In March, she presented her paper “Selling a Double Victory: How the Pittsburgh Courier Campaigned to Change America and the World” to the Joint Journalism and Communication History Conference in New York City.

In June, Walck will travel to Dublin, Ireland, to present a paper co-written with Assistant Professor Yusuf Kalyango and fellow PhD student Sally Ann Cruikshank, “The Future of Journalism Practice and Pedagogy in the Media Ecology of Mobile Communication.” The venue is the annual conference of the International Association for Media and Communication Research.

He has the lead article in the spring 2013 issue of Journalism History: “Community Journalism in a Secret City: The Oak Ridge Journal, 1943-48.” The article examines the community newspaper of the town that did much of the secret war work to develop the atomic bomb. The newspaper could not, and did not, talk about the single issue that brought everyone together in the newly formed town of Oak Ridge, Tenn.

Carey also will present two papers April 24-28 at the annual convention of the Eastern Communication Association in Pittsburgh. The papers are: “‘This is Not What Amish People Do’: Representations of Amish Crime Victims and Perpetrators in Mainstream News Coverage,” and “Role Development and Hostile Commentary in Online Community Newsgroups.”

The former examines media representations of Amish people who were involved in a series of attacks in northeastern Ohio in 2011. The attacks received widespread media attention because both the victims and perpetrators identified as Old Order Amish. A qualitative textual analysis of articles in two metropolitan daily newspapers explored stereotypes and the theoretical notion of an “other within the other,” which explains perceptions of deviance in “Othered” groups. The analysis identified oversimplified, homogeneous representations of Amish groups, iconography, and a dependence on non-Amish sources to explain Amish beliefs and practices. Attack victims were represented as both deviant and subjugated. Their attackers were represented as the more deviant “other within the other.” The study adds to the body of scholarly work on representations of Amish groups specifically, and of religious entities in general, in mainstream American media. It also expands the understanding of portrayals of “other within the other” in media.

The latter study examines the ways in which social roles develop to address disruption, aggression, hostile comments, insults, and other commentary that might be considered negative or detrimental to productive dialog in online settings. A qualitative textual analysis of 208 comment threads on a community newsgroup page hosted by Topix.com identified nine roles that developed when negative commentary was present in the online forum. In addition, a random subsample (N = 105) was drawn for an exploratory content analysis that examined the relationships between identified roles and the presence of impolite and/or uncivil comments on message threads. The quantitative analysis revealed that uncivil threads were less common than impolite threads. Message threads with negative (impolite or uncivil) posts were often shorter than threads that did not include negative posts. As message threads became longer, negative posts became less prevalent. The appearance of certain roles was associated with longer message threads.

In addition, Carey presented a paper in March at the AEJMC Southeast Colloquium in Tampa, Fla.: “Universal Invitations and Inexhaustible Resources: Portrayals of Rural Life in Popular Magazines of the Late 1800s.” This exploratory study examines the descriptions of rural situations, people and places that appeared in three popular magazines – Munsey’s, McClure’s, and Cosmpolitan – in the late 1800s and early 1900s. During the Progressive Era, industrial and financial growth were rapidly reshaping the American social landscape, contributing to the growth of large cities, increasing transportation opportunities, and widening the gap between the rich and the poor. This work suggests that three dominant frames emerge to orient coverage of rural America. A fourth frame, less common than the others but still relevant, is also discussed. The paper argues that the frames present an interesting and at times conflicting view of America’s rural communities in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Rural areas were presented as lands of financial opportunity – places where, with the aid of cosmopolitan sophistication and science, wealth could be found and modern society could thrive. Stories also depicted rural America as a place to be admired, consumed, and sometimes distained. Its traditional values were lauded while its backwardness was chided. The paper argues that the dichotomies present in those frames – old and new, tradition and progress, work and leisure – are not unlike those evident when one considers the state of the magazine publishing industry, and in fact society as a whole, in the early 1900s.

The planning committee cited both of her manuscripts as Distinguished Papers, and she was the only author to receive this honor.

