Thesis (M.S.)--Ohio University, August, 2009. / Title from PDF t.p. Release of full electronic text on OhioLINK has been delayed until September 1, 2011. Includes bibliographical references (p. 89-102)

Thèse (M.A.)--Université Laval, 2000. / Comprend des réf. bibliogr.

The New Zealand news media have covered Iraq War II extensively, and from different perspectives, shaped by reporting restrictions, public opinion and editorial policies of the media organisations. This thesis studies New Zealand's three largest daily newspapers' coverage during the invasion phase of the war exploring their reliance on global news agencies such as Reuters, AFP and AP and on elite British and US newspapers. The research also aims to explore the newspapers' dependence on global news agencies and other content providers and the extent of US and Coalition domination of the news agenda. Global news media, including mainstream news agencies which mostly rely on government and military officials for information on military conflicts such as Iraq War II, become channels for propaganda and facilitate elite sources to set the agenda for national and global audiences. A content analysis of the three daily newspapers - The New Zealand Herald, The Dominion Post and The Press - reveals that the war coverage in New Zealand was framed by international news agencies, US and UK newspapers. And their reliance on US and Coalition official sources in the news construction meant that they became vehicles for propaganda. The mainstream New Zealand newspapers' coverage of Iraq War II is examined through the contexts of globalisation, news flows, media-source relations, news management and propaganda as these are the issues that have shaped the war journalism discourse in New Zealand. As there have not been many studies in New Zealand of news media coverage of wars, this research is an opportunity for studying mainstream newspapers of a country that is not a direct participant in the war. It gives the opportunity to compare reporting by newspapers in a country not directly involved in Iraq War II with that of countries that are directly involved. What emerges from this study is that the level of involvement in a war is no longer the most important factor in determining the direction of news media coverage. News values, globalisation, economic interdependence, news flows and propaganda are all highly significant factors affecting coverage. This thesis shows that the US military and government sources dominated the news agenda through various media management strategies. The findings of this research also demonstrate the dominance of the global news agencies and US and UK publications as main content providers in the war coverage. The implication of this is that the few Western media outlets are able to set the news agenda for news retailers such as New Zealand newspapers, and their readers.

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / Entertainment news is one of the most popular forms of online news in contemporary China. It serves not only to convey information about the entertainment industry and its products, but also to entertain its readers. Metaphor, a salient linguistic feature of this news genre, is the object of investigation in this study. Adopting an adapted version of Charteris-Black’s (2004, 2005) model of Critical Metaphor Analysis (CMA) as the analytical framework, this study aims to demonstrate that metaphors are a powerful linguistic means of explaining and embellishing abstract concepts, an ideological tool for describing and evaluating people and situations in discourse, and a conceptual force that both reflects and potentially influences people’s perception of their world. This study also shows that China’s changing media ecology has affected the way that metaphors emerge into discourse, are communicated, and interact with each other. I argue that when used in a specific context, metaphor is at once linguistic, rhetorical, affective and conceptual; it emerges from, and may mediate in the dynamic interaction of cognition and communication, as well as reflecting physical and socio-cultural experience. This argument is supported by a three-step investigation in which the taxonomy, the use, the rhetorical purpose and potential effects of metaphors in Chinese entertainment news are analysed. The findings are based on the exploration of a general corpus of Chinese online entertainment news: 1016 full-length news items, totalling 856,374 Chinese characters, collected from May to June in 2007 in online news sources from China. Popular source domains of metaphors (war, martial arts, fire, wind, etc.) and target domains (conflict, celebrity, etc.) are identified, as well as the patterns of interaction and the functions of metaphors in Chinese entertainment news. In a second step, the significance of these metaphorical domains (e.g. war, fire, etc.) is compared across three news genres: entertainment, sports and political news. This is an attempt a) to identify the genre-specific metaphors, and b) to determine the reasons that contribute to the preferences for using particular types of metaphors across sub-genres. In a third step, a case study of a popular Chinese TV talent show Super Girl is presented. It discusses metaphors and their semantic associations constructed in and through the Internet media’s coverage of this activity, and reveals how the choice of metaphors reflects the different interests and ideologies of three distinctive groups of people: the entertainment news media, some high-ranking officials, and audience members who comment online. The study concludes with a call for increasing our awareness of and critical stance towards the impact of entertainment news and its use of metaphor.

