Journal. Media, Volume 5, Issue 2 (June 2024) – 24 articles

In the USA, for the first time in the 1960s, and in a very systematic manner from 1976 onwards, pre-election debates (televised presidential debates) have become a fundamental and integral method of communication for political parties, as well as an institution of American democracy that contributes significantly to shaping a culture of public political dialogue at a relatively high level, through which citizens accumulate knowledge about political figures and their parties’ positions within a very short period of time before the elections. In Greece, on the contrary, these television programs have not sparked significant interest to date. The subject of this study is the television debates in Greece, evaluated through a brief historical overview and commentary on their structure, culminating in the two televised confrontations that took place within a five-month period during two electoral contests in 2023. Firstly, the reactions to and reception of the two televised debates by citizens on platform X and, secondly, the commentary on the two debates by journalists, columnists, and renowned analysts, reveal the differing interests of both sides. The research results confirm that, in addition to the performance of politicians, citizens are also interested in the conditions and form in which these pre-election televised debates are staged. Full article

This paper presents a comprehensive bibliometric review of the development of artificial intelligence (AI) in journalism based on the analysis of 331 articles indexed in the Scopus database between 2019 and 2023. This research combines bibliometric approaches and quantitative content analysis to provide an in-depth conceptual and structural overview of the field. In addition to descriptive measures, co-citation and co-word analyses are also presented to reveal patterns and trends in AI- and journalism-related research. The results show a significant increase in the number of articles published each year, with the largest contributions coming from the United States, Spain, and the United Kingdom, serving as the most productive countries. Terms such as “fake news”, “algorithms”, and “automated journalism” frequently appear in the reviewed articles, reflecting the main topics of concern in this field. Furthermore, ethical aspects of journalism were highlighted in every discussion, indicating a new paradigm that needs to be considered for the future development of journalism studies and professionalism. Full article

Concerns around the definition of misinformation hamper ways of addressing purported problems associated with it, along with the fact that public understanding of the concept is often ignored. To this end, the present pilot survey study examines three broad issues, as follows: (1) contexts where the concept most applies to (i.e., face-to-face interactions, social media, news media, or all three contexts), (2) criteria people use to identify misinformation, and (3) motivations for sharing it. A total of 1897 participants (approximately 300 per country) from six different countries (Chile, Germany, Greece, Mexico, the UK, the USA) were asked questions on all three, along with an option to provide free text responses for two of them. The quantitative and qualitative findings reveal a nuanced understanding of the concept, with the common defining characteristics being claims presented as fact when they are opinion (71%), claims challenged by experts (66%), and claims that are unqualified by evidence (64%). Moreover, of the 28% (n = 538) of participants providing free text responses further qualifying criteria for misinformation, 31% of them mentioned critical details from communication (e.g., concealing relevant details or lacking evidence to support claims), and 41% mentioned additions in communication that reveal distortions (e.g., sensationalist language, exaggerating claims). Rather than being exclusive to social media, misinformation was seen by the full sample (n = 1897) as present in all communication contexts (59%) and is shared for amusement (50%) or inadvertently (56%). Full article

The aim of this paper is to shape the identity of digital video advertising in the new digital media landscape, focusing on whether and to what extent popular digital ads on social media are differentiated from traditional television ads in the context of the convergence of traditional and new electronic media. Content analysis was preferred for the study of popular advertising content in social media. In this respect, the differentiation of digital video advertising from its television counterpart is examined in terms of the properties and effects of the transmission medium itself on the advertising content and of the features of the digital advertising content itself. Out of the findings emerged that digital video advertising is still in a phase of adaptation/transition, consisting of only a potential breakthrough in the contemporary media environment, since it has not yet exhausted the possibilities offered by the internet and Web 2.0. Currently, digital advertising only partially incorporates and exploits the advantages of enriched, multimedia, interactive, and personalized content, characteristics that would potentially differentiate it to a greater extent from advertising shown in traditional media, especially television. Full article

