Attribute salience (Public Diplomacy) (see also issue attributes)

The variable “attribute salience” is described as the characteristics of a given issue that is portrayed in media coverage or other communication channels. It is generally measured in addition to issue salience and issue valence in order to analyze media portrayals of events, actors, or public discourses. Attribute salience is often measured in order to explore how particular issues are presented (instead of which in general), thereby contributing to second-level agenda-setting effects (McCombs et al., 1997).   Field of application/theoretical foundation: Attribute salience is analyzed across different subfields of communication and media research, including the field of public diplomacy. In public diplomacy research, scholars measure attribute salience in the context of political communication or the representation of countries in the news media as well as on social media. Researchers embed the concept of attribute salience or issue attributes mainly in agenda-setting theory (McCombs & Shaw, 1972), analyzing it as an independent variable to derive with implications of news media coverage on audiences’ evaluations of certain issues.   References/combination with other methods of data collection: When it comes to analyses on attribute salience in the context of issues and its link to public perceptions, a mixed-method study design incorporating content analysis in combination with surveys is used to validate attribute salience.   Example study: Zhang et al. (2018)   Information on Zhang et al., 2018 Authors: Zhang et al. Research question/research interest: Effects of agenda-building of Chinese state-sponsored media on news media coverage in Taiwan and Singapore during Hong Kong Protest Object of analysis: Newspaper (several English newspapers and newswires published in China, Singapore, and Taiwan; not explicated) Time frame of analysis: 1 May 2014 to 30 April 2015   Information about Variable Level of analysis: Article Values: (1) Substantive issue attributes (frame): (a) Conflict (b) Cooperation (c) Problem definition (d) Proposed solution to the problem (e) Responsibility attribution (f) Human interest (g) Consequences and outcomes (h) Morality and motivation to take actions   (2) Affective issue attributes (tone): (a) Negative (b) Neutral or mixed (c) Positive (d) N/A. Scales: Nominal Reliability: Cohen‘s kappa = 0.76   References McCombs, M. E., & Shaw, D. L. (1972). The Agenda-Setting Function of Mass Media. Public Opinion Quarterly, 36(2), 176–187. McCombs, M. E., Llamas, J. P., Lopez-Escobar, E., & Rey, F. (1997). Candidate Images in Spanish Elections: Second-Level Agenda-Setting Effects. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 74(4), 703–717. Zhang, T., Khalitova, L., Myslik, B., Mohr, T. L., Kim, J. Y., & Kiousis, S. (2018). Comparing Chinese state-sponsored media’s agenda-building influence on Taiwan and Singapore media during the 2014 Hong Kong Protest. Chinese Journal of Communication, 11(1), 66–87

Issue salience (Public Diplomacy) (see also theme or media coverage salience)

The variable “issue salience” refers to the visibility or prominence of a given topic or theme occurring in the news coverage and is used to explore first-level agenda-setting (McCombs & Shaw, 1972). In addition to actor salience and valence, issue salience is analyzed to describe and explore the news coverage on different events and public debates. Mostly, issue salience is measured as the number of mentioning a particular issue, topic, or theme.   Field of application/theoretical foundation: Issue salience is analyzed using content analysis across different subfields of communication and media research, including the field of public diplomacy. In public diplomacy research, scholars measure issue salience in the context of governmental communication on their official channels online and offline or the representation of countries in social or mass media. Researchers embed the concept of issue salience primarily in agenda-setting theory (McCombs & Shaw, 1972), analyzing it as an independent variable from which to derive implications of news media coverage on audiences’ perceptions on a certain object or examining the relationship between issue salience in the media and the public agenda.   References/combination with other methods of data collection: When it comes to analyses on issue salience and its link to public perceptions, a mixed-method study design incorporating content analysis in combination with surveys is used to validate issue salience.   Example study: Zhou et al., 2013   Information about Zhou et al., 2013 Authors: Zhang et al. Research question/research interest: Comparison between news coverage on Great Britain (in terms of themes) in U.S.-American and Chinese news media during the Olympic Games 2012 RQ: What were the most salient themes in British, U.S., and Chinese media when they covered the opening ceremony of the London Olympics? Object of analysis: Newspaper (30 media outlets across three countries (the United States, the United Kingdom, and China, not explicated) Time frame of analysis: 24 July 2012 to 12 August 2012   Information about variable Variable name/definition: Media coverage salience:  Number of mentions given to a particular theme Level of analysis: Story Values: (1) Countryside (e.g., emphasis of British natural beauty and scenic sites) (2) Creativity (e.g., focus on British creative sector, such as arts, film, and literature) (3) Entrepreneurship (e.g., portrayals on entrepreneurs and investors, or global investment) (4) Green (e.g., emphasis on Great Britain’s sustainability and environmental protection efforts) (5) Heritage (e.g., focus on British royalty, museums, and historical landmarks) (6) Innovation (e.g., discussion of science and technology in Great Britain) (7) Knowledge (e.g., portrayals of research and development at British universities) (8) Music (e.g., mentions of British and music artists) (9) Shopping (e.g., emphasis on British shopping venues such as London as shopping city) (10) Sport (e.g., emphasis on sporting events or athletes, such as David Beckham) (11) Technology (e.g., focus on digital media, e-commerce, and IT services in Great Britain) Scales: Nominal Reliability: Krippendorf’s alpha = .90   References McCombs, M. E., & Shaw, D. L. (1972). The Agenda-Setting Function of Mass Media. Public Opinion Quarterly, 36(2), 176–187. Zhou, S., Shen, B., Zhang, C., & Zhong, X. (2013). Creating a Competitive Identity: Public Diplomacy in the London Olympics and Media Portrayal. Mass Communication & Society, 16(6), 869–887

