The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file. Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on December 28, 2009). Thesis advisor: Dr. Lee Wilkins. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2007. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on May 11, 2009) Includes bibliographical references.

As one of the most popular social media platforms in China, Sina Weibo has created an environment for the Chinese people to share opinions and post information on events they have witnessed. Thus, Weibo users can be citizen journalists, though most of them have played the role unconsciously. Although Weibo has existed for about six years, citizen journalism is still new to most Chinese people. Some scholars have studied Weibo from the perspective of public opinion or better governance rather than from its ethical demands and influence. This paper discusses the ethical problems of citizen journalism that arose in three case studies where Weibo posts were immediate sources of news and information on disasters and were considered important by mainstream media and the public, but where the posts also provided false information. In addition, a survey found that most Chinese respondents had posted news or information on Weibo, but very few consider themselves citizen journalists. Surprisingly, non-journalists are no more likely to trust citizen journalism than are journalists. Non-journalists are getting more news from citizen journalism on Weibo about national disasters, but they put more trust and credibility in mainstream media. Respondents thought witnessing events and quickly reporting on them were the biggest advantages of citizen journalists, while the biggest problems were bias, emotional reports, rumor and invasion of privacy. About two-thirds of respondents think self-restraint is the best way to handle ethical problems resulting from citizen journalists, but about half favor more legislation. In a striking difference from Western expectations, a relatively small percentage of Chinese respondents think independence from the government is an important journalistic value. Finally, the paper concludes that the public sphere concept is relevant in China in the wake economic reforms and the advent of social media. And it argues that the theory of existential journalism may offer an ethical guide for China’s citizen journalists by emphasizing both freedom and personal responsibility. Finally it suggests that mainstream media, journalists and media scholars play the main role of promoting journalistic ethical values on Weibo.

Thesis (M.A. in communication)--Washington State University, August 2009. / Title from PDF title page (viewed July 28, 2009). "Edward R. Murrow College of Communication." Includes bibliographical references (p. 33-42).

Because of the advent of the Internet, traditional journalism is changing. Advanced technology includes the tools for everyone to publish their thoughts, feelings, photos, and videos, allowing individuals to be citizen journalists. This experimental-design study was aimed at discovering the influence of biographies in people's judgments of the credibility and professionalism of news articles. The study involved four treatments 1: professional journalist feature article with professional journalist biography; 2: citizen journalist feature article with professional journalist biography; 3: citizen journalist feature article with citizen journalist biography; and 4: professional journalist feature article with citizen journalist biography. These treatments were used to determine how the 198 study participants judged the work and biography of a traditional journalist compared to the work and biography of a citizen journalist. Study data was acquired through an online survey. A credibility scale and a professionalism scale were used to determine that, based on the articles used in the study, news consumers do not see professional journalists as more credible than citizen journalists, although news consumers do see traditional journalists' content as more professional.

Based on the theory of Spiral of Silence from Noelle-Neumann, the main purpose of this research is to figure out internet users how to express their opinion after evaluating opinion climate and whether the characters of the Internet make their opinion- expression arbitrarily. Moreover, this research focuses on Chinese ¡¥face¡¦ culture to examine the cultural context how to influence opinion- expression of internet users. This research chooses ¡¥PeoPo¡¦ citizen journalism platform as research field, and adopts in-depth interview to analyze the opinion- expression of 9 PeoPo citizen reporters. As for the research topic, it¡¦s concerned with the issue of village migration of Taiwanese aborigine after the disaster caused by Typhoon Morakot in 2009. Therefore, this research attempts to figure out the PeoPo citizen reporters¡¦ inner process of opinion- expression and the influence of Chinese face culture. This research finds that the opinion-evaluation of internet users mainly rely on the Internet, and the fear of isolation that the spiral of silence theory emphasizes don¡¦t predict their willingness to speak up alone, but Chinese face culture does. Furthermore, the characters of the Internet don¡¦t prevent the spiral of silence effect. Although PeoPo not only accepts diverse viewpoints widely, but also inspires more citizens to voice local issues, the results show that actually PeoPo citizen reporters express their opinion with great pressure mostly lowering their willingness to speak up such as the foundation idea of PeoPo, reference group, threat of opposition, objective principle of journalism, and Chinese face culture. In sum, getting one¡¦s own way is discouraged on PeoPo; in other words, the characters of the Internet still unable to relieve PeoPo citizen reporters of speaking up.

The concept of deliberation, both theoretically and empirically, was examined in the Chinese blogosphere by content analyzing Internet blog posts and comments, associated with sixty hotspot incidents in China from 2007 through 2009. Measurements of analytic and social processes were made and the factors that affect these processes were examined to identify deliberative patterns in the blog posts and comments. The findings suggest relatively substantial deliberative outcomes in the blog posts about the incidents, especially relating to the analytic process. Two variables were examined with respect to the factors that determine deliberation: an incident’s category (non-threatening, threat to performance, and threat to legitimacy) as classified under the command and control system, and information availability (news availability and total information availability) about the incident. Findings support the theoretical framework proposed in the study and suggest the following logical sequences: Firstly, the Chinese command and control system is a significant factor in explaining deliberative outcomes about incidents that can be categorized according to their level of considered threat to the system. An incident that was considered to be at a higher level of threat linked to a higher level of deliberation. Secondly, the command and control system also determines the information availability of an incident but in a negative way— incidents with higher threat levels have lower levels of information availability. Thirdly, information availability, in turn, predicted deliberation on its own—higher levels of information availability link to lower levels of deliberation. Moreover, information availability functioned as a moderating variable between the command and control system and the deliberative outcomes. Posts that were associated with non-threatening and threat to performance incidents, with higher levels of information availability, tended to have a lower quality of deliberation. Posts associated with incidents that were a threat to legitimacy, with lower level of information availability, yielded similar deliberative patterns that were of relatively high quality. / text

