Online News Sites Research Articles

Social Media, News Consumption, and Polarization: Evidence from a Field Experiment

Does the consumption of ideologically congruent news on social media exacerbate polarization? I estimate the effects of social media news exposure by conducting a large field experiment randomly offering participants subscriptions to conservative or liberal news outlets on Facebook. I collect data on the causal chain of media effects: subscriptions to outlets, exposure to news on Facebook, visits to online news sites, and sharing of posts, as well as changes in political opinions and attitudes. Four main findings emerge. First, random variation in exposure to news on social media substantially affects the slant of news sites that individuals visit. Second, exposure to counter-attitudinal news decreases negative attitudes toward the opposing political party. Third, in contrast to the effect on attitudes, I find no evidence that the political leanings of news outlets affect political opinions. Fourth, Facebook’s algorithm is less likely to supply individuals with posts from counter-attitudinal outlets, conditional on individuals subscribing to them. Together, the results suggest that social media algorithms may limit exposure to counter-attitudinal news and thus increase polarization. (JEL C93, D72, L82)

Online Public Responses to the “Send Her Back” Chant at the 2019 Greenville Rally

ABSTRACT The Squad is a group of four progressive women of colour elected to the U.S. Congress in 2018 who have been vocal critics especially of immigration and environmental policies. During a Republican rally in North Carolina in 2019, Trump disparaged the Squad for being critical of him. The crowd responded chanting “Send her/them back.” This study conducted a content analysis of public comments posted on four online news sites assessing rejection or approval for this chant. Content analysis showed a striking difference across the sites based on the amount of approval for the chant. Comments on Fox News and a conservative Twitter site supported the chant and characterized members of the Squad as obstructionist and uncooperative. There was little support for the chant on the Washington Post and the New York Times sites. This study examined how users who posted these comments explained/justified their responses to the chant.

No Country for Asylum Seekers? How Short-Term Exposure to Refugees Influences Attitudes and Voting Behavior in Hungary

How does exposure to refugees influence political behavior? We present evidence from Hungary, a country with widespread anti-immigration attitudes, that short term exposure during the 2015 refugee crisis predicts anti-refugee voting and sentiment. We code exposure to refugees at the settlement level using reports from state media, an independent online news site, and an online social media aggregator. Settlements through which refugees traveled showed significantly higher anti-refugee voting in a national referendum in 2016. The effect decreases sharply with distance. Using a difference-in-differences model, we find that the far-right opposition gained, while the governing right-wing party lost votes in these settlements in subsequent parliamentary elections. This suggests incumbents are punished by voters skeptical of immigration regardless of their policy position. Survey data supports this finding of a competition among right-wing parties, as individuals in exposed settlements are more fearful of immigrants and support restrictive policies only if they identify as right-wing.

Expressions of science literacy in online public discussions of animal experimentation

ABSTRACT Recent conceptualizations of science literacy, a key aim of contemporary science education, suggest defining it as a function of actual uses of science in daily life. We characterize expressions of science literacy in online authentic public discourse, using content analysis of a year’s worth of widely-read Israeli online news site coverage of animal experimentation and its reader comments, we explore how expressions of science literacy interact with coverage. The national Israeli science-curricula were used as an analytical framework, including scientific knowledge, nature of science (NOS), and inquiry skills. The findings indicate that over half of the scientific concepts used by the commentators are at the high school or academic level, in which science is elective. There were strong correlations (r = 0.96) between the level of overall science concepts used in the articles and reader comments. Comments supporting animal experimentation employed more and higher level of scientific concepts. Contrasting positions were supported by different types of NOS content: opponents of animal experimentation referred more to the social aspects of NOS, echoing differences in worldviews and lack of trust in scientists. We suggest that enabling informed public engagement with science requires explicit integration of investigative and social aspects of the nature of science.

Motives to use online news and the impact on satisfaction with the government and vote choice

Online news plays an important role in determining vote choice. The aim of this study is to examine motives to use online news sites and their impact on satisfaction with the government and vote choice. A sample of 700 registered voters in Klang Valley, Malaysia, participated in this quantitative study. A partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) analysis revealed that 'social utility' and 'personal fulfilment' play a significant role in determining satisfaction with the government. The motive of 'guidance' shows a negative effect on satisfaction with the government, which supports the hypothesis that the more people surf online news for guidance, the more they will be dissatisfied with the government. However, surprisingly, 'information-seeking' was not found to be significantly correlated with satisfaction with the government. Finally, satisfaction with the government, as a variable, was found to have a positive impact on vote choice.

