scholarly journals Value-Based Communication during Covid-19 Pandemic: A Study on the Twitter Messages of Turkish Ministry of Health

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-44
Author(s):  
SEDA MENGU ◽  
MURAT MENGU ◽  
KEMAL GUNAY
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
The Other ◽  
Language Games ◽  
Ministry Of Health ◽  
The Public ◽  
Descriptive Research ◽  
Life Styles ◽  
Psychological Sense

Influencing the whole world by obliging people to change their daily practices along with their relations and assume different life styles, Covid-19 has brought about some likely deleterious effects in Turkey as well. Undoubtedly, it has caused disturbance and even panic in social and psychological sense. In such cases of uncertainty and panic, communication with the public should be clear, explicit, alleviating and to some extent, guiding. People can be guided and convinced more easily if the level of distress and uncertainty decreases. Such a way of governing and compelling communication consists of different directions, requirements and combined effort. If co-operation is appropriately based on values, this process will be much easier. To that end, public discourse during the outbreak of the pandemic in 2019 was as successful as it was based on the daily life and language of society. Noteworthy, there are similarities between value-based collaboration and governmentality. Policies, customs, patterns and guidelines help maintain control and guidance over collaboration. At this point cooperation acts as a matter of participating in language games that build social and organisational realities that are created, debated, distributed and changed by means of mutual action and cooperation. The purpose of this study is to analyse the messages sent by the Ministry of Health during the pandemic in Turkey via social media, particularly Twitter, in order to find out to which extent these messages encompass the features of value-based communication. Thus, discourse analysis and descriptive research model are going to be implemented together. More specifically, the first tweet in which Corona was first referred was sent on January 25, 2020 and from then on 505 Tweets were posted. For the discourse analysis, 100 tweets that have received the most interaction are going to be used. As for the other descriptive analyses; on the other hand, all 505 tweets are going to be utilized in cluster analysis. Keywords: value-based communication, discourse, social media, pandemic

scholarly journals Objectification of Women through Public Discourse: Analysis of Pakistani Female Celebrities' Viral Pictures on Facebook

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ayesha Qamar ◽  
Aasima Safdar ◽  
Samia Manzoor
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Total Sample ◽  
The Other ◽  
Quantitative Content Analysis ◽  
Quantitative Content ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
Objectification Of Women

The present paper focused on the objectification of Pakistani female celebrities on social media especially Facebook. The comments under the viral pictures of Mahira Khan, Mariyam Nawaz and Malala Yousafzai were analyzed by adopting the objectification framework of Nussbaum and Langton. Fifty comments about each female celebrity appearing under their viral pictures were analyzed by using the technique of quantitative content analysis. Total sample consisted of 150 comments from Facebook users of both the genders, i.e. males and females. It was observed that there was an abundance of remarks under the pictures of these celebrities where objectification was at work in some way or the other. Reduction to appearance remained the most frequently occurring variable of objectification. It was also observed that though these comments were coming from people of both the genders but male users of Facebook appeared more hostile in this regard. It is suggested on the basis of the results obtained through the current research that FIA needs to formulate a more strict policy regarding online trolling and shaming.

Stance, framing, and the construction of reality in Facebook comments about Taiwan’s same-sex marriage bills

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 218-234
Author(s):  
Ping-Hsuan Wang
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Digital Age ◽  
The Other ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Same Sex Marriage ◽  
The Public ◽  
Cooperative Interactions ◽  
Online Comments

This study proposes an integrated framework to elucidate the process of socially constructing reality by examining how Facebook commenters argue over two same-sex marriage (SSM) bills in Taiwan. Through stance-taking, which involves evaluating, positioning and aligning with others, some commenters contest while others defend SSM by referencing the referendums and the laws. The analysis shows that (dis)alignments facilitate multiple ‘team performances’, that is, cooperative interactions that project competing definitions of the situation, or ‘frames’, within which events are interpreted differently: one bill is criticized as undemocratic while the other contradictory. This bottom-up approach emphasizes participants’ agentive role in shaping the public discourse. The discourse analysis of online comments illustrates reality as constituted by negotiation over taken-for-granted concepts in the digital age, while highlighting the intersubjectivity in large-scale platforms like Facebook and how online commenting is used to (re)frame issues.

