Developing terrorism coverage: variances in news framing of the January 2015 attacks in Paris and Borno

Written news coverage of an event influences public perception and understanding of that event. Through agenda setting and news framing, journalists control the importance and substance of readers’ beliefs about the event. While existing research has been conducted on the relationship between media coverage and the geographic location of the country an event took place in, there is limited understanding of this relationship in terms of terrorist events. Utilising an agenda-setting theory and news framing theory lens to compare news coverage of the January 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris, France, and Borno, Nigeria revealed significant variances in the overall coverage, headline style and discourse usage based on the event. In particular, the American news coverage positively framed France through detailed, sympathetic coverage and negatively framed Nigeria by overgeneralising and placing blame. Determining the origin and impacts of these variances is integral to forming a more comprehensive understanding of international terrorism and the most effective ways to combat it.     

Framing the IRA: beyond agenda setting and framing towards a model accounting for audience influence

Coverage of Irish Republican Army (IRA) attacks and the Northern Irish peace process is affected by both the country a media organisation is located and their format. The coverage of the IRA in 1996 was studied in five newspapers based in Ireland, Northern Ireland, the UK and the USA to reveal similarities and differences in language use, stories reported and general emphasis. The frequency of keywords was examined to show that the location a newspaper is based in affects the stories run by the newspaper. However, the format of a newspaper affects the framing of this coverage more than the location. These results were analysed through the lens of two leading theories pertaining to media–public relations: agenda-setting theory and framing theory. While both are shown to be partially useful in explaining the results, a more holistic view that accounts for public influence on media coverage would be even more useful. As a result of this narrow focus on only one part of media–public relations, the two theories do not exhibit predictive power, and further study should be conducted to expand their scope to encompass the public’s affect on media coverage.     

Playing to the Crowd: Agenda Control in Presidential Debates

Presidential debates allow candidates to send a message directly to voters. We use an experimental design complemented with a content analysis of all presidential debates in 1992, 2004, and 2008 to explore how candidates should and do use agenda setting, framing, and message tone to shape the agenda in debates. We find that candidates are differentially attentive to various topics, depending on the comparative advantage provided by the topic. Yet, this agenda control occurs only at the margins because topic salience in public opinion predicts candidate attention and conditions voters' receptiveness to debate rhetoric. Our findings thus suggest that topic salience constrains candidates' abilities to focus the agenda strategically.

[Supplementary material is available for this article. Go to the publisher's online edition of Political Communication for the following free supplemental resources: Experimental Sample and Randomization; Experimental Treatments; Experimental Results; and the Presidential Debate Rhetoric Codebook.]     

村民自治障碍及对策论(下)

本文为《村民自治的障碍与对策》的下篇——《对策论》。文中作者提出了完善立法、农村基层政权在农村村民自治中的准确定位、加快农村城镇化三个对策。完善立法的目的是加强村民的自治权和规范农村自治组织的行为 ;农村基层政权在农村村民自治中的准确定位目的是发挥农村基层政权在村民自治中的推动作用和救济作用 ;加快农村城镇化目的是建立农村村民自治的物质基础和培育村民的自治观念。     

金砖国家非传统安全合作的理论与实践路径

围绕金砖国家合作,不少人持有"褪色论"或"金砖分化"的悲观态度,主要论据是金砖国家之间并不存在很强的禀赋互补性,因而难以促成合作。然而,从合作理论和非传统安全问题的治理实践出发,金砖国家合作都是可行的。从理论维度出发,合作包括交换型合作与协作型合作。交换型合作认为,禀赋的互补性缺失,合作就难以形成。这也是当前学界对于金砖合作的争论焦点。然而,合作还包括协作型合作,达成共同利益,并不依赖禀赋的互补性就能塑造相互依赖的合作关系。再回到金砖国家在非传统安全问题领域内合作实践的维度,随着安全的内涵、议程和治理路径发生转变,国与国之间的共同利益越来越多。因为全球化时代安全议程空前复杂、具有非传统性,进而超越了一国之能力予以治理。具体到金砖合作的治理实践之中,塑造后天共同利益的操作路径包括:塑造"行动焦点"、把饼做大;培育信任、塑造伙伴关系等。此外,金砖国家合作强调包容性规范,持开放的姿态,重视与其他平台以及世界各国的合作。     

