impacted by work demands. Perceived behavioral control did not contribute towards the intent to receive necessary vaccines. Conclusions: Researchers conducting vaccination interventions, along with physician-patient communication, need to target attitudes and subjective norms in rural and medically underserved communities to increase vaccines, particularly HPV. In addition, results showed that promoting vaccine uptake among minorities is necessary to aid in vaccine acceptability in these communities.
Binging on Gilmore Girls: a parasocial exploration of fans' viewing behaviors
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2017) Dyche, Caitlin Samantha; Billings, Andrew C.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
Binge-watching has become increasingly popular with the rise of video-on-demand services and online streaming sites, but little has been done to evaluate the effects of this new viewing behavior on audiences. This study explores binge-watching as a possible mechanism in the formation of parasocial relationships with media personae as well as a motivator for the negative affects experienced when a persona is no longer included in new content, the phenomenon known as parasocial breakup. Other variables, such as the extent to which the media is watched alone or with others, were also explored. To test these relationships, two online surveys were completed by fans of the television show Gilmore Girls, one before the release of a new Gilmore Girls mini-series on Netflix and one after the release. A total of 387 fans participated in the surveys, which assessed their viewing behaviors of the mini-series and already-released episodes in the time leading up to the mini-series’ premiere. In the post-watching sample, it was found that binge-watching the mini-series was negatively related to parasocial relationship intensity. Furthermore, parasocial relationship intensity was positively related to parasocial breakup distress. Other predictors of parasocial relationship intensity include show affinity and age of viewer, while mini-series enjoyment was found to have a strong, negative correlation to parasocial breakup distress. Findings suggest further research regarding the relationship between binge-watching and parasocial relationships, as well as the influence that discussing the show with others has on breakup distress.
Black women's body image and Black-oriented media consumption
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2017) Armer, Taylor I.; Parrott, Scott; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
The proposed study examined the relationship between Black women, their body image and their Black-oriented media consumption. The literature review indicated there was a dearth of scholarship devoted to understanding the relationship between this population and their media consumption. Using social comparison as theoretical framework, nine hypotheses and two research questions were posited. A quantitative survey was administered to college-age women at a Predominantly White Institution. Major contributions from the results indicate Black-oriented media communicates a beauty ideal that is unattainable, and body part dissatisfaction was lowest when consuming media–regardless of type.
The buzz on Buzzfeed: can readers learn the news from lists?
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2014) Bullock, Tara; Roberts, Chris; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
As the Internet continues to grow, change, and develop, new media forms emerge. Among these new forms is BuzzFeed, an aggregator-type outlet combining humor, entertainment, and news directed toward young adults. Its storytelling techniques--short text blocks with unrelated images--raise questions about information retention and credibility when compared to traditional storytelling techniques used by traditional news messengers. This study uses the Elaboration Likelihood Model and credibility theory to explain BuzzFeed's place as a form of journalism. An experiment, comparing a BuzzFeed story treatment to a USA Today story treatment, was conducted on 438 college-age students during Spring 2014. It found that most young adults preferred BuzzFeed, saying they enjoyed the site for its humor and entertainment. A test of story knowledge showed that students who first read the USA Today treatment retained more information than students who first read the BuzzFeed treatment. Implications are discussed.
Changes in media coverage of adoption: a content analysis comparing newspaper coverage from 1992 and 2007
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2009) Gresham, Anna; Bissell, Kimberly L.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
A content analysis of newspaper articles about adoption of children was conducted. Several items were noted including mentions of all members of the adoption triad - birthparent, adopted child, and adoptive parent - and the valence of those mentions, and the type of adoption mentioned in the article. The results showed that the members of the triad were covered fairly equally and fairly, which differed from many studies in the literature review. One of the most interesting findings is in the change in coverage of international adoption. There was significantly more coverage in the 2007 time period compared with the 1992 time period. Future research should examine the relationship between foster care and adoption and how often that relationship is portrayed in the media. Also, research should be conducted that covers a longer time span to include a more varied sample in the types of articles. Further research is also needed to assess the use of negative adoption language. The results of a study of that nature will show subtle and perhaps unintentional negative bias in the reporting of adoption of children.
Children's cognitive processing of educational television messages
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2010) Dains, Nathan Ray; Zhou, Shuhua; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
This study used the Limited Capacity Model of Information Processing to provide more understanding about how children process information in a television program by looking at the effects of information density and structural complexity on attention and memory in children. Video clips from an episode of the show Little Bill selected according to levels of information density and structural complexity. Four video clips were selected for each of four categories. 58 children were recruited from a local pre-school and a local elementary school. Each child was shown video clips from one of the four categories. Attention, recognition memory, and recall memory were measured. This study found that the interaction between information density and structural complexity in video messages had significant effect on children's storage and retrieval memory processes in general. This study also found differences in information processing between pre-schoolers and 2nd graders.
