The Impact of Social Issues and Public Affairs Television Documentaries

1968 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 379 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen J. Fitzsimmons ◽  
Hobart G. Osburn
2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (5) ◽  
pp. 550-562

Drawn upon field research in two peri-urban villages of Hanoi in 2014 and short re-visits recently, the research examines the widespread of gambling and other social issues in Hanoi’s urbanizing peri-urban communities which happened concurrently with the phenomenon of “land fever,” and at the time local villagers received compensation from land appropriation. The article aims to understand the impact of urbanization on these communities and the interface between urbanization and the increase of social problems. It argues that gambling, drug use, and other social problems have been existing in Vietnamese rural communities long before; however, when urbanization came, some people have higher chances to engage in these activities. Those are villagers who want to transform quickly into entrepreneurs or bosses by joining the “black credit” market and gambling. Together with middle-aged and old farmers who greatly relied on agricultural production and face difficulties in transforming their occupation, they formed the group of losers in the urbanization process. Received 6th January 2019; Revised 26th April 2019; Accepted 15th May 2019


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (SPL1) ◽  
pp. 1367-1373
Author(s):  
Nikhil Sanjay Mujbaile ◽  
Smita Damke

The Covid illness (COVID-19) pandemic has spread rapidly all through the world and has had a drawn-out impact. The Pandemic has done incredible damage to society and made genuine mental injury to numerous individuals. Mental emergencies frequently cause youngsters to deliver sentiments of relinquishment, despondency, insufficiency, and fatigue and even raise the danger of self-destruction. Youngsters with psychological instabilities are particularly powerless during the isolate and colonial removing period. Convenient and proper assurances are expected to forestall the event of mental and social issues. The rising advanced applications and wellbeing administrations, for example, telehealth, web-based media, versatile wellbeing, and far off intuitive online instruction can connect the social separation and backing mental and conduct wellbeing for youngsters. Because of the mental advancement qualities of youngsters, this investigation additionally outlines intercessions on the mental effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Further difficulties in Low Middle-Income Countries incorporate the failure to actualize successful general wellbeing estimates, for example, social separating, hand cleanliness, definitive distinguishing proof of contaminated individuals with self-disconnection and widespread utilization of covers The aberrant impacts of the Pandemic on youngster wellbeing are of extensive concern, including expanding neediness levels, upset tutoring, absence of admittance to the class taking care of plans, decreased admittance to wellbeing offices and breaks in inoculation and other kid wellbeing programs. Kept tutoring is critical for kids in Low Middle-Income Countries. Arrangement of safe situations is mainly testing in packed asset obliged schools. 


Author(s):  
Yuming Zhang ◽  
Fan Yang

Companies use corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosures to communicate their social and environmental policies, practices, and performance to stakeholders. Although the determinants and outcomes of CSR activities are well understood, we know little about how companies use CSR communication to manage a crisis. The few relevant CSR studies have focused on the pressure on corporations exerted by governments, customers, the media, or the public. Although investors have a significant influence on firm value, this stakeholder group has been neglected in research on CSR disclosure. Grounded in legitimacy theory and agency theory, this study uses a sample of Chinese public companies listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange to investigate CSR disclosure in response to social media criticism posted by investors. The empirical findings show that investors’ social media criticism not only motivates companies to disclose their CSR activities but also increases the substantiveness of their CSR reports, demonstrating that companies’ CSR communication in response to a crisis is substantive rather than merely symbolic. We also find that the impact of social media criticism on CSR disclosure is heterogeneous. Non-state-owned enterprises, companies in regions with high levels of environmental regulations, and companies in regions with local government concern about social issues are most likely to disclose CSR information and report substantive CSR activities. We provide an in-depth analysis of corporate CSR strategies for crisis management and show that crises initiated by investors on social media provide opportunities for corporations to improve their CSR engagement.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yurong Yao ◽  
Peng Xu

