Master of Science / Department of Journalism and Mass Communications / Robert W. Meeds / The advertising industry press has been writing about the increase in use of popular music in television commercials, yet there is little to no scholarly quantifiable data to support such press. This study investigates how popular music in television commercials is being utilized and how much is being used. A content analysis of 1,046 prime-time television commercials was conducted to further examine the use of popular music in television commercials and how its use related to observable executional variables in the manifest content. The study found that of the 574 unique commercials, 64% of the commercials used popular music. The results suggest that of the different types of music coded, popular music was in fact the most prominent. This musical prominence could be the result of the advertisers' mission to target the younger audience (18-39) and as such, use the music that is most popular among this age group. Implications for future advertising research and strategy are discussed.

Doctor of Philosophy / Curriculum and Instruction Programs / John A. Hortin / This dissertation investigated parental roles in mediating television, music, and the Internet for their children--specifically their fifth graders. Seventy two parents, representing forty seven fifth graders took part in the study. The Television Mediation Scale (Valkenburg, Kremar, Peeters, & Marseille, 1991) provided a framework for the instrument used. Parents were asked a series of questions dealing with television, music, and the Internet. Responses were given on a four point Likert scale. Additionally, participants were asked to estimate the amount of time spent with each medium, discuss the rules in place, the concerns they have with the media, and what principles guide their decisions about how their child uses each type of media. Regarding television, results indicated that parents utilized the restrictive mediation style in which parents set rules for viewing television programs or even prohibit certain shows from being seen. Although parents report using restrictive mediation, more than likely co-viewing is being used most frequently (Weaver & Barbour, 1992). This is plausible when applied to this study considering how close the Mean values are between restrictive mediation (3.36) and co-viewing (3.28). Statistically, no significant findings were reported in regards to music and Internet mediation. However, from a qualitative viewpoint, a wealth of data was gathered regarding the guiding principles and rules that are in place in each home regarding the media. Overall, parents report being knowledgeable of the media that their child uses and are comfortable with the rules in place and the principles that guide their decisions. The results of the study indicate that parents are aware of how their child/children interact with the media but an element of education for parents and even educators in the schools may be missing. Parents must stay abreast of new technologies and continually monitor ways in which their child/children use that technology. If parents believe that they are helpless against the power the media has over their children they are conceding a loss to the media's influence. However, if parents stay involved in their child's life and stay up-to-date on the newest technologies and what children gain from using this technology, then there is no reason to believe that we are powerless against the media.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of History / Robert D. Linder / During the 1950s, a decade scholars call the high point of American civil religion, journalist and historian William Lee Miller complained that the “popular religious revival is closely tied to a popular patriotism, of which it is the uncritical ally: religion and Americanism, god and country, Cross and flag.” If it bothered Miller that Americans too often “slipped unnoticing from one to the other,” he suspected that at least part of the problem had to do with mass media. “It is ‘salable’ religion,” he quipped, “quite clearly and often quite candidly cut to fit the requirements of Hooper ratings, box offices, and newsstand sales.” This study examines the relationship between American civil religion and radio drama in the 1950s as well as the two decades that shaped the 1950s, the 1930s and 1940s. It argues that by adapting an earlier tradition of civil religion to the twentieth century’s popular, mass-mediated culture, radio drama reinforced the centripetalism of American public life in those decades. Radio was the right medium at the right time for a nation new to global leadership and eager to rebuild its economy. As a national medium, radio enabled civil religion to continue its role in helping to forge a national identity, and as an emotionally intense medium — or what media theorist Marshall McLuhan called a “hot” medium — radio connected individual Americans to an ethereal, imagined “community of the air.” This study sheds light on constructions of the mid-twentieth century as an era of consensus in the United States by examining how centripetalism was constructed not simply by specific actors, such as the federal government and corporate broadcasting networks, but also by the specific properties of the dominant national medium, radio, and by radio’s ability to unite Americans around deep-seated civil religious understandings of their nation. It contributes to the scholarly conversation about civil religion by locating it not only in official pronouncements and public ceremonies, but also in commercial, mass-mediated cultural products, something most Americans consumed daily.

Master of Science / Department of Journalism and Mass Communications / Todd F. Simon / Since the 1990s, much discussion about the rise of the Internet within the People’s Republic of China has focused on the political consequences of the technology on China’s Communist Party. The popularization of Internet access was once regarded as a sign of significant progress in Chinese political democratization. Especially when considering the impact of Internet use on the Chinese younger generation, the importance of political issues spread through Internet should be more amplified. One interesting phenomenon that needs attention is the emergence of political soft news in recent years on the Chinese national social network that never arose before in the history of the People’s Republic of China. Different from any type of solemn formal political news that appeared in Chinese media, the soft news tends to emphasize entertaining aspects of political issues more and engages with high readability. It pays more attention to the gender, personality, and appearance--even the daily life of the leaders who were once the most mysterious and paramount group in Chinese political system. One important trait of this kind of news is that most news items emerged in social networks and websites that young adults are frequently exposed to. Along with the rapid rise of Chinese social media, will the major participants, Chinese young adults be strongly influenced by political soft news spread through the Internet? Will the young adults be attracted by the soft news initially and then try to know some further information about the government’s policies? Or, will they only dwell on the soft news? This research tries to explore and provide answers to these questions and focus on the impact of the soft news on Chinese young adults’ understanding of politics.

