Primary presidential election campaign messages in 2004: A functional analysis of candidates’ news releases

This study content analyzed news releases from six candidates in the 2004 Democratic presidential primary campaign. These news releases focused mainly on acclaims (70%) followed by attacks (29%). Defenses were rarely employed and used only by Kerry. Candidates focused most on policy (55%), followed by character (34%) and campaign-related topics (10%). When they attacked, these candidates aimed most of their criticism at President Bush (76%), with relatively few attacks targeted toward fellow Democrats (7%). The media, the status quo generally, and others were also attacked less frequently. When they addressed policy, the candidates discussed past deeds (38%), future plans (32%), and general goals (29%). When they talked about character, they focused on personal qualities (37%), ideals (32%), and leadership ability (31%). Results were compared with 2004 Democratic primary TV spots and debates.     

Can a Poll Affect Perception of Candidate Traits?

During presidential elections, poll results frequently are presentedin the news. Reporters use these polls to tell the public whatit thinks about the presidential candidates. We argue that pollingresults tell the public what it should think about the presidentialcandidates as well. This study outlines how a character traitthat is not usually used to assess presidential candidates wasput into play during the 2004 presidential campaign. By repeatedlyascribing "stubbornness" to incumbent president George W. Bush,Democratic challenger John Kerry may have prompted this trait’sinclusion in a Los Angeles Times summer 2004 survey. The poll’sevidence that the public saw Bush as more stubborn than Kerrythen produced an attribute agenda-setting effect that strengthenedthe link between that term and Bush. Using data from the NationalAnnenberg Election Survey, we argue that the news coverage ofthis Los Angeles Times poll increased the salience of the trait"stubborn" in assessing President George W. Bush during Juneof the 2004 presidential campaign.     

Intercandidate agenda-setting in presidential elections: Issue and attribute agendas in the 2004 campaign

This study examined the role of political public relations in the process of intercandidate agenda-setting. Specifically, a content analysis of news releases, political speeches, and issue platform statements was conducted to assess the salience of issues and attributes in the 2004 presidential election from the Bush, Kerry, and Nader campaigns. While modest evidence for intercandidate agenda-setting associations regarding issue salience was obtained, more robust support was detected for attribute salience relationships. In light of these findings, the theoretical and practical implications for political public relations are discussed.     

President Bush's major post-Katrina speeches: Enhancing image repair discourse theory applied to the public sector

When Hurricane Katrina swept the Gulf Coast, President Bush's newly formed Department of Homeland Security received its first test and failed. In Katrina's aftermath, Bush not only had to manage one of the nation's worst natural disasters, but also had to quell political backlash about the federal government's response to Katrina. This study examines: (a) how Bush presented the federal response to Katrina in his speeches; (b) how Bush responded to the public's criticism in his speeches; and (c) how effective Bush's speeches were in repairing his tarnished image.     

The Undeserving Rich: “Moral Values” and the White Working Class1

White working‐class citizens who vote for the Republican Party have been fodder for much political discussion and speculation recently, and a debate has arisen about the role that “moral values” played in the political decision making of this segment of voters. In this article, we defend a version of the moral values claim. We show that although the Republicans’ policies are unpopular, they are bundled with an overarching moral framework that is extremely resonant to this set of voters, and we use in‐depth interviews to uncover this framework. A key feature of this framework, on which in the 2004 presidential election George W. Bush scored high and John Kerry scored low, is the appropriate attitude to wealth, which serves as an indicator for a candidate’s general moral philosophy and as a heuristic about whether the candidate will govern with working‐class voters’ interests in mind. National Election Studies data support the argument that this was a key influence on the voting decision in 2004, even controlling for voters’ partisan identification.     

