Media research often argues that viewing certain media can significantly increase the likelihood someone will develop an eating disorder or become obese. This study uses social cognitive and drama theory to discuss how adolescents may learn nutrition information and eating habits by watching television programs. Since adolescence is when people form eating habits, this exploratory study will analyze the nutrition content in three top teen television shows. This quantitative content analysis found that the characters in teen television primarily have a healthy body size but consume unhealthy items. This may be sending a message to adolescents that unhealthy nutrition maintains a healthy body size. Although teen television addresses eating disorders, it ignores obesity. Entertainment education (EE) case studies show the effectiveness of incorporating health content into television programs. The results of this study suggest that health organizations need to collaborate with the producers of television shows targeting adolescents to increase the prevalence of sensible eating on television. This research contributes to health communication research and studies on nutrition content on television.

This study analyzed the personal and professional networks of four local television reporters using social network analysis methodology. Network analysis was carried out to the tertiary level allowing examination of demographic data for 773 individuals in the reporter networks. Analysis was conducted through the lens of media norms and routines and the sociological principle of homophily that states people are more likely to associate with people like themselves. Using as a guide, norms and routines and homophily literature as well as studies about the portrayal of minorities, the study examines how the social networks of reporters can determine how communities of color will be covered by the media. The findings show that minority reporters who have lived in the community for an extended period of time are more likely to have the social networks that will lead to meaningful and substantive coverage of minority communities.

This exploratory study investigated the impact of endorser type and message appeal on the success of an online AIDS public service announcement (PSA). The research sought to determine the main effects and interaction effects of endorser and message appeal on the measures of PSAs effectiveness (recall, recognition, attitudinal and behavioral). In order to achieve this goal, the research conducted a 3 X 2 factorial design experiment that manipulated three types of endorsers (celebrity, expert, and typical person) and two types of message appeals (emotional and rational) in the PSA. The researcher expected the expert endorser would be more effective than other endorsers, whereas in terms of message appeal, the researcher anticipated that the rational appeal would have a significant effect on PSA effectiveness. In addition, the study expected that the PSA that used an expert and rational appeal would have more impact than other endorser-appeal combinations. The results were analyzed by conducting ANOVA analysis. The findings were not congruent to the researchers expectations. A significant effect of expert and rational appeal was not found on any of the effectiveness variables. One of the interesting findings of the study was that there was no difference between the effectiveness of emotional and rational appeal. These findings were discussed by using the information processing explained in the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM). Based on the analysis, the research also offered practical and academic implications and suggestion for future research.

Louisianas coastal wetlands provide a habitat for diverse wildlife, recreational opportunities for Louisiana residents and tourists, and an important natural buffer between communities and powerful hurricanes. Because they are disappearing at a rapid rate, coastal wetlands issues have been prominent in south Louisiana for decades. The catastrophic hurricanes of 2005 and 2008 have given the discussion an increased sense of urgency. Through this paper, I explore coverage of wetlands loss in local south Louisiana daily newspapers. Specifically, I try to determine how these papers frame the issue and illuminate how sources present in these stories participate in the construction of those frames. I then discuss the advocacy group Americas WETLANDs role as a newspaper source, how the group developed and maintains its message, and the relationship between that message and the groups sponsors. Finally, I interview journalists who cover the issue for newspapers in south Louisiana and the managing director of Americas WETLAND.

For advertisers looking to include online media in their marketing strategies, consumer perceptions of Web sites become increasingly important. This study examined three types of endorsement in an online setting. To accommodate the many voices of a social network site, this study employed a new form of endorsement, a social-network endorsement, to account for the collective opinions and feedback of social network site members. Using an experimental design, this study tested the credibility, engagement, and interactivity of three types of endorsements: a corporate endorsement, a third-party endorsement and a social-network endorsement. Two hundred fifty-one participants examined one of three sites, a corporate site, a blog and a Facebook group page, to determine if Web site source affected credibility, engagement, interactivity, attitude toward the Web site, brand attitudes, and purchase intentions. Findings indicated consumers regard corporate Web sites with more credibility and find them more engaging and interactive. Credibility also increased positive attitudes towards the Web sites. Subjects also rated Facebook more trustworthy and engaging than the blog. However, none of the different endorsements influenced brand attitudes or purchase intentions.

