Trustworthiness: the Commentators

Mark Thompson deplores the decline in the public trust of government and of public service institutions such as the BBC. But there has also been a decline in another form of trust: government's trust in the ability of professionals such as doctors and teachers to deliver high quality public services. And, unlike Thompson's type of trust, this decline was inevitable, because it was based on untenable assumptions concerning professional motivation. The author discusses the importance of trust in an unwritten constitution, including trust in the use made of public resources, trust that appointments are being made on merit, trust that the civil service is ‘speaking truth unto power’ behind the scenes and ultimately trust that it retains the ability to serve future governments. In a world where trust in institutions is diminishing, there are still surprising levels of trust in the world of private philanthropy. The public are only too ready to give donations without seeking to question, especially in the wake of major disasters. Yet the nature of aid agencies has changed dramatically in the past thirty years into major global enterprises with sophisticated media and marketing operations. In this case a greater degree of scepticism from those who donate and paradoxically less trust might actually result in better outcomes from aid and better use of funding. Trust is critical to the mission of the FCO. The public needs to trust the competence and sound judgment of the professional diplomats. The diplomats themselves need to be able to rely on the commonsense of their fellow colleagues. Ministers and diplomats need to trust each other. And other governments need to have confidence in the discretion of their British counterparts. This is an increasing challenge in the world of instant news. Trust can be quickly lost by indiscreet or self‐serving revelations. But the key is to be as open and transparent as possible about the processes of diplomacy. A new survey commissioned by the British Journalism Review demonstrates that public confidence in journalism has collapsed over the last five years. This is particularly true for the commercial broadcasters ITV and Channel 4, whose journalism has traditionally commanded as much public esteem as the BBC. Trust in the BBC and print journalists has also declined, and journalism suffered more than any of the other 16 occupational groups being assessed. This is partly due to the cumulative effect of various “fakery” scandals that have afflicted broadcasters over the last 18 months and partly down to a more widespread cynicism directed at those in authority.     

Market Demand for Civic Affairs News

This paper uses time series methods to test the relationship between civic affairs content and audience share for the ABC, CBS, and NBC evening news in the mid-1990s. Because these programs competed in the same market, but varied the amount of their civic affairs coverage, they present an excellent opportunity to analyze this relationship. The study uses hand-coded news abstracts and O.J. Simpson murder trial coverage as separate measures of news content. The study finds that lower levels of civic affairs content and higher levels of O.J. news are associated with greater audience share.     

Role of Social Media in the 2016 Iowa Caucuses

Social media have become an indispensable tool in modern political campaigns, yet little is known about their impact, especially at the important primary and caucus stages of the US presidential elections. This study investigates the effects of visiting political party and candidate websites as well as following presidential candidates, posting political comments, and liking or sharing political content on social media on participation in the primary stage of the 2016 US election. The results of a precaucus survey in Iowa show that active use of social media tends to have positive effects, while passive social media use has a negative impact on likelihood of caucus attendance. Recommendations for campaigns include redirecting attention away from passive website viewing and developing social media content that will generate likes and shares.     

Laughing Our Way to a Stronger Democracy: Political Comedy’s Potential to Equalize Political Interest in Community College Students

What effect does political comedy have on political interest? Through an experimental design, changes in political interest are measured through a pre and posttest, comparing groups randomly assigned to watch The Daily Show, NBC Nightly News, Entertainment Tonight and a no-exposure group. Models indicate political comedy significantly affects political interest, measured through a unique 40-point index.     

News Media Use and Political Engagement Among Adolescents: An Analysis of Virtuous Circles Using Panel Data

This study analyzes reinforcing spirals between news media use and two manifestations of political engagement: political interest and participation intention. Drawing on a three-wave panel study among adolescents, we test the Virtuous Circle Thesis (VCT) in both an online and an offline setting, by distinguishing between selection effects and media effects as key ingredients of the VCT. Overall, the findings lend mixed support to the general argument. While the relationship between specific forms of news media use and political interest appears to be driven primarily by selection effects, reciprocal relations were found mainly between television news and participation intention. The VCT assumption of reciprocal influences was supported most clearly when adolescents’ total news media use was considered. Taken together, virtuous circles appeared to operate rather similarly online and offline.     

民生新闻节目的本土化特色——浅析安徽经视《第一时间》和《帮女郎帮你忙》节目

民生新闻的涵义是指从平民视角出发,关注平民百姓日常生活及其生存状态的新闻。民生新闻的意义在于开创了中国电视节目"本土化"的实践。安徽经视的《第一时间》、《帮女郎帮你忙》这两档节目,以服务群众为宗旨,走向基层贴近百姓,关注民生,加强与百姓互动,不断推出群众喜闻乐见的新闻,大力弘扬地域先进文化,折射出民众评判真善美与假恶丑的标准,是最具安徽本土化特色的电视节目。     

“新闻审判”与犯罪嫌疑人、被告人权利保护

新闻审判,是指新闻舆论超越司法程序,干预、影响司法独立和公正的现象。新闻媒体在报道刑事司法活动中的新闻审判现象,不仅影响了司法机关的独立审判,也侵犯了犯罪嫌疑人、被告人的公民权利。而后者往往被忽视。应在研究我国媒体新闻审判现象的独特成因及危害性的基础上,进行相关制度设计。     

你是自己的设计者

在人的一生中,了解与运用自己本身精神所产生出来的神奇威力,是一件让人着迷的事。成功的实例说明每一个都有成功的机会,关键是在于你对自己职业生涯的规划,只有积极顽强,才有充实的人生。     

民爆公共安全管理专业人才培养方案探析——以招录培养体制改革试点专业为例

人才培养方案是实现人才培养目标的指导纲领，是学校开展各项教学活动的主要依据。因此，探索构建符合山西公安工作实际、适应政法院校招录培养体制改革需要的公安专门人才培养体系，制定科学的人才培养方案是我们亟须解决的新课题。文章对民爆公共安全管理专业人才培养方案的基本原则、培养目标及培养规格、课程体系和实践教学体系等进行了探析。     

侦查适度公开原则与犯罪新闻报道

犯罪侦查活动的有效开展离不开群众的参与,而长期形成的保密制度使侦查程序往往是在"屏蔽"指挥的谋略下进行,虽能避免一些法外因素的干扰,但其封闭性也滋生出诸多负面效应。确立侦查适度公开原则,允许新闻媒体对犯罪信息进行恰当报道,不仅有利于破获案件和收集证据,还能在强化公民知情权的同时监督侦查活动的合法进行。