"The coronavirus pandemic brought immense challenges to journalists worldwide, including new threats to media freedom, journalism safety and practice. The impact of the pandemic on journalism is yet to be fully understood and examined but this paper contributes to the field by focusing on the impact
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of the COVID-19 health crisis on the media in countries with democratic deficits, such as Bulgaria. Studies on former Eastern bloc countries have become few and far between recently so this research aims to fill this gap by examining how the coronavirus pandemic and associated restrictions have impacted journalism practice in Bulgaria and how journalists, and independent media organisations responded and adapted to the pressures in 2020. Our findings from semi structured interviews with media practitioners show that it is the independent media that has borne the brunt of the crisis. In addition to existing challenges to press freedom, many Bulgarian journalists encountered new limits to their daily practice in reporting on a topic of significant public importance." (Abstract)
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"This study investigates the experiences of journalists during COVID-19 pandemic from Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) through a series of focus group discussions (FGDs). The research aims to develop strategies for enhancing journalists' capabilities and well-being in anticipat
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ion of future pandemics. The FGDs involved seasoned journalists from central press clubs in all regions, who provided insights into the challenges they faced and the strategies they adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Thematic analysis, conducted using NVivo software, revealed eight key themes related to the pandemic's impact on journalism. These themes informed a set of consolidated recommendations designed to improve journalists' safety, mental health, and access to information. The recommendations also emphasize strengthening legal protections, creating capacity-building opportunities, fostering networking and collaboration, and implementing specialized health reporting training. By addressing these recommendations, the study proposes a framework to bolster journalists' resilience and effectiveness in navigating future crises." (Abstract)
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"Public engagement on government social media platforms can boost public trust in government while also improving and speeding up the distribution of health information. The importance of public engagement and its widespread existence have promoted extensive academic research on this channel. The pu
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rpose of this systematic literature review is to identify and bridge gaps in theories and conceptual frameworks in studies of public engagement via government social media. Furthermore, the objective of this research is to establish a comprehensive framework for analyzing how the public's engagement on government social media during the COVID-19 pandemic is affected by elements including information quality, source credibility, social media characteristics, and personal trust. The PRISMA method is used to review publications from 2019. After an extensive systematic review procedure that involved searching for relevant publications and utilizing inclusion and exclusion criteria to retrieve those that met the study's purpose, 32 papers were finally selected from the Scopus and Google Scholar databases. Finally, this study's findings shed light on the interactions between the public and the government during COVID-19 and offer recommendations for further research on public engagement, including more diverse social media types, the expansion of public engagement forms on social media, and the adoption of different theory or model. This study provides more evidence for research on public online engagement and offers some practical implications for effective communication between governments and the public." (Abstract)
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"In this article, we reveal how students in low-income communities in India use and ascribe meaning to dominant proprietary EdTech platforms and conferencing tools through family ethnographies. We explore how these platforms and associated online learning tools influence existing educational practic
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es and lead to the emergence of new forms of learning. Proprietary platforms are situated at the intersection of neoliberal-capitalist forces and welfare policies of public schooling and share a productive association with students’ everyday lives, identities, and cultural realities. Understanding the performative effects of these platforms requires that we examine them as part of broader sociotechnical assemblages. We argue that EdTech platforms should not be built simply on principles of standardization and scalability. EdTech platforms are designed to standardize education and make the model scalable, thus undermining students’ social relationships and placebased learning needs. Such a design and approach have an associated gender and class cost." (Abstract)
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"The UN climate summits represent decisive moments for climate change policy. Under significant media coverage, world leaders gather for intense negotiations over policies to address global warming. Given the enormous political, economic, and environmental issues at stake, news media typically frame
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these summits in terms of success or failure. Still, we know surprisingly little about how these mediated mega events influence public perceptions both during and beyond the specific summit. Focusing on the 2021 Glasgow summit (COP26), this study combines a media content analysis and a two-wave panel survey with a rolling cross-section component, to determine how news framing influenced both summit-specific andmore generic climate change beliefs among citizens in Sweden. Findings show (1) that beliefs about the success/failure of the summit took shape immediately following the summit, (2) that news framing effects were particularly pronounced when the final agreement was settled, and (3) that these instantaneous framing effects on summitspecific beliefs left small but lasting imprints on citizens’ generic climate change beliefs several weeks after the summit. These findings have implications for both climate opinion and theories of dynamic news framing effects." (Abstract)
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"The proliferation of environmentally oriented programs within the tech industry, and the industry’s coinciding efforts toward data and technology democratization, generate concerns about the status of environmental data within digital economy. While the accumulation of digital personal data has b
