Volume 3, Issue 2

Purpose This study sheds light on the unprecedented complexities of the Israel–Gaza war, offering insights into the challenges that journalists face in this conflict zone. It employs the Hierarchy of Influences Model to analyze the factors influencing conflict reporting within the dynamic landscape of contemporary war journalism. Design/methodology/approach Rooted in the Hierarchy of Influences Model, the research is informed by interviews with 18 Palestinian journalists in Gaza. It examines the multifaceted influences on war coverage, encompassing individual, media routines, organizational, and societal factors, offering detailed insights from journalists’ firsthand experiences. Findings The research unveils semi-hierarchical influences within the model, illustrating the intertwined nature of micro and macro-level factors impacting war reporting. It sheds light on the complexities of journalistic practices amidst conflicts, underscoring the importance of safety, ethics, and the intricate relationship between personal experiences and professional duties as well as the evolving role of technology, acting both as a facilitator and a limitation in journalistic endeavors. Practical implications The study holds substantial implications for war journalism practices, providing valuable perspectives for educators, policymakers, stakeholders, and media practitioners engaged in conflict reporting. It highlights the importance of understanding and addressing the challenges faced by journalists in conflict regions to enhance the quality and accuracy of war reporting. Social implications By uncovering the challenges and influences affecting war reporting, this research contributes to the broader discourse on media ethics, safety protocols, and the societal impact of conflict coverage. It emphasizes the need for comprehensive support systems and ethical guidelines to safeguard journalists operating in volatile regions. Originality/value Bridging academic and practical perspectives on conflict reporting, this study offers unique insights into reporting complexities in the Israel–Gaza War. It emphasizes the critical role of journalistic practices in navigating hazards and limitations, amid evolving challenges for the media in portraying conflicts accurately.

Purpose Through a close examination of various platforms and content offered by the top three Chinese streaming services, iQiyi, Tencent Video and YouKu, this study provides an overview of these services’ international operation and starts mapping out the global presence of Chinese pop culture content. Design/methodology/approach This study mostly relies on empirical data collected from several sources, including documents and digital artifacts. Documents include BAT’s financial results and annual reports in recent years, as well as some analyses of their reports. Digital artifacts include hundreds of screenshots taken from various platforms run by iQiyi, Tencent Video, YouKu, and third-party platforms: Netflix, Rakuten Viki and YouTube. These data are sorted and analyzed to map out their global reach. Findings The study finds that the three platforms have wide global reach that can be conceptualized as the first stage of deterritorialization. This stage is carried out with scale, synergy and strings attached, and that private-sector media companies are the main force. Practical implications It maps out the global reach of China’s pop culture content. Social implications The case of global reach of China pop is a significant development in cultural globalization. The deterritorialization of Chinese media content further complicates but also advances cultural globalization. Originality/value By conceptualizing the global reach of Chinese streaming services as the first stage cultural deterritorialization, this study makes theoretical contributions to the broader discussion of cultural globalization. This study also makes contributions to the study of Chinese media globalization by providing micro level analysis of the global expansion of iQiyi, Tencent Video and YouKu, China’s top three video streaming services.

Purpose Over the past three decades, our media ecologies have substantially transformed, changing how people get in touch with the news. These changes have also led to higher variability in news access across users’ daily lives. Using the microcosm of mobile news consumption as a proxy for the changes in our general news use, we explore types of mobile news access and mobile news repertoires and their relations to users’ tendency to talk about the news. Our exploratory study aims to describe intra- and inter-personal variations in mobile news use. By taking this fine-grained perspective on mobile news use, we provide a more comprehensive assessment than cross-sectional studies, which is valuable to researchers and practitioners in mobile news. Methodology We conducted a 14-day experience sampling study among 72 young adult Germans. We received 2,211 filled-in in-situ questionnaires based on three daily alerts, reporting on 560 mobile news situations. We used multi-level latent class analysis to simultaneously assess patterns of mobile news access and mobile news repertoires. Findings We uncover five distinct types of mobile news access embedded in four mobile news repertoires. These findings highlight the considerable intra-individual heterogeneity in mobile news use. However, these heterogeneities only scarcely manifest in users’ tendency to talk about the news. Practical and social value Our study highlights the importance of acknowledging intra-individual variation when studying news use and its implications. Most importantly, we see that no mobile news repertoire among our sample relies solely on social media-based mobile news access. Researchers and practitioners must acknowledge these heterogeneities when discussing the benefits and perils of social media-based news access.

Purpose The distinction between beliefs and facts, as well as between science and pseudoscience, appears to be hazy in the post-truth era. This study draws inspiration from public discourse concerning the safety of COVID-19 vaccines during the pandemic, aiming to explore the narratives of COVID-19 vaccine skeptics within the Greek online public sphere. Methodology For the purposes of our study, we analyzed Facebook posts from users’ pages and public groups during a three-month period (from September 2021 to November 2021), focusing primarily on content related to COVID-19 vaccination. By employing thematic analysis, we investigated the main themes upon which the anti-vaccination camp bases its rhetoric and the sources it uses to justify its claims. Findings Our findings suggest that in the Greek online context, the anti-vaccination discourse, as expressed on Facebook platform, is an amalgam of distrust towards institutional actors (politicians, the medical community, legacy media, the establishment in general) and concerns regarding the safety/complications of COVID-19 vaccination itself. Social implications Our study contributes to the existing body of academic literature addressing the impact of social media platforms on public opinion related to health matters. It underscores the potential and challenges associated with the unregulated dissemination of information within polarized digital contexts. Originality/value This study sheds light on the distinctive characteristics of anti-vaccine rhetoric, as expressed on social media, within the context of Greek society. It offers insights to scholars and researchers interested in the dynamics of social media discourse and its implications for public health communication.

This article contributes to the intensifying calls to globalize and decolonize the field of media and communication by broadening the possibilities for digital media research. To do so, it takes a deep dive into a set of 27 works on digital media from five Philippine-based journals, all of which were published during the COVID-19 years of 2020–2023. Collectively, they spotlight the entanglements of technologies with the distinct and diverse political, economic, and socio-cultural realities outside the West. Through a qualitative thematic analysis, our article identifies how the different works in our selected set are clustered along three key themes: on digital deliberations, digital intimacies, and digital promotion. There were a few of them that did not align with these themes, but nevertheless also indicated emerging vectors from which to see the entwinement of digital media with the dynamics of Philippine society. All these present expanded lines of theorizing research about digital media that connect with but, importantly, also go beyond the typical concerns of scholarship generated in the West.

The theme of diversity is a central feature of Netflix’s communication practice and is a key element for legitimizing its corporate strategy. Netflix’s discourse on diversity varies according to the company’s interests. This article highlights three dimensions of diversity which structure Netflix’s communication practices: algorithmic diversity, globalized diversity, and inclusive diversity.