Media Studies

BOOK REVIEWS

Marko Roško, Tanja Grmuša, Dejan Oblak — Fri, 28 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0100

INTRODUCTION TO THE SPECIAL ISSUE

Mato Brautović, Romana John — Fri, 28 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0100

THE ROLE OF THE MEDIA IN RUSSIAN AND SERBIAN INFLUENCE OPERATIONS: A CASE STUDY ON THE CROSS-BORDER SHAPING OF NARRATIVES IN THE WESTERN BALKANS

Mato Brautović, Romana John — Fri, 28 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0100

This study examines the intricacies of Russian and Serbian influence operations within the Western Balkans, focusing specifically on concerted efforts to shape narratives through media channels. Drawing on a case study of the canceled pro-Ukrainian concerts by the band Ljapis Trubeckoj in Belgrade (Serbia) and Budva (Montenegro), this study highlights the interplay of the various actors involved in the influence campaign. The campaign was orchestrated by radical and pro-Russian Serbian politicians and organized through social networks, while at the same time Russia’s state media, namely Sputnik Serbia and RT, played an important role in initiating and spreading narratives consistent with Russian interests. Moreover, these narratives also resonated with Serbian and Montenegrin media and were supported by influential Croatian and Bosnian media. By analyzing this cross-border narrative formation, this study uncovers the mechanisms Russia and Serbia use to influence public opinion in the Western Balkans and the EU. The findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the broader impact of Russian influence operations in the region and shed light on the complex dynamics underlying such campaigns.

THE FOREIGN SUBSIDIES REGULATION. MORE THAN A COMPETITION TOOL FOR THE MEDIA SECTOR?

Adelaida Afilipoaie — Fri, 28 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0100

Complaints regarding the distortive and unregulated competitive effects of foreign investors sponsored through foreign state subsidies investing in Europe through mergers and acquisitions, public procurement, and greenfield projects, have led to the creation of the Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR). Through the FSR, subsidies granted by non-EU governments can be reviewed by the European Commission. The FSR signals a more cautious, protectionist approach to foreign investments in critical sectors to which media and telecom belong to. Through a comparison of select procedural provisions, this article situates the FSR among two other ex-ante regulations, the Foreign Direct Investment Regulation, and the EU Merger Regulation, revealing its striking commonalities with the latter. Media concentration and covert foreign subsidies exceed competition related concerns to include risks to media capture and foreign interference. While focusing on addressing competition-related market distortions, the FSR plays an unexpected role in the European Media Freedom Act, which addresses the risks of financially statecontrolled ‘rogue media service providers’.

FACT-CHECKING AUTOMATION: AN ETHNOGRAPHIC APPROACH TO NEWSROOMS

Irene Larraz, Ramón Salaverría, Javier Serrano-Puche — Fri, 28 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0100

This article explores the adoption of artificial intelligence-driven automation tools in factchecking newsrooms, focusing on their potential to enhance verification efficiency and reach. Using digital ethnography and semi-structured interviews with executives, journalists, and engineers from Duke Reporters’ Lab (USA) and Full Fact (UK), the study examines the motivations for adopting these tools, their impact on fact-checking practices, perceived benefits, user attitudes, and measurable outcomes. Findings reveal significant variations in approaches and results across newsrooms, underscoring ongoing challenges in implementing automation tools within complex workflows. This work advances understanding of automation’s role in fact-checking and offers insights for future research.

UNCOVERING THE LINKS BETWEEN INTERNET USAGE, TRUST IN SCIENCE AND VACCINATION BASED ON THE CROSS-NATIONAL ONLINE SURVEY-2 WAVE 5 PANEL

