"The perception of disinformation as societal risk has reached a troubling peak amid the COVID-19 pandemic, strategically targeting vulnerable audiences through digital media by mirroring characteristics of vox populi disinformation. This study investigates the conditions under which COVID-19-relate
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d disinformation referring to a polarized (refugees) and neutral (runners) out-group appears most credible. In the early stages of the pandemic, we conducted a pre-registered online survey experiment with a representative German sample (N = 1,117 ). Results indicated that those with low trust in the media judged subtle and completely fabricated types of disinformation as more credible than accurate information. Presenting the article as a social media post from an ordinary user, rather than an official source, had no discernible impact on credibility evaluations; participants accurately assessed the credibility of a random source. We conclude that people are generally able to recognize disinformation—unless they already mistrust the media. This paper addresses why disinformation triggers strong reactions in targeted groups and how it thrives in the participatory digital landscape." (Abstract)
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"Our everyday lives are increasingly digital: We meet with friends, search for information, watch films, and buy goods online. This generates data that is automatically collected and analyzed. The ability to deal with the resulting algorithmically selected and personalized content is essential to be
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nefit from digital technologies, and for this, digital skills are crucial. Studies focusing on digital skills, their antecedents, and consequences have mostly relied on self-reported, one-time measurements. A deeper understanding of the measures of digital skills and the role such digital skills play in everyday life and over time is needed. To address these gaps, this article compares self-reported measures of digital skills and knowledge of datafication and algorithmization in everyday internet use and maps the evolution of their relevance for digital everyday life. To do so, this articles analyzes data from multiple cross-sectional surveys conducted from 2011 to 2023 with representative samples of Swiss internet users. First, the findings indicate that self-reported skills reflect internet users' knowledge of algorithmization and datafication in everyday internet use. This renders the measure a decent tool for empirical studies. Second, the findings show that digital skills are associated with socioeconomic background, cyber-optimistic attitudes, usage time, use of social media, health trackers, voice assistants, ChatGPT, and feeling included in the information society. These relationships varied over time. This article provides longitudinal empirical evidence on the relevance of digital skills in a highly digitized country. The findings highlight that promoting digital skills can contributeto fostering more inclusive digital societies." (Abstract)
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"The implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for newsrooms across the world range from severe economic hardship to increased threats to press freedom. The “perfect storm” that engulfed the media and journalists globally has threatened and continues to challenge their existence, and the core of the
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ir mission to serve the public interest. This study maps the impact of external political, economic, legal and societal factors on journalistic freedom and the way(s) news organizations and journalists operate in times of global crisis in four Southern European countries. It provides a fuller cross-national perspective on the complex relationship between media, journalism and politics in countries with existing democratic deficits. Findings are based on 32 semi-structured interviews with journalists working in four Southern European countries, namely Bulgaria, Greece, Cyprus and Malta, conducted in 2022. We find increased economic challenges to their fragile media markets, high level of state intervention, political parallelism in coverage of the pandemic and beyond, and numerous threats to the autonomy of journalists that hamper journalism and question its development in the future. The study’s implications are relevant to different contexts, particularly in countries where journalism and media face similar challenges." (Abstract)
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"This study explores the extent to which the Corona pandemic has changed the working conditions of journalists in Germany and how they perceive these changes. The goal is to provide both the scale and qualitative nature of Corona-induced changes in the working environment of journalists by means of
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an online survey of German journalists (n*=*983) in different employment situations. The results indicate that objective changes such as short-time work, income losses and the sudden shift to home office have notably shaped the world of journalistic work. On a subjective level, journalists’ responses mainly point to the personal financial fallout and resulting existential fears. Our findings suggest an intensified precarity in the working environment of journalists and highlight a growing gap between freelance and employed journalists." (Abstract)
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"This article discusses online harassment against women journalists exploring self-reported incidents, effects, and trust in safety mechanisms. Drawing on twenty-five semi-structured interviews of women journalists in Portugal, we use a feminist and critical realist framework to explore the causal s
