Globally, research has shown that media coverage of illicit drug issues can play an important role in influencing public opinion and shaping drug policies. However, in Afghanistan, the world’s largest opium producer, very little is known about the media coverage of illicit drug issues. Afghan media, especially radio and television have developed dramatically during the past 11 years. Using the theories of agenda setting and framing, this study explored what drug-related topics were covered in the Afghan news media; how were these topics covered; how were the health and social consequences of drug abuse depicted in the media; and how much time was devoted to drug related topics in the media. Employing content analysis, the study examined primetime news coverage of the two leading media outlets: Azadi Radio and Tolo Television from 1st March 2011 until 31st July 2011. This thesis found the following types of imbalances in Afghan media reporting on illicit drug issues: 1) media reports on drug issues were heavily focused on supply reduction issues (81%) while paying considerably less attention to drug demand reduction issues (19%); 2) media predominantly framed illicit drugs as a law enforcement issue (83%) with only 15% of the paragraphs in the sample framing illicit drug as a public health problem; 3) media reporting on illicit drugs heavily relied on official sources (79%) lacking voices of the public health practitioners and drug addicts; 4) media coverage of illicit drug issues was heavily centered in Kabul (56%) with considerably less reporting from southern Afghanistan, which is the largest opium producing region. This study, which is presumably the first of its kind, provides media organizations, policy makers, and public health officials with a broad picture on the drug-related information available to the public on the leading Afghan news outlets. In addition, it serves as a basis for future research on media coverage of illicit drug issues in Afghanistan.

En un context de "democràcia hipermediàtica", en una societat que creix en clau audiovisual de la mà d'uns mitjans de comunicació que alhora evolucionen a gran velocitat de la mà de les noves tecnologies de la comunicació, la política no esdevé un ens aliè a aquesta realitat. La política, avui més que ahir, es converteix en un procés comunicacional on per exemple els líders polítics ja no poden deixar de ser alhora líders mediàtics si volen triomfar-hi. Però dirigents a banda, l'exercici de la política sotmet el seu llenguatge i el seu tempo als d'uns mitjans de comunicació que així s'hi imposen. La construcció de les agendes pública, política i mediàtica consisteix en una constant interacció i en una contínua disputa on uns i altres miren de fixar-hi els seus continguts i el seu ritme. Però així com l'ascendent dels mèdia sobre l'agenda ciutadana queda evidenciat a través de múltiples estudis emmarcats en l'àmbit de l'agenda-setting, la influència dels mitjans de comunicació en la construcció de l'agenda política és un àmbit menys estudiat des d'un punt de vista acadèmic. En aquest sentit, partint de la teoria de l'agenda-setting i del seu estadi evolucionat de l'agenda-building ens hem proposat demostrar com els mèdia tenen una influència sobre la política, de base, superior que a la inversa. Així és com el màrqueting polític esdevé una peça clau d'aquesta dinàmica, ja que quan les campanyes polítiques duren els quatre anys de legislatura, quan els polítics i la seva activitat es veuen constantment exposats a l'escrutini d'uns mitjans de comunicació que els fan estar de campanya permanent, llavors s'imposen en les rutines polítiques la simplificació del llenguatge, la personalització i la tàctica per damunt de l'estratègia. I tot això té conseqüències que condicionen d'arrel l'exercici de la política. Això té conseqüències sobre aspectes bàsics que regeixen la vida de les persones. I aquest va ser el cas de l'Estatut de Catalunya aprovat l'any 2006. Un text legislatiu que va ser fortament mediatitzat i que arrel de l'exposició pública de tot el seu procés de conformació, a través d'un enquadrament majoritàriament negatiu, va veure fortament condicionat a la baixa el seu resultat final. / En un contexto de "democracia hipermediática", en una sociedad que crece en clave audiovisual de la mano de unos medios de comunicación que a la vez evolucionan a gran velocidad de la mano de las nuevas tecnologías de la comunicación, la política no es ajena a esta realidad. La política, hoy más que ayer, se convierte en un proceso comunicacional donde por ejemplo los líderes políticos ya no pueden dejar de ser a la vez líderes mediáticos si quieren triunfar. Pero dirigentes aparte, el ejercicio de la política somete su lenguaje y su tempo a los de unos medios de comunicación que así se imponen. La construcción de las agendas pública, política y mediática consiste en una constante interacción y en una continua disputa donde unos y otros miran de fijar sus contenidos y su ritmo. Pero así como el ascendente de los media sobre la agenda ciudadana queda evidenciado a través de múltiples estudios enmarcados en el ámbito de la agenda-setting, la influencia de los medios de comunicación en la construcción de la agenda política es un ámbito menos estudiado desde un punto de vista académico. En este sentido, partiendo de la teoría de la agenda-setting y de su estadio evolucionado de la agenda-building nos hemos propuesto demostrar cómo los media tienen una influencia sobre la política, de base, superior que a la inversa. Así es como el marketing político se revela como una pieza clave de esta dinámica, ya que cuando las campañas políticas duran los cuatro años de legislatura, cuando los políticos y su actividad se ven constantemente expuestos al escrutinio de unos medios de comunicación que los hacen estar de campaña permanente, entonces se imponen en las rutinas políticas la simplificación del lenguaje, la personalización y la táctica por encima de la estrategia. Y todo ello tiene consecuencias que condicionan de raíz el ejercicio de la política. Eso tiene consecuencias sobre aspectos básicos que rigen la vida de las personas. Y éste fue el caso del Estatut de Cataluña aprobado el año 2006. Un texto legislativo que fue fuertemente mediatizado y que a raíz de la exposición pública de todo su proceso de conformación, a través de un encuadre mayoritariamente negativo, vio fuertemente condicionado a la baja su resultado final. / In a context of "hypermediatic democracy", in a society that grows in an audio-visual sense by mass media that at the same time evolve quickly by the new technologies of the communication, politics is being strongly influenced by the media. Politics, today more than yesterday, becomes a communicational process where for example the political leaders no longer can simultaneously stop being media-leaders if they want to prevail. The mass media language and tempo prevail on politics. The public agenda-building, the policy agenda-building and the media agenda-building consists of a continuous interaction and fighting to set contents and rhythm. But as well as the influence of the mass media in the public agenda is demonstrated through multiple studies framed in the scope of the agenda-setting, the influence of mass media in the policy agenda-building is a less studied scope from an academic point of view. In this way, starting with the Agenda Setting Theory and its evolved stage of the Agenda Building, we have seted out to demonstrate how the media have a strong influence on politics, from the base, more important than the influence of politics on the media. In this way, political marketing becomes a key piece of this context. When political campaigns exists trough the four years of the mandate, when the politicians and their activity are continuously exposed under the scrutiny of mass media, when they are involved in a permanent campaign, then prevail in the political routines the simplification of the language, the personalization and the tactics over the strategy. And all it has consequences on politics. That has consequences on basic aspects that govern the life of the people. And it was the case of the approved Estatut of Catalonia 2006, a legislative text that was strongly followed by the media. As a result of the public exhibition of all its process of conformation, through a mainly negative frame, its final result was strongly devaluated.

