Prof. Yariv Tsfati together with Dr. Shira Dvir-Gvirsman (Tel Aviv University) and Prof. R. Kelly Garrett (The Ohio State University) received a top paper award from the political communication division of the International Communication Association (ICA) at the 2015 ICA annual meeting that took place this month in Puerto Rico. This research project was funded in part by a grant from the Israeli Ministry of Science.

Dvir-Gvirsman, S., Garrett, R.K., Tsfati, Y. (2015). Why do partisan audiences participate? Perceived public opinion as the mediating mechanism.

An article authored by Ravit Tov-Li, a graduate of our research masters program, and Dr. Oren Meyers has been published in the Hebrew language academic journal, Media Frames. The article is based on the thesis Ravit wrote under the guidance of Dr. Meyers.

Tov-Li, R. & Meyers, O. (2015). “His blood constantly cries out from the ground”: Law, media and memory in the Danny Katz affair. Media Frames. 14, pp. 1-32. [in Hebrew]

Abstract:

This research is anchored within the conceptual approach that explores the media and the legal system as interpretive agencies that bestow meanings upon social events and cultural phenomena. The research implements this approach through an examination of the ways in which these two interpretive agencies – law and media – constructed and framed the memory of the 1983 murder of Danny Katz, a 14 years old boy from Haifa. Such an investigation enables us to decipher the manner in which these two institutions operate as memory agents, and specifically the representation of legal verdicts in the media, alongside the representation of the media in legal writing.

Common scholarly criticism leveled against the media coverage of the legal affairs argues that journalists tend to internalize the values of the legal system, and thus abandon their critical stand as external observers. The findings of this study, point at an opposite pattern: throughout 27 years of coverage, the dominant journalistic voice challenged the rulings of the legal system in a comprehensive manner, offering an exonerating narrative that contradicted the actual convicting verdicts offered by the legal system. By doing so, the journalists undermined the “redressive rituals” offered by the legal system, in order to appease the tensions that aroused around this complex affair. We argue that in many respects, this kind of journalistic criticism became possible due to the fact that throughout the years voices from within the legal system challenged the formal verdicts and questioned the guilt of the convicted murderers. And so, echoing findings from political communication research, there is a close connection between the exposure

An article authored by Prof. Gabriel Weimann and UH Comm doctoral students, Nirit Weiss-Blatt, Germaw Mengistu, Maya Mazor Tregerman, and Ravid Oren will be republished as a chapter in an edited volume titled Refining Milestone Mass Communications Theories for the 21st Century (Routledge). The volume is edited by Ran Wei and will also feature chapters authored by Elihu Katz, George Gerbner and other notable communication researchers. The chapter grew out of a group project conducted as part of a Ph.D. workshop Prof. Weimann led a few years ago.

An article authored by Yael Patkin, a Research Masters student, has been published in the academic journal "Israeli Sociology". Yael started working on the project as a seminar paper in a seminar on Collective Memory taught by Dr. Oren Meyers. An earlier version of this paper won the best student paper prize (in Memory of Yuval Shahal) awarded by the Israeli Communication Association in 2014. The paper examines the collective memory of Yitzhak Rabin and his assassination by analyzing humoristic skits that were broadcasted after his murder.

An article authored by Prof. Jonathan Cohen, Dr. Nurit Tal-Or, and doctoral student Maya Mazor-Tregerman will appear in Journal of Communication.

Cohen, J., Tal-Or, N., & Mazor-Tregerman, M. (2015). The Tempering Effect of Transportation: Exploring the Effects of Transportation and Identification During Exposure to Controversial Two-Sided Narratives. Journal of Communication. doi:10.1111/jcom.12144

Abstract:

In 2 studies, we explored the effects of transportation and identification on attitudes following exposure to relevant and controversial 2-sided narratives. Participants read a story featuring 2 protagonists who held 2 opposing positions about a provocative issue. In Study 1, we manipulated identification and found that identification with the concordant character tended to polarize attitudes whereas identification with the discordant character tempered attitudes. In Study 2, we manipulated transportation and found that it moderated pre-exposure attitudes. Results are discussed in terms of the differences between these processes and their effects, and the potential use of narratives to moderate attitudes even in the context of highly charged conflicts.

Avraham, E. (2015). Destination image repair during crisis: Attracting tourism during the Arab Spring uprisings. Tourism Management, 47, 224-232.

