Anastasia Browning Leveraging Evidence-Based Messaging to Prevent the Spread of COVID-19
With cases of COVID-19 still surging in America, and vaccines still inaccessible or undesired by many, one of our primary defenses against this deadly virus remains to mitigate its spread on an individual level. Official messaging targeting appropriate mitigation procedures is critical for reducing virus transmission. This study assessed whether approach-versus-avoidance message framing and goal-orientation affect individual's intentions to use mitigation procedures. To test this, 832 subjects were randomly assigned to view mitigation messaging with either approach or avoidance framing, and either self-protective or altruistic goal-orientation. Kruskal-Wallis tests revealed a significant effect of goal-orientation, suggesting that altruistic (over self-protective) goal-orientations in COVID-19 health messaging lead to stronger intentions to follow mitigation procedures. No significant effect of approach or avoidance framing was found on individual intentions to follow mitigation procedures. These results suggest an immediate need to address the framing of our public health messages. By adjusting goal-orientation, we can leverage our official communications as a prevention tool to protect at-risk populations from contracting COVID-19.
Mackenzie Hudler Media Framing of Second-Wave Feminist & Civil Rights Protest Groups at the 1968 Miss America Pageant
This study analyzes various media framing techniques and information biases used within mass media coverage of two protests that occurred at the 1968 Miss America Pageant: The Miss Black America Pageant and the women’s liberation protest led by the New York Radical Women. A qualitative content analysis of 10 news articles from American mass media outlets such as the New York Times and LIFE Magazine will be conducted to critically analyze how framing techniques were used to strategically position these protest groups and their respective movements within public opinion, as well as how these portrayals differed from reality and other media depictions, such as the Up Against the Wall, Ms. America documentary. Ultimately, journalists from mass media publications used three main information biases and specific framing techniques to not only portray a victim-based narrative in which Miss America symbolized a “victim” being “attacked” by angry/radical protest groups, but also to diffuse and purposefully ignore any kind of overlap between the two protest groups, thus portraying a narrative surrounding the events that transpired in September of 1968 that also lacks intersectionality.
Payton Lommers Matt and Diederik -- White Saviors of the Gobi Desert
NAADAM’s advertisements claim that their cashmere is sourced sustainably and ethically. When I first saw these advertisements I thought the worst thing they were doing was virtue signaling. However, after investigating the claims made in their videos, I discovered that in reality NAADAM has been and continues to engage in misleading and problematic business practices. The founders of NAADAM Cashmere -Matthew Scanlan and Diederik Rijsemus- are exploiting the people of Bayangovi Soum in Mongolia for their own personal gain, illustrating a larger problem within the clothing and textile industry. In order to either prove or refute the claims made by NAADAM in these advertisements, I consulted sources including documentation provided by NAADAM, interviews with individuals linked to NAADAM’s business, the Instagram account of the current CEO and co-owner Matt Scanlan, the Foreign Trade Association, various statistical analysis websites, Oxford dictionaries, documentaries about the relevant regions in Mongolia, National reports produced by Mongolia, the CFDA, and even a Senior Manager at Patagonia. The conclusion I came to is that NAADAM is overstating their commitment to social and environmental integrity. By extension, my findings also imply a wider issue with the fashion industry and the global manufacturing industry. Many American and European companies outsource labour to countries in Asia where lab
Carolyn Roderique Media and Science: A Case Study of CTE
Conditions of reporting have changed with the 24-hour news cycle, and less specialization has created concerns of accuracy. This project looks into CTE and many of the misinformation represented in its reporting. It will look at issues like scientific biases, framing, and context that was left out. This project was created with a mix of scientific, academic and even a legal source to get a full picture of what the media was missing and why. Many of the inaccuracies and misinformation were a mix of reporter’s own biases, framing, frequency. Not only were inaccuracies part of the issue with the reporting, but the “walk it off” culture in American contact sports or the contracts that encourage players to hide their injuries. This could also be applied and examined in the larger context of reporting on science.
Shuxi Wu Television Adaptation in the Age of Media Convergence in China
This article introduces the ‘intellectual property show’ concept currently inciting heated discussions among Chinese media studies scholars into English-language academia. Intellectual property show, a Chinese term generally referring to television shows adapted from internet fiction (and to a secondary extent, video games), explicitly suggests an adaptation form and logic particular to an environment characterized by converging media and digital transformations of cultural production. Using the 2019 Chinese hit show All is Well, adapted from an internet novel with the same name, I approach intellectual property show as a media artefact situated at the volatile convergence of political demand, business interest, and new media affordances through adopting an integrative approach to contemporary adaptations in China. By attending to both the material context of production and the media text itself, I join the current exploration in adaptation studies for methods that answer the why and how of adaptation.
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