Negative Stories Research Articles

Like and share: A mixed-methods cross-sectional survey of social media use during monochorionic diamniotic twin pregnancies

ProblemMonochorionic-diamniotic (MCDA) twin pregnancies are high-risk, requiring specialized monitoring and procedures to screen for and treat potential complications. AimThis study examined decisions to use social media among those who have experienced MCDA pregnancies and how these groups influenced treatment and management decisions for these rare, complicated pregnancies. MethodsAn online mixed-methods, retrospective survey, was completed in 2021 by 624 participants who experienced MCDA pregnancies within 5 years of the study; participants were recruited from online MCDA pregnancy groups on Facebook and Twitter. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis. FindingsSixty-nine percent of participants used social media to communicate during their MCDA pregnancies, an 18 increase from before pregnancy, and most (74.2 %) used online support groups during pregnancy. Thematic analysis revealed participants used social media primarily to find others with similar experiences, learn more about MCDA pregnancies, and obtain guidance. Most would also recommend joining social media during a similar pregnancy. Nearly half indicated that social media influenced MCDA pregnancy management and treatment decisions - like decisions regarding birth plans, providers, and MCDA-related complications. Several participants cautioned that support groups can be triggering when negative stories are shared. ConclusionSocial media can provide information, support, and improve advocacy for those experiencing MCDA pregnancies. Providers may consider online groups as another source of support for pregnant people and be prepared to address questions that may arise. This study also reveals opportunities for increased and/or improved patient educational materials and patient-provider communication related to MCDA pregnancies.

The Need for Nigerian Journalists to Re-Define News Values

Recent surveys show a decline in public interest in traditional news outlets like newspapers and television, possibly due to the constant exposure to negative stories that can lead to compassion fatigue. The major challenge is constituted by the adopted western news values which neglect our norms and focuses on praise singing the ruling elites. This article argues that, in order for Nigerian Journalists to effectively serve the nation's distinct socio-political context, traditional news ideals need to be redefined to fit our societal realities. Sensationalism and elitism are frequently given precedence over people-centered reporting in the current news values, which are primarily derived from Western media. Because of this misalignment, there is a gulf between the public and the media, which upholds social inequities and under-represents voices from marginalized groups. Nigerian Journalists should prioritize topics, stories and events that are important to their communities, support developmental or solution journalism, and hold authority figures accountable by reframing news principles. Adopting contextualized news values that represent Nigeria's political, cultural, and economic realities is necessary for this redefinition. The study suggests a framework for redefining news ideals that focus on social responsibility, local relevance, and people-centered reporting. Nigerian Journalists can recover their position as advocates for social change and catalysts for national advancement by implementing this approach. This would enhance development and audience engagement. Otherwise the public often diverts and avoids news when it makes them feel negative. And most of the western news values adopted relegate and places the masses in disadvantage disposition.

The Continuous Negative Framing of Africa in the Media: A Content Analysis of Stories sourced by the Ghanaian Times Newspaper from the BBC

This article looked at how the ‘Ghanaian Times’ newspaper, using stories sourced from the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), framed Africa to the rest of the world. The study which utilized the mixed approach also employed the gatekeeping, framing and cultural imperialist theories in its attempt to find out which of the regional blocs in Africa dominated the coverage and whether the portrayal was positive or negative. The study found that the majority of the stories that the ‘Ghanaian Times’ sourced from the BBC were negative about Africa hence framing Africa as an unhealthy place for living. Out of the 154 stories the newspaper sourced from the BBC, only 52 stories focused on the positive happenings in Africa while 94 stories painted a catastrophic image about Africa. Also, political unrest and crime were the two dominant themes Africa was associated with. In all, the general image of Africa as portrayed by the newspaper was negative as the editors focused more on negative stories of Africa compared to the positives amidst the abundance of stories published by the BBC. This arguably means that Africa’s negative image could only be corrected if editors are deliberate in selecting more positive stories about Africa for publication. This work will indeed add to the literature on the framing of Africa in the media especially the contribution of the African media to the dominant negative image Africa continues to be associated with. Keywords: Africa, Images, Gatekeeping, Media Framing, BBC Stories, Regional Blocs Coverage

