Pub Date : 2022-07-03DOI: 10.1080/10361146.2022.2122776
Andrew Gibbons, A. Carson
ABSTRACT Misinformation and disinformation on digital platforms can cause serious harms by undermining the integrity of elections, destabilising political systems, and derailing public health messages. Yet, key decision-makers still struggle to agree on definitions of these terms. This dissensus can frustrate holistic approaches needed to tackle the harms caused by online falsehoods. This article focuses on the Asia Pacific and draws upon a comprehensive set of expert interviews in Singapore and Indonesia to investigate how digital platforms, civil society actors, academics, and journalists conceptualise misinformation and disinformation. We find existing definitions have been developed in ‘information silos’. In response, we map stakeholders’ key definitional indicators of misinformation and disinformation to identify overlap and difference and to explicate the role of harm in their conceptualisations. This framework is used to recast working definitions of misinformation and disinformation with the intention of assisting greater stakeholder collaboration needed to mitigate its societal harms.
{"title":"What is misinformation and disinformation? Understanding multi-stakeholders’ perspectives in the Asia Pacific","authors":"Andrew Gibbons, A. Carson","doi":"10.1080/10361146.2022.2122776","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10361146.2022.2122776","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Misinformation and disinformation on digital platforms can cause serious harms by undermining the integrity of elections, destabilising political systems, and derailing public health messages. Yet, key decision-makers still struggle to agree on definitions of these terms. This dissensus can frustrate holistic approaches needed to tackle the harms caused by online falsehoods. This article focuses on the Asia Pacific and draws upon a comprehensive set of expert interviews in Singapore and Indonesia to investigate how digital platforms, civil society actors, academics, and journalists conceptualise misinformation and disinformation. We find existing definitions have been developed in ‘information silos’. In response, we map stakeholders’ key definitional indicators of misinformation and disinformation to identify overlap and difference and to explicate the role of harm in their conceptualisations. This framework is used to recast working definitions of misinformation and disinformation with the intention of assisting greater stakeholder collaboration needed to mitigate its societal harms.","PeriodicalId":46913,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Political Science","volume":"57 1","pages":"231 - 247"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2022-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43425596","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-07-03DOI: 10.1080/10361146.2022.2122775
Nicholas Barry, Raul Sanchez-Urribarri
ABSTRACT One of the marked features of the COVID-19 pandemic has been the proliferation of fake news about the virus. Although commentary on this issue has generally focused on the dissemination of online material by private citizens and organised groups, politicians have often played a major role as well, exacerbating divisions and impairing the effective implementation of measures against the pandemic. This article examines this issue, focusing on Australian politician Craig Kelly, with references to the cases of Donald Trump (US) and Jair Bolsonaro (Brazil). Despite operating in very different contexts, we find a high degree of similarity in the messages they conveyed, which echoed misleading claims being circulated online, and constituted a form of medical populism. These findings show that the problem of fake news is not simply about the activities of shadowy groups online; it is also enabled by the public comments of populist politicians.
{"title":"Populist politics, COVID-19, and fake news: The case of Craig Kelly","authors":"Nicholas Barry, Raul Sanchez-Urribarri","doi":"10.1080/10361146.2022.2122775","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10361146.2022.2122775","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT One of the marked features of the COVID-19 pandemic has been the proliferation of fake news about the virus. Although commentary on this issue has generally focused on the dissemination of online material by private citizens and organised groups, politicians have often played a major role as well, exacerbating divisions and impairing the effective implementation of measures against the pandemic. This article examines this issue, focusing on Australian politician Craig Kelly, with references to the cases of Donald Trump (US) and Jair Bolsonaro (Brazil). Despite operating in very different contexts, we find a high degree of similarity in the messages they conveyed, which echoed misleading claims being circulated online, and constituted a form of medical populism. These findings show that the problem of fake news is not simply about the activities of shadowy groups online; it is also enabled by the public comments of populist politicians.","PeriodicalId":46913,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Political Science","volume":"57 1","pages":"280 - 296"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2022-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43109522","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-07-03DOI: 10.1080/10361146.2022.2122778
A. Carson, S. Wright
ABSTRACT Nearly six years after the term ‘fake news’ rose to public prominence, concerns persist about its meaning, its impact and responses to it. Concerns include leaks by a Meta whistle-blower who alleged that the world’s most popular social media site, Facebook, was hardwired to spread online falsehoods; meanwhile numerous Commissions and reports have aired fears about fake news’ consequences for democratic health, both in Australia and globally. Australia has responded by adopting a self-regulatory Code of Conduct into misinformation and disinformation for digital platforms in 2021; while some neighbouring counties such as Singapore and Indonesia have introduced tough anti-fake news laws. This symposium of five articles aims to shed light on the latest global debates and findings about the relationship between fake news and democracy with a focus on how it is best defined, its impacts on the public, and responses to it in Australia and the region.
