Motivation with misinformation: Conceptualizing lacuna individuals and publics as knowledge-deficient,issue-negative activists

As fake news continues to abound on the Internet, the need for theorizing on the impact of misinformation on individuals’ perceptions of various social issues is dire. Using the issue of vaccine negativity in the United States, this study proposes the idea of lacuna individuals as issue-specific active publics holding negative attitudes and having deficient issue-specific knowledge. Results reveal that knowledge-deficient, vaccine-negative individuals display higher levels of perceptions, motivations, and active communication behaviors about vaccines. Results, therefore, support the conceptualization of lacuna individuals, and publics, as knowledge-deficient activists holding high levels of negative attitudes.     

WikiLeaks: Between disclosure and whistle‐blowing in digital times

The 2010 WikiLeaks' disclosures of U.S. war logs were the first megaleaks to shake the world of international diplomacy and political elites. Since then, more leaks followed, from the Snowden to the Panama Papers. As this phenomenon continues to evolve, a significant body of scholarly work has analysed the emergence, the struggle, and the history of WikiLeaks .This article aims to provide a cross disciplinary overview of the research that has explored the rise and the legacy of the disclosure platform and whistle‐blowing website WikiLeaks. It identifies four scholarship approaches to research focusing on Julian Assange's platform in order to understand its impact on various aspects of the media and of public life. The approaches considered range from the effect WikiLeaks has had on traditional journalism to the platform's challenge to power in the realm of the balance between openness and secrecy in domestic and international politics; further scholarships use WikiLeaks as a case study to understand the relationship between media and social movements and to study the platform's ethics and the legal consequences of its operations. The impact of WikiLeaks's revelations still poses relevant questions the media, politics, and regulators must address in such a pivotal time that sees a change in news consumption and an increasingly bitter debate between online privacy and transparency. The conclusion reflects upon current development of what the author calls “new digital culture of disclosure.” Future research should explore questions about the opportunities, challenges, and obstacles for this emerging culture of disclosure. What are the socio‐political‐economic conditions that have enabled this new culture? Are these leaks becoming a renewed example of democratic accountability? Is this culture of disclosure replacing public interest journalism in times of crisis?     

Fake News Is Real: The Significance and Sources of Disbelief in Mainstream Media in Trump’s America

Are appeals to discredit mainstream media reporting of political news in the guise of “fake news” merely a diversion from more fundamental threats to democratic politics and policymaking? Or is the emerging belief in “fake news” itself a looming threat? Using data from the Voter Study Group’s panel survey, we examine the relationship between disbelief in mainstream media and a wide range of social attitudes and policy preferences. We find that in December 2016, just after Trump’s election, belief in fake news wields an outsized influence, independent of partisanship, ideology, media consumption, and other established foundations of public opinion. The effects of fake news beliefs are especially pronounced on key elements of Trump’s rhetoric as candidate and as president—hostility toward immigrants, racial and religious minorities, gender equality, perceptions of America’s “greatness,” and even support for democratic norms and institutions itself. We also find some evidence that by January 2019, the belief in fake news has become even more focally associated with Trump. These findings portend the possibility of an emerging exclusionary, populist variant of American conservatism, of which disbelief in media institutions is a key component.     

Mediated and moderated effects of political communication on civic participation

Australian scholars and politicians have long been concerned about politically uninformed and inactive young Australians. However, few efforts have been made to explain how the use of traditional and online media may affect youth’s participation in politics. Our research utilises the citizen communication mediation model and extends the expected mediation chain by an additional examination of the possible interactions between news media use and political discussions, as suggested by the differential gains model. Using representative data from Australian 10th graders, we examine whether and how news media usage (newspapers, television, radio, and the Internet) affects expected participation in a range of civic and political activities conditional of discussions about political issues (with family, friends, and online). Path models account for additional mediators (civic knowledge and civic efficacy) and control variables to explain future civic and political participation. The results suggest that news media use stimulates political discussions, although different media exert differential effects. Yet, news exposure hardly influences the second mediators (civic knowledge and civic efficacy) in a direct manner. In fact, civic knowledge and efficacy mediate the relationships between political communication and participation, both directly and sequentially. Moderation analyses clarify that despite the mediating role of political discussions, news media exposure also influences (future) civic participation contingent of students’ engagement in (primarily Internet-based) discussions about political and social issues. We emphasise the significance of these results with reference to previous research, discuss potential directions for future research, and draw conclusions for civics and citizenship education.     

