Academic Discipline: Geography
Course Name: Geography
Assignment Subject: Mitigating against climate change
Academic Level: Undergraduate-1st Year
Referencing Style: Harvard
Word Count: 2,119

Climate change is a man-made phenomenon that threatens the survival of local and global ecosystems. According to the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP), “the global average temperature in 2019 was 1.1 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial period”, which has affected the planet through higher levels of GHG emissions, and the increased magnitude and frequency of extreme weather events. The international community has pioneered a range of climate change mitigation agendas, which stress the importance of a multi-stakeholder approach that involves governments, corporations, households and individuals alike. The purpose of this expository research is to explore some of the climate change mitigation strategies that can be used at the governmental level, identify their relative advantages and disadvantages and evaluate which strategy is optimal for governments. It will be argued that the adherence to international climate change agendas and the imposition of a carbon tax are the most effective mitigation measures.

Climate Change Mitigation Strategies
Governments are among the leading stakeholders who can facilitate climate change mitigation, primarily because they have the political legitimacy and authority to implement policies that can constrain the behaviour of other social actors- such as corporations, households and individuals. The first broad climate change mitigation approach is the imposition of a carbon-tax, which charges consumers for fossil fuel consumption. The carbon tax system has been empirically used in developed and developing countries alike, including in countries such as Canada, Japan, Mexico and South Africa (Lai 2021).

The first advantage of a carbon-tax system is that it is a demand side policy that seeks to address climate change by reducing the level of demand for fossil fuels. Imposing a tax on fossil fuel users therefore acts as a disincentive that can be applied across all consumer categories (Ionescu 2019). The second advantage of a carbon tax system is that it can be uniformly applied to all consumers, intimating that its standardization potential increases the scope of application (Kutasi and Perger 2015). The third advantage of a carbon-tax system is that it encourages users to adopt alternative energy forms, in order to curtail the cost associated with fossil fuel consumption. This implies that the carbon tax system can spur innovation insofar as creating an incentive for users to find alternative, renewable forms of energy for their daily needs (Ionescu 2019).

Notwithstanding the advantages associated with carbon-tax, it is also fraught with challenges that may undermine its viability to drive climate change mitigation at the global level. First, the carbon tax is perceived as a regressive tax, in that it imposes the highest burden on low-income earners (Osman et al. 2021). That is, since fossil fuels become more expensive, low-income households that lack alternative sources of energy will need to spend a higher proportion of their disposable income on the tax, such that they will be worse off than their more affluent social counterparts. Second, the carbon tax does not adequately capture the environmental cost of pollution in both the immediate and the long term. The implication is that governments may be uncertain about the accurate tax rate, leading to a scenario where the tax may be too low or too high- both of which would negatively affect climate change mitigation (Whithey et al. 2022). Third, the carbon tax system creates an incentive for tax evasion, such that wealthy individuals, households or corporations may decide to offshore carbon production to developing economies with less stringent carbon tax measures. The implication is that countries may fail to uniformly apply the carbon tax- thereby undermining the global climate change mitigation agenda.

The second broad strategy that has been used to combat climate change is the cap-and-trade policy. The system essentially provides polluters with a carbon or emissions quota, which they are legally bound to operate within. In instances where a polluter has emissions remaining on their quota, they are free to sell their quota to a third party who may have exhausted theirs (Rabe 2016). The cap-and-trade system is arguably preferred to the carbon tax system, primarily because it provides a degree of autonomy to users. The first advantage of the cap-and-trade system is that carbon consumers can meet their production needs while simultaneously adhering to the expected levels of emissions. In other words, corporations can maintain their production levels, and keep emissions below or at the legally mandated levels (Rabe 2016). The second advantage is that the system provides flexibility for carbon consumers, which presents a sharp contrast to the tax regime which has a higher level of constriction among users. Third, the cap-and-trade system is beneficial because it provides a valuable revenue stream for governments, which can then redirect the financial resources towards other climate change mitigation projects (Liu and Li 2017).

Despite the range of benefits associated with the cap-and-trade system, the climate change mitigation approach also has limitations that warrant consideration. First, the system is arguably biased towards corporations and social actors with high revenues, as these actors can emit beyond their respective quotas by purchasing carbon credits from users who have lower total emissions. Second and relatedly, the system is disadvantageous for smaller actors who may lack the necessary financial liquidity to purchase additional credits to meet their own production quotas. Third, the system can be problematic in that it does not necessarily encourage the development of alternative energy resources, as corporations would still be permitted to emit greenhouse gasses (Zhang et al. 2021). The implication is that this approach is not a viable long-term solution to eliminate carbon dependency within the economy, as it simply confers a price to emissions. Finally, the cap-and-trade system can be problematic insofar as increasing the price of fossil fuels (Liu and Li 2017). The implication is that corporations may face higher operational costs in the medium to long term, which can negatively affect production and performance at the aggregate level.

