UMD Theses and Dissertations
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Item Because You Were Strangers: The American Jewish Campaign Against Immigration Restriction, 1895-1924(2021) Krampner, Michael Jay; Rozenblit, Marsha L.; History; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Between 1895 and 1924, as the American immigration restriction movement attempted to limit immigration to the United States, an American Jewish anti-restriction campaign developed to combat immigration restriction. The American Jewish campaign against immigration restriction was a primary political concern of native-born and immigrant American Jews during the thirty years of the immigration restriction controversy. In the American Jewish anti-restriction campaign, immigrant Jewish intellectuals, Jewish congressmen and Jewish newspapers in both English and Yiddish fought against immigration restriction, often leading the anti-restrictionists in that controversy. Soon after the beginning of the twentieth century, ordinary American Jews, including Eastern European immigrants, participated in the campaign against immigration restriction by attending meetings and demonstrations, writing to their congressmen, senators and the president and voting for immigration-friendly politicians. Jewish immigrants from Central and Eastern Europe were not merely the subjects of the immigration restriction controversy, they were active participants in it. The American Jewish anti-restriction campaign included American Jews of all socio-economic classes, political ideologies and Jewish religious groups. That campaign brought American Jews together, caused Jewish immigrants to find their political voice and brought them into the American political processes. Immigrant Jewish intellectuals, Jewish newspapers and Jewish politicians challenged the foundational ideas of the immigration restriction movement in articles, books and speeches. In most prior histories of the immigration restriction controversy, restrictionists are protagonists and anti-restrictionists are marginal antagonists. In the few previous studies of Jewish anti-restrictionist activity Central European (“German”) Jews and their organizations have been active participants and the Eastern European (“Russian”) Jewish immigrants have been largely passive, without agency or a voice. In this dissertation the Eastern European Jewish immigrants are shown to have been active and vocal participants in the immigration restriction controversy and the American Jewish campaign against immigration restriction to have been much more inclusive, thorough and pervasive than has previously been described.Item Pre-Internet Versus Post-Internet News Content: The Case of the Chattanooga Times and Times Free Press(2008-04-22) Wilson, Matthew David; Stepp, Carl S.; Journalism; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This study examines the case of the 1986 Chattanooga Times and the 2006 Chattanooga Times Free Press, and aims to determine, through systematic research, how the content of that newspaper has changed between the pre-Internet and post-Internet eras. To answer those questions, the study measures six indicators of content: story length, links, graphical space, local coverage, types of stories and sectionalization. The data show that all those indicators have changed over the course of 20 years - some more dramatically than others - but generally in favor of busier, more "reader-friendly" content and less breaking news. In some cases the study suggests these changes tend to distinguish newspaper content from Internet content, while in others the change seems to make print news more like Internet news products.Item Media Influences Explored: What High School Students Say About the Power of Newspapers, Television and Magazines(2005-11-28) Henry, Tamara Maxine; McAdams, Katharine C.; Journalism; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)A body of theoretical works on media, their effect and impact shows that the ubiquitous nature of media messages tinges the beliefs, attitudes and behaviors of media consumers (Katz and Blumler 1974; Ball-Rokeach and DeFleur 1976; Shoemaker and Reese 1991; and, Gerbner 1995). To investigate high school students' awareness of media, a survey of 355 Florida and Pennsylvania students was conducted during the 2004-2005 school year. Focus groups in both states in May and June 2005 followed up on survey responses. Both the survey and the focus groups sought to answer a central research question: How cognizant are high school students of media influences on various aspects of their lives, particularly the impact of newspapers, television and magazines? Today's youth are multi-billion dollar consumers, so the goal of the research project was to understand how well students identify media messages, comprehend the purposes and sources of the messages, recognize the strategies of media to win conformity to their messages and appreciate why media suggest certain actions, beliefs and behaviors. This type of understanding is popularly known as "media literacy," a relatively new, fast-developing field of study. Past media surveys and studies typically have focused on children and students' exposure to and use of media, rather than on media literacy. The dissertation's cogent theme is that students need a sophisticated knowledge of how media function in society, a grasp of media's disparate languages and the skills to successfully navigate their terrain. Data showed, however, that these high school students do appear to have an elementary understanding of the power of the media with the majority denying media's influence in their choice of clothing, snacks and beverages or their opinions about such things as what makes teens popular or cool. These students do acknowledge media's influence with intangible things like the issues that they consider important. In conclusion, the study found unequal effects of media on different racial and ethnic groups and suggests that further research is needed to develop specific ways to empower students to understand, enjoy and challenge the media, while avoiding unpropitious influences.