http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/keyword/media Inquiries Journal provides undergraduate and graduate students around the world a platform for the wide dissemination of academic work over a range of core disciplines. en-us Sun, 12 Jul 2026 12:06:48 -0400 Sun, 12 Jul 2026 12:06:48 -0400 http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1962/#itsnotmyperiod-hashtag-activisms-challenge-to-narratives-of-menstrual-stigma By Jessie J. Liu - Perceptions of menstruation as a taboo subject have historically characterized Western and non-Western societies alike and persist today, both perpetuating harmful cultural understandings of women’s abilities and normalizing institutional practices that exacerbate gender disparities. With the advent of viral social media movements or “hashtag activism,” however, challenges to these oppressive, misogynistic mainstream narratives have become increasingly powerful. Centered on menstrual activism and dismantling menstrual stigma, #ItsNotMyPeriod is one such movement. This paper argues... Thu, 22 Sep 2022 11:02 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1962/#itsnotmyperiod-hashtag-activisms-challenge-to-narratives-of-menstrual-stigma http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1957/how-media-influences-the-use-of-violence-in-protests-an-analysis-of-the-black-lives-matter-and-#stopthesteal-movements By Clay B. York - Two of the most prevalent protest movements in recent history were the Black Lives Matter and the #StopTheSteal movements. While there are many differences between the two, one of the most prevalent is their use of violence. Whereas the BLM movement remained largely peaceful, the StS movement did not. Despite previous research indicating that several factors such as communal identities, state repression, and viewing nonviolent methods as ineffective cause protests to turn violent, the research conducted in this paper found that one other factor was more important than those discussed by previous... Tue, 07 Jun 2022 08:52 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1957/how-media-influences-the-use-of-violence-in-protests-an-analysis-of-the-black-lives-matter-and-#stopthesteal-movements http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1951/biased-narratives-in-the-media-coverage-of-fatal-shootings-during-black-lives-matter-demonstrations By Halie A. Hoffman - During the summer of 2020, two fatal shootings occurred following Black Lives Matter protests. The first event involved Kyle Rittenhouse in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and the second Michael Reinoehl in Portland, Oregon. Two shootings, each committed by members of opposing political ideologies and opposite their victims, present an opportunity to check for ideological bias in the news by comparing CNN and Fox coverage, sources who lean opposite on media bias scales, in the immediate aftermath of fatal shootings. Results suggest that CNN relied more heavily on episodic framing of the Portland event, thereby... Fri, 15 Apr 2022 02:04 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1951/biased-narratives-in-the-media-coverage-of-fatal-shootings-during-black-lives-matter-demonstrations http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1943/lesbianing-together-images-of-incarcerated-women-in-orange-is-the-new-black By Anna Curtis - Using content analysis, this article focuses on the portrayal of female prisoners in the first two seasons of the Netflix show Orange is the New Black (OITNB). There are two main findings. First, the word "lesbian" frequently signals homophobia rather than a self-claimed sexual identity. That is, the word "lesbian" primarily appears in scenes that highlight various characters' homophobia. Throughout the first and second seasons of the show, the scriptwriters show no mercy to homophobic characters, a characteristic of the show that differentiates it from earlier women-in-prison novels and... Fri, 11 Mar 2022 02:07 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1943/lesbianing-together-images-of-incarcerated-women-in-orange-is-the-new-black http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1910/covering-climate-change-a-sentiment-analysis-of-major-newspaper-articles-from-2010--2020 By Amy M. Patronella - This research lies at the nexus of political communication theory relating to emotional affect and political processing and the burgeoning field of sentiment analysis. News coverage can affect opinion both through the information it provides and the emotional reaction it generates. To better understand the affective content of news coverage of climate change, we mobilized two dictionary tools to perform an unsupervised sentiment analysis. Using 2,017 articles about climate change from 11 major U.S. newspapers between 2010-2020, this study assesses both the valence and top eight basic emotions... Thu, 23 Sep 2021 08:26 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1910/covering-climate-change-a-sentiment-analysis-of-major-newspaper-articles-from-2010--2020 http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1885/the-modern-american-family-in-amcs-the-walking-dead By Kasandra J. DiSessa - AMC's The Walking Dead (TWD) has maintained a dedicated viewership since its premiere in 2010 and serves as a well-known example of zombie media in today’s culture. The zombie genre has long been recognized for its subversive potential, but is often critiqued for failing to subvert certain institutions, such as the heterosexual, nuclear family. TWD