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        <title>Frontiers in Communication | New and Recent Articles</title>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/communication</link>
        <description>RSS Feed for Frontiers in Communication | New and Recent Articles</description>
        <language>en-us</language>
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        <pubDate>2026-09-27T12:45:15.141+00:00</pubDate>
        <ttl>60</ttl>
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        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2026.1907973</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2026.1907973</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Language ideology and lexical borrowing: attitudes toward Arabic loanwords among Swahili-speaking academics]]></title>
        <pubdate>2026-09-25T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Original Research</category>
        <author>Khalid Azzubaidi</author>
        <description><![CDATA[IntroductionOver the past twenty years, speakers' linguistic attitudes have gained considerable attention among scholars working in language contact and sociolinguistics. Language loyalty and linguistic ideology are decisive factors that can either encourage or hinder lexical borrowing among languages. A substantial body of work has suggested that examining speakers' attitudes offers a way to anticipate the outcomes of language contact. Despite this, attitudes have received relatively little focus within research on bilingualism and language contact specifically.MethodsTo shed light on how speakers' attitudes operate within bilingual communities, the present empirical study, drawing on language ideology theory and the matched-guise approach, examined the covert and overt attitudes that Swahili speakers hold toward Arabic loanwords in Swahili. The data were collected from nine Swahili-speaking academics of different ages and national backgrounds via an online questionnaire. Two main methodological tools were implemented to elicit speakers' covert and overt attitudes, namely, a text-based adapted matched guise experiment and a direct metapragmatic questioning approach.ResultsThe preliminary findings indicate that these speakers held broadly neutral attitudes, with no evidence of negative evaluation.DiscussionSuch accommodating attitudes are consistent with, though they cannot on their own account for, the extensive lexical borrowing from Arabic, contributing to the conventionalization of many of these borrowings within the Swahili community. Given the small sample size (N = 9), however, these results should be interpreted as exploratory and warrant further investigation with larger and more diverse samples.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2026.1974057</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2026.1974057</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Governing the information ecosystem under authoritarian power: epistemic conditions of public reasoning in Türkiye]]></title>
        <pubdate>2026-09-25T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Hypothesis and Theory</category>
        <author>Gamze Turgaylı Zengin</author>
        <description><![CDATA[Contemporary authoritarian powers often advance while democratic institutions and practices remain formally preserved and their substantive functioning is gradually weakened. Elections continue, opposition actors remain present, the media are not entirely silenced, and democratic discourse continues to circulate. Yet this formal continuity can obscure a deeper restructuring of the epistemic conditions under which political meaning, truth claims, public reasoning, and legitimacy are produced and contested. This article examines authoritarian power under conditions of formal democratic continuity by focusing on the information ecosystem. It argues that authoritarianism is reproduced by the legal, technical, and institutional shaping of the epistemic field. Drawing on Foucault, Gramsci, and Althusser, the article conceptualizes this process as an epistemic structuring of power that reshapes the conditions under which knowledge claims become visible, credible, and politically reasonable. It identifies four interconnected mechanisms: infrastructural control, visibility regimes, the redistribution of epistemic authority, and strategic uncertainty. Türkiye provides an analytically revealing case in which content removal, access blocking, platform obligations, regulatory powers, and uncertainty surrounding online expression increasingly shape the digital public sphere. The article contributes to debates on authoritarianism and democratic communication by showing how the governance of the information ecosystem can narrow the epistemic conditions necessary for meaningful public reasoning and political contestation.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2026.1780602</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2026.1780602</link>
        <title><![CDATA[When relief valves leak: directed digital dissidence, curated networks, and critical information exposure across media systems]]></title>
        <pubdate>2026-09-25T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Original Research</category>
        <author>Maitha Alsaadi</author><author>Jason Gainous</author>
