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Matching national surveys with the dataset offered by the Worlds of Journalism Study network (2012–2016), this article presents an analysis of trust in the press covering 16 European countries and the United States. Drawing from the spatial proximity model of voter utility, this article focuses on the ideological proximity between journalists' and citizens' left-right positions as a determinant of trust in the press. We expect a positive relationship between these two variables. However, we also hypothesize that the strength of such relationship is mediated by the type of media model (according to Hallin and Mancini's classification) existing in the different countries. In particular, we expect a higher impact within those contexts where the level of political parallelism is higher. The statistical results are as expected. This article highlights that news media trust research should focus more thoroughly on the interaction and interrelation of news media, audience, and politics. The article brings also implications about the concept of political parallelism in journalism and how it is received by readers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, the media's coverage of trans homicides has increased in the U.S. Studies show that the news media's framing has been largely negative but has improved in recent times. Yet, research has mostly analyzed the news media's framing of victims who were trans women, thus limiting our understanding of this issue across different trans groups. The present study employs a mixed method approach to comparatively analyze articles (N = 124) published in online news media outlets of 15 trans men and 15 trans women murdered between 2016 and 2022. The findings indicate news media outlets used more positive and neutral frames than negative for both groups. However, when compared to trans women, trans men were delegitimized at higher rates. These findings highlight the ways that the police, news media, family, friends, and community members simultaneously contribute to the humanization and delegitimization of trans victims of homicide, demonstrating the importance of ensuring all information released about the victims correctly reflects who they were, or the cycle of delegitimization will continue. By studying how the news media frames trans homicide victims, we can look at how the media shapes cultural beliefs and ideologies about trans people, the role of language in reinforcing stereotypes, and the implications of these framings for trans people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study includes a survey of 1,077 participants to explore the audiences' perceptions of news representations about the largest minoritized group in the United States: Latinxs and Hispanics. The findings suggest that news exposure, age, ethnicity, education, and income are significant variables for the public to perceive more positive portrayals of Latinxs/Hispanics. Also, some negative stereotypical interpretations of Latinx/Hispanic news frames continue to be pervasive. The results point to the need for updated theoretical approaches focused on the role of media in the minoritization process of ethnoracial populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study investigated factors associated with parent awareness and socialization surrounding COVID-19-related racial disparities among White parents of children ages 1.5–8 living in Canada and the United States (N = 423, 88% mothers). Participants responded to an online survey about parenting during the pandemic between mid to late-April 2020. Participants reported on their level of awareness of COVID-19-related racial disparities as well as how often they discussed these with their children. Although 52% reported some level of awareness, only 34% reported any amount of discussion with their child about it. Regression models were used to further examine stress-related, socioeconomic, parenting, and news-watching associations with awareness and socialization. This study provides unique insight into which White parents are aware of racial inequities exposed by the pandemic and which are choosing to speak to their children about them. Current summary recommendations for White racial socialization and related research are also presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the way news media framed the protests following the death of George Floyd on May 25, 2020. It utilizes 510 tweets from 13 different U.S. media outlets in a mixed-methods content analysis of images tweeted by those media outlets. It looks at how protestors and police are portrayed as well as the role of race in the news images. Civil liberties, as opposed to law and order, are found to be a dominant frame. These findings suggest a change from previous research. Images of protestors were likely to include signs that are readable. Implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Media portrayals of crime help shape public perceptions of victims and the demographic groups to which they belong. For transgender people, who already face heightened disparities and stigma, news coverage may reinforce negative stereotypes and minimize the wider context of transphobic violence. The present study, a content analysis of news articles (n = 316) pertaining to 27 transgender people killed in the United States in 2016, addresses positive and negative depictions of victims, use of language affirming and delegitimizing transgender identities, and framing of transphobia as a systemic problem. Themes, implications, and future research directions are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Same-sex intimate partner violence (IPV) lacks mainstream news media coverage. News media report on those stories that are most prominent, and these stories are often shaped and presented within a White, heterosexual, upper-class, male framework. This framework largely ignores or misrepresents those that do not fit these characteristics, resulting in a gap in research and coverage of same-sex IPV. This article explores whether U.S. newspapers cover same-sex IPV, how often, and how same-sex couple violence is portrayed in newspapers when covered. Twenty-five newspaper articles published from 2005 to 2015, 10 years prior to the U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized same-sex marriage, were located and analyzed. Findings indicate sparse newspaper coverage of IPV