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Along with the direct trauma of their experience, many rape victims also suffer secondary victimization due to the tendency of others to blame victims for their assault, particularly in cases of acquaintance rape. We explored the role of news media coverage in promoting victim blaming tendencies. In Study 1, a content analysis of articles reporting sexual assaults from two newspapers revealed a tendency for media to overreport stranger rapes and underreport acquaintance rapes, perpetuating the stranger rape as "real rape" prototype. More victim blaming language was also used in reports of acquaintance rape than stranger rape. Perceivers responded to these differences; a high victim blaming news article resulted in greater victim blaming compared to an article low in victim blame content (Study 2 and 3), and exposure to a high blaming article produced greater victim blaming in a subsequent unrelated case of rape and increased endorsement of rape myths (Study 3). These findings demonstrate the importance of the media in shaping public perception of rape victims, particularly in cases of acquaintance rape, and suggest that news media, legislators, and other visible communicators can change the culture of victimization through intentional efforts to delegitimize rape stereotypes in their reporting and dialogs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The watchdog role has been one of the most widely discussed normative functions of the press. In this study, we examine the public's attitudes toward the news media's watchdog performance and how they correlate with trust in news and news avoidance, two important phenomena for democracy and the health of the public sphere. We further examine how individual predispositions (e.g. political interest, ideology) and contextual variables (e.g. press freedom) moderate these relationships. Based on data from the 2019 Reuters Institute Digital News Report, and controlling for a range of factors, we find that across 38 countries, watchdog performance evaluations are positively associated with trust in news but that they are also positively associated with higher levels of news avoidance. Last, we find that evaluations of media in other functions like helping citizens understand the most important topics of the day and choosing relevant topics were more strongly associated to trust in news and lower news avoidance levels than watchdog performance evaluations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Newspapers that address mental disorders affect health care positively or negatively and can affect the public's perspective with the way they explain mental disorders. To examine the representation of news about mental disorders published in Turkish newspapers. Using the document analysis method, 230 news about mental disorders published in the six most read newspapers in 2022 were examined. It has been concluded that the descriptive characteristics of individuals with mental disorders are often stated, schizophrenia and psychotic disorders are mentioned most, mental disorders are associated with delinquency and violent behaviour, these people are mostly represented by being detained as a result of the events, and negative concepts are frequently used in newspaper reports. Five sub-themes were determined under the main theme of "Negative Concepts": "Exaggerated Discourses", "Stigmatizing Discourses", "Discourses Targeting Mental Health", "Discourses That May Cause Negative Emotions", "Discourses Containing Misdescription". Newspaper items about mental disorders are represented as stigmatizing and misleading by using negative concepts. The sensitivity of media workers, the development of mental health policies and cooperation with mental health workers contribute to the recovery process of individuals with mental disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyzes public sentiment on news sites and Twitter concerning the development of the Trans-Sumatra Toll Road (JTTS). Applying a lexicon-based approach to calculate sentiment scores, this study found a predominance of positive sentiments in news articles and tweets regarding the JTTS development. Employing multinomial logit estimation to examine the determining factors, this study however found no specific relationship between JTTS segment completion and public sentiment on news sites or Twitter. Nonetheless, the association changed and became noticeable on Twitter after controlling the effects of socioeconomic characteristics on sentiment scores. The development status of the JTTS segment influenced public sentiment considerably. This study highlights the potential of social media to facilitate public engagement and inform government decision making. Furthermore, it offers a comprehensive analysis of public sentiment regarding toll road infrastructure development by incorporating multiple stakeholders, including government agencies, business actors, community organizations (via news articles), and local communities (via Twitter data), and highlights various interests, concerns, and conflicts surrounding toll road projects. The investigation of socioeconomic and demographic factors in relation to public sentiment further contributes to our understanding of the underlying influences and dynamics that shape opinions on toll-road infrastructure through sentiment analysis and quantitative methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Political polarization surrounding the COVID-19 health crisis has been on the rise since the beginning of the pandemic. We combine prior research on motivated reasoning, selective exposure, and news framing to understand the association between partisan media use and social distancing behavior related to COVID-19. To do so, we collected media content data and national survey data during the onset of the pandemic. We employed structural topic modeling (STM), dependency parsing, word co-occurrence, and manual coding to examine the media coverage. Next, we analyzed survey data collected with a Qualtrics panel from a sample of U.S. residents for factors explaining social distancing behaviors. Results reveal coverage from the right leaning outlets downplayed the virus and highlighted the consequences of lockdowns on the economy. Our survey findings show that even after accounting for a range of demographic, political orientation, and COVID-19 awareness variables, conservative media use was linked, although modestly, with a lower likelihood of social distancing behavior. Our findings echo past research on media framing of pandemics and their association with public attitudes and behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Integrating concepts from the communication theory of resilience (CTR) with theories of health information management and media-stimulated interpersonal conversation, this study investigates associations between worry about COVID-19, acquiring health information from government, news, and personal sources, and enactment of resilience processes. Findings from a representative sample (N = 600) of Floridians show that the extent to which people worried that they or their loves ones might contract COVID-19 during the first wave of the pandemic predicted the extent to which they reported getting health information from a range of news (e.g. national and local newspapers) and personal (e.g. family, friends/coworkers) sources. A serial multiple mediator model found that worry about COVID-19 was associated with acquiring information about COVID from news sources, which predicted getting information about COVID from personal sources, which in turn predicted enactment of resilience processes. Discussion