scholarly journals Editorial: Avoiding unconscious bias in media consumption

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Rita Chen
Keyword(s):  
Media Consumption ◽  
Unconscious Bias ◽  
Critical Thought ◽  
Black Lives Matter ◽  
The People

With the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement, Canadians are consuming more media than ever. While this development has allowed us to become more informed about the important issues surrounding us, it does mean we need to give critical thought to how we are perusing different media forms and content. This editorial shares three methods that communicators can consider employing to help avoid unconscious bias when consuming media. The editorial also introduces the five articles being featured in this issue, before closing with acknowledgement and thanks to all the people who made this publication possible. Keywords: media, unconscious bias, strategy, communication tactics

scholarly journals The power of the people: the meaning of kratos in dēmokratia

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 56
Author(s):  
John McGuire
Keyword(s):  
Political Discourse ◽  
Political Power ◽  
Constitutional Rights ◽  
Electoral Success ◽  
Old Comedy ◽  
Black Lives Matter ◽  
The People ◽  
Satisfactory Answer

In this paper, I reconstruct the notion of kratos as a unique and distinguishable exercise of political power. Using examples from 5th- and 4th-century Attic tragedy, Old Comedy, and forensic oratory, I show how kratos was used in Athenian cultural and political discourse to convey the irrefutability of a claim, the recognition of someone’s prevailing over another, and the sense of having the last word—all of which makes kratic power dependent upon its own continued demonstrability. I argue that the peculiarly performative character of kratos has little or no role within contemporary democratic thinking because the agency of the dēmos is largely mediated through the mechanisms of electoral success and constitutional rights. Nevertheless—and regardless of whether they are ultimately successful in achieving their stated political aims—the spontaneous, organisationally diffuse protests operating extra-institutionally under the banners of #MeToo and Black Lives Matter reveal how the attempted ‘domestication’ of kratos, and the sublimation of its peculiar power into piecemeal reform, was never a realistic or satisfactory answer for democratic discontent.

scholarly journals Memeification of Black Women’s Trauma

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalie Stravens
Keyword(s):  
Popular Culture ◽  
Black Women ◽  
Western Culture ◽  
Black Feminist ◽  
Black Lives Matter ◽  
The People ◽  
Online Spaces ◽  
History Of

This piece discusses the online and offline discourses on the lives and bodies of Black femme and nonbinary individuals and the harm that is so casually inflicted upon us. Through popular stories of harm performed around famous Black women, such as with rapper Megan Thee Stallion, I connect the history of Black women in popular culture to current online spaces that continue to minimize and trivialize our trauma. I seek to highlight that these stories are not an anomaly, but rather sentiments rooted in the misogynoir that is so entrenched in western culture and have been expanded and weaponized within the online sphere. In addition, the piece challenges the universality of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement in its implementation, criticizing its propensity to forget its feminine victims. It is important to emphasize where it has failed and where it needs to be intentional about the people it has overlooked, as this is a movement that began online, where this harm is currently taking place, and at the hands and energies of Black femmes, the very people getting hurt. This piece has manifested from many conversations already occurring in online Black feminist spaces about our treatment and our needs. It invites others into the fold and seeks to encourage individuals to critically reflect on how Black femme and non-binary individuals are presented on their timeline in-between the numerous BLM posts that claim to protect them.

“Insider Dope” and NBA Trade Coverage: A Case Study on Unnamed Sourcing in Sport Journalism

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 419-430
Author(s):  
Sada Reed ◽  
Guy Harrison
Keyword(s):  
Past Research ◽  
National Basketball Association ◽  
Media Consumption ◽  
Symbiotic Relationship ◽  
Current Case ◽  
Sport Media ◽  
Perceived Credibility ◽  
The People ◽  
Significant Difference

Past research has examined the use of anonymous sources in news content and its impact on perceived credibility. Studies applying these theories in the context of sport media consumption, however, are scant and outdated. This matters because sport media is consumed for different reasons from news and has a historically symbiotic relationship with the people and events it covers. The current case study explores sources in National Basketball Association (NBA) trade stories in both national news and sport-specific publications. The study found that about 82% of trade speculation was not credited to a source. Unnamed and named sources’ trade predictions were cross-referenced with the NBA transaction log to determine if the trades actually manifested before the trade deadline. Neither sources predicted trades well: Of the 95 unsourced, speculated trades, 14 actually took place. Of the 20 sourced speculations, four took place. There was no statistically significant difference between how well named and unnamed sources predicted trades.

scholarly journals The Social False Dilemma: Perpetuating Conflicts between Liberals and Conservatives

Res Rhetorica ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Brent Kice
Keyword(s):  
Political Climate ◽  
Deliberative Process ◽  
Critical Thought ◽  
Socially Constructed ◽  
The People ◽  
Creative Solutions ◽  
The Social ◽  
False Dilemma ◽  
Dissoi Logoi

This essay addresses the establishment of a social false dilemma in the form of the socially-constructed categories of liberals and conservatives. The illogical positioning of only two options for solving a problem reduces an audience’s ability for developing creative solutions. The dichotomous nature of this political positioning undercuts critical thought through politicians’ usage of entrenched either-or thinking. In turn, the people struggle with a deliberative process that is underscored by an acceptance of a false dilemma. In particular, this essay focuses on an American dichotomous political climate by acknowledging the existence of the dichotomy, the promotion of Dissoi Logoi to avoid the false dilemma, and the repercussions of compromised deliberative functions of democracy.

Why Species?