in same-sex couples. Ten articles highlight the lack of coverage and knowledge related to same-sex couple IPV. Eighteen articles address same-sex IPV as a social issue and highlight resource concerns, police involvement, and heteronormativity and heterosexism. Sixteen articles depict specific instances of IPV in same-sex couples. The overall lack of coverage and how same-sex IPV is covered remains problematic and limited. More mainstream and accurate coverage is needed to effectively address this social issue. Limitations and directions for future research are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study examines residency status differences in US Latino/a parents' perceptions of how recent immigration actions and news have shaped their lives. Focus group data were collected during the fall of 2017 from 50 Central American parents of adolescents. Focus groups were homogenous with respect to one of four residency statuses: undocumented, Temporary Protected Status (TPS), permanent resident, and citizen. Three themes characterized parents' perceptions: (a) worry and concern, (b) behavior change, and (c) daily life adversities. Within each theme, parents' experiences included those that were universal across all residency status groups as well as those specific to residency status. Regardless of residency status, parents felt that President Trump's rhetoric had led to heightened levels of fear among Latino/as, described reducing travel or plans to travel, and reported increases in discrimination against Latino/as. Other experiences of immigration actions and news varied depending upon parents' residency status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyzes discourse about journalists' privilege and libel law from 1894 to 1897 to explain how the press articulated the public policy rationale for legal protection at a pivotal moment in journalism history. To illuminate the relationship between emerging professional values and ideas about law, it applies the analytical lens of institutionalism. The study argues that the public policy rationale that appeared in the legal discourse surrounding these key legal issues was both a function of principled professional identity–building and a means of "institutional maintenance" intended to protect the press's social status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines media coverage of sexual assault cases on college campuses using content analysis methodology. Utilizing Attribution Theory and Media Framing, this article analyzes the methods and frequency in which the language in sexual assault news stories assigns or minimizes attribution. Key variables include references to alcohol consumption, clothing, Greek systems, and case management by school administrators. Key discoveries were made, including the journalists' use of language showing support or doubt of victims. This study has implications for scholars, journalists, educational administrators, and society in general as we consider the ongoing framing of sexual assault. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mobile phone has changed the human–mobile device relationship, which has given rise to a controversy regarding the neutrality of technological devices. This study seeks to understand how news media portray mobile phone devices using second-level agenda setting that extends the model to the public perception of mobile devices. Conducting a content analysis (N = 630) of two major U.S. newspapers covering the years 1991 to 2015, this study discovered that news articles primarily communicated mobile phones as neutral tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates which news organizations are using location-based services, particularly with geolocating content in their mobile apps, and how they are doing so. Based on findings from a content analysis of 173 mobile news apps by top U.S. media outlets (i.e., radio, television, newspaper, digital-only), broadcast mobile apps had location-based services enabled more than other media outlets. Two news radio stations had geolocated their news content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Closures and mergers resulted in a net loss of more than 1,800 newspapers from 2004 to 2015, the overwhelming majority of them weeklies. But community weeklies remain the most common (70 percent of all newspapers), and community dailies and weeklies account for 62 percent of overall print circulation. Less than 2 percent of newspapers are "metro dailies," which account for less than 30 percent of overall print circulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the ways in which Latino immigrants’ use of news media from their home countries influences their likelihood of participating in politics in the United States. Using data from the 2015 Latino National Health and Immigration Survey of 1,005 Latino adults in the United States, I run a set of multivariate analyses to determine whether home-country media use affects the likelihood that Latino immigrants, 52% of whom use home-country media at least a few times per week, will vote, participate in political protests, attend meetings, sign a petition, or make a donation to political causes. I find that home-country media use has a significant, independent effect on the likelihood of protesting and signing petitions. This article bridges our understanding of media effects on participation for Latino immigrants and the importance of transnational political behavior to civic participation and incorporation of immigrants in the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines how the American news media have framed the question of who is responsible for rising healthcare costs in the United States. Commercial pressures seem to influence news media to focus less on such social-level causes as pharmaceutical companies, while patients--an individual-level cause--have been mentioned most frequently as being responsible for rising healthcare costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports updates on the activities and events conducted by the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine (AOSSM) as of March 2023. Also cited are the collaboration by AOSSM and the International Society of Arthroscopy, Knee Surgery and Orthopaedic Sports Medicine (ISAKOS) for the conduct of Specialty Day, and the AOSSM's collaboration with the National Football League Physicians Society for a multidisciplinary course in the league.

