scholarly journals Bringing Propaganda Back into News Media Studies

2017 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 329-345 ◽  
Author(s):  
Florian Zollmann

With the ascendance of liberal democracy, propaganda activities have vastly increased. The main aim of propaganda has been to protect state-corporate power from the threat of public understanding and participation. Because of its societal importance for public opinion formation, the news media constitutes an obvious channel for the dissemination of propaganda. However, contemporary communication, media and journalism studies have mostly neglected to critically assess the news media’s role in producing and distributing propaganda. In fact, despite of the news media’s integration into the state-corporate nexus, the term propaganda is rarely used in academic treatises on the news media. Furthermore, only a small number of scholars have engaged in elaborating a systematic understanding of the manifold propaganda techniques that are currently applied in liberal democracies. To fill these research gaps, this article maps out various concepts of propaganda and relates them to the process and content of the news media. On the basis of theoretical and empirical studies, the article demonstrates how different forms of propaganda can manifest in news media content. Based on an integration with, as well as a development of, existing literature, the essay aims to build a tool box that can be applied and refined in future studies in order to detect propaganda in news media texts.

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-75
Author(s):  
Birendra Nath Singh

Managing people and productivity are prime concerns of modern business organizations. Many empirical studies were conducted during the era of scientific management (Taylor, 1911) to investigate What and How? McGregor’s (1960) epic theory — Theory X and Theory Y, categorizing all employees into two groups and prescribing methods to motivate and control them was the best. However, his findings also suffered strong criticisms, creating research gaps. The objective of this study was to investigate further and to conclude that there are three major groups named Theory A, Theory B, and Theory C. Amongst them, a middle group — Theory B is most dominant, having all capabilities to significantly influence productivity and prosperity of organizations. The methodology used was qualitative, based upon intensive and critical shop-floor observations. Since this study was not empirical, it had many limitations requiring further researches. Therefore, rightly recommended that future studies should correlate the impact of technological advancements upon motivations and productivity of the modern business organization (Veitch, 2018).


Author(s):  
Julia Partheymüller

It is widely believed that the news media have a strong influence on defining what are the most important problems facing the country during election campaigns. Yet, recent research has pointed to several factors that may limit the mass media’s agenda-setting power. Linking news media content to rolling cross-section survey data, the chapter examines the role of three such limiting factors in the context of the 2009 and the 2013 German federal elections: (1) rapid memory decay on the part of voters, (2) advertising by the political parties, and (3) the fragmentation of the media landscape. The results show that the mass media may serve as a powerful agenda setter, but also demonstrate that the media’s influence is strictly limited by voters’ cognitive capacities and the structure of the campaign information environment.


2005 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 179-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Schredl ◽  
Arthur Funkhouser ◽  
Nicole Arn

Empirical studies largely support the continuity hypothesis of dreaming. The present study investigated the frequency and emotional tone of dreams of truck drivers. On the one hand, the findings of the present study partly support the continuity regarding the time spent with driving/being in the truck and driving dreams and, on the other hand, a close relationship was found between daytime mood (feelings of stress, job satisfaction) and dream emotions, i.e., different dream characteristics were affected by different aspects of daytime activity. The results, thus, indicate that it is necessary to define very clearly how this continuity is to be conceptualized. The approach of formulating a mathematical model (cf. [1]) should be adopted in future studies in order to specify the factors and their magnitude in the relationship between waking and dreaming.


Author(s):  
Paola Pascual-Ferrá ◽  
Neil Alperstein ◽  
Daniel J. Barnett

Abstract Objective The aim of this study was to test the appearance of negative dominance in COVID-19 vaccine-related information and activity online. We hypothesized that if negative dominance appeared, it would be a reflection of peaks in adverse events related to the vaccine, that negative content would attract more engagement on social media than other vaccine-related posts, and posts referencing adverse events related to COVID-19 vaccination would have a higher average toxicity score. Methods We collected data using Google Trends for search behavior, CrowdTangle for social media data, and Media Cloud for media stories, and compared them against the dates of key adverse events related to COVID-19. We used Communalytic to analyze the toxicity of social media posts by platform and topic. Results While our first hypothesis was partially supported, with peaks in search behavior for image and YouTube videos driven by adverse events, we did not find negative dominance in other types of searches or patterns of attention by news media or on social media. Conclusion We did not find evidence in our data to prove the negative dominance of adverse events related to COVID-19 vaccination on social media. Future studies should corroborate these findings and, if consistent, focus on explaining why this may be the case.


