Search results for: bad news hoarding
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 419

Search results for: bad news hoarding

269 Networked Media, Citizen Journalism and Political Participation in Post-Revolutionary Tunisia: Insight from a European Research Project

Authors: Andrea Miconi

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The research will focus on the results of the Tempus European Project eMEDia dedicated to Cross-Media Journalism. The project is founded by the European Commission as it involves four European partners - IULM University, Tampere University, University of Barcelona, and the Mediterranean network Unimed - and three Tunisian Universities – IPSI La Manouba, Sfax and Sousse – along with the Tunisian Ministry for Higher Education and the National Syndicate of Journalists. The focus on Tunisian condition is basically due to the role played by digital activists in its recent history. The research is dedicated to the relationship between political participation, news-making practices and the spread of social media, as it is affecting Tunisian society. As we know, Tunisia during the Arab Spring had been widely considered as a laboratory for the analysis the use of new technologies for political participation. Nonetheless, the literature about the Arab Spring actually fell short in explaining the genesis of the phenomenon, on the one hand by isolating technologies as a casual factor in the spread of demonstrations, and on the other by analyzing North-African condition through a biased perspective. Nowadays, it is interesting to focus on the consolidation of the information environment three years after the uprisings. And what is relevant, only a close, in-depth analysis of Tunisian society is able to provide an explanation of its history, and namely of the part of digital media in the overall evolution of political system. That is why the research is based on different methodologies: desk stage, interviews, and in-depth analysis of communication practices. Networked journalism is the condition determined by the technological innovation on news-making activities: a condition upon which professional journalist can no longer be considered the only player in the information arena, and a new skill must be developed. Along with democratization, nonetheless, the so-called citizen journalism is also likely to produce some ambiguous effects, such as the lack of professional standards and the spread of information cascades, which may prove to be particularly dangerous in an evolving media market as the Tunisian one. This is why, according to the project, a new profile must be defined, which is able to manage this new condition, and which can be hardly reduced to the parameters of traditional journalistic work. Rather than simply using new devices for news visualization, communication professionals must also be able to dialogue with all new players and to accept the decentralized nature of digital environments. This networked nature of news-making seemed to emerge during the Tunisian revolution, when bloggers, journalists, and activists used to retweet each other. Nonetheless, this intensification of communication exchange was inspired by the political climax of the uprising, while all media, by definition, are also supposed to bring some effects on people’s state of mind, culture and daily life routines. That is why it is worth analyzing the consolidation of these practices in a normal, post-revolutionary situation.

Keywords: cross-media, education, Mediterranean, networked journalism, social media, Tunisia

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268 Comparing Media-Based Strategies of Identity Formation in Chicanos and Cuban-Americans

Authors: Kwang Yeon Kim

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This paper will explore the directly proportional relationship between the influence of Hispanophone media in U.S. markets and Hispanic population growth. Though this growth has origins across south and central America, in U.S. media markets Mexican and Cuban immigrants, have traditionally been considered the most influential. Having endured significant historical discrimination, disparagement, and ethnic framing from conventional Anglophone media, such groups have sought to form their own identities as media consuming and producing Americans of Latin American origin. Although immigrants to the U.S. have traditionally faced obstacles in access to education, children of Mexican-Americans (Chicanos) and Cuban-Americans have made significant progress in overcoming these obstacles, partly explaining their media dominance. This is particularly true in the case of Cuban-Americans, for whom such media presence is not predicted by share of population. By conducting comparative studies of Chicano media and Cuban-Americans media, common ground was found in strategies of reliance on media-driven identity formation. In contrast to the mainstream media portrayal of Latino/as with limiting, negative stereotypes, Spanish-language media’s goal is to form the identity of being Latino for those living in the United States. Providing both news from countries of origin and local news within the United States, Chicano and Cuban-American media performs rituals of recollection while rooting such populations in more proximate media paradigms.

Keywords: Chicano identity, Cuban-Americans, Hispanophone media, Latino/a community

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267 Role of Collaborative Cultural Model to Step on Cleaner Energy: A Case of Kathmandu City Core

Authors: Bindu Shrestha, Sudarshan R. Tiwari, Sushil B. Bajracharya

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Urban household cooking fuel choice is highly influenced by human behavior and energy culture parameters such as cognitive norms, material culture and practices. Although these parameters have a leading role in Kathmandu for cleaner households, they are not incorporated in the city’s energy policy. This paper aims to identify trade-offs to transform resident behavior in cooking pattern towards cleaner technology from the questionnaire survey, observation, mapping, interview, and quantitative analysis. The analysis recommends implementing a Collaborative Cultural Model (CCM) for changing impact on the neighborhood from the policy level. The results showed that each household produces 439.56 kg of carbon emission each year and 20 percent used unclean technology due to low-income level. Residents who used liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) as their cooking fuel suffered from an energy crisis every year that has created fuel hoarding, which ultimately creates more energy demand and carbon exposure. In conclusion, the carbon emission can be reduced by improving the residents’ energy consumption culture. It recommended the city to use holistic action of changing habits as soft power of collaboration in two-way participation approach within residents, private sectors, and government to change their energy culture and behavior in policy level.

Keywords: energy consumption pattern, collaborative cultural model, energy culture, fuel stacking

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266 Window Seat: Examining Public Space, Politics, and Social Identity through Urban Public Transportation

Authors: Sabrina Howard

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'Window Seat' uses public transportation as an entry point for understanding the relationship between public space, politics, and social identity construction. This project argues that by bringing people of different races, classes, and genders in 'contact' with one another, public transit operates as a site of exposure, as people consciously and unconsciously perform social identity within these spaces. These performances offer a form of freedom that we associate with being in urban spaces while simultaneously rendering certain racialized, gendered, and classed bodies vulnerable to violence. Furthermore, due to its exposing function, public transit operates as a site through which we, as urbanites and scholars, can read social injustice and reflect on the work that is necessary to become a truly democratic society. The major questions guiding this research are: How does using public transit as the entry point provide unique insights into the relationship between social identity, politics, and public space? What ideas do Americans hold about public space and how might these ideas reflect a liberal yearning for a more democratic society? To address these research questions, 'Window Seat' critically examines ethnographic data collected on public buses and trains in Los Angeles, California, and online news media. It analyzes these sources through literature in socio-cultural psychology, sociology, and political science. It investigates the 'everyday urban hero' narrative or popular news stories that feature an individual or group of people acting against discriminatory or 'Anti-American' behavior on public buses and trains. 'Window Seat' studies these narratives to assert that by circulating stories of civility in news media, United Statsians construct and maintain ideas of the 'liberal city,' which is characterized by ideals of freedom and democracy. Furthermore, for those involved, these moments create an opportunity to perform the role of the Good Samaritan, an identity that is wrapped up in liberal beliefs in diversity and inclusion. This research expands conversations in urban studies by making a case for the political significance of urban public space. It demonstrates how these sites serve as spaces through which liberal beliefs are circulated and upheld through identity performance.

