Figuring Radicalization: Congressional Narratives of Homeland Security and American Muslim Communities

This essay focuses on the language of domestic radicalization as it has been invoked in recent debates regarding homeland security and the specter of homegrown Islamic terrorism. The language of radicalization is not new. However, beginning in 2004 and 2005 this language began to be appropriated into legislative and law enforcement discussions of domestic terrorism and national security. Using the rhetorical figure of polyptoton as a critical frame, this essay explores how the language of radicalization has evolved and how it has come to shape available arguments and define the legitimacy of participants (and non-participants) within recent congressional hearings and legislation.     

Data mining and the search for security: Challenges for connecting the dots and databases

Data mining is emerging as one of the key features of many homeland security initiatives. Often used as a means for detecting fraud, assessing risk, and product retailing, data mining involves the use of data analysis tools to discover previously unknown, valid patterns and relationships in large data sets. In the context of homeland security, data mining is often viewed as a potential means to identify terrorist activities, such as money transfers and communications, and to identify and track individual terrorists themselves, such as through travel and immigration records. However, compared to earlier uses of data mining by government, some of the homeland security data mining applications represent a significant expansion in the quantity and scope of data to be analyzed. Three of the higher profile initiatives include the now defunct Terrorism Information Awareness (TIA) project, the recently canceled Computer-Assisted Passenger Prescreening System II (CAPPS II), and the Multistate Anti-Terrorism Information Exchange (MATRIX) pilot project. This article examines the evolving nature of data mining for homeland security purposes, the limitations of data mining, and some of the issues raised by its expanding use, including data quality, interoperability, mission creep, and privacy.     

Citizens' social media use and homeland security information policy: Some evidences from Twitter users during the 2013 North Korea nuclear test

In the era of Web 2.0, managing risk communication on social networking sites has increasingly become crucial and complicated issues in the field of homeland security. The response to the 2013 nuclear test in North Korea was largely based on a coordinated effort by Korea's Ministry of Defense, the United Nations, and many countries from around the globe. By analyzing risk communication networks emerged from Twitter users for the period from January 30 to February 24, 2013, this study investigates the way in which citizens' risk communication is formulated through social media and how they transmit risk information in homeland security. Analysis results show the dynamic evolution of risk communication networks based on influential actors with critical information who played pivotal roles in distributing this information to other actors.     

Homeland security and information

A new phrase—“homeland security”—has come into popular parlance in the aftermath of recent terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. As an evolving concept, it draws definition from, and has implications for, various policy areas and actions. This introductory essay reviews the development of two similar policy concepts—national security and internal security—before exploring homeland security, and the significance of each for information policy and practice.     

Do you know where your information is in the homeland security era?

Why should we care about our information? As we enter the era of homeland security, one can see a new premium being placed on the role of information to fight terrorism while the policies related to government information practices are in a state of flux. Exactly how these policies are evolving is not always clear. Yet, the decisions being made now will likely have a lasting impact for years to come. In an attempt to better understand dynamics underlying these changes, a number of questions regarding the use, control, and protection of personal and public information are posed in this introduction to the symposium issue. We also review some of the major themes examined in greater detail by the contributors to the symposium. These issues include the role of e-government in homeland security, the emphasis on information sharing, the emergence of new information classification categories, the growth of data mining, and the eroding sense of privacy. While a number of reasons can be offered to justify one policy alternative over another, we conclude that the importance of these issues suggests that they are best debated and implemented during a time not under duress when decisions made in the heat of the moment can lead to unintended consequences.     

BRITISH PARTY ELECTION BROADCASTS IN THE 1950s

The debate about the American influence on political communication practices worldwide has raised a range of issues about how such a process might work. Much of the research in the field, however, has examined possible influences on practices in the last quarter of the twentieth century. By then, it could be argued, common global practices had become established in many Western Democracies. The aim of this paper is to explore a period before these changes had taken place, namely the 1950s and the 1960s, when television was still in its infancy in both Britain and the US, when new and different practices were being tried out and a period in which it might still be possible to look at influences at the dawn of political broadcasting. By focusing on the emergence and development of a specific form of political communication, namely, dedicated, unmediated, paid-for or free party election communication, in the US and in Britain in this early period, it might be possible to examine if, and how, American practices might have influenced British ones. Using unpublished work drawing on a range of archives and personal interviews that focus on interactions across the Atlantic, this paper argues that in this period, the two countries developed a range of different practices that cannot easily lend support to the idea of Americanisation. The paper concludes with a discussion of the need for more research into the domestic negotiations of transatlantic interactions.     

