Global Media Research Articles

Legal Expertise as a Tool of Countering Violent Extremism in the Web 2.0

The paper deals with the results of the study aimed to countermeasure violent extremism in Web 2.0. The paper focuses on the results of the research entitled “Russian Legal Concept of Media Security” and implemented within the framework of the “Priority-2030” Academic Strategic Leadership Program. The increased number of public crimes committed in the new media using telecommunications technologies makes the study relevant. The study is aimed to improve the understanding of current and future global media security challenges and to explain how to resist them based on legal expertise. Legal expertise is characterized as a tool that can contribute to raising the general level of legal culture and, in this regard, the authors highlight that availability of law and language knowledge is relevant in solving criminal law issues regarding implementation of basic rights and freedoms in the digital environment. The authors examine public relations in the field of education, family relations and youth policy related to those who share traditional morality and focus on countering a destructive ideological impact on children, adolescents, and the youth, carried out in order to neutralize inimical inculcation of spiritual values alien to Russian society. The authors scrutinized social networking, a combination of mini web pages, blogs and searchable communities, to detect signs of extremist propaganda shared via internet communication as a key challenge Russian society is facing nowadays. They elucidate the importance of undertaking effective measures to protect the population from harmful effect of destructive extremist ideology and its negative psychological impact. An interdisciplinary study of media security in the paradigm of criminal law sciences was conducted on the basis of legal expertise — a comprehensive criminalistic, criminology, forensic, psychological and linguistic approach to counteracting a destructive ideological impact on adolescents and neutralizing the mechanisms of implanting alien moral values. The authors have systematized threats to traditional Russian spiritual values and proposed to amend legislation and law enforcement practice to improve media security. Deep efforts should be made to encourage zero tolerance for extremist actions in the information sphere among people, to form their competence to ensure media security, including effective recourse to legal (or forensic) experts and authorized entities in case of violations of the law.

Media Framing of African Refugee Migration to Europe: An Analysis of Narrative Constructions From Selected Global Media Houses in 2023

The framing of migrants from Africa to Europe on the global media is complex and quite obscure. The manner in which media tells a story is quite critical as it has the potential to influence the discernment of the public from different parts of the world. The main goal of the study was to examine how the global media houses portrayed African migrants to Europe in 2023.This was guided by two specific objectives:To examine the global media outlets' coverage of African refugee migration to Europe and to analyze the language used by the media to describe African refugees, assessing for bias, stereotypes, or stigmatization. The study was guided by the framing theory. The study employed a qualitative method design to conduct a detailed analysis of media framing surrounding African migration to Europe. Data was collected from all the global media houses with a sampling frame from three major media houses which included: The Cable News Network (CNN), The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), and the Eastern Africa. Data was analyzed using thematic content analysis. Findings indicated that, how global media houses cover the migration of people from Africa to Europe exposes the intricate narrative formed by a variety of both negative and positive views. While the CNN and BBC comprise varied perspectives to the issues, The Eastern Africa gives insight into the regional circumstances surrounding the migration problem as well as the humanitarian concerns. Across all the examined media houses (CNN, BBC, The Eastern Africa), there is an inclination towards portraying the African migrants in negative light, underscoring their impact on destination states. There were instances of Bias and stereotypes that could potentially lead to stigmatization. The study recommended that there is need for balanced reporting from media houses, there needs for some ethical considerations in reporting and that media houses should mainly focus on their role of creating awareness and advocacy.