When political scandals erupt in the press, we usually blame misconduct by public officials, but these episodes are political events whose occurrence and severity also depend in part on the political and media context. Using data on U.S. governors, I show that several key factors affect the likelihood and intensity that alleged misconduct will be politicized by the opposition and publicized by the press. First, lower approval ratings, which decrease the cost of politicizing and publicizing an allegation, are generally associated with more frequent and intense media scandals. By contrast, competing news events can crowd potential scandals off the news agenda. However, no evidence is found that opposition control of state political institutions leads to more media scandal. These results suggest that the occurrence of media scandal depends more on circumstance than we typically assume. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For more than 140 years, religious, medical, legislative, and legal institutions have contested the issue of contraception. In this conversation, predominantly male voices have attached reproductive rights to tangential moral and political matters, revealing an ongoing, systematic attempt to regulate human bodies, especially those of women. This analysis of 1873-2013 press coverage of contraception in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and the Chicago Tribune shows a division between institutional ideology and real-life experience; women’s reproductive rights are negotiable. Although journalists often reported that contraception was a factor in the everyday life of women and men, press accounts also showed religious, medical, legislative, and legal institutions debating whether it should be. Contraception originally was predominately viewed as a practice of prostitutes (despite evidence to the contrary) but became a part of everyday life. The battle has slowly evolved into one about the Affordable Care Act, religious freedom, morality, and employer rights. What did not significantly change over the 140-year period are larger cultural and ideological structures; these continue to be dominated by men, who retain power over women’s bodies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study compares Gulf Coast journalists and Twitter users’ coverage of the BP oil spill. In addition to examining authors’ attitudes toward and coverage of the BP oil spill, the study examines community-level variables that shaped attitudes and coverage. The community structure literature has suggested that news media in smaller, more homogeneous communities, which are economically dependent on a polluting industry (as are many communities along the Gulf Coast), are more reticent to be critical in their coverage of pollution. Scholars have suggested, though, that the Internet transcends local geography and that the Internet is more open to alternative perspectives. This study suggests, though, that while the distribution of online content may make local geography less relevant, its production is still rooted in local communities. As a result, Tweets about the oil spill were shaped by many of the same social and economic forces that shaped journalists’ coverage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why are women still a minority presence in American news media? Some accounts attribute the dearth of women as political newsmakers to sexism, but journalistic norms to attain the best source for a story suggest that sex should be irrelevant. To date, however, no study has systematically tested these competing hypotheses. Based on a new, original data set of more than 4,200 appearances by elected officials and non-elected political actors on the Sunday morning talk shows, I find that female elected officials, journalists, and political activists appear as guests less frequently than men do. But the gender gap does not result from overt sexism. Rather, the characteristics that contribute to repeated appearances on Sunday morning are consistent with journalistic norms to provide balance and credibility in reporting. Because there are few women in the positions and professions from which guests are selected, though, these norms also perpetuate a gendered news environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper explains antecedents and consequences of news during the BP oil spill crisis by analyzing newspaper and internet coverage as well as financial indicators. The study establishes the roles of routines in financial journalism and of BP’s public relations efforts in building the U.S. media agenda. The U.S. media agenda in turn bears a classic agenda-setting effect on public awareness, an intermedia agenda-setting effect on foreign media, and a stakeholder agenda-setting effect on financial markets. A second-level attribute agenda-setting post-hoc study reveals that these first-order agenda setting effects depend on the resonance of specific problems and solutions with specific interests and a specific frame of mind. Financial stakeholders, for example, reacted negatively to news about judicial accountability, but positively to press releases about BP’s skills in implementing solutions. The findings contradict research which states that the news in classic media merely mirrors share prices. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This essay argues that Jeffrey C. Alexander’s civil sphere theory provides a useful new tool for those who study mass communication and its role during times of political change. In a functioning democracy, Alexander maintains, the feelings of solidarity that emanate from a shared cultural legacy can shape political outcomes and foster social change. This essay responds to skeptics who claim Alexander’s theory minimizes the impact of raw power in politics and thus presents a Utopian view of civil society. It contends that civil sphere theory can enhance the study of power, particularly the role powerful forces play in shaping the cultural contests that animate democratic life and lay the foundation for political and social change. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article explores how the U.S. news media construct the topic of hunger in Africa for U.S. audiences. Specifically, the article addresses how newspapers define and delimit the relationship between U.S. citizens and foreign sufferers. Through a framing analysis and critical discourse analysis of randomly sampled newspaper stories, the author finds that while news articles covering hunger in the United States usually frame the problem as pertinent to the public sphere, the victim as worthy of political action, and the reader as political agent, articles covering hunger in Africa frame the issue as irrelevant to the public sphere, the victim as removed from political action, and the reader as politically impotent. Interviews with journalists are used to understand why discrepancies occur. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article presents a study examining factors that influence political discussion in the U.S. Factors studied include community diversity, population size, perceived comfort with the communication climate, level of communication activity and third places or places that foster community and communication outside of home and work. Social locators like educational attainment, gender and age and its impact on political discussion were also examined.

