MA, Kent State University, 2013, College of Communication and Information / School of Media and Journalism

Responding to a growth in technology, young people often turn to social media and online communication as their primary means of expression and interaction. However, some of the content students create and post while at home can negatively affect the school environment. School administrators have, at times, disciplined students for their off-campus online speech. This act has raised legal questions about how much control schools can and should possess over speech that originates away from the school's physical boundaries. Some students and their families have sued their respective school districts when they perceive an overreach in school authority for such discipline. Despite this issue's gravity among First Amendment scholars and advocates, the general public probably has little direct experience with these legal questions beyond what it learns through news reports. Because news is a basic social learning tool, the way journalists present information can profoundly affect the public's understanding of any given issue. This study examined how the news media portrayed four court cases pertinent to this issue: Layshock v. Hermitage School District, J. S. v. Blue Mountain School District, Doninger v. Niehoff, and Kowalski v. Berkeley County Schools. The researcher used textual analysis to investigate the frames found in 76 news stories by examining the way journalists presented the following items: legal context, the actions of the student litigant, the actions of school administrators, and the online speech itself that initially led to school discipline.

Committee: Candace Bowen M.A. (Advisor); Mark Goodman J.D. (Advisor); Danielle Coombs Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Educational Leadership; Journalism; Legal Studies; Mass Media

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

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

This study conducts a quantitative content analysis of the Boeing 737 MAX crisis, in which 346 people lost their lives due to crashes that grounded Boeing's newest and most important aircraft from March 2019 to the end of 2020. The study focuses on the coverage of the five U.S. newspapers New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and Seattle Times. In the process, 692 articles are examined concerning their use of generic news frames, attribution of responsibility, tone of voice, and intellectualization. The examined newspapers most frequently use the attribution of responsibility frame, followed by the conflict frame and the economic (consequences) frame. Of lesser importance in the coverage are the human interest frame and the morality frame. The study finds that the Boeing Company is primarily presented as responsible. The Federal Aviation Administration, which through negligence, certified an unsafe aircraft in the first place, is held far less responsible. Moreover, the study is able to show that the tone of voice is primarily neutral, with a slight tendency toward the negative. Only toward Boeing's management do the newspapers strike a predominantly negative tone. An intellectualization of the coverage throughout the crisis can only be partially confirmed.

Committee: Hans Meyer (Committee Chair); Rosanna Planer (Committee Member); Jatin Srivastava (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication; Journalism; Mass Communications; Mass Media

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

Americans must constantly navigate a news environment in which political elites seek to influence their opinion on a whole host of issues. One prominent strategy used by elites is the use of “frames” in messages, which selectively highlight relevant considerations in order to persuade individuals. There is a large body of work demonstrating the prevalence of framing effects. But much of this work has focused on monolingual speakers of English. In the research reported here, we examine the extent to which (1) Spanish-English bilinguals, who are non-native speakers of English, are susceptible to framing and (2) whether acculturation, or the degree to which a person is immersed into a new culture, moderates framing effects. We find that individuals who are high on acculturation are more likely to demonstrate framing effects. Our findings have implications for understanding how frames influence non-native English speakers in the US.

Committee: Jason Coronel (Advisor); Shelly Hovick (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2009, Arts and Sciences : Political Science

The ability of officials in government to define policy options is the paramount power in politics (Schattschneider, 1960). Media allocate power and legitimacy to issues, people, and institutions by how they choose to cover them (Graber, 2006). The allocation of power is dependent on what information media filter to the public and how media define the issues, events, and remedies with the chosen information. Previous literature finds that journalists and reporters are dependent on elite sources of information, especially within the realm of foreign policy (Cohen, 1963; Bennett, 1990; Entman 2004). Past research also finds media reflect the policy debate in Washington (Bennett, 1990; Entman 2004). Using the intervention into Bosnia of the 1990s, I investigate how media allocate power among their various sources. Through a content analysis of the Congressional Record and Major News Media (ABC World News Tonight, the NewsHour on PBS, the New York Times, and CNN) I explain the scope of the debate regarding the intervention into Bosnia through the frames presented by the White House, the Congress, and Major News Media. Moreover, I test whether Major News Media reflected the debate within Washington. The intervention allows me to test the outcome of “going public,” and whether Major News Media counterframed the White House frame. Lastly, this dissertation examines the influence information has on opinions regarding the intervention into Bosnia, the differences between partisans, and the effect of media coverage has on aggregate public opinion. This research shows an interesting development: the increased use of elite foreign sources by Major News Media in constructing narratives surrounding foreign policy issues and remedies. Furthermore, while it illustrates that media still rely on elite sources, the case of Bosnia shows that the “media debate” did not reflect the “official debate” in Washington. I also show that President Clinton could not effectively control how media (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Barbara A. Bardes PhD (Committee Chair); Stephen T. Mockabee PhD (Committee Member); Michael Margolis PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Political Science

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2009, Mass Communication

This thesis applies an empirical approach to study the use of news frames using the issue of 2008 Tibet riots on BBC and CNN online news as a case study. 72 news articles were coded to detect the type of news frames in the Tibet uprising news coverage and to compare the framing schemes employed by the two networks. The results suggested that while CNN and BBC framed the Tibet crisis in different ways, there were many more similarities. The data showed that both news outlets held a bias against the Chinese government and often utilized multiple frames in one news article. Moreover, the examination of the use of the anti-communism frame revealed that both media attempted to foster anti-communism emotions in their readers.

Committee: Lisa McLaughlin PhD (Committee Chair); David Sholle PhD (Committee Member); Kathleen Ryan PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Mass Media