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.

New Indian online rules risk state overreach and abuse

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
News Media ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Hate Speech ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Online News ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Digital Service ◽  
The Government

Significance The new rules follow a stand-off between Twitter and the central government last month over some posts and accounts. The government has used this stand-off as an opportunity not only to tighten rules governing social media, including Twitter, WhatsApp, Facebook and LinkedIn, but also those for other digital service providers including news publishers and entertainment streaming companies. Impacts Government moves against dominant social media platforms will boost the appeal of smaller platforms with light or no content moderation. Hate speech and harmful disinformation are especially hard to control and curb on smaller platforms. The new rules will have a chilling effect on online public discourse, increasing self-censorship (at the very least). Government action against online news media would undercut fundamental democratic freedoms and the right to dissent. Since US-based companies dominate key segments of the Indian digital market, India’s restrictive rules could mar India-US ties.

scholarly journals New perspective? Comparing Frame Occurrence in Online and Traditional News Media Reporting on Europe’s “Migration Crisis”

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian S. Czymara ◽  
Marijn van Klingeren
Keyword(s):  
Machine Learning ◽  
News Media ◽  
Print Media ◽  
Online News ◽  
Online Media ◽  
Media Reporting ◽  
Machine Learning Methods ◽  
Migration Crisis ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
Key Events

News media have shape-shifted over the last decades, with rising online news suppliers and an increase in online news consumption. We examine how reporting on immigration differs between popular German online and print media over three crucial years of the so-called immigration crisis, from 2015 to 2017. We extend knowledge on framing of the crisis by examining a period covering start, peak and the time after the intake of refugees. Moreover, we establish whether online and print reporting differs in terms of both frame occurrence and variability. Crises generally create an opening for the formation of new perspectives and frames. These conditions provide an ideal test to see whether the focus of media reporting differs between online and print sources. We extract the dominant frames in almost 18,500 articles using machine-learning methods. While results indicate that many frames are, on average, more visible in either online or print media, these differences do not appear to follow a systematic logic. Regarding diversity of frame usage, we find that online media are, on average, more dominated by particular frames compared to print and that frame diversity is largely independent of important key events happening during our period of investigation.

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.

Suicide online: Portrayal of website-related suicide by the New Zealand media

2011 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 1355-1372 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katey Thom ◽  
Gareth Edwards ◽  
Ivana Nakarada-Kordic ◽  
Brian McKenna ◽  
Anthony O’Brien ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Media Studies ◽  
Suicide Prevention ◽  
News Media ◽  
Suicidal Behaviour ◽  
Mental Wellbeing ◽  
Framing Analysis ◽  
Online Technology ◽  
Media Reports

Media reporting can impact negatively or positively on suicidal behaviour. Specific reporting methods such as the use of sensationalism can influence suicidal behaviour. This paper presents the findings from a study that aimed to provide an in-depth examination of New Zealand mainstream news items in which websites played a role in suicide. We used framing analysis to interpret the role online technology plays in the reporting of the suicide event. The findings indicate that news items were primarily framed in such a way so that the role of online technology was often overemphasised at the expense of the suicide events themselves. While websites were characteristically framed as ‘enablers’ or ‘preventers’ of suicide, the contribution of mental wellbeing to suicide was largely marginalised in the news media reports. The paper concludes by considering the implications of these framings for existing media studies of suicide and the media’s role in suicide prevention.

scholarly journals Framing Analysis of Typo News Reports on Job Creation Through Online News Media

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 83-89
Author(s):  
Deska Rinanti Hayyattun Nuffuss ◽  
Sri Rohaningsih
Keyword(s):  
News Media ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
News Coverage ◽  
Job Creation ◽  
Online News ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Analysis Model ◽  
Framing Analysis ◽  
The Government

The ratification of the Job Creation Law in early November 2020 created a lot of polemics in the society, this leads the news in the online media to have their own views in reviewing typos related to the content in the Job Creation Act. This study aims to unravel the results of media framing from a certain topic by reviewing news coverage by two different online news channels in the same upload period on November 3rd, 2020. The news reconstruction of journalists' points of view creates a gap between empirical truth and public awareness so readers can follow the media thought. The framing analysis was carried out on two news channels, namely CNBC Indonesia and Nasional Tempo, which reported typos in the writing of the Job Creation Law from a different point of view. The method used in this study is from Zhongdang Pan and Gerald M. Kosicki framing analysis model using four structures, namely Syntax, Script, Thematic, and Rhetorical. The results of this study indicate that media coverage of CNBC Indonesia tends to be in line with the government, while the Tempo National media constructs news coverage with a more critical tone. Additionally, other factors in the form of ownership and interests could also affect news framing. This is based on the fact that there is a trend of media conglomeration in Indonesia which can have certain implications for the news content.

scholarly journals The Naturalization Policy in Online News Media

2016 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 456
Author(s):  
Dian Purworini ◽  
Engkus Kuswarno ◽  
Purwanti Hadisiwi ◽  
Agus Rakhmat
Keyword(s):  
Conflict Resolution ◽  
Government Policy ◽  
News Media ◽  
Online News ◽  
Government Policies ◽  
Internal Conflict ◽  
Framing Analysis ◽  
Royal Palace ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Government

Mediation by the government in the Royal Palace of Surakarta’s internal conflict was considered reasonable and appropriate policy by the media. The approach to the conflict did not emphasize a strong cultural aspect of that culture-based organization. This research aimed to examine how online news media reported on the Royal Palace of Surakarta’s internal conflict. Furthermore, this research used framing analysis as proposed by Stephen D Reese to analyze the news published in February 2014. The outcome indicated that there was framing construction of the government policies. The content of the news presented that framing processes occurred. Those started from the transmission of the various debated about government policy, then reinforced through elections sentence that supported certain policy and continued to the naturalization process. The final process was an important strategy to make mediation as an accepted policy that should be done by the government. In the conclusion, the perception to be formed was that government policies were appropriate, and so everyone should hold it. The conflict resolution could be achieved through the mediation as already conducted.

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 &amp; 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.

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.

Online news media reporting of football-related fatalities in Australia: A matter of life and death

2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 245-249 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren V. Fortington ◽  
Sheree Bekker ◽  
Caroline F. Finch
Keyword(s):  
News Media ◽  
Online News ◽  
Media Reporting ◽  
Life And Death

scholarly journals The ethics of news media reporting on coronavirus humor

2021 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 305-327 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathan Miczo
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
News Media ◽  
Early Phase ◽  
Qualitative Content Analysis ◽  
Online News ◽  
Ethical Principles ◽  
Media Reporting ◽  
News Stories ◽  
The Media

Abstract This essay explores the news media’s portrayal of humor during the early phase of COVID-19-related lockdowns. Examining a collection of online news articles reveals the media tended to frame the issue as an ethical one (e.g., “is it okay to laugh at the coronavirus?”). After reviewing work on humor ethics, a qualitative content analysis of 20 news media articles is presented. Three issues from the news stories are identified, allowing comparison of the media’s claims against the ethical principles articulated. The essay concludes with a consideration of how news media’s coverage of humor fits within a broader pandemic narrative.

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