The propensity for negative media reporting of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan in Australia

The Murray-Darling Basin (MDB) Plan, or simply ‘Basin Plan’, represents one of the world's largest returns from consumptive (irrigation) water extraction to environmental use. The Plan has been mired in controversy from when its first draft was burned by irrigators in 2010, and as such has been a source of extensive media reporting. Given the ability of journalism in both informing and influencing public debates, as well as the political deliberation process, we sought to understand the themes and representation of the Plan in media newspapers. This study analysed 6694 media articles referring to the Basin Plan, across 135 outlets, from 2008 to 2022. All articles were sentiment coded using four different natural language processing (NLP) models, with additional manual coding of randomly selected 552 articles. Three-quarters of the total articles were coded as negative using the best-fitting DistilBERT NLP sentiment analysis, while the manual coding suggested almost half were negative in tone. Both methods found that negative stories far outweighed positive stories, suggesting very little ‘balance’ in media Basin Plan reporting. A regression analysis found that rural media outlets were more likely to report negative MDB stories, and that the states of South Australia and Queensland were more likely to report positive stories. Themes of irrigator victimisation and community economic decline dominated news articles (especially negative stories); followed by Basin Plan process, outcomes and governance issues; fights between states; and environmental issues. Environmental themes were relatively less discussed, and Indigenous issues were only referred to in a tiny fraction of all media stories. The study's results provide evidence that the media plays critical roles in water policy debates, giving prominent coverage - with little critical discernment of actual economic impacts - to certain actors with clear ideological and vested interests in the outcomes. Far less media coverage was given to more complex issues such as climate change, long-term structural change for irrigation communities, ecological crises, and sharing water with those who have little.

Engaging and involving clients in open note-taking practices in narrative therapy

PHOTO CREDIT: Jamie CoulthardNarrative therapists empower others, both in relation to dominant negative stories that are told about their lives, and within the therapeutic relationship itself. They try to correct the inevitable power imbalance between therapist and client by adopting a ‘decentred’ stance, eschewing technical jargon, and by using idiosyncratic externalised language. This article proposes that the way in which we take notes matters for these power-relationships. By asking permission, writing notes openly, and engaging clients in their co-production, we resist disempowering them by appropriating their personal information. Moreover, these practices support externalisation, open creative possibilities, and invite new perspectives on therapeutic work.

Examining the Impact of Digital Human Gaze Expressions on Engagement Induction.

With advancements in technology, digital humans are becoming increasingly sophisticated, with their application scope widening to include interactions with real people. However, research on expressions that facilitate natural engagement in interactions between real people and digital humans is scarce. With this study, we aimed to examine the differences in user engagement as measured by subjective evaluations, eye tracking, and electroencephalogram (EEG) responses relative to different gaze expressions in various conversational contexts. Conversational situations were categorized as face-to-face, face-to-video, and digital human interactions, with gaze expressions segmented into eye contact and gaze avoidance. Story stimuli incorporating twelve sentences verified to elicit positive and negative emotional responses were employed in the experiments after validation. A total of 45 participants (31 females and 14 males) underwent stimulation through positive and negative stories while exhibiting eye contact or gaze avoidance under each of the three conversational conditions. Engagement was assessed using subjective evaluation metrics in conjunction with measures of the subjects' gaze and brainwave activity. The findings revealed engagement disparities between the face-to-face and digital-human conversation conditions. Notably, only positive stimuli elicited variations in engagement based on gaze expression across different conversation conditions. Gaze analysis corroborated the engagement differences, aligning with prior research on social sensitivity, but only in response to positive stimuli. This research departs from traditional studies of un-natural interactions with digital humans, focusing instead on interactions with digital humans designed to mimic the appearance of real humans. This study demonstrates the potential for gaze expression to induce engagement, regardless of the human or digital nature of the conversational dyads.

