Theodora A . Maniou
University of Cyprus, Social and Political Sciences, Faculty Member
Based on a qualitative analysis of news posts on traditional media Facebook pages, this work seeks to explore the way(s) in which established news organisations in the United Kingdom use their social media accounts in times of extreme... more
Based on a qualitative analysis of news posts on traditional media Facebook pages, this work seeks to explore the way(s) in which established news organisations in the United Kingdom use their social media accounts in times of extreme crisis. Specifically, we seek to assess what (other) types of news are publicised through social media beyond those related to the crisis itself. Findings show that wellrespected international news organisations choose to post news items that aim to (a) distract from a bleak reality, (b) suggest ways to cope with new challenges and (c) create a community to alleviate the sense of loneliness. We argue that social media posts about the 'rest of the news' in times of crisis do much more than emphasise the 'softer' aspects of the crisis; they attempt to deliver another kind of message that there are ways to cope with adversity and that, eventually, things will work out.
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The issue of SLAPPs remains a largely understudied area in journalism studies. Limited academic work on the topic mainly focuses on its legal aspects and there is little empirical academic work engaging with the way SLAPPs are experienced... more
The issue of SLAPPs remains a largely understudied area in journalism studies. Limited academic work on the topic mainly focuses on its legal aspects and there is little empirical academic work engaging with the way SLAPPs are experienced by those who are personally involved. This study focuses on illuminating the impact of these vexatious and frivolous lawsuits on investigative journalism and press freedom, and recording whether journalists experience additional or different consequences from SLAPPs in comparison to other types of threats. Based on interviews with journalists who have experienced SLAPPs in recent years and documenting their personal experiences, the study sheds light on the hidden professional and personal costs of investigative reporting, attempts to assess this phenomenon in relation to its effects on journalism and journalists, and is one of the few to record and analyze journalists’ personal beliefs and experiences.
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During crises the newsmedia are expected to provide relevant and accurate information to help citizens comprehend the crisis and act upon it. As a source-driven practice, journalism relies on a variety of sources to validate news and... more
During crises the newsmedia are expected to provide relevant and accurate information to help citizens comprehend the crisis and act upon it. As a source-driven practice, journalism relies on a variety of sources to validate news and provide perspectives. The disruptive nature of a crisis though raises questions about how journalists select sources and what these choices say about professional autonomy and criticality. Considering source choices as newsgathering venues and strategies, and drawing on semi-structured interviews with journalists in Greece and Cyprus, the study explores the factors that shaped journalists' sourcing practices during the COVID-19 crisis. We find that journalists over-relied on political sources and selective authoritative voices compromising the tenets of verification and independence. The fear to convey inaccurate or 'biased' information amid disinformation flows, bolstered journalist's elite orientation. Professional precarity and economic pressures are found to further worsen the 'lived experience' of journalists limiting their ability to question and scrutinise power in times of crises.
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The implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for newsrooms across the world range from severe economic hardship to increased threats to press freedom. The "perfect storm" that engulfed the media and journalists globally has threatened and... more
The implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for newsrooms across the world range from severe economic hardship to increased threats to press freedom. The "perfect storm" that engulfed the media and journalists globally has threatened and continues to challenge their existence, and the core of their mission to serve the public interest. This study maps the impact of external political, economic, legal and societal factors on journalistic freedom and the way(s) news organizations and journalists operate in times of global crisis in four Southern European countries. It provides a fuller cross-national perspective on the complex relationship between media, journalism and politics in countries with existing democratic deficits. Findings are based on 32 semi-structured interviews with journalists working in four Southern European countries, namely Bulgaria, Greece, Cyprus and Malta, conducted in 2022. We find increased economic challenges to their fragile media markets, high level of state intervention, political parallelism in coverage of the pandemic and beyond, and numerous threats to the autonomy of journalists that hamper journalism and question its development in the future. The study's implications are relevant to different contexts, particularly in countries where journalism and media face similar challenges.
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The existing literature presents several studies which show that the levels of press freedom can affect the state of the economy. What has not thus far been investigated is whether the economy can affect the levels of press freedom, the... more
The existing literature presents several studies which show that the levels of press freedom can affect the state of the economy. What has not thus far been investigated is whether the economy can affect the levels of press freedom, the specific economic conditions that mainly affect it and the differences among various countries. This study attempts to analyze the impact of economic conditions on the degree of press freedom, in 18 countries of the western world based on a quantitative analysis for the period 2002–2019, and advance our understanding of this relationship. We find that the state of the economy within a country can affect the level of press freedom while the effects of economic conditions on the degree of press freedom seem to vary among different media systems of the western world.
