Framing and counter-framing a Peace March in Russia: the use of Twitter during a hybrid war

ABSTRACT

Framing is vital to the capacity of social movements to enlist popular support and sustain contentious collective action. Using the case of a Peace March held in Moscow on 21 September 2014, the article examines how antiwar activists and their opponents framed a protest against Russia’s intervention in Ukraine. The study argues that different interpretations of patriotism underpinned divergent evaluations of the conflict and the construction of opposing identities. An analysis of Twitter posts on the eve of the march shows that peace activists positioned themselves as citizens with high moral standards and a healthy dose of patriotism, criticized the Russian government for military intervention in Ukraine, and called for a peaceful conflict resolution. In turn, opponents of the march considered themselves as real patriots and their adversaries as national traitors, denied Russia’s military presence in Ukraine, and fomented an attack on critics of Russian foreign policy. The study contributes to social movement literature by analyzing the framing of antiwar activism on a social media platform in the midst of a hybrid war, marked by a great deal of ambiguity and deception about causes, dynamics, and consequences of military operations by state and non-state actors.     

Disciplinary intersections of gender and ethnicity in populist radical right media in Romania

The present study examines how the desirable ideals of femininity for the ethno-nationalist project are framed in populist radical right media in contemporary Romania. The study examines the editorials of populist radical right party leader (Corneliu Vadim Tudor) published at election times between 2000 and 2012 in the weekly party publication. It explores the inventory of media frames, which provide the panopticon of femininity performances coming forth in Tudor’s editorials, and the disciplining endeavours these depictions enable. In the first step, the femininity performance of Romanian women seen as nationalist ideal of submission and childbearing is juxtaposed with the portrayal of women who forsake such expectations, and that of Roma women described as promiscuous and overly fertile. In the second step, the roles afforded to women in the public arena are evidenced, either as selfless heroines or their antithetic depiction, the power-hungry women.     

How states tighten control: a field theory perspective on journalism in contemporary Crimea

This article contributes to denationalizing Bourdieu’s field theory by analysing the relationship between a regional news media field, the state and transnational influences. The article seeks to answer the question of how a state can impose limits on the autonomy of the news media field during political transition. Field theory is applied to changes that have taken place in Crimean news media since Russia’s annexation of the peninsula in 2014. Drawing on narrative interviews with journalists who worked in Crimea in 2012–17, expert interviews, and secondary sources, I demonstrate how Crimea’s news media field went from being dominated by varied Ukrainian private news media owners to becoming dominated by the Russian state. I show that states can employ direct measures such as anti‐press violence and ownership appropriation of news media outlets in order to increase concentration of state media ownership. In addition, states can reallocate capital in the news media field, disenfranchising some journalists and outlets while favouring others. The adaptive strategies of individual journalists, who, upon losing capital, can sometimes relocate or leave their jobs, also changes the composition of news media fields. Departing from a common view of social spaces as bounded within nation‐states, I examine how the news media field of Crimea has been shaped by both transnational influences, and by the direct imposition of Russian state power through a reconstitution of national borders.     

The gender neglect and textual abuse of children in the print media

In recent years the relationship between the media and child abuse has been subjected to closer scrutiny. Research at Monash University into the media portrayal of child abuse has led the researchers to examine the language used by the print media to represent both children who have been abused or neglected and the offences committed against them. This paper presents two findings from this research. The analysis firstly found that a child who has been abused or neglected may be objectified in print media language even when the child’s gender is previously identified. Secondly, the analysis found that the language used to describe the sexual abuse of children may serve to reduce the seriousness of offences. These phenomena, termed ‘gender neglect’ and ‘textual abuse’, are highlighted by examples from UK and Australian print media. The authors argue that ‘critical language awareness’ is important for children, just as it has been identified in research that examines the representation of women in print media. Copyright 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Fighting Corruption on the Transdnistrian Border: Lessons from Failed and New Successful Anti-Corruption Programmes

In 2007, both Moldovan and Ukrainian authorities took firm steps to reduce corruption along the Transdnistrian border. This paper—aimed mainly at anti-corruption practitioners and scholars in public administration—discusses the background and underlying principles guiding the anti-corruption work being adopted by both governments in order to facilitate discussion about optimal anti-corruption programme design. This paper presents a set of tools used during the planning phase of the anti-corruption programme—outlining the methodology used to assess the extent of corruption on the Transdnistrian border, the problems of legislative transplants, a “contract test” for defining corruption offenses, a method of risk analysis, and a model of optimal anti-corruption programme organizational design.

