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Ample work in political communication showed that high-level politicians get more media attention than their lower ranking colleagues. With power comes media attention. More than hard work, charisma, or experience, it is the political function performed by politicians that is the crucial factor in explaining how much media attention they receive. But what about the opposite relationship: does media attention also generate power? In this paper, we examine the media path leading to power. Basically, two important career steps of politicians are assessed: becoming a party leader and becoming a minister; we test whether, compared to those who did not make a top career, the politicians who came to take these steps were more prominent in the media before they moved up and became elite politicians. We draw on the case of Belgium here and leverage on a longitudinal automated media content analysis (2000–2020) combined with a data set of 532 national/regional politicians and their careers. The study finds that media occurrences matters for being promoted to a top function in Belgium, more so for becoming a minister than for becoming a party leader. Furthermore, rejecting our initial idea based on political mediatization theories, the influence of media occurrence does not seem to increase through time for both functions.

Perception is a complex construct that is influenced by a number of factors, including the mass media, which can produce a distorted view of reality. This is of significance to adventure tourism businesses because a person's perceptions of adventure, risk, and safety are what determine whether they will participate. Research was undertaken to examine how the mass media's coverage of adventure tourism accidents influences youth perceptions of risk. It was found that the news media increases the perceived risk associated with an activity, but instead of discouraging youth participation it actually encourages future participation intentions.

The article analyzes the main directions and forms of external open communications of the Soviet secret services at the second stage of their reorganization in the Gorbachev Era. It shows the general tendencies of the state security bodies’ implementation of the principle of openness. It highlights the peculiarities of “publicity and democratization” expansion in the operational and service activities of the USSR KGB in the Perestroika period. It is substantiated that in the second half of the 1980s in the USSR there was a transformation of the “repressive-communicative” system with a gradual transition from monologic communication to dialogic communication. At the same time, it is shown that the publicity of the Soviet secret services in this transitional period was influenced by both the specifics of their work and the prevailing propaganda model of communication in the USSR. It is emphasized that at that time the public contacts of the state security bodies with the population had a pronounced propaganda character.It is proven that the KGB of the Ukrainian SSR considered open communications as an important tool for influencing and manipulating public opinion. At the same time, they were provided through public (work with the media, creative unions, public organizations, meetings with employees of enterprises, institutions, organizations, etc.) and personal channels (consideration of applications and reception of citizens).Among the main areas of the communicative interaction of the Soviet secret services in Ukraine, the article deals with the following: public discrediting of national liberation movement members; popularization of state security bodies through mass media and creative unions, in particular the role of press groups in information and propaganda support of state security bodies; participation in rehabilitation processes; work with citizens’ appeals.The leading forms of such activities were as follow: meetings with labor collectives, roundtable discussions, thematic evenings, public meetings, organization of excursions to departmental rooms-museums; participation of representatives of state security bodies in public events; publications in the press, release of TV and radio programs, feature and documentary films dedicated to the Soviet secret services, organization of press conferences; conducting a personal reception of citizens, and correspondence based on the results of consideration of appeals., У статті проаналізовано основні напрями та форми зовнішніх відкритих комунікацій радянських спецслужб на другому етапі перебудови їхньої діяльності у горбачовський період. Продемонстровано загальні тенденції реалізації органами державної безпеки принципу відкритості та висвітлено ключові управлінські рішення щодо розширення «гласності та демократизації» в оперативно-службовій діяльності КДБ УРСР у роки перебудови. Обґрунтовано, що у другій половині 1980-х років у СРСР відбулася трансформація «репресивно-комунікативної» системи з поступовим переходом від моно- логічної комунікації до діалогічного спілкування. Водночас показано, що на публічність радянських спецслужб у цей перехідний період впливала як специфіка їхньої роботи, так і панівна в СРСР пропагандистська модель комунікації. Акцентовано, що у цей час гласні контакти органів держбезпеки з населенням мали яскраво виражений інформаційно-пропагандистський характер.Тож серед складових комунікативної взаємодії радянських спецслужб із громадськістю йдеться про: публічну дискредитацію учасників національно-визвольного руху; популяризацію органів держбезпеки через ЗМІ та творчі союзи; участь КДБ УРСР у реабілітаційних процесах; роботу зі зверненнями громадян.

