scholarly journals Public Discourses on (Sectoral) Energy Policy in Switzerland

2021 ◽  
pp. 313-343
Author(s):  
Lena Maria Schaffer ◽  
Alessio Levis
Keyword(s):  
Energy Policy ◽  
News Media ◽  
Public Perception ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
National Policy ◽  
Energy Transition ◽  
The Public ◽  
Nation States ◽  
Future Policy ◽  
Transition Policy

AbstractEnergy transitions are based upon policy choices of sovereign nation states. Hence, politics plays a role in determining which policies governments implement and which sectors are targeted. Our chapter looks at the evolution of public discourse on energy policy as one important factor reflecting policy discussion and contestation within the political arena. Our descriptive and explorative analysis of the early public discourse in Swiss energy policy between 1997 and 2011 contributes to three main issues. First, it makes a case for the disaggregation of energy policy and its public perception to add to our understanding of energy transition pathways. We argue that looking at sectoral discourses as well as sectoral policy outputs allows for a more comprehensive understanding of the idiosyncrasies of Swiss energy policy regarding temporal as well as sectoral variation. Second, an increased politicization of energy policy may affect future policy choice, and thus any account on energy transition policy needs to scrutinize potential feedback effects from policies that manifest via policy discourse. Third, and on a more methodological stance, we argue that our approach to use news media as a representation of the public discourse via structural topic models can help to explore and explain the evolving national policy priorities regarding energy transition.

scholarly journals Public Perception on Labeling Genetically Modified (GM) Foods in Ghana: Implications for Food Policy

2020 ◽  
pp. 25-37
Author(s):  
Richard Ampadu-Ameyaw ◽  
Johnny Owusu-Arthur ◽  
Kwame Dei Asamoah-Okyere
Keyword(s):  
Public Perception ◽  
Food Policy ◽  
Genetically Modified ◽  
National Policy ◽  
Public Understanding ◽  
Food Ingredients ◽  
The Public ◽  
Gm Food ◽  
Gm Foods ◽  
Choice Variable

Labeling of genetically modified (GM) food and other food ingredients from GM source has become an important national policy issues receiving serious attention not only in Ghana but globally.   This paper focused on public perceptions of labeling of GM foods in Ghana as a way of garnering a view of the public understanding of the technology that has become so much controversial for which several millions of public sector money is spent on education in the last few years. The survey which elapsed over a period of three months, shows results that indicate a dearth of knowledge on the technology and yet a high demand for labelling of the products, even though not many people read the labels on food products. This leads to the question as to ‘who is doing the listening’. The authors conclude that the limited knowledge and technology essentials among others explain why the public seems to reject the technology and call for labelling of the products in spite of the fact that labelling is nothing but a choice variable, which has nothing to do with safety measure. Modifying the present attitude of the opponents of the technology and the demanders of labelling ignoring the cost that may be involved require extensive education and awareness creations throughout the country using tailor made communication forms to address various different groups.

How Media Shapes the Public Discourse and Influences Health

2020 ◽  
pp. 23-35
Author(s):  
Alonzo L. Plough
Keyword(s):  
News Media ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Multiple Roles ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
The Public ◽  
Inaccurate Information ◽  
Modern Media ◽  
Multiple Media ◽  
American Society ◽  
The Many

This chapter describes the multiple roles of modern media in determining not only what consumers know, but also how and what they think. The exponential growth of ideologically driven cable channels and social media, dovetailing with cutbacks in newspaper staffing and coverage, point to the many ways that the power and reach of media are shifting even as they continue to reshape American society and norms. In this environment, multiple media compete for viewers, readers, and listeners who will click on their websites, buy their products, sign their petitions, and often accept their spin, especially if it reinforces personal perspectives. Thoughtful information about complex public health issues is easily lost in that context, leading too many people to base their decision-making on incomplete, biased, and even inaccurate information. For the news media to help build a Culture of Health, people need to understand how it works, what it does, and how it can be used for widespread benefit.

A Conversation on Immigration in Prince George's County

2013 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 42-45
Author(s):  
Heidi Fishpaw
Keyword(s):  
Public Perception ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Public Perceptions ◽  
Collaborative Effort ◽  
Immigrant Community ◽  
Prince George's County ◽  
University Of Maryland ◽  
The Public ◽  
Maryland College ◽  
The University

This article describes and analyzes research that I carried out in the context of a collaborative effort to market and plan events around a mobile exhibit on the immigrant experience in Prince George's County, Maryland. The project aimed to shine light on and tease out the factors that play a role in public perception of immigrants and immigration as well as to understand, in the first place, what the range of public perceptions is. I participated in this project as an intern for the Anthropology of the Immigrant Life Course Research Program (2010) of the University of Maryland, College Park's Department of Anthropology. I focused on understanding how the public imagines the immigrant community in Prince George's County and the public discourse about immigration as an issue more broadly.

Can Indian journalism survive the onslaught of social media?

