Constructing the 'gay gene' in the news:Optimism and skepticism in the US and British press

In the 1990s the discovery of a 'gay gene' was widely reported in the news media, often as front-page stories. Focusing on the print media presentation of Dean Hamer's 1993 and 1995 scientific papers reporting finding a genetic marker for homosexuality, we examine how these studies were framed in a selected sample of US and British newspapers and news magazines. We found disparate constructions of the 'gay gene' in each press culture. The US press reported Hamer's study as good science and treated it with 'cautious optimism' while the British press reported the research as 'the perils of the gay gene.' We discuss how these studies received such widespread attention and the sources and implications of the variant images of the 'gay gene' in the news.

Genetic optimism:Framing genes and mental illness in the news

Over the past two decades the pace and specificity of discoveries associating genetics with mental illness has accelerated, which is reflected in an increase in news coverage about the genetics of mental disorder. The news media is a major source of public understanding of genetics and a strong influence on public discourse. This paper examines the news coverage of genetics and mental illness (i.e., bipolar illness and schizophrenia) over a 25 year period, emphasizing the peak period of 1987-1994. Using a sample of 110 news stories from 5 major American newspapers and 3 news magazines, we identify the frame of "genetic optimism" which dominated the reporting of genetics and mental illness beginning in the mid-1980s. The structure of the frame is comprised of 3 elements: a gene for the disorder exists; it will be found; and it will be good. New discoveries of genes were announced with great fanfare, but the most promising claims could not be replicated or were retracted in short order. Despite these disconfirmations, genetic optimism persisted in subsequent news stories. While the scientific accuracy of the gene stories is high, the genetic optimism frame distorts some of the findings, misrepresents and reifies the impact of genes on mental disorder, and leaves no space for critics or an examination of potential negative impacts. The stances of reporters, scientists and editors may all in different ways contribute to the perpetuation of genetic optimism. Genetic optimism presents an overly sanguine picture of the state of genetics; as we enter the genetic age it is important to balance the extraneous "hype and hope" contained in news stories of genetics and mental illness.

Housing booms and media coverage

This article analyses news media coverage of the housing market. Building on theories of media influence where word of mouth is the final mechanism of opinion change but media initiate discourse, I examine the relationship between news media and the recent UK house price boom. Over 30 000 articles on the UK housing market from the period 1993 to 2008 are analysed, and it is found that media Granger-caused real house price changes, suggesting the media may have influenced opinions on the housing market. However, media sentiment on the housing market did not change with the secular increase in house prices in the 2000s, suggesting that the media did not contribute to the UK’s housing boom and may have helped constrain it.

Dizer sem falar: a Comissão de Ética, Sociedade e Cultura e a alegada tentativa de controlo da comunicação social por José Sócrates

Dissertação apresentada à Escola Superior de Comunicação Social como parte dos requisitos para obtenção de grau de mestre em Jornalismo.

News in the age of empire : two war scandals

This thesis argues that the motivations underpinning the mainstream news media have fundamentally changed in the 21 sl century. As such, the news is no longer best understood as a tool for propaganda or agenda setting; instead it seems that the news is only motivated by the flow of global network capitalism. The author contrasts the work of Noam Chomsky and Edward S. Herman with that of Gilles Deleuze. Chomsky and Herman's 'Propaganda Model' has been influential within the fields of media studies and popular culture. The 'propaganda model' states that the concentration of ownership of the media has allowed the media elite to exert a disproportionate amount of influence over the mass media. Deleuze, on the other hand, regards the mass media as being yet another cog within the global capitalist mechanism, and is therefore separate from ideology or propaganda. The author proposes that 'propaganda' is no longer a sufficient word to describe the function of the news as terms like 'propaganda' imply some form of national sovereignty or governmental influence. To highlight how the news has 'changed from an instrument of propaganda to an instrument of accumulation, the author compares and contrasts the· coverage of the Abu Ghraib Prison Scandal with that of the Haditha Civilian Massacre. Although similar in nature, the author proposes that the Abu Ghraib Prison Scandal received a disproportionate amount of coverage within the mainstream press because of its exciting and sensational nature.

Twitter como herramienta para los medios tradicionales de comunicación en Colombia: su incidencia en el cambio de las prácticas periodísticas y la interacción con su público

Las redes sociales digitales han transformado la forma de comunicarse en el Siglo XXI. Twitter es la red social más destacada para los periodistas colombianos pues según un estudio de la consultora de comunicación Burson-Marsteller, el 47% de los comunicadores colombianos utilizan esta red social para construir noticias (Burson-Marsteller, 2013). Por su popularidad, los medios de comunicación han puesto la mirada sobre esta red social pues ven en esta un nuevo espacio de información, razón por la cual se han transformado para convertir a Twitter en un nuevo conducto para la transmisión de sucesos coyunturales. En Colombia, los medios periodísticos de tradición intentan modificar su estructura y rutinas para adecuarse al nuevo molde comunicativo que propone la inclusión de las redes sociales digitales. Este artículo intenta desvelar cuáles son esos cambios que ha sufrido el periodismo colombiano, teniendo como base su relación con Twitter.

