This Obscure Thing Called Transparency

Transparency is the metaphor of our time. Whether in government or corporate governance, finance, technology, health or the media – it is ubiquitous today, and there is hardly a current debate that does not call for more transparency. But what does this word actually stand for and what are the consequences for the life of individuals? Can knowledge from the arts, and its play of visibility and invisibility, tell us something about the paradoxical logics of transparency and mediation? This Obscure Thing Called Transparency gathers contributions by international experts who critically assess the promises and perils of transparency today.

This Obscure Thing Called Transparency

Transparency is the metaphor of our time. Whether in government or corporate governance, finance, technology, health or the media – it is ubiquitous today, and there is hardly a current debate that does not call for more transparency. But what does this word actually stand for and what are the consequences for the life of individuals? Can knowledge from the arts, and its play of visibility and invisibility, tell us something about the paradoxical logics of transparency and mediation? This Obscure Thing Called Transparency gathers contributions by international experts who critically assess the promises and perils of transparency today.

Investigation of Social Approaches in Different Countries towards Suicide of the Blue Whale Game through Newspaper News

The aim of this study is to examine the negative attitude and prejudice of the media reflected in news articles about the relationship between ‘online games and suicidal youth’. This study analyzed the content of the news and the language of the media used for young people who committed suicide related to playing Blue Whale Challenge in different social settings. In this study, news articles in three different countries were examined with the content analysis method, using the content descriptors of Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB). In the news concerning young people who committed suicide and used this game, it was clearly observed that sources of influence involved attitudes towards online games, developed in part through the messages of the media, and that social conditions, including generational experiences, were influential in creating the media messages. Keywords: media panic, violence, online games, Blue Whale Challenge

“This Virus is a Common Threat to All Humans”: Discourse Representation of COVID-19 in Selected Newspaper Editorials

Existing studies on viruses with bias for COVID-19 have mainly been carried out from non-linguistic fields. Linguistics-related studies have not examined the media representation of COVID-19 since it is a recent development. This study, therefore, identifies the representational strategies, discourse structures and discourse strategies deployed by selected newspapers in representing COVID-19 and associated participants. Data were retrieved from selected COVID-19-related editorials from four purposively selected countries and continents across the world: New York Times (USA, North America), The Guardian (UK, Europe), China Daily (China, Asia) and The Punch (Nigeria, Africa), published in the early periods of the pandemic, and precisely from January 1 – March 31, 2020. Guided by aspects of van Dijk’s socio-cognitive model of critical discourse analysis on ideological discourse structures, data were quantitatively and qualitatively analysed. The newspaper editorials unusually converged to negatively represent an issue – COVID-19 – because it is largely negatively viewed by all. Ten representational strategies (like economic cankerworm, threat to humans, common enemy), six discourse strategies (like demonising, criminalising, condemnation) and twelve ideological discourse structures (like Actor Description, Authority, Burden) and different participant representations and roles (like solver, potential super spreader) were identified in the study. The newspapers largely set the agenda on the negative representation of the virus and its potential havoc on all facets of human endeavours, thereby giving emotional and informational appeal to all to join hands in earnestly silencing the epidemic. Keywords: COVID-19, media representation, newspaper editorials, discourse strategies, discourse structures

Identity Politics Past and Present

This new book in Critical Discourse Studies uses detailed and systematic analysis of the discursive construction of Austrian identities across a period of 20 years – from 1995 to 2015 – to trace the re-emergence of nationalism in the media, popular culture and politics, and the normalization of far-right nativist ideologies and attitudes. Contradictory and intertwined tendencies towards re-nationalization and trans-nationalization have always framed debates about European identities, but during the so-called ‘refugee crisis’ of 2015, the debates became polarized. During the COVID-19 pandemic, nation states first reacted by closing borders, while symbols of banal nationalism proliferated. The data, drawn from a variety of empirical studies, suggests changes in memory politics – the way past events are remembered – are due to a range of factors, including the growth of migrant societies; the influence of financial and climate crises; changing gender politics; and a new transnational European politics of the past. The authors assess the challenges to liberal democracies and fundamental human and constitutional rights, and analyze how the pandemic contributes to a new re-nationalization across Europe and beyond.

