- Cluj-Napoca, Judetul Cluj, Romania
Delia Balaban
FSPAC, Department for Communication, PR and Advertising, Faculty Member
From its very first pages, Paul Dobrescu’s new book The Dragons of Development makes its roots visible: it is built on a comprehensive literature review, and on a reflection upon progress and supremacy in contemporary societies. The... more
From its very first pages, Paul Dobrescu’s new book The Dragons of Development makes its roots visible: it is built on a comprehensive literature review, and on a reflection upon progress and supremacy in contemporary societies. The author sees the development of a society as “a way to get to know ourselves” (p.10), and the ideas elaborated in the volume are based on historical and societal knowledge. To understand the development of a nation, its cultural roots and the following integration of culture in the norms of that society are a relevant object of study.
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In the last decades, scientific developments are largely discussed and debated mainly at the media level. Based on the agenda setting model, the importance of a certain theme is given by the frequency of its appearances in mass-media.... more
In the last decades, scientific developments are largely discussed and debated mainly at the media level. Based on the agenda setting model, the importance of a certain theme is given by the frequency of its appearances in mass-media. Within this context, this paper focuses on the issue of stem cells and its media coverage in Romania. Using content analysis of the most read national newspapers, the research aims to emphasize two relevant aspects: the stem cells issue is only partly visible in the written media and the debate between ethics and science is rather non-existent.
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In the last few years, thanks to the Internet, access to foreign language media has become more and more easy, which is why the number of foreign language media users has increased. This research focuses on exploring the use of German... more
In the last few years, thanks to the Internet, access to foreign language media has become more and more easy, which is why the number of foreign language media users has increased. This research focuses on exploring the use of German speaking media by Romanian students from the German speaking departments of the Babes-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca. The theoretical background of the study is the Uses and Gratifications theory. The research methods applied were the focus group, followed by a survey applied to a representative number of students. Our research highlighted the fact that the students from German language programs often used German television and German websites. In regard to the German media in general, most respondents stated that they satisfy, in a very large mount, the needs described by the Uses and Gratifications model.
Research Interests: Sociology and Information
This paper focuses on present-day journalism in Eastern European countries, based on 66 guideline interviews with editors and editors-in-chief in Bulgaria, Lithuania, Romania and Russia who were asked about their careers, their working... more
This paper focuses on present-day journalism in Eastern European countries, based on 66 guideline interviews with editors and editors-in-chief in Bulgaria, Lithuania, Romania and Russia who were asked about their careers, their working conditions and their role perception. Using the concept of journal- ism cultures, the paper focuses on professional identities of journalists in these four countries. The main find- ings of the research can be synthesized in the following three main ideas: (1) there is a tendency at the cognitive level to provide informative journalism, (2) there exists a strong orientation toward the needs of the audience, and (3) the economic situation influences journalistic work. Role perceptions are related to three different generations of journalists: those integrated into professional life before 1989, those who en- tered the profession in the early 1990s and those who entered the profession since the mid-1990s. This article deals with journalists in Eastern E...
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Although the idea of creating internal andexternal links within and between institutions isa relatively established one, the public relationsdomain can be considered a new branch of thepromotion process, mainly in the public sector... more
Although the idea of creating internal andexternal links within and between institutions isa relatively established one, the public relationsdomain can be considered a new branch of thepromotion process, mainly in the public sector inRomania. This paper aims at creating an overviewof the profile of public relations departments withinpublic institutions. In this research we aspire touncover the main elements that characterize theprofile of public relations departments within publicinstitutions, from the point of view of their qualityand professionalism. Moreover, this researchaims to establish whether there are differencesconcerning the public relations profile betweenpublic administration institutions and other specific public institutions.
