Academic literature on the topic 'Reporters and reporting Victoria Case studies'

Empirical analysis has found that mandatory reporting legislation has positive effects on case identification of child sexual abuse both initially and over the long term. However, there is little analysis of the initial and ongoing impact on child protection systems of the rate of reports that are made if a reporting duty for child sexual abuse is introduced, especially when compared with rates of reports for other kinds of child maltreatment. This research analysed government administrative data at the unique child level over a seven-year period to examine trends in reports of child sexual abuse, compared with child physical abuse, in two Australian states having different socio-legal dimensions. Data mining generated descriptive statistics and rates per 100,000 children involved in reports per annum, and time trend sequences in the seven-year period. The first state, Western Australia, introduced the legislative reporting duty in the middle of the seven-year period, and only for sexual abuse. The second state, Victoria, had possessed mandatory reporting duties for both sexual and physical abuse for over a decade. Our analysis identified substantial intra-state increases in the reporting of child sexual abuse attributable to the introduction of a new legislative reporting duty, and heightened public awareness resulting from major social events. Victoria experienced nearly three times as many reports of physical abuse as Western Australia. The relative burden on the child protection system was most clearly different in Victoria, where reports of physical abuse were relatively stable and two and a half times higher than for sexual abuse. Rates of children in reports, even at their single year peak, indicate sustainable levels of reporting for child welfare agencies. Substantial proportions of reports were made by both legislatively mandated reporters, and non-mandated community members, suggesting that government agencies would benefit from engaging with communities and professions to enhance a desirable reporting practice.

The greatest danger to public health might be “checkbook science”: research intended not to expand knowledge or to benefit humanity but to sell products. Much of the media coverage of health news stories is based on public relations efforts on behalf of the companies that sell the products, including pharmaceutical companies, diet clinics, or doctors selling new techniques. The author presents three case studies of how companies selling medical products effectively but invisibly shaped recent news coverage of medical products: fen-phen diet pills, breast implants, and hormone replacement therapy. All involve subtle strategies whereby physicians and other experts paid by corporate interests are influential because they are perceived to be objective medical experts. Articles in prestigious medical journals are sometimes ghostwritten by individuals paid by companies or are based on biased analyses or interpretations shaped by corporate interests. Nonprofit organizations that tout the benefits of specific medical products also may be part of the public relations efforts of the companies making the product. Meanwhile, important newsworthy studies are ignored by the mass media when corporate interests do not publicize or pitch the results to influential reporters and producers.

In recent years, a growing literature in journalism studies has discussed the increasing importance of social media in European and American news production. Adding to this body of work, we explore how Indian and foreign correspondents reporting from India used social media during the coverage of the Delhi gang rape; how journalists represented the public sphere in their social media usage; and, what this representation says about the future of India’s public sphere. Throughout our analysis, Manuel Castells’ discussion of ‘space of flows’ informs our examination of journalists’ social media uses. Our article reveals that while the coverage of the Delhi gang rape highlights an emerging, participatory nature of storytelling by journalists, this new-found inclusiveness remains exclusive to the urban, educated, connected middle and upper classes. We also find that today in India, social media usage is rearticulated around pre-existing journalistic practices and norms common to both Indian reporters working for English-language media houses and foreign correspondents stationed in India.

Methamphetamine (“meth”) has received a massive amount of media attention in the United States over the last decade. In reporting, journalists, politicians, and police commonly link meth to widespread risk, violence, criminality, and rural decay. Although the rise in meth use, addiction, and crime has been largely overstated, such imagery legitimizes an expansion of surveillance and policing to rural landscapes. In this research, I examine the way meth and meth makers are represented in case coverage of a meth lab fire sited in upstate New York. I find that reporters narrate a more general meth lab “social problem formula story” with caricature villains (meth makers), victims (community members), and heroes (law enforcement and legislators). Significantly, this model of storytelling conveys a distorted and exaggerated understanding of meth as a social problem, turning the atypical meth lab case into the “typical,” while legitimizing law and order solutions. In contributing to the contemporary “methamphetamine imaginary,” this formula story forgoes a structural analysis that considers the prevailing global drug war, rural poverty, or broader capital inequality.

