scholarly journals Affective news: a case-study of the work of emotions in news coverage of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Candido
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Affective Commitment ◽  
News Coverage ◽  
Human Interest ◽  
The Public ◽  
News Stories ◽  
Soft News ◽  
The Press ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Necessary Evil

The study of affective discourse in the news is critical for understanding how world events become meaningful to audiences, and important in light of the fact that the profession of journalism maintains problematic ideas of the role of emotions in news texts. Within the ideals of journalism are notions that emotional narratives and affective discourses are secondary, or even degrading, to serious news stories. Other journalistic ideals view emotions as a kind of necessary evil to the selling of news. Lastly, in scholarship around the democratic potential of human interest or soft news stories (typically narrated using emotive language), there is an idea that soft news stories are only meaningful in so far as they act as a gateway to serious news issues. These theories of serious news degrade the role that the affects play in news texts. This paper suggests that emotions and the deployment of affective discourse in news texts can be understood as meaningful beyond their work in selling news stories or acting as a gateway to serious issues. This paper is interested in the ascension of "serious" news, and the way in which emotion in the news became regarded as trivial and unimportant. More specifically, I examine the division between serious, factual, objective news and dramatic, emotional human-interest stories, and their associated classificatory terms "hard" and "soft" news. This paper attempts to problematize the characterization of serious news as non-emotional, and non-serious news as emotional, by demonstrating how the press's commitment to the public sphere is an affective commitment predicated on the idea of "care." As this paper argues, the press's commitment to the public sphere, though, is vague and ambiguous. The effect of ambiguity around concepts of the public sphere and regarding ideas of care is that the press envisions care in differing ways. The differential alignment of the press with humanitarian goals, thus, works to privilege certain sites and methods of care over others. In this way, news coverage reflects a politics of care that operates through the alignment of public sympathies with pre-existing authorities of aid, relief and assistance. In order to demonstrate the affective work of the press, this paper examines news coverage of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti.

scholarly journals Affective news: a case-study of the work of emotions in news coverage of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Candido
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Affective Commitment ◽  
News Coverage ◽  
Human Interest ◽  
The Public ◽  
News Stories ◽  
Soft News ◽  
The Press ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Necessary Evil

The study of affective discourse in the news is critical for understanding how world events become meaningful to audiences, and important in light of the fact that the profession of journalism maintains problematic ideas of the role of emotions in news texts. Within the ideals of journalism are notions that emotional narratives and affective discourses are secondary, or even degrading, to serious news stories. Other journalistic ideals view emotions as a kind of necessary evil to the selling of news. Lastly, in scholarship around the democratic potential of human interest or soft news stories (typically narrated using emotive language), there is an idea that soft news stories are only meaningful in so far as they act as a gateway to serious news issues. These theories of serious news degrade the role that the affects play in news texts. This paper suggests that emotions and the deployment of affective discourse in news texts can be understood as meaningful beyond their work in selling news stories or acting as a gateway to serious issues. This paper is interested in the ascension of "serious" news, and the way in which emotion in the news became regarded as trivial and unimportant. More specifically, I examine the division between serious, factual, objective news and dramatic, emotional human-interest stories, and their associated classificatory terms "hard" and "soft" news. This paper attempts to problematize the characterization of serious news as non-emotional, and non-serious news as emotional, by demonstrating how the press's commitment to the public sphere is an affective commitment predicated on the idea of "care." As this paper argues, the press's commitment to the public sphere, though, is vague and ambiguous. The effect of ambiguity around concepts of the public sphere and regarding ideas of care is that the press envisions care in differing ways. The differential alignment of the press with humanitarian goals, thus, works to privilege certain sites and methods of care over others. In this way, news coverage reflects a politics of care that operates through the alignment of public sympathies with pre-existing authorities of aid, relief and assistance. In order to demonstrate the affective work of the press, this paper examines news coverage of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti.

scholarly journals Contested Numbers: Census Controversies and the Press in 1960s Nigeria

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
Gerardo Serra ◽  
Morten Jerven
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Political Culture ◽  
Cultural History ◽  
The State ◽  
Population Census ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Press ◽  
Distribution Of Resources ◽  
The Public Sphere

