Pub Date : 2024-01-05DOI: 10.1177/01968599231223187
Ryan Neville-Shepard, Amy Whiteside
This essay suggests that there is a variant of what Stephanie Kelley-Romano calls the “conspiracy genre on American television,” a subgenre targeting children that we call kinder-conspiracy theories. Treating Disney's Gravity Falls as an exemplar of the subgenre, we argue that kinder-conspiracy theories differ from the larger genre in three ways. First, while inspiring social mistrust like most conspiracy entertainment, the programs portray some conspiracy theorists as hucksters, encouraging viewers to build their defenses against possible deception. Second, by serving as an introduction to reading conspiracy culture, the genre also serves as a kind of conspiracy literacy training and an inoculation against a milieu of rampant suspicion and polarization. Finally, due to their prosocial messaging for younger audiences, the genre also emphasizes a kind of collectivistic agency that privileges community over the traditional individualism and fantasies of the lone wolf conspiracy theorist.
{"title":"Kinder-Conspiracy Theories: Disney's Gravity Falls and the Conspiracy Genre in Children's Television","authors":"Ryan Neville-Shepard, Amy Whiteside","doi":"10.1177/01968599231223187","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/01968599231223187","url":null,"abstract":"This essay suggests that there is a variant of what Stephanie Kelley-Romano calls the “conspiracy genre on American television,” a subgenre targeting children that we call kinder-conspiracy theories. Treating Disney's Gravity Falls as an exemplar of the subgenre, we argue that kinder-conspiracy theories differ from the larger genre in three ways. First, while inspiring social mistrust like most conspiracy entertainment, the programs portray some conspiracy theorists as hucksters, encouraging viewers to build their defenses against possible deception. Second, by serving as an introduction to reading conspiracy culture, the genre also serves as a kind of conspiracy literacy training and an inoculation against a milieu of rampant suspicion and polarization. Finally, due to their prosocial messaging for younger audiences, the genre also emphasizes a kind of collectivistic agency that privileges community over the traditional individualism and fantasies of the lone wolf conspiracy theorist.","PeriodicalId":45677,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Communication Inquiry","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2024-01-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139382330","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-01-03DOI: 10.1177/01968599231220920
Shinsuke Eguchi
This essay is a close reading of YouTube's Michael & Anthony's video content in which mixed-race Black male pro wrestler Anthony Bowens and his white boyfriend Michael Pavano's romance is represented. The goal is to deploy queer of color critique to unpack how the interracial aspects of Bowens and Pavano's romance offer moments to question, critique, and reimagine the queer politics of interracial dating. Three themes emerge from this reading: reconstructing masc/femme coupling trope, counteracting interraciality, and optimism (and pessimism). This essay considers how Bowens and Pavano's romance reifies or resists postracialism working with the LGBTQ+ liberation movement.
{"title":"Postracial Queer Romance: A Close Reading of Anthony Bowens and Michael Pavano's Interracial Relationship in YouTube (and Beyond)","authors":"Shinsuke Eguchi","doi":"10.1177/01968599231220920","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/01968599231220920","url":null,"abstract":"This essay is a close reading of YouTube's Michael & Anthony's video content in which mixed-race Black male pro wrestler Anthony Bowens and his white boyfriend Michael Pavano's romance is represented. The goal is to deploy queer of color critique to unpack how the interracial aspects of Bowens and Pavano's romance offer moments to question, critique, and reimagine the queer politics of interracial dating. Three themes emerge from this reading: reconstructing masc/femme coupling trope, counteracting interraciality, and optimism (and pessimism). This essay considers how Bowens and Pavano's romance reifies or resists postracialism working with the LGBTQ+ liberation movement.","PeriodicalId":45677,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Communication Inquiry","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2024-01-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139389328","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-12-25DOI: 10.1177/01968599231220927
James K. Beggan
Between 1953 and 2023, mass media changed how they cover Hugh Hefner and Playboy magazine. My thesis is that the defining narratives of Hugh Hefner and his famous creation involved five distinct media personas, which were entrepreneur, activist, paradox, tragic figure, and predator. Using key magazine articles as central points of information, I consider how changes in Playboy's success combined with cultural shifts in the structure of feeling, such as fourth-wave feminism and the Me Too movement, to transform the dominant representation of Hugh Hefner from an entrepreneurial Horatio Alger to a salacious predator. Media attention after his death recognizes that Hugh Hefner had a definite but undeniably controversial influence on American life.