Both voluntary in-hospital reporting and mandatory national-level reporting systems for patient safety issues need to work well to develop a patient safety learning system that is effective in preventing the recurrence of adverse events. Some of the hospital systems and activities may increase voluntary in-hospital reporting and mandatory national-level reporting. This study aimed to identify the hospital systems and activities that increase voluntary in-hospital reporting and mandatory national-level reporting for patient safety issues. An anonymous mail survey of hospitals in Japan was conducted in 2017. The hospitals were selected by stratified random sampling according to number of beds. The survey examined the annual number of reported events in the voluntary in-hospital reporting system for patient safety and experience of reporting unexpected patient deaths possibly due to medical interventions to the mandatory national-level reporting system in the last 2 years. The relationship of the answer to the questions with the patient safety management systems and activities at each hospital was analyzed. The response rate was 18.8% (603/3,215). The number of in-hospital reports per bed was positively related to identifying events by referring complaints or questions of patients or family members, using root cause analysis for analyzing reported events, and developing manuals or case studies based on reported events, and negatively related to the unification and standardization of medical devices and equipment. The experience with mandatory national-level reporting of serious adverse events was positively related to identifying problematic cases by a person in charge of patient safety management from the in-hospital reporting system of complications and accidental symptoms. Enhanced feedback for reporters may promote voluntary in-hospital reporting of minor cases with low litigation risks. Developing an in-hospital mechanism that examines all serious complications and accidental symptoms may promote mandatory national-level reporting of serious adverse events with high litigation risks.

Abstract Background The continuing evolution of adult safeguarding legislation, policy and practice in relation to the abuse of vulnerable adults reflects a growing awareness of the nature and extent of such abuse in Ireland. The Adult Safeguarding Bill, 2017 represents a progressive step in safeguarding older people and vulnerable adults. The intention of the Bill is to put in place additional protections for adults, in particular, for those who may be unable to protect themselves, such as older people or those lacking capacity. Part 3 provides for mandatory reporting by specified/named persons/professionals. This paper sets out to critically analyse the concept of mandatory reporting within adult safeguarding using international comparators as case studies. Methods A rapid realist review of adult safeguarding reporting typologies and systems in five key jurisdictions: Australia, Canada, England, Northern Ireland and Scotland, were explored to answer the question: ‘what works, for whom and in what circumstances?’ [1] Results Jurisdictions differ as to who the mandated reporters are, the scope and powers of mandatory reporting, and the types of abuse subject to reporting. Of significance is that the debate on mandatory reporting has increasingly focused on institutional settings, rather than more broadly across services. Key concepts identified are those of protection, empowerment and proportionality. Adult safeguarding legislation must therefore ensure that interventionist and compulsory measures to protect do not excessively restrict the rights of the individual. Conclusion Mandatory reporting may offer professionals increased powers to prevent and reduce the abuse of adults and older people, but this could also change the dynamic of relationships within families, and between families and professionals. Ultimately, the success of any legal approach will rest with professional judgment in balancing autonomy with protection.

