Catherine A. Luther

Within the Boundaries of Politics: News Framing of Sars in China and the United States

This research examined news frames in coverage of SARS by newspapers in China and the United States. The assumption was that with the adoption of Western news values and practices, the Chinese press would exhibit news frames similar to those found in Western news. The results showed the presence of economic consequences, responsibility, conflict, leadership, and human-interest news frames in both the U.S. and Chinese newspapers. Depending on the newspapers country of origin, however, the degree and manner of the frame uses varied.

Framing of the 2003 U.S.-Iraq War Demonstrations: An Analysis of News and Partisan Texts

This study examines press coverage of pro- and anti-war demonstrations before and during the 2003 U.S.-led Iraq war. Computer analysis revealed the existence of partisan master frames in texts by pro- and anti-war organizational groups, and that news articles about each group reflected the frames of the group in question more so than the opposing groups frames. An examination of cues of legitimization and delegitimization in the news articles showed that cue words of delegitimization were used more in anti-war articles than in pro-war articles.

Comparing Nations in Mass Communication Research, 1970-97 A Critical Assessment of How We Know What We Know

The purpose of this article is to assess critically, within the framework of the sociology of knowledge, how we come to know what we know in comparative international communication research. The point of departure is the collective output of comparative international communication enterprise - the published articles in six major communication journals through which theories, methods and findings have been diffused and the cumulated knowledge made possible during the past three decades. A major concern is the general pattern of methodological approaches and epistemological positions as manifested in the existing comparative international communication studies. The common patterns in comparative international communication research include lack of theoretical framework, non-equivalence of concepts and indicators, incomparability of units of analysis and unawareness of Galtons problem.

Newspapers Frame Julian Assange Differently

This analysis of coverage of Assange in two U. S. and two French newspapers found that The New York Times was more critical of Wikileaks and more leery of Internet freedom of expression than was The Washington Post. LeMonde framed Assange as a journalist.

The Incorporation of Terrorism Coverage in Academic Journalism Programs

This research explores the degree to which journalism programs in the United States have incorporated the subject of terrorism into their curricula. An analysis of journalism and mass communication schools revealed that only a few programs had created journalism courses focusing specifically on terrorism. Those courses established under these programs were quite comprehensive in nature. Potential reasons why more programs have not created terrorism-related journalism courses are discussed

Coverage of Japan's Tsunami Included Few Social Media Sources

Comparison of sources used by four major U.S. and Japanese newspapers that covered Japans tsunami finds each nations newspapers relied equally on non-official and official sources. However, few sources came from social media outlets.

From State Controlled to Public Service Broadcasting: Signs of Change in Serbia's RTS Television Newscasts 1989–2009

This study examined the newscasts produced by Serbias main television broadcaster, Radio-Television of Serbia (RTS), from 1989 to 2009. Its goal was to reveal possible changes that had been made in the newscasts as a shift took place in Serbias political system, from one of authoritarian control to that of democratic governance. The findings showed the newscasts had changed, making them appear Western in style. Elements of Serbias older news practices, however, were also apparent.

Japanese Teenage Girls - Their Ad-Inspired Social Comparison Behavior and Perceptions of Women's Roles

This study examines ad-inspired social comparison behavior among a sample of Japanese teenage girls and the psychological variables that predict the behavior. It investigates whether comparison activities may be associated with how the girls perceive the importance of having a career and getting married, and the importance of physical attractiveness and intelligence in the roles of career woman and homemaker. The findings indicate that a fair percentage of the girls do engage in comparison with models in ads. Furthermore, these girls were more likely to perceive having a career and getting married as important. They were also more likely to perceive physical attractiveness as important for both the social roles of career woman and homemaker, and intelligence as important for the role of homemaker. The need for social approval was found to be the most significant predictor of comparison behavior.

Constructing an image of the United States in the British and French editorials about WikiLeaks

ABSTRACT In todays globalised world a countrys image is an important consideration because it can influence that countrys politics and economy (Shimko 1991. Images and Arms Control: Perceptions of the Soviet Union in the Reagan Administration. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; Viosca Jr., Blaise, and Balsmeier. 2005. ‘Country Equity: South Africa, a Case in Point.’ Journal of Promotion Management 12 (1): 85–95). Scholars have noted that the news media are considered to be major players in creating national images and swaying public perception of foreign countries (Entman, 2008. ‘Theorizing Mediated Public Diplomacy: The U.S. Case.’ The International Journal of Press/Politics 13 (2): 87–102; Wanta, Golan, and Lee. 2004. ‘Agenda Setting and International News: Media Influence on Public Perceptions of Foreign Nations.’ Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly 81: 364–377). The present study examined United States’ image typologies in news editorials in Britain and France. Using image theory as a theoretical foundation, this present study employed in-depth qualitative thematic analysis of editorials in The Guardian and Le Monde covering the release of classified U.S. diplomatic cables by WikiLeaks. The overarching U.S. image revealed by editorials did not exactly fit in with the normative images of ally, enemy, complex, imperialist, and colonial/dependent. It did, however, approach the complex image that entailed elements of the ally and imperial image.