Fat in the Fire? Science,the News Media,and the “Obesity Epidemic”2

In recent years, the “obesity epidemic” has emerged as a putative public health crisis. This article examines the interconnected role of medical science and news reporting in shaping the way obesity is framed as a social problem. Drawing on a sample of scientific publications on weight and health, and press releases and news reporting on these publications, we compare and contrast social problem frames in medical science and news reporting. We find substantial overlap in science and news reporting, but the news media do dramatize more than the studies on which they are reporting and are more likely than the original science to highlight individual blame for weight. This is partly due to the news media’s tendency to report more heavily on the most alarmist and individual‐blaming scientific studies. We find some evidence that press releases also shape which articles receive media coverage and how they are framed.     

Activist efforts of the Center for Media and Democracy to affect FCC policy for video news releases

The study reviews FCC policy about identifying the source of video news releases (VNRs) and looks at the activist efforts of the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) to affect policy. The FCC rules about VNR use are clear: stations are not obligated to identify the source of footage taken from video news releases if there are no sponsorship issues (payment for placement) unless VNRs concern political or controversial issues. The basic argument is whether source identification of VNR material should be self-regulated by journalists or regulated by the government as advocated by the CMD. The study looks at efforts of the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) to affect the practice of public relations through pressure to regulate video news releases by examining discourse and calls for action on the CMD Web site, responses by other organizations including the Radio and Television News Directors Association (RTNDA), and resulting FCC actions in order to examine the role of activism in the VNR debate. It found CMD efforts influenced the debate by serving an issues activation and agenda-setting function that resulted in news coverage and triggered an FCC investigation of VNR use, but was not successful in the attempt to change policy.     

Carl Schmitt’s politics in the age of drone strikes: examining the Schmittian texture of Obama’s enemy

When George Bush declared to his global audience that they were either ‘with us or against us’, he appeared to directly invoke the Schmittian antithesis of friend vs. enemy. Against the historical backdrop of Bush’s war on terror, and the scholarly attention his foreign policy received in relation to Carl Schmitt’s concept of the political, this paper examines whether the Obama administration’s targeted killing regime has marked a departure from Schmitt’s paradigms of war and enmity. Focusing specifically upon the rapid increase in use of drone strikes during Barack Obama’s presidency, this paper argues that the production of the enemy’s abstractness and drive for its annihilation together push at the limits of the Schmittian political logic. However, rather than denoting the point at which political relations are unexplainable through a Schmittian lens, this paper proposes that this produced enemy and its treatment in drone ‘warfare’ obfuscates the lines between a complex of Schmittian paradigms.     

If the Organizations Won't Give Us Information…: The Use of Multiple New Media for Crisis Technical Translation and Dialogue

This study expands crisis message strategies to include those used to communicate technical details and examines them across multiple new media. A content analysis of blogs, Web sites, news articles, and press releases from the 2007 pet food recall crisis reveals that when stakeholders affected by the crisis desire emotional support—most frequently found in blogs—they do not include any types of technical explanations in their messages. Yet when they want rectification—assurance that the crisis will not happen again—they use more elaborate forms of technical translation explanations. Organizational use of technical translation explanations differ between media with Web sites and news articles containing more elaborate technical translation than press releases. When technical translation details are used, dialogic links, such as Web site links, are included.     

Corporation-bashing in documentary film: A case study of news media coverage organizational response

This case study compares/contrasts news coverage of two crisis communication responses – corrective action and defiance/attacking-the-accuser – by examining print news coverage of McDonald's Corporation and Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. in conjunction with documentaries Super Size Me (2004) and Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price (2005). Discussed are crisis communication dynamics associated with this new brand of documentary filmmaking and journalism's role in the debates.     

Casting the 2000 U.S. Presidential Primaries

This article examines the 2000 U.S. presidential primaries as a case study in "casting" by early journalistic and polling choices. Casting is a strong series of candidate expectations expressed by news organizations early in campaigns. Often casting choices are based significantly on early polls (and campaign cash), and sometimes they can become self-fulfilling prophecies as campaign coverage and elections move forward.

The author argues that casting occurs in regularly scheduled and significant news stories. The news choices fulfill both organizational needs and the routines of dramatic storytelling. The researcher examined polls and news coverage in the primary season from January 1 until March 14, 2000. News coverage was determined by daily keyword searches on Lexis-Nexis for each of nine candidates. The researcher tracked not only overall news coverage, but also news attention per polling point. Casting was clear: Al Gore and George W. Bush as extensively-covered front runners, a "serious candidates" field covered more extensively than their initial poll numbers would seem to justify, and nearly invisible "immediate also-rans."     

