International Communication Division
James W. Markham Student Paper Competition
Twitter engagement and interactions with public agencies and citizens’ overall trust in the Nigerian government • Olushola Aromona, University of Kansas • Following the #OccupyNigeria protests in 2012, use of social media, particularly Twitter, for election monitoring, mobilization, and civic engagement has increased in Nigeria. The impact of social media on engagement and interactions between government agencies and their online citizens has been demonstrated. Research indicate that online interactions and engagement are relevant for citizens’ trust in the government. Using a content analysis and online survey, this pilot study examines the interactions between Nigerian government agencies and Nigerian Twitter users in fostering trust. Findings revealed negative patterns of engagement and interactions. While citizens engage and interact with government agencies, the discourses were largely negative; thus, the relationship between engagement, interactions, and trust is largely negative. However, this relationship is moderated by party affiliation, education, and age.
Peace, Harmony, and Coca-Cola: Decoding Coca-Cola’s Ramadan 2018 Advertisement • Reham Bohamad; Daleana Phillips • Coca-Cola’s 2018 Ramadan commercial was designed to foster unity and harmony through a multicultural marketing strategy for Dutch audiences. The Netherlands, as well as mainland Europe, is experiencing a wave of right-wing populism or nationalistic political ideologies since the terrorist attacks on Paris and Brussel’s in the mid-2000s. Dutch attitudes toward the steady influx of Muslim immigrants since World War II has shifted from acceptance toward hostility. Increasing nationalistic political rhetoric and xenophobia in The Netherlands reflects this growing hostility toward Muslims. This analysis of Coca-Cola’s Ramadan advertisement utilizes Stuart Hall’s Encoding and Decoding theoretical framework to examine readings from three different levels: dominant, negotiated, and oppositional. The dominant level reflects Coca-Cola’s encoded message that its product can generate racial/ethnic and religious harmony by providing a common platform of understanding through sharing a Coke. The negotiated level reflects Coca-Cola’s position as a major global corporation attempting to sell a product. The oppositional reading utilizes Critical Race Theory as an oppositional framework for interpreting Coca-Cola’s advertisement. This commercial utilizes an assimilationist strategy to build a sense of harmony and trust around a female Muslim representation that has been highly Westernized. Furthermore, Coca-Cola’s Ramadan commercial promotes the idea that the consumption of their product is the solution to ending discrimination toward Muslims in the Netherlands. Their advertising strategy results in contributing to post-racial ideologies that silence discussions about race/ethnicity and religion while allowing “law and order” rhetoric and policies to monitor Muslim immigrants’ movements through policing and surveillance.
Factors Influencing Nutrition News Reporting Among Ghanaian Journalits • Augustine Botwe • The media in Ghana can play a significant role in informing the public about health issues. But in Ghana coverage of nutrition is low. The results of a cross-sectional survey of Ghanaian journalists (n=105) show that reporting on nutrition is influenced by gender, media dynamics, journalists’ health orientation and the three constructs of the theory of planned behavior. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
Partisanship, News Uses, and Political Attitudes in Ghana: An Application of the Communication Mediation Model • Abdul Wahab Gibrilu, The Chinese University of Hong Kong • “Past communication mediation studies have shown positive relationships between media uses and citizens political attitudes, but understanding the mechanisms underlying the relationship is limited because they often did not take into account the diverse affordances of the media uses and the environment it triggers effects. Using a national Afro-barometer survey (N = 2,400) in Ghana, the present study examined the relationship between media uses and a variety of citizens’ political attitudes and how such relationships are affected by partisanship. Based on series of regression analysis, findings showed that online news uses consistently predicted all levels of citizens political attitudes whilst traditional media use was only associated with citizens levels of presidential trust and confidence in government. When partisan differences were further examined, results showed that only online media uses by ruling party members exhibited direct effects on trust in president and democratic satisfaction. However, in all, traditional media uses based on ruling party support and no party members exhibited indirect effects on political attitudes. Oppositional members showed no effect.
Global Coverage of COVID-19: Examining CNN and CCTV news in guiding public sentiments • Gregory Gondwe, University of Colorado-Boulder • This study set out to examine how CNN and CCTV news covered the COVID-2019 pandemic from December 2019 to February 2020. The aim was to investigate the role that the global mainstream media play in guiding public sentiments during a global pandemic impacting everyone across race, color, social status, and geographical boundaries. Comparative analyses suggest that both CNN and CCTV news were only partial in their coverage when reporting about themselves. When talking about each other, the two countries seemed to employ a problem-centered approach where stories focused on blame and the economic ramifications of the COVID-19. As CNN was being blamed for focusing on the social cost of the pandemic, CCTV news was equally blamed for the lack of transparency. Further findings suggest that both media failed to mediate the general public concerns about the coronavirus at a global level. In other words, both CNN and CCTV news failed to adopt a stabilizing role towards the panicking audience in the sense that they did not implement strategies of reassurance to the public in their reporting.