This research used focus groups and usability testing to determine how a major land-grant university should design a Web site that would feature the community service work of faculty and staff, students and alumni, also referred to as stakeholders. University public relations professionals planned to launch an interactive Web site as part of the universitys sesquicentennial celebration in 2010, but had concerns that the Web site would not attract stakeholders. The research sought to answer the following questions based on uses and gratifications and impression management theories: What uses and gratifications, if any, do social networking sites provide stakeholders? Does the university create the impression of service among stakeholders? What would motivate stakeholders to visit and/or participate in an interactive Web site on university service? The research also determined whether the prototype Web site was easy to use. Findings from focus groups indicated that stakeholders did not connect community service with the university, and therefore, a Web site that features community service poses few uses and gratifications for stakeholders. Findings from usability tests found the prototype was easy to use.

The concept of stewardship within fund raising literature stems from the public relations theories of relationship management, which involve maintaining mutually beneficial relationships between an organization and its publics. With the current economic crisis, non-profit organizations see the need to focus more time and attention on maintaining and fostering relationships with existing donors, and therefore, the idea of stewardship stands an area of great interest to scholars and fund-raising practitioners alike. This study seeks to evaluate the role and formalization of stewardship in the fund-raising process, the current tactics practitioners use to practice stewardship, and better understand the limitations to the implementation of stewardship. Using a case study approach, which includes document analysis and in-depth interviews, the researcher gives a detailed description of Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center in Baton Rouge, Louisianas current stewardship practices, as well as the practices of 15 other fund raisers in healthcare institutions throughout the United States, measures those practices against the theoretical standards, and constructs a stewardship program that allows MPBCC to effectively steward its donors. The results of this study indicate the widespread practice of all four stewardship elements, but also reveal a focus on reporting. The institutions in this study show formalization of the stewardship elements reciprocity, reporting, and responsible gift; however, use a more personal and individual approach to practicing the element of relationship nurturing. Although budget may seem the most common reason for a lack of stewardship, practitioners see the limitations of staffing and time as greater limitations. These findings show the need to further research the practice of stewardship and its varying levels among organizations of different functions and size.

This study examines press independence from the government in the 2009 national health care debate. Through a content analysis examining source expressions, or the words journalists attribute to various people in the news, the study captures the essence of the discourse represented in the news about the debate. This paper also outlines a distinction between various types of autonomy, and offers a new conceptualization of independence. Procedural autonomy, which is autonomy in journalistic norms and routines, does not necessarily result in content autonomy, which is autonomy of viewpoints expressed in the news. In other words, if non-governmental sources say substantially similar things to governmental sources, then the news content is not independent from government influence. This study determines, therefore, whether there is a substantial difference among the various viewpoints expressed by different types of news sources. Using as its framework the indexing theory, which posits that journalists will tie the range of news discourse the governmental elite opinion, this study determines whether some discourse falls outside the range of elite opinion. The results indicate that while the press did heavily focus on governmental elite debate in the health care debate, they made a moderate effort to bring in non-governmental voices and views. Despite this, however, those voices did not represent substantially different views. The exceptions to this rule were experts and, at least in the contentious months of late summer, popular voices.

The growing usage of social media indicates a potentially effective new platform for advertisers. However, little academic research examines how advertisers use these platforms for marketing and communications. This study sought to provide an analysis of current commercial social media usage by conducting interviews at a digital creative agency and full-service agency, in addition to conducting a statewide online survey of advertising professionals. Results indicated that advertisers use social media differently than they do traditional forms of advertising media. In the current digital media environment, advertisers must provide value or an added benefit to the consumer to gain their attention. Furthermore, companies should view social media platforms as long-term investments and, in doing so, invest time and resources to developing and sustaining them. Finally, whether or not a brand chooses to participate in social media, every company should understand these networks and use them for their researching capabilities. The results of this study not only provide background on social media usage in advertising, but also provide valuable insight for current practitioners and help reduce the academician-practitioner gap.

Consumer lack of trust in online vendors and brands is identified as one of the biggest obstacles in the growth of e-commerce. This study examined how third-party product reviews help in building consumers trust, in consumers perception of product quality, their brand attitudes and consumers purchase intention. The six cell experimental design tested the effect of consumer and expert online product reviews on fictitious web sites for high-involvement and low-involvement products. The findings indicate that online consumer product reviews perform better than online expert product reviews and no product reviews. Online product reviews affected visitors to a web site with a high-involvement product the most. The study implies that online consumer product reviews significantly affect consumers in a high-involvement condition and are more effective than online expert product reviews.