Press Interviews Research Articles

In the Name of Integrity? Anticorruption Discourse of Brazilian Operation Lava Jato

Abstract This article identifies four frames of corruption in the discourse of three leaders of Operation Lava Jato, also known in English as Operation Car Wash, a large-scale Brazilian anticorruption operation (2014–2021). These frames are inequality, hidden pact, backwardness, and chronic disease. The frames were identified by analyzing a wide set of press interviews, opinion articles, and books by two prosecutors and one judge whose work has revealed scandals involving the state oil company Petrobras. The operation had a major impact on politics and the economy and left a controversial legacy. We noticed a contradiction between one frame invoking judicial activism (inequality) and three frames focusing on specific techniques that appeal to a more conventional view on the judiciary’s role (hidden pact, backwardness, and chronic disease). Furthermore, even when scholars were still largely positive about the operation, the discourse showed signs of judicial activism. This analysis contributes to the debate on Lava Jato and judicial activism by focusing on discourse rather than action.

Rockin’ the Regime: Mormon Missionaries, American Popular Music, and the Fading of Spanish Fascism

ABSTRACT In 1972 a group of Mormon missionaries in Spain formed a band known as Los Salt Lake City. Playing primarily folk and rock music, they toured the country, gave radio and press interviews, and released two albums and an EP. Their experience is recounted and assessed in relation to the musical context of Spain at the time, including the social, religious, and political implications of the musical context.

“Every Day is like Hell": Civilian Abductees Released from Captivity in Gaza

Captivity, particularly in the context of civilian abduction, significantly affects the immediate and long-term psychological well-being of abductees. While most studies have concentrated on military captivity, the experiences of civilian abductees remain underexplored. This study aimed to investigate the experiences of adult citizens abducted during the Israel-Hamas War, as recounted in their initial press interviews upon their release. Using a qualitative phenomenological approach, the researchers analyzed existing media interviews with 27 civilians aged 18 to 85, who were abducted from their homes during the war outbreak, held captive for 44 to 55 days, and subsequently released through negotiations. Analysis of the interviews revealed several key findings. The abductees faced traumatic events, including murder and life-threatening situations, which led to intense feelings of shock and resignation to the prospect of death. Their captivity involved a loss of autonomy, social isolation, unsanitary and humiliating conditions, and pervasive fear. Additionally, they experienced profound grief over the deaths of family members and uncertainty about the wellbeing of their friends and relatives. These factors collectively create an environment in which psychological trauma is inevitable. This study’s findings advance our understanding of loss and trauma in the context of civilian captivity, underscoring the complex psychological impact and highlighting the critical need for specialized, multifaceted interventions that address the unique challenges faced by abductees and their communities in the aftermath of such traumatic experiences.

The Stance of the Israeli Historian Ilan Pappé on the Israeli Transgressions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip: “An Analytical Study through Television and Press Interviews”

The Stance of the Israeli Historian Ilan Pappé on the Israeli Transgressions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip: “An Analytical Study through Television and Press Interviews”

Yes-no Questions and Wh-questions in English and Albanian Spoken Discourse: Focus on Political Debates

This paper aims to draw reliable conclusions regarding yes-no questions and wh-questions in English and Albanian spoken discourse. The study outlines the differences and similarities in these question types between the two languages.The corpus of the study includes seven Meet the Press (NBC News) interviews (totaling 2 hours and 51 minutes) with the former President of the USA, Donald Trump which contribute to the English spoken corpus. Additionally, there are two Rubikon (KTV) interviews (totaling 2 hours and 51 minutes) with Hashim Thaçi, the former President of the Republic of Kosovo that are part of the Albanian spoken corpus. A qualitative method is employed to compare, analyze, and draw conclusions based on the findings of the conducted research. The study finds that the English yes-no questions feature the inversion of auxiliary and modal verbs to the subject position. However, the Albanian yes-no questions are characterized by the interrogative particle ‘a’, which may be positioned as the initial or final element or be absent altogether. The results also offer compelling evidence of the differences in the number of wh-words used to ask wh-questions in English and Albanian. They also highlight the most frequently used wh-words and the respective functions of wh-questions in both English and Albanian.