* Extended Abstract * News framing in Bangladesh, India and British media: Bangladesh parliamentary election 2018 • Kazi Mehedi Hasan, University of Mississippi • After the abolition of the non-partisan caretaker government probation from the constitution, for the first time all opposition parties participated in the 2018 parliamentary election under a party government in Bangladesh. This study examines how the media of Bangladesh, India, and Britain framed the election and finds that election conspiracy, intimidation, and conflict frames are dominant in Bangladeshi and British media. Remarkably, Indian media abases intimidation and conflict but emphasizes on the game and economic frames.
First-generation immigrants’ and sojourners’ susceptibility to disinformation • Solyee Kim, University of Georgia; Hyoyeon Jun • News consumption enhances the contact experience for first-generation immigrants and sojourners in their acculturation to the host culture. Using acculturation theory, this study explores interdisciplinary concepts. The authors argue that first-generation immigrants and sojourners’ level of the English proficiency, length of stay in the host culture and their news consumption impact their susceptibility to disinformation. As foreign-born residents make up close to 14% of the U.S. population, this study will provide meaningful insights.
Cultural Identity of Post-Colonial South Koreans: Through the South Korean Boycott against Japan in 2019 • Jisoo Kim, University of Wisconsin-Madison, School of Journalism and Mass Communication • The colonial history between South Korea and Japan as the once colonized and the once colonizing did not fade but continued to impact both nations. South Koreans nationwide boycott of 2019 against Japan engendered in this context. Through a critical discourse analysis on the news articles representation and online discussions concerning the boycott, the present study aimed at a better understanding of the cultural identities of post-colonial South Koreans that emerged amid the situation.
Journalism in continuous circulation: appropriations of language and knowledge through independent circuits of information on Whatsapp • Eloisa Klein • The paper analyzes how information circuits external to journalism appropriate journalistic characteristics of language and knowledge to build their own audience and operating logic. We carried out a study of a network of 50 Whatsapp groups, in the interior of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, gathered under the name of News Hunters. We note the emphasis on the microlocal, as well as the predominance of a notion of factuality related to the interruption of regularity, in addition to an independent system of information mediation.
Network Agenda Setting, Transnationalism and Territoriality: Chinese Diasporic Media in the United States • ZHI LIN, School of Communication, Hong Kong Baptist University; Ziyuan LI, Shanghai Jiaotong University • This study employs network agenda setting to explore transnationalism and territoriality between Chinese diasporic media, Chinese media and American media. Although Chinese and American media significantly influence Chinese diasporic media, influence of American media becomes non-significant after controlling Chinese media. Chinese media is influenced by American media because China is proactively responding to international media, during which its own agenda is set. Chinese media mediates agenda setting effects between American and Chinese diasporic media.
China in Gilgit-Baltistan: A comparative analysis of Pakistani and Indian newspapers • Muhammad Masood, City University of Hong Kong • Gilgit-Baltistan is the only border region of Pakistan connected with China. India, however, claims Gilgit-Baltistan as an integral part of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute. Nonetheless, China is very active in Gilgit-Baltistan, such as in the form of various Chinese projects. Thus, Gilgit-Baltistan possesses both geographically essential and geopolitically controversial position in South Asia. This study analyzes news framing and discursive legitimation of two competing newspapers’ coverages on “China in Gilgit-Baltistan” – Dawn and The Hindu.
Framing Chinese Investment in Africa: Media Coverage in Africa, China, the United Kingdom, and United States of America • Frankline Matanji, University of Iowa • This study is grounded on framing theory to understand tones and frames adopted by media from Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, China, the United States, and United Kingdom in the coverage of Chinese investment in Africa, relying on news articles collected between 2013 and 2018. Results of this quantitative content analysis study indicate that each tone and generic frame was adopted with varying levels of intensity across the countries under study.
Hashtag feminism and lifting the ban on Iranian female spectators. The case study of #BlueGirl • Fatemeh Shayesteh, University of Kansas • This study examined how Iranian women’s stadium ban is discussed by Twitter users with the hashtag #BlueGirl in Farsi and English. I used the feminist theory and the literature of hashtag feminism to analyze the tweets about the death of Sahar, a soccer fan who self-immolated to protest the stadium ban. Using the qualitative content analysis, I identified the emerging narratives and themes, including feminist themes from 600 analyzed tweets.
Moderated Conditional Effects of Social Media Use, Political Discussion and Trust in Politics on Three Types of Political Participation: Cross-National Evidence • Yan Su; Xizhu Xiao • Anchored by the theoretical framework of the differential gains model, this study analyzes nationwide surveys from three Asian societies: Japan, Taiwan, and China, in terms of the moderated conditional effects of social media use, political discussion and trust in politics on contact participation, civic engagement and electoral participation. Results suggested that trust in politics was a significant predictor of electoral participation in all three societies, whereas social media use and political discussion had varying effects on different types of participation in different countries. The conventional differential gains model was partially confirmed in Japan and Taiwan, while it did not hold true in China. However, a significant moderated conditional effect emerged in China. This study extends the differential gains model into a moderated moderation model. Implications are discussed.
