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The Good and the Bad Sides of the Protest: Framing Abortion Rights Protests in Photojournalism (open access)

The Good and the Bad Sides of the Protest: Framing Abortion Rights Protests in Photojournalism

In both Mexico and the U.S., abortion rights protests have been taking place in recent years, but while Mexico is moving forward with the legalization of abortion, the U.S. is going in the opposite direction with the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Through framing, journalists select salient information, shaping audiences' understandings of social movements. The protest paradigm suggests that due to journalistic norms and routines, journalists tend to focus on disruptive acts, which can stigmatize the protest. Additionally, scholars have stated that men and women photojournalists have different approaches to covering certain topics. This cross-national research combined a content analysis of photographs in U.S. and Mexican media with in-depth interviews with photojournalists to determine if photojournalists in each country are reproducing the protest paradigm and if there are gendered differences in how they photograph abortion rights protests. The results revealed that women and men photograph differently, with women capturing more intimate photos; however, photojournalists' gendered experiences are also influenced by how protesters perceive them. Furthermore, the study suggests that photojournalists from both countries are questioning objectivity and are attempting to move away from the protest paradigm. This research provides valuable insights into visual framing theory, protest news coverage, and gendered …
Date: July 2023
Creator: Díaz González Vázquez, Greta
System: The UNT Digital Library

Narrative Solutions to Climate Change

Climate change is one of the preeminent problems facing humanity today. It has the potential to cause incalculable damages, loss of life and property, and can create an almost unlivable habitat for humans on this planet. Governments need to act in order to stop future climate harms, but the electorate must be literate in the subject in order to do so. One of the jobs of the media is to inform the public, and so it is imperative that the media find a way to accurately inform the U.S. electorate about the changing climate in order to stimulate pro-environmental behavior and voting. It was hypothesized in this thesis that journalists should utilize narrative instead of simply relaying statistics and fact-based information to better engage the electorate and that it would prove a better way to educate them about science topics such as the climate. However, the politicization of such topics could not be ignored and so needed to be accounted for. A 2x2 factorial analysis was done using narrative versus fact-based stories with either conservative or liberal news outlet headers. These were then tested against three covariates: political ideology, narrative transportation, and locus of control. This research found that political …
Date: December 2022
Creator: Pezzulli, Katherine Keller
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Psychoanalytic Study of Occupational Stress and Burnout among Public Relations Practitioners (open access)

A Psychoanalytic Study of Occupational Stress and Burnout among Public Relations Practitioners

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.
Date: August 2022
Creator: Martinez, Tiffany Adriana
System: The UNT Digital Library
Structural Affordances and Framing Methods in Animal Rescue Facebook Posts (open access)

Structural Affordances and Framing Methods in Animal Rescue Facebook Posts

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, …
Date: August 2022
Creator: Muns, Karan Elizabeth
System: The UNT Digital Library

Not What "Almost Famous" Made It Out to Be: Gendered Harassment of Female Music Journalists

As with women journalists in other male-dominated fields, female music writers have long endured gendered harassment. In the newsroom, this sexist treatment is foisted upon female music journalists by their male editors and colleagues; in the outside world, it often occurs at the hands of male sources, readers, and online trolls. Unfortunately, the victims of such abuse are frequently left to cope with it alone, and many report that their mental health suffers in the process. Some may even ultimately decide to quit pursuing music journalism entirely. These women report wanting to feel more supported within their work environment, as well as through informal means, such as via a network of fellow female writers. Feminist media theory, utilitarianism, and ethics of care will serve as the study's theoretical bases. This research, based on in-depth interviews with women music journalists, suggests that the vast majority of participants had faced sexism and/or gendered harassment during their time as a female music journalist, experiences that left many of them feeling frustrated and devalued. Based on the research, I offer recommendations on how to make the industry more inclusive for women writers.
Date: May 2022
Creator: Carter, Simone
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
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: Media Coverage of Age, Gender, and Ethnicity in the 116th Congress (open access)

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: Media Coverage of Age, Gender, and Ethnicity in the 116th Congress

