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Purpose: Corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication covered by the news media is considered as more credible and effective in shaping public perceptions toward corporations than CSR shared by corporations themselves. This is particularly true when CSR is about corporations with social stigma inherent in business practices. This study examines the CSR publicity of stigmatized industries from the journalism lens. Design/methodology/approach: A content analysis was conducted with CSR stories from 2019 to 2020 by USA newspapers (n = 348). Findings: Results of this study showed that the overall volume of CSR from stigmatized industries has decreased, with fewer responses to the recent pandemic. Further, the media brought promotional CSR activities and the business motives behind the activities into focus. Opposing patterns were found for CSR of non-stigmatized industries presented with philanthropic activities based on corporations' social motives to help communities. Similarly, economic and legal responsibilities reflected in the CSR pyramid were more prominently reported for stigmatized industries, and ethical and discretionary responsibilities appeared more frequently for non-stigmatized industries. Practical implications: Integrating business and media literature, this study enriches scholarly discussions on media processes and effects for CSR communication. This study also provides practical implications for stigmatized industries by highlighting more authentic and careful approaches for CSR communication to earn positive publicity. Social implications: This study provides social implications by highlighting the importance of CSR communications through the lens of news media when corporations are socially stigmatized. Originality/value: Stigmatized industries are known to be active in CSR communication to nullify social stigma surrounding themselves. The authors' findings provide empirical evidence suggesting that not all publicity benefits CSR communication for stigmatized corporations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates how corporations responded to the COVID-19 crisis through their fulfillment of corporate social responsibility (CSR). We quantitatively analyzed a total of 60 CSR news stories published during the year of 2020. We then provided context through the close readings of all 60 news stories. CSR news coverage was selected as the focal content because it is considered to be a more objective communication of CSR compared to corporations' selfdisclosed CSR reports. Results show that CSR was provided throughout the year as corporations' timely responses to the unprecedented pandemic. Specifically, corporations emphasized philanthropic CSR activities to support health issues. Their conventional commitments to promotional activities were still present but often criticized with a negative tone. Corporations' evergreen interest in environmental/sustainability issues and human/civic rights also remained but were relatively weakened during the pandemic. Further, CSR was primarily presented in a positive tone. The findings highlight that a public health crisis may render corporations to transform CSR into emergency and disaster relief. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a case study of the use of constructivist theory in mass communication higher education. Reports the participants' observations during and critique of a quasi-experimental study in which students could follow a traditional route and use the instructor's syllabus, or they could immediately put constructivist learning theory into practice by choosing to build their own syllabus and chart their own course. (SG)

Applying media effects and attributions to news coverage of corporate social responsibility (CSR) issues, this content analysis examines recent CSR news in the United States. Results showed that the news media presented CSR activities positively with episodic events, offering proactive solutions to social problems, particularly when the media attributed CSR to corporate motives for social benefits. Opposing results were detected when the media inferred corporations' business motives from CSR activities. Further, the general non-business media favorably described CSR cases with social motives and episodic events, whereas the business-specific media critically portrayed business motives and thematic issues behind CSR activities. Study implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through two separate surveys targeting visual professionals (VP) and citizen visual contributors (CVC), we assess their views on citizen journalists' roles along with their views on the likelihood to act on those views (i.e., role performance intention) in order to identify associations between perception and performance. The role that perceived media credibility plays in the assessment of role conceptions and potential role performance was also examined. Findings indicate that CVC rate their roles as significantly more important than the ratings of VP on citizens' roles. Correlation analysis points to associations between the roles but misalignment in the relationship between conceptions and performance among CVC but alignment among VP. When looking at the impact of media credibility on role conceptions and performance, it is clear that perceived media credibility plays a significant role among the views of professionals. However, media credibility is not much of a factor in the assessments by CVC. Implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corporations are personifying their brands, particularly when communicating via social media. Applying the theoretical underpinnings of brand social presence and personification, this experimental study investigates whether and how personified brand visuals increase consumer engagement. Results find that personified visuals are more effective in engaging consumers than nonpersonified visuals, and this effect is mediated by the social presence consumers perceive from brands that further increases consumer-brand connections. The study highlights that brand personas matter in visual communication in garnering consumer engagement on social media, and this event occurs indirectly through the perceptions that brands are socially present and connected as human-like communicators. The findings also highlight the direct effect of personified visuals on consumer engagement. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines how the United States community newspapers engage community members and how editors view challenges of citizen participatory and collaboration practices with particular focus on ethical issues. To address this, the study conducted a content analysis of interactive news features offered by online newspapers and in-depth interviews with news editors. Findings reveal various ways that local newsrooms seemingly invite citizens to participate in telling the community news. Letters-to-the-editor were discussed most frequently in all aspects of their discussions—both in positive and negative ways. Legal concerns did not arise as such concerns were avoided and filtered before inclusion and publication, but ethical considerations were also discussed modestly. Editors as a whole generally turned to ideas reflected in traditional journalism codes of conduct for citizens as a guide in their practice of submitting content with primary focus placed on truth telling, independence, and transparency. Implications are discussed in terms of citizen news engagement, news collaboration, and participatory journalism and the continued institutional control of content through normalization of the news and separation between professional and citizen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through a nationwide survey in South Korea, this study examines the relationship between different news comment engagement (reading, liking, and posting) and perceptions on the credibility of news portals, paying particular attention to the potential moderating role of news literacy. The results indicate a positive relationship between media use and portal news credibility. Further, reading comments and liking comments on portal sites was not associated with perceived news credibility, but posting comments yielded a strong association with perceived news credibility. There were no significant results related to the association between news literacy and news credibility assessments on news portal sites. However, findings point to the moderating role of news literacy between news comment engagement on portal sites and news portal credibility in which these associations were found to vary. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An online survey was conducted to assess the usage of blogs by professional journalists and journalism educators. Results showed that although educators were aware of the existence of blogs they did not use them as frequently as professional journalists.

