🗣 Communication Paper Picnic 🧺: Communication

I checked 55 communication journals on Friday, April 11, 2025 using the Crossref API. For the period April 04 to April 10, I found 85 new paper(s) in 27 journal(s).

Communication Monographs

Dialogue on difference: Invisible bridges and barriers of community-engaged research

Soroya Julian McFarlane, Carrie Leach, Lillie D. Williamson, Shawnika Hull, Kate Magsamen-Conrad, Holley Wilkin, Shaunak Sastry

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Communication Quarterly

Falling on dead ears: A multi-media content analysis of messages from prominent figures in the death positive movement

Christian R. Seiter, Harutyun Kejejyan, Ryunosuke Itadani

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Communication Studies

Alleviating the Bandwagon Effect of Crisis Misinformation on Social Media: Understanding Social Media Users’ Bandwagon Perceptions and the Credibility of Crisis Misinformation to Protect Organizational Reputation

Young Kim, Hyunji (Dana) Lim

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Why Debate? Assessing the 2024 Republican Primary Debates in the Wake of Trump’s Return to Power

Robert S. Hinck, Edward A. Hinck, Shelly S. Hinck

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You Can Get Pregnant!”: Ghanaian Mother-Daughter Communication About Menstruation

Lyzbeth Safoah King, Sarah S. LeBlanc, Mary Kiura, Melody Nofziger

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“I Am Never off Duty”: Mothers’ Perspectives and Memorable Messages About Managing Work-Family Tension

Brian L. Heisterkamp, Christina Yoshimura

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Breaking—or Embracing—the Mold: Examining the Influence of Stereotypical News Frames on the Perceptions of a Female Presidential Candidate

Austin Y. Hubner, Calvin Coker

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The Role of Communication in Shaping COVID-19 Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice and Vaccine-Related Decision-Making Among a Selected Group of Immigrants in the U.S. and Canada: An Exploratory Study

Rukhsana Ahmed, Parul Jain

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How Do Frequent Newcomers’ Ingroup/Outgroup Identities Shape Organizational Socialization and Work Communication?

Ivan Gan

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The Effects of Metacognition on Senders’ Feedback Effect in Computer-Mediated Communication

Duy Tyler Pham, Brandon Van Der Heide, Rui Zhu, Bobbie Rathjens

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Modeling the Potential Effectiveness of Low Person-Centered Emotional Support: The Role of Relational Closeness, Goodwill, and Message Accuracy on Outcomes

Colter D. Ray, Valerie Manusov

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Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies

Playing with augmented bodies. Dystopian and protopian experiences of human augmentation in digital games

Aska Mayer, Roope Raisamo, Frans Mäyrä

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In this paper, we will present the horror game SOMA and the artistic game Morphogenic Angels: Chapter 1 as exemplary cases within science fiction for the expression and experience of cultural understandings of technologically augmented beings and environments. Locating contemporary cultural myths of technology within both games, we will show the protopian and dystopian function of both cases and locate them in a broad socio-cultural context of technology forecasting. Considering the specific nature of the digital game as an in-itself augmenting technological medium, we will additionally introduce a somaesthetic perspective of player experience to the game analysis, in order to point out the relevance of the immediate bodily perception of games for informing the reflection of diegetic realities. Finally, this paper will provide an overview on how science-fiction games represent and establish experiences and reflections of the progressing augmentation of bodies and their environment.

Been there, streaming that: Media substitution, brand equity, and moviegoer attitudes towards streaming blockbuster films

Chris DeFelice

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This paper explores how the major studios’ decision to release blockbuster movies on streaming services during the COVID-19 pandemic altered moviegoers’ perception of the theatrical experience. The study utilizes qualitative textual analysis of Twitter/X conversations to analyze how moviegoers’ attitudes toward streaming blockbuster movies changed across various phases of the pandemic. Operating within the framework of media substitution theory, the research highlights how brand equity and social word-of-mouth (sWOM) influence consumer attitudes towards streaming services as a potential substitution for the traditional moviegoing experience. The findings offer significant implications for industry practices and contribute valuable insights for future scholarly research in this area.

Digital Journalism

Generative AI and Journalism: Hype, The Always Already New, and Directions for Scholarly Imagination

Nik Usher

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Digitalization and Meaning in Journalistic Work (MJoW): The Increasing Importance of the Symbolic Dimension

Gunhild Ring Olsen

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Environmental Communication

The Ecofeminist Storyteller: Environmental Communication Through Women’s Digital Garden Stories

Rahmita Cahyani Imawan, Susi Handayani

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Howard Journal of Communications

Water, Power, and Politics: An Analysis of Media Coverage of the Jackson Water Crisis

Jewell J. Davis, Lindsey C. Maxwell

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Human Communication Research

Implications of gender metastereotypes for addressing sexist behavior

Craig Fowler, Jessica Gasiorek, Andrea Zorn, Sophie Stone

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Women often experience competence questioning communication (CQC), in which their contributions are overlooked or credit is misdirected to a male colleague. We examine whether gender metastereotypes—the stereotypes that women believe men hold of women, and the stereotypes men believe women hold of men—predict responses to sexism in the workplace. Specifically, through vignette-based experiments, we examine whether women’s and men’s willingness to directly confront male perpetrators of CQC, and men’s willingness to amplify the voice of female colleagues is affected by the activation of gender metastereotypes. For both women and men, positive metastereotypes directly predicted willingness to confront sexism, but, as theorized, only when individuals believed that the stereotypes held of their ingroup were held of them personally. We also found significant indirect effects of metastereotype activation on willingness to address sexism via felt responsibility for addressing sexism (for women) and concern for the group image (for men).

