Political Communication Division
2022 Abstracts
Research Paper • Faculty • Engaging with vilifying stereotypes: The role of algorithmic use in perpetuating misinformation about Muslim congresswomen • Saifuddin Ahmed; Teresa Gil-Lopez • We examine the role of algorithmic use in believing and sharing misinformation about US Muslim congresswomen. Analysis of survey data suggests that those with more frequent algorithmic use and lower cognitive ability were more likely to believe and share misinformation. Those high on nationalism and prejudice against Muslims were also likely to believe misinformation. Most importantly, higher algorithmic use tends to strengthen such beliefs. The study highlights the role of algorithms in perpetuating misinformation.
Extended Abstract • Student • Iran and the U.S. Elections: Building an Agenda of Anxiety and Concern • Osama Albishri, University of Florida; Ghada Alwaily, University of Leicester; Ahmed Alqarni, Virginia Commonwealth University; Wyne Wanta • This study investigates the relationship among political candidates’ messages, news coverage, and congressional legislation regarding Iran’s related issues during four U.S. presidential elections between 2004 and 2020. A dictionary-based approach and sentiment analysis were conducted to explore the three levels of agenda-building. The preliminary analysis shows that U.S. interests in the Middle East was the most salient issues for media and Congress, while Iran’s nuclear program was the most emphasized issue in the presidential debates.
Research Paper • Student • To share or not to share? Political actors and the spread of political misinformation on Twitter • Shola Aromona, University of Kansas • The continued interest in misinformation remains unarguably relevant, given the political climate not just in the US but all around the world. In a post-truth era, social media has not only been used to spread information that are untrue, but it has also been used to counter false narratives. Also, the connectedness of the world makes information travel faster and social networks and social media play a role in how misinformation is spread. Nowadays, it is easier for information to be shared within one’s close social networks which usually consist of friends and family, especially if the information originated from someone in that network. However, little is known about other potential sources of misinformation, such as political elites, who are not necessarily one’s friends or family and who do not belong in one’s close social network, but who are opinion leaders and are influential in the information that an individual consumes on social media. This pilot study used an online experiment to investigate individuals’ likelihood to spread political misinformation based on whether a political leader or non-political leader is the initiator of the [mis]information. By looking at the political attribute of a misinformation initiator, this study contributes to scholarship on misinformation as it extends our knowledge on how misinformation is diffused on social media.
Extended Abstract • Faculty • Polarization, Emotion and Race in Social Media: Innovative Methodologies and Challenges of Affective Discourse Analysis • megan boler, University of Toronto • In the context of the so-called “post-truth” crisis, emotions have resoundingly replaced facts in our fast-moving, affectively-driven internet-based culture. Scholars are challenged to develop innovative methods for studying emotion and affect within studies of popular culture, social media, and political communications. This talk presents methodological innovation and research findings from our cross-platform digital ethnography of social media from Twitter, Gab, and Facebook, and qualitative discourse analysis of 1800 social media posts related to Black Lives Matter and the Capitol Riots. Our work provides a significant contribution to a nascent field of studies by specifically engaging an interdisciplinary theoretical framework that includes affect theory or politics of emotion alongside qualitative research of social media.
Research Paper • Faculty • The 2016 presidential election coverage: Use of Twitter as a source and the media framing of the race • Porismita Borah; Rico Neumann • Informed by gatekeeping, agenda-setting, and framing theory, the main purposes of this paper are to examine (1) the use of Twitter as a source in the media coverage, and (2) the media content of that coverage to better understand how they framed those stories, and if there was any relationship between the two. Findings show that compared to Clinton, Trump’s Twitter posts got more attention, and the media coverage continue to be more strategically framed.
Research Paper • • “Strong enough to battle the liberals”: How social identity solidified White evangelical Christian women’s support of Donald J. Trump and sustained their distrust of news outlets • Gayle Jansen Brisbane • This research examines White evangelical Christian women’s social/religious identity and how this distinctiveness influences their political standpoints, voting behaviors, and opinions of perceived out-groups, including news outlets. While appreciating that numerous theoretical aspects are at play in this complex subject matter, an analysis of social/religious identity can provide focal insight and understanding when deliberating Christianity, politics, gender and the media in reference to the nature of evangelical Christian women’s support of Donald J. Trump as the United States President.This qualitative study employed focus groups and semi-structured in-depth interviews with evangelical Christian women. The participants in this study consider their religious identity as such a vital aspect of their character, it motivates their viewpoints in numerous aspects of their lives, including individual motivations, group stimuli and political impulses. Consequently, how they construct their religious identity, as well as how and why they react to in-group threats is a focal element for this exploration.
Research Paper • Faculty • The Anxiety Factor: Moral Traditionalism, Interpersonal Contact Diversity and Support for Transgender Candidates and Rights • Xiaoxia Cao, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee; Atinc Gurcay, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee • An online survey was conducted to investigate what influence public support for transgender candidates and rights. It found that moral traditionalism was negatively associated with support for transgender candidates and rights. The diversity of interpersonal contact with transgender individuals not only was positively related to the support but undermined the negative relationships between moral traditionalism and the support. More importantly, the study showed that anxiety toward transgender people mediated all the relationships observed here.
