I checked 55 communication journals on Tuesday, June 02, 2026 using the Crossref API. For the period May 26 to June 01, I found 100 new paper(s) in 28 journal(s).

Communication Monographs

#Conferencesowhite: The percentage and placement of race scholarship at the national communication association annual conventions, 2005–2024
Travis L. Dixon, Marisa A. Smith, Om Sai Krishna Madhav Lella, DĂ©jĂ  D. Rollins
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Do all roads lead to vicarious affirmation? A comparative look at cognitive, emotional, and values-based domains
Callie Kalny, Nathan Walter
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Communication Research Reports

We’re just chatting: perceptions of everyday communication with chatbots
Jess Dominguez
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Communication Studies

Necrowriting and Family Stories, or Everything I Know About Mexicanidad , I Learned from Death
Alberto GonzĂĄlez
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Communication Theory

An articulation of the aesthetic tradition of communication theory for the future of Performance Studies in Communication
Ethan Hunter
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Performance Studies in Communication (PSC) is a vibrant, vital subfield of the communication discipline that suffers from an urgent illegibility problem due to a long-time lack of an explicit theoretical connection between the field and broader communication theories and practices. This article addresses PSC’s illegibility problem by extending Robert Craig’s (1999) metamodel to articulate an Aesthetic Tradition of communication theory. To ground the Aesthetic Tradition and demonstrate PSC’s unique approach to it, this article offers a systematic reframing the Performance Studies Paradigm (Pelias & VanOosting, 1987) through a constitutive lens. The article concludes by demonstrating the utility of an aesthetic analytic across various communication subfields, including public speaking, Interpersonal and Family Communication (IFC), organizational communication, and arts-based research. Ultimately, this articulation secures PSC’s theoretical home while enriching the broader discipline’s capacity to understand how communication makes worlds.
Is algorithmic reform possible? Theorizing the double ideological strata
Dragoș Obreja
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Numerous stakeholders, including critical scholars, and digital-rights NGOs, contend that social media platforms operate as sites where the libertarian goal is illusory (the “false consciousness thesis”). However, I show that libertarian promises and corporate-algorithmic control coexist as a double ideological strata, wherein freedom and autonomy are articulated on the surface while governance operates underneath. Moreover, although the majority of libertarian voices criticize political initiatives that interfere with digital conversations between users, they make no mention of similar control exerted through corporate-algorithmic mechanisms. By emphasizing relevant Gramscian and Althusserian tensions regarding the techno-material role of ideology, I use Meta’s ambivalent rhetoric and TikTok’s algorithmic personalization as case studies to discuss the existence of a double ideological strata, which highlights the coexistence of an ambivalent framework: an explicit endorsement of user autonomy and free flow of information and an implicit framework that legitimizes corporate sovereignty and algorithmic control, thereby limiting user freedom.
Trustless strategic communication: a theoretical framework for reliance in low-trust environments
Aviv Barnoy
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Strategic communication has long treated trust as both a prerequisite for success and a goal in itself. This article challenges that assumption by introducing Trustless Strategic Communication: a framework for achieving reliance when strategic trust is low or contested. Drawing on blockchain-inspired design and philosophical distinctions between trust and reliance, the article specifies core constructs, theoretical propositions, and a mechanism logic. Trust is treated as graded, and “trustlessness” as an ideal type. The framework explains how communicators can reduce trust-dependence through three routes: epistemic, structural, and procedural. A theory-guided qualitative demonstration (seven semi-structured interviews) shows how these mechanisms appear in practice, often in combination, and highlights boundary conditions and ethical risks. Rather than rejecting trust altogether, the “trustless” approach reframes strategic trust as one tool among others. This framework expands the theoretical boundaries of strategic communication and offers guidance for a variety of communication activities in environments shaped by skepticism.

Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies

The Smell of Roses: Affordances in shitposts as a site of study
Noah Khan, Ezechiel Thibaud
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Shitposting is an internet practice that is often poorly known or misunderstood. Described as an absurd, low-quality form of online expression, shitposting is often dismissed as an illustration of mere nihilism and meaninglessness. But like many online trends, it can also be a site of struggle for certain alternative discourses that are often overlooked and can be viewed through critical public pedagogy to challenge our traditional reading of online content. This paper looks at three underexplored aspects of shitposting. First, we analyze shitposting as a form of counter-discourse entangled with the various injunctions of internet spaces and the overall commodification of online content. We then argue that, as third places become increasingly virtual, shitposts can serve as a convivial tool through which users express creativity and autonomy in community. Finally, we look at shitposting in light of algorithmic resistance, including its role in data-poisoning efforts and production of content not easily imbibed by machine learning models. In view of these three aspects, the paper argues that shitposting constitutes an arena of cultural production worth studying.
When that light hits the LED sky: Selling virtual production in The Batman (2022) and beyond
Nick Jones
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In LED Virtual Production (VP), environments for film and television shooting are designed and rendered in advance and then displayed and filmed on-set using camera tracking and a panel of screens. This article explores the visual promises and consequences of this technology – and in particular, the way these promises and consequences are framed by stakeholders in circulating discourse. It uses The Batman (2022), a film leveraged heavily into LED VP, as its primary case study. The article is concerned with two forms of image: (1) the images generated by LED VP through its on-set use, and (2) the images of LED VP that are discursively produced in promotional and other ancillary material. The interaction between these two images reveals the promises, tensions, and accommodations that are made as stakeholders negotiate this technology’s migration into the mainstream of screen media production.
Collectiveillance and the sociotechnical politics of protest drones
Keren Tsuriel, Anat Ben-David
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This article examines how protest drones reconfigure relations of visibility and power within mass demonstrations. Drawing on 69 interviews conducted during Israel’s 2023–2025 anti-government protests, we analyze how a self-organized collective of drone operators produced aerial footage that became central to the movement’s visual identity. Rather than approaching protest drones through veillance typologies that presume external targets, we build on atmospheric politics ( Kaplan, 2020 ) and sociotechnical approaches to drone vision ( Klauser and Pedrozo, 2015 ) to examine how drones operate within ambiguous airspace and produce inward-oriented forms of collective visibility. We introduce collectiveillance to capture configurations in which aerial visibility is oriented toward the protesting collective itself and stabilized through attribution and alignment among operators, protesters, and audiences. Participants rarely understood protest drones as surveillance tools or as a means of sousveillance aimed at reversing the state’s gaze. Instead, the drone’s gaze was largely experienced as inward-looking and legitimizing. At the same time, protest drone practices reproduced asymmetries of technical expertise, editorial authority, and gendered divisions of labor, reflecting the continued influence of militaristic and surveillant legacies. Across four analytical dimensions, the findings show how collectiveillance emerges from specific sociotechnical conditions. Concentrated military and technological backgrounds shaped representational authority, while vertical mobility and horizontal networking expanded protest space and reconfigured collective presence. Collectiveillance thus names a sociotechnical arrangement characterized by collaborative visibility production alongside persistent power asymmetries. The article extends scholarship on civic drone use by moving beyond surveillance-reversal narratives and foregrounding how aerial technologies mediate collective political subjectivity through contested practices of seeing and being seen.
Popular digital sovereignty and digital real utopias: Lessons from the Homeless Workers’ Movement in Brazil
Rafael Grohmann, Alexandre Costa Barbosa
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This article traces the ongoing construction of “popular digital sovereignty” within Brazil’s Homeless Workers’ Movement (MTST), through its Tech Sector, arguing that the concept itself operates as a digital real utopia: an aspirational horizon made workable through imperfect and situated practice. Rather than treating digital sovereignty as a state-centric policy project, the movement frames popular digital sovereignty as a from-below definition forged through epistemic sovereignty, the collective control over how knowledge is produced, debated, and circulated inside and beyond the movement. Drawing on a workers’ inquiry approach conducted since 2021, including interviews, observations, workshops, and co-produced materials, the article analyzes how the MTST’s Tech Sector develops this concept through learning in struggle: iterative trial-and-error, learning by doing, and continuous revision in response to the material constraints of organizing. We show how popular digital sovereignty is assembled through territorial and class-based priorities, and how its meaning shifts as the movement grapples with the role of the state, infrastructural dependency, and the need to “meet workers where they are.” The article contributes to digital sovereignty studies and utopian media studies by conceptualizing popular digital sovereignty as an epistemic practice and a prefigurative, unfinished project, an effort to build tech otherwise from below under conditions of constraint.

Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking

The Effects of Social Presence of Dementia-Prevention Chatbot on Isolation and Interpersonal Resilience Among Older Adults Living Alone: Evidence on Three-Wave Experiment
Jiyoung Lee, Woosang Hwang, Sunyoung Park
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Dementia-prevention technologies have mostly focused on cognitive enhancement, often neglecting the social aspects of healthy aging. This study examines whether the perceived social presence of a dementia-prevention chatbot, developed through sustained use, can reduce isolation and strengthen interpersonal resilience through communication networks among older adults living alone in Korea. A three-wave experimental design ( N = 110) was implemented over 8 weeks using a smartphone-based chatbot that engaged participants through conversational cognitive games, health routine diaries, and social interaction prompts. Results indicated that perceived social presence of the chatbot at the midpoint significantly predicted greater interpersonal resilience both cross-sectionally and longitudinally, whereas its effects on isolation were nonsignificant. The results indicate that perceived social presence of the chatbot does not alleviate isolation but extends to interpersonal resources by reinforcing communicative resilience, thereby functioning as an indirect social pathway through which agent-based interactions may contribute to the reactivation of interpersonal relationships.
The Association Between Excessively Watching Videos in Endless Loop on Social Media and Subjective Time Perception: An Experience Sampling Method Study
Angelique Siebenhandl, Selina Volsa, Stefan Stieger
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Videos in endless loop (VEL) are a popular form of entertainment on social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram, with an estimated 1.5 billion users on TikTok alone in 2025. Despite their popularity, concerns have emerged regarding their impact on users’ perception of time. This study ( N = 151) investigated the relationship between watching VEL and time perception, valence, and arousal. A novel digital time-guessing task was developed and embedded within a 14-day experience sampling design to ensure ecological validity and assess the real-life effects of VEL consumption. In addition, a short-term retest approach, nested within the daily assessments, allowed us to examine the temporal dynamics of possible effects. While no immediate differences in time perception were found between the reference measurement and directly after VEL consumption, significant differences in time estimation were observed 15 and 30 minutes later. In contrast, VEL had no lasting effects on participants’ valence and arousal, apart from brief changes directly after viewing. These findings indicate that watching VEL is associated with subjective time perception, albeit with a delayed effect. Given the small-to-medium effect size (ÎČ â‰ˆ 0.20) within this specific sample (young, educated, female, and German-speaking) and the high frequency with which individuals engage with VEL in daily life, this effect may have meaningful implications for users’ temporal orientation and media consumption behavior.

Environmental Communication

Caught in the Fray. How Climate Scientists Navigate the Public Sphere
Victor Avramov, Jaron Harambam, Eline Ramaaker, Willemine Willems
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Climate Change Reporting Frames and Discourse in African Media (2015–2025): A Mixed-Method Study
Jinghong Xu, Yining Chang, Yupo Zhang, Haoyu Yang
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Howard Journal of Communications

Beyond Civility: Toward an Eastern Martial-Arts-Informed Theorization for Speaking from the Margins
Terrie Siang-Ting Wong
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Identity, Diversity, and Semiotic Innovation in Contemporary Photojournalism
Alex Scott
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The Role of Cultural Congruence and Taboo Level in Enhancing Message Effectiveness for Social Issues
Andinet Worku Gebreselassie
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Information Technology & People