{"title":"Change in Meaning of Hugh Hefner and Playboy: From Horatio Alger to Sexual Predator","authors":"James K. Beggan","doi":"10.1177/01968599231220927","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/01968599231220927","url":null,"abstract":"Between 1953 and 2023, mass media changed how they cover Hugh Hefner and Playboy magazine. My thesis is that the defining narratives of Hugh Hefner and his famous creation involved five distinct media personas, which were entrepreneur, activist, paradox, tragic figure, and predator. Using key magazine articles as central points of information, I consider how changes in Playboy's success combined with cultural shifts in the structure of feeling, such as fourth-wave feminism and the Me Too movement, to transform the dominant representation of Hugh Hefner from an entrepreneurial Horatio Alger to a salacious predator. Media attention after his death recognizes that Hugh Hefner had a definite but undeniably controversial influence on American life.","PeriodicalId":45677,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Communication Inquiry","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2023-12-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139159767","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-12-01DOI: 10.1177/01968599231206978
Patrick R. Johnson
{"title":"Finding Political Balance in Times of Political Inconsistency","authors":"Patrick R. Johnson","doi":"10.1177/01968599231206978","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/01968599231206978","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":45677,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Communication Inquiry","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2023-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138626196","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-11-30DOI: 10.1177/01968599231218393
Rina Juwita, Ainun Nimatu Rohmah
{"title":"Book Review: Media Capitalism: Hegemony in the Age of Mass Deception by Thomas Klikauer","authors":"Rina Juwita, Ainun Nimatu Rohmah","doi":"10.1177/01968599231218393","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/01968599231218393","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":45677,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Communication Inquiry","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2023-11-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139199009","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-11-28DOI: 10.1177/01968599231216702
Ina von der Wense, Olaf Hoffjann
Strategic ambiguity increases an organization's scope for action. Ambiguous statements are, among other things, easier to deny; they also facilitate change. Strategic ambiguity has long been a theoretically well-established practice in organizational communication research. To date, the substantial number of theoretical and conceptual contributions has been contrasted by relatively few empirical studies of strategic ambiguity. This is the starting point of the present paper, which provides answers to the following research questions: How are the use and diffusion of strategic ambiguity perceived? What goals are pursued with strategic ambiguity? What ambiguous practices are used in strategic political communication? And finally: How is strategic ambiguity assessed ethically? To answer the research questions, semi-structured interviews were conducted. In addition to political PR practitioners, political journalists were also interviewed in order to contrast the self-assessments of PR practitioners with the external assessments of journalists. The results show that strategic ambiguity is perceived as very common in the field of politics. From an ethical perspective, strategic ambiguity is evaluated ambivalently: Protective motives, which are evaluated as legitimate, are contrasted with deliberately deceptive motives, which are evaluated as illegitimate.
