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International Journal of Press/Politics
Journal Prestige (SJR): 2.458 ![]() Citation Impact (citeScore): 3 Number of Followers: 13 ![]() ISSN (Print) 1940-1612 - ISSN (Online) 1940-1620 Published by Sage Publications ![]() |
- “It Forces You to Publish Some Shit”: Toward a Taxonomy of
De-Democratizing Journalistic Practices-
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Authors: Ricardo Ribeiro Ferreira
Abstract: The International Journal of Press/Politics, Ahead of Print.
Several studies argue that journalism can facilitate and shape democratic backsliding when news organizations are captured by business and political elites. Under these conditions, journalists will likely fail to hold political actors to account and provide information essential for public deliberation. Gradually, news outlets devolve to provide unfair representations based on private interests instead of news coverage guided by public interest. However, research still lacks a systematic and detailed analysis of practices in news production that could be capable of damaging democracy. Not only is evidence very scarce, but it is also limited to the content analysis of news outputs and editorials. Using forty semistructured interviews and three case studies, this research investigates how journalists from the most influential outlets in Brazil covered key political events within a period of constant decline in the quality of democracy (2016–2021). Then, I build on the results to propose a new typology of de-democratizing journalistic practices: soft steering (recommendations pretending concern with standards, including partisan interpretations of balance), hard steering (direct orders, including internal censorship or entirely pre-defined stories), and anticipatory steering (reporters and editors act on their own based on perceptions and previous instructions). Moreover, this research offers evidence that de-democratizing journalistic practices can be internalized by news practitioners and, over time, replace democratic norms. Finally, it suggests a dynamic relationship between censorship and self-censorship in which control not only inhibits actions but also compels journalists to perform in specific ways.
Citation: The International Journal of Press/Politics
PubDate: 2024-07-30T09:51:51Z
DOI: 10.1177/19401612241266557
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- How Much Tailoring Is too Much' Voter Backlash on Highly Tailored
Campaign Messages-
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Authors: Christina Gahn
Abstract: The International Journal of Press/Politics, Ahead of Print.
Findings on whether voters like or dislike targeted campaign messages have been contradictory. I argue that voters react differently depending on how precisely the targeted messages are tailored to them, and tailoring can potentially become “too much.” I corroborate this claim with the results of a factorial survey experiment among a representative sample of the German voting population (N = 3,217), which was conducted in the summer of 2021. Taking a novel approach, I measured the effects of close political targeting by asking respondents to rate campaign messages with varying degrees of tailoring. The analysis revealed a backlash effect, which is especially pronounced by men getting ads tailored to their gender. Voters appreciate messages that are moderately tailored to them but dislike highly tailored messages. This holds both for implicitly tailored messages and those that explicitly acknowledge the use of personal data. These results indicate that voters seem to recognize excessively tailored messages and manipulating them is difficult. These findings have important implications for the modern election campaigning’s effects on political behavior and its regulation.
Citation: The International Journal of Press/Politics
PubDate: 2024-07-30T09:50:52Z
DOI: 10.1177/19401612241263192
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- Journalism Practices in Western and Muslim Majority Countries: Culture
Matters-
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Authors: Basyouni Ibrahim Hamada, Abdel-Salam G Abdel-Salam, Saba Bebawi
Abstract: The International Journal of Press/Politics, Ahead of Print.
In this article, we suggest that the ideological cultural forces explain the differences in journalism practices in Western and Muslim majority countries (MMC). It is argued that the norms, values, and the deep political culture of the West and MMC have been materialized leading to different types of journalism practices. The statistical analysis of 11,246 interviews from twenty four Western and MMC conducted as part of the second wave of Worlds of Journalism Study demonstrates that journalists’ perception of influences, editorial autonomy, and journalistic roles reflect clear varied patterns, which resemble the overall cultural lines that shape their journalistic ideology. This article, we argue, has extended the hierarchical model of influences to embrace the wider regional cultural lines that avoid the trap of national media systems—centrism. Furthermore, it refutes the dominance of a global Western monoculture and, in turn, a singular global journalism practice.
Citation: The International Journal of Press/Politics
PubDate: 2024-07-27T09:18:41Z
DOI: 10.1177/19401612241260730
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- When Information Subsidies Go Live: Conceptualizing the Strategic Role of
Personal Storytelling-
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Authors: Kjersti Thorbjørnsrud
Abstract: The International Journal of Press/Politics, Ahead of Print.
This conceptual article argues that the strategic use of personal storytelling to attract public attention and gain political impact is insufficiently theorized in political communication, journalism studies, and lobbying research. Claiming the need to study backstage relations among interest groups, professional communication workers, journalists, and decision-makers, it conceptualizes how lay personal stories, with strong moral appeal and claim to authenticity, constitute a powerful form of live information subsidy in both indirect and direct communication strategies to influence decision-makers. Extending the classic theory of information subsidies, the article unpacks the particular value of personal storytelling regarding credibility, legitimacy, and appeal and hypothesizes how and when interest groups select, craft, exchange, and communicate lay personal stories to create public support and influence political decisions. The theorization of strategic personal storytelling is based on the synthesis of distinct research literatures and abductive multi-sited field studies of Norwegian interest groups, government communication, and journalistic source relations, heading the calls for more mixed-method, cross-disciplinary research to advance political communication overall.
