Journalism and Media

In recent years, the concept of artificial intelligence (AI) has garnered increasing scholarly and professional interest, particularly regarding its implementation across various domains, including journalism. As with any emerging technological paradigm, AI must be examined within its contextual framework to elucidate its potential advantages, challenges, and transformative implications. This study, situated within the theoretical lens of Actor–Network Theory, employs a mixed methods approach and, specifically, an explanatory sequential design to explore the integration of AI in contemporary Greek journalism. Primary data were collected through a structured questionnaire (N = 148) administered to professional journalists in Greece, followed by semi-structured interviews with a subset of participants (N = 7). The findings indicate that journalists perceive AI as a tool capable of enhancing work efficiency, minimizing human error, and facilitating the processing of unstructured data. However, respondents also expressed concerns that AI adoption is unlikely to lead to improved financial compensation and may contribute to job displacement within the sector. Additionally, participants emphasized the necessity of regular professional development initiatives, advocating for the organization of seminars on emerging technologies on a biannual or annual basis. Full article

This article examines how digital media discourse mediated Germany’s secularization between 2020 and 2024. Drawing on a corpus from Der Spiegel, Die Zeit, and other outlets, this study combines text mining, sentiment profiling, and frame analysis. Mentions of “faith” and “religion” rose sharply, while reporting stabilized around a neutral tone with a slight positive drift. Coverage centered on public order and institutional roles, relocating religion from moral authority to a civic function. Time-series evidence shows that peaks in discourse preceded increases in non-affiliation by about two months, suggesting a spiral relation in which media both mirror and accelerate secularization. The analysis identifies a three-stage mediating mechanism: communicative reconfiguration, which decentralizes religious narration; cognitive shaping, where neutral framing encourages functional evaluation; and feedback reinforcement, where expanding secular discourse normalizes non-religion. Generational and regional contrasts sharpen this process. Nearly 60% of Germans aged 18–30 identify as unaffiliated, and Eastern regions display both higher secularization and more critical frames than the West. This study contributes empirical evidence for how digital discourse structures belief change in a high-penetration society and extends secularization and mediatization theories by showing how discursive circulation links structural transformation with individual cognition in the digital age. Full article

Floods are among Pakistan’s most common and devastating natural disasters, and they are becoming increasingly frequent and intense as a result of climate change, glacial melt, accelerated urbanisation, and weak governance. While coverage of climate change in 2025 has improved compared to 2010 and 2022 in terms of attention to climate change, it still silences local voices and long-term resilience narratives. However, much of the literature on disaster reporting in Pakistan has been descriptive, focusing on one-off events rather than situating them within wider framing theories, agenda-setting, and disaster journalism. This study employs qualitative document analysis (QDA) of a sample (n = 300) of media texts from five mainstream Pakistani media outlets (print and broadcast) published between June and August 2025. Drawing on framing theory and using a hybrid coding framework, this study examines causal attribution, impact reporting, actor representation, and narrative patterns. The results show ongoing sensationalism and political blame frames, low inclusion of community voices, and competing discourses of climate change versus nationalist explanations (especially cross-border water politics). This study contributes to global conversations about disaster communication by demonstrating the role of media in fragile governance settings to reveal and obscure the structural causes of vulnerability. Theoretically, it broadens framing and agenda-setting scholarship by showing the simultaneous functioning of dual causal narratives, scientific (climate-induced) and political (nationalistic). It also provides policy recommendations for more inclusive, accurate, and resilient disaster reporting. Full article

