Influence of content, events and culture on the public discourse about medical genetics in Switzerland – A quantitative media content analysis

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 92-106
Author(s):  
Bettina Maria Zimmermann ◽  
Steffen Kolb ◽  
Fabian Zimmermann ◽  
Bernice Simone Elger ◽  
David Shaw
Keyword(s):  
Media Coverage ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Print Media ◽  
Medical Genetics ◽  
Media Content ◽  
Media Content Analysis ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Media ◽  
News Agencies ◽  
French Speaking

Medical genetics is a broad and expanding field with many important implications for society, but knowledge about media coverage of this topic from recent years is lacking. This study aims to identify topics in medical genetics emerging in print media coverage in Switzerland by quantitatively analysing their occurrence in the public media discourse and assessing culturally conditioned differences between two Swiss language regions. We conducted a quantitative media content screening of print media and news agencies in the German- and French-speaking regions of Switzerland, and eight topics were identified. They demonstrate the large variety of topics in medical genetics present in public discourse. Coverage was dominated by legislative voting on genetics issues and by the preventive surgeries of the Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie. We found only small differences between the language regions, and coverage was strikingly similar for most variables.

scholarly journals Hindi Print Media Content Analysis Of Bhopal Gas Tragedy: In The Context Of Reflect And Effect Study Of Media On Society

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 01-10
Author(s):  
Armendra Amar
Keyword(s):  
Print Media ◽  
Effect Study ◽  
Media Content ◽  
Industrial Accidents ◽  
Media Content Analysis ◽  
The Public ◽  
Gas Leak ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
The City

The 1984 Bhopal Gas Leak tragedy has been classified as one of the World’s major Industrial accidents of the 20th century, recorded post 1919, by a United Nations Report. This tragedy killed thousands of people and maimed thousands. Union Carbide subsidiary pesticide plant released approximately 40 tonnes of Methyl Isocyanate (MIC) gas which went on to touch the lives of more than 500,000 people of the city. In a way, even after it immediately killed and maimed in thousands, it is still a continued disaster as the generations exposed to the toxic gases have been consistently showing up signs of physical and mental deformity. This gruesome event’s impacts on society are beyond time and space. The crucial question that renders is that how media dealt with the situation and to what extent it affects the everyday life of masses. This study came into initiation when the researcher visited the Methyl Ico-Cynate gas-affected area of Bhopal. During the pilot study, the researcher saw that people of the affected place were living in inadequate conditions. Thus, a concern piqued the interest of the researcher, and evoked an indispensible question: Is media fulfilling its responsibility as the fourth pillar of society in times of chaos and devastation, towards the public? For examining his queries researcher has taken renowned print media outlet’s articles of Bhopal gas tragedy as the content of the analysis. Hence on the basis of Hindi print media content of Bhopal gas disaster the researcher has taken the initiative to search appropriate answers to questions which examine the role of media after the tragic occurrence has taken place in society.

How the public understands genetics: non-deterministic and non-discriminatory interpretations of the “blueprint” metaphor

1999 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 169-180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Celeste M. Condit
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Mass Media ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Genetic Determinism ◽  
Popular Discourse ◽  
Small Minority ◽  
Public Opinions ◽  
The Public ◽  
Technological Intervention

Critics have worried that recent mass media coverage of genetics encourages genetic determinism and discriminatory attitudes in the public. They have identified the “blueprint” metaphor as one major component of public discourse that encourages such undesirable public opinions. To assess public interpretations of popular discourse about genetics, this audience study exposed 137 college students to sample genetics news articles and asked for their interpretations of the “blueprint” metaphor and of genetics in general. A larger group, the plurality, offered non-deterministic interpretations and perspectives on genetics. A small minority offered discriminatory interpretations, whereas a plurality offered explicit antidiscriminatory interpretations and opinions. Non-deterministic views were based on interpretations of the blueprint metaphor that understood genes as operating in a partial and probabilistic fashion, and that interpreted genes as malleable through individual will or technological intervention.

scholarly journals Prekäre (Kultur-)Kämpfe?

