scholarly journals Risk, Stigma, Trustworthiness, and Citizen Participation—A Multifaceted Analysis of Media Coverage of Dioxin Contamination in Midland, Michigan

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (21) ◽  
pp. 4165
Author(s):  
Jie Zhuang ◽  
Jeffrey G. Cox ◽  
Minwoong Chung ◽  
Joseph A. Hamm ◽  
Adam Zwickle ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Citizen Participation ◽  
News Media ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
News Coverage ◽  
The United States ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Public ◽  
Local Newspapers ◽  
Dioxin Contamination

In the United States, more than 200 communities are designated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as areas of concern for dioxins. Informing the public about potential risks associated with dioxins and delivering information about how to avoid such risks are essential activities. News coverage of environmental and health problems affects how members of the public assess those problems in terms of both severity and how they are understood, as well as the extent of attention given to the problem by policy-makers. To contextualize public and institutional responses to dioxin contamination and remediation in a dioxin-affected community, we assessed 176 newspaper articles published over 30 years concerning dioxin contamination in Midland, Michigan, in terms of risk, trust in institutions, environmental stigma, and citizen participation. Articles about dioxin contamination and remediation in Midland appeared in both domestic and international newspapers. Domestically, both national and local newspapers covered this issue. The risks for human health and the environment caused by exposure to dioxins were widely covered, with much less media attention given to the trustworthiness of the organizations responsible for managing the risk, environmental stigma, and citizen participation. News coverage of these four themes also changed significantly overtime. Overall, our findings highlight the important role of local news media in communicating risk information, guiding safe behaviors, and facilitating community-level decision-making.

Poor Kids versus Bad Teachers: Vergara v. California and the Social Construction of Teachers

2021 ◽  
Vol 123 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-26
Author(s):  
Jeanne M. Powers ◽  
Kathryn P. Chapman
Keyword(s):  
Social Construction ◽  
News Media ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
The United States ◽  
Political Spectacle ◽  
The Public ◽  
Print News ◽  
Political Conflicts ◽  
Policy Debates ◽  
The Social

Background In the past decade, the laws governing teachers’ employment have been at the center of legal and political conflicts across the United States. Vergara v. California challenged five California state statutes that provide employment protections for teachers. In June 2014, a California lower court declared the statutes unconstitutional because they exposed students to “grossly ineffective teachers.” Purpose The purpose of the article is to document and analyze how Vergara was presented in the print news media. It is important to understand how the print news media presents education policy debates to the public, because the print news media shapes the general public's understanding of education and other public policy debates by providing frames and themes for interpreting the issues in question and people associated with them. Research Design Using the social construction of target populations and political spectacle as conceptual lenses, we conducted a content analysis of print news media articles on the Vergara case published between June 2012 and November 2014. We provide a descriptive overview of the full corpus of articles published during this period and a thematic analysis of the 65 unique news articles published in the aftermath of the decision. The latter focuses on news articles because they are intended to provide more objective coverage of the case than opinions or editorials. Findings In the print news media coverage, the word “teacher” was often paired with a negative qualifier, which suggests that Vergara was an effort to change the relatively advantaged social construction of teachers. Similarly, metaphors and the illusion of rationality associated with political spectacle were used in ways that bolstered the plaintiffs’ claims. While Vergara consumed a substantial amount of philanthropic and public dollars, ultimately it did not change the policies that govern teachers’ employment in California. Vergara may have been more successful in shaping the general public's perceptions of teachers and the conditions of teachers’ employment in the period following the trial.

Communication on Climate Change and Energy Alternatives in the United States

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Toby Bolsen ◽  
Matthew A. Shapiro
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
News Coverage ◽  
Climate Science ◽  
The United States ◽  
Political Information ◽  
Forthcoming Article ◽  
The Public ◽  
Scientific Consensus ◽  
The U.S