{"title":"“They are always ambiguous when they don't know how it will turn out.” Dissemination, Practices, and Ethical Assessment of Strategic Ambiguity","authors":"Ina von der Wense, Olaf Hoffjann","doi":"10.1177/01968599231216702","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/01968599231216702","url":null,"abstract":"Strategic ambiguity increases an organization's scope for action. Ambiguous statements are, among other things, easier to deny; they also facilitate change. Strategic ambiguity has long been a theoretically well-established practice in organizational communication research. To date, the substantial number of theoretical and conceptual contributions has been contrasted by relatively few empirical studies of strategic ambiguity. This is the starting point of the present paper, which provides answers to the following research questions: How are the use and diffusion of strategic ambiguity perceived? What goals are pursued with strategic ambiguity? What ambiguous practices are used in strategic political communication? And finally: How is strategic ambiguity assessed ethically? To answer the research questions, semi-structured interviews were conducted. In addition to political PR practitioners, political journalists were also interviewed in order to contrast the self-assessments of PR practitioners with the external assessments of journalists. The results show that strategic ambiguity is perceived as very common in the field of politics. From an ethical perspective, strategic ambiguity is evaluated ambivalently: Protective motives, which are evaluated as legitimate, are contrasted with deliberately deceptive motives, which are evaluated as illegitimate.","PeriodicalId":45677,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Communication Inquiry","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2023-11-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139216244","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-11-27DOI: 10.1177/01968599231215689
Tara Walker
Along with rising diagnoses for bipolar spectrum disorders, direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertisements for bipolar disorder treatments have increased in recent years. This study textually analyzes 25 ads from the brands Vraylar, Caplyta, and Latuda based on the theory and method of Hall, and supported by the work of Goffman and Thoits on stigma. Findings show that ads embodied the ambivalence associated with the spectacle of the other. Additionally, ads largely ignored the stigma of bipolar disorder, placing emphasis on the “in-between” phase where protagonists receive treatment. This emphasis on the “in-between” often creates a fetishized view of the protagonist with ill mental health.
{"title":"On Shaky Ground: Stigma and Otherness in Direct-to-Consumer Advertising for Bipolar Disorder Drug Treatments","authors":"Tara Walker","doi":"10.1177/01968599231215689","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/01968599231215689","url":null,"abstract":"Along with rising diagnoses for bipolar spectrum disorders, direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertisements for bipolar disorder treatments have increased in recent years. This study textually analyzes 25 ads from the brands Vraylar, Caplyta, and Latuda based on the theory and method of Hall, and supported by the work of Goffman and Thoits on stigma. Findings show that ads embodied the ambivalence associated with the spectacle of the other. Additionally, ads largely ignored the stigma of bipolar disorder, placing emphasis on the “in-between” phase where protagonists receive treatment. This emphasis on the “in-between” often creates a fetishized view of the protagonist with ill mental health.","PeriodicalId":45677,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Communication Inquiry","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2023-11-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139233134","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-11-23DOI: 10.1177/01968599231215749
G. C. Nicoletta, Derya Yüksek
Media play a central role in the discursive struggles over the meaning of nature, climate change and human–nature relationships through the strategic selection and salience of media content. This paper investigates the strategies and tactics mobilized by media producers in communicating environmental issues. The investigation is based on a selection of seven media productions in the Swedish context, comprising TV series and documentaries produced between 2015 and 2020. Through a discourse-theoretical analysis of these audio–visual products and interviews with their producers, we identify a five-cluster model, ranging from mainstream anthropocentric strategies to alternative ecocentric tactics. Our model aims to delineate media strategies reproducing hegemonic anthropocentrism to critically inquire about environmental ideologies in media communication and explore potential alternative tactics for more ecocentric representations of nature.
