Master of Science (MS), Ohio University, 2021, Journalism (Communication)

The German relation to Israel is marked by its historic circumstances, namely the Shoah and the antisemitism which made it possible, but also cooperation between the two countries nowadays. Previous research on the portrayal of Israel in German print media, in particular during times of escalation in the Arab-Israeli conflict, have found a bias against Israel. This study provides an analysis of the media image of Israel in German online news media during a low-escalation period in the Arab-Israeli conflict, accounting for the changes in the media landscape due to digitalization and providing a comparison to traditional media. A sample by five German news outlets – Bild.de, n-tv.de, Spiegel.de, t-online.de and Zeit.de – during a 2019 low escalation-phase was analyzed using a structural objectivity content analysis. A focus was put on the overall evaluation as well as the topics and actors who can be found in the reporting. The findings show an overall balanced depiction with some outliers, in contrast to the portrayal of Israel during periods with high conflict.

Committee: Alexander Godulla (Committee Chair); Jatin Srivastava (Committee Co-Chair); Freya Sukalla (Committee Member) Subjects: Journalism; Mass Communications; Mass Media

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2020, Communication

Over the past three decades, partisanship has become an increasingly salient social identity for Americans, resulting in an electorate that is affectively polarized. An electorate characterized by affective polarization cuts against normative models of democracy, as party loyalists tend to dislike members of other parties, prefer confrontation to compromise, and distrust government when their preferred party is out of power. The commercial US media environment has been a frequent culprit in theories of the origins of affective polarization. Cross-national comparisons find that the United States may have experienced the most rapid gains in affective polarization but Americans' fixation on party identity is far from unique. This comparative analysis categorizes 14 countries' national media systems and tests whether news media consumption in commercial media systems, such as the United States, predicts higher levels of partisan animus and party loyalty in vote choice than media consumption in other types of media systems. The results indicate that television consumption in commercial media systems is associated with higher levels of partisan affect than in public-service or hybrid media systems.

Committee: Erik Nisbet Ph.D. (Advisor); R. Kelly Garrett Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication; Political Science

Bachelor of Arts, Wittenberg University, 2020, Communication

Women in the political sector struggle to find their place. Though the number of female representatives has increased in recent years, it has been a slow climb often complicated by the socially prescribed importance of their image to the public eye as represented through media. In the impeachment of President Donald Trump, two female senators, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, were prominently featured on news coverage outlets. As it is not historically common for female politicians to be at the center of major debates, this case allowed for valuable analysis of how the media portrays women in politics. Through this work, three questions are explored: 1) How did cable news media frame Senators Susan Collins' and Lisa Murkowski's roles in the impeachment process of President Donald Trump? 2) How did Senators Collins and Murkowski frame themselves in their self-representations through the impeachment process? 3) How have Collins and Murkowski engaged in self-representation for their overall identities as senators?

Committee: Sheryl Cunningham (Advisor); Kelly Dillon (Committee Member); Edward Hasecke (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication; Gender Studies; Mass Communications; Mass Media; Political Science; Womens Studies

Doctor of Philosophy, University of Toledo, 2020, Foundations of Education: Educational Psychology

Journalists and academics have lamented that the United States is in an epistemic crisis and has entered a post-truth era due, in part, to a proliferation of fake news and ideologically slanted sources. It is the duty of the educational system to equip students with the attitudes, critical thinking skills, and knowledge necessary to engage with the news and make informed decisions; thus, this exploratory study investigates high school students' epistemic beliefs concerning news as a knowledge source. The review of literature provides an overview of frameworks from personal epistemology with a focus on components that are relevant to educational strategies for news media literacy, as well as a summary of news media literacy models and educational initiatives for high schoolers. This is followed by a description of a proposed epistemic framework for news media literacy--the ASK Framework--that integrates the two streams of research. Using a mixed methods approach, this study drew on semi-structured interviews and surveys administered in 2010 to 60 high schoolers from a rural district in northwest Ohio. Results demonstrated that while most participants agreed that the news should inform the public, many also observed that it could persuade, appeal to, or worry people as well, and these views impacted participants' attitudes and levels of trust toward the news. Although all participants noted using a portfolio of news sources, they most heavily favored television and expressed the most interest in news topics that they found directly relevant to their lives, such as healthcare or the economy. Participants also demonstrated high levels of news discourse with teachers and adults in their lives, particularly on local and national events. When it came to determining the quality of news, the majority of participants noted that an article should present an abundance of facts and details, and many also noted the importance of their news coming from a trusted outlet, citing its (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Florian Feucht (Committee Co-Chair); Dale Snauwaert (Committee Co-Chair); Susanna Hapgood (Committee Member); Judy Lambert (Committee Member) Subjects: Educational Psychology

