Trends in Public Opinion on Nuclear Energy in Slovenia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jencic, I.

2008-01-01

Slovenia is considering building a second nuclear power plant in the next 10-15 years, 'if no other, better option to generate electricity becomes feasible in this period.' It is quite obvious that this cautious wording is used in the official government plan because of sensitivity of public towards nuclear energy and potential political feedback. The Nuclear Training Centre was established in 1989 as an organizational unit of Jozef Stefan Institute. Its main mission was - and still is - the initial, theoretical training of NPP operators. Over the years, this mission was complemented by an increasingly intensive activity in public information. The core of this activity is the Information centre which was set up in the basement of the Training Centre in 1993 and which received the 100.000th visitor in May 2007. Public information of the Nuclear Training Centre is based of live lectures, visit of the permanent exhibition, demonstration laboratory, printed materials and web page. A selected group of visitors is also polled each year on the topic of nuclear energy. The poll is performed before the visit in order to receive unbiased opinion. We are aware that the results of these polls are not representative for general public in Slovenia, but to some extent they do reflect public opinion and, even more important, they can be used to monitor changes over the years and also to serve as a guide to information activities. This year we have also started to follow the reports on nuclear energy in the media: what are the topics that media report most, how do they report and in which types of media these reports appear. The paper will describe the results of public opinion polls in the last year and their comparison with the results of polls in the previous years, as well as their comparison with a recent Eurobarometer poll on nuclear safety. Furthermore, analysis of media coverage will be presented. All these data are considered in estimating the strong and the weak points of

The public opinion and ATC; La opinion publica y el ATC

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ballera, J.

2010-07-01

The role of the media is essential to adopt a final decision in relation to the location of a Centralized Temporary Storage (ATC)in Spain. to the deliberative process is public, open and transparent, as included in Royal Decree that created the Inter ministerial Commission responsible for overseeing the procedure, it is necessary for that citizens has information, clear and unequivocal. indicators such as the special edition of the Eurobarometer survey published in June 2008 showed that it is moving towards a truly informed public opinion in these matters. (Author)

Contrasting Public Opinion Dynamics and Emotional Response during Crisis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Volkova, Svitlana; Chetviorkin, Ilia; Arendt, Dustin L.; Van Durme, Ben

2016-11-15

We propose an approach for contrasting spatiotemporal dynamics of public opinions expressed toward targeted entities, also known as stance detection task, in Russia and Ukraine during crisis. Our analysis relies on a novel corpus constructed from posts on the VKontakte social network, centered on local public opinion of the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian crisis, along with newly annotated resources for predicting expressions of fine-grained emotions including joy, sadness, disgust, anger, surprise and fear. Akin to prior work on sentiment analysis we align traditional public opinion polls with aggregated automatic predictions of sentiments for contrastive geo-locations. We report interesting observations on emotional response and stance variations across geo-locations. Some of our findings contradict stereotypical misconceptions imposed by media, for example, we found posts from Ukraine that do not support Euromaidan but support Putin, and posts from Russia that are against Putin but in favor USA. Furthermore, we are the first to demonstrate contrastive stance variations over time across geo-locations using storyline visualization technique.

Formation of public opinion on the question of nuclear waste

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Asp, K.; Hedberg, P.

1988-06-01

The aim of the report is double. Firstly will bases and issues behind the media studies within the research project be presented. Secondly will the empirical investigations which are included in this part of the project be shown. Headings: - The question of nuclear waste - a controversial question. - The mass media as intermediaries of information and opinion. - The information merit of the mass media. The bias of the mass media. - The decision merit of the mass media. - Empirical investigations. * The question of nuclear waste in the news-distribution. * The question of nuclear waste in the public debate. (O.S.)

Does the weather influence public opinion about climate change?

Science.gov (United States)

Donner, S. D.; McDaniel, J.

2010-12-01

Public opinion in North America about the science of anthropogenic climate change and the motivation for policy action has been variable over the past twenty years. The trends in public opinion over time have been attributed the general lack of pressing public concern about climate change to a range of political, economic and psychological factors. One driving force behind the variability in polling data from year to year may be the weather itself. The difference between what we “expect” - the climate - and what we “get” - the weather - can be a major source of confusion and obfuscation in the public discourse about climate change. For example, reaction to moderate global temperatures in 2007 and 2008 may have helped prompt the spread of a “global cooling” meme in the public and the news media. At the same time, a decrease in the belief in the science of climate change and the need for action has been noted in opinion polls. This study analyzes the relationship between public opinion about climate change and the weather in the U.S. since the mid-1980s using historical polling data from several major organizations (e.g. Gallup, Pew, Harris Interactive, ABC News), historical monthly air temperature (NCDC) and a survey of opinion articles from major U.S. newspapers (Washington Post, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Houston Chronicle, USA Today). Seasonal and annual monthly temperature anomalies for the northeastern U.S and the continental U.S are compared with available national opinion data for three general categories of questions: i) Is the climate warming?, ii) Is the observed warming due to human activity?, and iii) Are you concerned about climate change? The variability in temperature and public opinion over time is also compared with the variability in the fraction of opinion articles in the newspapers (n ~ 7000) which express general agreement or disagreement with IPCC Summary for Policymakers consensus statements on climate change (“most of

Public opinion polls on nuclear energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Heller, E.D.

1980-07-01

Future developments in the attitude towards nuclear energy can not be predicted on account of this public opinion survey. The survey shows just how many different factors influence the attitude towards issues of public and political interst. For this reason in particular, it would be desirable to include such aspects into future surveys. The survey shows that public opinion polls quite often investigate on the ordering party's opinion rather than the pollees opinion. The attempt at making public opinion polls a means of forming political opinions, implying a certain desired opinion to be the majority opinion has brought those polls into disrepute. If real results are not required and manipulation prevails, results are prevented, which must not be blamed on the principle of public opinion polls as such. (orig.) [de

Fukushima and follow-up. Media coverage, public opinion, political consequences

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wolling, Jens; Arlt, Dorothee

2014-01-01

The study includes the following contributions: Introduction: An earth quake and its (political) consequences; Part 1: Nuclear energy in the historical-comparative perspective: The largest assumable reevaluation? Loss of confidence in nuclear power. Part 2: Reactions of the media in Germany: German nuclear phase-out made in Japan? Risk perception in case of accident. Part 3: International comparison of the media reactions: Framing Fukushima. The nuclear disaster as topic of the international communication. Emotionalized reporting? Energy sources in the media reporting. Changes due to Fukushima? Part 4: Reactions of the public on the nuclear disaster and the media reporting: Fukushima effects in Germany? Risk reporting and risk perception. The influence of the reactor accident on the nuclear risk perception and the general environmental awareness of the public. On the influence of the nuclear disaster of Fukushima and the appraisement of different energy sources in Germany.

War Policy, Public Support, and the Media

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Darley, William M

2005-01-01

Perhaps no element of the current conflict in Iraq engenders more emotion and acrimony within the military than debate concerning the role and influence of the news media on public opinion and national policy...

The Fukushima Accident and the Public Opinion in Slovenia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jencic, I.

2012-01-01

Nuclear Training Center (ICJT) at the Jozef Stefan Institute is actively involved also in public information of nuclear issues in Slovenia. After the accident in Fukushima ICJT was one of the main sources of technical information and explanation for the journalists. Organized groups, mainly schoolchildren, traditionally come to ICJT, where they listen to a live lecture and visit the permanent exhibition on nuclear energy. Each year in spring, around 1000 of visitors are polled regarding their knowledge and attitude towards nuclear energy. As the visitors of ICJT are not a representative sample of general population, the results of the poll can not be taken absolutely, but they are valuable when compared to previous years' results - to monitor trends in the (younger) public. In the year 2011, the poll was conducted one month after the accident in Fukushima. ICJT is also analysing media reports by following articles in all types of media: TV, radio, press and web. The first two months after the Fukushima accident the frequency of reports increased drastically and then slowly faded away to reach pre-accident level in about 6 months. Naturally there were a lot of concerned reports, some of them also very negative, but given the circumstances and compared with some other countries, e.g. Austria or Germany, the reporting was relatively objective. The paper will analyze the trends in public opinion in Slovenia based on direct contacts with journalists, opinion polls and media analyses.(author).

How Public Opinion is Formed

Science.gov (United States)

Block, Edward M.

1977-01-01

Investigates the evolution of the definition of public relations by examining cultural and personal determinants of public opinion. Outlines functions of communicators and opinionmakers in forming and influencing public opinion. Available from: Public Relations Review, Ray Hiebert, Dean, College of Journalism, University of Maryland, College Park,…

The News Media PRISM: Shaping America’s Opinion of Congress

Science.gov (United States)

2003-01-01

public gleans much of its knowledge of the political process. Accordingly, the tone of media coverage has a remarkable impact as people form their opinions...conditions in sweatshops and the corruption of public officials. This activist journalism, dubbed "muckraking" by President Theodore Roosevelt, led to...then rush to buy a paper and read all the shocking details." 1 9 Both Hearst and Pulitzer, along with E.W. Scripps, covered social and political issues

Public opinions and antinuclear contestations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Silveira, P.R.N. da

1978-01-01

With the aim of demonstrating the importance of public opinion in the development of a nuclear program, a historical analysis of the different forms of anti-technological reactions is shown, starting with a study of the general aspects of mass communication and public opinion. The world-wide communication strategy adopted in the implantation of nuclear programs is discussed and, finally, the nuclear energy issue and public opinion in Brazil are analysed. (F.E.) [pt

Public Deliberation on Government-managed Social Media

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Medaglia, Rony; Zhu, Demi

2017-01-01

– characterised by exposure to different opinions, mutual understanding, and reasonableness – or hinder them, resulting in increased homophily and polarisation. Using the theoretical lens of public deliberation, this study investigates attitudinal and cognitive aspects of user conversations on government......-managed social media accounts. Drawing on a survey of 417 users of the Chinese social media platform Weibo, our findings show that interactions on social media are mostly non-dialogical and non-creative in nature, and characterised by homophily and polarisation, even though users perceive their interactions...

Variation of public opinion regarding nuclear energy with the change of nuclear information by the media

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ohnishi, Teruaki

1998-01-01

The behavior of the secular variation of public opinion with respect to nuclear energy since 1973 was simulated by using an already developed mathematical model with the assumption that the public opinion, regardless of the local resident or of the average Japanese, has been subject almost solely to the quality and quantity of information by the newsmedia. The quality and quantity of nuclear information was assumed here to be measurable by the amount of information with positive or negative contents regarding the promotion of nuclear generation, which is released by the press, television and magazines. From the comparison of the quality and quantity of information by several newspapers, a major difference was found to exist between the information made by the press in the located region of nuclear station and the information by the national press, such that the former has released everyday information of both positive and negative contents for local residents with the amount several times higher than the latter. Model calculation showed that the attitude of local residents to nuclear energy is quite stable in time as compared to that of average Japanese. Such an essential difference of nuclear attitude between the local resident and the average Japanese became clear to originate from the above-cited difference of the characteristics of information between the local and national media. With the use of such model calculation as this, useful knowledge concerning the method of disclosure of nuclear information is expected to obtain. (author)

Nuclear power engineering: Public understanding and public opinion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kryshev, A.I.; Sazykina, T.G.

1998-01-01

Subjective and objective reasons for the formation of public opinion about nuclear power engineering of Russia were analyzed. Some methodological errors in work with the Russian public on the problems of nuclear energy and possible methods of their correction were discussed. The social groups of the general public, which are of greatest importance in forming the attitude towards nuclear power engineering were indicated. The conclusion was reached that opinion of the ordinary population is often indicative of real drawbacks in the work of specialists in the nuclear fuel cycle. Consequently, careful surveys of public opinion about the problems of the nuclear industry should be very useful in organizing research work properly and improving the radiation safety. (author)

Survey Methods, Traditional, Public Opinion Polling

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Elmelund-Præstekær, Christian; Hopmann, David Nicolas; Pedersen, Rasmus Tue

2017-01-01

Traditional public opinion polls are surveys in which a random sample of a given population is asked questions about their attitudes, knowledge, or behavior. If conducted properly, the answers from such surveys are approximately representative of the entire population. Traditional public opinion...... polling is typically based on four different methods of data gathering, or combinations hereof: face-to-face, postal surveys, phone surveys, and web surveys. Given that opinion polls are based on a sample, we cannot be sure that the sample reflects public opinion perfectly, however—even if randomness...... is perfect. Moreover, responses may be highly dependent on the contextual information provided with the question. Also, it may be difficult to capture past or complex causes of attitudes or behavior. In short, surveys are a precise way of measuring public opinion, but they do not come without challenges....

Nuclear power crises and public opinion: Russian Experience

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gagarinski, A.Y.

1998-01-01

This report presents the state of Russian nuclear power, which provides 13 per cent of the country's electricity production (up to 80 per cent in some large regions) and shows no recession trends, characteristic of the whole Russian economic complex. The report discusses measures taken both for improvement of the safety of operating and future new-generation NPPs, and for improvement of public confidence in them. Also considered are the problems related to both civil power and the military heritage, which are most actively discussed in mass media. This report provides the prognosis for nuclear power and public opinion for the next 10-15 years. (author)

Interplay between media and social influence in the collective behavior of opinion dynamics

Science.gov (United States)

Colaiori, Francesca; Castellano, Claudio

2015-10-01

Messages conveyed by media act as a major drive in shaping attitudes and inducing opinion shift. On the other hand, individuals are strongly affected by peer pressure while forming their own judgment. We solve a general model of opinion dynamics where individuals either hold one of two alternative opinions or are undecided and interact pairwise while exposed to an external influence. As media pressure increases, the system moves from pluralism to global consensus; four distinct classes of collective behavior emerge, crucially depending on the outcome of direct interactions among individuals holding opposite opinions. Observed nontrivial behaviors include hysteretic phenomena and resilience of minority opinions. Notably, consensus could be unachievable even when media and microscopic interactions are biased in favor of the same opinion: The unfavored opinion might even gain the support of the majority.

Public Opinions Toward Diseases: Infodemiological Study on News Media Data.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Ming; ElTayeby, Omar; Zolnoori, Maryam; Yao, Lixia

2018-05-08

Society always has limited resources to expend on health care, or anything else. What are the unmet medical needs? How do we allocate limited resources to maximize the health and welfare of the people? These challenging questions might be re-examined systematically within an infodemiological frame on a much larger scale, leveraging the latest advancement in information technology and data science. We expanded our previous work by investigating news media data to reveal the coverage of different diseases and medical conditions, together with their sentiments and topics in news articles over three decades. We were motivated to do so since news media plays a significant role in politics and affects the public policy making. We analyzed over 3.5 million archive news articles from Reuters media during the periods of 1996/1997, 2008 and 2016, using summary statistics, sentiment analysis, and topic modeling. Summary statistics illustrated the coverage of various diseases and medical conditions during the last 3 decades. Sentiment analysis and topic modeling helped us automatically detect the sentiments of news articles (ie, positive versus negative) and topics (ie, a series of keywords) associated with each disease over time. The percentages of news articles mentioning diseases and medical conditions were 0.44%, 0.57% and 0.81% in the three time periods, suggesting that news media or the public has gradually increased its interests in medicine since 1996. Certain diseases such as other malignant neoplasm (34%), other infectious diseases (20%), and influenza (11%) represented the most covered diseases. Two hundred and twenty-six diseases and medical conditions (97.8%) were found to have neutral or negative sentiments in the news articles. Using topic modeling, we identified meaningful topics on these diseases and medical conditions. For instance, the smoking theme appeared in the news articles on other malignant neoplasm only during 1996/1997. The topic phrases HIV and

Nuclear energy and public opinion: arousal of a myth

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Agrafiotis, D.; Delarminat, E.; Morlat, G.; Pages, J.P.

1977-01-01

In order to explain why an individual or the public opinion is in favour or against the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, one should not only consider the dimension of the involved risk, as radiation protection and safety experts will often do. Many other dimensions should be considered all the more as the nuclear problem is gaining importance on a national level, becoming the topic of the day in press and other media and the subject of 'definite' position from political parties and social groups. An investigation carried out within the Protection Division of the French Atomic Energy Commission (C.E.A.) has made it possible to specify the socio-cultural dimensions at the origin of the attitudes taken on the nuclear problem in France. The nuclear topic was therefore compared with other present topics interesting public opinion; this comparison was made possible by means of an attitude survey covering various social groups. A model of social perception was thus developed [fr

Nuclear power debate - scientists, mass media and the public

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rothman, S.; Lichter, S.R.

1983-01-01

A poll among the members of the American Men and Women of Science has shown that the majority of scientists are for nuclear energy. The controversial results of polls in the general public are believed to be due to the distortion effects of the press and media. The biased information role of the communication media might be the result of the prejudiced publicity behavior of antinuclear scientists. A more significant role, however, has been played by the science journalists whose scepticism toward nuclear power is reflected in the public opinion. There seems to be a lack in the communication chain connecting the layman public with the science community. (R.P.)

Network public opinion space sentiment tendency analyze based on recurrent convolution neural network

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Gaowei; Xu, Lingyu; Wang, Lei

2018-04-01

The purpose of this chapter is to analyze the investor's psychological characteristics and investment decision-making behavior characteristics, to study the investor sentiment under the network public opinion, and then analyze from three aspects: First, investor sentiment analysis and how to spread in the online media; The influence mechanism of investor's emotion on the stock market and its effect; the third one is to measure the investor's emotion based on the degree of attention, trying hard to sort out the internal relations between the investor's sentiment and the network public opinion and the stock market, in order to lay the theoretical foundation of this article.

'Quicksand' of public opinion - trust in nuclear after Fukushima

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gieci, Adam; Maly, Stanislav; Palecek, Milos

2012-01-01

The following public opinion surveys are described: public opinion on nuclear power plants by the end of 2010; first public opinion polls after Fukushima in the US, UK and France; and public opinion and the future of nuclear in Japan. The following issues are discussed: Has nuclear any perspective after Fukushima? Will public opinion change after the Fukushima accident like it did after the TMI event? Will public opinion change after the Fukushima accident like it did after the oil spill accident in the Gulf of Mexico? In conclusion the new approaches to the fight for public confidence after Fukushima are described. (orig.)

Destination reputation in online media: Covered topics and perceived online dominant opinion

OpenAIRE

Marchiori, Elena; Cantoni, Lorenzo

2013-01-01

Context: Online public opinions using various forms of social media are generating challenges for the tourism industry, which is intrinsically a “reputation-dependent” domain. Electronic-word-of-mouth (eWOM) has forced destination managers to rethink branding strategies, suggesting a shift from an architecture brand perspective to a live context perspective where travel markets are considered to be conversations and the monitoring of online conversations constitutes the first phase of ...

Public opinion on water reuse options

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bruvold, W.H.

1988-01-01

Public policy on waste water reuse options must be informed by public opinion because it is the public who must pay the cost of developing the option and who will be served by the option in the future. For public policy on reuse, guidance for innovative reuse is not as simple as first believed. It seems that public opinion regarding actual community reuse options is affected by the linkage of several factors, including water conservation, health protection, treatment and distribution costs, and environmental enhancement. Probability sampling was used in 7 studies to select respondents who were queried regarding their opinions on various reclaimed water uses such as ranging from cooling tower water to full domestic use. These 7 are briefly reviewed

Nuclear Energy and Public Opinion: Chile's Case

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gonzalez, G.

2015-01-01

Public opinion is as old as history itself. Its origins date back to the ancient Greece where the Agora was consulted about matters of interest and at the same time it was practiced the art of persuasion through dialogue. Philosophers such as Socrates, Plato and Aristotle gave proof of their knowledge and skills of persuasion. These aspects were inherited by the Roman Empire, which sought through the senate the idea of transmitting what we know as “Vox Populi” (The Greek doxa), a term that together with the “Consensus” used by Medieval thinkers, constitute its pre-modern origin. From a conceptual point of view, public opinion comes alongside the creation of the idea of the state and as a result of the historical process called the Enlightenment. Thinkers such as Rousseau, Locke, Montesquieu, Kant and Hegel contextualised it within the legal system of the state. For Rousseau, it should be understood as a expression of the general will; for Kant it was the highest realization of the Enlightenment era and a result of the use of reason and law and for Locke human behaviour was defined by three fundamental laws: the divine, civil and…Public Opinion!. Hegel was much more specific and expressed that public opinion was called to be the instrument by which society expressed its support or rejection to the rulers’ decisions. It was in coffee shops and gatherings where opinion was born; for this reason, it was only the elite who was able to expressed about general interest’s topics, therefore the importance of sociability during modern times. This is how we arrive to the contemporary definition of the term. Since the French Revolution the concept has been associated with the sovereignty of the states and people, i.e. the rule of the majority. Today due to the massive participation of people in issues of importance, the opinion delivered by the media, and the globalization of communications, it is difficult to arrive at a definition of the term we have been

Capturing public opinion on public health topics: a comparison of experiences from a systematic review, focus group study, and analysis of online, user-generated content

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Emma Louise Giles

2015-08-01

Full Text Available BackgroundCapturing public opinion towards public health topics is important to ensure that services, policy and research are aligned with the beliefs and priorities of the general public. A number of approaches can be used to capture public opinion. MethodsWe are conducting a programme of work on the effectiveness and acceptability of health promoting financial incentive interventions. We have captured public opinion on financial incentive interventions using three methods: a systematic review, focus group study, and analysis of online user-generated comments to news media reports. In this short, editorial-style, piece we compare and contrast our experiences with these three methods.ResultsEach of these methods had their advantages and disadvantages. Advantages include tailoring of the research question for systematic reviews, probing of answers during focus groups, and the ability to aggregate a large data set using online user-generated content. However, disadvantages include needing to update systematic reviews, participants conforming to a dominant perspective in focus groups, and being unable to collect respondent characteristics during analysis of user-generated online content. That said, analysis of user-generated online content offers additional time and resource advantages, and we found it elicited similar findings to those obtained via more traditional methods, such as systematic reviews and focus groups. ConclusionsA number of methods for capturing public opinions on public health topics are available. Public health researchers, policy makers and practitioners should choose methods appropriate to their aims. Analysis user-generated online content, especially in the context of news media reports, may be a quicker and cheaper alternative to more traditional methods, without compromising on the breadth of opinions captured.

Capturing Public Opinion on Public Health Topics: A Comparison of Experiences from a Systematic Review, Focus Group Study, and Analysis of Online, User-Generated Content.

Science.gov (United States)

Giles, Emma Louise; Adams, Jean M

2015-01-01

Capturing public opinion toward public health topics is important to ensure that services, policy, and research are aligned with the beliefs and priorities of the general public. A number of approaches can be used to capture public opinion. We are conducting a program of work on the effectiveness and acceptability of health promoting financial incentive interventions. We have captured public opinion on financial incentive interventions using three methods: a systematic review, focus group study, and analysis of online user-generated comments to news media reports. In this short editorial-style piece, we compare and contrast our experiences with these three methods. Each of these methods had their advantages and disadvantages. Advantages include tailoring of the research question for systematic reviews, probing of answers during focus groups, and the ability to aggregate a large data set using online user-generated content. However, disadvantages include needing to update systematic reviews, participants conforming to a dominant perspective in focus groups, and being unable to collect respondent characteristics during analysis of user-generated online content. That said, analysis of user-generated online content offers additional time and resource advantages, and we found it elicited similar findings to those obtained via more traditional methods, such as systematic reviews and focus groups. A number of methods for capturing public opinions on public health topics are available. Public health researchers, policy makers, and practitioners should choose methods appropriate to their aims. Analysis of user-generated online content, especially in the context of news media reports, may be a quicker and cheaper alternative to more traditional methods, without compromising on the breadth of opinions captured.

Are public opinion polls self-fulfilling prophecies?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David Rothschild

2014-08-01

Full Text Available Psychologists have long observed that people conform to majority opinion, a phenomenon sometimes referred to as the ‘bandwagon effect’. In the political domain people learn about prevailing public opinion via ubiquitous polls, which may produce a bandwagon effect. Newer types of information – published probabilities derived from prediction market contract prices and aggregated polling summaries – may have similar effects. Consequently, polls can become self-fulfilling prophecies whereby majorities, whether in support of candidates or policies, grow in a cascading manner. Despite increased attention to whether the measurement of public opinion can itself affect public opinion, the existing empirical literature is surprisingly limited on the bandwagon effects of polls. To address this gap, we conducted an experiment on a diverse national sample in which we randomly assigned people to receive information about different levels of support for three public policies. We find that public opinion as expressed through polls affects individual-level attitudes, although the size of the effect depends on issue characteristics.

Developing convolutional neural networks for measuring climate change opinions from social media data

Science.gov (United States)

Mao, H.; Bhaduri, B. L.

2016-12-01

Understanding public opinions on climate change is important for policy making. Public opinion, however, is typically measured with national surveys, which are often too expensive and thus being updated at a low frequency. Twitter has become a major platform for people to express their opinions on social and political issues. Our work attempts to understand if Twitter data can provide complimentary insights about climate change perceptions. Since the nature of social media is real-time, this data source can especially help us understand how public opinion changes over time in response to climate events and hazards, which though is very difficult to be captured by manual surveys. We use the Twitter Streaming API to collect tweets that contain keywords, "climate change" or "#climatechange". Traditional machine-learning based opinion mining algorithms require a significant amount of labeled data. Data labeling is notoriously time consuming. To address this problem, we use hashtags (a significant feature used to mark topics of tweets) to annotate tweets automatically. For example, hashtags, #climatedenial and #climatescam, are negative opinion labels, while #actonclimate and #climateaction are positive. Following this method, we can obtain a large amount of training data without human labor. This labeled dataset is used to train a deep convolutional neural network that classifies tweets into positive (i.e. believe in climate change) and negative (i.e. do not believe). Based on the positive/negative tweets obtained, we will further analyze risk perceptions and opinions towards policy support. In addition, we analyze twitter user profiles to understand the demographics of proponents and opponents of climate change. Deep learning techniques, especially convolutional deep neural networks, have achieved much success in computer vision. In this work, we propose a convolutional neural network architecture for understanding opinions within text. This method is compared with

Public opinion factors regarding nuclear power

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Benson, B.

1991-12-31

This paper is an effort to identify, as comprehensively as possible, public concerns about nuclear power, and to assess, where possible, the relative importance of these concerns as they relate to government regulation of and policy towards nuclear power. It is based on some two dozen in-depth interviews with key communicators representing the nuclear power industry, the environmental community, and government, as well as on the parallel efforts in our research project: (1) review of federal court case law, (2) a selective examination of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) administrative process, and (3) the preceding George Mason University research project in this series. The paper synthesizes our findings about public attitudes towards nuclear power as expressed through federal court case law, NRC administrative law, public opinion surveys, and direct personal interviews. In so doing, we describe the public opinion environment in which the nuclear regulatory process must operate. Our premise is that public opinion ultimately underlies the approaches government agencies take towards regulating nuclear power, and that, to the degree that the nuclear power industry`s practices are aligned with public opinion, a more favorable regulatory climate is possible.

Public opinion factors regarding nuclear power

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Benson, B.

1991-01-01

This paper is an effort to identify, as comprehensively as possible, public concerns about nuclear power, and to assess, where possible, the relative importance of these concerns as they relate to government regulation of and policy towards nuclear power. It is based on some two dozen in-depth interviews with key communicators representing the nuclear power industry, the environmental community, and government, as well as on the parallel efforts in our research project: (1) review of federal court case law, (2) a selective examination of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) administrative process, and (3) the preceding George Mason University research project in this series. The paper synthesizes our findings about public attitudes towards nuclear power as expressed through federal court case law, NRC administrative law, public opinion surveys, and direct personal interviews. In so doing, we describe the public opinion environment in which the nuclear regulatory process must operate. Our premise is that public opinion ultimately underlies the approaches government agencies take towards regulating nuclear power, and that, to the degree that the nuclear power industry's practices are aligned with public opinion, a more favorable regulatory climate is possible.

Public opinion factors regarding nuclear power

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Benson, B.

1991-01-01

This paper is an effort to identify, as comprehensively as possible, public concerns about nuclear power, and to assess, where possible, the relative importance of these concerns as they relate to government regulation of and policy towards nuclear power. It is based on some two dozen in-depth interviews with key communicators representing the nuclear power industry, the environmental community, and government, as well as on the parallel efforts in our research project: (1) review of federal court case law, (2) a selective examination of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) administrative process, and (3) the preceding George Mason University research project in this series. The paper synthesizes our findings about public attitudes towards nuclear power as expressed through federal court case law, NRC administrative law, public opinion surveys, and direct personal interviews. In so doing, we describe the public opinion environment in which the nuclear regulatory process must operate. Our premise is that public opinion ultimately underlies the approaches government agencies take towards regulating nuclear power, and that, to the degree that the nuclear power industry's practices are aligned with public opinion, a more favorable regulatory climate is possible

Characteristics of Public Opinions on China on International Social Media in 2012%2012国际自媒体涉华舆情特征*

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

相德宝; 张人文

2013-01-01

运用内容分析的研究方法对7种国际自媒体网站2012全年涉华舆情的主要特征进行了研究。研究发现国际涉华舆论事件和国内重大事件是国际自媒体涉华舆论焦点；中国高层政治人物及异见人士关注度高；一线城市与民族地区舆情指数高；社会民生、政治、经济和外交/国际关系是国际自媒体关注的主题；中性报道是国际自媒体涉华舆情的主要态度；英美发达国家传统主流媒体依然是国际自媒体主要信息源；国际自媒体涉华舆情用户多元。%The study analyzes the characteristics of public opinions on China in the year of 2012 on international social media. A content analysis is performed on items collected from Wordpress, Technorati, Digg, Reddit, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Topix, NowPublic, and CNNIreport sources. Characteristics of public opinions on China in 2012 on international social media are concluded.

Public Opinion and frames: crisis of the dugout canoes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dra. Raquel Rodríguez Díaz

2008-01-01

Full Text Available According to public opinion the increasing number of foreign population has became one of the most problematic issues in the last decade. Since 2005 immigration is the second biggest concern for Spaniards after unemployment and followed by terrorism. It is has became a state issue and a central government worry of utmost importance. The media coverage given to immigration is very important, specifically the way in which it is approached and presented to the readers. This paper shows the different perspectives or frames used by two key nationwide Spanish newspapers, El País y El Mundo, to cover one of the migration crises that took place in the Canary Islands in spring 2006. Following Framing theory, media content has been analyzed using variables to show the different ways in which these media depict the phenomenon of migration and the approach which each newspaper follows.

Investigation of China’s national public relations strategy under globalization : the hotspots around the national media

OpenAIRE

雷, 紫雯

2014-01-01

This study investigates on China’s national public relations strategy under the globalization by analyzing the national media. In recent years, in order to improve the global public opinion environment, and to improve its national public relations capabilities that match its economic power status, China has actively strengthened its national public relations strategies, including making the national “media go out”, and building world-class media. By researching on the localization of Chinese ...

UK Public Opinion Review - Working Paper - An overview of public opinion polls since the Edward Snowden revelations in June 2013

OpenAIRE

Cable, Jonathan

2015-01-01

This document charts public opinion of the Edward Snowden leaks and associated issues\\ud since June 2013. This includes people’s opinions on surveillance, the intelligence services\\ud and personal privacy. Since the Snowden leaks there have been 38 opinion polls on these\\ud topics concerning public opinion in the UK and conducted by large polling organisations,\\ud such as YouGov, ComRes and Ipsos MORI among others.

Public attitudes toward biofuels. Effects of knowledge, political partisanship, and media use.

Science.gov (United States)

Cacciatore, Michael A; Binder, Andrew R; Scheufele, Dietram A; Shaw, Bret R

2012-01-01

Despite large-scale investments and government mandates to expand biofuels development and infrastructure in the United States, little is known about how the public conceives of this alternative fuel technology. This study examines public opinion of biofuels by focusing on citizen knowledge and the motivated processing of media information. Specifically, we explore the direct effects of biofuels knowledge and the moderating effect of partisanship on the relationship between media use and benefit vs. risk perceptions in the following four domains: environmental impacts, economic consequences, ethical/social implications, and political ramifications. Our results suggest that more knowledgeable respondents see fewer benefits of biofuels relative to risks, and that Democrats and Republicans are affected differently by media use when forming opinions about biofuels. Among Democrats, greater attention to political media content leads to a more favorable outlook toward the technology across several domains of interest, while among Republicans, an increase in attention to political content has the opposite effect. Possible reasons for these results, as well as implications of the findings at the intersection of politics and the life sciences, are discussed.

Breaking The Traditional Communication Flow: Exploration of Social Media Opinion Leaders in Health

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohamad Emma

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Opinion leaders play an important role in mitigating health issues and are able to influence attitudes and health behaviors to a certain extent. However, in the world we are living today, individual health decision making no longer rely fully on doctor’s advice, but often persuaded by people or organisations deemed reliable and trustworthy. Interestingly, one does not have to have a medical degree to be seen as “reliable” or “trustworthy” in giving out medical advices. Computer-mediated-communication changes the way opinion leaders emerge in virtual communities, specifically in the context of health. Through increased access to both traditional and online media, people have a fair access to communication technology and therefore, our definition of opinion leaders have shifted from how we used to understand it through Lazarsfeld’s two-steps flow theory. In fact, the way opinion leaders operate via social media platform is very different from how it used to be through the traditional mass media. This paper will discuss on the characteristics of new media opinion leaders, particularly in the context of health, in hopes to learn new ways to promote health in future communication campaigns.

Framing emigration in Lithuania: media portrayal and effects on public opinion

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schuck, A.; Sirgedaite, V.

2012-01-01

Previous studies suggest that the way media frame the immigration issue influences public support towards immigrants and immigration policies. However, this is a very Western perspective on the topic and much less research has been conducted on the other side of the phenomenon and its consequences,

Public reactions to windfarms: the dynamics of opinion formation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Elliott, D.A.

1994-03-01

With more than 20 windfarms now in operation in the UK, public responses to the reality rather than to the idea are emerging. The evidence is mixed: most opinion polls show overall strong support, but there are, equally, signs of strong local opposition in some areas and a general polarisation of views. This paper attempts to explore the way in which local and national attitudes and views have developed, looking in particular at the role of the Government, academia, and the media. It argues for more constructive debate aimed at developing a consensus on the UK's 'carrying capacity' for windfarms. (Author)

Public reactions to windfarms: the dynamics of opinion formation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Elliott, D.A.

1994-01-01

With more than 20 windfarms now in operation in the UK, public responses to the reality rather than to the idea are emerging. The evidence is mixed: most opinion polls show strong overall support, but there are, equally, signs of strong local opposition in some areas and a general polarisation of views. This paper attempts to explore the way in which local and national attitudes and views have developed, looking in particular at the role of the Government, academic, and the media. It argues for a more constructive debate aimed at developing a consensus on the UK's 'carrying capacity' for windfarms. (author)

Public opinion on atomic energy after JCO accident

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Okamoto, Koichi; Miyamoto, Sosuke; Ishikawa, Masayori; Shimomura, Hideo; Hori, Hiromoto; Suzuki, Yasuko; Kamise, Yumiko

2004-04-01

JCO accident happened on September 30, 1999. This book deals with the public opinion of atomic energy after JCO accident in Japan and comparison with that of USA and France. The analysis of public opinion structure is also shown. The important chapter is the eighth chapter a n opinion survey after the accident , of which sampling areas consisted of three areas such as JCO accident area, the nuclear power plants and the general cities. The analytical results of data showed that the public opinion in Tokai-mura and Naka-machi, the JCO accident area, indicated moderate opinions. It is the interesting results were obtained that the moderate tendency of opinion was in order JCO accident area, the nuclear power plants and the general cities. People's attitude toward nuclear energy related to their social values. Abstract of JCO accident, JCO structure, the effects of accident on the environment and news stories about the accident are reported. (S.Y.)

Understanding public opinion in debates over biomedical research: looking beyond political partisanship to focus on beliefs about science and society.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Matthew Nisbet

Full Text Available As social scientists have investigated the political and social factors influencing public opinion in science-related policy debates, there has been growing interest in the implications of this research for public communication and outreach. Given the level of political polarization in the United States, much of the focus has been on partisan differences in public opinion, the strategies employed by political leaders and advocates that promote those differences, and the counter-strategies for overcoming them. Yet this focus on partisan differences tends to overlook the processes by which core beliefs about science and society impact public opinion and how these schema are often activated by specific frames of reference embedded in media coverage and popular discourse. In this study, analyzing cross-sectional, nationally representative survey data collected between 2002 and 2010, we investigate the relative influence of political partisanship and science-related schema on Americans' support for embryonic stem cell research. In comparison to the influence of partisan identity, our findings suggest that generalized beliefs about science and society were more chronically accessible, less volatile in relation to media attention and focusing events, and an overall stronger influence on public opinion. Classifying respondents into four unique audience groups based on their beliefs about science and society, we additionally find that individuals within each of these groups split relatively evenly by partisanship but differ on other important dimensions. The implications for public engagement and future research on controversies related to biomedical science are discussed.

Understanding public opinion in debates over biomedical research: looking beyond political partisanship to focus on beliefs about science and society.

Science.gov (United States)

Nisbet, Matthew; Markowitz, Ezra M

2014-01-01

As social scientists have investigated the political and social factors influencing public opinion in science-related policy debates, there has been growing interest in the implications of this research for public communication and outreach. Given the level of political polarization in the United States, much of the focus has been on partisan differences in public opinion, the strategies employed by political leaders and advocates that promote those differences, and the counter-strategies for overcoming them. Yet this focus on partisan differences tends to overlook the processes by which core beliefs about science and society impact public opinion and how these schema are often activated by specific frames of reference embedded in media coverage and popular discourse. In this study, analyzing cross-sectional, nationally representative survey data collected between 2002 and 2010, we investigate the relative influence of political partisanship and science-related schema on Americans' support for embryonic stem cell research. In comparison to the influence of partisan identity, our findings suggest that generalized beliefs about science and society were more chronically accessible, less volatile in relation to media attention and focusing events, and an overall stronger influence on public opinion. Classifying respondents into four unique audience groups based on their beliefs about science and society, we additionally find that individuals within each of these groups split relatively evenly by partisanship but differ on other important dimensions. The implications for public engagement and future research on controversies related to biomedical science are discussed.

Understanding Public Opinion in Debates over Biomedical Research: Looking beyond Political Partisanship to Focus on Beliefs about Science and Society

Science.gov (United States)

Nisbet, Matthew; Markowitz, Ezra M.

2014-01-01

As social scientists have investigated the political and social factors influencing public opinion in science-related policy debates, there has been growing interest in the implications of this research for public communication and outreach. Given the level of political polarization in the United States, much of the focus has been on partisan differences in public opinion, the strategies employed by political leaders and advocates that promote those differences, and the counter-strategies for overcoming them. Yet this focus on partisan differences tends to overlook the processes by which core beliefs about science and society impact public opinion and how these schema are often activated by specific frames of reference embedded in media coverage and popular discourse. In this study, analyzing cross-sectional, nationally representative survey data collected between 2002 and 2010, we investigate the relative influence of political partisanship and science-related schema on Americans' support for embryonic stem cell research. In comparison to the influence of partisan identity, our findings suggest that generalized beliefs about science and society were more chronically accessible, less volatile in relation to media attention and focusing events, and an overall stronger influence on public opinion. Classifying respondents into four unique audience groups based on their beliefs about science and society, we additionally find that individuals within each of these groups split relatively evenly by partisanship but differ on other important dimensions. The implications for public engagement and future research on controversies related to biomedical science are discussed. PMID:24558393

Public opinion and nuclear power decision-making

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Benson, B.

1991-01-01

This document discusses public opinion regarding nuclear power which is particularly difficult to tie down because of five important paradoxes that characterize it: it can be based on sound reason, but also on intense emotion; it is both national and local in perspective; at varying times it has seen nuclear power as both ''clean'' and ''dirty''; it believes nuclear power is both economic, and uneconomic; and nuclear power is perceived as having a fairly safe record, but being potentially unsafe. Equally as complex as the process by which public opinion is formed is the process by which it is converted into public policy. The American political system has numerous checks and balances designed to moderate the power of public opinion. A complex series of legislative, judicial, and executive branch hurdles must be cleared before any idea, however popular, can become day-to-day operating reality in government. As a result, major changes in policy or programs are difficult, and we may expect that nuclear power will be no different; radical change in one direction or the other is unlikely. Nevertheless, carefully focused programs could achieve modest progress, and carefully designed public opinion surveys could support such programs

L’opinion publique russe et l’affaire Boudanov [Russian Public Opinion and The Budanov Case

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Amandine Regamey

2008-07-01

Full Text Available In March 2000, Colonel Yuri Budanov kidnapped, raped and killed a young Chechen girl from the village of Tangui-Chu. After his arrest and during the entire trial, he claimed that she was a sniper who had murdered several of his soldiers, and that he had lost his temper and strangled her, but he denied raping her. High-ranking military officials closed ranks behind him, and at all stages of his trial demonstrations of support were organised in front of the court. He was finally condemned to ten years of imprisonment in July 2003. The aim of this article is to study how Russian public opinion perceived this case, using different kinds of sources (newspapers, forums and discussions on the Internet, public opinion polls, Human rights report, etc.. How were the events covered by the Russian medias? Some groups (the military, the Cossacks, fascist groups can be identified as his supporters. But what support did he receive from the general public and on what basis? Which arguments were used to defend Budanov and how were they perceived? Was this crime “justified” by the vengeance against “a sniper”, by the “laws of war”? Was Budanov a scapegoat sacrificed for the sake of good relations with the West? Defining the attitude towards Budanov might help explain why other Russian servicemen charged with crimes against Chechen civilians (the Ulman group, Arkacheev-Khudiakov have been systematically acquitted by a popular jury.

