Abstract
The January issue of the Journal of Communication Inquiry includes five original articles, and one book review.
This issue starts with Dunja Majstorović's article titled “Windows Towards the West: Exploring the Emergence of Popular Magazines in Yugoslavia in the 1960s and early 1970s.” Majstorović explores factors that enabled Vjesnik, the largest publishing house in Yugoslavia to emerge. She looks at the influence that Western magazines, the development of tourism and consumerism, and the Western culture influences in the 1760s and early 1970s had on the magazine. Building on the literature on media theory, and the development of tourism and consumerism in Yugoslavia, Majstorović argues that specific changes implemented in the 1960s within the Yugoslavian society spurred the development and rise in publications by Vjesnik.
The second article, titled “Digital Moral Outrage, Collective Guilt, And Collective Action: An Examination of How Twitter Users Expressed Their Anguish During India's Covid-19 Related Migrant Crisis” by Neelam Sharma, looks at the intersection of group-based expressions on social media. The paper looks at digital moral outrage, collective guilt, and collective action on Twitter after the tragic incident in India on 8 May 2020, where 16 migrant workers were run over by a train following the imposition of a sudden Covid-19-related lockdown by the Indian government. With limited research existing on the nature and frequency of group-based emotions expressed during real-life situation on digital platforms, this paper integrates theoretical concepts of digital outrage, collective guilt and sympathy, and collective action to study the issue. She observed that Twitter is a platform for information exchange as well as a medium for people to channel their anger, show gratitude, and amplify the Samaritans efforts. In addition, she acknowledges observing digital outrage fatigue as moral outrage gradually decreased during the period of the study.
“Television, Brands, and the Pandemic: How Spanish TV Channels Treated the Brands Most Valued for Their CSR During the Covid-19 Lockdown,” by Antonio Pérez, José Rodríguez, Teresa Cantarero, and Sandra Costa is the next paper in this issue. It looks at the presence of main Spanish brands most active in the field of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in four main Spanish televisions channels with the highest audience and online press during the two months of total lock-down due to Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. The objective of this study was to explore whether the coverage of this brands reduced or increased during the health crisis. They also identified and categorized their treatment as positive, neutral, or negative. The authors observed that the coverage of the brands in the media reduced. They also observed that the brands were mostly covered with a positive sentiment during the pandemic, indicating the importance of CSR during a crisis.
The fourth paper of the issue titled “The 14th Amendment in the Supreme Court's Plessy1 and Brown2 Decisions and Influences on Editorial Arguments about Segregation in the Southern United States, 1960–1964,” by Ali Mohamed is a content analysis of the editorial pages of the Birmingham News from 1960 to 1964. The paper focuses on the legal and moral arguments on segregation in the Birmingham News. He observed that Plessy v. Ferguson's dual system of “social rights” and its “separate but equal” doctrine still had vivid residual effects on Alabama's political culture in the 1960s. However, he also observed progressive support for fairness in voting and legal equality for Blacks.
Aksar, Firdaus and Pasha, in their article titled “Virtual vs. Real Self: Gendered Presentation and Everyday Performance of Virtual Selfhood–A Case Study of Pakistan,” explore the presentation and performance of women's selfhood and identity in Pakistan, in both virtual and real world. In a patriarchal culture where women are socially struggling to have their role in society truly accepted and equally acknowledged, this study explores women's online presence and digital identity. The research findings suggest that women's online practices and identity are both culturally defined. The participants shared two diverse notions regarding their online identity: conformity to social norms (digital veiling) and taking sanctuary in social media for somewhat free self-expression (altering identity).
Lastly, Mehrnaz Khanjani reviews Screen Shots: State Violence on Camera in Israel and Palestine by Rebecca L. Stein. The book is about political dreams of Palestinians and civilians seeking justice and their breakdowns tied to digital photography in the first two decades of the twenty-first century. By conducting interviews and ethnographic observations, Stein shows how dreams of various groups from Palestine, and video activists and human rights workers failed in the hands of the Israeli military. Mehrnaz posits that this book plays a vital role of archiving the existence of oppressive ideologies in Israel and Palestine.