has been critiqued in previous scholarship for sharing this failure. However, analysis of more recent seasons of TWD shows that the show has steadily increased its representation of different family types, and this increase of non-heterosexual... Wed, 10 Mar 2021 08:13 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1885/the-modern-american-family-in-amcs-the-walking-dead http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1872/the-role-of-the-media-in-the-cuban-revolution-resource-mobilization-theory-and-cultural-framing By Ezekiel Vergara - On January 1st, 1959, a small band of Cuban rebels shocked the world, overthrowing the American-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista. These rebels were especially known for their guerrilla tactics and their leaders, such as Fidel Castro and Ernesto “Che” Guevara. Yet, aside from these military tactics and leaders, the Cuba rebels also tactfully utilized the media. Notably, Castro’s forces benefitted greatly from an article published in the New York Times. As such, this paper applies the theories of resource-mobilization and cultural framing to the New York Times’ article on... Fri, 05 Feb 2021 01:24 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1872/the-role-of-the-media-in-the-cuban-revolution-resource-mobilization-theory-and-cultural-framing http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1822/trust-in-state-media-analyzing-the-chinese-communist-partys-changing-approach-to-public-opinion-and-media-censorship By Edward F. Xu - China’s rise as a global power has major implications for the future of free speech and media censorship both within and outside the People’s Republic. While there are numerous examples of the Chinese Communist Party employing blanket bans on accessing information, it also often frequently permits the presence of media unfavorable to the party due to the current state strategy of “public opinion guidance” that utilizes centrally commanded counter-narratives that delegitimize or undermine dissenters (Tai). I evaluated this approach and determined that it is crucial in fostering... Wed, 21 Oct 2020 07:51 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1822/trust-in-state-media-analyzing-the-chinese-communist-partys-changing-approach-to-public-opinion-and-media-censorship http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1771/hyperreality-and-the-consumption-of-the-subject-as-object-in-black-mirror By Megan Kirkwood - Jean Baudrillard’s essay ‘The Precession of Simulacra’ from Simulacra and Simulation (1981) is a key postmodern text to understanding the contemporary technological Western world. ‘The Precession of Simulacra’ explores Baudrillard’s central concepts of simulacra, simulation and hyperreality. Baudrillard argues that we now live in a world of signs, that ‘just about everything is a matter of signification, […] obviously connected with an explosive growth in media, but related also to changes in the conduct of everyday life’.[1] In ‘The... Wed, 09 Oct 2019 08:45 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1771/hyperreality-and-the-consumption-of-the-subject-as-object-in-black-mirror http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1636/suicide-terrorism-as-a-tactic-how-dominant-yet-subtle-representations-form-identities-and-meanings By Frank Mariscal - Although terrorism has been present in the world for centuries, it is only since the 1980s that suicide terrorism has become an object of study for academics and an existing concern for government professionals. While discourses on suicide terrorism have evolved, and passed through small, but varied cycles of resurgences, one of the bigger revivals of suicide terrorism discourse appeared in 2001, after the horrific attacks of 9/11. This paper analyzes the two major discourses surrounding the motivations that terrorist organizations in the Middle East have for utilizing the tactic of suicide bombing... Sun, 30 Apr 2017 12:00 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1636/suicide-terrorism-as-a-tactic-how-dominant-yet-subtle-representations-form-identities-and-meanings http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1564/belonging-in-a-new-home-discursive-othering-of-latin-american-immigrants-in-us-print-media By Bill Kakenmaster - The year 2015 saw heightened racial and ethnic tension in the United States, with particular regard to Latin American immigrants and the U.S. presidential election. Discourse theory assumes that identity (re)production serves to legitimize, institutionalize, and eventually internalize hegemonic and resistant discursive portrayals of political actors and actor groups. Some discourse analysts attempts to "reveal racism" in society and combat that racism. Yet, to the extent that "racism" represents a series of systemic and systematically oppressive power structures, highlighting racist prejudices... Sat, 31 Dec 2016 12:00 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1564/belonging-in-a-new-home-discursive-othering-of-latin-american-immigrants-in-us-print-media http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1479/models-of-internet-monetization By David Perell - Predicting the future of the news industry begins with understanding the history of newspapers and the current news delivery landscape. Because the Internet has brought fundamental shifts to news distribution, successful organizations of the future will capitalize on the digital world's economics and scale. This study documents the recent adjustments in