Effective use of media for rural development

Till examensarbetet hör även en film med samma titel.

<p> The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationship between perceived norms of heavy peer alcohol use and self-reported heavy alcohol use among college students from a large public university. A total of 865 participants completed a survey in Fall 2008 and 506 of those participants completed the follow-up survey in Spring 2009. As hypothesized, the perceived injunctive norm was found to predict additional unique variance in heavy alcohol use above and beyond gender, year in school, residence hall, retrospective high school alcohol use and the perceived descriptive norm. The interaction between the perceived injunctive norm and perceived descriptive norm was not significant in the prediction of heavy alcohol use, as hypothesized. This suggests that the combined effect of the perceived injunctive norm and perceived descriptive norm in predicting heavy alcohol use is additive and not multiplicative. In a secondary hypothesis, the relationship between the perceived descriptive norm and heavy alcohol use was stronger for males than females. Lastly, as predicted, the results revealed that the relationship between perceived norms of heavy alcohol use and self-reported heavy alcohol use are stronger among more proximal than distal groups. These results suggest that social norms marketing campaigns aimed at reducing heavy alcohol use among college students should include the injunctive norm, target males, and use more proximal reference groups such as the student&rsquo;s own residence hall rather than more distal reference groups such as the typical university student.</p>

<p> A crisis can threaten the existence of an organization, and in this social media age, information is spread at lightning-fast speeds forcing crisis communication managers to work quickly to quell any unflattering press. Companies in crisis situations attempt to mitigate damage and repair reputations using crisis communication strategies, such as Coombs&rsquo; Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT). This thesis explored social media as a crisis communication channel for these strategies, by studying an organizational crisis that played out almost entirely on social media, through the lens of SCCT.</p><p> This thesis used six statements made by The Honest Company during a 2013 crisis where stakeholders accused the company of bullying a working mother over trademark rights. The company&rsquo;s crisis communication messages were retrieved, and by using discourse analysis the messages were examined through the guidelines of the SCCT model, which allowed categorization of the messages according to SCCT, analysis of their effectiveness, and the defining of SCCT challenges in analyzing this organizational conflict aggrandized through social media.</p><p> This study found that even though The Honest Company did not strictly adhere to SCCT&rsquo;s guidelines, it was able to flourish and surpass consumer expectations after the crisis ended. The examination of this crisis offered insight into SCCT&rsquo;s lack of clarity and direction concerning its crisis types, strategies, and guidelines. It also offered suggestions for more specific crisis types and the expansion of crisis types for SCCT. </p>

<p> Social media have recently emerged as one of the primary information sources in the U.S. Journalists and news organizations have been keen on establishing a presence within digital social networks in order to utilize this new channel to build and maintain an audience. However, little is known about the practical implications of social media engagement by journalists for audience perceptions of news. </p><p> The present dissertation attempts to investigate 1) the influences of journalists' social media activities, self-disclosure and interaction with other users, on audience perceptions of the journalists; 2) if the perceptions serve as an important mediator between the social media activities and audience perceptions of the journalists'; news products; and, 3) if and how the direct and indirect effects of journalists'; social media activities are moderated by audiences'; individual differences in journalism orientation (IJO), which refers to which journalism norm audience members lean toward: engagement (public journalism norm) or detachment (objective journalism norm). Given that journalism is in a state of flux between traditional detached approaches and newer attached perspectives, these are important questions to be addressed relative to journalism in new media environments. </p><p> An experiment with multiple message stimuli was conducted in the context of a journalist's Facebook profile, and college students' perceptions of the journalist and his news product were measured via an online questionnaire. All perceptions were examined on both personal (e.g., attractiveness) and professional (e.g., objectivity and competence) dimensions. </p><p> The results provided empirical evidence that, 1) when it comes to journalists, engaging in such common social media activities as self-disclosure and interaction can significantly harm journalists in terms of their perceived competence although the same behaviors can improve perceptions of their personality. Results on the perceived objectivity dimension were mixed such that objectivity was positively influenced by interactive behaviors whereas it was negatively influenced by self-disclosure via social media; 2) Audience perceptions of journalists, formed based on their social media activities, tended to transfer to their impressions of the journalists' news products, demonstrating that the indirect effects of journalists' self-disclosures and interactions via social media on audience perceptions of their news products were mediated through audience perceptions of the journalists in terms of personality and competence although this mediation relationship was not evident in the case of journalists' self-disclosing activities and the professional-dimension perceptions; 3) These influences of journalists' social media activities were moderated by audiences'; individual journalism orientation such that the impacts of journalists'; self-disclosure on the journalists' personal and professional images (in both objectivity and competence) were in general stronger for the audiences oriented to an objective journalism norm, indicating that those with an objective orientation tend to react more sensitively to journalists' unconventional behaviors. </p><p> This set of results revealed that journalists' conforming to social media norms and acting like ordinary social media users could make not only the journalists but also their news products look personally attractive and friendly, but professionally less competent. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. </p>

