Online crisis communication response: A case study of fraudulent banking transactions in South Africa

Abstract

The emergence and advancement of information technology – specifically the replacement of face-toface services with innovative self-service technology, such as banking transactions on the Internet – is forcing companies to adopt a proactive approach to online crisis communication response, and to combine the management and control of online messages during a crisis. In the financial services industry, deregulation and the rapid growth in technology have removed entry barriers in the online environment, forcing financial institutions to transform from the traditional brick-and-mortar to click-and-mortar service delivery, while at the same time allaying customers’ fears (and the perceived risk) of fraudulent online transactions. Although studies have been conducted on the adoption, use, perceived risk and purchase intention of self-service technology, limited research has examined the knowledge management of an online crisis communication response. Knowledge management, which focuses on the acquisition, transfer and assimilation of information, is one way in which to manage messages effectively before, during and after an online crisis communication response situation. The main aim of this article is to identify and characterise typologies of the management and control of messages in an online crisis communication response, through an interpretative and critical analysis of fraudulent websites, based on the main premises of the knowledge management approach. This is done through a case study approach: the website of one of the top ten banks in South Africa was studied in terms of it dealt with fraudulent banking transactions, specifically from the knowledge management paradigm.     

Measuring knowledge management in a virtual chat room: A case study

Abstract

Many organisations deem the virtual workplace to be a solution to challenges such as global competition, accelerated product development, improved quality and customer service, to mention but a few. In spite of the success of virtual communities on the Internet and although a significant amount of research has been conducted on virtual organisations, very few studies have focused on the evaluation of the combined effects of the theoretical variables of knowledge management in virtual communities. Advanced web analytics have been used in some instances to test the content of virtual communities, like discussion forums, hat rooms and the like. Because a plethora of chat rooms are devoted to special interest topics that may implicitly contain information and insights on consumers, knowledge creation and sharing, it creates the ideal opportunity to measure the management of knowledge therein. The aim of this article is, therefore, to measure knowledge management in a virtual community (an online chat room of an academic institution). Firstly, the article propounds a brief overview of the theoretical underpinning of the study by proposing a conceptual framework for the measurement of knowledge management in virtual communities. Secondly, the methodology to measure the knowledge management in a chat room of an educational institution is outlined. Finally, the research results are presented and recommendations are made for future research.     

Citizenship,nation-building and diversity: What is the role of the media in all this?

Abstract

This article explores concepts and discourses regarding citizenship, nation-building and civic solidarity in particular with regard to diverse societies. Attention is given to diverging viewpoints on nation-building and different models on how civic solidarity could be achieved in heterogeneous societies. A distinction is made between Jacobinistic and syncretistic approaches to nation-building and citizenship, as well as between constitutional patriotism, liberal nationalism and deep diversity as models for achieving feelings of belonging, patriotism and social cohesion in heterogeneous societies. Nation-building in Africa and South Africa – and the implications thereof for sub-national groups – are furthermore considered. The role of the media in nation-building, on the one hand, and the accommodation of diversity, on the other, are also considered. The article ends with conclusions and recommendations on the role of the media in promoting discourses on diversity.     

Navigating ISIS’s Preferred Platform: Telegram1

ABSTRACT

Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) online recruitment has been the subject of considerable interest by journalists and technology writers, but there has been no scholarly work to date exploring ISIS Telegram channels and chat rooms. Telegram has played an important role in recruitment and coordination in recent ISIS/terror attacks in Europe. Further, Telegram is quickly replacing the group’s online presence on more open platforms such as Facebook and Twitter as these companies aggressively police and shut down ISIS-linked accounts. This research note aims to demystify Telegram, explain how it can be used for research, and discuss some of the addictive qualities associated with user engagement.     

New Media and the Polarization of American Political Discourse

Scholars of political communication have long examined newsworthiness by focusing on the news choices of media organizations (Lewin, 1947 Lewin, K. 1947. Frontiers and group dynamics. Human Relations, 1: 143–153. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]; White, 1950 White, D. M. 1950. The “gate keeper”: A case study in the selection of news. Journalism Quarterly, 27: 383–390. [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]; Sigal, 1973 Sigal, L. V. 1973. Reporters and officials, Lexington, MA: Heath.  [Google Scholar]; Gans, 1979 Gans, H. J. 1979. Deciding what's news, New York: Vintage Books.  [Google Scholar]). However, in recent years these traditional arbiters of the news have increasingly been joined or even supplanted in affecting the public agenda by “new media” competitors, including cable news, talk radio, and even amateur bloggers. The standards by which this new class of decision makers evaluates news are at best only partially explained by prior studies focused on professional journalists and organizations. In this study, we seek to correct this oversight by content analyzing five online news sources—including wire services, cable news, and political blog sites—in order to compare their news judgments in the months prior to, and immediately following, the 2006 midterm election. We collected all stories from Reuters' and AP's “top political news” sections. We then investigated whether a given story was also chosen to appear on each wire's top news page (indicating greater perceived newsworthiness than those that were not chosen) and compared the wires' editorial choices to those of more partisan blogs (from the left: DailyKos.com; from the right: FreeRepublic.com) and cable outlets (FoxNews.com). We find evidence of greater partisan filtering for the latter three Web sources, and relatively greater reliance on traditional newsworthiness criteria for the news wires.     

