Intertextuality and nationalism discourse: a critical discourse analysis of microblog posts in China

As an important dimension of contentious politics, online political discourse reveals crucial issues related to ideology, power, and identity in times of political struggle. Drawing on Norman Fairclough’s intertextual analysis approach within the paradigm of Critical Discourse Analysis in an online discursive context, this study examines the role of intertextuality in the discursive construction of social movements. It does so by analyzing how different social actors employ discursive tools to construct the pro-democracy Umbrella Movement in their online commentaries. Focusing on discourse, genre, and style, this study demonstrates how online texts draw from different intertextual resources and how they echo the broader nationalist discourse in China. In addition, this paper also uncovers how the circulation and combination of these intertextual resources in an authoritarian context form specific constructions of the Umbrella Movement.     

Producing PSAs on consumer culture: youth reception of advertising

This study is a qualitative analysis of Public Service Announcement (PSA) storyboards produced by 177 fourth and sixth-grade students as part of a Media Literacy Education program on advertising and commercial culture. The program curriculum addressed the ubiquity and hidden nature of ads, as well as gender portrayals, violence, and nutritional messages in advertising content. Textual analysis revealed differing patterns in student reception of the varied lesson topics. Students called for specific behavioral changes in PSAs for the topics of nutrition and gender, although most were limited to non-media-related behaviors such as improving eating habits and encouraging fluidity across roles more traditionally associated with masculinity or with femininity. The analysis also suggested responsibility for the problems students identified with advertising were largely based on individual, consumerist perspectives rather than on collective or social, citizen-based terms. Fourth graders’ storyboards especially indicated an apparent mimicry of mainstream commercial productions and practices. The analysis further explores these fourth and sixth graders’ underlying orientations toward the U.S. commercial media system as well as the potential strengths and limitations of a production component in MLE programs to promote outcomes associated with critical media literacy.     

War of perception: a Habermasian discourse analysis of human shield newspaper reporting during the 2014 Gaza War

In 2014, as Arabs and Israelis fought a deadly and destructive 50-day military battle in Gaza, a simultaneous war of perception was being waged in American news media. Israel claimed that Palestinian militants were using civilians as human shields. So far, however, no critical research has inquired as to whether these allegations were reported scrupulously in mainstream American news media. Thus, using a Habermasian critical discourse analysis, this study examined how five of the largest U.S. newspapers reported accusations of Palestinian human shielding. The findings herein reveal how fairly these media outlets cover one of the most enduring international struggles in modern times: the Middle East conflict. After all, as this paper will discuss, these publications play a potentially crucial role in explaining to the public the complexities of this highly destructive and deadly region of the world, which ultimately could allow citizens to participate more fully in an informed, democratic solution for peace.     

Israeli public diplomacy toward the United States: a network and narrative approach

Israel’s public diplomacy efforts in the U.S. are aimed at garnering American public support for Israeli foreign policy. This study aims to identify the networks of Israeli public diplomacy toward the United States. Using the theoretical frameworks of networked public diplomacy and strategic narrative, the authors try to understand how network strategy is used and information is circulated to create a strategic narrative. Therefore, the two methods of social network analysis and qualitative content analysis are applied to identify the networks of Israeli public diplomacy in the United States and the content produced by it. The study finds that in Israel’s public diplomacy model, the networking method stands in contrast to its government-oriented strategic narrative. Thus, new forms of communication are applied to conduct old strategies. The research identifies four types of actors who apply new public diplomacy techniques and dissects the strategic narrative they employ to affect the American public in the service of Israeli interests. Despite the effort to apply new forms of public diplomacy, strategic narrative production and dissemination remain highly governmental and closed, which is indicative of the persistence of old forms of public diplomacy.     

Structuring bodywork: control and agency in athlete injury discourse

This qualitative case study employs structuration theory to reveal d/Discourses in tension within athletic injury treatment and rehabilitation (i.e. a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I football team). A thematic analysis exposed four concurrent discourses: injury heroism, injury recovery, athlete-centered care, and body commodification. These discourses created a structurational divergence nexus that enabled and constrained members. This nexus resulted in unintended consequences for the structuring of both injury disclosure and rehabilitation. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed as well as suggestions for practitioners in other bodywork and injury-prone organizations.     

Malevolence,stigma, and social distance: Maximizing intergroup differences in HIV/AIDS discourse

This study examined the intergroup language used by young heterosexual Australians in conversations about HIV/AIDS and safe sex. Sixty male and 72 female heterosexuals participated in four‐person facilitated conversations (same‐sex or mixed‐sex) about HIV/AIDS and safe sex, which were recorded and transcribed. We focused on extracts concerning strangers or malevolent individuals who appear to be group members, along with extracts involving foreign national groups. Discourse analysis showed that groups at lower levels of social distance were constructed mainly in terms of individual responsibility. At moderate social distance, stereotypes were more negative, but sub‐typing was common, whereas at the highest levels, people were constructed entirely in intergroup terms. The findings of this study suggest that HTV prevention programs should make reference to all salient outgroups, so as to neutralize communicative strategies that strengthen intergroup boundaries as a means of reducing perceived personal threat of HIV infection.     

