This study has designed to test whether or not the use of metaphors affects audience recall and retention of news. The study is designed to test the hypotheses that metaphors help the reader recall a greater amount of information immediately after exposure (i.e., short-term memory, identified in this study as recall), and that metaphors aid in a greater amount of information retained at a later date (i.e., long-term memory, identified in this study as retention). Recall and retention help demonstrate whether or not metaphors promote reader understanding and remembering of facts in news stories better than in stories that do not use metaphors or images.The methodology of this study consisted of two tests in which subjects answered open-ended questions to see if the presence of metaphors aided in retention and recall of information. Two versions of a newspaper story with identical news were presented. The metaphor story contained one primary metaphorical image which ran continuously throughout the story. The nonmetaphor story featured no manipulation by the researcher. The first test measured the amount of information recalled immediately after exposure to a given story. The second test took place five days after the initial exposure.Using a MANOVA repeated measures design, the researcher found a difference between the metaphor and nonmetaphor variables and significant difference between the recall and retention variables, but no interaction between all of the independent variables. Therefore, this study did not support the hypothesis that news stories with metaphors aid in both recall (short-term memory) and retention (long-term memory) of information. / Department of Journalism

The general purpose of this study was to gather data to describe the newswriting process as conducted by three practicing journalists. Protocol analysis was employed as the primary research tool. Verbal protocols require subjects to "think out loud" as they compose; the writing sessions are tape recorded.Three reporters who covered news daily were selected by their editors for the study. In the first protocol session the subjects wrote from sets of news facts. The second and third protocol sessions were conducted in the newsroom. All three reporters composed at least one szcry at the video display terminal. The protocol transcripts, interviews, notes from the stories, and the completed stories provided the data for analysis. A coding scheme was prepared which isolated and labeled activities of the newswriting process.Findings indicated that the selection and writing of the lead was the most time-consuming task,that the writers wrote in a patterned sequence, that they concerned themselves with -small units rather than the story as a whole, and that no overall goals or evaluations for the story were made. In addition, the writers showed evidence of recursiveness in their writing, and they had difficulty writing when the information for the story was not from their own newsgathering process.A major conclusion was that the lead writing task was the most important act the writer performed because the selection of the lead determined the direction of the entire story; the lead selecting and writing had to take place before any other writing could be completed. The story was organized as it was written, not planned in advance. Editing was an integral part of the writing process, not a separate act of refining. Memory was the writer's most important tool for obtaining information during the writing process; notes provided cues for initiating a more detailed recall of the incident. The newsgathering and news writing tasks were so closely related that they could not easily be separated. The writers planned and wrote one sentence at a time by orchestrating a complex set of activities all directed at the immediate task at hand.

The general purpose of this study was to duplicate research conducted by Beverley Joyce Miller Pitts, Ph.D., regarding the newswriting process of practicing journalists. (Future reference regarding this study will be termed the Pitts study.) In an effort to update previous research, this study sought to: review literature published between 1981 and 1987, update research conducted since 1981, support or disprove previous findings as documented in the Pitts study, and provide further research regarding the journalist's newswriting process. The study was conducted separately from previous research; thereby adopting an objective atmosphere in which research and data were obtained. The methodology and procedure of this study were replicated from the Pitts study to ensure consistency in research methods. All analyses, discussions, summaries, conclusions, observations, and recommendations, presented in this study, are based solely on data gathered during the research and presentation phases of this study. / Department of Journalism

Acompanha: Jornal escolar digital: recurso tecnológico e didático na produção de textos / O ponto de partida da pesquisa desta dissertação de mestrado surgiu da observação diária do professor pesquisador quanto ao desinteresse dos alunos de Ensino Médio pelas atividades de leitura e produção de textos. A partir daí, pensou-se em propor uma contribuição para enfrentar esse problema no ensino escolar. Assim, resolveu aderir à ideia atual e desafiadora de desenvolver um projeto didático que aliasse a tecnologia digital - de modo geral tão bem recepcionada pelos adolescentes e jovens de hoje - ao trabalho pedagógico de compreensão e produção de gêneros textuais jornalísticos, significativos para uma participação social crítica. Logo, este estudo acadêmico-científico trata de diretrizes que professores e alunos precisam conhecer para criar um jornal escolar digital e pretende alcançar dois objetivos: elaborar e aplicar um conjunto de diretrizes teóricas e práticas para a criação de um jornal escolar digital, a fim de despertar nos estudantes do Ensino Médio interesse pelas atividades de leitura e produção textual, com a promoção de um ambiente interativo e colaborativo de aprendizagem; analisar os resultados da implementação do material didático proposto. O aporte teórico constitui-se de pressupostos da Educomunicação e da Teoria dos Gêneros Textuais. Em termos de metodologia, a pesquisa caracteriza-se como de campo, bibliográfica, descritiva, experimental e analítica. O produto educacional foi aplicado, em cinco encontros de duas aulas cada, junto a uma turma de 2º ano do Ensino Médio, de um colégio público da cidade de Londrina-Paraná, em 2015. Os resultados obtidos na aplicação foram bem satisfatórios: os alunos elaboraram gêneros textuais jornalísticos de boa qualidade, criaram o jornal escolar digital Jornal Barão e participaram ativamente e com entusiasmo do projeto. Isso demonstra a validade da utilização funcional das tecnologias informacionais na educação como uma alternativa propícia para a aprendizagem interativa e colaborativa de conhecimentos e para a (re)construção dos sujeitos sociais escolares. / The starting point of this research master's thesis emerged from the daily observation of the researcher teacher and the lack of interest of students from high school by reading and production of texts. From there, it was thought to propose a contribution to address this problem in school education. So, it decided to join the current and challenging idea of developing an educational project that allied digital technology - in general as well approved by adolescents and youth of today - the pedagogical work of understanding and production of journalistic genres, significant for social participation criticism. So this academic-scientific study deals with guidelines that teachers and students need to know to create a digital school newspaper and aims to achieve two objectives: develop and implement a set of theoretical guidelines and practices for the creation of a digital school newspaper in order to awakening in high school students interest in reading activities and text production, with the promotion of an interactive and collaborative learning environment; analyze the results of implementation of the proposed courseware. The theoretical framework consists of assumptions of Educommunication and Theory of Text Genre. In terms of methodology, the research is characterized as a field, literature, descriptive, experimental and analytical. The educational product was applied in five meetings of two classes each, along with a group of 2nd year of high school, a public school in the city of Londrina, Paraná, in 2015. The results in the application were well satisfactory: students developed journalistic genres of good quality, created the digital school newspaper Jornal Barão and participated actively and project enthusiasm. This demonstrates the validity of the functional use of information technologies in education as a good alternative for interactive and collaborative learning and knowledge for the (re) construction of school social subjects.