The committee asked her to lead a scholarly conversation about some of the issues that my papers raised while at the conference in Austin. The titles of the papers were:
“Selling a National Influence: The Coverage of the National Collegiate Athletic Association in the New York Times, 1906-1916,” and “Instilling a Rugged Manhood: The Framing of College Athletics in Popular Magazines,1896-1916.”

Furrow plans to defend her dissertation April 18. In fall, she will become an assistant professor at the University of Memphis.

The case, co-authored by Assistant Professor Craig Davis, is titled “American Apparel and the ‘XLent’ Contest.

It examines the unexpected consequences of a clothing company conducting an open call for a model with a “little extra wiggle room.”

Bissenov will present the paper in London in June. The paper was written for Dr. Yusuf Kalyango’s graduate-level media and conflicts class.

Atre, from India, defended his thesis in April 2013. Bissenov, from Uzbekistan, defended his thesis earlier in the year.

Upon graduating, she moved to Miami, where she gained experience as a county reporter and copy editor for Miami Today, South Florida’s leading business weekly.

Ashley looks forward to researching mass communication law, as well as the influence that media have on segments of society, while pursuing her doctorate at Ohio University.

In her spare time she enjoys biking, attending concerts and coming home to a sweet blue Chihuahua named Yoga and a husband who is pursuing a degree in music production.

(Written by MS student Jennifer Doyle)

Weed’s main research interest is the field of strategic communication. She is researching how social media positively and negatively influence brand reputation. Her paper, “American Apparel and the ‘XLent’ Contest,” which she co-authored with Assistant Professor Craig Davis, won a scholarship for top student paper at the Society for Case Research conference in summer 2012.

Weed is a senator in the Ohio University Graduate Student Senate and membership chair for the Graduate Student Interest Group of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communications (AEJMC). She has held committee positions with numerous non-profit organizations in central Ohio.

She attended the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism for her master’s degree and received her bachelor’s degree in broadcasting, public relations and organizational communication from Otterbein University in 2011.

(Written by master’s student Jennifer Doyle)

In 2010, Walck decided to leave the newspaper trenches and return to the classroom. She moved to Pittsburgh to attend Point Park University, where she received her master’s degree in journalism and mass communication. As a student she worked as a graduate assistant, advised the campus newspaper, and wrote freelance stories for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Walck’s current research interests include journalism history, particularly the role that the black press in America has played in integrating the armed forces, as well as society as a whole. She is also interested in the women of the black press and the roles they have played compared with their white counterparts.

In her spare time, Walck enjoys taking her dog, Kaiyo, for walks (especially when lakes or the ocean are involved), spending time with family, running, traveling abroad, taking pictures and camping with her best friend and family at Lake Pymatuning.

(Written by MS student Jennifer Doyle)

Highlights of Hunter’s professional experience include the creation and supervision of local news broadcasts for several start-ups, as well as work with established television stations including WXIX in Cincinnati, WGN-TV in Chicago and KTLA in Los Angeles. She has also spent time producing independent films and commercials.

It was the idea of mentoring journalism students and young professionals that prompted her transition from the control room to the classroom. Hunter is particularly interested in researching youth-centric media as an agent for social change, the news media’s relationships with community stakeholders and the political economic analysis of news content.

(written by MS student Jennifer Doyle)

After four years of working as a web designer, he decided to return to school to pursue a master’s in journalism.

Jeremy’s research interests include mass communication and political communication in general and media effects in particular; his paper on media convergence focusing on The New York Times and the blog FiveThirtyEight.com won the top student paper in the Electronic News Division at the 2012 Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) conference in Chicago in August.

When he’s not working on finishing his master’s thesis, Jeremy enjoys running, playing video games, hanging out with friends and colleagues, following sports teams (including the Cincinnati Bengals, Cincinnati Reds, Columbus Crew, and Aston Villa Football Club, an English professional soccer team), playing drums when the opportunity presents itself, keeping up on the news, and listening to podcasts.

(MS student Jen Doyle wrote this post.)