Increased Media Attention Research Articles

Low carbon cities pilot, executive environmental cognition, and enterprise green technology innovation

AbstractThe potential of the low carbon city pilot (LCCP) to foster enterprise green technology innovation (EGTI) is contingent upon enhancing the quality of urban development, improving the ecological environment, and ultimately achieving the objective of “double carbon” reduction. Due to this, this article uses data from Chinese A‐share listed businesses in Shanghai and Shenzhen from 2009 to 2021 to investigate the effect of LCCP on EGTI. It is found that LCCP significantly contributes to EGTI, and a number of robustness tests later, this finding remains valid. The mechanism analysis confirms that LCCP promotes EGTI by weakening economic policy uncertainty and increasing firms' R&D investment. Through the heterogeneity analysis, this paper explores that optimizing corporate staff structure, increasing media attention, and increasing government subsidies are effective paths to promote EGTI development with LCCP. The moderating effect confirms that executives' environmental cognition plays a positive moderating role between LCCP and EGTI. This paper enriches the related research on the evaluation of the effect of low‐carbon pilots and provides important policy insights for promoting the development of corporate green transformation.

Cleaning mafia cash: An empirical analysis of the money laundering behaviour of 2800 Italian criminals

Despite the wide reach of anti-money laundering legislation worldwide and increasing media attention, fostered by journalistic leaks such as Panama Papers, empirical knowledge on how criminals launder their illicit proceeds is still scarce. The few available empirical studies show that money laundering (ML) schemes are often less sophisticated than they are depicted in the political and media debate. To contribute to the empirical knowledge of ML behaviour, and test this hypothesis, the present study analyses the ML activities related to 2818 Italian offenders included in the ML section of the LexisNexis’ WorldCompliance database. Through a quantitative content analysis of textual information related to each offender's profile, it highlights the characteristics of the ML offenders, the methods (or ‘typologies’ in FATF terms) employed, the assets seized, the business sectors involved and the countries in which ML was conducted. The results confirm that criminals tend to employ unsophisticated typologies, as well as prefer Italy or jurisdictions that are close (geographically and culturally) to Italy for laundering their illicit proceeds. Tangible assets (first real estate and registered vehicles) are more frequent than financial assets. Finally, differences exist between the laundering by mafia-related ML offenders and non-mafia ones. The study provides empirical ground to progress in the knowledge of how ML offenders behave, and supports the idea that criminals, when laundering their proceeds, do not act as legitimate entrepreneurs, but may be driven by other constraints and drivers.

Homicide-Suicide and multidisciplinary approach: case series and a review of the literature.

Despite being relatively rare in our country, murder-suicide phenomena have garnered increasing media attention over the years. However, actual data on their prevalence and characteristics remain limited. This study aims to describe and characterize all murder/suicide events reported at the Institute of Forensic Medicine in the Province of Messina, with a particular focus on distinguishing between cases of filicide/suicide and dyadic deaths. A retrospective observational analysis of judicial cases from 2018 to 2023 was conducted. Injuries were primarily localized to the head, neck, and chest for women, and to the head for men. In the case of filicides, death occurred through an asphyxiation mechanism, followed by the mother's suicide by hanging or falling. Within the scope of the medical examiner's activities, it is clear that acquiring more information through a standardized technical investigation and adopting a uniform approach could enhance the quality of the forensic service provided daily. This improvement, which would be in the interest of institutions and civil society, could be achieved through the sharing of procedures at both national and international levels.

Aggressive behaviors in urban African American early adolescent girls: A systematic review of the literature

Increased media attention to youth violence perpetrated by early adolescent girls over the past two decades and increased arrests of girls has disproportionately impacted girls of color, specifically African American girls. Research on issues, policies, and programs for girls of color at heightened risk for aggression and violence perpetration has remained limited. We conducted a systematic review of studies published in English from January 1999 to December 2022 to better understand and identify the types of aggressive and violent behaviors in which African American early adolescent girls in urban locations engage as well as risk and protective factors associated with identified behaviors. In our systematic search of five databases, we captured 1,206 studies that were potentially relevant to our review. Removing duplicate studies and conducting title/abstract and full-text review resulted in the identification of 20 studies that met pre-specified review eligibility criteria. Synthesis of information that was systematically extracted from these 20 included studies revealed that in a little over two decades, few studies have examined aggressive and violent behaviors among early adolescent African American girls, although such research is critical to developing effective intervention and prevention strategies to support the healthy development of this group of young people.

