Military News: How Troops Get Internal Information Nathan D. Broshear Scott D. Williams Greg A. Hignite Ken M. Hall, Jr. A Uses and Gratifications Approach.

Military News:

How Troops Get Internal Information

Nathan D. Broshear

Scott D. Williams

Greg A. Hignite

Ken M. Hall, Jr.

A Uses and Gratifications Approach

Lit Review

• Radio Uses and Gratifications (Lazarsfeld and Stanton, 1945)

• Media as a tool (Katz et al., 1974)

• “role” of the audience vs. “rule” of the audience

• Gratifications sought: Information seeking, entertainment, decisional utility, interpersonal utility, parasocial interaction

Hypothesis

H1: Gratifications for possible online base newspaper use will be positively related to gratifications for printed base newspaper use.

RQ1: What are the gratification dimensions for the commander’s access channel and internal website?

General Information Seeking…given that:

Commercial newspapers; highest source of information (O’Keefe & Spetnagel, 1973)

Online newspapers are “functional alternatives” to print (Eveland et al., 2002)

Hypothesis

H2a: Online newspapers and base newspapers will have high entertainment gratifications for military members.

H2b: Internal websites and the commander’s access channel will have little entertainment gratifications.

Entertainment…given that:

Military media is not primarily entertainment…but news can serve an escapist function

(Vincent & Basil, 1997)

Content gratification vs. Process gratification (Stafford & Stafford, 2004)

Hypothesis

H3a: Online base newspapers will have moderate decisional utility gratifications.

H3b: Base newspapers, the commander’s access channel, and internal websites will have no decisional utility gratifications.

Decisional Utility…given that:

92% of Internet users: “Internet is a good place to get information” (Fallows, 2004)

Information for consideration was one of top desired reasons for use (Stafford et al., 2004)

Hypothesis

H4a: Base newspapers, online base newspapers, and commander’s access channel will have a moderate amount of interpersonal utility gratifications.

H4b: The internal base websites will have no interpersonal utility gratifications.

Interpersonal Utility…given that:

85% of Internet users believe Internet is a good place to communicate Besides telephone, Internet offers highest interpersonal gratification

(Fallows, 2004)

“Interpersonal” messages found in non-interactive media(Stafford & Stafford, 2004)

Hypothesis

RQ2: How do military personnel use internal communication forms (internal base website, base newspaper, etc.) to meet the dimension of parasocial interaction?

Parasocial Interaction…given that:

Viewers “identify” and form relationships with on-air talent(Perse & Rubin, 1989)

“Sense of belonging” to larger organization? Identify with military writers?

Hypothesis

RQ3: How does use compare across military and civilian media?

RQ4: What demographics or dimensions of uses and gratifications predict attitude toward the paper?

Predictors of Communications Use…given that:

Air Force studies consistently indicate Airmen would read newspaper if emailed to inbox…but no predictive data

(USAF, 2005)

Newspaper readership tends to increase with age and year in school…same for military? (Vincent & Basil, 1997)

Survey Instrument• Advertised to DoD via limited press release,

phone calls and email to public affairs officials

• Press release contained web address for the online survey

• Survey was posted on SurveyMonkey.com, an unaffiliated civilian online survey service

Methods

Sampling Population

• Active duty military assigned to CONUS bases

Air Force: 261Navy: 63Army: 5Marine Corps: 3Total = 332

• Officers: 13.3%; E5 and above: 56.6%; E4 and below: 30.1%

• Male: 259; female: 73

Methods

Measurement of Uses and Gratifications

• Using the Palmgreen, Wenner, Rayborn (1980) scales of uses and gratifications

• Assessed for base newspapers, base internal websites, Commander’s Access television channel, online base newspaper

• Dimensions measured by seven-point Likert-type scales, with a zero option for never read/watch, using bi-polar adjectives (does not/does apply, etc.)