Citation: The International Journal of Press/Politics
PubDate: 2024-07-23T12:21:39Z
DOI: 10.1177/19401612241257844
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- The Influences of Misinformation on Incidences of Politically Motivated
Violence in Europe-
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Authors: Mina Rulis
Abstract: The International Journal of Press/Politics, Ahead of Print.
Misinformation has become increasingly prevalent in online media. Transnational misinformation, in particular, poses an increasing threat to the security and stability of modern nation-states. To this end, at least some anecdotal evidence suggests a direct relationship between misinformation and domestic acts of politically motivated violence. Yet, such claims lack systematic empirical evidence, especially as it relates to transnational misinformation. To address this, this paper analyzes the effects of transnational misinformation on several distinct forms of domestic political violence across Europe, sharpening our empirical understanding of the purported association between misinformation and political violence. This is achieved through the fusion of a fine-grained spatial-temporal dataset of confirmed instances of news-based misinformation with daily event data on incidents of political conflict. These combined data are analyzed using a variety of statistical techniques for the period covering January 2016–May 2022. Findings imply a positive association between transnational misinformation and several forms of political violence in Europe. Furthermore, this association is more reliable for civilian-to-government violence events than for violence between civilian actors. Altogether this paper accordingly provides novel and nuanced empirical evidence for the pernicious effects of transnational misinformation on political violence.
Citation: The International Journal of Press/Politics
PubDate: 2024-06-25T09:07:04Z
DOI: 10.1177/19401612241257873
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- When the Logics of Media, Law, and Politics Collide: The Mediatization of
Finnish Constitutional Review-
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Authors: Timo Harjuniemi, Maija Dahlberg, Anu Kantola
Abstract: The International Journal of Press/Politics, Ahead of Print.
Mediatization scholarship has extensively analyzed how media logic affects societal institutions. Media logic is, however, not the only powerful institutional logic at play in modern societies. Other institutions have their respective logics that reciprocally impact processes of mediatization. In this article, we show how the logics of the media, law, and politics collide in constitutional review at the heart of democratic politics. Constitutional rights are playing increasingly visible roles in societies as charged political issues of high newsworthiness. Via an institutionalist approach to mediatization, we illustrate how media, legal, and political logics coexist and compete within constitutional review. By building on sixty-four interviews carried out between autumn 2019 and spring 2021 with key actors—political journalists, members of parliament, secretaries, and legal experts—involved in the work of the Constitutional Law Committee of the Finnish Parliament, we show how journalists, politicians, and legal experts advance their own logics as constitutional actors and seek to manage and mitigate the interinstitutional conflict between law, politics, and the media. We demonstrate how various formal and informal practices regulate Constitutional Law Committee members’ interactions with journalists and social media behavior and legal experts’ relationship with the media. We thus concur with the analyses suggesting that mediatization is a dynamic process in which various institutional logics collide, struggle for power, and recede to make room for different logics.
Citation: The International Journal of Press/Politics
PubDate: 2024-06-22T11:03:29Z
DOI: 10.1177/19401612241263303
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- Reconceptualizing Journalists as a Fractured Interpretive Community:
Updating the Journalistic Interpretive Community Framework for the 21st
Century-
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Authors: Danford Zirugo
Abstract: The International Journal of Press/Politics, Ahead of Print.
Taking a discursive approach, this study applies the concept of metajournalistic discourse to the study of press freedom debates in a postcolonial context stretching from 1993 to 2023 between the Zimbabwean public and private press. Based on a textual analysis of press freedom debates, combined with interviews with various news media stakeholders held between December 2022 and January 2023 in Harare, the study finds support for the previous argument that the idea of journalistic interpretive communities does not really hold under contested contexts beyond liberal Western democracies. The study extends this idea by reconceptualizing journalistic communities beyond liberal Western democracies as fractured interpretive communities. The study further argues that rising polarization and epistemic contests under liberal Western democracies now threaten journalistic interpretive communities as previously understood. This is especially so for those journalists who operate under a contested and polarized news media and political environment, without a single dominant national ideology.
Citation: The International Journal of Press/Politics
PubDate: 2024-06-18T01:14:10Z
DOI: 10.1177/19401612241257848
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- The Consequences of Evidence- Versus Non-Evidence-Based Understandings of
the “Truth”: How Russian Speakers in Germany Negotiate Trust in Their
Transnational News Environments-
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Authors: Anna Ryzhova, Florian Toepfl
Abstract: The International Journal of Press/Politics, Ahead of Print.