Walter White(ness) lashes out: Breaking Bad and male victimage

This essay situates the television show Breaking Bad (BB) and its critical reception in the context of American politics following the economic and political events of 2008. Reading the show as an allegory, I demonstrate that it offered a pathway for viewers to maintain investments and commitments to a toxic, white masculinity threatened by 2008’s economic and political dislocations. Taking the show up for its capacity to allegorize the human experience, Breaking Bad’s critically acclaimed status among viewers from widely divergent political positions suggests that the investment in raced and gendered ideas of individual freedom crosses partisan lines, indicating that American national identity and white masculinity share a mutually sustaining incoherence. Understanding the cultural roots of American victimage evident in post-2008 America helps explain how BB distinguished itself from similar masculine “anti-hero” dramas.     

Native Americans and the U.S. Census: A brief historical survey

This article traces the history of the enumeration of American Indians by the U.S. Census Bureau and its predecessors. It considers the social and political background of the census and the reasons that Native Americans were not counted by the census until 1890. It also examines the changes in the enumeration and definition of Native Americans—key concepts needed to provide effective reference service for users of Census Bureau data.     

Letters to the Editor as a Forum for public deliberation: modes of publicity and democratic debate

–This paper traces, through in-depth interviews with San Francisco Bay letters editors, the criteria editors use to select letters, and examines how these criteria contribute to constructing the public by privileging certain forms of expression, and suppressing others. In constructing a theoretical framework, the paper draws on political philosophy to distinguish between three prevalent modes of publicity: Exhibitionist publicity, focused on the display of individual greatness; dialogist publicity, emphasizing democratic dialogue between groups and individuals; and activist publicity, which entails the confrontation between groups that seek to advance political goals. With this framework in mind, it is argued that editors' policies on letters selection bring about two orientations toward public debate: First, editors privilege individual expression over the expression of activist groups. Secondly, editors prefer the emotionally charged stories of individuals. These orientations challenge the ideals of rationality and deliberation that underlie the practice of dialogist publicity, as well as the contestatory nature of activist publicity. Instead, editors' principles favor an exhibitionist publicity. The paper explores the political philosophical implications of this orientation, arguing that while it does not square with democratic ideals, we must be cognizant of how such display can bring about social solidarity.     

美国地方公共图书馆危机管理研究——基于各州图书馆法的分析

论文分析了美国各州公共图书馆法中的危机管理条款,包括图书馆资料盗窃、消防安全、网络安全、资金安全、设施安全等。并在比较分析我国部分省、市公共图书馆管理条例中相关问题的基础上,探讨了美国各州公共图书馆立法实践对我国公共图书馆立法的启示。     

Federal government information policy and public policy analysis: A brief overview

The information policy of the federal government of the United States has been evolving for well over 200 years, with antecedents in the British, colonial, and Confederation experiences. Having a variety of themes, (e.g., accountability, records management, accessibility, security, and privacy), it is a policy of complexity, both in terms of interrelationships among its themes and political dynamics, which is to acknowledge that all three branches have contributed to its substance, and that balance among competing forces has been neither easily realized nor maintained. Moreover, it concerns values of particular importance for a democracy, such as realizing a government that is accountable to the citizenry and protects the security of the nation. It continues to evolve, adjust, and change due to a variety of factors, new political environments and information technology being among the foremost. Policy analysis, discussed here in several dimensions, may be applied to understand not only information policy of the past and the present, but also what might be modified, adjusted, or created anew for the future. Ultimately, in all instances of policy analysis application, the end result, hopefully, will be more informed decision making.     

The effects of September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on public and private information infrastructures: a preliminary assessment of lessons learned

This article provides a preliminary assessment of the impact of the September 11, 2001, attacks on public and private information infrastructures. As the events of the day demonstrated, information technology promises to play a critical role in future homeland security initiatives. Over the past two decades, information technology has become increasingly integrated into the day-to-day operations of most organizations. The dependability and continuity of information infrastructures can be a determining factor of how well an organization will be able to respond to a catastrophic event. The article considers some of the lessons learned from September 11 as both government and business move forward to rebuild and reinforce their technology assets. Although many lessons can be identified, they emphasize three general principles: the establishment and practice of comprehensive continuity and recovery plans, the decentralization of operations, and the development of system redundancies to eliminate single points of weakness.     

