This dissertation is an in depth study of the structures, actors, and policy communities associated with U.S. public diplomacy toward Iran. Since 2006, the U.S. government has spent more than $200 million for its Iran-related public diplomacy via State Department "democracy promotion" programs, National Endowment for Democracy, and the Broadcasting Board of Governors. These initiatives promoted regime change in Iran, ignoring a substantial majority of Irans population opposed to U.S.-sponsored interventions. The study finds U.S. public diplomacy as it relates to Iran fits with the two-way asymmetrical model of public relations. The dissertation identifies 182 individuals who participated in the Iran policy debate between January 2008 and January 2009. Based on the policy recommendations these members of the Iran issue network propose, the study uncovers the existence of the following four policy communities: Punitive Nonengagement, Hawkish Engagement, Strategic Engagement, and Fundamental Change. While regime change is the ultimate objective of both the Punitive Nonengagement and the Hawkish Engagement policy communities, only the latter believes that negotiation is a useful tactic in gaining compliance from Iran. Both, however, view Iran as a major threat to U.S. and Israeli interests and see no role for Iran in solving regional challenges. The Strategic Engagement policy community does not share this abysmal appraisal of Iran; rather, its members see meaningful cooperation between the United States and Iran on key regional issues as viable if their relationship is based on mutual respect. The Fundamental Change policy community finds the underlying assumptions of U.S. Iran policy vitally flawed and believes that all policy options short of an overhaul of U.S. international behavior lack ethical and legal legitimacy. Both the Strategic Engagement and Fundamental Change policy communities argue America should cease its pursuit of regime change in Iran and abide by its obligations under the Algiers Accord. Public diplomacy recommendations proposed by the Punitive Nonengagement and the Hawkish Engagement communities correlate with policies adopted by the Bush administration, with those of the former doing so more readily. The Obama administration is expected to adopt policies resembling the recommendations of the Hawkish Engagement policy community.

Natural disasters such as hurricanes can be cataclysmic for any city. This is especially true for cities that rely on tourism as an economic driving force. The inevitability of these disasters, even with extensive planning, contain variables for which cities cannot be prepared. Such was the case with Hurricane Katrina, which hit New Orleans in 2005. After the hurricane made landfall on August 29, 2005, New Orleans, the state of Louisiana and federal government officials faced a daunting task of recovering from the terrible natural catastrophe. Tourism was one of the hardest hit industries for New Orleans and the state of Louisiana. Revenue from out-of-state visitors accounts for 35 percent of the citys annual operating budget, employing 85,000 residents and generates $5 billion in spending annually (Fact Sheet, NOCVB, 2008). Katrina struck a devastating blow to the second largest industry in the state through physical destruction. In addition, large amounts of negative media coverage contributed to the negative perception that New Orleans could not handle such a disaster. Public relations seemed a key component to rebuilding New Orleans image and bringing tourism dollars back to the region. Practitioners, especially those within the New Orleans Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau (NOCVB), stated that they used public relations strategies and tactics to help revive the industry. This study gives a brief historical description of Hurricane Katrina and the tourism industry in New Orleans. It analyzes the approach the NOCVB used to revitalize tourism through the Forever New Orleans campaign. This study further supports the importance of practitioners becoming aware of the contingencies that can occur in a time of crisis, and extrapolates results from the analysis of this campaign that can serve as a model for other major cities that face a crisis within the tourism industry after a natural disaster.

Since the inception of Freedoms Journal in 1827, the black press has sought to elevate the black community as well as advocate for civil rights and justice. This thesis examines news coverage in the Chicago Defender, a prominent black newspaper that has created a public sphere for the black community. Specifically, this research reveals whether the newspaper framed Reverend Jesse Jacksons 1988 campaign differently from President Barack Obamas 2008 campaign. Furthermore, this thesis sought to reveal how a well-known black newspaper provided meaning for its readers about two black presidential candidates who adopted disparate political messages in order to appeal to American citizens. The thesis utilizes framing theory in order to understand how the newspaper covered Reverend Jackson and Senator Obama, and it employed a qualitative analysis methodology. Discourse analysisa method that falls under qualitative researchwas employed in order to examine words, sentences, phrases and tone. The findings illustrate that the Defender attempted to support and elevate Reverend Jackson, but showed skepticism about his ability to win the Democratic presidential nomination. On the contrary, the newspaper overwhelmingly supported Senator Obama, using his candidacy to elevate the black community.