Extant research on migrants’ media use and trust has delivered mixed evidence on whether, and in which ways, migrants stay loyal to their homeland news media and/or develop trust in host-society media, particularly when the narratives of the two types of media clash. To advance this strand of research, this study scrutinizes how an audience group with migration background, who lived the first part of their lives under authoritarian rule but then relocated to a democracy, negotiates trust in their multilingual, transnational news environments. Specifically, we conducted semi-structured interviews with forty-two Russian-speaking first-generation migrants living in Germany in 2021. As we find, distinct understandings of the concept of “truth” played a pivotal role in how our participants negotiated trust in their transnational news environments. We distinguish broadly two understandings of “truth”: (1) “truth” as a category grounded in factual evidence and (2) “truth” as a non-evidence based category grounded in values, emotions, or identities. Illustrative for the second understanding, some participants felt a strong moral obligation to believe Kremlin-sponsored media as they perceived these organizations as representing their homeland, independently of whether their news coverage was factually accurate or not. The two understandings of “truth” also affected how and where participants sought for what they considered the “truth.” In the “Discussion” section, we argue that particularly the non-evidence-based truth-understandings formulated by our participants, and the ensuing truth-seeking strategies are conducive to the reach and persuasive impact of Kremlin-sponsored content among Russian speakers living abroad.
Citation: The International Journal of Press/Politics
PubDate: 2024-06-12T08:46:06Z
DOI: 10.1177/19401612241257872
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- Media Use, Feelings of Being Devalued, and Democratically Corrosive
Sentiment in the US-
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Authors: Bruce Bimber, Julien Labarre, Daniel Gomez, Ilia Nikiforov, Karolina Koc-Michalska
Abstract: The International Journal of Press/Politics, Ahead of Print.
We take two approaches to understanding democratically corrosive sentiment (DCS) in the US, which we operationalize in terms of populist attitudes, conspiracy beliefs, and expectation of fraud in the next election. Our first approach is media use, which is not well understood as a correlate of DCS beyond generalities about the harms of social media and partisan news. We distinguish between mainstream news and right-wing media, and between three categories of social media: those facilitating stronger ties among users, those facilitating weaker ties, and extremist Alt-Tech brands. Our second approach to explaining DCS is attitudinal. For this, we introduce a concept called Feelings of Being Devalued (FBD), which we offer as a complement to status threat and sense of material deprivation. Using a survey of our design (N = 2,000) fielded in the US in 2022, we show that: (1) mainstream news use and attention to right-wing media have opposite relationships with DCS; (2) not only Alt-Tech social media but also stronger-tie media such as Facebook are correlated with DCS, while use of weaker-tie social media such as X are uncorrelated in a model with a rich set of controls; and (3) FBD is strongly associated with DCS—more so than right-wing authoritarianism, social dominance orientation, and ideology.
Citation: The International Journal of Press/Politics
PubDate: 2024-05-23T06:09:08Z
DOI: 10.1177/19401612241253455
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- Politically Driven Intentional News Avoidance under Democratic Backsliding
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Authors: Francis L. F. Lee
Abstract: The International Journal of Press/Politics, Ahead of Print.
While extant research on news avoidance has been conducted mainly in democratic societies, this article examines intentional news avoidance in a society undergoing severe democratic backsliding. Given the decline of political freedom and democratic institutions, citizens in such contexts may become frustrated with ongoing political change and withdraw from public affairs and the news. This could result in a form of intentional, politically driven, and topical news avoidance. At the individual level, such news avoidance is likely to be influenced by political attitudes, ability to adapt, and news affect and cognition. Analysis of survey data from post-National Security Law Hong Kong finds that negative news affect and perceived news efficacy explain intentional avoidance of news about social and political change, whereas political trust, belief in civil liberties, and adaptiveness relate to news avoidance only indirectly through negative news affect and perceived news efficacy. Theoretical implications of the findings are discussed.
Citation: The International Journal of Press/Politics
PubDate: 2024-05-17T12:56:49Z
DOI: 10.1177/19401612241253196
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- Book Review: Antiracist Journalism: The Challenge of Creating Equitable
Local News by Andrea Wenzel-
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Authors: Paula M. Poindexter
Abstract: The International Journal of Press/Politics, Ahead of Print.
Citation: The International Journal of Press/Politics
PubDate: 2024-05-06T09:13:35Z
DOI: 10.1177/19401612241251731
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- Book Review: Platforms, Power, and Politics: An Introduction to Political
Communication in the Digital Age by Ulrike Klinger, Daniel Kreiss & Bruce
Mutsvairo-
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Authors: Damian Guzek
Abstract: The International Journal of Press/Politics, Ahead of Print.
Citation: The International Journal of Press/Politics
PubDate: 2024-04-27T08:20:52Z
DOI: 10.1177/19401612241252086
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- Corrigendum to Safeguarding the Peaceful Transfer of Power: Pro-Democracy
Electoral Frames and Journalist Coverage of Election Deniers During the
2022 U.S. Midterm Elections-
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Abstract: The International Journal of Press/Politics, Ahead of Print.
Citation: The International Journal of Press/Politics
PubDate: 2024-04-15T10:19:39Z
DOI: 10.1177/19401612241249522
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- The Influence of Sexism and Incivility in WhatsApp Political Discussions
on Affective Polarization: Evidence from a 2022 Multi-Party Election in
India-
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Authors: Taberez Ahmed Neyazi, Ozan Kuru, Subhayan Mukerjee
Abstract: The International Journal of Press/Politics, Ahead of Print.