American newspaper distribution and predicts the business models required for news organizations to survive. This research found that the Internet will foster the development of both scale dependent and ad-supported publications and niche organizations... Thu, 27 Oct 2016 04:56 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1479/models-of-internet-monetization http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1468/new-media-adaptations-of-classic-literature-from-pride-and-prejudice-to-the-lizzie-bennet-diaries By Noelle M. Kozak - Pride and Prejudice, the work of nineteenth century novelist Jane Austen, has been celebrated for over two-hundred years since its first publication. It has been adapted, reinvented and re-imagined over and over again to the delight of both loyal readers and interested newcomers. One such adaptation is the new media sensation, The Lizzie Bennet Diaries. Developed as a web show, The Lizzie Bennet Diaries successfully honors important themes found in Pride and Prejudice, namely its strong female characters, to tell a story that remains true to Austen's roots while engaging a new generation of viewers... Wed, 26 Oct 2016 10:14 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1468/new-media-adaptations-of-classic-literature-from-pride-and-prejudice-to-the-lizzie-bennet-diaries http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1454/tweeting-2016-how-social-media-is-shaping-the-presidential-election By Matthew Das Sarma - Something seems different about 2016. Something many of us just can’t place our fingers on. Sure, The Donald looms disconcertingly over us, a threatening testament to American fear, but it’s not like he has transformed the political atmosphere all that much. Historically, politicians have spanned the whole spectrum of negativity and bigotry—anti-radical, anti-Catholic, anti-Black, anti-Asian, anti-Semitic, anti-foreigner, anti-Left, and anti-pretty-much-everything else. While former Republican candidate Ted Cruz and Republican nominee Donald Trump continue to echo this tradition... Mon, 26 Sep 2016 11:06 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1454/tweeting-2016-how-social-media-is-shaping-the-presidential-election http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1450/the-right-to-privacy-in-a-digital-age-reinterpreting-the-concept-of-personal-privacy By Alyssa M. Brumis - The right to privacy dates back farther than 1890, when Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis penned The Right to Privacy: “In the very early times, the law gave remedy only for physical interference with life and property, for trespasses vi et armis” [by force and arms] (Brandeis, 1890). However, in today’s society, privacy has become more complex than simply “physical interference.” The birth of the World Wide Web has created a new landscape for which current legal standards are inadequate. “The law’s struggle to conceptualize privacy has often stunted... Fri, 16 Sep 2016 08:53 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1450/the-right-to-privacy-in-a-digital-age-reinterpreting-the-concept-of-personal-privacy http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1473/an-analysis-of-legos-response-to-an-attack-on-its-partnership-with-royal-dutch-shell By MaryClaire Schulz - However, LEGO's 50-year partnership with oil and gas corporation Royal Dutch Shell caught the attention of Greenpeace in July 2014, which launched a campaign attacking the toy company for supporting a corporation threatening the Arctic environment. Greenpeace's attack on the partnership peaked with its release of a YouTube video titled "LEGO: Everything is NOT awesome," a work by BAFTA-winning creative agency Don't Panic. The video depicted an Arctic landscape that was made of LEGO bricks and taken over by Shell oil drillers, showcasing the environment as it is slowly submerged in oil. Greenpeace... Tue, 31 May 2016 12:00 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1473/an-analysis-of-legos-response-to-an-attack-on-its-partnership-with-royal-dutch-shell http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1475/yoga-on-instagram-disseminating-or-destroying-traditional-yogic-principles By Skyler Cowans - Today, more than 15 million Americans practice yoga, making the ancient Indian discipline synonymous with the Western society's culture of wellness. As a way to market themselves, practitioners and instructors of yoga have utilized Instagram – and its more than 300 million accounts – to virtually share their favorite poses, sequences, and yogic philosophies. This paper examines the popular culture of yoga on Instagram and how it relates to the ancient Indian traditions of which the practice was built upon. The study found that while some observed themes of yoga on Instagram reflected... Tue, 31 May 2016 12:00 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1475/yoga-on-instagram-disseminating-or-destroying-traditional-yogic-principles http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1477/how-youtube-developed-into-a-successful-platform-for-user-generated-content By Margaret Holland - Since its development, YouTube, the world's third most popular online destination, has transformed from a video-sharing site into a job opportunity for content creators in both new and mainstream media. Based on content analysis, the study examined how three prominent YouTubers have created a successful personal brand. Analysis revealed the common characteristics that these online celebrities shared, the appeal of their