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This paper draws evidence from a national survey conducted in the Republic of Cyprus. Respondents provided evidence about their own self-promotion on social media while assessing other users' personal salience online. Furthermore, they... more
This paper draws evidence from a national survey conducted in the Republic of Cyprus. Respondents provided evidence about their own self-promotion on social media while assessing other users' personal salience online. Furthermore, they provided evidence about their own reactions toward other people's personal salience. The study shows that respondents display affective, perceptional, as well as behavioral reactions toward other people's online visibility. Demographic characteristics along with certain types of control variables are associated with individuals' personal salience. Although transferring personal salience constitutes a segmented social media influence, this survey shows that it is recognized as a widespread objective and priority by ordinary individuals.
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This study explores the specific characteristics of science news stories posted on social media platforms during the first phase of the global pandemic crisis (the first semester of 2020). The focus of the study is to enhance our... more
This study explores the specific characteristics of science news stories posted on social media platforms during the first phase of the global pandemic crisis (the first semester of 2020). The focus of the study is to enhance our understanding of the selection criteria for science-related news content posted on social media platforms. Our approach takes into consideration the evolving technological environment of these platforms and the new relationships between media professionals and social media users. Our findings indicate that, under specific circumstances, scientific discoveries may be prioritized in the selection of news stories. We also suggest specific additions to the framework proposed by Harcup and O'Neil (2017), indicating that news stories during crisis situations are more internationally oriented, where audience proximity is created not around "nearby" events but those occurring in other countries around the world. In times of crisis, the main target of news stories is not simply to attract the audience's interest with classic clickbait tactics but to respond to the immediate socio-political context in a meaningful way.
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This study compares the editorial coverage of the 2015 migration crisis in major centreleft and centre-right newspapers in three European countries affected (the UK, Germany and Greece). We test the empirical validity of the 'national... more
This study compares the editorial coverage of the 2015 migration crisis in major centreleft and centre-right newspapers in three European countries affected (the UK, Germany and Greece). We test the empirical validity of the 'national media-system' hypothesis, and in particular the hypothesised characteristics of the different media systems these countries represent through a systematic content analysis of all editorials referring to the issue of migration/asylum for the period 2015-2016. For the purposes of data collection, we develop an original coding scheme that combines concepts and categories from the extant literature on media systems, as well as the literature on migration-related news frames. Our findings largely confirm the relevance of media-system characteristics in the coverage of the crisis, although UK editorials are markedly more polarised than expected. We also find that there was no consensus-based editorial coverage in the initial phase of the crisis.
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This article discusses the relationship between the post-2008 global economic crisis and trauma journalism through a quantitative study of reporters covering austerity’s everyday manifestations and examines the effects on the media... more
This article discusses the relationship between the post-2008 global economic crisis and trauma journalism through a quantitative study of reporters covering austerity’s everyday manifestations and examines the effects on the media professionals involved. The findings indicate that journalists who cover economic crisis-related incidents suffer specific symptoms of trauma. As such, the study re-conceptualizes the economic crisis as primarily affective for media workers, it establishes a direct correlation between the economic crisis and emotional trauma, and provides an insight into the kind of trauma that stems from covering
austerity and its impact on society. A regression analysis of symptoms indicates trauma journalism as an emerging field of research into the economic crisis.
austerity and its impact on society. A regression analysis of symptoms indicates trauma journalism as an emerging field of research into the economic crisis.
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This study focuses on contributing to the emerging international research agenda regarding press freedom, moving beyond the already established factors that relate to political and industrial norms as influences on press freedom. Its... more
This study focuses on contributing to the emerging international research agenda regarding press freedom, moving beyond the already established factors that relate to political and industrial norms as influences on press freedom. Its primary goal is to explore the dynamics of influence on press freedom in different media systems of the western world based on a quantitative analysis of data for 2008–2019 in 16 countries. Findings indicate that press freedom in democratic countries is severely challenged and in certain deeply worrying cases, it is steadily declining, whereas factors that influence this decline appear to be common in different, even contradictory, media systems. In addition, by examining the dynamics of influence on press freedom in different media systems, this work attempts to partially contribute to the discussion on the evolution of western media systems as regards their relationship with press freedom.
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Based on the emerging argument that understandings of digital content comprising both editorial and advertising components require alternative cultures for critical inquiry sufficiently sensitive to the online news environment, this study... more
Based on the emerging argument that understandings of digital content comprising both editorial and advertising components require alternative cultures for critical inquiry sufficiently sensitive to the online news environment, this study assesses the professional practice of balancing news and sponsored (commercial) information while focusing on preserving traditional journalism values within the realm of reasoned discussions of media ethics. The research is based on qualitative content analysis: different forms of sponsored editorial content published in global media digital platforms are examined and inductive content analysis is employed.