In contemporary political discourse, the concern of affective polarization, often fueled by uncivil and sexist discourse, is notably evident in digital communication contexts like WhatsApp. In this study, we examined the potential effects of uncivil and sexist messages as well as moderator interventions against these messages coming from political in- and out-group members in such political groups through a survey experiment (N = 1,464) fielded during the 2022 Uttar Pradesh (India) Legislative Assembly Elections. We investigate these questions and extend the prior work on affective polarization by introducing a new measure of Average Inter-party Affective Distance, which provides a single metric to index overall polarization in a multi-party election context. Our results showed that exposure to sexist uncivil messages had no discernible effect on affective polarization, political participation, and voting intention. Additionally, moderator warnings against incivility had no significant effects. However, we observed a variation in how respondents processed these messages based on their preexisting attitudes; notably, individuals with less sexist views were more inclined to vote after being exposed to sexist uncivil messages. These findings suggest that the influence of incivility and sexism in messaging platforms like WhatsApp on the wider electorate’s political behavior and attitudes is relatively limited. This research contributes to our understanding of the role of digital political communication, highlighting the importance of message content and preexisting individual differences in shaping affective polarization and mobilization.
Citation: The International Journal of Press/Politics
PubDate: 2024-04-10T10:23:32Z
DOI: 10.1177/19401612241242431
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- Stepping on Toes' Role Dynamics between Journalists and Lobbyists
Regarding Big Tech’s Accountability Agenda-
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Authors: Alexandra Schwinges, Irina Lock, Toni G. L. A. van der Meer, Rens Vliegenthart
Abstract: The International Journal of Press/Politics, Ahead of Print.
The expanding political role of Big Tech(nology) corporations has triggered concerns about the role of the media in holding corporate power to account. This study provides a comprehensive understanding of role dynamics between journalists and lobbyists toward the agenda for Big Tech’s responsibilities. Based on semi-structured interviews with European journalists (n = 15) and lobbyists representing large technology corporations (n = 15), we use professional role perceptions as a heuristic for examining the relationship of both actor groups in tandem. Journalists, who report an overlap of audience-focused with passive watchdog role ideals geared toward legislative accountability, interact with lobbyists, who assert a more concrete and active role perception. Journalists cautiously appropriate their normative watchdog role in accordance with the ideals of detachment and balance to maintain their own media legitimacy and access to an oligopolistic information environment. Remaining strategically sovereign over information, lobbyists perceive a strong mandate to establish Big Tech as a relevant stakeholder in the agenda on their regulatory accountability, but in mid of a perceived techlash, the majority of corporations avoid public attention. Both actor groups’ limited and off-the-record interaction reflects a defensive corporate stance, keeping their negotiation of Big Tech’s accountability off-stage. The technological and regulatory complexity of the information environment might render these corporations unfit for soft regulation by news media. We discuss implications for their co-dependence in the context of fast technological advancement and disruption of (corporate) mediatization processes.
Citation: The International Journal of Press/Politics
PubDate: 2024-03-30T10:59:55Z
DOI: 10.1177/19401612241242401
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- Safeguarding the Peaceful Transfer of Power: Pro-Democracy Electoral
Frames and Journalist Coverage of Election Deniers During the 2022 U.S.
Midterm Elections-
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Authors: Heesoo Jang, Daniel Kreiss
Abstract: The International Journal of Press/Politics, Ahead of Print.
This study develops a new normative and analytical framework of “democracy-framed electoral coverage” grounded in literatures that stress the role of governmental and communicative institutions in protecting democracies from threats. We define “democracy-framed electoral coverage” as journalism that embraces fairly contested elections as an established norm and political ideal, and clearly alerts the public to threats to the peaceful transfer of power. Using the U.S. as a case study of a consolidated democracy facing autocratization threats, the study applies the framework to analyze a comprehensive dataset of 708 articles encompassing twenty one races during the 2022 U.S. midterm elections when candidates who denied the results of the 2020 presidential election were on the ballot. Additionally, we conducted interviews with twelve journalists to evaluate their perspectives and practices regarding election denying candidates. We find that journalists routinely failed to alert the public to the threat posed by candidates unwilling to embrace the legitimacy of U.S. elections. This paper demonstrates the necessity of a normative framework for pro-democracy election coverage, and the findings underscore the electoral fragility of the U.S.—a case of a democracy undergoing autocratization processes and facing threats to the legitimacy of its elections and the peaceful transfer of power.
Citation: The International Journal of Press/Politics
PubDate: 2024-03-19T04:58:14Z
DOI: 10.1177/19401612241235819
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- Presidential Authority and the Legitimation of Far-Right News
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Authors: Allison M. N. Archer, Carolyn E. Schmitt, Shannon C. McGregor, Heesoo Jang
Abstract: The International Journal of Press/Politics, Ahead of Print.
