Hip-hop’s Tanning of a Postmodern America: a Longitudinal Content Analysis of Paradoxical Juxtapositions of Oppositional Identities Within Us Rap Song Lyrics, 1980-2013 (open access)

Hip-hop’s Tanning of a Postmodern America: a Longitudinal Content Analysis of Paradoxical Juxtapositions of Oppositional Identities Within Us Rap Song Lyrics, 1980-2013

A longitudinal content analysis of top-chart hip-hop songs’ lyrics produced between 1980 and 2013 was conducted to investigate the degree and progression of the paradoxical juxtaposition, or postmodern hybridity, of oppositional modernist identities in terms of race/ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, sexuality, and economic lifestyle, in addition to the longitudinal diversification of artist’s race and gender demographics. Demographically, the percentage of non-African-American artists increased as the percentage of African-American artists decreased. Additionally, the percentage of songs featuring either all male or all female artists decreased, while the percentage of collaboration between male and female artists increased over time. Although hybrid oppositional identities related to race/ethnicity and gender did not increase over time, those of sexual orientation, sexuality, and economic lifestyle increased over time. In addition, materialist identities were related to the hybridity of sexual orientation and sexuality, but not to that of gender and race/ethnicity. Overall, the research found increasing postmodern hybridity within the sexualization of hip-hop songs along with intensified materialism.
Date: May 2014
Creator: Gadley, Shawn A.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Riding the Wave: How the Media Shapes South Korean Concepts of Beauty (open access)

Riding the Wave: How the Media Shapes South Korean Concepts of Beauty

This thesis features a qualitative analysis of eight Korean media products — both fiction and nonfiction. For many years, South Korea (hereafter also called Korea) has been called the "world's plastic surgery capital" by many publications, such as Business Insider and The New Yorker. Although Business Insider considers the United States the "vainest country in the world," the numbers of cosmetic surgeries, percentage wise, per person in Korea still outnumber those in the United States, with 20 procedures per 1,000 persons. In this thesis, I argue by using the cultivation theory that Korean television, such as K-Dramas, talk shows and films, which celebrate transformations and feature makeovers and thus normalize cosmetic surgery, create a fantastic space for viewers where the viewers are compelled to act on a media-generated desire to undergo cosmetic surgery in the belief that doing so will also transform or better their lives in the same way it does for the characters in these Korean television productions.
Date: May 2018
Creator: Streng, Catherine Ann
System: The UNT Digital Library
Sepia (open access)

Sepia

This study of Sepia magazine was researched as a historical project in order to trace the progress of a twenty-five-year-old Negro publication begun as a sensational news sheet and expanded to a pictoral, entertaining magazine aimed at the middle-class black.
Date: May 1973
Creator: Ponder, Janace Pope
System: The UNT Digital Library
Freedom of the Press in Thailand (open access)

Freedom of the Press in Thailand

Freedom of the press in Thailand fluctuates greatly, depending upon the government in each period. Newspapers have been suppressed since the monarchy political system was changed to democracy in 1932. Several kinds of suppression were imposed in each period which showed that the country, in reality, was under a military dictatorship. This study is a summary of the government control of the press since 1932. The study was divided into five chapters, including the introduction, background of the press and politics in Thailand, style and characteristics of Thai newspapers, government control from 1932 to 1963, and the conclusions and recommendations for further study.
Date: December 1976
Creator: Sangchan, Dangtoi
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Study of Sun Yat-sen's Propaganda Activities and Techniques in the United States During China's Revolutionary Period (1894-1911) (open access)

A Study of Sun Yat-sen's Propaganda Activities and Techniques in the United States During China's Revolutionary Period (1894-1911)

