Lecture or engagement? : communication with readers on three North Carolina newspaper blogs

When a newspaper editor starts a blog, he or she has a new tool to interact with audiences. This paper examines this interaction. Where do editors’ blogs fit into the editor’s toolbox? How are editors communicating with their readers on their blogs? From the findings of this study, it appears editors’ blogs require dedication and commitment to be successful. The blogs were markedly different in the number of posts, number of reader comments, and the number of comments left by editors. The findings of this study lead to the conclusion that the editors’ blogs were used as complementary tools by editors who were willing representatives of their newspapers in the public eye. By committing to a blog and using it effectively, editors are reaching out to audiences in new ways. The results from this study of editors’ blogs at three North Carolina newspapers will provide insight to other editors who are using blogs or expect to use blogs as a communication tool, and will help researchers as they establish new benchmarks in the study of new media.Department of JournalismThesis (M.A.

Migratory Alimony: A Constitutional Dilemma in the Exercise of In Personam Jurisdiction

Obstacles to obtaining binding determinations of domicile often block the personal jurisdiction required for alimony adjudication. A way out of the impasse, Professor Ritz argues, is offered by the mechanism of removing cases to federal courts under the constitutional grant of federal jurisdiction based on diversity of citizenship

Kingship and cosmological order : the royal court of Tenkodogo

Tenkodogo, a township situated in the south-eastern part of Burkina Faso on the road leading from the capital Ouagadougou to the Togo border, has approximately 29,000 inhabitants. It is Burkina's seventh largest town and is the location of the regional government of the Boulgou-Province. This regional government is represented by a high-commissioner and a "préfet" as it is the residence of a traditional ruler, otherwise known as Tenkodogo-naaba. His sphere of influence covers many villages and hamlets in the region: in total he is the sovereign of nearly 120,000 people. The power of the traditional rulers was curtailed first by the arrival and following overrule of the French colonialists and then after independence by Sankara and his revolutionary government. The kings ceased to be the ultimate judges who were able to determine life and death of their subjects. Henceforth they were no longer allowed to recruit subjects for certain work on their fields, and they no longer could claim control over the allocation of resources. Their position was strengthened anew by Sankara's successor in office, Blaise Campaore, who quickly recognized that collaborating with the traditional rulers could only be of advantage: in fact they later proved to be his best supporters in the election campaign