Philip Merrill College of Journalism
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The collections in this community comprise faculty research works, as well as graduate theses and dissertations.
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Item Reporting Laos: The U.S. Media and the "Secret" War in Laos: 1955-1975(2001) Dickey, Angela Renee; Roberts, Eugene; Journalism; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md)From 1955-1975 the United States Government was involved in covert paramilitary efforts in Laos. Congress did not approve the Laos conflict, which pitted tens of thousands of American-hired ethnic mercenaries against the North Vietnamese army and featured a massive bombing campaign by U. S. aircraft. Yet approximately 500 Americans were killed or disappeared in Laos during the period, and hundreds of millions of U. S. taxpayer dollars were expended on the covert war. Up to 200,000 Lao civilians were killed in the fighting. Meanwhile, policy makers were able to keep secret the main details of American operations in Laos until late 1969. How they did so without being challenged seriously by the mainstream American media is the subject of this study. The thesis incorporates relevant secondary sources as well as interviews with more than 30 personalities associated with the war or the American media coverage. It concludes that the press corps did not begin to focus on the actual situation in Laos until very late, when the U.S. public began to demand an end to the Indochina conflict in general. Moreover, U.S. journalism was hampered in Laos by its own "professional routines," including an overwhelming dependence on U.S. Government sources to provide the "news."Item COMMUNICATION INTERFACE PROXIMITY AND USER ANXIETY: COMPARING DESKTOP, LAPTOP, AND HAND-HELD DEVICES AS MEDIA PLATFORMS FOR EMERGENCY ALERTS(2009) Xie, Wenjing; Newhagen, John E.; Journalism; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This study is an experiment investigating the effects of communication interface proximity on college students' anxiety when they receive the alerts about on-campus crimes via e-mails and text messages. It proposes a new dimension for the traditional concept of proximity in journalism and suggests a shift in the emphasis of proximity from audience-to-event to user-to-interface. It draws the theoretical framework from multiple disciplines: human-computer interaction research, the information processing model, media effects research, as well as the psychological research of anxiety. A total of 97 college students in a large mid-Atlantic university participated in this experiment. Communication interface proximity was conceptualized as three different media platforms: desktop computer (stationary), laptop computer (portable), and hand-held device (mobile). The students were assigned to one of the three device groups based on their self-reported computer usage and received four crime alerts per day for two days through one of the devices. They were required to carry a Self-Assessment Manikin (SAM) pictorial scale during the experiment and reply to the alerts as soon as possible using the SAM and felt anxiety scales. They also filled out an online questionnaire at the beginning of the study, at the end of the first day, and at the end of the study, respectively. Subjects who received the crime alerts on hand-held devices reported higher anxiety upon alert receipt than those receiving the alerts on desktop or laptop computers. Anxiety, valence, and arousal reported upon alert receipt for the laptop and desktop groups decreased significantly in early day two, suggesting an "overnight effect" of the crime alerts on these two groups. However, the hand-held group still reported a high level of anxiety upon alert receipt in early day two, suggesting the ubiquitous hand-held device is just under our skin, with no "down time". This study also found that anxiety predicted latency time of response to the alerts and memory for the crime alerts, indicating that anxiety serves as an adaptive heuristic in an emergency and helps people allocate their limited cognitive mental resources, as suggested by the information processing model.Item Change in the relationship between print reporters and official sources after 9/11(2009) Linn Campana, Leticia; Crane, Steve; Journalism; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Title of the thesis: Changes in the relationship between print reporters and official sources after 9/11 Thesis directed by: Steve Crane, Assistant Dean. This study examines whether there has been a change in the relationship between print journalists who cover government and official sources after the 9/11 attacks. The analysis focuses on what happened from 2001 to 2005, and it takes only journalists' experience on the subject. The research is based on in-depth interviews with newspaper reporters who were covering official beats during the time, and with representatives from organizations that have been studying media issues. It is also based on literature from media-specialized publications. The investigation's goal is to group examples and opinions on how the relationship between reporters and official sources changed during this period. Additionally, it gives context on what this relationship is supposed to be, on how it used to be before