Objective The aim of the present study was to identify all evidence about the prevalence and severity of clinically measured caries and periodontal disease in Indigenous adults in Australia published in peer-reviewed journals and to summarise trends over time. In addition, we examined whether the studies investigated associations between putative risk factors and levels of caries and periodontal disease. Methods PubMed was searched in September 2014, with no date limitations, for published peer-reviewed articles reporting the prevalence rates and/or severity of caries and periodontal disease in Indigenous adults living in Australia. Articles were excluded if measurement was not based on clinical assessment and if oral disease was reported only in a specific or targeted sample, and not the general population. Results The search identified 18 papers (reporting on 10 primary studies) that met the inclusion criteria. The studies published clinical data about dental caries and/or periodontal disease in Australian Indigenous adults. The studies reported on oral health for Indigenous adults living in rural (40%), urban (10%) and both urban and rural (50%) locations. Included studies showed that virtually all Indigenous adults living in rural locations had periodontal disease. The data also showed caries prevalence ranged from 46% to 93%. Although 10 studies were identified, the peer-reviewed literature was extremely limited and no published studies were identified that provided statistics for a significant proportion of Australia (Victoria, Tasmania, Queensland or the Australian Capital Territory). There were also inconsistencies in how the data were reported between studies, making comparisons difficult. Conclusions This review highlights a lack of robust and contemporary data to inform the development of policies and programs to address the disparities in oral health in Indigenous populations living in many parts of Australia. What is known about the topic? Many studies report that Indigenous people in Australia have poorer general health compared with non-Indigenous people. What does this paper add? This paper documents the available caries and periodontal disease prevalence and experience for Indigenous adults in Australia published in peer-reviewed journals. It demonstrates significant limitations in the data, including no data in several large Australian jurisdictions, inconsistency with reporting methods and most data available being for Indigenous adults living in rural locations. Therefore, the oral health data available in the peer-reviewed literature do not reflect the situation of all Indigenous people living in Australia. What are the implications for practitioners? It is important for oral health practitioners to have access to current and relevant statistics on the oral health of Indigenous Australians. However, we have highlighted significant evidence gaps for this population group within the peer-reviewed literature and identified the limitations of the available data upon which decisions are currently being made. This paper also identifies ways to capture and report oral health data in the future to enable more meaningful comparisons and relevance for use in policy development.

ObjectivesComprehensive reporting of surgical disease burden and outcomes are vital components of resilient health systems but remain under-reported. The primary objective was to identify the Victorian surgical burden of disease necessitating treatment in a hospital or day centre, including a thorough epidemiology of surgical procedures and their respective perioperative mortality rates (POMR).DesignRetrospective population-level observational study.SettingThe study was conducted in Victoria, Australia. Access to data from the Victorian Admitted Episodes Dataset was obtained using the Dr Foster Quality Investigator tool. The study included public and private facilities, including day-case facilities.ParticipantsFrom January 2014 to December 2016, all admissions with an International Statistical Classification of Diseases-10 code matched to the Global Health Estimates (GHE) disease categories were included.Primary and secondary outcome measuresAdmissions were assigned a primary disease category according to the 23 GHE disease categories. Surgical procedures during hospitalisations were identified using the Australian Refined Diagnosis Related Groups (AR-DRG). POMR were calculated for GHE disease categories and AR-DRG procedures.ResultsA total of 4 865 226 admitted episodes were identified over the 3-year period. 1 715 862 (35.3%) of these required a surgical procedure. The mortality rate for those undergoing a procedure was 0.42%, and 1.47% for those without. The top five procedures performed per GHE category were lens procedures (162 835 cases, POMR 0.001%), caesarean delivery (76 032 cases, POMR 0.01%), abortion with operating room procedure (65 451 cases, POMR 0%), hernia procedures (52 499 cases, POMR 0.05%) and other knee procedures (47 181 cases, POMR 0.004%).ConclusionsConditions requiring surgery were responsible for 35.3% of the hospital admitted disease burden in Victoria, a rate higher than previously published from Sweden, New Zealand and the USA. POMR is comparable to other studies reporting individual procedures and conditions, but has been reported comprehensively across all GHE disease categories for the first time.