Mood congruency affects physiological synchrony but not empathic accuracy in a naturalistic empathy task

Empathy is a crucial aspect of our daily lives, as it enhances our wellbeing and is a proxy for prosocial behavior. It encompasses two related but partially distinct components: cognitive and affective empathy. Both are susceptible to context, biases and an individual’s physiological state. Few studies have explored the effects of a person’s mood on these empathy components, and results are mixed. The current study takes advantage of an ecological, naturalistic empathy task – the empathic accuracy (EA) task – in combination with physiological measurements to examine and differentiate between the effects of one’s mood on both empathy components. Participants were induced with positive or negative mood and presented videos of targets narrating autobiographical negative stories, selected from a Chinese empathy dataset that we developed (now publicly available). The stories were conveyed in audio-only, visual-only and full-video formats. Participants rated the target’s emotional state while watching or listening to their stories, and physiological measures were taken throughout the process. Importantly, similar measures were taken from the targets when they narrated the stories, allowing a comparison between participants’ and targets’ measures. We found that in audio-only and visual-only conditions, participants whose moods were congruent with the target showed higher physiological synchrony than those with incongruent mood, implying a mood-congruency effect on affective empathy. However, there was no mood effect on empathic accuracy (reflecting cognitive empathy), suggesting a different influence of mood on the two empathy components.

Advocacy Stories: Equity Literacy Practices of White Low Income Mothers Navigating School Reform

This article, based on collaborative ethnography, describes five low income white mothers’ equity literacy practices as they advocated for their children’s diverse “failing” school during a state takeover. Mothers used both hard and soft advocacy. They promoted equity by reinforcing positive aspects of the school community, and resisting and reframing negative stories perpetuated about the school based on stigma at the intersection of race, class, and standardized educational attainment. They shared the ideal of exposing their children to “real life” by staying loyal to their school. These mothers’ stories present possibilities, and challenges, for realizing interracial solidarity that fosters and sustains equitable schooling in the United States long term.

Marksist ve Freudyen Bağlamda Kötülük Kavramının Gazetelerin İnternet Sayfalarına Yansıyan Haberler Üzerinden İncelenmesi

The positive or negative impact of media content on individuals and society is a matter of much debate, but it has been the subject of many studies from the past to the present. The main debate on this issue is the size of this effect rather than the influence of the media. News and content in the media, whether positive or negative, inevitably affect individuals or society in some way. Setting aside the positive impact, it is possible to say that a significant portion of content in the media negatively affects individuals, either directly or indirectly. This is because it's a known fact that the media is more inclined and eager to publish negative content. In particular, news related to societal events, referred to as "third-page news", frequently finds a place in the media. Third-page news predominantly consists of negative stories. It causes exposure to negative content in many ways. Considering that these negativities reach people of all ages, levels of education, and status, negative social reflections can be observed, especially in the medium to long term. The detailed presentation of news that may set a negative example (evil) in the media, and especially in the new media, can set an example for other people and cause the evil to spread systematically. This study aims to examine the news published on the internet news sites of the most followed newspapers in Turkey, through the concept of evil in the Marxist and Freudian context. For this purpose, news texts were examined from macro and micro perspectives using the discourse analysis method. According to the main findings obtained from the study, parallel results were obtained with the thesis that evil manifests itself more based on economic reasons, which is dominant in Marxist thought. On the other hand, the findings showing that there is a high number of incidents involving individuals committing evil for trivial reasons lead to the belief that the Freudian perspective of evil is prevalent in society.

Differences in Experienced Memory Qualities between Factual and Fictional Events

Abstract The experienced qualities of memories of factual and fictional events have been little researched previously. The few studies that exist find no or few differences. However, one reason to expect differences in memory qualities is that processing of fact and fiction seem to involve activation of different brain areas. The present study expands earlier research by including a wider range of memory qualities, using positive and negative events, and three time-points: immediately after, after a ten-minute delay and after a five-week delay. Participants (N = 52) read four short stories in English, labelled either fact or fiction, and rated memory qualities on 7-point scales. Results show no differences; however, an interaction was found between fictionality and story emotional valence, in that memories of negative fictional stories are rated as more clear. The higher clarity can be explained by previous findings that negative events from stories are in general remembered in more detail, in combination with the idea that fiction entails simulation to a higher degree than fact. The conclusion is that although a difference in memory qualities between fact and fiction was found in one case, memory qualities seem not to play an operative role when the memory system distinguishes fact from fiction.