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tructures and generative mechanisms that explain their vulnerability to online abuse. We identify three overarching themes: increasing visibility in a context of higher hostility towards journalism and insufficient safety mechanisms; intersectional gender inequality and cultural mores that foster it; and (individual) responses to harassment. These themes show that women journalists’ actions are both constrained and enabled by existing structures and cultural attitudes. While they tend to deny harassment is caused by their gender, seeing it mainly because of their job, they admit the sexualised and gendered nature of the insults, seeing this as an added offence not experienced by their male counterparts. They also see harassment as a continuation of inequality and prevailing sexism and find the protection mechanisms insufficient and ineffective. As a result, they assume an extra burden of emotional labour to deal with online bullying, admitting self-censoring and the need to develop resilience strategies." (Abstract)
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"In the digital era, journalists are targeted with online abuse including serious threats of violence. These censorship tactics are a direct threat to media freedom. Although the UK Government intended to tackle online abuse of journalists in the Online Safety Act 2023, provisions fit for that purpo
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se never materialised. This paper reveals why that was the case and what can be done about it. It finds that there is ongoing tension in the press industry about press regulation, with implications for journalist safety; that the Government carved out special privileges for the press’ online content but did not similarly protect journalist digital safety; that journalist safety was largely ignored in Parliament; and that repeated Government disintegration and shifting policies stripped away provisions that could have been improved to better protect journalists. This paper concludes with suggestions for how journalist safety can be better protected in the OSA regime." (Abstract)
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"Es bleibt festzuhalten: Durch die mediale Vernachlässigung des Globalen Südens kommen die Lebensumstände von etwa 85 % der Weltbevölkerung kaum in unseren Medien vor. Auch dann nicht, wenn dort Kriege, Hungersnöte oder Epidemien erhebliche Opferzahlen erzeugen. Dabei sind die betroffenen Länd
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er politisch und wirtschaftlich längst nicht mehr die einst buchstäblich (von den Kolonialländern) abgehängte »Dritte Welt«, sondern im Gegenteil heute vielfach potente Wirtschafts- und Militärmächte, die zunehmend in Opposition zum Westen (oder Norden) gehen. In der Berichterstattung taucht der Globale Süden jedoch erst auf, wenn Menschen oder Interessen des Globalen Nordens in irgendeiner Form direkt betroffen sind. Das ist zu spät. Vor 30 dem Hintergrund der menschlichen Dimensionen der vergessenen Krisen und Konflikte ist das erschreckend. Vor dem Hintergrund der globalen sicherheitspolitischen Dimensionen ist es zudem unklug und kurzsichtig. Aktuelle UN-Abstimmungen zeigen divergierende geopolitische Vorstellungen des Globalen Nordens und Südens und irritieren den Westen, der sich teilweise uninformiert über die sicherheitspolitischen Interessen des Globalen Südens zeigt. Eine quantitativ umfangreichere und vor allem konsequente Berichterstattung über die Länder des Globalen Südens wäre wichtig, um dortige politische Prozesse verstehen und ihnen adäquat begegnen zu können. Eine Vernachlässigung des Globalen Südens und ein Vakuum an politischem Interesse und Engagement kann dazu führen, dass andere, nicht- oder sogar antidemokratische Kräfte und Akteure diese Lücken nach ihren politischen Interessen und Vorstellungen füllen. Erst zu handeln, wenn Probleme den Westen, Europa oder Deutschland unmittelbar erreicht haben, ist zu spät. In einer sich zunehmend globalisierenden Welt kann es sich der Globale Norden nicht leisten, eine Mauer des medialen Desinteresses aufrecht zu erhalten und über die politischen Zustände und Entwicklungen im Globalen Süden uninformiert zu bleiben." (Zusammenfassung, Seite 19)
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"This study contributes to research on digital inequalities in the context of artificial intelligence by examining user perceptions of deepfake technology. We focus on the stratification of deepfake knowledge and attitudes towards deepfakes as critical elements of technology access. Based on a surve
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y of 1,421 German internet users, we analyse the role of sociodemographic variables, digital skills, and personal innovativeness in predicting deepfake knowledge. We then examine the role of deepfake knowledge in users’ assessments of risks and potentials associated with the technology. Our results point to a generally low level of knowledge and a strong focus on risks in internet users’ perceptions of deepfakes. We find that age, gender and educational attainment predict knowledge about deepfakes. Digital skills, personal innovativeness, and social media use also positively relate to deepfake knowledge. This knowledge, in turn, is shown to play a role in users’ positive attitude towards the technology. While age plays only a minor role, female gender strongly relates to low knowledge and negative attitudes towards deepfakes. We thus find evidence of a sizeable gender divide in user access to the novel deepfake technology." (Abstract)
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"Does the news media exacerbate or reduce misinformation problems? Although some news media deliberately try to counter misinformation, it has been suggested that they might also inadvertently, and sometimes purposefully, amplify it. We conducted a two-wave panel survey in Brazil, India, and the UK