Periodismo participativo: estudio de caso de Comunidad Semana de Semana.com y Yo Público de Citytv.com.co

Este artículo se aproxima al fenómeno de la participación activa de las audiencias en los medios de comunicación. Se trata de un estudio de caso de dos portales colombianos que incorporaron la participación de sus audiencias en: Comunidad Semana, de semana.com, y Yo Publico, de Citytv.com.co. A partir de su análisis, se observa si la audiencia tiene cada vez más espacio en las versiones digitales de los medios a través de innovadoras plataformas de participación, pero el trabajo encontró que todavía no existe una gestión y aprovechamiento eficaz de esos aportes en la práctica periodística.

Días de Cambio. Un reportaje acerca del cierre de la revista Cambio y las acusaciones alrededor de su cierre.

En febrero de 2010, la Casa Editorial El Tiempo anunció el cierre de la revista Cambio. Este informe proporciona elementos para comprender mejor la desaparición de la revista y muestra un ejemplo específico de cómo en el ejercicio del periodismo puede entrar en conflicto los intereses económicos y políticos de los dueños de los medios con los objetivos de los periodistas.

Discurso y política sobre procesos de Desarme, Desmovilización y Reintegración en Bogotá: La representación de los desmovilizados en el diario El Tiempo (2005 - 2010)

Los procesos de Desarme, Desmovilización y Reintegración (DDR) han sido tema central en la agenda pública y la forma en que los medios nos presentan a los diferentes protagonistas del conflicto, nos ha acercado a ellos y a la realidad de ese fenómeno desde una mirada en particular. En esta monografía se analiza la representación discursiva construida por el diario El Tiempo sobre procesos de DDR y sus actores protagónicos, los desmovilizados, en la ciudad de Bogotá, entre 2005 y 2010; a lo largo del texto se reflexiona sobre la influencia que puede tener el discurso de los medios de comunicación en la manera que la sociedad podría ver y responder a ese grupo social que busca reintegrarse a la vida civil. El trabajo se realiza a través de un análisis del discurso, en este caso, del discurso periodístico emitido por el diario El Tiempo y se abordan elementos de la teoría del pánico moral. La llegada constante y creciente de desmovilizados a la capital del país conllevó a que el trato que debía dársele a la situación hiciera parte de diferentes discursos políticos y mediáticos; por tanto, el discurso del diario se contrasta con la política local de atención a desmovilizados, específicamente con el "Programa de Atención al Proceso de Desmovilización y Reintegración en Bogotá (PAPDRB)", a fin de diferenciar el tratamiento que le dieron al fenómeno.

Os crimes de mídia no paradigma democrático constitucional

The criminal responsibility of the media is analyzed when the criteria for production of news and events involving public safety are produced without considering the technical, legal and ethical practice of journalism in the media factors. Freedom of speech, expression of thought, necessary for professional qualifications and constitutional limits, reaching criminal constitutional principles and the possibilities of criminal liability for offenses practiced in the media are present as key factors legal dialogue in this work. The judgment of the Supreme Court on the unconstitutionality of Law nº. 5.250/67 called Media Law caused a gap in the national legal system, forcing the use of the criminal code to address issues that involve crimes produced in media professional performance. The presumption of innocence is ignored by the professional media during a police investigation where the information published does not respect, including constitutional guarantees: the right to privacy, honor and image. The right to information and the duty to inform media are worked in its constitutional aspect, considering that the same information should be produced is guided by the quality and guiding principles of truth. The constitutional concept of media is presented as information with the appropriate language of the news media, produced and disseminated through the vehicles of mass media, whether in print or digital platform. The presented model of the legal right to information is outlined from a constitutional hermeneutics, increasing the production of news as a result of the occupation of journalist in different news platforms, guaranteeing the quality of this prolific law. Under the Freedom of professional activity of the journalist, the constitutional limits are addressed in line with the reality of (non) regulation of their profession, considering the constitutional abuses committed in the exercise of that activity linked to communication fences. Jusphilosophic field reaches the limits of the duty of truth in journalism as a tool for spreading news, respect the audience and compatibility with the constitutional state. Using the conceptual and doctrinal aspects, this criminal offense is parsed from the journalistic practice and the publication of news involving public safety, with the hypothetical field consummation of that crime through the eventual intention. As a form of judgment against these crimes produced in honor media presents the court of the jury as a legitimate form of democratic decision

O Tema sexo na revista Todateen: um estudo freudiano

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Da loucura à ciência: as imagens e a construção das notícias sobre os transtornos mentais e de comportamentos e seus personagens na Folha de S. Paulo

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Jornalismo e cidadania: uma análise comparativa de coberturas de violações de direitos do adolescente

Pós-graduação em Comunicação - FAAC

Pra não dizer que não se falou de flores: a repercussão da Revolução dos Cravos na grande imprensa do Brasil, 1974 – 1976

Pós-graduação em História - FCLAS