Keywords: social identity, public space, public transportation, liberalism

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265 Print Media Framing of National Disasters: A Content Analysis of the Daily Graphic and Daily Guide

Authors: Abena Abokoma Asemanyi

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The study examined how the National Disasters are framed in the print media: a study of Daily Graphic newspaper in Ghana. The communication theories employed to conduct this study was Agenda Setting Theory by McCombs and Shaw and the Framing theory by Goffman and Entman. The media’s coverage of National Disasters are of much concern to the general public. This research seeks to know how the Daily Graphic framed National Disasters that occurred in January 2015 and June 2015 respectively. The January 2015 National Disasters was termed as Fire Outbreaks while the June 2015 National Disasters was Twin Disasters. A total of 43 disaster news stories were analysed for this study. Out of the total number, 9 headline stories were analysed in the month of January 2015 and 34 headline stories were looked at in the month of June 2015. The study came up with five (5) themes. Through Content Analysis, the study also revealed that the theme of Action featured more than the other themes which are Fear, Violence, Sympathy and Confusion. Finally, the study showed the number of days disaster news headlines lasted in the Daily Graphic during the period stated above. It was revealed that the Fire Outbreaks in January 2015 appeared in the Daily Graphic for 8 days while the Twin Disasters appeared in 16 days in June 2015.

Keywords: national disaster framing, ghana, daily graphic, daily guide

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264 China’s Grand Strategy and Greece

Authors: Alexandra Doga, Andreas Lioumpas, Sotiris Petropoulos

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This paper assesses China-Greece relations since 2006, examining them as part of China’s Grand Strategy and Greece’s perception of them. Τhe first aim of the paper is to provide an overview of China-Greece relations in connection with its long- and short-term goals. In essence, it focuses on understanding whether a Chinese grand strategy towards Greece exists. Secondly, it aims to examine the perception of Greeks over China’s foreign policy towards Greece. The intended contribution of the paper is to illustrate the response of national discourses over China’s increased presence in both the global sphere and specific countries in particular. This paper is based on qualitative analysis of secondary data as well as a thorough primary research scheme based on semi-structured interviews. The study made use of official Chinese government documents as well as academic journal articles and books. Local news outlets like newspapers provide data, and news surrounding Greece’s perception of China-Greece relations were also included. Moreover, a number of interviews of Greek officials, academics, journalists, and businessmen were conducted. This paper concluded that the period that began with the 2006 Joint Communiqué between China and Greece on the Establishment of Comprehensive Strategic Partnership has been one of the rapid strengthening of bilateral economic and political relations and frequent high-level visits. There are diverging/opposing views on whether China’s strategic choices towards Greece form part of a broader strategic approach and on whether this strategy is closely connected to the BRI initiative and its priorities.

Keywords: China, Greece, Grand Strategy, BRI, COSCO, Piraeus Port, Mediterranean

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263 Textual Analysis of Media Coverage on Women’s Employment during Covid-19 Recovery: Personal Choice versus Systemic Insufficiencies

Authors: Rania Al Namara

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During the Covid-19 pandemic, women disproportionately left the workforce compared to men, and many remained outside of the labor market during the Covid-19 recovery period—a phenomenon referred to as the “she-recession” or “shecession.” While the number of women returning to work has increased, long-standing systemic inequalities interfere with women's equal participation in the workforce. Previous research on media framing has explored the importance of news coverage of women’s issues in print and magazines to shaping the public’s views on an issue and the national response. This study adopts textual analysis to examine how 50 news stories published on CNN and CBS in March 2023 frame women’s employment challenges as a matter of choice or as a matter of insufficient systems and analyzes the narratives portrayed to understand how this discourse affects national policies regarding women’s equality in the workforce. Findings suggest that media coverage centers on four themes: unequal wages at work, work-life integration, experiences of minority women, and the struggle to acquire leadership positions. Media coverage gives space to women to tell personal stories about facing these four societal challenges. However, little coverage is devoted to the political figures and institutions that either reinforce gender inequalities or advance women’s rights in these areas. These findings highlight the need for media stories that discuss policies and reforms that broaden the choices available to women in the first place.

Keywords: Covid-19 recovery, media coverage, shecession, women’s employment

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262 Emotional Impact and Moral Panic in Swedish Social Media during the COVID-19 Crisis

Authors: Sophia Yakhlef

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In spring 2020, the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) reached the epidemiological criteria to be declared a global pandemic. Global action was taken in order to stop the spread of the virus, such as, for example, restrictions regarding spending time outside of your home and, in several countries, periods of mandatory quarantine. Sweden's method of handling the pandemic has stood out among other European nations, and the tactic of relying on citizens' sense of civic solidarity, rather than enforcing legal restrictions preventing people from spending time outside, has been highly criticised in international news media. This situation has entailed a moral dilemma concerning the proper conduct of behaviour in everyday situations in Sweden, which is also reflected in public news media and social media. This media study focuses on Swedish social media debates and attitudes concerning moral dilemmas of handling this sense of civic solidarity. Comments on social media forums expressing outrage and anger regarding, amongst others, the actions of public media figures (such as celebrities, journalists, and bloggers) are analyzed. Drawing on a social psychological perspective on emotions, the study identifies ambiguities of moral disagreements and moral panics as ways of expressing that a moral norm has been violated. The findings suggest that social media is used in order to handle such ambiguities and make sense of the loosely defined norms of civic solidarity.

Keywords: COVID-19 crisis, moral disagreements, moral panic, social media, social norms, social psychology, Sweden

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261 Gaybe-Boom TV: Reading Homonormative Fatherhood on Israeli Television

Authors: Itay Harlap

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Over the past decade, LGBT figures have become increasingly visible on Israeli television in its various channels and genres. In recent years, however, the representation of gays on Israeli television has undergone an interesting shift, whereby many television texts feature gay people as fathers. These texts, mostly news items and documentaries, usually present gay parenthood as a positive phenomenon. The question in paper is whether LGBT parenting (in reality and as representation) fated to be part of the homonormativity that characterizes the LGBT community in Israel, or can it be an alternative to the hegemonic discourse? This paper embraces a dialectical position and explores the tension between mainstream and radical, or homonormativity and queer politics in the specific Israeli Jewish context through a textual and discursive reading of a selection of television programs that revolve principally around gay parenting in Israel. The first part of this lecture addresses the cultural and social context that generated these representations, dealing with three key Israeli areas: The fertility cult, the evolution of the LGBT community, and the evolution of local television. The second part offers a queer reading of these ‘positive’ representations (mainly in special reports on the news and programs labeled as ‘documentaries’ by broadcasters) and highlight the possible price of the ‘bear hug’ given by Israeli media to gay parents. The last part focuses on a single case study, the TV serial drama Ima Veabaz, and suggests that this drama exposes the performative aspect of parenting and the connection between ethnicity and fertility, and offers an alternative to normative displays of gay parenting.