        <description><![CDATA[This study examines how curated digital networks—intentionally shaped information environments influenced by homophily, selective avoidance, and algorithmic feedback—are associated with political learning in semi-authoritarian regimes. Using original survey data from three post-Soviet countries, we explore how these networks interact with political interest and media habits in relation to exposure to regime-critical content. Individuals embedded in curated digital networks report greater exposure to dissent on social media, higher political news consumption on television, and greater perceived televised criticism of the government—even in contexts where legacy media is tightly controlled. Importantly, when we directly test a core implication of Directed Digital Dissidence (DDD)—that criticism is strategically channeled toward local actors while shielding central authorities—we find limited evidence of a pronounced local–central gradient. Instead, digital exposure is associated with perceptions of both local and central criticism. These findings suggest that curated networks may diffuse critical awareness across hierarchical targets rather than reinforce hierarchical containment. Country-level differences are minimal; individual-level dynamics—particularly network curation and digital exposure—play a more central role. Together, the results complicate assumptions about authoritarian information control and demonstrate how bottom-up digital curation can reshape political awareness across media platforms.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2026.1927459</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2026.1927459</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Digital bridges or digital divides? Social media use and crosscultural interaction among students at a Chinese university]]></title>
        <pubdate>2026-09-25T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Original Research</category>
        <author>Pengyu Jiao</author><author>Qingjuan Meng</author>
        <description><![CDATA[BackgroundSocial media has become an important part of young people's daily lives, and both domestic and overseas platforms are reshaping cross-cultural interaction among Chinese university students.MethodsGuided by uses and gratifications theory and acculturation theory, this study analyzed 640 valid questionnaire responses from students at Shandong University of Technology. The questionnaire covered social media use duration, platform use, cross-cultural interaction frequency, perceived importance, language barriers, information cocoons, and cross-cultural cyberbullying.ResultsDaily social media use duration was not significantly correlated with cross-cultural interaction frequency (rs = 0.054, p = 0.170). The distribution of cross-cultural interaction frequency differed significantly between students who used at least one overseas social media platform and those who did not, although the association was weak [χ²(4) = 11.358, p = 0.023, Cramér's V = 0.133]. Cross-cultural interaction frequency was positively correlated with perceived importance of cross-cultural interaction for personal development (rs = 0.285, p < 0.001). Partners from Asian regions excluding China were most frequently reported, and 79.06% of respondents perceived cross-cultural interaction as important or highly important for personal development.ConclusionThe findings provide micro-level empirical evidence that may inform intercultural education for Chinese university students and help social media platforms develop more accessible and culturally inclusive online interaction environments.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2026.1892616</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2026.1892616</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Cultural codes in Kazakh and Nogai traditional dress: a comparative semiotic analysis of museum and documentary evidence]]></title>
        <pubdate>2026-09-24T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Original Research</category>
        <author>Gulimay Temirova</author><author>Seifolla Zhankadyrov</author><author>Zaure Ayupova</author><author>Daurenbek Kussainov</author><author>Ali Rafet Özkan</author>
        <description><![CDATA[IntroductionTraditional dress constitutes an important medium through which cultural meanings, social identities, and collective memory become materially and visually communicable. This study examines cultural codes in Kazakh and Nogai traditional dress through a qualitative, comparative, and interpretive approach, focusing on how clothing communicated gender, social status, ritual transition, and collective belonging within historically situated cultural contexts. Cultural codes are understood here as socially recognizable configurations of visual, material, and embodied signs through which shared meanings are communicated and interpreted.MethodsThe analysis combines semiotic interpretation, cultural memory theory, and material culture analysis. The study draws on 25 theoretical, ethnographic, historical, and documentary publications, 24 Kazakh clothing-related artifacts directly examined in two museum collections in Kazakhstan, and six Nogai documentary cases selected from the published corpus. Because the Kazakh and Nogai materials differ in type and empirical depth, they are treated as complementary rather than equivalent forms of evidence. The study therefore adopts an interpretive comparison that explicitly acknowledges this evidentiary asymmetry.ResultsThe findings suggest that Kazakh and Nogai dress traditions share several communicative principles, including the visual marking of gender and social position, ceremonial transition, ornamental repetition, and adaptation to environmental conditions. At the same time, differences in regional history, cultural interaction, and the nature of the available evidence caution against treating the two traditions as either identical or empirically equivalent.DiscussionThe study supports an interpretation of traditional dress as a culturally situated medium of communication in which material form, bodily display, and socially recognized signs participate in the transmission and negotiation of cultural memory and identity.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2026.1736525</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2026.1736525</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Mapping the misinformation landscape: an interdisciplinary review of false and misleading information on social media during crises]]></title>
