Trust and Trends
Asynchronous Session
Featured Culturally EnGRIND: An Analysis of the Socio-cultural Impact of Grindr View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Samuel Gray
The social networking application Grindr, a platform launched in 2009 intended for queer male users, is now widely considered to be at the forefront of cultural corrosion in the gay community. Empirical work by researchers Tien Ee Dominic Yeo and Tsz Hin Fung (2018) offers support for the concern that Grindr exerts a detrimental influence over the gay community due to the tempo the platform imposes on social interactions. However, the concept of an entirely queer platform for users to forge connections in a safe virtual setting is enormously beneficial to this social group. Theorist Sharif Mowlabocus (2010) explores the dichotomy of the potential for digital gay communication platforms, acknowledging the promise of increasing connectivity within a minority group, while simultaneously warning of the subcultural proliferation of cybercarnality. This article examines the damage and animosity Grindr inflicts on the gay community by making sexual objectification a pervasive part of the gay experience, the encouragement of anonymity in intimate interactions, and the increasingly transactional view of others. I propose that it is through the design and structure of the application that we observe the mechanisms that encourage objectification and perceived invisibility of self, subsequently promoting these increasingly transactional interactions amongst users. While Grindr is designed to foster communication between members of the gay community, in reality, the nature of these interactions serves to sever feelings of connectivity within this subcultural group. Exploring these shortcomings may elucidate avenues to better forge positive communication methods within this minority community.
Trust, Acceptance, and Artificial Intelligence News Anchors View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Tawfik Aly
The emergence of intelligent media has resulted in significant changes to the news industry, largely due to the implementation of artificial intelligence (AI) news anchors. The purpose of this study is to examine news audiences' perceptions of ai news anchors. A content analysis was conducted to determine how news audiences perceive ai news anchors. Comments posted on Youtube and Facebook videos that show ai news anchors reporting the news were analyzed. It was observed that AI news anchors have varying effects on their news audiences since they were first implemented in china in 2018. Findings show that 65% of all posted comments were negative, whereas 34% were positive. The results of this study were contradicting at times. For instance, many people consider AI news anchors to be fake because of their unrealistic movements, whereas others believe they resemble human newscasters in appearance. Some viewers expressed concern that AI news anchors may be utilized by governments to promote propaganda or negative political messages. Findings indicate that news audiences are increasingly concerned that AI will result in the loss of jobs for real news anchors, deterring people from entering journalism or reporting professions. Due to the low level of trust in news reporting among news audiences, AI news anchors may present additional challenges. It is recommended that media owners do not fully adopt this new technology and that human news anchors not be replaced. Occasionally, AI news anchors may be employed in crisis situations where human anchors cannot work in regular studios.
Framing Journalism: Collective Reflections on Dutch News Media and Journalistic Practices View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Inge Beekmans, Sabrina Van Willigenburg
Inspired by Elizabeth Frazer’s research Talking About Gender, Race and Class, Dutch journalism students participated in discussions that aimed to (1) uncover frames in Dutch news publications and (2) to help students comprehend shared beliefs that might affect their future role as journalists. During the first session of their allocated discussions groups, students performed collaborative analyses of self-chosen texts based on Jan Blommaert’s approach to framing under the supervision of two teacher-researchers. During the second session, students took part in collaborative reflections on fragments of discourse they had produced during the first session; thereby allowing them to elucidate their own and others’ ideological beliefs, and to create a basis for future critically informed journalistic practices. This paper employs Key Incident Analysis and a critical perspective on discourse analysis to analyze audio recordings from the discussions in order to establish how Dutch journalism students interpret and frame the practices and beliefs of other journalists and media. Through this analysis, this paper finds that journalism students wield ‘othering’ when criticizing the field they aspire to work in, employ various discursive techniques to prevent loss of face, and construct media imaginaries to gain understanding of journalistic practices. Together, these findings indicate that the ‘groupness’ that can be produced through the techniques that were described by Frazer might help students to gain a critical and empowering understanding of framing and other journalistic practices on the one hand, but might encourage practical and ideological divides between themselves and their future colleagues on the other hand.
Who Are They Following and Why?: A Thematic Analysis Using NVivo View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Charles Alves De Castro
The main focus of this study is to holistically analyse the influence of social media influencers' content on young people's lives in Ireland. In order to address this main objective, this study aims to answer the following research question: What are the five preferred influencers that this young sample follows and their motives for following them? To achieve the objective and answer the research question, this study analysed two free-answer questions of a lengthy questionnaire. This analysis was done based on thematic analysis using NVivo. This study's sample population comprised 81 participants between 16 to 26 years old, part of the Generation Z cohort and living in Ireland. The results of the analysis confirmed that there are five main motives that make this young sample follow their preferred social media influencers. Furthermore, the findings in this study confirm that the sample is susceptible to being influenced by SMIs in different contexts. In this regard, three drivers play a crucial role, parasocial relationship, trust and relatability. Finally, the insights discovered in this research can provide essential information for marketers in order to support the development of more effective marketing communication strategies.
