Cristian Vaccari

I am delighted to share the video recordings of the 2021 conference of The International Journal of Press/Politics. A playlist that contains all the videos can be accessed here.

Day 1 – 13 September 2021

Welcome and Opening remarks 
Cristian Vaccari (Loughborough University), Editor-in-Chief of IJPP

12:35-1:50pm News and the Pandemic
Chair: Alexandra Segerberg (Uppsala University)

The Psychological Empowerment of Solutions Journalism: Perspectives from Pandemic News Users in the UK
Xin Zhao (Bournemouth University), Daniel Jackson (Bournemouth University), An Nguyen (Bournemouth University), Antje Glück (Bournemouth University)

Framing migration during the Covid-19 pandemic in South Africa: a 12-month media monitoring project
Thea de Gruchy (University of the Witwatersrand), Thulie Zikhali (University of the Witwatersrand), Jo Vearey (University of the Witwatersrand), Johanna Hanefeld (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine)

YouTube as a source of information about unproven drugs for Covid-19: The role of the mainstream media and recommendation algorithms in promoting misinformation
Felipe Bonow Soares (UFPEL/UFRGS), Igor Salgueiro (UFPEL), Carolina Bonoto (UFRGS), Otávio Vinhas (University College Dublin)

Media and Politics around the World
Chair: Edda Humprecht (University of Zurich)

The public performance of ANC political demagoguery: The case of Jacob Zuma’s ‘Arms Deal’ court appearances
Lefa Afrika (University of Cape Town)

Populism Influence on Media Content: Polarization and Professionalization in Ecuador before and during Correa’s era
Manel Palos Pons (University of California, San Diego)

Risks of COVID-19 reporting in (semi-)authoritarian states: Perceived pressures on journalists in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan
Svetlana S. Bodrunova (St. Petersburg State University), Nikita Argylov, (Far Eastern Federal University), Aliaksandr Hradziushka (Belarusian State University), Galiya Ibrayeva, (Al-Farabi Kazakh National University)

New Perspectives on Misinformation and Disinformation
Chair: C.W. Anderson (University of Leeds, Associate Editor of IJPP)

Misinformation and Trust in Institutions in Four Countries in 2019 and 2021
Shelley Boulianne (MacEwan University), Edda Humprecht (University of Zurich)

Social media and political misinformation in the 2021 Mexico elections: Maximal panic, minimal effects
Sebastián Valenzuela (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile), Marcelo Santos (Universidad Finis Terrae), Carlos Muñiz (Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León)

Marking the boundaries between visual and textual disinformation in a digital world: A literature synthesis and research agenda
Teresa Elena Weikmann (University of Vienna), Sophie Lecheler (University of Vienna)

Setting the agenda through misinformation: Analyzing the vote-by-mail coverage during the 2020 US elections
Jonas Kaiser (Suffolk University), Carolyn Schmitt (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Kathryn Stapleton (Suffolk University)

Day 2 – 14 September 2021

Hearing or Ignoring the other side: Causes and Consequences
Chair: Jason Reifler (University of Exeter)

Why read news from the other side? How people’s selection and avoidance of news articles on social media increases polarization
Jakob Boggild (European University Institute)

Selective Exposure and New Political Cleavages: Political Media Use and Ideological Reinforcement Over Time
Adam Shehata (University of Gothenburg), Mats Ekström (University of Gothenburg), Per Oleskog-Tryggvasson (University of Gothenburg)

Curating political animosity? The relation of algorithmic news curation to ideological extremity and social and political intolerance
Linda Bos (University of Amsterdam), Jakob Ohme (University of Amsterdam), Artemis Tsoulos-Malakoudi (University of Amsterdam)

Debating the Normative Foundations of the News
Chair: Thea de Gruchy (University of the Witwatersrand)

“Fair and balanced”: What news audiences in four countries mean when they say they prefer impartial news
Camila Mont’Alverne (University of Oxford), Sumitra Badrinathan (University of Oxford), Amy Ross Arguedas (University of Oxford), Benjamin Toff (University of Oxford), Richard Fletcher (University of Oxford), Rasmus Kleis Nielsen (University of Oxford)

Fake News and Value Pluralism: A Liberal Response to Post-Truth Politics
Nick Anstead (London School of Economics)

“Polite Watchdog”: Kompas and Watchdog Journalism in the Post Authoritarian Indonesia
Wijayanto (Universitas Diponegoro)

