Thesis (M.A.)--Carleton University, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 109-121). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Thesis (M.J.) - Carleton University, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 179-184). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

No description available.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2004. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 91-97). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2004. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 91-97). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

I examine partisan bias in broadcast and cable news coverage of the first impeachment of President Trump by evaluating how well three theories of news generation—network bias, marketplace incentives, and institutional forces—predict coverage, framing, and tonal biases. While no single theory provides a complete explanation of all partisan bias, institutional forces explain impeachment coverage better than either network bias or marketplace incentives. This research also highlights the nuanced nature of partisan frame representation, and suggests that institutional and marketplace theories better predict partisan frame diversity than theories of a partisan press. Finally, analysis of tonal bias reveals complex variations across and within news mediums, challenging simplistic narratives of network bias. My research shows that many of the professional norms and routines that have long been known to influence news generation continue to do so even as they evolve.

In many instances, television news is the primary outlet through which people gain knowledge on climate change. Both the perceived threat of climate change and American news media have grown politically divided since the 1980s. I make the argument that American news media influences the partisan divide over climate change. In addition to the political landscape of news media, focus on political events and figures in climate coverage further contributes to a partisan divide. Supporting these claims are research displaying how climate change news is processed in a partisan manner and a selection of three case study periods in which climate change coverage spiked among MSNBC, CNN, and Fox News in the last twenty years (2000-2019). I collected news footage from all three case studies using the online database archive.org. Using this footage, an accompanying documentary short was produced that focused on the Paris Climate Accord Withdrawal in 2017. Presented in the documentary and the three case study periods, Fox News held a consistently hands-off and dismissive tone towards climate change, while MSNBC and CNN implemented climate science into coverage while advocating for collective climate action. I report that media is selected and processed via partisanship among viewers; these case studies illustrate the ways in which news media drives the political divide on climate change. I conclude by offering some future ways climate coverage can be more unifying, such as more emphasis on the economic benefits of “a green economy” in news coverage.