Prof. Yariv Tsfati together with Dr. Shira Dvir-Gvirsman (Tel Aviv University) and Prof. R. Kelly Garrett (The Ohio State University) received a top paper award from the political communication division of the International Communication Association (ICA) at the 2015 ICA annual meeting that took place this month in Puerto Rico. This research project was funded in part by a grant from the Israeli Ministry of Science.

Dvir-Gvirsman, S., Garrett, R.K., Tsfati, Y. (2015). Why do partisan audiences participate? Perceived public opinion as the mediating mechanism.

An article authored by Ravit Tov-Li, a graduate of our research masters program, and Dr. Oren Meyers has been published in the Hebrew language academic journal, Media Frames. The article is based on the thesis Ravit wrote under the guidance of Dr. Meyers.

Tov-Li, R. & Meyers, O. (2015). “His blood constantly cries out from the ground”: Law, media and memory in the Danny Katz affair. Media Frames. 14, pp. 1-32. [in Hebrew]

Abstract:

This research is anchored within the conceptual approach that explores the media and the legal system as interpretive agencies that bestow meanings upon social events and cultural phenomena. The research implements this approach through an examination of the ways in which these two interpretive agencies – law and media – constructed and framed the memory of the 1983 murder of Danny Katz, a 14 years old boy from Haifa. Such an investigation enables us to decipher the manner in which these two institutions operate as memory agents, and specifically the representation of legal verdicts in the media, alongside the representation of the media in legal writing.

Common scholarly criticism leveled against the media coverage of the legal affairs argues that journalists tend to internalize the values of the legal system, and thus abandon their critical stand as external observers. The findings of this study, point at an opposite pattern: throughout 27 years of coverage, the dominant journalistic voice challenged the rulings of the legal system in a comprehensive manner, offering an exonerating narrative that contradicted the actual convicting verdicts offered by the legal system. By doing so, the journalists undermined the “redressive rituals” offered by the legal system, in order to appease the tensions that aroused around this complex affair. We argue that in many respects, this kind of journalistic criticism became possible due to the fact that throughout the years voices from within the legal system challenged the formal verdicts and questioned the guilt of the convicted murderers. And so, echoing findings from political communication research, there is a close connection between the exposure

An article authored by Prof. Gabriel Weimann and UH Comm doctoral students, Nirit Weiss-Blatt, Germaw Mengistu, Maya Mazor Tregerman, and Ravid Oren will be republished as a chapter in an edited volume titled Refining Milestone Mass Communications Theories for the 21st Century (Routledge). The volume is edited by Ran Wei and will also feature chapters authored by Elihu Katz, George Gerbner and other notable communication researchers. The chapter grew out of a group project conducted as part of a Ph.D. workshop Prof. Weimann led a few years ago.

An article authored by Yael Patkin, a Research Masters student, has been published in the academic journal "Israeli Sociology". Yael started working on the project as a seminar paper in a seminar on Collective Memory taught by Dr. Oren Meyers. An earlier version of this paper won the best student paper prize (in Memory of Yuval Shahal) awarded by the Israeli Communication Association in 2014. The paper examines the collective memory of Yitzhak Rabin and his assassination by analyzing humoristic skits that were broadcasted after his murder.

An article authored by Prof. Jonathan Cohen, Dr. Nurit Tal-Or, and doctoral student Maya Mazor-Tregerman will appear in Journal of Communication.

Cohen, J., Tal-Or, N., & Mazor-Tregerman, M. (2015). The Tempering Effect of Transportation: Exploring the Effects of Transportation and Identification During Exposure to Controversial Two-Sided Narratives. Journal of Communication. doi:10.1111/jcom.12144

Abstract:

In 2 studies, we explored the effects of transportation and identification on attitudes following exposure to relevant and controversial 2-sided narratives. Participants read a story featuring 2 protagonists who held 2 opposing positions about a provocative issue. In Study 1, we manipulated identification and found that identification with the concordant character tended to polarize attitudes whereas identification with the discordant character tempered attitudes. In Study 2, we manipulated transportation and found that it moderated pre-exposure attitudes. Results are discussed in terms of the differences between these processes and their effects, and the potential use of narratives to moderate attitudes even in the context of highly charged conflicts.

Avraham, E. (2015). Destination image repair during crisis: Attracting tourism during the Arab Spring uprisings. Tourism Management, 47, 224-232.

Abstract:

The Arab Spring uprisings received intensive coverage and had a negative effect on tourism to the Middle East. This study aimed to uncover media strategies used by Middle Eastern countries' marketers to restore a positive image in times of change and challenge and to bring back tourists, by analyzing marketing initiatives, media policy, crisis communication techniques and the components of advertising campaigns. Integrating theory and practice, and adopting the “multi-step model for altering place image,” the study applied qualitative content analysis of advertisements, press interviews, and global tourism news websites. Three types of strategies were used by marketers to restore a positive image: source, message and audience.

