Online news media and propaganda influence on radicalized individuals: Findings from interviews with Islamist prisoners and former Islamists

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (8) ◽  
pp. 1437-1461 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Baugut ◽  
Katharina Neumann
Keyword(s):  
News Media ◽  
Online News ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
News Reports ◽  
Media Reports ◽  
Willingness To Use ◽  
War Victims ◽  
Western Politics ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Commit Suicide

This study is the first to explore the twin influences of online propaganda and news media on Islamists. We conducted 44 in-depth interviews with cognitively and behaviorally radicalized Islamist prisoners in Austria as well as former Islamists in Germany and Austria. We found that online propaganda and news media had interdependent influences on Islamists’ rejections of non-Muslims and Western politics, as well as on their willingness to use violence and commit suicide. Cognitively radicalized individuals were influenced by propaganda that blamed non-Muslims for opposing Islam; this was reinforced by online mainstream news reports of right-wing populism and extremism that propagandists selectively distributed via social media. Among behaviorally radicalized individuals, exposure to propaganda and news reports depicting Muslim war victims contributed to the radicalized individuals’ willingness to use violence. Moreover, propaganda and media reports that extensively personalized perpetrators of violence strengthened radicalized individuals’ motivations to imitate the use of violence.

scholarly journals Achievements and Challenges for Higher Education during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Rapid Review of Media in Africa

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (24) ◽  
pp. 12888
Author(s):  
Inge K. Sonn ◽  
Marieta Du Plessis ◽  
Carel D. Jansen Van Vuuren ◽  
Janene Marais ◽  
Emma Wagener ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
News Media ◽  
Online News ◽  
Rapid Review ◽  
Sustainable Development Goal ◽  
Development Goal ◽  
Level Of Education ◽  
Facilitative Role ◽  
Media Reports

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic struck globally and has affected higher education institutions (HEIs) and their operations, indirectly impacting the progress of the Sustainable Development Goal 4 achieved thus far. This article addresses HEIs achievements and challenges experienced in the wake of the pandemic. Online news media reports played a facilitative role in providing information to the HEI communities. A rapid review exploring online news media messages relating to higher education at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in Africa was utilised. Narrative synthesis was used to analyse the data. The results highlight HEIs achievements, which aim to ensure that all students receive the same level of education and provision in terms of devices and mental health support. However, challenges were also experienced at HEIs and include students feeling uncertainty and fear regarding completing their education. Furthermore, the results also show that not all students received the same level of education due to contextual factors, thus deepening the existing social disparities in Africa. The pandemic provides an opportunity for HEIs to embed the components of global citizenship education into the curriculum and to work in an innovative way to promote Sustainable Development Goal 4.

scholarly journals Fit to Print: A Natural History of Obesity Research in the Canadian News Media

2007 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephannie C Roy ◽  
Guy Faulkner ◽  
Sara-Jane Finlay
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
News Media ◽  
Health Research ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
News Reports ◽  
Telephone Interviews ◽  
Obesity Research ◽  
Media Reports ◽  
History Approach ◽  
History Of Obesity

Abstract: This natural-history approach to investigating media reports concerning health can reveal the complex process whereby health research becomes news. Using television and newspaper reports of a press event taken from a larger project, this article examines the inception and mediation of obesity research in the Canadian news media. By exploring questionnaire data, a media release, telephone interviews with journalists, and news reports, we can better understand the meaning making that occurs at all levels in the communications process. We conclude that there is an interdependent and possibly problematic relationship between health sources and journalists that shapes the inception and mediation of obesity research and the translation of health research to the public. Résumé : Cette approche, qui a recours à l’histoire naturelle pour investiguer les reportages sur la santé, peut révéler le processus complexe selon lequel la recherche dans le domaine de la santé devient une nouvelle. En utilisant des reportages de télévision et de journaux sur un événement de presse provenant d’un plus grand projet, cet article examine l’origine et la médiation de la recherche sur l’obésité dans les médias canadiens. Au moyen de données de questionnaire, d’un communiqué de presse, d’entrevues téléphoniques avec des journalistes et de rapports de nouvelles, nous pouvons mieux comprendre la création de sens qui a lieu à tous les niveaux du processus de communication. Nous concluons qu’il y a un rapport d’interdépendance peut-être problématique entre les experts en santé et les journalistes qui influence l’orientation et la médiation de la recherche sur l’obésité et la présentation au public de la recherche dans le domaine de la santé.

