Major Metropolitan Newspapers Research Articles

A higher standard than ‘balance’ in journalism on climate change science

The initial “State of the News Media” study by the respected Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism in 2004 reported that an “epochal transformation” was under way in the mass media, “as momentous probably as the invention of the telegraph or television.” Savvy news consumers are alert to putting up their defense mechanisms when the media start warning that the sky is falling. That precaution might be especially apt when it’s the media’s own sky that is said to be caving in. That said, however, few now question that major underlying – make that foundationshattering – changes are in the works in the ways the media and others distribute news and information. Perhaps more important still are the changes in how the media’s customers – readers, viewers, and listeners – go about getting their news and information. So much so that the PEJ’s 2007 State of the Media report opened with just the declarative sentence, “The pace of change has accelerated” (http://www.stateofthenewsmedia.com/2007/). You can point to the 24/7 access to digital news over the internet and the worldwide web. You can point to the declining circulations at most major metropolitan newspapers, the further consolidation of media ownership, and also to the declining advertising revenues and earning ratios. You can point to the shrinking newsroom staffs, to fewer and fewer foreign bureaus and specialized beat reporters. Get the picture of the media in transition? Back up now. Back to the day when most of today’s experienced journalists were taking their first news writing classes in college, or just starting their on-the-job training under hard-charging ink-in-the-veins editors. From virtually their first days in the classroom and on the job, the nation’s best journalists had instilled in them several bedrock principles of sound and responsible news Climatic Change (2008) 86:13–17 DOI 10.1007/s10584-007-9318-4

Legends of Jazz with Ramsey Lewis, Season One, Vol. One, and: Legends of Jazz with Ramsey Lewis, Season One, Vol. Two, and: Legends of Jazz with Ramsey Lewis, Showcase (review)

Reviewed by: Legends of Jazz with Ramsey Lewis, Season One, Vol. One, and: Legends of Jazz with Ramsey Lewis, Season One, Vol. Two, and: Legends of Jazz with Ramsey Lewis, Showcase Robert Iannapollo Legends of Jazz with Ramsey Lewis, Season One, Vol. One. DVD + CD. Chicago, IL: LRS Media, 2006. 090001. $24.98. Legends of Jazz with Ramsey Lewis, Season One, Vol. Two. DVD + CD. Chicago, IL: LRS Media, 2006. 090003. $24.98. Legends of Jazz with Ramsey Lewis, Showcase. DVD + CD. Chicago, IL: LRS Media, 2006. 968701. $19.98. The production of Legends of Jazz was trumpeted with great fanfare when it was announced. And when the completed product was ready to air on PBS, the media publicity machine was churned out to full crank with articles in all major media ( jazz journals, major metropolitan newspapers). The end result is now with us. Under consideration are the first two volumes of the first season, eight episodes of the full run of thirteen plus a showcase collection that contains "highlight performances." Each package comes with a DVD of four individual episodes as well as an accompanying CD that excerpts the musical performances of those episodes. Was the hype worth it? On the basis of these DVDs, the answer is a regrettable no. The end result is unambitious, unadventurous, underwhelming, and, frankly, dull. Each episode has a theme (alto saxes, Latin jazz, singers, etc.) and a schematic. It opens with a brief, superficial history of the particular theme in question. It usually takes less than a minute and covers only the surface aspects of the topic. It is also quite a slanted viewpoint of the genre. If one were to go by these histories, the only innovation to occur after the bebop revolution was fusion, which evolved into contemporary jazz, which happens to have its own episode. The inclusion of a contemporary jazz episode is questionable since most committed jazz fans find that music to be a significantly watered down version of the original. We will only mention that one of the producers of the show is Larry Rosen who was the "R" in GRP Records, one of the premier labels hawking contemporary jazz. The innovators of the '60s are barely mentioned. When talking of the evolution of the alto sax, the names of both Ornette Coleman and Anthony Braxton are not even mentioned, despite the fact that both made major contributions to the alto sax vocabulary. I could list countless examples of this type of egregious omission but will spare the reader. While one could excuse the producers of the show for exhibiting a little bias toward their own product, it should not be at the expense of writing more significant contributors to the music out of the mix. The history is followed by a sequence where host Ramsey Lewis introduces and interviews the guests. Lewis is a genial host but to say that these interviews sound scripted would be an understatement. In most cases, the banter is so stilted, the questions so inane, and the stories so overtold, that spontaneity seems precluded. After the interview, each guest gives a musical performance, usually a three-to five-minute sequence. After all the guests have performed, they are united for a group jam, another three- to five-minute segment, and then invited to play the show's theme song along with Ramsey Lewis over the closing credits. And then it is over. To quote the old Peggy Lee song, "is that all there is?" And therein lies the major problem with this show. At a half hour, it is barely enough time to scratch the surface. The performances barely have enough time to breathe. Most solos are rote, at best. And sometimes the inclusion of a performance is mind-boggling. During the Golden Horns episode, trumpeter Clark Terry (an elder statesman on the horn), winds up performing his most commercially-viable piece, Mumbles, a mock-scat vocal tune that is an inconsequential bit of fluff. He barely plays any trumpet on it at all! Considering this was an episode about the horn, and that a Terry trumpet solo would have been worthy of inclusion, the selection of this...

