When the Russian forces initiated a shelling aimed at Europe's biggest nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia in March 2022, everyone seemed to be paying close attention. Experts were invited to speak...Show moreWhen the Russian forces initiated a shelling aimed at Europe's biggest nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia in March 2022, everyone seemed to be paying close attention. Experts were invited to speak during news and interviewed for numerous news articles. This paper tests four Science Communication models on expert interviews about the Russian attack on the nuclear power plant to find out which models experts most frequently use. The four models were tested at the hand of six communication themes, which resulted in 26 six distinct codes. The performed content analysis shows a preference for the Deficit Model and the Networked Model of Science Communication. Nevertheless, this paper concludes that strictly adhering to one Science Communication model may not always be effective communication. A suggestion is made to reflect on the models critically and to use the best practices from any model for the appropriate situation.Show less
Throughout the past decades, nuclear accidents have had a significant impact on the debate surrounding nuclear energy, causing public concern about the safety and reliability of utilising nuclear...Show moreThroughout the past decades, nuclear accidents have had a significant impact on the debate surrounding nuclear energy, causing public concern about the safety and reliability of utilising nuclear energy. In the last year, public concern has been fueled up again because of the Russian bombing and occupation of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, Zaporizhzhia in Ukraine. This study seeks to investigate to what extent the media is framing nuclear energy, by especially looking at articles since the events at Zaporizhzhia. The media present various narratives regarding social concerns and debates, such as nuclear energy, and can affect public opinion by the selection of topics, frames and sources that the media uses. The main purpose of this research is to explore the presence of framing of nuclear energy in British and Irish mainstream newspapers. The study will focus on how nuclear energy is represented in news articles in a sample of mainstream news media outlets in both the United Kingdom (UK) and Ireland. Fifteen articles from four different newspapers and with different political stances were collected and coded for analysis using a comparative content analysis and a risk-benefit coding scheme. The coding scheme was both based on an existing set of codes from previous research and existing theories, as well as newly generated codes. The results from this analysis demonstrated that British media tends to be overall supportive of nuclear energy, even after the events at Zaporizhzhia. In comparison, analysis revealed that the Irish media tends to be unsupportive and critical of nuclear energy and that Zaporizhzhia has negatively impacted the risk frames used by Irish media. Depending on the nation’s history with nuclear energy, and the government’s stance towards nuclear energy, the narrative of the newspapers were either positive or negative.Show less
This bachelor's thesis will assess the effect of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, starting in February 2022, on coverage by Dutch news outlets on the use of nuclear energy. The Russian invasion led...Show moreThis bachelor's thesis will assess the effect of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, starting in February 2022, on coverage by Dutch news outlets on the use of nuclear energy. The Russian invasion led to a significant energy crisis in Europe, heightened radioactivity at the Chernobyl power plant, and ongoing fighting at the Zaporizhzhia power plant, which caused an increased risk of a nuclear disaster. The coverage of nuclear energy in Dutch news outlets will be analyzed with the use of thematic analysis. Articles written before the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine will be compared with articles written during the war. The thematic analysis shows that the four most prominent themes in Dutch newspapers regarding the use of nuclear energy are safety/security consequences, environmental consequences, specific events, and economic consequences. Further analysis shows that the themes themselves have not significantly changed over the course of the war in Ukraine, but the way these themes are discussed shows a shift towards a more positive outlook on the use of nuclear energy in the Netherlands, despite the increased risk of a nuclear disaster in Ukraine.Show less
This thesis examines the nuclear debate after the Russian occupation of the nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia. The focus is on how liberal and conservative media outlets in the United States...Show moreThis thesis examines the nuclear debate after the Russian occupation of the nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia. The focus is on how liberal and conservative media outlets in the United States frame their perspectives on nuclear energy. The similarities and differences between liberal and conservative news outlets are analyzed using content analysis with a mixed methods approach. The secondary data collection of news articles is done through Global Factiva and analyzed through the program ATLAS.ti. There are four news agencies central to this research. The liberal news outlets are CNN and The New York Times, while the conservative news outlets are The Wall Street Journal and Fox News. The main difference between the liberal and conservative news outlets is that the liberals have more distrust in nuclear energy than the conservatives. Liberal news outlets often frame distrust in nuclear energy with uncertainty and urgency and frequently reference organizations, political leaders, and political figures. Contrarily, conservative news outlets frame support for nuclear energy with reassurance and primarily reference individuals. Lastly, Fox News and The Wall Street Journal report more on the decision-making to sabotage Russia than CNN and The New York Times. Understanding how liberal and conservative news agencies frame their perspective on nuclear energy in the United States is critical for the audience in order to become aware of bias that is present in news articles.Show less
As the digital landscape broadens, data breaches are becoming more common threats to organizations. When an organization identifies that it has become the victim of such an attack, it is obligated...Show moreAs the digital landscape broadens, data breaches are becoming more common threats to organizations. When an organization identifies that it has become the victim of such an attack, it is obligated by law to share this information with its stakeholders whose information might be stolen. These publications are called apology statements and previous research has identified elements that stakeholders value in these apologies. To gain a broader understanding of the effects these elements have on the reputation of an organization, this study has conducted a content analysis by analyzing statements and comparing the frequency of referenced codes to the market value of these organizations. The research has found that organizations use a combination of the elements and strategies to structure their apologies and that certain of these elements and strategies seem to have a better effect on the market value than others. Further research could increase the sample size as well as use a better foundation for the quantitative component of this analysis.Show less