A Survey of Key Technology of Network Public Opinion Analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Li Su Ying

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The internet has become an important base for internet users to make comments because of its interactivity and fast dissemination. The outbreak of internet public opinion has become a major risk for network information security. Domestic and foreign researchers had carried out extensive and in-depth study on public opinion. Fruitful results have achieved in the basic theory research and emergency handling and other aspects of public opinion. But research on the public opinion in China is still in the initial stage, the key technology of the public opinion analysis is still as a starting point for in-depth study and discussion.

Impact of Public Perception on US National Policy: A Study of Media Influence in Military and Government Decision Making

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Bly, Theresa

2002-01-01

... subject, and thus are the basis of opinions and views on issues and world events, Through story selection and reporting practices the media has great influence over public opinion, which in turn...

Comparison between the public opinion and the image of public opinion on nuclear power generation. From the viewpoint of risk communication

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Matsuda, Toshihiro

2003-01-01

One objective for risk communication is to improve the understanding of public values and concerns. This paper examined the perceptions of nuclear power plant engineers of an electric power company, about public values and concerns regarding nuclear power generation (image of public opinion), and compared them with actual public opinion. The image of public opinion was surveyed by questionnaire method. In the questionnaire, the subjects were asked to estimate the most preferred answer given to questions posed to the Japanese public. For some questions, subjects were asked to estimate the percentage of Japanese who selected a certain answer for a question or the distribution of the answers. The results showed: (1) Nuclear power plant engineers correctly recognized the existence of high anxiety in the public's mind concerning nuclear power generation. (2) Engineers were apt to underestimate the percentage of Japanese who think nuclear power generation is useful in our society. (3) The majority of Japanese assume that when nuclear power plant accidents occur radioactive leakage is so severe that it affects the health of inhabitants. However, the engineers were apt to estimate that the majority of Japanese think radioactive leakage is not so severe. (4) Engineers correctly recognized that the majority of Japanese think it is a realistic option to use the nuclear power generation. However, they incorrectly estimated that only 40% of Japanese think it is a realistic option to use the nuclear power generation when in fact 67% think so. These gaps between public opinion and the image of public opinion by the engineers were classified into two groups, one that stems from the cognitive bias when people estimate public opinion and one that is inherent in the engineers of nuclear power plants. (author)

Quantifying discrepancies in opinion spectra from online and offline networks.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Deokjae; Hahn, Kyu S; Yook, Soon-Hyung; Park, Juyong

2015-01-01

Online social media such as Twitter are widely used for mining public opinions and sentiments on various issues and topics. The sheer volume of the data generated and the eager adoption by the online-savvy public are helping to raise the profile of online media as a convenient source of news and public opinions on social and political issues as well. Due to the uncontrollable biases in the population who heavily use the media, however, it is often difficult to measure how accurately the online sphere reflects the offline world at large, undermining the usefulness of online media. One way of identifying and overcoming the online-offline discrepancies is to apply a common analytical and modeling framework to comparable data sets from online and offline sources and cross-analyzing the patterns found therein. In this paper we study the political spectra constructed from Twitter and from legislators' voting records as an example to demonstrate the potential limits of online media as the source for accurate public opinion mining, and how to overcome the limits by using offline data simultaneously.

Quantifying discrepancies in opinion spectra from online and offline networks.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Deokjae Lee

Full Text Available Online social media such as Twitter are widely used for mining public opinions and sentiments on various issues and topics. The sheer volume of the data generated and the eager adoption by the online-savvy public are helping to raise the profile of online media as a convenient source of news and public opinions on social and political issues as well. Due to the uncontrollable biases in the population who heavily use the media, however, it is often difficult to measure how accurately the online sphere reflects the offline world at large, undermining the usefulness of online media. One way of identifying and overcoming the online-offline discrepancies is to apply a common analytical and modeling framework to comparable data sets from online and offline sources and cross-analyzing the patterns found therein. In this paper we study the political spectra constructed from Twitter and from legislators' voting records as an example to demonstrate the potential limits of online media as the source for accurate public opinion mining, and how to overcome the limits by using offline data simultaneously.

School Library Policy and Legal Opinions of Texas Public School Principals and Certified Librarians

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrew Shupala

2006-09-01

Full Text Available This study involved a survey of the attitudes of Texas public school principals and certified librarians, perceptions andexperiences with regard to school library policy for media selection, and procedures for responding to complaints againstlibrary media. Analysis of the data included a methodology of mixed-methods explanatory design. Selection of the principalsand certified librarians was proportionate and stratified according to the state's 20 Education Service Centerregions. Of the 1,036 independent school districts that employed the state population of 10,014 principals and certifiedlibrarians, 275 independent school districts (26.5 percent allowed participation in the survey. Although random samplingof the state population had not been possible, the demographic and employment characteristics of the study samplewere comparable to those of the state population. Two key findings were (a that the legal opinions of principals andcertified librarians were useful predictors of their opinions of library media selection policy and complaint proceduresand (b that the principals' appreciation of selection policy and complaint procedures sometimes differed from the librarians'because of the principals' different legal perspective of library selection policy and complaint procedures.

Understanding public opinion regarding transit in southeast Michigan.

Science.gov (United States)

2015-04-01

This report presents findings from a study on public opinion regarding transit in Southeast Michigan. The overall goals of this : study were to assess the nature of public opinion regarding regional transit and to understand its relation to socio-dem...

Public opinion on motor vehicle-related injury prevention policies: a systematic review of a decade of research.

Science.gov (United States)

Debinski, Beata; Clegg Smith, Katherine; Gielen, Andrea

2014-01-01

Legislation is an effective strategy for reducing road-related fatalities and injuries. Public opinion can be an impetus for passing new laws and can affect the success of their implementation, but little is known about the current state of public opinion toward existing and proposed road-related policies in the United States. This review describes the scope and results of research on public support for state- and local-level evidence-based motor vehicle- and bicycle-related policies. We identify gaps in our understanding of public support for these policies. Published U.S. literature and all reports from the NHTSA from the past decade (2003-2012) were searched for data on opinions about existing or proposed policies related to motor vehicle or bicycle injury prevention. Twenty-six studies fulfilled the inclusion criteria. In all, studies reported public opinion about 7 injury prevention topic areas: all-terrain vehicles (n = 1), automated enforcement with red light and speed cameras (n = 5), distracted driving (n = 4), drinking and driving (n = 5), graduated driver licensing (n = 7), helmets (n = 7), and seat belts (n = 4). Twenty-three studies focused only on one topic, and 3 sought public opinion about multiple topic areas. The studies revealed generally high levels of support for injury prevention policies in all topic areas. Fifteen studies collected information from national samples, and only 7 studies reported data from the state (n = 5) or local (n = 2) level. There is a relatively small evidence base on public opinion related to motor vehicle- and bicycle-related evidence-based policies; even less is less known for state- or county-specific policies. The findings of this review suggest that the public's opinion toward injury prevention legislation is generally favorable. This information can be used to communicate with the media and policy makers to reinforce the need for effective policy solutions to continuing motor vehicle injury problems. More research

Assessment of online public opinions on large infrastructure projects: A case study of the Three Gorges Project in China

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jiang, Hanchen; Qiang, Maoshan; Lin, Peng

2016-01-01

Public opinion becomes increasingly salient in the ex post evaluation stage of large infrastructure projects which have significant impacts to the environment and the society. However, traditional survey methods are inefficient in collection and assessment of the public opinion due to its large quantity and diversity. Recently, Social media platforms provide a rich data source for monitoring and assessing the public opinion on controversial infrastructure projects. This paper proposes an assessment framework to transform unstructured online public opinions on large infrastructure projects into sentimental and topical indicators for enhancing practices of ex post evaluation and public participation. The framework uses web crawlers to collect online comments related to a large infrastructure project and employs two natural language processing technologies, including sentiment analysis and topic modeling, with spatio-temporal analysis, to transform these comments into indicators for assessing online public opinion on the project. Based on the framework, we investigate the online public opinion of the Three Gorges Project on China's largest microblogging site, namely, Weibo. Assessment results present spatial-temporal distributions of post intensity and sentiment polarity, reveals major topics with different sentiments and summarizes managerial implications, for ex post evaluation of the world's largest hydropower project. The proposed assessment framework is expected to be widely applied as a methodological strategy to assess public opinion in the ex post evaluation stage of large infrastructure projects. - Highlights: • We developed a framework to assess online public opinion on large infrastructure projects with environmental impacts. • Indicators were built to assess post intensity, sentiment polarity and major topics of the public opinion. • We took the Three Gorges Project (TGP) as an example to demonstrate the effectiveness proposed framework. �

Assessment of online public opinions on large infrastructure projects: A case study of the Three Gorges Project in China

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jiang, Hanchen, E-mail: jhc13@mails.tsinghua.edu.cn; Qiang, Maoshan, E-mail: qiangms@tsinghua.edu.cn; Lin, Peng, E-mail: celinpe@mail.tsinghua.edu.cn

2016-11-15

Public opinion becomes increasingly salient in the ex post evaluation stage of large infrastructure projects which have significant impacts to the environment and the society. However, traditional survey methods are inefficient in collection and assessment of the public opinion due to its large quantity and diversity. Recently, Social media platforms provide a rich data source for monitoring and assessing the public opinion on controversial infrastructure projects. This paper proposes an assessment framework to transform unstructured online public opinions on large infrastructure projects into sentimental and topical indicators for enhancing practices of ex post evaluation and public participation. The framework uses web crawlers to collect online comments related to a large infrastructure project and employs two natural language processing technologies, including sentiment analysis and topic modeling, with spatio-temporal analysis, to transform these comments into indicators for assessing online public opinion on the project. Based on the framework, we investigate the online public opinion of the Three Gorges Project on China's largest microblogging site, namely, Weibo. Assessment results present spatial-temporal distributions of post intensity and sentiment polarity, reveals major topics with different sentiments and summarizes managerial implications, for ex post evaluation of the world's largest hydropower project. The proposed assessment framework is expected to be widely applied as a methodological strategy to assess public opinion in the ex post evaluation stage of large infrastructure projects. - Highlights: • We developed a framework to assess online public opinion on large infrastructure projects with environmental impacts. • Indicators were built to assess post intensity, sentiment polarity and major topics of the public opinion. • We took the Three Gorges Project (TGP) as an example to demonstrate the effectiveness proposed framework. �

Nuclear power and public opinion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kazanikov, I.A.; Klykov, S.A.

2000-01-01

The public opinion on Nuclear Power is not favorable. A purposeful work with public perception is necessary. One way to create a positive image of the nuclear industry is to improve public radiological education. This challenge can be resolved in the close cooperation with state school and preschool education. The formation about nuclear power should be simple and symbolical. Our society can be divided into 4 parts which can be called as target groups: First group - People from the nuclear industry with special education working at nuclear facilities or related to the industry. Second group - People working in the fields connected with nuclear power. Third group - People not related to nuclear power or even with negative impression to the industry. This group is the largest and the work required is the most difficult. Fourth group - The number of this group's members is the least, but it has strong influence on public opinion. 'Greens' and a broad spectrum of ecological organizations can be included in this group. (Authors)

Public opinion on nuclear energy - background and causes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rudloff, W.

1990-01-01

The nuclear energy discussion is as old as the discovery of nuclear fission. Its technical harnessing is one of the most important basic innovations of this century. The ambivalence of nuclear energy - peaceful and aggresssive utilization habe been equally realized - and potential endangerment by fission products have put a strain on its acceptance worldwide. The forming of public opinion is further complicated by the complexity of the system we call 'nuclear energy'. The beginning of its commercial utilization coincided with the first awareness of the 'limits to growth'. In many discussion and for many groups, also ideologically based ones, nuclear energy plays a substitute role in the social political debate on the 'right' way into the future. By means of one-sided and sometimes distorted representations, many media have contributed to the confusion. Industry and the business world, being interested in nuclear energy, have endeavored to take a stand in its defence, although not always qualitatively or quantitatively appropriate. These endeavors were impeded by sporadic strong politicalization of all relevant decisions. The specific roll behavior of those participating in the discussion was also at times a hindrance. The nuclear energy discussion is not locally limited, it is rather international. This should be taken into consideration in all endeavors for its acceptance. The beginning world-wide climate discussion will inveterately alter the position of nuclear energy and the public's opinion of it. (author)

Mass media differences in ''nuclear news'' reporting: implications for public opinions and acceptable safeguards

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Williams, A.; Williams, J.

1975-01-01

The technical and political issues of diversion safeguards are at best confusing to the general public, who derive most of their information about nuclear science from the mass media. This investigation compared ''nuclear news'' of all kinds in three national mass media for thirty-three months of 1972-1974 to examine the quantity and quality of atom-related news they provide. Findings from The New York Times, U. S. News and World Report, and the ABC, CBS, and NBC evening news indicate grounds for low public familiarity with essential concepts of safeguards, and consequently, for consumer value conflicts and weak popular supports for safeguards-related policy

Images and symbols of nuclear energy and environment in Argentine public opinion: the need of a new strategy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chahab, Martin

2006-01-01

The need to create in the Argentine public opinion new positives symbols and images on nuclear energy and on the benefits of its peaceful applications, is al present so important as the development of new technical tools to improve the nuclear industry. These positives symbols and imagines on nuclear energy must be created in the framework of a joint strategy of all the country's nuclear institutions as well as other public organizations, in view of the new nuclear plan recently announced. This joint strategy will permit to create not only the new positives symbols and images in the public opinion, but also to obtain the support of the mass media and new spaces for negotiation in the national, provincial and municipal levels. (author) [es

Influence of communication on public opinion about nuclear energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carvalho, Everton de Almeida

1997-01-01

Public opinion on risks and benefits associated to nuclear energy is depending on psychological and social factors and mainly on the communication strategy used to transfer knowledge and facts about nuclear technology to the public. In this work, the individual and collective communication process and the influences on the public opinion on nuclear energy will be analyzed. (author)

新、旧媒体时期我国群体性事件的对比分析——以舆论传播为视角%The Comparative Analysis of the Group Incidents in the New and Old media Erasfrom the Perspective of Public Opinion

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

张颖

2011-01-01

Publlc opinion has an influence on the group incidents in the both new and old media eras and the former one has a much bigger influenee. The group incidents in the new media performed much better in a higher degree organization, in a bigger resonance of public opinion, a broader sphere of influence. During the whole process of sprout, development and intensification of group incidents, public opinion plays the role of the mirror, the eatalyst and the stone. The government ＂three combinations＂ , the media ＂ three unifies＂ and the public ＂three alliances＂ in public opinion are needed to prevent and stop the group incident.%舆论传播对新、旧媒体时期的群体性事件都有作用和影响，而这在新媒体时期尤为突出。组织程度越来越高，舆论共鸣张力加大，影响范围越来越广是群体性事件在新媒体时期的突出表现。做好群体性事件的舆论工作，需要政府的“三结合”、媒介的“三统一”和公众的“三兼顾”。

US Public Opinion on Carrying Firearms in Public Places.

Science.gov (United States)

Wolfson, Julia A; Teret, Stephen P; Azrael, Deborah; Miller, Matthew

2017-06-01

To estimate US public opinion, overall and by gun ownership status, about the public places where legal gun owners should be allowed to carry firearms. We fielded an online survey among 3949 adults, including an oversample of gun owners and veterans, in April 2015. We used cross-tabulations with survey weights to generate nationally representative estimates. Fewer than 1 in 3 US adults supported gun carrying in any of the specified venues. Support for carrying in public was consistently higher among gun owners than among non-gun owners. Overall, support for carrying in public was lowest for schools (19%; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 16.7, 21.1), bars (18%; 95% CI = 15.9, 20.6), and sports stadiums (17%; 95% CI = 15.0, 19.5). Most Americans, including most gun owners, support restricting public places legal gun owners can carry firearms. These views contrast sharply with the current trend in state legislatures of expanding where, how, and by whom guns can be carried in public. Recent state laws and proposed federal legislation that would force states to honor out-of-state concealed carry permits are out of step with American public opinion.

From Public International to International Public Law: Translating World Public Opinion into International Public Authority

NARCIS (Netherlands)

von Bogdandy, A.; Goldmann, M.; Venzke, I.

This article argues that increasing demands in world public opinion for legitimate and effective international institutions require a paradigm shift in public international law. There is a part of public international law that should be better understood as international public law because it

Opinion data mining based on DNA method and ORA software

Science.gov (United States)

Tian, Ru-Ya; Wu, Lei; Liang, Xiao-He; Zhang, Xue-Fu

2018-01-01

Public opinion, especially the online public opinion is a critical issue when it comes to mining its characteristics. Because it can be formed directly and intensely in a short time, and may lead to the outbreak of online group events, and the formation of online public opinion crisis. This may become the pushing hand of a public crisis event, or even have negative social impacts, which brings great challenges to the government management. Data from the mass media which reveal implicit, previously unknown, and potentially valuable information, can effectively help us to understand the evolution law of public opinion, and provide a useful reference for rumor intervention. Based on the Dynamic Network Analysis method, this paper uses ORA software to mine characteristics of public opinion information, opinion topics, and public opinion agents through a series of indicators, and quantitatively analyzed the relationships between them. The results show that through the analysis of the 8 indexes associating with opinion data mining, we can have a basic understanding of the public opinion characteristics of an opinion event, such as who is important in the opinion spreading process, the information grasping condition, and the opinion topics release situation.

Case-study session 1. Mass media and public information on nuclear energy and radiation: Striving for two-way confidence and understanding. Introduction by session chairman

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

SanLaholma, Juhani

1989-01-01

The ENS Information Committee carried out an assessment of public opinion and news media. The conclusions of this assessment are presented. The ENS recognized fully the significant role of the news media in reflecting public opinion in the nuclear field. It was concluded that it is worthwhile and important for the nuclear organizations to consider why unverified, even false, information appears so often in the media. The study emphasized that the nuclear organizations' relations with the news media are of high significance. ENS emphasized that it is important for the nuclear sector sector to pursue an active and frank information policy with the news media. ENS recognized that it is our task to prepare and provide the news media and the public with prompt, correct and objective information it is endless work but, at the same time, our only way of winning and attaining credibility and confidence among the public

Demographic and Social Factors Influencing Public Opinion on ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

macuser

the pressing need for empirical research into these opinions, to inform and make .... understanding public opinion on the issue of prostitution has critical relevance. For ..... prostitution and presented three options for legal reform in South Africa: ...

The shift of the public opinion to the favour of nuclear energy in Slovenia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lengar, I.; Nemec, T.

2001-01-01

In late August and early September of 1999, nuclear energy topics occupied a central place in the Slovenian media because of the transport of two new steam generators to the Krsko nuclear power plant, and also due to the protest action of an Austrian Greenpeace group. Before these events, the public opinion in Slovenia was not in favour or nuclear energy and Greenpeace had a good reputation. In September it has lost much credibility because of their clumsy action of protest, and in just one month this caused a shift of public opinion in Slovenia towards support of Slovenia's only nuclear power plant. The Greenpeace protest action occurred during the transport of the two new steam generators to Krsko. By replacement of the old steam generators the operation of the Krsko NPP will be extended until 2023. The transport envoy travelled during the first half of September '99 across a considerable part of Slovene territory, passing by the capital of Ljubljana. (authors)

Public Opinion shifts to the favour of nuclear energy due to steam generator transport

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lengar, I.; Nemec, T.

2000-01-01

In late August and early September of 1999, nuclear energy topics occupied a central place in the Slovenian media because of the transport of two new steam generators to the Krsko nuclear power plant, and also due to the protest action of an Austrian Green peace group. Before these events, the public opinion in Slovenia was not in favour or nuclear energy ;and Green peace had a good reputation. In September it has lost much credibility because of their clumsy :action of protest, and in just one month this caused a shift of public opinion in Slovenia towards support of Slovenian's only nuclear power plant. The Green peace protest action occurred during the transport of the two new steam generators to Krsko. By replacement of the old steam generators the operation of the Krsko NPP will be extended until 2023. The transport envoy travelled during the first half of September '99 across a considerable part of Slovene territory, passing by the capital of Ljubljana. (authors)

Media and manipulation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kovačević Braco

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The role and importance of the media are huge, both in everyday life and in cultural, spiritual and political life of modern man. Their power in the sense of political shaping of people and shaping of public opinion is very distinctive. In the process of propaganda to influence public opinion, they use various manipulative procedures in order to accomplish certain interests and objectives. Through the media, politics realizes its economic, ideological, political and even military activities. The war in the former Yugoslavia and former Bosnia and Herzegovina was also waged through the media. This media war still is spreading the hate speech, thus still causing conflicts and disintegration processes in the Balkans.

Public opinion and terrorist acts

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Malečková, Jitka; Stanišić, Dragana

2011-01-01

Roč. 27, Sup. 1 (2011), S107-S121 ISSN 0176-2680 R&D Projects: GA MŠk LC542 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z70850503 Keywords : support for terrorism * public opinion * international terrorism Subject RIV: AH - Economics Impact factor: 1.437, year: 2011

Why media representations of corporations matter for public health policy: a scoping review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Heide Weishaar

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Media representations play a crucial role in informing public and policy opinions about the causes of, and solutions to, ill-health. This paper reviews studies analysing media coverage of non-communicable disease (NCD debates, focusing on how the industries marketing commodities that increase NCD risk are represented. Methods A scoping review identified 61 studies providing information on media representations of NCD risks, NCD policies and tobacco, alcohol, processed food and soft drinks industries. The data were narratively synthesized to describe the sample, media depictions of industries, and corporate and public health attempts to frame the media debates. Results The findings indicate that: (i the limited research that has been undertaken is dominated by a focus on tobacco; (ii comparative research across industries/risk-factors is particularly lacking; and (iii coverage tends to be dominated by two contrasting frames and focuses either on individual responsibilities (‘market justice’ frames, often promoted by commercial stakeholders or on the need for population-level interventions (‘social justice’ frames, frequently advanced by public health advocates. Conclusions Establishing the underlying frameworks is crucial for the analysis of media representation of corporations, as they reflect the strategies that respective actors use to influence public health debates and decision making. The potential utility of media research lies in the insights that it can provide for public health policy advocates about successful framing of public health messages and strategies to counter frames that undermine public health goals. A better understanding of current media debates is of paramount importance to improving global health.

Food irradiation: Public opinion surveys

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kerr, S.D.

1987-01-01

The Canadian government are discussing the legislation, regulations and practical protocol necessary for the commercialization of food irradiation. Food industry marketing, public relations and media expertise will be needed to successfully introduce this new processing choice to retailers and consumers. Consumer research to date including consumer opinion studies and market trials conducted in the Netherlands, United States, South Africa and Canada will be explored for signposts to successful approaches to the introduction of irradiated foods to retailers and consumers. Research has indicated that the terms used to describe irradiation and information designed to reduce consumer fears will be important marketing tools. Marketers will be challenged to promote old foods, which look the same to consumers, in a new light. Simple like or dislike or intention to buy surveys will not be effective tools. Consumer fears must be identified and effectively handled to support a receptive climate for irradiated food products. A cooperative government, industry, health professional, consumer association and retailer effort will be necessary for the successful introduction of irradiated foods into the marketplace. Grocery Products Manufacturers of Canada is a national trade association of more than 150 major companies engaged in the manufacture of food, non-alcoholic beverages and array of other national-brand consumer items sold through retail outlets

Mind the gap: social media engagement by public health researchers.

Science.gov (United States)

Keller, Brett; Labrique, Alain; Jain, Kriti M; Pekosz, Andrew; Levine, Orin

2014-01-14

The traditional vertical system of sharing information from sources of scientific authority passed down to the public through local health authorities and clinicians risks being made obsolete by emerging technologies that facilitate rapid horizontal information sharing. The rise of Public Health 2.0 requires professional acknowledgment that a new and substantive forum of public discourse about public health exists on social media, such as forums, blogs, Facebook, and Twitter. Some public health professionals have used social media in innovative ways: to surveil populations, gauge public opinion, disseminate health information, and promote mutually beneficial interactions between public health professionals and the lay public. Although innovation is on the rise, most in the public health establishment remain skeptical of this rapidly evolving landscape or are unclear about how it could be used. We sought to evaluate the extent to which public health professionals are engaged in these spaces. We conducted a survey of professorial- and scientist-track faculty at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. We asked all available faculty via email to complete a 30-question survey about respondent characteristics, beliefs about social media, and usage of specific technologies, including blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. A total of 181 (19.8%) of 912 professor- and scientist-track faculty provided usable responses. The majority of respondents rarely used major social media platforms. Of these 181 respondents, 97 (53.6%) had used YouTube, 84 (46.4%) had used Facebook, 55 (30.4%) had read blogs, and 12 (6.6%) had used Twitter in the prior month. More recent degree completion was the best predictor of higher usage of social media. In all, 122 (67.4%) agreed that social media is important for disseminating information, whereas only 55 (30.4%) agreed that social media is useful for their research. In all, 43 (23.8%) said social media

Implications of Public Opinion for Space Program Planning, 1980 - 2000

Science.gov (United States)

Overholt, W.; Wiener, A. J.; Yokelson, D.

1975-01-01

The effect of public opinion on future space programs is discussed in terms of direct support, apathy, or opposition, and concern about the tax burden, budgetary pressures, and national priorities. Factors considered include: the salience and visibility of NASA as compared with other issues, the sources of general pressure on the federal budget which could affect NASA, the public's opinions regarding the size and priority of NASA'S budget, the degree to which the executive can exercise leverage over NASA's budget through influencing or disregarding public opinion, the effects of linkages to other issues on space programs, and the public's general attitudes toward the progress of science.

Nuclear energy and public opinion. Chilean Nuclear Energy Commission (CCHEN) dissemination and extension program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oviedo, Gonzalo Torres; Quintana, Rosamel Mufioz

2000-01-01

In Chile, demand for electricity will soon exceed water resources. The country will then face severe energy dependence, with very little control over generation costs, and with increasing emission of contaminating gases into the atmosphere. Nuclear energy may be considered an appropriate and stabilizing alternative for the system in the medium term, the benefits of nuclear generation to be thus extended to a country which has a moderate demand for electricity. This new scenario will require an additional technical and regulating effort by CCHEN and by the state, as well as re-orientation of their activities in connection with public opinion. The Public Nuclear Energy Education Program, initiated in 1976 by CCHEN, has been developed for purposes of achieving public acceptance of nuclear energy as a way of facilitating development of various activities which pertain to CCHEN's scope of action, and of creating a climate which is favorable to acceptance of nuclear energy as an alternative source of energy. Thus, the object is that the public draw informed conclusions on the benefits and risks implicit in the use of isotopes, radiation, and nuclear power generation. The Program consists of activities for high school students aimed at vocational orientation of those who stand out in the science area, training and extension activities for teachers, journalists, and professionals, a program of guided tours of the nuclear centers, a publicity campaign conducted in the various media and, since 1980, massive distribution of brochures and magazines. There are no declared anti-nuclear movements in Chile. Nevertheless, there are opinions against nuclear power in different relevant sectors. Lately, the social communication media have preferred CCHEN as their source of information, a fact which makes it possible for the latter to have access to good coverage of its activities

The public space of social media connected cultures of the network society

CERN Document Server

Tierney, Therese

2013-01-01

Social media is restructuring urban practices-through ad-hoc experimentation, commercial software development, and communities of participation. This book is the first to consider how practices contained within social media are situated within a larger genealogy of public space, including theories of communal identity, civitas and democracy, the fete, and self-expression. Through empirical research, the actual social practices of participants of networked publics are described and analyzed. Documenting how online counterpublics use the Internet to transmit classified photos, mobilize activists, and challenge the status quo, Tierney argues that online activities do not stop in online conversations; they are physically grounded through mobile GPS coordinates which are then transformed into activities in physical space-the street, the plaza, the places where people have traditionally gathered to demonstrate and express their opinions publicly.

Track leading to decision of 'framework for nuclear energy policy'. Reading the public attitude with public opinions (the second). Framework for nuclear energy policy (as of July 2005)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shimooka, Hiroshi

2006-01-01

The Government decides to respect the 'Framework for Nuclear Energy Policy', which was decided by the Atomic Energy Commission on October 11th, 2005, as a basic principle for the nuclear energy policy and promote research, development and utilization of nuclear science and engineering. The Atomic Energy Commission asked the public to comment on the draft and held Public Hearings at five different venues. The Planning Council finalized the draft, taking the 1717 opinions from 701 citizens thus gathered into the consideration. Reading the public attitude with public opinions had been conducted by the author, which showed a large percentage of the consent to the policy and, at the same time, the necessity for the nation to make more efforts to communicate with the public in simple and more concise terms or listen to the public, and also to gain the public trust through education and public relations. The pros and cons both commented that the mass media was not fair. (T. Tanaka)

Socio-economic aspects and public opinion concerning radioactive waste sites

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gonzalez, V.

1998-01-01

Spain has nine nuclear power units in operation covering 33% of the country's electricity consumption. Radioactive waste management in Spain is carried out by Empresa Nacional de Residuos Radiactivos, S.A. (ENRESA), a public sector company created by the Government in 1984. ENRESA has developed a management system for low and intermediate level waste. For spent fuel and high level waste, it has enlarged the capacity of the reactor pools and has licensed, in the United States and in Spain, a dual-use container for use in case the capacity of any pool is exhausted before the end of the reactor's service life. In Spain, as in all other countries, there is public opposition to radioactive waste management. This opposition is basically attributable to the lack of objective information causing the public to base its opinion on the alarmist approach taken by the mass media reports on radioactivity or nuclear power plants. ENRESA has had to conduct its activities in this context, pursuing an active policy of communication and information. (author)

Assimilation of public opinions in nuclear decision-making using risk perception

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sohn, K.Y.; Yang, J.W.; Kang, C.S.

2001-01-01

A method of assimilating public opinions in the decision-making process has been developed in this study. The proposed method will resolve the major shortcomings of existing decision-making models, which are deficient in, or missing public participation during the process. In the nuclear-related decision-making process, a particular concern of the public is nuclear safety, which is numerically characterized by risk. In reality, it is the risk that each individual perceives that is very important. Hence, the public perception of risk has been employed as a key decision-making element in representing public opinions. To quantify the public perception of risk, the psychometric model is used. Psychological risk dimensions are first assessed using factor analysis and a set of factors is identified for optimized computation. Expert opinions formulated by a group of selected professionals and experts are then aggregated with the public opinions. To gather public and expert opinions, separate polls were conducted in this study. In the aggregation, the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and multi-attribute utility analysis (MAUA) were employed, and for uncertainty analysis, a fuzzy set based approach was adopted. This method has been applied to analyze six options for spent fuel management in Korea for a case study. As expected, the results of the case study show that public risk perception is an important element in nuclear-related decision-making processes

Identifying Opinion Leaders to Promote Organ Donation on Social Media: Network Study

Science.gov (United States)

Salmon, Charles T

2018-01-01

Background In the recent years, social networking sites (SNSs, also called social media) have been adopted in organ donation campaigns, and recruiting opinion leaders for such campaigns has been found effective in promoting behavioral changes. Objective The aim of this paper was to focus on the dissemination of organ donation tweets on Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter, and to examine the opinion leadership in the retweet network of popular organ donation messages using social network analysis. It also aimed to investigate how personal and social attributes contribute to a user’s opinion leadership on the topic of organ donation. Methods All messages about organ donation posted on Weibo from January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2015 were extracted using Python Web crawler. A retweet network with 505,047 nodes and 545,312 edges of the popular messages (n=206) was constructed and analyzed. The local and global opinion leaderships were measured using network metrics, and the roles of personal attributes, professional knowledge, and social positions in obtaining the opinion leadership were examined using general linear model. Results The findings revealed that personal attributes, professional knowledge, and social positions predicted individual’s local opinion leadership in the retweet network of popular organ donation messages. Alternatively, personal attributes and social positions, but not professional knowledge, were significantly associated with global opinion leadership. Conclusions The findings of this study indicate that health campaign designers may recruit peer leaders in SNS organ donation promotions to facilitate information sharing among the target audience. Users who are unverified, active, well connected, and experienced with information and communications technology (ICT) will accelerate the sharing of organ donation messages in the global environment. Medical professionals such as organ transplant surgeons who can wield a great amount of

Radiation safety and formation of public opinion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Qurbanov, M.

2002-01-01

Full text: Team-administrative system of long years has been a reason of environmental pollution and health consequences and still does. This includes soil pollution with pesticides, ecological condition of micro and macro flora of the Caspian Sea, soil pollution with oil, deforestation and etc. Scientists and environmental NGOs have given some information to public and public opinion has already been formed on this issue. But public opinion is not necessarily formed on radiation - the most important and invisible problem. The reason of this is that radiation danger has been hidden as a closed theme from the public. After the soviet collapse this problem is also being revealed. Number of NGOs have held the seminar on this issue and given some information to public. The researches cover the following problems:To hold the public monitoring in the fields polluted with oil and separate it from the other fields by determining the fields polluted with radiation. To take measures in order to prevent public entrance to these fields; To inform about the usage of radiation based equipment in the industrial fields and to hold the regular monitoring; To advertise the differential signs of radiation sources in the city landfill and other polluted zones; To broaden the advocacy on ultraviolet rays and their influence to human health; To disseminate the brochures and advertisement papers on high technical radiation and their influence to human health; To analyze the radio environmental condition around the Gabala Radar Station; To advocate the possible radiation danger in using the x-ray and other medical equipment; Analyze the possible radon danger in shipping materials; To create the idea on possible transition of radioactive gases and elements from neighbor countries; Creation of idea on possible danger around the high voltage. The formation of public opinion on mentioned problem will depend on combining the scientists' and NGOs activities

Social media effects on opinion polarization and political participation during the 2015 European immigration movements

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ohme, Jakob

The selective exposure to likeminded political viewpoints on algorithmic social media platforms is seen as a potential source for opinion polarization. But so far, little is known about how realistic this proposed mechanism is. It is furthermore an open question, what effects a potential opinion...... polarization invoked by social media use has on citizens’ democratic behavior, especially in a non-electoral context. Focusing on the issue of immigration during the refugee influx to Europe in autumn 2015, this study investigates the effects of social media usage on attitude polarization and connects...... it to political participation in refugee-related activities. A panel study conducted among Danish citizens (n=847) reveals that frequent social media usage contributes to a reinforcement of existing attitudes and at the same time mobilizes political participation. However, citizens who become more extreme...

Changes in alcohol policies and public opinions in Finland 2003-2013.

Science.gov (United States)

Österberg, Esa; Lindeman, Mikaela; Karlsson, Thomas

2014-05-01

There is a constant and ongoing interplay between public opinions and public policies, alcohol policies being no exception. This article describes the development of public opinions regarding alcohol policy in Finland during a 10-year period between 2003 and 2013. Fluctuations in the alcohol policy opinion climate are put in context by looking at concurrent changes in alcohol policies and in total alcohol consumption. The study is based on data from opinion surveys on alcohol policies commissioned by the National Institute for Health and Welfare and the Finnish Social and Health Association. The opinion polls include questions about the general acceptance of prevailing alcohol policies, appropriate sales channels of different alcoholic beverage categories and opinions about the legal age limits and prices of alcoholic beverages. In the study, changes in alcohol policy during 2003-2013 are surveyed, and their relationship with changes in alcohol policy opinion is examined. There seem to be a strong positive correlation during the study period between the level of alcohol consumption and the share of those wanting a more restrictive alcohol policy in Finland. It seems that an increased level of awareness of alcohol-related issues among the general public created a more restrictive opinion climate on alcohol policy issues after the big alcohol excise duty decrease in 2004. The reverse seems to happen but in a lesser degree when alcohol excise duties has been increased after the year 2007. © 2014 Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and other Drugs.

Mexican Public Opinion in the aftermath of the 2006 Elections

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alejandro Moreno

2008-01-01

Full Text Available In this article, I analyze public opinion about the 2006 Mexican presidential election in the context of the post–election conflict. My goal is to determine which individual–level variables influenced opinions about the post–election conflict. The analysis focuses on individual positions about the election fairness, confidence in the electoral Tribunal, claims for a full recount, and the public's stands on street protests and mobilization, among others. I use the Mexican component of the Comparative National Election Project (CNEP, conducted for the first time in Mexico in 2006 as a two–wave, preelection and postelection, panel design. The results highlight the importance of political predispositions in the analysis of public opinion in Mexico.

The Distribution of Climate Change Public Opinion in Canada.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Matto Mildenberger

Full Text Available While climate scientists have developed high resolution data sets on the distribution of climate risks, we still lack comparable data on the local distribution of public climate change opinions. This paper provides the first effort to estimate local climate and energy opinion variability outside the United States. Using a multi-level regression and post-stratification (MRP approach, we estimate opinion in federal electoral districts and provinces. We demonstrate that a majority of the Canadian public consistently believes that climate change is happening. Belief in climate change's causes varies geographically, with more people attributing it to human activity in urban as opposed to rural areas. Most prominently, we find majority support for carbon cap and trade policy in every province and district. By contrast, support for carbon taxation is more heterogeneous. Compared to the distribution of US climate opinions, Canadians believe climate change is happening at higher levels. This new opinion data set will support climate policy analysis and climate policy decision making at national, provincial and local levels.

The Distribution of Climate Change Public Opinion in Canada.

Science.gov (United States)

Mildenberger, Matto; Howe, Peter; Lachapelle, Erick; Stokes, Leah; Marlon, Jennifer; Gravelle, Timothy

2016-01-01

While climate scientists have developed high resolution data sets on the distribution of climate risks, we still lack comparable data on the local distribution of public climate change opinions. This paper provides the first effort to estimate local climate and energy opinion variability outside the United States. Using a multi-level regression and post-stratification (MRP) approach, we estimate opinion in federal electoral districts and provinces. We demonstrate that a majority of the Canadian public consistently believes that climate change is happening. Belief in climate change's causes varies geographically, with more people attributing it to human activity in urban as opposed to rural areas. Most prominently, we find majority support for carbon cap and trade policy in every province and district. By contrast, support for carbon taxation is more heterogeneous. Compared to the distribution of US climate opinions, Canadians believe climate change is happening at higher levels. This new opinion data set will support climate policy analysis and climate policy decision making at national, provincial and local levels.

Florida's Opinion on K-12 Public Education Spending

Science.gov (United States)

Forster, Greg

2006-01-01

This scientifically representative poll of 1,200 Floridians finds that public opinion about K-12 public education spending is seriously misinformed. Floridians think public schools need more money, but the main reason is that they are badly mistaken about how much money the public schools actually get. Key findings of the study include: (1) Half…

Measuring and Understanding Public Opinion on Human Evolution

Science.gov (United States)

Gwon, Misook

The theory of evolution has long generated controversy in American society, but Americans' attitudes about human evolution are often neglected in studies of "culture wars" and the nature of mass belief systems more generally (Berkman and Plutzer 2010; Freeland and Houston 2009). Gallup and other survey organizations have polled about evolution, but offered limited response categories that mask complexity in public opinion (Bishop 2006; Moore 2008). The main problems concerning the leading survey questions about evolution are: first, questions measure only a single dimension, thus they ignore the potential for multidimensionality in people's attitudes. Second, depending on question wording and response options, the results of public opinion surveys vary by polling groups. This is an example of measurement error which misleads the interpretation and impression of American public opinion on the origin of humankind. A number of studies have analyzed Americans' beliefs about evolution and hypothesized about the influential effects of several factors (Deckman 2002; Mazur 2005; Mooney 2005; Miller et al. 2006; Newport 2006; Forrest 2007;Nisbet and Goidel 2007;Scott 2009). However, there remains a lack of complete understanding of what Americans know and believe about human evolution. Given the salience of this issue and the significant influence of public opinion on policy-making in America (Page and Shapiro 1992; Stimson 2004; Newport 2004), the measurement error and explanation of polling results on controversial issues related to this topic are in need of clarification. In this study, I address these deficiencies with analyses of data from a 2008 national survey by Harris Interactive (n= 4,626) that included numerous measures of factual knowledge and beliefs about evolution. The items offer more nuanced response options than the standard three-category question asked for decades by the Gallup poll. The Harris survey also had multiple measures of religiosity and the

Opinion Analysis on Rohingya using Twitter Data

Science.gov (United States)

Rochmawati, N.; Wibawa, S. C.

