More awards and publications

MSRG members Tsung-jen Shih, Rosalyna Wjaya, and Dominique Brossard's analysis of "Media coverage of epidemic hazards" was just accepted for publication in Mass Communication & Society.

Shih, T., Wijaya, R. & Brossard. D. (forthcoming). Media coverage of epidemic hazards: Linking framing and issue attention cycle towards an integrated theory of print news coverage of epidemic hazards. Mass Communication and Society.

Using framing and issue attention cycle as theoretical frameworks, this study examined how print media frame hazardous epidemics, such as mad cow disease, West Nile virus, and avian flu. "Action” and “consequence” were the two frames journalists employed most frequently to construct stories about epidemic hazards in the New York Times, the newspaper used for this case study. The prominence of other frames varied with diseases. Coverage of epidemic hazards was highly event-based, with increased news coverage corresponding to important events such as newly identified cases and governmental actions. Media concerns and journalists’ narrative considerations regarding epidemic hazards did change across different phases of development. The absence of an overarching pattern that can explain the shift of frames with respect to each disease suggested that narrative considerations are dependent on each disease being covered, rather than on the overarching nature of the issue.

Also, Dominique Brossard and Eunkyung Kim's paper on "Pondering media messages" just won CTM's 2007 Top Faculty Paper Award. The paper will be presented on Friday August 10 at 5pm in the "Best of CT&M" session at this year's AEJMC conference, with Jack McLeod serving as discussant.

Brossard*, D., Kim*, E. (2007). Pondering media messages, talking to others and learning: Communication processes and the production of scientific knowledge. Paper to be presented to the Communication Theory & Methodology Division of the 2007 AEJMC Convention, Washington DC, August 8-10 2007. (* in alphabetical order; equal contribution).

This study examines how pondering media messages and talking to others during and after media exposure might impact different types of scientific knowledge. Three different types of scientific knowledge are considered: general scientific knowledge, issue-specific scientific knowledge, and policy-related scientific knowledge. Based on the analysis of national panel survey data, this study shows that communication processing variables, which refer to the level of cognitive involvement in the processing of news information during and after mass media exposure, play a significant additive role in predicting each of the three scientific knowledge measures. The communication processing variables played a mediating role in linking science news use and issue-specific scientific knowledge.