A topology of the mainstream media

2020 ◽

pp. 1-12

Author(s):

Marlene Kunst

Keyword(s):

Online Discussions ◽

Future Research ◽

Political Issues ◽

Argument Quality ◽

The Public ◽

Mainstream Media ◽

User Comments ◽

Media Trust ◽

Heuristic Information Processing

Abstract. Comments sections under news articles have become popular spaces for audience members to oppose the mainstream media’s perspective on political issues by expressing alternative views. This kind of challenge to mainstream discourses is a necessary element of proper deliberation. However, due to heuristic information processing and the public concern about disinformation online, readers of comments sections may be inherently skeptical about user comments that counter the views of mainstream media. Consequently, commenters with alternative views may participate in discussions from a position of disadvantage because their contributions are scrutinized particularly critically. Nevertheless, this effect has hitherto not been empirically established. To address this gap, a multifactorial, between-subjects experimental study ( N = 166) was conducted that investigated how participants assess the credibility and argument quality of media-dissonant user comments relative to media-congruent user comments. The findings revealed that media-dissonant user comments are, indeed, disadvantaged in online discussions, as they are assessed as less credible and more poorly argued than media-congruent user comments. Moreover, the findings showed that the higher the participants’ level of media trust, the worse the assessment of media-dissonant user comments relative to media-congruent user comments. Normative implications and avenues for future research are discussed.

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'Dirty Words' – Anti-Israel Pejoratives in Mainstream Media Israel Reporting

SSRN Electronic Journal ◽

10.2139/ssrn.3216017 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Lee Bender ◽

Jerome Verlin

Keyword(s):

Mainstream Media

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Social media bots as active disseminators of COVID-19 news (Preprint)

10.2196/preprints.22292 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Ahmed Al-Rawi ◽

Vishal Shukla

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Financial Incentives ◽

Total Sample ◽

Breaking News ◽

Mainstream Media ◽

Social Nature ◽

Credible Information ◽

Mixed Approach ◽

Standard Terms ◽

Official Sources

BACKGROUND In this study, we examined the activities of automated social media accounts or bots that tweet or retweet referencing #COVID-19 and #COVID19. OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study is to identify bot accounts to understand the nature of messages sent by them on COVID-19. Social media bots have been widely discussed in academic literature as some kind of moral panic mostly in relation to spreading controversial and politically polarized messages or in connection to problematic health bots (Broniatowski et al., 2018; Allem & Ferrara, 2018). The findings of this study, however, show that bots that reference COVID-19 mostly mention mainstream media and credible health sources while spreading breaking news on the pandemic or urging people to stay at home. These results align with previous research on the possible benefits, advantages, or possibilities afforded by the use of health chatbots (Brandtzaeg & Følstad, 2018; Skjuve & Brandtzæg, 2018; Kretzschmar et al., 2019; Greer et al., 2019). METHODS We used a mixed approach mostly comprised of several digital methods in this study. First, we collected 50,811,299 tweets and retweets referencing #COVID-19 and #COVID19 for a period of over two months from February 12 until April 18, 2020. We focused on these two hashtags because they are standard terms used by WHO and other official sources. From a total sample of over 50 million tweets, we used a mixed method to extract more than 185,000 messages posted by 127 bots. RESULTS Unlike the literature on health bots that associate them with anti-social activities, our findings show that the majority of these bots tweet, retweet and mention mainstream media outlets and credible official sources, promote health protection and telemedicine, and disseminate breaking news on the number of casualties and deaths caused by COVID-19. CONCLUSIONS Despite that some literature on social media bots highlight the controversial and anti-social nature of automated accounts, the findings of this study show that the majority of bots spread news on and awareness of COVID-19 risks while citing and referencing mainstream media outlets and credible health sources. We argue that there might be financial incentives behind designing some of these bots. However and if monitored and updated with credible information by health agencies themselves, we believe that bots can be useful during health crises due to their efficiency and speed in spreading valuable information, some of which is crucial for public health. CLINICALTRIAL N/A

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The Propaganda Pipeline: Hacking the Core from the Periphery

10.1093/oso/9780190923624.003.0007 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Yochai Benkler ◽

Robert Faris ◽

Hal Roberts

Keyword(s):

Presidential Election ◽

Mainstream Media ◽

The Core ◽

Media Ecosystem ◽

The Media ◽

Cation Sites

This chapter examines the claim that alt-right activists hacked the media ecosystem byinserting various destructive memes into the mainstream media that helped DonaldTrump win the 2016 presidential election. In particular, this chapter considers thepropaganda pipeline—the path from the periphery to the core through a series ofwell-known amplifi cation sites, most prominently Infowars and Drudge. Th e “spiritcooking” stories as seen on Infowars, Washington Times, and Sean Hannity perfectlyencapsulate the propaganda pipeline from the periphery to the core, drawingin the various suspects in producing information disorder. Th e chapter also showshow statements by marginal actors on Reddit and 4chan were collated and preparedfor propagation by more visible sites, and how this technique was exploited by bothalt-right and Russia-related actors successfully to get a story from the periphery toHannity.

