Colleen Connolly-Ahern

A Tale of Two Wars: Framing Analysis of Online News Sites in Coalition Countries and the Arab World during the Iraq War

The Iraq War was a defining media event. This study used quantitative content analysis to explore the websites of prestige news media in the United States and the United Kingdom, as well as Egypt and Qatar, examining both the frames used by news media in their coverage of the conflict, as well as the voices heard—and unheard—throughout the coverage. The analysis showed that the “tale of war” was constructed differently by the different international media. Arab online news media were more likely to use the military conflict and violence of war frame, whereas Coalition media emphasized the rebuilding of Iraq frame. Differences in the tone of coverage and the use of sources across the four news media were also found.

“To Booze or Not to Booze?” Newspaper Coverage of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders

This article reports the results of a qualitative framing analysis of the coverage of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD). The findings indicate that media discourse about FASD is characterized by differing story types and competing frames. The study also documents the recent emergence of a new frame in opposition to the prevailing abstinence frame in health coverage. This frame has shown physicians to be conflicted in their advice about drinking during pregnancy.

Communicating the Risks of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder: Effects of Message Framing and Exemplification

Health messages can be either informative or descriptive, and can emphasize either potential losses or gains. This study, guided by message framing theory and exemplification theory, specifically investigated the combined effects of messages with loss–gain frames mixed with statistics or exemplar appeals. The findings revealed a series of main effects and interactions for loss–gain frames and statistics-exemplar appeals on fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) prevention intention, intention to know more, perceived severity, perceived fear, perceived external efficacy, and perceived internal efficacy. The gain-statistics appeal showed an advantage in promoting perceived efficacy toward FASD, while the loss-exemplar appeal revealed an advantage in increasing prevention intention, perceived severity, and perceived fear toward FASD. Limitations and implications for future research are discussed.

The Effectiveness of Stratified Constructed Week Sampling for Content Analysis of Electronic News Source Archives: AP Newswire, Business Wire, and PR Newswire

This study extends the content analysis sampling literature through exploration of sample size requirements for electronic news source archives. Significantly larger samples are required to achieve representativeness for AP Newswire, Business Wire, and PR Newswire than for more traditional sources of news content. When sampling press releases, constructing weeks on a quarterly basis provides more representative samples than constructing weeks on a full-year basis for some categories, particularly those tied to a fixed business cycle. The results support the idea that as information passes through more media gatekeepers, who limit and standardize content, the sample sizes required for content analysis diminish.

The Effects of Attribution of VNRs and Risk on News Viewers' Assessments of Credibility

The executive branch practice of issuing video news releases (VNRs) without attributing them to government agencies has been sharply criticized by the Government Accounting Office. However, the effects of attribution on VNR viewers are not understood. This article reports the results of an experiment testing the relative credibility of two different government agencies by viewers of a VNR attributed to an agency, compared with viewers who saw the VNR without attribution. This article also examines how ones predisposition toward a domain-specific risk identified in the VNR influenced the perceived credibility of the message. Results indicate that partisanship impacted perceptions of credibility of the VNRs.

Worldviews, Issue Knowledge, and the Pollution of a Local Science Information Environment

Research in motivated reasoning supports the notion that sociopolitical identity moderates the impact of knowledge on attitudes toward science issues. However, science knowledge and sociopolitical orientation have been measured in different ways, and the results have not been entirely consistent. In this study, 964 adults participated in an online survey-experiment examining their reactions to a message about local water quality. Results show that while issue-specific knowledge predicts increased environmental science public policy support, “polluting” the information environment with already politicized message frames activates sociopolitical orientation as a moderator and, among certain groups, reverses the direction of the relationship.

On the Border of the Syrian Refugee Crisis: Views From Two Different Cultural Perspectives:

Since the Syrian refugee crisis represents the worst humanitarian crisis in modern history, it is critical to examine how global media covered this issue. Focusing on two nations significantly affected by the refugee crisis—Bulgaria and Turkey, this study employs a content analysis to examine differences in refugee portrayals in national media. The results show that Turkish media coverage was more personalized and more likely to emphasize the victim frame. In contrast, Bulgarian coverage was less personalized and more likely to emphasize the administrative frame. The findings are placed within national context and their implications for media framing of refugees are discussed.

Agenda-tapping: conceptualizing the relationship between news coverage, fundraising, and the First Amendment

Agenda setting represents a promising framework for understanding charitable donation and special interest political contribution behavior. This article reports the results of a study investigating the link between the agenda-setting function of the press, nonprofit donations, and special interest political contributions. Using financial information from two nonprofit organizations associated with the issue of gun control/gun rights, this study found media mentions of gun control to be strong and significant predictors of donations to a gun control-oriented nonprofit and nonprofit contributions to political campaigns.