the studied period, and on the effects that changes to this relationship may have, according to journalism studies and literature. The investigation showed that the relationship between reporters and official sources changed during the time studied, but it also suggests that this change is not unique to the period after 9/11, as it had happened with previous administrations, especially during war times.Item From the Belly of the HUAC: The Red Probes of Hollywood, 1947-1952(2009) Meeks, Jack Duane; Beasley, Maurine H; Journalism; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)ABSTRACT Title of Document: FROM THE BELLY OF THE HUAC: THE RED PROBES OF HOLLYWOOD, 1947–1952 Jack D. Meeks, Doctor of Philosophy, 2009 Directed By: Dr. Maurine Beasley, Journalism The House Un–American Activities Committee, popularly known as the HUAC, conducted two investigations of the movie industry, in 1947 and again in 1951–1952. The goal was to determine the extent of communist infiltration in Hollywood and whether communist propaganda had made it into American movies. The spotlight that the HUAC shone on Tinsel Town led to the blacklisting of approximately 300 Hollywood professionals. This, along with the HUAC’s insistence that witnesses testifying under oath identify others that they knew to be communists, contributed to the Committee’s notoriety. Until now, historians have concentrated on offering accounts of the HUAC’s practice of naming names, its scrutiny of movies for propaganda, and its intervention in Hollywood union disputes. The HUAC’s sealed files were first opened to scholars in 2001. This study is the first to draw extensively on these newly available documents in an effort to reevaluate the HUAC’s Hollywood probes. This study assesses four areas in which the new evidence indicates significant, fresh findings. First, a detailed analysis of the Committee’s investigatory methods reveals that most of the HUAC’s information came from a careful, on–going analysis of the communist press, rather than techniques such as surveillance, wiretaps and other cloak and dagger activities. Second, the evidence shows the crucial role played by two brothers, both German communists living as refugees in America during World War II, in motivating the Committee to launch its first Hollywood probe. Third, an examination of the HUAC’s practice of requiring witnesses to name names shows this to be an on–going exercise of data triangulation. Finally, the documents in the HUAC archives reveal an overriding concern with exposing the activities and practices of communist front organizations, which the Committee viewed as powerfully effective venues for communist propaganda. In summary, the newly available archival evidence, upon which this dissertation uniquely draws, indicates the HUAC operated in a less sinister manner than previously supposed and, thus, revises previous scholarship on the HUAC.Item Investigating the Investigators: Examining the Attitudes, Perceptions, and Experiences of Investigative Journalists in the Internet Age(2008-10-23) Kaplan, Andrew David; Heider, Don; Journalism; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This study examines how ownership type affects newsroom support, job satisfaction, and commitment to field by investigative journalists. It also explores agenda-building theory, asking if journalists' belief in their ability to reform the system through their work is a major predictor of job satisfaction. More broadly, the study examines the state of investigative journalism today by probing the attitudes, perceptions, and experiences of investigative journalists working for newspapers, and how these have changed compared with two decades ago. The study found that ownership type does not seem to affect newsroom support, job satisfaction, or commitment to field. Whether at public, private, or family newspapers, journalists across the board expressed great job satisfaction, fierce devotion to their field, and high levels of support in their own newsrooms, irrespective of ownership type. Regarding agenda-building, most watchdog reporters believe their work has substantial influence on reforming policy. Belief that one's work has significant impact has some predictive value for job satisfaction, but not for commitment to field. Investigative journalists today are more likely to contact policymakers to follow up the impact of their stories than journalists were two decades ago, yet still strongly believe the public plays a crucial role in changing policy--despite most empirical studies casting strong doubts on that. This research project found deep ambivalence about the Internet and its impact on the field. Highly experienced journalists tend to worry about the Internet and its effects on the journalistic process. Considerable skepticism exists among reporters concerning the role nonprofits may play in future investigative journalism. This dissertation uncovered a sharp dichotomy between how journalists view their own newsrooms versus how they view the industry at large. It also found that watchdog reporters today estimate they devote more time to investigative journalism than five years ago. Today's journalists still cite the very same factors that motivated journalists to excel almost 20 years ago.Item Women's Participation as Leaders in the Transformation of the