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PurposeThis study aims to analyzes the effects of the consumer-generated media (CGM) boom on hotel managers' investment behavior concerning quality signals.Design/methodology/approachSurvival analysis has been conducted, considering the permanence/dropout of the Spanish hotels in a quality certification system during the 1998–2020 period.FindingsThe number of hotels certified since 2010 has been progressively falling, pointing to a decreasing interest of the managers in these certifications. Nevertheless, this is not a generalized phenomenon: the hotel characteristics and the number and nature of reviews about them in CGM significantly affect their permanence decisions in certification systems.Practical implicationsThe findings provide several keys to optimizing investment management in quality signals considering hotel characteristics and their positioning in CGM.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study that analyses the relationship between the presence of hotels in CGM and their investments in alternative quality signals. The results will allow future investment decisions based on previous real business experiences.

This Comment will first discuss the discoverability and admissibility of social media evidence in criminal and/or civil sexual assault cases. Section II(A) provides a broad overview of both federal and state rape shield laws, including the legislative policies behind their enactments, as well as the modern expansion of social media in the context of the legal system. Section II(B) will address the modern utility of social media in the context of the legal system. Section III first analyzes how courts look at discoverability and admissibility of social media evidence generally, and then focuses on sexual assault cases specifically. Further, Section III explores a criminal defendant's Sixth Amendment argument against the application of rape shield laws to social media evidence. In conclusion, Section V proposes a modernization of the rules of admissibility in order to reflect the vast amount of social media evidence currently available during the litigation process.

This Comment will first discuss the discoverability and admissibility of social media evidence in criminal and/or civil sexual assault cases. Section II(A) provides a broad overview of both federal and state rape shield laws, including the legislative policies behind their enactments, as well as the modern expansion of social media in the context of the legal system. Section II(B) will address the modern utility of social media in the context of the legal system. Section III first analyzes how courts look at discoverability and admissibility of social media evidence generally, and then focuses on sexual assault cases specifically. Further, Section III explores a criminal defendant's Sixth Amendment argument against the application of rape shield laws to social media evidence. In conclusion, Section V proposes a modernization of the rules of admissibility in order to reflect the vast amount of social media evidence currently available during the litigation process.

This book introduces an archaeological approach to the study of media - one that sifts through the evidence to learn how media were written about, used, designed, preserved, and sometimes discarded. Edited by Erkki Huhtamo and Jussi Parikka, with contributions from internationally prominent scholars from Europe, North America, and Japan, the essays help us understand how the media that predate today's interactive, digital forms were in their time contested, adopted and embedded in the everyday. Providing a broad overview of the many historical and theoretical facets of Media Archaeology as an emerging field, the book encourages discussion by presenting a full range of different voices. By revisiting 'old' or even 'dead' media, it provides a richer horizon for understanding 'new' media in their complex and often contradictory roles in contemporary society and culture

Researchers of social media struggle to stay up to speed: empirical findings are most often very context- and time-specific and quickly become outdated because the object of study changes. By extension, previously solid and well-tested methods and tools may be rendered obsolete, for instance, as social media services change their application programming interfaces (APIs). The stabilizing component in social media research is arguably good theory—about the communicative patterns and bit trails of use, the actions that social media channel and mobilize, the interplay between social and other media, and, of course, the implications of social media for sociality, privacy, and society at large. In this essay, the concept and study of meaning is proposed as a key concern for social media research. "Meaning" highlights the generative process by which users negotiate the communicative potentials and constraints of a text or a medium vis-a-vis the individuals' preexisting mental models, expectations, and intentions in context.

This article argues that the concept of national media systems, and the comparative study of media systems, institutions, and practices, retains relevance in an era of media globalization and technological convergence. It considers various critiques of 'media systems' theories, such as those which view the concept of 'system' as a legacy of an outdated positivism and those which argue that the media globalization is weakening the relevance of nation-states in structuring the field of media cultures and practices. It argues for the continuing centrality of nation-states to media processes, and the ongoing significance of the national space in an age of media globalization, with reference to case studies of Internet policies in China, Brazil, and Australia. These studies indicate that nation-states remain critical actors in media governance and that domestic actors largely shape the central dynamics of media policies, even where media technologies and platforms enable global flows of media content.

"Recent discussion of democratization in Africa has focused primarily on the reform of formal state institutions: the public service, the judiciary, and the legislature. Similarly, both scholars and activists have shown interest in how associational life-and with it a civil society-might be enhanced in the countries of the African continent. Much less concern, however, has been directed to the communications media, although they form a vital part of this process. Media and Democracy in Africa provides the first comprehensive and up-to-date assessment of the role of the media in political change in sub-Saharan Africa. The central argument of the volume is that while the media may still be relatively weak compared to their positions in liberal democracies, they have come to play a much more important role than ever before since independence. Although they have not yet demonstrated sufficient effectiveness as public watchdogs and agenda setters, they have succeeded in creating new communicative spaces for people who have previously been intimidated or silent. Building on this the contributors argue that a different conceptualization of democratization than the mainstream currently uses may be necessary to capture the process in Africa where it is characterized by contestation rather than consolidation. This volume shows that the media scene in Africa is diverse. It stretches from the well-developed and technologically advanced situation in South Africa to the still fledgling media operations that are typical in sub-Saharan Africa. In these countries, print media as well as television and radio are just beginning to take their place in society and do so using simple and often outdated technology. The volume also examines how these growing outlets are supplemented by informal media, the so-called radio trottoir, or rumor mill whereby the autocratic and bureaucratic direction of public affairs are subject to private speculation and analysis. Media and Democracy in Africa is organized to provide a historical perspective on the evolution of the African media, placing the present in the context of the past, including both colonial and post-colonial experiences. It will be of interest to Africa area specialists, students of media and communications, political scientists and sociologists."--Provided by publisher.

