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- Creator:
- Bebak-Tjahjadi, Maria H. B.
- Description:
- In October 1977, just weeks after Anastasio Somoza lifted a nearly three year state of siege, Nicaragua's Sandinista guerrillas resumed their military offensive by launching a countrywide assault against the dictator. Some 22 months later, on July 17, 1979, Somoza fled to Miami. Two days later the rebels victoriously entered Managua. Their victory marked the first time in 20 years that a Latin American guerrilla movement successfully defeated the bonds of tyrannical rule. This thesis is a cross-cultural qualitative content analysis of Nicaragua's press coverage in four internationally oriented newsmagazines during the revolutionary crisis. It was inspired by the heated controversy that continues to surround the victory of the Sandinistas. Its primary purpose was to discover the magazines' portrayal of the guerrillas. It also emphasizes the portrayal of the United States and the perceived East-West scenario of the revolution. The newsmagazines examined are Newsweek of the United States, Maclean's of Canada, The Economist of Great Britain and Der Spiegel of West Germany. All four newsmagazines are deemed highly important by top political leaders and policy makers. The three non-U.S. publications are the number one newsmagazines of their countries and, with the exception of Maclean's, each has a significant worldwide audience. The study examines the first issue of each newsmagazine published in October 1977, through the first issue of each newsmagazine published after July 19, 1979. A total of 63 articles, commentaries, columns and interviews, totaling some 1,154 column inches, were located. It was discovered that the coverage was sporadic, with violence generating nearly all the articles. The longer and more intense the violence, the more concentrated the coverage. It was also discovered that the rise of the Sandinistas was not a major focus in any of the newsmagazines, Somoza's increasingly imminent downfall was. The newsmagazines also examined the crisis from a decidedly U.S. perspective as opposed to a Nicaraguan one. The needs and wants of Nicaragua's masses were generally ignored. Newsweek and The Economist strongly reflected Washington's perception of the revolution. They presented a very alarmist picture of the Sandinistas and portrayed the crisis in terms of the East-West superpower struggle. The extensive use of alarmist labels, especially in Newsweek, was a major contributing factor to the negative portrayal of the Sandinistas. Maclean's and Der Spiegel did not paint an East-West picture of the crisis. They did not use alarmist labels associating the guerrillas with Marxism and/or communism. They did not reflect Washington's perception of the revolution. Instead, they harshly condemned the United States for establishing and maintaining the dynasty. Their depiction of the Sandinistas was neutral.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Journalism
2. NASA in the 1990s : a qualitative content analysis of news magazines' coverage of the space industry
- Creator:
- Nelson, Michelle Lea
- Description:
- The thesis utilized the method of qualitative content analysis to analyze the press coverage of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the space industry from 1990 through 1999. Research data came from three weekly news magazines: Time, Newsweek and U.S. News and World Report. The thesis applied Herbert Gans' value system, emphasizing that news contains "enduring values" which are imparted to the reader. The study showed the media focused predominately on the following values established by Gans: individualism, small-town pastoralism and altruistic democracy. The three news magazines focused fairly evenly on the failure of NASA in general in the 1990s, the Mir Space Station, the Hubble Space Telescope, John Glenn 's second return flight into space, astronaut Shannon Lucid's extended stay in space aboard Mir, and planetary exploration. The study shows the change in direction of the relationship between NASA and the media from the space agency's birth in 1958 through to the 1990s and the findings relative to Gans' value system.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Journalism
- Creator:
- Marshall, Bruce Reginald
- Description:
- The ubiquitous "energy crisis," brought to the public's attention by the Arab oil embargo of 1973-74, thrusted southern California’s two largest energy utilities unwillingly, and unexpectedly, into the media limelight. For the first time in their more than 100 year histories, Southern California Gas Company (the nation’s largest gas utility) and Southern California Edison Company (the fourth largest electric utility in the country), were forced to deal with energy as a “hot” public issue. The act of coping with the energy issue in this new position of importance caused far-reaching changes in the form of the two companies’ external publicity and, more importantly, had the effect of altering the two utilities’ self-identities. The author’s study took the form of attempting to explain the suspected phenomenon by proffering the following Two-Dimensional Hypothesis. First, it was hypothesized that when two companies deal with the same sensitive public issue over a long period of time, it causes a drastic alteration in the emphasis of their respective external publicity content. Second, the public issue also acts as a medium of mutual interest, creating a bridge between the two companies. This has the effect of altering their individual self identities and merging them into one self-image focused on the public issue. (See more in text)
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Journalism
- Creator:
- Naden, Roy Cecil
- Description:
- Because our society has become so significantly television oriented, and beceuse programs of technical excellence sponsored by stations or organizations with considerable financial resources are common everyday presentations, and because television is basically an entertainment medium, a religious program that expects to attract any significant audience will need to be produced (a) with technical excellence, (b) using modern production approaches, and (c) be presented with an entertainment-conscious audience in mind. The experimental religious telecast produced as a project in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Master of Arts Degree in Mass Communications seeks to fulfill these three broad requirements.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Journalism
- Creator:
- Rodgers, Horace Edgar Jr
- Description:
- "A Portrait of a Middle-Aged Man" provides a cross-sectional analysis of a typical man in throes of a mid-life crisis. Seen in three different settings which reveal the conflicts arising out of employment, family and social encounters, the protagonist:, Tom Richardson, is studied as he hurdles toward this critical phase in a man's life. The thrust of the program is the way in which industry is affected, and why it is important for industry to address itself to the problem. Intercut with the dramatic scenes involving the protagonist, is the continuity, provided by a mature, authoritative host, seen in an art gallery setting, and the comments of a panel of three experts, who elaborate on the problem being encountered by the protagonist. The program is not designed to provide solutions. There are no secret formulas for by-passing the potential crisis, or prescriptions for a cure. Mid-life is a phase of life, much like adolescence in many ways, that provides its own resolutions, and one can no more "cure" it than "cure" adolescence. What the program is designed to do is stimulate discussion, and encourage industry's leaders to recognize it as an employee debilitation that deserves their attention. By talking about it, and by identifying what some of the characteristics of this phase of life happen to be, we can be forewarned and forearmed.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Journalism
- Creator:
- Gilman, Benedicte
- Description:
- Quantitative content analysis was used to examine coverage of women in a weekly Marxist-Leninist newspaper. A stratified random sample of stories on all topics in three issues from each year of the study was analyzed for variables dealing with both mechanics and contents. Coverage of women was compared to that of men and to overall coverage. The study sought to identify what impact the women's movement had had on coverage of women in the Guardian. The direct impact of the movement was found to be limited to the period from 1967 to 1971 when coverage of women underwent considerable change, mainly in that the amount of coverage increased greatly and the range of topics related to women expanded significantly. Although language used in the Guardian up until 1967 was much less sexist than that in establishment media, after 1967 such usage all but disappeared from the paper. In every period female-authored stories treated women more equitably than did stories written by men, but in spite of women's greatly increased presence in public life in the 1970s, they continued into the mid-1980s to be much less visible in the Guardian than men. During every period of the study coverage of women focused on class rather than sex. Women as workers was the most important topic of women's stories, with aspects of the private lives of women gaining some ground during the 1970s.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Journalism
- Creator:
- Crary, Paul David
- Description:
- This thesis explores the effects of racial change on audience perception of violent scenes designed to be shown on television. Ninety-eight subjects were obtained, voluntarily, from the campus of California State University, Northridge. Forty-eight were black, who were randomly divided and assigned to one of two experimental groups to coincide with two different videotapes of violent scenes. Fifty subjects were white and were divided and assigned to one of two experimental groups coinciding with two different videotaped scenes of violence, thus producing four experimental groups, two black and two white. There were two independent variables under investigating the experiment, using a 2 X 2 factorial design. The variables race of audience and race of aggressor were used because the author thought it important to study the changes within the audience, as well as audience reaction to change within the scene. So two tapes were designed to employ the two variables under investigation. Tape number one showed the white actor becoming acquainted with the black actor, and eventually robbing and stabbing him. Tape number two showed the exact same scene only the black actor and white actor reversed roles. Thus at the end of the second tape it was the black actor who robs and stabs the white actor. This was done by having the actors exchange roles completely, including dialogue and action. There were six dependent variables taken after the subject had reviewed their respective tapes. The dependent measures in Appendix II were chosen by the experimenter because it was felt that the audience’s feelings and experiences while watching a dramatic show were well represented. These measures had been previously used in a similar study concerning rape in television conducted by Marion. A. Taras as a master’s thesis in June 1974. The statistical model that was used to analyse the six dependent variables, with and without a covariate, was a Multivariate Analysis of Variance using a 2 X 2 Factorial Design. Two hypotheses were used to test if the variables