Chinese Media: A Case Study of Guangzhou City(2008-08-21) Cai, Chunying; Beasley, Maurine H.; Journalism; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)A 1995 UNESCO-commissioned survey of Chinese women journalists revealed that women only comprised 8.5% of high-level leadership positions in the Chinese media. Taking the survey as its springboard, this study set out to explore women's leadership experiences in the Chinese media, as embodied in Guangzhou City, the hive of media reform in China. Twenty-two women media leaders and nine men media professionals in Guangzhou were interviewed. Statistical data of the overall distribution of women leaders in the Guangzhou media were also obtained. Media leadership in Guangzhou was divided into two tiers. Women leaders are still very much the minority, with their presence in second-tier (similar to mid-level) leadership higher than that of first-tier (high-level) leadership. It was found that first-tier women media leaders followed a different promotion pattern from those in the second tier, corresponding to the political function and industrial structure of the Guangzhou media. The distribution of women in first-tier leadership is uneven among different media sectors with the highest percentage in radio stations followed by newspaper groups and then TV stations, likely a result of the lower industrial and social status of the radio sector. Women's distribution in second-tier leadership is uneven among different media organizations, likely a result of these organizations' different institutional cultures and promotion mechanisms. This study identified a range of reasons that have contributed to the under-representation of women in leadership in the Chinese media, which were then compared to the reasons as suggested by the 1995 survey. Women's leadership advantages and disadvantages and their experiences of balancing work and family were discussed. The women media leaders have vividly witnessed, actively participated in, and in some cases successfully propelled the transformation of the Chinese media in Guangzhou. Their leadership experiences have helped to reveal the complex interplay of the political economy of the Chinese media and to expose problems that have emerged in the transformative process. Media transformation in China has brought a significant increase of women media professionals and has resulted in a seemingly improved representation of women in media leadership in Guangzhou, mainly at the second-tier level.Item The Medicalization of Menopause: Framing Media Messages in the Twentieth Century(2008-07-22) Cimons, Marlene Frances; Beasley, Maurine; Journalism; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)ABSTRACT Title of Document: THE MEDICALIZATION OF MENOPAUSE: FRAMING MEDIA MESSAGES IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY Marlene Cimons Directed by: Dr. Maurine Beasley, Philip Merrill College of Journalism This dissertation analyzes print media language in three newspapers (the Washington Post, the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times) and five magazines (McCall's, Good Housekeeping, Ladies Home Journal, Reader's Digest and Time) during the twentieth century to determine how menopause was ``framed'' and to what extent these news media contributed to its medicalization. A critical reading showed that these media reflected and solidified society's negative notions about menopause and contributed to the approach by the medical profession of regarding menopause as a hormone deficiency disease. While the news media are not all-powerful, they do contribute ideas over time, contributing to the formation of societal attitudes and practices. Historically, the heavy print media concentration of negative ideas about menopause, followed by a flood of information about the wonders of hormones - first, on aging, then on health and longevity - both mirrored and amplified public perceptions about women, menopause, and aging, and contributed to its medicalization. The negative language often used imagery describing menopause as a time of wasting and non-productivity, and likened this normal stage in a woman's life to a siege of bad weather, or a cruel accident of nature. Along with negative metaphors, print media messages also conveyed that menopause was a hormone deficiency disease whose ravages could be erased with drugs, and that hormones could turn back the clock. The print news and feature media frequently relied upon male physicians as sources to bolster this view, a practice that reinforced the power of medical authority and supported a patriarchal view of women as patients. Important studies raised questions about the risks of hormone replacement therapy during this period, and were reported by the news media; however, the coverage of these potential dangers was dwarfed by the sheer volume of articles that conveyed the message that hormones were a good thing for women to take. This study shows how the print media used language to communicate ideas about menopause and aging.Item Evolution of the Sportscast Highlight Form: From Peep Show to Pathé to Pastiche(2008-06-17) Gamache, Raymond W; Beasley, Maurine; Journalism; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This dissertation traces the evolution of the sportscast highlight form. The highlight form emerged as the