Identifying factors influencing the employee's intention with self-protective behaviors against phishing attacks
Seyedeh OMSalameh Pourhashemi, Bilal Naqvi, Mehdi Azizi Mehmandoost
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Purpose Phishing is a form of social engineering attack that poses an increasingly significant risk in today's digital era. The challenges and implications associated with phishing affect both end users and organizations. However, organizations face particularly serious consequences, as a single employee's error can compromise the security and privacy of the entire organization. Design/methodology/approach This research examines the factors influencing employees' intentions to adopt self-protective behaviors against phishing attacks using protection motivation theory (PMT). The study sample comprised 200 employees working in higher education institutions (HEIs). Findings Perceived vulnerability, perceived risk, perceived barriers, response efficacy and self-efficacy influence behavioral intention. The findings also identify significant positive associations between conceptual knowledge and self-efficacy, procedural knowledge and self-efficacy and perceived vulnerability and information security awareness. Originality/value This study contributes to the state of the art by extending PMT by integrating conceptual and procedural knowledge to explain employees' self-protective behaviors against phishing attacks. It also provides empirical evidence from the higher education sector, a context that has received limited attention in prior phishing research.
Coping with multichannel digital information to mitigate the disposition effect: a mixed-methods study of information processing and dual coping mechanisms
Haoxi Wu, Joon Koh
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Purpose This study examines how multichannel digital information environments shape user decision-making in disposition-prone contexts within China's T+1 market. Grounded in coping theory and dual-system theory, we specify how channel attributes—issuer disclosures, third-party analyses, social networks, and artificial intelligence (AI)-based tools—affect decision quality through problem- and emotion-focused coping. Design/methodology/approach We adopt an exploratory sequential mixed-methods design. Study 1 develops the framework through grounded theory interviews with experienced Chinese investors who use digital trading platforms. Study 2 tests the dual-path model with a survey (N = 713) analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to evaluate how information quality, information overload, and channel-specific cues transmit effects to decision quality through the two coping routes. Findings Information quality strengthens both coping routes, while information overload weakens them. In social channels, perceived infollution reduces emotion regulation, whereas informational influence enhances analytic engagement. In AI channels, social influence and perceived technology acceptability reinforce both routes, while perceived algorithmic bias is nonsignificant. Mediation analyses confirm that problem- and emotion-focused coping jointly transmit channel effects to decision quality in a regulated, time-lagged market. Originality/value This paper integrates coping theory with information systems research by articulating a process-level, dual-path mechanism linking multichannel digital information and decision quality in T+1 setting. It advances technostress/information-behavior work by separating channel attributes (quality, load, social and AI cues) from coping responses. Furthermore, it extends prior single-channel studies by situating dual coping in an emerging digital market.
Programmed power: how presets transform decision premises in the platform society
Shuang Liu
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Purpose This article develops the framework of programmed power to theorize how digital platform infrastructures transform the conditions under which organizational programmes operate and decisions become observable. Drawing on Luhmann's systems theory, it asks what happens to programmes as decision premises when their conditional logic is computationally instantiated under conditions rendering premises non-inspectable, thresholds non-negotiable and operations non-attributable. 1t introduces the concept of presets to capture this transformation. Design/methodology/approach The article is conceptual, extending Luhmann's theory of programmes, decision premises and functional differentiation through engagement with recent Luhmannian scholarship on algorithms and organizational decision-making. A three-way comparison among programmatic governance, conditional programme governance and preset governance is developed through an illustration of algorithmic management in gig platforms. Findings Programmed power operates through four cumulative mechanisms: infrastructural encoding, communicative filtering, reflexivity suppression and post-decisional closure. The article introduces opaque coupling as the mechanism through which presets constrain communicative possibility while remaining beneath the threshold of observation, and identifies a legitimacy gap between the communicative register through which platforms produce legitimacy and the infrastructural register through which they exercise governance. The EU AI Act and Digital Services Act face structural limitations when targeting preset governance. Originality/value The article specifies how computational opacity transforms programme observability, contributing a diagnostic vocabulary absent from infrastructure studies and governance-by-design accounts. Its originality lies in treating presets as transformations of programmes, not replacements for them. The concepts of presets, opaque coupling and the legitimacy gap offer analytical tools for researchers studying algorithmic governance and for policymakers seeking to restore communicative access to programme premises embedded in platform infrastructures.
Understanding the impacts of intelligence and anthropomorphism on user stickiness in AI-driven mobile banking applications: the moderator of technology readiness
Jung-Chieh Lee, Lihui Zhang, Ting Li
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Purpose Artificial intelligence (AI) has enhanced mobile banking by improving user value and user experience. Success depends on user stickiness, but few studies have explored how AI-specific features (perceived intelligence and anthropomorphism) affect user stickiness or how technology readiness (optimism, innovativeness, discomfort, and insecurity) moderates these effects in the context of AI-enabled mobile banking. Design/methodology/approach This study develops a research model to examine the impacts of perceived intelligence and anthropomorphism on user stickiness, as well as the moderating role of technology readiness. Data were collected from a sample of 428 users with prior experience using AI-enabled mobile banking applications and were analyzed using the partial least squares (PLS) method. Findings The results reveal that both intelligence and anthropomorphism positively influence user stickiness in AI-enabled mobile banking applications, highlighting their essential role in encouraging more frequent usage of and extended usage time on these applications. In addition, optimism and innovativeness significantly strengthen the positive effects of both perceived intelligence and perceived anthropomorphism on user stickiness. In contrast, discomfort and insecurity do not significantly moderate the relationships between perceived intelligence or perceived anthropomorphism and user stickiness. Originality/value This study introduces user stickiness as a behaviorally grounded outcome to better explain user adoption behavior in AI-enabled mobile banking. The findings show that perceived anthropomorphism outweighs intelligence in driving user stickiness, and only optimism and innovativeness moderate these effects. Moreover, optimism proves more influential than innovativeness does, thereby refining the TRI framework and advancing the understanding of AI adoption in intelligent financial services.
Does AI identity disclosure stimulate user responses? An exploration based on meta-analysis
Mengqi Sun, Haitao Chen, Hao Chen, Boya Jiang
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Purpose Previous research presents conflicting findings on how disclosing AI identity affects user responses. This meta-analysis quantifies the overall impact of AI identity disclosure on user responses (evaluations, attitudes, intentions and behaviors). It further explores how these effects are moderated by nine variables across four dimensions. Design/methodology/approach A systematic literature search identified 33 relevant articles comprising 44 independent studies. From these, 67 effect sizes from 25,208 participants were synthesized using a three-level random-effects model to account for nested data structures. We further employed a series of univariate three-level mixed-effects meta-regression models to examine subgroup differences, followed by exploratory analyses to test interaction effects among moderators, complemented by publication bias assessments and a series of robustness and sensitivity analyses. Findings AI identity disclosure has a small, statistically significant negative overall effect on user responses. High heterogeneity was observed, with no significant publication bias indicated. Negative effects were stronger for objective responses (vs. subjective responses), non-HCI tasks (vs. HCI tasks) and knowledge-oriented (vs. experience-oriented) applications. Furthermore, exploratory interaction analyses suggested significant interaction effects between sample types and experimental methods, cultural backgrounds and task forms and cultural backgrounds and application scenarios. Originality/value This meta-analysis systematically quantifies the impact of AI identity disclosure across diverse user responses, addressing prior inconsistencies by identifying significant contextual moderators. The findings inform context sensitive AI identity disclosure strategies, advance AI ethics and guide human-AI interaction design.

Information, Communication & Society

Older adults’ perceptions, needs, and uses of social media and messenger apps as sources of information and news: a qualitative multi-method study
Luise Anter, Martin Fischer, Anna Sophie KĂŒmpel
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Evaluating metrics of fairness: a critical analysis of AI in hiring practices
Ignacio Fernandez Cruz, Will Orr
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Hyperscalers as logistical regimes: software containers and the circulation of cloud capital
Nathan Kim
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Price, proficiency, or permission: assessing platform data access for election research
Josephine Lukito, Kayo Mimizuka
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The relationship between social media use and social isolation in young adults: a systematic review
Yiting Liu, Sojen Pradhan, Xin Wang
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Calling out disclosures, protecting followers: the new governors of influencer culture on TikTok
Taylor Annabell
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From the room to the screen: how video conferencing reshapes gendered interpersonal behaviors
Tae Kyeong Meixner-Yun
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International Journal of Advertising

Addressing stigma in sexual health: advertising as a tool for change
Mahala Truscott, Dean Charles Hugh Wilkie, Amelie Jay Burgess, Wynne W. Chin
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Ethnic advertising effectiveness: a model and agenda for future research
Sigal Segev, Osnat Roth-Cohen
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When imagination leads to satiation: the effects of repeated mental simulation on consumer responses to fashion products
Sohyeon Park, Dooyeon Park
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Journal of Applied Communication Research

‘I am going to be a cold robot on Zoom if I do that’: exploring the challenges of neutrality in facilitating online deliberation
Soo-Hye Han, Stephanie Burkhalter, John Rountree
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Journal of Communication

