Vaccari, Chadwick, and O'Loughlin's "Dual Screening the Political" Wins the Walter Lippmann Award

Cristian Vaccari, Andrew Chadwick, and Ben O'Loughlin's article "Dual Screening the Political: Media Events, Social Media, and Citizen Engagement" (Journal of Communication 65 (6), pp. 1041–1061) has been recognized at this year's American Political Science Association (APSA) Annual Meeting held in Philadelphia.

The study was given the 2016 APSA Political Communication Section's Walter Lippmann Award for the Best Article in the Field of Political Communication.

The study finds that “lean-forward” dual screening practices, such as commenting live on social media as a political debate unfolds, and engaging with conversations via Twitter hashtags, have the strongest and most consistent positive associations with political engagement.

Join @newpolcom at #ecprconf16 Prague: Cyber-Security, Theorizing perceptions, + WhatsApp...ening

Adam Drew, Ben O'Loughlin and Cristian Vaccari will each present papers at the ECPR Annual Convention at Charles University, Prague this week.

Adam will present a paper, Mutually Assured Disconnection, on the panel Global Internet Governance. Adam will argue that while norms exist that have so far prevented major powers launching devastating cyber attacks on one another, this development has taken place not from a position of mutual understanding and cooperation, but from one of mutual and balanced fear.

Time: 08/09/2016 15:50

Location: Building: Faculty of Arts Floor: 3 Room: FA325

Ben will take part in a panel on Theorizing Perceptions, comparing how different theories of international political communication (strategic narrative, image theory, normative power) explain communication's role in power and influence in current world affairs. The panel features original public opinion research to identify how news publics in different parts of Africa are responding to a world order of rising powers like Iran, China and Turkey.

Time 10/09/2016 09:00

Location Building: Faculty of Law Floor: 2 Room: FL214

Cristian's paper is titled, WhatsApp...ening to political discussion in Europe? Instant messaging services and political engagement in Italy, the United Kingdom and Germany. Co-authored with Augusto Valeriani, the paper features research from Cristian's ongoing comparative study of digital democracy in European countries. This is on a great-looking panel chaired on Digital Intermediaries and Political Communication chaired by Rasmus Kleis Nielsen.

Time: 08/09/2016 09:00

Place: Building: Faculty of Arts Floor: 3. Room: FA325

We hope to see you at these panels.

Newpolcom at UACES this week: The EU's Strategic Narrative on China

Alister Miskimmon and Ben O'Loughlin will present new analysis this week at the UACES 46th annual conference being held at Queen Mary in London. In their paper, The EU's Struggle for a Strategic Narrative (on China), they identify the problems crisis-strewn Europe has projecting a coherent narrative through EU institutions. However, they argue that China's One Belt, One Road initiative offers the kind of hybrid governance organisation that European leaders understand. By finding alignments with China's new infrastructure programmes across the historic Silk Road territories of Eurasia, the EU may be able to articulate a world order not based simply on sovereign states, and attach itself to a constructive project for the future at a time when it seems mired in the present. Disagreements with China over the value of human rights and market forces mean the EU will need to temper its identity narrative of being a 'normative power' for others to emulate. However, this pragmatic turn has already been happening. It is time for the EU to turn to a 'building block' narrative in order to reconstruct itself and play its role in the construction of the new 21st Century multipolar order.

Time: 15:10 - 16:40, Tuesday 6 September 2016

Place: Queen's Building, Panel 615, Queen Mary, University of London (map)

Other presenters: Michèle Knodt, Ole Elgström, and Natalia Chaban.

This paper is part of a panel, EU Global Perceptions, featuring presentations from the Jean Monnet project C3EU: Crisis, Conflict and Critical Diplomacy.

newpolcom at #APSA2016

The diversity of current newpolcom research is being highlighted at this year’s American Political Science Association Annual Meeting in Philadelphia next week.

First up is the APSA Political Communication Section Annual Preconference hosted by Temple University on Wednesday August 31. Among the wide range of panels is a session on Media and Political Engagement featuring Cristian Vaccari and Augusto Valeriani’s research on instant messaging services and political engagement in Italy, the UK, and Germany, plus a roundtable on Theory and Theory Building chaired by Regina Lawrence and featuring Geoffrey Baym, Andrew Chadwick, Daniel Kreiss, and Dannagal Young.

