Search Results (649)

On 12 July 2016, the ruling on the South China Sea Arbitration was announced and rapidly drew worldwide attention, turning the event into a major international hotspot. Quantifying the dynamics of such hotspot events and understanding the evolution of media-based inter-actor networks during major shocks are of substantial research interest. Viewing these interactions as dynamic networks, we analyze the time-varying actor interaction structure surrounding the arbitration using the Global Database of Events, Location and Tone (GDELT), a large-scale media-based event database with global coverage since 1979. We extract nearly 30,000 events related to the arbitration from 5 July to 25 July 2016, constructing daily cooperation and conflict networks to quantify structural changes via network size and degree-entropy dynamics. To further reveal actor-level structural roles, we learn node embeddings on each daily network via an entropy-driven graph representation learning scheme and perform embedding-based clustering with automatically selected cluster numbers, visualized via t-SNE. The results show that key dates in the event window are associated with pronounced structural shifts in the networks, including changes in participation breadth, degree-distribution heterogeneity, and clearer differentiation and reconfiguration of actor roles, with distinct patterns between cooperation and conflict networks. These findings demonstrate the potential of massive media event data for characterizing structural responses and actor-role evolution in event-driven inter-actor networks. Full article

This study looks at a selection of newspaper content from 1995 to 2024 that mentions the names of SSRI drugs in passing as jokes, metaphors, or cultural references. These passing mentions of SSRIs are analyzed via qualitative textual analysis, considering stigma and trivialization. The results of the study suggest that stereotypes about SSRIs have been cemented via popular discourse and media coverage and persist today despite nearly 40 years of prescriptions. Mentions of the SSRI drugs in passing suggest the illusion of a post-Prozac society where mental illness has been “fixed” and therefore can be trivialized with little consequence. This work expands upon existing theoretical concepts to propose a new theoretical model—a continuum of trivialization and stigma which may aid researchers in parsing the ways that colloquialization, trivialization and stigma interact and overlap in media texts. Full article

Intimate partner violence (IPV) remains understudied in China despite its public health significance. Previous research lacks comprehensive analysis of how Chinese media frames this issue, creating a gap in understanding the sociocultural factors shaping public discourse. This study employs corpus-based framing analysis of 603 news articles (435,581 words) from major Chinese newspapers spanning 2012–2022, a period encompassing significant legal developments including the 2016 Domestic Violence Law. We analyze how IPV is framed through examination of keyword frequencies, collocation patterns, and concordance analysis. Our findings reveal that IPV is predominantly framed as matrimonial conflict and family dispute rather than criminal violence requiring state intervention. We argue that framing IPV as a ‘family issue’ operates as a spatial containment strategy, relocating violence to the domestic sphere while rerouting intervention into administrative/civil channels rather than criminal accountability spaces. Our findings reveal significant imbalances in stakeholder representation, with government and legal voices dominating the public discourse domain while community support organizations are marginalized. Source attribution patterns produce uneven zones of legitimacy, where state actors occupy authorized public space while survivors’ experiences remain confined to private, silenced domains. This research enhances the understanding of IPV media coverage in China while highlighting the need for more inclusive public discourse. Full article

Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) is geographic data obtained from voluntary contributions of individual contributors on social media and non-social media platforms, where contributors exhibit diverse interests and behavior patterns. While studies have found that the COVID-19 pandemic has influenced VGI contributor behavior on social media platforms (Facebook, X, and Instagram, etc.), less is known about contribution behaviors on non-social media VGI platforms such as OpenStreetMap (OSM). This study investigates how individual OSM contributors’ data contribution behaviors changed after the COVID-19 outbreak, using New York City as a case study. Metrics quantifying temporal, spatial, thematic, participation, and social interaction aspects of contribution behavior were developed to characterize individual-level contribution behaviors in both the pre- and post-COVID periods (2016–2019 and 2020–2023, respectively). Contributors were clustered into three groups based on pre-COVID behavioral patterns (as reflected by the metrics) using the K-Means algorithm. The resulting model was then applied to identify changes in contributors’ cluster memberships in the post-COVID period. Results reveal differences in contribution behaviors between the two time periods. Compared to pre-COVID contributors, post-COVID contributors, on average, showed stronger contribution engagement, including longer lifespans, larger spatial extent of edits, higher contribution volumes, a greater emphasis on modification over creation, and stronger co-editing network interactions. Healthcare amenity-related edits remained a small fraction of total contributions across both periods and all clusters. Contributors participating in data contribution in both time periods generally increased data contribution engagement after the COVID outbreak, characterized by longer lifespans, broader spatial coverage, more balanced creation and modification, and stronger network centrality. These findings highlight changes in individual contribution behavior under COVID-19 and exhibits the value of examining VGI contribution at the individual level. Full article

