Analysis of the Applicability of “the Spiral of Silence” in Weibo

“The spiral of silence” theory was first funded by Professor Elizabeth Noelle Neumann in 1972. This theory indicates that, if a person feels that his opinion is belonging to minority, he is less likely to express it, because he is afraid of being retaliated or isolated by majority. This theory assumes that people are always estimating what the public opinion is, and they often judge it through the media. The theory also assumes that we have an inherent fear of isolation and that we know what perspectives can lead us to isolation by majority. This theory also explains why there are always such minority groups in the society and they dare to raise different opinions. With the flash development of the Internet, more and more self media have broken the old pattern of mass media as the information publisher. So it is a big question whether “the spiral of silence” theory is still applicable to the Internet environment. This paper, from the perspective of the basic hypothesis and core theory of “the spiral of silence”, focuses on whether the theory is applicable to the communicative behavior in We-Media

Framing Theory in the Age of Social Media

The Internet age has converged various traditional mainstream media institutions as well alternative media platforms together into a hybrid media system with the New Media system that includes alternative media like social media, in particular Twitter and Facebook. Framing Theory and frame analysis has been found functional and suitable for researching complex social media communications and also the interplay of the social media with mainstream traditional media. We reviewed the literature of framing analysis in relation to social media, virtual communities and social movements to present a brief overview of the practical and theoretical potentials of frame analysis and also the particularities and problems that arose in regard to the dynamic nature of social media. As a result, frame analysis presents an even broader potential for the research of dynamic communication processes in the fast lives of virtual communities and the vast effects of online interaction of social, political, commercial institutions

“What I tweet is not what I think”: towards a comprehensive multi-version two-way agenda-setting framework

While the traditional agenda-setting theory assumes that a unified issue salience pattern (“the agenda”) will transfer from news media to the public, the emergence of the Internet has challenged this classic communication theory in three ways: by providing two versions of the public agenda (i.e., self-reported issue importance measured by a survey versus social media expressions), by affording two versions of the media agenda (i.e., presented on news websites versus on organizations’ Twitter accounts), and by enabling potential two-way agenda-setting effects. This dissertation aims to construct a multi-version two-way agenda-setting framework via (1) elaborating on the theoretical and practical reasons behind the proposed framework and (2) empirically testing the framework by combining survey and digital texts data around the 2020 US presidential election. The results show an imbalanced two-way agenda-setting relationship, with the traditional media-to-public direction still stronger than the reverse. While the two versions of the media agenda were similar to each other, what people thought was found to be different from what they tweeted. This dissertation also explored the moderating effects of issue-, media-, and individual-level characteristics on the direction and strength of the agenda-setting effects. The issue-wise comparison showed stronger effects in both directions among obtrusive issues, compared to non-obtrusive issues. Interestingly, traditional, non-digital-native media presented a slightly stronger two-way agenda-setting relationship between their news tweets and citizens' tweets compared to digital-native media. This difference, however, was not found in news websites. Individuals with specific characteristics, such as being females, being older, being white, as well as having lower income, lower opinion leadership, and lower social capital, were more likely to influence and be influenced by the media agendas compared to their counterparts. Also, while the well-educated population followed the agenda of news websites more closely, the group with a lower education level followed news tweets on more issues. Finally, the last chapter discusses theoretical, methodological, and practical implications.传统的议程设置理论假设统一的议题显著性（“议程”）将从新闻媒体转移到公众心中，但互联网的出现从三个方面挑战了这一经典传播理论：通过提供两个版本的公共议程（即问卷调查中受访者自我汇报的议题重要性与社交媒体表达中体现的议题显著性），通过提供两种版本的媒体议程（即新闻网站上与在机构推特账户上展示的议题显著性），及通过使双向议程设置作用成为可能。本论文旨在通过（1）阐述所提出框架背后的理论和实践原因，（2）结合 2020 年美国大选前后的数字文本数据对该框架进行实证测试，来构建一个多版本的双向议程设置框架。本论文的结果显示了一种不平衡的双向议程设置关系：传统媒体对公众的议程设置作用（即传统议程设置方向）仍然强于反向议程设置。虽然媒体议程的两个版本彼此相似，但人们所想与他们在推特上发布的内容并不相同。 本论文还探讨了议题、媒体和个人层面特征对议程设置效果的方向和强度的调节作用。议题特征层面的比较表明，与非侵入性问题相比，侵入性问题在两个方向上都有更强的议程设置作用。有趣的是，与数字原生媒体相比，传统的非数字原生媒体在其新闻推文和公民推文之间呈现出略强的双向议程设置关系。然而，在新闻网站中没有发现这种媒体间差异。具有特定特征的个人，例如女性、年长、白人、收入较低、意见领导力较低和社会资本较低的受访者，更可能影响媒体议程并受其影响。此外，虽然受过良好教育的人群更密切地关注新闻网站的议程，但教育水平较低的人群更关注新闻推文中的议题。最后一章讨论了本论文在理论、方法和实践上的意义和贡献

