News Content Research Articles

Dynamic content layout optimization for news website front pages

Purpose The home page design of a digital news website is a key factor in determining its attractiveness to readers. This study aims to propose an approach to manage the frequent adjustment of the dynamic layout of the news content on the website home page in a real-time environment to increase its attractiveness to readers. Design/methodology/approach This paper shows that this news website layout design problem can be modeled as an optimization problem based on the information of news contents that change within a multiple-period planning horizon similar to the dynamic facility layout problem. A hybrid genetic algorithm-based approach integrated with local search heuristic methods is also proposed to improve the solution. Findings This paper finds that the DPLP model is effective in modeling the changing layout of a digital news website. The problem can solved in a timely manner using the proposed hybrid genetic algorithm. Research limitations/implications This paper was based on hypothetical data and on the assumption of equal section size. Actual data would help fine-tune the application of the dynamic facility layout model. As well the algorithm could be enhanced for unequal size sections. Practical implications The model should help online newspapers apply sophisticated algorithms to optimize the layout of news websites dynamically in a timely manner. Social implications News websites are increasingly the desired medium to consume news. So it has an important role in educating society. Thus optimizing and improving the process will help in this regard. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first one to apply the DPLP model to the digital newspaper website dynamic design problem.

Analysis of the Success of the "Central Kitchen" All-media Platform in the Context of Media Fusion

Media fusion has become an important trend in the contemporary news and communication industry, which benefits from the rapid development of technology and the push for digital transformation. Media fusion has not only changed the way and form of news dissemination, but also profoundly influenced the way and habits in which the public obtains information. Drawing on the context of media fusion, this paper examines the practical conditions of media fusion from the perspectives of positive and negative factors, and integrates the specific concept of a "Central Kitchen" to explore its innovative performance on the all-media platform. Through analysis, it is found that innovative performance encompasses cross-media integration, reengineering of news production processes, data mining, and intelligent processing, as well as socialization and decentralization. This paper also synthesizes the experiences and insights gained from the all-media platform "central kitchen" in today's media integration. As media convergence progresses, traditional audience identities are gradually transformed through interactions between production and consumption, impacting news content production methods. Furthermore, with deepening levels of media integration, there is an increasing demand for higher capabilities among media practitioners, necessitating collaboration across all forms of media to minimize news production costs while enhancing communication effectiveness.

Social Media News as a Predictor of Sports Gambling Salience, Attitudes, and Behaviors in the United States

Gambling has become a more prominent aspect of American sports culture after the 2018 United States Supreme Court decision offered in Murphy v National Collegiate Athletic Association that rendered the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) unconstitutional. A secondary analysis of 2022 PEW American Trends Panel (ATP) data ( N = 3900) explores social media news exposure and satisfaction as predictors of the salience of, attitudes toward, and behavioral engagement with sports gambling. Social media news exposure and satisfaction do not predict individual-level salience of the expanded legalization of sports betting. However, social media news exposure and an individual’s satisfaction with news content on X, Facebook, and YouTube positively predict feelings that sports betting is good for society and sports culture. Social media news exposure positively predicts sports gambling behaviors. A broader media effects research agenda pertaining to sports gambling is outlined based on these findings.

Increasing Challenges and Shrinking Roles of Environmental Journalists in Nepal

ABSTRACT This study investigates the perceived challenges of environmental journalists in Nepal, examining individual and organizational barriers to effectively covering environmental issues. Based on in-depth interviews with 10 journalists, it highlights the impact of global trends, such as reliance on international news, limited editorial autonomy, and unique challenges faced within the Nepali context. The study reveals how shifts in the media industry and budget constraints impede journalists’ ability to conduct thorough investigations, with implications for the quality and depth of environmental news coverage. Utilizing the hierarchy of influence model, the article critically analyzes these challenges, including the influence of NGOs and INGOs on news content and agendas, which can constrain journalistic independence. The findings suggest a decline in environmental news coverage attributed to time constraints and the transition to online media, further exacerbated by the diminishing role of environmental journalists due to the downsizing of the news media. This research sheds light on the evolving landscape of environmental journalism in Nepal and calls for further exploration into these challenges.