content to viewers, and their use of traditional media to strengthen their branding. The study also found that younger viewers prefer watching YouTube videos because they were... Tue, 31 May 2016 12:00 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1477/how-youtube-developed-into-a-successful-platform-for-user-generated-content http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1476/examining-preadolescent-television-programming-and-the-rise-of-generation-me By Johanna Rosen - The results showed that the top five values in the most popular preadolescent shows from 2007 were fame, achievement, popularity, image, and financial success. In contrast, the top five values in 1997 were community feeling, benevolence, image, tradition, and self-acceptance (Uhls & Greenfield, 2011a). The value of fame rose from the 15th spot in 1997, to the first spot by 2007, while the importance of valuing community feeling and benevolence dropped to the bottom of the list by 2007 (Uhls & Greenfield, 2011a). Greenfield expresses his concern with these results: "When being famous and... Tue, 31 May 2016 12:00 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1476/examining-preadolescent-television-programming-and-the-rise-of-generation-me http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1478/a-content-analysis-of-celebrity-instagram-posts-and-parasocial-interaction By Janabeth Ward - Instagram allows users to share a snapshot of their lives with a mass audience in a matter of seconds. This capability and power has not gone unnoticed by celebrities, who are highly aware of the impact their social media accounts have on fans and the relationships they create. The purpose of this study is to find fan engagement and the parasocial phenomenon in celebrities' Instagram activity. It analyzed 50 Instagram posts of three female singers—Taylor Swift, Selena Gomez, and Ariana Grande—to find which categories of posts engage fans. It also investigated the parasocial phenomenon... Tue, 31 May 2016 12:00 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1478/a-content-analysis-of-celebrity-instagram-posts-and-parasocial-interaction http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1379/the-loneliness-of-digital-devices-examining-removed-photo-series-by-eric-pickersgill By Nicole Litvan - Through her observations, Turkle found that “we [people] defend connectivity as a way to be close, even as we effectively hide from each other” (Turkle, 251). She shows that the growing reliance on technology, which aims to connect and bond individuals around the world, instead creates moments of disjunction and being “alone together” in social settings. In these cases, people are physically together in a home, restaurant, or building, but avoid intimate conversation and interaction because they are mentally in different electronic worlds, thousands of pixels away from... Fri, 18 Mar 2016 12:36 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1379/the-loneliness-of-digital-devices-examining-removed-photo-series-by-eric-pickersgill http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1364/instagram-and-branding-a-case-study-of-dunkin-donuts By Kally A. Lavoie - One of the newest social media tools available to brands is Instagram, a mobile app that allows users to capture and share images and videos with followers (Instagram, 2015). Officially launched in October 2010, Instagram gained 1 million users within its first month, and the app had 300 million active monthly users by April 2015 (Costill, 2014; Instagram, 2015). As a largely visual social media tool, Instagram allows businesses to reach consumers and strengthen its brand in new ways. This case study aimed to discover how Dunkin' Donuts used Instagram to strengthen their brand. This study analyzed... Thu, 18 Feb 2016 04:32 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1364/instagram-and-branding-a-case-study-of-dunkin-donuts http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1351/the-life-and-death-of-the-hippie-a-dance-with-the-devil-and-the-media By Sarah E. Forman - The media has always had a strong propensity to influence our opinions and behaviors, creating and destroying public images for hundreds of years. For many, the media is seen as a representation of reality, an interpretation and understanding of cultures, sub-cultures, issues and ideas, however, this is no longer an acceptable approach for engaging with and evaluating what we now know to be such a powerful aspect of our society. It is not merely commentary, but in many cases, the media plays an active role in the construction, and at times deconstruction, of political and social issues, which... Sat, 06 Feb 2016 12:25 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1351/the-life-and-death-of-the-hippie-a-dance-with-the-devil-and-the-media http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1345/internet-freedom-rhetoric-versus-reality By Vaughan A. Holding - In the last few years the Internet has borne witness to and facilitated a great deal of social and societal change. From Hilary Clinton's positive 2010 address; ‘Remarks on Internet Freedom', to the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions that showcased the power of social media, the internet, its use and power, has been at the forefront of recent news.1 However, equal to, if not overtaking the positive and enabling factors of the Internet in recent years are the many controversies surrounding it. While undoubtedly carrying the potential to do great good, the Internet