Contagious accuracy norm violation in political journalism: A cross-national investigation of how news media publish inaccurate political information

This study introduces social norm theory to mis- and disinformation research and investigates whether, how and under what conditions broadsheets’ accuracy norm violation in political journalism becomes contagious and shifts other news media in a media market towards increasingly violating the accuracy norm in political journalism as well. Accuracy norm violation refers to the publication of inaccurate information. More specifically, the study compares Swiss and UK media markets and analyses Swiss and UK press councils’ rulings between 2000 and 2019 that upheld complaints about accuracy norm violations in political journalism. The findings show that broadsheets increasingly violate the accuracy norm the closer election campaigns approach to election dates. They thereby drive other news media in a media market to increasingly violate the accuracy norm as well. However, this holds only for the UK media market but not for the Swiss media market. Therefore, the findings indicate that the higher expected benefits of accuracy norm violation that exist in media markets characterised by higher competition outweigh the higher expected costs of accuracy norm violation created by stronger press councils’ sanctions, and, thereby, facilitate contagious accuracy norm violation in political journalism during election campaigns.

The Collaboration in Socializing Policies of Covid-19 Pandemic

Role of regional government in socializing the policy produced by SKPD of this local government is an obligation for every apparatus to socialize that policy so that the society, as the main receiver of the related polciy, will get their rights and obligations properly. The communication of regional government in this research can be discussed in more explicit regarding the flow of that communication delivery from the government to the community. The method used in this research was decriptive with qualitative approach and applied the theory of Edward III to see the stages of communication in its role in socializing the policy of the Government of South Tangerang City. Those types of socialization media were main instruments of regional government pf South Tangerang to socialize policies. There was another type of socialization namely direct media or socializing to every neighbourhood. The conclusion of this research was that the socializing of policies has been conducting through various types of media; online, printed, and electronics. The Office of Communication and Informatics of South Tangerang City played its role also in regards to socialization by cooperating with Press Councils to monitor the behaviors of media. It is suggested that th e Government of South Tangerang City keeps improving their performance in socializing policies so that these will reach the purposes of the policies produced in order to build law order society towards the policies made.

Toward Press Council 2.0: An international review of models of, and alternatives to, the traditional press council

This paper presents an overview of preliminary results from a comparative study of existing press council models in Canadian provinces and similar democracies abroad. Gathering information by a combination of survey and qualitative-interview methodologies, we are analyzing the relative effectiveness of, and difficulties faced by, varying models of councils. Among the issues to be analyzed are: how existing models of Canadian press councils compare with one another, and with models operating in other democracies; how various stakeholders define the purpose(s) of press councils; the difficulties faced by existing and defunct provincial news councils in achieving their various goals; whether a national press council may be viable and, if so, what the key function(s) of a national press council might be.

Toward Press Council 2.0: An international review of models of, and alternatives to, the traditional press council

This paper presents an overview of preliminary results from a comparative study of existing press council models in Canadian provinces and similar democracies abroad. Gathering information by a combination of survey and qualitative-interview methodologies, we are analyzing the relative effectiveness of, and difficulties faced by, varying models of councils. Among the issues to be analyzed are: how existing models of Canadian press councils compare with one another, and with models operating in other democracies; how various stakeholders define the purpose(s) of press councils; the difficulties faced by existing and defunct provincial news councils in achieving their various goals; whether a national press council may be viable and, if so, what the key function(s) of a national press council might be.

Protectors’ Accountability

The makeup of the press councils in Germany, Sweden, and the Netherlands, and their accountability systems, are described. News organizations in Protector countries earn trust, at least in part, by acknowledging that the public has the right to a voice in how news is produced and presented. The nature and effects of story frames are discussed. The coverage of the years-long trial in Germany of the National Socialist Underground (NSU) members accused of killing immigrants is explored for what it says about immigration and mainstream media’s handling of it. This chapter considers how globalization and immigration threaten both the posture of criminal justice systems and the protective press practices that reflect and reinforce those policies. Using the works of Emmanuel Levinas and James Carey, this chapter explores the ethical grounds for policy in these countries and consider the comparative work about prisons and attitudes toward crime by Michael Tondry and his colleagues.

