US Media Research Articles

Make America Great Again? How Do We Explain Trumpism

Introduction. Donald Trump was the nadir for the Republican Party; his election in 2016 and his subsequent tenure as President from 2017 to 2021 was the low point of the evolutionary descent and destruction of the party. When Ronald Reagan was elected the 40th president in 1980 at his inaugural address, he warned the nation: “government is not the solution to our problems; government is the problem”. One of his first legislative actions was to cut federal taxes on the wealthiest Americans. From that hour on, the Republican Party set their mantra as “lower taxes and shrink government, at all levels” (except for National Defense). Since Ronald Reagan’s Presidency, the Republican Party knows only one policy, cut taxes and shrink government; with that as its most sacred Creed, the party has blocked itself from dealing with any national needs. Methods and materials. The methods used in the article are comparative, analytical, and functional systematic. The materials used were: 1) the official documents of President R. Reagan Library; 2) secondary accounts of contemporary events; 3) the materials of US media and selected articles of political experts. Analysis. The article provides some reflections on the evolutionary political process inside the Republican Party from R. Reagan till D. Trump. The authors analyze the context of political and ideological crisis, the new wave of conservative leaders, and the reasons for the structural crisis of the Republican Party. Special attitude devoted to D. Trump phenomena and the description of his political mind. T. Heed analyzed the main trends of the development Republican Party in the last 30 years. He also selected some historical and current sources from mass media for identification of the controversy inside the GOP. A. Kubyshkin analyzed the connection inside the US party system with global challenges for US policy in the domestic arena and on the international scene. Results. D. Trump’s bankruptcy of the Republican Party is perhaps best shown by the platform he ordered for the 2020 campaign. There should be none. This action best describes what Trump did to the GOP. By Trump’s command, all the Republican party need offer was Trump. The only campaign slogan needed was to support the beloved leader. Only he could heal the nation. No statement of policies was needed; there were none. The Republican Party was left with only Trump as the one all and be all.

Construction of Islamophobia in the USA: Evidence from the US Press

The term "Islamophobia" refers to two distinct emotions: anti-Muslim prejudice and anti-Islam sentiments. As relevant literature suggests, these negative feelings are the product of a discourse that portrays Islam and Muslims as a source of fear and insecurity. This study investigated the discursive manifestations of Islamophobia within the theoretical framework of securitization. To investigate these manifestations in the US media discourses, the discourse analysis method was adapted from the DHA. The researcher analyzed a total of 3153 news and opinion articles from US newspapers and wire services between November 2016 and January 2017. This analysis found that both types of negative posturing are present in the US press discourse, which presents the picture of an Islamophobia society. The study concluded that Islamophobia in the US context is primarily a political construct, used to mobilize societal hatred against Islam and Muslims, with hate crimes against Muslims being the most apparent manifestation. The researcher recommends similar inquiry into other contexts as well. Keywords: Islamophobia, Securitization, Anti-Islam Sentiments, Anti-Muslim Prejudice

Fascists, Nazis, orSomethingElse?: Mexico's Unión Nacional Sinarquista in the US Media, 1937–1945

AbstractThis paper examines the public relations battles in the US media over Mexico's Unión Nacional Sinarquista (UNS), an explicitly Catholic social movement founded in 1937 that aimed to restore the Church to its traditional role in Mexican society and to reject the reforms of the revolutionary government. Thesinarquistasshared many of the features of fascism and Nazism, the major global antidemocratic movements of the time, including a strident nationalism, authoritarian leanings, an emphasis on martial discipline and strict organizational structure, and a militant aesthetic. Both its ideological leanings and rapid growth (as many as 500,000 members by the early 1940s) led many US writers to suggest that the UNS represented a dangerous fifth-column threat to both Mexico and the United States. Others, particularly in the Catholic press, saw the UNS as an anticommunist organization that could actually help foster democracy in Mexico. For their part, UNS leaders defended themselves vociferously and sought to build relationships with influential US Catholics who could advocate for them in the press. By analyzing this debate, this paper both underscores the transnational characteristics of the UNS and highlights the crucial role of US public opinion in Mexican politics during the 1940s.

