Honors Theses (Journalism and Communication)
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Item Open Access Assessing the Prevalence of Prescribed Fire in Pacific Northwest Wildfire Media Coverage(University of Oregon, 2024) Wilson, NathanAs climate change alters landscapes and exacerbates natural hazards like wildfires, people increasingly experience anxiety, dread, and loss, all of which negatively impact mental health. When the print media reports on wildfire events, previous research has shown that newspapers primarily focus on immediate developments, such as acres burned and containment efforts, rather than offering comprehensive discussion of wildfire, including strategies to mitigate future wildfire risk. Prescribed fire is one strategy to do so, and many ecosystems across the Pacific Northwest would readily benefit from more frequent, low-severity fire. This study seeks to determine whether print media in the Pacific Northwest follows a solutions journalism framework in their wildfire coverage, which, by highlighting solutions to prevalent problems, can provide readers with a greater sense of optimism and self-efficacy. Through content analysis, this study examines how often the Post Register, Idaho Spokesman, The Oregonian, The Register-Guard, The Seattle Times, and The Spokesman-Review mentioned prescribed fire in their coverage both during and outside of wildfire events, and the tone of that coverage, from 2010 to 2023. It found that major Pacific Northwest newspapers rarely mentioned prescribed fire when reporting on wildfires, but provided more coverage and more positive coverage of prescribed fire disconnected from specific wildfire events during the study period. These results show that large circulation print media outlets in the Pacific Northwest had positive coverage of prescribed fire overall, but relatively narrow coverage of wildfire events from a solutions journalism perspective.Item Open Access Ethics in the Public Relations Professional World: A Guide For Those Entering the Field(University of Oregon, 2024-05) Winz, AprilThis research project explores ethics in professional practice within the public relations and communications field, particularly in the context of higher education. Through qualitative one-on-one interviews, it investigates how practitioners navigate ethical considerations in their daily work and overall career. Findings reveal a gap between ethical parameters valued in the field and their practical implementation, highlighting a lack of training and support systems. As a result, participants have felt compelled to independently navigate ethical dilemmas throughout their career, and that college did not fully equip them with the tools they needed to do so. Drawing from these findings, the project proposes practical strategies such as mentorship, interactive and discussion-based workshops, and integration of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) values to foster ethical decision-making in the field. The culmination of this research is encapsulated in a user-friendly guide tailored for college students, recent graduates, and new professionals entering the public relations and communications field. This guide offers actionable insights and advice drawn from real-world experiences, aiming to equip emerging professionals with the tools to find and uphold ethical standards throughout their careers.Item Open Access Generation Z's Hidden Social Media Rule Book(2019-06) Kissinger, TaylorThis study explores how Generation Z’s behavioral expectations for each other on social media impact their relationships, health, and overall well-being. According to a 2016 study published in the Journal of Adolescence, about half of the time that teens spend on the internet is dedicated to social media. Adolescents experience heightened pressure to be active on social media out of fear of becoming “irrelevant” or fading into the background of their friends’ social circles. In addition, previous studies have shown that young people are experiencing heightened levels of depression, lack of sleep, problematic social media usage, and social media addiction. Unlike any previous research, this study looks at the intersection of social media usage with inter/intrapersonal relationships and wellness. Generation Zers who consistently use social media think about how their online activity could be perceived by their friends. Due to social media’s transparency in revealing real-time activity, the digital landscape has created an authentic level of complexity to relationships and a coinciding unspoken set of social standards to abide by online. I predict that these hidden norms are pervasive and relevant in the minds of Generation Z, that Gen Zers individually hold themselves to lower social media standards than their peers, and that social media expectations negatively impact their real-life friendships. Eighty-four participants completed a scenario-based survey that gauged how they would feel or react in a situation on a given social media platform. The results show that social media is no longer an outside element from interpersonal communication; it is an entangled third entity that can genuinely alter a friendship. The participants’ responses reveal that social media standards vary for each individual and also on each social media platform. Gen Z is the first generation to grow up with social media as a vital part of their social landscape. Consequently, because no one has navigated behavioral standards before them, the Generation Z social media rule book is messy and disjointed. Young people are not on the same wavelength about what is and is not acceptable behavior on social media.Item Open Access Agenda Setting and Framing International News at the Headline(2019-06) Niedermeyer, JillianModern media is predominantly controlled by large organizations, and even more by first-world, ‘Western’ countries, known in communication studies as ‘core nations.’ This study explores the intersection of international mass communication studies and the traditional communication theoretical studies of agenda setting and framing. This thesis is guided by three key research questions that ask how these theories create audience salience, how it occurs at the headline level, and the overall implications of this use. Using headlines collected from two different news sources, the Washington Post and the British Broadcasting Corporation, I analyzed over 700 headlines to evaluate how journalists in these countries frame stories about other countries and, for the Washington Post, their own. This research found that the majority of international news stories are framed negatively and only arise when an impactful incident occurs to make the country timely. Whether or not these organizations frame foreign countries as the ‘other’ is inconclusive. Ultimately, the elements of conflict and novelty in a story are the most predictive of story salience. Additionally, this study found a critical correlation between a country’s world economic influence and the frequency of headlines about it. Moving forward, this study could gain from studying how each country’s journalists write about their own countries versus how they write about international news, not looking only at two English-speaking countries; it could benefit