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Quantifying Media Effects, Its Content, and Role in Promoting Community Awareness of Chikungunya Epidemic in Bangladesh

Epidemiologia ◽

10.3390/epidemiologia2010008 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 2 (1) ◽

pp. 84-94

Author(s):

Mst. Marium Begum ◽

Osman Ulvi ◽

Ajlina Karamehic-Muratovic ◽

Mallory R. Walsh ◽

Hasan Tarek ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Web Based ◽

Study Objective ◽

The Public ◽

Mainstream Media ◽

Related Information ◽

Vector Borne ◽

Media Outlet ◽

And Control

Background: Chikungunya is a vector-borne disease, mostly present in tropical and subtropical regions. The virus is spread by Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus mosquitos and symptoms include high fever to severe joint pain. Dhaka, Bangladesh, suffered an outbreak of chikungunya in 2017 lasting from April to September. With the goal of reducing cases, social media was at the forefront during this outbreak and educated the public about symptoms, prevention, and control of the virus. Popular web-based sources such as the top dailies in Bangladesh, local news outlets, and Facebook spread awareness of the outbreak. Objective: This study sought to investigate the role of social and mainstream media during the chikungunya epidemic. The study objective was to determine if social media can improve awareness of and practice associated with reducing cases of chikungunya. Methods: We collected chikungunya-related information circulated from the top nine television channels in Dhaka, Bangladesh, airing from 1st April–20th August 2017. All the news published in the top six dailies in Bangladesh were also compiled. The 50 most viewed chikungunya-related Bengali videos were manually coded and analyzed. Other social media outlets, such as Facebook, were also analyzed to determine the number of chikungunya-related posts and responses to these posts. Results: Our study showed that media outlets were associated with reducing cases of chikungunya, indicating that media has the potential to impact future outbreaks of these alpha viruses. Each media outlet (e.g., web, television) had an impact on the human response to an individual’s healthcare during this outbreak. Conclusions: To prevent future outbreaks of chikungunya, media outlets and social media can be used to educate the public regarding prevention strategies such as encouraging safe travel, removing stagnant water sources, and assisting with tracking cases globally to determine where future outbreaks may occur.

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Queer citizens and the perils of the neoliberal city: Racialized narratives of homophobic hate crime in Oslo, Norway

Sexualities ◽

10.1177/13634607211019365 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 136346072110193

Author(s):

Henning Kaiser Klatran

Keyword(s):

Risk Assessment ◽

Hate Crime ◽

State Violence ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Mainstream Media ◽

Lgbt Community ◽

Lgbt People ◽

Queer Citizenship ◽

The Relationship

This article examines the relationship between queer citizenship, state violence and the exclusion of racialized, homophobic ‘others’. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with LGBT people in Oslo, Norway, I investigate the presence of racialization in narratives of homophobic hate crime. The findings suggest that racialization structures narratives of risk assessment among several of the participants. However, in these narratives, racialization often operates through place-specific references, rather than racial and ethnic markers of identity. The narrative work thus displays ambivalence and a disassociation from racism. I argue that these narratives feed on an already established conflation of space, ethnicity, religion and homophobia, to which both mainstream media and part of the LGBT community contribute.

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Novel interfaces in science communication: Comparing journalistic and social media uptake of articles published by The Conversation Africa

Public Understanding of Science ◽

10.1177/09636625211019312 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 096366252110193

Author(s):

Lars Guenther ◽

Marina Joubert

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Science Communication ◽

Social Issues ◽

Science Journalism ◽

African Countries ◽

Public Science ◽

Mainstream Media ◽

Agenda Setter ◽

Or Economics ◽

Media Ecosystem

Science amplifier platforms such as The Conversation have gained popularity in a changing media ecosystem in which the traditional roles of journalists are eroded, and scientists are urged to engage with society. The Conversation constitutes a blend of scientific communication, public science communication and science journalism, and a convergence of the professional worlds of science and journalism. In this study, we investigated the nature and impact of the Africa-focussed edition of this platform, The Conversation Africa. We analysed articles published over a 5-year period since its launch in 2015 ( N = 5392). Contents from South Africa dominate the platform, but contributions from other African countries are increasing. Regarding the role of The Conversation Africa as an inter-media agenda setter, mainstream media more often republished stories related to politics or economics, while stories about social issues such as education, conservation and art were more often shared on social media.

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Political corruption in Zimbabwe: News media, audiences and deliberative democracy

Crime Media Culture An International Journal ◽

10.1177/17416590211022416 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 174165902110224

Author(s):

Mthokozisi Phathisani Ndhlovu ◽

Phillip Santos

Keyword(s):

Deliberative Democracy ◽

News Media ◽

Political Action ◽

Qualitative Content Analysis ◽

Political Corruption ◽

Political Elite ◽

The Political ◽

Media Audiences ◽

Mainstream Media ◽

Ruling Party

Even though corruption by politicians and in politics is widespread worldwide, it is more pronounced in developing countries, such as Zimbabwe, where members of the political elite overtly abuse power for personal accumulation of wealth. Ideally, the news media, as watchdogs, are expected to investigate and report such abuses of power. However, previous studies in Zimbabwe highlight the news media’s polarised and normative inefficacies. Informed by the theoretical notion of deliberative democracy developed via Habermas and Dahlgren’s work and Hall’s Encoding, Decoding Model, this article uses qualitative content analysis to examine how online readers of Zimbabwe’s two leading daily publications, The Herald and NewsDay, interpreted and evaluated allegations of corruption leveled against ministers and deputy ministers during the height of factionalism in the ruling party (ZANU PF). The article argues that interaction between mainstream media and their audiences online shows the latter’s resourcefulness and, at least, discursive agency in their engagement with narratives about political corruption, itself an imperative premise for future political action.

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