When Memes Become a Serious Business: Memetics as a Political Communication Strategy in the United States and Ecuador

2021 ◽  
pp. 82-93
Author(s):  
Marco López-Paredes ◽  
Andrea Carrillo-Andrade ◽  
Paulo Carlos López-López
2020 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marta N. Lukacovic

This study analyzes securitized discourses and counter narratives that surround the COVID-19 pandemic. Controversial cases of security related political communication, salient media enunciations, and social media reframing are explored through the theoretical lenses of securitization and cascading activation of framing in the contexts of Slovakia, Russia, and the United States. The first research question explores whether and how the frame element of moral evaluation factors into the conversations on the securitization of the pandemic. The analysis tracks the framing process through elite, media, and public levels of communication. The second research question focused on fairly controversial actors— “rogue actors” —such as individuals linked to far-leaning political factions or militias. The proliferation of digital media provides various actors with opportunities to join publicly visible conversations. The analysis demonstrates that the widely differing national contexts offer different trends and degrees in securitization of the pandemic during spring and summer of 2020. The studied rogue actors usually have something to say about the pandemic, and frequently make some reframing attempts based on idiosyncratic evaluations of how normatively appropriate is their government's “war” on COVID-19. In Slovakia, the rogue elite actors at first failed to have an impact but eventually managed to partially contest the dominant frame. Powerful Russian media influencers enjoy some conspiracy theories but prudently avoid direct challenges to the government's frame, and so far only marginal rogue actors openly advance dissenting frames. The polarized political and media environment in the US has shown to create a particularly fertile ground for rogue grassroots movements that utilize online platforms and social media, at times going as far as encouragement of violent acts to oppose the government and its pandemic response policy.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 94-102
Author(s):  
Lance E Mason

The present sociopolitical environment in the United States is perpetually mediated and beset with information from innumerable sources. This paper argues that Dewey’s conception of communication as a mutual act of meaning-making holds insights for explaining the connections between pervasive mediation and political polarization, in addition to understanding why political discourse has become more degrading in recent years. It also points the way toward viable solutions by arguing for the reorientation of schools toward valuable living experiences that are becoming less pronounced in the broader culture, such as sustained face to face engagement on matters of social import.


Author(s):  
María del Mar Gálvez-Rodríhuez ◽  
Arturo Haro-de-Rosario ◽  
María del Carmen Caba-Pérez

Taking into consideration the growing popularity of social media in North American countries, this chapter aims to perform a comparative analysis of the use of Facebook as a communication strategy for encouraging citizen engagement among local governments in The United States, Canada and Mexico. With regards to the three dimensions used in all regions to measure online citizen engagement, in general terms, the “popularity” and “virality” dimensions are the most common, while the “commitment” dimension is still underutilized. With respect to the significant differences found, Mexican citizens are those that make the best use of the tool “like” to express their support of the information supplied by local governments. Furthermore, in relation to the citizens that are fans of the Facebook pages of local governments, we can observe that Canadian citizens show a greater interest in participating more actively in dialogue building while U.S. citizens are the most willing to disseminate information from their local governments.


1954 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 147-168 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hans Speier

American policy toward postwar Germany has gone through two major phases from the stand point of military affairs. Until 1950 Germany was kept disarmed; since 1950 the United States has sought the rearmament of Western Germany. The problems of information policy raised by the change, and the attitudes of the old German military elite in the face of this volte-face, have considerable interest for the student of political communication.


Author(s):  
Ingrid Greene ◽  
Denise Ferguson

Issues management in today’s quickly changing world can be complex and unpredictable, and in the case of the spread of Ebola, carry lethal implications. Kaiser Permanente (KP) faced a potential internal crisis due to the involvement of medical staff during the spread of the disease in the United States. In addition, KP needed to ensure the safety of the patients the healthcare provider serves. This case study examines how the corporate communications team at KP in Southern California communicated the necessary messages during this crisis in the U.S. in the fall of 2014. The methodology of this case is a textual analysis of the internal corporate communications within Kaiser Permanente during the 2014 Ebola outbreak in the U.S.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdul-Akeem Sadiq ◽  
Naim Kapucu ◽  
Qian Hu

PurposeThe purpose of this viewpoint article is to understand crisis leadership during COVID-19 by examining the decision-making with respect to implementing COVID-19 mitigation measures, collaboration with stakeholders, and communication strategies of the governors of the States of California, Texas, Florida, and New York in the United States.Design/methodology/approachThis viewpoint article employs information from the extant literature on crisis leadership and secondary sources to understand the four governor's crisis leadership strategies during COVID-19.FindingsGovernors Gavin Newsom of California and Andrew Cuomo of New York made quicker decisions regarding implementing COVID-19 mitigation measures (e.g. shutting down the economy, mandating physical distancing, issuing stay-at-home orders, mandating wearing face covering in public and issuing a state of emergency) compared to Governors Greg Abbott of Texas and Ron DeSantis of Florida. In addition, all four governors collaborated with state and local governments, private entities, and nonprofits to address COVID-19. Finally, all four governors held some form of briefing on COVID-19 on a regular basis and used different media to get their information out to the public.Originality/valueThis viewpoint article uses decision-making regarding implementation of mitigation strategies, collaboration with stakeholders, and crisis communication strategy to understand governors' crisis leadership during COVID-19.


This chapter dwells upon a construct of origin story and self-made pastiche in universal codes of media, as seen through international political communication. The main case upon which effectiveness of the constructs are demonstrated is the case of overwhelming media presence of certain politicians, which transcends into narrative fiction. Analyzed is the phenomena of Presidents of the United States and their appearances in movies, comics, and music, which is the case for every US President ever. Supplied are results of author's own empirical research on subjects which concerns all three mediums. Additionally, dissected are the concepts of American dream, mystery men, and media presence of certain politicians showcased both retrospectively and contemporarily.


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