News Media Framing of Negative Campaigning

News media coverage of election campaigns is often characterized by use of the strategic game frame and a focus on politicians' use of negative campaigning. However, the exact relationship between these two characteristics of news coverage is largely unexplored. This article theorizes that consumer demand and norms of journalistic independence might induce the news media outlets to cover negative campaigning with a strategic game frame. A comprehensive content analysis based on several newspaper types, several election campaigns, and several different measurements of media framing confirms that news coverage of negative campaigning does apply the strategic game frame to a significantly larger degree than articles covering positive campaigning. This finding has significant implications for campaigning politicians and for scholars studying campaign and media effects.     

媒介生产的社会学思考

新闻的作用之一是更新社会的认知模式和受众的知识结构,但在特定社会情境下的媒介产品,只是复制了原有的社会认知模式,再一次把原有的社会权力结构和固定成见生产出来,受众在其中受益很少,甚至得到了更多的思想束缚,减弱了社会行动能力。本文从记者的专业教育与其在媒介生产中的地位、媒介生产组织的管理与分工、采写编排的模式、新闻源与媒介生产的关系、新闻价值的社会制约因素等方面来理解和批判媒介的生产过程。     

Networking or Not Working?

This paper examines journalists' changing sourcing practices in the context of an emerging media ecology initiated by processes of globalization, digitization, commercialism and concentration. Social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter or YouTube provide the means to access a more diverse range of sources, including civil society organizations and ordinary citizens. We developed a quantitative content analysis to examine to what extent Belgian news coverage showed signs of diverse sourcing practices during the 2011 uprisings in three Arab countries. We analysed a total sample of 1121 news items about the street protests in Syria, Egypt and Tunisia, in four Belgian newspapers (two popular and two quality dailies) and two Belgian broadcasters (the public broadcaster VRT and the commercial channel VTM). The analysis shows that ordinary citizens and non-mainstream groups are important news sources and that social media platforms are consulted relatively often compared to everyday foreign news coverage. In terms of inter-media differences, the findings show that broadcasters' dependency on video footage and eyewitness accounts is reflected in their use of ordinary citizen sources and amateur footage. Moreover, the analysis confirms that quality newspapers display more diverse and more innovative sourcing practices than popular newspapers.     

Selling the Story

International development agencies and charities often have a major focus on highlighting and attempting to alleviate health problems in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). In these objectives, they rely strongly on news media reporting of these problems and their solutions. This paper examines the experiences of communication staff from eight large non-governmental organisations (NGOs) of trying to secure coverage of LMIC health stories in the Australian news media. It reports on how these NGOs perceive current Australian news coverage of LMIC health, how they negotiate its “media logic” and their attempts to work within and beyond it for better coverage of LMIC health news. Their impressions of LMIC health reporting are broadly consistent with existing literature on the coverage of humanitarian and foreign news. In endeavouring to maximise exposure for their work, the agencies also sought to benefit journalists and news outlets by providing content that matched with existing notions of mainstream news. However, these NGOs are also in the process of working out how to move beyond these outlets and create news content on their own terms. Possible new avenues for the creation of such content are explored.     

Social Media References in Newspapers

Social media are increasingly being used as sources in mainstream news coverage. Yet, while the research so far has focused mainly on the use of social media in particular situations, such as breaking news coverage, during crisis news events or in times of elections, little attention is paid to journalists' routine, day-to-day monitoring of social media platforms. The aim of this study is to examine the use and selection of social media as sources in routine newspaper coverage. First, it presents a quantitative overview of all the articles published between January 2006 and December 2013 in the print editions of two Flemish (north Belgian) quality newspapers, De Standaard and De Morgen, that explicitly refer to Facebook, Twitter or YouTube. Next, a content analysis is conducted of a sample of newspaper articles published in 2013 that explicitly mention Facebook, Twitter or YouTube as sources of information. The goal of this content analysis is to examine the different appearances and functions of social media references in the news. The study thus provides a first insight into Belgian newspaper journalists' regular sourcing routines in relation to social media.     

