Analyzing Zoombombing as a new communication tool of cyberhate in the COVID-19 era

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Claire Seungeun Lee
Keyword(s):  
News Media ◽  
The United States ◽  
Communication Tool ◽  
Cultural Perspective ◽  
Media Content Analysis ◽  
Content Type ◽  
News Reporting ◽  
Identity Recognition ◽  
Working Environments ◽  
Jewish Americans

PurposeThe aims of this paper are to explore the rise of cyberhate on the Zoom video conferencing platform at the outset of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and to examine victimized cases of Zoombombing where it was used as a cyberhate tool. The COVID-19 pandemic has not only impacted our lives and modes of working and studying, but also created new environments for cybercriminals to engage in cybercrime, cyberhate and hacking by exploiting tools such as Zoom. This new phenomenon called “Zoombombing” was first reported in mid-March 2020, when the social distancing and stay-at-home policies in the United States were nationally introduced.Design/methodology/approachThis research conducted a news media content analysis on cases of Zoombombing. To conduct this analysis empirically, a dataset with all of the reported Zoombombing cases from March to April 2020 was created. Google Trends, news media and tweets were used to analyze Zoombombing as a form of cyberhate, particularly digital racism.FindingsThe results reveal prevalent Zoom-mediated racism toward Asian Americans, African Americans and Jewish Americans. This study understands Zoombombing from a sociopolitical/cultural perspective through news reporting of victimized cases and explores various ways that Zoombombing shapes, mediates, transforms and escalates racism.Originality/valueThis study is one of the very first studies to analyze Zoombombing in a way that builds upon an emerging body of literature on cyberhate. This paper considers Zoom as a space where curious young people, cybercriminals, extremists and hackers impose their ideologies and beliefs upon newly established online learning and working environments and engage in a struggle for identity recognition in the midst of increasingly accessible vulnerable software and cyberspace.

The royal Saudi visit may change long-term US views

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Saudi Arabia ◽  
News Media ◽  
Close Association ◽  
The United States ◽  
Business Environment ◽  
Business Leaders ◽  
High Tech ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Building Relationships ◽  
Crown Prince

Significance The crown prince (colloquially known across Western news media as ‘MBS’), this month visited the United States, building relationships, announcing business deals and seeking to soften the image of Saudi Arabia. His seven-city tour included meetings with politicians from both parties, high-tech business leaders and Hollywood stars. Impacts The close association with Washington may play well to MBS’s youth base, but could further antagonise Saudi conservatives. Relationships built on the trip will likely boost US investment in Saudi Arabia, despite concerns about a fickle business environment. The Saudi charm offensive could provoke an adverse US domestic reaction if civilian casualties in Yemen spike and hit the news cycle.

Introduction

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Martha Minow
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
News Media ◽  
The United States ◽  
News Reporting ◽  
For Profit ◽  
The Press ◽  
Production And Distribution ◽  
Government Involvement ◽  
The Government ◽  
Historical Developments

As traditional for-profit news media in the United States decline in economic viability and sheer numbers of outlets and staff, what does and what should the constitutional guarantee of freedom of the press mean? The book examines the current news ecosystem in the United States and chronicles historical developments in government involvement in shaping the industry. It argues that initiatives by the government and by private sector actors are not only permitted but called for as transformations in technology, economics, and communications jeopardize the production and distribution of and trust in news and the very existence of local news reporting. It presents twelve proposals for change to help preserve the free press essential to our democratic society.

Advance care tweeting: A mixed-methods analysis of online conversations surrounding National Healthcare Decisions Day hashtags on Twitter (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tahleen A. Lattimer ◽  
Kelly E. Tenzek ◽  
Yotam Ophir ◽  
Suzanne S. Sullivan
Keyword(s):  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Topic Model ◽  
Death And Dying ◽  
The United States ◽  
Good Death ◽  
Communication Tool ◽  
Cultural Perspective ◽  
National Healthcare ◽  
Advance Care Directives ◽  
Advance Care

