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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]

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]

Prior research has delved into the diverse effects that social media news consumption has over broader social media interaction patterns. From social ties curation, to ties filtering, blocking, and other behaviors, social media news consumption has been empirically deemed to influence the way citizens socialize in these virtual spaces. Drawing on a diverse and nationally representative two wave-panel data from Spain, this study builds on this strand of the literature by investigating the role of social media news, social media culture of impunity and social media envy or feelings of jealousy, and resentment toward others, over trolling and insulting people in social media. Results show that social media news has a direct association with malicious trolling but does not fuel abusive verbal interactions. The latter is mainly explained by individuals who embrace a culture of impunity – the expectation that in social media one may commit a crime or violation and not be held accountable–, and social media envy. Furthermore, there is a positive divergent interaction between social media envy and culture of impunity on insulting other citizens. That is, people who report higher levels of social media envy and culture of impunity tend to engage in insulting others the most in social media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research has shown positive attitudes toward journalists and their roles foster pro-democratic outcomes. With the rise of social media as news sources, algorithms operate as gatekeepers, which may alter linkages between public opinion, journalists, and media trust. However, results from a panel-survey conducted in the U.S. underline citizens' preference for journalist gatekeeping in fueling trust in traditional and social media news. Conversely, preference for algorithmic news selection does not affect people's levels of trust. Furthermore, traditional news use moderates this relationship as those who report higher traditional news use and a preference for professional news gatekeeping trust traditional news the most. This study contributes to current discussions on the effects of preference for journalists' or algorithmic news selection, arguing that evaluations of journalists' editorial work remain critical to explain media trust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on Artificial Intelligence (AI) in communication research is gaining broader interest. This interdisciplinary interest has yet to be supported by a systematic scholarly definition and by a holistic theoretical framework in communication research. First, combining prior theoretical efforts from diverse disciplines in the social sciences, especially journalism and communication, this study introduces a wide-ranging working AI scholarly definition in communication research as the tangible real-world capability of non-human machines or artificial entities to perform, task solve, communicate, interact, and act logically as it occurs with biological humans. We also propose its theoretical operationalization based on two dimensions: level of performance and level of autonomy, advancing an elementary conceptual framework drawing on AI's levels of potential actions or performance the AI may accomplish, including 1) performing tasks, 2) taking decisions, and 3) making predictions; as well as AI's level of autonomy, or the agency results contingent on the degrees of human input, interaction, or supervision involved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prior research highlights broad democratic benefits of sustained public trust in the government, and the confidence that the government performs responsively addressing citizens' problems (i.e., unemployment, cost of living). As social media enhances citizens' opportunities to interact with journalists and elected officials, little is known about these communication effects on people's government trust, and citizens' evaluations about how well the government is addressing important society problems. Relying on a two-wave US representative panel survey data, this study builds on prior literature to introduce Twitter Communication with Democracy Actors : journalists and politicians, as a single, yet two-dimensional construct. Then, advancing different ordinary least squares (OLS) predictive panel models, results indicate that people who interact with democratic actors on Twitter trust the government and assess its overall functioning more positively. Additional moderating tests indicate social media interactions with democracy actors help citizens who might need it the most, specifically those who have lower levels of external political efficacy. The study provides theoretical implications of findings and suggestions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prior scholarship has consistently shown that informed citizens tend to better understand government actions, expectations, and priorities, potentially mitigating radicalism such as partaking in illegal protest. However, the role of social media may prove this relationship to be challenging, with an increasingly pervasive use of applications such as WhatsApp for information and mobilization. Findings from a two-wave US panel survey data show that WhatsApp news is negatively associated to political knowledge and positively associated to illegal protest. Less politically knowledgeable citizens also tend to engage in illegal protest more frequently. Results also suggest an influential role of political knowledge in mediating the effects of WhatsApp news over illegal protests. Those who consume more news on WhatsApp tend to know less about politics which, in turn, positively relates to unlawful political protest activities. This study suggests that WhatsApp affordances provide fertile paths to nurture illegal political protest participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As PSM change and adapt –with variable outcomes– to a digital and multiplatform environment, their roles and functions are overly under severe scrutiny. The normative expectations of PSM and their performance have been extensively discussed from a theoretical and regulatory approach, but studies from an audience perspective are still rather scarce. If PSM's primary stakeholder is to be considered the citizenship it serves, it is, therefore, vital to understand what is valuable to society and how citizens assess PSM's performance. Drawing upon representative survey data from Spain (N = 1717), this study examines the role played by structural and perceptual variables in accounting for the citizen's assessment of the national public broadcaster (TVE), considering six roles: watchdog, analysis, mobilization, public forum, social empathy, and information. Findings first indicate that perceptions of independence and citizens' evaluation of TVE's journalists are positively associated with all dimensions of TVE evaluations. However, when exploring the role of political knowledge, results indicate a negative association with some of PSM's most critical functions. All in all, our research illustrates that, despite all the changes in the media landscape, when it comes to delivering the news, citizens seem to stick to values traditionally associated with PSM: independent and qualified journalism trained for and committed to the public service of delivering accurate and unbiased information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to significant transformations in citizens' news consumption habits and the arrival of on-demand multi-platform services, today's public service media (PSM) face substantial challenges to endure their core public principles. Moreover, PSMs' need and legitimacy are being questioned from both a liberal and a populist standpoint, opening up discussions about its sustainability. However, little academic attention has been paid to citizens' paying intent in the context of PSM. To mend this gap in the literature, this study examines expenditure on news and entertainment services and Spain's public television (RTVE) service quality as two potential direct predictors of paying intent for public service media, as well as the moderating role of citizens' age. Findings indicate that higher expenditure on news and entertainment services is associated with lower paying intent for public service media, while higher perceptions of RTVE service quality positively influence paying intent. Finally, challenging prior literature, our findings revealed that the younger generations are the most likely to economically support PSM at all levels of RTVE service quality. This study emphasizes the need for PSMs to reinforce their quality offer and uniqueness and theorizes about different ways to achieve this goal in today's multi-platform environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]