Media interventions to promote responsible sexual behavior

While the media have been used effectively to promote sexual responsibility in other countries for decades, few such opportunities have been seized in the United States. Mass media may be especially useful for teaching young people about reproductive health because elements of popular culture can be used to articulate messages in young people s terms, in language that won t embarrass them and may even make safe sex more attractive. Media can potentially change the way people think about sex, amidst cultural pressures to have sex at a young age, to have sex forcefully, or to have unsafe sex. Information can be communicated through a variety of channels--small media (e.g., pamphlets, brochures, and the Internet) and mass media--and in a variety of formats--campaigns, news coverage, and educational messages inserted into regular entertainment programming. Several international studies show that exposure to family planning messages through television, radio, and print media are strongly associated with contraceptive use. Domestically, safe sex media campaigns have been associated with increased teen condom use with casual partners, and reductions in the numbers of teenagers reporting sexual activity. Due to private ownership and First Amendment concerns, U.S. sexual health advocates have been working with the commercial media to incorporate subtle health messages into existing entertainment programming.     

Communicating science to the public through targeted messages

The process of communicating science-based information through the mass media is often not the most effective way to meet the information needs of audiences. In many instances these needs can be met more effectively and efficiently through targeted messages. These are communication products that fill, in as direct a manner as possible, the information needs of specialized audiences.Although targeted messages occasionally are prepared for the mass media, more often they are communicated via booklets, brochures, audiovisual materials and other media that best reach the intended audience, allowing for limitations of budget and time.A model for producing and disseminating targeted science messages in the area of youth and family development is presented, and several case histories are described. The principal benefit of this model is that it permits scientists a measure of responsibility for the accuracy and validity of what is being communicated, and at the same time, assures that the product meets the needs of its audience.     

Teaching Social Work Students to use Advocacy Skills Through the Mass Media

Teaching social work students and practitioners to work effectively with the media is a valuable component of efforts to provide skills to influence the development of social policies and services addressed to vulnerable populations. The author focuses on mass media communications research, examples drawn from social work and other human service professions, and instructional activities in social work education to examine and illustrate how participation in the mass communication network can further the social policy goals of the social work profession.     

A Content Analysis of Sexual Consent and Refusal Communication in Mainstream Films

Young adults have limited access to comprehensive sex education. As such, they may seek sexuality information through such alternative sources, such as mass media. Previous research suggests that media, including films and television shows, can influence sexual behaviors and attitudes. Because sexual consent communication is important to sexual experiences, the purpose of this study was to assess how sexual consent and refusal communication were depicted in films. We also examined contextual factors that influence consent and refusal communication, such as gender, relationship status, location, and types of sexual behaviors. Four researchers analyzed popular mainstream films (N = 50) from 2013 based on a codebook developed inductively and deductively. The most common consent and refusal communication cues were nonverbal or implicit. The majority of scenes portrayed consent immediately before sexual activity. We also conducted chi-squared analyses to assess differences in consent and refusal communication based on gender and relationship status. There were no gender differences in the portrayal of consent cues; however, characters in established relationships used nonverbal cues more often than those in novel relationships. Mass media can normalize behaviors, and our results suggest that films may further normalize nonverbal or implicit consent cues.     

Analyzing the nature of self-transcendent emotional elicitors in corporate social advocacy messages

Consumer reaction toward corporate social advocacy (CSA) stances can often be swift and visceral. These reactions may be due to messages evoking emotions that are self-transcendent—bigger than the individual and bigger than the company or its products or services. However, no research to date has examined the nature of self-transcendent emotions in CSA messages. Through a content analysis of CSA messages (n = 352), this exploratory study examined characteristics of CSA messages to understand the nature and prevalence of self-transcendent emotional elicitors within company CSA stances—as manifested in both written statements and video messages—which are typically the two mediums that companies use to communicate their CSA stances. Results indicate that most CSA messages do contain transcendent emotional elicitors with appreciation for beauty and excellence being the most prevalent. This study holds implications for research and practice at the intersection of public relations and media psychology.     

Passive Learning: When the Media Environment Is the Message

This article investigates the phenomenon of "passive learning,"or how people may acquire information from the mass media despitelacking the motivation to do so. A unique data source allowsus to overcome the "saturation effect" that generally makesthe study of this phenomenon difficult. Saturation conditionscommonly occur because exposure to political programming isvirtually universal. With interest controlled, two groups receivingdifferent media messages are compared over two elections. Thosewho had no interest in an election, but who lived in a media-richenvironment were 40 percentage points more likely to have acquiredinformation than their uninterested cohorts living in a media-poorenvironment.     

