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This article traces the five-decade legacy of a classic volume, Current Perspectives in Mass Communication Research, edited by Kline and Tichenor, published in 1972. After charting the epistemological origins of the book, the paper describes the particular confluence of factors—conceptual, university-based, interpersonal, and the forging of a propitious professional relationship between the book's co-editor and Sage Publications—that explain the provenance and critical impact of the book. The paper notes the contributions, shortcomings, and strengths of the 1972 volume, reflecting on the unique role the book played in the development of journalism and mass communication research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the authors discuss articles published in the issue celebrating the journal's 100th anniversary, including reviews of books on journalism and mass communication and essays on research published in the journal in the past 100 years.

Copyright of Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports which trace the globalization of research and news exposure among diverse audiences, including factors that influence perceptions of news representations of Latinxs and Hispanics, the effects of multiplatform social media use on news engagement and selective exposure, and the publication trends of BRICS countries and their output in communication and media studies between 2012 and 2021.

Copyright of Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The earliest recommendation for an American press council appears in A Free and Responsible Press (1947), the report of the Commission on Freedom of the Press. Few people know that Commission chair Robert Maynard Hutchins and two allies between 1959 and 1962 tried to create the press council. They wanted an organization that would evaluate television as well as print, and entertainment as well as news, with Adlai Stevenson as chair, Edward R. Murrow as staff director, Henry R. Luce as a major funder, and an elite university as a base. In substantial part because of resistance from the universities, they failed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores how fact-checkers understand information disorder in Ibero-America, in particular the COVID-19 disinformation. We conducted a quantitative content analysis of the LatamChequea Coronavirus alliance database and in-depth interviews with journalists from the network. Evidence found that one of the most prevalent disinformation topics was the government's restrictive measures, threatening to jeopardize the effectiveness of public health campaigns. This, added to disinformation that eroded the trust in the institutions and the press, and the opacity of governments constituted a political crisis in Ibero-America. Under this scenario, fact-checkers created relevant journalistic collaborations and strategies to fight disinformation in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication and the commitment to CSR in practice, specifically on the topic of employee diversity. A large-scale textual analysis is used to investigate CSR communication and the factors that differentiate news organizations. By integrating the scholarship on CSR communication, journalism, and management, the article furthers the understanding of ways news organizations publicly signal the implementation of diversity practices. In addition, the article proves useful as news organizations seek ways to institutionalize their CSR communications and evaluate their own commitments to diversity initiatives as an organizational priority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the implications of market-driven journalism for daily newspaper content. Impact of market-driven journalism on U.S. news organizations; Reasons for the controversial nature of market-oriented journalism; Topics covered in papers with relatively strong and weak market orientations.

This article utilizes theoretical concepts of sensemaking and affective events theory to analyze and interpret what type of harassment events journalists experience from readers, viewers, and strangers, and their subsequent emotional responses. Findings indicated journalists experience three forms of harassment at work from those external to the newsroom, and that women not only receive more sexual harassment than men, but they experience more overall harassment, from viewers, readers, and strangers. When examining affective reactions, men say they experience emotions of anger when harassed. Women, however, noted emotions of anger when experiencing sexual harassment, and emotions of fear when experiencing incivility and disruptive harassment and personally attacking harassment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on interviews with journalists during the 2020 racial justice protests, this study uses field theory and doxa to explore to what extent journalists who cover social justice issues are redrawing the boundary between journalism and activism. I use #BlackoutTuesday and journalists' discourse about posting black squares on Instagram in support of #BlackLivesMatter to examine social media's role in evolving perceptions about objectivity and stance-taking. Journalists saw social media as creating an opening for objectivity to move from an orthodox value to a debatable heterodox one. I argue these journalists acted as change agents, reforming the journalist field from within. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This quantitative content analysis applies the theory of instrumental actualization to Swiss newspaper coverage of smoking bans in public places. The theory holds that journalists' opinions affect news selection; it is studied here for the weighting and evaluation of arguments in news stories. The editorial stance of newspapers was related to the weighting of argumentative fields and the frequency of contradiction of different standpoints. Therefore, elements of both a dialectical (papers of different stance explicitly contradicting one another) and a rhetorical (papers of different stance speaking of different matters) model of discourse were [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article views news as an archetypal journalistic genre. Informed by different approaches to theorizing journalism and communication, it proposes a constitutive model of journalistic metadiscourse, based on features of news, journalistic practices, and theoretical underpinnings. The proposed model is a metaparadigm composed of fundamental ethical principles and attributes comprising several dimensions of metatheoretical orientations. The principles and attributes constitute a framework for interpreting journalistic discourses. The article offers conceptual tools that can be used in researching and reflecting upon contemporary journalistic discourses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assesses the importance of subgroup influence within the context of higher-level predictors of design variability, including newspaper competition and usability of technology. Impact of variability in newspaper design on the paper's economic and cultural trends; Traditional predictors of design variability; Influence of occupational subgroups in newsrooms.

