Political information choices in a media saturated environment : credibility or convenience?

This thesis examines the ways in which citizens find out about socio-political issues. The project set out to discover how audience characteristics such as scepticism towards the media, gratifications sought, need for cognition and political interest influence information selection. While most previous information choice studies have focused on how individuals select from a narrow range of media types, this thesis considered a much wider sweep of the information landscape. This approach was taken to obtain an understanding of information choices in a more authentic context - in everyday life, people are not simply restricted to one or two news sources. Rather, they may obtain political information from a vast range of information sources, including media sources (e.g. radio, television, newspapers) and sources from beyond the media (eg. interpersonal sources, public speaking events, social networking websites). Thus, the study included both media and non-news media information sources. Data collection for the project consisted of a written, postal survey. The survey was administered to a probability sample in the greater Brisbane region, which is the third largest city in Australia. Data was collected during March and April 2008, approximately four months after the 2007 Australian Federal Election. Hence, the study was conducted in a non-election context. 585 usable surveys were obtained. In addition to measuring the attitudinal characteristics listed above, respondents were surveyed as to which information sources (eg. television shows, radio stations, websites and festivals) they usually use to find out about socio-political issues. Multiple linear regression analysis was conducted to explore patterns of influence between the audience characteristics and information consumption patterns. The results of this analysis indicated an apparent difference between the way citizens use news media sources and the way they use information sources from beyond the news media. In essence, it appears that non-news media information sources are used very deliberately to seek socio-political information, while media sources are used in a less purposeful way. If media use in a non-election context, such as that of the present study, is not primarily concerned with deliberate information seeking, media use must instead have other primary purposes, with political information acquisition as either a secondary driver, or a by-product of that primary purpose. It appears, then, that political information consumption in a media-saturated society is more about routine ���practices��� than it is about ���information seeking���. The suggestion that media use is no longer primarily concerned with information seeking, but rather, is simply a behaviour which occurs within the broader set of everyday practices reflects Couldry���s (2004) media as practice paradigm. These findings highlight the need for more authentic and holistic contexts for media research. It is insufficient to consider information choices in isolation, or even from a wider range of information sources, such as that incorporated in the present study. Future media research must take greater account of the broader social contexts and practices in which media-oriented behaviours occur. The findings also call into question the previously assumed centrality of trust to information selection decisions. Citizens regularly use media they do not trust to find out about politics. If people are willing to use information sources they do not trust for democratically important topics such as politics, it is important that citizens possess the media literacy skills to effectively understand and evaluate the information they are presented with. Without the application of such media literacy skills, a steady diet of ���fast food��� media may result in uninformed or misinformed voting decisions, which have implications for the effectiveness of democratic processes. This research has emphasized the need for further holistic and authentically contextualised media use research, to better understand how citizens use information sources to find out about important topics such as politics.

Enlightenment out of chaos : power, politics and The Chaser���s War on Everything

This paper focuses on the satirical Australian television show The Chaser���s War on Everything, and uses it to critically explore the potential ramifications of what McNair (2006) has called ���cultural chaos���. Through an analysis of several examples from this particular program, alongside interviews with its production team and qualitative audience research, this paper argues that this TV show���s engagement with political issues in a creative, entertaining way that departs from the conventions of traditional journalism, allows it to present a perhaps more authentic image of political agents than is often cultivated in the mainstream news media. This paper therefore provides clear evidence that the shift from homogeneity to heterogeneity in the news media presents a significant challenge to those who wish to heavily control public opinion. It also provides further support for an optimistic re-appraisal of entertainment which emphasises its central (not merely periphery) role in political discourse.

Young citizens, values and new/s media

The adaptation of market segmentation to political communication is identified here as a neglected explanation for why young people often figure in popular political debates as both the cause and symptom of declining social values and civic participation. New media also contribute to public anxiety because they enable new forms of mediated civic engagement and disrupt the capacity of transmission media to bind nations. Declining engagement with news media is used as an index of young peoples' lack of civic-mindedness but, as research surveyed and reported here shows, this trend away from orthodox news forms is apparent across all age groups, not just youth. This article makes the case for public debate, informed by research that addresses the substantive problems of transforming democracy.

Framing sexual harassment through media representations

This article examines mainstream news media texts reporting sexual harassment in four industrialized countries. The study first identifies the aspects of sexual harassment cases considered newsworthy by asking how the media texts characterize such cases. Second, the study illuminates the discourses evident in these texts, which are theorized as a mode by which understandings of workplace gender (in)equality shape, and are shaped by, individuals, organizations and the community. The analysis reveals that the media most frequently reports ���classic��� sexual harassment and emphasizes scandalous allegations and overtly sexualized conduct. The hegemony of a discourse of sexual harassment as an individualized problem of inappropriate employee behavior is also evident. By contrast, discourses presenting sexual harassment as a systemic issue, or as symptomatic of broader gender inequality, are less frequent. We argue that these media representations limit opportunities to frame sexual harassment as dynamic, complex, and part of the practice of gendering in and beyond organizational boundaries.

