This study examined the content in coverage of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina by local, regional, and national newspapers. Specifically, six newspapers were examined for a variety of items, including topics covered, frame, types of sources cited, types of authorities quoted, geographic focus, and assignment of blame for the devastation and evacuee distress that followed this historic storm. The analysis covered a two-week period, from August 29, 2005, the day Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, to September 11, 2005. The research methods included a content analysis of the 263 articles that appeared on Page 1 of The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Advocate in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, The Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, Mississippi, The Sun Herald in Biloxi, Mississippi, and The Times-Picayune in New Orleans, Louisiana. In addition, interviews were conducted with management and staff of the newspapers to determine management style, reader focus, and unique circumstances reporters on the field and editors at home encountered in providing coverage of this historic storm. Topic and frame selection were similar at the local and regional levels, which focused on life, limb, and property issues, need for information, and distress of those affected by the storm. National newspapers focused most often on evacuee distress, but were more likely than local and regional newspapers to address criminal activity, government failure, and broader reaching economic considerations. The results of this study offer challenges to the typical daily news cycle. Ordinarily, journalists most often look to official government sources, even when many citizens are available. After Katrina, citizens such as relief workers, medical personnel, and evacuees, became significant sources of information. Most importantly, intermedia agenda setting-the tendency of journalists to look to the elite media to set the news agenda-seemed to be suspended during the two weeks following Katrina. It appears that in times of widespread disaster, newspapers attend most closely to the anticipated needs and demands of their readers.

While considerable research had been devoted to the study of social capital, limited information is available assessing the connection between linguistic preference and social capital among ethnic groups. Research indicated the American Latino community exhibits levels of social capital similar to the greater United States populous. Latinos who preferred English-language media, however, exhibited higher levels of social capital than those who used Spanish-language media. Finally, Latinos who held a linguistic preference for English held higher levels of social capital than individuals who preferred Spanish.

The purpose of this study was to explore through sourcing and framing the changes Gulf Coast journalists made in their news reporting as a result of directly experiencing Hurricane Katrina. Data for this study was obtained through the archives of The New Orleans Times-Picayune and through the Nexis/Lexis database. Many Gulf-Coast journalists lost their homes and were affected by the storm in various degrees with one case of a reported suicide attempt. The daily newspapers of the cities of New Orleans, La. and Biloxi, Miss., received Pulitzer Prizes for Public Service for ceaseless and tireless reporting of the disaster. This study attempted to measure any changes in media norms and routines observed through source-types and framing techniques by comparing one year before the storm with one year after the storm for both The Times-Picayune and The Biloxi Sun-Herald. This study found that Gulf Coast journalists increasingly framed the news after Hurricane Katrina using a human interest approach, with longer complex thematic stories. These journalists increasingly used ordinary people who were unaffiliated to organizations as sources a year after the storm. Interviews with these journalists revealed that these findings were consistent with a new found connection and identification with the public because of the common suffering these journalists experienced along with the readers as a result of the storm.

An experiment with 100 participants aged 18-24 was conducted to measure the effects of advertising in an online role-playing computer game on perceived interactivity and other aspects of gameplay experience. Results from a post-test questionnaire revealed insight into players' attitudes toward advertising in video game environments, and reflected varying levels of advertising awareness and recall, message recognition, and factors in purchasing habits. Results suggested that while advertising in online games can sometimes trigger high advertising awareness rates, it can also reduce a game's perceived sense of realism and genuinely annoy players if not appropriately coordinated with the game environment. Whereas previous research has suggested that players usually accept in-game advertising when placed relevantly, this study shows the opposite can occur when advertisers make little or no effort to contextualize their ads within the game world. Results revealed negative attitudes toward in-game advertising from participants who played a version of the game featuring ads, yet females and non-gamers were more accepting of in-game advertising and more often perceived it as "interactive" than did males and avid gamers. Practical implications and suggestions for further research are discussed.