NEWS ABOUT MURDER IN AN AFRICAN AMERICAN NEWSPAPER: Effects of Relative Frequency and Race and Gender Typifications

Previous scholarly research on selection bias in news about murder indicates that race and gender stereotypes and, to a much lesser extent, the relative frequency of particular murders explain why some homicides are made into news and others are not. However, previous research has directed nearly exclusive attention to white newspapers. The present research remedies this omission by directing attention to the factors that shape selection bias in news about murder in a big-city African American newspaper. The results indicate that the relative frequency dimension of newsworthiness is a weak and inconsistent explanation of selection bias in news about murder in the black newspaper examined. Race, however, has profoundly different effects in white and African American newspapers. Whereas white newspapers use long-standing race stereotypes to filter news about murder, the data from the African American newspaper signal a firm rejection of the black image in the white mind (Entman and Rojecki 2000). Newspaper images of women and men are another matter. In both black and white newspapers, gender stereotypes uniformly filter news about murder and fundamentally distort gender effects. The implications of these findings are discussed including the clear need and ample scholarly room for replicative analyses of news about murder in other African American newspapers, with a keen eye on both "raced ways of seeing" (Hunt 1999, pp. 181–215) and gendered ways of seeing.     

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.     

"MY PROBLEM AND HOW I SOLVED IT":

Social scientists have generated a vast literature on domestic violence, a small part of which has entered the popular media and the consciousness of its consumers. As yet there has been little scholarly investigation of this popular body of knowledge on domestic violence. Using a qualitative analysis of popular women's magazine articles and magazine writers' guidebooks, I investigate the content, creation, and impact of this popular discourse. In this study, I demonstrate that the majority of articles in popular women's magazines continue to portray the public issue of domestic violence as a private problem. Not only is it portrayed as a private problem but most often it is the victim's problem. The dominant individual perspective that places responsibility on the victim normalizes the idea that victims should be held responsible for solving the problem. Finally, I demonstrate how the writing and editorial practices of these popular women's magazines contribute to the dominance of assigning responsibility for domestic violence to individuals.     

Exposure to news about the South China Sea,nationalism, and government evaluation: examining the mediation roles of third-person effects and online discussion

Based on the communication mediation model, the third-person effect hypothesis was integrated to analyze the influence of the exposure to South China Sea news on its perceived effects on the self and others. In addition, the influences of such exposure on online discussions and political attitudes were examined, specifically in relation to nationalism and government evaluation. The survey (N?=?868) found that the respondents perceived a stronger media effect on others than on themselves, whereas exposure to traditional and news media exposure exhibited equivalent effects on the self and on others. Moreover, the perceived effects on oneself promoted online discussion and nationalism, whereas the perceived effects on others improved government evaluation. The findings of this study indicate that the effects of media exposure on nationalism and government evaluation are marginally mediated by perceived effects, online discussion, or both.     

Online crisis communication in a post-truth Chinese society: Evidence from interdisciplinary literature

Through a thematic content analysis of 118 journal articles from interdisciplinary fields, this study reviews the research trends of online crisis communication literature in a Chinese post-truth society, where objective facts play a diminishing role, and Chinese people are losing their trust, despite the best efforts of organizations to deal with fake news in crises. Results of this study disclose some unique crisis communication strategies (e.g., strategic distraction, rumor-rebuttal, fabrication, acting cute, and content censorship) in crises of China. Influential contextual factors such as the political system, cultural values, and media features are identified as well. Theoretical and practical implications of this study are discussed, and a greater picture of online crisis communication in contexts is posited for future research.     

