Master of Science (MS), Ohio University, 2017, Journalism (Communication)

This thesis pertains to media coverage of Israel/Palestine, with emphasis on The New York Times, Israeli publication Haaretz, and BBC Online's coverage of the conflict in Gaza during the Summer of 2014. The thesis quantitatively delves into the material being studied, utilizing measures of bias, as well as indicators of peace journalism to accomplish the objective of thoroughly analyzing the 351 news stories sampled from the three publications at hand. The study employs eleven variables, six pertaining to news bias and five operationalized indicators of peace journalism. The thesis will argue that peace journalism is a partial yet powerful remedy for biased coverage. Although it is considered to be a form of advocacy journalism, it can, when translated onto the pages of conventional news outlets, shed objective light on even the direst and most intractable shades of conflict. The study found that The New York Times and BBC Online favored Palestinians in headlines and photographs, likely due to the dramatic devastation wrought upon Gaza. Haaretz was found to be more evenhanded, likely due to its market of Israelis and Jews throughout the world. BBC Online and Haaretz both relied heavily on official (military and government) sources, while The New York Times relied on experts. Measures of peace journalism were varied among the variables being analyzed.

Committee: Michael Sweeney Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Bernhard Debatin Ph.D. (Committee Member); Jatin Srivastava Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Journalism

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

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

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

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

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2004, Education : Criminal Justice

This study examines media process in print media behavior in the reporting of homicide cases that occurred in 2001 that were investigated by the Houston Police Department. Content analysis was conducted using HPD press releases and news items published in the Houston Chronicle. Victim, offender, and circumstance information were obtained from the HPD. The study uses OLS and Logistical regression analysis to examine the effects of victim, offender, and social context measures on a variety of dependent measures, including whether a news item appeared in print, the number of news items that appeared in print, the number of words published, and media attention scores that combine measures of number of words, page placement, and the use of photographs with the news items. Additionally, news theme measures and information availability measures are examined to determine their effects on media outcome measures. The findings suggest victim traits such as female victims and multiple victims are the most important factors in predicting a variety of media outcomes. Robbery-related homicides, stranger homicides, homicides involving female suspects, those involving younger victims, and those involving minority suspects are also found to be important predictors for certain media outcome measures, but not for others. A domestic context and homicides emanating from arguments that escalated were found to decrease measures of intensity of coverage for certain models. Other models suggested that the use of a knife or cutting instrument in the homicide decreases intensity of coverage while assault-based homicides increase the intensity of coverage. Certain informational constraint measures were also found to be important predictors of media outcomes. News theme measures are significant predictors of intensity of media attention score. The implications of the findings are interpreted in the context of Barak's (1994) “Newsmaking Criminology” framework. Suggestions for future research are (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Dr. Lawrence Travis (Advisor) Subjects:

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2012, Media and Communication

This dissertation carries out a multi-level analysis of how media reports establish durable narratives of war in both journalism and scholarship, illustrating a multi-dimensional process of the weaponization of media. It draws on a case study of NATO's attack on Yugoslavia in 1999, examining both news coverage and scholarly accounts, and with reference to relevant historical, institutional, economic and political contexts. The author conducts a grounded theory analysis of 1058 news articles appearing in the Associated Press, New York Times, and The Times (of London) surrounding the pivotal events of NATO's military intervention in Kosovo. The ways in which these selected media represent the events and the relationship between their dominant narrative themes and the contexts in which the events occurred, is further examined, comparatively, by means of grounded theory analysis of how 4 major scholarly treatises craft an understanding of NATO intervention in Kosovo. Based on these analyses, this research argues that (a) media content foregrounds (and in various ways privileges) the frames, sources and narratives that correspond with the interests of NATO that drive military intervention and (b) these media narratives exercise a lingering influence on long-term conceptualizations of conflict and have the capacity to shape the contours of cultural memory for years to come. Emerging from this inquiry – which situates the interrelationships between media, power and military conflict within the context of political and economic environment – is the theory of a weaponization of media that moves beyond the scope of existing propaganda theories (and, in the context of propaganda, agenda-setting and framing theories) that explains to what end propaganda works and the ways in which the media system capacitates and enhances processes of propaganda.