2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (02) ◽  
pp. 1450004
Author(s):  
FEDERICA CECI ◽  
DAJANA D'ANDREA

This paper aims to provide a comprehensive picture of knowledge dynamics in fragmented industries in which economic activities are performed through inter-firm projects. The organization performing the project often does not survive the project itself, though knowledge is acquired and retained over time and across the whole industry. Notwithstanding scholars' interest, a systematic understanding of this subject is still lacking. To fill this gap, an analytical model has been developed to describe the processes of knowledge acquisition and retention in fragmented industries. Drawing upon empirical evidence collected from the UK media content industry and literature on project-based learning, project-based organization and organizational learning, the model presents the variables involved in these processes, distinguishing them according to the level at which they act (individual, project, industry) and according to the role they play (process or moderator). Implications for practitioners and policymakers are then discussed.


2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 761-777 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christoph F. Breidbach ◽  
Roderick J. Brodie

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify and delineate research directions that guide future empirical studies exploring how engagement platforms facilitate value co-creation and actor engagement in the context of the sharing economy. Design/methodology/approach The authors adopt a midrange theorizing approach with service-dominant logic as the integrating meta-theoretical perspective to develop a theoretical framework about service platforms, engagement platforms, and actor engagement in information communication technology (ICT) mediated environments. The authors then contextualize the framework for the sharing economy. Findings The authors introduce 20 unique research questions to guide future studies related to service ecosystems, engagement platforms, and actor engagement practices in the context of the sharing economy. Research limitations/implications The sharing economy is an emerging phenomenon that is driven by the development and proliferation of engagement platforms. The engagement platform concept therefore provides a novel perspective for exploration of how ICT can be utilized to facilitate value co-creation and engagement amongst interdependent economic actors in a service ecosystem. Practical implications The purpose of this paper is to guide future academic research, rather than managerial practice. Future research based on the framework can help guide decision-makers to implement and use engagement platforms more effectively. Originality/value This paper offers new insight into the important intersection of ICT and service research, and guides future studies exploring the role of engagement platforms in the context of the sharing economy.


Author(s):  
Lynne Goldstein

Growing up in my family, we were taught that education was the solution (or one of the most important solutions) to many problems. So, it is not so surprising that I once believed something that many still believe—that education about archaeology will result in better public understanding of what we do, and some level of agreement vis-à-vis the value of archaeology. After experiencing that this long-held belief (or perhaps more accurately, hope) was not always true, I realized the obvious fact that someone can be educated on a topic and still disagree with you. Education does not guarantee agreement with the educator (see Goldstein and Kintigh 1990 for another discussion of this point regarding human remains and mortuary sites). In other words, there is not a single truth, especially on this topic. This is certainly not to argue against education, it is just a reminder about realities. For this volume, Giles and Williams invited eighteen papers from archaeologists who have struggled with a wide range of topics associated with the intersection of mortuary archaeology, public archaeology, and contemporary society. This intersection provides the space and the opportunity for examination of problems and issues that are often not raised in discussions of archaeology or public archaeology or contemporary society alone. The breadth, depth, and diversity of perspectives presented in this volume are both fascinating and enlightening. The chapters are often self-reflexive and attempt to be fair, looking at multiple sides of very complex issues. Museums, governments, news media, and other archaeologists would be wise to carefully read these papers. As an American archaeologist who conducts archaeology in the USA, I find the case studies especially important and relevant since most of the examples are not constrained by the kinds of post-colonial circumstances that exist in the USA and countries like Australia (this is not to say that there are not other constraints in the case studies). At a minimum, these papers represent a different set of perspectives on problems with which all archaeologists and museum professionals have struggled. The volume is unusual because the authors do not simply state their opinions and present certain facts; they use a variety of tools to try to determine what happened, how public opinion may be measured, and how decisions are made.


2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (9) ◽  
pp. 1663-1679 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lee Humphreys

This article explores the mediatization of birthdays and anniversaries through the concept of “on-this-date” media as a way to understand the representation and circulation of media content that occurred in previous years, on that exact date. Drawing on journalism studies and mediated memory work, I argue that past events are made relevant and then irrelevant through a frame of on-this-date media. By juxtaposing Facebook Birthdays and Memories with the Associated Press’s “Today In History” feed, I analyze the multiple temporalities at work across analog and digital media platforms. Drawing on Keightley’s zones of intermediacy, I examine how time is mediated through the textual, technological, and social aspects of media, in sometimes conflicting ways. Thus, this article seeks to contribute to our understanding of mediatization by examining how media institutions structure, organize, and represent mediated temporalities.


2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 384-413
Author(s):  
Lorenzo Ugolini ◽  
Dario Fanara

The aim of this paper is to reflect on the social role of European journalists as they cover the issue of terrorism, which is a potential threat to European society itself. For this purpose, the paper presents the results of a qualitative media content analysis related to the news coverage of the aftermath of three major terrorist attacks. Specifically, the research focuses on the values involved in the coverage of the event rather than on the strict report of what happened. The authors observe that both liberal/‘trustee’ and polarized pluralist/‘advocacy’ models engender a double paradox concerning the interest of citizens in being informed or being protected by news media. Nonetheless, the liberal value of responsibility emerges as fundamental, in order to face and resolve this paradox.


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