{"title":"Strategies and Tactics to Communicate ‘Nature’: Beyond Anthropocentrism in Swedish Media","authors":"G. C. Nicoletta, Derya Yüksek","doi":"10.1177/01968599231215749","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/01968599231215749","url":null,"abstract":"Media play a central role in the discursive struggles over the meaning of nature, climate change and human–nature relationships through the strategic selection and salience of media content. This paper investigates the strategies and tactics mobilized by media producers in communicating environmental issues. The investigation is based on a selection of seven media productions in the Swedish context, comprising TV series and documentaries produced between 2015 and 2020. Through a discourse-theoretical analysis of these audio–visual products and interviews with their producers, we identify a five-cluster model, ranging from mainstream anthropocentric strategies to alternative ecocentric tactics. Our model aims to delineate media strategies reproducing hegemonic anthropocentrism to critically inquire about environmental ideologies in media communication and explore potential alternative tactics for more ecocentric representations of nature.","PeriodicalId":45677,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Communication Inquiry","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2023-11-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139246401","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-11-06DOI: 10.1177/01968599231210794
Tao Papaioannou, Lee F. Monaghan
This article examines how affect, as community connectedness, is strategized by an influencer with her audiences when re-framing weight-related stigma and disordered eating online. An analysis of plus-size model Tess Holliday's Instagram posts ( n = 212) identifies four main frames: (1) disclosing experiences of body-shaming/blaming/stigmatization as “our pain,” (2) collaborating with fellow influencers in de-stigmatizing disordered eating among (fat) women, (3) engaging audiences in validating body diversity, and (4) defending their community against hate comments. The analysis foregrounds the action of emotion when exploring affective community-building strategies and project stigma in a context depicted as “authentic” and “intimate.” The article concludes by noting some limitations with influencer strategies and this study before offering suggestions for future research.
{"title":"Affect as Community Connectedness: Re-Framing Weight-Related Stigma and Disordered Eating Online","authors":"Tao Papaioannou, Lee F. Monaghan","doi":"10.1177/01968599231210794","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/01968599231210794","url":null,"abstract":"This article examines how affect, as community connectedness, is strategized by an influencer with her audiences when re-framing weight-related stigma and disordered eating online. An analysis of plus-size model Tess Holliday's Instagram posts ( n = 212) identifies four main frames: (1) disclosing experiences of body-shaming/blaming/stigmatization as “our pain,” (2) collaborating with fellow influencers in de-stigmatizing disordered eating among (fat) women, (3) engaging audiences in validating body diversity, and (4) defending their community against hate comments. The analysis foregrounds the action of emotion when exploring affective community-building strategies and project stigma in a context depicted as “authentic” and “intimate.” The article concludes by noting some limitations with influencer strategies and this study before offering suggestions for future research.","PeriodicalId":45677,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Communication Inquiry","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135682317","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper seeks to contribute to the growing literature on sexual harassment of female journalists from the Global South more broadly and Southern Africa in particular. We selected three Southern African countries for this investigation: Zimbabwe, South Africa, and Namibia. Much of sub-Saharan Africa still experiences patriarchy that has proven to be resilient with misogynistic residue. Theoretically, the study utilizes the new institutionalism theory that deals with the socio-political environment within which news organizations are embedded and the postcolonial feminist theory. Primarily, this study uses the qualitative method of semi-structured interviews with 15 journalists across the three countries and offers a thematic analysis of the gathered data. Female journalists’ responses in the selected three countries reveal that they are facing sexual harassment in various forms including, both verbally and physically. The sexual harassment that female journalists are subjected to, we argue, is in part a result of inadequate policies and media regulatory bodies that can curb harassment.
{"title":"Contending with Sexual Harassment: A Study of Southern African Female Journalists’ Experiences","authors":"Mbongeni Jonny Msimanga, Lungile Augustine Tshuma, Trust Matsilele, Sadia Jamil","doi":"10.1177/01968599231210790","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/01968599231210790","url":null,"abstract":"This paper seeks to contribute to the growing literature on sexual harassment of female journalists from the Global South more broadly and Southern Africa in particular. We selected three Southern African countries for this investigation: Zimbabwe, South Africa, and Namibia. Much of sub-Saharan Africa still experiences patriarchy that has proven to be resilient with misogynistic residue. Theoretically, the study utilizes the new institutionalism theory that deals with the socio-political environment within which news organizations are embedded and the postcolonial feminist theory. Primarily, this study uses the qualitative method of semi-structured interviews with 15 journalists across the three countries and offers a thematic analysis of the gathered data. Female journalists’ responses in the selected three countries reveal that they are facing sexual harassment in various forms including, both verbally and physically. The sexual harassment that female journalists are subjected to, we argue, is in part a result of inadequate policies and media regulatory bodies that can curb harassment.","PeriodicalId":45677,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Communication Inquiry","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135868751","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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