In the world of virtual reality, it becomes quite difficult for the recipient of information to understand how much the image he uses, created in media reality, corresponds to the phenomenon of social reality, of which it is a reflection. The construction of media reality in the media is of particular interest for research in the field of sociology, cultural studies, psychology, linguistics, advertising, PR. The study of the genesis of media reality in the paradigm of mass media is the basis for identifying the main trends in the development of communication science. Of interest is the interdependence of the agenda and the means of influencing consumers of information used in the media. The relevance of the work is associated with the understanding that the construction of media reality turns into a media process. The allocation of priority information in the media stream becomes problematic: the consciousness of the recipient is significantly overloaded the individual does not have time to analyze the information received, but only gives him a superficial emotional assessment. The article analyses mass media materials that reflect the agenda and affect the construction of media reality. The practical significance of the study of the potential of mass media in the construction of media reality is to identify priority topics for the agenda of publications that affect the consumer of information content.

Candidates for high office in the United States play an important role in determining the political agenda and shaping public and mass media understanding of which issues should receive attention. Critics contend politicians rarely address mental health, despite the importance of the federal government in ensuring Americans access to quality care. Two studies sought to understand how candidates for the presidency communicated about mental health using formal (mental, depress, anxiety) and informal (crazy, insane) terminology in social media posts and debates. Two coders examined 1,807 tweets from 41 politicians who competed in the 2016 and 2020 races, plus transcripts from 47 debates during the primaries and General Elections. Politicians often stigmatized mental illness, using mental health-related slang to insult opponents. They afforded less attention to policy and calls for action. The authors offer recommendations for mental health professionals and advocates to encourage politicians to address mental health policy while avoiding stigmatizing language.

Introducción: las redes sociales se presentan como un escenario sobrecargado de información, tutoriales, recomendaciones, bromas, publicidad, noticias falsas, que no siempre alcanzan los estándares de calidad deseables en un espacio mediático. Aprender a manejarse en este entorno es imprescindible para mantener una ciudadanía crítica e informada, particularmente entre los más jóvenes. El presente trabajo indaga sobre la opinión en torno a los contenidos que circulan en las redes sociales y la credibilidad y confianza generada. Metodología: se lleva a cabo un estudio correlacional con una muestra de 935 participantes que fueron seleccionados mediante bola de nieve entre 18 y 25 años utilizando un cuestionario auto-cumplimentado. Realizando un análisis factorial exploratorio se identifican cuatro factores que valoran las redes sociales. Resultados y Discusión: los jóvenes más identificados con la visión polémica y carente de objetividad de las redes sociales muestran mayor nivel de confianza en las fuentes de información en internet y menos en las noticias que aparecen en el perfil. Compartir la visión de las redes como canal alternativo para seguir la actualidad se asocia con dar mayor confianza a los contenidos noticiosos de las redes sociales, a las recomendaciones de usuarios e influencers de las redes. Conclusiones: Los jóvenes tienen una visión de las implicaciones de las redes sociales que refleja varias de las problemáticas que han surgido en este espacio de interacción. La recomendación que se desprende del trabajo incide en mantener el acceso de forma crítica a los contenidos.

Understanding early COVID-19 messaging is essential for improving future public health responses to pandemics. This study applied aspects of both media dependency theory and a source credibility fr...

