Troubling Twists
Stolen Identities : How the State and Media Combine to Control and Frame Ireland’s Illegal Adoptions ‘Scandal’ View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Conall Ó Fátharta
On May 29, 2018, at a press conference in Dublin, the then Minister for Children and Youth Affairs (DCYA) Katherine Zappone revealed that 126 cases where births had been illegally registered between 1946 and 1969 had been discovered by Tusla in the records of former religious-run adoption society St Patrick’s Guild (SPG). The records had transferred to the Child and Family Agency in 2016 when the adoption society ceased offering a service at the end of 2014. Dr. Zappone rightly acknowledged that the practice of illegally registering births to facilitate illegal adoptions had been known for many years but also presented a new narrative. Whereas previously there were suspicions about such practices, here, for the first time, was categoric proof. Hard evidence that hundreds of Irish citizens had their identities stripped from them, without their consent or knowledge. Large sections of the media took hold of the story and unquestioningly sponsored this State narrative. The State was presented as a proactive actor in an emerging ‘scandal’. Through material obtained through Freedom of Information and other evidence obtained while a working journalist, this paper puts forward a counter-narrative around the illegal birth registrations issue. It outlines how the State had both knowledge and proof of documented cases going back more than a decade, yet took no action. This paper examines the role of the press in selecting and framing the illegal adoption ‘scandal’ and the impact of this reporting on public opinion and understanding of the issue.
Featured Spiritualizing Media: A Study on Expatriates Seeking Islamic Information in Dubai, UAE View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Urwa Tariq
Dubai is a metropolitan city that attracts many foreigners due to a growing economy and tourism. It has been noted that when non-Muslims observe Islamic culture and lifestyle, they become interested in learning more. Correspondingly, this research study focuses on non-Muslims and new Muslims in Dubai, and how information about Islam is disseminated to them. It also examines the challenges they encounter when searching for information. The theory of diffusion of innovations was applied as a guiding framework to understand the target audience and create a media model. Survey responses were collected from 541 expatriates and their demographic profile was analyzed, especially in relation to media use. The researcher identified lack of organization in the methods of dissemination and limited access to reliable and accurate information. The study considered a proposal for use of radio with digital media to broadcast information about Islam to specific expatriate audiences in the UAE.
Media Consumption and Threatening Perceptions: Cultivation Theory and the 2022 Russian Invasion of Ukraine View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Hailey Gillen Hoke, Leslie Howerton
The 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine presents a unique opportunity to study the effects of widely disseminated violent images of war on viewers’ perceptions of potential global and personal threats. Cultivation theory is a macro level systems approach developed by Gerbner (1967) to examine the broad implications of media exposure (Potter, 2014). The current literature on cultivation theory reflects a shift from Gerbner’s original research to a micro-level approach that Potter (2014) called boundary crossing. In this transitional research the locus of meaning shifts from mass media messages to the receivers’ perceptions of those messages. This study adds to that growing body of literature by examining people’s news consumption of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and their perceptions of threat. This quantitative study-in-progress shows preliminary results from 130 survey respondents and provides support for cultivation theory and this boundary crossing shift. Time spent consuming invasion news (r = .31, p = .00) and frequency of accessing invasion news (r = .26, p = .01) were significantly and positively related to concern about the invasion. Respondents that spent more time consuming invasion news reported being more concerned about Russia invading other countries (r = .33, p = .00), including EU or NATO member countries (r = .29, p = .01), and showed more concern that the invasion would lead to the use of nuclear weapons (r = .20, p = .04). The final data set also includes military and political affiliation variables. The survey was open throughout March 2022.
