Volume 51, Issue 1

This study examines the Italian Twitter landscape during the 2015 Syrian and 2022 Ukrainian refugee crises, with a focus on the evolution of anti-refugee discourse. Through the analysis of 400,000 tweets, we sought to identify attitudinal communities, track changes in user positions, and evaluate the trending potential of the communities. Our findings indicate a shift in opinion leaders within the anti-refugee community from 2015, alongside a persistent ability to influence public discourse. Additionally, while the pro-Ukrainian refugee community has grown, incorporating previously neutral users, it remains loosely connected. Finally, the shifts in attitudes of Italian populist leaders regarding Syrian and Ukrainian refugees are interpreted in light of the changes in user attitudes as observed in the communication networks. This research highlights the importance of computational communication methods for investigating fringe groups absent from mainstream discourse, and underscores the necessity of content moderation and proactive digital activism to counter anti-refugee sentiment online.

The present study is the first to provide insights into the presence of brands and materialistic values in videos of popular YouTube influencers. We developed a codebook and analyzed a sample of 240 videos from 20 popular YouTube influencers from the Netherlands. We coded general characteristics of the videos (e.g., video length and number of views), the number of brands and branded products, the use of disclosures and brand prominence, as well as the number and types of materialistic values that were present. The findings show that YouTube watchers are confronted with a large number of brands and materialistic values, which may have serious consequences for their view of the world. In addition, the frequent absence of disclosures indicates a need for spreading awareness about regulations regarding influencer marketing practices.

Since fake news poses serious problems for individuals, groups, and societies, it is crucial to understand the factors that either increase or diminish its credibility and dissemination. Thus, a 2×2 between-subjects experiment ( n = 455) was conducted to investigate the influence of warning labels and personal recommendations on political partisans’ perceptions of fake news credibility and their willingness to disseminate fake news. The results show that partisans were more likely to believe and disseminate fake news that aligned with their views. While warning labels modestly reduced the perceived credibility of fake news, personal recommendations tended to increase the willingness to disseminate fake news if the content of the fake news was in line with partisans’ opinion.

Social networks have become one of the primary sources of political information, partly due to the high circulation of information that is produced and shared. The distribution of this content is influenced by various factors. In this study, which includes a preliminary study and two experiments (n = 241; n = 391; n = 629), we examine the ability of issue ownership to act as an ideological catalyst of discourse on a social network like X. The results show that issue ownership can activate participants’ cognitive biases and influence the distribution of content. However, this mainly occurs when participants are unaware of the author of the political content. This finding suggests a hierarchy of informational factors that drive content propagation on social networks.

In times of increasing distrust toward factual and established information, populism often takes on an explicit epistemic dimension. Prior research has indicated that disinformation labels employed in populist communication can fuel distrust in established media. Yet, we know little about whether the populist attribution of blame to different elites – politicians and the media – affect perceptions of factual relativism. To advance the field, we use an experiment ( N = 428) in which participants were exposed to populist messages blaming political or media elites for deceiving or not representing the people. Our main findings indicate that there are no direct effects of such accusations on perceived factual relativism. Yet, participants with higher levels of media distrust were affected most by populist messages in which mainstream media sources were blamed. As a main implication, this reveals that disinformation accusations in populist communication mainly have a reinforcing effect among distrusting citizens.

In this paper, we explore the complex relationship between news use and intentional news avoidance. Based on a survey conducted ( N = 2,798) in the Netherlands and a latent profile analysis, we first identified nine different types of news users. We find that news avoidance differs across those types. While people that belong to the profiles that use news less frequently or through less established channels report that they engage more in news avoiding behavior, also news omnivores frequently avoid the news. Mainly individuals that belong to profiles where traditional media use features most prominently report never avoiding the news. These findings confirm the idea that intentional news avoidance is not a simple concept that divides people into those that consume and those that do not consume news, but is rather a more complex and dynamic phenomenon.

This study identifies and predicts the factors that determine journalists’ acceptance of VR in journalism and news production, and their intention to adopt this technology in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). A total of 787 online survey responses were analyzed. On a theoretical level, Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) constructs were used to identify the independent variables and develop the research hypotheses. The study found that perceived efficiency of VR is related to the perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness of VR in journalism. Respondents’ behavioral intentions to accept and adopt VR in journalism are contingent upon how these journalists perceive VR as an innovative way to reach audiences and engage them. The paper contributes to our understanding of respondents’ behavioral intentions to accept and adopt VR in journalism. Those intensions are contingent upon how these journalists perceive VR as an innovative way to reach audiences and engage them, including how various media outlets around the world are using VR.

People are avoiding news more and more. To better understand which factors predict intentional news avoidance in preadolescents and their parents, we tested perceived negativity of news (H1), news distrust (H2), and news overload (H3) as statistical predictors. We also explored the interrelations between preadolescent- and parent-reported variables (RQ1, RQ2). Using cross-sectional survey data of 192 preadolescents (mean age = 10.4 years; 57 % female) and 214 parents (mean age = 43.0 years; 89 % female), we found that perceived negativity of news predicted preadolescents’ intentional news avoidance. For parents, news overload predicted intentional news avoidance. We found positive correlations between preadolescent- and parent-reported variables. None of the parent-reported predictor variables predicted preadolescents’ intentional news avoidance, but parents’ own news avoidance did. We offer solutions for preadolescents, parents, as well as news agencies.

