Large-scale infrastructure projects (LIPs) are often framed as iconic national achievements, yet they frequently involve cost overruns and contested regional impacts. This study examines media coverage of the Helsinki–Turku (One-Hour Train) project to explore how legitimacy is constructed in multi-level regional governance. Drawing on post-Actor-Network Theory media scholarship, framing, and agenda-setting perspectives, the analysis treats media not as passive observers but as co-producers of legitimacy, shaping public perception and influencing governance decisions. Empirical findings reveal that coverage selectively amplifies political priorities, obscures alternative regional strategies, and stabilizes project narratives while marginalizing local concerns. Theoretically, the study contributes to understanding LIPs as socially and materially mediated phenomena, highlighting the role of media infrastructures in producing legitimacy across scales. Practically, the findings emphasise the need for transparent, regionally sensitive communication and strengthened parliamentary oversight to balance symbolic ambition with equitable and cost-effective governance. The study also shows how media discourses shape public accountability and the political geography of infrastructure decisions. • Examines how Finnish media discourses shape legitimacy and governance of large infrastructure projects (LIPs). • Reveals how the Helsinki–Turku rail debate exposes fragmentation between local, national, and European planning scales. • Shows that infrastructural decision-making in Finland reflects symbolic aspirations as much as strategic value. • Argues that media act as active agents in constructing regional development narratives, not neutral observers. • Calls for a coherent national interregional vision to promote equitable and balanced regional growth.

ABSTRACT This paper provides a systematic review of research at the intersection of mental health and tourism, an area of growing significance for consumer studies. Tourists represent a consumer group particularly vulnerable to the effects of mental disorders, with consequences for decision-making, experience quality, and overall well-being. We employ bibliometric analysis, combined with keyword and topic extraction on both academic papers and social media, using X (Twitter) as our data source, thus consolidating existing scholarship and tracing the development of the field. In this manner, we highlight dominant theories and methodological approaches employed in the extant work and hence reconcile fragmented insights, identifying underexplored dimensions of consumer vulnerability and wellness in tourism contexts. Our analysis contrasts academic findings with themes evident in wider public discourse, revealing areas of misalignment where consumer perspectives have yet to be sufficiently addressed in scholarly work. By analysing both academic and social media discourse, the paper highlights key areas for future research, based on key topics in the latter that are underexplored in the former. Our suggestions can be used by researchers to improve their understanding of the intersection of mental health and tourism, thus leading to improved services and outcomes for vulnerable populations.

ABSTRACT Haitian asylum seekers (HAS) at the U.S.-Mexico border have become a focal point for academic, governmental, and media discussions. They have long been affected by border externalization and waiting policies, which have led to economic, political, and emotional precarity. Drawing on ethnographic data, life stories, and in-depth interviews collected using a narrative-biographic approach in Northeastern Mexico, this paper examines the repercussions of U.S. externalization and waiting policies and the sociopolitical production of precarity among HAS waiting in the region. It centers on the story of Leslie as an analytically telling case to illustrate how HAS endure a precarious wait, a compound state of immobility that intersects systemic inequalities, socioeconomic deprivation, affective control, racial neglect, and institutional violence. The analysis reveals how bordering practices and state-imposed immobility are sustained by the state’s strategic deployment of geopolitical coordination, temporal–spatial constraints, legal ambiguity, and affective manipulation, as tools for controlling racialized migrants.

ABSTRACT This article examines the media representation of state violence against children in Ecuador, focusing on the Malvinas case in which four minors were executed by the armed forces in 2024. Drawing on a qualitative content analysis of major national newspapers (El Comercio, El Universo, El Mercurio, La Hora, Primicias, GK, Extra and Expreso), the study investigates how childhood was discursively constructed in news coverage and how narratives framed the abuse of military power. Findings reveal that the press oscillated between two competing logics: a securitized discourse that depicted the victims as collateral damage within a ‘war on crime,’ and a human rights – oriented discourse that foregrounded children as rights-bearing subjects and denounced the military’s actions as crimes against humanity. Across outlets, children’s lives and identities often remained invisible, with coverage emphasizing their deaths over their existence as individuals with families, aspirations and social belonging. This selective visibility contributed to the symbolic marginalization of childhood. The article argues that media discourse is not neutral: it either legitimizes state violence through euphemism or challenges impunity by naming abuse of power. By analyzing these dynamics, the study highlights the ethical responsibility of journalism in protecting children’s dignity in contexts of structural violence.