Keywords: fatherhood, heteronormativity, Israel, queer theory, television

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260 A Critical Discourse Analysis of Jamaican and Trinidadian News Articles about D/Deafness

Authors: Melissa Angus Baboun

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Utilizing a Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) methodology and a theoretical framework based on disability studies, how Jamaican and Trinidadian newspapers discussed issues relating to the Deaf community were examined. The term deaf was inputted into the search engine tool of the online website for the Jamaica Observer and the Trinidad & Tobago Guardian. All 27 articles that contained the term deaf in its content and were written between August 1, 2017 and November 15, 2017 were chosen for the study. The data analysis was divided into three steps: (1) listing and analysis instances of metaphorical deafness (e.g. fall on deaf ears), (2) categorization of the content of the articles into the models of disability discourse (the medical, socio-cultural, and superscrip models of disability narratives), and (3) the analysis of any additional data found. A total of 42% of the articles pulled for this study did not deal with the Deaf community in any capacity, but rather instances of the use of idiomatic expressions that use deafness as a metaphor for a non-physical, undesirable trait. The most common idiomatic expression found was fall on deaf ears. Regarding the models of disability discourse, eight articles were found to follow the socio-cultural model, two were found to follow the medical model, and two were found to follow the superscrip model. The additional data found in these articles include two instances of the term deaf and mute, an overwhelming use of lower case d for the term deaf, and the misuse of the term translator (to mean interpreter).

Keywords: deafness, disability, news coverage, Caribbean newspapers

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259 "If It Bleeds It Leads” the Visual Witnessing Trauma Phenomenon among Journalists: An Analysis of Various Media Images from East Africa

Authors: Lydia Ouma Radoli

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The paradox of documenting history through visuals that objectify gruesome images to depict the prominence of stories intrigues media researchers. In East Africa, the topic has been captured in a variety of media frames, but scantly in scholarly work. This paper adopts Visual Rhetoric and Framing Theories to tease out the drivers behind the criteria for the selection of violent visuals. The paper projects that quantitative and qualitative literature regarding journalists’ personal and work-related exposure to PSTD will give insights into the concept of trauma journalism - reporting of horrific events, e.g., violent crime and terror. The data will be collected through methods such as document analysis (photographs and videos) and in-depth interviews to summarize the informational contents with respect to the research objectives and questions. The study is hinged on the background that the criterion for news production is constructed from the idea that ‘if there’s violence, conflict, and death involved, the story gets top priority.’ The anticipated outcome is to establish trauma experiences of visual rhetors, suggest mitigations, and address gaps in academic research. The findings of the study will sustain the critical role of visual rhetors. Further, media practitioners may find the study useful in assessing the effects and values of visual witnessing. Historically, the criterion for visual news production has been that if there’s violence, conflict, and death involved, the story gets top priority. To capture the goriness of the images, media theorists and sociologists have used the expression: “If it bleeds, it leads.” The statement assumes that audiences are attracted to pictures that show violent images. Further, research on visual aspects of Television news has shown its ability to hold viewers’ attention and cause aggression. This paper samples images and narratives from Journalists who have covered trauma-related events. The samples are indicative of the problem under study, which depicts journalists exposed to traumatic events as not receiving any Psycho-social support within newsrooms. It is hoped that the study could inform policy and practice within developing countries through the interpretations of theoretical and empirical explanations of existing trauma phenomena among journalists.

Keywords: visual-witnessing, media culture, visual rhetoric, imaging violence in East Africa

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258 Assessment of Print Media Contribution to the Political Development of Nigeria

Authors: Majority Oji

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The print media played a major role in the agitation for self-rule in Nigeria in the 1950s. It remains as a bastion of hope in the dark days of military rule in the country. But in the troubled waters of Nigeria’s politics, accusing fingers are pointed in the direction of the print media as problematic to the political development of the nation. Thus, Nigeria as a nation is torn between the paralyzing forces of political instability and the building powers of political stability. The press assigned a constitutional role to hold everyone, especially government officials accountable to the public, appears to be at the center of these forays. The paper takes a look at the strength and weakness of the print media as a stabilizing or destabilizing agent to the political development of Nigeria. Engaging in this study is essential and the findings fundamental to the sustainability of Nigeria’s nascent democracy. The study draws on the content analysis method. News items from major newspapers across the country were content analyzed to test the validity of the claims that the press serve as agent of political stability or political instability, and whether to accept or reject such claims. The study found that the press has published more stories that unite the people politically as found in the tested hypothesis which shows that P>0.05 implying that media publications are not significant to political instability of the nation regardless of the number of published news stories. The study recommends that all issues relating to professional and ethical standards that affect the practice of journalism in the print media should be addressed by regulatory bodies to starve of chances of information that could lead to intolerance being peddled in the print media.

Keywords: Nigeria, political instability, political stability, print media

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257 Modeling Water Inequality and Water Security: The Role of Water Governance

Authors: Pius Babuna, Xiaohua Yang, Roberto Xavier Supe Tulcan, Bian Dehui, Mohammed Takase, Bismarck Yelfogle Guba, Chuanliang Han, Doris Abra Awudi, Meishui Lia

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Water inequality, water security, and water governance are fundamental parameters that affect the sustainable use of water resources. Through policy formulation and decision-making, water governance determines both water security and water inequality. Largely, where water inequality exists, water security is undermined through unsustainable water use practices that lead to pollution of water resources, conflicts, hoarding of water, and poor sanitation. Incidentally, the interconnectedness of water governance, water inequality, and water security has not been investigated previously. This study modified the Gini coefficient and used a Logistics Growth of Water Resources (LGWR) Model to access water inequality and water security mathematically, and discussed the connected role of water governance. We tested the validity of both models by calculating the actual water inequality and water security of Ghana. We also discussed the implications of water inequality on water security and the overarching role of water governance. The results show that regional water inequality is widespread in some parts. The Volta region showed the highest water inequality (Gini index of 0.58), while the central region showed the lowest (Gini index of 0.15). Water security is moderately sustainable. The use of water resources is currently stress-free. It was estimated to maintain such status until 2132 ± 18, when Ghana will consume half of the current total water resources of 53.2 billion cubic meters. Effectively, water inequality is a threat to water security, results in poverty, under-development heightens tensions in water use, and causes instability. With proper water governance, water inequality can be eliminated through formulating and implementing approaches that engender equal allocation and sustainable use of water resources.

