scholarly journals Framing crisis: news media narratives of the “Opi-void” (Opioid) epidemic on Twitter

Author(s):  
Travis Boyco

The following Major Research Paper (MRP) focuses on the discussion of opioids in Canada, online news outlets, and social media. More specifically, this research focuses on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), and how the organization frames the opioid crisis on Twitter through @CBCNews. This research excludes other CBC Twitter accounts (i.e., @CBC, @CBCAlerts, @CBCOttawa, @CBCToronto, @CBCManitoba, @CBCPolitics, @CBCCanada), as @CBCNews is the most active with 2.62 million followers. The following discussion considers the opioid discussion from a crisis communication lens. This research asserts that there is an apparent opioid crisis, given the situation’s complexity, and the number of opioid-related deaths. This research questions how social media (specifically Twitter) act as a tool for information dissemination during a health-related crisis, and how external factors (i.e., public opinion, bias, and current affairs) shape news content online. Without understanding the narrative (i.e., how a story is intentionally told) and strategies behind social media posts, news outlets like the CBC can promote hidden agendas and ideals (without a large amount of public knowledge or opposition). The CBC has goals, commitments, and preconceived notions like any other private organization. This reality is incredibly problematic during a public health crisis, as human lives depend on appropriate and trustworthy information. Instead of discussing an issue without bias or pre-conception, news outlets may provide subjective, false or vague information, which could lead to negative repercussions (Kim & Hyojung, 2017). Due to private motivations, the intent to control the opioid conversation (through politically-driven content, stigma-driven content or to even place blame, for example) or the promotion of ideas beneficial to pharmaceutical companies, for example, do news sources frame Twitter posts with a specific narrative in mind? Instead of analyzing social media as an enabler or an initiator of framing crisis online, this research focuses on how news outlets frame crises through social media as one of many possible media channels. Examining how social media as a platform acts as an echo chamber (therefore enabling an intended narrative) is an interesting concept. However, this type of analysis is beyond the scope of this research. As a result, the following Major Research Paper explores the following primary research questions: 1. How does the CBC frame the issue of opioid usage in Canada? In addition, why are their Twitter posts framed a certain way? 2. What is the nature of the dialogue occurring in response to the CBC’s Twitter coverage? What strategies are most conducive to audience response? 3. How are fluctuations and outliers in news coverage accounted for by the CBC? Do socially and/or politically driven events impact the timing of posts? Keywords: social media, crisis, communication, opioid crisis, strategy, political, narrative, framing, Canada, fentanyl, naloxone.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Travis Boyco

The following Major Research Paper (MRP) focuses on the discussion of opioids in Canada, online news outlets, and social media. More specifically, this research focuses on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), and how the organization frames the opioid crisis on Twitter through @CBCNews. This research excludes other CBC Twitter accounts (i.e., @CBC, @CBCAlerts, @CBCOttawa, @CBCToronto, @CBCManitoba, @CBCPolitics, @CBCCanada), as @CBCNews is the most active with 2.62 million followers. The following discussion considers the opioid discussion from a crisis communication lens. This research asserts that there is an apparent opioid crisis, given the situation’s complexity, and the number of opioid-related deaths. This research questions how social media (specifically Twitter) act as a tool for information dissemination during a health-related crisis, and how external factors (i.e., public opinion, bias, and current affairs) shape news content online. Without understanding the narrative (i.e., how a story is intentionally told) and strategies behind social media posts, news outlets like the CBC can promote hidden agendas and ideals (without a large amount of public knowledge or opposition). The CBC has goals, commitments, and preconceived notions like any other private organization. This reality is incredibly problematic during a public health crisis, as human lives depend on appropriate and trustworthy information. Instead of discussing an issue without bias or pre-conception, news outlets may provide subjective, false or vague information, which could lead to negative repercussions (Kim & Hyojung, 2017). Due to private motivations, the intent to control the opioid conversation (through politically-driven content, stigma-driven content or to even place blame, for example) or the promotion of ideas beneficial to pharmaceutical companies, for example, do news sources frame Twitter posts with a specific narrative in mind? Instead of analyzing social media as an enabler or an initiator of framing crisis online, this research focuses on how news outlets frame crises through social media as one of many possible media channels. Examining how social media as a platform acts as an echo chamber (therefore enabling an intended narrative) is an interesting concept. However, this type of analysis is beyond the scope of this research. As a result, the following Major Research Paper explores the following primary research questions: 1. How does the CBC frame the issue of opioid usage in Canada? In addition, why are their Twitter posts framed a certain way? 2. What is the nature of the dialogue occurring in response to the CBC’s Twitter coverage? What strategies are most conducive to audience response? 3. How are fluctuations and outliers in news coverage accounted for by the CBC? Do socially and/or politically driven events impact the timing of posts? Keywords: social media, crisis, communication, opioid crisis, strategy, political, narrative, framing, Canada, fentanyl, naloxone.


