Suchergebnisse

This article criticises the role the mass media has played in constructing an idea of the Other, that is, people outside the national mainstream or other nationalities. It explains how the media promote or hinder a positive outlook on cultural diversity. Based on a review of the scholarly debate on media representations of Others, it identifies current obstacles to fair representations in media production, content and reception. This analysis results in a set of concrete strategies that overcome these problems and that stipulate a rethinking of the relationship between media and cultural diversity. The central argument is that culture should be understood as a dynamic process as opposed to being static and essential. Therefore, the media have to be situated as institutions that allow for cultural development: the media have to be positioned as enablers and not simply as preservers of cultural diversity. Adapted from the source document.

What is specific in the efforts of the Slovenian state institutions to handle the current economic, political, and cultural crisis in the country? The answer is searched for in the media representations of the building of a new government in February 2012. The analysis is focused on five major functions of modern states: security provision, regulation of macro-economy, administration, reproduction of human resources, and environmental protection. The source of primary information for the analysis and argumentation is the daily newspaper Delo (Labor). Relevant publications in the newspaper were differentiated by applying two criteria: first, predominant reference to one of the five functions of the state; second, if the article contains no alternative (1) or presents a strong alternative to a given situation, event or opinion related to the state functions (5) on a 5-point scale. The analysis identifies a large share of publications focusing on the administrative function of the state and rather limited share of publications on security issues and environmental protection. The analyzed publications contain only modest efforts to present and discuss alternatives to political situations and opinions. The hypothesis about alleged colonization of politics by mass media is falsified.

It is as if bombings have become a trend in Indonesian society.Tempo Interaktif, 25 December 2000.To put it crudely: because the languages of Third World societies – including, of course, the societies that social anthropologists have traditionally studied – are 'weaker' in relation to Western languages (and today, especially to English), they are more likely to submit to forcible transformation in the translation process than the other way around.Talal Asad (1986: 157–8)

Although voters are central to the processes of democracy, scholarly attention to voters, with few exceptions, is limited to statistical analysis of decision-making and opinionformation processes, treating voters as a mass audience or audience segment. This article argues for more nuanced interpretations of voter representations in the media. Citing key studies of news media representation, the authors explore visual representation of voters in political cartoon commentary and argue that cartoons provide a viewof voters that supports and supplements views evident in the news media but question the role of voter depictions in cartoons as sources of understanding about political publics.

A review essay on a book by Robert Jackall & Janice M. Hirota, Image Makers: Advertising, Public Relations, and the Ethos of Advocacy (Chicago: U Chicago Press, 2000). This book surveys the wide variety of organizations & institutions involved in impression management & notes the increased interrelationship between the media & advocacy in 20th-century culture. Tracing modern advertising & public relations techniques to the propaganda & methods of public persuasion used during WWI, described is how advocacy is used today to mold public sentiment via carefully calculated images. The growth of advertising through the interwar years is traced, along with development in the age of TV & in the modern era of new electronic technologies. Trends in advertising & advocacy are considered in the context of a larger movement toward postmodern thinking in general, which is criticized. K. Hyatt Stewart

Although radical solutions to the faults of the media in the UK may not exist; government has a responsibility to encourage high-quality policy reporting & civic education. The current "lifestyle reporting" is not a good substitute for background reports that explain the heart of the story. Involved citizenship will require better quality information rather than a larger quantity. The media now uses the Internet through Web sites where the reader can study the original source documents. The Internet is also a means for ordinary people to inform the government about their views. Regulation of the public broadcaster, BBC, gives direction for all media, that of providing quality, substantive information. A more active citizenship will demand responsible information from the media. L. A. Hoffman