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In February 2014 the Romanian public sphere was literally invaded by details of a case of a 15 year old girl who was missing from home. According to national media, the girl's decision to leave home was based on an unusual element:... more
In February 2014 the Romanian public sphere was literally invaded by details of a case of a 15 year old girl who was missing from home. According to national media, the girl's decision to leave home was based on an unusual element: her need to get closer to the church. During the days that followed starting from the time her mother went to the police station until she was found by the police and brought home, the media coverage was strong. Television stations broadcasted the investigation step by step and the issue was discussed in several talk shows. Both quality papers and tabloids published information about the ongoing investigation and a substantial number of articles revealed the opinions of journalists reporting about the case. Social media was also invaded by this topic.Romania is one of the countries with a high rate of people who declare themselves to be religious. According to a nation-wide survey conducted by Gallup in 2014, 77% of Romanians declared themselves to be...
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The article is a theoretical approach towars the ideas of the so called Toronto School. The central issues of McLuhan’s relevant books are presented bellow strating from the “Mechanical Bride” were he was influenced by Williams, Innis and... more
The article is a theoretical approach towars the ideas of the so called Toronto School. The central issues of McLuhan’s relevant books are presented bellow strating from the “Mechanical Bride” were he was influenced by Williams, Innis and Carey and ending with the “The Global Village”, the book his Powers published in year 1989. Derrick de Kerckhove is seen as the successor of McLuhan and is following his conceptions in the field of new media, the new steep media technology has made after McLuhan’s death.
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New technologies such as Internet and new media introduce new challenges for public communication. Private companies from Romania use in a very creative way the new tools of Web 2.0, such as social media. In the Romanian public sector,... more
New technologies such as Internet and new media introduce new challenges for public communication. Private companies from Romania use in a very creative way the new tools of Web 2.0, such as social media. In the Romanian public sector, especially in the public administration there are important steps taken towards a modern communication. Based on the example of over 40 city halls, city councils, prefectures and county councils from Transylvania, the present paper analyzes the use of new media tools in public communication by applying content analysis and in-depth interviews with the PR representatives in those institutions in two stages, 2011 and 2015. The most important advantages of online communication in public administration are high speed, cost reduction, reaching young audiences, etc. Nevertheless, there are also critical voices that express possible risks such as exclusion of audience groups that have no online media literacy.
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... 235-252). Wiesbaden. 26. Vasilendiuc, Natalia (2007).Portretul socio-profesional al jurnalistului din Republica Moldova, Revista Românã de Jurnalism ºi Comunicare 1/2007, pp. 3-12. 27. Vasilendiuc, Natalia (2008).Cultura ...
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The present paper is an analysis of the development of Communication Science in Romania during the last decades. It starts with a search for a definition for Communication Science and a short history of the research field. One of the main... more
The present paper is an analysis of the development of Communication Science in Romania during the last decades. It starts with a search for a definition for Communication Science and a short history of the research field. One of the main questions to be discussed is whether Communication Science is rather part of social sciences or part of the humanities. Another interesting issue to be discussed is that of the challenges and perspectives regarding the future of Communication Science in Romania. 1. Emerging areas of interest Communication Science is a relatively new science that deals with the research of human communication, both interpersonal and mass communication. Some authors stressed that the origins of Communication Science are related to the Greek philosopher Aristotle and to rhetoric. Many centuries later, the German researcher Otto Groth developed the so called Zeitungswissenschaft (newspaper science). The newspaper as a first vehicle of mass communication was the main fo...
Inaugural speeches of U.S. Presidents are part of symbolic politics. They are part of the political traditions, and represent an important moment in presenting political visions for the future. The infusion of religious elements into... more
Inaugural speeches of U.S. Presidents are part of symbolic politics. They are part of the political traditions, and represent an important moment in presenting political visions for the future. The infusion of religious elements into politicians’ speeches becomes a tool in increasing the number of cast votes and the notoriety. This paper analyzes the inaugural speeches of both Republican and Democrat U.S. Presidents in the past twenty years, starting at the end of the Cold War until nowadays. By means of content analysis we looked for religious elements while comparing the speeches of Democrat and Republican Presidents.