Keywords: water inequality, water security, water governance, Gini coefficient, moran index, water resources management

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256 The Adoption and Use of Social Media as a Source of Information by Egyptian Government Journalists

Authors: Essam Mansour

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This study purposes to explore the adoption and use of social media as a source of information by Egyptian government journalists. It applied a survey with a total of 386 journalists representing the three official newspapers of Egypt. Findings showed that 27.2% of journalists were found to not use social media, mainly males (69.7%), older than 40 years (77.7%) and mostly with a BA degree (80.4%). On the other hand, 72.8% of them were found to use these platforms who were also males (59.1%), younger than 40 years (65.9%) and mostly with a BA degree (93.2%). More than two-thirds (69.9%) were somewhat old users whose experience ranged from seven to ten years, and more than two-thirds (73.5%) have been heavily using these platforms (four to more than six hours a day. Such results confirm that a large number (95.7%) of users were found to be at least advanced users. Social media users’ home and work were the most significant places to access these platforms, which were found to be easy and useful to use. Most types of social media used were social news, media sharing and micro blogging, blogs comments and forums, social networking sites and bookmarking sites to perform tasks, such as finding information, making communication, keeping up to date, checking materials, sharing information and making discussions. A large number of users tend to accept these media platforms to be a source of information since they are accessible, linked references updated sources, accurate, promote current work, convenient, secured, credible, reliable, stabled, easily identified, copyrighted, build confident and contain filtered information. However, lack of know-how to cite sources, followed by lack of credibility of the source of news, lack of quality of information sources and lack of time were at least significant to journalists when using social media platforms.

Keywords: social media, social networking sites, newspapers, journalists, Egypt

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255 Heritage, Cultural Events and Promises for Better Future: Media Strategies for Attracting Tourism during the Arab Spring Uprisings

Authors: Eli Avraham

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The Arab Spring was widely covered in the global media and the number of Western tourists traveling to the area began to fall. The goal of this study was to analyze which media strategies marketers in Middle Eastern countries chose to employ in their attempts to repair the negative image of the area in the wake of the Arab Spring. Several studies were published concerning image-restoration strategies of destinations during crises around the globe; however, these strategies were not part of an overarching theory, conceptual framework or model from the fields of crisis communication and image repair. The conceptual framework used in the current study was the ‘multi-step model for altering place image’, which offers three types of strategies: source, message and audience. Three research questions were used: 1.What public relations crisis techniques and advertising campaign components were used? 2. What media policies and relationships with the international media were adopted by Arab officials? 3. Which marketing initiatives (such as cultural and sports events) were promoted? This study is based on qualitative content analysis of four types of data: 1) advertising components (slogans, visuals and text); (2) press interviews with Middle Eastern officials and marketers; (3) official media policy adopted by government decision-maker (e.g. boycotting or arresting newspeople); and (4) marketing initiatives (e.g. organizing heritage festivals and cultural events). The data was located in three channels from December 2010, when the events started, to September 31, 2013: (1) Internet and video-sharing websites: YouTube and Middle Eastern countries' national tourism board websites; (2) News reports from two international media outlets, The New York Times and Ha’aretz; these are considered quality newspapers that focus on foreign news and tend to criticize institutions; (3) Global tourism news websites: eTurbo news and ‘Cities and countries branding’. Using the ‘multi-step model for altering place image,’ the analysis reveals that Middle Eastern marketers and officials used three kinds of strategies to repair their countries' negative image: 1. Source (cooperation and media relations; complying, threatening and blocking the media; and finding alternatives to the traditional media) 2. Message (ignoring, limiting, narrowing or reducing the scale of the crisis; acknowledging the negative effect of an event’s coverage and assuring a better future; promotion of multiple facets, exhibitions and softening the ‘hard’ image; hosting spotlight sporting and cultural events; spinning liabilities into assets; geographic dissociation from the Middle East region; ridicule the existing stereotype) and 3. Audience (changing the target audience by addressing others; emphasizing similarities and relevance to specific target audience). It appears that dealing with their image problems will continue to be a challenge for officials and marketers of Middle Eastern countries until the region stabilizes and its regional conflicts are resolved.

Keywords: Arab spring, cultural events, image repair, Middle East, tourism marketing

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254 The Effect of Brand Recovery Communications on Embarrassed Consumers’ Cognitive Appraisal and Post-purchase Behavior

Authors: Kin Yan Ho

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Negative brand news (such as Volkswagen’s faulty carbon emission reports, China’s Luckin Coffee scandal, and bribery in reputable US universities) influence how people perceive a company. Germany’s citizens claimed Volkswagen’s scandal as a national embarrassment and cannot recover their psychological damages through monetary and non-monetary compensation. The main research question is to examine how consumers evaluate and respond to embarrassing brand publicity. The cognitive appraisal theory is used as a theoretical foundation. This study describes the use of scenario-based experiment. The findings suggest that consumers with different levels of embarrassment evaluate brand remedial offers from emotion-focused and task-focused restorative justice perspectives (newly derived from the well-established scales of perceived justice). When consumers face both negative and positive brand information (i.e., negative publicity news and a remedial offer), they change their appraisal criterion. The social situation in the cognitive reappraisal process influences the quality of the customer-brand relationship and the customer’s recovery from brand embarrassment. The results also depict that the components of recovery compensation cause differences in emotion recovery, relationship quality, and repurchase intentions. This study extends embarrassment literature in an embarrassing brand publicity context. The emotional components of brand remedial tactics provide insights to brand managers on how to handle different consumers’ emotions, consumer satisfaction, and foster positive future behavior.