PurposeThis study focuses on understanding how channel features can affect people's intention to continue to use an electronic channel in public affairs and their recommendation behaviors. Specifically, three different channels are focused on: email, microblogs and online meetings.Design/methodology/approachA research model on an e-participation channel based on the channel-disposition framework was developed and an online survey was conducted to collect data from 397 individuals who used three e-participation channels to validate seven hypotheses.FindingsThe study found that information quality, channel interaction quality and the social appearance of other citizens all had a significant impact on users' intention to continue to use an electronic channel, which, in turn, affected their recommendation behaviors. However, the impact differed across the three e-participation channels. Information quality had a stronger impact on microblog and online meeting users' intention to continue to use these channels than on email users' intention to continue using email to participate in public affairs. Channel interaction quality had a stronger impact on email users' intention to continue to use email than on microblog and online meeting users' intention to continue to use these channels in public affairs.Originality/valueThis study helps better explain how various channels and their features can affect participants' use intentions and behaviors in e-participation. It also provides practical guidance for government to better manage e-participation channels and effectively engage citizens in public affairs.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pyemo Afego ◽  
Imhotep Alagidede

Purpose The purpose of this study is to explore how citizen protests against perceived acts of racial injustice impact on share prices of companies who weigh in on the protests. In particular, corporate statements that directly address the issues around the protests are identified and possible mechanisms underlying how these may impact shareholder value are discussed. Design/methodology/approach The authors first use a qualitative research approach of content and sentiment analysis to track how companies or their chief executive officers (CEOs) present their stance against racial injustice, as represented by their use of linguistic markers. Then, the authors use an event study methodology to assess the response from stock market participants. Findings The findings suggest that CEOs primarily convey their stance using language that is emotive and empathic. In addition, shareholders earn a significant abnormal return of 2.13%, on average, in the three days following the release of the statements. Research limitations/implications This study considered only US-listed companies. The sample size, also, is relatively small. Institutional and cultural differences across countries may also vary. Thus, future research could explore the extent to which the findings generalize to other contexts. Practical implications Results provide insights to top managers who communicate with various stakeholders on emotionally charged social issues. Findings also offer insights on the timing of trades for investors and arbitrageurs. Social implications Findings contribute to the understanding of corporate behaviour in times of social upheaval. Insights from the study may also be used to inform corporate communication decisions about important social issues. Originality/value This study brings into focus the role that affective appeal and moral emotion can play in evoking motivation for corporate activism, and the impact that this has on investor opinions’ formation process.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Aasif Ahmad Mir ◽  
Sevukan Rathinam ◽  
Sumeer Gul

PurposeTwitter is gaining popularity as a microblogging and social networking service to discuss various social issues. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has become a global pandemic and is discussed worldwide. Social media is an instant platform to deliberate various dimensions of COVID-19. The purpose of the study is to explore and analyze the public sentiments related to COVID-19 vaccines across the Twitter messages (positive, neutral, and negative) and the impact tweets make across digital social circles.Design/methodology/approachTo fetch the vaccine-related posts, a manual examination of randomly selected 500 tweets was carried out to identify the popular hashtags relevant to the vaccine conversation. It was found that the hashtags “covid19vaccine” and “coronavirusvaccine” were the two popular hashtags used to discuss the communications related to COVID-19 vaccines. 23,575 global tweets available in public domain were retrieved through “Twitter Application Programming Interface” (API), using “Orange Software”, an open-source machine learning, data visualization and data mining toolkit. The study was confined to the tweets posted in English language only. The default data cleaning and preprocessing techniques available in the “Orange Software” were applied to the dataset, which include “transformation”, “tokenization” and “filtering”. The “Valence Aware Dictionary for sEntiment Reasoning” (VADER) tool was used for classification of tweets to determine the tweet sentiments (positive, neutral and negative) as well as the degree of sentiments (compound score also known as sentiment score). To assess the influence/impact of tweets account wise (verified and unverified) and sentiment wise (positive, neutral, and negative), the retweets and likes, which offer a sort of reward or acknowledgment of tweets, were used.FindingsA gradual decline in the number of tweets over the time is observed. Majority (11,205; 47.52%) of tweets express positive sentiments, followed by neutral (7,948; 33.71%) and negative sentiments (4,422; 18.75%), respectively. The study also signifies a substantial difference between the impact of tweets tweeted by verified and unverified users. The tweets related to verified users have a higher impact both in terms of retweets (65.91%) and likes (84.62%) compared to the tweets tweeted by unverified users. Tweets expressing positive sentiments have the highest impact both in terms of likes (mean = 10.48) and retweets (mean = 3.07) compared to those that express neutral or negative sentiments.Research limitations/implicationsThe main limitation of the study is that the sentiments of the people expressed over one single social platform, that is, Twitter have been studied which cannot generalize the global public perceptions. There can be a variation in the results when the datasets from other social media platforms will be studied.Practical implicationsThe study will help to know the people's sentiments and beliefs toward the COVID-19 vaccines. Sentiments that people hold about the COVID-19 vaccines are studied, which will help health policymakers understand the polarity (positive, negative, and neutral) of the tweets and thus see the public reaction and reflect the types of information people are exposed to about vaccines. The study can aid the health sectors to intensify positive messages and eliminate negative messages for an enhanced vaccination uptake. The research can also help design more operative vaccine-advocating communication by customizing messages using the obtained knowledge from the sentiments and opinions about the vaccines.Originality/valueThe paper focuses on an essential aspect of COVID-19 vaccines and how people express themselves (positively, neutrally and negatively) on Twitter.