Public Relations in a Digital Era: Localising the Global Corporations’ Activities and Social Media Uses in Tanzania

Public Relations concepts and practice in different democracies vary according to the nature of their political, cultural, social, and the level of technological orientation or advancement. With the digital age and the increasing trend in globalization, Global or Multinational Corporations have both challenges and opportunities towards meeting their business goals as to win hearts and minds of customers/publics in a diverse environment. Public Relations in Digital Age: Localising Global Corporations Activities and Social Media Uses in Tanzania, using Standard Chartered Bank, Coca Cola Company, and Barrick (Acacia) Mines, as case, has investigated the activities done by the Corporations, social media engagement, Corporate Social Responsibility activities and comparing local and global activities of the Corporations. The three Corporations’ profiles were surveyed to grasp their natures - activities and new media uses while a three- year content analysis was done through Corporations’ social networking sites (SNS) – Facebook, Twitter and You Tube to understand their uses of SNS in enhancing their roles through Public Relations. The findings show that despite their differences in nature, they all use their global business experiences in dealing with local activities. They have been responding to silent calls for glocalisation by identifying the basic needs of their customers/publics, for example, localizing the brand (Coca Cola to Coca Cola Kwanza), changing the brand name altogether (Barrick to Acacia), as well as stretching their Corporate Social Responsibility activities in health, education, environment and sports and entertainment while strengthening their ties with the government by not only responding to legal obligations like paying taxes but also supporting communication and health sectors. However, more glocalisation process is still in need as compared to what has been done in other countries in responding to cultural-centric and polycentric PR approaches. Moreover, the MNCs use both asymmetric and symmetric communication through Facebook, Twitter and You Tube. Twitter has been the mostly used SN especially in a symmetrical communication followed by Facebook. It has been also observed that the sensitivity of Corporation’s activities increases the engagement in CSR activities. Since, the area has not been extensively researched, the researcher calls for more studies on glocalisation of MNCs and new media uses in developing countries and Tanzania in particular in attempt to exploit the potentials of Public Relations.

Media analysis of the text on the example of Chinese strategy of information warfare

The topic of media analysis of information wars in the context of the Chinese issue is of academic interest, both for understanding current events and for improving information analysis methods and media strategies. The article assesses the influence of media on China's behavior in the information war, characterizes the challenges associated with media analysis in China's information war, describes methods and metrics for analyzing media content about the information war in China. Information technologies at the current level of development create broad opportunities for managing political conflicts both on the scale of one state and at the regional level. These technologies, which are actively used in information wars, have a number of advantages over traditional means of struggle due to their massive impact on the moral and psychological state of the population of the enemy country or individual parties, movements and political associations. The article uses a discourse analysis of the media text, identifies expressive linguistic means, the semantic meaning of words and expressions, and the communicative orientation of the text. The empirical basis of the research is the article "Celestial Truth: who and why is waging an information war with the PRC". The main conclusion of the study is that modern technologies and social media have become a powerful tool for influencing public opinion and shaping the perspective of events. The information war in China has a global impact, attracting the attention of the international community. Global media and international platforms actively monitor and cover events in the region, which can influence the perception of the conflict beyond its borders. The impact of the information war has a significant impact on public opinion. There is the use of various methods, including fake news, disinformation, to influence public sentiment and views. The Chinese concept of network warfare opens up further prospects and opportunities for the Chinese leadership and military specialists to work on the creation and implementation of the latest technology samples.

