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Starting on 18 October 2019, Chile experienced the largest mass protests in its history. The movement was immensely broad in its demands and diverse in tactics and participants. The citizens' discontent went beyond solely one issue, addressing a more equal welfare system and social justice, among other things. But it was not only about street protests; the social movement also caused an avalanche in social media exchanges and initiated a dialogue among Chileans in the form of neighbourhood associations. This paper argues that long-standing inequalities, the inability of politics to address them, a growing distancing of the population from politics, and the process of the citizens' politicisation were the reasons for the mass protests.

Introduction -- The history and context of death in the news -- The contemporary context of death reporting -- Negotiating ethical boundaries -- Ethical participation: a new way forward -- Knocking on the door: journalist's experiences -- Encountering the media: the knock at the door -- The sensitive interview -- Depicting stories of death: news frames and narratives -- Reporting suicide: the last taboo? -- The emotional impact on journalists -- Looking forward

Disaster research scholars and emergency planners have often contended that the news media play a major role in creating and perpetuating various myths of natural disaster response. These myths include widespread panic flight, psychological dependency and vicious competition for necessities on the part of victims and physical convergence for the purpose of looting by non-victims. The evidence which ties the news media to these myths of community breakdown is largely indirect. Survey data reveal a generalized belief among members of the public that the above enumerated behaviors are typical reactions of people faced with a sudden crisis. These data also indicate that the news media are the principal source of information about disasters for most people. Lacking are detailed analyses which document the extent to which the myths of community breakdown actually appear in news coverage of natural disaster events. The present study, which focuses on the reporting of four earthquake events by two Southern California newspapers, attempts to address this issue. The results, though preliminary, suggest that some caution is warranted in making the generalization that natural disaster coverage disproportionately conveys a breakdown imagery of communities facing a major natural catastrophe.

"The 2010 General Election represented a pathbreaking contest in Political Communication. The TV debates changed forever the feel of the campaign. This book brings together key commentators, analysts and polling experts to present readers with a unique and valuable insight into the development of political communication in British Politics"--

Because of the explosion of mass media, we have entered a new age of white noise; because of the disastrous extension of U.S. imperial ambitions, we have entered a new age of political deception; when these two historical factors are combined with the peculiar communicative habits of President George W. Bush, Americans are left with what we call a post‐rhetorical presidency. This is an anti‐democratic condition wherein presidential discourse is not meant to mobilize, educate, and uplift the masses; rather, by marshaling ubiquitous public chatter, waves of disinformation, and cascades of confusion‐causing misdirection, post‐rhetorical presidential discourse attempts to confuse public opinion, prevent citizen action, and frustrate citizen deliberation. Under these new conditions, the president defines fantasy, not reality; he numbs citizens rather than energizing them; instead of informing and teaching, he chooses to dumb down and stupefy. We pursue this thesis by offering four philosophical theses and three rhetorical case studies of the president's public speaking, thus combining critical theory and rhetorical criticism to help map what may represent the death of democracy.

Der Grundstein der Presse- und Rundfunkfreiheit in Rußland wurde bereits gegen Ende der Ära Gorbatschow gelegt. Eine gesetzliche Absicherung dieses Grundrechts existiert seit dem Mediengesetz vom 27. Dezember 1991. Stärken und Schwächen der Medien in Rußland sind in vielerlei Hinsicht eng verknüpft mit dem Übergang zur Marktwirtschaft. Auch die Kontrolle der Regierung über die Papier- und Druckindustrie sowie die Distributionswege engt den Bewegungsspielraum der Presse ein. Während die landesweite zentrale Presse einen drastischen Zirkulationsrückgang erlebte, wurde das Fernsehen mehr und mehr zum nationalen Massenmedium. Hier erlaubt die Verfassung von 1993 dem Präsidenten jedoch eine umfangreiche Einflußnahme. Eine Bedrohung der Medienfreiheit stellen zudem die Aktivitäten des organisierten Verbrechens dar. Das gegenwärtig erreichte Maß an Rundfunk- und Pressefreiheit ist gleichwohl in der russischen Geschichte ohne Beispiel. (BIOst-Wpt)