Prepare for Successful Press Interviews

Prepare for Successful Press Interviews

The “nicest place on the Internet”? Trouble at Pinterest, Inc

Research methodology Data for the case came from public sources, including legal proceedings, court filings and Securities and Exchange Commission filings. The authors perused hundreds of court documents and identified 28 that were most relevant to this case. The authors also used press interviews with the women highlighted in the case. The authors have no relationship with the company and no one from the company has reviewed the information presented in this case. As the case is drawn from sworn legal testimonies, interviews and related documents in the public domain, the authors did not have to seek approval for publication. Case overview/synopsis Pinterest touted itself as “the nicest place on the Internet.” It had an almost 80% female user base and purported to have an inclusive culture that embraced diversity. However, in June 2020, in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests, two former female employees of color violated their non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) to publicly accuse Pinterest of racial and gender discrimination. In August 2020, Pinterest’s former Chief Operating Officer, Francoise Brougher, filed a lawsuit charging the company with gender discrimination, retaliation and wrongful termination, and authored a public blog post titled, The Pinterest Paradox: Cupcakes and Toxicity, detailing her own experience with the company’s discriminatory culture. Three days later 236 of Pinterest’s 2,545 employees staged a virtual walkout and 445 employees signed a petition in an attempt to change Pinterest’s policies and culture. The case provides a brief overview of Pinterest, including its mission, values and organizational culture, and details several incidents and complaints by female and minority employees. The case questions whether employee complaints are a relatively narrow issue involving disgruntled former employees who did not fit at the organization or a much broader issue involving discrimination and managerial neglect in creating and maintaining a nondiscriminatory, inclusive culture. Students are encouraged to evaluate the situation in which Co-Founder, Board Chair and Chief Executive Officer, Ben Silbermann finds himself, evaluate the actions taken and decide if Silbermann should take any additional actions to address the discrimination claims and ensure a positive culture for all employees. Complexity academic level This case is appropriate for graduate and advanced undergraduate level courses in organizational behavior, human resource management and business law or any course where discrimination and workplace culture are discussed.

Exclusion, inclusion, and the multiple identities of a national minority: Israeli soccer players in the national team

ABSTRACT This study focuses on the complexity of the national representation of Arab players on the Israeli national soccer team. For 90 min, the players are part of society and their presence resembles the inclusion of Arabs in Israel. However, when the match ends, they are again part of the deprived Arab minority and excluded from Israeli society. The study is based on theoretical academic materials, interviews with six prominent Arab soccer players who played in the national team from 1976 until the present day, and selected press interviews with several other Arab internationals. The research findings show that the players define themselves as Arabs who, first and foremost, represent themselves and their families and communities. They ignore racist calls based on ethnic, national, or religious differences. Ultimately, all of them have a hybrid identity and see soccer as a way of life and an opportunity to promote their career and make their families and communities proud due to being part of the national soccer squad. These findings thus adhere to the theoretical framework of instrumental inclusion that this paper offers.

Liberalization in the Context of Democratization: Assessment of the January 2012 Fuel Subsidy Removal Protests in Nigeria

The decision by the Good Luck Jonathan-led regime to effect the removal of fuel subsidies on January 1st, 2012, prompted the most coordinated popular protests in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic. The subsidy removal and social protests it triggered had numerous socio-political implications. This paper examines the implications of the social protest on civic activism and political participation. The study adopts the qualitative research method. Data was derived from a combination of primary and secondary sources, which include news articles, opinion pieces, commentaries, editorials and press interviews published by Nigerian newspapers and sourced from their archives. It also utilized information sourced from official documents and reports published by governmental and non-governmental bodies. These materials were analyzed using the content analysis method. The study finds that it is essential for the State to engender citizen trust, given that trust is a core requirement for securing the legitimacy of the governed. The study also finds that the protests helped to rekindle the spirit of civic activism among Nigerians, especially the youth segment. This activism was largely aided by the deployment of digital tools as instruments for mobilization, coordination and communication in the protest movement. The article concludes that the subsidy removal protests had profound impacts on civic political activism, long thought to be dead among Nigerians.

