This paper explores the central role of communication in informing the education policy with a particular interest in how different stakeholders of the education sector, that is, governments, educators, students, and the society in general use competitive framing to alter the population opinion and how they shape the processes of making of policies. The study examines how these actors are using the process of narrative construction in order to integrate educational issues with their interests which is done through a systematic literature review (SLR). The findings emphasize the fact that communication is not just a medium through which policy is passed, but it is dynamic in nature where policy is constructed through discourse. Specific focus is given to such values as equity and efficiency which tend to emerge in such framings, particularly, in those of social media-based public discourse. Social media sites enhance the power of the stakeholders to influence the mainstream discourses, hence, controlling the policy debates trend. The study sheds light on ways in which discourse framing can be used in policy communication to provide guidance to policy makers on how they can become aware of competing interests. In the end, this piece of work enhances our comprehension of the impact of strategic communication on the policy debate in education and it also emphasized the importance of inclusive and balanced discourse in the policy making process.

Millions of people worldwide live with opioid use disorder (OUD). Family members of people living with OUD may decide to provide or deny emotional support, and these choices have important implications for the well-being of individuals with OUD. This study investigated the impact of family emotional support, or lack thereof, on people’ s ability to reduce their drug use and pursue sobriety. This study uses systematic review, a method that allows for the systematic collection of articles about a particular topic, even when they have diverse disciplinary backgrounds and methodologies. Eighteen studies about the impact of emotional support from family members on drug use reduction were identified from MEDLINE and Sociology Abstracts primarily, as well as Directory of Open Access Journals, ProQuest Social Sciences, and Toxicology Abstracts. These articles were then synthesized into four outcome categories: treatment adherence and retention, sobriety and abstinence, treatment seeking, and recovery. Across the studies, family emotional support was generally beneficial for reducing drug use, although people living with OUD sometimes grappled with complex feelings of guilt or pressure in their supportive interactions with family members. Strengths, limitations, and future directions for studies about family emotional support in the context of OUD are discussed.

This systematic review synthesises publicly available empirical evidence (2000-2025) on burnout among journalists, an understudied occupational health phenomenon whose individual and systemic repercussions raise critical questions about media integrity, professional resilience and democratic accountability. Guided by two objectives, the review first examines the consequences of burnout on journalists’ quality of life and quality of work. Studies report chronic fatigue, insomnia, hypertension, depression, anxiety and post traumatic stress, along with diminished creativity, ethical tension and disengagement within newsrooms. Thus, burnout not only compromises personal well-being and collective performance but also affects the civic mission of journalism. The second objective identifies and evaluates coping strategies at individual, organisational and sectoral levels. By integrating the findings through the frameworks of job demands-resource and conservation of resources, this review highlights burnout as a systemic imbalance between increasing demands and insufficient resources. The study concludes that effective responses require multi-level coordination to foster sustainable and mentally healthy journalism.

Ten years after the popular claim that virtual reality is the “ultimate empathy machine,” this article examines the body of research exploring that relationship. By broadening the analytical scope to include additional influencing factors, we ask whether immersive media might instead be considered the “ultimate prosocial machine”. Accordingly, the study aims to understand how—and under what conditions—the consumption of immersive media may enhance prosociality. To this end, we conducted a comprehensive meta-analytic review, synthesizing and updating findings from six prior meta-analyses. Incorporating 85 studies, including 19 recent additions published up to 2024, and performing 68 separate meta-analyses, we examined the extent to which immersive media delivered through virtual reality (VR) headsets influences prosocial responses—namely empathy, attitudes, intentions, and prosocial behaviours—toward outgroup members vulnerable to exclusion, discrimination, or stigmatization. The studies were organized into five distinct sets of meta-analyses to examine potential moderating variables: (1) participant gender, background, and age; (2) the target groups and topics addressed by the immersive productions; (3) the type of prosocial response measured; (4) the type of immersive technology used and the type of immersive experience created; and (5) the modality of experimental design. We found a small-to-moderate statistically significant overall effect, aligning with prior meta-analyses in both effect size and heterogeneity. Given ongoing debates, particular attention was given to the interaction between the type of immersive experience and the specific dimension of empathy evaluated. Our findings suggest that emotional empathy is more responsive to immersive experiences than cognitive empathy, which appears to require more extended and embodied engagement.

The increasing adoption of machine learning techniques in communication research has brought new opportunities for predictive modeling, audience analysis, and media content evaluation. However, the challenges of ensuring both accuracy and interpretability remain central to advancing computational communication studies. This review synthesizes recent literature on hybrid feature selection frameworks that integrate statistical, heuristic, and machine learning-based approaches. We examine how these methods improve prediction performance while maintaining transparency and theoretical relevance in communication contexts. Key applications include predicting audience engagement, analyzing social media discourse, modeling media effects, and exploring communication networks. The review also highlights current limitations, such as overfitting risks, data bias, and insufficient theoretical integration, and suggests directions for future research that bridge computational methods with core communication theories. By critically evaluating hybrid feature selection strategies, this study provides communication scholars with insights into balancing methodological rigor with interpretability in machine learning applications.

