scholarly journals Pandemic fiction as therapeutic play: The New York Times Magazine’s The Decameron Project (2020)

Thesis Eleven ◽  
2022 ◽  
pp. 072551362110694
Author(s):  
Stephanie Downes ◽  
Juliane Römhild

This article explores the therapeutic potential of narrative fiction during a global health crisis. We focus on The Decameron Project (2020), a collection of short fiction by writers from around the world, commissioned by the New York Times Magazine. The Decameron Project references the narrative framework established by Giovanni Boccaccio in the mid-14th century, when the Black Death devastated Europe. Drawing on aspects of psychoanalytic theory and principles of bibliotherapy employed since the Middle Ages, we argue that The Decameron Project offers strategies to simultaneously confront and contain the anxious mind. Storytelling, according to both Boccaccio and to the editors of The Decameron Project, is not merely a source of distraction but a means of survival.

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 113-124
Author(s):  
Aji Susanto Anom Purnomo ◽  
Novan Jemmi Andrea ◽  
Monica Revias Purwa Kusuma

2020 is the year when the world is faced with a health crisis, namely the Covid-19 pandemic or also known as the Corona Virus. All aspects of life are affected by this crisis, the joints of humanity are faced with limitations. The mass media are intensively reporting various incidents regarding the Covid-19 pandemic. The stories are often accompanied by journalistic photos. One of the functions of photojournalism is to strengthen the story of what the media wants to convey. Journalistic photos during this pandemic usually feature scenes from medical activities, government policies and large narratives that are cold on empathetic human relations. However, different from most photojournalism in most mass media, The New York Times publishes "Still Lives" photography projects that are done by its photographers. The project presents a different narrative from this time of the pandemic. The “Still Lives” photography project is important because it presents journalistic photos that tell a domestic narrative that is close to the sides of universal humanity, namely the stories of the photographers' homes and families. This study aims to describe and interpret the “Still Lives” photography project as an alternative in creating a different narrative from photojournalism during the pandemic. This study used a descriptive qualitative research method based on phenomenology with Roland Barthes' main theory of semiotics and supported by journalistic photography theory and representation theory. The research results obtained a complete explanation and meaning of the “Still Lives” Project from The New York Times. The project according to the theory of photo journalistic is photo story based on personal experiences. From the analysis through the theory of semiotics from Roland Barthes and representation theory successfully obtained a result that basically projects “Still Lives” can be understood as a representation of the universal experience and feeling by mankind. Project “Still Lives” provides the representation of covid-19 pandemic through the mass media journalistic that show an alternative offer to journalistic practice to use lyrical narratives and personal experience in the story and more empathy in the mass publication of pandemic covid-19.


Temática ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Aparecida Ramos da Silva ◽  
Isa De Oliveira Teixeira

Este artigo objetiva analisar a relação entre o Brasil e a violência retratada pelo website do jornal The New York Times, tendo como contexto os jogos da Rio 2016. Considerando a questão da violência como um estereótipo frequentemente relacionado ao Brasil pelo imaginário estrangeiro. Enquanto metodologia foi adotada a análise de conteúdo com base nos conceitos de Laurence Bardin, que guiaram para a conclusão de que a publicação de Nova Iorque ao invés de trazer novos conceitos que alterassem a genérica visão estrangeira sobre o país reforçou o velho estereótipo de um Brasil violento.Palavras-chave: Brasil. Violência. The New York Times. Rio 2016. Estereótipo


1946 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 540 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Kriesberg

2021 ◽  
pp. 073953292110135
Author(s):  
Kirstie Hettinga ◽  
Elizabeth Smith

The New York Times “streamlined” its editing process in 2017 and reduced the editing staff by nearly half. Through content analysis on corrections (N = 1,149), this research examines the effects of these cuts. Analysis revealed the Times published more corrections before the changes, but that corrections appeared more quickly after the original error occurred and there were more corrections for content in the A section following the staffing cuts. The A section includes national and international news and thus often contains political content, which is rife for heightened scrutiny in an age of media distrust. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed.


2021 ◽  
pp. 174804852098744
Author(s):  
Ke Li ◽  
Qiang Zhang

Media representations have significant power to shape opinions and influence public response to communities or groups around the world. This study investigates media representations of Islam and Muslims in the American media, drawing upon an analysis of reports in the New York Times over a 17-year period (from Jan.1, 2000 to Dec. 31, 2016) within the framework of Critical Discourse Analysis. It examines how Islam and Muslims are represented in media coverage and how discursive power is penetrated step by step through such media representations. Most important, it investigates whether Islam and Muslims have been stigmatized through stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination. The findings reveal that the New York Times’ representations of Islam and Muslims are negative and stereotypical: Islam is stereotyped as the unacclimatized outsider and the turmoil maker and Muslims as the negative receiver. The stereotypes contribute to people’s prejudice, such as Islamophobia from the “us” group and fear of the “them” group but do not support a strong conclusion of discrimination.


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