Sun Yat-sen used six propaganda techniques in the United States to help overthrow the Ching Dynasty in 1911: (a) individual propaganda to gain supporters through personal contact and individual persuasion; (b) propaganda of deed to solicit donations and to mobilize his supporters for military actions; (c) travel propaganda to broaden the base of revolutionary support; (d) newspaper propaganda to publicize and explain his revolutionary program; (e) debate propaganda to refute antirevolutionary criticism through speeches and pamphlets; and (f) missionary propaganda to seek sympathy and support from American missionaries and Christians.
Date: December 1981
Creator: Chao, Nang-yung
System: The UNT Digital Library
Representations of Women in The Dallas Morning News During the Feminist Movement (open access)

Representations of Women in The Dallas Morning News During the Feminist Movement

Content analysis of The Dallas Morning News focuses on sources, bylines, photographs, and main characters to determine the quantity and quality of portrayals of women. The study included front pages and main local news pages during one week each from 1950, 1960, 1970, 1980, and 1990. Change was charted by year for both sexes. In 1950, few representations of women were included and many were stereotypical. Some stereotyping persisted in 1990, and men outnumbered women more than 3 to 1 as story sources, nearly 3 to 1 in front-page bylines, more than 2 to 1 in photographs, and more than 2 to 1 as main characters. Women still lag behind men, despite feminists' efforts to improve coverage.
Date: August 1992
Creator: Lambiase, Jacqueline
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Cross-cultural Textual Analysis of Western and South Korean Newspaper Coverage of North Korean Women Defectors and Victims of Human Trafficking (open access)

A Cross-cultural Textual Analysis of Western and South Korean Newspaper Coverage of North Korean Women Defectors and Victims of Human Trafficking

Trafficking women for sexual abuse has been a serious concern worldwide, particularly over the last two decades. The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimated that illicit profits of human trafficking may be as high as $32 billion. However, the international media community has scarcely focused on North Korean women defectors and victims of human trafficking, despite the severity of the issue. More than two million North Koreans, predominantly women, have crossed borders to enter China from starvation. Among those women migrants, about 80% to 90% of them were abducted by traffickers at the border between North Korea and China, and the traffickers sold them to the Chinese sex industry or Chinese men who are unable to find a woman as a wife or a sex slave.This cross-cultural textual analysis examined South Korean and Western (U.S. and British) newspaper coverage of North Korean women as victims of human trafficking to discover similarities and differences in those countries’ news frames. The analysis has shown that politics was a crucial factor in the coverage of the issue. However, by generally failing to report on the fundamental causes of the trafficking, such as inequality between genders, both Western and South Korean newspapers perpetuated hegemonic masculinity …
Date: May 2014
Creator: Chong, Miyoung
System: The UNT Digital Library
How Hitler Controlled the Press (open access)

How Hitler Controlled the Press

Adolf Hitler advocated total control of the press for many years before he was elected Führer. Almost immediately after he assumed power in 1932, Hitler began writing new laws and regulations that totally exorcised all freedoms from the German press. This study follows the path that Hitler took to control the German press from 1920 until the end of World War II. It utilized translations of documents and statements by men whom Hitler appointed to control the press and books written by experts in the fields of communications as well as men who prosecuted Nazi war criminals after World War II. The study found that the control of the press was indeed a very necessary ingredient in Hitler's climb to power and remained crucial during his reign as Führer.
Date: May 1982
Creator: McConal, Billy Jon
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Democrat Years: A Growing Process (open access)

The Democrat Years: A Growing Process

Changes of ownership, a seeming lack of interest in history, several deaths, and a fire prompted this study into the history of The Weatherford Democrat. Data for the thesis came from back issues of The Democrat, Ayer Directory of Newspapers and Periodicals, letters from former publishers, and personal observations and experiences of the writer, who worked on the paper 14 years. All but about a dozen years of the back issues are available. The thesis is written in chronological order, dating from the beginning in 1895 to 1967, when the Donrey Media Group gained control, ending local ownership. The Democrat is the survivor of more than 20 newspaper ventures in the city and is still the principal county paper.
Date: August 1977
Creator: Vandagriff, Jon R.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Transgender in India: A Semiotic and Reception Analysis of Bollywood Movies (open access)

