The life of the Tea Party: Differences between Tea Party and Republican media use and political variables

The Tea Party has been identified by most mass media sources as a separate but related element of the Republican Party. This study adds to a new body of literature on the Tea Party by using polarization literature and survey data to (a) separate Tea Party Republicans (TPR), Tea Party Non-Republicans (TPNR), and Non–Tea Party Republicans; (b) identify the role of Tea Party affiliation (or lack thereof) on political interest and media use; and (c) assess the role of media use by these three groups on political interest and voting. This study found that partisan media plays an important role for all three groups and it especially has the strongest role for those who do not align themselves with the Republican Party. Specifically, both TPR and TPNR were more likely to be politically interested and rely on partisan media than Republicans who are not affiliated with the Tea Party.     

Echo chambers and social mediators in public advocacy issue networks

The growing trend of politically motivated consumer boycotts and buycotts on social media not only impacts a company’s financial bottom line, but more fundamentally disrupts relationships between the firm and its publics, the cornerstone of public relations (Ferguson, 1984; Sommerfeldt, & Kent, 2015). On a broader level, such politically motivated advocacy is a critical facet of civil society with important implications on the societal role of public relations (Taylor, 2010). In light of the significance of politically motivated consumer advocacy to public relations, a multi-phase, exploratory study was conducted. Study 1 applies content analysis and social network analysis to examine how different interactive mechanisms on social media—retweet, mention, and reply—may affect communication within and between communities of different ideological views surrounding the boycott and buycott issues. Study 2 further explores the challenges and opportunities of fostering exchange of diverse viewpoints by identifying new social mediators—the “echoers” who propel information flow among in-group members, and the “bridgers” who initiate communication with political out-group members—and assess the key network characteristics of these social mediators. The findings of these two studies advance public relations theories on networks, intergroup communication, and civil society by illustrating how social media structure and social mediators shape the networked public discourse to facilitate or inhibit conversations between publics of different ideological orientations.     

The extremists across the aisle: selective exposure and evaluations of presidential candidate extremity

The consensus of most scholars is that the United States is significantly polarized across lines of partisanship, ideology, beliefs, and values. This polarization also extends to media use through selective exposure to partisan television and online content. This suggests a process in which partisans view opponents as especially extreme, seek reinforcement of those views in media, and strengthen those views going forward.

Using National Annenberg Election Survey panel data, this study examines relationships between political identity, cable television use, and perceptions of 2008 presidential candidates’ ideological extremity. Candidates from “across the aisle” are seen as more extreme, and this perception leads to a spiral of selective exposure, which reinforces and strengthens extant views. This process is driven by television sources that predate the Internet-based “Daily Me” model, suggesting that concerns about online echo chambers might be better focused on political segregation in general.     

Are older adults networked individuals? Insights from East Yorkers’ network structure,relational autonomy,and digital media use

ABSTRACT

Networked individualism is a critical concept about the transition of the societal shift from geographically bounded local groups to the contemporary network society comprised of sparse, permeable, and dynamic communication networks. An underlying assumption about networked individuals thus far in the literature is that they are at a younger age. There are fears that older adults have been left behind in this transition to networked individualism. In this study, we are the first to inquire to what extent ? and in what ways ? are older adults networked individuals. Using in-depth interviews with 41 older adults living in the East York area of Toronto, we used a combination of quantitative coding, thematic analysis, and individual profiling to analyze their social network structure, relational autonomy, and digital media use. Our findings render a rather complex and nuanced picture, showing three types of older adults along the spectrum of networked individualism: networked individuals, socially connected but not networked individuals, and socially constrained individuals. Although most participants are socially connected, those who are networked individuals actively manage and navigate multiple, diverse, and non-redundant social networks. Digital media use is neither necessary nor sufficient in qualifying a person as a networked individual as the great majority of East Yorkers ? even if not networked individuals ? integrate digital media into their everyday lives.     