Modes of dialogic communication, modes of reality
Boris H J M Brummans
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What if dialogue didn’t begin with individuals trying to connect, but with a deeper connectedness already unfolding? This theoretical essay explores that question by introducing two modes of dialogic communication, each expressing the ground of experience in a distinct way. Drawing on Buddhist philosophy, particularly Dzogchen, process philosophy, and traditions of dialogic thought, it proposes awaring as the emergent process through which the ground of experience arises. In the dialogue mode, grasping at this unfolding reinforces separation, making reality appear as an exchange between distinct selves seeking understanding. In the dialoguing mode, we recognize the ground’s inherent openness, in which voices, gestures, thoughts, and silences co-arise, making reality appear more spacious, relational, and compassionate. Structured in three spiraling movements (ground: awaring, expression: dialoguing, and fruit: recognizing), the essay culminates in a generative conversation with Arnett, Bencherki and SĂ©nac, Cooren, and Peters, inviting a reimagining of dialogic communication theory and a deepened study of communicative relationality.

Journal of Media Psychology

Do I Need Pleasure, Meaning, or New Ideas Today? Exploring the Relationship Between Daily Experiences, Motivations for Media Use, and Content Preferences
Sara M. Grady, Dominique Wirz, Morgan E. Ellithorpe, Ezgi Ulusoy, Allison Eden
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Abstract: There is a vast field of research investigating which motivations drive media usage within specific contexts – for example gaming, social media use, or binge-watching. However, surprisingly little is known about how different motivations influence the selection among multiple media formats (e.g., TV shows vs. music). Which media do people typically select if they want to relax, and which if they want to satisfy their curiosity? We conducted a within-subjects experiment ( n = 252) with US undergraduates to explore what media people turn to in response to three distinct motivations: 1) the motivation to experience pleasure (hedonic entertainment), 2) the motivation to experience meaning (eudaimonic entertainment), and 3) the motivation to experience variety (psychologically rich entertainment). We investigate how often people use media for hedonic, eudaimonic, and psychological richness motives, as well as how affective states influence these motives.

Journal of Social and Personal Relationships

Couples’ Coparenting and Parent-Child Relationship Quality: A Dyadic Daily Diary Study
Naomi Downes, Giulia Spagnulo, Laura M. Vowels, Joëlle Darwiche
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This study examined how daily experiences of coparenting relate to parent–child relationship quality using a dyadic daily diary design. Eighty-five heterosexual cohabiting couples (N = 170 individuals), with at least one child under 16, completed daily assessments over seven consecutive days. Participants reported on coparenting cooperation, conflict, and child involvement in conversations, as well as parent-child relationship quality. Actor-Partner Interdependence Models (APIMs) distinguished between stable between-person differences and within-person daily fluctuations. At the between-person level, coparenting cooperation was positively associated with both parents’ own parent–child relationship quality, and child involvement in conversations was positively associated with the partner’s. At the within-person level, daily coparenting conflict predicted lower same-day parent–child relationship quality for mothers, while other same-day and next-day effects were non-significant. These findings highlight the dynamic nature of coparenting effects across temporal levels, emphasizing the distinction between stable relational climate and short-term spillover processes. Practically, interventions may benefit from strengthening long-term cooperative coparenting while helping parents prevent daily conflict from spilling over into parent–child interactions.
Navigating Love and Ableism: A Qualitative Narrative Study of Romantic Experiences Among Persons With Disabilities in Kashmir
Zahid Ahmad Lone, Sarafraz Ahmad
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This study examines how persons with disabilities in Kashmir experience and negotiate romantic relationships within a socio-cultural context structured by patriarchy, collectivism, and ableism. Despite growing scholarship on disability in South Asia, the intimate and affective dimensions of disabled lives remain underexplored, particularly in conflict-affected regions. Semi-structured interviews ( n = 15) and written narratives ( n = 5) resulted in the analysis of data from 20 participants with physical, sensory, intellectual, and psychosocial disabilities. Reflexive thematic analysis identified five central themes: Yearning and the Right to Love; Love Found, Love Fought; Rejection, Pity, and Prejudice; Self-Image and Internalized Ableism; and Hope, Healing, and Collective Agency. Findings indicate that disabled individuals’ desires are frequently dismissed, surveilled, or framed as burdensome, yet participants also reclaimed intimacy through creative expression, digital communities, and collective support. These narratives reveal how romantic longing, often regarded as illegitimate for persons with disabilities, can itself constitute resistance to ableist cultural scripts. The study contributes to disability scholarship by situating romantic life within a politically sensitive and culturally conservative setting, underscoring the need for rights-based approaches that recognize emotional and relational inclusion as integral to policy and practice.
Changing Me by Sacrificing for Thee: Motivated Sacrifice and Relationship-Induced Self-Concept Change
Brent A. Mattingly, Abigail J. Caselli, Kevin P. McIntyre
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People in romantic relationships sacrifice when they forego their own goals and needs in order to prioritize those of their partner. In doing so, individuals may engage in approach-motivated sacrifices in which they sacrifice to pursue desirable relational end states, or they may engage in avoidance-motivated sacrifices in which they sacrifice to avoid negative outcomes. In this research, we sought to test the notion that motivated sacrifices have consequences for individuals’ self-concepts. Specifically, we hypothesized that people who engaged in approach-motivated sacrifices would report greater self-improvement (i.e., gaining positive or losing negative self-attributes), whereas those who engaged in avoidance-motivated sacrifices would report greater self-degradation (i.e., losing positive or gaining negative self-attributes). Across four studies (total N = 560) utilizing diverse methodology (i.e., cross-sectional, longitudinal, and dyadic), we predicted and found that approach-motivated sacrifice was positively associated with self-improvement and avoidance-motivated sacrifice was positively associated with self-degradation. In turn, self-change had downstream consequences for the relationship, such that self-improvement mediated the association between approach-motivated sacrifice and relationship quality, whereas self-degradation mediated the association between avoidance-motivated sacrifice and relationship quality. These results suggest that individuals’ motivations for sacrificing, which are presumably intended to maintain a relationship, carry the potential to enhance or undermine individuals’ sense of identity and relationship quality.
Strategic Soothers, Transparent Partners, and Antagonistic Strategists: A Latent Profile Analysis of Romantic Deception
Tim Cole, Kellie Stonebrook
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The present study used Latent Profile Analysis (LPA) to identify naturally occurring patterns of motives for deception among adults in romantic relationships. Participants were 567 U.S. adults who reported on seven deceptive motives, attachment insecurity, dark personality traits (Machiavellianism, narcissism, psychopathy, and sadism), relational satisfaction, and the tendency to deceive. A three-profile solution emerged. Transparent Partners (38.1%) reported uniformly low endorsement of all motives underlying deception. Strategic Soothers (47.6%) endorsed deception primarily for self-protective and maintenance-oriented reasons, whereas Antagonistic Strategists (14.3%) reported elevated endorsement across all motives, including malicious intent, attention seeking, and sexual avoidance. Profiles differed meaningfully in attachment insecurity, antagonistic personality traits, relational satisfaction, and the tendency to deceive, suggesting that deception reflects distinct motivational patterns linked to different personality configurations and relationship experiences. By identifying motive-based profiles, this study offers a more nuanced and ecologically valid account of how and why deception occurs within romantic relationships.
Marital Quality During the COVID-19 Pandemic Among Older Couples: Does Spousal Education Matter?
Wencheng Zhang, Hui Liu, Juwen Wang
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The COVID-19 pandemic has posed significant challenges to intimate relationships, and the way couples adapt to these challenges varies, likely depending on educational attainment, further shaping their relationship quality. This study explores how both an individual’s own and their spouse’s educational attainment influence their perception of marital quality during the pandemic. Using data from the 2016 and 2020 Health and Retirement Study (HRS, 1,036 couples aged 50 years or older), we applied the Actor-Partner Interdependence Mediation Model (APIMeM) integrated with the lagged dependent variable approach to assess how both an individual’s own and their spouse’s education influenced each other’s perception of marital quality during the pandemic through household economic condition and sense of control. We found that higher spousal education was associated with higher positive and lower negative marital quality for both partners. In addition, husbands’ education had a stronger association with wives’ marital quality than wives’ education did with husbands’ marital quality. Mediation analysis revealed that household economic condition and individuals’ sense of control partly explained the relationship between spousal education and one’s perception of marital quality. Our findings highlight the importance of spousal education, particularly husbands’ education, in influencing marital quality among older couples during an unprecedented crisis.

Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly

From News Literacy to Skepticism: Examining the Pathways That Shape the “News-Finds-Me” Perception
Ying Xiong, Xu Zhang
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Guided by motivated reasoning theory, this study examines how news literacy impacts individuals’ news-finds-me (NFM) perception in the social media environment through a dual-process: identity-motivated skepticism and accuracy-motivated skepticism. Using a structural equation modeling approach with representative samples from the United States, this study’s results revealed that news literacy affected the NFM perception through two distinct skepticism pathways. The findings of this study advance understanding of how news literacy operates through two underlying mechanisms to shape individuals’ NFM perception in an algorithm-based news environment, offering theoretical and practical implications.
Sincere or Strategic: Probing Russian Journalists’ True Convictions Behind Ukraine War Coverage
Rashad Mammadov
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How sincere is Russian war journalism? This study investigates whether reporters support Moscow’s Ukraine narrative because they believe it, fear dissent, or already share nationalist convictions. Integrating cultivation theory and spiral of silence logic with a third, ideological pathway, we fielded an encrypted survey of journalists and collected self-submitted articles for frame analysis. Latent class modelling revealed three clusters: internalizers, strategic compliers, and ideological supporters, with texts linked to each class displaying distinctive linguistic signatures that matched survey profiles. By tying motive to discourse, the study offers a transferable template for diagnosing information control and tailoring support for journalists under authoritarian pressure.

Journalism Studies

Expecting Humans, Encountering Machines: An Expectancy Violations Theory Approach to Generative AI in Journalism
Ryan J. Thomas, T. J. Thomson, Hannes Cools, Rebecca Venema, Oscar Toohey, Caroline Gardam, Edina Strikovic, Michelle Riedlinger, Jean Burgess
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The Hidden Cost of Science News: An Examination of Burnout in Journalists and Scientists
Josh T. L. Anderson, Anthony Dudo
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Media and Communication

“She’s That Type Anyway”: Moralized Misogyny and Bangladeshi Women’s Political Visibility on Facebook
Farah Zahan Shuchy, Md. Azaher Uddin
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We develop “moralized misogyny” as an analytic concept for examining how Meta’s Facebook functions as a form of informal patriarchal governance regulating Bangladeshi women’s political visibility. Drawing on theories of misogyny, morally motivated networked harassment, and digital vigilantism, we argue that women’s political engagement is disciplined and exposure enforces dominant moral norms. Integrating feminist and multimodal approaches to critical discourse analysis of purposively sampled Facebook items, we show how political disagreement is reframed as moral transgression. Women’s participation is recoded as sexual deviance and impurity through visual and textual manipulation that render delegitimizing attacks credible, humorous, and socially acceptable. Whether audiences believe these artifacts is often secondary; their circulation enables crowd-led vigilante punishment framed as moral defense. This dynamic can constitute a form of structural equality harm that makes women’s political citizenship conditional on compliance with patriarchal norms. We recommend context-specific moderation and policy responses that recognize such attacks as a barrier to women’s political participation.
“Eat the Rich”: Moral Entanglement of Class and Gender in The White Lotus
Alba Clément, Tonny Krijnen
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<em>The White Lotus </em>is renowned for its satirical depiction of wealthy, upper-class individuals. The show deliberately invites its viewers to reflect on a set of moral/ethical questions about ambiguous characters and their behaviors. This study investigates viewers’ responses to this invitation to morally deliberate in relation to class. First, a narrative analysis traces the moral plotlines in Seasons 1 and 2 of <em>The</em> <em>White Lotus</em>.<em> </em>Building on this, thematic analysis is used to examine viewers’ moral discussions on the online platform Reddit. In this way, both the show’s invitation and how viewers navigate this invitation are unraveled. Results show a relation between characters’ class and gender, the amount of empathy the characters evoke among viewers, and viewers’ deliberation on moral issues these characters are involved in. Viewers actively engaged with the moral plotlines concerning female and middle-class characters. The male and upper-class characters received remarkably less attention, and their immoral behavior was taken as a given characteristic of the upper class. We argue that these patterns show a connection between empathy felt for a character and readiness to engage in moral deliberation of their actions. This finding contributes to our understanding of narrative imagination, its connections to class and gender, and its manifestation in an online context.

