News Media Representations Research Articles

Logics of competition: the forming of opinion in the bid for a green mega investment

ABSTRACT This article utilizes news media representations to scrutinize the symbolic construction and legitimizing support for green megaprojects, with a particular focus on Northvolt’s battery factory in Skellefteå, Sweden. The study reveals that the media portrayed the project as crucial for local development, driven by Northvolt’s explicit competition, Sweden’s national ambition to lead in green technology, and a neoliberal agenda for regional economic growth. These narratives, deeply rooted in ideological fantasies about the implications of such a megaproject for a small, struggling community, effectively suppressed concerns about colonialism, environmental risks, and indigenous rights. The media’s emphasis on perceived benefits overshadowed potential risks, prompting questions about the long-term impact of such projects on local communities and the environment. The article argues that while these investments are framed as opportunities for progress, they may perpetuate historical patterns of exploitation and overlook critical socio-environmental issues.

A News Media Representation on Disability and Information Accessibility in China from the Perspective of Critical Discourse Analysis

Based on critical discourse analysis, this paper takes thirty news articles related to disability and information accessibility from three Chinese news media as its research object to explore themes that describe how Chinese news media reflects and constitutes its understanding of disability and information accessibility. By doing this, it intends to reveal the themes of those articles and identify potential prejudices, illusions, and stereotypes that may influence the disability. This paper aims to address the following two questions: 1) What content exists in mainstream Chinese news media concerning disability and information accessibility? 2) What themes do these discourses present regarding disability and information accessibility? The results show that 1) The content of thirty news articles includes introductions, evaluations and advice of apps related to information accessibility, activities promoting information accessibility, audiovisual works with information accessibility, and official policies regarding information accessibility; 2) Five key themes are found in these discourses, which are discourses of problem-solving, criticism, awareness as advocacy, self-congratulations or overly optimistic judgments and a tendency of elderly-oriented over disability. Through the analysis of these themes, this paper concludes with implications to advance the development of information accessibility for disability.

News media representations of the Trade Union Act (2016) and their links to liberal theory

This paper explores how concepts from two influential strands of liberalism, new liberalism and neoliberalism, are represented in a sample of online media articles by analysing news coverage of the Trade Union Act (2016). The analysis centres on internet news items published on the websites of The Guardian, The Daily Mail, Sky News, and BBC News. To systematise the analysis, three thematic axes were constructed: a) Democracy, Law and Order; b) Civil and Labour Rights; c) Military Metaphors, Privileges and Trade Unions.

Did COVID-19 Affect News Media Representations of Prisons, Inmates, and Correctional Officers? A Look Prior and Postpandemic

This study examines news media representations of Canadian prisons pre and post-coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Of interest was how media framed coverage of punishment and prisons with respect to discrete, event-driven traditional myths (prisons are dangerous, inmates are violent, correctional officers are cruel) versus more systemic, reform-oriented stories (more rehabilitation needed, racialized peoples over-represented, prison conditions harsh). In a pre-post COVID-19 content analysis of 182 stories, prison articles actually declined. Some traditional prison myths were still present and reinforced, but other myths were challenged and some were rarely seen. Discussions of prison reform were also frequently observed and grew during the pandemic.

News Media Representations of Protesting Farmers and the Kidapawan Massacre in Central Mindanao, the Philippines

This study explored the media representations of farmer-victims in Kidapawan City, the Philippines. By employing critical discourse analysis, it examined 27 tabloid news stories and exposed how Metropolis-based news media represented the farmers who were reportedly involved in socio-political issues with the government that paved the way to the Kidapawan Massacre dated April 1, 2016. The analysis of media representation of farmers identified four themes: the villains-victims, conflict and politics, media as faultfinders and terminology crisis. It included concurring, dissenting and nondiscriminatory arguments, but were not helpful in resolving conflicts. Rather than skewed representations, the media needs to play a better role in upholding the interest of farmers.

