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 MIKHAIL LESIN’S ROLE IN SHAPING THE RUSSIAN MEDIA LANDSCAPE(2023) Rostova, Nataliya; Yaros, Ronald; Dolbilov, Mikhail; Journalism; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This thesis is one of the first academic attempts to evaluate the career path of Mikhail Lesin (1958-2015), former Minister for Press, Tele- and Radio Broadcasting, and Mass Communications, shortly – Press Minister (1999-2004), Presidential adviser on media (2004- 2009), and one of the founders of Video International, a pioneer in Russia’s nascent advertising market. Lesin used his powerful post to enable the State to wrestle control of the national TV channels – NTV and ORT – from two prominent media tycoons, Vladimir Gusinsky and Boris Berezovsky. The thesis includes four case studies that illustrate Mikhail Lesin methods of influence, as well as 14 qualitative interviews with prominent leaders in journalism. The thesis describes how members of the political elite can influence and create media systems in countries where governing institutions are absent or weak. The interviewees for this thesis provide us with valuable insight into Russian media after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and how crucial the media's role is to the political culture.Item What Could Have Been: The Mediated Life and Afterlife of Len Bias(2018) Hudson, Justin; Moeller, Susan; Journalism; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This dissertation considers the role of sports journalists, politicians, activists, and other mythmakers in constructing the posthumous legacy of Len Bias, a black college basketball star who died of a cocaine overdose two days after being selected second overall by the Boston Celtics in the 1986 National Basketball Association Draft. Guided by previous research on myth, collective memory, and the intersection of sports media and race, I analysis Bias as a cultural text that reveals both hegemonic and counter-hegemonic views of black masculinity, crime, drugs, and sports. Journalists lauded Bias during his career at the University of Maryland for being an exemplary scholar-athlete, and the antithesis of the wayward black athlete and black drug-dealer that increasingly appeared in the media during the mid-1980s. After his death, however, journalists, university presidents, sports administrators, and politicians used Bias’ death, erroneously linked to crack cocaine, to call for anti-drug reforms in American sport aimed at black athletes and tougher legislative measures to combat the threat of crack, a cheap form of powder cocaine that originated in poor, black inner-city communities. During this anti-crack frenzy, Congress passed the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, which established harsh penalties for drug offenders found with crack cocaine. After the initial frenzy dissipated, Bias’ death still shaped discussions about the criminal justice system and sports. Bias was blamed for the decline of the Boston Celtics and Maryland basketball program. Professional sports leagues and college teams changed the way they screened potential draftees and monitored current players. Reporters, columnists, and politicians also frequently invoked Bias as a cautionary tale, a symbol of the dangers of drug use and poor decision-making. The creators of these dominant narratives justified the increased surveillance of black athletes and young black men in general, signaling an ongoing crisis of black men in America. On the other hand, activists, sports journalists, and fans of Bias have used counter-narratives to both signal the damage done to black men due to the politicization of Bias’ death and to reposition Bias as a sports hero.Item Mind the gap: Connecting news and information to build an anti-rape and sexual assault agenda in India(2017) Guha, Pallavi; Chadha, Kalyani; Steiner, Linda; Journalism; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This dissertation will examine the use of news media and social media platforms by feminist activists in building an anti-rape and sexual assault agenda in India. Feminist campaigns need to resonate and interact with the mainstream media and social media simultaneously to reach broader audiences, including policymakers, in India. For a successful feminist campaign to take off in a digitally emerging country like India, an interdependence of social media conversations and news media discussions is necessary. The study focuses on the theoretical framework of agenda building, digital feminist activism, and hybridization of the media system. The study will also introduce the still-emerging concept of interdependent agenda building to analyze the relationship between news media and social media. This concept proposes the idea of an interplay of information between traditional mass media and social media, by focusing not just on one media platform, but on multiple platforms simultaneously in this connected world. The methodology of the study includes in-depth interviews with thirty-five feminist activists and thirty journalists; thematic analysis of 550 newspaper reports of three rapes and murders from 2005-2016; and social media analysis of three Facebook feminist pages to understand and analyze the impact of social media on news media coverage of rape and the combined influence of media platforms on anti-rape feminist activism. The introduction of social media platforms in newsroom influence coverage of rape and sexual assault on women, and assess the reasons behind selective media and public outrage against rape and sexual assault. In this dissertation, I also focus on the intersectional identity of feminist activists and how they align their offline anti-rape activism and inequalities of caste, gender, class, digital access and literacy. As a recommendation of this study, I created a beta version of an app, which will support anti-rape feminist activism and rape coverage by bridging the information and coverage gap of rape and sexual assault.Item Political blogs and the changing discourse of public persuasive communication: A textual analysis of pre-primary coverages of 2016 U.S. Presidential Elections(2016) Pattanayak, Saswat; McAdams, Katherine C; Journalism; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)In the weeks leading to the primary of 2016 U.S. Presidential elections, the blogosphere was filled with new kinds of informal ramblings and profanities rarely witnessed in public discourses. The present study undertook content (textual) analysis of blogs and traditional news articles to examine a few research questions: If there were any noticeable shifts in languages and discourse of traditional news that seem to reflect the blogosphere; if the comparisons between blogs and traditional