Accountability

Crime coverage practices vary widely among the models, but these variations are under threat in an increasingly globalized world. To consider what is at stake, this chapter details some of the threats to preserving cultural difference, and then suggests journalists in each Watchdog country consider borrowing aspects of Ireland’s approach as one possible way to push back as a profession against government threats of legislation, business incursions, profit motivations, and, most importantly, to counter, in ways unique to each country, others’ influence on crime coverage. The chapter discusses the professionalism of journalism and accountability measures, like news ombudspersons and press councils, to better include voices of citizens and shore up flagging credibility. Finally, the importance of maintaining individual crime coverage practices is asserted because without a distinct voice, all journalism risks defaulting to an exaggerated tell-all American or British style that is synonymous with, and driven by, the Internet, not by best practices.

Threats to and Benefits of the Protective Policies

Journalism practices in Protector countries are deeply rooted in the once largely homogenous cultures from which they developed and remain a part. Globalization, most intensely focused on crime and immigration and the tell-all reporting style popular on the Internet and social media platforms, threatens the embedded sense of who a people are, how they treat one another, and how they ought to address the challenges of difference. This chapter considers how immigrants have been framed as threat across these nations. The varying responses are examined from news outlets, as well as press councils, about how best to advance these public conversations, which details ought to be included and why. Crimes stories reflect a faith in the government, the courts, and the penal system.

Misinformation and herd behavior in media markets: A cross-national investigation of how tabloids’ attention to misinformation drives broadsheets’ attention to misinformation in political and business journalism

This study develops and tests a theoretical framework, which draws on herd behavior literature and explains how and under what conditions tabloids’ attention to misinformation drives broadsheets’ attention to misinformation. More specifically, the study analyzes all cases of political and business misinformation in Switzerland and the U.K. between 2002 and 2018, which are selected based on corresponding Swiss and U.K. press councils’ rulings (N = 114). The findings show that during amplifying events (i.e., election campaigns and economic downturns) tabloids allocate more attention to political and business misinformation, which, in turn, drives broadsheets to allocate more attention to the misinformation as well–and especially if the misinformation serves broadsheets’ ideological goals. Moreover, the findings show differences between Swiss and U.K. media markets only in the case of business misinformation and suggest that the attention allocation process depends in particular on the strength of the amplifying event in a media market. Thereby, this study contributes to the understanding of how and under what conditions misinformation spreads in media markets.

Accuracy in Journalism

Accuracy is a central norm in journalism and at the heart of the journalistic practice. As a norm, accuracy developed out of objectivity, and has therefore an Anglo-American origin. Nevertheless, the commitment to the rule of getting it right is shared among journalists across different journalistic cultures. The history of accuracy is closely related to other central concepts in journalism like truthfulness, factuality and credibility, because it raises epistemological questions of whether and how journalism is capable of depicting reality accurately, truthfully and based on fact. Accuracy plays a particularly important role with regard to the factuality of the journalistic discourse, as it forces journalists not only to ground their reporting on facts, but to check whether presented facts are true or not—which is reflected both in the description of the journalistic profession as the discipline of verification as well as the central relevance of accuracy for instruments of media self-regulation like press councils and codes of ethics. Accuracy is an important standard to determine the quality of the news reporting. In fact, many studies, most of them carried out Western democracies, have investigated the accuracy of journalistic reporting based on the number of errors that sources mentioned in the articles perceived. As journalism moved online and the immediacy of the news cycle requested a faster pace of publication, news outlets often adopted the strategy to publish first and to verify second, although research has shown that the accuracy of journalistic reporting and trustfulness are related. Especially in the current debate on disinformation, many online fact-checking and verification services have thus seen a global rise of attention and importance.