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First published online February 13, 2024

The Democratic Value of Strategic Game Reporting and Uncivil Talk: A Computational Analysis of Facebook Conversations During U.S. Primary Debates

Abstract

Abstract

This study explores discourse features on Facebook pages of news organizations during the 2020 U.S. primary debates using a state-of-the-art machine-learning model. Informing the scholarly debate about the implications of strategic game reporting in online spaces, we find that it is not necessarily linked to uncivil discourse, yet it might deter from relevant conversations. Second, addressing fears about the undesired outcomes of uncivil talk, our data suggest that incivility can coexist with rational discourse in user comments, although this relationship is not pervasive. Implications of these results are discussed in the context of the role of hybrid media for political engagement during electoral campaigns.

الملخص

تستكشف هذه الدراسة ميزات الخطاب على صفحات الفيسبوك الخاصة بالمؤسسات الإخبارية خلال عام 2020 في إطار المناقشات الأولية لانتخابات الرئاسة في الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية. ساهمت الدراسة في إثراء النقاش الأكاديمي حول الآثار المترتبة على التغطية الإخبارية التي تركز على الألعاب الاستراتيجية في الحملات الانتخابية وتنظر للسياسة على هيئة لعبة. ووجدت الدراسة أن هذه الطريقة لا. ترتبط بالضرورة بالخطاب غير المتحضر، ولكن مع ذلك قد تمنع هذه الطريقة أو تقلل من المحادثات الخاصة بالانتخابات
كما أشارت بيانات الدراسة أن الحديث غير المتحضر والفظاظة يمكنهما التواجد مع الخطاب العقلاني، فعلى الرغم من قلة تواجدهم معا، فهذا لا ينفي إمكانية تواجدهم معا. وناقشت الدراسة الآثار المترتبة على هذه النتائج في سياق دور وسائل الإعلام المختلفة للمشاركة. السياسية خلال الحملات الانتخابية

摘要

本研究使用最先进的机器学习模型,探讨了2020年美国初选辩论期间新闻机构在脸谱页面上的话语特征。通过了解在线空间中有关策略游戏报道的影响的学术讨论,我们发现策略游戏报道不一定与不文明的话语有关,但它可能会阻碍相关对话的发生。其次,为了解决人们对不文明言论的不良后果的担忧,我们的数据表明,不文明可以与理性话语共存,尽管这种关系并不普遍存在。本文在竞选期间混合媒体在政治参与中的作用的背景下,讨论了这些结果的影响。

Résumé

Cette étude explore les caractéristiques du discours sur les pages Facebook des agences de presse pendant les débats des primaires américaines de 2020 à l’aide d’un modèle d’apprentissage automatique à la pointe de la technologie. En éclairant le débat scientifique sur les implications des rapports de jeu stratégiques dans les espaces en ligne, nous constatons qu’ils ne sont pas nécessairement liés à un discours incivil, mais qu’ils peuvent détourner des conversations pertinentes. Deuxièmement, pour répondre aux craintes concernant les résultats indésirables d’un discours incivil, nos données suggèrent que l’incivilité peut coexister avec un discours rationnel, bien que cette relation ne soit pas omniprésente. Les implications de ces résultats sont discutées dans le contexte du rôle des médias hybrides pour l’engagement politique pendant les campagnes électorales.

Абстракт

В данном исследовании с помощью современной модели машинного обучения изучаются особенности дискурса на страницах Facebook новостных организаций во время первичных дебатов в США в 2020 году. В рамках научной дискуссии о последствиях репортажей о стратегических играх в онлайн-пространстве мы обнаружили, что они не обязательно связаны с антигражданским дискурсом, но могут отвлекать от соответствующих бесед. Во-вторых, отвечая на опасения по поводу нежелательных результатов антигражданских разговоров, наши данные свидетельствуют о том, что невежливость может сосуществовать с рациональным дискурсом, хотя эта связь не является повсеместной. Последствия этих результатов обсуждаются в контексте роли гибридных медиа для политического взаимодействия во время избирательных кампаний.

