The Interaction of Issue and Image Frames on Political Candidate Assessment

This study examined the combined effect of character and policy coverage about a political candidate in news media on voters’ evaluations and thoughts about the candidate. A 2 (issue coverage: present/absent) × 2 (image coverage: present/absent) between-subject factorial experiment was conducted whereby participants (N = 134) read a version of an editorial article that varied in the coverage of a candidate’s character and policy positions. Results indicated that issue and image coverage, each in isolation, enhanced perceptions of the candidate’s image strength and issue strength. However, issue and image coverage when presented in combination compared to in isolation did not enhance perceptions of the candidate and in some cases hindered perceptions of candidate strength. When both coverage types were present, issue coverage dominated image coverage when participants formed image evaluations, whereas image coverage dominated issue coverage when they formed issue evaluations. Similar findings resulted for issue- and image-relevant thoughts. Implications about the effects of multicoverage political messages are discussed.     

The dream of statehood and the reality of conflict: local and international coverage of the Palestinian United Nations bid for statehood

This paper examines whether or not media coverage is biased by the political orientation of the journalists’ country, specifically illustrated by the 2011 bid for statehood by the Palestinian Authority in the United Nations. This bid represents a symbolic step toward international recognition of a Palestinian state, an important event in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. A quantitative analysis was conducted on 1577 news reports from American, European, and Middle Eastern outlets to determine the differences in media coverage of the Palestinian bid for statehood among the channels. The findings suggest that Israeli channels broadcasted a relatively low number of items in which the Palestinian declaration itself was the main theme. The BBC broadcasted a relatively high rate of such items, and offered balanced coverage of both Israeli and Palestinian positions, while coverage by American FOX News channel reflected a pro-Israel bias. The findings also suggest that media outlets may be biased toward specific leaders. This work builds on a growing body of research on media framing of political conflicts and the effect of the political context of a country on its media outlets’ coverage.     

A Matter of Language or Culture: Coverage of the 2004 U.S. Elections on Spanish- and English-Language Television

This article fills a gap in the communication and political science literature by comparing how Spanish- and English-language television stations cover U.S. elections. A content analysis of more than 400 national network news stories and nearly 3,000 local news stories reveals that local and network Spanish-language stations provide less election coverage than their English-language counterparts. Although Spanish-language stations are more likely to focus election coverage on “Latino” issues or interests, the results indicate only moderate differences in how stations in each language frame their election stories, with stations in both languages concentrating more coverage around campaign strategy and the horse race than substantive issues.     

Television and foreign policy us response to the Beijing and Kwangju pro‐democracy movements

This study examines US network television coverage of the 1980 Kwangju and 1989 Beijing‐Tiananmen Square incidents in relation to American policy towards those East Asian nations and the increasingly global impact of television on foreign policy. Both episodes involved pro‐democracy movements, imposition of military force, violence, and implications for US policy. While both were covered by television, Beijing became a global media event while Kwangju was accorded more perfunctory coverage. The study documents heavy reliance on official sources in coverage of both events, but greater attention to pro‐democracy demonstrators in Beijing as more ‘worthy’ victims than those in Kwangju. It also points to the difficulty language poses for Western news organizations in East Asia, and the tendency of television to serve as a reference point for all reporting. The hypothesis that media index their coverage according to mainstream government debate must take into account such factors when being tested in an era of global television. When television is less actively engaged in covering an event, as in Kwangju, policymakers have greater power to shape the public dialogue. A broad question for the future regards the evolution of institutions to promote civil versus statist discourse.     

Coverage-based search result diversification

Traditional retrieval models may provide users with less satisfactory search experience because documents are scored independently and the top ranked documents often contain excessively redundant information. Intuitively, it is more desirable to diversify search results so that the top-ranked documents can cover different query subtopics, i.e., different pieces of relevant information. In this paper, we study the problem of search result diversification in an optimization framework whose objective is to maximize a coverage-based diversity function. We first define the diversity score of a set of search results through measuring the coverage of query subtopics in the result set, and then discuss how to use them to derive diversification methods. The key challenge here is how to define an appropriate coverage function given a query and a set of search results. To address this challenge, we propose and systematically study three different strategies to define coverage functions. They are based on summations, loss functions and evaluation measures respectively. Each of these coverage functions leads to a result diversification method. We show that the proposed coverage based diversification methods not only cover several state-of-the-art methods but also allows us to derive new ones. We compare these methods both analytically and empirically. Experiment results on two standard TREC collections show that all the methods are effective for diversification and the new methods can outperform existing ones.     

