Fall 2007 - SCOOP Magazine

Research in the RoundBridging the gapOne UT professor seeks to show how media and society influence each otherThe relationships between media, culture and societyare complex, and with technology advancing atlightning speed, those relationships are only gettingmore complicated. Catherine Luther, associateprofessor in the School of Journalism and Electronic Media,has made the study of media and society her life’s work. Overthe past 12 years, she has authored and co-authored severalpeer-reviewed articles and one book entitled “Press Images,National Identity, and Foreign Policy.” She has received numerousawards, including University of Tennessee research awardsand a Hewlett-Packard Innovative Technology award. Luther’sresearch has covered a wide range of subjects, but the majorityfocuses on the differences between Japanese and Americanmedia.The fascination with Japanese culture has early roots inLuther’s life, she said. “I was a military brat, and my father wasfall 2007Story Byphotos provided by Catherine LutherEmily Maddoxstationed at several bases in Japan, and so I developed an interestin Japanese culture and society at a very young age.” This interestdeveloped into an undergraduate double major in East AsianStudies and Communications from the University of Maryland.After graduation, Luther headed to the west coast, where shecombined her interest in journalism and her fascination withJapanese culture by becoming a reporter and later producer forJapanese broadcast news in Los Angeles and Japan.During her work in Japanese broadcast media, Luthernoticed subtle differences in the way the two systems work.“The news program formats (in Japan and the United States)are very similar. The only difference is that the (Japanese)field reporters tend to be a little stiff and predictable intheir reports,” she said. She attributes this lack of varietyto the increased government and corporate control of themedia in Japan.