The proximity television model adopted by Castilla y León since 1999 is based on promoting territorial identity and closeness to citizens, in line with the principles of identity and proximity in regional television, albeit with the particularity in the Spanish context of being a regional television system managed by a private concessionaire. In response to the current challenges of the television sector, a consultancy project is implemented with a methodological approach based on a SWOT analysis and the participation of multiple actors. This work details the methodology followed during the different phases of this interdisciplinary consultancy work: definition of bases, development of a base document, and concretion of actions, until reaching the elaboration of a detailed guide that establishes strategic objectives and specific actions. This strategic approach translates into a proposal to improve the performance of regional television and its contribution to the economic and social development of the region; however, the difficulty for its effective implementation due to an uncertain political scenario is pointed out. Full article

The Local Media for Democracy (LM4D) project is the first project that explores news deserts in Europe comprehensively. Its final report highlighted challenges and opportunities for local and community media and identified the level of risk of news deserts in the 27 European Union (EU) Member States. As a pilot project, however, its results are still preliminary and open to evaluation, and, thus, they require further discussion and corroboration. Drawing from these results, and applying a multidisciplinary approach, we extrapolated research directions for the study of news deserts in the EU. By cross-analyzing data from the LM4D dataset with other datasets, we provide a preliminary analysis of three promising lines of research: (1) the relationship between public service media quality and news deserts, (2) news deserts and the spread of disinformation, and (3) social media usage and news desertification. We conclude by pointing out the limitations of this preliminary analysis and opportunities for further research on news deserts in the EU. Full article

In the context of increasing online health misinformation, several new approaches have been deployed to reduce the spread and increase the quality of information consumed. This systematic review examines how source credibility labels and other nudging interventions impact online health information choices. PubMed, Embase, Scopus, and Web of Science were searched for studies that present empirical evidence on the impact of interventions designed to affect online health-information-seeking behavior. Results are mixed: some interventions, such as content labels identifying misinformation or icon arrays displaying information, proved capable of impacting behavior in a particular context. In contrast, other reviewed strategies around signaling the source’s credibility have failed to produce significant effects in the tested circumstances. The field of literature is not large enough to draw meaningful conclusions, suggesting that future research should explore how differences in design, method, application, and sources may affect the impact of these interventions and how they can be leveraged to combat the spread of online health misinformation. Full article

A growing body of research suggests that the contemporary media environment enables motivated reasoning, which intensifies affective polarization. This is especially the case in the U.S., where elections are capital-intensive and media are largely commercially owned. From a normative perspective, these commercial forces may interfere with authentic communication by hijacking the “lifeworld” and thus undermining the sincerity of our speech. From a psychological and empirical perspective, this means we are an affective public steeping in “hot cognitions” that unconsciously motivate us toward processing (mis)information in biased and distorted ways. This kind of cognitive limitation intensifies as current affairs heat up, but starts well before, as a function of media market boundaries aligning with human psychology. Through a synthetic literature review of theory and empirical research, this essay argues that “social identity complexity” may help to overcome some of the worst outcomes of motivated reasoning, pointing toward a developmental basis for more authentic communication in the public sphere. Full article

The public service media Radio Televisión Española (RTVE) conducted a proof-of-concept study to automatically generate reports on the results of the local elections of 28 May 2023 in Spanish communities with fewer than 1000 inhabitants. This study describes the creation, testing and application of the methodological tool used to evaluate the quality of the reports generated using artificial intelligence in order to optimize the algorithm. The application of the proposed datasheet provided a systematic analysis, and the iterative use of the tool made it possible to gradually improve the results produced by the system until a suitable threshold was reached for publication. The study also showed that, despite the ability of AI systems to automatically generate a large volume of information, both human labour and the reliability of the data that feed the system are essential to ensure journalistic quality. Full article

Public service media (PSM) are grappling with structural shifts in the audio-visual sector, notably the shift of audiences towards over-the-top (OTT) or subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) services. They have also heavily invested in online platforms, adapting their policies to engage digital users on their video-on-demand (VOD) platforms. This paper assesses PSM policies in Britain, Denmark, and Greece, examining initiatives regarding adaptation to the digital era. It explores whether they implement new strategies to expand their digital reach. Data from policy documents and interviews with BBC, DR, and ERT leading executives inform the analysis. Findings showed varied responses among PSM organisations, influenced by market dynamics and the evolution of broadcasting traditions. Full article