The third broad strategy that can be used by governments to mitigate against climate change is creating incentives for social actors to switch towards renewable forms of energy. For instance, governments can provide funding for renewable energy research and development (R&D); impose import restrictions on fossil fuels and provide tax cuts among other incentives for corporations that are developing renewable energy (Michaelowa 2004). The first benefit of an incentive system is that it reduces the level of carbon dependency within the economy, thereby presenting a viable long-term avenue to mitigate against climate change (Dale et al. 2020). The second benefit of an incentive system is that it fosters competition among the different actors, thereby creating multiple solutions that can thereafter be tailored to meet the specific needs of energy consumers and producers. The main disadvantage of an incentive system is that it does not necessarily affect the current levels of GHG emissions and fossil fuel dependency, such that consumers may continue relying on fossil fuels while developing renewable energy alternatives. Another potential limitation of the approach is that it has high utility for industrialized and affluent countries, whose governments possess the necessary financial resources to provide adequate incentives for renewable energy. In other words, the approach may have limited utility for developing countries, thereby contravening the ability to achieve sustainable development objectives at the global level (Sforna 2019).

The fourth climate change mitigation approach that governments can use is the development of sustainable development goals, which provide a framework for social actors. The international community has made substantial progress in this regard, through the establishment of sustainable development goals (SDGs). The first advantage of an international SDG framework is that it is tailored to the needs and realities of each country, such that the SDGs that are applicable to industrialized economies are not necessarily mirrored by the goals applicable to developed economies (Sachs 2012). This is beneficial because it enables each country to set its own climate change mitigation agenda, based on a thorough understanding of its internal strengths, capabilities, resource endowments, and constraints. The second advantage of the SDGs approach is that the goals are often measurable and tangible, which increases the ease of tracing progress made in achieving the identified goals (Sachs 2012). The third advantage of the approach is that it is a comprehensive framework for combating climate change, as the attainment of SDGs necessarily requires cooperation and collaboration from a range of stakeholders in the country. For instance, in order to achieve the SDG of providing potable water to local communities, the stakeholders that can contribute to this objective include corporations, nongovernmental organizations, local communities, households and individuals. Finally, the SGD approach is beneficial because it aligns environmental responsibility with a range of social and human development indicators, thereby highlighting the relationship between environmental, human and economic development indicators (Pandey 2017).

The SDGs have been lauded as one of the most important international agreements of the contemporary context. However, to date, no country has yet achieved all the stipulated objectives. Therefore, the first limitation of this approach is that it can be perceived as overly ambitious, which negates the validity of the approach in meeting sustainable development objectives (Sachs 2012). The second limitation is that most SDGs highlight structural problems that are faced by local economies yet lack any structural level solution that can be leveraged to achieve the objectives. For instance, one of the SGDs is the elimination of poverty and hunger. The complexity of poverty in any context highlights the importance of structural level factors, for instance social determinants of health, institutional processes of discrimination, and the marginalization of vulnerable populations. Against this backdrop, the SDGs still lack structural level solutions, for instance in terms of policies that can be adopted to improve the global capitalist system and consider the needs of vulnerable populations in the Global South.

Analysis
The focus of this analysis has been on evaluating climate change mitigation strategies, specifically those that can be implemented by governments. The research has identified four broad strategies that can be used- namely the imposition of a carbon tax; the introduction of a cap-and-trade system; the creation of incentives to improve adoption of renewable energy alternatives; and adhering to international climate change mitigation accords such as the SDGs. Each of the identified strategies is associated with both advantages and disadvantages. The purpose of this section is to evaluate which of the alternatives is the best approach for government agencies, based on the discussion conducted in the previous sections.

The objectives of a viable and comprehensive climate change mitigation approach should encompass both the reduction of current levels of emissions, as well as fostering higher adoption rates for renewable energy alternatives. Based on this assertion, the inferiority of climate change mitigation solutions is the cap-and-trade system. This is because the approach not only permits carbon emissions (thereby failing to reduce the actual level of emissions) and lacks any direct orientation towards the promotion of renewable energy resources (Liu and Li 2017). An equally inferior approach is the incentive approach, as this is considered a medium to long term plan that fails to address current levels of GHG emissions, albeit while fostering innovation and development of alternative renewable energy resources.