has been plagued with numerous... Sun, 31 Jan 2016 12:00 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1345/internet-freedom-rhetoric-versus-reality http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1325/updating-academia-rethinking-the-methodology-of-academic-discourse By Nick D. Piron - Academic writing retains myriad formal and informal conventions that can include awkward citation-structures, the use of complex phrasing and jargon, definitions inside text, and arcane writing customs specific to each sub-genre, among other things. These cumbersome norms serve as hurdles that demonstrate an author's credibility. However, such conventions form a secondary discourse that do not weigh on the quality of the idea while nevertheless serving as gatekeepers to the publication and distribution of ideas. Furthermore, this focus on establishing credible ethos has the tendency to delay and... Wed, 06 Jan 2016 10:57 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1325/updating-academia-rethinking-the-methodology-of-academic-discourse http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1357/how-university-websites-portray-study-abroad By Gina Apperson - Study abroad has become an important aspect in higher education in the United States, as the phenomenon of globalization has grown increasingly important to how universities equip students for the professional and social world. In 2014, the Institute of International Education proposed the Generation Study Abroad campaign to provide more study abroad opportunities, with the goal of reaching 600,000 students studying abroad by 2019, more than a twofold increase from the 2013-2014 academic year ("Generation Study Abroad," 2014). As study abroad becomes more relevant and timely for university students... Wed, 18 Nov 2015 12:00 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1357/how-university-websites-portray-study-abroad http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1362/human-rights-framing-in-us-newspaper-coverage-of-the-sochi-olympic-preparations By Michelle Alfini - Every two years, the global spotlight shines on the Olympics and the nation hosting them. The Games provide an example of a "mega-event," which means a globally recognized occurrence of "shortlived collective cultural actions" that are perceived to have "extra-ordinary status" based on their large scale and scope (Xi, 2013). These mega-events attract media engagement from around the globe, and their host nations have long used such events as opportunities to reframe their national narratives and achieve greater status in the international community (Roche, 2000; Black, 2006). In addition to international... Wed, 18 Nov 2015 12:00 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1362/human-rights-framing-in-us-newspaper-coverage-of-the-sochi-olympic-preparations http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1363/unrecognized-potential-media-framing-of-hitlers-rise-to-power-1930-1933 By Katherine Blunt - In 1930, Adolph Hitler had been absent from American media coverage for nearly five years. Following his release from prison in 1924, he received only brief and infrequent mentions in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Christian Science Monitor, papers that had carried hundreds of articles about him when he tried and failed to overthrow the Bavarian government the previous year. But in 1930, just three years before he would be appointed chancellor, Hitler once again attracted the attention of the American press as his popularity rose amid the most devastating economic downtown in... Wed, 18 Nov 2015 12:00 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1363/unrecognized-potential-media-framing-of-hitlers-rise-to-power-1930-1933 http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1365/examining-social-media-and-digital-practices-among-southeastern-magazines By Jonathan Black - City magazines began to appear in American homes in the nineteenth century, but they did not truly flourish until the 1960s and 1970s. In 1981, there were eighteen magazines total in Washington, D.C., Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia. Today, there are twenty in North Carolina alone (Hayes). Like most print publications today, city magazines face a declining print product, a smaller editorial staff, and pressure for an increased digital presence. This transition has taken time, and the digital presence has slowly taken precedent and developed a steady audience. As... Wed, 18 Nov 2015 12:00 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1365/examining-social-media-and-digital-practices-among-southeastern-magazines http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1248/weight-of-evidence-reporting-pragmatic-optimism-or-a-bad-idea By Alexander E. Hopkins - While some believe that scientists should communicate their research apolitically in research journals, others believe that scientists should communicate to the media in order to bring awareness to their research topic. As a compromise to these two views, Professor Sharon Dunwoody proposed "weight of evidence" reporting to bridge this gap between the objectivity of science and the subjectivity of the media. The goal of weight of evidence reporting is to create highly pragmatic media consumers that will be allowed to arrive at scientifically-sound, objective conclusions based upon data. However... Thu, 22 Oct 2015 10:40 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1248/weight-of-evidence-reporting-pragmatic-optimism-or-a-bad-idea