Mobile Media & Communication

From Entertainment to Scientific Research: A Bibliometric Review of Pokémon Go Research
Jia Yuin Fam, Huiye Yip
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Since its release in 2016, Pokémon Go has enjoyed widespread popularity and attracted research interest across various disciplines. With the recent transition of ownership to Scopely, this bibliometric review offers a timely examination of the knowledge structure within Pokémon Go research. A total of 393 publications related to Pokémon Go were retrieved from the Scopus database. Performance analysis was conducted to identify key contributors, institutions, and publication trends. Cocitation analysis revealed four foundational domains shaping the scholarly landscape of Pokémon Go research. Thematic mapping further identified nine prominent research themes, ranging from physical activity and immersive experience to educational applications and safety concerns. As Pokémon Go moves into a new phase under different ownership, this review not only acknowledges its academic impact but also highlights how the game has evolved beyond entertainment to serve as a scientific tool that advances research across multiple domains.
Artificial Intelligence Mobility, Emotion, and Companionship in After Yang
Debarshi Arathdar, Anik Sarkar
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The increasing presence of artificial intelligence (AI) in the personal domains of human existence has redrawn the lines between technology and emotion, commodity and companionship. As AI grows increasingly adept at communing with us, speaking to us, and, at times, thinking for us, it begins to enter the personal space once designated for human-to-human interaction. However, the concept of AI mobility is not new. Much before it became a personal assistant or a conversational partner, films imagined sentient systems that could walk, learn, and feel. The article examines After Yang , a film that depicts a near future in which androids, or “technosapiens” live alongside humans, often as family members, sharing their emotional and social lives. We investigate the mobility of AI, the aesthetics of emotion, and the development of AI companionship, as it relates to the present time. After Yang urges us to consider how technology, when it becomes social and intimate, affects us, and is affected by us; learns from us, as we learn from it, and altogether reshapes the idea of being human, and how technobias, at its foundation, may be a sort of anthropobias.
Datcha—Introducing a Tool to Track Data Changes and Measure (In)Consistency in Mobile Platform Data
Yannik Peters, Kunjan Shah, Yining Wang, Johannes B. Gruber, Katrin Weller
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Mobile online platform data are inherently dynamic and often ephemeral: content can be deleted, added, or edited over time. Because mobile communication research relies heavily on such platform-derived data, systematic (non-random) changes can create serious data-quality and reproducibility problems. To address this, we developed Datcha, an application that quantifies dataset consistency using standardized indicators. Datcha additionally supports comparative analyses—word frequency comparisons, keyness, topic modeling, and sentiment analysis—between modified and remaining content, enabling researchers to detect whether content deletion, addition, or editing follows systematic patterns.
Grounding the Flock: Confronting Police Surveillance of Mobilities
Torin Monahan
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This article explores the integration of AI-surveillance functionality into urban infrastructures to question how the monitoring of mobilities could engender vulnerabilities, particularly for minoritized or stigmatized groups in society. Focusing on the automatic license plate recognition (ALPR) system deployed in the United States by the company Flock Safety, I show how this system acts as a communicative network that exposes people to discriminatory police surveillance. I argue that the network properties of Flock's system facilitate the application of far-right policing cultures across jurisdictions, allowing for unlawful targeting of women seeking reproductive care, immigrants, and vulnerable others irrespective of state or city prohibitions against such profiling. The article concludes by reflecting on countersurveillance efforts to expose Flock's surveillance network and challenge its discriminatory policing logics.
At the Dawn of Social Media in the Home: A Retrospective on Parenting, Gender, and Children's Digital Lives in Iran
Elaheh Shabani Afarani
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This qualitative study explores the initial integration of smartphones and social media within Iranian families during a period of rapid adoption (2015–2016). Using a grounded theory approach, in-depth interviews were conducted with 30 parents and children aged 15–20 years in Isfahan, Iran. The analysis revealed that the mobile phone functions as a central site for the negotiation of freedom and constraint, giving rise to four core themes. Findings showed a clash between parental views of the phone as a utilitarian “Tool in Hand” and children's use of it as a “Mirror in Front” for identity expression. The study also details the tension between parental “Eyes That Watch” and youths’ desire for “Wings That Fly,” as well as the conflict between traditional family values of “Home” and personal aspirations for a wider “Horizon.” Finally, the theme of “Veil and Voice” illustrates how deeply rooted gendered expectations reinforce patriarchal norms, even as girls find strategic avenues for self-expression. This research offers crucial baseline insights into the domestication of mobile technology in a traditional non-Western context, illuminating how families were compelled to renegotiate established moral and cultural frameworks in response to the disruptive arrival of smartphones.

New Media & Society

Logging off (but leaving the tabs open)
Steve Jones
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Mapping the disinformation industry in Russia
Serge Poliakoff, Julia Kling
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This article examines disinformation production as a form of media labour and production infrastructure, introducing a novel methodological approach based on large-scale open-source labour data. By systematically analysing the CVs of employees of disinformation production organisations, it demonstrates how CV data can be used to reconstruct organisational structures, technological toolkits, recruitment dynamics, and labour-market embeddedness in contexts where direct fieldwork is constrained or impossible. Drawing on Actor–Network Theory as an analytical lens, the analysis treats CVs as material traces of digital labour infrastructures and organisational alignment. Using case studies of major Russian disinformation organisations, the article shows how workforce dynamics track key political developments, how toolkits reflect shifting organisational priorities, and how disinformation labour has become embedded within state-aligned labour markets. It concludes by outlining the methodological implications of this approach for studying covert or inaccessible organisations and by reflecting on its limitations and further research directions.
Beyond disruption and invisibility: Interactional continuity in everyday AI use in India
Emilia Edwards, Dhiraj Murthy
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Research on the social significance of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in journalism, communication, and organizational contexts is often organized around two emphases: one foregrounds disruption, framing standalone Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) tools as transformative; the other foregrounds invisibility, treating embedded AI as backgrounded. We bridge these emphases with interactional continuity , a user-centered frame that explains cross-modality incorporation at the level of task episodes: AI use stabilizes through sequential placement in ongoing activities, while interface packaging shapes whether it is perceived and named as AI. Grounded in infrastructure theory, platform studies, and digital meaning-making, we examine everyday AI use in the Global South through 28 semi-structured interviews in an Indian workplace. We used iterative AI-assisted and manual coding to identify patterns. Importantly, we found that respondents used AI as episode-level task support within familiar platform routines, illustrating how disruption and invisibility can emerge from task sequencing and interface cues.
The politics of artificial intelligence alignment: Public reactions to AI moderation in the case of Google’s Gemini
Adrian Rauchfleisch, Andreas Jungherr
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This study tests how a prominent artificial intelligence (AI) product failure influences public attitudes, focusing on Google Gemini’s generation of controversial images. Drawing on the AI alignment literature, we distinguish three moderation goals that differ in how far they depart from data-driven outputs: safety, bias mitigation, and aspirational imaginaries. We use focusing events research to explain how controversies make governance questions salient. In a preregistered experiment with 1756 participants, we tested responses to two image sets: American Founding Fathers (T1) and German soldiers from 1943 (T2). T1 significantly reduced support for bias-related and aspirational moderation and lowered trust in the company, but did not affect safety-based justifications or perceived political alignment. T2 showed the same directional pattern but did not reach significance; pooled results confirmed the main pattern. These findings show that visible product failures can affect public views on AI governance along dimensions most directly implicated by the controversy.

