Phillip Arceneaux | Miami University (original) (raw)

Journal Articles by Phillip Arceneaux

Journalism Studies, 2023

Utilizing agenda-building theory, we explore how campaigns and parties influenced press and publi... more Utilizing agenda-building theory, we explore how campaigns and parties influenced press and public agendas during Florida's 2018 midterm election. We investigate if the Gubernatorial and Senate campaigns transferred issue salience and affective attributes to press coverage and online public discourse. Results of a mixedmethod computer-assisted content analysis suggest weak transfer of issue salience and affective attributes by the campaigns and parties to the press and public agendas. The DeSantis campaign and Republican Party were the most successful at influencing press coverage and public discourse. First-level agenda-setting was observed by press coverage on the Gillum campaign and Democratic Party's agendas. The symmetry between these findings and election results offers correlational support for the limited effects of firstand second-level agenda-building and-setting in state elections.

Public Relations Review, 2024

Governments use public relations to promote their interests in international venues like the Unit... more Governments use public relations to promote their interests in international venues like the United Nations. To understand how governments market their value in environments of elite competition, I compare Canadian, Irish, and Norwegian narratives while campaigning for seats on the Security Council. Results of a strategic narrative analysis suggest Ireland told the strongest stories, creating an authenticity as the 'nation of storytellers' that maximized its valuation. Norway failed to substantively articulate the motivation behind its foreign policy, likely impacting brand loyalty among stakeholders. Canada had the weakest storytelling, with self-referential narratives lacking a sense of care that discredited, and at times even contradicted, the mutuality of it serving on the council. I posit these varying storytelling approaches contribute to understanding the campaigns' disparate ROIs. Contextualizing strategic narratives as value propositions expands the interdisciplinarity of government public relations scholarship at the nexus of international relations, public diplomacy, and nation branding. I conclude by operationalizing system, identity, and issue narratives to highlight how practitioners can maximize organizational value through wholistic storytelling.

The Agenda Setting Journal, 2019

This study explores relationships between agenda building, agenda indexing (reflected through sha... more This study explores relationships between agenda building, agenda indexing (reflected through share of voice as the key variable), and agenda-setting effects, measured through the combination of public opinion survey data and quantitative content analysis. It conceptually distinguishes between the three metrics often used interchangeably in the professional discourse by advertising and media practitioners – share of voice, share of influence, and share of conversation – and explores how they could be applied in political communication research to become useful tools for agenda-setting researchers. The results of the study indicate that an increased level of nationalism serves as a significant predictor for EU policy support through the pathway of decreased pro-EU sentiment, which, on the agenda level, is reflective of pro-nationals being less supportive of the EU policies and the idea of European integration.

Journal of International Communication, 2018

While religion is often considered a cultural element of soft power, religious institutions are r... more While religion is often considered a cultural element of soft
power, religious institutions are rarely studied as diplomatic
actors. The purpose of this study was to better understand
the manner in with the Catholic Church attempts to build
relationships with foreign audiences, a key function of
public diplomacy. Emphasising the role of Pope Francis as
an iconic world leader, this study employed a qualitative
textual analysis to determine what themes are selected and
emphasised in papal speeches in order to construct the
strategic narrative of the Catholic Church. Results suggest
that Pope Francis’ speeches rely most on narratives of
universal identity and values, shared responsibility, and calls
to action to present the Catholic Church more favourably in
the eyes of both Catholic and non-Catholic audiences
around the world. These findings contribute to the study of
public diplomacy, the concept of strategic narrative, and
the theoretical framework of framing.

Journal of Public Interest Communications, 2018

As social creatures, humans are highly involved in storytelling. With the continued advancement o... more As social creatures, humans are highly involved in storytelling. With
the continued advancement of communication systems, the
mechanisms for telling the narrative of human events also have
evolved. Social media and the memetic properties of hashtags’ going
viral are the apex of modern, digitally mediated, storytelling tools.
This critical essay discussed two hashtags, i.e., narratives, of the
Charlie Hebdo Paris shooting to illustrate how hashtag virality can be
a mechanism for the spread and enforcement of Western perspectives.
It then explored precedents under which international law could
potentially warrant regulation of such behavior. Concerned with the
protection of human diversity and cultural pluralism, this essay
advanced a normative course of action to facilitate social change as
conceived by an interdisciplinary framework.