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (2 (40)) ◽  
pp. 45-69
Author(s):  
Beryl EHONDOR ◽  
Christiana UNAKALAMBA

Several scholars have studied social media use for crisis com- munication. However, few studies have been carried out to investigate so- cial media deployment during a public health crisis, such as the Corona- virus outbreak. This study accessed public awareness and engagement of Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC)’s social media use for crisis communications during the Coronavirus outbreak in Nigeria. It also as- sessed the influence of communication towards public positive behavioural adjustments. The study data was gathered via a survey of 400 citizens and Facebook users and analysed using excel and SPSS. The study found public awareness of the NCDC social media communications during the outbreak; there was also a public behavioural adjustment to NCDC’s recommended preventive behaviours. However, there was a low engagement in NCDC’s crisis communication via Facebook. The study reveals a high level of public uncertainty about NCDC Facebook communications and a change in public opinion about the Coronavirus. This study concludes that this situation could result from competing information about the Coronavirus on social media during the COVID outbreak and recommended further studies in this area. Findings are helpful for health communication policy reviews, strategic crisis communication assessments, appraisal of similar agencies, and further research.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louise-Amélie Cougnon ◽  
Louis de Viron

The Covid-19 health crisis of 2020 strongly affected the international community. Especially during the lockdown period, social media were widely used for information and emotion sharing. This article aims to keep a material trace of these crisis communication trends. To reach this aim, we applied quantitative and qualitative methods on a corpus of 100,000 tweets we collected in the French-speaking part of Belgium. The corpus is divided into three sub-groups: citizens, politicians and the media. We first present the corpus collection and the methodology we followed. We also look at the lexical creativity that resulted from the crisis and the lockdown situation. We then propose a semantic approach of the themes that emerged from the crisis tweets and which highlight citizens’ concerns. Finally, we depict the personalities related to the crisis, by focusing on their communication and on the image they portray to the public.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Boodram

People of colour have long endured a lack of makeup products formulated for melanated skin. In 2017, Fenty Beauty released 40 shades of its foundation and concealer products and expanded its selection in 2019 to match 50 distinct skin tones. These events inspired a new industry standard, labelled “The Fenty Effect”, that prompted other makeup brands to practice greater inclusivity toward darker skin tones. This Major Research Paper (MRP) uses a narrative approach to examine discourses around race and beauty. With a theoretical perspective on power and hegemony, it interprets the intersections of representation, colourism, identity, consumption, and counterpublics through an analysis of Fenty Beauty captions and user comments on Instagram. The results of this study provide preliminary knowledge toward a larger investigation on the shift in racial representations in the beauty industry. Keywords: race; representation; colourism; beauty; social media; identity; consumption


Compiler ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 99
Author(s):  
Muhammad Habibi ◽  
Puji Winar Cahyo

Social media analytics, especially Twitter, has experienced significant growth over the last few years. The data generated by Twitter provides valuable information to many stakeholders regarding user behavior, preferences, tastes, and characteristics. The presence of influencers on social media can invite interaction with other users. An influencer can affect the speed of spreading information on social media. This study looks at the influence of influencers and information dissemination channels on Twitter data related to COVID-19 vaccination in Indonesia as one of the hot Twitter discussion trends. This study applies Social Network Analysis (SNA) as a theoretical and methodological framework to show that interactions between users have differences on the network when the analyzed tweets are divided into mention and retweet networks. This study found that the key accounts in disseminating information related to Covid-19 vaccination were dominated by official accounts of government organizations and online news portals. The official Twitter account of government organizations turns out to have an essential role in disseminating information related to COVID-19 vaccination, namely the @KemenkesRI account belonging to the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Indonesia and the @Puspen_TNI account belonging to the TNI Information Center.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 179-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xianlin Jin

This study utilized social network analysis to identify the top 10 Twitter influentials during the Hurricane Irma crisis period and examined the relationship between social media attributes and the bridge influence of controlling information flow. The number of a user’s followers and tweets significantly predicted one’s control of information. Crisis information tended to be shared in scattered subgroups. Social network boundaries impeded information diffusion, and the communication pattern was largely one-way. The findings partially supported the opinion leader argument while indicating that influentials can directly generate information, which is consistent with the social-mediated crisis communication model. Such findings will contribute to crisis literature and help emergency management professionals advance social media usage to disseminate crisis information, build effective communication, and provide immediate disaster relief responses


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anastazya Vydelingum

This Major Research Paper explores the Barbie Savior parody Instagram account to understand how the account attempts to politicize voluntourist/local relationships and how its posts constitute a strategy of social critique. Barbie Savior Instagram posts parody the white saviour complex enacted by short term missionaries who post their volunteer experiences on social media. A mixed methods approach provides quantitative and qualitative insights into how this intersectional critique addresses the phenomenon of voluntourist selfies on Instagram that promote a self-brand centered on touristic and religious authenticity through strategic use of captions and hashtags. Key words: Voluntourism; Short Term Missions; Instagram; Parody; White Saviour Complex; Authenticity


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anastazya Vydelingum

This Major Research Paper explores the Barbie Savior parody Instagram account to understand how the account attempts to politicize voluntourist/local relationships and how its posts constitute a strategy of social critique. Barbie Savior Instagram posts parody the white saviour complex enacted by short term missionaries who post their volunteer experiences on social media. A mixed methods approach provides quantitative and qualitative insights into how this intersectional critique addresses the phenomenon of voluntourist selfies on Instagram that promote a self-brand centered on touristic and religious authenticity through strategic use of captions and hashtags. Key words: Voluntourism; Short Term Missions; Instagram; Parody; White Saviour Complex; Authenticity


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