COVID-19 and the politicisation of medical preprints on Twitter: Quantitative Analysis of Social Media Data (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aleksandra Urman ◽  
Stefania Ionescu ◽  
David Garcia ◽  
Anikó Hannák
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Direct Effect ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
The Public ◽  
Media Companies ◽  
Preventative Measures ◽  
Twitter Users ◽  
New Research ◽  
Sharing Patterns ◽  
Political Divide

BACKGROUND Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, scientists have been willing to share their results quickly to speed up the development of potential treatments and/or a vaccine. At the same time, traditional peer-review-based publication systems are not always able to process new research promptly. This has contributed to a surge in the number of medical preprints published since January 2020. In the absence of a vaccine, preventative measures such as social distancing are most helpful in slowing the spread of COVID-19. Their effectiveness can be undermined if the public does not comply with them. Hence, public discourse can have a direct effect on the progression of the pandemic. Research shows that social media discussions on COVID-19 are driven mainly by the findings from preprints, not peer-reviewed papers, highlighting the need to examine the ways medical preprints are shared and discussed online. OBJECTIVE We examine the patterns of medRxiv preprint sharing on Twitter to establish (1) whether the number of tweets linking to medRxiv increased with the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic; (2) which medical preprints were mentioned on Twitter most often; (3) whether medRxiv sharing patterns on Twitter exhibit political partisanship; (4) whether the discourse surrounding medical preprints among Twitter users has changed throughout the pandemic. METHODS The analysis is based on tweets (n=557,405) containing links to medRxriv preprint repository that were posted between the creation of the repository in June 2019 and June 2020. The study relies on a combination of statistical techniques and text analysis methods. RESULTS Since January 2020, the number of tweets linking to medRxiv has increased drastically, peaking in April 2020 with a subsequent cool-down. Before the pandemic, preprints were shared predominantly by users we identify as medical professionals and scientists. After January 2020, other users, including politically-engaged ones, have started increasingly tweeting about medRxiv. Our findings indicate a political divide in sharing patterns of the top-10 most-tweeted preprints. All of them were shared more frequently by users who describe themselves as Republicans than by users who describe themselves as Democrats. Finally, we observe a change in the discourse around medRxiv preprints. Pre-pandemic tweets linking to them were predominantly using the word “preprint”. In February 2020 “preprint” was taken over by the word “study”. Our analysis suggests this change is at least partially driven by politically-engaged users. Widely shared medical preprints can have a direct effect on the public discourse around COVID-19, which in turn can affect the societies’ willingness to comply with preventative measures. This calls for an increased responsibility when dealing with medical preprints from all parties involved: scientists, preprint repositories, media, politicians, and social media companies. CONCLUSIONS Widely shared medical preprints can have a direct effect on the public discourse around COVID-19, which in turn can affect the societies’ willingness to comply with preventative measures. This calls for an increased responsibility when dealing with medical preprints from all parties involved: scientists, preprint repositories, media, politicians, and social media companies.

scholarly journals “These Women are Making a Statement Against Rape and yet the only Thing Y'All can Focus on is ‘Eww They're Naked’”: Exploring Rape Culture on Facebook in South Africa

Gender Issues ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zaida Orth ◽  
Michelle Andipatin ◽  
Brian van Wyk
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
South African ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Public Health Problem ◽  
Victim Blaming ◽  
Rape Culture ◽  
The Public ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Aggressive Male ◽  
Public Reaction

Abstract Sexual assault on campuses has been identified as a pervasive public health problem. In April 2016, students across South African universities launched the #Endrapeculture campaign to express their frustration against university policies which served to perpetuate a rape culture. The use of hashtag activism during the protest served to spark online public debates and mobilize support for the protests. This article describes the public reactions to the South African #Endrapeculture protests on the Facebook social media platform. Data was collected through natural observations of comment threads on news articles and public posts on the student protests, and subjected to content analysis. The findings suggest that the #nakedprotest was successful in initiating public conversations concerning the issue of rape culture. However, the reactions towards the #nakedprotest were divided with some perpetuating a mainstream public discourse which perpetuates rape culture, and others (re)presenting a counter-public that challenged current dominant views about rape culture. Two related main themes emerged: Victim-blaming and Trivialising Rape Culture. Victim-blaming narratives emerged from the commenters and suggested that the protesters were increasing their chances of being sexually assaulted by marching topless. This discourse seems to perpetuate the notion of the aggressive male sexual desire and places the onus on women to protect themselves. Other commenters criticised the #nakedprotest method through demeaning comments which served to derail the conversation and trivialise the message behind the protest. The public reaction to the #nakedprotest demonstrated that rape culture is pervasive in society and continues to be re(produced) through discourse on social media platforms. However, social media also offers individuals the opportunity to draw from and participate in multiple counter-publics which challenge these mainstream rape culture discourses.