This is an advance summary of a forthcoming article in the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Climate Science. Please check back later for the full article. Most of what people think about politics comes from information acquired via exposure to mass media. Media thus serve a vital role in democracy as a fundamental conduit of political information. Scholars study the factors that drive news coverage about political issues, including the rise of discourse on climate change and shifts in media coverage over time. Climate change first received sustained attention in the U.S. press in the late 1980s and early 1990s. As scientific consensus emerged on the issue, interest groups and other actors emerged who accentuated the inherent uncertainty of climate science as a way to cast doubt on the existence of scientific consensus. The politicization of climate science has resulted in uncertainty among the public about its existence, anxiety about the effects of a fundamental transformation of U.S. energy systems, and support for the status quo in terms of the use of traditional energy sources. Media coverage often magnified the voices of contrarian scientists and skeptics because journalistic norms provided equal space to all sides, a semblance of false balance in news coverage that has persisted through the mid 2000s. By this time, the U.S. public had fractured along partisan lines due to rhetoric employed to generate support by elites. Media fragmentation and the rise of partisan news outlets further contributed to polarization, especially given the tendency of individuals to seek political information about climate change from trusted and credible sources. More recently, new media has come to play an increasingly significant role in communicating information on climate change to the public. Ultimately, there is a need for knowledge-based journalism in communicating climate change and energy alternatives to all segments of the U.S. public, but doing this effectively requires engagement with a broader audience in the debate over how best to address climate change. “Honest brokers” must be referenced in the media as they are best equipped to discuss the issue with citizens of different political identities and cultural worldviews. The success of collective efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change requires not only scientific consensus but the ability to communicate the science in a way that generates greater consensus among the public.

scholarly journals Environmental DNA as Novel Technology: Lessons in Agenda Setting and Framing in News Media

Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 2874
Author(s):  
Amy Fitzgerald ◽  
Jennifer Halliday ◽  
Daniel Heath
Keyword(s):  
News Media ◽  
Agenda Setting ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Scientific Information ◽  
News Coverage ◽  
Environmental Dna ◽  
The United States ◽  
Extracellular Dna ◽  
Novel Technology

Environmental DNA (eDNA) is an emerging technology used for understanding ecosystems, environmental change, and stressors. Cellular and extracellular DNA are collected from environmental samples instead of individual wildlife animals, and as such eDNA comes with associated logistical and ethical benefits. It is increasingly being used, yet to date public knowledge and perceptions of eDNA have not been explored. Given that most of the public gathers scientific information from news media sources, this is a logical first place to start. This paper reports on a framing and agenda-setting analysis of news media coverage of eDNA in Canada and the United States from 2000 to 2020. The findings indicate that eDNA is being framed as an emerging and powerful tool, although questions regarding its validity and reliability are raised vis-à-vis identifying the presence of invasive species. Less than half of the news articles analyzed address broader social or ethical issues in relation to eDNA, and the majority focus on the potential financial impacts of eDNA findings on development projects and business interests. The potential ethical advantages of non-lethal sampling methods used via eDNA sampling are not addressed, nor are the potential ethical issues raised by its potential use in bioprospecting, indicating that the current state of agenda setting regarding eDNA in these newspapers is focused on economic impacts, to the exclusion of potential ethical issues. This unfolding news coverage will likely be key to understanding public perceptions of this novel technology.

scholarly journals From the Deeming Rule to JUUL—US News Coverage of Electronic Cigarettes, 2015–2018

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (10) ◽  
pp. 1816-1822 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olivia A Wackowski ◽  
Jennah M Sontag ◽  
Binu Singh ◽  
Jessica King ◽  
M Jane Lewis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
News Media ◽  
Electronic Cigarettes ◽  
News Coverage ◽  
High Volume ◽  
The United States ◽  
Online News ◽  
Future Research ◽  
The Public ◽  
News Sources ◽  
Over Time

