Journalism and Media

This article provides empirical evidence of ‘defensive mediatization strategies’ in the field of sport. These are strategies used by actors individually and collectively to control and sometimes avoid media publicity—for example, by refusing requests for media interviews, or in the case of an organization, by making media literacy training available to its staff. In this article, we use the concept of defensive mediatization strategies to identify and illuminate some of the challenges facing professional sports journalists in the postbroadcast era. The article draws on findings from an ongoing study of the relationships between professional sports organizations, athletes, and journalists, but reports only on interviews conducted with experienced sports journalists in Ireland and Britain (n = 16). Our analysis identifies a number of defensive mediatization strategies used by sports organizations, including increased levels of in-house media, differential treatment of journalists, and an increasingly competitive stance towards journalism generally. We also consider a potentially more pernicious strategy: the hiring of professional sports journalists as internal communications advisers—a switching of role positions that might be termed ‘poacher turned gamekeeper’. The article organizes findings according to the three categories of defensive mediatization strategies identified in the extant literature (persistence, shielding, and immunization) and proposes a fourth category, which we label steering. Full article

Arguably, social media provides a new playground for the ever-expanding processes of neoliberal subjectivation in accordance with social or ethical standards such as the principles of performance and pleasure, competitiveness and consumerism vis à vis the general population. According to relevant data analyzed in the context of this research, any corresponding model anticipating such tendencies may seem to have limited validity in the context of Hungary, applying to certain segments of the population (aged 18–35) using social networking sites, but not necessarily a general experience. Thus, the present paper offers a theoretical and a Hungarian youth-focused empirical framework based on contemporary experiences for understanding the domestic nuances of real or perceived processes of neoliberal subjectivation. Full article

This article examines the tension between journalistic and entertainment values in live soccer TV commentary from the perspective of German commentators. We situate journalistic and entertainment values within the commentators’ wider understanding of their roles as sports journalists and commentators, looking at a specific type of sports journalist who has different responsibilities from the general sports reporter. We asked how soccer commentators assess the role of journalistic and entertainment values in their work, and what constraints they face, such as how the perceived expectations of their employer affect this assessment. We interviewed 28 TV commentators, one radio commentator, and one expert working for relevant German TV channels and streaming platforms, such as ZDF, Sky, and DAZN. While all interviewees see themselves as companions telling the story of the match, most commentators in the sample value journalistic values over entertainment values, a surprising finding in the hyper-commercialized world of sports television. Well-founded journalistic expertise and soccer knowledge are considered most important. However, this assessment depends on factors such as the broadcaster’s guidelines and the nature of the match. In summary, the role of the commentator is either an ‘objective mediator’ or an ‘emotional entertainer’, but this is a balancing act. Full article

Audience participation is a contested issue in newsrooms and can challenge journalistic authority. By conducting a mixed-method analysis of a decade (2009–2018) of metajournalistic discourse (N = 135) on participatory journalism in two leading trade magazines in the US and Germany (Columbia Journalism Review and Journalist), this study aims to contribute to the field’s understanding of how and in which contexts audience participation is covered in public discourse and of reasons for positive and negative public evaluations of participatory journalism. The results show that while metajournalistic discourse covered participatory journalism in all stages of the news production process, notable differences in the coverage emerged depending on the specific context factors of participation dealt with. It is therefore depicted as a pervasive and multi-faceted phenomenon. 93 articles featured an evaluation: 53% depicted participatory journalism positively, 16% negatively and 31% left a mixed impression. Several themes emerged in the reasons for these evaluations, some of which are exact opposites, indicating that the presented evaluation depends on the specific circumstances of audience participation, namely the contexts of participatory journalism, the degree of involvement and character of audience participation and the resources available to the journalists. Full article

