"Transparency is an oft-cited remedy for the public’s lack of confidence in the news media. Yet scant empirical evidence exists to support this claim. This article presents a test of the relationship between increased journalistic transparency and credibility evaluations of a news organization. Ex
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perimental results suggest that increasing transparency (by providing news consumers with information about why and how a story was written, details about the story’s author, etc.) leads to an increase in credibility evaluations and intentions to engage with news. These results hold across the three different article topics used in our experiment and regardless of the participants’ political ideology. Implications for news organizations and contributions to theory are discussed." (Abstract)
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"People across 27 countries are divided on whether they trust traditional media (magazines and newspapers, TV and radio). These sources are equally trusted as they are distrusted. However, levels of trust in media sources vary greatly at the country level. Trust in traditional media is perceived to
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have decreased over the past five years. This survey shows two main contributing factors: the prevalence of fake news and doubts about media sources’ good intentions. Online media websites are slightly less trusted than traditional media, but trust in them is not reported to have dropped as extensively over the past five years. Proximity to people matters. People are most trusting of other people they know them personally. Furthermore, personal relationships are the only source of news and information that is perceived to have gained in trustworthiness over the past five years. Opinions vary widely across countries as to whether public broadcasters can be trusted more than private ones, depending on how broadcasting services are organized and controlled." (Key findings)
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"The media's coverage of religion is an important question, given the central role which news media play in ensuring that people are up-to-date with religion news developments. The book examines it in different countries. After an introductory section looking at trends in religion news in print, on-
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line journalism, and as a subject of foreign news, the book surveys religion reporting in five key countries: USA, Russia, India, China, & Nigeria. The book then looks at media events through the cases of the election of Pope Francis, and the death of rabbis. The book addresses the question of the influence of religion reporting in politics; the impact of religion reporting upon religious identity; and the role of social media - through looking at case studies in France, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, and Israel." (Publisher description)
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"This Is Not an Atlas gathers more than 40 counter-cartographies from all over the world. This collection shows how maps are created and transformed as a part of political struggle, for critical research or in art and education: from indigenous territories in the Amazon to the anti-eviction movement
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in San Francisco; from defending commons in Mexico to mapping refugee camps with balloons in Lebanon; from slums in Nairobi to squats in Berlin; from supporting communities in the Philippines to reporting sexual harassment in Cairo. This Is Not an Atlas seeks to inspire, to document the underrepresented, and to be a useful companion when becoming a counter-cartographer yourself." (Publisher description)
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"This book explores the complex and contradictory relationships between communication and information technologies and social movements by drawing on different case studies from around the world. The contributions analyse how new communication and information technologies impact the way protests are
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carried out and controlled in the current information age. The authors focus on recent events that date from the Arab Spring onwards and pose questions regarding the future of protests, surveillance and digital landscapes." (Publisher description)
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"Throughout the 2000’s, NGOs experimented with promoting “Donate Now” buttons and online donation pages, and through a process of trial and error, learned a winning strategy that still works today. Specifically, NGOs that are successful at online fundraising have embraced a content strategy of
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regularly publishing news articles and blog posts focused on stories of hope and empathy that include a prominent call-togive which are then shared in email updates and fundraising appeals. Posting the same content on social media also inspires online giving, but as of 2018, email is still the most powerful online fundraising tool." (Key findings)
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"The book analyzes the market for investigative reporting by examining more than 12,000 prize competition entries from 1979 to 2010 in the annual awards contest of Investigative Reporters and Editors. The results show what these investigative works in the United States uncovered and their impacts, a
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nd how the investigations were conducted and financially supported. Case studies of several investigative series demonstrate that each dollar invested in a story can yield hundreds of dollars in policy benefits. Examining the work of a Pulitzer prize-winning reporter shows how a single journalist over four decades generated more than 150 investigations that led to changes, including the passage of thirty-one state laws. Many valuable accountability stories go untold because media outlets bear the costs of reporting while the benefits spillover onto those who don't read or watch these investigations. Computational journalism may improve the economics of investigative reporting in two ways: lowering the cost of finding stories through better use of data and algorithms, and telling stories in more personalized and engaging ways. While breakdowns in institutions are inevitable, the combination of computation and journalism offers an expanded set of people new ways to hold those in power accountable and serve as democracy's detectives." (Publisher description)
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"The volume examines the risks and opportunities of a digital society characterized by the increasing importance of knowledge and by the incessant rise and pervasiveness of information and communication technologies (ICTs). At a global level, the pivotal role of ICTs has made it necessary to rethink
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ways to avoid forms of digital exclusion or digital discrimination. This edited collection comprises of chapters written by respected scholars from a variety of countries, and brings together new scholarship addressing what the process of digital inclusion means for individuals and places in the countries analyzed. Each country has its own strategy to guarantee that people can access and enjoy the benefits of the information society. While this book does not presume to map all the countries in the world, it does shed light into these strategies, underlining what each country is doing in order to reduce digital inequalities and to guarantee that socially disadvantaged people (in terms of disabilities, availability of resources, age, geographic location, lack of education, or ethnicity) are digitally included." (Publisher description)
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"This analysis of digital advertising technology and its relevance to disinformation online is designed to broaden the focus in the current public debate beyond Russian operatives buying ads on social media. The problem is much bigger than that and the issues of concern are more diverse. Our analysi
