I checked 55 communication journals on Friday, October 10, 2025 using the Crossref API. For the period October 03 to October 09, I found 79 new paper(s) in 29 journal(s).

Communication Methods and Measures

Beyond the binary? Automated gender classification of social media profiles
Miriam Siemon
Full text

Communication Studies

Revisiting Identity Cues and Helpfulness Heuristics in Online Learning: Does Knowing Who Helps Matter?
Xialing Lin, Kenneth A. Lachlan, Stephen A. Spates, Patric R. Spence, Renee Kaufmann, Bumju Jung
Full text
“So This is Why I Look the Way I Do”: Identity Bridging Responses After Taking DNA-Based Ancestry Tests
Dani S. Kvam, Angela L. Putman
Full text

Communication Theory

Dynamic age-group dissociation: older adults’ engagement with age stereotypes in hybrid media environments
Yirui Jiang, Yujun Lin
Full text
The media portray older adults stereotypically, making it critical to study the influence of different media forms’ portrayals on age stereotypes. This study advances dynamic age-group dissociation as a novel theoretical framework, integrating social identity, self-categorization, meta-stereotype, and communication accommodation theories to explore how older Chinese adults navigate conflicting age portrayals across hybrid media ecosystems. Through in-depth interviews with 15 retirees, findings reveal that both traditional media and social media simultaneously reinforce positive and negative age-related stereotypes. Older adults actively negotiate their self-perception, selectively aligning with or distancing from these portrayals based on their lived experiences and cultural norms. These findings illuminate the intersectional influence of media on identity construction, with significant implications for communication theory.

Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies

Book Review: Inequalities in Platform Publishing ParnellClaire. Inequalities in Platform Publishing . Amherst, Mass: University of Massachusetts Press. 202 pp. ISBN 9781625349057 (Paperback)
Rachel Noorda
Full text
Big data audiences: Critical approaches to the datafication of audience ontologies in contemporary media industries
Jennifer Hessler, Elliot Montpellier
Full text
The current transformations in how audiences are datafied, including how that data is then traded and sold, used in various algorithms and AI models, and executed on to shape our media ecosystems, necessitate renewed frameworks for conceptualizing these datafied audience ontologies, which we refer to in this issue as ‘big data audiences’. Big data audiences are the lifeblood of the contemporary digital media ecosystem, with significant epistemic and cultural consequences that social scientists and humanists have not sufficiently grappled with. While political economy remains central to understanding the contemporary contexts of audience datafication, this issue demonstrates how theories and methods from the domains of social and humanistic research are equally essential for conceptualizing big data audiences. The issue brings together a range of methodological approaches and aims to catalyze critical media scholarship on audiences that explores the industrial and cultural aspects of datafied audience ontologies in media industries big and small across the globe.
The ratings panel from participation to personification: Nielsen and the big-data reconfiguration of the audience
Jennifer Hessler
Full text
The defining feature of the Nielsen ratings has always been that they derive from a statistically sampled panel of viewers. Even amid the firm’s turn to a panel/big data-integrated currency, Nielsen claims its viewer panel is the thing that sets them apart from their third-party competitors because of its capacity to ground and calibrate the disarray of platform-derived proprietary data. In this article, I discuss Nielsen’s new panel/big data integrated currency, which integrates viewer-panel data and big data with AI modeling to create a composite of US viewership. More specifically, I analyze how Nielsen has discursively reframed the value of their viewer panel in terms of its capacity to assist data personification. The word ‘personification’ describes the process of mapping human qualities back onto big data via machine learning systems. In reality, the process of personification scales and abstracts data in such a way that the output no longer bares a direct tie to a person. To illustrate the socio-cultural stakes of this, I detail three of the machine learning processes that Nielsen characterizes as ‘personification’: ID Graphing, Demographic Modelling, and Scaling Persona Profiles. I also analyze the particularly neo-liberal rhetorical work that Nielsen does to mythologize these AI processes of personification as socially beneficial.
The enduring schism between culture and technique: Historical (dis)continuities between the Daguerreotype and Generative AI
Claudio Celis Bueno, Steve Jankowski, Jakko Kemper
Full text
This article contends that the promises and perils that people ascribe to so-called generative AI are in fact not so singular and that the debates around AI and the arts can be situated within a longer discursive lineage. We claim that antithetical responses to emerging new media historically tend to activate a perceived schism between culture and technique. As such, whenever a new technology appears to impact the artistic process, there is a tendency to present human culture as a constellation of specific friction-laden tasks that should either be protected from or supplanted by technology. To support this claim, we engage in a ‘topos study’ ( Huhtamo, 1997 ) to compare current discourses on the effects of generative AI on the arts with debates about the relationship between media and art that took place nearly two hundred years ago: François Arago’s 1839 report on the daguerreotype and Charles Baudelaire’s 1859 denunciation of photography. We identify four recurring topological commonplaces – usefulness of a new medium for the arts , democratization through technological means , antagonism between industrialization and art , and the impoverishment of artistic imagination , and argue that, when combined, they contain discursive contradictions about friction and frictionlessness that historically define the meanings ascribed to technology and its impact on the realm of culture.

Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking

OVER-LON: Overview Virtual Effect for Relieving LONeliness
Elisa Rabarbari, Giulia Magni, Claudia Repetto, Giuseppe Riva
Full text
PAVE: Planning Assessment in a Virtual Environment for Evaluating Executive Functions in the Elderly
Eleonora Noselli, Irene Alice Chicchi Giglioli, Elena Sajno, Giuseppe Riva
Full text

Digital Journalism

Aspirational Metajournalism: What Nieman Journalism Lab Predictions Reveal About Platform and Audience Imaginaries
Gregory P. Perreault, Jacob L. Nelson
Full text
Connecting to Local Publics Through Media: An in-Depth Study of Local Media Use and Public Connection
Anna GrĂžndahl Larsen
Full text

Environmental Communication

The Role of Emotion in Climate Change Communication
Laura Thomas-Walters, Matthew H. Goldberg, Elisa Tedaldi, Kei Kohmoto, Seth A. Rosenthal, Anthony Leiserowitz
Full text
The Dzanga-Sangha Rainforest Argument: Legal Concessions, Scientific Expertise, & Emotional Labor Memories
T. Jake Dionne
Full text

European Journal of Communication

From trailblazers to tortoises: How Europe's regional public service broadcasters approach innovation
JosĂ© RĂșas-AraĂșjo, TalĂ­a RodrĂ­guez-Martelo, Marius Dragomir
Full text
Regional broadcast media comprises a substantial sector across Europe, encompassing thousands of players and drawing on considerable public funds. Yet, as the media landscape becomes an increasingly crowded field and the competitive heat from tech giants ratchets up, the need for media companies to sharpen their edge will only intensify. Gaining that competitive vantage requires embracing innovative practices and business models—especially as the relentless wave of innovation, often bankrolled by large tech corporations, continues to wash over the industry. Drawing on insights from interviews with representatives of member organizations under CIRCOM-Regional, Europe's largest association of regional broadcasters, this article sheds light on how regional public service media grapple with innovation. Despite widespread awareness of its significance, the findings suggest that many regional broadcasters lag behind in fully embracing the concept. Only a rare few boast dedicated teams or resources for innovation. In most cases, progress is driven through technological enhancements and organizational openness, while strategic policies and long-term investment plans often fall by the wayside.

