José Manuel Alcalde-Llergo, Mariana Buenestado Fernández, Carlos Enrique George-Reyes
et al.
This study develops machine learning models to assess Media and Information Literacy (MIL) skills specifically in the context of disinformation among students, particularly future educators and communicators. While the digital revolution has expanded access to information, it has also amplified the spread of false and misleading content, making MIL essential for fostering critical thinking and responsible media engagement. Despite its relevance, predictive modeling of MIL in relation to disinformation remains underexplored. To address this gap, a quantitative study was conducted with 723 students in education and communication programs using a validated survey. Classification and regression algorithms were applied to predict MIL competencies and identify key influencing factors. Results show that complex models outperform simpler approaches, with variables such as academic year and prior training significantly improving prediction accuracy. These findings can inform the design of targeted educational interventions and personalized strategies to enhance students' ability to critically navigate and respond to disinformation in digital environments.
Bedoor AlShebli, Bruno Gabriel Salvador Casara, Anne Maass
October 7, 2023 marked the start of a war against Gaza, one of the most devastating conflicts in modern history, which quickly produced a stark global attitudinal divide. To examine the role of media bias in shaping public understanding of this asymmetrical war, we analyzed more than 14,000 news articles published during its first year across three major Western outlets (The New York Times, BBC, CNN) and one non-Western English-language outlet (Al Jazeera English). Focusing on media narratives surrounding Israeli and Palestinian victims, we identify three systematic biases in Western coverage: (1) Identifiable Victim Reporting: Israeli victims were substantially more likely to be depicted as identifiable individuals, whereas Palestinian victims were predominantly represented as undifferentiated collectives. (2) Equalization Bias: Despite the profound asymmetry in casualties, displacement, and other forms of suffering, Western reporting repeatedly invoked the October 7 attacks to equalize Israeli and Palestinian victimhood, even in the absence of new Israeli-casualty events. (3) One-sided Doubt Casting: Journalists disproportionately used language that casts doubt on the credibility of casualty figures and the reliability of sources when reporting Palestinian (vs. Israeli) victim counts, selectively undermining trust in information about Palestinian suffering. Across all three phenomena, these patterns were either absent or greatly attenuated in Al Jazeera English. Taken together, our analysis uncovers a coherent set of systematic biases in high-profile Western media coverage of the Gaza war, with implications for how global audiences come to understand and morally evaluate the conflict.
This study investigates the feasibility of the phase-matching measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution (PM-MDI QKD) protocol proposed by Lin and Lütkenhaus for satellite-based quantum communication. The protocol's key rate, known to exceed the repeaterless bound, is evaluated in the asymptotic limit under noisy conditions typical of satellite communications, including loss-only scenarios. The setup involves two ground-based parties connected via fiber (lossonly or noisy) and a space-based third party linked to one of these two ground-based parties through free-space communication. Simulations using the elliptic-beam approximation model the average key rate (AKR) and its probability distribution (PDR) across varying zenith angles and fiber distances. Down-link free-space communication is assessed under day and night conditions, with intensity optimization for each graphical point. Dynamic configurations of satellite and ground stations are also considered. Results indicate that AKR decays more slowly under loss-only conditions, while PDR analysis shows higher key rates produce more concentrated distributions. These findings demonstrate the potential of PM-MDI QKD protocols for achieving reliable key rates in satellitebased quantum communication.
In Nigeria, social media has transformed the political landscape, by playing a critical role in political mobilization and civic engagement. This conceptual paper explored the intersection of social media and political activism in Nigeria, focusing on how platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram etc, have enabled citizens to organize, mobilize, and influence political outcomes. Drawing on the Social Movement Theory (SMT), this paper analyzed the dynamics of online activism, its impact on the political and media processes, and the broader implications for Nigerian democracy. This study also considered some challenges such as misinformation, digital divide, and the life-threatening government’s surveillance on the social media activists.
Ikpeama, C. J., Ugochukwu-Oduh, O. L., Emenike, U. I.
This study was centred on “effectveness of media campaign on prostrate cancer awareness on south-east men. The major objective of the study was to find out the extent South-East Nigerian men access media information on tackle prostate cancer. The study adopted framing theory. The study also adopted triangulation method with questionnaire and interview as instruments for data collection. The sample size was made up of 385 respondents, out of a population of 5,068,566. Multi-stage sampling technique was adopted for the study. The major findings of the study showed a high level of regularity in media access to information to tackle prostate cancer. It was also revealed that there is a high level of interest in getting more media information about tackle of prostate cancer. It was concluded that media campaign on tackle prostate cancer and sensitization of health benefits is a serious campaign both on Social media, electronic and print. This is because of the high level of spread of the ailment and its deadly nature. It is therefore recommended that South-East Nigeria men and beyond should endeavour to seek and access more information about prostate cancer in order to be updated about the ailment as well as preventing and remedying the situation.