{"title":"Fake news and democracy: definitions, impact and response","authors":"A. Carson, S. Wright","doi":"10.1080/10361146.2022.2122778","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10361146.2022.2122778","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Nearly six years after the term ‘fake news’ rose to public prominence, concerns persist about its meaning, its impact and responses to it. Concerns include leaks by a Meta whistle-blower who alleged that the world’s most popular social media site, Facebook, was hardwired to spread online falsehoods; meanwhile numerous Commissions and reports have aired fears about fake news’ consequences for democratic health, both in Australia and globally. Australia has responded by adopting a self-regulatory Code of Conduct into misinformation and disinformation for digital platforms in 2021; while some neighbouring counties such as Singapore and Indonesia have introduced tough anti-fake news laws. This symposium of five articles aims to shed light on the latest global debates and findings about the relationship between fake news and democracy with a focus on how it is best defined, its impacts on the public, and responses to it in Australia and the region.","PeriodicalId":46913,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Political Science","volume":"57 1","pages":"221 - 230"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2022-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47143250","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-07-03DOI: 10.1080/10361146.2022.2122777
Kieran McGuinness, C. Fisher, J. Lee
ABSTRACT Prior to COVID-19, trust in news was low, and Australian audiences were most concerned about mis- and disinformation from Australian political actors, followed closely by news outlets. Twelve months on trust in news had risen, and concern about misinformation from journalists and politicians had fallen dramatically. This shift followed increased news consumption and high satisfaction with the way governments managed the pandemic – prior to the immunisation roll out. This paper draws on data from five national Australian surveys conducted by the News & Media Research Centre at the University of Canberra. The data show that changes in news consumption, trust in news, and concern about mis- and disinformation coincided with a rally-round-the-flag effect in politician approval, but this varied depending on the political orientation and age of audiences. The findings suggest that a range of media-related factors may be possible contributors to political rallying effects and warrant further investigation.
{"title":"Australians’ shifting concerns about mis- and disinformation","authors":"Kieran McGuinness, C. Fisher, J. Lee","doi":"10.1080/10361146.2022.2122777","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10361146.2022.2122777","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Prior to COVID-19, trust in news was low, and Australian audiences were most concerned about mis- and disinformation from Australian political actors, followed closely by news outlets. Twelve months on trust in news had risen, and concern about misinformation from journalists and politicians had fallen dramatically. This shift followed increased news consumption and high satisfaction with the way governments managed the pandemic – prior to the immunisation roll out. This paper draws on data from five national Australian surveys conducted by the News & Media Research Centre at the University of Canberra. The data show that changes in news consumption, trust in news, and concern about mis- and disinformation coincided with a rally-round-the-flag effect in politician approval, but this varied depending on the political orientation and age of audiences. The findings suggest that a range of media-related factors may be possible contributors to political rallying effects and warrant further investigation.","PeriodicalId":46913,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Political Science","volume":"57 1","pages":"248 - 263"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2022-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45940301","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-07-03DOI: 10.1080/10361146.2022.2122773
M. Marques, S. Hill, E. J. R. Clarke, Matt N. Williams, Mathew Ling, J. Kerr, Karen M. Douglas, A. Cichocka, C. Sibley
ABSTRACT The COVID-19 pandemic supercharged the spread of fake news, misinformation, and conspiracy theories worldwide. Using a national probability sample of adults from the New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study during 2020 (17–99 years old; M = 48.59, SD = 13.86; 63% women, 37% men; N = 41,487), we examined the associations between agreement with general conspiracy beliefs and political indicators of intention to vote and satisfaction with government, alongside political factors including trust in politicians, political efficacy, identity centrality, and political ideology. Left-wing political ideology, trust in politicians, and political efficacy accounted for most of the explained variance in satisfaction with the government. General conspiracy belief was also a unique contributor to lower satisfaction with the government. We also found a curvilinear relationship between political ideology with heightened belief in conspiracies at both ideological extremes and the centre. Findings are discussed in terms of the consequences of conspiracy belief on democratic engagement.
