scholarly journals Scientific communication in a post-truth society

2018 ◽  
Vol 116 (16) ◽  
pp. 7656-7661 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shanto Iyengar ◽  
Douglas S. Massey
Keyword(s):  
Political Polarization ◽  
Scientific Enterprise ◽  
Media Environment ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Political Spectrum ◽  
Public Policy Decisions ◽  
Content Accessibility ◽  
High Degree

Within the scientific community, much attention has focused on improving communications between scientists, policy makers, and the public. To date, efforts have centered on improving the content, accessibility, and delivery of scientific communications. Here we argue that in the current political and media environment faulty communication is no longer the core of the problem. Distrust in the scientific enterprise and misperceptions of scientific knowledge increasingly stem less from problems of communication and more from the widespread dissemination of misleading and biased information. We describe the profound structural shifts in the media environment that have occurred in recent decades and their connection to public policy decisions and technological changes. We explain how these shifts have enabled unscrupulous actors with ulterior motives increasingly to circulate fake news, misinformation, and disinformation with the help of trolls, bots, and respondent-driven algorithms. We document the high degree of partisan animosity, implicit ideological bias, political polarization, and politically motivated reasoning that now prevail in the public sphere and offer an actual example of how clearly stated scientific conclusions can be systematically perverted in the media through an internet-based campaign of disinformation and misinformation. We suggest that, in addition to attending to the clarity of their communications, scientists must also develop online strategies to counteract campaigns of misinformation and disinformation that will inevitably follow the release of findings threatening to partisans on either end of the political spectrum.

scholarly journals Active audiences in the regulation of the audiovisual media. Consumer versus citizen in Spain and Mexico

Comunicar ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 22 (43) ◽  
pp. 91-99 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carmen Fuente-Cobo ◽  
Juan-María Martínez-Otero ◽  
Rogelio del-Prado-Flores
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Audience Participation ◽  
Audiovisual Communication ◽  
Media Environment ◽  
The Public ◽  
Media Control ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Public Sphere

Media audience has been conceived, traditionally, as a group of citizens or consumers. In the Media environment, citizens exercise their communication rights and participate in the public sphere; consumers, on the other hand, consume audiovisual products in a specific market. In the citizen perspective, audiovisual communication serves the public interest and democratic values; in the consumer one, it serves private and individual interests. This paper studies the main academic positions referred to the dichotomy citizen – consumer, attending particularly to the investigations of Peter Dahlgren on relations between Media and Democracy; of Richard Collins, on Audiovisual Policy; and of Sonia Livingstone on public sphere, audience participation and Media governance. After this theoretical approach, the paper analyzes the presence of these conceptions of the audience in the audiovisual legal systems of two countries: Spain and Mexico. These two countries are modifying their legal framework. As a conclusion, it appears that the different conceptions of the audience –as consumers or as citizens– are in a close relationship with the different ways of Media control and accountability. Dos han sido los prismas bajo los que se ha concebido tradicionalmente a la audiencia: como ciudadanos, que ante los mensajes de los medios ejercen sus derechos comunicativos y participan en la construcción de una opinión pública libre; o como consumidores o usuarios, que actúan dentro de un mercado de productos audiovisuales. Mientras que la primera perspectiva atiende a la comunicación audiovisual valorando su interés público y su influencia en la construcción de un espacio público de debate y discusión, la segunda atiende a la dimensión más privada e individual de la comunicación audiovisual. En el presente trabajo se abordan las principales posiciones doctrinales sobre dicha dicotomía consumidor-ciudadano, analizando para ello la obra de los autores que más atención han dedicado a estas cuestiones en el ámbito europeo, y en especial los trabajos de Peter Dahlgren sobre las relaciones entre medios y democracia, los de Richard Collins sobre política audiovisual, y los vinculados a Sonia Livingstone sobre esfera pública, participación de las audiencias y gobernanza de los medios. Realizada esta aproximación teórica, se analiza la presencia de dichas concepciones de la audiencia en dos ordenamientos jurídicos audiovisuales que están experimentando modificaciones sustanciales: el español y el mexicano. Como conclusión, se constata que las distintas concepciones de la audiencia están en profunda relación con la forma de concebir el control de los medios y la rendición de cuentas de sus operadores frente al público.