Social Media and Politics
Chair: Duncan McCargo (University of Copenhagen)

(In)Civility of Campaign Videos and User Comments in Facebook: Affective Polarization and Mobilization
Taberez Ahmed Neyazi (National University of Singapore), Ozan Kuru (National University of Singapore), Subhayan Mukerjee (National University of Singapore)

The role of Facebook influencers in shaping the narratives of the Rodrigo Duterte era
Renee Karunungan (Loughborough University)

Politicians and journalists – interactive communication in social media?
Kinga Adamczewska (Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań)

Communicating Covid-19
Chair: David Smith (University of Leicester, Managing Editor of IJPP)

Pandemic Nationalism: How Exposure to Government Social Media Affects People’s Belief in COVID-19 Conspiracy Theories in China
Anfan Chen (University of Science and Technology of China), Yingdan Lu (Stanford University), Kaiping Chen (University of Wisconsin-Madison), Aaron Ng (National University of Singapore)

Understanding the Agenda of Alternative and Online Political Media Post-Corbyn and through the Covid-19 Pandemic
Declan McDowell-Naylor (Cardiff University), Stephen Cushion (Cardiff University), Richard Thomas (Swansea University)

The role of political partisanship for the relationship between trust in the news and trust in the government as sources for coronavirus information: Findings from two cross-sectional online survey studies in six countries
Anne Schulz (University of Zurich), Richard Fletcher (University of Oxford), Rasmus Kleis Nielsen (University of Oxford)

Day 3 – 15 September 2021

Media Policy between Old and New Challenges
Chair: Joyce Y.M. Nip (University of Sydney)

Content Moderation in the Digital Democracy: What’s the Problem?
Nahema Marchal (University of Zurich), Fabrizio Gilardi (University of Zurich), Emma Hoes (University of Zurich), Jonathan Kluser (University of Zurich), Meysam Alizadeh (University of Zurich), Mael Kubli (University of Zurich)

Funding Democracy: Public Media and Democratic Health in 33 Countries
Timothy Neff (University of Pennsylvania), Victor Pickard (University of Pennsylvania)

Good Journalism or Good Business? The politics of press support and news production in Taiwan
Hsiao-wen Lee (SOAS, University of London)

International Perspectives on Social Media and Political Communication
Chair: Danielle K. Brown (University of Minnesota, incoming Associate Editor of IJPP)

Exploring Digital Campaign Competence: The Role of Voter Knowledge on Data-Driven Election Campaigns
Sophie Minihold (University of Vienna and University of Amsterdam), Sophie Lecheler (University of Vienna), Claes de Vreese (University of Amsterdam), Sanne Kruikemeier (University of Amsterdam)

The gendered use of social media among political candidates in transition contexts: evidence from Tunisia
Malin Holm (Uppsala University), Yasmine Naila Skhiri (Uppsala University), Pär Zetterberg (Uppsala University)

Pandemic Politics: Microtargeting Strategies on Facebook India
Kiran Arabaghatta Basavaraj (University of Exeter), Holli A. Semetko (Emory University), Anup Kumar (Cleveland State University)

Digital Media and Politics: Dynamics and Influences
Chair: Shelley Boulianne (MacEwan University)

Incumbency, corruption, and the politics of online content regulation
Kyong Mazzaro (City University of New York)

Trolling with the Punches: How Journalists Navigate Online Harassment
Elizabeth Dubois (University of Ottawa), Chris Tenove (University of British Columbia), Sabrina Wilkinson (University of Ottawa), Trevor Deley (University of Ottawa) 

News We Can Use: Local news and civic engagement in neighbourhood chat groups online
Laszlo Horvath (Birkbeck, University of London), Joshua Blamire (University of Exeter)

Day 4 – 16 September 2021

Understanding Patterns of News Consumption, Avoidance, and Sharing
Chair: Sophie Lecheler (University of Vienna, Associate Editor of IJPP)

I Do Not (Want to) Know! An Empirical Investigation of the Relationship Between Unintentional and Intentional News Avoidance and Their Predictors
Dominika Betakova (University of Vienna), Hajo Boomgaarden (University of Vienna), Sophie Lecheler (University of Vienna), Svenja Schäfer (University of Vienna), Loes Aaldering (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)