The boy on the beach: Shifts in US policy discourses on Syrian asylum following the death of Alan Kurdi

The impact of iconic imagery on policymaking during humanitarian crises is oft-discussed within the literature. When rapid humanitarianization or sudden policy shifts emerge, researchers seek to identify why. One potential explanation is that of ‘focusing events’ – sudden, harmful events which destabilize political consensuses and elevate marginal agendas. While focusing events have been used to explain the impact of large-scale accidents and disasters, this paper extends their usage to activist-generated events such as the iconization of images of the drowned Syrian toddler, Alan Kurdi, during the 2015 migrant crisis. In exploring the Kurdi images’ impact on US media and political discourses of asylum, this paper finds that asylum-related discourses became increasingly sympathetic and domestically focused, eventually culminating in the announcement of an increase in resettlement targets for Syrian migrants. By expanding conceptualizations of focusing events to cases such as Kurdi’s, this paper supplements understandings of the agenda-setting function of iconic imagery.

When Do Sources Persuade? The Effect of Source Credibility on Opinion Change

AbstractDiscussions around declining trust in the US media can be vague about its effects. One classic answer comes from the persuasion literature, in which source credibility plays a key role. However, existing research almost universally takes credibility as a given. To overcome the potentially severe confounding that can result from this, we create a hypothetical news outlet and manipulate to what extent it is portrayed as credible. We then randomly assign subjects to read op-eds attributed to the source. Our credibility treatments are strong, increasing trust in our mock source until up to 10 days later. We find some evidence that the resulting higher perceived credibility boosts the persuasiveness of arguments about more partisan topics (but not for a less politicized issue). Though our findings are mixed, we argue that this experimental approach can fruitfully enhance our understanding of the interplay between source trust and opinion change over sustained periods.

Introduction

Introduction

Book Review: Gender and Early Television. Mapping Women’s Role in Emerging US and British Media, 1850-1950

Book Review: Gender and Early Television. Mapping Women’s Role in Emerging US and British Media, 1850-1950

The Hispanic marketing paradigm and the needed shift: A Kuhnian perspective

Over the last 40 years, significant shifts in the US demography, media and technology have transformed the face of marketing. At the same time, however, marketing to US Hispanics has undergone little change. This paper uses the philosophy of science to analyse the past, present and future of marketing to Hispanics at a time when the country is on a path to becoming a multicultural majority. The paper argues that a paradigm shift in marketing to US Hispanics is inevitable, and a conversion rooted in epistemology can only benefit brands, advertising agencies and media companies. The paper provides an overview on: (1) Thomas Kuhn’s original work, detailing the structure of paradigm formation and change; (2) the creation of the Hispanic marketing paradigm; and (3) the proposed shift in marketing to drive corporate growth with US Hispanics in the 21st century.

We got you covered: Contextualizing industry insurance practices and the response to Covid-19.

In response to Covid-19, media industries have increasingly relied upon insurance to manage risks to health and productivity loss surrounding creative labor. Analysis of contemporary trade journals reveals how the pandemic prompted new urgency around the question of who could get coverage, both by health plans protecting individual workers and cast insurance policies protecting employers. While Covid-19 risks are global in nature, the lack of universal health care exacerbated precarity in US media industries especially, where these two insurance practices overlap: medical coverage depends on the ability to work, which can depend on whether employers can insure their investment in that creative labor. Thus, struggles over insurance must be contextualized within historical discourses that made insurability legible within professional media work cultures. Ultimately, this analysis reveals how corporate media cultures calculate loss and mortality, marking some, but not all, as worthy of status, investment, or protection.

Reading Michelle Kwan: cultural meanings of her youthfulness and hyper-sexual/exotic transformation in the 1994–1996 seasons

This paper examines how the US media represented Michelle Kwan by focusing on her ‘surprising’ transformation to a sophisticated and mature image in performing the role of Salome, the biblical temptress. We argue that the narratives are closely related to two Asian/American stereotypes. First, the media subjected Kwan to an infantilizing gaze that reflects a classically racialized stereotype: that is, Asian/Americans look much younger than they actually are. Second, the transformation that coach Frank Carroll devised for Kwan erased her individuality and submerged her subject formation as an Asian/American woman in the stereotypical straitjacket of a hyper-sexual, exotic creature, which is pervasive in popular culture. By interrogating these two perspectives through a post- colonial lens, we argue that the symbolic world of women’s figure skating can be understood as an anthropological site of white aesthetic imperialism in which neo-colonial visions of the child/primitive and sexual fantasy are projected onto Kwan.

Mediterranean Diet Social Network Impact along 11 Years in the Major US Media Outlets: Thematic and Quantitative Analysis Using Twitter.