Fri, 28 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0100

Previous research to some extent evidenced the links between trust in science and vaccination, but the links between trust in science, vaccination, and Internet usage, have not been explored in depth yet. The purpose of this study was to examine the links between Internet usage, trust in science, and vaccination, based on data derived from the CROss-National Online Survey-2 (CRONOS-2) Wave 5 panel fielded in 11 European countries. The findings revealed males’ significantly higher general trust in science in comparison to females, but no significant gender differences were observed in Internet usage or trust in different disciplines or statements made by scientists. Next, vaccinated individuals demonstrated significantly higher general trust in science, higher trust in scientific disciplines, and significantly higher trust in statements made by scientists than not-vaccinated individuals. Furthermore, this study revealed some weak but statistically significant positive correlations between Internet usage and general trust in science, trust in scientific disciplines, and trust in statements made by scientists, and a negative link between Internet usage and age. General trust in science, trust in scientific disciplines, and trust in statements made by scientists’ subscales were significantly positively intercorrelated. SEM analysis revealed that Internet usage itself does not have a significant effect on vaccination, but Internet usage has a significant positive effect on trust in science, and trust in science has a significant positive effect on vaccination.

WHEN FACT-CHECKS GO VIRAL: A CROSS-NATIONAL ANALYSIS OF THE DISSEMINATION OF EUROPEAN FACT-CHECKERS’ CONTENT ON TWITTER

Lorenzo Federico, Mariavittoria Masotina — Fri, 28 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0100

To be effective in countering misinformation, it is paramount for fact-checkers to reach a wide audience. This study investigates the dynamics leading to broader engagement with fact-checking content published on social networks. It analyzes the dissemination activity on Twitter (later rebranded as X) of a cross-national sample of European fact checkers over a span of four months. We employ Network Analysis and Natural Language Processing techniques (sentiment analysis and keyword extraction), to address four questions: 1. Are there specific tweets that attract the majority of engagement?; 2. Do these tweets draw engagement from audiences beyond their usual reach?; 3. What is the prevailing sentiment expressed in these tweets – positive, neutral, or negative?; 4. What topics are covered in these highly engaging tweets? Results show that certain tweets receive significantly higher engagement, extending beyond typical audience. Furthermore, our findings suggest that popular tweet topics are countryspecific, and negative tweets attract more interaction in most considered countries.

THE EVOLUTION OF DISINFORMATION: A STUDY OF DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION OF FAKE NEWS

Marko Selakovic, Anna Tarabasz, Nikolina Ljepava — Fri, 28 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0100

Fake news has the power to shape and bias public opinion, spreading across mainstream and online channels. In the Internet era, new technologies enabled both the creation and dissemination of an increasing amount of fake content. Therefore, with the changing landscape of disinformation, the aim of this research is to examine how scientific literature has covered changes in the evolution of fake news and what changes are noticeable following the deep penetration of the Internet and usergenerated content into the general population. Out of 16,093 studied papers listed in EBSCO, Emerald, ProQuest, Science Direct, Scopus, and Web of Science databases, the systematic literature review identified 85 relevant sources related to fake news published in areas of communications, marketing, journalism, psychology, history, and law. The present research provides a comprehensive overview of fake news transformation in the digital age. The occurrence of new forms and types of digital fake news is noticeable. Moreover, the study demonstrates that the way of sharing and disseminating fake news has changed by introducing automated and AI solutions capable of creating and sharing fake content. Further, the term ‘fake news’ has transformed from a single semantic term to a two-dimensional phenomenon, including both the fake news genre and the fake news label. Lastly, the usage of fake news in the novel context as a critical pillar of the info-war strategies has been examined.

GENDER ASPECTS OF INFORMATION DISORDER

Brigita Miloš, Josip Šipić, Katarina Bošnjak — Fri, 28 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0100

The aim of this article is to outline the aspects of information disorder that are recognised in academic and professional literature as specifically gendered, with particular attention to disinformation tactics and manipulations aimed at undermining women (in politics), as well as those whose gender identity cannot be readily categorised within the traditional gender binary. While it is true that gender disinformation is an important aspect of most orchestrated disinformation campaigns against women or people with other gender and/or sexual identities, this paper also addresses other types of information disorder such as misinformation and malinformation. Furthermore, it presents actors recognised in the literature as well as contexts that generate gender discriminatory information and media spaces, and provides several examples that illustrate the specific impact of gendered aspects of information disorder that constitute forms of gender-based violence online or offline. Finally, suggestions and insights are given on ways to prevent and deal with this form of information disorder, focusing on the role of factcheckers for gender disinformation.