Effects of Incidental Brief Exposure to News on News Knowledge While Scrolling Through Videos

Increasing media choices due to online media diversification ensure that people without any interest in news avoid news media. This obstructs the construction of a shared social reality given the presence of politics news seekers and news avoiders. For mitigating these issues using media, incidental exposure to news on the Internet can be a powerful tool because it can bring news to the awareness of people who are politically disinterested. We studied the effects of the glimpsing a news screen for less than a few seconds while watching online television news, termed incidental brief exposure, on news knowledge. For evaluating the effects, we combined the logs of news-watching behavior on an online television (for incidental brief exposure) and the results of a questionnaire survey (for news knowledge and media repertories). We found that this incidental brief exposure mitigated the negative effect of social media usage on news knowledge. Although people with heavy social media usage have low news knowledge, heavy social media users with high frequently incidental brief exposure have more news knowledge than heavy social media users. As a possible scenario, memorizing news keywords due to incidental brief exposure may facilitate reading news related to these keywords when users incidentally encounter news on social media. On the other hand, the exposure did not moderate the effects of news media usage, such as mass media, curation sites, and online news sites. These findings suggest that incidental brief exposure while scrolling through videos, which is hardly noticed by users, enhances passive exposure effects in non-news media, such as social media.

Investigating Disinformation in Middle East Mainstream News – Operationalization, Detection, and Implication

AbstractThis paper develops some discursive resources and models to analyze how and why disinformation permeates mainstream media. It draws on certain linguistic strategies and propaganda models helpful to unravel disinformation in mainstream media coverage, with focus placed on two main Arabic speaking 24/7 news channels in the Middle East. These strategies and models are used to conduct exploratory critical analyses of data drawn from the online news websites of the two news outlets. The paper presents the trends characterizing disinformation in the Middle East, but more importantly the discursive and social patterns and practices the media employ when publishing news intended to discredit and harm rather than inform. The study’s contribution is twofold: First, it provides a discursive framework for the analysis of disinformation in traditional news outlets. Second, it provides an analytical framework to investigate how disinformation pervades mainstream media. The study’s data and analysis support the lines of research on how patriotic ethics guide coverage and how the selection of discursive patterns responds to interests of hegemonic powers with a say in media organizations’ affairs.

“Does Pakistan still have polio cases?”: Exploring discussions on polio and polio vaccine in online news comments in Pakistan

IntroductionPolio, which is caused by poliovirus, is a contagious, potentially crippling, and deadly disease. Pakistan is one of the countries in which polio is still endemic in the 21st century. In 2019, 146 polio cases were reported across the country with some resulting in deaths. Following the spread of rumors insinuating that children were falling sick after receiving an anti-polio vaccine, a mob attacked and set fire to a small hospital in the Peshawar district in April 2019. The present study investigates readers’ discussions that emerged from Dawn’s online readers’ comments on polio-related news stories in Pakistan. MethodsUsing thematic analysis, we analyzed (N = 2216) comments made by readers in the polio-related news stories published on Dawn.com from January 1, 2012, to March 1, 2020. ResultsSeven major themes emerged from the analysis of the comments: 1) reasons for and challenges resulting in the failure to eradicate polio; 2) proposed solutions and policy changes to eradicate polio; 3) misinformation; 4) criticism, frustration, and shame; 5) comparison of Pakistan to other countries; 6) the internet as a public sphere; 7) suffering, empathy, and appreciation. Overall, our findings suggested that commenters are knowledgeable about polio vaccines and consider polio a serious threat to public health in Pakistan. ConclusionOur study not only validated previous study findings such as reasons, challenges, and issues related to polio vaccination, but also found new challenges in online news sites concerning misinformation on polio and polio vaccination in Pakistan.

Learning about Politics from Mass Media and Social Media: Moderating Roles of Press Freedom and Public Service Broadcasting in 11 Countries

AbstractTo examine whether mass media and social media relate to political knowledge, the study draws upon an original survey of adults from 11 countries, the 2014 CESifo DICE Report on public service broadcasting, and the 2015 Press Freedom Index by Freedom House. Findings reveal that news use via television, newspapers, online news sites, and social media is positively associated with political knowledge. Furthermore, press freedom and strong public broadcasting strengthen the association between news use (via both mass and social media) and political knowledge. The findings suggest that the media system plays a crucial role in creating a political learning environment even in this social media age.