What position do far-right news outlets occupy in contemporary U.S. politics, and how did Trump use the power of the presidency to contribute to their rise among Republican legislators and mainstream American media' We posit that Trump’s position as president, in conjunction with his populist communication style that favored far-right outlets, contributed to the legitimation of such outlets. We first analyze Trump’s tweets during his presidency (January 2017–January 2021) mentioning three far-right outlets (One America News Network, Newsmax, and Breitbart), conceptualizing these messages as authority signals that symbolically lend legitimacy to the media sources. We then provide rich descriptive information regarding subsequent mentions of the far-right outlets in four national mainstream newspapers as well as appearances by GOP (Republican) members of Congress in the far-right outlets. We find significant and positive correlations between Trump’s tweets and mainstream media coverage of One America News Network (OANN) and Newsmax, and significant and positive correlations between Trump’s tweets and GOP Congressional interviews on OANN and Newsmax. Together, these results represent an example of presidential authority signals that bolster far-right outlets and aid in their legitimization among legislators and the mainstream press. The findings shed light on the role of political leaders in the recent mainstreaming of the far-right across many democratic countries.
Citation: The International Journal of Press/Politics
PubDate: 2024-03-19T04:56:08Z
DOI: 10.1177/19401612241235630
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- After Deception: How Falling for a Deepfake Affects the Way We See, Hear,
and Experience Media-
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Authors: Teresa Weikmann, Hannah Greber, Alina Nikolaou
Abstract: The International Journal of Press/Politics, Ahead of Print.
With the emergence of artificial intelligence, deepfakes have rendered it possible to manipulate anyone’s and anything’s audio-visual representation, adding fuel to the discussion about the believability of what we hear and see in the news. However, we do not know yet whether deepfakes can actually impact (1) the credibility attributed to audio-visual media in general, as well as (2) the perceived self-efficacy to discern between real and fake media. Furthermore, it remains unclear if different deepfake formats can affect citizens to differing degrees. This study employs a 3 × 2 × 2 between-within-subjects experiment (N = 951) with the between-subjects factor format (audio vs. video vs. 360°-video) and facticity (real vs. fake) and the within-subjects factor reveal (pre vs. post-reveal). We explore what happens after revealing to a sample of German participants that they have been deceived by a deepfake. Our findings show that credibility of media drops across all formats after revealing the stimulus was fake, whereas the control group is not affected. On the other hand, self-efficacy is impacted even for people who were exposed to authentic news media. This shows that deepfakes may have far-reaching societal implications that go beyond deception, whereas modality seems to matter little for such effects.
Citation: The International Journal of Press/Politics
PubDate: 2024-03-13T07:20:47Z
DOI: 10.1177/19401612241233539
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- Who Relies on Social Media Influencers for Political Information' A
Cross-Country Study Among Youth-
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Authors: Darian Harff, Desiree Schmuck
Abstract: The International Journal of Press/Politics, Ahead of Print.
Social media influencers (SMIs) are defined as regular individuals who become well-known via self-branding on social media. Youth use content posted by SMIs not just for entertainment, but also for political information. However, we know little about which groups of young people are most likely to be exposed to their political messages or why some youth seem to favor SMIs’ political information over news content from other sources. Inspired by the selective exposure paradigm, this cross-country study conducted between April 2022 and March 2023 explored which variables positively relate to selecting SMIs as primary political information sources among a quota-based sample of emerging adults (16–22 years old) in Germany (N = 559) and Belgium (N = 495). We focused on dispositional factors, namely young people’s political predispositions (e.g., subjective political knowledge, institutional mistrust) and source perceptions (e.g., perceived expertise, perceived opinion leader functions), that may be associated with selecting SMIs for political information. Overall, 59 percent of youth in our study were able to name a favorite political SMI. In this analytical sample, youth who were male, politically active, or ascribed opinion leader functions to SMIs were likely to consider them central political information sources. Moreover, country-specific multi-group analysis showed that, in Germany, low subjective political knowledge and parasocial relationships developed with SMIs were linked with relying on them for political information.
Citation: The International Journal of Press/Politics
PubDate: 2024-03-12T05:10:29Z
DOI: 10.1177/19401612241234898
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- Source Matters' Exploring the Effects of Source Congeniality on
Corrections of False Information on Twitter-
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Authors: Luxuan Wang, Lauren Feldman
Abstract: The International Journal of Press/Politics, Ahead of Print.
This study examines the impact of source congeniality and its interaction with partisanship on the effectiveness of debunking false information on Twitter in the United States. Conducted in February 2022, a survey experiment revealed that most respondents paid little attention to correction source information. Politically congenial sources failed to enhance the effectiveness of corrective tags, whereas politically uncongenial sources and Twitter as the correction source weakened debunking’s persuasiveness, especially among Democrats. Republicans consistently exhibited higher misperception levels, unaffected by the correction source. The study highlights the persistent influence of belief-consistent false information and inattention as challenges in using corrective tags to counter false information on social media. The results underscore the need for more compelling corrections and increased public trust in debunking efforts in the United States.
Citation: The International Journal of Press/Politics
PubDate: 2024-03-05T08:23:32Z
DOI: 10.1177/19401612241233543
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- Give the Media What They Need: Negativity as a Media Access Tool for
Politicians-
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Authors: Željko Poljak
Abstract: The International Journal of Press/Politics, Ahead of Print.
