scholarly journals ‘Zombies’, ‘cannibals’, and ‘super humans’: a quantitative and qualitative analysis of UK news media reporting of the cathinone psychostimulants labelled ‘monkey dust’

Author(s):  
Amanda Marie Atkinson ◽  
Harry Sumnall
BJGP Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. bjgpopen20X101005
Author(s):  
Lynne Rush ◽  
Shona Hilton ◽  
Lisa McDaid

BackgroundA recent drive to improve sepsis awareness has been accompanied by prolific media reporting about its management in children. Media reporting is known to influence public understanding of health issues and subsequent health-seeking behaviour.AimTo examine UK newspaper representations of sepsis in children to better understand how the messages they convey may impact on parents' consulting behaviour and expectations about antimicrobial prescribing.Design & settingQualitative analysis of articles published in 12 UK newspapers from January 1988 to June 2018.MethodThematic analysis of 140 articles about sepsis in children identified through a search on the Nexis database.ResultsReporting about sepsis in UK newspapers was characterised by emotive personal narratives about affected children who have suffered death or disability. These events were frequently presented as resulting from failings within the healthcare system that could have been avoided by early treatment. Health professionals were portrayed as inadequately prepared to recognise and manage sepsis, and as reluctant to prescribe antibiotics, even when necessary. Parents were positioned as advocates for their children, and as being ultimately responsible for ensuring that they receive appropriate treatment.ConclusionThis research identified messages about sepsis in the UK news media that could influence public attitudes about antibiotic prescribing in acute childhood illness. Public health communications about sepsis awareness must acknowledge the wider implications of unnecessary antibiotic use as a driver of antimicrobial resistance to reduce the risk of damaging efforts to promote rational prescribing.


2022 ◽  
pp. 002190962110696
Author(s):  
Shabir Hussain ◽  
Farrukh Shahzad ◽  
Shirin Ahmad

In this study, we present a contextual model for analyzing the escalatory and de-escalatory trends in media reporting of seven conflicts in Pakistan. For this purpose, we combined findings from both survey and content analysis. While the survey helped to examine the journalists’ perceptions about the security threats of conflicts and the factors that influence the reportage, the content analysis was utilized to analyze the escalatory and de-escalatory characteristics in the coverage. The findings show that high security conflicts lead to a patriotic reporting scenario that results in high escalatory coverage. There is a significant decrease in the escalatory coverage as the assumed threat level of a conflict decreases. Similarly, we found that a conflict in which journalists exercised more relative freedom from pressure groups was reported in de-escalatory fashion. These findings can be useful for strategizing for the implementation of peace journalism in Pakistan in particular and elsewhere in general.


Religions ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 307 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giulia Evolvi

Islamophobia is the unfounded hostility against Muslims. While anti-Muslim feelings have been explored from many perspectives and in different settings, Internet-based Islamophobia remains under-researched. What are the characteristics of online Islamophobia? What are the differences (if any) between online and offline anti-Muslim narratives? This article seeks to answer these questions through a qualitative analysis of tweets written in the aftermath of the 2016 British referendum on European Union membership (also known as “Brexit”), which was followed by a surge of Islamophobic episodes. The analysis of the tweets suggests that online Islamophobia largely enhances offline anti-Islam discourses, involving narratives that frame Muslims as violent, backward, and unable to adapt to Western values. Islamophobic tweets also have some peculiar characteristics: they foster global networks, contain messages written by so-called “trolls” and “bots,” and contribute to the spreading of “fake news.” The article suggests that, in order to counteract online Islamophobia, it is important to take into account the networked connections among social media, news media platforms, and offline spaces.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian S. Czymara ◽  
Marijn van Klingeren

News media have shape-shifted over the last decades, with rising online news suppliers and an increase in online news consumption. We examine how reporting on immigration differs between popular German online and print media over three crucial years of the so-called immigration crisis, from 2015 to 2017. We extend knowledge on framing of the crisis by examining a period covering start, peak and the time after the intake of refugees. Moreover, we establish whether online and print reporting differs in terms of both frame occurrence and variability. Crises generally create an opening for the formation of new perspectives and frames. These conditions provide an ideal test to see whether the focus of media reporting differs between online and print sources. We extract the dominant frames in almost 18,500 articles using machine-learning methods. While results indicate that many frames are, on average, more visible in either online or print media, these differences do not appear to follow a systematic logic. Regarding diversity of frame usage, we find that online media are, on average, more dominated by particular frames compared to print and that frame diversity is largely independent of important key events happening during our period of investigation.


2020 ◽  
pp. 089011712091422
Author(s):  
Tyler J. VanderWeele ◽  
Arthur C. Brooks

There is clear evidence that the prevalence of negative media reporting has increased substantially over the past years. There is evidence that this negative reporting adversely affects social interactions, and thereby also health and well-being outcomes. Given the wide reach of negative media reporting and the contagion of such reporting and the resulting interactions, the effects on health are arguably substantial. Moreover, there is little incentive at present for media outlets to change practices. A commitment of news outlets to report one positive story for every 3 negative stories, and of news consumers to restrict attention to outlets that do, could dramatically alter practices and, consequently, population health.


2009 ◽  
Vol 3 (S2) ◽  
pp. S148-S153 ◽  
Author(s):  
James M. Wilson ◽  
Marissa Iannarone ◽  
Chunhui Wang

ABSTRACTObjective: We investigated local media reporting during the emergence of influenza A/Hong Kong/68 in Hong Kong to understand how indolent social awareness contributed to delays in warning of the pandemic.Methods: Daily output from 1 English-language and 4 local Chinese-language newspapers published in Hong Kong between July 1 and August 31, 1968 were manually reviewed for all references to the presence of respiratory disease or influenza in southern China and Hong Kong. Public announcements from the World Health Organization Weekly Epidemiological Record were used to approximate international awareness.Results: Influenza A/Hong Kong/68 appeared abruptly in Hong Kong and within 1 week began to affect the functioning of the health care sector as well as civil infrastructure due to worker infection and absenteeism. Substantial delays in communication between Guangzhou, China, and Hong Kong officials contributed to delays in warning globally.Conclusions: The 1968 experience emphasizes the need to use the news media in the operational setting as a critical component in warning of a pandemic. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2009;3(Suppl 2):S148–S153)


2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 127-128
Author(s):  
Lisa Waller
Keyword(s):  

Review of: Does the Media Fail Aboriginal Political Aspirations? 45 Years of News Media Reporting, Amy Thomas, Andrew Jakubowicz and Heidi Norman (2020)Canberra, ACT: Aboriginal Studies Press, 267 pp.,ISBN 978-0-85575-084-8, p/bk, $39.95


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document