Good Rohingyas, bad Rohingyas : How Rohingya narratives shifted in Bangladeshi media • Mushfique Wadud, University of Nevada, Reno • This study investigates how Rohingya refugees are framed in Bangladeshi media outlets. Rohingyas are ethnic and religious minorities in Myanmar’s Rakhine state facing persecution for the last few decades. Majority Rohingas fled to neighboring Bangladesh after a massive crackdown in Rakhine state in 2017. A total of 914,998 Rohingyas are now residing in refugee camps in Bangladesh (as of September 30, 2019). Built on framing theory and based on qualitative content analysis of 420 news stories and opinion pieces of five daily newspapers and two online news portals, the study first examines dominant frames used by Bangladeshi news outlets on Rohingya refugees. The study then goes on to investigate frame variation over time. It also investigates whether framings vary based on character of the news outlets and their ideologies. Findings show that frames vary over time and tabloid and online news outlets are more hostile towards refugees than quality newspapers. The study also finds that right wing news outlets are pro-refugees in Rohingya case. This might be due to Rohingya’s Muslim identity.
Depicting the mediated emotion flow: The super-spreaders of emotions during COVID-19 on Weibo • Jingjing Yi, School of Journalism and Communication, The Chinese University of Hong Kong; Jiayu Qu, The Chinese University of Hong Kong; Wanjiang Zhang, School of Journalism and Communication, The Chinese University of Hong Kong • This study collected two million posts and reposts regarding COVID-19 on Weibo. Emotion analysis and social network analysis were used to examine mediated emotion flow by comparing it with information flow. Results indicated that both the emotion and information flow presents a multi-layer mode, while the emotion network has a higher transmission efficiency; Officially verified accounts are more likely to become super-spreaders of emotions; Good emotions were predominant but isolated from others in online discussions.
Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition
Saudi Women Take the Wheel: A Content Analysis of How Saudi Arabian Car Companies Reached Women on Social Media • Khalid Alharbi, University of South Carolina; Kelli Boling, University of South Carolina; Carol Pardun, University of South Carolina • This study explored how automobile companies in Saudi Arabia used Twitter to market to women after the government lifted the ban on women driving. The study examined these 184 tweets and the 92 advertisements embedded in them using both quantitative and qualitative methodology. The results suggest that auto companies were supportive of women and presented them as more independent and authoritative than has historically been considered typical for Saudi Arabia.
Women refugees’ media usage: Overcoming information precarity and housing precarity in Hamburg, Germany • Miriam Berg, Northwestern University in Qatar • This study examines how women refugees in Hamburg, Germany, of whom many arrived either as minors with their family members or as unaccompanied minors (now young adults), have managed to overcome information precarity experienced as a result of limited and/or restricted access to the internet and/or traditional media. This study also examines whether the forced migration and constantly changing living conditions these women have experienced, from mass emergency shelters to refugee accommodation and youth flats (and for some, a return back to refugee accommodation), have impacted their media usage. Findings from 32 semi-structured interviews with refugee women originating from various countries (Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Eritrea, Syria, and Turkey) have shown that their overall perception of precarity was amplified by limited internet access. Yet, refugee women were actively seeking to overcome this precarity and were extremely resilient and resourceful in finding ways to access the internet so as to utilize various digital media and information and communication technologies tools. Despite the fact that this study does not exclusively focus on mobile phone use, the findings indicate in particular that mobile phones represent a lifeline for refugee women and are seen as being as vital to their everyday lives as food or shelter.
Perpetual dependency syndrome: Journalism and mass communication education in Pakistan • David Bockino; Amir Ilyas, University of the Punjab • Utilizing the theoretical foundation of new institutionalism, this study explores journalism and mass communication education in Pakistan. Anchored by interviews across five programs in the city of Lahore, the study identifies key moments and people in the trajectory of these programs, explores the current connection between these programs and the larger journalism and mass communication organizational field, and examines why many educators within these Pakistani programs feel so constrained by the supranational institutional environment.
After the Revolution: Tunisian Journalism Students and a News Media in Transition • Brian J. Bowe, Western Washington University; Carolyn Nielsen, Western Washington University; Arwa Kooli, L’Institut de Presse et des Sciences de l’Information; Rafia Somai, L’Institut de Presse et des Sciences de l’Information; Joe Gosen, Western Washington University • A decade after the Jasmine Revolution ushered in the Arab Spring, Tunisia remains a bright spot for democratic reform and press freedom in the region. However, this transition is still tentative, and the reforms remain fragile. This study examines Tunisian journalism students (N=193) to understand their motivations for earning a degree in the field and how they conceptualize journalism’s role in society. By studying the extent to which future Tunisian journalists understand their professional roles as protectors of democratic values, we may gain a glimpse into how they are internalizing the lessons of the revolution. The results of this survey showed that students emphasized social responsibility motivations for studying journalism. Participants most strongly valued the role of journalists in promoting tolerance and cultural diversity, educating the audience, letting people express their views, reporting things as they are, and supporting national development. These results suggest that Tunisian students view their work as assuming monitorial and interventionist roles. Finally, they have mixed views about social media’s impact on journalism.