Methods

Dimensions and reliability• Uses and Grats ranges represent base newspapers, base

internal websites, Commander’s Access TV, and online base newspapers

• Three questions for each dimension

• General information seeking (=.81-.95)

• Decision utility (=.76-.93)

• Entertainment (=.81-.95)

• Interpersonal utility (=.78-.94)

• Parasocial interaction (=.87-.96)

Methods

Exposure and attention civilian and military media

• Measured how often and how much the communication forms were used as a source of information for military

• 10-point exposure scale, ranging from “rarely use” to “frequently use”

• 10-point attention scale, ranging from “no attention” to “close attention”

McLeod & McDonald (1985)

Chaffee & Schleuder (1986)

Methods

Exposure and attention to civilian media • National television news (CBS, ABC, NBC)

• Local television news

• Civilian newspapers

• News magazines (Time, Newsweek)

• Radio talk shows (Rush Limbaugh, etc.)

• Television talk shows

• Television entertainment talk shows (Letterman, etc.)

• Television news magazines (60 Minutes, 20/20)

• Prime time television shows (NCIS, etc.)

• World Wide Web

Methods

Exposure and attention to military media

• Base newspapers

• Base online newspapers (as applicable)

• Online military magazines (Airman, etc.)

• Print military magazines (All Hands, etc.)

• Base websites

• Conversations with others

Methods

Overall attitude about base newspapers

• Assessed with a seven-point, bi-polar, global attitude measure (Burgoon, Cohen, Miller & Montgomery, 1978)

• Bi-polar adjectives: unacceptable/acceptable, foolish/wise, unfavorable/favorable, negative/positive, bad/good, wrong/right.

• Reliability was very good (=.86).

• Attitude was positive (mean=5.74, sd=1.47)

Methods

H1: Gratifications for possible online base newspaper use will be positively related to gratifications for print base newspaper use

H1: Was supported

A correlation matrix was computed and found all correlations positive in nature and statistically significant

(see table 1 in handout)

Results

Table 1: Correlation Matrix Relationship Between Gratification for Print Base Newspaper and Online Base Newspaper

Gratification for print base newspaper Gratification for online base newspaper

General information

Decisional Utility

Entertainment Interpersonal Utility

Parasocial interaction

General Information

.24** (N=194)

Decisional Utility

.35** (N=226)

Entertainment .38** (N=223) Interpersonal Utility

.30** (N=224)

Parasocial Interaction

.36** (N=240)

** statistically significant correlation at p < .01

Results

Results

H2a: Predicted base newspapers and online base newspapers would score high on the entertainment gratification

H2a: Was not supported

H2b: Internal websites and the commander’s access channel will have little entertainment gratifications

H2b: Was supported

Internal base website M = 2.17Commander’s access channel M = 1.53

Results

Mo

derate

1 2 3 54 6 70

N/A

Total

Strong

Hig

h

Low

Weak

None

H3a: Predicted online base newspapers would have high decisional utility

H3a: Was not supported

Results

H3b: Base newspapers, the commander’s access channel, and internal websites will have no decisional utility gratifications

H3b: Was partially supported

Base newspaper M = 3.21Internal base website M = 2.66Commander’s access channel M = 1.65

Results

Mo

derate

1 2 3 54 6 70

N/A

Total

Strong

Hig

h

Low

Weak

None

H4a: Base newspapers, online base newspapers, and commander’s access channel will have a moderate amount of interpersonal utility gratifications

H4a: Was partially supported

Base newspaper M = 3.27Online base newspaper M = 2.81Commander’s access channel M = 1.68

Results

Mo

derate

1 2 3 54 6 70

N/A

Total

Strong

Hig

h

Low

Weak

None

H4b: The internal base website will have little interpersonal utility gratifications

H4b: Was supported

Internal base website M = 2.55

Results

Mo

derate

1 2 3 54 6 70

N/A

Total

Strong

Hig

h

Low

Weak

None

RQ1: What are the gratification dimensions for the commander’s access channel and internal website?