This study focuses on Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the U.S. Representative for New York's 14th Congressional District, and how news media portray her based on her gender, age, and ethnicity, which still play essential roles in the political system in the United States. The analysis of previous academic research, newspaper articles from the New York Times and the Washington Post (June 1, 2018 to June 30, 2019) and framing and feminist theories are used to evaluate coverage of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The newspaper stories are examined based on the framing of traits including being the youngest woman ever elected to Congress, being Latina, and being one the most progressive politicians in the Congress. The main objective of this study is to shed light on a topic that at this moment in time is more relevant than ever because the 116th Congress has the highest number of women and women of color in U.S. history. I examine media coverage that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez receives for stereotypical frames, so that, overall, all women running or holding public office may receive unbiased and more balanced media coverage. This study also intends to hold media outlets accountable for the way they portray different candidates because it has …
Date: December 2020
Creator: Reyes, Blanca Elena
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Comparative Analysis of Saudi and U.S. Online Newspapers' Framing of Saudi Women's Issues: Content Analysis of Newspaper Coverage Before and After Saudi Vision 2030 (open access)

A Comparative Analysis of Saudi and U.S. Online Newspapers' Framing of Saudi Women's Issues: Content Analysis of Newspaper Coverage Before and After Saudi Vision 2030

Previous research on framing has proved its strong effects on the social perception and political preferences of individuals. Therefore, the aim of this research is to explore how Saudi women's issues have been framed in a sample of United States and Saudi newspapers. Saudi Vision 2030 is the post-oil plan for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia that was announced on April 25, 2016. The sample of this thesis was 300 news stories from eight newspapers. The U.S. newspapers were the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and the Los Angeles Times. The Saudi newspapers were Al Riyadh, Okaz, Al Jazirah, and Al Watan. This thesis explores how these issues have been covered before and after Saudi Vision 2030 by answering five basic questions. Quantitative and qualitative methods were used to analyze the news stories. For the quantitative analysis, five pre-defined generic frames from Semetko and Valkenburg were adopted: conflict frame, human interest frame, morality frame, economic consequences frame, and responsibility frame. An inductive approach to find the new frames was used for the qualitative analysis. Moreover, this thesis looked at how U.S. and Saudi newspapers have visually framed Saudi women through an analysis of the types …
Date: December 2020
Creator: Dawshi, Norah
System: The UNT Digital Library

Queer in Fandom: A Uses and Gratifications Analysis of the Katy Perry Fan Community on Twitter

Online fandom communities exist as a hub of subcultural construction for people across the globe. For queer people, fandom represents a space to safely converge over mutual interests. Previous research has focused on queer fans and popular music fans independently, often taking a pathological approach. This study qualitatively examines queer participants in the Katy Perry fandom through surveys and one-on-one interviews. The theoretical backbone of the study is built around uses and gratifications theory, seeking to understand motivations for fandom participation. The concepts of the heteronormative matrix and queer resistance are additionally incorporated to analyze how LGBTQ+ fans combat societal norms. This research found seven motivations for queer fans to participate in online fandom, providing insight into an understudied community.
Date: December 2020
Creator: Poteet, Maddison Jade
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

Analysis of Regional Magazine Content and Engagement on Twitter

Access: Use of this item is restricted to the UNT Community
This two-part mixed-methods study analyzed the Twitter activity of two regional magazines – D Magazine and Texas Monthly – and how social media editors implement strategies to maintain journalistic integrity (news values, topics, and ethical standards) while increasing engagement.
Date: December 2019
Creator: Higgins, Claire Corinne
System: The UNT Digital Library
And the Stereotype Award Goes to...: A Comparative Analysis of Directors using African American Stereotypes in Film (open access)

And the Stereotype Award Goes to...: A Comparative Analysis of Directors using African American Stereotypes in Film

This study examines African American stereotypes in film. I studied six directors, Kathryn Bigelow, Spike Lee, the Russo Brothers, Ryan Coogler, Tate Taylor, and Dee Rees; and six films Detroit, BlacKkKlansman, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, The Help, and Mudbound. Using the framework of critical race theory and auteur theory, I compared the common themes between the films and directors. The main purpose of my study is to see if White or Black directors predominantly used African American stereotypes. I found that both races of directors rely on stereotypes for different purposes. With Black directors, the stereotype was explained further through character development, while the White directors used the stereotype at face value with no further explanation.
Date: December 2019
Creator: Young, Kelcei
System: The UNT Digital Library