Neither absent nor ambient: A more holistic view of incidental exposure to news in the digital age
Ruth Palmer (IE University), Benjamin Toff (University of Minnesota and University of Oxford)

To convince, to provoke or to entertain? A study on individual motivations behind online misinformation sharing in six Western democracies
Sophie Morosoli (University of Antwerp), Peter Van Aelst (University of Antwerp), Patrick van Erkel (University of Antwerp)

Contentious Politics and Information Flows
Chair: Taberez Ahmed Neyazi (National University of Singapore)

Now is the time to protest: the eternal sunshine of a spotless polity
Ricardo Fabrino Mendonça (UFMG/INCT.DD), Nina Santos (INCT.DD)

Conventional vs. Contentious: Exploring the relationship between participation in the social movement and voting intention in Hong Kong
Pei Zhi (City University of Hong Kong)

Tale of Two Internets: How Information Flows from the US to Chinese Social Media
Yingdan Lu (Stanford University), Jack Schaefer (University of California Los Angeles), Jungseock Joo (University of California Los Angeles), Kunwoo Park (Soongsil University), Jennifer Pan (Stanford University)

Perspectives on Media Effects
Chair: Laszlo Horvath (Birkbeck, University of London)

The Other 98%: Exposure to and Effects of Political Content Beyond News: Evidence from browsing data in three countries
Magdalena Wojcieszak (University of California Davis and University of Amsterdam), Sjifra de Leeuw (University of Amsterdam), Bernhard Clemm (University of Amsterdam), Ericka Menchen-Trevino (American University)

Does corruption corrupt? The behavioral effects of mediated exposure to corruption
Israel Waismel-Manor (University of Haifa), Patricia Moy (University of Washington), Rico Neumann (University of Washington), Moran Shechnick (University of Haifa)

Does Identity Matter? Ethnicity, Religion and Effects of Negative Campaigning on the Perception of Candidates
Kelechi Amakoh (University of Amsterdam)

Digital Innovation in News: Challenges and Strategies
Chair: Declan McDowell-Naylor (Cardiff University)

The creation of algorithmic publics in authoritarian regimes: Explaining digital innovation uptake in Russian news media
Olga Dovbysh (University of Helsinki), Mariëlle Wijermars (Maastricht University and University of Helsinki)

Does political position matter? Affective engagement strategies of news providers on Facebook in post-handover Hong Kong
Joyce Y.M. Nip (University of Sydney), Benoit Berthelier (University of Sydney)

Uneasy Bedfellows: AI in the News, Platform Companies and the Issue of Journalistic Autonomy 
Felix M. Simon (University of Oxford and Columbia University)

Conclusions and farewell 
Cristian Vaccari (Loughborough University), Editor-in-Chief of IJPP

I am beyond delighted that our new book has now been published by Oxford University Press, as part of the Oxford Studies in Digital Politics series edited by Andy Chadwick. Written with Augusto Valeriani (University of Bologna) and made possible by a large grant funded by the Italian Ministry of Education, the book sheds light on the relationship between social media and political participation. Our analyses are based on custom-built surveys on samples representative of internet users in nine Western democracies between 2015 and 2018: Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Poland, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Based on these data, we argue that social media do indeed increase political participation in both online and face-to-face activities—and that they expand political equality across Western democracies. We find that, for the most part, social media do not constitute echo chambers or filter bubbles, as most users see a mixture of political content they agree and disagree with. Various political experiences on social media, such as engaging with supportive viewpoints, accidentally encountering political news, and being targeted by political mobilization, have positive implications for participation and active political involvement: social media allow citizens to encounter clearly identifiable political viewpoints, facilitate accidental exposure to political news, and enable political actors and ordinary citizens to reach voters with electoral messages designed to mobilize them. Moreover, political interactions occurring on social media do not only benefit citizens who are already involved, but boost participation across the board and especially among the less involved. This is because social media offer both additional participatory incentives to the already engaged and new political opportunities for the less engaged. The combined effects of these incentives, and of their different effects on citizens with different levels of involvement, is a leveling of participatory inequalities among those who are more and less involved in politics.

By adopting a comparative approach, we also show that political institutions matter since some political experiences on social media are more strongly associated with participation in majoritarian systems and in party-centric systems. But overall, the relationship between the political experiences on social media that we study and political participation looks rather similar across the nine countries we studied, which suggests that these processes may be increasingly standardized, at least in the realm of liberal Western democracies.