The present article examines the pioneering case of blockchain adoption in local government by the City of Lugano and discusses how Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) may support institutional innovation beyond pilot experimentation. The Swiss municipality of Lugano has developed an integrated strategy that combines permissioned blockchain infrastructure (SwissLedger), a municipal payment token (LVGA), digital literacy and payment innovation initiatives (Plan ₿), and the issuance of fully digital municipal bonds. By adopting a case study methodology, the analysis draws on quantitative indicators of platform usage, operational data, and a sentiment analysis of media coverage to document technological developments and socio-economic patterns correlated with the initiative. SwissLedger has been adopted as an infrastructural experiment for secure document notarization, public administration digital services, open-finance interoperability with optional compliance tools, and sector-specific applications. Furthermore, the Plan ₿ initiative emerges as a communication catalyst, generating international visibility and positive sentiment, alongside descriptive statistics consistent with local economic activity. Lugano’s digital bond issuances also attracted attention to the potential of how DLT could support settlement processes and transparency in public finance. Overall, the evidence gathered suggests that DLT adoption in local government is not merely a technological upgrade, but rather part of a broader organizational transformation process. The case findings also outline a set of potentially transferable elements for municipalities seeking to align innovation with public value creation. Full article

Mass media plays a key role in helping audiences organize facts and make sense of uncertainty, particularly during emerging medical crises when pre-existing knowledge is limited. The COVID-19 pandemic was the first major global crisis in the modern communications era in which traditional media (TV, radio, newspapers and major news sites) and social media (especially Facebook groups) both functioned as high-reach information systems, shaping public interpretation in parallel. Social media, especially closed and semi-closed Facebook groups, became a central arena for discussion, community building, and the circulation of alternative interpretations. Against this backdrop, the current study examines how anti-vaccination activists (anti-vaxxers) who are active in anti-vaccine Facebook groups perceive mainstream media coverage of COVID-19. The study employs a qualitative design based on semi-structured in-depth interviews with 70 anti-vaxxers of both genders who were active participants in anti-vaccination Facebook groups. Findings indicate that participants perceive mainstream media as advancing a biased, unidimensional narrative aligned with governmental, economic, and political interests, and as delegitimizing dissenting voices. Consistent with the hostile media effect, interviewees interpret coverage as hostile toward their community, which intensifies their tendency to avoid mainstream news and rely on Facebook group networks for validation, interpretation, and mobilization. These results highlight how crisis coverage is experienced by marginal groups and how social media group dynamics can reinforce perceptions of media hostility and deepen informational polarization. Full article

This study investigates the emotional tone in international news coverage of Saudi women’s empowerment, with a focus on their recruitment into the military as a milestone reform. The analysis is based on 22 news articles published between 2018 and 2023 across Western, regional Saudi and Arab, and non-Western international media outlets, including coverage from Asian media contexts such as China and India. Drawing on sentiment analysis; the study employed lexicon-based tools (LIWC; Bing; and AFINN) alongside thematic analysis using Speak AI to capture both polarity and narrative framing. This triangulated approach addressed the limitations of word-level sentiment tools by integrating contextual and thematic interpretation. The findings reveal clear regional contrasts: Western media predominantly employed negative framings, emphasizing human rights concerns and ongoing gender inequality. In contrast, regional Saudi and Arab outlets highlighted empowerment, modernization, and Vision 2030 alignment, while non-Western international outlets tended to mirror these positive narratives with limited rights-based critique. Asian media presented mixed framings. These results complicate assumptions of a simple East–West divide by showing convergence between regional and non-Western portrayals. The study contributes methodologically by demonstrating how combining polarity-based sentiment tools with thematic analysis provides a more nuanced account of media sentiment, and substantively by revealing how empowerment narratives are unevenly distributed across global media systems. Full article