2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
H.F. Al-Sultani ◽  
J.C. Field ◽  
J.M. Thomason ◽  
P.J. Moynihan

Introduction: Despite much research on the impact of edentulism and prosthetic rehabilitation on food and nutrient intake, there is little information on how replacing complete dentures affects social and emotional issues around eating. Objectives: To investigate, in a cohort study, how replacing conventional complete dentures affects eating-related quality of life (ERQoL). A secondary aim was to test the responsiveness of an Emotional and Social Issues Related to Eating (ESIRE) questionnaire to change in ERQoL. Methods: Participants, recruited from the Dental Hospital, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK, completed the self-administrated ESIRE questionnaire before and after provision of new conventional complete dentures. Paired t test was used to determine any change between pre- and posttreatment ESIRE scores, which can range from 0 (poor) to 100 (excellent). Cohen’s d effect size was used to measure the magnitude of change in ERQoL. Standardized response mean (SRM) was used to measure the responsiveness of the ESIRE questionnaire to changes in ERQoL. Results: Fifty-five participants aged 52 to 85 y (mean, 72 y), including 21 males (42%) and 29 females (58%), completed the study. A statistically significant improvement in the total ESIRE scores was found, mean (SE) +20.3 (3.30), P < 0.001. Equally, all domains of the ESIRE questionnaire showed significant improvements: enjoyment of food/eating, +27.3 (3.63), P < 0.001; self-consciousness/embarrassment, +18.1 (3.88), P < 0.001; interruption to meals, +13.3 (5.27), P < 0.05; confidence when eating, +18.7 (4.84), P < 0.001; time for eating/preparation of meals, +18.5 (4.85), P < 0.001); and functional ability to eat, +18.2 (3.67), P < 0.001). Cohen’s d was large (0.95) for the total score and ranged from medium (0.37) to large (1.30) for all domains. Value of SRM was large (0.87) for the total score and ranged from medium (0.36) to large (1.1) for all domains. Conclusion: Denture replacement can directly improve ERQoL. The ESIRE questionnaire was responsive to clinically important changes in ERQoL. Knowledge Transfer Statement: The results of this study improve the understanding of the impact of denture replacement on eating-related quality of life (ERQoL). Clinicians are encouraged to pay more attention to the impact of wearing conventional complete dentures on social and emotional issues around eating. The findings should motivate clinicians and inspire specialists in prosthodontics and oral rehabilitation to continue providing conventional complete dentures as a suitable treatment option for edentulous patients.