Cocaine powder screens and the gray lady: New York Times coverage of the war on drugs in Colombia, 1971 – 2001
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2019) Parra Mejia, Daniel Andres; Bragg, Dianne; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
There is a vast amount of literature about media coverage of the United States protracted war on drugs. Mainly, researchers have analyzed anti-drugs campaigns, its most frequent themes, frames, and narratives in network news coverage. However, little research has been done on United States newspapers coverage of the war on drugs, and there is almost none in reference to the United States’ war on drugs and its relationship with Colombia, the world’s top cocaine producers during the 1980s and 1990s. This paper will analyze how the New York Times covered the war on drugs in Colombia from the day Nixon first declared it on June 17, 1971, to the day Bush shifted the country’s focus away and announced the “War on Terror” on September 20, 2001.
Community structure, the media and child molestation news stories: what happens to objectivity when it goes to trial?
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2011) Harris, Pamela Dawn; Lowrey, Wilson Hugh; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
This study evaluated the effects of structural pluralism on the objective reporting of newspapers when covering cases of child molestation by teachers. Eight newspapers were selected covering four different molestation cases. A content analysis was conducted to analyze the usage of frames, hard or soft news, and the objective balance of assertions. Statistical analysis showed no difference in objective sourcing between the newspapers in the low pluralistic community and the high pluralistic community. Also, the newspapers showed little difference in the use of conflict frames, consent frames and story type (hard or soft news). While the results cannot be generalized beyond the sample used, the results do suggest some ramifications for structural pluralism research in the future, and also suggest it may be important to study the ability of small newspapers to mimic larger papers in the Internet age.
Credibility of photojournalism in changing times
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2017) Norris, Jonathan Michael; Bissell, Kimberly L.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
With the constant growth of the internet and the explosion of hand-held devices, the news industry is in a continuous state of evolution. Although citizens desire news feeds of what is happening now, there is also a fundamental need for content that is accurate, unbiased, and in the public’s best interest. The demand for immediate news, however, raises several critical ques- tions: How credible is the information, who is reporting it, and is there a relationship between credibility of information and the reporter? Credibility has been one of the cornerstones of the news industry, and the area of interest for this study messenger credibility (Roberts, 2010). The central focus of this study was to identify how the credibility of news photographs is influenced by the source’s organization (who published the photo) and the source photographer (the affiliation of the photographer to the source). A news credibility scale was used as the de- pendent variable. The independent measures of “Media Source Organization” — which contained 3 types, and “Photographer Affiliation” — which contained 2 types, were then compared to the dependent variable. Specifically, the independent variable of source organized had three factors — “Mainstream” (New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post); “Online-focused” (BuzzFeed, Huffington Post, Elite Daily); and “Fictitious” (Daily Post, Citizen Times, Peoples’ Constitution). The two factors for the independent variable of “Photographer affiliation with the source organization” were: “Staff” and “Contributor.” A univariate ANOVA determined that respondents rated photographs from mainstream sources as more credible than photographs from online or fictitious sources. Additionally, a staff photographer from fictitious media was rated significantly more credible than contributor pho- tographer from fictitious media. Survey respondents rated media from mainstream sources significantly more credible than online or fictitious sources. These findings indicate it does make a difference who provides the content and photograph when “credibility” is essential to the content. These findings are significant to the evolving field of visual journalism and messenger credibility in that photos, which are entry points to news coverage, differ in their credibility to read- ers based upon who is the “messenger” or provider of the photo.
Disaster mode: mapping media use, dependency, and gratifications through the preparation and impact phases of a severe weather event
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2017-12) Edmunds, Christopher Chase; Parrott, Scott; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
When natural disasters affect human populations, effective communication is key to response and recovery. This study seeks to understand how and why people use various media in the early stages of severe weather events. A survey (N=289) was distributed online to participants, who answered a series of questions about their normal media use, as well as their media use during the preparation and impact phases of a severe weather event. Results show that the most drastic change in media consumption occurs in the preparation phase, in the hours leading up to the event. There was very little change in media use, dependency, or gratifications sought between the preparation phase and the impact phase. Use and dependency was increased significantly in the preparation phase for TV News and Local Radio. Online News Sites and Apps ranked highest in use throughout the event, although there was a significant decrease between each phase. There were also significant decreases in use and dependency for Facebook and Twitter, which rounded out the top five media types used during a severe weather event. Follow-up tests revealed that much of the reason for the overall decrease in media use and dependency throughout can be attributed to loss of power and Internet access during the event. The results of this study show that the most common gratifications sought in the preparation and impact phases of a severe weather event involve reducing uncertainty and maintaining a social connection with friends and family. The findings of this study contribute to a larger field of disaster communications research and provide evidence for the validity of uses and gratifications approaches to such research.
