A dragon eating its own tail: public control of air pollution information in China

2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chiara Ravetti ◽  
Tim Swanson ◽  
Yana Jin ◽  
Quan Mu ◽  
Shiqiu Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Labour Force ◽  
Public Information ◽  
Household Survey ◽  
Government Control ◽  
Alternative Source ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Media ◽  
Public Signal ◽  
Beijing China

AbstractThis paper analyses the implications of government control over public information about air pollution. First, we model the incentives for a local government with control over the media to affect popular perception concerning pollution. We argue that biased announcements can influence the inflows of labour force in a municipality beyond economic factors. Then, we examine some evidence on information misreporting in the context of Beijing, China. We show that official air pollution announcements diverge systematically from an alternative source of information, provided by the US Embassy. The results point at a manipulation of popular perception consistent with the motives indicated in our model. Furthermore, using an original household survey, we examine whether the distorted public signal affects agents' behaviour. We find that households that depend upon government-controlled media are significantly less responsive to pollution peaks.

Selective Liberalization

2013 ◽  
pp. 32-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terje S. Skjerdal
Keyword(s):  
Public Information ◽  
Media Policy ◽  
Media Industry ◽  
Government Control ◽  
News Agency ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Informal Coercion ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Government ◽  
Flow Of Information

This chapter discusses recent developments in Ethiopian media governance. The developments point in two directions: Formally speaking, media policy is liberalized, exemplified by improved media legislation, better access to public information, and issuing of private broadcasting licences. However, informally speaking, Ethiopian media governance shows signs of coercion. This is seen for example in increased government control with the official news agency, use of anti-terrorism legislation against journalists, and obstruction of political websites. The chapter suggests that the paradoxes in Ethiopian media governance may be explained as a case of selective liberalization, implying that liberalization is primarily found in areas where the risk of losing control with the flow of information is less for the government. Alongside selective liberalization, there is an undercurrent of unofficial policy in Ethiopia that may represent a return to informal coercion towards the media industry.

A Case Study of Rural Development Programmes In India

2014 ◽  
Vol 1 (5) ◽  
pp. 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Farooq Ahmad Ganiee
Keyword(s):  
Rural Development ◽  
Water Conservation ◽  
Labour Force ◽  
Rural Poverty ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Road Construction ◽  
Development Effort ◽  
Alternative Source ◽  
Productive Assets ◽  
Employment Guarantee

The Rural development generally refers to the process of improving the quality of life and economic welfare of people living in relatively isolated and sparsely populated areas. Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) is considered as a “Silver Bullet” for eradicating rural poverty and unemployment, by way of generating demand for productive labour force in villages. It provides an alternative source of livelihood which will have an impact on reducing migration, restricting child labour, alleviating poverty, and making villages self-sustaining through productive assets creation such as road construction, cleaning up of water tanks, soil and water conservation work, etc. For which it has been considered as the largest anti-poverty programme in India. In this paper, based on the secondary data, an attempt has been made to comprehensively understand the development effort to rebuild the rural life and livelihood on the basis of various secondary data. 

Innovationsmotor Medientechnik – Von der Schreibmaschine zur «Mittleren Datentechnik» bei der Siemag Feinmechanische Werke (1950 bis 1969)

2021 ◽  
Vol 66 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-117
Author(s):  
Christian Henrich-Franke
Keyword(s):  
Data Processing ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Strategic Decisions ◽  
Adverse Conditions ◽  
Family Enterprise ◽  
The Us ◽  
Innovative Products ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Media ◽  
The 1960S

Abstract The second half of the 20th century is commonly considered to be a time in which German companies lost their innovative strength, while promising new technologies presented an enormous potential for innovation in the US. The fact that German companies were quite successful in the production of medium data technology and had considerable influence on the development of electronic data processing was neglected by business and media historians alike until now. The article analyses the Siemag Feinmechanische Werke (Eiserfeld) as one of the most important producers of the predecessors to said medium data technologies in the 1950s and 1960s. Two transformation processes regarding the media – from mechanic to semiconductor and from semiconductor to all-electronic technology – are highlighted in particular. It poses the question of how and why a middling family enterprise such as Siemag was able to rise to being the leading provider for medium data processing office computers despite lacking expertise in the field of electrical engineering while also facing difficult location conditions. The article shows that Siemag successfully turned from its roots in heavy industry towards the production of innovative high technology devices. This development stems from the company’s strategic decisions. As long as their products were not mass-produced, a medium-sized family business like Siemag could hold its own on the market through clever decision-making which relied on flexible specialization, targeted license and patent cooperation as well as innovative products, even in the face of adverse conditions. Only in the second half of the 1960s, as profit margins dropped due to increasing sales figures and office machines had finally transformed into office computers, Siemag was forced to enter cooperation with Philips in order to broaden its spectrum and merge the production site in Eiserfeld into a larger business complex.