2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 30
Author(s):  
Maria João Mimoso ◽  
Clara da Conceição de Sousa Alves ◽  
Diogo Filipe Dias Gonçalves

Since the beginning of the 19th century, we have assisted major proliferation of the oil and gas industry. This phenomenon of exponential growth is due to the fact that oil companies hold the world’s oil monopoly on the extraction, processing and commercialization. Therefore, as being one of the most influential sectors in the world, is crucial to strictly regulate how oil and gas contracts concerns the potential environmental and social impacts arising from the conduct of petroleum operations and how such behavior affects the human rights. As a matter of fact, the social issues field is an emerging area, and despite such importance, oil contracts do not often deal with them in great detail, corresponding to an actual emptiness of the human rights provisions. In terms of responsibly, oil companies, have an inalienable obligation to ensure that their actions do not violate human rights or contribute for their violation. This study aims to trace a detailed analysis of the impact of the oil and gas agreements in human rights. In order to fully comprehend the deep effects of this industry, we will examine, in detail, numerous of published oil and gas agreements, as well as, decode which are the real standards and practices accepted by this industry. We will use a deductive and speculative reasoning. We will try to demonstrate how incipient and short protection is given to human rights and what responsible conducts must urgently be developed.


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 234
Author(s):  
Anne Campbell ◽  
Jo Egan ◽  
Paul Murphy ◽  
Carolyn Blair

Background: The arts have always sought to explore significant social issues through literature, performing arts and visual art. However, more recently there has been an increase in the use of theatre as a means of gauging audiences’ perception and understanding of key social issues. The primary aim of the current evaluation was to seek the views of audience members, service users of addiction services and expert commentators as regards their perception of a number of key issues related to the content of a play entitled Madame Geneva. Methods: The evaluation used an exploratory qualitative design incorporating a dualistic approach to the research process: including post show discussion with panellists and members of the audience and a focus group comprising service users who had also viewed a live performance of the play. Results: The topics elucidated by the performance of the play included women and sex work, women and substance use, and impact on policy and practice. The discussion of the issues raised reiterated that women still experience high levels of oppression and discrimination in areas of substance use, sex work and welfare ‘reform’ which are often couched within male dominated political discourses and structures in contemporary society. Conclusions: The arts and specifically dramaturgical representations of substance use and related issues is an effective method of initiating important pragmatic and policy discussion of issues, which affect women


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (Special2) ◽  
pp. 402-414
Author(s):  
Samuel Grimwood ◽  
Kaz Stuart ◽  
Ruth Browning ◽  
Elaine Bidmead ◽  
Thea Winn-Reed

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly impacted the health of individuals physically, mentally, and socially. This study aims to gain a deeper understanding of this impact across the pandemic from a biopsychosocial stance. Methods: A survey created by the research team was employed between November 2020 and February 2021 across social media, relevant organizations, and networks. The survey incorporated 5-time points across the different stages of the pandemic, covering biological, psychological, and social. There were 5 items for each survey (Very Positive affect to Very Negative affect), and analysis was undertaken using SPSS version 16. Descriptive statistics and non-parametric Friedman and Wilcoxon Tests, as well as correlations between the three domains, were implemented. Results: This study included 164 participants (77.0% female and 35.0% male) across 24 out of 38 counties in the UK. The impact of COVID-19 on biological domain was significant across the five data points χ2(4) = 63.99, p < 0.001, psychological χ2(4) = 118.939, p <0.001 and socially χ2(4) = 186.43, p <0.001. Between the 5 data points, 4 out of 5 had a negative impact, however between the first stage of lockdown and the easing of restrictions, findings for biological (Z=-2.35, p <0.05), psychological (Z=-6.61, p < 0.001), and socially (Z = -8.61, p <0.001) were positive. Negative correlations between the three domains across the pandemic are apparent, but in later stages, the biological domain had a positive correlation r = 0.52, p < 0.001. Conclusion: The data shows a negative impact from the self-reported perception of wellbeing from a biopsychosocial stance over time, as well as perceiving the three domains to interact negatively. To address these biopsychosocial issues, the research implies a place-based integrated recovery effort is needed, addressing biological, psychological, and social issues simultaneously. Further research should investigate biopsychosocial health among a more generalizable population.


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