Using a Web-based survey targeting visual professionals, this study examines their professional role conceptions along with their views on emerging visual citizen contributors' roles. While participants' ratings of the two groups' roles were generally correlated within each group, no correlations resulted between the two groups with the exception of the civic roles. Further, visual professionals rated their roles as significantly more important for all five roles. When assessing views on citizen-contributed visuals, it was clear that participants evaluated them with a critical eye, expressing dislike toward citizens' visual contributions and deeming them a threat to their livelihood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A content analysis was conducted based on the presidential images presented by the leading newspapers and the official presidential office websites in the United States and Korea. Findings reveal differences between the two countries in terms of look, type, viewpoint, and visual hierarchy of the photographs. Specifically, the proportion of casual-look, documentary-style pictures showing the rear/back shot or a detailed view and higher in hierarchy images of President Obama were considerably higher than those of President Park in Korea, where virtually all images were authoritative, photo-opportunity style, front or side, and informational. The differences of how the presidents may be portrayed could be influential in shaping the public's perception of these presidents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on a national survey and a qualitative content analysis of US daily news editors’ understanding of citizen journalism, we identify key ideas associated with the concept of Citizen Journalism Complexity. Patterns related to those dimensions that may impact editors’ conceptions of the phenomenon at the individual and organizational levels are examined. A total of 10 core ideas emerged in the aggregate discussion, but a majority of the participants defined the concept simplistically focusing on one- or two-dimensional definitions. Arguments from journalistic professionalism (occupational roles), audience engagement/collaboration (normative values), and behavioral practices are represented. This article discusses the extent to which citizen journalism is defined and guided by demographic variables, individual journalistic experience, and organizational characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using content analysis, this article compares the front-page elements of The New York Times with six major metropolitan national newspapers to assess how different news organizations package and present their most important page to the public. Findings reveal that The New York Times featured more international and national news stories, depended more frequently on its own staff for both stories and images, and used smaller headlines on its front pages compared with the other major metropolitan newspapers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social media, as one key platform for citizen journalism, are becoming a useful newsgathering tool for journalists. Based on data from a nationwide probability sample of newspaper editors in the United States, this study investigates the extent to which newspaper editors consider social media an influential news source. Results show that variations in editors' ratings of social media as a news source were related to multiple levels of influence, including professional journalistic experience, organization size, community structural pluralism, and citizen journalism credibility. Implications are discussed for the roles of social media in news production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on Habermas's theory of communicative action, this case study of OhmyNews in South Korea examines how citizen journalism operates in a broad organizational and social context. Through in-depth interviews with professional and citizen journalists, the study reveals that citizen journalism can be well understood at the intersection between the lifeworld and systems. Specifically, the study finds a coexistence mechanism by which citizen journalism competes, collaborates, coordinates, and compromises with professional journalism through communicative action, such as mutual understanding, reason-based discussion, and consensus building. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the extent to which professional journalism adopts and uses citizen journalism, such as user-generated content (UGC) and user-submitted stories (USS), at the individual, organizational, and community levels. In doing so, the study adopts a web-based survey of top U.S. news editors (n = 142) coupled with U.S. Census Data. The study reveals that experience as online journalists and online staff size play roles in the adoption and use of UGC. The study also finds that community structural pluralism is related to the adoption and use of news stories written together by professional and citizen journalists. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Through data captured in a digital content analysis (DCA) lab, we examine coverage of Twitter across three 24-hour U.S. cable news channels: CNN, Fox News Channel, and MSNBC. This investigation tracked Twitter coverage from its initial stage, followed by its rise to a massively used tool and its subsequent diffusion into society, evident through its plateauing coverage. News stories covering Twitter, as it penetrated into society, were more likely to use benefit/gain frames when discussing the technology, highlighting its positive social, communicative, political, and participatory impact. Benefit frames were also likely to associate Twitter with journalism. Patterns emerging through the indicator graphs plotted by the DCA lab showed that the most intense coverage occurred during crisis situations, as Twitter coverage reached saturation, followed by increased personal daily usage of Twitter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South Korea's OhmyNews reports unique consequences of citizen reporting and participation. While many citizen news operations have come and gone, OhmyNews has been remarkably successful and has become one of the most powerful news sites in its country. This case study explores the concept of journalistic professionalism among OhmyNews citizen journalists and assesses whether perceptions of their journalistic work align with Singer's dimensions of professionalism (i.e., cognitive, normative and evaluative dimensions). We then compare these perceptions to those of professional journalists within the organization and integrate them into journalistic role conceptions. Findings show that both groups work through collaboration, checks and balances, and a negotiation of autonomy. Both benefit from the partnership and share similarities, rather than differences, in their effort to remain sustainable in contemporary media culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When covering tragedies involving human suffering, photojournalists frequently face serious ethical dilemmas that force them to choose between the position of an objective reporter and a "Good Samaritan." Recent ethical controversies, such as the New York City subway photo case in the New York Post and the domestic violence photo essay published on TIME magazine's website, are only the latest additions to this dilemma. By using the situational ethics approach, this case study examines the controversies in terms of three situational characteristics-the presence of other helpers, the intention of the victim, and the possibility of intervention by the photographer-to assess their usefulness in assisting photographers in their ethical decision-making process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through a web-based survey (N = 238), this study examines how online community news readers perceive the roles of both professional and citizen journalists, and predicts the extent to which social capital, such as social trust and media credibility, contributes to their perceived journalistic roles. Analyses show that while media credibility was positively related to the role conceptions of professional journalists only, social trust was positively associated with the role conceptions of both professional and citizen journalists. Implications are discussed for the relationship between social trust, media credibility, and perceived journalistic roles. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A survey of Kentucky community newspaper editors finds that editors hold different levels of social capital depending on their demographic characteristics. For example, female editors tend to have trust in people and have more organizational affiliations than do male editors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a statewide, Web-based survey, this study examines the associations between online community news audiences' uses of interactive features offered in various news presentations and the perceived satisfaction of community news sites. In addition, the study aims to identify associations between different types of interactive news presentation styles and levels of satisfaction. Results indicate that use of interactive features is positively associated with perceived satisfaction with the exception of forums and Q&A features. Results also reveal that customization features, such as content submissions, letter-to-the-editor, and e-mail byline links, are the sole significant positive predictor of perceived satisfaction toward community news sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents research on online journalism. Community newspapers which operate solely on the Internet are examined to determine the attitudes of their readers towards the journalists employed by the newspapers and their use of the interactive features available to visitors to these Web sites. It is found that the audiences of these Web sites see the most important role of community online journalism to be its ability to mobilize public opinion on political and social topics.