Construction of a climate risk index under the media attention perspective and its empirical test for financial market volatility

Under the current economic situation, China’s economy is steadily moving from the stage of high-speed growth to that of high-quality development. while climate risks arising from global warming are receiving increasing media attention. Media attention has a profound impact on the perception and investment decisions of financial market participants. This paper constructs a climate risk index based on media attention and empirically investigates its relationship with stock volatility. It is found that the climate risk media index significantly affects stock volatility, which provides a theoretical basis for the regulation of financial asset price volatility. Through in-depth study of its influence mechanism, it can provide accurate decision support and risk management strategies for financial market stabilization.

Towards the Politicization of Artificial Intelligence in the EU? External Influences and Internal Dynamics

This paper explores the politicization of Artificial Intelligence (AI) within the EU, examining the interplay between internal dynamics and external influences, particularly from the United States and China. The study aims to identify early signs of politicization in the EU’s AI debate and compare the EU’s AI policy model with those of the US and China. The hypothesis posits that EU public debate on AI is politicized, shaped by both internal factors and responses to external AI policy models. The research uses comparative policy analysis and content analysis. Findings indicate a growing salience of AI in public discourse, evidenced by increased media attention and engagement from a wide range of actors. However, significant polarization on AI issues within the EU is not yet evident. The study also highlights the EU’s strategic response to external AI models, emphasizing a balance between innovation, digital sovereignty, and the protection of democratic values and fundamental rights.

Who drives news coverage of trans issues? Intermedia agenda setting dynamics in Spanish digital press

The newsworthiness of trans issues has increased over the last two decades, resulting in unprecedented media visibility of trans people. However, there is still a long way to go in the study of the Agenda Building factors that have influenced this media attention. The aim of this article is to analyze the Intermedia Agenda Setting (IAS) dynamics on the coverage of trans issues in the Spanish digital news media landscape during the period 2001–2020. A quantitative content analysis was conducted, using the Granger Causality test for both issue-salience and attribute-salience IAS dynamics between different types of news media. In general, news flows have been observed from national-to-local, from progressive-to-conservative, and from legacy-to-digital-native media at the issue-salience level. However, from 2016 onwards, progressive and conservative media influence one another. This can be attributed to the generation of an alternative agenda on trans issues by the anti-trans rights movement in recent years. As a consequence of the presence of these competing trans rights and anti-trans rights agendas, media coverage of trans issues has become polarized. In contrast, IAS dynamics at the attribute-salience level are not clear. These findings suggest IAS dynamics have played an essential role in the increasing media attention on trans people. However, the decline in the media delegitimization of trans rights cannot be attributed to IAS dynamics. This study highlights the dynamic nature of IAS, which can evolve based on the agenda and degree of eliteness of each media outlet at any given time.

Digital transformation and metal enterprise value: Evidence from China

Digital transformation (DT) has become a new driving force for enterprise development, and whether it can promote the value enhancement of high-polluting enterprises such as metal enterprises is still unknown. Taking Chinese listed metal enterprises from 2001 to 2020 as an example, this study collects the keywords “DT” in the annual reports of metal enterprises with the help of crawler technology, and builds an econometric model to empirically test the impact of DT on the value of metal enterprises and its mechanism. According to the study, DT dramatically raises the value of metal firms. This enhancement effect is more pronounced for metal enterprises located in the western region and those with leverage ratios that fall within the acceptable range. These findings still hold after mitigating the endogeneity problem and undergoing robustness tests. Mechanism tests show that DT can enhance the internal incentives for metal enterprises through increased R&D investment and strengthen the external pressure faced by metal enterprises through increased media attention to promote the value of metal enterprises. Moreover, DT can alleviate the financial risk of metal companies and improve resource allocation efficiency, thus promoting the value of metal companies. This study provides valuable references for metal firms to utilize digital technology better to support high-quality development.

Naming the menagerie: creativity, culture and consequences in the formation of scientific names.

The coining of scientific names for newly described species is one of the most creative acts in science. We briefly review the history of species naming, with an emphasis on constraints and freedoms in the choice of new names and how they came to be. We then consider patterns in etymologies and linguistic origins of scientific names across clades and through time. Use of 'non-classical' languages (those other than Latin and Greek) in naming species has increased, as has the use of eponymous names (despite recent controversy around the practice). Finally, we consider ways in which creativity in naming has consequences for the conduct and outcome of scientific work. For example, sale of naming rights has funded research and conservation, while naming species after celebrities has increased media attention to the science of species discovery. Other consequences of naming are more surprising, including a strong effect of species-name etymology on the kinds of scientific studies conducted for plant-feeding arthropods. Scientific naming is a clear example of how science and scientists are socially situated, and how culturally influenced decisions such as what to name a new species can affect both public perception of science and the conduct of science itself.