Public service media (PSM) are undergoing essential digital transformations to compete in an audiovisual ecosystem dominated by new technological players that have reshaped traditional media consumption habits. This article examines how the digital developments of Spanish public media, within platformization processes, particularly in the field of digital audio and podcasts, integrate public service values based on a framework which identifies twelve key dimensions: universality, quality, independence, diversity, responsibility, innovation, social commitment, civic participation, media literacy, territorial cohesion, social justice, and cooperation. Using a qualitative multiple-case study methodology, these values are compared with the strategies of Radiotelevisión Española (RTVE), the media organizations grouped in the Federation of Regional Radio and Television Entities (FORTA), and Canal Extremadura. The results indicate that PSM, to varying degrees, incorporate public service values in their platformization processes. However, the findings also reveal significant challenges that, if addressed, could maximize the impact of their digital strategies. Full article

As social media became essential for communication, organizations collected vast data from platforms like Facebook, Twitter (X), Instagram, and LinkedIn. However, turning this data into actionable insights for strategic decision-making was often inconsistent. This study explored ways to enhance social media reporting to improve strategic outcomes. Through literature review and expert interviews, it identified challenges such as misaligned metrics, low data literacy, siloed departments, and limited integration of insights into planning. Despite investments in dashboards and analytics tools, these resources were often underused due to interpretive gaps and a focus on vanity metrics. The findings highlighted the importance of aligning social media KPIs with organizational goals, fostering cross-functional collaboration, and enhancing interpretive capabilities among staff and executives. Importantly, the study also underscored the broader public value of effective social media reporting, particularly in the public sector, where data-driven communication enhanced transparency, responsiveness, and citizen trust. This research contributed to the growing discourse on data-driven strategy by emphasizing not only the technical and analytical dimensions, but also the often-overlooked human, organizational, and public value factors that influenced the real-world effectiveness of social media reporting. Full article

The global creator economy has generated standardised monetisation strategies, yet their effectiveness varies significantly across regional contexts. This study examines how South African student influencers adapt global monetisation approaches to local market conditions on TikTok and Instagram. Using a mixed-methods approach, we collected data from 20 student influencers (aged 18–28, 1000–50,000 followers) through structured surveys and thematic coding of social media content across diverse categories including beauty, lifestyle, and gaming. Our findings reveal three key adaptation patterns: (1) Strategic localisation—influencers modify brand partnership approaches to align with local business practices and payment capabilities; (2) Platform arbitrage—creators leverage platform-specific features differently than global best practices due to regional access limitations, particularly TikTok’s creator fund restrictions; and (3) Resource-constrained innovation—student influencers develop alternative monetisation methods, including direct product sales and educational content, to overcome socio-economic barriers. Beauty influencers demonstrate the highest adaptation success with brand sponsorships (35% of participants), whilst micro-influencers pivot towards affiliate marketing and entrepreneurial ventures. The study contributes to platform economy literature by demonstrating that successful monetisation requires strategic adaptation rather than direct replication of global models. These findings offer practical insights for creators in emerging markets and platform developers seeking to support regional creator economies. The research highlights the need for context-sensitive approaches to digital entrepreneurship in the Global South. Full article

Terror organizations increasingly utilize the media and especially digital platforms to disseminate strategic messages, particularly during conflicts. This study examines how Hamas employed hostage videos and other related publications as a form of strategic communication during the first 20 months of the 2023–2025 war with Israel. Drawing on qualitative content analysis of 166 media outputs published on Hamas’s official Telegram channel, including videos, infographics, and a few text-based posts, the study identifies five distinct genres: proof of life, revealing the hostages’ fate, rage or call for help, messages to hostage families or the Israeli public, and hostage release videos. Each genre reflects a specific communicative strategy, varying in tone, target audience, emotional appeal, and timing. The findings reveal that Hamas’s media operations are characterized by a high degree of intentionality, with different genres employed to advance political objectives, ranging from negotiation pressure and public mobilization to projecting legitimacy and resilience. The study contributes to the growing literature on terrorism and strategic communication, illustrating how non-state actors leverage visual media and emotional narratives to wage parallel battles over image, perception, and legitimacy. Full article