Extended Abstract • Faculty • (Extended Abstract) The Contagion of Political Incivility in Response to Donald Trump’s Election Campaign Videos on YouTube • Yingying Chen, University of South Carolina • This study examines what factors predict the contagion of political incivility in response to a highly polarized political campaign video on Donald Trump’s official YouTube channel. It perceived incivility as a behavioral contagion process and examined the formation and the evolution of incivility in YouTube comments. I used dynamic network analysis to track the temporal changes in the uncivil comments from the most controversial presidential election campaign video on Donald Trump’s official YouTube page. The study contributes to the current literature by understanding what explains online political incivility. Findings also provide implication to the platform intervention to the spread of uncivil behavior.
Research Paper • Faculty • When exposure to fake news and fact-checking promote fake news sharing: The moderating role of partisan strength and need to evaluate • Hsuan-Ting Chen, Chinese University of Hong Kong; Wai Yin, Ivy Fong • Using data from a panel survey, this study examines the extent to which exposure to fake news and fact-checking lead to fake news sharing and investigates the moderating roles of partisan strength and need to evaluate that represent motivated reasoning in the relationship. The findings suggest that exposure to fake news not only directly but also indirectly affects fake news sharing through fact-checking. In addition, partisan strength enhances the direct effect of exposure to fake news on fake news sharing, while need to evaluate strengthens the indirect effect of exposure to fake news on fake news sharing through fact-checking. This study highlights the threat of exposure to fake news, but also calls attention to the risk of politically motivated and biased fact-checking for the spread of misinformation and disinformation.
Extended Abstract • Student • Extended Abstract: [Understanding Citizens’ Reaction to Political Scandals in Taiwan: A Survey Study] • Yujia Cheng, Department of Journalism, Hong Kong Baptist University • Previous research on public opinion towards politicians’ scandals shows that citizens may have different perceptions on them: some scandals may have severe consequences while some may not. Based the theory of motivated reasoning and literature on media influence, this article constructs a model that draw political attitudes, media use, perceptions on scandals and evaluation of the politicians together to explain the underlying mechanism of political psychology and media preference. Most of the hypotheses are supported.
Research Paper • Student • Behavioral Effects of Partisan URLs sharing on Social Media Users: How Partisan Coverage of Vaccines receives differential Networked Sharing and Interaction on Facebook • Shreenita Ghosh, University of Wisconsin -Madison; Porismita Borah • Vaccination is widely known as one of the most successful methods of preventing communicable infectious diseases (Andre, Booy, Bock, Clemens, Datta, John, Lee, Lolekha, Peltola, and Ruff, 2008). However, researchers have noticed a hesitation in many individuals to take the vaccine ranging from cautious adapters to outright deniers (Puri, Coomes, Haghbayan, and Gunaratne, 2020). Researchers argue that an individual’s information consumption (Dixon, 2021) and political affiliation (Krupenkin, 2020) may impact both how they perceive the vaccine and have a behavioral impact on whether they get vaccinated. Past research has concentrated self-reported behavioral impact of self-reported surveys (Krupenkin, 2021), social media data (Puri et. al. 2021; Jennings, Stoker, Willis, Valgardsson, Gaskell, Devine, McKay and Mills, 2021), or news media data (Dixon, 2021) on people’s Covid-19 related behavior. However, given the hybrid hyper-partisan media ecology which engulfs citizen, it is important to analyze the interaction between traditional media and social media coverage on Vaccines to understand its impact on public’s thoughts, affect and behavior. This study fills this gap in current literature by analyzing the articles by 23 publications (8 left-leaning, 7 right-leaning, and 8 centrist). A triangulation of topic modeling, Facebook link sharing analysis, and ANOVA analysis help the study conclude that partisan news URLs with differential topic prevalence have varied sharing patterns and emotive responses from the public.
Research Paper • Faculty • Pathways to Political Persuasion: Linking Online, Social Media, and Fake News with Political Attitude Change Through Political Discussion • Homero Gil de Zúñiga, University of Salamanca/Penn State University; Pablo González-González, University of Salamanca; Manuel Goyanes, Carlos III University • “There is a vast research tradition examining the antecedents that lead people to be politically persuaded. However, political opinion and attitude change in social media has received comparatively scarcer attention. This study seeks to shed light on this strand of the literature by theoretically advancing, and empirically testing a structural equation model linking online, social media, and fake news exposure, with political discussion, and political persuasion in social media. Drawing on autoregressive causal tests from a two-wave USA survey panel data collected in 2019 and 2020, results indicate that online, social media, fake news and political discussion are all positive predictors of individual political attitude change. Furthermore, structural equation tests reveal that online and social media news lead individuals to be exposed to fake news which, in turn, predict higher levels of political discussion, ultimately facilitating political persuasion in the social media realm. Limitations and further suggestions for future research are also included in the study.
Keywords: Fake News, Misinformation, Online News, Social Media News, Fake News, Political Discussion, Political Persuasion.”