Using Jowett and ODonnells system of propaganda analysis, the present case study concentrates on Americas dominant propaganda messages, techniques, and media channels used in Iran during the time period between 1951 and 1953. The chosen period is of historical significance since it entails the Iranian nationalization of oil crisis and the 1953 coup against the government of Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddeq. The coup was the first CIA-sponsored covert operation against a foreign government and served as a model for subsequent operations elsewhere. An examination of the official correspondence of the major U.S. actors involved, as documented in the tenth volume of the Foreign Relations of the United States series, reveals that the primary objective of U.S. policy in Iran was to maintain Western control of the countrys oil resources as a means to curb Soviet power in the region. American officials realized that nationalism was a real and potent force in the country and that Mosaddeq enjoyed overwhelming public support. Frustrated with the failure of a negotiated settlement, the Truman administration began to secretly plan for covert action. The coup was eventually implemented under the Eisenhower administration. The nationalistic nature of Iranian public opinion which equated Russian and British forms of imperialism ran counter to American policies in the region. To mitigate this counter-productive mentality, the United States planned its propaganda programs to raise the desire of the Iranian people to resist communism. Thus, in the three years before the coup, U.S. propaganda messages concentrated on spreading an anti-communist ideology. In the months preceding the coup, the United States spent more than $1,000,000 in part to buy the allegiance of influential Iranian figures, such as deputies of the parliament, and to purchase the services of the controllable Iranian press. The CIA relied on black propaganda to reduce Mosaddeqs popularity and legitimacy by, among other things, alleging that his actions were in line with the Tudeh Party (the Iranian communist party) and that he was an anti-religious individual. As a whole, the thesis shows the centrality of propaganda to U.S. foreign policy.

This dissertation explores the ownership of online news content within the broader context of diversity of news sources in the public sphere. The free flow of diverse sources of news and information is critical to democratic governance and public discourse. Research has highlighted the central role the Internet can play in facilitating this discourse and thus contributing to the political process. This research explores the diversity of news online by examining the ownership of news sources online. The project uses a qualitative case study approach and basic quantitative methods to conduct analyses of the homepages of News Corporations www.FOXNews.com and Yahoo! Inc.s www.news.yahoo.com. Four key elements are addressed: (1) the commercial imperatives of News Corporation and Yahoo! Inc., as these imperatives relate to the ownership and production of online news content online, (2) the ultimate owners of sources of news content cited on www.FOXNews.com and www.news.yahoo.com, (3) the corporate relationships between News Corporation and the ultimate owners of news content on www.FOXNews.com and between Yahoo! Inc. and the ultimate owners of news content on www.news.yahoo.com, and (4) the types of news content on these Web sites and the organization of the news content on the homepages. Findings indicate that the overall corporate commercial imperatives of News Corporation and Yahoo! Inc. guide the production, aggregation, and distribution of news content on the homepages of www.FOXNews.com and www.news.yahoo.com. International news agencies and a small group of media corporations are dominant as ultimate owners of news content on the homepages of www.FOXNews.com and www.news.yahoo.com. In addition, both News Corporation and Yahoo! Inc., have extensive corporation content sharing relationships with major media companies already dominant in traditional media. The results indicate that media conglomerates already dominant in the production, aggregation, and distribution of traditional media are also dominant online. The ostensibly many brands of news content are, in fact, owned by few ultimate owners. Such ownership gives media corporations enormous power and the potential to influence public discourse on important matters of governance and political life.

ABSTRACT In entertainment, the media often portray various social groups, including women, in certain negative ways and as having more negative qualities than other traditional social groups, such as white males. These portrayals provide viewers with ways of thinking about and acting towards members of a particular group, thus affecting communication and perception. This research seeks to analyze data on horror film stereotyping in a new way not by merely observing stereotypes of women in horror film, but by examining the content across time-periods and societal change. A textual analysis will compare 16 total films, 8 original films versus the later remakes of each film. This will help analyze the female stereotypes that exist within horror films as well as society. Even though the media says that stereotypic portrayals have changed over the last few decades, social stereotypes still exist today.