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2019, Media and Communication

News media's role as important sources of information, influence and political socialization and their impact in increasing political participation, awareness about policy issues and reducing knowledge gaps between different education groups have been shown by scholars from all over the world. Concurrently, news media have also been seen by researchers as inducers of alienation, cynicism and apathy among the people against the government, big business/financial corporations and the media themselves. In the United States, decline of media trust has been a trend since the 1970's, and the recent unhealthy relationship between the Trump Administration and the media has been the dominant picture. Media trust is important because it is not just the impact of the news media, but perceptions towards it have been shown to be linked with other areas of political and social feelings and standpoints and fosters activity towards or against certain issues. Hence, more knowledge about people's satisfaction with and perception towards the media and how they impact their impressions of different aspects within the social and political realms need to be studied. The objective of this research was to understand people's satisfaction with and perceptions of news media performance and their relationship with alienation from government and big business corporations. This study conducted a secondary analysis of data to investigate people's perceptions of and satisfaction with different news media, and then their level of alienation from the government and business/financial corporations. It then analyzed if perception and satisfaction levels towards certain news media predicted levels of alienation from government and alienation from big corporations. It used survey data gathered from 760 participants in 2016 (n=400) and 2017 (n=360), before and after the U.S. presidential election. The data were collected from college students in a Midwestern university using quota sampling method. Pe (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Srinivas Melkote Dr. (Advisor); Lisa Hanasono Dr. (Committee Member); Yanqin Lu Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication; Mass Communications; Mass Media; Political Science

Master of Science (MS), Ohio University, 2018, Journalism (Communication)

For a long time habit has been a blind spot of research on media attendance generally and Internet usage particularly. Especially uses and gratifications approaches have mainly focused on intentional and conscious motives. Psychological research and recent studies on media attendance, however, suggest that habit is an important determinant of media behavior, too. This study set out to examine the role of habit in the use of online news, a medium traditionally associated with instrumentality and information needs. The study draws on social cognitive theory as theoretical framework. Two hundred fifty-nine usable datasets were gathered through an open online survey. A confirmatory factor analysis confirmed habit strength as an independent factor. Habit strength had a significant influence on overall usage of online news. It was further correlated to deficient self-regulation, pass time and other self-reactive incentives, and context stability. An exploratory factor analysis tentatively confirmed hypothesized dimensions of online news behavior such as searching, elaboration, use of visual elements, follow-up actions, and distraction. These dimensions, however, lacked internal reliability.

Committee: Michael S. Sweeney (Committee Chair); Benjamin Bigl (Committee Member); Hans-Jo¨rg Stiehler (Committee Member) Subjects: Cognitive Psychology; Communication; Journalism; Mass Communications; Mass Media; Multimedia Communications; Psychology; Web Studies

Bachelor of Science of Journalism (BSJ), Ohio University, 2010, Journalism

The American media system needs to be reformed. While the media are supposed to be a powerful force in preserving our democracy, certain components have not been as vigilant lately. In the name of capitalism, once separate media companies have merged to form a powerful few. The so-called Big Six – AOL Time Warner, Disney, General Electric, News Corporation, Columbia Broadcasting Service and Viacom – control the mainstream media in the United States. Not only do these companies control television stations, but also publishing companies, newspapers, and Internet websites. Additionally, Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation has its hands in every form of media across the globe. Thus, a select few are controlling a large portion of the message to the American people. As a result of this corporate expansion, the state of journalism has suffered with the emphasis now on the bottom line instead of honest and respectable journalism. The mainstream media have degenerated into partisan reporting on both sides of the political spectrum. Americans are beginning to consider political pundits, like Glenn Beck or journalistic lightweights like Barbara Walters, actual journalists. The healthcare reform debate highlights just how important the media are and how corrupted certain media groups have become. As the reform debate continues, the desire for profits appears to drive the media rather than a desire to report the truth. This can only prove deleterious to the American political system.