Newspaper sports departments in Germany are reacting to changes in social media by expanding their offerings and employing a variety of publishing and engagement strategies. In this constantly evolving media environment, it is important to understand how newsrooms utilize social media to inform their audiences. This study examines the approaches German newspapers apply to publishing sports content on social media, and outlines how users interact with these posts. In analyzing these aspects, this paper applies theoretical elements of agenda setting and audience engagement, gender in media, and quality and diversity of published content. Social media posts were examined across eight German publications, totaling 3633 posts from Twitter and Facebook. Results in the study, which is part of the global 2021 Social Media International Sports Press Survey, highlighted how most of the content published by German newspapers on social media aimed to redirect users to the publications’ websites. The findings also reflect how social media is used less as an editorial space and more as part of a campaign to increase the audience. These results demonstrate challenges for the quality of sports coverage distributed via social networks in Germany. Full article

Thanks to digital media communication, customers can receive targeted communications. Political actors increasingly engage in political marketing on social media in order to strengthen and propagate propaganda. There is enough evidence of a coordinated effort to spread official propaganda and imitate digital support with the aim of influencing and manipulating social media users, as well as the public opinion, primarily through official Twitter accounts and influencers on TikTok, using the Salario Rosa (Pink Salary) social program as cover. Through data mining and visualization tools, we gathered information about Tweets and TikTok videos containing the hashtag #SalarioRosa, and a variety of correlated hashtags, which is the main goal of this analysis. Our research indicates that traditional “brute force” astroturfing campaigns and a novel “mimicking conversation” tactic were employed to promote and raise awareness about political figures as well as to improve their reputation by manipulating the public opinion on social media platforms, without taking into account the negative impact on the current reality of women living in the State of Mexico, as stated in the Pink Salary for Vulnerability program. Full article

The purpose of this article is to discuss to what extent the coverage of urban violence by local television news in Brazil has been impacted by journalists’ fear and their distancing from regions of armed conflict, leading to the development of new professional routines and, in particular, the use of WhatsApp. Our methodology included in-depth interviews with 13 journalists occupying different positions in the hierarchy of the newsrooms of the 4 main TV stations in the country. The testimonies suggest that aggression and hostility against journalists drove professionals away from certain territories and turned them toward new technologies and citizen co-production as ways out for local crime coverage. On the other hand, this dynamic creates challenges for journalism itself. One of the main concerns is the verification of content. Full article

School districts are quickly adopting one-to-one mobile device programs for children as early as kindergarten, but evidence of successful device integration is mixed. One important area to consider is the home-school connection, i.e., the role of parents and the home environment in supporting or hindering children’s school-based technology use. Previous research has looked extensively at teacher-related barriers and facilitators of classroom technology use, as well as parent-related barriers and facilitators of home technology use. However, the home and school spheres are highly interconnected, especially for young children. Therefore, this survey-based case study explored the relationships between children’s at-home technology use, their parents’ attitudes towards technology, and their in-school tablet use utilizing a sample of 258 parents of kindergartners in a racially and socioeconomically diverse district that had recently adopted a one-to-one tablet program. Results highlight the ubiquity of kindergartners’ home device use and parents’ general optimism towards both home- and school-based digital devices. Full article

Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, in many parts of the Global North, the public has looked to the media as an important source of information about new developments and measures to combat the spread of the virus. The main measure propagated by governments in this respect was the mass vaccination program. In this context, two important concepts in the media coverage were herd immunity and vaccine efficacy, both of which had to be reevaluated over time. In this study, we looked at the discursive construction of “the science” in the discourse on herd immunity and vaccine efficacy in two Austrian broadsheet newspapers. Our corpus-based analysis showed a tendency to overuse linguistic items implying certainty in the face of a very fast-changing, and thus uncertain, situation. We also found evidence that these two Austrian media outlets no longer function as corrective of power, but have taken on the role of mediators of sanctioned government narratives. We argue that the uncritical reporting of government narratives in such a fluid situation has led to unresolved and unreflected inconsistencies in the reporting, arguably decreasing the public’s trust in the accuracy of the COVID-19 information presented in the media. Full article