It is important to evaluate the media's health coverage of Indigenous communities both because these communities have been hit very hard by health inequities, and because misinformation can negatively affect the future health of Indian Country. This study takes the unique angle of examining both Indigenous and non-Indigenous ("mainstream") news publications to evaluate information gaps in health, health policy, and health efficacy coverage. The Indigenous media examined, which covered 14 times more health stories than mainstream media, highlighted health issues in Indian Country through the lens of resilience by using framing to emphasize unequal power, while at the same time providing depth and specificity. Instead of putting Indigenous health stories into historical and cultural context, mainstream media focused on the lack of resources and the chronic struggle of Indigenous communities. Mainstream media often only covered the topic once per outlet; however, those outlets with connections to Indigenous communities did provide more balanced coverage. Instead of promoting change, most mainstream media stories blamed Indigenous people for their situation and offered a doom trajectory for tribes hit hardest by health disparities. This study reveals how embedded framing and mediatization direct non-Native readers' attention away from the systemic deprivation of support to U.S. Indigenous tribes that was guaranteed to them by the U.S. government in tribal agreements. The implications for journalism and policy are discussed.

The knowledge gap hypothesis predicts that information inequity will be amplified rather than attenuated by the media. Previous research has focused on the role of mass media exposure and has not examined the roles of social media and social networks in mitigating the gap. This study investigated the potential moderating roles of social media engagement, social networks, and the interaction between engagement and online and offline networks. Hypotheses were tested with data from a national sample survey ( N = 991) concerning political and health knowledge. More social media engagement predicted a smaller knowledge gap in the political domain but not the health domain. More diverse and denser social media networks predicted a smaller political, but not health, knowledge gap. Social media engagement interacted with mixed-media relationships to predict the political knowledge gap. More engagement with mixed-media relationships was associated with a smaller political knowledge gap.

The coronavirus pandemic created a situation in which virological and epidemiological science became highly politically relevant but was uncertain and fragmented. This raises the question as to how science could inform policymaking and public debate on societal crisis management. Based on an online survey of Germans ( N = 1513) representative for age, gender, education, and place of residence, we investigate citizens’ prescriptive views of the relationships between science, policymaking, and the media. Views differ depending on their informational needs and epistemic beliefs. People with a need for definite information and a view of scientific knowledge as static wanted scientists to dominate policymaking and journalists to deliver definite information about the coronavirus. People with an informational need to construct their own opinions wanted journalists to question policy and scientific advice. Furthermore, they rejected the idea of scientists dominating policymaking. Results are discussed with reference to theories of science and democracy.

Individuals must navigate complex media environments filled with frequently changing and varyingly credible information to acquire and apply health information during times of uncertainty and danger. A process model tested in two U.S. national surveys in spring (N = 1220) and summer (N = 1264) of 2020 tested how three media literacy constructs (about sources, content, and science information) predicted the adoption of behaviors protective for COVID-19. Results showed that the three media literacy constructs were mediated by knowledge of COVID-19 (wave 1 TE = 0.190; wave 2 TE = 0.190) and expectancies (wave 1 TE = 0.496; wave 2 TE = 0.613). The model was confirmed as largely consistent across the two waves of data collection with independent samples. Results show the importance of expectancies for mediating the effects of media literacy, efficacy, and knowledge on behavior. The study suggests that media literacy and science media literacy skills aid health behavior adoption by contributing to knowledge gain and expectancies.

This study investigates how the media-portrayal of Palestinian-Israelis in the context of violence and crime, hinders Palestinian-Israelis’ abilities to realize their capabilities. Capabilities ref...