Barrier or Bridge: Photojournalism of the San Diego/TijuanaBorder Region

Using both quantitative and interpretive approaches, this article provides an in-depth analysis of the changing representations of the border region in the newspapers of San Diego and Tijuana over the last decade. The major daily newspapers, the San Diego Union-Tribune, and El Mexicano, have been sampled over a 10-year period. For the Union-Tribune, photo-journalistic coverage evolves in relationship to changing political realities, though the images may tend toward a more polarized reading than the text. Initially the photographs in the Union-Tribune depict the border as boundary. By 1998 increased emphasis on regional trade is reflected in the photojournalistic coverage. Until 2000, coverage in El Mexicano is much more static, always representing the border as bridge from the perspective of Mexican official culture. Comparative analysis of the representational strategies used in both cities suggests alternatives that cross borders rather than reinforce them.     

Partisan Balance and Bias in Network Coverage of the 2000 and 2004 Presidential Elections

This study conceptualizes news bias as a causal factor producing systematic imbalance in the coverage of conflicting sides. Partisan bias is distinguished from structural bias by coverage that systematically favors one side with more prominence and attention. Content analysis was used to compare the television networks' balance in their treatment of Republican and Democratic candidates in stories and segments covering the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections. Presidential candidates received balanced aggregate treatment in both elections. But individual networks differed in their partisan balance. CBS News consistently favored the Democratic candidate in both elections, unlike the mixed results for ABC and NBC. CBS's pattern of imbalance, especially in the 2004 election, suggests a possible political bias in its coverage.     

Are Issue-Cycles Culturally Constructed? A Comparison of French and American Coverage of Global Climate Change

We present a cross-cultural comparison of newspaper coverage of global warming in France and in the United States (1987-1997) as a case study to analyze the impact of culturally bound journalistic practices on media attention cycles. Based on the results of a content analysis, we show that France's coverage was more event-based, focused more on international relations, and presented a more restricted range of viewpoints on global warming than American coverage did. American coverage emphasized conflicts between scientists and politicians. Downs's "quot;media-attention cycle,"quot; which is apparent for the American coverage, does not manifest as visibly in French coverage. Our findings suggest that research on media coverage of global environmental issues needs to move beyond studies at the national level; cross-cultural comparisons are essential to understand how different news regimes might affect public opinion.     

Presidential framing in the Christine Blasey Ford and Anita Hill cases

ABSTRACT

Anita Hill’s testimony against Clarence Thomas in 1991 called attention to widespread sexual abuse in the US. Testimony from Christine Blasey Ford against Thomas Kavanaugh 27 years later underscored the lack of progress in its eradication. Using the cascading network activation model, this study identifies the episodic and thematic framing of both cases in relation to top-down influencers. A content analysis (N = 901) of US newspapers and TV networks showed episodic framing dominated coverage in both cases. Both Bush and Trump successfully emphasized their nominee as deserving of SCOTUS. Trump also significantly contributed to the negative framing of Blasey Ford. Thematically, Republican-led framing focused on American values and maintaining the rule of law, whereas Democratic-led framing concentrated on raising awareness to the systemic problem of sexual abuse and threat the nominee posed to progressive rights. News coverage included challenging both presidents, but only for a total of 15.9% for Trump and 10.7% for Bush. On the other hand, Hill was challenged in 40.5% and Blasey Ford in 73% of news coverage. In sum, even with strong opposition, the cascade model’s success indicates that White House messaging continues to usurp social justice issues.     

Agenda-setting and the internet: The intermedia influence of internet bulletin boards on newspaper coverage of the 2000 general election in South Korea

The purpose of this study was to explore the intermedia influence of the Internet on traditional news media. Accordingly, this study examined the influence of Internet bulletin boards on newspaper coverage of the 2000 general election in South Korea at both first and second levels of agenda-setting through content analyses of major newspapers and the Internet bulletin boards during the campaign. Results of cross-lagged correlation analyses showed that newspapers influenced Internet bulletin boards at the first level of agenda-setting. Additionally, at the second level of agenda-setting, the influence of Internet bulletin boards on newspapers was found. Although reciprocity appeared in a few time spans, the results imply that the Internet funnels and leads public opinion as well as affecting the coverage of other media.     