Kenya has a history of media censorship and citizen surveillance. The advent of social media is laudable for contributing to freedom of speech and accountability in Kenya. Studies show that WhatsApp, through its group formation affordance, has largely contributed to political participation in Kenya and beyond. Kenyans see it as a ”safe” place away from government surveillance, a carry-over of authoritarian rule. This is especially so since WhatsApp is considered as private media compared to other social media platforms. For instance, many political bloggers on Twitter and Facebook perceived to be anti-establishment have been arrested and charged, but only accountable arrests have been made in connection to WhatsApp activities despite government threats. This article argues that although actors, both human and non-human, act to construct a safe community for political participation on WhatsApp, modes of exclusion and inclusion arise from the socio-technological interaction which could pose a threat to the newly founded ”safe space”. Though the study site is in Kenya, this article grapples with issues other scholars of social media and politics grapple with globally, that is, safety, security, surveillance, and political participation, among others. Full article

This research addresses current gaps in knowledge about local news provision: it considers the method for best understanding the robustness of a local news ecosystem, and it identifies the structural features of a community that are correlated with its level of local news provision. Most local news assessments to date have used the geographic location of the news provider as a proxy for coverage; here, I use (self-reported) coverage area as the marker of local news provision, allowing a more accurate representation of the communities being served. I find that median household income, population density, and the percentage of the population that is Hispanic are positively correlated with the number of outlets that cover a municipality, and are therefore significant indicators of local news provision. I further identify certain local news providers as “local news originators,” and map the number of LNOs for the 565 municipalities that make up the state of New Jersey, making this the first study to map local news provision at this level of detail for an entire state. Full article

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted societies all over the world. In an interconnected and digital global society, social media was the platform not only to convey information and recommendations but also to discuss the pandemic and its consequences. Focusing on the phase of stabilization during the first wave of the pandemic in Western countries, this work analyses the conversation around it through tweets in English. For that purpose, the authors have studied who the most active and influential accounts were, identified the most frequent words in the sample, conducted topic modelling, and researched the predominant sentiments. It was observed that the conversation followed two main lines: a more political and controversial one, which can be exemplified by the relevant presence of former US President Donald Trump, and a more informational one, mostly concerning recommendations to fight the virus, represented by the World Health Organization. In general, sentiments were predominantly neutral due to the abundance of information. Full article

This study aims to determine how the global media covered the Padma Bridge inauguration news and its contribution to achieving the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) of Bangladesh. After overcoming several obstacles, Bengalis’ desire to use their own money is set to become a reality. In this study, both qualitative and quantitative methods were used. The first stage was using convenience the sampling method to gather information on the Padma Multipurpose Bridge’s opening, from 25 June to 25 July 2022, from the usual worldwide media and TV networks. The information coverage of several news sources from various countries was subsequently investigated utilizing the content analysis approach. In one way, newspaper stories, expert comments, research papers on the Padma Bridge, government reports, the Bangladesh Planning commission, and finance ministry records have all been analysed to collect the Padma Bridge’s role in fulfilling SDGs. The data show that the Padma Bridge, which showcases Bangladesh’s financial potential, is given significant weight in the international media. The Padma Bridge will contribute to a 29% increase in Bangladesh’s development industry, a 9.5% increase in agricultural output, an 8% increase in the industrial and transportation sectors, and a 0.84% annual decrease in poverty. By the year 2041, Bangladesh hopes to be a prosperous, ecologically friendly, and socially inclusive monarchy. The Padma Bridge will facilitate the development of new rail networks, improve connectivity, and expand global trade. Through this bridge, the enhancement of people’s lifestyles and subsistence abilities is made possible in a significant way. Full article