A structural hermeneutics of The O’Reilly Factor

There has been a significant rise in opinion and talk-based programming on American cable news channels since the mid-1990s. These news analysis programs are often politically partisan in their interpretive approach. This article examines one of the most prominent and popular of these shows, The O’Reilly Factor using the theoretical tools of structural hermeneutics. The program produces a radically simple and partisan schema for interpreting the news, but to do so it relies on the constructed persona of the host, a complex underlying meaning structure formulated around binary oppositions, and a number of rhetorical techniques. The show simplifies, but is not itself simple. To simplify the news in a way that suggests partisan conclusions that still seem relevant rather than cartoonish, individual episodes and segments of the show frame issues in terms of a meaning structure that leads strongly to partisan conclusions, but affords an appearance of the reasonable consideration of diverse views. It is suggested that this kind of deep analysis of meaning structures is important for making sense of how news analysis programs and mediated partisanship function as a cultural system.     

Open media or echo chamber: the use of links in audience discussions on the Facebook Pages of partisan news organizations

This study evaluates the use of hyperlinks in audience discussions on the Facebook Pages of two partisan cable news organizations: the liberal-leaning Rachel Maddow Show and the conservative O'Reilly Factor, to investigate to what extent linking might intensify partisan political discussion or infuse a variety of perspectives into online communication. The results suggest that these Facebook audiences show a preference for a small group of information resources; furthermore, the two audiences shared an even smaller number of information resources in common. The findings support previous research that suggests a relatively small number of information resources receive most of the news audience traffic, and provide some support for other studies that indicate that partisan political discussions on social media are segregated by political orientation.     

Partisan audience polarization: Beyond selective exposure

The proliferation of available media outlets provides unprecedented access to specialized content. This dynamic media environment facilitates the emergence of partisan selective exposure at the individual level. When aggregated, these selective choices can materialize as partisan audience polarization, defined by the use/nonuse of so-called “Red” and “Blue” news media. The present study extends this line of inquiry beyond selective exposure. The author uses metered exposure data to explore patterns of loyalty and avoidance using single-source, cross-platform data from Nielsen’s TV/Internet Convergence Panel. The results are mixed, suggesting that audiences of partisan news outlets exhibit high levels of loyalty, but also that they do not avoid news of a different slant.     

The Construction of Fear

The paper derives applications of an observation about how fears are constructed by people in their daily lives in order to expand upon developments and critiques in constructionist analyses of scares in the news media.     

Connected seniors: how older adults in East York exchange social support online and offline

ABSTRACT

How do older adults mobilize social support, with and without digital media? To investigate this, we focus on older adults 65+ residing in the Toronto locality of East York, using 42 interviews lasting about 90 minutes done in 2013–2014. We find that digital media help in mobilizing social support as well as maintaining and strengthening existing relationships with geographically near and distant contacts. This is especially important for those individuals (and their network members) who have limited mobility. Once older adults start using digital media, they become routinely incorporated into their lives, used in conjunction with the telephone to maintain existing relationships but not to develop new ones. Contradicting fears that digital media are inadequate for meaningful relational contact, we found that these older adults considered social support exchanged via digital media to be real support that cannot be dismissed as token. Older adults especially used and valued digital media for companionship. They also used them for coordination, maintaining ties, and casual conversations. Email was used more with friends than relatives; some Skype was used with close family ties. Our research suggests that policy efforts need to emphasize the strengthening of existing networks rather than the establishment of interventions that are outside of older adults’ existing ties. Our findings also show that learning how to master technology is in itself a form of social support that provides opportunities to strengthen the networks of older adults.     

Diverging patterns of interaction around news on social media: insularity and partisanship during the 2018 Italian election campaign

ABSTRACT

The paper considers how social media ecologies are affecting partisan engagement around political news and online attention economies by investigating the case of the 2018 Italian general election. By analyzing Twitter and Facebook interactions around political news in the lead-up to the election, we shed light on levels of insularity characterizing sources preferred by different partisan communities and investigate how specific patterns of active attention emerge around different sources and around stories proposing different framing of specific political actors. Our findings indicate that, on Twitter, sources mainly shared by supporters of populist parties (the Five Star Movement and the League) are characterized by higher levels of insularity compared to those shared by supporters of other parties. We also find that, on Facebook, news items published by highly insular sources receive a higher number of shares per comment. Finally, our analyses show that news presenting a positive framing of the Five Star Movement – the unique ‘cyber party’ in the system – receives a higher number of shares per comment compared to items presenting the Movement in a negative light, while the opposite is true for stories on all other political parties.     