The article offers information related to the increasing importance of news media and community newspapers in the U.S. It highlights a study which aims to examine the effects of the uses and dependency model on the application of both print and online community newspaper at the individual level. Information about the self-determination theory (SDT) of human motivation as well as the uses and dependency model of mass communication is presented.

The article offers information on a study which examines how "The New York Times" and "USA Today" framed their coverage of the recession in the U.S. from 2008-2009. It provides details about the technical information frame of "The New York Times" and the life contextualizer frame of the "USA Today." The study reveals the distinctive differences between the two newspapers.

This monthly feature will help readers keep current on new drugs, new indications, dosage forms, and safety-related changes in labeling or use. Efforts have been made to ensure the accuracy of this information; however, if there are any questions, please let me know at danial.baker@wsu.edu. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By analyzing the contests that appeared in Popular Science Monthly from 1918 to 1938, this article discusses the rhetoric of public engagement with technological innovation, and the magazine’s construction of a readership community. A close analysis of these contests reveals a burgeoning participatory culture within the context of the popularization of science and technology in the mass-circulation press of early twentieth-century America. Significantly, the contests frame their public as an active participant in the development of science and technology, in sharp contrast to the passive, diffusionist model of science popularization that dominated the interwar period in the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Scholars possess little theoretical understanding of how presidents behave during scandals. Existing presidential scholarship has focused on “offensive” communication, aimed at achieving legislative or policy goals, whereas the authors’ interest is in “defensive” communication. Using a game-theoretic signaling model of the president–media relationship, the authors identify conditions affecting White House stonewalling and media feeding frenzies. The president’s optimal behavior changes depending on circumstances, particularly the level of presidential involvement in the alleged misdeeds. The authors illustrate this with a case study of the Iran-Contra scandals and an empirical analysis of scandals from the Nixon through the Bush administrations. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Many consider international human trafficking, or the transportation of children and adults across national borders for forced labor and services, 21st-century slavery. Academics, lawmakers and international bodies have developed a rich body of literature around trafficking in recent years, while documentarians, screenwriters and artists have placed it squarely in popular discourse. But little is known about how the press translates that knowledge to a lay audience. This study sets out to explore that question, asking how the world’s elite press framed trafficking and with whose or what agenda. The findings offer strong evidence for the US government’s role in framing the issue in the press largely as a sexual phenomenon. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The American press played a key role in the Wilson administration’s effort to craft an image of the Patriotic Mother of the Great War. The Patriotic Mother of a soldier was encouraged to assume the mantle of the Spartan Mother. This monograph contrasts the Spartan Mother archetype used by the government and the press to another wartime maternal archetype, that of Thetis, the mother of Achilles, who objected to her son’s participation in the Trojan War. U.S. mothers of soldiers were socially and politically positioned to assume the role outlined by the Wilson administration and advocated by the news media. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A telephone survey of 416 randomly selected registered voters examined the distinctive contributions of cynicism and skepticism to citizens' media satisfaction, external political efficacy, and apathy. Results suggest that cynicism and skepticism reflect dissatisfaction with media coverage, but have opposite effects on external efficacy. Cynicism has no relationship with apathy, while skepticism decreases it. Satisfaction with news media increases efficacy and apathy. Although cynicism's relationship to efficacy is of concern, these findings undercut the argument frequently made that dissatisfaction with media coverage is responsible for cynicism and political apathy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite increased scholarly interest in how activists use visuals in claim-making and mobilization, little is known about how mainstream news media visually represent social movements and their causes over time. Given the number of studies that argue that journalistic routines, norms, and conventions create hegemonic discourse around political issues, this gap is surprising. In this article, the authors examine whether the images used to visually represent the abortion issue are homogenized. Drawing on an analysis of 2,093 print and electronic news images associated with the abortion debate, the authors find that the visuals used in media coverage are very similar. Likewise, the authors find that the most frequently shown visual landscapes for the abortion issue are relatively stable across six different kinds of events including commemorations, incidents of clinic violence, legislation, Supreme Court decisions, presidential elections, and executive nominations. The authors conclude with a discussion of the implications of this work for the study of social movements and call for more research on how visual landscapes influence audience understanding of both new and enduring issues. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Changes in the technologies of news production do not simply modify journalistic practices; they also introduce what might be considered technologically specific forms of work. These work forms are rooted in the affordances of novel technical capacities while also making claims about the journalistic nature of such work. How do journalists discuss the emergence of these technologically specific forms? When are new work forms seen as contributing to the practices of journalism and when are they seen as threatening it? Drawing on archival research of industry discussions, this article argues that such work is discussed in three distinct ways: (1) as exemplars of continuity; (2) as threats to be subordinated; and (3) as possibilities for journalistic reinvention. Each mode, it is argued, points to different understandings of the relationship between journalistic work and technology and carries different implications about the changing nature of journalistic work in the digital age. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

An examination of the 2005–2010 online archives of major American network news stations and newspapers reveals a troubling picture for music education. News stories frequently mention the disappearance of music education. When the media mention the existence of music education, they often promote it as a means of raising standardized test scores or “helping” troubled students. In contrast, the facts show that schools continue to value music education. Additionally, while music education may aid brain development, the link between music education and improved test scores remains inconclusive. Music educators should advocate for their programs using a variety of rationales as well as clear, concise language that evokes positive frames. Music educators should also consider focusing on exchanges in addition to advocacy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In an effort to adv ance decades of mass communication research on social capital and related indicators of social ties and civ ic engagement, this study prov ides an empirical assessment of social capital’s often discussed, but rarely tested, bonding and bridging dimensions. It examines how usage patterns of traditional news media (i. e. , newspaper and TV news) and online news media (i. e. , Internet news) are associated with bonding and bridging neighborliness, as defined by ethnicity. Analysis of data from a 2007 national surv ey demonstrates that traditional news media use—but not online news media use—is significantly associated with bonding neighborliness and bridging neighborliness. In addition, the relationship between traditional news media use and bonding neighborliness, as well as that between online news media use and bonding neighborliness, is more positiv e for Whites and Asians than for Blacks and Latinos. Results are discussed in terms of bonding and bridging social capital, ethnic media portrayals, and journalism and ethnicity in the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper employs a theoretical framework that combines political economy and cultural studies to uncover the forces driving the development of press freedom in early modern England, the British North America and France from the launch in 1640 of the English Short Parliament, which temporarily abolished censorship, to the French Revolution in 1789. The factors it found to be determinant were a transnational print technology, the public sphere, social movements and egalitarianism, not liberalism, the liberal ideologues and the nation-state highlighted in the dominant press-freedom theory. Going beyond the rights of commercial news media owners, which is a focus of the traditional press-freedom literature, it examines other manifestations of press freedom, including the use and ownership of the means of publication by formerly excluded groups (including women and tradesmen), publication in vernacular languages, new styles of expression (including ironic treatment of religious and political authorities), and a successful challenge to private monopolistic control over knowledge production, especially printing. This study offers a new theory of press freedom, undergirded by the claim that the production of rights occurs in the realm of social relations, which have cultural, economic and political dimensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents research on journalism in U.S. newspapers considering how sex is portrayed in news reports. Newspapers of various circulation sizes from four different U.S. regions published from 2004-2006 are studied for their depictions of sex in various forms of coverage including crime reporting, medical journalism and commercial journalism. The survey found that there were significant regional differences in the amount of stories dealing with sex, with Southern States newspapers presenting the most such stories, but that reporting on sex crimes was the most common form of article in which sex was a topic.

