Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly

Journalism and mass communication research is underutilizing structural equation modeling (SEM) for the purposes of specifying, estimating, and evaluating measurement models. The analytical exercises undertaken for this essay reveal SEM-based confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to be a multifaceted tool that can aid researchers in generating greater understanding of the measurement elements of their research endeavors. Secondary analyses of 2014 World Values Survey (N = 9,901) data emphasize the following: testing competing models, model identification, proper evaluation of covaried error terms, absolute and incremental model fit statistics, the chi-square distributed test statistic, model equivalency, multiple-group models, and assessing equality constraints.

This study examined the joint effect of message and personality attributes on online news sharing. In two experiments (N = 270, N = 275), readers indicated their likelihood to share news representing two content domains and three informational utility dimensions. A moderated mediation path analysis was used. On average, news consumers shared news containing informational utility. Opinion leaders shared news irrespective of informational utility because they discerned informational utility in news that, objectively speaking, lacked such utility. In one experiment, opinion leaders also were more likely than nonleaders to share news perceived to contain informational utility.

Gatekeeping theory and the hierarchy of influences model were used as a framework to analyze democratic norm development in Iraq. The study developed three watchdog gatekeeping models that could be adapted for other conflict or postdictatorship environments or modified for longtime democracies. The study used hierarchical regression to analyze forces that influenced attitudes of 588 Iraqi journalists in their gatekeeping role. Individual-level forces, followed by ideological-level forces, contributed the most toward watchdog gatekeeping attitudes toward access to government meetings, and news media routine forces contributed the most toward influencing attitudes toward access to government records.

This study aims to understand dynamic agenda-building and agenda-setting processes between real-world indicators, public expectations (PEs), and aggregated news on the general economy and unemployment for the four most popular general news outlets in Germany from 2002 to 2011: two public service, a commercial news show, and a tabloid newspaper. Vector autoregression models and Granger causality tests reveal that (1) news tone (NT) relates to real-world indicators; (2) PEs for the general economy and unemployment are partly set by the tone of news on the general economy, especially during recession times; and (3) PEs can forecast the future real-world economy.

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.

Media contain various cues to opinions of others and therefore serve as an important source of information about the climate of opinion. We distinguish explicit cues directly describing opinion distributions in society, from implicit cues lacking such a direct reference. In an experiment, we examined the relative impact of survey data (explicit cue) and arguments (implicit cue) on climate of opinion judgments. While survey results strongly affected assessments, argumentation had an effect only when no survey information was available. However, arguments produced an indirect effect, as they strongly affected personal opinions, which in turn influenced climate of opinion judgments (projection).

A main goal of John T. Scopes’ supporters during his 1925 trial for teaching evolution in Tennessee was to educate the public on evolution science through newspapers. This paper argues that, though journalists, lawyers, and scholars expected newspaper coverage to make Americans smarter about evolution, little effort was devoted to that aim. Rather, a preference for conflict and an emerging professional objectivity resulted in more confusion than clarity, just as news coverage of evolution and other controversial science issues does today.

Conceptualizing journalism as a paradigm, we analyze 193 journalistic texts responding to Juan Williams’ 2010 dismissal from NPR for comments made on Fox News. We found three dominant themes. First, journalists appeared unsure of Williams’ role within the journalistic paradigm, indicative of the role confusion that characterizes contemporary journalism. Second, journalists invoked the objectivity norm despite its incongruity with the case, evidence of a paradigm grasping for certainties at a time of industry upheaval. Finally, journalists used Williams as a proxy to engage the public in a dialogue on the responsibilities of the commentator.

Utilizing a 2 (race) × 2 (sex) × 3 (response strategy) factorial experiment, this study interrogates the extent to which an athlete’s race and gender impacts the image repair process, specifically within the hypermediated realm of athlete transgressions. Using a national sample of 287 participants, results supported for the effectiveness of the mortification strategy above reducing offensiveness and evading responsibility strategies. Moreover, regardless of the transgression response, Black athletes were consistently rated more positively than their White athletic counterparts, deviating from the majority of prior research. Discussion of the role of the Black athlete is offered in light of the unexpected findings, with explanations postulated based on expectancy violation theory and the principle of covariance.