The purpose of this thesis was to study the origin of the local news in local newspapers. Do the news originate mostly from the police, the municipality, from press releases or from the reporters own ideas? We also wanted to find out what kind of content predominated in texts with its origin in press releases respectively the reporters own ideas. Of course we also wanted to find out if there were any similarities or differences between the two studied newspapers. We used a type of constructed week, but with non random selection instead of random. We chose one of each weekday the newspapers were published and studied the news covered in the papers that specific day. We talked over the phone with the news editors and the reporters and simply asked them about the origin of each news text separately. The results showed that every fourth text originates from the police, and that police news often ends up as news items rather than articles. We also came to the conclusion that local newspapers use fewer press releases than earlier research has shown. Only one sixth of the news studied originates from press releases, which is less than we thought it would be. News with its origin in advertisements was less often found. News with its origin in the reporters own ideas deal with various subjects. A text that is written on the basis of a press release on the other hand is often about some kind of event and has almost always a very positive tone. We could not notice any remarkable difference between the two studied newspapers.

Under the influence of digital technology and deregulation of media, cross-media groups are formed in communications industry, which integrate the content of different media by the means of knowledge management in order to achieve the purpose to lower the cost and synergy. The purpose of this research is to set up the model of knowledge management which is suitable for communications industry, and evaluating the barriers may confront in the process of knowledge management. Arthur Andersen Business Consulting extracts five key factors in knowledge management: training, leadership, culture, technology and measurement, and the media feature is added to form the structure of this research. The participants of this study is the ¡§editor's platform¡¨ in Eastern Broadcasting, the employees and mid-management in TV news department, wed news department and broadcasting news department. With the methodology of sequential mixed method designs, the questionnaire is designed by the results of interviews. The structure of the questionnaire is based on the Arthur Andersen Knowledge Management Assessment Tool (KMAT), the participants are asked to evaluating the importance and performance of each item, to know the ability of knowledge management by six factors (training, culture, leadership, media's features, technology and measurement), helping the organization to understand the efficiency of knowledge management. The result of this study shows that the staff emphasize on the factor training, the measurement on the contrast; the technology factor is considered to be best performance, while the leadership part is the worst one. In the barriers of knowledge management, shows that the case company has not promoted the whole knowledge management yet at present; in editor¡¦s platform section, shows though staff clasp negative view to editor¡¦s platform, but there is not apparent improvement. The suggestions of this research is to emphasize on the exchange of tacit knowledge, set up the style of leadership from lower to upper, set up cross-media work group as an experiment, change the information platform interface into a window interface, and interact with staff to set up the index that the measurement of knowledge management.

The purpose of this study is to analyze the environments and survival strategies of local media from the aspect of management. China Daily News and Taiwan News are chosen for case study because they are representative of local newspaper in urban areas in Taiwan. The results show that these two Newspaper possess three core competitive forces: history, cross marketing and newsroom strategies, and the superior delivery of local news. With regard to history, these two presses were the only press issued locally from their time of establishment to their time of growth and still remain to be so. As to cross marketing and newsroom strategies, their owners highly emphasize the necessity of adopting these strategies which contribute to the success and vitality of the press. Finally, the quality and quantity of the local news they cover and deliver are also unbeatable by any other media. To survive in the future, local newspaper are advised to adopt the following strategies: (1) to have sufficient capital, (2) to perform market and cost analyses for the purpose of fixing the prices of newspaper and advertisement, (3) to invest on the development of human resources, (4) to evaluate changes in the market, (5) to find a niche and have a clear share in the market, (6) to produce local news that are superior in quality and quantity, (7) to adopt cross marketing and newsroom strategies, (8) to have value chain deconstructed and executed externally. Vertical and horizontal integration, as well as diversification of business are essential as well. For new local newspaper, there is a small chance of success because the success of a local newspaper depends on the acceptance and recognition of local people. It takes time for local people to grow into the habit of reading a particular newspaper. Even if the newcomers are run in the best form of business, success is still uneasy. The competition is keener in those urban areas where local newspaper are already present.