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 151-157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Usha M Rodrigues
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
News Media ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Party Leaders ◽  
Online Networks ◽  
The Public ◽  
Mainstream Media ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
Effective Use

In recent times, researchers have examined the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s use of social media to directly connect with his followers, while largely shunning the mainstream media. This strategy of direct communication with their constituents has been adopted by other political parties too, with opposition party leaders hosting ‘Facebook Live’ sessions and tweeting their messages. A large proportion of Indian voters, who increasingly own mobile phones, are enjoying being part of the ‘like’ and ‘share’ online networks. What does this effective use of social media by Indian political parties mean for the public discourse in India? This article presents the view that this phenomenon is more than Modi’s ‘selfie nationalism’ or his attempt to marginalize the news media. The article argues that there is a structural shift in the Indian public sphere, which might prove to be the greatest challenge to Indian journalism.

An Analysis of Viewers’ Perception Regarding Role of News Media in Promoting Peace Between Pakistan and India

2020 ◽  
Vol 03 (02) ◽  
Author(s):  
Javeria Karim ◽  
Dr. Shahid Hussain
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
News Media ◽  
Public Perception ◽  
Sampling Technique ◽  
Research Paper ◽  
Major Objective ◽  
The Public ◽  
Convenience Sampling ◽  
The Cold War

The relations of Pakistan and India have always been critical since the partition due to unresolved issues. Although both have tried to find mutual ground and reap the benefits of peace through bilateral dialogues and agreements but a state of the cold war has always been a reality. This research paper highlights the role of Pakistani news media as perceived by the public. The role of media is very important in highlighting the issues and make public perception (Wanta et al., 2004). This study investigates whether and to what extent Pakistani news media play its role in promoting friendly relationships. The major objective of this study is to compare the role of private News media regarding Pak-India relationship through coverage of issues like Sports, Water, Kashmir, Line of control, Trade, Showbiz, and Terrorism etc. For that purpose, three foremost watching Pakistani news channels were selected i.e. Geo News, ARY News and Dunya News and perception of their audience has been analyzed. A methodology based on survey has been used for this study by taking a sample of 300 respondents. The convenience sampling technique has been applied to collect respondents’ views. Finding illustrates that viewers were gratified with the coverage of Geo news over other channels and its role in de-escalating ties between Pak-India. The study also elaborates that media has been doing great discussion on terrorism, sports and showbiz. The audience thinks that both media and dialogues are important factors for promoting peace and friendly relationship between India and Pakistan

scholarly journals The AI doctor will see you now: assessing the framing of AI in news coverage

AI & Society ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mercedes Bunz ◽  
Marco Braghieri
Keyword(s):  
News Media ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
News Coverage ◽  
Hippocratic Oath ◽  
Healthcare Sector ◽  
Medical Expert ◽  
Data Set ◽  
The Public ◽  
New Development

AbstractOne of the sectors for which Artificial Intelligence applications have been considered as exceptionally promising is the healthcare sector. As a public-facing sector, the introduction of AI applications has been subject to extended news coverage. This article conducts a quantitative and qualitative data analysis of English news media articles covering AI systems that allow the automation of tasks that so far needed to be done by a medical expert such as a doctor or a nurse thereby redistributing their agency. We investigated in this article one particular framing of AI systems and their agency: the framing that positions AI systems as (1a) replacing and (1b) outperforming the human medical expert, and in which (2) AI systems are personified and/or addressed as a person. The analysis of our data set consisting of 365 articles written between the years 1980 and 2019 will show that there is a tendency to present AI systems as outperforming human expertise. These findings are important given the central role of news coverage in explaining AI and given the fact that the popular frame of ‘outperforming’ might place AI systems above critique and concern including the Hippocratic oath. Our data also showed that the addressing of an AI system as a person is a trend that has been advanced only recently and is a new development in the public discourse about AI.

Reframing sociotechnical imaginaries: The case of the Fourth Industrial Revolution

2021 ◽  
pp. 096366252110135
Author(s):  
Paulo Nuno Vicente ◽  
Sara Dias-Trindade
Keyword(s):  
News Media ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
Media Framing ◽  
Public Performance ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
The Public ◽  
Fourth Industrial Revolution ◽  
Sociotechnical Imaginaries ◽  
World Economic

In recent years, a Fourth Industrial Revolution emerged in public discourse as a narrative of exceptional societal disruption. At the core of this conceptual construct, led by the World Economic Forum, rests a sociotechnical imaginary of future essentialism, based on the revolutionary potential of digital, biological and physical innovations. This article addresses the lack of studies assessing the dynamics between the institutionalisation and the public performance of the Fourth Industrial Revolution concept through news media. We present the results of a quantitative content analysis of how the topic has been covered (frames, sources, tone) by the Portuguese national circulation press (2013–2020). This exploratory case study informs a proposal for an epistemic and methodological articulation between the theoretical frameworks of sociotechnical imaginaries and of media framing.