The United States Democratic primaries for the 2020 election kicked off with an incredibly diverse pool of candidates with regards to gender, race, age, and socioeconomic status. However, as the primaries progressed and the pool of candidates narrowed, voters elected to nominate Joe Biden—a white man in his late seventies—to take on Donald Trump in November, 2020. Given the similarity between Elizabeth Warren’s platform and Bernie Sanders’, the purpose of this paper is to explore how news-media coverage contributes to the role of gender in campaigns for president in the United States. Grounded in a theoretical understanding of gender performativity in politics, this study uses a quantitative sentiment analysis of newspaper articles about both candidates to understand whether reporters expressed underlying sentiments differing based on the candidates’ gender. Articles were selected from The New York Times (NYT), The Washington Post (WaPo), National Public Radio (NPR), The Associated Press (AP), and the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) to represent the diversity of reputable, mainstream news outlets considered to have minimal partisan bias available to the American public. Though the sentiment analysis revealed no significant difference in reporting across the different sources by candidate, factors such as rules for news publications and the nuances in political orientation of the two candidates may have limited the role of sentiment in contributing to political gender bias in this case study. This research is of broad interest as it sheds light on the current gendered political landscape in the United States, where a female president has yet to be elected. Furthermore, this study explores the within-party gender dynamics in reporting, in contrast to the myriad studies published in the aftermath of the 2016 presidential election in which Hillary Clinton lost to Donald Trump.

The general purpose of this study was to duplicate research conducted by Beverley Joyce Miller Pitts, Ph.D., regarding the newswriting process of practicing journalists. (Future reference regarding this study will be termed the Pitts study.) In an effort to update previous research, this study sought to: review literature published between 1981 and 1987, update research conducted since 1981, support or disprove previous findings as documented in the Pitts study, and provide further research regarding the journalist's newswriting process. The study was conducted separately from previous research; thereby adopting an objective atmosphere in which research and data were obtained. The methodology and procedure of this study were replicated from the Pitts study to ensure consistency in research methods. All analyses, discussions, summaries, conclusions, observations, and recommendations, presented in this study, are based solely on data gathered during the research and presentation phases of this study.
Department of Journalism