from a two-sided approach. Additionally, it could benefit from looking at additional news sources over an extended period of time to get a more complete understanding.Item Open Access Issue Salience and Data Visualization(University of Oregon, 2017) Coates, ErinInteractive data visualizations have created a new way for online journalists to tell a story. With the overwhelming amount of data available, these visualizations make it easier to compare similar data. The data available on different controversial topics from vaccination rates to mass shootings in the United States could actually make a real impact on comprehension of complex topics. This is where interactive data visualizations come into play. Journalists, designers, and computer programmers team up to create new ways to tell stories based on data so the audience can learn from it and draw their own conclusions. This topic is important to look into because with more newspapers and magazines moving into online platforms, there is a growing need for different story telling techniques to grasp the attention of readers. The goal of this project is to see if the salience of controversial topics are affected upon seeing a data visualization, a traditional story or a mix of both. Whether or not interactive data visualizations are making a real difference has not been investigated. The specific research question of this project is: Does the use of data visualization in online media affect the salience of the story from the audience’s perspective? Journalists and data collectors alike can draw from this research to determine whether or not audiences will pay more attention to story forms where they are able to draw their own conclusions based on what they see in front of them.Item Open Access NPR Purposes Revisited: Economic Pressures and the Mission of National Public Radio in the 21st Century(2008-06) Seymour, William DonaldThis paper examines the developments in National Public Radio to determine if the network is fulfilling its original mission in the present day. It is an opportune time to examine NPR' s current mission because it is facing several new challenges. National Public Radio has had to adjust to the emergence of rival distribution networks such as American Public Media and Public Radio International. NPR is coming to terms with the fact that its audience is aging and is only slowly becoming more diverse. Public radio knows these things about itself because it has commissioned extensive audience research over the last two decades. This research in one major source of information for this paper, but I also made broad analyses of a few public radio programs as well as interviewed several industry professionals. By drawing on these sources, I conclude that National Public Radio is incapable of executing its full vision in today's radio market. NPR is unable to be a broadly based diverse service because it is forced to specialize in news programming in order to maintain a loyal audience that will continue to fund the network.Item Open Access The uses and gratifications of communication in virtual spaces: media depictions of Second Life, 2002-2008(University Of Oregon, 2008-07) Cummings, Nicholas MichaelAs modem culture begins to embrace the Internet as a social medium, new programs such as Linden Lab's Second Life raise questions about what an audience can expect from new interactive media. By utilizing the media studies theory of Uses and Gratifications, this paper analyzes media coverage of Second Life over six years, from its earliest roots to its modem state as an interactive virtual world.Item Open Access Message design theory in anti-methamphetamine PSAs : a case study of the Montana meth project(University of Oregon, 2008-06) Malstrom, Stacey NicoleMy interest in this research lies specifically in investigating how message design theories work in and are applied to anti-drug messages. I pay particular attention to which aspects of the messages are effective and how this knowledge confirms, expands, or contradicts current approaches to designing anti-drug campaigns. This research focuses primarily on anti-methamphetamine messages because of the expanding awareness of and attention paid to this wide-reaching epidemic. Although the history of meth, and its effects on communities and individual health are important to this story, they are presented here as context for the more critical issue of how to change attitudes toward methamphetamines through the mass media.Item Open Access As the streets burned: a comparison of the coverage of the 2005 Paris riots(University of Oregon, 2007-06) Blakley, JuliannaThis is a study of the historical context of the 2005 Paris riots and a comparison of the coverage in the American and French press, Specifically, it examined a three-week period of coverage of the riots from October 28-November 21,2005, in four newspapers: The New York Times, the Washington Post, Le Monde and Le Figaro. The articles were looked at in both a quantitative and qualitative manner, assessing how many articles appeared, what topics they covered and how they were framed. While there were many fundamental differences in visual content and editorial stance, there were also many similarities in the percentage of articles that appeared on the outlined topic areas. There was also an editorial battle that occurred in the two newspapers, with the French attacking the American press for sensationalizing the riots.Item Open Access Journeys into self & others : voices from North Northeast Portland, a visual documentary(University of Oregon, 2002-06) Dixon, Ariane ChristineNorth Northeast Portland, Oregon is a predominantly African American community that has a long history of racial strife, as well as economic and social turmoil. Gentrification has caused many urban renewal projects to change the face of the community, both physically and psychologically. This process of change has been inflicted upon the community members. This thesis begins to present the voices and feelings of North Northeast Portland residents by exploring the history of the neighborhood and introducing readers to two residents of the area who have given their lives to helping North Northeast Portland and thrive. Accompanying this documentary is an investigation of the theoretical methods of ethnography and photojournalism employed for this study.Item Open Access Tanuki Magazine- Japanese Culture Worldwide(University of Oregon, 2005-06) Ortland, Kathryn RuthRich with tradition and ripe with nostalgic imagery, Japan captivates the Western mind. Japanese culture was almost unknown in the West two hundred years ago, yet its influences today permeate entertainment media worldwide. Though the popularity of Japanese music, movies, and animation is increasing cultural exposure to Japan, few resources exist to provide honest and educational information on Japanese ways of life. The unfortunate result is that the average American is far better acquainted with Hollywood stereotypes of Japan than with the real thing. TANUKI is a magazine that fills the deficit in coverage of Japanee popular and traditional culture outside of the entertainment market. It is designed as a travel-centric cultural interest magazine for readers who seek the hidden influences, new trends, and lingering traditions of Japan.