centers on the role that emotions as well as information management at multiple levels (e.g. media, close relationships) play in people's attempts to enact resilience in the context of a public health emergency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The watching-eye effect proposes that others' eyes cause people to behave in a prosocial manner. The current study tested this in the context of an online news website, by investigating whether a watching-eye icon influences users' attention to themselves and expressions of their opinions in a comment section. In an online experiment, participants (N = 741) used an online news website in the presence (vs. absence) of a watching eye as a visual cue for an imagined audience, who reportedly presented their opinions in a comment section. Results showed that the watching eye did influence participants' private and public self-awareness and the quality of their comments. Presence of the visual cues, compared to its absence, increased female participants' self-awareness, specifically when others' opinions revealed in the comment section were mixed or opposed to the news article topic. This increased private self-awareness was positively associated with the comment quality. These findings indicate the importance of social cues on interfaces in mitigating the negative consequences of anonymity in online environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While HCI literature offers general frameworks for understanding user-centred quality, specific application areas may call for more detailed contextualisation of it. This paper focuses on socio-technical context of online news commenting by investigating speculative UI interventions intended to influence users' emotions and social behaviour. To understand the aspects of quality that matter to users in such UI interventions, we conducted an international online survey (N = 439) and qualitatively analysed respondents' first impressions of eight different design proposals. The findings describe contextually relevant socio-technical viewpoints and offer actionable considerations for design. For example, the findings imply that designers should be mindful of possible unintentional misuse that may result from the UI reinforcing specific emotional states or affording stigmatisation of individual users. The study advances understanding of which aspects of quality should be considered when designing and deploying UI interventions for digital media services and evaluating them with potential end-users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study sought to determine the extent to which the message or messenger is more important for news media portrayal of gun violence prevention. Exploratory analyses also examined factors related to Fox News and MSNBC credibility. Participants (N = 3,500) were US adults matched to the 2010 US Census on several demographic variables. Two mock headlines were presented: "Gun violence is result of mental health problems" and "Storing firearms in a safe can help prevent suicides." Headlines were reported to be from either Fox News or MSNBC. Participants then rated accuracy of the headline and credibility of the news source. Headline content did not predict perceived accuracy of the headline. Perceived credibility of the messenger was associated with perceived accuracy for both mock headlines. Exploratory analyses indicated several demographic factors related to Fox News and MSNBC credibility. Regardless of the content of a headline, the degree to which participants perceived it as accurate was associated with how credible they believed the source to be. These findings highlight the importance of credible media portrayal of accurate information on gun violence prevention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New Zealand's 2020 cannabis legalisation referendum was narrowly defeated. Some post-referendum commentary claimed that the anti-reform campaign dominated the information space. Digital media represented a new forum for referendum advocacy. We analysed reporting on the cannabis referendum by six leading New Zealand digital news providers and Facebook advocacy campaigns 'for' and 'against' legalisation during 3 months pre-referendum. The mean sentiment score of media articles was marginally supportive of reform (+0.4 on a scale of −2 to +2). On average, pro-legalisation articles were re-published more often (2.3 vs 1.5 times for anti-reform), received better website placement (52% of articles published in the prime website section) and had more Facebook interactions (mean 1129 vs 771 for anti-reform). Ninety six per cent of articles were shared on Facebook, including via paid advertising. The principal pro-legalisation campaigner spent four times as much on Facebook advertising as the principal anti-legalisation campaigner. The networked map of Facebook posts illuminated links between digital media and cannabis advocacy. We find that pro-legalisation campaign dominated the digital information space, while the anti-legalisation campaign relied on traditional media, such as billboards. Combining media sentiment analysis with network analysis of social media posts provided new insights into the cannabis referenda debate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historians of Partition have focused upon the bitterly polarized yet vibrant public sphere of the last days of the British Raj, wherein newspapers representing Congress, Muslim League and Akali opinion vied for influence through increasingly hostile propaganda targeted at the 'other/s'. Such studies' focus on ideological battles and propaganda results in relatively less attention being given to what became of these papers once the British departed and the parties these papers espoused or opposed captured power. This paper will seek to revisit such assumptions by analyzing the trials and tribulations of the significant newspaper houses unfortunate enough to be located on the geographical frontlines of Partition and in major centres of communal conflagration. Through such analyses, I will seek to show that it was a combination of initial mob action, reinforced often by state repression and even popular reproach, that forced newspapers viewed as belonging to the 'other' party to move to safer (and greener) pastures. In the process, late-colonial India's once pluralist public sphere came to be partitioned into sections that broadly conformed to the ideologies that the respective Dominions' new rulers espoused. While aligning newspapers with the majoritarian public opinion, this Partition occasioned shifts of personnel and presses that would fundamentally alter the postcolonial press industry in West and East Pakistan, and to a lesser extent, in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines how public perception of threat and efficacy (on self and others) influence their tendency to take preventive action against the Zika virus by surveying 1,152 U.S. adults in Texas and Florida. Findings show that individuals were likely to take protective actions when they: (1) saw a high risk of the disease (high threat) and were confident about their ability to reduce the danger (high efficacy); and (2) perceived others as having a high risk (high threat), but lacked the ability to reduce the danger (low efficacy). Further, the study discusses practical implications for the design of public health campaigns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Cyprus issue has become one of the main elements of Turkish-Greek relations since the mid-1950s, has been perceived as a "national cause" by the public opinions of both Türkiye and Greece, and has become one of the most important