scholarly journals WhatsApp with Politics?!

2020 ◽  
pp. 194016122092502
Author(s):  
Susan A. M. Vermeer ◽  
Sanne Kruikemeier ◽  
Damian Trilling ◽  
Claes H. de Vreese
Keyword(s):  
Positive Emotions ◽  
Instant Messaging ◽  
Daily Basis ◽  
News Item ◽  
Political Discussion ◽  
Specific Knowledge ◽  
Strong Ties ◽  
Political News ◽  
Current Events ◽  
Interpersonal Discussion

With an increasing number of people, especially adolescents, using more private online platforms, such as WhatsApp, for news, an important question for democracy is whether such platforms can facilitate learning about politics and current events. In this study, we examine adolescents’ affective (emotions, feelings), behavioral (actions and behavioral intentions), and cognitive (political knowledge) responses to interpersonal political discussion on WhatsApp. We conducted a preregistered field experiment at six secondary schools in the Netherlands ( N = 230). We assigned respondents with strong ties to a WhatsApp group. For seven days, respondents received a link to an online political news item on a daily basis; and (1) either had to read or (2) read and discuss it. The results indicate that interpersonal discussion evokes stronger positive emotions and feelings, as well as issue-specific knowledge. In addition, elaboration on the content of political discussion was positively related to issue-specific knowledge. In this way, instant messaging apps may serve as a resource for engaging adolescents with politics and current events.

scholarly journals Credibility of Digital Political News in Spain: Comparison between Traditional Media and Social Media

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 170
Author(s):  
Reinald Besalú ◽  
Carles Pont-Sorribes
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
News Item ◽  
Digital Television ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Traditional Media ◽  
Political News ◽  
Digital News ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Digital Formats

In the context of the dissemination of fake news and the traditional media outlets’ loss of centrality, the credibility of digital news emerges as a key factor for today’s democracies. The main goal of this paper was to identify the levels of credibility that Spanish citizens assign to political news in the online environment. A national survey (n = 1669) was designed to assess how the news format affected credibility and likelihood of sharing. Four different news formats were assessed, two of them linked to traditional media (digital newspapers and digital television) and two to social media (Facebook and WhatsApp). Four experimental groups assigned a credibility score and a likelihood of sharing score to four different political news items presented in the aforementioned digital formats. The comparison between the mean credibility scores assigned to the same news item presented in different formats showed significant differences among groups, as did the likelihood of sharing the news. News items shown in a traditional media format, especially digital television, were assigned more credibility than news presented in a social media format, and participants were also more likely to share the former, revealing a more cautious attitude towards social media as a source of news.

scholarly journals Incivility and disrespectfulness in online political discussion

2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 278
Author(s):  
Angga Prawadika Aji ◽  
Ari Sapto
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Online News ◽  
Political Discussion ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
Political News ◽  
Analysis Techniques ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Online News Sites

Reader’s comment columns on online political news pages are locations where political discussions between citizens can emerge and develop. The reader comment column is a standard feature of almost all media sites because of its ability to initiate discussion and promote a particular article or issues within the news site. Unfortunately, in its development, the online comment column’s discussion process is often filled by incivility and disrespectful expressions, such as sentences containing insults, condemnation, or expressions full of anger. Such sentences have the potential to undermine the discussion process and encourage pointless arguments, especially in articles that discuss political polarity. This study aims to determine the extent to which incivility and disrespectful expressions appear in readers’ comments columns of online news sites, especially on polarized political issues. This study uses content analysis techniques on 403 comments in political news on Detik.com, one of Indonesia’s main news portals. The results show that although the incivility expression shows a small number, the form of disrespectful shows a high number in the readers’ comments. The highest form of the expression of disrespectful is the expression tat contains name-calling (23%), followed by hyperbole (15.6%) and the use of sarcasm (6.2%). The high number of disrespectful expressions seems to be related to the comment column service feature that allows users to use anonymous identities.

scholarly journals Only One Moment in Time? Investigating the Dynamic Relationship of Emotions and Attention Toward Political Information With Mobile Experience Sampling

2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (8) ◽  
pp. 1131-1154
Author(s):  
Lukas P. Otto ◽  
Fabian Thomas ◽  
Michaela Maier ◽  
Charlotte Ottenstein
Keyword(s):  
Sampling Design ◽  
Experience Sampling ◽  
Attentional Focus ◽  
Emotional Reactions ◽  
Political Information ◽  
News Item ◽  
Political News ◽  
Dynamic Relationship ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

This article attempts to (a) investigate the relationship between distinct emotional reactions toward political information and attention toward political news and (b) analyze whether this relationship is dynamic. We use an experience sampling design to assess recipients’ immediate emotional reactions and attention toward news. Participants reported their emotional reactions (anger, fear, happiness, contentment) and attentional focus directly after following a news item for eight days in a row up to five times a day via smartphone. Results indicate that anger is positively and fear negatively correlated with attention toward political news. For positive emotional reactions, happiness is not correlated with attention to news, while contentment is negatively correlated with attention and also shows a negative lagged effect on attention at a later point in time. The study shows promising ways to assess and analyze dynamic processes in everyday media consumption.

“So my position is…”

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 563-582
Author(s):  
Ian Hutchby
Keyword(s):  
Conversation Analysis ◽  
Discourse Structure ◽  
The Political ◽  
Epistemic Authority ◽  
Political Discussion ◽  
Political News ◽  
Interactional Functions ◽  
News Interview

Abstract This article examines the interactional functions of the so-prefaced answer, when used by interviewees in news and other political discussion broadcasts. Using the methods of conversation analysis, based on a data corpus of recent broadcasts from British mainstream television, the analysis shows that the so-preface functions in a cluster of related ways within the question-answer discourse structure of the political news interview. Specifically, it is used to reset or reframe the prior question from a standpoint of epistemic authority, enabling the interviewee to answer on their terms rather than the interviewer’s.