        <pubdate>2026-09-24T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Systematic Review</category>
        <author>Sofia Johansson</author><author>Pavel Rodin</author><author>Alice Srugies</author><author>Bengt Johansson</author>
        <description><![CDATA[IntroductionFalse and misleading information on social media during broadscale societal crises, or so-called mega-crises, is a growing concern across academic fields. While previous studies have offered valuable insights, research remains fragmented.MethodsThis interdisciplinary scoping review summarizes current knowledge by analysing 179 studies published between 2014 and 2024.ResultsThe results show that studies span disciplines such as social sciences, computer science, and medicine. Prior research primarily relies on cross-sectional survey data to explore the spread and impact of false and misleading information at an individual level, with a dominant focus on the COVID-19 pandemic.DiscussionKey takeaways include the need to test whether findings from the COVID-19 pandemic are transferable to other crisis types, apply more varied methodologies, such as panel studies and experiments, to establish causal relationships, and move beyond individual-level analyses to capture the role of social and structural factors in shaping the spread and effects of false and misleading information during crises.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2026.1888357</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2026.1888357</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Political branding through journalistic disintermediation: a case based approach]]></title>
        <pubdate>2026-09-23T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Original Research</category>
        <author>Sudesh N. S.</author><author>Saradhi Gonela</author><author>Tanmoy De</author><author>Ravi Kumar Jain</author>
        <description><![CDATA[Research in political marketing has demonstrated the importance of journalistic intermediation in building political image and identity. Journalists have long been an integral part of political marketing by virtue of being a bridge between political leaders and their voters. However, political leaders across the globe have leveraged digital tools to reach out to their voters directly. This process, called disintermediation, has been critical in building political brand of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in India and has helped him win three election cycles between 2014 and 2024. He enjoyed tremendous public support across three elections, with no notable interaction with journalists. This study, using the single-case research method, investigates how Mr. Modi built his brand by reaching out to his voters directly, analysing disintermediation-related information obtained from international and Indian English media for about 12 years between 2012 and 2024. The study employs thematic analysis, integrating political–theoretical frameworks to explain political brand identity, message personalization, brand authenticity, and disintermediation, among others. The study proposes an integrated framework explaining how sustained public messaging, symbolic rhetoric, and direct digital and mass gathering formats substituted for interview-based media engagement. The major contribution of the study is to bring communications sovereignty to the fore, rather than cooperation with traditional media and journalism, which contradicts the theory of mediatization.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2026.1950077</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2026.1950077</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Discursive constructions of critical consumer identity on social media: between authentic advocacy and greenwashing accusations]]></title>
        <pubdate>2026-09-23T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Original Research</category>
        <author>Hilarius Bambang Winarko</author><author>Fabianus Fensi</author><author>Endah Fantini</author>
        <description><![CDATA[PurposeThis study examines how social media users discursively construct “critical” or “conscious” consumer identities within sustainability fashion discourse on TikTok, and explores the implications for marketing communication, particularly the risk of being perceived as engaging in greenwashing or purpose-washing. Methodology: Drawing on Fairclough's Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and multimodal analytical frameworks, this study analyzes thirty TikTok videos across three genres: anti-haul, conscious haul/thrift haul, and ethical fashion advocacy. Data were collected from content published between January 2025 and April 2026, with analysis conducted at three interconnected levels: textual (micro), discursive practice (meso), and sociocultural practice (macro). The corpus includes both English and Indonesian language content, reflecting the study's commitment to capturing local contexts.FindingsThe analysis reveals four identity typologies: (1) The Moral Bargainer, who simultaneously emphasizes economic and ethical value through thrift consumption; (2) The System Critic, who structurally challenges fast fashion and overconsumption as manifestations of exploitative capitalism; (3) The Reluctant Consumer, who expresses guilt and self-critique while still participating in consumption practices; and (4) The Curator-Advocate, who focuses on education, provides alternatives, and builds communities around ethical consumption. Each typology employs distinct discursive strategies, including lexical choices, multimodal framing, and intertextual references. The study further identifies four boundary markers that distinguish authentic advocacy from accusations of greenwashing, as constructed by audiences: material evidence, consistency, self-critique, and stakeholder orientation.Originality/valueThis research bridges critical discourse studies and marketing communication by demonstrating how brands and creators navigate the tension between supporting conscious consumption and avoiding accusations of co-optation. It offers a discursive framework for ethical brand activism in the digital age, highlighting that accusations of greenwashing are themselves discursive achievements constructed by consumers through multimodal analysis of communications.