There are severe concerns over the widespread presence of fake news on social media and the vulnerability of citizens to its influence. Prior research on fake news has largely focused on the potential threat it poses to democracy, and has payed less attention to an opposing behavior that has emerged in parallel and mitigates its effects: citizens’ corrective actions. This study seeks to examine the sociopolitical antecedents that drive citizens to correct fake news on social media. Drawing on panel survey data from Spain (T 2 = 570), we explore the role that using social media for news, cross-cutting political discussion, and support for fake news censorship have on intention to correct misinformation on social media. Our findings clarify the positive associations between the use of social media for news, the frequency of cross-cutting discussion, and support for fake news censorship over the intention to correct misinformation. Briefly, our study shows how social media’s mix of news, misinformation and political disagreement can motivate users to undertake pro-social democratic behaviors like corrective actions.

Climate change is one of the main challenges of our time, yet public support for climate action is lacking. This study scrutinizes the role of the media in educating the public on climate change and examines how media use relates to citizens’ climate-related public opinion. We test two models of opinion formation: the deficit model, which posits that media dissemination of scientific information can enhance climate knowledge, leading to increased climate-friendly attitudes and behavior; and the motivated reasoning model, which suggests that citizens interpret information in a biased manner. Conducted in a context where climate coverage is mostly science-based, our cross-sectional survey provides evidence for both models. The relationship between media use and climate knowledge varies by media type and citizens’ ideology. Additionally, media use influences not only citizens’ cognitions but also their climate predispositions.

While increases in trust in institutions at the beginning of a crisis are well studied, less is known about the factors that contribute to a decline in trust. In this study, we examine how media coverage and perceptions of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic influenced trust in the Swedish government’s crisis handling. Using two waves of panel survey data and a quantitative content analysis of news, we investigate whether exposure to negative news coverage shaped individuals’ beliefs about the pandemic’s development, subsequently affecting governmental trust. Results show that higher exposure to negative media content led to more negative perceptions of the pandemic’s progression, which in turn diminished trust in the government. Personal experience with the pandemic did not moderate this relationship, suggesting that media-driven perceptions were influential regardless of direct crisis impact on individuals.

The rise of conspiracy theories and misinformation in digital media has sparked intense debates among scholars, journalists, and policymakers about the challenges posed by these phenomena and potential responses. However, these discussions tend to remain narrowly focused on specific issues, stakeholders, or individual-level strategies, with limited attention paid to anticipatory impact assessment. To address these shortcomings, we conducted an integrative, three-wave Delphi study involving an expert panel of 47 scholars and practitioners from 13 countries to identify current challenges, anticipate problematic trends, and develop actionable interventions. The challenges, trends, and interventions discussed span ten thematic areas, including governance of and by platforms, platform design, journalism and news media ecosystems, research and science communication ecosystems, societal dynamics, socio-political institutions, and individual behavior. The paper concludes with methodological reflections, discussing the possibilities and limitations of Delphi methods in addressing complex, interdisciplinary issues.

This study investigates the profiles, practices, and perspectives of leading environmental journalists in Italy. Taking into account a still rather restricted national media ecosystem, and considering this topic from a scientific-cultural point of view, this study discusses a diversity of backgrounds and degrees of scientific expertise, a collegial relationship between journalists covering this topic, and a relatively high degree of autonomy within the respective newsrooms. The study finds that journalists believe that the amount of reporting on climate and the environment has increased in recent years, although the level of coverage (and general expertise on the subject) is still rather low and questionable. Specifically, this paper explores how journalists negotiate their personal commitments to environmental change in the context of their professional practice, as well as the issue of “shaping” climate and environmental journalism, and possible critiques of existing journalistic practices and dominant news reporting in the context of climate and biodiversity emergencies.

User engagement serves as a “public opinion cue” for social movements. Likes, shares, and comments on protest-related posts provide valuable insights for social movements to evaluate their protest communication, help to increase protest visibility, and bring up public discussions in the social media arena. But, to what extent do social movements’ protest-related posts resonate? And, which protest claims explain user engagement? In this study, I analyze Facebook posts (N=184,917) of social movements (N=163) staging street protests (N=207) in Brussels (Belgium) between January 2017 and December 2021. By comparing protest-related and non-protest-related posts, I show that protest posts receive more user engagement on Facebook. Explanatory analyses indicate that disruption, high number, and commitment claims in social movements’ protest posts trigger user engagement. Protest and social media features are controlled for as well. Results enrich the empirical framework on user engagement and contribute to the theoretical understanding of social movements’ protest claims-making online.

This study experimentally investigates people’s emotional responses to different online messages about Covid-19 on YouTube. Participants from the United Kingdom (N = 331), the United States (N = 312), and Greece (N = 306) completed an online experiment. Participants viewed two expert videos: one presenting positive vaccine news, and the other emphasizing the seriousness of COVID-19. After viewing, participants expressed their feelings and reported their level of COVID-related worry. Users reported more endorsement for the video of an expert describing the seriousness of Covid-19. This is the first study using mixed-methods evidence to highlight the importance of involving experts in crisis communication and the buffering effects of positive news amid crises.