Characteristics of popular diet-related TikTok videos

TikTok is a global social media platform popular with young people, encouraging viewers to engage with user-generated video content (through likes, shares and comments) and mimic displayed behaviours (by creating similar videos or content). It is therefore a powerful and engaging tool that has potential for the widespread dissemination of information (or misinformation) and to influence behaviours. Social media is saturated with the promotion of ‘diet culture’ and has a strong influence on the eating behaviours of young people (1,2). This is concerning as childhood and adolescence are critical periods of growth requiring optimal nutrition (3). This study aimed to investigate how dieting is portrayed on TikTok and consider the potential implications for public health. A cross-sectional descriptive content analysis was undertaken of 50 videos from each of the five most popular diet-related hashtags (#diet, #whatieatinaday, #wieiad, #dietitian, #diettips). A codebook was developed to analyse the body-related content referenced (weight measurement, calories, body image, body checking, body comparisons over time) and collect the engagement for each video (likes, comments and shares). Overall, the 250 videos contributed to a total of 197.2 million likes (M = 789,051.0, SD = 923,335.0), 126,7251 comments (M = 5,069.0, SD = 9,315.3), and 3.8 million shares (M = 15,423.2, SD = 41,271.3). Most videos featured adults (n = 205, 82%), and only a small number of videos featured identifiable children or adolescents (n = 16, 6.4%). The information and advice regarding diets and eating behaviours came from two types of sources: 'experts’ and regular creators sharing their personal experience. Almost half of the videos were educational or instructional (n = 116, 46.4%), of which 74 (63.8%) were posted by users who claimed expert status. The most common titles by those claiming to be experts were “dietitian” (n = 43, 58.1%), “health and wellness coach” (n = 7, 9.5%), “doctor” (MD; n = 6, 8.1%), “fitness trainer” (n = 6, 8.1%), and “nutritionist” (n = 3, 4.1%). Of the videos that specifically mentioned a certain diet, the most common diets were low calorie (n = 32, 12.8%), vegan (n = 14, 5.6%), self-reported healthy eating (n = 12, 4.8%), and fasting (n = 10, 4.0%). The use of humour was the only feature significantly associated with engagement. Health professionals are presented with a unique opportunity to widely and positively influence the public by utilising the popularity of TikTok amongst young people to disseminate evidence-based information and promote healthy eating behaviours. Our findings suggest that experts using authentic, humorous, and engaging personas would be more likely to be popular on this platform.

‘Diversity’ as multidisciplinary keyword for the politics of cultural recommender systems in global digital media platforms

‘Diversity’ is a heavily freighted and multivalent keyword in the global digital media environment. The recommender systems used by platforms are particularly acute sites of development and debate around the political, cultural and technical issues ‘diversity’ signifies. Drawing on a review of computer science publications on recommender systems in media and entertainment as well as a survey of recent advances in media and cultural policy scholarship, this short article performs a pragmatic close reading of diversity in these intersecting fields. We note that attention must be paid to the specific challenges and politics of diversity not only in particular cultural fields but also in local cultural contexts, drawing on examples from music and SVOD platforms to flesh out these questions and the practical possibilities that arise from them.

Journalism and Translation: Practices, Strategies, and Values in News Agencies

Information transmitted between cultures through news agencies, are not only translated in meaning between languages, but are also reconfigured, edited, synthes ized and transformed for the consumption of a new group of readers. In the world of global media, the definition of translation is being challenged and the boundaries of what we might call translation have been reformulated. By investigating mechanisms of news translation, we seek through our research paper to collect a number of foundations proposed by many greatest thinkers in this field. Today, the so-called global communication strategies, does exist. Studies of globalization, media studies, sociology and translation have vast areas of common interest. The question of global information flows is related to the ways in which the media build news stories, and the transmission of these laters often involves moving, not only across space, but also across linguistic and cultural boundaries, which makes the collision between international media and translation, occurs.

“Tears have never won anyone freedom:” a multimodal discourse analysis of Ukraine’s use of memes in a propaganda war of global scale

Abstract Purpose This paper analyzes memes posted by @Ukraine to X, formerly known as Twitter, from the account’s inception in 2016 through September 2023 to examine the function and utility of memes as tools of propaganda in global conflict. Methods A multimodal discourse analysis of more than 100 memes was conducted by a small research group to separate the memes into thematic categories in an exploratory fashion. Then, a small subset of the research group conducted a recursive analysis on the images and text in a handful of memes selected purposively to determine what types of ideological appeals were present. Results Our findings align with observations made in previous studies that internet memes might be used to bolster national unity and might be employed to bolster pleas for sympathy from wealthy, more powerful allies, in this case in the West. The essential propaganda ideals were those of democracy, friendship, and independence on the side of Ukraine while Russia is framed as a dictatorship. Practical Implications A small number of the memes referenced in our paper garnered global media attention. Though we do not make any claims about broad media effects relating to the memes studied here, garnering the attention of major U.S. publication seems clearly to have been a goal of some of these memes. For those who wish to find a key to the playbook for a nation’s propaganda strategy, its social media memes are a great place to begin. Social Implications It is apparent in this study that governments might use memes to cover all their propaganda bases, so to speak. Ukraine’s memes appear to serve mainly to reinforce messages of national unity and messages of connection with the West. Originality Though others have studied @Ukraine’s tweets, this is believed to be the first to focus exclusively on memes posted to the feed. This study makes a significant contribution to our understanding of how wildly varied memes can communicate core concepts of a propaganda strategy, perhaps with the hope that a few will “hit” with desired media outlets, if only to bolster propaganda efforts.