Part of the relics of colonialism on the African continent is the loss of social identity caused by the adoption of colonial languages, leading to the endangered status of indigenous African languages. This qualitative study examines the potential and challenges of podcasting in indigenous African languages, with a focus on Yoruba. We conducted a sentiment analysis of the podcast “I Speak Yoruba Too” and “learn Yoruba online” to assess the range of audience feedback on the podcast. 735 data points were gathered and preprocessed, Hugging face transformers were used to analyse the sentiments on audience feedback. The result of the analysis shows that the negative reviews were 183, the neutral reviews 226, and the positive reviews 326. The visualisation of the word cloud of the labels shows the words frequently used in the reviews, revealing the challenges and the appreciation of the commenter. An in-depth interview was conducted with the host of the “I Speak Yoruba Too” podcast and the “learn Yoruba online Podcast”. The findings reveal that part of the challenges of podcasting include the absence of a standard Yoruba curriculum for foreign learners and time constraints. This paper argues that the deterministic nature of podcast technology offers opportunities to content creators and listeners, based on the medium’s flexibility and ease of access in facilitating language acquisition. Audience reviews and interview results also confirm the potential of the podcast to generate community building and social identity formation among learners. However, the monetisation of such digital products is often underexplored by both emerging and established podcasters. Full article

China’s state-backed media is valuable for news bias research due to the tight control of journalism in China. In the digital era, bias remains, and quantitative and computational methods are playing an important role in studying it. Bias on China’s English news websites has not been examined in previous research, and a day-to-day angle is lacking. This study selects four well-known news media websites in China: CGTN, China Daily, Global Times, and Xinhuanet, which are owned and operated by the state or party in different ways. The BBC is chosen as a benchmark of editorial independence to highlight differences in bias. The news titles on their official websites were collected on a daily basis and analysed with sentiment as the focus. Features of news webpages are discussed and utilised. The charts and network graphs in this paper lower the barrier to comprehension for wider audiences, enabling readers to grasp the sentiment bias of news media in a visually digestible format. The results demonstrate that sentiment bias exists in China’s state-backed English-language news websites today, favouring positive coverage of the domestic side. In contrast, the BBC serves as a suitable benchmark and reflects the tendency for negativity dominance in news reporting. Full article

Understanding media discussions on artificial intelligence (AI) is crucial for shaping policy and addressing public concerns. The purpose of this study was to understand sentiment regarding AI in the media and to discover how the discussion of topics changed over time in technology-related media outlets. The study involved three overall steps: data curation and cleaning to obtain a high-quality, timely dataset from a list of relevant technology-news-oriented websites; sentiment analysis to understand the emotion of the articles; and Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) to uncover the topics of discussion. The study curated and analyzed 22,230 articles from technology-focused media outlets between the period 2006 and July 2024, split into three time periods. We found that discussion on AI-related topics has increased significantly over time, with sentiment generally positive. However, since 2022, both negative and positive sentiment proportions within articles have risen, suggesting growing emotional polarization. The introduction of ChatGPT 3.5 in November 2022 notably influenced media narratives. Machine learning remained a dominant topic, while discussion on business and investment, as well as governance and regulation, has gained prominence in recent years. This study demonstrates the impact of technological advancements on media discourse and highlights increasing emotional polarization regarding AI coverage in recent years. Full article

Podcasting in Romania has experienced notable growth in recent years, evolving from a niche medium into a widely consumed form of digital communication. This expansion is driven by the flexibility of podcasts, which allow audiences to access content conveniently across various contexts, from commuting to leisure time, and by the increasing demand for stories that resonate with listeners personal experiences. This study examines the storytelling techniques employed by Romanian podcasters and their effects on audience engagement. Using a case study methodology, the research analyzes a selection of representative podcasts to explore how creators structure narratives, integrate cultural and social elements, and employ techniques such as thematic consistency, character development, and progressive disclosure of information. Findings indicate that the Romanian podcasters in this study have adapted both traditional and contemporary narrative strategies to build immersive, emotionally engaging content, balancing depth and accessibility. The analysis also highlights how narrative structures contribute to sustained listener attention and foster a sense of connection between hosts and audiences. Overall, this study provides insight into the role of storytelling in shaping podcast consumption in Romania and offers practical implications for content creators aiming to cultivate meaningful engagement and listener loyalty. Full article