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Populism is presented as a severe challenge to democracies as it delegitimises the institutions and processes on which democratic society is built. The infectious nature of populism within a system drives a shift in the public mood. The... more
Populism is presented as a severe challenge to democracies as it delegitimises the institutions and processes on which democratic society is built. The infectious nature of populism within a system drives a shift in the public mood. The authors investigate this phenomenon through a content analysis of party posts on Facebook during the 2019 European parliamentary elections across 12 countries. They find almost a quarter of posts contain some form of populism, with anti-elitism the most common trope. Populist appeals are most likely to accompany critiques of labour and social policy, labelling elites or minority groups as causing inequalities which disadvantage the ordinary people. Both forms of populism enjoy high levels of user engagement suggesting they gain higher levels of reach within social media platforms. As support for populism rose in the wake of the economic and migrant crises, the authors suggest post-pandemic this increase is likely to continue.
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Nowadays, the relevance of advertising on social media is es- sential, especially for the young audience category for which traditional media is no longer a real consumer option. This paper aims to explore the differences in the... more
Nowadays, the relevance of advertising on social media is es- sential, especially for the young audience category for which traditional media is no longer a real consumer option. This paper aims to explore the differences in the efficiency of online advertising with and without the sup- port of a social media influencer. We conducted a two-level survey-based online between subjects experiment and we manipulate advertising on an influencer account versus advertising on a brand account on social me- dia without the support of the influencer. We compared the effects of the posts promoting Pantene shampoo on the Instagram account of a relevant Romanian beauty influencer Ioana Grama (335K followers) and the posts promoting the same product from the brand Romanian Instagram account (5K). The online survey was disseminated between April 4, 2020–May 7, 2020, to a young female population N=80 participants, age 16 to 32 years, that were randomly assigned in the two above mentioned groups. The...
Research Interests: Psychology and Media
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At the beginning of the novel coronavirus another phenomenon was observed: the dissemination of false information on a large scale The World Health Organization (WHO) stated that the coronavirus pandemic is not the only threat that the... more
At the beginning of the novel coronavirus another phenomenon was observed: the dissemination of false information on a large scale The World Health Organization (WHO) stated that the coronavirus pandemic is not the only threat that the world is facing, but there is also an infodemic that needs to be controlled For example, false articles claiming that SARSCoV-2 was man-made or that the EU is going to be eradicated are invading the health sector This pilot study aims to analyze several COVID-19 related fake news disseminated in Romania that was identified as fake by traditional media outlets A content analysis of N=22 COVID-19 related fake news was conducted using a coding scheme adapted from Keselman et al (2019) The articles were written in a colloquial language, and the majority of them included criticism towards the government and their measures against the pandemic Some of the distinguished features of fake news according to previous literature in the field were identified in the examples that we chose
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When social media influencers (SMIs) post sponsored content, it should be recognizable as such. However, there is no European Union-wide legislation governing sponsorship transparency, and monitoring practices differ significantly across... more
When social media influencers (SMIs) post sponsored content, it should be recognizable as such. However, there is no European Union-wide legislation governing sponsorship transparency, and monitoring practices differ significantly across member states. In Romania, where we conducted our study, such regulations are only just emerging, and there are weak monitoring policies regarding advertising disclosure on SMI branded posts. In this study, we examined how two different types of advertising disclosure commonly used on Instagram are likely to affect consumers’ behavioral outcomes, such as purchase intention and intention toward the SMI, mediated by the activation of conceptual persuasion knowledge (CPK), via negative affect and the trustworthiness of the SMI. We conducted a three-level between-subjects online experiment (N=248), manipulating the absence versus the presence of advertising, which came in one of two types, brand-unspecific (#ad, #sponsoredpost) and brand-specific (paid ...
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Romania is one of the EU member states re- ported to have a high rate of intra-EU migration. There is a temporary labor migration, but also Romanian migrants decide to leave their country for good. This phenomenon has a large economic,... more
Romania is one of the EU member states re- ported to have a high rate of intra-EU migration. There is a temporary labor migration, but also Romanian migrants decide to leave their country for good. This phenomenon has a large economic, cultural, and social impact on society, with the northeastern region of Romania being especially affected. The main objectives of the present re- search are: (1) to analyze the social measures applied by the local authorities, especially the Coun- ty Council and DGASPC (Social Work and Child Protection Services) Suceava to strengthen the ties with the diaspora, and to deal with the problem of the children with one or both parents working abroad, and (2) to determine how the local public authorities communicated on this issue. The applied research methods are document analysis, content analysis of the social media accounts of the above-mentioned institutions, and local media, as well as in-depth interviews that were conducted at the Suceava County Council and the Social Work and Child Protection Services.