Research Paper • Faculty • Effects of the News Finds Me Perception on Algorithmic News Attitudes and Social Media Political Homophily • Homero Gil de Zúñiga, University of Salamanca/Penn State University; Zicheng Cheng, Pennsylvania State University; Pablo González-González, University of Salamanca • Prior literature on political filter-bubbles suggests an overall positive association between social media use and political news diversification. Sometimes, this might not be the case. There is a burgeoning literature examining three important but distinct strands of scholarship: news finds me perception (NFM), people’s attitudes toward algorithmic news, and political homophilic discussion and information networks. For the first time in the literature, this study theoretically and empirically connects these independent but interrelated issues. We argue that NFM or the perception that ‘one’ can be well informed about public affairs without actively seeking information as news will find ‘me’ through ‘my’ networks, also tend to nurture a positive attitude towards news being presented by algorithmic decisions, rather than human editorial ones. We also contend that the NFM’s over-reliance on news generated from peers within one’s social network support the development of homogeneous political networks in social media (political homophily). Results based on a variety of OLS regression models (e.g., crossectional, lagged, and autoregressive) from a US representative panel survey, as we all as autoregressive structural equation model tests, indicate that this is indeed the case. This study serves to specifically clarify when and how social media and the NFM facilitate politically homogeneous filter-bubbles.
Research Paper • Student • Examining how digital platform diversity contributes to social media news engagement in China • Jing GUO, Chinese Univeristy of Hong Kong • This study examines how digital platform diversity contributes to social media news engagement in China with an on-line survey among mainland Chinese adult netizens regarding their reading of China-U.S. trade war news on-line. Moderated mediation analysis of the data shows that pro-attitudinal exposure and news elaboration are mediating the positive relationship between platform diversity and social media news engagement while inner political efficacy is playing a moderating role on the relationship between the two mediators.
Research Paper • • Wealth Mindset and Political Division • Mark Harmon • “The researcher investigates “attitude toward wealth” as a marker containing implicit assumptions that connect politicians with voters. The researcher notes conservative or right-wing individuals, much more than liberal or left-wing individuals, see poverty as a person’s moral failing and wealth as consequence of good choices and moral uprightness.
This research examines the universality of that difference by looking at corollary extrapolations on the source, value, and public policy toward wealth. These examinations are done through secondary analysis of five major public opinion surveys: U. S. General Social Survey, 1972-2018; American National Election Study 2016; World Values Survey wave six, 2010 to 2014; European Social Survey, round nine, 2018; and Latinobarómetro, 2018. The researcher also tests corollary extrapolations on four smaller domestic U.S. polls.
The connection between political philosophy (left v. right, liberal v. conservative) robustly correlated with the vast majority of 70 measures of wealth-related opinions across all nine surveys analyzed.
The researcher cautions these rather consistent correlations do not imply causation. Instead, political communication should consider wealth attitudes as a globally relevant marker of left-right differences, and an important message factor signaling to voters a shared worldview about the nature, source, value, and desirable public policy about wealth.”
Research Paper • Faculty • Due and undue impartiality. How context policed BBC reporting during the UK and US elections • Ceri Hughes, Cardiff University; Marina Morani, Cardiff University; Stephen Cushion, Cardiff University; Maria Kyriakidou, Cardiff University • Democracy presupposes an informed electorate, an electorate which largely must rely on media sources to relay the requisite information from the politicians on the ballot. In the UK media ecology, how such information is relayed is strictly mandated during elections and thus often typically operationalised with a “she-said-he-said” style of reporting. This research, with an examination of BBC reporting of the four leading politicians involved in the 2019 UK and 2020 US general elections, questions whether such a model remains apposite when two of the he-saids have a propensity for misinformation. This research further examines the contexts and ways BBC journalists interact with politician’s claims and the manner they employ correctives to instances of misinformation. An uneven employment of fact-checking style reporting is found and a continued employment of balance masquerading as impartiality.
Research Paper • Student • Conspiracy Mentality, Motivated Reasoning, Conspiracy Adoption: Effects of Ideology and Participation on Electoral Conspiracy Endorsement • Yanru Jiang, University of California, Los Angeles • From voting fraud to Russian interference, electoral conspiracy theories have circulated on social media since the 2016 presidential election with alarming magnitude. This study selects popular conspiracies reflecting various political ideologies and conducts multiple survey rounds (n=500) to compare and contrast the effect of partisan affiliations on conspiracy endorsement. Based on econometric modeling and the theories of conspiracy mentality, motivated reasoning, as well as the social aspects of conspiracy adoption, the results indicate that higher levels of political affiliation and knowledge correlate to stronger conspiracy endorsement for conservative conspiracy beliefs over liberal ones. Additionally, increased political participation heightens the endorsement of liberal conspiracy theories among both Republicans and Democrats.
Extended Abstract • Student • Effects of Hong Kong Local Identity on the Intention to Use Health Code during COVID-19 • Xin Jin, Department of Media and Communication, City University of Hong Kong; Zimeng An; Yanru Jiang, University of California, Los Angeles • Combining Kong Kong local identity scale and health belief model, this study proposed an integrative model and confirmed the indirect and negative effect of Hong Kong people’s local identity on their intention to use the health QR code during COVID-19 through the mediation of perceived benefit of using the health code
Research Paper • Student • Macedonian Name Dispute: Contentious Securitization and the Perceived Role of Media and Journalists in Greece • Minos-Athanasios Karyotakis, School of Communication HKBU • While research into securitization studies have focused extensively on all the essential elements of Securitization Theory (securitizer, emergency acts, securitized object, acceptance of the audience, and the successful securitization process) the connection amongst the securitization process and the role of the media and journalists are still under-researched. This paper situates itself in that gap. For examining this gap, interviews with 42 important political actors were conducted, such as anti-fascists, Greek parliamentarians, and their staff members. The interviews focused on researching the events associated with the Macedonian Name Dispute (MND), which overshadowed the Greek discourse from 2018 to 2019, leading to solving one of the oldest and the most potent territorial name disputes of the globe. This research paper shows that the process of securitization can be contentious, as there were at least two securitization processes in the MND. One that was promoted by the government and the other one by the dominant right-wing opposition party of New Democracy, which became the new government eventually after the national elections on the 7th of July 2019. In this contentious process, the side that controlled the media and the journalists resulted in successfully maintaining longer its securitization.
