Master of Science / Department of Journalism and Mass Communications / Curtis B. Matthews / Two-sided message research has often led to ambiguous findings due to several factors. The present study examines if the level of general involvement with the product category presented in the persuasive message influences whether or not the inclusion of unfavorable information can generate positive effects on source credibility, brand attitude, and behavioral intent. Past studies on the effects of involvement on sidedness failed to deliver clear results, due to vague operationalizations, irrelevant claims and message statements. A 3 (sidedness: one-sided, two-sided unrelated attributes, or two-sided related attributes) x 2 (involvement: low or high) factorial design was used for this study. Contrary to past research, this study indicates that two-sided messages have many facets. Although a main effect for two-sided messages over one-sided ones was present, findings indicate nearly all of the benefits associated with two-sided messages were due the relatedness of the negative information claim. Two-sided messages without relatedness of information performed no differently than the one-sided format.

Master of Science / Department of Journalism and Mass Communications / Joye Gordon / Obesity in the U.S. has become a national epidemic. The military, in particular Military spouses are not exempt from the challenging issue of obesity. Understanding risk perception and health behavior is key to reducing the obesity epidemic, however insufficient research has been conducted among U.S. military spouses to understand their perceived risk and health behaviors. This quantitative study was conducted among 291 military spouses using the Extended Parallel Process Model and Social Cognitive Theory as the conceptual frameworks. The results indicated that perceived susceptibility of obesity and obesity related illness among overweight and obese military spouses while reinforcing both response and self-efficacy is the focal area for communication. Key barriers to weight loss and health goals were identified and the setting of health goals is identified as important. The researcher provides a digital intervention recommendation to address the findings of this study.

Master of Science / Department of Journalism and Mass Communications / Nancy Muturi / Cigarette smoking is one of the leading causes of preventable deaths in the U.S. and a global public health concern. The health effects have been severe among the youth. Smoking among the youth has been attributed to media. Movie in particular, is perhaps the most successful advertising on cigarette. Research shows that greater exposure to smoking in movies predicts increased likelihood of trying smoking. The purpose of this experimental study was to explore the relationships of smoking exposure in movies and young adults’ attitude, intention, and risk perception toward smoking. The theory of reasoned action (TRA) and the Attitude Accessibility Concept served were used in the study. The experiment was conducted at 70 Kansas State University students and examined the extent to which young adults’ memory/experience on smoking are triggered by watching smoking scenes; and whether young adults had different reactions based on the level of dosages of onscreen smoking. The results showed that the relationship of onscreen smoking and young adults’ memory/experience on smoking is not significant, as well as the relationship of media exposure and young adults’ attitude to smoke. However, the study found that nonsmokers contain considerable anti-smoking attitude and significant risk perception to smoke. The anti-smoking attitude is highly associated with the risk perception. The study presented theoretical implications, which includes the proposal to incorporate risk perception in the model of TRA, made recommendations to future anti-smoking campaigns targeted on young adults, and suggested areas of further research.

Master of Science / Department of Journalism and Mass Communications / Steven Smethers / The college sports industry is seeing a change in its marketing strategies with the rise of the popularity of social media. Facebook and Twitter are the two most common social networking sites used by intercollegiate athletic departments. Not only are these outlets used to foster two-way communication with fans, but they are also used as advertising and public relations tools. The purpose of this study is to compare the Kansas State University of Intercollegiate Athletics’ social media objectives and content with the level of satisfaction among representatives of the K-State fan base. Is the athletic department producing the social media content that their fans want to see? In order to gain a better understanding of the nature of the study, in-depth interviews were conducted with various staff members in the K-State Department of Intercollegiate Athletics to determine the social media objectives and to gather their opinions on the content. From there, two focus groups were conducted to ascertain the level of satisfaction among K-State fans with the current content. One group consisted of students while the other group contained K-State alumni. Findings showed that fans were pleased with certain aspects (i.e. score updates on @kstategameday, conciseness of Twitter, videos, etc.) but wanted to see more of other items such as K-State trivia, behind the scenes footage and more on student-athletes. The information gathered was then used to provide suggestions for future social media strategies within the K-State Athletics Department. The recommendations will help to enhance communication with fans and satisfy their social media needs as they relate to K-State Sports.

Master of Science / Department of Journalism and Mass Communications / Nancy Muturi / Health disparities are prevalent among ethnic minorities, including immigrants in the United States. These disparities come in the form of low health insurance, low social economic status, ethnic discrimination, language and cultural barriers. As ethnic minorities, international students also suffer from numerous health problems that are associated with their lower social, economic and immigration status when they come to the United States. Health communication is an effective tool for increasing health literacy and for reducing health disparities. Applying the uses and gratification theory and the staged model of trust, the study was conducted among 120 American students and 135 international students to examine the extent to which access to health information, the type of information accessed, how they use it, and how they determine what trustworthy information is differed between the two groups. Key findings indicate that nutrition is the most common health topic accessed online by college students regardless of place of origin. Though both groups access online health information with the same motivation of information, they use online health information in different situations. Source credibility is the most important factor for college students in determining trustworthy health websites, and government websites and other health organization websites were found to be more trustworthy. The study also provides both theoretical and practical implications, which include consideration of ethnic backgrounds in disseminating health information through online channels and understanding the needs and motivation for people’s access to health information and how they use it to be able to meet those needs. In designing health communication campaigns that target college students, the study proposes that the differences between native-born and international students need to be taken into consideration.