2010 ◽  
Vol 40 (160) ◽  
pp. 361-376
Author(s):  
Magdalena Freudenschuß
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Social Inequalities ◽  
Media Discourse ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Media ◽  
German Speaking ◽  
Societal Changes

Precarity became an issue in public discourse in German speaking media throughout 2006. In this article the author takes a closer look on the symbolic negotiations on precariousness/precarity and its references to neo-conservative reasoning undertaken in the public media discourse. Who is designated as the precarious subject -- and to what extent do discursive designations legitimate social inequalities? Public discourse is to be understood as an ambivalent and multifaceted field of negotiations on society and social justice. As such, it is a field where interpretations of societal changes try to gain a hegemonic position and where they are at the same time challenged, disrupted and irritated. Thus, the article points out some hegemonic and counter-hegemonic moments within the public discourse on precarity.

scholarly journals HOLDING UP A MIRROR TO APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA: PUBLIC DISCOURSE ON THE ISSUE OF OVERCROWDING IN SOUTH AFRICAN PRISONS 1980 TO 1984 – PART 2

Obiter ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Allister Peté
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Media ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Ideological Struggle ◽  
Form Part ◽  
Formed Part ◽  
Apartheid Regime

During the first half of the 1980s, the issue of chronic overcrowding within the South African penal system formed part of an intense ideological struggle between those who supported and those who opposed the apartheid regime. Public debate around this issue acted as a mirror, reflecting early cracks which were beginning to appear in the edifice of apartheid. Since the prisons were the ultimate instrument of social control within the apartheid system, the ongoing crises caused by chronic overcrowding within these institutions served as a kind of “canary in the mine” for the apartheid system as a whole. The debates which took place during the early 1980s around overcrowding are also important because they form part of a common theme running through South African penal discourse as a whole. This article seeks to show how the debates on prison overcrowding which took place in the first half of the 1980s fit into a long-term pattern of recurring ideological crises surrounding this issue. The article is divided into two parts. In Part One, the above themes were explored through the public discourse surrounding the Steyn Commission of Enquiry into the public media, as well as the Hoexter Commission of Enquiry into the structure and functioning of South Africa’s courts. Whereas Part One deals only with certain early debates arising out of the Hoexter Commission – up to February 1981 – Part Two takes this as a starting point and traces a number of further themes which arose in the debates surrounding the Hoexter Commission between February 1981 and April 1984, when the Commission delivered its report.

scholarly journals WHO'S CHOOSING THE NEWS; ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS FOR PUBLIC MEDIA DISCOURSE

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sina Summers
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Public Life ◽  
Media Discourse ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Media ◽  
Level Of Understanding ◽  
Traditional Roles

This thesis inquiry investigates how algorithms operate generally to affect the dissemination of news information to audiences. This research aimed to find what the implications of AI used in these ways are for traditional roles played by media news in public life – such as informing the public in the public’s interests and enabling informed public discourse. This research asks also to what extent the use and effect of AI algorithms are transparent to audiences and how this level of understanding by audiences (or lack of understanding) affects the informing role of media.

scholarly journals Media content analysis on school violence and aggression in Bulgaria

2021 ◽  
Vol 29 (4s) ◽  
pp. 127-137
Author(s):  
Vera Zaharieva
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Nonprofit Organizations ◽  
School Violence ◽  
Behavioral Problems ◽  
Online News ◽  
Media Content ◽  
Media Content Analysis ◽  
The Public ◽  
Time Period ◽  
The Media

This research offers a review of the online news content in Bulgaria, related to school aggression, violence, and sports initiatives tackling those behavioral problems. The aim is to provide an understanding of the phenomenon and the societal attitude towards its dimensions and possible solutions through sport. A media content analysis of online articles, dated January 2019 – April 2020, was used as a research methodology. Thirty-three articles on aggression and violence in school were reviewed, based on their frequency, timeline, place of publication, topics, and spokesperson. For the same time period, sixteen articles related to dealing with aggression through sport were reported. The results show that most of the media content on violence and aggression among students was related to raw statistical data and reports of cases. A relatively small section in the news was dedicated to opinion articles. It was observed that those who witness cases of aggression do not understand the seriousness of the situation and see it as entertainment. As a result, a major part of the video content, related to aggression, is being uploaded on the Internet by students and parents. However, the public focus is mainly shifted towards the school authorities and the figure of the teacher. At the same time, aggression in schools is spread among all students. It has a constant value and is provoked by numerous factors. On the contrary, initiatives and events aiming to disseminate information and to reduce aggression through sport were organized in many Bulgarian cities by nonprofit organizations, municipalities, and schools. The majority of events were organized as a part of European or national projects. It is suggested a more centralized national approach towards reducing aggression through different sports activities in school.

