Carnegie-Knight research grant recipients, 2005–2008
The following researchers received funding as part of the now-completed first phase of the Carnegie-Knight Task Force initiatives. Funds are no longer available. Phase two of the Task Force will focus on the development of a new website to promote research-based reporting for journalists, journalism educators, and students scheduled to be launched in early 2009.
Pablo Boczkowski and Limor Peer, Northwestern University
Online News Choices: Assessing the Existence and Character of a Gap Between Journalists and Citizens
The project will look at whether and how editorial decisions of professional journalists differ from the selections of ordinary citizens for a cross-section of U.S.-based online news sites. The researchers will conduct a content analysis of the top ten most prominently displayed stories on the home page of four major news sites and the top ten “most popular” stories.
Carolyn Byerly, Howard University
Women Owners of Broadcast Stations
The research involves gathering and analyzing data from women owners of TV and radio companies in the United States; women who have tried unsuccessfully to become broadcast owners; and women and men who possess specific expertise in media economics and policies. The researcher will conduct a series of interviews and establish a baseline of information on women’s media ownership.
David Craig, University of Oklahoma
Ethical Choices in Online Writing and Editing
The author will conduct a series of interviews with writers and editors in three large online news operations. He will take a close look at ethical choices they make in the use of anecdotes, description, quotes, interpretation and voice.
Richard Davis, Brigham Young University
The Influence of Political Blogs
Davis will examine the relationship between political blogs and journalists, as well as blog audience effects. Methods will include content analysis of political blogs and elite news sources, a survey of the political blog audience and a survey of political journalists.
Michael X. Delli Carpini and Eran Ben-Porath, University of Pennsylvania
Codes of Professionalism, Norms of Conversation: How Agressive Political News Interviews Shape Public Support for Journalism
The project will explore a hypothesized relationship between the decline in public trust in and support for journalism as a democratic institution and the increase in “confrontational interviews” that are part and parcel of cable news. The researchers will conduct a series of focus groups and controlled experiments.
John Dimmick, Ohio State University
The Niches of the News Media (New and Old): Information Use in Time and Space
The researcher will collect data on consumer choices of old and new media. He will map new and older media in time and space and portray the niches of information media as consumers overcome the coupling constraints posed by time and space to form bundles or contacts with the news media. Respondents will complete a time/space diary and other new media users will participate in focus groups.
Robert Entman, The George Washington University
Media Bias: Theory, Practice and Power in American Politics
The research will focus on the connection between news slant and the distribution of power and seeks to correct the impression that mainstream media consistently favor one ideological perspective. It employs novel conceptualizations of news slant and bias, and uses a formula adapted from economics to measure the degree of slant in news covering a wide range of political matters.
Elihu Katz and Jatin Atre, University of Pennsylvania
The Declining Demand for Traditional News Journalism
The researchers will test the hypothesis that the multiplication of television channels, in itself, plays a part in reducing audience selection of traditional television news programs. Researchers will use ratings data specifically tailored to their interest in the number of receivable channels and viewers’ choices among genres.
Regina Lawrence, Portland State University
Bloggers and Political News: A Study of Emergent Forms of Journalism
The relationship of news and blogs will be the focus of this project. The researcher will develop a typology of blogs and bloggers that would be useful in analyzing the forms of news provided on political blogs. The second goal will be to closely analyse a few examples of emerging forms of blog-based journalism.
Anne Osborne and Jack Hamilton, Louisiana State University
Youth Perspective on News Quality
The researchers will examine young audiences’ perceptions of the news and their uses of information. They will conduct a series of focus groups among non-journalism students 18-24 years of age about their use of media, how they evaluate the quality of news they receive, and the relationship they see between the media and a democratic society.
David Perlmutter, University of Kansas
Can Blog Usership Increase Newspaper Readership?
The project seeks to quantify whether political blog readership spurs young people to read traditional media online and what type of structures, styles or formats within a blog would stimulate even higher levels of traditional media consumption. The researcher will use a time series field experiment, focus groups and targeted interviews.
Jay Rosen, New York University
NewAssignment.net
NewAssignment.net is a new venture attempting to show that professionals and amateurs, journalists and volunteers, can work together on Web reporting projects and that people can be organized over the Internet to collaborate on stories that are not being investigated now. The grant will support research reviewing sites, interviewing people and assessing projects related to the new site.
Mitchell Stephens, New York University
Towards a New Model of Journalism Education
Stephens will undertake systematic research about a new model for journalism education by gathering information such as syllabi, lesson plans, lecture notes, comments of faculty and examples of inspiring and challenging work. He will also conduct a telephone and email survey to identify interesting programs and courses in journalism.
Louise Yarnall, SRI; Tom Johnson, Inst. for Analytic Journalism; and Michael Ranney, UC Berkeley
The State of Journalism Training in Quantitative and Digital Skills
The authors will assess the state of journalism training regarding quantitative skills. They will survey the educational programs, courses and resources that various types of journalism schools devote to teaching future journalists about quantitative analysis and the use of digital tools for analytical purposes. For more information, go here.
|
