Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2013, Journalism (Communication)

This qualitative study explores the impact of new media, specifically social media and campaign websites with greater direct user participation and involvement. With the historic election of the first black president of the United States, Barack Obama, and the candidacy of the first Republican woman nominated for vice-president, Sarah Palin, the 2008 presidential and vice-presidential campaigns remain important for study. "Political Campaigning 2.0" analyzes campaign and user-generated web content covering a wide array of new media: Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Wikipedia, Twitter, and campaign websites. The study is based on Erving Goffman's theories of Framing and Impression Management and complemented with James Grunig's Situational Theory of Publics. In contrast to other studies, this research includes the issue of age and explores the intersectionality of race, gender, and age. It uses a multi-method approach, combining textual analysis with in-depth interviews, focus groups, and self-reports made up of 66 Ohio University undergraduate student participants. Findings reveal that a majority of web users interpreted and represented the Democratic candidates in the same way as the campaign framed them, indicating convergent and successful representation in terms of race, gender, and age. The Obama-Biden campaign was able to take advantage of Obama's race as a historic milestone and Biden's age as a sign of experience. In contrast, most web users interpreted and represented Republican candidates differently than intended by the McCain-Palin campaign, indicating a divergence in framing. A majority of users framed McCain as old, rather than experienced, and Palin as inexperienced, rather than a "maverick." The McCain-Palin campaign worked to represent Palin as a candidate who would appeal to women, but her representation in terms of gender did not resonate with a majority of web users. Emphasizing the importance of new media technology, this study shows how the (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Bernhard Debatin (Advisor); Joseph Bernt (Committee Member); Duncan Brown (Committee Member); DeLysa Burnier (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication; Journalism