Transgender in India: A Semiotic and Reception Analysis of Bollywood Movies

The transgender community in India, commonly known as hijras, consists of people who were born as males but address themselves as females. They have been considered as the third gender in India for millennia and have had specific religious and sociocultural values and roles, but are forced to live in shadows in this day and age. Isolation of this community is also reflected in the way transgender characters are represented in Indian entertainment media. The study analyses two transgender themed films semiotically and the audience reception of those representations by 20 members of the transgender community. Semiotics is a helpful tool to understand the ways signs communicate ideas to viewers. This study applies syntagmatic and paradigmatic analyses to understand how images are used to represent and relay information to the audience. Reception theory along with double colonization has been incorporated in this study to analyse the ways in which the transgender community interprets the representations in entertainment media.
Date: May 2020
Creator: Shewade, Ruchi Ravi
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Study of Foreign Influence on Newspapers in Kenya from 1900 to 1980 (open access)

A Study of Foreign Influence on Newspapers in Kenya from 1900 to 1980

This study gives an historical account of foreign ownership of newspapers in Kenya. Since the establishment of the first newspaper in the early 1900s, to the modern publication of daily newspapers in Kenya, the press has been dominated by foreign owners, writers and advertisers. Before independence from Britain, foreign domination was expressed by the total disregard of the African by the newspapers. After independence, foreign domination continued as the government, dedicated to the free enterprise capitalist system, has not made any substantial effort to nationalize already established newspaper companies. In 1977 the first African-owned newspaper, a weekly was established. Today, there is no African-owned daily newspaper. All indications are that only the modernizing process will result in African ownership and control of newspapers.
Date: August 1981
Creator: Okeniyi, Elizabeth Wako
System: The UNT Digital Library
Martin Luther: Mass Communicator and Propagandist (open access)

Martin Luther: Mass Communicator and Propagandist

This study presents a picture of Martin Luther as a pioneer in mass communications. The text is divided into four sections and the conclusion; Martin Luther: man and his world, Luther and the German printing press, propaganda devices in Luther's Primary Reformation Treatises of 1520, and, propaganda and mass communications in Luther's liturgical reforms, religious broadsides, and preaching. The final remarks pertain to Luther's effect upon the reordering of society in the Western world.
Date: August 1974
Creator: Batts, James Harold
System: The UNT Digital Library

Perceptions of Purity Messaging on Women and Secular Society

Purity culture was a movement created by evangelical Christian organizations in the United States and backed by marketing campaigns, media, churches, and sex education beginning in the 1990s. This movement was founded on the idea that young men and women should remain abstinent before marriage, thereby remaining in a state of "purity" for their future spouse. In purity culture messaging, women were positioned as sexual gatekeepers while men were framed as having little or no control over their sexual impulses, causing most of the purity expectation to fall on women. While the concept of remaining "pure" is not new, purity culture taught a new generation of women to feel ashamed and fearful of their sexuality and existed alongside an increasingly sexualized media landscape. This study analyzes purity culture and anti-purity culture themes that exist within television shows as well as how women perceive purity culture messaging and the effects this messaging had on their lives.
Date: May 2021
Creator: Hurd, Madison
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Content Survey of Ten Suburban Newspapers in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex (open access)

A Content Survey of Ten Suburban Newspapers in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex

This study compares the May, 1974 and May, 1975 editions of suburban daily newspapers in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. The purposes of the study were to determine how, when, and why suburban daily newspapers in the metroplex altered their editorial content and to evaluate the effects of the changes on circulation. The thesis is organized into four chapters. Chapter I introduces the study. Chapter II gives a historical overview. Chapter III analyzes the data. Chapter IV contains some conclusions. Some conclusions that emerged from this study include: 1. Suburban newspapers have small editorial staf fs. 2. Eight of the newspapers altered their content. 3. The changes helped them maintain or increase their circulation. 4. All of the editors responding to the questionnaire said that local news and sports are their primary goals.
Date: December 1975
Creator: Arnold, Thomas B.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Oprah and Her Book Club: More than Mass Media Money-Maker (open access)