Through a comparative analysis of Spanish newspaper coverage of the 1918 flu and COVID-19 pandemics, this article explores the parallels between them, their roles in reflecting and facilitating public perceptions of infectious diseases, the national dialogues they incite, and the search for solutions in a global health crisis. I use qualitative analysis to interpret media themes of contagion as they shift from societal complacency to panic as disaster unfolds. In weaving together Philip Strong's model for epidemic psychology and Jim A. Kuypers's rhetorical approach to news framing, I analyze how newspapers communicate changing assumptions about epidemiologic risks during pandemics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This comparative case study of two community news organizations takes a Resource Dependence approach in assessing impact of audience metrics on news decisions, and on mechanisms underlying these decisions. Findings show that the organization that more strongly emphasizes metrics publishes fewer in-depth civic-issue stories, and metrics are more likely to influence newsworthiness. However, reporters' expertise with strategies for increasing numbers may actually free reporters for enterprise work. Findings also suggest effects from community size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic forced unprecedented changes upon journalists in the United States as they attempted to cover the story while adhering to the same stay-at-home orders as the rest of the public. This study used organizational support theory to investigate the stress associated with the logistics of coverage early in the pandemic and how perceived organizational support played a role in either alleviating or adding to that stress. In total, 222 journalists responded to a survey sent out during the first few weeks of the stay-at-home orders issued across the United States. Results revealed varying degrees of logistical support provided by news organizations with nearly one quarter receiving no supplies, technology, or extra training at all. Greater perceived organizational support was associated with lower levels of stress and higher levels of work commitment. Female journalists and those who were younger and less experienced felt significantly more stress associated with pandemic coverage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research highlights mechanisms underlying transparency's influence on news engagement, as contingent upon perceptions of the news media's importance (PNMI). Employing an experimental design with randomized exposure to a transparency feature and contrasting source (regional vs. national newspaper) attributions, the study provides evidence of transparency fostering increased message credibility and (indirectly) news engagement. Transparency's indirect relationship with engagement intentions was shown to be strongest when average/high in PNMI. Notably, transparency's effect did not vary by source attribution and was demonstrated with only one of the two stories featured in the study—further highlighting limitations of transparency as a solution for declining news trust and engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the way journalists talk about themselves and negotiate authority with sources, audiences, and media policy in a postconflict, developmental authoritarian state. Grounded in concepts of metajournalistic discourse and authority, the study shows how members of the journalism field in some contexts embrace a narrative that limits autonomy and situates them as untrustworthy social actors. Interviews collected over a 7-month period in Rwanda show that a shared sense of untrustworthiness defines the contemporary boundaries of the Rwandan journalism field. The findings also suggest that consensus-oriented or postconflict social contexts might encourage journalists to adopt less autonomous social roles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines how newsroom work in the United States has changed in response to some of the latest developments in the news media environment. Using nationally representative survey data, we explore what professional routines American journalists have adopted to avoid spreading or being accused of publishing misinformation. Findings suggest that journalists have added new or intensified practices to increase accountability and transparency. In addition, role conceptions, perception of fake news, and responsibility for social media audiences impact the adoption of such practices. Journalists are more likely to embrace transparency than accountability, suggesting the emergence of new journalistic norms in today's newsrooms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the author discusses book reviewers and reviewing.

