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Violence and Trolling on Social Media: History, Affect, and Effects of Online Vitriol

Sara Polak, Daniel Trottier (eds.)

Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press (2020), 266 pp.

"Various terms are in use to describe violent, bullying, demeaning, or otherwise antagonistic expressions on social media platforms. Hate speech is common, but also not limited to the online world. While it does signal that these expressions are speech acts, and therefore, as we maintain, performati ... more

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The Narrative Subject: Storytelling in the Age of the Internet

Christina Schachtner

Cham: Palgrave Macmillan (2020), xv, 269 pp.

"This open access book considers the stories of adolescents and young adults from different regions of the world who use digital media as instruments and stages for storytelling, or who make themselves the subject of storytelling. These narratives discuss interconnectedness, self-staging, and managi ... more

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‘I didn’t read many books’: Chinese rural women’s reception of ‘born-digital’ social media and community engagement

Yini Wang, Judith Sandner

Participations: Journal of Audience & Reception Studies, volume 16, issue 1 (2019), pp. 343-365

"Currently, research on older Chinese rural women’s reading activities through social media is scarce. This paper, based on a 2015 ethnographic study in the south-central Chinese city of Changsha, responds to this disparity. It highlights some of ... more

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A Post-Colonial Model of International News: Perspectives and Contributions of Stringers and Local Journalists in Central Africa

Anjam Sundaram

In: Media and Mass Atrocity: The Rwanda Genocide and Beyond

Allan Thompson (ed.)

Waterloo, Ontario: Centre for International Governance Innovation (2019), pp. 365-391

"This chapter demonstrates the critical importance of stringers and local journalists to international news production, and how much harder we need to work to understand the motivations and perspectives of these excluded groups of journalistic actors. News bureaus should restructure to cater to the ... more

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'Maximum Illud' in Communication Perspective

Franz-Josef Eilers

Verbum SVD, volume 60, issue 1-2 (2019), pp. 58-62

"While Pope Benedict XV's "Maximum illud" addresses particularly mission, the encyclical can be read also from a communication and media perspective. Such ... more

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Internet Health Report 2019

Mozilla Foundation

Bielefeld: transcript (2019), 116 pp.

"This report is structured according to five overlapping themes that we consider a helpful framework for assessing internet health: privacy and security, openness, digital inclusion, web literacy, and decentralization, but it’s designed so you ca ... more

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Reading, Feeling, Believing: Online Testimonies and the Making of Evangelical Emotion

Suzanne van Geuns

Journal of Contemporary Religion, volume 34, issue 1 (2019), pp. 97-115

"A personal relationship with God is central to Evangelical belief. It unfolds as believers interpret internal sensations as coming from outside—from God. How does the formulaic design of testimonies present the audience with ... more

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Quranic App Practices Among Multilingual Muslim Youth in Denmark

Line Møller Daugaard

Apples – Journal of Applied Language Studies, volume 13, issue 4 (2019), pp. 43-69

"This article sheds light on a set of religious literacy practices which have so far received very little scientific attention, namely ‘quranic app practices’. Quranic app practices are conceptualized as ways of engaging with the Quran through ... more

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Books Beyond Bars: The Transformative Potential of Prison Libraries

Lisa Krolak

Hamburg: UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (2019), 50 pp.

"This publication demonstrates that prison libraries have many different advantages. The most obvious ones are connected to educational benefits, such as providing access to educational reading materials and information, including legal information, supporting formal education and achieving educatio ... more

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Digital News Report 2019
Top Insights

Nic Newman, Richard Fletcher, Antonis Kalogeropoulos, Rasmus Kleis Nielsen (eds.)

Oxford: Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (2019), 153 pp.