Our findings underlined that Suceava county has a defined strategy to deal with the negative effects of the labor migration phenomenon related to the phenomenon of the children left at home, there was a constant preoccupation during the analyzed period to communicate on this subject and even more, the local authorities took some measures to deal with this relevant issue. As both local authorities and local media acknowledged, more social measures are still needed.
Our findings underlined that Suceava county has a defined strategy to deal with the negative effects of the labor migration phenomenon related to the phenomenon of the children left at home, there was a constant preoccupation during the analyzed period to communicate on this subject and even more, the local authorities took some measures to deal with this relevant issue. As both local authorities and local media acknowledged, more social measures are still needed.
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During the Spring of 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, several countries ordered lockdowns. The limitations of movement contributed to the rise of social media activity. The present research focused on how the active use of Instagram had... more
During the Spring of 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, several countries ordered lockdowns. The limitations of movement contributed to the rise of social media activity. The present research focused on how the active use of Instagram had an impact on well-being during the first lockdown in Romania. Aiming to explore how active Instagram use contributes to users' self-esteem, satisfaction with life, and loneliness during an unprecedented situation of a lockdown, we conducted an online survey in April 2020 on young adults (N=411) in Romania. Findings showed that actively using Instagram during the lockdown did not have a significant direct impact on self-esteem and satisfaction with life, but significantly decreased loneliness. Upward comparison of Instagram active users contributed to the increase in self-esteem but decreased the values of satisfaction with life and increased loneliness. The downward comparison had no significant impact on self-esteem, satisfaction with life, and loneliness.
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Social media is associated with the rise of new types of celebrities called influencers, who share their current experiences and ideas and often endorse brands. Developing and keeping a large community of followers is one of the most... more
Social media is associated with the rise of new types of celebrities called influencers, who share their current experiences and ideas and often endorse brands. Developing and keeping a large community of followers is one of the most important goals of influencers. The size of their audiences is one of the elements that make them relevant to the advertising industry. The main objective of the present research is to explore the mechanism that determines users' online behavior related to influencers, such as following them on social media. Moreover, the study examined the role of the perceived information quality and of the perceived trust of the influencers in shaping audiences' attitudes toward influ-encers. The moderating role of the frequency of Instagram and YouTube use on the relationship between perceived information quality and trustworthiness was explored by conducting an online survey (N=1088). The main takeaway from the study is that influencers who want to grow their audiences have to create perceived quality content. This can contribute to both positive attitudes and the development of trust. Also, the frequency of Instagram use has a small moderating role, while the frequency of YouTube use has no effects on the trustworthiness of the influencers.
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This article focuses on the phenomenon of the dissemination of the fake news and its implications during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic in Romania. At the beginning, concepts such as news sharing and information dissemination... more
This article focuses on the phenomenon of the dissemination of the fake news and its implications during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic in Romania. At the beginning, concepts such as news sharing and information dissemination are presented, reviewing the main predictors of this online behavior. Below are summarized some of the most relevant approaches to the phenomenon of false news and its implications from the perspective of communication sciences. Some examples of fake news that circulated between March and April 2020 in Romania and internationally come to illustrate how this phenomenon has turned into a real infodemia, with real and potential negative implications on society. This approach ends with a call for accountability at the institutional, international and national levels, but also at the individual level. Rezumat: Articolul de față tematizează fenomenul diseminărilor știrilor false și implicațiile sale în perioada primelor luni ale pandemiei COVID-19 în România. În debut sunt prezentate concepte precum cel al diseminării informației, trecând în revistă principalii predictori ai acestui comportament online. Mai apoi sunt prezentate în sinteză câteva dintre cele mai relevante abordări ale fenomenului știrilor false și implicațiile sale din perspectiva științelor comunicării. Câteva exemple de știri false care au circulat în perioada martie-aprilie 2020 în România și nu numai vin să ilustreze modul în care acest fenomen s-a transformat într-o veritabilă infodemie, cu reale și potențiale implicații negative asupra societății. Demersul de față se încheie cu un apel la responsabilizare la nivel instituțional, internațional și național, dar și la nivel individual. Cuvinte-cheie: diseminarea informației, infodemia, știri false, pandemie, COVID-19.
