America has been widely considered a great democratic experiment, which is a characterization attributed to Thomas Jefferson. An experiment can be designed to use trial-and-error methods to find a certain outcome. While not a conscious effort, the United States has experienced a trial-and-error experimental process in developing legislation that will restrict dangerous misinformation without violating the speech and press clauses of the First Amendment. In several of his personal writings and official speeches, Jefferson advised against additional government intervention with regard to filtering true and false information published by the press or distributed by citizens. His argument is a guiding theme throughout this thesis, which explores that experimental process and its relation to contemporary efforts to address and prevent future phenomena like the fake news outbreak of 2016.
This thesis utilizes an examination of examples of laws designed to control misinformation, past and present, then using those examples to provide context to both arguments in favor of and opposing new misinformation laws. Extensive archival research was conducted to ensure that accurate historical reflection could be included in offering information about historical examples, as well as through application of relevant literature. The possible effects on the electorate and the practices of the press by those laws of the past and potential proposals for new legislation are also discussed in an effort to provide further context to, and support for, the conclusions reached. Those conclusions include that additional regulation is necessary to discourage the creation and distribution of fake news and misinformation in order to protect the public from the violence or imminent unlawful action they may cause.

There are certain clear-cut instances where speech is used only to harm, where the context of the situation does not affect or alter the meaning. These instances, however, are rare. The issue presented in Matal v. Tam (2017) highlights the government’s inability to, and difficulty in, attempting to prohibit assumed offensive content. This thesis argues that even in the rare and overt instances, the government is required to abstain from regulating hate speech, and that the government will not be able to successfully adopt advocate proposed hate-speech regulations. This thesis embraces the concept of precedent as the most binding force in First Amendment questions. It also begins argumentation at the most important era of First Amendment issues, and then analyzes numerous cases spanning nearly one hundred years. Utilizing case rulings, this thesis examines the American social context, as well as academic and historical writings, throughout the past century. Ultimately, this thesis finds that the decision in Matal was not surprising, and that it supports a contemporary First Amendment jurisprudence that believes in a strong divide between the government and private speech. The implications of Matal have been almost immediate, with several lawsuits being decided or brought to court based on the precedent. The decision implies that hate-speech regulations, already given little credence, will share a similar outcome to the law in Matal.

A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. There are few words that have proved as controversial and dividing as these in the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution. Especially today, it seems like every few months we are faced with a new, darker reality of mass shootings and unintended deaths. And everyone has their opinion on the matter. The primary goal of this paper and documentary, A Middle Ground, is to get to the root of the issue: what was the original intent of the Second Amendment and how has that intent changed from 1789 to today? Is there common ground for both sides of the issue? The paper describes the pre-production, production and post-production process of A Middle Ground documentary including problems, solutions and triumphs. The paper also discusses the history of the Second Amendment from its inception to its current day status in the Supreme Court. A Middle Ground follows the Supreme Court case Printz v. United States through the eyes of one of its main plaintiffs, former Graham County Sheriff Richard Mack. The documentary follows Sheriff Mack from his original choice to sue the Federal Government over the Brady Bill to the Supreme Court’s decision. It also touches on the history of the Second Amendment and how Printz v. United States impacted recent historic court cases on the Second Amendment. The case also jumpstarted the individual right movement that is the most prevalent interpretation of the Second Amendment today.

The Arab Spring revolutions of 2010-11 raised important questions about how social-movement actors use new communication technologies, such as social media, for communication and organizing during episodes of contentious politics. This dissertation examines how organizers of and participants in Tunisia’s Arab Spring revolution used communication technologies such as Facebook, blogs, news websites, email, television, radio, newspapers, telephones, and interpersonal communication. The dissertation approaches the topic through the communication paradigm of framing, which the author uses to tie together theories of social movements, neo-patrimonialism, and revolution. The author traveled to Tunisia and conducted 44 interviews with organizers and participants about their uses of communication media, the frames they constructed and deployed, their framing strategies, their organizing activities, and their experiences of the revolution. The most common frames were those of the regime’s corruption, economic issues, and the security forces’ brutality. Interviewees deployed a hybrid network of media to disseminate these frames; Facebook represented a single node in the network, though many interviewees used it more than any other node. To explain the framing process and the resonance of the frames deployed by revolutionaries, the dissertation creates the concept of the alternative narrative, which describes how revolutionaries used a hybrid network to successfully construct an alternative to the narrative constructed by the regime. The dissertation also creates the concept of authoritarian weakening, to explain how citizens can potentially weaken neo-patrimonial regimes under conditions concerning corruption, poverty, and the introduction of civil society and of new communication technologies.