"Despite the efforts of the news industry, we find only a small increase in the numbers paying for any online news – whether by subscription, membership, or donation. Growth is limited to a hand ... ful of countries mainly in the Nordic region (Norway 34%, Sweden 27%) while the number paying in the US (16%) remains stable after a big jump in 2017. • Even in countries with higher levels of payment, the vast majority only have ONE online subscription – suggesting that ‘winner takes all’ dynamics are likely to be important. One encouraging development though is that most payments are now ‘ongoing’, rather than one-offs. In some countries, subscription fatigue may also be setting in, with the majority preferring to spend their limited budget on entertainment (Netflix/Spotify) rather than news. With many seeing news as a ‘chore’, publishers may struggle to substantially increase the market for high-priced ‘single title’ subscriptions. As more publishers launch pay models, over two-thirds (70%) of our sample in Norway and half (50%) in the United States now come across one or more barriers each week when trying to read online news. In many countries, people are spending less time with Facebook and more time with WhatsApp and Instagram than this time last year. Few users are abandoning Facebook entirely, though, and it remains by far the most important social network for news. Social communication around news is becoming more private as messaging apps continue to grow everywhere. WhatsApp has become a primary network for discussing and sharing news in non-Western countries like Brazil (53%) Malaysia (50%), and South Africa (49%). People in these countries are also far more likely than in the West to be part of large WhatsApp groups with people they don’t know – a trend that reflects how messaging applications can be used to easily share information at scale, potentially encouraging the spread of misinformation. Public and private Facebook Groups discussing news and politics have become popular in Turkey (29%) and Brazil (22%) but are much less used in Western countries such as Canada (7%) or Australia (7%). Concern about misinformation and disinformation remains high despite efforts by platforms and publishers to build public confidence. In Brazil 85% agree with a statement that they are worried about what is real and fake on the internet." (Summary, page 9) more

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The Fact-Checking Preferences of Africacheck.org's Audiences in Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa

Anim van Wyk

Oxford: Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (2019), 18 pp.

"Africa Check, the continent’s first independent fact-Checking organisation of which I was chief editor until July 2019, has itself expanded exponentially. The organisation –a non-profit mainly funded by large foundations– launched in 2012 in ... more

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Media Influence Matrix: Kazakhstan. Funding Journalism

Adil Nussipov

Budapest: Center for Media, Data and Society (CMDS) (2019), 26 pp.

"Only three of the ten most popular television channels in Kazakhstan are not government-owned. Former President Nursultan Nazarbayev directly or through his family, also owns television channels. For example, KTK, the second most watched television channel in the country is run by the Foundation of ... the First President of the Republic of Kazakhstan-Elbasy. Another popular television channel, NTK, is owned directly by a Nazarbayev family member. Nazarbayev resigned in March 2019, but political analysts say that he did so to be able, before he dies, to supervise a smooth transition to a new regime that will continue his policies, ensuring centralization of political control and preventing criticism of authorities as Nazarbayev did during his 29-year tenure. When it comes to online news, the Government owns three of the 10 most visited websites: Kazinform.kz, Bnews.kz and 24.kz. In fact, none of the most popular news portals in Kazakhstan are independent and truly free of government control. For example, TengriNews.kz, one of the most read news websites is owned by the company Alash Media Group, which is known for promoting a strong pro-government narrative. The foreign influence in Kazakhstan’s media landscape is limited as foreigners can own only 20% of a media company. That being said, the Russian influence in the Kazakh media is notable. The most popular television channel in the country, Eurasia, jointly owned by the governments of Kazakhstan and Russia, is known for promoting a heavy pro-Russian agenda on world affairs. Another popular television channel, Channel 31 (31 Kanal) is co-owned by Bulat Utemuratov, a wealthy local businessman, and the Russian-funded STS Media Holding. Kenes Rakishev, another entrepreneur, owner of Channel Seven (Sedmoy Kanal), is also a partner in Fastlane Ventures, a prominent Russian venture fund that usually invests in internet companies. The Government is by far the largest funder in the media, with over €144m spent in cash dished out to media companies in 2017, more than the overall ad spend in Kazakhstan, according to industry estimates. Most of the government funding goes to government-owned media companies or privately held outlets that show support of the Government. For example, in television, the biggest chunk of government cash is spent on financing Khabar and Qazaqstan, two government-owned channels. In such a centralized media environment in which the Government plays a disproportionately big role, there is hardly any space for independent journalism. Owned by a civil society activist and journalist, Vlast.kz is arguably the sole truly independent news website among the 10 most visited websites in the country. There are other independent news media such as Azattyq, the local service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, but their audience is much smaller." (Page 4) more