Howard Journal of Communications

“Big Butt Ideology”: Digital Gaze and Evolving Normative Beauty Constructs for Black Women
Quindelda McElroy
Full text
Health Communication as Capability: Gig Workers’ Freedoms Through Sen’s Approach
Pooja Kalbalia, Kailash Koushik
Full text

Information Technology & People

Workplace fear of missing out, organizational support and performance: the mediating role of work-related social media use
Rahul Bodhi, Ward van Zoonen
Full text
Purpose The study aims to examine the correlates of work-related social media use. Specifically, it investigates the role of work-related social media use (WRSMU) and frequency of social media use (FSMU) in the relationship between workplace fear of missing out (FoMO), organizational support, innovative performance, and routine performance at the workplace. Design/methodology/approach A sample of 245 employees from India working in various organizations. The data were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Findings The findings indicate that work-related social media use has a positive and significant association with innovative and routine performance. Additionally, organizational support is positively and significantly associated with work-related social media use and performance. Workplace fear of missing out is positively associated with work-related social media use, but not with performance. The mediation analysis showed that work-related social media use mediates between workplace FoMO and performance, and organizational support and performance. Furthermore, moderation analysis revealed that the frequency of social media use moderates between work-related social media use and innovative performance. Originality/value This study’s findings provide new insights into the impact of social media use on individual and organizational functioning. This study demonstrates this impact and contributes to the existing literature on the social and cultural impacts of information technology.
Towards an inclusive and equitable future: transformation of digital learning design in the digital era
Jamshed Khalid, Mi Chuanmin, Muhammad Shahid Rasheed, Ismail Kamdar
Full text
Purpose This study aims to investigate emerging technologies and their impact on establishing a digital campus in academic institutions. It seeks to understand the barriers and opportunities associated with digitalization in education and propose an inclusive digital learning framework for academicians. Design/methodology/approach Online-focused group discussions (O-FGDs) were conducted with education experts to gain insights into the phenomena of digital learning. The discussions explored the potential barriers to digitalization and strategies for successful implementation. Additionally, Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Situation analysis was performed to select the most significant factors among those reported by the respondents. Findings The study revealed that digitalization is a crucial factor in the establishment of a digital campus. However, cultural diversity and multilingualism were identified as having the lowest relative closeness. The O-FGDs highlighted the need for inclusive digital learning frameworks that consider the impacting factors to ensure equitable implementation of digital strategies. Originality/value This study contributes to the literature by providing a comprehensive understanding of emerging technologies and their implications for academic institutions. It offers a practical framework for implementing inclusive digital strategies that address the challenges and opportunities associated with digitalization in education.

Information, Communication & Society

Beyond anti-elitism and out-group attacks: how concerns shape the AfD’s populist representation on German TikTok during the 2024 European elections
Hendrik Meyer, Julia Niemann-Lenz, Lasse Rodeck, Matthias Revers
Full text
The network dialectic: the digital divide and the contradictions of Philadelphia's digital equity strategy
Pawel Popiel, David Elliot Berman
Full text
The complex influence of scientific literacy on the perception of AI risks: nonlinear relationship, moderating factors, and mechanisms
Zhichao Li, Mengxue Lyu, Lujia Li, Jilin Huang
Full text
No one can do it for me; only I can change my life! A taxonomy of online independent investors in the field of digital finance
NiccolĂČ Casnici, Paola Zuccolotto, Marco Castellani
Full text