Resumen

Este estudio explora las características discursivas en las páginas de Facebook de las organizaciones de noticias durante los debates de las primarias de EE.UU. de 2020 utilizando un modelo de aprendizaje automático de última generación. Aportando información al debate académico sobre las implicaciones de los reportes de juego estratégico en los espacios en línea, encontramos que no está necesariamente vinculada a un discurso incivil, aunque podría disuadir de conversaciones relevantes. En segundo lugar, frente a los temores sobre resultados no deseados de un discurso incivil, nuestros datos sugieren que la incivilidad puede coexistir con un discurso racional, aunque esta relación no está extendida. Las implicaciones de estos resultados se discuten en el contexto del rol de los medios híbridos en la participación política durante las campañas electorales.

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Data availability statement

The data underlying this article are available in Open Science Framework (OSF) data repository at https://osf.io/prh7b/?view_only=4c5eacd9262f4bbaa2f419df76b88de9.

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Biographies

Lindita Camaj is an associate professor and the director of graduate studies at the Jack J. Valenti School of Communication, University of Houston. Her research addresses the role of news media in political processes, with a focus on media effects, digital communication, social media, and access to information. Her overall research examines structural and individual factors that determine how citizens engage with political information and how that shapes their communication patterns, perceptions, and behavior.
Lea Hellmueller researches the role of journalism in a globalizing world, relying on her extensive and multilingual experiences in conducting studies on digital hate, inequality, and community engagement. She specializes in discourse cultures of media organizations cross-nationally, implementing computational methods to examine user comments and the impact journalistic reporting has on audience engagement with news. Her work has been published in leading outlets of the field, including Journal of Communication, New Media & Society, and Mass Communication & Society.
Sebastián Vallejo Vera is an assistant professor at the School of Social Science and Government at the Tecnológico de Monterrey, México. He is also the director of the interdisciplinary Laboratory of Computational Social Science—México (iLCSS). His research explores the relationship between gendered political institutions and representation, and racial identity and racism in Latin America. His methodological work applies novel Natural Language Processing (NLP) to a wide variety of text data, from legislative speeches to tweets, to answer substantive questions about gender, racism, and politics.
Peggy Lindner is an assistant professor in the Department of Information & Logistics Technology. Her background is in engineering and she has built her career around the research on data science workflows at UH since 2014. Peggy has received her doctorate degree through the University of Stuttgart’s High Performance Computing Center, and her research is on emerging patterns through data in areas where qualitative and quantitative data sources come together. Those emerging patterns can inform policy decisions or measure the impact of interventions as well as improve workflows for quantitative analysis in the Social Sciences and Humanities. She also co-directs the Data Analytics in Student Hands (DASH) program, which helps students to engage in meaningful data science projects.

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Published In

Article first published online: February 13, 2024
Issue published: June 2024

Keywords

  1. political debates
  2. incivility
  3. online discourse
  4. strategic reporting
  5. horserace
  6. computational methods

كلمات مفتاحية

  1. المناقشات السياسية،
  2. الفظاظة،
  3. الخطاب عبر الإنترنت،
  4. التقارير الاستراتيجية،
  5. سباق الخيل،
  6. الأساليب الحسابية

关键词

  1. 政治辩论,
  2. 不文明行为,
  3. 在线言论,
  4. 策略报道,
  5. 赛马,
  6. 计算方法

Mots clés

  1. débats politiques
  2. incivilité
  3. discours en ligne
  4. rapports stratégiques
  5. course de chevaux
  6. méthodes computationnelles

Ключевые слова

  1. политические дебаты
  2. антигражданство
  3. онлайн-дискурс
  4. стратегические репортажи
  5. скачки
  6. вычислительные методы

Palabras Clave

  1. debates políticos
  2. incivilidad
  3. discurso en línea
  4. informes estratégicos
  5. carrera de caballos
  6. métodos computacionales

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© 2024 AEJMC.
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Data availability statement

Data is available for this article. View more information

Authors

Affiliations

Lea Hellmueller
City, University of London, UK
Sebastián Vallejo Vera
The University of Western Ontario, London, Canada
Peggy Lindner
University of Houston, TX, USA

Notes

Lindita Camaj, Jack J. Valenti School of Communication, University of Houston, 3347 Cullen Blvd., Houston, TX 77204, USA. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @Lindita_Camaj

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