An important dimension ofagenda setting is the way in which the media frame the issues and events they present to the public. This article focuses on one of the most important dimensions offraming: choice of information source-the selections journalists make from among the many possible and potential holders of information of those sources whose information and viewpoints will actually be included in the news. In particular, this content analysis of ten years of three southern newspapers focuses on the inclusion offemale sources in newspaper stories and analyzes whether the gender of the reporter aflects that inclusion.The media of mass communication are among our most powerful social institutions, with the capacity to set the public agenda by attaching salience to particular issues and events they cover. An important dimension of agenda setting is the way in which the media frame the issues and events they present to the public.' This article focuses on one of the most important dimensions of framing: choice of information source, that is, the selections journalists make from among the many possible and potential holders of information of those sources whose information and viewpoints will actually be included in the news. In particular, this article focuses on the inclusion of female sources in newspaper stories.A recent study by the Freedom Forum indicates that women are seldom used as sources for stories of national or international importance, but rather are quoted as victims or because of their relationship with a male who is central to the story. The study also found that female reporters were no more likely than their male colleagues to quote other women.* Thus, this research focuses on gender as a primary variable not only of source but of reporter. Finally, the article explores the connection between the holder of information and power: the absence of women as sources would reflect their powerlessness, their symbolic annihilation by the media? Agendu Setting. The media clearly are more than a mirror of or conduit for the concerns and issues of others. There is significant research support for an agenda-setting model: that the public learns both facts and the salience of those facts from the media. The literature supports the belief that public perceptions and opinions toward issues/topics and the individuals who espouse those issues are shaped by the media, leading the public to view certain issues/topics as more important than others4
Purpose
– Through its use of a nationwide survey that assessed the most significant personal and organizational values among the general public, the purpose of this paper is to identify how individuals’ personal values serve an important role in guiding the value expectations they have for organizations.
Design/methodology/approach
– A research firm was hired to disseminate a survey to a stratified sample of 735 of adults in the US measures used in the study were a socially desirable human values subscale and a socially desirable organizational values subscale.
Findings
– The results from several regression analyses confirmed that stakeholders’ personal values predict the values they expect from organizations with which they choose to conduct business.
Research limitations/implications
– Organizations must recognize that values play a significant role in the legitimation process as both are represented by actions and social desirability. In the realm of corporate communication, organizations continually encounter situations in which they must establish, maintain and defend their legitimacy using strategic communication efforts. These difficult feats can only be accomplished by viewing legitimacy as a measureable construct that is ultimately shaped by acting and communicating in ways that meet the value-driven expectations of stakeholders.
Originality/value
– This paper fills a gap in the literature that identifies whether stakeholders personal values drive or influence the values they expect to be displayed by legitimate organizations.
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