Information Technology & People

Monetary rewards or comment recognition? The difference between the two types of feedback in online Q&A community

Jinpeng Liu, Xinmiao Li, Xipeng Liu

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Purpose An in-depth exploration of difference in the motivational effects of various types of feedback can better address the challenges faced by knowledge contributions. Drawing upon the self-determination theory (SDT), this study examines the relative effects of asker monetary rewards and peer comment recognition in the short term, the heterogeneous effects across different social status levels and their long-term impact over time. Design/methodology/approach Based on panel data from an online financial knowledge Q&A community, this study employs a fixed-effects Poisson regression for empirical analysis. In addition, it also conducts instrumental variable regression and a series of robustness tests. Findings The results indicate the following: (1) Peer comment recognition has a positive effect on knowledge contributions, whereas asker monetary rewards have a negative impact. (2) In the short-term, the relative effect of asker monetary rewards is stronger, but this effect changes as the social status of the user increases. (3) There is no evidence of an offsetting effect between asker monetary rewards and peer comment recognition. (4) The impact of both asker monetary rewards and peer comment recognition on continuous knowledge contributions decreases over time, but the influence of the latter lasts longer. Originality/value Previous studies on monetary rewards and peer recognition have focused primarily on their direct effects. This research explores the differences in external incentives by examining the sources, types and timing of feedback, providing a more comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms that drive continuous knowledge contribution. It also offers a more valuable insights for the management of knowledge Q&A communities.

Information, Communication & Society

Platform-led content moderation through the bystander lens: a systematic scoping review

Rinat Meerson, Kevin Koban, Jörg Matthes

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False sense of security and a flurry of misplaced trust: the construction of trust in and by Facebook

Balazs Bodo, Marton Bene, Zsolt Boda

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International Journal of Advertising

Curbing misinformation dissemination in influencer marketing: how misinformation interventions affect endorsement effectiveness

Quan Xie, Mengtian Jiang, Yang Feng, Joe Phua

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Internet Research

To strive or abandon? The comparison effect of prior seeker-reviewed entries on subsequent solver engagement in crowdsourcing competitions

Tingting Liu, Quanwu Zhao

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Purpose This study investigates the dynamics of solver engagement in online creative crowdsourcing competitions through the lens of social comparison between entries. Using data from ZBJ.com, a leading Chinese crowdsourcing platform, the authors examine how competitors’ prior entries, reviewed by seekers and incorporating both positive and negative feedback, influence subsequent solver behavior. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on data from the logo design crowdsourcing competitions held on ZBJ.com in 2020, this study categorized solvers based on their exposure to competitors’ entries with positive feedback, negative feedback, or both. Logistic regression and sentiment analysis, using Naive Bayes, CNSenti, and SnowNLP models, along with a fusion model, were employed for the analysis, with various heterogeneity and endogeneity checks to ensure result reliability. Findings The results demonstrate that the number of competitors’ visible entries receiving either positive or negative feedback from seekers is positively correlated with the likelihood of solvers submitting a second entry. The distance between the seeker-reviewed entries and the solvers’ second entries weakens these positive effects. When simultaneously exposed to both positive and negative feedback entries, solvers show greater attention to the positive feedback entries, indicating a “positive bias”. Originality/value This study deepens our understanding of social comparison dynamics and the phenomenon of entry visibility in creative crowdsourcing competitions. It reveals how the combination of publicly visible entries and their associated feedback influences solver engagement, as well as the moderating effect of the entry location, providing novel insights into the motivations of solvers.

Must VUCA evolve? A thematic literature-based analysis of VUCA research in the pre- and post-COVID-19 eras

Gerit Tänzer, Christian Matt

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Purpose The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has confronted management with substantial challenges, requiring organizations to respond to dynamic market changes and continuously adapt to a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) environment. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted this necessity by exposing VUCA concepts to substantial shock. However, whether the COVID-19 pandemic marks a phase of abnormal VUCA characteristics or whether organizations will face different VUCA challenges in the post-COVID-19 era is unclear. Design/methodology/approach We conducted a literature review to synthesize and compare VUCA research before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Using a trend matrix, we illustrate and specify the evolution of research themes that address VUCA characteristics. Findings We present a VUCA evolution model that reveals a shift toward operational adaptability and continuous learning as key drivers in the post-COVID-19 era, as emphasized by the increased priority of people-centered approaches. The results indicate an organizational transformation toward self-organization that enables resilience through a holistic perspective of continuous learning and co-creation. Our study contributes to understanding organizations’ resilience and bridges the gap between the theoretical and practical VUCA research dimensions. Originality/value VUCA concepts were not coined with global pandemics in mind but were created to support organizations dealing with crises. We explored how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected VUCA’s conceptual foundations and research focus. Our results orient scholarship toward new foci of VUCA research and assist practitioners in identifying critical areas of focus regarding VUCA challenges in the post-COVID-19 era.

Journal of Applied Communication Research

Planting justice: co-constructing knowledge with Black women farmers for translatable research

Andrew Carter

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CODE^SHIFT: A collaboratory for data equity, community impact, and social healing

Srividya Ramasubramanian

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Transparency in action: iterative engagement with the UNGC and Mistra Environmental Communication Program

Delaney Harness

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Center for Culture-Centered Approach to Research and Evaluation (CARE): organizing to transform the social determinants of health

Mohan Dutta, Venessa Pokaia, Selina Metuamate, Indranil Mandal, Pankaj Baskey, Rabindranath Mandi, Phoebe Elers, Mahbubur Rahman, Pooja Jayan, Samiksha Pattanaik

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Yale program on climate change communication

Abel Gustafson

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Iteration, collaboration and transformation: the work of Mistra Environmental Communication

Anke Fischer, Eva Friman, Shiv Ganesh, Sofie Joosse

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The Cincinnati Project

Shaunak Sastry

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The ‘think-and-do tank’ model of the Center for Climate Change Communication

Jagadish Thaker

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We Are a go for launch! working with NASA to forecast and improve team dynamics in space missions

Noshir Contractor, Leslie DeChurch

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Bridging communication research and practice: scholarly partnerships with translational organizations

Heather M. Zoller

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Intersectionality, equity, and justice for queer climbers: an overview of the Salt Lake Area Queer Climbers (SLAQC) organization

Leandra H. Hernández

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Beyond ramen noodles: how critical consciousness transforms resilience for U.S. college students navigating food insecurity

Jasmine R. Linabary, Ziyu Long, Rebecca Rodriguez Carey, Elizabeth Wilhoit Larson, Tessa M. Hall

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Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication

Illuminating the relative dominance of awareness and pervasiveness over visibility in organizational ICT affordances

Ward van Zoonen, Ronald Rice, Anu Sivunen

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Contemporary discourse on the affordances of organizational information and communication technologies (ICTs) has largely been captivated by the allure of visibility. This article challenges that glare by elucidating the overlooked yet pivotal roles of a set of other organizational ICT affordances. Through a dominance analysis, our findings illuminate that awareness—the capacity of ICTs to link information and actors in an ongoing digital tapestry—and pervasiveness—the widespread nature, across time and space, of digital content and interactions—hold greater explanatory power compared to visibility in understanding some types of interactions fostered by ICTs (communication frequency, information-sharing quality at work [within and across departments], and identity processes [departmental and organizational]). By spotlighting the explanatory strength of affordances such as awareness and pervasiveness and somewhat dimming the role of visibility, this study urges scholars and practitioners alike to broaden their focus on the affordances of media in the digital workplace.