determinants of Turkish foreign policy. At the Summit Conference held at the level of prime ministers in Keşan and Alexandroupolis on 9-10 September 1967, it was aimed to find a peaceful solution to the existing problems between Türkiye and Greece, including the Cyprus issue, through bilateral negotiations. The meetings, which started with the request and invitation of the Greek side, were inconclusive due to the Greece's imposition of enosis as the only possible solution in Cyprus. These meetings had wide repercussions in the Turkish public opinion both before and after; various comments and evaluations were made on the issues discussed at the meetings, the thesis and approaches of the parties and other international actors, and the policy should to be followed against Greece. The public's attitude towards the meetings and their results has become evident in two ways: a positive or critical approach to the meetings. When evaluated in very general terms, while the ruling party and the circles close to it welcomed the meetings and the results obtained, those in the opposition took a critical attitude, although the dose was different. In this study, it has been examined how the Keşan-Alexandroupolis meetings are perceived and evaluated by different segments of the Turkish public (government/opposition parties, press and non-governmental organizations). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Press representations of autism and autistic people both reflect and help shape public attitudes towards autism and neurodiversity and may establish critical barriers to social integration for autistic individuals. This study examined such representations in UK newspapers in the period 2011–2020 using a corpus-based approach. It also considered how press representations changed over time and differed with regard to reporting style (tabloids vs broadsheets) and political orientation (left- vs right-leaning). We created the Autism UK Press Corpus, which included all documents (~24K) referring to autism in 10 national newspapers. We used document counts (normalised by newspaper size) to assess the 'newsworthiness' of autism. We also employed a synergy of corpus-based and critical-discourse-analysis methodologies to study lexicogrammatical patterns and uncover explicit and implicit attitudes towards autism. Our results showed that the coverage of autism increased slightly over time, especially in broadsheets and left-leaning newspapers. Newspapers emphasised adversities associated with autism, often used negative language, and tended to focus on boys. These representations shifted gradually towards more difference-based descriptions and included more diverse age/gender groups, especially in broadsheets and left-leaning newspapers. We discuss the broad implications of these findings for the autism community and those interested in a more inclusive society. Any thriving society must recognise, accept and celebrate all of its diverse talent. But how accepting is British society towards autism and autistic people? This research addressed this question through the lens of the press since the press both reflects and helps shape public attitudes towards various social categories. We used specialised 'corpus-based' methods to carry out a large-scale study, which examined all articles referring to autism or autistic people in 10 national British newspapers in the period 2011–2020. We first investigated how often newspapers referred to autism. We found that the coverage of autism increased slightly over the years, suggesting that autism was becoming an increasingly newsworthy topic. Furthermore, the rise in autism coverage differed considerably between individual newspapers: it was more pronounced in the broadsheets than tabloids, and in left-leaning than right-leaning newspapers. But what was the focus of these articles? We found that newspapers emphasised the adversities associated with autism and portrayed autism with a lot of negative language. Newspapers also tended to focus on autistic children, and particularly on boys. There were some signs of change in more recent years, with some newspapers now representing autism as a difference and, in addition, referring to more diverse groups of autistic people. However, these changes tended to be confined to broadsheets and left-leaning newspapers. Our findings suggest that representations of autism in the contemporary British press are skewed towards stereotypically negative views, which may well hinder the acceptance of autism and the fostering of a more inclusive society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Childhood obesity has become a major focus of public health and subject to increased news coverage. News can shape public understanding of childhood obesity by selective reporting (framing) which can affect policy support and weight stigma. As news is consumed on social media, comments on articles present a novel method to explore public understanding. This study examined how childhood obesity is framed by news articles on Facebook and how individuals commenting understand and react to these articles. This study used a qualitative research design. Facebook pages of 11 national UK news outlets were searched for news articles on childhood obesity published between May 2015 and May 2020. Of those, 30 articles were randomly selected. Framing analysis was used to determine whether childhood obesity was portrayed as a behavioral, societal or medical issue. Responding comments (N = 1,104) were grouped according to the dominant frame of the corresponding article and analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Of the 30 articles, 28 mentioned societal, 26 behavioral and 18 medical aspects of childhood obesity, highlighting that most articles included more than one frame. Three themes were generated from responding comments: Culprits and Remedies, Appraising Childhood Obesity and Making Sense of the News Article. Findings showed that comments related to Appraising Childhood Obesity differed between differently framed articles, while the other themes did not. This study highlights the need for improved communication on childhood obesity to address weight stigma and improve understanding of news articles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research characterises user engagement of approximately 3,000,000 news postings of 53 news outlets and 50,000,000 associated user comments during 8 months on 5 social media platforms (i.e. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and Reddit). We investigate the effect of sentiments and topics on user engagement across four levels of user engagement expressions (i.e. views, likes, comments, cross-platform posting). We find that sentiments and topics differ by both news outlets and social media platforms, and both sentiments and topics by the four levels of user engagement expression. Finally, we predict a volume of four user engagement levels for given news content, with an 83% maximum average F1-score for the external posting of news articles from one platform to another using language and metadata features. Implications are that news outlets can benefit by developing a platform, sentiment and topic, and strategies to best achieve user engagement objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The success of health protection measures depends on public compliance. This paper aims to understand the influence of three different types of communication (i.e., news media, social media, and interpersonal communication) on people's engagement in health protective behavior during a public health crisis. Our C-ENT model of health protective behavior proposes that communication raises