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Across the globe, governments have issued emergency and drastic measures aimed at tracking the spread of COVID-19 and safeguarding public health. Notwithstanding the necessity and importance of some of these measures, this work argues... more
Across the globe, governments have issued emergency and drastic measures aimed at tracking the spread of COVID-19 and safeguarding public health. Notwithstanding the necessity and importance of some of these measures, this work argues that numerous governments around the world used the pandemic crisis as a pretext to push through restrictions that hamper critical journalism. Drawing from worldwide press freedom monitoring tools and platforms established by various credible global organizations, this study shows that the pandemic crisis exacerbates existing obstacles to press freedom and adds new dimensions to the already documented threats. This is evident not only in authoritarian states, but also in western democracies. Most of the threats documented specifically aim to silence digital journalism, which has gained significant momentum as a result of the pandemic crisis. Overall, the main target of this work is to offer an enriched conceptual approach to the types of threats that press freedom faces in the context of global crisis situations.
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This article presents an overview of the role of the media in nationalism and identity-shaping in post-crisis societies experiencing conflict, focusing on the impact of the recent economic crisis on diversity in political news reporting.... more
This article presents an overview of the role of the media in nationalism and identity-shaping in post-crisis societies experiencing conflict, focusing on the impact of the recent economic crisis on diversity in political news reporting. The research is based on a time series analysis (2000–2019) of diversity in traditional and online political news reporting, framed by a thematic analysis of journalists’ interviews. Cyprus is used as a case-study, as an example of a ‘divided’ country. Findings suggest that news diversity in societies experiencing conflict significantly reduced after the economic crisis in traditional media but increased in online media. At the same time, representations of nationalism in the news media seem to be taking alternative directions. The study challenges the way(s) in which media history is read in post-crisis societies experiencing conflict where the media play a significant role in assessing notions of togetherness as opposed to images of separatism.
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In the era of big data, within the intense environment of social media, the effective communication of cultural heritage initiatives is considered of equal or—in some cases—even greater importance than heritage data themselves. Media and... more
In the era of big data, within the intense environment of social media, the effective
communication of cultural heritage initiatives is considered of equal or—in some cases—even greater
importance than heritage data themselves. Media and journalists play a critical and in some cases
conflicting role in audience engagement and the sustainable promotion of cultural heritage narratives
within the social media environment. The aim of this study was to assess the role of media and
journalists in propagating cultural heritage news through social media platforms, and the narratives
they tend to create in the digital public sphere. A qualitative approach is employed as a means of
examining in-depth specific narratives, their meaning(s) and connotation(s), using semantic analysis.
communication of cultural heritage initiatives is considered of equal or—in some cases—even greater
importance than heritage data themselves. Media and journalists play a critical and in some cases
conflicting role in audience engagement and the sustainable promotion of cultural heritage narratives
within the social media environment. The aim of this study was to assess the role of media and
journalists in propagating cultural heritage news through social media platforms, and the narratives
they tend to create in the digital public sphere. A qualitative approach is employed as a means of
examining in-depth specific narratives, their meaning(s) and connotation(s), using semantic analysis.
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This article examines significant changes in the television news industry, from 2015 until 2019, a period characterized by a severe financial crisis that swept throughout the country, bringing to the forefront of the Greek public sphere,... more
This article examines significant changes in the television news industry, from 2015 until 2019, a period characterized by a severe financial crisis that swept throughout the country, bringing to the forefront of the Greek public sphere, new political voices of both the right and the left. Using secondary data to examine media ownership patterns, we adopted a political economic approach to highlight the ways in which television news have adopted a populist outlook that has its origins in similar practices in the 1980s political and media contexts, while reviewing and assessing long-term interactions between media (television) industries and the political system.
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In recent years, digitalization has detached television content from the television screen, and so the television is no longer the only choice for personal audiovisual consumption. The audio-visual market is facing increased fragmentation... more
In recent years, digitalization has detached television content from the television screen, and so the television is no longer the only choice for personal audiovisual consumption. The audio-visual market is facing increased fragmentation due to the multiplicity of delivering platforms. Furthermore, the digital touch has brought about far-reaching changes in people’s audio-visual consumption practices. The protagonists of this new digital landscape are the members of Generation Z (GenZ), who are early adopters of the digital innovation. In this article, contemporary consumption behaviours of audio-visual content, contrasting those at the times of traditional television viewing, are explored in the context of the GenZ community. In Greece, GenZ represent nearly 20 per cent of the entire population and makes an interesting target to be scrutinized under the prism of ongoing studies of media usage.