scholarly journals INTERDISCURSIVITY, INTERTEXTUALITY AND PRECEDENT TEXTS IN THE WEBSITE FORUM MEDIALECT

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-78
Author(s):  
Oksana CHERVENKO ◽  
Snezhan VELIKOVA
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
News Media ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Language Usage ◽  
Communicative Behavior ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
The Public ◽  
Internet Media ◽  
Linguistic Behavior

is article analyzes the phenomena of interdiscursivity, intertextuality, precedent texts and their functions in the websites forum medialect, which could be described as an online space, where specific language usage related to internet communication is manifested. The main purpose is, firstly, to comment on these functions and, secondly, to analyze their relationship to participants’ linguistic behavior established around a specific news media in the public discourse. By presenting specific solutions, the article discusses the categories of intertextuality, interdiscursivity, precedent texts, and medialect. The illustrations for the analysis are taken from predominantly news-oriented online journalistic websites, and the article analyzes the speech behavior of the participants in the comment section medialect. Based on specific examples, the article draws conclusions about the role of the internet media in the use of the three phenomena and of the manifestations of the cooperative and masking functions performed by intertextuality, interdiscursivity and precedent texts included in the linguistic range of the commentators. The roles of the three categories in the formation of thecommunicative act and its outcome are commented in terms of topics that are sensitive for both journalists and the commentators of their articles. These are mainly topics that attract multiple comments due to their significance for a group of users or for the whole society, such as ethnic minorities, migration, corruption, political practices, political actors, etc. Furthermore, they manage to provoke the activity, dexterity, originality of the ones taking part in the communicative acts and thus to create favorable conditions to observe web specific linguistic practices; to track specific language usage and the communicative behavior of the addressers in the public space, observable in the internet media.

scholarly journals Can political rhetoric ever be “too persuasive”?

Jezikoslovlje ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 285-303
Author(s):  
Andreas Musolff
Keyword(s):  
Public Perception ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Political Rhetoric ◽  
Political Debate ◽  
Pragmatic Development ◽  
The Public ◽  
Political Commitments ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Over Time ◽  
The Eu

Can the use of linguistic devices to achieve persuasion, such as metaphor, irony and hyperbole, ever be “too persuasive”, i.e., overshoot its rhetorical aim? More specifically, can the combination of such devices be “too much of a good thing” in that it commits speakers (and approving hearers) to actions that they were not part of their persuasion intentions? This paper investigates the semantic and pragmatic development of the Brexit-related applications of the metaphorical proverb, You cannot have your cake and eat it, during 2016–2019 in British public discourse. At the start of that period, the proverb’s reversal into the assertion “We can have our cake and eat it!” by the then Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and other “Brexiteers” became a highly prominent endorsement of Brexit and its supposed benefits for the UK; it even temporarily set the agenda for the public perception of UK–EU negotiations. Over time it became an object of hyperbolic praise as well as derision and recently seems to have lost much of its persuasive force. The paper argues that the proverb’s new reversed application by Johnson was initially successful in reviving its metaphorical meaning and framing it in a hyperbolic rhetorical context but that it also pushed Brexit proponents to an “all-or-nothing” outcome of the conflict narrative, both vis-à-vis the EU and within the British political debate. Thus, rhetorical success can lead to argumentative (and political) commitments that may have been not foreseen by the speaker and may run counter to their persuasive interests.

scholarly journals A Survey of Stakeholders’ Views and Practices

2021 ◽  
pp. 369-394
Author(s):  
Mert Duygan ◽  
Aya Kachi ◽  
Fintan Oeri ◽  
Thiago D. Oliveira ◽  
Adrian Rinscheid
Keyword(s):  
Social Acceptance ◽  
Large Body ◽  
Energy Transition ◽  
The Public ◽  
Policy Goals ◽  
Key Stakeholders ◽  
The Media ◽  
Original Survey ◽  
Deep Geothermal Energy ◽  
Transition Policy

AbstractAlong with policy proposers and individual voters, key stakeholders play a crucial role in shaping the socio-political acceptance of energy policy. Understanding a broad landscape of energy stakeholders’ views and practices thus should be a central theme in energy transition research. The Energy Strategy 2050 (ES2050), a sweeping energy transition policy package in Switzerland, was adopted in 2017. Concrete policy goals implied by ES2050 are yet to be implemented. Although there is a large body of social acceptance studies focusing on individual voters, we have a relatively scant empirical understanding of how stakeholders in this domain perceive the policy goals and how perceptions are linked to their organizational characteristics. To elucidate Swiss energy stakeholders’ perceptions on key action targets implied by recent energy policies in Switzerland, we analyzed data from our original survey with 364 organizations. We examined their views on concrete policy goals related to electric mobility, deep geothermal energy, wind energy, hydropower, and planned phase-outs of renewable energy subsidies. When asked to rate how realistic these goals appear to them, the majority of the stakeholders responded negatively. Furthermore, our findings indicate that, despite the considerable diversity and the overall pessimism in their feasibility perceptions, those that consider goals to be realistic are more likely to be active in the media. This is a concerning finding as the public might receive a biased impression via the media about the level of consensus among the stakeholders, who could, at times, be seen by the public as experts on the topic.

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