Examining the relationship between COVID-19 and suicide in media coverage through Natural Language Processing analysis

Background and objectivesSuicide is a major public health concern, media can influence its awareness, contagion, and prevention. In this study, we evaluated the relationship between the COVID-19 pandemic and suicide in media coverage through Natural Language Processing analysis (NPL). MethodsTo study how suicide is depicted in news media, Artificial Intelligence and Big Data techniques were used to analyze news and tweets, to extract or classify the topic to which they belonged. ResultsA granger causality analysis showed with significant p-value that an increase in covid news at the beginning of the pandemic explains a later rise in suicide-related news. An analysis based on correlation and structural causal models show a strong relationship between the appearance of subjects “health” and “covid”, and also between “covid” and “suicide”. ConclusionsOur analysis also uncovers that the inclusion of suicide-related news in the category health has grown since the outbreak of the pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic has posed an inflection point in the way suicide-related news are reported. Our study found that the increased media attention on suicide during the COVID-19 pandemic may indicate rising social awareness of suicide and mental health, which could lead to the development of new prevention tools.

The watchdog role in the age of Big Tech – how news media in the United States and Germany hold Big Tech corporations accountable

ABSTRACT The unprecedented power of Big Tech corporations and the complexity of regulating them requires considering the role of news media as a corporate accountability mechanism. The aim of this article is to examine news media’s watchdog role through a performative lens, extending it to the corporate context by looking at three manifestations of performance: media visibility, way of coverage, and sourcing patterns. Based on a longitudinal quantitative content analysis of 920 news stories on Big Tech from four media outlets (2000–2021) in the United States and Germany, we explain variances in the watchdog role taking an over-time, cross-country, and cross-political leaning perspective. Our findings suggest that Big Tech corporations receive little but increasing media attention over the years that is driven by events. Similarly, news coverage contains an increasingly strong presence of a detached watchdog role performance. A more interventionist watchdog role is also on the rise – even though marginally – and political actors are increasingly given a voice in news coverage. From a comparative perspective, our results show that Big Tech corporations are more visible in the US and across right leaning news outlets. US journalists exhibit a more detached approach, while German journalists perform a significantly higher interventionist performance. Corporate sources are overall prominent in the media arena yet dominate more in the US. In conclusion, US and German news media are critical but passive observers over Big Tech corporations and can therefore be labeled a tame yet increasingly growling watchdog when it comes to holding Big Tech accountable.

Running High: Cannabis Users' Subjective Experience of Exercise During Legal Market Cannabis Use Versus No Use in a Naturalistic Setting.

Background: The use of cannabis with various forms of exercise (e.g., running) has received increased media attention in recent years, contradicting the popular stereotype that cannabis is associated with sedentary behavior. Although cross-sectional evidence suggests a positive association between cannabis use and exercise engagement, to date, the acute effects of cannabis on exercise remain unclear. Methods: The present within-subjects crossover study compared participants' experiences of running after ad libitum use of legal market cannabis (cannabis run) to running without cannabis (non-cannabis run) in a real-world setting. Participants (n=49) were cannabis users between the ages of 21 and 49 years (mean=30.82, standard deviation [SD]=6.21). The majority of participants were male (61.5%) and non-Hispanic White (81.6%). Results: Participants (n=49) ran an average of 3.88 miles (SD=2.28) during their cannabis and non-cannabis runs. Although participants ran an average of 31 seconds/mile slower during their cannabis run, this difference was not statistically significant (p=0.12). Participants reported experiencing (1) less negative affect (p=0.03), (2) greater feelings of positive affect (p<0.001), tranquility (p=0.004), enjoyment (p=0.004), and dissociation (p=0.001), and (3) more runner's high symptoms (p<0.001) during their cannabis (vs. non-cannabis) runs. Participants also reported lower pain levels after their cannabis (vs. non-cannabis) run (p=0.03). Perceived exertion did not differ between runs (p=0.33). Cannabis form, cannabinoid content, and feelings of "high" were largely unrelated to participants' experience of exercise while under the influence of cannabis. Conclusions: Results suggest that acute cannabis use may be associated with a more positive exercise experience among regular cannabis users. Research using varied methodologies, a range of exercise modalities, and diverse populations is needed to establish the long-term harms and benefits associated with this behavior, as well as the generalizability of these findings to other populations and settings.