RQ1: Results for Commander’s access & website

Gain information M = 1.87 M = 3.06Interpersonal utility M = 1.68 M = 2.55Decisional utility M = 1.65 M = 2.66Parasocial interaction M = 1.64 M = 2.44Entertainment M = 1.53 M = 2.17

Results

Mo

derate

1 2 3 54 6 70

N/A

Total

Strong

Hig

h

Low

Weak

None

RQ2: How do military personnel use internal communication to satisfy parasocial interaction?

RQ2: Results

Base newspaper M = 3.13Online base newspaper M = 2.51Internal website M = 2.25Commander’s access channel M = 1.64

Results

Mo

derate

1 2 3 54 6 70

N/A

Total

Strong

Hig

h

Low

Weak

None

RQ3: Sought to explain what communication

forms active duty military personnel are

utilizing

Descriptive statistics were used to examine the pattern of means (see table 2 handout)

Results

Table 2 Pattern of Means Depicted for Civilian and Military Media

Use and Attention ____________________________________________________________

Communication Form Mean

Television News 7.48

Internal Base Websites 7.13

Local Television News 6.85

Base Newspaper 5.88

Online Civilian Newspaper 5.47

Print Military Magazine 5.29

Online Military Magazine 5.23

Prime Time TV 5.14

Television Talk Shows 4.64

Civilian Web Pages 4.52

Online Base Newspaper 4.36

TV Entertainment 4.25

TV Magazine Shows 4.14

Radio News 3.88

Talk Radio 3.74

Print Civilian Magazines 2.97 ____________________________________________________________

Note: 1-10 scales measured attention and use added and divided by two. 10-point exposure scale, ranging from “rarely use” to “frequently use,” and 10-point attention scale, ranging from “no attention” to “close attention” (McLeod & McDonald, 1985; Chaffee & Schleuder, 1986).

RQ4: Examined what would predict attitude and use of the base newspaper

Results were computed with a hierarchical regression analysis was conducted to prove this question (see table 3 handout)

Results

Table 3 Significant Demographic and Gratifications Predictors of Attitude Toward Print Base Newspapers Predictor Beta Significance Dependent Variable _________________________________________________________________________ Communication Form:

Base Newspaper Age -.20 .04 Decisional Utility -.40 .08

Discussion

• Purpose of military internal communications

• Huge amount of time and effort spent on internal comm forms

• Fewer members in uniform, tighter budgets, and GWOT make

Discussion

Exposure Rates by Source and Form

0.00 2.00 4.00 6.00 8.00 10.00

Television News

Internal Base Websites

Local Television News

Base Newspaper

Online Civilian Newspaper

Print Military Magazine

Online Military Magazine

Prime Time TV

Television Talk Shows

Civilian Web Pages

Online Base Newspaper

TV Entertainment

TV Magazine Shows

Radio News

Talk Radio

Print Civilian Magazines

DiscussionDimensional Gratification of Military Media Forms

0.00 1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 6.00 7.00

Base Newspaper

Online Paper

Internal Web

CO's ChannelParasocial Interaction

Interpersonal Utility

Decisional Utility

Entertainment

Information Seeking

Discussion

• Generalizability– Convenience sample– More representative of entire DoD– True Random or Quota Sampling

• Timing– Survey only open six days– Needed more announcement

• Scale– The “Conundrum”…So what does it all mean?

Limitations

Discussion

• Military internal communications are not gratifying troops’ needs

• Exposure is not enough

• Gratifications sought are largely for civilian media

• It’s up to us to figure out how to make our internal communication more gratifying to troops

Discussion

• Exposure to media

• Need for an efficacy study

• “Pushed” media…right to their inbox

• Dimensional gratification for civilian media

• FIGHT……………AND WIN!

Future Directions

Please hold your questions.