Operating the production calculus: ordering a production system in the print industry

The topic of shop-floor work has been extensively examined within sociology. However, the organizational structures within which this work takes place have, in the most part, been taken as unexamined givens. Yet, their operation is also the shop-floor work of some people. This paper examines the way in which the stable organizational structures within which shop-floor work takes place are achieved. It is based upon a fieldwork investigation of a large commercial printer and focuses upon the collaborative work of those who are involved in scheduling the production of a job and their use of 'the production calculus' in planning the work of the site. The print industry is undergoing considerable technological change and scheduling technologies have been developed to automate this work. However, there has been little take up of these technologies and the paper also considers how the characteristics of operating the production calculus in practice may account for this.     

Quaker mission in the Nigerian civil war and Ephraim Isaac’s mediation in the Ethiopian civil war: lessons in religious peacebuilding

ABSTRACT

Traditional peacekeeping discourse has ignored the role of religious bodies (or individuals) in conflict resolution, preferring to focus on the activities of skilled diplomats and negotiators. History suggests, however, that not only have religious bodies been engaged in peacebuilding efforts, they have produced some of the most rewarding successes. It is in this connection that the paper examines two notable case studies: the Quaker Mission during the Nigerian Civil War and Ephraim Isaac’s mediation effort during the Eritrea/Ethiopia conflict. Using both primary and secondary sources, a historical and comparative methodology is adopted. It argues that while the case studies differ in many respects, there is a convergence in methods which yielded positive results. The essay concludes that whether acting as a foreign mediator (as in the case of the Nigerian Civil War) or an indigenous one (as in the case of Ethiopia), the religious “tag” they carry gave them an added advantage in the mediatory role they performed. This is more so the case since these bodies demonstrated the spirit of nonpartisanship, empathy, integrity and credibility; all of which are necessities for achieving success in religious peacebuilding.     

News media use,credibility, and efficacy: an analysis of media participation intention in China

This study1 ^1. Data for this research were made available by a grant from the Media Literacy Theory and Practice Project (code 04JDZ00038) at Fudan University, Shanghai, China. investigates the relationship between news media use and media participation intention in China by adopting an audience-oriented perspective in light of the changing patterns of media content concomitant with widespread commercialization in reformed China. Data from a total of 2,409 valid face-to-face interviews were collected in four cities during November 2006 and May 2007. Our results suggest that television news had a positive association with media participation intention, whereas newspaper and Internet news use produced mixed results. In addition, significant regional differences regarding media influences were identified.     

Gender,visuality and violence: visual securitization and the 2001 war in Afghanistan

Visual securitization (the discursive processes by which images are assigned security implications) is integral to understanding how war and political violence is made possible. However, its insights have yet to be coupled with feminist international relations (IR) scholarship, which is alert to the connections between gender and (in)security. This article synthesizes these two research areas through Lene Hansen’s (2011) framework of visual securitization to investigate the gendered logics that underpinned the 2001 war in Afghanistan. By analyzing 123 photojournalistic images alongside American media texts and foreign policy discourse, I argue western images of Afghan women enacted a specific visuality through which they became constructed as a legitimate matter of security. The article makes two important contributions through this analysis. Firstly, it extends feminist understanding of the war in Afghanistan by demonstrating how the interplay between the visual and textual, and the gendered and racial logics operating within such interplay, visually produced Afghan women as a referent object of security. Secondly, this argument illustrates how gender can be critical in enabling the acceptance of visual securitizations, and how such securitizations can be enacted through gendered representations of insecurity and threat.     

