Journal of Creative Communications, Volume 18, Issue 2, Page 214-229, July 2023.
COVID-19 is a novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SAR–CoV-2) spread from person to person through infected air droplets of saliva and discharged from sneezes and coughs. This study seeks to contribute to knowledge and understanding of how coronavirus outbreaks could be addressed by examining communication and media strategies used by governments and public health institutions in South Africa and Ghana during the coronavirus pandemic. The study systematically analysed published data on COVID-19 in South Africa and Ghana from 2019 to 2020 to identify recurring themes to discuss issues regarding communication strategies in response to the outbreak. This study found various inadequacies and challenges to communication and media strategies to address the spread of COVID-19. The governments and public health institutions in South Africa and Ghana used multiple mass media channels to communicate different messages and create awareness about COVID-19. This article recommends the improvement of communication and media engagements between governments and health stakeholders in South Africa and Ghana to increase public awareness of the risks, threats and outcomes of COVID-19. The media in South Africa and Ghana must conduct fact finding of information about coronavirus from official sources in government and health institutions before dissemination to the public to minimise fake news, misinformation and disinformation. The governments and health institutions must not rely solely on traditional mass media strategies but also integrate indigenous communication strategies for engagements to address the challenges of mass media to increase public awareness about COVID-19 in South Africa and Ghana.
Bibliometric Review of Research on Misinformation: Reflective Analysis on the Future of Communication
Journal of Creative Communications, Volume 18, Issue 2, Page 149-165, July 2023.
The communication channels driving misinformation often carry the misinformation to elicit responses, which can turn into big threats. Users’ extensive availability and convenience in creating and facilitating user-provided content in online social media enable people with common interests, worldviews and narratives to come together and spread information/misinformation. This research aims to create an intellectual structure through reflective analysis that will help us identify the existing communication pattern that led to misinformation during recent times, also considering the pandemic times. This study analyses and reviews the emerging literature on misinformation using a bibliometric analysis approach. A total of 1,363 papers published from January 2008 to June 2022 from the Scopus database were extracted for analysis in VOS viewer, revealing 10 clusters derived from the keyword, finally coming under four broad themes.The findings revealed that the earlier studies in this area were more expressive and theoretical, and there is a need to provide simple and scientific solutions to counter the misinformation. Considering all possible adversities, this article draws concrete conclusions by offering directions and propositions to create more comprehensive systems and policies to drive a conclusive future.
The communication channels driving misinformation often carry the misinformation to elicit responses, which can turn into big threats. Users’ extensive availability and convenience in creating and facilitating user-provided content in online social media enable people with common interests, worldviews and narratives to come together and spread information/misinformation. This research aims to create an intellectual structure through reflective analysis that will help us identify the existing communication pattern that led to misinformation during recent times, also considering the pandemic times. This study analyses and reviews the emerging literature on misinformation using a bibliometric analysis approach. A total of 1,363 papers published from January 2008 to June 2022 from the Scopus database were extracted for analysis in VOS viewer, revealing 10 clusters derived from the keyword, finally coming under four broad themes.The findings revealed that the earlier studies in this area were more expressive and theoretical, and there is a need to provide simple and scientific solutions to counter the misinformation. Considering all possible adversities, this article draws concrete conclusions by offering directions and propositions to create more comprehensive systems and policies to drive a conclusive future.
COVID-19: Examining the Roles of Traditional and Social Media Attention in the Amplification of Risk
Journal of Creative Communications, Volume 18, Issue 2, Page 133-148, July 2023.
This study used a nationally representative survey of U.S. residents (N = 1,969) to examine whether attention to information about COVID-19 in traditional news media sources and on social media correlated with a higher perceived risk of personal and public harm. As anticipated, we found a positive association between attention to COVID-19 information in traditional news media sources and the perceived risks of COVID-19. We also found a positive association between attention to COVID-19 social media posts and perceived risks but only among Republicans. Other predictors of increased risk perception included age, being female and awareness of a local stay-at-home order.
This study used a nationally representative survey of U.S. residents (N = 1,969) to examine whether attention to information about COVID-19 in traditional news media sources and on social media correlated with a higher perceived risk of personal and public harm. As anticipated, we found a positive association between attention to COVID-19 information in traditional news media sources and the perceived risks of COVID-19. We also found a positive association between attention to COVID-19 social media posts and perceived risks but only among Republicans. Other predictors of increased risk perception included age, being female and awareness of a local stay-at-home order.
Analysis of the Engagement with COVID-19 Vaccination-Related Posts in Sri Lankan Health-Oriented Social Media: A Social Listening Approach
Journal of Creative Communications, Volume 18, Issue 2, Page 183-198, July 2023.