Pengembangan Situs Web Untuk Promosi Warisan Budaya Lokal dan Pariwisata Berbasis Berita

In the modern era dominated by technology and information, the development of news-based websites has emerged as a key element in supporting the promotion of tourism and cultural heritage in tourist destinations. This research investigates how news-based websites can be a key factor in enhancing tourism promotion, as well as the key elements that need to be considered to ensure their effectiveness in attracting visitor and supporting tourism destination promotional objectives. In addition, this research also examines methods for measuring the success of tourism and cultural promotion websites in achieving promotional objectives, including increasing the number of visitors and participation in cultural activities. The role of news content in enhancing website attractiveness and driving user interaction is also the focus of the analysis. Furthermore, this research explores users' experiences and their interactions with news-based websites in tourism. Factors influencing user preferences and participation are also analyzed to understand how to increase the effectiveness of news-based websites in the context of tourism and culture promotion. The results of this research provide important insights for the development and improvement of news-based tourism and culture promotion websites, as well as a greater contribution to sustainable tourism development and preservation of local cultural heritage.

Disaster Journalism Through a Political Economy Framework: An Analysis of the Turkish Press Coverage of the 2023 Kahramanmaraş Earthquakes

AbstractOn February 6, 2023, devastating earthquakes of magnitude 7.8 and 7.6 struck the Kahramanmaraş region of southeastern Türkiye, affecting eleven Turkish provinces, killing more than 50,000 people, and collapsing or severely damaging approximately 300,000 structures. This study examines the coverage of the Kahramanmaraş earthquake in the Turkish press through a content analysis of news articles published in the 10 days following the earthquake. The aim of the study is to investigate the presence and manifestations of political bias in the news based on political economy theory. For this purpose, two newspapers representing opposing views, Sabah and Cumhuriyet, were selected. As a result, it was observed that both newspapers devoted a remarkably limited amount of their coverage to scientific data and needs. However, it was observed that there were significant differences between the two newspapers in terms of topics, photo preferences, news actors, accused persons, and representation of aid donors. In addition, economic and political biases were found in the media's portrayal of earthquakes. Cumhuriyet focused more on the negative, while Sabah focused more on the positive, emphasizing relief efforts that served to foster a sense of solidarity and shift the narrative away from negativity. In addition, the study observed an excessive focus on soccer players, showing that newspapers may prioritize such coverage to optimize profitability, suggesting a potential commercial agenda underlying news content decisions.

Exploring the Impact of Media Content on Social Media Engagement Through Comment Analysis

This study investigates audience participation on the social media platforms of Kantipur Daily, Sagarmatha Radio, and Nepal Television using survey data collected in 2024. A review of comments on Facebook and X(Twitter) indicated that positive feedback is primarily focused on sports and social/health/lifestyle news Moreover, opinions and economic news receive relatively less attention than political news. The study highlights particular areas that need more research and offers insightful information about audience dynamics in the context of digital communication. This finding emphasizes the value of social media as a political communication tool, which is especially clear from the positive comments on Political News. Additionally, despite certain restrictions, the results show how the communication landscape is changing and how social media is improving news accessibility and content quality. The finding indicates that social media has become a new arena for public affairs, and its results show that Facebook is more widely used than X.

Interplay of Corporate Sector, Politics, and Media in Shaping News Contents in Nepal

This paper examines the intricate implications arising from the symbiotic relationship among the corporate sector, politics, and media in shaping news content in Nepal. This study analyzes the dynamics and interplay between politics, corporate sectors and the influence they can have on the media content largely within the privately run for-profit media outlets in Nepal. The theoretical foundation for this study has been rooted in Habermas’ public sphere model of mass media (1989). The study revealed that vested corporate and political interests are hugely influential both in shaping the opinion and performance of the news media. Besides, the corporate influence, the ideological division of media outlets and journalists not only raises ethical concerns but also the quality of discourse. Taken together, they only undermine the very credibility of the media institutions which does not allow them to become what Habermas calls the public sphere.