Recent studies indicate that politicians’ negativity usage fails to enhance their approval ratings among the general public, yet politicians regularly use it. This begs the following question: why are politicians so negative if this strategy does not bolster their prospects for re-election' In this paper, I argue that the media, driven by audience engagement, plays a pivotal role in shaping politicians’ propensity for negativity. Specifically, politicians resort to negativity because it aligns with the media’s negativity bias, thereby increasing their chances of securing media access and public attention. I test this expectation on the less-likely case of Belgium, using data on politicians’ negativity usage in parliament and their presence in prime-time TV news (2010–2020). The results show that using negativity significantly increases politicians’ chances of gaining media access, particularly when using uncivil negativity. The more media access politicians start to attract due to negativity, the more they resort to negativity.
Citation: The International Journal of Press/Politics
PubDate: 2024-03-04T06:04:36Z
DOI: 10.1177/19401612241234861
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- Why do Citizens Choose to Read Fact-Checks in the Context of the Russian
War in Ukraine' The Role of Directional and Accuracy Motivations in
Nineteen Democracies-
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Authors: Marina Tulin, Michael Hameleers, Claes de Vreese, Toril Aalberg, Nicoleta Corbu, Patrick Van Erkel, Frank Esser, Luisa Gehle, Denis Halagiera, David Nicolas Hopmann, Karolina Koc-Michalska, Jörg Matthes, Sabina Mihelj, Christian Schemer, Vaclav Stetka, Jesper Strömbäck, Ludovic Terren, Yannis Theocharis
Abstract: The International Journal of Press/Politics, Ahead of Print.
The recent surge of false information accompanying the Russian invasion of Ukraine has re-emphasized the need for interventions to counteract disinformation. While fact-checking is a widely used intervention, we know little about citizen motivations to read fact-checks. We tested theoretical predictions related to accuracy-motivated goals (i.e., seeking to know the truth) versus directionally-motivated goals (i.e., seeking to confirm existing beliefs) by analyzing original survey data (n = 19,037) collected in early April to late May 2022 in nineteen countries, namely Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK, and USA. Survey participants read ten statements about the Russian war in Ukraine and could opt to see fact-checks for each of these statements. Results of mixed models for three-level hierarchical data (level 1: statements, level 2: individuals, and level 3: countries) showed that accuracy motivations were better explanations than directional motivations for the decision to read fact-checks about the Russian war in Ukraine.
Citation: The International Journal of Press/Politics
PubDate: 2024-02-29T08:14:45Z
DOI: 10.1177/19401612241233533
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- Imagined Journalists: New Framework for Studying Media–Audiences
Relationship in Populist Times-
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Authors: Ayala Panievsky, Yossi David, Noam Gidron, Lior Sheffer
Abstract: The International Journal of Press/Politics, Ahead of Print.
These are challenging times for journalists’ relationship with their audiences. Attacks against “the media” and the increasing weaponization of social media to harass journalists have drawn the attention of scholars worldwide. In the current climate, journalists are not only distrusted but also hated, which creates a series of distinct ramifications. In this article, we suggest a new framework to study journalists–audiences relationship, particularly in times of hostile populism: the imagined journalists approach. A mirror image of the much-studied concept of imagined audiences, imagined journalists refers to the entirety of ideas, feelings, stereotypes, and imaginaries that audiences hold regarding their imagined news producers. It brings together the research on media trust, audiences’ perceptions, antimedia populism, and the emotional turn in journalism—to generate a comprehensive understanding of people’s criticisms, narratives, and priorities. We demonstrate the potential of this approach by analyzing 1,215 responses to an open-ended question regarding journalists’ traits in Israel in 2021. Employing qualitative and quantitative analyses, we find that: (a) right-wing and pro-populist voters hold more negative views of journalists, as expected; (b) voters express three different types of criticism of journalists (professional, personal, and national)—only one of which directly relates to their professional conduct; (c) different types of voters express different types of criticism; and (d) while objectivity and bias remain main concerns, democracy is not a dominant factor in respondents’ thinking on journalists. These findings contribute theoretically and methodologically to future research in the field, as well as to urgent attempts to improve our information environment.
Citation: The International Journal of Press/Politics
PubDate: 2024-02-24T06:09:32Z
DOI: 10.1177/19401612241231541
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- Conduits of the Kremlin’s Informational Influence Abroad' How
German-Language Alternative Media Outlets Are Connected to Russia’s
Ruling Elites-
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Authors: Arista Beseler, Florian Toepfl
Abstract: The International Journal of Press/Politics, Ahead of Print.
Extant research on alternative media in Western democracies has focused on scrutinizing their content, organization, production, and audiences. However, the extent to which alternative outlets are linked to powerful foreign actors has not yet been analyzed, despite the fact that a plethora of outlets have openly sided with Russia after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, spreading the Kremlin’s propagandistic narratives. To fill this gap, this study adopts a case study approach. It selects Germany as a revelatory case of a key target country of Russia’s foreign influence efforts, raising the question of how and to what extent German-language alternative media outlets are connected to Russia’s ruling elites. Grounded in qualitative analysis of a wide range of documents, this study proposes a categorization that divides the connections into three different types: organizational, media, and personal connections. Subsequently, it is demonstrated that half of the analyzed German-language alternative media outlets maintain at least one of these three types of connections to the Kremlin. These findings contribute to our knowledge of alternative media, as well as Russia’s overt and covert foreign influence operations, the so-called “active measures.” They also highlight the need for more transparency in alternative media landscapes in democratic contexts across the globe.