news indicate shifts in journalistic norms; the characteristics of intersecting relationship between traditional journalism and blogs; the possible impacts of blogs on journalistic standards of objectivity; and in the final analysis, in what ways does the influence of the blogosphere appears to be reflected in the headlines and language of non-blog journalism texts, whether overt or more implicit. The study analyzes 300 news items and indicates that blogs and traditional media have an influence on one another in unanticipated ways. In conclusion, it encourages continuous explication of changing norms in news coming from, and influencing, alternative media. The study also proposes the “Blogosphere Model” following critical analysis of the mass media historiography.Item Framing the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr.: A Comparative Analysis of Mainstream and Alternative Newspaper Coverage, 2007-2008(2015) Morganfield, Robbie Rene; Beasley, Maurine; Journalism; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This case study examined through qualitative textual analysis how a group of mainstream and alternative publications framed their coverage of the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. during the historic 2008 U.S. presidential primary campaign when Wright was the pastor of Barack Obama, who emerged from the campaign to become the nation's first black president. Prior to the campaign's conclusion, Obama parted ways with Wright as a result of heightened news coverage of statements Wright had made about the nation's politics and treatment of black people. The study analyzes 216 news stories, commentaries and editorials produced by The New York Times, Chicago Sun-Times and The Washington Post, which are mainstream daily newspapers, as well as the Chicago Defender, Washington Afro American and The Christian Century, which are alternative news publications. The analysis of their coverage of Wright was further explored by the use of two framing theories to determine what values might have influenced the ways journalists made sense out of Wright's religious speech and practices. Mark Silk's "Unsecular Media" theory posits that journalists typically rely on a set of religious values to frame their reports of religious issues and figures. Herbert Gans' "Enduring Values" theory posits that journalists typically rely on mainstream secular values to frame their reports of news subjects. The study's findings showed that on the whole the mainstream publications included in the sample produced coverage that strongly correlated with Gans' secular theory, which holds that subjects often become news worthy because they deviate from mainstream values associated with moderatism and ethnocentrism. The study's comparative analysis concluded that coverage of Wright produced by journalists working for alternative publications consistently reflected values identified by Silk, whose original study was only focused on mainstream publications. The present study's findings demonstrated that mainstream journalists rarely relied on religious sources to produce their reports while many of the writers for the alternative press were themselves religious officials or experts. The study points out ongoing challenges faced by the mainstream press in covering religion as well as the challenges religious figures face when they become the subject of coverage.Item Elements of Disbelief: A Case Study of 9/11 Truthers and the Persistence of Misinformation in the Digital Age(2014) McIntyre, James Jon; Chinoy, Ira H; Journalism; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This thesis examines the essential question: "Do facts matter?" By analyzing the persistence of false beliefs surrounding the September 11, 2001 attack on the Pentagon and the resiliency of alternative counterfactual narratives, this thesis attempts to bring about a better understanding of why myths and misinformation persist so long after clear evidence and common sense would seem to discredit them. The perspective includes the author's personal experience as inadvertent grist for the mill of conspiracy theorists, those who call themselves "9/11 truthers." While it has certainly always been the case that false beliefs can become commonly held misconceptions, this thesis will argue that the Internet has served as a "force-multiplier," giving some nonsensical beliefs virtual eternal life. But the Internet also can, and often does, serve a corrective function, through crowd-sourcing and fact-checking. Still, the question of the efficacy and persuasiveness of fact-based reporting is paramount if one believes a healthy and functioning democracy depends on a well-informed citizenry, and that journalists play a vital, sometimes unique, role in informing the public.Item Edythe Meserand: Radio Pioneer and First President of American Women in Radio and Television(2014) Cox, Merrilee A.; Beasley, Maurine H.; Journalism; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This historical dissertation examines the career of Edythe Meserand, a broadcast executive and the first president of American Women in Radio and Television, the oldest established professional association dedicated to advancing women in broadcasting. The research - the first in-depth account of Meserand's professional life - uses primary sources to investigate the tactics Meserand used to build a successful career in broadcasting's early decades, from the mid-1920s through the early 1950s. Her strategies reflected both her times and the conservative nature of the broadcasting industry. Much of her work took place in the gendered space that women typically occupied, but her most important work occurred during the fifteen years she spent in the male-dominated newsroom at WOR radio. This research adds to the historical record by providing a comprehensive case study of a notable woman whose career sheds light on the range of challenges and opportunities women faced. It also explores the prominent role she played in the founding and early development of AWRT where she inspired and mentored other women for more than 30 years. The author will argue that this work, and Meserand's ability to position herself as a worthy role-model for women in the broadcasting and media industry, is her most significant contribution.Item Computational methods applied to mass communication research: the case of press release content in news media(2013) Golitsynskiy, Sergey; Hanson, Christopher; Journalism; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)In this dissertation, I apply a variety of computational methods to explore new approaches to investigate the problem of news media's use of press release content. Being used by the public relations industry in an effort to influence the media