Audience evaluations of news videos made with various levels of automation: A population-based survey experiment

The use of automation in news content creation is expanding from the written to the audio-visual medium with news organizations including Reuters turning to video automation services provided by companies such as Wibbitz. Although researchers have explored audience perceptions of text-based news automation, to date no published study has examined how news consumers perceive automated news videos. We conducted a between-subjects online survey experiment to compare how a socio-demographically representative sample ( n = 4200) of online news consumers in the UK perceived human-made, partly automated, and highly automated short-form online news videos on 14 different story topics. Our findings show that human-made videos received on average more favourable responses on some evaluation variables, although the differences were not large. We also found some significant differences in the relative evaluation of automated and human-made news videos across different individual stories. For practitioners our results suggest partly automated news videos with post-automation human editing can be well received. For researchers our results show the need to use reasonably large sets of experimental stimuli, and suggest that ensuring socio-demographic variation within samples of respondents is worthwhile.

The polarizing content warning: how the media can reduce affective polarization

Abstract Past research suggests that journalists can (unintentionally) exacerbate affective polarization when reporting on growing levels of polarization in society. However, is there a way for journalists to report on the realities of growing political polarization without dividing people further? In our research with five pre-registered experimental studies (N = 3,414), we develop the polarizing content warning which, based on inoculation theory, warns readers that scientific research suggests reading news content about political polarization may drive further affective polarization. Results indicate that the polarizing content warning can be used both with online news articles and on social media sites, and is able to indirectly reduce affective polarization of readers. Additionally, the polarizing content warning is beneficial both when presented alongside news content and beforehand, and reduces readers’ perceptions of societal polarization, in turn reducing affective polarization. This warning allows journalists to report on societal polarization without further dividing people.

The Trend of Media Convergence and its Impact in Journalism and Communication Studies

The trend of media convergence and its impact in the field of journalism and communication studies has become increasingly evident. As information technology rapidly evolves, the boundaries between traditional and new media are becoming blurred. Various media formats are integrating deeply in terms of content, platforms, and channels, bringing unprecedented changes to the realm of news dissemination. The trend of media convergence not only drives innovation in the ways news is communicated but also significantly impacts both the theoretical research and practical applications within journalism and communication studies. In terms of communication methods, media convergence allows news content to be presented in more diversified and personalized ways, meeting the diverse needs of audiences. Cross-platform dissemination and interactive communication are becoming the norm, significantly improving the speed and efficiency of news dissemination. Theoretically, media convergence offers new perspectives and methodologies for journalism and communication studies. The impact of media convergence on news dissemination processes, audience behavior, and communication effects has garnered widespread attention, exploring new laws and characteristics of news dissemination. However, media convergence also presents a series of challenges. Thus, continuous innovation and transformation are needed to adapt to the new communication environment and development needs, promoting the ongoing development and progress of journalism and communication studies.

Public health framing of firearm violence on local television news in Philadelphia, PA, USA: a quantitative content analysis

BackgroundFirearm violence is an intensifying public health problem in the United States. News reports shape the way the public and policy makers understand and respond to health threats, including firearm violence. To better understand how firearm violence is communicated to the public, we aimed to determine the extent to which firearm violence is framed as a public health problem on television news and to measure harmful news content as identified by firearm-injured people.MethodsThis is a quantitative content analysis of Philadelphia local television news stories about firearm violence using a database of 7,497 clips. We compiled a stratified sample of clips aired on two randomly selected days/month from January-June 2021 from the database (n = 192 clips). We created a codebook to measure public health frame elements and to assign a harmful content score for each story and then coded the clips. Characteristics of stories containing episodic frames that focus on single shooting events were compared to clips with thematic frames that include broader social context for violence.ResultsMost clips employed episodic frames (79.2%), presented law enforcement officials as primary narrators (50.5%), and included police imagery (79.2%). A total of 433 firearm-injured people were mentioned, with a mean of 2.8 individuals shot included in each story. Most of the firearm-injured people featured in the clips (67.4%) had no personal information presented apart from age and/or gender. The majority of clips (84.4%) contained at least one harmful content element. The mean harmful content score/clip was 2.6. Public health frame elements, including epidemiologic context, root causes, public health narrators and visuals, and solutions were missing from most clips. Thematic stories contained significantly more public health frame elements and less harmful content compared to episodic stories.ConclusionsLocal television news produces limited public health coverage of firearm violence, and harmful content is common. This reporting likely compounds trauma experienced by firearm-injured people and could impede support for effective public health responses to firearm violence. Journalists should work to minimize harmful news content and adopt a public health approach to reporting on firearm violence.