The engineering of consent: A state-of-the-art review

This study systematically analyzes Engineering of Consent (EOC)-focused scholarly papers published between 1947 and 2018 using content analysis and text mining. It aims to shed light on the progress of EOC research and related disciplines as well as the methodologies, data collection methods, major perspectives, and most frequent words used within these writings. Additionally, this study considers publications by region and the affiliations of first authors. The results show that only a small number of EOC-focused papers have been published since 1947; this area of public relations research has suffered from a lack of scholarly attention despite its relevance to various disciplines, and this is a situation that we hope improves. Recent trends have shown some reasons for optimism. We found that at least one EOC-focused paper has been published annually in most years since 2000 (the exceptions are 2001, 2006, 2010, 2011, and 2015). Our research shows that scholars in the fields of public relations, media studies, and political science published more papers on EOC than scholars in other fields. Research articles usually utilize qualitative research methodologies. Interviews stand out as the most widely used data collection method. Our analysis of publications by region and first-author affiliation shows that the majority of EOC papers were written by faculty and students working or studying in the United States. Seven perspectives frequently discussed by scholars and the most frequently used words within EOC papers are highlighted in a follow-up qualitative review.     

Normative Bridges and Barriers in the Framing of Emerging Sports Movements

Abstract

Why have some small, emerging sports communities grown faster than others? To begin answering this question, the analysis presented here considers the case of disc golf, a flying disc sport that has grown rapidly since the early twenty-first century. This research conceptualizes the disc golf community as a new social movement and examines how the news media has influenced its development. Drawing on a large, diverse sample of local and national news materials, this study finds that the volume of disc golf news coverage is correlated with reliable measures of the sport’s growth. In addition, a content analysis of 2920 newspaper articles is used to identify the news frames that may promote, or attenuate disc golf’s “grow the sport movement.” The theoretical and methodological contributions of this study shed further light on the complex relationship between the news media and the evolution of small, non-normative sports movements.     

网游青少年:网络负面形象的建构与实证

网络游戏已经成为青少年的一种普遍娱乐方式,而网络新闻在公众对网游青少年玩家的认识过程中起着重要作用,它们经常从不同角度来报道并放大具有典型意义的网游青少年玩家个案,以此建构网游青少年玩家的形象并引导人们对该群体的印象存储。通过对11年来人民网与新浪网中相关报道的内容分析,发现网络新闻对网游青少年玩家媒介形象构建时出现偏差,形成对网游青少年玩家污名化形象建构的影响。     

The missing link: Social network analysis in migration and transnationalism

The focus on social networks in migration studies marked a significant departure of understanding. Social networks are not only a mechanism through which the migration process is patterned, but they also have broader implications for migrants and non-migrants alike. Despite the fact that the network character of migration processes has long been recognized in migration studies, for a long time, Social Network Analysis has not been applied. Taking this scholarly omission as a starting point, we seek in this special issue to discuss recent research into social networks and migration that use SNA approaches.     

Power struggles: A sociological approach to activist communication

This paper proposes an alternative approach to the scholarship of activist public relations, based on the ideas of the sociologist Pierre Bourdieu; notably his understanding of activism in society. Although Bourdieu is one of the most quoted sociologists in the world (Santoro, 2011; Truong & Weill, 2012), his work has only received limited attention in public relations, and has been entirely ignored within the context of activist communication. This is despite his focus on power, relationships and the role of activists in modern democracies, all of which are central themes in public relations practice and research. Based on Bourdieu’s theory of practice, the discipline’s prevailing, dominant, industry serving, functionalist paradigm positions public relations’ role in society as to perpetuate social inequalities. However, drawing on his ideas leads us to question if public relations skills could be equally utilized to challenge existing power imbalances in society, either in support or on behalf of those groups and individuals whose voices have been drowned out by traditional public relations efforts. The author argues that Bourdieu was not only an accomplished scholar, but also an activist in his own right. It is this combination of personal experience with academic ideas that lends weight to his scholarly work through which he urged the scholarly community to utilize their skills, knowledge and research to challenge (perceived) inequalities in society. The emergence of this type of activist academic, committed to giving voice to multiple coexisting, sometimes directly competing points of views, would arguably further justify and strengthen the existence of public relations as a scholarly discipline in its own right.     