scholarly journals Health Communication Through News Media During the Early Stage of the COVID-19 Outbreak in China: Digital Topic Modeling Approach (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qian Liu ◽  
Zequan Zheng ◽  
Jiabin Zheng ◽  
Qiuyi Chen ◽  
Guan Liu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mass Media ◽  
Health Communication ◽  
News Media ◽  
Topic Modeling ◽  
Latent Dirichlet Allocation ◽  
Community Education ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
News Reports ◽  
Media Reports ◽  
Novel Coronavirus

BACKGROUND In December 2019, a few coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases were first reported in Wuhan, Hubei, China. Soon after, increasing numbers of cases were detected in other parts of China, eventually leading to a disease outbreak in China. As this dreadful disease spreads rapidly, the mass media has been active in community education on COVID-19 by delivering health information about this novel coronavirus, such as its pathogenesis, spread, prevention, and containment. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to collect media reports on COVID-19 and investigate the patterns of media-directed health communications as well as the role of the media in this ongoing COVID-19 crisis in China. METHODS We adopted the WiseSearch database to extract related news articles about the coronavirus from major press media between January 1, 2020, and February 20, 2020. We then sorted and analyzed the data using Python software and Python package Jieba. We sought a suitable topic number with evidence of the coherence number. We operated latent Dirichlet allocation topic modeling with a suitable topic number and generated corresponding keywords and topic names. We then divided these topics into different themes by plotting them into a 2D plane via multidimensional scaling. RESULTS After removing duplications and irrelevant reports, our search identified 7791 relevant news reports. We listed the number of articles published per day. According to the coherence value, we chose 20 as the number of topics and generated the topics’ themes and keywords. These topics were categorized into nine main primary themes based on the topic visualization figure. The top three most popular themes were prevention and control procedures, medical treatment and research, and global or local social and economic influences, accounting for 32.57% (n=2538), 16.08% (n=1258), and 11.79% (n=919) of the collected reports, respectively. CONCLUSIONS Topic modeling of news articles can produce useful information about the significance of mass media for early health communication. Comparing the number of articles for each day and the outbreak development, we noted that mass media news reports in China lagged behind the development of COVID-19. The major themes accounted for around half the content and tended to focus on the larger society rather than on individuals. The COVID-19 crisis has become a worldwide issue, and society has become concerned about donations and support as well as mental health among others. We recommend that future work addresses the mass media’s actual impact on readers during the COVID-19 crisis through sentiment analysis of news data.

scholarly journals Corpus-based Comparative Study of Online News Reporting of the COVID-19 Outbreak in the Philippines and Malaysia

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gio Eiron Villanueva
Keyword(s):  
News Media ◽  
Early Period ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Online News ◽  
Personal Hygiene ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
News Reporting ◽  
The Public ◽  
News Reports ◽  
The Government

When faced with new and threatening events like a global health crisis, the public tends to draw inferences from news media to make sense of the uncertainties of the situation. This study explores how online news media in the Philippines and Malaysia depicted the outbreak of COVID-19 during the early period of its spread. The study analyzes the discourse around the outbreak based on a large corpus of Facebook news posts between January and March 2020. Using a corpus-based approach called Keyness Analysis, salient themes & topics, and framings around the disease were identified and interpreted. The results show the differences in the reporting of the outbreak between the two countries. News reports in the Philippines depicted the disease in an enigmatic lens which explains the alarmist angle of news reports and the reassuring tone of the government, versus the war framing of Malaysian news that depicted the disease as an enemy to be fought and defeated. In reporting about the bid to contain the spread of the virus, Philippine news reports dealt mostly with the restrictions and regulations of movement while the Malaysian news covered more issues on personal hygiene and safety protocols. Lastly, concerns for Filipino seafarers and Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) that needs to be repatriated was a recurring theme in Philippine news reports regarding COVID-19, while concerns for the economy was prominent in the Malaysian news reports. The study therefore shows that the depiction of COVID-19 in Malaysia and the Philippines are shaped by each country’s present social and political conditions.

scholarly journals Analysis of news media reports of suicides and attempted suicides during the COVID-19 lockdown in India

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Soumitra Pathare ◽  
Lakshmi Vijayakumar ◽  
Tanya Nicole Fernandes ◽  
Manisha Shastri ◽  
Arjun Kapoor ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
News Media ◽  
Suicidal Behaviour ◽  
Attempted Suicide ◽  
Online News ◽  
Media Reporting ◽  
Chi Squared ◽  
Real Community ◽  
Media Reports ◽  
The Government ◽  
Suicide Attempted