The Nativity scene in a shared religious space: The case study of Saint-Pierre’s Church in Montreal

2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 347-371
Author(s):  
Monica Grigore-Dovlete ◽  
Lori G Beaman
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Religious Community ◽  
The Public ◽  
Christian Communities ◽  
French Speaking ◽  
Major Transformation ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Material Religion

Once called “the priest-ridden province,” the transformations brought about by the Quiet Revolution in the 1960s left the churches in Quebec deserted, while the idea of a secular Quebec became part of the public discourse about Quebec identity. Lacking the financial support of an active community, many Catholic churches were demolished or repurposed. They were thus transformed into residential or institutional spaces, entering what might be conceptualized as a secular order. Some churches managed to delay this major transformation by sharing their space with another religious community. This is the case of a Catholic church located in Montreal that we call Saint-Pierre’s Church. Today, the old building of Saint-Pierre’s Church accommodates two Christian communities: one is French-speaking Catholic and the other is Romanian Orthodox. At first glance, no tensions seem to trouble their coexistence. However, people’s perspectives of religious artifacts depict a slightly different image. Starting from participant observation and interviews carried out in 2016 and 2017 with members of both communities, we use the material religion framework to examine the power of materiality to invoke people’s emotions and to tell a story. The material religion framework allowed us to explore how the understanding of the shared place is linked to the dynamics and the contingencies of each community, and how the transformation of religious space happens in a rapidly changing context to which traditional majoritarian religion is attempting to adjust.

Stakeholder group influence on media reputation in crisis periods

2016 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 322-332 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Vogler ◽  
Mario Schranz ◽  
Mark Eisenegger
Keyword(s):  
Media Coverage ◽  
Driving Forces ◽  
Single Item ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Crisis Period ◽  
The Public ◽  
Stakeholder Groups ◽  
Public Media ◽  
Media Reputation ◽  
The Impact

Purpose – The concept of media reputation is a well-documented field in communication research. However, it often remains unclear how the process of reputation formation takes place exactly. The purpose of this paper is to analyze which stakeholder groups are the driving forces in the process of reputation constitution of the Swiss banking industry and how it was affected by the financial crisis in 2008. Design/methodology/approach – Given that mass media are the main source of information about an organization in crisis for the public, media reputation serves as a valuable concept for analyzing the effects of crises on organizations. This study is therefore based on a content analysis of Swiss newspapers published between 2004 and 2010. Findings – Data shows that the influence of political stakeholder groups on media reputation of Swiss banks is higher in times of crisis. In addition the focus in media coverage changes from economic topics in pre-crisis period to social topics in crisis period. The increased importance of political stakeholder groups and social topics in crisis lead to a more negative and less controllable media reputation. Originality/value – This study aims at a better understanding of the impact of stakeholder groups on corporate media reputation in crises. Instead of defining reputation as a single item this approach allows a more differentiated analysis of the process of reputation constitution.

Print Media and Public Reaction to the Controversy Over NEA Funding for Robert Mapplethorpe's “The Perfect Moment” Exhibit

1998 ◽  
Vol 75 (2) ◽  
pp. 278-291 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas M. McLeod ◽  
Jill A. MacKenzie
Keyword(s):  
Media Coverage ◽  
Print Media ◽  
National Endowment ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Arts ◽  
Public Reaction ◽  
Arts Community

In 1989, Robert Mapplethorpe's photographic exhibit The Perfect Moment toured the country with the support of a $30,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. The exhibit, which included several sado-masochistic and homo-erotic photographs, drew the ire of the Reverend Donald Wildmon, who turned to Senator Jesse Helms (R- NC). In the summer of 1989, Congress debated policy toward the funding practices of the NEA, sparking a major controversy in Congress and in the arts community. This study examines media coverage of the controversy and the reaction of the public in terms of museum attendance and the value of Mapplethorpe's art.

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