Immortalizing “Buried Memories”: Photographs of the Gukurahundi Online

ABSTRACT This article examines how photographs displayed online preserve, mediate, and circulate memories of the Gukurahundi “genocide.” The Gukurahundi denotes mass killings of more than 20,000 predominantly Ndebele-speaking people in Matabeleland and Midlands provinces orchestrated by the Zimbabwean government between 1983 and 1987. Many of the victims consider this to be a genocide, but their memories are subject to repression under the current regime. In this context, online news sites serve as alternative spaces in which knowledge of this traumatic past is transmitted through photographs. Anchored in an understanding that photographs constitute a “mirror with a memory,” this article uses critical discourse analysis to analyse selected images from Bulawayo24.com news website. It finds that Bulawayo24.com serves as an arena for preserving and circulating Gukurahundi memories by enabling audiences to bear witness to their experience-as-genocide. The images reinforce human rights discourses, contributing to the growing calls for justice, commemoration, and memorialization of Gukurahundi victims.

The Online Media Practice in Covering Indonesian National Police’s Prevention Efforts on the Prohibited Party's Ideology Spread in Indonesia

Critical discourse analysis examines the efforts of social forces and ideological interests of a group that are reproduced and defended through texts. The discussion is connected with social contexts that have specific purposes and assumptions. This study focuses on online news reported at liputan6.com site on May 11 th, 2016. This study’s method is a critical discourse analysis introduced by Norman Fairclough with the implementation of transitivity system as the data analysis theory. It aims to uncover the elements of social practice from the aspects of linguistic and discourse. The result indicates the existence of social practice from the online news site in processing information shapes the practice representation conducted by figures who act the discourse which can affect the views of people including their understanding and behavior in social life.

Writing between the ‘red lines’: Morocco’s digital media landscape

This article presents an overview of the emergence of online news sites, which has radically altered news provision and media consumption patterns in Morocco. This sector has rapidly become a strategic site. Firstly, its precedence over print media and national television networks does not only stem from the high traffic figures of news websites. Along with certain social platforms, these websites are the only vehicules for 24/7 news in a country which currently has just one such news channel and where, in spite of the ‘liberalisation’ of media, national networks provide very institutionalised news programs based on the activities of the state official institutions and of the monarchy. Secondly, certain domestic Arabic-language news websites have become the main platform for the voicing of political dissent. Based on 31 interviews, the article briefly describes the historical development of the online press, since the ‘February 20th Movement’ of 2011. This case study provides a good example of the new challenges surrounding the control of information: an issue long shaped by the limitation of news provision to duly authorised political and journalistic organisations and by limited ‘demand’ resulting from widespread illiteracy. This article describes how the Moroccan establishment react to the explosive growth of online news media by creating new mechanisms to control it.

COVID-19 and Domestic Animals: Exploring the Species Barrier Crossing, Zoonotic and Reverse Zoonotic Transmission of SARS-CoV-2.

To date, more than thirty animals have been tested positive for SARS-CoV-2; all of them infected by humans with COVID-19. Some animal experiments suggested the possibility of animal to animal transmission of SARS-CoV-2 that was seen in some cases of infected animals. Animal to human transmission was considered unlikely until investigations revealed the possibility of mink to human transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in the Netherlands. The current study aims at highlighting the predominance of SARS-CoV-2 infection in various animal species, reverse zoonotic transmission and proposing possible animal models that might aid in the study and development of a vaccine against Covid-19. The authors have gathered information on various animal species infected with SARS-CoV-2 and possible tests conducted via online news reports, websites and Scopus indexed journals. The study of the susceptibility of SARS-CoV-2 to domestic animals concluded that pigs, chicken, and ducks were not vulnerable to Covid-19; dogs showed less susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 and cats as well as ferrets were seen susceptible to Covid-19. SARS-CoV-2 has been seen crossing the species barrier, infecting humans from the wild with the yet unclear source, spreading from humans to humans quickly, humans to animals, animals to animals, and is likely to spread from animals to humans even though minimally. Animals appear somewhat resistant to SARS-CoV-2 transmission compared to humans who globally crossed eight million infection cases, and the infected animals mostly do not show many complications and recover quickly. Precautions are advised to prevent human to animal transmission of the virus, and in some areas, to avoid animal to human spread of the virus. Further monitoring is required to assess the SARS-CoV-2 infection in animals as COVID-19 is a rapidly evolving condition worldwide. Cats and ferrets have physiological resemblance and genome sequencing studies propose the possibility of these species to be used as animal models for investigating the SARS-CoV-2 infection and this might aid in further studies and vaccine development against Covid-19.