Committee: Bernhard Debatin Dr. (Advisor) Subjects: Journalism

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2024, Sociology

Beginning around 2020, conservative politicians and media outlets have launched an aggressive campaign against diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives via the symbolic vilification of critical race theory. Several scholars have observed that this crusade has largely taken the form of a conservative media-driven disinformation campaign that seeks to obscure the true intent and scope of critical race theory's influence on American society for political gains. Drawing upon critical race literature, framing theory, and various scholarship pertaining to the relationship between media and cultural hegemony, this project sought to qualitatively interrogate the frames used to discuss critical race theory within live Fox News broadcastings. Upon analysis of 50 randomly selected live Fox News transcripts, I found that Fox News commentators regularly invoked 6 common frames in discourses surrounding critical race theory. Therein, critical race theory was often projected to be: 1.) Divisive, 2.) Governmental Overreach, 3.) Indoctrination, 4.) a Marxist/Communist Agenda, and 5.) as Racist, with 6.) people of color (POC) often being used as legitimizers of these narratives. To conclude, I contemplated the implications of these frames, particularly in regard to what they unveil about mass media's influence over knowledge production and dissemination processes, as well as what they project for future social and racial justice strategies in light of the impending direction of the conservative political agenda.

Committee: Michael Vuolo (Advisor); Vincent Roscigno (Committee Member); Dana Haynie (Committee Member) Subjects: Journalism; Mass Communications; Mass Media; Social Research; Sociology

Master of Science (MS), Ohio University, 2024, Journalism (Communication)

This thesis examines how three major American newspapers reported on paleontology during the 1990s. Paleontology experienced a popularity spike in the 1990s with the Jurassic Park films breaking film records and bringing dinosaurs to the forefront of the public consciousness. A number of important specimens were found and improving technology revolutionized the field, leading to numerous discoveries. This study documents which topics within paleontology the media reported on the most and what news values drove this reporting. Additionally, this study analyzes the occurrence rate of a few common tropes, metaphors and mistakes often associated with paleontology within news articles. This thesis examines USA Today, The New York Times, and The Associated Press's coverage of paleontology due to their status as being amongst the largest news organizations and running wire services which distributed their work across the United States. This study applies the revised news values proposed by Harcup and O'Neill to gauge which news values are used by reporters and editors when covering paleontology and to determine if these revised news values are applicable to science journalism.

Committee: Bernhard Debatin (Committee Chair); Lawerence Witmer (Committee Member); Parul Jain (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication; Journalism; Multimedia Communications; Paleoclimate Science; Paleoecology; Paleontology; Science Education; Science History

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2022, Media and Communication

Long has alternative media been conceptualized as inherently leftist. Using recent conceptualizations of alternative media as existing on a continuum (Kenix, 2011) and definitions of alternative media as critical in its content (Downing, 2001; Atkinson, 2021), a segment of the Fox News show Tucker Carlson Tonight (TCT) is thought of as conservative embedded alternative media. On April 26, 2021, a segment of TCT provoked widespread mainstream news reporting. This exploratory study sought to better understand the relationship between the mainstream news media and embedded alternative media. Qualitative and quantitative content analysis was used to examine an exhaustive list of 40 mainstream news articles that mentioned the TCT segment in the two days following its airing. Research questions asked include if and why intermedia agenda-setting is occurring, what the flow of information is between the mainstream news and TCT, and what news values are associated with the relationship between mainstream news and embedded alternative media. Results show several different directions for future research. It appears that the mainstream news constructs controversy using social media, in this case, Twitter posts, to provide negative reactions to a story. In cases where social media accounts were not referenced, articles still were generally portrayed negatively and focused on controversy. This controversy was, in some cases, tied to leftist alternative media site The Daily Beast. It also appears that intermedia agenda-setting is occurring at a first level, but not second. Additionally, it is argued that intermedia agenda-setting occurred because of the competitive advantage that negative and controversial stories may provide mainstream news media. Future research should attempt to broadly generalize these relationships, conduct further analysis of controversy as a news value in relation to traditional and embedded alternative media, and consider using a political economy framewor (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Joshua Atkinson Ph.D. (Advisor); Yanqin Lu Ph.D. (Committee Member); Louisa Ha Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Journalism; Mass Media

Bachelor of Arts, Capital University, 2022, Communication

“Fake news” has magnified media credibility and utility as issues of the digital age. The COVID-19 pandemic, by presenting life-threatening uncertainty, has created new interest in online information and perceptions thereof. This study examines how the crisis and its political implications have affected college students' perceptions of online news media. A survey was administered to Capital University's undergraduate student body via email to gauge students' perceptions of online news media credibility and utility since the pandemic's onset. Other questions explored perceptions of “fake news,” social media use, and the value of user comments. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to draw conclusions about how perceptions of media credibility and utility are affected by the perceived presence of a crisis and its politicization. The study found a negative correlation between a crisis's politicization and online news media credibility and a positive correlation between the perceived presence of a crisis and online news media utility. Understanding how college students consume and perceive online news media may provide insights into how crises affect the public's perceptions of online news media.

