DOCUMENT RESUME ED 401 562 CS 215 570 TITLE Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (79th, Anaheim, CA, August 10-13, 1996). Mass Communication and Society Division. INSTITUTION Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. PUB DATE Aug 96 . NOTE 537p.; For other sections of these proceedings, see CS 215 568-580. PUB TYPE Collected Works Conference Proceedings (021) EDRS PRICE MF02/PC22 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Agenda Setting; Crime; Headlines; *Mass Media Role; *Mass Media Use; Media Research; Newspapers; Organizational Communication; *Parent Role; Political Attitudes; Terrorism; World Wide Web IDENTIFIERS Environmental Reporting; Gulf War; Journalists; Local Media; *Media Coverage; Slang; War on Drugs ABSTRACT The mass communication and society section of the Proceedings contains the following 17 papers: "Deviance in News Coverage of On-Line Communications: A Print Media Comparison" (Lisa M. Weidman); "Political Tolerance of Environmental Protest: The Roles of Generalized and Specialized Information" (Catherine A. Steele and Carol M. Liebler); "First Ladies: A Look at Coverage in Two Major Newspapers" (Erica Scharrer and Jacqueline Arnold); "Agenda-Setting with an Ethnic-Relevant Topic: Ethnicity and Public Salience of Illegal Immigration" (Michael B. Salwen and Frances R. Matera); "Media Dependency Theory and'the Perception of Violence in Professional Ice Hockey" (Quint B. Randle); "The Mediating Role of Public Mood: New Explorations in the Relationship between Media Use and Political Knowledge/Attitudes" (Ekaterina Ognianova and others); "Finding the Smoking Gun: Local Media and Community Ties" (Debra Merskin and Mara Huberlie); "Roles Journalists Play: An Examination of Journalists' Roles as Manifested in Samples of Their Best Work" (Divya C. McMillin); "Online Cities: Are They Building a Virtual Public Sphere or Expanding Consumption Communities?" (Sally J. McMillan and Kathryn B. Campbell); "Drug Problems and Government Solutions: A Frame Analysis of Front-Page Newspaper Headlines about the Drug Issue, 1987-1994" (Robert W. Leweke); "The Press and the Not-So-Mean Streets: The Relative Influence of the Media on Public Knowledge of Crime Rates" (Thomas J. Johnson and others); "On the N- and F-Words: Quantifying the Taboo" (Paul Martin Lester); "Building the Terrorism Agenda, 1981-1994: The Media, the President and Real World Cues" (Patrick M. Jablonski and Christopher Sullivan); "'Sports Illustrated', 'The War on Drugs,' and the Anabolic Steroid Control Act of 1990: A Study in Agenda Building and Political Timing" (Bryan Denham); "News from Hell before Breakfast: The Clash of Military and Media Cultures during the Persian Gulf War" (Jay DeFrank); "The Private Line: How Theodore Vail of AT&T Invoked the Concept of 'Public Interest' to Enhance the Company's Position as a Monopoly" (Kerry Anderson Crooks); and "The Paradox of Parenting Magazines: Cultivation Theory and Information Seeking" (Valerie Barker and David Dozier). Individual papers contain references. (RS) Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (79th, Anaheim, CA, August 10-13, 1996). Mass Communication & Society Division. PERMISSION TOREPRODUCE AND U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement DISSEMINATE THISMATERIAL ED CATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION HAS BEEN GRANTEDBY CENTER (ERIC) This document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization it4QG-ja_ originating it. Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. RESOURCES TO THE EDUCATIONAL Points of view or opinions stated in this (ERIC) document do not necessarily represent INFORMATION CENTER official OERI position or policy. BEST COPY AVAILABLE, 2 Deviance in News Coverage of On-line Communications 1 Running Head: Deviance in News Coverage of On-line Communications Deviance in News Coverage of On-line Communications: A Print Media Comparison Lisa M. Weidman S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications Syracuse University Author Information: Address: 225 Cambridge Street, Syracuse, New York 13210 Phone: (315) 423-7902 E-mail: [email protected] 3 Deviance in News Coverage of On-line Communications2 Abstract This study advances the argument that deviance is employed as a component of newsworthiness to varying degrees by different types of information providers. The author examines coverage of on-line communications in specialized and general interest publications and compares them in terms of four dimensions of deviance (conflict, sensationalism, prominence, and novelty) and finds that newspaper articles have more conflict and sensationalism than articles in more specialized publications, specifically business publications