Transmedia journalism is a growing way to get news stories to readers with the new technology of social media platforms. This study, through surveys and a blog, measured information retention/cognition and preference of the interactive platform(s) and the print platform to see which type of transmedia journalism is preferred more to readers and easier for readers to retain more information. The sample was 31 Digital media undergraduate and graduate students concurrently enrolled in the University of Central Florida's Nicholson School of Communication and Media in the Games & Interactive Media program. All participants received at least one story platform consisting of a transmedia journalism story assigned as an interactive novel, interactive infographic or interactive game with questions measuring the enjoyment and information retention/cognition of these different immersive platforms. Participants completed a Qualtrics questionnaire with Likert and multiple-choice questions for preference, retention/cognition, and enjoyment, and an open-ended question describing their experience with the story platform. The primary data were transcribed and coded for analysis. Descriptive codes identified positive and negative comments. Pattern codes identified participant preference, content knowledge, and preference patterns. The Likert questions used in this study provided quantitative data for participant preference of the platform. The open-ended question used in this study provided insight into what the participants were thinking about their interactions with the platform and gave insight into the participant decision process reported in the Likert questions. Analyses of this study revealed most participants preferred interactive platforms. This study also resulted in an undeterminable data collection regarding information retention/cognition; however, the qualitative responses were quite revealing. This study suggested interactive infographics and interactive novels as a way to present news stories in transmedia journalism. While some aspects of the interactive game platform may be problematic- i.e. aesthetics- interactive platforms seems to be leading transmedia journalism in the right direction.

No description available.

Menopause is a biological change that affects the aging woman at some point in her life. Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) has been a primary medical intervention for decades, and this study explores how HRT products are marketed to women experiencing menopause through direct-to-consumer (DTC) drug ads. Through a qualitative analysis of DTC ads and interviews with women experiencing menopause symptoms, this research investigated their perspective on HRT drug ads to understand if women respond to this type of advertising. Women’s understanding and experiences concerning menopause are influenced by a number of factors and can vary depending on the meanings that are associated with menopause. In U.S. culture, physical appearance is emphasized above other characteristics, so menopause and other signs of aging chge the beauty ideal. Media portrayals of women too often value youth and ideal beauty, with direct-to-consumer (DTC) ads reinforcing this notion by emphasizing how women can remain young, fight the signs of aging, and maintain their vitality by using HRT products. Women also feel conflicted about their bodies as they age because of these dominant standards that can then lead to negative body image. Social comparisons are an inherent process guiding behavior and experiences that affect how people understand themselves (Corcoran, Crusius, & Mussweiler, 2011). People look at others and to media images of others, relating that information to themselves as a way to measure what they are and aren’t capable of. When advertisements construct menopause as a deficiency that women need to treat with medications, women compare themselves to mediated images as they try to understand their menopause experience. Ads analyzed for this study presented messages that women need medication to maintain healthy activities during and after menopause. Most of the ads focused on painful sex that can happen with menopause but nearly all of the participants agreed that these ads did not relate to their experiences. This research found that women don’t believe menopause is a disease to be treated but if medications are used, it should be for the shortest time possible and only if the symptoms drastically interfere with a woman’s quality of life. Through these interviews with menopausal women and analysis of HRT ads, this study adds to limited current research on DTC ads for hormone replacement therapies and menopause.

No description available.

No description available.