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News sharing on social network sites is a common nowadays activity with complex implications. Our model combines content charac
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Romania is one of the countries in the European Union that has been confronted with a large intra-EU migration of population towards countries such as Italy, Spain, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom in the last two decades. Thus,... more
Romania is one of the countries in the European Union that has been confronted with a large intra-EU migration of population towards countries such as Italy, Spain, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom in the last two decades. Thus, one or both parents work abroad for several months or sometimes for years and their children are left in the care of their grandparents or other close relatives. This phenomenon has large implications for the Romanian society and certain regions, such as the Northeastern, are dealing with the consequences. The paper addresses the question of media literacy of the children whose parents are working abroad and adds to the current discussions, in particular to a discourse that does not position children of migrant workers as automatically disadvantaged. As a foundation for our study we used a skills-based model of media literacy (Riesmeyer, Pfaff-Rüdiger, and
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The year 2018 marked the passing of 100 years since the so-called ‘Great Unification’ of Romania with all its historical provinces. This event was highly mediatized and most public institutions strived to initiate dialogue and... more
The year 2018 marked the passing of 100 years since the so-called ‘Great Unification’ of Romania with all its historical provinces. This event was highly mediatized and most public institutions strived to initiate dialogue and aimed to involve their audiences in discussions about this event, especially on their Facebook accounts. The aim of the present paper is to evaluate the online communication of local and central public institu-tions in the context of reaching the peak celebration of a year full of events. Therefore we analyzed the official Facebook pages of the Romanian Government, of all the ministries, of the two chambers of the Parliament and of the city halls of all Romanian county seats in order to find out how and what local and central public administration institutions of the country communicated with the citizens in the period around the pinnacle of this year of celebration: December 1, 2018. We also focused on how audiences engaged in this communication.
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The present research addresses the issue of source credibility of social media influencers from the perspective of users. Social media influencers are defined as online personalities with a large number of followers, across one or several... more
The present research addresses the issue of source credibility of social media influencers from the perspective of users. Social media influencers are defined as online personalities with a large number of followers, across one or several social media platforms. They have a complex role, being content creators, online opinion leaders, and even entrepreneurs. Influencer marketing is becoming a more and more relevant component of current advertising campaigns worldwide. A consistent body of literature has underlined the importance of source credibility for the effectiveness of advertising. Recent researches on Source Credibility Theory (Teng et al, 2014; Djafarova & Rushworth, 2016; Munnukka et al 2016; Lou &Yuan, 2018) have stressed the influence of trustworthiness, expertise, similarity and attractiveness as elements of source credibility on perceived trust in influencer marketing. In order to gain better insights, we chose to conduct qualitative research that can allow us an in-depth perspective on the phenomenon of source credibility in influencer marketing. We carried out four group discussions in Germany and five in Romania. We explored the differences and similarities regarding the users' perception of the perceived credibility of social media influencers.
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Cluj-Napoca has become one of the most dynamic cities in Romania in respect to the development of the cultural/ creative indus- tries. Founded in 2002, transylvania Film Festival (tIFF) was one of the rst events that put the city on the... more
Cluj-Napoca has become one of the most dynamic cities in Romania in respect to the development of the cultural/ creative indus- tries. Founded in 2002, transylvania Film Festival (tIFF) was one of the rst events that put the city on the European cultural map in the last decades. the present paper researched tIFF’s role in the development of cultural industries in Cluj-Napoca. the method consists of content analysis of several public documents related to the research subject: The strategy of development of the city of Cluj-Na- poca 2014-2020, The portfolio of priority proj- ects of the city of Cluj-Napoca for the time frame 2014-2023, TIFF anual reports, etc. Additional ten in-depth-interviews with tIFF staff involved in the activity with international guests and also interna- tional guests that work in the lm industry were conducted during the recent three editions of the lm festival 2015, 2016 and 2017. the focus of the research is the relationship between the role of the festival for the development of the local creative communities and the internationalization strate- gies.