Internet Research

Do early birds catch the worms? The role of early-bird terms in startup crowdfunding
Yi Wu, Zhimei Wen, Xiaopan Wang, Yangsheng Zhang, Ben Choi
Full text
Purpose Equity crowdfunding is an increasingly vital source of financing for startup companies. To attract early investors and take advantage of an observed herding effect in online crowdfunding, platforms have introduced the promotional strategy of “early bird” terms (EBT). Based on signaling theory, we investigate the influence EBT has on crowdfunding performance and post-investment engagement, and the moderating role of valuation. Design/methodology/approach We empirically tested a set of hypotheses by analyzing archival data from a leading equity crowdfunding platform that had implemented EBT. Findings We find EBT has significant negative impacts on fundraising performance and investors' post-investment engagement, which is detrimental to sustaining long-term investor interest in the campaign. In addition, enterprise valuation amplifies the negative relationship between EBT and fundraising performance, but does not significantly affect post-investment engagement. Practical implications To enhance equity crowdfunding outcomes, platforms should regulate EBT use, improve campaign vetting, and monitor incentive impacts. Entrepreneurs must balance EBT's appeal with valuation consistency. Investors, especially novices, should evaluate EBT critically, focusing on campaign fundamentals and long-term value to avoid being misled by short-term, superficial cues. Originality/value This study enriches existing literature on online crowdfunding and signaling theory by providing new insights into signaling effectiveness. It highlights the overlooked impact of negative signals, reveals how incentive and financial signals interact, and introduces post-investment engagement as a novel measure of investor behavior, offering a dynamic view of crowdfunding performance.
Unraveling the dark threads: exploring the impact of cross-channel cognitive overload on consumers' behaviors in multichannel retailing
Sheng Shu, Jiangzhe Wang, Zhiqing Chen
Full text
Purpose Multichannel retailing efforts may have a dark side. This research provides novel insights into the dark side of multichannel retailing by investigating negative cross-channel cognitive overload outcomes within an SSO framework. Design/methodology/approach The proposed model is empirically validated by surveying 536 respondents and data was analyzed with PLS-SEM. Findings This study finds that multichannel customers may experience cross-channel cognitive overload, in the form of cross-channel information overload and cross-channel interaction overload, both of which are adversely related to purchase intention and omnichannel service use. Cognitive trust and emotional exhaustion mediate the detrimental effects of cross-channel cognitive load on consumers' purchase intentions and omnichannel service use. Consumers' high need for cognition can attenuate the relationship between cross-channel cognitive overload and emotional exhaustion, but not between cross-channel cognitive overload and cognitive trust. Practical implications Retailers should implement lifecycle-based multichannel strategies that address evolving cognitive overload patterns, from initial confusion to experienced-user fatigue. Essential tactics include centralizing product information management, personalizing content based on consumers' cognitive preferences, and developing cognitive accessibility features. Retailers should prioritize seamless navigation for new users and consistency for experienced shoppers, while offering educational resources to enhance multichannel literacy and tailored interfaces that match individual cognitive processing styles. Originality/value Unlike previous research that has predominantly focused on the bright side of multichannel retailing, this study provides a novel perspective on the dark side by exploring whether and how cross-channel cognitive overload affects consumer behaviors in multichannel retailing.
Under the dark side of online trust: how and when livestreamers’ online expressive coping strategy impacts the livestreaming e-commerce failure recovery process
Jianyu Chen, Pengfei Du
Full text
Purpose Despite the prevalence of service failures in this emerging livestreaming e-commerce domain, scholarly investigations have neglected the effectiveness of livestreamers’ online coping strategies in mitigating the dual consequences of sales attrition and reputational impairment after these failures. Based on the stress and coping theory, this research aims to examine the underlying mechanism and boundary condition through which livestreamers’ online expressive coping strategy influences the recovery process of viewers’ electronic word-of-mouth (WOM) in the livestreaming e-commerce failure context. Design/methodology/approach We employed a two-wave time-lagged survey to mitigate common method bias and control for spurious mood effects, thereby enhancing the robustness of our findings. Our sample comprised 222 Chinese viewers who recently encountered service failures in livestreaming e-commerce. Analytically, we adopted a two-stage partial least squares structural equation modeling approach to validate a moderated-mediation model. Findings Livestreamers’ online expressive coping strategies exert a positive influence on viewers’ perceived livestreaming e-commerce failure severity, which in turn negatively impacts their electronic WOM. Viewers’ online trust in livestreamers intensifies this negatively mediated relationship. Practical implications This study provides practical implications for stakeholders to enhance livestreaming e-commerce failure recoveries through effective online expressive coping strategies while recognizing the potential downside of viewers’ online trust in livestreamers. Originality/value This study advances the understanding of livestreamers’ online expressive coping strategies in the livestreaming e-commerce failure recovery process and uncovers the dark side effect of online trust in the livestreaming e-commerce context.
The impact of prior chatbot identity disclosure on customer tolerance of service failures
Tiange Li, Chubing Zhang, Ying Chang
Full text
Purpose Large language models, such as ChatGPT, have made chatbot responses seem more natural, making it more difficult for customers to distinguish that chatbots are non-human. Although chatbots offer advantages in the service industry, their technical limitations can lead to service failures. This study aims to explore how the disclosure of the chatbot's identity during the initial stage of service, before any service failure occurs, affects customer tolerance of service failures. Design/methodology/approach Three psychological experiments were conducted to assess the effects of chatbot identity disclosure on customer tolerance of service failure. Findings This study confirms that the disclosure of the chatbots' identity at the initial stage of service, before any service failure occurs, has a positive impact on consumers' tolerance of service failures. Compared to non-identity disclosure, chatbot identity disclosure increases consumers' perception of chatbots' sincerity and reduces their disgust, thus increasing the consumers' tolerance of chatbot service failures. In addition, the explanation of service failures moderates the relationship between chatbot identity disclosure and customers' feelings of disgust and perceived sincerity. Practical implications This study reveals the importance of chatbot identity disclosure for service companies. Managers should consider a chatbot's ability to handle service failures when deciding whether to disclose its identity. Originality/value This research contributes to the literature on the positive effects of identity disclosure by investigating how the disclosure of a chatbot's identity during the initial stage of service, prior to any service failure, affects consumers' tolerance of service failures.
Customers' positive feedback as an answer: how can online ride-hailing drivers control the impact of occupational stigma perception?
Shuai Chen, Zhengyao Dai, Wenjun Chen, Xingwu Luo, Shuyue Zhang, Kai Sun
Full text
Purpose In the gig economy, online ride-hailing drivers experience occupational stigma perception (OSP), which may surpass that experienced by traditional service providers and significantly affect their service performance. However, how these drivers counteract OSP in the new online labor relationship has not been well studied. To address this issue, this paper presents an analysis of the moderating roles of online ride-hailing drivers' internal locus of control over work (iLOC) and customers' positive feedback on the basis of the conservation of resources theory. Design/methodology/approach To test our hypotheses, this paper conducted a field questionnaire survey in a Chinese city, collecting data from online ride-hailing drivers across various platforms. Findings The results reveal that online ride-hailing drivers' OSP negatively impacts their service performance and that both drivers' iLOC and customers' positive feedback mitigate this adverse effect. Moreover, the moderating effect of customers' positive feedback is mediated by drivers' iLOC, confirming the presence of a mediated moderation effect. Practical implications By focusing on the roles of the public, online ride-hailing platforms, and online ride-hailing drivers themselves, this study provides actionable and comprehensive insights into how to mitigate online ride-hailing drivers' OSP in the gig economy. Originality/value Previous studies have identified online ride-hailing drivers' iLOC as a stable moderator in the relationship between OSP and service performance. However, this paper empirically demonstrates that customers' positive feedback can induce changes in the iLOC, which subsequently moderates the relationship between OSP and service performance.

Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication

How social media users adopt the toxic behaviors of ingroup and outgroup accounts
Alon Zoizner, Avraham Levy
Full text
While the spread of toxicity on social media has received ample attention, studies offer conflicting expectations and mixed evidence about its contagious nature. This study advances understanding of how toxicity becomes contagious by distinguishing between exposure to toxicity by ingroup versus outgroup members and separating toxicity into impolite style and intolerant substance. We focus on Israel during 2023, a period marked by intense political polarization. Using Twitter panel data from original and replication datasets, we analyze ∌1M tweets from 12,481 users and ∌6M tweets from the 713,231 accounts they follow. We find that exposure to toxic behavior by ingroup members is the primary driver of contagious toxicity, compared to smaller, less consistent associations with outgroup toxicity. Moreover, seemingly less harmful forms of toxicity (impoliteness) by the ingroup are not only associated with increased users’ impoliteness but also with increased intolerance toward political groups—which may carry troubling implications for democracies.

Journal of Information Technology & Politics

A study on the visual rhetorical differences in national image representation of China and the United States by generative artificial intelligence:An empirical analysis based on large multimodal models
Peihao Guo, Heli Sun, Suyu Xing, Jiaxin Li
Full text

Journal of Language and Social Psychology

Development and Validation of the Motivation for Language Reclamation Scale Among Polish-Speaking Gay Individuals
Dominik PuchaƂa, MichaƂ Bilewicz, Aleksandra ƚwiderska
Full text
In response to hate speech, members of minorities use reclaimed derogatory language. Until now, psychological research has treated reclamation as a uniform concept in terms of the motivations of minorities, despite theoretical perspectives suggesting otherwise. In this paper, based on previous research, we described three motivations for using reclaimed language: to regain control, for humorous purposes, and to consolidate relationships in the community. We reported the process of creating a new scale to measure these three motivations. The three-dimensional structure of the Motivation for Language Reclamation Scale (MLRS) was validated in two studies ( N = 362; N = 141) among gay people in Poland. We also showed that the motivations have various implications for collective action intentions. Language reclamation for humorous purposes was associated with lower willingness to engage in collective action. By contrast, reclamation aimed at consolidating relationships was associated with higher willingness to engage in collective action.