{"title":"Democracy and belief in conspiracy theories in New Zealand","authors":"M. Marques, S. Hill, E. J. R. Clarke, Matt N. Williams, Mathew Ling, J. Kerr, Karen M. Douglas, A. Cichocka, C. Sibley","doi":"10.1080/10361146.2022.2122773","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10361146.2022.2122773","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT\u0000 The COVID-19 pandemic supercharged the spread of fake news, misinformation, and conspiracy theories worldwide. Using a national probability sample of adults from the New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study during 2020 (17–99 years old; M = 48.59, SD = 13.86; 63% women, 37% men; N = 41,487), we examined the associations between agreement with general conspiracy beliefs and political indicators of intention to vote and satisfaction with government, alongside political factors including trust in politicians, political efficacy, identity centrality, and political ideology. Left-wing political ideology, trust in politicians, and political efficacy accounted for most of the explained variance in satisfaction with the government. General conspiracy belief was also a unique contributor to lower satisfaction with the government. We also found a curvilinear relationship between political ideology with heightened belief in conspiracies at both ideological extremes and the centre. Findings are discussed in terms of the consequences of conspiracy belief on democratic engagement.","PeriodicalId":46913,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Political Science","volume":"57 1","pages":"264 - 279"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2022-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47221681","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-05-11DOI: 10.1080/10361146.2022.2071211
Nick Falcinella
ABSTRACT While it is often claimed that the Australian Labor Party was ‘bolder’ under Bill Shorten than under both Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard, the party’s discourse and ideology of this period has not yet been comprehensively examined. Framed in the 2019 election as ‘shifty’, Shorten is arguably best remembered for his lack of popularity; yet this obscures the degree of ideological transformation he oversaw. In this article, I analyse key speeches and policy documents to transcend superficial impressions and examine Shorten Labor’s revised discursive framings and ideological positions. While not without ideological contradiction, notably regarding Labor’s own neoliberal economic reform legacy, I find Shorten’s leadership represented a significant progressive reorientation of ALP ideology and discourse on both economic and social issues, particularly compared to Gillard. Specifically, Shorten Labor articulated a socially progressive and inclusive social democratic politics that was once-again prepared to critique markets and their role in producing inequality.
