Media and Communication Review

A Two Steps Model of Media Multi-tasking Switch Behavior and its Performance

Hui-Hsin Huang — Mon, 14 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This research constructs a two-step model with Markov chain and exponential density to portray the switch behavior among different media multi-taskings which can demonstrate and predict the performance of media multi-tasking. The empirical data is used to estimate the parameters of the proposed model. Finally, the conclusion is made to future application and researches.

Community Radio, Content Diversity and Representation in Kenya

Hezron Mogambi — Mon, 14 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This paper examined community radio and the promotion of content diversity and representation in Nairobi, Kenya. The papers’ objective was to examine how radio stations based in Nairobi balanced the representation of various demographic groups, including marginalized communities, and how they ensure that a wide range of topics, both local and national, are covered. Using a mixed-methods approach: FGDs with listeners, interviews with producers and content analysis of programs across the selected community radio stations, the paper assessed the place of community radio in achieving inclusive content. It was revealed that while community radio in Nairobi has made positive developments in diversifying content and representing different demographic groups, content diversity in Nairobi's community radio stations is limited, with certain demographics underrepresented. National issues often overshadow local content, and there is insufficient engagement with marginalized communities, leading to a lack of diverse perspectives. Also, challenges such as political interference, limited resources, and technological constraints continue to slow down their growth to full potential. Additionally, to improve content diversity and representation in Nairobi's community radio stations, enhanced community participation, providing ongoing capacity-building programs for staff and volunteers, and securing sustainable funding to support high-quality, inclusive programming which mirrors diverse community needs and the adoption of innovative technologies to overcome existing challenges will improve content diversity and representation.

Psychological Effects of Violence Shown in Media Content on Children: A Study of Parents’ Perception

Qamar Abbas, Farrukh Shahzad , Tabina Sadiq — Wed, 23 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The current study aimed to measure the psychological effects of violence in media content on children’s behaviour, desensitization towards real-life violence, and disassociation from cultural norms and values. Using a quantitative approach, data was collected from N=300 parents through online survey to analyze three key variables. These included the time children spend consuming violent media content, their aggressive behavioral outcomes, and desensitization towards violence and cultural disassociation. Findings revealed strong positive correlations between violent media exposure and its adverse outcomes. Specifically, children who consumed more violent media exhibited higher levels of aggression (r = 0.443, p = 0.001), reduced sensitivity towards real-life violence (r = 0.475, p = 0.003), and greater disassociation from cultural norms and values (r = 0.621, p = 0.000). These results support the hypotheses that exposure to violent media fosters learned aggression, normalizes violence, and disrupts cultural identity as well as social relationships among children. The study underscored the critical need for parental monitoring, media literacy initiatives, and regulatory measures to mitigate these harmful effects. Furthermore, the research contributed to the broader understanding of media's role in shaping children’s behavioral and social development.

Assessing psychological appeals in Digital Media Animation for Education of School age Children in select States of North Central Nigeria

Iwalola Odogwu — Wed, 23 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The study assessed psychological appeals in digital media animation for education in respect of school age children in select states of North Central Nigeria. Through the use of survey, and a carefully determined process of sampling, the FCT-Abuja and Kwara were selected as the focal states which made the study area. Two population segments were considered for this study – the teachers and parents of the school age children making up the study's population. Utilising the Taro Yamane and an online sample calculation solution, the researchers arrived at 381 and 400 samples for the primary and secondary population segments respectively.The personal administered questionnaire was utilised as instrument of data collection. The survey's noteworthy findings showed that exaggeration and posturing, humor appeals, persuasive appeals, and problem appeals are some of the psychological appeals employed for animation contents for teaching youngsters. Among the platforms the survey identified as being used in the school under investigation for content distribution were projectors, whiteboards, and mobile devices. The study concluded that the materials are beneficial since they help the kids develop problem-solving abilities and provide clear explanations of concepts, even though the results also indicated that the adoption of digital media animation for learning in the study area is reasonable. Among other things, it comes to the conclusion that some appeals are ingrained in the digital media animation utilised in the study area by the school and that their acceptance rate for instruction is fairly high. Among other things, the report suggests that educational institutions give priority to producing and utilising digital animation materials for educating school-age children.

