| 1. |
- Abalo, Ernesto, 1982-
(author)
-
Class as deviance : constructing the support for and opposition against Hugo Chávez
- 2011
-
Conference paper (other academic/artistic)abstract
- By applying the methods of Critical Discourse Analysis this paper aims to explore how ideology works within the discursive construction of class, in the representation of the supporters and opponents of the government of Hugo Chávez in Venezuela. News items from New York Times (US), El País (Uruguay) and Dagens Nyheter (Sweden) constitute the analyzed material. The paper argues that class-markers are important in the representation of government supporters, whom many times are constructed as belonging to the poorer sectors of society. Class is however less explicit in the representation of Chávez-opposition, which in fact is lead by elite groups. It is therefore argued that class in this context becomes a marker of deviance, which in turn works ideologically in legitimizing oppositional groups and disqualifying the support for Chávez’ government.
|
|
| 2. |
|
|
| 3. |
|
|
| 4. |
|
|
| 5. |
|
|
| 6. |
- Abalo, Ernesto, 1982-
(author)
-
Through an imperialistic gaze? : Journalism, ideology and the notion of democracy
- 2015
-
In: Differences, Inequalities and Sociological Imagination. - Prague : Institute of Sociology of the Czech Academy of Sciences. - 9788073302726 ; , s. 929-930
-
Conference paper (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Despite that the notion of democracy has a central place in the Western self-image, and also in media studies, research that focuses on how democracy is ideologically loaded in journalistic content is still in its infancy. In recent times, democracy has been used with great enthusiasm by Western political leaders, while the meaning of democracy perhaps is more fuzzy than ever. In times of economic and political crisis, and of a weak Left in most European countries, it is important to examine how journalism constructs notions of democracy, and how such notions reflect specific political positions and interests. This study, which is theoretically rooted in ideology critique, and methodologically inspired by critical discourse analysis, examines how news journalism in the coverage of Venezuela and the Ukraine conflict constructs notions of democracy. The study is specially interested in exploring and discussing the ideological interconnections between imperialism and geopolitical interests, and the journalistic construction of democracy.
|
|
| 7. |
|
|
| 8. |
- Abalo, Ernesto, 1982-
(author)
-
Weeds in the Hegemony : Understanding Journalism on the Renegotiation of Cannabis
- 2018
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We are witnessing the renegotiation of cannabis substances in many parts of the world. After being classified as narcotics and subjected to a worldwide ban for several decades, cannabis has now been legalized in Uruguay and in several US states, and decriminalized in some other countries. This paper aims to study how the ongoing renegotiation of cannabis, which involves the legalization of the substance in different parts of the world, is constructed in Swedish print news journalism. This is done with the purpose of understanding how news journalism in a context of a traditionally strong drug prohibition (de)legitimizes different positions and perspectives in the ongoing renegotiation of cannabis, and to what extent journalism in such a context offers challenges to the reigning prohibitionist hegemony. Although cannabis and the media has been researched extensively, very few studies have been conducted by media and communication or journalism scholars, and contributions have been placed mainly in areas as for example drug policy, drug use and misuse, and public health. The current study, in contrast, wishes to contribute to the critical study of drug journalism. The paper draws on critical theory, understanding the ongoing renegotiation of cannabis as bringing disequilibrium to the hegemonic view of cannabis as dangerous drug that needs to be banned. Journalism is perceived as playing a key role in this context, since journalism is an arena where different discourses on cannabis struggle for prominence. Journalism can in this sense serve the strengthening of counter-hegemonic discourses on cannabis or the reinforcement of the prohibitionist hegemony. The study uses critical discourse analysis as a method to study 49 print newspaper items. The results show that the studied media invites opposed discourses regarding the health risks and the medical benefits of cannabis to be part of the news pages, which creates a somewhat pluralistic view on cannabis. The study also finds that the construction of cannabis legalization as a means to combat organized crime is given significant framing power. These results suggest that the ongoing renegotiation of cannabis in different parts of the world invites Swedish journalism to broaden the debate on the substance and to provide certain legitimacy to positive discourses on cannabis that are otherwise considered deviant in the Swedish drug debate. This serves as an example of how changes in distant political contexts affect the ways in which journalism ascribes legitimacy to specific discourses on drugs.
|
|
| 9. |
- Abalo, Ernesto, 1982-
(author)
-
With senior citizens in mind? Affordances and constraints in how Swedish government user interfaces offer different contact channels to its users
- 2023
-
In: Communication Policy and Technology Section. - : IAMCR – International Association for Media and Communication Research. ; , s. 57-57
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- As one of the leading countries when it comes to the access and use of ICTs (OECD, 2018), Sweden has also been on the forefront of the digitalization of government services. The Agency for Digital government, has launched the principal of Digital First, which means that digital encounters should, when relevant, be prioritized in the interaction between government agencies and citizens (Agency for digital government, 2023). At the same time, research has shown a divide in the diffusion and use of ICTs in Sweden, where increased age plays a negative role for access and literacy (Olsson et al, 2019). Against this backdrop, it is therefore important that the praxis of Digital First, thus the increased digitalization of the encounter between government and citizen, is inclusive also for the less digital savvy citizens, as some groups of elderly. This, in order for digitalization to enable rather than restrict citizenship.The current study, which is part of a larger project on senior citizens’ encounter with the digital welfare system in Sweden, analyzes the affordances and constrains of government user interfaces. Using multimodal critical discourse analysis, the study focuses on how government agencies, through the semiotic elements of their online user interfaces, offer and limit engagement and interaction with citizens–both digitally and off-screen. Moreover, the analysis has the overall ambition to discern the explicit and latent characteristics that the user interfaces require the users to have. The user interfaces studied belong to the Swedish pensions agency, 1177 (the Swedish healthcare system’s official website), The municipality of Växjö, and the municipality of Älmhult.The study discusses the affordances and constraint of the user interfaces in relation to digital citizenship (Schou & Hjelholt, 2018), a figure that is discursively construed by policy and the user interfaces themselves, but that is also materialized by the new forms of governance in advanced capitalist societies, where the slimming of government passes tasks to the citizen. The study argues that the naturalization of digital citizenship risks making senior citizens, an already vulnerable group, even more vulnerable, as the user interfaces require a certain level of digital literacy. Therefore, light needs to be shed on how user interfaces meet the needs of different groups of citizens, which in turn requires more empirical research on the actual encounters between citizens and government user interfaces.
|
|
| 10. |
|
|
