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The news media around the world has experienced drastic changes in recent decades, and the Icelandic media is no exception. These changes originate in political, economic and not least technological developments. In this article we map key developments in the Icelandic media system and illustrate the changes it has undergone in the first decades of the 21st century. Journalism and media studies are under-researched fields of study in Iceland, and the country is usually absent from comparative work in these fields. Often it is simply grouped together with the other four Nordic countries. We argue that the Icelandic media system differs from those countries in several ways. Whilst it has moved towards the liberal model there are also indications of increased partisanship in the media in the last decade. The smallness of the media system has made it more vulnerable to the increasing competition and commercialisation in the digital era, and Iceland was particularly badly hit by the financial crisis in 2008. News media companies in Iceland are struggling financially, several media outlets have come and gone, mergers have been frequent and trust in the media is low. The view that some sort of public support is required to secure an independent media and high-quality journalism is gaining ground in Iceland. This could lead to its media system becoming more similar to the democratic corporatist Nordic countries than is the case now. ; Peer Reviewed

One of the most crucial decisions political candidates make ahead of an election is whether they want to focus on their image or that of their their political opponents in their advertisement (Lau and Rovner , 2009). During electoral campaigns, candidates need to decide whether they use political advertisement to display a positive image of themselves or whether they try to make the opponent look bad. The first strategy is referred to as Acclaim or Positive Ads. The second approach, according to Surlin and Gordon is called Negative Campaigning and is applied by a political candidate when (s)he "attacks the other candidate personally, the issues for which the other candidate stands, or the party of the other candidate" (1977, p. 93). However, measuring negative campaigning poses a challenge to academic research since content analyses often fail to address the grey areas of this concept. To begin with, many political ads compare positive characteristics of a candidate against opponents' more negative ones. (Lau & Rovner, 2009). Ads that contain both strategies, shedding positive light on the candidate while also highlighting negative aspects about the opponent's character or policies are called Comparison or Comparative Ads. These comparisons are difficult to code with straightforward approaches. For example, analyzing campaigns along a positive/negative dichotomy by discounting attacks to the opponent from positive self-presentations may equate strongly positively and negatively charged political advertising to neutral campaigns. Also, negativity in political campaigning is studied in different contexts and has been extended as a number of studies on negative campaigning look in particular at Attacks and Rebuttals/Defense from opponents after an attack (Benoit, 2000; Benoit & Airne, 2009; Erigha & Charles, 2012; Lee & Benoit, 2004; Torres, Hyman, & Hamilton, 2012). This distinction raises other important methodological and theoretical implications. Sweeping measures of negativity based on ...

Purpose Communicating about COVID-19 vaccine side effects and efficacy is crucial for promoting transparency and informed decision-making, but there is limited evidence on how to do so effectively. Design A within-subjects experiment. Setting Online survey from January 21 to February 6, 2021. Subjects 596 US Veterans and 447 non-Veterans. Intervention 5 messages about COVID-19 vaccine side effects and 4 messages about COVID-19 vaccine efficacy. Measures COVID-19 vaccine interest (1 = "I definitely do NOT want the vaccine" to 7 = "I definitely WANT the vaccine" with the midpoint 4 = "Unsure"). Confidence about COVID-19 vaccine efficacy (1= "Not at all confident," 2 = "Slightly confident," 3 = "Somewhat confident," 4 = "Moderately confident," 5 = "Extremely confident"). Results Compared to providing information about side effects alone ( M = 5.62 [1.87]), messages with additional information on the benefits of vaccination (M = 5.77 [1.82], P < .001, dz = .25), reframing the likelihood of side effects (M = 5.74 [1.84], P < .001, dz = .23), and emphasizing that post-vaccine symptoms indicate the vaccine is working (M = 5.72 [1.84], P < .001, dz = .17) increased vaccine interest. Compared to a vaccine efficacy message containing verbal uncertainty and an efficacy range ( M = 3.97 [1.25]), messages conveying verbal certainty with an efficacy range ( M = 4.00 [1.24], P = .042, dz=.08), verbal uncertainty focused on the upper efficacy limit ( M = 4.03 [1.26], P < .001, dz = .13), and communicating the point estimate with certainty ( M = 4.02 [1.25], P < .001, dz = .11) increased confidence. Overall, Veteran respondents were more interested ( M Veterans = 5.87 [1.72] vs M NonVeterans = 5.45 [2.00], P < .001, d = .22) and confident ( M Veterans = 4.13 [1.19] vs M NonVeterans = 3.84 [1.32], P < .001, d = .23) about COVID-19 vaccines than non-Veterans. Conclusions These strategies can be implemented in large-scale communications (e.g., webpages, social media, and leaflets/posters) and can help guide healthcare professionals when discussing vaccinations in clinics to promote interest and confidence in COVID-19 vaccines.

Web-radio in Germany is becoming rather popular and gives numerous people the opportunity of spreading their own radio programmes to millions of potential listeners. However, web-radio in Germany faces several hurdles, political and economic ones. This article gives an overview of the problems and attempts to depict the position of today's German web-radios within the general broadcasting system. It also looks at other forms of alternative broadcasting, such as the open channel, and compares their respective historical backgrounds.

In contemporary democracies, the establishment of a public space which is more open and accessible to disadvantaged groups, popular movements and communities is a major challenge. The media are both part of the problem and the solution. On the one hand, they strengthen or even produce divisions and the fragmentation of the public space. On the other, their use by social movements and civil society can establish connections between different social groups, include marginalized populations and regain the public nature of certain issues. Similarly, even if the use of digital resources overcomes obstacles that complicate participation in public debate, all the asymmetries do not disappear with the use of Internet.

In contemporary democracies, the establishment of a public space which is more open and accessible to disadvantaged groups, popular movements and communities is a major challenge. The media are both part of the problem and the solution. On the one hand, they strengthen or even produce divisions and the fragmentation of the public space. On the other, their use by social movements and civil society can establish connections between different social groups, include marginalized populations and regain the public nature of certain issues. Similarly, even if the use of digital resources overcomes obstacles that complicate participation in public debate, all the asymmetries do not disappear with the use of Internet.

Historically, the relationship between innovation and technology has formed an important element of Euro-American identity. However, such a view ignores older or alternative media forms and practices, contributing to a conception of modernity as future-oriented, obscuring the importance of transitional moments during which the value and meaning of new media develop and new senses of community identity can be defined. As we live through a transitional moment with new forms of technological media emerging in shortening cycles of time and with American identity in conflict and flux, re-assessing the relationship between innovation, technological media, and modernity is urgent. The mid-19th century likewise was a time of social, technological, and cultural change. Following a media archeological method, I focus on a messaging system from the 19th century, the Pony Express, which was in operation for only 18 months, but became a media phenomenon whose imaginative influence lasted into the 21st century. The Pony Express's success as a messenger demonstrates how an anachronistic communications system solved a problem of American modernization – the need for networked connection across long distances – and shows how such a system provided imaginative and iconographic frameworks for maintaining a sense of American identity at a time of change.