Oprah and Her Book Club: More than Mass Media Money-Maker

With her Book Club, talk show host Oprah Winfrey has used the relatively new technology of television to revive literature. Despite the odds against her--selecting hard-to-read, quirky books by generally unknown authors--Winfrey has successfully created women's spaces for the 1990s, not so different from the American women's social clubs from the late 1800s and early 1900s, and the French salons of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. This study will show how Oprah's Book Club allows readers, especially women, to use the psychological processes of transference and transactional reading by using fictional literature from the Book Club to discuss sensitive areas of their lives.
Date: May 1999
Creator: Jones, Carrie S. Lilly
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Study of Thirty Newspaper-in-the-classroom Programs (open access)

A Study of Thirty Newspaper-in-the-classroom Programs

This study looks at thirty of the largest Newspaper in the Classroom (NIC) programs being operated in the United States. The researcher employed the questionnaire survey method to achieve quantitative and qualitative results.
Date: August 1973
Creator: Warrick, Shirley Malinda
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Content Analysis of Mozambican Newspapers' Coverage of the 2004 Presidential Election (open access)

A Content Analysis of Mozambican Newspapers' Coverage of the 2004 Presidential Election

This study focuses on the amount of coverage given by four major tabloid newspapers-Demos, Zambeze, Savana and Domingo-to the candidates of the major political parties Renamo and Frelimo, during the 2004 presidential race. The number of stories of both parties in those newspapers were counted and calculated by chi-square to determine how much one party was covered than the other identifying signs of balance or bias. The research showed that there was a significant result of 42 percent of likelihood that stories in the four newspapers would either be about Frelimo or Renamo. However, the study also revealed that Frelimo was the party covered most often by Demos, Zambeze and Savana while Renamo was covered most often by Domingo.
Date: August 2005
Creator: Namburete, Eliana Munguambe
System: The UNT Digital Library
The History of the Arlington Citizen-Journal (open access)

The History of the Arlington Citizen-Journal

This study was conducted to detail the history of The Arlington Citizen-Journal newspaper and its editors and the effect of an active newspaper on the orderly growth of a town. The Arlington Citizen-Journal evolved from a merger of two Arlington weekly newspapers, The Arlington Journal and The Arlington Citizen, which for more than fifty years reported Arlington happenings. The study includes historical information about the city, its people, and its institutions, and direct quotations of both editorial comment and news reports of Arlington events and people. It was found that throughout the years of Arlington's rapid growth, The Citizen-Journal was a vital force behind its citizens.
Date: August 1977
Creator: Forehand, Phyllis Hargrave
System: The UNT Digital Library
A History of Station WRR: Pioneer in Municipally Owned Radio (open access)

A History of Station WRR: Pioneer in Municipally Owned Radio

This study presents an overall history of WRR, the first municipally owned radio station and describes the problems it encountered by competing in a commercial Dallas market. The study marks the establishment of WRR in 1920 as a signal transmitter for the Dallas Fire Department, its transition to an entertainment station, the addition of WRR-FM, retirement of long-time Station Manager Durward J. Tucker, heavy financial losses, public complaints, format changes, and the sale of the station. A final chapter provides a summary and recommendations for further study, and concludes that WRR should have left the commercial market when its revenue and ratings began to decline.
Date: May 1978
Creator: Sachs, Robin Leslie
System: The UNT Digital Library
China's Propaganda in the United States During World War II (open access)

China's Propaganda in the United States During World War II

The study examined China's conduct of its most important overseas propaganda activities in the United States during World War II. The findings showed that the main characteristics of China's propaganda in the United States in the war years included, (a) official propaganda in the United States was operated by the Chinese News Service and its branch offices in several cities; (b) unofficial propaganda involved work by both Americans and Chinese, among them, missionaries, newspapermen, and businessmen who tried to help China for different reasons; (c) both China lobby and Red China lobby, changed people's image about China, either the Nationalists or the Communists; and (d) propaganda toward the overseas Chinese in the United States was to collect donations and stir up patriotism.
Date: August 1980
Creator: Tsang, Kuo-jen
System: The UNT Digital Library