Committee: Oliver Boyd-Barrett (Committee Chair); Lynda Dixon (Committee Member); Lara Lengel (Committee Member); Scott Magelssen (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication; Journalism; Mass Communications; Mass Media

Doctor of Philosophy in Health Sciences, Youngstown State University, 2024, Department of Graduate Studies in Health and Rehabilitation Sciences

The HPV vaccination has been effective in preventing HPV-related diseases and cancers, but a large portion of the US population remains unvaccinated. The dissertation explores the sociodemographic disparities in HPV vaccination uptake and coverage in different categories of the US population. Additionally, it investigates the nature and pattern of HPV misinformation and its relationship with extremism, conspiracism, and religious ideologies in online forums. The first two studies used national survey data to analyze HPV vaccine initiation and completion among US adolescents and adults. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression were adopted to estimate disparities in HPV vaccination uptake. The third study analyzed online forum posts related to HPV vaccination discourse and misinformation through purposive sampling, utilizing automated text mining and statistical analysis to assess the association with conspiracy theories, extreme ideologies, and extremist activities. HPV vaccine initiation and completion increased among older adolescents, and there are lower odds of HPV vaccination among adults aged 45 and above. The nature of discussions about HPV vaccination in online forums is primarily analytical, with moderate to low clout and emotional tone. Discourse and misleading narratives about the HPV vaccine among faith communities, including the prevalence of extreme theories and ideologies, potentially escalate into extremist activities. There is a need for initiatives to address HPV vaccination uptake among boys and expand the vaccine recommendations to include all US adults. Online engagement of community forums, experts, and evidence-based communication to promote HPV vaccine uptake.

Committee: Nicolette Powe PhD (Advisor); Ken Learman PhD (Committee Member); Richard Rogers PhD (Committee Member); Heather Hefner PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Biostatistics; Demographics; Health; Health Sciences; Public Health; Public Health Education

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2023, Mass Communication (Communication)

Studies of media coverage and framing of armed conflict in Africa routinely focus on the roles of Western media. In the post-independent periods, foreign media provided in-depth news as some African countries degenerated into armed conflicts. As Africa's newest country became dangerous for journalists, South Sudan's post-independence government imposed restrictions on local journalists' coverage of the third civil war (2013-2020). In neighboring Kenya, the East African (TEA) became a de facto regional African media covering the conflict during this period. This dissertation focused its qualitative examinations of TEA archives to explore the newspaper's coverage and framing of the conflict as an African newspaper. This research further examined TEAs' role in agenda-setting and framing theoretical frameworks. Among other conclusions, the dissertation found that TEA shaped the news agenda by using officials' news sources' narratives and framings. The study also concluded that as an African newspaper, TEA did not offer unique coverage or news framing; instead, it followed the traditional journalist practice of using and relying on officials as news sources. This dissertation is limited to the East African newspaper as a case study.

Committee: Steve Howard (Advisor) Subjects: Mass Communications; Mass Media

Master of Science (MS), Ohio University, 2023, Journalism (Communication)

This thesis examines the adherence of German and U.S.-American mainstream and right-wing online news platform's coverage of antifa protests to the protest paradigm. It further focuses on the portrayal of antifa protests and antifascist action in general, while considering societal differences as well as differences within the movements in both countries. This thesis applied a qualitative content analysis to N = 224 articles from eight media outlets. The analysis is structured along for key categories: framing as well as portrayal of the protest, portrayal of the protest group, and sourcing patterns. Results show common themes in the portrayal of antifa. All outlet types tend to demonize und delegitimize antifa protests and protest causes. German media does so in particular by heavily relying on the police as an official source. U.S. mainstream media is the only outlet type to sometimes include various other perspectives into their protest coverage, and to frequently provide contexts and political classifications of antifa protests. However, German mainstream and right-wing media generally show more similarities in their antifa coverage than German and U.S. mainstream media, especially in the portrayal of antifa. U.S. right-wing media stands out by employing frames that depict antifa values and protests as immoral, and members as anti-free speech and un-American. All outlet types' antifa protest coverage is marked by an emphasis on confrontations and on the measures needed to avert escalations, as well as by an overall negative tone towards antifa. Further, all media outlets point out the riot-like and in part anarchic characters of antifa protests and highlight property and violent crimes allegedly committed by antifa members during protests. All coverage adheres to the protest paradigm; mainstream media in both countries, however, employ more mixed frames, while right-wing media employ mainly marginalizing frames. Sympathetic and balanced re (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Aimee Edmondson (Committee Chair); Patrick Donges (Committee Member); Elizabeth Hendrickson (Committee Member) Subjects: Journalism