2018-04-01

Rohingya is an ethnicity in Myanmar. Recently there was a conflict in the area between the Rakhine population and the Myanmar army. Many opinions are pro and contra in addressing this issue. There is a critic, there is a support and there is a neutral. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the world public opinion about the case of Rohingya. The opinion data to be processed is taken from twitter. the reason for using twitter is because twitter has become one of the popular social media and includes the most frequently visited social media. Therefore, it would be a lot of data that can be taken from twitter to be processed in the process of sentiment analysis. The grouping of opinions will be divided into 3 parts of positive, negative and neutral. the method used in grouping is the naïve Bayes method.

Public perceptions of risk

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mann, J.M.

1983-01-01

Public perceptions of risk will probably always be unsatisfying to a scientist. Public perceptions are formed by the actions of institutions which have goals other than formation of an informed public opinion, such as the schools, the media, business and the government. In this environment, it seems unrealistic to expect public opinion to reflect scientific realities. The talk will focus on the media as an opinion-former and will discuss several non-nuclear issues as illustrations: plague in New Mexico, Toxic Shock Syndrome, and Injuries as a Public Health Problem. Ultimately however, we are confronted with two wonderfully complex matters: can risk be adequately expressed or measured in universally comprehensible or broadly acceptable terms; and the mysterious movements of the public and collective mind

Public opinion about nuclear energy - year 2003 poll

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Istenic, R.; Jencic, I.

2003-01-01

Nuclear Training Centre Milan Copic at Jozef Stefan Institute in Ljubljana is performing extensive public information activities, focused mainly on elementary and high schools in Slovenia. There are over 7000 visitors yearly. Every year in the spring we ask several hundred of visitors the same set of questions about their knowledge and opinion about nuclear energy. They are polled before they listen to the lecture or visit the exhibition. In that way we are trying to obtain their opinion based on the knowledge they obtain in everyday life. In the paper the results of this year's poll are presented and compared with the previous years. No significant changes in public opinion were observed this year. Favourable attitude towards NPP Krsko, which could be observed in the last years, is maintained. On the other hand, misconceptions about radioactive waste repositories and danger of radioactive waste remain very high. (author)

Identifying Opinion Leaders to Promote Organ Donation on Social Media: Network Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Shi, Jingyuan; Salmon, Charles T

2018-01-09

In the recent years, social networking sites (SNSs, also called social media) have been adopted in organ donation campaigns, and recruiting opinion leaders for such campaigns has been found effective in promoting behavioral changes. The aim of this paper was to focus on the dissemination of organ donation tweets on Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter, and to examine the opinion leadership in the retweet network of popular organ donation messages using social network analysis. It also aimed to investigate how personal and social attributes contribute to a user's opinion leadership on the topic of organ donation. All messages about organ donation posted on Weibo from January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2015 were extracted using Python Web crawler. A retweet network with 505,047 nodes and 545,312 edges of the popular messages (n=206) was constructed and analyzed. The local and global opinion leaderships were measured using network metrics, and the roles of personal attributes, professional knowledge, and social positions in obtaining the opinion leadership were examined using general linear model. The findings revealed that personal attributes, professional knowledge, and social positions predicted individual's local opinion leadership in the retweet network of popular organ donation messages. Alternatively, personal attributes and social positions, but not professional knowledge, were significantly associated with global opinion leadership. The findings of this study indicate that health campaign designers may recruit peer leaders in SNS organ donation promotions to facilitate information sharing among the target audience. Users who are unverified, active, well connected, and experienced with information and communications technology (ICT) will accelerate the sharing of organ donation messages in the global environment. Medical professionals such as organ transplant surgeons who can wield a great amount of influence on their direct connections could also effectively

Public opinion and reaction to the Belene NPP construction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jolov, G.; Josifov, A.

1990-01-01

The chapter offers a study on the social factors related to the Belene project including an analysis of the public attitude, the public opinion priority motivated pros and cons and the political aspects of the problems. The information sources of the sociological study are discussed. There are stipulations over the possible behavior in case of commissioning. A paragraph deals with the credibility of the opinion and the study of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences among different social groups. 1 tab. (R.Ts.)

Public opinion research in France: A new approach through people's values understanding

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bres-Tutino, France; Pages, Jean-Pierre; Leger, Laurent

1998-01-01

Nuclear energy perception by the public has not only technical aspects but is also relevant to public debate and related to people's values. The developed countries and affluent societies, have been showing, in particular, a shift towards post-materialist values. Some of these values and needs environment protection, quality of life, involvement in decision-making process (government, corporates) must be taken into account when analysing public opinion towards nuclear energy. That is the reason why since 1992 a yearly nuclear barometer survey has been run, jointly, by the main corporations involved in nuclear research and industry CEA, the French Atomic Energy Commission, COGEMA, EDF and FRAMATOME. This barometer includes not only quantitative indicators but also, several series of questions on public attitude towards risk perception, controversial issues discussed in the media, potential energy sources for the future, politicians credibility etc. In addition, a very detailed public segmentation allows researchers to analyse similarities and differences related to age, gender, level of education of the population. This paper intends to give some concrete examples and current results on French public attitude towards nuclear energy and on the relation between social values and support for nuclear power

Public opinion about energy: a literature review

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Farhar, B.C.; Weis, P.; Unseld, C.T.; Burns, B.A.

1979-06-01

A review and analysis of 115 surveys of the general population between 1973 and 1978 (before the Three Mile Island accident, sudden gasoline price increases, and spot gasoline shortages) are presented. The survey data are organized and analyzed according to a set of categories described in Chapter 2. The public's definition of the energy situation is the focus of Chapter 3. Chapter 4 describes public opinion concerning energy conservation pertaining to transportation and domestic energy use -- whether it is efficacious, how knowledgeable people are about conservation, whether they favor it, and whether they engage in it. Findings on the solar energy alternative are described in Chapter 5. Public opinion concerning more conventional sources of energy -- oil and natural gas, coal, and nuclear energy -- are discussed in Chapter 6. In Chapter 7, a summary of analytical findings by 10 major sociodemographic characteristics is presented. Chapter 8 describes analytical findings using various social-psychological variables. A summary is presented in Chapter 9.

Travel opinion leaders and seekers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Yoo, Kyung-Hyan; Gretzel, Ulrike; Zach, Florian

2011-01-01

While opinion leadership has been recognized as important in tourism, there has been very little empirical research investigating the phenomenon. Given new developments in social media technologies, it is especially important to understand whether travel opinion leadership and seeking are drivers...... of specific social media perceptions and behaviours. Based on an online survey of US online travellers, this paper seeks to identify travel opinion leaders and seekers and their characteristics. Further, the research conducted investigated linkages between travel opinion leadership/seeking and travel social...... media use. The findings suggest that travel opinion leadership and seeking are distinct but connected. Both opinion leaders and seekers are technology savvy, young, educated, involved in travel planning and engaged in social media use for travel. What distinguishes opinion leaders is their greater...

Elements for Critical and Complex Research of Public Opinion in Chile

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Emilio Andrés Venegas Vergara

2015-08-01

Full Text Available In this paper we discuss and propose theoretical elements considered relevant to open and develop a theoretical-empiric line of research on the public opinion (PO in Chile today. We suggest that there are different conceptions, practices and actors involved in “making PO”, recognizing five areas in this field: media system, subaltern counter-publics, social digital networks, survey industry and elites. In each of these areas it is necessary to inquire into their specific actors, practices and senses mobilized in the process of production of PO.The paper focuses on discussing the development of the main current comprehensive modalities of the PO and presenting a conceptual proposal for each of the five areas described above, as well as a brief characterization of these areas in Chile. We consider these definitions as a basic starting point to habilitate a line of research that allows us to design a device for monitoring PO. The device will be hosted at the PO observatory and it will contribute to activate networks of knowledge and action in the public sphere by providing periodically with public information regarding issues of general interest to the actors involved in the production of PO.

Social media in public health.

Science.gov (United States)

Kass-Hout, Taha A; Alhinnawi, Hend

2013-01-01

While social media interactions are currently not fully understood, as individual health behaviors and outcomes are shared online, social media offers an increasingly clear picture of the dynamics of these processes. Social media is becoming an increasingly common platform among clinicians and public health officials to share information with the public, track or predict diseases. Social media can be used for engaging the public and communicating key public health interventions, while providing an important tool for public health surveillance. Social media has advantages over traditional public health surveillance, as well as limitations, such as poor specificity, that warrant additional study. Social media can provide timely, relevant and transparent information of public health importance; such as tracking or predicting the spread or severity of influenza, west nile virus or meningitis as they propagate in the community, and, in identifying disease outbreaks or clusters of chronic illnesses. Further work is needed on social media as a valid data source for detecting or predicting diseases or conditions. Also, whether or not it is an effective tool for communicating key public health messages and engaging both, the general public and policy-makers.

Correlation between information diffusion and opinion evolution on social media

Science.gov (United States)

Xiong, Fei; Liu, Yun; Zhang, Zhenjiang

2014-12-01

Information diffusion and opinion evolution are often treated as two independent processes. Opinion models assume the topic reaches each agent and agents initially have their own ideas. In fact, the processes of information diffusion and opinion evolution often intertwine with each other. Whether the influence between these two processes plays a role in the system state is unclear. In this paper, we collected more than one million real data from a well-known social platform, and analysed large-scale user diffusion behaviour and opinion formation. We found that user inter-event time follows a two-scaling power-law distribution with two different power exponents. Public opinion stabilizes quickly and evolves toward the direction of convergence, but the consensus state is prevented by a few opponents. We propose a three-state opinion model accompanied by information diffusion. Agents form and exchange their opinions during information diffusion. Conversely, agents' opinions also influence their diffusion actions. Simulations show that the model with a correlation of the two processes produces similar statistical characteristics as empirical results. A fast epidemic process drives individual opinions to converge more obviously. Unlike previous epidemic models, the number of infected agents does not always increase with the update rate, but has a peak with an intermediate value of the rate.

Correlation between information diffusion and opinion evolution on social media

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xiong, Fei; Liu, Yun; Zhang, Zhenjiang

2014-01-01

Information diffusion and opinion evolution are often treated as two independent processes. Opinion models assume the topic reaches each agent and agents initially have their own ideas. In fact, the processes of information diffusion and opinion evolution often intertwine with each other. Whether the influence between these two processes plays a role in the system state is unclear. In this paper, we collected more than one million real data from a well-known social platform, and analysed large-scale user diffusion behaviour and opinion formation. We found that user inter-event time follows a two-scaling power-law distribution with two different power exponents. Public opinion stabilizes quickly and evolves toward the direction of convergence, but the consensus state is prevented by a few opponents. We propose a three-state opinion model accompanied by information diffusion. Agents form and exchange their opinions during information diffusion. Conversely, agents' opinions also influence their diffusion actions. Simulations show that the model with a correlation of the two processes produces similar statistical characteristics as empirical results. A fast epidemic process drives individual opinions to converge more obviously. Unlike previous epidemic models, the number of infected agents does not always increase with the update rate, but has a peak with an intermediate value of the rate. (paper)

Measuring risk/benefit perceptions of emerging technologies and their potential impact on communication of public opinion toward science.

Science.gov (United States)

Binder, Andrew R; Cacciatore, Michael A; Scheufele, Dietram A; Shaw, Bret R; Corley, Elizabeth A

2012-10-01

This study presents a systematic comparison of two alternative measures of citizens' perceptions of risks and benefits of emerging technologies. By focusing on two specific issues (nanotechnology and biofuels), we derive several insights for the measurement of public views of science. Most importantly, our analyses reveal that relying on global, single-item measures may lead to invalid inferences regarding external influences on public perceptions, particularly those related to cognitive schema and media use. Beyond these methodological implications, this analysis suggests several reasons why researchers in the area of public attitudes toward science must revisit notions of measurement in order to accurately inform the general public, policymakers, scientists, and journalists about trends in public opinion toward emerging technologies.

Opinion dynamics: kinetic modelling with mass media, application to the Scottish independence referendum

OpenAIRE

Boudin , Laurent; Salvarani , Francesco

2016-01-01

International audience; We consider a kinetic model describing some mechanisms of opinion formation in the framework of referendums, by allowing that the individuals, who can interact between themselves and modify their opinion by means of spontaneous self-thinking, are moreover under the influence of mass media. After proving the main properties of the model, such as existence of solutions and conservation properties, we study, at the numerical level, both the transient and the asymptotic re...

Innovative public information programs. 1. Judgment of Opinion Leaders on Nuclear Energy Use

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Jong Seok

2001-01-01

Nuclear energy use requires a delicate balance, which arises between the technological factors involved in generating the power and the socio-psychological factors involved in bringing the power for consumer use. It appears that there are several forces such as media enterprise, civil activists, and political leaders that shape public opinion on nuclear power programs that include the assignment of new sites for nuclear power plants or radioactive waste disposal facilities. These forces often make matters worse or sometimes relieve the public of overstated facts. This paper reviews the structure of public acceptance and examines an extended perception model on nuclear energy among opinion leaders (see Fig. 1). A survey was carried out on 500 opinion leaders in Korean society, including political leaders, professors, seniors in media enterprises, executive members of business, and responsible civil activists in August 2000. The sample included a reasonable mix of opinion leaders. However, males represented 87% of the sample while females represented 13%. Skilled interviewers were joined in visiting the respondents for collecting data. For the data, the structural equation modeling approach was chosen to test the proposed model implied by the hypotheses developed by earlier studies. The model was analyzed using the program AMOS, from SmallWaters Corporation. The model yielded a good fit to the data (GFI = 0.972), which shows general features that indicate a reasonable fit of data to the proposed model. The model gives structural coefficients, and the values in the figure represent standardized estimates. The higher values represent more influence on the affected variables. Opinion leaders believe it should play an important role in providing electricity, and it can be dangerous if it is not controlled properly. Here, risks perceived could be assessed by hazards to health or the environment from radiation and the disaster of a possible accident at a nuclear power

Same-sex marriage and other moral taboos : cultural acceptances, change in American public opinion and the evidence from the opinion polls

OpenAIRE

MORINI, Marco

2017-01-01

Published online: 25 January 2017 Creative Commons Licence This article analyzes the evolution of gay and lesbian rights and same-sex marriage in American public opinion. It describes how Obergefell v. Hodges, state-level decisions and the public opinion trends can be considered as the outcome of a grassroots coordinated campaign which began more than a decade ago and was able to conquer the majority of Americans. It also focuses on the American public opinion trends related to moral is...

THE IMAGE OF PISA TESTS IN TWO COLOMBIAN NEWSPAPERS REFERRALS TO SHAPE PUBLIC OPINION ON THE ASSESSMENT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Guillermo Torres Zambrano

2014-05-01

Full Text Available The PISA tests applied by OECD in 2012 had a strong impact in Colombia because of the low scores obtained by students . The news had more coverage in the press. In order to establish how they can shape public opinion on the subject because of the manner and direction in which they were addressed, were analyzed news , editorials, opinion columns and letters from readers (total 39 information units appeared in two Colombian daily newspapers in two and a half months. Recognizing the evaluation as a social fact , the analysis focused around : quality of information sources used , breadth of perspective on the evidence by reference to the evidence and formulate action alternatives . The basic conclusions are : the sources of information to give opinion are very limited, they aren´t criticized and the focus is on the scores ; these show a very negative picture that is extended to all the country's education ; teachers are largely responsible for the failure. The opinion that the media contribute to form is negative.

Perception of risks by opinion leaders 2011

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2011-01-01

The authors report a survey made just after the Fukushima accident on a panel of opinion leaders (belonging to political, economical or media sector) in order to compare their perception of risks with that of the public. The questions addressed the perception of risks, the role of scientific experts, the usefulness and breaks on the diffusion of expertise results, the perception of pluralist bodies, and the Fukushima accident. The answers are analysed and discussed with respect to fifteen hazardous situations, to their opinion of expertise, and to their opinion on safety audit and information

What do Americans think about public transit? A review of U.S. public opinion polling survey questions.

Science.gov (United States)

2015-07-01

This seed grant research project compiled a set of 56 US public opinion polls that asked respondents their opinions about public : transit. The first and primary goal of the project was to assemble a large set of transit-related survey question...

A model of public opinion management

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Patacconi, Andrea; Vikander, Nicholas Edward

2015-01-01

Policymakers often motivate their decisions using information collected by government agencies. While more information can help hold the government to account, it may also give policymakers an incentive to meddle with the work of bureaucrats. This paper develops a model of biased information...... information is always unbiased, may also not be socially optimal. A biased information-gathering process can benefit the government by helping it to shape public opinion. But it can also benefit the public, by curbing the government's tendency to implement its ex ante favored policy, thus mitigating...... the agency conflict between policymakers and the public....

Actions improving the image of a nurse in electronic media. Opinion of students at medical courses

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jakubowska Klaudia

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Aim. The aim of study was to define actions improving the image of nurses in electronic media. Material and method. 219 women and 44 men took part in a survey. They were the students of the following courses: nursing, medical rescue, obstetrics, medicine, dentistry, pharmaceutics, physiotherapy, public health. The studies were undertaken with use of own questionnaire in 2015. Results. Majority of respondents 64,6% (n=169 stated that improvement of image of their own profession belongs to the nurses, and only 35,4% (n=93 respondents indicated that the professional organizations of nurses and midwives have their impact on it. According to the students, the most crucial action that should be undertaken by professional organizations in order to improve the image of profession in electronic media was the improvement of wages and working conditions (72,2%, n=189 and better promotion of the profession in electronic media (73,8%, n=193. The nurses can influence the improvement of their image in media by taking care of the good opinion about the profession by setting good example (32%, n=84, and also by creating blogs, social forum, online information services, etc. (26,2%, n=69. Conclusions. According to the respondents, the image of a nurse in electronic media is shaped by the television and radio. The mentioned media tend to present nursing environment in a negative light. The data analysis shows that according to the respondents, the professional organizations of nurses and midwives and nurses themselves should be responsible for improvement of the situation. In order to improve the image, the nurses should promote professional achievements, change the stereotype used in shows and movies, and familiarize the public with the profession. The following branches of mass media should be used: internet websites, television and radio.

The effect of popular exemplars and expert account base-rate information on perceived public opinion

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lefevere, J.; Walgrave, S.; de Swert, K.

2012-01-01

How people perceive public opinion is important because it affects their willingness to express themselves. This paper investigates whether two different portrayals of public opinion in the TV news affect people’s perception of public opinion. We use an experimental design in which roughly one

Survivalism and Public Opinion on Criminality: A Cross-National Analysis of Prostitution

Science.gov (United States)

Stack, Steven; Adamczyk, Amy; Cao, Liqun

2010-01-01

Explanations of variability in public opinion on crime have drawn disproportionately from the literature on specific symbolic orientations including religious fundamentalism and racial prejudice. In contrast, this article hypothesizes that public opinion is linked to the strength of a general cultural axis of nations: survivalism vs.…

The causal flow between public opinion and policy: government responsiveness, leadership, or counter movement?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hakhverdian, A.

2012-01-01

This article examines the causal relationship between public opinion and policy. Does opinion affect policy or is it the other way around? Three hypotheses take centre stage. The responsiveness hypothesis postulates that changes in public opinion lead to subsequent changes in policy in the same

Social media & stem cell science: examining the discourse.

Science.gov (United States)

Adams, Amy; Lomax, Geoffrey; Santarini, Anthony

2011-11-01

Research suggests that the representation of scientific and medical issues in the traditional media such as newspapers, TV and radio is an important determinant of public opinion and related public policy outcomes, particularly with regard to attitudes toward stem cell research. With the emergence of social media, the discursive space around public policy issues has expanded to include a new demographic of media consumer who is directly involved in political action. However, little is known about the influence of social media on scientific public policy conversations. We analyzed Twitter posts on two topics relating to stem cell science and policy according to the originator and tone of the tweet, and whether the tweet was intended to be neutral or to further a stated policy position. This analysis provides a means for clarifying the role of social media in influencing public opinion of policy issues such as stem cell research and offers organizations a better understanding of how to more effectively apply social media to advancing their stem cell policy positions.

Fukushima and follow-up. Media coverage, public opinion, political consequences; Fukushima und die Folgen. Medienberichterstattung, Oeffentliche Meinung, Politische Konsequenzen

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wolling, Jens; Arlt, Dorothee (eds.)

2014-11-01

The study includes the following contributions: Introduction: An earth quake and its (political) consequences; Part 1: Nuclear energy in the historical-comparative perspective: The largest assumable reevaluation? Loss of confidence in nuclear power. Part 2: Reactions of the media in Germany: German nuclear phase-out made in Japan? Risk perception in case of accident. Part 3: International comparison of the media reactions: Framing Fukushima. The nuclear disaster as topic of the international communication. Emotionalized reporting? Energy sources in the media reporting. Changes due to Fukushima? Part 4: Reactions of the public on the nuclear disaster and the media reporting: Fukushima effects in Germany? Risk reporting and risk perception. The influence of the reactor accident on the nuclear risk perception and the general environmental awareness of the public. On the influence of the nuclear disaster of Fukushima and the appraisement of different energy sources in Germany.

Nuclear installations inspectorate a public opinion survey

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lennie, S.E.; Davies, A.G.

2001-01-01

HM Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (HMNII) is the regulator responsible for the safety of licensed nuclear sites in the UK. Recognizing the need for public approval on future policy with respect to nuclear waste management, the NII commissioned a public opinion research programme amongst the UK general public. Opinion was sought on a number of issues including attitudes towards the industry in general, perception of nuclear waste and its management, tolerability of risk and attitudes towards current decommissioning plans. In response to the primary objectives of the survey the main findings are: current spontaneous level of concern over the industry in general is low (7%), and lower still for nuclear waste (3%). However, on prompting, 47% of respondents were very concerned about nuclear waste. Top of mind issues of concern about the industry are: nuclear waste; risk of accidents; health risks. Personal risk from nuclear waste is not of overt concern and is significantly less worrisome to respondents than risk from diseases like meningitis or cancer, smoking or road accidents. On being presented with a statement describing current UK decommissioning plans, the sample was generally in favour. However, this issue will require further research. (authors)

Associations Between Exposure to and Expression of Negative Opinions About Human Papillomavirus Vaccines on Social Media: An Observational Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Dunn, Adam G; Leask, Julie; Zhou, Xujuan; Mandl, Kenneth D; Coiera, Enrico

2015-06-10

Groups and individuals that seek to negatively influence public opinion about the safety and value of vaccination are active in online and social media and may influence decision making within some communities. We sought to measure whether exposure to negative opinions about human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines in Twitter communities is associated with the subsequent expression of negative opinions by explicitly measuring potential information exposure over the social structure of Twitter communities. We hypothesized that prior exposure to opinions rejecting the safety or value of HPV vaccines would be associated with an increased risk of posting similar opinions and tested this hypothesis by analyzing temporal sequences of messages posted on Twitter (tweets). The study design was a retrospective analysis of tweets related to HPV vaccines and the social connections between users. Between October 2013 and April 2014, we collected 83,551 English-language tweets that included terms related to HPV vaccines and the 957,865 social connections among 30,621 users posting or reposting the tweets. Tweets were classified as expressing negative or neutral/positive opinions using a machine learning classifier previously trained on a manually labeled sample. During the 6-month period, 25.13% (20,994/83,551) of tweets were classified as negative; among the 30,621 users that tweeted about HPV vaccines, 9046 (29.54%) were exposed to a majority of negative tweets. The likelihood of a user posting a negative tweet after exposure to a majority of negative opinions was 37.78% (2780/7361) compared to 10.92% (1234/11,296) for users who were exposed to a majority of positive and neutral tweets corresponding to a relative risk of 3.46 (95% CI 3.25-3.67, Prelation to HPV vaccines. We found that among users that tweeted about HPV vaccines, those who were more often exposed to negative opinions were more likely to subsequently post negative opinions. Although this research may be useful for

Social Media, Traditional Media and Marketing Communication of Public Relations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Khajeheian, Datis; Mirahmadi, Fereshteh

2015-01-01

Public relations are undertaking more important role in the marketing communication and advertising. The present paper reports a survey conducted in three Iranian banks’ public relations departments to understand how they use different media in their marketing communications and other related...... functions. A classification of public relations functions including fourteen functions in three categories has taken as research framework and by using a questionnaire, eight media have been asked to rank for each function, includes Television, Radio, Newspaper, Magazine, Classified Ads, Internet Websites......, Social media and finally Mobile and SMS ads. Findings show that traditional media still play a dominant role in media consumption of public relations, while new Web2.0 media consist of Mobile communications and Social networks, have never ranked better than fifth from eight. Some reasons have been argues...

SUBJECTIVE RIGHTS ACTIVITY AS A FACTOR OF FORMATION AND OPERATION OF PUBLIC OPINION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Arkadiy Evgenevich Peskov

2016-02-01

Practical implications: public opinion is realized above all in the social and political sphere, so a basic knowledge of the genesis of public opinion creates the conditions for social inclusion and design rights in the socio-political sphere with the lowest degree of alienation.

CREATION OF THE SHUGHNANI DISCOURSE OF PUBLIC SPHERE IN THE MEDIA AND SOCIAL NETWORKS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

П Ш Абдулхамидова

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Shughnani, one of the Pamiri languages of Tajikistan, is a minority language, and has no written script. Socio-economic and political changes in the lives of language speakers have affected the functioning of this small language, which was previously devoid of social significance. In the late 1980s, ideas began to emerge about the expansion of its functions, and attempts were made to use it in print media, television and radio. Observation of the functional development of Shugnani in these media led to the hypothesis of the emergence of a public sphere discourse, where it is possible to raise problems of social importance, and discuss them to search for eventual solutions. The main purpose of the article is to study attempts to create a discourse of the public sphere for Shugnani, in media and on the Facebook social network. The theoretical and methodological approaches of the study are based on the concept of the pub-lic sphere of Habermas, using the Critical Discourse Analysis paradigm (Fairclough. The data for the study were taken from Shughnani print media, from speeches on television and radio, and from postings by members of Shughnani Facebook groups. The findings reveal that the Shughnani presence in the media is limited, and construction of public opinion is more successfully carried out via Shughnani groups on Facebook. Analysis of the discursive practices involved shows that, despite the slow development of a media presence, the establishment of public discourse occurs through the creation of verbal units which have a journalistic character. Shugnani-speaking groups on Facebook contribute to the strengthening of the posi-tion of the language, through the formulation and discussion of issues relevant to members of the language community and the creation of language units that enhance confidence in the use of non-written Shugnani in the public sphere.

2003/04 public opinion survey Nuclear energy - the present and the future

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Trontl, K.

2004-01-01

During the academic years 2000/01, 2001/02 and 2002/03 the Croatian Nuclear Society Young Generation Network (CYGN) carried out public opinion surveys among student population of around 600 individuals age 18-20. The results of the surveys have shown that the participants are rather ignorant on nuclear issues but still very negative, especially towards nuclear power plants and radioactive waste disposal sites with emphasized Not In My Back Yard (NIMBY) syndrome. As a part of the active involvement of CYGN members in upgrading of the positive public opinion, especially, young generations towards nuclear issues, a brochure on radioactivity has been prepared and distributed at the beginning of the 2002/03 school year to third and fourth graders in high schools. Hopefully a part of the 2003/04 academic year, freshman student population received a brochure during their high school education. Therefore, CYGN decided to carry out 2003/04 public opinion survey Nuclear Energy - the Present and the Future in order to investigate the effects of the brochure on student opinions on nuclear subjects. The results of the survey should also provide information on the quality of the distributed materials, as well as the quality of the distribution strategy. The results and the analyses of the 2003/04 public opinion survey, as well as the comparison of the results with the previous surveys are presented in this paper.(author)

Public opinion on Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hirose, Hirotada

2013-01-01

This article showed trend of public opinion on nuclear power after Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, for which the survey had been done five times under the same method and inquiries. Most unreliable source of information at disaster was government ministries and offices, whose unreliability sharply increased from 20% to about 50% after 3 months later and one year later after March 11 and reliability after 2 year and 5 months later (August 2013) was not high and almost comparable with unreliability of 27%. Nuclear disaster was most serious cause of Great East Japan earthquake disaster (60%) and not entirely ended due to such increase of contaminated water. Public opinion survey in August 2013 showed nuclear power stoppage totaled about 80% with immediate of about 30% and phaseout of about 50%, and possibility of occurrence of another nuclear accident comparable with Fukushima disaster was almost 80% with a belief not only earthquakes, tsunamis, terrorism but also human errors might initiate nuclear disaster if nuclear power restarted. Future most serious disaster would be earthquake (50%) and nuclear disaster (35%). Nuclear accident preparedness of government and local government was not enough (58% and 24%) and nothing (33% and 24%). Residents within UPZ (Urgent Protection action Planning Zone) of 30 km radius could not evacuate safely (57%) and entirely (22%). If government and local government encouraged damaged residents to come home with declaration of safety for evacuation area of nuclear accident, damaged residents might not return almost (46%) and entirely (9%). Notwithstanding people's strong feeling against nuclear power, LDP (Liberal Democratic Party) promoting nuclear power won an overwhelming victory at the election of House of Councilors in July 2013. Public opinion survey in August 2013 showed most important issue of voters was party's image (25%), economic measures (20%) and candidate's personality (13%), and nuclear power policy was only 5%. (T

Liking the pieces, not the package: contradictions in public opinion during health reform.

Science.gov (United States)

Brodie, Mollyann; Altman, Drew; Deane, Claudia; Buscho, Sasha; Hamel, Elizabeth

2010-06-01

Public opinion played a prominent role during the recent health care reform debate. Critics of reform pointed to poll results as evidence that a majority of Americans opposed sweeping changes. Supporters cited polls showing that people favored many specific aspects of the legislation. A closer examination of past and present polling shows that opinion tracked with historic patterns and was relatively stable, even if the contentious public debate suggested a volatile public mood in 2009 and 2010. Going forward, the public will begin reacting to reform implementation, primarily by judging it in terms of their perceptions of and experiences with what the new law does and does not do for people. These opinions could in turn influence implementation or future legislation.

Risk perception: expert opinion versus public understanding

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brown, Jennifer

1987-01-01

A research project looking at the public's attitudes towards the siting of radioactive waste depositories is reported. The risk perception studies seek to compare expert and lay understanding of risk. Adverse public reactions to risk can only be understood if it is known how people relate to risks in their everyday or working lives. Social trends and experiences are important, for example, the adverse public opinion on the siting of nuclear waste facilities. A number of elements have been identified as common to different risk areas such as chemicals, drugs, food or radioactive waste. These are the clashing of values, polarization of beliefs or clashes of interest. (UK)

Polling and public opinion: a Canadian perspective

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Butler, Peter Marshall

2007-01-01

..., advertising, and government policy. Using such controversial issues such as free trade, health care, same-sex marriage, and national security, Butler argues that popular opinion on such hot-button topics as these can be guided and changed according to how polls are interpreted for and presented to the public. As well as analysing the impact of po...

(In)direct framing effects: the effects of news media framing on public support for Turkish membership in the European Union

NARCIS (Netherlands)

de Vreese, C.H.; Boomgaarden, H.G.; Semetko, H.A.

2011-01-01

News framing can exert a strong influence on public opinion. Following a media content analysis, this article investigates the effects of news framing on support for membership of Turkey in the European Union. A first experimental study (n = 304) showed a significant difference in the level of

Spent fuel storage choices: What public opinion polls tell us

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bisconti, A.S.

1995-01-01

The crux of the issue of spent nuclear fuel for much of the American public is that taking car of our waste now instead of leaving it for future generations is the safe and environmentally responsible think to do. This article summarizes a number of public opinion surveys. Although it is important to recognize that most people are not familiar with specifics, much of the American public has a strong opinions about the fundamental guiding principles for safely managing radioactive waste. First there is clear agreement that we need action. Second, safety means taking the waste to a permanent disposal facility instead of leaving it in many different locations. Third, most of the public would like to keep nuclear energy as a supply option. Fourth, the majority of the public agreed with the statement that the availability of nuclear energy as an option for future energy supply depends on building a national waste storage or disposal facility

Communicating with external publics: managing public opinion and behavior.

Science.gov (United States)

Ristino, Robert J

2007-01-01

In health care organizational settings public relations plays an important role in managing relationships with a variety of external publics as well as with society in general. Managing these relationships involves both reactive and proactive communication activities. Reactively, public relations responds to public issues, crises and concerns, as well as inquiries from the media and other social institutions. Proactively, public relations engages in deliberately planned campaigns and programs to inform, influence or change behaviors of targeted publics for a wide range of strategic purposes. These purposes include managing the organization's image and identity; influencing public policies; supporting health promotion and education; promoting fund raising and volunteerism; and managing organizational change and crises.

Public opinion towards 'unhealthy' sponsorship of sporting events in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Public opinion towards 'unhealthy' sponsorship of sporting events in South ... perceptions of such sponsorships according to the demographics of gender, ... was to examine whether there were any significant differences among respondents' ...

The European Public on Social Media

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Tarta, Ancuta-Gabriela

This study explorers the European public on social media by discussing the case of communicative interactions taking place on the official Facebook page of the European Parliament. Based on the theoretical framework conceptualizing the public and the public sphere on social network sites, the study...... examines the European social media public from two perspectives. The first is a top-down, institutional perspective of European Parliament, based on a case-study approach to the way this European institution constructs and addresses the public through its social media communication. The second is a bottom......-up perspective of the public of social media users, informed by a content analysis of Facebook comments and a discourse analysis of live chat interactions with Members of the European Parliament. Results confirm a discursive potential of the Facebook public of users. In the case of the Facebook comment threads...

Public opinion, risk to reputation: The essentials of societal corporate governance?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Catherine Malecki

2012-12-01

Full Text Available Research Question/Issue: This paper will examine the role of reputation regarding corporate governance in terms of performance, risk control and the possible role of legislature or behaviors in this field (in particular with regards to the recent Green Paper “Companies in the EU: a management of governance”, COM (2011 164 final, of the 5th April 2011, of the European Commission. Research Findings/Insights: Image, reputation, positive or negative opinion, notoriety of the companies and their managers are regarded as an element of their performance. It is accepted that public opinion, inherently linked to the reputation risk is an essential element of corporate governance. Regarding the need of a long term matter, particularly after the financial crisis, a short period of time is enough to transform a positive public opinion into a negative one. In addition, the assessment of public opinion is complex. Everyone can freely form an “opinion”. The opinion may be private and public. Public opinion refers to society, to citizens and to the people. Its classic means of expression are freedom of the press and freedom of speech. This question is particularly crucial regarding the role of the companies to the “society” as recently defined by the Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the committee of the Regions, A renewed EU strategy 2011-14 for Corporate Social Responsibility, the European Commission and the European Parliament (Brussels, 25.10.2011 COM (2011 681 final. Theoretical/Academic Implications: How to manage good corporate governance reputation ?As from 1979, the Anglo-Saxon doctrine has acutely highlighted the role of reputation risk regarding corporate governance but what is the situation within the EU? Has legislature, in Europe (and for example, in France, sufficiently acknowledged the concept of reputation risk control? – A long term period

The Extended Space of Public Opinion in the Context of Multi-Platform Journalism: From Speakers to Discursive Actors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kati Eliana Caetano

2015-12-01

Full Text Available This paper has as its starting point the traditional condition of public opinion, especially its existence in the society of mass communication when assuming the role of legitimizing discourses of political protagonists – the government and media. This text aims to show it as an object built around the set of discursive conventions, and show the modifications it goes through in the context of current journalism; a multitude of voices being heard in the circulation of information spaces. The qualitative analysis focuses on opinions on the Israel / Palestine conflict taken from reader comments and Internet search applications based on tags between the period of June and September 2014. Among these changes are the needs to restructure its concept, to understand the challenge it represents to news organizations and to review the formal elaborations that sustain journalistic discourse.

The effect of opinion leader on nuclear public opinion. Its visualization on a socio-psychological plane

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ohnishi, Teruaki

2004-01-01

Simulation was carried out on what influence an opinion leader (OPL) exerts on the nuclear public opinion, and visualization on a socio-psychological plane was made for the time-evolving feature of the public consciousness regarding nuclear energy. A multi-particle model was introduced in this simulation where the biased degree of information environment to negative or positive directions and the strength α of the mutual interaction of the OPL with the public were treated as parameters. Under the existence of an OPL, the public attitude was found to be subject to two attractors. The one is originated from a non-linear effect arising from the mutual interaction among the public in the information environment, and the other the OPL itself. In case of the OPL with a large α, he was found to be difficult to catch the public heart irrespective of the condition of social atmosphere. In case of a small α, on the other hand, the same thought as the OPL has can become a public consensus when the thought of OPL and the information environment coincide to each other in their biased directions, whereas, otherwise, the OPL has an effect to unify the anti-OPL consciousness into one large consensus with anti-OPL properties. Such behavioral features were visualized on a two-dimensional, socio-psychological plane. (author)

Public Claims about Automatic External Defibrillators: An Online Consumer Opinions Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Barnett Julie

2011-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Patients are no longer passive recipients of health care, and increasingly engage in health communications outside of the traditional patient and health care professional relationship. As a result, patient opinions and health related judgements are now being informed by a wide range of social, media, and online information sources. Government initiatives recognise self-delivery of health care as a valuable means of responding to the anticipated increased global demand for health resources. Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs, designed for the treatment of Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA, have recently become available for 'over the counter' purchase with no need for a prescription. This paper explores the claims and argumentation of lay persons and health care practitioners and professionals relating to these, and how these may impact on the acceptance, adoption and use of these devices within the home context. Methods We carry out a thematic content analysis of a novel form of Internet-based data: online consumer opinions of AED devices posted on Amazon.com, the world's largest online retailer. A total of #83 online consumer reviews of home AEDs are analysed. The analysis is both inductive, identifying themes that emerged from the data, exploring the parameters of public debate relating to these devices, and also driven by theory, centring around the parameters that may impact upon the acceptance, adoption and use of these devices within the home as indicated by the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM. Results Five high-level themes around which arguments for and against the adoption of home AEDs are identified and considered in the context of TAM. These include opinions relating to device usability, usefulness, cost, emotional implications of device ownership, and individual patient risk status. Emotional implications associated with AED acceptance, adoption and use emerged as a notable factor that is not currently reflected

Public claims about automatic external defibrillators: an online consumer opinions study.

Science.gov (United States)

Money, Arthur G; Barnett, Julie; Kuljis, Jasna

2011-05-18

Patients are no longer passive recipients of health care, and increasingly engage in health communications outside of the traditional patient and health care professional relationship. As a result, patient opinions and health related judgements are now being informed by a wide range of social, media, and online information sources. Government initiatives recognise self-delivery of health care as a valuable means of responding to the anticipated increased global demand for health resources. Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs), designed for the treatment of Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA), have recently become available for 'over the counter' purchase with no need for a prescription. This paper explores the claims and argumentation of lay persons and health care practitioners and professionals relating to these, and how these may impact on the acceptance, adoption and use of these devices within the home context. We carry out a thematic content analysis of a novel form of Internet-based data: online consumer opinions of AED devices posted on Amazon.com, the world's largest online retailer. A total of #83 online consumer reviews of home AEDs are analysed. The analysis is both inductive, identifying themes that emerged from the data, exploring the parameters of public debate relating to these devices, and also driven by theory, centring around the parameters that may impact upon the acceptance, adoption and use of these devices within the home as indicated by the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). Five high-level themes around which arguments for and against the adoption of home AEDs are identified and considered in the context of TAM. These include opinions relating to device usability, usefulness, cost, emotional implications of device ownership, and individual patient risk status. Emotional implications associated with AED acceptance, adoption and use emerged as a notable factor that is not currently reflected within the existing TAM. The value, credibility and

Evolving Trends in Public Opinion on the Quality of Local Schools

Science.gov (United States)

Bali, Valentina A.

2016-01-01

The ratings given by citizens to local public schools in the United States have been rising in the last decades. Using national public opinion surveys, this study seeks to understand the determinants of public evaluations of local schools across time. Aggregate trend analyses indicate that public evaluations of local schools are influenced not…

Media and Influence

Science.gov (United States)

Bennett, William H.

The public information media provides information on current events (news), entertainment (programming), and opinions offered by trusted public sources (e.g., business, academic or religious spokespersons, journalists, and government officials). Consequently, it is a major force in shaping a populace's attitudes toward significant social issues and of great interest to intervention planners. The chapter attempts to provide modelers and intervention analysts alike with sufficient understanding of media mechanisms and current research that they can begin contributing to, and benefiting from this important area of study.

Public opinion and its influence on the perspectives of nuclear power development

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rudneva, E.A.; Rudnev, A.V.; Tarasova, N.P.