This exploratory and analytical research examines secondary sources to propose a résumé of professional roles for journalists to revitalize their roles within social and political coexistence. It aims to bridge the gap between theoretical concepts and practical applications, enhancing journalists’ impact on public discourse and informed decision-making. Empirical research will guide these roles’ implementation in real-world journalistic practices. Twelve explanatory and constructive journalistic roles are formulated, whose relevance and application are enhanced in societies undergoing crisis situations or serious difficulties and are at risk of rupture in coexistence. In conclusion, the role of journalists in the current circumstances of crises in democratic societies requires them to not only report on events but also provide context, analysis, and solutions to the complex issues faced by society. Journalistic functions such as contextualization, public interest promotion, dialogue, and motivation are considered fundamental beyond constructive journalism or solutions journalism. Full article

Starting on 2 November 2023, some territories in the Region of Tuscany in Italy were hit by exceptionally intense meteorological and calamitous events. The Region of Tuscany’s government was immediately at the forefront of relief, assisting the population, and aiding restoration. On 3 November, a national state of emergency was declared due to flooding. Journalistic communication is an essential aspect of disaster mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery. In terms of protecting people and reducing damage, journalists and the media have an important role to play. This article reports an Italian case study analysing the behaviour of local media in cases of natural disaster. Nine focus groups were conducted with local journalists covering the flood emergency. The results highlight the role of social and institutional mediation, rather than mere dissemination, played by the local press in emergency situations, a central element in the construction of a community bond, precisely in moments of insecurity and disorientation. The narration of a disaster from the inside seems to have allowed the emergence and representation of hitherto unknown social realities in Tuscany. The goal of the news coverage was widened, making it possible to respond better to the diverse interests of the reading public and to satisfy in a short time and exhaustively the information needs of individual communities in difficulty. Full article

Climate change misinformation refers to inaccurate, incomplete, or misleading climate change-related information created and spread in the public domain. Despite substantial consensus among the scientific community on the reality of anthropogenic climate change, public opinion still remains divided. Combating the climate crisis requires immediate and meaningful actions; however, various actors generate and propagate climate change misinformation, with vested interests in sowing doubts in the public sphere about the reality and urgency of climate impacts. The United States of America, where public opinion holds a strong sway in many social and political spheres, acts as a pertinent case in point, where the prevalence of climate denial fueled by persistent climate change misinformation contributes to this divided public perspective. For this reason, it is imperative to enhance the understanding of the subtle ways climate change misinformation exists and functions. This article employs actor–network theory and the concept of black-boxing to explore a case of climate change misinformation in the United States, with the aim of comprehending the workings of climate change misinformation within its network. Full article

Generative artificial intelligence (GAI) is a technology based on algorithms, models, etc., that creates content such as text, audio, images, videos, and code. GAI is deeply integrated into journalism as tools, platforms and systems. However, GAI’s role in journalism dilutes the power of media professionals, changes traditional news production and poses ethical questions. This study attempts to systematically answer these ethical questions in specific journalistic practices from the perspectives of journalistic professionalism and epistemology. Building on the review of GAI’s development and application, this study identifies the responsibilities of news organizations, journalists and audiences, ensuring that they realize the potential of GAI while adhering to journalism professionalism and universal human values to avoid negative technological effects. Full article

Inflaming public opinion about narcotics was the collective goal of anti-narcotics organizers who emerged from the battlefields of the war on alcohol. The most famous was Richmond P. Hobson, who used newspapers, radio, pamphlets, speaking tours, and networking with civic organizations to agitate for reform. This article draws on archival and newly accessible electronic sources to draw a picture of Hobson’s anti-narcotics propagandizing and put it in historical context. Full article

This study examines the role of local media in fostering a sense of community belonging among readers in the Ecuadorian context, focusing on how geographical coverage, news sources, and covered themes reinforce community identity. Through content analysis of 17 local media outlets and 6356 news pieces, we investigate how these elements cohesively contribute to the construction of an interconnected community. The findings indicate that predominantly local and regional coverage, along with reliance on primary sources within the community and the prevalence of topics related to politics, sports, and culture, play pivotal roles in creating a shared community fabric. By contextualizing the importance of “glocalization” in journalism, the study demonstrates how local media act as a mirror to community realities and aspirations, promoting a sense of intersubjectivity, adaptability, and civic engagement. This work underscores the critical importance of local media in representing the diversity of reality, facilitating civic participation, and strengthening the social fabric within the local context. Full article