Abstract This thesis explores how the cultural and social media environments surrounding the journalism of Al Jazeera English are shaped by and shape the channel’s news practices. Al Jazeera English has been described as a contra-flow news organization in the global media landscape and this thesis discusses the different reasons why the channel is described in this way by looking at its origins, aims, characteristics and ideals. Based on interviews with Al Jazeera English journalists, news observations and two field observations in London, I argue that Al Jazeera English brings cultural and social sensitivity to its news reports by engaging with multiple in-depth perspectives, using local reporters and integrating citizen generated material. The channel’s early adoption of online technologies and citizen journalism also contributes to a more democratic news direction and gives the channel a wider spectrum of opinions and perspectives to choose between. By applying a comparative analysis built on similar studies within anthropology of news journalism differences and similarities within the journalistic practices can be detected, comparing Al Jazeera English’s journalism with journalism at other places and news organizations. These comparisons and discussions enables new understandings for how news is produced and negotiated within the global media landscape, and this gives the global citizen an improved comprehension of why the news, which shapes our appreciation of the world, looks like it does. In conclusion, this awareness opens up for a discussion towards a societal transformation that gives space for a more multifaceted journalism distancing itself from one-sided perspectives and institutional censoring.

In Malawi, as in many newly-democratic countries in the developing world, donor organisations and NGOs have embarked on projects aimed at making reforms in governance which have generated a profusion of new spaces for citizen engagement. This thesis critically examines one such project in Malawi against the backdrop of a democratic nation emerging from a background of dictatorial regime. For thirty years, until 1994, Malawi was under the one-party regime of Kamuzu Banda which was characterised by dictatorial tendencies, in which participatory processes were non-existent and development was defined in terms of client-patronage relationships between the state and society (Cammack, 2004: 17). In 1994, however, Malawi embraced a multiparty system of government, paving way to various political and social reforms, which adopted participatory approaches to development. Drawing on a number of literatures, this thesis seeks to historicize the relationship which developed during the pre democracy era between the state and society in Malawi to underscore its influence on the current dispositions displayed by both bureaucrats and citizens as they engage in participatory decision making processes. This is achieved through a critical realist case study of a participatory radio project in Malawi called Ndizathuzomwe which works through a network of community-based radio production structures popularly known as ‘Radio Listening Clubs’(RLCs) where communities are mobilised at village level to first identify and define development problems through consensus and then secondly engage state bureaucrats, politicians, and members of other relevant service delivery organisations in making decisions aimed at resolving community-identified development problems (Chijere-Chirwa et al, 2000). Unlike during the pre-democracy era, there is now a shift in the discourse of participation in development, from the participation of ‘beneficiaries’ in projects, to the more political and rights-based definitions of participation by citizens who are the ‘makers and shapers’ of their own development (Cornwall and Gaventa, 2000). The findings of this thesis, however point to the fact that, there remains a gap between normative expectations and empirical realities in that spaces for participation are not neutral, but are themselves shaped by power relations (Cornwall, 2002). A number of preconditions exist for entry into participatory institutions as such entry of certain interests and actors into public spaces is privileged over others through a prevailing mobilisation of bias or rules of the game (Lukes, 1974: I)

abstract: Recently, there has been an upsurge in highly publicized negative police-citizen encounters, contributing to the current crisis in police legitimacy. These encounters, mostly filmed and disseminated by citizens, provide a new type of vicarious experience through which the viewer can assess police-citizen interactions, potentially shaping their perceptions of the police. These recordings have sparked national conversations and protests regarding police behavior and treatment of minority citizens. An area that has received less attention, however, is what effect viewing video recordings of less contentious police-citizen interactions has on public perceptions of police. To that end, this study seeks to address the knowledge gap through experimental methodology. Using actual footage of a variety of police-citizen encounters, this study examines the impact of viewing videos of police encounters on individuals' perceptions of police legitimacy, procedural justice, estimates of police misconduct, and their willingness to cooperate with police. Also examined are the impact these videos have on support for officer body-worn cameras and willingness to film the police. The findings indicate the impact of viewing police-citizen encounters on individual perceptions and attitudes are primarily linked to the content – whether positive, negative or neutral – of the video. Specifically, positive videos depicting procedurally just encounters increased perceptions of procedural justice, decreased estimations of police misconduct and increased support for officer body-worn cameras. Viewing negative videos, however, decreased perceptions of police legitimacy, distributive fairness, and procedural justice while increasing estimations of police misconduct and willingness to film the police in the future. The effects of the video encounters on perceptions of police were not lasting and were not stable when respondents were surveyed again two weeks later. Lasting effects were found for individuals’ self-reported willingness to film the police in the future. Given these findings, the process-based model of policing should consider also incorporating digital vicarious experiences when examining factors impacting perceptions of police. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Criminology and Criminal Justice 2017