Is it Really a Different World? Colorism Then and Now in Black Sitcoms

Access: Use of this item is restricted to the UNT Community
This study focuses on dark-skinned, Black women's representation in Black sitcoms. Through a mixed-methods use of a comparative textual analysis and focus group, the content and context of episodes from A Different World and Dear White People are explored to illustrate portrayals of dark-skinned, Black women and how these portrayals affect dark-skinned, Black women's self-esteem. Its findings contribute to colorism research by exploring colorism in Black sitcoms. Because this topic is largely unexplored, this study seeks to begin a conversation about dark skinned, Black women's representation in Black sitcoms. The main objective is to ultimately improve their depictions and roles in Black sitcoms and hold Black creatives responsible for the role they play in promoting colorism and its ultimate effect on Black women's self esteem.
Date: December 2019
Creator: Johnson, Jasmine Cherese
System: The UNT Digital Library
Press Freedom in Saudi Arabia War Reporting: A Case Study of the Gulf and Yemen Wars (open access)

Press Freedom in Saudi Arabia War Reporting: A Case Study of the Gulf and Yemen Wars

This study examined press freedom in Saudi Arabia coverage in two study periods, which are the Gulf and Yemen wars. Six Saudi newspapers, which represent Saudi regions, have been content analyzed. They are: Al Riyadh, Al Yaum, Al Nadwah, Mecca, Okaz, and Al Jazirah. The major questions are: What are the most salient issues Saudi newspapers dealt with in their editorials during the study period? What are the differences between the two periods of study? And what are the differences between the editorial features of the Gulf and Yemen wars? The normative theory-press freedom theory was conducted for this study. The results support the lack of press freedom during the Gulf War. In contrast, some newspapers have significantly improved their performance during the Yemen War, using a higher level of press freedom.
Date: December 2019
Creator: Huraysi, Mohammed
System: The UNT Digital Library
Evaluating the Efficacy of Engagement Journalism in Local News: An Ethnographic Study of the Dallas Morning News (open access)

Evaluating the Efficacy of Engagement Journalism in Local News: An Ethnographic Study of the Dallas Morning News

The Dallas Morning News is a leader in using engagement journalism to increase and retain digital subscribers. This ethnography examined the efficacy of the engagement journalism work by the News in rebuilding trust and forming relationships with its audience. This research is exceptionally timely as more newsrooms are erecting paywalls to their content and asking their audiences to offer monetary support in exchange for greater access and engagement by journalists. This work is examined through two mass communications theories: functionalism, which says a society can be viewed like an ecosystem as a "system in balance" consisting of complex sets of interrelated activities, each of which supports the others in maintaining the system as a whole; and the dual responsibility model, which says that companies should operate in the best interests of all in the community who depend on them, not only those who benefit financially. Additionally, the work is considered from a human-interaction design standpoint to evaluate whether the News has created affordances that enable the journalists and the readers to communicate, and whether the journalists are effectively practicing service design when publishing news and information for the audience.
Date: May 2019
Creator: Wise, Hannah Marie
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Invisible Woman: A Study of Black Women in Magazine Beauty Advertisements (open access)

The Invisible Woman: A Study of Black Women in Magazine Beauty Advertisements

This thesis study takes a mixed methods and black feminist approach to find out how black women are represented within the beauty advertisements of women's fashion magazines.
Date: May 2019
Creator: Arterbery, Andrea
System: The UNT Digital Library
News Framing and Social Media Responses to the Release of Boko Haram Female Captives (open access)

News Framing and Social Media Responses to the Release of Boko Haram Female Captives

This qualitative study sheds light on the framing of the sexual abuse of the Boko Haram's female captives sent to the internally displaced persons (IDP) camps and analyzes emotional themes from tweets focusing on the release of the Boko Haram's female victims, the Chibok girls. Six articles were chosen from BBC (a British news source), Punch (a Nigerian news source), and the New York Times (an American news source) to reveal the frames. In addition, 118 tweets were examined to address emotional tweets under #ourgirlsareback, #82chibokgirls, #chibokgirls82, and #chibokgirls. The findings discovered the presence of the human interest frame, conflict frame, responsibility frame, and a stereotype in the articles. The tweets showed positive common themes- joy, gratitude, and hope. Also, the tweets included conspiracy theories.
Date: May 2019
Creator: Omokore, Joy Oluwadamilola
System: The UNT Digital Library

Transgender Representation in Mainstream Advertising

Access: Use of this item is restricted to the UNT Community
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
Discovering Solutions: How are Journalists Applying Solutions Journalism to Change the Way News is Reported and What Do They Hope to Accomplish? (open access)

Discovering Solutions: How are Journalists Applying Solutions Journalism to Change the Way News is Reported and What Do They Hope to Accomplish?