Bachelor of Science of Journalism (BSJ), Ohio University, 2022, Journalism

This article investigates the news coverage of the Stanford, California 2015 rape case People v. Turner. Pulling from five national and two local daily newspapers, I conducted a qualitative thematic analysis of 96 news articles. I examine three questions: (1) How did journalists frame news articles in relation to the rape victim? (2) How did journalists frame news articles in relation to the rapist? (3) How often do rape myths and stereotypes appear in news articles about the case? My analysis reveals that the news coverage of People v. Turner frequently mentioned the victim's alcohol use when discussing consent and mentioned the perpetrator's alcohol use when excuses were made for his actions. There was indirect and direct coverage of the excuses made for the perpetrator's behavior, in addition to frequent mentions of his white privilege and status as a star student and athlete. Finally, the analysis demonstrated that rape myths concerning alcohol use, consent, and the rapist image were presented, endorsed, and rejected in the news coverage of the case. These findings shed light on how victims and perpetrators are framed by news media, and the findings also provide insight into how rape myths are used by news media in sexual assault coverage.

Committee: Holly Ningard (Advisor) Subjects: Journalism; Sociology

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

This dissertation will utilize trauma scholarship and feminist standpoint theory as frameworks for understanding how women's accounts of gender-based violence have been—and continue to be—un- and under-valued by (and in) the media, culture, and society. The broad goal of this critical cultural and historical study is to 1) name, identify, and classify a phenomenon known as the first-person industrial complex; 2) examine the phenomenon's history; 3) identify systemic barriers to the phenomenon's elimination, including legal and ethical considerations; and 4) encourage others to partake in similar research and writing, and see their own stories of gender-based violence as valuable. Thus, this dissertation will examine the various flashpoints of women's first-person writing that have contributed to today's digital media landscape and will trace the history of the first-person industrial complex through primary documents containing such writing, including newspapers, magazines and digital media outlets. This work will draw from archival sources in order to trace the history of this phenomenon from 1841 to the present utilizing critical discourse analysis; will include qualitative analyses of legal and ethical structures that keep women's stories from being shared in an equitable way; and will conclude with a normative critique of the current landscape, offering potential solutions and new possibilities for research in this area.

Committee: Aimee Edmondson (Advisor); Patty Stokes (Committee Member); Kelly Ferguson (Committee Member); Katherine Jellison (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication; Ethics; Gender Studies; Journalism; Mass Communications

BA, Oberlin College, 2020, Economics

This paper studies the personal characteristics and factors that determine alumni giving using a dataset from Oberlin College from 1974-2019. Liberal arts colleges like Oberlin are especially dependent on gifts to cover operating expenses and fund endowments as they don't receive direct public funding. Using Logit and Tobit regression, I find that females, graduates, age, alumni whose spouse attended Oberlin, being married, and GPA are associated with higher giving. Media coverage in years when Oberlin faces bad press lowers giving. The state charitable tax deduction increases giving on the intensive margin (total amount donated) but not the extensive margin (likelihood to give). Additionally, findings suggest taking longer to graduate, enrollment in the Conservatory, and living in rural areas are associated with lower giving. Athletics, race, and undergraduate financial aid do not affect giving.