Refugee and migration crises has been an integral part of the continuous and successive crises that the world has been experiencing. Media has played a crucial role in shaping public opinion over migration and asylum-seeking. Within this context, this paper aims to discuss Greek media coverage of the migrant shipwreck off the Greek coast of Pylos, in June 2023, in which more than 600 people mostly from Syria, Egypt, and Pakistan are thought to have drowned. Based on data from a quantitative content analysis and a sample of news stories stemming from the online version of five Greek news media outlets, representing diverse political spaces, a broader set of criteria for content analysis, including the absence of refugee and migrant voice in media content, dehumanization, absence of solutions and context, among many others, was used in order to explore how the Greek media framed what has been labeled as one of the deadliest migrant shipwrecks in the Mediterranean. Results revealed (i) frames of dehumanization, (ii) insufficient reporting of injustice and discrimination stemming from (state) structures and practices, and an (iii) overemphasis on migrant smuggling. Full article

The informational domain related to COVID-19 reflects the degree of uncertainty and pace of evolution of the pandemic. This places a burden on peoples’ searches for information to guide their choices, importantly including for COVID-19 vaccines. Thus, it is important for health communications that support vaccination campaigns to attenuate vaccine hesitancy to be accessible, including in terms of readability, and adapted to the evolving pandemic. This paper aims to understand internet searches on COVID-19 vaccination, specifically the mix of sources and readability of the sources over a two-year period (2021–2023) in Singapore, Hong Kong, and the Philippines, for search results in English, as English is a main language for each of these locations. The sources accessed through online searches in June 2021 and May 2023 were categorized by type of source and whether they were from one of the focal locations or elsewhere. The readability of information from web-search results was assessed using a set of readability tests (Flesch–Kincaid Reading Ease, Flesch–Kincaid Grade Level, Gunning Fog Index, Coleman–Liau Index, and Simple Measure of Gobbledygook Grade level). Over the two-year period there was an increase in government sources and reduction in mass media sources with distinct local patterns. Local government sources increased in Singapore whereas foreign government and multi-lateral organization sources increased in Hong Kong, with the Philippines being an intermediate pattern. In contrast to the changing mix of sources, the readability tests indicate a low proportion of URLs scoring within recommended readability thresholds across locations and types of sources over the two years. Information on COVID-19 vaccine development and deployment is an important part of health communications that includes internet search. The paper contributes to understanding health communications during a pandemic, including mix of local and non-local sources and contingency on local social and health context. Full article

This paper analyses the self-representations of Portuguese media professionals and their work practices. Utilizing data from a broader empirical study, this paper delves into the dynamics of influence among various actors within newsrooms. Based on journalists’ perceptions of the content, the methods they use to assess the quality of the news are also identified. To address these enquiries, a survey was conducted among professionals engaged in the news production process. This sample comprised 72 individuals from various sectors of newsrooms, including photographers, designers, IT professionals, social media managers, and videographers. The main results indicate that seven out of ten respondents acknowledged their reliance on colleagues in newsrooms for success. Furthermore, the data suggest that there are no significant disparities among different professionals, with personal satisfaction emerging as the primary criterion for assessing the work quality. It is notable that almost twice as many women tend to indicate the low impact of the journalist on their work compared to male respondents. Moreover, most respondents stated that there is space for hybrid professionals in newsrooms. Full article

Television plays a significant role in shaping the beliefs, perceptions, and attitudes of young individuals. Understanding the factors that influence these beliefs is essential for comprehending the impact of television programming on the youth population. This paper aims to investigate the correlations in beliefs regarding television programming among Greek youths aged 15–18 with their demographic characteristics, parental educational levels, school performance, and daily television viewing habits. To study the above, a structured questionnaire was electronically distributed to 204 Greek teenagers after obtaining parental consent. By identifying the factors associated with variations in beliefs, this study contributes to the existing literature on media influence and youth development. The findings indicate youth’s moderate levels of reflection regarding different aspects of television shows, including their presentation to the public and their influence on perceptions and attitudes. What is more, the youth audience haslow trust in TV news, and they moderately believe that the content of news is greatly influenced by governments and political elite agendas, while they consider TV as a major influential media type in shaping people’s political opinions. Notably, youngsters who considered themselves high-achieving students, as well as those who engaged in more frequent television viewing, including documentaries, news, and talk shows, exhibit increased concern and skepticism regarding the information presented in the television programs they watch. This is an important finding, because despite the low trust in TV as a medium, it continues to attract the attention of young people. Full article