'I know for certain . . . that these are bad people': The Intractable Problem of Guantánamo

Abstract

In 2003 George W. Bush offered a black and white depiction of the detainees held within Guantánamo Bay. Having removed all their legal and constitutional protections and imposed an absolute executive authority, Bush baldly asserted that they were 'bad people'. Yet, ironically, by taking these measures, Bush also visited upon the US problems and threats that Barack Obama still struggles to resolve. Bush's solution created a new set of dilemmas, since the detainees, cast into the position of 'bare life', in Giorgio Agamben's phrase, stripped of their legal rights, were in a situation where they also collectively situated the Guantánamo Bay camps as a hub at the centre of a hybrid network — one arguably possessing both weak ties and 'small world' hub-centeredness. This hub has weak ties, in that the network has been randomized in the node's multinational assemblage of detainees, linking all over the world, so generating a network which has the potential for high connectivity, yet it is also a network that has the robust compactness of a small world network, in that it is defined around the GiTMO camps. This makes it a particularly potent source of networked resistance to the camps and of terrorist collaboration via a process of network densification.     

Psychological Distress of Cuban Americans Affected by Restrictive U.S. Travel Policies

We describe the mental health consequences of United States travel policies affecting Cuban Americans (CAs) with relatives in Cuba and discuss these policies in the context of U.S. domestic politics and the Bush administration's desire for regime change in Cuba. Policies put into effect in 2004 restrict CAs from visiting relatives in Cuba more than once every 3 years, narrowly define family whom CAs can legally visit, and limit the assistance they can provide their Cuban relatives. We share case reports based on qualitative interviews with 53 Cuban Americans that illustrate travel-related psychological distress (TRPD) experienced by CAs in response to the restrictions. We note the difficulties CAs experience in coping with TRPD and the need for political and mental health interventions to address this condition. TRPD is directly related to the government's violation of the human and constitutional rights of CAs to travel freely. It is the responsibility of the state to restore those rights. Human services professionals should oppose TRPD as antithetical to family well-being.     

The US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief

This article analyses the US response under former President George W. Bush to the global HIV/AIDS epidemic at the intersection of neo-conservatism and neo-liberalism, highlighting the various ways their distinct gender logics collide to reproduce masculine privilege and gender inequalities on a global scale. The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) is the United States global HIV/AIDS policy and is the largest commitment made by any single nation for an international health project. My analysis is based on PEPFAR's ‘formal’ policy texts, including its authorizing legislation, five-year strategic framework and specific policy directives for recipient organizations. In addition, I examine more ‘informal’ texts like Congressional reports and Presidential speeches delivered by George W. Bush on various occasions. Drawing on a rich body of feminist ethnographic work in the fields of global governance, international political economy, organizational theory and sexuality and masculinity studies, the following article examines the various ways market-based norms and practices can legitimate the moral imperatives of neo-conservatism to promote ‘traditional’ values and institutions in the global South as leading solutions to global problems and insecurities.     

Do public relations managers and technicians value news releases differently?

This survey of 220 randomly sampled members of Public Relations Society of America sought to determine if 179 respondents (81% response rate) valued news releases as a public relations tactic and if attitudes differed between manager and technician roles. It tested differences in responses by six independent variables—professional experience, salary, staff size, education, organization and activities—previously used to differentiate the roles. Although several items differed by levels of the independent variables, the only conclusive difference between the roles indicated that managers valued news releases more than technicians.     