perceptions of efficacy, norms, and threat, which in turn influence health protective behavior (communication → efficacy, norms, threat: C-ENT). We test the model for the case of social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic, based on a representative online survey during the first week of the lockdown in Switzerland (N = 1005). The results support the C-ENT model and illustrate the important role of communication engagement during a public health crisis. News media use was associated with perceptions of behavior-related efficacy and norms and disease-related threat, and these perceptions were positively associated with compliance with social distancing. Social media use and interpersonal communication were related with perceived norms. Social media use was negatively and interpersonal communication positively associated with health behavior-supporting normative perceptions. Our findings suggest taking the distinct pattern among communication types (i.e., news media, social media, and interpersonal communication), perceptions, and behavior into account in order to understand existing dependencies and design respective communication strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Periods of international crisis, such as the war in Ukraine that began in February 2022, are very symbolic times. Due to the remoteness of this type of conflicts, the media still play an important role in the shaping of news items that reach citizens. However, this field also suffers the deep transformations that digital platforms have brought for journalism. In this context, this study aims to explore the mechanisms that the press uses to generate international leaders on Twitter. Specifically, we analyze how the media contribute to creating figures of hero, anti-hero or villain with Zelensky and Putin, similar to ancient antagonistic struggles. To this purpose, a discursive content analysis is applied to a sample of all tweets (n=1244) posted by the five main Spanish newspapers (El País, El Mundo, ABC, El Confidencial, elDiario.es) that referenced these two leaders, during the weeks before and after the start of the war. As a result, there is a greater number of mentions of Putin, together with a negative approach. The building of a dichotomous relationship also occurs through a Zelensky who usually acts as the subject, but with less active verbs than Putin. Nevertheless, differences are detected depending on the ideology and the technological nature of the newspaper. These findings, added to the fact that the public prefer to interact with messages that allude to Zelensky or both leaders, foster a debate about the implications of this underlying intentionality of the media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two-thirds of US adults report hearing news stories about diet and health relationships daily or a few times a week. These stories have often been labeled as conflicting. While public opinion suggests conflicting nutrition messages are widespread, there has been limited empirical research to support this belief. This study examined the prevalence of conflicting information in online New York Times' news articles discussing published nutrition research between 1996–2016. It also examined the contextual differences that existed between conflicting studies. The final sample included 375 news articles discussing 416 diet and health relationships (228 distinct relationships). The most popular dietary items discussed were alcoholic beverages (n = 51), vitamin D (n = 26), and B vitamins (n = 23). Over the 20-year study period, 12.7% of the 228 diet and health relationships had conflicting reports. Just under three-fourths of the conflicting reports involved changes in study design, 79% involved changes in study population, and 31% involved changes in industry funding. Conflicting nutrition messages can have negative cognitive and behavioral consequences for individuals. To help effectively address conflicting nutrition news coverage, a multi-pronged approach involving journalists, researchers, and news audiences is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims at exploring the discursive strategies used by the central press during the third Liberal Party government led by Gh. Tătărescu (29 August 1936 - 14 November 1937), so as to make naturalizations after 1918 a matter under debate and their revision a necessary solution. The revision of citizenship was already on the agenda of the far-right parties (the National-Christian Defense League, turned into the National-Christian Party, and the "Archangel Michael" Legion) since their foundation, but it was only during the tenure of this government that the topic made its way into the central press. That happened under certain specific conditions. First of all, there was the topic of foreigners and the revival of the National-Christian slogan "Romania for the Romanians" (in the original: „România a românilor"). Secondly, press reports referred to presumed cases of fraudulent reception of citizenship by foreigners (especially Jews) and, more precisely, there was a press scandal caused by the so-called Marton Hertz case. These discursive strategies were successful, because they were followed by three normative revision initiatives. As the analysis of these initiatives, in terms of their legal content and the parliamentary and press debates that ac - companied them, is complex and beyond the scope of this paper, we shall only sketch them. Starting from historical sources (the press articles of the time, the archives of the Legislative Council, the parliamentary debates), the study aims at exploring the previously unknown prehistory of Decree-Law No 169 of 21 January 1938 on the revision of citizenship in terms of the mechanisms that made it possible and prepared the public opinion, in 1938-1939, for the acceptance and effective implementation of the revision of citizenship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study proposes that media distrust and cynicism are two related but distinct perceptions that indicate qualitatively different ways in which audiences relate to news media. To substantiate this, we developed a new instrument to measure media cynicism. Factor analyses showed that the indicators of media distrust and cynicism are not influenced by the same underlying dimension. Structural equation modeling indicated that while distrust appears to be predominately caused by perceived media responsiveness, media cynicism may be susceptible to a wider range of factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