Local News Reporting and Mass Attitudes on Infrastructure Investment

AbstractA growing body of research documents how shrinking local newsrooms undermine political accountability and local fiscal and policy performance in the United States. We extend this work to examine political impacts from the level of information content in local news, which has been jeopardized by reductions in newsroom staffing. To understand how information content affects public response to news coverage of a local issue, we focus on the case of preventive spending on infrastructure maintenance and repair. Inefficiently low levels of infrastructure investment are often attributed to low public knowledge about the risk of failure events. In a preregistered survey experiment, we test how the level and type of information in a news article affect support for infrastructure investment across two different types of infrastructure risk (repeated nuisance versus catastrophic failure). For both types of risk, we find that more information-rich reporting, whether investigative or event-driven, increases public support for preventive spending and imposes accountability penalties on local leaders who fail to invest in prevention.

Real-Time News Aggregation Using ReactJS: A Case Study and Analysis

Abstract: Real-time news aggregation has become increasingly vital in the digital age, where access to upto-date information is crucial for individuals and organizations alike. This paper presents a comprehensive study on the development of a real-time news application using ReactJS, a popular JavaScript library for building user interfaces. The study explores the significance of real-time updates in news applications, reviews existing literature on news aggregation platforms and ReactJS development, and identifies gaps in the current research landscape. The proposed system leverages ReactJS's flexibility and efficiency to create an intuitive user interface for accessing and interacting with real-time news content. Through integration with external APIs such as News API, the application fetches news articles from various sources and presents them to users in a timely manner.

Analysis of News Source Selection in the Digital Age: A Case Study of Micro-platforms Operated by People’s Daily and Southern Weekly

This study employs content analysis to compare and examine the selection of news sources in the micro-platforms of mainstream media, People’s Daily, and urban media, Southern Weekly. It attempts to interpret the impact of the digitalization process on the content production practices of different news media in China. The research reveals that in the digital era, media attributes and platform regulations are direct factors influencing the selection of news sources in news production. This transformation has significantly altered traditional news content production. Official news sources remain the primary choice for news media in producing content in the digital age. Additionally, grassroots news sources, representing the general public, are gradually incorporated into various types of reporting, demonstrating a trend towards democratization.

A critical discourse analysis of Jayland Walker's demise in digital journalism

This research investigates the shooting incident involving Jayland Walker, an African American citizen, on June 27, 2022, resulting from a traffic violation in Akron, United States, and its subsequent coverage across major online media outlets such as CNN News, NBC News, and The Washington Post. Utilizing qualitative methods and drawing on Van Dijk's (1985) Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) model, the study focuses on analysing the ideologies embedded in ten online news stories from June 2022 to August 2022. The findings highlight a discernible trend in the representation of Jayland Walker by CNN News and The Washington Post, where he is predominantly portrayed as a victim, with the police depicted negatively through strategic use of lexical elements and metaphors, underscoring the influence of media ownership ideologies in shaping news content. In contrast, NBC News maintains a more neutral stance, attributed to frequent changes in ownership. The research contributes theoretically to CDA, providing a conceptual framework for students engaged in critical discourse analysis studies, and offers insights into the complexities of media representation in incidents involving discrimination and police violence.