Analysis of The Impact of Net Promoter Score on Financial Performance With Customer Loyalty As Mediation

If we look at the increasing competition and market growth in every field especially in the professional services industry, customers have many choices, which puts organizations in a dilemma to find out what makes customers loyal to the company. People tend to tell negative stories more than positive ones, so understanding and mobilizing Promoters is critical to success. Net Promoter Score (NPS) is used in companies to measure a customer's desire to recommend a company's overall product or service to their friends or colleagues. NPS reflects customer satisfaction & has been shown to be an indicator of business growth potential. In this research, we will explain the relationship between Net Promoter Score and financial performance analysis of the impact of NPS score in IT firm in the last 5 years. The data collection technique used is to make an NPS survey that will be disseminated to existing customers of IT firm in the last 5 years who have purchased services / services as many as 93 customers with 218 Respondents. For variable (X) of this study is NPS, for variable (Y) is Financial Performance and for intervening variable (Z) is Customer Loyalty. The results indicate that NPS has a significant influence on Customer Loyalty, then Customer Loyalty has a significant influence on Financial Performance, and it can also be seen that there is a significant influence of NPS on Financial Performance.

Unveiling African narratives on Facebook: Media posts and audience engagement

The issue of African narratives has attracted significant attention in traditional media studies. On social media in general, and on Facebook in particular, little is known about these narratives. This study addresses the public’s concerns about African narratives on social media by meeting the demand for empirical data on African narratives from an alternative media perspective in Africa. The study follows these debates on Facebook, which are frequently used to raise public awareness and sway public opinion on important issues. The study used thematic content analysis to determine the most prevalent themes covered in the selected posts as well as the sentiments expressed in the comments. To make sense of the data, the study applied critical alternative media theory. The study revealed that topical issues about politics and international affairs, domestic conflict and death, sports and health dominated the media, and sentiments in the comments viewed Africans as a solution to Africa’s problems. Furthermore, the study established that negative stories elicited negative responses, and Africans regarded other African countries as crucial to the continent’s growth. As a result, the study shows that Facebook has evolved into an essential platform for media to share alternative African narratives.

Politicising pandemics: Evidence from US media coverage of the World Health Organisation

AbstractDuring the COVID‐19 pandemic, the World Health Organisation (WHO) was politicised in the United States (US) by Donald Trump in an effort to deflect blame as the virus spread. In this paper, we empirically investigate media coverage of the WHO in the US to better understand how negative evaluations of international organisations (IOs) spread. To do so, we perform quantitative text analysis on an original corpus of over 11,000 news articles on the WHO from the New York Times and the Washington Post between 1980 and 2020. Our text‐as‐data analyses yield several noteworthy findings. First, we show that media coverage of the WHO in the US has become more negative over time. Second, we show that negativity increases during global health crises. Third, we provide evidence that explicit criticisms also increase during crises. Fourth, we show that “blame‐shifting” by Trump and allies was clearly observable in the US news media. Finally, we show that negative stories about the WHO are shared more than positive ones on social media. Our results provide unique evidence, suggesting that the WHO has become more politicised in the US, which we argue creates opportunities for politicians seeking to blame IOs during crises.