On Friday September 2 At the main APSA conference, Andrew Chadwick, Ben O’Loughlin, and Cristian Vaccari will be presenting the latest findings on the 2015 UK leaders’ debates from their newpolcom dual screening project, on the panel How We Use the News Now (PCC, 112-B, 2.00-3.30pm). They will also be presented with their Best Article Award at the Political Communication Section Business Meeting. The award is for their first dual screening paper: Vaccari, C., Chadwick, A., and O’Loughlin, B. (2015). Dual Screening the Political: Media Events, Social Media, and Citizen Engagement. Journal of Communication 65 (6), pp. 1041–1061.

Cristian Vaccari’s work on online voter contacting is featured in a panel on Social Media and Electoral Campaigns on Saturday September 3 (Marriott, Salon KL, 2.00-3.30pm).

Andrew Chadwick is convener of a Saturday roundtable discussion on The Past, Present, and Future of Digital Politics Research (Marriott, Salon KL, 4.00-5.30pm). The session will feature Jessica Baldwin-Philippi, Leticia Bode, Shelley Boulianne, David Karpf, Daniel Kreiss, and Chris Wells.

And on Sunday September 4 Nick Anstead and Andrew Chadwick will present their paper Primary Definers Online: Social Media and Think Tank Authority in the UK to the panel Digital Adaptations: Institutions and Behavior in the Digital Age (PCC, 104-A, 10.00-11.30am). 

Geopolitics publish new Szostek article on Russia's strategic narrative

NewPolCom's Dr. Joanna Szostek has published a new article in Geopolitics entitled, Defence and Promotion of Desired State Identity in Russia’s Strategic Narrative. Please find an abstract of the article below and a link to the full article here.

Abstract

This article examines how the Russian state promotes and protects its preferred self-identity, using the conceptual framework of ‘strategic narrative’. Nation-branding practices, including state-funded ‘mega-projects’ like the Sochi Olympics, have contributed to the narrative by characterising Russia as a welcoming, attractive destination. However, a more salient feature of Russia’s strategic narrative is intense ‘anti-Western’ and ‘anti-American’ political and media discourse, formulated to defend against rival, threatening narratives projected from other countries. Through analysis of official statements and state television content, this article demonstrates how determination to protect ‘great power’ and ‘European’ identities underlay Russia’s strategic narrative in 2014. It considers responses which the narrative has prompted, arguing that desired results in domestic reception have been achieved at the expense of unsatisfactory results internationally. Heavy-handed attacks on the identities of other states boost collective self-esteem among Russian citizens, but they fail to produce – and arguably obstruct – desired responses among foreign audiences.

Joanna is a Marie-Sklodowska Curie Fellow at Royal Holloway. Check out her project site Stratnarra.

Cristian Vaccari speaking at international symposium on social media and politics in Stockholm on June 20

Newpolcom's Dr Cristian Vaccari is speaking at next week's international symposium "Re/Constructing Politics through Social & Online Media: Research Agendas & Problem-Oriented Analyses" on June 20 in Stockholm .

The two-day international symposium brings together leading international experts working on politics and communication in the context of social & online media. The symposium is interdisciplinary in nature and gathers scholars following various theoretical and methodological standpoints within a variety of social sciences incl. political communication, media studies, political science or political sociology. 

Dr. Vaccari will present research conducted with Newpolcom's Professors Andrew Chadwick and Ben O'Loughlin on dual screening during the 2015 general election ITV leaders' debate.

The full symposium program can be found here.

New Special Issue of the International Journal of Press/Politics on Digital Media, Power, and Democracy in Election Campaigns edited by Andrew Chadwick and Jennifer Stromer-Galley

The special issue of the International Journal of Press-Politics on Digital Media, Power, and Democracy in Election Campaigns, edited by Andrew Chadwick and Jennifer Stromer-Galley (Syracuse University), is now published. 