Political Communication

The Prevalence and Consequences of Women’s Algorithmic Underrepresentation in Cross-National Political Google Searches
Tobias Rohrbach, Mykola Makhortykh, Maryna Sydorova
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Moving Targets, Moving Politics: The State of Play in Social Media Data Access
Claes H. de Vreese, Rebekah Tromble
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Editor’s Note
Regina G. Lawrence
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Public Relations Review

Corporate philanthropic disaster response (CPDR) as a strategic CSR initiative: The effects of disaster relief support types and the disaster cycle
Yeonsoo Kim, Hyungrok Jin, Dorian Williams, Yucong Ma
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Corporate social responsibility (CSR) versus corporate social advocacy (CSA): Conceptual boundaries, distinct roots, and growing convergence revealed by topic modeling and word embedding
Jiacheng Huang, Bree Hurst, Luke W. Capizzo, Alvin Zhou
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Motivated to speak up or withdraw? Integrating STOPS and the transactional model to explore workplace mental health issues
Dongya Wang, Hongzhu Jin, Hui Shi, Zhengyan Li
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Building a bridge over troubled water: Exploring the RAPIDS model for effective crisis management from a strategic–behavioral perspective
Myoung-Gi Chon, Sungsu Kim
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Developing effective AI disclosure strategies to maintain AI influencer–follower relationships: The roles of human voice and interactivity
Jiali Zhang, Eyun-Jung Ki
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Behind the Ennui: Reconceptualizing employee disengagement, its drivers and internal communication management strategies in a global context of practice
Ganga S. Dhanesh, Laura L. Lemon
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A mixed-method approach to understanding employee passion at work: Definitions, outcomes, and public relations implications
Linjuan Rita Men, Cen April Yue, Yufan Sunny Qin, Renee Mitson, Hanzi He
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Rhetorical reason-giving through image restoration strategies in corporate responses to DEI pushback: A content analysis of publicly articulated corporate position statements
Joon Soo Lim, Sung-Un Yang, Christine Eunseol Park
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Frontline voices of care: How community health workers cultivate relationships
Brooke Fisher Liu, Lahne Mattas-Curry, Anita Atwell Seate, Carina Zelaya, David Liendo Uriona, Christina Getrich, Cynthia Baur
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What constitutes an organizational crisis? A scoping review and a conceptual model of crises as stakeholder perceptions (CASPER Model)
Thomas Koch, Benno Viererbl
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Beyond fear: Moral framing and storyteller in fostering trust, joy, and hope in climate-driven crisis communication within collectivist culture
Diem-Trang Vo, Liem Quoc Bui, Long Van Thang Nguyen, Nam-Phuong Nguyen, Tuan Phung, Minh Dinh
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“kamala IS brat:” Effects of online campaign content on young adults’ political organization-public relationships and participation
Joshua Narrell, Jun Zhang
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Meta-research on crisis communication: 24 years of research in Public Relations Review (2000–2023)
Álvaro Elgueta-Ruiz, Gabriel Sadi, Gisela Gonçalves, Javier Martínez-Ortiz
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The confidence trap: A conceptual framework for understanding the gendered leadership gap in public relations
Pamela Jo Brubaker, Kailey R. Thompson, Christopher Wilson, Steven Bruce Pelham
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Engaging CSR through narratives in the AI era: Exploring the impacts of voice generator and narrator identity on narrative transportation in audio and video
Chang Wan, Yingru Ji, Jiaxin Duan
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Public Understanding of Science

Too sure or not sure enough? Trust may hinge on scientists’ uncertainty matching knowledgeable audiences’ tolerance for it
Natasha Strydhorst, Asheley R. Landrum
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Uncertainty, though integral to scientific practice and advancement, is routinely omitted from science communication. While extensive study has uncovered the effect of this in politicized scientific fields, its influence in unpoliticized sciences is murkier. This survey-experiment study in the USA investigates audience perceptions of communicator trustworthiness when reading excerpts of neuroimaging journalism portraying the field as (a) uncertainty-filled or (b) certain enough to be on the cusp of enabling mind-reading. Findings bolster hitherto mixed results and (exploratorily) suggest perceived communicator trustworthiness may hinge on an author’s uncertainty matching audience members’ tolerance for uncertainty—when they score high in science literacy.

Science Communication

Intermedia Agenda-Setting of a Scientific Controversy in the Hybrid Media System: A Cross-Media and Cross-Platform Analysis of Hydroxychloroquine During COVID-19
Rui Wang, Dobin Yim, Elliot King
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Existing research on intermedia agenda-setting within the hybrid media system has primarily focused on political communication. This study extends prior work by examining how a scientific controversy circulated across legacy and social media platforms. Specifically, it investigates the debate over hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) as a potential COVID-19 treatment and explores whether, and how, legacy media and social media set each other’s agendas. We conducted a cross-media and cross-platform analysis using data from legacy media (broadcast, cable news, and national newspapers; N = 2,276) and social media (Twitter, N = 416,087; Facebook, N = 28,566). Combining time-series analysis with large language model-assisted framing analysis, the results reveal a complex relationship across platforms: overall, coverage of HCQ did not exhibit consistent agenda-setting effects between legacy and social media. However, framing patterns diverged significantly. Legacy media emphasized Conflict and Public-Risk frames, while social media discourse was dominated by polarized Conflict and Economic-Consequences frames. These findings contribute to the literature on networked agenda-setting in the hybrid media system by providing empirical evidence from science communication, extending the framework beyond its predominant focus on political communication.

Social Media + Society

Afghanistan’s Digital Diaspora: Conflicted Constructions of Nation and Identity
Wahid Mehran, Jolanta A. Drzewiecka
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Afghanistan’s diaspora swelled after the Taliban took over the government in 2021 and initiated a nation-building project that marginalized some ethnic groups. Acts of discrimination were exposed online and discussed by users in the diaspora and in Afghanistan. Studies of non-mediated practices of Afghanistan’s diaspora show separation along ethnic lines. How the ethnic divisions play out in the digital space where users from the diaspora and Afghanistan debate the future of the nation and whether digital affordances facilitate interactions across divisions, and how, have not been addressed. We connect the literature on digital diaspora and firestorms to elucidate the role of affect in interactions between “here and there.” We conducted a netnography of X (Twitter) posts about events in Afghanistan between August 15, 2021, when the Taliban seized Kabul, and August 15, 2024. A thematic analysis of threads revealed three themes: essentialist displacement, the politics of labels, and language advocacy. The themes wove reciprocal defensive exclusionary discourses of place, group labels, and language erupting in affective surges animated by historical grievances and perceptions of marginalization evolved over centuries-long cohabitation in spaces that now constitute the state of Afghanistan. While heterogeneous and interacting across ethnic lines, the contributors spun essentialist discourses reflecting struggles over recognition, legitimacy, and ownership of the national narrative. The ethnic divisions were actively reshaped and expressed in digital spaces, producing fragmented encapsulation .