Abstract:

The Arab Spring uprisings received intensive coverage and had a negative effect on tourism to the Middle East. This study aimed to uncover media strategies used by Middle Eastern countries' marketers to restore a positive image in times of change and challenge and to bring back tourists, by analyzing marketing initiatives, media policy, crisis communication techniques and the components of advertising campaigns. Integrating theory and practice, and adopting the “multi-step model for altering place image,” the study applied qualitative content analysis of advertisements, press interviews, and global tourism news websites. Three types of strategies were used by marketers to restore a positive image: source, message and audience.

Davidson, R., & Poor, N. (2015). The barriers facing artists’ use of crowdfunding platforms: Personality, emotional labor, and going to the well one too many times. New Media & Society, 17(2), 289–307.

Abstract:

Popular discourse frames crowdfunding as a way for those traditionally locked out of financing opportunities to leverage the connectivity of the Internet to widen their reach beyond their immediately accessible networks and secure funds for a wide variety of projects. Using a survey of crowdfunding project founders in the culture industries, we explored the relationship between certain social and psychological characteristics and attitudes toward crowdfunding. We examined how extraversion, surface acting, emotional labor, the social composition of project backers, and project success all relate to enjoyment and future intentions of using crowdfunding in the culture industries. Crowdfunding appears to advantage culture producers with particular personality structures while disadvantaging others. In sum, crowdfunding seems beneficial but might be useful only for particular types of artists and therefore should not supplant other traditional financing modes.

Lewis, N., & Martinez, L. S. (2014). Does the Number of Cancer Patients’ Close Social Ties Affect Cancer-Related Information Seeking Through Communication Efficacy? Testing a Mediation Model. Journal of Health Communication, 19(9), 1076–1097. doi:10.1080/10810730.2013.872724

Abstract:

This study addresses whether having a broad social network of close friends equips cancer patients with increased efficacy to engage in communication about their cancer, which then leads to an increased likelihood of patients actively seeking cancer-related information. Guided by the theory of motivated information management, the study also tests whether the effect of the number of close social ties on information seeking is mediated, in part, by communication efficacy. Results are based on data collected from a randomly drawn sample from the Pennsylvania Cancer Registry of 2,013 cancer patients who completed mail surveys in the Fall of 2006. Results are consistent with a cross-sectional mediation effect in which the number of close social ties in one's social network is positively associated with communication efficacy (b = .17, p = .001), which, in turn, is positively associated with cancer-related information seeking (b = .13, p < .001).

Davidson, R., & Meyers, O. “Should I stay or should I go?” Exit, voice and loyalty among journalists. Journalism Studies.

Abstract: 

Against the background of the crisis in the journalism industry, many journalists have decided to leave the occupation for other activities. We examine the reasons journalists give for leaving journalism, or remaining in it; the exit mechanisms they use; the destinations they choose and broader repercussions for Israeli journalism and the cultural industries. We base this examination on a sample of 60 life histories of active and former Israeli journalists, analyzed through the use of the “Exit, Voice and Loyalty” (EVL) typology developed by Albert Hirschman. Additionally, we investigate specific exit mechanisms and destinations using Bourdieu's notions of capital. We argue that applying the EVL typology to the data suggests the easy availability of exit routes out of journalism together with journalists' difficulty in voicing their occupational concerns within news organizations, given their chaotic organizational structure, contributed to news organizations' passive response to the crisis.

Yadiln-Segal, A. & Meyers, O. (2014). “Like Birds Returning to Their Nest”: Immigration Narratives and Ideological Constructions in Early Israeli Children’s Magazines. Journalism History, 40 (3), 158-166.

Aya Yadlin-Segal is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Communication at Texas A&M University. Oren Meyers is a senior lecturer in the Department of Communication at the University of Haifa. This article is based on a Masters thesis Yadlin-Segal wrote (Thesis advisor: Dr. Oren Meyers).

Abstract:

This article explores the construction of national identity through the coverage of immigrants and immigration in 1950s Israeli children’s magazines. The study’s interpretive-narrative analysis employed two research trajectories focusing on the narrators of immigration stories and the main plot structures featured in the magazines’ articles. The study’s main findings point at the sharp contrast between the positive presentation of the phenomenon of Jewish immigration to Israel as a fulfilment of a prophecy and the negative depiction of the immigrants themselves as primitive, not ideologically committed and burdening the young country’s economy. Beyond the specific historical context, the study provides conceptual and methodological insights into the fabula’s role in the narrative process, as well as to the use of immigrants’ depictions as a social tool for collective self-definition. By doing so, the article illuminates the reciprocal relationships between culture and journalistic practices.