The adherence to international frameworks such as the SDGs is laudable because it provides each country with a unique set of objectives that can be used to address the climate change concern (Sachs 2012). Moreover, the approach is also laudable because of its multi-stakeholder orientation, as that facilitates a thorough implementation that involves a broad base of social actors. The carbon tax system is widely unpopular especially among economists and political commentators, but has notable benefits that highlight its potential as a climate change mitigation tool. Specifically, the carbon tax system is beneficial because it punishes fossil fuel consumption in the immediate term, while creating a disincentive that can propel social actors to divert towards renewable forms of energy. The implication is that governments should be more invested in climate change mitigation approaches that are consistent with international goals; have the capacity to reduce fossil fuel dependency in the immediate term, while creating an incentive for the widespread adoption of renewable forms of energy.

Conclusion
In conclusion, the purpose of this analysis was to consider the range of climate change mitigation tools that are typically used by governments across the globe. The intent was to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of each approach, prior to offering a recommendation for the best approach that governments can use. It was argued that governments should rely on measures that are consistent with international goals; have the capacity to reduce fossil fuel dependency in the immediate term, while creating an incentive for the widespread adoption of renewable forms of energy. This in turn highlights the carbon tax and SDGs as the most appropriate and comprehensive approach to climate change mitigation.

Reference List:

Dale, A., Robinson, J., King, L., Burch, S., Newell, R., Shaw, A. & Jost, F. 2020, “Meeting the climate change challenge: local government climate action in British Columbia, Canada”, Climate Policy, vol. 20, no. 7, pp. 866-880.

Ionescu, L. 2019, “Climate Policies, Carbon Pricing, and Pollution Tax: Do Carbon Taxes Really Lead to a Reduction in Emissions?”, Geopolitics, History and International Relations, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 92-97.

Kutasi, G. & Perger, J. 2015, “Tax incentives applied against externalities: International examples of fat tax and carbon tax”, Society and Economy, vol. 37, pp. 117-135.

Lai, O. 2021, “What Countries Have A Carbon Tax?”. Retrieved May 10 2022 from https://earth.org/what-countries-have-a-carbon-tax/

Liu, H. & Li, Z. 2017, “Carbon Cap-and-Trade in China: A Comprehensive Framework”, Emerging Markets, Finance & Trade, vol. 53, no. 5, pp. 1152-1169.

Michaelowa, A. 2004, “Firms, Governments and Climate Policy: Incentive-Based Policies for Long-Term Climate Change”, International Affairs, vol. 80, no. 2, pp. 382-384.

Osman, M., Schwartz, P. & Wodak, S. 2021, “Sustainable consumption: What works best, carbon taxes, subsidies and/or nudges?”, Basic and Applied Social Psychology, vol. 43, no. 3, pp. 169-194.

Pandey, S. 2017, “The Road From Millennium Development Goals to Sustainable Development Goals by 2030: Social Work’s Role in Empowering Women and Girls”, Affilia, vol. 32, no. 2, pp. 125-132.

Rabe, B.G. 2016, “The Durability of Carbon Cap-and-Trade Policy”, Governance, vol. 29, no. 1, pp. 103-119.

Sachs, J.D. 2012, “From millennium development goals to sustainable development goals”, The Lancet, vol. 379, no. 9832, pp. 2206-2211.

Sforna, G. (2019). Climate change and developing countries: From background actors to protagonists of climate negotiations. International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, 19(3), 273-295.

United Nations Energy Program. N.d. “Facts About the Climate Emergency”, Retrieved May 10 2022 from https://www.unep.org/explore-topics/climate-action/facts-about- climate-emergency

Withey, P., Sharma, C., Lantz, V., McMonagle, G. & Ochuodho, T.O. 2022, “Economy-wide and CO2 impacts of carbon taxes and output-based pricing in New Brunswick, Canada”, Applied Economics, vol. 54, no. 26, pp. 2998-3015.

Zhang, G., Zhao, L., Zhang, Q. & Zhang, Z. 2021, “Effects of Socially Responsible Behaviors in a Supply Chain under Carbon Cap-and-Trade Regulation”, Discrete Dynamics in Nature and Society, vol. 2021, pp.1-18.