Research Paper • Student • Communicating the Macedonian Name Discourse on the Candidates’ Websites in Northern Greece‘s Regional and Municipal Elections of 2019 • Minos-Athanasios Karyotakis, School of Communication HKBU • Territorial name disputes are used as political tools at a national or international level to attract people’s interest and to shape the relevant discourse. These disputes can lead to the empowerment of specific actors in political competitions. There are differences though amongst these disputes. For instance, some do not have actual territorial claims, such as the Arabian/Persian Gulf or the Macedonian Name Dispute (MND). Besides, even if there are actual territorial claims, these disputes are represented and perceived as independent entities in the countries’ discourse, primarily when they become a tool in political competition. Nevertheless, they have not been studied in-depth through the lenses of the communication field. Thus, this research paper employed critical discourse analysis (CDA) to study the use of the MND on the websites of the eight most prominent candidates of the regional and municipal elections of 2019 in Thessaloniki and Central Macedonia, as MND is one of the oldest territorial name disputes in the world. Furthermore, it has been used in the political competition of Greece for almost 30 years, primarily through the last years (2018 & 2019) due to the ratification of the “Prespes Agreement” amongst Greece and the country now-named North Macedonia. This study revealed that politicians employ this communication tool for provoking powerful emotions linked with the Greek identity. After all, MND, like other territorial name disputes, seems to preserve a dominant discourse in which the emotional factor dictates the truth and goes against those who oppose this existed regime of truth.
Extended Abstract • Student • Extended Abstract: Reason and Emotion in Right-Wing Media Critique: A Qualitative Study of Affect and Trust in Twitter, Facebook and Gab • Gordon Katic, University of Toronto: Ontario Institute for Studies in Education; megan boler, University of Toronto • Alternative media – especially right-wing media – often critiques mainstream media (MSM) for not being trustworthy. Through a digital ethnography of right-wing Twitter influencers, we investigate what role emotions play in their media critique. We find strong emotions are frequently used, though influencers sometimes assume detached objectivity and lambasted their opponents for supposed emotionality. These findings suggest a paradox: emotions are a powerful tool in fomenting media distrust, but deriding emotionality is too.
Research Paper • Student • Do Twitter Comments Influence Credibility Perceptions of News Posts? Exploring MAIN Model • John Kelsey • Online comments continue to offer a means through which media users can gain information and learn from others as well as express opinions and participate in global conversations. Comments can lead to thoughtful deliberation and present new ways of thinking, but have also demonstrated themselves to be divisive and exacerbate polarization. Collectively, social media networks (SMNs) such as Twitter, Facebook, and Reddit hold almost 3.5 billion users and provide commenting, liking, and sharing as featured affordances through their platforms. Due to such large audiences likely being influenced and learning socially through online comments, an online, 2 X 2 experiment (N = 250) informed by the Modality-Agency-Interactivity-Navigability (MAIN) model tested how susceptible to the effects of user generated comments (positive vs. negative) and metric cues (likes and shares) readers are in their evaluations of credibility, issue importance and comment position. Findings indicate the valence of a comment to be highly predictive as to how credibility may be assessed and the likelihood that a comment position will be adopted; however, engagement cues vary in their influence and predictive ability. Study results also indicate the MAIN model’s bandwagon concept to be a robust tool in explaining information processing and the relationship between identity, collaborative filtering, and credibility.
Extended Abstract • Faculty • The Self-Censoring Majority • Devin Knighton, Brigham Young University; Christopher Wilson, Brigham Young University; Alycia Burnett • This study examines the spiral of silence theory in the context of social media and political communication. It finds that the majority of self-censoring to the hardcore minority on both ends of the political spectrum. This study is in progress; however, all data has been collected and most of the analysis is complete.
Research Paper • Faculty • Creative self-efficacy, political decision-making, and offline and online political participation: Findings from a cross-national survey • Matthew Kushin, Shepherd University; Francis Dalisay, University of Guam; Jinhee Kim, Pohang University of Science and Technology; Amy Forbes, James Cook University; Clarissa David, University of the Philippines, Diliman; Lilnabeth Somera, University of Guam • This study examined the role of creative self-efficacy in political engagement and civic outcomes. A cross-national survey of participants living in Australia, South Korea, the Philippines, and the U.S. (U.S., Hawaii and Guam) (N = 807) was conducted. Findings suggest that creative self-efficacy was positively associated with political efficacy and skepticism and negatively associated with apathy. Creative self-efficacy was indirectly associated with offline and online political participation through political efficacy and skepticism.