APPRAISAL OF THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF BROADCAST MEDIA TO NATIONAL INTEGRATION IN NIGERIA

This study: Appraisal of the Contributions of Broadcast Media to National Integration in Nigeria, sought to investigate how the broadcast media have contributed to national integration and the extent to which such contributions have enhanced audience knowledge about the integration of Nigeria. Social Responsibility Media Theory anchored the study, while Development Media Theory, Agenda Setting Theory, and Neo-functionalism Theory supported the Social Responsibility Theory. Descriptive survey research was adopted as the design for this study while structured questionnaire and interview as well as in depth interview were used as the research instruments for data collection. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data while Pearson Product-Moment Correlation Coefficient (R) was used to test the null hypothesis of the study. Findings revealed that through the functions they performed, the broadcast media have made great contributions by raising public knowledge and understanding about the need for political, socio-cultural, economic and religious harmony for the overall integration of the nation. This the broadcast media do through the use of different programme strategies but lack of in-depth and investigative reporting have reduced the desired impact of such strategies on the audience in towards the achievement of the national integration. Similarly, although the broadcast media have made great contributions to the integration of the country, such contributions have not been genuinely enough or adequate to take the nation to the desired level of integration that will subsequently lead the country to the destination of sustainable and sufficient peace, unity and development. The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) plays very crucial roles in monitoring and regulating the broadcast media for professionalism but such contributions by the commission so far have not been genuinely enough to compel the nation’s broadcast media in attaining the level of professionalism desired to lead the country into the desired destination of national rebirth. Furthermore, the challenges the broadcast media faced prevented them from achieving the desired success in broadcasting for national integration in Nigeria. The result of the null hypothesis further justified these findings that “although there was a relationship between the broadcast media and national integration in Nigeria, such relationship was not significant enough to lead the country to a desired destination of national rebirth and integration.” The study, based on the findings concluded that the broadcast media are very instrumental in the integration of the nation but inappropriate utilization can prevent the broadcast media from leading the nation into the destination of complete and desired national rebirth and integration. That is why the study recommended that to lead the country like Nigeria into the desired and prosperous destination for national rebirth, the broadcast media must eschew partisanship; involve more in depth, analytical and investigative reporting, be monitored strictly by the National Broadcasting Commission, and be overhauled totally for greater outcomes in broadcasting for national integration in Nigeria

Erosion Of Credibility: A Mixed Methods Evaluation of Twitter News Headlines from The New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, And USA Today

To entice and commodify social media news consumers, contemporary news organizations have increasingly relied on data analytics to boost audience engagement. Clicks, likes, and shares are the metrics that now guide the editorial process and shape decisions about content and coverage. As such, news headlines are regularly manipulated to attract the attention of those who quickly scroll through social media networks on computers and smartphones. However, few studies have examined the typologies of news content most likely to be manipulated in social media news headlines or the impact of news headline manipulation on news source credibility. For this research, source credibility theory has been updated for a practical application of today’s social media news landscape and used as a lens to examine the phenomenon, its impact on audience engagement, and association with traditional standards of journalism and credibility. A mixed methods content analysis was conducted of news headlines published on Twitter compared to headlines and content published on the websites of five traditional newspapers: the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, and USA Today. The results indicated that the typologies of news most likely to be manipulated for Twitter publication (opinion, politics, health/medical), were also the least credible. Conversely, typologies of news that were least likely to be manipulated for Twitter publication (international, consumer, disaster), were rated the most credible