{"title":"‘Tackling inequality’: Australian Labor Party ideology and discourse under Bill Shorten","authors":"Nick Falcinella","doi":"10.1080/10361146.2022.2071211","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10361146.2022.2071211","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT While it is often claimed that the Australian Labor Party was ‘bolder’ under Bill Shorten than under both Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard, the party’s discourse and ideology of this period has not yet been comprehensively examined. Framed in the 2019 election as ‘shifty’, Shorten is arguably best remembered for his lack of popularity; yet this obscures the degree of ideological transformation he oversaw. In this article, I analyse key speeches and policy documents to transcend superficial impressions and examine Shorten Labor’s revised discursive framings and ideological positions. While not without ideological contradiction, notably regarding Labor’s own neoliberal economic reform legacy, I find Shorten’s leadership represented a significant progressive reorientation of ALP ideology and discourse on both economic and social issues, particularly compared to Gillard. Specifically, Shorten Labor articulated a socially progressive and inclusive social democratic politics that was once-again prepared to critique markets and their role in producing inequality.","PeriodicalId":46913,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Political Science","volume":"57 1","pages":"368 - 385"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2022-05-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49547769","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-04-28DOI: 10.1080/10361146.2022.2065968
Michelle M Evans, D. McDonnell
ABSTRACT While the number of elected Indigenous representatives has increased over the past two decades, we know little about their pathways to candidature, which parties they stand for, the winnability of seats they stand in, and whether they are successful. Using election data from 2001 to 2021, and interviews with 50 (or 80%) of all Indigenous candidates between 2010 and 2019, this study provides answers to these questions. It finds, first, that Indigenous candidates are usually winners, as 53.2% of candidatures have resulted in an election victory. Second, most candidates are from the ALP and Indigenous women tend to do better than men. Third, despite some high-profile ‘parachutes’, most Indigenous candidates are ‘partisans’ (i.e. party members for at least a year before standing).
{"title":"More partisans than parachutes, more successful than not: Indigenous candidates of the major Australian parties","authors":"Michelle M Evans, D. McDonnell","doi":"10.1080/10361146.2022.2065968","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10361146.2022.2065968","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT While the number of elected Indigenous representatives has increased over the past two decades, we know little about their pathways to candidature, which parties they stand for, the winnability of seats they stand in, and whether they are successful. Using election data from 2001 to 2021, and interviews with 50 (or 80%) of all Indigenous candidates between 2010 and 2019, this study provides answers to these questions. It finds, first, that Indigenous candidates are usually winners, as 53.2% of candidatures have resulted in an election victory. Second, most candidates are from the ALP and Indigenous women tend to do better than men. Third, despite some high-profile ‘parachutes’, most Indigenous candidates are ‘partisans’ (i.e. party members for at least a year before standing).","PeriodicalId":46913,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Political Science","volume":"57 1","pages":"346 - 367"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2022-04-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45381385","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-03-07DOI: 10.1080/10361146.2022.2049206
Gabrielle Miller, R. MacNeil
ABSTRACT Despite being the most tangibly impacted by the first-order effects of a warming climate, much of Australia’s agricultural regions have remained relatively conservative in their views on climate change and the need for adaptation. This paper aims to understand how the experience of an extreme climate event like the 2017–2020 drought might shift opinions and values on these issues within agricultural communities. Through in-depth interviews with 20 graziers across Northwest NSW during the worst days of the drought, we found that various psychological lock-ins, historical memories of resilience, and local cultural values appeared to be undermining the perception of their vulnerability, while enhancing perceptions of their ability to endure. Such discursive constructions appear to explain why a jarring climatic event like the 2017–2020 drought was failing to produce a noticeable shift in their views.
{"title":"Farmer perceptions of climate change and adaptation during the 2017–2020 Australian drought","authors":"Gabrielle Miller, R. MacNeil","doi":"10.1080/10361146.2022.2049206","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10361146.2022.2049206","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Despite being the most tangibly impacted by the first-order effects of a warming climate, much of Australia’s agricultural regions have remained relatively conservative in their views on climate change and the need for adaptation. This paper aims to understand how the experience of an extreme climate event like the 2017–2020 drought might shift opinions and values on these issues within agricultural communities. Through in-depth interviews with 20 graziers across Northwest NSW during the worst days of the drought, we found that various psychological lock-ins, historical memories of resilience, and local cultural values appeared to be undermining the perception of their vulnerability, while enhancing perceptions of their ability to endure. Such discursive constructions appear to explain why a jarring climatic event like the 2017–2020 drought was failing to produce a noticeable shift in their views.","PeriodicalId":46913,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Political Science","volume":"57 1","pages":"328 - 345"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2022-03-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44421913","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-03-06DOI: 10.1080/10361146.2022.2037511
David Denemark, Tauel Harper, K. Attwell
ABSTRACT This paper uses a 22-country cross-national analysis to test whether high levels of citizen trust in governmental civil servants prompt high levels of confidence in vaccine safety, effectiveness and importance. Because vaccine initiatives have long been the responsibility of national governments and the civil servants who coordinate their development, distribution and implementation, vaccine hesitancy or acceptance can be expected not just to reflect citizens’ judgements of the efficacy of the vaccines themselves, but also of the governments who control almost every aspect of the vaccination programs. As existing global surveys on vaccine hesitancy do not include measures of attitudes toward governmental trust, we merge two pre-COVID-19 international datasets – one that measures citizen attitudes toward governmental civil servants and the other that measures citizens’ views of vaccines – and find that citizen trust in their civil servants is a significant predictor of citizen confidence in vaccines’ safety, effectiveness, and importance.