History has shown a 20th century marked by political, geopolitical, social, and economic metamorphosis, especially for the European continent. Romanian's physical borders were reshaped during the first half of this century and caught between a political, social, and ethnic whirlwind. For Roma people, the 1920s and 1930s came with substantial turmoil as their efforts to establish various forms of representation and organization were not supported by the Romanian authorities, nor by public opinion. The public discourse was dominated by prejudice, stereotypes, and amplified marginalization. The far-right's extreme tendencies, compounded by public discourse, spread Roma stereotypes such as "the thief", "the other", "the diseases carrier", "the pariah", "the unwanted" etc., and generated the idea of "us against them" which heavily impacted the deportation process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research has had very little to say about whether polling predictions of elections outcomes are biased in line with the political bias of the news outlets that commission the polls. This article examines the relationship between news media political bias and bias in the published results of media-sponsored pre-elections polls in the three Israeli elections that took place in 2019–20. Given that these elections were largely referenda on Benjamin Netanyahu's corruption charges – dividing the political system, the media, and the Israeli public into pro-Netanyahu and anti-Netanyahu camps – media political biases are narrowly defined in accordance with news outlets' general attitudes to the charges. Thus, polling bias is defined as a systematic overestimate or underestimate of the number of parliamentary seats that the bloc of pro-Netanyahu parties will actually receive. It is found that, on average, polls commissioned by anti-Netanyahu media consistently underestimated the number of seats that the pro-Netanyahu bloc would win. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After the 2020 murder of George Floyd, a flood of protest activity against racial injustice ensued around the world, and a significant uptick in support for Black Lives Matter followed. This study investigated the narratives produced in news coverage of Black Lives Matter protests and how media consumption and individual predispositions help us understand public support for the movement. Combining a content analysis of news about protests and a survey of people's attitudes, we assessed if patterns in mainstream and partisan coverage have changed, and how those patterns relate to people's level of support for the movement, assessment of its effectiveness, and of police response during demonstrations. Our findings suggest that persistent negative patterns of protest coverage continued to dominate news headlines, with a major emphasis on negative actions, disruption, and violence in centerist- and right-leaning media coverage from the Associated Press, CNN and Fox News. MSNBC produced the least coverage overall, but their coverage was most legitimizing. Survey results showed that preexisting attitudes remain consistently stronger determinants of support for the movement than media coverage and suggested a possible ideological asymmetry among the general public. Conservative affiliation and news consumption are strong predictors of less support for Black Lives Matter and perceptions of police response to these protests as too lenient. Mainstream news consumption, though producing predominantly delegitimizing coverage, is correlated with more support for Black Lives Matter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

December 1923 marked the first anniversary of the "student movement" in Romania. The student movement spectacularly seized this opportunity to capture public attention at any cost, even with violent means, on order to relentlessly promote its agenda and to severely censor those who dared to oppose its ideas and actions. Its intentions were clear, for instance, in regard to an important event the city was preparing to host: the General Congress of the Press. Gathering outside the universities, where they had been unable to obtain the "numerus clausus," the students diversified their arsenal and ways of fighting; they set themselves new institutional targets. Not only did the main political parties repeatedly miss the opportunity to show solidarity in the face of such violent outbursts and intolerable abuse, but the press--the independent one (not explicitly affiliated politically), which reflected and reinforced public opinion--also failed to put up a common front. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines how members of the public frame artificial intelligence (AI) along with how news use predicts "frames in mind" for AI. The study also tests whether news use, science fiction viewing, and discussing technology influence attitudes toward AI independently and in conjunction with one another. The analyses use data from a nationally representative online panel survey. Respondents invoked social progress and Pandora's box frames for AI, and technology news use predicted mentioning each frame. Use of technology news also predicted change in support for AI, while science fiction viewing and discussing technology were conditionally related to such change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Doping in sports is well documented in the public sphere in the form of news reports, but additional weightage is given to such media coverage during a year in which a mega sporting event such as Olympic Games is being held. This article aims to study the academic publications on sports media coverage of doping and their influential role in the formation of public opinions. A systematic review of academic publications on sports media coverage of doping published between the years 2000 and 2021 was conducted and led to the identification of twenty-seven relevant articles from a sample size of 1,152. Most of the relevant publications were based on qualitative research of the American media and utilised content originating in the traditional media format such as the print newspaper. The key gaps existing in academic literature on this topic were due to lack of quantitative studies, exclusion of new media such as social media networks and over-reliance on American media sources which have their own vested interests and national agenda to push forward to the masses. Recommendations are mentioned along with potential areas of interest for future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing use of social media like YouTube as a news platform provides new opportunities for the public to react to news reporting. This convergence produces multi-narrative framings of police violence-related evidence that requires further attention, especially given the potential impact on state accountability processes. Using a frame analysis of news outlets and content analysis of comments on YouTube, we identify frames, responses, and the multi-narrative framing that results from this converging environment. Our findings suggest a triumvirate of competing frames around police brutality, with mistrust of media complicating the role news media plays in accountability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Media portrayals of crime help shape public perceptions of victims and the demographic groups to which they belong. For transgender people, who already face heightened disparities and stigma, news coverage may reinforce negative stereotypes and minimize the wider context of transphobic violence. The present study, a content analysis of news articles (n = 316) pertaining to 27 transgender people killed in the United States in 2016, addresses positive and negative depictions of victims, use of language affirming and delegitimizing transgender identities, and framing of transphobia as a systemic problem. Themes, implications, and future research directions are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ongoing overdose and drug toxicity crisis in North America has contributed momentum to the emergence of safer supply prescribing and programs in Canada as a means of providing an alternative to the highly volatile unregulated drug supply. The implementation and scale-up of safer supply have been met with a vocal reaction on the part of news media commentators, conservative politicians, recovery industry representatives, and some prominent addiction medicine physicians. This reaction has largely converged around several narratives, based on unsubstantiated claims and anecdotal evidence, alleging that safer supply programs are generating a "new opioid epidemic", reflecting an emerging alignment among key institutional and political actors. Employing situational analysis method, and drawing on the policy studies