scholarly journals The media diversity and inclusion paradox: Experiences of black and brown journalists in mainstream British news institutions

Journalism ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 146488492110017
Author(s):  
Omega Douglas
Keyword(s):  
Open Letter ◽  
News Production ◽  
Black British ◽  
Media Diversity ◽  
Diversity And Inclusion ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Media ◽  
Journalistic Field ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Race Problem

Over 100 British journalists of colour are signatories to an open letter demanding the US Ambassador to the UK condemns the arrest of African-American journalist, Omar Jimenez, on May 29th 2020, whilst he was reporting for CNN on the Minneapolis protests following the police killing of George Floyd. The letter is a vital act of black transatlantic solidarity during a moment when journalism is under threat, economically and politically, and there’s a pandemic of racism in the west. These factors make journalism challenging for reporters from racial minorities, who are already underrepresented in western newsrooms and, as this paper shows, encounter discrimination in the field, as well as within the institutions they work for. The letter speaks to how black British journalists are all too aware that the British journalistic field, like the American one, has a race problem, and institutional commitments to diversity often don’t correspond with the experiences of those included, impacting negatively on the retention of black journalists. Drawing on original interviews with 26 journalists of colour who work for Britain’s largest news organisations, this paper theoretically grounds empirical findings to illustrate why and how discriminatory patterns, as well as contradictions, occur and recur in British news production.

scholarly journals Covid-19 Preparedness and Response Capability: A Case Study of the Hanoi Primary Healthcare System

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 117863292110192
Author(s):  
Minh Van Hoang ◽  
Anh Tuan Tran ◽  
Trang Thu Vu ◽  
Tuan Kim Duong
Keyword(s):  
Public Information ◽  
Enabling Factors ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Emergency Operations ◽  
The Us ◽  
Local Stakeholders ◽  
Control And Prevention ◽  
Issue Public ◽  
Analytical Frameworks

This study examined the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) preparedness and response of the health system (HS) in Hanoi, Vietnam, and identified enabling factors and barriers. This cross-sectional, mixed-methods study was conducted in 4 urban and peri-urban districts that included some wards with COVID-19-positive cases and some without. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) analytical frameworks were used. Overall, 10% of health facilities (HFs) failed to fully implement COVID-19 risk determination; 8.8% failed to fully implement stronger community partnerships with local stakeholders to support public health (PH) preparedness; 35% and 2.5% incompletely implemented and did not implement evaluation of PH emergency operations, respectively; 10% did not identify communication channels to issue public information, alerts, warnings, and notifications; 25% incompletely implemented identification, development of guidance, and standards for information; 72.5% had good preventive and treatment collaboration; and 10% did not fully implement procedures for laboratory testing and reporting results. Enablers included sufficient infrastructure and equipment, strong leadership, and good cross-public-sector collaboration with police and military forces. Barriers included workforce constraints, overburdened and inconsistent reporting systems, inappropriate financial mechanisms, ambiguous health governance, and lack of private-sector engagement. Nonetheless, the HS preparedness and response were satisfactory, although further coordinated efforts in evaluation, coordination, communication, and volunteering remain necessary.

scholarly journals The Impact of Policy Measures on Human Mobility, COVID-19 Cases, and Mortality in the US: A Spatiotemporal Perspective

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 996
Author(s):  
Yun Li ◽  
Moming Li ◽  
Megan Rice ◽  
Haoyuan Zhang ◽  
Dexuan Sha ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Growth Rate ◽  
Human Mobility ◽  
Public Information ◽  
Key Factors ◽  
Information Campaigns ◽  
Rapid Spread ◽  
The Us ◽  
Policy Measures ◽  
The Impact ◽  
At Home