Keywords: brand relationship quality, cognitive appraisal, crisis communications, emotion, justice, social presence

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253 Content Analysis of Gucci’s ‘Blackface’ Sweater Controversy across Multiple Media Platforms

Authors: John Mark King

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Beginning on Feb. 7, 2019, the luxury brand, Gucci, was met with a firestorm on social media over fashion runway images of its black balaclava sweater, which covered the bottom half of the face and featured large, shiny bright red lips surrounding the mouth cutout. Many observers on social media and in the news media noted the garment resembled racist “blackface.” This study aimed to measure how items were framed across multiple media platforms. The unit of analysis was any headline or lead paragraph published using the search terms “Gucci” and “sweater” or “jumper” or “balaclava” during the one-year timeframe of Feb. 7, 2019, to Feb. 6, 2020. Limitations included headlines and lead paragraphs published in English and indexed in the Lexis/Nexis database. Independent variables were the nation in which the item was published and the platform (newspapers, blogs, web-based publications, newswires, magazines, or broadcast news). Dependent variables were tone toward Gucci (negative, neutral or positive) and frame (blackface/racism/racist, boycott/celebrity boycott, sweater/balaclava/jumper/fashion, apology/pulling the product/diversity initiatives by Gucci or frames unrelated to the controversy but still involving Gucci sweaters) and word count. Two coders achieved 100% agreement on all variables except tone (94.2%) and frame (96.3%). The search yielded 276 items published from 155 sources in 18 nations. The tone toward Gucci during this period was negative (69.9%). Items that were neutral (16.3%) or positive (13.8%) toward the brand were overwhelmingly related to items about other Gucci sweaters worn by celebrities or fashion reviews of other Gucci sweaters. The most frequent frame was apology/pulling the product/diversity initiatives by Gucci (35.5%). The tone was most frequently negative across all continents, including the Middle East (83.3% negative), Asia (81.8%), North America (76.6%), Australia/New Zealand (66.7%), and Europe (59.8%). Newspapers/magazines/newswires/broadcast news transcripts (72.4%) were more negative than blogs/web-based publications (63.6%). The most frequent frames used by newspapers/magazines/newswires/broadcast news transcripts were apology/pulling the product/diversity initiatives by Gucci (38.7%) and blackface/racism/racist (26.1%). Blogs/web-based publications most frequently used frames unrelated to the controversial garment, but about other Gucci sweaters (42.9%) and apology/pulling the product/diversity initiatives by Gucci (27.3%). Sources in Western nations (34.7%) and Eastern nations (47.1%) most frequently used the frame of apology/pulling the product/diversity initiatives by Gucci. Mean word count was higher for negative items (583.58) than positive items (404.76). Items framed as blackface/racism/racist or boycott/celebrity boycott had higher mean word count (668.97) than items framed as sweater/balaclava/jumper/fashion or apology/pulling the product/diversity initiatives by Gucci (498.22). The author concluded that during the year-long period, Gucci’s image was likely damaged by the release of the garment at the center of the controversy due to near-universally negative items published, but Gucci’s apology/pulling the product off the market/diversity initiatives by Gucci and items about other Gucci sweaters worn by celebrities or fashion reviews of other Gucci sweaters were the most common frames across multiple media platforms, which may have mitigated the damage to the brand.

Keywords: Blackface, branding, Gucci, media framing

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252 Caped Intervention: A Single Country Comparative Study of the Role of Russia in Its Involvement in the Crimean Crisis 2014

Authors: Katrina Angeline Santos, Francis Mark Fernandez, Francheska Esmao

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Intervention is defined as a forcible interference by a state or states with power in the affairs of another state using force or the threat of force. On the other hand, a military intervention is an intervention, specifically used to define an intervention which uses force. With these, the authors realized a lack in the concept of intervention wherein it is an invited one.The authors wrote this paper to introduce a concept of intervention wherein the intervening state is offering assistance to the state in crisis which asked for one. The authors decided to make a contextual description of this phenomenon because of the lack of concepts regarding intervention between the idea of a single state performing a ‘heroic’ role of intervening in the crisis of another state. The problem that the authors would like to address is regarding the lack of availability in the concept of intervention wherein the state in crisis is seeking the assistance of another state. The authors utilized a contextual description approach to the study through the descriptive presentation of the series of events, by utilizing the news articles and news reports published, which happened in Ukraine and Crimea. This concept is further demonstrated through the utilization of a conceptual framework which shows the mutual relationship between the states. From the analysis of the behavior of Russia and its role in the Crimean Crisis 2014, the authors are able to coin the term, 'Caped Intervention' to describe an intervention of a state as a response to the invitation of assistance of a state in crisis in order for them to achieve their goals. This concept entails a mutual relationship between an intervening state and a sate in crisis. The concept of Caped Intervention describes the role of Russia as a Caped State or an intervening state observed through its action towards Crimea. This concept will help in the observation of the behavior of actors or states in events such as this. It will further help in analyzing the actors’ role in intervention by making it possible to classify the intervening acts into another concept.

Keywords: assistance, caped intervention, crisis, heroic

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251 Analyzing Apposition and the Typology of Specific Reference in Newspaper Discourse in Nigeria

Authors: Monday Agbonica Bello Eje

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The language of the print media is characterized by the use of apposition. This linguistic element function strategically in journalistic discourse where it is communicatively necessary to name individuals and provide information about them. Linguistic studies on the language of the print media with bias for apposition have largely dwelt on other areas but the examination of the typology of appositive reference in newspaper discourse. Yet, it is capable of revealing ways writers communicate and provide information necessary for readers to follow and understand the message. The study, therefore, analyses the patterns of appositional occurrences and the typology of reference in newspaper articles. The data were obtained from The Punch and Daily Trust Newspapers. A total of six editions of these newspapers were collected randomly spread over three months. News and feature articles were used in the analysis. Guided by the referential theory of meaning in discourse, the appositions identified were subjected to analysis. The findings show that the semantic relation of coreference and speaker coreference have the highest percentage and frequency of occurrence in the data. This is because the subject matter of news reports and feature articles focuses on humans and the events around them; as a result, readers need to be provided with some form of detail and background information in order to identify as well as follow the discourse. Also, the non-referential relation of absolute synonymy and speaker synonymy no doubt have fewer occurrences and percentages in the analysis. This is tied to a major feature of the language of the media: simplicity. The paper concludes that appositions is mainly used for the purpose of providing the reader with much detail. In this way, the writer transmits information which helps him not only to give detailed yet concise descriptions but also in some way help the reader to follow the discourse.

Keywords: apposition, discourse, newspaper, Nigeria, reference

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250 Community Radio as a Catalyst for Local Empowerment and Development in Rivers State: A Case Study of Local Government Areas

Authors: Akpobome Harrison

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Community radio serves as a potent vehicle for amplifying local voices and driving community progress worldwide. It facilitates grassroots communication, empowers residents, and significantly contributes to social, cultural, and economic development. This study investigates the pivotal roles of community radio in elevating local voices and advancing development within Emuoha, Obio-Akpor, and Ikwerre Local Government Areas in Rivers State. Employing a quantitative methodology, the research involved random sampling of respondents via questionnaires. The findings underscore the transformative power of community radio in promoting local voices and fostering development, particularly within Rivers State. Moreover, community radio platforms empower marginalized populations, providing them with a voice and an opportunity to actively participate in the media landscape, share their stories, and express their concerns. This empowerment holds the potential to enhance civic engagement and communal harmony. Community radio stations often prioritize local news, events, and subjects that may not receive adequate coverage in mainstream media, thus facilitating the dissemination of vital community information, including local news, weather updates, and emergency alerts. In light of these observations, this paper advocates for the encouragement of community radio by both the state government and private media entities to facilitate seamless information dissemination. Additionally, the paper highlights the significant role played by the use of Pidgin English as a communication tool, particularly in providing understanding and a voice to marginalized individuals in rural communities.