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(N=4732) to investigate the effect of news and digital platform use on awareness of and belief in COVID-19 misinformation over time (January to February 2022). We find little support for the idea that the news exacerbates misinformation problems. News use broadened people’s awareness of false claims but did not increase belief in false claims—in some cases, news use actually weakened false belief acquisition, depending on access mode (online or offline) and outlet type. In line with previous research, we also find that news use strengthens political knowledge gain over time, again depending on outlets used. The effect of digital platforms was inconsistent across countries, and in most cases not significant—though some, like Twitter, were associated with positive outcomes while others were associated with negative outcomes. Overall, our findings challenge the notion that news media, by reporting on false and misleading claims, ultimately leave the public more misinformed, and support the idea that news helps people become more informed and, in some cases, more resilient to misinformation." (Abstract)
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"Although various studies have investigated the link between corruption and politicization, there is still a lack of comprehensive reflection in the literature on both this topic and the idea of politicization itself. Analyzing the politicization of an issue necessarily implies considering the publi
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c sphere and then the role of the media. Considering its penetration and its role as a news source for citizens, social media today is a particularly intriguing object of research. Our study shows that while social media may assist in raising awareness about and curbing corruption, it can also become dysfunctional in some circumstances. The multiplicity of the actors who intervene in corruption and the diversity of interests that characterizes their actions make online discussion complex and adaptable to different objectives. Discussions on corruption in Italy are highly polarized, favoring the political instrumentalization of the issue for different goals." (Abstract)
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"The past several years have seen increased scholarly attention to the concept of ‘extraction’ and ‘extractivism’ as critical frameworks in the humanities and social sciences. These are not only concepts and processes through which to understand material extraction but also expanded formatio
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ns of extraction as requiring an assemblage of interlocking activities united under an umbrella of exploitative, material economic practices. This article demonstrates that digital data infrastructures, especially data centres, are acting as tools in which to manage the compounding contradictions of paired ‘green,’ digital growth in constrained electricity systems like Ireland. Building on theories of ‘green extractivism’ in the digital sphere and drawing upon fieldwork and policy analysis in data centre industry settings, this article argues that in the form of interconnected climate and digital infrastructures, tech capital is shoring up its role in green transformations, including in the grid systems that will need to adapt away from fossil fuel supply to intermittent energy sources and increasing demand from data centres. In this way, data centres are becoming technologies of green extractivism for overlapping projects of digital grid transformations and climatefriendly capitalism." (Abstract)
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"The far right is increasingly relying on visual and less extreme online communication, for instance by using memes, to strategically mainstream their ideology. The use of humor in particular renders their communication more relatable to a mainstream audience. However, little is known about the actu
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al impacts of the different content characteristics they employ to become more appealing, in particular on less moderated platforms that function as safe online spaces for extremist ideology and contents. To fill this gap, we conducted a manual quantitative content analysis of 1,200 memes distributed within German-language far-right Telegram channels in 2020 and 2021, concentrating on humor and several content-related factors to analyze their impact on meme reach. The results demonstrate that memes with extreme far-right narratives and memes with humor received fewer views than others, but that memes with both far-right narratives and humor had a significantly increased reach. The findings highlight the mainstreaming potential of humor, particularly when used to mask extreme content that would otherwise be less appealing." (Abstract)
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"Social media provide unprecedented opportunities for the distribution of photographs capturing experiences of conflict. Instagram in particular renders conflict photography searchable, whilst also aggregating the memories of traumatised communities. This paper adds to the nascent literature in this
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area by exploring how the photosharing app is used to share photographs of the Northern Irish ‘Troubles’, a low-intensity conflict that resulted in 3,600 fatalities and left many more bereaved, injured and traumatised. Two decades on from the Belfast Agreement, Northern Ireland remains a deeply divided society in which competing narratives over the conflict remain deeply entrenched. This study explored photographic representation of the Troubles, with a specific focus on who was represented in these images and whether they were evoke personal memories of the conflict. A content and narrative analysis of 100 historical images tagged #thetroubles was conducted in order to explore these issues. Results indicate that images showing the ‘peculiarity’ of everyday life during the conflict, such as armed British soldiers standing in close quarters to children playing in the street, were the most prominent visual representations under this hashtag. The memories evoked by such historical photographs reinforce zero-sum narratives on conflict, rather than promote new interpretations that build support for peace in ‘post-conflict’ societies." (Abstract)
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