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- All Subjects: Celebrities
- All Subjects: Coverage
- Creators: Walter Cronkite School of Journalism & Mass Comm
- Creators: Mackrell, Marguerite
- Creators: Mullen, Tyler
- Member of: Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection
- Resource Type: Text
Description
News outlets frequently portray people with disabilities as either helpless victims or objects of motivation. Portrayal of people with disabilities has improved over the years, but there is still room to grow. News outlets tend to make disability the center of the story. A story about a disabled person is primarily about their disability, with their other accomplishments framed by it.
As one example of the victimhood narrative, ABC News used to run a special called My Extreme Affliction as part of 20/20 until 2012. As the name implies, the specials covered people with disabilities, specifically extreme versions. One 2008 episode on Tourette’s syndrome described Tourette’s like it was some sort of demonic possession. The narrator talked about children who were “prisoners in their own bodies” and a family that was at risk of being “torn apart by Tourette’s.” I have Tourette’s syndrome myself, which made ABC’s special especially uncomfortable to watch. When not wringing their metaphorical hands over the “victims” of disability, many news outlets fall into the “supercrip” narrative. They refer to people as “heroes” who “overcome” their disabilities to achieve something that ranges from impressive to utterly mundane. The main emphasis is on the disability rather than the person who has it. These articles then exploit that disability to make readers feel good. As a person with a disability, I am aware that it impacts my life, but it is not the center of my life. The tics from my Tourette’s syndrome made it difficult to speak to people when I was younger, but even then they did not rule me.
Disability coverage, however, is still incredibly important for promoting acceptance and giving people with disabilities a voice. A little over a fifth of adults in the United States have a disability (CDC: 53 million adults in the US live with a disability), so poor coverage means marginalizing or even excluding a large amount of people. Journalists should try to reach their entire audience. The news helps shape public opinion with the stories it features. Therefore, it should provide visibility for people with disabilities in order to increase acceptance. This is a matter of civil rights. People with disabilities deserve fair and accurate representation.
My personal experience with ABC’s Tourette’s special leads me to believe that the media, especially the news, needs to be more responsible in their reporting. Even the name “My Extreme Affliction” paints a poor picture of what to expect. A show that focuses on sensationalist portrayals in pursuit of views further ostracizes people with disabilities. The emphasis should be on a person and not their condition. The National Center for Disability Journalism tells reporters to “Focus on the person you are interviewing, not the disability” (Tips for interviewing people with disabilities). This people-first approach is the way to improve disability coverage: Treat people with disabilities with the same respect as any other minority group.
As one example of the victimhood narrative, ABC News used to run a special called My Extreme Affliction as part of 20/20 until 2012. As the name implies, the specials covered people with disabilities, specifically extreme versions. One 2008 episode on Tourette’s syndrome described Tourette’s like it was some sort of demonic possession. The narrator talked about children who were “prisoners in their own bodies” and a family that was at risk of being “torn apart by Tourette’s.” I have Tourette’s syndrome myself, which made ABC’s special especially uncomfortable to watch. When not wringing their metaphorical hands over the “victims” of disability, many news outlets fall into the “supercrip” narrative. They refer to people as “heroes” who “overcome” their disabilities to achieve something that ranges from impressive to utterly mundane. The main emphasis is on the disability rather than the person who has it. These articles then exploit that disability to make readers feel good. As a person with a disability, I am aware that it impacts my life, but it is not the center of my life. The tics from my Tourette’s syndrome made it difficult to speak to people when I was younger, but even then they did not rule me.
Disability coverage, however, is still incredibly important for promoting acceptance and giving people with disabilities a voice. A little over a fifth of adults in the United States have a disability (CDC: 53 million adults in the US live with a disability), so poor coverage means marginalizing or even excluding a large amount of people. Journalists should try to reach their entire audience. The news helps shape public opinion with the stories it features. Therefore, it should provide visibility for people with disabilities in order to increase acceptance. This is a matter of civil rights. People with disabilities deserve fair and accurate representation.
My personal experience with ABC’s Tourette’s special leads me to believe that the media, especially the news, needs to be more responsible in their reporting. Even the name “My Extreme Affliction” paints a poor picture of what to expect. A show that focuses on sensationalist portrayals in pursuit of views further ostracizes people with disabilities. The emphasis should be on a person and not their condition. The National Center for Disability Journalism tells reporters to “Focus on the person you are interviewing, not the disability” (Tips for interviewing people with disabilities). This people-first approach is the way to improve disability coverage: Treat people with disabilities with the same respect as any other minority group.