This study aims to deepen our understanding of the persuasive effects of exemplars in the news by addressing the role of character depiction. Exemplification theory and narrative persuasion research are integrated to shed light on the psychological mechanisms mediating the persuasive effect. Two replicative field experiments (N = 389) were conducted manipulating the depiction of the character within a print news article in three factor levels (no exemplification, external view, and internal view). Regardless of the depiction of the character, presence of an exemplar increased narrative involvement that mediated indirect effects on message-consistent attitudes and behavioral intentions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reports on the results of a four-year case study of organizational development at the "Saint Louis Post-Dispatch," a newspaper founded by Joseph Pulitzer. Connection between change initiatives and producing a better newspaper; Challenges faced by the paper at the end of the 20th century; Contribution of "Saint Louis Post-Dispatch" editor Cole C. Campbell to the field of journalism.

The shift toward digital distribution has led newspapers to adopt data collection and sharing practices with unexplored ethical consequences. Analysis of the privacy policies of the 15 largest U.S. newspapers reveals what is permitted with regard to the capture of newsreader data and the sharing of such data with advertisers, affiliated companies, and social media. These practices and the related news metrics and analytics are critiqued in light of journalism's democratic role and traditional support of citizenship. The conclusion offers six recommendations to begin to address these ethical dilemmas through greater transparency and more reader control over data handling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Immediately following dramatic events, news reporting must be both fast and accurate. In an attempt to reconcile the inherent conflict between these two ambitions, journalists often use disclaimers, for example, "unconfirmed" or "reports of." These disclaimers allow for the rapid publication of less than reliable content. The results from our survey experiment suggest that strong disclaimers, as intended, do lower the perceived reliability of stories among news consumers. Furthermore, the results indicate that the context influences the effectiveness of disclaimers. It appears that in a crisis environment, such as after a large terrorist attack, individuals are less sensitive to disclaimers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental nongovernmental organizations faced unprecedented opportunities after public interest in environmental issues exploded in the 1960s. Drawing on the official archives of the Wilderness Society, the Sierra Club, and the National Audubon Society, this study demonstrates how these organizations redeveloped their publications to take advantage of newfound public interest and political opportunities in the 1960s through the 1980s. The organizations adopted professional journalistic norms and practices in their publications to court mass appeal and gain political legitimacy, but their journalistic endeavors were hampered by internal disagreements over the use of journalism as an advocacy tool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares how eighty reporters from three media--print, online, and radio--obtained a sample of their items, seeking to establish which of two schools of thought is closer to reality: scholars who contend that each news medium embodies a unique "regime" of content creation, or those who argue that the different media maintain similar news reporting standards. A series of face-to-face reconstruction inter- views with reporters from nine leading Israeli national news organizations suggests that the three media are not unique factories of news, but rather unique packing and distribution houses of similarly obtained materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars have previously conceptualized the Black press as print publications that are owned and managed by African Americans, targeting a Black audience and advocating for the Black community. This study investigates how online producers of Black news are troubling previous definitions of the Black press. Websites that target African American readers but are owned by White media companies and Black-targeted websites that primarily produce entertainment news create ambiguity. I conclude that African American ownership and advocacy are no longer requirements for the Black press and that entertainment content is often a relevant and important component of the digital Black press. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we call for a critical reflection on the lens that we adopt when researching journalism and communication. Adopting a lens of wonder can enhance our ability to consider the rich diversity that can be found in the field. Through a variety of research projects, we show how through wonder we cannot only understand how journalism is becoming but also make space for "becoming with": we show how we are complicit in journalism's future. Focusing on the paradoxical nature of journalistic practices as something we learned from our work with journalists, we illuminate and open up the much-at-onceness of journalistic life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we propose to study news flashpoints. Flashpoints are bursts of news attention that are unique to the networked news environment, in which various forces vie to influence public discourse, blurring traditional boundaries between journalists, publics, activists, and various other forms of strategic communication. They are sudden and brief periods when interest in specific topics rises and falls rapidly across networked journalism. After identifying characteristics and examples of flashpoints, we argue for why news flashpoints are central aspects of contemporary news and journalism, and discuss the analytical and strategic importance of flashpoints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops a multiple-item scale for measuring public relations strategies, i.e., the Public Relations Strategic Assessment (PRSA). hi this study, Chinese culture was considered and incorporated into scale development. After a discussion of the conceptualization and operationalization of the dimensions of public relations strategies, three survey data sets are used for scale development, including (1) legislators and their assistants from the Legislative Yuan, (2) congressional liaisons from the Executive Yuan, and (3) public relations practitioners from Taiwan's top-500 companies and PR agencies in Taiwan. Moreover, two long-intervenes data sets that consist of a total of thirty-two in-person long interviews were incorporated. Evidence of the scale's reliability/, factor structure, and validity are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Journalists have faced increasing challenges as the result of police forces in different regions switching to digital radio communications. Drawing on gatekeeping theory and the journalistic practices literature, interviews with non-routine news journalists and a content analysis of news stories in newspapers were conducted to illustrate non-routine news coverage and understand how reporters' routines have changed. The results suggest that police forces' ability to control information technologically reduces the amount of non-routine news coverage and changes the ways in which news sources are used. Journalists have had to alter their reporting routines to retain journalistic independence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a study which attempted to understand the use of civic journalism. Fundamental connection that civic journalism assumes between the deficient conditions it attributes to society and those it posits for journalism; In-depth look at civic journalism; Unrelated factors that might be more influential in some instances of civic journalism.