The study critically examines coverage of Afghan conflict and the relationship between the elite press and the governments of the neighboring countries of Afghanistan. We analyzed how media framed Taliban in the context of foreign policies of the neighboring countries of Afghanistan having important stakes in the conflict-ravaged country. The study focused on the stated foreign policy positions of China, India, Iran, and Pakistan on the conflict in Afghanistan and the approach used by the elite press of these countries in responding to the initiatives of the foreign office. We employed content analysis to analyze editorials of the elite English-language newspapers to investigate whether the relationship between press and media is elite-driven, adversarial, or independent. We found that the elite English newspapers followed the official foreign policy of their countries while covering the war in Afghanistan and Taliban at a time when the entire region was in the grip of terror attacks.

Communication literature traditionally divides interaction into two forms: mass media and interpersonal communication. These ideal types are unquestionably useful heuristic tools. Yet their conceptual utility is often undermined when researchers place them at opposite ends of a linear, historical transformation in which mass media technology is believed to supplant interpersonal communication and the locations in which it occurs. This article abandons the polar, historical relationship in favor of a communication dialectic that recognizes the synthesis of ideal types into composite forms of interaction. Embedded technology demonstrates the dialectic by exploring how electronic media fixed within a physical location can combine with the interpersonal communication taking place there to enhance group interaction. The resulting hybrid defies the assumption that mass media simply displace interpersonal interaction, pointing instead to a dialectic relationship in which ideal types continually challenge and transform one another.

Informing and influencing foreign opinion on US policies and actions, winning the war of ideas, and broadcasting strategy to win media wars; 4 articles. Contents: Public diplomacy comes of age, by Christopher Ross; Deeds speak louder than words, by Lamis Andoni; Winning the war of ideas, by Anthony J. Blinken; A broadcasting strategy to win media wars, by Edward Kaufman.

Abstract
Sunni–Shia relations have become a topic of significant media attention; this attention is largely due to the tendency of these groups to engage in sectarian strife as well as the Islamic Shia sect's influential rise in world politics. The inter-Islamic sectarian relations are part of extensive reporting on upheaval events currently taking place in the Greater Middle East in the post 9/11 decade. This study analyses ten years of news coverage of the Sunni–Shia relations in the Canadian Globe and Mail and the US-based Washington Post. Results indicate that rather than contextualizing sectarian tensions between Sunni and Shia Islam, this media coverage overwhelmingly frames the tensions from the 'war on terrorism' perspective. This article argues that 'neo-Orientalist' discourses and propagandist perspectives have become routinized and more prevalent in the manner in which Western media represents Islam, privileging dominant discourses and 'war on terrorism' frames.

This article examines the conflict in Darfur, which has been described by many including the President of the United States, as an ongoing genocide. To this end, I argue that the lack of adequate coverage of the killings in Darfur particularly in US network television evening news, has kept the public in the dark. This lack of information provided to the public has the potential to prolong the plight of Darfurians who have been killed, raped, starved and displaced, because there is little public pressure on policy makers, or outcry from the international community to stop the atrocities. It is also argued here that these television networks have the capacity to influence US foreign relations by mobilizing public opinion on pressing international issues such as the genocide in Darfur. Suggestions of how the news media can improve coverage are offered.

The topic of the present article concerns the ways of expressing the speaker's communicative intent and highlighting the perlocutionary effect of the discursive move in political discourse. The aim of the research is to study the ways of making an impact on the audience in the communicative context of mass media communication. For the purpose of analysis the transcript of a political interview published on the website of the news program Democracy Now is taken. The language material is analysed with the application of contextual-semantic and pragmatic methods of analysis. The study of the dialogic moves of the partners in the question-answer sequences provides ample grounds to suggest that the conversational unit under analysis can be interpreted as a case of macro-warning which creates the perlocutionary effect of alarming. Furthermore, both participants contribute to creating the integrative communicative intent of the interview.