ContributorsMackrell, Marguerite (Author) / Gilger, Kristin (Thesis director) / Doig, Steve (Committee member) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism & Mass Comm (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
Optometry is an important field in medicine as it allows people a chance to have their vision corrected and it serves as a health screening opportunity for those who receive a dilated eye examination. One of the largest barriers to receiving a dilated eye exam is insurance coverage. Most health insurance policies have limited optometric coverage. By expanding health insurance plans to be more inclusive of optometric care, people who use these health insurance plans will have a better access of care.
ContributorsFurey, Colleen (Author) / Ruth, Alissa (Thesis director) / Mullen, Tyler (Committee member) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Department of Physics (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05
Description
The introduction of this thesis explains that, though celebrity culture is a pre-existing phenomenon, the digital age has posed new, dehumanizing challenges for physically unattainable famous figures. Some people feel a stronger sense of love for celebrities, believing that the Internet connects them on a deeper, personal level, whereas others participate in increasing hate and decreasing fear of consequence of online behavior. The main goals of this project were to analyze in what ways online harassment toward celebrities differs according to gender, as well as what types of online harassment celebrities face on social media platforms.
Social media posts included in the discussion were taken from Twitter and explored using the qualitative research-based Grounded Theory. Four celebrities were selected as case studies to illustrate hate that popular music artists receive. These celebrities were Justin Bieber, Shawn Mendes, Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande. Before the data collection process transitioned to Twitter for specific examples, Google Search was effective in providing background information on each celebrity's controversies. With open coding as the chosen stage of data analysis, tweets were grouped with those containing similar content (e.g. two tweets using the same insult).
Social media users can uncover problematic tweets and refuse to forgive celebrities for past mistakes, send threatening messages that encourage celebrities to kill themselves, shame celebrities for their physical appearances and sexualities and so forth. All of these concepts are observed within the respective literature review and discussion sections. The types of online harassment included are insults, devotion defending, threats and hacking.
The gathered data found that difference in the online harassment that female pop stars receive versus that toward male pop stars often lies in how people perceive their sexualities and physical appearances, as well as the distance perceived between the social media user and the celebrity. In the examples provided, women were regarded as “whores” for wearing certain clothing and blamed for issues in their relationships, whereas men were not seen as the problem and criticized for appearing too "feminine."
It is recommended that people become more aware of the consequences of online harassment in general, but particularly toward celebrities who are viewed as being unaffected by hate comments. Due to the limitations of this study, future research within this area should include people of color and various sectors of the entertainment industry.
Social media posts included in the discussion were taken from Twitter and explored using the qualitative research-based Grounded Theory. Four celebrities were selected as case studies to illustrate hate that popular music artists receive. These celebrities were Justin Bieber, Shawn Mendes, Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande. Before the data collection process transitioned to Twitter for specific examples, Google Search was effective in providing background information on each celebrity's controversies. With open coding as the chosen stage of data analysis, tweets were grouped with those containing similar content (e.g. two tweets using the same insult).
Social media users can uncover problematic tweets and refuse to forgive celebrities for past mistakes, send threatening messages that encourage celebrities to kill themselves, shame celebrities for their physical appearances and sexualities and so forth. All of these concepts are observed within the respective literature review and discussion sections. The types of online harassment included are insults, devotion defending, threats and hacking.
The gathered data found that difference in the online harassment that female pop stars receive versus that toward male pop stars often lies in how people perceive their sexualities and physical appearances, as well as the distance perceived between the social media user and the celebrity. In the examples provided, women were regarded as “whores” for wearing certain clothing and blamed for issues in their relationships, whereas men were not seen as the problem and criticized for appearing too "feminine."
It is recommended that people become more aware of the consequences of online harassment in general, but particularly toward celebrities who are viewed as being unaffected by hate comments. Due to the limitations of this study, future research within this area should include people of color and various sectors of the entertainment industry.
ContributorsAyral, Nisa Marie (Author) / Gilpin, Dawn (Thesis director) / Halavais, Alexander (Committee member) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism & Mass Comm (Contributor, Contributor) / College of Integrative Sciences and Arts (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-12
Description
Sites of in-person fan/celebrity meetings can serve as a place for fans to share intimate details about themselves to celebrities. Through built-up confidence and knowledge of the subject matter, fans may be compelled to share personal anecdotes with the celebrity during these meetings. Fan studies scholars use the term “parasociality” to describe one-sided relationships between fans and celebrities. My research aims to show how in-person events cultivate intimacy between fans and celebrities, even while simultaneously reinforcing parasocial relationships. It is often used when referring to the relationships as being one-sided, even though the fan also gains something from the interaction.
ContributorsGalek, Veronica Lucya (Author) / Ingram-Waters, Mary (Thesis director) / Hsu, Emily (Committee member) / Schultz, Miranda (Committee member) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism & Mass Comm (Contributor, Contributor) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-12