MediaScape: 6 July 2015

One of the most vexing problems with the multilateral system is the chronic lack of broad public interaction that tends to characterise discussion and debate at the United Nations and elsewhere. While efforts at “stakeholder input” do irrefutably important work, they are rarely able to bring to the table truly broad public input — even when the issues under negotiation could eventually have wide and long-lasting impact. Part of the problem, certainly, is that the media at both the national...

Readers – at least in the UK and US – are feeling increasingly deceived over sponsored content. In fact, over one-third of British and American readers of online news say they have felt “disappointed or deceived” on realising subsequently that an article that they had just read had been paid for by an advertiser. This finding poses significant risk of damage to the reputation of digital publishers. According to a study that was conducted by the Reuters Institute for the Study of...

The US media is failing to question presidential candidates on their denial of climate change. Quite miserably. Seven major newspapers and wire services surveyed by not-for-profit research organisation Media Matters have failed to indicate that candidates' statements conflict with the scientific consensus on the issue in approximately 43 per cent of their coverage. In case of broadcast and cable networks, barring MSNBC, the figure stands at 75 per cent. And all this, while the presidential...

In the complex media landscape of Pakistan, ethnicity has emerged as a key indicator in predicting media credibility. Researchers have concluded that in a scenario where ethnic composition is critical to national politics, minority ethnic groups tend to find domestic television to be less credible, and international television or traditional media to be more credible, than do members of the majority Punjabi group. Media reliance is a significant indicator of media credibility assessmentâ€...

EFF has noted and protested when authorities deliberately cut off Internet access in times of unrest. As a restraint on the freedom of expression of those affected, communication blackouts during protests are unconscionable. But recent research by Anita Gohdes, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Mannheim, suggests that Internet shutdowns are becoming part of a toolkit for more violent repression. By analysing the daily documented killings by the government in the Syrian civil war in...

When it comes to media coverage, the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Canada has already been a major milestone for women’s sport. According to official figures from FIFA, TV records have been broken in each round so far. With a total expected TV audience of more than 1bn viewers worldwide, the tournament is set to more than double the 400m viewers who tuned in to the previous Women’s World Cup in Germany in 2011. The tournament has been embraced as a “truly marquee event” in Germany, Sweden...

Journalists are not giving up on the press release, much as it may seem to many public relations (PR) professionals. Nearly 90 per cent of responding journalists to a survey in the US have said they had used a press release within the last week with most reporters (62 per cent) having used one in the past 24 hours at the time they were surveyed. The findings are from Business Wire’s 2014 Media Survey, which queried 300 North American journalists to determine the types of information and assets...

No, social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter are not fronts for free expression when it comes to controversial issues. Certainly not in the United States. In fact, social media has been discouraging free expression, rather than encouraging it, when the subjects at hand are controversial, even offline. The conclusions are from a study conducted by the Pew Research Center, in association with Rugers University, which looked at Edward Snowden’s 2013 revelations of widespread government...

We have all along suspected it. But now, we have research findings to confirm our suspicions: female college students spend an average of 10 hours a day on their cellphones and male students spend nearly eight, with excessive use posing potential risks for academic performance. The study — based on an online survey of 164 college students — examined 24 cellphone activities and found that time spent on 11 of those activities differed significantly across the sexes. Some functions — among...

It is now conversations on social media that are driving viewers back to television in the United Kingdom. Must-see TV is driving consumers back towards planning evenings around the linear TV schedule, despite the availability and convenience offered by video on demand services. The data from CCS – media agency Carat’s consumer research and insight tool that surveys 11,000 British consumers – has found that 35 per cent of people are now actively planning their evenings around the TV...

The media threat matrix in Pakistan is broad and diverse and multiple factors contribute to it but the most important aspect is related to professionalism, including the way of reporting, professional attitudes and mainly the threat perceptions of the media persons. These are the findings of a recently released research study 'Media Safety in Pakistan'. The study is based on an extensive field research and comprehensive case histories of journalists, who were either threatened or killed. It...

Opinionated articles, lack of public opinion, unrepresentative coverage, and failure to back criticism with evidence marked the UK national newspaper coverage of press regulation following the publication of the Leveson Report in November 2012. The Media Standards Trust, which early September published a comprehensive analysis of newspaper coverage of press regulation following the publication of the Leveson Report in November 2012, found that coverage, including news reports, was highly...

It takes only three-quarters of an hour to do the damage. After about 45 minutes of media, children's grades, sleep, social skills, and emotional balance start to decline. After four hours, only 1 per cent of children in middle school receive A's in Mathematics and English Language Arts. And, after four hours of screen time, children take 20 times longer to fall asleep than children with limited media use. That's what the Learning Habit study has found after examining family routines in 46,000...

The US government is doing a better job of communicating on Twitter with people in sensitive areas like the Middle East and North Africa without the participation of mainstream media organisations, according to a study co-authored by a University of Georgia researcher. The study looked at the US State Department's use of social media and identified key actors who drive its messages to audiences around the world. In particular, it examined the role played by news media and the government in...