McCombs and Shaw¡¦s studies of agenda-setting theory showed that mass medium can not only maintain or change acceptors¡¦ perceptions of political issues but also guide electors¡¦ favoritism by setting agenda. Thus, in this thesis, we want to find the relation between framed-issues and the political positions of China Times and The Liberty Times by analyzing and comparing the agenda-setting behaviors of these two newspapers(including headline news, editorials, and their contents¡K) during the period of 2006 Kaohsiung mayoral campaign. The conclusion shows that in the same period of time there exist different framed-objects and attitudes toward those political issues operated by these two medium. It means that mass medium aim at framing issues to conduct what people would focus on. Nevertheless, this thesis find that the agenda-setting behaviors of China Times during the period of 2006 Kaohsiung mayoral election was intended to use error issues so agendas could connect with the framed political issues, while the agenda-setting behaviors of The Liberty Times, especially political issue, was of uncertainty. Most of its headlines are not related to politics, but still the framing activity occurred in the political edition.

No description available.

This dissertation examines media content. Specifically, I ask why the media reports the issues that it does. Many explanations have been provided in the past, including theories of journalistic integrity, media bias, and event-driven coverage. This dissertation further develops and tests the profit-seeking theory of news coverage. In this framework, news firms report stories that attract and hold the attention of the audience so as to increase market share of the audience.Chapter 2 reexamines the agenda setting hypothesis, asserting that much of the research that supported it relied upon inappropriate methodology and design to explain a temporal and cyclical phenomenon. To address these problems, I propose and test the profit-seeking theory of media content. In this, and contrary to the agenda-setting hypothesis, public issue salience drives issue content in the news, rather than issue content in the news driving public issue salience. Chapter 3 examines the affect of public opinion, specifically macropartisanship upon issue coverage in the news. As such, I ask if reporters follow the ebb and flow of mass opinion in deciding which issues are newsworthy and which are not. Chapter 4 asks if the public opinion affects the ability of institutional actors, specifically the president, to influence the media agenda.Findings indicate that public opinion does affect subsequent news coverage. The public's perception of the importance of some issues affects the amount of subsequent coverage of those issues. Changes in macropartisanship affect subsequent issue coverage in the news and public issue salience and presidential popularity affect the ability of the president to assert his agenda into the media.