In sum, we argue that, while social media may contribute to many societal problems, they can help address at least two important democratic ills: citizens’ apathy towards politics, as social media expose people to information that may stimulate them to participate, and inequalities between those who choose to exercise their voice and those who remain silent, as political experiences on social media seem to make a stronger difference for citizens who are relatively less involved in politics.

Below is the Table of Contents of the book. You can order it via Oxford University Press (as paperback or hardcover) or through most online retailers, where it is also available as ebook. The book also features an extensive Online Appendix, which you can access via the Open Science Foundation.

Look what just arrived! https://t.co/N8CFsGvFO8 pic.twitter.com/2uwr4w1fAZ

— Professor Cristian Vaccari (@prof_vaccari) October 13, 2021

I am delighted to share the program of the 2021 conference of The International Journal of Press/Politics. As we did last year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic the conference will be held virtually. The online videoconferencing system will be able to host up to 300 attendees at any time. The video feed of the proceedings will be recorded and made publicly available shortly after the conference.

To celebrate the conference, we have updated our special collection on Media and Politics in the Global South and in Global Perspective, which now features 46 articles free to download until the 1st of October 2021.

Last updated 9 September 2021.

Logistics

The conference will be held via a secure Zoom link shared only with participants and attendees.

All times are British Summer Time (BST), or UTC+1 (see Time Zone Converter).

For each paper, participants will have a total of 25 minutes, which includes both the paper presentation and the live discussion. Presentation of each paper will be immediately followed by discussion of the paper.

Registration

Registration fees can be paid here. The fees are £30 for presenters and attendees £5. Payment of the registration fees is entirely voluntary for both presenters and attendees.

Those who would like to attend the conference need to sign up here. Those who sign up will receive the conference Zoom link in the morning of 13 September. The link will be shared only with conference presenters and those who signed up to attend. It will not be published anywhere.

**********

Monday 13 September, 12:30-5:45pm  

12:30-12:35pm Welcome and Opening remarks 

Cristian Vaccari (Loughborough University), Editor-in-Chief of IJPP

12:35-1:50pm News and the Pandemic
Chair: Alexandra Segerberg (Uppsala University)

The Psychological Empowerment of Solutions Journalism: Perspectives from Pandemic News Users in the UK
Xin Zhao (Bournemouth University), Daniel Jackson (Bournemouth University), An Nguyen (Bournemouth University), Antje Glück (Bournemouth University)

Framing migration during the Covid-19 pandemic in South Africa: a 12-month media monitoring project
Thea de Gruchy (University of the Witwatersrand), Thulie Zikhali (University of the Witwatersrand), Jo Vearey (University of the Witwatersrand), Johanna Hanefeld (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine)

YouTube as a source of information about unproven drugs for Covid-19: The role of the mainstream media and recommendation algorithms in promoting misinformation
Felipe Bonow Soares (UFPEL/UFRGS), Igor Salgueiro (UFPEL), Carolina Bonoto (UFRGS), Otávio Vinhas (University College Dublin)

1:50-3:05pm Media and Politics around the World
Chair: Edda Humprecht (University of Zurich)

The public performance of ANC political demagoguery: The case of Jacob Zuma’s ‘Arms Deal’ court appearances
Lefa Afrika (University of Cape Town)

Populism Influence on Media Content: Polarization and Professionalization in Ecuador before and during Correa’s era
Manel Palos Pons (University of California, San Diego)

Risks of COVID-19 reporting in (semi-)authoritarian states: Perceived pressures on journalists in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan
Svetlana S. Bodrunova (St. Petersburg State University), Nikita Argylov, (Far Eastern Federal University), Aliaksandr Hradziushka (Belarusian State University), Galiya Ibrayeva, (Al-Farabi Kazakh National University)

3:05-4:45pm New Perspectives on Misinformation and Disinformation
Chair: C.W. Anderson (University of Leeds, Associate Editor of IJPP)

Misinformation and Trust in Institutions in Four Countries in 2019 and 2021
Shelley Boulianne (MacEwan University), Edda Humprecht (University of Zurich)

Social media and political misinformation in the 2021 Mexico elections: Maximal panic, minimal effects
Sebastián Valenzuela (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile), Marcelo Santos (Universidad Finis Terrae), Carlos Muñiz (Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León)