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een a cornerstone of domination of the data analytics industry, many believe environmental data to be a source of “untapped potential.” The potential of environmental data, the argument goes, would benefit equally the digital economy, environmental sciences, and academic data and artificial intelligence experts. This article analyzes the proliferation of the rhetoric about open environmental data by focusing on Microsoft’s Planetary Computer cloud computing program and computer vision experts who curate and use biodiversity data stored on Microsoft’s servers. Through an analytical framework of sociotechnical imaginaries, the article draws connections between visions of future for environmental knowledge production and governance promoted by Microsoft and the work of computer vision experts intending to benefit from the potential of environmental data as machine learning training sets while at the same time helping environmental sciences. Although environmental data on the Planetary Computer is democratized, it nonetheless becomes a valued asset to data economy, but often with unintended consequences, such as enabling citizen science biodiversity data to be used by state surveillance apparatus. The article challenges the view that data’s democratization is unproblem atically serving environmental sciences by examining the consequences of imaginaries of democratization emerging from the data industry leaders and processes of nonmonetary valuation of environmental data by experts who curate these datasets." (Abstract)
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"The interplay of digital technologies and inequalities are increasingly discussed in contemporary research, mostly focusing on different forms of digital divides and often addressed as a ‘problem’ that societies should face. Hence, digital education and its governance becomes a major arena for
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addressing inequalities. In this paper, we offer a cross-country and multi-voiced perspective on how socio-digital inequalities are problematized in digital education policy in three world regions – Latin America, Africa and Europe – studying cases through policy documents in Argentina, Mexico, South Africa, Botswana, Germany and Sweden. Our analysis shows how differences and similarities between digital education policy are rooted in various sociotechnical imaginaries that go beyond the national as they are highly situated in spatial–temporal contexts and rooted in historical trajectories. Our contribution aims at a further exploration of the entanglements of educational technology and in/ equalities through global conditions and local (hi)stories." (Abstract)
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"The antivaccine hesitancy movement represents a challenge to public policy and platform regulations. During COVID-19, various Latin American antivaccine groups clashed with official sanitary initiatives. Despite many responses, little progress has been made in reaching these groups to transform the
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ir perceptions about the benefits of the COVID-19 vaccine. During the pandemic in Latin America, the antivaccine network Médicos por la Verdad (Doctors for the Truth) gained prominence in various countries. Finding itself limited by legal and technical restrictions, this network used alternative media such as Telegram to disseminate messages. This study argues that such groups may be considered an antivaccination culture that opposes government measures. This focus emphasizes narrative construction and allows us to understand the phenomenon from the collective meaning-making perspective. This study analyzed 232,638 Telegram messages from 14 public channels associated with the Médicos por la Verdad network. Our findings indicate that this antivaccine network builds an oppositional culture expressed and reinforced through multimodal, trans-media, fragmented narratives and suspends disbelief that constructs a world where the community enacts a truth pact. These narrative methods foster building a resilient network of oppositional cultures, decreasing the effectiveness of policies. We conclude that research beyond the framework of misinformation and the analysis of conventional platforms is needed to understand the antivaccine oppositional cultures." (Abstract)
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"Public trust in institutions is a key prerequisite for effective crisis management. However, the rise of populism and misinformation in recent years made it increasingly difficult to maintain institutional trust. Despite this recognition, we still lack a systematic understanding of how exposure to
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misinformation and populist political orientation affect people’s trust in institutions. This paper fills this gap by adopting an original approach to trust, focusing on prospective trust rather than trust in the present, and by comparing four countries led by populist leaders during the pandemic – Brazil, Poland, Serbia, and the United States. The comparative design allows us to consider not only the role of individual-level factors (populist attitudes and misinformation exposure) but also the role of different approaches to the COVID-19 pandemic adopted in the four countries. The study utilizes data from a cross-sectional survey, carried out between November and December 2022 (N = 5000). Our findings show that populist attitudes are the most significant predictor of distrust in political institutions in all four countries. Believing in false information related to COVID-19, on the other hand, has a stronger impact on distrust in expert institutions – public health authorities, scientists, and medical professionals. The data also highlight the importance of local context and different approaches to handling the pandemic in the dynamics of trust. In Poland and Serbia, populist voters have more trust in both healthcare authorities as well as in political institutions; however, in Brazil and the United States, populist voters were more likely to distrust expert institutions." (Abstract)
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"The advent of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in 2019 brought great fear of the unknown to the whole world. It therefore became very important for people and nations around the world to get the needed information on how to cope with the novel virus. Community radio broadcasting was at t
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he forefront of information dissemination and creating awareness regarding what the disease entailed and how to stay protected from it. This article examines the efforts of Forte FM community radio station in Alice as it educated and informed listeners on the ravaging pandemic. A qualitative data collection method was adopted in this study; focus group discussions and an in-depth interview were used to collect data. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. The study’s findings revealed that the station was able to create awareness of the deadly nature of the virus while also educating listeners on how to keep safe during the pandemic. The article concludes that Forte FM consistently played a pivotal role in engaging listeners on COVID-19 issues." (Abstract)