Wankelende wetenschap. De studie van de journalistiek & de revolutie in de media

2010 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank van Vree
Keyword(s):  
Professional Practice ◽  
Structural Changes ◽  
Traditional Media ◽  
The Public ◽  
Journalism Studies ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
New Research ◽  
The Revolution

An Unstable Discipline. Journalism Studies & the Revolution in the Media An Unstable Discipline. Journalism Studies & the Revolution in the Media During the last decade media and journalism have got into turmoil; landslides have changed the traditional media landscape, overturning familiar marking points, institutions and patterns. To understand these radical changes journalism studies should not only develop a new research agenda, but also review its approach and perspective.This article looks back on recent development in the field and argues for a more cohesive perspective, taking journalism as a professional practice as its starting point. Furthermore a plea is made for a thorough research into the structural changes of the public sphere and the role and position of journalism.

scholarly journals Klummen som politisk barometer

1970 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lene Rimestad
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Private Sphere ◽  
The Public ◽  
Before And After ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Two Parameters

Columns generally take up a lot of space in the media. But what can an employed journalist write in his column? How is this particular freedom managed and shaped? In this article the columns written by journalists working for Berlingske Tidende are analyzed. The analysis covers two months before and after substantial changes in the paper in 2003. Two parameters are used in the analysis: Political: Is the column pro-government, anti-government, apolitical or mixed. And what sphere does the column cover: Does the column take place in the private sphere or the public sphere? Finally the changes in the period are discussed. But initially the column as a genre is defined.

‘The Democracy of Conversation’: The Panel and the Public Sphere

2005 ◽  
Vol 116 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Harrington
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Focus Groups ◽  
News Media ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
Media Environment ◽  
The Public ◽  
Fundamental Part ◽  
News Program ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Worrying Trend

If news is a fundamental part of the public sphere and ideals of democracy, then continuing assertions about the public's lack of engagement with its topics is a worrying trend. However, much of this worry may be conflated by a lack of understanding about both the lived experiences of audiences (particularly youth audiences) and the news media environment more generally. This paper examines The Panel, a Ten Network ‘new’ news program which appears to have a significant deal of power in the mediatised postmodern public sphere. Through its discursive format, and by making news more comprehensible and interesting, the program is able to increase the potential for everyday ‘rational-critical’ debate at the heart of the public sphere (Habermas, 1989: 117). This theory is examined here through the use of interviews with members of The Panel's production team and focus groups conducted with youth audiences.

A Taxonomy Approach to Fake News

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivan Valchanov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Communication Channels ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Online Environment ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Media Environment ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Media ◽  
Fact Checking ◽  
Points Of View ◽  
Media Corporations

The development of the Internet and social media and networks as a media environment and communication channels combined with the specificity of the journalistic profession in the online environment are a factor which contributes to the emergence and proliferation of fake news. The lack of reliable fact checking by the media and the fast news consumption by the public lead to mass disinformation about certain issues or subjects. The current paper examines fake news from several points of view and describes the models of their use – as harmless jokes, as lack of journalistic competence or professionalism and as means of manipulation and intentional misleading of public opinion. The attempts of big media corporations to fight fake news are also described.

Employing of Media during Terrorism

2014 ◽  
pp. 157-170
Author(s):  
Muhammad Ayish
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Terrorist Organizations ◽  
The Public ◽  
Media Institutions ◽  
The World ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
The Media ◽  
Practical Experiences ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Vital Resource

Communication has proven to be an integral component of the terrorism phenomenon. To unravel the opportunities and challenges embedded in employing the media during terrorism, this chapter draws on research findings and practical experiences around the world to identify prime actors associated with this issue and to describe their objectives, tactics, and channels of communication. It is argued here that media constitute a vital resource in the war on terror with both terrorist organizations and states harnessing communication to advance their causes in the public sphere. In this context, four categories of media users have been identified: media institutions, terrorist organizations, governments, and citizen groups. The chapter discusses enduring issues associated with each actor's use of media and calls for evolving new conceptual frameworks for understanding media use during terrorism. It concludes by arguing that while we seem to have a huge pool of research findings and practical experiences related to using the media during terrorism, we seem to have a critical shortage in how we conceptually account for the different variables that define the use of media in terrorism situations.