Abstract This article reconstructs the controversies following the release of the figures from Nigeria's 1963 population census. As the basis for the allocation of seats in the federal parliament and for the distribution of resources, the census is a valuable entry point into postcolonial Nigeria's political culture. After presenting an overview of how the Africanist literature has conceptualized the politics of population counting, the article analyses the role of the press in constructing the meaning and implications of the 1963 count. In contrast with the literature's emphasis on identification, categorization, and enumeration, our focus is on how the census results informed a broader range of visual and textual narratives. It is argued that analysing the multiple ways in which demographic sources shape debates about trust, identity, and the state in the public sphere results in a richer understanding of the politics of counting people and narrows the gap between demographic and cultural history.

scholarly journals PEOPLE, CULTURE AND CIVILIZATION

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 34-43
Author(s):  
Luís Guilherme Nascimento de Araujo ◽  
Claudio Everaldo Dos Santos ◽  
Elizabeth Fontoura Dorneles ◽  
Ionathan Junges ◽  
Nariel Diotto ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Public ◽  
Resistance Movements ◽  
Brazilian Society ◽  
The Press ◽  
Politics And Culture ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
The Military

The political and economic crises faced today, evidenced by the manifestos of political parties and the texts published in social networks and in the press, point to Brazilian society the possibility of different directions, including that of an autocratic regime, with the return of the military to the public sphere. This article discusses the movements of acceptance and resistance to the military regime that was implemented in Brazil with the coup of 1964. It is observed that the military uprising received at that time the support of a large part of the Brazilian population, which sought ways to maintain its socioeconomic status to the detriment of a majority that perceived itself vulnerable in view of the forms of maintenance and expansion of power used by the regime. In this context, Tropicalism emerges as an example of a contesting movement. This text approaches the song "Culture and civilization" by Gilberto Gil, performed by Gal Costa, relating the ideas present in this composition with the understandings of politics and culture, in a multidisciplinary proposal, seeking to understand the resistance and counter-resistance movements that emerged in Brazil at the time.

scholarly journals A National Public Sphere? Analyzing the Language, Location, and Form of Newspapers in Finland, 1771–1917

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 54-77
Author(s):  
Jani Marjanen ◽  
Ville Vaara ◽  
Antti Kanner ◽  
Hege Roivainen ◽  
Eetu Mäkelä ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Cultural History ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Mass Medium ◽  
Historical Knowledge ◽  
The Public ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Press ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Newspaper History

This article uses metadata from serial publications as a means of modelling the historical development of the public sphere. Given that a great deal of historical knowledge is generated through narratives relying on anecdotal evidence, any attempt to rely on newspapers for modeling the past challenges customary approaches in political and cultural history. The focus in this article is on Finland, but our approach is also scalable to other regions. During the period 1771–1917 newspapers developed as a mass medium in the Grand Duchy of Finland within two imperial configurations (Sweden until 1809 and Russia in 1809–1917), and in the two main languages – Swedish and Finnish. Finland is an ideal starting point for conducting comparative studies in that its bilingual profile already includes two linguistically separated public spheres that nonetheless were heavily connected. Our particular interest here is in newspaper metadata, which we use to trace the expansion of public discourse in Finland by statistical means. We coordinate information on publication places, language, number of issues, number of words, newspaper size, and publishers, which we compare with existing scholarship on newspaper history and censorship, and thereby offer a more robust statistical analysis of newspaper publishing in Finland than has previously been possible. We specifically examine the interplay between the Swedish- and Finnish-language newspapers and show that, whereas the public discussions were inherently bilingual, the technological and journalistic developments advanced at different pace in the two language forums. This analysis challenges the perception of a uniform public sphere in the country. In addition, we assess the development of the press in comparison with the production of books and periodicals, which points toward the specialization of newspapers as a medium in the period after 1860. This confirms some earlier findings about Finnish print production. We then show how this specialization came about through the establishment of forums for local debates that other less localized print media such as magazines and books could not provide.