The news cultures, productions and dissemination channels in the digital age are already different from the traditional times. The challenges which the reporters face also differ from the pasts. Taiwan media studies analyze the audience and media through the ways of qualification but neglects that they are also the audience, disseminators, gatekeepers and real constructional signs as the reporters in the meantime to go on the qualitative analysis. There are few studies about the press photographers and mostly the analyses of qualification and qualitative are based on the characters thinking. The study target is focused on newspaper photographers which basis is visual culture studies and uses it to the well-established Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique (ZMET) from overseas. It uses the images as the media and brings out the deep thoughts and feelings of the interviewees to analyze the mental map of the press photographers and create a common map. Then, it carries out the pre-tests of the qualitative studies of the mental maps of the press photographers and builds up the role models from them in the digital age. Finally, it indicates the current media surroundings and the circumstances of the press photographers to seek the possibilities of media reformation. From the studies, we can know that there are six values of the press photographers through observing their mental and common maps: ¡§the values of existence,¡¨ ¡§news ethicalities,¡¨ ¡§respects,¡¨ ¡§the sense of achievements,¡¨ ¡§entertainment,¡¨ and ¡§arts.¡¨ Among which the press photographers cares about most is ¡§the values of existence.¡¨ However, the value of existence relies on the professional dimensions which lower the standard techniques of photo shooting due to the speed of the digital technology and the evolutions of the mechanical functions. Moreover, the images are rampant in the age of map reading and the publishers demand a big number of images, and therefore, the requests of the image contents only focus on the evidences but overlook the visual images. It not only leads the press photographers to have the insecurity of being replaced but also increases the stresses to them in the digital age of speed demanding and keen competitiveness. On the other hand, it is necessary to record dynamic images to put in e-papers, so the publishers ask the press photographers to do static photography and record dynamic images simultaneously which result in a working disaster from technology. Under this circumstance, the press photographers have to create their own values of existence beyond their photography technology to enhance their irreplaceability. They have to maintain their competitiveness in the working field to keep themselves from being eliminated. Also, the publishers shall promote the demands of the image contents instead of asking the press photographers to film many photos without visual effects. The publishers should establish new departments for the demands of static photos and recordings from e-papers to filter the adequate videos for broadcasting. Besides, send the professional DV photographers to interview and film by professional HDV in order to promote the professional dimension to reach the targets of operating diversified media.

Politicians and media elites have been calling for a return to civility in United States politics, and the vast majority of citizens agree that civility is necessary for a strong democracy. Yet incivility is an ever-present and misunderstood part of politics. In my dissertation, I focus on news, politics, and incivility by asking three questions. First, to what extent does news coverage portray political conflict as uncivil? Second, what political behaviors do citizens perceive as uncivil? Finally, how does news that portrays politics as uncivil affect citizens? I used a mixed method approach to answer these questions. I, first, conducted a content analysis of news surrounding four high-conflict political events to determine whether two conflict frames (interpersonal-level and public-level conflict) emerged. Second, I conducted two experiments and drew from social judgment theory to determine whether citizens perceived multiple types of incivility and whether their partisanship influenced how acceptable they found political behaviors to be. In a final experiment, I tested whether exposure to mediated conflict frames prompted perceptions of incivility from citizens and affected their reactions to politics. This project makes clear that news coverage of conflict emphasizes incivility and negatively affects citizens. Media elites shape political conflict using interpersonal-level and public-level conflict frames. Citizens perceive both types of conflict, as well, and tend to think that likeminded partisans are behaving appropriately while counter-attitudinal partisans are behaving badly. Finally, and importantly, the coverage of political conflict affects citizens in troublesome ways. Particularly when both types of conflict frames are present in the news, citizens feel more anxiety and aversion, have decreased levels of favorability toward political institutions, and think of political arguments in partisan ways. Overall, I conclude that incivility is not stable. Instead, incivility is a two-dimensional concept that is shaped by the media, perceived by citizens, and advanced by partisans. By recognizing these dimensions of incivility, researchers may find new and important effects of incivility, and people interested in ridding politics of incivility may be more successful by beginning with the recognition that what is uncivil to one person is not always uncivil to another. / text

