Brendan R Watson
Biographic Data
| ID | 6560116 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Brendan R Watson |
| GIVEN NAMES | Brendan R |
| FAMILY NAME | Watson |
| SIGNATURE | WATSON B R |
| AFFILIATIONS | Michigan State University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-3518-9531 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 13 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 43 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 13 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2011 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2022 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Trial by Media: Media Use, Fear of Crime, and Attitudes Toward Police
This study examined the cultivation effects of local news media use on Chicago residents’ fear of crime and attitudes toward police. Chicago, IL was chosen because of the city's struggles with gang violence and with police misconduct, both which have been covered extensively by local news media. Controlling for individual level variables, including previous crime victimization and neighborhood level contexts, a survey of Chicago residents found s…
Analyzing Media Messages: Using Quantitative Content Analysis in Research
Analyzing Media Messages, Fourth Edition provides a comprehensive guide to conducting content analysis research. It establishes a formal definition of quantitative content analysis; gives step-by-step instructions on designing a content analysis study; and explores in depth several recurring questions that arise in such areas as measurement, sampling, reliability, data analysis, and the use of digital technology in the content analysis process. T…
Who will intervene to save news comments? Deviance and social control in communities of news commenters
Which bystanders will confront racist, misogynist, personal attacks in news comment sections? This article applies sociological concepts of deviance and social control to categorize efforts to moderate online news comments. Three dimensions of social control are theorized: affirming and sanctioning social control, formal and informal social control, and direct and indirect social control. Particular focus is on indirect informal social control (i…
The Imagined Audience for and Perceived Quality of News Comments: Exploring the Perceptions of Commenters on News Sites and on Facebook
A number of news organizations have begun shifting commenting from their websites to Facebook, based on the implicit assumption that commenting on Facebook is an equivalent (or preferred) substitute. Using survey data from 317 online news commenters, and drawing on the concept of imagined audience, this article examines this assumption by comparing news commenters’ perceptions of imagined audiences for comments on news organizations’ websites and…
Murder She Searched: The Effect of Violent Crime and News Coverage on Residents’ Information Needs
This study examines local web search data as a window into residents’ information needs surrounding the issue of urban crime. Media system dependency theory is used to explain the dynamic, interdependent relationships between changes in the local crime rate (i.e., the social system), news coverage of crime (i.e., the media system), and residents’ (i.e., the audience’s) online searches for crime-related information. It was hypothesized that crime …
A window into shock, pain, and attempted recovery”: A decade of blogging as a coping strategy in New Orleans
Interviews with bloggers examine the ongoing use of blogs to cope with the persistent community stress New Orleans has experienced post-Hurricane Katrina. Previously, the field of media studies has overlooked blogs’ coping role. Cyber psychology has explored blogs’ role in individual and emotional coping, but not task-oriented efforts to ameliorate sources of community stress. Among other insights, the unique intersection of media studies and cyb…
Issues and Best Practices in Content Analysis
This article discusses three issues concerning content analysis method and ends with a list of best practices in conducting and reporting content analysis projects. Issues addressed include the use of search and databases for sampling, the differences between content analysis and algorithmic text analysis, and which reliability coefficients should be calculated and reported. The “Best Practices” section provides steps to produce reliable and vali…
Community Information Needs: A Theory and Methodological Framework
In the mass media age, mass communication researchers interested in civic engagement and participation focused primarily on media and media use. However, given the upending of traditional media institutions and the rise of social media and other digital communication technologies that are giving rise to new sources of information, the contemporary media environment calls for a focus on information received from media (and non-media sources), and …
Todayin1963: Commemorative journalism, digital collective remembering, and the March on Washington
This study uses content analysis and social network analysis methods to examine the process of collective remembering during National Public Radio's (NPR) novel use of Twitter to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Specifically, this study explores the extent to which NPR's coverage followed “conventionalized” patterns of traditional news coverage, including the “protest paradigm,” which obscure …
Assessing the Reporting of Reliability in Published Content Analyses: 1985–2010
Content analysis is a common research method employed in communication studies. An important part of content analysis is establishing the reliability of the coding protocol, and reporting must be detailed enough to allow for replication of methodological procedures. This study employed a content analysis of published content analysis articles (N=581) in three communication journals over a 26-year period to examine changes in reliability sampling …
When Critical Voices Should Speak Up: Patterns in news coverage of unofficial sources during the BP oil spill
Routine journalistic coverage relies heavily on official sources, which are least likely to raise critical questions about the causes and consequences of disasters such as the 2010 BP oil spill. It is possible, though, that disasters—precisely because they are unexpected—at least temporarily dislodge journalistic routines that sideline independent, more critical voices. This study uses Gulf Coast newspaper coverage of the BP oil spill to examine …
Perceived Threat, Immigration Policy Support, and Media Coverage: Hostile Media and Presumed Influence