基于真实世界艾灸督脉组穴治疗轻度认知障碍临床观察

目的 观察基于真实世界研究方法下,艾灸督脉组穴治疗轻度认知障碍(mild cognitive impairment, MCI)的临床疗效。方法 选取符合条件的MCI患者260例,建立标准化数据库,详细记录患者信息和治疗过程,试验结束后根据研究目的分别以不同艾灸温度、艾灸时长、灸治频率及灸治疗程分组,运用倾向评分匹配法平衡组间混杂因素,比较不同艾灸温度(43.1～46℃,40.1～43℃)、艾灸时长(30 min, 20 min)、灸治频率(每周6次,每周3次)及灸治疗程(8周,6周)下患者的总有效率,观察治疗前后简易精神状态检查(mini-mental status examinination, MMSE)量表、蒙特利尔认知评估(Montreal cognitive assessment, MoCA)量表评分变化,血浆同型半胱氨酸(homocysteine, Hcy)、神经丝蛋白轻链(neurofilament light chain, NfL)水平变化情况。结果 匹配前艾灸督脉组穴治疗MCI的总有效率为88.46%(230/260);匹配后发现艾灸督脉疗法分别在艾灸温度为43.1～4...     

The Coming Age of China’s Mental Health Social Work and Practical Research Agendas

As six Departments of the National Health and Family Planning Commission enacted ‘The Notification of Implementing the Pilot Work on the Integrated Management of Mental Health’(National CDC,2015,No.57) in April 2015, that year has been seen as the first year of the coming of social work on mental health as well as the milestone of epoch-making and historical significance, marking that Chinese people need structural transformation and the development of health care system toward modernity. Mental health has become a national, universal and highest level of health needs. For the four decades since the reform and opening up, China has made remarkable achievements of policies and regulations on mental health, initially forming the system and framework of mental health policies and regulations with Chinese characteristics. However, social workers still stay in a “marginalized” position and cannot give their due profession to full play. The article first provides a succinct outline of the scope, contents and priorities of the framework and system with regard to mental health social work practices. Then the focus is to build China’s social work practical research agendas of mental health, to draw up a “list of practical research issues”of China’s social work on mental health, to designate the direction for future development of social work of mental health and to lay the foundation of social work for the full realization of the magnificent goal of the Healthy China and well-off society.     

Psychopathy Factors and Risk for Aggressive Behavior: A Test of the “Threatened Egotism” Hypothesis

The primary purpose of this study was to examine psychopathy within a model of aggressive behavior that encompasses narcissism and "threatened egoism." This model was advanced by Baumeister and his colleagues (e.g., R. F. Baumeister, L. Smart, & J. M. Boden, 1996; B. J. Bushman & R. F. Baumeister, 1998). We examined whether the threatened egotism model extends to the construct of psychopathy and whether the two factors underlying psychopathy exhibit different associations with aggression within this model. Self-report data, correctional officer and counselor reports, and disciplinary report information obtained for 98 male inmates provided partial evidence that psychopathic individuals tend to respond aggressively when confronted with an ego threat. Moreover, psychopathic individuals exhibited this pattern of aggression more strongly than did narcissistic individuals. These findings bear potentially useful implications for the understanding and treatment of aggression in forensic populations.     

"命案必破"的实践与思索

"命案必破"有特定的涵义,对内来讲是公安机关内部侦破命案的奋斗目标,对外来说,是公安机关向人民群众表达命案侦破的决心和誓言.然而,由于部分公安机关和民警对"命案必破"缺乏正确的理解,致使"命案必破"在认识和实践上出现了误区.为了消除这种误区,防止出现冤假错案,必须坚决杜绝急功近利的思想,以事实为根据,以法律为准绳,排除外界干扰,严格公正执法,构建和谐的命案侦破外部环境.     

The foreign policy of the Zuma government: pursuing the ‘national interest’?

It was after much anticipation that members of the new Jacob Zuma foreign policy executive announced that, for the duration of their term, South Africa's foreign policy would be based on the doctrine of advancing ‘the national interest’, conceptualised simply as the ‘most vital needs’ of the country. However, almost two years since taking control of the levers of policy and political power, the South African government has yet to spell out in detail what constituted the national interest or how such interest would be pursued. In spite of this lacuna, senior members of the new foreign policy inner-elite continue to proclaim the national interest, and proceed to spell out grander foreign policy goals that they would pursue under the banner of a ‘new’ developmental agenda. These include consolidating the African agenda; deepening South–South cooperation; expanding South–North relations; strengthening foreign political and economic ties generally; and participating in a global system of governance. To date, this proclamation that the national interest will be the beam that will guide foreign policy has remained little more than a statement of intent and much conjecture. The challenge is to move beyond rhetoric and intentions and to define the national interest and to articulate a coherent foreign policy going forward. This will require concrete proposals on the basis of thorough-going domestic–foreign policy linkages.