Sources

This qualitative research study explores the relationship between reducing uncertainty and assigning source credibility in the context of social media sites (SMS) and examines the effect of uncertainty reduction within the social media environment on the development of relationships between journalists and their sources. For this study, interviews were conducted with professional journalists to determine whether uncertainty was reduced and credibility was established with sources via SMS (i.e., Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn) and what theoretical strategies journalists used to reduce their uncertainty. The study also aims to determine if correlations exist between a reporter's age, beat, and/or personal adoption of SMS and the reporter's usage of SMS for source development. The interviews were conducted with 15 journalists of The Palm Beach Post (West Palm Beach, Florida), using a standardized interview protocol. Subjects were asked to voluntarily participate in a face-to-face interview with the researcher. Reporters were selected based upon their gender and cultural ethnicity, which was representative of the newsroom demographics of The Palm Beach Post at that time. This research aims to contribute to the uncertainty reduction theory in the realm of computer-mediated communications, specifically with regard to the use of SMS in forming and maintaining journalist-source relationships.

In the fall of 1864, Maryland became the first Border State to abolish slavery with the adoption of a new state constitution. In order to best understand the evolution of this event, the purpose of this study was to examine the civil-military relations of Maryland during the Civil War and how these relations affected the institution of slavery in the state. Therefore, the main argument is that the conflict between military and civil authorities in Maryland during the war revealed two points: first, that the federal government maintained a faithful vigilance over the state during the war and second, that the federal government exploited a fading slavery system to not only eliminate any possibility of Maryland entering the Confederacy, but also destroy any degree of Border State neutrality.

In 1919, the Soviet filmmaker Dziga Vertov declared a "death sentence" on fictional films. Vertov championed his own unique method of non-fiction filmmaking, called Kino-Eye, which is based on Vertov's ideas regarding truth in cinema. Although he does not write specifically about Vertov or film, the philosopher Nelson Goodman offers a contrasting view of truth in general. By comparing the Kino-Eye method to Goodman's philosophy, we can better understand Vertov's radical ideas and see more clearly how the concept of cinematic truth has changed over time.