Adolescents’ perceptions regarding their smartphone use: longitudinal relationships between perceived digital well-being and self-esteem

Jasmina Rosič, Lara Schreurs, Laura Vandenbosch

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Adolescents perceive that they have digital well-being when smartphone use benefits outweigh the drawbacks in the social, cognitive, and emotional domains. Perceptions of digital well-being play a role in digital media effects, yet have received little research attention. This 1-year, three-wave panel study among 1,081 Slovenian adolescents investigated the reciprocal relationships between perceived digital well-being and self-esteem, with gender, parental education, and smartphone screen time as moderators. Random intercept cross-lagged panel models demonstrated a significant positive between-person relationship between perceived digital well-being in the emotional domain and self-esteem, but not for the social and cognitive domains. A positive, inconsistent within-person, cross-lagged relationship occurred between self-esteem and perceived digital well-being in the cognitive domain. Unstable differences occurred in the links between gender and the social domain and between smartphone screen time and the cognitive domain. These findings offer new insights into the debate on the effects of smartphone use.

Journal of Information Technology & Politics

Does following or engaging in online discussions trigger political participation? Results of two online experiments

Carina Weinmann, Ole Kelm, Stefan Marschall, Gerhard Vowe

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Trust in online voting under different regime settings: evidence from public opinion on online voting in national elections in Estonia and Russia

Bogdan Romanov, Valeria Babayan

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Time to politicization: the emergence and effects of politics on science YouTube videos

Aspen Omapang, Breanna Green, Chao Yu, Roxana Muenster, Drew Margolin

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Journal of Media Psychology

Metaverse-Mediated Communication

David Beyea, Maxwell Foxman, Rabindra Ratan, Brian Klebig, Alex Leith, Vivian Hsueh Hua Chen

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Learning in Virtual Reality

Zeph M. C. van Berlo, Hande Sungur, Fanni M. Gyarmati

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Abstract: This study aimed to gain an understanding of what makes learning effective in educational virtual reality (VR) experiences. By integrating insights from cognitive load theory and the limited capacity model of motivated mediated message processing, we investigated the role of different dimensions of cognitive load as potential predictors (i.e., intrinsic and extraneous load) and outcomes (i.e., germane load) of interactivity and consequently learning. A one-group pretest-posttest laboratory experiment was conducted among young adults ( N = 102). The results show that intrinsic load hinders learner-content interactions, whereas extraneous load hinders overall interactivity. However, interactivity did not affect germane load, nor was germane load found to predict learning scores. Taken together, these findings call for refinements in cognitive load theory to account for the interplay between the different types of cognitive load in VR learning environments. Furthermore, the results suggest that instructional designers should be cautious in assuming that more interactions will necessarily lead to better learning outcomes. Instead, the focus should be on facilitating high-quality learner-content interactions that are directly aligned with learning objectives.

Integrating Community-Based Participatory Research Into Immersive Narratives

Haley R. Hatfield, Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn

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Abstract: As part of a larger, years-long community-academic partnership, this study explores the integration of Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) and Systematic Representative Design (SRD) in co-designing a virtual reality (VR) narrative depicting environmental racism. Through semi-structured interviews with community partners and environmental health experts, an iterative design process refined a VR experience to ensure cultural appropriateness and narrative relevance. The findings highlight the potential of integrating CBPR and SRD approaches to create VR narratives on systemic inequities and environmental racism that are co-created with affected communities. Challenges in balancing interactivity and narrative coherence were identified, underscoring the need for ongoing community involvement and iterative refinement. This approach shifts VR design from a top-down model to one rooted in shared agency and appropriate representation, pushing the narrative’s potential for understanding lived realities shaped by systemic racism.

Is It Time for Augmented Reality Theory?

Tony Liao, Kun Xu, Spencer McLain Bennett

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Abstract: While there has been several decades of augmented reality (AR) research in terms of psychological effects and outcomes, the level of theoretical development in the AR space has been fairly limited. The manuscript identifies several factors that contribute to this, starting from the historical definitions of AR, to how it has become an umbrella term for a wide range of technologies, and how ongoing development in AR continues to stretch that definition. By understanding some of the factors that make theoretical development difficult, this article identifies some areas of media psychology theory that would be relevant to all implementations of AR as well as some contextual theories that would only be brought in with specific implementations of AR. The manuscript then advances a framework for thinking about these differences in AR implementations and theory building, whether that is to isolate specific variables and build theory in that way, combine these variables and attempt to combine/bridge theory, or identify unique features of AR that might necessitate transforming existing media theories. This article aims to help researchers understand the current state of theorization and identify certain pathways for improving theoretical development with future studies into AR media technologies.

Media Neuroscience on a Shoestring 2.0

Jorge Peña, Richard Huskey, Xuanjun Gong, Michael W. Andrews, William Weisman, Rachael Kee, Valerie Klein, Sophia Sarieva, Raymond Kang, Ralf Schmälzle, Jeffrey T. Hancock

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Abstract: This study introduces ARTgram, an AR adaptation of a validated tangram matching task, aiming to delve into human collaboration within the metaverse. By employing the Muse EEG system, this study also pioneers low-cost hyperscanning to investigate similar neural responses expressed during the course of an AR cooperative task. Results demonstrate that tangram performance and partner trust increase as a function of neural similarities among interacting participants. These results signal a promise for low-cost hyperscanning in naturalistic AR communication. By validating various hyperscanning preprocessing routines and offering a high-control yet naturalistic AR task, this project sets the groundwork for theoretical and methodological advancements in understanding metaverse-mediated human interaction.