ABSTRACT Since 2017, China and Vietnam have intensified cybersecurity regulation, raising concerns about state surveillance and restrictions on online expression. While both governments justify these measures through narratives of national security and cyber sovereignty, their communication strategies differ significantly. This study compares how cybersecurity is articulated and legitimized in Chinese and Vietnamese state media, focusing on the communicative construction of digital authoritarianism. Using a mixed-methods approach combining Discourse Network Analysis, topic modeling, and corpus-based Critical Discourse Analysis, the study examines actor coalitions, dominant themes, and framing strategies in official media discourse. The findings reveal distinct models of digital governance. China's discourse emphasizes data security, digital economic development, and technological leadership, framing cybersecurity as part of national modernization and global influence. In contrast, Vietnam's discourse portrays cyberspace primarily as a threat to political stability and social order, prioritizing domestic control and regime security. These differences reflect two communicative logics of digital authoritarianism: one oriented toward global competitiveness and economic legitimacy, and the other toward internal securitization and political survival. The study contributes to scholarship on authoritarian resilience and demonstrates how state media narratives legitimize divergent models of internet governance in contemporary authoritarian contexts.

Mental health in media has been studied extensively. The role of celebrity disclosure is also considered in the process of destigmatizing mental illness. On January 12, 2025, a clip of Zane Gonzalez (National Football League player) went viral, leading to a broader discussion about him living with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). We conducted an online survey with a nationally representative American sample (N = 397) and found that attention paid to Zane Gonzalez media stories right after his disclosure was a media hot topic was associated with intentions to share OCD awareness, and it moderated the relationship between attitudes toward OCD and intentions to share OCD awareness, as well as information seeking efficacy and intentions to share OCD awareness.

ABSTRACT This study reassesses the representation of China in the context of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) within Pakistan’s mainstream media discourse based on a 5.1-million-word corpus of English-language news reports from LexisNexis. We employed a corpus-based Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) approach, augmented by Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques such as keyword analysis, collocation examination, and BERT-based sentiment analysis to examine linguistic patterns and evaluative connotations within media reporting. Keyword analysis indicates that the portrayal of China–Pakistan ties predominantly focuses on high-level diplomatic interactions, with the CPEC characterized as a notable ‘game-changer.’ It further reveals that economic narratives dominate media coverage, whereas security-related issues are more frequently associated with India. Moreover, the results show that the CPEC is constructed as a macro-strategic platform reflecting Pakistan’s strategic priorities. Sentiment analysis indicates overwhelmingly positive coverage (94.6%), alongside limited neutral (5.3%) and negligible negative (0.1%) representations. Overall, Pakistani media project a predominantly favorable image of China and portray the CPEC as a multidimensional initiative that promotes economic growth, governance collaboration, and regional connectivity. By integrating digital humanities methods with CDA, this study offers empirical insights into media framing of China in Pakistan and contributes to broader debates within South Asian studies.

ABSTRACT This paper investigates the evolving landscape of feminist digital activism in India by analysing Instagram posts from three major Indian feminist pages: SheThePeople, ThatDesiFeminist, and Feminism in India. The study asks how digital feminist practices on Instagram construct, contest, and reframe dominant cultural discourses around gender, power, and identity. Employing a multimodal qualitative methodology, it integrates Cultural Discourse Studies (CDS), netnography, and close reading to examine 300 posts as discursive interventions against patriarchal norms relating to marriage, motherhood, public safety, body politics, and emotional labour. CDS offers a culturally grounded framework for reading Instagram posts as communicative acts embedded in broader power-laden discourse systems. Netnography and close reading uncover how visual storytelling, symbolic imagery, and user engagement are mobilised as tools of resistance and feminist meaning-making. The findings show that Indian digital feminist activism is not only reactive to patriarchal backlash but also proactively builds alternative feminist grammars rooted in local sociocultural realities. By foregrounding India as a culturally specific site of feminist meaning-making and extending CDS to multimodal social media discourse, the paper contributes to scholarship on digital feminism beyond the West.