Survival in an Online-First Era: Exploring Social Media’s Effects on Indian Journalism & Resultant Challenges • Dhiman Chattopadhyay, Shippensburg University • With greater access to technology, countries in the so-called Global South are increasingly using social media platforms such as Twitter, WhatsApp and Facebook as a major source of breaking news. This study conducts a first-of-its-kind pan-Indian study of Indian journalists to examine how social media’s ability to break news first has affected journalistic practices in the world’s most populated democracy. In-depth interviews were conducted with 18 senior editors at some of the country’s largest newspapers, magazines, TV channels and websites to understand editors’ own perspectives about how social media have affected gatekeeping practices, resultant challenges, and the way forward. Findings indicate Indian journalists face unique challenges because of the multi-lingual, multi-ethnic, multi-caste structure of the nation, and differences in politico-economic structure of the media industry also results in a different understanding of the Gatekeeping function and the Hierarchy of Influences Model. Implications are discussed.
How Public Deliberation Happens in an Unlikely Place:A Case Study on Ghana’s Deliberative Poll • Kaiping Chen, University of Wisconsin-Madison • Empowering ordinary citizens with the capacity to deliberate is a core issue in science communication. Despite growing deliberative practices in developed nations, it is significantly less understood how public deliberation can happen among impoverished populations who lack formal education in developing countries. This paper studied a case of a well-designed deliberation method, Deliberative Poll, in Tamale, Ghana. I examined how scientific expertise was used, the type of arguments raised, and the quality of people’s dialogues by analyzing thousands of speech acts from deliberation transcripts and the information material provided to participants. I found that in a well-designed deliberation environment, scientific expertise is well represented. Marginalized populations had thoughtful discussions on complex policy issues. Local policymakers even considered their opinions. This paper contributes to our understanding of how to effectively foster public deliberation among marginalized populations and systematically measure the nuances of scientific expertise and public reasoning on science
Cinema and the ethnic divide: Contemporary representations of Mexico and Mexicans in Hollywood Films • Gabriel Dominguez Partida, Texas Tech University; Hector Rendon, Texas Tech University • “Cinema produced in a country exhibits values and traits of the local culture. It also personifies members of out-groups seen as the other, portrayed with a series of particular characteristics easily distinguishable by the domestic audience. However, the preponderance of Hollywood’s products in the international film markets makes their representations more influential. The majority of its films depict the dominance of the white culture from a heroic and superior perspective about others.
In the case of Mexico and Mexicans, Hollywood films present the country and its inhabitants in a disadvantageous position. Nevertheless, previous studies indicate that the image of a lawless land plagued with bandits has gradually changed to a more positive one since NAFTA. This representation is vital as films contribute to developing an identity, and if these images present negative attributes, people tend to reject their own culture.
Hence, this study consists of a content analysis of 39 scripts from Hollywood films produced from 2000 to 2019 to analyze how they describe Mexico and Mexicans, the prevalence of negative and positive depictions, and how the incorporation of Mexican characters and Mexico as the central location influence these representations. Results suggest that a negative image of Mexico has been perpetuated in those films, relating the country and its inhabitants as dangerous, inferior, and primitive in comparison with the U.S. However, when productions include Mexican characters among the protagonists a tendency exists to reduce the negative image of the nation and its residents.”
Circling the Paradigmatic Wagons: A Comparative Analysis of Journalistic Paradigm Defense. • Lyombe Eko; Cassandra Hayes • This article explores, describes, and explains, the concept of journalistic paradigm defense from a comparative, international perspective, using as case studies a number of “mediatized meta-events,” problematic situations, and crises that posed perceived existential threats to the journalistic paradigm– or the freedom of speech and of the press on which it is grounded–in a number of jurisdictions. This analysis was carried out within the framework of journalism as a paradigm, a way of seeing, organizing and representing reality. When this paradigm is threatened, journalists from different cultural geographies of freedom of expression rise to defend it.
Understanding Latin American Data Journalism: Open-Coding Culture, Transparency, and Investigative Reporting • Maria Isabel Magaña, Universidad de La Sabana; Víctor García-Perdomo, Universidad de La Sabana • This study analyzes how Latin American reporters understand data journalism according to their social contexts, how they make sense of digital technologies and how technical artifacts (tools, data, software) shape their journalistic values and practices. Results show that reporters understand data journalism as a hybrid between investigative journalism and open-source culture. They value transparency over other traditional journalistic values, which creates activism towards open data, access and freedom of information.
The vox-pop, the victim and the active citizen: A Content Analysis of Citizen Sources in Non-Western International Broadcasting in Spanish • Miriam Hernandez, CSUDH; Dani Madrid-Morales, University of Houston • This study examines the salience of citizen sources, its news functions and its relationship to foreign policy objectives in three international State broadcasters: Iran’s HispanTV, Russia’s RT and China’s CGTN Español. Through a content analysis of news stories broadcasted in 2014 and 2017 (N = 1,265), results indicate the representation of ordinary sources follows well-known news functions (vox-pop, exemplars and active agents), but they also strategically respond to foreign policy interests. Implications and differences among broadcasters are discussed.