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In the context in which the majority of Romanians are orthodox and the level of trust in Church is very high, this paper aims to analyze the level of political interference into religious life. The article focuses on particular aspects of... more
In the context in which the majority of Romanians are orthodox and the level of trust in Church is very high, this paper aims to analyze the level of political interference into religious life. The article focuses on particular aspects of political communication, namely the use of ...
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In a world where concepts like web 1.0 or CD are slowly becoming a part of the universal inheritance, a new era is slowly taking it's place among us. We are talking about the world of web 2.0, of gadgets and the world of the online... more
In a world where concepts like web 1.0 or CD are slowly becoming a part of the universal inheritance, a new era is slowly taking it's place among us. We are talking about the world of web 2.0, of gadgets and the world of the online communities. The main purpose of this study is to discover deep motivations that determine young people, mostly students to be a part of these online communities. The theoretical background of the research is the uses and gratification approach and the method that has been used is focus group. It is a qualitative approach; the method consists in focus groups. The motivations that determine young people to use online social networks are psychological ones, and they are strongly related to the human needs of communication, socialization, being an active part of a group, or maintaining long distance friendships.
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In the present study we focus on the use of social network sites by Romanian and German youth in a comparative manner. Our research questions are 1. Are there differences in the use of social network sites by young people in Germany and... more
In the present study we focus on the use of social network sites by Romanian and German youth in a comparative manner. Our research questions are 1. Are there differences in the use of social network sites by young people in Germany and Romania? 2. Are there differences in the motivation to use social network sites? and 3. How do they see the information shared on social networks? The present study is of exploratory nature and it was only the first step in analyzing the differences between Romanian and German students with respect to the use of SNS such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and WhatsApp. Based on a qualitative methodology, our results cannot be subject for generalization. Nevertheless , we emphasized some relevant tendency such as: a migration towards
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The phenomenon of news sharing was in the focus of the communication research in the past years. It is a complex phenomenon with various implications for the society, but also for individual and thus, there are numerous approaches to it.... more
The phenomenon of news sharing was in the focus of the communication research in the past years. It is a complex phenomenon with various implications for the society, but also for individual and thus, there are numerous approaches to it. Through our theoretical outlook, we propose exploring news sharing theoretical approaches through their connections with various other concepts such as fake news, dysinformation, disfunctional information. We analyzed the way established theoretical framework in the communication science such as: the spiral of silence theory, the uses and gratifications approach, the theory of reasoned action, and the agenda-set- ting model were used to explain news sharing behaviour. We also took a closer look at the the areas of communication science such as political communication, online journalism, etc. in which news sharing research was conducted in the last years.
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The 2015 refugee crisis, and the ensuing policy debates towards a common European migration policy have held the attention of Romanian news media as well, as one of the most challenging issues for the European Union in the last decade.... more
The 2015 refugee crisis, and the ensuing policy debates towards a common European migration policy have held the attention of Romanian news media as well, as one of the most challenging issues for the European Union in the last decade. Even though Romania is not situated directly on the main routes on which refugees arrive to European countries, the issue was highly salient for both the news media and the public. In this case, the role of the media is even more important, as the main interface through which the public comes into contact with the related issues.
The present research focuses on (1) how the European Union and the member states were pictured by media related to the refugee crisis and the EU refugee and migration politics in the time frame: April 2015- December 2018 and (2) on mediated public diplomacy of the European Commission and of the European Council.
The present research focuses on (1) how the European Union and the member states were pictured by media related to the refugee crisis and the EU refugee and migration politics in the time frame: April 2015- December 2018 and (2) on mediated public diplomacy of the European Commission and of the European Council.