China’s expanding engagement with the Global South, particularly Africa, through the Belt and Road Initiative has been widely critiqued as a form of neo-colonialism in Western-dominated discourse. In response, Chinese official documentaries emerged as key instruments for constructing alternative narratives that challenge these accusations. This study critically examines China: Prescription for Poverty (2021), a documentary produced by China’s official media Xinhua News Agency, to analyse the discursive strategies it employs in negotiating neo-colonial critiques. Using an integrated framework of Critical Discourse Analysis and Multimodal Discourse Analysis, this research explores how the documentary constructs China’s role in the Global South through narrative and multimodal strategies, including visual, textual, and auditory elements. Drawing on Edward Said’s Orientalism, Daniel Vukovich’s Sinological Orientalism, and the concept of Internalised Orientalism, this study argues that China’s media discourse simultaneously resists and reproduces Orientalist logics. By positioning China as a developmental authority within South–South relations, the film reinforces asymmetrical structures of knowledge and governance. These findings contribute to critical debates on media representation, cultural hegemony, postcolonial discourse, and the shifting geopolitical narratives of globalisation.

Abstract This study focuses on the choice between Spanish accusative and dative clitics as a phenomenon of morphological variation with functional and cognitive implications. The analysis is based on a corpus of written digital media discourse, representing a variety close to the northern-central Peninsular standard. Dative forms are linked to higher salience of the object referent, as evidenced by their distribution in both ditransitive and monotransitive clauses with an identifiable agent or experiencer. It is hypothesized that the defocusing of the latter participant should increase the contextual salience of object referents, thus favoring the use of dative clitics. This is tested with two types of defocusing constructions, namely impersonal reflexives, and non-phoric plural third persons. The results show a marked dominance of the dative in the former context, owing to the fact that the event is construed as internal to the object, whereby the initiator becomes cognitively blurred. With plural third persons, while general dative rates are also comparably high, the initiator is often still perceivable, which makes formal choice more dependent on other factors related to transitivity. Clitic variation needs to be further analyzed as a simultaneously formal and meaningful phenomenon in different textual modalities and interactional settings.

In China, lung cancer remains a major public health concern and accounts for a substantial proportion of cancer-related deaths nationwide. However, limited research has examined public perceptions of lung cancer in the digital sphere, where health-related information is increasingly disseminated and accessed. This study aims to systematically examine patterns of public attention and perceptions toward lung cancer in China by integrating search engine query data and social media content, thereby enhancing current understanding of web-based health information dynamics related to lung cancer. Data were collected from Baidu Index (BI) (2011-2025) and Sina Weibo (2010-2025) to represent web-based search behavior and social media discourse on lung cancer, respectively. Spatiotemporal patterns of BI, per capita Baidu Index (PBI), and Weibo posts were examined to capture temporal trends and spatial variations. Additionally, the spatial autocorrelation of PBI was assessed using global and local Moran I statistics. PBI-related explanatory variables were assessed using a spatial panel Durbin model. Topic modeling and lexicon-based sentiment analysis were applied to Weibo content to uncover thematic evolution and emotional polarity across years, sex/organization groups, and user types. Public attention toward lung cancer, as reflected by BI, increased initially, peaked in 2019, and subsequently declined, whereas Weibo discussions demonstrated a fluctuating but generally upward trend before stabilizing after 2022. Similar temporal patterns were observed across most provinces. Significant spatial heterogeneity was identified, with higher BI levels concentrated in eastern coastal regions and persistently lower levels in western and southwestern provinces. Spatial autocorrelation analysis revealed stable positive clustering over time, with low-low clusters particularly concentrated in southwestern regions such as Guangxi, and no significant high-high clusters were detected. Panel spatial regression analyses indicated that the provincial PBI was positively associated with gross domestic product (GDP) per capita and average years of education per capita, but negatively associated with the urbanization rate. Moreover, significant spatial spillover effects were observed, suggesting that socioeconomic factors were associated not only with local public attention but also with that of neighboring regions. Topic modeling revealed a clear thematic evolution over time. Although personal experiences initially dominated web-based discourse, discussions progressively shifted toward health care service-related issues, which became the most prominent theme by 2025. Sentiment analysis indicated an overall positive emotional tone throughout the study period, with "Good" and "Disgust" representing the predominant positive and negative emotions, respectively. Emotional expression varied across demographic groups and user types, with noticeable differences in both intensity and temporal trends. This study offers a comprehensive overview of public attention and discourse on lung cancer in China's digital landscape, providing valuable evidence to inform targeted health communication and policy interventions.