Disposition theory and protest: the influence of media frames and individual disposition on audience response to protest
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2018) Steele, Hailey Grace; Parrott, Scott; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
This study examined the influence of news frames and individual disposition on audience response to protest. Specifically, the study sought to determine whether the social group depicted as the main actor in news coverage of protest would influence audience reactions to and support for organized protest. Informed by disposition theory and tested using an experimental design, the study found that certain audience characteristics can significantly predict attitudes toward protest based on the types of media content to which audiences are exposed, although the influence audience disposition toward the main actors within media frames of protest – the primary focus of this study – was less clear. Three characteristics consistently predicted participants’ emotional and cognitive reactions to the stories about healthcare protest: their pre-existing attitudes toward the subject of the protest (affordable healthcare); their general political ideologies, and their pre-existing dispositions toward protesters in general. The results underscore the importance of an audience member’s existing attitudes and dispositions in the interpretation of news content about protests.
Does this microphone make me sound white?: an experiment exploring race recognition and source credibility in radio news
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2020-12) Ott-Fulmore, Tanya; Parrott, Scott; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
Despite efforts to increase the number of minority journalists working in radio, television, newspaper and digital newsrooms across the United States, the percentage of people of color working in newsrooms is only slightly more than half of the percentage of minorities in the overall population. Social Identity Theory holds that an individual’s self-concept is shaped, in part, by their perceived membership in a group. With the U.S. expected to become “minority White” by 2045, minority representation in newsrooms could have significant implications for not only increasing the number of people of color employed newsrooms, but also increasing listeners, viewers, and readers of media organizations as people of color would see themselves — or more accurately, hear themselves — reflected in those organizations. This experiment used an online questionnaire to expose U.S. adults to the voices of professional radio newscasters of various races to determine if the participants could accurately identify the race or ethnicity of the newscaster from a voice recording. The race of the newscaster—White, Black or Hispanic—served as the independent variable and was manipulated to measure perceived source credibility, which served as the dependent variable. Participants were best able to correctly identify White newscasters. Results were mixed as to whether racial congruence between participant and newscaster affected the ability to identify the newscaster’s race, but racial congruence did influence the credibility scores of individual newscasters.
The effect of online news story comments on other readers' attitudes: focusing on the case of incongruence between news tone and comments
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2011) Ahn, Hyonjin; Zhou, Shuhua; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
As people read news on the Internet, they are also exposed to other readers' comments in response to the news stories. The comment forums on news websites offer a sphere where readers can communicate as both providers and receivers, and the comments provided may influence how news readers shape their opinions. The purpose of this study is to investigate if comments in response to an Internet news story influence other readers' opinions and to determine the extent to which readers' evaluation of the news story and perception of public opinion vary when these comments either affirm or are in conflict with the tone of the story. The experiment for this study exposed 120 participants to a news story manipulated according to two types of news tones (pro and con) and two types of comments (pro and con). Individuals who read comments in conflict with the tone of the news story perceived the news story less positively than did those who read comments affirming the story. However, individuals' perceptions of public opinion based on the third-person effect showed no change in response to comments in conflict with the news story's tone. Furthermore, the hostile media effect did not cause the partisan group who read news conflicting with the opinions expressed in the comments to perceive the story as biased and to evaluate the story's news value as low.
Elaboration likelihood and readers' perceptions of native advertising on news websites
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2019) Cockrell, Calvin; Parrott, Scott; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
This research examines native advertising on news websites through the lens of the Elaboration Likelihood Model. It seeks to determine factors that influence whether readers identify and trust native advertisements. These ads often appear and read similar to real news stories that have been written by journalists rather than sponsored content meant to persuade. Native advertisements have become prevalent on many news websites, with some outlets having in-house studios dedicated to creating them. They are designed to blend in with the rest of the website and not detract from it. There have been several recent studies on native advertisements, but there are still gaps, such as the effects of different types of design and the use of mobile phones, which the majority of mobile ads are targeted toward. For this study, an experiment was conducted that exposed four groups of participants to one of four articles, two of which were real stories and two of which were native advertisements. The results indicate that very few factors, relative to the readers or the native advertisements, bear any relation to readers’ identification of the ads. No matter what, very few are able to tell the difference between news and native ads. But even after being made aware of the nature of native ads, people seem not to care.