This study aims to provide an assessment of the existing literature on the role of social media advertising in hospitality, tourism and travel (HTT) as well as an agenda for future research.,Covering a 15-year time span (2004–2019), this study is focused on journal papers archived in two academic databases in social sciences: Business Source Complete and Communication and Mass Media Complete. Each of the 192 papers collected was coded for 8 major variables: journal, year of publication, research topic, country studied, type of social media investigated, method, theoretical underpinning and key findings.,Three major topic areas are identified in this study: use of social media from consumer’s perspective, use of social media from organization’s perspective and effects of social media.,Although a few prior papers have provided a literature review of social media in tourism and hospitality, no review-based papers have ever examined social media as an advertising vehicle in the context of HTT. Most reviews to date have been limited to general social media studies, without much advancement of theory building in advertising research.,To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper represents the first theoretical review of academic research on social media advertising in HTT. The review concludes by suggesting a theoretical framework for studying social media advertising in HTT and offering an agenda for future research.
This study is among the first to develop different prototypes of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) chatbots powered by GPT-4 to communicate hurricane preparedness information to diverse residents. Drawing from the Computers Are Social Actors paradigm and the literature on disaster vulnerability and cultural tailoring, we conducted a between-subjects experiment with 441 Black, Hispanic, and Caucasian residents of Florida. Our results suggest that GenAI chatbots varying in tone formality and cultural tailoring significantly influence perceptions of their friendliness and credibility, which, in turn, relate to hurricane preparedness outcomes. These results highlight the potential of using GenAI chatbots to improve diverse communities' disaster preparedness.
Stephen Scarano, Vijayalakshmi Vasudevan, Mattia Samory
et al.
Social media platforms allow users to create polls to gather public opinion on diverse topics. However, we know little about what such polls are used for and how reliable they are, especially in significant contexts like elections. Focusing on the 2020 presidential elections in the U.S., this study shows that outcomes of election polls on Twitter deviate from election results despite their prevalence. Leveraging demographic inference and statistical analysis, we find that Twitter polls are disproportionately authored by older males and exhibit a large bias towards candidate Donald Trump relative to representative mainstream polls. We investigate potential sources of biased outcomes from the point of view of inauthentic, automated, and counter-normative behavior. Using social media experiments and interviews with poll authors, we identify inconsistencies between public vote counts and those privately visible to poll authors, with the gap potentially attributable to purchased votes. We also find that Twitter accounts participating in election polls are more likely to be bots, and election poll outcomes tend to be more biased, before the election day than after. Finally, we identify instances of polls spreading voter fraud conspiracy theories and estimate that a couple thousand of such polls were posted in 2020. The study discusses the implications of biased election polls in the context of transparency and accountability of social media platforms.
This research brief focuses on the analysis of the media coverage of the introduction of the Treasury Single Account (TSA) by the Abia State Government and its impact on the Abia State University in terms of autonomy, salaries, research and academic activities. The implementation of the Treasury Single Account (TSA) has been the subject of intense media scrutiny, with attention focused on its implications for the autonomy of Abia State University. This study examines how the centralization of financial resources through the Treasury Single Account (TSA) framework can affect university decision-making processes, academic freedom and general governance autonomy. In addition, the research examines the effects of the Treasury Single Account (TSA) on the timely payment of salaries to university staff. By analyzing media reports and conducting interviews with stakeholders, the study aims to assess whether the implementation of the TSA has had an impact on the payment of wages, financial stability and employee morale in the university Furthermore, the study explores how the introduction of Treasury Single Account (TSA) has affected research activities in Abia State University. By examining media stories and academic publications, the research seeks to understand whether changes in financial management practices have affected the university's research output, funding opportunities and collaborative initiatives. Finally, the impact of Treasury Single Account (TSA) on academic activities in Abia State University is a major focus of this research. Through content analysis of media coverage and interviews with teachers and students, the study aims to assess whether financial reforms have improved or hindered the quality of teaching, learning experiences and the academic programs in the university. By examining the media coverage of the introduction of Treasury Single Account (TSA) and its effects on autonomy, salaries, research and academic activity in Abia State University, this research contributes to a deeper understanding of the implications of financial reforms in higher education institutions and provide policy makers with information. university administrators and stakeholders in the education sector.
