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Journal of Visual Political Communication - Online First
Online First articles will be assigned issues in due course.
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Exploring viewers’ visual attention and emotional responses to populist communication: A laboratory study of the Finns Party leader’s strategies on Instagram and TikTok
Authors: Jenny Lindholm, Jesper Eklund, Tom Carlson, Kim Strandberg and Joachim HögvägAvailable online: 22 January 2026More LessThis study examines how social media users engage with visual populist content on Instagram and TikTok, specifically focusing on ‘de-demonization’ strategies used by party leader Riikka Purra of the populist radical right-wing Finns Party. The study investigates how these strategies have been received among a young audience who oppose the populist party. By combining eye-tracking data with facial expression analysis, this research offers a novel methodological approach to understanding visual attention and emotional responses. The results reveal insights into the effectiveness of visual populist communication, suggesting that, while visual elements are often emphasized, captions and user-generated comments play a significant role in shaping emotional engagement. These findings underscore the need for a comprehensive approach to analysing social media content, especially in the context of visual populist strategies on platforms like Instagram and TikTok.
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The implicit paradox in Mahatma Gandhi’s last fast: A study in theory and practice
Authors: Deepali Yadav, Vipin K. Kadavath and Gitanjali SinghAvailable online: 29 November 2025More LessThe article argues that Gandhi’s last fast, aimed at restoring peace amidst Hindu–Muslim riots triggered after India’s partition, was a divergence from all his previous fasts in his reason to undertake the same and in its practice/performance. However, the fast did not meet its desired end. In a way, it turned out to be paradoxical in nature where Gandhi’s experiments in fasting failed to bring about a change of heart not only in the ordinary citizens but also in the leaders of independent India who could have strived towards communal harmony. Consequently, a subtle shift can be demarcated in the meaning of his fast and how it came to be understood in the popular imagination of postcolonial India. The article looks at this change in theory and explains how it occurred. In order to see how Gandhi performed the same fast differently than he had in the past, the article also examines Margaret Bourke-White’s photographs of Gandhi’s last fast. The article questions how far her presence as a photographer impacts this shift. What kind of pictures of Gandhi were produced for the world from this last fast? How did these photographs impact the national discourse?
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Studying visual disinformation: A computational literature review of current issues, trends and research methods of a growing field
Authors: Xénia Farkas and Moa Eriksson KrutrökAvailable online: 29 November 2025More LessThe rise of visual mis/disinformation presents a significant challenge to democratic societies, as misleading visual content increasingly influences public opinion and decision-making. This study aims to comprehensively map the current state of research on visual mis/disinformation, providing insights into its key trends, disciplinary focus, methodologies and topical priorities. Using a computational literature review approach, this study identifies and synthesizes findings from a broad corpus of scholarly publications (N = 286) examining trends over time in visual disinformation research, highlighting the growing prominence of the field and its interdisciplinary nature. We explore the specific contributions of disciplines such as political science, communication studies and computer science. The review identifies a diverse array of research methods used to investigate visual disinformation, ranging from traditional content analysis and surveys to cutting-edge computational techniques such as machine learning and visual network analysis. It also delves into the thematic priorities of recent studies, including ‘media literacy’, ‘verification strategies of visual misinformation’, ‘visual literacy in misinformation’, ‘correction strategies and engagement’, ‘health-related disinformation’, ‘disinformation detection using machine learning’, and ‘misinformation and memory’. By integrating these perspectives, the study provides a comprehensive overview of the visual mis/disinformation field, offering valuable insights for future research. It emphasizes the need for multidisciplinary collaboration and methodological innovation to address the complexities of this pressing issue. This work contributes to the broader understanding of visual mis/disinformation’s impact and the strategies needed to mitigate its harmful effects.
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The good, the bad and the revolutionary: China’s leadership of the non-aligned states through anti-imperialist political cartoons
Available online: 03 March 2025More LessThe 1960s and 1970s opened up new avenues of leadership for China that had previously been beyond its reach. Promoting itself as the leader of the non-aligned states, the so-called Third World, China set forth to lead by example. This article looks at the Chinese interaction, guidance and gathering of anti-imperialist political cartoons through the case study of the exhibition of Afro-Asian People’s Anti-Imperialist Caricatures of 1967. By taking a closer look at the political cartoons collected and curated by the AAJA in China, the in-depth analysis of the visual grammar of the cartoons and the extrapolated political connotations, therein opens up new avenues for understanding an important element of material and visual culture during the Cold War and China’s attempt to plot a visual course for themselves and their compatriots.
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