{"title":"Vaccine hesitancy and trust in government: a cross-national analysis","authors":"David Denemark, Tauel Harper, K. Attwell","doi":"10.1080/10361146.2022.2037511","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10361146.2022.2037511","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT\u0000 This paper uses a 22-country cross-national analysis to test whether high levels of citizen trust in governmental civil servants prompt high levels of confidence in vaccine safety, effectiveness and importance. Because vaccine initiatives have long been the responsibility of national governments and the civil servants who coordinate their development, distribution and implementation, vaccine hesitancy or acceptance can be expected not just to reflect citizens’ judgements of the efficacy of the vaccines themselves, but also of the governments who control almost every aspect of the vaccination programs. As existing global surveys on vaccine hesitancy do not include measures of attitudes toward governmental trust, we merge two pre-COVID-19 international datasets – one that measures citizen attitudes toward governmental civil servants and the other that measures citizens’ views of vaccines – and find that citizen trust in their civil servants is a significant predictor of citizen confidence in vaccines’ safety, effectiveness, and importance.","PeriodicalId":46913,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Political Science","volume":"57 1","pages":"145 - 163"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2022-03-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46582213","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-03-03DOI: 10.1080/10361146.2022.2045900
Olga Eisele, Elena Escalante-Block, Alena Kluknavská, H. Boomgaarden
ABSTRACT #MeToo has raised public awareness on issues of sexual harassment and misconduct at an unprecedented scale, nurturing hopes for sustainable change also in terms of gender equality. We use the concept of politicization to assess the potential for change which #MeToo might have induced in the broader print media discourse on gender equality issues. We analyse Australia as an arguably difficult case due to its conservative political and media system, thus offering political activism rather dire prospects of public resonance. We assess a total of two years of media coverage in the eight largest newspapers (October 2016 – September 2018), combining automated content analysis with manual claims analysis. Our results speak to the societal debate on gender equality as well as the potential of online social movements to change mainstream discourses and social realities.
{"title":"The politicising spark? Exploring the impact of #MeToo on the gender equality discourse in Australian print media","authors":"Olga Eisele, Elena Escalante-Block, Alena Kluknavská, H. Boomgaarden","doi":"10.1080/10361146.2022.2045900","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10361146.2022.2045900","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT #MeToo has raised public awareness on issues of sexual harassment and misconduct at an unprecedented scale, nurturing hopes for sustainable change also in terms of gender equality. We use the concept of politicization to assess the potential for change which #MeToo might have induced in the broader print media discourse on gender equality issues. We analyse Australia as an arguably difficult case due to its conservative political and media system, thus offering political activism rather dire prospects of public resonance. We assess a total of two years of media coverage in the eight largest newspapers (October 2016 – September 2018), combining automated content analysis with manual claims analysis. Our results speak to the societal debate on gender equality as well as the potential of online social movements to change mainstream discourses and social realities.","PeriodicalId":46913,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Political Science","volume":"57 1","pages":"309 - 327"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2022-03-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45590364","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}