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2026.1840975</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2026.1840975</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Tension, torn, or truly stuck? Understanding tensions in multi-stakeholder recommender development at legacy media companies through paradox theory]]></title>
        <pubdate>2026-09-23T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Original Research</category>
        <author>Hanne Vandenbroucke</author><author>Pieter Van der Elst</author><author>Annelien Smets</author><author>Tim Raats</author>
        <description><![CDATA[IntroductionAs legacy media companies increasingly integrate recommender systems (RS) into their online content dissemination, they face the challenge of designing RS that reflect the divergent and often conflicting values of various organizational stakeholders. To date, research on multi-stakeholder RS development has remained largely descriptive with regard to such intra-organizational tensions. This paper addresses this gap by examining these tensions through paradox theory.MethodsFirst, we examine the applicability of paradox theory for studying value-sensitive RS design. Subsequently, we use this framework to analyze 20 in-depth interviews with organizational stakeholders, acknowledging the individual sensemaking through which media managers interpret, frame, and operationalize competing values.ResultsOur findings show the applicability of paradox theory as a useful framework for mapping tensions and reveal the underlying paradoxical dynamics at play, demonstrating that tensions are intertwined across multiple levels. Furthermore, our analysis shows that stakeholders may interpret tensions differently and that these varying frames directly shape how tensions are managed.DiscussionThis study contributes to the scholarship on value-sensitive RS design by providing conceptual clarity on intra-organizational tensions and how they are interrelated. Furthermore, the paper aligns theoretically prescribed resolve strategies with the solutions articulated by practitioners, offering both theoretical depth and practical insights into how these complex dynamics can be managed in multi-stakeholder settings.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2026.1907640</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2026.1907640</link>
        <title><![CDATA[A visual audit of diversity imagery across fortune 500 firms]]></title>
        <pubdate>2026-09-23T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Original Research</category>
        <author>John Fiset</author><author>Anika Nawar</author>
        <description><![CDATA[IntroductionOrganizations increasingly rely on visual communication to shape perceptions of organizational attractiveness, yet little is known about how corporate imagery functions as a diversity signal. Drawing on employer image theory and institutional perspectives on symbolic compliance, this study examines how Fortune 500 companies visually construct inclusivity through photographs displayed on their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) webpages.MethodsWe analyzed 387 images from 340 Fortune 500 firms for demographic representation, identity cues, and visual themes. Reverse image searches using Google Image Search and TinEye were used to distinguish original photographs from stock imagery and identify images used across organizations.ResultsCorporate imagery primarily featured adult, light-skinned, and female individuals. Twenty percent of all images were confirmed as stock photography, with approximately three percent identified as exact duplicates sourced from major commercial providers and used across different companies. Stock imagery appeared more frequently in depictions of workplace collaboration, whereas original employee photography was more common in celebrations and industry- or role-specific contexts. Industry differences also emerged, with Financials showing the greatest reliance on stock imagery and Energy, Retailing, and Utilities favoring original photography.DiscussionThe findings suggest that organizations may use corporate imagery not only to communicate workforce diversity but also to symbolically construct an inclusive employer image through prefabricated representations. This study contributes to research on employer branding, authenticity, and DEI by demonstrating how corporate visuals can operate simultaneously as instrumental and symbolic signals, while reliance on stock photography raises questions about the credibility of visual diversity claims in an era of increasing scrutiny.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2026.1897772</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2026.1897772</link>
        <title><![CDATA[The role of social media in shaping purchasing behavior among consumers in the Kingdom of Bahrain]]></title>
        <pubdate>2026-09-22T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Original Research</category>