As the numbers rise among African Americans who are contracting HIV/AIDS, it becomes evident that research is needed to examine where African Americans obtain HIV/AIDS information. This study identified where African Americans obtain HIV/AIDS information and examined how that information affects African Americans sexual beliefs about HIV/AIDS. The theoretical foundation for this study was the Health Belief Model (HBM). This study used a survey method. The data analysis demonstrated that race does influence the type of media an individual uses. Race does not impact an individuals access to health information. Knowledge about HIV/AIDS impacts an individuals sexual beliefs about HIV/AIDS. Cues from the media and physicians impact an individuals sexual beliefs about HIV/AIDS. Perceived susceptibility impacts an individuals sexual beliefs about HIV/AIDS. The frequency of any media does not always lead to knowledge about HIV/AIDS. African Americans are more likely to use television to obtain HIV/AIDS information than other races (r = .161, p < 0.01). In addition, African Americans are more likely to use radio to obtain HIV/AIDS information than other races (r = .193, p < 0.01). Thus, African Americans media use of radio and television increased their knowledge about HIV/AIDS.

American public universities have passed through three stages of development: the religious, the philanthropic/land-grant, and the federal research university. Squeezed by government budget cuts and demands for more money to pay for research and faculty raises, U.S. higher education has entered a fourth phase, the entrepreneurial university. Public universities are increasingly capitalizing on the intellectual property of their faculty and students to sustain themselves and expand. Administrators spout free-market rhetoric as faculty attempt to commercialize research by creating spin-off companies. Using Louisiana State University as a case study, this dissertation, applies a combination of organizational knowledge creation and resource dependence theories to analyze the emergence of academic entrepreneurialism. This study also assesses LSUs capitalistic effectiveness against models of entrepreneurial development used by other U.S. colleges and frames entrepreneurial communication within the context of the states political environment, state budget cuts, and tuition waivers awarded to academically superior undergraduates. LSU messaging is compared to other peer public universities and scrutinized within the framework of results from a national public opinion survey on LSUs image. Results suggest strong support for the concept of university entrepreneurialism, but indicate the American public, aside from athletics, doesnt know much about LSU academics or research. Testing of LSU-related messages, meanwhile, advances themes that resonate among respondents and provide potential communication paths for increasing LSUs national academic prominence and entrepreneurial success.

An organization will almost always use persuasive communication tactics to influence public opinion. Persuasive communication tactics can be either pubic relations or propaganda. The definitions of both public relations and propaganda, as well as a study of the relevant models, reveals that neither practice heavily stresses the importance of social responsibility. Using the importance of social responsibility in honest persuasive communication tactics, this qualitative case study of the Assembly of Turkish American Associations (ATAA) determined that the efforts of the ATAAs persuasive communication efforts are in line with the methods of propaganda, as stated in the operational definition of propaganda and in the objectives of the synthesized propaganda model.

Scholars argue that a scientifically literate public is a requirement for a democracy. Children are watching television more today than ever before, and studies have shown that children learn academically educational content from television. The Children's Television Act of 1990 requires broadcasters to provide educational and informational content for children. This study qualitatively evaluated a sample of 38 children's television programs to obtain a description of the scientific content contained in children's television. The study yielded a large quantity of scientific content, yet the quality of the content left much to be desired. Based on the findings of this study, science in children's television can be divided into two categories: exposures and lessons. Scientific content contains both fact and fiction, and a mixture of the two. Science is generally looked upon favorably in children's television; it's just not brought up enough. The major scientific topics covered were life sciences and earth and space sciences; other topics were mentioned at a much lower rate. In comparing the number of programs containing scientific content, the cable channels outperformed the networks. Possible remedies are discussed, as well as the limitations and possible further research.

This study investigates the political and social activities of black church congregations within a southern community by assessing the effectiveness of three churches in mobilizing their congregations and serving as channels for political communication. The study pays particular attention to the differences between affiliations within the black church, the influence of religious leaders on political involvement, attitudes regarding political involvement and political influences outside of the church. The thesis begins by placing the black church in its historical context as a giver of spiritual and community orientation as well as a social and political mobilization agent. Using survey results from Catholic and Protestant congregations, it then considers how members of the Black Church acquire their political information, their political activity and whether members feel that their religious leaders are politically influential. Interviews with religious leaders will also consider if his or her beliefs and motivations equal those of the congregation. The results reveal that while there are variations across congregations, the black church is still politically important today.

This study seeks to understand how and why television news editors impose meanings onto news packages through montage editing. Through a qualitative content analysis and in-depth interviews, this study will advance the notably few past narrative editing studies by investigating the norms and routines of television news editors. While other researchers recognize the significance of studying montage editing in television news, this is the first study to clarify the relationship between montage techniques and the creation of television news narratives.