Impact of web content on profitability and market share of publishing business in UAE

Abstract In the current technological and competitive world, individuals are provided with a broad range of digital as well as traditional channels. Presently, online news sites are providing high satisfaction to the readers, and this scenario has simultaneously caused a decline in the circulation of print newspapers. Given this, the present study aimed to identify the choice of consumers in online and print media regarding the format preference and also examined whether there is any difference in the demographic characteristics in the choice of consumer. This study adopted the quantitative method and primary data collection approach where paper-based survey was conducted among 102 journalists. Furthermore, this study analysed the influence of involved variables (print and online media) and also examined the relationship between format preference and demographic characteristics between the two media. This study would further shed light on the two important input classifications such as exploratory and descriptive research. The findings of the study are provided in tabular formats after carrying out the qualitative data collection such as the focus group interview and the elite and specialised interview. The hypotheses for the study were developed based on the literature review and were tested using the chi-squared test. The study’s findings showed that there is no association between personal attributes and media type. Majority of them reported that irrespective of education, gender, income, age and nationality, they prefer online media, especially the internet, as their basic resource. However, few old-age consumers prefer print media, especially newspapers. Moreover, this study concludes that there is no statistical significant association between media type preference and the reasons. This is due to the fact that, based on media type, there is a lack of difference in the reason choices provided by the consumers. This study empirically concludes that print media is significantly influenced by online media. Several features that create an impact on print media include profitability, market share, subscription, advertising revenue, demand and print revenue. Keywords: Web content, new business models, profitability, market share.

MEDIA FRAMING ON ONLINE NEWS HEADLINES IN REGARDS TO THE GILETS JAUNES PHENOMENON

Gilets Jaunes massive protest in France was considered as the most serious crisis in the Fifth Republic since the protest of May 1968. The importance of the event was such that it generated serious controversy, which was widely reported and many French media competed to highlight the development of the action group. This study examines the headlines of the Gilets Jaunes phenomenon in two online news sites (LeFigaro.fr and Libération.fr) with a different ideology. The analysis was carried out using theories of Le Querler's syntactic structure, Nida's meaning componential analysis, Dor & Gattani's headline functionality, and Entman's media framing. The results show that left-wing media news titles framed Gilets Jaunes as evidence of the people's struggle, while the right-wing media framed Gilets Jaunes as an action that only caused riots and casualties.

Is Digital News Really that Digital? An Analysis of How Online News Sites in the UK use Digital Affordances to Enhance Their Reporting

ABSTRACT Legacy media have responded to the introduction of digital-born news sites by instigating their own online platforms, reflecting the extent to which journalism operates within a hybrid media environment. This article aims to test if and how digital journalism makes its hybridity manifest by using various online affordances. We used content analysis to compare the extent to which BBC News, Mail Online, The Guardian, Buzzfeed and Huffington Post exploit video, hyperlinks, and Twitter posts to better inform citizens about politics during the 2017 UK election. We found that online news sites did not use video extensively. Hyperlinks were frequently used. Digital-born news sites linked more widely than their public service and commercial legacy counterparts who, in contrast, used more internal links. Digital-born sites used more embedded tweets than legacy sites. We also found that online news preferred to link to journalistic content and tweets than, say, official government or other expert sources. These findings show the hybridity of online news in the UK because both public service and commercial legacy media adopt some online practices but reject others, just as digital-born sites blend traditional journalism with digital tools to produce new ways of supporting their journalism.