My name is Adriana Becerra and I am a student at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University. In hoping to combine my two passions of journalism and film, for my Honors Undergraduate Thesis project I created my own film review website. My website is a complete review of the films that were nominated for the 2015 Oscars in the following categories: Best Picture, Animated Feature, Documentary Feature, Foreign Language, and Short Film Live Action. In all, I watched and reviewed a total of twenty-eight films based on acting, lighting, music, cinematography, costume/makeup/set design, writing, and visual effects. Over the course of nine months, I have watched, reviewed, and talked extensively about each film that I have reviewed. Though tedious at times, I thoroughly enjoyed completing my Undergraduate Thesis Project. I hope to continue critically looking at films, and possibly even incorporating film in my journalistic career.

Asha Kirana: Working with Angels is a documentary about the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Southern India and how one hospital has taken the lead in giving their patients, especially children, a better quality of life. The documentary film uses the story of one hospital and the doctors working there to illustrate a larger problem with the treatment of people living with HIV/AIDS in India. The goal of this film is to start a conversation about how India can help to destigmatize HIV/AIDS. The film uses a positive message of education, hope and passion to show how doctors and patients in India have already begun to reverse the stigma surrounding HIV in their community and how they hope to expand their efforts in the future. This project includes a written methodology explaining the goals for the film which include: showing how infected women and children in India are perceived, how important counseling is for a person with a terminal illness and how important education is in de-stigmatization of HIV/AIDS. The methodology also explains the current situation of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in India, the inspiration behind the film and the ways in which this film can create social change in India. The entire process of creating this documentary is also explained in a first-person narrative from the filmmaker. This gives insight into the filming process, immersion into another culture, how sources were cultivated, how interviews were conducted, restrictions and obstacles during the filming process, how those issues were overcome and the filmmaker's personal reflections.

21st Century Breakdown: The Influence of Social Media on New Bands in the 21st Century is a creative project that explores the development of social media in its relation to music and how, over time, it has impacted the music industry. More specifically, the documentary explains the significance of social media to new bands at this moment in time (2017), which is seen through the development of local Phoenix band The Breaking Pattern. The documentary follows The Breaking Pattern for a year from the release of their debut album to the early stages of their second album. The documentary reveals that social media is essential to new bands, allows smaller bands to stay competitive in the industry and allows artists to present a certain identity, genuine or cultivated, to the public. Keywords: social media, identity, music, internet, documentary

Journalism, by its very nature, is limited, often adhering to a repetitive format and narration style. Consequently, the depth of journalistic stories will always hit a barrier. Fiction, on the other hand, provides an elegant solution by exploring the world through a myriad point of views including complete omniscience. This thesis explores the link between journalism and fiction by taking real-world scenarios and exploring them without journalism's limitations. It includes three novellas totaling 25,000 words drawn from true-to-life research papers, news stories and manifestos to paint a realistic picture of a technological reality in the near future, a style of writing one might call futurecasting. The thesis also contains an analysis of the techniques used in contemporary fiction and an analysis of their implementation within the novellas. The goal of the novellas is to let researchers to explore the impact of their work before its mass dissemination in order to shape societal, national and international policy responsibly. Similarly, novellas like this and others similar allow society to discover the beauty of science through fiction. These are some of fiction's greatest roles in science and society.

The rise of digital communication use has affected the relationship between journalists and their confidential sources, especially journalists covering national security. My thesis focuses on analyzing source relationship cultivation in the digital age and how digital communication has changed the way sources and journalists interact, on a national and local level specifically in Arizona. I also look in to Arizona media law following the digital age, how it has changed, and how it affects source relationships. Why Arizona media law protects our state journalists more than the national law protects national journalists is also a topic of discussion.

ABSTRACT

This dissertation examined how seven federal agencies utilized Twitter during a major natural disaster, Hurricane Sandy. Data collected included tweets between October 26-31, 2012 via TweetTracker, as well as federal social media policy doctrines and elite interviews, to discern patterns in the guidance provided to federal public information officers (PIOs). While scholarly research cites successful local and state government efforts utilizing social media to improve response efforts in a two-way communications interaction, no substantive research addresses social media’s role in crisis response capabilities at the federal level.

This study contributes to the literature in three ways: it focuses solely on the use of social media by federal agencies in a crisis setting; it illuminates policy directives that often hamper federal crisis communication response efforts; and it suggests a proposed model that channels the flow of social media content for PIOs. This is especially important to the safety of the nation moving forward, since crises have increased. Additionally, Twitter was adopted only recently as an official communications tool in 2013. Prior to 2013, social media was applied informally and inconsistently.

The findings of this study reveal a reliance upon a one-way, passive communication approach in social media federal policy directives, as well as vague guidelines in existing crisis communications models. Both dimensions are counter to risk management and crisis communication research, which embrace two-way interactivity with audiences and specific messaging that bolsters community engagement, which are vital to the role of the PIO. The resulting model enables the PIO to provide relevant information to key internal agencies and external audiences in response to a future crisis.