Extended Abstract • • The Antecedents and Consequences of Conspiracy Beliefs Around COVID-19 • Taeyoung Lee; Melissa Santillana; Ivan Lacasa-Mas, Universitat Internacional de Catalunya; Ivy Ashe • This study examines several factors that may contribute to COVID-19 related conspiracy beliefs, and the relation between conspiracy beliefs and attitudes toward protective health behaviors. Findings from a U.S. nationally representative, two-wave online panel survey (W1: N= 1,119; W2: N= 543) showed a negative relationship between conspiracy beliefs and mask-wearing attitudes, indicating harmful, real-world consequences hindering global preventive behaviors. We also found the reciprocal causal relationship between trust in scientific institutions and conspiracy beliefs.
Extended Abstract • Student • Users’ Engagement to Online Forum in Social Crisis • Danielle Ka Lai Lee, Washington State University; Tsz Wa Yip; Mina Park; Kyu-Min Lee • Civil resistance is facilitated by online discussions and citizens’ engagement is crucial to bring forth collective actions. Under the backdrop of Anti-ELAB movement in Hong Kong, we investigated online discourse that contributed to user’s engagement to forum discussions. With content analysis of 329 posts from a popular online forum, we found that posts that reflected collective intelligence contributed to users’ engagement, whereas posts that purely expressed emotions did not affect the engagement. Implications are discussed.
Research Paper • • Which Way Do I Go? Need for Orientation, Media Use, and Knowledge about COVID-19 • Taeyoung Lee; Tom Johnson; David H. Weaver, Indiana University • The present study explores the relationship between the need for orientation (NFO) and knowledge/misperception about COVID-19 using a two-wave national representative survey (W1: N= 1,119; W2: N= 543). The findings suggest that moderate-active NFO rather than high NFO better explains individuals’ level of knowledge and misperception. We also found that different media use (vertical media and horizontal media) and individuals’ epistemic beliefs (intuitionism and rationalism) have distinct implications for knowledge and misperception about COVID-19.
Research Paper • Faculty • Platform-dependent Effects of Incidental Exposure to Political News on Political Knowledge and Political Participation • Sangwon Lee, New Mexico State University; Andreas Nanz, University of Vienna; Raffael Heiss • Encountering news on social media is common even for individuals not actively looking for it – a phenomenon referred to as incidental exposure to political news (IE). A growing body of research has explored how IE on social media relates to political knowledge and participation. Yet, little research has considered that the effects of IE may differ across platforms. This study examined platform-dependent effects (across Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube) of IE on political knowledge and participation using panel data collected during the 2020 U.S. election. We found that IE might not be entirely beneficial. While IE on Facebook and Twitter does not affect knowledge or participation, findings suggest that IE on YouTube can dampen political learning. However, at the same time, IE on YouTube leads to more political participation, especially for those with higher level of need for orientation. This raises important questions of the consequences of uninformed political participation.
Research Paper • Student • How Fans Become Nationalists in China? Effects of Idol Adoration and Online Fan Community Engagement • Xining Liao, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Alex Zhi Xiong Koo, School of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Wisconsin-Madison • While some studies about Chinese fandom politics see Chinese fan groups as a potential force that may challenge the existing political orders, others scholars argue that the Chinese government has been co-opting fan groups and idols to transform fans into nationalists. By utilizing online national survey data collected in 2019 (n=510), this study seeks to test these competing claims. The findings suggest that among individuals who have participated in online fan community activities, stronger idol adoration is associated with stronger nationalistic sentiments, and eventually leads to more frequent online pro-government expression. Moreover, the degree that a fan participates in online fan community activities positively moderates the effect of idol adoration on nationalistic sentiments. While among individuals without online fan community engagement, the aforementioned indirect effect almost disappeared. The implications of these findings to our understanding of fandom nationalism in China are discussed.
Extended Abstract • Faculty • Examining the Effects of Social Media Fact-checking and Political Knowledge on False Beliefs • Juan Liu, Columbus State University; Bruce Getz, Columbus State University; Lydia Ray, Columbus State University; Florence Wakoko-Studstill, Columbus State University • This study examines the interplay between two mechanisms (e.g., fact-checking and political knowledge) on misinformation belief during the 2020 Presidential Election. Results show that political knowledge acts a moderator between the effect of exposure to false claims on perceived credibility and belief in misinformation. Participants, who possessed higher levels of political knowledge and were exposed to misinformation with a fact-checking label, perceived the message as less credible and less likely to believe in that claim.
Research Paper • • All’s (Un)fair in Trade and War: Linguistic Framing Effects in News about U.S.-China Tariffs • Jo Lukito • This study examines news framing of tariff policy during the U.S.-China trade war using two methods: a computational content analysis and a survey experiment. The results of the former show that outlets varied in their sentiment towards tariffs; however, the majority of articles about U.S.-China used war metaphors. Results of the experiment reveal how pro-tariff framing devices and war metaphors can subsequently affect people’s perceptions of China and language use.