Marking the boundaries between visual and textual disinformation in a digital world: A literature synthesis and research agenda
Teresa Elena Weikmann (University of Vienna), Sophie Lecheler (University of Vienna)

Setting the agenda through misinformation: Analyzing the vote-by-mail coverage during the 2020 US elections
Jonas Kaiser (Suffolk University), Carolyn Schmitt (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Kathryn Stapleton (Suffolk University)

4:45-5:45pm Keynote Speech

Follow the Ad: Understanding Election Disinformation in the Digital Age
Young Mie Kim (University of Wisconsin-Madison)

Young Mie Kim is a Professor of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication and a Faculty Affiliate of the Department of Political Science. Kim is a 2019 Andrew Carnegie Fellow. Kim’s research concerns data-driven, algorithm-based, digitally mediated political communication. Kim’s recent research project, Project DATA (Digital Ad Tracking & Analysis), empirically investigates the sponsors, content, and targets of digital political campaigns across multiple platforms with a user-based, real-time, ad tracking tool that reverse engineers the algorithms of political campaigns. Kim and her team’s research, “The Stealth Media? Groups and Targets behind Divisive Issue Campaigns on Facebook,” identified “suspicious groups,” including Russian groups on Facebook. The work received the Kaid-Sanders Best Article of the Year in Political Communication (2018), awarded by the International Communication Association. Kim testified at the Federal Election Commission‘s hearings on the rulemaking of internet communication disclaimers and presented her research at the Congressional briefings on foreign interference in elections. Kim also spoke at the European Parliament on her research on data-driven political advertising and inequality in political involvement.

**********

Tuesday 14 September, 9:30am-2:30pm

9-30:10:45am Hearing or Ignoring the other side: Causes and Consequences
Chair: Jason Reifler (University of Exeter)

Why read news from the other side? How people’s selection and avoidance of news articles on social media increases polarization
Jakob Boggild (European University Institute)

Selective Exposure and New Political Cleavages: Political Media Use and Ideological Reinforcement Over Time
Adam Shehata (University of Gothenburg), Mats Ekström (University of Gothenburg), Per Oleskog-Tryggvasson (University of Gothenburg)

Curating political animosity? The relation of algorithmic news curation to ideological extremity and social and political intolerance
Linda Bos (University of Amsterdam), Jakob Ohme (University of Amsterdam), Artemis Tsoulos-Malakoudi (University of Amsterdam)

10:45am-12:00pm Debating the Normative Foundations of the News
Chair: Thea de Gruchy (University of the Witwatersrand)

“Fair and balanced”: What news audiences in four countries mean when they say they prefer impartial news
Camila Mont’Alverne (University of Oxford), Sumitra Badrinathan (University of Oxford), Amy Ross Arguedas (University of Oxford), Benjamin Toff (University of Oxford), Richard Fletcher (University of Oxford), Rasmus Kleis Nielsen (University of Oxford)

Fake News and Value Pluralism: A Liberal Response to Post-Truth Politics
Nick Anstead (London School of Economics)

“Polite Watchdog”: Kompas and Watchdog Journalism in the Post Authoritarian Indonesia
Wijayanto (Universitas Diponegoro)

12:00-1:15pm Social Media and Politics
Chair: Duncan McCargo (University of Copenhagen)

(In)Civility of Campaign Videos and User Comments in Facebook: Affective Polarization and Mobilization
Taberez Ahmed Neyazi (National University of Singapore), Ozan Kuru (National University of Singapore), Subhayan Mukerjee (National University of Singapore)

The role of Facebook influencers in shaping the narratives of the Rodrigo Duterte era
Renee Karunungan (Loughborough University)

Politicians and journalists – interactive communication in social media?
Kinga Adamczewska (Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań)

1:15-2:30pm Communicating Covid-19
Chair: David Smith (University of Leicester, Managing Editor of IJPP)

Pandemic Nationalism: How Exposure to Government Social Media Affects People’s Belief in COVID-19 Conspiracy Theories in China
Anfan Chen (University of Science and Technology of China), Yingdan Lu (Stanford University), Kaiping Chen (University of Wisconsin-Madison), Aaron Ng (National University of Singapore)

Understanding the Agenda of Alternative and Online Political Media Post-Corbyn and through the Covid-19 Pandemic
Declan McDowell-Naylor (Cardiff University), Stephen Cushion (Cardiff University), Richard Thomas (Swansea University)