        <author>Fatima Abdullah Al-Sahhaf</author><author>Sherif Badran</author>
        <description><![CDATA[Grounded in Uses and Gratifications Theory (UGT), the Stimulus–Organism–Response (S-O-R) Model, and the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM), this study examines how social media use is associated with purchasing behavior among Bahraini consumers across five decision-journey stages: Need Recognition, Information Search, Evaluation of Alternatives, Purchase Decision, and Post-Purchase Behavior. A cross-sectional survey was administered to 384 active social media users; data were analyzed with Pearson correlations, one-way ANOVA (Tukey HSD), and independent-samples t-tests (IBM SPSS v. 27; Cronbach's α = 0.87). Social media influence was strongest at Evaluation of Alternatives (M = 3.54, SD = 0.98; r = .487, p < .001) and weakest at Post-Purchase Behavior (M = 2.48; r = .241, p < .001), revealing a “silent consumption” asymmetry; all five stages were significant (H1 supported). Instagram dominated platform usage (53.3%; M = 4.21) as the primary cognitive-evaluative tool, while TikTok showed a disproportionate influence-to-usage ratio (M = 3.85, 17.5%) via shoppertainment mechanisms. One-Way ANOVA confirmed significant between-platform differences, F(5, 378) = 12.91, p < .001, η2 = .146 (H2 supported). No significant differences were found across gender (p = 0.963), age (p = 0.093), education (p = 0.708), or income (p = 0.328)—all with negligible-to-small effect sizes—consistent with a “demographic convergence” pattern that may plausibly be linked to algorithmic personalization, though the mechanism itself was not directly measured. Findings advance stage-differentiated consumer behavior theory and offer actionable implications for social commerce strategy, influencer policy, and GCC digital advertising regulation.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2026.1838492</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2026.1838492</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Women in directing and screenwriting: the capital allocation puzzle in commercial film]]></title>
        <pubdate>2026-09-22T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Original Research</category>
        <author>Anja G. Huwiler</author>
        <description><![CDATA[Women remain underrepresented as directors and screenwriters in commercial film, yet the financial logic of this pattern is unclear. This study examines gender disparities in creative authorship using IMDb data on 199,656 feature-length narrative films released worldwide between 1994 and 2023. Across the sample, 73.8% of films credited no women in either role. Participation increased gradually, with no sustained acceleration in its rate of growth following the #MeToo movement. Using a financial subset of 4,245 commercially documented, predominantly U.S. theatrical films with verified budget and revenue data, the analysis compares production budgets, profit, and return on investment across four mutually exclusive groups. Films with a woman screenwriter and no woman director showed 25% higher median ROI and 34% higher median profits than male-only productions despite comparable budgets, with the ROI gap widening to 33% within the top 10% of production budgets in exploratory tier-level comparisons. These differences are descriptive; in a genre-adjusted robustness check, the woman-writer ROI advantage attenuates but remains significant. Films with women in both directing and screenwriting roles matched male-only returns while operating on approximately half the budget. Representation contracted sharply at higher investment levels. Across thirty years, no film with a woman director or a woman in both roles appeared in the top 1% of production budgets. Audience ratings were comparable across groups and visibility differences largely disappeared within the highest-budget tiers. These findings constitute an economically puzzling disconnect in which observed return distributions do not straightforwardly account for the allocation of production capital.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2026.1977908</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2026.1977908</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Correction: Discursive polarization in the construction of contested statehood: positive self and negative other in the Kosovo–Serbia conflict]]></title>
        <pubdate>2026-09-21T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Correction</category>
        <author>Krenare Cerkini</author><author>Thora Tenbrink</author>
        <description></description>
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        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2026.1938976</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2026.1938976</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Temporal baselines alter cross-platform estimates of brand search attention during sporting events]]></title>
        <pubdate>2026-09-18T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Original Research</category>
        <author>Tianjun Zhang</author><author>Yongqi Miao</author><author>Yingjun Jiao</author>