BACKGROUND Within most Western societies, topics related to death and dying continue to be taboo, and opportunities for presence and engagement during end-of-life that could lead to a good death are avoided as a result. Several efforts have been made to help people engage in advance care planning (ACP) conversations, including completing advance care directives, so they may express their goals-of-care if they become too sick to communicate their wishes. One major effort in the United States towards encouraging such challenging discussions is the annual celebration of National Healthcare Decisions Day (NHDD). OBJECTIVE The present study explored ACP from a socio-cultural perspective, using Twitter as a communication tool. METHODS All publicly available tweets published between August 1st 2020 and July 30th 2021 (N = 9,713) were collected and analyzed using the computational, mixed-method Analysis of Topic Model Network (ANTMN) approach. RESULTS Results revealed conversations, driven primarily by laypersons (96% of tweets originated from unverified accounts) surrounded three major themes: importance and promotion, surrounding language, and finally, systemic issues. CONCLUSIONS Based on the results, we argue there is a need for awareness of what barriers people may face in engaging in ACP conversations, including systemic barriers, literacy levels, misinformation, policies, including Medicare reimbursements, and trust among health care professionals. This is incredibly important for clinicians and scholars to be aware of as we strive to re-envision ACP so that people are more comfortable engaging in ACP conversations. In terms of content of Tweets, we argue there is a chasm between the biomedical and biopsychosocial elements of ACP, including patient narratives. If used properly, Twitter conversations and NHDD hashtags could be harnessed to serve as a connecting point between organizations, physicians, patients and family members, to lay the groundwork for the trajectory towards a good death.

Eén bril, vele visies?

2021 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-50
Author(s):  
Willem Buyens ◽  
Peter Van Aelst
Keyword(s):  
News Media ◽  
News Coverage ◽  
Personal Characteristics ◽  
Economic Issue ◽  
Cultural Issue ◽  
Diverse Range ◽  
Content Type ◽  
News Reporting ◽  
Content Diversity

Abstract One outlook, many perspectives? Diversity in Flemish news media and the perception of the audience A diverse range of actors and viewpoints can safeguard the quality of news reporting and the distribution of attention to different sides to a story. In this study, we look at the differences in content diversity between the news coverage on two (one socio-economic and one socio-cultural) cases in the Flemish news environment and how these differences translate into perceptions of diversity and bias with the audience. Despite limited differences in content diversity, we find that news items on the sociocultural and socio-economic case highlight different actors. Moreover, news items on the socio-cultural case are more neutral, while the coverage on the socio-economic issue contains more (balanced) viewpoints. These differences in content are largely translated into differences in perception. However, we find that a slight bias in perception of tone in the coverage on the socio-cultural issue is due to personal characteristics and issue-relevant attitudes.

scholarly journals Protecting Teachers or Protecting Children? Media Representations of Vergara v. California

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 163
Author(s):  
Jeanne M. Powers ◽  
Kathryn P. Chapman
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
News Media ◽  
The United States ◽  
Media Representations ◽  
State Courts ◽  
Media Content Analysis ◽  
Political Spectacle ◽  
Print News ◽  
Political Conflicts ◽  
State Statutes

Over the past five years, the laws governing teachers’ employment have been at the center of legal and political conflicts in state courts and elections across the United States.  Vergara v. California challenged five California state statutes that provide employment protections for teachers.  Drawing on the theory of political spectacle, we conducted a media content analysis of 42 print news media articles published prior to the court’s decision in June 2014.  Two aspects of political spectacle, the use of metaphor and the illusion of rationality were the most salient and deployed in ways that were more closely aligned with the student plaintiffs’ claims than the statutes’ defenders.  We conclude by highlighting how the framing of these and other similar stories may shape subsequent debates about public education in the United States.

scholarly journals Evaluation of Volume of News Reporting and Opioid-Related Deaths in the United States: Comparative Analysis Study of Geographic and Socioeconomic Differences (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yulin Hswen ◽  
Amanda Zhang ◽  
Clark Freifeld ◽  
John S Brownstein
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
News Media ◽  
Regional Variation ◽  
Death Rate ◽  
News Coverage ◽  
The United States ◽  
County Level ◽  
Opioid Epidemic ◽  
News Reporting ◽  
News Reports

BACKGROUND News media coverage is a powerful influence on public attitude and government action. The digitization of news media covering the current opioid epidemic has changed the landscape of coverage and may have implications for how to effectively respond to the opioid crisis. OBJECTIVE This study aims to characterize the relationship between volume of online opioid news reporting and opioid-related deaths in the United States and how these measures differ across geographic and socioeconomic county-level factors. METHODS Online news reports from February 2018 to April 2019 on opioid-related events in the United States were extracted from Google News. News data were aggregated at the county level and compared against opioid-related death counts. Ordinary least squares regression was used to model opioid-related death rate and opioid news coverage with the inclusion of socioeconomic and geographic explanatory variables. RESULTS A total of 35,758 relevant news reports were collected representing 1789 counties. Regression analysis revealed that opioid-related death rate was positively associated with news reporting. However, opioid-related death rate and news reporting volume showed opposite correlations with educational attainment and rurality. When controlling for variation in death rate, counties in the Northeast were overrepresented by news coverage. CONCLUSIONS Our results suggest that regional variation in the volume of opioid-related news reporting does not reflect regional variation in opioid-related death rate. Differences in the amount of media attention may influence perceptions of the severity of opioid epidemic. Future studies should investigate the influence of media reporting on public support and action on opioid issues.