Dissemination of culture of conflict in the Israeli mass media: The wars in Lebanon as a case study

Societies involved in intractable conflicts develop cultures of conflict because of experiences that have lasting effects on every aspect of collective life. One product of these cultures is conflict-supporting narratives that provide illumination, justification, and explanation of the conflict reality. These narratives are selective, biased, and distortive, but play an important role in satisfying the basic sociopsychological needs of the society members involved. In these societies, journalists often serve as agents in the formulation and dissemination of these conflict-supporting narratives. The present study analyzes the presentations of narratives of the culture of conflict among Jewish Israeli journalists during Israeli wars in Lebanon. It elucidates the dominant themes of the narratives by content analysis of the news published in newspapers and broadcast on television. In addition, in order to reveal the practices used by journalists in obtaining, selecting, and publishing the news, in-depth interviews with journalists and politicians have been conducted.     

Using ICTs to create a culture of transparency: E-government and social media as openness and anti-corruption tools for societies

In recent years, many governments have worked to increase openness and transparency in their actions. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are seen by many as a cost-effective and convenient means to promote openness and transparency and to reduce corruption. E-government, in particular, has been used in many prominent, comprehensive transparency efforts in a number of nations. While some of these individual efforts have received considerable attention, the issue of whether these ICT-enabled efforts have the potential to create a substantive social change in attitudes toward transparency has not been widely considered. This paper explores the potential impacts of information and ICTs – especially e-government and social media – on cultural attitudes about transparency.     

共识与分化:网络公共事件中的社会认同建构

网络媒介的发展重构了社会传播生态。在泛众传播语境下,作为共识性仪式的传统媒介事件让位于作为冲突性实践的网络公共事件,探索新的共识凝聚方式被提上议程。本文认为,网络公共事件的常态化并不代表共识基础的完全丧失,原本由传统媒介事件提供的仪式整合功能可以在公众一致性的话语实践中重新实现。为了实现网络公共事件中的社会认同重构,应当从话语争夺、多方协作、培育"公共理性"等思路出发对公众展开话语引导。     

Diversity or homogeny: concentration of ownership and media diversity in Pakistan

Using democratic participant theory as a framework to explain media performance, this article examines the implications of ownership concentration and diversity on democracy and analyzes the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority's (PEMRA) endeavors to implement the principle of diversity as espoused in its mandate. It finds that though PEMRA accelerated the growth of electronic media in Pakistan, it failed to promote local and diverse media as PEMRA policies supported diagonal integration and lead to concentration of ownership. PEMRA was also criticized for suppressing independent media when it was brought under the control of Ministry of Information in 2007. The study concludes that regulatory mechanisms in developing countries like Pakistan are still a tool in the hands of the government to control media, and development of a participatory and diverse media is a normative ideal not yet translated into reality.     

Information networks and social media use in public diplomacy: a comparative analysis of South Korea and Japan

This article examines how South Korean and Japanese public diplomacy organizations employ digital media to embrace the principle of ‘networked public diplomacy’ through analyses of the web and social media practices. A network analysis was used to map interorganizational information networks among core public diplomacy organizations in each country. To reveal the key organizations' communication strategies on Facebook, a content analysis was also conducted. The findings indicate that Japan had a strong internal network infrastructure achieved through dispersed connections and partnerships; however, Korea had a centralized network, including a limited number of dominant actors. The results of content analysis suggest that both South Korea and Japanese public diplomats focused on promoting their cultural products and national values through their use of texts and visual images. In addition, user profile analysis gaged the degree of users' engagement in the organizations' profiles and identified the demographic features of users. Comparative data suggest the Korean public diplomacy organization was more successful at attracting and engaging with foreign public than the Japanese public diplomacy organization. These results imply that although these two countries had similar sociopolitical backgrounds and perspectives of public diplomacy, they had distinct forms of internal information networks, communication strategies, and social networking performances with public.     

Multiple issue publics in the high-choice media environment: media use,online activity,and political knowledge

This study examines the role of membership in multiple issue publics by understanding its relationship to media use, online activity, and political knowledge. Using data from Taiwan's 2008 Social Change Survey, the study shows that members of multiple issue publics was positively associated with television watching, political talk show watching, and online news reading. In addition, they were found to engage in specific online activities, including information browsing, information exchanging, information gathering, taking part in forum discussions, and blogging. Therefore, members of multiple issue publics tend to use media with a high level of selectivity and engage in online activities that allow them to express opinions, gain knowledge, or discuss issues with others. A curvilinear relationship was explored and found between multiple issue-public membership and general political knowledge. This demonstrates that individuals' ability to process information may not extend beyond certain boundaries, no matter how many issue publics individuals are involved in.     

