scholarly journals Refugee Crisis and the Role of NGO Lobbying

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-34
Author(s):  
Vishnu Muraleedharan ◽  
Thomas Andrew Bryer
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Political Communication ◽  
Policy Decision ◽  
The United States ◽  
Immigrant Integration ◽  
The People ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Effective Policy ◽  
Migrant Integration

Migration is a significant human phenomenon in which the people were moving across the globe in search of better living conditions. However, due to the violent political scenario between nations forced the displacement of millions of people for survival and currently, around 70.8 million people have been displaced across the world (UNHCR, 2019). It requires attention that even though there are various organisation’s to support migrants, NGO’s play a pivotal role in protecting humanitarian aspects of the migrants and their integration. About the NGO mechanisms, the significant measures are the lobbying and the mediatised political communication for effective policy changes. Therefore, it is significant to identify how NGO’s influence on political communication and policy decision making using social media platforms and lobbying mechanism in the state of Florida in the United States. The article aims to identify the role of NGO on addressing the migrant crisis and upholding of sanctuary policy in Florida which facilitates migrant integration. Research methods include a qualitative interview with the Florida Immigrant Coalition and their social media discourse. The finding could be useful for effective immigrant integration and the significant policy measures needed for facilitating migrant integration.

Introduction

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel C. Woolley ◽  
Philip N. Howard
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Political Communication ◽  
Data Science ◽  
Autonomous Agents ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Political Role ◽  
The People ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Qualitative Work

Computational propaganda is an emergent form of political manipulation that occurs over the Internet. The term describes the assemblage of social media platforms, autonomous agents, algorithms, and big data tasked with manipulating public opinion. Our research shows that this new mode of interrupting and influencing communication is on the rise around the globe. Advances in computing technology, especially around social automation, machine learning, and artificial intelligence, mean that computational propaganda is becoming more sophisticated and harder to track. This introduction explores the foundations of computational propaganda. It describes the key role of automated manipulation of algorithms in recent efforts to control political communication worldwide. We discuss the social data science of political communication and build upon the argument that algorithms and other computational tools now play an important political role in news consumption, issue awareness, and cultural understanding. We unpack key findings of the nine country case studies that follow—exploring the role of computational propaganda during events from local and national elections in Brazil to the ongoing security crisis between Ukraine and Russia. Our methodology in this work has been purposefully mixed, using quantitative analysis of data from several social media platforms and qualitative work that includes interviews with the people who design and deploy political bots and disinformation campaigns. Finally, we highlight original evidence about how this manipulation and amplification of disinformation is produced, managed, and circulated by political operatives and governments, and describe paths for both democratic intervention and future research in this space.

scholarly journals Logics of the Icelandic Hybrid Media System

2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-59
Author(s):  
Birgir Guðmundsson
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
New Media ◽  
Political Communication ◽  
Parliamentary Elections ◽  
Media System ◽  
Network Media ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
The Media ◽  
Media Logic

AbstractThe increased importance of social media platforms and network media logic merging with traditional media logic are a trademark of modern hybrid systems of political communication. This article looks at this development through the media-use by politicians before the 2016 and 2017 parliamentary elections in Iceland. Aggregate results from candidate surveys on the use and perceived importance of different media forms are used to examine the role of the new platform Snapchat in relation to other media, and to highlight the dynamics of the hybrid media system in Iceland. The results show that Snapchat is exploited more by younger politicians and those already using social media platforms. However, in spite of this duality between old and new media, users of traditional platforms still use new media and vice versa. This points to the existance of a delicate operational balance between different media logics, that could change as younger politicians move more centre stage.

scholarly journals Why Harmful Posts on Social Media should be regulated

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 241-258
Author(s):  
Maryam Abu-Sharida
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Freedom Of Expression ◽  
The United States ◽  
American Constitution ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
The People ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Adults And Children ◽  
Harmful Content

Harmful content over the internet is going viral nowadays on most of the social media platforms, which has negative effects on both adults and children, especially, with the increasing usage of social media tools during the Covid-19 situation. Therefore, social media’s harmful posts should be regulated. Through the recent legislative efforts, societies are still suffering from the influence of these posts. We observe that the people who share harmful posts often hide behind the First Amendment right and the Freedom of Expression of the American Constitution. This paper focuses on suggesting possible regulations to strike down social media’s harmful content regardless of the platforms it was posted on, to safeguard society from their negative effects. In addition, it highlights the attempts by Qatar’s government to regulate social media crimes and aims to assess if these efforts are enough. Also, it will take a general look at the situation in the United States and how it is dealing with this issue.