With the introduction of the COVID-19 vaccination, there was a rise in anti-vaccine narratives leading to vaccine hesitancy. Social media platforms like Facebook have introduced policies to control the spread of these narratives. However, the comments section is frequently ignored. A preliminary anti-vaccination codebook was created using criteria identified in international literature and completed using the comments on the Health Promotion Bureau (HPB)’s Facebook page, which is the centre for health education and publicity of health information in Sri Lanka. Next, the most commented vaccine-related posts for each quarter were extracted from the HPB Facebook page and the comments were coded according to the finalised codebook and were analysed. The finalised codebook contained a total of 24 codes that were organised into six primary categories. A total of 7,316 comments were extracted. The comments that were against vaccination constituted 47.3% of all vaccine-related comments. The most commonly occurring code was ‘health hazards’. It was evident that the number of comments against vaccination has increased with time. This may indicate that anti-vaccination movements are becoming more prevalent in. It is essential to engage in extensive social listening in order to forestall the propagation of anti-vaccine sentiments and conspiracy theories.
With the introduction of the COVID-19 vaccination, there was a rise in anti-vaccine narratives leading to vaccine hesitancy. Social media platforms like Facebook have introduced policies to control the spread of these narratives. However, the comments section is frequently ignored. A preliminary anti-vaccination codebook was created using criteria identified in international literature and completed using the comments on the Health Promotion Bureau (HPB)’s Facebook page, which is the centre for health education and publicity of health information in Sri Lanka. Next, the most commented vaccine-related posts for each quarter were extracted from the HPB Facebook page and the comments were coded according to the finalised codebook and were analysed. The finalised codebook contained a total of 24 codes that were organised into six primary categories. A total of 7,316 comments were extracted. The comments that were against vaccination constituted 47.3% of all vaccine-related comments. The most commonly occurring code was ‘health hazards’. It was evident that the number of comments against vaccination has increased with time. This may indicate that anti-vaccination movements are becoming more prevalent in. It is essential to engage in extensive social listening in order to forestall the propagation of anti-vaccine sentiments and conspiracy theories.
Communication in the Time of Uncertainty and Misinformation
Journal of Creative Communications, Volume 18, Issue 2, Page 131-132, July 2023.
The Effect of Social Media on Preventive Behavioural Intention During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Mediating Roles of Interpersonal Communication, Social Media Expression and Knowledge
Journal of Creative Communications, Volume 18, Issue 2, Page 166-182, July 2023.
Given the vast amount of possibly relevant information that circulates on social media during epidemics, it is imperative to examine how exposure to such information influences preventive practices. Using a communication mediation framework, this research investigates the underlying mechanisms of how exposure to COVID-19 information on social media affects the willingness to conduct COVID-19 preventive measures in South Korea. A structural equation modelling (SEM) analysis of survey data from 1,209 Korean adults showed that social media exposure indirectly influenced the intention to take preventive actions through interpersonal communication, social media expression and knowledge. The findings also revealed that social media exposure exerted differential effects on the intention to adopt preventive measures depending on the types of reasoning, including interpersonal communication and social media expression. The findings provide important implications for health communication.
Given the vast amount of possibly relevant information that circulates on social media during epidemics, it is imperative to examine how exposure to such information influences preventive practices. Using a communication mediation framework, this research investigates the underlying mechanisms of how exposure to COVID-19 information on social media affects the willingness to conduct COVID-19 preventive measures in South Korea. A structural equation modelling (SEM) analysis of survey data from 1,209 Korean adults showed that social media exposure indirectly influenced the intention to take preventive actions through interpersonal communication, social media expression and knowledge. The findings also revealed that social media exposure exerted differential effects on the intention to adopt preventive measures depending on the types of reasoning, including interpersonal communication and social media expression. The findings provide important implications for health communication.
Relationships Between Social Media Use, Exposure to Vaccine Misinformation and Online Health Information Seeking Behaviour
Journal of Creative Communications, Volume 18, Issue 2, Page 199-213, July 2023.
This study examines the relationships between social media use for health information, exposure to HPV vaccine misinformation, and online health information-seeking behaviours from institutional sources (i.e., professional health websites and search engines) among college students. The results show that people who seek health information from social media tend to have more experiences of encountering HPV vaccine misinformation during their social media use, while there was no significant relationship between general social media use and exposure to HPV vaccine misinformation. This study also found that people with many experiences of encountering HPV misinformation on social media are more likely to use professional health websites when they look for health information online. However, there was no relationship between exposure to misinformation on social media and the use of search engines for health information seeking.
This study examines the relationships between social media use for health information, exposure to HPV vaccine misinformation, and online health information-seeking behaviours from institutional sources (i.e., professional health websites and search engines) among college students. The results show that people who seek health information from social media tend to have more experiences of encountering HPV vaccine misinformation during their social media use, while there was no significant relationship between general social media use and exposure to HPV vaccine misinformation. This study also found that people with many experiences of encountering HPV misinformation on social media are more likely to use professional health websites when they look for health information online. However, there was no relationship between exposure to misinformation on social media and the use of search engines for health information seeking.
Can space be conceptualized in a different way in political discourse? An extended application of Discourse Space Theory
Discourse &Society, Volume 34, Issue 6, Page 712-731, November 2023.