2003-01-01

Full text: The absence of the authentic, accessible and clear for various layers of community information about a place of nuclear power in the maintenance of a vital level of the population, and about its influence on an environment and on the person health frequently determines the negative public opinion formation in the questions of the nuclear energy using. In turn, this public opinion can form the basis for the acceptance by government of the erroneous strategic decisions

Research on Hotspot Discovery in Internet Public Opinions Based on Improved -Means

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gensheng Wang

2013-01-01

Full Text Available How to discover hotspot in the Internet public opinions effectively is a hot research field for the researchers related which plays a key role for governments and corporations to find useful information from mass data in the Internet. An improved -means algorithm for hotspot discovery in internet public opinions is presented based on the analysis of existing defects and calculation principle of original -means algorithm. First, some new methods are designed to preprocess website texts, select and express the characteristics of website texts, and define the similarity between two website texts, respectively. Second, clustering principle and the method of initial classification centers selection are analyzed and improved in order to overcome the limitations of original -means algorithm. Finally, the experimental results verify that the improved algorithm can improve the clustering stability and classification accuracy of hotspot discovery in internet public opinions when used in practice.

Large-scale machine learning of media outlets for understanding public reactions to nation-wide viral infection outbreaks.

Science.gov (United States)

Choi, Sungwoon; Lee, Jangho; Kang, Min-Gyu; Min, Hyeyoung; Chang, Yoon-Seok; Yoon, Sungroh

2017-10-01

From May to July 2015, there was a nation-wide outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) in Korea. MERS is caused by MERS-CoV, an enveloped, positive-sense, single-stranded RNA virus belonging to the family Coronaviridae. Despite expert opinions that the danger of MERS might be exaggerated, there was an overreaction by the public according to the Korean mass media, which led to a noticeable reduction in social and economic activities during the outbreak. To explain this phenomenon, we presumed that machine learning-based analysis of media outlets would be helpful and collected a number of Korean mass media articles and short-text comments produced during the 10-week outbreak. To process and analyze the collected data (over 86 million words in total) effectively, we created a methodology composed of machine-learning and information-theoretic approaches. Our proposal included techniques for extracting emotions from emoticons and Internet slang, which allowed us to significantly (approximately 73%) increase the number of emotion-bearing texts needed for robust sentiment analysis of social media. As a result, we discovered a plausible explanation for the public overreaction to MERS in terms of the interplay between the disease, mass media, and public emotions. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Naive Bayes as opinion classifier to evaluate students satisfaction based on student sentiment in Twitter Social Media

Science.gov (United States)

Candra Permana, Fahmi; Rosmansyah, Yusep; Setiawan Abdullah, Atje

2017-10-01

Students activity on social media can provide implicit knowledge and new perspectives for an educational system. Sentiment analysis is a part of text mining that can help to analyze and classify the opinion data. This research uses text mining and naive Bayes method as opinion classifier, to be used as an alternative methods in the process of evaluating studentss satisfaction for educational institution. Based on test results, this system can determine the opinion classification in Bahasa Indonesia using naive Bayes as opinion classifier with accuracy level of 84% correct, and the comparison between the existing system and the proposed system to evaluate students satisfaction in learning process, there is only a difference of 16.49%.

The trend of the public opinion upon nuclear power generation in internet blog

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Maruta, Katsuhiko; Ueda, Yoshitaka

2011-01-01

The authors pay attention to and survey internet information which is called 'blog' to grasp how nuclear power generation information is treated in internet and forms public opinion. Examples of the outcomes are as follows. 1) Numbers of blog reference will change by public opinion upon nuclear power generation. A lot of blog references about nuclear power plants are conducted when a big earthquake occurred. 2) As a feature of the report, numbers of the references against nuclear power generation exceed those which are positive for nuclear power. There are a lot of blog reports which are against nuclear power generation and easy to make readers believe that they are true even if they are based on misunderstanding. It is worried that such reports give people too much negative influence for the public opinion upon nuclear power generation. The authors survey short term trend of the internet public opinion after TEPCO's Fukushima Daiichi Power Plants Accident too. As a result, it is made clear that people's concern upon nuclear power became very high and the ratio of the supporters of nuclear power generation changed after the accident. (author)

"A powerful, opinion-forming public? Rethinking the Habermasian public sphere in a perspective of feminist theory and citizenship"

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fiig, Christina

2011-01-01

The article’s main argument is that a public sphere forms a constructive arena for citizenship practice if we by citizenship understand four components: rights, responsibilities, participation and identity as formulated by Gerard Delanty. The Habermasian (re)working of the concept remains...... an essential contribution to theories of democracy and of political participation. With this in mind, the author’s ambition is to address and to rework a specific type of public: an opinion-forming public within a framework of feminist political theory. The article is informed by the assumption that an opinion...

Nuclear energetics and public opinion after decade Chernobyl

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gagarinskij, A.Yu.; Gagarinskaya, I.V.

1996-01-01

Analysis of changes in public opinion during the period after the Chernobyl accident is given. It is noted that under the conditions of economical crisis the ecological problems were set aside to the periphery of the public attention in Russia. However in view of some specialists certain positive changes in nuclear power developments took place. Decisions on construction of new power units, completion of conserved NPPs, etc. started to be realized. It is noted that establishment of relations between nuclear specialists and journalists, parliament members and representatives of regional public organizations is most important at the current stage

Competing opinion diffusion on social networks.

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, Haibo

2017-11-01

Opinion competition is a common phenomenon in real life, such as with opinions on controversial issues or political candidates; however, modelling this competition remains largely unexplored. To bridge this gap, we propose a model of competing opinion diffusion on social networks taking into account degree-dependent fitness or persuasiveness. We study the combined influence of social networks, individual fitnesses and attributes, as well as mass media on people's opinions, and find that both social networks and mass media act as amplifiers in opinion diffusion, the amplifying effect of which can be quantitatively characterized. We analytically obtain the probability that each opinion will ultimately pervade the whole society when there are no committed people in networks, and the final proportion of each opinion at the steady state when there are committed people in networks. The results of numerical simulations show good agreement with those obtained through an analytical approach. This study provides insight into the collective influence of individual attributes, local social networks and global media on opinion diffusion, and contributes to a comprehensive understanding of competing diffusion behaviours in the real world.

Nuclear power: Public opinion in social crisis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gagarinski, A.

1995-01-01

Nuclear power in Russia found itself in new conditions, if compared with first five years after Chernobyl. It is coming out of the technology crisis from 1986 and the political crisis of 1991, going deeper and deeper in the hard economic crisis, when the nuclear power plants receive about 10 percent of payments for electricity, produced and supplied to the customers. Economic crisis forms the public attitude about nuclear power under conditions, different from opinion formed during the previous decades, when energy supply was considered practically free of charge. These realities have moved ecological problems to the periphery of public conscience. This was, in particular, shown with all evidence during the parliamentary elections in Russia in 1993, when the Russian 'Green Party' had not achieved any seats in the State Duma. This is also confirmed by sociological polls of Russians done in the last two years. It seems, however, that change of priorities in public opinion had increased attention to the problems of environment in the nearest future are as inevitable, as the forthcoming Russia's and Its nearest neighbours getting out of the state of economic fail down. In these conditions the possibility of nuclear power development will be determined not only by economic factors, but also by the factor of public confidence. The progress in the development of public information programme in the field of nuclear power, if compared with the first years after Chernobyl, is evident. Several governing and coordinating structures exist and work in Russia (Department of Minatom, Inter-departmental Council for information and public relations, similar Department in Rosenergoatom Concern), regional public information centres, special services at many nuclear science and industry enterprises. Similar system works in Ukraine and is being established in Kazakhstan. In antinuclear Belarus, where, nevertheless, the objective need of nuclear power is already reflected in the national

Nuclear power and public opinion

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1984-01-01

The diversity of factors involved in nuclear power development and the complexity of public attitudes towards this source of energy have raised the nuclear debate to a topic of national significance in all the OECD countries with nuclear programmes and even in some countries which have not embarked on the nuclear course. This study examines the different experiences of seventeen member countries and underlines basic approaches and practices aimed at winning greater public acceptance for nuclear power. The first part of the study is a country-by-country presentation of public acceptance activities and the role of the various public or private bodies involved. There is also a description of the background energy situation and the place of nuclear power, the evolution of the nuclear debate and a review of present public and political attitudes to nuclear energy. In the second part, some of the notable factors which determine public attitudes to, and perception of, nuclear energy have been assembled. The study points, in particular, to a number of general principles which require continuous implementation, not least because they contribute to placing nuclear energy in its proper context for the public. Vigorous government leadership in making energy choices, long term efforts in energy education, and open information policies can go a long way towards resolving many doubts about nuclear energy in the public mind. But, perhaps, above all, it is the continuing demonstration of the safe and efficient industrial operation of plants in the nuclear fuel cycle which will have the strongest influence on public opinion. In addition to these basic principles, the study calls attention to some of the most successful means of improving communication between the authorities and the public, notably at the local level. The contribution to the decision-making process of public participation is also evaluated in the light of recent national experiences.

Nuclear power and public opinion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1984-01-01

The diversity of factors involved in nuclear power development and the complexity of public attitudes towards this source of energy have raised the nuclear debate to a topic of national significance in all the OECD countries with nuclear programmes and even in some countries which have not embarked on the nuclear course. This study examines the different experiences of seventeen member countries and underlines basic approaches and practices aimed at winning greater public acceptance for nuclear power. The first part of the study is a country-by-country presentation of public acceptance activities and the role of the various public or private bodies involved. There is also a description of the background energy situation and the place of nuclear power, the evolution of the nuclear debate and a review of present public and political attitudes to nuclear energy. In the second part, some of the notable factors which determine public attitudes to, and perception of, nuclear energy have been assembled. The study points, in particular, to a number of general principles which require continuous implementation, not least because they contribute to placing nuclear energy in its proper context for the public. Vigorous government leadership in making energy choices, long term efforts in energy education, and open information policies can go a long way towards resolving many doubts about nuclear energy in the public mind. But, perhaps, above all, it is the continuing demonstration of the safe and efficient industrial operation of plants in the nuclear fuel cycle which will have the strongest influence on public opinion. In addition to these basic principles, the study calls attention to some of the most successful means of improving communication between the authorities and the public, notably at the local level. The contribution to the decision-making process of public participation is also evaluated in the light of recent national experiences

The effects of social media opinion leaders’ recommendations on followers’ intention to buy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Renata Huhn Nunes

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Purpose – The objective of this study is to investigate how consumers are influenced in their intention to buy after having access – within social media – to persuasive messages sent out by digital opinion leaders. Design/methodology/approach – Data collection carried out via survey and data analysis carried out with the use of structural equation modeling. Findings – Digital opinion leaders capable of generating persuasive messages can change the attitudes of followers and make them accept the information provided, influencing their intention to buy evaluated products. Originality/value – The results show that it was possible to verify the direct and positive relationship between the persuasiveness of a message and the acceptance of the information contained in this message, while also indicating a significant relationship between the persuasiveness of the message and attitude change in relation to the purchase of goods evaluated by it. This highlights the relevance of these digital opinion leaders to the definition of marketing strategies by companies.

Ethical Issues in Media Practice

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

马慧

2009-01-01

Journalists are always confronted by ethical definitions on the daily basis during their media practice.In this article,some ethical issues happened in media practice are analyzed,and aspects of both news reporters and public opinion are deeply studied,and the balance between both professional and ethics is probed seriously as well.

Public opinion about condoms for HIV and STD prevention: a Midwestern state telephone survey.

Science.gov (United States)

Yarber, William L; Milhausen, Robin R; Crosby, Richard A; Torabi, Mohammad R

2005-09-01

Public opinion is important in determining condom and condom education policies in public high schools. A random telephone survey of 517 Indiana residents was conducted from July through October 2003 to assess public opinion about education on correct condom use for HIV and STD prevention; condom availability in Indiana public high schools; and issues related to condom use, effectiveness and promotion. Data were analyzed using bivariate and linear regression techniques. A majority of respondents strongly or somewhat agreed that instruction on correct condom use for HIV and STD prevention should be provided in public high schools (77%), classroom instruction should include condoms (71%), only medically accurate information about condoms should being given (94%) and the federal government should promote condoms (70%). Fewer than half (48%) strongly or somewhat agreed that condoms should be made available to teenagers in public high schools without parental permission. Nearly all (92%) considered condoms at least somewhat effective in preventing HIV and other STDs. Non-Republican party affiliation, younger age and condom use within the previous five years were each significantly associated with having positive opinions on many of the condom-related statements. Public opinion appears to support the provision of correct condom use information in Indiana public schools. Schools should consider providing only medically accurate information about condoms and including condoms in instruction so students can see and touch them.

Gas/electricity convergence : where is public opinion

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Edwards, R.G. [Gallup Canada Inc., Toronto, ON (Canada)

1998-09-01

The current status of public opinion regarding gas and electricity convergence was discussed. Gallup Canada Inc. has been in the business of conducting public opinion polls on important issues facing society for over 50 years. Citizens from coast to coast responded with a great deal of confusion, uncertainty and wariness when asked a question on the convergence and privatization of gas and electric utilities. Many expressed the hope that convergence and privatization of the energy industry will have the same effect as deregulation of long distance telephone services has had on choices and costs. For some, the answer meant satisfaction with the notion of competition. Others wanted to know what constituted the local `frozen` rate portion of the delivery. Still others expressed the view that they ought to be rewarded for using less energy and thus help in meeting conservation goals. At the same time, a not insignificant minority thought that they should be rewarded with better prices for consuming more. Improvement in the quality of service was another change that Canadian consumers expect to result from convergence and privatization. In the utility industry `branding` and `value added` to the product, i.e. moving beyond the basic and expected quality, might well be the key to success in developing customer loyalty.

Public opinion and environmental policy output: a cross-national analysis of energy policies in Europe

Science.gov (United States)

Anderson, Brilé; Böhmelt, Tobias; Ward, Hugh

2017-11-01

This article studies how public opinion is associated with the introduction of renewable energy policies in Europe. While research increasingly seeks to model the link between public opinion and environmental policies, the empirical evidence is largely based on a single case: the US. This limits the generalizability of findings and we argue accordingly for a systematic, quantitative study of how public opinion drives environmental policies in another context. Theoretically, we combine arguments behind the political survival of democratic leaders with electoral success and environmental politics. Ultimately, we suggest that office-seeking leaders introduce policies that seem favorable to the domestic audience; if the public prefers environmental protection, the government introduces such policies in turn. The main contribution of this research is the cross-country empirical analysis, where we combine data on the public’s environmental attitudes and renewable energy policy outputs in a European context between 1974 and 2015. We show that as public opinion shifts towards prioritizing the environment, there is a significant and positive effect on the rate of renewable energy policy outputs by governments in Europe. To our knowledge, this is the first systematic, quantitative study of public opinion and environmental policies across a large set of countries, and we demonstrate that the mechanisms behind the introduction of renewable energy policies follow major trends across European states.

June 22, 1941: Evaluation of Public Opinion US and UK

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sergey O. Buranok

2015-06-01

Full Text Available This article analyzes the U.S. and U.K public opinion about German attack on the USSR 22 June 1941. Considered the views of the American and British statesmen and politicians, the public mood, reflected in the press. Identify the main points of view on the outbreak of war with Germany against the Soviet Union. It is shown that in the presence of a variety of assessments prevailed ideas of solidarity with the Soviet Union and the need to support it. This work will allow for a " reflection" of the image of a belligerent Soviet Union, and to find the key moments falsifying the history of World War II in the U.S. and the UK. The events of the Great Patriotic War , which will be set out on the basis of US and UK archives, and t hen will be presented t o look at fighting in the USSR in the memoranda of public institutions of Great Britain and the United States, as well as their coverage in the Anglo-American media. In this case, due consideration will be given to the mechanisms of information influence that have been implemented in the U.S. Office of War Information and the British Ministry of Information. Selected key battles 1941 year in the USSR: a description of the fighting, then their score by British and U.S. military and political leadership, guidelines an d promotional materials departments of the UK and the U.S., the UK and the U.S. press.

Public framing organizational crisis situations: social media versus news media

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van der Meer, T.G.L.A.; Verhoeven, P.

2013-01-01

This study examines framing of organizational crises by news media and the public. Due to the rapidly evolving and escalating character of crises, this study emphasizes the initial phase of a crisis, in which public social media manifestations (tweets) play a crucial role. Moreover, this study uses

Public opinion, public information and public implication in radioactive waste management in the European Union

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Taylor, D.; Webster, S.

2004-01-01

The nuclear industry in European must address the issue of the lack of Public acceptance. In particular, the public are very concerned about radioactive waste. It is clear that there is a need to better inform the public about radioactive waste and to consult them as part of the decision-making process concerning the management of these wastes. Existing and proposed new European legislation not only encourage this provision of information and involvement in the decision-making process, but actually require it. The paper examines Public opinion and European legislation in this area and reports on the latest research on societal issues in radioactive waste management carried out under the Community's Euratom Framework Programme. (Author)

Media System, Public Knowledge and Democracy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Salovaara-Moring, Inka; Curran, James; Iyengar, Shanto

2009-01-01

This article addresses the implications of the movement towards entertainment-centred, market-driven media by comparing what is reported and what the public knows in four countries with different media systems. The different systems are public service (Denmark and Finland), a `dual' model (UK) an...... consumption and contributes to a smaller within-nation knowledge gap between the advantaged and disadvantaged. But wider processes in society take precedence over the organization of the media in determining how much people know about public life......) and the market model (US). The comparison shows that public service television devotes more attention to public affairs and international news, and fosters greater knowledge in these areas, than the market model. Public service television also gives greater prominence to news, encourages higher levels of news...

The public of media events

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christian Morgner

2010-12-01

Full Text Available This article focuses on the growing importance of large-scale events and their central role in a globalised media world in relation to public reactions and public involvement. The peculiar structure of such events requires a different understanding of mass communication and its audience. Therefore, the audience is further examined with regard to its impact on and inclusion in the media itself. Consequently, questions are raised as to how the public is incorporated, the form this inclusion takes and the effect that this has on the audience’s participation.The article examines different types of semantic inclusion, with a focus on emotional reactions towards three different media events: the Titanic disaster, the assassination of John F. Kennedy, and the death of Princess Diana.

Political Public Relations − Media and Information Management

OpenAIRE

Tomić, Zoran; Grbavac, Ivana

2016-01-01

Political public relations, as one of the PR programmes, has slowly created strategies and tactics for communication with the public and the media. Media management and information management are the most important activities of the political public relations. These activities are frequently connected with non-ethical communication, whose aim is media manipulation and manipulation of the public. Media manipulation is well known as communication spin. These activities are created by governm...

PERSPEKTIF HAK ASASI MANUSIA PADA SURAT EDARAN KAPOLRI NOMOR SE/06/X/2015 DALAM PENANGANAN PENYEBARAN UJARAN KEBENCIAN MELALUI MEDIA SOSIAL

OpenAIRE

Pamungkas, Adreanus Sapta Anggara

2016-01-01

In this modern era, most people use social media for communicating. Basically, the advantages of using social media is for getting information and spreading information, especially in giving opinion to public. Human rights are closely related with obligation. People who accept their rights also have to do some obligations, for example taking care of public tranquility and orderliness. Thus, people have to appreciate other’s rights. Delivering an opinion to public through social media is a ...

Learning in Public: Faculty and Student Opinions about Social Media in the Classroom

Science.gov (United States)

Hickerson, Andrea; Kothari, Ammina

2017-01-01

For communication instructors charged with safely and constructively educating students, incorporating social media in communication coursework presents a variety of problems. Among them are how to grade social media and how to respond to students' social media mistakes, knowing these mistakes and corrections could follow students into their…

Net Neutrality: Media Discourses and Public Perception

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christine Quail

2010-01-01

Full Text Available This paper analyzes media and public discourses surrounding net neutrality, with particular attention to public utility philosophy, from a critical perspective. The article suggests that further public education about net neutrality would be beneficial. The first portion of this paper provides a survey of the existing literature surrounding net neutrality, highlighting the contentious debate between market-based and public interest perspectives. In order to contextualize the debate, an overview of public utility philosophy is provided, shedding light on how the Internet can be conceptualized as a public good. Following this discussion, an analysis of mainstream media is presented, exploring how the media represents the issue of net neutrality and whether or not the Internet is discussed through the lens of public utility. To further examine how the net neutrality debate is being addressed, and to see the potential impacts of media discourses on the general public, the results of a focus group are reported and analyzed. Finally, a discussion assesses the implications of the net neutrality debate as presented through media discourses, highlighting the future of net neutrality as an important policy issue.

Research on hotspot discovery in internet public opinions based on improved K-means.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Gensheng

2013-01-01

How to discover hotspot in the Internet public opinions effectively is a hot research field for the researchers related which plays a key role for governments and corporations to find useful information from mass data in the Internet. An improved K-means algorithm for hotspot discovery in internet public opinions is presented based on the analysis of existing defects and calculation principle of original K-means algorithm. First, some new methods are designed to preprocess website texts, select and express the characteristics of website texts, and define the similarity between two website texts, respectively. Second, clustering principle and the method of initial classification centers selection are analyzed and improved in order to overcome the limitations of original K-means algorithm. Finally, the experimental results verify that the improved algorithm can improve the clustering stability and classification accuracy of hotspot discovery in internet public opinions when used in practice.

Research on Hotspot Discovery in Internet Public Opinions Based on Improved K-Means

Science.gov (United States)

2013-01-01

How to discover hotspot in the Internet public opinions effectively is a hot research field for the researchers related which plays a key role for governments and corporations to find useful information from mass data in the Internet. An improved K-means algorithm for hotspot discovery in internet public opinions is presented based on the analysis of existing defects and calculation principle of original K-means algorithm. First, some new methods are designed to preprocess website texts, select and express the characteristics of website texts, and define the similarity between two website texts, respectively. Second, clustering principle and the method of initial classification centers selection are analyzed and improved in order to overcome the limitations of original K-means algorithm. Finally, the experimental results verify that the improved algorithm can improve the clustering stability and classification accuracy of hotspot discovery in internet public opinions when used in practice. PMID:24106496

Going Public on Social Media

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Greg Elmer

2015-04-01

Full Text Available This brief essay questions the disconnect between the financial goals of social media properties and the concerns of privacy advocates and other new media critics. It is argued that critics of social media often fail to recognize the financial imperative of social media companies, one that requires users to divulge and publicize ever more granular aspects of their daily lives, thoughts, and feelings.

An overview of structurally complex network-based modeling of public opinion in the “We the Media” era

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Guanghui; Wang, Yufei; Liu, Yijun; Chi, Yuxue

2018-05-01

As the transmission of public opinion on the Internet in the “We the Media” era tends to be supraterritorial, concealed and complex, the traditional “point-to-surface” transmission of information has been transformed into “point-to-point” reciprocal transmission. A foundation for studies of the evolution of public opinion and its transmission on the Internet in the “We the Media” era can be laid by converting the massive amounts of fragmented information on public opinion that exists on “We the Media” platforms into structurally complex networks of information. This paper describes studies of structurally complex network-based modeling of public opinion on the Internet in the “We the Media” era from the perspective of the development and evolution of complex networks. The progress that has been made in research projects relevant to the structural modeling of public opinion on the Internet is comprehensively summarized. The review considers aspects such as regular grid-based modeling of the rules that describe the propagation of public opinion on the Internet in the “We the Media” era, social network modeling, dynamic network modeling, and supernetwork modeling. Moreover, an outlook for future studies that address complex network-based modeling of public opinion on the Internet is put forward as a summary from the perspective of modeling conducted using the techniques mentioned above.

Turning the tide of public opinion on nuclear power

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cohen, B.L.

1997-01-01

Until the early 1970s, the tide of public opinion in the United States was strongly in favor of nuclear power. New power plants were coming on line frequently, and in 1973-74, there were close to 40 new orders per year for new reactors in the United States. Official government projections estimated 1000 operating reactors by the year 2000. Fuel reprocessing, plutonium recycle, and breeder reactor development were also proceeding smoothly and rapidly. But, in the mid-1970s, the tide suddenly turned against the nuclear industry. How did this come about? In the late 1960s, energetic and idealistic young people who had never experienced economic insecurity or World Wars came of age. Environmentalism was an attractive outlet for their activity in most of the Western world. In the United States, opposition to the Vietnam War, in which these young people had a personal stake, was even more popular at first, but by the early 1970s, Vietnam was winding down, and they turned also to Environmentalism. Numerous environmental groups started up, aided heavily by the favorable connotation of the very word open-quotes environmentalistclose quotes in the public mind. Their organizational experience, political savvy, and media connections gained from their antiwar protests were powerful assets. But the groups needed specific targets to attack, and they soon found that nuclear power was well-suited for that purpose. Here was a new technology, coming on at a very rapid pace. To the public, radiation was highly mysterious, and people were well aware that it could be dangerous. And, the word danger had taken on a new meaning. Previous generations were well acquainted with death and were much less averse to risk-taking than the generation of the 1970s

The Media Creates Us in Its Image

Science.gov (United States)

Stivers, Richard

2012-01-01

Propaganda in all its forms is the culture of a mass society. The media transmits propaganda to form public opinion and recreate the human being. Reversing the Western ideal of a rational and free individual, the media creates a childish conformist ensconced in the peer group, who acts unconsciously.

Media Literacy for the 21st Century. A Response to "The Need for Media Education in Democratic Education"

Science.gov (United States)

Levine, Peter

2015-01-01

We cannot pretend to educate young people for citizenship and political participation without teaching them to understand and use the new media, which are essential means of expressing ideas, forming public opinions, and building institutions and movements. But the challenge of media literacy education is serious. Students need advanced and…

LABOUR MIGRATION IN THE CONTEXT OF THE ECONOMIC CRISIS. MEDIA REFRAMING A PUBLIC ISSUE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

CAMELIA BECIU

2014-09-01

Full Text Available This study examines how Romanian media (through opinion articles in mainstream newspapers, political talk-shows and news broadcasts, sampled between 2011 and 2014 addressed the issue of the labour migration within two European contexts: the economic crisis that began in 2008, having multiple implications for the emigration policies in the EU states, and the opening of the full labour market access to Romanians and Bulgarians starting January 1, 2014. We tested the hypothesis that media discourse instrumentalizes migration in order to legitimize collective identities and public issues, especially those related to identity. Drawing upon the critical discourse analysis and the sociology of public issues, this research argues that the identity categorization practices are based on the dynamics of the migration flows and the economic developments in Europe. Media reframe identity by shifting the angle of approach from the access to the labour market, in terms of liberalization, to the way in which Romanians are perceived in the destination countries, and its extension to Romania’s status within the EU. This redefinition of the public issue occurs through particular types of identity counter-discourses used to deconstruct stereotypical dominant discourses against migrants and Romanians and to revalorize the Romanians working in the EU, as an extension of the (national collective identity. Labour migration becomes a symbolic resource in negotiating the nation image and a political status

The Role of the Mass Media in Shaping Public Opinion.

Science.gov (United States)

Porter, Michael J.

This discussion of agenda setting reviews early theories of mass communication and traces the beginnings of agenda setting theory to the 1968 United States presidential campaign, during which researchers found a high correlation between what the media were saying about issues and what the people thought were important issues. The results of more…

Elite Polarization and Public Opinion

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Robison, Joshua; Mullinix, Kevin

2016-01-01

Elite polarization has reshaped American politics and is an increasingly salient aspect of news coverage within the United States. As a consequence, a burgeoning body of research attempts to unravel the effects of elite polarization on the mass public. However, we know very little about how...... polarization is communicated to the public by news media. We report the results of one of the first content analyses to delve into the nature of news coverage of elite polarization. We show that such coverage is predominantly critical of polarization. Moreover, we show that unlike coverage of politics focused...... on individual politicians, coverage of elite polarization principally frames partisan divisions as rooted in the values of the parties rather than strategic concerns. We build on these novel findings with two survey experiments exploring the influence of these features of polarization news coverage on public...

Governance of Public Service Media in Poland: The Role of the Public

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michal Glowacki

2015-12-01

Full Text Available This paper analyzes the role of the public in governance processes in public service media (PSM in Poland in the post mass-media era, characterized by participatory culture and network practices. Referencing the findings of the “Democratization of media policy in the digital ecosystems” (2014–2015 research project, the study aims to map the effectiveness of existing tools, practices and attitudes toward opening-up Polish public media enterprises to the public. Examination of media regulation, grey literature (corporate documentation, strategies, reports and civil society initiatives are likely to indicate the ways and extent to which members of the public might currently participate in the decision-making and control. On the basis of hypotheses that public media enterprises in Poland are not fully prepared for the multi-stakeholder and advanced model of PSM, the study takes into account potential systemic/regulatory, organizational and social barriers for change. The salient questions to be addressed are: What are the strategies and practices through which members of civil society might get involved? At what stages are the publics able to engage? How can PSM take advantage of the development of online tools offering space for interaction and collaboration? How is it possible to make the public more active and interested in governance and participation?

Public perception on nuclear energy and radioactive waste - The second opinion poll

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Diaconu, Stela; Covreag Ilinca

2009-01-01

In 2008 ANDRAD started the second national opinion poll which had the purpose to identify the support of Romanian citizen for energy production by nuclear power stations, which is perceived as a less expensive energy, that could reduces the oil dependence of our country. The questionnaire consisted in 22 questions aiming to assess: the level of information about radioactive waste, the actual knowledge about radioactive waste management, the support and the opinion on nuclear energy, the public attitude regarding radioactive waste disposal, the trust in information sources and the public involvement in the decision-making process. (authors)

THE INFLUENCE OF MARKETING PUBLIC RELATION AND SERVICE QUALITY ON CORPORATE IMAGE THROUGH PUBLIC OPINION: STUDIES AT MANDIRI BANK

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vera Suciyati

2015-09-01

Full Text Available This research aims to analyze the influence of marketing public relation and service quality at Bank Mandiri on corporate image through public. Convenience sampling method has been selected in order to obtain the data in this study. The analysis method that used was the path analysis. The research result had shown that: marketing public relation and service quality have significant influence simultaneously and partially on public opinion on the first structure equation. The second structure equation shows that: marketing public relation, service quality had significant influence simultaneously on corporate image. The service quality have not partially the quality of service have not influence significant partially on corporate, but variable marketing and public relation have  partially influential public opinion influence significant partially on corporate image.DOI: 10.15408/etk.v12i2.1916

Public opinion about nuclear energy. Year 2007 poll

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Istenic, R.; Jencic, I.

2007-01-01

Nuclear Training Centre Milan Copic (Izobrazevalni center za jedrsko tehnologijo - ICJT) at Jozef Stefan Institute in Ljubljana incorporates the Information Centre for general public. Most of the visitors are youngsters and almost one half of every generation of schoolchildren in Slovenia is informed on nuclear energy by live lectures, exhibition, publications and laboratory demonstrations. About 1000 visitors are polled every year since 1993 to measure the opinion about nuclear power and get a feed-back for our activities. Continued operation of NPP Krsko is supported by 69% of youngsters (negative trend from the last year's 76%), while opposition remains low. (author)

Energy policy decision making and public opinion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gerstein, L.

1989-09-01

By the example of nuclear the author demonstrates the interactions of short-term fluctuations on the world energy market, energy forecasts, specific events and discussions on energy policy both within political parties and in the general public, and draws conclusions which are valid beyond the Federal Republic of Germany: An analysis of the general public's attitude towards nuclear energy shows two initial phases, i.e. euphoria and scepticism/ideology/agitation. The early eighties, then, led to a third phase - realism. Up to 1983 a consensus prevailed between the leading political parties in Germany regarding the basic energy-policy objective of minimizing the supply risk by providing for a well-balanced use of all available energy sources. The resulting attitude had a positive bearing on the public opinion: more than two thirds of the population were in favour of nuclear. In the mid-eighties, the development of nuclear was by and large completed in the Federal Republic of Germany as well as in the United States and other western industrialized countries and the capacity of nuclear power plants is considered sufficient for the years to come. In addition, abundant long-term reserves of domestic lignite and hardcoal are available: this also should have furnished a good reason to envisage calmly the issues of power supply. Instead, we are again facing emotional discussions on the acceptance of nuclear. Public opinion in the Federal Republic of Germany has changed since the Social Democrats followed the example of the Ecologists and advocated a rapid withdrawal from nuclear. In a recent poll four-fifths of the persons asked did not rule out the possibility of a major accident in a German power station. The wish to ignore today's energy supply problems by escaping into a supposedly safe but yet distant and vague future is part of every public debate. Technical and scientific issues are examined no longer in this global context. Predictions of experts and counter

Perceptions on nuclear energy: scientists, media and the public

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Parthasarathy, K.S.

2009-01-01

Full text: In 1990, when the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) held its first Public Information Forum 'Nuclear Power: Communicating for Confidence', in Vienna, it reflected the international recognition that public opinion is one of the factors that influence acceptance of nuclear power in the energy mix of a country. Atomic bomb, nuclear proliferation, nuclear waste, exploding reactor (Chernobyl) and now nuclear terrorism stigmatized nuclear industry. In spite of the notable records, large segments of society are still concerned about this form of energy. 'Lack of understanding and misconceptions contribute to this', the first IAEA Forum conceded. Many felt that nuclear community supported this mystique 'by shrouding its operations in a secrecy that could not be penetrated'. Is DAE secretive in publicizing safety-related information? Right from 1947, Nehru's vision an Bhabha's mission on atomic energy coincided. They set up a sound administrative mechanism to respond swiftly, effectively and decisively to the demands from this nascent field. Scientists could not have asked for more. My generation participated in or was witness to the momentous developments in the field. We had a unique opportunity to examine how various sections of the population perceived nuclear technology. How did scientists take up the challenge? The National Symposium of Atomic Energy (November 26-27, 1954) was the first effort to dispel the mood of discontent. Nuclear scientists in India largely remained out of public gaze for long. They were at a disadvantage. They were not used to disorderly democratic debate, other than attending a few press conferences; media paid no attention to atomic energy. Even mild criticism could upset scientists; they were not used to it. Some scientists portrayed journalists who challenged official views as trouble makers. Mixing with the media was considered a risky occupation. During the first half of the fifty years of atomic energy, the public

A roughly mapped terra incognita: Image of the child in adult-oriented media contents

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Korać Nada M.

2003-01-01

Full Text Available The study analyzes the image of the child in the media contents intended for adult audiences in Serbia, considering the importance of the role media play in shaping public opinion on children, as well as the influence of such public opinion on adults' attitudes, decisions and actions concerning children. The study focuses on visibility and portrayal of children in the media, in order to determine to what extent children are present in them, and in what way. Relevant data were collected for three media - press, radio and television - mostly covering the entire territory of Serbia, over two consecutive months (April - May 2001. Content analysis revealed that children are not only underrepresented, but also misrepresented, in Serbian media.

Changes in public opinion and the occurrence of international terrorism

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Malečková, Jitka; Stanišić, Dragana

2014-01-01

Roč. 20, č. 4 (2014), s. 631-653 ISSN 1079-2457 R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GAP402/12/0510 Institutional support: RVO:67985998 Keywords : public opinion * international terrorism * Middle East and North Africa Subject RIV: AH - Economics

Tweeting nano: how public discourses about nanotechnology develop in social media environments

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Runge, Kristin K., E-mail: kkrunge@wisc.edu; Yeo, Sara K.; Cacciatore, Michael; Scheufele, Dietram A.; Brossard, Dominique [University of Wisconsin, Department of Life Sciences Communication (United States); Xenos, Michael [University of Wisconsin, Department of Communication Arts (United States); Anderson, Ashley; Choi, Doo-hun; Kim, Jiyoun; Nan, Li; Xuan, Liang; Stubbings, Maria; Su, Leona Yi-Fan [University of Wisconsin, Department of Life Sciences Communication (United States)

2013-01-15

The growing popularity of social media as a channel for distributing and debating scientific information raises questions about the types of discourse that surround emerging technologies, such as nanotechnology, in online environments, as well as the different forms of information that audiences encounter when they use these online tools of information sharing. This study maps the landscape surrounding social media traffic about nanotechnology. Specifically, we use computational linguistic software to analyze a census of all English-language nanotechnology-related tweets expressing opinions posted on Twitter between September 1, 2010 and August 31, 2011. Results show that 55 % of tweets expressed certainty and 45 % expressed uncertainty. Twenty-seven percent of tweets expressed optimistic outlooks, 32 % expressed neutral outlooks and 41 % expressed pessimistic outlooks. Tweets were mapped by U.S. state, and our data show that tweets are more likely to originate from states with a federally funded National Nanotechnology Initiative center or network. The trend toward certainty in opinion coupled with the distinct geographic origins of much of the social media traffic on Twitter for nanotechnology-related opinion has significant implications for understanding how key online influencers are debating and positioning the issue of nanotechnology for lay and policy audiences.

Tweeting nano: how public discourses about nanotechnology develop in social media environments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Runge, Kristin K.; Yeo, Sara K.; Cacciatore, Michael; Scheufele, Dietram A.; Brossard, Dominique; Xenos, Michael; Anderson, Ashley; Choi, Doo-hun; Kim, Jiyoun; Li Nan; Liang Xuan; Stubbings, Maria; Su, Leona Yi-Fan

2013-01-01

The growing popularity of social media as a channel for distributing and debating scientific information raises questions about the types of discourse that surround emerging technologies, such as nanotechnology, in online environments, as well as the different forms of information that audiences encounter when they use these online tools of information sharing. This study maps the landscape surrounding social media traffic about nanotechnology. Specifically, we use computational linguistic software to analyze a census of all English-language nanotechnology-related tweets expressing opinions posted on Twitter between September 1, 2010 and August 31, 2011. Results show that 55 % of tweets expressed certainty and 45 % expressed uncertainty. Twenty-seven percent of tweets expressed optimistic outlooks, 32 % expressed neutral outlooks and 41 % expressed pessimistic outlooks. Tweets were mapped by U.S. state, and our data show that tweets are more likely to originate from states with a federally funded National Nanotechnology Initiative center or network. The trend toward certainty in opinion coupled with the distinct geographic origins of much of the social media traffic on Twitter for nanotechnology-related opinion has significant implications for understanding how key online influencers are debating and positioning the issue of nanotechnology for lay and policy audiences.

Evaluating a Passive Social Media Citizensourcing Innovation

OpenAIRE

Loukis , Euripidis; Charalabidis , Yannis; Androutsopoulou , Aggeliki

2015-01-01

Part 4: Application Areas and Evaluation; International audience; Governments initially used social media mainly in order to disseminate information to the public about their activities, services, policies and plans. Then they started using social media also in order to collect from citizens useful information, knowledge, opinions and ideas concerning the problems and needs of modern societies and more recently in order to apply crowdsourcing ideas in the public sector context and promote ‘ci...

Public and Opinion Leader Willingness to Fund Obesity-Focused Policies in Kansas.

Science.gov (United States)

Schmitt, Carol L; Curry, Laurel E; Homsi, Ghada; Williams, Pamela A; Glasgow, LaShawn M; Van Hersh, Deanna; Willett, Jeffrey; Rogers, Todd

2017-08-01

Obesity increases the risk for leading causes of death, including cardiovascular disease and some cancers. Midwestern and southern states have the highest obesity rates-in Kansas, one in every three adults is obese. We compared the willingness of Kansas adults and opinion leaders to pay more in taxes to fund obesity prevention policies. In 2014, we asked a representative sample of 2,203 Kansas adults (response rate 15.7%) and 912 opinion leaders (response rate 55%) drawn from elected office and other sectors, including business and health, whether they would pay an additional $50 in annual taxes to support five policies that improve access to healthy foods and opportunities for physical activity. We used adjusted Wald tests to compare public and opinion leaders' responses, and regression analysis to assess whether differences in respondents' gender, age, location (urban/rural), race/ethnicity, and political stance affected results. Adjusting for demographic differences, Kansas adults were more willing than opinion leaders to pay $50 in taxes for each of the five policy interventions. This study demonstrates a willingness among residents of a fiscally conservative state to pay increased taxes for policies that could reduce population obesity rates. Health professionals, including nurses, can use these findings to educate policy makers in Kansas and geopolitically similar states about widespread public support for obesity prevention policies. Public health and other nurses could also apply our methods to assess support for obesity prevention policies in their jurisdictions.

Public opinion survey on energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1981-01-01

The results of a public opinion survey on energy, conducted by Prime Minister's Office from November 26 to December 2, 1980, are described. Of the sampling of 5,000 adults throughout the nation, 4,113 replied the questions. The contents are as follows: awaraness of energy conservation, projection of the future of nuclear power, uneasiness about nuclear power, and energy policies. Concerning the major power generation system of the future, 47% of the people mentioned nuclear energy, followed by 18% mentioned solar energy. As to the future share of nuclear power, 38% favored its increase, 28% its maintaining at the current level, and only 5% wanted its decrease. About the feeling of uneasiness, 56% felt uneasiness and 44% were secure, making it clear that the uneasiness has not yet been eliminated. (J.P.N.)