Abstract Background Based on previous experience there is justifiable concern about suicidal behaviour and news media reporting of it during COVID-19 pandemic. Methods This study used a systematic search of online news media reports (versions of newspapers, magazine and other digital publications) of suicidal behaviour during India’s COVID-19 lockdown and compared it to corresponding dates in 2019. Data was gathered using a uniform search strategy from 56 online news media publications 24 March to 3 May for the years 2019 and 2020 using keywords, suicide, attempted suicide, hangs self and kills self. Demographic variables and methods used for suicide were compared for suicide and attempts between the 2 years using chi-squared tests (χ2). Results There were online news media reports of 369 cases of suicides and attempted suicides during COVID lockdown vs 220 reports in 2019, a 67.7% increase in online news media reports of suicidal behaviour. Compared to 2019, suicides reported during lockdown were significantly older (30 vs 50 years, p < 0.05), men (71.2% vs 58.7%; p < 0.01), married (77.7% vs 49%; p < 0.01) and employed (82.9% vs 59.5%; p < 0.01). During the lockdown, significantly more suicides were by hanging (64.4% vs 42%), while poisoning (8.5% vs 21.5%) and jumping in front of a train (2% vs 9.4%) (p < 0.05) were significantly reduced. Comparison of COVID and non-COVID groups showed that online news media reports of COVID cases of suicide and attempted suicide were significantly more likely to be men (84.7% vs 60.4%; p < 0.01), older (31–50 years 52.9% vs 25.8%; p < 0.01) employed (91.5% vs 64.3%; p < 0.01), had poor mental (40.1% vs 20.8%; p < 0.01) and poor physical health (24.8% vs 7.9%;11.8, p < 0.01). Conclusion Increase in online news media reports of suicides and attempts during COVID-19 lockdown may indicate an increase in journalists’ awareness about suicide or more sensational media reporting or may be a proxy indicator of a real community increase in suicidal behaviour. It is difficult to attribute changes in demographic profile and methods used only to changes in journalists’ reporting behaviour and should be further explored. We therefore call upon the Government of India to urgently release national suicide data to help devise a comprehensive suicide prevention strategy to address COVID-19 suicidal behaviour.

scholarly journals Earthquake Information Extraction and Comparison from Different Sources Based on Web Text

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (6) ◽  
pp. 252 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xuehua Han ◽  
Juanle Wang
Keyword(s):  
Information Extraction ◽  
News Media ◽  
Background Information ◽  
Monitoring Methods ◽  
News Reports ◽  
Disaster Information ◽  
Earthquakes In China ◽  
Media Reports ◽  
Rule Based Approach ◽  
Disaster Event

Web text, using natural language to describe a disaster event, contains a considerable amount of disaster information. Automatic extraction from web text of this disaster information (e.g., time, location, casualties, and disaster losses) is an important supplement to conventional disaster monitoring data. This study extracted and compared the characteristics of earthquake disaster information from web news media reports (news reports) and online disaster reduction agency reports (professional reports). Using earthquakes in China from 2015 to 2017 as a case study, a series of rules were created for extracting earthquake event information, including temporal extraction rules, a location trigger dictionary, and an attribute trigger dictionary. The differences in characteristics of news reports and professional reports were investigated in terms of their quantity and spatiotemporal distribution through statistical analysis, geocoding, and kernel density estimation. The information extracted from each set of reports was also compared with authoritative data. The results indicated that news reports are more extensive and have richer information. In contrast, professional reports are less repetitive as well as more accurate and standardized, mainly focusing on earthquakes with Ms ≥ 4 and/or earthquakes that may cause damage. These characteristics of disaster information from different web texts sources can be used to improve the efficiency and analysis of disaster information extraction. In addition, the rule-based approach proposed herein was found to be an accurate and viable way to extract earthquake information from web texts. The approach provided the technical basics and background information to support further research seeking human-centric disaster information, which cannot be acquired using traditional instrument monitoring methods, from web text.

scholarly journals Representing social action in Indonesian: A case of Indonesian presidential race

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Agus Sofyan ◽  
Mahardhika Zifana
Keyword(s):  
Social Action ◽  
News Media ◽  
Code Of Ethics ◽  
Large Body ◽  
Online News ◽  
Social Actors ◽  
News Reports ◽  
Social Events ◽  
Discourse Studies ◽  
Values Orientation

