The simple system of spreading an opinion or appreciation must not be confused with the broad system of forming public opinion. The criterion according to which an opinion is considered public ...opinion is not the degree of dissemination through mass media or other means but the degree of fidelity of the transmitted opinions that express what is common to the general public. The system of forming group opinions and the polarity feature of individual opinions should not be confused with the process of creating public opinion, whose action is to involve consensus, not to exclude it. The process of forming public opinion does not eliminate the confrontation of individual opinions on different issues. Discussions and confrontations between individual opinions or between currents of opinion, including some larger or smaller communities, do not constitute public opinion; they express the common point of view reached.
Abstract
Framing is an important concept in communication, yet many framing studies set out to develop frames relevant to only one issue. We expand framing theory by introducing figurative framing. ...We posit that figurative language types like metaphor, hyperbole and irony are important in shaping public discourse, because these figures contain important linguistic and conceptual content about the issue under discussion. We first explicate the role of each individual figure (metaphor, hyperbole, and irony) in the framing of important societal issues. Then, we focus on complex figurative frames (combinations of metaphor, hyperbole, and/or irony). The article concludes with a research agenda, connecting figurative framing to the four key processes in framing research (frame building, frame setting, individual-level effects, and feedback loop).
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Abstract
The goal of this commentary is to highlight the ageism that has emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic. Over 20 international researchers in the field of ageing have contributed to this ...document. This commentary discusses how older people are misrepresented and undervalued in the current public discourse surrounding the pandemic. It points to issues in documenting the deaths of older adults, the lack of preparation for such a crisis in long-term care homes, how some ‘protective’ policies can be considered patronising and how the initial perception of the public was that the virus was really an older adult problem. This commentary also calls attention to important intergenerational solidarity that has occurred during this crisis to ensure support and social-inclusion of older adults, even at a distance. Our hope is that with this commentary we can contribute to the discourse on older adults during this pandemic and diminish the ageist attitudes that have circulated.
The Metaverse has become a buzz-phrase among tech businesses. Facebook’s rebranding to Meta is symptomatic of this. Many firms and other actors are trying to shape visions of the Metaverse, leading ...to confusion about the term’s meaning. We use social construction of technology (SCOT) theory to disentangle the conflicting notions proposing that what the Metaverse is and will become relies on the collective sensemaking processes. We point out similarities and differences between various concepts presented in the public media and link them to individual actors’ monetary, political, or social motives. We describe the tensions that occur because of the conflicting interests. As the Metaverse is an emerging phenomenon, opportunities exist to reorient it toward humanist values rather than singular interests. However, the complexity of the social processes that shape the Metaverse requires a considerate approach rather than premature conclusions about the Metaverse’s characteristics. The analysis presents the Metaverse as a new, continually evolving sociotechnical phenomenon, and calls for research that explores it as a dynamic, moving target.
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“Missing White Girl Syndrome” (MWGS) has been coined in critique of news media coverage favoritism of victims fitting that description. The AMBER Alert child recovery system was in fact inspired by ...the abduction and murder of a missing white girl, and some have argued its issuance decisions reflect MWGS. We examine this question using secondary data, including the annual AMBER Alert reports provided by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), the National Incidence Studies of Missing, Abducted, Runaway, and Thrownaway Children (NISMART), and the National Crime Information Center (NCIS). We compared the demographics of victims from official AMBER Alert data (NCMEC) with cross-comparable demographics from the two official missing persons data sources to test for potential main-effect bias favoring whites or girls. A fourth dataset derived from media accounts of AMBER Alerts is used to test for any potential interaction effect of issuance preference for white girls. Overwhelmingly the findings suggest AMBER Alert issuance decisions do not reflect MWGS. Thus, we argue the system has the potential to function as an ironic “antidote” to MWGS by virtue of the identities of the children for whom it is routinely deployed. However, we qualify by acknowledging limitations with available data, and that the “black box” of AMBER Alert issuance decisions remains unstudied, leaving open the question of race and/or gender bias occurring at that point. Policy discourse and future research implications are discussed.
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The paper explores the journey of an organization that is a small intentional community, whose objective is to contribute to the new forms of sociality as well as the artistic and cultural life of ...the youth in the city of Tetova in North Macedonia. For the sake of better comprehension concerning how mass media can affect the public discourse, a case study is examined of a recent incident that happened in the community. The methodology used for this study is applied anthropology as a practice, which involves a problem-solving approach that draws on the knowledge and skills of anthropology to develop culturally sensitive solutions to the challenges this community faces.
In this article, we are interested in the role digital memes in the form of pictures play in the framing of public discourses about police injustice and what it is that makes memes successful in this ...process. For this purpose, we narrate the story of one such meme: the ‘pepper-spray cop’. In our analysis, we link the creation and spread of the meme to the democratization of online activism and the subversive acts of hierarchical sousveillance. Based on our findings, we discuss features of the meme and the process linked to its initiation, rapid spread and disappearance as vital for the success of visual memes in the context of online protests.
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Given its significance for society’s character, future and identity, migration has dominated media discourse. At present, the ascendance of digital platforms which broaden opportunities to produce, ...share and access content online has ignited debates about migration’s discursive construction. Often approached as promoting tolerance and inclusivity, social media are also believed to unleash xenophobia and intergroup antagonism. Working with a cross-section of tweets from the 2019 Canadian Federal election, this article asks how was migration framed, which users influenced the flow and substance of discourse and did Twitter diverge from conventional media space? It finds, while chains of citizen-users overwhelmingly employed Twitter to distribute original content, anti-immigration communications and actors were disproportionately featured. Considering these results, this article introduces the concept of digital nativism to clarify how technical affordances, user intentions and wider socio-political conditions intersect to produce emergent patterns of anti-immigration discourse and mobilization that are participatory, interactive and broadly distributed.
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