The acceleration of economic, technological, geopolitical and environmental processes has significantly increased the exposure of national economies to interconnected financial and non-financial risks. While global financial risks and corporate risks have been extensively analyzed, significant national risks—such as fiscal sustainability, debt vulnerability, systemic inefficiency and investment uncertainty—are often treated fragmentarily or descriptively within conventional sovereign risk frameworks. This article offers a comparative analytical approach to identifying national financial and non-financial risks by examining the degree of convergence and divergence between risks identified in four different sources: national expert scientific studies, World Economic Forum global risk assessments, strategic development documents of Bulgaria and national media coverage. Using expert data, structured content analysis, a modified media visibility index, and nonparametric statistical tests for linked binary data, the study identifies risks that are consistently recognized across sources and therefore pose an increased threat to financial stability, as well as risks that remain systematically underestimated despite their potential fiscal and macroeconomic consequences. The results show that cross-source comparison significantly improves the detection of national risks and reveals blind spots in fiscal planning, investment, and social policy. This article contributes to the literature on the management of risks with a direct negative financial effect or with an indirect financial impact on the national economy by positioning national risk identification within a governance-oriented, multi-source analytical framework. Full article

Background/Objectives: Japan has experienced a marked decline in human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination coverage, reaching less than 1%, after the government suspended its proactive recommendation in 2013, following media reports of symptoms alleged to be adverse events caused by the vaccine. Although the recommendation was reinstated in 2022 after comprehensive safety reviews, vaccination rates have remained modest. We aimed to assess HPV vaccine acceptability and identify factors associated with acceptance among staff at a university hospital. Methods: We administered a web-based questionnaire in February 2024 to 2761 hospital employees, assessing demographic and professional characteristics, HPV-related knowledge, awareness about vaccine effectiveness, adverse events, and catch-up programs, as well as acceptability across four hypothetical scenarios reflecting publicly funded and self-funded vaccination programs. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to identify factors associated with acceptability. Results: Among 1132 respondents (response rate 41.0%), acceptability exceeded 75% in the publicly funded scenarios but was approximately 45% in the self-funded scenarios. In multivariable analyses of the publicly funded scenarios, younger age, being a medical professional, greater HPV vaccine knowledge levels, and awareness about HPV vaccine effectiveness or catch-up vaccination were positively associated with acceptability; awareness about adverse events showed negative associations. In the self-funded scenarios, women were less likely to accept vaccination, but greater knowledge levels and awareness of catch-up vaccination remained positively associated with acceptability. Conclusions: These findings suggest that strategies tailored to specific population characteristics are important for improving HPV vaccine acceptability. Full article

Denmark is internationally recognized for its stringent pesticide regulatory and monitoring regime, yet it remains unclear how sustained media attention has shaped the discursive feasibility of pesticide-free farming (PFF) as a scalable transition pathway. This study analyses the construction of PFF as a policy issue in Danish news media using 453 newspaper articles (2000–2025). Using a discursive-institutionalist framework, the analysis integrates quantitative text-analytic methods with qualitative contextual interpretation. The results show that media visibility does not translate into an expanded articulation of feasible transition pathways. Coverage is structured primarily around solution-oriented and regulatory debates, yet many solution narratives remain conditional and incremental, while health-related concerns, everyday farming practices, and livelihood dimensions remain marginal and weakly integrated. Government authorities, farming organizations, and industry actors occupy the communicative core of the discourse, whereas NGOs, consumers, and public health actors remain peripheral. Media attention peaks around regulatory debates but fails to generate cumulative discursive momentum toward integrated and scalable transition pathways. The study suggests that media narratives play a constitutive role in shaping the publicly articulated feasibility of pesticide-free agricultural transitions, highlighting the importance of plural, health-integrated, and practice-oriented media discourse. Full article