scholarly journals I Don't Want to Be a Citizen (if it Means I Have to Watch the ABC)

2002 ◽  
Vol 103 (1) ◽  
pp. 14-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan McKee
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Social Engagement ◽  
Social Organisation ◽  
The Political ◽  
Contemporary Culture ◽  
The Public ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Public Sphere

This paper argues that much writing about media and citizenship tends to rely on a set of realist or structuralist assumptions about what constitutes a state, a citizen and politics. Because of these assumptions, other forms of social organisation that could reasonably be described as nations, and other forms of social engagement that could be called citizenship are excluded from consideration. One effect of this blindness is that certain identities, and the cultural formations associated with them, continue to be overvalued as more real and important than others. Areas of culture that are traditionally while, masculine, middle-class and heterosexual remain central in debates, while the political processes of citizens of, for example, a Queer nation, continue to be either ignored or devalued as being somehow trivial, unimportant or less real. The paper demonstrates that this need not be the case — that the language of nation and citizenship can reasonably be expanded to include these other forms of social organisation, and that when such a conceptual move is made, we can find ways of describing contemporary culture that attempt to understand the public-sphere functions of the media without falling back into traditional prejudices against feminised, Queer, working class or non-white forms of culture.

Why perceived political bias on TV does not inevitably lead to a polarized audience. The case of NRK and TV2 in Norway

2019 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 382-406
Author(s):  
Anders Todal Jenssen ◽  
Toril Aalberg
Keyword(s):  
Political Polarization ◽  
Wide Audience ◽  
The Public ◽  
News Stories ◽  
Political Beliefs ◽  
Political Bias ◽  
News Source ◽  
Public Broadcaster ◽  
Political Spectrum ◽  
The Right

Abstract This paper investigates whether political polarization of the TV audience is emerging also in a typical democratic corporatist system. The study is motivated by the claim put forward by several US scholars, who argue that in today’s high choice information environments, partisans tend to see mainstream media as ‘hostile’ and therefore seek out and select broadcasters who confirm and deepen their worldview (Arceneaux and Johnson, 2013; Iyengar and Hahn, 2009; Tewksbury and Riles, 2015). This demand, they argue, expands the market for partisan TV and contributes to growing political polarization. We ask if there is evidence of a politically polarized Norwegian TV audience, by exploring the relationship between partisan preferences, perceived political bias and selective exposure to TV news. We find that many Norwegians believe that both the public broadcaster and the leading commercial broadcasters are politically biased. Consistent with the “hostile media hypothesis”, people on the right accuse the broadcasters of favoring the parties on the left, whereas people of the left tend to see the broadcasters as favoring the parties on the right, albeit not to the same degree. By using a survey experiment, our study also demonstrates that given the opportunity, the audience does select news stories consistent with their political beliefs from a politically ‘friendly’ broadcaster. However, they also choose news stories consistent with their political beliefs from a perceived hostile news source over politically inconsistent stories from a friendly source. This suggests that ‘friendly’ content triumphs perception of broadcaster bias. Despite widespread perceptions of partisan favoritism in the Norwegian TV market, we find few traces of a politically polarized audience. The main reason for this is that the public broadcaster still draws a wide audience across the political spectrum, as even critics consider this news source as too important and relevant to be ignored.

Japanese Buddhism and the Public Sphere: From the End of World War II to the Post-Great East Japan Earthquake and Nuclear Power Plant Accident

2012 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 203-225 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shimazono Susumu
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Public Space ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
The Public ◽  
The People ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Hanshin Earthquake

Abstract Until the 1990s, a commonly held view in Japan was that Buddhism had withdrawn from public space, or that Buddhism had become a private concern. Although Buddhist organizations conducted relief and support activities for the people affected at the time of the Great Hanshin Earthquake in 1995, they were often seen to be out of place, and little attention was given to them by the media. However recently there are areas in which Buddhism can be seen as playing new roles in the public sphere. Religious organizations seem to be expected to perform functions in fields that lie outside the narrow definition of religion. These expectations are becoming stronger among Buddhist organizations as well. In this paper, I describe some areas in the public sphere in which Buddhist groups are starting to play important roles including disaster relief, support of the poor and people without relatives, provision of palliative care and spiritual care, and involvement in environmental and nuclear plant issues.

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