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This experiment was designed to explore people’s critical, differentiating capacity between actual news and content that looks like news. Four groups of postmillennials read four versions of a news story. While the first condition... more
This experiment was designed to explore people’s critical, differentiating capacity between actual news and content that looks like news. Four groups of postmillennials read four versions of a news story. While the first condition included a real news story derived from a mainstream medium, the other three conditions tested three attributes of fakeness, namely an exaggerated, satirical, and popularised frame of disinformation. Although readers differentiated between satire and the actual news story, no significant differences were observed between exaggerated and simplified versions of news and the actual news story. Additional intervening variables were scrutinized, showing a connection between the
salience of a story and its perceptions of fakeness.
salience of a story and its perceptions of fakeness.
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Civic engagement is essential to democracy in the sense that it secures social justice for all genders. To this end, understanding data, and more importantly Big Data, is very important in the area of gender studies, and is a powerful... more
Civic engagement is essential to democracy in the sense that it secures social justice for all genders. To this end, understanding data, and more importantly Big Data, is very important in the area of gender studies, and is a powerful tool in promoting improved civic engagement for women. This entry presents an overview of the challenges, problems, and opportunities of Big Data in the field of civic engagement and gender equality through online and offline communication.
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Although extensive research has been conducted into the role of the media in fighting corruption, media organisations and journalists themselves are not immune to it. The issue of corruption in the media remains understudied and has thus... more
Although extensive research has been conducted into the role of the media in fighting corruption, media organisations and journalists themselves are not immune to it. The issue of corruption in the media remains understudied and has thus far mainly focused on case-studies of specific countries characterised by corruption as a core societal characteristic, as well as of under-developed and developing countries. This study focuses on the issue of media corruption in Europe, based on a comparative analysis between countries of the South and North, investigating the impact of the global economic crisis on media corruption. The research presents clear evidence of increased indications of media corruption in the North of Europe in comparison to the media systems of the European South, the area most affected by the global economic crisis.
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In recent years, social networks have played a significant role during major crisis events as citizens use these networks to seek information, discuss and share personal news stories, while interacting with other users regarding issues... more
In recent years, social networks have played a significant role during major crisis events as citizens use these networks to seek information, discuss and share personal news stories, while interacting with other users regarding issues related to the perceived crisis. As a result, news content posted on social networks is of crucial importance since it can affect public opinion in various ways. The aim of this study is to assess dominant narratives generated through users’ reactions towards news content posted on Facebook so as to examine the role of Facebook during the global crisis of COVID-19. Drawing from different aspects of crisis communication theory and audience-centered studies, this work seeks to investigate the constructed meanings related to this crisis and interpret users’ understanding of news content posted on social networks. Content analysis is employed as a means to evaluate Facebook’s potential in (re)defining users’ narratives regarding issues related to COVID-19.
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The use of chatbots in news media platforms, although relatively recent, offers many advantages to journalists and media professionals and, at the same time, facilitates users' interaction with useful and timely information. This study... more
The use of chatbots in news media platforms, although relatively recent, offers many advantages to journalists and media professionals and, at the same time, facilitates users' interaction with useful and timely information. This study shows the usability of a news chatbot during a crisis situation, employing the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic as a case study. The basic targets of the research are to design and implement a chatbot in a news media platform with a twofold aim in regard to evaluation: first, the technical effort of creating a functional and robust news chatbot in a crisis situation both from the AI perspective and interoperability with other platforms, which constitutes the novelty of the approach; and second, users' perception regarding the appropriation of this news chatbot as an alternative means of accessing existing information during a crisis situation. The chatbot designed was evaluated in terms of effectively fulfilling the social responsibility function of crisis reporting, to deliver timely and accurate information on the COVID-19 pandemic to a wide audience. In this light, this study shows the advantages of implementing chatbots in news platforms during a crisis situation, when the audience's needs for timely and accurate information rapidly increase.
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The use of chatbots in news media platforms, although relatively recent, offers many advantages to journalists and media professionals and, at the same time, facilitates users' interaction with useful and timely information. This study... more
The use of chatbots in news media platforms, although relatively recent, offers many advantages to journalists and media professionals and, at the same time, facilitates users' interaction with useful and timely information. This study shows the usability of a news chatbot during a crisis situation, employing the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic as a case study. The basic targets of the research are to design and implement a chatbot in a news media platform with a twofold aim in regard to evaluation: first, the technical effort of creating a functional and robust news chatbot in a crisis situation both from the AI perspective and interoperability with other platforms, which constitutes the novelty of the approach; and second, users' perception regarding the appropriation of this news chatbot as an alternative means of accessing existing information during a crisis situation. The chatbot designed was evaluated in terms of effectively fulfilling the social responsibility function of crisis reporting, to deliver timely and accurate information on the COVID-19 pandemic to a wide audience. In this light, this study shows the advantages of implementing chatbots in news platforms during a crisis situation, when the audience's needs for timely and accurate information rapidly increase.