Media Portrayals of Trans and Gender Diverse People: A Comparative Analysis of News Headlines Across Europe

Media representations of minorities (re)produce the societal context they are immersed in; thus, while media representations of trans and gender diverse (TGD) people have historically been negative and stigmatizing, different sociocultural contexts across countries can lead to considerable variations in these representations. The present study investigated how media representations of TGD people in news headlines varied across three European countries with different levels of legal protection and social acceptance of gender minorities: Sweden (high), the UK (medium), and Italy (low). In total, 830 headlines (Sweden = 300; UK = 300; Italy = 230) were coded for their valence (i.e., positive, neutral/mixed, negative), recurring social roles (i.e., criminals, victims, pioneers, professionals), gender aspects (i.e., target’s gender, misgendering), body aspects (i.e., medicalization, objectification), and focus (i.e., individual, group). We found that more gender-egalitarian societal contexts (Sweden, the UK) were associated with less negative and more neutral valence, less representations of TGD people as victims of discrimination and violence, more representations of gender diverse people, less misgendering, and less objectification. Trans women were represented more often than trans men and gender diverse people across all countries. By comparing news media representations of TGD people across countries, this research helps to shed light on the correspondences between media representations of gender minorities and the different levels of legal protection and social acceptance they experience.

Constructing victimhood in Canadian news coverage of HIV criminalisation: Claims-making activities and HIV non-disclosure.

A robust body of research has documented the representational politics of news coverage in their depiction of HIV-positive people charged for HIV non-disclosure. News media representations of HIV-negative sex partners in cases of HIV non-disclosure have received far less scholarly attention. Adopting a social constructionist perspective, this article identifies how "victims" of HIV non-disclosure are constructed in news media. It is based on a dataset consisting of 341 news articles on HIV non-disclosure from 14 English Canadian newspapers across the political spectrum. Victims of HIV non-disclosure were constructed as: (1) suffering horribly, (2) morally pure and virtuous, (3) vengeful and (4) agentic and responsible for their situation. We consider how such constructions are enmeshed within arguments that establish or reject HIV non-disclosure as a social problem. We then discuss the ways these constructions and the assumptions upon which they are based reflect broader discussions on the severity of HIV, the responsibility for HIV risk and exposure, and the contestations over the very nature of the social problem of HIV non-disclosure. Constructions of victims that uphold HIV criminalisation have relied on assumptions of HIV as a deadly disease but de-emphasise personal responsibility for HIV risk. By contrast, constructions of victims that, in effect, oppose HIV criminalisation have tended to minimise the harms of HIV and invoke personal responsibility for HIV risk. We suggest that both proponents and opponents of HIV criminalisation engage in the "ideology of victimhood" and thus participate in and reinforce what Best (1997) termed, the "victim industry."

News Media Representation of Intimate Partner Violence: A Systematic Review

News Media Representation of Intimate Partner Violence: A Systematic Review

‘Never cry for food’: food security, poverty, and recurring themes in news media regarding rabbit farming in East Africa

Abstract Rabbit farming is a form of low input agriculture that has potential to address food security and poverty in East Africa and beyond. For low input agriculture, farmers utilize local and affordable farm resources making it accessible across income levels. Understanding barriers and facilitators to rabbit farming could increase effectiveness of this form of low input agriculture in communities struggling with low food security and poverty, particularly for indigenous, smallholder farms. News media is an available source of data about community perceptions and practices on issues such as rabbit farming, food security, and poverty. For this qualitative study, researchers applied a priori and open coding text analysis to examine recurring themes in news media representations regarding perceptions of rabbit farming in East Africa. Results reveal that community members view rabbit farming as a community strategy that promotes better nutrition and food security while reducing poverty. Important themes included how gender and other cultural norms shaped efforts, and the role of sustainability and climate change on farming practices. Further, the easy cultivation of rabbits, funding, and protective policy and support of indigenous smallholder farms were perceived as facilitators for rabbit farming. Finally, investment in infrastructure for market, production, and knowledge-transfer of best production and business practices were considered critical to success for rabbit farmers throughout East Africa.