The role of political partisanship for the relationship between trust in the news and trust in the government as sources for coronavirus information: Findings from two cross-sectional online survey studies in six countries
Anne Schulz (University of Zurich), Richard Fletcher (University of Oxford), Rasmus Kleis Nielsen (University of Oxford)

**********

Wednesday 15 September, 12:30-5:30pm 

12:30-1:45pm Media Policy between Old and New Challenges
Chair: Joyce Y.M. Nip (University of Sydney)

Content Moderation in the Digital Democracy: What’s the Problem?
Nahema Marchal (University of Zurich), Fabrizio Gilardi (University of Zurich), Emma Hoes (University of Zurich), Jonathan Kluser (University of Zurich), Meysam Alizadeh (University of Zurich), Mael Kubli (University of Zurich)

Funding Democracy: Public Media and Democratic Health in 33 Countries
Timothy Neff (University of Pennsylvania), Victor Pickard (University of Pennsylvania)

Good Journalism or Good Business? The politics of press support and news production in Taiwan
Hsiao-wen Lee (SOAS, University of London)

1:45-3:00pm International Perspectives on Social Media and Political Communication
Chair: Danielle K. Brown (University of Minnesota, incoming Associate Editor of IJPP)

Exploring Digital Campaign Competence: The Role of Voter Knowledge on Data-Driven Election Campaigns
Sophie Minihold (University of Vienna and University of Amsterdam), Sophie Lecheler (University of Vienna), Claes de Vreese (University of Amsterdam), Sanne Kruikemeier (University of Amsterdam)

The gendered use of social media among political candidates in transition contexts: evidence from Tunisia
Malin Holm (Uppsala University), Yasmine Naila Skhiri (Uppsala University), Pär Zetterberg (Uppsala University)

Pandemic Politics: Microtargeting Strategies on Facebook India
Kiran Arabaghatta Basavaraj (University of Exeter), Holli A. Semetko (Emory University), Anup Kumar (Cleveland State University)

3:00-4:15pm Digital Media and Politics: Dynamics and Influences
Chair: Shelley Boulianne (MacEwan University)

Incumbency, corruption, and the politics of online content regulation
Kyong Mazzaro (City University of New York)

Trolling with the Punches: How Journalists Navigate Online Harassment
Elizabeth Dubois (University of Ottawa), Chris Tenove (University of British Columbia), Sabrina Wilkinson (University of Ottawa), Trevor Deley (University of Ottawa) 

News We Can Use: Local news and civic engagement in neighbourhood chat groups online
Laszlo Horvath (Birkbeck, University of London), Joshua Blamire (University of Exeter)

4-15-5:30pm Virtual reception

**********

Thursday 16 September, 9:30am-2:30pm 

9:30:10-45am Understanding Patterns of News Consumption, Avoidance, and Sharing
Chair: Sophie Lecheler (University of Vienna, Associate Editor of IJPP)

I Do Not (Want to) Know! An Empirical Investigation of the Relationship Between Unintentional and Intentional News Avoidance and Their Predictors
Dominika Betakova (University of Vienna), Hajo Boomgaarden (University of Vienna), Sophie Lecheler (University of Vienna), Svenja Schäfer (University of Vienna), Loes Aaldering (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)

Neither absent nor ambient: A more holistic view of incidental exposure to news in the digital age
Ruth Palmer (IE University), Benjamin Toff (University of Minnesota and University of Oxford)

To convince, to provoke or to entertain? A study on individual motivations behind online misinformation sharing in six Western democracies
Sophie Morosoli (University of Antwerp), Peter Van Aelst (University of Antwerp), Patrick van Erkel (University of Antwerp)

10:45am-12:00pm Contentious Politics and Information Flows
Chair: Taberez Ahmed Neyazi (National University of Singapore)

Now is the time to protest: the eternal sunshine of a spotless polity
Ricardo Fabrino Mendonça (UFMG/INCT.DD), Nina Santos (INCT.DD)

Conventional vs. Contentious: Exploring the relationship between participation in the social movement and voting intention in Hong Kong
Pei Zhi (City University of Hong Kong)

Tale of Two Internets: How Information Flows from the US to Chinese Social Media
Yingdan Lu (Stanford University), Jack Schaefer (University of California Los Angeles), Jungseock Joo (University of California Los Angeles), Kunwoo Park (Soongsil University), Jennifer Pan (Stanford University)

