Mental Health Care in India: Prescribing the Right Policy

India’s perspectives on mental health and standards of care have been complicated by developmental factors, resulting in recognition not upheld in practice. India is a country of particular interest due to this disparity between its rhetoric and reality, and looking at the history of mental health and the impact of these factors will help shape recommendations for improving mental health care. Mental health policy efforts and traditions of care continue to fall short of the country’s mental health care needs. Policy recommendations proposed in this paper center on community mental health care, which should and can be expanded by maximizing existing resources in the community. Increased training and education, in addition to research, should also be included in this effort. These recommendations are provided because they are cost-effective, beneficial for health, and take into account country-specific demographics to improve the state of mental health care in India

Open to Exploitation: America\u27s Shoppers Online and Offline

Most Americans who use the Internet have little idea how vulnerable they are to abuse by online and offline marketers and how the information they provide can be used to exploit them. That is one conclusion from this unprecedented national phone survey conducted by the Annenberg Public Policy Center. The study indicates that many adults who use the internet believe incorrectly that laws prevent online and offline stores from selling their personal information. They also incorrectly believe that stores cannot charge them different prices based on what they know about them. Most other internet-using adults admit that they simply don’t know whether or not laws protect them. The survey further reveals that the majority of adults who use the internet do not know where to turn for help if their personal information is used illegally online or offline. The study\u27s findings suggest a complex mix of ignorance and knowledge, fear and bravado, realism and idealism that leaves most internet-using adult American shoppers open to financial exploitation by retailers

Open to Exploitation: American Shoppers Online and Offline

Most Americans who use the Internet have little idea how vulnerable they are to abuse by online and offline marketers and how the information they provide can be used to exploit them. That is one conclusion from this unprecedented national phone survey conducted by the Annenberg Public Policy Center. The study indicates that many adults who use the internet believe incorrectly that laws prevent online and offline stores from selling their personal information. They also incorrectly believe that stores cannot charge them different prices based on what they know about them. Most other internet-using adults admit that they simply don’t know whether or not laws protect them. The survey further reveals that the majority of adults who use the internet do not know where to turn for help if their personal information is used illegally online or offline. The study\u27s findings suggest a complex mix of ignorance and knowledge, fear and bravado, realism and idealism that leaves most internet-using adult American shoppers open to financial exploitation by retailers

Americans, Marketers, and the Internet: 1999-2012

This is a collection of the reports on the Annenberg national surveys that explored Americans\u27 knowledge and opinions about the new digital-marketing world that was becoming part of their lives. So far we’ve released seven reports on the subject, in 1999, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2009, 2010, and 2012. The reports raised or deepened a range of provocative topics that have become part of public, policy, and industry discourse. In addition to these reports, I’ve included three journal articles — from I/S, New Media & Society and the Journal of Consumer Affairs — that synthesize some of the findings and place them into policy frameworks. The journals have kindly allowed reproduction for this purpose

Tobacco smoking and nicotine dependence in first episode and established psychosis

Aim People with psychotic disorders have increased premature mortality in comparison with the general population, with high rates of cigarette use a contributing factor. We aimed to describe the prevalence of cigarette use and nicotine dependence (ND) in first episode psychosis (FEP), and established psychosis; and to investigate associations between clinical symptoms and ND. Methodology Smoking and clinical data were collected from two cohorts: 181 people with FEP recruited as part of the Physical Health and Substance Use Measures in First Onset Psychosis (PUMP) study and from 432 people with established psychosis recruited as part of the Improving physical health and reducing substance use in psychosis randomised controlled trial (IMPaCT RCT). Results The prevalence of cigarette smoking was 78% in FEP and 62% in established psychosis. Forty nine percent (n=60) of smokers in the FEP cohort and 69% (n=183) of smokers with established psychosis were highly nicotine dependent. Being a highly nicotine dependent smoker was significantly associated with higher PANSS positive symptom scores (F= 5.480 p= 0.004), and with decreased scores on the Rosenberg self-esteem scale (F=3.261, p=0.039) in established psychosis. There was no diagnostic specificity identified in relation to smoking or ND in both groups. Conclusion High rates of cigarette usage and nicotine dependence are problems from the early stages of psychosis. ND is higher in people with established psychosis. Smoking cessation strategies as part of comprehensive management of psychotic disorders at every stage require further development and evaluation

Irreconcilable differences: An analysis of television\u27s difficult marriage with journalism as seen through the role of its anchors, 1950–2006