“Presented as originally created”: how Disney profits off racist content from the past on its streaming platform of the future

ABSTRACT Digital streaming services are dominating global media, yet little research exists studying them as functions of multi-billion-dollar conglomerates that shape culture. Disney+ launched in 2019 and within three months had 30 million subscribers, ushering in what the company called a “new era” of media. However, Disney+ relies on its parent media conglomerate’s film catalog, some of it racist, meaning the “new era” is anything but. This paper examines Disney+ to further explore one conglomerate-owned streaming service and shows, through an analysis of corporate records and trade publications using a political economy lens informed by Orientalism, how Disney+ positions itself as the future of media yet relies on “classic” content to fill consumer demand. This work extends a structural critique of Disney+ to show how “classic” racist content on the streaming platform of the future constructs a world of racism online that exists in perpetuity.

The efficiency analysis of media companies: An application of DEA and Malmquist indices

As the global entertainment and media market is expected to multiply, media companies, such as streaming services, television networks, and broadcasting companies, play critical roles in providing TV and movie content, the industry's fuel. Almost all players of small and large sizes in the industry spend enormous resources on content and expand their investment to retain global and regional content to win the battle of viewership. However, the efficiency of investments varies for media companies. Measuring efficiency has been crucial as all firms strive to achieve better productivity. In particular, estimating the efficiencies and productivities of firms producing and offering intangible assets, such as TV and movie content, and valuing the content on firm performance are challenging. With our longitudinal data about local and global media companies from 2019 to 2022, we first used a Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to answer which firms in the media industry have effectively exploited their resources to achieve better firm performance. In addition, with the Malmquist analysis, we show how the efficiencies and productivity of content providers change along with the dynamics of the media industry that the media industry has recently faced. Our understanding of the global media companies' efficiencies from diverse perspectives offers several theoretical and practical implications for the streams of efficiencies and competition in the media industry.

Redefining Hallin and Mancini’s Media System: Cross-Border Investigative Networks in Europe

This article analyses how cross-border investigative journalism (CBIJ) has expanded the parameters of the media system described by Hallin and Mancini (2004), with the addition of new indicators to adapt it to the paradigm of global convergent media. To this end, it examines how this type of journalism has been conceptualised in Europe as a result of the forums articulated at Dataharvest (the European Investigative Journalism Conference). A quantitative method is applied with text mining techniques to analyse the frequency, associations, and groupings of terms mentioned in the sessions offered from 2014 to 2023. To classify the language units, the variables of CBIJ’s economic model, its thematic relationship with national contexts, and its professional practices are used. The results reveal a clear predominance of the word “data,” reflecting Dataharvest’s particular interest in the dynamics of data processing, which has become an essential part of the work in these networks. An analysis of organisational culture reveals that high-profile associations play a more important role in collaborative projects than less institutionalised networks. The business model encourages non-profit organisations that depend on foundations to support their work. In thematic terms, CBIJ projects address topics emerging in the supranational space, offered with a common frame of reference for multiple countries. These networks necessitate a redefinition of the model defined in 2004, as they have developed qualities of their own in relation to the business model they adopt, the transnational orientation of reporters, the issues addressed, and, to a lesser extent, professional practices.