New perspectives in sexology: From rigor (mortis) to richness 1

“Rigor” is a term which has been used in sexology to imply that there is a hierarchy of methodologies and approaches to sex research. This paper argues that “rigor” is actually a term used rhetorically in an attempt to achieve professional legitimacy in a field perennially threatened because of its politically relevant subject matter. Rather than worry about a seat at the table, we need to look more towards the postmodern richness of diverse and even contradictory standards and approaches to sex research to reveal the range and depth of our subject matter. Recent issues of JSR introducing feminist perspectives offer examples of the range of work which should be acceptable to those interested more in intellectual challenge and quality than traditional respectability.     

Let’s be careful out there … : how digital rights advocates educate citizens in the digital age

From the early days of the printed press, citizens have challenged and modified the information environment as constructed by governments and media organizations. In the digital era, this struggle is manifested in the work of civil-society organizations calling to expand the boundaries of digital rights such as access to the internet, freedom of speech, and the right to privacy. Alongside their traditional activity of confronting governments and internet organizations, these bodies have also engaged in educating citizens about their rights. In order to shed light on such educational efforts, I examine the activities of four civil-society organizations operating in three countries (Germany, Israel, and the U.S.) by conducting a content analysis of their websites between 2013 and 2015. The results suggest that the organizations’ interactions with the public are guided by three main principles: (1) cultural informational framing: delivering accurate technological and political information, which is framed so as to resonate with the cultural premises and everyday lives of the target audiences; (2) personal activism: propelling citizens toward participation, primarily through political clicktivism and by providing them with technological guidance and tools for digital self-protection; and (3) branding digital rights activism: fostering a unique image for a particular organization’s digital rights activism, mostly through selling merchandise to citizens. Using these strategies, the organizations aim to construct the social–political–cultural identity of a generation who are knowledgeable, politically active, and aware of their rights in the digital age. The characteristics of this identity are discussed in the conclusion.     

Rethinking mediated political engagement: social media ambivalence and disconnective practices of politically active youths in Hong Kong

Social media have been widely credited for facilitating young people’s political engagement, most notably by providing a conducive platform for political expression. There has been comparatively little attention, however, to the possible pitfalls for young people when they engage in politics on social media. In this study, we seek to redress the overemphasis on the strengths and connectivity of social media by attending to how young people negotiate their drawbacks and disconnectivity. Through in-depth interviews with young participants of Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement, we examine the choices and motives regarding mediated (non-)participation among a group of politically active youths. Our findings revealed that these young people’s social media ambivalence emerged from the major participatory experience. Despite their active and open informational sharing and political expression on social media alongside their in-person participation during the eventful protest, many young participants became wary of such expressive use owing to their perceptions of de-energization, disconnectedness, and disembodiment. Instead of completely withdrawing from political activities on social media, these politically inclined and technologically savvy youths embraced “disconnective practices” – passive engagement (lurking), selective expression (moderation and exposure-limitation), and offline participation (embodied collective action) – to avoid the overwhelming, fractious, and inauthentic conditions of mediated participation.     

Media Technologies, Images of Drugs, and an Evocative Telepresence

I regard electronic media technologies as framing devices for how viewers perceive issues associated with illegal drugs. Controllers of electronic media technologies produce and disseminate images of illegal drugs and users of such drugs to which viewers respond. People who control the images of electronic media production create an evocative telepresence, or a visual context that relies on appeals to authority and emotion. However, viewers do not merely respond to images of illegal drugs; rather, they actively interpret such images and draw their own conclusions. To demonstrate the complex relationship between electronic stimuli and viewer responses, I report on a classroom experiment comparing those who saw and heard a heroin user with those who only heard this user. I also report findings from student perceptions of and reactions to four drug films. Results of the experiment and the readings of films indicate that viewers, especially those who can see and hear electronic displays, are sophisticated consumers who respond to immediate stimuli while making reference to distal stimuli. In the main, I contend that electronic images of illegal drugs and users in an evocative telepresence are powerful stimuli, but they do not cause viewer perceptions.     

Stuck with ‘electronic brochures’? How boundary management strategies shape politicians’ social media use

Social media provide new opportunities for politicians, such as personalized communication directed at specific communities of interest. Yet despite potential benefits, empirical analyses show that politicians tend to shy away from an active engagement of online audiences. This study explores the effect of politicians’ online boundary management on their use of social media. Ties maintained through social media profiles can be embedded in diverse social contexts (‘context collapse’). Professional communicators, especially, are faced with the challenge of managing boundaries between professional and private online self-presentations. Based on a survey of 106 German members of parliament, we distinguish four types of boundary management strategies. We analyze the effects of these strategies on politicians’ social media use practices – and find that considering boundary management strategies allows for a better understanding of politicians’ online engagement (or lack thereof).     