Committee: Barbara J. Craig Professor (Committee Chair); Ron Cheung Professor (Advisor); Martin Saavedra Professor (Advisor) Subjects: Economics

PHD, Kent State University, 2020, College of Business and Entrepreneurship, Ambassador Crawford / Department of Accounting

Financial analysts have increasingly investigated a wide variety of nonfinancial factors to better understand their potential impact on the valuation of a firm. This dissertation examines whether a firm's negative environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues covered by media influence the assessment of financial analysts regarding its future prospects. Specifically, I investigate whether a firm's media coverage of its ESG activities has an impact on analysts cash flow forecasts and cash flow forecast accuracy. I provide evidence that corporate social irresponsibility (CSI) coverage of ESG issues is negatively associated with analyst issuance of cash flow forecasts. I also find that a firm's CSI coverage of ESG issues is negatively related to the firm's analyst cash flow forecast accuracy. The results hold for additional tests including propensity score matching models and Heckman's two-stage analyses. However, I do not find strong evidence that a firm's media coverage of environmental issues, social issues or governance issues is positively related to the firm's analyst cash flow forecast accuracy. Using Liu (2006)'s liquidity-augmented capital asset pricing model (LCAPM), I find that a firm's media coverage of ESG issues is positively related to accounting-related liquidity risk, indicating that investors may expect higher compensation for liquidity risks when they invest in firms which receive higher CSI coverage. Additionally, I find that an analyst's decision to issue a cash flow forecast does not play a role in the relation between media coverage of ESG issues and accounting-related liquidity risk. This dissertation provides insights into the link between CSI information and information asymmetry by examining the relation between the third-party-disclosed negative ESG information and accounting-related liquidity risk. The findings of this study have implications for managers, investors, financial analysts, regulators, and other market participants.

Committee: Pervaiz Alam (Committee Chair); Indrarini Laksmana (Committee Member); Chris Groening (Committee Member); Dandan Liu (Committee Member) Subjects: Accounting

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2014, Communication

News media coverage of health topics has been shown to influence health behaviors and perceptions of health and safety risks (Combs & Slovic, 1979; Finnegan & Viswanath, 2002). Therefore, news media coverage of current health research could help provide the public with accurate, up to date health information with which individuals will be more capable of making informed health decisions. News media coverage of health research is routinely generated through the efforts of public relations professionals from academic journals and research institutions (Woloshin & Schwartz, 2002). As such, the effectiveness of public relations efforts, namely press releases, for health research may have major implications for public health outcomes. The current work first presents an exploratory study, a focus group of science communication public relations professionals held to gain an understanding of the decision making processes regarding the promotion of research publications through press releases. Currently, limited research is available to public relations professionals relative to press release characteristic effectiveness for promoting scientific work. Considering that over 500,000 Americans die from cancer and another 300,000 die from issues related to obesity each year (CDC, 2012; U.S. DHHS, 2001), the present work examines press releases promoting research on these health topics. Specifically, the press releases are utilized to test a proposed modified gatekeeping model, evaluating the effectiveness of press release characteristics in garnering journalist interest and news media coverage. Drawing on four theoretical perspectives, the present content analysis investigated the impact of six key press release characteristics on journalist interest and news media coverage. The impact of these characteristics is discussed.

Committee: Silvia Knobloch-Westerwick (Advisor); Michael Slater (Committee Member); David Ewoldsen (Committee Member); Nancy Rhodes (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication

MS, University of Cincinnati, 2010, Allied Health Sciences : Genetic Counseling

News media have played a major role in shaping public opinion of scientific developments. Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) genetic testing is a relatively new scientific development gaining attention. A better understanding of media coverage, especially the attitudes and ethical concerns found there, may allow for better understanding of public and consumer attitudes and behavior regarding DTC genetic testing. The purpose of this study was to determine the themes, attitudes, and ethical concerns that are presented by the U.S. news media regarding DTC genetic testing. We identified a sample of 93 news stories published from 2006 to 2009 in print, broadcast and online media using a Lexis-Nexis search with the keywords “Direct-to-Consumer” and “genetic test”. The sample was coded for the attitudes about themes of genetic determinism, analytical and clinical validity, regulation, clinical utility, and cost as well as for the ethical concerns of privacy, discrimination, and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA). Of news stories that addressed the theme, the majority displayed moderate genetic determinism and were neutral in their view of validity and clinical utility. Stories indicated that insurance and employers were the likely sources of potential discrimination, yet identified the medical record/physicians and DTC companies as the sources most likely to violate the privacy of individual medical information. Stories claimed that a lack of regulation would harm consumers, but the majority of post-GINA stories made no mention of the law or the protections it provided. Attitudes on the cost of DTC genetic tests were rarely provided, although cost figures frequently were included. The results show a broad range of attitudes toward DTC genetic testing and its potential medical and social impacts. The way in which news media presents issues surrounding DTC genetic testing may influence opinion and utilization of those tests. The genetic community should be aware that (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: John Lynch PhD (Committee Chair); Robert Hopkin MD (Committee Member); Melanie Myers PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Genetics