        <description><![CDATA[Digital platforms provide increasingly accessible measures of brand attention, yet proprietary indices are normalized within platforms and may follow different temporal trajectories. This creates a methodological risk: the same sporting event may appear to favor different platforms depending on the temporal baseline and inferential specification. We examine monthly provincial brand-search indices for six sportswear brands across 31 provincial-level units in mainland China, 43 months, and two platforms, Baidu and Douyin, yielding 15,996 observations. The revised primary specification uses log(1 + index), retaining 29 zero-valued Baidu observations, with brand–province–platform and month fixed effects. In the full-sample model, the Paris Olympics × Douyin coefficient is 0.445 (two-way clustered p = .021), whereas the Basketball World Cup × Douyin coefficient is −0.326 (p = .254). The positive-only logarithmic specification produces virtually identical point estimates. However, alternative platform-time specifications materially change coefficient magnitudes and, in some cases, signs; local event-centered contrasts are opposite to the full-sample pattern. A brand-level robustness analysis shows that all six brands share the full-sample sign pattern, but this cross-sectional consistency does not eliminate temporal-baseline sensitivity. The data therefore do not establish a stable event-type or platform mechanism. Instead, they show that the full-sample pattern is robust to zero handling but that conclusions drawn from proprietary cross-platform attention indices depend materially on temporal specification and common-shock inference. For advertising and marketing communication research, transparent outcome construction, platform-specific temporal evidence, and dependence-aware uncertainty should be treated as core elements of event evaluation.]]></description>
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        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2026.1863039</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2026.1863039</link>
        <title><![CDATA[President Gustavo Petro’s calls for social mobilization as discursive risk: analyzing YouTube automatic transcripts]]></title>
        <pubdate>2026-09-18T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Original Research</category>
        <author>Joseph Livingston Crawford-Visbal</author><author>Fátima Martínez-Gutiérrez</author><author>Rolando Pérez-Vela</author>
        <description><![CDATA[This study analyzes the populist discursive strategies of Colombian President Gustavo Petro, specifically examining how calls for social mobilization issued from the state sphere pose a discursive risk to democratic resilience in Colombia. Using a mixed-methods approach with a qualitative emphasis, the corpus was constructed by web crawling 601 videos from the official presidency YouTube channel published between December 2023 and December 2024. Automatic transcripts were filtered using natural language processing (NLP) libraries and a locally executed Llama 3 model. Thirteen speeches (5.7 hours of video) containing calls for mobilization were selected for inductive discourse analysis covering four dimensions: direct/indirect speech, metaphors, political linkage, and level of populism. Findings show a recurrent deployment of polarizing rhetoric, frequent appeals to “the people” as a historical collective subject, the minimization of political parties, and strong personalization of leadership. Petro constructs a narrative of direct representation through charisma-based and media-driven linkage strategies, positioning the presidential figure as the central instigator of street protest against political and economic elites. The study reveals that Petro's populist repertoire reframes Colombian political debate by promoting an inherent confrontation between “the people” and “elites.” By framing formal institutions as obstacles to the popular will and encouraging street mobilization over institutional channels, this rhetoric introduces a discursive risk that may affect trust in democratic institutions and democratic resilience in Colombia.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2026.1913686</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2026.1913686</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Transcreation of Chinese heritage food labels for cross-cultural consumption: a multimodal and reception-oriented study]]></title>
        <pubdate>2026-09-18T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Original Research</category>
        <author>Ning Li</author>
        <description><![CDATA[Heritage foods crossing cultural and commercial boundaries carry more than ingredient and product information; their labels also mediate culturally situated meanings of taste, use, memory, and identity. This study investigates how English-facing labels for three Chinese heritage foods—liangcha (凉茶, herbal cooling tea), furu (腐乳, fermented tofu), and qingtuan (青团, a green glutinous-rice food associated with the Qingming season)—balance cultural specificity with communicative accessibility, and how prospective consumers interpret the resulting verbal-visual configurations. A corpus of 36 packaging samples representing 24 brands or source entities was analyzed multimodally and triangulated with semi-structured interviews involving 15 English-speaking adults in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Singapore. Transcreation is defined not as any nonliteral translation, but as high-intervention, audience-oriented reconfiguration across verbal, visual, sensory, and usage-related resources. Three recurrent configurations emerged: semantic preservation, cultural recontextualization, and symbolic substitution. Semantic preservation sustained source-culture visibility but often left unfamiliar participants uncertain about product type, sensory qualities, and use. Cultural recontextualization retained culturally specific terms while adding concise explanations, sensory descriptors, serving cues, or heritage framing; participant accounts recurrently linked this configuration with comprehensibility and trust. Symbolic substitution was described by some participants as immediately readable and aesthetically approachable, although other accounts indicated weaker cultural anchoring. Perceived authenticity was not inherent in Chinese names or motifs; rather, participants negotiated it through the interplay of explanation, visual design, prior familiarity, and imagined consumption. By grounding claims about label effectiveness in audience interpretation rather than design intention alone, the study develops a reception-oriented account of transcreation. The findings suggest that cultural specificity and accessibility need not be opposing goals when source-culture markers are supported by concrete, context-sensitive guidance. These conclusions remain exploratory and are limited to the three product categories and qualitative sample examined.