States

Media and Corporate Social Responsibility: How Leading Business Magazines Frame a Controversial Concept (open access)

Media and Corporate Social Responsibility: How Leading Business Magazines Frame a Controversial Concept

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is an emerging concept that continues to play a controversial role in the business world. Different CSR theories and ethical foundations inform different approaches to embedding socially responsible behavior into today's business functions. As technology, globalization, and economic challenges change the corporate world, the meaning and application of CSR also changes. While no empirical evidence of CSR's impact on performance exists, many corporations operate under the assumption that CSR holds significant value. This study examines the framing of CSR in stories published by leading business magazines between 2008 and 2012. By examining the presentation of CSR concepts, the resulting analysis can provide important conclusions for corporations, public relations practitioners, mass media, and consumers. This study resulted in a hierarchical pyramid of frames that organizes the framing of CSR in business magazines into three layers: category, motivation, and classification as either responsible behavior or irresponsible behavior. These results lead to recommendations for future CSR research, including the need for quantitative evidence of a connection or disconnection between CSR and profitability.
Date: August 2013
Creator: Riddell, Brad
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
Down Syndrome and Self-esteem: the Media's Portrayal of Self-esteem in Characters Who Have Down Syndrome (open access)

Down Syndrome and Self-esteem: the Media's Portrayal of Self-esteem in Characters Who Have Down Syndrome

Representations of people with a developmental disability are virtually not covered in the media. Although there is little coverage of people with developmental disabilities in the media, there are a few entertainment television characters who have Down syndrome and are represented in the media. This study will take a look at the history of how people with disabilities were represented in the media and examine how two television characters with Down syndrome were portrayed on the shows by examining their self-esteem. This study seeks to focus on portrayal of people with Down Syndrome because the physical features that people with Down Syndrome possess are easy to identify. Specifically, the study examines the portrayal of self-esteem in two television characters, Corky Thatcher (Life Goes On) and Becky Faye Jackson (Glee). The researcher will also examine how the portrayal of self-esteem in the two characters is similar or different in people who have Down Syndrome. In the study the researcher found that the representation of the character Corky was different from the character Becky. But both characters tackled issues that affected the Down Syndrome community and it affected their self-esteem. Corky and Becky were different from the interviewees in the way they …
Date: December 2012
Creator: Gee, Courtney
System: The UNT Digital Library