West European countries face social problems linked to immigration issues. The most exposed community of immigrants comes from the Muslim world, bringing to the West its own religious and social tradition. Such issues, however, are not unilateral. The immigrated Muslim community has to find solution to the same problem, which is usually seen from a different point of view. Media plays an important role in solving integration issues and EU member states have adopted television and radio as an integral part of European integration strategy. National governments nevertheless comply with the EU recommendations only until a certain degree. On the other hand, although on a smaller scale, the immigrated Muslim communities have started to use the same means to strengthen weakened ties between members of the Ummah in hijra and to confirm proper identity in the minority position. While the States use mostly public national media, Muslim communities try to get access at least to the local televisions or radios. Such initiatives aim mostly at successful integration without assimilation into secular Western society. However, many actors impede reaching this goal – also in the same field of media, like transnational Islamic television providers transmitting via satellite from different European cities or private TV program producers reflecting deliberately in their shots outdated Western prejudices toward Islam.

This article reviews media-related aspects of the 2009 Japanese lower house elections, which saw the historic defeat of the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party by the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ). Drawing mainly on Internet sources and on interviews with politicians and political journalists, the authors argue that the DPJ relied primarily on conventional media strategies and made only limited use of new media in their campaign. If the DPJ hopes permanently to transform Japan's political landscape, the party will need to prioritize the reform of outdated election campaign legislation and abolish "closed shop" reporters' clubs.

We cannot truly understand terrorism in the 21st century₇let alone counter it effectively₇unless we also understand the processes of communication that underpin it. The book challenges existing terrorism research showing that current approaches are inadequate and outdated. It exposes the fact that, although we live in an age of interconnectedness shaped by media technologies, both policy makers and security experts know very little about how to make sense of this reality. Among the widespread myths the book dispels are: the idea that new recruits into the ranks of al Qaeda are 'radicalized' by a 'narrative of grievance'; that the removal of extremist websites should be a priority; that 'we' can 'rewrite' terrorists' propaganda; that being a 'global brand' is a source of strength for al Qaeda. This book will be of interest to researchers and students in terrorism studies, communication and media, politics and security

Spiral-of-silence theory assumes that a monolithic stream of messages from mainstream media, leaving little ability for audiences to seek ideologically congruent news, affects people's perceptions of the distribution of opinion in society. While these assumptions may have been valid when Noelle-Neumann developed her theory forty years ago, the new media landscape, characterized by the proliferation of ideological media outlets, makes them seem outdated. Do audiences of conservative-leaning media perceive a conservative opinion climate while audiences of liberal-leaning media perceive a more liberal distribution of opinion? And if so, what are the consequences? We examine these questions using two data sets collected in extremely different contexts (Study 1 in the context of the 2005 Israeli disengagement from Gaza, n = 519; Study 2, in the context of the 2004 U.S. presidential elections using the National Annenberg Election Survey, n = 9,058). In both studies, selective exposure to ideological media outlets was associated with opinion climate perceptions that were biased in the direction of the media outlets' ideologies. In Study 2, we also demonstrated that partisan selective exposure indirectly contributes to political polarization, and that this effect is mediated by opinion climate perceptions. [Reprinted by permission; copyright Sage Publications Inc.]

What does it mean to be a woman in the 21st century? The feminist movement has a long and rich history, but is its time now passed? This edited collection is driven by the question, why is feminism viewed by some (we would add a majority) as outdated, no longer necessary and having achieved its goals, and what role have the media played in this?

Spiral-of-silence theory assumes that a monolithic stream of messages from mainstream media, leaving little ability for audiences to seek ideologically congruent news, affects people's perceptions of the distribution of opinion in society. While these assumptions may have been valid when Noelle-Neumann developed her theory forty years ago, the new media landscape, characterized by the proliferation of ideological media outlets, makes them seem outdated. Do audiences of conservative-leaning media perceive a conservative opinion climate while audiences of liberal-leaning media perceive a more liberal distribution of opinion? And if so, what are the consequences? We examine these questions using two data sets collected in extremely different contexts (Study 1 in the context of the 2005 Israeli disengagement from Gaza, n = 519; Study 2, in the context of the 2004 U.S. presidential elections using the National Annenberg Election Survey, n = 9,058). In both studies, selective exposure to ideological media outlets was associated with opinion climate perceptions that were biased in the direction of the media outlets' ideologies. In Study 2, we also demonstrated that partisan selective exposure indirectly contributes to political polarization, and that this effect is mediated by opinion climate perceptions.

"The book will become the key reference point for research practitioners and buyers as they move from their security blanket of traditional research, with its outdated notions of science and reliability, into the maelstrom that is unfolding in the post Web 2.0 world of Twitter, community panels, Facebook, and YouTube"--