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2026.1886606</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2026.1886606</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Navigating participatory gaps in digital cultural heritage through BASAibu Wiki—Sulsel engagement practices]]></title>
        <pubdate>2026-09-17T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Mini Review</category>
        <author>Erlin Marbella</author><author>Syamsuddin A.</author><author>Muliadi Mau</author>
        <description><![CDATA[Digital technologies have transformed the preservation and communication of cultural heritage by enabling broader access and new forms of community engagement. However, not all cultural platforms successfully foster meaningful participation. This article examines participatory gaps in BASAibu Wiki–Sulsel, a digital platform dedicated to preserving the Makassar language and South Sulawesi cultural knowledge. Using a conceptual mini-review approach, this study synthesizes literature on digital cultural heritage, participatory culture, the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), and dialogic communication theory. The synthesis indicates that, although BASAibu Wiki–Sulsel provides valuable educational resources, its communication structure presents limitations in facilitating active user participation. Empirical evidence from previous research further indicates challenges related to interface usability and collaborative features. Three interrelated dimensions are identified as potential barriers to participation: limited collaborative affordances, perceived usefulness and ease of use, and insufficient dialogic interaction. These barriers may reduce users’ motivation to contribute content, engage in discussion, and develop a sense of ownership of the platform. This study proposes an integrated conceptual framework explaining how participatory culture, technology acceptance, and dialogic communication interact in shaping user engagement. The findings highlight the importance of developing digital cultural heritage platforms that promote collaboration, reciprocity, usability, and community empowerment to support sustainable local language revitalization and cultural preservation.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2026.1857066</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2026.1857066</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Automated detection of mutual gaze in mobile eye-tracking studies of multi-party interactions]]></title>
        <pubdate>2026-09-17T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Original Research</category>
        <author>Danny Dirker</author><author>Anja Stukenbrock</author>
        <description><![CDATA[This article describes a data-processing pipeline for quantifying mutual gaze in mobile eye-tracking studies. Mutual gaze is defined as eye contact between participants who look at each other simultaneously. We applied the pipeline to data from dyadic and multi-party interactions (“quartets”). Using state-of-the-art computer vision tools for fiducial-marker tracking and face detection, the pipeline processes scene camera videos from TobiiPro eye-trackers to extract facial areas-of-interest (AOIs). Each participant's gaze samples are classified relative to visible co-participants, indicating when gaze is directed at another's face. By integrating multiple participants' high-resolution data streams, the pipeline identifies periods of unreciprocated (unilateral) gaze as well as mutual gaze. The output files contain time-stamped measures of gaze events and can be imported into the annotation tool ELAN for qualitative analysis. While processing is largely automated, some steps require validity checks by the researcher. To underpin our observations on the potential of the proposed pipeline for the automatic extraction of mutual gaze, we subsequently conduct an exploratory analysis on the participants' unilateral gaze and mutual gaze proportions in relation to the following factors: seating position, speaking proportion, age, gender, familiarity, and movement synchrony. The results show that speaking proportion, seating position, and familiarity were significantly associated with unilateral and mutual gaze proportion. By contrast, an association with age, gender, and movement synchrony measurements was not shown. The article concludes with a critical discussion of the limitations and strengths of the proposed pipeline. We highlight the opportunities and challenges of quantifying gaze patterns in complex multi-party settings with a specific interest on how existing qualitative and quantitative findings may be brought together for future studies.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2026.1913207</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2026.1913207</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Operationalising accessibility in marine pollution science communication: the Zeropol Hub case study]]></title>
        <pubdate>2026-09-16T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Original Research</category>