The electoral risks of austerity

AbstractDoes austerity influence incumbent support? Existing studies struggle with conceptualizing the evolution of austerity's impact over time, estimating a causal effect, and analysing the reactions of different voters. This study theorizes that the effect of austerity on electoral preferences is not immediate, but gradual, as voters find out about the measures' consequences via the media. It leverages a survey in the field at the time of the austerity announcement in Romania in 2010, additional survey data collected immediately after this event and comprehensive daily media coverage to show that austerity measures do not have an immediate impact on incumbent support, anticipated turnout and expressing a vote preference. Instead, there is a gradual effect that is associated with increased media attention to budgetary cuts. This natural experiment allows the estimation of the immediate causal effect of austerity on electoral intentions. Difference‐in‐differences (DID) models show that the announcement triggered a massive loss of support for the incumbent among those who had voted for the party in power only a few months before. Austerity also led to the demobilization of the governing party's supporters. There is no evidence that those most directly affected by the spending cuts are more likely to punish the incumbent party.

The Zika virus crisis during the 2016 Rio Olympic Games: a media cover analysis

During times of crisis, media coverage increases significantly, shaping public opinion and creating images of the places where these events occur. In this context, this paper analyses the Zika virus epidemic in Brazil, a past crisis that gained increased media attention during the months leading up to the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, to identify the cognitive and affective components of published information. To this end, we subjected 1034 headlines (from digital editions of leading Spanish daily newspapers) related to tourism security at the Olympic Games to content analysis and employed a series of attributes to approach the cognitive and affective components of the information analysed. The results reveal that alarmist and negative headlines are more frequent when security issues, particularly citizen security, are reported. News headlines about the Olympic Games are generally descriptive and more positive. In the field of health security, citation-type headlines—those citing information provided by experts or authorities—are used more frequently. By analysing a past crisis, this study has several implications for Destination Management Organisations (DMOs) dealing with such events. In this context, we highlight some good practices to maximise informative news and minimise alarmist ones.

Uncovering the gray zone: mapping the global landscape of direct-to-consumer businesses offering interventions based on secretomes, extracellular vesicles, and exosomes

BackgroundThe last decade has seen a significant increase in media attention, industrial growth, and patient interest in stem cell-based interventions. This led to a rise in direct-to-consumer businesses offering stem cell “therapies” for multiple indications with little evidence of safety and efficacy. In parallel, the use of stem cell secretomes as a substitute for stem cell transplantation has become an increasing trend in regenerative medicine with multiple clinical trials currently assessing their efficacy and safety profile. As a result, multiple businesses and private clinics have now started to exploit this situation and are offering secretome-based interventions despite the lack of supporting data. This poses significant risks for the patients and could lead to a credibility crisis in the field.MethodsInternet searches were used to locate clinics marketing and selling interventions based on stem cell secretomes, exosomes, or extracellular vesicles. Data were extracted from websites with a particular focus on the global distribution of the businesses, the cellular source of the secretome, the indication spectrum, and the pricing of the provided services. Lastly, the types of evidence used on the websites of the businesses to market their services were extracted.ResultsOverall, 114 companies market secretome-based therapies in 28 countries. The vast majority of the interventions are based on allogenic stem cells from undisclosed cellular sources and skin care is the most marketed indication. The price range is USD99–20,000 depending on the indication.ConclusionsThe direct-to-consumer industry for secretome-based therapies appears to be primed for growth in the absence of appropriate regulatory frameworks and guidelines. We conclude that such business activity requires tight regulations and monitoring by the respective national regulatory bodies to prevent patients from being conned and more importantly from being put at risk.

A women’s issue? The role of backlash and issue ownership in users’ engagement with articles about gender equality

ABSTRACT Gender equality issues are receiving increasing media attention. At the same time, journalists reporting on such issues experience hostility and online harassment. This study investigates which factors drive users’ intentions to engage with journalistic content on gender equality issues and whether the author's gender plays a role in this. An experiment was conducted among German online users (n = 612) with issue ownership and backlash as two central mechanisms to explain gendered perceptions and engagement with articles on gender equalityissues. Results show that men journalists writing about harassment in the workplace were perceived more negatively than women journalists writing about the same issue, which partially also affects engagement. In the case of a less sensitive topic such as women’s leadership, participants’ feminine gender role orientation increased intentions to engage with the article written by a woman, whereas in the case of a sensitive topic such as harassment it fostered backlash toward the woman author. Findings indicate that both backlash theory and role congruity theory account for distinct partially contradicting effects of gender norms and role perceptions on the engagement with articles on gender equality issues.

