Open-access journals

speaking of open-access journals

Research Question

RQ.1) How does a citizen-oriented and consumer-oriented newspaper differ in framing news about the Affordable Care Act?

RQ.2) Within citizen-oriented newspaper, how does left and right wing media frame news about the Affordable Care Act?

RQ.3) How do broadcast news and newspaper differ in framing information about the Affordable Care Act?

Research Question

Popular messaging platform WhatsApp has rolled out a new feature – double blue check marks -- to allow users to tell if their messages have been read by the intended recipient. This “message read” feature generate divided opinion amongst users. Some praised the new update, as WhatsApp’s rivals, Facebook Messenger, iMessage, Viber and others have offered read receipts as an option for several years. Others felt this was an invasion of their privacy. Some even claimed that the new feature is going to aggravate insecurities amongst friends and ruin relationships.

Previous findings show that text messaging provides an opportunity for intimate personal contact (Thurlow, 2003) whilst at the same time offering the detachment necessary to manage self- presentation and involvement (Chenault, 1998; Danet, 1995; Ling & Yttri, 2002). The “message read” feature seems to cast doubt on previous findings.

In this research, I would like to examine users’ perception of “message read” feature and what emotional and psychological impact does the feature bring to personal conversation in messaging platforms.

RQ1: How frequently do users pay attention to the “message read” feature while they are interacting in the messaging platforms?

RQ2: What are the senders' perspective and receivers' perspective on the “message read” feature in the messaging platforms?

RQ3a: How frequently do senders experience anxiety of social awkwardness when the receivers do not reply message?

RQ3b: How frequently do receivers experience anxiety of social awkwardness when they do not reply message?

H1: The anxiety of social awkwardness of not replying a message would increase if the message is sent by someone who is closer to self (i.e., family, friends, romantic partner) than when “others” are more distant to self (i.e., acquaintances, employers, strangers).

H2: The anxiety of social awkwardness of not replying a message would increase if the conversation involves two people instead of a group more than two people.

RQ4: Do users perceive the “message read” feature affects personal contact in a positive way or negative way?

Research Question

RQ: Do perception of media power affect one's susceptibility to the third person  effect?

H1: As people perceive that media are important in telling people what to think about, they are more susceptible to the third-person effect.

(H2: People will perceive that media are more important in telling other people what to think about than the media are in telling them to what to think about.)

This September, the American Press Institute’s Media Insight Project reported that only a quarter of African Americans trust the media. So based on Uses and Gratifications Theory, my research question is this:

RQ1: What accounts for the high level of distrust in the media by African Americans?

Research Question

“Freelancers are really on their own," Nicole Tung, a freelance photojournalist, told CBS News in an interview about the recent beheading of another freelance journalist, James Foley. Tung and Foley were working along in the coverage of Syrian conflict. They were only the two of many freelance conflict journalists, risking their lives for the story.

According to Committee to Protect Journalists’ data, just under half of the 70 journalists killed in Syria since the conflict began in 2011 have been freelancers.

Today, as the media landscape shifts, media organizations’ reliance on freelance journalists and photojournalists continue to increase.  While they make significant contributions to the conflict coverage, in comparison with staff journalists who are sent to the war zones by their media organizations, risk that the freelance journalists go under is immense. The staffers are provided with the required hostile environment and emergency first aid training, health, life, kidnap and ransom insurance, costly protective equipment, fixers, transportation and psychological support for post coverage as well as their monthly salaries. On the other hand, many freelance journalists go in the conflict zones regardless of any of support system provided, a lot of times not even being able to afford them in hopes of finding the desired stories and selling them to various media organizations for several hundreds of dollars at most.

Does lack of a support system (training, insurance, protective gear, being able to tracked down in cases of kidnapping, emotional support system, transportation, fixers etc.) affect freelance photojournalists coverage of conflict zones? If yes, how?

War Journalism on Twitter - Research Question

How did journalists use Twitter during the 2014 Gaza War?

