The case against the democratic influence of the internet on journalism

Book synopsis: Web Journalism: A New Form of Citizenship provides a much-needed analytical account of the implications of interactive participation in the construction of media content. Although web journalism is a fast-changing technology this book will have sustained appeal to an international readership by seeking to critically assess Internet news production. … With the rise of blogging and citizen journalism, it is a commonplace to observe that interactive participatory media are transforming the relationship between the traditional professional media and their audience. A current, popular, assumption is that the traditional flow of information from media to citizen is being reformed into a democratic dialogue between members of a community. The editors and contributors analyse and debate this assumption through international case studies that include the United Kingdom and United States. … While the text has been written and designed for undergraduate and postgraduate use, Web Journalism: A New Form of Citizenship? will be of use and of interest to all those engaged in the debate over Web reporting and citizen journalism

‘Offline’ vs ‘online’ media: Claim-makers, content, and audiences of climate change information

This paper aims to explore both similarities and differences between offline and online climate change communication in terms of claim-makers, content, and audiences. It is based on academic peer reviewed papers directly relevant to the communication of climate change by the media, published in English language between 2010 and 2016. Interdependences between offline and online media are often cited, especially in terms of web searches of information already reported by traditional media (both print and television). In some other cases, the study of the intermedia agenda shows that the debate originated on online blogs triggers and conditions the attention of print media. This interdependence is also showed by a polarisation between ‘activists’ and ‘contrarians’ in both online and offline arenas. However, while the web offers greater space for interaction and a variety of sources, the dominance of the ‘old media’ point of view seems to undermine these attempts

Training or Improvisation? Citizen journalists and their educational backgrounds-a comparative view

While citizen journalists hope to bring new impulses to mass media performance, it is often asked whether they are adequately trained for the production of “newsworthy” stories. This paper focuses on educational aspects of citizen journalism, which, to date, have largely been disregarded by empirical research. A comparative analytical design illustrates the different ways in which citizen journalists acquire and develop the skills that are necessary to undertake journalistic activities in the different journalism cultures throughout Europe. The authors carried out a multi-national analysis in six European countries (United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, and Poland). In each country, an extensive desk study helped to map the field of citizen journalism and highlight the most relevant examples. Semi-structured interviews with 54 practitioners in the field (representing different types of citizen journalism) made it possible to identify the alternative strategies that citizen journalists employ to prepare themselves for news production initiatives. The research demonstrates that the educational backgrounds of citizen journalists display differences as well as similarities—both within and across journalism cultures. While some of the actors in the field have a clear idea of what constitutes good journalism (and sometimes even aspire to work in a mainstream media organization), others seem to care little about journalistic standards and have only a vague idea about the identity of the profession. On the basis of these insights, the paper develops a typology of citizen journalists that takes into account both their education and their journalistic scope

How and why physicists and chemists use blogs

This study examined how and why chemists and physicists blog. Two qualitative methods were used: content analysis of blog and “about” pages and in-depth responsive interviews with chemists and physicists who maintain blogs. Analysis of the data yielded several cross-cutting themes that provide a window into how physicists and chemists use their blogs and what value they receive from maintaining a blog and participating in a blogging community. The article concludes with a discussion of implications for supporting scientists’ work

Online reverse discourses? Claiming a space for trans voices

In recent years, online media have offered to trans people helpful resources to create new political, cultural and personal representations of their biographies. However, the role of these media in the construction of their social and personal identities has seldom been addressed. Drawing on the theoretical standpoint of positioning theory and diatextual discourse analysis, this paper discusses the results of a research project about weblogs created by Italian trans women. In particular, the aim of this study was to describe the ways online resources are used to express different definitions and interpretation of transgenderism, transsexuality and gender transitioning. We identified four main positioning strategies: \u201cTransgender\u201d, \u201cTranssexual before being a woman\u201d, \u201cA woman who was born male\u201d and \u201cJust a normal woman\u201d. We conclude with the political implications of the pluralization of narratives about gender non-conformity. Specifically, we will highlight how aspects of neoliberal discourses have been appropriated and rearticulated in the construction of gendered subjectivities