This study aims to examine the discursive construction of the Free Nutritious Meals (MBG) program in Kompas.com. Using a qualitative approach and Norman Fairclough’s three-dimensional model of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), this study focuses on textual, discursive, and social practices in two Kompas.com news reports: “Targeting Zero Cases of MBG Food Poisoning by 2026, BGN: God Guarantees” (January 8, 2026) and “Chamber of Commerce: MBG Program Has the Potential to Boost Economic Growth” (January 15, 2026). The analytical framework conceptualizes language as a non-neutral social practice embedded with power relations and ideology. The findings reveal that both articles construct the MBG program through two distinct discursive formations. First, a technocratic-religious discourse that combines policy rationality with symbolic legitimacy through the narrative of “God guarantees.” Second, an economic-productivist discourse that frames MBG as an instrument of economic growth by stimulating market demand. Third, at the ideological level, the discourse reflects the integration of state interests, market forces, and cultural values in shaping public perceptions of the MBG program. This study contributes to critical media discourse studies by integrating technocratic, religious, and economic discourses within a single analytical framework, particularly in the context of contemporary public policy coverage in Indonesia.

ABSTRACT Pet dogs have become key sites of urban conflict as cities seek to regulate more-than-human life, yet we know little about how media in China problematize them and how these framings are lived and subtly reworked in everyday life. Drawing on Foucauldian notions of problematization and governmentality, this paper examines Hangzhou through an analysis of local news reports alongside semi-structured interviews and observations in parks. It shows how discourses of hygiene, civility, and risk constitute dogs and their owners as threats to urban order, and how this problematization operates through constitutive absence that privilege certain voices while sidelining infrastructures, lay knowledges and more-than-human relations. Yet missing-dog notices and everyday encounters register dogs as intimate companions, foregrounding attachments and mundane practices that complicate dominant framings. The paper argues that pet governance in urban China is shaped by a hybrid and internally contradictory problematization in which abjection and attachment coexist, producing frictions and ambiguities in nonhuman governmentality and opening space for more relational, multispecies understandings of urban coexistence.

The paradigm shift of power in International Relations positions cultural heritage diplomacy as a strategic soft power instrument. Through the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA), Türkiye funds the restoration of Ottoman-era buildings in the Balkans to strengthen its geopolitical influence. This study aims to analyze how Türkiye's cultural diplomacy strategy contributes to the tourism economy in Albania. Employing a qualitative approach with a document analysis method, this research evaluates academic literature, institutional reports, statistical data, and public discourse in mass media using reflexive thematic analysis. The findings reveal a pragmatic symbiosis between Türkiye's ambitions and Albania's economy. Although Albania's tourism is predominantly driven by nature and coastal attractions, the restoration of historical buildings by Türkiye is utilized by Albania to diversify its cultural tourism sector. A geopolitical paradox emerges: Eastern-nuanced assets funded by Türkiye paradoxically become tourist commodities whose primary market consists of European citizens (accounting for 95% of the 11.7 million tourists in 2024). Conversely, new construction projects such as the Namazgâh Mosque trigger domestic ambivalence, as the "Turco-centric" image is perceived as a potential hindrance to Albania's "Eurocentric" integration narrative. In conclusion, Türkiye's cultural diplomacy serves as a catalyst for tourism diversification, generating an economic multiplier effect for Albania, while simultaneously compelling the country to navigate the tension between an Eastern heritage identity and a Western political orientation.

