Lindita Camaj

University of Houston | U of H, UH · The Jack J. Valenti School of School of Communication

Most protest paradigm studies examining news media's portrayals of protesters are based on an assumption that the way the paradigm operates within the U.S. media system is similar around the globe. To overcome these weaknesses, this content analysis (n = 1200) of protest-related news coverage in two Balkan and two Central American countries examine...

This study applies a typology of public data transparency infrastructure and the contextualism framework for analysing journalism practice to examine patterns in data journalism production. The goal was to identify differences in approaches to acquiring and reporting on data around the world based on comparisons of public data transparency infrastr...

This study combined an online survey with data journalists from 62 countries with content analysis of Global Editors Network Data Journalism Awards entries to explore and compare normative role conceptions and narrated role performance of these specialized type of news workers. The results reveal that political and audience-centric professional rol...

This study surveyed data journalists from 71 countries to compare how public transparency infrastructure influences data journalism practices around the world. Emphasizing cross-national differences in data access, results suggest that technical and economic inequalities that affect the implementation of the open data infrastructures can produce un...

Nonprofit digital new organizations, which are proliferating all over the world, are praised for their innovations in audience-focused interventions in journalism. Drawing on direct observation and in-depth interviews, this case study explores audience engagement practices within nonprofit newsrooms in South-East Europe, in order to elaborate on th...

This study examines media coverage of the 2019 anti-government protests in Montenegro. Based on 13 in-depth interviews and a quantitative content analysis, the data shed light on ways in which democratization struggles are manifested via protest framing in a polarized media system. This paper argues that media clientelism, as manifested through pol...

As broadcast news organizations partner with social media to generate real time reactions to live political debates, this article explores how this trend impacts discussions among their Facebook page users. Data from the 2016 U.S. elections suggest that real-time conversations on broadcasters’ Facebook pages in response to televised political debat...

Literature suggests that while without doubt people engage in selective exposure to information, this does not entail that they also engage in selective avoidance of opinion-challenging information . However, cross-cutting exposure does not always lead to dispassionate deliberation. In this commentary I explore psychological conditions as they appl...

This study explores how agenda-setting theory works in a fragmented media environment while examining psychological motivations that drive selective exposure and information processing in an electoral context. The data suggest that regardless of motivational goals, people with a moderate active need for orientation (NFO) spent more time engaged in...

This study investigates the impact of dual-screening on audiences’ perceptions of presidential candidates during the 2016 electoral campaign. The results suggest that dual-screening can exert a significant moderation role, weakening the direct effects of the televised debates on candidate perceptions. The results also imply that the role of dual-sc...

Media consumers often lack the motivation, time, or cognitive capacity to select content in a deliberate way; instead, they opt for mental shortcuts. Brands are important in this regard because they simplify decision making. In the present study we investigated whether attitudes toward news media brands predict news choice. It is important that we...

This article explores the relationship between journalists and civil society actors in promoting the Freedom of Information right in Bulgaria. It emphasizes the importance of civil society as influential actors in the media agenda-building process and presents a new approach to conceptualizing the journalist/non-governmental organization relationsh...

This comparative study examines the power relationship between journalists and political elites in South-Eastern Europe, emphasizing the clientelistic ties under which these interactions take place. It is based on 60 in-depth interviews with journalists from Albania, Kosovo and Montenegro. The results suggest that the journalist–politician relation...

Strong arguments are made that freedom of information (FOI) laws can be particularly beneficial in young democracies while providing an important tool that safeguards basic rights. Despite the drastic increase of the number and quality of FOI laws adopted during the last few decades, press freedom around the world has fallen to its lowest level in...

This study examines the potential of Facebook to provide a channel of political deliberation during electoral campaigns. Through a comparative content analysis of user-generated political commentary on candidates’ Facebook pages during the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections, it explores the technical role of moderators and moderators’ political i...

This study tests the normative assumptions on the empowerment effects of freedom of information (FOI) legislation on the press–government relationship in the context of new democracies. In-depth interviews with journalists in Albania, Kosovo, and Montenegro imply that FOI laws can facilitate access to some previously unavailable official informatio...

This study expands the consequences of agenda-setting theory beyond political attitudes, arguing its significance as a mediator between media use and political participation. The results suggest that citizens learn from the media about the efficacy and integrity of political institutions, and their performance on key issues. Consequently, the infor...

This study explores the ability of an interaction between need for orientation (NFO) and selective exposure to explain citizen's motivations to seek information from specific media sources and the consequences of this behavior for attribute agenda-setting effects. It draws important conceptual distinctions between the two moderate NFO categories, d...

Even though the consequences of media use for political trust are a saturated target of research, empirical studies that examine media content are limited to the effects of negative news and strategic framing on Western audiences. This study explores how agenda-setting effects on institutional attributes and performance prime citizens' trust in pol...

This study measures the relationship between media freedom and corruption, accounting for elements of vertical accountability (electoral competitiveness, civil society, and voter turnout) and horizontal accountability (judicial independence and political system). Results suggest a strong association between media freedom and corruption that runs fr...

This study analyzes the relationships between need for orientation (NFO), frequency of media exposure, attention to media coverage of the 2008 U. S. presidential election, and second-level agenda-setting effects. Results suggest that NFO was a better predictor of media attention than sheer frequency of media use, and that media attention was a bett...

This study investigates the persistence of news frames cross-nationally and over time by analyzing the international news agencies’ coverage of Kosovo’s status negotiations over a period of two years. The results suggest a congruency in international news agencies reporting, who mainly employ the ‘episodic frame’ and emphasize the ‘conflict’ nature...

The aim of this study is to analyze the impact of the international factors on the implementation of the Freedom of Information (FOI) legislation in Kosovo and to explore how this legislation affects media access to information in this transitional society. The case of Kosovo suggests that the influence of the international community is greater dur...

/ Through the technique of meta-analysis, this study investigates the scholarly articles appearing in peer-reviewed online and offline journals that address the topic of communication and development from 1998 to 2007 to determine publication trends in the field. The research was prompted by the sense that development was moving off the research ag...