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Joshua Greenberg

Bio: Joshua Greenberg is an academic researcher from Carleton University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Problematization & Public health. The author has an hindex of 9, co-authored 10 publications receiving 456 citations.

Papers
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article examined the relationship between socio-economic success of Chinese in Canada, news discourse and the problematization of nearly 600 undocumented Fujianese migrants who arrived on Canada's western shores from July-September 1999.
Abstract: This article discusses the relationship between the socio-economic success of the Chinese in Canada, news discourse and the problematization of nearly 600 undocumented Fujianese migrants who arrived on Canada's western shores from July-September 1999. Our interests rest in examining the thematic patterns of the coverage, i.e. how the migrants' arrivals were 'problematized' and transformed into a discursive crisis centred on the constructs of 'risk' and, more precisely, 'risk avoidance'. It is our contention that news reporting on the migrants holds broader ideological resonances, extending beyond a unilateral concern about the perceived failure of the Canadian immigration and refugee systems. We argue that the reporting of these events serves as an index for collective insecurities stemming from social change, racial integration and contested Euro-Canadian hegemony.

135 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
03 Jun 2016-PLOS ONE
TL;DR: It is indicated that both vaccine experts and front-line vaccine providers have the perception that vaccine rates have been declining and consider vaccine hesitancy an important issue to address in Canada.
Abstract: “Vaccine hesitancy” is a concept now frequently used in vaccination discourse. The increased popularity of this concept in both academic and public health circles is challenging previously held perspectives that individual vaccination attitudes and behaviours are a simple dichotomy of accept or reject. A consultation study was designed to assess the opinions of experts and health professionals concerning the definition, scope, and causes of vaccine hesitancy in Canada. We sent online surveys to two panels (1- vaccination experts and 2- front-line vaccine providers). Two questionnaires were completed by each panel, with data from the first questionnaire informing the development of questions for the second. Our participants defined vaccine hesitancy as an attitude (doubts, concerns) as well as a behaviour (refusing some / many vaccines, delaying vaccination). Our findings also indicate that both vaccine experts and front-line vaccine providers have the perception that vaccine rates have been declining and consider vaccine hesitancy an important issue to address in Canada. Diffusion of negative information online and lack of knowledge about vaccines were identified as the key causes of vaccine hesitancy by the participants. A common understanding of vaccine hesitancy among researchers, public health experts, policymakers and health care providers will better guide interventions that can more effectively address vaccine hesitancy within Canada.

118 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The data offer insight into where parents stand on the political and public debate about mandatory vaccination, what aspects of vaccine science remain uncertain to them, which media and institutional sources they use and trust to navigate the health information environment, and how they look for information and whom they trust during periods of health emergency or crisis.
Abstract: Introduction This paper reports the findings of a national online survey to parents of children aged 5 and younger. The objectives of the study were to assess parental understanding of childhood immunizations, identify sources of information that they trust for vaccine-related content, assess where parents with young children stand on the key issues in the public debate about vaccination, and identify which risk communication messages are most effective for influencing the behaviours of vaccine hesitant parents. Methods A total of 1,000 surveys (closed and open-ended questions) were administered in November 2015 using the Angus Reid Forum Panel, a key consumer panel consisting of approximately 150,000 Canadian adults aged 18 and older, spread across all geographic regions of Canada. Results Approximately 92% of the Canadian parents surveyed consider vaccines safe and effective, and trust doctors and public health officials to provide timely and credible vaccine-related information. However, a concerning number of them either believe or are uncertain whether there is a link between vaccines and autism (28%), worry that vaccines might seriously harm their children (27%), or believe the pharmaceutical industry is behind the push for mandatory immunization (33%). Moreover, despite the common assumption that social media are becoming the go-to source of health news and information, most parents still rely on traditional media and official government websites for timely and credible information about vaccines and vaccine preventable diseases, particularly during community-based disease outbreaks. Finally, parents reported high levels of support for pro-vaccine messaging that has been demonstrated in previous research to have little to no positive impact on behaviour change, and may even be counterproductive. Discussion The study's results are highly relevant in a context where public health officials are expending significant resources to increase rates of childhood immunization and combat vaccine hesitancy. The data offer insight into where parents stand on the political and public debate about mandatory vaccination, what aspects of vaccine science remain uncertain to them, which media and institutional sources they use and trust to navigate the health information environment, how they look for information and whom they trust during periods of health emergency or crisis, and which communication strategies are considered most effective in persuading vaccine hesitant parents to immunize their children.