The Curious Personality Cult of Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi: At the Crossroads of Religion, Politics, and Communication Strategies and Technologies

Abstract This paper studies the construction of the personality cult of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the deceased leader of the Islamic State (is) organization that ruled large territories in Iraq and Syria in the mid to late 2010s. Examining a range of is primary sources, I argue that al-Baghdadi sought to develop a distinct personality cult by cultivating auras of holiness and mystique around his personae. While he flaunted putatively exceptional religious leadership credentials, it is al-Baghdadi’s use of communication strategies and technologies for projecting his personality cult that distinguishes his case and this study. Al-Baghdadi sought to strategically mystify himself by rarely appearing in public and largely avoiding visual self-revelation in the media messages he released. Ultimately, given his defiance of regional and international powers and his group’s notoriety, al-Baghdadi’s low visibility and self-enigmatization worked to his advantage by generating much interest about him among supporters and the global media.

The evolving role of social media in enhancing quality of life: a global perspective across 10 countries

BackgroundExcessive or inappropriate use of social media has been linked to disruptions in regular work, well-being, mental health, and overall reduction of quality of life. However, a limited number of studies documenting the impact of social media on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) are available globally.AimThis study aimed to explore the perceived social media needs and their impact on the quality of life among the adult population of various selected countries.MethodologyA cross-sectional, quantitative design and analytical study utilized an online survey disseminated from November to December 2021.ResultsA total of 6689 respondents from ten countries participated in the study. The largest number of respondents was from Malaysia (23.9%), followed by Bangladesh (15.5%), Georgia (14.8%), and Turkey (12.2%). The prevalence of social media users was over 90% in Austria, Georgia, Myanmar, Nigeria, and the Philippines. The majority of social media users were from the 18–24 age group. Multiple regression analysis showed that higher education level was positively correlated with all four domains of WHOQoL. In addition, the psychological health domain of quality of life was positively associated in all countries. Predictors among Social Media Needs, Affective Needs (β = -0.07), and Social Integrative Needs (β = 0.09) were significantly associated with psychological health.ConclusionThe study illuminates the positive correlation between higher education levels and improved life quality among social media users, highlighting an opportunity for policymakers to craft education-focused initiatives that enhance well-being. The findings call for strategic interventions to safeguard the mental health of the global social media populace, particularly those at educational and health disadvantages.

Together against “the Truth Gap”: A Proposal to Fight Invisibility and Misinformation Affecting Women

In 2020, the Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP) marked its silver anniversary by releasing its sixth report on the representation of women in the global media landscape, and in 2021, the NGO Plan International unveiled the tenth edition of its report “State of the World’s Girls: The Truth Gap”. The study focused on how misinformation impacts equal opportunities for girls, adolescents, and young women worldwide, and proposed strategies to combat the “truth gap”. These examples showcase the collective efforts made in recent decades by professionals, academia, institutions, NGOs, and activists to enhance the state of information globally. The aspiration is ambitious, aiming to make information more transparent, accessible, and inclusive, fostering equality, truth-seeking, and the visibility of women, young people, and rural populations. However, the findings from the GMMP reports, as well as the analysis conducted by Plan International and numerous other works, underscore that despite evident social changes worldwide—particularly in the educational, labor, and social realms for women—access to truthful and high-quality information remains elusive. Simultaneously, studies reveal a declining public trust, especially among young people, in traditional media, a shift to alternative information sources, and a deterioration in the quality benchmarks of the journalism profession. Journalism, a pursuit of truth from sources to the public, has historically been and should remain a pillar upholding democracy and freedom. This article employs a qualitative case study methodology to analyze the best practices proposed across various domains to safeguard information quality. Special attention is given to initiatives that aim to involve women and young people in the collective effort against misinformation.