A large body of research on social action representation revolves around how social actors are discursively represented in a variety of media; nevertheless, very few discourse studies have investigated the Indonesian news media portrayal of an Indonesian politician in a number of social events. This research sought to fill in this gap by examining the representation of a prominent Indonesian political figure, i.e. Prabowo Subianto from the lens of two mainstream online Indonesia news media, i.e. Kompas and Republika. More specifically, the prime focus is on outlining types of social action and their grammatical and rhetorical realization in Indonesian discourse. Leeuwen’s (2005; 2008) social semiotics was adopted as the framework of analysis. Ten online news reports—five from each media—focusing on Prabowo were purposively selected on the basis of five key political incidents where Prabowo was engaged. Comparison of two media in their reporting of the events is of special interest, for the representation of the same individual in his socio-political actions can be more apparent and hence media tendencies can be easily identified. Findings reveal that both media have non-neutral, partial tendencies. Their language products entail sympathy and defense of Prabowo, albeit the journalistic code of ethics. More specifically, Republika tends to side with Prabowo’s campaign; while Kompas tends to oppose it. In the form of values, orientation, and tendencies, both media have an ideological tendency to defend or to offend the subject, Prabowo, as is clearly reflected through the distinctive discursive strategies they choose. Implicationally, these results corroborate the long-standing premise that media’s values or ideological stances to a certain extent appear to be a factor in portraying an individual and his/her action in the society, which in turn may influence public perceptions.

scholarly journals Quality of information in news media reports about the effects of health interventions: Systematic review and meta-analyses

F1000Research ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 433
Author(s):  
Matt Oxman ◽  
Lillebeth Larun ◽  
Giordano Pérez Gaxiola ◽  
Dima Alsaid ◽  
Anila Qasim ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
News Media ◽  
Conflicts Of Interest ◽  
Evidence Synthesis ◽  
Online News ◽  
Health Interventions ◽  
Sampling Frame ◽  
News Reports ◽  
Meta Analyses

Background Many studies have assessed the quality of news reports about the effects of health interventions, but there has been no systematic review of such studies or meta-analysis of their results. We aimed to fill this gap (PROSPERO ID: CRD42018095032). Methods We included studies that used at least one explicit, prespecified and generic criterion to assess the quality of news reports in print, broadcast, or online news media, and specified the sampling frame, and the selection criteria and technique. We assessed criteria individually for inclusion in the meta-analyses, excluding inappropriate criteria and criteria with inadequately reported results. We mapped and grouped criteria to facilitate evidence synthesis. Where possible, we extracted the proportion of news reports meeting the included criterion. We performed meta-analyses using a random effects model to estimate such proportions for individual criteria and some criteria groups, and to characterise heterogeneity across studies.  Results We included 44 primary studies in the qualitative summary, and 18 studies and 108 quality criteria in the meta-analyses. Many news reports gave an unbalanced and oversimplified picture of the potential consequences of interventions. A limited number mention or adequately address conflicts of interest (22%; 95% CI 7%-49%) (low certainty), alternative interventions (36%; 95% CI 26%-47%) (moderate certainty), potential harms (40%; 95% CI 23%-61%) (low certainty), or costs (18%; 95% CI 12%-28%) (moderate certainty), or quantify effects (53%; 95% CI 36%-69%) (low certainty) or report absolute effects (17%; 95% CI 4%-49%) (low certainty).  Discussion There is room for improving health news, but it is logically more important to improve the public’s ability to critically appraise health information and make judgements for themselves.

scholarly journals News media influence on public trust in bike-sharing operators in Singapore

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Leonard Wong ◽  
Lyon Tan ◽  
Rachel Wong ◽  
Su Lin Yeo
Keyword(s):  
News Media ◽  
Corporate Reputation ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
Content Type ◽  
News Reports ◽  
Bike Sharing ◽  
The Media ◽  
Media Reports ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Practical Implications

PurposeThe overnight introduction of tens of thousands of dockless bike-share bicycles in Singapore with its indiscriminate parking drew the attention of the media, which generated extensive news reports on the activities carried out by bike-sharing operators. Given the meteoric rise and fall of the industry, this study examines the influence of agenda-setting of news reporting on the public’s perception of the industry and the impact on the firms’ corporate reputation.Design/methodology/approachUtilizing the Reputation Quotient Index, the study content analyzed 147 textual data of online reports which were crawled over two years between 2017 and 2018 from six mainstream news organizations.FindingsOur findings showed that the news reports carried more negative frames in the headlines and body content. It also found that only five out of six dimensions of the Index were emphasized with varying degrees of importance, indicating that the corporate reputation as determined by the media reports did not collectively represent the operators’ past actions and results with valued outcomes.Practical implicationsPractical implications discussed included the need to integrate corporate strategies into public relations programs and the importance of engaging the media to demonstrate congruence between business objectives and positive social impact on society.Originality/valueAlthough the study limited its data collection only to online media reports, it is one of the few research to provide empirical evidence concerning the media’s influence on the public’s perceptions and reputation of the nascent bike-sharing industry.

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