Research Interests: Artificial Intelligence, Media Studies, New Media, Journalism, Multimedia, and 9 moreCrisis communication and management, Crisis Communication, Multimedia Communications, Robotic Journalism, Online Gatekeeping, The future of news, Chatbots, Journalism And Mass communication, News Analysis, and COVID-19 PANDEMIC
. In the evolving news media landscape, the proliferation of user-generated con-tent in online news outlets and social media platforms has triggered changes in traditional processes and relationships. However, the coexistence of... more
. In the evolving news media landscape, the proliferation of user-generated con-tent in online news outlets and social media platforms has triggered changes in traditional processes and relationships. However, the coexistence of professional and amateur content raises a wide range of matters. Misinformation is one of the main problems faced by media organizations during the exploitation of huge amounts of data. In order to ensure the quality of the content, journalists use con-trol methods and perform fact-checking not only on their own, but also by engag-ing users. By offering an examination of key issues arising from UGC research, this article seeks to focus on the application of participatory practices in fact-checking. In addition to more traditional methods, the web-based platform of Tru-ly Media, which supports collaborative verification, is used as a case-study.
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In the evolving news media landscape, the proliferation of user-generated content in online news outlets and social media platforms has triggered changes in traditional processes and relationships. However, the coexistence of professional... more
In the evolving news media landscape, the proliferation of user-generated content in online news outlets and social media platforms has triggered changes in traditional processes and relationships. However, the coexistence of professional and amateur content raises a wide range of matters. Misinformation is one of the main problems faced by media organizations during the exploitation of huge amounts of data. In order to ensure the quality of the content, journalists use control methods and perform fact-checking not only on their own, but also by engaging users. By offering an examination of key issues arising from UGC research, this article seeks to focus on the application of participatory practices in fact-checking. In addition to more traditional methods, the webbased platform of Truly Media, which supports collaborative verification, is used as a case-study.
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The need for journalism educators to critically reflect on social, economic, and technological global changes has been on the agenda since the early 2000s. In this era of disruption, digitalization offers new possibilities by using the... more
The need for journalism educators to critically reflect on social, economic, and technological global changes has been on the agenda since the early 2000s. In this era of disruption, digitalization offers new possibilities by using the internet, its platforms, and its ability to create new forms of training. This piece presents ways in which a new journalism education model can be implemented to better train student journalists.
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Fact checking and verification techniques have been called to tackle disinformation (Silverman, 2014) as a significant problem for journalists and news organizations around the world. A thorough understanding of how to include these... more
Fact checking and verification techniques have been called to tackle disinformation (Silverman, 2014) as a significant problem for journalists and news organizations around the world. A thorough understanding of how to include these practices in media education and also to measure their impact on journalism students’ daily practice is a major challenge. This paper aims to examine the effectiveness of fact checking and verification training through a qualitative study based on two focus groups of journalism students that have been trained in implementing such techniques in Greece and Cyprus. Our intention is to examine the extent to which these groups can implement and evaluate such tools in their daily practices. As such, the method used is focus group interviews to assess attitudes toward fact checking techniques. Through our analysis we aim to document several important challenges in introducing these courses. To this end, this study presents the most in-depth examination of journalism students’ attitudes towards fact checking to date and of its effects on students’ factual knowledge and implementation. Overall, this paper reports on the lessons learned by introducing fact checking and verification in teaching journalism curricula in an era beyond digitalization.
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Since the information communication conversion took place during the two last decades of the twentieth century, significant changes occurred in the media industry. The journalistic narrative has been enriched with multimedia and... more
Since the information communication conversion took place during the two last decades of the twentieth century, significant changes occurred in the media industry. The journalistic narrative has been enriched with multimedia and interactive features, but the basic media of communication-that is text, photos and videos-remain constant. The introduction of chatbots in the last 10 years has provided new possibilities for transforming the journalistic narrative by utilizing interactive dialogue that can take place even in the form of nature language. This paper discusses the usage and the actual implementation of chatbot in a news article. The outcome of the study includes a working protype of a news article that embeds a chatbot which provides an additional narrative. CCS CONCEPTS • Human-centered computing •Interaction design • Empirical studies in interaction design KEYWORDS Chatbot, journalistic narrative, News article, Content management system.
