scholarly journals "Did you read about Berlin?" Terrorist attacks, online media reporting and support for refugees in Germany

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander W. Schmidt-Catran ◽  
Christian S. Czymara

We analyze whether the Islamist terror attack on the Christmas market in Berlin in 2016 had an impact on public opinion toward immigration in general and, since the attacker has entered Germany to apply for asylum, toward refugees in particular. An analysis of this natural experiment reveals a negative shift regarding the latter, while no differences are observed for the former. To shed more light on the driver of attitude change, we combine these findings with a quantitative content analysis of online media reporting about refugees before and after the attack. Mass media have long been considered to have an impact on exclusionary attitudes toward ethnic minorities. However, empirical evidence on this relationship remains largely anecdotal. We draw upon unsupervised machine learning to quantify the developments in reporting in three popular German online news websites. Results reveal that the attack had significant impact on media reporting on these websites. However, the strong focus on the attack was only short lived, quickly decreasing already in the second week after the attack. Linking media data to the public opinion data reveals no clear connection between reporting and attitudes. In contrast to theoretical expectations, descriptive evidence even shows that both follow almost opposite trends, since people changed their attitudes only weeks after the attack. We discuss potential explanations of these, at first sight, counterintuitive findings.

Soziale Welt ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 71 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 201-232 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander W. Schmidt-Catran ◽  
Christian S. Czymara

We analyze whether the Islamist terror attack on the Christmas market in Berlin in 2016 had an impact on public opinion toward immigration in general and, since the attacker has entered Germany to apply for asylum, toward refugees in particular. An analysis of this natural experiment reveals a negative shift regarding the latter, while no differences are observed for the former. To shed more light on the driver of attitude change, we combine these findings with a quantitative content analysis of online media reporting about refugees before and after the attack. Mass media have long been considered to have an impact on exclusionary attitudes toward ethnic minorities. However, empirical evidence on this relationship remains largely anecdotal. We draw upon unsupervised machine learning to quantify the developments in reporting in three popular German online news websites. Results reveal that the attack had significant impact on media reporting on these websites. However, the strong focus on the attack was only short lived, quickly decreasing already in the second week after the attack. Linking media data to the public opinion data reveals no clear connection between reporting and attitudes. In contrast to theoretical expectations, descriptive evidence even shows that both follow almost opposite trends, since people changed their attitudes only weeks after the attack. We discuss potential explanations of these, at first sight, counterintuitive findings.


2021 ◽  
pp. 000486742110096
Author(s):  
Vikas Menon ◽  
Sujita Kumar Kar ◽  
Ramdas Ransing ◽  
Ginni Sharma ◽  
Jigyansa Ipsita Pattnaik ◽  
...  

Objective: Little is known about changes in quality of media reporting of suicide in the community following a celebrity suicide. Our objective was to compare trends in quality of media reporting of suicide, before and after the suicide of an Indian entertainment celebrity, against the World Health Organization suicide reporting guidelines. Method: Online news portals of English and local language newspapers, as well as television channels, were searched to identify relevant suicide-related news articles. Comparison of reporting characteristics before and after the celebrity suicide was performed using chi-square test or Fisher’s exact test. Results: A total of 3867 eligible news reports were retrieved. There was a significant increase in harmful reporting characteristics, such as reporting the name, age and gender of the deceased ( p < 0.001 for all comparisons), mentioning the location ( p < 0.001) and reason for suicide ( p = 0.04) and including photos of the deceased ( p = 0.002) following the celebrity suicide. Helpful reporting practices were less affected; there was a significant rise in inclusion of expert opinion ( p = 0.04) and mention of suicide-related warning signs ( p = 0.02). Conclusion: Following a celebrity suicide, significant changes in the quality of media reporting of suicide were noted with an increase in several potentially harmful reporting characteristics.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian S. Czymara ◽  
Marijn van Klingeren

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.


2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ismail Fahmi Arrauf Nasution ◽  
Miswari

Mass media is an effective instrument in shaping public opinion. Though mass media is believed to be principally transparent and independent, the information presented to the public is the result of human construction based on their understanding of the reality of knowledge. In this topic, majority of Moslem, recently, claim that some popular mass media are not objective in reporting terrorism. For that reason, this article efforts whether the image of Islam as a religion of terror is constructed, especially from the online media framing in Kompas.com about the incident in Charlie Hebdo’s media in Paris.


2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 79-88
Author(s):  
Dede Mercy Rolando ◽  
Tri Adellia ◽  
Nuril Maulana Alifia Aziz ◽  
Galuh Dwi Kartika Wicaksono

This study aims to determine how the role and function of Public Relations in LKBN ANTARA Bureau Lampung in maintaining a positive image in the eyes of the public. In order to examine this research, the author uses descriptive qualitative research methods with data collection in the form of interviews, documentation and literature. The subject of this research is Public Relations practitioners in LKBN Anatara Lampung bureau. This study looks at the impact of technological advances that have disrupted conventional mass media, so that news channels are now converged into online channels. However, due to the convenience offered by online media, the information submitted cannot be filtered properly. The amount of information that is anonymous has resulted in the largest number of hoax news in online media. This reduces the credibility of an online news portal in the eyes of the public. Even some people doubt the accuracy of the news available on online channels. Public Relations at LKBN ANTARA Bureau Lampung acts as a Communication Technician, Communication Facilitator and Problem Solving Facilitator. And Public Relations here also acts as a management function and communication function.