Social distancing policies have been regarded as effective in containing the rapid spread of COVID-19. However, there is a limited understanding of policy effectiveness from a spatiotemporal perspective. This study integrates geographical, demographical, and other key factors into a regression-based event study framework, to assess the effectiveness of seven major policies on human mobility and COVID-19 case growth rates, with a spatiotemporal emphasis. Our results demonstrate that stay-at-home orders, workplace closures, and public information campaigns were effective in decreasing the confirmed case growth rate. For stay-at-home orders and workplace closures, these changes were associated with significant decreases (p < 0.05) in mobility. Public information campaigns did not see these same mobility trends, but the growth rate still decreased significantly in all analysis periods (p < 0.01). Stay-at-home orders and international/national travel controls had limited mitigation effects on the death case growth rate (p < 0.1). The relationships between policies, mobility, and epidemiological metrics allowed us to evaluate the effectiveness of each policy and gave us insight into the spatiotemporal patterns and mechanisms by which these measures work. Our analysis will provide policymakers with better knowledge regarding the effectiveness of measures in space–time disaggregation.

scholarly journals Does the “Miracle Drug” of Environmental Governance Really Improve Air Quality? Evidence from China’s System of Central Environmental Protection Inspections

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (5) ◽  
pp. 850 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruxin Wu ◽  
Piao Hu
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Environmental Protection ◽  
Treatment Effect ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Environmental Governance ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Local Officials ◽  
The Media ◽  
Positive Effect

Central environmental protection inspections have completed their goal of full coverage of 31 provinces in China, and more than 17,000 officials have been held accountable. The media has evaluated the effectiveness of central environmental protection inspections using the notions of “instant results” and the “miracle drug of environmental governance.” Can this approach effectively promote local environmental governance? This paper takes the treatment effect of central environmental protection inspections on air pollution as an example. Using the method of regression discontinuity, central environmental protection inspections are found to have a positive effect on the air quality index (AQI), but this effect is only short term and unsustainable. Additionally, there are inter-provincial differences. Judging from the research results on sub-contaminants, the treatment effect of central environmental protection inspections on air pollution is mainly reflected in PM10, PM2.5 and CO. Under the current situation in which PM10 and PM2.5 are the main assessment indexes, this phenomenon indicates that due to the political achievements and promotion of local officials and for reasons of accountability, it is more effective for the central government to conduct specific environmental assessments through local governments than to conduct central environmental protection inspections.

Short-term effects of ambient air pollution on emergency room admissions due to cardiovascular causes in Beijing, China

2017 ◽  
Vol 230 ◽  
pp. 974-980 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuxia Ma ◽  
Yuxin Zhao ◽  
Sixu Yang ◽  
Jianding Zhou ◽  
Jinyuan Xin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Emergency Room ◽  
Ambient Air ◽  
Ambient Air Pollution ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Beijing China ◽  
Short Term Effects

“The Only Thing I Am Guilty of Is Taking Too Many Jump Shots1”: A Deleuzian Media Analysis of Diana Taurasi’s Drug Charge in 2010

2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 169-179 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judy Liao ◽  
Pirkko Markula
Keyword(s):  
Media Coverage ◽  
Media Analysis ◽  
Drug Control ◽  
Basketball Player ◽  
Control Procedure ◽  
Professional Basketball ◽  
Drug Test ◽  
Amateur Sport ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Media

In November 2010, the US media reported that basketball player Diana Taurasi tested positive for a banned substance while playing in Turkey. In this study, we explore the media coverage of Taurasi’s positive drug test from a Deleuzian perspective. We consider the media coverage as an assemblage (Deleuze & Guattari, 1987; Malins, 2004) to analyze how Taurasi’s drug using body is articulated with the elite female sporting body in the coverage of her doping incident (Markula, 2004; Wise, 2011). Our analysis demonstrates that Taurasi’s position as a professional basketball player in the US dominated the discussion to legitimize her exoneration of banned substance use. In addition, Turkey, its “amateur” sport and poor drug control procedure, was located to the periphery to normalize a certain type of professionalism, doping control, and body as the desirable elements of sporting practice.

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