Background: Media outlets influence social attitudes toward health. Thus, it is important that they share contents which promote healthy habits. The Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) is associated with lower cardiovascular disease risk. Analysis of tweets has become a tool for understanding perceptions on health issues. Methods: We investigated tweets posted between January 2009 and December 2019 by 25 major US media outlets about MedDiet and its components as well as the retweets and likes generated. In addition, we measured the sentiment analysis of these tweets and their dissemination. Results: In total, 1608 tweets, 123,363 likes and 48,946 retweets about MedDiet or its components were analyzed. Dairy (inversely weighted in MedDiet scores) accounted for 45.0% of the tweets (723/1608), followed by nuts 19.7% (317/1608). MedDiet, as an overall dietary pattern, generated only 9.8% (157/1608) of the total tweets, while olive oil generated the least number of tweets. Twitter users’ response was quantitatively related to the number of tweets posted by these US media outlets, except for tweets on olive oil and MedDiet. None of the MedDiet components analyzed was more likely to be liked or retweeted than the MedDiet itself. Conclusions: The US media outlets analyzed showed reduced interest in MedDiet as a whole, while Twitter users showed greater interest in the overall dietary pattern than in its particular components.

In Search of Infodemics: US Media Amplification of Risk

In Search of Infodemics: US Media Amplification of Risk

Those Who Know Don't Say: The Nation of Islam, the Black Freedom Movement, and the Carceral State

Those Who Know Don't Say: The Nation of Islam, the Black Freedom Movement, and the Carceral State

Применение метода ивент-анализа при изучении образа Венесуэлы в переходный период президентства У. Чавеса

The purpose of the present research is adaptation of the event analysis method to the study of country image using the image of Venezuela in the US print media as an example. Reports from such newspapers as “The New York Times”, “The Wall Street Journal” and “Los Angeles Times” were examined. The information array (data bank) consisted of 337 reports published from January 1999 to July 2000. The obtained data was coded manually using a five-point scale. The events were also quantified manually. For studying the dynamics of United States-Venezuela relations during the period under study an original technique developed by Tsinghua University of China was applied. The results of content analysis were completed with the event analysis results. The conducted research confirmed the hypothesis about the relevance of applying this method to country image examination. Use of the event analysis method enabled us to support our hypotheses and to systematize and process a large body of information reported by the media. The research brought us to the conclusion that the US media were creating a negative image of Venezuela. It was found that the media focused on reports about economic crisis in Venezuela during the elections and in periods of political transformation. The conclusion was made about the neutral character of US-Venezuelan relationship and the reserved position of the media in reports on events in Venezuela. In addition, event analysis demonstrated that personification in media coverage was not the major trend during the period under study.

МЕТАФОРИЧЕСКИЙ ОБРАЗ КУЛЬТУРЫ СОВРЕМЕННОЙ РОССИИ В АМЕРИКАНСКОЙ ПРЕССЕ

The article deals with constructing the image of contemporary Russian culture in the US media. It states an important role of metaphors in this process. The most widely used metaphoric models of representing Russian culture are ana-lyzed on the basis of a number of articles in three American newspapers – The New York Times, Newsweek and The Washington Post (2010-2020), including the models "culture is war", "culture is politics", "Vladimir Putin is the godfather of culture", "culture is the power of modern Russia" and "culture is Russia". The study shows that in most cases Russian culture in American press is looked upon in close connection with politics and V. Putin's personality. The research data prove that the majority of metaphoric word usages tend to form the negative image of Russian culture in the eyes of US readers. Such aspects as the close ties of culture and politics, conservatism and reluctance to accept western values, significant impact of the ruling elite and oligarchs on culture are assessed negatively. Rich cultural traditions, the scale of issues addressed in the sphere of culture and personal support of some cultural institutions and figures by the president get the positive evaluation. At the same time culture is evaluated neutrally as the means of "soft power" – the ability to influence Russia's relations with western countries (as opposed to the hard power of constraint and finan-cial influence). In general, the study proves that nowadays metaphors describing our cultural life in American press are mostly used not as expressive means, but as the means of showing the negative aspects of culture in contemporary Russia.

Themes and patterns in print media coverage of wildfires in the USA, Canada and Australia: 1986–2016

Background Media wildfire coverage can shape public knowledge on fire-related issues, and potentially influence management decisions, so understanding the content of its coverage is important. Previous research examining media wildfire coverage has primarily focused on either a single fire or issue, and provides little insight about the range of wildfire-related topics discussed in the media. Aims We aimed to assess wildfire topics covered in print media between 1986 and 2016 across the USA, Canada and Australia. Methods Machine learning-based automated content analyses were conducted to identify primary topics within news articles and to map relationships between topics. Key results News articles related to wildfire were clustered into four topic areas: Fire Response, Management, Environmental Conditions and Property Preparedness. Notable between-country differences emerge: the US media coverage focuses most on firefighting; Canadian coverage, climate change; and Australian coverage, preparedness. Conclusions Our results reveal that: (1) wildfire media coverage has increased over the past 30 years; (2) coverage is more varied than the common perspective, i.e. media continues to portray fires in a negative light; and (3) topic coverage varies significantly between countries. Implications These findings can help identify gaps in media coverage, and provide insights into critical topics, or relationships between topics, that may need additional emphasis in conversations about how to better learn to live with fire.