scholarly journals When Social Media Doesn’t Determine All: The Topics and Narratives of Latvian Political Parties on Facebook During the 2019 European Parliament Elections Campaign

Tripodos ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 151-165
Author(s):  
Mārtiņš Pričins
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Political Communication ◽  
European Parliament ◽  
Party Leaders ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
European Parliament Elections ◽  
Research Period

Over the last decade, the implementation of campaigns by political parties and their candidates on social media platforms has become an integral part of political communication. Political communication studies have long indicated that elections are becoming personalized, with more focus on party leaders or individual candidates. But studies on communication by political parties to understand the identity of parties and their potential in communication with voters remain relevant. The aim of the paper is to analyse the visual election materials of the political parties from Latvia on the social network Facebook during the 2019 European Parliament (EP) election campaign. The research period is two weeks before elections. The subject of the study is election materials on Facebook accounts of the parties representing the national parliament of Latvia. A codebook for analysis has been developed, containing common and specific variables, designed to explore the verbal and visual dimensions. The results of the study allow us to draw conclusions about the changing success of new populist and traditional parties, as well as to look at the role of Facebook in elections in a little-studied country.

New Data Sources and Presidential Campaigns

2021 ◽  
pp. 000276422110216
Author(s):  
Efe Sevin
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Digital Media ◽  
Political Communication ◽  
Presidential Elections ◽  
Positive Outcome ◽  
The United States ◽  
Data Sources ◽  
Presidential Campaigns ◽  
Political Advertisements ◽  
Social Media Platforms

Social media has an undeniable role in presidential campaigns. Starting with Barack Obama’s first presidential campaign in 2008, on one hand, scholars and practitioners have embraced the potential and importance of these platforms. The 2016 presidential elections, on the other hand, raised concerns about social media’s role in democratic processes as debates about how the platforms can sow misinformation have become mainstream. I argue that there has been a positive outcome of such debates: new data sources. Understanding their role—and their probable potential to do “harm”—social media platforms have worked toward increasing transparency in the political advertisements they carry. From Snapchat to Facebook, transparency reports share detailed information on how political groups, including presidential nominees, have utilized their platforms, targeted audiences, and disseminated calls-to-action. In this article, I argue that these transparency attempts will be invaluable data resources for political communication scholars to better explain how voter choice and candidate positioning work within digital media ecology. I answer four sample research questions about 2020 Presidential Elections in the United States to demonstrate the potential of these data sets in shedding light on how issues, identities, and time-relevant variables change political advertising in presidential campaigns.

Ill-fitting suits and taped ties: Donald Trump’s politicosartorial style

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin A. Morrison
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Popular Culture ◽  
Political Communication ◽  
First Lady ◽  
Self Presentation ◽  
The Press ◽  
Social Media Platforms

Because Donald Trump’s language and rhetoric attract so much attention and comment, discussions about the role of fashion and style in the Trump presidency are often limited to outfits worn by the First Lady or his daughter, Ivanka. When Trump’s style is analysed in the press and on social media platforms, it is frequently derided. This article argues for the importance of Donald Trump’s sartorial choices as forms of visual (political) communication. It suggests that Trump, whose appearance and taste are often subject to ridicule in popular culture, has actually cultivated an image of himself as anti-elite. Drawing on Pierre Bourdieu’s lesser-known theory of the corporeal hexis to discuss Trump’s self-presentation, this article shows how, as both candidate and president, he has used sartorial codes to communicate with the different constituencies that were vital to his election and remain central to his bid for re-election in 2020.