Davidson, R., & Poor, N. (2015). The barriers facing artists’ use of crowdfunding platforms: Personality, emotional labor, and going to the well one too many times. New Media & Society, 17(2), 289–307.

Abstract:

Popular discourse frames crowdfunding as a way for those traditionally locked out of financing opportunities to leverage the connectivity of the Internet to widen their reach beyond their immediately accessible networks and secure funds for a wide variety of projects. Using a survey of crowdfunding project founders in the culture industries, we explored the relationship between certain social and psychological characteristics and attitudes toward crowdfunding. We examined how extraversion, surface acting, emotional labor, the social composition of project backers, and project success all relate to enjoyment and future intentions of using crowdfunding in the culture industries. Crowdfunding appears to advantage culture producers with particular personality structures while disadvantaging others. In sum, crowdfunding seems beneficial but might be useful only for particular types of artists and therefore should not supplant other traditional financing modes.

Lewis, N., & Martinez, L. S. (2014). Does the Number of Cancer Patients’ Close Social Ties Affect Cancer-Related Information Seeking Through Communication Efficacy? Testing a Mediation Model. Journal of Health Communication, 19(9), 1076–1097. doi:10.1080/10810730.2013.872724

Abstract:

This study addresses whether having a broad social network of close friends equips cancer patients with increased efficacy to engage in communication about their cancer, which then leads to an increased likelihood of patients actively seeking cancer-related information. Guided by the theory of motivated information management, the study also tests whether the effect of the number of close social ties on information seeking is mediated, in part, by communication efficacy. Results are based on data collected from a randomly drawn sample from the Pennsylvania Cancer Registry of 2,013 cancer patients who completed mail surveys in the Fall of 2006. Results are consistent with a cross-sectional mediation effect in which the number of close social ties in one's social network is positively associated with communication efficacy (b = .17, p = .001), which, in turn, is positively associated with cancer-related information seeking (b = .13, p < .001).

Davidson, R., & Meyers, O. “Should I stay or should I go?” Exit, voice and loyalty among journalists. Journalism Studies.

Abstract: 

Against the background of the crisis in the journalism industry, many journalists have decided to leave the occupation for other activities. We examine the reasons journalists give for leaving journalism, or remaining in it; the exit mechanisms they use; the destinations they choose and broader repercussions for Israeli journalism and the cultural industries. We base this examination on a sample of 60 life histories of active and former Israeli journalists, analyzed through the use of the “Exit, Voice and Loyalty” (EVL) typology developed by Albert Hirschman. Additionally, we investigate specific exit mechanisms and destinations using Bourdieu's notions of capital. We argue that applying the EVL typology to the data suggests the easy availability of exit routes out of journalism together with journalists' difficulty in voicing their occupational concerns within news organizations, given their chaotic organizational structure, contributed to news organizations' passive response to the crisis.

Yadiln-Segal, A. & Meyers, O. (2014). “Like Birds Returning to Their Nest”: Immigration Narratives and Ideological Constructions in Early Israeli Children’s Magazines. Journalism History, 40 (3), 158-166.

Aya Yadlin-Segal is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Communication at Texas A&M University. Oren Meyers is a senior lecturer in the Department of Communication at the University of Haifa. This article is based on a Masters thesis Yadlin-Segal wrote (Thesis advisor: Dr. Oren Meyers).

Abstract:

This article explores the construction of national identity through the coverage of immigrants and immigration in 1950s Israeli children’s magazines. The study’s interpretive-narrative analysis employed two research trajectories focusing on the narrators of immigration stories and the main plot structures featured in the magazines’ articles. The study’s main findings point at the sharp contrast between the positive presentation of the phenomenon of Jewish immigration to Israel as a fulfilment of a prophecy and the negative depiction of the immigrants themselves as primitive, not ideologically committed and burdening the young country’s economy. Beyond the specific historical context, the study provides conceptual and methodological insights into the fabula’s role in the narrative process, as well as to the use of immigrants’ depictions as a social tool for collective self-definition. By doing so, the article illuminates the reciprocal relationships between culture and journalistic practices.