These days, fact-checking is a fashionable term in the worlds of both politics and the media. On broadcast news, tickers run below the speeches of politicians, with claims annotated in real-time and occasionally labeled as false. In newspapers like the Washington Post and online information hubs like Politifact.com, writers invoke the term to flag reporting that aims to correct or clarify the public record. At times, "fact-checking" efforts are themselves called out for partisan bias or personal gain. The term is now practically mainstream, used in everyday conversation to indicate disbelief. ("I'm going to have to fact-check you," CNN anchor Jake Tapper said to former Baltimore mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake in August 2016, expressing surprise that she was the mother of a 12-year-old.) Given the proliferating parties of interest that now claim to be engaged in some sort of fact-checking endeavor--from policy think tanks to Facebook--it's no wonder that a term originally reserved for the pursuit of journalistic accuracy now suffers from muddied public understanding. This study focuses on fact-checking in the context of print magazines: the media genre that innovated a formal version of the practice nearly a century ago. Magazine fact-checking, unlike the "fact-checking" tickers of broadcast news and newspaper postmortems, focuses not on setting the record straight after the fact, but rather on getting the story right before it goes to print. If a magazine fact-checker does her work well, she'll remain invisible to the reader. And that's because the published story, after her fact-checking, will afford the reader an experience uninterrupted by questionable logic, unreliable sources, or suspect data. Magazine fact-checkers aim for this level of perfection by employing a rigorous process that goes far beyond the verification of names, dates, and numerical figures. To illustrate this process, and explain my personal investment in this craft, I share my own experience working as the head of a city magazine's fact-checking department. To gain perspective on magazine fact-checking as practiced elsewhere in the nation, I interview other fact-checkers, writers, and academics. I also draw on case studies, media history, and personal anecdotes to examine some of the fundamental questions that inform the practice. (Among them: what is a fact? When does information become true? And what are the limits of a fact-checker's pursuit of truth?) In the world of fact-checking, there are best practices in the craft, and nuances to consider. Fact-checking also wades into deeper waters: those of philosophy, ethics, and social bias. But at its core, fact-checking is quite simply an application of critical thinking skills: skills that can be honed, and used for good. At a time when the media has lost the faith of many Americans, the magazine fact-checker can play a critical role in building that trust, one scrupulously vetted story at a time.

This thesis is a study of La Nacion, the largest circulating newspaper in Costa Rica. The purpose of this study is to examine whether claims made by La Nacion regarding their fairness and balance of news coverage are justified.

Recent years have witnessed an increase in the phenomenon of highly publicized trial in China. There have been studies exploring the relationship between the media and the political system, especially the judicial system in China. Scholarship on this topic has shown that the Chinese media are playing an increasingly important role in sustaining the regime. Specifically, they are becoming more influential over the outcomes of court cases and have developed to one of the most important actors in China's legal system (Wang & Tan, 2008; Liebman, 2005, 2010; Stockmann &Gallagher, 2011). The media-court relationship provides insights into China's politics, and more importantly, reflects the logics and rationale behind the Communist Party-state's governance. This thesis aims to contribute to existing knowledge on the functioning of the Chinese judicial system using as a case study, the trial of Yao Jiaxin, a young man prosecuted for a particularly heinous murder. This case study explores the dynamic relationship between the media and the courts in China under the framework of the “governmentality” of the Chinese Communist Party. The findings showed that the relationship between the media and the courts is changing, and the public has become an important actor in this relationship. As such, both the media and the courts are now more responsive to public opinion. This new dynamic is attributed to China’s evolution to a governmentality of “soft authoritarianism,” which is enabled by the Internet, mainly online forums and social media platforms in China. However, Yao’s case also suggested some limitations of China’s governmentality. First, social actors including the media and the court are facing challenges in achieving a balance between being responsive to the public and maintaining their professional integrity. Secondly, “soft” authoritarianism is only a means to an end, not an end in itself. Individual interests are expected to be sacrificed for the sake of collective interests under this governmentality.

The purpose of this study was to utilize the dual frameworks of Body-Centered Constructivism and Lived Religion to analyze the work of contemporary photojournalists and documentary photographers. Interviews were conducted with a targeted selection of professional and non-professional photojournalists whose experiences and work were relevant to the Body-Centered Constructivist framework. Informants were asked to comment on how physical factors including but not limited to new photographic technologies affected the use of their bodies while on assignment, their interpretation of stories, and their relationships with their subjects. Next, visual analyses of works of photojournalism were conducted using a Lived Religion framework. These works were selected based on their relevance to the research questions presented, namely how photojournalists approach the mundane in coverage of religious stories. An additional creative component operated as a case study for applying each framework to a work of visual journalism. Various media were employed based on relationships fostered between the media, the photographer’s body, and the subjects. Reflections and conclusions based on this project are included.

No description available.