Tick-Tock,Tick-Tock,Tick...: The Fizzles,Misfires, and Timed Delays of Manhattan Project Novels

Novelizations of the story of the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos have been in publication almost from the moment when news of the Project first broke. In this article I survey these productions, from their earliest beginnings in the writings of Upton Sinclair to their latest manifestation in Nora Gallagher’s novel Changing Light (2007). The best way in which to read these works is to locate them within a larger cultural trend, prevalent in the US, which takes stories of scientific achievement as a means to deflect attention from the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. However, one might also see these narratives as inadvertently revealing a gulf in the writer’s capacity to represent nuclear apocalypse within the genre of the historical novel.     

News and corporate reputation: Empirical findings from the Netherlands

This article examines the influence of business news on corporate reputation. A panel survey was used to measure the reputations of six companies and two professional sectors. Media coverage was analyzed by focusing on the tone of two different types of news. News about the successes of the companies – such as higher profits – improved their reputations. In addition, some companies’ reputation improved the more they were criticized by their competitors in the news. It is argued on basis of these empirical findings that the reputation of the party attacking a company in the news is crucial in determining its influence on the reputation of the besieged company.     

CONSUMPTION,SENTIMENT, AND ECONOMIC NEWS

This paper investigates the influence of economic news on consumer sentiment, and examines whether “news shocks”—changes in coverage that would not be expected from incoming data on economic fundamentals—have aggregate effects. Using monthly U.S. data and a structural vector autoregression, I find that (1) sentiment is affected by news shocks; (2) after filtering out effects of news shocks, shocks to sentiment still have positive effects on consumer spending; and (3) news shocks influence both spending and unemployment in significant, though transitory ways. These results are consistent with other evidence of a role of nonfundamental factors in aggregate fluctuations. (JEL E21, E32, D12)     

Anti‐globalization movements and the European agenda

This article examines the relationship between the Europeanization process and the anti‐globalization agenda in Europe. Relying on the results of fieldwork research conducted since 2001 on the anti‐globalization demonstrations surrounding the European summits, it argues that these transnational protest movements are of a dual and, in part, contradictory nature. On the one hand, they have an agenda‐setting character, contributing to the formation of European public opinion. On the other hand, their influence in terms of agenda setting of European policy is constrained by their discourse style which bypasses or circumvents official discourse about European integration.     

Processing Culture: Cognition,Ontology, and the News Media1

This article discusses how people cognitively engage with the contemporary, mainstream, U.S. news in ways that yield ontological services. It treats the news as both a system of signs and a cultural object, and assesses how people mentally intercept, negotiate, and use the news in ways that foster a sense of control and order over an unstable and unpredictable social world (i.e., “ontological security”) ( Giddens, 1991 ). Based on interview data, it argues that through criticisms, consumption orientations, lay theorizing, and “ignorant othering,” all orbiting and drawing from the contemporary, mainstream, U.S. news, people cognitively sift through and simplify a broader frenzied social environment. In so doing, they are able to mentally establish at minimum a sense of rudimentary understanding and at most a sense of trusted certainty of what is real and true of the world outside their immediate social circles.     

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.     

The facts of fake news: A research review

This article offers a review of scholarly research on the phenomenon of fake news. Most studies have so far focused on three main themes: the definition and the scope of the problem; the potential causes; and the impact of proposed solutions. First, scholarly research has defined fake news as a form of falsehood intended to primarily deceive people by mimicking the look and feel of real news. While initial research has shown that only a small fraction of the online audience is exposed to fake news, for this small group of individuals, the impact of fake news can be quite substantial. Second, studies have identified cognitive processes that make individuals more prone to the influence of fake news, such as confirmation bias, selective exposure, and lack of analytical thinking. Fake news also derives its power from its appeal to partisanship, perceived novelty, and repeated exposure facilitated by both bots and human users that share them in the online sphere. Finally, while fact checking has also risen in response to fake news, studies have found that corrections to wrong information only work on some individuals.     

