xiii, 229 p. : ill. A print copy of this title is available from the UO Libraries, under the call number: KNIGHT PN4888.R33 S26 2008 / This study looks at the status of local radio news in the United States in light of changes in policy, economics, production and distribution technology and the dynamic media environment. It examines how differences in ownership relate to the amount of news programming offered on local stations, how those stations are staffed and the working conditions for today's radio journalists. Two areas of communication theory provide the basis for the study, Political Economy of Communication and Localism. Both offer excellent perspectives for studying the radio broadcasting industry and the people who work in it. Political economy allows the study to look closely at the impact of ownership in our capitalist society, how government regulates ownership and programming, how those factors affect the working conditions for journalists and how they ultimately impact the public interest. Political economy is a holistic approach that also calls upon us to consider a moral philosophy and make recommendations for the good of society. Localism is a long-held policy objective of the Federal Communications Commission that has been a part of the regulatory process relating to ownership and programming of news and public affairs throughout the existence of radio in the United States. Using a triangulation of both quantitative and qualitative methods, the study documents the news operations of four different types of ownership structures within a single radio market, Salt Lake City, Utah. The primary quantitative method used content analysis to examine a sample of 255 hours of radio programming across the ownership groups. Qualitative methods of in-depth interviews and observation were used to examine how the stations were staffed, the working conditions for local journalists and how the news programming is produced. The study found the overall amount of local radio news programming to be low, with locally owned stations generally producing more news then those with large, outside corporate ownership. It also found working conditions to vary greatly among ownership groups. Local owners tended to be much more supportive of local journalists and provide better conditions for the production and programming of local radio news. / Adviser: Alan G. Stavitsky

Does monetary policy affect the real economy? If so, what is the transmission mechanism or channel through which these effects occur? These two questions are among the most important and controversial in macroeconomics. This dissertation presents some new empirical evidence that addresses each question for the U.S. and Chinese economies. Literature on monetary transmission suggests that the monetary policy can take effect on the real economy through several ways. The most noteworthy one is credit channels, including the bank lending channel and the interest channel. First, I use a new method to test for structural breaks in the U.S. monetary policy history and present some new empirical evidence to support an operative bank lending channel in the transmission mechanism of monetary policy. Results show that an operative bank lending channel existed in 1955 to 1968, and its impact on the economy has become much smaller since 1981, but it still has a significant buffering effect on output by attenuating the effect of the interest channel. Second, I adopt the recently developed time series technique to explore the puzzling negative correlation between output and stock returns in China currently, and posit that it is due to a negative link between monetary policy and stock returns when monetary policy increases output. The monetary policy has not been transmitted well in the public sector which is the principal part of Chinese stock market, and increased investment capital from monetary expansion goes to real estate sector instead of the stock market. Last, I demonstrate how monetary policy has been transmitted into the public and private sectors of China through the credit channel. The fundamental identification problem inherent in using aggregated data that leads to failure in isolating demand shock from supply shock is explicitly solved by introducing control factors. I find that the monetary policy has great impact on private sector rather than public sector through credit channel in China. These findings have important practical implications for U.S. and China’s economic development by improving the efficiency of the monetary policy because a comprehensive understanding of monetary transmission will lead to better policy design.

Does monetary policy affect the real economy? If so, what is the transmission mechanism or channel through which these effects occur? These two questions are among the most important and controversial in macroeconomics. This dissertation presents some new empirical evidence that addresses each question for the U.S. and Chinese economies. Literature on monetary transmission suggests that the monetary policy can take effect on the real economy through several ways. The most noteworthy one is credit channels, including the bank lending channel and the interest channel. First, I use a new method to test for structural breaks in the U.S. monetary policy history and present some new empirical evidence to support an operative bank lending channel in the transmission mechanism of monetary policy. Results show that an operative bank lending channel existed in 1955 to 1968, and its impact on the economy has become much smaller since 1981, but it still has a significant buffering effect on output by attenuating the effect of the interest channel. Second, I adopt the recently developed time series technique to explore the puzzling negative correlation between output and stock returns in China currently, and posit that it is due to a negative link between monetary policy and stock returns when monetary policy increases output. The monetary policy has not been transmitted well in the public sector which is the principal part of Chinese stock market, and increased investment capital from monetary expansion goes to real estate sector instead of the stock market. Last, I demonstrate how monetary policy has been transmitted into the public and private sectors of China through the credit channel. The fundamental identification problem inherent in using aggregated data that leads to failure in isolating demand shock from supply shock is explicitly solved by introducing control factors. I find that the monetary policy has great impact on private sector rather than public sector through credit channel in China. These findings have important practical implications for U.S. and China’s economic development by improving the efficiency of the monetary policy because a comprehensive understanding of monetary transmission will lead to better policy design.