The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered a health emergency as a vaccine for it has not been found yet requiring the government to seriously manage it Therefore, the government needs to effectively implement non-pharmaceutical measures One of the measures to suppress the spread of the virus is public communication The government's public communication in dealing with COVID-19 has faced problems resulted in low public discipline and awareness thus far This study used a quantitative approach with descriptive statistics analysis The analysis does not generalize the result but it can explain the characteristics of the sample to formulate the meaning of the result The findings show that the public communication management of the government of Indonesia has not been effective because the dissemination of public information is diverse and inconsistent This is because the government gives freedom to various media to provide information to the public, which creates a gap in the management of COVID-19 in Indonesia and results in low public discipline and awareness (mean value 2,97) Therefore, it is difficult for the government to deal with and manage health emergencies caused by the COVID-19 pandemic Research has shown that the government must provide the public with consistent and valid information (mean value 3,51), monitor and supervise mass and electronic media, and use social media and online media to provide valid information from the government and disseminate positive and educative information to the public (mean value 4,06) © Achmad Herman, 2021

The mass media is increasingly promoting public participation. Taking as a starting point the participatory transparency concept enunciated by Karlsson (2010), our research studies the audience’s active role in holding Spanish media to account through a range of online tools. We study the role of the audience by analyzing the perceptions of two main actors: journalists and citizens. A two-fold methodology was adopted: a questionnaire survey of 228 active journalists in Spain and six focus group panels with media users. The main results show that the journalists are not optimistic about the effectiveness of accountability instruments used by the audience. The users value positively being able to participate in the journalistic process, although they believe that journalists should ultimately perform the role of fact-checkers of user-generated content.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has created substantial challenges for public health officials who must communicate pandemic-related risks and recommendations to the public. Their efforts have been further hampered by the politicization of the pandemic, including media outlets that question the seriousness and necessity of protective actions. The availability of highly politicized news from online platforms has led to concerns about the notion of "echo chambers," whereby users are exposed only to information that conforms to and reinforces their existing beliefs. Using a sample of 5,000 US residents, we explored their information-seeking tendencies, reliance on conservative and liberal online media, risk perceptions, and mitigation behaviors. The results of our study suggest that risk perceptions may vary across preferences for conservative or liberal bias; however, our results do not support differences in the mitigation behavior across patterns of media use. Further, our findings do not support the notion of echo chambers, but rather suggest that people with lower information-seeking behavior may be more strongly influenced by politicized COVID-19 news. Risk estimates converge at higher levels of information seeking, suggesting that high information seekers consume news from sources across the political spectrum. These results are discussed in terms of their theoretical implications for the study of online echo chambers and their practical implications for public health officials and emergency managers.

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in an avalanche of information, much of it false or misleading. Social media posts with misleading or dangerous opinions and analyses are often amplified by celebrities and social media influencers; these posts have contributed substantially to this avalanche of information. An emerging force in this information infodemic is public physicians, doctors who view a public presence as a large segment of their mission. These physicians bring authority and real-world experience to the COVID-19 discussion. To investigate the role of public physicians, we interviewed a convenience cohort of physicians who have played a role in the infodemic. We asked the physicians about how their roles have changed, how their audience has changed, what role politics plays, and how they address misinformation. The physicians noted increased audience size with an increased focus on the pandemic. Most avoided confronting politics, but others found it unavoidable or that even if they tried to avoide it, it would be brought up by their audience. The physicians felt that confronting and correcting misinformation was a core part of their mission. Public physicians on social media are a new occurrence and are an important part of fighting online misinformation.

Koronaepidemian aikana viestinnässä on koettu monia onnistumisia, mutta myös sudenkuoppia on tarjolla. Kestävyyskuntoa tarvitaan myös viestinnässä epidemian pitkittyessä.