Author(s):  
Renee Barnes

With media organisations placing increasing emphasis on online news delivery, many have argued the potential for online media to enhance democracy, by enabling increased access to the public debate and a greater ability for citizens to influence the public agenda. Within this complex paradigm of a changing media landscape, Australia's population is ageing. As a result, understanding the needs of older Australians in the presentation and distribution of digital news is vital if we are to ensure intergenerational equity in access to public debate. However, very little work has examined how older Australians engage with news online. Drawing on a survey of Australians aged 41-84, this exploratory study examines the preferences of participants in news engagement, the role of presentation and distribution of online news in engagement and perceived barriers to accessing news online and on mobile devices.


2017 ◽  
Vol 71 (1) ◽  
pp. 157-171 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Eshbaugh-Soha ◽  
Ronald J. McGauvran

Most research on media in the post-broadcast age of politics focuses on how media affect the public, not on the interinstitutional relationships between the presidency and news media. This study tackles this important topic by studying news coverage of and presidential attention to the issue of income inequality. We use web scraping and text analysis software to build a dataset of weekly news coverage from 1999 through 2013, across traditional and nontraditional media, including newspapers, broadcast and cable television transcripts, and online news websites. The data show that presidential attention to income inequality influences the income inequality news agenda across all sources except network television and affects the tone of newspaper coverage. Presidential influence of tone is especially pronounced on income inequality issues that have an international focus. The implications of this paper are significant not only for understanding how media and the presidency interact in the post-broadcast age but also for the prospects for federal policies that may combat income inequality.


1995 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 95-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Doble

The ability of Americans to make reasonable, logically consistent assessments about complex policy issues is a longstanding concern among elites and scholars, especially in view of the two most recent elections. Of particular concern, in view of American's low level of scientific literacy, is the public's ability to make such assessments about issues characterized by technological complexity and areas where experts cannot, with confidence, assess the degree of risk of certain phenomena or policy options. Public opinion about genetics research, the use of alar, and the safety of nuclear power plants are three recent examples. The article reports on an experimental study designed to explore whether the public can make such assessments and to identify the factors that enhance the process. The threat of global warming and the safe disposal of solid waste were used as proxies for an array of issues that are technologically complex and characterized by expert uncertainty. I argue that the study—in which over 400 people chosen to reflect a cross-section of the population filled out questionnaires before and after learning more about both issues, and which compares those responses to the views of 400 scientists—shows that the public can make a logically consistent assessment about such issues after a minimal educational intervention and a short period of time. The public's judgment about both issues, as measured by the questionnaire used after the intervention, is strikingly similar to the scientists' views. Further, the few areas of divergence seem rooted more in value differences than in expertise. The article discusses some conditions that enhance or inhibit the public's ability to make such assessments, and comments on the experiment's relevance to practical political decision-making.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
syahrul Ramadhan

Discourse analysis on Tempo online media. Co about PILPERS 2019 where a group or person is marginalized in the discourse. The purpose of this study is to describe the use of inclusion theory on political news and see the journalists' impartiality in the 2019 election in Tempo.co online news media. Data collection is done through three stages, (1) reading and understanding the discourse on Tempo's online mass media political news. The May 2019 edition of the Co with the aim of obtaining a clearunderstanding of the content of the discourse to be tudied, (2) marking parts of discourse related to Leeuwen's inclusioan theory, and (3) inventorying sentences in discourses related to Leeuwen's inclusioan theory by sorting and grouping data. Based on the results of the study it can be concluded, Leeuwen's inclusioan theory was found in eight Tempo mass media online news media. The May 2019 edition of Co consists of five of the seven existing theories, namely objectivity, nominations, nominations,identification, assimilation-individualization, and association-dissociation. Of the five Leeuwen inclusioan theories found there were 66 sentences containing Leeuwen's inclusioan theory. So, it can be concluded that in writing news about criminal journalists marginalizing victims. Journalists side with actors or actors.


Tripodos ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (47) ◽  
pp. 49-66
Author(s):  
Rachel E. Khan

From a century to a decade ago, the news media played a crucial role in providing the public with valuable in­formation, especially during a crisis. However, the advent of social media has brought about a change in ac­cess and distribution of the news and this may have resulted in less effec­tive health communication during this global coronavirus pandemic. These days, social media can have a great­er public reach and therefore, be the best tool to disseminate information. At the same time, there is the ques­tion of whether the important or trivial information is being shared. The aim of this paper is to explore the role of social media in providing the public with important information during the height of the coronavirus pandemic. Using Great Britain as a case study, the research analysed the kind of content on the coronavirus that had gone vi­ral in online news sources in the Unit­ed Kingdom to determine whether the information that was being shared contributed or not to effective health communication. Keywords: news, viral news, online media, journalism, crisis communica­tion, coronavirus.


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