Trials and Tribulations

2020 ◽  
pp. 65-97
Author(s):  
Stephen Lovell
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Public Attention ◽  
The Public ◽  
High Profile ◽  
The People ◽  
The Press ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
People Movement ◽  
The City

This chapter tells the story of public speaking in Russia from the imposition of greater restrictions on the public sphere in 1867 through to the eve of Alexander II’s assassination in 1881. It shows that in this period the focus of the Russian public switched from the zemstvo to the courtroom, where a number of high-profile trials took place (and were reported, sometimes in stenographic detail, in the press). The chapter examines the careers and profiles of some of Russia’s leading courtroom orators. It also explores the activities of the Russian socialists (populists), in particular the ‘Going to the People’ movement of 1873–4 and later propaganda efforts in the city and the courtroom. It ends by considering the intensification of public discourse at the end of the 1870s: the Russo-Turkish War saw a surge of patriotic mobilization, but at the same time the populist adoption of terrorism seized public attention.

scholarly journals The ignored audience: A multi-method reception study on children and television news in Albania

Childhood ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 230-244 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emiljano Kaziaj ◽  
Sofie Van Bauwel
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
News Media ◽  
Television News ◽  
News Coverage ◽  
Broadcast News ◽  
Emotional Maturity ◽  
The Public ◽  
Reception Study ◽  
The Public Sphere

Children are not considered to be an appropriate audience for news coverage based on their presumed lack of emotional maturity, critical thinking and proper knowledge. This article challenges these views by presenting the opinions of children aged 10–15 who report having watched broadcast news nearly every day. Additionally, the views of adults aged 25–62 are investigated. Children contest to the ways they are being portrayed by the news media and demonstrate their need to be considered as active participants in the public sphere, which is presented by the news media as an exclusive domain for adults.

scholarly journals Modelos de Espaço Público em contraste: Imprensa e Modernidade Seletiva nas Províncias da Paraíba e Pernambuco (1870-1880)

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 650
Author(s):  
Matheus Da Cruz e Zica ◽  
Patrícia Barros de Oliveira
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Public Space ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Press ◽  
De Se ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Opinion Maker ◽  
The Public Sphere

Este artigo procura elucidar o debate que se constituiu pela imprensa ao longo das décadas de 1870 e 1880 nas províncias brasileiras da Paraíba e de Pernambuco em torno do modelo francês de monarquia parlamentar que contrastava com o federalismo republicano dos EUA. Assumindo o lugar de formadora da opinião pública a imprensa procurou trazer destaque para a questão do Espaço Público na medida em que modos distintos de se lidar com ele estavam em jogo em cada um daqueles modelos políticos internacionais idealizados. Também foram mapeadas algumas relações que os jornais analisados indiciaram entre os debates sobre o Espaço Público e as retóricas de modernidade que os acompanhavam. Com frequência a questão da ciência e da técnica pareceu eclipsar a dimensão do conflito que é próprio do universo político e da esfera pública, unificando os olhares em torno de um deslumbramento com as benfeitorias materiais que o século prometia.Palavras chave: Espaço Público, Formação, Imprensa. AbstractThis article seeks to elucidate the debate that was constituted by the press throughout the 1870s and 1880s in the Brazilian provinces of Paraíba and Pernambuco around the French model of parliamentary monarchy that contrasted with the republicanism of the USA. Taking over the role of public opinion maker, the press sought to highlight the issue of the Public Space since that distinct ways of dealing with it was considered in each of those idealized international political models. This article also mapped some relations that the newspapers analyzed betrayed between the debates on the Public Space and the rhetoric of modernity that accompanied them. Often the question of science and technique seemed to eclipse the dimension of conflict that is proper to the political universe and the public sphere, unifying the glances around a dazzle with the material improvements that the century promised.Keywords: Public Space, Formation, Press.  ResumenEste artículo busca esclarecer el debate que se constituyó por la prensa a lo largo de las décadas de 1870 y 1880 en las provincias brasileñas de Paraíba y de Pernambuco en torno al modelo francés de monarquía parlamentaria que contrastaba con el federalismo republicano de EUA. Asumiendo el lugar de formadora de la opinión pública la prensa trató de destacar la cuestión del Espacio Público en la medida en que modos distintos de lidiar con él estaban en juego en cada uno de aquellos modelos políticos internacionales idealizados. También se han mapeado algunas relaciones que los periódicos analizados indiciaron entre los debates sobre el espacio público y las retóricas de modernidad que los acompañaban. Con frecuencia la cuestión de la ciencia y de la técnica parecía eclipsar la dimensión del conflicto que es propio del universo político y de la esfera pública, unificando las miradas en torno a un deslumbramiento con las mejoras materiales que el siglo prometía.Palabras clave: Espacio Público, Formación, Prensa.

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