Since the end of Apartheid in 1994, South Africa has striven to address past discrimination against members of marginalized groups such as Africans, women and LGBTQ+ individuals. Sophisticated media legislation and a vibrant civil society forged in the struggle against Apartheid ensure limited discrimination in traditional media and relatively fringe online forums. However, subtle forms of undermining signal the persistent legacy of a colonial and patriarchal past. While incidents of online racism and sexism are relatively well documented, ableism deserves more attention. Despite growing scholarship on digital discrimination, a significant research gap remains in understanding how ableist microaggressions manifest online, particularly when intersecting with race and gender. As a result of established media tropes, microaggressions against people with disabilities are somewhat naturalized and reproduced on social media, yet their intersectional dimensions—especially targeting Black women with disabilities—remain underexplored. This paper addresses this gap through a focused case study of jokes targeting Black women with disabilities in one TikTok video and the approximately 700 comments. Considering (dis)ability’s intersections with race, gender, and socio-economic status, these media texts are subjected to a critical thematic analysis. The study also problematizes the methodological challenges associated with finding, identifying, and purposively selecting such content. The analysis reveals a set of historically and contextually rooted microaggressions expressed through humor, which, as a cultural expression, is inherently covert and thus hard to detect and regulate. This research contributes to understanding how intersectional ableism operates digitally and highlights the need for nuanced approaches to identifying subtle forms of discrimination in online spaces. Full article

Based on Agenda-Setting Theory, Media Agenda Synergy (MAS) can enhance the communication effectiveness of public issues (e.g., climate change, social justice, and public health) through the information resonance and agenda complementarity among cross-media platforms, thus reconstructing the public perception. In this paper, we focus on the dynamic impact of cross-media agenda synergy on public agenda intensity and innovatively propose a “HMM-Granger” hybrid modeling framework for Media Agenda Synergy: Firstly, we quantify the causal weights of agenda shifting based on the deconstruction of the nonlinear time-series dependence of multisource media data by using LSTM neural networks. Secondly, the state transfer probability matrix of the Hidden Markov Model reveals the dual paths of “explicit collaboration” (e.g., issue resonance) and “implicit competition” (e.g., agenda masking) in media agenda coordination. The results of this study show that the Agenda Synergy between mainstream media and social media during major events can generate an Agenda Multiplier Effect, resulting in a significant increase in the intensity of the public agenda. This study provides a computable theoretical paradigm for Inter-Media Agenda Network modeling and data-driven decision support for optimizing opinion guidance strategies. Full article

Purpose: This study investigated the attributes of confession pages on Facebook, their role within social networks, and their impact on society. It also explored their defining traits, the need for confession pages and the effects of anonymity. Methodology: The research methodology involved coding 1280 posts extracted from select pages, and semi-structured in-depth interviews with 15 prominent followers. Findings: Anonymity was found to be important because it helps individuals avoid social repercussions. Prominent recurring themes included formal behavior, relationships, and sexuality, topics that frequently involve social sanctions and penalties. The study also underscored the sense of community fostered by interaction between writers posting on confession pages and readers of these posts. The current study suggests that confession pages reflect society-level value preferences that shape interaction on social media according to Hofstede’s framework. Moreover, different confession groups serve to satisfy different needs, aligning with the theory of uses and gratifications in communication media. Practical implications: Engagement was shown by readers who extended offers to help and provided suggestions to support authors facing different challenges. Social implications: The motivations of anonymity for contributors to communities fostered through writer–reader interactions on the platform. Value: An in-depth examination of confession within contemporary society, redefining the contemporary landscape of confession, shedding light on its various perspectives within the public internet sphere, and thus contributing to comprehension of the different needs for anonymous expression. Full article