Online news media in the Web 2.0 era: from boundary dissolution to journalistic transformation

This paper examines how online news media have changed as the Internet has moved from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0. Based on medium theory and boundary theory, online news media are conceptualized as being regulated by the “participatory open media code”. The code analysis attempts to examine the newly emerged form and structure of online news. In the new interactive media environment, it is found that online news media have changed significantly in the following areas: (1) the inclusion of user-generated content; (2) user participatory interactivity; (3)YouTubization; (4) instant reporting; (5) sharing and community networking; and (6) customization through new communication technologies. The trend of growing reader participation in social dialogue is apparent around the globe. The transformed online media have provided good platforms for citizen participation in news. Yet, there are still constraints against quality participation.     

Friend or foe? Examining the relationship between news portals and newspaper sites in Taiwan

Newspapers worldwide often serve as content providers for news portals, but portals outperform most newspaper sites in audience share. Whether this is a zero-sum game or a win-win scenario deserves scholarly attention, because the phenomenon constitutes a unique case of intra-media competition. Based on empirical data collected through a large-scale survey, this study systematically examines the delicate relationship among and between news portals and newspaper sites in Taiwan. The results document non-competitive relationships among most news sites, with the exception of Yahoo! News. Such counter-intuitive findings carry theoretical and strategic implications for the study and practice of online journalism.     

Disability at work: Understanding the impact of the ADA on the workplace

It has been more than 25 years since the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed by Congress. Many supporters of the law hoped that it would improve the employment outcomes for people with a disability, yet many scholars argue that it has fallen short in achieving this goal. Such judgments of success or failure are typically offered with little regard for the complex relationship between law and social change. In this paper, I apply a socio‐legal perspective to scholarly research regarding the impact of the ADA on employment. Socio‐legal studies offer a variety of concepts and perspectives, which better capture the complexity of law's impact on social life, and the various paths through which it might have an impact on social change. From this perspective, studies tend to assume that ADA law will either impact social change directly or indirectly. I discuss the findings of both of these approaches and conclude with some directions for future research.     

Viewer Characteristics and Agenda Setting by Television News

Most previous studies of agenda setting by television news havefailed to consider factors that might strengthen or weaken agenda-settingeffects. Drawing on the findings of news recall and comprehensionresearch, this investigation of survey data gathered from 1204national news viewers identifies several characteristics ofviewers and viewing traits that increase the agenda-settinginfluence of news programs. The analysis suggests that effectsare greater when viewers have prior awareness of news topicsthrough print media exposure or have some college education.Watching news programs in color and attentively also contributesto increases in agenda setting.     

The Passagenwerk and the place of Walter Benjamin in cultural studies: Benjamin,cultural studies,Marxist theories of art

This essay is a reflection on the circumstances that led me to a particular research project, on Cajun dance and music spaces, and also on the project's mutations through subsequent phases of development. Above all, this essay attempts to take stock of the difficulties – personal, scholarly, and theoretical – as well as the personal choices that have gone into developing an ongoing scholarly project. While I indicate the importance of the experiences of personal pleasure that originally inspired my research, I also show how the personal and the pleasurable often necessarily encounter tensions and even certain kinds of conflict when linked to a ‘disciplinary’ domain. This essay therefore traces a particular example of how ‘cultural studies travels’ both geographically within a life and disciplinarily within something that has come to be known as‘French cultural studies’.