The Pope’s New Clothes

The Pope’s New Clothes

A win–win between farmers and an apex predator: investigating the relationship between bald eagles and dairy farms

AbstractHuman–wildlife conflicts on farms and ranches are common and well‐documented, particularly with apex predators. Predation of livestock, for example, can result in serious economic burdens for farmers and can become threats to wildlife populations as farmers take action to eliminate or displace populations. Among apex predators, bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) have received increased media attention in recent years due to conflicts with farmers across the United States. This raises challenges for both farmers and wildlife managers as eagle abundance continues to increase and natural prey resources decline. Interestingly, a recent study in northwestern Washington State reported high eagle activity on dairy farms in response to declines in salmon carcass availability, an important resource for wintering eagles across western North America. Despite the potential for human–wildlife conflict in these areas, little is known of the relationship between eagles and dairy farms. In this study, we investigated the extent of eagle activity on dairy farms and the relationship between eagles and dairy farmers using semistructured interviews with dairy farmers. We found that (1) eagles were attracted to dairy farms to feed primarily on cow afterbirth and calf carcasses, (2) responding farmers had no issue with the presence of eagles on their farms, and (3) many dairy farmers felt that eagles provided services to their farms. Of these services, the most recognized were scavenging of dairy farm byproducts and removal or deterrence of unwanted pest species. Increased eagle abundance on dairy farms and the subsidy of anthropogenic resources may also influence the ecological role of eagles as top predators in agroecosystems. Ultimately, farmers' decisions to provide anthropogenic resources have apparently mitigated human–eagle conflict while potentially reducing top–down pressures on other wild prey species. Farmers and wildlife managers may each benefit through cooperation in continuing to understand the intricacies of dairy farm–eagle relationships.

From science to society to practice? Public reactions to the insect crisis in Germany

Abstract The insect crisis, as conservation topic, has historically received little attention among the general public. Yet, the publication “More than 75% decline over 27 years in total flying insect biomass in protected areas” by Hallmann et al. gained vast media coverage in Germany in October 2017. Given the media's known influence on public perception, we investigated (i) whether coverage of this publication increased awareness among the German public for insect die‐off, and (ii) whether it contributed to people's intentions to undertake insect protecting actions. We used Google Trends to examine people's internet activity in Germany in relation to keywords relevant to our research question. A high peak in Google searches for insect die‐off (“Insektensterben”) was indeed visible immediately after the study publication, and search volume remained significantly higher for the following 6 months, confirming that the topic gained attention. Further, searches for the three keywords insect hotel, bee‐friendly and bee meadow (“Insektenhotel”, “bienenfreundlich”, “Bienenweide”) increased significantly over the summers of the years 2017 to 2019. It appears that increased media attention around insect die‐off spurned by the publication of Hallmann et al not only addressed the crisis but also encouraged implementation of simple insect protection measures by the public. These findings suggest that cooperation between the media, conservation organizations and scientists to disseminate evidence‐based information alongside practical conservation measures may have lasting benefits. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

No longer invisible, but still mistreated: Trans minors and the Spanish digital press (2006-2020)

ABSTRACT The increase in media attention towards trans issues in the last two decades has contributed to reinforcing its visibility. However, the media coverage of trans minors has hardly been addressed by previous literature. The objective of this study is to analyze the media coverage of trans children and adolescents in the Spanish digital press during the period 2006–2020. To do that, this article has conducted a quantitative content analysis combining manual coding and rule-based text classification. The results confirm that the media coverage of trans minors has increased. Most of the analyzed delegitimization patterns of trans people have decreased over the years, although they remain relatively stable during the last period. Contrary to what could be thought, childhood and adolescence do not seem to act as a protective factor against media delegitimization. These findings suggest that trans children are at the front-page of Spanish public debate. Despite the increasing visibility of trans minors, they continue to be mistreated in the media. In fact, trans children may be even more questioned than adults. All in all, this study underlines the importance of trans minors in the news coverage of trans issues and, in extension, in the fight for trans rights.