Master of Science / Journalism and Mass Communications / Joye C. Gordon / Widespread debates about scientific issues, from global warming to vaccinations, have raised questions about public trust in science and scientists. Many studies have attempted to determine the cause of observed declines in public trust. This project employs framing theory, suggesting that the way science frames research might improve public trust. Research questions explore whether political conservatism, public religiosity, and exposure to a feature story about a scientist affects trust in science and scientists. A between-subjects quasi-experiment exposed participants to feature articles about scientists in either controversial or non-controversial fields, and asked a series of questions in order to measure the participant’s trust in science and scientists. Results indicated that participants who were male or participants who had some college education and who read the non-controversial feature story were statistically more likely to have a higher level of trust in science and scientists than any other group. Suggestions for future studies are discussed.

Master of Science / Department of Journalism and Mass Communications / Thomas H. Gould / This case study explores the gap in attitudes, information and contact between soldiers and civilians and what Army public affairs officers do to try and bridge that gap. The study was exploratory and as such, brought up more questions than it answered. In-depth interviews were conducted with three Army public affairs officers from three different Army installations. A total of five community leaders from towns surrounding the installations also were interviewed. Most of the comments from public affairs officers and community leaders were positive. While the public affairs officers felt they could do a better job telling the Army’s story if they had more resources, the community leaders didn’t necessarily feel they were missing out on information. Some stereotypes or biases were detected in comments suggesting the Army was only interested in helping itself and on the flip side that there are just some things civilians would not understand. Further research on the military-civilian gap, particularly the gaps between certain demographics, would be usefully not only in helping public affairs officers target their messages but also in helping military recruiters better connect with possible enlistees.

Master of Science / Department of Journalism and Mass Communications / William J. Adams / The purpose of this study is to research cultivation effects of gender represented on MTV reality television series "The Hills" on adolescent female bloggers. Gerbner’s cultivation theory structures the background of this study. By conducting a textual analysis of various celebrity gossip blog sites from November 1-30, 2008, this study will unveil personal opinions relating to the reality of constructed gender representation and authenticity of "The Hills" as a “reality” television program. Blogs provide an ambiguous platform for individuals to immediately express opinions, judgments and attitude concerning the program; therefore, this study will be a contribution to the expanding field of convergence and “new media.” Although comments on the websites are critical of "The Hills" characters and their depiction of “reality,” the television program has a dedicated audience, calling for the reevaluation of “fandom.” Cyberspace offers an opportunity for virtual dialogue among viewers, as well as a platform to express cyberfeminist rhetoric. Women and girls are gaining new social and organizing space, claiming a new form of power and shaping media and society through particular kinds of participatory communication.

Master of Arts / Department of Communications / Timothy R. Steffensmeier / This thesis examines the production of identity within post web 2.0 virtual communities. Second Life, the community which this study focuses on, is a growing home of educational institutions. To better understand the process of constructing identity and community in the hyper-mediated future, this thesis grapples with the complicated process of creating oneself through analyzing the avatar as self and the home as community. Identity appears to continue to be both a liberating and constraining force, and creating oneself is not as simple as buying a new skin. Through a self-reflexive post-colonial virtual ethnographic exploration of the thesis writers experiences in the virtual world, light will be shed on the ways that identity is being shaped in relation to race and gender.

Master of Science / Department of Journalism and Mass Communications / Todd F. Simon / The debate over human origins was a prominent fixture of U.S. news coverage during the first decade of the 21st century. During this period, U.S. news media featured regular portrayals of an all-out culture war between supporters of biological evolution and advocates of so-called “rival theories” of human origins. In the end, this war would cost American taxpayers millions of dollars in legal fees, confuse science students, divide communities with unparalleled animosities, and alter public policy at the city, county and state level. While there have been previous content analyses performed on U.S. newspaper coverage of evolution and its primary challenger, an idea called "intelligent design," these analyses have tended to be somewhat informal (Mooney & Nisbet, 2005) or lacking (Martin, et al., 2006). The following study addresses these gaps in the literature. Using content analysis, the following study examines hard news coverage of intelligent design presented in 12 U.S. newspapers of varying circulation size and storytelling influence. A final sample of 421 newspaper articles originally published between the years 2000 and the end of the year 2009 is analyzed herein. Results demonstrate that U.S. newspapers initially framed intelligent design as primarily a religious / unscientific concept, but that intelligent design was increasingly framed as a scientific / unreligious concept leading up to, during and after the landmark 2005 Kitzmiller v. Dover trial. Additionally, this study finds no significant differences in framing intelligent design as a religious / unscientific or scientific / unreligious concept by dedicated science reporters and non-science reporters.

Master of Science / Department of Journalism and Mass Communications / Thomas Gould / The consumer value of user generated content was investigated between culture groups. Two groups of survey participants and three groups of interview respondents were utilized to identify the culture value’s influence on people’s reliance and preference in consumption-related UGC information. The behavior pattern of Chinese students and American students on UGC were identified and connected with dimensions of culture value. Some difference in preference and attitude between Chinese users and American users were found in this research. Power distance, individualism, and uncertainty avoidance are considered important cultural factors that influence the consumer-value of UGC in each culture group. Several potential areas for future quantitative and qualitative study as well as suggestions for UGC platform providers were also identified.