Extended Abstract • Professional • Pre-Election Confirmation Bias vs. Informational Utility: Election Outcome Prediction Affects Selective Exposure • Kate Luong; Silvia Knobloch-Westerwick, The Ohio State University • Extant research theorized a reduced preference for ideologically consistent information for partisans who anticipated the opposite party to win an upcoming election, here termed election prediction. The current study explicitly measured election prediction immediately before the 2020 election and tracked selective exposure to consistent and discrepant information. Additionally, stimulus sampling was employed to increase the generalizability of the findings, which provided the first direct evidence for the influence of election prediction on pre-election confirmation bias.
Research Paper • Student • Citizen Videos vs. Legacy Media Visual Reports: The Coverage of the 2019 Iranian Oil Protests • Douglas Porpora, Drexel University; Afrooz M., Drexel University • In response to nationwide protests to a government hike in the price of petrol, the Iranian government shut down the internet for over a week during November 2019. The only information to make it out were some 500 citizen videos of the protests. This paper shows how those citizen eyewitness imageries were an important adjunct and corrective to what the Western legacy press otherwise reported.
Research Paper • Student • Social media engagement against fear of restrictions and surveillance: The mediating role of privacy management • Macau K. F. Mak, School of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Alex Zhi Xiong Koo, School of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Hernando Rojas, University of Wisconsin-Madison • As various countries implement restrictions on online speech and online surveillance programs, their impact on social media engagement was widely investigated in communication studies. However, these studies did not capture the moment when these restrictions and programs were just implemented and citizens experienced a high level of uncertainties. Addressing the implementation of national security law in Hong Kong, this study uses two-wave panel data to understand political engagement on Facebook shortly after the implementation of new legal restrictions. The analysis showed that pan-democratic and localist users (those who tend to oppose the government) were less likely to engage on Facebook, compared with pro-establishment users (those who support the government). Meanwhile, we also found a serial mediation path in which pan-democratic and localist users showed greater fear, which encouraged more active privacy management and subsequently a higher level of engagement. This mediation path is moderated by political disagreement encountered on Facebook.
Research Paper • Faculty • Strategic issue management and COVID-19: Analysis of Twitter from 50 governors • Michael McCluskey, U. of Tennessee, Chattanooga; Nagwan Zahry, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga • Governors used Twitter to communicate strategic issue management of COVID. Analysis of 51k tweets from 50 governors demonstrated politically polarized differences among followers, with Democrats favoring COVID themes and Republicans liking non-COVID themes. Pandemic fatigue explained less emphasis on COVID tweets over time. Evidence suggests stronger polarization among followers than among the governors’ messaging.
Research Paper • • In a Hurry, Bored, Angry at Professors: How Punitive Populism Infiltrates Media Education • Mike McDevitt • This study explores how professional enculturation channels anti-intellectualism into the formative attitudes of college students as they begin to identify with populist conceptions of the press. In this first study of how punitive populism infiltrates media education, data are drawn from questionnaires distributed to undergraduates at five US colleges. A concluding section contemplates implications for cross-national research on media education and for illuminating the hidden curriculum that gives traction to punitive populism.
Extended Abstract • Faculty • Fox News, political comedy, and (motivated?) reasoning in beliefs about global warming: Evidence from a large-scale panel survey • Patrick Meirick, University of Oklahoma • A panel survey (N = 6,862) examined the roles of media use, party, political knowledge, and their interactions in the dynamics of belief in global warming. After controlling for prior belief and a host of covariates, 2012 Fox News viewing was negatively related and 2012 political comedy viewing and other news viewing were positively related to belief in global warming in 2016. All three findings were moderated by three-way interactions with party and political knowledge.
Extended Abstract • Student • Differential Outcomes of Political Meme Exposure and Engagement: A Path Towards Political Trust and Participation • Milos Moskovljevic, City University of Hong Kong; Muhammad Masood, City University of Hong Kong • The aim of this research is to illuminate both expressive and reception effects of political memes. Most scholars nowadays link online political memes with the qualities of participatory civil culture since they are often seen as a form of political and social critique. The survey data collected from Hong Kong in February 2021 (N = 933) proves that political meme engagement and exposure is correlated to political participation.
Research Paper • Student Member • Gender and Presidential Candidates’ Self-presentation on YouTube Videos • Dinfin Mulupi, University of Maryland, College Park; Linda Steiner, University of Maryland • This study interrogates gender differences in the self-presentation strategies of entrants in the 2020 U.S. Democratic Party presidential primaries via campaign advertising-style videos posted on their official YouTube accounts. A qualitative analysis of videos of 18 candidates indicates men and women employed similar props, tropes, and rhetoric, and self-presented as friendly. However, women emphasized their motherhood status more. Women candidates also used clothing to establish professionalism while men did not.
Research Paper • Student • Seeing Political Information Online Incidentally. Effects of First- and Second-Level Incidental Exposure on Democratic Outcomes • Andreas Nanz, University of Vienna; Joerg Matthes, University of Vienna • We distinguish two levels of incidental exposure (IE) to political information, first-level (mere scanning) and second-level (effortful processing). In three panel surveys (N1 = 450, N2 = 524, N3 = 901), we investigate the effects of the two levels of IE on multiple political outcomes. We find null effects on political knowledge for both levels. However, second-level IE affects online political participation, social media use for political information, and political expression positively. Implications are discussed.