Scotland at the Russian Front in the First World War: Robert Scotland Liddell,War Correspondent and Photographer,Red Cross Worker and Russian Officer

ABSTRACT

It is unlikely that one would encounter the name of Robert Scotland Liddell (1885–1972) in the list of eminent foreign correspondents covering the First World War in Russia for British newspapers and journals, but he deserves to be much better known both for the quality of the reports and photographs he sent from the Russian front for publication in the magazine The Sphere and for the trilogy of books that appeared in 1916–1917. Liddell began as an orderly attached to the Russian Red Cross in Poland in 1916 and after a period spent with Oliver Locker-Lampson’s British Armed Car Division on the Romanian front, he became an officer in a Russian divisional transport unit and narrowly escaped execution by mutinous troops after the October coup before escaping from Russia at the end of 1917. The article, while concentrating on Liddell’s reporting, experiences and exploits in Russia, attempts to survey his career from his early days as a Fleet Street journalist to the post-First World decades, when he wrote books of travel and novels, before sliding into obscurity.     

Making the news: environmental NGOs and their media visibility in China

This study was conducted to examine the factors that affect the media visibility of environmental non-governmental organizations (ENGO) in China. Specifically, we examine the ways in which environmental advocacy and media use behaviors are related to the level of attention an ENGO receives from news media. Using data derived from a content analysis of 2158 media reports by 171 ENGOs across China and other sources, the results showed that ENGOs that have an official website and use Weibo garner more media attention than those who do not have a website or use Weibo. Most importantly, the results indicate differences between environmental activism and environmental consumerism in facilitating the media visibility of different types of ENGOs. Compared to government-organized ENGOs, grassroots ENGOs benefit more from participating in environmental consumerist advocacy and having an official website. The findings demonstrate the importance of using various strategies to increase organizational visibility in news media and highlighting the differences between using websites, Weibo, and WeChat in facilitating the media visibility of ENGOs in China.     

Norms and Survival in the Heat of War: Normative Versus Instrumental Rationalities and Survival Tactics in the Blockade of Leningrad1

When war challenges civilian survival, what shapes the balance between normative and instrumental rationalities in survival practices? Increasing desperation and uncertainty can lead civilians to focus on their own material interests and to violate norms in the name of survival or gain—to the detriment of the war effort and of other civilians. Do norms, boundaries against transgressions, and considerations of collective interests and identities persist, and, if so, through what mechanisms? Using diaries and recollections from the 872‐day Blockade of Leningrad (1941–1944)—an extreme case of wartime desperation—this article examines how three forms of cultural embeddedness shape variation in the strength of norms against calculative, instrumental rationality. Proximity and empathy with others, the structure of norms and analogies to legitimate instrumental practices, and reflexivity vis‐à‐vis war and others’ response interact dialectically with the war context to shape variation in violating norms and rationalizing transgressions. Theft of food and cannibalism, which involve tactics of survival or gain that also risk the well‐being of victims (theft) or violation of a powerful taboo (cannibalism), demonstrate the weakness of norms on the margins but their power when core norms or other real, visible individuals are threatened.     

Coverage of Marikana: war and conflict and the case for Peace Journalism

Different narratives around the Marikana massacre of August 16, 2012 have emerged in the South African news media with regard to what actually happened, what the underlying causes of the strikes were, and who is to blame. Criticism has been levelled against the mainstream news media with regard to embedded journalism, sensationalised coverage and polarisation of views and stakeholders. For this article, an analysis of news articles on Marikana published in the mainstream South African news media has been conducted. This analysis confirms many of the findings of earlier research and I argue that the form of reporting evident in these findings conforms to what has been labelled “war journalism.” I argue that the coverage of Marikana could have been improved by adopting “Peace Journalism” as a model for reporting.     

Foundational stigma: Place-based stigma in the age before advanced marginality

This paper joins the debate on the formation of territorial stigma by uncovering the existence of a form of “foundational stigma” that preceded place-based stigma of the era of advanced marginality. I show that not only were the traces of stigma present prior to the era of advanced marginality but that these early traces facilitate later forms of stigma by providing the necessary foundations upon which adhesive and detrimental stigma was operationalized. Following a critical discourse analysis approach, this paper examines coverage in the British press of Toxteth, Liverpool between 1900 and 1981 as a paradigmatic case study to show that this primitive stigma existed in three key ways: relating to inter-community strife, to crime, and to substandard housing conditions. These traces of stigma laid the foundations for later forms of stigma based on the presence of the poor, violent, deviant other that would be operationalized by dominant voices during the era of advanced marginality.     