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas N. Sherratt ◽  
David M. Wilkinson
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
Single Species ◽  
Classification Systems ◽  
Western World ◽  
Philosophical Question ◽  
Critical Thought ◽  
The People ◽  
Species Formation ◽  
Physical Traits

In this chapter, we will attempt to address several interrelated questions about species and species formation. First we ask what, if anything, is a species? As we shall see, while most scientists are happy to agree on the essentials, the answer to this question is far from straightforward. We then briefly discuss the range of ways new species can evolve, and provide evidence for these different pathways. Finally, following from our opening quotations, we ask a somewhat more abstract and philosophical question that brings together many of the separate threads we have introduced: why is life not composed of a single species? . . . What is a species? . . . The classification of organisms into species is so familiar that it is easy to accept without much critical thought. On reading ‘Tiger, tiger burning bright’, or headlines such as ‘Man bites Dog’, we have no problem envisaging who the main protagonists are. Mention a tiger, and one immediately thinks of a large cat with stripes. To most people, species are simply a collection of organisms with a given set of physical traits. All classification systems include elements of personal preference as to how one chooses to classify any group of objects (e.g. by shape, size, or colour). However, there is evidence that ‘species’ represent categories that are more consistent between observers than the various ways of sorting out one’s stamp collection. The Fore, a highland people of New Guinea, are perhaps best known in the western world for the devastating prion-based disease ‘Kuru’ that afflicted their population as a result of ritualized consumption of dead family members. However, the people have close links to their natural environment and a remarkably detailed system of classifying the larger animals they see around them. In an early study to test the degree to which species assignations are consistent among peoples with different backgrounds, Jared Diamond compared the Fore nomenclature with that developed by European taxonomists. Birds found regularly in the Fore territory were divided by the Fore into 110 distinct types, and by zoologists into 120 types, with an almost exact one-to-one correspondence between Fore ‘species’ and taxonomists’ ‘species’.

scholarly journals Fostering Empathy, Implicit Bias Mitigation, and Compassionate Behavior in a Medical Humanities Course

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (7) ◽  
pp. 2169
Author(s):  
Brian D. Schwartz ◽  
Alexis Horst ◽  
Jenifer A. Fisher ◽  
Nicole Michels ◽  
Lon J. Van Winkle
Keyword(s):  
Service Learning ◽  
Medical Humanities ◽  
Implicit Bias ◽  
Learning Experiences ◽  
Unconscious Bias ◽  
The People ◽  
Reflective Capacity ◽  
Service Learning Projects ◽  
Study Teams ◽  
Learning Projects

Increases in compassionate behavior improve patient outcomes and reduce burnout among healthcare professionals. We predicted that selecting and performing service-learning projects by teams of prospective medical students in a Medical Humanities course would foster students’ compassion by raising their reflective capacity, empathy, and unconscious bias mitigation. In class, we discussed difficulties in communication and implicit bias. In this observational study, teams wrote individual and team critical reflections on these class discussions and their service-learning experiences, and we analyzed these reflections for dissonance, self-examination, bias mitigation, dissonance reconciliation, and compassionate behavior. Thirty-two students (53% female) completed the Reflective Practice Questionnaire and the Jefferson Scale of Empathy before the course in August 2019 and after it in December 2019. In December, students were surveyed concerning their attitudes toward team service-learning projects and unconscious bias. The students reported changes in their behavior to mitigate biases and become more compassionate, and their reflective capacity and empathy grew in association with discussions and team service-learning experiences in the course. Virtually all students agreed with the statement “Unconscious bias might affect some of my clinical decisions or behaviors as a healthcare professional,” and they worked to control such biases in interactions with the people they were serving.

scholarly journals Effect of Multi-Channeled Cable TV and Varying Demographics on Political Enlightenment of Youth

2020 ◽  
Vol V (IV) ◽  
pp. 67-76
Author(s):  
Muhammad Khalique Kamboh ◽  
Imran Muslim ◽  
Hafiz Muhammad Muddser
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Sampling Technique ◽  
Selective Exposure ◽  
The Political ◽  
Media Consumption ◽  
Cluster Sampling ◽  
Positive Role ◽  
Cable Tv ◽  
The People ◽  
Ultimate Result

Mass media is considered to be one of the important agents for the enlightenment of the audience towards better living. Media consumption has taken new trends due to availability of multi-channelled cable television on a large scale. It was hypothesized that the increase in media consumption might have enhanced the political maturity of viewers and make them more productive for society. For data collection through a survey questionnaire, multistage cluster sampling technique was used. Results of the study confirmed the fact that cable TV played a positive role in enhancing the political knowledge of youth. Moreover, the youth of cable TV areas was found to be more mature politically as compared to the youth of noncable TV areas. The study concluded that if more number of options is available in terms of different forms of media or as numerous TV channels, selective exposure becomes very hard and "enhancement in knowledge" is the ultimate result of this phenomenon, hence bringing up the betterment in political maturity of the people.

Conducting Community Based Participatory Action Research

2021 ◽  
pp. 153448432110440
Author(s):  
Brian D. Vivona ◽  
Matthew S. Wolfgram
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Critical Thought ◽  
The People ◽  
Additional Level ◽  
New Research ◽  
Or Organization

Organizations are continuously changing based on social, political, and economic conditions. HRD scholars and practitioners should think about new approaches to how they can engage with organizations and the people within them. Action research has been used as an approach in organization development for many years. While conventional action research has an emphasis on classical or traditional processes of inquiry, we present Community Based Participatory Action Research (CBPAR) as new research approach with an additional level of critical thought and engagement that is in alignment with Critical HRD. CBPAR aims to create knowledge and action, but also aims to empower members of communities or organization who are marginalized or oppressed. CBPAR offers an exciting and alterative approach to organizational research.

Big Copyright Versus the People

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Skladany
Keyword(s):  
The People
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