Globally, research has shown that media coverage of illicit drug issues can play an important role in influencing public opinion and shaping drug policies. However, in Afghanistan, the world’s largest opium producer, very little is known about the media coverage of illicit drug issues. Afghan media, especially radio and television have developed dramatically during the past 11 years. Using the theories of agenda setting and framing, this study explored what drug-related topics were covered in the Afghan news media; how were these topics covered; how were the health and social consequences of drug abuse depicted in the media; and how much time was devoted to drug related topics in the media. Employing content analysis, the study examined primetime news coverage of the two leading media outlets: Azadi Radio and Tolo Television from 1st March 2011 until 31st July 2011. This thesis found the following types of imbalances in Afghan media reporting on illicit drug issues: 1) media reports on drug issues were heavily focused on supply reduction issues (81%) while paying considerably less attention to drug demand reduction issues (19%); 2) media predominantly framed illicit drugs as a law enforcement issue (83%) with only 15% of the paragraphs in the sample framing illicit drug as a public health problem; 3) media reporting on illicit drugs heavily relied on official sources (79%) lacking voices of the public health practitioners and drug addicts; 4) media coverage of illicit drug issues was heavily centered in Kabul (56%) with considerably less reporting from southern Afghanistan, which is the largest opium producing region. This study, which is presumably the first of its kind, provides media organizations, policy makers, and public health officials with a broad picture on the drug-related information available to the public on the leading Afghan news outlets. In addition, it serves as a basis for future research on media coverage of illicit drug issues in Afghanistan.

We introduce the Effective Number of Issues measure for e-participation efficiency. This novel index is based on the Shannon entropy measure of biodiversity and summarizes the amount of information gained through an e-participation project in one number. This makes the comparison between different e-participation projects straightforward and lays the foundation for the rigorous analysis of success factors of e-participation projects in a data-driven way. After providing the formula and rationale for the new measure we use the ENI index to benchmark the idea generation process for the digital agenda Vienna against other projects. It turns out that the efficiency of this project is significantly higher than those observed for other cases. We conjecture that this can be attributed to the user-friendly design of the software platform and the effective communication strategy of the process management. Finally, suggestions for further research are given. (authors' abstract)

Syfte och frågeställning: Utifrån kvalitativa intervjuer med journalister på dags-, kvälls- och lokaltidningar ska vi undersöka hur Twitter, som informationsteknologi, påverkar journalisters agendasättande roll, deras identitet och journalistik som profession. Detta görs för att i slutet kunna uttala sig om hur Twitter påverkar svensk journalistik. Metod och material: Studien bygger på kvalitativa intervjuer med fem journalister som har jobbat eller är aktiva på GT, Sydsvenskan, Norra Halland, Aftonbladet, Expressen och Café. Det är expertintervjuer och vi har valt att använda oss av det som kallas bekvämlighetsteknik i vårt urval. Vår empiri analyseras sedan genom abduktion. Huvudresultat: Studien finner att Twitter delvis förändrar svensk journalistik. Publiken har idag en större roll i relation till tidningarna men pressen innehar fortfarande den agendasättande makten. Slutligen förändrar Twitter det som kan kallas den journalistiska identiteten. Ett resultat av detta blir att journalistik inte följer de regler som befäster profession – vilket leder till att journalistik idag kan klassas som en semi-profession.

Syfte och frågeställning: Att undersöka hur två svenska nyhetstidningar valt att skildra en nyhet under vald period. Detta görs genom att besvara följande frågeställning: På vilket sätt skildrar Dagens Nyheter och Svenska Dagbladet ebolaviruset i sina tidningsartiklar från 1 maj 2014 till och med den 31 oktober 2014? Metod och material: Kvantitativ innehållsanalys på samtliga artiklar publicerade i DN och SvD under perioden 1 maj 2014 till och med 31 oktober 2014 samt diskursanalys på sex artiklar. Huvudresultat: I studien framkom det en tydlig förändring i artiklarna under hela undersökningsperioden. Det förändrades från att vara diskussioner om en kris till att sedan diskuteras om olika åtgärder för att minska oroligheten bland invånarna.

Freiburg i. Br., Univ., Magisterarb., 2003.