Public Reaction to Disaster Reconstruction Policy: Case Studies of the Fukushima and Chernobyl Nuclear Accidents

This study analyzes survey responses of those affected by the Chernobyl and Fukushima nuclear power plant accidents, evaluating issues such as recovery, compensation policy, decontamination, welfare, and overall government response. We apply an ordinal logit model to the issues of compensation, decontamination, and repatriation. We found that the people of Bryansk Oblast and those with ongoing health problems were more likely to support continued compensation and victim support programs. Another key finding was the perceived inadequacy of the Japanese government’s reconstruction policy for Fukushima. Monitoring and forestry safety measures were considered insufficient, and agricultural safety measures were particularly disappointing for those with children. More generally, there was support for planting rapeseed as a biofuel and for opening up the site as a tourist spot. Mega-solar farms or nature reserves were also seen as feasible alternatives to agricultural activities. Those who continued to see nuclear energy as a viable energy source supported the construction of waste treatment and storage facilities. Among the Chernobyl respondents, some supported a return to agricultural land use, citing scientific reports suggesting it was safe. Many said that there should be further investment in scientific research in the area. Fukushima respondents viewed social welfare provision and improved information for victims and residents as important issues. A key lesson for the Japanese government from the Chernobyl experience is the legal regime that was established there, clearly defining the affected areas and people and clarifying the measures required.

Image Politics and the Construction of Public Opinion: Readings into the Arab Spring Context

Images are ubiquitous in today's modern society. They tend to be taken for granted and their power is underestimated. However, images do not just reflect the world around us, but they construct reality. They can be inspirational and ideological, as they can trigger a political conscience. They now accompany every occurring event; they update and form the public. The Arab Spring context represents an image-saturated revolution wherein images have proved to be an effectual weapon and a catalyst of a massive public reaction and mobilization. The present paper studies images as a medium that is loaded with messages and is capable of shaping public opinion. It explores the different meanings encoded within these images, as it analyses their effectiveness on the public during and after the last Arab uprisings. The paper also ponders upon the reason why some images raise multiple reactions, and push leaders and masses to action.

Russian Anecdotes on the "Corona" Theme: Problematics and Poetics

The article deals with an issue of the widespread distribution of anecdotes about the COVID-19 pandemic in Russia and demonstrates the relevance and necessity of theoretical understanding of this phenomenon. The importance of the research problem is due to the need of recreating the models of situation perception which are reflected in the texts as well as tracing public reaction to the current events and ideological attitudes. The research aim is to identify the peculiarities of the problematics and poetics of the anecdotes about coronavirus infection. The analysis of the regularities in functioning of humorous miniatures shows that a number of genre-forming features of an anecdote are partially restored due to digital technologies. The study reveals that witticisms adapt to the changed communication conditions. Under the conditions of a declared emergency, the electronic method of information transmission sometimes becomes the only possible option. The problematic of anecdotes relevant during the period of 2020 and 2021 indicates that collective consciousness is sensitive to manifestations of the epidemic process. The article lists and characterizes the main thematic groups of anecdotes, their leading motifs and images. Obsessions with eroticism as well as the focus on violation of official taboos are noted. The study found that the actualization of the idea of national identity is an effective way of getting positive emotions. The findings include the figures of speech and expressive means that form the automatism of perception and its unexpected destruction in the final formulas. The article concludes by identifying the literary device of anthropomorphization of the coronavirus image as well as the key functions of the "COVID-19" anecdotes, including communicative, compensatory, psychotherapeutic and harmonizing functions.

Public perception of COVID-19 vaccines from the digital footprints left on Twitter: analyzing positive, neutral and negative sentiments of Twitterati