Have a Seat! How Digital-native News Organization in Colombia Built Consensus on the Topic of Venezuela Through Social Media • Vanessa HIggins Joyce, Texas State University • Correlation of different segments of society is a major function of mass media. However, little is known about how consensus building works in the networked, digital environment and in Latin America. This study tested the premise on a social media page from a digital-native news organization in Colombia, on the salient issue of Venezuela. It found support for consensus building between men and women (rs=.76, n=10, p<.05) on substantive attributes of the issue of Venezuela.
* Extended Abstract * Extended abstract: Blaming Others: Stigmas Related to COVID-19 Pandemic in Indonesia and Malaysia • Ika Idris, Universitas Paramadina; Nuurrianti Jalli, Universiti Teknologi Mara • This study investigates the stigmas formed around the COVID-19 through Twitter conversations in Indonesia and Malaysia. We collected 450,000 tweets related to the COVID-19 and analyzed 6,932 using quantitative content analysis. We found that the central stigma in Indonesia was ‘labeling’ while in Malaysia, it was ‘responsibility’ of a religious group amid the pandemic. Although differing primary stigmas, conversations in both countries inclined to blame on other actors as the cause of the pandemic.
* Extended Abstract * Extended Abstract: The Marriage of Inconvenience: An Exploratory Analysis of Media Convergence in Pakistan • Muhammad Ittefaq, University of Kansas; Ammar Malik Sheikh, Mashable Pakistan; Waqas Ejaz; Muhammad Yousaf, University of Gujrat; Shahira S Fahmy, The American University in Cairo • Based on the hierarchy of influence model and the diffusion of innovation theory, we explore perceptions on media convergence in Pakistan’s media industry and its socio-economic impact on journalists’ work and routines. Our study of in-depth interviews with Pakistani journalists, contribute to the growing literature on media convergence. It, therefore, will allow for a deeper understanding of the various aspects of modern (converged) journalism, specifically the challenges and opportunities of multimedia in the developing world.
Sakazuki, Kodokushi: Website Depictions of Japanese Seniors in the World’s Grayest Society • Hong Ji; Anne Cooper-Chen, Ohio u; Tomoko Kanayama; Eiko Gilliford • This study analyzed 355 images, including 167 elders and 136 staffers, who appeared in photographs taken at Japanese senior living facilities. The marketing-oriented websites showed primarily healthy, joyful-looking elders, 64.7% female and 35.3% male; 93.4% are pictured with others, and 21.0% are in wheelchairs. Results supported the universalism and endurance of Maslow’s (1954) Hierarchy of Needs and Hofstede’s (2001) Dimensions of Cultural Variability. The study partly redresses the dearth of research in English on Japan.
Perceptions of refugees in their home countries and abroad: A content analysis of la caravana migrante/the migrant caravan in Central America and the United States • Linda Jean Kenix, University of Canterbury; Jorge Freddy Bolanos Lopez, University of Canterbury • In October 2018, a group of Honduran citizens announced that they would walk towards the American South border looking to be allowed entry into the United States. This research asks how media in five Central American countries and that of several states in The United States covered these refugees during what was called ‘the migrant caravan.’ Any mediated differences found can translate to very real consequences for how these refugees are viewed in their home countries and in the country that they are moving towards. Repeated media imagery can form ideology and culture within a nation state. This research is important as these mediated representations can then form how refugees are treated, both in policy and through interpersonal interactions.
Innocence Killed: Framing of Visual Propaganda in the Recruitment, Radicalization and Desensitization of the Children of ISIS • Flora Khoo; William Brown • Millions of children living in the Islamic State have witnessed senseless violence as part of their daily lives and are targeted by ISIS for recruitment. This study examines the appeals ISIS uses to recruit children. Based on a quantitative content analysis of 22 ISIS child propaganda videos, results illuminate how the narrative of the glorification of heaven attracts potential martyrs and how families form a key part of the narratives used to recruit children.
Lone Wolf or Islamic State: A Content Analysis of Global News Verbal Framing of Terrorist Acts • ASHLEY LARSON • Scholars have identified the mass media plays a crucial role in the dissemination of terror messages. Since the attacks of September 11th, 2001, much attention has been paid to terrorism in the global television landscape. More recently, the discourse surrounding acts of terror has changed, due in part to the people behind the attacks. This study seeks to understand how global television news broadcasts verbally frame acts of terror based on two current threats: the individual terrorist (the Lone Wolf) and the organized group (the Islamic State). Findings indicate global news has strong similarities of the verbal framing of terrorist attacks, regardless of the classification of the attacker.
Winning Hearts and Minds Through Cuisine: Public Diplomacy and Singapore’s Bid for UNESCO Intangible Heritage Recognition • Seow Ting Lee, University of Colorado Boulder; Hun Shik Kim, University of Colorado at Boulder • “Food represents a common ground for all, enabling nation states to use gastrodiplomacy to build tangible and emotional transnational connections with foreign publics through food.
