Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: “Contextomy” refers to the selective excerpting of words from their original linguistic context in a way that distorts the source’s intended meaning, a practice commonly referred to as “quoting out of context.” A contextomized quotation not only prompts audiences to form a false impression of the source’s intentions, but can contaminate subsequent interpretation of the quote when it is restored to its original context. I delineate this counterintuitive consequence of contextomy as it pertains to recent political efforts to eliminate affirmative action programs.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This study examines the use and functions of quoting in online message boards. A close analysis of one particular conversation thread revealed that quoting is used chiefly to simulate turn-adjacency and establish an organized dialogue sequence which is otherwise difficult to maintain in asynchronous, multi-party computer-mediated discourse (Herring, 2003). Further, this use of quoting was recognized and subsequently explored in three message types: (1) initiation-response sequences, (2) repair work, and (3) departure from or contention with a previous speaker’s message.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: When individuals encounter information about the distribution of political opinions in a society, it tends to alter their preferences. Most people learn about the attitudes of other citizens from news stories featuring surveys sponsored by major media organizations. For nearly three decades, however, journalists have been blending aggregate-level survey results with in-depth interviews of the respondents from the poll who agree to speak to reporters for attribution. Including qualitative remarks from especially eager and talkative respondents introduces selection-bias into the reporting on an otherwise nationally representative survey. Experiments confirm that the direction and substance of citizen cues found in interviews with survey respondents affects political preferences. While the potential for misrepresentation is great, follow-up interviews with respondents can simulate deliberative exchanges and frame issues. Studying this little known but empirically common form of discourse helps resolve disputes about political disagreement and its effects.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This study examines the media, public, and policy agendas in five countries relative to the Israeli/Palestinian dispute for periods as long as a quarter century. The media agenda was measured in the Associated Press (AP) for the United States, Agence France Presse (AFP) for France, Deutsche Presse Agentur (DPA) for Germany, TASS/ITAR-TASS (TASS) for the Soviet Union/Russia, and the Xinhua New Agency for China. The full texts from all these news wires archived in the LexisNexis electronic database were searched for quotes by Israelis and Palestinians, using the InfoTrend computer program. The quotes were also scored for the side quoted first in the story. The public agenda in the United States was an assessment of American public sympathy towards Israelis and Palestinians in surveys from the POLL database of the Roper Center at the University of Connecticut. The American policy agenda of interest in Middle Eastern issues was explored by examining surveys asking about Palestinians compared those concerned with Arab nations. The most striking feature of the three types of the American agendas was lack of abrupt changes in any of them throughout the 25 years of the study. All shifts were so gradual that even cataclysmic events such as wars and the September 11 terrorist attacks did not lead to agenda shifts that were obvious by inspection of the time trends. Therefore, parties to the Middle Eastern dispute might not be able to count on a single event to lead to their allies to push effectively for a resolution to the conflict. Turning to other countries, all their news agencies showed a decrease in favorability toward the Israelis in 2002. These trends imply the impact of several factors, including the target audiences and the political environment of the media studied.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This paper focuses on the development of interviewing and quoting in 20th century news press. The main argument is that those methods and techniques of collecting and representing others voices, have played an essential role in the establishment of what might be called modern journalism. The paper distinguishes four aspects of modern journalism: (1) Journalism as a relatively autonomous institution, (2) claims of objectivity, (3) formats and design, (4) establishment of internal journalistic discourses. An empirical study of two dominating Swedish newspapers is used to describe and analyse changes over time in relation to those four aspects. The material consists of all political news articles during the month of April in 1915, 1935, 1955, 1975 and 1995. The study demonstrates several fundamental changes in the role of interviewing and quoting during the period.