Protest Paradigm in Multimedia: Social Media Sharing of Coverage About the Crime of Ayotzinapa, Mexico

In 2014 protests erupted around the world after 43 college students from Ayotzinapa, Mexico, were kidnapped and massacred. This bilingual, cross-national content analysis explores the relationship between multimedia features in stories about the Ayotzinapa protests and how social media users liked, shared, and commented on that coverage. This study furthers our understanding of the protest paradigm in a digital context, and sheds light on differences in mainstream, alternative, and online media outlets' coverage of protesters. Additionally, this study suggests social media users might prefer more legitimizing coverage of protesters than mainstream media typically offer

¿Está todo el mundo mirando? Construyendo una tipología de la cobertura de protestas en las redes sociales de todo el mundo

10 páginasPrevious research suggests that mainstream media coverage around the world follows a “protest paradigm” that demonizes protesters and marginalizes their causes. Given the recent increase in global protest activity and the growing importance of social media for activism, this paper content analyzes 1,438 protest-related English and Spanish news stories from around the world that were shared on social media, examining framing, sourcing, and marginalizing devices across media outlet type, region, language, and social media platform in order to create a typology of how the protest paradigm operates in an international and social media context. Results showed type of protest, location of protest, and type of media outlet were significantly related to whether news stories adhered to the protest paradigm. Social media shares were predicted by region of media outlet, English-language media, and type of protest.Investigaciones anteriores sugieren que la cobertura de los principales medios de todo el mundo sigue un "paradigma de protesta" que demoniza a los manifestantes y margina sus causas. Dado el reciente aumento en la actividad de protesta global y la creciente importancia de las redes sociales para el activismo, el contenido de este documento analiza 1,438 noticias en inglés y español relacionadas con protestas de todo el mundo que se compartieron en las redes sociales, examinando los dispositivos de encuadre, fuente y marginación. a través del tipo de medio de comunicación, región, idioma y plataforma de redes sociales para crear una tipología de cómo opera el paradigma de protesta en un contexto internacional y de redes sociales. Los resultados mostraron que el tipo de protesta, la ubicación de la protesta y el tipo de medio de comunicación estaban significativamente relacionados con si las noticias se adherían al paradigma de la protesta

A new sensation? An international exploration of sensationalism and social media recommendations in online news publications

20 páginasThe well-known phrase ‘if it bleeds, it leads’ describes the sensational approach that has penetrated the history of news. Sensationalism is a term without complete consensus among scholars, and its meaning and implications have not been considered in a digital environment. This study analyzes 400 articles from online-native news organizations across the Americas, evaluating the sensational treatment of news categories and news values, and their associated social media interaction numbers on Facebook and Twitter. Findings suggest that ‘hard’ news topics like government affairs and science/technology were treated sensationally just as often as traditionally sensationalized categories like crime or lifestyle and society. In addition, audiences are not necessarily more likely to respond to sensational treatments. This study also finds that online-native news organizations use sensationalism differently, and there is significant variation in publications from the United States, Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico

From #Ferguson to #Ayotzinapa: Analyzing Differences in Domestic and Foreign Protest News Shared on Social Media

26 páginasThis study compares U.S. digital news coverage of recent foreign and domestic_x000D_ protests. Differences in coverage’s framing, sourcing, and device emphases were_x000D_ analyzed for two cases: protests that erupted after the death of Michael Brown and_x000D_ protests demanding justice for the 43 missing students from Ayotzinapa, Mexico._x000D_ Building on protest paradigm literature, content analysis results show that news_x000D_ articles that appeared on Facebook and Twitter emphasized legitimizing frames for_x000D_ foreign protests more than domestic protests. Foreign protests were framed with the_x000D_ spectacle frame more than domestic protests, which were more often portrayed as_x000D_ confrontational. Digitally native news organizations produced content that deviated_x000D_ from expected paradigmatic norms the most. In addition, this research examines the_x000D_ relationship between content and sharing on Facebook and Twitter. Implications of_x000D_ these findings within the theoretical framework of the protest paradigm are_x000D_ discussed

To Share or Not to Share The influence of news values and topics on popular social media content in the United States, Brazil, and Argentina

23 páginasAudiences play a fundamental role in disseminating and evaluating news content, and one of the big questions facing news organizations is what elements make content viral in the digital environment. This comparative study of the United States, Brazil and Argentina explores what values and topics present in news shared online predict audience interaction on social media. Findings shed light on what news values and topics trigger more audience responses on Facebook and Twitter. At the same time, a comparison between popular content produced by traditional media versus online-native media reveals that the former lean more toward government-related news and conflict/controversy news values than online native media. Brazilian stories prompted more social media interactivity than content from the United States or Argentina. Through content analysis, this study contributes to improving our understanding of audiences’ news values preferences on social networks. It also helps us to recognize the role of users’ online activities (sharing, commenting and liking) in the social construction of news and meaning inside the networked sphere. Finally, it opens an old media debate about whether providing and sharing too much media content with conflict, controversy and oddity could potentially hinder understanding and agreement in society. Articles were collected via media tracking and the data collection company NewsWhip

Led it on Reddit: An exploratory study examining opinion leadership on Reddit

Is it possible to identify opinion leaders in a semi-anonymous online network? To answer this question, this study examines the social news site Reddit to determine whether opinion leadership can be recognized in an online network that, at face value, does not allow users to associate with their off-line personas. Identifiable characteristics, such as commenting, longevity, karma scores, posting frequency, and posting scores were analyzed. Results indicate that semi-anonymous opinion leadership may exist, as several users appear frequently as top-voted posters and commenters. In addition, Reddit’s reputational value karma may help users and researchers identify opinion leaders