Background Public relations—a marketing communications method involving the use of publicity and other unpaid promotional methods to deliver messages—historically has served as the communicative workhorse of the health services industry, representing the predominant pathway over many decades by which health and medical facilities conveyed stories to the public. While other components of the marketing communications mix, perhaps most notably that of advertising, have now captured a significant portion of interest, attention, and use by healthcare establishments, public relations remains a valuable communicative avenue when deployed properly. Discussion As an unpaid method of promotion, public relations is uniquely positioned among its counterparts in the marketing communications mix which require direct expenditures to reach audiences. Typically effected by preparing and submitting press releases to news media firms in hopes that they, in turn, will present given stories to their audiences, limitations are somewhat obvious as transmission control rests with external entities. But overcoming limitations is possible with prudent strategies. This article presents Willis-Knighton Health System’s associated strategies, along with a range of public relations insights from decades of deployment experience. Conclusions Prudently deployed and led by guiding strategies, public relations offers health and medical organizations opportunities to engage audiences in an efficient and highly credible manner. Courtesy of its unique properties, public relations capably can complement other marketing communications, operating synergistically to help healthcare institutions achieve their conveyance goals, fostering exchange and bolstering market share. Careful operationalization of this marketing communications avenue can help healthcare establishments realize their full communicative potential.

The coronavirus public health crisis is also a political-communication and health-communication crisis. In this article, the authors describe the key communication-related phenomena and evidence of concerning effects manifested in the United States during the initial response to the pandemic. The authors outline the conditions of communication about coronavirus that contribute to deleterious outcomes, including partisan cueing, conflicting science, downplayed threats, emotional arousal, fragmented media, and Trump's messaging. The authors suggest these have contributed to divergent responses by media sources, partisan leaders, and the public alike, leading to different attitudes and beliefs as well as varying protective actions taken by members of the public to reduce their risk. In turn, these divergent communication phenomena will likely amplify geographic variation in and inequities with COVID-19 disease outcomes. The authors conclude with some suggestions for future research, particularly surrounding communication about health inequity and strategies for reducing partisan divergence in views of public health issues in the future.

In the first month of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, Sweden took the same strategy as most other countries, working to “flatten the curve,” by slowing transmission so that the healthcare system could cope with the disease. However, unlike most other countries, much of Sweden’s implementation focused on voluntary and stepwise action, rather than legislation and compulsory measures, leading to considerable attention in the international media.Six main narratives emerged in the international media reporting on Sweden during the first month of the COVID-19 pandemic: (1) Life is normal in Sweden, (2) Sweden has a herd immunity strategy, (3) Sweden is not following expert advice, (4) Sweden is not following WHO recommendations (5) the Swedish approach is failing and (6) Swedes trust the government. While these narratives are partially grounded in reality, in some media outlets, the language and examples used to frame the story distorted the accuracy of the reporting.This debate examines the ways in which international media both constructs and represents a pandemic, and the implications for how researchers engage with news and social media. Cross-country comparison and the sharing of best practice are reliant on accurate information. The Swedish example underlines the importance of fact checking and source critique and the need for precision when presenting data and statistics. It also highlights limitations of using culture as an explanation for behavior, and the pitfalls of evaluating policy during a pandemic.

To communicate is to transmit an idea so that it is satisfactorily understood and typically used to guide action.1 The use of the mass media in the communication of issues in science, technology, a...

Mass media are frequently cited as having the potential to inform the public, raising knowledge levels and reducing political knowledge gaps between citizens. But media are also seen as a force for segmentation, disengagement, and widening differences between citizens. If media have no effect on political knowledge, gaps between the engaged and disengaged persist regardless of who is exposed to news because no one learns. But gaps can also persist even if everyone learns from the news, particularly if learning effects are heterogeneous across those inclined and disinclined to seek out news and/or across environments that consist of different media alternatives. Yet past research on political communication has not sufficiently linked media choice to debates about possibly heterogeneous effects of media exposure on political knowledge levels. The present study contributes a novel and large-scale choice-based experiment on knowledge of the ongoing crisis in Syria that finds media effects are relatively homogeneous across those with different media preferences and across different media environments. This suggests that under most conditions–even when everyone learns from the news–knowledge gaps between the politically engaged and disengaged are widened or at least sustained after incidental exposure to politics. While closing such gaps may be impossible, the results have important implications for understanding how citizens learn about politics and how to study learning from self-selected media experiences.