Keywords: community radio, local voices, marginalized populations, information dissemination, pidgin english, grassroots communication

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249 Integrating Critical Stylistics and Visual Grammar: A Multimodal Stylistic Approach to the Analysis of Non-Literary Texts

Authors: Shatha Khuzaee

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The study develops multimodal stylistic approach to analyse a number of BBC online news articles reporting some key events from the so called ‘Arab Uprisings’. Critical stylistics (CS) and visual grammar (VG) provide insightful arguments to the ways ideology is projected through different verbal and visual modes, yet they are mode specific because they examine how each mode projects its meaning separately and do not attempt to clarify what happens intersemiotically when the two modes co-occur. Therefore, it is the task undertaken in this research to propose multimodal stylistic approach that addresses the issue of ideology construction when the two modes co-occur. Informed by functional grammar and social semiotics, the analysis attempts to integrate three linguistic models developed in critical stylistics, namely, transitivity choices, prioritizing and hypothesizing along with their visual equivalents adopted from visual grammar to investigate the way ideology is constructed, in multimodal text, when text/image participate and interrelate in the process of meaning making on the textual level of analysis. The analysis provides comprehensive theoretical and analytical elaborations on the different points of integration between CS linguistic models and VG equivalents which operate on the textual level of analysis to better account for ideology construction in news as non-literary multimodal texts. It is argued that the analysis well thought out a plan that would remark the first step towards the integration between the well-established linguistic models of critical stylistics and that of visual analysis to analyse multimodal texts on the textual level. Both approaches are compatible to produce multimodal stylistic approach because they intend to analyse text and image depending on whatever textual evidence is available. This supports the analysis maintain the rigor and replicability needed for a stylistic analysis like the one undertaken in this study.

Keywords: multimodality, stylistics, visual grammar, social semiotics, functional grammar

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248 The Need for Sustaining Hope during Communication of Unfavourable News in the Care of Children with Palliative Care Needs: The Experience of Mothers and Health Professionals in Jordan

Authors: Maha Atout, Pippa Hemingway, Jane Seymour

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A preliminary systematic review shows that health professionals experience a tension when communicating with the parents and family members of children with life-threatening and life-limiting conditions. On the one hand, they want to promote open and honest communication, while on the other, they are apprehensive about fostering an unrealistic sense of hope. Defining the boundaries between information that might offer reasonable hope versus that which results in false reassurance is challenging. Some healthcare providers worry that instilling a false sense of hope could motivate parents to seek continued aggressive treatment for their child, which in turn might cause the patient further unnecessary suffering. To date, there has been a lack of research in the Middle East regarding how healthcare providers do or should communicate bad news; in particular, the issue of hope in the field of paediatric palliative care has not been researched thoroughly. This study aims to explore, from the perspective of patients’ mothers, physicians, and nurses, the experience of communicating and receiving bad news in the care of children with palliative care needs. Data were collected using a collective qualitative case study approach across three paediatric units in a Jordanian hospital. Two data collection methods were employed: participant observation and semi-structured interviews. The overall number of cases was 15, with a total of 56 interviews with mothers (n=24), physicians (n=12), and nurses (n=20) completed, as well as 197 observational hours logged. The findings demonstrate that mothers wanted their doctors to provide them with hopeful information about the future progression of their child’s illness. Although some mothers asked their doctors to provide them with honest information regarding the condition of their child, they still considered a sense of hope to be essential for coping with caring for their child. According to mothers, hope was critical to treatment as it helped them to stay committed to the treatment and protected them to some extent from the extreme emotional suffering that would occur if they lost hope. The health professionals agreed with the mothers on the importance of hope, so long as it was congruent with the stage and severity of each patient’s disease. The findings of this study conclude that while parents typically insist on knowing all relevant information when their child is diagnosed with a severe illness, they considered hope to be an essential part of life, and they found it very difficult to handle suffering without any glimmer of it. This study finds that using negative terms has extremely adverse effects on the parents’ emotions. Hence, although the mothers asked the doctors to be as honest as they could, they still wanted the physicians to provide them with a positive message by communicating this information in a sensitive manner including hope.

Keywords: health professionals, children, communication, hope, information, mothers, palliative care

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247 Multimodal Analysis of News Magazines' Front-Page Portrayals of the US, Germany, China, and Russia

Authors: Alena Radina

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On the global stage, national image is shaped by historical memory of wars and alliances, government ideology and particularly media stereotypes which represent countries in positive or negative ways. News magazine covers are a key site for national representation. The object of analysis in this paper is the portrayals of the US, Germany, China, and Russia in the front pages and cover stories of “Time”, “Der Spiegel”, “Beijing Review”, and “Expert”. Political comedy helps people learn about current affairs even if politics is not their area of interest, and thus satire indirectly sets the public agenda. Coupled with satirical messages, cover images and the linguistic messages embedded in the covers become persuasive visual and verbal factors, known to drive about 80% of magazine sales. Preliminary analysis identified satirical elements in magazine covers, which are known to influence and frame understandings and attract younger audiences. Multimodal and transnational comparative framing analyses lay the groundwork to investigate why journalists, editors and designers deploy certain frames rather than others. This research investigates to what degree frames used in covers correlate with frames within the cover stories and what these framings can tell us about media professionals’ representations of their own and other nations. The study sample includes 32 covers consisting of two covers representing each of the four chosen countries from the four magazines. The sampling framework considers two time periods to compare countries’ representation with two different presidents, and between men and women when present. The countries selected for analysis represent each category of the international news flows model: the core nations are the US and Germany; China is a semi-peripheral country; and Russia is peripheral. Examining textual and visual design elements on the covers and images in the cover stories reveals not only what editors believe visually attracts the reader’s attention to the magazine but also how the magazines frame and construct national images and national leaders. The cover is the most powerful editorial and design page in a magazine because images incorporate less intrusive framing tools. Thus, covers require less cognitive effort of audiences who may therefore be more likely to accept the visual frame without question. Analysis of design and linguistic elements in magazine covers helps to understand how media outlets shape their audience’s perceptions and how magazines frame global issues. While previous multimodal research of covers has focused mostly on lifestyle magazines or newspapers, this paper examines the power of current affairs magazines’ covers to shape audience perception of national image.