Fear of the "Alien Other": Cultural Anxiety and Opinions about Japan

American public opinion toward Japan grew more negative coincident with 1980s "Japan-bashing" media messages. Two theories of opinion formation provide explanations for this. Democratic representation theory understands opinions as rational responses to new information. Cultural interpretation theory holds that public opinion is based on one's receptiveness to media discourse. Opinion is neither a rational response to information nor the passive acceptance of elite dictates. People differentially interpret media messages and form opinions in a process that is shaped by media attentiveness and their subjective cultural anxieties. Survey data permit an indirect test of the two theories applied to anti-Japan opinion. OLS regression analysis performed on GSS for four time periods reveals that anti-Japan opinion is rooted less in "rational" responses to personal economic insecurity or fear of increased global competition than in racial attitudes and domestic social-cultural concerns. America's negative opinion toward Japan in the 1990s is better understood as domestic anxieties that are redirected toward a symbolic target that the mass media has highlighted.     

Sources,Characteristics and Effects of Mass Media Communication on Science: A Review of the Literature,Current Trends and Areas for Future Research

A significant amount of science coverage can be found nowadays in the mass media and is the main source of information about science for many. Accordingly, the relation between science and the media has been intensively analyzed within the social scientific community. It is difficult to keep track of this research, however, as a flurry of studies has been published on the issue. This article provides such an overview. First, it lays out the main theoretical models of science communication, that is, the ‘public understanding of science’ and the ‘mediatization’ model. Second, it describes existing empirical research. In this section, it demonstrates how science’s agenda‐building has improved, how science journalists working routines are described, how different scientific disciplines are presented in the mass media and what effects these media representations (might) have on the audience. Third, the article points out future fields of research.     

Populism and social media: how politicians spread a fragmented ideology

Populism is a relevant but contested concept in political communication research. It has been well-researched in political manifestos and the mass media. The present study focuses on another part of the hybrid media system and explores how politicians in four countries (AT, CH, IT, UK) use Facebook and Twitter for populist purposes. Five key elements of populism are derived from the literature: emphasizing the sovereignty of the people, advocating for the people, attacking the elite, ostracizing others, and invoking the ‘heartland’. A qualitative text analysis reveals that populism manifests itself in a fragmented form on social media. Populist statements can be found across countries, parties, and politicians’ status levels. While a broad range of politicians advocate for the people, attacks on the economic elite are preferred by left-wing populists. Attacks on the media elite and ostracism of others, however, are predominantly conducted by right-wing speakers. Overall, the paper provides an in-depth analysis of populism on social media. It shows that social media give the populist actors the freedom to articulate their ideology and spread their messages. The paper also contributes to a refined conceptualization and measurement of populism in future studies.     

Mental health and the media: From illness to wellbeing

The media are a main source of information about mental health for many people, and an ever‐growing body of literature is evaluating their coverage of the topic. To help keep track of such research, several comprehensive but now dated literature reviews have been published. We assess more recent studies (2007–2017) and suggest future directions by integrating (a) the “circuit of mass communication” model from media and communication studies which posits that production, content, and reception need to be analysed for an in‐depth understanding of the media, (b) the holistic view of mental health as comprising both illness and wellbeing, and (3) the critical psychiatry literature questioning the assumptions underlying psychiatric knowledge and practice. We find that recent studies have focused on content and “the illness side” of mental health by examining the representation of particular mental disorders and events involving individuals with specific diagnoses. We identify as a promising development the growing interest in “the wellbeing side” of mental health whereby authors have started to analyse recovery messages. We invite more production and reception research and more critical content studies which use diagnostic labels cautiously and analyse the representation of people with mental health problems as the victims of violence.     

Summer Engagement for At-Risk Youth: Preliminary Outcomes from the New York State Workforce Development Study

The goal of engaging high-risk youth in pro-social activities is to reduce involvement in the criminal justice system and create experiences that increase the youth’s chance of success in education and employment in the future. However, the literature does not support this assumption. The current study looks at the Summer Youth Engagement Program in New York State (NYSYEP). NYSYEP attempts to engage youth in a variety of pro-social activities including employment; education programs; organized recreation programs; and, volunteer work or community service. The hypothesis for the study was that youth who were engaged in pro-social activities would be more likely to be rearrested than youth who were not engaged. The number of hours of youth engagement was found to reduce the odds of being rearrested, but by only 2 %.     

