Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Title in English and Afrikaans / Communication Science / D.Litt. et Phil. (Communication Science)

This is a study of a child abuse panic. The events that brought Martensville, Saskatchewan to national and international attention in 1992 were similar in many respects to other panics concerning multiple allegations of child abuse that occurred in the Western world in the 1980s and 1990s. The methodology of the study included a review of descriptions of child abuse panics published in the mass media and in books and journal articles. Interviews were conducted with residents of Martensville, child advocates, reporters, investigators, officers of the court, expert witnesses and several of the accused. Five theoretical accounts or explanations of the events were examined in detail: Satanic ritual abuse, recovered memories, false memory syndrome, hysterical epidemic and moral panic. These accounts were considered in light of broader sociological theory. It was determined that the moral panic account provided greater explanatory potential than the other accounts. Moral panics are seen as a form of distorted communication that was typical of mass media treatment of certain conditions in the 1980s and 1990s under which allegations of child abuse targeted a group of people who were defined as a threat. Feminist theory, the concept of risk society and Habermas' theory of communicative action were examined to provide insights into ways of addressing and mitigating the panic and harm that occurred in Martensville. Conclusions and policy considerations centre on the need for training of professions involved in the investigation and response to child abuse, public education within a framework of communicative rationality and, ultimately, reclamation of the public sphere with attendant expansion of opportunities for face-to-face communication in public decision-making. / Arts, Faculty of / Anthropology, Department of / Graduate

As a result of a complex range of cultural, economic and social factors, contributions by learning disabled people to the production of knowledge have been at best marginalised and at worst rendered silent. This study seeks to break that silence by engaging learning disabled people as co-producers of disability and media research discourses. It does this in two main ways: by addressing the manner in which they are positioned in the research process, and by identifying the ways in which they are (mis)represented or not in newspapers. This research not only investigates but it also presents new ways of giving learning disabled people a say in the knowledge production process. y the adoption of a mixed method approach in which learning disabled people are placed at the centre of the research process, this study aims to identify and critically analyse the significance and meanings of representations of learning disabled adults by the contemporary, print version of English national newspapers. Drawing from both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies, it uniquely incorporates distinct but interrelated data collection stages, including a research advisory group and two focus groups with learning disabled people and their supporters, alongside a content analysis of five hundred and forty six learning disability news stories. This study offers new insights into the application and development of inclusive research principles, highlighting the contributions of supporters to the research process and the roles of a nondisabled inclusive researcher. It reveals the predominant ways by which learning disabled adults are represented by newspapers and how they are not generally engaged as sources of these news stories, while presenting the views of focus group members, throughout these discussions of the content analysis. This thesis concludes with a consideration of the implications of the findings for the future direction of inclusive research practices and media discourses that engage learning disabled people as co-producers of knowledge.

Approved for public release; distribution in unlimited. / A noticeable civil-military gap has emerged in American society where the public does not fully understand the mission of the military, and the military does not understand the expectations and demands by the public in a liberal democracy. Maintaining a good rapport with the media and not fostering a civil-military gap will allow the public to embrace 'good news' stories that are introduced by the military as well as accept the times when a negative story breaks the news. Cooperating with the media by allowing appropriate access to the military is vital to effective information operations. This research identifies instances of failure in military-media relationships by reviewing the historical relationship between the media and military in wartime as well as two examples in the last 15 years in which the Navy has mishandled newsworthy events-the 1989 explosion aboard the USS IOWA and the 2001 collision between the submarine, USS GREENEVILLE and the Japanese fishing trawler, Ehime Maru. The purpose of this project is to determine and ultimately to mitigate military bias against the media. / Lieutenant, United States Navy

The current study is a content analysis and comparison of news articles from the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. The objective of this study is to explore media coverage of terrorism over the last five decades to determine the impact of religion and to compare coverage between two respected news sources that are known for their liberal (New York Times) and conservative (Wall Street Journal) view points. Using a stratified random sample, 1,832 news articles were selected between 1960 and 2006 from the two news sources of interest. The articles were read, analyzed, and categorized. Then, a qualitative analysis examined a random selection of articles pertaining to religious terrorist events. Results suggest an increase in coverage of religiously perpetrated terrorism in recent decades. Interestingly, coverage from the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal showed similar patterns despite being representative of opposite ideologies. Implications are discussed. / by Heather Zurburg. / Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2011. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2011. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

This study attempts to explain reasons that underlie the positive correlation between media use and increased levels of engagement by relying upon the agenda-setting theory. The models set forth suggest the following sequence: News attention as influenced by several antecedent variables affects agenda-setting effects on the readers/viewers; in turn, agenda-setting effects trigger strong attitudes among the public and, finally, strong attitudes lead to various types of civic behaviors. The individual level of statistical analysis employed in this research is based on the 2004 ANES data along with a content analysis of stories from the New York Times and NBC’s Nightly News. Fit statistics of four models -- specifically, first-level newspaper, first-level TV, second-level newspaper and second-level TV -- indicated that all of the structural models were retainable, meaning that the hypothesized sequence reflects well the data. Especially, every direct effect along the chain - ranging from media use to agenda-setting, from agenda-setting to attitudes strength, and from attitudes strength to engagement - was significant. Indirect and total effects of agenda-setting for political and civic participation were all found to be significant. Agenda-setting effects operated as a mediator between media use and civic engagement, as hypothesized. In sum, the effects of agenda-setting may be viewed as related to both the behavioral and the cognitive levels so that: What the public thinks about something can be extended to what the public does about something. / text

Thèse (M.A.)--Université Laval, 1999. / Comprend des réf. bibliogr.

Zugl.: Erlangen, Nürnberg, Univ., Habil.-Schr.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2008. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.