        <author>Kathrin Kopke</author><author>Sonya Agnew</author><author>Thomas Heising</author><author>Lisa I. Devriese</author><author>Nina Vaupotič</author><author>Thomas Maes</author><author>Rian Ruhl</author><author>Sabine Pahl</author><author>Andy M. Booth</author><author>Thomais Vlachogianni</author>
        <description><![CDATA[Marine pollution is a major environmental challenge, and effective communication of scientific evidence is important for supporting public engagement, environmental governance, and evidence-based decision-making. Yet marine pollution communication resources are often fragmented across platforms and vary in language, format, audience orientation, and accessibility. This implementation case study describes the development and early deployment of the Zeropol Hub, an accessibility-oriented digital repository designed to curate validated science communication and educational resources on microplastics, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), nutrient pollution, and underwater noise. We document the repository workflow for resource identification, screening, scientific validation, metadata classification, accessibility-oriented organisation, maintenance, and early monitoring. During the initial implementation period, the repository expanded from 71 to 103 resources, representing more than 20 languages and multiple communication formats. Web analytics provide descriptive indicators of early use and geographic reach, but do not measure user comprehension, inclusivity, discoverability, behavioural outcomes, or science-policy-society impact. The case study therefore demonstrates how accessibility principles can be operationalised as repository design and governance features, rather than demonstrating that these intended outcomes have already been achieved. The study offers a documented implementation approach that may inform development and evaluation of comparable environmental science communication infrastructures, while identifying user-centred and longitudinal evaluation as priorities for future research.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2026.1848139</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2026.1848139</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Toward an integrated framework of media dependency: a theoretical review of uses–dependency and new media dependency models]]></title>
        <pubdate>2026-09-16T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Review</category>
        <author>Safran Safar Almakaty</author><author>Mohammad Alquaary</author><author>Hossam Fayez</author>
        <description><![CDATA[This theoretical review brings together and explores the evolution and real-world applications of three key frameworks in media dependency theory: the classic Uses and Dependency Model, adaptations for Internet use, and the New Media Uses and Dependency Effect Model. Over the past fifty years, scholars have expanded dependency theory from its original focus on the effects of mass media in traditional broadcast systems to address the increasingly interactive, accessible, and habitual nature of digital media. The foundational model explains how media influence arises from purposeful dependency relationships that connect audiences, media, and society, with audience goals centering on understanding, guidance, and entertainment. As digital technology transformed the media landscape, newer models adapted these principles to capture the unique features of online platforms, such as interactivity, the breadth of information, and constant accessibility. These adaptations shifted attention from broad media systems to individual platforms and their specific qualities. Drawing on a transparent, systematically documented search of communication and interdisciplinary databases covering 1976 through 2026, the review synthesizes theoretical, empirical, and critical scholarship on media dependency and connects it to contemporary developments in platformization, algorithmic curation, recommender systems, AI-mediated communication, and platform governance. The latest model goes further by considering how routine media habits shape dependency, outlining pathways through which everyday use leads to changes in thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Throughout these developments, all three frameworks maintain a focus on how people rely on media to achieve their goals, while incorporating new factors like platform features, perceived usefulness, and habitual patterns to improve how we measure and test media effects today. Beyond synthesis, the review advances an original theoretical contribution: the Integrated Media Dependency Framework (IMDF), a multi-level conceptual model—presented in a figure and articulated through seven testable propositions—that unites the goal structure of the foundational model, the platform-level specificity of Internet adaptations, the habit-mediation logic of the New Media model, and a newly theorized algorithmic-agent layer capturing dependency on curation systems and generative AI. The framework is explicitly positioned relative to Communication Infrastructure Theory, Media Repertoire Theory, and Affordance Theory. Its distinct contribution is stated explicitly: an adaptive algorithmic-agent stratum of dependency targets, a recursive behavioral–algorithmic feedback loop, a reconceptualization of dependency as jointly constituted by intensity and repertoire distribution, and the treatment of platform governance as a testable macro-level moderator. This review also highlights challenges in current research, identifies contradictory findings and unresolved debates, suggests areas for future study, and discusses how these models can be integrated with other communication theories to better understand media's role in the digital age.]]></description>
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