Twitter has become a key means of disseminating news and information during major events. One of them, for example, is the 2014 Gaza War between Israel and Hamas. During the 50 days of war from July 8^th to August 26^th journalists were highly active on this social networking site, reporting and offering their take on the unfolding events. According to Galtung (2006), while peace journalism is people-oriented, war journalism is elite-oriented. The latter focuses on leaders and elites as actors and sources of information. To what extent, if any, does Twitter challenge that, as it enables journalists from mainstream news organizations to communicate with other users and to disseminate messages from different sources? While previous research addressed the role of non-elite sources on Twitter during the civil uprisings in the Arab world, scholarly attention has not been paid to the journalistic use of sources on this platform in the context of war, which poses unique dilemmas and concerns to journalists. For instance, journalists whose nation is in a state of war tend to confront a dual allegiance as they are “caught between nation and profession” (Zandberg & Neiger, 2005: 131). The proposed study will examine what types of sources did mainstream media journalists use on Twitter during the Gaza war, what actors did they focus on, and how did they express themselves. Understanding gatekeepers’ sourcing routines and modes of expression on social media in a time of war may contribute to gatekeeping theory and enable to better assess the extent to which social media promote (or not) people-oriented journalism in different contexts. 

References

Galtung, J. (2006). Peace journalism as an ethical challenge. Global Media Journal:  Mediterranean Edition, 1(2), 1-5.

Zandberg, E. & Neiger, M. (2005). Between the nation and the profession: Journalists as members of contradicting communities. Media Culture & Society, 27(1), 131-141.

Hypotheses & Research questions

Do Indian male and female journalist cover rape differently?

In the light of the socialization theory,  which describes the manner in which individuals learn content and process in an effort to adjust to societal roles (Rodgers & Thorson, 2003), this study will gauge if Indian male and female journalist cover rape differently in the backdrop of their male-dominated, cultural upbringing.

H1: When covering rape or rape related stories, female journalists use different sources from male journalist.

H2: When covering rape or rape related stories, female journalist describe the victim in a kinder and more human light than male journalist.

H3: When covering rape or related stories, male journalist describe the accused in greater detail than female journalist.

RQ1: When covering rape or rape related stories, do female journalist use sources related to the victim's family or human rights groups/lawyers or support groups?

RQ2: When covering rape or rape related stories, do male journalist use more official sources such as police officer, doctors, lawyers or government officials?

RQ3: When covering rape or rape related stories, do male journalist engage in victim shaming more than female journalist.

About experiments, data, "good" research methods and theory

Rachel Mourao shared the following article on her FB and I thought it might be great material for discussion on our class:

Hollaback and Why Everyone Needs Better Research Methods

And here a response that supports the experiment:

Viral Videos and 'Research Methods' Might be Exciting, But Zeynep Got it All Wrong

Research questions

Topic

Framing change on news media reports on immigration of unaccompanied children after presidential announcement of a humanitarian crisis

Research questions:

RQ1 (Frequency of coverage)

How many stories about this phenomenon were published?

• Since it was recognized as such (October 1, 2012) and until President Obama’s announcement?
• After President Obama’s announcement in June 2, 2014?

RQ2 (Illegal immigration as a social problem)

How do the media present the question of why this new group of immigrants is a problem?

• H2a: Newspapers in border states than newspapers elsewhere will be more likely to present unaccompanied minors as burden to their communities.

RQ3 (Attribution of causal responsibility)

How do media present the causes of illegal immigration from this group?

• H3a: National newspapers will be more likely to present increased violence in Central America as the cause for illegal immigration.
• H3b: Newspapers in border states will be more likely to present promises of easy path to legalization as the cause for illegal immigration.

RQ4 (Sources)

How diverse are the sources used by media when covering this phenomenon?

• H4a: Newspapers in border states will be more likely to interview unaccompanied minors for their stories.
• H4b: National newspapers will be more likely to rely on government sources for their stories.

Research Questions

RQ: Did the new 10-1 city council system affect the coverage of the political candidates in local Austin media.

RQ: Did Journalists continue to cover the candidates in same manner that they typically do so in political elections? (Horse Race, Game)

RQ: If Journalists covered the election in a different manner, what themes did they focus on and to what extent was the coverage different?

Research questions

RQ1: How much do journalists know about their newspaper's digital strategy?

RQ2: Are journalists' perceptions of their newspaper's digital success consistent with reality?

Reviewed article

News Editors’ Attitudes toward Online Advertising

American news consumption patterns have been shifting as the Internet has redefined the news media industry. With a continuously growing user population, the Internet has emerged as the most important source of everyday information and one of the primary news media. According to the latest statistics from the Pew Internet & American Life Project, among the various activities Internet users enjoy, getting news is the third most popular, with about 38% of all users checking the news online on a typical day.