Exploring the Unique Effects of Virtual and Mixed Reality on Students’ Science Learning Intentions

Mincheol Shin, Heejae Lee

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Abstract: While the application of virtual reality (VR) and mixed reality (MR) technologies to enhance learning motivation in science education remains a hot topic that garners significant interest from scholars, there is a paucity of studies addressing whether and how VR or MR may be more effective in motivating students’ learning intention. Accordingly, the current study investigates the distinctive effects of VR and MR on students’ learning intention through the theoretical lenses of plausibility illusion and enjoyment. Employing a within-subject design experiment ( N = 71), the current research explores whether and how the learning experience of the solar system, either via VR or MR headsets, may impact students’ intention to learn using VR or MR. We posited that the sense of plausibility illusion and enjoyment will serially mediate the impact of XR modality (VR vs. MR) on students’ learning intention. Results from a two-condition within-subjects mediation analysis confirmed the significant mediating effects of plausibility illusion and enjoyment on the relationship between XR modality and learning intention. By exploring the differences in the structural affordances of VR and MR technologies, this study provides insights into understanding the distinctive roles of VR and MR technologies on students’ learning intentions.

#Crowded Conversations: The Impact of Diverse Audiences on Belongingness, Distinctiveness, and Authenticity

Anjelica M. Martinez, Meghan A. Crabtree, David R. Pillow

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Abstract: Interpersonal communication has dramatically evolved from real-life to online interactions through social media networks. With this structure comes questions regarding how the online format and the large, varied audiences of generated content influence self-presentation and identity need satisfaction. This study examines the relationship between audience variability and sense of authenticity when online and assesses the mediational roles of belongingness and distinctiveness. Participants ( N = 545) were prescribed eight identities and answered questions regarding each identity and identity-related perceived variability in their social network audiences on platforms that included Facebook, Instagram, and X. Using multilevel modeling that focused on within-person, identity-level relations, audience diversity was found to relate positively to distinctiveness and negatively to belongingness. In turn, belongingness and distinctiveness were positively associated with online authenticity, confirming the hypothesized mediational paths. This relation was not found between-persons. Supplemental analyses indicated that X-users report the highest levels of distinctiveness and belongingness. The study has implications for understanding how individuals negotiate multiple identities across various platforms.

Journal of Social and Personal Relationships

Perceiving and responding to another’s interest in initiating friendship: The role of attachment insecurity

Lindsey A. Beck, Oriana R. Aragón, Margaret S. Clark

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The present research examines two early steps in friendship initiation: (1) Perceiving potential friends’ interest, and (2) responding to that interest. We also consider how attachment insecurity might create challenges with these steps. In Study 1, two unacquainted participants briefly interacted, then reported their own interest in friendship and their perceptions of the other person’s interest in friendship. People generally underestimated others’ interest, yet they also projected their own interest onto others and reciprocated others’ interest. Avoidantly-attached individuals were especially likely to underestimate others’ interest. They were also less interested in others, regardless of others’ interest; this link was mediated by lower perceptions of others’ interest. Anxiously-attached individuals’ interest was not associated with others’ interest. In Study 2, participants interacted with a potential friend (a confederate) who expressed experimentally-manipulated interest or disinterest in friendship. Avoidantly-attached individuals felt more hostility in response to disinterest than did others; anxiously-attached individuals felt more fear in response to interest than did others. We discuss how attachment insecurity might impede friendship initiation at its earliest stages.

Clarifying labels, constructs, and definitions: Sibling aggression and abuse are family violence

Corinna Jenkins Tucker, Tanya Rouleau Whitworth, David Finkelhor

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Research on aggressive and abusive sibling dynamics has grown significantly but is characterized by a disjointed literature, confusion about the identification of harmful behaviors, and missed opportunities for increasing awareness and prevention and intervention activities. This paper proposes several important suggestions about the classification and differentiation of sibling aggression. First, there is a level of sibling aggression that merits the terminology of sibling abuse and is on a par with the severity of child abuse and spousal abuse within the larger rubric of family violence. Sibling abuse should be characterized as relationships involving repetitive ongoing emotional and physical violence, in a context of power imbalance, with signs of harm and intimidation. Second, there should be another category of sibling aggression that does not rise to the level of abuse, but still merits active intervention and repair. This is termed destructive conflict, which can be divided into mild and severe sub-categories. Severe destructive conflict entails aggression that is likely mutual and includes objects as weapons, injury, or threats of serious injury. In addition, we distinguish two categories that we would categorize as non-pathological: rivalry and constructive conflict. We assert that efforts to apply bullying terminology to sibling aggression have some important drawbacks and should be avoided. Research is needed to help confirm the utility of a classification of this sort. The proposed classification could enhance the cohesiveness of the research literature and lead to changes in professional practice, which often lacks training and access to evidence-based guidelines on sibling dynamics.

Different by definition: First generation college graduates’ perceptions of family marginalization, resilience, and flourishing in adulthood

Elizabeth Dorrance-Hall, Yue Zhang, Brooke H. Wolfe, Mengyan Ma, Wenyuan Li, Raine Kuch, Xiaoran Cui, America L. Edwards

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First-generation college graduates (FGCGs) are inherently different from their family members, due to their unique educational achievement (i.e. having graduated from college). FGCGs may experience family member marginalization, or the communication of difference, disapproval, or exclusion to one or more family members due to their status as “different” from the rest of the family. This study aims to understand the role of family member marginalization in FGCGs’ perceptions of resilience and flourishing in adulthood. Participants ( N = 275, 51.6% men, 69.8% White) were based in the U.S. Findings indicate that FGCGs’ perceptions of resilience mediated the negative relationship between family member marginalization and flourishing. Moreover, perceptions of friend support availability moderated the relationship between family member marginalization and resilience, but community support did not. Despite the negative role family member marginalization seems to play, on average FGCGs reported high levels of both resilience and flourishing. Theoretical implications for scholars interested in resilience and family distancing are discussed along with practical implications for FGCGs, student support services, and family members.

