Despite the pervasiveness of sports in American society and the ever-increasing role of sponsorship in the marketing mix, sponsorship marketing as a discipline currently lacks the rigorous academic study and theoretical foundations that exist in other marketing disciplines. The purpose of this study is to determine whether or not sponsorship of New Orleans Zephyrs baseball is an effective way of increasing awareness of a product or brand. Using intermediate measures of recognition testing, fans at three New Orleans Zephyrs games were surveyed to test sponsor recognition. The study examined various elements of sponsorship marketing including the effects that gender, age, income, education and attendance frequency had on sponsorship recognition. Additionally, fans were asked if they consciously looked for sponsor messages at games and where they most noticed the messages. Lastly, respondents were asked if they would use a Zephyrs sponsor's product over a non-sponsor's product given the same price and quality. Results showed that all 12 sponsors tested were recognized. Major sponsors were recognized considerably more so than mid-level sponsors and minor sponsors. A little more than half of the respondents reported that they consciously looked for sponsor messages at games, and the majority of respondents noticed sponsor signage the most on outfield fence signs. More than 80% would choose a Zephyrs' sponsor over another brand given equal price and quality. Chi-square analysis provided significant differences concerning age, income, education and attendance frequency. Attendance frequency had the biggest impact. The more games a fan attended, the more likely they were to correctly identify most sponsors. As the practice of sponsorship marketing becomes an increasingly more important element of the marketing mix, this study seeks to contribute to the growing body of evidence that supports sponsorship as a means to increase awareness and enhance brand image.

Creating a favorable candidate image is one of the more difficult tasks a political consultant faces. Besides researching which issues their client will address, the consultant must analyze what attributes voters find most appealing in a candidate. Then, through a complex process, a candidate image is finally packaged and presented to the public. This thesis looks at the end result of the packaging process for a Mayoral candidate in East Baton Rouge parish. By examining the press coverage and campaign ads in a local election in a mid-size city, this study expands on previous second level agenda-setting research. Literature in this area has mostly focused on national and international campaigns where there is heavy and extended media coverage. In addition to examining the media effects, the electorate, media habits, and campaign interest are studied to see whether there are any predictors to attribute agenda-setting. Also, this analysis focuses on one candidate in a multi-candidate open primary. The multitude of candidates waging multimedia campaigns in a short time span may produce too much clutter and confusion for any real second level effects to take place, but this a worthwhile study as it could lead to future studies in multi-candidate presidential primaries. A public opinion survey was conducted over the last three days of the open primary in an effort to capture the strongest media effects. Over a seven-week period the media coverage and ads in this campaign were analyzed for content to determine whether there is a significant display of attributes.

This study reviews the newspaper coverage given during the 2001 Louisiana special legislative session. It was convened to raise additional money to fund teacher pay raises through legislation impacting the states gambling tax requirements. The seven markets include Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Lafayette, Lake Charles, Alexandria, Monroe and Shreveport. The session was a last resort effort in response to persistent pleas from educators that had elevated into statewide teacher sickouts. In the fall of 2000 the public voted down new taxes to fund their pay raises. The governor charged his administration to come up with a plan to raise teachers pay without further taxing the citizens of the state. As a statewide issue this would suggest that the media coverage would be similar among the markets. On the other hand, the issue concerning taxes and riverboat/land-based casinos is limited to the cities catering to this entertainment. Harrahs casino in New Orleans and the floating boats are the specific targets of discussion. The researcher looked to see influences on reporting between the markets in the state with and without a local casino. Is it headline news? Are the topics of gambling and teacher pay linked in any fashion? The results derived from personal interviews, content analysis, and contextual information presented satisfaction that overall the session was covered in each market across the state. Contrary to what literature suggested, the local news made the front pages of the newspapers during this period. The gambling industry took precedence in reporting importance over the issue of teacher pay raise, but both were addressed throughout the sample of articles. Overall the coverage took on a positive tone regarding the session and especially towards the idea of granting teachers a pay raise, regardless of the source of the money. Although during interviews, reporters claimed it a primary responsibility to directly link gambling revenue to the issue of funding teachers pay for their readers, the results determined by content analysis indicated they used framing, a more indirect method to get the message to the public.

This thesis examined 22 Snapshots on the front-pages of USA Today from April 2001 to determine whether they adhered to the journalism standards of wholeness, accuracy, and credibility. Fourteen were found not whole, 8 were not accurate, and 3 were not credible according to the definitions of this thesis. The researcher compared the data in the Snapshots to the data obtained from the cited source and interviewed sources as well as a news assistant and graphics editor at USA Today. The researcher found four possible explanations for the poor quality of the Snapshots and examined the routines of Snapshot production, which she then compared to those of traditional journalists.