agenda, press releases often promote the organization's viewpoint on issues. Journalism scholars have expressed numerous concerns over news media using such content as a source, often without attribution. A review of previous research has revealed a number of shortcomings, with the main problem being the lack of a reliable methodology to establish a connection between a press release and an article, which is essential for such research. This deficiency is explained by the need for in-depth textual analysis on the one hand, and the requirement of large representative samples on the other - which is near impossible to achieve using traditional methodological approaches used in journalism research. I propose using computational methods to address this problem. I use computation to extract large amounts of text from web sites, transform loosely structured text into well-formatted data, and reduce a data set consisting of 6,171 press releases and 48,664 related news articles to a sample of 1,643 press release/news article pairs, showing reasonable evidence that each of the press releases has been used as a source by a corresponding news article. Such evidence is established through verbatim text matches of sufficient length. I use the constructed data sample to investigate the extent to which press release content is used by news media verbatim, how such content is used and whether proper attribution is made identifying the true source of the news. Although my findings suggest that the problem of press release content might be not as severe as presented in previous research, due to the limitations of verbatim text matching, it might be also possible that such practice remains undetected, with all content borrowed from press releases appearing in news media in paraphrased form. Finally, my investigation leads to a discovery of a "smoking gun" - a striking example of PR influence in the form of a corporation "manufacturing" statements, getting elected officials to repeat them, and the media reporting them as a regular news story.Item Journalists or Cyber-Anarchists? A qualitative analysis of professional journalists' commentary about WikiLeaks(2013) Roberts, Jessica Stewart; Steiner, Linda; Journalism; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)New media for sharing information online have presented a challenge to professional journalism in a variety of ways, as new tools or media for communicating information allow more of the public to share information in a publicly available way. WikiLeaks, an online site that began publishing secret and classified information in 2007, provides a useful lens through which to examine professional journalists' responses to one such challenge. In responding to these challenges, journalists may engage in paradigm repair, making efforts to reinforce and police their professional norms and practices by identifying and normalizing violations. This study examines the terms and the frames used in commentary about WikiLeaks by professional journalists, in an attempt to understand how professional journalists define and defend their own profession through their efforts at paradigm repair, and to consider the professional, social, and political consequences of those efforts. Journalists primarily framed WikiLeaks as a non-journalist actor, one that threatened the national security of the United States. This framing can be seen as paradigm repair, as journalists excluded WikiLeaks from their profession on the basis of its lack of editorial structure, physical location, and concern for U.S. public interest. The consequences of this exclusion are to leave WikiLeaks and other non-traditional journalistic actors more vulnerable, and to make it more difficult for professional journalists to stay relevant and adopt improved practices in the changing media ecology.Item HUNTED BY THE CROWD: A QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS OF COLLABORATIVE INFORMATION SEARCHING IN CHINA(2013) Pan, Xiaoyan; Steiner, Linda; Journalism; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This study explores a particular form of cyber surveillance in China known as "human flesh search," in which unrelated Internet users collaboratively conduct surveillance on fellow citizens. Its theoretical framework draws up the notion of panoptic model, first articulated in the early 1800s by Jeremy Bentham and then developed by the French social theorist and philosopher Michel Foucault. Unlike some previous studies on human flesh searching, which focus on highly publicized search incidents, this study examines cyber surveillance in its daily practice, and probes how and why collaborative searches occur in China. It also explores structural constraints and empowerment experienced by search participants through the lens of power, in order to understand such a controversial activity. The study involved content analysis of a Chinese leading search forum--MOP Human Flesh Search Forum; an online survey with 158 search participants; and in-depth interviews with 9 search participants. The study found that Chinese human flesh search often took the forms of coveillance (peer-to-peer surveillance) and sousveillance (bottom-up surveillance). Fun-seeking was the primary motive for participants, who are mainly male youths; being helpful is the next. Privacy invasions and power abuses have complicated or even undermined search practices, limiting the potential of this activity to contribute to civil governance. In terms of empowerment, participating in the human flesh search seemed to give individual searchers a sense of empowerment, but such effects vary greatly depending on individuals' knowledge, social resources and search experiences. Privacy invasions and power abuses were consistently evident in searching practices, limiting the potential of this crowd-based searching, even when this is said to promote justice, to contribute to civil governance. The study also found that the panoptic model is still highly relevant and useful in understanding collaborative online surveillance, especially the function and effects of "gaze." Once conducted in a collective manner, the gaze of fellow citizens can be greatly extended in its reach and intensified by massive participation. The human flesh search mechanism studied here has great potential to profoundly change China's media landscape, but such potential is limited by current media censorship and the lack of accountability of search participants. Although the study examines searching phenomenon only in Chinese cyber space, the findings may shed light on similar surveillance practices which have emerged elsewhere in recent years. The whole question of citizen participation might benefit from the explication of the role of participation in this form of surveillance.