Nuclear energy and european public opinions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Libourne, J.

2008-01-01

This document presents four texts related to the crucial question of the attitude towards nuclear energy in the countries of the European Union: the first text comments the results of a European Commission inquiry (2006), and is more especially concerned with a comparison between Germany and France where rather similar public opinions lead to very different political approaches; the second text presents a synthesis of inquiries concerning Germany; the third is a review of the main national studies realized in various european countries; the last text is drawn from a study realized by the Cnrs on the position of the French towards nuclear wastes

Public, private and personal: qualitative research on policymakers' opinions on smokefree interventions to protect children in 'private' spaces.

Science.gov (United States)

Rouch, Gareth; Thomson, George; Wilson, Nick; Hudson, Sheena; Edwards, Richard; Gifford, Heather; Lanumata, Tolotea

2010-12-31

Governments use law to constrain aspects of private activities for purposes of protecting health and social wellbeing. Policymakers have a range of perceptions and beliefs about what is public or private. An understanding of the possible drivers of policymaker decisions about where government can or should intervene for health is important, as one way to better guide appropriate policy formation. Our aim was to identify obstacles to, and opportunities for, government smokefree regulation of private and public spaces to protect children. In particular, to seek policymaker opinions on the regulation of smoking in homes, cars and public parks and playgrounds in a country with incomplete smokefree laws (New Zealand). Case study, using structured interviews to ask policymakers (62 politicians and senior officials) about their opinions on new smokefree legislation for public and private places. Supplementary data was obtained from the Factiva media database, on the views of New Zealand local authority councillors about policies for smokefree outdoor public places. Overall, interviewees thought that government regulation of smoking in private places was impractical and unwise. However, there were some differences on what was defined as 'private', particularly for cars. Even in public parks, smoking was seen by some as a 'personal' decision, and unlikely to be amenable to regulation. Most participants believed that educative, supportive and community-based measures were better and more practical means of reducing smoking in private places, compared to regulation. The constrained view of the role of regulation of smoking in public and private domains may be in keeping with current political discourse in New Zealand and similar Anglo-American countries. Policy and advocacy options to promote additional smokefree measures include providing a better voice for childrens' views, increasing information to policymakers about the harms to children from secondhand smoke and the

Public Opinion and the Death Penalty: A Qualitative Approach

Science.gov (United States)

Falco, Diana L.; Freiburger, Tina L.

2011-01-01

Strong public support for capital punishment is arguably the number one reason why the death penalty continues to be used as a form of correctional policy in the U.S. criminal justice system. Therefore, it is fundamental that the measure of death penalty opinion be heavily scrutinized. Utilizing a methodological approach not typically employed in…

Algorithms and Public Service Media

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sørensen, Jannick Kirk; Hutchinson, Jonathon

2018-01-01

When Public Service Media (PSM) organisations introduce algorithmic recommender systems to suggest media content to users, fundamental values of PSM are challenged. Beyond being confronted with ubiquitous computer ethics problems of causality and transparency, also the identity of PSM as curator...

2002/03 public opinion survey 'Nuclear Energy - the Present and the Future'

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Trontl, K.; Gergeta, K.

2003-01-01

During the years 2000 and 2002 the Croatian Nuclear Society Young Generation Network carried out public opinion surveys among student population of around 650 individuals age 18-20. The results of the surveys suggested the necessity of a more active involvement of nuclear experts in high school education. Croatian Young Generation Network decided to prepare brochures on different subjects concerning nuclear energy and distribute them to high school students, primarily third and fourth graders. To be able to evaluate the influence of distributed materials, fresh reference data are needed. Therefore, a traditional public opinion survey 'Nuclear Energy - the Present and the Future' has been carried out among faculty student population. (author)

To drill or not to drill? An econometric analysis of US public opinion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mukherjee, Deep; Rahman, Mohammad Arshad

2016-01-01

Offshore drilling in the United States (US) has been the subject of public and political discourse due to multiple reasons which include economic impact, energy security, and environmental hazard. Consequently, several polls have been conducted over time to gauge public attitude towards offshore drilling. Nevertheless, the economic literature on this issue is sparse. This paper contributes to the literature and analyzes support for offshore drilling based on demographic, economic, social, belief, and shock (e.g. spill) factors. The data is taken from ten nationwide surveys conducted before, during and after the British Petroleum (BP) oil spill and analyzed within the framework of discrete choice model. The results from an ordinal probit model demonstrate that age, annual household income, affiliation to Republican Party, and residence in oil-rich states positively affect the probability of strong support and reduce the probability of strong opposition for offshore drilling. In contrast, the female gender, higher education, association to Democratic Party, and environmental concern affect opinion in opposite direction. Marginal effects show that belief about environmental consequences of drilling has the highest impact on opinion. Binary probit model also yields a similar result and suggests that BP oil disaster resulted in a transient decrease in support for offshore drilling. - Highlights: •US public opinion on offshore drilling is analyzed based on ten national polls. •Ordinal and binary probit models are utilized to identify the underlying factors that shape public opinion. •Belief about environmental cost of drilling and educational attainment have the highest negative impact on opinion. •Age, income, affiliation to Republican party and oil-rich states positively affect support for drilling. •BP oil spill resulted in a transient decrease in support for offshore drilling.

Understanding Violence Through Social Media

Science.gov (United States)

2017-12-01

ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/5616710/; Brendan O’Connor et al., “From Tweets to Polls: Linking Text Sentiment to Public Opinion Time Series,” in...13 Ibid. 14 Ibid. 15 Erik Cambria et al., “New Avenues in Opinion Mining and Sentiment Analysis,” IEEE Intelligent Systems 28, no. 2 (March/April...of Violence”; Meena Nagarajan, Amit Sheth, and Selvam Velmurugan, “Citizen Sensor Data Mining , Social Media Analytics and Development Centric Web

Personal Perceptions and Perceived Public Opinion About Stuttering in the United States: Implications for Anti-Stigma Campaigns.

Science.gov (United States)

Boyle, Michael P

2017-08-15

This exploratory study was the first to obtain quantitative and qualitative data on both personal perceptions and perceived public opinion about stuttering in order to identify topics to include in anti-stigma programs for stuttering. Three-hundred ten adults in the United States completed a web survey that assessed knowledge about stuttering and attitudes toward people who stutter (PWS) with questions addressing personal perceptions (direct questions) and perceived public opinion (indirect questions). Many participants reported favorable personal perceptions of PWS regarding their intelligence, competence, and potential for success. However, most participants did not personally believe PWS were confident, and most believed they were shy. Perceived public opinion was more unfavorable as a majority agreed that the public is uncomfortable talking with PWS and that the public would recommend PWS avoid jobs requiring high speech demands and avoid talking to large audiences. A minority of participants agreed PWS are perceived publicly as capable or mentally healthy. The survey demonstrated misunderstandings and negative perceptions of PWS, especially when measured with perceived public opinion. Results can increase our understanding of content areas that should be included in anti-stigma programs for stuttering and highlight different methods for analyzing public perceptions of stuttering.

Creating informed public opinion: citizen deliberation about nanotechnologies for human enhancements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cobb, Michael D.

2011-01-01

Many people believe that ordinary citizens should influence scientific and technological developments, but the American public is routinely uninformed about these issues. As a solution, some scholars advocate creating informed public opinions by encouraging citizens to deliberate about the issues. Although this idea is currently widely applauded in the science and technology literature, deliberative outcomes are infrequently measured and the practice of deliberation is routinely criticized in other disciplines. This research contributes to our understanding of the effectiveness of citizen deliberation as a method for increasing public engagement with science. I report data measuring results of deliberation in a national citizens’ technology forum (NCTF) about nanotechnologies for human enhancement. The NCTF was a month-long process involving six groups of 9–15 ordinary citizens who deliberated in different locations across the United States with the goal of reaching consensus about policy recommendations within their groups. I find that structured deliberation generated informed opinions, sometimes meaningful shifts in preferences, and increased trust and internal efficacy among the participants. Nevertheless, the NCTF has important shortcomings, and it is not obvious that consensus conferences should be preferred over other mechanisms for creating informed opinions. Future research is needed to corroborate the findings of this study and to systematically compare outcomes of structured citizen deliberation to other less resource intensive forms of engagement.

Public opinion about nuclear energy. Year 2006 poll

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Istenic, R.; Jencic, I.; Tkavc, M.

2006-01-01

Public information, one of the important activities of the Nuclear Training Centre Milan Copic at the Jozef Stefan Institute in Ljubljana, is focused on youngsters. Almost one half of every generation of schoolchildren in Slovenia is informed on nuclear energy by live lectures, exhibition, publications and laboratory demonstrations. To measure the opinion of youngsters about nuclear power and get a feed-back for our activities about 1000 youngsters are polled every year since 1993 using the same basic set of questions. Continued operation of the NPP Krsko is supported by 76% of youngsters in Slovenia (slightly positive trend from the last year's 71%). Opposition to NPP Krsko operation remains low. (author)

45 CFR 73.735-806 - Documentation and publication of opinions.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

...-806 Section 73.735-806 Public Welfare DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES GENERAL ADMINISTRATION... Department Ethics Counselor, deputy ethics counselors, and any other individuals required to be involved in... Department Ethics Counselor shall publish summaries of advisory opinions issued by his or her office...

New energy opinion leaders' lifestyles and media usage - applying data mining decision tree analysis for UNIDO - ICHET web site users

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tsai, M.; Veziroglu, A.; Warren, S.; Que, Y.

2007-01-01

According to the innovation diffusion research, the innovators, opinion leaders, and diffusion agents play vital roles in promoting the acceptance of innovation. The innovators and opinion leaders must be able to cope with the high degree of uncertainty about an innovation and usually they have higher innovation-related media usage than the majority. Based on consumer behavior studies, lifestyle analysis could help researchers divide consumers into different lifestyle groups to understand and predict consumer behaviors. Lifestyle allows researchers to investigate consumers via their activities, interests and opinions instead of using demographic variables. The purpose of this research is to investigate how new energy innovators and opinion leaders' different lifestyles affect their new energy product adoption, and their media usage regarding new energy reports or promotion. In order to achieve the purposes listed above, the researchers need to locate and contact the potential innovators and opinion leaders in this field. Thus the researchers cooperate with UNIDO-ICHET to launch this survey. This cross-discipline online survey was formally launched from Aug 2005 to Oct 2006. The result of this survey successfully collected 2040 new energy innovators and opinion leaders' information. The researchers analyzed the data using SPSS statistics software and Data Mining decision tree analysis. Then the researchers divided new energy innovators into four groups: social-oriented, young modern, conservative, and show-off-oriented. They also analyzed which lifestyle groups are better targets for innovation agencies to launch innovation-related promotions or campaigns

Public education and media relations in psychology.

Science.gov (United States)

Wedding, Danny

2017-11-01

This article reviews psychology's attempts to influence public attitudes about both the science and the profession of psychology. The early history of the profession is reviewed, and the efforts of the American Psychological Association (APA) to shape the public's perception of psychology are discussed. The rise of social media is reviewed, and important social media outlets relevant to psychology are identified. The activities of the Society for Media Psychology and Technology (APA Division 46) are illustrated, and the presidents of the Division are identified. The work of those psychologists who are noted public intellectuals or who have received Nobel prizes or National Medal of Science awards for their research is briefly reviewed, and the public notoriety of 4 prominent media celebrities (Joy Browne, Joyce Brothers, Laura Schlessinger, and Phil McGraw) is discussed. Several controversies in the field of psychology that have influenced the public and their attitudes about psychology are also briefly reviewed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

The Influence of Media Coverage of Religious Crises in Nigeria: A ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The Influence of Media Coverage of Religious Crises in Nigeria: A Case Study of the Mohammed Cartoon Riots. ... (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news ). It also explores peoples opinion ... public for the benefit of the media institutions,(both government and privately owned media houses), journalists, the government and individuals.

Down to the Wire: How Six Newspapers Reported Public Opinion Polls during the 1988 Presidential Campaign.

Science.gov (United States)

Sanders, Luther W.; And Others

A study analyzed the quality of reporting of public opinion polls in six selected newspapers during the final 65 days of the 1988 presidential campaign. The eight disclosure standards used were based upon the latest version of the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) code of Professional Ethics and Practices. The newspapers…

Can journalistic "false balance" distort public perception of consensus in expert opinion?

Science.gov (United States)

Koehler, Derek J

2016-03-01

Media critics have expressed concern that journalistic "false balance" can distort the public's perceptions of what ought to be noncontroversial subjects (e.g., climate change). I report several experiments testing the influence of presenting conflicting comments from 2 experts who disagree on an issue (balance condition) in addition to a complete count of the number of experts on a panel who favor either side. Compared with a control condition, who received only the complete count, participants in the balance condition gave ratings of the perceived agreement among the experts that did not discriminate as clearly between issues with and without strong expert consensus. Participants in the balance condition also perceived less agreement among the experts in general, and were less likely to think that there was enough agreement among experts on the high-consensus issues to guide government policy. Evidently, "false balance" can distort perceptions of expert opinion even when participants would seem to have all the information needed to correct for its influence. (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Backlash or a Positive Response?: Public Opinion of LGB Issues After Obergefell v. Hodges.

Science.gov (United States)

Kazyak, Emily; Stange, Mathew

2018-01-10

Following Obergefell v. Hodges, same-sex marriage remains controversial and anti-LGBT state legislation has been passed, which raises questions about whether the Supreme Court's ruling may have created a backlash. We use data from two waves of a general population survey of Nebraskans conducted before and after the decision to answer three questions. First, we test three theories of how the court decision influenced public opinion. We find that support for same-sex marriage was significantly higher following the ruling, suggesting that there was not a backlash to it. Second, we assess whether people perceive that the court accurately reflects the public's opinion. We find that people who favor same-sex marriage are more likely to think that the ruling refects public opinion very well; those who oppose same-sex marriage are more likely to think that the ruling does not at all reflect public opinion. Third, we examine the association between discussing gay rights and support for same-sex marriage, finding that those who talk about LGB issues very often are more likely to favor same-sex marriage. We discuss the implications of these findings in relation to two of the themes of this special issue: the influence of marriage equality on Americans' understandings of marriage and the impact of marriage equality on future LGBT activism.

SIMULACRA AS MEANS OF MANIPULATION OF PUBLIC OPINION: IN THE LIGHT OF THE JEAN BAUDRILLARD’S THEORY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Мария Васильевна Комова

2014-06-01

Full Text Available At the present stage for human civilization is characterized the widespread use of simulations that have spread to all spheres of public life. The use of simulation in the mass media practice, in particular in order to manipulate public opinion, is radically transforming the functional characteristics of the media. The purpose of the research lies in understanding the basic assumptions of the Jean Baudrillard’s simulation theory, installation of simulacra use features in the communication processes of modern society, investigating the influence of simulacra to transform the functions of mass media. When conducting  the research tudies, are used such methods: descriptive, method of analysis, synthesis, comparison.Results. Media and official sources are used in order to maintain the illusion of truth, realityof  goals of social processes of past and present as well, objectivity of facts and documentary evidence. Abstraction, history artifacts, disasters and crises represented on television, are designed to keep the audience under the influence of communication investments. Media reports are characterized by the social codification, which is reflected in the appointment of messages not in delivering of information, implementation of communication, but only in the circulation and identification of anticipated reactions.Media plays the role of global communication environment, in which simulation mechanism is implemented. The real mass media practice suggests the use of communication resources, traditional and innovative forms of work in the plantation of simulacra world in the public consciousness as a reality.As a result, the total use of simulacra in mass media practice causes the destruction of "mass media" which appears in the functional transformation of the notion of the media as truth. To the lost belongs the function to be truth of absolute observation and supervision that is based on the position "observe" after objective space and be

Use of Twitter Polls to Determine Public Opinion Regarding Content Presented at a Major National Specialty Society Meeting.

Science.gov (United States)

Rosenkrantz, Andrew B; Hawkins, C Matthew

2017-02-01

The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of using Twitter polls to assess public opinion regarding session content at a national specialty society meeting. Twitter polls allow users to embed multiple-choice questions within tweets and automatically aggregate responses. Two radiologists attending the 2016 annual meeting of the ACR posted a Twitter poll containing the hashtag #ACR2016 during 10 meeting sessions addressing socioeconomics/advocacy, patient experience, and social media/informatics (20 polls total). Each poll contained a question asking for an opinion regarding the session's content. Polls were open for responses for 24 hours. The average number of responses per poll was significantly higher for the user with the larger number of Twitter followers (24.3 ± 14.4 versus 11.2 ± 9.8, P = .015). A total of 57% of respondents agreed that radiologists' payments should shift to value-based payments, and 86% agreed that radiologists should routinely survey their patients to monitor quality; however, 83% disagreed with basing physician payments on patient satisfaction scores. A total of 85% disagreed that the artificial intelligence supercomputer Watson will entirely replace radiologists. A total of 76% agreed that social media can drive business at less cost than standard marketing. A total of 56% agreed with the direction of the ACR's advocacy and regulatory efforts, whereas 74% considered the ACR's advocacy efforts to be moderately or very useful for their practice. A total of 50% planned to change their practice on the basis of keynote remarks by Dr Ezekiel Emanuel. Twitter polls provide a free and easy infrastructure to potentially capture global public sentiment during the course of a medical society meeting. Their use may enrich and promote discussions of key session content. Copyright © 2016 American College of Radiology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Method for Expressing Public Opinions Concerning the Introduction of an Emerging Technology to Society

Science.gov (United States)

Yamamoto, Satoshi; Ito, Kyoko; Ohnishi, Satoshi; Nishida, Shogo

Emerging technology may have considerable social impact. Because emerging technology has not yet been introduced in society, it is needed general public express its opinions on emerging technology. It is important that expressing opinion must have social spirit. A method to limit facility of the Internet and activate social spirit is proposed. Evaluation experiment were conducted to test the effectiveness of the proposed method, and the participant could express opinion with social spirit.

Personality Traits and Foreign Policy Attitudes in German Public Opinion

Science.gov (United States)

Schoen, Harald

2007-01-01

This article examines the effects of personality traits on attitudes toward foreign policy issues among the German public. Building on previous research, it argues that personality characteristics shape an individual's motivation, goals, and values, thereby providing criteria to evaluate external stimuli and affecting foreign policy opinions. An…

The politics of comparison in mediated publics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Birkbak, Andreas

News media and social media are often compared in a way that focuses on their contrasts, e.g. as between objective news and passionate opinions – or between a clear-cut public and multiple issue-oriented quasi-publics. If we do not assume such divisions to be pre-given, it becomes possible to study...... of mediated publics. Here, the researcher can begin to think with and not just about contemporary media practices when trying to rethink comparison and its politics....

Advanced nuclear reactor public opinion project

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Benson, B.

1991-07-25

This Interim Report summarizes the findings of our first twenty in-depth interviews in the Advanced Nuclear Reactor Public Opinion Project. We interviewed 6 industry trade association officials, 3 industry attorneys, 6 environmentalists/nuclear critics, 3 state officials, and 3 independent analysts. In addition, we have had numerous shorter discussions with various individuals concerned about nuclear power. The report is organized into the four categories proposed at our April, 1991, Advisory Group meeting: safety, cost-benefit analysis, science education, and communications. Within each category, some change of focus from that of the Advisory Group has been required, to reflect the findings of our interviews. This report limits itself to describing our findings. An accompanying memo draws some tentative conclusions.

Advanced nuclear reactor public opinion project

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Benson, B.

1991-01-01

This Interim Report summarizes the findings of our first twenty in-depth interviews in the Advanced Nuclear Reactor Public Opinion Project. We interviewed 6 industry trade association officials, 3 industry attorneys, 6 environmentalists/nuclear critics, 3 state officials, and 3 independent analysts. In addition, we have had numerous shorter discussions with various individuals concerned about nuclear power. The report is organized into the four categories proposed at our April, 1991, Advisory Group meeting: safety, cost-benefit analysis, science education, and communications. Within each category, some change of focus from that of the Advisory Group has been required, to reflect the findings of our interviews. This report limits itself to describing our findings. An accompanying memo draws some tentative conclusions

Public Opinion Survey Data to Measure Sympathy and Support for Islamist Terrorism: A Look at Muslim Opinions on Al Qaeda and IS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alex P. Schmid

2017-02-01

Full Text Available This Research Paper seeks to explore what ‘sympathy’ and ‘support’ actually mean when it comes to terrorism. The text addresses some of the problems of public opinion surveys, includes a conceptual discussion and then continues with the presentation of data from public opinion surveys. It notes that opinion polls can be helpful in gauging (verbal support for terrorism but also finds that the questions asked in opinion polls are generally lacking precision while the answers are often influenced by political pressures. When translating (generally low percentages of sympathy and support for al Qaeda and so-called Islamic State in various countries into actual population figures, it emerges that there is a sizeable radical milieu in both Muslim-majority countries and in Western Muslim diasporas, held together by the world wide web of the internet. While large majorities of Muslims in most countries have no love for jihadist extremists, there are more than enough breeding grounds for terrorism. The Research Paper concludes that better instruments for measuring sympathy and support for jihadist terrorism are needed to inform counter-terrorist strategies.

Public Sphere

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Trenz, Hans-Jörg

2015-01-01

In modern societies, the public sphere represents the intermediary realm that supports the communication of opinions, the discovery of problems that need to be dealt with collectively, the channeling of these problems through the filter of the media and political institutions, and the realization...... of the collective will of the people in the act of democratic self-government. The concept of the public sphere is used across the fields of media and communication research, cultural studies and the humanities, the history of ideas, legal and constitutional studies as well as democracy studies. Historically......, public spheres have undergone structural transformations that were closely connected to the emergence of different mass media. More recently, they are subject to trends of transnationalization and digitalization in politics and society....

French public opinion and nuclear energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Le Ngoc, B.

2016-01-01

Since the beginning of the year French media have dealt with a lot of negative information concerning nuclear industry: the dire financial situation of AREVA, the questioning about the state of the pressure vessel of the Flamanville EPR or the EDF and Chinese investments in the british Hinkley point project. All these issues have impacted the opinion of the French people about nuclear energy: more people are against nuclear energy but nuclear accident appears to be only the tenth source of concern after unemployment (first) and terrorism. The debate about the energetic transition that will lead to the decrease of the nuclear share in the production of electricity marks the end of a political consensus in favour of the atom. Solar energy is the favorite energy source, more than 55% of the population wish solar energy to achieve a bigger share in the 15 next years while only 32% wish the same thing for wind energy. For most people nuclear energy appears to be necessary to complement renewable energies for at least the next 15-30 years. (A.C.)

[Regulatory policies and public opinion: the case of smoking].

Science.gov (United States)

Saltó, Esteve; Joan R, Villalbí; Valverde, Araceli; Baranda, Lucía; Plasencia, Antoni

2006-01-01

Collecting and disseminating information about the public opinion on a regulatory process gives visibility to the silent social support and facilitates the process, which often confronts resistance from interest groups. This paper presents a survey about a proposed legislation on tobacco in its final stages and its results, and some considerations on the use of this sort of information in change processes. Cross sectional descriptive study. In December 2005 a brief telephone survey was made to a population sample of 18 and more years of age (N=830) in Catalonia (Spain). The questionnaire explored opinions on the proposed regulations under discussion. We present the degree of support and the rating of nine regulatory measures, stratified by the respondents use of tobacco. Daily smokers are 26.3% of the surveyed population. Awareness and general support for tobacco regulation are very high. Aspects with wider support include bans on sales to minors (97.3%), smoking in enclosed public places (92.8%) and workplaces (89%), and publicity (90.8%). The aspect with less social support is banning smoking in bars and cafes (80.2%). The population supports widely tobacco regulation. This reinforces the process and weakens the arguments of those against it. Although smokers are less supportive, most of them accept the regulations, except for limitations in bars and cafes.

Conflicts around atomic energy topics in the media - Arguments which can influence public voting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Trefas, D.

2009-01-01

This article reviews the Swiss debate on energy supply that has been intensified over the last ten years. The situation in Switzerland is discussed, where operational licences for existing nuclear power stations are running out and purchasing rights for electricity from foreign nuclear power stations will soon be terminating. The new nuclear power stations that are being proposed by power utilities are discussed. The history of nuclear power in Switzerland and Europe is reviewed and changes in the public perception of nuclear power and its risks are examined. Certain accidents and events and their coverage in the Swiss media are commented on, as are more global events that have influenced public opinion on nuclear power. Arguments in the present debate are noted and possible developments and conflicts are commented on

Issue-Relevant Values and Opinions About Gay Rights: Beyond Equality and Morality.

Science.gov (United States)

Rhodebeck, Laurie

2018-01-01

Although many studies have examined the role of values in shaping public opinion, the number of values that inform this research is limited. This article employs the concept of issue-relevant values as a means to explore the broader range of values associated with policy issues. After discussing the concept in general terms, the article explores issue-relevant values pertinent to public opinion about gay rights. Using the policy examples of employment nondiscrimination and same-sex couple adoption, the present study identifies, measures, and assesses several values that add to the very short list previously used to explain public opinion about gay rights issues. Content from interest-group Web sites and news media coverage of the two issues aided in identifying the values. Data from an original Internet survey yield valid measures of the values. Multivariate analyses indicate that the values behave in predictable ways: they are strongly influenced by partisanship, and they strongly affect opinions about the two issues. The performance of the values is consistent with findings from previous research on the partisan basis of values and the value-based nature of opinions. The article concludes with suggestions for further empirical and theoretical work that could apply and extend the concept of issue-relevant values.

Social Media Arrive in School; Principals Look at Impacts

Science.gov (United States)

Armistead, Lew

2010-01-01

Social media have the potential to improve educational opportunities for high school students, but also present legal and policy challenges for public school principals. Those were among opinions expressed in the 2010 Principals' Partnership Poll. The most frequently-cited request by the 306 respondents was help in integrating social media into…

Situation Concerning Public Information about and Involvement in the Decision-Making Processes in the Nuclear Sector. Public Opinion Review

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Prades, A.; Sala, R.; Lopez, M.

2006-01-01

This report summarizes the CIEMAT's contribution to the study S ituation concerning Public Information about and Involvement in the Decision-Making Processes in the Nuclear Sector , contract number TREN/ 04/NUC/ S07.39556 between the European Commission and Mutadis Consultants. The research was composed by Mutadis Consultants and CEPN (Nuclear Protection Evaluation Centre) (France), University of Aberdeen (UK) and CIEMAT (Spain). The objective of the project was to build a detailed overview of the EU situation regarding information and participation practices in the nuclear domain, provide an elaborated assessment, and to produce reporting and recommendations in the field. CIEMAT contribution' focused on the review of public opinion polis. Thus, Eurobarometers Standard Surveys (EBs) were analysed to report about the European citizens' public opinion regarding public Information and participation in the nuclear field. Additionally, the International Social Survey Program (ISSP), and some additional national polis were analysed. In terms of the EU public opinion, the follow up of the public information and participation domains receiving as much attention as necessary. Extremely few questions dealing with the subject were identified in the Eurobarometers, the national polis and the ISSP (International Social Survey Program) surveys reviewed in this study. An unambiguous illustration of this lack of attention is the fact that no questions dealing with public participation issues emerged in the n uclear EBs u ntil 1998. Even though, Eurobarometers (EBs) still provide an invaluable source of information on the topics we are interested on at the EU allowing longitudinal descriptions (trend analysis) of some key issues in our area of interest. (Author) 11 refs

Public Engagement with the Criminal Justice System in the Age of Social Media

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michelle Katherine Larson Rose

2014-10-01

Full Text Available Exemplified by the landmark trial of O.J. Simpson, news media coverage of criminal cases in the United States is now regularly dominated by tabloid style coverage, complete with fixation on the victims and accused in criminal cases. Investigators have shown that such coverage of criminal proceedings is linked to decreasing levels of public trust and confidence in the criminal justice system. What is not yet understood is how rapid changes to the media universe in terms of online news sources and social networking are impacting coverage of criminal proceedings and public understanding of the criminal justice system. By surveying the American public on their news consumption habits, participation in social networking, knowledge and opinions of highly publicized criminal cases, and perceptions of the legitimacy of the justice system, we offer one of the first analyses of social media’s impact on public interaction with the criminal justice system. Ultimately we find little evidence that social media is enhancing citizen knowledge about or confidence in the criminal justice system, but we do uncover strong evidence that social media engagement with criminal trials leads to a greater desire for vengeance and encouragement of vigilante attitudes and behavior. Como demostró el emblemático juicio a O.J. Simpson, la cobertura mediática de los casos penales en los Estados Unidos está dominada de forma regular por una cobertura de estilo sensacionalista, centrando su atención en las víctimas y acusados de los casos criminales. Investigaciones han demostrado que esta cobertura de los procesos criminales está relacionada con un menor nivel de confianza del público en el sistema de justicia criminal. Todavía no se conoce con qué rapidez están impactando los cambios en el universo de los medios de comunicación que han llegado de la mano de las fuentes de información en línea y las redes sociales, en la cobertura de los procesos criminales y la

The Opinions of Russian School Students and Teachers about Media Violence

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alexander Fedorov

2014-04-01

Full Text Available The influence of media violence upon Russian teenagers is rather significant. About half the teenagers were positive about its demonstration: they enjoyed films, television shows, and computer games containing on-screen violence and they admired the characters - including "bad guys". A third of the teenagers were not sure about their opinion of on-screen violence, although they claimed to not be attracted by it. Just 18% of teenagers discuss and share their opinions with their parents. The influence of Russian schools upon the teenage relationship with on-screen violence is minimal. The findings of our analysis: - on the whole students are more tolerant than the teachers to screen violence (men outnumber women. - entertainment is the leading factor attracting audiences to violent scenes in both groups; - watching violent programs in high spirits is for students three times oftener than for teachers; - both students and teachers are most likely to watch and discuss violent scenes together with friends; - students do not like watching violent programs alone; - 1 out of 5 teachers is eager to watch violent content media with their students, 1 out of 3 teachers is ready to discuss it with the students; - on the average, 1 in 10 students would like to share this activity with the teacher; - students talk about violence on the screen twice as much as teachers; - 3 times more students than teachers reported that their aggressiveness increases after the violence seen on the screen; - images of the screen violence linger in girls’/women’ mind longer than in boys’/ men’; - about half of the respondents reported that they remember scenes of violence for a long time; - both the majority of students and teachers tend to believe that screen violence affects the increase of crime in society; - one third of teachers and students agree that most violent media texts should be banned; - quarter of teachers and students think it is necessary to prohibit all

Urban Sloths: Public Knowledge, Opinions, and Interactions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kissia Ferreira Pereira

2018-06-01

Full Text Available Free-range sloths living in an urban environment are rare. In this study, the opinions, attitudes, and interactions with a population of Bradypus variegatus were investigated through short, structured interviews of people in the pubic square where the sloths live, in addition to informal, opportunistic observations of human-sloth interactions. A questionnaire was applied to people in the square where the sloths reside, and informal, opportunistic observations of human-sloth interactions were made. 95% of respondents knew of the sloths’ existence in the square and 87.8% liked their presence. Opinions about population size differed greatly and younger people were concerned as to whether the square was an appropriate place for them. Some human-sloth interactions showed the consequences of a lack of biological knowledge. People initiated all sloth-human interactions. The fact that sloths are strictly folivorous has avoided interactions with humans and, consequently, mitigated any negative impacts of the human-animal interaction on their wellbeing. These results demonstrate that, while there is a harmonious relationship between people and sloths, actions in environmental education of the square’s public could be beneficial for the sloths.

Social Media for Public Health: An Exploratory Policy Analysis

OpenAIRE

Fast, Ingrid; Sørensen, Kristine; Brand, Helmut; Suggs, L. Suzanne

2017-01-01

Background: To accomplish the aims of public health practice and policy today, new forms of communication and education are being applied. Social media are increasingly relevant for public health and used by various actors. Apart from benefits, there can also be risks in using social media, but policies regulating engagement in social media is not well researched. This study examined European public health-related organizations' social media policies and describes the main components of exist...

Social media for public health: an exploratory policy analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Fast, Ingrid; Sørensen, Kristine; Brand, Helmut; Suggs, L Suzanne

2015-02-01

To accomplish the aims of public health practice and policy today, new forms of communication and education are being applied. Social media are increasingly relevant for public health and used by various actors. Apart from benefits, there can also be risks in using social media, but policies regulating engagement in social media is not well researched. This study examined European public health-related organizations' social media policies and describes the main components of existing policies. This research used a mixed methods approach. A content analysis of social media policies from European institutions, non-government organizations (NGOs) and social media platforms was conducted. Next, individuals responsible for social media in their organization or projects completed a survey about their social media policy. Seventy-five per cent of institutions, NGOs and platforms had a social media policy available. The primary aspects covered within existing policies included data and privacy protection, intellectual property and copyright protection and regulations for the engagement in social media. Policies were intended to regulate staff use, to secure the liability of the institution and social responsibility. Respondents also stressed the importance of self-responsibility when using social media. This study of social media policies for public health in Europe provides a first snapshot of the existence and characteristics of social media policies among European health organizations. Policies tended to focus on legal aspects, rather than the health of the social media user. The effect of such policies on social media adoption and usage behaviour remains to be examined. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Public Health Association. All rights reserved.

Understanding Social Media’s Take on Climate Change through Large-Scale Analysis of Targeted Opinions and Emotions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pathak, Neetu; Henry, Michael J.; Volkova, Svitlana

2017-03-29

Social media is a powerful data source for researchers interested in understanding population-level behavior, having been successfully leveraged in a number of different application areas including flu and illness prediction models, detecting civil unrest, and measuring public sentiment towards a given topic of interest within the public discourse. In this work, we present a study of a large collection of Twitter data centered on the social conversation around global cli- mate change during the UN Climate Change Conference, held in Paris, France during December 2015 (COP21). We first developed a mechanism for distinguishing between personal and non-personal accounts. We then analyzed demographics and emotion and opinion dynamics over time and location in order to understand how the different user types converse around meaningful topics on social media. This methodology offers an in-depth insight into the behavior and opinions around a topic where multiple distinct narratives are present, and lays the groundwork for future work in studying narratives in social media.

Media Exposure and Genetic Literacy Skills to Evaluate Angelina Jolie's Decision for Prophylactic Mastectomy.

Science.gov (United States)

Abrams, Leah R; Koehly, Laura M; Hooker, Gillian W; Paquin, Ryan S; Capella, Joseph N; McBride, Colleen M

2016-01-01

To examine public preparedness to evaluate and respond to Angelina Jolie's well-publicized decision to have a prophylactic mastectomy. A consumer panel (n = 1,008) completed an online survey in November 2013, reporting exposure to Jolie's story, confidence applying genomic knowledge to evaluate her decision, and ability to interpret provided genetic risk information (genetic literacy skills). Linear and logistic regressions tested mediating/moderating models of these factors in association with opinions regarding mastectomies. Confidence with genomics was associated with increased genetic literacy skills and increased media exposure, with a significant interaction between the two. Confidence was also associated with favoring mastectomies for women with BRCA mutations, mediating the relationship with media exposure. Respondents were more likely to form opinions about mastectomies if they had high genetic literacy skills. These findings suggest that having higher genetic literacy skills may increase the public's ability to form opinions about clinical applications of genomic discovery. However, repeated media exposure to high-profile stories may artificially inflate confidence among those with low genetic literacy. © 2016 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Public opinion on age-related degradation in nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Matsuda, Toshihiro

2005-01-01

The first objective of this study is to shed light on the public opinion on age-related degradation at nuclear power plants, namely, on how the general public recognizes or views age-related degradation, which is a safety-related issue and one of the factors contributing to accidents and failures which occur at nuclear power plants. The second objective is to look into the impacts of the accident at Mihama Unit 3, which was caused by a failure to check on the piping wall thickness, on the public opinion on age-related degradation. The first survey was conducted in August 2003, followed by the second survey in October 2004, two months after the accident. The surveys found that the age-related degradation is being perceived by people as one of the risk factors that affect the safety of nuclear power plants. The characteristics of the citizens' perceptions toward age-related degradation in the form of piping cracks are that: (a) many respondents feel uneasy but a relatively few people consider that nuclear operators are technologically capable of coping with this problem; (b) many people believe that radioactivity may be released; and (c) numerous respondents consider that signs of cracks must be thoroughly detected through inspections, while on the other hand, a large percentage of the respondents attribute the accident to improper inspections/maintenance. Based on these results, the government and nuclear operators are expected to give most illuminating explanation on the current situation of and remedial measures against age-related degradation at nuclear power plants. As for the effects of the Mihama-3 accident on the public opinion on age-related degradation, it was revealed that the accident has not so significantly affected the general view for the safety of nuclear power plants, but has newly or strongly aroused people's consciousness of two of the risk factors - improper inspections/maintenance and the age-related degradation of piping. (author)

Examining the Gap between Science and Public Opinion about Genetically Modified Food and Global Warming.

Science.gov (United States)

McFadden, Brandon R

2016-01-01

There is great uncertainty due to challenges of escalating population growth and climate change. Public perception that diverges from the scientific community may decrease the effectiveness of scientific inquiry and innovation as tools to solve these challenges. The objective of this study was to identify the factors associated with the divergence of public opinion from scientific consensus regarding the safety of genetically modified (GM) foods and human involvement in global warming (GW). Results indicate that the effects of knowledge on public opinion are complex and non-uniform across types of knowledge (i.e., perceived and actual) or issues. Political affiliation affects agreement with science; Democrats were more likely to agree that GM food is safe and human actions cause GW. Respondents who had relatively higher cognitive function or held illusionary correlations about GM food or GW were more likely to have an opinion that differed from the scientific community.

Examining the Gap between Science and Public Opinion about Genetically Modified Food and Global Warming

Science.gov (United States)

McFadden, Brandon R.

2016-01-01

There is great uncertainty due to challenges of escalating population growth and climate change. Public perception that diverges from the scientific community may decrease the effectiveness of scientific inquiry and innovation as tools to solve these challenges. The objective of this study was to identify the factors associated with the divergence of public opinion from scientific consensus regarding the safety of genetically modified (GM) foods and human involvement in global warming (GW). Results indicate that the effects of knowledge on public opinion are complex and non-uniform across types of knowledge (i.e., perceived and actual) or issues. Political affiliation affects agreement with science; Democrats were more likely to agree that GM food is safe and human actions cause GW. Respondents who had relatively higher cognitive function or held illusionary correlations about GM food or GW were more likely to have an opinion that differed from the scientific community. PMID:27829008

Taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages: results from a 2011 national public opinion survey.

Science.gov (United States)

Barry, Colleen L; Niederdeppe, Jeff; Gollust, Sarah E

2013-02-01

Consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages including nondiet sodas, sport drinks, and energy drinks has been linked with obesity. Recent state and local efforts to tax these beverages have been unsuccessful. Enactment will be unlikely without public support, yet little research is available to assess how to effectively make the case for such taxes. The objectives were to assess public opinion about arguments used commonly in tax debates regarding sugar-sweetened beverages and to assess differences in public opinion by respondents' political party affiliation. A public opinion survey was fielded in January-March 2011 using a probability-based sample of respondents from a large, nationally representative online panel to examine public attitudes about nine pro- and eight anti-tax arguments. These data were analyzed in August 2011. Findings indicated greater public agreement with anti- than pro-tax arguments. The most popular anti-tax argument was that a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages is arbitrary because it does not affect consumption of other unhealthy foods (60%). A majority also agreed that such taxes were a quick way for politicians to fill budget holes (58%); an unacceptable intrusion of government into people's lives (53.8%); opposed by most Americans (53%); and harmful to the poor (51%). No pro-tax arguments were endorsed by a majority of the public. Respondents reported highest agreement with the argument that sugar-sweetened beverages were the single largest contributor to obesity (49%) and would raise revenue for obesity prevention (41%). Without bolstering public support for existing pro-tax messages or developing alternative pro-tax messages, enacting such policies will be difficult. Message-framing studies could be useful in identifying promising strategies for persuading Americans that taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages are warranted. Copyright © 2013 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Social media in public health care

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, Kim Normann; Medaglia, Rony; Henriksen, Helle Zinner

2012-01-01

This paper investigates the impacts of social media use in Danish public health care with respect to capabilities, interactions, orientations, and value distribution. Taking an exploratory approach, the paper draws on an array of quantitative and qualitative data, and puts forward four propositions......: social media transform the access to health-related information for patients and general practitioners, the uptake of social media can be a cost driver rather than a cost saver, social media provide empowerment to patients, and the uptake of social media is hindered by legal and privacy concerns...