Data journalism and democracy: how American mass media framed the 2016 presidential campaign in the United States using data visualization

The purpose of this study is to explore the role of data visualization in the media coverage of the 2016 presidential campaign in the United States by focusing on datavisualization projects from The New York Times and The Washington Post. The research is focused on how journalists implemented data-visualization techniques and how the theory of framing is connected with that process. A secondary purpose of the research is to collect opinions from journalists working in the field about how data visualization influenced coverage of the campaign and how future reporting can be improved. This study consists of two parts: textual/visual analysis of data visualization examples from coverage of 2016 U.S. presidential campaign and interviews with the journalists involved in infographics production. Visual analysis was used for analyzing various design elements such as type of graphics, colors, fonts and how they helped to frame issues during the campaign. Textual analysis was used to identify the main issues and frames that were covered and considered important for the audience. The interviews provided information about the professional experience of data journalists and editors and their opinions about the role of data visualization and the problems and limitations that they experienced while working with it

Computational Transformation of the Public Sphere : Theories and Case Studies

This book is an edited collection of MA research paper on the digital revolution of the public and governance. It covers cyber governance in Finland, and the securitization of cyber security in Finland. It investigates the cases of Brexit, the 2016 US presidental election of Donald Trump, the 2017 presidential election of Volodymyr Zelensky, and Brexit. It examines the environmental concerns of climate change and greenwashing, and the impact of digital communication giving rise to the #MeToo and Incel movements. It considers how digitilization can serve to emancipate women through ride-sharing, and how it leads to the question of robot rights. It considers fake news and algorithmic governance with respect to case studies of the Chinese social credit system, the US FICO credit score, along with Facebook, Twitter, Cambridge Analytica and the European effort to regulate and protect data usage.Non peer reviewe

Computational Transformation of the Public Sphere: Theories and Cases

This book is an edited collection of original research papers on the digital revolution of the public and governance. It covers cyber governance in Finland, and the securitization of cyber security in Finland. It investigates the cases of Brexit, the 2016 US presidential election of Donald Trump, the 2017 presidential election of Volodymyr Zelensky, and Brexit. It examines the environmental concerns of climate change and greenwashing, and the impact of digital communication giving rise to the #MeToo and Incel movements. It considers how digitilization can serve to emancipate women through ride-sharing, and how it leads to the question of robot rights. It considers fake news and algorithmic governance with respect to case studies of the Chinese social credit system, the US FICO credit score, along with Facebook, Twitter, Cambridge Analytica and the European effort to regulate and protect data usage

Computational transformation of the public sphere : theories and case studies

Computational Transformation of the Public Sphere is the organic product of what turned out to be an effective collaboration between MA students and their professor in the Global Politics and Communication program in the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Helsinki, in the Fall of 2019. The course, Philosophy of Politics and Communication, is a gateway course into this MA program. As I had been eager to conduct research on the impact of new digital technologies and artificial intelligence (AI) on democratic governance, I saw this course as an opportunity to not only share, but also further develop my knowledge of this topic

From Candidate to President: How DW Covered Donald Trump before and after 2016 US Presidential Elections