Journal of Social and Personal Relationships

An introduction to the special issue on sibling relationship processes across the lifespan
Sarah E. Killoren, Nicole Campione-Barr
Full text
Although siblings are significant relationship partners and are influential on individuals’ well-being, only 2.4% of family-focused research examines siblings. The goal of this special issue is to expand the literature on sibling relationships, highlight the importance of sibling relationships across the lifespan, and promote interest in studying this unique and ubiquitous relationship. In the introduction to the special issue, we describe the selection process, and discuss the developmental periods, theoretical frameworks, populations of interest, research design, and main constructs featured in the articles included in this issue. We also give suggestions for future research on sibling relationships. The articles included in this issue move the field forward by improving upon many of the critiques of sibling relationship research.
The object of my intoxication: Examining the role of dehumanization, objectification, and alcohol consumption in intimate partner aggression perpetration
Rebecca L. Brock, Sarah J. Gervais
Full text
This study investigated dehumanization of one’s intimate partner and alcohol consumption as predictors of intimate partner aggression (IPA). We integrated theories of dehumanization, alcohol, and intimate partner violence to examine relational-level influences on perpetration of IPA, and conducted an initial test of a novel framework explaining IPA risk in a large college sample of coupled individuals. We robustly assessed partner dehumanization (i.e., mechanistic and animalistic dehumanization, dehumanizing deindividuation, and sexual objectification), alcohol consumption quantity and frequency, the likelihood of enacting physical and psychological IPA as well as the amount of IPA when it was enacted, and a range of other risk factors for IPA. Results revealed that a comprehensive latent variable of dehumanization and alcohol use were additive risk factors for physical abuse, and at least moderate levels of drinking (i.e., 3-4 drinks per typical drinking day) might be necessary for dehumanization to escalate into physical IPA. In contrast, psychological IPA was directly predicted by dehumanization alone, at all levels of alcohol use. These findings held while controlling other established risk factors for IPA including global relationship discord. The results underscore the potential for early interventions that target dehumanizing and objectifying perceptions of intimate partners and drinking behaviors. Building on these preliminary findings, future research should further examine these dynamics in more diverse populations, using longitudinal and/or experimental designs to infer causality.
Adult friendship and suicidality: A scoping review
Susan Stevens, Brian Shiner, Lynn Brunner, Lauren Kenneally, Natalie Riblet
Full text
Despite the role friendship can play in the physical and mental health of adults, little is known about its relationship with suicidality. To address this gap, we conducted a scoping review on adult friendship and suicidality in Medline, PsycInfo, and the Cochrane Library from inception to April 9, 2024. We used a combination of keywords and Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) terms to find studies reporting on the themes of suicidality and adult friendship. We summarized key findings on the association between friendship and suicidality. We identified only 43 studies on adult friendship and suicidality. The study designs, goals, measurements, and populations were highly heterogeneous, and friendship was not measured consistently. Nevertheless, most studies (60.5% or 26 out of 43 unique studies) found friendship was protective against suicidality. This review highlights the inconsistent measurement of friendship and lack of conceptualization of friendship. Yet, friendship appears to be protective against suicidality. Further study is needed to understand the relationship between friendship and suicide.

Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly

Book Review: Lost in a Gallup: Polling Failure in U.S. Presidential Elections , by W. Joseph Campbell Lost in a Gallup: Polling Failure in U.S. Presidential Elections. CampbellW. Joseph. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2024. 368 pp.
Camille Ruiz Mangual, Joshua M. Scacco
Full text
Book Review: Gender Defenders of the Sport Binary: Mediating Discourses of Difference against Intersex and Transgender Female Athletes , by Travis R. Bell and Anne C. Osborne Gender Defenders of the Sport Binary: Mediating Discourses of Difference against Intersex and Transgender Female Athletes. BellTravis R.OsborneAnne C.. New York: Peter Lang, 2025. 284 pp.
Michael Mirer
Full text
Book Review: Young People, Media, and Nostalgia: An Ethnography of How Youth Imagine Their Lives , by Rodrigo Muñoz-Gonzålez Young People, Media, and Nostalgia: An Ethnography of How Youth Imagine Their Lives. Muñoz-GonzålezRodrigo. New York: Routledge, 2024. 190 pp.
Olivia Archer
Full text

Journalism Studies

Social Actors and Storylines in the Coverage of Russian-Ukrainian War in English and Polish-Language Tabloids
Katarzyna Molek-Kozakowska
Full text
Different Country, Different Truth? A Cross-Country Comparison of Fact-Checking Journalism During Public Health Crises
Bin Chen, Gyo Hyun Koo
Full text
“Either We’re Saved, or We’re Doomed”: Exploring Identity Shifts and Memorialization in Buzzfeed News’ Oral History
Nisha Sridharan, Rian Bosse
Full text
ChatBots as Artificial Intermediaries? Adaptation to Artificial Intelligence in Newsrooms
Gregory Perreault, Jakob Ohme
Full text
Polarization, Social Responsibility Journalism, and Collective Memory Discourse: The Case of Tisha B’Av 2023 Broadcasts
Elie Friedman, Idit Manosevitch
Full text
Navigating Press Challenges Amid Government and Advertiser Pressure: The Bangladeshi Media Landscape During the Covid-19 Pandemic
Ershad Komal Khan, Steve Urbanski
Full text

Mass Communication and Society

Apocalyptic Authoritarianism: Climate Crises, Media, and Power
Yaroslava Kutsai
Full text