Information subsidies and agenda-building during the Israel–Lebanon crisis

This study examined the impact of information subsidies on media coverage during a crisis. Using the July 2006 Israel–Lebanon conflict as a backdrop, this research reviewed access that U.S. military public affairs officers provided the media and analyzed subsequent coverage for the presence of the military's message. Coverage was more neutral to positive than negative. Items containing organizational messages were more positive; those quoting practitioner-facilitated sources introduced organizational messages into coverage and generated more positive coverage. Access to information subsidies had a positive impact on coverage and aided in the successful transfer of attribute salience from practitioners to the media.     

Preservice Teachers’ Sources of Information on Mandatory Reporting of Child Sexual Abuse

Teachers in many countries are mandated by law, professional codes, or education authorities to report child abuse and neglect, including child sexual abuse. However, teachers may not receive adequate preparation for such sensitive interventions, as preservice teacher education degrees provide very few or no compulsory courses on child protection and crucially related, lifelong health and well-being issues. So, where do preservice teachers source their information regarding the mandatory reporting of such abuse? This research examines preservice teachers’ professional university education for their sources of information about mandatory reporting and child sexual abuse. A sample cohort of 56 final 4th-year university bachelor of education (primary school) student teachers in Australia identified the sources they used regarding 10 important aspects of child protection. The results suggest that most did not learn about mandatory reporting or child sexual abuse, and others cited sparse and sporadic public media as their primary information source. These findings, building on previous evidence about inadequate or nonexistent preservice mandatory intervention courses in primary teacher education, may guide the design of appropriate training responses enhancing educational professionals’ knowledge, competencies, skills, and efficacies as mandatory reporters of child sexual abuse.     

The influences of relationship quality with external partners and required levels of approval of messaging on crisis preparedness

As funding for public health promotion is increasingly limited in the U.S., public relations research informing management of crises that threaten public health is especially critical. Crisis planning models such as Reynolds and Seeger’s (2005, 2014) crisis and emergency risk communication model offer comprehensive directives for crisis managers and present opportunities to extend the utility of best practice recommendations. A survey of public information officers (PIOs) (n=208) at local public health departments across the U.S. examines the quality of their relationships with partners in public health crisis management, including first responders, media, law enforcement, and hospitals, and reveals that relationships with key publics in crisis management are lacking. Further, PIOs at state governed health departments may face critical delays in releasing crisis messages, as their messages are required to clear more levels of approval than locally (city/county) governed departments. Implications and future research for these key variables extending public relations crisis communication research with a focus on inter-organizational relationships are discussed.     

Perspectives of LGBTQ emerging adults on the depiction and impact of LGBTQ media representation

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) young people have been increasingly represented in traditional (offline) media over the past two decades. However, research had not adequately focused on the content of contemporary representations, how such depictions impact LGBTQ young people, or how young people’s experiences are affected by the present context characterized by the rapidly increasing prevalence of new (online) media. Utilizing grounded theory with a sample (n?=?19) of emerging adults (age 18–22), this study investigates: (1) messages about sexual orientation and/or gender identity LGBTQ emerging adults receive from LGBTQ representations in traditional media; (2) potential differences in the experiences of LGBTQ emerging adults with traditional media compared to new media; and (3) how consumption of these media messages impact LGBTQ emerging adults. Results indicate that while traditional media (particularly television) creates a common dialogue and validates identity, it continues to represent LGBTQ people as one-dimensional and stereotypical, ignores many LGBTQ sub-groups, limits LGBTQ young people’s perceptions of their future trajectories, and offers no opportunities for critique. In contrast, emerging new media offers new, important, and valued spaces for discussion and creativity.     

Behavior of Victims and Information Processing during the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake

Abstract  The Great Hanshin-Awaji earthquake revealed the inadequacy of research in the area of information studies. There is a lack of research on the availability of information on daily life which could alleviate suffering during the reconstruction period. The purpose of this paper is to confirm whether residents receive sufficient information to assist them in making rational decisions during the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake. Our research findings are as follows: (1) People's capacity to send information was very low early in the emergency period. (2) The channel of communication depended on whether people stayed in their own homes or lived elsewhere during the evacuation period. (3) The use of mass media by the aged (both in terms of receiving and sending information) was low. (4) The higher the damage to utilities, the higher was the levels of dissatisfaction with the existing means of information. Most people wished direct communications between the municipality and the victims. (5) Consummatory information on the actual situation was offered effectively by mass media in the stricken area. Similarly important information to support life in the stricken areas was offered by many volunteer groups.     