Lifespan effects of current age and of age at the time of remembered events on the affective tone of life narrative memories: Early adolescence and older age are more negative

The affective tone of autobiographical memories may be influenced by age in two ways—by the current age of the remembering individual and by the age of the remembered self at the time of the remembered event. While aging has been associated with more positive autobiographical memories, young adulthood is remembered more positively than other parts of life. We tested whether these effects also show in life story memories and how they act jointly on affective tone; also, we wanted to explore their effects on remembered lifetimes other than early adulthood. We tested effects of current age and age at event on affective tone with brief entire life narratives provided up to five times across 16 years by 172 Germans of both genders, ages 8 to 81 years. Multilevel analyses found an unexpected negativity effect of aging for current age and confirmed a “golden 20s” effect of remembered age. In addition, women told more negative life stories, and affective tone dipped in early adolescence for current age and was remembered as such up to mid-adulthood. Thus, the affective tone of life story memories is jointly influenced by current and remembered age. The absence of a positivity effect in aging is explained by the specific requirements of telling an entire life. We suggest the turmoil of puberty as a reason for the early adolescence dip. Gender differences are potentially explained by differences in narrative style, in depression rates, and in real-life challenges.

Fame and redemption: On the moral dangers of celebrity apologies

Fame and redemption: On the moral dangers of celebrity apologies

Barriers and Facilitators to COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake among Polish Patients: A Qualitative Interview Study

The decision to receive a COVID-19 vaccine is influenced by a variety of individual and contextual factors. However, there are very few studies that analyse individual vaccination decisions using a qualitative methodology. To close this gap, we conducted a qualitative interview study to examine the opinions and experiences with the vaccine among patients previously hospitalized due to COVID-19, including barriers and facilitators to vaccine uptake. An exploratory qualitative study, using semi-structured telephone interviews, was conducted among 22 patients admitted for COVID-19 in Poland in 2022. Opinions of patients previously hospitalized with COVID-19 on vaccination were varied. Barriers to COVID-19 vaccine uptake stemmed from concerns about vaccine safety, patients' religious beliefs, and negative stories. High disease severity and anxiety over personal and family health were important arguments in favour of receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. The study findings indicated the need for ongoing health education by healthcare staff as well as coordination and integration of multi-sectoral institutional measures regarding COVID-19 prevention strategies as well as increased public health initiatives on social media and engagement of community leaders for awareness about vaccines and vaccination. It is crucial to build trust in COVID-19 vaccinations among the general public by disseminating reliable information through trustworthy and credible sources. However, it ought to be emphasised that, regardless of the measures taken, some individuals will remain unconvinced about receiving a COVID-19 vaccine.

Can a Negative Representation of Refugees in Social Media Lead to Compassion Fatigue? An Analysis of the Perspectives of a Sample of Syrian Refugees in Jordan and Turkey

Negative, tragic, traumatic and suffering representations continue to dominate the discussions and content on social media in the stories and content related to Syrian refugees. The public, while browsing social media, finds that this representation is the dominant one that dominates the image of refugees. Thus, there is a potential risk that the public’s compassion will be negatively affected after repeated exposure to the dominant representation in light of the inability to put an end to that situation. This study discusses the perspectives of Syrian refugees living in Jordan and Turkey on whether they feel such repeated negative and tragic content about their stories and news on social media could affect the empathy of the audience in hosting communities with them, especially since social media is an open-source platform that all people at any time and from any place can post, re-share, comment and create content by adding texts, photos and videos, not like traditional media, which are controlled more than social media platforms for open participatory content. This study aims to explore how a vulnerable population, such as Syrian refugees in Istanbul and Amman, sees the effect of negative representation on themselves and their image in the hosting communities and does not aim to examine or offer any conclusion as to whether the public in Jordan and Turkey have experienced compassion fatigue. This study provides and extracts some useful insights, but proves no hypotheses or conclusive evidence regarding the occurrence of compassion fatigue in the public; thus, the study opens the door for the debate on the role that social media plays as a source of compassion fatigue among citizens towards refugees, mainly when they are repeatedly exposed to such negative stories and content, as well as calls for an in-depth and extensive study on the topic from the point of view of the public and citizens in the hosting countries, after examining, understanding and analyzing the opinions and their dimensions of the sample of refugees in this study.

Narrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) in 2023: An Estonian Case Study on AI Lore

With the rapid emergence of new technologies in contemporary societies, new reflections of human experience arise. One of the recent technologies introducing massive changes in human life as well as in human reactions is artificial intelligence (AI). In the spring of 2023, about six months after the text-based AI ChatGPT was made available to the masses (Pistilli 2023), the public discussion about AI was most intense in Estonian society. The aim of this article is to analyse the narrative motifs and ways of narrating (including a proposed typology) AI-related topics in the Estonian mainstream and alternative online media chat groups in May and September 2023 respectively. Six general types of narration on AI were detected. The collected material showed that Estonian AI lore is considerably polarised between strongly negative and positive stories. Especially during the first wave of AI discussion in May 2023 the majority of narratives had negative or doubtful tonality. One of the factors that triggers a negative or cautionary tone in AI lore seems to be the lack of transparency in AI development. In addition to AI story types, this article tries to map the archetypes of plot characters (actants) of AI lore based on Propp’s classification of fairy tales which distinguishes between seven behavioural patterns. In addition, this study revealed a specific fluidity beyond genre boundaries that has also been observed in urban legends.

Sentiment and Storytelling: What Affect User Experience and Communication Effectiveness in Virtual Environments?

The use of virtual reality (VR) storytelling in cultural communication is increasing and has found its way into the journalism, tourism, museum, and exhibition industries. Earlier studies have examined VR storytelling to improve user experience (UX). However, there is still insufficient research on UX and communication effectiveness in an immersive virtual environment (IVE) in storytelling involving different sentiments. In this study, participants watched positive and negative news stories in three IVEs: 2D video, 360-degree video via mobile devices, and 360-degree video with a VR headset. The predictor variables of enjoyment and the impact of presence, flow, understanding, empathy, credibility, and enjoyment across the stories in IVEs were analyzed. Two models were constructed based on positive and negative stories. The findings show that predictor variables make different contributions to VR storytelling with different sentiments. The conclusions support IVE production in journalism based on sentiment to further improve UX and enhance communication effectiveness.

Determinants of coronavirus disease 2019 vaccine acceptance, hesitancy, and barriers among healthcare workers in Ismailia, Egypt: a mixed methods study

BackgroundCoronavirus disease 2019 vaccine acceptance among healthcare workers (HCWs) plays a fundamental role in combating the COVID-19 pandemic. Vaccination acceptance depends on perceptions of competence and motives of the providers, producers, health professionals, and policymakers. This study aimed to identify the frequency and determinants of COVID-19 vaccine uptake acceptance, hesitancy, and barriers among HCWs.MethodsA total of 500 HCWs from 3 different hospital affiliations in Ismailia Governorate, Egypt, were included in this mixed methods study. The study was conducted between March and April 2021 through two phases. Phase 1 included a cross-sectional study using a self-administered questionnaire with inquiries about different determinants of vaccine acceptance, hesitancy, and barriers, which was completed either electronically in a Google form or a hard printed copy. Phase 2 included four focus group discussions to explore the determinants in depth.ResultsThe mean age of participants was 33.9 ± 7.9 years, 70% were females, 51.2% were nurses, and 28.6% were physicians. Of the 500 HCWs, only 27.8% accepted taking the vaccine immediately, 49.2% refused, and 23% were hesitant. Vaccine safety was the highest associated factor with vaccine acceptance (odds ratio (OR) = 6.3, 95% confidence interval (CI) 3.132–12.619), followed by previous uptake of influenza vaccine (OR = 3.3, 95% CI 2.048–5.217) and vaccine effectiveness (OR = 2.6, 95% CI 1.282–5.262). The main barriers to vaccine acceptance were mistrust in governmental policies during the pandemic or in the healthcare facility they work in. Hesitancy was common among females and nurses and was attributed to three prominent factors, including safety concerns, negative stories, and personal knowledge.ConclusionsThe vaccine acceptance frequency among HCWs was considered low, as the majority either refused or was hesitant about taking the vaccine. Concerns about vaccine safety and effectiveness were significant determinants of vaccine acceptance. Factors related to trust were the main barriers to vaccine uptake. The health authority should establish a surveillance system for side effects of the COVID-19 vaccine and communicate this information between HCWs to decrease their worries about safety and increase vaccine uptake.