Research Paper • Student • Vice-presidential candidates, language frames and functions across two continental divides: An analysis of acceptance speeches • Nana Kwame Osei Fordjour, University of New Mexico; Godwin Etse Sikanku, Ghana Institute of Journalism • Given calls for the more inclusion of women in the political space and political studies, we analyze the nomination acceptance speeches of two female vice-presidential candidates, from countries with different socio-economic backgrounds. Our analysis builds on two institutionalized theories for studying political discourse. The authors uncover in both speeches, four similar and salient feminine language frames synonymous to women in the political space. We advance the argument that the similarities in the language frames employed by both candidates can be attributed to the biological orientation of women as well as the connection between the role of a vice-presidential candidate and the traditional role of a spouse. Our findings also highlight a slight difference in the salience of functions of political campaign discourse between both politicians. Our findings provide insights into the implications of the language frames employed by both politicians and reinforces the possibilities of comparative studies across continental divides.
Research Paper • Student • The Politics of Resistance: An Ethnographic Examination of Political Alienation and Radical Disengagement of the Rural Underclass • Danny Parker, University of Wisconsin-Madison • This study is an examination of the political identity of the rural White American underclass. Topics investigated were political beliefs, information consumption and sharing, and the influences of deprivation and institutional trust on political identity formation. To accomplish this, this study conducted observations daily for a month of a small rural underclass community and conducted five extensive interviews with low-income, rural White people to understand how their lived experiences have shaped their perceptions of democracy.
Research Paper • Faculty • Perceptions of Media Bias in Reporting on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: On The Influence of Antisemitic Attitudes in Seven Non-Partisan Countries • Philip Baugut, U of Munich; Sebastian Scherr, Texas A&M University • News about the Israeli–Palestinian conflict is of global relevance, and it has been the focus of communication studies aiming to expand our understanding of hostile media perceptions. Drawing on the different faces of antisemitism, this study explains hostile media perceptions among a sample of N = 7,001 individuals from seven non-partisan nations (Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Poland, and the USA). The findings indicate that both traditional Judeophobic attitudes and anti-Israelism, a contemporary expression of antisemitism, lead news audiences to perceive media hostility towards Palestine, particularly when the issue has greater subjective importance. However, in line with motivated reasoning, we also observed that anti-Israelism was associated with perceived media hostility towards Israel. These findings demonstrate that individuals may simultaneously perceive hostile media bias towards two parties in a conflict. Arguably, if observers of a conflict are hostile towards one party in the conflict, they will side with the party’s enemy and may be motivated to perceive their hostile attitudes as consistent with mainstream media coverage.
Research Paper • Student • Asking the Enemy of My Enemy for Help: Transnational Grassroots Outreach on Twitter in #HongKongProtests • Cheryl Shea, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Yanru Jiang, University of California, Los Angeles; Wendy L.Y. Leung, The Chinese University of Hong Kong • This study extends the organizational-centred transnational advocacy network by presenting how grassroots users strategically utilize social media platforms for achieving their diplomatic and individual-centered engagement with foreign actors. The network analysis and natural language processing of Twitter outreach on Hong Kong protests (N = 88,800) identify the key opinion leaders and the grassroots narratives under three core themes: geopolitics, moral values and humanitarian concern. The low threshold of Twitter participation provides extra direct channels for grassroots users to engage with foreign politicians and get their narratives heard. The grassroots found to tailor more emotion-charged discussions to trigger sympathy, rather than appealing by traditional moral values. The digital grassroots advocacy network also found to have more actors such as corporates and celebrities being involved, given the ability to instantly respond to political incidents and controversies.
Research Paper • Student • The Politics of Behaving Badly: How Ingroup-Outgroup Conditions Affect Individuals’ Perceived Credibility and Partisan Ambivalence • Jian Shi, Syracuse University; Adriana Mucedola, Syracuse University; Tong Lin; Kandice Green • This study inquired how political ingroup biases affect judgments of politicians when they address sexual misconduct allegations. 198 participants viewed a news article about an accused politician in a 2 by 2 between-subjects posttest only factorial design. Results indicated a positive relationship between ingroup perceptions and politician credibility, and a positive relationship between ingroup perceptions and perceived ambivalence. Ingroup-outgroup conditions also moderated the relationship between perceived credibility and perceived ambivalence. Implications are discussed below.
Research Paper • Student • Perceiving Affective Polarization: How Media-Induced Meta-Perceptions Drive Affective Polarization • Christian Staal Bruun Overgaard, The University of Texas at Austin • Two studies establish perceived affective polarization, or perceptions about affective polarization, as a theoretically important concept. A nationally representative survey (n = 1,010) reveals that Americans think their political opponents dislike them more than is the case. I theorize a conceptual framework, positing that news and social media content drives perceived affective polarization, which then fuels affective polarization. An experiment (n = 549) provides preliminary evidence of this causal pathway. Theoretical implications are discussed.
Research Paper • Student • Living is Easy with Eyes Closed: Avoidance of Targeted Political Advertising in Response to Privacy Concerns, Perceived Personalization and Overload • Marlis Stubenvoll; Alice Binder; Selina Noetzel; Melanie Hirsch; Joerg Matthes, University of Vienna • The following study investigated the effects of privacy concerns, perceived personalization and overload on three different avoidance behaviors in response to targeted political advertising. Findings of a two-wave panel study (N = 428) in the context of the [EUROPEAN CITY] election showed that privacy concerns increased attention withdrawal and privacy protective behaviors. In contrast, perceived personalization decreased avoidance through attention withdrawal and blocking. Attention withdrawal behaviors further inhibited privacy protective behaviors over time.