Academic Discipline: Nursing
Assignment Subject: Stress management strategies for nurses
Academic Level: Undergraduate-2nd Year
Referencing Style: MLA
Word Count: 2,055

The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated the physical strain and peril that nurses expose themselves to in providing high quality care for patients. However, what has been more subtle is the psychological toll that nurses experience through their profession, which can create health related challenges for the nurses, dilute the quality of care provided to patients, undermine best practices in the nursing profession, and lead to burnout among other undesirable realities (Lopez-Lopez et al., 1032). Stress management is therefore a critical imperative for the nursing profession, as it can equip nurses with the necessary tools to manage the psychological burden associated with their profession. The purpose of this paper is to explore some of the stress coping strategies that nurses can pursue, thereby providing some practical utility to the nursing profession, in addition to individuals who experience stressful working, living and learning environments. Moreover, the paper will evaluate how healthcare institutions can facilitate productive stress management techniques among nurses.

The first strategy that nurses can use to cope with stress is mindfulness. This approach can assume the form of a reflective diary or meditation. According to research, mindfulness is useful in coping with stress as it enables the individual to be fully aware of their environment and self, such that they desist from overreacting to stimulus or feeling overwhelmed (Lee et al., 87). Nurses can adopt mindfulness to not only become fully immersed in their roles and duties, but also to ensure that they maintain level headedness when confronted with stress triggers. The mindfulness example of a diary can also be useful in improving the self-awareness of nurses, such that they become more attuned to their own stress triggers, current coping strategies, the impact of the coping strategies on their ability to perform expected duties, and the possibility of adopting alternative coping strategies that would enhance their well being (Lee et al., 87).

Healthcare institutions can facilitate mindfulness training as an institutional practice, or by offering individual nurses with mindfulness resources. With regards to the former, healthcare institutions can offer seminars, talks, reading materials, and/or learning modules for their nursing staff. This approach would be beneficial insofar as standardizing mindfulness training as a key component in guaranteeing the mental and physical safety of nurses (Mahon et al., 572). In relation to the latter, healthcare institutions can offer mindfulness training packages upon request by the nurses, based on the rationale that some nurses may prefer alternative stress coping strategies and should be permitted to choose the approach that resonates best with their personality, background and other personal factors.

The second strategy that nurses can use to cope with stressful work environments is by making positive lifestyle choices. Specifically, nurses should be encouraged to maintain a healthy diet, exercise regularly, and ensure they have adequate time to rest and sleep (Pelit-Aksu et al., 1095). Research has noted that fatigue is one of the most common causes of poor performance in the healthcare sector, which underscores the importance of a healthy lifestyle among the nursing profession (Barker & Nussbaum, 1370). The significance of a healthy lifestyle is that it alleviates any fatigue related determinants of stress, while simultaneously ensuring that nurses can maintain a positive health outcome that improves their ability to administer quality care to patients. The main potential drawback of this approach is that nurses often have busy and/or unpredictable schedules, which can undermine their ability to establish an exercise routine- among others (Barker & Nussbaum, 1370).

Healthcare institutions can facilitate the adoption of healthy lifestyles among nurses in several ways. First, institutions can offer important information on dietary guidelines, that the nurses can thereafter tailor to personal tastes and preferences. Second, healthcare institutions can invest in building gyms and other recreational facilities on site, which would enable nurses to exercise according to their schedules, and with maximum convenience. Third, institutions can provide nurses with access to dieticians and personal exercise trainers, who can collaborate with nurses to create a schedule that fits with the goals and schedules of each individual nurse. With either approach, it is important to stress that healthcare institutions can play a useful role in creating supportive environments that improve nurses’ ability to maintain healthy lifestyle patterns as a strategy to cope with stressful working environments.

The third strategy that nurses can use to manage stress is by freely communicating their challenges to the matron, chief nursing officer, or chief nursing executive. The rationale for this approach is that nurses often feel overwhelmed by practices or expectations that are within the control and purview of the matron, implying that the latter can offer assistance or advice that can be useful to the nurse. For instance, during the pandemic, a common challenge experienced by nurses was the burden of working overtime- necessitated by the high demand for healthcare services within the general population (Aggar et al., 91). Qualitative research indicated that nurses who communicated their experiences and feelings to the matrons had better stress coping strategies, as the matrons were often able to either remove the stressor entirely (for example by hiring more temporary nurses) or offer advice that can improve the stress coping mechanisms used by the nurses (Aggar et al., 91; Zhang et al., 1584).