12:00-1:15pm Perspectives on Media Effects
Chair: Laszlo Horvath (Birkbeck, University of London)

The Other 98%: Exposure to and Effects of Political Content Beyond News: Evidence from browsing data in three countries
Magdalena Wojcieszak (University of California Davis and University of Amsterdam), Sjifra de Leeuw (University of Amsterdam), Bernhard Clemm (University of Amsterdam), Ericka Menchen-Trevino (American University)

Does corruption corrupt? The behavioral effects of mediated exposure to corruption
Israel Waismel-Manor (University of Haifa), Patricia Moy (University of Washington), Rico Neumann (University of Washington), Moran Shechnick (University of Haifa)

Does Identity Matter? Ethnicity, Religion and Effects of Negative Campaigning on the Perception of Candidates
Kelechi Amakoh (University of Amsterdam)

1-15:2:30pm Digital Innovation in News: Challenges and Strategies
Chair: Declan McDowell-Naylor (Cardiff University)

The creation of algorithmic publics in authoritarian regimes: Explaining digital innovation uptake in Russian news media
Olga Dovbysh (University of Helsinki), Mariëlle Wijermars (Maastricht University and University of Helsinki)

Does political position matter? Affective engagement strategies of news providers on Facebook in post-handover Hong Kong
Joyce Y.M. Nip (University of Sydney), Benoit Berthelier (University of Sydney)

Uneasy Bedfellows: AI in the News, Platform Companies and the Issue of Journalistic Autonomy 
Felix M. Simon (University of Oxford and Columbia University)

2:30-2:45pm Conclusions and farewell 

Cristian Vaccari Loughborough University, Editor-in-Chief of IJPP

Next week, I very much look forward to giving the first talk about my forthcoming book, written with Augusto Valeriani, Outside the Bubble: Social Media and Political Participation in Western Democracies, to be published later this year as part of the Oxford Studies in Digital Politics series with Oxford University Press.

The talk will be online and open to everyone. To attend, please register here. It is part of an exciting conference on “Communication Power of Global Citizens and Politicians”, organized by Shelley Boulianne, Karolina Koc-Michalska, and Kari Steen-Johnsen.

I am very grateful for the invitation and even though I am sorry that we will not be meeting in person in Paris, where the conference was supposed to take place, I am very much looking forward to discussing the key ideas and results presented in the book.

📑This is finally happening and even though the next two weeks of proof-checking will be intense and awash with impostor syndrome, I am pinching myself. (With @barbapreta, courtesy of @OUPAcademic.) pic.twitter.com/XL10hwTiqm

— Professor Cristian Vaccari (@prof_vaccari) April 12, 2021

I have contributed to a study just published in Social Media + Society (open access) that sheds light on the factors that predict members of the UK public’s intention to encourage or discourage vaccination against COVID-19.

Chadwick, A., Kaiser, J., Vaccari, C., Freeman, D., Lambe, S., Loe, B. S., … Yu, L.-M. (2021). Online Social Endorsement and Covid-19 Vaccine Hesitancy in the United Kingdom. Social Media + Society, 7, 20563051211008816.

Based on a large online survey of a sample that matches the UK adult population on key demographics, we find that about one-third of the British public intends to encourage vaccination against COVID-19, about one-tenth intends to discourage vaccination, and the majority are undecided. Vaccine hesitancy is a key predictor of the intention to encourage or discourage vaccination, but the media from which people get their vaccine news also matter, particularly in conjunction with news-finds-me attitudes and conspiracy mentalities.

This has been a joint effort with Andrew Chadwick, Johannes Kaiser, Daniel Freeman, Sinéad Lambe, Bao S. Loe, Samantha Vanderslott, Stephan Lewandowsky, Meghan Conroy, Andrew R. N. Ross, Stefania Innocenti, Andrew J. Pollard, Felicity Waite, Michael Larkin, Laina Rosebrock, Lucy Jenner, Helen McShane, Alberto Giubilini, Ariane Petit & Ly-Mee Yu and part of the ongoing Oxford Coronavirus Explanations, Attitudes, and Narratives (OCEANS) project — a collaboration involving Oxford, Loughborough, Cambridge, Aston, and Bristol universities, led by Professor Daniel Freeman at Oxford.