In contemporary American politics, representation by the underrepresented has become both a marker of progress and a site of contention, particularly when intersecting with race and gender. This study critically examines Kamala Harris as a political object through which broader societal tensions surrounding power, identity and legitimacy manifest. Drawing from Object-Oriented Ontology (OOO) and critical political communication, the article interrogates how Harris’s political trajectory reflects the structural biases that continue to shape perceptions of leadership and authority. As the first female, Black and South Asian Democrat Presidential candidate, Harris occupies a paradoxical position – her historic election to the office of the Vice President initially signified progress, yet the racialized and gendered scrutiny she faced during the 2024 presidential election campaigns illustrates the enduring barriers to true political equity. Through an analysis of media discourse and historical case studies, this study reveals how Harris’s struggles on the fronts of colour and gender disrupt, yet simultaneously reinforce, dominant power structures. Her presidential pursuit highlights the limitations of symbolic representation, exposing how race and gender continue to dictate the terms of political legitimacy. By situating Harris within the broader struggles of marginalized politicians, this study advances critical discussions on political representation, structural inequities and the ongoing tensions between diversity and power in American democracy.

Background 6-methyl nicotine (6-MN) is a synthetic nicotine analogue found in e-cigarette and oral nicotine products that contains a methyl group substitution absent in nicotine, allowing it to bypass current U.S. tobacco product regulations, including exemption from FDA premarket tobacco product application (PMTA) requirements. This study analyzed public discourse on Reddit and X to examine how 6-MN is perceived amid limited research and regulatory guidance. Methods Using Meltwater, we collected publicly available English-language posts on Reddit and X referencing 6-MN from August 1, 2023 to August 15, 2024. Posts (N = 189) were inductively coded for thematic content and sentiment. Engagement metrics (upvotes, replies, views, likes, reposts) were summarized, and negative binomial regression models were used to evaluate associations between themes and engagement. Results Common themes included misinformation (35.4%), information-sharing (34.9%), and policy-related discussion (30.2%). Sentiment was primarily neutral (81.0%). Posts referencing misinformation, potency and addictiveness, and regulatory issues generated higher engagement on Reddit, while policy-related content was associated with more likes on X. Conclusions Although overall discussion volume was modest, early discourse about 6-MN reflects regulatory ambiguity and uncertainty about health risks. Engagement with policy and potency themes highlights the need for surveillance of nicotine analogues and clear communication regarding their pharmacology, safety, and legal status.

ABSTRACT Media discourses on environmental disasters play a crucial role in shaping public opinion, perceptions of the disaster, policy formation, and management strategies. This study employed a computational approach to examine the African media agenda and sentiments surrounding flood disasters in Ghana over 20 years (2004–2024). Findings uncovered media discourses around the complex climate change paradox, government disaster preparedness, and risk management, as well as rural/urban practices and their effects. Results also indicated that the majority of coverage was positive (69.45%), whereas less than half (30.55%) was negative, with no neutral coverage. In addition, the study observed positive sentiments regarding the coverage of the proactive steps taken by the government and its agencies in responding to the disaster. In contrast, negative sentiments focused on the loss of lives and the destruction of property. The study discussed the role of cultural norms in these findings to contribute to the praxis of media and environmental disaster communication.

