Reactive and Asymmetric Communication Flows: Social Media Discourse and Partisan News Framing in the Wake of Mass Shootings

Marked by both deep interconnectedness and polarization, the contemporary media system in the United States features news outlets and social media that are bound together, yet deeply divided along partisan lines. This article formally analyzes communication flows surrounding mass shootings in the hybrid and polarized U.S. media system. We begin by integrating media system literature with agenda setting and news framing theories and then conduct automated text analysis and time series modeling. After accounting for exogenous event characteristics, results show that (a) sympathy and gun control discourses on Twitter preceded news framing of gun policy more than the other way around, and (b) conservatives on Twitter and conservative media reacted to progressive discourse on Twitter, without their progressive counterparts exhibiting a similar reactiveness. Such results shed light on the influence of social media on political communication flows and confirm an asymmetry in the ways partisan media ecosystems respond to social events.

Mediatization and Doping: Investigating the Interplay in News Framing of Rider/Doping Suspicion During the Tour de France

Mediatization theory has been used to describe the development of the Tour de France, from its inception as an event created by a newspaper to sell newspapers to the global spectacle it has become. Yet, perhaps the Tour’s most infamous aspect, its historical reputation for doping, is yet to be explored through the lens of mediatization, as both a media and a social issue. Furthermore, that sport media scholars allude to a need for better understanding of media coverage of doping beyond headline-capturing doping scandals, establishes a precedent for the examination and comparison of newspaper framing of Lance Armstrong (2004) and Chris Froome (2017). To do so, this research operationalizes mediatization theory in combination with framing theory to investigate news framing of rider/doping suspicion grounded in the historical context of the event, revealing the interplay between framing of rider/doping suspicion and event mediatization processes.

Understanding the Present Through the Past: A Comparison of Spanish News Coverage of the 1918 Flu and COVID-19 Pandemics

Through a comparative analysis of Spanish newspaper coverage of the 1918 flu and COVID-19 pandemics, this article explores the parallels between them, their roles in reflecting and facilitating public perceptions of infectious diseases, the national dialogues they incite, and the search for solutions in a global health crisis. I use qualitative analysis to interpret media themes of contagion as they shift from societal complacency to panic as disaster unfolds. In weaving together Philip Strong’s model for epidemic psychology and Jim A. Kuypers’s rhetorical approach to news framing, I analyze how newspapers communicate changing assumptions about epidemiologic risks during pandemics.

Interscholastic inclusion: Local and National News Framing of High School Transgender Athletes

Debates of who is and is not permitted to participate in sport have been magnified in regard to those whose gender identity deviates from traditional heteronormative standards. Former high school transgender athletes Mack Beggs and Andraya Yearwood, in states with different stances toward trans participation, were thrust into media spotlights. A content analysis examined local and national newspaper reporting about the individuals and their states’ policies. Newspapers did not uphold perceived hegemonic ideals associated with sport by negatively depicting each marginalized athlete. Journalists applauded both for driving conversations toward equal opportunity in high school athletics.

Papua and the public: News framing of the 2019 Asrama Papua conflict

The 2019 Asrama Papua conflict in Surabaya initiated many discourses on racial discrimination and police brutality towards Papuan students in Indonesia. The question arises as to how the public perceive news framing and its effects on public opinion. This question will be answered by examining reports in the newspapers Kompas (published in Jakarta) and Jubi (Jayapura, Papua) which display quite different thematic and rhetorical structures. As secondary research, this article aims to assess the public opinion on the framing of the incident based on Berger and Luckmann’s Social Construction of Reality. Through qualitative focus group discussion, this study examines people’s perceptions of news media framing and its effect on the shaping of public opinion towards an ethnic minority group. The results show that media framing reinforces a certain idea of public opinion towards minority groups through various factors such as Perspective of Reporting and Depth of Reporting, both of which differ in Kompas and Jubi as a result of differences in their audiences. Differences were also found in such factors as the thematic structure between lens of sympathy and lens of antagonism. Ultimately, this research suggests that the public possess an awareness of news framing, thus giving them the capability to construct their own critical viewpoints towards media and the incident.

The impact of economic policy uncertainty, news framing and information overload on panic buying behavior in the time of COVID-19: a conceptual exploration

PurposeThis conceptual paper aims to provide a further understanding of the impact of economic policy uncertainty (EPU), news framing and information overload on panic buying behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic.Design/methodology/approachDrawing on earlier research and news releases about the COVID-19 outbreak, this paper advances testable propositions based on the protection motivation theory and information processing theory.FindingsThis paper infers that the major shift in consumer decision-making towards panic buying is a result of high EPU. International reports have contributed to deepening this uncertainty, and the consequences of this EPU are expected to affect the economic recovery through 2022. Furthermore, the adoption of particular frames of the pandemic has played a key role in the dissemination of misinformation and fake news during the public health crisis and affected purchasing decisions. The study also infers that the perceived threat among consumers is driven by information overload as a source of mistrust towards economic and health information sources.Originality/valueThis paper addresses two theoretical gaps associated with consumer buying behaviour. First, it highlights the impact of EPU, as a macroeconomic indicator, on consumer buying behaviour. Second, this paper is an attempt to integrate theories from different disciplines to foster an adequate understanding of buying behavior during the COVID-19 outbreak period.