Courting Coverage: Rhetorical Newsworthiness Cues and Candidate-Media Agenda Convergence in Presidential Primaries

What can political candidates do to make their agenda more enticing to journalists? This study argues that the answer lies in appealing to newsworthiness values—specifically conflict, human interest, and simplicity—via rhetorical newsworthiness cues. Using an original data set of announcement speeches and national news media coverage from 1984 to 2016, this study tests this argument and finds that candidates whose speeches include more anger and candidate-based appeals, which appeal to journalists’ preference for conflict and human-interest stories, have their issue agenda covered with greater proportionality. It concludes with a discussion of the implications of these incentives on the electorate.

Melodrama's Modern

Confronting the paradox of melodrama as an apparently outdated Victorian stage form now argued as the overarching modality of modern screen fiction, this essay rethinks the nature of melodrama's 'modern' as an aesthetic modality capable of channelling the social through individual protagonists. Devising staging and plotting that foregrounds emotional and moral consequences of actions, and drawing on musicalisation of performance and word to embody feeling, the melodramatic mode creates haptic connection with audiences, inviting empathy with the sensations and 'human interest' of other's experiences, while it discursively binds the social into the personal in the acculturated images, turns of speech, and cultural references through which its characters' emotions and actions are expressed. Arguing shifting criteria of verisimilitude under pressure of changing social conditions and emergence of new technologies, the essay shows how melodrama's personalisation of the social evolves in modern screen media through the resources of cinematography.

The family of Annonaceae: the important role in forest ecosystems and human being life

Forest, as a natural resource, plays an important role for all living organisms which are living inside or outside the forest. Various plant species are found living in the forest, including the Annonaceae family which consists of 109 genera and 2440 species that are also playing an important role in the environment and human life. The purpose of this study was to reveal the importance of the Annonaceae family for the life of human beings and the life of organisms in the forest. Using the exploration method by analyzing exploration data, including secondary data, this study was conducted. The results showed that members of the Annonaceae family are those essentially controlling the balance of forest ecosystems, environment control for organisms, and provide food for creatures in the forest. Others such as ecological, hydrological, and climatological functions are provided by the members. Besides, several members are timber sources for human interest as well as a raw material of traditional medicine, cosmetics, and perfume. Another usage of the members is used in traditional ceremonies. Moreover, Annaceous acetogenin compound found in Annonaceae can be used as an antitumor and also as a pesticide, which will lead to a promise in the future.

Popular music lyrics and the COVID-19 pandemic

A limited amount of previous research suggests that deteriorating socioeconomic conditions may be associated with greater popularity of music lyrics featuring negative emotional content and references to relationships. The present research considered this in charting popular music before and during the first 6 months of the COVID-19 pandemic. A dataset based on the song lyrics of the top-5 charting weekly songs in the United Kingdom and the United States from January 1999 to August 2020 was computer-analyzed for interpersonal variables, such as satisfaction and human interest, and positive and negative emotional valence. Results indicated lower satisfaction and human interest in lyrics in the United States and United Kingdom in the first 6 months of the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the lyrics in charting songs in 2015–2019. The US charting songs in 2020 also saw higher leveling and negative emotional content, and, when considering monthly data from 1999 to 2020, there was a positive association between economic misery and the number of negatively valenced words. The findings broaden our understanding of the relationship between significant global events and trends in popular music.

Seasonality in Human Interest in Berry Plants Detection by Google Trends

The phenology of berry-producing plants, particularly their harvest season, is of human interest and also reflects the ecosystem’s response to the changing environment. We investigated the seasonal dynamics of human interest in berries growing in boreal, subarctic and Arctic ecosystems, mainly in Russia, based on internet search data via Google Trends. There is a typical and culture-specific pattern of seasonal variations in search volume concerning berries across Russia, Finland, and Canada. Generally, the seasonal peak of search corresponds to the common berry harvest season across these countries. We discussed the potential and limitation for detecting ecological factors from the internet search data, in which physical phenomena and socio-cultural aspects are fundamentally superimposed, and its applicability to phenological studies.

Whose stories are told and who is made responsible? Human-interest framing in health journalism in Norway, Spain, the U.K. and the U.S.