Newsroom convergence models of China's Beijing Youth Daily and Denmark's Nordjyske

In the digital era, most media organizations are exploring their own models to introduce news convergence and to make it work and profitable. This paper makes a comparative analysis between two local/regional newspapers, China's Beijing Youth Daily (BYD) and Denmark's Nordjyske, on their newsroom convergence models. The author finds that BYD focuses on the newspaper-based model with a strategy of integrating the content of BYD and its subsidiary newspapers, and it promotes interactivity between newspapers and the web (internet and mobile phone). It maintains the traditional separate and cascade newsrooms with newspapers mainly supplying content to websites. By contrast, Nordjyske has applied a multimedia-based model implementing resource sharing, content sharing and cross-promotion via multiple platforms including TV, radio, print, and website. It uses matrix-organization in its newsrooms with reporters organized around news beats. At present, BYD is blocked by policy barriers that prohibit newspapers from running broadcasting services in China. When the market is further deregulated, there is possibility that BYD will follow Nordjyske's practice.     

Media Discussion on the Naturalization Policy for Syrians in Turkey

This study focuses on the public opinion on the naturalization policy for Syrians in Turkey. It analyses news media coverage in the religious, far‐right newspaper (Yeni Akit), a centre‐right newspaper (Hürriyet), a social democrat newspaper (Cumhuriyet), and a socialist‐left news portal (Solportal). The research question is: What are the metaphors, arguments, and omissions produced by media of different ideologies about the possible citizenship of Syrians in Turkey? The results show that metaphors and arguments differ according to ideological stance, suggesting that the current political polarization in Turkey affects the public's acceptance of Syrians and challenges Turkey's established migration policy. Each ideological stance accepts Syrians on a selective basis, implying that universal naturalization of Syrians is not welcome; instead, there seems to be consensus favouring naturalization according to socio‐economic criteria. These results indicate a need for a change in migration policy, especially concerning disadvantaged Syrians.     

WAR PROGRAMMING: The Propaganda Project and the Iraq War

The invasion of Iraq was justified to the American people by a sophisticated propaganda campaign that reflected a think tank's vision for a new foreign policy. One objective of this article is to set forth a theoretical argument for analyzing modern propaganda campaigns as a feature of mass-mediated discourse crafted by think tanks and highly organized claims makers. We propose that the current structure of policy and critique is now institutionalized and formatted as War Programming, which connects criticism within a narrative sequence, including critiques and reflections about journalistic failings. The scope of the action is so immense that it precludes and preempts its critique. The second objective is to show how the rationale for the invasion was developed as a "public conspiracy" over a decade by the members of the Project for a New American Century (PNAC). The third aim of this article is to describe and clarify why the PNAC plans for Iraq and an imperialist foreign policy received very little news media coverage. Qualitative content analysis of news materials suggests that the news sources and media shared a logic and perspective about "timely and entertaining news." The PNAC plan was not publicized by the major news media because it fell outside the focus of the Bush administration's propaganda campaign to demonize Iraq and its leader Saddam Hussein, who was held to be responsible for attacks on the United States. The implications of such a well-organized propaganda campaign for future news coverage of war are discussed.     

A content analysis of BP's press releases dealing with crisis

This study aims to analyze what kinds of frames have been used in British Petroleum's (BP's) press releases, which dealt with the Gulf oil spill crisis that occurred in April 2010. A content analysis was conducted to explore the different frames used by BP in its press releases to deal with the crisis. The main and sub themes are also analyzed through a content analysis of press releases. This study attempts to examine BP's crisis communication strategy through press release usage by closely analyzing the frames and themes that were used. This study found that BP attempted to update the public on what the company was doing to resolve the oil spill crisis, and that they made every effort to manage the crisis by using the company's official update frame. In addition, by using the social responsibility frame, BP aimed to show the public that they had intentions of taking responsibility for the oil spill. Finally, BP used a minimal number of defensive frames as a way of showing the public that they did not want to flee from the responsibility of the oil spill crisis.     

The relationship between newsworthiness and publication of news releases in the media

Using content analysis of news releases received, selected, and rejected, and published by the media this study examines the relationship between the newsworthiness of news releases and the publication of news releases in the media. The results show that newsworthiness is a strong predictor of the selection of news releases for publication and the amount of coverage the selected news releases will receive. However, the newsworthiness of news releases fails to predict the prominence of coverage of the selected news releases.