Pick your language: how riot reporting differs between English and Hindi newspapers in India

Riot reporting is one aspect of newspaper coverage that can drive people into the streets in acts of collective protest or violence. Media observers and scholars have proposed that the language of Indian newspapers, be it English or vernacular, partially dictates the kinds of riot events reported and the quality of those reports. I tested whether this conventional wisdom holds by investigating the content of Indian riot coverage in the English Times of India and Hindu Hindustan. While Hindustan emphasized official statements and interviews with political parties, neither newspaper accurately represented the actual number of riots in their reporting. In fact, coverage in both papers followed predictable patterns likely driven by a new focus on selling newspapers at any cost in order to increase advertising revenue. This study contributes to a growing literature highlighting the similarities between media outlets and the degree to which their reporting is removed from actual events.     

A cross-national analysis of election news coverage of female candidates' bids for presidential nomination in the United States and South Korea

This study has explored the US and Korean newspapers' election coverage in regard to their respective nations' female candidates relative to male rivals during the 2007–2008 presidential nomination campaigns. The findings reveal that both US and Korean newspapers displayed no bias in adopting personal, issue, and viability frames to cover the female candidates versus the male candidates. Additionally, the US dailies gave Clinton as much attention as Obama, as can be seen in the similar amount of articles, headlines, and primary coverage; however, Park, the female candidate in Korea, garnered a lower amount of articles and headlines, and was featured much less as the primary focus when compared to Lee, her male rival, in the Korean dailies. Evidence of biased coverage in the USA is found in the slant of coverage Clinton received. The overall tone of campaign coverage was less positive toward Clinton. While there was no tonal difference between Park and Lee in overall stories and headlines, the tone of Park's viability coverage was less positive than that of Lee, indicating that she was less likely to be the elected nominee for the party.     

Cooperation and Competition at the Reference Desk

Abstract

A common practice at library reference desks is to have double coverage, in which two librarians work the desk at the same time. Double coverage creates a situation in which two librarians enter into a unique relationship with one another. Competition, criticism, one-upmanship, and other negative behaviors can develop in the relationship. Yet if handled properly, there is also the potential for a wonderfully supportive synergy and collaborative partnership to emerge that is beneficial not only to librarians but to library users as well. This article focuses on practical steps for not only avoiding negative relationships, but also changing unproductive ones, and nurturing optimal relationships that result in a rewarding experience for both librarians and users.     

Views from the Margins: News Coverage of Women in Abortion Protests, 1960–2006

This study links two traditionally marginalized groups in media coverage: women and protesters. Both have generally been found to be underrepresented and misrepresented in mainstream news coverage. Employing a content analysis of abortion protest coverage over 46 years, this study assesses the impact of protesters' goals and tactics on the proportion of women in news coverage. Results indicate that female mentions were more likely to appear when protesters supported the status quo and when protesters were treated more favorably in coverage. Overall, however, the focus on men as sources over women as sources remained quite apparent. Implications for news treatment of women in protest coverage are discussed.     

Media Exposure or Media Hype: Evidence from Initial Public Offering Stocks in Taiwan

It is frequently observed that the price at which a firm's stock is listed for its initial public offering (IPO) is considerably less than the price at which it trades at the end of its first day of trading, a phenomenon known as underpricing. This article examines how media-provided information affects IPO underpricing and trading turnover. The empirical findings show that the more media coverage a firm receives over a substantial period of time prior to its IPO, the smaller the degree to which its stock is underpriced. However, more media coverage immediately prior to the IPO date increases the degree of underpricing. It is also shown that the tenor of media coverage affects the relations between the volume of near-term, pre-IPO information provided by media and both underpricing and trading turnover.     