From Drug War to Culture War: Russia’s Growing Role in the Global Drug Debate

No abstract available

Measuring internet activity: a (selective) review of methods and metrics

Two Decades after the birth of the World Wide Web, more than two billion people around the world are Internet users. The digital landscape is littered with hints that the affordances of digital communications are being leveraged to transform life in profound and important ways. The reach and influence of digitally mediated activity grow by the day and touch upon all aspects of life, from health, education, and commerce to religion and governance. This trend demands that we seek answers to the biggest questions about how digitally mediated communication changes society and the role of different policies in helping or hindering the beneficial aspects of these changes. Yet despite the profusion of data the digital age has brought upon us—we now have access to a flood of information about the movements, relationships, purchasing decisions, interests, and intimate thoughts of people around the world—the distance between the great questions of the digital age and our understanding of the impact of digital communications on society remains large. A number of ongoing policy questions have emerged that beg for better empirical data and analyses upon which to base wider and more insightful perspectives on the mechanics of social, economic, and political life online. This paper seeks to describe the conceptual and practical impediments to measuring and understanding digital activity and highlights a sample of the many efforts to fill the gap between our incomplete understanding of digital life and the formidable policy questions related to developing a vibrant and healthy Internet that serves the public interest and contributes to human wellbeing. Our primary focus is on efforts to measure Internet activity, as we believe obtaining robust, accurate data is a necessary and valuable first step that will lead us closer to answering the vitally important questions of the digital realm. Even this step is challenging: the Internet is difficult to measure and monitor, and there is no simple aggregate measure of Internet activity—no GDP, no HDI. In the following section we present a framework for assessing efforts to document digital activity. The next three sections offer a summary and description of many of the ongoing projects that document digital activity, with two final sections devoted to discussion and conclusions

Sex and Sexuality in the United States: A Brief History of Culture Wars

The HIV/AIDS pandemic has entered its thirtieth year; sex trafficking persists as an $8 billion industry (May 2006); unwanted pregnancies and transmission of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) continuously occur due to a lack of simple knowledge. Despite these exigencies, we find our politicians, parents, and teachers still merely quibbling about standards of modesty considered to be essential for maintaining a distorted concept of virtue. There are many questions concerning sexual education in the United States that beg unified answers. Should we increase the depth of sexual education and access to birth control? Or should we emphasize the role of abstinence as the most effective mode of protection while holding back important information about contraception and sex? Sexual behavior, however, has become too conspicuous a topic to let it remain an impenetrable enigma. The belief that sex and love should be left as unexplored mysteries rather than subjects of analysis has played a powerful role in United States’ discussions of sexual education. The “indefatigable sexual curiosity” exhibited by youth must be met with comprehensive education (Irvine 2002:5). Comprehensive sexual education acquaints youth with techniques of preventing pregnancy and STIs, preventative testing, discussion of sexual orientation, and the psycho‐emotional pros and cons of engaging in intimate relationships. In contrast to the heightened detail in this form of education, “abstinence‐only” programs promote a more parochial version of safe sex that not only discourages the act itself, but disdains discussion about the subtleties of sexuality as well. Abstinence‐only programs tend to provide only cursory information about contraception while often avoiding talk about abortion and homosexuality altogether. In spite of their very apparent drawbacks, abstinence‐only programs have dominated the educational scene in the United States for the past thirty years. These programs employ “scare tactics” that endeavor to frighten young people from having sex while ensuring they remain ignorant of vital particularities of sexuality. Discourses of sex that have been popularized in the past sixty years are inherently important when addressing sexual education. Therefore, as in many Public Health, Sociological, Anthropological, and Epidemiological papers that discuss sex, I draw on Foucauldian (1976) concepts of discourses and sexuality in order to elucidate how and why the country considers sexuality the way we do