"This edited collection explores the role of digital inclusion in the welfare and social inclusion of vulnerable people. With interdisciplinary contributors from six continents, working in diverse fields such as digital media studies, social computing, community informatics and cultural studies, the
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collection brings together theoretical and applied research evidence on three vulnerable population categories: ethnic minorities, older people and people with disabilities. Each section is accompanied by a critical commentary on the research insights presented, from third sector community and policy experts. The collection explores whether vulnerable populations face similar experiences and challenges in relation to their digital inclusion status, stressing the central presence of intersectionality, and arguing for the inclusion of the age, ethnicity/immigration status and disability aspects of one's identity. At the same time, it argues for multi-directional action that tackles intersectional discrimination in the digital realm on behalf of more than one single population category or group. Challenging popular discourse on the overcoming of digital inequalities in the West, this essential book contends that accounts of non-western contexts do not focus on the parameter of vulnerability or on particular population groups." (Publisher description)
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"We offer a comprehensive analysis of media advocacy, pointing out its challenges and limitations and build towards an argument for proposing a holistic conception of ‘advocacy communication’ for achieving social justice. Media advocacy faces several challenges in practice, as it is often inhibi
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ted by political and economic contexts, and in theory, through a conceptualization of participatory governance as elitist. Critical analyses raise additional challenges to the potential for media advocacy as an approach for social justice, facing concerns with representational practices. Recognizing these challenges, we propose a more comprehensive, yet reflective approach that we call ‘advocacy communication’ for social justice, not limited to the categorical understanding of different communication for social change strategies. By examining different cases of advocacy communication and relying on Sen’s freedom-centered approach, we demonstrate how advocacy must articulate the connections across freedoms “to” and freedoms “from” in ways that privilege agency in inclusion and representation." (Abstract)
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"COVID-19, caused by SARS-CoV-2, has led to a global pandemic. The World Health Organization has also declared an infodemic (ie, a plethora of information regarding COVID-19 containing both false and accurate information circulated on the internet). Hence, it has become critical to test the veracity
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of information shared online and analyze the evolution of discussed topics among citizens related to the pandemic. This research analyzes the public discourse on COVID-19. It characterizes risk communication patterns in four Asian countries with outbreaks at varying degrees of severity: South Korea, Iran, Vietnam, and India. We collected tweets on COVID-19 from four Asian countries in the early phase of the disease outbreak from January to March 2020. The data set was collected by relevant keywords in each language, as suggested by locals. We present a method to automatically extract a time-topic cohesive relationship in an unsupervised fashion based on natural language processing. The extracted topics were evaluated qualitatively based on their semantic meanings. This research found that each government's official phases of the epidemic were not well aligned with the degree of public attention represented by the daily tweet counts. Inspired by the issue-attention cycle theory, the presented natural language processing model can identify meaningful transition phases in the discussed topics among citizens. The analysis revealed an inverse relationship between the tweet count and topic diversity. This paper compares similarities and differences of pandemic-related social media discourse in Asian countries. We observed multiple prominent peaks in the daily tweet counts across all countries, indicating multiple issue-attention cycles. Our analysis identified which topics the public concentrated on; some of these topics were related to misinformation and hate speech. These findings and the ability to quickly identify key topics can empower global efforts to fight against an infodemic during a pandemic." (Abstract)
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"Rights advocacy has become a prominent facet of South Korea’s increasingly transnational motion picture output, especially following the 1998 presidential inauguration of Kim Dae-jung, a former political prisoner and victim of human rights abuse
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s who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2000. Today it is not unusual to see a big-budget production about the pursuit of social justice or the protection of civil liberties contending for the top spot at the box office. With that cultural shift has come a diversification of film subjects, which range from undocumented workers’ rights to the sexual harassment experienced by women to high-school bullying to the struggles among people with disabilities to gain inclusion within a society that has transformed significantly since winning democratic freedoms three decades ago. Combining in-depth textual analyses of films such as Bleak Night, Okja, Planet of Snail, Repatriation, and Silenced with broader historical contextualization, Movie Minorities offers the first English-language study of South Korean cinema’s role in helping to galvanize activist social movements across several identity-based categories." (Publisher description)
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"This collection investigates and critiques the dynamism of children's lives online with contributions fielding both global and hyper-local issues, and bridging the wide spectrum of connected media created for and by children. From education to children's rights to cyberbullying and youth in challen