<p> This study explored how bisexual individuals used media and other frames of reference to understand their own sexuality. It also sought to understand how bisexual individuals felt about the representation in the media and if they had a preferred image in mind. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six individuals recruited from universities and LGBT-oriented groups and their answers were analyzed through social cognitive theory and sexual identity development models. The study found that, for the participants interviewed, media examples of bisexuality and bisexual individuals were not completely accepted and other representations were preferred. For this sample, an educational setting played an important role in acquiring the language used to describe their sexuality. Also, the participants mostly agreed that the media did not often portray bisexuality in ways that resonated with them.</p>

<p> The present study seeks to add to the scholarly understanding of media coverage of trafficking by analyzing the content of articles on human trafficking published by the Washington Post and the New York Times in 2012 and 2013. Because the media have the potential to reach large numbers of the public and policymakers through the stories they tell, understanding exactly what the media are saying about trafficking and how that discourse changes over time can offer insight into the role of media in our society, particularly their ability to legitimize or challenge the dominant trafficking agenda. An analysis of trafficking articles also offers a chance to reexamine our perceptions -- if one of the major roles of the media in society is to educate or inform the public about social issues such as trafficking, then what perceptions are we being left with, and how accurate are they? By simultaneously focusing on these types of descriptive and theoretical research questions, this study adds to the growing literature on both fronts. The present study also partially replicates work conducted by another researcher for articles published between 1980 and 2006 in order to make comparisons between the two data sets and identify changes in the media coverage of trafficking over time.</p>

shareholders receiving financial information through annual reviews incorporating a summary financial statement. Recent changes in the legislation and in share ownership make it a relevant and timely study that builds on the limited amount of research carried out in this area. The main aim of the study was to establish the variables that determine readership of annual reviews. The theoretical framework was drawn from the philosophy of language and the work of Wittgenstein, in particular. Both the general communication literature and that relating to specific communication of financial information to shareholders have been reviewed as some companies use annual reviews to communicate information to their private shareholders. A study-specific model was constructed from the prevIOUS theoretical and empirical work and this was used to test specific propositions. A quantitative methodology was used for the main part of the study involving three companies issuing annual reviews. 1,601 usable questionnaires were received and analysed, which represented a 27% response rate. Prior to the questionnaire survey a preliminary study, based on focus groups and interviews, refined the questions to be included in the survey instrument. The results show that there is a strong association between the importance attached to the sections of the annual reviews by private shareholders and their level of readership for all sections. Despite the suggestions of earlier researchers, demographic variables and reasons for reading the annual reviews showed little association with the level of readership. The self-image of private shareholders is associated with readership of summary financial information, but not with readership of the chairman's statement. The thesis concludes by considering the implications of these results for legislators, companies issuing annual reviews and further research studies.

<p> The National Football League is more than just the most popular sports league in America. Dominant American discourses that surround American patriotism and popular culture have a parallel in the NFL. This parallel is due to the fact that football is a game uniquely rooted and structured like war. Additionally, many products of the American neo-liberal era are flourishing on the NFL stage. These products include: corporatism, commercialization, consumer culture, and aggressive competition. The violent nature of the game invites notions of militarism and war that fit seamlessly with the game&rsquo;s identity. Militarism, being a symbol that protects the nation, fits perfectly with an American civil religion that is largely devoted to Reagan&rsquo;s ideal redemptive America. The NFL, through active and skillful branding, has meshed its identity with foundational aspects of American identity. Now the NFL has to navigate through the popular and traditional logics that are ingrained in American society while maintaining their business.</p>

<p> An examination of the famous and celebrities within a country can offer a view to the values of its people. The Romans had Caesar, the Egyptians Cleopatra and in the early twentieth century Americans admired Charles Lindbergh. From each of them, scholars have learned something about the age in which they lived and the people of their time. Standards of beauty, behavior, and success have been gleaned by examining women and men held in the public spotlight. The historian Daniel Boorstin worried that that was changing in the United States by the twentieth century due to the growing influence of mass media. His 1961 book <i>The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-Events in America </i> warned that the country was straying from values that he believed made it great. Image and appearance, he warned, were replacing experience and achievement as most important in persons gaining public recognition. A proliferation of mass media manufactured "pseudo-events" was the cause he said, impacting not only who was recognized but the country's ideals. Boorstin labeled it a "cultural decline" that had started with the Graphic Revolution. Although changes in western society did take place and that change was revolutionary, this dissertation suggests a slow but steady "evolution" of the self was also underway and may be more descriptive of what was and is still occurring today. This study links industrialization, dramatic technological advances, and the conversion of American society from rural to urban dwellers to a transformation of the "self" that started as far back as the Reformation, as causes for the changes. That transformation sparked a slowly budding struggle over control of self-identity that continues to this day. A half century after Daniel Boorstin issued his warning, this dissertation explores not just the accuracy of his predictions but why and how many business and political interests and social elites still struggle to maintain some influence over how Americans perceive themselves through images, how concepts of fame and celebrity continue to evolve and why the scholarly conversation about mass media, culture and society generated by his original hypothesis may be more important to explore today than ever.</p>