The article offers a forum on the relationship between artificial intelligence (AI) and journalism, including the context of digitization of the mass media and public life. Topics, including the use of algorithms in journalism, future implications for AI-human interaction, the impact of historical discrimination on creating algorithmic bias and storytelling about human conditions, are discussed.

This article examines the historical contingency of news values as evidenced in journalism historiography and more than a century of journalism reporting and writing textbooks dating to 1894. Textbooks are important distillers and (re)constructors of journalists' conceptions of news and not-news. Findings suggest that although key news values such as timeliness, proximity, prominence, unusualness, conflict, human interest, and impact have been fundamentally stable since the early 1900s, the way those values are applied to reporting depends on the sociocultural context of the era. A key implication is that news values are neither natural nor inevitable, but rather within journalists' power to change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

News media played a prominent role in perpetuating the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Since then, Rwanda has undergone impressive social and economic growth, but the media landscape during this redevelopment remains understudied. Qualitative interviews with Rwandan journalists reveal that reporters censor themselves to promote peace and reunification. Short-term, prioritizing social good over media rights might help unify the country, but ultimately it could limit development and reinforce existing authoritarian power structures. Findings suggest that McQuail's development media theory and Hachten's developmental concept maintain relevance but point to the need for a new or revised media development paradigm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented that discusses several articles in the journal about topics including the use of algorithm in news, inequality in communication and media studies, and the future of ombudsmen in media in the 21st century.