Framing inter-religious dispute: a comparative analysis of Chinese-, English-, and Malay-language newspapers in Peninsular Malaysia

Religious and ethnicity issues in multicultural societies have always been difficult to report. This study aims to conduct a framing analysis of the coverage of the biggest inter-religious dispute in Malaysia to date – the “Allah” dispute. Specifically, the study compares the coverage of Chinese-, English-, and Malay-language newspapers and assesses the factors that lead to differences in frame building. The findings showed that these newspapers reported the dispute with different degrees of intensity and prominence, and they employed different news sources. Although conflict appeared to be the salient frame used by the dailies, the aspects highlighted by them varied. Sin Chew (Chinese-language daily) was the most vocal in its coverage, which reflected a counter-hegemonic discourse. The Star (English-language daily) used a moderate approach, while Utusan (Malay-language daily) strongly supported the status quo. The frames built by The Star and Utusan could be attributed to the fact that these two newspapers were inclined to serve the politically vested interests of their owners.     

Fat in the Fire? Science,the News Media,and the “Obesity Epidemic”2

In recent years, the “obesity epidemic” has emerged as a putative public health crisis. This article examines the interconnected role of medical science and news reporting in shaping the way obesity is framed as a social problem. Drawing on a sample of scientific publications on weight and health, and press releases and news reporting on these publications, we compare and contrast social problem frames in medical science and news reporting. We find substantial overlap in science and news reporting, but the news media do dramatize more than the studies on which they are reporting and are more likely than the original science to highlight individual blame for weight. This is partly due to the news media’s tendency to report more heavily on the most alarmist and individual‐blaming scientific studies. We find some evidence that press releases also shape which articles receive media coverage and how they are framed.     

Beyond policy agenda-setting: political actors’ and journalists’ perceptions of news media influence across all stages of the political process

Although the relationship between politics and the media is a key topic in political communication research, the media’s role during times of routine policy-making has rarely been addressed. Furthermore, studies of routine policy-making have generally focused on one policy stage, usually agenda-setting, whereas few have analysed the media’s impact on the whole policy process. Still, the general view is that the news media matter in the early stages of the policy cycle but are non-influential during the formulation, implementation, and evaluation stages. This study queries these assumptions by taking a closer look at the news media’s influence on all stages of the political process at both the theoretical and the empirical level. A quantitative survey explored how members of the German Bundestag, administration officers, associations and NGOs, researchers, PR staff, and journalists involved with energy policy (N?=?338) perceive the media’s influence across all policy stages. The results confirm that media coverage does indeed strongly influence the political agenda. However, the subsequent formulation, evaluation, and termination of policy stages are also affected, with only the implementation stage being less susceptible to media influence. The different groups of political actors and journalists surveyed mainly agreed upon the estimations of the strength of the media effects.     

Personalization and the Determination of News

This article addresses the relationship between the construction of news and personal experiences. Ethnography and narrative approaches are used to study a metropolitan newspaper where it is discovered that personalization contributes in large part to the decisions made by editors regarding whether or not an event is considered newsworthy. This discovery adds another dimension to the perspective that news is a social construction because it presents news as a decision-making process and highlights the human elements which contribute to the determination of news.     

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.     

It's more than just news: Print media,the Tuskegee Syphilis Study and Collective Memory among African Americans

This study examines how media can influence and shape collective memory through cultural objects such as magazines. Examination of Jet and Ebony magazines' coverage of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, as well as, changes in the narrative over time, reveal potential mechanisms that might have influenced African Americas' collective memory surrounding this event. Data for this study come from news articles about The Tuskegee Syphilis Study in Jet and Ebony magazines from 1972–2016 (N = 49). Content analysis was used to analyze and discover themes in each of the 49 news stories. Findings show that the journalistic coverage of The Tuskegee Syphilis study by these magazines centered around themes of exploitation of uneducated victims, racism and blame, genocide, medical mistrust and deliberate injection with syphilis, reflecting past and current beliefs of African Americans' remembrance of the study.     