Keywords: framing analysis, magazine covers, multimodality, national image, satire

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246 The Universal Cultural Associations in the Conceptual Metaphors Used in the Headlines of Arab News and Saudi Gazette Newspapers: A Critical Cognitive Study

Authors: Hind Hassan Arruwaite

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Conceptual metaphor is a cognitive semantic tool that provides access to people's conceptual systems. The correlation in the human conceptual system surpasses limited time and specific cultures. The universal associations provide universal schemas that organize people's conceptualization of the world. The study aims to explore how the cultural associations used in conceptual metaphors create commonalities and harmony between people of the world. In the research methodology, the researcher implemented Critical Metaphor Analysis, Metaphor Candidate Identification and Metaphor Identification Procedure models to deliver qualitative and descriptive findings. The semantic tension was the key criterion in identifying metaphorically used words in the headlines. The research materials are the oil trade conceptual metaphors used in the headlines of Arab News and Saudi Gazette Newspapers. The data will be uploaded to the self-constructed corpus to examine electronic lists for identifying conceptual metaphors. The study investigates the types of conceptual metaphors used in the headlines of the newspapers, the cultural associations identified in the conceptual metaphors, and whether the identified cultural associations in conceptual metaphors create universal conceptual schemas. The study aligned with previous seminal works on conceptual metaphor theory in emphasizing the distinctive power of conceptual metaphors in exposing the cultural associations that unify people's perceptions. The correlation of people conceptualization provides universal schemas that involve elements of human sensorimotor experiences. The study contributes to exposing the shared cultural associations that ensure the commonality of all humankind's thinking mechanism.

Keywords: critical discourse analysis, critical metaphor analysis, conceptual metaphor theory, primary and specific metaphors, corpus-driven approach, universal associations, image schema, sensorimotor experience, oil trade

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245 The Effectiveness of Using Nihongo Mantappu Channel on Youtube as an Effort to Succeed Sustainable Development Goals 2030 for Tenth Graders of Smam 10 GKB Gresik

Authors: Salsabila Meutia Meutia

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Indonesia as one of the countries that agreed to SDG's must commit to achieve this SDG's goal until the deadline of 2030. The government has tried hard to realize all the goals in the SDG’s, but there is still something that has not been achieved, especially the goal in number 4 which is to ensure that every human being has a decent and inclusive education and encourages lifelong learning opportunities for everyone. Teenagers who are the golden generation for Indonesia are starting to feel dependent on Youtube. The addictive virus of teenagers about using YouTube is both good news and bad news for the sustainability of government programs in achieving goals in SDG’s, especially in term of education. One popular YouTube channel among high school teenagers is Nihongo Mantappu which has 1.8 million followers. This channel contains interesting but quality content that can have a positive influence for the audience. This research was conducted to determine the effectiveness of the Nihongo Mantappu channel on Youtube as a means of fostering enthusiasm and awareness of learning in tenth graders of SMA Muhammadiyah 10 GKB, as well as how it affected in achieving quality educational goals as an effort to succeed in the Sustainable Development Goals of 2030. The objectives of this study were carried out with distributing questionnaires to tenth graders of SMA Muhammadiyah 10 GKB and observing objects in the real life. Then the data obtained are analyzed and described properly so that this research is a descriptive study. The results of the study mentioned that YouTube as one of the websites for viewing and sharing videos is a very effective media for disseminating information, especially among teenagers. The Nihongo Mantappu channel is also considered to be a very effective channel in building enthusiasm and awareness of learning in tenth graders of SMA Muhammadiyah 10 GKB. Students as the main subject of education have a great influence on the achievement of one of SDG’s fourth goals, named quality education. Students who are always on fire in the spirit and awareness of learning will greatly help the achievement of quality education goals in the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

Keywords: Youtube, Nihongo, Mantappu, SDG's

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244 From Name-Calling to Insidious Rhetoric: Construction and Evolution of the Transgender Imagery in News Discourse, 1953-2016

Authors: Hsiao-Yung Wang

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This essay aims to examine how the transgender imagery has been constructed in the Taiwanese news media and its evolution from 1953 to 2016. It also explores the discourse patterns and rhetorical strategies in the transgender-related issues which contributed to levels of evaluation in forming ‘social deviance.’ Samples for analysis were selected from mainstream newspapers, including China Times, United Daily and Apple Daily. The time frame for sample selection is from August 1953 (when the first transgender case was reported in Taiwan) to June 2016. To enhance understanding of media representation as nominalistic-based, the author refers to the representative of critical rhetoric Raymie McKerrow for his study on remembrance and forgetfulness in public discourse (especially in his model of ‘critique of domination’); thereby categorizing the 64 years of transgender discourse into five periods: (1) transgender as ‘intersex’ of surgical-reparative medical treatment; (2) transgender as ‘freak gender-bender’ with criminal behaviors; (3) transgender as ‘ladyboy’ (‘katoey in a Thai term) of bar girls or sex workers; (4) transgender as ‘cross dresser’ of transvestite performance; and (5) transgender as ‘life-style or human right’ of spontaneous gender identification. Based on the research findings, this essay argues that the characterization of transgender reporting as a site for the production of compulsory sexism and gender stereotype by the specific forms of name-calling. Besides, the evolution of word-image addressing to transgender issues also pinpoints media as a reflection of fashion of the day. While the transgender imagery might be crystallized as ‘still social problems’ or ‘gender transgression’ in insidious rhetoric; and while the so-called ‘phobia’ persistently embodies in media discourse to exercise name-calling in an ambiguous (rather than in a bullying) way or under the cover of humanist-liberalist rationales, these emergent rhetorical dilemma should be resolved without any delay.

Keywords: critical rhetoric, media representation, McKerrow, nominalistic, social deviance, transgender

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243 “Post-Industrial” Journalism as a Creative Industry

Authors: Lynette Sheridan Burns, Benjamin J. Matthews

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The context of post-industrial journalism is one in which the material circumstances of mechanical publication have been displaced by digital technologies, increasing the distance between the orthodoxy of the newsroom and the culture of journalistic writing. Content is, with growing frequency, created for delivery via the internet, publication on web-based ‘platforms’ and consumption on screen media. In this environment, the question is not ‘who is a journalist?’ but ‘what is journalism?’ today. The changes bring into sharp relief new distinctions between journalistic work and journalistic labor, providing a key insight into the current transition between the industrial journalism of the 20th century, and the post-industrial journalism of the present. In the 20th century, the work of journalists and journalistic labor went hand-in-hand as most journalists were employees of news organizations, whilst in the 21st century evidence of a decoupling of ‘acts of journalism’ (work) and journalistic employment (labor) is beginning to appear. This 'decoupling' of the work and labor that underpins journalism practice is far reaching in its implications, not least for institutional structures. Under these conditions we are witnessing the emergence of expanded ‘entrepreneurial’ journalism, based on smaller, more independent and agile - if less stable - enterprise constructs that are a feature of creative industries. Entrepreneurial journalism is realized in a range of organizational forms from social enterprise, through to profit driven start-ups and hybrids of the two. In all instances, however, the primary motif of the organization is an ideological definition of journalism. An example is the Scoop Foundation for Public Interest Journalism in New Zealand, which owns and operates Scoop Publishing Limited, a not for profit company and social enterprise that publishes an independent news site that claims to have over 500,000 monthly users. Our paper demonstrates that this journalistic work meets the ideological definition of journalism; conducted within the creative industries using an innovative organizational structure that offers a new, viable post-industrial future for journalism.