Committee: Lois Foreman-Wernet Ph.D. (Advisor); Stephen Koch Ph.D. (Advisor); Sharon Croft Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Stephanie Wilson Ph.D. (Other) Subjects: Cognitive Psychology; Communication; Information Science; Journalism; Political Science

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2018, Leadership Studies

In 1785, Thomas Jefferson wrote,“The most effectual engines for [pacifying a nation] are the public papers... [A despotic] government always [keeps] a kind of standing army of news writers who, without any regard to truth or to what should be like truth, [invent] and put into the papers whatever might serve the ministers. This suffices with the mass of the people who have no means of distinguishing the false from the true paragraphs of a newspaper” (Sec.51). Jefferson's views are as salient today as they were in 1785. Some 232 years later, a “mass of people” struggle to distinguish between news that is real and news that is false. The largest context for this struggle to date was the 2016 United States presidential election (Pew Center, 2016c). For some, the “fake news” found on social media has become a harbinger for the emergence of a despotic government (Pew Center). The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand the phenomenon of fake news through the lived experience of graduate students in the United States. The prospective student participants were pursuing advanced degrees in higher education. This research study utilized the uses and gratifications theory (UGT) approach to analyze how and why people used social media during the 2016 U.S. presidential election. In light of the influence of fake news on the 2016 presidential election, this study also aimed to investigate the reasons why people believed that fake news were appealing. The thematic analysis revealed people were gratified by the use of social media for connecting with friends and family, gathering and sharing information, and as a vehicle of expression. Participants found a significant amount of fake news stories on social media during the 2016 U.S. presidential election. They tried to identify and differentiate between fake news and real news using the fact-checking websites and major news sources. However, the two significant themes that emerged during the interviews illustrated that (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Judith May (Committee Chair); Dawn Anderson (Committee Member); Angel González (Committee Member); Paul Johnson (Committee Member); Kristina LaVenia (Committee Member) Subjects: Educational Leadership; Mass Media

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2018, Media and Communication

This dissertation study applies the Hierarchy of Influences Model proposed by Pamela Shoemaker and Stephen Reese, to examine how the advent of social media has affected journalistic gatekeeping practices in India as the largest non-Western democratic country, identify the emerging challenges for the journalism industry, and explore sustainable strategies to address these challenges. Nearly 2,700 journalists belonging to three of the largest press clubs in India were invited to complete an online survey. The survey examined journalists' perceptions about social media's usefulness and credibility as a professional tool. The questions further investigated the factors that influenced their decisions to source or select breaking crime stories from social media platforms and upload such crime stories both on their organization's website, as well as their organization's official Facebook or Twitter pages. The survey was completed by 274 journalists from 15 Indian cities, and their responses analyzed for this study. In addition, for a deeper and insightful understanding of the research problem, and for purposes of corroboration, elaboration and development, in-depth interviews were conducted with 18 print, television, and online editors from five of India's largest metropolitan cities. The research results can be described in three parts: (a) The survey results showed that journalists consider social media to be an extremely useful professional tool, yet they do not find the platforms credible or trustworthy. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that while individual beliefs, organizational constraints, and social institutional influences impacted journalists' web uploading decisions, such choices were also influenced significantly by journalists' perceived usefulness and credibility of information available on social media. When sharing breaking crime news on organizational social media handles, journalists were only influenced by social system factors such as (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Louisa Ha (Advisor); Jill Zeilstra-Ryalls (Committee Member); Srinivas Melkote (Committee Member); Lisa Hanasono (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication; Journalism; Mass Communications

Master of Arts, Case Western Reserve University, 2025, Political Science

Women are underrepresented in U.S. politics. This study helps to better understand the media's relationship with gendered politics and the barriers preventing women from being elected to office in the U.S. My research question is, “To what extent are women and men treated differently by news media in political campaigns?” To answer my research question, I analyze the 13 U.S. Senate races from 2022 in which a man and a woman ran against each other and compare the news media associated with these campaigns. This research serves to help women running in political campaigns better understand how they might be perceived. Overall, the findings in this study are promising for women looking to run for political office. This will help to knock down the media barrier that deters women from wanting to enter politics.

