"The tabloid news genre has been chastized for depoliticizing its public by causing cynicism about the democratic process and lowering the standards of rational public discourse. Counter-arguments point to the alternative public sphere offered by popular media such as ‘tabloid TV’ which is the f
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ocus of this study. The ‘tabloid TV’ genre is relatively new in Zambia and in the African context in general. This article sets out to examine the rapid rise in popularity of the Zambian private television station, Muvi TV. It examines Muvi TV’s main evening news as an example of the ‘tabloid TV’ news genre vis-à-vis the criticisms levelled against tabloidization. The article presents results from a reception study of viewers in the capital city, Lusaka. A three-stage qualitative study was carried out, consisting of a thematic/content analysis of news bulletins, focus groups and individual, semi-structured interviews. The findings suggest that audiences attach greater credibility to Muvi TV’s news broadcasts than those of the public broadcaster, the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC). As such, Muvi TV can be seen to fulfil a political function despite its sensationalized approach." (Abstract)
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"Die Herausgeber Stephan Moebius und Dirk Quadflieg bieten in Zusammenarbeit mit den Autorinnen und Autoren einen systematischen und – in seiner angelegten Breite – erstmaligen Überblick über aktuelle kultursoziologische und -wissenschaftliche Theorien. Die gegenwärtig wichtigsten Kulturtheor
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ien werden nach dem Kriterium ihrer interdisziplinären Relevanz für die zeitgenössischen Diskurse in der Soziologie, den Kulturwissenschaften, der Philosophie sowie den Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaften einheitlich und verständlich vorgestellt." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
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"On the basis of a thorough review of the growing literature on the mobile phone and the cultures it inspires, Goliama highlights the ambivalent nature of mobile cultures for the Roman Catholic Church's evangelization mission in Africa. He argues not only for the continued merits of face-to-face com
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munication for the Church's pastoral approach in the African context. He points to how this could be enriched by a creative appropriation of the mobile phone as a tool for theological engagement, in its capacity to shape cultures in ways amenable to the construction of a Cell phone Ecclesiology. Such emergent mobile cultural values include the tendency of mobile users to transcend social divides, to promote social interconnectedness, and to privilege the question 'where are you?" (Publisher description)
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"This book explores people's everyday experience of the media in Asian countries in confrontation with huge social change and transition and the need to understand this phenomenon as it intersects with the media. It argues for the centrality of the media to Asian transformations in the era of global
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ization. The profusion of the media today, with new imaginations, new choices and contradictions, generates a critical condition for reflexivity engaging everyday people to have a resource for the learning of self, culture and society in a new light. Media culture is creating new connections, new desires and threats, and the identities of people are being reworked at individual, national, regional and global levels. Within historically specific social conditions and contexts of the everyday, the chapters seek to provide a diversity of experiences and understandings of the place of the media in different Asian locations. This book considers the emerging consequences of media consumption in people's everyday life at a time when the political, socio-economic and cultural forces by which the media operate are rapidly globalizing in Asia." (Publisher description)
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"Die Beiträge dieses Bandes suchen einen interdisziplinären Zugang zum Verhältnis von Fernsehen und Religion. Aus verschiedenen Fachperspektiven setzen sie sich mit der Frage auseinander, ob das Fernsehen Kommunikationsformen und Funktionen der Religion übernommen hat." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
"This is the first in-depth study of how television viewers around the world respond to the ever increasing mass of information available from news programmes. It describes and interprets the type of news available and how it is understood in the context of everyday life. The study is based on news
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analysis, individual interviews and household interviews in seven countries: the United States, India, Mexico, Italy, Denmark, Israel and Belarus. Contributors include Michael Gurevitch, Klaus Bruhn Jensen, Tamar Liebes, Paolo Mancini and Guillermo Orozco-Gomez." (Publisher description)
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