This study seeks to identify 1) categories of interactivity, which are promoted through different types of interactive features, 2) patterns of online newspaper readers’ uses of interactive features, and 3) factors, if any, that predict the use of different types of interactive features. Based on an online survey of 542 respondents, four categories of interactive features were identified. Findings show that interactive features are generally used infrequently, especially the features that facilitate human-to-human communication and the features that allow audiences to express their views. Regression analyses show that different user characteristics and backgrounds predict the use of specific types of interactive features. This study illustrates that news organizations need not worry about applying all types of interactive features to engage their readers as the features serve distinct functions. Instead, news organizations should focus on building credibility and may seek to identify their online news audiences and then subsequently provide interactive features accordingly. (152) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses Internet Web bloggers who are also patients with cancer. the article explains how blogs are being used in the United States by some individuals for health communication and to publish their personal remarks on issues relating to health and the medical industry. The number of blogs used to discuss medical issues was evaluated by the University of Kentucky's Institutional Review Board.

Argues for the use of constructivist theory in mass communication higher education. Definition of constructivism; Comparison between constructive and traditional views of learning; Assessment methods for collaborative work; Role of constructive learning in enhancing students' responsibility for learning and breaking their dependence on instructors.

This study advances communication infrastructure theory by testing the effects of an integrated community storytelling network (ICSN) and social media as a newly emerging community storytelling agent on civic engagement. A nationwide survey in South Korea indicates that, while ICSN is a robust driving force for civic engagement, social media news use and social media news expression played a vital role in promoting collective efficacy as well as neighborhood belonging and online civic participation, respectively. In particular, social media news use moderated the effects of ICSN on offline and online civic participation. These findings suggest that social media as an emerging storytelling network in the CIT framework can play distinct yet selective roles in predicting civic engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

News credibility as an essential democratic value has been at the forefront of scholarly endeavors over the last several decades. Despite prolific research in this area, scholarship on the credibility of algorithm-based and automated news has yet to offer empirical findings in regards to the causes and their impacts. In line with prior studies concerning news credibility, this study examines the driving forces in predicting the level of credibility on artificial intelligence (AI) news. Specially, this study unveils the effects of communicative capital, such as media use and public discussion, among audiences, as well as social capital, such as social trust, on AI news credibility. Data collected through a nationwide online survey reveals that media use through television, social network sites, and online news sites, as well as public discussion yielded a positive association with AI news credibility. Of particular interest is that social trust moderated the effect of public discussion on credibility, indicating that the relationship between discussion and credibility was even stronger for those who have a higher level of trust in others. Implications are further discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]