The establishment and maintenance of open communication channels between the nurses and matrons is contingent on the policies adopted by the healthcare institution in question. First, it is imperative to appoint matrons who are interested in the welfare and wellbeing of nurses, implying that there should be a balance between their supervisory responsibilities and administrative duties. Second, it is important to ensure that nurses are actively encouraged to seek support, guidance and assistance from the matron, for instance by creating roundtable dates where nurses openly communicate with the matron on a range of issues affecting their professional or personal wellbeing. Third, it is important that the upper levels of the nursing hierarchy adopt a leadership style that is conducive to open communication channels with the nursing staff. According to literature, the transformational leadership style would be useful, as it is contingent on empowering followers to take initiative and assume an active role in resolving challenges faced within the institution (Echevarria et al., 168). Similarly, the servant-oriented leadership style would be equally useful as it would place the needs of the followers (nurses in this instance) as a priority for the leadership (Kul et al., 1168). Moreover, qualitative research has provided support for the assertion that the leadership style adopted by the upper hierarchy in healthcare institutions is a critical determinant of the culture adopted at the organization, which then has either a direct or indirect influence on the health and wellbeing of all organizational members. (Echevarria et al., 168).

The fourth strategy that nurses can adopt to cope with stress is seeking peer support. According to Li et al. (204), the challenges faced by nurses over the course of performing their duties are often applicable to fellow nurses. This implies that seeking peer support would be useful, as a nurse can benefit from feeling understood and being provided with actionable advice that can be used to alleviate stress (Li et al., 204). Peer support is also useful because it demonstrates that the nurse is not experiencing unique or novel stressors in the workplace environment, thereby potentially reducing feelings of helplessness and being overwhelmed. Peer support is equally important because it fosters a sense of community within the nursing staff, thereby improving the likelihood of positive communication and interaction- which can also alleviate stress.

Healthcare facilities can actively promote peer support for nurses in a variety of ways. First, institutions are well placed to pair newly recruited nurses with experienced nurses, thereby creating an automatic peer support pairing system that can be useful for newly recruited nurses. Second, institutions can provide seminars or talks whereby the more experienced nurses discuss work related challenges and issues with junior nurses- thereby also providing a form of peer support. Third, healthcare facilities can actively encourage the creation of peer support groups within the hospital, where nurses can have the prerogative to join a peer support group that suits their personal expectations or preferences. Finally, healthcare institutions can seek input from the nurses on what kind of peer support system should be established, for instance by administering a survey among all nurses working at the institution.

The fourth strategy that nurses can use to cope with stressful environments is by relying on counselling or therapy services. Research has noted that on the one hand, nurses are expected to project a demeanour of confidence, assurance, professionalism and competence in order to carry out their expected duties and responsibilities (Aggar et al., 92). On the other hand, both the personal and professional environments can create feelings of insecurity, fear, and uncertainty, which nurses are typically encouraged to hide or manage privately (Aggar et al., 92). The implication is the possibility of a dissonance between the emotional realities that are publicly disclosed, versus those that are privately experienced. As such, counseling or therapy can be a useful and effective stress coping strategy as it would provide the space in which nurses can openly discuss feelings or thoughts that are antithetical to the professional demeanour they are expected to maintain. In counselling, nurses can discuss a range of factors with the assurance that this will not impact how they are treated or perceived at work.

Healthcare institutions can facilitate the counselling stress coping strategy by offering counselling services for nurses within the hospital. Ideally, the counselling services would be provided by an external third party, which would improve the utilization rates among the nurses. Second, healthcare institutions can offer financial support for nurses who prefer an external counsellor, for instance by shouldering some percentage of the cost, or providing medical benefits and/or insurance coverage. Third, healthcare institutions can provide support by addressing the stigma attached to nurses displaying ‘unprofessional’ emotions or thoughts. That is, it would be beneficial to create an environment where nurses feel supported to experience human feelings, emotions and realities, without necessarily framing that as harmful to their ability to perform the expected duties and responsibilities. This approach may be useful insofar as enabling the nurses to openly seek counselling or therapy to discuss negative emotions that can affect their performance and wellbeing.