PurposeTwitter is gaining popularity as a microblogging and social networking service to discuss various social issues. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has become a global pandemic and is discussed worldwide. Social media is an instant platform to deliberate various dimensions of COVID-19. The purpose of the study is to explore and analyze the public sentiments related to COVID-19 vaccines across the Twitter messages (positive, neutral, and negative) and the impact tweets make across digital social circles.Design/methodology/approachTo fetch the vaccine-related posts, a manual examination of randomly selected 500 tweets was carried out to identify the popular hashtags relevant to the vaccine conversation. It was found that the hashtags “covid19vaccine” and “coronavirusvaccine” were the two popular hashtags used to discuss the communications related to COVID-19 vaccines. 23,575 global tweets available in public domain were retrieved through “Twitter Application Programming Interface” (API), using “Orange Software”, an open-source machine learning, data visualization and data mining toolkit. The study was confined to the tweets posted in English language only. The default data cleaning and preprocessing techniques available in the “Orange Software” were applied to the dataset, which include “transformation”, “tokenization” and “filtering”. The “Valence Aware Dictionary for sEntiment Reasoning” (VADER) tool was used for classification of tweets to determine the tweet sentiments (positive, neutral and negative) as well as the degree of sentiments (compound score also known as sentiment score). To assess the influence/impact of tweets account wise (verified and unverified) and sentiment wise (positive, neutral, and negative), the retweets and likes, which offer a sort of reward or acknowledgment of tweets, were used.FindingsA gradual decline in the number of tweets over the time is observed. Majority (11,205; 47.52%) of tweets express positive sentiments, followed by neutral (7,948; 33.71%) and negative sentiments (4,422; 18.75%), respectively. The study also signifies a substantial difference between the impact of tweets tweeted by verified and unverified users. The tweets related to verified users have a higher impact both in terms of retweets (65.91%) and likes (84.62%) compared to the tweets tweeted by unverified users. Tweets expressing positive sentiments have the highest impact both in terms of likes (mean = 10.48) and retweets (mean = 3.07) compared to those that express neutral or negative sentiments.Research limitations/implicationsThe main limitation of the study is that the sentiments of the people expressed over one single social platform, that is, Twitter have been studied which cannot generalize the global public perceptions. There can be a variation in the results when the datasets from other social media platforms will be studied.Practical implicationsThe study will help to know the people's sentiments and beliefs toward the COVID-19 vaccines. Sentiments that people hold about the COVID-19 vaccines are studied, which will help health policymakers understand the polarity (positive, negative, and neutral) of the tweets and thus see the public reaction and reflect the types of information people are exposed to about vaccines. The study can aid the health sectors to intensify positive messages and eliminate negative messages for an enhanced vaccination uptake. The research can also help design more operative vaccine-advocating communication by customizing messages using the obtained knowledge from the sentiments and opinions about the vaccines.Originality/valueThe paper focuses on an essential aspect of COVID-19 vaccines and how people express themselves (positively, neutrally and negatively) on Twitter.

Speech Behaviour of a Politician Online: an Effective and Destructive Profile

The paper is devoted to the fundamental issue of speech behaviour of politicians in the context of digitization of the Russian public space. The study is aimed at identifying generalized signs of a politician’s effective and destructive speech behaviour, as well as developing practical recommendations for efficient speech behaviour strategies and mitigation of communication failures risks. The paper studies communication failures of politicians that caused a significant public reaction, as well as analyses the examples of politicians’ efficient speech behaviour resulting in approval online. The study identifies areas of communication with the greatest conflict-generating potential for politicians. It also analyses the tactics discrediting a politician’s speech intentions during professional communication, as well as the statement construction forms that entail a high risk of communication failure. The analysis results were presented in a form of a generalized profile of efficient speech behaviour online, including marketing image management techniques.

DEPARTMENTAL AND BRANCH PERIODICALS IN PUBLIC LIFE AT THE BEGINNING OF XIX CENTURY

The article examines the question of the public reaction to the appearance of newspapers and magazines focused on the “serious reading”, using the example of branch and departmental periodicals that appeared in Russia in the late 18th - early 19th centuries. Based on the analysis of readers’ and critics’ responses, as well as of circulation of several studied magazines and newspapers and of their future (disappearance or replacement by another periodical), it is concluded that some of these magazines and newspapers faced difficulties in finding “their own” readers. However, there was a demand for some other public administration periodicals in the Russian society at the beginning of the 19th century, which leaded to their commercial success. These periodicals have laid the foundations for the further development of branch and departmental periodical press in Russia, the wide development of this type of press being observed in the second half of the 19th century.