Promise and Reality: The Integration of Print and Online Versions of Major Metropolitan Newspapers

Newspapers that seek first-mover advantage too often have expended financial capital and personnel resources on new media initiatives without fully appreciating the obstacles or the potential outcomes, an approach that may be understandable in an increasingly competitive marketplace fueled by the explosive growth of the Internet. Newspaper editors still question whether and how to integrate their Internet editions into existing newsrooms in hopes of leveraging the strengths of each. A survey of 63 major metropolitan U.S. newspaper editors showed that these managers have a high level of commitment to integration. In addition, a statistically significant relationship was found between multiple procedural or policy factors and management perception that integration had met management objectives. If integration between the newspaper and its online service is the desired outcome, the most important factors appear to include having a partnership with other media, instituting a converged news desk that handles stories regardless of medium or distribution method, having management commitment to integration, equalizing perceptions of status between newspaper workers and online workers, empowering online staff to actively participate in planning meetings, utilizing the online service for breaking news that occurs off-publication cycle, and encouraging print-side staff members to generate content for exclusive use online.

Second Generation Net News: Interactivity and Information Accessibility in the Online Environment

This study assesses the ways in which local television news operations and major metropolitan newspapers in the top 40 U.S. media markets are making information accessible and structuring interactive experiences online as the industry transitions into a third generation of Internet news. As Net news approaches its first decade of existence, online news sites are assumed to be evolving from a noninteractive, passive model of information delivery into an environment of increased immediacy, content richness, and user control. To investigate this question, a content analysis was performed in 2 waves, once during fall 1998 and again during fall 2000. For comparative purposes, differences across years are examined. In addition, the efforts of local television news sites are contrasted with the online activities of dominant newspaper sites, which have assumed a commanding lead in building a local online audience. The analysis argues for valuing Net news sites less from a profit-loss standpoint and more for the nonmonetary contributions they make in relation to the broader news mission, namely, enhanced coverage, brand loyalty, and news credibility.

“How Will You be Remembered after You Die?” Gender Discrimination after Death Twenty Years Later

Obituaries in four major metropolitan newspapers (the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, the Miami Herald, and the New York Times) are examined for gender differences and compared to a study conducted over twenty years ago by Kastenbaum, Peyton, and Kastenbaum. Not unlike the original study, men receive significantly more obituaries than women in each of the four papers, their obituaries are longer (except for the Miami Herald), and they are accompanied by significantly more photographs (except for the Miami Herald). The greatest evidence of bias is found in the New York Times, where men receive 7.69 times (4.02 times in the original study) as many obituaries as women, even when controlling for more male deaths in New York City. Average ages at death suggest a possible cohort effect. Period effects, gender effects of obituary editors, and decision-making rules are discussed. The results are explained within the context of continued gender discrimination in the workplace and the home.

Of Horse Race and Policy Issues: A Study of Gender in Coverage of a Gubernatorial Election by two Major Metropolitan Newspapers

This study of news coverage of a gubernatorial race suggests (1) gender may be a larger factor in selection of policy stories than in selection of horse race stories; (2) coverage of the horse race, particularly news coverage of advertising strategy, appears to have greater impact on the outcome of the election than coverage of policy issues; (3) a woman will be more successful in a political race if she presents herself as a man.

Journalists with Attitude: A Response to Richardson and Van Driel

Deviant religion has notfared very well at the hands of the news media, despite the best efforts of academic students of new religious movements (NRMs) to foster a better understanding of it. Having recently returned to the groves of academe after toiling for a decade in the vineyard of a major metropolitan newspaper, Ifeel the scholars' pain. But I also am convinced that they lack an adequate grasp of how journalists operate, and therefore of why coverage of deviant religion tends to take the form it does. So let me offer a few comments on Richardson and van Driel's article from the standpoint of a participant-observer of the culture ofjournalism a traditionalist culture that, like other traditionalist cultures, resists the advances of outsiders unfamiliar with its ways and means.

Discourses on Death: Obituaries and the Management of Spoiled Identity

What do obituaries disclose about the death of persons who die of AIDS or where AIDS-related death is indicated? Obituaries meeting pre-established criteria were collected from a major metropolitan newspaper for a sixteen-month period in 1992 and 1993. A total of 184 obituaries were collected, content analyzed, and broken into three disclosure categories based on: 1) AIDS-related complications as published cause of death, 2) same-sex partner named as survivor, and 3) association with the AIDS cause or with the gay community. All three categories are stigmatized in the context of today's social norms. Discourse analysis revealed similarities and differences in topical and in subtextual themes and in varying degrees of identity management for the three categories. Descriptive findings suggest areas for further research and reveal much about the public management of death to counter the social stigma of “spoiled identity.”