Content Analysis in the Research Field of Public Diplomacy

Public diplomacy research in the realm of communication science has increased significantly since 2009, particularly in public relations and strategic organizational communication studies. Public diplomacy is generally conceived as a strategic communication instrument comprising different communication methods to inform and engage with foreign publics in order to advance the interests of nation-states. In this chapter, I focus on research on public diplomacy as the communication efforts of a nation (including those of the government itself and institutions that speak on behalf of the government) in advancing national interests and, ultimately, affecting the perception of a nation. In this regard, previous research has examined either subjects (communicators of public diplomacy messages) or objectives of public diplomacy communication

Corporate Diplomacy: How Multinational Corporations Gain Organizational Legitimacy

This Open-Access book investigates corporate diplomacy as a legitimation strategy of multinational companies in the United Arab Emirates. The author applies a neo-institutional public relations perspective, according to which societal expectations significantly shape corporate diplomacy communication. Using a multi-method research design, the author shows how corporate diplomacy is used in the host country, what role local media coverage and relationship management fulfill, and what effects corporate diplomacy has on corporate legitimacy in the host country community, i.e., UAE residents. The findings provide substantial insights into how multinational corporations seek legitimacy through corporate diplomacy and demonstrate how these efforts and the legitimation of corporations are affected by the media and the host country's public

Public diplomacy message strategy (Public Diplomacy) (see also public diplomacy approach)

The variable “public diplomacy message strategy” (or “public diplomacy approach”) refers to public diplomacy efforts in a given country in order to investigate how and with which goal public diplomacy is strategically communicated in the given context. The variable reflects the communication style of a specific actor (a politician, government, or country).   Field of application/theoretical foundation: Analyses of public diplomacy message strategies or approaches mostly build on the taxonomy of public diplomacy (Cull, 2008) or the proposed categories of public diplomacy by Fitzpatrick (2010).   References/combination with other methods of data collection: Public diplomacy message strategies can, in addition to content analysis, be analyzed by conducting interviews or surveys with public diplomacy actors, which allow validating the results from content analyses.   Example study: Dodd & Collins (2017)   Information on Dodd & Collins (2017) Authors: Dodd & Collins Research question/research interest: Comparison between public diplomacy approaches between Central Eastern European (not explicated) and Western countries (Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States) Object of analysis: Twitter content posted by 41 embassy accounts (not explicated) Time frame of analysis: March 2015   Information about variable Variable name/definition: Public diplomacy practices: Communication strategy Level of analysis: Tweet Values: Building on Cull’s (2008) taxonomy of public diplomacy: (1) Listening (attempts to collect and collate information about foreign publics and their opinions) (2) Advocacy (activities that promote the country’s policies or general interests among foreign publics) (3) Cultural (efforts to promote cultural resources and achievements of a country) (4) International (activities that involve sending national actors abroad or receiving international actors to strategically manage the international environment) (5) News (use of radio, television and digital media to inform and involve foreign audiences) (6) Other Scales: Nominal Reliability: Krippendorf’s alpha = .50   References Cull, N. J. (2008). Public Diplomacy: Taxonomies and Histories. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 616(1), 31–54. Dodd, M. D., & Collins, S. J. (2017). Public relations message strategies and public diplomacy 2.0: An empirical analysis using Central-Eastern European and Western Embassy Twitter accounts. Public Relations Review, 43(2), 417–425. Fitzpatrick, K. (2010). The future of U.S. public diplomacy: An uncertain fate. Martinus Nijhoff/Brill