Social and Psychological Effects of Instagram Influencers on Young Women

Majid Ul Ghafar, Muhammad Junaid, Sabahat Khan — Wed, 30 Apr 2025 07:03:33 +0000

Social media applications and other social networking sites are widely used by majority of users all over the world. These are used for the purpose of interaction and information gaining and sharing. Social media applications enable their users to interact with different people, for instance, friends and family members to learn new trends, explore interests, and to get themselves entertained. Furthermore, social media applications also help users to increase their knowledge in a specific field. Additionally, these are also helpful to develop their own network by getting in touch with people related to their fields across the globe. The current study is based on survey technique to investigate and explore the effects and popularity of Instagram on female students of Hazara University. The study used media effects theories, such as social learning theory and cultivation theory. The sample size comprised a total of 200 female students of Hazara University and data was collected by using close-ended questionnaire. The data tabulation and its subsequent analysis revealed that overall majority of the respondents use social media application, that is, Instagram. They frequently upload different content in the form of pictures and videos. The exclusive analysis of the data revealed that overall majority of the respondents follow Instagram influencers and they rarely copy the dresses worn by them. The empirical findings also revealed that majority of young women disagree that Instagram influencers create any psychological effects on them.

Digital Disruption and its Impact on Youth: A Case Study of Tiktok Videos

Javeria Nazeer, Wamiq Abrar — Mon, 19 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Digital disruption can be referred to as the change which occurs whenever a new technology is developed and impacts the value proportion and TikTok is one of them. Therefore, the current research aimed to explore the impact of TikTok platform on the attitudes and behavior of youth in Lahore. Hearn (2020) identified that digitally disrupted technologies are more attractive to gain user base. This is because, the concept they provide is different and unique among others impacting the user behavior and attitudes. The related theory, that is, ‘User Gratification Theory’ was adopted in the current study to determine how people actively seek media in order to satisfy their needs. The research objective and theoretical framework included determining the impact of TikTok features on the attitudes and behavior of youth. Furthermore, the research measured this impact using quantitative research and data collected through questionnaires. These questionnaires were distributed among 308 participants from three reputed universities of Lahore. The data was analyzed using statistical tests, that is, regression tests. The results from statistical tests showed that Tiktok had a significant impact on the attitudes and behavior of youth in Lahore. Approximately, 75.5% of the total variation in the behavior of youth was explained by the model. The findings from the statistical tests showed that digital disruption had a significant impact on the behavior of youth. The research concluded that TikTok can be used as an effective marketing tool since it has a significant impact on the attitudes and behavior of youth.

Political Incivility of Leaders: Public Perception, Political Trust and Civic Participation

Lubna Zaheer — Fri, 25 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Political incivility has become an important phenomenon in recent ages. Political leaders’ incivility is related to their tone and language, or in other words, to their style of interaction rather than their opinions. This study intends to examine the perception of incivility amongst the public and explore what personal and demographic characteristics are associated with the perception of incivility. Furthermore, it observes the effects of political incivility on public behavior, especially political trust and political participation. For this purpose, cross sectional research design employed, and a survey (n=200) was carried out. Results suggest that demographically, men are likely to engage in uncivil conduct or observe political speech as being more uncivil than women. Moreover, certain personality traits alignwith the sense of incivility and others are not affected by it at all. Likewise, the result shows inversely proportional relationship between political incivility and political trust indicating individuals repeatedly exposed to uncivil behavior may become de-sensitized to its effects

Deciphering Hate Speech in Multimodal Pakistani Political Memes on X

Maria Irum, Shazia Hashmat — Fri, 13 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0000

