Theses and Dissertations from UMD
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New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a give thesis/dissertation in DRUM
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Item DISINFORMATION THAT ENTERTAINS: THE ALT-RIGHT’S USE OF POPULAR AND POLITICAL CULTURE STRATEGIES(2024) Montgomery, Fielding Edmund; Parry-Giles, Shawn J.; Communication; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This project takes seriously the nested relationship of popular culture and political culture, highlighting how that relationship has promulgated alt-right disinformation in the long Trump era. Throughout this study, strategies of conspiracy, horror, and dog whistles are examined, as well as considering audiovisual concepts like realism and mimesis. Such alt-right disinformation establishes reactionary frames of racism, misogyny, and anti-governance. This work looks at both sides of the popular/political culture relationship, examining cinematic films, political campaign advertisements, and social media posts. I conclude by offering satire as one potential counterstrategy against alt-right disinformation that also resides in the nested relationship between popular and political culture.Item WHEN GLOBAL CONSPIRACY THEORIES BECOME LOCAL PROPAGANDA: THE INFLUENCE OF CHINA AND U.S. RIGHT-WING COVID-19 NARRATIVES ON TAIWAN(2023) Li, Wei-Ping; Oates, Sarah; Journalism; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This dissertation examined how foreign conspiracy theories propagated by authoritarian countries traverse national borders and are transformed into “news” in domestic media systems. It also assessed the impact of these conspiracy theories incorporated into the transnational information campaign as propaganda tools. Using the controversial COVID-19 virus-origin theory as a case study, this dissertation examined how the COVID-19 virus-origin conspiracy theories were constructed as propaganda by Chinese state media and how these conspiracy theories influenced the media in Taiwan, which has historically been the main target of China's information influence activities. After analyzing COVID-19 virus-origin narratives that contained conspiracy theories propagated by Chinese state media, the study found that the Chinese state media constructed its narratives about the origin of the COVID-19 virus by repeating consistent themes, recurrent terms, and assigning distinctive personalities to key protagonists in news events. The Chinese state media portrayed China as a team player in the international community and collaborated with the international community by sharing data openly. However, the United States and other Western nations attempted to contain the rise of China by attacking it with conspiracy theories about the origin of the virus. The Chinese narratives were mostly rejected by mainstream Taiwanese media. Although Taiwanese media mentioned some conspiracy theories promoted by Chinese state media, Taiwanese media were aware of Chinese propaganda and disinformation. They also viewed the disputes between China and the United States regarding the origin of the virus as a struggle for power between the two nations. Even though Taiwanese media and Chinese state media used identical terms to describe the same news events about the origin of the COVID-19 virus and highlighted the same protagonists, Taiwanese media presented narratives that were in stark contrast to Chinese media. The research concluded that Chinese state media had limited influence on Taiwanese media in the case of COVID-19 virus-origin narratives. Nonetheless, this study also uncovered a concerning trend: a number of Taiwanese media articles amplified conspiracy theories disseminated by right-wing American media outlets, such as the War Room, Newsmax, or overseas Chinese media organizations notorious for spreading disinformation. The improper use of foreign media as news sources is one of the vulnerabilities of Taiwanese media in the battle against foreign propaganda and conspiracy theories. This dissertation increased the understanding of the influence of conspiracy theories propagated by authoritarian regimes and identified elements crucial to their success or failure as propaganda tools. Moreover, it sheds light on the strengths and weaknesses of media systems in democratic nations when battling against foreign propaganda. The findings of this study are useful not only to Taiwan but also to democratic and open societies worldwide.Item RELIGION COVERAGE AS A CONDUIT FOR DISINFORMATION AND EXCLUSION IN LATIN AMERICA(2022) Feigenblatt-Rojas, Hazel; Yaros, Ronald; Journalism; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Past literature on religion and news media focused on whether secular news coverage is disadvantageous to religion but this dissertation explored the opposite approach: whether secular coverage of religion can favor religion (compared to coverage of the marginalized groups whose rights are often under attack by religious institutions) and amplify religious disinformation. This analysis also sought to determine how religious disinformation may spread through fact-based media and whether any differences surface between legacy and emerging outlets reporting. Coverage of a specific political process (issuance of a technical norm to guide the conditions under which abortion to save a patient’s life or health can be conducted) involving religious groups and a marginalized group (women) was chosen for analysis in a Latin American country (Costa Rica) known for a free press and stable democratic rule, but also a majority Christian population. A mixed-methods content analysis of the coverage was conducted based on newer approaches to media pluralism theory, which has been often invoked in the region to discuss unequal media access and its implications on the balance of power relations in a democratic arena. Results suggest religion coverage was a conduit for the spread of disinformation through fact-based news outlets and the spread of marginalizing narratives about women's rights. While not all disinformation came from religious sources, the majority did and the press repeated religious disinformation twice as often as non-religious disinformation. The majority of all the disinformation included in the news stories was not identified as such. In most cases, it was religious disinformation that many reporters failed to fact-check. Furthermore, they gave religious sources and their messages prominent positions in the articles, even when it included disinformation. Religious sources in the sample benefitted from a permissive coverage marked by a "silk glove" treatment by several news outlets, which enabled them to prominently spread disinformation and reaffirm exclusionary narratives. No relevant differences emerged in coverage by legacy and emerging news outlets in this regard. This dissertation contributes a case-based definition of religious disinformation and a new coding scheme that can be used to analyze media pluralism under newer theoretical conceptualizations that focus on the interaction of journalism with power asymmetries rather than measures of diversity.