Toward a Transnational Information Ecology on the Right? Hyperlink Networking among Right-Wing Digital News Sites in Europe and the United States

The recent rise of a more transnationally networked political right across Europe and the United States has been accompanied by an emerging alternative digital news infrastructure through which information circulates and shared epistemologies are established. This paper examines the extent to which digital news sites on the right are interconnected within and across countries. It further explores which additional sites serve as transnationally shared reference points of such news ecology on a transnational scale. To do so, we investigate hyperlink networks between alternative right-wing online news sites (RNS) in six western democracies (Austria, Germany, United States, United Kingdom, Denmark, Sweden). Our analysis draws on hyperlink data harvested from 65 RNS for three months in 2018. The results show that RNS do establish interlinked alternative right-wing news ecologies, as they connect to likeminded RNS within and across borders. Furthermore, we see substantial variation across countries, where RNS from countries with less established alternative right-wing news infrastructure are more likely to link transnationally to RNS. The United States represents an outlier in that it features the largest and domestically most integrated network of RNS, while U.S. sites function as hubs for transnational connections from European RNS. Apart from connections between RNS, we find that legacy news media are crucial transnationally shared reference points. We conclude that rather than presenting an insulated, alternative sphere, the emerging digital news ecology on the right seeks to link up to the broader information environment across borders.

Do online newspapers promote or undermine nation‐building in divided societies? Evidence from Africa

AbstractSeminal contributions to the study of nation‐building emphasized the role of newspapers in the development of national consciousness. But do such theories apply in the modern context of online news sites, especially in diverse, postcolonial societies? Because online news sites contain forums for reader comments, this provides an opportunity to assess the relationship between exposure to media content and citizen sentiments. We investigate the extent to which a major online news site makes ethnic categories salient in sub‐Saharan Africa's largest country, Nigeria. Analysing more than 35,000 news articles and 300,000 comments, we find that commenters frequently broadcast strong expressions of subnational ethnic animus in response to a wide variety of stories. In particular, the use of some ethnic categories in headlines is associated with more than 40 percentage point increase in the probability of at least one reader making an ethnic‐based comment. Extending the analysis to South Africa, we show that these patterns generalize beyond Nigeria. By amplifying ethnic animus, ‘national’ newspapers may impede nation‐building efforts.

CREATING A POPULIST POLITICAL FIGURE: AN INDONESIAN CASE

This paper, in comparison with a Western/European approach, aims to briefly explain the role of the media as a tool for creating and rising a political image in Indonesia. In the presidential election of 2014, Indonesia had two candidates. One of them named Mr. Joko Widodo also known as Jokowi. During his campaigns, he offered policies that try to respond to civil demands while his physical appearance also claimed to be a cool one by his supporters. Detik.com, as one of the electronic mediums, uses this circumstance to generate the news about Jokowi's personality positively for him to gain public sympathy. Methodologically this study uses discourse analysis and documentation as the data collecting technique. The main research platform here is detik.com, an online news site allegedly pro-Jakowi. We have here taken 50 news items as the analysis unit on the period time started from 5 June to 4 July 2014. The results of this study indicate that detik.com as an Indonesian media course tries to support and represent Jokowi’s political image as a populist and ideal figure who could symbolize the public interest in the Republic of Indonesia.

INFORMATION DISORDER & THE ONLINE’S GATEKEEPING MECHANISM STRUGGLE IN POST TRUTH ERA

Online journalistic practice in Indonesia has become a singular phenomenon in the digital era. Along with the rapid development of communication technology, the news portals in this country are also growing. The ease of access to any information; which is able to be accessed by anyone and anywhere has emerged to be one of many factors why online news sites tendecially being used as the main reference for any kind of information. Oppositely, there has been a wide spreading of misinformation, malinformation as well disinformation, which are circulated on social media and micro-blogging media. The concepts authors initiate in this research are the gatekeeping mechanism and disorder information. This has become the focal point of the paper to observe how the gatekeeping mechanism struggle with the occurrence. This paper method is qualitative, preserverving the interview data collecting technique. Informants in this paper are the editorial team of Liputan6.com and Detikcom. The conclusions of this article are : (a) Liputan6.com implemented traditional gatekeeping yet a gatewatching for the reader(s), Detikcom performing a processing journalism, (b) both media stated Information selection based on certain criteria, (c) Liputan6com expending SCTV East Java Bureau for disseminating the local news, Detikcom has representative in the back office in East Java for the local news, (d) both media having the awareness whether the selecting information leading to online news term’s and phenomenon nowadays. Keywords: Information Disorder, Gatekeeping Mechanism, Online News Portal, Post Truth Era, Online Journalism