There are few empirical studies on the cultural consequences of social movements. This article contributes to alleviating this problem, examining the cultural outcomes produced by the action of the Platform for People Affected by Mortgages (PAH), one of the most important social movement organizations to appear in Spain in the 2010s. Concretely, through qualitative methods, we analyse the content and form of the PAH’s discourse and the communicative practices developed to disseminate it to the population. Following, we examine this diffusion using quantitative methods. The article shows that PAH activists produced a discourse with a form and content that sought to achievealignmentwith the common sense of the majority of the population, that their communicative practices took advantage of the opportunities offered by social and mass media, and, lastly, that the PAH’s diagnosis and proposalsresonatedamong a majority of the population.

Adherence to public health recommendations is critical for public safety and well-being. Effective and appropriate communication plays an important role in whether populations trust government and public health authorities, and the extent to which people follow public health recommendations. Poor trust in communication from public health authorities can pose significant challenges for mitigating public health emergencies and maintaining health security. This study aimed to explore the importance of trust in and understanding of communication from public health authorities in improving adherence to public health recommendations, and how that communication can be improved to develop and maintain public trust, particularly in the context of public health emergencies. To understand which factors are important for public trust in communication from public health authorities, we conducted in-depth interviews (n = 25) with a racially and demographically diverse group of individuals living in Baltimore. We found that communication source and communication transparency, such as timeliness, completeness, and clarity of information, were critical constructs of trust in communication from public health authorities. We also found that many participants misunderstood the flow of information from public health authorities to news media, and many were unaware that public health authorities provide the most reliable source of health information and recommendations during a public health emergency. To ensure adherence to public health recommendations, the public needs to trust that public health authorities are providing accurate, practical, and prudent recommendations. Drawing on these results, we provide several recommendations for developing and optimizing communication from various public health authorities.

This study provides valuable data comprising analysis of existing practices in the sampled media departments of the leading private and public sector universities of Karachi in the context of Wheeler’s conceptual model. The research looked into the aims and objectives, the curriculum, the faculty, and industry linkages of the media programs under study. For this purpose, four universities of Karachi where media programs were being offered were taken for the study. The data were collected through the analyses of the available documents open to the public and interviews of relevant heads of departments besides review of the relevant literature. The data were triangulated and themes were extracted that pointed toward the many areas in media education in Pakistan which require improvements.

This study is a process evaluation of an adolescent-focused intervention of the USAID Communication for Healthy Communities program, in Uganda. We used mixed methods including observation, consultations and review of program documents to collect data on program coverage, reach and factors influencing implementation. Findings show that program activities were successfully implemented through collaborative partnerships with service partners and the community. Interpersonal communication complemented by mass-media messaging was effective in reaching and empowering adolescents with health information to make informed choices for behavior change. The program used theoretical frameworks to guide targeted interventions through audience segmentation and community empowerment. Targeted mass-media messaging and placement was found to be pertinent for program reach. Working through existing community structures is important for an effective reach of health promotion programs. Lessons identified for scaling-up adolescent health programs include the need to harmonize training and deployment of community champions by development partners, recruit audience-specific influential champions and link income-generating activities to health education interventions. There is thus need to collaboratively develop and institutionalize effective monitoring and evaluation strategies during program inception and design phases for appropriate accountability, ownership and a continuation of gains.

In the era of speed and technology, mass media has an important role in keeping people informed about events happening all around the world, but also in shaping their opinion. One of the main issues that mass-media focuses on is represented by terrorist propaganda. Nowadays, terrorist attacks have become more frequent, and we argue that, due to their social and emotional intelligence, terrorists have the power to manipulate not only people but also mass media. The purpose of our paper was to assess the way Romanian and foreign online mass-media channels present information about Islamic terrorist groups and the activities developed by them, in order to raise awareness about the matter of propaganda and the role of mass media in promoting it. In order to conduct the research, content analysis was used as a method. A total of 36 news presented online by Romanian and foreign mass-media channels were analyzed. The result of the research revealed that Romanian mass-media channels focus more on using words with aggressive content, and that foreign mass-media channels focus on religious and cultural-geographic content. Therefore, the results of the research revealed that the way mass media presents terrorist attacks can unintentionally contribute to the promotion of terrorist propaganda.

