Peer review is and will remain the cornerstone of research publishing, but finding the right candidate to write an evaluation report for submitted manuscripts can be a challenge for academic publishers. Reaching out to peer reviewers always leaves a written trail (both for reasons of editorial accountability and quality control) and generally starts with an email inquiry from the editors. The content and style of these emails can influence how the recipient responds to the request, and analysing them could offer publishers valuable insights on how to design such initial contacts for optimal efficacy. This article is aimed at presenting a database and preliminary results for such analysis, consisting of 854 anonymised peer review requests sent out through traditional email, academia.edu and researchgate.net private messages between 2018 and 2022. It was found that personalised peer review requests had a higher response rate and higher ratio of submitted reports than non-personalised ones, and personalisation has the best results with peers of low academic seniority. Requests sent through academic social media had a response rate comparable to personalised email messages but received significantly fewer refusals and resulted in more completed evaluation reports, especially when female academics were targeted.

News deserts are areas where the local community lacks reliable media outlets such as newspapers in the context of a global crisis in the press that weakens local civil society through its effect on democracy, social cohesion, and identity. This study focuses on the remote Aysén region of Chile which despite being territorially the third largest region in the country has the smallest population (108,306). This research employs a triangular methodology, incorporating a quantitative dimension using public data with systematic searches, a régiónál news desert media map and a social network metrics analysis, alongside qualitative methods such as a case study on the territory with semi-structured interviews and non-participant observation conducted between January and February 2023. The findings indicate that 20% of Aysén is at significant risk of becoming a news desert while 40% is already classified as such. The limited availability of diverse sources of information, the lack of adequate digital infrastructure, and the economic challenges faced by small media outlets are among the key contributing factors. Furthermore, the study posits potential solutions, including the establishment of collaborative networks and the advancement of mobile journalism, with the aim of reinforcing local identity and public institution strategies. Although the insights presented are primarily focused on the Aysén region, they could be extended to other Latin American and global regions facing comparable media vulnerabilities.

Fake news identification has been widely studied in the past, but research on motivating individuals, particularly university students, to fact-check news and disseminate corrective information to counter fake news is lacking. Grounded on the situational theory of problem solving (STOPS), this study aims to examine the situational perceptions and referent criterion that motivate university students to counter fake news through communicative action and examine the influence of new media literacy on the situational perceptions and referent criterion. Based on 528 responses from an online survey, new media literacy is related to all STOPS factors in countering fake news. Situational perceptions are significantly related to situational motivation in countering fake news, while situational motivation and referent criterion significantly influence communicative action. The findings extend the existing literature on countering fake news and are expected to contribute to strategic planning in future anti-fake news intervention campaigns.

This study compares news users’ perceptions of journalism in Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom. Two cross-national surveys were conducted, each with over 2,000 participants in the respective countries. The surveys examined users’ evaluations of journalism’s relevance to society and its fulfilment of three key functions: holding the powerful to account, rapidly disseminating information to the public and providing analysis of current affairs. The findings highlight a gap between the social importance attributed to journalism and satisfaction with media performance. Information dissemination is perceived as the most effectively achieved function, while functions requiring more watchdog or analytical efforts receive less recognition in media activity. Age and education level are influential socio-demographic variables in news users’ perceptions. Older respondents and those with higher education levels view journalism as more relevant. Finally, Germany places a higher importance on journalism compared to Spain, with the United Kingdom occupying an intermediate position.

This exploratory research focuses on how mainstream media apprehends religion in the workplace in the specific French socio-cultural and ideological framing through the media coverage analysis of the French Observatory of Religious Phenomenon in Organization’s annual survey, published in September 2018. Findings reveal that media operates with a meaning of religion still subject to a conception of laicitythat corroborate antagonism between science and religion onthe one hand, and, secularization as an indicator of transition from traditional society to modern society on the other hand. Managers and companies implicitly use a more elastic meaning, in accordance with the specificities of the workplace and labor market that has integrated a more deinstitutionalizing vision of religion, in the context of the emergence of new religious representations in touch with alternative spiritualities.