This dissertation examines the uneasy marriage of television and journalism, and the struggle that has raged for over five decades between the journalistic community and its traditional standards, practices and values, and the novel elements that television introduced into journalistic practice. It does so through the lens of television news anchors. The unsettled elements of the American TV journalist\u27s job include fame, heightened emotionalism, appearance and personality, all of which have far-reaching effects on many aspects of journalistic practice, such as cultural authority, selection, promotion and salary. Of all those practicing journalism in the television era, the struggle between the principles of print and radio journalism and these new elements introduced by television is experienced to the greatest degree by the TV news anchors themselves. When it comes to anchors, the journalistic community is schizophrenic; externally, it uses anchors for community promotion and reaps the positive benefits of power, adulation and affirmation of authority that anchors afford. But internally, the community feels that anchors undermine many key journalistic values. This study views journalists as an interpretive community whose members understand and articulate their professional and social roles through discourse. It tracks existing discussions about journalism, and specifically about anchors, to uncover what they reveal about the changing values, codes of behavior and boundaries of the journalistic community. This is accomplished by examining written materials from the popular and trade press, scholarly literature, memoirs, network archives, organizational proceedings, and intermittent broadcasts from the 1950s onward. All of this is tracked as well through interviews with journalists and other employees of news organizations. This study finds that challenges to community standards provide an opportunity for the community to engage in debate that is central to maintaining its identity, and to demonstrate the regulatory function it serves. In this way, community argument itself is a successful product of a process that works to allow the push-pull relationship between television technology and journalism to continue despite their differences. The result is that the television journalists are kept in check by the community, and the community is prompted to reexamine itself and evolve

Irreconcilable differences: An analysis of television\u27s difficult marriage with journalism as seen through the role of its anchors, 1950–2006

This dissertation examines the uneasy marriage of television and journalism, and the struggle that has raged for over five decades between the journalistic community and its traditional standards, practices and values, and the novel elements that television introduced into journalistic practice. It does so through the lens of television news anchors. The unsettled elements of the American TV journalist\u27s job include fame, heightened emotionalism, appearance and personality, all of which have far-reaching effects on many aspects of journalistic practice, such as cultural authority, selection, promotion and salary. Of all those practicing journalism in the television era, the struggle between the principles of print and radio journalism and these new elements introduced by television is experienced to the greatest degree by the TV news anchors themselves. When it comes to anchors, the journalistic community is schizophrenic; externally, it uses anchors for community promotion and reaps the positive benefits of power, adulation and affirmation of authority that anchors afford. But internally, the community feels that anchors undermine many key journalistic values. This study views journalists as an interpretive community whose members understand and articulate their professional and social roles through discourse. It tracks existing discussions about journalism, and specifically about anchors, to uncover what they reveal about the changing values, codes of behavior and boundaries of the journalistic community. This is accomplished by examining written materials from the popular and trade press, scholarly literature, memoirs, network archives, organizational proceedings, and intermittent broadcasts from the 1950s onward. All of this is tracked as well through interviews with journalists and other employees of news organizations. This study finds that challenges to community standards provide an opportunity for the community to engage in debate that is central to maintaining its identity, and to demonstrate the regulatory function it serves. In this way, community argument itself is a successful product of a process that works to allow the push-pull relationship between television technology and journalism to continue despite their differences. The result is that the television journalists are kept in check by the community, and the community is prompted to reexamine itself and evolve

Irreconcilable differences: An analysis of television\u27s difficult marriage with journalism as seen through the role of its anchors, 1950–2006

This dissertation examines the uneasy marriage of television and journalism, and the struggle that has raged for over five decades between the journalistic community and its traditional standards, practices and values, and the novel elements that television introduced into journalistic practice. It does so through the lens of television news anchors. The unsettled elements of the American TV journalist\u27s job include fame, heightened emotionalism, appearance and personality, all of which have far-reaching effects on many aspects of journalistic practice, such as cultural authority, selection, promotion and salary. Of all those practicing journalism in the television era, the struggle between the principles of print and radio journalism and these new elements introduced by television is experienced to the greatest degree by the TV news anchors themselves. When it comes to anchors, the journalistic community is schizophrenic; externally, it uses anchors for community promotion and reaps the positive benefits of power, adulation and affirmation of authority that anchors afford. But internally, the community feels that anchors undermine many key journalistic values. This study views journalists as an interpretive community whose members understand and articulate their professional and social roles through discourse. It tracks existing discussions about journalism, and specifically about anchors, to uncover what they reveal about the changing values, codes of behavior and boundaries of the journalistic community. This is accomplished by examining written materials from the popular and trade press, scholarly literature, memoirs, network archives, organizational proceedings, and intermittent broadcasts from the 1950s onward. All of this is tracked as well through interviews with journalists and other employees of news organizations. This study finds that challenges to community standards provide an opportunity for the community to engage in debate that is central to maintaining its identity, and to demonstrate the regulatory function it serves. In this way, community argument itself is a successful product of a process that works to allow the push-pull relationship between television technology and journalism to continue despite their differences. The result is that the television journalists are kept in check by the community, and the community is prompted to reexamine itself and evolve

Metajournalistic Discourse and Reporting Policies on White Nationalism

In 2016 and 2017, several newsrooms presented guidelines for using the term “alt-right” in the wake of events such as the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia (USA) and the US presidential campaign of Donald Trump. This study analyzed metajournalistic discourse regarding the use of the term “alt-right” including internal newsroom policies and updates to newsroom manuals and externally published public discourse. The analysis tracks how news organizations and academic and trade journalism associations participated in discourse about the use of “alt-right,” and their peers’ policies around use of the term. The study finds that discourse shifted from requiring contextualization of the term in the first wave to requiring journalists to define the term or not use it at all in the second wave that began with the Charlottesville rally. Journalism organizations acknowledged, at times endorsed, and used each other\u27s statements in developing their own understandings as an interpretive community and a community of practice