Committee: Karen Beckwith (Committee Chair); Girma Parris (Committee Member); Pete Moore (Committee Member) Subjects: Gender; Gender Studies; Political Science

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2024, Media and Communication

This study utilizes an experimental design to explore how different frames impact individuals' perceptions of Muslim women when portrayed in news coverage of protests from the Middle East and North Africa region. Specifically, this research investigates the influence of news media frames on U.S. public perceptions of Muslim women activists, focusing on the impact of the hijab to test various perspectives related to minorities, gender, and stereotypical representations. In addition to examining the effect of text (positive and negative frames) and visuals (no visuals, visuals featuring veiled Muslim women, and visuals of unveiled Muslim women) on perceptions, this study also analyzes the influence of the interaction effect of the text and visual frames. This dissertation employed a factorial design, utilizing Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) to conduct an online experiment. Participants were exposed to different news frames describing protests to assess their perceptions of Muslim women activists. One of the key findings of this study highlights the influence of Western-centric notions on perceptions of Muslims. Results demonstrated that positive text frames accompanied by visuals featuring unveiled women facilitated more positive implicit perceptions compared to negative frames. However, exposure to visuals featuring veiled women fostered more support toward Muslim women's protests compared to those exposed to unveiled visuals, regardless of whether the text frame is positive or negative. Additionally, results exhibited that preexisting stereotypes of oppression and victimization, along with interactions with Muslims, emerged as the most influential predictors in shaping perceptions. iv Based on the results, the author urges editors and journalists to carefully consider the goal of their coverage of protest news from the Middle East to ensure accurate and balanced portrayals that contribute to greater social inclusion, diversity, and equity in media discourse. The (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Louisa Ha PhD (Committee Chair); Kefa Otiso PhD (Other); Lara Langel PhD (Committee Member); Yanqin Lu PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Mass Media; Middle Eastern Studies; Minority and Ethnic Groups; Womens Studies

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2021, Journalism (Communication)

Spread of mis- and dis-information has emerged as one of the most concerning threat to democratic processes in the United States. Who is to blame for such a rise in the spread of mis- and dis-information is yet to be decided, however, this study aimed to explore how such forms of information is consumed and believed by the audiences. This research expands on our understanding of how ideological cues work to promote mis/disinformation consumption along with other factors like, political opinion leaders, cognitive dissonance and personal ideology. Furthermore, the study explores the two-step selective evaluation process, which an information consumer goes through before making any decision on the information. The decision is then further rationalized in post-decisional effects. A survey experiment was conducted on 429 respondents who showed that any information content will be palatable to them if those information carries ideologically confirming cues. Moreover, the study used opinion leader as manipulation to test cognitive dissonance, consonance, and resonance against the personal ideology of the respondents to further divulge into the process of mis/disinformation consumption. A deductive thematic analysis of audience responses gives a direction to the decision-making process when faced with congruent or incongruent information.

Committee: Victoria LaPoe (Advisor) Subjects: Cognitive Psychology; Communication; Journalism; Mass Communications; Mass Media; Political Science

Bachelor of Arts, Wittenberg University, 2020, Communication

Beginning in April of 2019, protestors in Hong Kong, in response to an extradition bill allowing to detain and transfer individuals wanted in other countries, demanded amnesty for arrested protestors, removal of the label `riot' for the protests, inquiry on police brutality, the implementation of universal suffrage in Hong Kong, and the withdrawal of the extradition bill. After the bill was withdrawn, protests continued after as the remaining demands were not addressed. Media coverage, being a major source of communication to those within and outside of the nation, must use language in a way that creates a coherent ideological framework. This study examines coverage on the 2019 protests to observe the presentation of the events in Hong Kong to English-speaking audiences.