scholarly journals Queensland's broad-scale land-clearing policy debate, 1998–2006: An analysis of evidence-based arguments in news media content

2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathan Laurent ◽  
Lee Duffield
Keyword(s):  
News Media ◽  
Media Content ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Policy Debate ◽  
Media Content Analysis ◽  
Technical Application ◽  
News Reporting ◽  
Land Clearing ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Broad Scale

AbstractThis article outlines the methodology and key findings of a media content analysis of news reporting in the Courier-Mail and Queensland Country Life on the issue of broad-scale land-clearing (BSLC) in Queensland during the period 1998–2006. The case study identifies and examines evidence-based arguments made by stakeholders in the public policy debate surrounding BSLC, including elected officials and judges, interest groups, government agencies, scientists, business owners and individuals, such as academics. In both newspapers, it was noted that throughout the period under review, arguments made on environmental grounds in favour of the policy goal of maximum immediate conservation tended to be concerned with establishing an accurate definition of the BSLC problem. However, reporting of arguments made on political and economic grounds reflected stark differences between the two newspapers. The findings of this study support observations that some participants in a contest over new policy may dispute (persistently, and regardless of previous developments) the validity of: (1) definitions of a problem; (2) proposed policy solutions; (3) matters of detail or technical application; and (4) the enactment and implementation of legislation.

Trump could shake up US conservative media post-office

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
News Media ◽  
The United States ◽  
Far Right ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Political News ◽  
Fox News ◽  
Direct To Consumer ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Streaming Services ◽  
Conservative Media

Significance Conservative broadcast news media in the United States will be reshaped after January 20 by a combination of Trump’s departure; a backlash from his supporters against Fox News for ‘betraying’ him; the television industry’s transition from cable distribution to direct-to-consumer streaming services and digital video platforms; and convergence with radio. Impacts Pro-Trump insurgents will loosen Fox’s dominance in right-of-centre television, but Fox will survive. Surveys show most Republicans believe media cover Trump unfairly, implying a receptive audience for pro-Trump outlets. Energised partisanship may prevent the decline in advertising on political news sites usually seen after an election year. Far-right voices will congregate further from the mainstream on social media platforms, such as Parler.

Some Democrats want Biden to do more for Palestinians

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Democratic Party ◽  
The United States ◽  
Arms Sales ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Military Aid ◽  
Jewish Americans

Significance Although the Democratic Party remains broadly supportive, Israel can no longer assume unconditional support from Democratic politicians amid growing disagreements between traditional party stalwarts and younger, more liberal elements. Impacts Arms sales and military aid to Israel will continue but face increasing scrutiny from some Democrats in Congress. Democrats keen to apply principles of human rights and social justice to foreign policy will not exempt traditional allies. Polls suggest that younger Jewish Americans are less likely to feel deeply connected to Israel or supportive of its government. Democrats who have criticised Israel also have condemned violence by Hamas and recent attacks on Jews in the United States.

scholarly journals Evaluation of Volume of News Reporting and Opioid-Related Deaths in the United States: Comparative Analysis Study of Geographic and Socioeconomic Differences

10.2196/17693 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (7) ◽  
pp. e17693
Author(s):  
Yulin Hswen ◽  
Amanda Zhang ◽  
Clark Freifeld ◽  
John S Brownstein
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
News Media ◽  
Regional Variation ◽  
Death Rate ◽  
News Coverage ◽  
The United States ◽  
County Level ◽  
Opioid Epidemic ◽  
News Reporting ◽  
News Reports

Background News media coverage is a powerful influence on public attitude and government action. The digitization of news media covering the current opioid epidemic has changed the landscape of coverage and may have implications for how to effectively respond to the opioid crisis. Objective This study aims to characterize the relationship between volume of online opioid news reporting and opioid-related deaths in the United States and how these measures differ across geographic and socioeconomic county-level factors. Methods Online news reports from February 2018 to April 2019 on opioid-related events in the United States were extracted from Google News. News data were aggregated at the county level and compared against opioid-related death counts. Ordinary least squares regression was used to model opioid-related death rate and opioid news coverage with the inclusion of socioeconomic and geographic explanatory variables. Results A total of 35,758 relevant news reports were collected representing 1789 counties. Regression analysis revealed that opioid-related death rate was positively associated with news reporting. However, opioid-related death rate and news reporting volume showed opposite correlations with educational attainment and rurality. When controlling for variation in death rate, counties in the Northeast were overrepresented by news coverage. Conclusions Our results suggest that regional variation in the volume of opioid-related news reporting does not reflect regional variation in opioid-related death rate. Differences in the amount of media attention may influence perceptions of the severity of opioid epidemic. Future studies should investigate the influence of media reporting on public support and action on opioid issues.

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