Solutions Journalism

The media contribute to compassion fatigue—or public apathy toward human tragedy—in part by failing to present solutions to the social problems ubiquitous in today’s conflict-based news coverage. Some journalists have attempted to address this issue through a style of news labeled solutions journalism. This experiment tests the effects of this increasingly popular approach. Results revealed that discussing an effective solution to a social problem in a news story caused readers to feel less negative and to report more favorable attitudes toward the news article and toward solutions to the problem than when no solution or an ineffective solution was mentioned. Reading about an effective solution did not, however, impact on readers’ behavioral intentions or actual behaviors. This suggests that solution-based journalism might mitigate some harmful effects of negative, conflict-based news, but might not inspire action.     

Murder She Searched: The Effect of Violent Crime and News Coverage on Residents’ Information Needs

This study examines local web search data as a window into residents’ information needs surrounding the issue of urban crime. Media system dependency theory is used to explain the dynamic, interdependent relationships between changes in the local crime rate (i.e., the social system), news coverage of crime (i.e., the media system), and residents’ (i.e., the audience’s) online searches for crime-related information. It was hypothesized that crime rates and news coverage of crime would increase residents’ information needs, motivating residents to go online to search for crime-related information to cope with an increased sense of uncertainty. The responsiveness of local newspapers to residents’ dynamic information needs was also evaluated. In an initial study in Minneapolis, Minnesota, violent crime and newspaper coverage of crime did predict online searches for crime-related information. But news coverage did not predict searches for crime-related information in a follow-up study in St. Louis, Missouri. Coverage in neither city’s newspapers was responsive to changes in aggregate crime-related online searches. Reasons for differences between the two cities are discussed, as are theoretical implications for future efforts to assess what local residents’ information needs are and to evaluate whether they are being met.     

The Symbiosis of News Coverage and Aggregate Online Search Behavior: Obama,Rumors, and Presidential Politics

Using a relatively new approach, this study examines the agenda-setting effects of television and newspaper coverage of a prominent rumor from the 2008 presidential election: the rumor that Barack Obama was secretly Muslim. In doing so, we look at the relationship between online information-seeking behavior and mass media news coverage, expecting online behavior, such as search, to be a function of exposure to conventional news coverage rather than vice versa. Using Google search trends as a novel search behavior measure, we demonstrate that volume of news coverage positively predicts spikes in aggregate search.     

Personal Bias or Government Bias? Testing the Hostile Media Effect in a Regulated Press System

This study examines the hostile media effect in relation topartisans’ perception of the slant of news coverage ina highly regulated press environment—Singapore. We foundthat partisans in Singapore perceived unbiased news to be infavor of the other side, while the nonpartisans perceived thesame news to be neutral. Our findings show that hostile mediaeffects can persist in a restricted press environment wherepeople are aware of the government's control of media coverage.We also found that partisans’ awareness of the government'scontrol of media information contributed to their perceptionof the article slant as well. Received for publication May 9, 2006. Accepted for publication December 5, 2006.     

社会化媒体使用与公共事件认知及参与——针对微博活跃用户问卷调查分析

[目的/意义]探讨信息媒介特别是社会化媒体的使用情况、对传统媒体与社会化媒体公正与全面程度判断,与用户对公共话题认知程度、参与情况之间的关系。[方法/过程]对585名微博活跃用户进行问卷调查,考察他们对于各类型媒体特别是社会化媒体的使用情况、公信力判断,以及对25个公共事件的认知和参与情况。[结果/结论]媒体（无论是传统媒体还是网络媒体）使用频率越高,对公共事件认知水平越高;对于负面特定事件,受社会媒体影响越高的用户自认为对此类事件的认知度越低,而受电视影响越高的用户自认为对这类事件认知度越高;尽管抽样用户认为微博较之传统媒体,报道全面程度和公正程度更高,但信息不一致的情况下,用户选择相信电视、门户网站、报纸等渠道高于微博。     

Inter-media agenda setting in global news production: examining agenda attributes in newspaper coverage of the MH370 incident in the U.S., China,and Hong Kong

The disappearance of Malaysian Airline Flight MH370 attracted high media attention across countries. To explore how news media outlets influence each other in transnational settings, this study focuses on the coverage of MH370 by three major newspapers in the U.S., China, and Hong Kong, and examines the inter-media agenda-setting effect as an indicator of media’s mutual influence. A content analysis of 255 news articles revealed significant correlations among the issue agendas of the 3 newspapers, suggesting the existence of reciprocal, though asymmetrical, influence among the news media in the U.S., China, and Hong Kong. The findings also suggest that news media differ in power and that news media in high-power countries play a key role in shaping the global news agenda.     