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s points to the core challenge of disentangling the alignment of interests between the commercial pursuits of digital platform companies and the success of disinformation-based political advertisers. It is a mistake to fixate on Russia. Russia is one of many online disinformation operators targeting Americans. Future disinformation campaigns may just as likely be run by domestic operators as foreign ones. These operators will most likely leverage the most dominant U.S. internet platforms to reach tens upon hundreds of millions of Americans. The full range of these disinformation campaigns could produce a grave public harm. In particular, they can progressively weaken the integrity of our democracy by separating citizens from facts and polarizing our political culture." (Conclusions)
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"Part One, 'In Their Own Words: Trolling, Meme Culture, and Journalists’ Reflections on the 2016 US Presidential Election,' provides a historical overview of the relationship between the news media and far-right manipulators during the 2016 US presidential election. Part Two, 'At a Certain Point Y
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ou Have to Realize That You’re Promoting Them’: The Ambivalence of Journalistic Amplification,' identifies the intended and unintended consequences of reporting on bigoted, damaging, or otherwise problematic information and the structural limitations of journalism (economic, labor, and cultural) that exacerbate these tensions. And Part Three, 'The Forest and the Trees: Proposed Editorial Strategies,' recommends practices on establishing newsworthiness; handling objectively false information; covering specific harassment campaigns or manipulators, bigots, and abusers; and reporting on the internet that are particularly critical in an era of disinformation." (Executive summary, page 3)
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"While this guide shows only a small sampling of how funders and publishers are working together to financially sustain the fourth estate, we hope that it nonetheless serves as a starting point for your own work by providing solid examples of groundbreaking funding efforts—ones that are both pione
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ering and effective. If you’re a grantee, you may also want to use this document to think about how your work might appeal to potential funders." (Page 6)
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"Newspapers have come a long way since youngsters hawked the latest edition on street corners or metal boxes collected coins from anonymous visitors sucked in by a juicy headline. Today’s publishers need to be much more savvy about distribution, getting their arms around who their customers are, w
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hat makes them pay, and how to drive the right behaviors across a varied and complex online landscape. That means applying new technologies, adopting a “test and learn” way of thinking and going where the data leads them. Gone are the days when success could be measured by how many million unique visitors a website has in a month, especially when the vast majority of those come once, never to be seen again. In a few years time, the playbook may have changed. But keeping up with the fast-moving technology world is no longer an option, it’s an imperative for survival in the digital age." (Conclusion)
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"These are the background case notes complied for MEMO 2018.1: Challenging Truth and Trust: A Global Inventory of Organized Social Media Manipulation. For details on the methods behind this content analysis please see the methodology section of the report. This document contains data from over 500 s
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ources organized by country. The sources include high quality news articles, academic papers, white papers, and a range of other grey literature. As an annotated bibliography, the country cases here make use of significant passages from these secondary sources, and every effort has been made to preserve full citation details for future researchers. The full list of references can be found in our public Zotero folder, with each reference tagged with a country name." (Page 3)
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"Jugendliche heute kennen kaum ein Leben ohne Social Media-Plattformen am Smartphone. Untersuchungen legen Zusammenhänge zwischen dieser Mediennutzung und psychischer Gesundheit in der Adoleszenz nahe. Es zeichnen sich positive und negative Effekte ab. Erkenntnisse aus US-amerikanischen und britisc
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hen Studien werden in diesem Beitrag mit Daten aus Deutschland angereichert und am Beispiel der Identitätskonstruktion auf der Plattform Instagram dargestellt. Diese bietet gute Möglichkeiten für kreativen Selbstausdruck, doch ihr Einfluss auf die psychosoziale Entwicklung in der Adoleszenz wird tendenziell negativ wahrgenommen. Der Beitrag schließt mit Beispielen zu kreativen Accounts, die gegenläufige Strategien der Narrativierung und Ästhetisierung anwenden." (Zusammenfassung)
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"Best practices for agencies to counter misinformation, rumors and false information are detailed and categorized in this white paper, and challenges and additional considerations are presented for review. This report illustrates methods of countering false information on social media with case stud
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ies: The 2014 South Napa earthquake: Tweets were filtered by geolocation to eliminate posts from trolls; The 2016 Louisiana floods: The Red Cross published and shared a blog to counter rumors and misinformation about food distribution and shelter policies; The 2017 Oroville Dam evacuation: An accidentally misleading tweet suggested the evacuation area included all of Sacramento County. Local agencies used traditional and social media to provide correct information. Examples of best practices include: Establishing partnerships with local traditional media outlets before disasters, so means exist to disseminate accurate information; Using the Joint Information System to coordinate public information efforts of multiple jurisdictions and agencies; and Setting up a central website to debunk bad information." (Executive summary)
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"The 43 country reports included in this year’s Global Information Society Watch (GISWatch) capture the different experiences and approaches in setting up community networks across the globe. They show that key ideas, such as participatory governance systems, community ownership and skills transfe
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r, as well as the “do-it-yourself” spirit that drives community networks in many different contexts, are characteristics that lend them a shared purpose and approach. The country reports are framed by eight thematic reports that deal with critical issues such as the regulatory framework necessary to support community networks, sustainability, local content, feminist infrastructure and community networks, and the importance of being aware of “community stories” and the power structures embedded in those stories." (Back cover)
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"Analysing millions of news stories together with Twitter and Facebook shares, broadcast television and YouTube, the book provides a comprehensive overview of the architecture of contemporary American political communications. Through data analysis and detailed qualitative case studies of coverage o
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f immigration, Clinton scandals, and the Trump Russia investigation, the book finds that the right-wing media ecosystem operates fundamentally differently than the rest of the media environment. The authors argue that longstanding institutional, political, and cultural patterns in American politics interacted with technological change since the 1970s to create a propaganda feedback loop in American conservative media. This dynamic has marginalized centre-right media and politicians, radicalized the right wing ecosystem, and rendered it susceptible to propaganda efforts, foreign and domestic. For readers outside the United States, the book offers a new perspective and methods for diagnosing the sources of, and potential solutions for, the perceived global crisis of democratic politics." (Publisher description)
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