Media Systems in the Digital Age: An Empirical Comparison of 30 Countries

Media systems have changed significantly as a result of the development of information technologies. However, typologies of media systems that incorporate aspects of digitalization are rare. This study fills this gap by identifying, operationalizing, and measuring indicators of media systems in the digital age. We build on previous work, extend it with new indicators that reflect changing conditions (such as online news use), and include media freedom indicators. We include 30 countries in our study and use cluster analysis to identify three clusters of media systems. Two of these clusters correspond to the media system models described by Hallin and Mancini, namely the democratic-corporatist and the polarized-pluralist model. However, the liberal model as described by Hallin and Mancini has vanished; instead, we find empirical evidence of a new cluster that we call “hybrid”: it is positioned in between the poles of the media-supportive democratic-corporatist and the polarized-pluralist clusters.

Companionship and worries in uncertain times: Australian parents’ experiences of children and pets during COVID-19

Companion animals (pets), especially cats and dogs, have featured regularly in the media and public discourse during the global COVID-19 pandemic, including increased demand for pet adoption and more time spent with existing pets. This qualitative study aimed to describe the experiences of Australian parents with a child under 18 years and a cat or dog. Within a broader survey, parents were asked open-ended questions about the benefits and challenges for their family of living with a cat or dog during COVID-19, and where relevant, about reasons for adopting a new pet. Data were collected between July and October 2020, during Australia’s ‘second wave’ of COVID-19, when some Australians were subject to strict physical distancing or ‘stay at home’ orders. A total of 611 parents provided at least one free-text response. Inductive template analysis was conducted on all responses; 33 unique codes were identified and mapped onto a biopsychosocial model under three themes: (i) “Trying to Stay Healthy and Well” (biological), (ii) “Comfort, Coping and Worries” (psychological), and “Spending More Time Together” (social). Findings highlight the therapeutic role of pets for families during times of change and uncertainty, as well as the significant social impact of pandemic-related restrictions on family units. Benefits included support for the family’s physical and mental health, maintenance of family routines, distraction, comfort, and pets as an opportunity to connect with others. Challenges were numerous and diverse, such as cost and access to pet care, behavioural concerns, worries about pet and child wellbeing, and reflections about the pet’s mortality. These findings demonstrate the complex and varied impacts of the pandemic on families with children and pets; some families are likely to require ongoing psychological, financial, and veterinary supports.

Spectacular memory: Zombie pasts in the themed shopping malls of Dubai

Memory invariably involves sifting and sorting historical traces and reassembling them into societal representations of the past. Usually this has been done by social groups of different kinds or the cultural institutions associated with them, and has provided materials for the construction and maintenance of group identity. In what I term “spectacular memory,” however, the sifting and sorting of memory traces is performed by commercial and media institutions within a globalized cultural framework to create spectacles for mass consumption. Spectacular memory is enabled by the progressive breakdown of Halbwach’s “social frameworks of memory”—the association of memory with face-to-face relations within social groups. In late modern societies, “memory” as a coherent body of representations which is the property of more-or-less bounded social groups has largely devolved into a globalized store of representations curated and diffused through the media, advertising, tourism and entertainment industries. This article uses the example of the history-themed shopping malls of Dubai to characterize this form of memory.

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.

Manifestation of Suicidal Behavior of Adolescents and Their Rehabilitation in Modern Conditions

Research relevance: socialization includes all the processes of communication with upbringing, education and culture, thanks to which a person gets the opportunity to participate in public life and social character. The whole environment of a person is involved in the process of socialization: family, neighbors, peers in children’s institutions, schools, the media, etc. Research objectives: specialized psychiatric or suicidal methods are medical and psychotherapeutic methods of treatment aimed at treating mental and behavioral disorders that lead to suicidal behavior and preventing the onset and recurrence of suicidal activity. Research materials and methods: psychological forms of prevention of suicidal behavior include the formation of anti-suicidal behavior, changes in personal attitudes, self-esteem, level of motivation, etc. includes targeted psychocorrection programs. Research results: reconstruction of the education system and public education will be successful only if it is the work of the whole society. Conclusions: it is important to focus all social life, social-cultural environment, education and training system on the younger generation.