Copyright by Jaime Loke 2011
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Copyright by Jaime Loke 2011 The Dissertation Committee for Jaime Loke certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: AMPLIFYING A PUBLIC’S VOICE: Online news readers’ comments impact on journalism and its role as the new public space Committee: Dustin Harp, Supervisor Hsiang Iris Chyi Renita Coleman Robert Jensen Radhika Parameswaran AMPLIFYING A PUBLIC’S VOICE: Online news readers’ comments impact on journalism and its role as the new public space by Jaime Loke, B.A., M.A. Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Texas at Austin May 2011 Dedication For my mother, She climbed so I could soar. Acknowledgements This dissertation was built on the support of many shoulders. First and foremost, I am indebted to members of my committee who have gone above and beyond in helping me bring this dissertation from its inception to its completion. I am especially grateful to my amazing chair, Dustin Harp, whom I owe much of my success too. Dustin has been the beacon of grace, intellect and strength for me throughout this entire process. Her unwavering support and relentless encouragement was invaluable to my perseverance. Because she believed in me, I started to believe in myself. It is especially difficult for me to put into words my gratitude for Dustin because the depth of appreciation I have for her seems trivialized with words. At the very least, I can only hope she knows how very honored I am to have had her as my chair, and how fortunate I am to have been under her guidance. Dustin is the very example of a woman, a mentor, a professor and a scholar I hope to someday become. Robert Jensen has been a one-in-a-million kind of mentor. His honesty, guidance and care has led me to where I am today. It was in Bob’s office that the idea of this dissertation was first conceived. One of the most intelligent people I have ever met, I learned more from my interactions with Bob than I have in many other classes. I took advantage of Bob’s kindness – barging into his office unannounced whenever I needed advice, and he never turned me away. I will be eternally grateful to Bob for never sugar- coating anything for me and whose sage advice helped me achieve my many goals. I am a better person today because I had the privilege of knowing Bob Jensen. Thank you too to Radhika Parameswaran for agreeing to serve on this committee from miles away. It was Radhika who first told me to go to graduate school when I was v an undergraduate finishing up my final year at Indiana University. She told me that I would find fulfillment in academia, and she was absolutely right – as she often is. Conversations with Radhika always leave me feeling rejuvenated and more often than not, tickled with laughter. Her matter-of-factness and perspectives on issues are always refreshingly poignant. My gratitude also extends to Renita Coleman who always made time to talk about anything and everything, never too busy provide feedback on papers and who often brought a kind, human side to the sometimes rigid and stressful process of graduate school. Someone asked me once to describe Renita as a professor and I said: “If you tell Renita your goal, she will hand you a map of the shortest route on getting there.” I want to also thank Iris Chyi who made this process a much more enjoyable one with her unwavering support and believe in me. Her bursts of brilliance at the most unexpected moments made learning from her always fascinating! I am also grateful to the lifelong friendships I have been so fortunate to have formed in graduate school. Tania Cantrell, whose love and support is unparalleled; Ingrid Bachmann, the perfect research partner, who I cannot thank enough for SPSS help and for being so generous with her brilliance; Amy Zerba who always shared her experiences with me so I either do not repeat the mistakes or was able to mirror the triumphs and to Josh Grimm, whose humor made for some priceless moments. Finally I want to thank my family whose support and assistance was vital to the success of this journey. My partner for the past six years, Garrett Allen, who was always my loudest and proudest cheerleader. My baby sister, Jesmin Loke, who patiently (or impatiently at times) served as my coder, who was the receiving end of my many rants, who bribed canines with cookies so I could have bark-free phone interviews, who dog-sat while I jet-setted across the country, and who cooked and cleaned so I could interview, vi transcribe, code, analyze and write in peace. This dissertation would have been unimaginable without her support. And lastly but not at all in the least, I dedicate this dissertation to my mother. My mother has always been my pillar of support and my source of strength. I know no stronger woman, I know no greater love. Mom, this would be but just a dream without you. vii AMPLIFYING A PUBLIC’S VOICE: Online news readers’ comments impact on journalism and its role as the new public space Jaime Loke, Ph.D. The University of Texas at Austin, 2011 Supervisor: Dustin Harp This dissertation is concerned with the impact online news readers comments have on the role of journalists and the implication it carries in shifting private sentiments onto a public space. Online news readers comments have recently grown in popularity and journalists across the United States are divided on how best to host this new public space. Drawing perspectives from new forms of journalism, sociological studies in race and gender, critical race and feminist studies, this dissertation focuses on a) the challenges of news organizations as hosts of this new public space and b) the racist and sexist discourse generated by audiences of certain online news stories. This dissertation employs a multi-method research design that combines a large scale survey of journalists in the United States, in-depth interviews with journalists, content analysis and a discourse analysis of online news readers comments from five selected news stories with strong race and/or gender elements in order to 1) gain journalists’ perspectives in this new electronic landscape and 2) examine the content of the comments that pose the most challenges to journalists in terms of hosting this space. viii The survey and interviews revealed how journalists are divided in wanting to serve their public by providing a space for dialogue but yet refusing to host hate. Faced with this challenge within the new electronic landscape, a majority of journalists are left on their own to determine how best to handle this new public space with hardly any guidance or support from news managers. The analysis of the comments showed that the articulations of race and gender in the discourse were not erratic expressions of a minority but instead repertories of racism and sexism that mirrored the string of findings from race and gender scholars. This dissertation finds that online news readers comments section have emerged as the space for unconstrained expressions to flourish without the constraints of political correctness and within the safe confines of anonymity. ix Table of Contents List of Tables ...................................................................................................... xiv INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................1 Chapter 1: Morphing of the private onto the public ................................................1 The role of the press........................................................................................4 Singular sphere, multiple spaces.....................................................................5 Readers' comments section: Panacea or poison? ............................................6 A utopia upended ............................................................................................8 The public space: Is it for everyone in the public? .........................................9 The ban on bigotry: Multiculturalism's masking of inequality.....................12 The cultivation and growth of politcal correctness.......................................15 Hosting hate: Moving from marginalized to the mainstream .......................17 Overview of dissertation goals .....................................................................18 Overview of research questions and methodological approaches ................20 Outline of the dissertation.............................................................................22 BACKGROUND ..................................................................................................26 Chapter 2: The history and foundation of the United States' Fourth Estate .............. ......................................................................................................................26 Journalism's original role: Hosts of the public's discourse ...........................28 Public sphere theory......................................................................................29 Singular public sphere ................................................................32 Idealization of the bourgeois public sphere ................................33 Constricting discourse forced to a consensus .............................34 Rigid talk.....................................................................................33 Private vs. public matters............................................................35