Die Grundlagen der westlichen Demokratie bauen auf dem freien Informationsfluss auf, und Medienorganisationen spielen in dieser Hinsicht eine entscheidende Rolle, da Bürger rund um den Globus sich auf Nachrichtenmedien verlassen, um Informationen zu erhalten. Die Deutsche Welle ist eine renommierte, von der Bundesregierung öffentlich geförderte internationale Medienorganisation, die Inhalte in 30 Sprachen produziert und weltweit schätzungsweise mehr als 135 Millionen Zuschauer zählt (Deutsche Welle, 2017). Parallel dazu werden die Vereinigten Staaten oft als Führer der freien Welt und einzige verbliebene Supermacht der Welt bezeichnet. Da die Präsidentschaftswahlen in den USA nicht über die Wahrheit debattieren, werden sie von einem globalen Publikum wegen ihrer politischen, sozialen, wirtschaftlichen und kulturellen Implikationen für die Welt abgedeckt und verfolgt. Ein wichtiger Weg, auf dem Nachrichtenmedien ihr Publikum beeinflussen können, besteht darin, Ereignisse und Nachrichten auf spezifische Weise zu gestalten. Rahmung ist eine der wichtigsten Theorien des Journalismus in Bezug auf die Art und Weise, in der die gegenwärtige Information der Journalisten und die Art und Weise der von Journalisten verwendeten Frames von der journalistischen Ideologie ihrer Mutterorganisation beeinflusst wird. Ziel dieser Studie ist es daher, die von der Deutschen Welle für die Berichterstattung des US-Präsidenten Donald Trump vor und nach den Wahlen verwendeten Frames durch quantitative Inhaltsanalyse mit induktiven und deduktiven Methoden zu einem Codebuch zu messen. Die Hauptforschungsfrage dieser Studie ist RQ: Wie hat die Deutsche Welle die Berichterstattung von Donald Trump vor und nach den US-Präsidentschaftswahlen gestaltet? Als Medienbeispiel diente die Nachrichtenwebsite der Deutschen Welle, die Inhalte in mehr als zehn Sprachen anbietet. In einem Zeitraum von zwei Jahren wurden 2910 Artikel analysiert, die dem gesamten Wahlzyklus 2016 in den USA und dem ersten Jahr der Präsidentschaft Donald Trumps einschließlich wichtiger Ereignisse wie dem G7-Gipfel in Hamburg entsprachen. Die Analyse wurde mithilfe der Hierarchischen Clusteranalyse mit der Ward- und der Centroid-Methode durchgeführt. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass sich das Coverage-Muster von Duetsche Welle geändert hat, bevor Donald Trump zum primären Republikanischen Kandidaten gewählt wurde und nachdem er 2016 US-Präsident wurde. Diese Forschungsstudie zeigt die Notwendigkeit einer weiteren Untersuchung der Berichterstattung über ausländische Wahlen unter Verwendung klassischer Medien und politischer Kommunikationstheorien wie der Personalisierungstheorie. Es wird vorhergesagt, dass Personalisierungseffekte ähnliche Ergebnisse erzielen werden wie Framing-Effekte in diesem Fall, da DW sich auf Donald Trumps Persönlichkeit konzentrierte, bevor er Präsident eines Verbündetenlandes wurde, aber seine politischen Entscheidungen nur einmal in einer Führungsposition berücksichtigte.The foundations of western democracy are built on free flow of information and media organizations play a critical role in this regard since citizens around the globe rely on news media for information. Deutsche Welle is a renowned international media organization publicly funded by German government which produces content in 30 languages and has an estimated audience of more than 135 million weekly worldwide (Deutsche Welle, 2017). Parallel to this, United States is often termed as leader of the free world and world’s sole remaining superpower. Not debating the truth in these claims, United States presidential elections are covered and followed by a global audience because of political, social, economic and cultural implications they hold for the world. One significant way in which news media can influence its audience is by framing events and news in specific ways. Framing is one of the major theories of journalism concerning with the way journalists’ present information and the type and manner of frames employed by journalists is affected by their parent organization’s journalistic ideology. Thus, this study aims to measure the frames used by Deutsche Welle for the coverage of US president Donald Trump before and after the elections through quantitative content analysis with both inductive and deductive methods to form a codebook. The main research question of this study is RQ: How did the Deutsche Welle frame the coverage of Donald Trump before and after US presidential elections? Media sample used was Deutsche Welle’s news website which offers content in more than ten languages. 2910 articles were analysed through a period of two years, corresponding to the full US 2016 election cycle and Donald Trump’s first year of presidency including key events such as G-7 summit in Hamburg. The analysis was done using Hierarchical Cluster Analysis using Ward’s and Centroid method. Results indicate that coverage patterns of Duetsche Welle changed before Donald Trump was selected as primary Republican Nominee and after he became US President in 2016. This research study shows the need for further inquiry into coverage of foreign elections using classic media and political communication theories such as personalization theory. Personalization effects are predicted to show similar results as framing effects in this case since DW focused on Donald Trump’s personality before he became a president of an ally country but chose to only regard his policy decisions once he was in a leadership position