New Media & Society, 2018

Despite high levels of global connectivity, Americans are generally underinformed about the world... more Despite high levels of global connectivity, Americans are generally underinformed about the world. The US Department of Education named social media as a viable option for improving learning objectives, yet minimal research supports such a claim regarding internationalization. While what research exists exclusively investigated Facebook, no research explored the viability of other popular platforms, such as Twitter or Instagram. Through an experimental design conducted on 405 college students, this study probed how the presentation of textually based (Twitter) and visually based (Instagram) messages affected American college students' recall of digital information. It also investigated how communicator credibility affected the way college students consumed digitally disseminated information. Results showed that information retention was most improved by visually based information published by professional news outlets. Such findings help to better understand the contributions social media are capable of making as information tools, particularly when applied to American post-secondary education.

Istanbul Journal of Open and Distance Education, 2015

This paper proposes a new method of collecting and utilizing quality feedback fromstudents regard... more This paper proposes a new method of collecting and utilizing quality feedback fromstudents regarding the learning experience of the electronic classroom. The studybegins by reviewing how existing methods for data gathering, also known as stu-dent evaluations of instruction (SEI), have been well established and tested in thetraditional class setting, but have not been adequately adapted to the online classsetting. The Quality Matter (QM) rubric is suggested as a supplementary tool inthe information collection process of online classes. Data was collected by surveyfrom both students and professors of the same institution. The results note bothstrengths and weaknesses of each approach, and conclude that the most eﬃcientsystem would be to use the QM Rubric as a supplement to the SEI.

Drafts by Phillip Arceneaux

As a telecommunications technology, social media has led to drastic changes in society. In the wo... more As a telecommunications technology, social media has led to drastic changes in society. In the world of international relations, there has been a mass adoption of social media by traditional diplomatic actors as contemporary mechanisms of public diplomacy. This marriage of diplomacy and social media, also known as digital diplomacy, has not been limited to traditional diplomatic actors, as entities such as non-governmental organizations and advocacy groups have strategically utilized social media as weapons of soft power to engage in international action. Utilizing public interest communication strategy to bring about positive social change, these informal diplomatic actors have used social media’s overly simplistic nature to mobilize public opinion toward political action that has led to the suppression of cultural identities abroad, and which has at times delayed the diplomatic process of securing international peace and security. Therefore, this paper explores ways in which international law can regulate the communicative behavior of such international actors.

2016 saw two historic and monumental shifts in political power as prompted by public opinion, tha... more 2016 saw two historic and monumental shifts in political power as prompted by public opinion, that of the United Kingdom’s decision to leave the European Union and the United States’ election of Donald J. Trump. Both events saw people democratically voting for policies that would lead each country toward a reduction of international involvement, both at home and abroad. The 2016 U.K. referendum and the U.S. election both saw unprecedented group expressions of opinion through digital media, alongside similarly unprecedented expressions of racism and xenophobia. This paper offered a sociological interpretation of how electronic tribalism, through corresponding acts of dehumanization, impacted policies of international disengagement through public opinion and the democratic voting process.

Despite high levels of global connectivity in the 21 st century, American citizens are significan... more Despite high levels of global connectivity in the 21 st century, American citizens are significantly unaware of global affairs. The Department of Education named social media as a viable option for improving the internationalization of classroom curricula, yet minimal research exists to quantitatively support such a claim. What little research does exist has exclusively investigated Facebook, while no research has looked into the viability of other popular social media platforms, such as Twitter or Instagram. Through an experimental design, this paper probed how the presentation of textually-based (Twitter) and visually-based (Instagram) messages affect American college students' recall of digital information pertaining to global affairs. It also investigated how communicator credibility effects how college students consume globally related information. Results showed that participants were most responsive to visually-based information published by professional news outlets. Such findings help to better understand the relatively under-investigated digital intersection of international communication in American education.

Books by Phillip Arceneaux

The Routledge Handbook of Public Diplomacy, 2020

Political Public Relations: Concepts, Principles and Applications, 2019