Social Media in the Media: How Australian Media Perceive Social Media as Political Tools

Social media are becoming increasingly integrated into political practices around the world. Politicians, citizens and journalists employ new media tools to support and supplement their political goals. This report examines the way in which social media are portrayed as political tools in Australian mainstream media in order to establish what the relations are between social media and mainstream media in political news reporting. Through the close content-analysis of 93 articles sampled from the years 2008, 2010 and 2012, we provide a longitudinal insight into how the perception by Australian journalists and news media organisations of social media as political tools has changed over time. As the mainstream media remain crucial in framing the public understanding of new technologies and practices, this enhances our understanding of the positioning of social media tools for political communication.

Recognition and moral progress : a case study about discourses on disability in the media

This article aims to discuss the notion of moral progress in the theory of recognition. It argues that Axel Honneth's program offers sophisticated theoretical guidance to observe and critically interpret emancipatory projects in contemporary politics based on ideas of individuality and social inclusiveness. Using a case study ��� the investigation, through frame analysis, of transformations in the portrayal of people with impairment as well as in public discourses on the issue of disability in major Brazilian news media from 1960 to 2008 ��� this article addresses three controversies: the notion of progress as a directional process; the problem of moral disagreement and conflict of interest in struggles for recognition; and the processes of social learning. By articulating empirically based arguments and Honneth's normative discussions, this study concludes that one can talk about moral progress without losing sight of value pluralism and conflict of interest.

A profile of Australian travel journalists' professional views and ethical standards

Despite significant changes in mainstream journalism in recent decades, journalistic fields beyond the news have been little explored. In an attempt to contribute to a deeper understanding of such fields, this article examines the role perceptions of 85 Australian travel journalists. By viewing travel journalism as a distinct field of practice that is affected by a unique mix of influences, this study identifies five dimensions of practitioners��� role perceptions. These relate to travel journalists��� views of themselves as Cultural Mediators, Critics, Entertainers, Information Providers and Travellers. In addition, the study examines in some depth the ethical standards of travel journalists. Determinants of these views and standards are explored. The study argues that, in light of travel journalists��� increasingly important role in reporting about foreign places, more remains to be done to promote travel stories that show a deeper understanding of other cultures and which contain a more critical appraisal of destinations.

An exploration of NGO and media efforts to influence workplace practices and associated accountability within global supply chains

This paper investigates how social and environmental non-government organisations (NGOs) use the news media in an endeavour to create changes in the social performance and associated accountabilities of multinational buying companies��� (MBCs���) supply chains located in the developing country of Bangladesh. In this research, we explicitly seek the views of senior officers from global and local NGOs operating in Bangladesh, as well as the views of journalists from major global and local news media organisations. Our results show that social and environmental NGOs strategically use the news media in an effort to effect changes in corporate labour practices and related disclosure practices. More particularly, both the NGOs and the news media representatives stated that NGOs would be relatively powerless to create change in corporate without media coverage. This is the first known study to specifically address the joint and complementary role of NGOs and the news media in potentially creating changes in the social and environmental operating and disclosure practices of supply chains emanating from a developing country.

Engaging, persuading, and entertaining citizens : mediatization and the Australian political public sphere

This paper draws upon public sphere theories and the ���mediatization of politics��� debate to develop a mapping of the Australian political public sphere, with particular reference to television. It discusses the concept of a ���political public sphere,��� and the contribution of both non-traditional news media genres, such as satirical television and infotainment formats, to an expanded conception of the political public sphere. It considers these questions in the context of two case studies: the Q&A program on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), and its uses of social media and interactive formats to engage citizens, and the comedy program Gruen Nation, also on the ABC, which analyzed the use of political advertising to persuade citizens during the 2013 Australian Federal election.

Andrew Bolt isn't a racist, but ...

The Coalition's push to make changes to the Racial Discrimination Act was in part a response to a court ruling that Andrew Bolt had breached the Act over his comments about Aboriginal Australians. Here, Chelsea Bond revisits the newspaper columnist's treatment of Aboriginality, explaining that race is more than skin deep.

Media accounts of school performance: Reinforcing dominant practices of accountability

Media reportage often act as interpretations of accountability policies thereby making the news media a part of the policy enactment process. Within such a process, their role is that of policy reinforcement rather than policy construction or contestation. This paper draws on the experiences of school leaders in regional Queensland, Australia, and their perceptions of the media frames that are used to report on accountability using school performance. The notion of accountability is theorised in terms of media understandings of ���holding power to account���, and forms the theoretical framework for this study. The methodological considerations both contextualise aspects of the schools involved in the study, and outline how ���framing theory��� was used to analyse the data. The paper draws on a number of participant experiences and newspaper accounts of schools to identify the frames that are used by the press when reporting on school performance. Three frames referring to school performance are discussed in this paper: those that rank performance such as league tables; frames that decontextualise performance isolating it from school circumstances and levels of funding; and frames that residualise government schools.