Assessing the Role of Information-Processing Strategies in Learning From Local News Media About Sources of Social Capital

This study examines the mediating effects of information-processing strategies on the relationship between use of local news media, informational use of the Internet, and sources of social capital: interpersonal trust, reciprocity, and associational membership. Analyses of a telephone survey data (n = 546) of American adults show that even though local news media were influential, information-processing strategies were more powerful than attention in explaining learning from local news media about social norms at the individual level. These findings support the usefulness of the cognitive mediation model of information-processing behaviors in examining learning from local news media about social norms. Of the two strategies, elaborative processing played a more important role than active reflection in the mediating process. Informational use of the Internet had a significant and independent effect on associational membership, after demographic, structural anchoring, local media use, and information-processing measures were statistically controlled.     

Islamophobia in China: news coverage,stereotypes, and Chinese Muslims’ perceptions of themselves and Islam

An analysis spanning 10 years of news reports about Muslims and Islam in Chinese state news media (N?=?15,427) demonstrates that Chinese news reports project an overall negative view of Muslims. An implicit association test performed in the non-Muslim Chinese population (N?=?1479) reveals negative stereotypes of Muslims. In addition, a survey of Chinese Muslims (N?=?384) shows that they perceive negative coverage of Muslims and Islam in Chinese media, and that real-life discrimination might be a consequence of such negative stereotyping. This study reveals that (1) there is an overall negative framing of news coverage of Muslims and Islam; (2) non-Muslim Chinese hold a negative stereotype of Muslims and Islam; (3) Chinese Muslims are cognizant of a negative media portrayal of Islam and of themselves; and (4) some Muslim Chinese experience discrimination in their daily lives. The present study contributes to the literature on global Islamophobia, a phenomenon that is understudied in China.     

Constructing Dysfunction: News Coverage of Teenagers and Social Media

Cultural storytellers such as journalists play a meaningful role in shaping how adults think about the role that social media play in teenagers’ lives. To better assess what adults might be learning, we employed a critical, qualitative approach to examine how contemporary news media constructed cultural understandings of teens’ relationship with social media. Our analysis of 339 print and online news articles from 2013–2014 found that the news media constructed a mediated reality that placed dysfunction as the defining characteristic of teens’ relationship with social media. The news articles consistently positioned teenagers and social media as at odds with one another, entwined in an unhealthy, frequently dangerous union. Discussions of the self-expressive, creative, and communicative practices of teen social media users were undermined or absent altogether. Altogether, the coverage created a mediated reality that denied teenage agency and obscured the diversity of teenagers’ experiences and social media practices.     

The gods are drinking milk! Word‐of‐mouth diffusion of a major news event in India

The objective of this study is to explore whether the US media overemphasized recalled Chinese products in 2007 and, if so, how news coverage in the US media differed from that of the Chinese media. By using a framing analysis of the coverage in two US media and two Chinese media, this study pursues answers to these questions. After comparing the news coverage of the recalled Chinese products and a real world indictor, this study found that neither US nor Chinese media mirrored the real world phenomenon as it was. By comparing news coverage of the issue in The New York Times and The Associated Press with China Daily, and The Xinhua News Agency, the study found that news coverage of the recalled issues differed significantly in terms of the sources used, the nationality of the source, the dominant frames employed, and the attribution of responsibility for the problems. In particular, Chinese media more frequently employed government officials as their main sources, which inherently increased the use of thematic frames. By contrast, US media often used episodic frames. Likewise, American media approached the issues using ‘Customers' Worries’ and ‘Broken System’ frames, whereas Chinese media often attempted to defend the quality of Chinese products and criticized Western media for exaggerating the issues. Owing to the news framing process, US audiences might have acquired more negative images of Chinese products and China in general. By contrast, their Chinese counterparts might have experienced increased antipathy and distrust concerning the American media.     