Abstract Introduction News media may influence public perceptions and attitudes about electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes), which may influence product use and attitudes about their regulation. The purpose of this study is to describe trends in US news coverage of e-cigarettes during a period of evolving regulation, science, and trends in the use of e-cigarettes. Methods We conducted a content analysis of e-cigarette topics and themes covered in US news articles from 2015 to 2018. Online news databases (Access World News, Factiva) were used to obtain US news articles from the top 34 circulating newspapers, four national wire services, and five leading online news sources. Results The number of articles increased by 75.4% between 2015 and 2018 (n = 1609). Most articles focused on policy/regulation (43.5%) as a main topic, followed by health effects (22.3%) and prevalence/trends (17.9%). Discussion about flavor bans quadrupled (6.1% to 24.6%) and discussion of youth e-cigarette use was most prevalent (58.4%) in 2018, coinciding with an increase in coverage about JUUL. JUUL was mentioned in 50.8% of 2018 articles. Across years, articles more frequently mentioned e-cigarette risks (70%) than potential benefits (37.3%). Conclusions E-cigarettes continue to be a newsworthy topic, with coverage both reflecting numerous changes and events over time, and providing repeated opportunities for informing the public and policymakers about these novel products. Future research should continue to track how discourse changes over time and assess its potential influence on e-cigarette perceptions and policy changes. Implications E-cigarette news coverage in the United States increased between 2015 and 2018 and predominantly focused on policy and regulation. Notable spikes in volume were associated with some but not all major e-cigarette events, including the FDA’s deeming rule, Surgeon General’s report, and release of the National Youth Tobacco Survey data in 2018. Coverage of the 2018 National Academy of Medicine, Engineering, and Sciences report on the Public Health Consequences of E-cigarettes received minimal news coverage. The high volume in 2018 was driven in large part by coverage of the e-cigarette brand JUUL; over half of news articles in 2018 referenced JUUL specifically.

scholarly journals Invisible Women? Comparing Candidates’ News Coverage in Europe

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (02) ◽  
pp. 223-253 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maarja Lühiste ◽  
Susan Banducci
Keyword(s):  
Gender Bias ◽  
Gender Gap ◽  
News Media ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
News Coverage ◽  
The United States ◽  
Media Analysis ◽  
Women Candidates ◽  
News Stories ◽  
Underrepresentation Of Women

Past studies, largely based on the United States, have argued that differential coverage of men and women candidates could explain the lack of women in elected political office. We investigate, first, whether a gender bias exists in coverage of candidates and, second, the possible mechanisms underlying any differences in the amount and tone of candidates’ news media coverage. Using data from the 2009 European Election Study Media Analysis, drawn from media coverage in 25 EU member states during the European Parliament election campaigns, we find that, similar to previous research, there is evidence of a gender gap in the amount of media coverage. Even for highly prominent and competitive candidates, the gender bias in media coverage remains. However, this bias in media coverage largely reflects the parties’ preselection of viable candidates and that where there are remedies in place to address the underrepresentation of women (i.e., quotas), women candidates actually have lower visibility in campaign coverage. We also find that, though women candidates are more often the subject of valence evaluations in news stories, male candidates are more negatively evaluated in news stories.

A Comparative Analysis of Media Coverage of Mass Public Shootings: Examining Rampage, Disgruntled Employee, School, and Lone-Wolf Terrorist Shootings in the United States

2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (9) ◽  
pp. 1312-1341 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason R. Silva ◽  
Joel A. Capellan
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
News Media ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
The United States ◽  
Security Measures ◽  
Lone Wolf ◽  
The Public ◽  
Perceptions Of Risk ◽  
Mass Public ◽  
The Media

This study provides a comparative analysis of news media coverage across four types of mass public shootings: rampage, disgruntled employee, school, and lone-wolf terrorist. This research analyzes the agenda-setting function of the media and identifies differences in coverage and the salience of coverage, proportionality of coverage, changes in coverage over time, and factors influencing levels of coverage. Findings indicate school shootings and lone-wolf terrorist shootings receive disproportionate amounts of news media coverage. This suggests media coverage may be contributing to setting the public and policy agenda concerning the phenomenon. These findings have important implications for public perceptions of risk, conceptualizations of potential perpetrators, and the implementation of security measures.

scholarly journals The Role of the Media in the Propagation of the Terrorist Agenda

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Goodman ◽  
Shane Warren ◽  
Robyn Jolly ◽  
Maggie Norton
Keyword(s):  
News Media ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Psychological Impact ◽  
News Coverage ◽  
Kenneth Burke ◽  
The Public ◽  
Terror Attacks ◽  
National Leaders ◽  
The Media ◽  
High Level