Dvir-Gvirsman, S., Tsfati, Y., & Menchen-Trevino, E. (2014). The extent and nature of ideological selective exposure online: Combining survey responses with actual web log data from the 2013 Israeli Elections. New Media & Society . doi:10.1177/1461444814549041

Do users tend to consume only like-minded political information online? We point to two problems with the existing knowledge about this debate. First, the measurement of media preferences by the typical means of surveys is less reliable than behavioral data. Second, most studies have analyzed only the extent of online exposure to like-minded content, not the users’ complete web-browsing repertoire. This study used both survey data and real-life browsing behavior (661,483 URLs from 15,976 websites visited by 402 participants) for the period 7 weeks prior to the 2013 Israeli national elections. The results indicate that (1) self-report measurements of ideological exposure are inflated, (2) exposure to online ideological content accounted for only 3% of total online browsing, (3) the participants’ media repertoires are very diverse with no evidence of echo chambers, and (4) in accordance with the selective exposure hypothesis, individuals on both sides are more exposed to like-minded content. The results are discussed in light of the selective exposure literature.

Oren Meyers (University of Haifa), Eyal Zandberg (Netanya Academic College) and Motti Neiger's (Netanya Academic College) new book, Communicating Awe: Media Memory and Holocaust Commemoration has been published by Palgrave Macmillan.

From the back cover:

How can a society communicate a collective trauma? This book offers a cross-media exploration of Israeli media on Holocaust Remembrance Day, one of Israel's most sacred national rituals, over the past six decades. It investigates the way in which variables such as medium, structure of ownership, genre and targeted audiences shape the collective recollection of traumatic memories. Following their previous conceptual work on media memory, the authors argue that a combination of the aforementioned factors, anchored in the political arena as well as in the realm of media practices and conventions, lead Israeli media to operate on Holocaust Remembrance in a manner that 'acts out' the collective trauma. Thus, the underlying narrative that is performed by the media on Holocaust Remembrance Day frames the Holocaust as a current, ongoing Israeli event, rather than an event that took place in Europe and ended decades ago

Book cover

Livio, O., and T. Katriel. 2014. “A Fractured Solidarity: Communitas and Structure in the Israeli 2011 Social Protest.” In The Political Aesthetics of Global Protest: The Arab Spring and Beyond ed. P. Werbner, M. Webb, and K. Spellman-Poots, 147-176. Edinburgh, Scotland:
Edinburgh University Press.

Abstract:

In this paper we examine the local dynamics of the 2011 Israeli social protest, focusing in particular on the tensions between communitas, or the sense of shared purpose and solidarity achieved in liminal spaces such as protest tent encampments, and the continued influence of structural relations of power determining social identities and hierarchies. Based on a combination of ethnographic observations at protest sites and an examination of the discourse produced within and about the protest movement at the time, we aim to reach a better understanding of protest cultures and to consider their long-term implications.

Slater, M. D., Johnson, B. K., Cohen, J., Comello, M. L. G., & Ewoldsen, D. R. (forthcoming). Temporarily Expanding the Boundaries of the Self: Motivations for Entering the Story World and Implications for Narrative Effects. Journal of Communication, 64(3), 439-455.

Jonathan Cohen is an Associate Professor in the department.

Abstract:

A wide variety of motivations for engaging with narratives have been proposed and studied. We propose that underlying these motivations is another, more fundamental motivation. Our premise is that maintenance, defense, and regulation of the personal and social self in daily life are demanding both emotionally and cognitively. Moreover, any individual self is constrained by capability, situation, and social role. Stories and identification with story characters provide a means individuals may use for temporary relief from the task of self-regulation and from the limitations of individual personal and social identities. Existing supportive research is acknowledged and implications explored, concerning contexts in which story involvement will be particularly attractive and possible impacts on attitudes and acceptance of out-groups including stigmatized others.

Ribak, R. (2013). Media and spaces: the mobile phone in the geographies of young people. In D. Lemish (ed.) The Routledge International Handbook of Children, Adolescents and Media (pp.307-314), Routledge.

Abstract:

The control of spatiality is implicated in processes of maturation. Young people are defined by the spaces they are allowed and are not allowed to occupy, whereas parents are required to "know where their child is" but let go. The media in general and mobile telephones in particular play a growing role in constructing these spaces. The paper explores the ways in which mobile phones are used by parents and children to maintain and expand the distance between them, and how mobile phone use is involved in practices of being outside the home, in the city street or the school. The paper suggests that studies vary to the extent that they interpret distance as a threat or as a challenge, and construct the mobile phone as a medium for control or sociality. These representations of space and media may be important objects for future research.

Gabriel Weimann, New Terrorism and New Media, Wilson Center - Commons Lab, Research Series, V.2

This report examines how Al-Qaeda, its affiliates and other terrorist organizations have moved their online presence to YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and other social media outlets, posing challenges to counter-terrorism agencies. 

You can access a brief article derived from this project on Medium.

Neiger, M., Zandberg, E. & Meyers, O. (2014). Reversed memory: Commemorating the past through coverage of the present. In: B. Zelizer & K. Tenenboim-Weinblatt, K. (Eds.). Journalism and Memory. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 113-128.