Actual-ideal discrepancy and intention to change behavior on communication about conflict in close relationships: A within-person experiment

Kyosuke Kakinuma, Keise Izuma

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When people experience conflicts between their ideal standards and their partner’s actual state, they often resolve conflict through communication. Numerous observational studies suggest that direct regulation attempts (e.g., requesting one’s partner to change) are positively associated with the behavior change of the target partner. However, previous research using between-person and correlational designs has provided limited evidence. Moreover, the psychological components of partner regulation that affect targets’ intentions and behavior remain unclear. Therefore, we employed a within-person experimental paradigm to rigorously test targets’ psychological processes underlying interpersonal conflict resolution through communication. This focused on the discrepancy between targets’ actual states and requesters’ ideals. In the paradigm, we systematically manipulated targets’ perceived discrepancy. In our experiment (N = 78 couples), targets were asked to rate the actual frequency of 40–80 important actions, and requesters were asked to rate the ideal frequency of the targets’ actions. These actions were then randomly assigned to either the discrepancy feedback or no-feedback condition. Results showed that, in the feedback condition, discrepancies were positively associated with targets’ intentions to improve their behavior (but not with behavioral changes). These findings suggest that although people can facilitate their partners’ intention to change important actions by simply communicating their ideals, they must make additional efforts (e.g., suggesting a solution and promoting prospective memory) to get their partners to execute the intention. This study provides critical insight into the psychological process underlying conflict resolution in close relationships using a within-person experiment.

Perceived partner responsiveness across the transition to parenthood: The role of attachment insecurity

Georgia Kouri, Nadine Messerli-Bürgy, Nathalie Meuwly, Marianne Richter, Dominik Schoebi

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During challenging periods like the transition to parenthood, support from one’s partner becomes of vital importance for maintaining a healthy relationship. Responsiveness describes that relationship partners attend to and react in a supportive manner to one’s disclosed concerns and feelings in times of need. Perceived partner responsiveness occurs when one partner acts in a way that the other partner perceives as responsive to his or her needs, conveying understanding, validation, and care. However, such perceptions are highly subjective and shaped by attachment orientations of the perceiver, especially during challenging times. Besides, when partner behavior is perceived as responsive, this can also be beneficial for the relationship and promote a sense of security. The current study examined whether attachment insecurities predicted changes of perceived partner responsiveness across the transition to parenthood, and whether perceived partner responsiveness predicted changes in attachment orientations across time. We investigated changes in perceived responsiveness in 120 mixed-gender couples across the transition to parenthood over four different time points (during pregnancy, 6 months, 12 months, and 18 months after the birth of their first child). The results suggest that although perceived responsiveness increased during the transition to parenthood, the increase was significantly less strong in individuals who scored higher in attachment insecurities. Additionally, examination of changes in attachment orientations shows significantly less increases of attachment insecurities when individuals perceived their partner’s responsiveness across the transition to parenthood.

Can I trust you? Bidirectional, longitudinal associations between trust and various topics of couple communication

Ashley Forbush, Ashley B. LeBaron-Black, Matthew T. Saxey, Sofia Suxo-Sanchez, Erin K. Holmes, Jeremy Yorgason

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Trust and communication are both vital elements of successful couple relationships. Despite scholars positing that a sense of trust and quality communication could influence each other over time, few studies have sought to test these assumptions. The current study used a nationally representative sample of 2,168 couples to examine the bidirectional associations between trust and different communication topics across several years during the newlywed period. Specifically, three separate actor-partner interdependence (APIM) cross-lagged panel models were conducted to test the bidirectional effects between trust and general relationship communication, sexual communication, and financial communication. The results revealed bidirectional effects between trust and general relationship communication and financial communication across seven years. Different patterns emerged between trust and sexual communication, as it appeared that trust primarily predicted greater quality sexual communication across the first several years of marriage. This pattern then changed around Wave 5, where sexual communication started to predict trust more consistently. These findings emphasize the importance of both effective communication and a sense of trust across the first several years of marriage and especially underscore the salient nature of trust for quality sexual communication to take place.

Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly

News #foryou on TikTok: A Digital Methods-Based Study

Jonathan Hendrickx

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TikTok is rapidly establishing itself as an important platform for contemporary digital journalism but explorations on its transnational journalistic usage thus far remain limited in size and scope. Hence, this explorative study adopts a digital methods approach to collect and assess 26,473 TikTok videos posted by 91 European news outlets between 2019 and 2022. Rooted conceptually in affordance and hybridity theory and methodologically in digital methods, the study theorizes digital production trends by drawing on a proposed typology of visual, hashtags, and auditory affordances. News outlets studied adhere to visual and hashtag affordances, but much less so to auditory ones.

How the Engagement Journalism Movement Is Changing Political News Content: An Applied-Research Study

Sue Robinson, Margarita Orozco, Joshua P. Darr

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Our multi-methodological, multi-university team was hired to evaluate whether news outlets participating in substantive training in journalism engagement and solutions-oriented practices were also changing their content. Analyzing a large dataset of political stories published by these journalists, we employed both quantitative and qualitative techniques to find significant differences between 2018, 2020, and 2022 political coverage: fewer horse-race (game) framed stories, more content considered to be “engaged,” more transparent stories, and somewhat of a boost in solutions-oriented content. This work documents and measures these content changes, adding to a burgeoning body of scholarship about engagement and solutions journalism.

Exploring an Alternative Computational Approach for News Framing Analysis Through Community Detection in Framing Element Networks

Yanru Jiang, Sha Lai, Lei Guo, Prakash Ishwar, Derry Wijaya, Margrit Betke

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This study introduces the “framing element” method, an alternative approach to computational news framing detection. Rooted in a constructionist framing analysis framework, it identifies frames as packages of framing elements, including actors (individuals and organizations) and topics, extending beyond topic-focused methods in prior unsupervised analyses. Compared with latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA)- and Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT)-based approaches on 1,300 U.S. gun violence news articles, this method addresses LDA’s limitations by focusing on high-level framing elements rather than keywords and is less labor-intensive than BERT-based supervised learning. Supporting both inductive and deductive analyses, it achieves comparable results to LDA while uncovering a previously unidentified gun violence frame.

