Seth Ashley

New media, old criticism: Bloggers’ press criticism and the journalistic field

Bourdieu’s field theory suggests that the rise of the internet and blogs could generate a shift in the journalistic field – the realm where actors struggle for autonomy – as new agents gain access. This textual analysis of 282 items of media criticism appearing on highly trafficked blogs reveals an emphasis on traditional journalistic norms, suggesting a stable field. Occasional criticisms of the practicability of traditional norms and calls for greater transparency, however, may suggest an emerging paradigm shift.

Developing a News Media Literacy Scale.

Using a framework previously applied to other areas of media literacy, this study developed and assessed a measurement scale focused specifically on critical news media literacy. Our scale appears to successfully measure news media literacy as we have conceptualized it based on previous research, demonstrated through assessments of content, construct, and predictive validity. Among our college student sample, a separate media system knowledge index also was a significant predictor of knowledge about topics in the news, which suggests the need for a broader framework. Implications for future work in defining and assessing news media literacy are discussed.

The Usefulness of a News Media Literacy Measure in Evaluating a News Literacy Curriculum

A survey of college students showed those who had taken a news literacy course had significantly higher levels of news media literacy, greater knowledge of current events, and higher motivation to consume news, compared with students who had not taken the course. The effect of taking the course did not diminish over time. Results validate the News Media Literacy Scale and suggest the course is effective in helping equip students to understand and interpret news.

News media literacy and conspiracy theory endorsement

Conspiracy theories flourish in the wide-open media of the digital age, spurring concerns about the role of misinformation in influencing public opinion and election outcomes. This study examines whether news media literacy predicts the likelihood of endorsing conspiracy theories and also considers the impact of literacy on partisanship. A survey of 397 adults found that greater knowledge about the news media predicted a lower likelihood of conspiracy theory endorsement, even for conspiracy theories that aligned with their political ideology.

Making the Case for War: A Comparative Analysis of CNN and BBC Coverage of Colin Powell’s Presentation to the United Nations Security Council

The normative role of journalism in democracy is well established: democracy depends on news media to facilitate self-government. But theories of the press point to structural limitations that inhibit the democratic ideal. To examine this contradiction, this article offers a comparative analysis of online news coverage by CNN and BBC of Colin Powell’s speech to the United Nations Security Council on 5 February 2003. Ethnographic content analysis is used to examine the coverage and to consider each outlet’s broad institutional context. The article concludes that structural limitations are less of a hindrance at the BBC, which is better situated to enhance rational–critical dialogue and democratic self-governance through inclusion of a greater diversity of sources and a wider array of opinion.

Elements of News Literacy A Focus Group Study of How Teenagers Define News and Why They Consume It

Focus groups with teenagers (ages 15–18) were conducted to understand how they define news; what motivates them to consume news; what news sources they use; and how much knowledge about the news media industry, content, and effects they bring to the task of consuming and thinking critically about the news. Findings suggested exposure to news came largely incidentally via social media and/or parents; participants expressed the sense that news would find them. These teens saw news as depressing, conflict-ridden, and something that, although important, was of less value to them than to adults. Considered in light of a media literacy model adapted for news, these focus group participants exhibited a basic sense of news literacy but lacked the kind of knowledge about news industries, content, and effects that could better direct their own exposure, understanding, and subsequent civic engagement.

Media Literacy in Action? What Are We Teaching in Introductory College Media Studies Courses?

An introductory media studies course is a staple of post-secondary education. What are instructors teaching in this course, and to what extent are the principles of media literacy education being incorporated into this likely home? This article reports the findings of a small survey of instructors, who describe aspects of their course content and pedagogy. Media literacy appears to provide a basic foundation in most cases, though instructors struggle with structural constraints. Findings suggest that more focus should be placed on teaching the political and economic contexts of media, and that instructors should embrace active learning and creative engagement.

A Historical Comparison of the Social Origins of Broadcasting Policy, 1896–1920

Using the United States and Great Britain as a comparative case study, this article employs a historical framework to consider the broad array of social, cultural, political, and economic contexts that led to divergent outcomes in the early development of broadcasting policy. This comparative historical analysis reveals the causal chains formed before the 1920s despite a period of post-war contingency. As a policy option, government control was removed in the United States but stayed in place in Britain after the war. This comparative approach can help to explain policy outcomes and inform modern policy debates.

Amending Equal Time: Explaining Institutional Change in American Communication Policy

This study explains the history of a 1959 amendment to the 1934 Communications Act through the lens of historical institutionalism. The amendment created broad exemptions for newscasts, documentaries, interviews, and news events, triggering the equal time provision for candidates for public office. While this study offers a variety of new empirical details, the chief goal is explanation based on an examination of historical mechanisms—path dependence, critical junctures, agglomeration, asymmetries of power, reinforcement of expectations, and temporal sequencing—that shaped the policy options leading up to the amendment.

The Closing of the Ether: Communication Policy and the Public Interest in the United States and Great Britain, 1921–1926

How do media systems come to be structured in different ways? Through a comparative historical institutional analysis of the origins of broadcasting policy in the United States and Great Britain in the early twentieth century, this study examines reasons private, commercial interests dominated the U.S. system while Britain granted a monopoly to the publicly funded, noncommercial BBC. Policy outcomes at this critical juncture were contingent on different path-dependent notions of the public interest as well as temporal sequencing. Through an analysis of primary documents and secondary literature, this study considers the implications of these different approaches for modern communication policy and democratic society.