This study, using survey data (N 529), examined perceived immigration ‘‘threat,’’ subjective knowledge, support for punitive and assimilative immigration policies, and opinions about media coverage effects. Perceived threat was not related to a third-person effect; however, perceived threat of immigrants was related to support for punitive immigration policies, and a strong ‘‘hostile media perception’ ’ was con-firmed. There was a significant bel…
Structural Determinants of Local Public Affairs Place Blogging: Structural Pluralism and Community Stress
This study examines the relationship between community-level characteristics and the presence of public affairs place blogs in 232 U.S. cities. Two models to predict the presence of these sites are tested: a structural pluralism model, which suggests that the presence of one of these sites reflects more pluralistic voices, and a community stress model, which suggests that the presence of these sites reflects citizens’ efforts to cope with communi…
Perceived Threat, Immigration Policy Support, and Media Coverage: Hostile Media and Presumed Influence
This study, using survey data (N 529), examined perceived immigration ‘‘threat,’’ subjective knowledge, support for punitive and assimilative immigration policies, and opinions about media coverage effects. Perceived threat was not related to a third-person effect; however, perceived threat of immigrants was related to support for punitive immigration policies, and a strong ‘‘hostile media perception’ ’ was con-firmed. There was a significant bel…
Who will intervene to save news comments? Deviance and social control in communities of news commenters
Which bystanders will confront racist, misogynist, personal attacks in news comment sections? This article applies sociological concepts of deviance and social control to categorize efforts to moderate online news comments. Three dimensions of social control are theorized: affirming and sanctioning social control, formal and informal social control, and direct and indirect social control. Particular focus is on indirect informal social control (i…
Assessing the Reporting of Reliability in Published Content Analyses: 1985–2010
Content analysis is a common research method employed in communication studies. An important part of content analysis is establishing the reliability of the coding protocol, and reporting must be detailed enough to allow for replication of methodological procedures. This study employed a content analysis of published content analysis articles (N=581) in three communication journals over a 26-year period to examine changes in reliability sampling …
The Imagined Audience for and Perceived Quality of News Comments: Exploring the Perceptions of Commenters on News Sites and on Facebook
A number of news organizations have begun shifting commenting from their websites to Facebook, based on the implicit assumption that commenting on Facebook is an equivalent (or preferred) substitute. Using survey data from 317 online news commenters, and drawing on the concept of imagined audience, this article examines this assumption by comparing news commenters’ perceptions of imagined audiences for comments on news organizations’ websites and…
Trial by Media: Media Use, Fear of Crime, and Attitudes Toward Police
This study examined the cultivation effects of local news media use on Chicago residents’ fear of crime and attitudes toward police. Chicago, IL was chosen because of the city's struggles with gang violence and with police misconduct, both which have been covered extensively by local news media. Controlling for individual level variables, including previous crime victimization and neighborhood level contexts, a survey of Chicago residents found s…
When Critical Voices Should Speak Up: Patterns in news coverage of unofficial sources during the BP oil spill
Routine journalistic coverage relies heavily on official sources, which are least likely to raise critical questions about the causes and consequences of disasters such as the 2010 BP oil spill. It is possible, though, that disasters—precisely because they are unexpected—at least temporarily dislodge journalistic routines that sideline independent, more critical voices. This study uses Gulf Coast newspaper coverage of the BP oil spill to examine …
Structural Determinants of Local Public Affairs Place Blogging: Structural Pluralism and Community Stress
This study examines the relationship between community-level characteristics and the presence of public affairs place blogs in 232 U.S. cities. Two models to predict the presence of these sites are tested: a structural pluralism model, which suggests that the presence of one of these sites reflects more pluralistic voices, and a community stress model, which suggests that the presence of these sites reflects citizens’ efforts to cope with communi…
A window into shock, pain, and attempted recovery”: A decade of blogging as a coping strategy in New Orleans
Interviews with bloggers examine the ongoing use of blogs to cope with the persistent community stress New Orleans has experienced post-Hurricane Katrina. Previously, the field of media studies has overlooked blogs’ coping role. Cyber psychology has explored blogs’ role in individual and emotional coping, but not task-oriented efforts to ameliorate sources of community stress. Among other insights, the unique intersection of media studies and cyb…
Todayin1963: Commemorative journalism, digital collective remembering, and the March on Washington
This study uses content analysis and social network analysis methods to examine the process of collective remembering during National Public Radio's (NPR) novel use of Twitter to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Specifically, this study explores the extent to which NPR's coverage followed “conventionalized” patterns of traditional news coverage, including the “protest paradigm,” which obscure …
Structural Determinants of Local Public Affairs Place Blogging: Structural Pluralism and Community Stress
This study examines the relationship between community-level characteristics and the presence of public affairs place blogs in 232 U.S. cities. Two models to predict the presence of these sites are tested: a structural pluralism model, which suggests that the presence of one of these sites reflects more pluralistic voices, and a community stress model, which suggests that the presence of these sites reflects citizens’ efforts to cope with communi…
Perceived Threat, Immigration Policy Support, and Media Coverage: Hostile Media and Presumed Influence