distinguished between the four experimental groups. The hypotheses were in the form of the "null hypothesis." Null hypothesis one states that there will be no significant difference between a white audience's perception of a violent scene and a black audience's perception of the same scene, no matter what the race of the aggressor within that scene. Null hypothesis two states that there is no significant difference between the audience perception of a violent scene with a black aggressor and a violent scene with a white aggressor. The first null hypothesis refers to the "Main Effects of the Audience Variable,” and the second null hypothesis refers to the “Main Effects of the Aggressor Variable." In terms of the hypotheses above, the analysis of variance accepted both of the null hypotheses. There is no significant differences between any of the groups on any of the dependent measures.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Journalism
- Creator:
- Alexandre, Laurie Ann
- Description:
- The John Reed Club was a group of politically radical writers, artists, and journalists, who aligned themselves with the struggles of the working-class and militant left during the early Depression years (1929-1935). The Clubs were in the forefront of the American proletarian literature movement, and integrally connected with the international communist front. They were the propaganda arm for many of the political and social battles of the decade. Some of the most important literary figures of the period, like Mike Gold, Joseph Freeman, Josephine Herbst, and Richard Wright, were involved with the organization. The study not only traces the history of the John Reed Clubs, but also examines the role of revolutionary cultural workers during the Depression. From those experiences, recommendations are made for those people working in radical cultural groups today. Cultural expression is necessary for any progressive movement. The author hopes that the study points to the importance of media and culture in social change.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Journalism
- Creator:
- Dowling, Jennifer Jane
- Description:
- During the last decade, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries caused the largest transfer of wealth in history by taking control of the pricing and production of its vast oil resources away from Western nations. This thesis is a qualitative content analysis of OPEC's image in the periodical press. It was inspired by charges that OPEC has not been given fair treatment by Western journalists. It compares press coverage of OPEC in three periodicals: the Financial Post, published in Canada; the Economist from Great Britain; and Business week from the United States. In their respective markets, these publications are important among business executives and influentials. The latter two also have significant worldwide audiences. The study covers 1978 and 1979 articles, editorials, commentaries and cartoons about OPEC and the business and economic interests of its members. The 116 articles published in the June through December period of 1978 and 1979 were given a detailed qualitative and quantitative analysis, while the remaining 64 articles were included in the quantitative analysis only. In terms of attitudes, the Financial Post was found to have provided the most positive coverage of OPEC, although its articles narrowly focused on Canadian interests such as non-oil trade and contracting with OPEC countries. In contrast, the Economist and Business week often reported on broader issues and more negative elements, such as how OPEC damaged Western economies, OPEC's failure to satisfy Western oil demand and the internal discord within OPEC. Overall, the articles were not as biased as charged and little stereotyping was found. Nevertheless, the coverage was not as thorough nor as balanced as it could have been. The study suggests that the press did not pay much attention to the economic rationale behind decisions in OPEC and its member countries, making them seem arbitrary and reckless. The coverage also lacked historical background, information about conditions in the oil-exporting countries and the "OPEC" perspective.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Journalism
- Creator:
- Parsons, Patrick Robert
- Description:
- The thesis applies Marxist economic precepts to the function of the newspaper industry, thereby explaining the industry's economic growth and daily operation. Topics from employment to chain ownership are considered and analyzed in terms of their role in the economic process, and relations between such topics are examined. The theory is divided into sub-theories including: the theory of value, the theory of labor, the theory of capital accumulation and concentration, and economies of scale. The thesis explains the premise of each sub-theory and applies it to the industry, using statistics drawn from sources such as government surveys and the industry itself. The production of value is described and the various components of constant and variable capital within the newspaper sector are identified. The use of technology to expand surplus labor is examined in both historic and current forms, and the degree to which surplus labor has been extracted industry wide is detailed using government production figures. The effect of this process on the work force also is discussed, showing a positive relationship between the theory -- which predicts technological displacement – and reality in the newspaper business. The thesis explains how technology is used to promote capital accumulation in the industry and provides statistics to demonstrate the extent of newspaper growth from the mid 19th century to modern times. (See more in text.)
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Journalism