Artificial intelligence is rapidly reshaping skill expectations across media, marketing, and journalism, however, university curricula are not evolving at a comparable speed. To quantify the resulting curriculum–skill gap in communication-related programs, two synchronous corpora were assembled for the period July 2024–June 2025: 66 course descriptions from six leading UK universities and 107 graduate-to-mid-level job advertisements in communications, digital media, advertising, and public relations. Alignment around AI, datafication, and platform governance was assessed through a three-stage natural-language-processing workflow: a dual-tier AI-keyword index, comparative TF–IDF salience, and latent Dirichlet allocation topic modeling with bootstrap uncertainty. Curricula devoted 6.0% of their vocabulary to AI plus data/platform terms, whereas job ads allocated only 2.3% (χ² = 314.4, p < 0.001), indicating a conceptual-critical emphasis on ethics, power, and societal impact in the academy versus an operational focus on SEO, multichannel analytics, and campaign performance in recruitment discourse. Topic modeling corroborated this divergence: universities foregrounded themes labelled “Politics, Power & Governance”, while advertisers concentrated on “Campaign Execution & Performance”. Environmental and social externalities of AI—central to the Special Issue theme—were foregrounded in curricula but remained virtually absent from job advertisements. The findings are interpreted as an extension of technology-biased-skill-change theory to communication disciplines, and it is suggested that studio-based micro-credentials in automation workflows, dashboard visualization, and sustainable AI practice be embedded without relinquishing critical reflexivity, thereby narrowing the curriculum–skill gap and fostering environmentally, socially, and economically responsible media innovation. With respect to the novelty of this research, it constitutes the first large-scale, data-driven corpus analysis that empirically assessed the AI-related curriculum–skill gap in communication disciplines, thereby extending technology-biased-skill-change theory into this field. Full article

As digital media companies pursue sustainable revenue, AI-based strategies like personalized advertising and dynamic paywalls have become prevalent. These monetization models involve different forms of consumer data collection, raising distinct privacy concerns. This study investigates how digital news users perceive privacy trade-offs between these two AI-driven models. Based on Communication Privacy Management Theory and Privacy Calculus Theory, we conducted a survey of 336 Korean news consumers. Findings indicate that perceived control and risk significantly affect users’ willingness to disclose data. Moreover, users with different privacy orientations prefer different monetization models. Those favoring dynamic paywalls tend to be more privacy-sensitive and show a higher willingness to pay for personalized, ad-free content. While personalization benefits are broadly acknowledged, the effectiveness of privacy control mechanisms remains limited. These insights highlight the importance of ethical, user-centered AI monetization strategies in journalism and contribute to theoretical discussions around algorithmic personalization and digital news consumption. Full article

This paper presents a qualitative exploratory study based on the analysis of a representative sample of 35 projects carried out during the period 2020–2022 by six Spanish newspapers: elDiario.es, ABC, IDEAL, El Correo, ElConfidencial.com and El País. This study aims to detect and analyze the main elements of multimedia, crossmedia and transmedia content in the selected projects using an original analysis sheet designed for this research. In relation to the categories proposed in the categorization model, in this work we will focus on analyzing two in particular: authorship and information architecture. The projects were selected based on criteria of appropriateness, quality and innovation, as well as the results of semi-structured interviews with the heads and innovation managers (laboratories) of the media included in the framework of the projects ‘NEWSNET: News, Networks, and Users in the Hybrid Media System: Transformation of the Media Industry and the News in the Post-Industrial Era’ and ‘IAMEDIA: Impact of Artificial Intelligence and Algorithms on Online Media, Journalist and Audiences’. The aim of the qualitative analysis is to propose a list of aspects, characteristics, and fundamentals in the ideation, elaboration, and distribution of these types of products. We conclude that the results of applying the designed analysis sheet help us to understand these processes and also to propose alternatives and improvements in its design and implementation Full article