Collective memory concerns the present no less (or even more) than it refers to the past.  Moreover, in some cases, "the present of past events" – that is, new details or developments regarding significant past occurrences – become the heart of the story and the main focus of the narrative, while the details of those past occurrences are pushed aside, or rather to the background. In the following article, we explore this phenomenon and suggest the concept of reversed memory:  the cultural mechanism and journalistic practice of focusing on the present while commemorating a shared past. i.e., reversed memory is a narratological device in which temporality works in a contrary direction: from the present to the past. Unlike the well-established argument that narratives of the past adapt “the image of ancient facts to the beliefs and spiritual needs of the present” (Halbwachs, 1980 [1950]: 7), in the case of reversed memory the past is not merely narrated in the service of current objectives; rather, the past is commemorated by means of the narration of the present.

Fundamentally, collective memory deals with shared pasts "there and then" while news coverage focuses on information concerning the present "here and now". Still, despite this apparent contradiction, reversed memory storytelling technique enables the creation of narratives that qualify both as news items as well as commemorative tools and so, shared manifestations of the past  become part of the "see it now" discourse of current events news coverage. News items that are constructed as emblems of reversed memory are more evident when they are part of several, simultaneous and complementing rituals, such as   national commemorative rituals, the media rituals that revolve around such “national occasions”, and at the same time, the everyday, secular ritual of news production and dissemination.

Within this context, our chapter offers a typology of reversed memory components and illuminates the phenomenon through an analysis of contents that appeared on Israeli media (internet, print, radio & TV news) during the state Remembrance Day for the Holocaust and the Heroism during  the last decade. In such items we refer to the shift in commemorative reporting from a focus on the events of Holocaust itself to a heightened emphasis on events that followed the Holocaust, and especially the establishment of the State of Israel and the revival of the survivors in their new homeland. 

Tsfati, Y., & Ariely, G. (2013). Individual and Contextual Correlates of Trust in Media Across 44 Countries. Communication Research.

Yariv Tsfati is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication. Gal Ariely is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Politics & Government at Ben-Gurion University.

Abstract:

Media research demonstrates that audience trust in the news media is a highly consequential factor, shaping audience selection of and response to media, and potentially impacting citizens’ perceptions of the political system at large. Still, our knowledge about the correlates of trust in media is limited. Only a few studies have utilized a correlational design to explore the associations between trust in media and other factors, and almost all of these studies originate in the U.S. context. The current investigation utilizes data from 44 diverse countries (n = 57,847), collected as part of the World Values Survey, to broaden our understanding of trust in media. The aim is two-fold—to learn about individual-level correlates across contexts and to demonstrate that macro-level factors play a part in shaping such trust. Our findings indicate that levels of political interest, interpersonal trust, and exposure to television news and newspapers are positively correlated with trust in media, while education and exposure to news on the Internet are negatively associated. On the macro level, postmaterialism emerged as a consistent predictor of trust in media. State ownership of the media industry did not have a main effect on trust in media after controlling for other factors. However, an interaction was found between state ownership and level of democracy: state ownership of television is positively associated with media trust in democratic societies and negatively associated with trust in media in nondemocratic societies.

Meyers, O., & Davidson, R. (forthcoming). The journalistic structure of feeling: An exploration of career life histories of Israeli journalists. Journalism.

Abstract:

The study explores 33 occupational life histories of current and former Israeli journalists. By doing so, it enables us to better understand how the fundamental changes that the journalistic profession underwent during recent decades shaped and influenced the occupational progression of Israeli journalists. Our interviews validate previous work on the partial professional standing of journalism showing that individuals enter journalism in a protracted and uneven manner. In addition, the analysis of modes of reasoning for entering journalism charts the informal boundaries of overt journalistic political identification. Finally, an exploration of self-narrated occupational highs and lows shows that career highs are always identified as personal achievements while career lows are mostly narrated as outcomes of larger organizational or institutional constraints. The current chaotic nature of journalism organizations, as reflected in our life history corpus, illustrates an environment in which there is a clear disconnect between actions and rewards.

Cohen, J. (in press). Mediated Relationships and Social Life: Current Research on Fandom, Parasocial Relationships, and Identification. In Oliver, M. B., & Raney, A. A.(eds.). Media and the social life (working title). New York: Routledge.

Abstract:

This chapter examines the role that media characters play in everyday lives. The chapter describes various reactions that media audiences have to media characters and the various types of relationships they form with characters: Fandom, parasocial relationships and identification. A survey of recent research is presented on the factors that enhance such relationships, including recent research on digital media and social media, as well as some of major consequences researchers have identified.