Women in Public Relations: Our Past, Present, and Future

Access: Use of this item is restricted to the UNT Community
Since abolition, women have used the media to bring attention to causes and injustices in society. Issues faced by these women are some of the same issues faced by women in public relations today and possibly the future. This paper is the history of the women of pre-professional public relations in relation to their use of the media to bring about change and communicate with an audience. It also discusses the evolution of the public relations profession as it pertains to the parallel issues that the women of the first wave faced in relation to the second wave, or professional era. The paper will then synthesize these two eras in public relations and discuss the future of women in the profession as seen by researchers and women practicing at this time.
Date: August 2000
Creator: Moore, Jaimee
System: The UNT Digital Library
Amarillo Globe-News: How Did Gene Howe and the Globe-News Help Guide Amarillo, Texas through the Dust Bowl and Great Depression? (open access)

Amarillo Globe-News: How Did Gene Howe and the Globe-News Help Guide Amarillo, Texas through the Dust Bowl and Great Depression?

For many years newspapers were locally owned by editors and publishers. However, today many are run by corporations from out of state. As a result, many communities have lost the personal relationship between the family owned publication and the community. Gene Howe, who served as editor, publisher and columnist of the Amarillo Globe-News from 1926 until his death in 1952, believed the community was where the focus should be and the newspaper should do all that it can to help their readers. Despite the fact that Howe was not born in Amarillo, Texas, his passion and love for the city and its inhabitants compensated for it. During the Dust Bowl and Great Depression Howe and the Globe-News helped Amarillo survive the dust and economic storms that blew through the Texas Panhandle, an area that has not been written as much as other parts of Texas. Through his “Tactless Texan” column, which served as a pulpit to the community, to the various contests and promotions the newspaper sprang up, including the creation of Mother in Law Day, Gene Howe gave the newspaper another dimension little has been studied about, the role of the editor and publisher in guiding a community through …
Date: May 2015
Creator: Hasman, Gregory R. C.
System: The UNT Digital Library

Transgender Representation in Mainstream Advertising

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This study focuses on the transgender community's presence and portrayal in advertisements that reach a broad, mainstream audience base. Through a mixed-methods use of focus groups and qualitative content analysis, the content, context, and framings of ads between the years 2015 and 2018 are explored to illustrate current portrayals of the trans community and how the industry is approaching this subcultural group. Its findings contribute to advertising research by exploring current trends in trans portrayals in the cultural context they exist. Because trans advertising in both LGBTQ+ publications and to mainstream audience is largely unexplored, this study seeks to begin a conversation among advertising professionals. The main objective is to ultimately improve the number of genuine, positive portrayals of trans people in advertising and hold the industry accountable for the role they play in serving this community.
Date: May 2019
Creator: Maxwell, Bailey
System: The UNT Digital Library
A History of DALLAS Magazine and Its Changing Roles in the Dallas Chamber (open access)

A History of DALLAS Magazine and Its Changing Roles in the Dallas Chamber

This study explains the development of DALLAS magazine from its beginnings and changes in sixty-three years in content and format, departments, staff, and editorial policy. The study shows how DALLAS developed, reflecting the history of the City of Dallas' economic and business growth, and the Chamber of Commerce viewpoints since 1922. Concluding, the study reveals that the magazine projected the Dallas Chamber's viewpoints, that the magazine reported only positive images of the City of Dallas and its economy, that the magazine chronicled the changes in journalistic writing and graphic arts technology, that the magazine's audience remained the business leaders of the community, and that staff members progressively became better qualified for their positions.
Date: August 1986
Creator: Mahony, Linda MacDonald
System: The UNT Digital Library