The Internet and World Wide Web have become dominant newsgathering tools in a sholi period of time. While the body of research, particularly in the First World, has developed quickly along with the Web, many unanswered questions remain on how journalists in developing countries make use of the Internet for newsgathering purposes. This study combined social constructivist theory with the socio-organisational and cultural approaches to news production in order to critically investigate how journalists at The Post newspaper in Zambia relate to, and make use of, the Internet as a newsgathering resource, in the context of Third World conditions. The study critiqued technological detelminism perspectives on journalists' use of the new information technology. The technological determinism theory, which has largely been advanced by some scholars from the developed world, takes a celebratory approach to journalists' use of the Internet in the newsroom. Using qualitative semi-structured interviews and observations, the study established that while journalists at The Post acknowledged the lnternet's potential in news gathering, factors such as unreliable telecommunications infrastructure, poor Internet skills, lack of local content on the World Wide Web, and organisational and occupational demands inhibited the use of the Internet as a journalistic newsgathering resource. The study established further that online reporting is only a tool within the broader news gathering and production process; and in the case of The Post, it does not replace the traditional news gathering techniques used by journalists, particularly direct contacts with human sources. The respondents cited face-to-face interviews, a traditional means of newsgathering, as the main driving force in news gathering routines at the newspaper. However, although the respondents saw some mixed blessings in the Internet as a reporting tool, they also believed that the benefits outweighed the problems.
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Assignment (MPhil)--University of Stellenbosch, 2007.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The media, in its ongoing task to inform and educate South Africans, seemingly set the agenda in such a way that depicts poor black African people as the only racial group that is affected and infected by HIV/Aids. Photographs of poor black Africans are also used to inform and educate the public about the pandemic. In short, the media has set an agenda that has given HIV/Aids a black African face: vulnerable, helpless and living in squalid conditions. The hypothesis of this research is that it is racial stereotyping of poor black Africans, and that it is perpetuated by the Daily Dispatch and other media. It is also important to note that the voices of the affected and infected are not prominent in news reports about the pandemic. Their stories are either told by the journalists themselves or someone else as a spokesperson. The media must begin to give space to the heroes and heroines who are affected and infected by the HIV/Aids pandemic to tell their stories in their own words. Qualitative content analysis of the Daily Dispatch from 1 to 31 December 2004 was conducted. News stories, photographs, headlines and captions were analysed. This analysis shows that the voices of the affected and infected are still lacking in news reports and that poor black African people are used as the only visuals in HIV/Aids news stories. This study recommends that more attention should be given to upholding and respecting the rights of the affected and infected by the disease. The media should also allow their voices to be heard, not through spokespeople, but from their own mouths.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Dit lyk of die media in sy voortgaande taak om Suid-Afrikaners in te lig en op te voed, die agenda op so ’n manier stel dat dit arm swart Afrikane as die enigste rassegroep voorstel wat deur MIV/Vigs geaffekteer en geïnfekteer word. Foto’s van arm swart Afrikane word ook gebruik om die publiek oor die pandemie in te lig en op te voed. In ’t kort, die media het ’n agenda gestel wat MIV/Vigs ’n swart, Afrika-gesig gee: een wat arm, ontvanklik en hulpeloos is, en wat in haglike toestande leef. Die hipotese van hierdie navorsing berus daarop dat dit rasse-stereotipiering is van arm swart Afrikane, en dat die Daily Dispatch en ander media dit perpetueer. Dit is ook belangrik om daarop te let dat die stemme van die geaffekteerde en geïnfekteerde nie so prominent in nuusberige oor die pandemie is nie. Hul stories word vertel deur die joernaliste self, of iemand anders wat ’n segspersoon is. Die media moet begin om hierdie helde en heldinne wat deur die siekte geaffekteer en geïnfekteer is, self hul storie te laat vertel, in hul eie woorde. Kwalitatiewe inhoudsanalise van die Daily Dispatch van 1 tot 31 Desember 2004 is uitgevoer. Nuusstories, foto’s, opskrifte en onderskrifte is geanaliseer. Hierdie analise toon dat die stemme van die geaffekteerde en geïnfekteerde steeds in ons nuusberigte ontbreek en dat arm swart Afrikane die enigste visuele onderwerpe in MIV-Vigs nuusstories is. Hierdie studie beveel aan dat meer aandag gegee moet word om die regte van die geaffekteerde en geïnfekteerde te bewaar en te respekteer. Die media moet ook toelaat dat diegene se stemme gehoor word, nie deur segspersone nie, maar uit hul eie monde.
ISISHWANKATHELOL: Kubonakala ngathi amajelo eendaba kwinzame zawo zokufundisa nokwazisa uluntu loMzantsi Afrika ngesifo sikaGawulayo neNtsholongwane yaso, abonakalisa abantu abaMnyama beli njengohlanga ekukuphela kwalo oluthi luchatshazelwe sesi sifo. Nkqu nemifanekiso ethi isetyenziswe kumabalili athetha ngesi sifo, yileyo yabantu abaMnyama abazimpula zikalujacu ezingathathi ntweni. Ngokufutshane amajelo eendaba anika isizwe umzobo osengqondweni othi, uGawulayo neNtsholongwane yakhe uchaphazela ze ubulale abantu abaMnyama abahluphekileyo nabaphila phantsi kweemeko zobugxwayiba. Kusenjalo olu hlalutyo lubonakalise ukuba amazwi abantu abanesifo sikaGawulayo nabo bachaphazelekayo awakho kupapasho lweendaba. Kwakhona iingxelo ngesi sifo zinika ingqwasela kubantu abaMnyama abahluphekileyo neminifanekiso yabo kuphela. Akukho nto ithethekayo ngezinye intlanga. Okokuqala, olu phando ngoko ke lucebisa ukuba makuhlonitshwe umGaqo Siseko weli ngokubhekiselele kumalungelo abantu ingakubi abo banesifo sikaGawulayo neNtsholongwane yaso. Okwesibini, amajelo eendaba mawaqinisekise ukuba abantu abagula sesi sifo nabo sibachaphazelayo bayazithethela ngemilomo yabo kuba ngabo abajamelene neentlungu umhla nezolo.