The final strategy that nurses can use to cope with stress is by maintaining a work-life balance. Over the course of the pandemic, this was arguably difficult to establish as most nurses had to work overtime and dealt with the ramifications of the pandemic in both the professional and the personal contexts. However, the maintenance of a work-life balance is important in that it enables nurses to leave the work-related stressors in the workplace, such that they can focus on rest and relaxation in their home environments (Lee et al., 93). The work-life balance is equally important because it enables the nurse to establish clear boundaries that can be useful in maintaining a less stressful existence. Healthcare institutions can play a pivotal role in supporting nurses’ establishment of a work-life balance. First, institutions can respect the nurses’ home environment by refraining from calling them in to work or discussing work related issues while they are at home. Second, institutions can offer mandated ‘home’ days to the nurses, whereby the nurse is expected to take at least three weeks at home every six months. Third, institutions can facilitate work-life balance by encouraging nurses to limit work related communication (for instance emails, texts and notifications) while they are at home.

In conclusion, the purpose of this essay was to examine some of the stress coping strategies that can be used by nurses. The importance of stress coping management is pronounced within the nursing profession, as work related responsibilities and demands can often create stress triggers that can affect performance in addition to undermining physical, emotional and psychological wellness. The paper argued that nurses can manage stress through mindfulness; the maintenance of a healthy lifestyle; the establishment of communication channels with the upper hierarchy of the nursing staff; peer support; therapy and counselling; as well as maintaining a work-life balance. The paper also argued that healthcare institutions should play a leading role in providing resources and/or creating an environment that is conducive to the adoption of positive stress coping strategies within the nursing profession.

Works Cited
Aggar, Christina, et al. “The Impact of COVID‐19 pandemic‐related Stress Experienced by Australian Nurses.” International Journal of Mental Health Nursing, vol. 31, no. 1, 2022, pp. 91-103.

Barker, Linsey M., and Maury A. Nussbaum. “Fatigue, Performance and the Work Environment: A Survey of Registered Nurses.” Journal of Advanced Nursing, vol. 67, no. 6, 2011, pp. 1370-1382.

Echevarria, Ilia M., Barbara J. Patterson, and Anne Krouse. “Predictors of Transformational Leadership of Nurse Managers.” Journal of Nursing Management, vol. 25, no. 3, 2017, pp. 167-175.

Kül, Seval, and Betül Sönmez. “The Effect of Nurse Managers’ Servant Leadership on Nurses’ Innovative Behaviors and Job Performances.” Leadership & Organization Development Journal, vol. 42, no. 8, 2021, pp. 1168-1184.

Lee, Jong-Hyun, Jaejin Hwang, and Kyung-Sun Lee. “Job Satisfaction and Job-Related Stress among Nurses: The Moderating Effect of Mindfulness.” Work: Journal of Prevention, Assessment & Rehabilitation, vol. 62, no. 1, 2019, pp. 87-95.

Lee, Meng H., et al. “A Longitudinal Study of Nurses’ Work-Life Balance: A Case of a Regional Teaching Hospital in Taiwan.” Applied Research in Quality of Life, vol. 17, no. 1, 2022, pp. 93-108.

Li, H. -., et al. “The Effect of a peer‐mentoring Strategy on Student Nurse Stress Reduction in Clinical Practice.” International Nursing Review, vol. 58, no. 2, 2011, pp. 203-210.

López‐López, Isabel M., et al. “Prevalence of Burnout in Mental Health Nurses and Related Factors: A Systematic Review and meta‐analysis.” International Journal of Mental Health Nursing, vol. 28, no. 5, 2019, pp. 1032-1041.

Mahon, Marie A., et al. “Nurses’ Perceived Stress and Compassion Following a Mindfulness Meditation and Self Compassion Training.” Journal of Research in Nursing, vol. 22, no. 8, 2017, pp. 572-583.

Pelit‐Aksu, Sıdıka, et al. “Effect of Progressive Muscle Relaxation Exercise on Clinical Stress and Burnout in Student Nurse Interns.” Perspectives in Psychiatric Care, vol.57, 2020, pp.1095-1102.

Zhang, Meng, et al. “Influence of Perceived Stress and Workload on Work Engagement in front‐line Nurses during covid‐19 Pandemic.” Journal of Clinical Nursing, vol.30, 2021, pp.1584-1595.