Corporate Diplomacy: How Multinational Corporations Gain Organizational Legitimacy

This Open-Access book investigates corporate diplomacy as a legitimation strategy of multinational companies in the United Arab Emirates. The author applies a neo-institutional public relations perspective, according to which societal expectations significantly shape corporate diplomacy communication. Using a multi-method research design, the author shows how corporate diplomacy is used in the host country, what role local media coverage and relationship management fulfill, and what effects corporate diplomacy has on corporate legitimacy in the host country community, i.e., UAE residents. The findings provide substantial insights into how multinational corporations seek legitimacy through corporate diplomacy and demonstrate how these efforts and the legitimation of corporations are affected by the media and the host country's public

Personalization of tech corporations: Examining personalized news and the media reputation of Google, Facebook, and Apple in Swiss news media

Tech corporations, such as Google, Facebook, and Apple, have increasingly become the focus of public media attention and are subject to public scrutiny due to their prominence and scandals. Often, the news media reports on the corporations’ chief executive officers and founders as representatives of the corporations to make complex company-related information comprehensible and gain more public attention. The personalization trend in the news media has turned some corporate leaders into celebrities and is linked to tech companies’ media reputations, that is, the evaluations of tech companies in the news media. However, research on personalization in corporate news is rare and conflicting, and whether and how personalization is linked to the media reputations of Big Tech corporations is not yet clear. By focusing on different personalization types, this study investigates the relationship between personalization and the evaluation of tech companies in the news. A quantitative content analysis of media articles ( N = 5234) in Swiss news outlets revealed that the news on tech companies is frequently personalized, and personalized news is more negative and more often related to the social aspects of tech corporations than non-personalized news. Our study indicates that personalization is used as a journalistic style in the news about tech corporations but is most common in negative reporting in which the role of tech corporations in society is critically assessed

Einstellungen gegenüber Medien

Dieses Kapitel gibt einen umfassenden Überblick über das Nachrichteninteresse und das Medienvertrauen in der Schweiz. Weiterhin werden die Einschätzung zur Unabhängigkeit des Journalismus, zum Umgang mit Daten auf News-Websites und sozialen Medien sowie die Wahrnehmung von Falschinformationen in der Schweiz genauer betrachtet. Die Resultate beziehen sich auf die internationale, jährlich durchgeführte und repräsentative Befragung durch das Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (2022), die einen Ländervergleich ermöglicht

From precarious conditions to permanent positions? Problems, responsible actors, and solutions for strengthening the academic mid-level staff in Switzerland

The precarious situation of doctoral and postdoctoral researchers, resulting from fixed-term contracts and the demanding working conditions of young researchers at Swiss universities, has been increasingly discussed in recent years by academic organizations, political actors, and the broader public. While discussions on various levels are intensifying, concrete measures remain largely absent, and young researchers find themselves in an environment of job insecurity and a lack of prospects. Therefore, we organized a panel discussion on why and how to create permanent positions in the Swiss academic system during this year’s annual conference of the Swiss Association of Communication and Media Research (SACM). The panel included presentations of preliminary results from a recent study analyzing the working conditions of young and emerging communication and media scholars in Switzerland as well as discussions with researchers and actors from science organizations regarding: 1) the need for improvement of the current working conditions and the future perspectives of mid-level staff at Swiss universities, 2) the responsibilities of different actors, and 3) alternatives to the status quo that help solve the precarious situation of young and emerging scholars in Switzerland and beyond. The discussion showed several reasons for establishing more permanent positions and inducing a systemic change. While there are manifold arguments for creating more permanent positions, these arguments must appeal to those with decision-making power

Corporate Diplomacy and Political CSR: Similarities, Differences and Theoretical Implications

The purpose of this study is to systematically review the body of knowledge on corporate diplomacy (CD) and political corporate social responsibility (PCSR) in journals from the fields of public relations, public diplomacy, general management and business ethics. By applying an interdisciplinary approach our study aims to (1) examine what definitions of CD and PCSR exist, (2) explore what theories have been applied to CD and PCSR and, (3) find differences and commonalities between the underlying concepts of CD and PCSR. Building on the results of our review, we redefine each construct and develop a theoretical framework of CD, which integrates PCSR, international public relations and public diplomacy. Our results serve as a foundation for an operationalization of the constructs in order to conduct empirical analyses and contribute to current research on the political role of multinational corporations