Mastering Metrics: The Impact of Social Media on the Routines and Values of Broadcast Journalists

Social media use is essential for success in today's television news industry. Broadcast journalists use social media platforms to gather and disseminate news in more efficient ways. Broadcasters are also using social media to engage with news consumers in innovative ways. This study employs a mixed-method approach to better understand how social media impacts broadcast journalists’ routines and values and explores the role of gender in broadcasters’ social media strategies. Qualitative in-depth interviews with top broadcast journalists and a social media discourse analysis of their Twitter pages produces this study's findings. Findings suggest that in many television newsrooms social media have become more important than traditional platforms like evening newscasts, and social media metrics are being used to gauge journalists’ success. Additionally, women broadcasters are disadvantaged by the current social media practices in many newsrooms. Implications are discussed.

Is It Digital Entrepreneurship? Designing a New Sport through Audience Ethnography

In designing a brand-new sport, do basic tenets of digital entrepreneurship such as ‘solve a user problem’ apply? How is it possible to understand who the potential audience might be for a product and experience that does not yet exist in a Culture Industry such as sports? The paper examines the beginnings of an Australian startup with an early-stage product in the sports and entertainment industry and its use of digital ethnography to investigate key audience segments. The process of audience development occurred alongside the prototyping and testing of a high-tech product that is central to the sport. As the product underwent iterations of development and release, audience interaction with the product was tracked through social media. Discourse analysis of audience engagement with the product on Facebook was conducted to inform a series of user personas that indicated a heavy male bias in the future audience. In exploring the intersection of sports, Cultural Industries and digital entrepreneurship, the paper concludes with observations of how this case challenges each of those notions through the process of ‘starting up’.

Even Canadians Find It a Bit Boring: A Report on the Banality of Multiculturalism

Background: This article draws on municipal, provincial, and federal archives to examine multiculturalism as an ideology, a government strategy, and a media discourse. Analysis: The author scrutinizes official and corporate forms of multiculturalism in Canada between 1971 and 2003, and develops case studies of “tempered radicals” who worked with and within small-l liberal institutions and discourses while trying to change them. Conclusions and implications: The author suggests that the keyword “shy elitism” might be a helpful tool to address the forms of credentialism and anti-intellectualism that have often confined and defined the study of multiculturalism. Keywords: History; Cultural studies; Multiculturalism; Immigration; Race relationsContexte : Cet article puise dans les archives municipales, provinciales et fédérales pour examiner le multiculturalisme en tant qu’idéologie, stratégie gouvernementale et discours médiatique.Analyse : L’auteur examine les formes officielles et corporatives du multiculturalisme au Canada entre 1971 et 2003, et développe des études de cas de « radicaux tempérés » qui ont travaillé avec et au sein d’institutions et de discours libéraux de petite taille tout en essayant de les changer. Conclusions et implications : L’auteur suggère que le mot-clé « élitisme timide » pourrait être un outil utile pour aborder les formes d’accréditation et d’anti-intellectualisme qui ont souvent limité et défini l’étude du multiculturalisme. Mots clés : Histoire; Ètudes; Culturelles multiculturalisme; Immigration; Relations inter-raciales

Novas estratégias comunicacionais diante da pandemia de Covid-19: reflexões sobre o papel público da comunicação organizacional / New communication strategies in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic: reflections on the public role of organizational communication

The Covid-19 pandemic impacted many social spheres and demanded immediate transformations in society. Organizations needed to reinvent themselves quickly in several aspects, such as their internal practices, as well as in the way of relating to their various publics. This evidenced the interdependence between business organizations and society, requiring them to act for collective interests. In view of this, it is observed that these organizations are assuming a public character, being important to think about how they get involved with society and what are the impacts for social, political, cultural and economic realities. For this, organizational communication has an important role because it is able to act in the public sphere with regard to the promotion of debates that can impact collective attitudes, considering that organizations occupy a strategic position to direct issues that influence social behavior. As a communicative phenomenon, they disseminate ideas, values, and information that influences society, mainly because of their centrality in the daily lives of individuals. So, facing the pandemic scenario, there are numerous corporate actions that aim to serve the public interest, such as the initiative “Todos pela Saúde” (All for Health), an alliance between several organizations. This initiative was chosen as the object of study for contributing to the objective of this paper: analyzes the public role of organizational communication by assuming that communication strategies can generate an impact on public interests in face of the Covid-19 pandemic. The movement aims to mitigate the effects caused by the virus by supporting public health actions promoted by SUS (“Sistema Único de Saúde”- Health Unic System), contributing with solutions and financial support to the public authorities. The “Todos pela Saúde” is coordinated by a group of specialists from the health area that guide the decisions to be made to face the virus with scientific basis. Therefore, as a methodological procedure was adopted three ways: a bibliographic research aiming to investigate about the role of the communications from private organizations in the pandemic context; a documentary research of the “All for Health” medias; and the media discourse analysis (Charaudeau, 2005; 2006) and the dialogic aspects (Bakhtin, 2002; 2003) from the material released by the Initiative. As part of the results, it is observed that the strategies used, at least from the point of view of organizational communication, were innovative in producing something new in their narratives, because the organizations adopted a unison speech in favor of fighting the virus without political or commercial interest. Another highlight is the language strategies used, which seek to value the public in the enunciative act. The consequence is an unusual gender in organizational communication, the educative one. Undoubtedly, it is not possible to ignore the marketing objectives from this Initiative. However, it is important to understand organizational communication as a phenomenon of collective construction and reconstruction that influences the individuals, as well as guide the formation of society. This study provides significant reflections about the public impact of organizational communication for the collective interest, especially regarding the current Covid-19 pandemic.

The Securitization of Refugees: A Critical Media Discourse Analysis of the Reporting on Syrian Refugees in Canada

While immigration had become securitized pre-9/11, the terror attacks on that day accelerated the moral panic in society to new levels creating greater fear of mobility and its perceived relation to threats against national security. Following the outbreak of civil war in Syria in 2011 we have seen one of history’s largest movements of externally displaced individuals seeking asylum globally. Canada has become a destination for a great number of individuals claiming refugee protection from the threats or perceived threats they face at home. This work seeks to examine, through employing a critical media discourse analysis, the effect to which reporting on the issue of Syrian refugees in Canada within two national newspapers has contributed to either the further securitization or desecuritization of this issue.

The Securitization of Refugees: A Critical Media Discourse Analysis of the Reporting on Syrian Refugees in Canada

While immigration had become securitized pre-9/11, the terror attacks on that day accelerated the moral panic in society to new levels creating greater fear of mobility and its perceived relation to threats against national security. Following the outbreak of civil war in Syria in 2011 we have seen one of history’s largest movements of externally displaced individuals seeking asylum globally. Canada has become a destination for a great number of individuals claiming refugee protection from the threats or perceived threats they face at home. This work seeks to examine, through employing a critical media discourse analysis, the effect to which reporting on the issue of Syrian refugees in Canada within two national newspapers has contributed to either the further securitization or desecuritization of this issue.