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.

The State of Jefferson Secession Movement “Keepin’ it Rural”

The current “State of Jefferson” movement is comprised of residents of a large rural region encompassing much of Northern California and Southern Oregon, where many inhabitants claim the right to statehood. Since its origins in 1941, the State of Jefferson remains an obscure movement for most scholars and is simply labeled a regionalist movement. While Jefferson possesses every factor of a secession movement, including economic and socio-political variables, the complexity of its ideology and identity has not been studied. This study aimed to answer the question, “How do those who claim to represent the State of Jefferson secession movement describe Jeffersonian identity and characterize the ideology of the movement? Under the guidance of framing theory, which states that “media, as well as individuals, frame issues according to their own views and values” (M’Bareck 9), a content analysis of ten Facebook accounts was used to provide unfiltered and authentic rhetoric espoused by the movement. Results indicated that the movement is driven by agrarianism, possesses conservative, yet libertarian values, and embraces an ideology of Jeffersonianism reflected in the name of the state. While remaining closely tied to their ideology, Jeffersonian self-identification is also rooted in the rural nature of the region in which they reside.

Merging the Social Influence Theory and the Goal-Framing Theory to Understand Consumers’ Green Purchasing Behavior: Does the Level of Sensitivity to Climate Change Really Matter?

This study explored the formation of consumers’ green purchasing behavior (GPB) and investigated the moderating effect of sensitivity to climate change (SCC) to address this current knowledge gap. An integrated model merging the Social Influence Theory and the Goal-framing Theory was developed with the Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) paradigm. An empirical study was conducted, surveying 583 respondents and analyzing the questionnaire results using structural equation modeling. The results show that media, family, and peer influence (PEI) can effectively activate the consumers’ goal frames. Hedonic and normative goals had significant positive influences on GPB, while gain goals had no significant effect. SCC was found to significantly moderate social influence on GPB through the consumers’ goal frames. This research provided strong empirical support on understanding the relationship between social influence and GPB through three goal frames. In addition, the potential differences of the GPB formation process in two subgroups (high SCC and low SCC) are also investigated. The results of this study can help green practitioners develop more effective marketing strategies and incentives targeted to consumers with varying levels of environmental consciousness or sensitivity.

Mining the Truth: Representation of Land and Land Redistribution in Zimbabwe in the Daily News

The aim of this article is to scrutinise the way in which the concepts of land and land redistribution were discussed in the private media in Zimbabwe during the Zimbabwe land reform exercise – dubbed the “third Chimurenga” – that took place in the period 2000–2008. This study makes use of the framing theory. The framing theory is an adaptation of the agenda-setting theory and it talks about the way in which the media diverts the attention of audiences from the importance of an issue to what it wants to project; it places the issue in a field of meaning. This article firstly argues that although the ZANU-PF-led government stated that land was going to be redistributed to the landless black majority, the private media in general and the Daily News in particular reported that it was the black minority (the elite class) who obtained most of the land at the expense of the poor and middle-class black majority. Secondly, it argues that the land redistribution exercise was not meant to correct colonial land imbalances but was instead used by the ZANU-PF-led government as a means to avenge the referendum which they had lost in February 2000. The referendum was perceived as intending to change the Constitution in favour of the ZANU-PF. Lastly, this article argues that land, according to the Daily News, was supposed to be given to people (regardless of their race) who were making or going to make the land productive and not the poor, landless black majority. In order to authenticate the above claims and arguments, a number of the Daily News stories – purposively sampled during the period – will be used as examples.

Framing of Land Ownership in The Herald Newspaper in Zimbabwe

The aim of this article is to critically unpack the frames through which the concept of land ownership was discussed in The Herald newspaper during the land reform exercise, also known as Third Chimurenga or “Fast Track Land Reform Exercise,” which was earnestly conducted in the period 2000–2008. The potential of the media in general, and The Herald newspaper in particular, to mould public opinion cannot be ignored. The article is guided by framing theory in its exploration of land ownership discourses in the Zimbabwean media. Framing theory refers to how the media packages and presents information to the public. Accordingly, the media highlights certain events and places them within a particular context to encourage or discourage certain interpretations. In this way, the media exercises a selective influence on how people view reality. This article argues that land, according to The Herald newspaper, belongs to the Black majority or native people of Zimbabwe, and ownership of land was legitimised generally through skin colour and place of birth. In this respect, The Herald newspaper took a positive stance toward the inevitability of the Land Reform Programme. However, it did not clearly state whether all Black people had equal access to the land or had the same right to own land. To demonstrate the above, two stories from The Herald newspaper, namely: “Land: Central to Liberation Struggle” (18 April 2005); and “Land Reform Pinnacle of the Struggle” (10 August 2004) were purposively sampled. Purposive sampling is a non-probability sampling technique used in selecting stories that have particular characteristics within a canon of newspaper stories that are of interest, and which will best enable the researcher to answer research questions. The two stories above were chosen since both focus on land ownership in Zimbabwe.