Citation: The International Journal of Press/Politics
PubDate: 2024-02-21T05:16:50Z
DOI: 10.1177/19401612241230284
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- Dissemination of RT and Sputnik Content in European Digital Alternative
News Environments: Mapping the Influence of Russian State-Backed Media
Across Platforms, Topics, and Ideology-
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Authors: Frederik Møller Henriksen, Jakob Bæk Kristensen, Eva Mayerhöffer
Abstract: The International Journal of Press/Politics, Ahead of Print.
The study investigates the dissemination of news content from two Russian state-backed media outlets, RT and Sputnik, within digital alternative news environments in Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Sweden. We investigate these media outlets as parts of a Russian “sharp power” strategy, aimed at establishing informational influence within Western news environments. The analysis includes over 3.4 million social media posts containing URLs to RT and Sputnik content, published between January 2019 and March 2022. Drawing on a combined network analytical and computational text analysis approach, we examine the dissemination of RT and Sputnik content across a range of social media platforms (Twitter/X, Facebook, Telegram, VKontakte, Gab, Instagram, Reddit, 4chan, and YouTube). In the Danish and Swedish environments, the dissemination of content into core domestic alternative news communities is limited, primarily taking place on Facebook and, to a lesser extent, on Twitter/X. Fringe platforms such as Telegram, Gab and VKontakte facilitate a wider spread of content within domestic alternative news environments in German-speaking environments, predominantly among right-wing digital clusters. Within German-speaking alternative news environments, the shared content from RT and Sputnik primarily addresses domestic issues, such as COVID-19 policies and vaccines. In contrast, Danish- and Swedish-speaking alternative news environments emphasize foreign policy matters, including the Russian–Ukraine War, WikiLeaks, and Western military actions. These findings contribute to research on foreign state-media operations in digital information environments by focusing on both content and sharing patterns.
Citation: The International Journal of Press/Politics
PubDate: 2024-02-19T06:21:51Z
DOI: 10.1177/19401612241230281
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- The Colors of the Populist Radical Right: The Strategic Use of Hue and
Saturation in Party Logos-
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Authors: Luigi Curini, Benjamin Moffitt, Mattia Zulianello
Abstract: The International Journal of Press/Politics, Ahead of Print.
Populist radical right (PRR) parties tend to stress their differences from other parties. Yet at the same time, PRR parties have increasingly sought to integrate into party systems across the globe. In seeking to understand the way that PRR parties negotiate this paradoxical situation, the literature tends to focus on their policy offerings or discourse. We, on the contrary, investigate an underestimated aspect of their political communication: their visuals. Namely, we focus on the question of if and how PRR parties communicate their similarities or differences from other parties via the color profiles of their logos, given that color is a key way that political parties can signal (a) their ideological commitments (via hue) and (b) their approach to “valence” considerations (via saturation). We expect PRR parties’ attempts to signal their integration into party systems to be mainly sought via saturation, as a proxy for valence perceptions related to parties’ seriousness and competence, while we expect them to signal their difference from other parties via hue, given the incentive for PRR parties to communicate their ideological distance from non-populist parties as a marker of distinctiveness in the political market. We test our research questions by analyzing parties’ logos across 35 democracies in recent elections. Results largely confirm our expectations, demonstrating the utility of focusing on the visual aspects of PRR parties’ political communication. Interestingly, the results do not replicate if we focus on populist parties beyond the PRR party family.
Citation: The International Journal of Press/Politics
PubDate: 2024-02-10T09:47:15Z
DOI: 10.1177/19401612241229216
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- When Social Media Attack: How Exposure to Political Attacks on Social
Media Promotes Anger and Political Cynicism-
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Authors: Ariel Hasell, Audrey Halversen, Brian E. Weeks
Abstract: The International Journal of Press/Politics, Ahead of Print.
Political cynicism is rising in many democracies throughout the world. At the same time, people increasingly use social media to access news and political information. However, much of the political content people see on these platforms is hostile, uncivil, and attacking. This study examines whether exposure to these political attacks on social media is associated with political cynicism and, if so, whether negative emotions like anger and anxiety play a mediating role in this process. Using data from a panel survey of American adults (N = 1,800) collected during the 2020 U.S. presidential election, this study examines whether exposure to political attacks on social media is related to both emotions about the state of the country and political cynicism. Data indicate that people who were exposed to more political attacks on social media were more politically cynical. Further, perceived exposure to political attacks on social media was associated with more anger about the state of the United States, which was subsequently related to greater levels of political cynicism. The results provide evidence that exposure to political attacks on social media might contribute to both negative emotions about the country and political cynicism.