Featuring seven articles, including a piece by Newpolcom's Cristian Vaccari, the issue addresses the state of political parties, the ways digital media are being used in the tug and pull of political power between elites and ordinary citizens, and the role of traditional and professional media in those processes. Authors integrate new theory and original data from a wide range of countries including the USA, the UK, Germany, Italy, Norway, Spain, and India. 

The articles in this special issue were first delivered as presentations to a workshop Andrew and Jennifer organized on “Digital Media, Power, and Democracy in Election Campaigns,” held July 1–3, 2015, at Washington, D.C.’s Omni Shoreham Hotel and at Greenberg House, Syracuse University’s base in the U.S. capital.

Table of Contents

1. Digital Media, Power, and Democracy in Parties and Election Campaigns: Party Decline or Party Renewal?—Andrew Chadwick and Jennifer Stromer-Galley, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK, and Syracuse University, USA

2. Party Campaigners or Citizen Campaigners? How Social Media Deepen and Broaden Party-Related Engagement—Cristian Vaccari and Augusto Valeriani, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK, and University of Bologna, Italy

3. Looking Out or Turning in? Organizational Ramifications of Online Political Posters on Facebook—Benjamin Lee and Vincent Campbell, Lancaster University, UK, and University of Leicester, UK

4. Styles of Social Media Campaigning and Influence in a Hybrid Political Communication System: Linking Candidate Survey Data with Twitter Data—Rune Karlsen and Bernard Enjolras, Institute for Social Research, Norway

5. Four Functions of Digital Tools in Election Campaigns: The German Case—Andreas Jungherr, University of Mannheim, Germany

6. Old and New Media Logics in an Electoral Campaign: The Case of Podemos and the Two-Way Street Mediatization of Politics—Andreu Casero-Ripollés, Ramón A. Feenstra, and Simon Tormey, Universitat Jaume I de Castelló, Spain and University of Sydney, Australia

7. Campaigns, Digital Media, and Mobilization in India—Taberez Ahmed Neyazi, Anup Kumar, and Holli A. Semetko, Jamia Millia Islamia University, India, Cleveland State University, USA, and Emory University, USA

Links and Further Information

Journal web page

How should media report drone strikes? New article by Mark Pope

Recent Newpolcom PhD Dr. Mark Pope has published a new article entitled, Reporting Beyond the Pale: UK News Discourse on Drones in Pakistan, in the journal Critical Studies on Terrorism. How journalists cover the use and effects of unmanned aerial vehicles or drones has become a difficult practical and ethical dilemma in the past decade. Please find the abstract for Mark's article below and a link to the article here. (If you cannot acccess that, email Mark.Pope.2010@live.rhul.ac.uk for a copy.)

Abstract

This article on drone strikes in Pakistan offers a distinctive empirical case study for critical scholarship of counterterrorism. By asking how cosmopolitanism has developed through UK
news discourse, it also provides a constructivist contribution to the literature on drones. I argue that UK news discourse is not cosmopolitan because it focuses on risk and places the Other beyond comprehension. US–UK networked counterterrorism operations have complicated accountability, and while a drive for certainty promoted more scrutiny of policy, news media outlets, academics and activists turned to statistical and visual genres of communication that have inhibited understanding of the Other.

Cristian Vaccari speaking at the SMaPP Global Conference in Florence on May 24

Newpolcom's Dr Cristian Vaccari is speaking at next week's 2nd Bi-Annual SMaPP Global Conference in Florence.

SMaPP-Global is a joint initiative of the NYU Global Institute for Advanced Study (GIAS) and NYU’s Social Media and Political Participation (SMaPP) laboratory. SMaPP-Global’s goals are three-fold: (1) to better understand how social media impacts political participation; (2) to better understand how elites utilize social media to pursue political goals; and (3) to develop open-source tools that facilitate the use of social media data for the study of politics.

The event will feature paper presentations, round table discussions, and collaborative sessions. Dr. Vaccari will present research conducted with Newpolcom's Professors Andrew Chadwick and Ben O'Loughlin on dual screening during the 2015 general election ITV leaders' debate.

The conference program can be found here. The conference is open to the public. If you are interested in attending, please email lapietra.dialogues@nyu.edu to RSVP..