Social media and news media: Building new publics or fragmenting audiences?

Kathryn Bow

Intersections of community and journalism in Australia and Singapore

The notion of “community” is a contested one, but one which is widely used across a range of fields and applications. For example, understandings of community in a country such as Singapore differ significantly from interpretations of community in a country such as Australia. In Singapore, notions of community are strongly influenced by language and cultural background, while in Australia, geography and distance are often key factors. Journalists’ relationships with the communities for whom and about whom they write are complicated by this imprecision and by the range of contexts and environments to which the term can be applied. However, while social, cultural and political differences between countries and media systems make it difficult to generalise about media-audience relationships, there may be areas of intersection. For example, there is a strong focus on community-based news in both Singaporean newspapers and Australian regional newspapers, as well as on community advocacy, community-building and positive reinforcement of community values. This paper argues that this represents a strengthening of the notion of the “local” in the face of widespread globalisation. The reclaiming of the local has implications for the future direction of journalism and the structures within which journalism is practised

Keeping it local: news themes on regional newspaper front pages

Local news is fundamental to the activities of most regional newspapers in Australia. While “local” is a contested term, it has traditionally been used in the Australian regional news media context to refer to issues, events and people occurring or situated within the primary geographical circulation area of a print newspaper. This emphasis on the local extends from what news outlets are reporting to how they report it – and the kinds of understandings they promote about what it means to be part of a regional community. The public-sphere role of such outlets means they are ideally placed to communicate to news audiences ideas about local identity and community. While understandings of community extend beyond geographical considerations, the ongoing emphasis on local news means that geographical location remains at the heart of what regional newspapers do, even at a time when many regional newspapers are becoming less localised because of cost cutting and resource sharing. This paper examines the front pages of a number of Australian regional newspapers over time to explore some of the ideas about regional community and identity that are communicated to news audiences.Kathryn Bow

Eroding the connection?: Web 2.0 and non-metropolitan newspaper journalists

One of the characteristics most widely associated with non-metropolitan news media is a relatively close relationship with both news sources and news audiences. This relationship is generally seen as driving both the nature of news coverage and the broader communication roles played by such news outlets, enhancing the contribution they are able to make to social capital within and outside their primary circulation or broadcast area. However, localised news media are not immune from the pressures facing the news media more broadly, including changing business models and the impact of Web 2.0 technologies. This paper reports on a study of the impact of Web-based communications on journalism practice at three Australian non-metropolitan newspapers. Through qualitative interviews with journalists at each of the three publications – one in New South Wales, one in Victoria and one in South Australia – it explores the impact of interactive communications technologies and questions whether this is breaking down traditional source-journalist-audience relationships in regional areas of Australia.Kathryn Bow

An examination of Australian newspaper coverage of the link between alcohol and cancer 2005 to 2013

Published online: 24 July 2017Background: Alcohol is a Class-1 carcinogen but public awareness of the link between alcohol and cancer is low. The news media is a popular, readily-accessible source of health information and plays a key role in shaping public opinion and influencing policy-makers. Examination of how the link between alcohol and cancer is presented in Australian print media could inform public health advocacy efforts to raise awareness of this modifiable cancer risk factor. Method: This study provides a summative qualitative content analysis of 1502 articles that included information about a link between alcohol and cancer, as reported within Australian newspaper media (2005–2013). We use descriptive statistics to examine the prominence of reports, the nature and content of claims regarding the link between alcohol and cancer, and the source of information noted in each article. Results: Articles were distributed throughout newspapers, most appearing within the main (first) section. The link between alcohol and cancer tended not to appear early in articles, and rarely featured in headlines. 95% of articles included a claim that alcohol causes cancer, 5% that alcohol prevented or did not cause cancer, 1% included both. Generally, the amount of alcohol that would cause or prevent cancer was unspecified or open to subjective interpretation. Coverage increased over time, primarily within community/free papers. The claim that alcohol causes cancer often named a specific cancer, did not name a specific alcohol, was infrequently the focus of articles (typically subsumed within an article on general health issues), and cited various health-promoting (including advocacy) organisations as information sources. Articles that included the converse also tended not to focus on that point, often named a specific type of alcohol, and most cited research institutions or generic ‘research’ as sources. Half of all articles involved repetition of materials, and most confirmed that alcohol caused cancer. Conclusions: Information about a link between alcohol and cancer is available in the Australian newsprint media, but may be hidden within and thus overshadowed by other health-related stories. Strategic collaboration between health promoting organisations, and exploitation of ‘churnalism’ and journalists’ preferences for ready-made ‘copy’ may facilitate increased presence and accuracy of the alcohol-cancer message.Jaklin Eliott, Andrew John Forster, Joshua McDonough, Kathryn Bowd and Shona Crab

Integration and fusion of standard automated perimetry and optical coherence tomography data for improved automated glaucoma diagnostics

