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While certain areas of the Islamic State's activities (propaganda, recruitment, etc.) are well researched, there have been few studies covering the efforts of the organization to neutralize deplatformization, even though its inclusion in a unified system makes it possible to successfully fight against the organization. The present study investigated the Tactics, Techniques and Procedures (TTPs) applied by the Islamic State to maintain its online presence against the deplatforming efforts of law enforcement agencies and social media stakeholders. A closely related topic, namely the key components of the organization's successful internet activity, is also examined in this article. During the research, authors mapped and plotted one part of the Islamic State's internet ecosystem to discover the pattern in this interconnected network. Furthermore, the authors elaborated on a volunteer computing based recommendation for paralysing Islamic State-linked websites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on a methodological question regarding a content analysis tool in populism studies, namely the explicit and implicit populism approach. The study argues that scholars adopting this approach need to conduct content analysis simultaneously on different coding unit lengths, because the ratio of explicit and implicit messages varies significantly between units such as single sentences and paragraphs. While an explicit populist message consists of at least one articulated dichotomy between the "good" people and the "harmful" others, implicit populism implies that only one of the core features of the populist style is present: either people-centrism or antagonism. Due to the often fractured and occasionally dichotomous nature of populist styles, this research revolves around the idea that the explicit and implicit populist content analysis method should be performed on coding units of different lengths, as these units can yield significantly different results in the detection of populist styles. Hybrid content and statistical analyses were operationalized to scrutinize to what extent explicit, implicit, or non-populist styles change in three coding unit types with diverging lengths. The outcome supports the following suggestion: Explicit and implicit populism demand scrutiny simultaneously on one narrow and one extended textual unit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the ongoing digitalization process and the emerging importance of social media in shaping news access and distribution, prior studies have examined how journalists respond to the shifting media environment. While these studies have provided valuable insights on the ever-changing habits, norms, and role performance of contemporary journalists, there is limited knowledge on how these practices, once imported to social media, transform and shape the traditional expectations of news organizations. To fill this gap, this study problematizes journalists' self-construction on social media to further understand how the dynamics of these platforms influence the potential conflicts of interest that can arise between journalists and the companies they work for when building their digital selves. Based on 30 in-depth interviews with Spanish journalists, this study conceptualizes three different social media selves: Nonpartisan, Equidistant, and Allied. Findings also show that the latent surveillance that has traditionally governed journalism is still rampant on social media. However, we argue that the disassociation between the physical newsroom and the digital environment influences journalists' agency, allowing them to redefine their digital selves from a position of greater power and autonomy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Science and Society Research Group at the Ludovika University of Public Service organised a conference in Budapest on 13 October 2023 titled: ‘Science and disinformation: how science can support society against disinformation’. The conference explored the complex relationship between science, society, and disinformation. A panel discussion was held with the aim of examining the challenges and strategies for science communication in the context of the ever-increasing issues of dis-/misinformation. The discussion highlighted the multifaceted factors that influence public trust in science; the role of digital culture on science communication and scientific knowledge production; the impact of artificial intelligence; and the relationship between science and business developments on science disinformation, especially on science-related conspiracy theories. The participants helped shed light on how science communication strategies can be improved to stabilise trust in a multi-stakeholder information environment. This article summarises the main insights and conclusions from the discussion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following academic globalization, successful integration into the international research community is a fundamental interest for all participating countries. The success of these internationalization processes, however, are often under scrutiny, and the results are rarely unequivocal. This holds true for Central and Eastern Europe, which usually is described as a semiperipheral region of global knowledge production. Analyzing the publication and citation indices of 365 Hungarian social scientists in one national (Hungarian Scientific Bibliography) and two global (Scopus, Google Scholar) databases, we explicate the current international impact of Hungarian academic research while exploring pivotal factors behind the major differences between databases. Our results indicate that Hungarian scholars lag behind their peers in neighboring countries, necessitating effective policy measures. To this end, the analysis recommends the use of standardized global publication databases instead of national datasets, while still acknowledging the shortcomings of the latter in research assessment protocols. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The safety of journalists reporting from conflict zones is a complex issue as they are exposed to a variety of challenges on a daily basis. This research aims to identify those multi-dimensional challenges that make Balochistan one of the world's riskiest places for journalists. Based on 30 in-depth interviews with journalists working in the area, the authors found that the dynamics of conflict in Balochistan are different from those in other parts of Pakistan. Their findings reveal that different threatening agents – nationalist movements, separatist groups, the international agencies active there and the high level of extremism – all mean that journalists often cannot even identify the exact sources of threats. Moreover, journalists state that they receive no help from their media houses when they are reporting from conflict zones and look to the Pakistani army to protect the interests of the Baloch people while facing such challenges and risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on a unique dataset of Hungarian citizens (n = 767), this study investigates the importance of various populist values through the analysis of differences between the attitudes of pro-Trump and anti-Trump respondents. The results show a strong correlation between Trump sympathy and populist attitudes. While populism is often defined as an anti-elite ideology, our most important finding is that anti-elitist attitudes are irrelevant in differentiating populists from non-populists, while in-group solidarity, preferences for a homogenous society, fast-action, and anti-science beliefs are. At the same time, anti-elitism raises opposition to pluralist forms that in turn contribute to pro-Trumpism. This suggests that there is a need for further research on populist attitudes that should account for the importance of cultural and historical context in interpreting them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]