Public Relations & Media Relations (Kritik Budaya Amplop Pada Media Relations Institusi Pendidikan Di Yogyakarta

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Adhianty Nurjanah

2015-07-01

Full Text Available This research is aims to determine how the media relations activities that have been done 10 Public Relations Higher Education, including the possibility of granting cultural envelope in media relations activities during this do. The object of this study is ten (10 Universities in Yogyakarta that consists of three (3 State University (PTN and seven (7 Colleges (PTS. Variations and types of media relations activities have been conducted by 10 universities. The reason is because the electoral college to ten (10 college is a big college in the city of Yogyakarta who own Public Relations and media relations activities that have a systematic and well-planned. In the course of media relations, Public Relations universities do culture accepting envelopes to reporters on the grounds reimburse the costs of transport and not as a "bribe" so that they publicized the news and as a means of imaging the institution. Publicist colleges feel that culture provides envelopes to reporters did not violate the code of ethics of their profession as a Public Relations, On the other hand for journalists, cultural granting envelope can interfere with the independence and constitute a violation of the code of ethics of their profession as journalists. Yet there are also journalists who will receive an envelope in their reporting activities. The discrepancies in the implementation of the code of ethics of journalism, is strongly influenced by the integrity of journalists and policies that apply to each media institution. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui bagaimana kegiatan media relations yang telah dilakukan 10 Public Relations / Humas Perguruan Tinggi tersebut, termasuk kemungkinan adanya budaya pemberian amplop dalam kegiatan media relations yang selama ini dilakukan. Objek penelitian ini adalah sepuluh (10 Perguruan Tinggi di Yogyakarta yang terdiri dari tiga (3 Perguruan Tinggi Negeri (PTN dan tujuh (7 Perguruan Tinggi Swasta (PTS . Beragam variasi dan jenis

Public Opinion Survey-Energy-The Present and the Future

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pejic Bach, M.; Pevec, D.; Bace, M.; Trontl, K.; Jecmenica, R.; Matijevic, M.; Lebegner, J.

2008-01-01

During the academic year 2007/08 the Department of Applied Physics of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing conducted a public opinion survey entitled 'Energy - The Present and the Future' among student population of 1439 individuals age 18-20. The tested population consisted of the University of Zagreb nine faculties' students: the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing - 367 students, the Faculty of Food Technology and Biotechnology - 149 students, the Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Technology - 118 students, the Faculty of Civil Engineering - 102 students, the Faculty of Philosophy - 100 students, the Faculty of Science - 50 students, the Medical School - 217 students, the School of Dental Medicine - 108 students, and the Faculty of Economics and Business - 228 students. The questions in the survey covered several different energy issues, including the present and the future energy resources, the acceptability of different fuel type power plants, the environmental protection and global warming, the radioactivity, the waste issues, as well as reliable information sources. The basic results of survey analysis for nuclear oriented questions are reported in this paper. Although participants expressed high level of formal environmental awareness, their choices and attitudes are in a contradiction to claimed eco-orientation, as well as to the scientific facts. The discrepancies are particularly noticeable in parts of the survey dealing with the nuclear energy and the nuclear power plants. The radioactive waste management, proved to be a potential stumbling-stone for the entire nuclear program. The participants are demonstrating deep lack of knowledge which results in the radioactive waste management becoming the main source of fear from the nuclear technology in general. A very disturbing attitude is a belief that the nuclear energy is non-economic, environmentally unacceptable and operationally unsafe source of energy. Such an attitude

Why Americans support nuclear energy. Development and characteristics of public opinion in the U.S

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bisconti, A.S.

2003-01-01

A convergence of factors in the past few years has boosted public support for nuclear energy, including good performance, energy/electricity supply concerns in 2001, more outspoken support by leaders in government and industry, and media attention to a Nuclear Renaissance. In the latest national poll, May 2-4, 2003, two-thirds of the public said they favoured the use of nuclear energy. The gap between those who favor (64%) and oppose (31%) nuclear energy is much greater now than it was 20 years ago. There is near consensus support among Americans for license renewal for nuclear power plants that continue to meet federal safety standards (80%). A solid majority (65%) also agrees that we should keep the option to build more nuclear power plants. But the public is divided on the question of whether we should definitely build them - 50% of the public agreed with this proposition, 44% disagreed, and 6% were unsure. The percentages agreeing that we should definitely build more nuclear power plants in the future peaked in 2001, when electricity shortages in California and elsewhere were widely reported. There is a good possibility of maintaining the positive public opinion climate and even increasing perceptions of the need to build more plants. The industry can maintain this momentum through performance, communications, and projecting a positive attitude. Research indicates that communicating about the clean air benefits of nuclear energy significantly increases favorable attitudes toward nuclear energy. (orig.)

Influence of communication on public opinion about nuclear energy; Influencia da comunicacao na aceitacao publica da energia nuclear

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Carvalho, Everton de Almeida [ELETROBRAS Termonuclear S.A., (ELETRONUCLEAR), Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil)

1997-12-31

Public opinion on risks and benefits associated to nuclear energy is depending on psychological and social factors and mainly on the communication strategy used to transfer knowledge and facts about nuclear technology to the public. In this work, the individual and collective communication process and the influences on the public opinion on nuclear energy will be analyzed. (author) 3 refs., 1 fig.

Education based thinking and behaving? Towards an identity perspective for studying education differentials in public opinion and political participation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Spruyt, Bram; Kuppens, Toon

2015-01-01

Education based thinking and behaving? Towards and identity perspective for studying education differentials in public opinion and political participation Abstract Ever since scholars started studying public opinion and political behaviour, they have reported substantial educational differences.

Nuclear energy and the public opinion: analyses, communication strategy and actions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ansel, P.; Pages, J.P.

1994-01-01

A series of papers analysing the reactions of the public opinion concerning the nuclear energy, describing the information and communication strategies of some of the main French companies involved in the nuclear field, and presenting some of the actions undertaken in France and abroad

Situation Concerning Public Information about and Involvement in the Decision-Making Processes in the Nuclear Sector. Public Opinion Review.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Prades, A.; Sala, R.; Lopez, M.

2006-07-01

This report summarizes the CIEMAT's contribution to the study {sup S}ituation concerning Public Information about and Involvement in the Decision-Making Processes in the Nuclear Sector{sup ,} contract number TREN/ 04/NUC/ S07.39556 between the European Commission and Mutadis Consultants. The research was composed by Mutadis Consultants and CEPN (Nuclear Protection Evaluation Centre) (France), University of Aberdeen (UK) and CIEMAT (Spain). The objective of the project was to build a detailed overview of the EU situation regarding information and participation practices in the nuclear domain, provide an elaborated assessment, and to produce reporting and recommendations in the field. CIEMAT contribution' focused on the review of public opinion polis. Thus, Eurobarometers Standard Surveys (EBs) were analysed to report about the European citizens' public opinion regarding public Information and participation in the nuclear field. Additionally, the International Social Survey Program (ISSP), and some additional national polis were analysed. In terms of the EU public opinion, the follow up of the public information and participation domains receiving as much attention as necessary. Extremely few questions dealing with the subject were identified in the Eurobarometers, the national polis and the ISSP (International Social Survey Program) surveys reviewed in this study. An unambiguous illustration of this lack of attention is the fact that no questions dealing with public participation issues emerged in the {sup n}uclear EBs{sup u}ntil 1998. Even though, Eurobarometers (EBs) still provide an invaluable source of information on the topics we are interested on at the EU allowing longitudinal descriptions (trend analysis) of some key issues in our area of interest. (Author) 11 refs.

Adoption and use of social media among public health departments

OpenAIRE

Thackeray, Rosemary; Neiger, Brad L; Smith, Amanda K; Van Wagenen, Sarah B

2012-01-01

Abstract Background Effective communication is a critical function within any public health system. Social media has enhanced communication between individuals and organizations and has the potential to augment public health communication. However, there is a lack of reported data on social media adoption within public health settings. The purposes of this study were to assess: 1) the extent to which state public health departments (SHDs) are using social media; 2) which social media applicat...

Determinants of attitude to volunteering in psychiatry: results of a public opinion survey in Switzerland.

Science.gov (United States)

Lauber, Christoph; Nordt, Carlos; Falcato, Luis; Rössler, Wulf

2002-09-01

The United Nations proclaimed 2001 the "International Year of Volunteers". Little is known about factors influencing the attitude to volunteering in psychiatry. However, knowledge about these factors is important as target groups to be addressed by an awareness and promotion campaign could be identified. To determine the influence of demographic, psychological and sociological factors on the attitude to volunteering in psychiatry. Multiple logistic regression analysis of the results of an opinion survey conducted on a representative population sample in Switzerland (n = 1737). Public attitude is mostly positive. It depends, however, on the form of volunteering. Two explanatory models for volunteering in psychiatry were found: first, the "antipathetic person" having social distance to and negative stereotypes towards the mentally ill. Second, the "people with social responsibility and commitment" who have former experience in volunteering, a positive attitude to community psychiatry, interest in mass media, a social profession and perceive discrimination of mentally ill persons. Age and gender are significant predictors. An awareness and promotion campaign to use the vast potential of people willing to volunteer in psychiatry can be primarily focused on those with a basic interest in social issues. Volunteering must be limited in time and responsibility. Contacting people with a positive attitude by mass media is a promising way.

Examining the Gap between Science and Public Opinion about Genetically Modified Food and Global Warming.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Brandon R McFadden

Full Text Available There is great uncertainty due to challenges of escalating population growth and climate change. Public perception that diverges from the scientific community may decrease the effectiveness of scientific inquiry and innovation as tools to solve these challenges. The objective of this study was to identify the factors associated with the divergence of public opinion from scientific consensus regarding the safety of genetically modified (GM foods and human involvement in global warming (GW. Results indicate that the effects of knowledge on public opinion are complex and non-uniform across types of knowledge (i.e., perceived and actual or issues. Political affiliation affects agreement with science; Democrats were more likely to agree that GM food is safe and human actions cause GW. Respondents who had relatively higher cognitive function or held illusionary correlations about GM food or GW were more likely to have an opinion that differed from the scientific community.

The Role of social media discourses on stakeholder crises awareness and perception – A meta-theoretical framework

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Valentini, Chiara; Romenti, Stefania; Kruckeberg, Dean

, such perspective is best suited to explain the relationships between publics and organizations in the online environment. According to this perspective, organizations are not the hub of stakeholder communications and interactions, but rather they are simply spikes in a more complex network. Public......This paper provides a meta-theoretical framework to examine social media communications and crisis communication in these social media through the lens of communicative constitution of reality. Our claim is that discourse and online conversations are significant in shaping publics’ opinions...... in social media, both in general and specifically in discussions about crisis situations. Therefore, studying language and discourse becomes paramount to understand how conversations structure relationships and public opinions. We approach this task through a network-based perspective because, we argue...

Understanding social media program usage in public transit agencies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jenny H. Liu

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Social media has been gaining prominence in public transit agencies in their communication strategies and daily management. This study aims to better understand recent trends in social media usage in public transit agencies, to examine which agencies use what kind of social media programs for what purposes, and how they measure their programs. A survey was conducted of the top transit agencies in the nation, and results are examined through descriptive statistical analysis, correlation analysis and regression modeling. We found that while most agencies still lack clearly-defined goals and performance metrics to guide their social media development, many are increasing their social media capacity with more structural components. Public transit service usage and the level of transit service provision are the most significant determinants of agencies’ social media programming and resource investments. In contrast, the measurement of social media usage and outcomes is more significantly related to city attributes and demographic characteristics. We anticipate an increase in the usage of social media to convey transit related stories and livability benefits, such as environmental sensitivity or safety improvements, as these programs expand. Public transit agencies’ commitment to measuring social media outcomes underscores the future research need to develop best practices for measuring the impacts and performance of social media communications and investments.

Public service in the age of social network media

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hjarvard, Stig

2018-01-01

This chapter addresses how, and to what extent, public service obligations and institutions may be redefined and extended to facilitate information flows and public deliberation using social network media as a remedy for democratic deficiencies of both older mass media and newer forms of network...... media. I make a case for three public service functions that have particular importance in social network media: curation, moderation, and monitoring. Building on a critique of the individualistic perspective underlying both cyber-optimist and -pessimist accounts of the potentials of social network...... media, an alternative and institutional perspective based on mediatization theory is introduced. I focus on the ongoing restructuring of societal spheres through which strategic and sociable forms of communication are challenging deliberative forms of communication. Based on recent studies on public...

Public-opinion poll on energy saving

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1982-01-01

A public-opinion poll was carried out on energy saving from November 26 to December 2, 1981, across the country. The number of persons participated in the survey was 5,000, whose age was 20 and above. The recovery ratio was 4,007 persons (80.1 %). The results of the survey and also the question-answer form are given with respective percentages. The questions were in the following three categories: (1) cognizance of energy saving - space-heating temperature, energy saving conscience use of private cars, purchase of highenergy consumption appliances; (2) energy for future - energy consumption, energy consumption trend, new types of energy, main sources of power generation, nuclear power in the overall electric power, apprehension toward nuclear power plants, safety measures in nuclear power plants; (3) governmental energy policy measures. (J.P.N.)

Public opinion regarding earmarked cigarette tax in Taiwan

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yang Chung-Lin

2003-12-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Cigarette taxation has been perceived by academics and policy-makers as one of the most effective ways of reducing the use of cigarettes. On January 1 2002, the Taiwan government imposed a New Taiwan (NT $5 per pack tax earmarked for the purpose of tobacco control. This study uses a survey collected prior to taxation to assess public attitudes toward cigarette taxation, public beliefs about the effectiveness of cigarette taxation at reducing cigarette use and public opinions about the allocation of this tax revenue. Methods Data were drawn from a national face-to-face interview on cigarette consumption in 2000. A total of 3,279 adults were aged 18 to 64 years; 49.9% of whom were male and 50.1% female, and with a smoking prevalence of 49.1% and 4.1%, respectively. The attitudes toward cigarette tax were analysed using multi-logit regressions. We analysed by logistic regression the potential changes in smoking behaviour that smokers might make in response to the five NT (New Taiwan dollar earmarked tax on cigarettes per pack. We summarized public opinions about the allocation of earmarked tax revenue using descriptive statistics. Results Current smokers (OR = 0.34 and former smokers (OR = 0.68 were less likely to support the cigarette tax than non-smokers. A favourable attitude toward the tax was positively associated with personal monthly income, especially among females. Among male smokers, the possibility of reducing/quitting smoking in response to the five-NT-dollar tax was negatively associated with the monthly expense for smoking. The two most frequently-suggested areas to receive money from the revenue collected from the earmarked tax were health education and cancer subsidy. Conclusions Smoking status and economic factors determine the attitude and potential responses of people toward the cigarette tax. Taiwan's five NT-dollar earmarked tax for cigarettes may have only a limited effect upon the reduction in cigarette

Do Authoritarian Governments Respond to Public Opinion on the Environment? Evidence from China.

Science.gov (United States)

Tang, Xiao; Chen, Weiwei; Wu, Tian

2018-02-04

Given its serious impacts on the public's health, air pollution in China is a matter of strong public concern, particularly in reference to malodorous waste gas. Petition letters related to atmospheric pollution accounted for about 40% of the total petition cases. However, scholarly views differ on whether the Chinese government responds to public opinion on the environment and seeks to improve its environmental governance behavior. For this study, data from national surveys on the public's environmental satisfaction administered during the period 2011-2015 were analyzed to determine whether the public's dissatisfaction with the state of the environment in a given year resulted in increased investments by provincial governments in pollution governance during the following year. The study's findings revealed that governmental behavior in response to public opinion on the environment was selective within the field of environmental governance, with provincial governments being inclined to invest more in waste gas pollution control than in water pollution control. Furthermore, results from this study show that the Chinese government tends to put more efforts into the environmental field where it could more easily achieve short-term benefits.

A multi-particle model applicable to social issues--time-evolution of Japanese public opinion on nuclear energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ohnishi, Teruaki

2002-01-01

The characteristics of an interacting multi-particle system in natural sciences can form a useful model for the evolution of public attitudes and opinions, provided that each particle corresponds to one individual. A simulation model which uses a multi-particle system to represent society was developed. By using this model, the time evolution of the public attitudes to nuclear energy were investigated. The nuclear attitude of an individual was assumed to be influenced by three factors: a uniform information environment, mutual interactions between members of the public, and spontaneous recovery of the original attitude with time. Also the time-evolution of the socio-psychological position of members of the public was assumed to be given by a Langevin-type equation. Various attributes of individuals obtained by public opinion surveys together with data on the secular variation of availability of nuclear information were used as the input. By numerically solving the simultaneous differential equations for the system of a 1000 particles, the time behavior of Japanese public opinion regarding the promotion of nuclear generation was investigated. It was found from this calculation that the public aversion to nuclear energy is catastrophically aggravated with every large-scale nuclear accident, that the opinions of individual members of the public as to the value of nuclear energy were gradually attracted to a few views with time, and that the unification of such views occurred with the Chernobyl accident as a promoter. It also became clear that the public attitude at a particular time is governed by the information environment over several years immediately prior to that time

Attitudes to genetically modified food over time: How trust in organizations and the media cycle predict support.

Science.gov (United States)

Marques, Mathew D; Critchley, Christine R; Walshe, Jarrod

2015-07-01

This research examined public opinion toward genetically modified plants and animals for food, and how trust in organizations and media coverage explained attitudes toward these organisms. Nationally representative samples (N=8821) over 10 years showed Australians were less positive toward genetically modified animals compared to genetically modified plants for food, especially in years where media coverage was high. Structural equation modeling found that positive attitudes toward different genetically modified organisms for food were significantly associated with higher trust in scientists and regulators (e.g. governments), and with lower trust in watchdogs (e.g. environmental movement). Public trust in scientists and watchdogs was a stronger predictor of attitudes toward the use of genetically modified plants for food than animals, but only when media coverage was low. Results are discussed regarding the moral acceptability of genetically modified organisms for food, the media's role in shaping public opinion, and the role public trust in organizations has on attitudes toward genetically modified organisms. © The Author(s) 2014.

Media work as public affairs: moving beyond media savvy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Trapp, Leila; Laursen, Bo

Much research exists which examines how politically-motivated organizations adapt their communication practices to suit the news media’s routines and values to gain media coverage and thereby exert political influence. The mediatization literature describes these adaptation processes as constantly...... evolving, with professional communicators exhibiting an ever-growing amount of media savvy. The purpose of this study is to gain up-to-date insights into current forms of media adaptation in political organizations through interviews with professional press contact staff in 52 Danish interest groups....... The interviews reveal that media work is considered an effective, though potentially risky, form of public affairs. Indeed, media work is said to damage, or even ruin, an organization’s lobbying efforts or relationships with political actors. The study’s key finding is that in order to deal with these risks...

Public perceptions and preferences regarding large scale implementation of six CO2 capture and storage technologies. Well-informed and well-considered opinions versus uninformed pseudo-opinions of the Dutch public

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

De Best-Waldhober, M.; Daamen, D.

2006-03-01

Three research projects were carried out within the framework of the programme 'Sustainable use of fossil fuels'. Two research projects focussed on technical aspects of advanced fossil fuel options with CO2 capture and storage (CCS). The focus of the third project was on studying informed opinions of the general public regarding advanced fossil fuel options. This study has investigated the choices the general public would make after having received and evaluated expert information on the consequences pertaining to these choices. The method to collect these informed preferences is called the Information-Choice Questionnaire (ICQ). By comparing informed public preferences, obtained through administration of the ICQ, with current public opinions and preferences regarding fossil fuel options, collected in a more conventional survey, the outcomes of this project can indicate what options would be considered acceptable given sufficient knowledge, and how much and in what respect the current situation deviates from this possible future situation. Answering these questions constitutes the main goal of this project. This report describes the development and deployment of the Information-Choice Questionnaire on advanced fossil fuel options. It furthermore describes the parallel deployment of a more traditional questionnaire without expert information and a second measure of this more traditional questionnaire. This report encompasses all parts of the project 'Informed opinions of the general public as a tool for policy measures regarding advanced fossil fuel options'. This report will explain the ICQ methodology and its usefulness for this project. Furthermore, the development of the current ICQ, the method of the ICQ and of the more traditional questionnaires, and the results thereof, are described.

Public Participation Guide: Electronic Democracy

Science.gov (United States)

Electronic democracy describes a wide range of interactive tools that embrace existing and emergent media sources as a forum for allowing members of the public to express opinions and seek to influence decision-making.

Harnessing the Power of Media Relations and Social Media and Public Outreach

OpenAIRE

Farmer, Andrea; Pinkerton, Jim; Pipkin, Erin; Riggs, Nathan

2013-01-01

This presentation discusses strategies for launching a simple, yet effective, campaign through media relations and social media for public outreach. Key points regarding protocol and time management will be covered.

Attitudes and action: public opinion and the occurrence of international terrorism

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Krueger, A. B.; Malečková, Jitka

2009-01-01

Roč. 325, č. 5947 (2009), s. 1534-1536 ISSN 0036-8075 R&D Projects: GA MŠk(CZ) 7E08090 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z70850503 Keywords : international terrorism * public opinion toward another country Subject RIV: AO - Sociology, Demography Impact factor: 29.747, year: 2009

Media Education: Opinions of Russian Teachers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alexander Fedorov

2014-11-01

Full Text Available The analysis of the conducted questionnaire among teachers of secondary schools showed that realizing the great importance of the media in the contemporary information society, three quarters of them support the idea of media education at schools and 58% believe that a new major for pedagogical institutes needs to be introduced - “Media Education”. Most of teachers justly think that the combination of the autonomous and integrated media lessons is the most effective way today for the development of media education in Russia, and therefore - for the increase of media literacy of the young generation. However, in spite of the fact that majority of teachers define the aim to develop the critical thinking of the audience as one of the most important, they significantly overestimate the weight of “protectionist” approach to media studies today, and on the contrary, undervalue the goals to develop the democratic thinking of the pupils, their knowledge about theory and history of media and media culture. Moreover, despite of the general support of media education ideas (in theory expressed by 75 % of the teachers, actually only one third of them use some elements of media education at their lessons (in reality, and one fifth of the group does not integrate it at all. The hardest obstacle on the way of media education into the Russian classrooms is the absence of financial motivation, according to the teachers, though to our point of view, last but not the least is the passive anticipation of the authority’s directives and insufficient level of knowledge of today’s Russian teachers in terms of the theory and methods of media education. Thus, the analysis of the teachers’ questionnaire has given us additional proof for the necessity of the official introduction of the new university-level Major- “Media Education” (namely, Major, because the homonymous Minor was registered in 2002 and media education courses for the students of all

Sport, public relations and social media

OpenAIRE

Boyle, Raymond; Haynes, Richard

2014-01-01

This chapter examines the disruptive nature of social media as it alters the relationship between sports journalism and public relations. It looks at some key examples and argues that while much is changing, some aspects of the relationship between the media and sports also remain constant.

Images and symbols in the Argentinean public opinion on the nuclear energy and the environment: 'The necessity of a new communicational strategy'

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chahab, M.

2006-01-01

The present work expresses some ideas on certain characteristics of the public opinion in Argentina with regard to the perception that one has of the use of the nuclear energy and the care of the environment. The work tried to explain the reasons that although Argentina has a long tradition and a considerable international prestige in the generation, investigation and controls of the nuclear energy, at the same time, the argentinean public opinion has not shown in favor of the development of the same one, perceiving that the use of this energy would bring problems for the environment. In the work it was to explain some of the reasons of this opinion state that takes it as a psychological state of people, and that would have elements, symbols and negative interior images in people that work as strongly ingrained beliefs so that the fellows ponder to the nuclear option as the one that less it is wanted for the development of the country. The idea was also developed that these images and negative symbols toward the development of the nuclear energy could have origin in information of the massive media of communication, among other sources that could be persuading to the public opinion through the repetition and to study in depth of these messages toward psychological states contrary to the development of the nuclear energy. The present work tried to explore and to describe this internal universe of the argentinean public opinion with the objective of outlining mechanisms, strategies or action plans from the institutions linked to the nuclear energy that try to open the internal space of people toward an approach more positive with the perception of the development of the nuclear energy in its links with the environment. On this objective, the present work outlined the idea that the opening of the perceptive mark in people would have that to generate it 'not in opposition to the existent beliefs' but trying to win alternative mental spaces in the people. In this space

Public opinion change after the Fukushima nuclear accident: The role of national context revisited

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Latré, Edwin; Perko, Tanja; Thijssen, Peter

2017-01-01

This study explores how national context moderated change in support for nuclear energy after the Fukushima accident. The following national contextual variables are tested: geographical distance, nuclear energy production status, freedom of the press, and the building of new nuclear reactors. The results illustrate that previous research has misunderstood the moderating role of national context on opinion change after the Fukushima accident. A survey conducted shortly after the accident with more than 23,000 respondents from 41 countries has shown that geographical distance from the accident mattered: Contradicting a previous study, the decrease in support for nuclear energy was stronger in countries closer to Fukushima. In addition, support for nuclear energy decreased more in countries where new nuclear reactors were under construction. The country's nuclear energy production status and press freedom did not determine opinion change after the Fukushima accident. The non-effect of freedom of the press on opinion change contradicts the role of media after a focusing event as described in the literature. Overall results demonstrate a limited effect of national context on opinion change following a focusing event. Hence, national context provides only limited information to policy makers on how to respond to a nuclear accident. - Highlights: • National context had limited effect on opinion change after Fukushima. • Support for nuclear energy decreased more in counties closer to the accident. • Support for nuclear energy decreased more where the nuclear energy debate was salient. • Freedom of the press did not determine opinion change after Fukushima. • Not all contextual factors are relevant when designing appropriate policy response.

Mining social media data for opinion polarities about electronic cigarettes.

Science.gov (United States)

Dai, Hongying; Hao, Jianqiang

2017-03-01

There is an ongoing debate about harm and benefit of e-cigarettes, usage of which has rapidly increased in recent years. By separating non-commercial (organic) tweets from commercial tweets, we seek to evaluate the general public's attitudes towards e-cigarettes. We collected tweets containing the words 'e-cig', 'e-cigarette', 'e-liquid', 'vape', 'vaping', 'vapor' and 'vaporizer' from 23 July to 14 October 2015 (n=757 167). A multilabel Naïve Bayes model was constructed to classify tweets into 5 polarities (against, support, neutral, commercial, irrelevant). We further analysed the prevalence of e-cigarette tweets, geographic variations in these tweets and the impact of socioeconomic factors on the public attitudes towards e-cigarettes. Opinions from organic tweets about e-cigarettes were mixed (against 17.7%, support 10.8% and neutral 19.4%). The organic-against tweets delivered strong educational information about the risks of e-cigarette use and advocated for the general public, especially youth, to stop vaping. However, the organic-against tweets were outnumbered by commercial tweets and organic-support tweets by a ratio of over 1 to 3. Higher prevalence of organic tweets was associated with states with higher education rates (r=0.60, p<0.0001), higher percentage of black and African-American population (r=0.34, p=0.01), and higher median household income (r=0.33, p=0.02). The support rates for e-cigarettes were associated with states with fewer persons under 18 years old (r=-0.33, p=0.02) and a higher percentage of female population (r=0.3, p=0.02). The organic-against tweets raised public awareness of potential health risks and could aid in preventing non-smokers, adolescents and young adults from using e-cigarettes. Opinion polarities about e-cigarettes from social networks could be highly influential to the general public, especially youth. Further educational campaigns should include measuring their effectiveness. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group

Adoption and use of social media among public health departments.

Science.gov (United States)

Thackeray, Rosemary; Neiger, Brad L; Smith, Amanda K; Van Wagenen, Sarah B

2012-03-26

Effective communication is a critical function within any public health system. Social media has enhanced communication between individuals and organizations and has the potential to augment public health communication. However, there is a lack of reported data on social media adoption within public health settings. The purposes of this study were to assess: 1) the extent to which state public health departments (SHDs) are using social media; 2) which social media applications are used most often; and 3) how often social media is used interactively to engage audiences. This was a non-experimental, cross sectional study of SHD social media sites. Screen capture software Snag-It® was used to obtain screenshots of SHD social media sites across five applications. These sites were coded for social media presence, interactivity, reach, and topic. Sixty percent of SHDs reported using at least one social media application. Of these, 86.7% had a Twitter account, 56% a Facebook account, and 43% a YouTube channel. There was a statistically significant difference between average population density and use of social media (p = .01). On average, SHDs made one post per day on social media sites, and this was primarily to distribute information; there was very little interaction with audiences. SHDs have few followers or friends on their social media sites. The most common topics for posts and tweets related to staying healthy and diseases and conditions. Limitations include the absence of a standard by which social media metrics measure presence, reach, or interactivity; SHDs were only included if they had an institutionally maintained account; and the study was cross sectional. Social media use by public health agencies is in the early adoption stage. However, the reach of social media is limited. SHDs are using social media as a channel to distribute information rather than capitalizing on the interactivity available to create conversations and engage with the audience. If

An attack on science? Media use, trust in scientists, and perceptions of global warming.

Science.gov (United States)

Hmielowski, Jay D; Feldman, Lauren; Myers, Teresa A; Leiserowitz, Anthony; Maibach, Edward

2014-10-01

There is a growing divide in how conservatives and liberals in the USA understand the issue of global warming. Prior research suggests that the American public's reliance on partisan media contributes to this gap. However, researchers have yet to identify intervening variables to explain the relationship between media use and public opinion about global warming. Several studies have shown that trust in scientists is an important heuristic many people use when reporting their opinions on science-related topics. Using within-subject panel data from a nationally representative sample of Americans, this study finds that trust in scientists mediates the effect of news media use on perceptions of global warming. Results demonstrate that conservative media use decreases trust in scientists which, in turn, decreases certainty that global warming is happening. By contrast, use of non-conservative media increases trust in scientists, which, in turn, increases certainty that global warming is happening. © The Author(s) 2013.

45 CFR 702.16 - Attendance of news media at public sessions.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 45 Public Welfare 3 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Attendance of news media at public sessions. 702... Attendance of news media at public sessions. Reasonable access for coverage of public sessions shall be provided to the various communications media, including newspapers, magazines, radio, newsreels, and...

Frames and metaphors on social media

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Holmgreen, Lise-Lotte

The role of social media in giving voice to public opinion is impossible to ignore. Increasingly, platforms such as Facebook and Twitter are used for the mobilisation of action against public figures, corporations and organisations which have attracted negative public attention. For the social...... actors suffering this treatment, such actions may have devastating consequences.While previous studies have demonstrated that this mobilisation is in part the result of the real-time nature of social media, which allows for ‘rapid mass self-communication’ (Van der Meer & Verhoeven 2013) and the instant...... the conceptual grounding of frames in instances of organisational and personal action that is deemed reproachful on social media. By examining a corpus of entries posted on Facebook in connection with two major organisational crises, the study confirms previous findings and demonstrates that the strength...

The public opinion of nuclear energy in the Federal Republic of Germany 1955-1986

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dube, N.

1988-01-01

With this report an attempt is made to document all opinion polls concerning the peaceful use of nuclear energy in the Federal Republic of Germany. This documentation is designed to serve as a useful tool for social science research. It should support the historical analysis of long-term developments in public opinion and a systematic comparison of questions asked in different polls and at different times. (orig.) [de

Public opinion confronted by the safety problems associated with different energy source

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Otway, H J; Thomas, K

1978-09-01

Model study of public opinion 'for' and 'against' the various energy sources - oil, coal, solar and nuclear power. Attitudes are examined from four aspects: psychology - economic advantages, sociopolitical problems, environmental problems and safety. The investigation focuses on nuclear energy. (13 refs.) (In French)

The Influence of Marketing Public Relation and Service Quality on Corporate Image Through Public Opinion: Studies at Mandiri Bank

OpenAIRE

Suciyati, Vera

2013-01-01

This research aims to analyze the influence of marketing public relation and service quality at Bank Mandiri on corporate image through public. Convenience sampling method has been selected in order to obtain the data in this study. The analysis method that used was the path analysis. The research result had shown that: marketing public relation and service quality have significant influence simultaneously and partially on public opinion on the first structure equation. The second structure e...

Algorithms and Public Service Media

OpenAIRE

Sørensen, Jannick Kirk; Hutchinson, Jonathon

2018-01-01

When Public Service Media (PSM) organisations introduce algorithmic recommender systems to suggest media content to users, fundamental values of PSM are challenged. Beyond being confronted with ubiquitous computer ethics problems of causality and transparency, also the identity of PSM as curator and agenda-setter is challenged. The algorithms represents rules for which content to present to whom, and in this sense they may discriminate and bias the exposure of diversity. Furthermore, on a pra...

Partnership of Media with the Public

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bajram Kosumi

2017-06-01

Full Text Available In this paper is addressed the new media status, which is created in the digital age. Media in the digital age tends to be a business and policy partners, whether for traditional reasons, or because with new digital technology is not known where media is divided from the technology, so where is divided journalism as a profession from the business journalism. Media has become an equal partner with business and politics, but has lost its partnership with the public. Where is leading the journalism this partnership? Theoretical approach in this paper is within the critical cultural school and in which are intended to be detected trends, messages and ideologies of new digital media.

Good acceptance: Public opinion about nuclear energy in Slovenia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stritar, Andrej; Istenic, Radko

2000-01-01

Nuclear Training Centre Milan Copic at the Jozef Stefan Institute in Ljubljana is performing extensive public information activities. All the elementary and high schools in Slovenia are invited to visit our permanent exhibition and attend the lecture about the nuclear energy or radioactive waste disposal. In the year 1998 7427 visitors visited us. Most of them are from the 7th and 8th grade of elementary school, age 14 to 15. Every year in the spring we ask several hundred of visitors the same set of questions about their knowledge and opinion about nuclear energy. They are polled before they listen to the lecture or visit the exhibition. In that way we are trying to obtain their opinion based on the knowledge they obtain in everyday life. This paper shows the Result of the 1999 Poll. Comparison of the results with previous years shows stable and steadily improving public acceptance of nuclear energy in Slovenia. The following conclusions can be obtained: Cleanliness of nuclear power is not well understood and should be stressed in information activities; Radioactive waste is still considered as a major problem of our industry and is even gaining on importance; Percentage of people believing that NPP Krsko should operate until the end of its lifetime is high and steady. For the first time we have determined, that almost of people would accept a new nuclear power plant in the country. No correlation between social environment and understanding of nuclear energy could be found. But, relatively favourable public acceptance can change over night. Therefore a permanent information activity is essential

Track leading to decision of 'framework for nuclear energy policy'. Reading the public attitude with public opinions (the first). Contents of a new plan (as of June 2005)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shimooka, Hiroshi

2006-01-01

The Government decides to respect the 'Framework for Nuclear Energy Policy', which was decided by the Atomic Energy Commission on October 11th, 2005, as a basic principle for the nuclear energy policy and promote research, development and utilization of nuclear science and engineering. The Planning Council asked public opinion and received 758 opinions from 393 citizens. The Council continued the deliberation taking these opinions and compiled a preliminary draft of the 'Framework for Nuclear Energy Policy'. Reading the public attitude with public opinions had been conducted by the author, which showed the necessity for the nation to communicate crucial issues such as the nation's role of nuclear program's implementation, reasons for further promotion of nuclear program and its impacts on environments as well as more preferable introduction of new energy or energy conservation in stead of nuclear power, more to the public. (T. Tanaka)

US Media Coverage of Tobacco Industry Corporate Social Responsibility Initiatives.

Science.gov (United States)

McDaniel, Patricia A; Lown, E Anne; Malone, Ruth E

2018-02-01

Media coverage of tobacco industry corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives represents a competitive field where tobacco control advocates and the tobacco industry vie to shape public and policymaker understandings about tobacco control and the industry. Through a content analysis of 649 US news items, we examined US media coverage of tobacco industry CSR and identified characteristics of media items associated with positive coverage. Most coverage appeared in local newspapers, and CSR initiatives unrelated to tobacco, with non-controversial beneficiaries, were most commonly mentioned. Coverage was largely positive. Tobacco control advocates were infrequently cited as sources and rarely authored opinion pieces; however, when their voices were included, coverage was less likely to have a positive slant. Media items published in the South, home to several tobacco company headquarters, were more likely than those published in the West to have a positive slant. The absence of tobacco control advocates from media coverage represents a missed opportunity to influence opinion regarding the negative public health implications of tobacco industry CSR. Countering the media narrative of virtuous companies doing good deeds could be particularly beneficial in the South, where the burdens of tobacco-caused disease are greatest, and coverage of tobacco companies more positive.

Public opinion about biofuels: The interplay between party identification and risk/benefit perception

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fung, Timothy K.F.; Choi, Doo Hun; Scheufele, Dietram A.; Shaw, Bret R.

2014-01-01

Using an experiment embedded within a representative survey, this study examined the interactive effect of party identification and risk/benefit perception on public opinion about biofuels. Democrats tended to be more supportive of biofuels than Republicans. However, the effect of party identification on opinion about biofuels varied when individuals considered the risk/benefit of biofuels in different domains. Individuals who reported greater affiliation with the Democratic Party were likely to support funding biofuels research when primed with the economic risks or the social/ethical benefits of biofuels. For those who considered the social/ethical benefits of biofuels, more self-identified Democrats were likely to support biofuels production and use. However, more self-identified Democrats were less supportive of biofuels production and use when they considered the political risks of biofuels. Implications are discussed. - Highlights: • We examined public opinion about biofuels policies. • Effect of risk/benefit perception varied across respondents' party identification. • Democrats favored more research when considering economic risks or social benefits. • Democrats favored biofuels more when considering social benefits. • Democrats favored biofuels less when considering political risks

Risk perception: expert opinion versus public understanding. [Of radioactive waste repositories

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Brown, J

1987-02-01

A research project looking at the public's attitudes towards the siting of radioactive waste depositories is reported. The risk perception studies seek to compare expert and lay understanding of risk. Adverse public reactions to risk can only be understood if it is known how people relate to risks in their everyday or working lives. Social trends and experiences are important, for example, the adverse public opinion on the siting of nuclear waste facilities. A number of elements have been identified as common to different risk areas such as chemicals, drugs, food or radioactive waste. These are the clashing of values, polarization of beliefs or clashes of interest.

Consumer opinion on social policy approaches to promoting positive body image: Airbrushed media images and disclaimer labels.

Science.gov (United States)

Paraskeva, Nicole; Lewis-Smith, Helena; Diedrichs, Phillippa C

2017-02-01

Disclaimer labels on airbrushed media images have generated political attention and advocacy as a social policy approach to promoting positive body image. Experimental research suggests that labelling is ineffective and consumers' viewpoints have been overlooked. A mixed-method study explored British consumers' ( N = 1555, aged 11-78 years) opinions on body image and social policy approaches. Thematic analysis indicated scepticism about the effectiveness of labelling images. Quantitatively, adults, although not adolescents, reported that labelling was unlikely to improve body image. Appearance diversity in media and reorienting social norms from appearance to function and health were perceived as effective strategies. Social policy and research implications are discussed.

Public Opinion regarding Juvenile Life without Parole in Consecutive Statewide Surveys

Science.gov (United States)

Kubiak, Sheryl Pimlott; Allen, Terrence

2011-01-01

Abolition of the death penalty results in life without parole (LWOP) as the most severe sanction for convicted juveniles. Although internationally the use of LWOP for juveniles is rare, 2,225 youth have been sentenced to LWOP within the United States. To address the dearth of public opinion on the issue, the authors proposed questions to the…

Dynamic behavior of a social model for opinion formation

Science.gov (United States)

Bordogna, Clelia M.; Albano, Ezequiel V.

2007-12-01

The dynamic behavior of a social group influenced by both a strong leader and the mass media, which is modeled according to the social impact theory, is studied under two situations: (i) The strong leader changes his/her state of opinion periodically while the mass media are not considered. In this case, the leader is capable of driving the group between a dynamically ordered state with a weak leader-group coupling (high-frequency regime) and a dynamically disordered state where the group follows the opinion of the leader (low-frequency regime). (ii) The mass-media change periodically their message and have to compete with a strong leader that keeps his/her state of opinion unchanged. In this case, the mass media require an amplitude threshold in order to overcome the influence of the leader and drive the system into a dynamically disordered state. The dynamic behavior characteristic of the studied social opinion model shares many features of physical systems that are relevant in the fields of statistical mechanics and condensed matter.

Public opinion, public information and public implication in radioactive waste management in the European Union; La opinion publica, informacion publica e implicacion publica en la gestion de residuos radiactivos en la Union Europea

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Taylor, D.; Webster, S.

2004-07-01

The nuclear industry in European must address the issue of the lack of Public acceptance. In particular, the public are very concerned about radioactive waste. It is clear that there is a need to better inform the public about radioactive waste and to consult them as part of the decision-making process concerning the management of these wastes. Existing and proposed new European legislation not only encourage this provision of information and involvement in the decision-making process, but actually require it. The paper examines Public opinion and European legislation in this area and reports on the latest research on societal issues in radioactive waste management carried out under the Community's Euratom Framework Programme. (Author)

Media and public relation. Part of emergency planning

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jurkovic, I.A.; Debrecin, N.; Feretic, D.; Skanata, D.