Revisiting Impartiality: Social Media and Journalism at The BBC

This article contributes to the literature of news production studies by providing a powerful example of how processes of deliberation bring change to journalism. It explores the reconstruction of impartiality using the single case‐study of social media in the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) international journalism. In this case‐study, symbolic interactionism and mesostructure analysis enable us to explore social organizations and social processes, placing them in larger embedded contexts (structural, historical, and mode of action) and extended temporality. Following D. L. Altheide's (1996) ecology of communication framework, this study on BBC impartiality demonstrates that in the newsroom, techies have responded strategically to the logic of their environment. Techies have joined in the process of the new symbolic architecture of impartiality, which has transformed news agenda‐setting. This new logic, ushered in by techies, has shaped editorial decisions at the public broadcaster. This article discusses how social media have contributed to the nature, organization, and consequences of communication activities of the BBC.     

Stolen looks,people unbound: picturing contraband people during the civil war

This article evaluates the images of contraband slaves published in Harper’s Weekly and Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper during the Civil War. As these publications competed for business, they established and reiterated numerous claims regarding the authenticity of their images and news reports. Illustrators initially depicted African Americans using repurposed racial stereotypes that had existed for generations. Blackface minstrelsy, scientific racism, and racialized printed materials depicting African Americans are used as context to understand the images in the two illustrated newspapers. The visual representation of African Americans dramatically changed as emancipation unfolded and black Union military service expanded.     

Values and rights: Content and form in social work education and practice

Social Work values have been the subject of extensive discussion relating to interpretation and their application in practice. A new discourse of rights now demands attention. It is argued that social work educators have not caught up with the central importance of rights. They have, as a consequence, failed to examine the difference between values and rights, and the importance of maintaining a balance between beliefs and compliance. This article argues that an analysis of the relationship between values and rights, and an awareness of the ways in which they crucially influence practice are vital to shaping the activity of social work in a world where, some have suggested, social work has become post-modern.     

Who Do You Say That I Am? A History of How Religion Communicators Have Often Avoided “Public Relations”

ABSTRACT

This article argues that Religion Communicators Council members have historically avoided identification with public relations—especially practices associated with Edward Bernays. Council members appear to consider Bernays’ research-based approach evil and manipulative. Instead, religion communicators follow in Ivy Lee's footsteps. The one-time journalist promised to provide honest, accurate news about his clients, not advertising. Comments in council documents have shown that since 1929 members describe themselves more as technicians and in-house journalists who provide news about their organizations than as management-level public relations counsels. These comments reflect Lee's 1905 Declaration of Principles and a public-information approach to public relations.     

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.     

Conference report: Sixth annual meeting of the international visual sociology association visual studies workshop,July 15, 16, 17, 1988

How does the visual construction process of news influence the resulting cultural images? In this study of Time magazine's creation of a 1990 documentary, “The Palestinians, A Long, Bloody Road to Nationhood,” I first look at possible meanings in the printed photographs, and then explore how Time's institutional processes of story conceptualization, photo assignment, editing, and layout each create parameters for meaning. The discussion shows how Time editors ultimately construct their product using visual affect as an assumed first level of meaning.     

INVESTMENT SHOCKS,CONSUMPTION PUZZLE,AND BUSINESS CYCLES

A mass of recent research shows that investment shocks are primary driving forces of business cycles. A thorny issue, however, arises due to countercyclical consumption behavior following the investment shocks. This article contributes to the literature by resolving this anomalous issue in a model that features time inconsistency, modeled as naïve hyperbolic discounting. The proposed model delivers positive responses of consumption to an investment shock and thus produces comovement of key macroaggregates, which is in line with the observed U.S. business cycles. Furthermore, this article also substantiates the validity of the proposed model by producing comovement following an investment news (or anticipated investment) shock. Additional analyses on changes in model structure and parameter value do not reverse the main finding. (JEL E3, E7)