The thesis of this paper is that jihadists are using terror as a propaganda weapon to create a high level of fear among the public around the world, a level above the actual threat. We believe the media and national leaders enhance the effectiveness of the jihadists' propaganda in the ways they present terror attacks. Previous research indicates that horrific events, whether created by humans or the result of nature, leave a lasting psychological impact on the victims. We show a psychological link by victims of the Mumbai attack seven years ago and the Paris attacks in November of 2015. We argue that the psychological impact may be caused when the cultural signifiers of terror result in a meaning abyss because most people do not have signifieds that readily link to brutal terrorists' signifiers. What Derrida described as the abyss occurs when acts of brutality create panic and chaos because most people do not know assign signifieds-- i.e., meanings-- to the brutality. Kenneth Burke critiqued Mein Kampf by explaining how Adolph Hitler had used god terms and evil terms to create ideological agreement with Hitler's concept that the Aryan race was being undermined by a Jewish conspiracy. We examine how the news media coverage of nine terrorist attacks invoked god terms and evil terms in their description of the terror created by the jihadists. Further, we looked for chaos terms, which are terms that describe such inhumane acts of terror that people do not have existing signifieds to translate those acts into meaning. Not only did we find that chaos terms in the news coverage, as well as the god terms and evil terms, but we also found chaos terms used by world leaders. We draw the conclusion that both the media and world leaders contribute to the propaganda impact of jihadists attacks by using chaos terms.

scholarly journals Are Experts (News)Worthy? Balance, Conflict, and Mass Media Coverage of Expert Consensus

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Merkley
Keyword(s):  
News Media ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
News Coverage ◽  
Expert Consensus ◽  
News Production ◽  
The Public ◽  
News Content ◽  
News Stories ◽  
Thematic Context

Overlooked in analyses of why the public often rejects expert consensus is the role of the news media. News coverage of expert consensus on general matters of policy is likely limited as a result of journalists’ emphasis in news production on novelty and drama at the expense of thematic context. News content is also biased towards balance and conflict, which may dilute the persuasiveness of expert consensus. This study presents an automated and manual analysis of over 280,000 news stories on ten issues where there are important elements of agreement among scientists or economists. The analyses show that news content typically emphasizes arguments aligned with positions of expert consensus, rather than providing balance, and only occasionally cites contrarian experts. More troubling is that expert messages related to important areas of agreement are infrequent in news content, and cues signaling the existence of consensus are rarer still.

scholarly journals Discursive de/humanizing: A multimodal critical discourse analysis of television news representations of undocumented youth

2020 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
pp. 47
Author(s):  
Ruth M. López
Keyword(s):  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
News Media ◽  
Television News ◽  
News Coverage ◽  
The United States ◽  
Spanish Language ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Dream Act ◽  
Undocumented Youth ◽  
The Public

This article addresses television news coverage of the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act of 2010, which would have created a path to legal residency for thousands of undocumented immigrants in the United States. Considering the role that news media play in socially constructing groups of people, through an analysis of English- and Spanish-language evening television news coverage of the DREAM Act of 2010, the author examined discursive practices used to represent undocumented youth in both dehumanizing and humanizing ways. The author discusses the implications of these types of discourses for education policy understanding by the public and education stakeholders.

Fight Clubs: Media Coverage of Party (Dis)unity and Citizens’ Selective Exposure to It

2019 ◽  
Vol 73 (2) ◽  
pp. 276-292 ◽  
Author(s):  
John V. Kane
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Mass Media ◽  
News Media ◽  
Behavioral Change ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Democratic Party ◽  
News Coverage ◽  
The United States ◽  
Selective Exposure ◽  
News Stories

News media play a key role in communicating information about political parties to the American public. However, our understanding of how media depict relations between elites and the broader party coalitions remains limited. Moreover, while research suggests that forced exposure to such information can affect political attitudes, it remains unclear whether citizens are willing to selectively expose themselves to such communications. To address these two interrelated questions, this study first employs a content analysis to explore patterns in news coverage of inter- and intra-party relations throughout the Obama presidency. Next, two survey experiments investigate the degree to which such relations affect citizens’ self-exposure to such information. Taken together, the analyses uncover two important asymmetries. First, throughout Obama’s presidency, mass media depicted a Republican coalition virtually always against the president, yet substantial discord within the Democratic Party. Second, though partisans show no propensity to consume news depicting inparty unity (vs. disunity), both Republicans and Democrats exhibit a strong tendency to consume news stories depicting disunity in the outparty. Insofar as partisans’ self-exposure to such information is a necessary precondition for attitudinal and behavioral change, these findings have notable implications for how mass media stand to shape partisanship in the United States.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document