The overpopulation of domestic animals has become an ongoing problem across the United States. Approximately 1.5 million animals are being euthanized in the United States every year. In fact, shelters euthanize about 23 % of the animals they take in. However, the euthanasia rate would be much greater without animal rescues, which are different than animal shelters. Animal rescues are unique from shelters because they are not government-funded, and they do not usually have a physical location. Because of these factors, animal rescues rely on volunteers to care for the animals they save and donors to fund their operations. Animal rescues heavily depend on social media to fulfill many of their needs, including fundraising and volunteer recruitment, which makes the nonprofits particularly vulnerable to failure without a social media following. This research combined a content analysis of animal rescues' Facebook posts with a survey of the rescues to determine which Facebook affordances and message frames animal rescues used online were positively related to online and offline success metrics. The content analysis focused on analyzing posts for message frames, and the survey provided information about annual success. The combination of a content analysis and a survey uncovered relationships between Facebook characteristics, …

Unfavorable opinions and images of the public relations industry have persisted for decades, and the industry still struggles to deal with them. Additionally, it is a demanding profession that is expected to grow faster than average but struggles to retain talent. Public relations research has also predominantly focused on how nonpractitioners perceive public relations. The present study psychoanalytically analyzed two movies with cinematic representations of public relations practitioners and 20 interviews with public relations practitioners to examine how practitioners' self-perceptions of public relations unconsciously influence their practice and expectations, as well as their stress and burnout. More specifically, stress and burnout dynamics were explored among younger and older practitioners and gender.

Journalists have insisted that John Oliver has inspired a new kind of journalism. They argue that Oliver's show Last Week Tonight with John Oliver has inspired real-world action, a phenomenon journalists have called the "John Oliver Effect." Oliver, a comedian, refuses these claims. This thesis is the result of in-depth research into journalists' claims through the lens of agenda-setting. By conducting a qualitative content analysis, I evaluated the message characteristics of framing devices used on Oliver's show, then compared those message characteristics to the message characteristics and framing devices employed by legacy media.