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Background: In South Africa, the increased consumption of sugary drinks has been associated with increased obesity rates. Mass media campaigns can play a crucial role in improving knowledge, shifting attitudes, and building support for government action on reducing sugary drink consumption. No study to date has evaluated the effectiveness of mass media campaigns on the health harms of sugary drinks in South Africa. Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of a mass media campaign on knowledge and attitudes around sugary drinks and on public support for a proposed tax on sugary drinks in South Africa. Methods: The "Are You Drinking Yourself Sick?" campaign aired in South Africa from October 2016 to June 2017 to shift attitudes toward sugary drinks, build personal risk perceptions of the health harms of consuming sugary drinks, and build public support for a proposed tax on sugary drinks. Campaign impact was measured in representative cross-sectional household surveys of adults ages 18 to 56. The surveys were conducted just prior to the launch of the campaign (N = 1000), from October 7 to 10, 2016, and immediately following its conclusion (N = 1000), from July 12 to 21, 2017. Campaign impact was assessed by comparing changes from the pre-campaign to the post-campaign period on key outcome indicators. In addition, the effect of campaign awareness was analyzed in logistic regression analysis of the post-campaign data. Results: The campaign was recalled by 55% of survey respondents, and 78% of campaign-aware respondents said that the campaign's main message was "drinking sugary drinks can make you sick." There were significant changes from the pre- to the post-campaign period in knowledge that sugary drink consumption can lead to obesity and related health problems and that sugary drinks contribute toward the obesity problem in South Africa. Campaign awareness was also significantly associated with increases in knowledge about the harms of sugary drinks, and in particular, on government action, ...

In article such technologies of the hidden management by mass consciousness in a context of formation of political identity of the Russian citizens are considered: political mythology, horror‑ management, building a positive image of the policy through the images – the mediators, the spiral of silence, a hidden comparison. Features are shown, to possibility of use of technologies of the hidden management by mass consciousness for creation of political preferences at the population Thus such management in information space in modern conditions is based on system of ideas, values, ideals.

The debate on the media's agenda-setting power is not settled yet. Most empirical agenda-setting studies using time-series analyses found that the media matter for the political agenda, but the size of the found media effects remains often modest. This nuanced view on media impact seems to contradict with the perceptions of politicians. Our comparative survey of members of parliament in four small parliamentary democracies—Belgium, Netherlands, Sweden, and Denmark—shows that they consider the mass media to be one of the key political agenda setters directly competing with the Prime Minister and the powerful political parties. This article further explores the inconsistency between "objective" and "subjective" findings.We develop six possible explanations for the contradicting findings produced by both methods and formulate concrete suggestions to improve both methods and diminish the gap between them.

The article centers on the political aspects of international news making, i.e. the coverage of major political news by global media. Nowadays we are witnessing rising interest towards the modus operandi of global media, its newly-acquired functions and its role as a world politics actor. In this study new empirical data is used to assess the role global media plays in the representation of major civil conflicts and to revisit the commonly-accepted understanding of its political functions. With the help of discourse analysis, the authors investigate the realities of the civil wars in Libya and Syria through the lens of their representations in international news, the aim being to unveil the influence of the existing social frames on the pertinent media content.

The internet is widely seen to have facilitated social movement organizations (SMOs) by providing them with alternative media. In the western context, some authors suggest that additionally SMOs use the internet tactically as a tool to gain access to traditional news media. This usage is seen to reaffirm and reinforce the centrality of print and electronic news media. This article shifts the focus to China and examines the interaction between the internet and the traditional mass media in the unfolding of three internet incidents. It reveals that via the expression of public opinion on the internet ordinary people are able to collectively shape and even direct conventional news agendas. In China, where the role of the media is to 'direct' public opinion rather than to reflect it, this suggests that the interaction between the two forms of communication serves to challenge state control over the traditional media.

Previous studies of the cable industry have been inconclusive in determining its impact on other media, especially that of broadcast television. While some industry observers predict a dire future for broadcasters due to the erosion of market share by cable, others contend the current recession has been responsible for the industry's woes. McCombs' theory of relative constancy is used as a basis for examining trends for consumer and advertising spending on media during the 1978–1990 time period. Both trends were found to be positive, indicating that, overall, cable has attracted additional spending on media.

The processes, taking place in our national information space, cannot but put us on guard. Most alarming they are in the sphere of TV-speaking. Now they look especially dangerous, when Ukraine is in military confrontation, combined with hybrid war with aggressive Northern neighbour.We have been experiencing a difficult period of attempts of reforms' implementation, which have been declared by the authorities (unfortunately, the majority of them are pseudo plans), especially in information sphere. Both the results of future elections and the future of our state directly depend on these reforms. ; Процеси, які відбуваються в нашому національному інформаційному просторі, не можуть не насторожувати. Особливо тривожними вони є у сфері телевізійного мовлення. І особливо небезпечними вони є тепер, коли Україна знаходиться у мілітарному протистоянні, поєднаному з гібридною війною з агресивним північним сусідом.Переживаємо складний період спроб реалізації задекларованих владою реформ (на жаль, у більшості — псевдопланів), особливо в інформаційній сфері, від чого залежать не лише результати майбутніх виборів, але й завтрашній день нашої держави.

This study examines the influence of citizens' use of online mass media on levels of trust in government, shedding light on the process by which citizens' use of online mass media serves to influence their levels of trust in government. I hypothesize that citizens' use of online mass media influences the relationship between citizens' predispositions toward government in general, and their levels of trust in government in particular, with perceptions of government performance acting as a mediating factor. To test this hypothesis a mediated moderation analysis is conducted using data from a sample of 907 Seoul citizens. The results suggest that citizens' use of online mass media has a positive indirect influence on their levels of trust in government. However, the strength of this influence decreases with more frequent use of online mass media.

The main focus of the research is the representation of migration in Latvian media. In total, 860 publications were analysed covering both Latvian and Russian speaking media content, and the following two methodological approaches were applied: the framing analysis of textual and visual content, and historical discourse analysis in order to reveal the arguments and strategies behind the justification of intolerance. The research data reveals that the framing of migration in Latvian media is left in the hands of politicians and officials. Economic strains and threat argumentation topoi dominate media discussions. The influence of migration is explained and approached from an economic perspective, and most frequently, the intolerance against migrants is interpreted as a failure attributed to the political elite– their inability to solve problems. Intolerance justification strategies were detected in 79% of the publications. This figure confirms that the authors are aware of intolerance not being a virtue nowadays, and the causes of it must be backed up and supported. Visual messages depict migrants exclusively as unidentifiable, dangerous, as a part of an anonymous crowd.

"Analyzes twentieth-century media and cultural theories as they relate to changes in political economy, communication technology, popular culture and collective consciousness in the United States. It argues that much of contemporary media environment is operating as Western capitalist media have for more than a century, making these theories more relevant than ever"--Provided by pubolisher