The article is dedicated to the study of the features of media polemics in English-speaking media in the Old and New Worlds amid global political transformations from 2025 to early 2026. The subject of the research is the discourse presented by leading Western publications regarding U.S. policy. Indeed, the activities of Donald Trump and the American establishment have recently been viewed by the media through the lens of a gradual "destruction" of transatlantic relations. In this context, there is a growing criticism of U.S. policies, which, according to commentators, are increasingly characterized by imperialistic features. The rhetoric of leading political figures in the European region reinforces the perception of a crisis in the union between the Old World and the United States. The author analyzes the main news triggers that characterize the current tactics of American foreign relations, highlighting the most frequent interpretations of ongoing processes. The methodological foundation of the work is a qualitative content analysis of publications from leading English-language media, including the identification of thematic accents, lexical markers, and narrative strategies. The corpus of analyzed sources includes publications such as The Economist, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, The Times, The Atlantic, and The Nation. As a result of the study, it was established that there is a significant increase in critical rhetoric concerning U.S. policy in the media space, which is increasingly viewed through the prism of neo-imperialism. A key actor in the media discourse is Donald Trump, whose international activities are presented as a primary factor in the destruction of allied relations, the rise of protectionism, and a shift towards unilateral transactionalism. The main conclusions of the work are that modern Western media not only reflect but actively construct discourse about the crisis of transatlantic partnership. Media narratives reinforce the notion of a shift towards a "post-American world" and a reassessment of the global balance of power. Prospects for the further development of the situation are related to a possible deepening of the rift between allies, a rise in nationalist and protectionist trends, a weakening of the role of international institutions, and further polarization of public opinion. In the media space, this could lead to an escalation of confrontational rhetoric and the entrenchment of the image of the United States as a source of systemic risks to international stability.

ABSTRACT This study examines how transit migrants from Sub-Saharan Africa are represented and framed in mainstream media across Libya, Morocco and Tunisia, three key North African countries along migration routes to Europe. Using a mixed-methods approach that combines framing analysis with multimodal critical discourse analysis (MCDA), the study considers framing as an exercise of power, emphasizing the role of competing actors and framing sponsors in constructing public discourse on Sub-Saharan transit migrants. To this end, the paper addresses three key questions: (1) What dominant frames characterize media coverage of Sub-Saharan transit migrants? (2) What discursive strategies construct these frames? (3) What power relations are embedded in these representations? The findings reveal a dominant emphasis on security and responsibility frames, often reinforced by discursive strategies that dehumanize migrants and obscure the structural drivers of migration. The study further demonstrates how media representations are shaped by racialized and biased discourses, where state actors instrumentalize North African news media for legitimacy building. These dynamics are compounded by broader regional power asymmetries, particularly the European Union’s efforts to externalize border control to North African states.

To examine patient-surgeon communication challenges in aesthetic surgery and identify effective strategies for expectation management and informed consent through narrative review of current literature. A comprehensive narrative review was conducted using PubMed, PsycINFO, and communication databases (2010-2024). Search terms included "aesthetic surgery," "patient communication," "expectations," "informed consent," and "social media." Literature was analyzed thematically to identify key communication challenges, digital media influences, and evidence-based intervention strategies. This review identifies three primary themes and proposes an integrated framework combining traditional communication barriers with digital-era influences: (1) Communication barriers arise from the subjective nature of aesthetic goals and patients' difficulty articulating desires in clinical terms; (2) Social media significantly influences patient expectations, with recent surveys indicating that a substantial majority of facial plastic surgeons encounter patients requesting procedures to improve social media appearance-representing a significant increase from earlier years; (3) Evidence-based visual communication tools and structured decision aids demonstrate effectiveness in aligning expectations and improving satisfaction. Studies consistently show that unmet expectations account for 14.4 % of malpractice claims in plastic surgery versus 3.8 % in other medical specialties. This review presents a comprehensive integrated communication framework specifically designed for the digital era of aesthetic surgery practice. Effective patient-surgeon communication now requires specialized approaches that address both traditional expectation management and unprecedented social media influences on patient goals. Surgeons should implement structured communication protocols including visual outcome ranges, psychological expectation assessment, and explicit discussion of social media influences. Professional development programs must emphasize communication skills specific to aesthetic consultation, with particular attention to cultural competence and digital literacy.