Human-interest narratives are journalistic tools to captivate and engage the audience, influence public opinion and bring revenue to media organizations. This paper analyses how human-interest narratives are used in contemporary health journalism across media systems and health systems. Based on a comparative content analysis of Norwegian, Spanish, U.K. and U.S. newspapers (2016–2017), it studies how human-interest stories are contextualized, health problems explained and responsibility attributed. The article reveals a complex picture of the role of human-interest stories in health coverage. In line with expectations, the study finds that human-interest stories do tend to emphasize individual biomedical treatment of illness and to privilege idealized victims who fit the routines of dominant media dramaturgy. In contrast to theories that consider personalization of news as an individualization of responsibility and dumbing down of public debate, however, the study finds that human-interest narratives are also used to explain health as a structural phenomenon and a collective responsibility, appealing to political intervention and accountability of health authorities. Such claims are more prominent in European human-interest health stories and less frequent in the more strongly commercialized U.S. health and media system.

Challenges to Airway Management in Space

Human interest in space exploration is boundless. We are driven to investigate the unknown and push the limits of our understanding of our universe. Given that space flights are for extended periods of time —in the hazardous environments of space and the growth of the space tourism industry is credibly anticipated; the incidence of medical and surgical events is bound to increase during space travel. Airway management becomes an essential skill in such situations. Microgravity, shortage of medical personnel, inability of the crew to return to earth expeditiously or access real time assistance from earth are some of the reasons that warrant training and preparation of the crew, towards this end. The purpose of this chapter would be to explore the challenges and the various recourses available for airway management during space travel.

ANALISIS RELEVANSI TEORI ILMU DAN KEPENTINGAN JURGEN HABERMAS DENGAN KAJIAN AL-QUR’AN

This paper discusses the thoughts of a modern philosopher named Jurgen Habermas, a German philosopher. Philosophy itself has developed in such a way. This development cannot be separated from the criticism of thought and theory offered by previous philosophers. As a result, it cannot be denied that with these criticisms, scientific development seems to be more extensive and comprehensive. Habermas himself, who is one of the leading philosophers of this century, cannot be separated from the intellectual world of criticism. One of his criticisms is that aimed at modern positivism in social science, which he calls knowledge and human interest (the relationship between science and interests). From the theory he offered, it can then be relevant to the study of the Qur'an today. The relevance of Habermas's theory of the relationship between science and interests and the study of the Qur'an is that the Qur'an (mushaf and text) is positioned in an objective world that has technical importance. Meanwhile, the study of the Al-Qur'an which is in the subjective world is the study of one's interpretation. As for the study of Al-Qur'an in the intersubjective world, it is the product of the mazab as a result of the istidlal of the Qur'anic verse which is then followed by its followers. Keywords: Knowledge and Human Interest, Jurgen Habermas, Al-Qur’an. Abstrak Tulisan ini membahas pemikiran salah seorang filosof modern yang bernama Jurgen Habermas, seorang filosof Jerman. Filsafat sendiri mengalami perkembangan yang sedemikian rupa. Perkembangan tersebut tidak lepas dari kritik pemikiran maupun teori yang ditawarkan oleh para filosof terdahulu. Alhasil, tidak dapat dipungkiri dengan adanya kritik-kritik tersebut perkembangan keilmuan dapat dikatakan semakin luas dan komprehensif. Habermas sendiri yang merupakan salah satu tokoh filosof terkemuka pada abad ini, tidak lepas dari dunia intelektual kritik-mengkritik. Salah satu kritikannya adalah yang ditujukan pada positivisme modern dalam ilmu sosial, yang ia sebut sebagai knowledge and human interest (hubungan ilmu dan kepentingan). Dari teori yang ditawarkannya, kemudian dapat direlevansikan dengan kajian Al-Qur’an masa kini. Adapun relevansi antara teori Habermas tentang hubungan ilmu dan kepentingan dengan kajian Al-Qur’an adalah bahwasanya Al-Qur’an (mushaf dan teks) diposisikan pada dunia objektif yang memiliki kepentingan teknis. Sedangkan kajian Al-Qur’an yang berada di dunia subjektif adalah kajian tafsir atau penafsiran seseorang. Adapun kajian Al-Qur’an di dunia intersubjektif adalah produk mazhab hasil dari istidlal ayat Al-Qur’an yang kemudian diikuti oleh pengikutnya. Kata Kunci: Ilmu dan Kepentingan, Jurgen Habermas, Al-Qur’an.