Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Past research demonstrated that visual displays portrayed men with higher facial prominence than women, a phenomenon known as face-ism. This paper moved beyond the descriptive nature of most face-ism research by investigating face-ism effects of television news sources.
The experiment manipulated the face-ism index of news sources and measured participants’ perception of source credibility, competence, attractiveness, warmth and dynamics. Results indicated that face-ism affected credibility and competence to a certain extent, but not person perception measures of attractiveness, warmth and dynamics. Implications and future directions were discussed.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: According to the mere exposure effect (Zajonc 1968), the mere unreinforced presentation of product placements can increase brand liking. In an experiment, we manipulated placement prominence and placement frequency for an externally and internally valid stimulus. As results indicate, a mere exposure effect can only be observed for frequently presented subtle placements, but not for prominent placements. The reason is that prominent placements lead to high placement recall which impedes positive attitudinal effects.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: A content analysis of three newspapers and four television networks on coverage of plastic surgeries indicates plastic surgeries are still considered a deviant act by news media despite its increasing popularity in the United States and that the journalistic tone of plastic surgeries by major newspapers and television news is normatively motivated, in that it still remains to describe such acts as deviant and negative. The findings of this study suggests the discrepancy in the portrayals of plastic surgeries between popular media and of news media as a result of news media’s take on the role of watchdog in terms of setting the normative frame for certain issues that they view as normatively challenging.

Publication Type: Session Paper
Abstract: This paper will first evaluate the overall prominence of the primaries in comparison to other topics on the foreign TV news agendas. The analysis will focus on two questions: First, are there any distinctive patterns of news coverage in different countries or world regions that can be traced to the political or cultural ties of the United States with these countries or regions? In other words, do countries with strong ties to the United States cover the primaries more prominently than countries with weaker ties? The second question addressed here will focus on how prominent the coverage of the primaries might be in comparison with other foreign news topics within each nation. Prominence of news will be analyzed in terms of the number and the duration of news stories about the primaries and their placement within the newscasts of all countries included in this study.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This paper investigated the duration of the 2004 tsunami coverage in three elite U.S. newspapers—The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and the Christian Science Monitor. Besides duration, the second measure was a prominence index of the coverage given to the 12 tsunami-hit countries. The 2004 tsunami was studied as a unique media event that comprised coverage of 12 countries at the same time. Because of the disaster, the papers gave much more space and prominence, in terms of datelines, number of stories, positioning, desks/sections and length of articles to developing countries. Developing countries enjoyed high visibility as stories about their countries were top positioned again and again for 4 weeks of media attention. Previously unknown international datelines, such as Banda Aceh (Indonesia), Thirukkovil (Sri Lanka), Trikonamaleee (Sri Lanka), Nagapattinam (India), became common knowledge for readers after the disaster. The study suggested:
1. That the media searchlight is in full beam on a major disaster, such as the tsunami for about four weeks, and after this, the glare begins to wear off.
2. That a major disaster throws relatively uncovered international territory into the media agenda—setting off a chain of high visibility news content about some less covered Third world countries.