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This article introduces the concept of visual infotainment, the aspects of infotain-ment found in visual artefacts employed in the news. Using a case study, we examine the photographs published in the digital media to report on the... more
This article introduces the concept of visual infotainment, the aspects of infotain-ment found in visual artefacts employed in the news. Using a case study, we examine the photographs published in the digital media to report on the negotiations between the Greek-and Turkish-Cypriot communities, which took place in 2016 and 2017. A four-level visual framing analysis is used to identify a consistent set of frames. It aims to identify the political ideologies that appear to be behind the visual infotainment in these pictorial reports, and the specifi c ways in which hard news can be transformed into soft news. Our research confi rms the presence of visual infotainment elements of personalisation, emotion, morbidity and sensation-alism. Overall, the study shows that visual infotainment serves to establish visual frames produced by and for contradictory propagandas, one of which favours ethnic nationalism while the other promotes confl ict resolution.
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In this study the emerging processes of news consumption among young adults of the post-millennial generation are explored. New forms of journalism, such as video journalism, interactive journalism, multimedia journalism, long form and... more
In this study the emerging processes of news consumption among young adults of the post-millennial generation are explored. New forms of journalism, such as video journalism, interactive journalism, multimedia journalism, long form and slow journalism are presented along with their impact on the aforementioned audience. To support the theory on behavioral patterns of online news usage, a focus group among English speaking university students, majoring in journalism was conducted in Greek and Cypriot Universities. Furthermore, the interactive reporting series “NSA files: decoded” was used as a case study, to answer whether experimental forms like interactive reporting is compatible with the needs of the generation under study. In general young adults in this research stated that they prefer traditional form of reporting rather than interactive. It seems that as interactivity is getting more and more present, the less coherent the narration becomes. Even though young adults are known as active learners, they prefer a strong narrative to an interactive template. That sparks a debate about what the future of journalism would be.
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This entry provides a broad overview of broadcast journalism in television. Tracing the historical evolution of television reporting, this entry describes both traditional and new forms of broadcast journalism in television, its structure... more
This entry provides a broad overview of broadcast journalism in television. Tracing the historical evolution of television reporting, this entry describes both traditional and new forms of broadcast journalism in television, its structure and content, and analyzes the ethical values and challenges facing television journalists. The aim is to thoroughly present theoretical and empirical issues regarding television journalism.
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This article examines the ways in which modern students of Social Sciences (including Journalism) identify the, so called, ‘fake news’. The aims of this work are to identify the factors that enable students to distinguish between fake and... more
This article examines the ways in which modern students of Social Sciences (including Journalism) identify the, so called, ‘fake news’. The aims of this work are to identify the factors that enable students to distinguish between fake and real news, as well as any differences between students of Journalism compared to those of other Social Sciences, in order to be able to formulate adequate teaching curricula that can enhance students’ ability to distinguish disinformation and fake news. Focus group interviews were used in order to investigate how students conceive of fake and real news. The sample consisted of forty undergraduate students, ten of whom from the field of Journalism, separated into groups of ten students for the interviews. All groups were given items of fake and real news published in new media and were then questioned on distinguishing them and their characteristics. The results show that the majority of journalism students and a significant number of students in other Social Sciences were able to discern fake from real news items supplied, although a small proportion were confused in identifying them. Students who were successful, pointed out that they perceived the combination of titles, photographs and content in fake stories as inconsistent, factors which may enable academics to design curricula in all Social Sciences.
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With the advent of Web 2.0, new forms of journalism arose, paving the way for the implementation of computational and automatization processes in all aspects of mass communication. As such, chatbots have already been adapted in the news... more
With the advent of Web 2.0, new forms of journalism arose, paving the way for the implementation of computational and automatization processes in all aspects of mass communication. As such, chatbots have already been adapted in the news media platforms bringing forward a series of issues and effects upon journalistic narrative, content and professional practices. This paper presents the role of chatbots and their characteristics, discusses the application of different types of chatbots in the news media and presents a theoretical overview of the advantages and disadvantages regarding their adaptation in journalism, as well as key ethical concerns connected to the emergence of this new journalistic narrative.
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In recent decades, journalism has undergone considerable transformation, initially fuelled by the digitalization of journalistic work flows and subsequently by the introduction of the Internet, its services, and its effects. Since... more
In recent decades, journalism has undergone considerable transformation, initially fuelled by the digitalization of journalistic work flows and subsequently by the introduction of the Internet, its services, and its effects. Since contemporary journalists employ multiple digital tools and services to gather, administrate, and process information for public consumption, new types/genres of journalism have emerged. Among these, data journalism is one of the most prominent, introduced due to the availability of data in digital form and also to the abundance of efficient online tools that help users analyze, visualize, and publish large amounts of data. Indeed, it is not only the journalistic profession that has changed, but the communication process itself, which has been fundamentally altered to meet the public's current needs and demands. This paper introduces and examines the mediated data model of communication flow to describe these new norms in the mass communication process. Using big data as a case study and moving on to data journalism, we provide a theoretical overview of the model, employing the theory of the two-step flow of communication as a starting point, while attempting to shed light on the current communication process between journalists/media and their initial sources of information.