Political discourse can be considered as consisting of conflictual discourse and cooperative discourse in view of the relationship between power entities. From the perspective of spatial conceptualization in cognitive discourse analysis, cooperative discourse is supposed to be different from conflictual one in terms of the spatial representation, with Chilton’s Discourse Space Theory, which mainly conceptualizes space as an inside/outside dichotomy, only accounting for the latter instead of the former. This paper attempts to further apply Chilton’s three-dimensional model to involve the alternative way of spatial conceptualization with different kind of construals and to compare the differences of the two types of political discourse in the construction of discourse space. Taking the speeches by two state leaders for the purposes of cooperation and accusation respectively as the cases in point, this paper concludes that cooperative discourse displays an outward-extensive discourse space representation as opposed to the inward-contractive discourse space representation of conflictual discourse. This study contributes to expand the scope of discourse space analysis, which is primarily for antagonistic relations only, to incorporate cooperative relations with an extended application of DST based on alternative ways of spatial conceptualization and an elaboration on the dynamics of its three dimensions, and hence to shed some lights on political discourse studies.
Political discourse can be considered as consisting of conflictual discourse and cooperative discourse in view of the relationship between power entities. From the perspective of spatial conceptualization in cognitive discourse analysis, cooperative discourse is supposed to be different from conflictual one in terms of the spatial representation, with Chilton’s Discourse Space Theory, which mainly conceptualizes space as an inside/outside dichotomy, only accounting for the latter instead of the former. This paper attempts to further apply Chilton’s three-dimensional model to involve the alternative way of spatial conceptualization with different kind of construals and to compare the differences of the two types of political discourse in the construction of discourse space. Taking the speeches by two state leaders for the purposes of cooperation and accusation respectively as the cases in point, this paper concludes that cooperative discourse displays an outward-extensive discourse space representation as opposed to the inward-contractive discourse space representation of conflictual discourse. This study contributes to expand the scope of discourse space analysis, which is primarily for antagonistic relations only, to incorporate cooperative relations with an extended application of DST based on alternative ways of spatial conceptualization and an elaboration on the dynamics of its three dimensions, and hence to shed some lights on political discourse studies.
Value frames in discourse supporting transgender athlete bans
Discourse &Society, Volume 34, Issue 6, Page 732-751, November 2023.
American states began passing legislation that would ban transgender girls from competing on sports teams that match their gender identity in 2020. During legislative debate, supporters of transgender athlete bans adopted rhetoric that framed their arguments in terms of commonly held values. ‘Value frames’ establish connections between people and spoken values and have a powerful effect on the way that opinions about public policy are formed. We conduct a discourse analysis of video and audio footage from committee testimony and chamber debate from 18 US states to identify the major discursive themes used by the bans’ supporters. Themes include gender simplicity, male advantage, protecting women and preventing change. Our discussion and analysis connects these themes to long-standing value frames used by political elites, namely tradition, fairness and equal opportunity. The conclusion addresses the implications of this discourse for shaping the public’s understanding of sex and gender.
American states began passing legislation that would ban transgender girls from competing on sports teams that match their gender identity in 2020. During legislative debate, supporters of transgender athlete bans adopted rhetoric that framed their arguments in terms of commonly held values. ‘Value frames’ establish connections between people and spoken values and have a powerful effect on the way that opinions about public policy are formed. We conduct a discourse analysis of video and audio footage from committee testimony and chamber debate from 18 US states to identify the major discursive themes used by the bans’ supporters. Themes include gender simplicity, male advantage, protecting women and preventing change. Our discussion and analysis connects these themes to long-standing value frames used by political elites, namely tradition, fairness and equal opportunity. The conclusion addresses the implications of this discourse for shaping the public’s understanding of sex and gender.
Intelligent Personal Assistants in practice. Situational agencies and the multiple forms of cooperation without consensus
Convergence, Ahead of Print.
There are at least two perspectives concerning the role of digital and connected media systems in relation to individual agency. One suggests that individuals have a gain in agency while using digital devices and services while other approaches see that users become dependent on tech companies that use data flows to analyse and manipulate user behaviour. In our paper, we want to examine empirically how those two descriptions of agency work out and relate to each other. We use conversation analysis of face-to-interface interactions with smart speakers and intelligent personal assistants to examine the agency in front of the device and we rely on interviews with smart-speaker users to understand the users’ strategies to curtail the potentially unwanted effects of smart and connected devices and services. With reference to concepts of ‘co-operative work’ and ‘cooperation without consensus’ and a discussion of media and data practices, this paper elucidates how the two agencies of users and of device and service providers are intertwined and distributed.
There are at least two perspectives concerning the role of digital and connected media systems in relation to individual agency. One suggests that individuals have a gain in agency while using digital devices and services while other approaches see that users become dependent on tech companies that use data flows to analyse and manipulate user behaviour. In our paper, we want to examine empirically how those two descriptions of agency work out and relate to each other. We use conversation analysis of face-to-interface interactions with smart speakers and intelligent personal assistants to examine the agency in front of the device and we rely on interviews with smart-speaker users to understand the users’ strategies to curtail the potentially unwanted effects of smart and connected devices and services. With reference to concepts of ‘co-operative work’ and ‘cooperation without consensus’ and a discussion of media and data practices, this paper elucidates how the two agencies of users and of device and service providers are intertwined and distributed.