Southern Communication Journal

Rhetorical Criticism in Biblical Studies and Communication Studies: Common Ground, New Ground
Leland G. Spencer
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Telematics and Informatics

The Cyrano effect: LLM-assisted impression management and authenticity in online dating
Lennart Ante
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Unequal AI readiness: institutional and digital disparities in e-government across the European Union
Eduardo Amaral, Mijail Naranjo-Zolotov, Fernando Bação
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Digital public management reform: assessing the impact of e-government initiatives on administrative transparency
Jinlin Ma
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Assessing the impact of digital equity initiatives and government policies on university access, student achievement, and retention in low-income countries
Babar Nawaz Abbasi, Chunxue Yang
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Development and application of the Masculinity Content Classification Framework
Krista Fisher, Ruben Benakovic, Kieran O’Gorman, Simon M. Rice, Kaitlyn Tierney, Cynthia Miller-Idriss, Pasha Dashtgard, Zac Seidler
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Does hate attract likes? Offensive language and audience engagement in partisan YouTube videos
Kyungeun Jang, Young Min Baek
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Evaluating the socioeconomic effects of a digital public policy: the case of FTTH deployments in Uruguay
Juan Jung
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Does education bridge the digital divide for middle-aged and older adults? Evidence from 55 societies
Weikang Jiang, Yang Wang, Xiaoqian Zhang
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Distinct pathways of problematic social media use: behavioral indicators and psychological correlates
Koosha Orfi, Morgan Ellithorpe
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Automating the identification of High-Value Datasets in open government data portals: A US municipalities case study
Alfonso Quarati, Anastasija Nikiforova
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AI labeling reduces the perceived accuracy of online content but has limited broader effects
Chuyao Wang, Patrick Sturgis, Daniel de Kadt
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Three models of big data governance: A comparative analysis of privacy policies of contact tracing apps in China, Singapore, and Germany
Bian Xiong, Fen Lin
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A search changer: auditing Google’s AI overviews interface in political and news search
Shir Weinbrand
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The significance of ethical awareness in human–AI interaction: The effects of two types of algorithmic literacy on users’ trust and sense of agency
Jeeyun Oh, Hyungrok Jin, Soya Nah
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Healthy bonds or pathological ties? Unpacking emotional dependence on AI through rumination and metacognitive awareness
Zhenyan Li, Hui Li, Qinjian Yuan
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From design to contribution: How YouTube channel content style shapes follower attitudes and influencer branding
Yen-Chun Chen, Chia-Lin Hsu, Hsiao-Yun Lin
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Governing agentic cities: platform cognition, power, and post-smart urbanism
Farshad Shariatpour, Mostafa Behzadfar
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Understanding AI’s role in society and workplace through technology, trust, and anticipatory emotion factors
Chaeyeon Yim, Carolyn A. Lin
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The International Journal of Press/Politics

Addressing Media Harm and Community Relationships through an Ethic of Love
Danielle K. Brown, Perry Parks, Jessica Pettengill, Jung-Hsiang (Eric) Hsieh, Jasmine Snow, Jarrad Henderson
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Ethical approaches to address media harm and build more idealized relationships between journalists and marginalized communities have relied heavily on prescriptions for unidirectional journalistic practices, often framed as an ethic of care . In this exploration of relationship development and maintenance through the perspectives of trusted journalists, we identify practices and exchanges that reflect a more reciprocal framework of an ethic of love . We present a case study derived from interviews with seventeen journalists named as trusted by Black community members in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where police murdered George Floyd in 2020. His murder reignited an international movement to address police brutality and systemic racism. Results show that communities and journalists rely on each other to achieve healthy relationships and exchanges. These relationships require both mutual agency and reciprocity, and many dimensions of their exchanges align with Black feminist scholar bell hooks’ ethic of love. Trusted journalists successfully addressed historic media harm through two prominent practices identified in this study: diligence and deference. Findings call upon scholars to craft a more inclusive and internationally relevant understanding of journalistic strategies that repair historic harms by centering vulnerable communities—for the ultimate benefit of all communities. Drawing on design justice principles, which posit that centering the most vulnerable communities creates more inclusive and universal systems, we discuss how the ethic of love framework can strengthen information pathways between journalists and communities.
Book Review: Weapons of Mass Deception: How Right-Wing Media Wage Information Warfare and Undermine American Democracy by Yunkang Yang YunkangYangWeapons of Mass Deception: How Right-Wing Media Wage Information Warfare and Undermine American Democracy. New York: Oxford University Press, 2025. 224 pp. $132.00/$27.95 (hardcover/paperback). ISBN: 9780197820292.
A. J. Bauer
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What Is Ethical AI Use in Journalism? Stakeholders’ Perceptions of Ethical Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) Usage in Kenyan Newsrooms
Bingbing Zhang, Kevin C. Mudavadi, Brian Ekdale, Brett Johnson, Melissa Tully, Nur Hossain, Jonas Nyabor, Shitemi Khamadi
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The integration of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) in newsrooms has prompted scholarly examination of its ethical use. While research has examined journalists’ ethical practices and news audiences’ perceptions, few studies have examined the perceptions of other key stakeholders (e.g., journalism educators, policymakers, influencers, and information technology experts) whose perceptions may influence ethical adoption. Rooted in folk theories as an explanatory and normative framework for making sense of complex phenomena, we interviewed 94 stakeholders to examine their folk theories about GenAI and their ethical understanding of its use in Kenyan journalism. Findings show that across stakeholder groups, participants’ folk theories of what GenAI “is” shape how they interpret ethical concerns and perceive its potential consequences for journalism. Specifically, viewing GenAI as a content-creation tool connects to concerns about laziness, de-skilling, plagiarism, and the erosion of journalists’ professional standards, as the technology risks replacing human creativity. Framing GenAI as a data-driven or algorithmic system aligns with concerns about misinformation, bias, and stereotypes against Kenyans stemming from Western data dominance. Understanding GenAI as a human-like partner fosters fear about blurred boundaries around authorship, transparency, and responsibility in newsrooms. Stakeholders’ folk theories are further rooted in their professional identities and relationships to GenAI. Our findings contribute to scholarship on GenAI ethics by underscoring the importance of expanding journalism scholarship to account for stakeholders’ perceptions.
Ethics First: How Trust and Political Contexts Shape Public Acceptance of AI-Generated News Across Twenty-four Countries
Jinpeng Wang, Xin Yu
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As generative artificial intelligence (AI) reshapes news production, understanding what drives global audiences to accept AI-generated news is critical. Existing research largely adopts a competence-based perspective, neglecting the complex role of trust dimensions and macro-political contexts. This study examines how AI self-efficacy interacts with two distinct dimensions of trust (competence trust and ethical trust) to shape acceptance of AI-generated news, and how these relationships vary across political environments. Analyzing survey data from 24,000 respondents across twenty-four countries, we find that ethical trust is a substantially stronger predictor of acceptance than competence trust, while AI self-efficacy promotes acceptance only when ethical trust is high. Multilevel analysis incorporating national-level indicators (press freedom, regime type, and AI readiness) reveals that the relationship between ethical trust and acceptance is stronger in open, liberal democratic, and technologically ready societies. These findings suggest that the legitimacy of AI-generated news is more strongly associated with audiences’ ethical evaluations of AI systems than with perceived technical capability, and that this association is shaped by the normative expectations that different political contexts cultivate.