Research Paper • Student • The conditional indirect effects of traditional and social media news use on political participation in Hong Kong: Examining the communication mediation model • Yan Su • In Hong Kong, multiple political activities have attracted the world’s attention recently. However, the extant evidence about the conditionalities under which traditional and social media news use could affect political participation in Hong Kong remains sporadic rather than conclusive; mixed results have abounded. Against this backdrop, the current study is anchored by the communication mediation model and analyzed the 7th wave of the World Value Survey (WVS) data. Findings suggested that both traditional and social media news use were positively associated with political participation in Hong Kong. Moreover, political discussion was a significant mediator between traditional media news use and political participation. Additionally, post-materialistic value was found to be a significant moderator upon which the indirect effect of traditional media news use on political participation was contingent. Findings provided insights into nuanced media effects as well as understanding of social movements in Hong Kong.
Research Paper • Faculty • Speak Up or Quiet Down? The Spiral of Silence, Opinion Leadership, Social Capital, and Presidential Candidate Support on Social Media • Alec Tefertiller, Baylor University; Jacob Groshek, Kansas State University; Raluca Cozma, Kansas State University • Recent polling results suggest voters might be hesitant to express their voting intentions in presidential elections, despite the vibrant social media activity of candidate supporters. Using a national, representative survey, this study sought to determine if the spiral of silence influenced social media sharing, or if other factors encouraged the sharing of political endorsements. Based on the study findings, the best predictors of social media sharing intentions were opinion leadership and bridging social capital.
Research Paper • Student • Anti-Muslimism in a Partisan Hybrid Media Environment: Examining the Relationships Between Media Exposure, Biased Views, Social Trust, and Acceptance of Muslims • Yu Tian, Syracuse University; Lars Willnat, Syracuse University • This study examines how media exposure might influence Americans’ acceptance of Muslims in a partisan hybrid media environment. Results indicate that Republicans exhibit significantly lower acceptance of Muslims compared to Democrats and Independents. Conservative news reduced acceptance by soaring biased views toward Muslims whereas liberal news increased acceptance by cultivating more social trust. Furthermore, frequent social media use fostered acceptance of Muslims via the mediation of social trust. Thus, social trust functioned as an important mediator between media exposure and higher acceptance of U.S. Muslims.
Extended Abstract • Student • Victimhood, Morality, and Identity Politics in Social Media: Understanding Affective Polarization during the US Election • Amanda Trigiani; megan boler, University of Toronto • As people use social media to discuss the US Election and Jan 6 2021 Capitol riot, often in conjunction with the BLM protests from Summer 2020, polarized narratives surface as people try to make meaning of the circulating views and position themselves within those discourses. This cross-platform digital ethnography of social media from Twitter, Facebook, and Gab, and qualitative discourse analysis of 1800 social media posts from the political left and right related to Black Lives Matter and the Capitol riots. We engage the concept of ressentiment to deepen our understanding of affective polarization on social media and how the binary oppositions of “us/them” within social media debates reinscribe collective identities rooted in “victimization”, virtues, and perceptions of “others” as perceived threats. The different stories told by in-groups and out-groups shed light on the affects surrounding moral judgment, influenced by race relations, which distinctively shape affective polarization.
Research Paper • Student • Tracking Moral Divergence with DDR in Presidential Debates Over 60 Years • Mengyao Xu, Missouri School of Journalism; Lingshu Hu • This study discovered the formation of one crucial challenge that US presidential debate is facing – lack of real clash and issue discussion – from an institutional perspective, manifesting how the transformative process in politics caused by mediatization contribute to this challenge drawing upon Moral Foundation Theory as a prism, and therefore shedding lights to the development of more pointed and fruitful political conversations that may better serve our democracy.
Research Paper • Faculty • An Examination of Social Media Use and Campaign Participation from Cross-Cutting Communication and Social Identity Perspectives • Masahiro Yamamoto, University at Albany; Jay Hmielowski, University of Florida • This study, drawing from the literatures on cross-cutting communication and social identity theory, tests the interactive effects of political use of social media, partisan-ideological sorting, and social media network heterogeneity on campaign participation. Data from a two-wave web survey show significant three-way interaction effects. The relationships news consumption and opinion expression on social media have with campaign participation are contingent on levels of sorting and network heterogeneity, such that the relationships are positive for those whose have an aligned political identity and heterogeneous social media networks.
Research Paper • Faculty • Risk Governance during The COVID 19 Pandemic: A Quantitative Content Analysis of Governors’ Narratives on Twitter • Michael McCluskey, U. of Tennessee, Chattanooga • We content analyzed 7000 governors’ tweets using the CDC’s Crisis Emergency Risk Communication model. We found that the most salient communication objectives included addressing rumors and misunderstanding, followed by describing response efforts. Acknowledging crisis with empathy and segmenting audience were the least communication objectives. Our results suggested that the salience of communication objectives vary by political partisanship and crisis phases. New emergent sub-categories included attention to mental health, call for social influencers, and hope for the future.
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