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2012, Music

The present study investigated how a local newspaper in a large Midwestern city reported on music education in relation to the economy, politics, and advocacy. Eight years were selected from a 20 year time period. Three targeted years covered times of economic prosperity, three more covered economic decline, and two were during times of political change that had a direct effect on music education. All articles from each of these years were examined for any mention of school music programs Articles were collected and coded from the Columbus Dispatch. Articles were identified using broad search terms from the news database NewsBank. A total of 1,454 articles were coded. The results showed that the Dispatch has remained consistent on the number of articles that feature music programs when economics or politics are not being reported. Economic issues varied the greatest from year to year, with the economic low years resulting in more articles. The most recent economic decline resulted in more economic news regarding music education than all other studied years combined. Federal policy received virtually no mention in relation to music education. The majority of political news dealt with tax issues or local politics regarding curriculum and personnel. Articles that featured music programs as the main theme of the news story were generally positive. Over all, the Dispatch supported the public notion that music education is important but plagued by bad economic news.

Committee: Patricia Flowers PhD (Advisor); Daryl Kinney PhD (Committee Member); Russel Mikkelson DMA (Committee Member) Subjects: Education Policy; Journalism; Music Education

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2004, Political Science

In survey after survey Americans have been found to approve of the United States Supreme Court more than they approve of the United States Congress. This trend persists despite the fact that Congress is an elected body, giving the people more control over it, and the Supreme Court consists of nine justices appointed to their positions for life terms. In this study I examine two factors which explain part of the reason for this difference in public opinion-educational experiences and media coverage. Civics classes are an important source of political information for Americans and help form the basis of many political opinions. I hypothesize that differences in how Congress and the Supreme Court are typically portrayed in these classes contribute to the public opinion trend. Furthermore, I hypothesize that news media cover the Supreme Court and Congress in different ways which also contribute to how the public views the two political institutions. The results from this research find that the media does indeed cover the two branches of government differently by being more negative toward the Congress than the Supreme Court. In an experiment that tested the ability of news stories to change public opinion toward the two institutions, however, results were mixed. Analysis of survey data indicated that both the level and amount of civics education a person takes in their lifetime has an impact on approval levels.

Committee: Thomas Nelson (Advisor) Subjects: Political Science, General

Master of Science (MS), Ohio University, 2009, Journalism (Communication)

This thesis presents a textual analysis and a descriptive content analysis of how the British newspaper The Guardian covered the Virginia Tech school shootings that took place on 16 April 2007. Analysis of the first eight days of coverage, totaling 61 articles, added to the existing research on media coverage of school shootings by understanding how the media lens of an influential British newspaper viewed the “gun culture” of the United States. The results of this study indicate that The Guardian's coverage suggests that the “gun culture” of the United States may be directly responsible for the Virginia Tech school shootings, and that the newspaper and its readers (via their feedback) have constructed a collective argument that such events are inevitable when guns are so readily accessible as they are in the United States.

Committee: Bill Reader (Committee Chair); Carson Wagner PhD (Committee Member); Cary Frith (Committee Member); Anne Cooper-Chen PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication; Journalism

Master of Arts (MA), Ohio University, 2006, International Studies - Communication and Development Studies

This thesis examines how two local newspapers (the Manado Post, based in a peaceful city, and MAL in a conflicted city) framed conflict news in Poso, Indonesia, from 1998 to 2003. In addition, the study examines the contribution of the national daily newspaper, Kompas, to conflict resolution in Poso. A content analysis of 403 articles from the three newspapers concluded that the local newspaper in a conflict city (MAL) tended to be more provocative than the newspaper in a peaceful city (the Manado Post) and the national newspaper (Kompas). Two indicators were the language and the images the newspapers used in reporting conflict news. Peace journalism training has influenced the journalists in all three newspapers in framing conflict news.

Committee: David Mould (Advisor) Subjects: Journalism