In today’s world, memes have emerged as an effective tool to disseminate political discourse, often presented in an entertaining way. However, they can also make society more divided by spreading hate speech. Therefore, the current study aimed to explore hate speech indicators in multimodal memes on X (formerly known as Twitter) for a time period of three months (Dec 2023-Feb 2024). The study was conducted in the context of the general elections 2024 in Pakistan. The analysis utilized a combination of the Fairclough model and the multimodal framework of critical discourse analysis to identify and analyze nine indicators of hate speech. These indicators comprised both established indicators, such as dehumanization, character assassination, and name-calling, as well as context-specific expressions of criticism directed at political parties and institutions such as the judiciary and the Election Commission of Pakistan, particularly in response to the allegations of electoral misconduct. The findings suggested that memes are not only a tool to disseminate humor and entertainment but also function as a way for people to show their dissatisfaction and express different opinions. As per critical discourse analysis, the selected memes reflected underlying political tensions and contested narratives of power that surfaced during the elections. Such representations may challenge dominant institutions and contribute to the expression of discontent within the sociopolitical environment of Pakistan

Exploring Parents’ Perceptions about Mobile Phone Usage among Underage Children

Ghulam Safdar, Khansa Waseem — Wed, 18 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Mobile phones have become the need of every person’s life to explore the world of new technologies, innovations, and information in order to stay updated. Elders and underage children cannot escape the effects of new technology, especially mobile phones. This is because they get mobile phones in their early ages of life without any surveillance or screen timings. This could be harmful for their habitual behavior, community interactions, as well as their mental and physical health. Parents are uniquely positioned to influence and positively shape their children's habitual behaviors and personality development. In this regard, they can play a pivotal role by guiding their children on the constructive use of mobile phones and by establishing appropriate screen time limits. To explore the phenomenon of concern, the current study employed quantitative research design. Data was collected from 62 parents having children between the age group of 3-18 years residing in Rawalpindi. Moreover, data was collected via self-designed questionnaire including questions related to demographics, mobile phone use, and parents’ perceptions using Likert scale method. Findings showed that a large proportion of parents, that is, 37.5% seemed neutral regarding mobile phone usage. They argued that mobile phones play an important role in their children’s life and is the best source to learn and enhance new skills and educational content. In terms of harassment, 46.9% of parents expressed concern that their children might experience cyberbullying or virtual harassment due to mobile phone usage. Similarly, 46.9% of parents believed that the excessive use of mobile phones negatively impacted their children’s social relationships. A majority of parents were also worried about the adverse effects of mobile phone use on their children’s mental and physical health, noting that it often contributed to increased stress and anxiety. Overall, parents acknowledged that mobile phones play both positive and negative roles in their children's lives. While many were satisfied with their children using mobile phones for educational purposes and skill development, they simultaneously expressed concern regarding online safety and the potential for their children to encounter cyberbullying through its excessive use.

The Impact of Information Sharing Behavior on Global Investigative Journalism: Mediation Role of Needs and Sources

Abbas Rashid Butt, Syed Raghab Ali, Zaheer Ahmad — Mon, 30 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The current study explores the impact of collaborative information sharing behavior of Pakistani journalists on the understanding of global investigative journalism (GIJ). Moreover, it assesses the mediating contribution of the needs of sharing information for companionship (SIC), sharing information for personal identification (SIPI), and sources used for information sharing (SUIS) under the theoretical perspectives of information acquiring and sharing and information activities in work tasks. Scales of information sharing behavior, needs of SIC, SIPI, SUIS, and the understanding of GIJ were constructed, while the opinions of 300 registered journalists were recorded. Cronbach’s alpha was executed to test the reliability of scales. The impact of demographic characteristics, namely gender and age, was also tested. Independent sample t-test, ANOVA, and linear regression analysis were applied to test the relationships among the variables. PLS-Smart4 was used to test the proposed model. The results showed that information sharing behavior influenced the understanding of GIJ, although this understanding was enhanced due to the contributing role of mediating variables, namely the needs of SIC, SIPI, and SUIS. As compared to gender, age had a greater impact on sharing information to understand GIJ. The study can directly impact journalistic practices and policies. By understanding the specific needs and behaviors of journalists, media organizations can implement more effective strategies to support investigative journalism.