69 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors employ content and textual methods of news analysis and take up the question of crisis, arguing that crises such as this are best seen not as the outcome of structural failures of the state but, rather, as socially constructed through narrative.
Abstract: In the summer of 1999, several hundred undocumented Fujianese migrants arrived on Canada's west coast, precipitating what many in the news media described as an immigration and refugee "crisis". This study employs content and textual methods of news analysis and takes up the question of crisis, arguing that crises such as this are best seen not as the outcome of structural failures of the state but, rather, as socially constructed through narrative. Beginning with the understanding that news media operate as a claims-making forum for the social construction and contestation of reality, this study first sets out to examine the structures of news access that governed the general organization of the coverage, before moving, secondly, to a discussion of the thematic structure of the coverage. News coverage of these events precipitated a process of collective problematization, the result of which was that the migrants were portrayed as an embodiment of danger, a threat to the physical, moral and political secu...

64 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors reviewed several of the forces playing an increasingly pernicious role in how health and science information is interpreted, shared and used, drawing discussions towards the role of narrative, and explored how aspects of narrative are used in different social contexts and communication environments, and presented creative responses that may help counter the negative trends.
Abstract: Numerous social, economic and academic pressures can have a negative impact on representations of biomedical research. We review several of the forces playing an increasingly pernicious role in how health and science information is interpreted, shared and used, drawing discussions towards the role of narrative. In turn, we explore how aspects of narrative are used in different social contexts and communication environments, and present creative responses that may help counter the negative trends. As traditional methods of communication have in many ways failed the public, changes in approach are required, including the creative use of narratives.

46 citations


Cited by
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, Murray Edelman argues against the conventional interpretation of politics, one that takes for granted that we live in a world of facts and that people react rationally to the facts they know, and explores the ways in which the conspicuous aspects of the political scene are interpretations that systematically buttress established inequalities and interpretations already dominant political ideologies.
Abstract: Thanks to the ready availability of political news today, informed citizens can protect and promote their own interests and the public interest more effectively. Or can they? Murray Edelman argues against this conventional interpretation of politics, one that takes for granted that we live in a world of facts and that people react rationally to the facts they know. In doing so, he explores in detail the ways in which the conspicuous aspects of the political scene are interpretations that systematically buttress established inequalities and interpretations already dominant political ideologies.

1,225 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The current position of social media platforms in propagating vaccine hesitancy is discussed and next steps in how social media may be used to improve health literacy and foster public trust in vaccination are explored.
Abstract: Despite major advances in vaccination over the past century, resurgence of vaccine-preventable illnesses has led the World Health Organization to identify vaccine hesitancy as a major threat to global health. Vaccine hesitancy may be fueled by health information obtained from a variety of sources, including new media such as the Internet and social media platforms. As access to technology has improved, social media has attained global penetrance. In contrast to traditional media, social media allow individuals to rapidly create and share content globally without editorial oversight. Users may self-select content streams, contributing to ideological isolation. As such, there are considerable public health concerns raised by anti-vaccination messaging on such platforms and the consequent potential for downstream vaccine hesitancy, including the compromise of public confidence in future vaccine development for novel pathogens, such as SARS-CoV-2 for the prevention of COVID-19. In this review, we discuss the current position of social media platforms in propagating vaccine hesitancy and explore next steps in how social media may be used to improve health literacy and foster public trust in vaccination.