First and second-level agenda-setting in the 2014 Indian general election: a time-series analysis of party-media relation

The role of the press as a political watchdog is crucial to the functioning of democracy. Especially in the run-up to elections, voters depend on the media's presentation of parties and candidates to make informed, responsible choices at the ballot box. But who, then, influences the news media? Empirical evidence in the United States and Europe suggests that political party campaigns and election coverage in the news media are interconnected and influence each other. This study tests whether such agenda-setting effects between party campaigns and the media also take place in the general elections in the world's largest democracy, India. India's western-type political system has a distinct media system characterized by high competition, diversification, non-consolidation and formal and informal ties between the media, commercial interests and political actors. Content analysis and Granger's causality test of newspaper coverage (N?=?716) and party campaign messages (N?=?458) found that agenda-setting effects do occur in India, but are largely bi-directional. We also found an overwhelming focus of both newspapers’ election coverage and of all major party campaigns on one single candidate, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s Narendra Modi. This, we argue, is a result of the broader trends that have shaped Indian politics in recent years. The significant correlations and non-significant causal effects between party campaign and media coverage also indicate a trade-off situation between political power negotiation and political balance in the press.     

USING CITIZENS FOR COMMUNITY JOURNALISM

Hyperlocal journalism is thriving. This article describes the case of a Belgian regional newspaper experimenting with citizen journalism and user-generated content (UGC) for hyperlocal news coverage. For each municipality of the region, an online news page has been created where all citizen contributions are published side by side with professional stories on local community news and events. The fact that the UGC is not separated from the professional articles makes it an interesting case to examine commonalities and differences between both types of community reporting. The findings, based on a content analysis of 474 news items, suggest that the newspaper seems to use citizen volunteers primarily as a means to outsource the “soft”, “good” and “small” news coverage of local community life, while preserving the “hard” and “bad” news provision as the exclusive domain of professional journalists. Further, the study's findings support previous research indicating that (1) local community journalism is characterised by a mix of crime reporting and news coverage of fires and accidents, on the one hand, and positive human-interest stories about social club activities, cultural events, health and sports, and school life, on the other; and that (2) citizen journalists tend to rely heavily on first-hand witnessing and personal experience due to a general lack of access to official sources of information.     

Ideology and foreign news coverage: Propaganda model re‐examined

By comparing and contrasting the New York Times and Newsweek's coverage of the 1980 South Korean student demonstrations and the 1989 Chinese student demonstrations, this study set out to examine two important concepts of Herman and Chomsky's propaganda model: political ideology and national interest. While the original model did not address situations where both factors are present, and at the same time contradicting each other, it is the purpose of this study to test the applicability of the model in general, and to clear up this issue in particular. Dichotomous treatments of the two student movements were found in the New York Times and Newsweek's coverage. Important findings of this study further suggest that in a cold war context, ideology serves as a more important news factor than national interest in influencing the American media's foreign news coverage.     

Framing Refuge: Media,Framing, and Sanctuary Cities

The refugee sanctuary movement in the United States has shifted to include undocumented immigrants fleeing violence and economic strife. Given the negative tenor of coverage of undocumented immigration, and ties between framing and policy views on immigration, how the media frames sanctuary cities is likely to impact public perceptions of these cities and their policies. To assess media coverage of sanctuary policies, we analyzed articles from five national newspapers from 1980 to 2017 with both human content analysis and dictionary-based computational analysis. We find that framing around religion/morality and conflict has decreased, while stories focusing on crime and partisanship have increased. We discuss implications for public opinion and the likelihood that the American public will take their cues from media framing and elite discourse when it comes to sanctuary policies.     

Chronicling a crisis: media framing of human trafficking in India,Thailand, and the USA

Despite the vast research on human trafficking, little is known about mass media coverage of the issue. This study, a quantitative content analysis of English-language news coverage of human trafficking in the USA, India, and Thailand, analyzes human trafficking coverage before and after the launch of a large-scale international anti-trafficking treaty to determine whether the treaty had an impact on the amount and framing of media coverage on the issue. Findings reveal that while coverage of the issue increased after the treaty, was more localized, and suggested causes and remedies more frequently, it also placed less blame for the problem occurring, focused primarily on crime and policy sides of human trafficking rather than human rights or public health, and lacked the voices of victims. How the news media, and in turn the public, deal with mediating such an issue is a significant and meaningful question, and this paper suggests that United Nations policy-makers need to take proactive steps in order for policy information to be more thoroughly disseminated via the news media.