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ging circumstances, the interdisciplinary approach ensures a careful, nuanced, multi-dimensional exploration of children's relationships with digital media. Featuring a highly international range of case studies, perspectives, and socio-cultural contexts, The Routledge Companion to Digital Media and Children is the perfect reference tool for students and researchers of media and communication, family and technology studies, psychology, education, anthropology, and sociology, as well as interested teachers, policy makers, and parents." (Publisher description)
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"[This book] provides an overview of the key issues in global journalism today and traces how media systems have evolved over time in different world regions. Taking into account local context as well as technological change across media industries, the book offers an up-to-date, thorough overview o
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f media developments in all world regions embedded in their unique political, cultural and economic context. Covering theoretical foundations of global journalism, from the classic Four Theories of the Press to more nuanced media models, this text proposes a framework for studying world media systems. Contributed chapters cover a wide range of topics, including media freedom, global news cultures, professional ethics and responsibilities, and education of global journalists, as well as the role of technology and issues such as fake news, soft power and public diplomacy, foreign news reporting and international news flow." (Publisher description)
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"This incisive Handbook critically examines the role and place of media and communication in development and social change, reflecting a vision for change anchored in values of social justice. Outlining the genealogy and history of the field, it then investigates the possible new directions and obje
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ctives in the area. Key conclusions include an enhanced role for development communication in participatory development, active agency of stakeholders of development programs, and the operationalization of social justice in development." (Publisher description)
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"This eBook provides a follow-up conversation with key contributors from The Distanced Church, published in April 2020, which explored how church leaders were responding and adapting to the need move their traditional services online during the first lockdown of the covid-19 pandemic. Revisiting the
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Distanced Church offers not only a "then and now" reflection on how pastors and scholar see the evolving relationship between the church and digital media one year later after the global migration of the church online. It also provides a unique look into the long term implications of these technology choices and experimentation on the church, how leaders and scholars are reflecting on the present-future of digital ministry, and the areas in need of further theological reflection due to these changes." (Abstract)
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"To what extent do structures and conduct of leading news media correspond with requirements of contemporary democracies? Based on a root concept of democracy and several empirical indicators, the Media for Democracy Monitor (MDM) delivers a panorama of the news media’s performance regarding freed
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om, equality, and control across several countries. In 2011, the MDM analysed 10 democracies. Ten years later, it covers 18 countries worldwide and pinpoints essential strengths and weaknesses during this decade of digitalisation. Around the globe, news are highly attractive to users, and the journalistic ethos of watchdogs and investigators is paramount. On the downside, journalistic job security eroded over time, and gender gaps both in content and employment patterns remain strikingly excessive in most countries. Volume two contains all countries analysed for the first time in 2021: Belgium (Flanders), Canada, Chile, Denmark, Greece, Hong Kong, Iceland, Italy, and South Korea." (Publisher description)
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"The Palgrave Handbook of International Communication and Sustainable Development is a major resource for stakeholders interested in understanding the role of communication in achieving the UN'S Sustainable Development Goals. Bringing together theoretical and applied contributions from scholars in E
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urope, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and North America, the handbook argues that communication is a key factor in achieving the global goals and suggests a review of the SDGs to consider its importance. Reflecting on the impact of COVID-19, it highlights the need for effective communication infrastructure and critically assesses the 2030 agenda and timeline. Including individual SDG and country case studies as well as integrated analysis, the chapters seek to enrich understanding of communication for development and propose crucial policy interventions." (Publisher description)
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"This edited collection provides a timely review of the current state of hate speech research in Asia and Europe, through the comparative examples of Korea, Japan and France. Extending the study of hate speech studies beyond the largely western emphasis on European and US contexts dominant in the fi
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eld, this book's comparative framework aims to examine hate speech as a global phenomenon spanning Asian and European contexts. An innovative range of nuanced empirical case studies explore hate speech by analyzing gendered hate speech and nationality, French cartoon humour, official counter radicalization narratives and the use of international law to inform domestic legislation in the Philippines and Japan. A fresh perspective on Asian and European hate speech, this book's evaluation of current of hate speech research also identifies future directions for the development of theory and method. Filling a critical gap in the literature, Hate Speech in Asia and Europe will appeal to students and scholars of law, politics, religion, history, social policy and social science more broadly, as well as Asian Studies." (Publisher description)