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2014.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study is a feminist investigation of the reporting on the female politicians in the Mail & Guardian using the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development media requirements on content as the yardstick. The Protocol is a regional policy adopted in 2008 by regional governments aimed at achieving gender equity in key sectors by 2015. The Protocol is a regional instrument set up to assist in meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The study investigated whether the Protocol’s media requirements were being observed by the Mail&Guardian. The media’s role of providing information can assist the MDGs to be met. These requirements encourage the media in the region to reach gender parity in the use of news sources and writing of news reports that help to reduce gender-based violence and the portrayal of women that is not stereotypic and oppressive. The themes of the study, which were “gender-based violence”, “gender oppression” and “stereotypes against women” were influenced by these requirements. Gender-based violence is a major impediment to development in Africa because of the heavy financial burden it puts on governments and communities to treat victims and offer them shelter and counselling. Gender-based violence affects women’s full productivity in society because it results in death or victims remaining absent from work while they seek treatment. Stereotypes and gender oppression are viewed as dangerous because not only do they deny younger generations role models but they perpetuate the insubordination of women in society. The study linked the themes to female parliamentarians because being legislators and policy makers, they have a strategic and critical role to play in helping to achieve gender equity. There is a perception that female politicians offer different perspectives to issues. The media can be a vehicle through which these female politicians can express their opinions. This is because the media is supposed to offer freedom of expression to all its citizens regardless of gender. In order to examine if the female ideology had a place in the Mail & Guardian a feminist theoretical approach was used. The study employed a triangulation approach in which both the qualitative and quantitative research methodologies were used. The quantitative method was employed to a small extent to quantify the coverage of female politicians. Triangulation in data collection entailed using both the content analysis and in-depth interviews. Findings of the study showed a violation of the Protocol’s media requirements. News reporting about female politicians centred on scandals and controversies and journalists and editors were ignorant of the Protocol’s media requirements.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die studie was ’n feministiese ondersoek na die Mail & Guardian se verslaggewing oor vrouepolitici. Dis gedoen met die interregeringsorganisasie, die Suider-Afrikaanse Ontwikkelingsgemeenskap (SAOG), se Protokol oor Geslag en Ontwikkeling as maatstaf. Die Protokol is ’n beleid wat in 2008 deur die owerhede van die SAOG-lidlande van stapel gestuur is, met die oog op geslagsgelykheid in sleutelsektore teen 2015. Dit dien as instrument en hulpmiddel in die nastreef van bogenoemde. Die studie stel ondersoek in na die handhawing, al dan nie, van die Protokol se mediavereistes deur die Mail & Guardian. Die media se rol as verskaffer van inligting kan die strewe hierna bevorder. Die vereistes moedig die media in die onderskeie streke aan om geslagsgelykheid toe te pas wat betref die gebruik van nuusbronne, die skep van nuusberigte wat bydra tot die vermindering van geslagsgebaseerde geweld en die uitbeeld van vroue wat wegskram van stereotipering en onderdrukking. Die temas van die studie-"geslagsgebaseerde geweld", "geslagsonderdrukking" en “stereotipering van vroue" is gevolglik deur die Protokol se vereistes beïnvloed. Geslagsgebaseerde geweld is ’n wesenlike struikelblok in die pad van ontwikkeling in Afrika, deels weens die swaar finansiële las wat dit plaas op gemeenskaplike en regeringsvlak. Só moet slagoffers dikwels behandeling, skuiling en berading ontvang. Dit het ook ’n besliste impak op vroue se produktiwiteit in die breër samelewing, aangesien slagoffers van geslagsgebaseerde geweld in sommige gevalle afwesig is uit die werksomgewing om behandel te word of-in meer ernstige gevalle-sterf. Stereotipering en onderdrukking word as uiters gevaarlik beskou, aangesien dit nie nét die ondergeskiktheid van vroue laat voortleef nie; maar boonop jonger generasies van rolmodelle ontneem. Die temas van die studie word verbind met vroulike parlementslede weens hul rolle as beleidsopstellers en wetmakers. Dié vroue het strategiese en belangrike verpligtinge om na te kom in die strewe na geslagsgelykheid. Die persepsie bestaan dat vroue-politici dikwels ’n ander, nuwe perspektief op kwessies bied. Die media kan in dié opsig as ’n waardevolle voertuig aangewend word om die perspektiewe tuis te bring. Die media het ook ’n plig om vryheid van uitdrukking te verseker aan alle landsburgers - ongeag hulle geslag. Ten einde te bepaal of die ideologie deur die Mail & Guardian toegepas is, is ’n feministiese teoretiese aanslag gevolg. Die studie het gebruik gemaak van triangulasie, waartydens beide kwalitatiewe en kwantitatiewe navorsingsmetodologieë ingespan is. Die kwantitatiewe metode is gebruik om die mediadekking van vroue-politici te kwantifiseer. Triangulasie is ook tydens die data-insamelingsproses gebruik. Dit het ingesluit die aanwend van inhoudsanalises, asook in-diepte onderhoude. Die bevinding van die studie dui op die oortreding van die Protokol se mediavereistes. Verslaggewing oor vroue-politici is grootliks toegespits op skandale en omstredenheid en beide joernaliste en inhoudsredakteurs blyk onkundig te wees oor die vereistes.