Academic Discipline: Media and Communications
Course Name: Media and Communications
Assignment Subject: Information boom or information crisis: the impact of digitization on news credibility
Academic Level: Undergraduate-2nd Year
Referencing Style: MLA
Word Count: 1,898

With the rise of Web 2.0 – meaning interactive Web where the content is user-generated (Buhler et al. 215) – there has been a modification in the production and distribution of information, and thus in the overabundance (Anderson 52) and diversity (Buschow and Suhr 385) of information available. The positive outcome of this is that society now has access to more information sources, in comparison to the previously highly hierarchical information (Schapals, Maares and Hanusch 22) produced by a small and exclusive group of actors in the press industry (Hermida and Young 96). At the same time, the subsequent shift towards an abundance of information that was accessible to a much larger pool of contributors (Buhler et al. 218) has resulted in some negative outcomes, including information that is opinionated, contestable, hard to verify (Fisher 21), and in some cases purposely manipulative (Heinrich 179). In this paper, it will be argued that the digitization of news has ushered in a remarkable means of mobilization and action, but also a significant contribution to news and information dissemination to counterbalance the traditional mass media.

The digitization of news
In order to understand the reality of the processes of production and circulation of information, the material conditions that organize them need to be considered. This refers to the major distribution channels that direct the circulation of news (Parcu 103) and the main players taking part in the international flow of information (Anderson 53). Taking into account, the socio-economic conditions weighing on the production and dissemination of information (Hermida and Young 94) makes it possible to qualify the discourses celebrating the advent of an era of diversity (Buschow and Suhr 385) through news digitization.

From its inception, the Web became a medium that did not have to submit to the control that the major media outlets were subjected to (Schapals, Maares and Hanusch 23) over the production and circulation of information. This was, initially, a means of ensuring a greater range of information inputs (Heinrich 180). The Internet was seen as having the capacity to circulate information across borders, having unprecedented speed and reach (Hermida and Young 93), while also being largely cost-effective. These new contributors of information would play a part in extending the field of news, including eyewitness accounts and investigative journalism (Monahan and Ettinger 490) not commissioned or funded by large media corporations. As a result, independent media centers sprung up to produce both factual and valuable information (Schapals, Maares and Hanusch 24), but also conspiracy theories (Fisher 36) and counter-information that served to undermine the dominant media corporations (Buschow and Suhr 392). The materiality of the flows of information produced (Buhler et al. 217) attested to their ability to reach mass audiences.

Information boom
The development of Web 2.0 has unsettled the classic information economy (Schapals, Maares and Hanusch 27) by giving rise to a networked economy (Parcu 104), as the latter enjoys the freedom from limitations of the controlled production and dissemination of news (Heinrich 183). Firstly, as aforementioned, the reduction in costs has resulted in an unprecedented increase in the number of actors (Buschow and Suhr 386) who had taken on the task of interpreting and disseminating information, and secondly, it boosted the “diversity of perspectives” (Hyvonen 122), in both qualitative and quantitative terms.

With the development of the Web 2.0, ordinary citizens, most with no experience in journalism, branded themselves international correspondents (Hermida and Young 98) if they found themselves in the right place and at the right time, mostly aimed at creating the so-called ‘infotainment’ (Schapals, Maares and Hanusch 21). Their aim was to garner bigger audiences by creating engaging content that was informative, but also largely entertaining, and aimed at drawing a critical mass. These newly constructed accounts created on popular social media platforms, namely YouTube and Facebook, and subsequently Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok (Prerez-Escoda et al. 34), were competing both against one another, and the mainstream media outlets (Hyvonen 123) for their share of viewership. On the one hand, they had the advantage over the mainstream media outlets as their viewership and engagement numbers (Buhler et al. 223) were clearly visible, as this quickly drew in the advertisers (Anderson 59). On the other hand, unless they fully disclosed their sources, their accounts were potentially unverifiable (Fisher 22), and viewers still tended to trust the reports from the mainstream outlets. The content creators – which was the subsequently coined title for such contributors (Prerez-Escoda et al. 28) – did not have the same material and bureaucratic constraints that the mainstream media outlets tend to have (Schapals, Maares and Hanusch 22), and as such, felt empowered to freely tamper with the complex dynamics of information exchange (Heinrich 181) in the digital age.

Information crisis
The advent of a new era of news circulation attests to the permanence of the imbalances in the processing of information (Parcu 105). With the Internet, blogs, and especially social media platforms, each user works on building an audience. The Web is in a state of continuous flux, with information added, subtracted, edited, viral, and non-viral, and producing an abundance of links to other sites or other sources (Monahan and Ettinger 486). New intermediaries which have emerged on the Web constitute new gatekeepers of the process of information circulation (Dvorkin 55), as they challenge the effectiveness of the contribution of the traditional media outlets regarding the coverage of international news. The amateur production of information on the Web (Schapals, Maares and Hanusch 20) has affected the overall circulation of news by boosting competitiveness, changing the marketing and advertising forces (Anderson 59), thus effectively creating the New World Information Order (Zeller, Trakman and Walters 46). In such a system, the economic model of news content is the maximization of viewership.