The rise of digital entrepreneurship in Latin America

Objective: This article discusses why digital start-ups are flourishing in Latin America. Method: Our research setting is Latin American digital companies. Our analysis is based on digital companies from Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Chile, and Colombia. We examined lists of Latin unicorn companies (valuation + US$ 1B) and other prominent digital companies compiled from available sources from CB Insights, and TechCrunch. We systematically gathered data on the companies’ growth trajectory from data sources, including online material from the companies’ official websites and public reports, press releases, and press interviews made by the heads of the companies, and internal reports. Main Results: The article discusses the drivers behind the scaling and expansion of digital start-ups and the increasing maturity of the entrepreneurial ecosystems that support them. Relevance / Originality: While Latin digital companies have gained media and investors’ attention, there is scant analysis of how these companies have surpassed the startup stage and scaled up their operations. Theoretical / Methodological Contributions: Our contribution focuses on understanding Latin America's particular conditions and the impact of digital ventures on the region's business landscape. We bring practical insights on how Latin American digital companies are growing, as digital entrepreneurship is experiencing an extraordinary growth route in the region and is linked to economic growth and innovation.

Lose Your Father

Lose Your Father

The strategies to promote Sudan’s tourism destinations post COVID-19 pandemic

The global pandemic has brought a halt to various economic, business, as well as tourism activities around the world. It also happens in various countries in Africa, including Sudan. Sudan’s tourism has constantly lasted out of all main economic sectors. The tourism business in Sudan provides many jobs, government revenue, and foreign exchange profits. By analyzing all the marketing actions, media regulations, crisis communication techniques, and advertising campaign components, this article aims to identify strategies used by tourism players in Sudan to re-establish a positive tourism destinations image in times of uncertainty, panic, and struggle, as well as to entice international tourists to return to Sudan’s tourist attractions. The study used qualitative content analysis of the media and marketing strategies, global and local tourism reports, and press interviews to integrate practice and theory and followed the multistep approach for transforming place image. The result shows that Sudanese actors used three strategies to restore a good image of Sudanese tourism destinations: new media strategy, available content strategy, and audience-focused strategy. This study demonstrates why this epidemic must be viewed as an opportunity to adapt to a new normal and rebuild the destination’s image for tourism in a new way.

Anti-Fashion Branding: Framing Technology in Uniqlo and Allbirds

Although technology has long been integral to the fashion system, executives from both Uniqlo and Allbirds are placing a renewed emphasis on it. In press interviews, company leaders argued that the clothing and shoemaker, respectively, are not fashion brands, but “technology” firms and their true competitors are the likes of Apple. Understanding that both fashion and branding are created from public discourse, this paper takes a critical discourse approach to the statements by executives, their related press coverage and their brand messaging. The paper argues that such statements discursively set the brands’ products outside of the fashion system and create their own sense of temporality. However, such statements play into contemporary discourse structures that prioritize technology as a “serious” endeavor, while concurrently degrading the associations with fashion and personal appearance. Moreover, this paper suggests that the use of framing within fashion discourses might be a productive future research endeavor.

Donald Trump’s grammar: How to trivialize facts on coronavirus

This current research reveals how President Trump grammatically constructed his clauses to trivialize the coronavirus (COVID-19). This research uses a discourse analysis approach with a qualitative design. The research data are President Trump’s trivializing clauses (192 main clauses) taken from his speeches, press interviews, remarks, and tweets from January 2020 to June 2020. Hallidayan SFL and Straker’s technique of trivialization are used as the basis of analysis. The result shows that most of the trivializing clauses are declarative while the others are interrogative and imperative. It is also identified that the declarative mood (statements of opinion and fact) reflects the techniques of sneaking through, trivializing the target, and discounting the target. The interrogative mood (rhetorical questions) demonstrates the technique of discounting the target. In addition, the imperative mood (directives) reflects the technique of sneaking through. Finally, the result also shows that oversimplification, severity decrease, and exaggeration characterize President Trump’s trivializing clauses.