Thesis (MPhil) -- Stellenbosch University, 2012.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In a time of uncertainty for newspapers due in part to dwindling circulation, loss of advertising revenue and declining readership, Internet-based technologies have continued to grow. The unprecedented rise of social media, of which Facebook and Twitter are wellknown examples, has not gone unnoticed by the newspaper community. Despite their initial misgivings about the credibility of the information disseminated on these media, mainstream journalists worldwide have gradually started to adopt social media as professional tools. Social media serve as channels that help to funnel information towards journalists. Some newspaper journalists also use these media to broadcast news and promote their personal brands. The continued use of social media on a professional level will arguably have an impact on the daily routines and cultures within a newsroom. Academic research in this area is limited, especially within the South African context. This study explores whether the professional use of social media, with specific reference to Facebook and Twitter, influences the processes and cultures of news selection and presentation at the South Africa newspapers Rapport and the Mail & Guardian. A newsroom study within a social constructionism paradigm employed a combination of quantitative and qualitative research methodologies, including self-administered questionnaires, semi-structured interviews and ethnography. The main findings of this study were that the majority of journalists at Rapport and the Mail & Guardian used Facebook and Twitter actively on a professional level – mainly for trend tracking. The newsroom cultures were open and encouraging towards social media use. Journalists were also aware that social media create opportunities for their audiences to challenge the traditional roles of journalists and the realities constructed by the mainstream media. According to the journalists from Rapport and the Mail & Guardian the professional use of social media had not significantly altered their processes of news selection and presentation.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Terwyl koerante ’n onsekere tyd beleef, deels weens dalende sirkulasiesyfers, ’n verlies aan advertensie-inkomste en ’n afname in lesertalle, het Internetgebaseerde tegnologieë aanhou groei. Die ongekende groei van sosial media, waarvan Facebook en Twitter welbekende voorbeelde is, het nie ongesiens by die koerantgemeenskap verby gegaan nie. Ondanks hul aanvanklike bedenkinge oor die geloofwaardigheid van inligting wat op dié media versprei word, het hoofstroomjoernaliste wêreldwyd geleidelik begin om sosiale media as professionele hulpmiddels te aanvaar. Sosial media dien as kanale waardeur inligting na joernaliste vloei. Sommige koerantjoernaliste gebruik ook die media om nuus uit te saai en hul persoonlike handelsmerk te bemark. Die volgehoue gebruik van sosial media op ’n professionele vlak sal bes moontlik ’n impak op die daaglikse roetine en kulture binne ’n nuuskantoor hê. Akademiese navorsing op die gebied is beperk, veral binne die Suid-Afrikaanse konteks. Hierdie navorsing ondersoek of die professionele gebruik van sosiale media, met spesifieke verwysing na Facebook en Twitter, ’n invloed het op die prosesse en kulture van nuusseleksie en -aanbieding by die Suid-Afrikaanse koerante Rapport en die Mail & Guardian. ’n Nuuskantoorstudie, binne ’n sosiale konstruktivisme paradigma, het ’n kombinasie van kwantitatiewe en kwalitatiewe navorsingsmetodologieë ingespan, insluitende: selfgeadministreerde vraelyste, halfgestruktureerde onderhoude en etnografie. Die hoofbevindinge van die studie was dat die meerderheid van die joernaliste by Rapport en die Mail & Guardian Facebook en Twitter aktief op ’n professionele vlak gebruik het – hoofsaaklik om tendense dop te hou. Die nuuskantoorkulture was oop en aanmoedigend teenoor die gebruik van sosiale media. Joernaliste was ook bewus daarvan dat sosiale media geleenthede skep vir hul gehore om die tradisionele rol van joernaliste, sowel as die realiteite wat deur die hoofstroommedia geskep word, te betwis. Volgens die joernaliste van Rapport en die Mail & Guardian het die professionele gebruik van sosiale media nie hul nuusinsamelings- en aanbiedingsprosesse noemenswaardig beïnvloed nie.