There has been a marked increase in the literature in recent years about social norms, what they are, and how to measure them. New theoretical connections indicate specific significance for those w...

Communicating risk and other health information in a clear, understandable, and actionable manner is critical for the prevention and control of cancer, as well as the care of affected individuals and their family members. However, the swift pace of development in communication technologies has dramatically changed the health communication landscape. This digital era presents new opportunities and challenges for cancer communication research and its impact on practice and policy. In this article, we examine the science of health communication focused on cancer and highlight important areas of research for the coming decade. Specifically, we discuss three domains in which cancer communication may occur: (a) among patients and their healthcare providers; (b) within and among families and social networks; and (c) across communities, populations, and the public more broadly. We underscore findings from the prior decade of cancer communication research, provide illustrative examples of future directions for cancer communication science, and conclude with considerations for diverse populations. Health informatics studies will be necessary to fully understand the growing and complex communication settings related to cancer: such works have the potential to change the face of information exchanges about cancer and elevate our collective discourse about this area as newer clinical and public health priorities emerge. Researchers from a wide array of specialties are interested in examining and improving cancer communication. These interdisciplinary perspectives can rapidly advance and help translate findings of cancer communication in the field of behavioral medicine.

The health benefits of physically activity (PA) are well documented; therefore, promoting PA and associated guidelines to the population is considered an important task for any government. To support the strategy development for communication of the recently updated PA guidelines, the UK Chief Medical Officers’ (CMO) Expert Panel for Communication was created. To help inform this process a rapid review was performed to identify how other nations may be tackling the communication of their PA guidelines and PA more generally. The rapid review used elements of the Health-enhancing physical activity (HEPA) policy audit tool (PAT) created by the World Health Organization (WHO) and investigated all 195 countries. Seventy-seven countries had their own guidelines, 53 used the WHO guidelines (of which 47 used the Regional Office for Africa), and for 65 countries no guidelines could be found. For the communication of PA or PA guidelines, 27 countries used infographics, 56 had government policies/documents, and 11 used a mass media campaign. However only 6 of these communication strategies had been evaluated. Although many countries used infographics, there were no associated evaluations. As such any future communication strategies should incorporate an evaluation of effectiveness. Mass media campaigns had the strongest evidence base, proving to be an effective communication strategy, particularly when incorporating aspects of social marketing. This review provides an insight into what strategies countries worldwide have taken to communicate PA guidelines and PA promotion. These should be carefully considered when deciding how best to communicate and promote PA guidelines.

Local media are decisive for communities in the context of a global culture. In Portugal, communicating for a more geographically restricted area deals with permanent hazards, especially in the journalistic scope, from both structural and organizational points of view. Arguably weakened and lacking from institutional support, Portuguese local media, ranging from printed media, radio, and television to online broadcasts, still thrive on uncertainty. Also, from an academic point view, little is known about the audiences’ perceptions towards these local media. In doing so, this article presents the data collected from an online survey of 139 consumers of local media, thus concluding: traditional media (printed and FM) are still the most consumed formats, compared to the online scope; the COVID-19 pandemic was not decisive to increase local media consumption habits; seeking for information is the fundamental reason to follow local media; participants understand that websites and Facebook, mainly, are the most dynamic digital spaces that local media foster, thus giving them a very good evaluation; half of the sample have already interacted with broadcasters, especially to suggest ideas for journalistic approaches; in a global perspective, participants are pleased with the news coverage of local media towards local matters. Future research should implement complementary scientific approaches, based on in-depth perspectives to fully understand motivations to engage with local media and other social representations towards these mass media., (undefined)