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How Free is Too Free? Across Africa, Media Freedom is on the Defensive
Top Insights

Jeffrey Conroy-Krutz, Josephine Appiah-Nyamekye

Cape Town: Afrobarometer (2019), 34 pp.

"Popular support for media freedom continues to decline, dropping to below half (47%) of respondents across 34 countries. More Africans (49%) now say governments should have the right to prevent publications they consider harmful. Twenty-five of 31 countries tracked since 2011 experienced declines i ... more

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A Guide for the Media on Communicating in Public Health Emergencies

Genevieve Hutchinson, Jacqueline Dalton

London: BBC Media Action (2018), 30 pp.

"This manual provides tips for media practitioners on how to help audiences during health emergencies. It can be read in conjunction with BBC Media Action’s Lifeline Production Manual (available online) which provides more general guidance on how ... more

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Social Media, Political Polarization, and Political Disinformation: A Review of the Scientific Literature

Joshua A. Trucker, Andrew Guess et al.

Hewlett Foundation (2018), 95 pp.

"The following report is intended to provide an overview of the current state of the literature on the relationship between social media; political polarization; and political “disinformation,” a term used to encompass ... more

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Remote Capture: Digitising Documentary Heritage in Challenging Locations

Jody Butterworth, Andrew Pearson, Patrick Sutherland, Adam Farquhar (eds.)

Open Book Publishers (2018), 181 pp.

"This is a must-read how-to guide if you are planning to embark on a scholarly digitisation project. Tailored to the specifications of the Briti ... more

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Myanmar Audience Study 2018: Myanmar’s Media from an Audience Perspective

Emilie Lehmann-Jacobsen

International Media Support (IMS);Fojo Media Institute (2018), 23 pp.

"The study found that there is a widespread preference towards local media as people feel that these media outlets provide them with information relevant to their local communities and daily lives. Television is ... more

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State of the Newsroom 2017: Fakers and Makers

Alan Finlay (ed.)

Johannesburg: University of the Witwatersrand, Wits Journalism (2018), iv, 60 pp.

"The fourth annual report looks at jobs in the newsroom, fake news and fact-checking journalism, and highlights the problem of threats to media freedom in South Africa. In a survey conducted across a ... more

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Democracy's Detectives: The Economics of Investigative Journalism

James Hamilton

Cambridge, Mass; London: Harvard University Press, paperback ed. (2018), x, 368 pp.

"The book analyzes the market for investigative reporting by examining more than 12,000 prize competition entries from 1979 to 2010 in the annual awards contest of Investigative Reporters and Editors. The results show what these investigative works in the United States uncovered and their impacts, a ... more

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Attitudes Towards Media Coverage of Humanitarian Issues Within the Aid Sector

Martin Scott

Humanitarian-journalism.net;University of East Anglia (2018), 9 pp.

"There is widespread dissatisfaction within the aid industry with the quantity and quality of mainstream news coverage of humanitarian issues and crises. 73% of respondents agreed that mainstream news media does not produce enough coverage of humanitarian issues. Mainstream news coverage was also re ... more

Digital News Report 2019 Top Insights

How Free is Too Free? Across Africa, Media Freedom is on the Defensive Top Insights

Digital News Report 2019
Top Insights

How Free is Too Free? Across Africa, Media Freedom is on the Defensive
Top Insights