Leader in the Digital Entertainment Market: Netflix's Continued Success in a Fiercely Competitive Environment

Leader in the Digital Entertainment Market: Netflix's Continued Success in a Fiercely Competitive Environment

Internal Conflict of Syria in The Construction of Al-Jazeera

This study aims to analyze Al-Jazeera's contribution on the dynamics of the internal conflict in Syria. The method used in this study is qualitative descriptive method with Nicholas Onuf's constructivism approach. Researchers collected primary data by interviewing a number of relevant informants and secondary data through documentation studies, archival, document-based research, and internet-based research. This study found that the media not only functions as a monitor, but can also be used as a driving force by state actors. In addition, it was found that there were actions taken by al - Jazeera as an agent and information service provider which encourages the Syrian people to move and ultimately stimulates the internal conflict between the Syrian regime and the Syrian people. This study has limitation in concern to the dynamics of the conflict in the Middle East extensively, which also participate to provide settings to the internal conflict in Syria. However, this study is able to contribute to the development of the repertoire of International Relations Studies, especially in the understanding of the contribution of global media to the socio-political dynamics of a country.

Influence of the storage conditions of embryo culture media on mouse development.

The culture of preimplantation embryos in vitro is an important method for human and mouse reproductive technology. This study aims to investigate the influence of different conditions of culture media on the preimplantation stage of mouse embryos cultured in vitro, and monitor the post-implantation development of new mice after embryo transfer to surrogate females. We demonstrated here that mouse embryos cultured in vitro in fresh M16, KSOM, Global, and HTF embryo culture media from one cell to the blastocyst stage and the subsequent embryo transfer to surrogate females are able to proceed through post-implantation development and, after birth, develop into healthy mice. However, culture of embryos in differently aged media shows various (often unpredictable) results. To find the optimal storage conditions of culture media, we suggest that the freezing and long-term storage of these media at - 80°C will not influence the quality of the media. To test this hypothesis, we grew embryos from one cell to blastocysts in vitro in the selected media after thawing and subsequently transferring them to surrogate females. Embryo culture in these four media after thawing does not affect preimplantation and postnatal mouse development. Thus, we have shown that storage of embryo culture media at low temperature (- 80°C) does not impact the quality of the media, and subsequently, it can be used for the culture of embryos for the full preimplantation period, the same as in fresh media.

Interview with Brendon Hanley, Head of Global Social Media at FIFA

Interview with Brendon Hanley, Head of Global Social Media at FIFA

Academic Convergences in Korean Communication Studies

abstract: In the early 21st century, Korean communication has become one of the most vibrant in the global communication sphere. Due to the recent surge of Korean popular culture and digital technologies, media scholars and global media outlets have attempted to analyze why and how Korea has advanced numerous communication fields in such a short time. This article attempts to develop new perspectives to reflect the ever-changing media ecology. It offers some normative ideas to deal with these new challenges, which may provide some guidance to scholars who study Korean communication.

Media linguistic features of the tabletop role-playing game text

The subject of the study is the media linguistic features of the text of a tabletop role-playing game (TRPG). The purpose of the work is to identify the essential features of the media text and answer the question: can media accompaniment of a tabletop role–playing game be considered a media text? Despite the sufficient elaboration of the topic of media communications on the Internet, the research material is a little-studied phenomenon. The research material is transcripts of sessions of the board RPG "Dungeons & Dragons" from fragments of the TV show "Critical Role" on streaming platforms. The study examined the emergence and development of the media text concept, noting a significant expansion of this term semantics in the context of media globalization. Further, the typological properties of the media text as an object of linguistic media research were systematized and the text of the TRPG was analyzed for compliance with existing criteria. The article used descriptive and comparative methods; a statistical method to assess the popularity of the TRPG. When working with the transcript of the game, Python programming methods were implemented: to increase clarity and create a correct text transcription. As a result, conclusions were drawn about the presence of such media linguistic features in the media accompaniment of TRPG as collective authorship, hypertextuality, interactivity and etc., which constituted the scientific novelty of the study. Comparative analysis by criteria allowed us to trace qualitative changes in the typology of media texts. In addition, the expediency of expanding the terminological apparatus of media linguistics was emphasized, which correlates with the study of transmedia narration. The results of the observations can be applied to improve the text-generation that accompanies the gameplay, and can also be used to conduct similar studies based on the speech material of TRPGs.