When societies crash : a critical analysis of news media's social role in the aftermath of national disasters

Apart from their primary role as news providers in disaster situations, news media can also assume a broader social role. Drawing on a critically informed qualitative content analysis of the Belgian news reporting on a national disaster, the article reveals a twofold articulation of this social role. The first consisted in newspapers highlighting the emotional dimension with potential societal implications of raising compassion and identification. Second, we found a strong articulation of a discourse of (national) unity and community, aimed at restoring the disrupted social order in the disaster’s aftermath. Both aspects were discursively established by a dominant presence of emotional testimonies, strategies of personalization and by the use of inclusive language permeated with references to nation or community. The study highlights the important social role of journalism in disaster situations and events involving human suffering

Poder para os repórteres da saúde: a literacia em saúde como uma ferramenta para evitar as pressões das fontes de informação

The second biggest Legionnaires’ disease outbreak worldwide occurred in Portugal in 2014. It was classified by the WHO as a “great public health emergency,” and it was subject to a unique media coverage in Portugal. The media coverage of this outbreak lasted for 2 weeks, which is not very common in similar cases, and it was characterized by the control of information by official sources. These were put together in a joint task force that disseminated all information. Nonetheless, they did not generate a hegemonic discourse which is usually characteristic of power elites. That happened mostly due to the promotion of health and risk literacy. Through infographics, descriptive maps, and questions and answers, the media were able to generate an alternative discourse to that of official sources. That was the basis of a unique media coverage.Foi o segundo maior surto de Legionella registado a nível mundial, classificado pela Organização Mundial de Saúde como “uma grande emergência de saúde pública,” e foi alvo em Portugal de uma cobertura noticiosa ímpar. Concentrada primordialmente em duas semanas, algo atípico para casos como este, a mediatização caracterizou-se por um grande controlo das fontes oficiais que, desde o primeiro momento, se constituíram numa task force a partir da qual toda a informação era canalizada, mas soube libertar-se de uma narrativa hegemónica que as elites do poder normalmente impõem. Isso fez-se, acima de tudo, pela promoção de uma literacia da saúde ao serviço da compreensão daquilo que eram os perigos deste surto. Em infografias, mapas descritivos, em textos em forma de pergunta e resposta, os jornalistas conseguiram criar um outro discurso paralelo ao das fontes oficiais e, com isso, criaram uma cobertura única.A*STAR -Agency for Science, Technology and Research (SFRH/BD/86634/2012)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Rocking the Boat: Proposing a Participatory Business Model for News

The digitization of newspapers has opened up new possibilities for user involvement, yet established practices in the media industry hinder news organisations from fully exploiting the many new opportunities that exist in the age of the Internet and social media. In this conceptual and interdisciplinary article, we explain how news actors’ strategic choices for innovation related to citizen collaboration and knowledge creation lead to distinct ideal types for participatory business models for news organisations, which we label the three C’s (citizen reporting, citizen journalism, and citizen media). We contribute to the business model innovation literature by pointing to which specific parts of a business model that news actors need to change in order to cut their production costs, as well as contributing to innovation theory by showing that the three C’s is a continuum of innovational steps. We develop further the donation strategy for user involvement by discussing citizen collaboration in different parts of the journalistic value chain. We conclude that news actors need to rock their boats in order to innovate their business models in line with today's media landscape.publishedVersio

Playing the game: a study of public relations, politics and the construction of Islam in the UK public sphere.

This doctoral thesis explores the relationship between politics, Islam and the news media in the UK. Using the theory of mediatisation as a framework for understanding media power, it argues that the relationship between politics and the media cannot be fully appreciated without a consideration of the role of public relations practice within it. Drawing on Bourdieusian field theory, it utilises textual analysis and 31 semi-structured interviews with public relations practitioners, representatives of Muslim organisations and others with professional experience of Islam and the media to establish whether public relations can be understood as a distinct field, how it mediates between the political and journalistic fields and what the implications of this might be for Muslim organisations seeking to shape news media content

A Contextualized Intervention for Community College Developmental Reading and Writing Students

This paper provides evidence on the potential efficacy of an approach to helping students develop an important academic skill, written summarization. In two experiments, a contextualized intervention was administered to developmental reading and writing students in two community colleges. The intervention was a 10-week curricular supplement that emphasized written summarization, as well as vocabulary knowledge, question generation, reading comprehension, and persuasive writing. The findings of this study suggest that the intervention had utility for academically underprepared postsecondary students

Haven't you heard?:Connecting through news and journalism in everyday life

Van Facebook tot nieuwsapps en uitgesteld kijken: nog nooit had de Nederlandse nieuwsgebruiker de keuze uit zo’n groot nieuwsaanbod. Daardoor ontstaan vele nieuwe routines, van het checkrondje op de smartphone tot het delen van nieuws in WhatsApp-groepen. Zulk veranderend nieuwsgewoonten beïnvloeden niet alleen hoe gebruikers zich informeren, maar hebben ook impact op de sociale functie van nieuws. De maatschappelijke relevantie van de journalistiek is van oudsher verbonden aan het verbinden van de privésfeer van gebruikers met de publieke wereld. Traditionele media hebben echter in toenemende mate te maken met concurrentie van alternatieve nieuwsbronnen. Als gebruikers zich ook via vrienden en familie op Facebook kunnen oriënteren op wat er buiten hun privésfeer gebeurt, waarom zouden ze dan nog het achtuurjournaal kijken? Dit proefschrift onderzoekt wat veranderend nieuwsgebruik betekent voor de verbindende rol van nieuws en journalistiek. Uit de resultaten blijkt dat nieuws, juist in wat gebruikers ervaren als een steeds complexere samenleving, van belang blijft als gemeenschappelijk referentiekader. Welk onderdeel wordt van dat referentiekader en beschouwd wordt als nieuws verandert echter: een Facebookfoto wordt intuïtief gezien als ander “nieuws” dan een item in het Journaal, maar gebruikers missen het vocabulaire om die verschillen onder woorden te brengen. Daarnaast zijn de manieren waarop gebruikers via nieuws een gemeenschappelijk referentiekader construeren diverser, meer continu, en sterker gecentreerd rondom individuen dan voorheen. Tot slot blijken “dark social media” als WhatsApp- en Facebookgroepen van toenemend belang voor het delen van nieuws en faciliteren van publieke connectie, vanwege de beslotenheid en vluchtigheid van deze platforms