Media and Communication

Search in the Newsroom: How Journalists Navigate Google’s Dominance in a Hybrid Media System
Daniel Trielli
Full text
As a significant algorithmic actor in a media system where humans and machines interact to produce and disseminate news information, Google acts as an external algorithmic editor to news media, shaping what information gets picked up for broader consumption. Journalists, in their attempt to inform and create a dialogue with the public, are constantly aware of Google’s dominance and, for the last two decades, have experienced the shifting power dynamics in the digitized media system. Based on 18 interviews with US-based journalists across a range of newsroom types and regions, this interview study shows how reporters and editors deal with this new external algorithmic editor. The findings demonstrate that they do that through resistance, relinquishment, and renegotiation. Journalists first resist giving up on their editorial values, setting particular limits around framing and selecting which hard news stories to cover, even when facing algorithmic pressure towards provocative and eye-grabbing content. Second, they relinquish some editorial control and create segregated content (“search work”) tailored to the algorithm and toward audience growth. Third, they renegotiate their values and roles to fit a new logic in which newsworthiness and commercial values overlap. These findings confirm and build upon previous work delineating how journalists navigate their 20th-century values with 21st-century digital curation in a hybrid media system shaped by both human and machine logics.
Whom to Trust in Crises? The Influence of Communicator Characteristics in Governmental Crisis Communication
Christian Schwaderer
Full text
Public sentiment toward government communicators plays a critical role during crises, influencing societal resilience and potentially contributing to broader trust in government. Such sentiment is shaped not only by what is said, but also by who says it. While existing literature on political crisis communication has largely focused on the content of governmental messages, it has overlooked the importance of the messenger. This study addresses that gap by shifting attention from what is communicated to who is communicating. This research explores how the personal characteristics of government communicators relate to public sentiment toward them during crises. To do so, this study matches data on communicators present at government-held press conferences with social media discourse, examining how these communicators are referenced online. Social media platforms serve as vital spaces where citizens communicate about their government’s crisis response and thus play an important role in building or undermining public responses. Given their role in shaping public perceptions of government performance, these digital platforms offer an ideal setting to observe sentiment toward communicators during crises. The study analyzes 744,000 posts on Twitter (now X) from six European countries during the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic using advanced transformer-based classification models. Expressions of positive sentiment are identified through sentiment analysis, capturing affective reactions in user-generated content. The findings indicate that political actors are generally associated with less positive sentiment than experts, who tend to elicit more positive responses. Gender also emerges as a significant factor: During peak crisis periods, women communicators are more likely to be referenced positively on social media. This pattern aligns with prior research on a potential “trust advantage” for women in crisis communication, which has been linked to relational communication traits that are particularly valued in high-stress contexts.

Mobile Media & Communication

Relational Digital Agency: An Everyday Life Study of Mobile Communication in Nursing Homes
Sarah Wagner
Full text
The pervasive association of long-term care with frailty and dependency has shaped research agendas. Everyday life studies that take into account care home residents’ knowledge, values, and experiences are few and far between. This research engages care home residents in dialogue to co-produce understanding about their lived experiences with mobile technologies. Drawing on qualitative research with 39 care home residents at long-term care sites in Canada, the paper calls for reframing digital inequalities in terms of relational digital agency. The analysis describes how meaningful communication environments in long-term care involve a wide range of factors, including effective access to analogue media and wider support networks, which enable residents to put meaningful limits on their uses of mobile devices. Moreover, the findings show how having the opportunity to deny and contest mobile technologies can be an important part of feeling socially and digitally included, which brings question to existing measures of digital inclusion that focus on quantity and quality of technology use. Whereas most research on digital agency has concerned youth, this paper develops an understanding of relational digital agency to account for long-term care residents’ experiences negotiating and adapting to digital change.
Always On, Always Rushed For Time? Exploring Momentary Associations Between Passively Sensed Smartphone Use, Feeling Rushed, and Perceived Task Juggling
Kyle Van Gaeveren, Stephen Murphy, David de Segovia Vicente, Mariek Vanden Abeele
Full text
This mixed-methods study combines experience sampling and smartphone log data to explore momentary associations between passively sensed smartphone use, feeling rushed, and perceived task juggling in daily life. Using data from 774 adults, we analyze how four use features (frequency, duration, fragmentation, and notifications received) of four mobile app categories (email, social media, chat, and work communication) affect how rushed people feel, both directly and indirectly by increasing their perceived juggling load. At the between-person level, persons who use work communication apps more frequently and longer, and who receive more chat notifications, also felt more rushed on average. Findings also revealed within-person associations in the theorized direction (e.g., increased email frequency predicting increased task load and feelings of being rushed) for nearly all features of three out of four examined app categories, with social media use features as a noticeable exception. Perceived task juggling mediated these associations, suggesting that the examined smartphone use features contribute to feeling rushed by increasing the (real or perceived) load of tasks that people juggle within and across role domains. Some patterns differed based on age, gender, parenthood, and segmentation preference. Taken together, these findings support the theoretical link between technology use and experiences of time scarcity.