This paper examines middle power Singapore’s national and international campaigns to inscribe its hawker culture through UNESCO’s List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. Singapore’s UNESCO bid is motivated by a desire, in collaboration with non-state actors, to strengthen the value and standing of its nation brand through food.”
A Case Study of Foreign Correspondents’ Use of Twitter during the 2019 Hong Kong Protests • LUWEI ROSE LUQIU; Shuning Lu, North Dakota State University • Technological innovation has altered the power balance among journalists, news media outlets, and audiences. Twitter, for instance, has provided journalists with new opportunities to disseminate unedited content directly to the public, thus exercising freedom of press at the individual level. Informed by scholarship on journalistic normalization and news engagement, the research described here examined the sourcing, content, and engagement on Twitter among 20 foreign correspondents from Western legacy media during the 2019 anti-extradition bill protests in Hong Kong. The analysis of this case study shows that these journalists interacted more with other journalists than with members of the general public, and also that they were more engaged in sharing factual information than in self-branding. Further, while few of the journalists’ tweets contained their personal opinion, these non-factual tweets generated more likes, comments, and retweets than those factual ones. This finding is significant because the expression of personal opinions can increase the transparency of reporting as well as engagement between journalists and their audiences. A profound implication of the findings presented here is that news outlets and journalists should rethink the relationship between objectivity and transparency in the networked environment.
The Cross-Culture Selfie Study: Exploring the Difference between Chinese and American Motivations for Taking and Sharing Selfies on Social Media • Yuanwei Lyu, The University of Alabama; Steven Holiday, The University of Alabama • Based on the cultural dimension framework, this study explores the motives for taking and posting selfies on social media in different cultural contexts. While cultural dimensions have been widely applied to understanding communication practices, a question remains concerning whether Hofstede’s (1994) original cultural aspects are still applicable in undergoing societies. Using the data collected from the United States and China, this research seeks to examine the differences and commonalities in motivations for taking and sharing selfies between these two technologically-progressive countries. The findings will validate past scholarship on the uses and gratifications (U&G) of selfies, but also provide support for the global online culture.
Dialectics of Complexity: A Five-Country Examination of Perceptions of Social Media Platforms • Gina M. Masullo, School of Journalism, The University of Texas at Austin; Martin Riedl, University of Texas at Austin; Ori Tenenboim, School of Journalism, The University of Texas at Austin • This study examined people’s lived experiences with social media through 10 focus groups across five countries: Brazil, Germany, Malaysia, South Africa, and the United States. Findings demonstrate that social media make people’s lives less complex, but this belies heightened complexity as they negotiate four paradoxes when using social media. We describe these as dialectics between: convenience versus safety, helpful versus unreliable information, meaningful versus wasted time, and feeling better using platforms versus feeling worse.
Press Freedom in East Africa: Perceptions from journalists in Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya • Karen McIntyre, Virginia Commonwealth University; Meghan Sobel Cohen • This cross-national comparative survey sought to understand how journalists in three East African countries — Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya — perceive their press freedom, what factors influence that freedom, as well as how accurately they view international press freedom rankings. Among other findings, the data revealed that journalists in all three countries reported similar threats to press freedom, with fear of government retaliation and repressive national laws as the factors that most influence freedom in the region.
Negotiating a digital self: Journalists’ use of Twitter and Instagram • Claudia Mellado; Amaranta Alfaro • Based on face-to-face, in-depth interviews with 31 Chilean journalists from national TV, radio, print, and online media, this study explores how they negotiate their identities and media use on Twitter and Instagram. The results suggest that, overall, Chilean journalists use Twitter and Instagram to stay informed, report the news, engage in branding activities, and interact with their audiences, expanding the scope of their work to include new professional roles and allow for the emergence of different but not mutually exclusive digital selves. Nevertheless, important differences were found based on the platform used and the journalists’ own perception of which practices are valid and important. Specifically, three groups were identified. While we found strong patterns of a reinterpretation of journalistic practices by normalizing some traditional functions into social media, which is represented by the “adapted”; we also found clear elements of redefinition of the journalistic work, represented by the “redefiners.” They disrupt traditional norms merging their different selves in both platforms, and use their accounts differently to target specific audiences. We also identified a group of journalists who resist the idea of mixing their professional work with social media practices, remaining “skeptical” to changes.
Whose News to Trust? Presidential Approval and Media Trust in the U.S. and Russia • Kelsey Mesmer, Wayne State University; Elizabeth Stoycheff • Trust in journalism has declined around the world. This study employs a comparative survey of two divergent political systems – the United States and Russia – to better understand eroding faith in their media institutions. We hypothesize that these declines have occurred, in no small part, as a result of support for authoritative political leadership that seeks to control the national news narrative. Survey results indicated a negative relationship between American citizens’ trust of national news media and support for U.S. President Donald Trump, and a positive relationship between Russian citizens’ trust of national news media and Russian President Vladimir Putin. We situate these findings in the context of each country’s media system.