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This study examines the characteristics of Infotainment Journalism in a society under crisis. Using the Greek-Cypriot press as a case study, we contrast news reporting during 2013 (after the onset of the banking crisis) to the preceding... more
This study examines the characteristics of Infotainment Journalism in a society under crisis. Using the Greek-Cypriot press as a case study, we contrast news reporting during 2013 (after the onset of the banking crisis) to the preceding year. In the course of the study, both quantitative and qualitative analytical methods are employed; formal content analysis used to investigate the occurrence of various infotainment features in news stories, and framing analysis to explore how these are established. This study shows a significant rise of infotainment characteristics in the news during times of crisis, while in new items/reportages where infotainment characteristics are present, stories seem to be presented in predominantly humanitarian frames, indicating an effort to present hard and soft news in a socially relevant manner. Although a significant increase in its occurrence is observed after the onset of the banking crisis, infotainment does not become a dominant, or even a major, journalistic type.
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The clash between European and national identities has generated an ongoing debate in the European Union, which usually peaks in times of crises. Such a crisis occurred in June-July 2015 when Greece experienced a fresh culmination of its... more
The clash between European and national identities has generated an ongoing debate in the European Union, which usually peaks in times of crises. Such a crisis occurred in June-July 2015 when Greece experienced a fresh culmination of its ongoing financial and socio-political stalemate. The negotiations between the Greek government and the EU administration led to a strain on the banking system, a dividing referendum and social movements in the country, resulting in the national elections of September 2015. Greeks around the world perceived this crisis in multiple ways, but for Greek-Cypriots, it brought forth memories of the 2013 banking crisis (at least). It is of interest to examine the role of national media, and specifically television, in the process of European and national identity making in times of crisis. The aim of the case study is to scrutinize and understand the portrayal of the 2015 Greek crisis as presented to the Cypriot society through the national television channels. Engaging in a qualitative framing analysis, this article investigates the political and social aspects in which the crisis in Greece was portrayed, as well as political problematizations concerning conflicts between the European, Hellenic and Cypriot aspects of the national identity, all or some of which many Greek-Cypriots consciously claim to adopt. As this research indicates, the framing of television news during the crisis was ideologically, rather than ethnically, motivated, while the events precipitated deviations from traditional positions on national identity in all ideological groups of the country. Importantly, this study uncovers a subtle trend to promote a new, European awareness in the national identity, attempting to generate sympathy for this multicultural and multinational community of rival politics and opportunity.
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The clash between European and national identities has generated an ongoing debate in the European Union, which usually peaks in times of crises. Such a crisis occurred in June-July 2015 when Greece experienced a fresh culmination of its... more
The clash between European and national identities has generated an ongoing debate in the European Union, which usually peaks in times of crises. Such a crisis occurred in June-July 2015 when Greece experienced a fresh culmination of its ongoing financial and socio-political stalemate. The negotiations between the Greek government and the EU administration led to a strain on the banking system, a dividing referendum and social movements in the country, resulting in the national elections of September 2015. Greeks around the world perceived this crisis in multiple ways, but for Greek-Cypriots, it brought forth memories of the 2013 banking crisis (at least). It is of interest to examine the role of national media, and specifically television, in the process of European and national identity making in times of crisis. The aim of the case study is to scrutinize and understand the portrayal of the 2015 Greek crisis as presented to the Cypriot society through the national television channels. Engaging in a qualitative framing analysis, this article investigates the political and social aspects in which the crisis in Greece was portrayed, as well as political problematizations concerning conflicts between the European, Hellenic and Cypriot aspects of the national identity, all or some of which many Greek-Cypriots consciously claim to adopt. As this research indicates, the framing of television news during the crisis was ideologically, rather than ethnically, motivated, while the events precipitated deviations from traditional positions on national identity in all ideological groups of the country. Importantly, this study uncovers a subtle trend to promote a new, European awareness in the national identity, attempting to generate sympathy for this multicultural and multinational community of rival politics and opportunity.