“The Other Side”: Assessing the Polarization of Gender Knowledge Through a Feminist Analysis of the Affective-Discursive in Anti-Feminist Online Communities

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ann-Kathrin Rothermel
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Production ◽  
Online Communities ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Other ◽  
Knowledge Generation ◽  
Close Reading ◽  
The Public ◽  
Production Building ◽  
Gender Knowledge

Abstract Given the current polarization of gender knowledge in the public discourse, this article investigates the “other side” of gender knowledge production. Building on feminist standpoint literature, I conduct a close reading of the affective-discursive dynamics of knowledge production in two anti-feminist online communities in the United States and India. I find that anti-feminist communities appropriate feminist practices of consciousness-raising to construct a shared sense of victimization. This appropriation is, however, incomplete. In contrast to feminist practices, anti-feminist knowledge generation is premised on the polarizing themes of “ultimate victimhood” and “ultimate other,” which lead to violence and exclusion, rather than liberation.

The Role of Twitter in Opening New Domains of Discourse in the Public Sphere

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Badreya Nasser Al-Jenaibi
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Arab World ◽  
Arabian Gulf ◽  
The Public ◽  
New Public ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
Flow Of Information

The use of Twitter to coordinate political dialogue and crisis communication has been a vital key to its legitimization. In the past few years, the users of Twitter were increased in the GCC. Also, the use of social media has received a lot of ‘buzz' due to the events that unfurled in the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt during the Arab Spring. Although not as dramatic as overthrowing a regime, the use of social media has been revolutionary in most areas of the Middle East, especially in the most conservative societies that have been relatively closed to the flow of information. Saudi Arabia and the UAE, for example, now have the largest-growing Twitter community of all the nations in the Arabian Gulf. Known for its tight rein on public discourse and the flow of information, even elements of the current regime are opening doors to a new public discourse, due in large part to the influence of social media. This paper explores the social media phenomenon that has had such an impact on the relatively closed societies of the Arab world, examining how it has changed the nature of the public sphere. The researcher used content analysis of four GCC journalists' accounts for four months. The paper concludes that the use of Twitter is shifting the Arab public's discourse and opinions in the region because those opinions are being heard instead of censored. Social media is having a major impact on the conservative Saudi, Qatar, and UAE societies.

scholarly journals Sincerely Fake: Exploring User-Generated Political Fakes and Networked Publics

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 205630512096382
Author(s):  
Elisabetta Ferrari
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Social Network Sites ◽  
Online Communication ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Political ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Political Satire ◽  
Political Organizations ◽  
The Public ◽  
Networked Publics

This article investigates user-generated political satire, focusing in particular on one genre: fake political accounts. Such fakes, created as social media profiles, satirize politicians or political organizations by impersonating them. Through interviews with a sample of Italian fake accounts creators, I explore how the fakes navigate their fakeness vis-à-vis the affordances of social network sites and their publics. First, I map how the publics of the fake accounts react to the satire along two axes: one referring to the public’s understanding of the satire and the other to the uses that the public makes of the satire. Second, I show how fakeness is part of everyday interactions in networked publics. Third, I argue for fakeness as a playful, powerful, and sincere critique of the political and its pretense to authenticity. By focusing on fake political accounts, this article provides insights on the place of fakeness in online communication beyond the debate around “fake news.”

scholarly journals What is an author now? Discourse analysis applied to the idea of an author

2015 ◽  
Vol 71 (5) ◽  
pp. 1094-1114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Martínez-Ávila ◽  
Richard Smiraglia ◽  
Hur-Li Lee ◽  
Melodie Fox
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Phenomenological Analysis ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
Intellectual Content ◽  
Shed Light

