Sharon Meraz | University of Illinois at Chicago (original) (raw)

Papers by Sharon Meraz

SAGE Publications Ltd eBooks, 2023

In the twenty-teens, there are increasing numbers of women occupying executive positions in polit... more In the twenty-teens, there are increasing numbers of women occupying executive positions in politics, business and the law but their words and actions rarely make the front page. In this article, we draw on data collected as part of the 2015 Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP) and focus on England, Scotland, Wales and the Republic of Ireland. Since the first GMMP in 1995, there has been a slow but steady rise in the proportion of women who feature, report or present the news (now at 24 per cent), but that increase is a mere 7 per cent over 20 years. Not only is there a problem with visibility but our data also suggest that when women are present, their contributions are often confined to the realm of the private as they speak as citizens rather than experts and in stories about health but not politics. Just over a third of the media professionals we coded were women and older women are almost entirely missing from the media scene. Citizens and democracy more generally are poorly served by a news media which privileges men's voices, actions and views over the other 51 per cent of the population: we surely deserve better. KEYWORDS gender; Global Media Monitoring Project; journalism; media monitoring; news; qualitative analysis; quantitative analysis † To misquote Spock.

"Chapters titled: News, Feminist Theories, and the Gender Divide and The Softer Side of News... more "Chapters titled: News, Feminist Theories, and the Gender Divide and The Softer Side of News (with Paula Poindexter)"

This dissertation applied mass communication theory and the interdisciplinary theory of social ne... more This dissertation applied mass communication theory and the interdisciplinary theory of social network analysis to the networked political blogosphere and its relationship to mass media. Utilizing such mass communication theories as agenda setting, the two-step flow, and gatekeeping, this study examined eighteen political blogs across the political spectrum (left-leaning, right-leaning, and moderate blogs), two elite mass media outlets (the New York Times and the Washington Post), and two elite mass media blogs (political blogs from the New York Times and the Washington Post), using both hyperlink analysis as well as textual content analysis. Hyperlinking provided information on gatekeeping and the social network connections between blogs and mass media and among the different ideological political blog networks. Content analysis conducted at the issue and the issue attribute level provided a second layer of evidence to analyze how agendas are formed, framed, and transferred in the ...

Mass Communication and Society

Chapter 18 Strengthening the News Connection with Women and Cultivating the Next Generation Paulo... more Chapter 18 Strengthening the News Connection with Women and Cultivating the Next Generation Paulo Poindexter, Sharon Meraz, and Amy Schmitz Weiss Understanding the differences between women and men and the implications for news media preferences, attitudes, and ...

Given the dearth of research on nonpartisan political blog networks, this article conducted an ex... more Given the dearth of research on nonpartisan political blog networks, this article conducted an exploratory analysis of the network ties of elite, moderate blogs in relation to and in comparison with elite, partisan blogs. Sampling 18 ideologically diverse blogs (left-leaning, moderate, and right-leaning) across three public affairs issues in 2007, it was found that weak-tie connections enabled moderate blogs to bridge all ideological blog networks more comprehensibly and expansively than partisan blog networks. Unfortunately, the bridging effect of weak-tie connections provided less internal and external cohesion within the moderate blog network when compared to both partisan blog networks. Moderate blogs had low intragroup (within group) and intergroup (between group) cohesion: moderate blogs not only linked less internally but received fewer, reciprocal linkages from partisan blog networks. Findings highlight the trade-off that moderate blogs make as they sacrifice the visibility ...

for accepting the responsibility of shepherding this project through to its completion. My deepes... more for accepting the responsibility of shepherding this project through to its completion. My deepest respect and gratitude goes out to Dr. Maxwell McCombs, who always made time to see me, even through his busiest days. His efforts to help me graduate on time will never be forgotten. I owe my sincerest regards to Dr. Tremayne for his diligent efforts to keep me on schedule. His willingness to conference through last-minute phone calls and impromptu meetings will always be remembered. I wish to also pay tribute to the remaining members of my committee. A heartfelt thank you goes out to Dr. Rachel Smith: her strong knowledge of social network analysis and quantitative methods inspired many of the analyses in this study. Dr.

Chapter 7 The Many Faced “You” of Social Media Sharon Meraz Internet enthusiasts can all agree th... more Chapter 7 The Many Faced “You” of Social Media Sharon Meraz Internet enthusiasts can all agree that we are facing a fundamental shift in how information technologies support content creation and distribution over the World Wide Web (Anderson, 2006; O'Reilly, 2005; ...

Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 2011

Using time series analysis to gauge intermedia agenda setting in a sample of eighteen U.S. politi... more Using time series analysis to gauge intermedia agenda setting in a sample of eighteen U.S. political blogs, two elite traditional news entities, and their eleven political newsroom blogs across three issues in 2007, this study reveals that traditional media were unable to set political blog agendas. Ideologically diverse political blog networks were also able to set traditional media's online news agenda, and, to a lesser extent, their newsroom blog agenda. Findings point to a dilution of traditional media's singular agenda-setting influence and to greater interdependence between traditional media and political blogs than suggested by hyperlink studies.