Let'S Get Planning Out Of Community Care

After the Fire The recent tragic fire in Melbourne's Kew Cottages has thrown into sharp relief the problems facing the process of deinstitutionalisation in Australia. In April of this year, national attention was focused on the disaster which took the lives of nine intellectually disabled residents of the Kew institution; in the days following the fire many articles and editorials in the major metropolitan newspapers were devoted to the broader policy difficulties – notably, funding and service quality – which have plagued the nation's attempts to improve its care of the socially dependent.

Effects of Newspaper Stories on the Incidence of Suicide in Australia: A research Note

This study investigates the impact of newspaper stories on the incidence of suicide in Australia. The effects of suicide stories appearing in two major metropolitan newspapers between 1.1.1981 and 31.12.1990 were examined. The findings show that the daily average suicide rate in Australia increases significantly after the publication and publicity of suicide stories in the Australian media; the rise tends to be primarily due to the increase in male suicide and not female suicide. Some plausible explanations of this finding are advanced.

NRJ Book: Fresh Ink: Behind the Scenes at a Major Metropolitan Newspaper

NRJ Book: Fresh Ink: Behind the Scenes at a Major Metropolitan Newspaper

Understanding the Economic Factors Affecting Help-Wanted Advertising

Abstract Advertisers spend $3 billion a year on help-wanted advertising but have little empirical knowledge about this market. Using data from nine major metropolitan daily newspapers, this study investigates how changes in advertising costs, readership and market share have affected the linage and number of ads published. While revenue to newspapers has soared, linage and the number of help-wanted ads published have stagnated because dramatic price increases have counteracted the equally dramatic rise in readership and market share.

Press portrayal of African American and white United States representatives

This content analysis examines nine major metropolitan daily newspapers to determine how they portrayed African American and white members of the United States House of Representatives from 1979 to 1983. Discriminant analysis reveals that in several areas of press portrayal, newspapers differentiate the way they present African American and white political incumbents.

Variations in Death Rates in the Proximity of Christmas: An Opponent Process Interpretation

Previous attempts to show that death is sometimes postponed until after an important social occasion have focused on the relationship between birthdates and deathdates. The present research uses Christmas as the focal social event. Study I, which involved the number of obituaries published in a major metropolitan newspaper during the eight weeks centering on Christmas, showed a significant death dip immediately prior to Christmas and a significant death surge immediately thereafter. Study II, which was based on the actual death dates of eminent Americans, yielded the same general pattern of results and also revealed that the post-Christmas upswing was significant only in the case of people who had surpassed the sample's median age. Study II, which involved a day-by-day analysis, showed that the post-holiday increase was very abrupt. All of these findings are fully consistent with Solomon and Corbit's opponent process theory of motivation.

The Organizational Structure of Newspapers in Relation to Their Metropolitan Environments

September 1978, volume 23 Data for 72 major metropolitan newspapers are analyzed relating structural differentiation of news organizations to their metropolitan environments. Two measures of differentiation, the distribution of staff and functional divisions within staff, correlate with indicators representing task dimensions of the environment the sources of news and fiscal support, audience market structure, and degree of competition within metropolitan communities although there are slight differences in the pattern of correlates. Data also indicate that when competition is absent, the relationship between newspapers and consumer markets becomes attenuated.

Swine Influenza and the News Media

Press coverage of the swine influenza inoculation campaign was generally superficial and marked by a "body count" mentality, but it was rarely inaccurate or sensationa, as has frequently been assumed. A study of coverage in 19 daily newspapers, the three television networks, and a wire service shows that the best work was done by science and medical writers on major metropolitan newspaper. Television newsmen and wire reporters were unprepared for a story of such complexity. A weak press relations effort by the Center for Disease Control and other public health agencies contributed to the public's confusion and upset professionals in the press. A better understanding by doctors of how the press works and closer relations between the medical community and the press can improve coverage of future public health programs.

An Encounter with Sex Discrimination

An experience was designed to provide undergraduate students enrolled in a Sociology of the Family course an encounter with sex discrimination. During the course, reasons for the differential occupational and educational achievement of men and women were discussed in terms of sex role socialization, constraints of normatively prescribed sex roles and discrimination in employment. In the past, students had been skeptical about the continued presence of discrimination against women, particularly with Equal Employment Opportunities Commission activities, employer fear of prosecution, and publicity given to affirmative action in large industries, government bureaucracies and universities. This experiment was devised to test the extent of sex discrimination in a progressive metropolitan area, to provide material for discussion, and to give students a taste for sociological research. A set of jobs was obtained from classified advertisements in two major metropolitan newspapers and categorized into those

Newspaper Performance in Recession Coverage

A panel of five major metropolitan newspapers was slow in recognizing the onset of the 1957–58 recession, but eventually recouped in collective coverage. Closer study of economic indicators might have resulted in more effective performance.