Master of Science / Journalism and Mass Communications / Curtis B. Matthews / Health communication messages have been found to have a significant positive impact on audiences. However, numerous situations exist in which the general population is exposed to information from non-credible sources. This initial exposure can often bias or impact subsequent searching for more information. Vaccinations have been considered effective as a result of the number of lives that have been saved by preventing life threatening diseases. However there is also a growing group of anti-vaccine sources. The rise of the internet has resulted in the growth of numerous unqualified anti-vaccine sources. Nearly 70% of the health information that people find on the internet is from non-credible sources. These messages often take the form of videos in which a person who makes a passionate claim about the side effects of vaccines uses personal experiences (exemplars). These exemplars are used to counter the volumes of scientific and clinical research which show the effectiveness of vaccinations (base-rate information). This study manipulates the usage of passionate and dispassionate exemplars and base-rate information by simulating a real-world situation. Passionate exemplars were the most likely to create fear in our audience. Increasing the passion of our base-rate presenters exhibited both positive and negative side effects.

Master of Science / Department of Journalism and Mass Communications / Barbara DeSanto / The purpose of this study was to take a closer look at the use of advanced statistics in Major League Baseball (MLB) radio broadcasts and the possible effects usage could have on the roles of MLB broadcasters. This study used a theoretical framework supported by role theory and diffusion of innovations theory. The study employed in-depth interviews of eight MLB radio broadcasters to get a better understanding of the broadcasters’ thoughts on the value of advanced statistics, how using advanced statistics could affect their role as a broadcaster, the factors that influence the potential inclusion of advanced statistics in their broadcasts, and ultimately, whether broadcasters perceived advanced statistics as a trend or a fad. The interviews revealed a number of things about the baseball broadcasting industry with disagreements appearing in regards to techniques in using advanced statistics in broadcasts and the value of advanced statistics to listeners. Despite the disagreements, the most important finding was the unanimous belief that advanced statistics are not a fad, but rather something that will remain a part of baseball broadcasts going forward.

Master of Science / Department of Journalism and Mass Communications / Angela M. Powers / Communication in sports continues to rapidly evolve, redefining roles of not only the fan, but the traditional media and the organization’s sports public relations professionals as well. The latter in particular has seen their role grow tremendously as new media continues to break down barriers between fan and organizations, giving them considerable influence on the slew of new content available to fans as well as how traditional media will cover sports in general. Utilizing Bey-Ling Sha’s Dimensions of Public Relations, this study employs in-depth interviews with the top communications professionals in the Big 12 to gain further perspective on the roles played by the fans and traditional media in the communication process, while also further gaining insight into the sports PR field.

Master of Science / Department of Journalism and Mass Communications / Robert W. Meeds / This report is based on an exhibition of 37 photographs at the Kemper Gallery in the Student Union of Kansas State University. All photographs presented here and in the exhibit were created during the past 28 years of my career. Hence the exhibit is a mid-career retrospective. My photojournalism experience is very unique in that I am the only photojournalist in the world who has worked as a presidential photographer, published photo essays in National Geographic Magazine as a freelancer, and been on the staff of a large metro newspaper. The photographs chosen for the exhibit were highlighted by, but not limited to, assignments from those three experiences. This report mirrors the exhibit except for a few additional photographs that, because of space limitations, didn’t make it into the final edit for the exhibit. There are three sections: Moments from Kansas to Papua New Guinea, The Presidency, and After 9/11. The “moments” section presents a wide variety of photographs from a wide variety of assignments. The “presidency” section focuses on my tenure as Official White House Photographer for President Reagan, and also includes photographs of the Reagan funeral, other presidents, and a possible future president. “After 9/11” begins at the Pentagon on 9/12, and then follows the course of events in Afghanistan during the following weeks. Extensive captions accompany most of the photographs. The captions are written in the third person which is customary for gallery exhibitions. More than the who, what, where and when, they provide some additional context and are intended to inform both the journalism student and the layperson.

Master of Science / Department of Journalism and Mass Communications / Steven J. Smethers / This study describes and maps the process journalists employ when deciding issues of coverage, content, and treatment of news at community newspapers within the context of community standards. Much scholarship has been devoted to how journalists should make ethical decisions of news judgment in accordance with moral, ethical, and social responsibility theory. But little has been done in the way of describing and mapping how journalists – specifically, community journalists – actually make these on-deadline news decisions and how the concept of community standards plays into those decisions. Through the use of naturalistic inquiry methodology, in this case, a triangulation of qualitative depth interview methods – informant and ethnographic – within the context of society, this research describes the factors considered by community journalists when faced with decisions of news judgment, how that process takes place, and how and where community standards fit into that process. Data indicate that values and value-based moral and ethical reasoning are tempered by at least three considerations in the decision-making process: (1) how coverage and treatment will affect the journalist, (2) how coverage and treatment will affect others, and (3) the public instructional value, before being filtered through a screen of community standards prior to the final rendering of a news judgment decision. Furthermore, findings offer a base on which to construct a model of community journalism decision making, useful for study and discussions of ethical decision making among community journalism scholars, instructors, and students, and for its applications in practical situations by future or novice community journalists.