The SAGE Handbook of Digital Journalism

SAGE Publications Ltd eBooks, 2023

In the twenty-teens, there are increasing numbers of women occupying executive positions in polit... more In the twenty-teens, there are increasing numbers of women occupying executive positions in politics, business and the law but their words and actions rarely make the front page. In this article, we draw on data collected as part of the 2015 Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP) and focus on England, Scotland, Wales and the Republic of Ireland. Since the first GMMP in 1995, there has been a slow but steady rise in the proportion of women who feature, report or present the news (now at 24 per cent), but that increase is a mere 7 per cent over 20 years. Not only is there a problem with visibility but our data also suggest that when women are present, their contributions are often confined to the realm of the private as they speak as citizens rather than experts and in stories about health but not politics. Just over a third of the media professionals we coded were women and older women are almost entirely missing from the media scene. Citizens and democracy more generally are poorly served by a news media which privileges men's voices, actions and views over the other 51 per cent of the population: we surely deserve better. KEYWORDS gender; Global Media Monitoring Project; journalism; media monitoring; news; qualitative analysis; quantitative analysis † To misquote Spock.

"Chapters titled: News, Feminist Theories, and the Gender Divide and The Softer Side of News... more "Chapters titled: News, Feminist Theories, and the Gender Divide and The Softer Side of News (with Paula Poindexter)"

This dissertation applied mass communication theory and the interdisciplinary theory of social ne... more This dissertation applied mass communication theory and the interdisciplinary theory of social network analysis to the networked political blogosphere and its relationship to mass media. Utilizing such mass communication theories as agenda setting, the two-step flow, and gatekeeping, this study examined eighteen political blogs across the political spectrum (left-leaning, right-leaning, and moderate blogs), two elite mass media outlets (the New York Times and the Washington Post), and two elite mass media blogs (political blogs from the New York Times and the Washington Post), using both hyperlink analysis as well as textual content analysis. Hyperlinking provided information on gatekeeping and the social network connections between blogs and mass media and among the different ideological political blog networks. Content analysis conducted at the issue and the issue attribute level provided a second layer of evidence to analyze how agendas are formed, framed, and transferred in the ...

Mass Communication and Society

Chapter 18 Strengthening the News Connection with Women and Cultivating the Next Generation Paulo... more Chapter 18 Strengthening the News Connection with Women and Cultivating the Next Generation Paulo Poindexter, Sharon Meraz, and Amy Schmitz Weiss Understanding the differences between women and men and the implications for news media preferences, attitudes, and ...

Given the dearth of research on nonpartisan political blog networks, this article conducted an ex... more Given the dearth of research on nonpartisan political blog networks, this article conducted an exploratory analysis of the network ties of elite, moderate blogs in relation to and in comparison with elite, partisan blogs. Sampling 18 ideologically diverse blogs (left-leaning, moderate, and right-leaning) across three public affairs issues in 2007, it was found that weak-tie connections enabled moderate blogs to bridge all ideological blog networks more comprehensibly and expansively than partisan blog networks. Unfortunately, the bridging effect of weak-tie connections provided less internal and external cohesion within the moderate blog network when compared to both partisan blog networks. Moderate blogs had low intragroup (within group) and intergroup (between group) cohesion: moderate blogs not only linked less internally but received fewer, reciprocal linkages from partisan blog networks. Findings highlight the trade-off that moderate blogs make as they sacrifice the visibility ...

for accepting the responsibility of shepherding this project through to its completion. My deepes... more for accepting the responsibility of shepherding this project through to its completion. My deepest respect and gratitude goes out to Dr. Maxwell McCombs, who always made time to see me, even through his busiest days. His efforts to help me graduate on time will never be forgotten. I owe my sincerest regards to Dr. Tremayne for his diligent efforts to keep me on schedule. His willingness to conference through last-minute phone calls and impromptu meetings will always be remembered. I wish to also pay tribute to the remaining members of my committee. A heartfelt thank you goes out to Dr. Rachel Smith: her strong knowledge of social network analysis and quantitative methods inspired many of the analyses in this study. Dr.

Chapter 7 The Many Faced “You” of Social Media Sharon Meraz Internet enthusiasts can all agree th... more Chapter 7 The Many Faced “You” of Social Media Sharon Meraz Internet enthusiasts can all agree that we are facing a fundamental shift in how information technologies support content creation and distribution over the World Wide Web (Anderson, 2006; O'Reilly, 2005; ...

Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 2011

Using time series analysis to gauge intermedia agenda setting in a sample of eighteen U.S. politi... more Using time series analysis to gauge intermedia agenda setting in a sample of eighteen U.S. political blogs, two elite traditional news entities, and their eleven political newsroom blogs across three issues in 2007, this study reveals that traditional media were unable to set political blog agendas. Ideologically diverse political blog networks were also able to set traditional media's online news agenda, and, to a lesser extent, their newsroom blog agenda. Findings point to a dilution of traditional media's singular agenda-setting influence and to greater interdependence between traditional media and political blogs than suggested by hyperlink studies.

The SAGE Handbook of Digital Journalism