In 2009, six years after the initial invasion of Iraq, the attraction of the "War on Terrorism" and the intense patriotism has faded. As a result, the military has watched the numbers of new enlistees steadily drop. The present study investigates whether the United States military has adapted its recruitment strategies in television advertisements to change its public image in the wake of the increasing unpopularity of the Iraq War and disillusionment with U.S. military operations in the broader "War on Terrorism." A textual analysis of U.S. Army and U.S. Navy recruiting advertisements that aired on national cable television during the eight-year period of the Bush administration (January 2001 to January 2009) was conducted to analyze the use of impression management and issues management in strategic messages and themes in the advertisements. The textual analysis of television recruiting advertisements found that issues management strategies were used to address changes in the social and political environment of the period in which they aired. The analysis of recruiting advertisements also found that impression management strategies were used to create a new image of the military and being a soldier in response to shifts in public attitudes that occurred during the period in which the advertisements aired. The findings suggest that the U.S. military can improve its organizational public image by using specific tactics in recruiting advertisements during different periods of wartime.

The media play an important role in society. They interpret political events, actions, policies, and scandals in a manner that citizens can understand. The media use frames to assist in interpretations and descriptions. They may create their own frames or use frames supplied by the political elites. Frames can also lead to biased coverage when used to omit details or present someone in a favorable or unfavorable manner. This study examines the frames the media used during the coverage of President George W. Bushs first political scandal, the Plame Game. On July 14, 2003, Robert Novak exposed the identity of CIA agent Valerie Plame in his syndicated editorial column. Over the next five years the media followed the Plame Game scandal using frames to describe the actors and their actions. A content analysis of three national newspapers shows that the media did use frames in their coverage of this political scandal. The media used frames they created and some that political elites gave them through interviews and press releases. Over the five years, the frames associated with each actor in the Plame Game did change. Even though some individual articles are biased in their coverage of the actors in the scandal, statistical results prove that the cumulative coverage of the Plame Game was balanced. This means that an equal number of positive and negative frames were used to describe each actor and their actions over the course of five years. Little research deals with media framing of political scandals. The results of this study can aid in future research of political scandal framing, and can extend the already existing wealth of framing research.

The rise of the American penny press in the 1830s is thought of as a crucial moment in journalism history that precipitated changes in newspapers that are still evident today. Yet, many specific characteristics of the transition from a predominantly elite mercantile and partisan press to the popular penny press remain unknown, including the changes that occurred in foreign news coverage. This study will examine four newspapers, two mercantile and two penny, printed in New York City from 1830 to 1842. It will use quantitative content analysis of five variables frequency, length, prominence, content, and presentation style to compare foreign news coverage between the different newspapers and over time. Contrary to expectations, the newspapers exhibited only small differences in foreign news, indicating the limitation of the dichotomous distinction between the mercantile and penny press. Rather, the newspapers showed characteristics of more nuanced market segmentation, with each newspaper fitting a particular niche of news coverage. Most importantly, this study will attempt to establish a baseline for researching the historical nature of foreign news coverage.

With an online experiment and a focus group, I examined the role of cultural appeals in online persuasive communication. The results of the study revealed that culturally oriented Web sites and online advertisements influence individual attitudes and behavioral intentions. These effects were particularly strong when cultural appeals were consistent across advertisements and their hosting Web sites. I observed the main effect of culture on persuasiveness of Web sites and advertisements both the American and the Chinese samples of participants. The results of the study did not, however, support the expectation that ethnic identity and need for cognition would interact with the effects of cultural appeals. Participants had uniform reactions across various levels of ethnic identity and need for cognition. The findings of my study suggest that online marketers and advertisers should focus not only on the message, but also on the media when targeting ethnic consumers. In fact, the cultural relevance between an advertisement and its hosting Web site is a prerequisite for a successful advertising campaign.