Reconsidering ‘virtuous circle’ and ‘media malaise’ theories of the media: An 11-nation study

Curran, James P.; Coen, Sharon; Soroka, Stuart; Aalberg, Toril; Hayashi, Kaori; Hichy, Zira; Iyengar, Shanto; Jones, Paul K.; Mazzoleni, Gianpietro; Papathanassopoulos, Stylianos; Rhee, June Woong; Rojas, Hernando; Rowe, David C.; Tiffen, Rod

doi:10.1177/1464884913520198

Cited by 65 publications

(74 citation statements)

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“…We found a consistent pattern in which publicly owned channels reported more public affairs news than private channels, and after controlling for other influences, A third study, this time based on eleven countries around the globe, again found that public service broadcasting (PSB) fostered higher levels of public affairs knowledge (SOROKA, 2013). Consumption of PSB news, in particular, seemingly gave rise to a mutually reinforcing dynamic of enhanced political knowledge, political interest and sense of political efficacy (CURRAN et al, 2014).…”

Section: Entertaining Democracy In the Era Of Neo-liberalismsupporting

confidence: 56%

“…These are contributing to a growing sense of alienation from the political process. Thus, in an eleven nation study I and colleagues carried out in 2010, 35% of respondents agreed or agreed strongly with the statement that "no matter who people vote for, it won't make any difference to what happens" (CURRAN et al, 2014).…”

Section: Entertaining Democracy In the Era Of Neo-liberalismmentioning

confidence: 93%

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Entertaining Democracy in the Era of Neo-Liberalism

Curran

2016

BJR

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INTROUDCTON -James Curran's article "Entertaining democracy in the Era of Neoliberalism" is an essay written from the 13th SBPJor Conference Meeting in Campo Grande in 2015; a conference in which he was the opening speaker. The article was approved for publication in the BJR at the end of 2015, but we have decided to publish it in a special edition of Journalism and Democracy as it deals precisely with this issue. Curran begins the article by questioning the current state of democracy as it pertains to the decline of the nation state and the emergence of transnational institutions of deliberation which he calls "multilevel governance" but "is not matched by the development of a multilevel sense of citizenship". As almost a prelude to the Brexit, Curran draws attention to the fact that the English do not consider themselves European despite being a part of the European Union. He tied this nationalist ideal not only to the British, but to other country populations in general. In a world dominated by transnational corporations and the presence and constancy of national media "supporting a national identity" he predicted that "Attempts at new institutional building are out of step with media development". His analysis highlights several problems that are weakening modern democracy like "the increasing centralization of power by political leaders" and the "increasingly unrepresentative nature of the political class rendering them in some countries almost a 'separate caste'". Reading Curran's text allows us to reflect on the situation in Brazil. At first, it is pessimistic and places meanings that we have lobbied for outside of our borders: "Governments are less able to govern; political power is becoming more centralized; and the unelected influence of big business is becoming greater". The media also has a hand in contributing towards a "growing sense of disconnection from politics", making reference to politics as a linear universe dominated by the elite. After further analysis of the contrasting possibilities that the Internet brings as well as its role in constructing news in public systems, Curran offers a slightly more positive outlook: "liberal democracy is in disrepair, and the media are implicated in its malaise. The rise of the internet offers some relief, as does an enduring political experiment -public service broadcasting." Once more, there is no way to not compare his perspective with what is happening in Brazil nowadays; we are fighting for the hope of building an effective and autonomous public system. Lastly, Curran places importance on starting to think about politics from new vantage points, especially for creating policies and media entertainment. Once again, we can see similarities in Brazil. This understanding is common among our researchers, such as the numerous research spaces which work on this correlation. But, after tracing a series of inferences on specific materials, Curran puts forth a direct and definite conclusion: "A healthy democracy needs to be informed as well as entertained". *By ...

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Section: Entertaining Democracy In the Era Of Neo-liberalismsupporting

confidence: 56%

Section: Entertaining Democracy In the Era Of Neo-liberalismmentioning

confidence: 93%

Entertaining Democracy in the Era of Neo-Liberalism

Curran

2016

BJR

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“…In taking account of national differences in the supply of, and demand for, news, the research sought to establish the influence of national political and media systems on citizen knowledge of public affairs. Thus, by extension, the project analysed the degree to which the organization of the media, and the societies in which they are embedded, affect the quality of political citizenship in a diverse range of national contexts, thereby allowing comparative conclusions to be drawn (see Curran et al 2013a).…”

Section: Sources In the Newsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, two newspapers*a prestigious quality newspaper and, where applicable, a large-circulation popular newspaper (although in several countries it was more appropriate to study two quality newspapers)*were analysed, as well as the leading news website in each country. Curran et al (2013a) provide greater methodological detail on the research design across the whole project.…”

Section: Sources In the Newsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sources in the News

Tiffen¹,

Jones²,

Rowe³

et al. 2013

Journalism Studies

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“…The democratic deficit characterizes many western democracies (Dalton 2004;Norris 2011;van Deth et al 2007) and is particularly relevant to Italy and the United Kingdom, the two countries this article focuses on, where many citizens are dissatisfied with mainstream political parties and institutions (Curran et al 2014), and participation in formal party politics has decreased sharply in the last two decades (Segatti 2006;Whiteley 2012). In this context, the Internet has been identified as a sort of 'magic elixir' able to increase citizens' participation and, consequently, to legitimize democratic governments (Stromer-Galley 2003).…”

Section: Introduction: Democratic Deficit and Political Participationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Facebook and political participation: Virtuous circle and participation intermediaries

Casteltrione

2016

Interactions: Studies in Communication &Amp; Culture

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Drawing from the results of a mixed-methods cross-national study focusing on Italy and the United Kingdom, this article explores how the contribution of Facebook to citizens' political participation varies in relation to pre-existing levels and different dimensions of political activity -namely, political expression and information vs political mobilization.The findings indicate that politically active individuals are the ones who take more advantage of the mobilization affordances of Facebook, whereas less politically active participants employ this social networking site mainly for political information. Activists consider Facebook as a key tool for the organization of political initiatives, enabling them to quickly communicate and coordinate, and to operate independently from traditional political institutions such as parties and trade unions. With regard to citizens who engage to a lesser degree in offline and online political activities, the informative power of Facebook 2 and its ease of use come into play. Facebook can, in fact, lower the thresholds of participation by making it more flexible. In addition, political information can reach less engaged users through the activity of participation intermediaries, activating a virtuous circle and potentially producing, in the long run, a mobilization effect.

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Reconsidering ‘virtuous circle’ and ‘media malaise’ theories of the media: An 11-nation study

Cited by 65 publications

References 49 publications

Entertaining Democracy in the Era of Neo-Liberalism

Entertaining Democracy in the Era of Neo-Liberalism

Sources in the News

Facebook and political participation: Virtuous circle and participation intermediaries

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