It appears that online communities have provided a free and user-friendly platform for users to do many real-time pieces of stuff from doing translations to discuss translations. The field of translation studies has begun to investigate these online virtual environments for varied perspectives. Nevertheless, the existing research has mainly addressed fansubbing communities. The present investigation, however, analyzed a Persian-language online community where its users exchanged comments and shared ideas regarding dubbing in Iran.

This article reports findings from a qualitative thematic analysis of 142 Slovak theatre reviews published from 2000 to 2017 about 25 Holocaust dramas staged in Slovakia. Until 2015, most Holocaust dramas employed the "Brechtian" estrangement effect, but since the beginning of 2015, Slovak theatre has shifted towards the use of realistic representation. Dramas employing the estrangement effect were in their reviews considered to be original artworks, and the social value of these plays was emphasized, while realistic representation was considered to be outdated and unoriginal. With the emergence of unoriginality in reviews, the attributed social value of these dramas diminished and the interest of reviewers in the Holocaust drama faded. The subsequent quantitative analysis supports these conclusions.

Existing studies of newspaper design point to an interaction of form and content through the impact of visual format on the impression, perception, and understanding of the content. This paper aims to further explore the topic, i.e., the impact of design elements (layout, color, photographs, and front page) of the daily newspapers on the perception and visual impression of readers. The purpose of the paper is twofold. The first part briefly presents summarized theoretical considerations of newspaper design from a perspective of the marketing approach to the newspaper as a specific type of product. The second part is devoted to the primary research undertaken in order to explore and understand readers' perceptions of design elements of the daily newspaper on the Croatian market. The research findings confirmed the assumptions about the link between layout style and photographs on the one hand and the perception of the content, the interaction and the effect of color on the perception of the product (newspapers) character on the other hand, and the assumption of the role of front page design as a sales argument. Findings add to the existing knowledge with insights from the new research context-Croatia, and as such might help in increasing the understanding about the visual perception and behavior of readers from the emerging European market. Also, findings might serve as the basis for future improvements in the visual ergonomics of newspapers.

This thematic and text mining analysis interrogates hospital tweets about H1N1 flu and healthcare reform in 2009 using the situational crisis communication theory (SCCT) and manufactured controversies, or casting doubt on scientific and medical consensus to delay or thwart public policy. Hospitals minimally responded to both issues and situated themselves as neutral, ambivalent agents separate from the government and skeptics. Tweets that recycled links to news sources inherited limitations that plagued media coverage in their incapacity for quick response. To handle controversies, an adapted SCCT might require more direct and dialogic strategies, as well as defensive and offensive tactics, such as increasing hosted events, outreach, and statements of expert opinion.

In exploring the role of mediated noise in socio-political discourse, this paper discusses how noise as an element of the communication model with interruption as its fixed meaning needs reconsideration. Against the backdrop of criticism by the media critics and analysts about high decibel debates in broadcast media, this paper critically analyses the centrality of mediated noise in the political and public discourse in India. Noise, it argues, has emerged as a political device and a discursive weapon employed by the dominant stakeholders, capable of steering discourse and manipulating the public opinion that diverts attention from the pressing issues and emphasizes the political wrangling between the stakeholders while disrupting the discursive process. It underscores how dominant groups produce, manage, and mediate noise as a part of their discursive strategy that simulates constructed sincerity and its unquestionable existence. It is shown that meticulously crafted and stage-managed debate panels in broadcast media are aimed at creating a visual spectacle and are driven by commercial and political interests rather than the concern for informed discourse and debate. Noise, in this sense, is a sound that persuasively refers to its significance, as it creates a realm of discursive ambiguity and undermines a discursive process and its subsequent knowledge. Thus, noise is argued to be a form of discursive violence that manifests in the form of voices that distort the facts, dismiss, or deride a narrative, suppress opposing viewpoints, negate the possibility of discussion, and sabotage opportunities for discourse by creating an atmosphere of fear and violence.