A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF MEDIA REPRESENTATION OF US COLLEGE ATHLETIC SCANDALS IN TRADITIONAL NEWS MEDIA AND MEDIATED COMMUNICATION WITHIN THE COLLEGE

<p>This study critically analyzes organizational and mass media communication about the Penn State Child Sexual Abuse Scandal of 2011. The author examines the different ways in which Pennsylvania State University administrators and officials communicated the scandal internally to their community (campus community and surrounding city community) and compared it to how <em>The New York Times</em> communicated the scandal through their unique media platform to the world. The timeline for the data is from November 1, 2011, to July 31, 2012, as the scandal broke to the world, as well as, the months immediately after. The findings suggest that as the ownership of the communication changes, there is a constant endeavor to re-contextualize the communication. PSU athletic department and university administrators chose dissociative strategies to communicate about the scandal that engulfed every corner of their university in order to protect their reputation in the eyes of the community and country. On a national level, <em>The New York Times</em> dramatized the scandal greatly in ways that lead to more readers and consumers of their articles and papers. Further discussion of the media representation of the scandal and communicative techniques expressed by all parties involved, the entire Penn State University and <em>The New York Times</em>, ultimately lead to the conclusion that the protection of financial interests of the University and the mass media institutions pushes away the socially responsible communicative actions in the wake of this scandal.<strong></strong></p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Interdisciplinary Studies

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Multi-Disciplinary Program

Year dc:date.available

2018

Author dc:creator

• Starrs, Colleen

Contributors dc:contributor

• Dr. Joyce Johnston
• Dr. Sudeshna Roy
• Dr. Suzanne Maniss

• Scandal
• Mass Communication
• Penn State
• Intercollegiate Athletics
• Jerry Sandusky
• New York Times
• Critical and Cultural Studies
• Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Ethnicity in Communication
• Interpersonal and Small Group Communication
• Organizational Communication
• Sports Studies

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/etds/184

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarworks.sfasu.edu:etds-1198