Keywords
Learning, Risk and Crisis Communication, Exemplification, Uses and Gratifications, Building Collapse, Disaster
Abstract
In June 2021, a 12-story oceanfront condominium in Miami, Florida, collapsed, causing the death of 98 people and a great loss of property. The leading newspaper in Florida, or even on the state level, the Miami Herald, followed up with reporting on the collapse about one year after the crisis happened, probing the crisis event’s potential reasons and prevention strategies for the future. The general research questions that lead this dissertation are: 1) whether the media provide opportunities for learning through media coverage in a risk and crisis context, and 2) whether exemplars in media coverage affect people’s perceived learning and other related perceptions, and if so, how. The dissertation comprises two studies. Study one: Through the lens of uses and gratification theory, the author did a content analysis of the media clips provided by the Miami Herald on the Miami Condominium Collapse. Study two: Through the exemplification theory, the author adopted a quantitative experiment method to test the impact of exemplars in media coverage on people’s perceived learning and other perceptions regarding a crisis event. The results of both studies suggested that the media do provide learning opportunities in four emerging themes: 1) engineering, 2) laws and regulations, 3) emergency preparedness, response, and recovery, and 4) environmental. The exemplars in media coverage promote participants' perceptions of learning, behavioral change intentions, and information seeking. This dissertation provided theoretical and practical implications for the current communication study. The theoretical implication is to extend the understanding of uses and gratification theory and exemplification theory, particularly in people’s perceived learning in a risk and crisis context. The practical implication of this dissertation is to extend the understanding of learning through media in a risk and crisis setting to improve the different stakeholders’ capabilities of risk and crisis preparedness, response, and recovery.
Completion Date
2025
Semester
Fall
Committee Chair
Spence, Patric
Degree
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
College
College of Sciences
Department
Communication Department
Format
Release Date
12-15-2027
Document Type
Dissertation
Campus Location
Orlando (Main) Campus
Subjects
Disasters--Research; Crisis management--Study and teaching; Disasters--Press coverage; Mass media--Research; Risk communication--Study and teaching
STARS Citation
Sheng, Xin, "Learning Before It's Too Late: An Examination of Uses and Gratifications and Exemplification in the Miami Herald's Newspaper Coverage of the Miami Condominium Collapse" (2025). Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024. 544.
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd2024/544
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