Research Critique

This is the article that I chose for the research critique. Here is the abstract: 

RUMORS ON SOCIAL MEDIA IN DISASTERS: EXTENDING TRANSMISSION TO RETRANSMISSION - Liu, Fang; Burton-Jones, Andrew; and Xu, Dongming

http://pacis2014.org/data/PACIS_mainconference/pdf/pacis2014_submission_165.pdf


Abstract
In recent years, the widespread use of social media has facilitated the propagation of messages after disasters. Unfortunately, because the veracity of messages is often difficult to determine in a disaster situation, social media also facilitates the rapid diffusion of rumors. Current studies have examined why individuals post or transmit rumors on social media. However, investigating factors affecting the initial rumor transmission is just the first step for rumor control after disasters. After rumors havebeen transmitted, understanding what accounts for message retransmission in disasters is especially vital. To address this gap, we develop a model of rumor retransmission on social media during disasters based on rumor theory and the elaboration likelihood model. We also discuss the differences between our model and the model of rumor transmission. We believe that our model can contribute toresearch on social media use in disasters, and the practice of disaster management.

Research Article Abstract

Here I post the title and abstract of the research article that I'll critique.

Coffey, A. J. (2012). Advertiser Attitudes Regarding the Substitutability of English-Language Television to Reach Foreign Language Target Audiences. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 89(4), 710-730.

Advertiser Attitudes Regarding the  Substitutability of  English-Language  Television to Reach  Foreign Language  Target Audiences

by Amy Jo Coffey

Abstract Scholars have examined media substitutability from many angles, but few, if any, studies have examined substitutability of advertising on the basis of language. Using a price sensitivity test, this exploratory study examines advertisers’ attitudes toward the substitutability of English-language advertising among U.S. foreign language television advertisers to reach their target audiences. Advertisers overwhelmingly (90%) indicated that they did not consider English-language television as an acceptable substitute for reaching their target audiences. This finding has implications for media ownership and mergers, providing evidence that foreign-language television and English-language television exist in separate product markets, and should aid future policy discussions.

"The Twitterization of News Making: Transparency and Journalistic Professionalism"

This is the article that I chose for the research critique. Here is the abstract: 

"Twitter makes visible some of the most fundamental divides in professional journalism today. It reveals tensions about what constitutes news, the norms guiding journalists providing it, professional identity, and public service. This article argues that these tensions result from a clash between the institutional logic of professional control (Lewis, 2012)) and an ethic of transparency. Drawing from extensive research on a political press corps, involving observation, interviews, and analysis of tweets, this study witnesses the adoption of Twitter in the everyday working practices of reporters. It thereby also provides reasons why Twitter has been so successful in journalism. Tensions between professional control and transparency in journalism may, furthermore, be emblematic for divides in other professions today."

Revers, M. (2014), The Twitterization of News Making: Transparency and Journalistic Professionalism. Journal of Communication, 64: 806–826. doi: 10.1111/jcom.12111

"Print Readers Recall More Than Do Online Readers"

The following is the abstract from the article I'll be critiquing:

"From the arrival of the penny papers, print newspapers were around for more than 100 years when in the 1930s they saw their heyday as the media most used in the United States for news. But the Internet took less than 15 years to claim that mantle when, at the end of 2010, more people got their news from the Internet than from newspapers. This transformation raises questions anew about the effect that the Web is having on news readers. This study seeks to update past research by examining the difference in users' experience in both media—including recall, credibility and amount of story read—at a time when online news consumption has reached a tipping point."

Santana, A. D., Livingstone, R. M., & Cho, Y. Y. (2013). Print Readers Recall More Than Do Online Readers. Newspaper Research Journal, 34(2).

Revised Preliminary Research Topic

Looking at the news photographs, how much does the evaluation of a news event by the audience change depending on whether the images were produced by professional photojournalists or non-visual journalist and citizen journalists?

In today’s media environment, with the increase of citizen journalism practice and mobile devices with highly decent cameras, professional visual journalists, specifically photojournalists loose their jobs more often than ever before. Many media organizations started using pieces produced by the citizen journalists at free costs or started expecting their non-visual reporters to produce imagery along with their regular reporting.