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / Television is the favoured news source for most Australians and is regarded as having the potential to influence public opinion. From its inception however, television has been regarded as ill-suited to cover economic and business issues because of a perceived reliance on visual material and an inability to deal with complex issues. This tyranny of vision has been mitigated by technological developments such as electronic news gathering (ENG) and satellites that provide large amounts of varied material as well as improvements in production tools that assist the visual presentation of abstract concepts. The presentation of complex issues has also been enhanced by the increased skills and knowledge among newsworkers. Economic and business news has become a staple in television news programs and has evolved from ritualised reporting of data such as market indices and exchange rates to a genre that shares broader news values such as consequence, conflict, proximity, human interest, novelty, prominence, political controversy and scandal. Economic and business news also shares the normal imperatives of television such as a strong reliance on scheduled occasions and reliable and prolific sources. In between occasions of economic, business and political controversy or scandal, these programs are able to rely on a steady supply of economic, business and investment information. Dedicated economic and business segments and programs and now even whole channels meet two sets of demands. One is those of niche audiences seeking news and information on economic and business conditions, economic debate and policy making, the activities of economic and business leaders and an opportunity to hear and observe economic and business leaders. The other is from broadcasters seeking to maximise their profits by attracting viewers in the AB demographic (those with the greatest disposal income) to otherwise poorly-performing time slots, by broadcasters seeking an inexpensive and dependable supply of programming material and by broadcasters seeking to promote their institutional role and specific programs through presenting material that is followed up by other media. Economic and business reports however, continue to portray issues in a limited way that neglects business’s interaction with workers and the larger social environment. Economic events are often framed as political competition. These reports present a hierarchy of sources and privilege political and business elites. Television news favours debate that is presented by individuals as contrasting causal narratives. Political and economic sources have become adept at presenting brief causal narratives in response to the requirements of television. This approach highlights celebrities and favours the promotion of agency over structure. The increase in total economic and business reporting boosts the interdependence of television and political and economic sources. Technological development is continuing and traditional free-to-air television audiences are being eroded by pay television and the internet. Although these are altering the nature of political, economic and business debate their overall influence is difficult to determine.

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / Entertainment news is one of the most popular forms of online news in contemporary China. It serves not only to convey information about the entertainment industry and its products, but also to entertain its readers. Metaphor, a salient linguistic feature of this news genre, is the object of investigation in this study. Adopting an adapted version of Charteris-Black’s (2004, 2005) model of Critical Metaphor Analysis (CMA) as the analytical framework, this study aims to demonstrate that metaphors are a powerful linguistic means of explaining and embellishing abstract concepts, an ideological tool for describing and evaluating people and situations in discourse, and a conceptual force that both reflects and potentially influences people’s perception of their world. This study also shows that China’s changing media ecology has affected the way that metaphors emerge into discourse, are communicated, and interact with each other. I argue that when used in a specific context, metaphor is at once linguistic, rhetorical, affective and conceptual; it emerges from, and may mediate in the dynamic interaction of cognition and communication, as well as reflecting physical and socio-cultural experience. This argument is supported by a three-step investigation in which the taxonomy, the use, the rhetorical purpose and potential effects of metaphors in Chinese entertainment news are analysed. The findings are based on the exploration of a general corpus of Chinese online entertainment news: 1016 full-length news items, totalling 856,374 Chinese characters, collected from May to June in 2007 in online news sources from China. Popular source domains of metaphors (war, martial arts, fire, wind, etc.) and target domains (conflict, celebrity, etc.) are identified, as well as the patterns of interaction and the functions of metaphors in Chinese entertainment news. In a second step, the significance of these metaphorical domains (e.g. war, fire, etc.) is compared across three news genres: entertainment, sports and political news. This is an attempt a) to identify the genre-specific metaphors, and b) to determine the reasons that contribute to the preferences for using particular types of metaphors across sub-genres. In a third step, a case study of a popular Chinese TV talent show Super Girl is presented. It discusses metaphors and their semantic associations constructed in and through the Internet media’s coverage of this activity, and reveals how the choice of metaphors reflects the different interests and ideologies of three distinctive groups of people: the entertainment news media, some high-ranking officials, and audience members who comment online. The study concludes with a call for increasing our awareness of and critical stance towards the impact of entertainment news and its use of metaphor.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1955. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 181-191).

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1975. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1980. / Typescript. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 35-36).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 389-402).