* Extended Abstract * Cross-media Use in Civic Engagement : The Hybridity of Collective, Connective, and Individual Actions in Politics • Hailey Hyun-kyung Oh; Yoon Jae Jang; So Eun Lee • This research aims to explore the impacts of cross-media use for news upon political participation in the context of South Korea. Studies have shown that, under new media environment, people use a group of media for news and political information (Pew Research, 2008; Kang, & Kim, 2010; Dubois, & Blank, 2018; Newman, Fletcher, Kalogeropoulos, & Nielsen, 2019). The constellation of news media individuals draw for their daily news consumption was also identified as media repertoire (Van Rees & Van Eijck, 2003; Ksiazek, 2011; Yuan, 2011; Kim, 2014). Cross-media audience is a heterogeneous group that can be fragmented depending on what kind of media they use as the major source for news. The increasing cross-media audience reflects people are more likely to blend traditional and new media for consuming news, and this hybridity in media repertoire is also relevant to various political activities, from individual to collective actions leading to transnational-level social movements (Chadwick, 2013; Chadwick, O’Loughlin, & Vaccari, 2017). Assuming that political actions, encouraged by news media, vary across platforms—that is, a certain type of media platform encourages individual actions while others motivate more collective actions, or connective ones—this study identifies the audience using more than two types of news media among five, i.e. newspapers, television, radio, magazine, and the Internet, and categorizes this cross-media audience based on their media repertoire. After categorizing each type of cross-media audience, its demographic characteristics is identified respectively. Lastly, how this hybridity of media use influence civic engagement is tested.
Blurring the lines between fiction and reality: Framing the Ukrainian presidency in the political situation comedy Servant of the People • Nataliya Roman; Berrin Beasley; John Parmelee • This study examines presidential framing in the Ukrainian sitcom Servant of the People, which helped Ukrainian comedian and political novice Volodymyr Zelenskyy win the presidency in 2019. Building upon research into fictional framing (Holbert et al., 2005; Mulligan & Habel, 2011) and political satire verite (Conway, 2016), this study analyzes the roles and character traits of Vasiliy Goloborodko, a fictional Ukrainian president played by Zelenskyy. The findings expand framing theory to include fictional political leaders in sitcoms and provide insight into the role the comedy played in Zelenskyy’s historic presidential victory.
* Extended Abstract * Extended Abstract: Networking (with Other) Crises: Translating the Refugee Crisis into Advocacy for the Roma • Adina Schneeweis, Oakland University • This article is a study of advocacy communication and the ideological translation of plight. It examines how activism for Europe’s largest minority group, the Roma (Gypsies), connects to, builds upon, borrows from, and distances itself from, the migrant refugee crisis that gripped Europe in the mid-2010s. Through discourse analysis of advocacy texts published by European NGOs between 2014 and 2018, the study concludes that advocacy discourses build a clear case that connects the plight of the Roma to the refugee crisis, through humanitarian appeals, highlighting the affinity of vulnerability, and by amplifying the crisis to shed light on the needs of Roma communities.
Competing Frames on Social Media: Analysis of English and Farsi Tweets on Iran Plane Crash • Hyunjin Seo, University of Kansas; Fatemeh Shayesteh, University of Kansas • This study conducted content analysis and word co-occurrence network analysis of tweets about the Ukraine plane crash in Iran in 2020 to analyze differences between English tweets and Farsi tweets in framing and discussing the major international event. Results from our computational analysis and human coding of the tweets show important differences and similarities between English tweets and Farsi tweets in terms of prominent frames and frequently co-occurring word pairs.
News and the neoliberal order: How transnational discourse structures national identities and asymmetries of power • Saif Shahin, American University • Comparing 15 years of news coverage of international aid from two donor nations (United States and Britain) and two receiver nations (India and Pakistan), this study makes three arguments. The dynamic between nationalist identification and transnational discourse is dialectical. This dynamic reinforces asymmetries of power, privileging some nations as superior while making others complicit in their subordination. Finally, newsmaking and foreign policymaking are mutually constitutive social phenomena—both reproduce a shared conception of national identity.
* Extended Abstract * Influencer Engagement With Chinese Audiences: The Role of Language • Zihang E; Ziyuan Zhang, The Pennsylvania State University; Ryan Tan, Penn State University; Olivia Reed, The Pennsylvania State University; Heather Shoenberger, The Pennsylvania State University • With the rise of platforms such as YouTube and TikTok influencers are seeking to increase their view-counts and spheres of influence globally. This study examines the differences in perception by a Mandarin speaking audience of beauty vlogs created in English and Mandarin on parasocial interaction with the influencer, perceived homophily, perceived authenticity, self-truth of the influencer, and purchase intent variables. Results will add insights to the area of influencers looking to communicate to international audiences.