Against the backdrop of China’s vigorous promotion of green and low-carbon development, this study empirically examines the impact of ESG greenwashing on corporate financial sustainable development performance, using a sample of Chinese A-share-listed companies from 2018 to 2023. Empirical results indicate that ESG greenwashing significantly undermines corporate financial sustainable development performance. Furthermore, accounting conservatism mediates the relationship between ESG greenwashing and corporate financial sustainable development performance, whereas negative external media coverage moderates it. This research provides robust theoretical and empirical support for standardizing corporate ESG practices and advancing the achievement of green sustainable development objectives. Full article

This study explores how institutional- and ideological-level pressures affect both the gatekeeping role and mental well-being of journalists reporting on traumatic incidents, particularly war, conflict, and crime in Pakistan. Using a qualitative research design, the study draws on in-depth interviews with (n = 50) journalists, including Directors, Reporters, Editors, NLEs, Cameramen, and Photographers from print, broadcast, and online media outlets across Pakistan. Participants were selected through purposive and snowball sampling techniques. Thematic analysis was applied, and the data were interpreted through the Hierarchy of Influences (HOI) model, an extension of gatekeeping theory. Findings reveal that official/unofficial sources, government agencies, interest groups, and cultural norms significantly influence journalistic decision-making. Importantly, participants also reported emotional distress, moral injury, and institutional neglect when covering traumatic stories. The study concludes that journalists’ dual pressures from media owners driven by ratings and audience interest in sensationalism not only shapes news content but also contributes to psychological strain and burnout. The head office’s demand for emotionally charged coverage often clashes with reporters’ ethical limits, intensifying the internal conflict between professional duty and emotional resilience. The study argues that traumatic event coverage in Pakistani media is not only ethically complex but also psychologically stressful. It highlights the need for trauma-informed newsroom policies, organizational support, and ethical editorial leadership to protect journalists and their mental health. It contributes to the broader discourse on mental well-being in high-risk journalism, especially in conflict zones. Full article

Citizen participation has been fundamental in the design and management of public spaces in Valencia over the last decade, promoting spatial justice. Models such as co-creation through participatory budgeting, self-management and social mobilisation have proven their effectiveness. This article focuses on the study of Valencia’s DecidimVLC digital platform, analysing its influence on participatory budgeting over ten years, since its launch in 2015. The research delves into a participatory project with high media coverage focused on the children’s area of Plaza del Cedro, a neighbourhood park with high community involvement. The results are structured in two sections. On the one hand, a general analysis of the DecidimVLC platform is carried out, examining the types of projects it has promoted. On the other, it provides a specific assessment of the results through the case study of the children’s green area, evaluating the impact of direct interaction with the administration on spatial justice and social cohesion. The study confirms that digital tools such as DecidimVLC are a key vehicle for citizen ‘empowerment’, promoting a more equitable and participatory vision of the city. Full article

Geothermal energy—despite its potential as a reliable source—has received limited media attention and is less familiar to the public than other renewable technologies. This study is part of a regional interdisciplinary research project and analyzes how geothermal energy has been framed in German news media over the past decade. A quantitative content analysis (n = 452) of the coverage of the five largest regional (focus on Saxony) and four largest national public and private media in Germany between March 2014 and March 2024 was conducted. The results show that coverage on geothermal energy has become more political and increasingly linked to the energy transition, while negative examples and risks associated with the technology receive less attention. Acceptance of geothermal energy in media discourse has grown, and forecasts on the technology are mostly positive. Political stakeholders dominate media coverage, whereas economic experts are mentioned less frequently, and scientists are underrepresented. Reporting on geothermal energy is mostly event-driven and focuses on regional projects. The technology remains rather poorly depicted, particularly regarding broader societal discussions on climate change or energy independence. The results demonstrate a prevailing lack of technological differentiation in media discourse which contributes to a blurred risk perception and limits the communicative potential of shallow geothermal energy as an ecologically sound alternative. Full article

This exploratory project uses muted group theory and qualitative methods to examine the personal and professional experiences of Palestinian journalists in the United States during the ongoing genocide in Gaza. The survey responses and interviews uncovered changes to Palestinians’ professional relationships, the impact of the current political climate in the U.S. on newsrooms, and how these factors have affected reporting experiences. The findings underscore the dangers of attacks on Palestinian voices in journalism and media, and the heightened importance of amplifying Palestinian stories and sources in media coverage. Full article