This study, using survey data (N 529), examined perceived immigration ‘‘threat,’’ subjective knowledge, support for punitive and assimilative immigration policies, and opinions about media coverage effects. Perceived threat was not related to a third-person effect; however, perceived threat of immigrants was related to support for punitive immigration policies, and a strong ‘‘hostile media perception’ ’ was con-firmed. There was a significant bel…
Assessing the Reporting of Reliability in Published Content Analyses: 1985–2010
Content analysis is a common research method employed in communication studies. An important part of content analysis is establishing the reliability of the coding protocol, and reporting must be detailed enough to allow for replication of methodological procedures. This study employed a content analysis of published content analysis articles (N=581) in three communication journals over a 26-year period to examine changes in reliability sampling …
When Critical Voices Should Speak Up: Patterns in news coverage of unofficial sources during the BP oil spill
Routine journalistic coverage relies heavily on official sources, which are least likely to raise critical questions about the causes and consequences of disasters such as the 2010 BP oil spill. It is possible, though, that disasters—precisely because they are unexpected—at least temporarily dislodge journalistic routines that sideline independent, more critical voices. This study uses Gulf Coast newspaper coverage of the BP oil spill to examine …
Issues and Best Practices in Content Analysis
This article discusses three issues concerning content analysis method and ends with a list of best practices in conducting and reporting content analysis projects. Issues addressed include the use of search and databases for sampling, the differences between content analysis and algorithmic text analysis, and which reliability coefficients should be calculated and reported. The “Best Practices” section provides steps to produce reliable and vali…
Community Information Needs: A Theory and Methodological Framework
In the mass media age, mass communication researchers interested in civic engagement and participation focused primarily on media and media use. However, given the upending of traditional media institutions and the rise of social media and other digital communication technologies that are giving rise to new sources of information, the contemporary media environment calls for a focus on information received from media (and non-media sources), and …
Todayin1963: Commemorative journalism, digital collective remembering, and the March on Washington
This study uses content analysis and social network analysis methods to examine the process of collective remembering during National Public Radio's (NPR) novel use of Twitter to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Specifically, this study explores the extent to which NPR's coverage followed “conventionalized” patterns of traditional news coverage, including the “protest paradigm,” which obscure …
Murder She Searched: The Effect of Violent Crime and News Coverage on Residents’ Information Needs
This study examines local web search data as a window into residents’ information needs surrounding the issue of urban crime. Media system dependency theory is used to explain the dynamic, interdependent relationships between changes in the local crime rate (i.e., the social system), news coverage of crime (i.e., the media system), and residents’ (i.e., the audience’s) online searches for crime-related information. It was hypothesized that crime …
A window into shock, pain, and attempted recovery”: A decade of blogging as a coping strategy in New Orleans
Interviews with bloggers examine the ongoing use of blogs to cope with the persistent community stress New Orleans has experienced post-Hurricane Katrina. Previously, the field of media studies has overlooked blogs’ coping role. Cyber psychology has explored blogs’ role in individual and emotional coping, but not task-oriented efforts to ameliorate sources of community stress. Among other insights, the unique intersection of media studies and cyb…
The Imagined Audience for and Perceived Quality of News Comments: Exploring the Perceptions of Commenters on News Sites and on Facebook
A number of news organizations have begun shifting commenting from their websites to Facebook, based on the implicit assumption that commenting on Facebook is an equivalent (or preferred) substitute. Using survey data from 317 online news commenters, and drawing on the concept of imagined audience, this article examines this assumption by comparing news commenters’ perceptions of imagined audiences for comments on news organizations’ websites and…
Analyzing Media Messages: Using Quantitative Content Analysis in Research
Analyzing Media Messages, Fourth Edition provides a comprehensive guide to conducting content analysis research. It establishes a formal definition of quantitative content analysis; gives step-by-step instructions on designing a content analysis study; and explores in depth several recurring questions that arise in such areas as measurement, sampling, reliability, data analysis, and the use of digital technology in the content analysis process. T…
Who will intervene to save news comments? Deviance and social control in communities of news commenters
Which bystanders will confront racist, misogynist, personal attacks in news comment sections? This article applies sociological concepts of deviance and social control to categorize efforts to moderate online news comments. Three dimensions of social control are theorized: affirming and sanctioning social control, formal and informal social control, and direct and indirect social control. Particular focus is on indirect informal social control (i…
Trial by Media: Media Use, Fear of Crime, and Attitudes Toward Police
This study examined the cultivation effects of local news media use on Chicago residents’ fear of crime and attitudes toward police. Chicago, IL was chosen because of the city's struggles with gang violence and with police misconduct, both which have been covered extensively by local news media. Controlling for individual level variables, including previous crime victimization and neighborhood level contexts, a survey of Chicago residents found s…
Political science (11 works) · Sociology (11 works) · Computer Science (6 works) · Law (6 works) · Law (6 works) · Media studies (6 works) · Social Media and Politics (6 works) · Psychology (5 works) · Social media (5 works) · Advertising (4 works)