2000-01-01

In the event of an emergency, media relation should be considered as one of the most important functions in emergency management. Individuals should be trained to be able to provide factual information to the media and the citizens during nuclear emergencies. Media can be also acquainted with the scope, ways and means of providing information related to nuclear emergencies during the predefined and regular media training or workshops, or as a part of regular training routine of involved organizations and institutions. This paper is through various approaches trying to present one of the possible ways that media and public relation can be treated during the emergencies and inside the developed emergency plans and procedures. It also represents an idea, based on the authors' experience, on a way in which things can be organized in the Croatian Technical Support Center when it comes to the media/public relation issue. (author)

ISLAM AGAMA TEROR? (ANALISIS PEMBINGKAIAN BERITA MEDIA ONLINE KOMPAS.COM DALAM KASUS CHARLIE HEBDO

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ismail Fahmi Arrauf Nasution

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Mass media is an effective instrument in shaping public opinion. Though mass media is believed to be principally transparent and independent, the information presented to the public is the result of human construction based on their understanding of the reality of knowledge. In this topic, majority of Moslem, recently, claim that some popular mass media are not objective in reporting terrorism. For that reason, this article efforts whether the image of Islam as a religion of terror is constructed, especially from the online media framing in Kompas.com about the incident in Charlie Hebdo’s media in Paris.

Information Ethics as a Guide for New Media.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Spence, E.H.; Quin, Aaron

2008-01-01

Good journalism is based—and to some extent thrives—on a diversity of perspectives from those who supply information and informed opinions to the public. New media journalism is a contemporary newsgathering and disseminating method with enormous communication potential because it is an online forum

Ethical practice of social media in public relations

CERN Document Server

DiStaso, Marcia W

2014-01-01

Given the high rate of social media use by the public, organizations are compelled to engage with key audiences through these outlets. Social media engagement requires organizations to actively participate with public groups, and this highly-interactive exchange raises a new set of ethical concerns for communicators. In this rapidly changing communications environment, the long-term implications of social media are uncertain, and this book provides the much needed research to understand its impact on audiences and organizations.Through an examination of a broad range of ethics concepts includi

Are the young the Others in Croatian media? – An analysis of newspaper articles about violence among the young

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anita Skelin Horvat

2011-06-01

Full Text Available The media are an important tool for creating public opinion and they can influence the creation of laws and policy. Media representation of young people is important because it can influence the public image of them and it can also influence the young themselves. On the other side, young people can be discriminated against and treated with suspicion because of a specific media image of them. In this paper we analyse a corpus of newspaper articles about violence among the young that occurred in Croatia recently. Analysing this discourse we try to find out who the participants are and what they emphasise as the most important questions and issues in connection with the young and violence. We try to find out how the creation of a text is influenced by power relations and other factors connected with the media (i.e. public opinion, stereotypes, public panic and what the main image of the young created by the media is. We also analyse how language is used and which language and discourse elements (i.e. style, metaphors, and collocations are used in creating a specific media image of the young.

Gap between science and media revisited: scientists as public communicators.

Science.gov (United States)

Peters, Hans Peter

2013-08-20

The present article presents an up-to-date account of the current media relations of scientists, based on a comprehensive analysis of relevant surveys. The evidence suggests that most scientists consider visibility in the media important and responding to journalists a professional duty--an attitude that is reinforced by universities and other science organizations. Scientific communities continue to regulate media contacts with their members by certain norms that compete with the motivating and regulating influences of public information departments. Most scientists assume a two-arena model with a gap between the arenas of internal scientific and public communication. They want to meet the public in the public arena, not in the arena of internal scientific communication. Despite obvious changes in science and in the media system, the orientations of scientists toward the media, as well as the patterns of interaction with journalists, have their roots in the early 1980s. Although there is more influence on public communication from the science organizations and more emphasis on strategic considerations today, the available data do not indicate abrupt changes in communication practices or in the relevant beliefs and attitudes of scientists in the past 30 y. Changes in the science-media interface may be expected from the ongoing structural transformation of the public communication system. However, as yet, there is little evidence of an erosion of the dominant orientation toward the public and public communication within the younger generation of scientists.

Gap between science and media revisited: Scientists as public communicators

Science.gov (United States)

Peters, Hans Peter

2013-01-01

The present article presents an up-to-date account of the current media relations of scientists, based on a comprehensive analysis of relevant surveys. The evidence suggests that most scientists consider visibility in the media important and responding to journalists a professional duty—an attitude that is reinforced by universities and other science organizations. Scientific communities continue to regulate media contacts with their members by certain norms that compete with the motivating and regulating influences of public information departments. Most scientists assume a two-arena model with a gap between the arenas of internal scientific and public communication. They want to meet the public in the public arena, not in the arena of internal scientific communication. Despite obvious changes in science and in the media system, the orientations of scientists toward the media, as well as the patterns of interaction with journalists, have their roots in the early 1980s. Although there is more influence on public communication from the science organizations and more emphasis on strategic considerations today, the available data do not indicate abrupt changes in communication practices or in the relevant beliefs and attitudes of scientists in the past 30 y. Changes in the science–media interface may be expected from the ongoing structural transformation of the public communication system. However, as yet, there is little evidence of an erosion of the dominant orientation toward the public and public communication within the younger generation of scientists. PMID:23940312

Public Opinion Evolution Incomplex Network:the Role of Mass Media%复杂网络中的舆情演化机制：传播媒体的外场力作用

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

纪诗奇; 张永安

2014-01-01

以探索新兴传播媒体环境下的舆情演化机制和规律为研究目的。首先，以伊辛模型为基础，利用媒介研究行业数据构建了由大量节点组成的复杂网络，以此来描述现实世界的舆情演化环境。然后，通过对伊辛模型体系下的格劳伯动力学进行改进，得出了有向、加权的复杂网络舆情演化模型，并运用蒙特卡罗方法，对舆情演化过程进行计算机仿真。实验结果揭示了舆情演化机制和网络发生相变的规律，总结出了一些对舆情管理具有指导意义和实践价值的结论。%The aim of this paper is to investigate the mechanism and common rules of opinion evolution in the environment in the presence of new media. A complex network consists of 585 individuals is introduced to represent the social network based on Ising Model. On this basis, this paper proposed a public opinion evolution model in a weighted and directed complex network using a variation of Glauber Dy-namics. A series of Monto Carlo simulations are performed. The result shows the presence of phase transition in the process of opinion for-mation and conclusions with practical significance have been provided at the end of this paper.

Construction of the Reality in the Media and Political Communication

OpenAIRE

Macháček, Roman

2016-01-01

In this thesis we will focus on the concept of the influence of mass media and the Internet on human society, due to the development of the media from the first half of the twentieth century to the present time. The aim of the thesis is to use this research method to introduce options, which media dispose in order to influence the public opinion, spread an ideology, construct a distorted reality and enforce specific interests through effective media and marketing communication. The thesis the...

Big Social Data Analytics of Changes in Consumer Behaviour and Opinion of a TV Broadcaster

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hennig, Anna; Åmodt, Anne-Sofie; Hernes, Henrik

2016-01-01

This paper examines the changes in consumer behaviour and opinions due to the transition from a public to a commercial broadcaster in the context of broadcasting international media events. By analyzing TV viewer ratings, Facebook activity and its sentiment, we aim to provide answers to how...... the transition from airing Winter Olympic Games on NRK to TV2 in Norway affected consumer behaviour and opinion.We used text classification and visual analytics methods on the business and social datasets. Our main finding is a clear link between negative sentiment and commercials. Despite positive change...

Democracy, public opinion, and nuclear weapons

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Russett, B.

1989-01-01

To the degree that people's fears of nuclear war are deep and pervasive, they become subject to manipulation by cynical or politically utopian promises, whether those promises be to abolish nuclear weapons from the earth or to create a leakproof peace shield (SDI). But the basic yearning for protection could also be mobilized to support serious arms reduction and arms control agreements. Nuclear weapons provide the basis for a vivid form of symbolic politics, perhaps equivalent in foreign policy considerations to the Korean and Vietnam wars during their durations, and in similar ways (although not necessarily as severe) as unemployment does among domestic policy issues. This paper presents survey research directed specifically at the role of public opinion on nuclear imagery (difference between expectation of nuclear war versus any kind of weapon war; willingness to spend on nuclear weapons versus conventional ones or general defense spending) can help in understanding these phenomena

Mobilising public opinion for the tobacco industry: the Consumer Tax Alliance and excise taxes.

Science.gov (United States)

Campbell, R; Balbach, E D

2008-10-01

Tobacco industry funding was instrumental in creating and financing the Consumer Tax Alliance in 1989 as an organisation that relied upon extensive media outreach to build opposition to excise taxes as a regressive form of taxation. By obscuring its own role in this effort, the tobacco industry undermined the public's reasonable expectations for transparency in the policy-making process. To examine the formation and activities of the Consumer Tax Alliance as a "hybrid" form of interest group in order to provide tobacco control and public health advocates with a better understanding of unanticipated tobacco industry coalitions and facilitate appropriate countermeasures. Document searches through the Legacy Tobacco Documents Library and through Tobacco Documents Online and review of background literature. The Tobacco Institute actively sought liberal allies beginning in the mid-1980s in seeking to build public opposition to cigarette excise tax increases by promoting them as a regressive form of taxation. The creation of the Consumer Tax Alliance in 1989 was expressly intended to turn labour and middle-class opinion against prospective excise tax increases in federal budget deficit negotiations, without divulging the tobacco industry's role in its formation. It is important to understand the dynamic by which trusted organisations can be induced to alter their agendas in response to funding sources. Advocates need to understand this form of interest group behaviour so that they are better able to negotiate the policy arena by diagnosing and exposing this influence where it occurs and, by doing so, be better prepared to take appropriate countermeasures.

Opinion Dynamics with Heterogeneous Interactions and Information Assimilation

Science.gov (United States)

Mir Tabatabaei, Seydeh Anahita

2013-01-01

In any modern society, individuals interact to form opinions on various topics, including economic, political, and social aspects. Opinions evolve as the result of the continuous exchange of information among individuals and of the assimilation of information distributed by media. The impact of individuals' opinions on each other forms a network,…

Understanding social media program usage in public transit agencies

OpenAIRE

Jenny H. Liu; Wei Shi; O.A. (Sam) Elrahman; Xuegang (Jeff) Ban; Jack M. Reilly

2016-01-01

Social media has been gaining prominence in public transit agencies in their communication strategies and daily management. This study aims to better understand recent trends in social media usage in public transit agencies, to examine which agencies use what kind of social media programs for what purposes, and how they measure their programs. A survey was conducted of the top transit agencies in the nation, and results are examined through descriptive statistical analysis, correlation analys...

Pengaruh Media Massa terhadap Proses Peradilan Pidana dalam Kasus Pencurian Kakao oleh Minah

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kurniawan Akbar

2013-04-01

Full Text Available Di dalam upaya penegakan hukum, media massa memiliki pengaruh yang cukup penting melalui pemberitaannya kepada masyarakat terhadap suatu perkara. Media massa mampu menciptakan suatu opini publik dalam masyarakat terhadap suatu perkara hukum dengan informasi dan berita yang disampaikannya.  Melalui opini publik yang dibangun dalam masyarakat, media massa melakukan fungsi kontrol terhadap proses peradilan atas suatu perkara hukum, tidak terkecuali dalam perkara pidana. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menganalisis pengaruh media massa pada proses peradilan pidana dalam kasus pencurian kakao oleh Minah. Data yang digunakan adalah primer dan sekunder. Adapun analisis yang digunakan menggunakan pendekatan yuridis-empiris. Hasil penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa opini publik terhadap perkara pencurian 3 (tiga kilogram kakao merupakan salah satu contoh dari fungsi kontrol yang dijalankan oleh media massa, dalam hal ini media massa menyoroti proses peradilan pidana yang tidak berkeadilan bagi Minah. Pengaruh media massa tersebut tampak di dalam proses persidangan terhadap terdakwa Minah oleh majelis hakim pada acara sidang III, yaitu dalam hal pertimbangan putusan yang dijatuhkan oleh majelis hakim terhadap terdakwa. In law enforcement, the media has a significant impact to the community through the preaching of a case. The mass media are able to create a public opinion on a matter of law with which it conveys information and news. Through public opinion in society, mass media perform the control functions of the judicial process of a lawsuit, not the exception in criminal cases. This study aims to analyze the influence of mass media on criminal justice processes in cases of theft of cocoa by Minah. The data used are the primary and secondary. The analysis used juridical-empirical approach. These results indicate that public opinion against theft case 3 (three pounds of cocoa is one example of a control function that is run by the mass media. Mass media

A Dialogue with Social Media Experts: Measurement and Challenges of Social Media Use in Chinese Public Relations Practice

OpenAIRE

Yi Luo; Hua Jiang

2012-01-01

With the advent and increasing popularity of new communication technologies, social media tools have been widely used in corporate organization-public communication. The extant literature on social media use in public relations practice has largely centered on the ways social media tools have transformed the practice of public relations in the United States. Limited studies have examined the role of social media in China. The present study represents one of the first to investigate the measur...

Public Engagement in Planetary Science through Europlanet Social Media

Science.gov (United States)

Heenatigala, T.

2017-09-01

From 'Save the Hubble' campaign to ESA's Rosetta mission, social media has played a major role in public engagement and continues to grow. However, with this growing number of social media platforms and the amount of content that goes public daily, the 'noise' level is high - making it difficult to reach a good, relevant audience. Hence, it's important to use different strategies with the content created, from launching a video to live session to issue a press release. Under the Horizon 2020, the Europlanet Media Centre[1] identifies the importance of using social media for outreach. Europlanet uses primary and secondary social media platforms strategically to engage with the followers and a new audience.

Exploring democracy in the Russian Federation: political regime, public opinion and international assistance

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gerrits, A.W.M.

2010-01-01

This article discusses three questions: what is the purpose of ‘democratic’ institutions and practices in Russia's authoritarian political system; how do these institutions and practices resonate with Russian public opinion; and how do they relate to the international democracy-promotion effort in

'Vote system' and 'SMS premium rate', their characteristics and application possibilities for scientific research of public opinion

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Šuvaković Uroš

2007-01-01

Full Text Available Both techniques are based on the use of telephone as an instrument of interpersonal communication and any of mass media, mostly electronic (television, radio. They have not appeared with purpose of researching public opinion, but firstly for commercial purposes. A discussion in studio the show as a whole represents a 'verbal provocation' regarding the audience from which examinees emanate, where the role of a journalist is to create atmosphere, influence the course, etc. Regardless their specifics over-combination of events and mostly non-scientific motives, they are closer to a written questionnaire than interview regarding their characteristics. A fault is that it is impossible to make a questionnaire with more than one question, 2-3 at the most, and to avoid total confusion. It is clear that the questions giving at least basic data on examinee (gender, age, education etc will be omitted, and that is the reason why we do not know whom we have questioned. Stratification of obtained results by 'Vote System' technique is possible if only fixed telephony have been used, while it is impossible with OESMS Premium Rate' technique. The fact that examinee pays for answering the question eliminates or at least considerably reduces participation of poorer layers of citizens. On the other hand, organizers motivated firstly by earnings do not limit number of calls from the same telephone number although technical possibilities exist, which interested parties misuse (e.g. political parties in order to directly influence in favor of wanted option through systematic and organized calling of numbers. OESMS Premium Rate' technique also has the problem that the use of mobile telephones drops with increase of age of citizens in Serbia, and regarding that short messages (SMS in our country is possible to send only through mobile telephony and considering that Serbia is in the second place in the world regarding age of inhabitants, this reduces representation of

Social Media, Traditional Media and Marketing Communication of Public Relations:A Study of Banking Industry

OpenAIRE

Khajeheian, Datis; Mirahmadi, Fereshteh

2015-01-01

Public relations are undertaking more important role in the marketing communication and advertising. The present paper reports a survey conducted in three Iranian banks’ public relations departments to understand how they use different media in their marketing communications and other related functions. A classification of public relations functions including fourteen functions in three categories has taken as research framework and by using a questionnaire, eight media have been asked to ran...

Aspects of public opinion research in risk perception studies covering the nuclear field

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tanimoto, Katia Suemi; Hiromoto, Goro, E-mail: ktanimoto@ipen.b, E-mail: hiromoto@ipen.b [Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares (IPEN/CNEN-SP), Sao Paulo, SP (Brazil)

2011-07-01

A project for site selection and construction of a national radioactive waste repository is underway at the Comissao Nacional de Energia Nuclear. Public acceptance is determinant to the deployment of an undertaking of this size. A major concern regarding the use of nuclear energy are the problems related to safe management of the radioactive waste. For effective communication between decision makers and the public, a mutual understanding of views, as well as attitudes towards risk, is needed. The use of opinions polls is necessary in order to achieve it. This work aims to point out the major aspects to be approached by an opinion poll for the study of risk perception on the candidate regions for repository construction. A risk perception research model is presented, to be applied to the case of radioactive waste disposal, along with theoretical support to the organization and implementation of its structure. (author)

Aspects of public opinion research in risk perception studies covering the nuclear field

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tanimoto, Katia Suemi; Hiromoto, Goro

2011-01-01

A project for site selection and construction of a national radioactive waste repository is underway at the Comissao Nacional de Energia Nuclear. Public acceptance is determinant to the deployment of an undertaking of this size. A major concern regarding the use of nuclear energy are the problems related to safe management of the radioactive waste. For effective communication between decision makers and the public, a mutual understanding of views, as well as attitudes towards risk, is needed. The use of opinions polls is necessary in order to achieve it. This work aims to point out the major aspects to be approached by an opinion poll for the study of risk perception on the candidate regions for repository construction. A risk perception research model is presented, to be applied to the case of radioactive waste disposal, along with theoretical support to the organization and implementation of its structure. (author)

Media Selection for Public TV Advertisements.

Science.gov (United States)

Hallstead, William F.

Since limited funds restrict advertising by Public Broadcasting System (PBS) stations, and since PBS serves a variety of audiences, the selection of appropriate advertising media for PBS programs is difficult. It is further complicated by conflicting research reports on the public use of the daily papers. Availability to the target audience should…

Pemanfaatan Social Media oleh Praktisi Public Relations di Yogyakarta

OpenAIRE

Pienrasmi, Hanindyalaila

2017-01-01

Social media has changes the way public relations practitioners in doing their jobs related to communicate with the public how to communicate both individually and at the corporate level. Social media become a challenge for practitioners to improve their technical and managerial abilities as a professional to deak with the development of new technology. Practitioners continue to know more about social media in order to optimize utilization and help the company to establish a better relationsh...

Public Issue Priority Formation: Media Agenda-Setting and Social Interaction.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Jian-Hua; And Others

1993-01-01

Presents a mathematical model to explain the public's issue priority by integrating media agenda-setting and social interaction. Finds that the public's issue priority was influenced by both media and social interaction. (RS)

Book review: Alina Bârgăoanu, Examenul Schengen. În căutarea sferei publice europene [The Schengen Exam. In Search of the European Public Sphere

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Flavia Durach

2012-03-01

Full Text Available “The Schengen Exam. In Search of the European Public Sphere” focuses on the Romanian public sphere and its connectivity to European issues. The public sphere is interconnected to other essential processes, such as establishing legitimacy, public opinion formation, ensuring representation of all positions and opinions, collective identity formation, and deliberation processes. The author tests the viability of the concept of “Europeanized public spheres” in the particular context of the negotiations for Romania’s accession to the Schengen area of free movement. As result of a research project carried out between 10th of January and 22nd of March 2011 by The Centre of Research in Communication, at the Faculty of Communication and Public Relations (The National School of Administrative and Political Studies, Bucharest, the book addresses the following areas: the coverage of the Schengen subject in foreign mass-media, media coverage and framing in Romania, the public perception on the matter and the opinion of Romanian high profile actors involved in European affairs. Overall, the entire research indicates a predominantly local, national perspective when dealing with the Schengen affair, thus suggesting that the Romanian public sphere is largely disconnected, even isolated from EU trends.

Public opinion about nuclear energy. Year 2005 poll

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Istenic, R.; Jencic, I.

2005-01-01

Public information is one of the important permanent activities of the Nuclear Training Centre Milan Copic at Jozef Stefan Institute in Ljubljana. It is focused on youngsters and about one half of every generation of schoolchildren in Slovenia is informed on nuclear energy. Every year since 1993 we poll youngsters using the same basic set of questions. For comparison we also polled professionals (our colleagues at the Jozef Stefan Institute) using the same questionnaire. Opinion of youngsters about nuclear energy in Slovenia can be considered favourable now (71 %), but the trend is negative. The support is dropping from initial 83% for two consecutive years. Opposition to NPP Krsko operation remains low. (author)

Advanced nuclear reactor public opinion project. Interim report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Benson, B.

1991-07-25

This Interim Report summarizes the findings of our first twenty in-depth interviews in the Advanced Nuclear Reactor Public Opinion Project. We interviewed 6 industry trade association officials, 3 industry attorneys, 6 environmentalists/nuclear critics, 3 state officials, and 3 independent analysts. In addition, we have had numerous shorter discussions with various individuals concerned about nuclear power. The report is organized into the four categories proposed at our April, 1991, Advisory Group meeting: safety, cost-benefit analysis, science education, and communications. Within each category, some change of focus from that of the Advisory Group has been required, to reflect the findings of our interviews. This report limits itself to describing our findings. An accompanying memo draws some tentative conclusions.

Mass-media - Partener în realizarea formelor comunicării publice

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Corina RĂDULESCU

2012-06-01

Full Text Available In the Romanian public sphere a fault line is noticeable between the two pillars of public communication: the citizen and the public authorities, despite the fact that we live in a time of extensive development of communication means and also that, in its essence, public communication means more than simply to inform the public. Also, in the economy of the process of building the public immage of a public institution, all registers of public communication bring their contribution, but external communication, especially media relations, are of strategic importance in realizing this goal. From both perspectives, the present paper shows that there is a large diversity of instruments available to public institutions in working with the media (press release, press conference, interview, etc. and that the media can fully contribute to the realization of all forms of public communication, provided there is instututional willingness for this matter. To conclude, between any public institution and the media there must exist professional colaboration relations, based on mutual respect.

Information sources in the Spanish social media during the “Three Days of March” (11-13 March 2004

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Dra. Mª Montserrat Doval-Avendaño

2010-01-01

Full Text Available This research tries to establish whether the Spanish public agenda during the period from 11 to 13 March, 2004, was set by the social media or the traditional media. Based on the content analysis of traditional media, such as CadenaSer, El Mundo and El País, and social media (mainly blogs and forums it was concluded that the agenda of the social media, at a cognitive level, was actually established by the traditional media. It was also established that, during those three days, the social media worked as collectors of information from Spanish and foreign traditional media; as compilers of press releases from social organizations calling for demonstrations; and as diffusers of opinions linking the terrorist attack to the foreign policy of the Aznar Government, and of opinions that asked people to respond to terrorism through the polls. The agenda-setting, therefore, continued to be in the hands of the traditional media, not only at the basic level of the agenda -transfer of salience from the media to the public agenda-, but also at the attribute level -transfer of the specific attributes- and framing of the terrorist attacks.

Nuclear energy and public opinion - a difficult relationship

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kaase, M.

1990-01-01

Nuclear energy remains an explosive subject. Less people demand to give up nuclear energy at once but the emotional and cognitive environment of attitudes to nuclear energy makes this relative 'peaceabilty' seem a very precarious issue. The Chernobyl shock is still active. The future will depend on whether new accidents will occur in nuclear power stations and how dangerous they will be. The highly political nature and the polarization of the subject together with an assumingly still negative coverage by the mass media and a general distrust of the people in established politics will make it very difficult to influence attitudes by means of information. We should attempt to bring sober facts and objectiveness to the discussion of nuclear energy and to involve citizens more actively than in the past while ensuring that there is less auto-selectivity (bias). What we also need is the basic and credible readiness of all participants to accept the results of a democratic process of the development of opinion. (orig./HSCH) [de

Demographic and social factors influencing public opinion on prostitution: an exploratory study in Kwazulu-Natal province, South Africa

OpenAIRE

Pudifin, S; Bosch, S

2012-01-01

This paper examines countervailing South African public opinion on the subject of prostitution in South Africa, and identifies the factors which might influence these attitudes. It also investigates the complex relationship between public opinion and the law. Whilst engaging in prostitution constitutes a criminal offence under the Sexual Offences Act 23 of 1957, it is generally ignored by the police, which results in a quasi-legalised reality on the ground. In recent years there has been grow...

The "Public Opinion Survey of Human Attributes-Stuttering" (POSHA-S): Summary Framework and Empirical Comparisons

Science.gov (United States)

St. Louis, Kenneth O.

2011-01-01

Purpose: The "Public Opinion Survey of Human Attributes-Stuttering" ("POSHA-S") was developed to make available worldwide a standard measure of public attitudes toward stuttering that is practical, reliable, valid, and translatable. Mean data from past field studies as comparisons for interpretation of "POSHA-S" results are reported. Method: Means…

Social role of the media: Control of social reality

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Đukić Nemanja

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Through analysis of the nature and character of media practice, the paper shows that the media are basic political instrument of manipulative social control of the democratic order. Control of social reality as a fundamental social role of the media stems from the manipulative power of the media that is based in the strategies of production and control of the symbolic potential of the society. Through the production and control of the symbolic potential of the society, the media transform symbolic power in social action or absence of social action through homogenization and activate individuals and social groups in public opinion or their dispersion and breaking off in the public. Development of manipulation, control, oppression, domination and hegemony, the media becomes a product of instrumentalist mind which contributing 'colonization of the lifeworld' and the development of modern society which on a rational way becoming totalitarian.

Membedah “Normalisme” dan Stigmatisasi Gay dalam Pemberitaan Media di Indonesia

OpenAIRE

Nikodemus Niko

2016-01-01

Social stigma increasingly embedded on gay in Indonesia that in fact its construction through the mass media both online and offline. Enforceability moral stigma that could be used in the society then caused the deal to deny the existence of gays in the social environment and social community. The power of media that sustain public opinion to the attitudes of the public in assessing the pseudo created normalisme. This article would like to explain that the “normal” and “abnormal” that is supe...

Social Media and the Transformation of Public Space

OpenAIRE

José van Dijck; Thomas Poell

2015-01-01

This introduction to the Special Issue of Social Media + Society discusses the key theoretical perspectives and methodological approaches needed to gain insight into how social platforms intervene in public space. It starts by highlighting how in the emerging platform society public and private communication is reshaped by social media’s commercial mechanisms, transforming the political economy of the media landscape. Given the complex character of this society, it is essential to employ diff...

A novel data-mining approach leveraging social media to monitor consumer opinion of sitagliptin.

Science.gov (United States)

Akay, Altug; Dragomir, Andrei; Erlandsson, Björn-Erik

2015-01-01

A novel data mining method was developed to gauge the experience of the drug Sitagliptin (trade name Januvia) by patients with diabetes mellitus type 2. To this goal, we devised a two-step analysis framework. Initial exploratory analysis using self-organizing maps was performed to determine structures based on user opinions among the forum posts. The results were a compilation of user's clusters and their correlated (positive or negative) opinion of the drug. Subsequent modeling using network analysis methods was used to determine influential users among the forum members. These findings can open new avenues of research into rapid data collection, feedback, and analysis that can enable improved outcomes and solutions for public health and important feedback for the manufacturer.

Time, science and consensus: the different times involving scientific research, political decision and public opinion

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

José Aparecido de

2010-01-01

Full Text Available This essay analyses the asymmetrical relationship between the time of scientific research and the time of the different segments interested in their results, focusing mainly on necessity to establish technical consensus about the fields of science that require rigorous investigations and texts. In the last years, civil society sectors - mainly scientific journalism, legislative power, and public opinion - has shown growing interest in participating of the decision making process that regulates science routes. In this study, we analyzed the decision making process of the Biosafety Law, as it allows research with embryonic stem cells in Brazil. The results allow us to conclude that this asymmetrical relationship between the different times (of science, scientific disclosure, public opinion, and public power contribute to the maturing of the dialog on scientific policies, as well as to the establishment of a consensus concerning science routes, which aims at the democratization of scientific work.

Long Distance Solidarity: Polish Public Opinion and the Boer War 1899–1902

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Szlanta Piotr

2017-06-01

Full Text Available The bloody conflict which was taking place in South Africa in the years 1899-1902 was followed with a great interest by Polish public opinion. Its greatest part strongly sympathized with the Boer republics. Their burgers were idealized and presented by the Polish press as brave fighters for independence, who dared to stand up against the world empire to defend their rights while Great Britain was attributed full responsibility for the outbreak of the war. For many Poles the Boers personified the general idea of freedom fighters and symbolized all suppressed nations. Their sad fate seemed to be quite similar to the Polish one and this similarity was the main source of sympathy toward defenders of the Transvaal and Free Orange State. Voices of few Polish intellectuals, who called for a more objective and not so emotional view on the war, could not change the pro-Boers stance of the greatest part of Polish public opinion.

Public Perceptions Regarding Use of Virtual Reality in Health Care: A Social Media Content Analysis Using Facebook.

Science.gov (United States)

Keller, Michelle Sophie; Park, Hannah J; Cunningham, Maria Elena; Fouladian, Joshua Eleazar; Chen, Michelle; Spiegel, Brennan Mason Ross

2017-12-19

Virtual reality (VR) technology provides an immersive environment that enables users to have modified experiences of reality. VR is increasingly used to manage patients with pain, disability, obesity, neurologic dysfunction, anxiety, and depression. However, public opinion regarding the use of VR in health care has not been explored. Understanding public opinion of VR is critical to ensuring effective implementation of this emerging technology. This study aimed to examine public opinion about health care VR using social listening, a method that allows for the exploration of unfiltered views of topics discussed on social media and online forums. In March 2016, NBC News produced a video depicting the use of VR for patient care. The video was repackaged by NowThis, a social media news website, and distributed on Facebook by Upworthy, a news aggregator, yielding 4.3 million views and 2401 comments. We used Microsoft Excel Power Query and ATLAS.ti software (version 7.5, Scientific Software Development) to analyze the comments using content analysis and categorized the comments around first-, second-, and third-order concepts. We determined self-identified gender from the user's Facebook page and performed sentiment analysis of the language to analyze whether the perception of VR differed by gender using a Pearson's chi-square test. Out of the 1614 analyzable comments, 1021 (63.26%) were attributed to female Facebook users, 572 (35.44%) to male users, and 21 (1.30%) to users of unknown gender. There were 1197 comments coded as expressing a positive perception about VR (74.16%), 251 coded as expressing a negative perception and/or concern (15.56%), and 560 coded as neutral (34.70%). Informants identified 20 use cases for VR in health care, including the use of VR for pain and stress reduction; bed-bound individuals; women during labor; and patients undergoing chemotherapy, dialysis, radiation, or imaging procedures. Negative comments expressed concerns about radiation

Do Authoritarian Governments Respond to Public Opinion on the Environment? Evidence from China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiao Tang

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Given its serious impacts on the public’s health, air pollution in China is a matter of strong public concern, particularly in reference to malodorous waste gas. Petition letters related to atmospheric pollution accounted for about 40% of the total petition cases. However, scholarly views differ on whether the Chinese government responds to public opinion on the environment and seeks to improve its environmental governance behavior. For this study, data from national surveys on the public’s environmental satisfaction administered during the period 2011–2015 were analyzed to determine whether the public’s dissatisfaction with the state of the environment in a given year resulted in increased investments by provincial governments in pollution governance during the following year. The study’s findings revealed that governmental behavior in response to public opinion on the environment was selective within the field of environmental governance, with provincial governments being inclined to invest more in waste gas pollution control than in water pollution control. Furthermore, results from this study show that the Chinese government tends to put more efforts into the environmental field where it could more easily achieve short-term benefits.

Do Authoritarian Governments Respond to Public Opinion on the Environment? Evidence from China

Science.gov (United States)

Tang, Xiao; Chen, Weiwei

2018-01-01

Given its serious impacts on the public’s health, air pollution in China is a matter of strong public concern, particularly in reference to malodorous waste gas. Petition letters related to atmospheric pollution accounted for about 40% of the total petition cases. However, scholarly views differ on whether the Chinese government responds to public opinion on the environment and seeks to improve its environmental governance behavior. For this study, data from national surveys on the public’s environmental satisfaction administered during the period 2011–2015 were analyzed to determine whether the public’s dissatisfaction with the state of the environment in a given year resulted in increased investments by provincial governments in pollution governance during the following year. The study’s findings revealed that governmental behavior in response to public opinion on the environment was selective within the field of environmental governance, with provincial governments being inclined to invest more in waste gas pollution control than in water pollution control. Furthermore, results from this study show that the Chinese government tends to put more efforts into the environmental field where it could more easily achieve short-term benefits. PMID:29401701

Sharing Your National Service Story: A Guide to Working with the Media

Science.gov (United States)

Corporation for National and Community Service, 2005

2005-01-01

Living in an information age, targeting the news media has become one of the most effective methods used by national service programs for transmitting information to the public. This report describes a strategic approach that can assist public relations departments to determine: (1) Who one's audience is and what their opinions, attitudes, and…

Is using social media "good" for the public relations profession? A critical reflection

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Valentini, Chiara

2015-01-01

Scholarship in public relations seems to be overly positive about social media. The dominant discourse in public relations is that using social media is “good”, because social media can help organizations in developing dialogs and relationships with publics and in engaging with them. Yet empirical...... evidence in public relations is mostly case-dependent and limited to the realm of understanding current organizational practices, with limited understanding of the concrete value for organizations or for publics. In this paper I question the utility of social media for publics, organizations and public...... relations, and I argue that the positive view of social media held by the majority of public relations scholars is grounded on the profession’s need to reconcile the two sides of public relations identity—the rhetorical and the relational. A discussion of whether current public relations practices in social...

Considerations Regarding the Observance of the Presumption of Innocence in the Media

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Sandra Gradinaru

2009-06-01

Full Text Available The presumption of innocence, the right of privacy, of an intimate and a family life, the freedomof speech, officials, the deontological code of the journalist Abstract: In the context of the Rule of Law, amodern governing guarantees to anyone the presumption of innocence until is delivered an unappealablecriminal decision. Nevertheless, in almost all the cases, the media, by virtue of freedom of speech, bringsprejudices to the dignity, the honor and image of the officials, investigated in criminal cases, having as aunique argument the fact that a media campaign, searching the sensational, does nothing else thanreproducing hostile manifestations - public servant - thus influencing the public opinion. They affect theprinciple of presumption of innocence, inducing unfortunate effects above the default of justice. Thus, themedia takes the information from prosecutors that operate within the courts, shading them by the depreciatingallegations addressed to the public persons as defendants in criminal cases, creating to the public opinion adistorted image of reality, before the justice has passed through a final criminal decision on guilt or theirinnocence.

Freedom of information and abuse of media in the process of globalization

OpenAIRE

Milan Palevic; Srdjan Djordjevic

2013-01-01

Freedom of speech is considered to be one of the basic human rights and is included as an indisputable in all major international conventions and national laws. Due to the role they play in informing the public and creating public opinion, mass media and journalists are often said to be the "fourth power" in the society. Indeed, the media have increased their capacity in material, technical and personnel agenda, so that today they can independently, or, in alliance with a broader factor of po...

Framing the Use of Social Media Tools in Public Health

Science.gov (United States)

Stoll, Jennifer; Quartarone, Richard; Torres-Urquidy, Miguel

2013-01-01

Objective Recent scholarship has focused on using social media (e.g., Twitter, Facebook) as a secondary data stream for disease event detection. However, reported implementations such as (4) underscore where the real value may lie in using social media for surveillance. We provide a framework to illuminate uses of social media beyond passive observation, and towards improving active responses to public health threats. Introduction User-generated content enabled by social media tools provide a stream of data that augment surveillance data. Current use of social media data focuses on identification of disease events. However, once identification occurs, the leveraging of social media in monitoring disease events remains unclear (2, 3). To clarify this, we constructed a framework mapped to the surveillance cycle, to understand how social media can improve public health actions. Methods This framework builds on extant literature on surveillance and social media found in PubMed, Science Direct, and Web of Science, using keywords: “public health”, “surveillance”, “outbreak”, and “social media”. We excluded articles on online tools that were not interactive e.g., aggregated web-search results. Of 2,064 articles, 23 articles were specifically on the use of social media in surveillance work. Our review yielded five categories of social media use within the surveillance cycle (Table 1). This framing within surveillance illuminates a range of roles for social media tools beyond disease event detection. [Insert Image #1 here] Finally, we used the 1918 Influenza Pandemic to illustrate an application of this framework (Fig 1), if it were part of the public health toolkit. In 1918, America was already becoming a “mass media” society. Yet a key difference in mass communications today is the enabling of public health to be more adaptive through the interactivity of social media. Results We used this “pre-social media” disease event to underscore where the

Monte Carlo simulations of a model for opinion formation

Science.gov (United States)

Bordogna, C. M.; Albano, E. V.

2007-04-01

A model for opinion formation based on the Theory of Social Impact is presented and studied by means of numerical simulations. Individuals with two states of opinion are impacted due to social interactions with: i) members of the society, ii) a strong leader with a well-defined opinion and iii) the mass media that could either support or compete with the leader. Due to that competition, the average opinion of the social group exhibits phase-transition like behaviour between different states of opinion.

Social Media Social Comparison of Ability (but not Opinion) Predicts Lower Identity Clarity: Identity Processing Style as a Mediator.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Chia-Chen; Holden, Sean M; Carter, Mollie D K

2018-01-11

Social comparison on social media has received increasing attention, but most research has focused on one type of social comparison and its psycho-emotional implications. Little is known about how different types of social comparison influence youth's identity development. Drawing on the theories of identity processing styles and social comparison, we examined how two different forms of social comparison on social media related to three identity processing styles, which in turn predicted youth's global self-esteem and identity clarity. We surveyed 219 college freshmen (M age  = 18.29; 74% female) once in the Fall and once in the Spring. Social comparison of ability on social media was related to concurrent diffuse-avoidant identity processing style, which predicted lower identity clarity months later. In contrast, social comparison of opinion on social media did not influence college freshmen's global self-esteem and identity clarity through identity processing styles. The findings clarified the implications of online social comparison for youth's identity development.

Application of information and complexity theories to public opinion polls. The case of Greece (2004-2007)

OpenAIRE

Panos, C. P.; Chatzisavvas, K. Ch.

2007-01-01

A general methodology to study public opinion inspired from information and complexity theories is outlined. It is based on probabilistic data extracted from opinion polls. It gives a quantitative information-theoretic explanation of high job approval of Greek Prime Minister Mr. Constantinos Karamanlis (2004-2007), while the same time series of polls conducted by the company Metron Analysis showed that his party New Democracy (abbr. ND) was slightly higher than the opposition party of PASOK -...

The News Media: Should They Play a Role in Crisis Management?

Science.gov (United States)

1989-03-15

Agenda ... ....... 10 The Influence of Television .......... 12 CHAPTER 3. DEALING WITH FREEDOM OF SPEECH .. ...... 17 Censorship...of governing. A free press, freedom of speech , and the public’s right to know are values central to our democratic society 15 and they are worth prote...CHAPTER 3 DEALING WITH FREEDOM OF SPEECH Chapter 2 establishes that the mass media have a far reaching effect on public opinion, and that public

Chaotic Modes in Scale Free Opinion Networks

Science.gov (United States)

Kusmartsev, Feo V.; Kürten, Karl E.

2010-12-01

In this paper, we investigate processes associated with formation of public opinion in varies directed random, scale free and small-world social networks. The important factor of the opinion formation is the existence of contrarians which were discovered by Granovetter in various social psychology experiments1,2,3 long ago and later introduced in sociophysics by Galam.4 When the density of contrarians increases the system behavior drastically changes at some critical value. At high density of contrarians the system can never arrive to a consensus state and periodically oscillates with different periods depending on specific structure of the network. At small density of the contrarians the behavior is manifold. It depends primary on the initial state of the system. If initially the majority of the population agrees with each other a state of stable majority may be easily reached. However when originally the population is divided in nearly equal parts consensus can never be reached. We model the emergence of collective decision making by considering N interacting agents, whose opinions are described by two state Ising spin variable associated with YES and NO. We show that the dynamical behaviors are very sensitive not only to the density of the contrarians but also to the network topology. We find that a phase of social chaos may arise in various dynamical processes of opinion formation in many realistic models. We compare the prediction of the theory with data describing the dynamics of the average opinion of the USA population collected on a day-by-day basis by varies media sources during the last six month before the final Obama-McCain election. The qualitative ouctome is in reasonable agreement with the prediction of our theory. In fact, the analyses of these data made within the paradigm of our theory indicates that even in this campaign there were chaotic elements where the public opinion migrated in an unpredictable chaotic way. The existence of such a phase

Media and Public Communications Policies: An Empirical Analysis of the Brazilian Print Media

OpenAIRE

Canela, Guilherme

2007-01-01

This essay examines a subject rarely emphasized in the studies on public interest issues reported in the print media. Drawing on a review of the journalistic content produced by 53 newspapers from every state in the federation and 4 national weekly magazines, the paper analyzes a sample of 1,184 articles, editorials, columns, interviews, and reports on subjects of immediate interest to the media, journalism, and/or media companies. Throughout 2003, 2004, and 2005, news pieces were compiled co...