Public Relations Strategy Analysis Crisis Communications

Crisis communication is the exchange of information between an organization and its constituents during and after the occurrence of a crisis. This research employs a descriptive technique and a qualitative method. Techniques for data gathering include observation, interviewing, and documenting. The aim of this research is to conduct an empirical examination of the execution of strategies and supporting and inhibiting variables in crisis communication in public relations. The findings of this research suggest that a crisis communication plan should be suitable and swift in order to overcome public reaction and avoid a protracted crisis communication. Communication in Times of Crisis Pre-Crisis management is carried out by Public Relations, namely in the preparation (Planning) stage, which includes the establishment of a Public Relations team responsible for providing information, a clean-up and executive summery formation team, and Crisis-Response, namely the manufacturing stage. Press releases, clarifications, establishing stakeholder and media relations, and finally, Post-Crisis, namely the advancement of Public Relations not only to improve the company's image but also to improve performance, press conferences, and dissemination of publications are also implemented to improve things in the short and long term through programs

Deviance from the ethical standard of reporting child sexual abuse in daily newspapers of Bangladesh

Since child sexual abuse (CSA) is one of the most serious public health issues, how CSA cases and victims are portrayed in the daily newspapers is a major concern to the public health and communication specialists. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the degree of the ethical standard of reporting CSA in Bangladeshi newspapers, as well as to identify the potential risk factors associated with unethical reporting. From January to December 2017, a total of 1093 news stories on CSA were collected from four top circulated Bengali newspapers and two English newspapers of Bangladesh. Berelson’s quantitative content analysis approach (only manifest content) was used to analyze these stories. For the coding and analysis purpose, news items (texts and news with photos) of spot news, editorials, and commentaries were included. Chi-square tests were used to evaluate the bivariate association of different case characteristics with unethical reporting, and multivariate logistic regression models were performed to assess the potential risk factors of disclosing the victim’s identity and needless detail in the news description. This study revealed that more than 40% of news stories on CSA cases did not follow the ethical standard of reporting. Episodic CSA cases were more unethically reported in newspapers, compared to the thematic stories (42.8% vs. 11.6%). Approximately 37% of news stories disclosed at least one identifying information of victims (i.e., name, parents’ name, family member’s name, or school name), and 23% of stories included sensual and/or excessive description of the event. Our adjusted model showed that victim identifiers were most likely to be reported in news stories when the victim was 13–17 years old (AOR 1.86; P = 0.027), the alleged perpetrator held influential social status (AOR 2.44, P = 0.005), the victim was familiar to the perpetrator (AOR 6.85, P < 0.001), and when public reaction against the CSA incident was reported (AOR 2.75, P < 0.001). In addition, if there was a public reaction to any CSA occurrence, the chances of unnecessary extensive coverage increased by 1.82 times. In conclusion, Bangladeshi newspapers often publish CSA stories without maintaining the ethical standard of reporting and thus ignore child rights.

A Marginal Religion and COVID-19 in South Korea

In the spring of 2020, South Korea became the second most infected country in the COVID-19 pandemic. The rapid spread of the virus was attributed to a Christian religious group known as Shincheonji. The association of this already controversial religion with the spread of the virus quickly led to public condemnation of the group. The public response to the group’s association with the virus was, in part, built on an existing foundation of distrust and suspicion. In this paper, I examine the details of Shincheonji’s association with the coronavirus and the public reaction to it. I show the political work done by classificatory language pertaining to religion, specifically as it influences perceptions of the legitimacy of marginal religions and how the public should treat them. I also examine how public discourses on what religion should or should not do shape the definitions and boundaries of religion and associated categories.

Adolescent Drug Addiction in Ukraine: Social and Psychological Aspects

Adolescent drug addiction in Ukraine is a serious problem that requires proper attention and evaluation from modern society. Timely public reaction to this issue determines the methods of its solution and ways to prevent adolescent drug addiction in Ukraine in the future. The objective: of the paper is to identify the dominant psychological and social factors that motivate adolescents to start using drugs. Materials and methods. The main research method is the method of analysis, which was used to comprehensively consider and describe the factors that push young people to use drugs, despite the obvious threat to their health and life. Results. Authors consider issues of social and psychological aspects of adolescent drug addiction, problems of relations in society and families where adolescents begin to use drugs. The study covers the types of family relations and the nature of intra-family relations, in which adolescents start using drugs. The main social and psychological factors that push modern young people to take drugs are identified. Conclusions. The urgency of the subject matter is determined by the danger of drug addiction among Ukrainian adolescents and the lack of attention paid by parents to the study of this problem and the lack of proper attention to this issue in most Ukrainian schools.