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"Are climate change conspiracy theories widespread across the world, or do we find climate change conspiracy beliefs more so in some countries than in others? This research note explores the prevalence of conspiracy beliefs that identify climate change as a hoax across eight geographically and cultu
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rally diverse countries. Using original data, we found that climate change conspiracy beliefs are prevalent around the world, with some variations across countries. Our results indicate that political ideology, populist attitudes, age, and distrust of scientists primarily explain climate change conspiracy beliefs. We found cross-national heterogeneity in the importance of age and political ideology as determinants of such beliefs." (Abstract)
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"The use of Short Messaging Service (SMS) for education has grown in recent years, drawing particular attention to supporting school-level learners, due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This renewed interest has prompted questions about how this form of educational technology could be used in the longer te
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rm. However, despite being used in many Covid-19 responses, there are few documented examples of innovative applications in this field during the pandemic, which represents a gap in the literature. As a medium for education, SMS offers potential benefits such as being cost-effective and having positive impacts on learning. In this paper, we present a case study of an educational programme rapidly implemented during the pandemic as part of the ‘Keep Kenya Learning’ initiative, to support learners remotely in terms of literacy, numeracy, and social and emotional learning topics. Through the case study, we describe the innovative process used to rapidly develop content for SMS, and draw upon usage statistics, quiz scores and user feedback to gain insights into its implementation with learners and caregivers in Kenya. The case study demonstrated that educational television content can be effectively adapted to mobile delivery. Furthermore, we present practical reflections on the development and implementation of SMS educational technology which will help inform future initiatives. These include considering timing in relation to school terms when planning a supportingintervention, and designing content in a modular way to allow flexibility for learners in navigating through courses.
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"African countries experience high rates of infectious diseases that are mostly preventable by vaccination. Despite the risks of infections and other adverse outcomes, vaccination coverage in the African region remains significantly low. Poor vaccination knowledge is a contributory factor, and effec
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tive communication is crucial to bridging the vaccination uptake gap. This review summarises vaccination communication strategies adopted across African countries and associated changes in vaccine uptake. Methods: A systematic search was conducted in five bibliographic databases between 2000 and 2023 and supplemented with an additional Google Scholar search. Studies with data on vaccination communication and uptake in the English language were considered. A narrative synthesis was performed, and findings were presented in text and tables. Findings: Forty-one studies from fourteen African countries met the inclusion criteria. Several communication strategies were implemented for 13 different vaccines, mainly childhood vaccines. Mass campaigns and capacity building were the most common strategies for the public and health workers, respectively. Community-based strategies using social mobilisation effectively complemented other communication strategies.Overall, vaccination uptake increased in all countries following vaccination communication interventions. Barriers and facilitators to optimising vaccination communication at systemic and individual levels were also identified. Key barriers included lack of vaccine information, access issues, and high cost, while facilitators included improved vaccine education, reminders, trust-building initiatives, and community involvement. Conclusions: This review highlights effective vaccination communication strategies implemented across Africa as well as systemic and individual barriers and facilitators influencing vaccination uptake. The findings can inform strategies for vaccination communication and campaign planning to improve vaccination coverage in Africa." (Abstract)
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"This study explores the sources of tuberculosis (TB) information used by Koreans, focusing specifically on how sociodemographic variables influence perceptions of source credibility and how the use of different information sources influences TB-related knowledge levels and risk perceptions. Based o
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n the secondary cross-sectional data of the Korean National Tuberculosis Association, a series of analyses of variance and multiple regressions were conducted. The result showed that TV and the Internet are perceived as the most credible information sources, and that age, gender, and income predict credibility in different information sources. The TB-related knowledge was positively related to the use of TV/radio, interpersonal sources, and the Internet, whereas perceived susceptibility to TB was positively associated with the use of TV/radio and interpersonal sources. The findings suggest that health officers or public health campaign practitioners must understand their primary targets and select the most appropriate information sources to develop their campaigns." (Abstract)
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"This research analyzes the discursive characteristics of hate messages posted on TikTok Spain against people at risk of social exclusion. Using critical discourse analysis, we analyzed 679 hateful messages generated by 100 videos found about poverty. This method considered the social groups mention
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ed in those messages, actions attributed to them, the evaluative concepts associated with those actions, and the solutions proposed to eradicate this social problem. We used the qualitative analysis software Atlas.ti to code, categorize, and analyze co-occurrences of derogatory terms. The analysis shows that poverty is linked to migration, laziness, and groups at risk of exclusion. Although insults and degrading terms take on a metaphorical form or are less prevalent, the call to violent action is explicit, openly advocating the extermination of these groups. Underlying these messages is a clear neo-Nazi ideology gaining ground with the advance of the extreme political Right." (Abstract)
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