US Media, Selective Exposure, and the Promotion of COVID-19 Vaccinations in Black and Latino Communities

Through selective exposure, this study examined the role the US news media played in encouraging or discouraging minority races from getting vaccinated. Through content analysis and focus groups, we were able to demonstrate that most media messages focused on prior beliefs in their reporting, therefore, discouraging the black and Latino minorities from getting the COVID-19 vaccinations. Further, while blacks and Latinos based their fears of the vaccines on health effects, white respondents were more concerned about government surveillance and the desire to go back to “normal” life after the quarantine. Ultimately, white respondents were more positive about vaccination arguing that they were tired of the quarantine and wanted normal life back.

Algorithmic amplification of politics on Twitter

Content on Twitter's home timeline is selected and ordered by personalization algorithms. By consistently ranking certain content higher, these algorithms may amplify some messages while reducing the visibility of others. There's been intense public and scholarly debate about the possibility that some political groups benefit more from algorithmic amplification than others. We provide quantitative evidence from a long-running, massive-scale randomized experiment on the Twitter platform that committed a randomized control group including nearly 2 million daily active accounts to a reverse-chronological content feed free of algorithmic personalization. We present two sets of findings. First, we studied tweets by elected legislators from major political parties in seven countries. Our results reveal a remarkably consistent trend: In six out of seven countries studied, the mainstream political right enjoys higher algorithmic amplification than the mainstream political left. Consistent with this overall trend, our second set of findings studying the US media landscape revealed that algorithmic amplification favors right-leaning news sources. We further looked at whether algorithms amplify far-left and far-right political groups more than moderate ones; contrary to prevailing public belief, we did not find evidence to support this hypothesis. We hope our findings will contribute to an evidence-based debate on the role personalization algorithms play in shaping political content consumption.

The studio and the song: synergy and self-mythology in Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) and Mary Poppins Returns (2019)

This article analyses Hollywood’s synergies with the music industry, as well as the cultural and economic relationship between US and UK contemporary media industries. I focus on two films that were released along with soundtrack albums – Disney’s Mary Poppins Returns (Rob Marshall, 2018) and 21st Century Fox’s Bohemian Rhapsody (Bryan Singer, Dexter Fletcher 2019) – in order to interrogate their participation in what John Caldwell calls the ‘para-industry’: the ubiquitous corporate fields that surround the primary media object. By analysing Fox and Disney’s reflexive filmmaking and marketing strategies, I demonstrate how the studios control their films’ reception by mythologizing the industrial processes that enabled their production. I argue that Mary Poppins Returns and Bohemian Rhapsody are the fruit of a number of synergies between Hollywood, the UK film industry, and the music industry that are motivated by the current political, economic, and technological climate, and I demonstrate how Disney and Fox mythologize historical events and texts that were important for fundamentally changing the industry’s relationship to music, such as the original Mary Poppins, the Live Aid concert of 1985, and ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ the song.

Evolution of Concept “Black” in the US Media Discourse

Media discourse is an effective tool for projecting and shaping the public perception of a certain idea or image. The article focuses on the linguistic and semantic representation of the concept “Black” in the American media discourse with a particular attention to how the concept representation has evolved from the 1990s to 2010s. The study employed corpus methodology (keyness, frequency, concordances) to analyze news articles from “The New York Times” and “The Los Angeles Times”, which were arranged into three corpora according to the publication date (1990s, 2000s, 2010s). The corpus analysis established a number of changes in the concept “Black” representation manifested primarily through the high relevance keywords and high frequency collocations. Dominant semantic components were identified in the concept representation in each corpus, as well as notable shifts in core and peripheral aspects within these semantic components. The analysis showed that although the semantic components ‘racial / ethnic inequality’ and ‘economic issues’ remain at the core of the concept in each corpus, they are expressed through connections with other semantic components which may vary throughout three decades, such as ‘culture’ in the 1990s, ‘education’ and ‘politics’ in the 2000s and ‘police brutality and profiling’ and ‘appearance’ in the 2010s.