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Mass media concurrently shape and are shaped by social norms, in Cyprus as in all other cultures. Specific images, speech and/or actions are gendered in the media and such gendering is both linked to, and influential of, wider social and... more
Mass media concurrently shape and are shaped by social norms, in Cyprus as in all other cultures. Specific images, speech and/or actions are gendered in the media and such gendering is both linked to, and influential of, wider social and cultural norms, attitudes, and practices. This paper investigates gender and gender conflict as they are represented in two popular Cypriot media forms. The first, the Radio Sketch, is a radio entertainment programme that is unique in the media of Cyprus and which was one of the most popular media outputs in Cyprus from the 1950s until the late 1980s. The second mass medium considered in this paper is lifestyle magazines, one of the most popular contemporary Cypriot mass culture forms. This paper identifies and analyses specific features of the representations of gender relations that predominate in each of these media forms. As the entire spectrum of gender relations cannot be fully explored in a single project, we have chosen to focus our research to the investigation of how gendered images and characteristics manifest gender relations, and to explore the power relations conjured in and through these representations. Finally, we compare and contrast the findings from our studies of the Sketches and lifestyle magazines. This enabled us to reflect on the changes in gendered images, and thereby gender relations, in popular Cypriot media over the period from the 1970s until today, and to consider how social change might relate to the alterations in these gendered media representations. We view this review as a first step in a larger investigation of the representations of gender relations in the most popular Cypriot media. 2
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Research Interests:
Sports and especially football have often become a field for political conflict in several societies around the world. In Cyprus the history of football follows the overwhelming history of the country, since, during the twentieth century... more
Sports and especially football have often become a field for political conflict in several societies around the world. In Cyprus the history of football follows the overwhelming history of the country, since, during the twentieth century and until today, the political events that take place in the island are often depicted within the football fields. Mass media and especially newspapers developed a crucial role and several times this role resulted in the deterioration of the already strained situation. The article examines the history of the Cypriot football in accordance to the political history of the country along the twentieth century, focusing on the turbulent period 1948–1953, as depicted through the newspapers, through Discourse Analysis. The aim of this research is to present the various ways in which football became an important field for political conflict and the role of the press in this situation.
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In a world of technological convergence, the fast growing tendency for self-exposure through the digital media and social networks has been steadily gaining ground as a new field for academic study. The so-called 'selfie' photographs, one... more
In a world of technological convergence, the fast growing tendency for self-exposure through the digital media and social networks has been steadily gaining ground as a new field for academic study. The so-called 'selfie' photographs, one of the most noteworthy phenomena of our era, seem to be altering not only the way individuals interrelate through digital platforms but also the way (s) digital journalism practices are exercised. This article examines the ways 'selfies' are embedded in everyday journalism practice and the specific issues that arise from this practice. In this perspective, this article introduces the term 'selfie journalism' and attempts to investigate the transformation of journalism practice through the use of personal digital devices.
Research Interests:
In a world of technological convergence, the fast growing tendency for self-exposure through the digital media and social networks has been steadily gaining ground as a new field for academic study. The so-called 'selfie' photographs, one... more
In a world of technological convergence, the fast growing tendency for self-exposure through the digital media and social networks has been steadily gaining ground as a new field for academic study. The so-called 'selfie' photographs, one of the most noteworthy phenomena of our era, seem to be altering not only the way individuals interrelate through digital platforms but also the way (s) digital journalism practices are exercised. This article examines the ways 'selfies' are embedded in everyday journalism practice and the specific issues that arise from this practice. In this perspective, this article introduces the term 'selfie journalism' and attempts to investigate the transformation of journalism practice through the use of personal digital devices.
Research Interests:
Patriotism and triumph are directly affiliated to historical memories and to every country " s history, since every nation / society " s need to proclaim its national achievements in every aspect of daily life, from politics to economy,... more
Patriotism and triumph are directly affiliated to historical memories and to every country " s history, since every nation / society " s need to proclaim its national achievements in every aspect of daily life, from politics to economy, science and beyond. Following several countries " turbulent history, since their origins, traditionally the media tend to express the feeling of patriotism that overwhelms the local society. In this perspective, patriotism and triumph concerning national achievements seem to be among the traditional characteristics in the journalistic content of the press. However, although evident in the media content, it is not yet identified in what extend they exist and through which characteristics. This papers addresses these two issues in the content of the current national press in Cyprus, aiming to examine the specific characteristics of patriotism and triumph and the extend up to which they are evident today in the journalistic practices. Taking into account the loyal – facilitator model of journalism, the research is based both on content analysis of the national newspapers with the higher circulation and on a survey concerning the journalists " opinion that work for these newspapers. The sample of content analysis includes an extensive number of news items, since the research was conducted in a two years period of time, while more than two thirds of the journalists working in these newspapers participated in the survey. The aim of this paper is to clarify whether the national press remains attached to practices of the past or new modes of journalism have arisen.