Communicating deviance: The effects of television news coverage of social protest

Past research raises concern that media coverage may unfairly bias the audience against social protesters by portraying them as deviant. Furthermore, negative treatment of protest groups may discourage protest as a form of democratic participation. To examine whether such concerns are indeed warranted, an experiment was conducted exposing 266 subjects to one of two television news stories about the same protest. Results indicate that subtle differences in the news stories led to significant differences in subjects’ perceptions of the protesters and police, but no differences in perceptions of the utility of social protest in general.     

EFFECTS OF ATTENTION TO CAMPAIGN COVERAGE ON POLITICAL TRUST

This study examines whether or not attention to campaign newsinfluences political trust. It also explores whether politicaltrust predicts attention to campaign news, and whether the mechanismof influence between attention to campaign news and politicaltrust differs across educational levels. Political trust wasoperationalized as trust in government. The 1992 American NationalElection Survey data were used. Results of two-stage least squaresanalysis show that attention to television campaign coveragereduced trust in government, while a low level of trust in governmentincreased attention to newspaper campaign coverage. More importantly,the mechanism of influence between political trust and attentionto campaign coverage differed across educational levels. Amongthe less educated, attention to campaign coverage on televisionled to lower levels of trust. Among the more educated, a lowlevel of trust in government increased attention to campaigncoverage. The findings also indicate that the types of media(television vs. newspapers) matter when it comes to media effectson political trust, Implications of findings on the relationshipsbetween the concepts of political trust, vigilant skepticism,education, and media use are discussed.     

Poll Reporting and Journalistic Paradigm: A Study of Popularity Poll Coverage in Hong Kong Newspapers

Opinion polling has become a common feature in news and public discourse in Hong Kong. This study examines how local newspapers cover popularity polls about the government and its leaders. It is hypothesized that newspapers adhering to different journalistic paradigms would cover such popularity polls differently in terms of the inclusion of methodological information, use of news sources, emphasis on negative versus positive results, treatment of polls conducted by different entities, and use of visual means of representations. A content analysis was conducted on four newspapers which represent the professionalism, populism, and propaganda paradigms, respectively. The results show that there are both similarities and differences in the poll coverage of the newspapers, with the differences mostly corresponding to the differences in journalistic paradigms. The results also point to a number of phenomena about news media in Hong Kong and poll reporting in general.     

Social media,legacy media and gatekeeping: the protest paradigm in news of Ferguson and Charlottesville

ABSTRACT

This study investigates the site of intersection between legacy and social media, whereby it asks how local legacy media (St Louis Post-Dispatch and Richmond Times-Dispatch) invoked social media (Facebook and Twitter) discourse within their coverage of the Ferguson (2014) and Charlottesville (2017) events. It thus explores how gatekeeping is manifested and, consequently, how the protest paradigm emerged in a news landscape of proliferating social media. Thematic textual analysis indicates that coverage of Charlottesville and Ferguson clearly relied on indulging the social media sphere in important ways. Common themes of social media as multipurpose platforms, as interfacing with law and order, and as reconciling material and digital modes culminating in social activism were revealed. The study shows that the protest paradigm that has long characterized legacy media’s coverage of social protest is not as “pure” as it may once have been, since a social media component is helping define the contours and content of legacy media’s landscape.     

从美国媒体报道看PNTR的通过

20 0 0年美国媒体对中美永久正常贸易关系 (PNTR)的报道 ,数量大、范围广、观点多。同时 ,围绕这一主题的报道 ,又体现出经济问题政治化、国际报道国内化的特点。总之 ,政府和工商界的影响 ,媒体自身的利益 ,推动了此次报道较以往对华负面报道的积极变化 ,促成了PNTR的通过。但美国媒体对PNTR的正面报道应看作是特例。