Online News and the Public

by Salwen,Michael B.

• ISBN13: 9780805848236
• ISBN10: 0805848231
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2004-10-26
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

This volume offers unique and timely insights on the state of online news, exploring the issues surrounding this convergence of print and electronic platforms, and the public's response to it. It provides an overview of online newspapers, including current trends and legal issues and covering issues of credibility and perceptions by online news users. The heart of the book is formed by empirical studies-mostly social surveys-coming out of the media effects and uses traditions. The chapters are grounded in theoretical frameworks and bring much-needed theory to the study of online news. The frameworks guiding these studies include media credibility, the third-person effect, media displacement, and uses and gratifications. The book ends with a section devoted to research on online news postings. This book is appropriate for scholars, researchers, and students in journalism, mass communication, new media, and related areas, and will be of interest to anyone examining how people use the web as a source for news.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Acknowledgments	xv
About the Authors	xvii
Part I: Overview
1 Online Newspapers	3	(44)
Bruce Garrison
2 Online News Trends	47	(34)
Michael B. Salwen
3 Legal Issues in Online Journalism	81	(40)
Paul D. Driscoll
Part II: Studies of Online News Audiences and Content
4 The Baseline Survey Projects: Exploring Questions	121	(26)
Michael B. Salwen, Bruce Garrison, and Paul D. Driscoll
5 Online News Credibility	147	(18)
Rasha A. Abdulla, Bruce Garrison, Michael B. Salwen, Paul D. Driscoll, and Denise Casey
6 Public Fear of Terrorism and the News Media	165	(20)
Paul D. Driscoll, Michael B. Salwen, and Bruce Garrison
7 Third-Person Perceptions of Fear During the War on Terrorism: Perceptions of Online News Users	185	(20)
Michael B. Salwen, Paul D. Driscoll, and Bruce Garrison
8 Under Construction: Measures of Community Building at Newspaper Web Sites	205	(16)
Cassandra Imfeld and Glenn W. Scott
9 Uses and Gratifications of Online and Offline News: New Wine in an Old Bottle?	221	(16)
Carolyn Lin, Michael B. Salwen, and Rasha A. Abdulla
10 Online News as a Functional Substitute for Offline News	237	(20)
Carolyn Lin, Michael B. Salwen, Bruce Garrison, and Paul D. Driscoll
11 Online Newspaper Market Size and the Use of World Wide Web Technologies	257	(22)
Wendy Dibean and Bruce Garrison
Part III: Online News Posters
12 What They Post: Arabic-Language Message Boards After the September 11 Attacks	279	(24)
Rasha A. Abdulla
13 Why They Chat: Predicting Adoption and Use of Chat Rooms	303	(20)
David J. Atkin, Leo Jeffres, Kimberly Neuendorf, Ryan Lange, and Paul Skalski
Appendix: National Telephone Survey Questionnaires, 2001-2002	323	(40)
Author Index	363	(8)
Subject Index	371