Doctoral Dissertation Grant: Reflections of Success in Media Coverage

这项研究涉及三个研究问题。首先，什么时候社会运动组织(SMO)最能吸引媒体的注意，并让他们的首选信息得到报道？其次，随着时间的推移，哪些组织、战略和制度因素会影响SMO使用媒体的成功？第三，特定的SMO在利用大众媒体接触更广泛的受众方面有多成功？本研究聚焦于三组因素(自变量)：社会运动组织的特征；媒介组织的特征；以及嵌入社会运动行为的社会政治环境。研究设计通过使用档案数据分析、历史账目检查和访谈来三角测量数据。将使用档案数据和历史记录来检查SMO的结构，每个SMO致力于吸引媒体关注的资源(人力和财力)，以及每个SMO在媒体渠道获得其首选信息所使用的战略。研究人员还将对过去和现在的活动家进行访谈，以确定活动家是否以及如何将他们从与记者互动中学到的经验教训纳入他们现有的媒体战略，以及活动家如何调整他们的媒体战略和与反对派和联盟SMO有关的信息。由于大众媒体由不同类型的媒体组成，拥有不同的受众和利基市场，研究人员将研究一系列媒体组织中的资源、新闻规范和惯例以及故事生产过程如何影响报道。为了分析这三个因素，研究人员将对持续报道堕胎问题的记者/记者和编辑/制片人进行采访。这项研究中的因变量是媒体成功。为了通过提供一种更细微差别的方法来衡量媒体的成功程度来扩展当前的文献，研究人员将采用一种认识到时间和横截面差异的抽样策略。首先，她将选取1980年至2000年堕胎辩论中的关键时刻；这些关键时刻代表了SMO更有可能获得媒体报道的时代。其次，她将尝试各种媒体，包括《纽约时报》、《时代》、《国家》、《国家评论》、《女士》、《旅居者》，以及美国广播公司、哥伦比亚广播公司和美国全国广播公司的全国性广播节目。不同的媒体有不同的目标受众，因此，SMO可能在一个媒体上获得报道，而在另一个媒体上得不到报道。此外，不同的媒体对观众的关注度也不同。这项研究至少在三个方面有助于更广泛的知识。首先，由于研究设计采用了多种方法，并考察了多层次的分析，研究人员可以详细分析SMO、媒体组织和更大的社会和政治环境之间的互动。这样就可以考察这些互动是如何影响媒体报道的。其次，她将考虑SMO如何调整他们的媒体战略，以及与对手和盟军SMO相关的首选信息。最后，她将研究随着时间的推移，SMO、大众媒体和更大的社会和政治环境之间的关系。随着时间的推移，分析这些关系使研究人员能够在更大的社会和政治背景下比较SMO及其战略，以确定SMO是否以及如何将其从与记者和记者的互动中吸取的经验教训纳入其战略和结构，并评估媒体战略和信息在动态环境中的有效性。

The study addresses three research questions. First, when are social movement organizations (SMOs) best able to garner media attention and get their preferred messages covered? Second, what organizational, strategic, and institutional factors influence SMOs' success in using the media over time? Third, how successful are particular SMOs at using mass media to reach a broader audience? This research focuses on three sets of factors (independent variables): characteristics of social movement organizations; characteristics of media organizations; and the social and political environment in which social movement action is embedded. The research design triangulates the data through the use of archival data analysis, the examination of historical accounts, and interviews. Archival data and historical accounts will be used to examine how the SMOs are structured, the resources (human and financial) each dedicates to garnering media attention, and the strategies each uses to get its preferred messages in media outlets. The researcher also will conduct interviews with past and current activists to determine whether and how activists incorporate the lessons they learn from interacting with journalists into their existing media strategy, as well as how activists adjust their media strategies and messages in relation to oppositional and allied SMOs. Because mass media consists of different types of outlets that have different audiences and niches, the researcher will examine how the resources, journalistic norms and routines, and the story production process in a range of media organizations affect coverage. In order to analyze these three factors, the researcher will conduct interviews with journalists/reporters and editors/producers who consistently cover the abortion issue. The dependent variable in the study is media success. In an effort to expand the current literature by offering a more nuanced approach to measuring media success, the researcher will employ a sampling strategy that is cognizant of temporal and cross-sectional variation. First, she will sample critical moments in the abortion debate from 1980 to 2000; these critical moments represent times when it is more likely that SMOs will get media coverage. Second, she will sample a cross section of media outlets, including the New York Times, Time, Nation, National Review, Ms., Sojourners, and the national broadcasts from ABC, CBS, and NBC. Different media outlets have different target audiences and as such an SMO may get coverage in one outlet but not another. Moreover, different outlets command different levels of audience attention. This research contributes to broader knowledge in at least three ways. First, because the research design employs a variety of methods and examines multiple levels of analysis, the researcher can offer a detailed analysis of the interactions among SMOs, media organizations, and the larger social and political environment. This allows an examination of how these interactions affect media coverage. Second, she will consider how SMOs adapt their media strategies and preferred messages in relation to opponents and allied SMOs. Finally, she will examine the relationships among SMOs, mass media outlets, and the larger social and political environment over time. Analyzing these relationships over time allows the researcher to compare the SMOs and their strategies in a larger social and political context to determine whether and how an SMO incorporates the lessons it learns from its interactions with journalists and reporters into its strategies and structures, and to evaluate how effective media strategies and messages are in a dynamic environment.