In May 2013, Chicago Sun Times laid off its entire visual department within the span of a few seconds, which meant there were 30 plus highly accomplished visual journalists unemployed, left to their own destiny, adding up to the freelance market saturation all of a sudden.  On the same note, this also meant the readers of one of the major newspapers in a city like Chicago were bound to evaluate each story based on visuals that come from untrained eyes.

On a second occasion this past summer, when the Ferguson, Mo protests hit the streets, there were photojournalists covering it, and non-visual journalists and citizen journalists live covering it through social media. The drastic visual and news quality difference between the three sources were notable to observe.

I believe it is very important to explore the answers to these questions. Whether a visual was produced by a professional or not and how it affects the audience perception of a news event might change how and by whom the future events would be covered. Moreover, the answers can have further implications on the visual journalism market, particularly saturation of the freelance market.

My Research Topic - Revised

How do journalists use Twitter in a time of war?

Twitter has become a key means of disseminating news and information during major events. One of them, for example, is the 2014 Gaza War between Israel and Hamas. During the 50 days of war from July 8^th to August 26^th journalists were highly active on this social networking site, reporting and offering their take on the unfolding events. According to Galtung (2006), while peace journalism is people-oriented, war journalism is elite-oriented. The latter focuses on leaders and elites as actors and sources of information. To what extent, if any, does Twitter challenge that, as it enables journalists from mainstream news organizations to communicate with other users and to disseminate messages from different sources? While previous research addressed the role of non-elite sources on Twitter during the civil uprisings in the Arab world, scholarly attention has not been paid to the journalistic use of sources on this platform in the context of war, which poses unique dilemmas and concerns to journalists. For instance, journalists whose nation is in a state of war tend to confront a dual allegiance as they are “caught between nation and profession” (Zandberg & Neiger, 2005: 131). The proposed study will examine what types of sources did mainstream media journalists use on Twitter during the Gaza war, what actors did they focus on, and how did they express themselves. Though the study still needs to be developed, my hope is that it will shed new light on “the ways in which the Internet is influencing journalism practices and, furthermore, changing how journalism itself is defined” (Hermida, 2009: 4).

Galtung, J. (2006). Peace journalism as an ethical challenge. Global Media Journal: Mediterranean Edition, 1(2), 1-5.

Hermida, A. (2009). The blogging BBC: Journalism blogs at ‘the world’s most trusted news organization’. Journalism Practice, 3(3), 1-17.

Zandberg, E. & Neiger, M. (2005). Between the nation and the profession: Journalists as members of contradicting communities. Media Culture & Society, 27(1), 131-141.

Revised Preliminary Topic

Do users who read traditional media as their primary news source recall news events better than users who use social media as their primary news source?

The reason I want to look further into this is because I think it's important to see if the ease of accessing information correlates with being more knowledgable about news events. I want to measure and see how much information is being retained correctly from heavy users of traditional media and compare it to the information that is retained from heavy users of social media. I could potentially measure the types of news articles that are recalled better between these two groups, and I can also measure and see how accurately the recollection of the news stories are between these two groups as well.

This article in today's New York Times offers a pretty cool peak at the future of our research methods.

"Microsoft Begins a Push Into the Polling World"

For now, though, it had this to share:

"The response rate of landline-phone polls has plummeted from 36 percent in 1997 to just 9 percent in 2012, according to Pew, decreasing reliability and increasing costs."

Here's a more in-depth look at Mircrosoft's research projects. (I wonder if they'd like to share their data with us.)

"A Data-Driven Crystal Ball"

Relax with PhD comics

http://www.phdcomics.com/comics.php?f=1745

Preliminar research topic

Changes on news media reports on immigration after presidential announcement of humanitarian crisis

On June 2^nd, 2014, President Obama issued a presidential memorandum where he stated that “the influx of unaccompanied alien children (UAC) across the southwest border of the United States has resulted in an urgent humanitarian situation requiring a unified and coordinated Federal response.” This announcement and the figures of children crossing the border (63,000 since October 2013 --twice as much as the previous period) have spurred a new wave of coverage of the undocumented immigration problem.

My research would pretend to find if news media reports on immigration have shifted their original position, either positively or negatively, after the presidential announcement.