Like-minded and cross-cutting talk, network characteristics, and political participation online and offline: A panel study

2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jörg Matthes ◽  
Franziska Marquart ◽  
Christian von Sikorski
Keyword(s):  
Political Participation ◽  
Panel Study ◽  
Political Engagement ◽  
Political Discussion ◽  
Panel Survey ◽  
Network Ties ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Strong Ties ◽  
Network Characteristics

AbstractWe test the role of like-minded and cross-cutting political discussion as a facilitator of online and offline political participation and examine the role of strong versus weak network ties. Most prior research on the topic has employed cross-sectional designs that may lead to spurious relationships due to the lack of controlled variables. The findings of a two-wave panel survey controlling the autoregressive effects suggest that cross-cutting talk with weak ties significantly dampens online but not offline political participation. However, no such effects were detectable for cross-cutting talk with strong ties. In addition, we found no effect of discussions involving like-minded individuals in either weak or strong network connections on online and offline forms of political engagement. Implications are discussed.

scholarly journals Studying incidental news: Antecedents, dynamics and implications

Journalism ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (8) ◽  
pp. 1025-1030 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neta Kligler-Vilenchik ◽  
Alfred Hermida ◽  
Sebastián Valenzuela ◽  
Mikko Villi
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Active Avoidance ◽  
Ecological Models ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Political News ◽  
Conceptual Clarification ◽  
News Consumption ◽  
Theoretical Perspectives ◽  
Current Events ◽  
News Use

In light of concerns about decreasing news use, a decline in interest in political news or even active avoidance or resistance of news in general, the idea of ‘incidental news’ has been seen as a possible remedy. Generally, ‘incidental news’ refers to the ways in which people encounter information about current events through media when they were not actively seeking the news. However, scholars studying incidental news through different theoretical and methodological perspectives have been arriving at differing evaluations of the significance and implications of this phenomenon – to the extent of downright contradictory findings. This introductory piece posits the aim of this special issue on Studying Incidental News: a conceptual clarification of incidental news exposure. In this issue, scholars coming from different approaches, ranging from cognitive processing, ecological models, emergent practices and a focus on platform affordances, show how different theoretical perspectives help account for various dimensions of incidental news consumption, and thus help explain the often conflicting findings that have been suggested so far.

scholarly journals Sharing and Commenting Facilitate Political Learning on Facebook: Evidence From a Two-Wave Panel Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 205630512110478
Author(s):  
Dam Hee Kim ◽  
Brian E. Weeks ◽  
Daniel S. Lane ◽  
Lauren B. Hahn ◽  
Nojin Kwak
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Presidential Election ◽  
Media Use ◽  
Panel Study ◽  
Political Knowledge ◽  
Political Information ◽  
Political Discussion ◽  
Mediation Model ◽  
Political Learning ◽  
Political News

Social media, as sources of political news and sites of political discussion, may be novel environments for political learning. Many early reports, however, failed to find that social media use promotes gains in political knowledge. Prior research has not yet fully explored the possibility based on the communication mediation model that exposure to political information on social media facilitates political expression, which may subsequently encourage political learning. We find support for this mediation model in the context of Facebook by analyzing a two-wave survey prior to the 2016 U.S. presidential election. In particular, sharing and commenting, not liking or opinion posting, may facilitate political knowledge gains.

Chat program censorship and surveillance in China: Tracking TOM-Skype and Sina UC

First Monday ◽  
2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jedidiah R. Crandall ◽  
Masashi Crete-Nishihata ◽  
Jeffrey Knockel ◽  
Sarah McKune ◽  
Adam Senft ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Reverse Engineering ◽  
Instant Messaging ◽  
The Social ◽  
Current Events ◽  
One Year

In this paper, we present an analysis of over one year and a half of data from tracking the censorship and surveillance keyword lists of two instant messaging programs used in China. Through reverse engineering of TOM-Skype and Sina UC, we were able to obtain the URLs and encryption keys for various versions of these two programs and have been downloading the keyword blacklists daily. This paper examines the social and political contexts behind the contents of these lists, and analyzes those times when the list has been updated, including correlations with current events.

‘The moral power of the citizen questioner’: scrutinizing the value of audience questions on the ABC’s Q&A

2016 ◽  
Vol 161 (1) ◽  
pp. 120-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Belinda Eslick
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Political Engagement ◽  
Direct Access ◽  
Political Discussion ◽  
Political News ◽  
Current Affairs ◽  
Moral Power ◽  
Low Levels ◽  
Using Data

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s (ABC) weekly political discussion program Q&A aims to make Australian politics more engaging to ordinary citizens by allowing direct access between ‘punters’ and ‘pollies’. The program is a unique forum in the Australian political public sphere where citizens (represented by the studio audience) are awarded greater power than in conventional political news and current affairs formats. However, some critics have argued that the program is, among other things, overly editorialized and contrived and more autocratic than democratic, where the power of the citizen is superficial only. Using data gathered from focus groups, this article explores attitudes toward the role of the audience questioners on Q&A – one of the defining ‘democratizing’ features of the program. Considering responses of viewers with both high and low levels of political engagement has led to interesting findings about how motivations for watching Q&A, as well as expectations about how it should function, differ according to viewers’ pre-existing level of political interest.

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