News Media Representations: Audience Perceptions of News Frames About Latinxs and Hispanics

This study includes a survey of 1,077 participants to explore the audiences’ perceptions of news representations about the largest minoritized group in the United States: Latinxs and Hispanics. The findings suggest that news exposure, age, ethnicity, education, and income are significant variables for the public to perceive more positive portrayals of Latinxs/Hispanics. Also, some negative stereotypical interpretations of Latinx/Hispanic news frames continue to be pervasive. The results point to the need for updated theoretical approaches focused on the role of media in the minoritization process of ethnoracial populations.

When communist propaganda meets western public relations: Examining Vietnam’s government pandemic communication

This article explores the communication strategies used by Vietnam’s communist government during the earlier phases of the COVID-19 pandemic. What makes this case worth studying is the examination of Vietnam’s hybridised use of Western public relations strategies with communist propaganda and the fluctuating, emphasis on one or the other depending on the outbreak’s implications. While Vietnam was praised as a pandemic hero in 2020, thanks in part to some academic and news media representations of the Vietnam government as an effective communicator, this perception changed when the Delta variant hit the country. What happened? Which communication strategies changed? Which remained? To answer these questions, we used a mixed qualitative method consisting of a case study and manual and computational thematic analyses of government and news media and social media texts to identify the strategies and themes that were dominant during the first COVID-19 outbreaks. This study helps to throw light on the effectiveness but also the problems that may arise from a mixed use of public relations and propaganda strategies during a global pandemic; it also raises questions about the need to build a country-specific pandemic communication framework as well as to rethink theories and uses of propaganda vis-à-vis PR today.

News Media Representation on 2019 Hong Kong Protestors

Protests in Hong Kong occurred frequently for years. In June 2019, media had shifted focus towards Hong Kong again as a series of Hong Kong Protests took place with mass street gatherings regarding the amendment of a bill. Online media were used to report news regarding this social unrest. This study aims to find out how the Hong Kong Protestors were represented in the news reports from China and Hong Kong respectively. In order to answer the research questions formulated in this study, activation of social actor as a branch of role allocation was selected from the framework by van Leeuwen (2008) to aid in understanding activation of social actors according toand the framework to study Hong Kong Protestors as social actors in the Hong Kong protests series that happened in 2019. The study collected over 80 news reports from China Daily (CD) and South China Morning Post (SCMP) in the duration of six months starting from the first protest in June 2019 to December 2019. The news reports were analyzed according to the Van Leeuwen’s (2008) Representation of Social Actor. The results of the study found that in general, both news outlets, CD and SCMP depicted instances of activation of the social actors in Hong Kong protests. The protestors were negatively represented in news reports of these two media outlets. The findings would provide insight to readers on how activation in role allocation is depicted through Discourse Analysis.

Can’t] Delete: an intervention in mainstream news media representations of image-based sexual abuse

Cases of image-based sexual abuse (IBSA) – the creation or distribution of private sexual or nude images – are on the rise across the world and internet, but the public does not understand this issue as a form of sexual violence. This is due in part to the role of journalists and the news media as the first site where the general audience hears about new issues. Research into IBSA has not considered the role of the news media to educate the public, so this article seeks to explore this gap through the creation of an experimental work of journalism. The creative component is an interactive journalism feature hosted on a website that offers the audience opportunities to engage with victim perspectives within the context of an explanatory journalism article about IBSA. This approach seeks to be an example for future journalism about sexual abuse and improve public understanding of IBSA.