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to discuss and shed light on the following questions: What is an author? Is it a person who writes? Or, is it, in information, an iconic taxonomic designation (some might say a “classification”) for a group of writings that are recognized by the public in some particular way? What does it mean when a search engine, or catalog, asks a user to enter the name of an author? And how does that accord with the manner in which the data have been entered in association with the names of the entities identified with the concept of authorship? Design/methodology/approach – The authors use several cases as bases of phenomenological discourse analysis, combining as best the authors can components of eidetic bracketing (a Husserlian technique for isolating noetic reduction) with Foucauldian discourse analysis. The two approaches are not sympathetic or together cogent, so the authors present them instead as alternative explanations alongside empirical evidence. In this way the authors are able to isolate components of iconic “authorship” and then subsequently engage them in discourse. Findings – An “author” is an iconic name associated with a class of works. An “author” is a role in public discourse between a set of works and the culture that consumes them. An “author” is a role in cultural sublimation, or a power broker in deabstemiation. An “author” is last, if ever, a person responsible for the intellectual content of a published work. The library catalog’s attribution of “author” is at odds with the Foucauldian discursive comprehension of the role of an “author.” Originality/value – One of the main assets of this paper is the combination of Foucauldian discourse analysis with phenomenological analysis for the study of the “author.” The authors turned to Foucauldian discourse analysis to discover the loci of power in the interactions of the public with the named authorial entities. The authors also looked to phenomenological analysis to consider the lived experience of users who encounter the same named authorial entities. The study of the “author” in this combined way facilitated the revelation of new aspects of the role of authorship in search engines and library catalogs.

scholarly journals FIGHTING OVER NDEBELE IDENTITY THROUGH ONLINE FORUMS: QUARRELS OF THE VANQUISHED?

2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
L P Siziba ◽  
F Wood
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Significant Role ◽  
The Other ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Online Forums ◽  
Discursive Practices ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
Use Of Social Media

Social media has transformed into a space of contest for identity, language and culture. In an attempt to reclaim, redefine and restore their distorted identity, the Ndebele people have taken to the use of social media as a forum to fulfil their quest. Unlike most cultures and identities the concept of Ndebeleness is a fluid ideology, because the concept of Nationalism in this culture involved a unification of various identities which in itself caused an identity divide in the Ndebele ideology. More recently the identity debates are centered on the concept of ‘who is Ndebele and who is an outsider?’ This article reflects on and discusses key ideas and cross-cutting themes around the evolution of ‘cultures’, discursive practices and other ‘language forms’ in Zimbabwe that have in recent years played a significant role in shaping ideas about Ndebele identity and the other. The research analyses these concepts using facets of critical discourse analysis as well as Primordial and Constructivist theories of identity. The article uses data collected from various social media forums for analysis purposes.

scholarly journals Partizipation migrantisch markierter Bürgerinnen in der Süddeutschen Zeitung – eine diskursanalytische Sondierung

2020 ◽  
Vol 75 (2) ◽  
pp. 195-208
Author(s):  
Madlen Pilz
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Differential Inclusion ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Critical Race ◽  
The Public ◽  
Everyday Lives ◽  
Central Elements ◽  
The Subject ◽  
National Newspaper

Abstract. Based on the discourse analysis of articles collected between 2010 and 2016 from the Süddeutsche Zeitung – a leading local and German national newspaper – my aim is to reconstruct the central conditions limiting or enabling the participation of those citizens in the public discourse who are generally constructed as „migrants“. Therefore, I analyse the central elements of the discourse around the subject migration/integration. My analysis is guided by the ‚postmigrant debate‘, in particular by the approaches of the ‚differential inclusion‘ of migrantised groups and their ‚struggles of migration‘ combining it with critical race debates. My aim is to outline the different discursive ways that allow migrantised citizens to participate in public meaning making, and the ways, they use to contest majoritarian views. My analysis reveals their critical reconsideration of the system of differentiated inclusion, which is organizing the majoritarian discourse and ‚migrants‘ everyday lives. While the journalistic strategy exemplified within the analysis is working in support of the ‚migrant's perspectives‘, it simultaneously acts to normalize majoritarian position contra migration.

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