No trade-offs between news and entertainment: Evidence from online engagement data

In today’s high-choice media environment, some scholars are concerned that people selectively consume media content based on personal interests and avoid others, which might lead to audience fragmentation across different content genres. Individually, there might be trade-offs between those genres, especially entertainment versus news. This study analyzed a large user engagement dataset (~40,000 users’ comments) collected from the Chinese information application Toutiao, one of the most popular information distribution platforms in China. The results showed that (1) the commenters were not fragmented between content genres, and (2) the users’ news engagement was positively associated with their entertainment engagement. The findings indicate that the availability of high media choices will not reduce the news engagement of those who have strong interest in entertainment. Instead, news engagement might increase alongside the augmentation of the sum of information engagement. Finally, we discussed the differences between relative news engagement and absolute news engagement.

Making “Un-news”: News aggregation in Chinese press

“Un-news” is a Chinese newsroom jargon that refers to the process as well as the product of aggregation. It encapsulates clashes between digital and legacy journalism, challenges posed by and responses to technologies in the media industry. It differs from aggregation news elsewhere because of dynamic media environment in China. This ethnographic study closely analyzes manifestations of “un-news” churned out by digital aggregators who have to work under management of legacy print journalists and editors in a local Chinese press. The hierarchy of influences model is used to decompose the meanings and complexities of “un-news.” Fieldwork observations have confirmed our expectations that the hierarchy model remains structurally valid, although the content and meaning of influence have changed drastically within each level.

Chinese state media Facebook ads are linked to changes in news coverage of China worldwide

We studied the relationship between Facebook advertisements from Chinese state media on the global media environment by examining the link between advertisements and online news coverage of China by other countries. We found that countries that see a large increase in views of Facebook advertisement from Chinese state media also see news coverage of China become more positive. News coverage also becomes more likely to use keywords that suggest a point of view favorable to China. One possible explanation is that by drawing greater attention to the issues emphasized by Chinese state media, the advertisements help Chinese state media set the news agenda covered by other media sources.

The Effects of Tobacco Coverage in the Public Communication Environment on Young People’s Decisions to Smoke Combustible Cigarettes

In today’s complex media environment, does media coverage influence youth and young adults’ (YYA) tobacco use and intentions? We conceptualize the “public communication environment” and effect mediators, then ask whether over time variation in exogenously measured tobacco media coverage from mass and social media sources predicts daily YYA cigarette smoking intentions measured in a rolling nationally representative phone survey (N = 11,847 on 1,147 days between May 2014 and June 2017). Past week anti-tobacco and pro-tobacco content from Twitter, newspapers, broadcast news, Associated Press, and web blogs made coherent scales (thetas = 0.77 and 0.79). Opportunities for exposure to anti-tobacco content in the past week predicted lower intentions to smoke (Odds ratio [OR] = 0.95, p < .05, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.91–1.00). The effect was stronger among current smokers than among nonsmokers (interaction OR = 0.88, p < .05, 95% CI = 0.77–1.00). These findings support specific effects of anti-tobacco media coverage and illustrate a productive general approach to conceptualizing and assessing effects in the complex media environment.

Social Media and the Knowledge Gap

This study aims to test the relationship between the use of social media and the knowledge gap regarding COVID-19 in the Turkish environment. For this purpose of this empirical field, research was carried out throughout Turkey involving a large sample (N= 1033) in an effort to reveal how level of knowledge of social media users in Turkey regarding an issue in a particular question is shaped. The study discusses the data obtained in the field research. The conclusion, contrary to what is expected, emphasizes that social media environment has a particular presence as a communication tool, which closes the knowledge gap and fosters knowledge acquisition.

Social Semiotics for Social Media Visuals

The social semiotics approach examines the meaning-making process in order to demonstrate how meaning is constructed in social actions and contexts. The rising interest of researchers in social media and its widespread use in society have both highlighted new challenges for data analysis. Social semiotics can provide a deep understanding of the visual grammar of the social media meaning-making process by assuming that this process is considered a social practice. The main objective of this chapter is to guide researchers and enable them to use the social semiotic approach as a research tool for the analysis of visuals in the social media environment. The chapter introduces the key elements, principles, assumptions, and rules of using the social semiotics approach in the analysis, understanding, and interpretations of social media visuals and how to explore the role played by visual elements in the meaning-making process in a social media within a specific social context.

Myths about the past in media environment: theoretical grounds and Russian political practice

This article is examines the issues of constructive use of the myths about the past in media environment. The goal lies in the attempt to align several most significant theoretical models of interpretation of the social myth in order to comprehend constructive use of myths about the past in modern Russian politics of memory. This required referring to the peculiarities of the ontology of the past in media myth, as well as to the trends characteristic to modern foreign and Russian research of the politics of memory. The scientific novelty lies in the detailed analysis of the key categories that reveal the peculiarities of creating ontology of the past in modern media myth, as well as allow analyzing the constructive potential of myths about the past in media environment in the context of the Russian politics of memory (the function of cultural-historical orientation, motivating function, functions of conflict settlement). The author explores myths about the past, which in recent decades have become a crucial instrument for conducting a peculiar type of information warfare – the so-called “memorial” wars.