Citation: The International Journal of Press/Politics
PubDate: 2024-01-29T04:12:14Z
DOI: 10.1177/19401612231221806
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- Beyond Media Systems: Corporate-Consensus and Confrontational Media
Regimes in Three Latin American Cases-
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Authors: Manuel Alejandro Guerrero, Mariana Sanchez-Santos, Eduardo Pérez Otaño
Abstract: The International Journal of Press/Politics, Ahead of Print.
The term captured-liberal has been proposed as an approach to Latin American media systems. Here, we contend these systems result from the region’s particular democratization path (i.e., competitive and open access to power but a flawed exercise of power). We also contend that since media systems operate at structural levels, the concept does not seem flexible enough to explain conjunctural variations and particular dynamics in the media landscape. We propose that these aspects are better explained by looking at regimes (roles) rather than systems (structures). Thus, we advance the concept of media regimes, which, by responding to the political orientation of the government in office, incarnates into two forms in some Latin American cases: a corporate-consensus or a confrontational media regime.
Citation: The International Journal of Press/Politics
PubDate: 2024-01-28T11:55:02Z
DOI: 10.1177/19401612231222454
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- Populism as “Truth”: How Mediated Authenticity Strengthens the
Populist Message-
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Authors: Gunn Enli
Abstract: The International Journal of Press/Politics, Ahead of Print.
The rise of populism is often explained by political factors, economic factors, and media and communication factors. This article analyzes populism in the context of an increased focus on authenticity in political communication. The main aim is to discuss to what degree mediated authenticity strengthens the populist message and what consequences the nexus between authenticity and populism might have for the quality of democratic governance. As a theoretical backdrop, the article discusses the implications of increased valorization of authenticity in times of distrust, and how perforned truth is a key appeal of populism in representative democracies. The methodological approach is a systematic analysis of seven authenticity strategies identified in previous research: consistency, spontaneity, ordinariness, confession, immediacy, ambivalence, and imperfection. In addition to the theoretical analysis, the article offers a case study of the performance of Donald Trump, focusing on how mediated authenticity strengthens the populist message. The study is conducted in a mainly U.S.-context and includes material collected between 2016 and 2023. A key argument is that although performed authenticity can be both advantageous and disadvantageous, depending on the status of the candidate, there is lower risk involved for populist politicians than mainstream politicians because the strategies correspond more with the ideology. In conclusion, the article argues that performed authenticity might legitimize hate speech, conspiracy theories, and post-truth politics because populists claim to have a particular relation to the truth.
Citation: The International Journal of Press/Politics
PubDate: 2024-01-28T11:50:23Z
DOI: 10.1177/19401612231221802
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- Success or Failure' News Framing of the COP26 Glasgow Summit and its
Effects on Citizens’ Beliefs About Climate Change-
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Authors: Per Oleskog Tryggvason, Adam Shehata
Abstract: The International Journal of Press/Politics, Ahead of Print.
The UN climate summits represent decisive moments for climate change policy. Under significant media coverage, world leaders gather for intense negotiations over policies to address global warming. Given the enormous political, economic, and environmental issues at stake, news media typically frame these summits in terms of success or failure. Still, we know surprisingly little about how these mediated mega events influence public perceptions both during and beyond the specific summit. Focusing on the 2021 Glasgow summit (COP26), this study combines a media content analysis and a two-wave panel survey with a rolling cross-section component, to determine how news framing influenced both summit-specific and more generic climate change beliefs among citizens in Sweden. Findings show (1) that beliefs about the success/failure of the summit took shape immediately following the summit, (2) that news framing effects were particularly pronounced when the final agreement was settled, and (3) that these instantaneous framing effects on summit-specific beliefs left small but lasting imprints on citizens’ generic climate change beliefs several weeks after the summit. These findings have implications for both climate opinion and theories of dynamic news framing effects.
Citation: The International Journal of Press/Politics
PubDate: 2024-01-13T05:37:02Z
DOI: 10.1177/19401612231218426
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- Engaging With Fandom and Politics: The Case of Giuseppe Conte’s Fans
on Instagram-
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Authors: Donatella Campus, Marco Mazzoni, Roberto Mincigrucci
Abstract: The International Journal of Press/Politics, Ahead of Print.
The article focuses on the phenomenon of political fandom and its potential impact on citizens’ political engagement. In particular, our research intends to offer a contribution to the discussion of possible types of online fan-like attachment to a political leader. Our case study is the Instagram account @lebimbedigiuseppeconte, a fanpage celebrating the former Italian Prime minister Giuseppe Conte. We analyzed posts between 2018 and 2022 with the aim of investigating the evolution of the account following the change of Conte’s role from the office of Prime Minister—that he held as an outsider—to the more politicized role of leader of the Five-Star Movement. Our results suggest that, although in the first phase @lebimbedigiuseppeconte could not be regarded as a standard type of political fandom, its evolution shows that also a fanpage born with no apparent political goal and a vocation for entertaining may become a platform for the diffusion of political contents.
Citation: The International Journal of Press/Politics
PubDate: 2024-01-08T05:23:43Z
DOI: 10.1177/19401612231218424
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