Dual effects of the internet on political activism: Reinforcing and mobilizing

By analyzing the Citizenship Involvement Democracy survey conducted on American citizens, this paper investigates categorical and demographic disparities between online and offline political participants and examines the two-sided effects (reinforcing and mobilizing) of the internet on political participation. The analysis presents three main findings. First, those who participate in online political activity do not differ categorically from those who conduct their political activity offline. Second, cross-group differences in how actively individuals participate in political activity make little distinction between offline and online modes. There is a trade-off between the generational gap in online political activity and the racial gap in offline political activity, but the gap in political participation between the socioeconomically advantaged and their counterparts appears in both online and offline political activities. Finally, the internet plays a dual role in mobilizing political participation by people not normally politically involved, as well as reinforcing existing offline participation.     

Fake News as a Critical Incident in Journalism

This study examines how American newspapers made sense of the issue of fake news. By analysing newspaper editorials and considering the problem of fake news as a critical incident confronting journalism, this study found that news organizations in the US recognize fake news as a social problem while acknowledging the challenge in defining it. They generally considered fake news as a social media phenomenon thriving on political polarization driven by mostly ideological, but sometimes also financial, motivations. Therefore, they assigned blame for the rise of fake news to the current political environment, to technological platforms Google and Facebook, and to audiences.     

Villains and heroes of the great depression: The evolution of Father Coughlin's fantasy themes

This article traces the development of Father Charles E. Coughlin's rhetoric as it evolved over a six‐year period during the height of his popularity, from 1930 to 1936. Bormann's Fantasy‐Theme method was used to evaluate Coughlin's rhetoric. The findings offer insight into Symbolic Convergence Theory by demonstrating how Coughlin attempted to integrate his political and personal agenda with changing social context and audience needs. The implication is that fantasy themes are open systems, which are circumstantially constructed and thus evolve and change over time.     

Discourse in the Balance: American Presidential Discourse About Climate Change

According to NASA (2018), 17 of the 18 hottest years on record have occurred since 2000. In an effort to better understand the political communication of American leaders surrounding this environmental exigency, I systematically examined invocations of climate change in the spoken communications of presidents George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama. I identified three discursive approaches that were likely to appear in these communications: a general environmental emphasis, foregrounding, and sidestepping. Results from a content analysis showed these presidents were most likely to employ foregrounding, with a focus on the economy. Democrats were more likely to employ a general environmental emphasis, while the Republicans were more likely to sidestep the issue of climate change. In addition, presidents were more likely to emphasize national security as time passed. Implications are discussed for public understanding about climate change and future policy when presidents focus on economic matters and national security.     

Sexual Harassment in the News: The United States and France

This article documents and accounts for important differences in press coverage of sexual harassment in the United States and France. Compared to French press coverage, American reporting on sexual harassment has been much more extensive and more likely to focus on domestic sexual harassment scandals involving political individuals or institutions. This is attributed largely to the American press greater reliance on business, greater journalistic freedom, stronger traditions of investigative journalism, as well as more inclusive legal definitions of sexual harassment. While silent on French scandals, due to global political realities, the French press has reported extensively on American sexual harassment scandals and has been more dismissive of the problems of sexual harassment and (American) feminist activists when reporting on the United States. This article further analyzes how each press has framed the problem of sexual harassment and how such framing varies by story and over time.     

From Dogmatism to Open-Mindedness? Historical Reflections on Methods in Audience Reception Research

The article traces, from the perspective of audience reception research, the gradual methodological rapprochement of once hostile methodological paradigms: the quantitatively oriented uses-and-gratifications research and the qualitatively anchored reception research. While recognizing that the methodological differences stem ultimately from different epistemological perspectives, the article describes how these differences have been played out on the terrain of empirical methodologies for conducting fieldwork on audience practices and meanings. The article considers four stages of this rapprochement: (1) antagonistic self-sufficiency; (2) separate camps; (3) self-critical coexistence; and (4) complementarity and collaboration.     

Framing the Sacco-Vanzetti Executions in the Italian American Press

The trial and execution of Sacco and Vanzetti comprised one of the most controversial episodes of the early 20th century. For Italian Americans, the case symbolized their community's marginal status even as it offered them an unprecedented opportunity to challenge institutionalized forms of discrimination. To assess the role of the Italian American press in mediating social change, this essay offers a comparative analysis of how bourgeois, anarchist and communist Italian American newspapers framed their coverage of the Sacco-Vanzetti executions. The press reported these events within various conflict frames; in addition, anarchist papers developed an episodic frame to commemorate the deaths of Sacco and Vanzetti, while bourgeois and communist papers developed thematic coverage that promoted competing political agendas in response to these events. Although this varied coverage encouraged diverse constituencies to rally in support of the two Italian-born anarchists, its opposition of ethnic and class politics inhibited the community from building a cohesive movement to resist anti-immigrant policies and ultimately upheld the very social structures it purported to challenge.