Journalism Studies

The Impacts of Hedge Fund Ownership on the Role of Journalism in Democracy through the Lens of Media Management

Qian Yu

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True Crime Podcasting as Journalistic Heterodoxy: Boundary Practices and Journalistic Epistemology of a Heretic Interloper

Phoebe Maares, Gregory Perreault

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Anytime, Anyplace? The Context-Dependency of News Podcast Use

Tim Groot Kormelink, Brendan Hadden, Doortje Linssen, Elisabetta Santangelo, Frédérique Blaauw, Lisa Kiewiet, Pepijn Keppel

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Unpacking Algorithmic News Engagement: How News Values Shape Audience Behaviors on Chinese TikTok (Douyin)

Jinhui Li, Wen Shi

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Victims of Islamist and Right-Wing Terrorism in the Press: Identifiability and Humanization

Helena Knupfer, Ruta Kaskeleviciute, Jörg Matthes, Hendrik van Scharrel

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Why We Need Journalism? A Response to Why Pursue a Career in Journalism

Valérie Bélair-Gagnon

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Media and Communication

The Fact-Checking Initiatives in the EU: A Diverse Ecosystem Against Disinformation

Mar García-Gordillo, Rubén Rivas-de-Roca, Mathias-Felipe De-Lima-Santos

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Disinformation in Europe is a significant challenge to democracy. The pan-European conversation faces a landscape dominated by misleading or false information targeting the EU. In response, various public institutions have been promoting fact-checking initiatives. Our research analyzes the fact-checking initiatives developed by these institutions at national and regional levels. This study identifies and describes organizations ranging from dedicated initiatives, such as VerificaRTVE in Spain and ARD-Faktenfinder in Germany, to news media and fact-checking platforms funded by public money. Our analysis is based on nine semi-structured interviews with professionals conducting fact-checking across the EU. We explored topics such as content selection criteria, audience involvement, collaboration with stakeholders, dissemination practices, and the evolving role of AI in supporting these activities. Results highlight a growing number of fact-checking initiatives, particularly those associated with public service media, with AI increasingly integrated into their operations. However, our findings also reveal concerns related to the pace of digital transformation and limited resources. This research provides insights into the future of fact-checking in Europe, where public fact-checking efforts and media literacy initiatives remain underdeveloped. Our study contributes to ongoing discussions about the creation of a robust European Public Sphere, arguing that public institutions can play a pivotal role in mitigating disinformation within a shared space for democratic deliberation.

Redefining Televisuality: Programmes, Practices, Methods

Susanne Eichner, Lothar Mikos

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no abstract provided

When Latin American melodrama meets Nordic Noir: how SVOD reshapes Chilean TV fiction

Consuelo Ábalos

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This article focuses on the case of 42 days of darkness (2022), the first Netflix Original production in Chile, produced without the participation of any local broadcast channel, nor did it count on contributions from state funds. Although local industry had already ventured into the detective genre based on local crimes, Netflix's first production adopted narratives and visual motifs to better accommodate the new media landscape. In this case, the strategy was to embrace the global popularity that Nordic Noir has acquired. Combining industry analysis based on press interviews with key informants of the production process, as well as textual analysis of the six episodes of the series, we identified melancholic elements as visual motifs that are associated with the Scandinavian genre. We conclude that one of Netflix's main strategies in this project was to mix predominating genre in the region´s audiovisual content, Latin American melodrama, and successfully combined it with Nordic Noir, which has had great acceptance in the international market. The entry of SVOD giants in small industries such as Chile can cause huge impact on the televisuality of its contents. These changes can create attractive and recognizable TV series aimed at audiences used to hybrid glocal narratives and energize the local audiovisual production industry. But at the same time, they might also potentially lead to homogenizing content and devoid it from its cultural identity.

Reversing the Privatisation of the Public Sphere: Democratic Alternatives to the EU’s Regulation of Disinformation

Alvaro Oleart, Julia Rone

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The emergence of social media companies, and the spread of disinformation as a result of their “surveillance capitalist” business model, has opened wide political and regulatory debates across the globe. The EU has often positioned itself as a normative leader and standard-setter, and has increasingly attempted to assert its sovereignty in relation to social media platforms. In the first part of this article, we argue that the EU has achieved neither sovereignty nor normative leadership: Existing regulations on disinformation in fact have missed the mark since they fail to challenge social media companies’ business models and address the underlying causes of disinformation. This has been the result of the EU increasingly “outsourcing” regulation of disinformation to corporate platforms. If disinformation is not simply a “bug” in the system, but a feature of profit-driven platforms, public–private cooperation emerges as part of the problem rather than a solution. In the second part, we outline a set of priorities to imagine alternatives to current social media monopolies and discuss what could be the EU’s role in fostering them. We argue that alternatives ought to be built decolonially and across the stack, and that the democratisation of technology cannot operate in isolation from a wider socialist political transformation of the EU and beyond.

Detecting Covid-19 Fake News on Twitter/X in French: Deceptive Writing Strategies

Ming Ming Chiu, Alex Morakhovski, Zhan Wang, Jeong-Nam Kim

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Many who believed Covid-19 fake news eschewed vaccines, masks, and social distancing; got unnecessarily infected; and died. To detect such fake news, we follow deceptive writing theory and link French hedges and modals to validity. As hedges indicate uncertainty, fake news writers can use it to include falsehoods while shifting responsibility to the audience. Whereas devoir (must) emphasizes certainty and truth, falloir (should, need) implies truth but emphasizes external factors, allowing writers to shirk responsibility. Pouvoir (can) indicates possibility, making it less tied to truth or falsehood. We tested this model with 50,000 French tweets about Covid-19 during March–August 2020 via mixed response analysis. Tweets with hedges or the modal falloir were more likely than others to be false, those with devoir were more likely to be true, and those with pouvoir showed no clear link to truth. Tweets of users with verification, more followers, or fewer status updates were more likely to be true. These results extend deceptive writing theory and inform fake news detection algorithms and media literacy instruction.