Characteristics of conversations in press interviews

The issues of interviews in general and Vietnamese press interviews in particular have been studied by researchers worldwide and in Vietnam. In this article, based on the literature review in Vietnam, we summarize the main characteristics of press interviews based on 4 criteria. In terms of form, press interviews use direct questions and answers. In terms of context, press interviews use dialogues formatted in text form. In terms of purpose, both the giver and receiver are aimed at the public. In terms of interpersonal relationships, the relationships between the giver and the receiver express through their vocative words and their forms of address.

Look at me, I’m on TV: the political dimensions of reality television participation

It has been over 20 years since the reality television genre attracted the attention of fans, critics and scholars. Reality programmes produced high viewing figures, suggesting a strong appetite for the form; critics dismissed the programmes as mindless and the participants as desperate for fame; and scholars assessed the formats, audiences and meanings of reality television, offering a complex, if rarely celebratory, account. While some commentators and scholars made connections between vote-based formats and electoral systems, or between opportunities afforded audiences for the deliberation of social issues and the idealized public sphere, the civic dimension of participation itself has not been explored. In this article, we take a closer look at reality television participants, drawing on press interviews and coverage in order to highlight how participants enact representative performances that might supplement more formal modes of democratic representation.

America’s major league soccer: artificial intelligence and the quest to become a world class league

America’s major league soccer: artificial intelligence and the quest to become a world class league

Experience of Solidarity in Poland under Communist Rule and Thereafter

Although Solidarność was the largest mass movement in the history of after-war Europe, the experience of solidarity during that time in communist Poland has barely been analysed. Drawing on historical accounts of the events in the 1980s and press interviews with Solidarność members, this paper attempts to bridge this gap and identifies key aspects of the experienced solidarity. It argues that the solidarity under communism in Poland derived not only from the common enemy – the communist party state – but was deeply rooted in Catholic social thought and the national identity. It was driven mainly by ideas of protection of human dignity, mutual aid, participation and a demand for “life in truth”. Since 2015, the new social policy has had initially positive impact on income inequality, birth rates and poverty but must be accompanied by further measures to obtain a long-term character.

Cultural events for a sustainable tourism development in urban destinations: the case of Milan’s week

Purpose of the paper: The aim of this paper is to explore the effects generated by a suite of cultural micro-medium events in an urban destination on both hotels’ performance and the seasonality structure in order to promote sustainable tourism development. Methodology: The empirical analysis uses a mixed method that combines a quantitative analysis of the daily performance of a destination with a desk analysis of press interviews to local stakeholders. Findings: The results highlight a positive contribution of cultural micro-medium events to tourism at the destination. This evidence contributes to the academic debate on strategic event management by shedding light on the potential role of minor cultural events as a driver for sustainable tourism development. Practical implications: This study suggests guidelines to destination managers on how to benefit from micro-medium cultural events: a strong connection with the destination’s vocations, the importance of public-private collaboration and the establishment of a portfolio of recurrent events. Limitations of the research: This explorative study presents two main limitations: the authors cannot exclude that other small events were taking place in the city at the same time as the micro-medium cultural events analysed. Secondly, several of the events studied are recent and therefore their impact on the destination could be underestimated. Originality of the paper: During the last decades, the managerial literature has been devoting considerable attention to the role and the benefits generated by events. However, the main focus of these studies has been on large and mega events while little consideration has been dedicated to smaller events which are widespread, recurrent and relatively easier to manage.

Putting the “Public” in Rhetoric & Public Affairs

Abstract We argue that part of Rhetoric & Public Affairs’ future should center public-facing scholarship in rhetorical studies. We begin by chronicling some of the work colleagues are doing to bridge expert and lay publics: podcasts, popular and trade press interviews, social media content development and management, and activist engagements. Centering public-facing scholarship creates several notable shifts: (1) it changes the “so what?” for traditional scholarship by inviting scholars to think about audiences outside of journal readership; (2) it opens space for different stylistic conventions in scholarly writing; and (3) it indicates that nonexpert audiences are valuable as readers. We note the considerable barriers to entry to public scholarship including gatekeeping, framing public scholarship for tenure, and training. We contend that Rhetoric & Public Affairs could lead other journals through an updated definition of impact that takes into account contemporary modes of circulation and sharing, should accept pieces written for nonexpert readers in rhetoric, and should consider, if possible, making available for public reading one scholarly article every month or every quarter.