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The performance of glaucoma diagnostic systems could be conceivably improved by the integration of functional and structural test measurements that provide relevant and complementary information for reaching a diagnosis. The purpose of this study was to investigate the performance of data fusion methods and techniques for simple combination of Standard Automated Perimetry (SAP) and Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) data for the diagnosis of glaucoma using Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Humphrey 24-2 SITA standard SAP and StratusOCT tests were prospectively collected from a randomly selected population of 125 healthy persons and 135 patients with glaucomatous optic nerve heads and used as input for the ANNs. We tested commercially available standard parameters as well as novel ones (fused OCT and SAP data) that exploit the spatial relationship between visual field areas and sectors of the OCT peripapillary scan circle. We evaluated the performance of these SAP and OCT derived parameters both separately and in combination.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The diagnostic accuracy from a combination of fused SAP and OCT data (95.39%) was higher than that of the best conventional parameters of either instrument, i.e. SAP Glaucoma Hemifield Test (p < 0.001) and OCT Retinal Nerve Fiber Layer Thickness ≥ 1 quadrant (p = 0.031). Fused OCT and combined fused OCT and SAP data provided similar Area under the Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve (AROC) values of 0.978 that were significantly larger (p = 0.047) compared to ANNs using SAP parameters alone (AROC = 0.945). On the other hand, ANNs based on the OCT parameters (AROC = 0.970) did not perform significantly worse than the ANNs based on the fused or combined forms of input data. The use of fused input increased the number of tests that were correctly classified by both SAP and OCT based ANNs.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Compared to the use of SAP parameters, input from the combination of fused OCT and SAP parameters, and from fused OCT data, significantly increased the performance of ANNs. Integrating parameters by including a priori relevant information through data fusion may improve ANN classification accuracy compared to currently available methods.</p

High-Resolution Imaging of the Retinal Nerve Fiber Layer in Normal Eyes Using Adaptive Optics Scanning Laser Ophthalmoscopy

To conduct high-resolution imaging of the retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) in normal eyes using adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscopy (AO-SLO).AO-SLO images were obtained in 20 normal eyes at multiple locations in the posterior polar area and a circular path with a 3-4-mm diameter around the optic disc. For each eye, images focused on the RNFL were recorded and a montage of AO-SLO images was created.AO-SLO images for all eyes showed many hyperreflective bundles in the RNFL. Hyperreflective bundles above or below the fovea were seen in an arch from the temporal periphery on either side of a horizontal dividing line to the optic disc. The dark lines among the hyperreflective bundles were narrower around the optic disc compared with those in the temporal raphe. The hyperreflective bundles corresponded with the direction of the striations on SLO red-free images. The resolution and contrast of the bundles were much higher in AO-SLO images than in red-free fundus photography or SLO red-free images. The mean hyperreflective bundle width around the optic disc had a double-humped shape; the bundles at the temporal and nasal sides of the optic disc were narrower than those above and below the optic disc (P<0.001). RNFL thickness obtained by optical coherence tomography correlated with the hyperreflective bundle widths on AO-SLO (P<0.001)AO-SLO revealed hyperreflective bundles and dark lines in the RNFL, believed to be retinal nerve fiber bundles and Müller cell septa. The widths of the nerve fiber bundles appear to be proportional to the RNFL thickness at equivalent distances from the optic disc

Boreal forest soil carbon fluxes one year after a wildfire: Effects of burn severity and management

The extreme 2018 hot drought that affected central and northern Europe led to the worst wildfire season in Sweden in over a century. The Ljusdal fire complex, the largest area burnt that year (8995 ha), offered a rare opportunity to quantify the combined impacts of wildfire and post-fire management on Scandinavian boreal forests. We present chamber measurements of soil CO2 and CH4 fluxes, soil microclimate and nutrient content from five Pinus sylvestris sites for the first growing season after the fire. We analysed the effects of three factors on forest soils: burn severity, salvage-logging and stand age. None of these caused significant differences in soil CH4 uptake. Soil respiration, however, declined significantly after a high-severity fire (complete tree mortality) but not after a low-severity fire (no tree mortality), despite substantial losses of the organic layer. Tree root respiration is thus key in determining post-fire soil CO2 emissions and may benefit, along with heterotrophic respiration, from the nutrient pulse after a low-severity fire. Salvage-logging after a high-severity fire had no significant effects on soil carbon fluxes, microclimate or nutrient content compared with leaving the dead trees standing, although differences are expected to emerge in the long term. In contrast, the impact of stand age was substantial: a young burnt stand experienced more extreme microclimate, lower soil nutrient supply and significantly lower soil respiration than a mature burnt stand, due to a thinner organic layer and the decade-long effects of a previous clear-cut and soil scarification. Disturbance history and burn severity are, therefore, important factors for predicting changes in the boreal forest carbon sink after wildfires. The presented short-term effects and ongoing monitoring will provide essential information for sustainable management strategies in response to the increasing risk of wildfire