Easy to Snack – Hard to Digest? Strategies of Dis/Array in Streaming, Social Media, and Television

Kim Carina Hebben, Christine Piepiorka

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In the digital age, the television landscape is profoundly expanded and dispersed across multiple media, introducing new paradigms of (post-)televisuality shaped by its constant digital transformation. Television content is distributed across digital platforms that fundamentally change its consumption practices. Through its fragmentation and digitization, television is breaking down into snippets – short, engaging pieces of media – that provide a dynamic, customizable, and “snackable” viewing experience. As a result, not only is there a shift in how content is viewed, but there is also a shift in how content is produced. Social media platforms and their algorithms have emerged as central to this transformation, facilitating the dissemination and discovery of television content in unprecedented ways. Platforms like Instagram and TikTok are not just venues for discussion and sharing but are also directly influencing the digital transformation of television. While specific essential characteristics define television (such as its seriality, scheduling, or formats), the digital transformation emerging from the Internet is disrupting the medium and requiring (or even demanding) participatory modifications based on experimenting with different forms of media so that television gets expanded, explored, manipulated, and played with by consuming snackable content bit by bit. By analyzing current trends and audience behaviors, this paper reveals how snippets, social media, and algorithms contribute to the transformation of television.

Beyond the Dutch Quota: Dutch Television Industry Shifts and VoD Fiction Diversity between 2013-2023

Berber Hagedoorn

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Starting January 1, 2024, a new Dutch investment regulation requires that streaming services with annual revenues exceeding 10 million euros invest 5% of their turnover in Dutch content production. This regulation aligns with similar obligations previously implemented in European countries like France, Germany, and Italy. These countries established tax-based investment requirements for international streaming platforms before the revision of the EU's Audiovisual Media Service Directive (AVMSD) in 2018, which introduced a 30% European content quota for Subscription Video on Demand (SVoD) streaming platforms and allowed member states to impose investment obligations to support local industries. Thirteen European countries have adopted such revenue-based obligations for SVoDs. Our article situates the Netherlands as a small production country and a so-called 'country of origin' for multinational SVoD providers, particularly Netflix. It contextualises the Dutch investment obligation within the evolving European media landscape, the VoD market, and shifts in diversity and inclusion in Dutch VoD fiction productions from 2013 to 2023. By critically analysing policy frameworks and production numbers from both international (Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+) and domestic platforms (Videoland, NPO Start), we assess production trends by type and genre over this period. The primary research question addressed is: How was diversity represented in local Dutch SVoD content across fiction genres from 2013 to 2023, prior to the implementation of the investment regulation? Our findings aim to shed light on the state of Dutch local VoD production and the potential impact of the investment obligation on enhancing cultural diversity in Dutch television series.

Spreading False Content in Political Campaigns: Disinformation in the 2024 European Parliament Elections

Andreu Casero-Ripollés, Laura Alonso-Muñoz, Diana Moret-Soler

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Electoral campaigns are one of the key moments of democracy. In recent times, the circulation of disinformation has increased during these periods. This phenomenon has serious consequences for democratic health since it can alter the behaviour and decisions of voters. This research aims to analyse the features of this phenomenon during the 2024 European Parliament elections in a comparative way. The applied methodology is based on quantitative content analysis. The sample (N = 278) comprises false information verified by 52 European fact-checking agencies about the campaign for the European elections in 20 EU countries. The analysis model includes variables such as time-period, country, propagator platform, topic, and the type of disinformation. The results show that the life cycle of electoral disinformation goes beyond the closing of the polls assuming a permanent nature. In addition, national environments condition the profiles of this question, which is more intense in Southern and Eastern Europe. Furthermore, although multiple channels are involved, digital platforms with weak ties are predominant in disseminating hoaxes. Finally, migration and electoral integrity are the predominant topics. This favours the circulation of an issue central to the far-right agenda and aims to discredit elections and their mechanisms to undermine democracy. These findings establish the profiles of this problem and generate knowledge to design public policies that combat electoral false content more effectively.

Transformation of digital TV news content. Romanian televisuality in the post-broadcast era

Andreea Mogos, Constantin Trofin

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The current Romanian television landscape presents an unusual abundance of 24-hour news channels that emerged in the 2000s. As these media still play a central role in the public sphere, the media logics (technologies, formats, genres, norms) followed by prominent Romanian news TV channels need to be discussed in relation to the growing influence of digital and social media, because in this hybrid media system, power is exercised by those who are able to create “information flows across and between a range of older and newer media settings” (Chadwick, 2013:207) The current study aims to analyze how traditional news media logics are merged with new televisual practices, by thoroughly examining how TV formats and visual conventions changed during the past years, under the influence of digital technologies, social media and the Covid19 pandemic. The textual analysis of prime time talk show programmes broadcast by the most popular Romanian news TV channels (RomâniaTV, Antena 3 CNN, Digi24, Realitatea Plus) focuses on news programs formats and their respective translation into audiovisual language (mise-en-scène, image, sound, image-text relation). The results are in line with the literature that states that in the context of news, both visual and textual codes and conventions are used in specific programme formats to create a convincing representation of reality (Bignell & Woods, 2022), displaying mainly a fractioned visual signature, focused on figures of authority (academics, analysts, political figures), in order to emphasize the credibility of the news programs.

Post-Truth Politics in Action? Representation of the Media in Spanish Radical Parties’ Electoral Campaigns

Taru Haapala, Juan Roch

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Recent research on the EU institutional response to post-truth politics has shown a gradual shift of focus from external threats to internal democratic challenges, including populist parties and elections. The case of Spain is particularly relevant as the country’s “disinformation landscape” has been assessed as exhibiting “acute political and media polarisation” originating from weak media regulation and changes in political and media environments. Furthermore, the Spanish media landscape is characterised by high levels of media ownership concentration with a lack of transparency regarding media influence on governments and politicians. In this context, this article examines how Spanish left and right radical parties discursively constructed media elites for their political purposes and the (potential) evolution of their electoral campaign discourse in 2019 and 2024. We expect that the increasingly central role of the debate on digital regulation at the EU level and the context of post-truth politics more broadly serve as a new ground for radical parties with a populist discourse to de-legitimise mainstream media. The primary sources of the study include the left-wing (Unidas Podemos/Sumar) and the right-wing (Vox) party leader campaign speeches and manifestos in national and EU elections in 2019 and 2024. Our findings show that, when it comes to European elections, the Spanish populist discourse has an increasing trend towards the inclusion of more transnational discourses on media and media elites, especially regarding disinformation and post-truth, although with significant differences between the left and the right.

Reinforcing or Rethinking? What do News Consumers Want from Journalism in the Post-Truth Era?

