Global Media and Communication

This study examines the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) media coverage of Azerbaijan and Sweden to consider possible Eurocentric bias in international communication. Using Media Influences Theory and textual analysis, it analyzes visual symbology and notes consistent differences in portrayals of Western and non-Western participants. Western European media appear to respond to ingrained audience preferences, which may reinforce Eurocentric frames. These tendencies shape intercultural perception within ESC coverage. The study suggests reconsidering media practice toward representation that reflects global cultures rather than privileging Western norms.

This content analysis offers a benchmark of product placement (PPL) in eight Korean dramas that earned top viewership on Netflix during the COVID-driven media consumption of 2020 and continued streaming 5 years later. Researchers found 507 labelled products from 78 unique brands, including a heavy presence of brands from 11 non-Korean countries. Automobiles appeared most frequently as a product category, followed by food and beverages. Branded products were often used by primary characters for extended periods of time. Findings add to PPL literature by evaluating non-US over-the-top (OTT) programming with continuing global SVoD viewership and includes explanations of regulation differences in South Korea.

How do elite US news outlets frame AI within accounts of hype, disappointment and tempered expectation? This study finds that rather than fueling hype, coverage tends to adopt a cautious tone – emphasizing everyday uses and current impacts over speculative futures. A content analysis of three high-profile US dailies shows more positive tones when only developers or vendors discuss their own AI tools. The findings underscore journalists’ important role in contextualizing and balancing biased narratives and will be a valuable contribution for academics, journalists and policymakers seeking to understand hype, disappointment and expectation dynamics in technology discourse and their broader social implications.

This study explores 5 years of international media coverage of the Cyprus conflict through the lens of a peace journalism framework. Using a qualitative content analysis approach, researchers analyzed coverage from The New York Times, the Associated Press (AP) and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). The study employs a combined framework of peace journalism, conflict journalism, cultural identities, and economics to assess how these factors interact in shaping international news narratives. Researchers found that Western foreign news agencies frequently emphasize violence and conflict in their reporting, rather than fostering peace initiatives in Cyprus.

This article introduces and explores the concept of ‘hybrid political actors’ (HPAs) and the implications of their rise for contemporary democracy. It argues that the phenomenon is not new but has become increasingly significant amid the digital disruptions of the fourth age of political communication. As explained, professions in the fields of politics and journalism have lost their communication primacy within the political public sphere, while hybridity has simultaneously enabled further boundary blurring between these and other professions. Thus, HPAs have flourished. Four of which are sketched out here are politician-publishers, political pseudo news sites, celebrity-politicians and political flexions. As the piece concludes, the growing influence of such actors challenges democracies in various ways. The recent rise to power of Donald Trump and a number of allied business celebrity-politicians, epitomises these trends and the challenges.