VOTERS' INTERMEDIATION ENVIRONMENTS IN THE 1988 PRESIDENTIAL CONTEST

Considerable information about a presidential election campaigncomes to voters through such intermediaries as personal networksand the mass media. This article examines the operation of theseintermediaries in the 1988 Ohio presidential campaign by focusingon exposure to them and the perceived partisan content of theirmessages—and how these key features of intermediationrelate to various voter characteristics. People are most disposedto discuss politics with like-minded relatives and friends,but discussions with co-workers provide an opportunity for politicallydissonant messages to intrude. This political discussion ismodulated by political attentiveness rather than personal orpartisan characteristics. Media exposure is high and also isrelated most to political attentiveness, although age is animportant determinant as well. Surprisingly, the media werecommonly perceived as balanced and neutral in the presidentialrace or, where committed, as supporting the candidate the respondentopposed. Because of this, only a third of the respondents foundthemselves in an overall intermediation environment that wasconcordant with their own preferences. Considerably more werein environments containing some discordant views, which couldchallenge their partisan dispositions.     

Internet literacy and digital natives’ civic engagement: Internet skill literacy or Internet information literacy?

This study aims to show the role of Internet literacy in empowering digital natives’ civic engagement. Using a survey of 10th graders, we analyzed the effects of digital media use and Internet literacy on adolescents’ political and social interest, participation, and efficacy, controlling for their home and school environments. In doing so, we try to highlight the following points. First, we emphasize that there are two separate dimensions of Internet literacy: Internet skill literacy and Internet information literacy. Second, we adopt a broader concept of civic engagement reflecting the changing youth practices observed in the contemporary media environment. The study empirically found that Internet information literacy, not Internet skill literacy, is intricately related to adolescents’ civic engagement. It was also shown that adolescents’ Internet use contributed only to new and alternative forms of participation. Overall, the findings show that an adolescent who can critically understand and effectively evaluate online information is more likely to become an active civic participant than one who lacks such skills. The study concludes with a few policy suggestions.     

Socially distributing public relations: Twitter,Haiti, and interactivity in social media

Social media and communication technology have shifted the power of communication from public relations practitioners to social media users who may not have a recognized role or defined interest in an organization. What results is a social model of public relations in which traditional public relations responsibilities are distributed to social media users, and which depends on interactivity, legitimacy, and a user's social stake. This study explores social public relations through a qualitative analysis of user involvement on Twitter regarding relief efforts to support Haiti following the 7.0 earthquake that hit Port-Au-Prince in January, 2010. This analysis of Twitter posts also expands understanding of interactivity online and demonstrates social media user fulfillment of public relations objectives.     

Political participation and web 2.0 in Europe: A case study of Facebook

The goal of this paper is to obtain the model for political participation on social network sites in Europe with a focus on European politics. We want to find out if and how European citizens are interested in using Facebook in political communication on the European level and if that can lead to more participation and more inclusion of citizens in the political processes on the EU level. We are interested in discovering more about the interconnection of political participation in the ‘offline’ world and the use of web 2.0 for political communication purposes.     

From partisan war to the ethnography of European Turkey: the Balkan career of Ivan Liprandi, 1790–1880

The Balkan entanglements of the Great Powers have long interested historians of war, diplomacy, and nation-building in South-Eastern Europe. Although tsarist officers played a central role in Russian policies in the region, historians have rarely treated their writings as expressions of specifically military concerns and preoccupations. The present article seeks to fill this gap by reconstructing the Balkan career of Ivan Liprandi, a Russian officer, partisan leader, and self-styled expert on the European part of the Ottoman Empire during the middle decades of the nineteenth century. The article traces Liprandi’s effort to turn his direct experience of partisan warfare into knowledge and place that knowledge at the disposal of the Russian military command. Liprandi’s remarkable Balkan career testifies to the growing interest of the Imperial Russian military in the ethno-confessional profile and political attitudes of the local population as factors contributing to victory or defeat. Liprandi’s statistical and ethnographic writings on the Balkans are also indicative of the nexus between the military and civilian forms of knowledge that emerged in the middle decades of the nineteenth century.