The rise of automated journalism—the algorithmically driven conversion of structured data into news stories—presents a range of potentialities and pitfalls for news organizations. Chief among the potential legal hazards is one issue that has yet to be explored in journalism studies: the possibility that algorithms could produce libelous news content. Although the scenario may seem far-fetched, a review of legal cases involving algorithms and libel suggests that news organizations must seriously consider legal liability as they develop and deploy newswriting bots. Drawing on the American libel law framework, we outline two key issues to consider: (a) the complicated matter of determining fault in a case of algorithm-based libel, and (b) the inability of news organizations to adopt defenses similar to those used by Google and other providers of algorithmic content. These concerns are discussed in light of broader trends of automation and artificial intelligence in the media and information environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using four between-subjects experiments (N1 = 106, N2 = 166, N3 = 159, and N4 = 164), this project tests the ways audiences process grammatical errors in news articles. In all, results suggest that readers perceive stories with grammatical errors to be lower in quality, credibility, and informativeness, but the number of errors needed is relatively large. Analysis shows amplified effects for people who report concern about grammar, and, to a lesser degree, people with knowledge of grammar rules. Given these results, the findings suggest a nonlinear, nonuniversal effect of grammatical errors on readers of news articles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A national survey of top newspaper editors explored industry uncertainty and organizational change and how organizational integration, team-based newsrooms, newspaper size, and profit emphasis impact editors' perceived organizational influence. Findings indicate that newspaper size and extent of integration predict perceived organizational influence, while profit emphasis is a negative predictor. Editors generally welcome working with non-news departments, and see their influence in their advocacy of journalism values throughout the organization. Editors do not see benefits resulting from newsroom reporting teams. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines newspaper coverage of protests from 1960 to 1999. Initial findings indicated protests received consistent levels of support over that time. In light of this, we expected little change in the extent to which these protests challenged the status quo. However, there was a steady decline, with protest coverage becoming less deviant throughout this study. Further analyses suggest disparities in coverage of different protest-types were apparent during the Vietnam War. The most drastic change in treatment of different protest-types was directly after the height of the anti-war movement followed by gradual change thereafter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Significant scholarly work suggests mass media professionals largely set the voices in their coverage to mirror that of mainstream government debate. While it is a compelling assertion, this view is only intermittently supported by data. This paper suggests that such theories enjoy inconsistent support because they fail to consider the interaction between journalists' incentives and the political climate. an economic theory is advanced here that the political journalists' objectives to please their superiors, please themselves, limit negative feedback, and expend minimum energy, in other works to minimize their costs and maximize their benefits, lead them to rely on tactics that vary with the scope of consensus support for an issue. This theory is tested by analyzing newspaper coverage of four political issues debated in Congress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines newspaper articles on congressional party switchers or members who have left their political party in mid-term, in order to find objective evidence on media bias. Support for allegations of a pro-liberal or pro-Democratic bias; Significance of media credibility in the field of journalism; Ways to demonstrate the presence or absence of bias in media coverage.

While fact-checking has grown dramatically in the last decade, little is known about the relative effectiveness of different formats in correcting false beliefs or overcoming partisan resistance to new information. This article addresses that gap by using theories from communication and psychology to compare two prevailing approaches: An online experiment examined how the use of visual "truth scales" interacts with partisanship to shape the effectiveness of corrections. We find that truth scales make fact-checks more effective in some conditions. Contrary to theoretical predictions and the fears of some journalists, their use does not increase partisan backlash against the correction or the organization that produced it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the age of spirited debates about the mediating role of technologies, the other side of the coin is the state of direct experience in contemporary news production, that is, cases in which news reporters still rely on traditional channels such as “legwork,” “firsthand witnessing,” or “shoe-leather reporting.” The present study is a systematic attempt to identify journalists’ reasons for engaging in legwork, by recreating item by item the work processes and reasoning behind hundreds of individual news reports produced in the digital age, across Israeli print, television, radio, and online news outlets (N = 859). Insofar as legwork can serve as a proxy for painstaking journalism, journalists’ decisions make some difference in determining if more or less legwork will ensue. The data avail an opportunity to explore scholarly musings about journalists’ motivations behind legwork: be they knowledge related, medium related, or event related. We find support for all three possibilities and discuss the implications of these findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction to a series of articles about authorship transparency in journal articles is presented.