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"There are still opposing and restraining forces to globalization processes taking place in media, and the global mediascape comprises international, regional and local markets, and global and local players, which in recent years have evolved at an uneven pace. By analyzing similarities and differen
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ces in a landscape where driving forces of globalization meet locally situated audiences and institutions, this volume unveils a complex, contested space comprising global and local players, whose success is determined by both their national and international dimensions. It guides its readers to the geographical and intellectual exploration of the international media landscape, analyzing the global and local media players and their modus operandi." (Publisher description)
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"This book serves as a convenient entry point for researchers, practitioners, and students to understand the problems and challenges, learn state-of-the-art solutions for their specific needs, and quickly identify new research problems in their domains. The contributors to this volume describe the r
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ecent advancements in three related parts: (1) user engagements in the dissemination of information disorder; (2) techniques on detecting and mitigating disinformation; and (3) trending issues such as ethics, blockchain, clickbaits, etc. This edited volume will appeal to students, researchers, and professionals working on disinformation, misinformation and fake news in social media from a unique lens. (Publisher description)
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"This collection charts the emergence of modern science communication across the world. This is the first volume to map investment around the globe in science centres, university courses and research, publications and conferences as well as tell the national stories of science communication. How did
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it all begin? How has development varied from one country to another? What motivated governments, institutions and people to see science communication as an answer to questions of the social place of science? Communicating Science describes the pathways followed by 39 different countries. All continents and many cultures are represented. For some countries, this is the first time that their science communication story has been told." (Publisher description)
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"The objective of trus study is to analyze critical methodology of media literacy presented by Center for Media Literacy (CML) and James Potter, and derive the meaning of reflection connoted in it. This study proposes three principles of reflection based on Kant' s concept of reflective judgment: lo
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gieal plurality of information, etrucal value of practice, and possibility of realizing common good. A reflective literacy based on trus basic framework is ultimately directed' to the thought process of establishing ourselves a coherent and universal principle about arbitrary and variable information. Trus study 'complements the individualized and strategized method of information interpretation by restoring the reflective meaning andprinciples that is excluded from CML' s and Potter's media literacy model." (Abstract)
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"Climate and Sustainability Communication builds upon traditional approaches to understanding the role of mass media in shaping social issues by amplifying diverse perspectives of opinion leaders, as well as voices of those affected by climate and sustainability issues. From South Korea and China, t
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o the United States and Zambia, the studies reported in this book—compiled using a variety of formal research methods, including content analysis, interview, and survey—emphasize cultural orientation and global implications of climate and sustainability concerns and issues. The contributors explore the cultures, geographies, and media systems underpinning climate and sustainability campaigns emerging around the world, how we theorize about them, and the ways in which media are used to communicate about them. The way in which complex problems and opportunities associated with globalization and power inequities interplay with climate and sustainability communication requires creative, interdisciplinary, approaches. This book opens new conversations for integrating scholarly arenas of mass media communication, science and environmental communication, political communication, and health communication, as well as their respective theory and research method sets." (Publisher description)
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"Reporting on issues such as suicide, sexual abuse, or migration is a skill that is often glossed over in a journalist’s education. By combining theory and practice, this collection will correct this oversight and give journalists the expertise and understanding to report on these subjects respons
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ibly and ethically. Contributors to this volume are an international group of journalists-turned-academics, who share their first-hand experiences and unique professional insight into best ethical journalistic practice for reporting on sensitive topics. Drawing from a range of case studies, contributors discuss the most appropriate approach to, for example, describing a shooter who has killed a group of schoolchildren or interviewing someone who has lost everything in a natural disaster. Readers are invited to consider factors which have the potential to influence the reporting of these sorts of topics, including bias, sensationalism, conflict of interest, grief, vulnerability, and ignorance of one’s own privilege." (Publisher description)
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