Keywords: creative industries, digital communication, journalism, post industrial

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242 Fact-checking and Political Polarization in an Emerging Democracy

Authors: Eric Agyekum, Dominic Asitanga

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Ghana is widely considered asa beacon of democracy in sub-Saharan Africa. With a relatively free media, the country was ranked30thin the world and third in Africaon the 2021 Press Freedom Index. Despite the democratic gains, itis one of the most politically polarized nations in the world. Ghana’spolitical division is evident in the current hunglegislature, where each of the two dominant political parties has 137 members, with an independent member occupying the remaining one seat. Misinformation and fake newsthrive in systems with acuteideological and political differences(Imelda et al, 2021; Azzimonti&Fernandes, 2018; Spohr, 2017) and Ghana is no exception. The information disorder problem has been exacerbatedby the COVID-19 pandemic, with its attendant conspiracy theories and speculations, making it difficult for the media and fact-checking organizations to verifyall claims and flag false information. In Ghana, fact-checking agencies like Ghana Fact, Dubawa Ghana, and some mainstream news media organizations have been fact-checking political claims, COVID-19 conspiracy theories, and many others. However, it is not clear if the audience consumeand attach prominence to these fact-checked stories or even visit the websites of the fact-checking agencies to read the content. Nekmat (2020) opine that though the literature on fact-checking suggest that fact-checked stories can alter readers’ beliefs, very few studies have investigated the patronage and the potential of fact-checks to deter users from sharing false news with others, particularly on social media. In response to Nekmat, this study has been initiated to examine the perception and attitude of the audience in Ghana towards fact-checks. Anchored on the principles of the nudge theory, this study will investigate how fact-checked stories alters readers’ behavioural patterns. A survey will be conducted to collect data from sampled members of the Ghanaian society.

Keywords: fact-checking, information disorder, nudge theory, political polarization

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241 The Effect of Newspaper Reporting on COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy: A Randomised Controlled Trial

Authors: Anna Rinaldi, Pierfrancesco Dellino

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COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy can be observed at different rates in different countries. In June 2021, 1,068 people were surveyed in France and Italy to inquire about individual potential acceptance, focusing on time preferences in a risk-return framework: having the vaccination today, in a month, and in 3 months; perceived risks of vaccination and COVID-19; and expected benefit of the vaccine. A randomized controlled trial was conducted to understand how everyday stimuli like fact-based news about vaccines impact an audience's acceptance of vaccination. The main experiment involved two groups of participants and two different articles about vaccine-related thrombosis taken from two Italian newspapers. One article used a more abstract description and language, and the other used a more anecdotal description and concrete language; each group read only one of these articles. Two other groups were assigned categorization tasks; one was asked to complete a concrete categorization task, and the other an abstract categorization task. Individual preferences for vaccination were found to be variable and unstable over time, and individual choices of accepting, refusing, or delaying could be affected by the way news is written. In order to understand these dynamic preferences, the present work proposes a new model based on seven categories of human behaviors that were validated by a neural network. A treatment effect was observed: participants who read the articles shifted to vaccine hesitancy categories more than participants assigned to other treatments and control. Furthermore, there was a significant gender effect, showing that the type of language leading to a lower hesitancy rate for men is correlated with a higher hesitancy rate for women and vice versa. This outcome should be taken into consideration for an appropriate gender-based communication campaign aimed at achieving herd immunity. The trial was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05582564 (17/10/2022).

Keywords: vaccine hesitancy, risk elicitation, neural network, covid19

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240 Circulating Public Perception on Agroforestry: Discourse Networks Analysis Using Social Media and Online News Media in Four Countries of the Sahel Region

Authors: Luisa Müting, Wisnu Harto Adiwijoyo

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Agroforestry systems transform the agricultural landscapes in the Sahel region of Africa, providing food and farming products consumed for subsistence or sold for income. In the incrementally dry climate of the Sahel region, the spreading of agroforestry practices is integral for policymaker efforts to counteract land degradation and provide soil restoration in the region. Several measures on agroforestry practices have been implemented in the region by governmental and non-governmental institutions in recent years. However, despite the efforts, past research shows that awareness of how policies and interventions are being consumed and perceived by the public remains low. Therefore, interpreting public policy dilemmas by analyzing the public perception regarding agroforestry concepts and practices is necessary. Public perceptions and discourses can be an essential driver or constraint for the adoption of agroforestry practices in the region. Thus, understanding the public discourse behavior of crucial stakeholders could assist policymakers in developing inclusive and contextual policies that are relevant to the context of agroforestry adoption in Sahel region. To answer how information about agroforestry spreads and is perceived by the public. As internet usage increased drastically over the past decade, reaching a share of 33 percent of the population being connected to the internet, this research is based on online conversation data. Social media data from Facebook are gathered daily between April 2021 and April 2022 in Djibouti, Senegal, Mali, and Nigeria based on their share of active internet users compared to other countries in the Sahel region. A systematic methodology was applied to the extracted social media using discourse network analysis (DNA). This study then clustered the data by the types of agroforestry practices, sentiments, and country. Additionally, this research extracted the text data from online news media during the same period to pinpoint events related to the topic of agroforestry. The preliminary result indicates that tree management, crops, and livestock integration, diversifying species and genetic resources, and focusing on interactions and productivity across the agricultural system; are the most notable keywords in agroforestry-related conversations within the four countries in the Sahel region. Additionally, approximately 84 percent of the discussions were still dominated by big actors, such as NGO or government actors. Furthermore, as a subject of communication within agroforestry discourse, the Great Green Wall initiative generates almost 60 percent positive sentiment within the captured social media data, effectively having a more significant outreach than general agroforestry topics. This study provides an understanding for scholars and policymakers with a springboard for further research or policy design on agroforestry in the four countries of the Sahel region with systematically uncaptured novel data from the internet.

Keywords: sahel, djibouti, senegal, mali, nigeria, social networks analysis, public discourse analysis, sentiment analysis, content analysis, social media, online news, agroforestry, land restoration

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