Neo-Nazi Heteroactivism and the Swedish Nationalist Contradiction

This article is about one of the most violent and visible form anti-LGBTQI activism in Sweden, conducted by Neo-Nazis. Through a critical discourse analysis of 189 texts published in Swedish newspapers and Neo-Nazi alternative media, it argues that contemporary Swedish Neo-Nazi anti-LGBTQI activism draws upon and constructs transnational heteroactivist discourses. They claim to “protect the nuclear family” to deflate accusations of homophobia while gaining substantial visibility through news media covering their actions. The findings demonstrate the three ways Neo-Nazi texts use heteroactivist strategies. First, the texts argue that LGBTQI rights and feminism are societally harmful. Second, through intertextuality they refer to both local and international alternative media as the basis for their arguments. Third, they rationalise homophobic hatred. This paper contributes to discussions of heteroactivism, revealing the need to grapple with the ways it is intertwined with race and nationalism. Empirically, the analysis also highlights the significance of anti-LGBTQI activism in contemporary white power and extreme-right movements. The inclusion of news media texts that frame and represent heteroactivist strategies reveals that, despite their rationalising efforts, Neo-Nazi anti-LGBTQI activism is represented as homophobic and hateful in news and debate articles describing them. Additionally, news media representations of Neo-Nazi heteroactivist discourse present a nationalist contradiction, with authors re-constructing narratives of Sweden as a “LGBT friendly nation”, bringing to light complex relations between heteroactivism, homophobia, racism, and nationalism.

Visual representation of safety in urban spaces: a tale of two neighbourhoods

Urban studies have addressed the role of media with regard to the ways in which the production of news affects the practicing of urban life. Media promotes urban growth, but also plays a role in the creation of negative images ascribed to places and neighbourhoods. This paper explores discourses of safety and security, illustrated in Swedish newspaper representations of two neighbourhoods in Malmö, Sweden, with different social status. Content analysis and discourse analysis methods were used to contribute to the understanding of potentiality as well as hindrances for a just urban planning. The overall result shows a negative image of Bellevuegården as a problematic area, whereas Västra Hamnen is presented as an attractive and safe neighbourhood. The study also identifies the interrelations and intertextuality between each neighbourhood and the city of Malmö as a whole. It is highlighted how Malmö has struggled with its negative reputation as a dangerous city. To favour one and disfavour another area does not contribute to equality and integration, which is the vision involved in the comprehensive planning of Malmö city. It has been concluded that the news media's representation of neighbourhoods has influenced how they are perceived, both by inhabitants and by society at large.

Partisan US News Media Representations of Syrian Refugees

We investigate how representations of Syrian refugees (2011-2021) differ across US partisan news outlets. We analyze 47,388 articles from the online US media about Syrian refugees to detail differences in reporting between left- and right-leaning media. We use various NLP techniques to understand these differences. Our polarization and question answering results indicated that left-leaning media tended to represent refugees as child victims, welcome in the US, and right-leaning media cast refugees as Islamic terrorists. We noted similar results with our sentiment and offensive speech scores over time, which detail possibly unfavorable representations of refugees in right-leaning media. A strength of our work is how the different techniques we have applied validate each other. Based on our results, we provide several recommendations. Stakeholders may utilize our findings to intervene around refugee representations, and design communications campaigns that improve the way society sees refugees and possibly aid refugee outcomes.

The Pandemic in Our Country, the Pandemic in Their Countries: News Values and Media Representation of the COVID-19 Pandemic

ABSTRACT The article investigates how the COVID-19 pandemic around the world is represented by the New York Times (NYT) and China Daily (CD), newspapers from two countries with long-standing political tension. The data consists of 2572 reports that are classified into three groups: reports on COVID-19 in the US, reports on COVID-19 in China, and reports on COVID-19 in other countries/regions. The reports are analyzed in terms of their discursive news values. Analysis results show that NYT represents the pandemic in the US, and CD represents the pandemic in China as the least negative, the least impactful and with the most personal accounts. NYT represents the pandemic in China, and CD represents the pandemic in the US as the most negative, the most impactful, the most severe, and the least positive and proximate. The selection and representation of other countries/regions reflect a differentiated coverage of the “Others” by both NYT and CD. The study lends support to a previous hypothesis that domestic crises tend to be presented as less negative than those in other countries, and invites contemplation on the influence of nationalism and political antagonism on the news media in times of global health crises.