On May 11, 1921, the world’s most famous female scientist, Marie Curie, began a 10-week tour of the United States. Curie’s biographers have argued that instead of portraying Curie as a scientist, the American press’ emphasis on Curie’s role as a mother, widow, and healer created a mythic Curie with traditional female virtues that served to make this unconventional woman less threatening to traditional values. This article complicates that approach by considering coverage outside the daily press, such as magazines, which emphasized Curie’s accomplishments as a scientist. Tracing the development of Curie’s story in the press, the article offers insight into the way coverage of Curie’s trip both shaped and was shaped by notions of women’s place in science and American society. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Increasingly, scholars have come to see the news media as playing a pivotal role in shaping whether social movements are able to bring about broader social change. By drawing attention to movements’ issues, claims, and supporters, the news media can shape the public agenda by influencing public opinion, authorities, and elites. Why are some social movement organizations more successful than others at gaining media coverage? Specifically, what organizational, tactical, and issue characteristics enhance media attention? We combine detailed organizational survey data from a representative sample of 187 local environmental organizations in North Carolina with complete news coverage of those organizations in 11 major daily newspapers in the two years following the survey (2,095 articles). Our analyses reveal that local news media favor professional and formalized groups that employ routine advocacy tactics, mobilize large numbers of people, and work on issues that overlap with newspapers’ focus on local economic growth and well-being. Groups that are confrontational, volunteer-led, or advocate on behalf of novel issues do not garner as much attention in local media outlets. These findings have important implications and challenge widely held claims about the pathways by which movement actors shape the public agenda through the news media. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article considers the process by which local economic news coverage influences individual evaluations of the economy. We improve on prior research by capturing a wider range of news sources (including national network news, national newspapers, local television news, and local newspapers) and connecting the effects of this coverage on individual level attitudes. We find that current personal financial evaluations, personal financial expectations, and short-term (12-month) expectations for the U.S. economy are related to national network coverage. Local television coverage of the economy is related to personal financial evaluations but not short-term economic expectations and local print news is important in structuring expectations of future business conditions. Overall, the findings illustrate important differences in economic coverage across media outlets and the effects of these differences on economic expectations. Exposure to different sources of economic information have significantly different effects on economic perceptions--suggesting a more complicated and nuanced role for the news media in shaping economic perceptions than indicated by previous research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article measures and explains criticism in U.S. and French national newspapers during the 1990s and 2000s. Criticism is operationalized in terms of discrete critical statements directed at governmental, political party, business, civil society, and foreign/international organizations or officials; such critical statements, which take various forms-administrative, character, truth, ideology, policy, and strategy-offer a more comprehensive measure of criticism on a day-to-day basis than the occasional in-depth investigative report. While state intervention is often argued to have a censoring effect, this study finds that the more "statist" French press presents a greater density of criticisms than the U.S. press. French newspapers that receive the highest direct subsidies are not less critical of the government or dominant party than other French (or U.S.) newspapers. French newspapers exhibit a slightly higher degree of political parallelism, but in both countries newspapers tend to aim the greatest amount of criticism toward the party in power, whether Left or Right. Relatively higher French criticism is also facilitated by a distinctive French journalistic cultural form, the "debate ensemble," that, in contrast to U.S. "dramatic narrative," organizes the news as a clash of critical opposing viewpoints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How are the news media framing nanoscale science and technology? Primary concerns in the literature have been how news media weigh risks and benefits and how they classify nano with respect to news categories such as business, culture, discovery, or medicine. The authors contribute a new perspective by focusing on issue frames involving how stories imply responsibility for societal outcomes from technology. The authors develop four issue frames for stories about nanoscale science and technology: progress, regulation, conflict, and generic risk. These cut across the frame classifications and story tone assessments employed previously in the literature. Using data from the 10 largest U.S. newspapers for 1999-2008, the frequency of each frame over time is assessed. This study found that progress and generic risk frames, which deemphasize actors and responsibilities, dominated early coverage of nano but that frames involving regulation and the interplay of market incentives and regulatory responsibility mainly supplanted progress frames by 2007. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a conversation or a forum regarding political blog or pollblogging for elections campaign in mass media in the U.S. in 2008. One states that on the Democratic side of the campaign, it was Chris Dodd who was the best candidate that uses the blogs out of the race where he hired a crack Internet team. Another participant states that candidates and campaigns have used the blogsphere to communicate to bloggers and their audiences and to get their messages across their oppositions.