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A Nazi news editor declared in 1934 that there were indefinable "magic connections" between news and politics. This dissertation demystifies those links between communications and society. An untold story of news networks lies behind the media sources that we mine constantly as historians. In particular, news agencies, the essential bottleneck of news supply, remain obscured behind the newspapers printing their reports. This study explores why news agencies became the intuitive modern form of news collection and dissemination and how they functioned as a central locus for tussles over the creation of news from events, the limits of government or business control over news, and the role of technology in revising communications infrastructures. 1905 to 1945 represented the zenith of German faith in news agencies’ ability to overturn the existing world order. Along with industrialists and academics, politicians and bureaucrats thought that news agencies could change not only Germany’s role in global communications, but politics, economics, and society too. Coupled with technical advances in wireless telegraphy, news agencies seemed the best means to improve Germany’s international reputation, boost foreign trade, and create societal cohesion at home. News agencies seemed the key to controlling public opinion as well as to creating global news networks conducive to Germany. This news agency consensus united German elites of all political stripes in the belief that news agencies provided an ideal outlet to solve political, social, and economic problems. While such schemes did not always succeed, German news agencies often altered the modern infrastructure of global communications. They briefly achieved media dominance on the oceans, challenged Reuters’ and Agence Havas’ control of European news, and became a leading supplier of news to South America and East Asia in the Nazi period. This work illustrates the interdependence of communications and history by integrating approaches from business history, communications studies, sociology, book history, and the history of technology. It shows the spread and success of German news at a moment when news agencies played a central and underappreciated role in the negotiation of a new relationship between politics, economics, and society in first half of the twentieth century. / History

Despite a rising democratic defict in dominant Canadian media they continue to hold much influce on policy-makers, government officials and citizens. While some scholars argue that recent advancements in communication technology change the dynamics of media production, making it more accessible, others argue that online media reflects what occurs offline. To test which position is correct, this thesis compares dominant and alternative news media websites. Overall, it appears that online media practices are a reflection of offline media. At best, alternative media adopt a hybrid model of production where they chose to selectively incorporate dominant media practices in the aim to meet the goals of alternative media.

The aim of the study is to investigate the presentation of diverse sources of news in Lesotho Television (LTV) news bulletins. The sources of news in this case study are divided into two categories namely the 'knowns' (prominent people in society who occupy well-known positions) and the 'unknowns' (average citizens). The study measured the frequency with which the 'unknowns' appear as sources of news and/or as protagonists of news stories as well as subjects. The diversity of opinion was measured in terms of age and gender. The study is informed by public service broadcasting (PSB), news and source theories. The public service broadcasting theory highlights the hypothesis that LTV as a nation-builder has failed to fulfill its obligation of representing all the members of the society equitably. News theories highlight the notion that news selection favours the dominant or known sources and that newsworthiness is determined according to the broadcasting organisational demands. This study thus demonstrates that news stories at LTV are selected in terms of the economic, social and political requirements of the station. The findings of this research confirmed the assumption that news sources are the prominent members of the society while the ordinary or average people are mostly featured in news bulletins as subjects. The time and space allocated to them is not equal. More time is allocated to sound bites on 'knowns'. Although the station assumes the responsibility of a public service broadcaster by following its tenets of informing, educating and entertaining as well as being a nation-builder, this study has shown that it is a state broadcaster. The station serves the elite most of whom are middle-aged men from the government organisations, reporting on government policies. The study also confirmed that LTV editors and reporters are not as editorially independent as claimed in some writings. There is a tradition of self-censorship among journalists at LTV, as they are treated as public servants and are reminded that they serve the government and cannot 'bite the hand that feeds them'. As a result some information is withheld from the public and journalists rarely expose the malpractices of the government. This has resulted in limited dissenting or alternative views from the general public. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2005.

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