Over the past three decades, the media has bombarded the public with a seemingly endless array of risks, from the familiar to the exotic: hormone replacement therapy, anthrax, mad cow disease, SARS, West Nile virus, radon, vaccine-associated autism, childhood obesity, medical errors, secondhand smoke, lead, asbestos, even HIV in the porn industry. A drumbeat of risks to worry about, big and small, with new studies often contradicting earlier ones and creating further confusion. It's gotten so bad that some people feel like they're taking their lives in their hands just trying to order a meal at a restaurant. “Will it be the mad cow beef, the hormone chicken, or the mercury fish?” asks an imperious waiter in one of my favorite cartoons from the Washington Post. “Urn ... I think I'll go with the vegetarian dish,” the hesitant diner responds. “Pesticide or hepatitis?” the waiter asks. The diner, growing ever more fearful, asks for water. The waiter persists: “Point source, or agricultural runoff?” Perhaps it's time for the media to become part of the solution rather than continuing to be part of the problem. Ideally, science journalists could lead the way toward improved risk coverage that moves beyond case-by-case alarms—and easy hype—to a more consistent, balanced approach that puts the hazard du jour in broader perspective. The challenge is to create stories with chiaroscuro, painting in more subtle shades of gray rather than extremes of black and white. Too often, as my late Washington Post colleague Victor Cohn once said, journalists (and their editors) gravitate toward stories at either extreme, emphasizing either “no hope” or “new hope.” Unfortunately, today's “new hope” often becomes tomorrow's “no hope” (which is a good reason for avoiding words like “breakthrough” or “cure” in the first place). Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is a classic example of this yo-yo coverage. In the '60s and '70s, the media helped overpromote hormones as wonder drugs for women, promising everlasting youth as well as a cure for hot flashes. Concerns rose, however, with reports of possible links to cancers of the breast and uterus. Later, when the uterine cancer risk was shown to return to normal by adding an additional hormone, the publicity about HRT became mostly positive again, emphasizing its potential to protect against bone loss and heart disease.

Background: It is feasible to collect data rapidly and online using IT solutions. Objectives: To present a data collection platform for COVID-19 suspected patients in private offices and clinics without a standard software. Methods: The proposed system for collecting and sharing data of patients with respiratory symptoms was designed to be simple to use, without the need for special technology, and with proper security to authenticate reporters. Results: Two methods were developed to collect data from private physicians and offices. Finally, the data collected by both approaches is integrated and provided to primary healthcare staff to arrange appropriate healthcare measures. Conclusion: Our platform can provide an easy-to-use case reporting system for private physicians.