and social science scholarship on moral panics, this essay examines news media coverage from January to July 2023, bringing this into dialogue with other existing empirical sources on safer supply (e.g. Coroner's reports, program evaluations, debates among experts in medical journals). We employ eight previously established criteria delineating moral panics to critically appraise public dialogue regarding safer supply, diverted medication, and claims of increased youth initiation to drug use and youth overdose. In detailing the emergence of a moral panic regarding safer supply, we trace historic continuities with earlier drug scares in Canadian history mobilized as tools of racialized poverty governance, as well as previous backlashes towards healthcare interventions for people who use drugs (PWUD). The essay assesses the claims of moral entrepreneurs against the current landscape of opioid use, diversion, and overdose among youth, notes the key role played by medical expertise in this and previous moral panics, and identifies what the convergence of these narratives materialize for PWUD and healthcare access, as well as the broader policy responses such narratives activate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The education of Walter Lippmann on the topics of propaganda and censorship during the First World War profoundly shaped the sober critique of the traditional theory of American democracy that appeared in Public Opinion. The war also shook his faith in the ability of the press to inform a public he increasingly viewed as hopelessly separated from 'reality'. Yet, between the end of the war and the publication of Public Opinion, Lippmann still maintained a faith, tempered by critique, in the potential of the press in his lesser-known publications, Liberty and the News and A Test of the News. This article argues that there was an overlooked yet critical influence on Lippmann in the interregnum between the end of the war and the publication of Public Opinion that helps explain Lippmann's evolving thoughts on the press; namely, the critical responses to Liberty and the News and A Test of the News. This analysis suggests that the dialogue between Lippmann and his critics provides a piece of the intellectual and historical context for the arguments relating to the press that appeared in Public Opinion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Mauritanian written press has gone through several stages during its historical journey and has not been isolated from the political situation of the country, but has been subject to its perception of what His Majesty should be, since its appearance during the French colonization of the country, and after the creation of the national state in the sixties of the last century, passing through the period of the military regime before the declaration of political and media pluralism in the country in 1991 and the consequent dilution of the journalistic field, where the door was opened wide to excessive leniency in obtaining a press license, as well as some major obstacles, such as lack of funding, training and harassment of journalists. However, this did not prevent this press from playing at that time the role of watchdog over the executive power by awakening public opinion on the conduct of public affairs and by revealing many hidden social and political problems that the public opinion would not have been aware without the pioneering role of this written press. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Journalists play a part in the public's perception of issues through priming, framing, and agenda setting media effects (McCombs, 2014; Power et al., 1996; Quinsaat, 2014), because they serve as a conduit of information. Professional norms dictate how journalists do their newswork; however, implicit biases and the media's systematic structure can influence common journalistic practices, which can further stereotype marginalized populations (Entman & Rojecki, 2000). This study examines how two structurally different newsrooms covered the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). By sampling content from the Tampa Bay Times, a predominantly White newsroom, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, a more diverse newsroom, a textual analysis of articles written nine months before Donald Trump was elected president to the end of his presidency ascertained differences in word choice, frames, sourcing, and other factors in coverage of BLM and DACA. This study found that the ethnicity of journalists likely influences coverage of Black people and Hispanic/Latino immigrants, that coverage of DACA was more sympathetic, ethical framing grew for BLM stories in the wake of extrajudicial killings of Black and brown individuals in 2020, and that specialized reporting leads to better representation of these two issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This content analysis (N = 1,527) examined the presence of rape culture acceptance (dismissal of event, victim blaming, discrediting survivor, and threats to survivor) and anti-rape culture (support for survivor, and mention of: systemic problem, rape culture, and male power dominance) in news coverage of Anita Hill and Christine Blasey Ford's testimony against a U.S. Supreme Court nominee. Results show higher rape acceptance in Blasey Ford news coverage and no difference between the cases and anti-rape culture. Online news media focused on personal impact to Blasey Ford, while traditional news media focused on impact to Thomas Kavanaugh and Clarence Thomas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The press builds a set of media representations on the facts of reality. The teachers' strike of 2017 marked a substantial milestone in the construction of the news in the Peruvian press, due to the informative singularity and prevalent discourses. Based on the analysis of the informative treatment of the journalistic notes, the underlying media intentions are revealed to present the teachers' conflict, from the conjuncture or anecdote, avoiding its causes; on the contrary, they highlight the scandal or spectacularism of the news. In fact, the media opted for sensationalism, linking the teachers' crisis with violence, anarchy and urban chaos. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study examines the effects of visual framing in news coverage of law enforcement use of lethal force. In a 2X2 online experiment, participants read one of four versions of a news story that included visual racial cues (images depicting a Black vs. a White victim) and a delinquent/normative frame—depicting the victim wearing attire that signifies either normative or delinquent behavior (regalia vs. a hooded sweatshirt). Both race and delinquency framing influenced the readers' stereotype endorsement and feelings toward Black Americans. However, judgment of the police officer's behavior solely depended on the victim's race. These findings demonstrate the importance of imagery accompanying news reporting on social issues in activating and intensifying White-centered intergroup biases. Implications for responsible journalistic practices are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What is the opinion held by the European press on the U.S. election campaign and the candidates running for president? What are the predominant issues that attract the attention of European print media? Does Europe detest Donald Trump? The objective of the present study is to analyze the perception European commentators had of the 2020 race for the White House. The media, the audience, and European governments were captivated more than ever before by how the U.S. election campaign unfolded, fixing their gaze on the contest between Donald Trump and Joe Biden. Through a combined quantitative and qualitative methodology, a combination of content analysis and the application of framing theory (hitherto scarcely applied to opinion pieces), our research centers on exploring the views, opinions, and analyses published in eight leading newspapers from four European countries (France, Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom) as expressed in their editorials and opinion articles. This study observes how the televised presidential debates were commented on, interpreted, and assessed by commentators from the eight newspapers we selected. The goal was to identify the common issues and frames that affected European public opinion on the U.S. presidential campaign and the aspirants to the White House. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Democracy is considered to be the ideal foundation of societies today. In a democratic society, news media play a highly relevant role as avenues by which public and political powers can interact with society and facilitate civic participation. The public’s perception of the news media’s reputation is a crucial factor for enhancing trust and citizen engagement. This article presents a study of the reputation of the media (paper press, digital press, radio and television) in ten European countries: Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. A quantitative method was applied to the results of a survey conducted to determine the reputation of news media among a sample of the informed population in those countries (1,000 residents of legal age who used media at least two or three times a week). The concept of reputation is thereby characterized in its association with the media, identifying its integrating attributes and assessing its incidence in each type of medium. The results indicate that, although television is the most widely used medium, the printed press enjoys a higher reputation in most of the countries studied, being seen as having the attributes of credibility and informative rigor. This study provides a detailed analysis of the scores given to media reputation attributes in the considered countries. It also offers a ranking of the media with the highest reputation in the countries examined, as well as a description of the reputational position of each medium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We compare the contents of Fox and MSNBC weekday evening telecasts using natural language analysis with Linguistic Inventory Word Count (LIWC) and sociopolitical dictionaries tapping into moral foundations, values, grievances, and personality. Across time, the two networks differed substantially across many constructs, particularly those from LIWC. The core of the difference between the networks was captured by a four‐component measure which we labeled Personalizing versus Formal speech. Scores on this measure were particularly volatile during 2019 and 2020, a period which included Trump's first impeachment, the beginning of the COVID pandemic, and the 2020 presidential campaign. In comparison with prior presidential election years, only MSNBC showed a drop in positive emotions in 2020, while both networks increased in the use of communal and analytic language. Contrary to our expectations, the language style of the two networks did not demonstrate increasing divergence over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives Media sources have consistently described older adults as a medically vulnerable population during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, yet a lack of concern over their health and safety has resulted in dismissal and devaluation. This unprecedented situation highlights ongoing societal ageism and its manifestations in public discourse. This analysis asks how national news sources performed explicit and implicit ageism during the first month of the pandemic. Method Using content and critical discourse analysis methods, we analyzed 287 articles concerning older adults and COVID-19 published between March 11 and April 10, 2020, in 4 major U.S.-based newspapers. Results Findings indicate that while ageism was rarely discussed explicitly, ageist bias was evident in implicit reporting patterns (e.g. frequent use of the term "elderly," portrayals of older adults as "vulnerable"). Infection and death rates and institutionalized care were among the most commonly reported topics, providing a limited portrait of aging during the pandemic. The older "survivor" narrative offers a positive alternative by suggesting exceptional examples of resilience and grit. However, the survivor narrative may also implicitly place blame on those unable to survive or thrive in later life. Discussion This study provides insight for policy makers, researchers, and practitioners exploring societal perceptions of older adults and how these perceptions are disseminated and maintained by the media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our research explored the social representations of the 'vegetative state' across different cultural (India, Italy, and the UK) and social milieus (left‐leaning, right‐leaning, and religious/tabloid newspapers). The aim was to discover how public discourse engages liminality between life and death. Qualitative and quantitative text analyses were conducted on news headlines and full‐texts from British (n = 300), Indian (n = 300), and Italian (n = 300) newspapers published between January 1990 and June 2019. Our study shows three results: (a) the vegetative state is a potentially global issue that remains discussed with local timing and characteristics; (b) it is commonly represented in eight frames of different resonance across cultural milieus; (c) the news flows are organised on different dimensions (quality, political, and ideological). Results shed light on how liminality is discursively managed by the interplay of cultural resources and social positionings. In particular, this suggests a hitherto unrecognised function of the objectification process: personification as position‐taking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COVID-19–related news is important for adherence to public health measures. We examined predictors of interest and avoidance of COVID-19 news in Lithuania. This is an online survey. An online survey was conducted between October and December 2020 targeting the general population in Lithuania. Participants rated their interest and avoidance of news about the COVID-19 pandemic, with possible answers ranging from 'completely agree' to 'completely disagree'. The participants were also evaluated for symptoms of depression (Patient Health Questionnaire-8), anxiety (Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7), post-traumatic stress (Impact of Event Scale-Revised) and COVID-19 fear (COVID-19 Fears Questionnaire). In total, 1036 participants (83% women) completed the survey. The results indicated that 37% of participants were losing interest in COVID-19 news, 32% had started avoiding COVID-19 news and 26% had stopped following news about COVID-19. In the multivariate regression analyses, younger age, greater post-traumatic stress symptoms, less fear of COVID-19 and less frequent use of healthcare professionals for COVID-19 information were independent predictors of decreasing/diminished interest and avoidance of COVID-19 news (all P -values <0.005). More frequent use of friends/relatives for COVID-19 information was associated with increasing avoidance and diminished interest in news about COVID-19, while more frequent use of internet news portals for COVID-19 information predicted decreasing/diminished interest in news