Creating Value for the Digital Reader in the Context of Sustainable Journalism

Because of digitalisation, social media platforms usage for news follow-up, the changing news consumption habits of young readers, and the COVID-19 pandemic, traditional journalism has been in a crisis for a while. Social media has become a significant competitor for news organisations in terms of both news consumption and advertising. Using the findings of the news consumption habits survey conducted with 200 participants in the United Kingdom (in London and Cardiff), this study discusses readers' expectations and consumption habits in the context of sustainable journalism. The survey constitutes a part of large-scale research carried out with the financial support of TÜBİTAK. It is revealed that readers heavily prefer digital platforms, including social media, for news follow-up, and this interest increased during the Pandemic. The main expectations of the consumer/reader are reliability, easy access/use, easy-to-follow, personalised/reader-specific content, and less advertising. Among the findings is that young readers prefer social media platforms that are not "news organisations" to follow the news. Reader-based revenues are regarded as the most crucial income for sustainable journalism. Media needs to understand the reader's expectations and produce news content that will create value for them to generate sustainable reader income.

A review of challenges, algorithms and evaluation methods in news recommendation

News reading is an important social activity and to help readers quickly find news articles of their interest, news content providers and aggregators use recommender systems. Such systems are designed to address a variety of challenges. Inspiration for algorithmic design is taken from various domains which has resulted in the creation of an enormous body of literature. Also, different methods are used for evaluation of the recommendation algorithms. In this study, we review these developments and present three major components in news recommendation research. First, we list and categorise the challenges faced while designing news recommender systems. We especially list the different algorithmic designs used for generating personalised and non-personalised recommendations. We discuss the major neural network architectures that are being increasingly used for both collaborative and content-based recommender systems. Next, we list the two major evaluation methods and also list some popular datasets used in evaluation. Finally, we identify the emerging trends in news recommender research. We find that the issues related to fake news, trust and use of personal data for news recommendation are gaining wider attention, and deep learning methods are being increasingly used to address these issues.

Auditing Entertainment Traps on YouTube: How Do Recommendation Algorithms Pull Users Away from News

ABSTRACT Recommendation algorithms that customize information feeds for individuals have raised concerns about exacerbating inequalities in news exposure among citizens. In response to these concerns, we conducted an audit study on YouTube to analyze the algorithmic impact on curating news versus other content topics. We examined over 1.7 million YouTube video recommendations audited in 2019 and developed novel analysis approaches including network analysis and Markov chains. Results show that recommendation algorithms may potentially redirect users away from news content through two influence pathways: (1) the “topical filter bubbles,” wherein entertainment content has a higher probability of being recommended over news content in a self-reinforcing manner; and (2) “algorithmic redirection,” wherein the probability of entertainment videos being recommended after a news video is much higher than that for the opposite. Overall, YouTube recommendation algorithms have a higher probability of recommending entertainment videos than news. The findings imply essential biases in algorithmic recommendations on digital platforms beyond amplifying users’ preferences.

Which storytelling people prefer? Mapping news topic and news engagement in social media

Nations engage in a nuanced competition to achieve soft power through social media on a global scale. Exploring the intricate dynamics, research endeavors focus on unraveling the mechanisms by which national media endeavors not only captivate a diverse international audience but also amplify their influence through carefully crafted narratives. However, extant research falls short in both theoretical and empirical examinations of the intricate interplay between news content and news engagement. This research examines in depth the news content strategy employed by China's national media for global communication, focusing on 6632 YouTube videos of CGTN (China Global Television Network) from May 2021 to August 2023. Specifically, utilizing BERTopic machine learning techniques, we identified 16 distinct news topics and associated with news engagement metrics (e.g., number of views, likes, and comments). Our results reveal a pattern of selective engagement and avoidance by international audiences, particularly in their significant interest in geopolitical and technological topics, while showing less interest in Chinese cultural and social news. This study offers valuable insights into the effectiveness of national media's digital storytelling strategy, shedding light on audience preferences and areas for potential recalibration in content dissemination.