Martin Moland, Jacopo Custodi, Hans-Jörg Trenz

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Policymakers and news producers have long grappled with the challenges that fake news and misinformation pose to quality journalism. This has given rise to an extensive body of literature, covering various aspects from the characteristics of fake news to strategies for addressing it. However, the preferences of news consumers regarding the future of journalism and their views on how journalistic commitment to truth can best be maintained remain relatively overlooked in scholarly research. This article utilizes primary data from a survey (N = 4,521) fielded in Norway, Italy, and Poland in 2023 to show that, even in contemporary media environments, people continue to regard traditional journalistic ideals as the normative goals for future journalism. This suggests that journalists in an age of post-truth should focus less on rethinking journalism and more on adhering to its traditional goals of unbiased dissemination of facts.

Personal Relationships

Investigating the Association Between Companionship and Behavior Concordance: A Dyadic Panel Study

Patrick S. Höhener, Janina Lüscher, Robert Tobias, Pascal Küng, Urte Scholz

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Partners in romantic relationships influence each other's behaviors through various social exchange processes. One underexplored process that is assumed to be relevant for couples' behaviors is companionship. Companionship is defined as experiencing pleasurable social interactions or engaging in shared activities for the purpose of having an enjoyable time. This study investigated how companionship is associated with physical activity and behavior concordance in physical activity (i.e., similarity in partners' physical activity) in romantic couples. A total of N = 5377 couples ( M age = 66.80; SD age = 11.05) from the US‐based Health and Retirement Study completed four measurement points across 6 years. Multilevel response surface analysis was used to analyze the association between companionship and physical activity. There was a positive linear association between companionship and physical activity in mixed‐gender couples. However, this association disappeared when controlling for covariates (i.e., education, race, household wealth, body mass index, age, health status, and relationship quality). There was no evidence of an association between companionship and behavior concordance. Future research should investigate short‐term dynamics and the direction of causality for the association between companionship and behaviors of interest.

A Latent Profile Analysis of Reasons for Cohabitation

Emily T. Beauparlant, Xiangjing Kong, Laura V. Machia

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We used latent profile analysis to further understand the heterogeneity of individuals' reasons for cohabitation. Using two samples of cohabitors ( N = 563), we measured the extent to which cohabitors endorsed three reasons for cohabiting (time together, testing, and convenience). We identified six profiles: low levels of time together and testing and an average level of convenience (Profile 1; moderately convenience‐driven), high levels of time together and low levels of testing and convenience (Profile 2; time together‐driven), an average level of testing and low levels of time together and convenience (Profile 3; moderately testing‐driven), high levels of convenience and testing, and an average level of time together (Profile 4; convenience and testing‐driven), a high level of convenience and average levels of time together and testing (Profile 5; highly convenience‐driven), and high levels of all three reasons (Profile 6; all reasons‐driven). We found that profile membership was associated with commitment, satisfaction, and ambivalence but not conflict. We also explored whether demographic characteristics were associated with profile membership and found that relationship length at the start of cohabitation and income were significantly associated with profile membership. The current research provides important nuance to the literature on reasons for cohabitation and relationship quality.

Political Communication

Migrating a Flock of Outsiders: Platform Affordances and Political Goals in the Chilean Constitutional Reform

Karen Gheza, Marcelo Santos, Sebastián Rivera

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Public Relations Review

Does quality matter? Understanding quality of communication consulting from a client and consultant perspective

Daniel Ziegele, Caroline Siegel, Ansgar Zerfass

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The complicity of corporate sustainability on social issues: Investigating the mediating roles of valence and perceived authenticity

Juan Liu, Lingling Zhang

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The National Association of Manufacturers World War II campaign: A historical case study on power, ideology, and discourse

Bill Anderson

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Channeling passion: Social media influencers as organizational listening agents

Hanna Reinikainen, Taina Erkkilä

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Public Understanding of Science

A citizen-centred approach to public engagement on the ethical, legal and societal issues of health technologies

Chloé Mayeur, Heidi Carmen Howard, Wannes Van Hoof

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Public engagement in health technologies continuously expands thanks to increased recognition and financial support. Yet, the lack of a shared definition and standards enables practitioners to conduct initiatives in ways that prioritise their self-interests over the empowerment of citizens. Experts and policymakers generally design engagement initiatives following rigid protocols to fit their agenda, limiting the influence of citizens upstream. In reaction to this and as an attempt to disambiguate public engagement from an ethical perspective, we investigate its intrinsic value. Starting from the assumption that public engagement must primarily empower citizens and not those who already have enough power to make their voices heard, we argue that the more the engagement process puts citizens at the centre, the more the engagement practice becomes valuable regardless of the methods used. To make the citizen-centred approach a reality, we suggest ethical principles that practitioners could apply across the spectrum of engagement.

Social Media + Society

Platform Fandom: Weverse and the Technological Domestication of Fan Community

Grant Bollmer, Bethany Tillerson

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This article is a critical examination of the social media platform Weverse and its associated e-commerce platform Weverse Shop, platforms developed and operated by the Korean entertainment conglomerate Hybe Corporation. Hybe, perhaps best known for being the corporation that manages the K-pop group BTS, uses Weverse to promote and control economic and affective bonds between popular performers and audiences. This article argues that Weverse represents a type of platform that negotiates other models emerging from American and Chinese contexts, advancing Korean corporate interests through the harnessing of integrated fan activities. The use of platform technologies to administer the relations between commodified musical products, stars, and fans represents the emergence of what we term platform fandom . Platform fandom, we argue, is a corporatized technical relation designed to foster affective attachments between fans and stars, negotiating global audiences in which fan communities lose geographic specificity and, consequently, an ability to cohere through the negotiation of inclusion and exclusion of members. This article uses Weverse as a case to examine the intersection of globalized cultural production and entertainment, problems of global fandoms, and the use of social media platforms to manage and mitigate against the seeming risks fans provide for both corporate idols and corporate investments in cultural products.

Southern Communication Journal

Finding Community and Supportive Communication: Deaf Clubs as a Source of Social Support

Renca Dunn

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Telematics and Informatics

When and why algorithmic control leads to app-based gig workers’ deviant work behaviour in China: A mixed-methods study in the food delivery sector

Ming Chi, Yongshun Xu, Yihao Yang

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