This study reviews communication pathways in multilevel governance, focusing on the role of digital innovation in shaping public value. The purpose was to examine how political communication is mediated digitally, how media technologies support governance innovation, and how digital channels contribute to public value through legitimacy, accountability, and trust. A systematic literature review (SLR) was conducted using the PRISMA framework, narrowing an initial pool of studies to 12 recent, peer-reviewed articles. Thematic analysis identified three key areas: digital mediation of political communication, the role of media technologies in governance innovation, and public value creation. Findings indicate that digital tools enhance transparency, inclusiveness, and responsiveness but remain limited by structural capacity gaps, inequality, and weak feedback mechanisms. The results confirm that technology must be embedded within strong institutional frameworks to realize its full potential. The study contributes to theories of deliberative democracy, public value, and socio-technical systems by showing how digital communication reshapes governance relationships. Future research should expand cross-country and longitudinal comparisons to deepen understanding of evolving digital governance dynamics.

This paper explores the multifaceted intersection of media literacy (ML) and intercultural communication (IC) within the rapidly shifting digital landscape. ML/IC overlap with the socio-cultural, economic, political, and socio-political tendencies, dimensions, and discourses of the globalized interconnected world. In these fluid digital ecosystems, understanding their synergy is essential for navigating complex media environments, where media users necessitate a guiding “orientation”, as conceptualized by Stegmaier, due to high, ubiquitous media exposure throughout individuals, social structures, and cultures. Employing a semi-systematic narrative review and thematic coding, this study introduces a Four-Dimensional Framework—comprising access and participation, representation and identity, interpretation and meaning-making, and ethical engagement—that illuminates the convergence of ML and IC and their implications in the digital era. Building on these dimensions, a Three-Layer Model is proposed, integrating foundational capabilities, interpretive competencies, and ethical-collaborative practices into a cohesive whole. Reframed through Stegmaier’s orientation philosophy, orientation is elevated to a cross-cutting meta-dimension, empowering media users to navigate—and shape—complex socio-cultural, economic, and political discourses on the global stage. Thus, this paper advocates a reflective, “alternative-thinking” approach to IC within fluid cultural contexts, highlighting the need for critical self-awareness and deeper inter-, intra- and cross-cultural understanding in a media-saturated world.

This study examines the marketing communication strategies used by online gambling and betting (OGB) operators and their impact on young people, a group that is particularly vulnerable to gambling. Through the application of the conceptual framework of the conversion funnel and a systematic review of the literature, the communicative strategies and tactics deployed in each phase of the player's journey are comprehensively analysed. The results reveal that strategies such as normalization of the game, personalized promotions and emotional narratives generate cumulative effects that increase the risk of problematic behaviours among young people, from the misperception of control to the intensification of compulsive patterns. On the basis of these findings, a good practice guide that offers clear guidelines for operators to use communication in designing more ethical and responsible gambling experiences is proposed. This work not only contributes to the understanding of the marketing communication dynamics of the sector but also lays the foundation for future research and the development of regulatory policies that prioritize the protection of vulnerable users without compromising the commercial viability of the sector.

The rapid, geographically dispersed uptake of TikTok and Douyin in past years has been coupled with “platformization” where platforms rise with an infrastructural, economic, and cultural model that permeates various economic sectors and living spaces. App users, who not only consume but also produce content, constitute a new form of “digital labor”. This scoping review responds to the rising interest in theorizing short-form video digital labor by consolidating recent research. We constructed an original database of articles published from 2016 to 2022 about TikTok/Douyin across eight databases (SCOPUS, Web of Science, ACM Digital Library, PubMed, Medline, Google Scholar, EBSCO Communication Source, PsycINFO) with two gray literature platforms (ClinicalTrials.gov, WHO’s International Clinical Trials Registry Platform). After identifying “digital labor” related papers in this database, we added publications from 2023 to 2025 on this topic from Google Scholar; 17 papers were analyzed. This scoping review identified six categories of “digital labor” (i.e., creative, visibility, emotional, platform, relational, and promotional) on TikTok/Douyin for elucidation and comparison. Summarizing the papers, we found the goals and situations (precarity/exploitation) of these digital laborers, and their practice performed on TikTok/Douyin to be concurrently discussed. Digital laborers on short-form video apps gravitate to four forms of capital (economic, social, cultural, and symbolic) to achieve personal value. Nevertheless, the platforms’ labor practices employ strategies that subject users to precarity. As these two platforms continue to evolve (and other platforms integrate short-form videos in systems), this review provides a conceptual roadmap for future research about digital labor on networked mobile platforms.

Growing evidence shows there is a spread of skin cancer as a global epidemic, making communication on prevention a public health priority. However, the reality contrasts with the high dispersion of literature. The main objective of this study was to gather and organise the literature to facilitate interdisciplinary research and future meta-studies. A bibliometric analysis of 53 research articles indexed in Web of Science (WoS) and Academic Search Complete (EBSCO) between 2011 and 2021 was conducted. The most prolific author was David B. Buller, connector of the two co-authorship networks identified, which had 2019 as the relay point. The United States was the country with the highest number of publications (67.9%), mostly applying the Health Belief Model (HBM). The sample population was largely adult, with a slight increase in interest in studying young people and university students from 2015 onwards. The most analysed topics were risk perception and media literacy, confirming the focus on prevention messages and public education. It is recommended that the authors define the lines of research, update the studies towards the analysis of social media and new media, and increase the focus on adolescents and young people, the target audience for skin cancer prevention messages.