and computer magazines. Deviance in News Coverage of On-line Communications3 Deviance in News Coverage of On-line Communications: A Print Media Comparison INTRODUCTION In recent years, residents of the United States have witnessed the emergence of a new mass medium: on-line communications. Commercial on-line services, such as CompuServe, Prodigy, and America Online, as well as a number of internet access providers, have made it possible for a great number of people (approximately 30 million, so farl) to make use of this medium, which was previously only available to universities and research institutions. With the increase in the number of users has come considerable media coverage of on-line developments. In 1994 the phrase "information superhighway" became the buzzword, and motoring metaphors were published ad nauseam, thanks in part to President Clinton and Vice President Gore, who put the subject on the national agenda. News coverage of on-line developments took several forms: level- headed reporting of what actually exists today, speculation about future possibilities, and exaggerations of both the opportunities and the hazards of the "infobahn." Meanwhile, a vast array of legal and ethical problems have cropped up on the internet and the commercial on-line services. Theft, fraud, libel, sexual harassment, invasion of privacy, obscenity, and child pornography are among the crimes allegedly being committed on-line. Many of these developments have been deemed newsworthy,as well. Much of this coverage has involved speculation as to how existing communications laws and regulations will (or won't) be applied to on-line communications. Though still in its formative years, on-line communication provides a plethora of research opportunities for communications scholars. Existing media 1 As reported in Money magazine by L. Graham, "Eight good reasons to go on-line." December, 1994, p. 110. 5 Deviance in News Coverage of On-line Communications4 effects theories can be tested in this new arena, and on-line content can be analyzed and compared to that of other media. The extensive traditional media coverage of on-line developments provides an excellent opportunity for researchers to further examine influences on news content. Taking advantage of that opportunity, this study continues a line of inquiry into the role deviance plays in news selection by looking at how different types of print media have reported on the legal issues regarding on-line communications. I hypothesize that there is a difference in the coverage offered by newspapers, as opposed to more specializedpublications, such as the general business press and computer magazines. THEORY Influences on News Content The study of news content is closely associated with some long-standing mass communication models. In their introduction to The Manufacture of News (1981), editors Stanley Cohen and Jock Young identify two "polarized traditions" (p. 13) with regard to news content. These are the mass manipulative or hegemony model and the market or commercial model (p. 13). The mass manipulative model sees the media as controlled by a "monolithic and powerful source" in the service of the ruling class and used to "mystify and manipulate the public" (p. 13). This model is derived from Marxist theory and the writings of Antonio Gramsci. The market model "argues that there is variety and diversity in the information and opinions presented by the mass media and that such variation minimizes the chances of manipulation. Principles such as 'give the public what it wants' (and their commercial implications), rather than some manipulative conspiracy, are what determine how the media select and present information" (p. 13). The market model has recently been explicated by John McManus (1994) in response to a trend among media owners to applythe market model intentionally Deviance in News Coverage of On-line Communications5 especially the "give the public what it wants" aspectto their news operations to better facilitate the selling of the news (p.1). Under "market-driven journalism," as McManus calls it, the reader is a "customer," the news is a "product," and the circulation or signal area is a "market" (p. 1). McManus equates this trend with the trend toward concentrated ownership. "As newspapers, television stations, even the networks, have been sold by the families of those entrepreneurs [who started them] to investors on Wall Street, more and more of the nation's news is being produced by corporations whose stockholders seek to maximize return on their investment" (p. 1), which explains why the jargon of MBA programs and corporate boardrooms has been applied to news and its recipients. Proponents of the hegemony model include