Computational Propaganda

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Political Communication ◽  
Data Science ◽  
Autonomous Agents ◽  
Future Research ◽  
National Elections ◽  
Political Role ◽  
The People ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Qualitative Work

Computational propaganda is an emergent form of political manipulation that occurs over the Internet. The term describes the assemblage of social media platforms, autonomous agents, algorithms, and big data tasked with the manipulation of public opinion. Our research shows that this new mode of interrupting and influencing communication is on the rise around the globe. Advances in computing technology, especially around social automation, machine learning, and artificial intelligence mean that computational propaganda is becoming more sophisticated and harder to track at an alarming rate. This introduction explores the foundations of computational propaganda. It describes the key role that automated manipulation of algorithms plays in recent efforts to control political communication worldwide. We discuss the social data science of political communication and build upon the argument that algorithms and other computational tools now play an important political role in areas like news consumption, issue awareness, and cultural understanding. We unpack the key findings of the nine country case studies that follow—exploring the role of computational propaganda during events from local and national elections in Brazil to the ongoing security crisis between Ukraine and Russia. Our methodology in this work has been purposefully mixed, we make use of quantitative analysis of data from several social media platforms and qualitative work that includes interviews with the people who design and deploy political bots and disinformation campaigns. Finally, we highlight original evidence about how this manipulation and amplification of disinformation is produced, managed, and circulated by political operatives and governments and describe paths for both democratic intervention and future research in this space.

scholarly journals Politicians, Social Media, and Digital Publics: Old Rights, New Terrain

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Sobieraj ◽  
Gina M. Masullo ◽  
Philip N. Cohen ◽  
Tarleton Gillespie ◽  
Sarah J. Jackson
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Political Communication ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Social Inequalities ◽  
The United States ◽  
Legal Cases ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
The Government ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
The Right

In this interdisciplinary roundtable discussion, five scholars interested in political communication work through the democratic dilemmas created when privately owned social media platforms are used as digital public squares by elected officials in the United States. This conversation unfolds in the context of ongoing legal cases that challenge politicians’ efforts to block select interlocutors and bar them from participation. We grapple with the tension between politicians’ use of social media to broadcast their own messages as a form of publicity with the desire by some members of the public that politicians be transparent online by allowing the electorate to question or even criticize them. Through this discussion, we weigh the importance of the right to criticize the government and its leaders alongside the realities of contentious content on social media platforms that are rife with abusive content, in a cultural context marked by social inequalities.

scholarly journals Politicians, Social Media, and Digital Publics: Old Rights, New Terrain

2020 ◽  
Vol 64 (11) ◽  
pp. 1646-1669
Author(s):  
Sarah Sobieraj ◽  
Gina M. Masullo ◽  
Philip N. Cohen ◽  
Tarleton Gillespie ◽  
Sarah J. Jackson
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Political Communication ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Social Inequalities ◽  
The United States ◽  
Legal Cases ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
The Government ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
The Right

In this interdisciplinary roundtable discussion, five scholars interested in political communication work through the democratic dilemmas created when privately owned social media platforms are used as digital public squares by elected officials in the United States. This conversation unfolds in the context of ongoing legal cases that challenge politicians’ efforts to block select interlocutors and bar them from participation. We grapple with the tension between politicians’ use of social media to broadcast their own messages as a form of publicity with the desire by some members of the public that politicians be transparent online by allowing the electorate to question or even criticize them. Through this discussion, we weigh the importance of the right to criticize the government and its leaders alongside the realities of contentious content on social media platforms that are rife with abusive content, in a cultural context marked by social inequalities.

The role of social media platforms in revolutionising the orthodox African electoral process and outcomes

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 7-23
Author(s):  
Joshua Ebere Chukwuere ◽  
Chijioke Francis Onyebukwa ◽  
Ifeanyi Mbukanma
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Political Communication ◽  
Media Ecology ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Political News ◽  
Human Interactions ◽  
Digital Era ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Voting Decisions

This research looks into social media platforms' role in revolutionising African electoral processes and outcomes in the digital era. The study applied the descriptive literature review research method through the lens of ―Uses and Gratifications Theory‖ and ―Media Ecology Theory‖. The usage of social media platforms keeps revolutionising human interactions and political communication in the digital age. Individuals, government, and non-governmental entities keep up with the trends presented by social media platforms in carrying out different political functions such as an election. The advent of social media platforms makes it easier for electorate, political actors, parties and electoral commissions to engage and exchange information, views and ideas during the pre and postelection periods. This study found that social media platforms positively and negatively influence the African continent's election processes and outcomes. It found that political news and information on social media influence people's voting decisions and the political actor/s and parties to follow. The study further shows that electorate behaviours keep changing due to information available on social media platforms. The platforms help them define their views about a particular party, political actors, and their reaction to an election outcome.

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