Solutions journalism, rigorous reporting on responses to social problems, has gained great traction in the last decade. Using positive psychology theory, also known as the theory of well-being, this qualitative study examines the impact of reporting while using solutions journalism techniques. Applying the five pillars of positive psychology theory: positive emotion, engagement, positive relationships, meaning and accomplishment (PERMA), this study used interviews and content analysis to investigate how journalists are applying the tools of solutions journalism as well as what they hope to accomplish in the process. Findings revealed that the application of solutions journalism techniques produces hope and community engagement resulting in flourishing and positive change for individuals, communities and all involved in the reporting process.
Date: December 2018
Creator: Porter, Ashley Elizabeth
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
Who is Really in Charge Here: An Exploration of the Formation and Empowerment of Opinion Leaders in a Reddit Gaming Community (open access)

Who is Really in Charge Here: An Exploration of the Formation and Empowerment of Opinion Leaders in a Reddit Gaming Community

In an attempt to shed light on the further sophistication of opinion leadership in online communities, this study examined the forces and structures that affect their formation in the League of Legends subreddit. By investigating what users thought about the various types of individuals with which the communicate, the researcher hoped to begin to understand and record how those forces work bother on this particular subreddit and in mass media beyond. Opinion leadership continues to be an integral force in deciding what information is consumed by a public and under what frames and agendas it is contextualized. If researchers can operationalize formal definitions for the influences and structures that occur online, they can better navigate the deep waters that are global communication on the internet.
Date: December 2017
Creator: Carter, Clinton Chase
System: The UNT Digital Library
King of the News: An Agenda-Setting Approach to the John Oliver Effect (open access)

King of the News: An Agenda-Setting Approach to the John Oliver Effect

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.
Date: August 2017
Creator: Ryan, Kevin (Journalist)
System: The UNT Digital Library
Comparing Media Usage of Binary and Non-Binary Transgender Individuals when Discovering and Describing Gender Identity (open access)

Comparing Media Usage of Binary and Non-Binary Transgender Individuals when Discovering and Describing Gender Identity

This study was conducted through in-depth interviews to examine potential differences between binary-aligned transgender individuals and non-binary individuals in regards to media usage when learning about, articulating, and explaining their gender identity. Results showed numerous differences between transgender people with binary-aligned and non-binary gender identifications in regards to social media preferences and differences in perceived media importance and effects. Additional information was found in regards to the age at which gender identity is articulated and the importance of individuality in comparison to one's gender identity.
Date: May 2017
Creator: Laljer, David "Jessie"
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Persuasive Power of Ridicule: A Critical Rhetorical Analysis of Gender and Humor in U.S. Sitcoms (open access)

The Persuasive Power of Ridicule: A Critical Rhetorical Analysis of Gender and Humor in U.S. Sitcoms

The serious investigation of humor's function in society is an emerging area of research in critical humor studies, a "negative" subsect of the extensive and "positive" research that assumes humor's goodness. Using Michael Billig's theory of ridicule as a framework, this study explored how humor operated to discipline characters who broke social norms or allowed characters to rebel against those norms. Layering this with gender performative theory, the study also investigated how different male and female characters used ridicule and were subject to it themselves. After examining ridicule in The Big Bang Theory, 2 Broke Girls, and The Odd Couple using a critical rhetorical analysis, the findings revealed that disciplinary ridicule was used more overtly throughout all three programs, while potentially rebellious ridicule emerged in only a few scenes. In addition, men were overwhelmingly the subjects of disciplinary ridicule, although women found themselves as subjects throughout all three programs as well. The discursive ridiculing of non-normative bodies constructed and maintained social norms about gender and sexuality, thereby uninviting these bodies from participating in society.
Date: May 2017
Creator: Waters, Leah E.
System: The UNT Digital Library