This study is situated within the ongoing scholarly discourse surrounding the role of social media in the evolving communication landscape. The main aim of this research is to examine the extent to which the Greek traditional media and journalists have adapted to the ethos of social media. In particular, this study conducts a comparative analysis to assess whether the Greek media and journalists have effectively embraced the communication challenges arising from advancements in social media, particularly during election cycles. The theoretical foundation rests on the network theory of power, a concept pioneered by the Spanish sociologist Manuel Castells. The empirical component presents the findings obtained through an examination of journalists’ participation in political discourse on Twitter (now named X) throughout seven distinct election periods encompassing all electoral levels in Greece (presidential, national, European and regional/municipal elections, plus a referendum). The findings reveal low levels of adaptation, in contrast with western countries, where journalists and the media have embraced the online culture to a greater extent and appear to take on more prominent roles in debates. The findings provide valuable insights for journalists, politicians and the media in understanding the role of social media in political communication. Full article

Social media platforms such as Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) set their core aim as bringing people and communities closer together. Yet, they resemble a digital communicative battleground in which hate speech is increasingly present. Hate speech is not benign. It is the communicative driver of group oppression. It is therefore imperative to disarm this digital communicative battlefield by (a) regulating and redesigning social media platforms to prevent them from playing an active and enabling role in the dissemination of hate speech and (b) empowering citizen-users and local civil associations to recognise and actively counter hate speech. This top-down and bottom-up approach necessarily enforces responsibility and builds capacity. This requires that we adapt and combine three aspects of communicative peacebuilding: first, the (re)building of civil-communicative institutions; second, the use of digital citizenship educational programmes to support the development of civil-communicative skills for using social media; and third, the identification and use of local civil capacity and knowledge, which manifests in the present context in the use of local evidence-based anti-hate speech interventions. We argue that this interdisciplinary combinatorial approach has the potential to be effective because it combines two things: it places responsibility on relevant actors to both make social media safer and to navigate it harmlessly and responsibly; and it simultaneously helps build the capacity for actively identifying and countering hate speech in civil societies. Full article

The Nigerian media have, over the years, moved back and forth via all manners of experience of leadership, from military to democratic, until they finally settled into the present democratic governance. Experience from previous regimes exposed them to the vagaries of power and how to cope with them. These traditional news media, newspapers/magazines, radio, and television, were then the major and authentic news sources for Nigerians. The coming of the internet with its social media handles threw the journalists of these media into confusion as the citizens have taken the reigns of news/information peddling from under them, turning them into agents of confirmation and authenticity of information. Ironically, these traditional media, television, radio, and print, have adjusted to online media streaming, thus liberating themselves from the vagaries of temporal and spatial limitedness. Deploying a survey method (opinion poll, OPL) and relying on a purposive sampling technique, the authors purposively selected WhatsApp group platforms (WGP) as the most suitable of the new/social media with access to all manners of news sources. These were used to interrogate how online media/information/news streaming has taken the audience away from traditional media by being on the ‘spot’ at all hours with their avalanche of “Breaking News”. The findings revealed that audiences currently resort to traditional media to confirm the authenticity of news and information carried online in a sort-of-when-in-doubt-watch-the television manner or listen to radio or read the newspapers/magazines. It concludes that online news streaming has become the coveted bride of present-day information and news seekers, albeit an unreliable one. Full article

Technological innovation is transforming local public media. New tools, applications, and platforms are allowing it to improve its reach, the quality of the content it broadcasts, and its interaction with audiences. We set out to determine the main lines of action in the technological innovations adopted by Spanish regional public service media. We conducted a qualitative study based on corporate documentary analysis and in-depth interviews with the heads of the innovation and technological support areas of the four regional corporations with the largest budgets: Corporación de Radio y Televisión de Galicia (CRTVG), Euskal Irrati Telebista-Radio (EiTB), Corporació Catalana de Mitjans Audiovisuals (CCMA), and Radio y Televisión de Andalucía (RTVA). The results showed that, without neglecting their social commitment, technological innovation was one of the main axes in the strategic plans of the organisations studied. The use of new technologies in their adaptation to the current audiovisual ecosystem represents changes in creation, distribution, and management. Full article