Committee: Sheryl Cunningham (Advisor); Mary Zuidema (Committee Member); Kelly Dillon (Committee Member) Subjects: Asian Studies; Communication; Journalism; Mass Communications; Mass Media; Political Science

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2020, Journalism (Communication)

In Western world, government intervention via media policy is supposed to help correct market failures such as the existence of external cost/benefit on third parties, the lack of public goods, or the abuse of monopoly power (Rolland, 2008; Hoskins et al., 2004; Picard, 1989). In communist nations, government intervention is more often viewed as to protect political ideas (Lee et al., 2006; Silverblatt & Zlobin, 2004; Siebert et al., 1978). However, in the post-communist era, communist governments were steered towards a market economy with a socialist orientation, leading to the ambiguity of their media policies' goals and subsequently, their policy outcomes. In this study, I choose to analyze media policies in Vietnam, a still communist nation, to understand its current policy goals and to evaluate the effectiveness of the policy on news quality and financial performance of Vietnamese press organizations. The study is done based on Freedman's (2008) definition of media policy, normative analyses and the public interest theory outlined by Hoskin et al. (2004), and financial commitment model developed and tested by many media economists (Lacy, 1989; Martin, 2003; Lacy & Martin, 2004). Three research questions are asked as following: (1) What changes in press laws have occurred in Vietnamese history in terms of Freedman's identified key policy tools, such as regulations regarding ownership, subsidies, taxes, advertising and content restrictions?; (2) Can the current, state-run news media policy be justified on the grounds of market failures according to the economic theory of government intervention?; and (3) How do news organizations perform under the current news media policy, assuming the positive relationship between media competition, as a result of changes in market structure, and media performance, including financial performance and news quality? A qualitative document analysis of 270 legal documents drawn from the Ministry of Information and Communication Arc (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Hugh Martin (Committee Chair) Subjects: Journalism

Master of Science (MS), Ohio University, 2005, Journalism (Communication)

If a magazine's achievements can be measured in part by whom and how many it infuriated in the shortest amount of time, then surely Scanlan's Monthly deserves to be honored. The brainchild of former Ramparts editor Warren Hinckle and former New York Times law reporter Sidney Zion, Scanlan's printed only eight issues in 1970 and 1971. But during its short lifetime the magazine drew the attention and often the ire of business, labor, law enforcement, and government leaders including Vice President Spiro Agnew and President Richard Nixon. In the midst of such special attention, Scanlan's managed to print some of the most provocative muckraking journalism of its time. Scanlan's published the first examples of Hunter S. Thompson's now-celebrated Gonzo journalism; and two years before anyone outside of Washington, D.C., had heard of Watergate, Scanlan's called for President Nixon's impeachment. Scanlan's' 2019; eighth issue, dedicated to the subject of guerilla violence in the U.S., was subjected to a nationwide boycott by printing unions, and was then seized by Montreal police after it was printed in Quebec. The issue, which turned out to be Scanlan's' last, finally appeared in January 1971 after a three-month delay. Scanlan's' insistence on taking on and not backing down from power doomed it to an early death, and its brushes with the U.S. government demonstrate the extent of the Nixon administration's war on the dissident press. Scanlan's is a sobering lesson on how government power can be wielded to harass, and in some cases silence, the press.

Committee: Patrick Washburn (Committee Chair) Subjects: History; Journalism; Mass Communications; Mass Media

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2019, Political Science

Social influence shapes the political opinions people form and the norms they adopt. I show that three key types of social networks drive the type of social influence people face: fully-connected deliberative networks, social hierarchies based on status, and star networks that group up around a central opinion leader. In chapter one, I lay the foundation for thinking of public opinion as emerging from people's social structures. I then apply the theory to international norm adoption and show that the type of network an individual is placed in has a direct effect on the norms they adopt, over and above partisanship. In chapter two, I use a custom-made Twitter-like environment to show experimentally that hierarchies foster the adoption of partisan-leaning norms as members pursue status. Stars, in contrast, inoculate their members against false claims due to the reputations costs opinion leaders face in misleading their followers. In chapter three, I expand on these findings by priming subjects in a survey experiment with an image of their social structure, and show that placing a political independent in a social hierarchy at the individual-level makes them favor U.S. isolationism, international competition in domains such as trade, and overall unilateralism on the world stage. The conclusion of these two studies is clear: social hierarchies prime competitive political thinking, often leading to the adoption of norms based on false premises, and star networks help their followers sift through the noise and misinformation that prevails in online fully-connected networks. These findings highlight the importance of viewing norm adoption and opinion formation as a social endeavor that is deeply influenced by one's reference network. As online social networks continue to expand, identifying the types of networks that characterize these social environments becomes imperative for students of public opinion and international relations that seek to understand why some norms an (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Skyler Cranmer (Committee Chair); Christopher Gelpi (Committee Member); Richard Herrmann (Committee Member); Jon Krosnick (Committee Member) Subjects: International Relations; Political Science