(Potential) patients like me: testing the effects of user-generated health content on social media

As media technology becomes increasingly participatory, individuals may use social media to share health information and connect with those who have similar health concerns. While prior research has focused on evaluating the feasibility, usability, and effectiveness of traditional health messages, this study investigates the effects of user-generated health content on individuals’ cognitive and emotional responses, as well as their behavioral intentions. An experimental study with a two (story source: personal story vs news story) by two (story ending: happy ending vs sad ending) factorial design was conducted. The results confirmed the positive effects of identification with the narrative character on the experience of being transported, which further led to the behavioral intentions to take countermeasures and viral communication on social media. The sad ending of a narrative was found to elicit emotions that were sufficiently strong to increase perceptions of susceptibility to dengue fever, which, however, failed to result in behavioral intentions.     

Movements and media: Selection processes and evolutionary dynamics in the public sphere

This article argues that the decisive part of the interaction between social movements and political authorities is no longer the direct, physical confrontation between them in concrete locations, but the indirect, mediated encounters among contenders in the arena of the mass media public sphere. Authorities react to social movement activities if and as they are depicted in the mass media, and conversely movement activists become aware of political opportunities and constraints through the reactions (or non-reactions) that their actions provoke in the public sphere. The dynamics of this mediated interaction among political contenders can be analyzed as an evolutionary process. Of the great variety of attempts to mobilize public attention, only a few can be accommodated in the bounded media space. Three selection mechanisms–labelled here as “discursive opportunities”– can be identified that affect the diffusion chances of contentious messages: visibility (the extent to which a message is covered by the mass media), resonance (the extent to which others – allies, opponents, authorities, etc.–react to a message), and legitimacy (the degree to which such reactions are supportive). The argument is empirically illustrated by showing how the strategic repertoire of the German radical right evolved over the course of the 1990s as a result of the differential reactions that various strategies encountered in the mass media arena.     

Nonverbal dominance in the communication of affect: A myth?

The claim that nonverbal signals are more important than verbal signals in the communication of affect is widely accepted and has had considerable impact on therapy, counselling, and education. In a typical experiment, subjects are presented with a long series of artificially constructed inconsistent messages (messages in which the verbal and nonverbal components are opposite in valence) and asked to judge the strength of the emotion felt by the encoder. In such studies little attempt is made to camouflage the nature of the stimuli or the intent of the experimenter. In this study, it is argued that the absence of camouflage (defined as naturally occurring consistent messages) may bias the results in favour of the nonverbal dominance effect, so that as the level of camouflage is increased, the size of the nonverbal dominance effect is decreased. Four groups of subjects (34 subjects per group) were required to rate a series of audiovisually presented messages. The level of camouflage varied between groups: 0% (all messages presented were inconsistent), 50% (half of the messages presented were consistent and half were inconsistent), 83% (the majority of messages presented were consistent), and 94%. The results clearly demonstrated that the nonverbal dominance effect was present when the level of camouflage was low, and disappeared when the level of camouflage was high. The implications of these findings for the nonverbal dominance hypothesis are discussed.This research was supported by a grant from the Australian Research Grants Scheme (Reference No. A78515618).     

Mediated public diplomacy in the digital age: Exploring the Saudi and the U.S. governments’ agenda-building during Trump’s visit to the Middle East

This study analyzed the agenda-building capacity of political public relations messages of the Saudi and the U.S. governments during Donald Trump’s visit to the Middle East and scrutinized their influence on the media coverage and public opinion. The findings indicate that all three levels of agenda-building received solid empirical support from the data: governmental information subsidies significantly influenced media coverage and public opinion on the level of issues and stakeholders (1st level), their attributes (2nd level), and networked co-occurrences of issues/stakeholders (3rd level of agenda-building). Traditional information subsidies emerged as a powerful tool driving the agenda-building process. The study confirms the effective capacity of public relations communication to build the media and the public agendas in non-Western media culture and expands the applicability of the agenda-building network analysis research to the Middle Eastern media market.