about COVID-19, independently from other factors considered in this study. Decreasing/diminished interest and avoidance of news about COVID-19 are common and are associated with younger age, greater post-traumatic stress symptoms, less fear of COVID-19 and less frequent use of healthcare professionals for COVID-19 information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Situated far from coastal cities and foreign concessions, Chengdu yields insights into the role of the local press and its specific publics in the political evolution of the late Qing and early Republic. Despite its remote location, Chengdu developed its own modern press in the late Qing, relying on print entrepreneurs and modern journalists recruited from the ranks of the local literati and traditional sociability, in particular teahouses. They all played a role in forming a modern reading public which came to understand itself as a distinct local political community in dynamic interaction with national politics and transnational networks. The local press evinced three successive but intertwined ideals of publicness: as a link between the state and the people and a vector of enlightenment, as a professional forum for public opinion and as a tool for political mobilization. In solidifying public opinion around the local community, the press served as a forum and catalyst for political activism in the 1911 Railroad Protection movement and the 1919 May Fourth movement, events which were shaped as much by local dynamics as they were by national developments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the beginning of 2017 massive protests took place on the streets of the biggest cities in Romania, unprecedented in the postcommunist history of the country. to understand the emergence and development of public attitudes towards Romanian politics. Our analysis included the twenty most read European online newspapers and the five most read Romanian newspapers, during the period of the protests, January 18th – March 5th 2017. We investigated the existence of five general news frames identified in specialized literature on media framing and framing effects (Semetko and Valkenburg, 2000): attribution of responsibility, conflict, human interest, economic consequences, and morality. Findings show that the Western European press framed the events predominantly from a human interest perspective, while the Romanian press depicted them in a more conflictual way. The use of news frames also varied significantly by type of outlet, with tabloid newspapers focusing more on the human interest frame, while the attribution of responsibility and the conflict frames were more present in quality newspapers. They were caused by a decree passed by the government, which was meant to decriminalize certain offences, including politicians’ abuse of office. The political situation and the protests came to the attention of the international press, who covered the story extensively. In this study, we analyze the way in which news media framed the largest Romanian protests since the fall of communism, to see how these events were depicted especially in other European countries, EU member states, in an attempt [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyses North and South Koreas' coverage as framed by the main Polish press titles from 1989 to 2019. The main method applied is a computational textual analysis of press articles based on frequency, correlations and co-occurrences. The purpose is to map the topics of the examined articles in the context of relations between Poland and the two Koreas in various areas, predominantly political and economic relations. Emphasis is placed on the impact the carmaker Daewoo's investment in Poland in the mid-1990s had on bilateral Polish-South Korean relations. First, the authors argue that Korean issues in the Polish press, mainly in the second half of the 1990s, particularly concerned economic affairs. Secondly, they argue that after Poland's accession to the European Union in 2004, the country's interest in the two Koreas decreased, and since that time has remained at a more or less constant level. Finally, the authors discuss the outcome of the research in the context of the main developments in Polish-Korean relations, taking into consideration the results of a Polish public opinion survey presenting the international linkages between national public opinion and foreign policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research interrogates the discourses that frame our understanding of deepfakes and how they are situated in everyday public conversation. It does so through a qualitative analysis of popular news and magazine outlets. This project analyzes themes in discourse that range from individual threat to societal collapse. This article argues how the deepfake problem discursively framed impacts the solutions proposed for stemming the prevalence of deepfake videos online. That is, if fake videos are framed as a technical problem, solutions will likely involve new systems and tools. If fake videos are framed as a social, cultural, or as an ethical problem, solutions needed will be legal or behavioral ones. As a conclusion, this article suggests that a singular solution is inadequate because of the highly interrelated technical, social, and cultural worlds, in which we live today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the confrontation that took place in the press --in particular, in the newspaper El Comercio- between liberals and conservatives in relation to the formation of a new Congress in 1860. This Congress had the aim of modifying the Constitution of 1856, then in force. On the basis of this analysis, it is proposed a reflection on the role of public opinion and the limits of the freedom of printing in the midnineteenth century in Peru. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: News media play a role in politics through the portrayal of policies, influencing public and policymaker perceptions of appropriate solutions. This study explored the portrayal of sugar and sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) taxes in UK national newspapers. Findings aid understanding of the role newspapers play in shaping understanding and acceptance of policies such as the UK Soft Drink Industry Levy (SDIL).Design: Articles discussing sugar or SSB taxes published in six UK national newspapers between 1 April 2016 and 1 May 2019 were retrieved from the LexisNexis database. Articles were thematically analysed to reveal policy portrayal.Setting/participants: Analysis of UK newspaper articles.Results: Two hundred and eighty-six articles were assessed. Sugar and SSB taxes were discussed across the sample period but publication peaked at SDIL announcement and introduction. Themes were split according to support for or opposition to taxation. Supportive messaging consistently highlighted the negative impacts of sugar on health and the need for complex actions to reduce sugar consumption. Opposing messages emphasised individual responsibility for health and the unfairness of taxation both for organisations and the public.Conclusions: Sugar and SSB taxes received considerable media attention between 2016 and 2019. All newspapers covered arguments in support of and opposition to taxation. Health impacts of excess sugar and the role of the soft drink industry in reducing sugar consumption were prevalent themes, suggesting a joined-up health advocacy approach. Industry arguments were more varied, suggesting a less collaborative argument. Further research should investigate how other media channels portray taxes such as the SDIL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]