Relationship building and message planning: An exploration of media challenges and strategies used during school crises at the P-12 level

Schools at the P-12 level increasingly face crises related to school shootings, violence, and other tragedies. Understanding the communication challenges schools face is paramount to assisting schools with communication before, during, and after crisis events. The current study focuses on the challenges created by media interest in such crises and the strategies implemented to overcome these challenges and provide responsible information to stakeholders. Interviews conducted with 21 school crisis teams at the P-12 level revealed that sensationalism, seeking alternative routes to information, and framing were key challenges in working with the media. In light of these challenges, administrators focused on creating media plans, building relationships with the media, being accurate but guarded, and communicating reassurance and reunification. Implications are discussed for school districts nationally.     

Messages Matter: Investigating the Thematic Content of Picture Books Portraying Underrepresented Racial and Cultural Groups

Books depicting underrepresented racial or cultural groups and the messages they convey offer vehicles for change. But not all messages have the same impact, and thought should be given to which messages are used when and for what purpose. Our research contributes to the national conversation about diverse children's books by illuminating nine themes dominant in fiction and narrative nonfiction picture books (K–3) published between 2008–2015 featuring characters who are Asian/Pacific Islander, black/African/African American, Central and South American (Hispanic/Latinx), Middle Eastern/North African/Arab, First/Native Nations, and bi‐/multiracial. We also provide insight into the messages communicated by the relative prevalence of characters portrayed in each theme from each group. Inviting those who use books with children to turn their attention to overarching messages, we provide a model of how these themes can be used to interrogate a collection and its nuances of representation.     

The media and urban contention in China: a co-empowerment model

Since the 1990s, China has witnessed a rapid rise in urban contention, which has become increasingly apparent. This study proposes a co-empowerment model regarding the relationship between the Chinese media and contentious politics. It compares two recent cases of urban contention. On the one hand, protestors leverage media exposure to arouse public attention, organize action, and adjust their actions according to the information revealed by the media; on the other hand, the media are empowered to exploit the limited space in news coverage, protect their professional integrity, enhance their credibility, and develop close ties with the civil society. This mutually strengthening process is the most important feature of the co-empowerment model. The co-empowerment model influences the trajectories of contention and facilitates greater media autonomy in an authoritarian regime. This study's contribution is a thematic analysis of the co-empowering relationship between media and urban contention in illiberal states.     

Marxism and Feminism in the USSR:

This paper examines recent efforts to introduce a feminist movement in the USSR in the context of the historic interpretations of Marxist-Leninism on "the women's question." The author argues that the USSR has focused on some parts of Marxism and ignored others in defining its position on women's issues. Recent movements, both feminist and protofeminist, are described and analyzed in this study.     

When digital natives instruct digital immigrants: active guidance of parental media use by children and conflict in the family

Based on the premise that children are active agents who influence their parents’ media use, this study investigated child–parent digital media guidance. Children often introduce new media into the family and influence parents’ media adoption and use. This study also investigated whether this child–parent digital media guidance is associated with media conflicts in the family. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 187 parent–child dyads in Flanders, Belgium. Paired samples t-tests and multiple linear regression analyses were conducted. The results showed that both children and parents reported that children guide their parents how to use digital media, especially for newer media forms such as smartphones, tablets, and apps. Families where there was more child–parent digital media guidance reported more conflicts about media. These relationships were comparable in the parent and child reports.     

Antigypsyism,education and the media: ways forward

ABSTRACT

This article is a self-reflection of my work over a decade of challenging school segregation of Roma across Europe. I look at how segregation has been framed and how communication around equality in education with the public took place. The education system is an important pillar in producing and reproducing antigypsyism in society. I see school segregation as an important mechanism that perpetuates antigypsyism. I explore ways to attract support for equality measures in education. One important strategy is to engage with media in transmitting messages to an audience that was usually not the target of inclusive discourses that promote diversity and equality as societal values.