Few studies specifically explore public relations in private high schools. Statistics reveal that in Louisiana the number of nonpublic high school students continues to increase, therefore the competition among private schools for students increases as well as the demand to improve the private schools. These private schools need public relations to establish mutually beneficial relationships with strategic publics to attract students and to raise money to educate the students. This thesis is a case study of private school public relations programs at three Louisiana high schools. The theoretical basis for this thesis centered on the research of James Grunig. To determine the most effective way for schools to communicate with key publics, the researcher explored two questions. The first research question studied the organizational hierarchy of private schools, especially as it relates to the public relations department. Grunig argued that the age, size, complexity and centralization of an organization affected the public relations department. In other words, as organizations aged and grew in size and complexity, public relations would become an integral part of the organizational hierarchy. The second research question examined the public relations models that private schools use, based on Grunigs public relations modelspress agentry, public information, two-way asymmetrical and two-way symmetrical and later Kellys adaptation of those models to fund raising. The data supported Grunigs theory that the age, size, complexity and centralization of an organization affect the public relations department. Two of the schools with over 100 years of history, placed a much greater emphasis on public relations than the school with less than 25 years as an institution. For the second question, the research revealed that all three schools use a combination of public relations and fund raising models. However, the most successful school in terms of attracting the best students and raising the most money used Grunigs mixed-motive model, a combination of the two-way symmetrical and asymmetrical models.

This study examines the portrayal of media within print advertisements found in Harper's Magazine between 1931 and 2000. This study evaluated a number of categories to provide understanding of the role of media within society, specifically the portrayal of gender and media use, how media are used in society and the perceived class within the advertisements featuring media products. The study also looked at the Diffusion of Innovation Theory, which states that a socioeconomic elite group are the first people within a society to adopt new ideas or technologies. A content analysis, both quantitative and qualitative, of Harper's Magazine produced the following results. The portrayal of women has not dramatically changed during the past seventy years and advertisements within Harper's Magazine still reflect negative images of women, such as, women as submissive, women as frivolous and women as decorative objects. Many gender stereotypes were evident throughout the study as more advertisements reflected women as wives and mothers than as career women. The exploration of the representation of media within advertising revealed that media were most often represented in a number of ways. The most common included, media use as relaxation, media bringing families together, media as tools of education and media as instruments in career development. The analysis of perceived class within advertisements revealed that some media, especially electronic media such as radio and television, are more often found in an upper class setting. The study advances our understanding of the Diffusion of Innovation theory by providing information about the portrayal of communication technologies within advertising. Future studies may further examine the role of this theory by evaluating how advertising contributes to the Diffusion of Innovation theory by positioning media to certain target audiences.

This study examines the newspaper coverage of Richard Jewell during the weeks after the 1996 Atlanta Olympics bombing. Jewell, a security guard working in the Olympic Park on July 27, 1996, was initially hailed as a hero due to his discovery of a bomb minutes before the explosion. After Jewells name was leaked to the press as an FBI person of interest in the case, many reporters began to frame Jewell in a negative light and, in some instances, even implied his guilt. Through a discourse analysis of news stories published between the date of the bombing and the date Jewell was officially removed as a suspect (three months), four distinct framing clusters are identified in this study: The Reluctant Hero, He is Guilty, United We Stand, and Media Self-Coverage. Discursive tactics used to support these themes are identified as word choice, source choice and use of unnecessary information. The roles of myths, symbols, storytelling, and society in frame-making provide the foundation for an in-depth discussion about the broader meanings and implications of the news frames found in the coverage of the bombing. This study finds that frames are prevalent in media coverage and play an essential role in society, but they are sometimes misused by the press in such a way that harms individuals. A subsequent legal discussion underscores the courts dogged protection of First Amendment rights in these situations and the dilemmas that develop when a private individual is ruled to be a public figure in the defamation lawsuit. An additional examination of news media ethics offers possible reasons journalists resort to the types of discursive tactics found in the Jewell coverage; specifically, this study finds explanations that pertain to the journalist, the newsroom, industry guidelines, and the collective mindset of the profession.

This study focuses on how viewers relationships with their favorite media characters can impact their outlook on their own lives. Through the examination of parasocial relationships (PSRs), attractiveness, and the traits of materialism and envy, this study looks at the consequences of such traits on ones life satisfaction. Overall, the theoretical model presented argues to make the connection from ones PSR to his or her life satisfaction. Using a sample of undergraduate students, participants were asked to complete a survey that examined individuals' relationships with their favorite fictional media character through the study of various characteristics, habits, and media uses. The results support that the stronger ones PSR and attractiveness to his or her favorite character the stronger ones traits of envy and materialism tend to be. Also, the stronger ones traits of materialism and envy the lower the individuals life satisfaction. However, the over arching link from PSR to life satisfaction was not made, leaving room for further rationales and research within the area of PSR research.

The impact of the media on adolescent girls has received greater theoretical, legal and societal focus over the last few decades. Several studies link the development of womens gendered identities, healthy sexual activity and self-efficacy to how the media portray women. Restrictive or unrealistic themes of womanhood or femininity in the media can impact a young girls social construction of identity and provide limited examples of what it means to be a woman in todays society. This study qualitatively examines femininity in contemporary media by analyzingvia textual analysis and focus groupshow popular female characters embody, portray and promote different conceptualizations of femininity. Do these characters portray more traditional styles of femininity? Or do they embrace the gains of Third Wave feminism and promote more contemporary versions of femininity? Results suggest a shift toward contemporary femininity, but also reveal lingering stereotypes in a characters emotional and cultural behaviors.

This project answers the following questions: What does political reporting on social media look like? How is political journalists use of social media changing their relationships with sources and fellow political journalists? Triangulating qualitative and quantitative research methods (content analysis, social network analysis, and in-depth interviews) in an examination of Twitter, a social media platform popular among journalists, this project provides insight into how changes in media routines are affecting news content.