Abstract

Advertising influences peoples health behaviors. Tobacco companies have linked tobacco and alcohol in their marketing activities. We examined how depictions of alcohol were placed in lifestyle magazines produced by tobacco companies, and if these references differed depending on the magazine’s orientation, if it was towards men, women, or if it was unisex. Content analysis of 6 different tobacco industry lifestyle magazines (73 issues), including 73 magazine covers, 1558 articles, 444 tobacco ads, and 695 non-tobacco ads. 14 of 73 (19%) magazine covers featured alcohol, 581 of 1558 (37%) magazine articles mentioned alcohol, 119 of 444 (27%) tobacco ads showed alcohol images, and 57 of 695 (8%) non-tobacco ads portrayed alcohol. Male-oriented magazines (Unlimited, CML, and Real Edge) contained the most alcohol references, and the references were mainly beer, mixed drinks, and liquor or spirits. Female-oriented magazines (All Woman and Flair) contained the fewest alcohol references, and wine and mixed drinks were the major types of alcoholic beverage portrayed. For the unisex magazine (P.S.), the frequency of alcohol references fell between the male- and female-oriented magazines, and the magazine most frequently mentioned mixed drinks. Frequent depictions of smoking and drinking in tobacco industry lifestyle magazines might have reinforced norms about paired use of tobacco and alcohol among young adults. The pairing of tobacco and alcohol may particularly target young men. Anti-tobacco interventions need to address the co-use of tobacco and alcohol, change the social acceptability of smoking in social settings, and tailor anti-tobacco messaging by gender.

Abstract

This article shows some results of a present study about the main childhood stereotypes in TV programmes (soap operas, sitcoms), news and advertising. The application of content analysis makes it possible to describe the portrayal of children built by mass media, such as the «good wild» myth as a metaphorical image, at the same time that it shows punishment for the social transgression of rules.

Abstract

The evolution of the mailing list IweTel is presented, including a description of its evolution and how it has been used by its subscribers, by analysing the content of the messages sent from 2001 to 2007. The study shows that the list is used mainly for professional communication and information exchange and, overall, by the academic community. However, a lack of active participation by its members is also revealed. On the other hand, list management has improved in recent years, and so has the quality of the debates.

Abstract

A collection of eight documents on primary education provides the example for presenting a new indexing system based on a structure of primary and secondary descriptors and illustrating its equivalence to Universal Decimal Classification. The article shows the advantages of this new system as an information retrieval system and describes its role in the indexing system and process. Another aim of this article is to describe an actual project using a postcoordinate indexing system based on nuclear ordering of the descriptors, as well as to define the system and software requirements for efficient operation of user search and information retrieval functions.

Abstract

This paper studies the coverage of WAGs (wives and girlfriends of sportsmen) in online sports-media by analyzing 418 articles published in four major online sports’ newspapers in Spain: Marca, As, Mundo  deportivo, and Sport. A content analysis was used to create a card of analysis with ten fields. Thus, the paper analyzes the evolution of this phenomenon between 2000 and 2015; the sections, sport, type, and extension of such news; authorship, headlines, main theme, and information linked to negative facts about them; and the role played by women. Results show a significant increase in news coverage about WAGs in all newspapers. The coverage is mainly short news stories with abundant images; located in entertainment sections; associated with beauty, motherhood, male dependence, and subordination.

Abstract

Content analysis, the constructivist version of grounded theory and discourse analysis of discursive psychology are analyzed in the context of research on how users generate and share information on social media. For each of the three designs, the research question, methods of data analysis and research output are studied. This combination of three methodologies is valuable to gain knowledge about the user in that environment, defining the object of study from various aspects of user interaction with information.

Abstract

During the last decade, a growing number of scholars have evaluated the scientific progress of communication studies from a longitudinal and descriptive perspective, preventing a holistic understanding of the most relevant associations occurred in the discipline. Through a content analysis of 11 Spanish journals in communication, this article explores the probability of producing empirical science according to seven criteria: number of years, public funding, the journal, and the research topic, the number of authors and the gender and geographical origin of the authors. In general, the findings demonstrate a slow but continuous process to rule out non-evidence-based research from the most important spaces for academic diffusion and the growth of empirical research, especially through techniques such as content analysis. In conclusion, the culture and research practice in communication in Spain evolves towards international standards.

Abstract

This study examines specific professional patterns among health journalists, and assesses whether these differ from those among generalists in the case of vaccines. 131 articles were analysed from national newspapers in Spain, of which 52% (n=68) were written by specialised health journalists. Content analysis was undertaken to examine the differences in terms of journalistic genre, frames, tone, sources and length of the article. Results revealed key journalistic patterns and confirmed that health journalists perform significantly differently than other authors in terms of journalistic genre, tone, sources and length of the article. Health journalists wrote more features and less opinion articles, from a more neutral perspective, using a wider number of scientific sources, especially those from professional associations and scientific journals. These findings provide insights into the process of health journalism, and identify potential aspects to further develop the profession for the broad dissemination of health news to the public.

Abstract

The study of think tanks in Spain has been growing in the last few years with an equally increasing number of social and grassroots movements. This article offers content analysis results from a selection of eight Spanish think tanks in the digital press during a seven-year period, adding new conclusions to previous literature for the same period. Not only does this research explore the appearance on the media, but also the type of mentions and authorship of the articles and blogs included in the digital press, contributing to a deeper study of think tanks. The objective of this study is to analyse the limited presence of Spanish think tanks in media outlets and whether their appearance is ideologically motivated. The article built a constructed week sampling and followed a content analysis methodology to gather quantitative and qualitative elements from the selected sampling (n=1,101). The paper concludes that the presence of think tanks in the Spanish digital press is limited, causing not only a lack of knowledge of their existence but also raising questions about how they try to impact on the policymaking process.

Abstract

This paper analyzes the information coverage by the Spanish newspapers El país, El mundo, ABC, and La vanguardia in Twitter on the electoral campaign prior to the 10 November 2019 general elections. A content analysis of all tweets published by these media regarding the elections (n = 1,462) between Friday 1 and Saturday 9 November reveals that, although there are differences in the production patterns and features of the messages, the subject received notable attention in all the newspapers. The coverage gravitated around two main themes: the 4N electoral debate, and campaign events. The results reveal that, although most of the tweets had a neutral tone, messages with clear positioning corresponding to the editorial line of the newspaper were also published, albeit to a lesser extent. During the electoral period, the media agenda revolved around this issue, accounting for around one-fifth of all pieces published on Twitter. Newspapers do not take advantage of the dialogic nature or possibilities offered by this social network to create a community among their readers, limiting themselves to the dissemination of content from their digital edition.