On the Margins: Exploring Minority News Media Representations of Women during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a disproportionately negative affect on women, especially women from minoritized groups. Minority news media are an important information source for these groups, when it comes to providing alternative views, and health related information. Whilst the poor representation of women in COVID-19 related mainstream news coverage is acknowledged, little is known regarding the representation of women in digital minority news content, during the pandemic and beyond. Considering this gap, we examine how women have been represented within a diverse corpus of minority news, and explore how these representations serve to bridge between different social groups. Critically analyzing the representation of these marginalized groups offers a lens through which we can better understand the function of minority news media in a democracy. Using critical discourse analysis, this study examines three online minority newspapers and one podcast from the US. Findings show that women are covered in an inclusive and empowering way, containing perspectives and concerns unique to the minority group, strengthening identities, platforming community-specific issues, communicating a call to action, and promoting intersectional solidarity. These representations also reveal the complex tensions between counterhegemonic and dominant publics which minority news media sources constantly negotiate through their content.

Shelter news: affordance, place and proximity in news media representations of civil defence artefacts

ABSTRACT Sweden has a system of 64,000 air-raid shelters. Built over a period of 80 years and providing protection for about 70% of the population, the shelters have taken on a special role in the country’s public setting. Their omnipresence has made them sociocultural symbols in Swedish society. However, while the origins of air-raid-shelter symbolism are well researched within historical studies, little is known about the role shelters play in media settings today. While the air-raid shelters originate from a highly militarized past, contemporary mediations do not necessarily follow this heritage. In this cross-disciplinary article, the role of air-raid shelters in Swedish news-media reporting in 2015 to 2018 is studied in an effort to understand how sociocultural interpretations of air-raid shelters are produced and mediated in news-media settings, and how such interpretations are spread and reproduced throughout the media sphere. Inspired by research stemming from historical studies, STS (Science and Technology Studies), and media and communication, the article shows that news-media reporting on air-raid shelters is highly flexible, yet limited to a set of afforded interpretations that sometimes exist parallel to each other. The article also discusses how journalists’ and commentators’ use of ‘proximity’ and ‘place’ interplays with the existence and abundance of shelters in local settings. In sum, the findings highlights the air-raid shelters function as a projection surface for moral debates in public media, but also that abundance of shelters in urban settings do not guarantee that discussions will concern air-raid shelters actual function as a risk reducing technology.

“Civilizing” the “Barbaric” Child: The Case of the Khadrs

In this article I explore the Khadr family through shifting Canadian news media representations and the CBC’s documentaries, “Al Qaeda’s Family” and “Out of the Shadows.” Omar Khadr and his parents, Maha Elsamnah and Ahmed Khadr, came to be framed as a “bad” Muslim family as a result of supposed failed (Muslim) parenting. I interrogate how media attach Omar Khadr’s acts of violence to orientalist images of the violent (terrorist) Muslim family, and framed Elsamnah and Ahmed Khadr as foreign and un-Canadian parents, unable and unwilling to socialize their children within the Canadian state order. When Omar Khadr was released from prison, it was only under the guidance of his white lawyer, Dennis Edney, that he could be rehabilitated and brought back into Canadian society in Canadian news media framings. In order for Khadr to be portrayed as worthy of reentering Canada, images of him practicing his religion, wearing non-Western clothing, and even speaking Arabic were subdued. It is within the images of Khadr in the Edney home, severing his relationship with his family, that the Canadian public could be reassured that Khadr would be able to reinvent himself as a Canadian citizen, a child soldier, rather than a Muslim terrorist.