地方医学期刊的新媒体发展之路——临床医学推广与健康宣教服务

传统媒体与新媒体的融合是大势所趋.医学期刊也面临同样的媒体融合问题.如何完成医学期刊传统纸媒和新媒体的融合,促进期刊发展,使之“1 +1 ＞2”,是每个医学期刊编辑需要思考和探索的问题.文章介绍地处沈阳的《中国实用内科杂志》发挥地方医学媒体特色,结合国家健康宣教的新理念,践行办刊宗旨,通过临床医学推广和健康宣教服务等活动,增强品牌特色,实现媒体融合.     

Authorization,rationalization, and moral evaluation: legitimizing acupuncture in Hong Kong's newspapers

Hong Kong has always been regarded as a critical region of Cultural China. Surprisingly, traditional Chinese medicine has not yet been accepted as legitimate in the city. This study uses acupuncture as a case to investigate the way media texts work to organize a field of knowledge and practices about health in a post-colonial society where contrasting perspectives and hybrid ideas rooted from the East and the West intermingle. Acupuncture is conceptualized as socially constructed health knowledge that has become increasingly legitimate in media discourse. Through a mixed-method approach that combines discourse and content analysis, a total of 666 news articles related to acupuncture published in two Hong Kong newspapers over a 10-year period were analyzed. Three major forms of discursive construction of legitimation – authorization, rationalization, and moral evaluation – were identified and elaborated in association with the texts and the social contexts. This study reveals a complex process of generating legitimacy for health knowledge through news narratives.     

中华医学会系列杂志实现全媒体出版的SWOT分析

全媒体出版的出现,标志着出版业正发生着新的变革,必定对未来产生深远的影响。中华医学会系列杂志实现全媒体出版的优势是高度的学术权威性、具有全媒体出版的基础、出色的编辑出版人才队伍,劣势是全媒体出版的基础建设存在不足、杂志质量仍需提高,机会是政策的引导、市场的契机,威胁是国外出版集团的竞争、数字化出版势必导致纸质期刊发行量下降、终端数字设备的制约、目前对科研成果评价的偏差。     

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.     

Social media in Chinese government: Drivers,challenges and capabilities

By the end of 2012, Chinese microblogging accounts had reached 309 million. Among them, over 176,000 accounts were opened and managed by Chinese government agencies, as new channels to disclose government information provide public services and interact with citizens. This study investigates the external drivers and challenges that Chinese government agencies are faced with and the internal capabilities of Chinese government agencies in using social media. The study further discusses the relationship and dynamics between the external environment and internal capabilities of Chinese government agencies in using social media. Based on the findings, the paper provides some recommendations to government agencies in China and other countries faced with similar challenges.     

Social media adoption and resulting tactics in the U.S. federal government

In 2009, the departments in the executive branch of the U.S. federal government received the presidential marching order to “harness new technologies” in order to become more transparent, collaborative and participatory. Given this mandate, this article sets out to provide insights from qualitative interviews with social media directors to understand the factors that influence internal adoption decisions to use social media applications, such as Facebook, Twitter, or blogs. Three distinct factors influence the adoption decisions of social media directors: information about best practices in their informal network of peers, passive observations of perceived best practices in the public and private sector, and “market-driven” citizen behavior. The resulting adoption tactics include: (1) representation, (2) engagement, and (3) networking. The findings point to the need for higher degrees of formalized knowledge sharing when it comes to disruptive technology innovations such as social media use in highly bureaucratic communication environments. Recommendations based on the lessons learned are provided for practitioners and social media researchers to develop social media tactics for different organizational purposes in government.     

Local e-government 2.0: Social media and corporate transparency in municipalities

Various authors have highlighted the potential contribution of the internet to enhance the interactivity, transparency, and openness of public sector entities and to promote new forms of accountability. The search for new styles of governance which promote higher levels of transparency and the engagement of citizens is viewed as a way of improving citizens' trust in governments. As the social media are becoming ubiquitous, both academics and practitioners need some initial and reliable background data about the deployment of this kind of technology at all levels. The aim of this work is to provide an overall view about the use of Web 2.0 and social media tools in EU local governments in order to determine whether local governments are using these technologies to increase transparency and e-participation, opening a real corporate dialog. In addition, the paper tries to identify which factors promote the level of development of these tools at local level. Our results show that most local governments are using Web 2.0 and social media tools to enhance transparency but, in general, the concept of corporate dialog and the use of Web 2.0 to promote e-participation are still in their infancy at the local level.     

Culture and comparative media research: Narratives about Internet privacy policy in Chinese,U.S., and UK newspapers

This article compares American, British, and Chinese news coverage of Internet privacy policies. Specifically, we examine media discourse about the “real-name” policies established by Facebook and Weibo. We find that U.S. and UK news coverage of Internet privacy policy is broadly similar, when compared with the more authoritarian–corporatist media system in China. British and U.S. newspapers were much more independent from state control, and were able to maintain a more critical stance than the Chinese newspapers. But there were additional factors that shaped the patterns in news discourse in complicated ways, which are related to (a) the difference between domestic and international news genres, (b) specific narratives about national identity, and (c) more general discourses about civil society, democracy, and the public good. We suggest that the range of comparative media research can be extended by paying attention to how these cultural factors interact with media system dynamics.