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Digital games are one of the most engaging forms of media. Players can have a first-hand experience and the possibility of feeling immersed within a digital setting where agency is exerted. This paper seeks to understand the role of digital games as new means of communication and their potential to convey messages that may defy gamers to question the moral grand narratives that shape contemporary societies. In a moment when many countries have opted to close or limit the circulation in their borders, it is important to think about the role played by the border as a historic liminal entity for the representation of societies and communities, distinguishing those who belong from those who do not. The representation of the border in digital games have tended to follow one of the main tropes explored in other media: the border as a physical space that set boundaries between different nations and different regions of the world. In order to assert the potential of digital games to offer a more comprehensive representation of the border as a liminal space, the case of Papers, Please! (2013) will be analyzed. Based on a qualitative methodology, having content analysis as primary data collection method, the paper intends to contribute to the discussion on how history may narrativized and, eventually, reinterpreted in digital games. Papers, Please! analysis will be centered on the relationship that is set between player and border, that is presented as a liminal space where the game's action takes places entirely. Moreover, the paper intends to discuss the role that has been played by digital games in the representation of serious topics and how they have evolved as communication tools beyond their role as entertainment products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic led hospitals to work differently regarding legal procedures and eHealth services and brought a changing and fluctuating healthcare environment that affected communication among clinicians, patients, and families. These organizations were forced to make their corporate communication initiatives more efficient and interact with stakeholders differently, especially with patients and media companies. This paper aims to understand better hospitals' main corporate communication initiatives during the Covid-19 pandemic. We show that the most important communication initiatives implemented by hospitals during the COVID-19 outbreak were related to the following main areas: a) professional management of corporate communication, b) transparency, c) human values, d) hospital's brand, and e) online corporate communication. During the pandemic, there was a lack of professional corporate communication in hospitals and the need to execute more than merely conservative communication strategies. There is a solid need to make hospitals' corporate communication initiatives more professional. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the influence of functional value in the relationship with suppliers, functional value in communication with suppliers and functional value in business activities on the attitudinal and behavioural loyalty towards the WeChat social network by Chinese entrepreneurs based in Spain. To this end, several research hypotheses were proposed and tested by studying a sample of 57 Chinese entrepreneurs based in Spain. The results obtained from the regression models carried out show the key importance of the functional value variable in business activities on both types of loyalty; the functional value of communication with suppliers only exerted a significant influence on attitudinal loyalty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Throughout all European countries, disinformation, the prevalence of false narratives and the rise of online radicalism are recognized as profound instances of "dysfunctional communication" driving contemporary societies toward populist polarization and conflict. As traditional guardians of knowledge authority and epistemic commons, the news media takes a bold stance in combatting disinformation, even though the profession is facing significant challenges in terms of business and trust production. How should journalism education respond to the increasing epistemic uncertainties and develop the essential skills and capacities for digital information verification, while fostering the commitment for ethical communication and serving the public good? This paper discusses the development and teaching of contemporary journalistic professionalism as a social process sustained via different digital mediums and contextualized within real-world events. Using the example of the pilot study, it suggests that within contemporary journalism education, there is a growing requirement to cultivate a collaborative ethos among journalists and sources, starting within the university setting. The experience gained from the source verification class, tested with Lithuanian journalism students in a collaborative learning situation, reveals fact-checking practices that anticipate the development of epistemic capacities and self-efficacy, crucial for resilient journalistic professionalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of artificial intelligence and its place in the new disinformation strategies is perhaps one of the most difficult issues to focus on nowadays, since we are at the beginning of a process of definition and ways of exploration. In this paper, first of all, we analyze the different approaches that are being applied to the regulation of artificial intelligence and that may affect the different disinformation strategies that are being identified. Secondly, we study how artificial intelligence is being used to identify disinformation content. In this regard, from the point of view of verification processes, one of the main challenges is when identifying deepfakes (images and video, mainly) linked to news cycles. From this perspective, a typology of deepfakes is proposed and its main characteristics will be described according to the verifications carried out by the Spanish fact-checking organizations. Finally, a set of recommendations will be presented to work from a media literacy point of view with the identification of deepfakes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]