O enquadramento do aborto pela m��dia impressa brasileira no per��odo eleitoral (2010): uma quest��o bio��tica

O presente trabalho trata do enquadramento do aborto realizado pela m��dia impressa brasileira no per��odo eleitoral (2010) e suas implica����es como quest��o bio��tica. O objetivo foi identificar as matrizes de enquadramento do aborto nos ve��culos nacionais e regionais por meio de t��cnicas mistas de levantamento e an��lise de dados, na elei����o presidencial de 2010, tendo como material para an��lise as not��cias veiculadas tanto na m��dia impressa como eletr��nica e aspectos bio��ticos associados. Os ve��culos que dominaram o enquadramento de not��cias e a pauta sobre o aborto s��o provenientes do Sudeste, tendo contribu��do com 80% (N = 453) das not��cias publicadas. As autoridades que obtiveram voz eram na sua maioria homens (91%), e apenas 3 hist��rias de vida de mulheres relacionadas a aborto emergiram das not��cias analisadas, colocando em evid��ncia o estigma relacionado ao aborto onde as mulheres s��o silenciadas. A contribui����o relativa das autoridades na qualifica����o do debate do aborto, em 238 das not��cias analisadas, foi de 23% de especialistas (cientistas pol��ticos, juristas ou acad��micos), igual percentual (23%) de religiosos; sendo que a maior parte foi formado por pol��ticos 52%. O enquadramento realizado pela maioria dos ve��culos favoreceu um vi��s moral e religioso, com o qual os candidatos eram confrontados durante a campanha. Esse vi��s, por sua vez, favoreceu grupos religiosos que se pretenderam como promotores do segundo turno da campanha presidencial, embora outras fossem as causas mais prov��veis como a candidatura de Marina Silva e as absten����es (18%). Os candidatos, pautados pelo enquadramento em que a tese conservadora, de cunho moral e religioso, foi majorit��ria (57%), mantiveram-se favor��veis a ele, muitas vezes em detrimento da sua pr��pria biografia e, sobretudo, descartando os efeitos do aborto para a sa��de p��blica, j�� estudados por pesquisas como a Pesquisa Nacional de Aborto. O enquadramento mostrou-se como um dispositivo de poder importante, quando se analisou a m��dia impressa, pois nele se revela o poder de gerar cen��rios, dar voz a atores e autoridades, e permitir ou n��o uma diversidade de argumentos que empoderem os indiv��duos a tomarem suas pr��prias decis��es, seja sobre que candidato eleger ou ainda sobre sua sa��de, como no caso do aborto, auxiliando por sua vez na distribui����o mais igualit��ria do poder. A pr��pria regula����o da m��dia na apresenta����o de temas que afetem a sa��de p��blica deve ser almejada a fim de que se avance no debate, possibilitando a forma����o de contraenquadramentos. A bio��tica poderia atuar de modo sin��rgico ao enquadramento, exigindo na composi����o deste cen��rio, que os argumentos possuam atributos racionais e de razoabilidade, fomentadores de consensos, que, neste caso, tem implica����es na sa��de da mulher que realiza o aborto, sendo por vezes, o diferencial entre sua vida e morte.

Space Science News: from archive to teaching resource, the secret life of newspapers

Worldwide, science education reform is aiming to promote 'scientific literacy' among young people. Typically, this is taken to include empowering them to engage critically with science in news media. This study explored the extent and nature of secondary science teachers' use of newspapers. It found that, though a great many use the resource, the majority do so incidentally and with the intention of showing the relevance of the subject rather than developing their students' criticality.

The role of the media in a bubble

We examine the role of the news media during the British Railway Mania, arguably one of the largest financial bubbles in history. Our analysis suggests that the press responded to changes in the stock market, and its reporting of recent events may have influenced asset prices. However, we find no evidence that the sentiment of the media, or the attention which it gave to particular stocks, had any influence on exacerbating or ending the Mania. The main contribution of the media was to provide factual information which investors could use to inform their decisions. �� 2012 Elsevier Inc.

Encouraging and equipping students to engage critically with science in the news: what can we learn from the literature?

Many educational reforms have as one of their key goals the promotion of scientific literacy and they encourage engagement with science in the news as one aspect of this. The research indicates teachers using the news do so for a variety of reasons, sometimes with tangential links to the promotion of scientific literacy. Demonstrating the relevance of science to the world beyond the classroom or making links to socio-scientific issues and promoting discussion on ethical dilemmas are all seen as potential reasons for engaging with science���related news. However, media related issues are often not addressed. Increasingly the need for a more comprehensive approach, including, for example, teaching about media awareness in the context of science reporting, is highlighted. The steady growth of literature describing the use of science-related news along with research studies charting students��� responses to science news media has stimulated discussion and study of pedagogical issues and prompted this review. Key literature relevant to students��� engagement with science-related news reports has been contextualised and reviewed to identify core issues for teachers, teacher educators and curriculum planners. These are listed under the headings of curriculum, pedagogy and assessment, the implications are considered and directions for further research suggested.