advocate
An advocate is a person who publicly supports or recommends a particular cause or policy.
agenda
Agenda setting describes the news media’s impact on influencing what audiences think about. In other words, news organizations have the ability to influence what information, or topics, hold priority and importance on the public’s agenda and within consumers’ minds.
alien
An alien in this case is a foreigner, especially one who is not a naturalized citizen of the country where they are living.
ambivalent
Being ambivalent means one has mixed feelings or contradictory ideas about something or someone.
anti-democracy
The anti-democracy movement is an opposing and potentially hostile movement that challenges the theories or policies of democracy. The goal is to halt or overturn democratic elections and instate a totalitarian government.
anti-vaxxer
An anti-vaxxer is a person who is opposed to vaccination. This movement has been around since 1796 when the first vaccine for smallpox was introduced but recently resurfaced with the COVID-19 pandemic.
bad actors
A bad actor is an online account or presence that engages in inappropriate actions online like spreading misinformation or causing confrontations. Some examples of bad actors include trolls and social media bots.
campaign
In media and marketing departments, a campaign refers to a prepared project executed through a particular medium with a designated purpose or messaging.
centrist
Centrists are people that hold moderate political views. This means that they do not advocate solely for left or right ideals and the movement hopes to balance the political spectrum.
column
In the journalism industry, a column is a regular feature in a newspaper where a columnist writes about timely topics, expressing their opinion for audiences.
consciousness-raising
Consciousness-raising is the activity of seeking to make people more aware of social or political issues. An example would be talking about a cause to bring it into the social sphere.
critical race theory
Critical race theory (CRT) is a cross-disciplinary examination of how laws, social and political are shaped by the concepts of race and ethnicity.
cynicism
Cynicism is the belief that people are only motivated by self-interest. An example of cynicism would be believing that the people you work with are horrible people that just want to take your position.
delineation
Delineation is the act of indicating the exact position of a border or boundary.
democracy
Democracy is a form of government in which people have a voice in the deliberation about political decisions. In some democratic settings, constituents choose legislative representatives to vocalize the groups’ viewpoints during political deliberations.
demographic
A demographic is a particular division or subset of a population categorized by particular factors related to the identify of an individual. These include age, sex, education, nationality, ethnicity, or religion.
disinformation
Disinformation is false information intended to mislead or deceive. For instance, government-based propaganda would be an example of disinformation because the entity that created the content desired to mislead recipients of that messaging.
fatalism
Fatalism is the belief that all events are predetermined or inevitable. An example of fatalism is Romeo and Juliet, it was predetermined they would meet and die because of their meeting.
headline
A headline is the title given to a journalistic article that briefly and succinctly summarizes its contents. The role of the headline is to entice audiences to consume the media content further.
impunity
Impunity is freedom from punishment, harm, or loss.
intersectionality
Intersectionality is the overlapping nature of social categorizations such as race, class, and gender as they apply to a given individual or group.
marquee
A marquee is an overarching idea. An example of this would be the marquee of the News Literary Initiative is to educate people on news media and public interest journalism, and how to understand how this impacts democracy
meaning-making
Meaning-making is the process a person goes through to understand a new life event or topic
national news
National news refers to coverage that takes a broader perspective focusing on national-level events compared to local-level/community stories. These stories garner widespread interest and pertain to a larger portion of the community. While local news stories may cover issues like the community school board meeting or a high school baseball tournament, national stories typically relate to larger issues like national politics or immigration.
neutrality
Neutrality is the state of not supporting any side, presenting facts without judgement or options.
pro-democracy
Pro-democracy movement employs political activism directed towards values such as the rule of law, human rights, civil liberties, and social justice, though their economic positions vary.
progressive
Progressive describes a political viewpoint that desires improvement to equality, positively advancing human conditions within society. When used as a noun, a progressive is a person who advocates or implements social reform or new liberal ideas. People who agree with progressive ideas tend to support social and economic reform that promotes increased equality.
radical
When used as a noun, a radical is a person who advocates or implements an extreme form of political or social change.
reporting
Reporting refers to the activity of gathering news (via interviews with sources, observations, and research). Journalists engaging in reporting in order to obtain facts and quotes about timely news.
stimuli
Stimuli are things or events that sparks a reaction. For examples, unexpected fires (e.g., house fire, car fire) may be stimuli that cause other events/reactions to occur.
taxonomy
Taxonomy is the act of classification. An example of taxonomy would be classifying smells as good or bad.
Trumpism
Trumpism is a political movement and set of mechanisms for acquiring and keeping control of power associated with Donald Trump and his political base.
truth
A prominent principle of journalism is truth, referring to the veracity or truthfulness of content.
vibes
Vibes describe a person's emotional state or the atmosphere of a place as communicated to and felt by others.
white privilege
White privilege is the societal privilege that benefits white people over non-white people in some societies. An example of White privilege would be being able to see one’s culture in school materials or mass media.