Global Economy, Regional Bloc, National Interests: ASEAN Coverage in Philippine Broadsheets • Nathaniel Melican, City, University of London; Jane B. Singer, City, University of London • Let’s face it: Regional economic blocs are not inherently compelling, leaving journalists who cover them to search for frames to attract the attention of editors and audiences. This study draws on a content analysis of stories about the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, plus interviews with Filipino journalists, to understand the nature of the information citizens receive – which focuses largely on national interests rather than broader ones — and the rationale for generating it.
* Extended Abstract * Health Misinformation in Kenya • Melissa Tully, University of Iowa; Kevin Mudavadi; David Biwott, USIU-Africa • The global spread of misinformation on social media and chat apps has led to increased interest of this phenomenon. Drawing on interviews with Kenyan adults, this study explores Kenyans’ exposure and response to health misinformation to provide much-needed data from the Global South. Findings suggest that health misinformation is prevalent and participants respond by looking for multiple sources of information. Although, when exposed to a misinformation exemplar, many were quick to accept it as “fact.”
* Extended Abstract * Syrian Armenian Refugees in Armenia: Social Cohesion and Information Practices • Melissa Wall, California State University – Northridge • This paper is based on interviews carried out in the spring of 2019 in Armenia with Syrian Armenian refugees who fled to their ancestral homeland due to the Syrian civil war. UNHCR officials and NGO personnel were also interviewed. The project examines the ways the refugees’ information practices – both via social media and interpersonally – can create opportunities to overcome information precarity and experience different forms of social cohesion in their new home.
Overseas Media, Homeland Audiences: Examining Determinants of News Making in Deutsche Welle’s Amharic Service • Tewodros Workneh, Kent State University • In the absence of credible news outlets, Germany’s public international broadcaster Deutsche Welle’s (DW) has been one of the few foreign-based radio stations that successfully withstood the Ethiopian government’s crackdown on non-state-owned media. This study examines determinants of journalism practice and newsroom culture in DW’s Amharic Service. By adopting an analytical framework of ideological, geographic, and audience-generated determinants of news making, it charts homeland and host challenges that constrain journalistic autonomy in DW Amharic’s newsroom.
Social media, protest, & outrage communication in Ethiopia: Toward fractured publics or pluralistic polity? • Tewodros Workneh, Kent State University • In 2018, Ethiopia experienced a tectonic political shift following the culmination of years of public outcry against the ruling party, Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). Protest groups, predominantly organized along ethnic identification, have used social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter to disseminate strategies, recruit members, and galvanize support. Anchored on theories of collective identity and moral outrage, this study investigates the role of social media platforms in mobilizing Ethiopians toward political reform during the protest and post-protest periods. Data generated from a mixed method approach consisting of an online survey and interviews indicate social media platforms played a crucial role by drawing Ethiopian youth to participate in political discourse, empowering formerly marginalized groups to influence policy, and fostering ingroup cultural/political cohesion. However, evidence indicates participation opportunities created by social media platforms also brought apprehension including the rise of outrage communication as manifested by hate speech, political extremism, incitement of violence, and misinformation. I argue, in the context of a polity embodying highly heterogeneous and contested nationalisms—ethnic or otherwise—such as Ethiopia, social media platforms increase ingroup political participation but chronically diminish outgroup engagement. I conclude by discussing the limitations of regulating social media content through legislation. Furthermore, I highlight the need to integrate media and information literacy into education curricula as a long-term, sustainable solution to Ethiopia’s digital dilemma.
Predicting the Relationships among Country Animosity, Attitudes toward, Product Judgment about, and Intention to Consume Foreign Cultural Products • KENNETH C. C. YANG, THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT EL PASO; YOWEI KANG, NATIONAL TAIWAN OCEAN UNIVERSITY • This study employs the marketing concept of country animosity to study Taiwanese audience’s consumption of foreign cultural products from China and South Korea. This study uses a survey to collect data from 763 participants living in Taiwan, a democratic island with cultural, historical, and political relationships with these two countries. Linear regression analyses find that country animosity is an important predictor of how Taiwanese viewers judge Chinese television dramas, but less useful in predicting their judgment of South Korean television dramas. Overall, country animosity also explains intention to watch Chinese television dramas and offer partial support to intention to watch South Korean television dramas. Results conclude that predictive power of country animosity and its sub-dimensions depends on existing geo-political and historical relationships between Taiwan and China, as well as Taiwan and South Korea. This study concludes with theoretical implications and managerial recommendations to promote cultural products to audiences with different cultural, historical, and political background.
Transcending Third-Person Effects of Foreign Media in the US: The Effect of Media Nationality and Message Context on TPE and Support for Restrictions • Yicheng Zhu, Beijing Normal University; Anan Wan, Kansas State University • This study examines how social identities can transcend given distinct message contexts of foreign persuasion, and lead to support for restriction of foreign media in the US through TPE. With a US voter quota sample (N = 856), our results indicate that when foreign persuasion happened in a US-identity-provoking context, partisan differences in TPE are remedied. Moreover, the study found foreign media creates more TPE than domestic media. Within the category of foreign media, a friendly ally is perceived to have more effect on both self and others.
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