New Media & Society

Me, myself, and the influencer: Examining how parasocial interaction and self-congruence with social media influencers affects news media trust
Ben Wasike
Full text
Social media influencers (SMIs) develop unique relationships with their followers, including high levels of trust and credibility. This study examined how these influencer–follower relationships affect news media trust with a focus on actual self-congruence, ideal self-congruence, parasocial interaction (PSI), and source and message credibility. Data showed that respectively, positive correlations exist between each of these variables and news media trust. However, ordinary least squares (OLS) regression only showed direct effects of actual self-congruence and PSI on trust, while message credibility had a negative effect. Structural equation modeling showed that actual self-congruence positively mediated the relationship between PSI and trust. Overall, consuming SMI-based news and information increased news media trust among followers, suggesting that SMIs play a complimentary rather than a disruptive role regarding news media trust.
Google Maps review sub-platform: A narrative view of design, affordances, and user activity
Mia Schreiber, Chaim Noy
Full text
This article begins by conceptualizing Google Maps Review and its commenting apparatus as a distinct communication (sub)-platform (GMRsP) of Google Maps, which revolves around review sharing (writing and reading). Then, by combining structural and post-structural narratological frameworks, we describe GMRsP design and affordances, and conceptualize their potential for shaping emergent user activity and platform dynamics. The unpacking of meanings and possible implications of GMRsP’s affordances illuminates the intricate inter-relations between the platform socio-technical design and the contents of its reviews. This stresses the reviews’ evaluative narrative function and suggests a spiraling communication design, where the (sub)-platform’s narrative functions may alternately shape different points of entry for various Google Maps sites’ reviews and experiences. The study’s theoretical contribution includes informing future critical empirical and theoretical studies of reviewing/commenting platforms, stressing the types of participatory roles they provide and the effects they may have; and advancing platform studies by highlighting the emergent relations between sub-platforms and platforms.
Meta-authenticity and fake but real virtual influencers: A framework for artificial sociality analysis and ethics
Do Own (Donna) Kim
Full text
This article studies the negotiation of humanness in artificial sociality by examining the cyborg case of humanlike virtual influencers and their performance of authenticity, drawing on phenomenological ethnographic research. Based on the findings, I propose the framework of “meta-authenticity”—the flexible, co-constructive process of self-referential (in)authenticity performances. Virtual influencers’ meta-authenticity was a dynamic outcome of collaborative performances by entangled human and nonhuman actors. Meta-authenticity’s theoretical and practical contributions are demonstrated, including through an illustrative application. Then, I reflect on meta-authenticity’s implications on human cultures, such as regarding artificial sociality’s capacities to provide authentic interaction on and as per demand, followed by suggestions for ethical practices. As an accountability-integrated framework, meta-authenticity encourages nuanced critical assessments of artificial sociality’s “real” actors and consequences.
“Capacities for social interactions are just being absorbed by the model”: User engagement and assetization of data in the artificial sociality enterprise
Jieun Lee
Full text
Developed by a Korean start-up called ScatterLab, Luda Lee is an AI-powered social chatbot designed to embody the persona of a 20-year-old, youthful college girl and promoted as “your first AI friend.” A year after the suspension of Luda 1.0 in 2021 amid a heated controversy surrounding Luda 1.0 in 2021 regarding user-initiated abuse and the unethical sourcing of language data, ScatterLab recently reintroduced a generative AI-powered Luda 2.0 to the public, while pursuing the expansion of its operation as a software-as-a-service provider. The article traces the evolution of both Luda and ScatterLab, highlighting the crucial role of user engagement in the making and repurposing of the company’s “proprietary dataset.” It explores how user engagement is not only an objective but also a strategy for corporate growth in the artificial sociality enterprise. Strategies to encourage user engagement, like gendering of the chatbot design, create unanticipated kinds of user engagements and user-generated data. Those data, conceived as materials from which the AI’s competence is absorbed, is constructed as an asset, a material and discursive anchor for the company’s future promises.
The conversational action test: Detecting the artificial sociality of artificial intelligence
Saul Albert, William Housley, Rein Ove Sikveland, Elizabeth Stokoe
Full text
Drawing on the “Voigt-Kampff Empathy Test”—a science fiction version of Turing’s famous thought experiment—we propose the Conversational Action Test (CAT): a new approach to evaluating conversational artificial intelligence (AI) voice agents. We compare social actions in a range of telephone service encounters where one party is an artificial conversational agent to a range of similar human-human calls. The CAT demonstrates a novel paradigm that addresses long-standing theoretical and methodological problems for ostensible “tests” of conversational AI by (a) revealing the conceptual confusion of attempting to “detect” an AI in routine service interactions and (b) focusing, instead, on the situated interactional practices through which an AI “passes” for human. We discuss the implications of the CAT for the design and evaluation of conversational AI, and for the notion of “humanness” as a goal or benchmark for such systems. Data include publicly available human/AI service calls and comparable human-human calls in British and American English.
Decoding Artificial Sociality: Technologies, Dynamics, Implications
Iliana Depounti, Simone Natale
Full text
Conducting conversations with artificial intelligence (AI) technologies such as ChatGPT is becoming an everyday experience for large masses of people. However, we still know very little about the emerging communicative dynamics facilitated by these technologies. This special issue tackles a dimension of AI that is becoming increasingly relevant and ubiquitous: artificial sociality, defined as technologies and practices that construct the appearance of social behavior in machines. The notion of artificial sociality aims to emphasize that machines construct only an illusion or artifice of sociality, stimulating the humans who interact with them to project social frames and meanings. In this introduction to the themed issue, we discuss the dynamics and implications of artificial sociality and show how these technologies are increasingly incorporated and normalized within digital platforms. The issue includes contributions that offer empirical findings and theoretical insights by examining a broad array of AI technologies, ranging from ChatGPT to Replika.
Time zones, time slots and Twitch: When do game streamers go live, and why?
Mark R Johnson
Full text
The role of time in game development has seen increasing study, but the role of time in creating gaming ‘content’ has rarely been explored. To explore how time is strategised and rationalised by content creators, I examine how game streamers on Twitch navigate dynamics of time and temporality in their broadcasts. Through semi-structured interviews, this article reveals complex and dynamic decision-making processes in the seemingly simple decision of ‘when to stream’, highlighting the interplay of geography, game genre, game community, and life commitments. I demonstrate how three main factors – pragmatics, discourses, and happenstance – combine to shape game streamers’ thinking about temporal elements of streaming. The article thus unpacks the multi-layered dynamics of these decisions, and how live streamers’ broadcasts become structured and routinised over time, which inevitably shapes and drives both the creation and the consumption of video content on the platform.
The quasi-domestication of social chatbots: The case of Replika
Gina Neff, Peter Nagy
Full text
In this paper, we turn to the domestication theory to study what strategies users develop to appropriate social chatbots – dynamic algorithmic tools mimicking human interactions via large language models and scripted dialogue content. As an example, we use the case of Replika, a popular but controversial social chatbot designed to serve as companions, friends, and even romantic partners for millions of people. In 2023, Replika underwent a series of major fixes and algorithmic updates leading to significant changes in how it responds to users. Through analyzing posts from a popular Reddit community dedicated to Replika, we showcase that users developed various re-domestication strategies to come to terms with these changes. Our study illustrates that Replika should be understood as a quasi-domesticated object that constantly requires users to find new ways to re-integrate it into their lives. We conclude the paper by highlighting how our findings can inform communication research.
Hatespeech or Tatespeech? Andrew Tate and the rise of the radical misogynist
Tony P. Love, Ena Prskalo, Mairead E. Moloney
Full text
This study examines influencer Andrew Tate’s social media content as embodying virtual manhood acts (VMA)—technologically facilitated misogyny in online spaces. Through content analysis of 13 Tate videos from 2022, we demonstrate how his performances of masculinity extend beyond reinforcing gender binaries to potentially facilitating gender radicalization leading to misogynistic, homophobic, and transphobic attitudes and behaviors. Applying McCauley and Moskalenko’s radicalization framework, we map Tate’s content to pathways at macro (jujitsu politics, hatred, martyrdom), group (polarization, isolation, competition), and individual levels (personal and group grievance, slippery slope, love, risk and status, unfreezing). Our findings suggest that the combination of VMA and digital platforms creates fertile conditions for gender-based radicalization, particularly for members of the social media manosphere. Tate’s extensive influence, amplified by algorithms, represents a concerning escalation in the potential for widespread gender radicalization with real-world implications.
Online job scams: Unveiling the impact of overconfidence, digital literacy, and algorithmic literacy on user susceptibility to false job advertisements
Jihye Lee, Mu-Jung Cho
Full text
This article examines false online job ads and user susceptibility by drawing on three research areas: automated deception detection, cognitive bias (Dunning–Kruger effect), and digital and algorithmic literacy. Leveraging a data set of 17,879 ads, we develop machine learning models to distinguish false from legitimate ads and survey a representative US sample ( N = 635) to assess user susceptibility. Results show that ad veracity is predicted by visual (e.g. company logo) and linguistic cues (e.g. “team,” ‘we’) that signal credibility. Survey findings indicate a strong Dunning–Kruger effect: overconfident individuals were less accurate in detecting false ads, perceived them as more credible, and were more likely to share them. Literacy effects were complex: while general Internet skills improved detection accuracy, algorithmic literacy had more nuanced influences on ad perceptions. These results highlight the psychological mechanisms that contribute to the spread of false information in digital communication, deepening our understanding of online deception.
‘I think I misspoke earlier. My bad!’: Exploring how generative artificial intelligence tools exploit society’s feeling rules
Lisa M Given, Sarah Polkinghorne, Alexandra Ridgway
Full text
Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools that appear to perform with care and empathy can quickly gain users’ trust. For this reason, GenAI tools that attempt to replicate human responses have heightened potential to misinform and deceive people. This article examines how three GenAI tools, within divergent contexts, mimic credible emotional responsiveness: OpenAI’s ChatGPT, the National Eating Disorder Association’s Tessa and Luka’s Replika. The analysis uses Hochschild’s concept of feeling rules to explore how these tools exploit, reinforce or violate people’s internalised social guidelines around appropriate and credible emotional expression. We also examine how GenAI developers’ own beliefs and intentions can create potential social harms and conflict with users. Results show that while GenAI tools enact compliance with basic feeling rules – for example, apologising when an error is noticed – this ability alone may not sustain user interest, particularly once the tools’ inability to generate meaningful, accurate information becomes intolerable.
Grooming an ideal chatbot by training the algorithm: Exploring the exploitation of Replika users’ immaterial labor
Shuyi Pan, Leopoldina Fortunati, Autumn Edwards
Full text
Replika, a social chatbot advertised as a continually evolving AI companion, has sparked debates on its potential effects. To understand users’ attitudes and behavior, we conducted a digital ethnography on a pioneer online community related to Replika, through the lens of immaterial labor and AI imaginary. Our analysis revealed that Replika users invest a significant amount of intellectual and affective resources into the chatbot through algorithm training, driven by fascinating imaginaries of an ideal AI partner. Moreover, users’ perceptions of Replika’s ventriloquism mechanism – where Replika serves as both the chatbot partner and the intermediary between users and the company – helps to facilitate and obscure the exploitation of users’ intimacies and immaterial labor. Our study contributes to understanding AI imaginaries through real user experiences and introduces the immaterial labor concept to decipher Artificial Sociality .
The sociocultural roots of artificial conversations: The taste, class and habitus of generative AI chatbots
Ilir Rama, Massimo Airoldi
Full text
Research on AI has extensively considered biases related to gender and race. However, much less attention has been dedicated to another sociological tenet: that of class. Inspired by Bourdieu’s work on cultural stratification and distinction, this work sheds light on the sociocultural roots of artificial sociality, and on how these become manifest as ‘habitus’ within the outputs of generative AI models. We conducted 39 interviews with three AI chatbots – ChatGPT, Gemini and Replika – after asking them to impersonate individuals with different occupational positions: highly skilled professionals, blue-collar workers, university professors in the humanities, construction workers, computer scientists and hairdressers. Our qualitative study shows class-based regularities in how popular AI chatbots represent the lifestyle and tastes of fictional personas in artificial conversations, partly mediated by infrastructural and design elements. The article proposes a sociological perspective on bias in artificial sociality and experiments with interview methods in the study of generative AI.
Internet shutdowns in Ethiopia: Discourses of digital sovereignty and information suppression amid political instability
Endalkachew H Chala, Téwodros W Workneh
Full text
This study examines Ethiopia’s Internet shutdowns between 2005 and 2024, analyzing their frequency, motives, and socio-political impact within the discursive frames of digital sovereignty and Internet governance. By adopting a mixed-methods approach of quantitative trend analysis and secondary qualitative research of government narratives, we identify four different types of shutdowns including Internet blackouts, network shutdowns, platform blockages, and Internet slowdowns. Our findings reveal Ethiopia experienced a systematic escalation of shutdowns, transitioning from sporadic disruptions in the early periods of our data sample to sustained, highly targeted interventions by 2023–2024. We found official government narratives portray shutdowns as “necessary” measures for public safety, linking cyberhate and misinformation to real-world violence. We argue the Ethiopian case underscores the usefulness of a nuanced approach to digital sovereignty in Global South contexts where shutdowns are used ambivalently as reactive tools to mitigate platform failures in content moderation while also lending themselves to political control and expressive repression.

