On the media construction of international disasters

For most people living in western countries, disasters are a priori cases of distant suffering as they mainly affect cultural or ethnic others. News media thus play a pivotal role in giving publicity and meaning to the numerous instances of global suffering as it is essentially through media reports that the (western) world witnesses international disasters. Accordingly, several scholars define a disaster as a media construction; they exist only when recognized and covered by the media. This paper focuses on the conceptualization of a disaster as a media construction by exploring the inherently selective nature of news coverage, the representation of suffering in Flemish news media and the possible societal implications

Portrayals of Child Abuse Scandals in the Media in Australia and England: Impacts on Practice, Policy, and Systems

This article describes how the media have played a key role in placing the issue of child maltreatment and the problems associated with child protection high on public and political agendas over the last 50 years. It also describes how the influence of the media is far from unambiguous. Although the media has been crucial in bringing the problems into the open, it often does so in particular ways. In being so concerned with scandals and tragedies ∗ Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Bob Lonne, School of Public Health and Social Work, Queensland University of Technology, Victoria Park Road, Kelvin Grove, Queensland 4059, Australia. Electronic mail may be sent to [email protected]. in a variety of institutionalized and community settings, the media have portrayed the nature of child maltreatment in ways which deflect attention from many of its core characteristics and causes. A focus on the media is important because of the power the media have to help transform the private into the public, but at the same time, to undermine trust, reputation, and legitimacy of the professionals working in the field. This concern is key for those working in the child protection field and has been a source of tension in public policy in both Australia and England for many years

Voices for Change: A Taxonomy of Public Communications Campaigns and Their Evaluation Challenges

Makes the case that communications campaigns cover a broad range of different types and characteristics, and can be differentiated along the axes of purpose, scope, and maturity. Examines what communications campaigns that fall on different areas of these three axes look like, and how where they fall may affect the evaluation approach used and lead to distinct evaluation challenges and needs

Regulating the fast-food landscape: Canadian news media representation of the Healthy Menu Choices Act

With the rapid rise of fast food consumption in Canada, Ontario was the first province to legislate menu labelling requirements via the enactment of the Healthy Menu Choice Act (HMCA). As the news media plays a significant role in policy debates and the agenda for policymakers and the public, the purpose of this mixed-methods study was to clarify the manner in which the news media portrayed the strengths and critiques of the Act, and its impact on members of the community, including consumers and stakeholders. Drawing on data from Canadian regional and national news outlets, the major findings highlight that, although the media reported that the HMCA was a positive step forward, this was tempered by critiques concerning the ineffectiveness of using caloric labelling as the sole measure of health, and its predicted low impact on changing consumption patterns on its own. Furthermore, the news media were found to focus accountability for healthier eating choices largely on the individual, with very little consideration of the role of the food industry or the social and structural determinants that affect food choice. A strong conflation of health, weight and calories was apparent, with little acknowledgement of the implications of menu choice for chronic illness. The analysis demonstrates that the complex factors associated with food choice were largely unrecognized by the media, including the limited extent to which social, cultural, political and corporate determinants of unhealthy choices were taken into account as the legislation was developed. Greater recognition of these factors by the media concerning the HMCA may evoke more meaningful and long-term change for health and food choicesYork University Librarie

Problems in children's behavior and the responses of society

The purpose of the publication is to get acquainted with the many points of view of various stakeholders on the emergence, course and changes in the behavior of children in Republic of North Macedonia today and the ways in which society copes with this phenomenon and the effectiveness of social interventions. A quality research methodology was applied and interviews and focus groups were conducted with a total of 85 participants (children, parents, teachers, experts, journalists and decision-makers). The data were processed according to the principles of qualitative thematic analysis, and the results provided answers to research questions. In this research, the multi-perspective proved important for understanding how the phenomenon is understood, its origin and consequences, and identifying what does not work, that is, in part, and what needs to be done to mitigate the phenomenon

Origin and evolution of the News Finds Me perception: Review of theory and effects

Research revolving social media and democracy has exploded. For almost two decades, scholarship has offered new theories, revisited some old ones, and provided empirical evidence that helped cast a strong light on social media effects over people’s social life, and democracy at large. Thanks to social media, citizens consume news, express their political views, discuss political matters, and participate in political activities. However, social media also cultivates the dissemination of fake news and misinformation, exposure to hate speech, media fragmentation, and political polarization. In short, social media seems to simultaneously be a springboard for encouraging and undesirable outcomes that foster and challenge democracies alike. One of these phenomena that stems from social media news use is the News Finds Me perception (NFM), which takes place when individuals feel they do not have to actively seeks news any more to be well-informed about public affairs, as they expect to receive relevant news and information by relying on their peers in social media. This article traces back the origin of the theory, its evolution, and the set of effects found in the literature. It also presents guidelines for future research and potential challenges as the scholarship centering on NFM continues to grow

Reflecting on primary prevention of violence against women: the public health approach

Provides reflections on Australia\u27s efforts in primary prevention of violence against women and offers suggestions for the next steps to continue the momentum. Summary Australia has committed to a public health approach to preventing violence against women, transforming how policies and programming address this difficult social issue. The aim is to prevent the problem from occurring in the first place by directing policy and strategies towards changing the underlying causes, behaviours and attitudes that lead to the perpetration of violence against women. This Issues Paper provides reflections on Australia’s efforts in primary prevention of violence against women and offers suggestions for the next steps to continue the momentum. Key messages The public health approach to preventing violence against women is now a major influence on policy areas in Australia and internationally. Evidence about what works in prevention is still emerging and is currently quite disparate, due to the diverse nature of programs and settings. There are challenges in the evaluation of primary prevention work, but a clear understanding and agreement of what is meant by "success" will enable useful evaluation design. Australia now has a clearly articulated goal to reduce violence against women and their children. The next steps should translate evidence into action and maintain the positivity that is currently driving the unprecedented energy in this sector

What information do citizens want? Evidence from one million information requests in Mexico

While scholars have emphasized the importance of information for accountability, little research has addressed the demand for government information by real citizens. We study the totality of information requests filed with Mexican federal government agencies from 2003 to 2015, over 1 million requests in all. We use unsupervised methods to categorize requests, revealing the diversity of topics including environment, security, budgets, and government procurement and employees. While many topics have clear public accountability-seeking purposes, others are focused on more private, micro-political goals. Analysis over time and across states reveals linkage between information demand and issues of public interest such as environmental impacts and criminal violence. Our results demonstrate that, given functioning access-to-information institutions, citizens in a transitional democracy really do demand information relevant to public accountability