Journalism as “Prostitution”: Understanding Russia's Reactions to Anna Politkovskaya's Murder

When the Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya was gunned down in her apartment building in Moscow in October 2006, heads of Western governments and nongovernmental organizations hurried to make strong statements condemning the murder, and public rallies in Politkovskaya's honor were held in front of Russian embassies across the world. In contrast to this swift and unequivocal response, the reaction of Russian officials, journalists, and the public at large was delayed, lukewarm, or nonexistent, much to the incomprehension of Western observers. To understand why the majority of Russian citizens were unmoved by Politkovskaya's murder, this article will contend, we need to understand the specific history of media-political transformation in Russia over the past decade and a half. This includes (a) approaching Soviet journalism as a unique nexus of ethics and politics, (b) studying the centrifugal forces unleashed during Russia's media privatization in the 1990s, and (c) understanding how those forces (in tension with the centering pull under Putin) have been shaping the practices and meaning of journalism in post-Soviet Russia over the past decade and a half. Such context-sensitive and historically contingent exploration will, in turn, suggest new theoretical tools for thinking about journalistic action, or agency, in political contexts short of classical liberalism more broadly.     

Tweets That Matter: Evidence From a Randomized Field Experiment in Japan

Although election campaigns are increasingly utilizing social media, only a few studies have investigated their effects experimentally. To fill this gap in the literature, we conducted a field experiment to examine the effects of a campaign that used Twitter during the 2013 House of Councillors election in Japan. The treatment was exposure to tweets from Tōru Hashimoto, the mayor of Osaka and co-leader of the Japan Restoration Party, who has the largest number of Twitter followers among Japanese politicians. Participants assigned to the treatment group followed Hashimoto and the two placebos, whereas those assigned to the control condition followed only the two placebos. They followed the politicians continuously for approximately one month. Pre- and posttreatment measures were collected using online surveys, and treatment compliance was continuously checked via Twitter application programming interface (API). Following Hashimoto on Twitter during the election campaign had a positive impact on feelings toward Hashimoto. This effect was not mediated by issue knowledge or the evaluation of Hashimoto’s personal traits, and no effects were observed on voting. These findings suggest that repeated exposure to a politician’s messages on Twitter may only result in a mere exposure effect, which nevertheless generates favorable overall attitudes about the politician.     

Bridging Gaps in Cross-Cutting Media Exposure: The Role of Public Service Broadcasting

Previous studies show that individual political interest is an antecedent of news media exposure, particularly of exposure to differing views. Nevertheless, little is known about this effect from a comparative perspective: How do media institutions affect the relationship between political interest and exposure to cross-cutting viewpoints? One institutional feature that varies between countries is the ownership of broadcast media. This study investigates the extent to which the relative dominance of public service broadcasting alters the relationship between political interest and non-like-minded, or cross-cutting, news media exposure across 27 European Union countries. The analyses employ survey data from 27,079 individuals and media content from 48,983 news stories. The results confirm that the extent to which political interest contributes to cross-cutting exposure is contingent on the strength of public service broadcasting. The stronger the broadcaster, the smaller the gaps between the most and least politically engaged individuals.     

Need a Hand? No Thanks! Media Representations and Peace Building Indicators: The Case of UK Foreign Aid Programmes in Colombia

This article considers research approaches often associated with media and journalism studies as complementary assessment strategies to inform decisions associated with evaluating foreign aid. In order to do so, the case of British foreign aid towards Colombia in the context of the War on Drugs is examined as a case study. The authors explore the relationship between aid giving and the receipt of aid by focusing on how the media can be used as a peacebuilding indicator. There is a dearth of academic inquiry into these issues. This article attempts to flesh out some future lines of scholarly enquiry using the UK–Colombia case study example. It uses research interviews with state officials, multilateral organizations and NGO representatives as well as a review of press coverage in Colombia over a two-year period. The article argues that media could potentially be used as an important indicator of peacebuilding success and failure in the context of aid giving and receipt but that to achieve that there are specific pre-conditions and issues to be addressed by the different parties.