Personal Relationships

Do Crushes Pose a Problem for Exclusive Relationships? Trajectories of Attraction Intensity to Extradyadic Others and Links to Primary Relationship Commitment and Satisfaction
Lucia F. O'Sullivan, Charlene F. Belu, Lucia Tramonte
Full text
This study examined individuals who had an active agreement to be exclusive with their relationship partner but who also reported romantic or sexual attraction to someone outside of their relationship (a “crush”). We tracked participants over time, measuring attraction intensity and relationship quality, to help clarify when an extradyadic attraction might challenge the quality of the primary relationship in some way. Of 567 individuals ( M age = 28.52; 55.4% women; 82.2% heterosexual) who reported an extradyadic attraction, 172 (30.3%) completed all assessments and maintained their primary relationship over a one‐year period. We used HLM and cluster analysis to examine patterns of associations among these 172 participants and to capture typologies for extradyadic attraction. Overall, many harbor attraction to people outside of their relationship with no corresponding harms noted in that primary relationship, regardless of whether that attraction varied or was stable in its target. However, some had extradyadic attractions that were linked to decreases in primary relationship romantic and sexual satisfaction over time, especially among those whose relationship quality was lower at baseline. The findings have implications for researchers, counselors, and educators invested in supporting couples and for understanding relationship maintenance processes generally.

Political Communication

Journalists as Reluctant Political Prophets
Keren Tenenboim-Weinblatt, Tali Aharoni, Christian Baden
Full text
Buying State Power: How Elite-Led Propaganda Through Advertising Mechanisms is Connected to Democratic Weakening in Four Countries
Gabrielle D. Beacken, Inga K. Trauthig, Samuel C. Woolley
Full text

Public Relations Review

Embracing paradox and pragmatism: A metamodern exploration of the social value of public relations
Ana Adi, Melike Aktaß Kuyucu, Gabriela Baquerizo-Neira
Full text
Public relations professionals' role in managing conflict: A cross-country contingency theory perspective
A.Banu Bıçakçı, Melike Aktaß Kuyucu, MĂłnica Arzuaga-Williams, CornĂ© Meintjes
Full text
Unpacking perceptions of selective and inclusive listening in a government context
Lisa Tam, Soojin Kim
Full text
Passionate Publics
Robert V. Kozinets, Ulrike Gretzel
Full text
Communicating for good in a globalized world: How MNO practitioners in Bangladesh, Botswana, Indonesia, and Kenya conceptualize and practice prosocial public relations
Drew T. Ashby-King, Jeannette I. Iannacone, Boitshepo Balozwi, Teresia Nzau, Irmawan Rahyadi, Habib Mohammad Ali, Luke Capizzo
Full text

Science Communication

Unveiling Climate Adaptation: A Comprehensive Analysis of Agenda-Setting Dynamics in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands
Denise J. Roth, Nan Bai, Robbert Biesbroek, Art Dewulf, Sanne Kruikemeier, Daan de Leur, Mariken A. C. G. van der Velden, Erik de Vries, Rens Vliegenthart
Full text
Climate change adaptation occurs within a complex interplay of science, media, politics, policy, and the public. Using comparative longitudinal data (2012–2021) from online newspaper articles, parliamentary debates, policy documents, and social media, we analyze agenda-setting dynamics in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. Vector autoregression models, incorporating scientific output as an exogenous variable, reveal traditional agenda-setting effects in both countries. In the Netherlands, however, social media positively influences traditional media, while in the United Kingdom, traditional media negatively affects social media. These findings enrich our understanding of the factors shaping public awareness and policy responses to this critical global issue.
How Values Guide Trust: The Multiple Roles of Science-Related Value Predispositions in Shaping Trustworthiness and Trust in Scientific Authorities
Hwanseok Song, Prince Adu Gyamfi
Full text
Guided by literature suggesting that value similarity shapes trust in scientific authorities managing technological risks, we examined how science-related values affect trust formation. Our experiment found that individual value orientations moderated the effects of scientific authorities’ value displays. They also affected how people weigh ability, benevolence, and integrity to establish trust. Individuals with high deference to scientific authority judged power-oriented authorities more favorably and drew less on benevolence and integrity dimensions than did those low in deference. Those with higher technocratic beliefs rated universalism-oriented authorities as higher in benevolence and weighted this dimension more heavily in trust judgments.