Scholarly research says much about national news coverage of the presidency. But there has been little exploration into local news coverage of the presidency, with much research focusing on presidential campaigns or a small subset of presidential news, his local visits. Based on a sample of 288 stories taken from 1995 of the Bill Clinton and 2003 of the George W. Bush administrations, I answer the following questions: What explains the amount of local newspaper coverage of the presidency and what influences the likelihood that local newspapers will cover the presidency, daily? Support for the president, corporate ownership, newspaper resources, and the location of the story itself affect the amount of local newspaper coverage of the president and the likelihood that a newspaper will publish a story on the presidency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The field of public diplomacy has lacked theoretical frameworks to guide research and practice. This article is an attempt to supply a potentially useful theoretical model. The cascading network activation model, developed to explain the spread and dominance of different framings of U.S. foreign policy in the American media, is extended here to the international communication process.The article focuses on how to theorize about the success and failure of efforts by the U.S. government to promote favorable framing of its policies in foreign news media.The success of these efforts, termed "mediated U.S. public diplomacy," depends most importantly on political cultural congruency between the United States and the targeted nation, as well as on the strategy, power, and motivations of foreign elites to promote positive news of the United States in their own media. The article explores the difficulties faced and the (less numerous) opportunities enjoyed by the U.S. president and administration to attain their objectives. The model proposed is generalizable to other countries' efforts to engage in mediated public diplomacy as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To explore the influence of international public relations on US news media and public perceptions of foreign nations, this study used a triangulation of methods by comparing public relations counsel for foreign nations, media content and public opinion data in 1998 and 2002. The results indicate that while the relationship between public relations counsel and media coverage was minimal at the level of object and substantive attribute salience, noteworthy linkages were observed with affective attribute salience. In general, public relations counsel was associated with a decrease in the amount of negative news coverage. At the level of individual news stories, it was connected to increased positive valence in media content. For the dimensions of news coverage associated with public relations, media salience was related to public salience and attitudes regarding foreign nations. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is a content analysis of 150 unique cases of children killing parents in the United States as reported in the electronic news media. The accuracy of online coverage of U.S. parricide incidents is assessed using two types of resources: officially reported national statistics on known parricidal incidents and the psychological and psychiatric literature on matricide and patricide. Comparisons of news accounts of media-reported U.S. parricide cases with Supplementary Homicide Report data indicate that electronic media coverage of parricide cases focused on the more sensational and unusual parricides. Analyses of these media accounts by offender age found 13 significant differences between juvenile and adult offenders. Ten of these 13 differences related to motive and Heide's parricide offender types (severely abused, severely mentally ill, and dangerously antisocial) and were consistent with the mental health-related literature in this area. The limitations and directions for future research are discussed at length. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research conducted in the United States and Canada shows that female candidates for political office are covered differently in the news than their male counterparts: Female candidates receive less coverage, their electoral prospects are more negatively assessed, and the focus of reporting is often on ‘soft’ issues compared with coverage of male candidates. We examine reporting during the 2005 Bundestag election campaign to assess the degree to which findings can be extended from North American and European contexts. Germany's first female chancellor candidate, Angela Merkel, and her male opponent, incumbent Chancellor Gerhard Schräder, were the main focus of campaign news. Drawing on an analysis of the four main evening national television newscasts and the most widely read newspaper in the six weeks prior to Election Day, we show that while the two candidates were rather equal in terms of visibility in the news, and did not differ substantially in terms of the issues on which they were reported, gender did play a considerable role in framing certain stories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Past research has shown that official actors have an advantage when it comes to accessing and framing political issues in the news media. This study examines the dynamics of official dominance and event-driven news from a comparative perspective, focusing on the Muhammad cartoons controversy. A model of official dominance and event-driven news, taking media system factors into account, is developed and tested using a quantitative and qualitative research design. The results show that an intolerance frame dominated over a freedom-of-speech frame in both the Swedish and the American elite press. Furthermore, although dramatic events opened windows of opportunity for unofficial actors, the consequences of intensified coverage for the ratio between unofficial and official voices were more profound in the United States. Finally, there is some evidence of more active journalistic framing in the Swedish papers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]