Beyond information and utility: Transforming public spaces with media facades.

Science.gov (United States)

Fischer, Patrick Tobias; Zöllner, Christian; Hoffmann, Thilo; Piatza, Sebastian; Hornecker, Eva

2013-01-01

Media facades (often characterized as a building's digital skin) are public displays that substitute dynamic details and information for usually static structures. SMSlingshot is a media facade system at the confluence of art, architecture, and technology design in the context of urban human-computer interaction. It represents a participative approach to public displays that enlivens public spaces and fosters civic and social dialogue as an alternative to advertising and service-oriented information displays. Observations from SMSlingshot's implementation at festival exhibitions provide insight into the roles of scale, distance, and the spatial situation of media facade contexts. The lessons learned apply to most public-display situations and will be useful for designers and developers of this new medium in urban spaces.

Nuclear energy - a topic of public opinion. Description and analysis of a communication process. [Federal Republic of Germany

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1979-01-01

The establishment and extension of the communication process on the issue of nuclear energy are pointed out and the reasons for its development are analysed. Approaching the subject by writing a biography , the author followed the reporting on it in mass-media from 1974 to 1978. The contents of the reports are analysed. A long, latent phase was followed by a break-through caused by local protests at Wyhl. Then all those concerned tried to influence the opinion of the public in line with their intentions. Because of certain selective mechanisms one did not succeed in strengthening the tendency in favour of nuclear energy, on the contrary, the opposition increased to the point of open confrontation at Brokdorf and Grohnde. The late institutionalization of the topic by political parties etc. has reduced the necessity to take measures without making use of these official channels. Therefore, the time of big conflicts is said to be over.

Media Massa dalam Situasi Konflik: dari Bandwagon Effect Sampai Peace Narrative

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aloysius Ranggabumi Nuswantoro

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Conflict occurs between two or more parties with different interests. Media related to conflict. The ability of the media to influence public opinion is the biggest element in the relationship between media with conflict. The media in this context can be a party that sparked the conflict but could also act as resolutor conflict. Media as a provocateur when play became an arm of one of the conflicting parties, while a conciliator conflict when showing neutrality and information that tends to peace (peace narrative. And theoretical studies should be conducted searches empirical facts on this subject, to clarify the position, the position and role of media in conflict situations. The results can also be used to see the extent to which the media contribute to creating conditions of public space and democratic deliberative. Against this, the choice to stick with journalism be the most appropriate choice for the media in an effort to maintain its position as an agent of democracy in society.

Use of Social Media During Public Emergencies by People with Disabilities

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John T. Morris

2014-08-01

Full Text Available Introduction: People with disabilities are generally more vulnerable during disasters and public emergencies than the general population. Physical, sensory and cognitive impairments may result in greater difficulty in receiving and understanding emergency alert information, and greater difficulty in taking appropriate action. The use of social media in the United States has grown considerably in recent years. This has generated increasing interest on the part of national, state and local jurisdictions in leveraging these channels to communicate public health and safety information. How and to what extent people with disabilities use social and other communications media during public emergencies can help public safety organizations understand the communication needs of the citizens in their jurisdictions, and plan their social media and other communications strategies accordingly. Methods: This article presents data from a survey on the use of social media and other communications media during public emergencies by people with disabilities conducted from November 1, 2012 through March 30, 2013. Results: The data presented here show four key results. First, levels of use of social media in general are high for people with disabilities, as well as for the general population. Second, use of social media during emergencies is still low for both groups. Third, levels of use of social media are not associated with income levels, but are significantly and strongly associated with age: younger people use social media at higher rates than older people in both groups (p,0.001. Fourth, differences in the use of social media during emergencies across disability types are slight, with the exception of deaf and hard-of-hearing respondents, the former more likely to have used social media to receive (p¼0.002, verify (p¼0.092 and share (p¼0.007 emergency information . Conclusion: These last two results suggest that effective emergency communications

网络舆论对政府危机公关的影响%Internet Public Opinion on the Impact of Government Crisis

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

王玉

2012-01-01

进入网络信息时代以后,以互联网、电子论坛、微博以及手机等传播媒介为载体的公众舆论——网络舆论逐渐兴盛起来。近年来各类网络突发性公共事件频频发生,各类危机在众多领域相继出现,而网络媒介因其开放、及时、互动、共享等特征使得危机信息的传播速度比以往更快、传递的渠道更广、信息控制和垄断更难,从而使得危机极易被迅速扩大。这就要求政府危机公关的理念以及方式必须有所变革。首先对网络舆论、危机公关和政府危机公关等相关理论进行了概念上的界定,然后从网络舆论的传播特点分析了新形势下网络舆论对政府危机公关的双重性影响。%After entering Internet era,special transmitting media as internet,electronic forums and mobile phone system,etc have been popular.With the increasing frequency of various public emergencies and all kinds of crises appeared in numerous fields,whereas those crises have been expanding rapidly under unprecedented quick promotion,wide range of channels,hard control and of crisis information due to the characteristics of media as publicity,timeliness,share,etc,a clear recognition of the changing environment and under which responding transformation of government’s strategies of public relation on crisis are required.In this article,a definition of some core concepts as network opinion,public relation on crisis,government crisis management,etc has been made initially.Then analysis about the double effects of network public opinion on the government crisis management from the network features of the new situation is made.

Public opinion about large offshore wind power: Underlying factors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Firestone, Jeremy; Kempton, Willett

2007-01-01

This paper address factors underlying public opinion regarding offshore wind power based on a survey of residents near a proposed development off Cape Cod, MA, USA. Supporters are found to be younger, better educated, and more likely to own their own home. Opponents are more likely to earn over $200,000/year, and more likely to expect to see the project from their daily routine. The overwhelming majority of the population expects negative impacts from the project; much smaller numbers expect positive effects. When asked which factors most affected their position, the most frequently mentioned was damage to marine life/environmental impacts, followed by electricity rates, aesthetics, and impacts on fishing or boating. When the expectations expressed by our respondents are compared with the findings of the project's draft Environmental Impact Statement, many of the beliefs upon which opinion are based appear to be factually incorrect. Finally, we tested whether change in the project would affect support. The biggest change was an increase in the level of support, by 47% of the sample, if the project was the first of 300 such projects, in sum having proportionately larger impacts as well as greater benefits. Implications of this research are discussed

Plant life extension of nuclear power plants. No thank you? A scientific study on the influence of media and communication on the public opinion concerning nuclear power

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Arlt, Dorothee

2013-01-01

The present study examined the influence of the individual use of media on attitudes towards nuclear power with focus in the run-time extension of German nuclear power plants, planned by the German government in the year 2010. The theoretical framework for explaining media effects on attitudes based on opinion research as well as on the second-level agenda setting. This approach assumes that highlighting attributes about attitude objects in the media makes them cognitively more accessible for recipients, so that these attributes are used to evaluate attitude object. In this study, arguments for and against the run-time extension were defined as attributes. For the investigation of individual media effects, this study was carried out in a two-method design to combine survey data and content analysis data on an individual level. From 16.08.2010 to 05.09.2010 the data on attitudes towards the planned run-time extension, nuclear power, energy, policy as well as individual media usage was collected in a representative telephone survey of n=551 people in Thuringia. In a quantitative content analysis the pro and contra arguments about the planned run-time extension in n=480 articles and news items, published during six months before the political decision, were analyzed. The findings of the content analysis showed that the media reported from 08.03.2010 to 05.09.2010 overall positively about the planned run-time extension and that the coverage intensity increased significantly shortly before the political decision. The main focus was on arguments regarding the efficiency and security of supply. By combining the content analysis data with the media usage data, new variables (sum and average value indices) for the specific individual media input of arguments about the run-time extension were formed. With these variables medium- and long-term media effects on attitudes towards nuclear power were tested. The results of the regression analyses showed that the individual media

Yucca Mountain public tours: Can they impact public opinion?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Reilly, B.; Austin, P.

1991-01-01

The Yucca Mountain site in Nevada was selected by Congress in 1987 as the only site for the US Department of Energy (DOE) to study for suitability as a high-level radioactive waste repository. Several years of site characterization studies are needed to determine if the site is suitable. However, DOE's study of the site is one of the most intensely opposed federal programs today. The fight against DOE's effort to study the repository leads the political agendas of Nevada's governor and Congressional delegation. The politicians and the press have been the primary sources of information for Nevada citizens on the Yucca Mountain site characterization program. However, there is a more direct source of factual information regarding the program - the site itself and the participating scientists. The DOE is offering Nevada citizens the opportunity to form their own opinions by touring the Yucca Mountain site and interacting with DOE scientists and engineers. Feedback from monthly tours conducted from March to June 1991 has indicated substantial support from Nevada citizens for DOE's study of the site. In fact, a surprising number of citizens have indicated that the opportunity to gather information and formulate their own opinions led them to change their opinions

Facebook – Public Communication Media for the Romanian Institutions

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Elena Farcaş

2017-06-01

Full Text Available For the public institutions, social networks represent a communication channel completing what represents the professional public communication, so the role of the professional communicator does not end or diminish and neither does the role of traditional mass-media. It is about an evolution, a modification, an adaptation of public communication and not a replacement of the way of achieving such communication. By this study, I proposed myself to identify the way in which the public institutions in Romania have adapted to the new trends imposed to public communication. To this end, I conducted an analysis of the structure, content, presentation and visibility in the online media of the Facebook pages of the 21 ministries composing the Romanian Government. I chose ministries as a subject of this study because, as institutions representing the central public administration of Romania, they exercise their competence at the level of the entire national territory and, generating public policies, have a major impact on the socio-economic environment, addressing a large number of beneficiaries. I noticed that all the ministries have an official Facebook page, these pages are updated and, by the published information, they are constituted as key elements in all representation media for these institutions.

Public opinion about nuclear energy - year 2004 poll

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Istenic, R.; Jencic, I.

2004-01-01

Public information is one of the permanent activities of the Nuclear Training Centre Milan Copic at Jozef Stefan Institute in Ljubljana. It is focused on youngsters from elementary and high schools in Slovenia that visit the Centre as organized groups. Every year in the spring since 1993 some 800 youngsters are polled with basically the same set of questions inquiring about their knowledge and opinions on nuclear energy. Polling is performed at the beginning of the visit to obtain results based on information from everyday life. In the paper the results of this year's poll are presented and compared with the previous years. The attitude towards NPP Krsko is still favourable but the support has unexpectedly dropped from 83% to 73%. Misconceptions about dangers of nuclear energy and radioactive waste still remain high. (author)

Public Opinion and Repression in Yucatan: 1808-1816

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Laura Machuca Gallegos

2017-04-01

Full Text Available Across the Hispanic world, the first two decades of the 19th Century were characterized by the development of a new political force called public opinion. The objective of this article is to analyze its appearance in Merida, Yucatan: though far from the great centers of power, this city actively participated in the same political, social and cultural processes as the rest of ibero-America in the period starting in 1808. The author centers their attention on the Sanjuanistas, a group active during this time whose goal was to defend the Constitution of Cadiz. Yucatan, far from representing  a local case, instead reveals the ins and outs of new forms of sociability, above all in the field of political practices, and their embrace by society.

Watching the Evolution of the American Family? Amazon's Transparent, Ecological Systems Theory, and the Changing Dynamics of Public Opinion.

Science.gov (United States)

Becker, Amy B; Todd, Maureen E

2018-01-01

Using Bronfenbrenner's (1979) ecological systems theory as an organizing framework, the research closely examines the text of the Amazon Studios hit show Transparent and, by extension, the evolution of public opinion toward transgender individuals. By examining the Pfefferman family in detail and their related microsystem and macrosystem, we are able to closely unpack the transition of Jeffrey Tambor's character from Mort to Maura and the show's connections with broader developments in the Los Angeles LGBT community and the Jewish diaspora in postwar and contemporary Los Angeles. In addition, by focusing on the influence of the chronosystem, we are able to examine how both opinions toward Maura and public opinion toward transgender issues more generally have evolved within the family system and the larger American community over time.

International Public Relations in the EU: Development Cooperation Public Opinion and Public Policies

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Victor Negrescu

2011-05-01

Full Text Available In the context of the growing importance of the cooperation for development in the European Union and the appearance of a common growing public opinion agreement supporting this kind of initiatives, it is necessary to understand if we can talk today about a true common European consensus. Still covered on intergovernmental level and considered to be a part of the national foreign policies, EU development aid is still far from reaching the maximum of its efficiency. In this paper we try to introduce a new evaluation method of the cooperation for development policies and interpretation of the degree of communitarisation of the national policies that will enable us to appreciate the stages that have to be completed by the member countries but also by the EU to realize a completely uniform European assistance strategy and of the activities, so necessary for raising the efficiency of the funds allocated by the EU, but also in the perspective of achieving the Millennium Development Goals.

Insights for public education provided by French media on ideas about prostate cancer - A media analysis study.

Science.gov (United States)

Zanchetta, Margareth S; Cognet, Marguerite; Lam-Kin-Teng, Mary Rachel; Dumitriu, Marie Elisabeth; Haag, Carlos; Kadio, Bernard; Desgrandchamps, François; Rénaud, Lise

2018-01-01

Background: This study explored the French media's presentation of ideas and medical information about prostate cancer (PC) that may influence men's understanding, attitudes and behavior. Methods: A qualitative media content analysis centered on PC information delivered by French professional media. The selected data were produced in the aftermath of the High Health Authority's decision in 2008 not to recommend systematic screening by prostate specific antigen(PSA) for men over 50. Source was the Media Archives of the French National Library. Content was analyzed from 15 television programs, 14 radio programs, and 55 articles from 35 popular French newspapers (online and printed, weekly and monthly) and 20 magazines. Audio content was narrated into textual form and submitted to manual coding along with the print content. Results: Television and radio content focused on the nature of PC, screening and treatment,and conveyed a gender-centric position linked to male sexuality and virility. Newspapers and magazines targeted the testing controversy, the lack of consensus among professionals, and scientific advances in screening and treatment. Conclusion: Media participation in the European testing debate is valuable for allowing patients to hear all opinions on PC risk factors. Debate on testing policy contributes to confusion and uncertainty regarding appropriate action.

Phase Transitions in a Social Impact Model for Opinion Formation

Science.gov (United States)

Bordogna, Clelia M.; Albano, Ezequiel V.

A model for opinion formation in a social group, based on the Theory of Social Impact developed by Latané, is studied by means of numerical simulations. Interactions among the members of the group, as well as with a strong leader competing with the mass media, are considered. The model exhibits first-order transitions between two different states of opinion, which are supported by the leader and the mass media, respectively. The social inertia of the group becomes evident when the opinion of the leader changes periodically. In this case two dynamic states are identified: for long periods of time, the group follows the changes of the leader but, decreasing the period, the opinion of the group remains unchanged. This scenery is suitable for the ocurrence of dynamic phase transitions.

THE USE OF PUBLIC RELATIONS IN PROJECTING AN ORGANIZATION'S POSITIVE IMAGE

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Ioana Olariu

2017-07-01

Full Text Available This article is a theoretical approach on the importance of using public relations in helping an organization to project a positive image. The study of the impact information has on the image of organisations seems to be an interesting research topic. Practice has proved that the image of institutions has a patrimonial value and it is sometimes essential in raising their credibility. It can be said that an image is defined as the representation of certain attitudes, opinions or prejudices concerning a person, a group of persons or the public opinion concerning an institution. In other words, an image is the opinion of a person, of a group of persons or of the public opinion regarding that institution. All specialists agree that a negative image affects, sometimes to an incredible extent, the success of an institution. In the contemporary age, we cannot speak about public opinion without taking into consideration the mass media as a main agent in transmitting the information to the public, with unlimited possibilities of influencing or forming it. The plan for the PR department starts with its own declaration of principles, which describes its roles and contribution to the organisation.

A Comparative Study on New Media Marketing in Domestic and Foreign Public Libraries

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Xu Yan

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Currently, new media has become the popular platform for brand marketing and services promoting of public libraries. Using the method of online survey, literature analysis and comparative analysis, this paper chooses 4 foreign public libraries and 4 domestic public libraries as the research samples and compares the differences in new media marketing between them from new media marketing tools, marketing content and marketing strategies, then makes some proposals and measures to perfect domestic public libraries’ new media marketing, so as to provide references to improve the libraries’ social awareness and benefits.

The role of the Romanian Society for Radiological Protection and mass media in public information

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Andrei, Veronica; Glodeanu, Florian

2011-01-01

accepted by all participants, developed and passed on to future generations. Due to the variety of applications of radioactivity and ionizing radiation, the actors involved in radiation protection culture include professionals and non-professional members of society: politicians, entrepreneurs, NGOs, associations and societies, groups and parties, professional organizations, patients, media, schools and universities and the general public, as well. The main actors in disseminating the culture of radiation protection are professionals in this field and mass media. In effecting their profession they must act as communicators of scientific information, improving the public perception about the risks and benefits of radiation and radioactivity. The Romanian Society of Radiation Protection, the professional organization of practitioners in this area has among its main objectives to promote a culture of radiation protection and improvement of public perception through communication and involvement. Despite substantial efforts to disseminate information on radiation protection, sociological research shows that the average Romanian citizen has no adequate knowledge to make its own decisions. In this direction, radiation protection professionals should address effective communication methods such as 'exchange of information and opinions' and the involvement of interested groups in decision making. Mass media plays an important role in communicating with the public. The recent accident in Japan had a massive coverage in all media. On the other hand, the media must obtain the economic efficiency of published or broadcast news based on audience, according to the principle 'a bad news story is a profitable'. In addition journalists are poorly informed about the topics of radiation protection and have limited editorial space available to educate the public. (authors)

Integrating Social Media Monitoring Into Public Health Emergency Response Operations.

Science.gov (United States)

Hadi, Tamer A; Fleshler, Keren

2016-10-01

Social media monitoring for public health emergency response and recovery is an essential response capability for any health department. The value of social media for emergency response lies not only in the capacity to rapidly communicate official and critical incident information, but as a rich source of incoming data that can be gathered to inform leadership decision-making. Social media monitoring is a function that can be formally integrated into the Incident Command System of any response agency. The approach to planning and required resources, such as staffing, logistics, and technology, is flexible and adaptable based on the needs of the agency and size and scope of the emergency. The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has successfully used its Social Media Monitoring Team during public health emergency responses and planned events including major Ebola and Legionnaires' disease responses. The concepts and implementations described can be applied by any agency, large or small, interested in building a social media monitoring capacity. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2016;page 1 of 6).

The role of the media in risk communication

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lichtenberg, J.; MacLean, D.

1988-01-01

This paper analyses the origins of risk communication; why the role of the media is difficult to study; the relationship between media coverage and public opinion; the relationship between media coverage and 'reality'; some dilemmas for journalists; the politics of risk communication. More research needs to be done on this issue. Because of the complexities advances will depend partly on cooperation among risk analysts, communications experts, political theorists and philosophers; in any case, progress is likely to be slow and the research costly. The paper demonstrates: It matters greatly that journalists and the rest of us understand the context and the consequences of press coverage of risk issues. (orig./HSCH)

Perceptions on the Effectiveness of Communication between Public Institutions and Journalists through Social Media

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Mihaela Păun

2009-11-01

Full Text Available This article presents the challenges and opportunities of social media for public institutions and argues that the designing and implementing government public relations using social media involves more than merely having another communication channel for publics. I will explain the “social media”, the differences between social media and electronic-Public Relations - E-PR, and the communication between public institutions and journalists. The interviews with journalists or with PR specialists in public institutions were focused on the use, the extent of this use, and the perceived value of various social media as sources contributing to agenda building (Cobb, Elder 1983. If journalists are regularly monitoring sites and forums for story ideas and information, it is necessary for PR professionals within each industry to carefully monitor the information placed there and perhaps engage content producers. In this paper, I conclude that social media is an alternative instrument to encourage a two-way communication channel between government and publics. In public relations, the emergence of social media challenges the traditional instruments of government public relations. Responding to the development of information and communication technology (ICT, social media is considered as an alternative communication channel of government public relations efforts.

Constructing Public Space: Global Perspectives on Social Media and Popular Contestation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Poell, T.; van Dijck, J.

2016-01-01

This introduction to the special section on the construction of public space in social media activism discusses (1) the types of social media practices involved in the construction of publicness during contemporary episodes of popular contention, (2) the particular political institutional contexts

Structure of public opinion and the nuclear debate in Spain

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Garrido, G.; Vacchiano, C.

1987-01-01

The current (1986) status of the nuclear power programme in Spain is stated. Developments in the nuclear controversy are traced back to the early 1970s, in particular to left wing politics of 1975-1985. Regional variations in the strength of the anti-nuclear feeling are mentioned. Public opinion is strongly influenced by the Government's attitude. However, although the Government supports a nuclear programme, anti-nuclear feeling is growing. The reasons are suggested. Public beliefs concerning energy sources are examined and the popular image of the different energy sources is considered. Public attitudes (investigated by surveys to establish people's willingness to live near a nuclear plant), the perceived risks of plant operation and of contamination, and the dependence on a foreign country are discussed. Answers to questions on the political and safety factors of nuclear power plants are tabulated. The effect of the Chernobyl accident on nuclear power in Spain is considered. Short-term, the trend seems to be against nuclear power plants but long-term this may not continue. (U.K.)

Sentiment Diffusion of Public Opinions about Hot Events: Based on Complex Network.

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Xiaoqing Hao

Full Text Available To study the sentiment diffusion of online public opinions about hot events, we collected people's posts through web data mining techniques. We calculated the sentiment value of each post based on a sentiment dictionary. Next, we divided those posts into five different orientations of sentiments: strongly positive (P, weakly positive (p, neutral (o, weakly negative (n, and strongly negative (N. These sentiments are combined into modes through coarse graining. We constructed sentiment mode complex network of online public opinions (SMCOP with modes as nodes and the conversion relation in chronological order between different types of modes as edges. We calculated the strength, k-plex clique, clustering coefficient and betweenness centrality of the SMCOP. The results show that the strength distribution obeys power law. Most posts' sentiments are weakly positive and neutral, whereas few are strongly negative. There are weakly positive subgroups and neutral subgroups with ppppp and ooooo as the core mode, respectively. Few modes have larger betweenness centrality values and most modes convert to each other with these higher betweenness centrality modes as mediums. Therefore, the relevant person or institutes can take measures to lead people's sentiments regarding online hot events according to the sentiment diffusion mechanism.

Trust to mass-media: micro- and macrolevel

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A. S. Kavyerina

2014-11-01

Full Text Available Trust is the basic element of civil society.For the last decades Ukrainian social institutions, including mass media, suffering of the crisis of trust. Public informing, socialization, formation of public opinion are the main functions of mass media. Mass media takes part in a lot of social processes and spheres of society. Accuracy of the information, compliance with standards,objectivity and trust of the audience are very important because of the influence of the mass media. The paper deals with various interpretations of trust and theories of N.Luhmann, P. Sztompka and A. Seligmen, thatemphasize the importance of trust during the transformation of society. Also author considers the approaches to defining levels of trust. Attention was focused on two levels – the micro-level which represents personal trust and the macro-level with institutional trust. Author analyzes mass media as a social institution and considers social media as a type of mass media, which has its own unique characteristics such as high level of the informational participation, lack of the law regulation and the organizational structure. These characteristics bring to the foreground figure of the author. So the social media covers both levels of forming a trusting relationship with audience – micro and macrolevel.

Media and Public Communications Policies: An Empirical Analysis of the Brazilian Print Media

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Guilherme Canela

2007-12-01

Full Text Available This essay examines a subject rarely emphasized in the studies on public interest issues reported in the print media. Drawing on a review of the journalistic content produced by 53 newspapers from every state in the federation and 4 national weekly magazines, the paper analyzes a sample of 1,184 articles, editorials, columns, interviews, and reports on subjects of immediate interest to the media, journalism, and/or media companies. Throughout 2003, 2004, and 2005, news pieces were compiled containing keywords, including “media and democracy,” “concentration of ownership,” “television regulation.” The analysis found that the print media provides insufcient and inadequate coverage of these issues, reserving more extensive coverage only to those questions nearest and dearest to it, such as the freedom of expression.

Social Media and the Transformation of Public Space

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Dijck, J.; Poell, T.

2015-01-01

This introduction to the Special Issue of Social Media + Society discusses the key theoretical perspectives and methodological approaches needed to gain insight into how social platforms intervene in public space. It starts by highlighting how in the emerging platform society public and private

Public policy and media frames: the debate over migration in Brazil

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Augusto Veloso Leão

2013-04-01

Full Text Available The main goal of this article is to provide a good basis to assess the way media frames are embedded in a wider social scenario, and how public and political preferences can be researched through media debate. The methodology adopted allows for an analysis of newspaper articles that can show broader trends of the debate and serve as a thermometer to measure public debate. It can further highlight details and enable in-depth analyses of media discourse. The article explores the interconnectedness of media debate and policy-making process by means of the analysis of articles published in a Brazilian newspaper between 2009 and 2010. Quantitative and qualitative methodologies are employed to identify the frames used in media and to offer insights of their relationship with the political debate. The ongoing political debate has raised attention to the issue of migration, with a great numbers of actors expressing very diverse points of view. A broader public debate has been initiated and some portions of it find voice in different means of communication. The paper argues that changes in the public and in the media debate are a response to changes in the political debate, while at the same time the first two also help to outline the latter.

The power of mass media in the German civil society

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Alicia‑Georgiana Zalupca

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Mass media is playing a significant role in influencing people’s mind and determining the vote’s preference of each single individual. Nowadays, mass media has become an essential part in setting up the public’s agenda. We are living in a social media era that is being governed by Facebook and Twitter. Facebook had played a key role in Germany’s society in the last year, since September 2015, by helping to increase public awareness or to collect opinions and information, and also to influence the attitude of the people towards electing the Eurosceptic political party, Alternative for Germany (AfD. The results of the regional elections in Germany from March 2016 had been strongly influenced by the party’s intense activities on Facebook. It may be said that the electoral campaign of AfD had completely taken place on Facebook, a social media channel where people and the party itself dare to speak up their mind without being afraid that their opinion could be censorship. This article is about to describe the role that the social media channel, Facebook, had had in choosing AfD as main winner of the German regional elections.

Climate of opinion and information behaviour in the context of nuclear energy and the ENSI

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bonfadelli, H.; Kristiansen, S.

2012-11-01

This interim report issued by the University of Zurich for the Swiss Federal Nuclear Safety Inspectorate (ENSI) was elaborated as a result of the nuclear accident in Fukushima, Japan. The report discusses the questions raised concerning the independence of certain members of the inspectorate and discusses the results of an initial survey on the profile and reputation of the inspectorate. The development of public opinion concerning various aspects of nuclear energy over several years and for various categories of the population is noted in tables. Also, large changes in opinion after the Fukushima accident are noted. Risk assessments, confidence in the regulatory instances as well as opinions on how nuclear energy should be regulated are examined. Also, information and media use in connection with nuclear energy are looked at. Finally, the most important conclusions of the study are presented and discussed

Media Portrayals of Female Perpetrators of Intimate Partner Violence.

Science.gov (United States)

Carlyle, Kellie E; Scarduzio, Jennifer A; Slater, Michael D

2014-09-01

Preventing intimate partner violence (IPV) is a public health priority. An important component of designing prevention programs is developing an understanding of how media portrayals of health issues influence public opinion and policy. To better understand the ways in which media images may be informing our understanding of IPV, this study content analyzed portrayals of IPV in news media articles. Stratified media outlets were used to obtain a representative sample of daily newspapers based on their designated market areas. Researchers created constructed months using weeks from each season across a 2-year period. The first part of the study investigated quantitative differences in the coverage of female and male perpetrators (n = 395) and identified several areas where coverage differed. The second part of the study qualitatively examined coverage of female perpetrators (n = 61) to provide a richer description of such coverage. This study contributes to our understanding of female perpetrators and how these portrayals may contribute to the larger gender symmetry debate surrounding female aggressors. Implications for public health policy and research are discussed. © The Author(s) 2014.

Emotions, Public Opinion, and U.S. Presidential Approval Rates: A 5-Year Analysis of Online Political Discussions

Science.gov (United States)

Gonzalez-Bailon, Sandra; Banchs, Rafael E.; Kaltenbrunner, Andreas

2012-01-01

This article examines how emotional reactions to political events shape public opinion. We analyze political discussions in which people voluntarily engage online to approximate the public agenda: Online discussions offer a natural approach to the salience of political issues and the means to analyze emotional reactions as political events take…

Public Opinion on Organ Donation After Death and Its Influence on Attitudes Toward Organ Donation.

Science.gov (United States)

Aijing, Luo; Wenzhao, Xie; Wei, Wei; Qiquan, Wan; Xuantong, Deng

2016-08-18

BACKGROUND China officially launched a pilot program of organ donation after cardiac death to overcome the shortage of available organs since 2011. Voluntary organ donation by deceased citizens became the only source of transplant organs beginning January 1, 2015. To investigate public opinions on organ donation by deceased donors, and discuss the effect of these opinions on the willingness and attitude of the public regarding voluntary organ donation. MATERIAL AND METHODS We designed a questionnaire. The survey was conducted from December 2014 to January 2015 in Changsha City, and 417 valid questionnaires were recovered. RESULTS A total of 162 respondents explicitly expressed a willingness to donate organs, and 269 believed that the organ donors' relatives should be compensated. A total of 255 respondents thought it acceptable to complete the donation-consent form when receiving a driver's license. Among the respondents, 65.3% did not agree with the statement "My body is bestowed by my parents, and to donate my body parts would not display filial respect"; 88.9% agreed that "It is necessary to consider the willingness of my family"; 74.4% agreed that "Donated organs have not been fairly and appropriately used; the wealthy and celebrities have been favored"; and 61.4% agreed that "Organ donation laws and regulations are not well developed, and organ donations will result in unnecessary difficulties." More than 80% believed that organ donation and transplantation extend life. CONCLUSIONS Public opinions on organ donation after death are associated with various factors, including traditional values, religious beliefs, compensation mechanisms, donor registration, institutional credibility, and ideals.

The media politics of oil spills

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anderson, A.G.

2002-01-01

This paper considers the ways in which news values shape the reporting of oil spills and the constraints under which media practitioners work. A series of oil spills since the late 1960s [including the Torrey Canyon (1967), the Exxon Valdez (1989), and the Sea Empress (1996)] have attracted considerable attention from the news media. The focus is upon the dynamics through which news sources, with their own particular vested interests, compete to secure representation of the issues. Media discourse on risk and the environment is, to a significant extent, a discourse dependent upon the voices of official ''experts''. Environmental organizations, industry, scientists and government offer their own particular competing accounts of the ''reality'' of the situation. Issues concerning differential access to the news media are crucial when considering who comes to define the event. Accordingly, the article examines the strategies adopted by the various news sources involved in influencing the symbolic representation of public issues. Media practitioners are faced with great problems in interpreting and explaining these competing claims. Relatively few journalists and broadcasters have a scientific training and perhaps one of the greatest problems is that by simplifying complex scientific information one inevitably distorts it. Frequently researchers make the assumption that it is possible to demonstrate a direct causal link between news media coverage and public attitudes. However, the paper calls for great caution in interpreting ''public opinion'' concerning environmental issues and concludes by arguing that news media representations may more usefully be viewed as the outcome of a battle among a selective range of news sources, each seeking to provide their own definition of the public representation of the issues. (author)

Perceptions on the Effectiveness of Communication between Public Institutions and Journalists through Social Media

OpenAIRE

Mihaela Păun

2009-01-01

This article presents the challenges and opportunities of social media for public institutions and argues that the designing and implementing government public relations using social media involves more than merely having another communication channel for publics. I will explain the “social media”, the differences between social media and electronic-Public Relations - E-PR, and the communication between public institutions and journalists. The interviews with journalists or with PR specialist...

A review of public opinion towards alcohol controls in Australia

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Livingstone Charles

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Increasing concern about the negative impact of alcohol on the Australian community has renewed calls for tighter regulatory controls. This paper reviews levels of and trends in public support for liquor control regulations, regulation of alcohol promotions, and alcohol pricing and taxation reforms in Australia between 1998 and 2009. Methods Six electronic databases and twenty public health and alcohol organisation websites were searched for research literature, reports and media releases describing levels of public support for alcohol controls. Only studies which randomly selected participants were included. Results Twenty-one studies were included in the review. The majority of the Australian public support most proposed alcohol controls. Levels of support are divided between targeted and universal controls. Conclusions Implementation of targeted alcohol policies is likely to be strongly supported by the Australian public, but universal controls are liable to be unpopular. Policy makers are provided with insights into factors likely to be associated with higher public support.

Advocates' Experiences With Media and the Impact of Media on Human Trafficking Advocacy.

Science.gov (United States)

Houston-Kolnik, Jaclyn D; Soibatian, Christina; Shattell, Mona M

2017-02-01

The present qualitative study explores advocates' opinions of misinformation about human trafficking in the media and describes advocates' strategies to counter the misinformation presented by the media. Thus, 15 advocates who work against human trafficking in Chicago-based nonprofit organizations participated in semistructured interviews about their opinions and strategies. Data were analyzed using thematic content analysis. The present study identifies specific misperceptions of human trafficking in the media, highlights advocates' opinions of this misinformation, and discusses advocates' strategies to counteract inaccurate media, adding support to the role of media advocacy. Advocates note how media images shape and perpetuate stereotypes of trafficking through glamorizing sex work and sensationalizing stories that are most often international depictions of trafficking. Advocates report media generally shares only a piece of the story, simplifying the stories of survivors and the issue of human trafficking. Advocates critique media perpetuating these misperceptions for how they may contribute to policies and programs which fail to address structural factors that create vulnerabilities to be trafficked and the multisystem needs of survivors. However, advocates also note misperceptions can be counteracted by producing sensitive, informed media through social platforms. Advocates share their strategies counteracting misinformation through engaging in informative conversations, utilizing social media to educate, and promoting media messages of survivor agency. Research, clinical, and policy implications are also discussed. The present study emphasizes the importance of decision makers and service providers being critical consumers of media and to assess how media portrayals may (or may not) inform their understanding and response to the issue.

Visualizing Public Opinion in Croatia Based on Available Social Network Content

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ševa, Jurica

2016-01-01

the held governmental elections. Public opinion is only a few tweets away, but are the results similar to the election results? If tweet-based opinion can be constructed, does it differ from the real results? These and similar questions will be addressed in this paper.

Sentiment Analysis and Opinion Mining

CERN Document Server

Liu, Bing

2012-01-01

Sentiment analysis and opinion mining is the field of study that analyzes people's opinions, sentiments, evaluations, attitudes, and emotions from written language. It is one of the most active research areas in natural language processing and is also widely studied in data mining, Web mining, and text mining. In fact, this research has spread outside of computer science to the management sciences and social sciences due to its importance to business and society as a whole. The growing importance of sentiment analysis coincides with the growth of social media such as reviews, forum discussions

Mass media, online social network, and organ donation: old mistakes and new perspectives.

Science.gov (United States)

Aykas, A; Uslu, A; Şimşek, C

2015-05-01

Contrary to TV programs projecting awareness about organ donation in society, concrete evidence exists about adverse influence of negative broadcasts on organ donation rates. We sought to determine the effect of mass media on public opinion toward organ donation and the efficacy of public campaigns and novel social media attempts on donation rates. We conducted a systematic review of relevant literature and national campaign results. Hoaxes about brain death and organ transplantation adversely affect organ donation rates in both Western and Eastern societies. Scientifically controversial and exaggerated press conferences and institutional advertisements create mistrust in doctors, thus reducing organ donation. The overall effect of public education campaigns in promoting organ donation is a temporary 5% gain. Increments in organ donation rates is expected with novel applications of social media (Facebook effect). Communication, based on mutual trust, must be established between medicine and the media. Continuing education programs with regard to public awareness on organ donation should be conducted over social media. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Resolving regional conflicts and public opinion: The Nigerian experience in Liberian crisis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Salami, B.O.

2013-06-01

Full Text Available Nigeria played an important role which led to the resolution of the Liberian crisis between 1990 and 1997. But between 1990 and 1993 towards the end of General Ibrahim Babangida’s regime (1985-1993, Nigeria’s role in the Liberian peace process became a major issue which preoccupied Nigeria’s external relations within the West African Sub-region. This paper examines in how public opinion influences government attitude and posture towards the Liberian situation.

Decoding the agenda: An analytical model for manifest and latent knowledge of the public agenda

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jaime Andréu Abela

2012-12-01

Full Text Available Purpose: The aim of this paper is to show a model of analysis based on the hypothesis of the agenda-setting but with a clear longitudinal, multidimensional and multiparadigmatic component. Design/methodology: The theory of the media agenda (agenda setting is one of the most applied communication theories in diversity of social science fields for studying the direct and cumulative effects of the media on the audiences. Decoding the agenda is a methodological model derived from this theory that strives to obtain a comprehensive knowledge of the effects of the messages broadcasted by the media on the public opinion. Our methodological and multidimensional model, as a difference to other multi-method and triangular models, exchanges and analyzes quantitative and qualitative data in a comprehensive way. Contribution and results: In this article are presented the results of diverse pieces of research on the influence of the media in the analysis of social issues. Possible areas of application of the model in the economic sphere are indicated, especially in market and business studies. Research limitations: The topics of study, for a good application of the model in its whole temporal and dimensional breadth, require building good secondary quantitative and qualitative data bases. Practical implications: The results provided by the studies in which the model has been applied improve over time the knowledge of the influence of the media on the social, economic and political agendas. Social implications: Better understanding of the agenda setting of social issues in the public opinion. Added value: The implementation of the agenda decoder model improves the knowledge of the cumulative influence of the issues raised by the media on the public opinion.

Public and media acceptance of nuclear materials transport

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lindeman, E.

1999-01-01

Transport is absolutely essential to the continued existence of a nuclear industry that includes large-scale power generation, sophisticated research, and medicine. Indeed, transport of nuclear materials is hardly a new business. What is new is the public's awareness and distrust of this transport - a distrust fuelled by the well-funded and skilled manipulation of the nuclear industry's detractors. The nuclear industry itself has only recently begun to acknowledge the importance and the implications of transport. This paper looks at the public and media response to the European-Japanese and the US Department of Energy's transport campaigns and quotes from several telling newspaper articles. It emphasizes the need for the nuclear industry to continue to be vigilant in its efforts to reach the public, media and governments with good science, openness and well-communicated facts. (author)

Media analysis of the representations of fusion and other future energy technologies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Delicado, Ana; Schmidt, Luisa; Pereira, Sergio [Institute of Social Sciences of the University of Lisbon, Av. Prof. Anibal de Bettencourt, 9 1600-189 Lisbon (Portugal); Oltra, Christian; Prades, Ana [CISOT-CIEMAT. Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes 604, 4, 2, 08007 Barcelona (Spain)

2015-07-01

Media representations of energy have a relevant impact on public opinion and public support for investment in new energy sources. Fusion energy is one among several emerging energy technologies that requires a strong public investment on its research and development. This paper aims to characterise and compare the media representations of fusion and other emerging energy technologies in Portugal and in Spain. The emerging energy technologies selected for analysis are wave and tidal power, hydrogen, deep sea offshore wind power, energy applications of nanotechnology, bio-fuels from microalgae and IV generation nuclear fission. This work covered the news published in a selection of newspapers in Portugal and Spain between January 2007 and June 2013. (authors)

Media analysis of the representations of fusion and other future energy technologies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Delicado, Ana; Schmidt, Luisa; Pereira, Sergio; Oltra, Christian; Prades, Ana

2015-01-01

Media representations of energy have a relevant impact on public opinion and public support for investment in new energy sources. Fusion energy is one among several emerging energy technologies that requires a strong public investment on its research and development. This paper aims to characterise and compare the media representations of fusion and other emerging energy technologies in Portugal and in Spain. The emerging energy technologies selected for analysis are wave and tidal power, hydrogen, deep sea offshore wind power, energy applications of nanotechnology, bio-fuels from microalgae and IV generation nuclear fission. This work covered the news published in a selection of newspapers in Portugal and Spain between January 2007 and June 2013. (authors)

Images and symbols in the Argentinean public opinion on the nuclear energy and the environment: 'The necessity of a new communicational strategy'; Imagenes y simbolos en la opinion publica argentina sobre la energia nuclear y el medio ambiente: 'La necesidad de una nueva estrategia comunicacional'

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)