Engaging rural media consumers in Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2014) Barnes, Kirsten Jemeki; Lowrey, Wilson Hugh; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
There is much discussion among media practitioners and scholars concerning the inclusion or exclusion of hyperlocal content in 21st century traditional newspapers and their websites. Thirty-four newspaper websites in rural Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi were studied using content analysis to determine the level of hyperlocal content used on the various traditional newspapers' website homepages. The analysis determined that approximately one-fifth of these newspapers' online space was devoted to hyperlocal content. The major findings from this analysis of the hyperlocal stories used on these homepages were the more heterogeneous the community in terms of geo-ethnicity, the less likely the newspaper's website will have comments, and the higher the education and income levels of the community, the higher the interactivity of the website. This study tested engagement and interactivity using reader comments, Facebook Likes, and interactivity tools offered. However, further testing is warranted in order to validate these conclusions, as the scope of this research did not include variables such as broadband availability, computer access, or computer literacy to determine how these phenomena, as they relate to engagement or interaction, affect the outcome.
Equality, y'all: newspaper coverage of first wave feminism and suffrage in the American South
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2017) McLeod, Kylie Brianna; Roberts, Chris; Bragg, Dianne M.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
The American South has long been characterized by institutionalized racism and highly traditional Christian values. It would be easy to assume that the Women’s Suffrage Movement would not have been welcomed in this particular region of the United States; however, newspapers that covered the seventy-year fight for women’s right to vote indicate this is not completely true. This paper will examine the presentation of this first wave of feminism in southern newspapers. It is vital to examine the ways the southern media portrayed feminism’s first wave for two reasons. The first is the perpetual need for society to look back and recognize mistakes made in the past and think about ways to avoid remaking them in the future; the second is to discover how the South specifically reacted to and treated this social movement, considering the cultural and religious context present in the newspapers of the time.
The evolution of broadcasting in Alabama, 1900-1934
(University of Alabama Libraries, 1969) McSwain, Joseph Earl; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
An examination of Barnett Newman and Isamu Noguchi's artistic works in relation to World War II photojournalism in the New York Times, Life, and Time
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2015) Robinson, Rebecca Danielle; Bragg, Dianne M.; Bunker, Matthew D.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
The events of World War II fundamentally changed Barnett Newman and Isamu Noguchi, both Abstract Expressionist artists. Although neither artist served in the military, their distinctive heritages influenced how they reacted to three major occurrences during the War: the Holocaust, the Japanese internment, and the detonation of the atomic bombs. Upon seeing the images of liberated concentration camps publicized in popular media, Newman, a Polish-Jew, actually destroyed most of his pre-War art, arguing that after such violations of human rights, what subject was worthy of painting? Noguchi, a Japanese-American, spent much of his childhood on the West Coast, and was interred in a Japanese camp following Pearl Harbor, an experience that forever altered the rationale behind his sculpture. Lastly, the image of the mushroom cloud over Hiroshima and Nagasaki transformed the entire post-War generation, not just Newman and Noguchi. Using the images promulgated in three popular publications--the New York Times, Life magazine, and Time magazine--this study seeks to examine the stories and the photojournalism that had a direct influence on the two artists' War and post-War works. Additionally, artist statements accompanying the selected pieces will further illustrate just how influential these popular media outlets were to their subsequent creations throughout the next decades.
Examining audience reactions to brand journalism
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2012) Cole, James Thomas; Greer, Jennifer D.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
An experimental study was conducted to assess the audience's reaction to framing and attributed source cues in brand journalism, also referred to as custom content, custom publishing, or named for method of delivery (i.e. "customer magazines"). Given that establishing trust with customers, brand-building, and influencing purchase decisions are goals of brand journalism, this study examined the effect of commercial/branded or editorial/non-branded frames and use of corporate or peer customer sources on message credibility, attitude toward the brand, and purchase intent, with media savvy and involvement with the product as moderating factors. It was found that the editorial/non-branded frame had a positive effect on message credibility, while source cues alone had no direct effect on message credibility, attitude toward the brand, or purchase intent. However, involvement with the product emerged as a primary factor, having a greater effect on message credibility, attitude toward the brand, and purchase intent than frame or source cues as they were manipulated in this study. Further, involvement with the product exhibited significant interacting effects with source cues. Participants showing high involvement with the product were more likely to rate attitude toward the brand and purchase intent higher when information in brand journalism is attributed to a peer customer source, while participants showing low involvement with the product were more likely to rate attitude toward the brand and purchase intent higher when information in brand journalism is attributed to a corporate source.

Browse

Browsing Department of Journalism and Creative Media by Title

Results Per Page

Sort Options