In 1967, English was recognized as the language of international science (Gordin, 2015) and it continues to dominate global scientific activities to this day. Around 80% of all journals indexed in SCOPUS are published in English (van Weijen, 2012). The linguistic domination of English is also observed in scientific journalism worldwide, which heavily depends on English-only sources (Nguyen and Tran, 2019). While the use of a single international language of science facilitates the dissemination of knowledge across national and cultural boundaries, the English language often acts as a gatekeeper to scientific discourse (Tardy, 2004). The hegemony of English in science promotes and enforces the imposition of one particular cultural point-of-view over others (Alves and Pozzebon, 2013). By ignoring other languages, traditional mass media (e.g., newspapers, magazines), social media, and scientific journals ignore the cultures and perspectives of non-English speaking communities (Gibbs, 1995; Canagarajah, 1996, 2002; Kachru, 1997). A recent Google search (February, 2020) of the term “science” in 11 languages with the largest numbers of native speakers exemplifies the disproportionate dominance of English (Figure 1). It is clear that English is overrepresented in these search results, even after normalizing for the total number of native speakers per language (Figure 1). One explanation could be that the term “science” may not be as engaging and meaningful as other science-related terms in other languages. An alternative explanation could be that scientific communication in a language correlates with scientific activity in the corresponding countries. Such is the case in the field of bioinformatics, where the nations with the highest impact (h-index) are those that are the most active in academic publishing (Chasapi et al., 2020). Nonetheless, English search results are still∼8 times more popular even when compared to languages spoken in countries with a strong history of scientific production like Germany and Russia (Figure 1). Facing the biggest existential threats to humanity requires understanding and support of science at a global scale, as exemplified by a multitude of climate-related natural disasters (Garcia Escobar and Rabanales, 2020; Stone, 2020) and the recent COVID-19 outbreak (Zarocostas, 2020). This opinion piece discusses some consequences of the (almost exclusive) use of English in the current global scientific landscape, and provides recommendations to expand both formal and informal science communication beyond the English language.
This article examines the role of social media dynamics in the public exchange of information between scientists (experts), government (policy-makers), mass media (journalists), and citizens (nonexperts) during the first 4 months after the Covid-19 outbreak in the Netherlands. Over the past decade, the institutional model of science communication, based on linear vectors of information flows between institutions, has gradually converted into a networked model where social media propel information flows circulating between all actors involved. The question driving our research is, “How are social media deployed to both undermine and enhance public trust in scientific expertise during a health crisis?” Analyzing the public debate during the period of the corona outbreak in the Netherlands, we investigate two stages: the emergency response phase and the “smart exit strategy” phase, discussing how scientific experts, policy-makers, journalists, and citizens appropriate social media logic to steer information and to control the debate. We conclude by outlining the potential risks and benefits of adopting social media dynamics in institutional contexts of science communication.
This paper elaborates on a theory of the ideological public sphere in the age of digital media. It describes the public sphere as an initially ascending and then descending communication process that includes both polarising and integrating publics, which are organised by antagonistic media and compromise-building mass media. This framework allows us to distinguish between hegemonic, populist, and popular-oriented flows of communication, as well as register changes in the interplay of different publics driven by digital media platforms. Digital transformations of the public sphere give rise to antagonistic and networked-individualistic flows of populist communication that put public hegemony under constant pressure. The challenge is to find ways to strengthen popular communications that enable democratic learning processes and the flourishing of communicative competences of all citizens.
Luego de un período de pax gubernamental al inicio de una administración, los Gobiernos enfrentan continuamente crisis comunicacionales y de gobernanza que desestabilizan la imagen lograda en la campaña, con lo cual el reto siguiente es construir una imagen de gobierno. Pasados esos cien primeros días, las administraciones deben tener en cuenta que la opinión pública se desplazó a los espacios digitales, en donde se discute y se delibera sobre lo público. Entonces, los equipos comunicacionales deben estar preparados para embestidas digitales y crisis diarias. Aquí, un pequeño manual de cómo enfrentar estas situaciones y de cómo preparar a los equipos comunicacionales para decidir qué batallas son las importantes.
Lucas Giroto de Oliveira, David Brunner, Axel Diewald
et al.
This article introduces a bistatic joint radar-communication (RadCom) system based on orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM). In this context, the adopted OFDM frame structure is described and system model encompassing time, frequency, and sampling synchronization mismatches between the transmitter and receiver of the bistatic system is outlined. Next, the signal processing approaches for synchronization and communication are discussed, and radar sensing processing approaches using either only pilots or a reconstructed OFDM frame based on the estimated receive communication data are presented. Finally, proof-of-concept measurement results are presented to validate the investigated system and a trade-off between frame size and the performance of the aforementioned processing steps is observed.
The spread of new technological tools have significantly promoted globalization and aided ordinary citizens to become news vendors. These technologies beat checkpoints and have limited quality control standards. This study adopted the survey research design to examine the perception of Abakaliki residents on the coverage of covid-19 pandemic in Nigeria. Findings revealed that many discrepancies exist between news management in the social media and professional journalism. Findings showed that the social media carry lots of news items of public interest which the mainstream media ignore. Also, though the social media is stronger in covering official corruption and bad governance, the absence of checkpoints makes it unprofessional. The study recommended the strengthening of social media for complimentary journalism as well as the keeping of a strong data base of all citizens to check the practice.
Royal Tour Picture Album, by Elizabeth Morton. London, UK: Sunday Graphic/Pitkin Pictorials Ltd, 1953. 104 pages.
ONE of the joys of travelling the world and collecting books is the historical oddities that turn up in the most unexpected places. I have a splendid copy of the complete works of Shakespeare dating to the Second World War, completely re-set, so the frontispiece notes, due to the original plates having been ‘destroyed by enemy action’. One wonders at the perfidy of the Luftwaffe in trying to blow up the Bard.
Communication. Mass media, Journalism. The periodical press, etc.