Telematics and Informatics

Opinion leadership in a digital age: The rise of nano and micro-influencers
Pawel Korzynski, Olga Protsiuk, Julie Guidry Moulard, Varsha Jain
Full text
Framing the climate: How TikTok’s algorithm shapes environmental discourse
Iliana Loupessis, Channarong Intahchomphoo
Full text

The International Journal of Press/Politics

Rally and Recalibrate: Political Dynamics of Audience Expectations of Journalism During Times of Crisis
Claire Roney, Daniel Wiesner, Andreas A. Riedl, Jakob-Moritz Eberl
Full text
This study examines how the evolving conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic shaped audience expectations of journalism in Austria. Traditionally defined by roles such as Informer and Watchdog , journalists adapted to new roles during the crisis, including Collaborator with health officials, Science Communicator , and Fact-Checker . Drawing on data from three waves of the Austrian Corona Panel Project with approximately 1,500 participants per wave, we analyze audience expectations of nine journalistic roles. Our findings show strong support for emerging roles like the Fact Checker and Science Communicator , highlighting the demand for accurate information and scientific clarity. However, audience expectations fluctuated significantly over time, reflecting shifts in public trust and the diminishing rally-around-the-flag effect. These results underscore the volatility and context-dependency of audience demands during crises, emphasizing the need for journalism to remain adaptable in rapidly changing environments.
What Matters to Voters? Analyzing the Influence of Targeted Online Ads on Perceived Issue Importance During the United States 2022 Midterm Election and the Dutch General Election 2021
Jade Vrielink, Rens Vliegenthart, Annelien van Remoortere, Sanne Kruikemeier
Full text
Online advertising is an important component of political campaigning. With microtargeting techniques, voter groups who have shared concerns about specific issues can be identified and, subsequently, targeted with posts addressing those issues. This paper aims to provide an initial investigation into the dynamics and effects of targeted issue ads. We study whether these targeted persuasion efforts influence which issues matter to voters and, vice versa, if voters are more likely to receive ads about issues that they deem important. We take a comparative approach by collecting data in the run-up to the 2021 Dutch general election ( N = 103) and during the 2022 United States midterm election ( N = 31). To test the effects of ads that individual voters were exposed to during these times, we use a novel combination of methods, namely, mobile experience sampling, screenshot data donations, and content analysis. In both countries, we find that exposure to online ads increases the salience of issues among voters. We did not find evidence for successful targeting on issue preferences in the United States or the Netherlands. We discuss possible explanations and implications of these findings.
Beyond the Headlines: Examining the Role of Negative Campaigning Media Coverage on Electoral Trust
Kelechi Amakoh
Full text
Negative campaigning is an age-old strategy, yet its impact on trust in election outcomes remains underexplored, particularly in newer democracies. In this study, I argue that negative campaign messages erode electoral trust by fostering cynicism, undermining confidence in politicians, and heightening the perceived stakes of elections. By signalling that candidates will do whatever it takes to win, such messages raise concerns about fraud and diminish institutional trust. I further contend that these effects depend on the autonomy of electoral management bodies (EMBs). When EMB autonomy is low, greater exposure to negative campaigning significantly increases perceptions that elections are unfair. By contrast, where EMBs are highly autonomous, negative campaigning does not reduce trust in electoral integrity and may even bolster it, as institutional safeguards reassure voters. To test these claims, I draw on Afrobarometer survey data from eighteen countries across three rounds, expert assessments of negative campaign coverage from the Negative Campaigning Comparative Expert Survey, and measures of EMB autonomy from Varieties of Democracy. My findings show that the interaction between media negativity and EMB independence shapes public trust in elections, underscoring the central role of electoral institutions in mediating the democratic consequences of campaign strategies.

Visual Communication

The effect of typographic text presentation on reader perceptions of importance in bilingual Māori–English picturebooks
Nicholas Vanderschantz, Nicola Daly, Vouchleang San
Full text
With the establishment of Māori medium education in the 1980s, picturebooks featuring Te Reo Māori have been needed and are increasingly being developed, produced, and used in full immersion and mainstream education in Aotearoa New Zealand. In recent years, the number of bilingual picturebooks featuring Te Reo Māori and English has increased. Improved access to bilingual picturebooks in a society that includes both an Indigenous and colonial language as two of its three official languages is vital to support the status of Te Reo Māori as an official language and to support English speakers learning Te Reo Māori. Studies by Daly ( Dual-Language Picturebooks in Māori and English , 2016, and The Linguistic Landscape of English–Spanish Dual-Language Picturebooks , 2017) have explored the layout of such bilingual picturebooks, suggesting that the order of languages reflects the linguistic hierarchy or relative status of the two languages. Yet, to date, no empirical studies have investigated how designers’ typographic order choices affect readers’ perceptions of the status of languages. In this article, we present the findings from a mixed-methods study of 50 readers’ perceptions of typographic and linguistic hierarchy in pages of bilingual picturebooks when the order of languages was a variable. Results show that order did affect the opinions of readers, and this effect varied depending on the linguistic repertoire of the participants.
Computer-mediated representations: a qualitative examination of algorithmic vision and visual style
TJ Thomson
Full text
To the general public, text-to-image generators, such as Midjourney and DALL-E, seem to work through magic and, indeed, their inner workings are often frustratingly opaque. This is, in part, due to the lack of transparency from big tech companies around aspects like training data and how the algorithms powering their generators work, on the one hand, and the deep and technical knowledge in computer science and machine learning, on the other, that is required to understand these workings. Acknowledging these aspects, this qualitative examination seeks to better understand the black box of algorithmic vision through asking a large language model to first describe two sets of visually distinct journalistic images. The resulting descriptions are then fed into the same large language model to see how the AI tool remediates these images. In doing so, this study evaluates how machines process images in each set and which specific visual style elements across three dimensions (representational, aesthetic and technical) machine vision regards as important for the description, and which it does not. Taken together, this exploration helps scholars understand more about how computers process, describe and render images, including the attributes that they focus on and tend to ignore when doing so.