Media ownership and the influence of political powers over the media (Hamida and Young 98) are the two main reasons that the traditional media has affected news dissemination and contributed to an air of distrust in the production of information (Perez et al. 26). It is believed that some mainstream media are a powerful propaganda instrument in the service of political powers that forge significant advantageous positions at the international level (Zeller, Trakman and Walters 60) and influence international public opinion. In democratic countries, the influence of political and economic forces on the media (Dvorkin 67) may not be as obvious as in some regimes which are perceived as authoritarian, and where the interference of the public authorities (Schapals, Maares and Hanusch 20) in the work of journalists and the control information (Dvorkin 16) disseminated by the mass media (particularly those owned by the state) is very apparent.

The control exercised by political forces over the media also has a great influence on the circulation of information in periods of conflict or crisis. For these reasons, the emergence of digital social media is seen as an opportunity to redress this balance. Namely, through the use of social media, users hope to undermine the power (Hermida and Young 99) to control the circulation and dissemination of information by the public authorities. For example, while state media, as a deliberate tactic, does not cover certain topics in conflict times (Zeller, Trakman and Walters 59), social media and public blogs and forums try to fill these gaps in the news coverage (Monahan and Ettinger 482). They tend to be based on eyewitness accounts, but also unbridled and unreliable sources of information, and, frequently, conspiracy theories (Fisher 36).

Numerous non-governmental organizations are working to ensure the freedom of information (Heinrich 180), and highlight the need for citizens and communities within public or private associations, to continue producing, processing, and communicating information. In the age of the Internet, driven by the hope of widening the circle of information producers (Buschow and Suhr 384), this works to transform the passive relationship to information into an interactive production. The alternative news sources have thus experienced a major transformation with the emergence of the Internet, and the digitization of news on online social media platforms (Parcu 103).

As a result of the digitization of news, online social media are also seen by some as the repositories of disinformation, which are contributing to the information crisis, in that they have the capacity to be disturbing propaganda tools (Heinrich 177). For example, in addition to the proliferation of content that has been doctored or taken out of context, there is the issue of identifying and preventing the dissemination of all the potentially engaging posts which tend to take off quickly and become viral, as the users of other social media platforms share them without making any checks with regard to their authenticity (Dvorkin 56).

Future prospects
The argument of whether the impact of digitization on news has resulted in an information boom or information crisis is centred on the way people access news, and how they consume news. For example, the socio-digital networks – which now play a major role in the way people access and source information (Buschow and Suhr 390) – seem to have the technical capacity to draw in significant viewership. At the very least, they provide access to more diverse visions and opinions (Parcu 107), but with the growing awareness of digital literacy (Buhler et al. 214), online users are seeking verifiable sources of information in order to gain an understanding of the subject that is rooted in facts. The proliferation of unverifiable sources and ‘infotainment’ has been criticized as it has an immense influence on the way people perceive information (Perez-Escoda et al. 31), and the way in which it shapes their view of the world (Zeller, Trakman and Walters 51) even if they aren’t aware of it.

On the one hand, ‘infotainment’ and content created with the aim to reach a critical mass on social networks appears to have encouraged people to take a greater interest in news and social and political issues (Hyvonen 126) in a way that is more engaging than traditional news reports in the press (Fisher 31). On the other hand, media and communication analysts have questioned the capacity of the content creators to bring more to this field to balance the traditional media reports (Dvorkin 82) by highlighting the way in which certain players have gradually established themselves as essential mediators (Parcu 92) between content produced by amateurs and the mainstream media.

Concluding remarks
The control of information, or rather, the authentication and verifiability of accounts (Buhler et al. 214), both by independent users and professionals or public figures remains a major issue, even more so in the digital era. The traditional mainstream media, which for a long time had a monopoly on information (Dvorkin 80), play a major role during these times, and their control becomes an important issue for the political and economic powers (Zeller, Trakman and Walters 60). The rise of social media and the digitization of news has contributed to reducing the power of the mass media over the control and circulation of information. By facilitating the expression of citizens, social media have contributed to the public’s awareness of social and political issues and their interest in understanding the causes, effects, and consequences. Nevertheless, these new media platforms are also sources of misinformation and propaganda (Heinrich 177), which is developing more and more as the competition mounts between the major corporate media and online users.

Referencing Style: MLA
Word Count: 1898
Sources: 13

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