dominant technique of sportscasts as a result of the technological, economic and social changes that impacted media systems. Changes in technologies do not provide the entire account of the highlight form's development and deployment, so this study also explicates the importance of the protocols that express the intricate relationships between media producers, sports leagues and organizations, and audiences. It argues that the sportscast highlight form is not a recent development, given its prominent use within a news context in every medium from early news film and newsreels to television and new media. As an example of media history, this project explicates each medium's contributions, not so much as discrete phenomenon, but as the relational totality which the term implies. Such macro-level histories necessarily take a more long-term view of the processes of historical change. Additionally, this methodology utilizes intertextuality as an analytical strategy to question whose interests were served from the evolution and deployment of this form, who benefited from the narratives represented through the form, and whose interests were consolidated from the commodification of the form. This study analyzes primary and secondary sources related to sportscasts, including early sport films, newsreels, network and cable programming, and new media content. The significance of this study stems from the prominent position sports media in general and sports journalism in particular occupy within the political and cultural economy of late capitalism. The significance of this project is also evidenced in the considerable impact the national and regional sports networks have had on the proliferation of sportscasts. Lastly, this study analyzes the impacts electronic sports journalists have had in influencing and reflecting trends in race, gender, and ethnic relations, as well as political, economic and international affairs.Item Degrees of Access: Factors Preventing Wide-Scope Coverage of the Iraq War by Embedded Reporters--From "Shock and Awe" to "Mission Accomplished" (March 21 - May 1, 2003)(2008-05-05) Walton, Lindsay Reed; Steiner, Linda; Journalism; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Reporters "embedded" with U.S. military units during the first two months of the Iraq War (2003-) dealt with a number of impediments the combination of which was previously unseen in the history of war reporting. These included physical proximity, bonding, and shared peril with American soldiers, informal self-censorship based on "ground rules," and technological capacity for real-time visual transmission of reportage. These and other factors such as travel restrictions and post-9/11 editorial bias prevented "embeds" from seeing anything but a narrow slice of the war.Item Beyond Cynicism: How Media Literacy Can Make Students More Engaged Citizens(2008-04-22) Mihailidis, Paul; Moeller, Susan D.; Journalism; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Beyond Cynicism: How Media Literacy Can Make Students More Engaged Citizens explores what media literacy courses actually teach students. Do students become more knowledgeable consumers of media messages? Do students, armed with that knowledge, become more engaged citizens? A large multi-year study found that classes in media literacy do seem to make students more knowledgeable about media messages--but also found that the increase in students' analytical abilities does not perforce turn them into citizens who understand and support media's essential role in civil society. This dissertation used a sample of 239 University of Maryland undergraduates in a pre-post/control quasi-experiment, the largest-ever study of this kind on the post-secondary level. The study did find that the students enrolled in the Philip Merrill College of Journalism's J175: Media Literacy course increased their ability to comprehend, evaluate, and analyze media messages in print, video, and audio format. Based on the positive empirical findings, focus group sessions were conducted within the experimental group and the control group. The students from the media literacy course expressed their belief that media literacy education enable them to "look deeper" at media, while feeling more informed in general. Yet, when the discussions concerned media relevance and credibility, the students who so adamantly praised media literacy, expressed considerable negativity about media's role in society. Preliminarily, these findings suggest that media literacy curricula and readings which are solely or primarily focused on teaching critical analysis skills are inadequate. Critical analysis should be an essential first step in teaching media literacy, but the curriculum should not end there. Beyond Cynicism: How Media Literacy Can Make Students More Engaged Citizens concludes by recommending a way forward for post-secondary media literacy education. Beyond Cynicism offers a new curricular framework that aims to connect media literacy skills and outcomes that promote active citizenship. With a greater understanding of the limitations of teaching students to be cynics, university faculty can adapt their courses to give students not just analytical and evaluative tools to critique media, but a focused understanding of why a free and diverse media is essential to civil society.