651 citations

Journal Article
TL;DR: In this article, van Dijk proposed a new, interdisciplinary theory of news in the press, which represents a very ambitious and somewhat speculative effort to weave together a broad range of existing news research approaches into a coherent, heuristic framework.
Abstract: VAN DIJK, TEUN A., News as Discourse Hillsdale, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1988. $29.95 cloth. This book attempts the development of a "new, interdisciplinary theory of news in the press" (p. vii). It represents a very ambitious and somewhat speculative effort to weave together a broad range of existing news research approaches into a coherent, heuristic framework. Van Dijk succeeds in providing a useful summary of the literature in news research. Especially valuable is his discussion of recent European research. However, the overall framework is still at an early stage of development. Its utility remains to be demonstrated by future research. For some time now, communication researchers have talked of passing paradigms and ferment in the field. With the decline of past paradigms, our discipline has been left with a hodgepodge of small-scale theories. This is particularly true in the area of news research where various narrative, discourse and information processing theories abound. Van Dijk's book may signal a new era, an era in which efforts will be made to integrate existing conceptual fragments into broader frameworks. His work may be seen as providing a model for others who seek to make sense of our current proliferation of theories. Van Dijk's approach is centered in the tradition of discourse analysis, which evolved out of an integration of literary analysis and linguistics. However, he has aggressively modified earlier forms of discourse analysis in an effort to incorporate insights into the structure and interpretation of discourse derived from cognitive psychology. He is not content to simply apply discourse analysis to the evaluation of news stories. He recognizes the utility of constructing an approach which also considers the production of news by media practitioners and the interpretation of news by audience members. It is these broader concerns which set van Dijk's approach apart from previous analyses of news content. A central concept in van Dijk's theory is the notion of story schemas, which are defined as implicit structures that underlie typical stories. These schemas permit the easy production of news and also facilitate its interpretation by news consumers. The schema concept is at once powerful and ambiguous. There is growing research evidence that demonstrates the utility of positing the existence of cognitive structures (schemas) in people's minds which are activated by content cues and guide interpretion of all forms of communication. The schema concept helps to explain why complex and seemingly ambiguous messages often are easily interpreted by audience members. It also can explain why the same message can be interpreted in highly discrepent ways. If messages contain conflicting cues that lead people to activate different schemas, or if people don't share a homogeneous set of schemas, then it is likely that many contrasting interpretations of story content will be developed. But despite growing consensus concerning the utility of schema as a concept, researchers remain quite divided over both its definition and the type of research that will lead to the most useful findings. …

581 citations

Book
19 Nov 2008
TL;DR: The Handbook of Journalism Studies as discussed by the authors is a comprehensive resource for scholars and graduate students working in journalism, media studies, and communication around the globe, focusing on the current state of the art and setting an agenda for future research in an international context.
Abstract: This Handbook charts the growing area of journalism studies, exploring the current state of theory and setting an agenda for future research in an international context. The volume is structured around theoretical and empirical approaches, and covers scholarship on news production and organizations; news content; journalism and society; and journalism in a global context. Emphasizing comparative and global perspectives, each chapter explores: Key elements, thinkers, and texts; Historical context; Current state of the art; Methodological issues; Merits and advantages of the approach/area of studies; Limitations and critical issues of the approach/area of studies; Directions for future research Offering broad international coverage from top-tier contributors, this volume ranks among the first publications to serve as a comprehensive resource addressing theory and scholarship in journalism studies. As such, the Handbook of Journalism Studies is a must-have resource for scholars and graduate students working in journalism, media studies, and communication around the globe.

420 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper examined the effects of common media portrayals of immigrants and refugees on dehumanization and its consequences and concluded that uncertainty may lead to dehumanization, and for establishing government policies and practices that counteract such effects.
Abstract: Immigration policies and the treatment of immigrants and refugees are contentious issues involving uncertainty and unease. The media may take advantage of this uncertainty to create a crisis mentality in which immigrants and refugees are portrayed as “enemies at the gate” who are attempting to invade Western nations. Although it has been suggested that such depictions promote the dehumanization of immigrants and refugees, there has been little direct evidence for this claim. Our program of research addresses this gap by examining the effects of common media portrayals of immigrants and refugees on dehumanization and its consequences. These portrayals include depictions that suggest that immigrants spread infectious diseases, that refugee claimants are often bogus, and that terrorists may gain entry to western nations disguised as refugees. We conclude by discussing the implications of the findings for understanding how uncertainty may lead to dehumanization, and for establishing government policies and practices that counteract such effects.

417 citations