Fabrizio Romano’s sizeable social media followings and role as influencer–sports journalist warrant attention. Romano, known for his catchphrase ‘Here We Go’, specialises in football transfers and produces multi-platform content. This study investigates how Romano’s Twitter practice informs professional understandings of sports journalism. A content and textual analysis (n = 494) was conducted of one month of Romano’s tweets and replies. Tweets were categorised according to markers of sports journalism practice. Results show Romano is professionalising sports journalism on social media and subverting understandings of personal branding through favouring objective news over subjective opinion and focusing on the professional rather than the personal. Romano’s transfer news prioritises major European football clubs, which is consistent with the trajectory of sports journalism on digital platforms. Play-by-play commentary is a minor aspect of Romano’s Twitter output, which contributes to the debate on the significance of game coverage to contemporary sports journalism. Tweets did not mention the human rights issues surrounding the World Cup starting in Qatar, even though this was a key talking point. This finding suggests that the normative assumption that sports journalists should scrutinise power and/or highlight social injustice does not always apply to all practitioners in all contexts, particularly where ultra-specialist settings are concerned. Full article

We exploit internet censorship intensity changes due to political events to study the impact of internet censorship on online laboor work in China. With a unique dataset from the Ingress (video game) community platform, a difference-in-differences design shows that an increase in China’s internet censorship intensity during politically sensitive dates, while not affecting the amount of volunteer working time, reduces online labour work efficiency by eight percent for volunteers from mainland China relative to those elsewhere. This efficiency loss due to internet censorship can be a proxy for the labour productivity loss for Chinese oversea e-commercers, freelancers and other related online workers. Full article

This study investigates the impact of mobile social networking applications in the organisation of protest movements by examining how protesters documented their participation during the 2020 #EndSARS protests as well as evaluating the themes that emerged from online activists’ tweets during the 2022 #EndSARSMemorial2 protests in Nigeria. Data for this study was obtained from a survey conducted in 2020 during the protests in Lagos and Port Harcourt, Nigeria (N = 391), and a qualitative content analysis of tweets and replies (N = 67,691) from the 2022 #EndSARSMemorial2 protest in Nigeria. Results show that there is a substantial relationship between how protesters document their participation and their day of joining the protest. Findings also demonstrate that protesters used social media platforms accessed via mobile phones to display their anger and anguish, imprecate the authorities, and rouse solidarity contagion, which ignited a memorial march for fallen activists in Nigeria. Finally, data illustrate that activists in Nigeria use these successive memorial protests to sustain the #EndSARS protest movements and their demands. Full article

WeChat has become the most popular type of social media among youngsters in China. They use it for various reasons including communicating in intimate relationships. This study aims to investigate the impact of the density of individuals’ social networks on WeChat Usage in Intimate Relationships among Chinese youngsters, guided by the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB). An online questionnaire was constructed and disseminated to respondents online. In total, 923 undergraduate students from Chinese universities completed the questionnaires. Utilizing Structural Equation Modelling, findings show that the density of individuals’ social networks has a limited impact on WeChat usage. On the other hand, TPB factors such as subjective norms and perceived control bring a substantial impact on WeChat usage, while attitude has a less significant impact. These results indicate that Chinese youngsters exhibit strong attributes of the collective culture. This study also suggests that future social media research should place more emphasis on cultural and social factors. Full article

Obtaining accurate information from social media during a crisis can be difficult, but should all information really be disseminated? Social media platforms actively filter out terrorist and violent extremist content (TVEC), but how are users themselves counteracting its spread? This paper aims to connect the research on media events with studies currently being conducted in information science and digital media research through a case study of tweets during the Vienna terror attack in late 2020. These tweets were manually coded in accordance with Braun and Clarke’s reflexive thematic analysis. This study shows that during the 2020 Vienna attack, GIFs shared on Twitter served three functions: amplification, personalisation and ethical practice. The paper ends with a discussion on the ways cats may function as a countermeasure against the prevalence of TVEC on social media during terrorist attacks and the implications of such countermeasures. Full article