My colleague Andrew Chadwick, who is the lead author of this article, summarized the key findings and policy recommendations emerging from the study in this post on Medium. The study has been covered extensively by UK media, including ITV.

New article: Online Social Endorsement and Covid-19 Vaccine Hesitancy in the UK https://t.co/lLuyXUTT4x (out in Social Media & Society v. soon)

— Professor Andrew Chadwick (@andrew_chadwick) April 2, 2021

IJPP Special Issue Symposium on Visual Politics
Conveners: Erik Bucy, Jungseock Joo, and Cristian Vaccari
Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2021 | 2:00pm to 6:00pm GMT/UTC
Note: All times are GMT time (UK time).
Times for the talks are inclusive of Q&A.
Free registration required via http://bit.ly/VisualPolitics

Earlier this year, The International Journal of Press/Politics has published a special issue on “Visual Politics”, guest-edited by Erik Bucy and Jungseock Joo, which features an outstanding selection of international and interdisciplinary articles on the role of visuals in contemporary political communication. The special issue is un-gated (i.e., free for everyone to read and download) until mid-February.

On the 27th of January 2021, we will present the special issue and discuss some of the themes emerging in this exciting area of research in an online public event. Together with the authors of the published manuscripts and the guest editors, we will be delighted to host a keynote speech by Professor Betsi Grabe (Indiana University).

Below is the program. The event is free and open to everyone. Please register via http://bit.ly/VisualPolitics.

IJPP Special Issue Symposium on Visual Politics
Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2021 | 2:00pm to 6:00pm GMT/UTC

2:00-2:10pm Welcome and General Introduction

Cristian Vaccari (Loughborough University)

2:10-2:30pm Grand Collaborative Programs: An Overview 

Erik Bucy (Texas Tech University)

2:30-3:15pm Roundtable 1: Visual Politics and the Global Pandemic

• Moderator: Cristian Vaccari
• Panelists: Scott Brennen (Duke University), Viorela Dan (LMU Munich), Thomas Powell (Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research), Damian Trilling (University of Amsterdam)
• Paper summaries from the IJPP special issue on visual politics.
• Discussion: How can we apply visual politics research approaches to the Covid-19 pandemic and what insights could they generate?

3:15-4:00pm  Roundtable 2: Visual Politics and Populism

• Moderator: Erik Bucy
• Panelists: Xénia Farkas (Corvinus University of Budapest), Jenny Lindholm (Åbo Akademi University), Ricardo Mendonça (Federal University of Minas Gerais), Felix Simon (University of Oxford)
• Paper summaries from the IJPP special issue on visual politics.
• Discussion: How can we apply visual politics research approaches to better understand the rise of populist politics—currently, historically, and looking ahead?

4:00 – 4:10pm Break

4:10pm Introduction of Keynote Speaker

Erik Bucy

4:15-5:00pm Keynote Address: The Social Side of Sight

Betsi Grabe (Indiana University)

5:00-5:45pm Roundtable 3: Visual Politics and Social Justice  

• Moderator: Jungseock Joo (UCLA)  
• Panelists: Stephanie Geise (University of Münster), Patrick Stewart (University of Arkansas), Susana Rogeiro Nina (University of Lisbon), Yilang Peng (University of Georgia)
• Paper summaries from the IJPP special issue on visual politics.
• Discussion: How can we apply visual politics research approaches to the analysis of protest and social justice movements to provide a better understanding of the public mood and demands for change?

5:45-6:00pm Concluding Comments – On Visual Politics and the Opportunity to Think Big

Cristian Vaccari, Jungseock Joo, Erik Bucy

6:00-6:30pm Virtual Happy Hour or Coffee Hour

I hope you will join us and help spread the word!

I have written what has ended up being a rather long Twitter thread to recap and celebrate a very eventful 2020 for The International Journal of Press/Politics, which I am honored to serve as Editor-in-Chief. Here it is.

👋As we prepare to finally say goodbye to2⃣0⃣2⃣0⃣, here is a #thread about what this year has meant for #IJPP and what we are planning for the future 👇 pic.twitter.com/4rzWRgNdMj

— Professor Cristian Vaccari (@prof_vaccari) December 23, 2020

As part of our Leverhulme-funded new project “Understanding the Everyday Sharing of Misinformation on Private Social Media“, we have a new, fully-funded three-year PhD position. The deadline for applications is 11 January 2021.

Here is the job ad with the full specifications.

I am happy to answer any questions via email.