Abstract Ransomware attacks belong to a group of cyberthreats that are becoming more commonand more sophisticated in the contemporary digital landscape. Higher education institutions are among the...Show moreAbstract Ransomware attacks belong to a group of cyberthreats that are becoming more commonand more sophisticated in the contemporary digital landscape. Higher education institutions are among the targets in considerable amounts and therefore face severe reputational losses. To mitigate this loss of reputational capital, post-crisis external communication addresses the situation using several crisis response strategies. Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT) explains how reputational loss is connected to the amount of responsibility that an organization’s stakeholders attributetowardit.SCCTcategorizestheamountofresponsibility that an organization has in crisis type clusters, which are connected to certain image repair strategies. Combining these two can lead to an optimized mitigation of reputational loss. However, literature has shown that data breaches, among which ransomware attacks are categorized, carry ambiguous amounts of responsibility. Therefore, this research aims to discover what image repair strategies are used by higher education institutions in their post-crisis external communication and whatthisimpliesabouthowmuchresponsibilitythey recognize after a ransomware attack. By using a content analysis, it analyzes the usedimage repair strategies and whattheyimplyabouttheamountofresponsibilitythathighereducation institutions sense after a ransomware attack. This study’s implications show that higher education institutions recognize little to no responsibility in the case ofaransomwareattack. As it remains unclear how much responsibility stakeholders attribute towards universities in the case of aransomwareattack,itisadvisedthatuniversitiesassessthisamountbeforeusing certain image repair strategies to achieve the optimal mitigation of reputational loss.Show less
Ransomware attacks are increasing by the year, and organisations widely remain to pay a ransom. Ransom payments are a complex issue as paying a ransom supports criminal activities, yet by not...Show moreRansomware attacks are increasing by the year, and organisations widely remain to pay a ransom. Ransom payments are a complex issue as paying a ransom supports criminal activities, yet by not paying, one risks their organization's continuity. Organisations can legitimize a ransom payment in many different ways, for example, through rationality, by arguing if a ransom was not paid, important data would have been lost (Reyes, 2011; Vaara & Tienari, 2008). Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine how organisations legitimize ransom payments. Accordingly, a discourse analysis examined statements of large organisations that paid a ransom after a ransomware attack. The findings report that ransom payments are often legitimized with rationality and altruism & morality strategies (Reyes, 2011; Vaara & Tienari, 2008). A new legitimization strategy was also found; legitimization through the expertise of an adversary. Whilst Reyes (2011) and Vaara and Tienari (2008) found many legitimization strategies, organisations legitimizing a ransom payment only seem to use a few. This study also shows that large organisations remain vulnerable to ransomware attacks, and that these types of cyberattacks can have a widespread impact. Therefore, besides the legitimization of ransom payments, another main take away of this study is that cybersecurity needs to be prioritized by organisations and society as a whole.Show less
To tackle transboundary crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the EU seeks effective coordination between its Member States. However, the COVID-19 crisis response in the EU proved uncoordinated...Show moreTo tackle transboundary crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the EU seeks effective coordination between its Member States. However, the COVID-19 crisis response in the EU proved uncoordinated and inconsistent. The EU lacks regulatory power to oblige states to act. It is therefore dependent on the states' willingness to cooperate. This cooperation is essential as the EU exists for similar cross border challenges. Both effective crisis response and EU relevance depend on efficient coordination in the EU. Successful securitisation of a phenomenon can increase the cooperation of Member States. Thus, this study investigates how the EU framed COVID-19 as a threat to the EU Member States. Specifically, this study analyses to what extent the EU securitised COVID-19 until 15 April 2020. Securitisation is a theoretical framework developed by the Copenhagen School to explore how political matters become security issues through the use of security language. Discourse analysis, a qualitative research approach, allowed for exploring the securitisation of COVID-19 in speeches and statements by the European Commission. Coding the documents provided a systematic overview of the methods employed to frame COVID-19 as an external threat to the EU. The results demonstrate three main approaches utilised to convey the threat: a) linguistically implying unification before framing COVID-19 as an external threat to the union; b) indicating seriousness and urgency through vocabulary choices; and c) stressing the importance less directly through extensive use of idioms. In conclusion, the EU securitised COVID-19 to a large and varied extent. The question remains whether the securitising moves were adequate, as the EU crisis response proved uncoordinatedShow less
The current COVID-19 pandemic has grown to be one of the worst pandemics ever faced. In order to fight this virus, measures have been adopted that restrict personal freedom. It is therefore of...Show moreThe current COVID-19 pandemic has grown to be one of the worst pandemics ever faced. In order to fight this virus, measures have been adopted that restrict personal freedom. It is therefore of great importance to acknowledge the human rights costs of all the measures imposed to tackle COVID-19. The purpose of this study is to examine to what extent human rights were violated, with specific attention to freedom from discrimination, freedom of information, freedom of movement and freedom from arbitrary arrest and detention during the current pandemic. To fulfill the aim, a qualitative content analysis was applied, which analyzed five speeches by Western countries and five speeches by Asian countries. Differences and similarities were examined and subsequently the impact on human rights was analyzed. Six main themes emerged: mitigation, collaborative behavior, support, speech, treatment and justification. The key findings of this study are that human rights were evidently violated during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, none of the analyzed speeches attempts to justify its measures in relation with human rights. Additionally, only a few speeches openly state from where their information originates. This is problematic and simultaneously open for improvement.Show less
